Loose threads: Mutant wolves attacking travelers on the Nested Point.
Participants Hakuto Sauda Neithan Tuesday Draco
Locations Buried temple under the sands of Rydess' Desert
Short summary:
Short story:
We traveled through Nested Point where we encountered mutant psychic wolves.
Days later we reached a temple, where some kind of ritual Hakuto's trinkets are tied to made some Fetchling slaves feed their blood to "the Screaming King". We ventured deeper, where we fought mummies and their extracted organs, before reaching the Screaming King. Fight with him was dangerous (though it soon devolved into a clown show of attacks missed in darkness) but we managed to prevail.
Full Report
A structure has been uncovered from beneath the shifting sands of Watcher's Isle, and there is concern that if it is not investigated soon that another sandstorm will swallow it up, never to be seen in our lifetimes again. Investigate the structure, plunder its secrets, and return home.
Following above report from the scouts, we departed towards the spot wher said structure is located. To save on time and Guild's resources, we decided to travel overland, passing through Nested Point and then sticking to the coast for as long as we were able. Near the peak of the mountain, we have encountered a pack of wolves expressing telekinetic abilities. In fact, they seemed much more intelligent than typical wolves, using those abilities to hunt. Given our disadvantegeous position, we decided to run away, and the wolves took chase after us. We managed to escape mostly unharmed. Following days of travel went uneventful.
Hakuto's additional note: Mutant
wolves with six legs appeared to have been protecting their territory.
That does sound like a normal thing, although I believe there is more to
that. So far we have not experienced any mutant animals outside of that
area, and with such supreme hunting skills, they would immediately
dominate other predators, driving them away, becoming alpha predator and
spreading across the island. They appeared to have been far more
intelligent than non-mutated forms of fauna around. |
Closing to the edge of the desert, we decided to switch to night cycle, and travel in the dark and cold rather than in the scorching sun of the desert. As we were approaching the place scouts designated, we realised how little information was given to us to track the place...
Hakuto's note: Which I'm pretty sure I'm am justifiably not happy with. |
... however, with the help of some well placed magic and a fair bit of luck, we managed to find it without delay. There we found a ravine, where on one of the walls was an entrance to an ancient temple. Scouts did not lie. A good sandstorm would bury this place for gods know how long.
Outside of the temple seemed to resonate with one of Hakuto's figurines they retreived in their previous adventures. Holding it to the doors seemed to activate some dormant spell, revealing mechanism meant to open them. We have also discovered writing in Shadowtongue. Luckily, our companion Sauda is native to Shadow Plane, and could read it:
Beware, those... tomb... Erishahk Sabrimach II... curse upon robbers and thieves... imprisoned... realms of death... forevermore.
With this warm imvite, we decided to enter the temple. Heavy doors proved resilient, but with three people attempting to force them we managed to open them, unleashing upon ourselves a curse in the process.
Inside we encountered two, strangely enough, still living Fetchlings who were chained and continuously drained of their blood. This blood was being used in a long ritual meant to raise "the Screaming King". The statuette mentioned before is supposedly a material component of a binding ritual that was performed on those two slaves, and once lifted they were raised and begun feeding the King.
They also said that opening the doors began the process of waking the King up. When statuette was returned upon the pedestal in the middle of the room, time passed seemed to catch up to the two slaves, and their bodies decomposed into nothingness right there and then.
Hakuto's note: An element of the ritual that binds us, that lifted us on the Bloodhooks. It is a token of atrocity. When it was removed from the pedistal there we were lifted up and began to feed the King. How it came to be in the possession of a Fleshwarp, the gods only know. Perhaps the living servants of the Black Line gave it to one twisted by the Velstrac. Keywords gathered about the mysterious satchel of figurines: |
After resting for a while and discussing options, we moved deeper into the temple. It seemed long, but very linear, lacking any maze-like form to it. Quite a surprise, honestly, though I suppose it was already difficult to find, hidden in the sand. We reached a chamber where multiple tombs were present, and therein we encountered first hostile entities within this temple - a pair of mummies, cloaked in material shadow. They were accompanied by two other creatures, though it seems weird to call them that. Made of a mess of organs contained within a clay jar, Tokenu are brittle, but hold powerful essence of necromancy, making them dangerous foes. On the other hand, mummies were capable of inflicting standard for them Mummy Rot, which Leon, despite its Automaton body, contracted.
Upon finishing the combat, Leon retreated using its Recaller, which was a good precaution, given they were under effects of both a curse and a disease.
Once we licked our wounds, we continued deeper, and after passing a chamber with long spike fall, we reached what looked like a finale.
Within a darkness filled chamber, darkness no magic we possessed was able to pierce, we found him - the Screaming King.
Fight with him was dreadful, his mere presence was enough to make us shake in terror, and his screams alone almost brought us to our knees. Using shadow magic he made our shadow fight against us, luckily a blast of positive energy was enough to send them away, making the magic retaliate against King himself. We used opportunity created this was to advantage, but the fight was long.
Eventually we managed to defeat the King without any loss of life.