Success on a knife's edge!
It did not start well, though. You struggled to clamber up the northern wall onto the battlements and ramparts, trying to access the higher central tower-platform. All of you but Boamund kept struggling and falling down, injuring themselves often badly, and Bog was knocked out. But, with some persistence, you made it up, bedraggled and embarrassed. All along, there had been signs of pursuers through the web-tangled jungles (which Miguel's Pathway spell aided you in navigating) but you had eluded them via stealth despite your foibles at the wall.
There was a crumbled statue to the northwest of you near some stairs down into a denser garden area, one of four surrounding the central platform. There was a shadowy ruined tower further to the northwest, on the fortress's corner. But a short staircase up to the main platform drew your attention so, after some hurried first aiding via Boamund that brought you back to functionality, you explored there.
It was a squarish central walled platform, open on the north side to a small balcony, and featuring a large, still black pool in its centre. The external walls were ringed with five giant troll-face statues; among them, a mistress-race (Uzuz) troll faced the southern, filthy stream that ultimately exited the fortress as a waterfall. By the pool loomed a great stone statue of a fierce warrior bearing leaf-bladed spear and shield, andw with a third eye in its forehead-clearly some form of Arkat.
ASIDE: Together, Fraud/Bog know these things-The Church of Black Arkat reveres the Arkat Chaosbane and Kingtroll aspects of Arkat; it is the modern human way to access these. Strong in the Darkness and Magic runes, with ties to Law and Disorder alike (~“balance”); and Infinity (the “Hero Rune”). Stories vary widely but trolls say that Arkat Chaosbane was from the Ice Eye clan of the Uz in Halikiv, mother Garazaf Hyloric, born full grown. His attendants, Arkat's Six were born at the same time; and he thence founded the Stygian/Dark Empire in Ralios (Arkat taught that changing one's nature brought power; his Archon sorcerors used the Book of Secrets [Red Book of Brithos] from Zzabur as one of their sorcerous grimoires). Arkat's enemy D'Wargon, servant of Gbaji, was one of his early foes he defeated. Arkat Chaosbane (sometimes called Kingtroll by this point) formed the Western Army and beat the Northern Army of the Iron Vrok (cooked and ate it), gave sorcery to Uz, his wife bore Uzuz mistress race, he defeated some of the Outer Atomic Explorers(!!!!)/Godlearners, invented heroquesting and wrote the book (uber-grimoire) “Impossible Landscapes” (guide to heroquesting). Later in his career, against Gbaji, he joined Zorak Zoran to fight Chaos and earned friendship of Crolar; around this time stories instead start calling him Arkat the Destroyer (e.g. when he utterly ravaged Dorastor etc.)-those activities earned lingering hatred or at least suspicion from many cultures that linger today…
As you examined the area, a great spirit manifested over the pool near the statue. It was a four-armed spectral, half-skeletal entity, making arcane gestures with its two lower hands and holding a flanged black lead mace in its left upper hand and leaf-bladed spear in its upper right hand. A deep black eye ringed with flames in place of lashes opened in the centre of its forehead. It was humanoid but not human; dark of skin and long braided hair in two strands, and heavy of build- a mix of human and trollish physiognomy. It was visibly a she, and fearsome of visage and tusked, grimacing mouth. You felt its power and Fraud realized its gestures were Arkati ones that he must return properly, so he did.
It liked that. “So the Ages converge. Again they shall part ways. I am Ollamor Thundertamer, guardian of the ways. If any among you seek to violate their sanctity, I will bring destruction unto you. Fraud of the Shaven family of Pithdaros, you come to a fortress with a long history. The Arkatzar has traded owners, names and magicks since the Dawn. But for two Ages now Arkat's power has held sway here, where the river Adzurana bubbles up from the Underworld, originally summoned to preside over dark oaths here.”
Bog finally recognized the name and aspect of Ollamor: she was an Arkati hero (Tusk-Rider half-troll woman) from Halikiv, leading incursion to Giraine. She was also a Zorak Zorani follower and Crolar ally, using those powers of Hell, marshalled from the Adzurana, to fight the Godlearners and Vadeli (who were seen as manifestations of D'Wargon and Wakboth/Devil/Kajabor). She rode an Oliphant, not a giant pig-tusker! What a hero! He prostrated himself in respect and asked about Zorak Zorani powers. She said that such powers remained and she could help you with them if you aided her first, as you'd offered to. She also said that “Well did I come to know the power of Croalar and his venom; that power aided our side against the dread foe. His power lingers here but faintly; what has become of it elsewhere I know not.”
She then asked, as you awaited information on how you could aid her, “You carry some of the enemy's weapons, last borne by traitors of my kind. You will need them all, mischievous as their powers are.” You explained that you had the four weapons but not all with you. She then asked what your allies and foes were like in this Age and she was concerned: “Your allies are much as ours were, yet still not strong enough. All Five Elements will you need to wield and strongly so. We were weak in the power of Earth and this may have enabled our failure. The dread foe will try to wield all these powers; the allies must wield them better.”
Finally, she explained your quest:
“A vile perfidy was committed here at the close of the Second Age. We were besieged by the enemy, and their double agent slipped into the sewers of the castle, bringing with them an accursed page of evil runes that unleashed disastrous sorcery upon the Arkatzar's foundations, and blasphemy unto the grimoire that rested in is core by the Adzurana's source. That page remains, watching over the remnants of our grimoire. Until this is undone, the stream of Arkatzar will only run of filth, and spawn monstrosities. There are many ways into the sewers. Go there and stop the lingering curse. The way within is that of the myth of Malkion's Fifth Action and Sacrifice; by this way you will understand what transpired at the Arkatzar. Return for your reward. Fail and you will join the haunting of this place. There is no other way.”
You understood what she referred to by the myth; any Malkioni knew this one. But how it related to Arkat was obscure, and her words hinted that this myth was a heroquesting pathway to explain the downfall of her forces here. You expected that some aspects of the myth were broken here and needed fixing. Fraud pleaded with Ollamor to heal your wounds first and she did so, if condescendingly. (you had party luck pts = 3 recharged for making it to this point; and used one here)
The myth as you knew it (Malkion's martyrdom and rebirth):
Malkion the Founder came forth from the Tower of Reason into the Middle World and spread Instinct amongst his people, becoming Old Malkion, a mortal and soon a victim of unreason. Old Malkion produced a series of wonders and conjurations to prove his power to those who resisted him. On the trek he made the Hollow Stone to mislead some enemies, embedded some unbelievers in the Emerald Lake, sliced pursuers in the River of Blades, and caused the Roaring Bridge to throw pursuing lion men off of it.
He was determined to teach the truth once again, and bring together his peoples. Through diligence and great effort Old Malkion finally managed to get a large number of his foes and detractors together. But unreason in the form of distrust, disorder, selfishness, and other mortal limitations, fueled by the new, unfamiliar Creations Old Malkion was making, caused disorder to break out; and this let new Chaos into the world, worsening the disorder. Everything changed. This was an Error. Old Malkion was then betrayed by Zzabur. Zzabur was utterly respectful, but the Sorcerer Supreme never bowed before the Founder. He opposed the Creations of Old Malkion as Errors and condemned him for them. With three other enemy gods, Zzabur seized the world– from Dawngate to Duskgate, from Frozen Walwindela to the Great Whirlpool; from the blue sky to the black Underworld; all four corners were theirs. Battle raged. Old Malkion was ripped to shreds. They tore off Old Malkion's Sacred Path to the People; they tore off his holy Body, the World; they shredded his wise Spirit; and they shattered his old mortal Person. Old Malkion died.
Thence began the Rapture of Malkion. The Tower of Reason crumbled when Old Malkion was killed on the field. When Old Malkion was destroyed, the entire world suffered as it was tapped. The Devil, evil and entropic, laughed and swelled with power; and the Vadeli thought that was most amusing. Monster armies swept over the lands of all who had helped the misguided Founder; and now aided by the conspiratorial Vadeli. The waters grew sluggish and gray, and cast hungry misshapen things upon the shore. The earth grew hard and cold, and the green plants grew up new but were brown, and the grass cut like blades, and the seeds were rocks. The unjust were ravaged and devoured as the monster armies closed in on New Malkonwal, Old Malkion's mortal home. However, they could not find it. It was gone, taken to Solace to preserve its perfection. The few good survivors of those once proud lands found refuge, too, any way they could.
The Malkioni persevered. All of them, despite many disagreements, agreed on one thing: the Vadeli were not right, were not at all aware of Malkion's truth or power, and among the most evil folk in the world, full of false promises. Those people who still had faith in Malkion had seen Solace, and with that they preserved the Good World. Malkion's essence was called back from Solace to save the world, reascending the Ladder to God, and he condemned the Vadeli who caused rifts amongst his people. He had drawn deep wisdoms from Solace and the Secret Keepers of his people inherited these; amongst them the secret meaning of Solace, which was Kiona; creator of Zzabur. And thus destruction had revealed Creation, and the Dawn came.
Boamund's Skin of Life spell was still active so you proceeded, with Fraud realizing that the central pool's black waters were the pure form of the Styx/Adzurana (AKA Edzaroun) here. Fraud almost belly-flopped into the pool in his attempt to dive in but corrected himself at the last second (one of his 3 fumbles and many Luck pts burned! Opening a Heroquest w/a fumble is Bad News!). All of you actually performed wonderfully, whether sinking like stones or swimming once inside the cold dark waters. You felt your way through a submerged tunnel behind Fraud, feeling reality slip away into the Other Place.
You came to a bleak, silent stony shore strewn with bleached white bones (surely the Underworld), emerging there to see a great stone sitting chained to the shore, creaking against the iron chains as it subtly swayed. Bog came up to it and tapped it with his mace to see if it was the Hollow Stone from the myth… and it was, but not the way he expected! A crack appeared and then spiralled away to crack open the whole giant stone, falling away to reveal a horrible Chaos demon! You knew it not but it was called The Chained One. It was an enormous, pulsating, wheezing mass of bulbs of oozing flesh, eyes, horns, tendrils, mouths and claws, noisily dripping phosophorescent green slime and blood, and bound to the rocky floor by those creaking chains of iron. It emitted a raucous barrage of insane laughter, screams and disturbing invitations in many voices and languages- these caused many of you to stand still and gibber madly with it, while the fight began!
Bog hit it with his mace and injured it, and soon was joined by Boamund, but it fought back murderously with snapping jaws, soon ripping Bog's leg so he fell, stunned. Boamund bravely fought it alone, taking some wounds, while Fraud cast a Ward Chaos spell that did nothing (Willpower 150% to beat!!) and Miguel hit it with some Firearrows. Finally Fraud Cursed it with his Anti-Chaos magic, leaving it temporarily befuddled and afraid of his Arkati power, so he engaged it in melee and Bog soon was able to rejoin the fight, snapping at it with his demon-biting jaws and impaling its oozing flesh. It was slowly regenerating but Boamund used a Fireblade to stave this off. Finally, you dealt enough damage that it gave a final wheezing gibber and collapsed, deflating like a hollow shroud of flesh; with Bog's teeth still embedded in it. He ate some of it, choking down the foul stuff, and you'd won!
[Heroquest later insight: this was the Hollow Stone part of Malkion's myth, but the stone had been corrupted by Chaos and you had to undo that]
A partly flooded passage led beyond here through the dark, from which a wailing of tormented souls echoed. The serpentine passage wound underground, seemingly further than it should, then emerged into a grand cavern whose extremes were lost to all sight. The ground sloped downward into deeper water, which formed a huge, dark green lake. Ripples on the lake's surface made wailing faces that issued desperate cries, drowning out all other sounds within the cavern. A simple wooden rowboat floated in the centre of the cavern. You pondered this. It didn't look good. Fraud decided he'd dive into the waters, against Bog's warnings that the river Styx was deadly-Fraud figured that this was the Emerald Lake of myth, not the Adzurana, so he might be safe. He swam well to the boat, forcing out the wailing spirit's cries that they were unfairly trapped here, believers in Arkat that the waters had wrongly imprisoned. He clambered into the boat and nicely rowed it to shore, so you boarded. But as the boat was pushed off, it violently rocked and threw you off! All but Fraud sank, although you held your breaths. Fraud swam bravely back to the boat, avoiding its attempt to smack him with an oar, and commanding it to obey him as an Arkati. He forced his way aboard and it stilled; so he rowed it back ashore, soon joined by the others who had finally found their way back through the green depths. They boarded and he safely again rowed the boat out, seeing a steeply descending river-tunnel beyond.
[Heroquest later insight: this was the Emerald Lake of course, but cursed- those souls indeed were Arkati believers imprisoned here, and the boat was ensorcelled to betray Arkati, sending them to drown and join the others; but enforcing your will and logic back upon it made things right again]
The river-tunnel ended abruptly when the water drained out in all directions into a parched tunnel, where the space previously taken by water was replaced by a throng of bloody swords sporting innumerable impaled and maimed victims, all in advanced stages of decay or skeletonization by hordes of hungry arthropod scavengers. You all nimbly dove clear as the boat was destroyed, so you were not slashed by the River of Blades. You walked along the dark tunnel and soon the blades turned quickly into undead, blue-black snakes that bit at you. All but Bog passed them with some quick defense, and Bog bashed the one serpent-thing that grabbed his leg, so he too escaped the River of Vamp-Vipers.
[Heroquest later insight: the River of Blades was no friend to Malkioni here; twisted by evil magic to waylay you!]
The stone tunnel corkscrewed into darker depths that vibrated from distant rumbling tremors. This opened onto a short bridge made of the mold-encrusted golden skeletons of four lions, arranged in pairs in sequence stretched across a vast chasm. The chasm plunged into endless blackness but somehow smouldering embers were visible far below. That was Hell itself and you knew the bridge-crossing would be perilous. Fraud stepped onto it, calling out his Arkati faith and reason, and roaring spectral lion-men began manifesting out of the bridge. Soon you were all engaged by these ghosts of ancient, crazed Pendali; enemies of all modern Malkioni. Miguel even had hesitated at first but was drawn by his fascination with Arkati and his bravery and crossed to meet them. They tried to possess you and get you to throw yourselves off the bridge, and would pursue you as far as you fled, so eventually you all turned to fight them. It was a good fight but you bested them without great trouble; even Bog showed some proficiency fighting off spirits. As the beast-men were defeated, they whimpered and fled off the bridge, their essences fading as they were banished to Hell; and perhaps some sort of final peace.
[Heroquest later insight: the Roaring Bridge had been turned against Malkioni, to use their lion-men foes to try to throw Arkati off]
Beyond lay a huge cavern. A maze of natural stone columns, stalactites and stalagmites divided the cavern into many spaces. It was uncomfortably cold and still here; you'd come deep into the Underworld. (e.g. the river of blades/swords is in many world myths as an edge-feature of Hell) Fraud led you in. As you began navigating through the maze of columns, runic letters in Seshnegi appeared before you, wavering in the stale air. Fraud read them: “Sweet was the scent of the multicoloured flowers of the dryad Oletia that decorated the forested coasts, and sweet indeed was her gift unto the paper of the Pamphlet of Promises and the change upon the landscape.” He wondered if the stone columns here were the forest, and as you discussed that the words burst like rotten fruit, unleashing sickly sweet smells. Bog and Miguel collapsed, helpless from vomiting, and had to be dragged onwards. But they'd seen something as they were sickened: a brief vision of a lone, glowing tree with succulent fruit and wide-spreading branches standing alone in a grove with other trees far separate from it. What was this? Bog recognized the flora around it as that of Giraine today and in his Age; but the central tree was some horrid Aldryami magic?
[Heroquest later insight: maybe here you learned that the dryad Oletia had been corrupted, to cause the landscape on the surface world to turn into that Chaos Jungle?]
Deeper into the maze you headed and the darkness became almost palpable. Then it was interrupted by blazing red letters that slashed through the air before you, dripping sizzling blood as they hissed into form with their inscription. The letters stated that there was but one use for Arkati and that is to drain them of blood for potent sanguine sorceries. The crackling letters leapt to action like hot tentacles of hungry blood, reaching for you en masse as a web of sorcerous impediments. Fraud (barely; party luck points soon used to 0 thanks to terrible dice luck) and Boamund fought them off with brute strength, and fortunately they did not grab for Miguel or Bog.
Next, far inside the maze, the letters forming took no time to spell out their message in words. They arced out from the blackness as evil cyanotic bolts, moaning as they reached to rip your flesh off. Boamund and Fraud dove to safety and escaped a violent death.
[Heroquest later insight: OK, you're going through Vadeli magics- there was the stinking Brown, then bloody Red, then necrotic Blue…]
Beautiful golden letters formed elaborate runes sparkling in the darkness beyond, sending the shadows groaning away from them as a dull, cold, unnerving hue replaced the dark. The letters said 'Great are the lords, but greater still are their servants who stoop beneath them, scrub up their filth after them, and all the while pray to someday be them. May they live to shrug off the stain of their Talari tormentors and dance atop their corpses in drunken frenzies'. Then the letters burst into foetid yellow fluid, bathing you all. It was the feared Yellowskin! Fraud (barely) and Boamund steeled themselves against becoming slaves of the sorceries here, which spoke evil things of betraying one's friends.
You finally found your way to the blackest depths of the cavern, where a spindly sculpture of fractured bones about 1 metre high held onto a single page of old worn parchment, glimmering of rainbow colours and inscribed with many runes. Powerful magic emanated from that page, shaking your body, and you could faintly hear distant whispers of no certain source. Here you faced the Pamphlet of Promises and its ancient curses that had wrought all of the magic you'd passed through so far, and brought low the Arkatzar. Fraud used his new Arkati sorcery to reveal secret Chaos, which he learned helps make Vadeli powers susceptible to anti-Chaos magics(!!), and threw his best Curse Chaos at the page-and it froze, disintegrating into dust as it cackled and shrieked one final time! Hurrah! (nice Critical spellcast)
The darkness returned to its intense power and the true extent of the cavern was revealed to your Darksight. Some distance toward its back, there was a large flat stone, like an altar, with a gentle depression in its centre, and still black waters atop it. A humanoid face with tiny ears was carved into the stone [this was Adzurana's visage]. The water surely was that of the pure Styx.
Bog and Miguel stirred again, finally released from the Vadeli curses. They saw a shape behind that altar-stone, and Bog investigated. A lead skeleton of an Uzuz lay on its side, grasping a lead-bound book with tattered, mouldering pages. Approaching and prostrating himself, Bog caused it to stir… but it did not appreciate his whimpering trollkin entreaties to aid! It backhanded him away, if gently for an Uzuz demi-god, then stood, shaking off the mould and grumbling in deep, rhythmic Darktongue; words that soon become a formless singsong tune like a hum, and soft dark waves extended from it. Fraud addressed it at length, calling of your quest, and it spoke:
“Na bar zor su gor xen gar zu; of Seven Darks had I tasted before of death I was served by the eighth, the false dark. But of death I knew too well from Gor, Land of Dead, and so here I, Great Mother Jorukzak Six-Honoured, have found repose by my goddess's waters. Early in Creation, a piece of the Primal Darkness discovered its uniqueness and called itself the Last Silence. So it gave birth to Adzurana, the Styx to Hoomanz, the Last Drop of Darkness, and she became mother of the waters of the world. Many foolish people argued if this creation was a bad or good thing. My ancestors knew it would make the world better, so we helped in Adzurana's birth. Uz, be compassionate and wise! We learned to find things that had been forgotten in those dark waters, or could make things forgotten as long as they needed to be.”
“So here you come, to have words with Jorukzak, granddaughter of Arkat and once priestess here. I tell you that all the words you need were written in here; you do not need me. This grimoire is holy even to Uz. It is a copy of Arkat's 'Impossible Landscapes'. Touch it you cannot, or I must eat your souls! But one page has been forgotten by your realm, and you may find it in Adzurana yonder and carry it with you. It will aid you against the true foe. Those are the words I have for you. Be careful with your words though, for here in the presence of the Garrotte of the Gods all promises have vast power.”
Awestruck, you knew amazing things- she held a version of the great heroquesting grimoire that had been used to forge this path to the Styx for Arkati usage, in allegiance with the Uz. You gave her respects and explored. Into the pool atop the stone, Fraud sank his hands and resisted the cold pull of the Styx's power to take his mind away. He pulled forth a leaden page with many arcane Darktongue inscriptions and diagrams, which surely would take time and expertise to decode.
But Bog had snuck forth and dipped his frost-flail mace into the waters, too, in the meantime! He called for Adzurana to bless it to aid his battles against the Undead, knowing the Styx's power to force those blasphemies into the peace of Hell.
GM note: Bog's mace now has Adzurana's Blessing for 1 year (to Earth Season 1624): Undead beings struck by it and given a Press Advantage result must lose another offensive action as a “double Press Advantage”. Some major undead (or those repeatedly victimized by this) might get an opposed Willpower vs. Combat roll resistance, but not normally.
Jorukzak sang a different tune, repeating “Su, Bar, Xen, Ko” and the darkness extended from the Adzurana around you, cloaking you in cool solid darkness. Boamund heard Jorukzak whisper to him: “Traitor! Speak not before me or I cast you into the black pit! How dare you return here with that shield again!” And he retorted that he was no such thing and meant nothing, but she furiously interrupted and bit his soul, eating 3 POW permanently (ouch! Sorry Tim-very in-character for her mean, vengeful nature and the quest), and striking him insensate, moaning of nightmares. What was that all about, though?
Then you were whisked back up to the surface, flowing in Adzurana's black power and returning to Ollamor. She gazed down on you: “You return not as grimacing undead foes for me to dispatch but as heroes again. I confess surprise. So you learned of our fortress's nature, in guarding the way to the Adzurana's holy waters that mingle with those of the surface here, and in watching over the secrets of the nature spirits that once blessed the land. There may be no hope for the latter anymore in this shattered place but undone is the former evil here in Arkatzar; never again shall we hear the false promises of the Vadeli pamphlet.”
“Our dread foe, I remember now, was the master of lies– it could weave a lie so profound it could make the dead think they lived again. It made many of us think its name was Yomil, but Yomil was merely its Imperial necromancer slave; far lesser in power. Know you now that the dread foe was a Blue Vadeli. We never came to know its name. It turned our own against us with its lies and we all died.”
Aha! Big campaign moment! The true dread foe is finally revealed! (in case you hadn't guessed)
Fraud wondered if the jungles/dryad might be fixed but Ollamor doubted it, although she said the Chaos taint here would fade with time, now.
Ollamor then pronounced: “I offer you my promised rewards. For you who revere Arkat, grasp my hand and come closer into his shadow. For you who do not, the northeastern tower may now be safely accessed and holds treasures you will find dear. For those who would speak with me more, I remain guardian of the ways here at Arkatzar.”
Fraud held her lower left hand and mindlinked with Ollamor, choosing to immediately learn a new Arkati sorcery spell: Sense Godlearner, which would allow him to investigate Godlearner magical meddlings here or in the past. (Project Darksense was tempting, but may another time!) The others dragged Boamund along toward the northeast tower- Bog could not wait to see if Zorak Zoran or Croalar was awaiting him.
Ollamor mindspoke to Fraud, finally, of a prophecy it knew: “One of Dangk will return to this land and claim their heritage-when their steely gaze falls upon you, you may know it is time to pledge fealty; you may perhaps.” – Dangk is the capital of the province of Dangim on mainland Seshnela/Tanisor, near the Snodal Marsh; you have never been there and have no clue what this all could refer to!
Unpacking the myth vs. the Arkatzar: Fraud and maybe others could see the following as lessons:
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