September 15, cont
Robyn has wandered off into the woods, saying he had "something to do" and
will be back shortly. I have set Gaius to cutting fodder for the mules,
and Alfredus is fixing the gates as best he can, so we can give them the
run of the stockade. He has already located me a stout room, some
shackles, and the hobgoblins' stores. I trust our prisoners will be
tolerably comfortable tomorrow when we go down. I have ostentatiously
made the circuit of the stockade chanting prayers in Achaean, which can do
no harm and may do good, and told them, in my character as the pirate
witch, that I have laid a barrier of curses, which will bring eternal ill
luck to anyone hostile to us who crosses it, so even if it takes us
several days to penetrate and conquer the Tomb, and they see a method of
escape, they will, I trust, fear to do so.
September 16 - Robyn came back late in the afternoon yesterday, presenting an
astonishing appearance, with streaks of red paint all over his face. We
are used to Robyn's being odd, but this made us stare! He said he had
conducted an elven ranger's ritual which would give him an edge against
the undead we expected to encounter, and then went and got his supper.
We breakfasted at dawn, then proceeded to the door. Decimus, Tamara, and
Alfredus between them had determined that it was protected by traps and
runes, some of which seemed to provide a barrier against extraplanar
creatures - whether to keep them out, or in, we could not tell. Deciding
that our best course would be to bypass these entirely, I shaped the stone
of the door into an opening wide and tall enough for us all to pass. This
disturbed only the inevitable "fire trap" spell, but since Decimus had
taken the precaution of protecting me from fire, I was but mildly singed.
The stairs continued straight down without a landing. We arranged
ourselves with Alfredus in the lead, Decimus in the rear, and Gaius in the
middle with Decimus's everburning torch, and down we went.
The door at the foot of the stairs provided little challenge and admitted
us to a large, bare, surprisingly unornamented hall, supported by rows of
pillars. Presuming that the Archmagi would have laid traps on the direct
route to the double doors at the opposite end, we proceeded by the right
hand rule to go around the side of the room - spiking the doors open as we
went, to provide an open line of retreat in case of disaster. The double
doors opened into a corridor or long room, with doors at either end and
plugs in the lower parts of the walls, and small holes in the upper.
These seemed to us certain to be part of a trap, but our efforts could not
uncover the mechanism, and at length Tamara picked the lock on the door to
the next room, and opened it.
The next few moments are confused in my memory, for first the ground
opened under my feet, and then I was nearly choking as Alfredus hung me
suspended from the neck of the chain shirt I had borrowed from a dead
hobgoblin. Gas was pouring down from the holes near the ceiling, Tamara
and Gaius were impaled on spikes at the bottom of the pit, and we were
being pelted from the sides with spears and from ahead with arrows. We
all drank anti-toxin and Decimus flew down with a healing potion to
retrieve Gaius, whose appearance frightened me a good deal and caused me
to regret having brought him. Tamara climbed out of the pit and I don't
remember precisely what Robyn and Alfredus were doing, except that Robyn
told me there were skeletons firing the arrows at us about sixty feet
ahead. I consequently stepped into the room, holding up my holy symbol
and beginning the ritual of banishment; alas, I once again observed the
right-hand rule, and found the floor once again opening beneath me, this
time with no one to catch me before I went skidding down a chute like a
load of turnips into a cellar.
The chute was narrow, and I managed without much contrivance to wedge my
quarterstaff across it. Unfortunately, I could not manage to keep hold of
my quarterstaff, and proceeded down the chute without it, losing the top
layer of skin on my hands in the process. Before I had time to try again
with a javelin, I shot out the bottom and landed on something not quite as
soft as I would have liked it to be. I lit my candle and examined my
surroundings, which proved to be a cage in the middle of a space which
extended far beyond the range of my light. Outside the cage, I observed
tracks like an exceptionally large bird's with an exceptionally long and
drooping tail. The ceiling was well beyond my reach, and I began to
recite prayers for assistance while I puzzled how best to proceed.
I was in the middle of a prayer when a voice said, in Achaean: "That's a
new one. Who's that you're praying to?" I continued the prayer while the
question was repeated, once in Celestial and once in an unfamiliar tongue.
When done, I responded, also in Celestial: "Speaking this language, you
ought to know him."
The speaker came then within the circle of my light. He was about as
tall
as Gaius if he sat on Alfredus's shoulders, of vaguely reptiloid
appearance, carnivorous teeth, a long tail, baleful red eyes, and birdlike
feet. On the whole, though I did not recognize his species, I thought him
unlikely to be a servant of good, though I reminded myself that one must
not be too hasty to judge by appearances. We had a surprisingly, if
bizarrely, courteous conversation. I seemed to amuse him; at any rate, he
laughed a good deal. I suppose several centuries of his own company had
him dreadfully bored. One interesting detail he - let slip? attempted to
disarm me with? - was that the Archmagi had gone through a portal in
another place, which from his description I believe to have been the one
we discovered in the tomb on Uncle's property. I attempted to convince
him that Uncle, as the present possessor of the portal, was the heir to
the Archmagi, but when I couldn't tell him the passwords he naturally
dismissed the claim. Ah, well, it was worth a try! He in turn flattered
me, and we discussed the degree of latitude his orders gave him in
protecting the contents of the tomb.
About this time I heard Alfredus calling down to me. I called up,
warning
him not to slide down, as my quarterstaff was blocking the way, but it was
too late. He appears to have leapt into the chute the moment he heard my
voice, for in scarcely any time my staff came clattering out and Alfredus
followed in a heap, with a rope tied to his belt.
Alfredus, as ever, was nothing loathe to engage in conversation, and our
host chose this time to offer us the freedom of the tomb if we would
merely removed some "trifling runes" in a certain place. This clearly
referred to the runes Decimus had located on the door. Though somewhat
doubtful of our ability to defeat an extraplanar guardian in a fight,
whether fair or unfair, I could not entertain the idea and decided that it
was time to retreat. I placed "protection from evil" on Alfredus, since
he would have to follow me to keep me from slipping back down, and only
just in time, for our host said we had left him no alternative to
destroying us and began spellcasting. By Orus's grace his spells had no
effect, and Alfredus saw him teleport just before Alfredus snuffed out my
candle and followed me up the chute.
On the floor above, the others had not been idle, but were engaged in
battling skeletons at one end of the room. I ran up to assist them, and
was assailed by arrows from slits in the walls. However, the remaining
skeletons were rapidly turned to dust and I used the wand to heal those
who had suffered, while those who were whole examined the room we were in.
Gaius was quite pleased with himself for smashing one skeleton to pieces
all by himself, and I fear he will be hard to leave behind on the next
expedition, though I would have thought getting three spikes through the
torso would be sufficient to discourage anyone.
The room we were in was again large and surprisingly unadorned, with only
the door by which we had entered and one other on the left hand wall.
Since the tomb to this point had been entirely symmetrical (we suppose; we
never took time to see if a matching chute waited on the left side of the
door), Robyn focused on the right hand wall directly opposite the obvious
door, and indeed discovered a secret passage. It was trapped, but
Alfredus was able to work out the nature of the trap, and we sprung it by
standing back and striking it with a staff. There may or may not have
still been an effective poison on the needle, but if nothing else it was
rusty, and created a risk of tetanus.
Here at last we found a room worthy of the Archmagi, lit by everburning
torches and decorated with frescos. Before we could examine the interior,
however, Decimus removed one of the torches and set off an alarm in the
form of a mouth that opened in the wall, crying: "Thief, thief!" This
summoned a group of Achaean zombies, most of whom resisted my ability to
banish them.
We struck back with good effect. Even I hit one with a javelin, though
not very hard. I grew a trifle uneasy when a mummy came shuffling out
behind them, but I never had to found out whether I would have been up to
the challenge. Before I could make the attempt to turn it, Robyn
instructed Gaius to take the alchemist's fire out of his pack, smash the
bottle on the ground, dip three arrows in it, hand them off, and stand
back. He did so, and Robyn shot all three into the mummy's chest, sending
him up in flames. It was a spectacular revenge for his case of mummy rot,
and Gaius cheered. With such an example before us, defeating the
remaining abominations was simplicity itself.
The frescos in this room depicted the history of the island as
interpreted
by the Archmagi, and tended to confirm the story told by the hobgoblins -
except that the hobgoblins and other monsters were gated in to serve the
Archmagi. The final scenes had not progressed past the first sketches,
and were impossible to render into a clear story. There was a stone
throne between the two recessed doors through which the undead had come,
but it hid no secrets, and a diligent search produced no secret doors, so
we proceeded to the next room.
Here we found wonderful things - a sarcophagus, chests of jewelry and
gold, weapons and armor on stands, a marvelous gold and silver castle, art
of all kinds, an amulet, scrolls, potions, etc. Decimus detected magic,
and we divided up the magic jewelry, weapons, and armor among us, though
we had no idea what functions any of it might have. Alfredus, who has
been after me for weeks to get a breastplate, asked me pointedly if the
magical one in the horde were pretty enough for me, and when I
acknowledged that it was, the chorus for me to put it on was universal. I
suppose it was as comfortable as such things ever are. Robyn put on a
magical chain shirt, and Gaius was temporarily equipped with a suit of
magical studded leather armor, to replace the leather armor Robyn had
originally loaned the boy, and which was now full of holes.
One feature of the room which attracted lively speculation was a trapdoor
in the ceiling. At Robyn's suggestion, we moved the treasure into the
adjacent room. With me standing ready in the doorway in case of need, and
everyone else waiting safely in the throne room, Robyn tripped the
mechanism to reveal an iron ladder, which when it reached the floor kept
going, pushing down a flagstone which we hadn't even suspected of
concealing a door.
With high hopes of finding the library at last, we went down. Instead,
we
found a small and hideous temple, dedicated as well as I could judge to
Hades, the Achaean god of death and the underworld. So foul and perverted
was the cult of Hades, at least as conducted by the Archmagi, that the
altar had shackles attached to it. An eerie glow provided dim
illumination to the chamber, from what source we could not see.
Half-fearing what we would see, we proceeded down a corridor, and were
soon confronted by the doors of cells, where no doubt the victims of that
ghastly altar were kept till wanted. Two were empty, but one, Robyn
reported in surprise when he looked through the peephole, contained a
kneeling figure, absolutely still, but still clothed in flesh.
We had encountered so much evil here that the others were reluctant to
let
me in alone, but I was not going to have the corpse of a holy man mauled
about by any frightened layman, and if this should prove a trap, it was
surely of a type which I was better equipped to face than any of the
others, so Tamara picked the lock and in I went.
There is no doubt in my mind that the man in the cell was a saint in
life. His flesh, though emaciated, was uncorrupted. He was dressed in
the
attire familiar from depictions of the age of martyrs, and he wore a
beautiful symbol of Orus around his neck. Recalling the reptilian
guardian's promise to destroy us, I thought it wise to fortify ourselves
with a saintly relic, so after administering the last rites and having
Tamara unlock the shackles that bound him hand and foot, I traded my
symbol for his own.
Unable to find another exit or to do more for the holy man at this time,
we retreated, leaving the stair open behind us, and proceeded back the way
we had come. When we came to the obvious door in the room where we had
found the secret door, we saw for the first time the word "Repository"
written above it. The corridor beyond led to a grid of straight hallways,
where we discovered at last one of the things that had so amused our host.
The great library of the Archmagi is carved into the rock. Each stack is
200 feet long and ten feet high, with approximately one page per square
foot. There are 100 stacks.
Decimus nearly wept, and I was taken aback myself. The only practical
way
to retrieve the knowledge here is for Uncle, in conjunction with other
reliable mages, to return here, pacify the islanders, and set up a
foundation to curate these carvings properly. Some of the material is
outdated, some revolutionary. With the best will in the world, Decimus
and I could not even choose which portions would be most worth copying.
We located a catalog, which in itself was too large for our stock of
paper, but I began taking rubbings of the index of spells. Someone
noticed the location of the section on extraplanar beings, and soon called
me over to see if I could identify our host. His picture was indeed
engraved upon the wall, and he was identified as a hamatula devil. We
were just reading about his abilities, seeking for a mention of a
weakness, when he said, behind us: "Interesting reading, is it not?"
The aisles between the stacks are only five feet wide. If we attempted
to
fight him, we would be tripping over each other. I stepped between him
and Gaius, and we had another bizarre conversation. I feigned
indifference to the collection as outmoded, all the while hoping that
someone would produce a brilliant plan to get us away from here, and
wondering whether sufficient holiness had soaked into our saint's symbol
over the years to enable me to hold him back while the others ran out.
Suddenly Decimus shouted "No!" and hurled a lightning bolt down the
aisle. It went out like a snuffed candle, and the devil growled: "You
should have
taken the deal," and cast a foul black cloud over us, which caused us
enormous pain and oppressed our spirits. Tamara, skipping backwards out
of it, ran away. Alfredus told me to heal him now and, hefting his ax,
declared his intent to keep attacking until he or it fell. I barely had
time to touch him with the wand before he ran berserk - I have never seen
him do this at so close a range before, and I hope I never do again - and
charged. Robyn shot with his bow, and I think hit twice, but even so good
a shot as he would not be able to keep firing past Alfredus. Certain he
was about to sacrifice himself for all of us, I raised the saint's holy
symbol, desperately praying that Orus and the unknown saint would favor
us, but before I could attempt banishment, Orus chose to manifest his
power through Alfredus. The new great ax came down directly on the
devil's forehead, and did not stop until it clanged against the stone
floor.
None of us believed in it at first - least of all Alfredus, who kept
hacking at the two halves of the body, but the expression on Tamara's face
as she ran up from the opposite direction, grimly determined to grapple
with the foul fiend from behind and give Alfredus a fighting chance, shook
us out of our shock and we were suddenly all laughing and crying and
trembling.
Everything from that point was anticlimax. We explored the rest of the
tomb, destroyed a few more skeletons, and, led by Robyn, located the
devil's lair – containing a chest filled with gold, two potions and a
wand.
Decimus's seemingly mad attack had been prompted by the fiend's probing
his mind and offering him a chest of portable books, and our limited
knowledge of the habits of devils indicated that he would not have
promised something he did not have. Sure enough, a chest full of books in
scroll form was hidden behind several stone panels in the repository.
We have hauled the portable treasures into the stockade, and all are busy
and cheerful, except Decimus, who seems subdued that his lightning bolt
did so little. I know the signs. The number of times he has been crucial
to our survival are forgotten, the courage and promptness with which he
rescued Gaius from the pit counts for nothing, ditto his importance in our
conquest of the hobgoblin's, and he's going to shut himself up in himself
and feel inadequate. I must tackle him on this subject, but right now I
am too tired.
Tamara and Alfredus are inventorying the treasure and estimating values.
Robyn is drawing a large ouroboros on the floor of the room in front of
the repository, so we will be able to help Uncle teleport directly here
when he is ready. Since we cannot carry off the books, we must return,
which means we must take precautions against our rivals coming after us,
copying everything they want unmolested by devils and mummies, and
obliterating it.
September 17 - I spoke to the empty shell of the martyr, and it told me that
in life it belonged to Theodosius, that the archmagi had abandoned this
place because they did not trust each other long enough to finish it, and
that they left him here to starve out of cruelty. So much for my hope
that his prayers had made life so uncomfortable for them that they fled!
Everyone save Decimus cheerfully assisted me in desecrating the Hadean
temple. If I can't bring Theodosius to a resting place suitable for him,
I can make the place where he rests suitable for him.
Decimus has been crouched in the repository learning spells all day. He
says he's going to stop learning combat spells and concentrate on spells,
such as cat's grace and bull's strength, that will enable the rest of us
to shine. Tamara is trying to jolly him out of it, to no particular
effect. When we split up the treasure, he focused on the costliest items,
which he intends to spend making potions, wands, etc. Tamara took what
she liked, but she has expensive tastes. Alfredus and Robyn, the heroes
of the day, may have the smallest shares of treasure in terms of monetary
value; but Alfredus has his magic great ax (which he thinks is
specifically enchanted to slay devils, but I think it unlikely) and the
most powerfully enchanted armor, made of the hides of wolves and bears.
As for Robyn, he is clearly interested in the monetary value, but when he
saw me looking wistfully at a gold and pearl necklace that he had taken in
his share, and saw that it matched a set of earrings in my pile, he
suggested trading for a much less valuable item. In my weakness I let him
- after all, he would never have worn it! I will recommend him and
Alfredus for particular attention when Uncle assesses combat bonuses.
I must give Gaius a combat bonus, too, but it's a hard task. There's
little here suitable for a boy, and I must remember that he will have to
go back to living with the boys in the servants' quarters eventually. It
won't do for him to have something too conspicuously different or
valuable.
I will certainly let him keep the gladius and give him some cash, and
Robyn was talking of letting him have something he doesn't need anymore, a
ring of protection I believe. But he ought to have something special.
September 18 - Thanks to Orus, stone shape, and Robyn's artistic guidance, the
Hadean temple is transformed! I have made a resting place for St.
Theodosius, all decorated with proper symbols and as pleasant as I can
make it. I wanted to lay him to rest on something, but the tapestries in
the treasure room are fragile and secular, and I brought no good fabric,
not anticipating a need for it.
Gaius has found a swimming hole, and we all took refreshing dips.
Alfredus is making a new poem, about the sacking of the tomb of the
archmages, Alfred Devilslayer and Robyn, Hunter of the Dead. We are all
to have barbarian style descriptive soubriquets. Gaius is full of
suggestions for his own cognomen. I fear it will be impossible not to
render my tumble down the chute as comedy.
September 19 - Wrenched Decimus away from his spell books, and dedicated St.
Theodosius's resting place with a full complement of worshipers. He
should be safe from relic hunters and necromancers, especially once we
carry out our plan. We have closed him up in the reconsecrated temple
with the clean light of an everburning torch to replace the unholy
radiance that had previously lit the area. This would be a grand site for
an abbey. I should have asked his corpse more questions, but even though
I know his soul is safely departed, it seems disrespectful to keep
badgering him. I wonder if I can find out anything about him back home?
September 20 - Got up very early this morning and finished finding out all I
could with identify spells, which was tolerably tiring. I then
stone-shaped closed the entrance to the repository, so that no trace of it
remains; and with dig, stone shape, and some plain hard work we closed and
disguised the entrance to the tomb.
Checking one last time on our prisoners, I explained that I had activated
the tomb's self-destruct mechanism (which sounds plausible, actually,
given what soreheads the archmagi were!), and their king and his mages
were welcome to poke around and try to re-open it, but they weren't likely
to succeed. The captain cursed me so roundly I was glad Gaius was safely
outside helping Robyn and Alfredus (his new heroes!) to pack the mules.
Alfredus thought we might make life easier on the captain if we could give
him some small success to show, such as leaving him a magic item; but I
think this would more likely to be seen as evidence of treachery than not.
He may see more mercy from his master as a complete failure than as a
partial one.
We rode off as if toward the elven kingdom (assuming it to be where it is
marked on our map, which is far from certain - the giants were not in the
right place), and in the morning will, using marathon's prowess, double
back to the ship. After that, we shall see. Now that we have
accomplished our primary goal, as well as we were able, it is time to
think of the secondary one. Greta and Ludo - and Tamara, for that matter
- if not precisely safe here, are at least safe from the efforts of their
enemies to scry them. Decimus is disappointed not to be seeking out the
elven ruins, and needs another chance to shine.
For my own part, I can't help thinking that our St. Theodosius deserves
more than a lonely tomb beneath a land crawling with monsters. I was
thinking Uncle and some selected friends should come here and take control
of the repository; but a library can hardly exist well in the wilderness.
Would it not be to everyone's benefit and the glory of Orus, if, some time
after the defeat of the Gilded Leagues, this island should become a part
of the Tarantine Empire? The Island of St. Theodosius - no longer a
pirate haven, but a place of pilgrimage, the site of great learning, and a
base from which to protect shipping and spread the truth of Orus!
It would be so much easier to promote this project if we had a proper
survey of the island. Could we not, having unloaded the treasure and
secured a safe base of operation, quietly explore and make notes on the
geography, features, and defenses of the various lawless societies here?
I must discuss it with the others, and with the captain, who I know wants
to be in a safe harbor before the storm season. I wonder how worried
Uncle would be if we overwintered? I wonder how inconvenient it would be
for him to be without us for so long? It depends, I suppose, on what the
Emperor requires of him after receiving the news he bore.
September 21 - I brought up the subject of the survey last night, and Decimus,
saying he thought he had seen a map among the "portables" (as we are
calling the non-magical scrolls), brought out a treatise on magic and the
island, which did indeed contain a map showing terrain features and spots
labeled ambiguously as "magically interesting; to be investigated." It is
not clear from the map whether these spots are nexii, sacred sites,
concentrations of elven magic, or some other features, but Uncle would
certainly consider us very lax indeed if we hurried home without
investigating at least some of these features. Storm season begins in
October, but I don't believe it is really bad until deeper winter, and if
we do not stop in Freeport, we can gain an extra week's grace.
