Dear Master;
I take up my brush with a heart full of sorrow to tell you what befell us when we returned to the demon-wrought chambers beneath Citadel Drezen.
Our camp was on high alert due to the nightly murders by some unseen assailant, and we did not know to what location Chorussina had escaped. But we set our minds of next destroying the shadow demon Joran Vhane had warned us awaited us in the lowest level of the demons' underground lair. To prepare ourselves we took the books we had found in the vampire's library and the tome of demon lore we had acquired in Kenabres and thoroughly examined every morsel of information would could gather about shadow demons and their capabilities. Our greatest concern was whether or not one of the potions of nahyndrian crystal the shadow demon had conveyed to Drezen had been consumed by him, granting him powers alike to those the gods have blessed us with.
When we had consumed all of the details we could find about shadow demons and prepared ourselves with weapons and spells to defend ourselves against creatures without solid physical form, we made our way back inside the Citadel and prepared to descend. Before we could pass through the door to the stair that led below, the paladins who were inside clearing the above-ground chambers warned us of a gruesome occurrence. On the door to the staircase we found the mutilated corpse of Chorussina, pinned to the door with spikes of cold iron through her limbs, her entrails spilling onto the floor. A bit of parchment had been afixed to one impaled hand. Jiro read the note aloud. It read, "Dear interlopers, you will not find me as easy as this." It was signed simply 'X'. The paladins told us they did not know how Chorussina's corpse had come to be there. It had appeared during the night.
Some of Chorussina's possessions lay amongst her blood on the floor beneath where she hung. While Zosta pulled the spikes out to allow the body to be removed, Jiro gave these objects a cursory cleaning and we examined them together. Chorussina's only reward for serving the demon lord faithfully had been to leave behind her savaged remains and her cloak, headband, ring, and several scrolls. The cloak, headband, and ring were all enchanted. Jiro kindly touched the ring and the tiefling's dagger so their metal would not cause me discomfort. Jiro sent the cloak and ring to the camp along with her body, for we all of us have similar items already. The headband I thought would be useful, for it will enhance my natural intellect. I cleaned it and put it on my head, trying not to think of the fate of the last person to wear it. I also took charge of the two scrolls.
The door, once freed of its burden, proved to have been shut with more spikes from the opposite side. But Shim meditated for a moment and then pulled it open with a great show of strength. We descended the stairs and entered the antechamber of the corruption forge, finding no creatures there and no sign of any new activity. When we continued on into the ritual chamber the pool showed no indication that anyone had attempted to begin the ritual again. We continued on through the other chambers beyond the pool until we reached the area we had yet to enter. Shim had taken a potion to allow him to perceive invisible creature in the event that the demon was invisibly spying on us. We passed into an area where the walls were covered in red lichen that gave of a reddish light. Jiro assured us that the lichen were not harmful.
A door opened into a long hall lined with alcoves. These alcoves contained foul murals showing the demon lord Deskari savaging the gods of good and light, each alcove depicting a different deity. There were five such alcoves, with a sixth leading into a larger and deeper niche. At the opposite end of this hall hung a banner which met the description of the Sword of Valor.
We detected no other being within this hall. Runa entered and moved slowly toward the hanging banner. Shim followed, observing that the large alcove held a disturbingly lifelike statue of Deskari. He also noticed that there was a secret trapdoor in the ceiling that would likely lead back to the forge room. When he and Runa reached the banner, Shim realized that it was part of a trap that filled the entire hall. Attacking or interacting with the banner or any of the murals would activate the trap, which Shim was unable to disable. He also informed the rest of us that the banner was only an image created by magic, not the genuine Sword of Valor.
On learning that the banner was not genuine, we were prepared to leave the chamber. But we quickly found that both of the exits, even the door we had just entered from, were also trapped and we could not depart without setting off the trap. After we spent some minutes discussing how we should approach this, we decided that those of our party who have the greatest strength should begin disfiguring the offensive murals and we would deal with whatever harm this caused us. I cast a spell upon myself and Kirara to protect us from evil, and Zosta began to punch one of the murals.
My mind filled with a vision of Deskari, showing me horrors of my own demise and telling me how useless I was and how much of a disappointment I must be to my gods. This terrible vision overwhelmed me and my consciousness faded. Kirara was also overcome and fell beside me. When Jiro revived me I learned that my friends were no so severely affected by these visions, and Shim did not experience such a vision at all. The trap was gone. Shim took some of the spikes we had acquired upstairs and spiked the door to the upstairs open so that it could not be blocked behind us. My companions returned to destroying the terrible murals.
Only a little time had passed when suddenly a group of five shadows suddenly entered the chamber, surrounding all of us. One of them touched me and I felt myself grow weaker. Another shadow touched Kirara and she fell to the floor, the luster of her fur fading. I realized that she was dead, and in a very short time she would rise again as a shadow herself. My friends also recognized this and sprang into action to save her. Master Bohgong had transformed himself into a giant ape, and he reached out with a long arm to lift her from the floor and stretch his arm toward Zosta, who had an oil that could be used to restore her to life. She was revived before she could fully transform into a shadow. She immediately fled up toward the ceiling to get out of reach of the shadows.
Jiro summoned his tetsubo of force to strike one of the shadows, then used a telekinesis spell to lift me up and push me away from them. I called upon my divinely given power to grant myself a spell I had not prepared that morning, hurling five missiles of force at a shadow. Another shadow touched me, leaving me further weakened. Several of my friends had also suffered this drain of their strength. At the far end of the room two shadows had appeared beside Runa and Shim.
Our joint attacks and spells rid us of three of the shadows, but Shim had been weakened much worse than I. Jiro had collapsed like Kirara and was in danger of becoming a shadow himself. Shim drew a restorative potion from his pouch and began to run toward Jiro. But as he turned away from Runa she swung her sword at him. Two shadows rushed out to attack him by the time he reached the midpoint of the hall, and Runa charged after him as though she meant to slay him, her expression blank. Shim dropped, his flesh turning gray.
Zosta ran to Shim, snatching up the potion he had dropped when he fell. She poured the potion between his lips, but it had no effect for Shim's condition was too dire. Zosta pulled him out of Runa's reach, and then desperately grappled Runa to prevent her from attacking him further. I could do nothing, so I continued to direct my missiles at the remaining shadows, finding them weak creatures that were easily destroyed though they caused me to expend much of my special power. Bohgong was able to save Jiro and picked him up to let him ride on the great ape's shoulders for Jiro was still very weak.
But none of us were able to do anything for Shim. We had too few potions and no one could reach him in time. His body turned black and he rose from the floor as yet another shadow, moving toward Zosta as she continued to struggle with Runa. Jiro sent his spirit companion and his tetsubo to attack the shadow that had been Shim, and the attacks of both soon destroyed the abomination, while my missiles dealt with the remaining shadow.
Now the only enemy that remained was Runa. Jiro realized that an ability we knew the shadow demon to possess must have affected her. It had possessed her, using her body to attack us. Jiro attempted
to dispel its possession magic but his spell had no effect. I followed his example with more success. Runa gasped as the demon was forced out of her body. It laughed at us, telling us, "You have been warned - leave" before fading through the wall.
Runa was horrified by what the demon had forced her to do. She had been trapped inside her body like a helpless passenger tied to the saddle of a runaway horse. All of us were appalled by what had happened to Shim. Nothing remained of him to resurrect. But Jiro had seen that the Wardstone fragment Master Bohgong had used to save his life shortly after we first met him had departed once his body was turned to shadow, flying off through the ceiling and disappearing from sight. We do not know what this may portend.
It was with great sorrow that we returned to camp, having been gone only a small part of the day. Jiro had first to cast restorative spells on most of our number so that we would have enough strength to ascend the stairs. As we climbed, Zosta suggested that perhaps we should tell the paladins nothing at this time and wait to share the entire story only with Irabeth. We would rely on her judgement of how much of our sad tale should be shared with the rest of the Crusader army.
Shim did not express much of his feelings about faith or which god or gods he followed, but he did tell us that he was rescued from a life of suffering by a follower of Desna. I pray that Desna will take him into her arms and reward him for the good work he has done as a part of our company.
Next: part 49: The Struggle Continues
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