nowbound

Part Six - The Cult Of Immortality - I Never promised You A Rose Garden

The door opened onto another dark east-west corridor, this time with doors on the north and south walls and a final door at the western end. A corroded length of copper piping clung to the south wall, emerging from close to the nearest door on the south wall and vanishing through a hole in the west wall. The corridor felt even chillier than the rest of the rooms and a thin rime of ice could be seen on the copper.
Jodotha checked the nearest door on the north wall and stood back indicating to Ako that he had heard nothing.
Ako opened the door, but forgot to have his holy symbol ready. As he rummaged through his robes two wraiths attacked but they failed to penetrate the cleric's defences. Pulling out the oak tree symbol of his faith Ako banished the undead creatures with ease.
The others followed the cleric in and explored what appeared to be a refectory. A heavy wooden table filled most of the centre of the room with long benches on either side. More ornate chairs stood at each end, the headpieces carved with the strange face seen on the entrance door.
As they sat eating some of their spartan iron rations Trimus pondered. "Why was the door giant sized when everything we have seen here is human sized? What does this face symbol mean, Ako can't identify it so it cannot be one of the greater immortals? They must have been chaotic otherwise they would have based themselves closer to civilisation. Unless of course what they were doing was dangerous and they didn't want to risk the lives of those around them. But if they were lawful, would they have become wraiths after they died. I need more information!"
"Time to go sleepy head!" Ako shook Trimus' shoulder thinking that the mage had dozed off. Trimus didn't correct the cleric, his mind was still mulling over the reason for this lair being here.

They returned to the corridor and Jodotha once more checked the door for traps and listened for any signs of occupancy. "I really don't think any of these doors are going to be trapped." He said standing up. "This place wasn't designed to be defended against invasion, the doors are to simple and none of them are even locked."
"Check them anyway." Said Trimus, "Just for my peace of mind. Jodotha shrugged and stepped back allowing Ako to open the door.
The room beyond was empty. A firepit with charred brick sides was set against the south wall over which a copper hood, which probably served as an extraction system, stood. A faint moaning sound filled the room and it seemed to be coming from the hood.
Ako, symbol outstretched made his way to the hood and looked up.
"It's just the wind." He sighed butting the symbol away. "The pipe we saw outside must lead to the open air and suck any smoke out. Clever."

Jodotha checked a door set into the west wall quickly and again Ako was first through it and into what appeared to be a storeroom. Black iron hook were wedged into the ceiling while a litter of ham bones were scattered on the floor amongst a few empty barrels that may have stored beer.
Once again they returned to the corridor and checked the final door at the western end.
"It's cold." Muttered Jodotha as he knelt to listen at the door. A small amount of snow had blown in where the caulking around the copper pipe from the kitchen had rotted away. "I can hear the wind." He said standing up and returning to the others. "There's no point in all of us freezing ourselves. I'll go out with Cain and see what we can see. If there is anything interesting we'll let you know."
Cain yanked the door open, cracking a thin layer of ice that had formed on the outside. The door was stronger and cruder than those throughout the rest of the complex of rooms. A curved flight of stairs leads up and to the north and a bitterly chilling wind gusts and swirls bringing with small, hard snowflakes. "Careful Cain." Cautioned Jodotha as he carefully climbed the ice and snow covered steps. After about a dozen steps Jodotha emerged through a stone arch into an irregular, natural bowl open to the grey sky. The strong wind hid the sounds of motion as a gargoyle leapt from its position above the arch. Jodotha barely had a chance to draw his weapon before the creature struck. He shouted a warning to Cain but his words were ripped from his throat by the wind. The creature raked the rogue with his claws and the creatures ragged horn and responds with a blow from his blade that caused a grating scream to burst from his foes lungs. Cain missed with his fists and the gargoyle struck again felling Jodotha just as the rogue struck again. The gargoyle arched over the prone rogue as Jodotha tried to scramble backwards but just as it was about to strike Cain leapt in with a flurry of blows shattering the creature.
"Get the others Cain. I'm almost done for." Jodotha moaned had huddled up in the lee of a rock wall, to weak to move to any better shelter. The mystic sprinted off, barely leaving a footprint upon the bloodstained snow now littered with dark grey fragments of gargoyle.
Moments later, Ako and the others arrived. Trimus' numb hands did more harm than good when he tried to staunch the wound in Jodotha's back. Ako cast a pair of spells from his staff and some of the wounds healed. Trimus fished the healing potion from his pack and Jodotha drunk it greedily.

Meanwhile Cain and Darkhawk searched the rest of the eyrie. They found two, small, rock buildings, constructed to appear like natural outcroppings of the mountain itself. One was a privy, emptying out over the side of the mountain, the other a tool shed containing a few rusted and rotten tools. Using the blade of a shovel Darkhawk cleared the snow off of part of the flat area in front of the shed revealing a kitchen garden run rampant. He dug about in the iron hard soil and pulled up a few self-seeded turnips and carrots.
"Who knows when we'll find more food." He said as Ako wrinkled his nose. He tossed them into his sack and drew his sword. "I'll be back in a minute." With that he soared into the air and circled the mountain a few times before returning, red cheeked and downcast.
"I saw no sign of the Phoenix nor any sign of civilisation in any direction. Visibility was bad but I hoped we'd be able to see something at least."
"Never mind. We will just have to press on." Ako threw a consoling arm around Darkhawk and they returned to the relative warmth of the complex of rooms within the mountain leaving the garden to the wind and snow.

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