Golems and Gods

Behind the fallen Rhendal, the two huge figures lurched into motion, lumbering forwards ominously whilst cocking fists the size of hams.

Without pausing, Surya continued loosing arrows, sinking three into one of the golems. The bloodless wounds seemed deep, but the massive construct didn't slow.

Behind him, the Tellaran heard a spell being cast, and a mighty bolt of lightning arced across the chamber. The struck golem didn't break stride, and - worse - the arrows fell out and the wounds healed! "Damn." muttered Skufruss, "that didn't help. Best try something else." The monsters came on.

Above, Sack was crawling across the ceiling and down the far wall, heading for the dais where Rhendal's throne was situated. Cautiously, he dropped to the stone platform and looked around.

Hanging on the back of the chair was a lonqbow and a quiver of arrows, both clearly exceptional. Sack took these, and turned his attention to the throne itself. Siezing the heavy wooden chair, he heaved it up and hurled it into the blood, midway between himself and Rhendal's body. Then he leaped lithely onto it, perched within easy reach of the vampire's corpse. Only as he landed did he notice that there was smoke rising as the throne began to dissolve into the blood - which appeared to share the acid charactaristics of the blood in Vane's tower.

The danger of his position dawned on him then, and without hesitation he executed a neat backflip off the chair and back onto the dais; a stunt worthy of applause if there had been anyone there to see it.

Meanwhile, the golems were sloshing through the blood towards the rest of the party. Arrows, bolts and spells pelted them as they came, the missiles doing some damage, the spells none at all. After the failure of his vaunted Disintegrate spell, Skufruss fell back on thrown daggers, before readying his staff for melee with a visible air of distaste.

Bending their massive heads, the golems stepped up out of the blood and squeezed through the door. Sack looked at them, wondering if there was any danger of his arrows missing them and striking his comrades beyond. With a grin he realised that, while passing through the doorway, they filled it utterly. Hefting the bow and arrows from Rhendal's throne, he let drive. The resulting damage was considerable, leading the half-orc to the conclusion that the arrows were substantially enchanted.

Once out of the blood, the golems accelerated, and it became clear that the party couldn't back away any more. Missile weapons were dropped, and blades were drawn. In a blur of sword-strokes, Surya attacked, slashing great bloodless wounds across the nearest golem. Through the rents, he could see the artificial sinews moving unnaturally as the huge construct clenched its' ham-sized fist, before finally going down with a crash. Beside him, the Axe of Glass hummed as it hewed, Hildraft attacking from beneath to cut similar wounds into his foe. The adventurers began to feel confident; their foes were slow and easily damaged - this was going to be easier than they expected.

This optimism vanished an instant later as the surviving golem's fists finally struck out. A massive punch crashed into Surya's armoured chest, and the horrified Tellaran watched his breastplate flex and bend under the impact. A second later, another blow hammered down on top of his helmet. His knees buckled, and Hildraft could see trickles of blood run out from under his helm and down his face.

More of Sack's arrows thudded into its' back, and Hildraft and Surya assaulted it again with a will from the front. Battered and slashed, it finally succumbed, crumpling to the floor with a ground-shaking crash.

Once they'd recovered their breath, the group set to searching; experienced treasure-hunters that they were, none could believe that someone like Rhendal didn't have a stash somewhere. His body was dragged out of the blood with a grapnel, but although his body was untouched, all his equlpment was ruined.

Nothing else was discovered, however, until Hildraft went Ethereal, drifting down through the floor to discover the hidden treasure-chamber beneath.

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The adventurers made their choices from the hoard, and then detailed Major Harker and his men to remove the rest to Reital Castle's treasury. As Skufruss pointed out, Vane had had a massively oversized army that he'd been paying and provisioning - somehow. As no-one currently knew how this had been done, an injection of cash into the coffers might help stave off famine or revolt.

There was some discussion of what to do next. Skufruss, and more than one of the adventurers, was rather inclined to simply leave, and let matters in Tellare take their own course; but eventually they decided to stay, at least long enough to start the setting up of a new government.

At first the heroes were a little nervous of this, but two facts soon became apparent: Skufruss would always check big decisions with the party, and from the outset it was clear that he was not building the structure with the intent that he, Skufruss, would be running it. In fact, the only question he asked the group that they had no answer for was: "Who do you have in mind for the top job?" Delgarde was hanging around hopefully - in fact, they banned him from the castle - but he didn't really fit the bill.

Other issues were easier. Major Harker, promoted to General, was given overall command of the military; one of his first jobs was to smooth things between the new system and the old military in the Dragon Tower.

The day after their fight with Rhendal, Sack went across town to the tower of the Mageguild, who had remained shut up inside since Vane's fall. Planting a spear in the ground outside their door, he impaled Rhendal's head on it and attached a parchment upon which he had written: "Wrong choice!"

In the days following the fall of Vane, there was a brief but savage spate of vengeance-taking in the city, with certain people who had done unexpectedly well under the vampire turning up suddenly dead.

It soon became quite clear that Skufruss needed no help with the restructuring of Tellare, and after a few days the companions were itching to be off.

Sack announced that he planned to revisit Karennal, to look up his contacts there and report his observations to the Renders of the Dark. Hildraft volunteered to come too, but Surya and Hansen the bard decided to stay for a few more days.

Casting his Wind Walk, Hildraft wafted them across the miles back to Trialt. On the way, they passed over Enning, still under Kin rule. It appeared a prosperous, peaceful, well-ordered place, much as Tellare had been under Vane before he was Turned, and as the outer provinces still were. In less than four hours they were hovering over the city of Karennal.

In many respects it was unaltered from the last time they'd seen it, just prior to the Kingmaker Quest. However, there were signs of heavy fighting in Lizardtown (the district given over to Lizardmen under Skufruss), and where the modest, unassuming temple of Kord had been was a massive edifice. Several stories high, pillared, faced in white marble, and shining with a misty radiance of holiness, it was clearly marked with the Waraxe of Kord on almost every visible surface. This, then, had to be the Kordasa - the mystic and holy focus of Kord's faith created by Hildraft's re-consecration of Karennal's abandoned Kordic temple.

Hildraft glanced at the Axe of Glass. It was humming, resonating, and its' customary blue glow was far brighter than before. The dwarf groaned and rolled his eyes. His rather basic, freewheeling approach to advancing the cause of his God didn't really fit with the idea of a structured, hierachical, formalized church - and everything he'd seen of the Church of Kord Triumphant seemed to indicate that not only was it that sort of organisation, but that he, Hildraft, would be shoe-horned in near the top of it. Not his sort of thing at all. Better to keep a low profile.

With this in mind, Hildraft landed them in Downtown, across the river from the Kordasa. They seperated, Sack heading off to pursue his own goals, the dwarf - his axe hidden inder his cloak as much as possible - exploring quietly on his own, sinking into the quieter, seedier side to avoid complications.

The chances of complications were quite high. Everywhere one looked in Karennal, the symbol of Kord was blazoned high. Almost every street corner had its' preacher, professing the Word of Kord to an attentive crowd. And stalking through the streets like icons of holy power, the new-minted paladins of the Church of Kord Triumphant brought light and peace to the blesséd city.

While Hildraft was keeping his head down, Sack had slipped back into accustomed ways, and was visiting his old haunts. First he checked in at the guildhouse of the Renders of the Dark. The vampire hunters were markedly different in demeanour to when he'd left them; far more relaxed and less stressed. Apparently, vampire activity in Karennal had dropped to almost nothing with the massive increase in Church activity - the new paladins had massacred the undead where they'd found them - and Kelson and his men were coasting, awaiting transfer to somewhere they'd be more needed. Sack's account of Rhendal's powers - his use of silver weapons, his ability to function somewhat in the daytime, and the dreadful power of the spell of darkness he'd worked on the fortress of Vane the Mace - was of considerable interest to the Renders. Kelson promised to forward the account to Narthal as soon as possible, along with Sack's rather vague drawing of the sigils on the silver dagger Rhendal had used and which Surya had hurled back.

Next, the half-orc went to visit the Thieves' Guild, paying his dues and checking the current street chant. The Guild was clearly keeping its' head down at the moment, with all this goodness and light around. Sack, out of impulse, told them that Hildraft - the Hildraft - was back in town, and left some gold for them to spread the word.

Back in Reital, Surya began to regret staying; Skufruss was deeply buried in the administration of the kingdom, Delgarde kept pestering him (even after his sister was belatedly released from the dungeons beneath Reital castle), and even Hansen, having noted down what had happened, was looking expectantly at him, obviously hoping for more heroics.

Remembering something Skufruss had said, the last Tellaran went to see him, and talked about Teleportation Circles. Skufruss confirmed that he did have one of these in the Castle at Reital, and one at Karennal, though he warned Surya that there was a very real danger that those who had taken over Trialt might well have trapped the Circle he'd escaped from. Surya shrugged off the risk, and Skufruss explained how he could go about using the transportation magic. Jokingly, he asked if Surya could bring his library back; sobering, he asked if he could at least check if the Church had damaged it.

A few minutes later, Surya was stepping off a mosaic circle within the castle which loomed over Karennal. Luck was with him, and he was unobserved; the garderobe within which he found himself was clearly not significant enough for remodelling or guarding. He considered. Stealth was not really an option; Surya was not an insignificant person. Role camouflage was more appropriate.

Adopting a confident air, he strode into the corridors of the castle, passing through the passageways towards the main hall and the exit beyond. As he moved into the more important parts of the fortress, he began to see the changes that had been made since Skufruss' deposition; white everywhere, Kord's symbol blazing from the walls. He was passing guards now, but his confident air, coupled with the fact that he seemed to be coming out of secure areas rather than in, seemed enough to prevent them from challenging him. He strode through the passages, finally emerging in the great hall; once the King's audience chamber, then Skufruss' hall of Justice, now dotted with shrines and paintings exulting the holiness of Kord.

Among the ordinary guards in this chamber were a number of the new paladins of Kord; their presence was clearly visible, for when Surya stepped into the Hall, their heads turned, attracted like iron filings to the aura emanated by the armour and swords he bore. As one, the holy knights stepped towards the last Tellaran...