The War Without End – Episode 1.5

There are a few days of quiet after the encounter with Marann and the Enforcers. During this time Blanca remains in the care of the Bleak Cabal. Ebon visits her every day but there is no change in her condition. She remains in a coma with Tharviol silently watching over her.

At breakfast one morning Heiron asks Ebon, Shilaze, Massingleigh and Elsabeth, a young woman recently arrived at the Fortress of the Second, to undertake a mission. He says that the Med-Jai owe a debt of gratitude to five Elves who were of great assistance in the War Without End many hundreds of years ago. Since then the Elves have been lost and their souls have never been found. Now Heiron believes that he has uncovered clues as to what happened to them.

He has read ancient archives that tell how, during a great war between Elves and Men, one of a group of five Elves betrayed his comrades to their deaths and as punishment he was entombed with them.

What happened Heiron does not know, but he is convinced that these Elves are the same five that he has been looking for. Now he knows the approximate location of their burial site on the Material Plane. He wants the young Med-Jai to go there, find their remains and release their souls from whatever is holding them.

There is no particular urgency but the four have nothing pressing to attend to and so they set out later that same morning. Fallana leads them through Sigil to a portal that will take them to an ancient Dwarven stronghold near to where Heiron believes the Elves to be buried.

Passing through, the group find themselves in total darkness. The torches they have brought with them provide the only illumination there. The air is stale. Everywhere is covered in dust and cobwebs. The stronghold appears to have been abandoned for many years. As the four pass through the dark halls and passageways they find increasing numbers of Dwarven skeletal remains. There are clear signs of some long forgotten struggle, and a growing sense that something terrible happened there hundreds of years before.

As they enter a large open hall, Shilaze comes to a halt “Can you feel it?” she whispers, “I sense a great evil. It is all around us.” And suddenly the Dwarf skeletons that litter the floor begin to stir and rise.

Shilaze, Ebon and Massingleigh, quickly form a defensive half circle and Elsabeth stands behind ready to cast her spells. Shilaze calls on the power of Heironeous to lay the undead souls to rest and the first wave of skeletons shatter, but there are more behind. Relentlessly they press forward and the young Med-Jai stand shoulder to shoulder and fight them off. After a while the number of skeletons begins to dwindle and eventually they are lifeless once more.

With the undead vanquished, the evil presence seems to depart and the four cautiously continue to search for the way out of the stronghold.

However, before they find the exit that they seek they come across a mine-face where part of the ceiling has caved in. There, amidst a pile of rubble, is a broken stone sarcophagus resting where it has fallen from somewhere up above. The sarcophagus is unnervingly empty. Elvish writings are carved upon its surface. In the darkness overhead they can just make out the silhouette of a second sarcophagus through the hole above them. They assume that they are under some kind of Elven mausoleum. Could it be connected to the burial place that they are looking for? Or is it just coincidence? After a brief discussion they decide that for the time being they will proceed with the original plan and find the exit, but they all sense that they have unfinished business with the evil that lurks in the mines.

Eventually they find a passageway that leads to the surface. Above ground it is raining steadily and visibility is poor, but they can see that all around them the landscape is barren and covered with ash, as though there has been a great fire there. Uncertain which way to go, they climb further up the mountainside for a better view, but as day turns to dusk they make camp for the night.

By dawn the weather has improved somewhat. Through the drizzle they can see that they are not far from a lone copse of trees, covering a low hill that stands out against the charred landscape. Something tells them that this is the place they are looking for.

They climb down the mountain and approach the hill. The trees and undergrowth that cover it are tightly intertwined but with some effort the companions force their way through. At the centre is a small clearing and a stone structure that appears to be the entrance to a crypt. The weathered stonework is covered in ancient Elvish writing similar to that on the sarcophagus in the mines. Shilaze attempts to decipher it and concludes that they stand at the resting place of a particular Elven family. The writings are mainly a list of the names of the dead. Among those listed she finds the five Elves they are looking for.

They approach the doors. Massingleigh and Shilaze force them open and they all squeeze through.

The sense of Evil is tangible there. As each of them crosses the threshold they feel a deep foreboding assail them. Elsabeth starts to back away but Ebon and Shilaze reassure her and she regains her composure.

A short passageway leads toward a spiral stairwell heading down. As they approach it there is a skittering and a scuttling sound from below and a gigantic centipede suddenly emerges from the hole. The three warriors stand their ground but at first their weapons prove ineffective against the huge creatures armoured carapace. It is only once Elsabeth has weakened it with magic that it finally goes down.

Immediately behind the first centipede is a second that boils up out of the hole behind and scuttles forward over the body of the first. Despite its huge size, it moves quickly and surges threateningly toward Elsabeth. Though Ebon is wounded and the centipede is many times larger than he is, he stands defiantly blocking its path. Fortunately the centipede does not reach him. First Elsabeth roasts it with an enormous fireball and then Shilaze and Massingleigh finish it off with their swords.

They all wait with weapons ready for something more to come at them, but after a few minutes pass and all remains quiet, they start to relax a little.

Beneath them in the darkness an ancient evil stirs.

To be continued…

Notes:

First appearance of Elsabeth (Kate Beckinsale)