Chapter III — Hidden Dangers in the Dragon-People's Stronghold
Bangqiu and Tetsukichi returned from their battle beneath the temple to the relative safety of the dragon's hidden lair, where Beatriss and the others had been guarding their route of retreat.
There they rested, tended their wounds, and considered what they had discovered.
The expedition had defeated a considerable force of dragon-people and their commanders, including another formidable Lizard Lord. But several enemies had escaped, and the adventurers had seen enough of the underground chambers to suspect that the temple concealed an extensive complex. Somewhere beneath them, their surviving enemies were almost certainly gathering, now fully aware that intruders had penetrated their stronghold.
Bangqiu and Tetsukichi sought the counsel of Beatriss and their companions. They had survived their first descent, but another expedition might prove considerably more dangerous.
Beatriss agreed that the time had come for her to join them. Leaving the relative safety of their refuge, the reunited company descended once more into the darkness.
The Empty Barracks
The adventurers advanced cautiously from chamber to chamber. Beatriss, who had begun taking her responsibilities as the party's cartographer quite seriously, carefully recorded passages, doorways, and intersections as they explored.
Their progress was punctuated by occasional skirmishes with small bands of dragon-people and their commanders.
Some of these enemies were wounded survivors of the previous day's battle. Others appeared to have avoided that catastrophe altogether, whether through drunkenness, cowardice, indiscipline, or simple good judgment. Whatever their reasons, they fared little better against the seasoned adventurers who now hunted them through their own stronghold.
The party's confidence grew with each encounter.
But danger awaited them in an unexpectedly quiet place.
They came upon a large, deserted barracks, lined with beds and wooden chests. The room had evidently housed many of the dragon warriors who had marched bravely into battle the previous day, never to return.
The beds were empty. The chests remained.
Beatriss approached the nearest one and opened it.
A dart sprang from a concealed mechanism, narrowly missing her.
She stepped back, startled but unharmed. Clearly, these were not ordinary storage chests.
Turning to Perin, whose experience as a scout made him particularly useful in such situations, she asked him to inspect the next chest before anyone attempted to open it.
Perin examined it carefully and discovered a concealed panel on the front, almost certainly housing another poisoned dart. Having identified the danger, he set about making the chest safe.
Unfortunately, he failed to notice a second mechanism hidden at the rear.
The trap sprang.
Several poisoned barbs struck him deep in the neck. The venom acted with terrible speed. Before his companions could do anything to save him, Perin was dead.
The room fell silent.
Their resourceful guide, who had spent months spying upon the dragon-people and had helped lead them through the treacherous swamp, had survived battles against monsters and warriors only to be killed by a trap in an abandoned barracks.
The remaining chests were left unopened.
The Wizard's Chamber
The party continued its exploration, more cautiously now.
In another chamber, they discovered a great stone sculpture of a leering demon, remarkably similar to the one concealing the entrance to the dragon's treasure chamber above.
Bangqiu immediately recognized the possibility.
He produced the small obsidian disk recovered from the slain dragon and inserted it into the carving's mouth.
Once again, ancient stonework groaned into motion, revealing a concealed doorway.
Beyond lay a comfortable and well-appointed apartment, consisting of a bedchamber, a study, and an extensive library of alchemical works. Its furnishings and contents suggested the residence of a powerful magician, perhaps one of the human spellcasters who had served alongside the dragon-people.
The adventurers collected the most obviously valuable objects and examined the room with satisfaction.
Whoever had occupied these quarters was unlikely to return. The party therefore decided that the hidden apartment would make a suitable place to rest.
Unfortunately, the former occupant apparently had unusual acquaintances.
Without warning, a cloud of foul-smelling smoke erupted in the chamber.
From it emerged an enormous horned fiend, nearly eight feet tall, bearing a disturbing resemblance to the demon carved upon the secret door.
The creature gave the adventurers no opportunity to negotiate.
It charged directly at Bangqiu.
The young wu-jen reached for his invisibility cloak, pulling its hood tightly around himself as the fiend slashed at him with its claws. But the creature seemed entirely undeterred by his efforts to disappear. It struck again, inflicting terrible wounds.
Bangqiu struggled to escape.
Beatriss and Tetsukichi sprang to his defense, throwing themselves bodily against the monstrous attacker. Together they wrestled it away from their companion, attacking with their short swords while struggling to keep its claws and horns at bay.
The fight was desperate and painfully close.
The demon's unnatural strength made it difficult to restrain, and both warriors sustained serious injuries as they grappled with it.
But their intervention gave Bangqiu the opportunity he needed.
He summoned his magic and unleashed a volley of glowing missiles into the creature. It recoiled, but did not fall.
Bangqiu struck again.
A second volley tore into the fiend, and this time the effect was extraordinary.
Its body collapsed into a mass of black, glistening slime. An instant later, the hideous substance erupted in a flash of pale green fire and evaporated, leaving nothing behind but a lingering stench.
Whether the creature had been destroyed or merely banished to whatever realm had spawned it, no one could say.
The party had survived, but the encounter had provided a sobering reminder that the temple concealed dangers far beyond ordinary lizardmen and their human allies.
The Prophecy of Sakatha
After these frightening experiences, the adventurers decided that they had explored enough for one day.
They returned to the upper temple and their familiar refuge in the dragon's hidden lair, beside the chamber of the three enchanted pools.
As they passed the pools, they observed that the strange snake-like water creatures were beginning to reform.
Someone remarked sadly that they would no longer have to warn Perin not to wander too close to the water weirds.
It was a small observation, but a painful one. The man who had guided them safely through so much danger would not be returning with them to his people.
The companions settled down to rest.
While the others slept, Ju-Mei entered a period of deep meditation. He sought a vision concerning Sakatha, the ancient Lizard King whose name haunted the ruins and who had long been an enemy of the Sansar clan.
Was Sakatha merely a figure of legend, or did he still dwell somewhere beneath the earth?
And if he lived, where might the adventurers find him?
In the morning, Ju-Mei announced that his meditation had revealed an answer.
Sakatha's lair lay deep beneath the temple, in a place described by these mysterious words:
"Past the doors you cannot find, down the steps you cannot climb, and across the River of Nothingness."
The companions considered this revelation.
"That sounds far."
Indeed it did.
The Last Exploration
Despite their wounds and weariness, the adventurers decided to make one final expedition into the underground complex.
Perhaps Ju-Mei's vision would make sense once they examined the remaining chambers. Perhaps they would discover a concealed staircase, a hidden passage, or some other clue pointing toward the Lizard King's lair.
Their search yielded several additional discoveries.
In one chamber they found a small shrine dedicated to some malevolent power. Elsewhere they discovered robes decorated with sinister symbols and a collection of books devoted to dark religious practices and forbidden lore.
These objects confirmed that the temple's occupants had been engaged in something more than ordinary raiding.
But the deeper mystery remained stubbornly elusive.
They found no doors beyond those they could readily identify.
They discovered no steps that could not easily be climbed.
And there was certainly no River of Nothingness.
Whatever Ju-Mei's vision meant, the adventurers were not yet prepared to unravel it.
With their wounds still healing, their magical strength depleted, and their guide dead, they finally agreed to abandon the search and return to the Sansar lands.
The Road Out of the Swamp
Leaving the ancient temple proved considerably easier than finding their way out of the surrounding wilderness.
Without Perin's guidance, the party struggled to retrace its route through the swamp.
The days were long and exhausting. Familiar landmarks proved elusive, and the marsh seemed determined to lead them in circles. Mud, stagnant water, and tangled vegetation slowed their progress.
The nights were stranger still.
From time to time, they heard distant voices echoing across the dark water. On several occasions, they glimpsed great fires burning somewhere beyond the trees.
Whether these belonged to surviving dragon-people, other inhabitants of the swamp, or forces they had not yet encountered, the adventurers could not determine.
They had little desire to investigate.
After four difficult days, they finally emerged from the marsh and returned to the grazing lands of the Sansar clan.
Their reception was warm, but their news was mixed.
They had slain a dragon, defeated numerous dragon-people, destroyed two powerful Lizard Lords, and penetrated the ancient temple from which the raids appeared to originate.
But they had also lost Perin.
The companions returned his belongings to his family, together with a share of the treasure recovered from the dragon's hoard. No amount of silver could compensate for his death, but they hoped the gift might provide some measure of comfort and security.
In the days that followed, Sansar Anca and the clan elders listened intently as the adventurers recounted their experiences.
They were heartened by the destruction of so many of the creatures who had terrorized their lands. The victories suggested that the enemy was not invincible and that the clan might yet reclaim its security.
But other parts of the account troubled them deeply.
The presence of powerful human spellcasters, the fiend summoned within the temple, the ancient shrine, and the mysterious prophecy all suggested that the raids were merely the visible part of a much older and stranger evil.
And the fate of those carried away from the Sansar lands remained unknown.
The adventurers had struck a formidable blow against the dragon-people, but they had not found Sakatha, nor discovered the true purpose of his ancient stronghold.
For now, the companions could rest among friends, far from the poisonous waters and hidden passages of the swamp.
Yet somewhere beneath the temple, beyond doors they could not find and steps they could not climb, the River of Nothingness still awaited them.
