The smell of dead Ettin and feces nestles itself into all of your noses. Though the disembodied head of the Eldarin draws most of your focus.
Radegast pulls himself out of the pit, stands up, removes his cloak and shakes it out, beating it against the floor to shake out the dirt and dust from the pit.
Stones puts his back against the wall gets his feet against the Ettin, pushing with a certain amount of effort and gets himself dislodged. Stones moves himself so he is sitting on the edge of the pit holding the orb in front of him and staring at the disembodied head in her eyes. "Now, you wouldn't ask for something that couldn't be done, would you? So I assume if you want to be free, you can tell me how to do so. Out with it, then. And if you have no idea, please say so and don't waste my time." The last part comes out as a growl, far harsher than he intended.
The Eldarin head blinks her large eyes and thick luscious lashes back at Stones, "Well I never - I mean I did once though he was a dwarf so I'm not sure it counts for anything. Of course I know how to do it. Destroy the Portal of Marquis. That is all you have to do." The words tumble out of her mouth one after another.
"And while we're at it, how did you come to be here? Where are we? And do you know exactly where we are?" adds Stones, almost as an afterthought.
The Eldarin head licks her lips, though there is no lubrication so it is rather...uneasy looking, "So many questions. How...human of you." My name is Noienna Paressa, rightful queen to all existing Eldarin lands--" there is a particular triumph to her words when she speaks that part, "--and I have been imprisoned here for 300 years since my EX husband Karavakos made a deal with some devils that did not turn out well for...actually ME truth be told...I have spent the last 50 years being ignored as a prisoner of this stupid ettin. Though not so stupid that I could ever figure out a way to get--out--of--here."
The words once again tumble out except for the places she has dramatic pauses for emphasis and exactness. There is a long pause. Trying to remember a fact or opinion that has escaped her. Somewhere in the universe she finds it.
"Oh yes. The where. That is more complicated. My EX husband was looking for life immortal in my homelands of La Florida. He and his demon friends - long story really - let us just say immortality for a devil is to live between time and space. That is what my EX husband told me before he went and sacrificed me. This place you are in travels between worlds and time. Never staying for long. Sometimes it is found. Sometimes it is not. Though ever since those priests of Chlome found it we have been stuck here. I can FEEL when we move and we have no moved in years. I don't know what they did (her voice becomes saddened) only they are not useful worth a damn. Each day I can feel them adding others to where my soul is kept which wouldn't be bad if I could talk to them. Instead I was in a bag. THANK YOU by the way for that assistance."
Once again the words spring forth from her mouth.
Voss draws his cask of golden dwarven ale from his pack. It’s a magical cask that refills daily with crisp, cold dwarven ale. He pops the cork, takes a long swig and passes it offers it. “While needing to know moving forward, how sure are we we can get BACK to Ronak and Brind in the other room? Do we risk leaving them behind? Or bring them with us?”
"Ahhh.... that was.... gross." Inara brushes zombie ash off of her travel robe. "Um, Stones? Could you retrieve my two stars from the big thing's brain? Thank you, sir."
Stones nods along with Inara as she speaks to Qwyn. He plucks the throwing stars from the ettin and hands them to Inara, seeming almost surprised to have done so without even thinking.
"Qwynn... didn't you say you can sense portal thingies? There seems to be some fog down these three hallways. I'm happy to scout ahead, but I don't want to walk into something like what I think we just walked into once already. Could you check out the hallways before I go down one?" Inara smiles as she says it. Her most charming smile.
Remsfeld snarls, "No sneaking around, Inara!"
Elby walks around the room picking up arrows and cleaning them. "I'm with Inara, if any of you can sense the portal, then let's go that way. Otherwise I'm willing to scout down this hallway heading south." Elby nods his head toward the hallway.
"I see the sentiment is to move from this place, but I would remind everyone to take stock of our situation." Radegast is calm as he speaks. "We did not get enough rest last night, we began the day in a new city, spent the afternoon at a funeral, burned a tavern to the ground in the evening, holed up in a castle and then traveled through a portal to this temple in the middle of the night. I have had many days in my travels, but few as long as this day."
Qwyn looks careful at each hallway. "That fog in the passageways may unintentionally help us. It looks like Enemies Chortle. It's designed to make breathing things cough so we should be able to hear if anything is approaching.
"A coughing gas?" Inara looks distastefully down the halls. "Well then I imagine that means it would make me cough as well, so people will hear me coming. So much for scouting."
“I'm for resting up and taking first watch. Yes Qwyn, if you could check for portals.” Voss says it as he continues to drink the ale that no one else seems interested in.
“To get out of here, in all likelihood, we're going to need to figure out how to reactivate a portal back to where we came from. Unfortunately, most portals do not remain open but require some kind of key to make them active." Qwyn looks back toward where you all came in.
"Qwyn, are you saying if we go back down that corridor we entered, we will not find Ronak and Brind?” Voss looks concerned.
“I believe the answer to that is no, we are stuck here, but I could be wrong ...” the words trail off into the semi-spoken thought.
Inara eyes the decapitated heads with disgust, Remsfeld close behind. "Any one want a cleaver?" Remsfeld takes the cleaver from her, wordlessly tosses it into the pit, recognizing a useless weapon when he sees one.
Elby continues to pick up the arrows. "Stones, Rad, you two OK? Thanks for the bow, this one works almost as well as my last one."
Stones turns to Elby, "Keep the bow if you wish, I have another...unless yours is more suited to your needs. You're a better shot than I am anyway. And Voss, that sword you gave me has a minor enchantment.”
Elby nods, "Thank you Stones. It's always good to have a back up." Elby sits down and begins to restring his original bow
“Let's not forget the two carrion crawlers that escaped. Maybe they'll return - with reinforcements? That pit hides more than bones.” Allion, forever thinking, forever pondering adds in his thoughts.
"From what I've read, Carrion Crawlers are faster runners than the French. Don't think they'll be back any time soon." Qwyns looks toward the pit as he says it.
"Queen Paressa," Stones says, almost sounding respectful. It is a surprising turn for such a brusque man. "We will destroy this Portal of marquis. We will set you free. But please, tell me, do you know any of these trapped souls by name or nature? My...master, well, these fucking...I mean the priests, that is...well damnit, these bastard of chum have trapped his soul and it sounds like it is for the same purpose your EX" stones provides the emphasis as well "husband had in mind.
Stones looks almost hopeful, anticipating her answer, and not the least bit put out that he may at that very moment be floating between space and time...
Radegast kicks one of the Ettin's hands, draped over the edge of the pit, back down on its stinking corpse lying below. "I believe we must act with a certain amount of haste, but a few hours sleep will do us all good. Perhaps we could use that nook to stack our supplies and get a few hours of sleep before moving to the next bloodbath." He looks at the Halfling. "Elbeneth, you have my gratitude and protection. Your words during the melee gave me the courage to continue. I am at your service."
Elby smiles at Radegast. "My friend, Radegast, it was the least I could do for the help you gave me when I was struck down by that poisonous dart. Considering all the rest I got while recovering, I feel well enough to venture on. The sooner we're out of this...whatever it is, the better I'll feel. It's not natural to be stuck in some void like this."
Inara cleans her stars and returns them under her robe. "Look, I understand the need to rest. You guys did that watchy thing during the night while I slept. I'm fresh; you're not. But we seem to have several passages here. This place looks like it could be frequented quite often. Judging by the pit... very often. Resting here seems... bad. Not to mention that we have an out of shape, fat, self proclaimed former paladin and a child by themselves. On the plus side they won’t run out of food because THEY HAVE MY BAGS... we, on the other hand..."
Inara sighs.
"So unless you all can magically create food and water, and can also protect a hidden room that the priests may be looking at very soon now that we set off some sort of trap... I suggest we move on. As to which direction..." Inara looks around confused.
Elby heads to the NW section of the room and checks the angles from there down the hallways. Then heads over to the SW corner and checks the angles from there down the hallways.
"Considering what we just went through, some rest can't hurt. I'll take the first watch with Voss. Don't worry, there are few things that can sneak up on me unnoticed." Whatever has ravaged Elby’s body in the past is definitely gone.
"Places are not my thing. People are my thing. Remmy? Any of the stonework look more central? Travelled? Used?” Inara looks hopefully at Remmy.
Remsfeld shakes his head at her. “How many times I tell you? I am not that type of dwarf!”
Stones absorbs the multiple conversations and says, “I can make a portal, but I don’t have to supplies…if we happen to stumble across the rare chalks I need, then perhaps…However, these priests of chum must have a way back. I care not if we rest or move forward, but if we will move on we should decide quickly, but most importantly we must not become separated. We can toss some dice to see which route we take unless anyone has a better suggestions…
“Radegast, you took many mighty blows, are you ok to carry on. Perhaps you need to spend a healing surge before we carry on..”
Radegast is stooped over, cleaning his axe. He looks at Stones. "Careful, swordsman... I'll surge that crystal ball up where the gods never intended it go to."
Radegast adds "I am fine to go on if we decide that is best.”
Radegast continues to look at Stones, carefully studying the trapped Eldarin Queen. "Stones, my friend, my new brother of the battle, if you would be so kind as to consider returning this bauble to its bag, so we may speak in private. I have known many an Eldarin in my travels, and only one in a hundred speaks plainly, and only one in a thousand has pure motives. Be very wary of making promises to this princess in a jar. It may well be she was put there for a reason. Regardless, we are here for other reasons. I would suggest one thing at a time."
"From what I know of these priests, there is a certain member of this cult who we need to be on the lookout for. He will look like the others in garb and manner, but will carry a ring of many keys. If we find this keymaster, we must take him alive. He can lead us to the archives, where we will be able to find not only a way out of this stuck portal, but perhaps answers to more questions, such as where the souls of friends are hidden, why queens are frozen in balls of crystal, and why bars must burn so fat men might die. Find the man with the keys, and we find our way to vengeance and freedom, for all who deserve it."
"What say you all?"
Radegast looks around the room. His words have a certain wisdom to them.
Noienna's eyes bulge as lets out a shriek, "Bauble? Bau-BLE? BA-U-BLE?!" She manages to turn the word into three enraged syllables. "Listen ha-lf hu-man--" her haughty emphasis makes the words the most cutting insult you've ever heard, "--I can smell the death on the weapon you carry with you in the name of friendship. I wouldn't--wouldn't..." Noienna regains control of herself, her voice suddenly becoming overly sweet, "The library. You don't need keys. You know nothing. Less than nothing apparently."
"We'll what the fu--...I don't know what's what, who's right, or which way we are headed but I do agree with Radegast. We need rest. And we need to collect our thoughts and form a plan. Queen Paressa, perhaps you can help us in our original quest," he turns to Radegast, "as it seems our interest may coincide somewhat with her needs Radegast. Perhaps a rest for all is in order...and then we find all the trapped souls."
Stones looks down each hallway. "Many ways into this room, perhaps too many. Paressa, do you know where they lead? Have you seen other ettin or any other creatures come this way?"
The Princess shrieks again. “What have I seen? What—have—I…I will show you.”
A blue light comes from the orb, overwhelming eyes and slipping directly into your mind.
Time itself plays backward – your lives, your births, the stories that you have heard about in the years before you existed. The view pulls away from Cull itself to give a bird’s eye view of what you know to be the world. The world itself turns, suddenly your view plummets toward the ground.
The following story unfolds before you.
In centuries past, a tiefling wizard named Karavakos was a steward of the country of Spain. Madly in love with the highborn princess of Spain Eldarin Noienna Paressa – and she with him. He went before the Queen of Spain asking for a quest to prove his worth. The Queen, having no interest in a tiefling relative yet afraid of his awesomess wizarding power sent him on the quest for the Land Immortal. A rumor of existence in the newly found land of La Florida.
Karavakos did not find it, thwarted by the Feywild who called this area part of their home.
Yet his love for Noienna Paressa was deep so he made a fatal bargain. In desperation, Karavakos summoned a devil and asked for aid. A legion of infernal soldiers came to march under his command, and he stepped up his efforts to make La Florida his domain.
The legion of devils came at a very reasonable price. They would fight on his behalf and obey his orders without question. If he ever led them to defeat, however, they would abandon him and he would be cast into eternal captivity. Only an error made by the wizard could result in the devils’ defeat—no army in the world could defeat them on the field of battle.
Karavakos led his legions on one conquest after another. What had been a small kingdom grew into a mighty nation to rival Spain itself.
With winter’s arrival, Karavakos called a halt to his campaign of expansion. He returned to his palace with the Spain where he claimed his eladrin princess, who was to be his bride. Together, he proclaimed, they would rule a new empire, and with spring’s dawning his armies would march into the Feywild, extending their rule across two worlds.
When spring came, the devil armies marched through the thin border between worlds. In the Feywild, though, the devils met their match. Invincible on the battlefields of the natural world, the devils had no such protection once they stepped into the Feywild. Fey spears and arrows felled the legions, putting an end to Karavakos’s dreams of conquest—and severing his diabolic bargain.
Karavakos was imprisoned in the very land he sought his soul itself torn asunder. The Land Immortal, his eladrin princess at his side. The Land Immortal took Karavakos between worlds, always attaching itself to the part of whatever world is traveled to. Those who died within the Land Immortal lent strength to the pyramid itself.
Karavakos built a portal which would enable himself to talk to others only it would not work. To power it he needed three souls: one of greed, one of innocence, and one of power. The greed was easy to find as the Land Immortal exists beyond space and time, appearing in multiple places in the world and planes beyond. Greedy people are always among those who would explore.
The one of power was part of his own soul itself. The innocence…his eldarin princess. It was through his portal he encouraged many to enter the Land Immortal always for the purpose of adding to his own power. It was also this way he met the Priests of Cholme.
Priests who were able to secure the powerful Land Immortal to their own world using its powers themselves. How they hold the Land Immortal is unknown. They have made the Land Immortal stronger thanks to additional sacrifices: one of greed, one of innocence, and one of power.
The words reflect in your ears. You find yourself back in the Ettin’s chamber.
The Eldarin princess finishes her story, talking to you all in real time.
“These people passed through the Ettin’s chamber always cloaked to not hear my cries. The Portal is in the sanctuary of light. Karavakos is the key. His soul has been split. A piece of his soul – split apart it hides among the areas and…well that information is held in the library. The library contains every bit of knowledge of every person ever put into the portal. Reuninte Karavakos’s soul and then kill him. THAT is what will destroy it.”
She pauses. Everything has been almost stream of consciousness.
“I was asked earlier of what sits down these hallways.” “The library – directly due North. It contains every bit of knowledge of every person ever put into the portal. It also contains part of Karavakos soul. It is part of the key.”
“To the East is Gharash. He is dragonborn, along with his people a recent arrival. He sent men to attack the Ettin. They lost. He can be reasoned with...or so the Priests say.” Another deep breath. Her story is long but almost complete.
“To the South." She shakes her head. “Savage arboreans, bloodthirsty humanoids who believe the spirits of their ancestors reside in plants. There too is a piece of soul among them. They openly fight against Gharash.”
She sighs. “There is a problem. The priests of Chlome came through earlier today. Once a week they come through to make a sacrifice and then leave. If you do not stop them today you will be hear a week…that would be…bad. No one can open the door to the Pyramid of Light without a key. A soul begs to be reunited with its body so it can die. Karavakos will open the door. I believe you have two maybe three hours. To get the souls…you will have to split up.”
It is then you finally notice it. A freshness to the air. Muscles that feel loose. Minds that are clear. Whatever the Princess did has refreshed you as though you had a full days sleep. Actions points are at two. Daily powers have returned. And options are in front of you.
- Call it the exposition post
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