Episode 75 - The City of the Dead
| The Assassins |
Azareth - Wizard 5th Level LE (PC) Craven - Fighter / Rogue 3rd / 3rd LE (PC) Creighton - Fighter 5th Level LE (PC) Keldirk - Rogue 6th level NE (PC) |
| Locale | Just beyond the gates of Cerberus. |
| Date | 26th Goodmonth 582 CY |
| Time | Late Afternoon |
Beyond the massive gates and the three-headed guardian was more of the same bleak and alien landscape, utterly devoid of life. Barren plains of cracked, grey earth interspersed with small steaming pools of black, coagulated ichor. A road of tightly packed earth lead into the distance, and the four adventurers wearily trudged on. But this time their journey was different for they were not alone; walking with them were the countless other souls who had passed this way before them.
There was a chill in this realm, but not of the flesh - Hades was a land of the dead, and all living souls suffered, their mere presence an affront to the plane. They could feel the eyes of the others upon them, a mixture of jealous hatred, envy and terrible despair. They knew that the assassins did not belong here and cursed their presence with every ounce of their being. Thankfully these poor souls were too weak to do any more than direct their malevolence towards the assassins and so they simply walked in silence their inability to act one more curse upon their already damned existence.
| Craven | (softly) I never want to end up here, not like them. |
| Keldirk | Nor I... this is truly a place for the damned. |
On the four assassins walked, keeping their eyes fixed on the road ahead and tried to keep from looking too closely at the many horrific scenes around them. Here a figure toiled endlessly, trying in vain to roll a large ball of stone up a hill. There a man burned for all eternity, strapped to an iron column. At another place hoards of gray petitioners feasted on the bodies of those around them, lapping at the dried blood, desperate for sustenance.
Thankfully the assassins were not accosted, and before long they stood before an amazing site. A massive city lay in the valley below them, a wide black river wending through its heart. From where they stood it looked much like any other city of the Flannaes save for two important factors. One was its sheer size, larger and more extensive than anything they had ever seen before, and the second was the total absence of any of the usual signs of life. No smoke rose from the countless chimneys, no coloured flags or pennants marked some event or festival - instead the scene before them was that of colourless and lifeless grey stone - extending as far as the eye could see.
| Azareth | (eyes wide with wonder) So the legend is true. |
| Creighton | What legend? |
Azareth did not reply at first, his mind was still reeling at the sight which lay before him.
| Creighton | Az... what legend? |
| Azareth | (turns to face Creighton - still shocked) What did you say? |
| Craven | You said something about a legend being true. What do you mean? |
| Azareth | Oh... yes. |
| Keldirk | Well spit it out mage. |
| Azareth | Have any of you heard of the Sea of Dust? |
| Craven | (nods) It's a huge desert west of the Hellfurnace mountains, isn't it? |
| Azareth | That is correct. In any case what is now an enormous trackless desert was once a rich and fertile land populated by a race of humans called the Suel. This ancient people at one time controlled much of the continent but like all things their power came to an end. The authors of their destruction were a people called the Bakluni; another ancient race of humans who lived in the lands north of Suel and were often in conflict with their southern neighbours. About one thousand years ago the Suel used their terrible magic to wipe the Bakluni from the face of Oerth and in retaliation the Bakluni did likewise and in an instant two ancient empires steeped in learning were erased and their lands reduced to lifeless deserts. |
| Keldirk | I remember hearing something like that. What does that have to do with this? Get to the point mage? |
| Azareth | The point Keldirk, is this. There is a legend that says that those countless cities were not destroyed in the conflict that instead the buildings and the entire population was transported to Hades. So powerful and primal was the release of magical energies and so total was the annihilation of millions of people in one cataclysmic instant that the material world which we call home was briefly joined to this land of the dead and everything was swept inside. |
| Keldirk | (scoffs) Bah! How can you know that from seeing this? |
| Azareth | There are descriptions of Suel and Bakluni architecture in the texts and these buildings certainly do conform to those styles, and if you look closely you will see that the different architectural styles remain consistent over large areas except where there are lines of destruction - possibly where the many lost cities had crashed together. Also you will notice that the buildings do in fact have chimneys. Why would a city of the dead need chimneys - the climate never changes, it's never truly dark or light, there is no need for anyone to eat so there is no need to cook. But what truly convinced me that the story is true is that huge structure up there. |
Azareth raised his hand and pointed to a building perched on a hill within the city walls, as if standing watch over the entire valley. As impressive as the city was, that building certainly dominated the scene. The construction was simply epic in scale and there could be no doubt as to who took up residence in that grand edifice and it was with some relief - mixed with a great deal of trepidation - that the four companions at last could see an end to their journey.
| Craven | I don't understand? |
| Azareth | As I mentioned earlier some fragments of information have survived the destruction of the Suel including a description of the palace of the overlord of their capital. That building is exactly as is described in those texts. If nothing else convinces you let that be it, there is no doubt that we are looking at the ancient and lost cities of the Suel and the Bakluni and that this building is the Palace of the First Protector - and now the home of the overlord of this realm. |
| Creighton | (scratches his head) Who is that? |
| Keldirk | (sighs) Nerull, you idiot. |
| Azareth | (shakes his head) In any case, that building is where we need to go. |
It was amazing just how unnerving a city with no people can be.
Creighton walked with his hand on the hilt of his sword, staring to either side of the road as he walked, peering down the alleys, into gaping windows and doorways, straining to see round crumbling corners and over broken walls. It was readily apparent that any ancient treasures had long since been pilfered, the entire city likely picked clean by wandering fiends in the intervening years. There was truly nothing of any value left intact. Creighton reasoned that he and his companions now walked in a ghost city, a ghost city so old and so depressing that even the ghosts had gone.
Creighton's companions felt as he did, he could see that. He watched the clenching of jaws and the furtive glances into darkened corners, hands never straying far from their weapons. Azareth jumped at every noise - a crack of stone under boot heels, the clink of armour as one of them adjusted their pack, his head jerking this way and that, the tip of his tongue licking his lips endlessly.
Keldirk was trying to look confident but Creighton knew better. He watched his hand tremble whenever he let go of his sword to wipe his brow. He watched his mouth work when they stopped at junctions, watched him squinting into the distance trying to decide which way to proceed. He knew as well as Creighton did. This place was not safe.
It was few hours before they reached the river; a stinking turgid flow of hissing and steaming acid. It was clear that this river was not part of the original city plans as its flow cut through buildings and roads alike as it made its way through the ancient ruins.
| Craven | How are we going to cross that? There's unlikely to be any convenient bridges. |
| Azareth | (scratches his head) Indeed. |
| Keldirk | Well this is just great. We come all this way through gods know what dangers and we get stuck on the edge of a river. |
| Creighton | (looks further up stream) We don't need bridge to cross it? |
| Keldirk | You must be daft. There's no way I am swimming through that? |
| Azareth | (follows Creighton's gaze) Of course. |
| Craven | Good thinking, Creighton. |
Keldirk turned to see what the others were looking at and spied a huge marble column close to the edge of the river. It was easily tall enough to reach the other side if it could be brought down intact, but that would prove no easy feat.
| Keldirk | So how do you propose we knock that over? It's not as if we could push it. |
Azareth walked closer to the column and examined its base. He spent a few minutes walking around the massive column, bending down at certain points to poke at the ground. After a brief pause he called the others over.
| Azareth | I think we can possibly push it over. The ground beneath the column is already made unstable by its proximity to the acid flow. I believe that we could further erode the support structure beneath the column using the acid from the river and with the proper application of force cause the column to tip. |
| Craven | (nods) Sounds like a plan. What do you need us to do? |
| Azareth | We need to find jars, pots, containers, anything that we can use to collect the acid and pour it in the relevant areas. We should hopefully be able to find the tools we need within these buildings. |
| Keldirk | Hopefully? |
| Azareth | Well it stands to reason that if the Suel and Bakluni cities were transported here at the time of their destruction then perhaps all the furniture and equipment came with them. |
| Creighton | Let's get started. |
The group spent the next hour or so scouting the ruined buildings nearby for useful items and before long they had managed to find what they needed to implement Azareth's plan. With Creighton and Craven pushing on one side of the column, Azareth and Keldirk were using the scavenged bowls, pots and jars to pour acid on the other side undermining the column. It was a slow and laborious process with all parties having to take a break at times but eventually the column started to shift.
In a slow and ponderous arc the column began to lean over the river. It's fall was initially abated by the other side of the foundation but as soon as the centre of gravity passed the mid-point the column came crashing to the ground. A partially demolished wall on the other side of the river softened its fall slightly and the column came to rest - more or less intact - forming an effective bridge over the river.
| Creighton | Well done, Az. |
Azareth nodded in acknowledgement of Creighton's comment and started to cross the makeshift bridge, the others close behind.
Once on the other side of the river the group made good progress towards the palace of the First Protector. Having a tangible problem to solve helped drive some of the irrational fear from them and their journey to the palace was swift and uneventful. They followed the roads upwards toward the hill and soon enough they stood at the base of a massive staircase that let up to the enormous building.
No guards barred the way, no signs alerting the uninitiated to beware, there was no need, everyone here knew exactly who existed within. As the assassins climbed the stairs, the sense of foreboding returned and washed over them all. They climbed higher and higher up the hill each step made possible only by a force of will which became more taxing the higher they went until eventually they reached the top.
Before them was a smooth landing only twenty feet wide, with two black marble columns standing either side an impossibly high archway. Set atop this imposing entrance, carved in bass relief, was the grand symbol of the God of Death, Nerull - Eater of Souls, Hater of Life and the Bringer of Darkness.
| Creighton | (smiling grimly) This looks like the place. |
Keldirk had an awful feeling as he looked at that dark archway. A sick feeling, as if he were looking into his own grave. All he could think about was turning around and never coming back. Right then spending an eternity walking the grey wastes seemed like a better option than taking those few strides through that gate.
| Keldirk | (to Azareth) Are you sure we need to go in there? |
| Azareth | Am I sure? Of course not, but I can tell you that we will find no more likely place to get what we came here for. |
| Keldirk | (takes a deep breath) Fine then, let's get moving. |
As the assassins passed under the yawning gateway, their universe seemed to dim. The light from the outside realm disappeared, replaced by an almost pitch black, inky darkness. The four adventurers stood at the head of a 70-foot wide, marble-columned corridor that stretched into the distance. Dotted along the corridor, some 30 feet in the air, were innumerable floating orbs of dim light - faintly glowing souls cursed to remain in place for all eternity. The glossy black tiles beneath their feet seemed to absorb what little light there was, and it took every inch of their willpower simply to step across the threshold.
| Creighton | This is wrong. We don't belong here. |
| Craven | (shivering) I agree with you. |
| Creighton | At least there are no sentries, no demonic welcoming party. |
| Keldirk | Silence fool! Don't tempt fate. |
The columns to the left and right towered above them, rising into darkness. The roof, if there was one, could not be seen. Only the space between the two rows of columns was lit; beyond them - to the left and right - was an impenetrable curtain of darkness that contained each of their primal fears. There was no chance of progress in any other direction than straight ahead.
Creighton was the first to falter. His knees trembled with each step, the realisation of what they were attempting - to bargain with the God of Death - too much to reconcile. The aura of this realm, and the fears overcame his will, and the hulking warrior fell to the ground, rolling up into foetal position.
| Azareth | (examines Creighton) He is catatonic. |
| Keldirk | Meaning? |
| Azareth | He can go no further. We either carry him, or leave him behind. |
| Keldirk | I'm having enough trouble carrying myself! We leave him. |
| Craven | (regretfully) Agreed. |
Leaving Creighton behind in what appeared to be relative safety, the three assassins proceeded forward. Every step was a struggle as they each battled their fears and nightmares. Then, suddenly, Keldirk's anguished cry shattered the oppressive silence and he fled back down the corridor.
| Craven | (watches him leave, turns to Azareth) Looks like it's just you and me. (swallows hard, his throat suddenly dry and parched) |
| Azareth | (nods grimly) |
The pair walked another fifty feet forward when they began to make out the end of the corridor. Two huge double doors filled the far wall and now that they were within sight of something tangible they continued on with renewed vigour.
It seemed an age before they finally reached the imposing double doors. Both Azareth and Craven were breathing heavily and sweating despite the fact that the ground was level and the climate cool. Craven was more affected than Azareth and he sat exhausted on the floor. Set into the massive doors was a smaller door, slightly ajar, and a weak flickering light could be seen emanating from the room beyond.
| Craven | (panting) I don't think I can go any further. |
| Azareth | Don't give up now we are so close. |
| Craven | I can't make it. It is up to you, Azareth. |
| Azareth | (hesitates) Why don't we wait a while and see if you start to feel better. |
| Craven | (shakes his head) It's taking all I have just to stay here, my entire body is screaming for me to stand up and run back down the corridor. No Azareth, this is as far as I can go, you are the only one of us who can go on. |
| Azareth | I am not sure about this. |
| Craven | (looks at Azareth intently) I am. I know that you have had issues with your confidence in the past but all that is behind you now. When Natasha was corrupting my mind and body it was you who were there to support me. It was you who helped me escape Natasha, don't underestimate yourself Azareth. You are our only hope of getting out of this cursed place and back to the real world. I believe in you and I know that our future is in good hands. |
Azareth was stunned; he had never received such praise since he left the Olman Isles, and to be honest it made him feel good. The anxiety which had been building since they entered the corridor fell away and was replaced by a cautious optimism.
| Azareth | I will not let you down. |
With that, Azareth took a deep breath and headed through the open door.
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