Flight from the Underworld

As the rage of battle died away, the realization came to Sack and Hildraft that they were both seriously wounded. As they turned to magic and potions to rectify that, Surya examined the armour Asildur had worn with interest. It was magnificent; made by the Mastersmith Elverandil himself, and clearly bearing the most powerful of enchantments. Doffing his chain shirt, he began to buckle himself into the suit.

It fit beautifully, the adamantine plates sliding over each other like silk. Grinning with pleasure, the Tellaran looked over at Sack, who had claimed the longbow which had slain Silustriana and Launcivos so easily. Next to him, Hildraft stamped his feet down into the Boots of Speed, and settled the buckler onto his arm.

Healed, Sack and Surya went down from the plinth to check the exit arches. They set up some tripwires at the three open ones (the Blade Barrier being a more than adequate guardian of the fourth). As they did so, a movement out in the vast lake surrounding the tower caught their eyes; a movement as of some vast submerged creature moving below the surface. Worried, they turned to return to the plinth.

Above, Hildraft and Sigred had been examining the Sancrist Crystal. As the Crystal in the Circle at Maraka had been imbued with mighty energy for good, the dwarf theorised that this one might be puissant with evil, and had no great desire to touch it personally. He and Sigred bunched up a cloak between them, and then prodded the great gemstone off its' rest and into the impromptu bag.

Instantly, the Crystal went dark. A deep grinding noise rose up from the base of the tower, and the ground shook under their feet. Sack and Surya, gazing out of the arches, saw the surface of the water tremble and leap from the vibration, and then innumerable heads broke the water and began to move purposely towards the tower. The two fell back inside, grabbing what they could from the bodies of their fallen Fae Mhor comrades and heading for the plinth.

Both inside and outside the tower, huge chunks of stone began to fall from the ceiling as the shaking went on, crashing to the floor of the tower or plunging into the waters outside. A piece the size of a haywain missed Sack by inches, spraying him with razorsharp shards of stone and sending blood rilling down his face again.

Through the arches could now be seen hundreds of the humanoid creatures they'd glimpsed as they sank down into Melaskos. Recalling something Silustriana had said at some point, Hildraft recognized these as Skum, the abominable slave creatures created by the Aboleth to perform those tasks on land that the fish-sages refused themselves.

More rocks fell, and cracks zigzagged across the floor. It was clearly time to leave. Calling on his God, Hildraft spoke the words, and shifted all the surviving members of the Quest onto the Ethereal Plane. Instantly, all five became invisible, inaudible and incorpreal, out of phase with the material world, half-shifted into another plane that exists side-by-side with the world material. Falling rocks no longer bothered them, passing through them as if they were not there (which of course they weren't). Neither did physical limitations, and they moved upwards with but a thought, floating towards the tower ceiling as the building shook itself to bits around them.

As they soared towards the still-solid roof of the tower, more than one of them quailed inwardly; the sensation of imminent impact was almost overwhelming. Then they were through, above the tower and looking down on it and its' lake. All around the tower, hundreds of Skum were wading out of the water and charging into the tower; dozens of the vile Aboleth cruised behind them, directing their actions. Massive falls of stone were smashing into the water and onto the tower from the roof above; in some places, gouts of water were beginning to follow as the artifical air-bubble in the depths of Melaskos began to collapse in earnest. Again, a rock ceiling raced towards them; then they were into the solid rock of the realm's "floor".

Behind them, the tower and its' chamber completed their collapse, and Silustriana and Launcivos were buried deep, entombed forever in the dark rock below Melaskos, in far greater peace than their unfortunate souls, long ago ceded to Lolth, the Demon Queen of the Spiders.

Passing through solid rock was a deeply disturbing sensation for most of the Questers, though for Hildraft the Dwarf, to be intermingled with rock was an almost religious experience. After a few moments, they were out, and now passing through water as they traversed the main bulk of the water-filled realm of Melaskos.

While the waters had been relatively calm and untravelled as they descended, now the alarm was clearly up. Skum were everywhere, swimming and walking, and many Aboleth were to be seen, some of vast size, swimming back and forth. None could see the ethereal travellers, though, and they simply bypassed them all. Finally, they rose up through the ceiling, and headed across the miles of solid rock towards the nearby realm of Tarrin.

Reaching Tarrin, they soared over the realm, unexplored by the Fae Mhor. The first impression, in a word, was "Hell". Dark, razorlike rocks jutted up from glowing lava flows; shadowed, ominous figures moved furtively around. The only relief from the oppressive atmosphere was the silver gleam of the lake into which the Fall emptied. By some magic of its' own, or maybe by whatever it was that made the Dark Boatmen inviolate, the lake and its' jetty were untouched by whatever had tainted this realm.

Descending, the Quest reached the jetty, and returned from the Ethereal to the material. Instantly, they were assailed by the heat, smell and noise of a deeply disturbed earth; roaring and rumbling, lava flowed, issuing noxious gases and waves of heat. But on the jetty, they appeared to be safe. Resting, they settled to wait.

Two hours later, the expected Fallship appeared at the top of the Fall, and rushed down to the lake, halting at the jetty. Three of the diminutive Dark Boatmen emerged, and approached the Questers. Their speech was completely incomprehensible - except to Hildraft, of course.  He could tell they were asking him "is this all?", "where to?" and "any cargo?". He answered Yes, Shadizaar, and No. There was a calculating pause, then the Boatman said "47 dash." and held out a swathed hand.

The quest looked at each other for a few moments, slightly baffled. Dash? Hildraft proffered some coins he had with him, but these were apparently not right. Then Sack remembered the possessions he'd grabbed from Silustriana's corpse, and, rummaging in his Bag, turned up a small purse. Among more normal-looking coin of fae Mhor mint, he found several plain-looking black discs. These he passed to Hildraft, who offered them to the Boatman. He looked at them, then back up at the dwarf. "You not Fae Mhor?" he said. Hildraft shook his head. "This Fae Mhor dash," the Boatman commented, but not in the manner of one announcing a problem.

 A black-wrapped finger swiftly prodded the discs around on the dwarf's palm, and the Boatman added up aloud, "ten-twenty-thirty-forty-five-six-seven" and lifted some of the discs - all bafflingly identical - from his hand. He then waved them in the direction of the open hatch of his craft.

All three seemed to lose interest immediately, turning to the tasks of readying the craft; an odd reaction, given the formidable appearance of the Questers - a tall Tellaran armed in black and gold and with three swords of dire aspect strapped around him; a Red Dust nomad with bright crimson hair and eyes; a dwarf with a three-foot axe made of glowing blue glass; and a massively muscled half-orc with a mighty bow and  a bright sword. Yet the Dark Boatmen seemed utterly unafraid.

Once the Questers were aboard, the vessel pulled away from the jetty and submerged, and was soon rising up the Fall at the beginning of its' journey to Shadizaar, the uppermost realm of the Underdark. The group relaxed, some sleeping, some mending kit. Surya went to investigate the warhammer Varjaraeder that the ill-fated Silustriana had carried, discovering it to be sentient and extremely egotistical, demanding as a price for its' services that it be the bearer's only weapon. "I am all the weapon you will ever need," it delcared; "I can advise you, heal you, make you faster. " Surya fenced verbally with it for a while, taunting it with the revealed fact that most of its' holders appeared to have died in battle, before returning it to the Bag of Holding. 

Hildraft attempted to engage the dark Boatmen in conversation, but it was like fencing with water; the creature would answer questions it was asked - to a point - but the conversation would instantly lapse; it would never add to the point or speak in its' turn. It waited politely until it was apparent that the Dwarf had given up, then turned to its' tasks once more.

The trip took several days, during which the Questers were able to recover the magic they'd used in the battles under Melaskos. Finally, though, they emerged onto the jetty in Shadizaar, and were ready for the final stage of their journey. For they had decided to end their agreement with the Fae Mhor; in no wise did they trust the dark elves to keep their part of the bargain. Instead, they planned to make straight for the surface.

Kobort shapechanged the others into hawks, swift flyers, and then Hildraft shifted them onto the Ethereal again, ready to make the final journey to the surface. Not Kobort, however.

In the trip to Melaskos, the owl Nosebiter had been left behind in the realm of Nindolen, as there was no way he could survive the underwater environment of Melaskos. When the Quest changed plans and headed for the surface, the owl had been left behind, and now the sorcerer was going to travel back to reclaim his familiar. With his magic to protect him, and his Polymorph wand to make him blend in with the crowd, he didn't expect to be in much danger; he could catch the rest of the party up later.

The four Etherhawks shot away into the rocks of the earth, leaving the nomad to board the Fallship again and take passage back to the realm of the Fae Mhor.

After some minutes of travel through the crust of the world, the Etherhawks burst out into the light of the sun. After so long underground, it was almost unbearably bright, and all except Sack were dazzled for a while. While the others blinked and squinted, the ranger studied the ground spread out below them and worked out where they were. Then they flew the couple of miles or so back to where their horses and Billy the Bear were waiting.

There was some debate (once the Polymorph had worn off) as to their next move. Some suggested returning to Vorsand, nominally still Surya and Hildraft's fortress; some suggested taking the Kingmaker to the Elves, as the most likely to know how to deactivate it. The debate went on long into the night.