The Inverted Ziggurat...

After parting with Valanus and his dragonborn soldiers, the members of Fate’s Hammer made their way further into the mountain, confident their quest for Elatus would soon be complete.

And they were right.  Mostly…

Their long walk through the eerily silent hall culminated in yet another iron-bound wooden door.  Tired of the endless trekking, Kai wasted no time in releasing his mounting tension by giving it the boot, creating a considerable amount of racket in the process.

The room in which they found themselves was spacious and wide open, roughly one hundred forty feet wide and one hundred sixty feet across.  The ceiling was another hundred feet above them and though they couldn’t pinpoint the source, the entire chamber was well lit with clean, bright light.

Built into the wall, a ten foot wide, flagstone walkway framed an open interior which descended like the steps of a pyramid.  “Inverted ziggurat,” Ayas was quick to point out.  “Indeed,” Wotan answered.  “I had been wondering how this might look.”

“Can someone clue me in here?” asked Terik.  Turning to Dandelion he added, “Why does it always seem like we’re the last to know what’s going on?”

Dande just shrugged his shoulders, leaving the warlock to explain.

“The final passage of Keraptis’s letter,” Wotan said calmly, “The sword Elatus remains yet won, beneath inverted ziggurat.”  Assuming Terik had no idea what a ziggurat was, he went on, “A ziggurat is a temple in the form of a pyramidal tower, consisting of a number of stories to present the appearance of a series of terraces.”  Knowing he’d lost the half-orc but not really caring, he continued, “Inverted can mean several things, such as to turn or change to the opposite or contrary, to turn inside out, or to turn inward or back upon itself.  As far as this marvelous specimen of architecture is concerned, I would say any of those definitions would be accurate.” 

Dandelion spoke, “So you’re saying…  To get the sword…   We have to go down there?”

Once explained, it did indeed appear to be an upside down pyramid, but rather than climb to the top, you had to descend to the bottom.  A descent that wouldn’t be as easy as it first appeared.

For starters, the open space in the middle wasn’t open after all.  It was Ayas who discovered it.  Thinking to summon his Pegasus and glide to the bottom, he was surprised to discover a transparent shield of sorts covering the interior space.  It felt like metal, but was transparent like glass, magical obviously, though not even Wotan could determine the ritual involved.  Being transparent, it did provide the companions with a clear view, and they spent close to half an hour surveilling.

The bottom tier appeared empty, offering nothing to see but an overly large door leading to who knows where.  The tier above that was covered in maroon and black gravel, the walls deep red and seeming to flicker slightly.  Second from the top, the floor was a mix of dirt and clay, an occasional boulder standing out stark white against the dark background.  The first tier, the one they were about to enter, gave pause for concern.  It was full of water.  Completely full, if the occasional air bubble sliding along the transparent covering was any indication.

“You just had to give it away didn’t you?” Kai yelled at Dandelion.

“What’s the big deal?” the Vistani countered.  “The water’s clear.  There’s nothing in there but some old bones.  It’s not like you’re going to spear any of them with it.”

Wotan cut in, “I believe Kai is referring to the magical properties of the trident.  Is that not right brother?”

Kai, too disgusted to argue, just turned away.

“What?” Dande asked, clearly perplexed.

Terik answered, “It lets its wielder breathe underwater dumbass.”

“Oh…  Well nobody told me that!”

Thankfully, Nine completed his reconnaissance and forestalled any further argument with his report.

“There are access tunnels.  The first is there,” he said pointing to the corner directly opposite them.  Sure enough, a cylindrical metal structure rose about three feet off the ground. 

“It contains a ladder,” he finished. 

“Well done,” Ayas praised him. 

“There are others.  Each in a corner.  They are directly opposite of where we will enter.  It will force us to maneuver the entire length.”  “There could be danger,” he added unnecessarily. 

“We can hack it,” Kai answered confidently. 

“Not finished,” Nine continued, “There is a lever.”  He pointed directly down this time to where a large copper lever jutted from the wall near the submerged chute of the first tier.

The group concluded the lever would lower the water level, at least that’s what they hoped.  After a quick discussion, and seeing how breathing wasn’t a requirement of their warforged friend, it was decided Nine was the man for the job.  Kai, Wotan, and Dandelion escorted him to the first access point where they planned to walk above him as he made his way toward the lever.  Ayas and Terik held back however, something in their gut telling them this would not end well.

You should always trust your gut…

It wasn’t long before Nine was getting the shit kicked out of him, and although his underwater acrobatics were impressive to behold, knowing they weren’t voluntary did take some of the fun out of it.

Wotan was the first to react and rushed head long into the water-filled access chute, intent on swimming to Nine’s rescue.  Unfortunately Kai and Dandelion were also feeling valorous and dove in atop the warlock, who incidentally enough, isn’t a very good swimmer.

Eventually they made it to their friend’s aid, who at this point was struggling gamely to complete his mission.  Somehow they managed to lure away one of Nine’s assailants, greatly increasing his odds.

As you can imagine, it was a harrowing experience.  Generally speaking, not being able to breathe is scary, but not being able to breathe while being tossed around by an angry, underwater maelstrom is more scary.  Our intrepid heroes managed it however. 

There was a suspenseful moment as Nine closed the distance with the lever, upon which the success, or failure, of their plan hinged.  He was directly underfoot of Ayas and Terik and still being harassed by one of the water elementals.  Terik had the idea of distracting it and laid into the transparent iron with two massive hits of his fullblade (back to back crits).  The iron was unimpressed.  Neither was the elemental, who continued to repeatedly slam the warforged into a wall. 

So there he was, our favorite ironclad soldier a mere paces from his destination, but reeling badly and considerably disoriented.  So disoriented in fact that, despite being a completely foreign concept… He gasped.  A move with detrimental consequences, as you can imagine. 

That would have been the end of him.  In fact, it should have been the end of him, had it not been for the unselfish act of a dragonborn cavalier.  Ayas, through the divine power of Bahamut, managed to keep the warforged from drowning by transferring Nine’s condition unto himself.  It wasn’t pleasant, however, and he immediately buckled over, puking water until his eyes threatened to burst from their sockets.  It did do the trick though.  Nine reached the lever and pulled it, and sure enough, the terrace slowly drained of water.

The second tier smelled of freshly turned earth.  It could have been a pleasant reminder of their childhood days spent on the farm, had not the mud, earth, clay, and rocks began rising from the ground to form elemental brutes intent on bludgeoning them to death.  The companions made short work of them though, but not without sporting new bruises and fresh abrasions.

The third terrace was hot.  Not the kind of kick-your-ass hot like the Hall of Wretched Heat, but painful enough to incentivize a prompt exit.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple.

Flames erupted from the walls to form pillars of swirling heat, pumice and acrid smoke.  Quickly interjecting themselves between the companions and the exit, they danced haphazardly, scorching all they came in contact with.  “Elementals!” Kai warned, as Terik charged.  The unfortunate half-orc discovered the hard way, hitting one caused it to spawn smaller versions of itself.  Volatile and nasty, these lesser elementals loved nothing more than to get close to flesh before exploding in ferocious blasts of heat.

With some luck and tactical movement, the group was able to avoid a prolonged fight, and soon found themselves on the bottom most level.

The fourth and final tier was empty, or so it seemed.  As the companions enjoyed a short rest, a strong gust of wind descended, pummeling them audibly.  Wotan and Terik were sent flying backwards, crashing into the wall before crumpling to the floor.  Ayas, losing his footing, was promptly knocked to his ass.  Dandelion was saved by Nine, who managed to grab his ankle as the Vistanni went flying overhead.  Kai took the brunt of it though, suffering a nasty, self-inflicted gash when his sword was forcibly thrust into his face.

Although it proved to be difficult to hit what they couldn’t see, the will of Fate’s Hammer was not to be undermined.  In the end, the companions triumphed yet again, leaving them face to face with a giant set of ornate double doors, barred on their side…

“Oh,” said Dandelion.  “This can’t be good.”