GLRP E&H Thurisaz: Beyond the Door, Part II
Title: Beyond the Door, Part II
Author: Prospero Faenis
I had to stop in Jhelom to have my sandals repaired. All that walking had worn a hole in the sole of the right one and a strap had broken on the left. As we waited for the cobbler to complete the work, we befriended the local cartographer. It was his suggestion that we hire a tillerman and check the islands for temples.
Something he said struck a cord. "If I were evil, something sinister would be glorious to me. Only a few temples I can think of that would meet that description."
I rolled my tired eyes and sighed. Of course! Why had I not considered that sooner? It was all too clear. We purchased fresh supplies, retrieved my sandals and sought a tillerman who would take us to the island for next to nothing, for that was all we had to offer.
Vuillemot knew the area fairly well and had some idea of where we were headed, so we let him lead us. We found the temple, desecrated and disgusting, guarded by any manner of vile creatures. The walls kept us from their sight and I was grateful for the segregation. Remar suggested we cleanse it, as we were sworn to do, but I reasoned that we had more urgent business and the temple would have to wait. It was a good full day's hike to the north before we found what we sought, somewhat.
It was a very small fortress in dire need of repair. The sandstone bricks were brittle at best and there were visible weak spots in many places. Pallillo lit a torch and peered inside through an archway. "Spiders," he grumbled.
"Listen!" I urged, touching a finger to my lips. Everyone fell silent and stood perfectly still. The exchange of worrisome glances told me they'd heard it, too. The unmistakable sounds of rattling bones. I slid the silver warhammer from its sheath at my side and saw the others going for their weapons, also. "Undead," I murmured, "and from the sound of it, a lot of them."
They came at us from the archway, pushing Palillo back and thrusting the torch he'd held through his chest. I heard the hideous laugh of a lich intermingled with Pallillo's screaming. I was engaged with three bone knights myself and unable to do anything more for him than to whisper a prayer for his speedy death. If we hurried, we might be able to revive him before his spirit moved too far away to be rejoined to his body.
A portion of the wall where the archway was supported gave out and a section of the wall collapsed, burying Wolpur and two bone mages in the rubble. Remur worked quickly to free Wolpur, but I saw no movement from him as Remur dragged the body beside poor Pallillo's. From this larger opening we could see that we had only begun to fight. The regiment of evil outnumbered us greatly. This was our calling and we held fast to do our duty here. Even at my age, I was determined to risk my life for my beliefs.
The dawn found us in our makeshift camp, blood still drying on our ravaged robes and crimsoned weaponry. Pallillo and Wolpur were curled up in dirty sleeping bags, barely alive, but alive nonetheless thanks to Nesmith's abilities. We had defeated the undead battalion and were resting up before venturing into the fortress. I ate my two dried fish steaks and washed them down with the grainy water Russo had retrieved from who knows where, but it was certainly not from the clean brook back home.
Six of us went into the structure while the others waited at the camp with the infirmed. We found a ruined staircase leading up to a second floor which was all but gone. We would stop frequently to listen for more rattling bones or wicked laughter, but all we heard were skittering spiders and rats going about their daily tasks in the filtered light.
"I'd imagine that we won't find anything until nightfall," Moncrief suggested. "My opinion is to set guards out front, take turns at the post and everyone get whatever rest they can. When the sun fades, we will need all our strength to face... whatever we will face." Agreeing with this line of thought, we retreated back to camp and waited for the gloaming.
I had just dozed off, finally, when Idlet gave voice to an epiphany. One must know Idlet to fully appreciate the magnitude of this. (When he first came to us, the brothers kept telling him that we had taken no vow of silence and he would smile and nod in response, yet if we heard him say more than ten words in a week, we were shocked.) "Those creatures only come out in the dark?" he said, more a statement than a question, really.
Lamot snapped his fingers. "That's right!" He leapt to his feet. "Gather up all the torches and lanterns! We'll set them around in there and maybe that will keep them at bay!" The younger ones sprang up and set to it while the older men, including myself, filled the lanterns they brought to us. The afternoon was fading as I lay down again and tried to get what rest I could.
Idlet and Lamot had undoubtedly saved us. As the sun dropped behind the mountains, the bones began rattling inside the fortress. There were not near so many this night as there had been the night before. Creg had bested the last one when we heard a peculiar laugh at the top of the stairs and saw a shadowy figure float toward us, a strong smell of sulphur stinging our noses.
"Who do you seek?" it asked in a shrill, grating tone.
I stepped to the front of the group, stopping at the bottom stair. "We were sent here in search of the gatekeeper."
"What homage to you bring to lay before him?"
A panic raised the small hairs on the back of my neck and forearms. "Homage?" I asked, my voice faltering. "All that we have, we have set aside for the Master of the Pit. We have nothing else to offer."
Its laugh sounded like a screaming child. "Everyone has something and no one gets anything for nothing."
"What sort of homage does the gatekeeper require?" Lamot asked.
"A sacrifice with life's pulse beating through it," the thing answered.
