RPG Campaigns

Giraine Summaries

Eventually the passageway from the Corridor of Fear opens into a vast, stinking swamp. The waters are choked with the bodies of the damned, as abundant as vegetation and all bearing evidence of freshly being fed upon. The underworld-air above the swamp is nauseatingly toxic from the reeking odours that rise from the corpses. It is a tiring, disgusting struggle to slog through the mess.

Jeset explains: “This is the realm of Deshkorgos, Sky god of Death and Darkness, and worse things that are not of his realm find their way in here too; he keeps the tides of Chaos from spilling out too far over the Underworld. The remaining terrors you must face. And face them all. There is no map or route. In the Swamp of Hunger, Madness, Fear and Disease, in some order, you must face the runes of Hunger; always the undead children of Deshkorgos; and Disorder; often demons with Fire or Darkness powers; and Earth; usually serpentine forms like Chaos-snake Waknaths; and Death; which can be many things that kill you dead; and often a surprise will intervene somewhere, maybe two surprises; if three surprises happen then that is very bad heroquesting luck and you may all die horribly. Choose well in what order you wish me to guide you: Hunger, Disorder, Earth, and Death. As your guide I can you help hide from one threat here, just that once, but you must call upon me quickly there or it will be too late. Again, choose well.”

You choose to follow those runes in order that Jeset mentioned them, so first Hunger: Jeset guides you into a part of the swamp where grey hulks of dead trees stand shattered like bones with compound fractures, and the dead brown grass and vines grope blindly at your feet, so that you must keep moving to avoid becoming entangled and entombed in them like so many corpses of the damned here. Fraud astutely watches his Sword of Menekeyil and spots its pale glow of warning early, shouting a warning so you prepare to fight the coming undead. They show themselves quickly: an indescribable thing (horror of Deskhorgos) flaps silently in from above; it is gnarled and winged and tailed and clawed and fanged, a hybrid of multiple undead things but quasi-humanoid; it flies to Ahappi. Then two fishy-scaly bloated corpse-things burst from the waters, they too are large and muscle-bound and rubbery, which Shrett and Fraud choose to confront. Finally, two rotten bull-headed humanoids that you soon realize are zombie-broo face Boamund and Bog.

It's a rough fight. The horrific thing breathes a cone of stinging frost at Ahappi, Shrett and Fraud and they have to dive aside, but none are badly harmed. Ahappi throws his Three Tines harpoon at it but it knocks it harmlessly away into the swamp. Shrett faces off with his marsh-wight and deals it some wounds but it regenerates swiftly. Soon many of you and them are down in the muck, wrestling frantically; slashing and clawing and gripping. The marsh-wights can grab things when they parry so one grabs Shrett's shield and drops it aside. Fraud soon kills his foe with his undeath-blade; Ahappi, disarmed of his Stinging Spear by the horror, casts his Breath of the Dead and evades his foe, so it comes after Fraud. Bog bashes away at his bull-broo and soon kills it (it was able to teleport back to its feet when knocked prone, but that didn't save it); Boamund takes longer trading blows but finally fells it. Bog comes to aid Shrett, distracting the marsh-wight who is casting a spell that weaves marsh-mists together (it was Wrack With Deadly Fog) but Shrett smacks it on the leg and ruins its spell, as it grabs Bog's mace. Yet Bog's weapon slips clear of its clawed hand so he continues hitting it, although it is very resistant to his bludgeoning blows. Shrett pushes the attack, Fraud hacks off the horror's head with a few blows and comes to help, with Ahappi close behind, and soon all of the undead are vanquished; but it was a gruelling battle. Ahappi was the only one wounded, slightly, on his tail and you mend that.

The Disorder rune is next stop. Jeset follows inscrutable signs through the foetid swamp to an open marshy region, where the corpses writhe in agony and some speak gibberish or attempt to and only gurgle or bubble. At first you think that howls you hear are coming from particularly vocal corpses, but then you realise they are not howls of the damned at all, but something far more malevolent. Something is coming. Boamund pulls forth his demon-blade and it recognizes the howls all too well-Canis Chaos, the hell-hounds! With that warning, you prepare to take them on, and five of them come in gliding just over the swamps, able to run without touching the ground; and bursting with flames from their mouths and along their large, dark canine-demon bodies. They breathe flame on you as the sword warned, so you jump away or protect yourselves with shields, and suffer little; although later Shrett takes nasty burns to his arm and chest. Ahappi's Stinging Spear makes short work of two Hell-Hounds with its chaos-slaying power, and you all fight well, so the battle does not last long even though the hounds are very durable.

Jeset explains: “Those were Hell Hounds, who hunt souls through the shrieking fields of nightmares. They are pieces of Chavgaz the God-Gobbler, Canis Chaos, or Sunbiter, who is called Deathhound as well. He, and his spawn, are known to let anyone enter the Underworld, but fight against any who try to escape or enter forbidden areas. Most religions have them in their myths of Hell. They are holy to Deshkorgos, whose third eye looks the other way from their Chaos taint.”

You continue, expecting to come to the Earth rune place soon, but first Jeset stops abruptly in the midst of the swamp, nods cryptically and whispers simply “Uz.” Bog cringes, then looks and sees a band of seven Uz coming carefully through the swamp. They seem to notice you and he hails them as friendly as he can. They respond-it is, as you hoped, Syrr Kogag; with Fire-eater Death Lord of Zorak Zoran. Syrr Kogag says: “Our quests cross in this land of enemies. So we offer aid as friends. I can Mindlink with as many as two of you if you are low on mana; my resources are adequate. Death Lord Fire-eater can hold a ceremony for Zorak Zoran in this land of his demons. What can you do for Uz in return?” Fraud bargains with them, with Shrett noticing one looks weary and offers to use his saintly blessing to ease its woes, while Fraud very generously offers to gift them of his ?Valind?Himile? snow-creating scarf. They agree to this great deal for them, so Boamund and Bog mindlink with Syrr Kogag to replenish their magic, then Bog goes off with Fire-Eater to worship his evil lord and regain some miracles. The Uz then leave, and you push onwards, too.

Jeset shows you the way to the Earth rune's region, where the mud is blasted and hissing with fumes, and all corpses seem to be dissolving rather than rotting, with a harsh, acrid chemical smell lingering. Jeset: “Yes, something uncouth has been at work here; you should find it and do what must be done.” Shrett thinks to look around the ground, wondering if snakes will burst forth from there, and spots traces of very large snaky things (odd ones), leading to a large, wide burrow set in a muddy mound. Here there are no corpses, only jumbled bones. You debate what to do, and Boamund urges you to confront whatever is there head-on. Fraud leads the way and senses the enemy coming, just in time. It is three five-headed (Lesser) Hydras, which Shrett and Ahappi know as Chaos-tainted monstrosities with deadly venom. Battle is joined, and it is terrifying! Bog bashes one head in with a clever defensive move, then smacks the body and stuns it, felling the monster for some time. It's a great start, and inspires the others to aim for the main body, too. Shrett gets bitten and endures the initial burning of venom, then quickly Fraud and Ahappi dispatch the last two hydras. As you finish them off and heal, Shrett feels another surge of the venom and his heart skips a beat, then calms back to normal; it did not slay him with its last poisonous vengeance. There is nothing left here, so you move on.

Ahappi asks Jeset to guide you safely through the place of Death, using his hiding powers. So he wraps you in his cloak of darkness, which those with Darksight can peer through to see the lands he takes you through. This place that Jeset has shown you is different in having no signs of feeding on its damned. Instead, they show blisters, poxes, sores and pustules of the diseases of Mallia. Jeset says: “Ahh, the Swamp earns its name again. You would face disease here. You could seek and confront it.” Ahappi asks what you'd gain from that, and Jeset wryly replies, “Nothing.” And adds that he senses Mallia's spirits of disease here [yes, there were five not-so-nice spirits waiting to pounce here]. So you (wisely) choose not to face the Death power of Mallia.

You take your final squelching steps out of the rotten muck of the Swamp, pushing aside the last pallid branch of a zombie-tree and seeing one last damned corpse staring blankly up at you from its half-buried position in a hillock of offal. Now you stand squinting on a rocky plain that rises ahead toward highlands that form a jagged wall of black rock. The plain sports strange twisted spires of its crumbling, charcoal-like stone, scattered apart unevenly and sparsely. Some spires only rise a metre, others towering beyond even Darksight into the Underworld-air. Across the landscape coming the loping figures of the band of Uzko that you met before in the swamp. The shade of Jeset turns from surveying this landscape and the trolls to looking intently at Bog and Ahappi, and he whispers to them. “There were more things tainted of Chaos in that swamp than usual, and that is an ill tiding indeed. I can go no further as your guide. You must choose your path, and find your way in the terrible Helldark toward the path's end. Ahead in the highland lies the Hellmouth; it was from there that Chaos conquered Hell; and it is a fortress of Valkalta, looking over her Demon Pit and more. And yes, there are demons there, more than you can imagine. But you might not take the trail to that fortress, and instead go to the Empty Mountain; its cloven peak is unmistakable amongst the highlands. When Umath cut down the Predark of Chaos with the Seven Powers, he hurled the Howling Void down into the Great Fissure of the Empty Mountain. It was there that Nontraya the Taker and Waster was imprisoned. It remains the home of Nontraya, and of Gark the Calm, and of Vivamort - it is a primal source of undeath in the world. So you will not be surprised to find more undead there. I wish I had better news, but you have come far, and further you must strive to go before your quest's end, which now is not so far beyond it all.” You discuss, with many different views, and finally agree that you will go the route to the Hellmouth and face demons; Shrett likes that, and Boamund a bit too; Ahappi was initially concerned then emboldened to face Valkalta, and Fraud was hoping to slay some undead. Bog wasn't so sure. [The Empty Mountain would have held three vampires for you; too bad!]

Then Jeset comes closer to Bog, reaching out skeletal fingers that lengthen impossibly as his arm extends as his troll-skull grins. He whispers, “This is the dance you will need to do at Dredge; the Dance of Zu-Zor-Xen. Do it well, and sing the song I taught you, and good things will happen.” He touches Bog's forehead and it tingles, spreading across his body; and he learns a new dance to awaken those stuck in false darkness, with the power of Hate, and bring them to the land of night. Bog thanks him. Jeset then vanishes.

The Uz approach… Somehow you have the feeling this will be the final time you see anything friendly, for quite some time.

For Friday

-John

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