The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed
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The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

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Bone. This was as far as his expedition got before they succumbed to the blue devils. They had already lost two members on the mountain ridge and were down to three. Gustave himself was the blue devils’ key victim. He became obsessed with the idea of killing and eating the other expedition members, believing that by doing this he could carry their souls safely into the citadel. They would get new bodies later on, though he was not sure how. As leader, it was his job to make sure that everyone reached the final destination. Believing that he was fulfilling his responsibility, he killed and partially devoured the other two men. He came to his senses suddenly, with blood on his hands and a dreadful taste in his mouth. In a moment of lucidity, he saw and killed the blue devil who had driven him mad. Then, surrounded by carnage and alone in the wilderness, he promptly went mad again. The rescue party found him wandering the ice sheets singing to himself; in his madness he had somehow climbed back across the mountains, following a memory of home. Characters investigating the ruined camp can find the following items, each one requiring a separate Search check (DC 20) to find: • The frozen, partly eaten remains of two explorers. • A compass that points towards the citadel instead of pointing north. On examination, all compasses are found to be pointing this way. This is because of the lodestone golem. • A dead blue devil with a +2 axiomatic dagger driven through it. • One or more living blue devils, disguised as useful pieces of camping equipment such as a mallet, a water bottle and a piton (climbing spike). • A cast-aside jerkin. In the pocket is a page torn from a diary, partly spoiled by the damp. The following can be made out with a Decipher Script check (DC 20): ‘The jungle witch-men of Kandang are right. The body is inconsequential. The soul is all. As leader, I must carry the souls to our final destination. (Here a passage is obliterated by water damage.) The men are beginning to fear me; were I to explain what I must do, they would fear me even more. It must be done quickly. They shall thank me when we have the Circlet and they are in new bodies. Their souls can stand to dwell in my body for a little while. I shall eat Cerdin first, I think, for he is the more eager to reach the Citadel. Jerg I shall eat as I walk, a little at a time.’ The Blue Devils: There are still blue devils (see page 162) lurking near the ruin of the camp. They attempt to weasel their way into the Player Characters’ equipment, either by disguising themselves as objects that are then picked up and stowed, or by jumping on board any vehicles or mounts that the Player Characters have. If there seems to be no other way to do it, then they use suggestion to make a Player Character pick them up. Once they are hiding in the equipment, the blue devils try to give the Player Characters the same delusions that Gustave Colombe suffered from, picking on the target who seems most susceptible (usually a fighter type). They avoid wizards, clerics and sorcerers. The Citadel on the Cusp Bastirak’s stronghold is built on a point of planar weakness where the fabric of the universe folds worlds closer together. He chose the site for this reason, finding it easier to bridge the planes from here. Using powerful magic, he was able to force open a planar rift, making access to other planes easy. He no longer needs to cast spells to open up the gateways. The citadel’s doors and passageways open onto different planes. The problem is not how to open them but how to keep them closed. The citadel is now a more hazardous place than ever. Along with the monsters that Bastirak commands, uninvited visitors from other planes roam the corridors and lurk in the shadows. Too busy to ward the problematic planes off, Bastirak instead isolates himself in his sanctum sanctorum and has his overworked minions deal with any incursion. First View of the Citadel From here, you can see that the mountainous barrier you have now crossed was part of a great circle of peaks, mile upon mile of mountains screening the inner region from view. This cannot have arisen naturally and you wonder what event raised these mountains – or flattened the region in the centre. In the middle of the plain of ice stands a structure that looks like the bald head of a buried colossus, wearing a crown of tall thin spikes. This must be the citadel of Bastirak. You have reached your destination at last! As you watch, it fades from view like a ghost vanishing into the ether; then, in an eyeblink, it is back. It stands so solid and firm that you wonder if what just happened was an illusion of the snow and ice. Then it flickers out of existence again and snowflakes wheel through the space where it stood. Once more, it returns after half a second. Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8 133

134 Surrounding the citadel are stationary figures, some large, some small. All of them are semitransparent and seem to be frozen in place. From the outside, it seems as though the whole citadel shimmers in and out of reality. One moment it is unquestionably solid, the next it is pale and transparent, barely there at all. A successful Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (the planes) check (DC 20) concludes that it is on a planar junction point of some kind, so its existence extends into multiple planes. This means that it is not quite on any of them. Inside the citadel, this effect does not occur and it seems to be quite solid and real. The outer world seen through the windows, however, shifts and blurs as if it were unreal. 1. The Planar Ghosts As you draw closer to the immobile figures, you see that many of them are of strange races you have never seen before. They seem to have no relation to their surroundings at all. A blue-skinned, eyeless ape is frozen in the act of pouring a yellow liquid from one alembic to another. A horned ogre with a tail is caught in mid-leap. A woman with a fox’s tail is brandishing a rapier. Three creatures like halflings, their bare feet oddly large, huddle around a fire. There are hundreds of similar images caught in the space around the citadel. The Games Master can let his imagination run riot here making up new ones. They have no effect on the Player Characters, nor can the Player Characters affect them. The curious flux around the planar junction point traps images from various planes parallel to this one, preserving them as incorporeal, transparent, frozen moments in time. They are not solid and can be walked through. The denizens of the citadel have grown used to them, since they do not do anything and are no threat, but they may take the Player Characters by surprise. The ghosts steadily fade into view and out again over the course of weeks. A Knowledge (the planes) check (DC 25) identifies this phenomenon for what it is. One of the phantoms is potentially useful to the Player Characters, as it gives a hint of what is coming. The Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8

134<br />

Surrounding the citadel are stationary figures, some<br />

large, some small. All of them are semitransparent and<br />

seem to be frozen in place.<br />

From the outside, it seems as though the whole citadel<br />

shimmers in and out of reality. One moment it is<br />

unquestionably solid, the next it is pale and transparent,<br />

barely there at all. A successful Knowledge (arcana)<br />

or Knowledge (the planes) check (DC 20) concludes<br />

that it is on a planar junction point of some kind, so its<br />

existence extends into multiple planes. This means that<br />

it is not quite on any of them.<br />

Inside the citadel, this effect does not occur and it seems<br />

to be quite solid and real. <strong>The</strong> outer world seen through<br />

the windows, however, shifts and blurs as if it were<br />

unreal.<br />

1. <strong>The</strong> Planar Ghosts<br />

As you draw closer to the immobile figures, you see<br />

that many of them are of strange races you have never<br />

seen before. <strong>The</strong>y seem to have no relation to their<br />

surroundings at all. A blue-skinned, eyeless ape is<br />

frozen in the act of pouring a yellow liquid from one<br />

alembic to another. A horned ogre with a tail is caught<br />

in mid-leap. A woman with a fox’s tail is brandishing<br />

a rapier. Three creatures like halflings, their bare feet<br />

oddly large, huddle around a fire.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re are hundreds of similar images caught in the<br />

space around the citadel. <strong>The</strong> Games Master can let his<br />

imagination run riot here making up new ones. <strong>The</strong>y<br />

have no effect on the Player Characters, nor can the<br />

Player Characters affect them.<br />

<strong>The</strong> curious flux around the planar junction point<br />

traps images from various planes parallel to this one,<br />

preserving them as incorporeal, transparent, frozen<br />

moments in time. <strong>The</strong>y are not solid and can be walked<br />

through. <strong>The</strong> denizens of the citadel have grown used<br />

to them, since they do not do anything and are no threat,<br />

but they may take the Player Characters by surprise.<br />

<strong>The</strong> ghosts steadily fade into view and out again over<br />

the course of weeks. A Knowledge (the planes) check<br />

(DC 25) identifies this phenomenon for what it is.<br />

One of the phantoms is potentially useful to the Player<br />

Characters, as it gives a hint of what is coming. <strong>The</strong><br />

Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8

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