The Rescue of Daren Fawley

Yule 19, 2432/SR5

We received word from Madame that our good friend Daren Fawley (aka 'Hedge') was in trouble, and to come to her at once. We arrived promptly to find that she and Daren had been investigating the Underworld, that Daren had 'fallen through' and had not returned.

Without hesitation, Zen, Tanner, and Faolan told Madame that they were willing to cross over to the Underworld to find and save their friend. Of course, Zen, being a healer, soiled himself in fear, but that is to be expected.

Madame provided each of the Sons of Bexar with appropriate black, hooded, 'Underworld-style' outfits and an assortment of gems. The first was a sapphire that would help us find 'Hedge'. The second was a red ruby that would return us to Madame's. We were each given an emerald that would heal all wounds, a topaz that would grant great speed, and a diamond that would make us unseen. Without further ado, our heroes went forth.

The Underworld was bizarre. The light seemed 'unnatural', and the sands off the road we found ourselves upon almost seemed to writhe with life. The horizon was featureless, apart from a walled fortress that we saw in the distance. The sapphire seemed to indicate that Daren was in that direction. We made our way towards the fortress, using the ability to remain unseen to pass by the patrol of Ape-Men and Half-Men that we encountered on our way. It seemed that they were searching with their sense of smell as well as sight.

We made our way to the fortress's gate, and passed through without incident. The magical invisibility wore off once we were inside the walls, but in the hooded robes, it seemed that we blended in well enough. Madame's sapphire seemed to be pointing us towards the fortress' central tower, so we made our way towards it. We saw a disturbing assortment of tortures going on in the surrounding courtyard. A variety of beings, ranging from humanoids with unusual features to Half-Men and Ape-Men were secured to various pieces of equipment, and they were being drawn, whipped, burned, and dissected by Ape-Men and black-skinned people with angular, inhuman faces. Though this was a disturbing affront to us, we kept our purpose in mind.

We approached the tower, and Faolan brow-beat the Half-Man guard into letting us inside, telling him that we were sent by 'The Mistress' to inspect the 'special prisoner', and threatening the guard when he balked. We were surprised that the guard seemed to understand our speech, but we didn't question our good fortune. The sapphire indicated that we go upward, so we did. The stairs ran up along the inside wall of the round tower, and we approached the second level cautiously. This appeared to be some manner of torture chamber, with a dead humanoid chained to the wall. We moved up to the next level, where an Ape-Man and three Half-Men seemed to be desecrating a humanoid corpse that was chained to a table. The Ape-Man challenged us, and was more persistent than the guard downstairs. There was no alternative but to fight, and our heroes quickly cut down the enemy. Faolan engaged the Ape-Man, while Tanner charged across the room and cut down two of the Half-Men. Zen did a bit of inconsequential arm-flapping, and then, tiring of being 'protected', he waded into the combat with his mace.

What followed was a vicious battle, as our heroes activated their 'Haste Magic', moved upward, and cut down an assortment of Ape-Men, Half-Men, and humanoid witches on each of the subsequent levels. Zen continued to make bizarre gestures at the enemy, but nothing other than occasional chunks of dirt seemed to result from this. Zen claimed that he killed a witch with his mighty 'Dirt Hammer' spell, but neither Tanner nor Faolan saw or believed this. On levels four and five, we found female humanoid prisoners that were still alive. Using his sword to first cleave one of the torturing witches, and then unlocking their shackles with keys from said cloven witch, Tanner freed them, and he and Zen each carried one up the stairs. From this point on, they left the killing to Faolan. Faolan went to his task with gusto, and carved a path in enemy flesh worthy of a damn fine song.

When they came to a door at the top of the tower, Faolan quickly cut down the two Ape-Man guards, but was sorely surprised when the door in the ceiling exploded towards him, and an armored, pale-skinned Underworldian leapt down the steps to attack. This warrior, who we later learned was called Drake, fought with great skill and moved with an inhuman speed, even eclipsing our now-expired magical enhancements. Tanner dropped the woman that he was carrying and joined Faolan in the desperate fight. Faolan had taken mighty wounds, but the two friends eventually drove Drake to retreat through a wall of shimmering blackness that had appeared where the door had been. Faolan paused to use his healing stone, then leapt through after Drake. Tanner followed, but seemed to be more susceptible to the magical trap that awaited them, and very nearly died. Fortunately, he still had his healing stone.

On the roof, they saw a beautiful, horrifying, black-skinned and yellow-haired woman standing beside a panting, bleeding Drake. Beyond them, we saw Hedge, suspended by chains.

A brief exhange of wit ensued, before the Dark Sorceress, or Lady Evil, as we have come to call her, and her swordsman retreated through some manner of gateway that she opened. Lady Evil told us that we would see her again, and in this she was right. We freed Hedge, Tanner retrieved the woman he'd earlier dropped, and we activated Madame's red ruby. Faolan, carrying Daren, led the way through the gate.

We left Hedge and the two women in Madame's care, and they have recovered, though our friend Daren is not as he once was. He has had a distant and disturbed mood, and while he has continued in some of his studies, he has chosen not to join his companions' endeavors.

The women, who are called Bator and Arana, have learned little Anglish, though they have taught a bit of the Underworld tongue to Tanner and Faolan. Madame believes that it might be best to send them back to the Underworld, as they don't seem to be adapting well to life here. Her attempt to turn them into whores led to several injured customers.

Tags: Adventures