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Chapter 38 - Ghost in the Machine


“This dungeon ain’t be over, it still be happening,” Kildo said as he surveyed the sight before him. Passing through the iron portcullis, which the group thought was the exit to Keraptis House of Fun, they entered a large and long cavern. There was a short ledge in which they stood. Fifty feet up was the ceiling and down was a boiling pool of mud. Across the chasm, nine round wooden discs, suspended by thick chains, acted as stepping stones across the cavern. They could hold two people each and were about three feet from the nearest neighbor. Slick mud dropped from each of them to the pool below. As he pondered how the oily muck got up there, a rumbling sound vibrated the room as a super-heated geyser spewed forth hot mud high into the air. It drenched and covered three of the wooden platforms. They dripped with the slick muck, as the platform steamed from the heat. The mud pool below seemed to calm a bit, relaxed, as it bubbled and popped. At the far end of the chasm was another short, rocky ledge that continued out of sight.

Kai peered over the edge to the boiling mud pit below. “Can you cast fly?”

“Yes, fly isn’t a baby spell,” Scomatch said.

“Good, cast it on me.” Pulling out a length of rope, Kai tied it around his waist and handed it to Guo Gan. “I’m going to ensure fly work. Kildo be the anchor. If anything happens, pull me back immediately.”

Casting, Fly, Scomatch touched Kai. The triton began to hover slightly off the ground. Moving across the chasm in a straight line, he passed the hanging, wooden disks. The rest of the party held onto the rope and fed it as the paladin continued. Making it to the far side the area rumbled. Boiling mud shot straight into the air right behind where Kai was a moment before. Watching the sludge fall back down, Kai flew back. As he returned, the cavern trembled, as the geyser blasted up in the middle of the room.

“I’ll have to fly you across one at a time. Guo Gan, you first. Kildo, you’ll need to strip out of your armor and place it in the Hat of Holding. I won’t be able to carry your full weight. Scomatch you’ll be last,” Kai instructed.

“What yer plan be for 9 of 5?” Kildo asked thumbing back towards the flesh golem.

“I regret to say, this might be where we leave him. Guo Gan, get on my back.”

“Arg,” 9 of 5 voice sounded distraught coming to stand next to Kildo.

Watching Kai and Guo Gan glide across the cavern, the room shuddered as another geyser blasted the hot mud upwards. It missed the pair. Relieved, Kildo peered over the ledge, there wasn’t enough liquid in that thick muck to use his spell to control water. He could cast water walking, which would allow them to move across, but that’d be fifty feet down, the heat would be intense, and then they’d have to climb back up. The cleric continued to ponder as Kai made his way back, avoiding yet another erupting spout of hot muck.

“Kildo?! Why haven’t you stripped out of your armor? The fly spell is about used up!” Kai shouted as he approached the landing. “Scomatch, I’ll take you next!”

“Bah, I can get across myself!” Scomatch yelled back as his familiar Charmander hopped onto his shoulder. “I’ll just cast Thunder Step!”

“We can’t be leaving 9 of 5,” Kildo said as Kai landed.

“I don’t see we have a choice.”

“Ye can be casting yer wall of water can’t ye? Like ye be doing in that swirling tunnel with that werewolf?” Kildo asked.

“Well yes, but-”

“Then do it lad.” Kildo then began casting, Water Walk. Each party member became encased in a transparent bubble.

Kai also began casting. A wall of water bubbled up on the surface of the boiling mud below.

“Life is Death. Death is rebirth. Rebirth is life. Let’s surf!” Kildo chanted and cast, Control Water. The liquid began to rise like a wave and hovered. The cleric carefully placed a foot on the water. He stood, as if on solid ground. Motioning to the others, each stepped on the watery platform, including 9 of 5. Turning with his eye on the far edge, the group rode the wave to the other side. They each then stepped onto the platform safe.

“Brilliant dwarf,” Kai said shaking his head. “I’m inspired.”

Just a little south of the landing there was a closed wooden door. Unlocked, Kai kicked it open, announcing, “I’m the dread pirate Kai and-”

Only a long corridor was beyond.

“Alright, let’s keep moving.”

Traveling down the length, another closed door was at the end. Made of solid wood, it was elaborately decorated with an iron handle. Also unlocked, Kai opened it without the previous fanfare.

Inside was utter blackness. It was like a veil had been pulled across the entrance. This was the absence of light; it was the color of death.

“There be an old dwarven saying, don’t be afraid of the dark. Be afraid of what is in it. So, let’s be taken care of that.” Kildo picked up a stone and cast, Light. Rays shot out in all directions, except one. The room before them absorbed light. It was like a deep, dark pool of ink. He was taken a bit back by the effect. “On second thought, be afraid of that dark.”

Kai turned towards Scomatch. “Do you have the spell Daylight?”

“That’s a baby spell. You can’t kill anything with that.”

Snorting, Kai readied Wave and thrust it into the room. The darkness encompassed the hilt of the trident. Pulling the weapon out, its three-pronged head was unaffected. Leaning Wave against the wall, he tied a length of hemp rope around his waist and fettered it to the group.

Guo Gan readied his spear, “I’m going in with you.”

Nodding to the elven monk, Kai said, “Kildo you are the anchor. If you hear me yell, pull us out of there.” Breathing deeply, the paladin slowly moved into the room. As his body passed the doorway, the darkness absorbed him as if he entered a pool of water.

“Kai, Guo Gan! Ye be alright!?” Kildo shouted.

From the inky darkness came Kai’s voice. “Yeah, there’s something in here. Like a wooden table, but at chest level.”

A multitude of small leather wings flapped as clicking sounds emanated from within the darkness. Guo Gan’s form appeared from the doorway covering his head. An azure mist form sprung from the darkened room. The fog condensed into a ghost-like form. It was the same manifestation they saw previously first at the hatch and the corridor leading to the east. The apparition solidified and was now quite capable of moving matter in this world. Kildo flung himself against the wall as the specter darted passed and moved down the hallway. He noticed two details in the image. First, it was dwarven in appearance, and second, it was carrying a hammer.

Kai emerged a moment later, “Blast the room!”

A fireball from Scomatch flew immediately into the darkness. The flaming ball was absorbed, but the sound of a roaring fire from within indicated that the spell ignited.

The paladin gave chase after the ghost. A trail of heavy blood was dripping from the triton. Thrusting with Wave, its three prongs tore into its ethereal body. If the entity wasn’t already dead, the devastating damage would have ended the creature.

The specter turned. Its entire being flashed for a moment as it transformed. Growing twice its height, its hair went wild as its eyes went white, like boiled eggs. Limbs stretched and bone cracked as they grew. It reached out toward its prey with clawed fingers, like knives. Its mouth elongated and capable of swallowing a person’s head whole, as teeth threatened to crush and grind bone. Kildo was about to flee from the monster. He then felt his hand gripping his holy symbol of Rigga, the Earthmother. It gave him the courage to stand his ground against the undead presence.

A flaming vortex of bats emerged from the darkness. On fire, the swarm immediately encompassed Scomatch as they clawed and bit frantically as they burned. The sickening smell of burning hair invaded their nostrils.

To Kildo’s horror, a spider-like creature appeared from the inky darkness. It was a dwarf, donning bat-like plate armor, two long metal spikes grew out of its back. On each was a rotting, severed head. Their mouths were agape, as the iron barb was seen between broken teeth. Its hands and feet scurried across the ceiling, barely touching the surface. It passed over Kildo’s head but stopped as if feeling his presence. Its head slowly twisted around, as neck bones snapped, to face him. Bald with pale, paper-thin skin that stretched over its skull. A bright-orange beard, braided in three strands dropped as its head turned. Hot glowing coals for eyes burned into the cleric’s being. Opening its mouth revealed a mass of sharpened teeth of an apex predator; a vampire.

Acting on instinct, Kildo swiped with his war hammer. It smashed into the dwarf’s armored leg. Radiant light blasted where his hammer struck.

Hissing at the cleric, the undead turned its head the rest of the way around. It scampered along the ceiling down the corridor following the trail of the triton’s blood. The hunter dropped on top of Kai. Sinking its clawed hands into the paladin’s shoulders. Throwing its head back, it sunk its fangs into the neck of the paladin.

The dwarven ghost darted down the passageway carrying the hammer becoming translucent. It didn’t seem to have any interest in attacking the party but fleeing.

“Get off of me!” Scomatch bellowed as he cast, Thunderwave. Thunderous force swept out from the halfling mage. The flaming bats were pushed away into the surrounding ceiling, walls, and floor. Most were now dead, with a few broken bodies flapping and flopping on the ground either burnt, burst, or fried.

A low, rhythmic pulsing began to emanate from the ground. A white light came from cracks in the stone. Fog rolled out approximately 15’ from Kildo as he cast, Spirit Guardians. Small wisps of air arched out. Longer tendrils began to form and raced towards the vampire. The undead dwarf with its fangs sunk deep into Kai forcing him to move as he ducked and weaved using the paladin’s body as a shield. A spectral war hammer materialized behind the vampire, as Kildo also cast, Spiritual Weapon. It crashed into the undead’s armored back. “9 of 5 get that vampire off of Kai!”

“Arg!” The flesh golem swung and missed with one fist. It then smashed its massive hand into the side of the vampire’s head. The force knocked it from Kai’s neck as it crunched into the wall.

Free from the vampire’s embrace, Kai thrust Wave’s three prongs into the undead. Radiant energy blasted into the creature. It howled in pain. Yanking the trident free, he swept the backend with a bone-crushing arc. It bashed into the side of the vampire’s face. Bone crunched inwards.

The undead dwarf rose seamlessly from the ground. The grievous wounds Wave inflicted began to stitch itself, as dead skin closed over the wounds. The side of its face popped out with a bone sickening snap. Its hot, coal-red eyes burrowed at the paladin. “My turn!”

With uncanny speed, the vampire snapped its jaws at Kai, missing by inches. Its withered hand slashed, as its razor-sharp claws cut a long gash across the paladin’s front, like a dagger.

An electrified sphere of energy struck the vampire in the chest. It electrocuted the undead as its body seized and shook violently from Scomatch’s Chromatic Orb.

“Life is death. Death is rebirth. Rebirth is life. Heal!” Kildo chanted as a wave of healing energy surrounded Kai washing away the most serious wounds. The cleric then commanded his spectral war hammer to attack. The spiritual weapon smashed into the vampire’s armor, but the plate absorbed the blow.

Recovering from the electric spell, the vampire’s body blurred with uncanny speed. It ran among the walls and across the ceiling, as easily as a person on the ground. Guo Gan’s spear tip found nothing but air or stone. 9 of 5 attacks while powerful were slow compared to the unnervingly quick vampire.

“Dodge this!” Kai shouted as he thrust with Wave. The sentient trident made a deliberate attempt to impale the vampire. The polearm pierced through the plate armor and into the undead’s heart. Radiant energy blasted from the ends burning through the creature of the night’s dead flesh. It unleashed a shrieking cry echoing throughout the chamber as its body melted, like wax from a candle. The now empty heavy plate crashed to the floor and crumbled to dust.

Backing away from the goo pile, steam rose from the hot sludge. The mist hovered for a moment and then instead of dissipating began to move at a ridiculously slow pace southwards towards the darkened room. Giving it a wide breadth, the party saw the veil of the once-darkened area holding the bats, a ghost, and the vampire lifted. The room wasn’t very large and barren except for an elaborately decorated wooden coffin resting on a pedestal. Entering there was a drawer built within the platform. Opening it, revealed five leather sacks filled with gold coins, a potion flask, and three scroll tubes resting on fine, royal purple silk. Also of note, was a war hammer sized indentation, which seemed would have fit the hammer the dwarven ghost was carrying.

After retrieving the treasure, the party decided to take a short rest. The mist had just started to enter the room. Scomatch eyed the vapor, as two balls of fire ignited in his hands. Touching the coffin, it became engulfed in flames. As the casket burned, the mist flittered about the room, as if unsure where to go. Its form became fainter and fainter until it was gone.

Exiting the room and closing the door to the tomb, the party used the same combination of the wall of water, water walking, and controlling water to surf across the molten pool of mud to the other side. Returning back to the one-way turnstile, Kai pondered and said, “We need to get back through.”

“Arg.” 9 of 5 approached the gate and pulled. The metal squealed and groaned. The flesh golem ripped it off its hinges. Placing the torn structure to the side 9 of 5 turned to the party as a smile of delight formed on his face. “Arg!”

“Great job.” The group praised 9 of 5 as they passed.

Traveling back to exit White Plume Mountain, they approached where the sphinx rested, but her landing was empty. Checking in each direction, there were no signs of her or indication of a struggle. Cautiously continuing southward toward the exit and the hatch, Kildo’s nose slammed into a solid and invisible structure. He left a smudge. Clear, like a window, he bashed it with his war hammer, but the wall of force remained.

Kildo heard the sloshing of water. Turning, to the north and western passage came a towering efreeti down each twirling a scimitar as they walked toward them with sinister grins on their faces. Humanoid in appearance, they were 12 feet tall, massive, and solid, as their footfalls caused impact tremors. They were well-muscled and had red skin that seemed to be burning. If water was to most life forms, the fire was to these efreets.

A voice then spoke. It surrounded them. “Not thinking of leaving, are you? You’ve been so very entertaining. I just couldn’t think of letting you go, especially with those little items of mine. And since you’ve eliminated all of their guardians, why, you’ll simply have to stay … to take their places. I’ll have to ask you to leave all of your ridiculous weapons behind and let Nix and Nox escort you to the Indoctrination Center. I’ll be most disappointed if you cause me any trouble and Nix and Nox have to eliminate you. Don’t worry—you’ll like it here.”

Vampire Room:

· 5 Leather sacks of 2,000 gp each = 10,000 gp

· Potion of Greater Healing

· X3 scrolls – Dispel Magic, Magic Mouth, Conjure minor Elemental


Party Split:

· 10,000 / 5 = 2,000 gp

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