The Celebration of Chains

Sawyer was fighting back the urge to vomit. The sheet of ice formed by Nicki’s spell was quickly melting, and the chunks of rotting corpses that hung suspended in the stinking, slimy waters of Munasukaru’s daughters’ lair were re-emerging. Sawyer had always thought he had a strong stomach. Certainly growing up in the slums of Riddleport he’d seen, smelled, and eaten plenty that would have brought a weaker man low. But the cumulative effects of the homage to gluttony, vice, cruelty, and death that was the onis’ stronghold was wearing him down. The nagas’ lair, with their “garden” of death and disfigurement had been the final straw. The ice below him cracked, and a cluster of milky eyeballs floated up, and he gagged again.

Bella seemed to be having no such issues. She’d spotted a pretty necklace on the body of one of the nagas they’d just killed, and when the clasp was stuck, she simply sliced off the creature’s head to free it. Marie had detected some magic at the far end of the room, and she calmly ducked down into the polluted waters to fish out some porcelain pots of treasure. Watching her surface, with bits of rotting skin clinging to her hair, Sawyer lost control, and his lunch.

With the ice gone, the party was grateful for Marie’s Water Walking spell that allowed them to mostly stay out of the liquid filth. But there appeared to be only one exit from the room, a narrow tunnel leading off to the east. Unfortunately, it was flooded to within six inches of its ceiling. The only way to traverse it would be to wade through the awful water, pressing their faces to the slimy ceiling in order to breathe. “There’s got to be another way out!” Sawyer insisted, and the rest of the group was surprised to hear a note of panic in his voice. They made a show of searching for any other exits, and managed to convince the fighter that the flooded passage was their only option. Gritting his teeth, Sawyer finally conceded, and led the group into the stinking tunnel.

When the party emerged, dripping, from the end of the passage, they found themselves in a narrow antechamber. The floor was wet and slippery, with water running from the passage behind them and the ceiling above and draining away through a myriad of cracks in the floor. Directly in front of them was a room filled with a thick web of chains, their links clinking in the fall of water from the ceiling above. The chains filled the room from floor to ceiling and wall to wall, criss-crossing each other in no discernible pattern.

In a short passage beyond the room of chains stood a short, distinguished looking Tian man. His head was shaved on top, and his hair pulled back into a tight knot at the back of his head. He was dressed in an elegant silk kimono, and when he saw the party, he bowed deeply.

“Welcome honored visitors. I am Ochiyo, chosen servant of the living goddess, Munasukaru,” he greeted them in Minkaian. Shinjiro noted that Ochiyo’s form of address was archaic and very formal, a style usually reserved for diplomats or other dignitaries. “The great Munasukaru bids you welcome, and commands me to apologize for the rude reception you have received thus far. The goddess’s domain is under constant harassment from the pesky araneas living in the pagoda above, and her ignorant servants mistook you for their minions. I offer you my most sincere regrets that you were not properly received, as befitting visitors of your station.” He bowed again, then looked up. “Fortunately, you have already dealt appropriately with those who insulted you, and have saved my mistress the tedium of punishing them herself.

“You are most welcome in the Forest of Spirits, and are free to travel its breadth and take what you wish, with Munasukaru’s blessing. However, this building, and all the realm below it, are my goddess’s domain. What occurs within the House of Withered Blossoms is none of your concern. If you leave now, Munasukaru will forget the injury to her servants, who earned their fate, and will reward you richly. A storm is about to break upon Minkai and the rest of Tian Xia, and when it does, those who served my mistress and her allies will be remembered. She can give you riches beyond your imagination,” he promised, looking at Bella “or the passionate attention of the most beautiful of women,” turning now to Zhustin. “She can give you lordship over kingdoms, or put you in command of mighty armies.” He looks intently at Nicki “Or make you privy to secret knowledge and power forbidden to mere mortals.

“The living goddess offers this as her word of honor, and will never betray that word. Turn now, and leave this place, and the rest of your lives will be filled with luxury and power. But if you continue to interfere, the fate that awaits you will me most … unpleasant.”

This was quite a surprise – someone who wanted to talk with them, even negotiate with them, rather than trying to kill them outright. Marie took the opportunity to try to fill in some gaps in their knowledge. “What role did Munasukaru play in the escape of the oni from this place, 160 years ago?” she asked.

Ochiyo’s face darkened, but he maintained his composure. “I see you have been talking to the kami of the Forest. They are treacherous creatures, and not to be trusted. Everything they have told you are lies. You must ignore them when you leave.”

But Marie wasn’t so easily dissuaded. “Does any of this have something to do with the deaths of the royal families of Minkai over the last few generations?” Ochiyo waved his hand dismissively. “The politics of a distant kingdom should not be your concern. My mistress has promised you great rewards if you simply leave, and the Five Storms always honor their promises. Go now, and you will never regret it.”

To everyone’s surprise, Bella turned and headed back into the passage. Nicki, on the other hand, tried to move forward into the room, but immediately found himself entangled in the web of chains. Ochiyo scolded him gently. “I warned you not to come any farther. The living goddess insists that you depart, and will make you rich and powerful beyond your dreams when you do.”

But Sawyer wasn’t buying it. He didn’t trust this guy, with his smooth words and empty promises. More importantly, nothing on earth would convince him to wade back into that filth-filled water again. “How do we know we can trust you?” he demanded angrily. “You’re making a lot of promises, but it’s just talk. You haven’t done anything yet. I’m not going back into that filthy room just based on your ‘word’. Prove that you’re serious, and we’ll think about it.”

Ochiyo took Sawyer’s outburst calmly, and bowed to him. “Your point is well taken, honorable warrior. You have been treated badly, and have no reason to trust me on word alone. Allow me to make a gesture of good faith. I will summon slaves to clear the refuse from the room behind you, to clear a path for your honorable departure.”

Ochiyo clapped his hands together, and half a dozen or more figures appeared from the room behind him. They were heavily cloaked, but what could be seen of their scabrous skin and missing noses and fingertips instantly identified them as more of the hobgoblin lepers like the ones they’d encountered in the higher levels of the Penance. The lepers filed silently past the emissary, struggled through the tangle of chains, and disappeared up the passage behind them. Marie stared at them as they passed, then turned back to Ochiyo. “Why do you keep slaves like this?” she said, repulsed. Ochiyo simply shrugged. “They have their uses. For example now – there’s no need to worry about them contracting a disease from the filth they are cleaning.”

An uneasy truce ensued as the group waited for the “cleaning crew” to complete their work. Shinjiro and Sandoval began moving forward, testing the chains, but Ochiyo rebuked them sharply. “I said you are to come no farther into my goddess’s domain. Return to the alcove!” But no one in this group was particularly good at following orders (even when they agreed with them), and they continued exploring the chain room. “I will not warn you again!” Ochiyo commanded “Return to the alcove at once!” They were not intimidated. Nicki, having learned that he wasn’t agile enough to wriggle through the chains on his own, took on Gaseous Form and began drifting forward, while Shinjiro slipped easily among the links and stepped into the corridor with Ochiyo.

Kyton Chain Devil

Ochiyo vanished. At the same moment, the chains began to vibrate and dance back and forth on their own accord. Sandoval, still in the midst of the chains, began singing, but a figure suddenly materialized behind him. It seemed to be made of living chains, imbued with some hellish malevolence. Nicki recognized it instantly as a Kyton Chain Devil. Three more of the devils appeared, and chains in the room suddenly sprouted razor-like barbs, and began thrashing about as if they were living tentacles. Shinjiro and Marie were both slashed by their barbs and Sandoval and Zhustin narrowly evaded their deadly embrace.

Bella whipped out her bow and took aim at the nearest Chain Devil. Her arrow took it in the temple, and nailed its skull to the far wall. Seeing that this devil no longer posed any threat, she turned and fired two more arrows into another in the opposite corner of the room. Then Zhustin wrapped his arms around her and used his Dimension Step to blink past the chains into the corridor beyond.

Marie also grabbed Sawyer, and Teleported past the chains into the wide corridor where Ochiyo had disappeared. Sawyer immediately activated Suishen’s See Invisible power, looking for Munasukaru’s emissary. He didn’t see the little Tian man, but he did see a hulking ogre mage samurai standing not ten feet away. With a war cry, he Lunged and sank Suishen deep into the huge oni’s side.

Shinjiro couldn’t see what Sawyer was attacking, but he saw him thrust and saw blood spray from the end of his sword, so he knew something was there, so he rushed to swing at that spot. But just before he got there, he felt an inhumanly sharp blade slice into him. Upon scoring the attack of opportunity, his assailant became visible, and Shinjiro ignored his wound to deliver a solid punch to the samurai’s chest.

It shook off the blow, and turned its full attention on the monk. “I Challenge you to face me in honorable combat!” it bellowed, and they all recognized the voice – it was Ochiyo, now returned to his natural form. The ogre mage was armed with a huge katana and equally huge silver wakizashi, and his blades flashed with inhuman speed and strength. Shinjiro tried to dodge and parry the blows, but the samurai had had centuries to hone his skills. Each blow cut deep, and the final slash opened Shinjiro’s throat. He collapsed to the ground, blood spurting in ever weakening streams from his severed jugular.

Marie rushed forward and cast a Cure Critical Wounds on the unconscious monk. To her relief, his eyes fluttered open and, more importantly, the bleeding wound to his throat closed. Nicki blasted Ochiyo with a trio of Scorching Rays. Then Sawyer stepped forward, his face a mask of dark fury. Ochiyo’s eyes widened as he recognized the ancestral sword in Sawyer’s hands. He suddenly realized that this was more than just a treasure-greedy band of adventurers, and opened his mouth as if to shout a warning, but Suishen flashed, and the only sound that escaped his lips was a death-rattle.

As the ogre mage’s body hit the floor, everyone turned their attention to the Chain Devils. The chains, seemingly taut and unyielding as they’d tried to climb through them, now stretched and coiled, reaching far out of their room to strike at their targets. Zhustin and Bella both took more cuts, as Sandoval feathered one of the Devils with arrows.

Then the hobgoblin lepers came pouring back out of the passage, charging at the intruders. Three of them became entangled in the chains, but the rest surged through, surrounding Zhustin and Sandoval. Zhustin took a nasty blow from one of their morningstars, and decided that survival was the better part of valor; he turned and ran full speed away from the attackers.

Sandoval also used his Jaunt Boots to dash out of immediate danger, but then turned and launched into his Dazzling Display. His dancing was so intimidating that all of the lepers were shaken by the performance. Nicki took advantage of Zhustin and Sandoval’s withdrawal to lay down a Fireball in their midst; so distracted were they by Sandoval’s dancing that only one of them managed to evade its flames.

Sawyer lunged forward and gutted the nearest leper. Marie delivered another Cure Serious to Shinjiro, and the monk finally felt healthy enough to return to action. He delivered a roundhouse kick to one of the lepers, but it simply snarled and bashed him twice with its morningstar, as one of its comrades stepped up and also hit the monk. Marie sighed as she watched all her healing going down the drain. She reached out and gave Shinjiro yet another Cure Serious Wounds, and wondered if she could keep up.

The lepers who’d been entangled in the chains managed to free themselves, and now joined the others in trying to pulverize the party. Bella ducked under a blow, and took her assailant down with a well-placed stab from her short sword, only to suffer another round of gashes from the whipping chains. Nicki fired off another round of Scorching Rays and Zhustin added a volley of Magic Missiles.

The lepers began to fall. Sawyer swung Suishen and beheaded one, then continued his swing and chopped the one next to it nearly in two. Shinjiro leaped between two more, and when his kicking and punching flurry ended, they both lay lifeless on the floor. The last leper swung wildly at Bella, but she dodged the blow easily, and came around with her rapier sunk deep into its back.

That just left the last two Chain Devils. Zhustin blasted one with a set of Empowered Magic Missiles, and Sandoval followed up with an arrow that took it down. Nicki also fired off a round of Magic Missiles at the last surviving Devil, but it was a hardy one, and seemed to have a grudge against Bella. It ignored everyone else, and focused all of its attacks on her. Sawyer enjoyed watching the little rogue try to dance away from the whipping chains, and stepped back behind her so as not to get in the way (he did at least fire a half-hearted arrow at her attacker). Bella snarled a curse at the fighter as she fired three more arrows into the hell-born creature, but it kept lashing her. Finally Sandoval fired off an arrow that apparently struck what passed for its heart, and it collapsed. The chains stopped thrashing, swaying and clanking gently in the sudden silence.

The room from which the lepers had originally come had a double row of columns running down its center. On either side, iron gibbets hung from chains along the walls. Many held rotting corpses, but several held living captives. Unlike the hopelessly insane prisoners they encountered not long ago, these reached their arms out imploringly through the bars, and begged for the party to help them.

Sawyer was nervous about the prisoners being infected, given the state of their tormentors, but they appeared to be disease-free, although half starved and badly beaten. They released them and gave them food, and Marie cast Channel Divinity to heal both the party and the captives. As they stuffed themselves with food and drink, the prisoners explained that most of them had been down here only a few days, or a few weeks at most. Prior to that, they had been slaves of the hobgoblins above. They had no idea what was beyond their prison; the room had a set of ornate double doors, but the only person they’d seen pass through them during their entire imprisonment had been the small Tian man who’d come out perhaps an hour before the party’s arrival.

Sandoval listened at the doors, but heard nothing. Bella checked them for traps, then cautiously pulled them open. They opened into the center of a long hallway. As with everything else in the oni’s domain, its walls were carved with an obscene collection of images, but by this point, she hardly noticed. At either end of the hall was an elaborately carved wooden door. Silence hung heavy in the air.

The PCs earned 6,857 XP for the night, putting them at 244,462 XP with 315,000 required for level 13. We’ll be at Joette & Rich’s next week; Roger may be on call.