Chapter 27 - The Front Door

Day 56

Part 1

With the arrival of dawn, the party found themselves upon the lake, with some distance between them and the previous night's disasterous events. They set about preparing for their second attempt at infiltrating Tarminastir, alongside their newfound gnomish allies. This did not sit well with Aldur, who found himself butting heads with Nesmir. The gnoms obviously had some disturbing views on elves, and was not afraid to make them known, at least in the safety of the boat, surrounded by his crewmates.

As preparations continued, Nesmir produced soem gnomish-designed equipment that he felt his newfound allies could make use of. The first was a waterskin that was fitted around the wearer's neck, with a small tube that could be fitted to rest in front of the wearer's mouth. He explained that these could be used to swiftly imbibe a potion in the midst of battle, and he provided each of them with a healing potion to fill their waterskin. The second piece of equipment was a backpack that had been enchanted to hold the energies of a powerful fireball. When worn, the backpack attuned itself to the wearer's lifeforce, draining a small portion to charge its energies. Once activated with a word of power unique to each pack, it would detonate if the wearer died or if removed and thrown. Nesmir was particularly enthusiastic in encouraging everyone to wear one.

Wary of the potential dangers they might face in attempting to infiltrate Tarminastir, Aldur and Trykaar used a large portion of their accumulated treasure to purchase additional potions of healing from Patroclus

A bank of fog hugged the shoreline next to the swamp and Patroclus kept the boat under its cover, making a slow and cautious approach to Tarminastir. He warned the party that he expected to be turned away from the port, as he had been when he last visited a few days before. He would approach the port openly under cover of darkness, but would drop off the party in their small boats before making his final approach to the harbour. If turned away, he would drop anchor a short distance to the east and await their return. If they had not returned by dawn, he would continue on his way, considering them lost.

Throughout the day, the glowing blue tree loomed larger and larger on the horizon, clearly giving off more light than during their previous approach through the swamp. As the other trees of the city came into view, the lake was quiet, empty of other boat traffic. The only other boat they saw on the open water was a long, sleek, tall-masted boat, gleaming white and gold as it pulled out of the fog-shrouded harbor and raced north across the lake, its sails filling with a powerful wind that didn't seem to touch the rest of the lake.

Dusk fell as the boat approached the city and Patroclus slowed the boat to ensure that darkness arrived before he did. Under the cover of darkness, the party and their gnomish allies slipped down ladders and into small inflatable boats on the lake side of the boat. Tied together in a line, they rowed their boats for shore, aiming for the centre of the tree. They were soon enshrouded in the rolling banks of fog, but navigated by the sight of the canopy of branches that arched overhead.

Approaching the base of the tree, they steared the boats between the gigantic, buttress-like roots, and the familiar sight of a sandy beach could be seen before them, through breaks in the mist. The hum of the tree was even louder than during their previous approach, churning the lake into rough motion. Approaching closer, they spied a familiar site. A beach along the waterfront was pierced by a narrow channel of water, just as on the other side of the tree. As they beached the boats, Jrak, Neela, and Trykaar moved forward to engage the lizardmen who emerged from the mist. As flame arced out from Trykaar's ancestral sword to engulf one of the first guards to arrive, their brethren were alerted and battle was joined. On land, the vibrations caused by the tree made footing precarious, and both sides struggled to maintain their footing while joined in furious battle. The lizardmen were large but their martial prowess did not compare to that of the party, and they were soon dispatched.

The beach now clear of defenders, the party made their way to the tree where the small inlet led into the tree and down a long, straight, cylindrical channel. The full length of the channel was obscured by a bright blue light that shone at its other end. The channel was blocked by a strong steel portculis that descended to the bottom of the channel. No controls could be found for raising the portcullis, but Jrak found that by standing in the channel, he could use his brute strength to raise the portcullis above his head, high enough for the rest of the company to slip their boats under and into the channel beyond. As he followed in their wake, it crashed shut behind them, a potential barrier to any eventual escape.

The column of boats made their way down the length of the tunnel, a distance of at least 200', until it opened into a large chamber. The glare of the light ahead made the chamber difficult to discern. At first, all that they could see was a pool of water ahead, over which was a stone platform of some type, and the brilliant blue light originate from the top of that platform. Another opening, similar to the one they looked through, could be seen on the opposite side of the pool. Nesmir volunteered to serve as a scout, making himself invisible and levitating into the open. He could see that he was at the bottom of a large, saucer-shaped theatre, rows of seating stretching up to a walkway that ran the circumferance of the circular room. Overhead, a tall domed ceiling was carved from the interior of the tree, featuring ornate sculptures depicting scenes from elven history. At the bottom of the bowl, in the center of the room, a huge circular stone slab floated above a circular pool. It was from the slab that the brightest blue light originated, though magical energies caused the entire chamber to glow. Its upper face was marked with arcane runes and symbols and some sort of large black figure was located at the center, enshrouded in a blinding blue aura. Over the front rows of seating, four platforms were equally spaced. The two water-filled tunnels emerged from the base of two platforms, while the other two featured sturdy doors. The only other doors to the room were four doors spaced at equal distances around the upper walkway.

Four humans were seated on the platforms, apparently in the process of performing some sort of ritual. A pair of elves and four attendant gnomes were the only audience in the huge seating area, aside from a single guard posted at each of the upper entrances. All of the beings in the room were seated or, in the case of the guards, bracing themselves against the wall to counteract the tremors that ran through the tree.

Part 2

After Nesmir had reported his observations back to the party, it was decided that Aldur would be the first to enter the room, aided by the invisibility enchantment on his belt. There was no way to get to the seating without going through the water, but he hoped that by cautiouslys stepping through the shallow water at the pool's edge, he might avoid notice. However, no sooner had he stepped into the water than he felt something close about his ankle and lift him bodily into the air. A watery fist enclosed Aldur's ankle and behind it a large water elemental emerged from the surface of the pool.

Seeing the elemental arise, and guessing correctly that it was holding the invisible Aldur in its grasp, Trykaar and Neela pushed their boat forward into the pool. A blow from the elemental lifted the boat out of the water, causing the two adventurers to leap to safety, Trykaar ending up back in the tunnel while Neela fell into the pool. With two intruders floundering in the pool, the elemental re-formed into a whirpool that succeeded in sucking both Aldur and Neela into its grasp, battering them against the pool's bottom as they rotated in its powerful currents. Aldur managed to work his way to the edge and back into the tunnel, but Neela was forced to use her wiles, letting herself sink to the bottom of the pool and using a mighty jump to push off the bottom and leap clear of the elemental's grasp. At this, the elemental returned to his humanoid form and a more conventional attack, battering away with mighty fists.

By this time, the other inhabitants of the room were alerted. While the humans did not move from their arcane labours, the elven guards and one of the two elves in the seating area moved to intercept the party. The remaining elf, apparently unarmed, began to retreat to safety while summoning a pair of water mephits to further antagonize the intruders who were battling the elemental. A second water elemental, smaller than the first, emerged from the waters on the other side of the pool and advanced into the fray.

The party's gnomes allies lent their assistance by firing missiles and Nesmir lobbed alchemical potions into the fray, but the brunt of the assault was born by the party. Aldur was quickly singled out by the elf who had been seated. He approached with two swords drawn, challenging Aldur and demanding that he order his minions to surrender. The wily Aldur, always wary of melee combat, made motions of surrender but then quickly fastened his belt and disappeared, not to be seen again in the course of the battle. Meanwhile the mephits had belched forth stinking clouds of gas that obscured vision and threatened to immobilize thise caught within. Trykaar approached one of the humans, who made no move to protect himself or evade a mighty blow from Trykar that mortally wounded him and caused a wave of energy to be released from the mysterious figure in the centre of the room, knocking several of the combatants to their knees. In the midst of the battle, the Tarminastir gnomes escaped out one of the doors next to the pool.

With each human killed, a wave of energy was released, but the magical power in the room was visibly diminished and the trembling of the tree increased. When the last of the humans was killed, a final wave of energy caused the tree to pitch sideways, tilting the entire chamber and leaving it in darkness. The entrance tunnel sunk below water level as the pool shifted, drowning Nesmir's three compatriats, and the opposite water channel was now dry, angled steeply upwards. In addition, a mighty cracking announced that the tree was splitting, and a crevace opened through the room. From the ceiling, carved wooden sculptures were jostled loose from their mountings and fell down out of the darkness and onto combatants below.

In the faint light of sunrods lit by the party, Neela spotted a small figure laying on the tilting stone platform. Despite her wounds, she lept up to investigate. She could now see it was a small human boychild. Before she could approach any closer, a mephit swooped at her, but she fended it off with a flurry of blows and it disappeared into the darkness, leaving her with the boy. He was unconscious but alive, and she scooped him up into her arms.

With the last of their opponents slain or driven off, the remaining party members finally noticed that Aldur was nowhere to be found. They searched the location where Trykaar had last spotted arcane energies being launched at their opponents, but the area was now partially submerged by the shifted pool. He did find some of Aldur's belongings and took those of value, but there was no sign of the elf. Wary of the elves who would surely arrive soon to investigate, the party made their way to the upper walkway and looked down one of the hallways. In the distance, lights indicated the approach of more potential enemies. Making their way around the room, harassed by a pair of mephits sent in by the approaching elves, they found that another hallway showed signs of activity and the two remaining ones had been blocked off by the breaking tree. Meanwhile, a loud cracking and rumbling continued all around them, and with a final great lurch and cracking, the trunk of the tree was sundered and falling away, and starlight could be spied through the opening that replaced the highest point of the ceiling.

At this point, they remembered the doors next to the pool, and they returned to the center of the chamber. The doors were locked securely, but this was no impediment to the mighty Jrak. One swing of his maul shattered the door and they entered the shadowy room beyond. Like the chamber they had left, this room was now tilted precariously, the former furniture piled up against the wall at the low end of the room. A single door was located on the opposite wall. They quickly sorted through the debris, Jrak discovering a thick tome inscribed in some strange arcane language and a doorway under the debris that opened on a stairway descending deeper into the tree. Due to the tilt of the staircase, it was obvious it would be a difficult climb with no certainty of return.

Deciding the stairway was too risky, they tried the other door but found it locked. Once again, Jrak was able to easily open it revealed a corridor beyond. It ran a short distance before a split in the tree had offset it to the right, leaving a narrow space that Jrak could just barely squeeze through. A short distance beyond, they entered another room, this one featuring four beds, each with a matching chest, and some other furniture. Opening the chests, they discovered them to be filled with coins and other valuables, more than they could ever carry. Neela refused to take any for herself, fearing that the wealth might taint her troubled soul, but the others quickly scooped up as much as they could carry before continuing onwards.

A door on the far wall of the room once again proved little impediment to a determined Jrak, and they fled down the corridor beyond. After a short distance, the wood of the tree gave way to a stone-walled corridor, indicating that they were under the city beyond. A short distance later, Neela felt a stone shift slightly under her foot and the floor of the corridor behind her disappeared, sending Jrak tumbling down forty feet into a dark pit and setting off an alarm in the distance. Fortunately, both Jrak and Nesmir had ropes. Unfortunately, the gnome's was sentient and needed a little convincing, but they were eventually able to run a rope for Jrak to climb up.

Proceeding onwards with slightly more caution, they entered what appeared to be a large storeroom. Spreading out for a quick search, they found a mixture of mundane and arcane items, and took the opportunity to swipe some that might prove useful. But wary of pursuit and the distant alarm, they soon pushed on through the jumble of shelves to find a doorway on the opposite wall.

The new corridor they found themselves in ran for a few hundred feet before they found themselves at a four-way intersection. Taking a moment to re-orientate themselves, they decided that they should head towards the lakeshore side of the city and attempt to escape to the waiting boat. As the shore was to their left, they took that corridor and soon found themselves at a sturdy wooden door. Neela put her ear to it and could hear sibilant voices beyond that sounded like the lizardmen they had encountered before. Choosing a frontal assault, Jrak smashed the door and Neela and Trykaar assaulted the three surprised lizardmen. These were significantly smaller than the hulking beasts that had guarded the tree, but made up for it as skilled fighters, though not skilled enough to overcome the party.

With the lizardmen dispatched, the party found themselves in a small guardroom. A second door opened onto a fog-enshrouded boardwalk on the lakeshore. No other guards were in sight, so the four survivors slipped across the boardwalk and beach, and into the lake, where they parallelled the shore until they found a boat. They quietly untied it from its mooring and slipped off into the fog.

When they finally emerged into the clear air of the lake, they saw a spectacular sight. Though it was still night, the faint moonlight revealed the shattered stump of the tree emerging from the fog behind them, and the massive trunk and crown toppled into the lake, the long branches stills stretching higher than any of the other trees of the city. A small flotilla of elven boats were in the water around the tree. Patroclus' boat could be seen a considerable distance in the opposite direction, anchored close to the fog banks. The party nosed their boat back into the fog and slowly made their way to the waiting boat, cautiously staying within the edge of the bank.

A visibly relieved dwarf quickly hauled the four survivors up onto the deck and hurried them down into the hold before they could be spotted. He explained that the elves had already come to investigate the boat, and that the only way he had been able to assuage their suspicions had been by giving them ample supplies to help them with rescuing any elves trapped in the toppled tree. He explained that he would need to wait until dawn before leaving, so as not to raise suspicions.

As the sun peaked over the eastern horizon, spreading a glow through the ever-present fog, Patroclus pulled in his anchor and prepared to make way. But just as the great wheels began to churn the water, a voice was heard calling from the water below. The incredulous crew looked over the railings to see Aldur, reported dead by the other party members, was very much alive and splashing in the water below, waving and yelling in an attempt to get their attention. A line was thrown and the soaked elf was hauled on board.

To be continued as DM's time permits...

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