The
cave is dark, but dry. Kedra, Melinda, and I rush inside. Kedra deposits the
man nearby and the strange creature waits expectantly at his side. I have Cutie
Pie stay hidden, and he seems happy to frolic about in the storm.
And
then, we realize we’re not alone! The sound of hooves clip – clopping in the
darkness, come toward us. Our advisory is well hidden in the darkness at the
opposite end of the cave mouth. Suddenly, a terrible crash comes from the
entrance. Our way out was caving in, trapping us in darkness!
“No,
not here!” Melinda says with a gasp. What
did she mean by that? Obviously there was something she knew about this
cave that was yet to be shared. After all, Kedra did say this was where ice was
stored and that it was used for…quarantine?
As
we panic to find light before we’re consumed by the unknown creature, there’s a
snap, and then an aura of light brightens the small area around us. It was
coming from the seal man and he was awake! He introduces his name as Sanji and
his little friend, that he calls a penguin. It reminds me of a toy I used to
see rocking in the window of a trading shop in Eporhtnacyl. If you squeezed it
it would make a Kuuuuuuuuah sound. I
never cared for the toy, like I don’t really care for the real thing. Something
about its buggy eyes was creeping me out…but I suppose…I turned my head
sideways as if that would improve my view of the creature. It stared at me with
its mouth agape and wiggled its strange little tongue. Nope! It was definitely
creepy!
The
hooves tip toed around in the darkness. Was the creature trying to sneak up on
us? “Hello?” I shout into the darkness beyond.
“Hello,”
comes a husky reply. Great, there was someone else trapped in the same cave
with some creature lurking about. I could still hear it tip toeing, sneaking,
trying to find its way toward us. We were all in danger! I reach for Shodan,
preparing to smite my enemy.
Hello, master, I hear Shodan’s
voice, full of rebuke, in my mind, Thinking
of using me today? I think not.
“Shodan?”
I say in confusion, “This is not the time! There’s something out there – ”
Not the time? Shodan mocks.
It becomes rapidly clear why she was so testy, but you had the time to use Hubert. Shodan made a throat clearing
sound and I instantly knew she spat after saying the swords name, You would use that inferior sword over me?
“Shodan,
please!” I begged, my voice going up an octave, “Isaac was dying – died – Isaac
died! I had to do something!” In a moment of anger I growled, “Can you grant
wishes? I didn’t think so!”
My
other hand went to Hubert’s hilt…a big mistake. Suddenly I heard two voices,
Hubert and Shodan, shouting and screaming at each other like a couple of cats
fighting. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t release my hold on either Shodan or
Hubert. Then suddenly I feel myself throw Hubert to the floor. Shodan turns
into a great sword and I feel myself arc the blade upward, my limbs being
controlled by an unforeseen force.
“Shodan
no!” I shout as I realize what was about to happen. Shodan shows no mercy. With
a down ward stroke, she strikes Hubert, and the sword shatters into dust! “No!”
I wail, “How could you Shodan? I’ll never use you again!” but as I go to sheath
the weapon handle, I can feel Shodan resist me, as if arm wrestling with an
invisible opponent. Her will outweighed mine.
Suddenly
the blade grew hot, so much so that I could feel it burning my hand! No matter
what I did though, I couldn’t release the weapon handle, “Shodan!” I complained
desparately.
Promise me
you’ll never use another weapon like him again, Her voice
commanded.
“What?
Shodan please! It hurts!”
Promise me! The handle grew
hotter still.
“Okay
I promise!” I said defeated. Finally, the handle goes cold and Shodan retreats
from my mind. I hastily put the weapon handle away and examine my hand for
damage, but it appears to be okay.
In
my silence I hear Sanji conversing with someone whose voice I don’t recognize.
When I look up I see a very, very, very tall being and she carries an even
taller scythe. As the light illuminates her features, it becomes clear that she
isn’t human, rather a mixture of all sorts of races. The clip – clopping sound
was coming from her hooves!
“She’s
a seccubus!” I hear Kedra blurt. She points an accusing finger at the woman.
Instantly my skin crawls. As I scrutinize the woman further it becomes clear.
She did share some similarities, but how would we know if this weren’t some
disguise? I looked at Sanji who was babbling flirtatiously, and for a moment it
seemed like he was within the seccubus’ control.
“What
do you want with us, seccubus?” I demand. My hand absently reaches for Shodan
as if I’d forgotten our little spat.
“What’s
a seccubus?” the woman said ignorantly.
“You!”
Kedra said belligerently to the woman. To us she said, “She’s only trying to
lure us into trusting her, and then she’ll kill us!”
“She’s
not evil,” Sanji said, siding up to the woman and brushing her arm, “If she
were evil, I wouldn’t be able to touch her.”
“Seccubus’
are soul eaters!” Kedra warned, “She’ll lure us into her trap and take advantage
of us when we least expect it.”
“Well
if you’re going to stand around and accuse me of being a murderer, then I guess
I’ll go my own way!” the woman said heatedly. She turned around and with a wave
of her hand, shifted into an elf and walked off.
“My
lady wait,” Sanji said, stumbling after her.
I
looked at the others. Currently Sanji was our only source of light and what if
the seccubus knew a way out of the cave? We followed reluctantly, but I kept my
wits about me.
The
woman introduces herself, Penelope, and Sanji introduces the rest of us in
turn. Somehow Penelope took a liking to Sanji’s penguin – Gunther – and called
for her own creature friend.
“Here,
box puppy,” she calls. There’s a sound of skittering feet and then a wooden
chest came bounding into view. As Penelope bends down to greet it, the chest’s
velvety tongue licks her excitedly.
“Luggage?”
I say dumbfounded. How did she get the Luggage?
“You
know him, Cortanna?” Penelope says.
“Of
course. He belonged to Isaac. When he died, the Luggage just ran off,” a
creeping wave of suspicion swept over me, but Kedra beat me to the punch.
Kedra
turned to me. “Maybe she’s the one responsible for Isaac’s death! Didn’t Isaac
come back from the Under Dark with that hat?”
“Yes,”
I said.
“Maybe
she charmed him into putting the hat on so she could have the Luggage,” Kedra
said. For once, Kedra was making some sense, and I found myself agreeing with
her. Even though her theory was a bit farfetched I wasn’t about to let my guard
down.
“You’re
unbelievable!” Penelopy shouted, “If this Isaac was evil, then I’m glad he
died. Don’t you think if I was trying to kill you I would have done so by now?
I’m a good person, always have been.” She continued on and we followed with
nothing better to do. Hopefully in our wonderings we’d find a way out.
As
we keep going, our path becomes more treacherous and narrow. Suddenly we’re
stopped. Penelope is stuck between the narrow walls. After some pushing and
prodding, we manage to get her through. The rest of us squeeze through the
narrow gap. The other side leads us into a large room. To one side there’s a
group of goblins, surrounding a fire. When they notice us, I attempt to ask
them for safe passage, but they’re not interested. Instead they move to attack
us.
The
fight turned dangerous when the room suddenly filled with smoke. Melinda was
able to enchant my eyes so I could see the goblins and after then we were able
to defeat them in short order.
Looking
around, the room we are in appears to be well carved into the rock, as if
someone had made a base there. Was this the place Kedra and Melinda were
referring to? There’s dead goblins and ash all over the floor. Sanji says
there’s something strange about the short swords the goblins were using. When
holding one, it made your skin crawl uncomfortably.
Kedra
examines two doors on the other side of the room. Both are locked and she
determines one is trapped. Penelope goes to physically knock down the door,
like a humanoid battering ram, when Kedra shouts, “Wait!” It’s too late. As
Penelope smashes into the door, it triggers a trap, causing a pendulum to slice
across the path in front of us – narrowly missing.
“I
thought you said the other door was trapped,” Sanji said, a bit singed. Kedra
gave him a sheepish look.
Melinda
finds a key in this room with the number 1 on it. We keep it in case we need it
later. As we explore the cave we narrowly encounter more trap doors. On one,
Melinda and Sanji aren’t so lucky. As Melinda goes to open the door, needles
fly out, peppering them all over. I heal the halfling, but she remains
unconscious. Finally they regain consciousness, but Melinda is delirious. I go
to touch Melinda and as soon as I do, the room goes black. I thought I’d gone
unconscious, but I could still hear myself, and feel Melinda under my hand.
I
try to calm Melinda, but this only seems to frighten her. Finally I let go,
hoping this madness would end, but it’s still dark. When I reach for Melinda
again, I can’t find her! Frantically I try to find her and I shout her name,
but it’s no use. She was gone.
After
a while the darkness fades and I realize we’re back in the hall where we were
just minutes before. Melinda lands heavily on the ground. I try to explain to
Sanji what happened, but whenever we talk, Melinda babbles in a high pitched
scream.
With
nothing to do until Melinda regained her senses – if she regained her senses –
Sanji and Kedra decide to check out the room next door. When they come back
they report there’s a strange tentacly creature chained to the wall.
Sanji
tries asking the Luggage for a wand of cure poison, after Melinda had shown no
improvement in their absence. Luckily the Luggage rewards him with the desired
item and Melinda is cured!
Now
that we were able to move on, we find another door. Melinda carefully opens
this one with no harm. In this room there’s a single torch with a chest in
front of it. Sanji warns us not to approach it. He throws a rock at the chest,
which sticks, instead of bouncing off. A moment later, the chest suddenly slurps
the rock up. As the chest opens its mouth to digest the rock, we can see a key
resting inside its maw.
We
quickly defeat the mimic and take its treasure, including the key. As I pick up
the key – marked number 2 – I hear a voice in my head that says, So, you have come uninvited. I will consume
your mind! Startled, I throw the key to the ground. Sanji picks it up and
he hears the same thing. As he holds onto the key a bit longer, his limbs start
to move without his control.
Supprised,
Sanji puts the key down, “If its evil, it shouldn’t have worked on me,” he
says.
We
continue exploring, avoiding traps as best we can. Finally our path takes us to
some stairs. At the bottom there’s a short hall way that opens up into a large
room. A man and woman stand at an alter with unrecognizable objects. One is
cutting something fleshy on the alter. They see us enter, but they don’t seem
to mind our presence and continue.
Penelope
mentions something about rituals and Hyroneous. Suddenly I wonder if she knows
Araja, but when I ask, she shakes her head. She only knows stories of the great General.
As
we come closer Sanji asks what they’re doing. The woman, in disgust, spits at
Sanji’s feet and resumes her project. We rapidly realize the things their
cutting up were once people! In a burst of anger, the woman thumps her staff
and an icy pillar narrowly misses Penelope.
The
fight is on! In a few hits the woman dies…or so we thought. Golden light flew
out of her and she returns to life, this time seeming stronger. Orc that we
hadn’t seen before join the fight, making it a bit difficult to focus on the
woman and man – who is now chanting over the thing on the altar.
When
he finishes his chant, the thing comes to life! A tentacle reaches out, wraps
around him, and sucks him inside. While Penelope tries to deal with the woman,
Sanji is seriously weakened by one of the orcs. Kedra rushes over to the orc
and as she grabs him, dark energy passes from her into her opponent, and he
turns to ash.
The
woman flees the room, passing through a door behind the altar as if she were a
ghost. The creature on the altar rises, taking on the shape of an ooze. I
remembered oozes were weak against fire and remembered Jessica used to have a
fire staff. I quickly called the luggage over and asked for it. Fortunately it
coughed up the right thing, but shards, I’d forgotten how to activate it. I
looked over the staff and saw an inscription written in elvish that said burn baby burn! I pointed the staff at
the ooze, shouted the phrase, and a gout of fire poured over it, wounding it
significantly.
I
gleefully shout as I burn the ooze over and over, but then an orc distracts me.
When he touches me I feel a fowl energy course through my body and I feel
weakened. Kedra tries to help, but I suddenly find her two daggers sinking
deeply into my flesh. As I feel myself fading, I remember my amulet. I quickly
heal myself, and then char the orc to ash.
Penelope
delivered the finishing blow on the ooze and the creature was no more. Sanji
manages to find a religious symbol behind the altar he suspects to be some sort
of key for the door the woman passed through.
We
decide to take a rest in a safe dimensional room Sanji has to heal from the
fight. We take turns keeping watch to see if the woman comes back.
Unfortunately, we weren’t rewarded in any such way. Once rested, Sanji grabs
the symbol. It seems to want to control him! Finally he’s able to put it in the
door and he passes through, just as the woman had. Once we’re all through,
Sanji throws the symbol on the floor.
We’re
now in a larger room and the woman waits for us at the other end with a
creature next to her, a Braxat. Apparently the creature was known for powerful
mind control abilities and had been the one all along talking to us through the
objects. We rush in to fight. The Braxat is pretty resilient against our
attacks, but then Sanji turns into a many headed hydra! He takes on the Braxat
with ease.
I go after the woman again. She doesn’t look
so good, but she gets away from me after hitting me with a spell. Now I’m
compelled to attack my allies!
Finally
the Braxat is dead and the room is clear. Penelope finds a stone door. When she
opens it there’s day light on the other side. We’re free, we’re free, we’re…
We
hear Penelope scream and rush to her aid. There are two more Braxat’s and they
were going after Penelope. Sanji rushes in and seemed to be holding them off
okay, but then Melinda runs past both creatures unharmed, as if they were
ignoring her. Melinda seems to be equally shocked. Sanji kills one of the
Braxat’s and Penelope bloodies the other, but just as she’s about to kill it,
Melinda hops on its back and they fly up in the air.
“Melinda!”
I shout, unsure what had happened. I hastily ask the Luggage for boots of
flying and chase after them. The creature is fast and I’m unable to keep up.
Suddenly it drops out of the sky and when it lands, it’s now doubled in size!
The same size as hydra Sanji! Fortunately Sanji’s able to tear him apart and
Melinda falls to the ground.
As
I go to make sure Melinda’s okay, she takes flight, speeding away from us. I
send Cutie Pie after her, but Melinda refuses to return. Did she intentionally cause the Braxat to fly up in the air and double
inside or was she under the Braxat’s control? I call Cutie Pie back after
Melinda cast a slow spell on him. Several minutes later he returns and Sanji
dispels the slowness.
A
while later, while we’re recovering, Melinda returns. She ran away because she
thought we were angry at her for what happened with the Braxat. As it turns out
she was only trying to help as best she could.
I
thanked Sanji and Penelope. Despite what Penelope is, I can’t deny how helpful
she’s been. I thought she would have turned on us in the cave, but she seemed
to have nothing to do with the evil man and woman we’d just defeated. That
being said, I’m not about to open up to her just yet. There must be a reason
why she is the way she is, but it’s also clear that if we don’t show her some
trust, she won’t be sticking around. Her aided protection would be most
valuable now that…now that Jessica, Rekka, and Isaac are gone. I’m not even
sure if Gideon and Araja will return.
Kedra
has also earned my praise. It seems like this journey has done her some good.
While there’s still some things she does that makes me cringe, I kind of…sort
of…wouldn’t mind if she chose to stay with us. Melinda has been equally
helpful. I’m sure she has lots of work to do back at Rhem, but I’d wish she’d
come with us as well.
