Iron Realm Log Twenty-One
Just in case you've forgotten, the cast:
Tragladt - Dwarf warrior
- male
Atris - Lich assassin - female
Irmirsul - Vampyre - sorcerer
- male
Tahlia - Vampyre thief - female
Drusila - Vampyre battlemage
- female
Tammaret - Human sorcerer
- male
Kysan'tel - Wildling battlemage - female
Taid Sef - Dwarf sorcerer
- gender unknown
The Year of Darkness 1123
30th Wolf - 1st Tiger
The road to Castle Stormstone is busy. Still the party have the nagging feeling that they are being followed but Atris's newly acquired telepathy stretches out and finds nothing.
Before long they come across the third shrine to the goddess Ashiran, empty save for a pair of disembodied human eyes placed atop the stone. Taid Sef the dwarven rock walker can sense the displeasure of the goddess and decides to leave it alone. Angered by the supposed ire of Ashiran, Atris casts grease at the base of the shrine as a potential trap for any future worshippers.
They move on and see ten Monks of the White, an order closely linked with Ashiran. The monks are chanting a rite of purification in a language that none of the party can understand. Atris scours their minds and senses a killer embedded in their ranks. Further investigation of the mind tells the lich that he has a contract on Lord Valorn.
Later they come upon a knight in full armour and discover that he - Morvais - has a skeletal hand and is an undead sympathiser. He warns them of trouble with undead in Castle Stormstone. They thank the knight and move on.
Late into the afternoon they come upon a fourth shrine to Ashiran. Tammaret decides to pray even after the protests of the rest of the party. Whilst praying the librarian has an epiphany, he feels the calling of Ashiran and is eager to do her bidding. That night - on the night of the full moon - the party set up camp off the road in a small copse. From the safety of a rope trick they see Tammaret ambling down the road.
Atris and Tahlia climb out to greet their companion but it becomes clear - from the librarian's rhetoric - that he has been turned by Ashiran. Atris casts dispel magic, but to no avail, whilst Tahlia uses the blanket of sleep to cast Tammaret into a deep slumber.
Inside the rope trick a further dispel magic dissipates the charm and Tammaret returns to them, his ideas his own once more.
But that night the appearance of a priestess of Ashiran - called Ayala - is too much for the party to ignore. Atris casts improved invisibility on himself whilst Taid Sef slips into the very ground and moves unseen towards the priestess.
It is Atris's idea to talk, but the priestess is so zealous and consumed with hatred for the undead that he has no choice. She draws her sling so rapidly that Ayala can do nothing more than blink as a finely honed bullet pierces her left eye and exits from the back of her head with a large portion of brain, skull, and blood.
Said Tef's hands emerge from the rock to envelop the dead priestess; he casts burning hands before dragging her back into the rock forever. Atris senses a spirit behind her and turns to see the vision of Ashiran herself mourning the death of her priestess.
"What have you done?"
Atris senses the anger as the spirit erupts into a sunburst of energy, enveloping her before she can flee. Such is the raw power of the spirit that Atris feels her clothes and items melt under the intense heat.
The ring of the Assassin is gone, the body of Atris is no more, the only thing to survive is the ring of the Lich. Irmirsul knows what to do. He picks up the ring, knowing that the soul of the lich is contained within, and heads out into the farm lands to hunt.
Before long he finds a suitable victim. A small boy sleeping in a field, exhausted through hard work and too much ale. The vampyre does not even need to charm the boy. He slides the lich ring onto the unsuspecting finger and watches in astonishment as Atris's soul does battle with the farm boy.
It is hardly a contest worth watching. In minutes the boy's body begins to change as Atris imposes her soul and destroys the remnants of the boy to take control of the vessel for her soul. Her shape resumes that of Atris, the exquisite female beauty stands naked in front of Irmirsul, who grins at her and hands her a cloak to hide her modesty.
Next day they continue east on the road and find a small village to replenish supplies and gather equipment that Atris lost in her skirmish with the spirit of Ashiran. Atris casts stoneskin on herself and Tammaret and they head off towards Castle Stormstone.
At noon they come upon two arguing merchants called Albrin and Jevin, whose dispute centers around the price of a fine looking stallion. Both Atris and Irmirsul sense the horse is unique; it's mind is beyond sentient and possesses an intelligence greater than any horse has a right to.
Atris charms both men easily. Irmirsul buys the stallion and they move on; with the vampyre able to determine that the horse is called Malagan and that it was formerly king Dalvor's horse . . . or so the beast says.
Along the way Irmirsul and the horse share a mental connection and Malagan regales the vampyre with tales of Dalvor and famous battles, which would put the beast at two hundred years old at least. Yet there is something genuine about the steed.
At dawn they reach the impressive Castle Stormstone, a massive citadel that sprawls out and upwards as far as the eye can see. The gates of the citadel are open at dawn and not before so they wait outside, with Tammaret massmorphing into a tree to wait.
Atris becomes wary of the gatehouse as each traveller entering is scrutinized by a sorcerer and a score of heavily armed guards. She decides an aerial route might be better and flies invisible over the wall to enter the citadel unseen.
The party find a tavern to regroup but Atris has but one thing on her mind. Find the guild of killers. Stormstone - like all major cities - is full of symbolism and secret pathways and she is able to read the signs that normal men, untrained men, would not even see.
In a dark alley by the harbour she comes across the Crooked Staff, a run down tavern and - she is certain - the headquarters of the Assassins' Guild of Stormstone.
Before long she is in a dark room awaiting the guildmaster. His name she plucks from his head via telepathy and the guildmaster - an ugly little fellow called Galgoth - is welcoming.
"Get yourself settled here my lady and return in a day or two...if you want work. I can always find opportunities for a pretty little thing like you."
"You are most kind," Atris says sweetly . . . before she returns to find her companions.
Unbeknown to the party, Tammaret finds the Magistrate on the edge of the Merchants' Quarters. He divulges the 'crimes' against Ashiran, gives names and descriptions of all the perpetrators. The magistrate is pleased with the young librarian and summons his sheriffs, marshals, not to mention the hundreds of bounty hunters to him.
Atris returns after his visit to the guild. As they drink and eat the sheriffs begin to hammer posters all around the Merchants' Quarters; even in their tavern they see their names and excellent descriptions posted on every street corner and stable door.
Irmirsul shakes his head and Atris stares at her description on the wanted poster and shakes her head slowly...
"The little bastard," she says.