A Fallen Friend

After defeating the Greater Shadow and its minion who guarded the tomb of the High Priestess, Spivey and Koya were anxious to re-sanctify the Tree of Life, once one of the holiest relics of the worship of Desna. Joined by Marie, the three clerics waded into the shallow pool surrounding the seemingly lifeless Tree. They joined hands around its slender trunk and in unison called forth the holy power of Desna. As the goddess’s power washed out of them, the violet radiance of the pool took on a darker hue, and the Tree’s branches began to thrash as if in a windstorm. With an anguished moan, a pair of Spectres emerged from the Tree!

“Keep Channeling!” Koya cried, as the Spectres circled. Spivey did, and felt her connection to Desna amplified in the presence of the once-holy Tree. The rest of the party sprang into action to protect the clerics; Bella and Sawyer charged with swords, while Nicki blasted the pair of attackers with Scorching Rays. But the Spectres’ incorporeal nature blunted the force of their attacks. However, Marie and Koya both Channeled simultaneously, and the undead spirits were blasted into oblivion.

But no sooner had they disappeared than another pair emerged from the Tree. They seemed to focus their fury on Koya, and one of them sank its icy fingers into her, draining away her life force. Zhustin summoned a Lantern Archon to blast the Spectres with rays of holy light, and Shinjiro joined that attack, infusing his attacks with his ki to be able to injure the incorporeal attackers.

The battle for the Tree of Life raged on. With all three clerics Channeling Positive Energy together, and with the rest of the party adding limited damage from their physical attacks, the party could quickly dispatch the Spectres. But more and more of the undead spirits kept pouring out of the tree, all focusing their attacks on Koya. Marie and Spivey’s prayers could heal her physical wounds, but the drain on her lifeforce was another matter. “Keep Channeling!” she cried again, “I think we’ve almost got it!”

But at that moment, another Spectre latched onto her. Already weakened almost to her limit, this was the breaking point. With a last, rattling gasp, Koya’s lifeless body sank to the floor. But as it did, a tiny spark of light floated up from her breast. It shot towards the Tree like a bullet, and where it struck, the Tree began to glow. It was a small, soft light at first, but as it spread up the trunk and along the branches it intensified, until the entire Tree of Life was glowing with a brilliant, white light. The light seemed to be held in check within the Tree itself for a moment, leaving the rest of the cavern in darkness, and then it suddenly exploded outwards in a shockwave of holy power, blasting the undead out of existence and bathing the cavern in a light as bright as day. The violet radiance of the pool faded into a faint silver glow.

Sandru rushed to Koya’s side. “No! No! Koya! Wake up! Please – help her!” he sobbed, as he cradled her head in her lap. But Marie and Spivey knew she was beyond their powers to heal. Ameiko knelt in the water beside Sandru as we mourned for the only mother he had ever known.

Koya’s death hit Bella particularly hard. She, too, had never known her own mother, and over the months they’d spent together the old Sczarni woman had shown her a kindness and affection she’d never experienced. The normally tough little thief wept openly. “Can’t you do that thing you did with Zhustin, after the dragon?” she begged Marie, referring to how the Seal had brought Zhustin back from the dead. But Marie shook her head sadly. “I could attempt the ritual, but she died to re-sanctify the Tree of Life, and I don’t think Koya’s spirit would want to return.”

Spivey nodded in agreement, then fluttered down to stand before Sandru. Looking up at the heartbroken caravan master, she spoke for all to hear. “Your mother sacrificed herself to restore one of the holiest places in the worship of Desna. She came on this journey seeking one last adventure, never dreaming that her destiny would be this grand, or this difficult. She made this choice for what she believed, and I know she would make the same choice again, even knowing it would mean her death. Her spirit is what has awakened the Tree, and keeps it alive, and it will again become a beacon for Desna’s faithful.”

“And so the Journey of Three ends,” Marie said softly, and everyone turned to look at her. “I had a vision, before we left Magnimar,” she explained. “In it, I was a butterfly, and I was joined by another butterfly, in a village with a temple to many gods, then by another at a castle filled with death. Together, we three butterflies flew on, until the landscape below was nothing but snow, and we flew into the teeth of a mighty storm.

“I was told that my vision meant that I was to meet two other clerics of Desna, and that together, we would go on a ‘Journey of Three’. It is said that when three clerics of Desna find themselves travelling together through chance, that two of them are accompanying the third on her final journey, and that one will not survive to the end. When I met Koya, and then Spivey, I knew that the prophecy was true, but I feared that I would be the one who was destined to fall. Now I see that it was our destiny to be here to aid Koya in fulfilling her fate.”

Koya Mvashti

Spivey nodded, then spoke again. “I think we should lay Koya to rest her. The tomb behind us was built for the High Priest or Priestess of Desna who led this necropolis. I think it is only fitting that it now serve as Koya’s eternal resting place.”

And so they carried Koya’s body into the tomb, now cleared of its heretical former inhabitant. They laid her body out upon the bier, surrounded by dried herbs and flowers from her wagon. Spivey and Marie performed the funeral ritual, and then they all filed out, leaving the small lantern with its eternal flame to light her resting place.

Exhausted from the day’s fighting and tragedy, the caravan made a hushed camp in the cavern. They burned the body of the High Priestess of Fumeiyoshi that had been in the tomb. When they had a chance to cast Identify on her sword and armor, they found that the armor was Ghost Mirror Armor, apparently stolen from the original Uqtaal priestess of Desna, while the sword was a Nine-Fold Sprit Sword. Both offered protections against incorporeal undead, ironic considering what their former owner had become after her own death.

The next morning, as they broke camp, Spivey called them all together. “I have been praying all night, and I have come to a decision. I will stay here.” Everyone was stunned by her announcement. “When I was tending the little cemetery in Brinewall Village, I felt I was following Desna’s calling, but then you arrived, and I somehow knew that I had a higher calling. Now, having found this place, and witnessed Koya’s sacrifice, I know that it is my purpose to stay here, and devote my life to cleansing this holy place of any trace of Fumeiyoshi’s stain, and to tend to Koya’s final resting place. I will miss you all, but it is what I must do.”

As everyone prepared to make another round of painful good-byes, Bella suddenly spoke warily. “Don’t look now, but we’re being watched.” She nodded towards a series of ledges that rose up from the northeast corner of the cavern. At the top, a pair of large, hairy figures stood, staring down at the party. They looked similar to the yeti they’d fought the day before, but these carried long spears, and wore necklaces of bone and turquoise.

“Let me go try to talk to them,” Ulf said, as he started walking that direction. “I speak their language.” But Spivey remembered the broken, barely intelligible Aklo the guide had sputtered, and headed him off. “No offense, but you don’t really speak it very well. I’ll go.” With that she flew up the cliffs to where the Yeti Savages gestured menacingly. After a short conversation, she returned, looking confused.

“They say that they’ve been expecting us, that they were warned that humans were coming with wagons to kidnap their children, to take them away to display in zoos.”

“Who on earth told them that?” Sandoval wondered.

“They say that it was their chief, Bormurg,” Spivey explained. “They say that a few days ago he went up to investigate the strange storm that had descended on their mountain. When he returned, he was unusually angry. Apparently, he became chief because of his ability to build consensus and avoid conflict. But now he was ranting and shouting that we were coming to steal their children, and that we should be killed on sight.

“When they saw us arrive yesterday, they hoped the undead down here would finish us off. Frankly, the only reason they didn’t ambush us during the night was that they saw us re-sanctify the Tree, which their legends say was once holy. Now they’re not sure what to think of us.

“They say that as long as we stay away from their homes, and leave by the main road through the necropolis, they won’t attack us. But if we make any attempt to approach their families, they will fight us to the death.”

Everyone agreed they didn’t want to pick a fight with a clan of yeti. They could see a broad passage leading out of the cavern to the north, with a nice flat floor for their wagons. If that was the way out, it seemed like a win-win, and so they bade Spivey farewell, said a final silent prayer of thanks and goodbye to Koya, and set off.

The passage led on, carved straight through the rock, but to either side innumerable side passages branched off in a veritable maze. Each contained hundreds upon hundreds of burial niches, carved into the rock walls of the catacombs. Each was stuffed with ancient bones, along with bits of rotted cloth and a scattering of trinkets. Bella’s fingers were itching, but even she thought better of looting these graves, and kept her hands in her pockets.

After several hundred yards, the featureless walls of the passage were interrupted by a pair of red, demonic faces carved into the walls on either side. The tusked faces were clearly representations of Fumeiyoshi, and the party immediately anticipated a trap. Marie cast Detect Magic, and found an area of Abjuration magic filling the area between the two faces. Bella approached cautiously, and discovered that the way forward was blocked by another Antilife Shell, similar to the one that had blocked the bridge earlier. This time, Zhustin didn’t have an extra Dispel Magic scroll, and none of the spellcasters had the spell ready to cast.

But just because a person couldn’t pass through, didn’t mean the head of their mace couldn’t. Bella took Marie’s mace and, being careful not to mash her knuckles against the unseen wall, tried smashing one of the carved faces. Unfortunately, her efforts didn’t seem to do much. Nicki cast a Flaming Sphere, changing it to acid using his Elemental Magic, and repeatedly banged against the face. The acid was definitely etching the stone, but it would clearly take many more iterations of the spell to wipe it out completely.

“Oh here, give me that!” Sawyer huffed, and snatched the mace from Bella. Whereas Bella’s swings had done little more than chip the stone, the muscle-bound fighter really put his back into it. After a few minutes, he had wiped out all of the face that he could reach without crossing the barrier, so Marie Teleported the two of them to its opposite side, where he continued his destruction until the entire carving was obliterated. As soon as it was gone, the magical barrier disappeared, and the caravan was free to pass.

Unfortunately, several minutes of pounding on stone had removed any chance the party had of moving stealthily. They could see that the passage widened out into a large, dark cavern ahead, and they had no idea who or what might be waiting for them. Nicki cast Invisibility on himself, and moved forward to scout.

He found himself in a wide cavern, the ceiling lost in darkness overhead. To the east a deep crevasse yawned before the far wall, while to the west a broad switchback road climbed to a distant tunnel mouth. In the center of the cavern, skull-topped columns surrounded an octagonal dais. Age-worn steps led to the top of the dais, where a stone seat rested between the tusks of a bull mastodon skull, a Tian-style banner draped over the top like a canopy.

Along the western side of the cavern, where the passage entered, a tall ledge stood some 20’ above the floor. Although he couldn’t see anything, Nicki couldn’t shake the feeling he was being watched, even though he was invisible. He quietly returned to the party and made his report. Bella promptly strapped on her Claws of the Ice Bear, and stealthily climbed up the near end of the ledge. Peeking over the lip of the ledge, she saw a pair of Yeti Savages lying prone on its floor, watching the empty cavern below; they didn’t seem to have spotted her. Quietly retracing her steps, she told the others what she’d found.

“They’re not supposed to bother us if we stay away from their families, right?” Sandoval asked uncertainly. “That’s what those others said, wasn’t it?” Everyone nodded, but no one looked convinced. Nonetheless, with the prospect of escape from the endless caves in sight, they elected to push on.

Bella led the way, walking openly across the cavern floor and pointedly making for the ramp leading up (hopefully) to the exit. The others followed, spread out so as not to make too inviting a target. Sandru and Ameiko hung back, near the wagons.

As they drew even with the ledge, there was a bloodcurdling bellow from above and the two Yeti Savages came plummeting down from their hiding place. The 20’ drop was like nothing to them, and one landed directly on Ulf. It snatched him with its fangs and tore at him with its claws, shaking him like a dog with a bone, and then flung his body away, where he lay limp and unmoving. The other attacked Sawyer, ripping the fighter with one claw as he dodged the other.

Realizing that any hope of a peaceful escape was gone, the party flew into action. Marie tried to distract the Savage that had taken down Ulf while Bella charged the other, sandwiching it between her and Sawyer. Sandoval began singing his Dirge of Doom, and cast Good Hope on his nearby friends, while Ameiko began waving her flag and singing to Inspire Courage. Nicki zapped the one fighting Sawyer with a Ray of Exhaustion.

Just then, there was another bellow from the far side of the cavern. Two more Yeti Savages leaped down from a small ledge on the far side of the crevasse, and launched themselves across the chasm towards the party. As they did, a half dozen more yeti came clambering up out of the chasm’s depths. Simultaneously, a much larger, more ferocious looking yeti stepped directly out of the stone wall behind Bella. This could only be the yeti chieftain, Bormurg. Zhustin immediately hit him with a Scorching Ray, but was dismayed to see the flames wash over him with no effect. But despite his disappointment in the results of his spell, Zhustin noticed something odd about the chief’s actions. Although he was attacking with inhuman speed and ferocity, it almost seemed as if something else were controlling Bormurg’s actions.

The PCs earned 5,086 XP for the night, putting them at 98,541 XP, with 105,000 required for Level 10. You should reach level 10 next week, so have your 10^th level character ready for next Sunday’s session. We’ll be at Leo’s next week.