A/N: And here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Dungeons and Dragon I only own my original ideas.
Chapter 86: The Pit of Despair
We searched the area at the end of the canyon, finding several caves each of which was a dead end containing nothing but sand, some sarcophagi, and the occasional giant scorpion. None of these obvious entrances led anywhere, and by by the next nightfall we were getting frustrated with our lack of progress.
"Bizzare," said Uxarix, "the markings on the sarcophagi indicate that there are people of great virtue buried here, but there's no clue to where the temples entrance might be".
"I've tried searching from the skies, but I can't see any signs of the temple from up there," I said, "If this is the right place, then the temple must be entirely underground".
"I don't know," said Uxarix, "it's just… what's that?"
"What? What did you notice?" asked Narcrath.
"There's a faint glow from that section of the cliffs," said Uxarix, "right there between those two caves. Could I impose upon you for a lift up there?"
"Hop on," I said.
I ferried Uxarix up to the location he was pointing out, and landed on small ledge. I reached towards the stone before me, only to reach ight through the illusory wall.
"I think we found it!" I called.
The rest of my companions made their way up, and we entered the passage beyond together. Beyond the false wall, we entered a winding passage, which shifted from bare stone to a rather austere and clean corridor. White marble columns, altars and statues showed that his was a place of reverence. Uxarix noticed something else, though.
"These statues and artwork," said Uxarix, "they've been defaced. This place still feels sacred, but someone has tried to desecrate it".
We continued on, coming to the main hall of this temple. In the center of the hall, 15 priests were performing some sort of ritual. While at first glance they looked to be human, 10 of them were too short and the other 5 were too tall. Krisyra shook her head, and tensed.
"That's no holy ritual, it's an Abyssal one!" whispered Krisyra we need to stop them!"
As the 'priests' spotted us, the thew back their robes revealing them all to be fiendish creatures: 10 dretches and 5 vrocks.
One of the dretches broke off from the pack, attemping to attack Uxarix but failing miserably as it tripped over its discarded robe. Narcrath channeled his magic and spoke an inacantation. The air around the fiends rippled with energy, and they clutched their heads in pain as his spell tore at their minds. All of the dretches excecpt for the one that went after Uxarix instantly went down, leaving the vrocks (1). Krisyra called upon her magic as well, making a barrage of hailstone to pummel the vrocks. Lydratir took aim, and put two arrows into one of the vrocks, leaving the vaguely bird-like demon in bad shape. One of the vrocks tried to attack Narcrath in retaliation, but effects of his spell seemed throw it off, resulting in it missing. I moved over to aid Narcrath, tearing at the vrock with my claws. Uxarix bradished his rapier, and easily took down the dretch near him. One of the vrocks seemed to be trying to cast a spell but the magic fizzled out. Another vrock flew up to Narcrath and managed to hit him with a strike from its beak, though he dodged the follow-up from its talons. The fourth vrock went after Krisyra, and managed to catch her with its beak. Charles ran up to the second of the two vrocks attacking Narcrath, and slashed it with his greatsword 3 times, wounding it heavily. The last of the vrocks went after Krisyra, but it missed her completely.
Narcratch's hand arced with lightning, and he unleashed it into the vrock that charled had attacked. The demon seemed to be trying to resist the effects, but it still went down, dissolving into ichor like the dretches had. Krisyra considered her options, and then morphed into a giant scorpion, clawing and stinging one of the vrocks near her. Lydratir finished off the vrock he'd attacked before, and then turned his focus to the vrock that had attempted a spell, wounding it as well. The remaining vrock near Narcrath attemped to attack him again but he easily dodged its attacks. I attacked that very same vrock, wounding it further. Uxarix hurried over to the vrock that hadn't engaged anyone, and with two strikes of his rapier and a flash of light, the vrock fell.
As this fiend dissolved into ichor, the well-like structure in the middle of the room erupted with light, and a shining female humanoid form emerged, brandishing a silvery, jewel-encrusted sword in one hand. As it appeared, the remaining vrocks froze. Within my mind, and I could only assume the others as well, I head a voice.
"May the Gods bless you for freeing me from my captivity," 'Said' the figure, "many ages ago, I built this temple to house the Sword of the Justicars. When I returned to these halls to await the coming of is next worth wielder, hordes of demons and evil priests overcame me, mprisoning me in that pit. Your presence distracted them, allowing me to break free".
She turned to face Uxarix, and held out the sword, "To you, great champion, I bestow this mighty weapon. Borne last by the great hero Karith, and by all his predecessors, you are now chosen to to succeed them. Hail to you, Great Warrior! May the lady of virture bless you! Go forth anduse this weapon to bring just retribution to creatures of evil and win glory for master's name!"
She gave the sword to Uxarix, and as I watched it shifted and changed to be better weiled by him. With her task completed, the figure vanished with a blinding flash. I glanced at the remaining vrocks and saw them recoiling from the weapon… something seemed off here. I'd never seen a fiend acting in apparent fear. It seemed rather… forced. The fiends 'recovered' from the appearance of the figure, and the battle continued.
Charles hacked at the vrock nearest to him, finishing it off with one particularly mighty blow. The last vrock attacked Krisyra, hitting with both its claws and beak.
Narcrath inhaled deeply, and spat out a bolt of lightning, doing some damage to the vrock. Krisyra clawed and stung at the vrock wounding it further. Ltdratir took aim one last time, and with a single well-placed shot, his finished off the last of the vrocks.
As the dust settled, we gather together to examine the sword Uxarix had received. It was truly a work of art, and would likely be quite powerful in combat as well. However, I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. I had to say something.
"Well it seems we've found what you came for," I said, "but didn't this seem… too easy?"
"What do you mean?" asked Narcrath.
"If this place truly was the resting place of such a powerful artifact, and was corrupted by demons, wouldn't they guard it with something more powerful than what we just fought?" I said, "That, and the way the fiends recoiled from the sword. Why would they fear it?"
"Most likely they fear its might and its power to defeat them," said Uxarix.
"I'm no expert, but wouldn't being defeated here in the material plane just be a free ride home for these fiends?" I said, "I don't know, though. I think we should search this place more thoroughly".
We set about searching the temple, finding no evidence on this level. However, when I checked down the pit that the celestial figure had appeared from, I uncovered a large amount of treasure. There weregold and silver coins, and several enchanted items. This area looked to be a dead end, but I could shake this nagging feeling that something still wasn't right here. I closed my eyes, and tried to desern better what it was that I was feeling. I got no answers, but I dimly sensed something of great value beyond the wall in front of me. I opened my eyes, and noticed that my allies had climbed down to join me.
"There's something beyond this wall," I said, "something powerful".
"I don't see any way to open it," said Charles.
"I don't sense any magic on this wall either," said Narcrath.
"Well, either I'm wrong," I said, "Or there's someing blocking you from finding anything. I can only think of one thing to try. I Wish that the secrets of this temple were revealed!"
The powerful magic washed over the area, and a seam appeared on the wall. As well, I could now tell that all the enchanted items among the treasures were in fact cursed.
"Uxarix, I'd keep that new sword you've found sheathed for now," I said.
We found a place to grab on to, and pulled the door up and open, closing the pit we'd descended. As the door settled into place, I spotted a glowing, magical glyph on the side now facing down towards us. It activated, blasing us with necrotic energy. We weathered through it, and entered to room beyond. Inside, there was an altar upon which sat a large black stone. Within the stone, glowing brightly was a sword, Also in this room was a large, fiendish creature, It had undersized, black-fathered wings and boar0like tusks. I recognized it from a depiction I'd seen once, a Nalfeshnee. It glared at us, and projected its word into our minds.
"How did you find this place!?" thought the Nalfeshnee, "it dosen't matter, you'll never retrieve the Entrancacor!"
It snapped its clawed fingers, an a pair of reptilian fiends, Hezrous, appeared at its side.
Narcrath was the first to react, casting the same powerful spell he'd used on the fiends in the area above. The nalfeshnee seemed to resist the effects, but the hezrous took the full brunt. Uxarix stepped forward and attacked one of the hezrous, wounding it with his rapier. Krisyra drove her staff against the ground, causing the ground to erupt under the demons' feet. Again, the nalfeshnee seemed to be having surprisingly good luck, and evaded the worst of the effects. Lydratir took aim at one of the hezrous, putting two arrows into the fiend. The hezrous attempted to attack Lydratir, but couldn't hit him. The nalfeshnee unleashed a wave of multicolored light, and for a moment a burst of fear ran though me but I steeled myself, and could see my allies doing the same. The other hezrou tried to attack Uxarix, but he easily evaded it clumsy blows. I moved to assist Lydratir, slashing at the hezrou with my claws, and striking a particularly good blow. Charles went to aid Uxarix, and badly wounded the hezrou with his great sword and sent it stumbling back.
Narcrath began casting a new spell and a bolt of lightning struck the nalfeshnee, flowed by two more bolts arcing to the hezrous. The hezrous near Lyratir fell but the other two foes remained standing. Uxarix ran up and finished off the remaining hezrou, and then attacked the nalfeshnee. Krisyra stepped over to Narcrath, and gave him a bit of healing. The nalfeshnee attacked Uxarix, swiping him with its claws. I tried to attack the nalfeshnee, but it evaded my claws. Charles joined up on the assult on the nalfeshnee, striking once, twice, three times and knocking it prone. Charles surged into action again, strijing the nalfeshnee twice more and finishing it off.
As the nalfeshnee fell and dissolved into ichor we took a moment to catch our breath and examine the room further.
"Well, it seems your instincts were correct," said Lydratir, "so, what that inside the altar?"
"What did that fiend say? Entrancacor?" said Charles, "doesn't that mean 'slayer of demons' in Dwarvish?"
"Indeed it does," said Uxarix, "if I had to guess, that's the real sword inside the crystal, and the one I received was a false sword!"
"Then how do you get it out?" I asked.
"I can think of one way," said Uxarix, "stand back".
We did as he asked, and Uxarix approached the altar. He drew out the sword he'd recently received, rasied it high, and brought it down on the crystal. The crystal cracked, and light began pouring out into the room. The crack widened, the sound seeming to echo loudlythough the chamber and finally, both the crytal and the sword in Uxarix's hand shattered, dissipating into nothingness. There, sitting upon the altar was a different sword, this one seeming almost spectral in appearance. Uxarix looked it over, and cautiously picked it up. I could tell this sword was something different, better than the other one.
"Alright, let's go," said Uxarix.
With that, we began making our way back out of the temple, towards whatever lay ahead for us.
A/N: I'm sure you're wondering why there were two swords hidden in this temple. Here's a summary: The 'Celestial' figure that appeared out of the well was actually the Nalfeshnee in disguise. All the Demons in his place were under it's command. This Nalfeshnee had stolen the real sword, and hidden it away in this false temple it built as a mockery of the real temple. It's plan was to lure Paladins to this place. If they died, then that's one less threat. If they are able to take out it's minions, then they will be given the fake sword, a Unholy Reaver (the exact opposite of a Holy Avenger). This fals sword would then tempt the Paladin, corrupting them into becoming an Oathbreaker. Luckly, to to some good rolls on skill checks that didn't happen, and the party found the hidden chamber contianing the real Holy Avenger Sword. Anyway, Next time, the adventure continues! See you then!
(1) Due to Narcrath's high spell save DC (DC 18), it was literally impossible for the Dretches to succeed on the save against his casting of Synaptic Static. The Vrocks could only pass the save on a 19 or 20