Boulder’s, Marias reflected, were bad enough. Considering the pain and suffering brought about by the pile of rubble and boulders over the mosaic floor, it seemed that the object lesson in patience and caution could be seen all around them as boulders. Patience and caution… good lessons to learn.
Magical healing aside, the only real damage done was to pride. So it was self-evident that any future precipitative actions were unlikely to occur.
Having dusted himself off, Elias, made to investigate the sloping passageway.
“Hold up Elias, I’ll come with you.” Maria figured two sets of eyes were better than one!
Elias looked a tad irritated but silently affirmed, his confidence obviously a little shaken. The two moved down the passageway, carefully seeking the anything unusual. The rest of the group followed a short distance behind.
Both druid and rogue stretched senses to the max. The slope continued on to an opening some 60’ further down. Something cold seemed to grab at Maria. There was something here that wasn’t right… the soft click of the pressure plate provided Maria an instant of warning. The shout of warning from Elias , was blotted out by the grating noise, and the sound of another boulder crashing off walls and obliterated screams of warning. Maria threw herself to the wall, a cold rush of air, and the feel of the grave grasped at her as a massive ball of bone rolled down the slope. Skeletal arms grasped at her comrades, she saw Flint grabbed by the mass and pulled inside it. Even Elias was snagged by the rapidly moving ball of bone. Maria ran after it in time to see it crash against a wall in the room below. Her friends, struggling to stand, were a mass of lacerations and bruises. Fortunately, all appeared to have survived…
“You see Dave, just when we think they have it, BANG, two steps back, object lessons!”
“You said that before Nar, and frankly I don’t think it means what you think it means.” Dave sounded a little confused. “Look here, the definition: A practical or concrete illustration of a principle.”
“Well there you go then. Object lesson.” The Narrator sounded a tad smug.
“It talks about concrete. Not stone, and definitely not bone, and whilst I grant that being hit by two lots of boulders in as many minutes should be a lesson, I can’t quite understand how the object bit applies.”
“They got hit by objects Dave. Both times.” The Narrator caught the look in Dave’s eye and rapidly went on, “and if they had taken two steps back they would have avoided them!”
Dave fell silent. He supposed that was difficult to argue with. It had been bloody silly. Still, he reminded himself, sometimes you had to admit that folks putting down traps, were often better than those wanting to avoid them. It had to be that way, or the folks making the traps would give up and go home. So in a way, traps were an inevitable part of existence and were a necessary part of life in general. The trick was to avoid traps that killed you. If it didn’t kill you then by definition you had beaten the trap! Dave was a little happier...
It was just about then, that the band had looked at the room, and the bandaged uprights decided to put in appearance.
Having extricated themselves from the remains of the bone ball. Most of the band were still in state of shock. Elias and Flint faired better than most, and were checking the room. A narrow shaft of sunlight indicated a possible exit to outside, albeit only for diminutive creatures. The light illuminated ancient Tapestries with what appeared to be alcoves behind them. Flint move a tapestry to check, and received a Mummy in the face for his trouble!
Suddenly the alcoves exploded and Mummies poured into the room. Their undead touch causing immediate suffering. Izzy was grabbed by one creature, its bandaged hands covered in an unholy miasma, the stricken teifling screamed and dropped senseless to the floor. Flint and Elias were struck and similarly screamed as unholy power ripped into them. Oz tried to assist Izzy, but his divine healing seemed to stall, as the magic failed to enter her body…
“Cursed… their touch is cursed, it prevents healing!” Oz sounded a little panicked.
Flint hacked at the creatures, the huge greatsword’s effect was limited as its necrotic energy had no effect on the undead.
Maria fought to cast her spell, knowing that natures moonlight would destroy the creatures. She tried to force the words from her lips. The longsword came to her hand. She instead shouted a battle cry and hacked at the nearest Mummy. All thoughts of the spell, and the need were washed away in a tide of battle frenzy.
A voice called out, “By Moradin’s beard, I commend thee BEGONE!” Holy power washed out from the Dwarven Cleric. The Mummies as one, cowered and tried to leave the room. With no remorse the companions cut down the helpless foul creatures one by one.
Maria’s battle seemed to go on, something was very wrong. She should have remembered her spells and druid training. The light of reason warred with a compulsion to forgo her training. She would use the sword and ONLY the sword, it was necessary and right. Her compulsive desire rose like a tidal wave, to be met with flash of light.
She saw herself in the Glade of Offering, the other initiates stood with staff and sickle pledging themselves to the old ways. Maria stepped forward, holding forth the sword, it shined with brilliant red light, she started to pledge as she had once before, and the words stuck in her throat, a voice called out.
“You may have only one desire, the cursed sword that warps your very will! It or the OATH. Choose now.”
The strength of the vision penetrated Maria’s consciousness, she saw the cursed sword for what it was, an anathema to free will, masking years of hurt. It wasn’t malign in intent, but the weapon had caused deaths and misery to its wielders for decades, it had also wrought some benefits, but on balance it’s existence brought only chaos.
“I choose the OATH, I am one with the spirit of nature, it guides and protects me, I shall strive all my days to defend that which is nature’s bounty”.
The sword glowed brighter the world awash with crimson, as if fighting the softer glow of daylight and then the sword simply vanished.”
Within the halls of Diderus the Band were about to treat the fallen Izzy, when Maria, turned the blade in her hand on herself and thrust the weapon through her chest. The sword flashed bright and then disappeared leaving Maria on the floor.
“NARRATOR! What the hell just happened?” Dave was beside himself.
“Oh, yes that’s right, the sword does meet an end here. Nasty piece of work that weapons, got an unpleasant compulsion on it, something of a joke as I understand it, the cult handed the thing to mages that displeased them. Anyway its alright now… Maria’s Oath finally overcame the curse. It seems that once the sword put her friends in danger, Maria’s overwhelming desire to protect them summoned up the power of the Oath to defeat the curse. She’ll be ok in a minute… there look, she’s waking up!”
Feeling lost and still weak from her experiences, Maria, needed to rest. It was clear that Izzy was suffering from the effects of a curse, and the group needed to rest. Oz advised he should be able to remove the curse once his god had granted that power.
Maria awakened and was relieved to see Izzy up and about. The Teifling looked uninjured. Maria felt better than she had in ages. The absence of the cursed sword a blessing, and the chance to reaffirm her oath provided her with a sense of harmony.
Quickly deciding to move forward, the group retraced their steps to the room with the mummies, The remains now gone, either cleaned by scavengers or something else?
Opening one of the exit doors, the band found an empty room with crumbling shelves. Entering to look around, a presence formed. The spirit of a long dead mage manifested, claiming to be the librarian. She was Diderus former pupil, who stayed to look after the library. Flint helpfully pointed out that the library was no more, the books and scrolls were taken. The spirit keened and became angry. The Band retreated with speed leaving the spirit to her lament. Object lessons apparently do occasionally have success.
Choosing the only other door, Elias checked for more traps. Finding none, the rogue moved up some stairs that opened out into a banqueting room. Seated at a table were a number of creatures, green skinned with horns. Izzy drew sharp breath, “Devils!”.
“What? Devils ye say… Wee canna be avin’ that!” The Dwarf plunged forward with his typical battle cry!
And so it begins again... Dave was unsure... at least they were consistent!
