Journal #25 - Scourge of Helmcroft

Helmcroft, forgotten city of the Ru’Steppes. Not made by any races known, but discovered by the first light of the Sunbrace. Valos drew sigils and told a story via trance. He told of the Un’dradys and the birth of the city as told by local legend. Helmcroft became a mirror of Hy’dera, where the first of the fallen lay to rest. Before the First Age, the light shattered, giving form to the mountains and the Summits were Sunken. Meteor showers ruthlessly destroyed the mountains. The great rings were forged, taking generations to complete. Only the Phoenix Flame was powerful enough to hold back the darkness.
 
Goliaths were not part of the great alliance of races, the rings wielded by elf, dwarf, and man, because the goliaths gave their lives forging the ring of man. Men are of The Faded, they cannot create such magic, only manipulate it.
 
Helmcroft is a home, a garden, and a tomb all at once. The dangers lurking there are the ruin of Volric’s people. The Red Witch feeds the shadow there, sending people to their doom, feeding the Un’dradys which lurks there. I saw through another’s eyes, hundreds of years in a moment, yet experienced as slow as real-time. It was over in an instant and yet I felt I must be an aged creature. These rings were not forged in some sudden great work, but through much sacrifice and suffering across generations. When the Phoenix was reborn, it took the shape of the Sunbrace, to no longer be imprisoned.
 
Goliaths were the natives of Helmcroft, the only race not created by the Light of Timirand.
 
We came out of the trance, and felt exhausted. Now we know where we ask him to take us, he said. He would only take us to the gates. He told us, when reaching the lake we must not follow the lights, but must sail into darkness. Once there, we must be silent, the ghouls and thralls lurk there, it is their home now. Do not underestimate the shadow, it had given agency to the Drev which reside there. We took his counsel to heart.
 
We moved as stealthily as we could, as we approached a guardpost we had to leave Firefly and Tsunay behind, they carried out a distraction for us. For eight hours after, we journeyed on. Wastes, craigs, absence of weather, beasts, flora or fauna. We were about half way there. We rested, finally, perhaps the last good rest we would have until we found the city once more.
 
Domino had her spider increase my reflexes, and a voice on the wind caught us by surprise - Magdalena, breaking the stone in the passage and crumbling it to dust. I fell, but made my way out. Before us a great wall rose up. It was a thousand feet away, reaching all the way from the ground to the top of the cavern of the underspaces, all the way up to the Sunbrace. The chief showed us the appropriate heading, and then bid his farewell.
 
As we stealthily approached, our steps released poison from the ground. Ghiravont smelled a Fiend for the first time. It spoke out, asking what was out there. It asked what we brought it… Ghiravont decided to be forthright - he said we came on behalf of Bantu the Seer, and suddenly green flames burst down a crack in the wall, huge eyes appeared, a great horned beast made entirely of metal peered out at us, and lunged.
 
It was like an aurochs of solid metal, with spines everywhere. We fought it, we had no choice. The Traveler (a name for a demon) fought back, and when it was injured it transformed, shedding its exoskeleton and becoming far larger. It was the embodiment of the Drev, and we slew it. It had the symbol of the Red Witch emblazoned upon it, which we extinguished by breaking it into three pieces. Four hours after we set out towards the gate, we had a day and a half yet in front of us at minimum. We advanced into the craig.
 
An hour of walking through the craig, Lug was reading names of ancient druids engraved on the walls. I recognized three such names from the oral histories of my people. Faramor, Doomrend, and Talisman. It seems the druids of old kept histories here.
 
Eventually, we came upon a dim light from no source, and arrived at the shores of an underground lake, still and black. There was a boat, and based on how it was tied off, the rise and fall of the lake tides resulted in an immense variance in the depth. We had discovered Helmcroft.
 
Amber and I rowed the boat, on two sets of oars. Lug and Korrigash kept watch. We picked a direction and tried to remain consistent. Lights came out of nowhere, from underneath us in the water, traveling on steady courses. Whenever a light seemed to follow us, we altered course to point towards the darkness. As the lights passed, they cast silhouettes of innumerable buildings submerged far beneath us. Eventually, peaks rose out of the water - buildings not fully submerged. We sailed between towers, and heard the sound of chittering like crickets. We had to turn once more to avoid a light, and passed beneath the most enormous bulk of a landed ship with a gargantuan anchor hanging down above us, I had never seen the like.
 
We came upon a clearing of open water, light was all around. It seemed to follow us, it was time to get out of the boat we surmised. The light was now the entire lake, to avoid it we must leave the water.
 
Korrigash saw a sandbar, and we headed that way. The boat was chained up, and we went up a moss covered staircase. As soon as we opened the door at the top, the lake lights were extinguished.
 
What followed was a fight with the Drev. Our first true encounter with their kind, at least while I was with the company. Deep elves with sunken eyes and dried skin, an animated hand reaching out of the depths, and blighted monstrosities covered in boils, who exploded in a poison cloud when they approached. These blowers, when they exploded they shot out toxic worms which tried to force their way into our bodies through our ears and eyes. Some got onto me, and I knew in my heart if they got inside I’d die. I told Korrigash to hit me with a fireball nearly pointblank, and it was worth it. We fought long, and before much time had passed we were dodging torrents of water. There were sluice gates throughout the sewers, and these changed height periodically, sending rivers of water through different angles.
 
We found the control room, in which there was a Drevved goliath, the first I had seen, and a conniving ghoul manning the valves. We slew them. We also found our target, a room with a deep well filled with the same poison blight the blowers were exploding into, alongside a ladder going down. It seemed like we needed to get down there, but first had to lower the level of the toxic goo. It was a puzzle.
 
We manipulated the valves and took note of the changes, and we calculated the right combination of pressure to amplify the pressure into a pair of turbines we found, to drain the well of poison and open passage into the Dorndepths.
 
But it was no easy feat, and it did not occur uncontested. Yet more creatures fought us, but we were successful. In the room with the well, there was another door, locked by chains of the Primal Alghada. I still wonder what was beyond them. Ghiravont found a powerful potion, a curious medallion which animates a shield it is affixed to, and a thick magical tome in a chest there, which we still don’t quite understand.
 
Down we went. At the bottom, about an inch of the green liquid remains, in it swam more worms. Lug mentioned feeling the pulse of the Cross, and Domino (Mortana) could feel her half-sister, Magdalena. The Un’dradys was near.
 
We traveled through a tunnel, and emerged into a large room with long strands of rubbery white tubes, constantly moving in and out of the ground. The rubbery flesh of the long arm that protruded to fight Lug before - it was disgusting. At the end of the chamber, a circular barbed door. As we entered there was a pressure within my chest, something lingered. The Fade incarnent. I was not afraid, yet I clutched my axe.
 
We heard a voice in the darkness. Magdalena, with loud heels and a black ball gown with bright red hair. “You feel it, don’t you? I once sought the Primal Alghada, but it was not it that drew me here. You must now realize, Ghiravont, there is not a single thought that dwells within your skull that I do not hear.” Ghiravont bellowed that he trusted her - for it was the voice of the Red Witch that came from Magdalena’s body, the same voice as that of Lady Duvall, and Madam Farosia who Ghiravont had given his own blood to willingly for the hope of a cure of lycanthropy. It was like a puppet master pulling the strings.
 
“Trust? Misplaced perhaps. But I deliver all the same, my promises, a cure to you. You have not fed yet, you have not changed permanently. My cure works, and I am about to cure Hy’dera! But first, I will cure the Ru’Steppes of its plague, and then Terrinoth, and then the Fading World!”
 
She pointed at us. “You plan to bring before this Un’dradys a Vaporidian blade, you are quite cunning, you figured it all out… I was planning an ambush which you would of course prevail against. I cannot enthrall this shadow, so instead I bargained with it. Instead should I say, we see eye to eye now. And we work, hand… in… hand. The pool erupted with hands going everywhere, mostly towards us, reaching out. Time slowed as I saw my death approaching, and we fought.
 
The largest, foulest ghoul I had ever seen, a Shadowghast, emerged from the door in the rear. From the floor emerged a giant pale worm - the Un’dradys, Scourge of Helmcroft. The witch fell back into the shadow, and left us to fight this monstrosity.
 
We battled hard, and seemed to make much progress. The small holes in the floor had arms emerge out, grapple us, and suck us through the under-passages submerged in liquid. All the while, the main beast struck. They were all one entity, and I managed to Slow it with an enchanting tune, but it didn’t hold for long. It devoured my magic and unleashed itself once more. The hands had a terrible reach, and worms infested us as we passed through the acid chamber. Lug was a bear, and yet restrained by its terrible grasp. I slashed the worm, while the others focused on its appendages. Tanabraya dispatched the Shadowghast, and our victory was nigh!
 
Ghiravont readied the Vaporidian blade, his blow fell, and a moment before it could strike, an opaque globe appeared around the Un’dradys. It threw us back, and Magdalena descended. She had protected it. And beneath the orb, the ground cracked. She grinned and her eyes glinted with flame. “Like a hammer, on an anvil…” she muttered, and the ground fell.
 
We fall amidst rubble, into a room with a standing foot of water. The witch cackled and slowly descended after us. The globe is still protecting the near-dead Un’dradys, and within it we saw the body quiver. “Take it in, Nothric! This gorge will be your tomb. You should learn this magic, Korrigash, there is so much to know. You’re the only one, not even my filthy half-sisters are worthy! But you, bearer of the World Ring, could be…” She revealed she was wearing Mar’s ring. “I know in your heart, I see it…defiance!” The flesh within the shield was bulging. It was as if this was a distraction, playing for time. “The bargain,” she looked at the Un’dradys, “they are yours to take. But leave his heart, the key of Ariss, and the Rod of the Rings are mine!” A red, fleshy hand smashed on the ground. And then others, one after the other. And heads emerge, smiling. The flesh is encasing the orb as it cracks, a true monstrosity was emerged.
 
The Un’dradys was a hydra, and yet not a hydra. The antithesis of a hydra. Six times larger than it was, seven heads, all dripping blood. “Un’dradys, fulfill your destiny! Devour the light, the champions of the Echo, bring me the Rod of the Rings!”
 
We fought it. It was the nemesis of the divine, Scourge of Helmcroft. It was the sorest test we had ever been put to. Its heads reached out from what felt like a mile away, nowhere safe. Korrigash fell, and from when he dropped to the ground and when his spirit left his body, there were mere seconds. It spoke to us, in the voice of Red. The Un’dradys had consumed his soul, too. The Witch had fed him to it. Orlando cleaved off a head, but in turn nearly died. Ghiravont needed to land the killing blow with his Vaporidian blade, and yet could not do so. Lug tried to protect him in his bear shape, as Orlando and Ghiravont were both near death. We had been targeting its heads, and yet when only three remained, they regrew.
 
It spoke out in a dying gasp, simultaneously from its three remaining heads, in dwarvish, elvish, and common. “I would see you here, in the glit of destiny, where shadows reign, where light would be snuffed out. Where there would be nothing left but the Thrands of Thallion, and the Argerence Power. Now, die…” It ripped a spike out and into my chest.
 
Blow after blow, we whittled it down. Ghiravont was unconscious. Amber and I took up the blade and traded it between ourselves as we had openings to attack. We were not attuned, but we hoped that it would not matter. Hope was all we had. It was near the end, and Amber laid a terrible blow upon it. A head shattered in divine energy and Orlando fell, protecting the unconscious form of Ghiravont. In a final spurt of energy, enraged at her love Orlando falling unconscious, Amber struck out and sunk the blade to its hilt into the creature. It gleamed black, and the horrible wretched screams of a thousand souls washed over her, including Red’s, and Korrigash’s, all those trapped within the Un’dradys, The Whole. She fell, but fell in victory. She maintained her concentration on the soul-sucking of the sword long enough.
 
Only Lug and I remained. He healed the others with his staff, and I bolstered Amber’s resolve long enough for her to endure the torrent while Ghiravont awoke. When he saw what was occurring, Ghiravont grasped the sword. He could withstand it since he was attuned to the blade. Amber fell immediately.
 
Magdalena muttered a curse, and fled. She had to ally with the Un’dradys as she couldn’t kill it herself perhaps. Somehow, I felt emboldened by that.
 
The body of the Un’dradys was a black husk. It was crumbling to dust.
 
We could finally look at Korrigash’s corpse. There was nothing we could do. Tanabraya took his master’s scroll, of Speak with Dead, with which we were to interrogate the Un’dradys. She gave it to Lug. She also took the Ring of the Dwarves. I handed Ghiravont the strange tome he had found above us, which he had given to Korrigash for his arcane understanding. Orlando strapped on the bracers. We didn’t want anything to go to waste. I prepared his body for transport, and lashed it to my back.
 
Tanabraya wondered if the Red Witch wasn’t actually all of these other women in disguise, but one person controlling them. They were all powerful, ambitious women in control of armies. Maybe Duvall, Magdalena, Farosia, were in fact thralls of some sort, and could be rescued with the Filter of Souls. Magdalena said she had to bargain with it, and Domino noted that those of the Applewood only bargain with higher powers.
 
We interrogated the Un’dradys, and found more questions than answers. We asked how to restore the thralls, and were told it must be an equivalent exchange, soul for soul or something greater. Magdalena offered it feeding - it was fed souls, and transported them for her. It somehow helped create or consume the thralls? Also, the Filter of Souls was not a device, it was part of the earth fueled by the Primal Alghada. In response to how to find it, it said it was not a place, but a time, and we had to retrace our steps where Shadow spoke and Life continued to Conjure. Who was Magdalena working for? She answered to only one, whose beauty is a bounty of wrath and terrible poison to all who wrought Malice upon themselves.
 
We asked about a way to save Korrigash, but did not hear anything good. Nobody could ever be truly brought back from the dead, they are never whole. His body would host the soul of Korrigash, but it would also host the Un’dradys and all other souls it had claimed before. An unspeakable monstrosity that would be. Tanabraya seemed to think it would be an opportunity, and I understood her desire. Korrigash could perhaps wrestle with the others for control, and have an inside understanding of what the Un’dradys knew. But what were the odds of one soul winning out over thousands? What terrible things had the Un’dradys consumed, unknown to us? Ghiravont was worried that he would be a Drev in reality, and the Drev can sense one another.
 
The sword was now like shale, brittle and fragile. If it broke, the reincarnation would occur in Ghiravont’s body as the attuned. If it was broken within the body of another, it would occur there.
 
We climbed out of the pit in about twenty minutes, and found our way through the pipes. We caught our breath and bandaged our wounds, and made a choice. We could re-emerge from the sewers back to the control room and find our boat, or we could take these lower levels all the way into the sewers of the city itself. We thought there would be a hive of activity in our wake above, so we chose the latter.
 
We were running out of time to make it to the final round of the arena challenge. We wouldn’t have time to rest until we made it back to the city, more than a day away. We chose to move quietly here, for as long as we could be under the effects of Lug’s dampening magic. After it wore off, we’d sprint for it. Shifting currents in the aqueducts blew us off course, but we corrected. We avoided a half dozen six-legged panthers, which somehow couldn’t catch our scent. We fought through a swarm of flesh eating insects which smelled like death, and we pushed on. A new dawn brightened the horizon, and we emerged. Two days later, back in Zuranda.