Iron Realm Log Twenty-Two
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
Wyrin - Wildling warrior - female
Taid Sef - Dwarf sorcerer
- gender unknown
The Year of Darkness 1123
1st day of the Tiger
Irmirsul completes reading The Tales of Grolom and the Dark Wanderer, whilst Kysan'tel completes her study of The Astral Tower. Completion of these tomes is a game changer for both the vampyre and the wildling. They quietly discuss the implications of what they have found.
Meanwhile, Atris brings into focus the more pressing matter of the traitor Tammaret. Irmirsul dismisses it. "It will all blow over in a couple of days."
"I'm going to find him," says the lich.
"Well whilst you do that myself, Drusilla, and Tahlia are heading for Vamp Town to see the sights."
The party split up. The dwarves Tragladt and Taid Sef accompany the two women in their hunt for the traitor Tammaret. It proves incredibly easy for the telepathic lich to latch onto the mind of her former companion. Tammaret is located in a tavern not so far away and has enlisted the help of a known sellsword called Gregg for protection.
Tragladt waits outside the tavern to bar the librarian's escape whilst Taid Sef is on the opposite exit deep in the rock. Inside the tavern is busy. Tammaret is unaware of the two women who seek to destroy him; Atris and Kysan'tel are well disguised and in position.
Kysan'tel casts phantasmal killer.
The first thing Tammaret knows is the appearance of a twenty-armed book ripping demon called Shredder, who is apparently intent on ripping him to pieces. The sellsword seems incapable of even seeing the beast but Tammaret's panic is real and the fight starts with chaos and confusion.
Atris spits a deadly poisonous dart into the librarian's stomach and pain blossoms inside his abdomen. Despite the agony - and the appearance of a second book-rending demon called Ripper - Tammaret casts mirror image to buy himself time but Atris's blindness spell adds to his problems.
A second dart punctures the librarian's chest and agony is piled on agony. Blind, unable to feel his legs and unable to see the third book-ripping demon called Scrapper, Tammaret in desperation disbelieves the demons. To his shock the first demon disappears and he knows now that he faces an illusionary killer.
But it is too late. Even a phantasm is so scary that a single touch can cause the victim's heart to stop. Which is how Tammaret finally dies.
All that is left is an empty tavern, save for the sellsword Gregg, and a dead body. The sellsword shrugs and leaves without a fight and Tammaret's body is buried beyond the reach of discovery by the rock walker Taid Sef.
Meanwhile, in Vamp Town, Irmirsul, Drusilla, and Tahlia get to know some of the places where vampyres are welcomed and some of the personalities that make the vampyre retreat safe.
But that does not stop them being led into a quiet corridor of a tavern by Alishan, a fellow vampyre who calls herself a huntress . . . little do they know she hunts vampyres for money.
"There is a price on your head and I am willing to split it with you if we can scam the magistrates. All I need to do is to create three heads that vaguely look like you and we can share the reward."
"Sounds like a dumb plan," says Irmirsul.
Alishan springs into the attack with a vicious cutting strike at them with a magical longsword. Tahlia and Drusilla knock aside the blade and the fight erupts in a blur of fast steel and snarling teeth.
The vampyre huntress is quick, but the odds are stacked against her when Irmirsul uses the rope like a lasso to bind Alishan's hands by her side. A simple knife into the eye from Tahlia slays the vampyre and as Drusilla flutters off into the street as a bat, Irmirsul uses dimension door to get himself, Tahlia and the body into the street. The find a longsword of pain and a ring of protection before they are forced to leave Vamp Town for the night.
Atris gathers the party to another tavern via telepathy, where Kysan'tel reveals her plans for taking the Astral Tower.
"I can pilot it," she says, "and bring it back here instantly. It will hide us, protect us, and be virtually invisible to anyone inside the citadel."
They argue over the safety of a teleport scroll but decide that it is the fastest way to reach the tower. Every member of the party risks the dangerous transportation spell but are relieved when they reach the White Woods and can see the tower in the distance.
But there is a robed figure close by, staring at the impressive structure. Kysan'tel wastes no time and traverses round the stranger as Atris and Tahlia approach the robed figure. Atris senses an awesome mind . . . and another lich! It can only be the nemesis of Grolom - the Dark Wanderer.
"Greetings," Atris says.
"It is impressive is it not?" the stranger says.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing other than to congratulate you and your friends." We will meet again master lich . . . of that I have no doubt."
Kysan'tel is already inside the tower, her newfound knowledge opens a door for the two women and she sets the Astral Tower in motion.
In the blink of an eye the tower arrives in the Merchants' Quarters at Castle Stormstone, its inter-dimensional rooms able to secrete itself within even the most cramped citadel. Only a small door in a dark alleyway will allow access into the tower - and only then with Kysan'tel's consent . . .