It was a day like any other in the Spiritwood. Quenby had just finished a successful patrol of the woods, clearing out a pesky orc and harpy that had wandered too close to the Shrine of Spirituality. He was just returning when he saw Jupiter in front of the stables readying his horse. Jupiter looked up from what he was doing, saw Quenby, and a bright smile lit up his old face. “Quenby! Oy Quenby! Get over here. Would you care to accompany me on an adventure?” Jupiter asked. “An adventure??” Quenby responded hesitantly, suddenly remembering the last extremely painful adventure he had been dragged on by the wizard. “Aye, an adventure most important, no time to waste lad, come, come. I’ll fill you in on the way” Jupiter said, opening a gate and ushering Quenby to step through before even waiting for him to respond. Quenby reluctantly went in the gate and Jupiter soon followed. They pair found themselves on Temple Island, and from there they took the teleporter to the Lost Lands. “I have received a report that there in an Ancient Lich that has taken up residence in the Tomb of Khal Ankur. It was relayed to me that this Lich is working on some dangerous magic. We must go there, find the Ancient Lich, and investigate his activities.” Jupiter explained. Quenby began to wonder how he had once again found himself on such a precarious adventure with Jupiter. After a great deal of riding on horseback, the pair found themselves at the entrance of the Tomb. They entered the haunted halls and were immediately set upon by undead spirits of the cult of Khal Ankur. The two wizards had little trouble quelling the spirits and slowly made their way deeper into the Tomb. As they went deeper, they heard a low murmuring incanting echoing through the halls. They followed the noise and at last found who they were looking for. Peering cautiously around the corner, the found a small room with a square pool of water in the center. Standing at pool of water’s edge stood the Ancient Lich, incanting from a scroll he held in his hand. Jupiter wasted no time. Shouting loudly, “Suflare Vitale”, Jupiter ran full speed at the Ancient Lich, raising the gnarled staff high above his head. He was upon the Ancient Lich in no time and brought the staff down hard upon its head. Concussed, the Lich dropped the scroll and stumbled backwards, falling into the pool of water. Quenby came to the pool’s edge and cast telekinesis on the weakened Ancient Lich, forcing the Lich’s head under the water. He continued casting the spell until it was clear the Lich was dead. Jupiter picked up the scroll off of the ground and smiled. “Now let’s see what this Lich was casting.” He said, unraveling the scroll and looking at it. “This is odd, I have never seen this magic spell before. It says ‘Portal: Stygian Abyss’, but that is impossible. The great mage Garamon sealed off the entrance. Do you reckon it’s dangerous?” Jupiter asked. “I have no idea, perhaps we should take it to Moonglow to be inspected by the mages there?” Quenby responded. “HA! What do those mages know that I do not? Easiest way to find out is to just cast the bloody thing” Jupiter retorted, and began reading the power words from the scroll, “Vas Kal Xen In Corp Corp Corp”, Fizzzzzle. “Here, you try Quenby”, Jupiter said, handing the scroll to him. Quenby opened the scroll and began reading the power words, “Vas Kal Xen In Corp Corp Corp”, Fizzzzzle. He handed the scroll back to Jupiter who tried again. Fizzzzzle. Back and forth the scroll was passed until it was late in the day. Jupiter finally said, “Alright let me give it one more cast, then we can take it to Moonglow and see if they can make anything of it.” “Vas Kal Xen In Corp Corp Corp”, the grey wizard chanted, and suddenly all the candles that lit the room went out, causing the room to turn completely dark. Jupiter cast nightsight on Quenby first, and what Quenby saw caused him to stumble backwards in fear. The water’s surface had turned into a sheening blue portal and rising out of it was a massive red tentacle of the Harrower. The Harrower was an evil daemon which had been banished to the bottom level of the Stygian Abyss by the mighty wizard Garamon long ago. The portal Jupiter had opened allowed the Harrower to escape its magical confinement and enter Brittania. Standing at the portal’s edge was Jupiter. Jupiter, in complete darkness rendering him oblivious to the danger, began to cast nightsight on himself but was interrupted when the tentacle wrapped around his legs and pulled him into the air and swung him about violently. Jupiter was whipped around the room by his leg like a rag doll, and the last thing Quenby heard before the tentacle pulled Jupiter down through the portal was Jupiter yelling “HUUUZZZZZAAAAAHHHH”. The portal closed as soon as Jupiter went through it, and the surface returned to being the pool of water, but it had turned a deep blood red. Quenby frantically looked around the floor for the scroll, anxious to try and open the portal back up and rescue his friend, but the scroll was nowhere to be found. He concluded that it must have fallen into the portal with the wizard. Knowing there was nothing more he could do, Quenby retreated out of Khaldun and returned to the Spiritwood exhausted. Quenby was awakened by a loud frantic banging at his door. “Quenby! Quenby! Wake the hell up lad!” a gruff voice yelled, “And where is that blasted wizard Jupiter??” Cracking the door, Quenby immediately recognized the man at the door as Cero. “Cero…. Jupiter is gone. He fell into the Stygian Abyss and the portal closed behind him. I do not know his fate.” Quenby replied, eyes diverted down in sadness. “The Stygian Abyss? What in Avatar’s name have you two been up to?” Cero asked, “I bet whatever you both have been meddling with is the cause of the corruption.” “What? What corruption? What are you talking about??” Quenby asked, confused. “That’s why I came here to fetch you and Jupiter. No time to explain, just get your reagents and meet me in Skara Brae. We are rallying there. I’ve got to go gather more people!” Cero said and recalled off. Quenby filled his backpack with reagents and went to Skara Brae. The town was teeming with people, all chattering about an evil corruption throughout Britannia. Animal tamers were getting their dragons ready, warriors were sharpening their blades, mages were stocking up on reagents, and bards were tuning their lutes. Finally Cero returned and began shouting, silencing the crowd, “SOSARIANS! SOSARIANS! For those of you who have not heard, there is a tremendous evil permeating out of the dungeons in Sosaria. Far worse then has ever been seen in these lands for over 100 years. Left unbridled, the evil will certainly escape the confines of the dungeons and threaten all we have built and restored since the Great Cataclysm. There are altars of evil springing up throughout the dungeons, and even the peaceful Star Room now has a large altar. RISE UP! Let us send this evil back to where it came from!” Cero opened up a blue moongate and jumped within. The crowd cheered loudly and began pouring in after him. The gate took the mob to the third level of the dungeon Despise. The dungeon was completely infested with giant rats and slimes. The mob slowly pushed forward, stamping on rats and slicing slimes as they went. Eventually the mob made it to a small island that usually was inhabited by Ogre Lords and Quenby almost fainted when he saw the ominous altar that had risen from the ground. Sitting in the center of the altar was a massive bleached white skull. On the outside ring of the altar, a few red candles cast an eerie light on the skull. Quenby noticed that more lit candles were appearing as they killed the slimes and giant rats. Finally the entire island was cleared and the mob began cheering, but perhaps a bit too soon because another lit red candle appeared, filling an entire side of the altar with red candles. The slimes and giant rats ceased, but in their place dire wolves and ratmen began pouring onto the island from the surrounding bridges. The mob was caught off guard by these stronger monsters and those that were fighting on the outside of the island began to retreat inward. Soon the entire mob, Quenby included, were fighting on the small island, doing their best to fight off all the ratmen and dire wolves pressing towards them. The fight went on, more red candles appearing on the altar until another side was completely filled. The dire wolves and regular ratmen ceased spawning but were replaced with hell hounds and ratmen mages. By now the mob was growing exhausted but they were completely pinned on the island with the altar. They had no option but to fight on, slaying hundreds more monsters, the small body of water surrounding the island now completely red with blood. Quenby braced himself when he saw another red candle lite, completely filling the third side of the altar. Silver serpents and ratmen archers began leaping out of the shadows. The bards proved themselves invaluable, quickly provoking the deadly serpents to attack one another, while the warriors hacked away at the ratman archers and the mages kept everyone healed. In time, the entire altar was surrounded by lit red candles and suddenly they all disappeared. Standing in the center of the now dark altar appeared a normal looking man named Baracoon wearing a jester’s hat and holding a flute. The mob wasn’t exactly sure what to do, when Baracoon held the flute to his lips and played a little tune, causing the entire island to instantly fill up with ratman. The battle was the epitome of chaos. Tamer’s dragons were dying left and right. At one point Baracoon whipped out a bow and let loose a magic arrow that knocked a mage completely off of his horse and turned him into a ratman. The mob, not knowing any better, set upon the poor mage despite his screams. It was a war of attrition and the size of the adventurers eventually prevailed and Baracoon was slain. Gold and gems poured out onto the floor and everyone ran around, filling their pockets to the brim. Cero found Quenby in the crowd and said “That was chaotic. Hey have you got any idea what this is?” and handed Quenby a blue skull, “It appeared in my backpack after Baracoon was slain.” Quenby inspected the blue skull and said, “This must have something to do with the Harrower. Can I hold onto this for a while?” and he placed the skull in his backpack. From dungeon to dungeon the mob marched, each progressing in a similar fashion to the battle in Despise. In Fire Dungeon they fought against the Champion of the Abyss, Semidar. In Terathan Keep they faced the Champion of Arachnids, Mephitis. In Destard they clashed swords with the cold blood Champion of Reptiles, Rikktor. In Deceit they fought against the unholy terror Champion of the undead, Neira. Lastly they marched to the lost lands and traveled east from Delucia until they reached the Champion of the Forest, Lord Oaks who was aided by the pixie queen Silvani. From each champion, Quenby collected their respective skulls. With the 6 champion skulls in hand, Quenby proceeded to the last altar, located in the Star Room. On the altar was a sign that said, “Champions must be sacrificed to summon enlightenment…The altars must be used to fulfill the prophecy…” In the center of the altar was a shadowy statuette of a tentacle. Quenby cautiously put each skull on one of the 6 pillars found within and as soon as he placed the final champion skull in its place, an ominous black moongate appeared. Inspired by the bravery of Jupiter, a resounding “HUZZAAH” echoed through the Star Room as Quenby ran through the black moongate. Quenby came out of the moongate in a long hallway he recognized as the first level of Deciet. He proceeded down the hall until he saw an old man wearing a greyish shroud warming his hands over a brazier. “You there, who are you?” Quenby asked. The old man laughed and responded, “You summoned me,” and pulled back his grey shroud to reveal that he was not an old man, but the Harrower in a different form. “Where is Jupiter? Is he alright?” Quenby asked. “Jupiter is in the Stygian Abyss. Few indeed have the strength or skill to cross the Abyss, for it is the antithesis of good. Only the most virtuous will not lose their life immediately upon entering. His fate lies in his own hands now, but let’s be honest, he doesn’t stand a chance.” the Harrower responded. Quenby had heard enough. He opened a gate to Skara Brae and hoped that Cero would come through this last time. Suddenly the hallways of Deciet were filled with hundreds of “HUZZZZAAHS” as Britannians poured through the gate. The noise was spectacular and so loud it shook the walls. The harrower seemed unfazed by the size of the mob. It made a come hither motion with its hand and said “You dare to defeat me? Come get some!” The mob accepted the challenge and charged the Harrower, overwhelming him. They had him nearly defeated when suddenly the Harrower transformed from the old man into his true form, a massive shadowy Reaper surrounded by 9 tentacles. The mob, feeling confidant after easily defeating the first form of the Harrower, rushed the True Harrower and hacked at the trunk. Within seconds, half of the mob had perished and the remaining half were retreating. The tentacles were grabbing at the fleeing adventurers and throwing them back in range of the True Harrower who made quick work of them. The worst part was that the True Harrower was not even harmed since the tentacles were sucking the life out of all those they got hold of and healing the True Harrower. The remaining adventurers regathered out of range and approached more cautiously on the second attack, keeping as much distance from the tentacles as possible while taking them down with ranged attacks. The mages lined up and cast meteor swarm on the tentacles and all those that could shoot an orcish bow did. Methodically the tentacles were killed one by one until the True Harrower stood alone. Without the tentacles to act as the True Harrowers arms and hands, his lethality was greatly reduced. The balance had shifted in the mob’s favor and they were able to overwhelm the True Harrower, surrounding the trunk of the tree with a mass of dragons and dexxers while the mages and archers shot at the branches from a distance. The battle raged on, with the mob slowly whittling away at the True Harrower until it was nearly dead. With its final breathe the Harrower tree began laughing and shouted, “Regardless of how many times you attempt to destroy me, evil from the Stygian Abyss always resurrects, stronger than ever before!” With that, the True Harrower finally slumped over and was defeated. Everyone who lived was rewarded with a great deal of platinum coins and gold coins rained upon the floors of Deceit. As the crowd cleared out of the dungeon and returned to their homes, Quenby returned to the Shrine of Spirituality. He tossed a single platinum coin into the water surrounding the Shrine and said “For Jupiter, may his virtuous spirit allow him safe passage through the Abyss, and bring him back home.”
I just want to say that I chuckled out loud when I read this part the first time: "Jupiter was whipped around the room by his leg like a rag doll, and the last thing Quenby heard before the tentacle pulled Jupiter down through the portal was Jupiter yelling “HUUUZZZZZAAAAAHHHH”. Because that is exactly what he would do.
Fabulous tale, and how shocked was I when I saw my name appear! Time to set a hotkey for Huuuzzzzzaaaahhhhhh!!!
*huzzah huzzah into the fray we go peril is certain death is nigh huzzahhh huzzahh with o' wizard we go huzzahhhh huzaahhh into the fray we go*
