From the memoirs of Elisen of clan Adorjan, Haressa-tis and Lore Keeper
Just as I got back from Trayckid where Rose had built a harness carrying housing and other facilities that Isidoros could wear. (thanks to Davrim Bolg for pointing me in the direction of their apprentice for this project), Killian (obisidiman Warrior) asked me if I would join them on a trip to the Ayodhya liferock.
Joining us were:
- Bloodbeat Syrtis, a t'skrang Nethermancer
- Nib of clan Skyreader, a windling Wizard
- Solanus "Juniper" Pyrocanths, an elven Shadow
The journey south to the Coil river started uneventfully, other than Juniper having to buy some spare clothes since they joined us wearing their coat and little else (and looking rather worse for the wear) until, a few hours before Clearcreek Crossing, Bloodbeat and Nib felt drawn off the road into the woods. Juniper complained a bit about the digression until Bloodbeat noticed a spirit in the area and made it manifest. The spirit looked like a t'skrang and apparently a previous incarnation of Bloodbeat themselves, I confess I was barely paying attention before that revelation and I never fully understood what was going on. Eventually Bloodbeat grabbed a bunch of remains to take them to safety, which meant to Clearcreek.
We got to the Coil and booked on a boat down to lake Ban without issues even if the charges for a Dyre are ridiculous.
Once we reached the lake, we left the boat and wandered in a village asking about the liferock, Juniper managed to find a local that says nobody had been seen leaving Ayodya in the last couple of months and that it started after two adepts went there.
This is where this tale gets rather chilling, the adepts were described as a troll and a dwarf of fighter bent both carrying axes, when I heard this my blood ran cold with the sudden feeling they would be Ursal and Torgun. That possibility left me shaken enough that I partook in some of Juniper's "relaxation techniques" to get some sleep that night. (I wrote about those events in my
Songs of Dawn and
Songs of Passion)
More questioning of the locals revealed that the two mysterious adepts were rather beaten up when they showed up, also the locals had been sending people to Ayodhya to check, but nobody had come back.
The next morning we set out toward the liferock following the old pilgrimage route, we climbed up to the plateau where we found red rock walls making a maze around the location of the liferock. I flew over the walls to get an idea of the layout, then guided the others in, leaving Isidoros and Teh outside. Unsettlingly it looked like bodies were embedded in the walls in some kind of parody of a liferock.
Beyond the maze we found an open area with several cadaverous looking things standing next to some obsidimen. We moved to attack the cadavermen, which seemed to ignore us until harmed. After we took a few down we stopped and talked to the obsidimen, who told us to flee while we still could and that the cadaver things came back every day. My performance in the fight was less than stellar as those things were imbued with earth and extremely tough and I found myself unhorsed and pummelled into unconsciousness.
I decided to fly back to Isidoros to ask them to lend me their strength to recover from the worst of my injuries. As I was doing that I noticed dozens more cadavermen blocking the path out, which I let the others know about, the obsidimen told us that they stopped anyone from leaving and some food appeared every morning.
Nib looked on the astral plane, trying to find the source of corruption in the area and then we spent a while trying to identify the location. Eventually we decided to settle down for the night. During my watch I saw Ursal and Torgun, looking in a really bad shape, walk in with some game. After nudging Killian awake, I started talking with them, they said they felt pulled here and have been "protecting the people from the dangers outside". I pushed them some more and they didn't seem to be aware of their own death until I mentioned it myself, at which point Ursal took me to a pile of garbage and dug out a mask with a long fuzzy black headdress, saying they'd found it just as they woke up after their (second) death.
Taking another turn for the bizarre, the mask opened its eyes and started talking. It readily admitted to being a horror and kept talking, I guess to convince us to stay or to make some kind of deal. Now, I'm not one to see the horrors' hand behind every shadow, but when one is in front of me I know what the right thing to do is.
So, after a quick glance back to check if everyone was awake, I attempted to impale the horror, which seemed to surprise it. The fight was thankfully short as the horde of cadavers guarding the exit started charging towards us but was undone when we fell the monster. Ursal and Torgun did not become aggressive at any point, but were released with all the others.
After the horror was dead the corruption cleared and the obsidimen were extremely relieved and offered us training and gems in reward. For my part I made sure to burn Ursal's and Torgun's bodies to make sure they could not be abused like this again.