Prelude: Beyond the Hag and Hungry Goblin by Leanne "Faelinn" Hoffman
“...From the hag and
hungry goblin that into rags would rend ye
All the sprites that stand by the naked man in the book of moons, defend ye....”
All the sprites that stand by the naked man in the book of moons, defend ye....”
- The Message, sung by Dahal Devonshire
of Chimeron on behalf of the Goddess Luna
Greetings, Heroes of the Realms,
Our interests both lie in combating the blackness of Bedlam. I have a
tool that can help, but I need assistance in acquiring one more
component. Unfortunately, this specific part lies in the middle of a
subterranean Bedlam infestation. You can see why I need your help.
Our goal is to get in, get the part, eliminate the infection if
possible, and leave. I hope you will choose to join me on this merry
jaunt.
Sincerely,
Samuel Cowperthwaite
The letter seemed innocuous enough. A simple man needed help in fighting against the threats of Bedlam. Others have asked for help in similar manners throughout the ages and always the heroes and adventurers of the Realms answered.
This was no simple man. And this was no simple task.
A tall and heavy set gentleman, decked out in a purple shirt and jaunty hat, Samuel was a not what one would expect when one thought of secret society member. He had a kind tone (if not slightly patronizing), and a genial manner that let the common man feel at ease in dealing with him.
The calm demeanor did nothing to calm the few who heard rumors of what the Wellmen could do, nor did it dissuade the few who sought to learn their secrets.
Many people heard the call for help and answered.
No one knew how they were able to make their way to the meeting place. On that chilly October day, the adventurers seemingly appeared out of nowhere into a meeting room where Samuel Cowperthwaite waited for them.
After confirming that no one quite know how they got there, Samuel welcomed everyone to what he called “Wellmen Central”. The headquarters was in a state of disarray. A Bedlam incursion had cause a “plane-in”; a collapsing of the material plane into pockets where each section was slightly out of phase with the others. They would have to travel through the catacombs to their target: an artifact called the Oracular Engine. It was needed to power the Book of Moons, which allowed travel to other realms to fight Bedlam incursions. If the Infinite Dark was able to gain a foothold in another world, it could never be stopped.
The adventurers seemed both nervous and eager when the doors to the catacombs were opened. Soon enough, bois appeared and those heroes more martially inclined set to the task of fighting them. Swords of Light and Northern Light blades flashed against the darkness. The battle had begun.
The sections of this part of the vault were widely out of phase with the others. The plane-in and phasing also seemed to affect the adventurers. Odd paths were cut off for some people but not others which made fighting bois much harder. Towards the end of the this section was a warded door that could only be unlocked by breaking the wards scattered around the room. Both Khol Thunderwalker of Mythguard and Ayuchi Kyomi of Chimeron independently gathered several Futhark rune tiles before others noticed plaques on the ground. One on the ground before Kyomi read “The Face of the Lady” and had three open spaces for tiles below it.
“I know this one is Mab,” she said and tried to place the tiles down, but nothing happened.
Faelinn Shadowmoon looked at the plaque. “No. It’s Aurora. The Lady’s face is the sun. The Wellmen are Aurorans. They don’t care about faeries, these are questions about the Wellmen!” The tiles were placed down for “SUN” and the ward was broken.
All the plaques seemed to pertain about the history or workings of the Wellmen. Laurante was able to answer many of them. Some people asked accusingly of Faelinn why she knew so much about the Wellmen, but she could only look sheepishly and said that she knew from reading.
With the breaking of the final ward, the door unlocked. The adventurers strode forward into a corridor of darkness and flickering light. Twists and turns eventually led them to a stone altar in a room with many vestibules tucked around it. As the adventurers approached, they soon realized they were not alone. Restless spirits and mindless undead assaulted the group. The few mages with Circles of Protection were able to shield some against the assault. Those not able to protect themselves by warding the undead or jumping into the protective circles were cut down.
Papers and notes were scattered around the room and made their way to Faelinn, who huddled in Bright’s circle. She handed them to Rel Zhirah so that he could try to make sense of them. while he read, the restless spirits screamed accusations of murder and guilt or pleaded for vindication. It was a temple to Justari, God of Justice, and these souls were prevented from continuing on to the afterlife. One spirit continually hounded Rel and flaunted the flaws of the other damned spirits. This spirit was supposedly a righteous judge and cast down sentence to some of the other spirits.
Rel’s eyes went wide as he read and he turned to the spirit. “You were a corrupt judge. You sentenced innocent people to die and gave punishments out harshly for small crimes! How dare you!” he bellowed. “You are guilty of abusing your power and should be punished by the Just God!”
At his proclamation, the spirit howled and disappeared. All the spirits need to be judged guilty or innocent to move on to the afterlife. A person could only judge a spirit once and making the wrong decision led to consequences if their soul was left unprotected. Eventually all the restless spirits were named, their crimes judged, and were found either guilty or innocent. Quietly, the adventurers who fell to the waves of undead were healed. They breathed a collective sigh of relief and turned to continue on through the corridors.
Through the passage ways and up a flight of stairs, the adventurers again met with Samuel. He explained that this room held the core of the Oracular Engine, but that the odd phasing had made it so some of the doorways only opened at certain times. The lights on the doors would guide them through the maze but they would have to make their own way out once they found the core.
The adventurers went into the maze one by one. The odd challenge seemed like fun and for some the danger was forgotten. Over the laughter of their friends and whir of the lights activating, came the yells and cries for help. Something was in the maze with them.
A piece differentiated darkness maneuvered through the maze and attacked the adventurers; its blows raining down on them with the force of boulders. It was a mad dash for the group adventurers from Kalithnos who found the core and made it out and others started to trickle out. An odd quiet fell over the group. How many people were dead and left in the maze? Someone was left in there and calling for help.
Faelinn called out to her goddess Aurora and prayed for Her to help those lost. With the force of her divine boon, she willed some of the lighted doors to remain open. A rescue party wasted no time in dragging out those lost. As the last member made it out, Samuel activated the self destruct sequence for the maze, lest anything of the darkness made it out to follow them.
The Wellman and the adventurers now had a time limit.
Through the twists and turns of the corridors the adventurers explored more of the vault until at last they reached their destination.
Samuel turned to the adventurers and told them that this was where the Oracular Engine was. The door was sealed to contain the Bedlam infestation so no one knew how bad it might be. He warned them to get the Engine and get out.
Samuel turned to pierce the ward and stopped, his heart momentarily stopped at the sight of what lay beyond. With a quick prayer to his goddess, he yelled for the heroes to go and tore the containment field apart.
The was an unnatural black that seemed to absorb all light around it. Tendrils of living darkness writhed in pools of Bedlam. The sight of the room stuck fear into many of those who gazed on it, but with determination and a yell of “GO!” the heroes rushed forward.
Chaos erupted in the room as the shadow tendrils reached out to attack the heroes. Northern Light blades cut through them offering a moment of reprise before the tendrils reformed and attacked. The darkness did not scream or yell...it merely waited in eerie silence to take what it wanted. Slowly and steadily weaving through the tendrils as if attracted to the noise of the adventurers was a giant sphere of darkness. It lumbered forward despite repeated blows by Light blades. This was merely the head of a piece of differentiated darkness; the Tentaculous.
Samuel raced to the Oracular Engine but a chunk of the panel broke apart in his hands. Swearing, he launched part of the console at the Tentaculous as the heroes beat it back with their Light blades. After a furious few minutes, the Tentaculous retracted from where it came and the heroes let out a tired but hearty “Huzzah”.
Grabbing the rest of the Oracular Engine, Samuel called for a retreat. The celebration was to be short lived because the destruct sequence was beginning its final countdown. The heroes frantically retreated through the corridors only to be ambushed by FuryBois. Allies fell to the dissension power of the FuryBois and were later dragged out by their friends. The sense of urgency and panic rose through the group as the way out loomed in front of them. As the last stragglers headed towards the exit, the Knights of the Blue Rose went back for Tak and Chan. With mere seconds to spare, they made it out.
Tired and with hearts racing, the heroes of the realms had obtained what they had wanted.
With the Oracular Engine, the Book of Moons artifact could be used to combat Bedlam abroad.
There was hope.