With only a few random encounters with some monsters in the wild, which seems to be an inevitability in a world that is generally inhospitable to easy going wanderers, the party found their way into the mountains of western Amabala. Regarding creatures in the wild, it is a common misconception that large, scaly monsters steal away heroines and the daughters of townsfolk in order to, somehow, mate with them. They generally make off with females because they tend to smell better than their male counterparts regardless of species, and therefore should taste better, and they generally have less upper body strength to contend with.
The Amabaliesian Rangers do little to tame the mountain ranges, but a few passable roads are always kept open mostly for caravans and other traders. Once Raislin got his bearings, he managed to bring the group to the far side of the range where the road to the underground castle had been. All that was left now, however, was a cattle trail. But, it appeared to have seen some recent use from a few wagons and horses.
Raislin dismounted and looked at the tracks. "Three riders, I'd guess, and two wagons. It looks like they rode in, made a drop, then left the same day. Probably Gnomish traders hired to drop off some food and supplies that were too heavy to teleport. It looks as if our hunch was correct. The Lich's old castle is open for business once again."
Nostromo looked the tracks over also then asked, "Is there another, less direct way in? We will be seen coming down that path hours ahead of our arrival."
"Yes, " replied the Sorcerer. "Well, that is to say, sort of. There was a side entrance but that was blocked off during the last siege on this place. I'll have to cast either a Dig or Rock-to-Mud spell to open up the passageway again. A trivial matter, but it could get messy. We can ride close to it under cover of the trees then let darkness mask our intrusion. Sound like a plan?"
The group talked it over for a few moments then decided that is what they would do. Once inside the lair, however, they had no plans. They would have to just find the main hall or wherever the Lich was, then kill it before it could summon too much help from other, more diabolical planes of existence. It seemed unlikely that many of the old traps and wards that had been in place during the last reign of the Lich-Lord would have been repaired so soon, but Gomer was about to earn his keep by making sure the party stayed out of such harm's way. There would be little honor in being killed by a thousand year old trap.
The standby passage that Raislin remembered was not easily found. But, just as the sun was setting, Gomer happened across a small opening that let a breeze blow through. Centuries of earth and stone had to be removed but, as Raislin suggested, a few straight forward spells made the tunnel usable again.
The trek through the tunnel and into the main chambers of the underground stronghold was uneventful, but the ease of this adventure was about to disappear completely. As far as Raislin could remember, the layout of this fortress was circular. There were a few storerooms and bunk rooms along the periphery of the outer circle, then there lay a great hall and its surrounding chambers in the center of the mountain. The great hall was nearly spherical and was meant for spell casting and divination. If the Lich was not using that hall for the center of its operations, it would only be because it had suffered a cave in.
As luck would have it, although certainly not good luck, not long after the party had entered the old keep, they rounded the last outer circle of rooms and directly into the presence of some kind of guard staff. There were perhaps six or seven of them and they seemed to be moving some things around to make one more of the ancient rooms usable. A few of the guards were human, but the rest were certainly not, probably being Ogrish mongrels of some kind.
Without a moment's hesitation, Nostromo and Lotus launched into the pack with mace and axe tearing into flesh and armor. Maewyn let loose arrows, Gomer sought to work his way through the passage behind the guards, and Raislin was chanting a spell to incinerate the rearmost creatures. Lotus caught the first of the men, seemingly, by total surprise and he received an incapacitating blow to his head as he looked up from his work pie-eyed and confused. Being a guard, apparently, did not necessarily require one to either have keen instincts or cunning reflexes. Nostromo moved past the first guard in his path, slashed a first sub-human open, pivoted slightly to hack another creature who already had an arrow in its chest, then spun to his rear to catch the third guard in the stomach just as he was drawing his weapon.
Arrows struck the guards Nostromo had not killed in his first volley of attacks. Then, the room was lit up and the air split by a lightning bolt that jumped from the tips of Raislin's fingers into the rearmost guard. Never let it be said that a metal shield is the best protection one can have from a plasmatic stream of ionized particles traveling at near the speed of light for the guard intercepting the bolt died almost immediately. The last guard, who was suddenly standing beside a sizzling lump of armored flesh, made to turn and run but Gomer caught him in the throat with his short sword. The man actually made a counter attack on the Rogue, but another two slashes from Gomer sent the guard to his reward or whatever was waiting to take his ill used soul.
Gomer said with a bit of frown, "That was surprisingly easy. Those guys were terrible!"
Raislin made to rifle the corpses quickly and replied, "Truly. They must have been recruited on short notice. I suspect the Lich is not expecting company so soon."
"No, but I am," said a quiet voice from just inside the next room. The party turned to see the man they had awoken from the crystal case standing a few feet behind Gomer and clad in exquisite armor. "Tell me where my great-grandfather's jeweled dagger is and I will kill you quickly."
Gomer put the plainest expression on his face that he could muster and suddenly felt the dagger in his pack. Nothing about it had changed but it seemed such a burden to him all of the sudden. "The gems in it aren't exactly rare, you know. I can tell you where we left it for a modest fee."
The man shook his head as if a gnat had just passed by his ear and replied, "It is a family heirloom. Its sentimental value eclipses any monetary sum placeable on it. If you sold it, I will have to cut your hands off, little man."
Nostromo had just had his fill of this conversation and interjected, "Yeah, good luck with that. Glad to see you are wearing pants this time. I hate to tell you, but the reflection put off by your pasty legs is rather off-putting. Now, let's you and I dance." Nothing more needed to be said as the man ripped his long sword from its sheath. Then, he and Nostromo engaged in a frantic foray.
First, second, and third blood was spilt by the Man, but Nostromo did finally manage to find some flesh under the thick armor. "I knew you could bleed. By the by," said Nostromo in a slight lull of the battle, "what is your name? We already have a Man-in-Black and need no other mysterious monikers to remember."
"Oh, the Man in Black," replied the Man. "How is the old coot anyway?" he continued as he made a huge lunge at the hero. But, the blow was redirected as Raislin had entered the battle after seeing that the Man was mortal. "It is Kyliodious Septarick III, since you asked."
Gomer all but yelled, "Aha! That crystal case had, uh, some other name written on it. I knew you stole it. It's what I would have done; so much easier than having a contraption like that made for you." The man did not seem to notice the Rogue as Maewyn had also joined the battle. Her bow seemed to flow into the form of a sword as she rushed Kyliodious's back.
The Man fought the three of them and seemed to be taking a pretty fair beating after a while. As great of a swordsman as he was and as tough as his armor was, the three good swordsmen who all possessed enchanted weapons were slowly getting the better of him. Each person involved was receiving their fair share of cuts but he was receiving more of them. He suddenly stepped back into Maewyn, swept her leg, and threw her into Raislin. He then let out a loud laugh and ran into the next room. Raislin knew this to be the great hall and told the group to be prepared for whatever was there. By this time, the Lich and whoever else was in the stronghold knew they had unwelcome vi
sitors.
The party had to stop as Nostromo insisted on Lotus healing everyone injured as best as she could using her Healing Rod. Fighting while hemorrhaging is a thing best avoided. Then, with somewhat of a swagger, Nostromo marched into the great hall and announced to the horrid figure on a pedestal at the center of the room, "I am Nostromo Stratocaster of the clan Stratocaster. Your return to this realm is to be put to an end, foul creature of darkness!"
The Lich lord was sitting on a throne constructed entirely of dark bones. At first glance the creature appeared to be little more than a skeleton covered in desiccated flesh wearing lavish but very old, threadbare robes. On his pate sat a thin iron crown but his hands were empty of devices and seemed to be in want of a scepter or staff. The hall was a very large, hollow cavern of brown stone lit by evenly placed torches along its walls. At its center was a platform poised on top of a column of marble that had a single staircase running from its foremost edge down to the floor in front of the party. At the top of the stairs bowing at his master's feet was the Man. The Lich rose slowly, his eyes glowing a deep, menacing red, and raised its arms. The party braced itself for whatever was about to ensue. A wind of sheer ice ripped through the hall and knocked them all back. The joints in Nostromo's armor were almost frozen solid and Gomer had to pull his cloak around him to ward of the biting chill. Lotus had a thin layer of frost form around her hair that appeared to be a tiara of pure crystal that made her look a little taller. Maewyn had become a blur as she ran up the stairs towards the Lich and Raislin was already casting a spell of his own.
Maewyn tried to run past Kyliodious but it was no use, the stairs leading up to the throne were too narrow and she wound up being knocked over the side of the dais by a short lunge from the Man. She managed to land with a roll and seemed little worse for wear. The shiny sword in her hand flowed into the form of a bow and she immediately launched a single arrow at the Lich. It struck him to no affect. The rest of the party was moving almost normally by this time but the frostbite on Gomer's arms was slowing down his reactions.
Raislin finished his chanting and a massive ball of flame appeared all around the Lich and his lackey. However, to the discriminating eye, it was obvious that there was a shield of some kind around the creature and the fire came nowhere near touching him. As the Lich began another spell, Raislin quickly conjured a Missile attack. This type of missile was not actually physical in nature and it never missed its intended target. This time, however, it seemed to have no affect on the target whatsoever. Raislin stopped and just pondered this for a moment.
Just after the fireball erupted, Nostromo made to run up the stairs on his own. He was met in the middle of the flight by Kyliodious. Blood dripped from several wounds on his body but the smirk on his face was ever present. He said calmly, "Stratocaster is it? I do like your axe so I think I will mount it above my mantel this evening." As he spoke, he pulled out a pendant from a pocket on his belt. He rubbed the gem at its center and mumbled something to it. As he did this, he was bathed in a pale light and all of his wounds disappeared as if they had never been.
Lotus said from the bottom on the stairs, "He has cast Heal on himself. This forebodes ill."
Nostromo backed down the stairs quickly then he and Lotus attacked the Man. Raislin and Maewyn were concentrating on attacking the Lich with arrow and spell, but nothing they did seemed to have any effect of the creature. After several moments of what was little more than Kyliodious wounding the Fighter and Cleric twice for every minor wound he received and the Lich Lord remaining unscathed, the party members were each struck in turn by a blast of lightning, even Gomer who was hiding by the stairs and seemed to be waiting for a good moments to back-stab the Man. The Lich's spells were potent and it seemed to be casting them at a relaxed pace.
The man knocked Nostromo backwards and Gomer leapt forward, his short sword seeking the base of Kyliodious's spine. However, the sword glanced off of the Man's helmet and Gomer caught a nasty blow from the Man's sword. "Raislin!" yelled Nostromo, "why are your spells failing? We are dying!"
Raislin was standing motionless still surrounded by a pale smoke from where the initial, most potent bolt of lightning had struck him. He seemed lost in thought but did reply, "The Lich bastard must have an anti-magic shell around itself. That makes it immune to magicks and even our enchanted weapons will be normal inside of that sphere."
"We shall see about that," intoned the Fighter with a fire in his voice. He held up his left hand that wore the ring Maewyn had given him and he commanded it to lose its fury upon the invisible Shield. A blue-white cone of force bent the air in front of Nostromo and bathed the invisible sphere around the Lich in an unholy light. "Now, your turn!" he said and then let off another disintegration beam directly at the Lich itself.
Raislin tried to yell something before Nostromo could do this, but did not have time. Just as the second beam ended, leaving the Lich wholly unaffected, he said, "Incidentally, Strats, disintegration has no affect on an Anti-magic sphere. It isn't powerful enough."
At this, the Man who had been engaged with the Rogue and Cleric just started laughing. His laugh swelled into a roaring cackle and was enjoined by the Lich's raspy voice that brought the merriment to a crescendo. The party decided to retreat back to the hallway they had come from. Nothing tried to stop them and only the laughter nipped at their heels.
Lotus took the time to heal the group of their cuts, electrical burns, and frostbite with the Rod as Nostromo said the obvious, "Remember my concerns about being outmatched? Since he knows who we are now, he doesn't even have to kill us. He can have bounty hunters or religious fanatics do that for him." Raislin nodded and his eyes were wide and excited.
Lotus spoke softly while she placed the Rod into her pack, "The Rod is used up. We are all healed fully but I can cast only a few more spells, although we do have some healing potions. We will not be able to withstand much more of such injury as we have just received." Raislin started pacing back and forth.
"I'll bet he is gating in a Demon to chase us down anyway," added Gomer. "I feel sure that there is treasure in the next rooms. I can smell it! I hate having to leave it."
Maewyn said in a dull voice, "I am not leaving. I am going to stay and fight. I will not leave my parent's work undone." The rest of the party just stared at her and was at a loss. "I would rather die than run away," was all that she added. Raislin's eyes seem to grow even wider and he began to move about more rapidly.
Lotus asked, "What are we to do then? What? Calling on my Deity would be a waste of time. She does not interfere with mortals very often."
"Decide! We must decide what we are going to do!" Raislin interjected with an excitement in his voice he did not even try to contain.
The party continued to debate for a moment all the while waiting for something horrid to appear in the hallway with them. All the while, Raislin seemed to grow more and more agitated and excited as if the mere act of waiting for a decision was killing him. After a few minutes of such debate, he suddenly let out a cry and disappeared.
"What is his deal?" asked Gomer.
Maewyn had to keep herself from politely cursing and replied, "That is the twitchiness I told you about. We had best get in there. He is probably flying around the hall giggling and smashing things. He does love his Flying spells. If I can keep the Lich engaged directly, it might not throw spells at more than one of us at a time!"
The four rushed back into the great hall and there was an unattached voice swooping around the vaulted room cackling. The Lich and Kyliodious were glancing around looking for the culprit. The Dandy looked at the group and said with mockery dripping from his tongue, "Back so soon? We felt certain you were well on your way to some seedy hole to hide in by now. You looked quite the fools running away like that. We were just about to summon some dogs to loose on you. You will be happy to know that my idea of using Demons to track you down won out over my Lord's idea of using Hell Hounds." And, with that, the Lich began to chant in a da
rk, chilling language. The language of Demons is, by its very nature, unholy. When it is spoken by a well trained person it resembles a child simultaneously throwing a tantrum and trying to imitate a ghost. When it is spoken by a creature that has spent most of its existence undead, which is pretty much un-alive as well, it sounds like coffin lids creaking during a thunderstorm on a moonless night at the bottom of a deep, black well filled not with earth or water, but with shear dread.
Just as the Lich was bringing the spell to a crescendo, the invisibility spell on Raislin was negated by his actions as he swooped down, presumably, just above the top of the invisible Anti-magic shield and flung a large stone onto the creature with as much force as he could muster. The effect was to negate the Lich's invocation in progress and generally startle everyone in the room. Raislin, now seemingly delirious with mirth, continued to swoop down and strike the bone made throne. The Lich erupted with anger and started casting elemental spells of lightning and fire to eradicate the intruder.
Maewyn, once again, became a blur of motion as she darted up the stairs. This time, she sped past Kyliodious and directly engaged the Lich in hand to hand combat. She realized that while the Lich could cast spells with an affect outside of his Anti-Magic sphere, he could not cast any area spell against her while they were both inside of it. With any luck, she could at least wound it.
The Lich was surprised by the sudden confrontation, but not unpleased by it. Ripping the flesh from the living was a pleasant enough pastime after all. It parried the first attack, sword versus honed spikes of bone that were the ends of what was left of its skeletal fingers. The next sword blow bounced off of its age hardened sternum and it retaliated by clawing a deep scratch into Maewyn's shoulder. Having those horrid fingers caress her flesh almost made her scream but she managed, nonetheless, to dodge the next swipe it took at her. She dodged, thrust, and parried in a frenzy of activity for some time before she found a clear opening in the creature's movement. She lunged forward and struck the beast low on the thigh and sent chips of bone and dried sinew flying. It did not seem to notice and kept up its attack. Its inhuman strength sent its talons to rip armor and deflect the Elf's blade.
Tales of Fantasy, Fables, and Fiction Page 5
