A/N: And here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Dungeons and Dragons. I only own my original ideas.
Chapter 60: Feindish Interferance
We opened the door, revealing a finely appointed chamber. Lavish furnishings and decorations were everywhen in this large room. The floor was strewn with rugs and cushions, and tapestries cover the walls. A hookah as tall as an adult human stood in one corner. The largest piece of furnature is a sumptuous divan. The room was also occupied by what appeared a Halfling warrior.
"Who?" said the Halfling, "are you… adventurers?"
"We are, who are you?" asked Charles.
"Listen, we must leave immediately, I've been imprisoned here," said the Halfling, "we must hurry before the wizard comes back!"
Something about his story seemed off, namely the fact he was still armed and armored.
"Tell me," I said, "why, if you've been imprisoned, are you in such a finely appointed room, and still armed? In any case, what do you known about the Shadow Triad"
I saw that my companions were catching on to what I meant, and were eyeing this 'Halfling' with suspicion.
"Oh, Hells," said the Halfling, his voice shifting down in pitch, "I should never have taken that bet".
Its form rippled and shifted, revealing a blue-skinned ogre.
"You may call me Qesnef, I am bound to this place for 1001 years," said the ogre, "As for your question about the Shadow Triad, another group came to these tunnels, but they stayed away from my corner of this place. All I know is that they spoke of the Spine of the World. In any case, as a term of my servitude, I must defend this place, prepare yourselves!"
Narcrath reacted the fastest, lauching a barrage of magic missles by drawing one of the stars from his robe. They slammed into Qesnef, causing him to stumble slightly. Charles closed wth our foe, and slash at him twice with his greatsword, wounding him further. Lydratir moved up as well, jabbing at Qesnf with his rapier, hitting once, but his second strike was turned aside by Qesnef's armor. Krisyra focused her magical powers, and an icy wind blew through the room, focusing on Qesnef, but he shook off the effects. As I watched Qesnef's injuries from my allies attacks began to heal. He then swung his glave around, striking both Charles and Lydratir. I maneuvered around, joining my allies in melee with the ogre. I slashed at it with my claws, and I could see we were wearing it down.
Narcrath pulled out a small diamond, and fired off an orb of lightning at Qesnef, and our foe looked ready to fall. Charles brought his greatsword down once more finishing off our foe.
With the area clear we searched the room, finding two rings on Qesnef, a suit of armor, a scroll, a potion, several pieces of jewelry, quite a bit of coin, and a wicked-looking sword that I didn't like the look of. It was formed of black metal, and I almost felt like it was looking at me.
"Be careful with that sword," I said, "something about it makes me uneasy".
"It certainly looks like something that may be cursed," said Lydratir, "It might be best to avoid wielding it for now".
He carefully wrapped the sword in a cloth, and the packed the rest of their finds away. Krisyra healed up those who needed it, and we started on our way back. we made our way back up the passages of this place. However upon reaching the main junction the magical barrier that had blocked up upon arrival had been restored… and the sphinx was dead. Instead, there was a trio of creatures guarding the path. They looked vaguely like humanoid dragons, and each was smirking cruelly. Two had white scales, while the leader was green. Lydratir looked at them with suspicion.
"What brings your kind to this place, Abishai?" asked Lydratir.
I knew that word. I remembered from while I lived with Quoros reading a reference to such creatures… fiends who were direct servants of Tiamat. There was only one of us they would be directly interested in… me.
"I think you can figure it out," said the fiend, "you, the one who calls himself Valignatirik, end this foolishness. You know that it is your fate to serve our Queen, and you will do so, you and the ancient one you carry with you!"
I noticed Lydratir and Narcrath glancing at me, but turned their focus back to the Abishai.
"I think not," I said, "your master is has no hold over me, I make my own path!"
"I expected no less," said the green Abishai, which then glanced at the white ones, "you two, it's your turn!"
Lydratir reacted the fastest, focusing on one of the white abishais, hitting it twice with his rapier. The Abishai snarled and bit him in retaliation. I moved up to the other white abishai, slashing at it with my claws, wounding it, but it too bit me in retaliation. With the jab of pain came an icy chill. The abishai snarled at me, and attacked recklessly. Its first attack was with the longsword it wielded, cutting deep in its rage. It followed up with by slashing me with its claws. Charles moved over to assist me, slashing at our foe with his greatsword and shoving it back. Narcrath channeled his magic launching two orbs of lightning at our foes, one at the abishai I'd attacked, and one at the green one. The white one fell, but the spell splashed uselessly agaist the green one's hide. Krisyra stepped over to me, healing the damage the abishai had done, and then she transformed into that large-fanged feline again. The other white abishai snarled in rage and struck out at Lydratir. It hit him with its sword, but he parried its claws.
The green Abishai pointed towards Charles, and said "Obey me, Mortal!"
Charles shook his head for a moment and replied, "Your tricks won't work on me!"
Lydratir struck at the abishai near him again, finishing it off. I moved over to the green one, wounding it with my claws. Charles joined me in fighting this fiend, wounding it further, but it seemed like this one was rather tough. Narcrath fired a nasty looking spell at the abishai, but it seemed to avoid the worst of the effects. Krisyra bounded towards the abishai, clawing it and knocking it prone, before savagely biting it. The abishai pushed itself up again, and unleashed a burst of magic, and blasted my mind for a moment, but I shook it off. It followed up by raking me with its claws.
Lydratir moved it, and attack the abishai with his rapier, hitting with extreme precision and weaking it further. I did the same, my claws leaving it in bad shape. Charles brought his sword down upon the abishai, at it looked to be on its last legs. Narcrath stepped in, and finished off the abishai with a blast of lightning.
As the dust settled, the magical barrier fell, allowing us to leave. The five of us were glad to put this mountain behind us. We put some distance between us at the mountain, and that evening made camp.
"It seems I'm attracting attention… and not all of it good," I said.
"You're defying what most have considered a given fact for millennia," said Narcrath, "If I hadn't met you, and traveled with you, I'd have thought no different than most about it. I do have one question, what did they mean about 'the ancient one you carry'?"
"Well, remember that amulet we found by in the ancient citadel, the place that once was a temple of a dragon named Ashardalon?" I asked, "Well, it seems he inserted an… echo of his spirit into the amulet. He wished to pass his knowledge onto someone he felt was worthy, a dragon who rejected the malice that so many let consume their hearts".
"I see," said Narcrath, "and from what I've seen, your personality hasn't majorly shifted since we met… that effect from the wizard's sactum notwithstanding. Tell me about Ashardalon".
"Well, all I know about him comes from his own words," I said, "he said that he was born into the time before Bahamut and Tiamat came into being, and as such was not forced down any particular path in life. When Io was sundered, he kept to his own path, fighting those who tried to force him into malice".
"…and the temple?" asked Lydratir, "it seemed he was being revered like a god".
"you must remember, this was countless millennia ago, many ancient peoples worshiped powerful creatures, and some peoples still do so today," I said, "He mentioned that he was fine with it, as having humanoids loyal to him helped prevent unneeded conflict in his lands. Besides, are there not still dragons in to world that are worshipped by the people of their lands?"
"True enough," said Narcrath, "well he hasn't tried to harm you yet, so I'll trust your judgement. Hopefully we won't have to deal with fiends like that too often".
"That I can agree with you on," I said.
We lay down to rest, setting up watch for the night.
A/N: And there we go! Our heroes have escaped from the tunnels beneath the Steaming Summit, and defeated the trio of Fiends sent to capture/kill Valignatirisk. While there weren't many clues to movements of the Shadow Triad, they still benefitted from this journey, and have reached level 9! For those unfamiliar with the creatures defeated in this chapter, you can find the Oni (Blue-skinned ogre) on page 239 of your Monster Manual, and the Abishai can be found on pages 160-163 of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. Next time, our heroes return to town and decide to test their luck with a certain item they've been carrying see you then.