Dark Alliance: A Kirin's Tale

by Blackdrag-rose

Baldur's Redux: Dragonspear Monsters

With their business in the Halls of the Hammer concluded, and Borador was quite pleased with their feat since it meant he had great news to share when he next talked to his clan brother in the inn that Randalla was no doubt relaxing in, Rain and her friends departed without delay. Their next destination was Dragonspear Castle so they could track down the Brazier of Eternal Flame, so they could return it and the Jade Octahedron to Jherek before heading out to claim the Oceanic Urn, as it seemed to be the best course of action in her mind and the others agreed. Of course she expected to find some of the Zhentarim this time around, given that they were hunting for artifacts as well, and would be disappointed if they didn't run into them, as taking them down meant that there was a greater chance of the Harpers succeeding. Her friends felt that it would be best if they never ran into the Zhentarim again, showing her that all of them wanted to be two or three steps ahead of their enemies, something she did agree with even though it wasn't a realistic thought.

During the journey, however, they were ambushed by creatures from the Trollclaws, more orcs and trolls based on what Rain was able to discover, but instead of wasting time on them she gathered her power as her friends continued on the path they were following. Allessia turned her head back and watched as Rain froze their enemies in a flash, leaving ice statues in her wake, brittle ones that shattered after receiving a quick jab, meaning she cleared the entire ambush with ease and left a bunch of ice fragments behind that would melt into puddles of water. Of course Rain was surprised by this turn of events as well, where she had to place the blame on the energy she gained back in the Halls of the Hammer, and even from Lyran as she thought about it, since having a powerful lich so close to her, thanks to her new ring, might be influencing her power in some manner. This just confirmed that she was far stronger than she originally believed when she first started traveling with her friends, in fact it was surprising to see just how far she had come since those days, but it meant that when the time came to fight with the Zhentarim Rain would be the key to their victory.

After that they continued on their way and found the large ruined castle in due time, where this time Rain made sure that the horses were kept far from whatever monsters were inside it, since there was a chance they might sniff them out and come to eat them, before they drew their weapons and advanced inside, causing Rain to frown.

"Really? That's all that's in here? Bugbears and goblins?" Rain remarked, as the two types of enemies weren't even worth a lot in her eyes, not after her and her friends had broken through both since she first encountered them, and she could tell that the others were disappointed in this development as well, "Oh well, at least we won't have to waste time worrying about any powerful foes... at least not until we head underground."

The others discovered why she was so disappointed not a few seconds later, the goblins were slain in a single well placed hit and all of the bugbears went down in two, in fact they were far weaker than anything they had seen before, meaning it was possible for them to find the Brazier without wasting too much time. The weapons and armor they found were weak in comparison to those they had recovered from the Halls of the Hammer, which were stashed into each of their bags for later, to be sold to the merchant when they returned to Baldur's Gate. Rain discovered that there were a fair number of slain innocents that were scattered around the place, which looked to be cultists for a god given their robes, though which one she had no idea since she no true knowledge on the gods of this world. Allessia seemed to have some idea as to who they might have been worshipers of, but since they were in the middle of battle she focused on aiding them in tearing all of the goblins and bugbears that happened to be above ground, allowing them to reach a raised area that seemed to be important, more than everything else.

Rain found that a priest happened to be standing between what appeared to be the entrance into the lower sections of the area, the dungeons to be exact, and an area that appeared to be on fire, likely a bonfire to burn bodies, though most of them were more interested in the priest, who carried a battleaxe that rested on his shoulder.

"Greetings, travelers, I am Felleth, cleric of Tempus. I assume all of you are here to challenge the dungeons and danger that rests below Dragonspear Castle?" the priest, now cleric, inquired, though Rain found that he focused on her, out of all of them, because she was the most unique one out of them no matter how someone looked at her, based on her armor, her appearance, or even her weapon.

"Indeed. We come seeking an artifact and heard that it rests below the ruined castle." Rain replied, because she felt that Felleth really didn't care about their quest, rather he had his own reasons for being here and would allow them to go on without much resistance, though he did utter a prayer of sorts for them, one for many victories and a swift death, as if he was saying this place would be their grave without actually saying it, "Why are you here, Felleth?"

"There is a shrine to Tempus here, one that has existed for many, many years, as the church wishes to maintain their gaze on the cursed halls below us." Felleth stated, showing Rain that he was more than willing to share the information with her and her companions, all while glancing at the others and quickly found that they were interested in anything else he might be willing to share with them before they headed into the dungeons, "When the hero Daeros Dragonspear fell his home became home to all sorts of monsters and beasts, to the point that a fiendish gate to the very hells opened in the bowels of the castle... a path into the Underdark itself. We priests set up this shrine and welcome any adventurers who come in search of treasure, which they are allowed to keep if they can survive what lies below us... speaking of, there is one piece I would like returned to me: a holy symbol of Tempus, taken into the dungeons by a young priest who never returned. I will, of course, reward you if you can find it and bring it back to me."

Rain found that some of the others were interested by the treasure aspect, though she did ask him about the Zhentarim, to which he confirmed that a band of black armored men had entered the ruins, but had yet to return, meaning they were as good as dead, to which she thanked him before rejoining her friends. They were able to enter the dungeons with ease, finding that some of the doors were locked by levers that were conveniently resting nearby, while the enemies were more of the goblins and bugbears, nothing for them to worry about as they hacked, slashed, and blasted through the enemies that were in front of them. It really reminded Rain of how powerful she and her first group of friends had become after all of their adventures, as by the time they reached the Marsh of Chelimber they were mowing down the enemies without pause, and now it was happening all over again. She really hoped that the monsters of the Underdark were stronger than what they were facing right now, otherwise this entire venture, save for recovering the artifact, would be disappointing, as she wasn't expecting to find any boss level monsters during their venture.

Sure, there was treasure to find and recover, but Rain wasn't too interested in that, rather she was focused on the rest of the dungeon, including taking out some flaming hounds that went down in a single hit, because there was no telling what else they might discover down here. Allessia found some cells that happened to be where a medallion of Tempus rested, the very one that Felleth had asked them to recover, something she pocketed so they could deliver it to the cleric later on, as she was sure they would survive this place and cripple the forces in this place. Eventually the group found their way into the lower section of the dungeons and found more of the same, the same enemies that died easily and levers needing to be moved so certain doors opened, which was boring as Rain continued to move through their enemies. Such a thing let them into the very tomb of the ancient hero whose death caused the decline of this area, allowing Borador to collect all of the ancient loot that was in this area, before they found their way into the caverns that existed below the castle, which caused everyone to raise their guards.

There were poison jellyfish, like those found in the first Red Fang Marauder camp, and pillars of stone that seemed to spit poison at whoever drew close to them, but the latter were easy to deal with, before finding something Rain frowned at, a clan of drow and their male counterparts, where the lower bodies of the men were fused with the bodies of spiders, as in a drider as Vhaidra told them.

"So, surface dwellers have reached this point at long last... good, that means we can leave this place and claim everything that has been promised to us." one of the female drow said, reminding Rain of the first drow leader she had encountered, while the rest of her group eyed up Rain and her friends as they waited for a command, likely to attack, though just listening to her talk annoyed Rain greatly as she started to step towards her, "I've heard of this one, killed a female six months ago, up in the Sunset Mountains... stabbed her chest and pulled her still beating heart out like it was nothing... I can only imagine the pain she must have been in before her demise..."

Rain's aura flared for a moment as she approached the drow, surprising the others for a moment as the males got ready to attack her, before stabbing the speaker's chest with her empty hand, something that came as a surprise to everyone, both her new friends and their enemies. As she pulled her hand out, however, Allessia found that it looked like her fingers had become more like claws, as if her energy had caused an illusion to wash over her dragon armor and make it look like something else entirely, before she growled at the other enemies. Dorn and the others watched as she carved her way through the drow, in fact it surprised Vhaidra as she realized that Rain had a problem with her kind, those who cared only on their own goals and didn't care for the damage they did to the rest of the world. One thing all of them agreed on was that her aura really made it look like a small humanoid dragon was tearing through the enemies that were blocking the way forward, something they knew would only grow her legend among the people and adventurers of the world, based on what they had heard before meeting her.

Her path of destruction lead to what appeared to be the end chamber of the cavern, where they found a mind flayer, one of the alien octopus faced fiends of the Underdark, a powerful being that loved to dominate everyone they came near to fulfill their dark purpose. Such a thing allowed them to see some Zhentarim soldiers standing behind the creature, which meant they had been dominated, and Rain slowed for a moment as the fiend turned it's focus onto her, but that was the moment that everyone found that her will was far stronger than even a mind flayer. She broke through the mental attack that was sent her way, much to the shock of the fiend that wanted to dominate all of them, and before it could even raise an arm in defense Rain severed her head and burned the body with a burst of flame from her bloody hand. The couple of Zhentarim didn't stand much of a chance as she cut them down as well, though while she did that Borador found where the Brazier of Eternal Flame was located, allowing them to claim it as Rain calmed down, but Allessia made sure she was ready to go before they left through another opening.

It happened to lead them back to the surface, where they quickly handed Felleth the medallion they had found earlier, a fact that caused him to remain true to his word as he handed them a reward, though once that was done they started to head back to Baldur's Gate to hand over the artifacts they had before worrying about the Oceanic Urn and whatever else Jherek needed from them.

Comments

[Night_Moon60606]

ok, first up, Mind Flayers arnt Fiends, they are Abominations. they are also master planners and more than willing to spend minions to get away rather than fight anything. they only fight when they know they can win, and have plans within plans to ensure that happens, they're mastermind types that way. Mind Flayers hail from the Outer Planes, not the Nine Hells or the Abyss, in addition to their powerful spellcasting ability and equally powerful Psyonics, theres usually a few Intellect Devourers hanging around with them, and they rarely work alone...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11577518 Well, all I can say, in the face of this information, is that the one you fight in the depths of Dragonspear Castle's caverns must not be one of the mastermind types, as she fought with only her mind controlled soldiers.

[Night_Moon60606]

11577552
well, i am coming at this fro 5th Edition D&D, not 3.5 Edition which was more the thing when the old Baldur's Gate games came out...quite a lot has happened to the game since then, but...looking back at the old 3.5E Monster Manual, the basic tactics of the Mind Flayer have stayed pretty much the same, send Minions to attack foes first, primary targets are enemy Casters and those with high INT scores, the dumb ones are possibly more minons or just food (they like to eat brains) and if the fight looks unwinable, get the hell outta doge by sacrificing as many minions as nedded. Mind Flayers are completely alienin their thoughts and motivations, and while a few small colonies might be found in the Underdark, these r little more than Forward Operations Bases, staging grounds for gathering slaves, minions and data for the big plans...

they still arnt Fiends from the Nine Hells or Demons from the Abyss, but they ARE potent enemies taht can wipe a low level party with relative ease, eat their brains, and use the resulting corpses as Undead cannonfodder...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11577639 I see. Well, just remember that people who aren't familiar, in this case Rain and maybe some of her friends, would see them as fiends until someone corrects them.