Strength And Sacrifice

Adalia laughed, “Guys, you will not believe what happened, but I finally agree with Belladonna.”

Belladonna made an I-told-you-so face. Galia tried to defend them, and Adalia conceded that she only hate fungal fey.

“Possession is rude, and we aren’t supposed to do it.” Galia grumbled.

Carindrina sniggered.

As they wandered through the dark cave, the mushrooms grew larger, the tunnel twisted and turned, and eventually the brimstone type walls gave way to a black stone that had been worked into bricks. They could hear a low humming noise and softer, in the distance, a soft, childlike laughter. The aura of the place was distinctly evil, and Belladonna explained this was the same aura that permeated under Scath Mountain. They saw statues lining the halls, and further investigation revealed that this was from K’rah K’halle. They found an open chamber, with a large symbol on the floor that looked like a hand just in front of a small set of stairs that appeared to lead up into another level of the castle. Nira recognized this as a very old symbol for arcane magic. Adalia realized this was a symbol from her vision. Venus walked around the edge of the symbol, careful not to step near the stairs, and feeling her claw vibrate, unsheathed her claw, now with an ornate silver tip, and tapped it to the ground. Through the vibrations she could feel that the stairwell was riddled with traps. She realized that the pattern on the floor was a pressure trap that needed the exact right weight to be able to disable the trap mechanism.

They decided to look around, and saw another tunnel that was leading deeper into the earth. They went to look for a key or item to activate the pressure plate. Galia skipped ahead, and Adalia called out, “GALIA! Freeze!” as she saw Galia almost skip over a plate on the floor. She stopped and as they moved closer, they saw that this was part of the arcane hand symbol. It could only be lifted by arcane magic so Furus and Venus used mage hand to lift the plate. They each carried one plate there, then returned for the other two plates.

Adalia stayed in the large room, and went to investigate the area. There was a sarcophagus hidden in an alcove. She wanted to look carefully, but was distracted by loud noises in the hall and accidentally touched the sarcophagus, she could feel it trying to siphon her power. She quickly pulled her hand away.

Carindrina was investigating and found a hastily constructed wall, but decided to leave it alone and inspect the next room, calling Adalia into the room with her. The large room had a dais with a black throne and several columns scattered through the room. There were more plates broken on the floor, this time it appeared to be a bull. Adalia explained this was also a part of her vision. Brainstorming what the bull could symbolize, they come to the conclusion that it most likely deals with strength.

They decide to wait and see how the plates work with the first trap. As Furus and Venus maneuver the plates, they snap together and hover over the floor. They gently float it over the red stones, and they dissipate into the stones below them. They hear some mechanically clicking and assume the trap has been disabled. Nira runs back to the rest of the rooms and does not see any changes. Adalia looks at the plate, it looks depressed now, like it is holding something down. They walk up the stairs to the next room. A statue for K’rah K’halle is in the corner and before the next hallway is another mosaic, though this one is a bull. They decide to go back to the throne room to collect the bull plates.


Carindrina goes to the plates and tries to lift them, they are effortless to raise from the ground. She asks Galia to try to lift them. Galia comes over and tries to lift the plate, grunting heavily, and then kicks the plate and jumps up and down, clutching her toes, “I’m small like you! I should be able to lift these.”

Carindrina laughs, “Ok Galia, let’s not kick the things. I will handle this.” and leads her away from the plate.

Belladonna is able to lift it with ease. Galia frowns. Furus decides to serenade the group with a rendition of “Brick House.”

They see another set of plates that appear to be a sun. Nira and Adalia are able to lift those with ease.

Nira was drawn to the throne and heard the whispering come from the dark stone.

They carry the plates back to the bull symbol and again it works just like the hand. The plates connect then dissipate into the ground. They walk through the hallway and enter a long room. There is another red mosaic, this time of a sun, then behind it, three more plates of the same symbols, all glowing. Behind this is a set of stairs leading to another hall. Nira drops the sun plates and they dissipate and the sigils glow brightly. Everyone pulls out their weapons.

As they do, the smell of sulphur hits them and so does the heat from beyond the hallway. They tread forward carefully and are met with a huge lake of lava, but the platform is blocked by arcing purple lightning. Furus, Nira, and Carindrina went back into the area and decided to jump on the symbols associated with their strengths, there was a loud crack. Galia called back from the bridge that a few of the purple arcs had stopped. They went back to the bridge. The area that was to the left and still partially blocked had magical noise down one hallway and the the other hallways was so silent it appeared to be gobbling up any noise that entered the hallway. The area on the right was precarious, but they decided to follow the open path and stopped when they saw a small hidden hallway. There was an old statue that appeared to emanate a deep, evil hunger. Nira explained that she is a cleric and she lived near Rosary Row, she knew all the old gods and new gods, and this is not either of them. Adalia, frightened, slipped and hit her head on the statue. The strangest part was that when she touched the statue, it was wet, soaked, really, which did not make sense with how hot and desiccated the air was here. Carindrina moved forward and started to feel the wall, realizing it was likely the opposite side of the newly constructed wall. She knocked on the wall, and the way it reverberated appeared that the wall was about 40 feet thick.

The group quietly backed up and continued on the ledge near the lava into the next room, a huge ballroom with 3 white mosaics, the sun, the bull, and the hand.

“Furus, don’t stand on them.” A
“I think we will have to stand on them.” N
“We don’t have any more plated. I’m not sure what they need.”
Belladonna went to one and realized it wasn’t a pressure plate, and with Furus and Carindrina also investigating, the come to the conclusion that they need to hit the plates with their magic. Galia pokes her head out towards the lava to see if any of the arcane electric fields go down.

Furus holds out mage hand and counts down. At the count of 3 2 1, Carindrina smashes her hammer into the plates, he slaps his mage hand, and Nira casts a spell on the plate. Nothing happened. They tried again, but jumping with their whole bodies onto the plates.

They take a second to re-evaluate and then Nira and Furus realize that these appear to be offering plates. These are plates that want what you have the least of, as it is the more meaningful sacrifice. Carindrina says that she is worried about losing her faint connection to the only dwarven god that has spoken to her since she left the Fegyvyr Slopes. Nira offers that she can help someone convert really quickly.

Adalia offered blood to the divine magic. Furus was going to offer himself to the strength, but Galia pushed him out of the way. Midna offered herself to the arcane plate. They all cut their hand and as the blood dripped onto the plate, they jumped on. The stones turned black, and they felt the strength sap from their body. Nira ran to check the arcan electric energy, but it still didn’t change. Coming back in, the group noticed that there was an area on the north wall that was slowly opening.

Nira was in front, and she saw a small child with a terrifying grin. Belladonna saw him and he looked at her as he let out a broken laugh. His grin widened and he said a very unnerving, “Hey.” as he rolled his neck.

Nira called quietly to the group behind her, “Uhh, maybe we should think about getting out and ringing that bell?”

“Are you here to play games with me?” He asked.

“Unfortunatley that isn’t on the agenda.” Carindrina said, reaching for her axe.

“What kind of games?” Adalia tried to be nice.

“I like the ones where you give me your powers.” His eyes flashed with malice.

“Oh, I don’t like those.” Adalia murmured.

He reached out and grabbed Adalia and Carindrina’s mind, pulling them forward. As they moved towards him, they could see chains leading into the darkness of the edges of the room that were attached to children.

Nira reached out to grab them, but they trudged forward, “What are you doing to them?!”

“I’m making them my friends.”

Adalia made it up to him and he reached a hand out to her, “Do you want to be my friend?”

In her head Adalia shouted NO!, but she heard herself say “Yes.” He turned her around and had her cast wave strike on her friends, but she was able to fight enough to make the spell ineffective.

He pulled Carindrina closer to him, they were about the same size, but as she looked into his eyes, there was something far older. He smirked and told her that he was going to make her his closest friend. Carindrina struggled against him, and reached out to the sjal ore inside her blood and pulled that silver thread back to regain control of her conscious. His smile let her know that he was not aware she had broken the spell, so she stayed still. Midna pulled out her longbow and hesitated as she didn’t want to hit Carindrina, let her arrow loose too late, the arrow landing in the chain.

Juniper runs forward to her second mom, and tries to drag Adalia back to safety, but Onyx reaches out and pulls Adalia out of the way. Aquilla rushes in to grab Adalia, he pushes into her side, but doesn’t quite manage to get her away from Onyx.

Nira giggles, “ I loooove possession.”
Belladonna stresses that they need to take him down and Galia says, “Yeah he’s controlling people and even I know that’s wrong.” Nira laughs again, “Yeah, even you.” Belladonna lets two arrows fly, the first arrow soars over his shoulder, but the second lands just below his collar bone. He is pushed back by the force of the arrow, but just grins at Belladonna. To the side, Hannah Abbot cries out in pain and slumps to the floor, still attached to the chains. Onyx leans down to whisper in Carindrina’s ear, “We’ll have more friends soon.”

Nira cast Bless, letting her holy magic settle over the room. Galia, unable to see well through the door, entered the chamber and seeing Adalia, reached out to snag her shadow, but stumbled and fell closer to Onyx. Adalia was shaken to the front on her control for a second and managed to shout out, “If you keep hitting him you will kill the kids!” before she felt him regain control.

Carindrina paused, looking at the chains. She was unable to figure out the exact mechanics, but somehow the chains were linking his life force to the children, they would take his damage and he would take their healing. She dropped low and tried to swing her leg out to trip him, but he jumped back. He looked own at her and slammed his foot on her ankle, reaching out to ensnare her mind again. She felt his thoughts force their way into her mind. He sneered, “Friends don’t do that to each other.” and a large ring of magic blazed up around him.

Juniper attempted to run forward and break through the magic barrier, but the energy burns her and she yelps, staring at her second mom, Adalia, trying to find a way to get to her. Midna recognized these chains as similar to chains that can be used for fighting to allow fighters to fight without worrying about killing each other. She could attack the chain and not affect either child. Unsure of what to do, she remembered the small purple bag that Sweet Shimmer had given her. It wasn’t just a bag, but a small bag of holding. There was a dark lacquered wood box with fey blossoms carved on the sides and a glass lid. Inside was a deck of cards that looked almost like a soothsayer’s deck. The silver edged cards called to her, and she pulled one from the deck. It summoned her friend, Charlie the faerie dragon. She had Charlie fly across the barrier to use his euphoric breath on Onyx. The boy coughs and his shoulders shudder as he tries to fight the smoke. Those under his sway feel his mental grip relax ever so slightly.

Aquila bites Adalia’s hand and tries to pull her mom to safety. She tries to leave the circle when Adalia won’t respond, but she is stuck at the edge of the magic circle. She reaches her paw out towards Juniper and cries.

Furus grabs his bow made of kelpie mane and pulls it across the strings of his violin, a hypnotic song floats out, and Onyx is enraptured. He begins to shuffle forward to Furus, a bland smile on his face. He walks through the barrier, and as he does, the children scream and double over, some falling to their knees..



Belladonna weighed the bell in her hand, wrestling with the guilt of the children being here but the reluctance to call the fey. She decided to hand the bell to someone else after she runs forward to help Hannah. On her knees, she pulls Hannah onto her lap and pours a healing potion into her mouth. She sees the healing take effect, the color returning to Hannah’s face, then sees it quickly drain through the chains and Onyx breathes a sigh of relief.

Onyx continues moving towards Furus and as he does, the kids cry out again. Hannah slips into unconsciousness in Belladonna’s arms. Nira screams out to Furus, “I don’t care what you have to do--make out with him!! Anything! Get him to stop walking!” She runs forward and demands Belladonna give her the bell. Belladonna hesitates, “Are you the best person to ring the bell?” Nira holds out her hand and Belladonna hands her the bell, glaring at her for a second before turning her attention back to Hannah.

Nira rang the bell as hard as she could.
Clang.
Clang.
Silence.

Two rings. They were warned about two rings would be unpredictable. They needed that third ring. She felt her strength and endurance leech from her body, gobbled up by the silence of the missing third ring. She looked at the bell and chucked it at Galia, yelling, “Fix it!”

Venus called out, “How do you think they would respond to electricity?” and gestured to the children who were lying on the floor.

“No!” Those who were under their own control shouted out, “Just target the chains!”

“Can you just break the chains?”

“I’m a sorcerer not a barbarian, Jim!” She called back.

She slammed her fists down and sent out a wave of fire, melting the links of the chains, and also hitting Carindrina, who gets singed a little. Most of the chains are weakened, but they hear one of them break open.

Galia stares at the bell, closes her eyes, holds her breath, and rings it.