nowbound

Part Six - The Cult Of Immortality - With Malice Aforethought

They returned to the octagonal room and Jodotha checked the door that Cain had opened earlier.
"It's not that I don't trust you." He murmured as he passed. "It's just habit and a professional's code of honour."
Standing back he allowed Darkhawk to open the door and step through into a short corridor which ended with another stone door.
"Whatever they were doing they liked doors." Grumbled Jodotha as he knelt to listen at yet another door.
"Shame they didn't make them out of wood. Then we could have had a nice fire." Trimus had his hands stuck in his armpits, trying to keep them warm.
Darkhawk got the all clear from Jodotha and opened the door. Ako gasped as he saw a large figure in the centre of the room but gathered himself when he saw it was just a statue. He then glimpsed movement out of the corner of his eye and raised his holy symbol and dispelled another wraith. Feeling that the room was now save he led the others in. The statue was carved from the same stone as the rest of the mountain and showed a larger than life size figure with the old and young face as seen on the doors. Stone doors set into the north, west and east walls of the chamber were shut and were of an identical design to most of the others in the complex. Trimus drew out his wand of magic detection and studied the statue carefully, looking for signs of even the faintest glow.
"Nothing." He said slipping the wand back into his belt. "It's just a statue."

Jodotha checked the eastern door and opened it himself. Inside he saw a large room lined with stone bookshelves. A damp musty smell filled the air and a large crack, fringed with mould and pale white moss crossed the ceiling. Rotted into a pile of soft bloated wood in the centre of the room was a table and four chairs. Trimus and the others moved into the room and started to examine the shelves. Most of them were occupied with mouldering piles of parchment and tightly rolled scrolls that fell apart as they were unrolled. Still Trimus managed to decipher some important information from the fragments that remained.
"Look he said pointing at a large fragment of scroll. "It says here that this was the home of a sect known as the 'Theridian Order'." He pulled together a few more fragments. "It seems there was about two dozen of them here at the height of the order's power. They fought off attacks from snow apes and frost giants as this place was being built. It was set up by Theridian himself, a man who was looking for immortality and the order wasn't a Clerical one - "
"Which is why I didn't recognise the symbol." Interrupted Ako.
" - It was concerned with the seeking of knowledge, they were a collection of some of the greatest thinkers of their day. Not sure when that day was though, can't find a date or mention of the local ruler amongst this mess."

A loud cough and splutter from Darkhawk drew their attention away from the scrolls.
"Sorry!" Darkhawk was brushing a bright yellow power from his armour. "Looks like I disturbed a colony of mould. No harm done. He then went and repeated the trick a few moments later. "Looks like this area is heavily infested, best to leave it alone."
"You might find this interesting Ako." Jodotha handed the cleric a small book filled with sketches of herbs, flowers and vegetables. "It seems to be a herbalist's notebook. It may help when you are creating potions.

"I think we've found all we are going to find." Trimus packed some of the larger fragments of parchment into his spellbook. "They may come in handy. If nothing else we may need something to light a fire with later.

They returned to the room with the statue and crossed over to the door in the west wall. Trimus stared up as he passed the statue giving Theridian a quizzical look as he passed. "Did you find what you were looking for I wonder?" he muttered to himself as he waited for Jodotha to check the door.
The door opened onto another corridor this one having just two doors, one close at hand on the southern side the other at the far end of the northern wall. Jodotha checked the nearest and after giving it the all clear left it to Ako and Darkhawk to open it.
Ako marched in with his holy symbol upraised prepared for whatever the room might hold. Three more of the grey robed wraiths floated across the room towards him, mouths open in a silent scream but only two reached the cleric, the third was dispelled by the power of his faith. Standing in the doorway made the fighting hard but at least it protected those behind from the chilling touch of the undead. Before they were finally dispelled, Darkhawk was grateful that he was wearing the ring of life protection that Ako had given him as one of the creatures had evaded his guard and clawed his face.

The room, once cleared of undead was revealed to be a meeting room of some sort with a large round table with several chairs. Upon the table lay a dusty tome, which Trimus opened carefully.
"Futtocks!" he cursed which brought a smile to the faces of the others, remembering the ripe and colourful language of Grabthroat Shinkicker. "I can't read it."
"Let me try." Said Jodotha, "It looks similar to a code I studied back in Darokin a few years ago. Yes it is, give me a few moments."

The rogue sat down on one of the chairs, which almost collapsed with rot but just held together. "Right." He said at last. "I haven't read it all but when we get home I will transcribe it for you. Basically it is a journal written by Theridian discussing methods the sect have studied as they have tried to achieve immortality. I can't tell if they succeeded or not, I haven't got that far."
"Well read the end." Trimus rapped the book with his index finger.
Jodotha rolled his eyes and read the last few paragraphs.
"It seems they have found some ancient scrolls that may hold the key. But they can't make out what they mean. Theridian has taken to spend long hours studying alone, this bit is written in a different hand, and refuses to answer questions or take meals with the others. That's it."
"Does it have any dates?"
"No. All dates are taken from the date the order was set up, some decade or so before this final entry was written."
"Thanks Jodotha." Trimus picked up the book and put it in his pack.

Jodotha checked the walls for secret doors but finding none left the room with the others and checked the door at the far end of the corridor.
After giving the all clear and stepping back, and ignoring the look that Ako gave him, he followed the cleric and the fighter into the room behind the door. The room was empty. The north wall had been painted black at some point and some faint marks could till be made out on it but nothing was decipherable, not even for Jodotha.

They returned again to the statue chamber and Jodotha checked the north door. He spent longer listening than at many of the other doors and had to wave for silence twice as he listened at the handle and at the thin crack beneath the door.
"There is something in there but I can't make out what it is." He whispered to the others as they huddled well away from the door.
"We have no choice. We must press on." Said Ako fingering his holy symbol. He had called upon his patron immortal a number of times that day and was offering a silent prayer that Normanus would continue to show him favour.

Darkhawk opened the door and he and Ako stepped through, followed by Jodotha and Cain. Trimus brought up the rear, looking over his shoulder as much as he did forward. A large, grand vaulted chamber that stretched beyond the light of their light gems lay before them. Simple columns supported the barrel shaped roof some twenty feet above their heads. A faint murmuring hum, just at the limit of hearing seemed to be coming from a swarm of lights at the far end of the room.
The lights swarmed and swirled then swept towards them, resolving into vaguely humanoid faces on luminous, grey, serpentine wisps of bodies with clawed, grasping hands. Ako instinctively presented his holy symbol and tried to banish the creatures. Eight of the swarm retreated to the shadows at the far end of the room leaving a dozen still swarming around the companions. Trimus swung his staff around trying to hit the swarming creatures but like the others was finding the swiftly moving targets difficult to hit. Their claws were all the time raking and pinching any exposed flesh, leaving chilled and bleeding punctures behind. Cursing to himself, Trimus fired off a trio of magic missiles destroying three of them, giving Darkhawk a chance to use the power of his shield to heal himself. Cain and Ako destroy another two but the cleric stumbled to the floor taking damage from a host of the beasts before he could rise again. He stepped back and used the staff to heal much of the damage. Trimus' staff struck one the creatures but the wooden weapon passed straight through the creature. The mage dropped it and pulled the staff of water elementals from his pack.
"They are immune to normal weapons!" he shouted as he started to strike out with his weapon.
"Tell me something I don't know." Replied Jodotha tartly.
Cain, Jodotha and Darkhawk finished off the final few creatures whom continued attacking to the end. All were exhausted and bleeding from numerous cuts and bites by the end of the battle.
Trimus rummaged through his pack and drew out some salve and bandages. He grimaced as he saw how little of each remained. He salved and bound wounds while Ako cast a minor healing spell upon him.
"Are we ready?" Asked Trimus looking at his cold tired and wounded companions. All responded with a weary nod.
"I vote we go back to Ierendi for a long, warm holiday." Jodotha grumbled, sheathing his sword and taking out his crossbow. "Sun, sea and sand. Anywhere but this snowy wasteland would be good."
Darkhawk grasped his amulet and became the blank helmed celestial knight once more. They slowly advanced down the room towards the mumbling and the remaining swirling lights.
At last the glimpsed a shadowy seated figure seated on a stone throne. A cowl hid its face and it was hunched over as if deep in thought. Ako brought out his holy symbol and attempted to turn it but to no avail. Simultaneously Jodotha fired a crossbow at the figure striking it cleanly, Darkhawk summoned up a magical blast from his amulet and Trimus used his wand of cold to freeze the area around the throne.
The swirling creatures dropped to the floor but the figure took no notice of the attacks that rained in upon it. Trimus was about to cast a fireball when he noticed a bag of scrolls at the figure's feet.
Jodotha, Ako, Cain and Darkhawk attacked the figure who put up no resistance to the flurry of attacks that rained down upon it. Suddenly the figure looked up, revealing the same old yet young face seen upon carvings and statues seen in the lair. A look of malicious enlightenment upon his face, the figure screamed a scream of evil delight and vanished.
"What was that?" asked Darkhawk as the echoes of the scream died away.
"I don't know." Replied Ako puzzled.
"It was Theridian, I assume." Suggested Trimus. "He seemed quiet engrossed in what he was doing." He picked up the sheet of parchment that had been on the knees of the seated figure. "Nothing." He held the parchment that was almost worn to nothing by the passage of time.
Jodotha passed the bag of scrolls from beside the throne to Trimus. "Nothing but this. What a waste of time! Darkhawk, give us a hand, let's see if there is something under the throne."
They pushed the heavy stone seat sideways but nothing was hidden beneath.
"This one is a treasure map I think." Said Trimus holding up one of the scrolls, "But I don't recognise the area. We should inquire when we get back to civilisation. This one is a scroll of protection versus magic, this one is a scroll of spell catching and this one I cannot identify."

"What now?" asked Darkhawk. "We have very little food left, no fuel and no idea where we are. We could very well die up here."
"I know." Said Trimus. "I know."

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