The War Without End – Episode 1.18

Early morning, the day after the Yak-Folk demon is exorcised from Tanemous, Heiron calls Ebon, Graffan, Korbin and Massingleigh to an urgent meeting. The old wizard informs them that, in light of recent events, the Eleventh Tribe has granted permission for them to send a delegation into the Med-Jai prison and get Shilaze out.

Heiron gives Graffan a planar compass and a sealed bone scroll-case that contains documents to authorise Shilaze’s release. He tells the four that they must travel to the city of St Cuthbert’s basilica, in Arcadia, and present the scroll-case to the Matriarch of the Ninth. The Ninth Tribe are the guardians of the prison’s only gate. The contents of the scroll-case empowers the four Med-Jai to go into the prison, find Shilaze with the planar compass and bring her out, but Heiron warns them that it will not be easy. The environment beyond the gate is harsh and unforgiving, a barren, sandblasted wasteland where many extremely dangerous and diabolical criminals have been incarcerated. He also considers it likely that the Twelfth Tribe, or the dark powers behind them, will act to prevent Shilaze from being freed.

The four companions are undeterred. They make preparations and a short while later Fallana leads them to a portal. They pass through it and arrive in Arcadia. The vast domes of St Cuthbert’s basilica are visible on the distant horizon. Determinedly they set off towards them.

With nightfall approaching Graffan calls upon the power of Heironeous to turn the group into vapour and carry them the rest of the way at speed. They arrive at the city later that same evening.

To their consternation however, Einheriar guards posted at the gates inform them that the doors to the stronghold of the Ninth are barred during the hours of darkness. They will not be opened till morning. So the four friends are forced to find a quiet inn where they can wait.

Frustrated by the delay, they pass the time with a certain amount of unease. The longer it takes them to get to Shilaze the more opportunity there is of the Twelfth Tribe acting against them. Ebon, Graffan and Korbin eat a simple meal and retire early, while Massingleigh goes out to take a look around the city. Ebon raises an eyebrow at him quizzically.

“Don’t worry” Massingleigh assures him “I’ll be back by daybreak. I won’t let you down.”

In the early hours of the morning, Ebon is keeping watch when there is a strange tingling sensation, like something crawling across his mind. It quickly passes, but he is concerned that it may be the first sign of impending attack and so he wakes Graffan and Korbin. Together the three of them wait anxiously in the darkness, but nothing happens. After a while they begin to relax.

Then, through the window, they see an Einheriar guard approaching. He comes down the street toward the inn, and knocks on the door until he rouses the innkeeper. There are muffled sounds of a discussion and then the innkeeper comes to tell them that the Einheriar wants to see them. Uncharitably the innkeeper also says that he doesn’t think much of guests that cause a disturbance at such an early hour and asks them to leave.

Collecting their belongings the three friends head downstairs to find out why the Einheriar has come looking for them. They are told that the Captain of the Guard has sent him to fetch them because there is something they must see. The guard doesn’t know what exactly, he is simply following orders, but he can tell them it involves someone called Massingleigh.

Though the Med-Jai are suspicious they reluctantly agree to accompany the Einheriar. Cautiously they follow him through the deserted city.

Eventually they come to a doorway outlined in a faint blue glow. The Einheriar goes to step through it but Ebon stops him. The Med-Jai are not about to follow their guide through a portal with no knowledge of where it leads or what might be waiting for them.

“It’s perfectly safe”, the Einheriar urges impatiently.

“So you say”, Ebon replies doubtfully.

Though none of them want to jeopardise the mission, the fact that Massingleigh may be in trouble makes it a difficult decision. The Einheriar remains unhelpful.

“Well are you coming or not?” he grumbles.

Ebon and Graffan decide that one of them must go through alone to confirm that it is safe. Ebon believes it should be him, but Graffan offers a convincing argument that divine magic leaves him better placed. Eventually Ebon concedes. In case something goes awry, Graffan hands the planar compass and the scroll case to Ebon.

As Ebon takes the scroll-case the Einheriar surprises everyone by making a grab for it. Fortunately Ebon has too tight a hold and the guard’s fingers slide across its surface, failing to find purchase. Cursing he dives through the portal and escapes.

The companions consider going after him, but Ebon believes it would be unwise to do so. He is troubled by the possibility that Massingleigh may have fallen foul of their enemies but it would seem that going through the portal is exactly what the Einheriar wanted. They would almost certainly be walking into a trap, they cannot be certain that Massingleigh is actually there and they have no way of knowing whether they can return from wherever the portal leads to.

Ultimately a decision is set aside in the face of a more pressing predicament. Sounds of unearthly moaning begin to echo from the street behind them. And they soon discern a multitude of shapes moving towards them. The shapes resolve themselves into masses of molten flesh, vaguely human in form, lumbering slowly forward. The creatures’ faces are set in howls of anguish and torment. The Med-Jai are cornered.

Quickly Graffan calls upon the power of Heironeous and summons a wall of whirling blades to protect them from the molten flesh things. Some of the creatures are caught in the vortex and cut to ribbons, the rest cannot pass, but they have blocked their only avenue of escape.

At that moment the blue glow around the portal flares brightly and a large metal construct, wielding wicked looking triple-headed flails, emerges into the street behind them. It is a Blood Golem of Hextor, a deadly fusion of magic and machine.

Ebon turns to face the new threat and halts the construct’s advance by engaging it in combat. He hits it repeatedly with his glaive but has little effect against it. Disturbingly as the Blood Golem batters Ebon with its flails, the small amount of damage that it has sustained repairs itself.

Seeing this, Graffan attempts to dispel the evil force that animates the construct, but he is unsuccessful. Ebon continues to try and hold it back.

The situation worsens when a Dwarf, wearing obsidian armour and bearing the symbol of Hextor upon his chest, suddenly steps through the portal behind the Blood Golem. He utters words of dark sorcery and a black ray leaps from his hand and strikes Ebon. Even protected as he is by Seraphine, the spirit that is bound into his armour, Ebon staggers back in excruciating pain.

Leaping to the fore, Korbin closes with the Dwarf and distracts him sufficiently that he is forced to interrupt the attack on Ebon. Meanwhile Graffan calls up a circle of divine protection.

Angrily the Dwarf summons the powers of darkness about him again, and his right hand begins to drip with noxious black flame. Disregarding Korbin, he advances on Ebon and the two struggle against one another. The Dwarf ends up badly injured but Ebon fares worse. Foul magic tears at his chest and Seraphine’s power is all that keeps him standing.

For a moment the battle is nearly lost, but then Graffan casts Plane-Shift and the three Med-Jai vanish. Seconds later they reappear on the Material Plane in open grassland somewhere near the city of Verbobonc. Graffan doesn’t know where they are exactly, because Plane-Shift is an imprecise method of travel.

They find a place to camp for the night and wait till morning. Ebon’s wounds are healed by Seraphine and Graffan.

Shortly after dawn, Ebon receives a mental communication from Baratus warning him that Massingleigh is a Doppelganger impostor. Disturbed by the message but uncertain of what to make of it exactly, the trio Plane-Shift back to Arcadia. Graffan does his best to return them to somewhere near to St Cuthbert’s basilica but they end up many leagues away. Once again he calls upon the power of Heironeous to speed their passage and this time they reach the stronghold of the Ninth before nightfall.

Guards admit them and escort them to see the Matriarch, an aging woman with an air of great authority about her. She examines the contents of the scroll-case and then sizes up the three men standing before her.

“You understand that what lies beyond the gate is not for the faint-hearted?” she sternly questions. “Constant windstorms rage across the desert with furious intensity; tempests that scour flesh from bone and smother the air from your lungs. Food and water are scarce and there is little that survives in the open. The criminals are vile and dangerous, all the more desperate through the harshness of the conditions. They are damned to endure in a land that even the gods have forsaken. Once you enter I cannot be held accountable for your safety. You will be on your own”

The Med-Jai convince her that they comprehend the risks and still wish to continue.

“Very well” she acknowledges.

The Matriarch leads them deep into the bowels of the fortress to a heavily fortified gateway. From there a subordinate, Captain Armand, escorts them to the small garrison stationed on the other side of the portal. He arranges for them to be given provisions and wishes them well. Then the three figures depart into the jaws of the storm.

Sand lashes at them and sucks at their feet but they struggle onward. Graffan leads them with the compass, Ebon close behind. It would be easy to become lost without the device to guide them. The wind is unrelenting.

By nightfall they are exhausted but they press on.

Hours later, by the faint light of dawn, they can just make out a shape, half buried in the sand ahead. It appears to be a body. The compass swings ominously towards it.

Graffan stumbles forward and drops to his knees. For a moment he hesitates, fearing what he will find, then he reaches out and turns the body over. The face of the corpse is bruised and swollen as if from a severe beating, but it is still recognizable. It is Shilaze.

To be continued…

Notes:

Prior to the group’s departure from Sigil, Blanca begged to be allowed to accompany Ebon and the others and participate in the rescue of her half-sister. However Heiron was able to convince her that in her weakened state she would be more of a liability than an asset and in the end she relented.

Einheriar are humanoid spirits employed by powers of Arcadia as servants, guards or warriors. They appear as slightly wispy, ethereal versions of how they did in life.

Baratus sent the mental communication regarding Massingleigh to Ebon during Episode 18. This was done at Elsabeth’s request but it is not yet known how she came by the information.

Captain Armand informed the friends that a member of the Ninth has to escort anyone entering or leaving the prison. Effectively this is the key to the gate. When their task is complete they will have to return to the garrison and be escorted back through the gate. He also gives them a compass that will guide them back there.