RPG Campaigns

Giraine Summaries

Hi,

Boamund inspected the archway and proceeded beyond. Immediately, in the small chamber down the short stairs, he was assailed by magics cast from behind and above you. It turned out a dark spirit had been lurking in the Darkness rune above the archway and it continued peppering you with annoying folk magics (Disrupt, Demoralize, Frostbite, etc). Miguel kept himself busy shooting arrows at it but could not see if they affected it (they did not; until later!). Meanwhile, Boamund had a quick look at the ruined antechamber of the shrine: a central ruined statue of a troll woman (oddly tall and thin?), four cracked and falling pillars around it, and side alcoves with empty, ruined fonts. All runes in sight were obliterated, as if they'd been smudged off the stones.

But there was no time to deliberate: four shiny black figures seeped out of the crumbling pillars, instantly forming human-sized and shaped things with long, strong grasping arms and a blunt head ending in a symbol-engraved plate rimmed with waving tendrils. Their bodies crackled with magical energy and they hungered for more. They rushed Boamund and soon grabbed him, twisting his arm and leg until he was crippled. Fraud squeezed in to help, and Boamund managed to push the creatures back before he fell, so then Fraud and Bog faced them. It was a brutal fight- the things stole what magics you cast on yourselves (e.g. one stole Boamund's powerful Versatility), and they outnumbered you and were too strong to easily break free from. Miguel ended up saving the day: he fired his Adamant arrow at the black spirit and broke an enchantment on it, which set it free from slavery (as Subere quester here, he instantly knew this) and it thence dismissed the remaining “Runedemons” it had helped conjure here. Battered and barely alive, Boamund and Bog were first-aided and managed to hobble forth.

An ancient troll spirit appeared: a priestess with face hidden in a thick cowled robe. Miguel knew her to be Great Mother Morgslod, the former Subere priestess here. She explained: “From Na we came and we were thence Su, fourth of the Seven Darks, from unity of Soul and Space; born of Father of Demons and Mother of Space. We are what lurks in the darkness where Darksense cannot reach. Darkness untouched by light; of the Deep Hells, the Nameless Depths; Darkness with no shadow; the Inner Darkness each Uz only sees twice, at birth and death. The Darkness that frightens even Mothers. We are Mistresses of the Dehori: seven times eight times nine in number of kinds of demons. Our greatest mother fled deeper into Hell when Yelm came; was untouched by Light; she was the mistress of those who remained in Wonderhome, and still is, and forever will be. She is the Eternal Dark.”

“But, here, worse evil came than the Burning Enemy, and we could hide no longer. We fought, and we lost, but we hid a final secret nonetheless. Beyond here lurks our betrayer, who could never satisfy his thirst for lies and murder. Beyond him lurks his enabler, the untameable demon. Behind the demon the worst evil mutters. All three have sought to destroy our Secret and failed. Defeat the first two, discover the third, and share our Secret we shall, from the womb of Su.”

Miguel understood this Darktongue speech intuitively and bowed, which she returned before she vanished. So you faced two more horrible threats and yet were barely able to stand. The outlook was grim, and would get grimmer.

The midchamber below the next short set of stairs was only 3m deep and 4m wide. Darksense/Darksight here was blurred, giving only fuzzy perception- the shadows did not carry information about the environment right, in a most unsettling way, as if they hungrily swallowed Darksense. The cramped chamber was dominated by an oblong depression like a bath, where a disturbing presence lingered, bubbling and frothing like soup: it was a substance that somehow is made of pale grey, empty shadow, incongruous and even blasphemous amidst the surrounding darkness-like an absence of darkness that was closer to light. Alcoves with smashed fragments of black pillars were to its left and right. Another short staircase at the far side led into a much larger, much darker room.

You entered, and nothing went awry at first, then Miguel acted strangely, speaking in a rasping whisper that you should turn back and give up; no hope for your quest remained, the trolls had lost and the powers here were too great. Fraud's undead-slaying sword glowed. Miguel seemed possessed or something but you could not figure it out. Bog then mentioned that this must be the Kozoru or troll shadow-vampire that Nortag spoke of-Strelvak Ever-Hungry. Indeed, the shadows in the basin seemed to fit that expectation, and you tried prodding them but that did nothing, although Miguel dropped his Adamant arrow when trying to use it, having lost faith in his ability to wield it for the moment (the Kozoru had messed up his mind!). Boamund ordered it back with his shield's power, and some sort of blurry thing seemed to move, but then Bog inspected and he too started acting odd, saying that he should be left behind and you should leave, and other obvious lies.

After more talk and frustration trying to force the Kozoru's hand, Boamund invoked the shield's power and it was seen slinking back into the corner, as a shadowy form like a troll's shape. You bashed and hacked at it with all your weapons but most did little. It kept biting or grabbing at Fraud; its touch would stupefy its victims and drain them of mana, and its hungry bite even (literally) fed it, making its shadow grow stronger. Yet finally, you hit it enough times that it slunk down to the ground, like a puddle of liquid half-shadow. You wondered if it was truly defeated. Miguel felt that there was something more to do here…

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