Castle Amber: A D&D Adventure

Any minute now...

Ready to war pick something in the face...

Aaanny minute...

...

Kalar lowers his war pick.

"Lynda? What's going on?" Then he remembers that she can't speak. "Anyone have any idea what just happened? Gontort, what did you see through that door?"

---

Being from the third world, I reserve the right to speak in the third person.

Using Editor version wip 20170527 gfx_sdl+fb music_sdl

Gontort, standing with his axe over his head, looks at Kalar. "It was a small room with 4 little houses in it, then these things came out of two of the houses and chased me."

The hounds walk over towards Lynda and lay down near her feet.

Kalar is rather discomfited that it seems Lynda now has minions, while his own were destroyed recently. Still, they will probably prove useful.

"Gontort, do you think you could lead us to that room again? I want to see if there are more of those things in there, and if our Lynda can exert some sort of control over them."

---

Being from the third world, I reserve the right to speak in the third person.

Using Editor version wip 20170527 gfx_sdl+fb music_sdl

"Good doggies?" Tammytharn asks cautiously.

"They seem to like you" she says to Lynda. "can you command them?" Forgetting for the moment that Lynda can't speak, and the hellhounds probably can't read

Lynda had watched the hellhounds intently, ready to fire if they attacked...except they didn't. They just sat down and stared at her. They casually walked over to her feet, no rhyme of reason. Lynda lowered her bow.

"What is the meaning of this?! Why are they friendly to me?" Lynda wonders.

Lynda writes a note.

"Although they may seem friendly, I fear it's because of my demon. The biggest danger is that if the demon causes me to scream out attack orders that are directed towards us, and the hellhounds obey. We need to find a way to get rid of this demon, fast, before it turns deadly."

She hands it to Kalar.

She slowly reaches her hand down towards the hellhounds, to see how they react.

Kalar reads Lynda's note. It seems like sound reasoning. If his previous actions were anything to go by, then healing magic has some sort of effect on the demons. But as he has no healing left to him...

He turns to Tammytharn, and in as imperious a voice as he can manage, says, "Raoan, if you truly have our best interests at heart, then there's something you should know. Back there, I performed some healing on myself, and I believe I heard whatever it was that cursed us react. I believe it was harmed by the positive energy.

I have, unfortunately, exhausted by healing powers, so I cannot further this hypothesis, but if you're able to, and if it doesn't violate some sort of obscure code of yours, you might want to try your hand at healing our friend Lynda over here."

He considers Lynda's note further. If such really is the case, then he should be able to exert some sort of control over them as well. He would, however, much rather not get too close, should the theory be incorrect. He decides instead to just try simple commands.

Much as he does with his undead, he tries to issue them mental commands to leave the room. Should that fail, he'll attempt to verbally command them to leave.

---

Being from the third world, I reserve the right to speak in the third person.

Using Editor version wip 20170527 gfx_sdl+fb music_sdl

Tammytharn scowls at Kalar. "You are an absolutely INSUFFERABLE man."

"Yes, I'll try a healing spell on you" Tammytharn says to Lynda, as if Lynda had been the one to ask the question.

At first glance, Lynda doesn't look badly injured at the moment, so Tammytharn prepares to cast a simple "Cure Minor Wounds" spell on her, although she hesitates to see how the hellhound reacts to Lynda's hand. If it bites her, might as well direct the healing to the hand.

The hellhounds lick Lynda's hand, then lay back down. It's a very hot lick, but not enough to actually burn Lynda.
Kalar begins to call out orders at the hounds. They seem to completely ignore him.
Tammytharn approaches Lynda and casts a spell on her. At first, the spell fizzles out and Tammytharn thinks it's had no affect at all. Then, a loud pop sends Tammytharn's hand flying back away from Lynda and out of the other side of Lynda, a ghostly demon shoots out.
The hellhounds begin to bark wildly. The ghost demon seems to be struggling to swim, as if it were begin dragged away by strong rapids rather then just floating in the air. It's swept through a wall in the direction of the letter-tiled room and out of sight.
The hounds calm down and Lynda feels her throat loosening up.

Kalar bursts into flames.

Kalar takes 4 dmg.

Rachelle, noticing the new light source, puts her halberd and shield into and onto her pack, and starts climbing up the ladder.

"Well, THAT was interesting." says Tammytharn, eyeing the hounds warily.

Then she casts Cure Light Wounds on Kalar without looking him in the eye or acknowledging that he is on fire.

Rachelle climbs the ladder successfully. The room he climbs into is all black. Ebony paint covers the walls and ceiling of this room. A sable carpet covers the floor. The scent of henbane, assaofetida, and hellebore root fills the room, none of which Rachelle recognizes. All the furniture in the room is lacquered black. The room appears to be empty. There's two doors in this room, one leading west and one leading east.

Kalar rounds on the ground as Tammytharn heals him. He avoids further burns. An audible death rattle can be heard coming from Kalar. He is no longer on fire.
The hellhounds begin rolling around on the ground alongside Kalar.

"Kalar?" Tammytharn exclaims.

She is unnerved by the sound Kalar made almost as much as the strange behaviour of the hounds. She was expecting the demon to pop out of him just like the one from Lynda, so she is concerned that her healing spell might have killed Kalar, rather than the demon.

Could he have somehow been an undead himself? That would certainly explain why he got so defensive when she talked about them.

Lynda feels her throat loosen up. She gingerly takes the scarf away from her face.

"T-testing...one, two, three..." She says. "Oh my gosh! I have my voice back!"

She puts her scarf back on fashionably. "I am incredibly grateful, Tammytharn. I seem to have forgetten how valuable my voice is until I lost control of it." She says to Tammy. "As for these hellhounds...are they still in my thrall, even though the demon inside me is exorcised...?" She muses aloud.

Lynda tries to order the hellhounds to sit.

The hellhouds don't listen. One of them looks up and tilts it's head.