Two Heads Are Better Than One

We were all back on ''Fool’s Errant''. I had doubted we would ever make it out of the Underdark. We definitely weren’t free and clear yet, though. We still had to make it out of the cove and into open waters without being bombarded or pursued.

I looked warily at the ''Corona de la Muerta''. Everyone at the docks scrambled aboard the much larger ship and took post.

“I disabled the rudder. They won’t be following us,” Raakel said with just a hint of a smile.

Well that was a relief.

The Admiral put it in high gear as the crew manned the sails, rigging, and ballista. We made haste out of the cove.

Now, in the open waters, we saw that there wouldn’t be clean getaway. There were two ships just outside of the cove—one smaller than our caravel and the other a much larger man-o-war. We immediately headed in the direction that would hopefully get us out of range on the man-o-war, even at the cost of having an exchange with the cutter.

The cutter was fast—its speed matched ours, but our arms outmatched theirs. Still, they gave chase like they were the biggest fish in the sea. They rained down ballista on ''Fool’s Errant'', but mostly missed. The man-o-war, however, had incredible range. Even though we did our best to stay far from them, they still fired mortars and cannons, hitting us half of the time. Our crew had to divide our time between patching Fool’s Errant and putting our efforts into fleeing.

Once we were free and clear—the ships only dots on the horizon behind us—we made our way to the Boneyard.

We would be dropping off Raakel and her mother there. It was really the only safe—relatively—place for an escaped slave and a former slaver. We would leave the pair with Keely and Dorn, hoping that their protection would be enough to keep them safe from the ruffians that frequented the Boneyard. Raakel didn’t know what her future would hold. She didn’t think she would be calling the Boneyard home for long. Who knows, maybe she would join our crew permanently after her mother was safe and settled.

While at the Boneyard, we hit up our usual haunts for information. It didn’t take long for tales of a pyramid on Laara’Tal to reach our ears. That immediately sparked my interest—and Varis’s of course.

On our journey back to the Boneyard, I had begun looking through the books and tomes we had rescued from the crumbling wizard’s tower of Khelek. After spending so much time in close quarters with my friends it was nice for once to find some quiet solace in a book.

One tome I had read mentioned an ancient pyramid on Laara’Tal. It was rumored to be cursed, and people were forbidden to enter it. There wasn’t any explanation as to why it was cursed, though. I had catalogued the information in my brain as an interesting story and hadn’t thought any more on it … until a bar patron brought it up at the Tipsy Gypsy. Apparently, there had already been excursions to Laara’Tal to find and search this pyramid. Though the apex was still

completely submerged, there had been several crews interested in the pyramid’s contents.

The fact that no adventurers had returned wasn’t enough to deter my friends. No. We set out for Laara’Tal the next day. I only hoped this journey would be better than our last trip to the sunken continent.

The two week journey went smoothly this time. There were no plague boats, no floating islands, no Veil, and no strange creatures to attack us. The Admiral followed the coordinates given to us at the Boneyard. We knew we had made it to the right place when we saw another boat anchored in the water.

We approached cautiously. When the other ship didn’t flee or hurry to their arms, we took them as friendly.

They were.

The crew was hired to take several treasure hunters to the pyramid. They had put down anchor and been told to wait for three days. It had been a day and the adventurers hadn’t returned, but the crew reported that the adventures had purportedly found an opening to the pyramid below.

We anchored beside them and Praxis went down see if he could find the opening. Gar had shifted into a dolphin, but floundered in the water like a … well not like a dolphin or a flounder.

Praxis reported back that there was indeed an opening to the pyramid. So, I performed a ritual of water breathing on myself and my friends and we dove down to the apex of the pyramid.

It didn’t take long to find the opening Praxis had already located. There was a dim light emanating from the opening in the pyramid. When we entered, the water was gone and we fell into a pit of … bodies! Ugh.

The bodies looked fresh with no signs of decay and, thankfully, no smell. The strange thing was that the clothes they were wearing seemed to be from a long time ago. Possibly even before the Great Flood. I looked at the slick walls of the pit and didn’t think I’d be able to make it out. Even worse was the two headed monster lurking above the pit. In each hand, the Ettin wielded a cleaver. Varis managed

to scramble up the side of the pit and leapt out to face the monster. It was at that moment when something in the pit moved. I looked down to see if maybe one of the dead bodies wasn’t actually dead. Instead, I saw a flash of green, slimy skin beneath the carnage. Oh no!

Praxis managed to make it out of the pit on his second attempt and went to help Varis. Now, it was just Gar and I, the dead bodies, and whatever slimy green creature lurked below. I could already feel my stomach turning.

I put my back against a wall, trying to stay out of the reach of the two headed creature above and hopefully far enough away from the slithering worm creature. Gar was launching attacks at the Ettin, but also prepared for the slithering thing to rear its ugly head. The worm slipped out from the dead bodies and struck at Gar, who beat it back down. Praxis and Varis were having a difficult time on their own against the Ettin, but Gar and I couldn’t seem to get a foothold on the pit’s walls. Another slithering creature and we realized there were two worms! Gar and I—mainly Gar—managed to kill one of the worms and charm the other before making it out of the pit. That gave me two more tries to get out of the pit before I was left live bait for the worm. Thankfully I made it out. With one more round of attacks to the Ettin we were relatively safe … for now.

That’s when we heard a voice call out, “You out there. We can help each other, I know it.” The voice came from a dark alcove behind the fallen Ettin. Varis was the closest, so he went to investigate while we readied ourselves for a potential trap. Hanging on the wall were several dangling heads, still dripping blood as if freshly cut from their bodies. Among them was a sack.

Varis reappeared holding an onyx orb with the swirling blue form of an elven woman inside. We crowded around him and the Eladrin woman looked back at each of us in turn. She practically sneered at Praxis.

After looking each of us over, she turned her attention back to Varis. “You have been drawn into this prison by its most celebrated inmate, Karavakos the would-be king and conqueror,” Vyrellis explained. “The only way to escape is to destroy that most-hated wizard. But to accomplish such a task, creatures the likes of you will need my help.”

Yup. Typical elf; just one step below the disdainful drow.

Given the fact that we didn’t exactly have a map of this place, and that this orb lady at least seemed to have some knowledge that could help us, we had no other option than to follow her advice. We asked some more questions, some she readily answered and others she wouldn’t deign to respond to. I had to wonder if it was just her snootiness, or if there was something she was trying to hide.

The boys seemed pretty satisfied with the information she’d given. After a short rest, Varis packed her up in his bag of holding and we went about exploring this place a little more.

We picked a hallway at random and stopped to listen at the first door on the left. After Varis heard scurrying sounds, he decided to open the door. Inside was a short hallway with another door to the right. Beyond that, the room opened up to small alcoves to the left and the right. Varis walked right into the room while the rest of us waited in the hallway. As soon as he set foot beyond the hall, three rats the size of dogs scurried out. Just like nasty little Chihuahuas, these things were ankle biters. They were easy enough to kill, but when you killed one, two took its place.

We stayed in the hallway, trying to help Varis from afar and convince him this room didn’t seem worth searching. Rats and bones—that was all that was here. He seemed to want to sift through the bones, edging closer to the pile on the left.

I guess Praxis got bored at that point, because he opened the door on the right of the small hallway in front of us. Out poured a mountain of bones, blocking the path between us and Varis. Praxis had to jump out of the way to avoid the pile crashing down on him and burying him to the waist.

He ended up wading through the bones, retrieving Varis, and we promptly left the rat-bone room, shutting the door firmly behind us.

I was hoping the next room would have a bed, because I was already tired of this place. Gar probably hoped for food, though Vyrellis had told us there was no hunger or aging in this place. It was like a demented Neverland. I guess Gar must be Peter Pan. He’s green, after all.

I knew that Praxis and Varis were hoping for a fight in the next room, followed by a hearty treasure as a reward.

So far, this place was proving to be like nothing I had ever encountered before. You could feel the magick of this place. It was heavy in the air.

~Zaly

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