Lanal 10-11, 652 DR: Group is introduced to Lord Yurander of Kry Ōddon. Crossbowmen that kill congregating Minions are rewarded with a column of fire that leaves several dead and others injured. Dammon is trapped within a strange black book, and to everyone’s surprise Jak soon follows. Alcèrra is able to release random prisoners from the book. A visitor to the Keep steals the book and Dammon and Jak with it.
Continued from Children of Sin.
Talídor, 10 Lanal 652
Lord Yurander sat upon his throne and asked questions of the strangers. He asked each their name and from whence they came, all the while clutching tightly to the black metal sword upon his lap. Granted his “welcome” to Kry Ōddon, Ðr. Enthor and Chamberlain Felze showed the group to the tower while others went to the locked library. Those in the old tower found it was equipped for a war it had been waiting on for many centuries. Every foot of stone walls were hung with racks of dusty weapons, arrows, bolts, and blades. Gargoyle emblazoned shields hung along every hallway and staircase, all waiting for a war that had not reached the Platànya. Jak and Mishara soon established a plan involving a preemptive attack on the amassing forces outside the keep.
Commanding twenty crossbow men, the soldiers crawled out along the battlements, looking down upon the street bonfire and the shaven heads that milled there. On command, they rose their weapons and the Minions screamed, fell, with few running for cover. In response, a column of flame fell from the sky and the air was thick with the smell of charred flesh. The soldiers quickly withdrew into the confines of the tower.
More than ten Minions lie dead in the dark street, three less soldiers defended the keep. Hours passed. Alcèrra soon arrived in the courtyard, having found access to the Yurander family crypt. Learning of the soldiers’ fates, she was led to the blackened corpses. After separate rituals she explained that their service was not quite ended and with an ancient prayer summoned their bodies to motion. Two skeletons and a zombie shuddered upright, and were given passage through the front gate with the command to destroy all that they found.
Some screams were soon heard from the nearest homes where the Minions were thought to be hiding. Jak arrived from the library where he had gone to visit Dammon. In his hands he carried a large black tome. He explained that Dammon had been taken into the book, and to help explain opened the book and disappeared in a flash of white light. After some debate at this late hour, Alcèrra cast a spell upon the tome. The book flashed, opened, and closed, expelling an older man in the robes of Pæð the Lorekeeper. Four hundred years had passed since the appearing priest had opened the same book. After some discussion he was escorted to be introduced to the Lord of the Keep. The group decided that they would experiment more in the morning.
Padídor, 11 Lanal 652
Come morning, Alcèrra prepared the proper spells and summoned more prisoners from the pages of the Black Tome. The first released was a pale and thin dark-robed woman who sought immediate escape from the Keep, draining the life from a guard on her way out the front gate. The Zyrran was quickly pinned dead to the road by Mishara and Kaithah’s arrows. Others to arrive were Gladia, a Taldànyn poet, and Idus, a wizard from Lanàdus that claimed to have found the book on a body in the ruined City of Ildûn. Idus, learning of the impending siege sought refuge in the keep to “prepare” himself.
Finally, a knock at the front gate introduced a thin stranger seeking Dammon. Instead of a greeting he was met with questions and finally an offer to look into the Black Tome. He opened the book without effect. At this point it was explained what might have happened and seeing the intent, the man uttered arcane words and vanished. The last heard was that of the book snapping shut again. And so was lost Dammon, Jak, and four soldiers, before the siege began. As the others looked at each other, wondering what they had done, a familiar weight climbed onto Kaithah’s shoulder that sent a bone-chilling shiver through her body.
Continued in The Vault of the Butterfly.
Characters
- Alcèrra Nàdrelan
- Dammon Shroudson
- Jak of Cænden
- Kaithah Argentale
- Mishara Mythdaras
- Carath of Pæð
- Ðr. Enthor
- Felze
- Gladia
- Idus
- Kirrin Hack
- Old Serrel
- Lord Orun Yurander
- Pamala Temmast
- Tanthus
- Zeelara
Played: 08 Nov 1997