Session 02: The Harbingers Reunited

The water within the pool was dark and murky. Purifying it was no easy task, the tangible variables required to perform such a feat were simply non existent in this world. Looked harmless enough though, save the poor smell. Crimson was the first to enter. Moments later, I heard a “clunk” as air bubbles began to surface. Crimson had suck to the bottom, weighed down by her tiny frame and heavy protective gear. Luckily, the dumfounded Wererat was gleefully staring at his small fortune and failed to notice her poor display of athleticism. I dove in and made my way to Crimson. I was able to grab her by the forearm and lifted her several feat, but she would have none of that. She kicked me thus releasing the hold and sunk to the bottom flailing her arms about hopelessly. I looked hard at Crimson and tugged on her shield; she bashed me in the nose in response and continued to struggle. She slowly made progress and eventually made it to the end of the underwater passageway. When I resurfaced near the entrance, Soulerio was smiling, almost chucking. Then he glanced at me and sighed in discontent. I invited him to join us and he reliantly agreed. He too instantly sunk to the bottom. Again, I offered a helping hand, and he too refused it as he took in water. Crimson sure was pig-headed and Soulerio was just being, a pig. I let him squirm at his request and easily made my way to the next chamber.

We found ourselves in another room, a statue of a Wererat to the east and 2 Kobold guards to the north. The guards simply nodded and looked at us curiously, almost as if awaiting our next course of action. Crimson showed them the 2 marks on her hand, they laughed as they revealed their 3 marks. Sadly that did not give us a clue where to go next. I reluctantly approached Soulerio and asked him why Minion had not followed. As much as I’d hated to admit it; I felt his presence would be beneficial to our cause, as it had in the past. Soulerio agreed but didn’t think he’d pass as a good Wererat, not to mention that he’d have to go back in the water. So I offered to go fetch him myself, Soulerio laughed at me and dared me to try. Back in the alleyway, Minion was hiding in the shadows. I signaled him to come with me; he frightfully refused. As an act of good faith, I attempted to unleash my first Resistive Formula. A little trick I had learned from Meerthan, a skill he too had begun to dabble with. Nothing more than a simple protective infusion, stored within my holy symbol, to be used in case of an emergency. As expected, several areas of his armor had suffused together to grant better protection. Minion was impressed, and even more so when I tried to explain to him that he would be granted an ounce of vitality when in dire need. And with a smile, I had successfully charmed the mindless skeleton into following me. We easily bypassed the Wererat and made our way to the others.

Soulerio was somewhat shocked to see his servant on a leash, more so when he noticed that Minion somewhat approved of me. Soulerio was very happy and relived that Minion was by his side; that much was evident. Soulerio tries so hard to belittle me, but for an instant, I could have sworn he expressed gratitude. Minion did take the Kobolds by surprise however, at that moment I had just remembered that Wererats only take the form of humans; a fact the Kobolds looked to be aware of. I attempted to save face with a lousy story. Luckily, Crimson’s “The Wererat’s Fourth Form” story won them over. Still, an exit to this room remained hidden. In an attempt to progress further, I approached the statue with the intention to inspect it. Unfortunately, I failed to notice the shifty looking tile right in front of me. The floor beneath disappeared, sending me into the depths below. I fell nearly 10 feet and landed awkwardly on my right leg. I heard a “snap” and felt a very sharp pain near my ankle. Even louder were all of those above, mocking me. “Stupid Wererat. Fell for the trap” said the Kobolds. Everyone was having fun at my expense. The pain was short as I quickly mended the wound and I attempted to climb out of the pit, but the walls were too sleek. No one felt the urge to extend a helping hand, this made me very cross. I even attempted to command Minion to approach, “Don’t you dare Minion” Soulerio said firmly. I spent nearly 2 minutes struggling within the pit before escaping.

Just as I made my way out, Crimson bumped into one of the Kobolds, insisting that he help me. The Kobold was annoyed by this, but before he could react, Crimson lunged and pushed him into the pit. She pointed at the other and told him he was next. I for one pointed my wand at him and called him a stupid little Gnome. As expected, he was quite insulted as Kobolds in our world despise them so. Living in Shendilavri all this time has changed me somewhat; I’ve been labeled “A Tease” by some. In retaliation, the runt ignited a stone in flame but felt somewhat compelled to attack Crimson. Sadly, Crimson walked into the inaccurate ranged attack and caught fire. Meanwhile, the other Kobold escaped his prison with ease only to breath in Soulerio’s vile dark cloud. The life essence of both foes were drained away and absorbed into Crimson. Once the vapors faded, Minion was standing before me wailing at the Kobold who had left the pit and Crimson’s ball and chain descended hard upon her chosen foe. I then let out a thunderous shout, “FALL” I yelled. The Kobolds blocked their ears and were pushed back by shear force. My plan somewhat failed as the one near the pit managed to avoid falling back into the trap. In retaliation, one called out for help after missing his mark with a rock. Suddenly, 2 Fire Beetles came into existence near the southern wall. Soulerio sent forth more of his vapors, only this time, one beetle erupted in acidic like boils. Minion slammed and disabled one of the Kobolds and took position between me and the Beetles. All of a sudden, the beetles spewed jets of flame all about the room. Both Crimson and I developed significant burns as Minion dodged aside. Soulerio was fortunate enough to be out of harms way. Again, I heard him chuckle “Yes. Very good Minion” he said. Crimson then rushed passed me to face the second beetle as she was successful at disabling the final Kobold and dousing the lingering flames. I backed off to the northern wall and fooled one of the beetle into thinking Soulerio had attacked it. Its eyes fixated on Soulerio, but had no way to reach him. Both Crimson and Minion made their mark as Soulerio sent forth a ray a vile energy at the Beetle staring at him, shriveling it to nothing. The other spewed more flames burning both Crimson and Minion, both dropped to one knee and began to buckle. Minion called upon the vitality I had promised and he was not disappointed, Soulerio was puzzled by this. The two warriors retaliated and failed to drop their foe. I closed my eyes and pointed my Darkwood wand in Crimsons direction and sent forth a verse from a mysterious melody. The soft and soothing music closed some of her wounds. I commanded the Beetle to crawl back to the rock he came from, unfortunately, he though my pun was lame. Soulerio unleashed his rotting ray and made the beetle disappear. Crimson was most impressed with Soulerio’s dark magics, at that moment, he turned to face me with a sinister smile, “Leave no evidence, that’s my motto” he said.

Clearly I’ve been reading books much too often as of late. One day I’m thwarting Worm Gods, the next I’m struggling against Kobolds and their vermin. I suppose it is only normal as I am but an arcane apprentice now. Battered, burned and bruised, I took a few moments to compose myself. Boasting that he had not taken any damage at all, Soulerio took charge in learning the mechanical properties of the trap in hopes to reactivate it. Crimson meanwhile, gathered supplied in the form of gold coins and a healing potion. After several minutes, Soulerio came to the conclusion that a missing component had prevented him to reset the trap. Crimson was quite adamant in pointing out Soulerio’s lie and insisted he simply admit to his failure. Soulerio was very cross. “You are as dumb as a gain of sand, don’t you EVER speak to me that way again” he said. Charming isn’t he, typical Soulerio. In an attempt to calm the storm of words, I closed my eyes and began to hum “that” melody. The mysterious rhyme without words still haunts me to this day; yet, I find it, very soothing. Not to mention the song was a key component to my arcane thesis. The melody mended our wounds quickly, even those inflicted upon Minion, Soulerio was somewhat perplexed.

After our short rest, I finally got my chance to inspect the statue. My search revealed a lever. Pulling it, the statue shifted to the north exposing a doorway and a pathway. It lead to a pair of Fire Beetles feasting upon some unknown remains. At first, they looked dedicated to their meal, but quickly reacted to Crimson as she passed by. After taking a bite, Crimson retaliated with a Fearsome Strike. Soulerio stood next to me and infected a Beetle with necrotic cysts before commanding Minion to engage. The Beetles spewed flames in our direction. Even while off guard, I managed to avoid their breath. Soulerio and Minion on the other hand, were on the verge of collapsing. “Hea…l me… wen…ch” said Soulerio desperately. And he had been doing so well calling me by name as of late, but I’ve grown an immunity to his foul mouth. Needless to say, both he and I know full well that I would never refuse such a request. I granted him a verse of my song and eased some of his burns without hesitation. Crimson meanwhile began reminding me of Elena, only more in control and more graceful. She descended her flail upon a Beetle, killing it and challenged the other to face her. Minion knocked the other to the ground leaving an opening for Soulerio to make the kill with his vile beam. Again we took some time to compose ourselves but our wounds began to linger.

The passageway lead south to a door. Singing coming from several creatures could be heard beyond, a song of sacrifices. Crimson suggested that we fool them into thinking that the hideout had been breached and that one (me) was defacing the statue. Soulerio and Minion would be nearby to aid me against the masses whilst Crimson attacks from behind. The plan was sound; it would give us at the very least the element of surprise. A better plan than simply wandering into the unknown. I positioned my self next to the statue and the pit trap, Soulerio was to my right and Minion had stationed himself in the pool. I prepared my self to unleash a thunderous shout whilst Soulerio prepared to fill the room with his necrotic fumes. Crimson opened the door and set the plan in motion. I heard her mention that only a few should investigate, but the Kobolds had other plans. One by one, in single file, all 12 of them made their way towards us. I allowed 4 of them to enter before reacting, “DEFILERS” I shouted. 3 of them were pushed back and fell unconscious leaving room for the others to approach. Soulerio on the other hand waited for them to reach me before acting. All of a sudden, a vile cloud had materialized before me. I ingested some of the fumes and began to choke. Oozing boils began to manifest upon the Kobold’s bodies as they fell unconscious, save for one. Luckily, my body was able to fight off the affliction. I looked at Soulerio sternly, he replied with a smirk “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?” he said. The remaining Kobolds threw their javelins in my direction. I closed by eyes and turned away only to hear the sound of metal hitting the wall behind me. They fell quickly thereafter and failed to injure us. Crimson entered the room and proclaimed the coast was clear. Aside from a dozen javelins, we found several gold coins scattered about. Upon entering the passageway, blocking our path was a dead Stormclaw Scorpion, one who has suffered severe blunt trauma. Another wound looked self inflicted. Crimson bypassed it proudly and denied being struck by its electrically charged stinger. Soulerio was at a loss for words, he insisted that I misinterpreted the vermin’s abilities, yet he refused to correct my analysis.

The passageway led to a large chamber with 2 exits. One to the west and one to the south. The door to the west was locked and silent whilst the one to the south reeked of death. Crimson approached the one to the west as Soulerio insisted that we not waste our time with the one to the south. She knocked on the door and a voice instructed her to exercise patience and to go away. Another voice whispered in the back ground. Crimson offered them 50 gold to let us through, but these folk were determined to follow their orders. Apparently a Goblin cleric, under orders of “The Dark One”, was in the final stages of preparations and required a mere 15 minutes before opening the doors. Crimson then stated the obvious, linking “The Dark One” to Malcanthet. This made her very cross. What she had forgotten though is that Malcanthet goes under that Alias in our world; thus it would be premature to assume she’d be the one responsible here. I do plan on researching everyone’s role and title in a typical cycle later. That is, if I manage to get us out of this mess. In the meantime, I’ll just point the finger at Lashona, for all its worth. I fail to see how anyone else could have expected our arrival in Ptolus. Crimson questioned the Wererat above and gathered more intelligence. She was able to confirm that 4 Wererats, several dire rats, a Goblin and his Zombies would be all that stand in our way. We were led to believe that 2 Wererats awaited us beyond the door. Both Crimson and Soulerio formulated another plan, fooling them into believing that the Goblin’s spare Zombies in the southern room had escaped. I preferred the direct approach as I failed to see why they’d want to help fight off Zombies if they’ve refused gold. I was out voted 2 to 1, fair enough.

As expected, the Wererats insisted that we deal with our imaginary Zombies. To help with the ploy, I had everyone storm the door; unfortunately we lacked the strength to do so. Soulerio’s refusal to help made things a little more complicated. The Door splintered open on the fifth try revealing two large Wererats wielding Short Swords. Crimson pointed to Minion, “ZOMBIE” she said. Both Wererats lunged at and dropped Minion, freeing him of Soulerio’s servitude. Normally, I’d be happy for Minion, but not this time. Sadly, our foes had a good sense of smell and decreed that lilac, exotic fragrances and musty man smell were far too outlandish for their tastes. Crimson pointed and charged one of the Wererats and left quite the mark upon its torso. Suddenly a skeletal hand emerged from the ground near the same foe and began clawing at its leg. Meanwhile, the other Wererat positioned itself to flank crimson, both lunged and pierced vital organs; Crimson was in trouble. After closing some of her wounds, I told Soulerio to back away and fooled a Wererats into thinking he had been struck by the Professor. “I cannot believe you fell for his ruse” I teased. This irritated the Wererat. With new vigor, Crimson landed another blow upon her foe and felt rejuvenated as she absorbed some of its lifeforce thanks to Soulerio. Unable to get to Soulerio, the enraged Wererat charged me instead and landed a vicious bite upon my shoulder. The other missed its mark as he no longer had his friend’s aid. I failed to stab my attacker and safely moved aside whilst cradling my wound. I then heard a “thud”, and noticed that Crimson had positioned her self behind my attacker, her flail bloodied. Again, a skeletal claw emerged from the ground and began to abuse the lone Wererat. He attempted to chase after Soulerio, but was hindered considerably by the hand from the grave. Both Crimson and I took an opportunity to strike the foolhardy lycanthrope and failed to take advantage. Luckily, he barely moved at all, but opted to take on the form of a Dire Rat. Soulerio had retreated to the northern door, so I took position between he and the rat. “Couldn’t you have shifted into something a little more, say…, significant?”, I teased. He was furious; he turned to face me, showing all 36 teeth, coated with filth. The distraction served me well as Crimson charged and crushed the rat’s right hind leg and Soulerio struck the left leg with a rotting ray. The rat felt compelled to strike Crimson and failed to even reach, snapping his teeth aimlessly. “I’m sure a Kobold with no legs could have done better”, I mocked. The rat clenched his head in pain and fell unconscious. We quickly gathered a pair of Moonstones, an empty potion vile, as Crimson emptied its contents, and a set of keys. With little time to loose, we pressed on with our aches and pains.

We arrived at a set of locked double doors. The others contemplated upon what to do next, but I had little interest in the debate and opened the door using one of the keys. The scene was dire indeed. The chapel-like chamber was infested with 3 Dire Rats, a pair of Wererats, one wielding a Flaming Short Sword, and 2 Zombies flanking a Goblin in crimson robes, the later looming over Elana’s motionless body. Reacting quickly, I tested a Dire Rat’s mettle; fooling it into believing Soulerio had taunted it, sadly, it had little effect. Suddenly, the entire eastern portion of the room had been engulfed in obscuring mist, concealing most of our foes actions. The Wererats took a defensive position, blocking our paths. The room became even more inaccessible when a wall of hungry zombies came into existence. Soulerio was very proud, “Yes…, RISE…” he proclaimed. Crimson approached the lesser of the two Wererat’s and unleashed a Fearsome Smite and watched him quiver. Just before the Dire Rats filled in the gaps, Soulerio’s wall of death lashed out at any in reach. I unleashed a thunderous shout and pushed our foes back within the wall’s reach whilst Crimson backed away. All of a sudden, Crimson gasped, she had been commanded not to move or suffer the consequences. Soulerio meanwhile, targeted the Wererat with his ray; unfortunately, he accidentally struck one of his Zombie minions. His wall continued to feast upon our foes. Crimson charged the Wererat as she cried out in pain. Her sacrifice would not be in vain as she delivered a near fatal blow to her adversary. The rats moved away from the wall and attacked Crimson, yet the armor had repelled the vermin. I then resumed my assault upon the one Dire Rat from before, convincing him that he had been mugged by another. Suddenly, my eyes began to burn, so I closed them. The pain intensified as I staggered backwards. Opening my eye revealed nothing but darkness. Unaware of my surroundings, I continued to fall back, trembling, desperate to find a wall to lean upon. Amongst the sound of steel, spellfire and war cries, I heard both Soulerio and Crimson cry out in pain several times. I signaled a retreat but no one responded.

I didn’t want it to end here and now. There was too much at stake, so many questions unanswered. I wanted to see my friends, my home and those whom I’ve lost most of all. Seconds seemed like minutes, the sounds around me faded away. I began reminiscing past events, the good, and the bad. From times spent with my family and friends in Elmshire; the death of my parents; my upbringing within the Pelorian church; the departure of my fiends my transfer to Diamond Lake, the Age of Worms and Shendilavri; times spent with Elena and the corruption that sealed her fate; Soulerio… Suddenly the visions stopped and everything went silent, but only for a moment. Someone began humming “that” melody, it was my voice. Midway, another voice joined; that of a young girl. She sounded a lot like me back in the day. We finished the melody in perfect harmony.

“Again mommy…” the young girl whispered.

My vision returned to me, I gasped for air as if I had been underwater several minutes. What had just happened? I was back at the chapel’s entrance. Several rats have already been disabled. Crimson was to my left fending off the Wererat wielding the flaming sword, she had just finished consuming a much needed potion, her wounds were grave and was suffering from lingering flames. A quick glance towards Soulerio revealed a broken man rubbing away at his eyes. Without much though, I stabbed the flame wielder, moved towards Soulerio, shared a verse with Crimson to close a few wounds and unleashed a Stirring Shout, disorientating the lone Wererat. Crimson felt the need to remain still once again just as a vile ray flew past and turned the Wererat’s shoulder into spoiled meat. Soulerio was rewarded as a small wound had closed after the attack. The Zombie wall had shifted somewhat and reached out, failing to scavenge any food, yet they managed to separate us from the Wererat. Crimson stood her ground as I decided to go after Elena. The mist provided me with all the cover I needed. I established a hold and began dragging her toward the entrance. By the time I had reached Crimson, she had fallen to the lingering flames. I quickly administered a potion and Crimson’s fluttered open, I then left the room with Elena. The Goblin gave chase and caught up with me avoiding danger. Soulerio managed to pull Crimson out of the room and closed the door. He quickly picked up the keys I had conveniently left on the floor and locked the Wererat within. Crimson got up and dealt a crippling first blow to the Goblin. Given the current circumstances, fooling the Goblin into thinking that Soulerio had wronged him was mathematically sound. My attempt was successful after I had released my hold on Elena. I then moved to block his path. He pointed at Soulerio’s eyes, giving Crimson and I an opportunity to make him pay, but we were too fatigued, too wounded, our weapons failed us. “My eyes” shouted Soulerio. He retaliated sending a wild ray into the nearby wall and stumbled closer towards the Goblin. To make matter worse, the Wererat busted though the doors. Crimson followed up with solid hit upon the Hexor whilst I swung wide and missed the Wererat. The Goblin managed to cloud Crimson’s vision and struck Soulerio upside the head when an attempt to rot the Wererat failed. Then his crimson robes ignited in flame momentarily as he unleashed a sinister laugh. The Wererat was exhausted, his Short Sword failed to find flesh, as did Crimson’s Flail, but her sight had returned thereafter. Still able to see, I plunged my dagger into the Wererat and watched it collapse before me. The Goblin opted to club the blinded Soulerio to unconsciousness and feasted his eyes on Elena. Soulerio began bleeding to death as Crimson dealt a near fatal blow to the Goblin. I made my way closer to Elena as I began a series of missed opportunities, from all parties. All on the verge of collapsing, waiving our weapons aimlessly, it was as if we were trapped in an infinite loop. Crimson broke the routine in order to stop Soulerio’s bleeding, and with a final cry, I pierced the Goblin’s skull with my Dagger. I released the Dagger and fell back, shaking, hoping it was all over. I dare not describe the Goblin’s expression at that very moment, but he has very much dead.

We moved everyone to a safer, cleaner environment and took a well earned rest. I was very quiet, I said nothing, Crimson neither. I helped recover our wounds, but was hesitant on who to revive first. I suggested that perhaps, we sleep on it, but Crimson wouldn’t answer. Her mind was clearly somewhere else, as was mine. I’ll give her a few minutes…

“COUGH”…, “COUGH”…, why does my chest hurt…?