Turn 3 - Days 16 to 17 - The Temple of Sysyn

Tijdit is an unprepossessing place, little more than a constellation of small farms, where families of goat-herders hole up in modest wood and thatch dwellings, with their strange and characteristic roofs.  Still, a thousand souls dwell in them, and there is life enough that a sort of village centre has grown up around the Alderman's dwelling, only slightly less modest than all the others.

 

The people of Tidjit travel little, and are in awe of anyone who has desire enough to come to their lands, that they are ready to walk into the howling icy wind that sweeps perpetually down the Vale.  Before lunchtime, the heroes had been gifted enough food to keep them going for a while [Town Event : A Kindly Person Packs Lunch].  A gold mark was enough for upkeep.  "Perhaps I should move in", said Radovan.  Parthoghimeos joked that the lack of a tavern in Tijdit would indeed be good for his health, and Radovan smiled at that.  "There is more to this rogue than meets the eye", Godric thought, and not for the first time.

The company warmed to the locals.  The village shaman was most impressed with their cloaks, and soon engaged in a long and apparently deep discussion with Kehar.  After Godric discreetly passed on the message he was carrying to the Alderman, he was invited to his home for dinner to both give council on, and hear, the reply.  He kept his gills sealed on the issue, only telling the company that it could wait until they happened to chance near Okerlik.

Ash rested, Parthoghimeos was out and about with the goatherds, learning everything they could teach him about the splendors of their environment.  That just left Krik.

Godric mused later that no-one really worried about how Krik might feel about being left alone.  Godric was good with languages, but that of Krik's people was nigh impossible to master.  He could figure out the words, but the mindset of it was so alien that it was like talking to stone, or to the wind.  So he laughed when he came out of the Alderman's house, and there was Krik, mock-fighting the warriors of Tijdit, who were amazed by the four wooden swords he was twirling with such extraordinary dexterity [Campaign Activities - Train : +1 XP for Krikgxlyhk].

After nightfall, Kehar joined the company in the little homestead the Tidjits had lent to them.  He had shown to the shaman the semi-precious statuettes he had picked up at the Barrow, and they definitely had some significance.  Despite Kehar's abashed protests, the shaman had insisting on paying a gold mark for each of them, six in all.  "He said that if he didn't pay their worth for the zilniri", stammered Kehar, "Sysyn would leave his dreams.  I don't know what he meant by that.  I couldn't refuse".  Everybody laughed at that, except Parthoghimeos, who nodded thoughfully.

 

It only felt right to plow some of the money back into the local economy, so the following morning, Godric bought some herb-infused bandages.  He was chatting with some Tijdits who had come in from the surrounding farmsteads to meet the company, when he spotted the plume of smoke on the horizon

The sudden attack had caught everyone by surprise.  The presence of this fascinating company had led everyone to let their guard down.  Warriors with flesh as pale as the grave, clad in spike-studded armour, had swept down the Vale.  Not even to pillage, just to kill.  By the time Godric and his companions reached the homesteads, there were only bodies, impaled on raised spears or nailed to the walls in an obscene mockery of life.

"They will pay for this", said Godric, a white rage in his heart.  The shaman came to the death scene, and purified it.  They helped the Tidjits burn their dead, and struck out north-east, leaving Ash behind them to heal, intending to follow the enemy to their camp.  The shaman muttered a few words over Kehar before they left [Campaign Activities - Pray].

It should have been easy to reach the enemy camp.  "Just follow the wind", joked Radovan grimly.  "If there are no tears starting in your eyes, you are heading in the wrong direction".  

Yet somehow they strayed off their path, and before they knew it, there was a very strange looking building that reared up in front of them.  A tall oblong, set into what looked like gnarled tree roots that had petrified.  The buildings intricately graved walls were covered in thick moss.  At its base there was but a single opening, at the top of two flights of stairs worn by the passage of time.  Godric looked at Parthoghimeos and the little chipmunk nodded.  Krik seemed to already know what was going to happen, as he had taken the leather cover off his quiver and loosened his axe in its sheath.  Kehar seemed strangely confident.  The company stepped through the doorway, not even pausing to admire its ornate decoration.

Inside the walls were of a polished blue, almost crystalline.  The ceiling was very high, but there were steps set into the wall, climbing round and round up to another floor hidden from view.

"It is pretty big", said Radovan.  "So how come we didn't see it until we were right up close ?".

His question seemed to bounce off the mineral walls, becoming an amplified echo that seemed to almost skip down an adjacent corridor.  "Whoever hears that", the weasel muttered, "please don't bother answering".

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Scenario Parameters :

This is Depth 1 of the Delve.

Foes are Giant Rats [for which I will also use Giant Spiders], p.180.  There are eight of them, with no alpha.

The creatures are hungry for life and energy, hence the Lure of Magic (p.179).

This place is as Silent as the Grave (p.143), as Kehar, who takes the lead through the door, quckly finds out.  Add two additional Exploration Markers and 3 Skeletons, who begin the game as Unaware and Sentries.

Terrain is set up as per the generic rules (p.128-129).

This is a Site Battle, see p.142 for the rules concerning it.

Under Siege (p.219) is in effect, so should a Unique Foe appear during the battle, and is not slain, a roll must be made on the Enemy Plans Table (p.207).

There are always at least two Depths in a Delve, so no roll after this scenario to see if the Delve is cleared out.

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Kehar's speed proved to be a boon in the entangled wreckage that choked up the huge entrance hall to the strange tower.  Avoiding the skittling spiders, he explored a pile of crates, and came up with...a cloak.  Another one, very much like those they had found during the hunt, except that this one gleamed magic.  The tiger ventured up the steps, where he discovered that, underneath choaking layers of spider-webs, the statue that guarded them radiated menace.

 

The other heroes stuck together, for although the spiders and rats were not individually valiant, their numbers were considerable.  The creatures moved very fast, weaving from one point to another, almost as if they could sense prey was near; the tendrils of cobwebs, perhaps, alive though seeming dead ?  If that were the case, then spiders were communicating with rats, as they were the first to approach the company.

Krik opened the hostilities with a well-placed arrow.  Although Godric and Radovan made short work of the survivors, sending others fleeing, more creatures were arriving ad too quick to avoid them by shrinking back into the shadows.  To make matters worse, Parthoghimeos' Darts spell attracted more.

The company had the upper hand, however, and slowly fought their way to the central tomb around which three skeletons were standing sentry.  These proved to be a tougher foe, but Krik's aim was uneering, and the threat was dealt with.

 

Despite being wounded, Radovan pressed forward, perhaps eager for loot, and in the dim light ran into an unusual sort of web that clung to his flesh, and burned it, rendering him unconscious.  Its spread was so large, that one of the giant rats charging Kehar was also caught up in it, and badly hurt.  It was only after the noise of the fighting died down that everybody started to wonder what might have spun such a thing....

Died down it did, with the heroes victorious.  It took some doing, but they managed to drag Radovan away from the web.  His wound was not as bad as feared, but whatever had gotten into his blood had made him weak and sickly (3 campaign turns to recover).

Asides the cloak that Kehar was now sporting, the company took some armour and a helmet off one of the skeletons.  It was small enough that Parthoghimeos was able to wear it under his robe, and under his tall magician's hat.