The Garden of Earthly Suffering

Still choking from the thick cloud of dust, the party climbed over the pile of collapsed ceiling stones that now formed the Destachans’ burial mound. After a few dozen more yards, the long corridor they’d been traversing at last came to an end. It opened out into a broad stone platform overlooking a series of rough stone ledges leading down. The open area was littered with the rotting corpses of dozens of hobgoblins: the Destrachans’ prey and playthings. Water cascaded from cracks in the walls, and spilled down the rough steps leading steeply down. Far below, at the bottom, the party could just make out a black hole into which the water drained. As far as they could see, it was the only exit.

They were able to descend to this latest drain hole with little trouble, and found that steep, narrow steps had been carved into the rock face. Seeing no better options, they climbed cautiously down. The “stair” was more like a ladder in many places, and the constant rain of water from above made the going treacherous, but no one lost their footing. After nearly 100 feet, the crude steps came to an abrupt end. The shaft continued vertically down for another five feet, and then they could see the water falling into a dark pool at least 20 feet below that.

As they began a whispered discussion of what to do next, Shinjiro suddenly pricked up his ears. “Shh! Do you hear that?” The group fell silent. Sawyer, Zhustin, and Nicki couldn’t hear anything over the rush of falling water, but the others became aware of another sound filtering up from far below: a chorus of screams of pain and anguish.

As everyone made hasty preparations to negotiate the drop below, Nicki had no patience for dawdling. He knew his Boots of Leviation would take some time to carry him down, so he stepped off and began his slow fall, leaving the others behind. As he drifted down into the open room below, he was able to take in his surroundings. He was in a flooded cavern. The large space was broken up by several large, irregular columns of stone that rose from the water to support the ceiling. Hanging on chains from these columns were over a dozen rusty iron cages. Shaped like iron maidens, some of these cages held rotting bodies or dried skeletons, but most held living captives, humans by the look of them.

At the far end of the chamber, Nicki could see a large figure tormenting one of the captives. It was a ja noi oni, and as it reached up to grasp the prisoner’s fingers with a long set of tongs, Nicki recognized the misshapen features and hideous scarring on its body. It looked very much like the oni they’d interrogated upstairs, Ichirou, one of the spawn of Munasukaru. The resemblance was close enough that they could be brothers, and Nicki recalled that Ichirou had told them that his brothers and sisters lived somewhere in the lower reaches of the Penance.

From where he now floated above the water, Nicki could only see a fraction of the chamber; most of it was blocked by the many shafts of stone. Nicki had no idea if more of the family was lurking somewhere, but this one hadn’t noticed him yet, and he wanted to shift the odds if he could. Speaking quietly, he cast a Dominate Person on the hulking oni, and was gratified to feel a mental connection snap into existence. “Stop!” he commanded silently, and breathed a sigh of relief as the oni froze with his tongs just out of reach of the captive’s sensitive regions (the torture didn’t really bother Nicki – he just wanted to establish who was boss).

Up above, the others suddenly realized Nicki was no longer with him, and were frantic when they looked down and saw him casting a spell. Sawyer grabbed Sandoval, and Air Walked down into the chamber. He immediately spotted the same oni Nicki had seen. “Don’t worry about him – he’s mine now!” Nicki whispered with an evil grin. Sawyer had no idea what Nicki was talking about, but he’d learned that where Nicki was concerned, it was better not to ask. Rolling his eyes, he continued south, letting Sandoval drop down into the water.

Sandoval waded up to the nearest cage. It contained a man, possibly middle-aged. He was cadaverously thin and covered with open sores. One foot was missing, and appeared to have been chewed off. The man’s eyes were glassy and he stared into nothingness. Overcome with pity, Sandoval cast Cure Light Wounds on the poor wretch, but although his wounds closed, he didn’t even appear to notice. Sawyer continued on around the pillar and spotted another oni, this one twisting a long corkscrew-like instrument into the thigh of a screaming woman in a cage. Drawing Suishen, he continued flying, closing the distance with the unsuspecting torturer.

Zhustin had followed Sawyer, using Dimension Step to hop to the bottom. The water was about a foot deep, and he waded toward the nearest prisoner, looking for a way to free her, but as he approached she pressed herself against the back wall of her tiny prison and began screaming in abject terror. Marie followed, using her wings and carrying Bella. With Nicki waving them away from his new pet, they headed north. As they rounded the pillar of rock, they came face to face with yet a third oni. Bella let go of Marie, dropping into the water on one knee, her bow already drawn. The arrow she loosed caught the oni directly in the groin, and his raging challenge had a distinctly soprano pitch.

Nodachi

The oni drew a wickedly sharp nodachi, and lunged at Bella, slicing through her armor and opening a deep gash in her side. Hearing his brother’s war cry, the one to the south turned to see Sawyer rushing towards him. He reacted instantly, and swept his own nodachi under Sawyer’s shield, nearly gutting him. The third oni, Nicki’s new friend, stood frozen in place. “Come to me!” Nicki commanded, smiling, and the obedient oni turned and flew to Nicki’s side where he landed and waited patiently for his master’s next command.

Sawyer roared in pain, and lashed out at the oni. Suishen was singing a battle song in Old Minkaian, and cut deep time after time after time. Sandoval began singing his own song, one to Inspire Courage. He fired an arrow at the oni battling Sawyer, but it deflected off one of the hanging cages. The oni took everything Sawyer could throw at him with barely a grimace, and lunged forward, stabbing the fighter. Sawyer pulled himself off the blade, then spun and whirled Suishen in a sweeping arc, chopping off the oni’s left arm. He continued his turn, dropping low to slice into the back of his knee. As the oni fell, Sawyer thrust upwards, and Shuishen’s point caught the oni under the chin and emerged from the top of his skull.

A similar battle was unfolding to the north. Zhustin hammered that oni with a barrage of Magic Missiles as Marie Teleported behind it, slamming her mace into its back. As it turned to retaliate, Bella dropped her bow and drew her rapier, and sank it into the creature’s kidney. With a bellow of pain, it whirled again, and chopped at Bella with its nodachi, sending a spray of blood flying off the rogue with each blow. Zhustin fired off a set of Scorching Rays, but only one found its mark. Beset with enemies on all sides, the oni struggled to counter the rain of blows. Marie pounded the oni again with her mace. The blow knocked it off balance, and as it staggered forward, Bella met it with her rapier, and it collapsed into the murky water.

With no one trying to kill them (for the moment), Marie and the others began trying what they could to help the prisoners. Marie’s healing (which Bella and Sawyer needed far more than the prisoners) seemed to treat their physical wounds, but the mental and emotional scars went far deeper. Some remained catatonic, while others could do nothing but scream in terror, despite Marie’s best attempts to be gentle and comforting. Whatever healing they needed was beyond Marie’s abilities.

While the others were trying to minister to the prisoners, Nicki (who didn’t see how the scrawny captives could be of any use to him) was chatting up his new servant. He’d learned that the oni’s name was Hotta, and that his dead brothers had been Jirou and Saburo. As Nicki had suspected, they were Munasukaru’s children. Anxious to learn what he could of what lay ahead, Nicki began to interrogate his new buddy. “How do we get out of here?” Hotta led him to the far eastern end of the chamber, where the water drained into yet another hole. Sawyer and Shinjiro joined them and eyed the hole warily. Unlike the others they’d traversed, this one had no steps or hand-holds; it was a narrow, smooth-sided shaft that angled steeply down, awash in flowing water. “How do we get down that?” they asked, and Hotta looked at them like slow children. “You fly, of course.”

Nicki was less concerned with how to get down than what they’d find when they got there. “What’s at the other end of the hole?” Hotta shuddered, and actually turned pale. “My sisters and their garden,” he hissed. “Garden?” Nicki asked, incredulous. Hotta nodded. “They call it their Garden of Earthly Suffering. It’s more of … a display of art than an actual garden. You don’t grow things there – you kill them.”

Shinjiro grimaced, but Nicki continued on. “Tell us about your sisters – what are they like?” Hotta recoiled, unconsciously raising his hands defensively. “They’re horrible, terrible! They’re cruel and brutal and merciless, and they’re Mother’s favorites!” His voice was shrieking as he finished, and he was trembling all over. Sawyer frowned. He looked around them at the shrine to torture that the oni and his brothers had created and turned to Shinjiro. “If this guy says they’re cruel …” He let the thought hang.

The others had joined them by now, and Nicki was anxious to get going. “OK then, Hotta – you first!” The big ja noi oni quailed. “Please!” he begged “Don’t make me go!” A dark stain spread on the front of his trousers, but Nicki took no pity. “I said GO!” he commanded, and the Dominated oni had no choice but to obey. In an instant, he had disappeared down the tunnel.

Sawyer grabbed Bella around the waist, and together they slid down the shaft, using Suishen’s Air Walk when they emerged. They found themselves in another flooded cavern, similar to the one they’d just left. But every inch of the stone walls and pillars were covered with dreadful carvings and hung with burnt or rotting aranea, hobgoblin, and human corpses. On one half of the chamber, the carvings depicted gruesomely realistic dismemberments and dislocations, while the other half showed images of victims having their minds and internal organs devoured. The contaminated waters below were awash with rotting body parts from the corpses on the walls. It was all the two could do to keep from vomiting at the vile sights and stench surrounding them.

Hotta was standing quietly some 20 feet away, the foul water coming up above his waist. Aside from him, nothing could be seen moving in the dark chamber, but the deep water could conceal any number of threats. Everyone else followed Sawyer and Bella, in similar fashion to the way they’d entered the previous chamber. As soon as everyone was down, Marie cast Water Walk, and Zhustin couldn’t climb up out of the stinking water fast enough.

Everyone was clustered in the corner, under the exit from the room above, but Sawyer was reluctant to move out until Hotta led the way to prove it was safe. “Keep your pants on!” Nicki grumbled, then ordered Hotta to fly up out of the water. As soon as the oni was clear, Nicki cast a spell. A tiny globe of ice formed at his fingertips, then streaked across the room. It exploded in an enormous Freezing Sphere that sucked all the heat out of its blast area. When it cleared, a fine rain of frost fell onto the solid sheet of ice that coated two-thirds of the flooded room. “That should take care of anything in the water.” Nicki gloated.

Mei

Apparently not. Seconds later, something surfaced in the southeast corner of the room, where the Freezing Sphere hadn’t reached. Nicki’s spell had frozen the water to a depth of six inches; enough to provide a solid surface, but not deep enough to reach anything completely submerged underneath, or to prevent creatures from swimming beneath the ice. The creature that appeared was a huge serpent, with the face of an enraged woman. This was Mei, First Daughter of Munasukaru, and with a shriek she cast a Fireball on the clustered party. Maybe it was the lingering chill in the air, but her Fireball was particularly weak, and did little damage.

Simultaneously, a giant constrictor snake boiled up out of the water at Sawyer’s feet. It sank its fangs into his leg, and tried to wrap its coils around him and drag him under water, but he shook free. Another snake surfaced and struck at Bella, but she dodged its attack.

Marie Teleported behind the snake that had struck at Bella and smashed it with her mace, while Shinjiro charged in and delivered a swift kick, and the snake’s body floated lifelessly on the water. Sandoval stepped up and touched Sawyer to imbue him with Heroism. One swipe from Suishen was enough to strike the head off the other snake.

The two snakes might be dead, but Zhustin knew the real threat was the Spirit Naga, Mei. Thinking fast, he cast Feeblemind on the naga. The spell hit her, and the intense glare of malice went out of her eyes. But although she no longer had the wit to draw on her sorcerous powers, she was still a dangerous beast defending her lair. Bella charged her, but found that what had looked like one foe from a distance, looked like many up close. She swung and thought she’d scored a solid hit, but instead one of the Mirror Images vanished. Mei struck back with venom-dripping fangs, but narrowly missed.

Yasu

On the opposite side of the room another naga surfaced from under the ice sheet. This was the other sister, Yasu, Second Daughter of Munasukaru, and she cast a Ray of Enfeeblement at Sawyer. Luckily for the fighter, the ray zipped just past his shoulder. Zhustin, recognizing the spell, decided that turnabout was fair play, and cast his own Ray of Enfeeblement back on Yasu. This one struck home, and the naga grew weaker. Sandoval cast another Heroism on Shinjiro, and the monk dashed across the ice, attacking Yasu from behind.

“Kill her!” Nicki commanded Hotta, pointing to Yasu. The oni drew its nodachi, but the order to attack his feared sister was too much. With a cry, it broke free of Nicki’s Domination, and instead turned its fury on Sawyer, stabbing him with the long-handled blade. Sawyer, remembering how much Hotta feared his sisters, ignored the wound, and kept his focus on the naga. Suishen flashed, and Yasu’s organs began to spill from an opening in her gut. Another quick stab was followed by a sweeping blow, and the spirit naga’s head went spinning across the ice.

Nicki, furious at the oni’s blatant disobedience, fried it with a Scorching Ray. Zhustin added an Acid Splash, wanting to ensure the oni didn’t regenerate. Hotta swung at Sawyer again, but this time he was able to parry the blows. Suishen tasted oni blood again, and then Shinjiro descended on Hotta with a blinding Flurry of Blows that left the oni’s body floating face-down in the vile waters.

Marie had charged to join Bella in attacking Mei, but she too, only succeeded in dispelling a Mirror Image. Bella’s next attack also only hit illusion, but it was the last one, and her next blow drew blood. Mei was writhing and striking with venomous fury, but her foes had little trouble dodging her attacks. Nicki fired off a volley of Magic Missiles, but the bolts of energy disappeared as they reached their target; the defensive spells Mei had cast before combat were protecting her even if she was too stupid now to understand it. When Hotta fell, Sawyer ran down to join the attack, and Mei was surrounded. With a scream of anger, she raised herself to her full height, and Sandoval’s arrow caught her in the throat, cutting off her scream forever.

The PCs earned 4,571 XP, putting them at 237,605 XP, with 315,000 required for level 13. We’ll be back at Leo’s again next week, and Joette may be late.