Rescue of the Red Lord
451TuDe2417
As the guardian that had been corrupted or coerced by the Forgotten One lay behind them, defeated in the game that they spun to catch the exhausted party, the party stood before the entrance to the final chamber. After having successfully navigated the trials and defeated the guardian constructs they could not but feel a wave of apprehension as there had been corruption in this little challenge they had been set by the guardians of the crypt. But they had no doubt that before them lay something of the Red Lord, perhaps a clue to where he next lay.
The candle flickered weakly but still brighter than when they they had found it in the Blank Citadel but its dwindling life had brought a sullen mood to Elara and the party as it appears that they were no closer to fixing their reputation or freeing the Red Lord. As the heavy stone door swings open, the air grows colder, and a foreboding cold floods forward from the room beyond them. The chamber before them was vast, easily the size of a audience chamber for the rich or royal and its walls lined with crumbling gold inlay. Items, armour and weapons lay on the dozens of shelves, tables and stands around the room and more than one shone with from the magic that they held within them
The floor is strewn with treasures and the remains of what would have been a magnificent treasure horde, but the parties breath catches in their throat as the clank of a series of chains in the middle of the room draws their eyes eyes to the centre of the room. There, suspended on black oily chains and kneeling prone on the floor is a giant-sized man dressed in a tattered red cloak.
It is the Red Lord.
His breath is weak and without the occasional rattle of the chain in response to his infrequent breathing one would be forgiven for thinking it a statue of a giant. Easily as tall as a frost giant kneeling at fifteen feet tall, twenty one feet when standing the deity barely registered their presence as it struggled to remain suspended by the chains attached to the roof.
As the party decide what to do they gain more understanding of what lays around them the candle flickers brightly for a moment, illuminating the tears on Elara’s face. ‘My lord…’ she whispers as she slowly, and shakily, steps forward towards her deity. As the party join the cleric in her approach, the Red Lord’s eyes flicker open, and his unsteady gaze meets them. Lifting his head higher with visible effort he looks at the party with a mixture of hope and desperation. His voice, though weak, carries a tone of someone who has been alone for an eon.
‘You… have come. I feared all hope was lost. The Forgotten’s power was more than I thought it would be. It appears that hope has lost and that the world believes in cruel justice more than mercy and forgiveness. The magic it binds me here and without my strength, I am unable to break free myself.’ his voice carries the warmth of an open hearth and a meal with friends. As he speaks the flame on the Sacred candle burns brighter revealing the sparkle of several weapons in the room.
It took a few moments and some quick thinking to find ways for them to break through the magical chains that sapped his strength but the chains gave eventually and the Red Lord caught himself as his full weight landed on his knees. As soon as the manacles crumbled into dust around his wrists the Red Candle flared brighter and the party knew what to do.
As the Red Candle is brought closer to the Red Lord, its flame burns brighter casting a warm, comforting light throughout the chamber. The moment Elara placed the candle in the Red Lords massive hand a surge of energy courses through his body. The Red Lord’s eyes snapped open, and the room fills with a radiant glow as the Red Candle’s magic intertwines with the Red Lord’s essence. His strength returns, and he slowly rises to his feet, towering over the party his eyes focusing with a renewed sense of purpose. A god amongst men, a singular force of hope against the force that made the world think he had died.
‘You have done well, my friends. The Forgotten’s grasp on me is broken, but I fear that we have not the time to celebrate and so we must not linger. There is still much to be done as we have a world to convince that I have returned. Though I fear something was taken from me as I was stripped from my powers by the Forgotten’s plot.’ a moment of sadness and longing crossed his eyes. ‘But, isolation and loneliness is not something I can abide and so we must fight regardless of the forces against us.’
With the Red Lord now restored, the party turn to leave the chamber, the red lord calling forth some of his remaining magic to reduce in size to one quarter his size. The path they took to reach this place was cleared as they went through it once but they are sure that they were lucky when they passed through once, it wasn’t easy to get this far but there would be traps, dangers and opponents waiting for them on the way back. The Forgotten One would not let the Red Lord escape unharmed and so surely the deity would have laid more traps for them.
After a tense journey through the crypt, the party finally emerge into the light of dawn break. The Red Lord stands tall, his presence a beacon of hope. The forest around the party seems to come alive as the trickster spirits celebrating the parties victory with joyous laughter and playful antics as they prance around the feet of the Red Lord who returns to his normal size and stretches as he breathes in deep.
However the party still has a way to go yet. The Red Lord isn’t back to his full strength and they still have some ways to go before they can not only clear their name but restore order to things. The Forgotten One would not let its plan be so readily dashed and they would surely try to silence the Red Lord while he was vulnerable. But first, a stop by Felmore to the church of the found deity and the revelation of Brother Colin and his betrayal was long overdue.