Chapter 20: Beetles and Charon

General Summary

After resting we headed over to the demon coffin room, and we really means some of the guys headed over but I did not. DaVinci opened the far right coffin and found a mummified dwarf with a wand in the coffin.
Ash took one look at the dwarf and started to hack off the head.
Clankey Clank opened the second coffin to reveal a mummified dwarf with a wand. It too was quickly beheaded.
Ash opened the third coffin, but before he could start chopping off the head it sat up, and the two headless dwarves sat up. DaVinci hissed and shot the nearest mummy running out of the room chanting, "Mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy." They threw fire back at him. Alfred threw some kind of spell at them and drew back in surprise as nothing happened. Clankey Clank threw lightning at them, and they took damage. I ran forward and tried to throw a bomb at them, but it bounced and missed. Hemlock pushed past me into the room and transformed into a large snake.
A flurry of blows exchanged and the first mummy went down. Alfred started dancing in victory. I threw a holy bomb and the mummy went down and I cheered in excitement.
Then the mummies got back up.
More blows are exchanged. Alfred landed a particularly strong blow and the creature poofed out in a cloud of ashes.  Alfred started his victory dance again, and Ash swung on the next mummy and it disappeared in a cloud of ash, and he continued the swing causing the final mummy to disappear in the poof of ash.
We all burst into dance as we cheered their defeat.

Golden armor danger

In the next room, giant golden armor lay in the middle of a crater surrounded by dust, and the entire room was filled with the husks of dead beetles. Ash looked around and slowly picked up a beetle shell, and threw it into the room. A beetle emerged and attacked Ash. We hear more coming. Ash smashes the beetle, and I throw a bomb into the mess of dead beetles and briefly, there is a noise, and it disappears.
Clankey Clank carefully goes in and explores the armor and finds a scroll, it reads.

The priest's vision was defnite, if not clear. Though we have struggled mightily, the evil is not cleansed. We slew the dwarves grown dark with corruption, but hte legions of devils below, though we struggled mightily and sent them back to their foul homes, we could not push thru. It was then that the Priest received the prophesy.
The faithful followed him willingly into the tower they'd built to be sealed against that most dark of days. I alone was told to stand aside. To wait against hta tday, but how can I let this rot go on, I will make one last attempt, perhapds once can pass by where the many were turned aside. I still remember the Priest's words, 
"When the day is darkest, when the wall between this and the next is thinnest, then, if the rising sun stands faithful before the Red Tower will the forlon hope be released. Then if hearts are strong, the faithful might strive once more while the rot is cleaned beneath."

"Maybe we should try the other room," I said, thinking back to the beetles we ran into earlier that nearly killed us.
"Sounds good," DaVinci said, and he walked through the small tunnel to the other room only to discover a large hive of beetles. There are at least three separate hills swarming with the beetles. "Nope, nope, nope," he muttered backing out of there. "That is not the way to go."
Ash snuck through the dead beetle and crawled through the small tunnel at the side to discover the room opened onto a river.
To the side lay a statue of Charon, a plaque on it read.

Charon
Waits at everyone's end From the mightiest king To the lowliest peon For the price of a coin Each is taken to his reward
Call on him in need Call on him in want Call on him at the end

As Ash studied the plaque, tentacles emerged from the water and grabbed him trying to pull him towards the water. Clankey Clank cast a spell and Ash disappeared out of the tentacles and reappeared near the back of the room.
DaVinci tried to climb through the dead beetle room without touching the floor but his claws lost their grasp on the walls and he fell to the floor gasping. Hemlock misty stepped past the room and into the wet room. Alfred used a death fog to stop the beetles following us and crawled through the small tunnel.
The tentacles emerged from the water and grabbed Hemlock pulling him towards the water. 
"We need to call out to Charon, so we can leave," Ash cried out as he pulled out a coin. "Charon, we need you!"
Hemlock is pulled further towards the water, Ash lunged forward and tried to keep him from going into the river. Alfred hit the tentacle with a spell to try and stop it from pulling Hemlock in, and I threw a bomb towards it. Just as DaVinci moved to hit the tentacles Hemlock disappeared from the tentacles and reappeared near the wall.
Alfred turns and offers a coin to the statue saying, "Charon we need you." In the distance, we hear a boat coming. Alfred hands the boatman a coin and gets on. One by one we each hand him a coin and say how we need him.
"I want to go home," Clankey Clank says, and Charon starts to pole the boat and after some time it reappears in Red Tower. Clankey Clank gets off, and looks at us, "Aren't you coming?"
"We need to find out what's going on," I said.
"We are somehow bound to it," Al said at the same time. "Didn't you talk to a guy at the river?"
"No," Clankey Clank said, "I don't really want to go back to this dungeon, so you have fun."
Charon looked at us expectantly, but none of the rest of us got off.
"Charon, take us to where the blockage of the River of Souls is happening," Ash said. Charon nods his head and just before the boat pushed off a tall muscular man hopped on.
"Can you point me to the strongest wizard?" the strange man said. He looked over us all and said, "I'm trying to prove I'm the strongest wizard."
"Ummm..." I said, "We're working to figure out what's wrong with the world around here. That might help you figure something out."
Charon started poling the boat through the water.  We passed by another cavern room on the right with some barrels and other stuff. On the left we saw a large gold pyramid. He pushed on until we got to the room full of purple crystals.

Rude worms

In the middle of the cavern of purple crystals stood a large statue of a man, about him are two worms squirming and moving, "Look at those odd people, it seems like they are all twisted around and came back again. Poor things, they don't really know what they are doing, do they?"
"Who are you?" Davinci asks.
"Unfortunate Monkey Beast," the worms said, "You could not begin to understand us." They rambled on for some time until DaVinci interrupted them.
"I am not a monkey," DaVinci said, "Can't you see, I'm a Tabaxi." They stared at him, I don't know how I knew they stared being worms, but it was clear they did. 
"How rude," they muttered and DaVinci transformed into a cat. He started and then began quietly grooming himself.
Ash tried to talk to them, and they briefly answered and then they squirmed about on their statue perch and said, "Our perch never talks, and it is most distressing. He does move sometimes," and they poked it and gave the distinct impression they were pleased with themselves.
"It didn't move," Ash said.
"Poor dear," they said, "It doesn't perceive how it moves underneath us."
"Can you help me see?" he asked. They looked at each other and then Ash was a dog.  DaVinci hissed and ran. Ash gave chase. DaVinci ran past them to the door past their statue, stopping on the second stair down.
Hemlock transformed to a fox and tried to talk with them in that form, but they just looked at him in confusion.
I bowed and said, "Excuse me, can I have some of the crystals? I think they might help me in my studies."
"What will you give us in trade?" they asked. I stared and thought through what I might give them, "Poor thing, it doesn't know. In the salt, she will go blind and be blindly torn apart by living salt."
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" I asked.
"What can you tell us of the future?" they asked.
"It is most unpleasant."
"That seems quite subjective, what is unpleasant to you, might be very pleasant for me."
"It might be subjective, but I found it objectively unpleasant. They were trying to kill me," I responded wincing as I remembered a particularly painful moment.
"Would you like to know your future?" they asked.
"What would it cost me?" I asked.
"An exchange."
"I can tell you a story of the future," I offered. They stared at me expectantly and I tell them of the robots and how they collected the books from the manor and their attempt to preserve knowledge, but they are also trying quite unfriendly and attacked us.
"Now we need to taste you," I hesitated and then nodded. They darted forward and bit me, I felt a stinging pain, and clutched my arm to staunch the bleeding.
"The thing in chains keeps death alive; only light, the light can purify its putrescence."
"Wait, before I go, as part of this exchange, can I take some of the crystals?" they nodded and I gather as many crystals as I can carry in my bag.

Report Date

16 Mar 2024