As we prepared to pass through the door into the next area of the dungeon beneath Citadel Drezen, we were startled by the sound of footsteps approaching our party from behind. We turned, expecting to face enemies, only to find ourselves looking at our friends Aegon and Darra, who had parted from us only a few days earlier to travel back to Kenabres. Naturally we had not expected to see them again so soon. We greeted them, and Jiro asked what news they had.
Aegon told us that there had been a murder in the army's encampment while we were absent. A paladin by name Ardwen, in the unit to which I have been assigned, had apparently been slain by a babau. The signs indicated that the killing had been planned, possibly to test the army's defenses.
In addition to this sorrowful news, Aegon had also brought a parcel for Zosta. A member of her tribe had come to the camp to deliver it. It was clearly sent by Rhino, which irritated Zosta because she feared it was another object which the redeemed demon had made for her by using his own life force to grant it magical power. She did not open it but went to put it in her bag after reading the note that had been attached to it.
Jiro then asked Aegon and Darra what they intended to do next, to remain at Drezen or return to Kenabres. Aegon I think wanted to go to Kenabres. They had already seen indications that their former comrade Abel had chosen to support the demons, but Aegon by his expression seemed to feel that Abel might still be redeemed. Darra meanwhile clearly had lost all hope for him and would have been just as pleased to see him dead. After they ended their short discussion with Jiro, the two of them went back up to the camp, leaving us to continue making our way through the subterranean chambers.
While Aegon was talking to Jiro, Zosta heard a clinking sound from the package he had given her and decided to unwrap it to see what made the noise. Inside it she found eight finger-rings of a white material, and a pair of bladed knuckles like those she wears, which were also made for her by Rhino though she has lately ceased using them due to her displeasure with her adopted brother harming himself to make things for her. Jiro, Runa, and I all attempted to gently cajole her into accepting Rhino's gifts in the spirit in which they were given. She had set the objects out on the floor and Jiro picked up one of the rings to look at it more closely. Runa also sensed that the rings had a magic aura. Jiro handed the ring to me and I realized that it was carved of a very light but dense type of bone, which I suspect may be the bone of an angelic being. I did not tell Zosta this for fear it would make her even angrier toward Rhino. Each of the rings is enchanted to enhance a person's natural strengths. Each one also has engraved inside it the name of one member of our group, and the ability the ring will enhance is tailored to the person whose name it bears. The ring bearing my name will improve my spellcasting ability, Shim's ring will make him mightier, Runa's will enhance her ability to channel the power of Iomedae, and I presume that Zosta's ring will make her stronger or more agile.
The other items in the package were another pair of bladed knuckles, made of a different material than those Zosta already had. I realized they were crafted of adamantine. Like the other pair they bear the words "Little Sister" engraved upon them, which are the words Zosta speaks to activate their power of demon-burning flames. Jiro took time to examine them very closely to spare me the discomfort of touching the metal and assured Zosta that this pair was not bound to Rhino's life force, so she can use them without fear of causing him pain. I wondered for a moment if Jiro would say this only to persuade her use Rhino's gift, but I do not believe he would lie to her.
When Zosta had donned the knuckles and the rest of us had slipped our rings on our fingers, Shim opened the door and then stepped back to allow Zosta and Jestak to precede us down the staircase it revealed. The stairs led us down to the torture chamber Joran Vhane had told us to expect. The odor of fresh blood assailed us. Inside the chamber we found four babau, engaged in tidying the implements of torture that were stored there. They seemed unsurprised to see us. Shim immediately rushed down into the room and took up a position by one of the torture devices that stood to the left of the entrance, so I could no longer see him for I was the last person to descend. I could only see what was directly ahead of me: a table in the center of the room and two doors in the opposite wall.
One of the babau crossed my field of view as it moved to attack Shim. Runa then descended the rest of the way into the room to aid him, and a second babau joined its comrade. Zosta began to taunt them to draw their attention from Runa and Shim, for they had already dealt my two friends several wounds that were not minor with their spears and claws. The room suddenly went dark as one of the babau used their innate ability to rob an area of light. I heard one of the foul creatures give a chuckle. Jiro stepped into the room, the light of his lantern banishing the darkness. Zosta leaped past him and I watched her knock a babau off its feet and then slam her new blades into its body. Jestak followed her, charging forward to engage with another demon. I stepped down to the bottom of the staircase and invoked my protective ward, though I knew that it would benefit only Jestak, who lacks the enchanted protective objects the rest of my companions and I are privileged to wear.
Runa attempted to reposition herself using the magic boots she recently acquired, but the magic of the boots failed to activate. She called on the power of Iomedae to grant Jestak a chance to strike again. Then one of the demons fell to Runa's blade. The babau Zosta had knocked down crawled away. Another babau suddenly vanished and reappeared by Runa, clamping its teeth on her and penetrating her armor. Jiro moved to heal her wounds, for the demons had left her very bloody.
Kirara screeched, but before I could try to determine what had happened something stabbed me deeply in the shoulder and I cried out in pain myself. The wound stung, leading me to suspected the blade was coated with poison. To my horror, the vampire torturer we had been warned against had crept up behind me with a dagger. The poison did not seem to harm me, to my great relief. Runa stepped back and cast a spell to make all of the others' weapons more effective against evil creatures. Jiro stepped forward and addressed the vampire, saying, "We have come to end you, Therak Nul!" Zosta tried to lunge at the vampire but the stairs foiled her effort.
Theruk Nul, half-orc vampire
I scrambled away from the vampire and cast a protective spell on Jiro to defend him against the creature. On the other side of the room, two of the four doors leading out of the chamber opened to reveal yet more babau coming to attack us. Through the spell I had cast to allow us all to communicate in whispers, Shim warned us that vampires are difficult to injure and are capable of draining a person's abilities. Jiro summoned a spiritual tetsubo to attack one babau, while a spirit appeared behind the vampire to attack him as well. Bohgong had retreated under the table in the center of the chamber, and I saw a missile of force come shooting out from below the table to strike one of the demons. I threw my spear at another demon but it went wide. Jiro's tetsubo vanished.
Shim was standing in front of one of the doors that had opened to reveal more babau. He reacted by slamming the door shut and then exerting his maximum strength to crush the door handle so it could not be reopened. Runa managed to slash the vampire quite severely with her blade, but the wound it left seemed less serious than the blow implied and Runa reported that she could see the cut healing immediately after it was inflicted, reinforcing the accuracy of the vampiric abilities Shim had warned of earlier. I called a lantern archon to join us and give its aid to my friends.
Jestak had moved toward the second door that had opened, and now she saw a second babau appear within the room beyond it, perhaps the same demon that had been locked in the other room by Shim. I tried to help Jestak by lending her the protection of my ward again and throwing my spear at the demon, but the narrow entrance of the room caused it to bounce harmlessly off the wall rather than strike its intended target. Then Jestak told me that there was a torture victim within the room. Though I knew that the babau could reach me with their spears if I slipped behind Jestak to enter the room, I decided to risk it, fearing that the victim might be some poor Crusader taken captive from Drezen.
As I ran past Jestak both demons jabbed me with their spear blades. Inside the room I found a torture rack to which a troll-like creature was bound, its body covered in wounds. I feared it might be some trick, so I cautiously touched the wooden frame of the rack. It appeared real enough to my touch. Before I could attempt to release the victim, I heard a clatter behind me and the room filled with darkness. Then demon claws sank deep into my flesh and I could no longer stand.
I was unaware of this at that moment, but when he felt that I was near death, Jiro abandoned the struggle with the vampire to Runa, Shim, and Zosta, and ran into the room where I had fallen to heal me. One of the babau had cast a spell of darkness on his spear and thrown it into the corner nearest where I had fallen. Jiro's lamp removed the darkness, but now the outer room was left without light. Bohgong recognized that one of the other demons had used the same trick to rob that room of illumination. He grabbed the spear that lay on the floor by the table and slid it across the room into the entrance of the room Jiro and I were in, where Jiro's lantern would counteract the darkness borne by the spear.
Once Jiro had healed enough of my injuries that I was able to rise, I got quickly to my feet and told him to return to the others as they needed his aid. I did not know that Zosta had grappled the vampire and held him helpless. The demon that had clawed me still stood before me, and it now grasped Jiro's lantern and dispelled its light, leaving us once again unable to see. Jiro cast a spell to restore the light. I threw my spear across the short distance to strike the babau. Jestak slew the other babau in the room and moved toward the one that had extinguished Jiro's lantern. It fled by teleporting itself from the room.
By the time I left that room, the vampire had transformed himself into a cloud of gas and was attempting to escape through a small opening in the stairwell. As he fled, Zosta, Runa, and Shim all struck at him, and despite his gaseous state he could not withstand their blows. The cloud dissipated into nothing as the vampire was destroyed, leaving behind only a wand, a suit of leather armor, and the dagger with which he had stabbed me.
This fight had taken a great deal out of all of us. Jiro had expended much of his magic to keep us alive, and both he, Shim, and Runa had few of their divine gifts left to them. We considered that perhaps we should withdraw and rest to recover our strength before continuing to explore the underground structure. I worry that our enemies will be better prepared for us if we give them more time to do so, but they were already aware of our arrival, and we can only hope that they will not be able to summon reinforcements from elsewhere while we recuperate. Were we to continue to explore in our current state we should not be able to withstand even more babau, much less any more powerful foe. I must have time to pray to Qi Zhong and the Ancient Tree for guidance of what spells I should prepare for tomorrow. We will soon reach those parts of the dungeon that Joran Vhane has never seen and we do not know what awaits us there.
Next: part 45, Forge of Corruption
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