A/N: And here's the next chapter! time to finish up and get out of the Hideaway!
Disclaimer: I don't own Dungeons and Dragons. I only own my original ideas.
Chapter 42: Escape
Lydratir swiftly raised his bow, and put an arrow in one of the fiends. Narcrath summoned up a chromatic orb, and poured more power into it, before launching it as lightning. The fiend recoiled, and then fired back at Narcrath with a lightning spell of its own, but missed completely. Nessandra pulled the rope from her waist a spoke a strange word. The rope seemed to spring to life, and darted towards me like a viper, but I was able to evade its strike. She then moved up, and struck me with her wicked sword. I turned to look at Nessandra and snarled.
"So, your true allegiance is revealed, fiend," I growled.
"Surrender to me, and I may still let you live, wyrm!" said Nessandra.
Krisyra called up a wave of multicolored flames, which adhered to one of the fiends, marking it. I tore into Nessandra with my claws, striking twice. The marked fiend moved up to me, raking me with its claws before teleporting back to where it began. Charles moved up to the unmarked fiend, and struck it with his greatsword, before reversing his momentum and striking it again, pushing the fiend away.
Lydratir put another arrow into the unmarked fiend, taking it down, before switching his focus to Nessandra. He put a shot into Nessandra, leaving her reeling bit. Narcrath reached up to the collar of his new robe, and seemed to pull one of the stars off of it, and the launched it at Nessandra. As it flew, it split into seven comets, each one striking Nessandra. Nessandra raised her sword again and swung it at me. Each of her three swings glanced off my scales, as she seemed to realize that she'd made an error. Krisyra stepped up next to me, and poured healing magic into my wounds. I tore at Nessandra with my claws again, and she wasn't looking too good. The marked fiend ran up to Narcrath and attempted to strike him with its claws, but missed, however the follow up strike with its tail struck true. Charles pursued the marked fiend, striking it twice.
Lydratir took aim once again, and put two more arrows into Nessandra, and she seemed to be in very bad shape. Narcrath summoned lightning to his hands, and blasted the marked fiend with it. Nessandra swung at me again, striking twice. Krisyra raised her staff, which was glowing with power and struck Nessandra with it, causing her to fall. I moved over towards Narcrath, and slashed the remaining fiend. The fiend attempted to strike Narcrath, but missed. Charles took two swings at the fiend, and it looked to be in bad shape. Laydratir took aim with his bow one more, and finished off the fiend.
With the area clear, we searched the room. An examination of the two bottles on the tray revealed them to be healing potions of good quality. Lydratir examined the bench more closely, and discovered a secret compartment containing a magical ring as well as some sort of shoes. Narcrath examined the door more closely, and then nodded.
"There's powerful abjuration magic on this door," said Narcrath, "It doesn't seem to be designed to keep people out, but rather contain whatever may lie beyond".
"We don't have many other options," said Krisyra, "the Vessel of Endless Wastes has to be through this door".
We pushed the door open, revealing what was beyond. It was an enormous chamber, a huge roughly octagonal space with cragged walls of purplish-red stone. Swirling indigo mists filled the space, sweeping violently about and limiting our vision. The air was filled with huge hunks of gray rock; some of these massive, jagged stones hovered motionless in the air, some spun weightlessly in place, and still others flew rapidly in random directions. Alarmingly close to the platform we found ourselves upon as we entered this space, two large chunks of rock suddenly smashed against one another in the air, sending deadly shrapnel in all directions. The floor below appeared to be some type of dark mud, but small eddies moved about therein, seemingly of their own accord.
As we moved into the room, another wave of energy like the one we encountered upon first entering this place struck us, but I steeled my will against this assault, and seemed to be unaffected.
"That explains the wards on the door," said Narcrath, "we must be on the edge one of the lower planes. Not sure which one, though".
"Wherever this place is, let's get out of here as soon as possible," I said.
We moved along the platforms to the opposite side of the central pillar, and discovered something: A body clad in robes, lying on the rocky shelf, facedown and motionless.
"Do you think that's Deldrammon?" asked Charles.
"I don't think so," said Narcrath as he examined the body, "If I'm reading the runes on the amulet correctly, this was once an Amulet of the Planes. Seeing as he had his own private planar portal, I doubt he'd need something like this… no, I think this was another adventurer".
Narcrath retrieved a leather pouch containing 14 garnets, a wand of some sort, and finely crafted dagger. With the body searched, we headed towards the central pillar, which seemed to spiral endlessly upwards. Looming before us was the towering pillar of grayish stone. The massive cylinder was easily 50 feet in diameter, perhaps more. Carved into the sides of this pillar were hundreds or ever thousands of steps which curved around and around the structure and going upwards until they were lost from sight. There were no other options: we started climbing.
The first 50 feet of the climb went quietly, and so did the 2nd. Once we reach a height of 150 feet up, I noticed that Charles, Krisyra, and Lydratir seemed to be a but unsteady on their feet. Charles and Lydratir regained their footing, but Krisyra was stumbling right for the edge. I reacted quickly, preventing her from falling. Suddenly, a stone ricocheted towards Krisyra, narrowly missing her.
"That was close," I said, "are you alright?"
"Fine… I'm fine now," said Krisyra.
We continued to climb, soon reaching the 200 foot mark. Another stone flew in from the distance, smashing against my side painfully. As well, we spotted a group of five creatures flying towards us, resembling a fiendish parody of a human head with worms for hair and a pair of bat-like wings in place of its ears. They shrieked, and clustered around us. One of the fiends shrieked and my companions seemed to be fighting some effect, and suddenly Narcrath froze in place. Another of these fiends moved up to Narcrath and appeared to kiss him with its foul lips. However, Narcrath seemed unaffected. Lydratir drew his rapier, and drove it into the fiend that kissed Narcrath, taking it down. Krisyra snapped her fingers, catching two of the fiends with a thunderwave and badly damaging them. Charles drew his greasword, and finished off the two fiends that Krisyra had weakened. Narcrath was looking around desperately, still unable to move. I tore into one of the fiends with my claws, taking it down. The remaining fiend attempted to kiss Narcrath, but he broke free at the last moment and avoided the attack. Lydratir struck this last fiend with his rapier taking it down.
We continued our ascent, reaching the 250 foot mark without further incident. The path continued spiraling upwards, until we reached the 300 foot mark, and the top of this spire. Our wearying journey appeared to be at an end. The steps led onto the very top of the massive spiral, a flat topped platform marked only by a spike-like protrusion in the center. Resting on the tip of the spike— or possibly floating inches above it— was a large crystal the size of a human fist that slowly spun in place. The crystal gave off a brilliant purple glow that easily illuminated the entire platform and revealed a large figure.
A hulking, fiendish creature moved towards us. Its mound-shaped head blended seamlessly into its sholders with little trace of a neck, and it seemed to be of great mass. Its reddish lips part briefly, revealing twin rows of triangular teeth. Even if we could somehow ignore the enormous morningstar it bore, it seemed obvious that this fiend was bred for combat. Pointed horns were growing from its brow, countless spurs that jutted from its arms and legs, and even its star-shaped pupils looked alien and intimidating.
"Well, well," said the fiend, "what brings a group of mortals to this little slice of Gehenna?"
"Our business is our own, fiend," I replied, "and you shall not prevent us from our goal".
"Heh! So, this wyrm's got fangs after all," said the fiend, "tell you what, if you were to give me something of sufficient value, I might aid you for a time. Sound good?"
"You think we'd trust the word of one such as you?" asked Lydratir, "Our answer is never!"
"Thought as much," said the fiend, "fine then!"
Krisyra reacted the fastest, casting out a wave of multicolored fire which clung to the fiend. She then transformed, becoming a huge snake. Lydratir, took aim at the fiend, fired off two arrows which found their mark. I slashed at the fiend, but it seemed to resist my attacks. Charles moved up the attack the fiend as well, but its tough hide turned his blade. Narcrath moved around to get a clear shot, and fired off a powerful lightning bolt at the fiend, catching it fully… as did the crystal. The crystal seemed to react badly to this, and cracked a bit. The fiend struck Charles with its morningstar, and the teleported away from us.
Snake-Krisyra slithered over to the fiend, and swiftly wrapped her body around it, and started constricting. Lydratir moved in, and attacked with his rapier. I maneuvered around, and tore into the fiend once more with my claws, finally taking it down.
As the fiend fell, Krisyra released her grasp and returned to her normal form. We took this opportunity to examine the crystal more closely.
"Well, I think this must be it," said Narcrath, "all we need to do is destroy this crystal and then get out of here".
"Isn't this the only thing keeping this place stable?" asked Charles, "What will happen to us?"
"I doubt it will collapse immediately," said Narcrath, "I'd estimate we'd have about half an hour at absolute most before we're ejected into the nearest plane. Based off what the fiend said, that would be Gehenna… and I don't feel like going there".
"What the plan then?" asked Lydratir, "It would be a close thing to get out of here in time".
Narcratch considered for a moment and then looked towards me.
"I have an idea," said Narcrath, "you, my friend are our ticket out of here. You can fly down once the crystal's destroyed and carry us out".
"I don't think I could safely fly while carrying all of you," I said.
"What if you were larger?" asked Narcrath with a smirk.
My eyes went wide at the realization. I grinned back.
"That could work," I said.
"In that case, let's break this thing," said Narcrath.
Narcrath inhaled deeply, and spat lightning at the crystal. The cracks widened. Krisyra channeled magic into her staff and slammed it against the crystal. Lydratir jabbed at the crystal with his rapier, which seemed surprisingly effective. I brought my tail around, and slammed it against the crystal, causing it to shatter.
The great crystal shattered in a blinding, circular burst of lilac light. Around us, the air seemed to vibrate and moan, beneath us, the Spiral shuddered, nearly knocking us off our feet.
"Narcrath, do it!" I roared, "let's go!"
Narcrath cast his enlargement spell, causing me to become much larger. I let my companions climb onto my back, and ran to the edge to the platform, leaping towards the exit. I dove as fast as I could, knowing I only had a short time before the spell wore off, I swiftly crossed the 540 feet back to the entrance of this chamber, dodging the flying debris the permeated the chamber. By the time I reached the doors to this chamber, I'd already burned nearly half my time. I touched down, lowered my head, and ran down the hall as fast as I could. As I went, the unstable space of the hallways expanded and warped to allow my passage. I rushed down the corridor, passing the main junction shortly before the 24 second mark. I turned the last corner, reaching the far end of the trophy room with 18 seconds left. It was the home stretch now: I rushed down the last corridor, and reached the entranceway with 12 seconds remaining. The walls on either side of the entrance were now displaying a fierce maelstrom. I touched the wall on at the end of the corridor, and thought about leaving this place. For a moment, everything went silent and then…
We emerged in the ruins of the ancient tower, exactly where we were before we entered. I let my companions dismount, and felt the magic empowering me fade as I returned to my original size. I heard a cracking of stone, and turned in time to see the wall containing the portal crumble to the ground. Overhead, I was surprised to see that the sun was in the exact same position it had been when we first entered… as if no time had passed.
There was nothing else for us to do here. We set off down the road back to Northswold.
A/N: And there we go! the escape from this planar pocket is complete! This segment of the adventure was a module put out by Goodman Games, 'Fifth Edition Fanatsy #11: The Archmage's Lost Hideaway'. I hope you enjoyed this little planar excursion. Next time, our Heroes return to the town of Northswold, and receive their reward for closing this portal. Also, the party is now officially level 7!