Friday 30 December 2011

Dark Sun Marauders - Episode 15

The group finally ascended the magnificent stone edifice that was the ziggurat of Kalak. Each layer of stone was coloured to match that of a rainbow, with red at the top and descending through the colours. Two guards stood implacably at the obsidian stone door and they stood aside at Mavar's command. He gestured and they opened the doors, which swung silently open. The group headed into the darkness, lighting torches as the went in, the door softly clicking into place behind them.
Moving out through one of the 2 doors that led away from the initial pillared room. The walls fashioned entirely from obsidian as the first door was. Making their way along the passage they emerge into a small room, which sported three darkened arches on the far wall. Each arch had an inscription that was written above in common.

The first arch had "Your spirit shall soar with the kestrekels", the second was inscribed with "Your name will go down in the annals of history" and the third was "Your thirst shall be slaked a thousand times".

After some debate the centre arch was chosen and one by one they disappeared through the magical blackness, only to arrive in a small alcove that opened onto an empty room. Exploring further, they came to an enormous room lined with many diverse tapestries and statues, all commemorating famous victories in battle. All were carefully created so that the figure of Kalak was prominent in all of them. The statues were made up of ones of Kalak himself, and some of perhaps his closest military and high ranking Templars.

Garidias was fascinated by one statue of Kalak in particular, in that the weapon seemed to be real rather than carved from the same material as the statue. Along with help from Kulo, and Kuroar! they managed to pry loose the obsidian-bladed spear from the statue.

Taking their new prize, they ventured further into the ziggurat, coming across a series of halls that contained yet more statues. This time, more warrior-like, they stood on guard all around the three rooms. The group investigated the statutes as the moved through the rooms, but once they were all within the centre room, the stone warriors stepped down off their pedestals and moved toward the group, weapons held high.

All fought hard to avoid being surrounded by the stone warriors. Their attacks seemed to cause the stone of the floor to form around their feet, pinning them in place, the shards of obsidian digging into their flesh. Each warrior was surrounded in a palpable aura of dread that only seems to intensify the more there were.

With Kulo, and Beren holding down the warriors at either end, it was up to Garidias, Kuroar! and Gretchan to clear out the centre and then move to help the goliath and the mul as they weakened from the warrior's assault. The fight was bloody and vicious, with several of our heroes succumbing to unconsciousness, but the inspiring words of Garidias kept them in the fight on more than one occasion.

The heroes did triumph and took stock of their wounds for several minutes after they secured the area. During that moment of rest, Garidias received a mental image of an unknown hand driving a spear much like the one he wielded through the body of what appeared to be a defiling mage clad in rich robes. The image came and went quickly.

Continuing on the group emerge in a large room with stairs descending away on either side, but the room also contained several bodies left on the stone floor. Quick investigation of the bodies revealed they had died from blows by a bladed weapon, or claw some time ago. The approx time seemed to coincide with the entrance of the last group sent into the ziggurat. On one of the bodies a small amulet was found around the neck and a check revealed it to be an Amulet of Life, which had clearly not helped its previous owner.

There was however a streak of blood that led off down one set of stairs. Gretchan's healing knowledge concluded that there had clearly been another member of the group that was either dead or dying and had been dragged from where they fell and down the stairs. With that ominous thought, the group descended the stairs, which wrapped around the main body of the room and descended below...