"They say that, once upon a time..."
"Will this be a story about that ship speaking in green?" - "Shh!"
"No, you're too young for one of those. Now, 'that once upon a time...'"
"Or one about those mushroom brothers?" - "Shh! Shh!"
"Absolutely not, you're much too young for those. Where have you even heard about them? Anyway... 'once upon a time, there was a Keep of Bloodstained Dreams...'"
"... Are you sure we're old enough for that?" - "Shush!"
"Yes. Now, if I may..."
"Five brave men set out to find the keep and conquer its secrets. These were Zalgus the necromancer sage, Rorgrin the calm, Trael the driven skeleton (plus Larry), Rorrim the mercenary, and Baradine the spellblade. They had reached the path to the keep, finding a slab memorializing some of those killed by the keep's dark influence, and a few promptly went about to try and desecrate it."
"Were they attacked by ghosts?!"
"No. They actually failed utterly to unearth the slab. They then came across a barricade, made of wagons and bones, and Trael somehow recognized that an enemy of his was part of the barricade, while Rorrim took a slab-like stone from it along. Zalgus for his part found a strange potion. They soon came to the gate of the keep, finding it barred. Several of them climbed the mountains that seemed fused onto the keep's walls, dropping down to the courtyard to unbar the gate. Beyond the courtyard, in the main keep, they were assailed by ghouls, whom they quickly dispatched. This is where the group first separated truly, and first heard the name Prodith."
"They split up?" - "This is one of the stories where everyone dies, isn't it?"
"Quiet now. Rorgrin took it to himself to explore the keep's walls, finding nothing of interest. Trael went down, opening a stone door any mortal would have found ominous. Zalgus, Baradine, and Rorrim, for their part, spoke with a priest named Drilaaywen..." - "eep" - "...once a priest of Tiamat..." - "uh oh" - "... and now a tortured undead. Actually, Rorrim went into her quarters beforehand and found her shrine, attracting Tiamat's attention in some way.
Drilaaywen told them she could only die if Prodith, a lich, were to be killed, and that Prodith dwelled somewhere under the keep, which actually used to be a tower long ago. Trael meanwhile stumbled upon black slimes, and moved past them into the nearest door, which happened to lead to a mostly-empty library. Rorrim, Baradine, and Zalgus soon also came upon the black puddings, as did Rorgrin. Zalgus nearly died to the monsters, but was saved, mostly thanks to his and Baradine's magic and Baradine's sword mastery.
The library proved interesting nonetheless. The five found an inscription containing various contradictions from some kind of narrator..." - "oohh, that could be a terror!" - "... and I will talk to your parents about your reading habits, but yes, they also found books that hinted that there was a supernatural evil captured below the keep, and that a Dance of Souls had a relation to the keep. They also soundly trashed the library in the process. Trael had already moved ahead, of course, into a room with statues of extraplanar evils and, though they did not know at the time, the Dance of Souls Triumphant, a headless statue showing the heads of those they defeated in some fashion. In that room, he found a hidden staircase taking him down to a garden..."
"A garden? How's that supposed to work? Weren't they underground?" - "Shush, it's magic, somehow." - "Bah, stupid magic."
"... a garden illuminated by a magic sphere of light." - "it's still bah." - "Trael wasted no time and hacked through the vegetation, ending up by a balcony leading to a long, curving corridor. He reached the end of the path he took, opened the door, and entered a room with strange gray sand..." - "Oh, was it co..." - "... that he couldn't identify at the time. A voice accosted him, calling him a servitor of the Bald One... " - "who?." - "dunno, at least it's not the Ashen One." - "... telling him he would not reach the Terror Beneath the Keep. Then a large golden arachnid emerged from the sand and began to attack Trael. Rorgrin soon arrived to the battle, alerted to it by a strange instinct. Together, they managed to drive it away.
Meanwhile, Zalgus, Baradine, and Rorrim examined the statue room, then went down to the garden. Zalgus wandered off, finding a destroyed laboratory, while Baradine, at Rorrim's wish, burned some leaves. Predictably, the fire spread to the whole garden..." - "good. stupid magic garden." - "... trapping the three in various locations, and alerting a supernatural force deeper in the Tower. It sent the munuruk...," - "munrawhat?" - "..., brown insectoids adept with poisons, to investigate. They found Baradine and Rorrim, and took them through a magical portal deeper into the tower, to their realm.
Zalgus, meanwhile, found a tome in the laboratory, unaware of the fires raging in the garden. From just one look, could tell that it was a good find - the tome used to belong to the Ashen One...," - "aw no." - "..., a powerful wizard. With his treasure, he tried to leave, but was hindered by the fire for quite some time.
Baradine and Rorrim found themselves being treated better than they expected as they were escorted to the de facto leader of the munuruk - an ancient dryad." - "Oohh, what did she look like?! Was she na..." - "Shh! Shh! Pervert." - "who, through various reasons, was actually half tree, half dryad. She set them a task - defeat the flesh golem guarding the gates to another garden..." - "NO! Damnit!" - "... to assure the survival of the munuruk.
Trael and Rorgrin, at about that time, reached a room covered in ice and ice walls. They freed one of the doors, entering a completely empty room, which then led to a room with a flesh golem and a lightning trap. They retreated for the time, and found the ice room to be melting. From the stairs below, they were joined by Rorrim, Baradine, and a few munuruk, granted some healing fruit and a seed to grow a new magic portal. Together, they defeated the golem, though a munuruk died in the battle.
Zalgus had by now reached the gray sand room, and was accosted by the same voice as Trael earlier, revealing that it was Prodith. She had sensed the book and, certain in her power, talked a bit about her plan to reforge the world through the Tower, the Terror, and the Dance of Souls, the latter of which was a set of magical illusion art that held more power than most thought. Zalgus then arrived in the ice room, learning he could communicate with the book."
"Yay, reunited at last!"
"No, because Trael had already entered the new magic portal in the second garden and left the munuruk territory, whereas Rorgrin, suspicious of the dryad and the munuruk, refused to do the same. Instead, the four entered another room from the ice room - a gallery of paintings, including the Dance of Souls Despaired. It presented itself to them as a blank gray canvas, but only because it would normally display floating spirits over a nighttime landscape. Baradine, Rorrim, and Rorgrin found the painting to be well-secured with various magics. Urged on by Zalgus, they continued down the stairs and through a corridor, reaching a long staircase.
They went further down, past the munuruk territory, when they suddenly found themselves in a different room - somehow they either forgot the descent, or they were transported farther down. In the next room, they found a tall skeleton on a throne, a harp, and a flickering humanoid, which turned out to be an illusion created by the harp, the Dance of Souls enamored. Rorgrin soon, and Zalgus later, went through a door in the throne, while Baradine experimented with the harp and Rorrim examined the skeleton. Rorrim collapsed the skeleton by accident, the skull hitting the harp and revealing that it was indeed trapped. Zalgus and Rorgrin, however, found themselves reunited with Trael... who was locked into battle with an enormous wurm made of bone and skulls."
"And then?" - "Yeah, what happened then?"
"That, children, is a story for another day."
"Aw maaan!" - "Whew."
((Turn likely tomorrow. I hope I didn't make things even less clear with the format. <_< >_>))
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Topic: Roll through the Keep of Bloodstained Dreams (86 -Story time over) (Read 49583 times)