Soon the Lord of Evil stood guised in his ancient form while the six of greatest standing performed their duties. A large pool of inky blackness rippled and shimmered, and before his eyes there swam the scene he desired to view.
Chapter 9
Cord muttered an obscenity as a loose rock bruised and abraded his fingers. "This is no way to treat the hands of a skilled artist," he continued as Deirdre gave him a quizzical look.
It was nearly noon, and the sun was hot. Gord, for one, was tired, but the work had to go on. They had discovered signs of the disturbance – the recent disturbance – of a three-tiered structure. This building stood on a low mound in about the center of the peninsula, so overgrown that from any distance it appeared to be nothing more than a small hill. Up close it was revealed as a large building, probably a temple of some sort. Part of the building's north face had been collapsed by the intruders, who then used a few small plants and much dead brush to hide the fact from casual observation. Of course, Gord and his group had easily noted the tampering once they were close enough to realize the building was there. Now all save the party's sentries were working to clear away the landslide to find what lay beyond.
Deirdre and Incosee levered out a large stone block, allowing gravity to clear it once it was free of the rubble. It rolled and bumped down the hillside, landing amidst the other debris they had sent the same way. Moon gave a shout, for although a shower of smaller rocks and bits of broken stone had cascaded into the place the squared-off block had been, a small opening was visible beyond. They had uncovered the entrance to the place at last!
"Don't stand and gape, Gord!" shouted Deirdre. "Lend a hand here, and we'll soon find what's within!" Matching her enthusiastic urging with action, the girl began to clear rubble away from the small opening with gusto. The head-sized chunks of building stone fairly flew behind her in a stream as she grabbed and pitched them between her legs. Gord and Incosee joined in, and after about a quarter-hour they were replaced by Moon, Patrick, and Blonk. Then the task was taken up by the three novice druids, Grover, Lorman, and Ash.
The whole operation was supervised by Curley Greenleaf s watchful eye – watching amid jibes about laziness and letting others do the real work. Recalling the cairn and the cataboligne demon, Curley simply ignored all comments and demanded that the opening be large enough for at least two persons to pass through easily with no danger of further block* age from rubble above. The third shift finished the task, and the guards were called in. Soon Gellor, Jokotai, and Oscar were gathered with the others, and the adventurers devised a plan.
The half-elven druid cast an illusion over the place so that it appeared to be a thick stand of trees. Unless they actually entered, observers would see nothing else, for the dweomer hid the torn vegetation and the jumble of material they had cleared from the temple's entrance. Curley Greenleaf, Gellor, and Gord would precede the rest into the building, for all three had ability to see in the blackness of the place without benefit of light. Blonk, Jokotai, and the three aspirants would remain behind to guard the entrance and watch for possible enemies. Oscar, Deirdre, and Incosee would follow with Pa-trick and Moon bearing lanterns to illuminate their way, after giving the three advance members of the group sufficient time to get well ahead of them. If the scouting group discovered any trouble, they would send word back immediately, and whatever action was called for could then be taken. To assure easy communication with the rear guard, the three aspiring druids would be strung out in a line after the center group, each within calling distance of the next, so that information could be passed quickly in a hushed voice a hundred feet to or from the entrance, if the need arose.
The advance party saw signs of disturbance in the corridor. A large group had passed through the entry and into the building not many days before. Gellor didn't like this at all, nor did Curley, but there was nothing to do but press on and learn what these prior entrants had done. The place was a maze, but Gellor, with his strange, enchanted "eye" in place, was able to follow the path of the preceding group without difficulty, noting where they had backtracked and thus enabling his group to avoid unnecessary detours. As planned, the three left signs on the walls whenever they reached a place where two or more choices were possible. Gord used his magical dagger to chisel the guide marks into the temple's stone walls.
Eventually they reached a square chamber in the center of the second tier of the structure, a place that could be entered only by means of a secret stair leading down from the partially collapsed upper level of the temple. The chamber was scarred by fire and lightning, its contents were strewn in a litter of broken and burned parts, and several corpses made the air foul.
"There is no magic here!" exclaimed Gellor. "Yet there remains a powerful and dark aura surrounding that great center block," he said, pointing at what was undoubtedly an altar stone.
The three moved to inspect the object closely. Before they had completed their work, the yellow glow of flaming lanterns filled the chamber as Deirdre, Oscar, and the others in the center group joined them. The light made the examination much easier for Gord. They were able to determine that something supernatural had been here, and had been destroyed. The outline of some monstrous creatures was etched on the stone floor in three places, indicating that at least that number of the things had been destroyed by those who had entered before.
"Guardian daemons," Gellor commented under his breath as he observed the three smirches.
"Here, look at these bodies!" Gord called. He pointed to the remains of creatures of more usual sort – four dead humans, charred by fire but discernible as men nonetheless. There were also two other humans, one disemboweled, the other dismembered. There were broken weapons and some other equipment scattered about also.
"No telling who they were,” commented Greenleaf, peering at the remains. "From the look of it they served no master and were probably nothing other than free adventurers or mercenaries."
"I think not, my friend," called Gellor. The bard had been searching the edges and corners of the chamber, and he stepped back into the pool of light shed by the lanterns with several objects in his hand. "Look here. This is certainly a magicked arrow of elven sort, and this bow is likewise one of elvish manufacture. Now this…" he added, placing a hammer among the rest, "… this is unquestionably made for and sized to dwarven hands. I can't say positively, but I believe that there are signs of a gnome's presence as well. What does this mean to you?"
"Strange weapons for a band of mercenaries," noted Deirdre.
"Exactly," Gellor said, nodding. "Not to mention that their wielders were probably demi-humans. Still, these are the only traces that the invaders of this ancient temple were other than human adventurers – I thought that work blocking the entrance showed unusual skill."
"I follow your line of reasoning, Gellor," Curley said, looking from the assortment of evidence to the surrounding litter. "Oscar, see what you can discover about what prize those daemons warded while I find if there is more to support our one-eyed detective's deductions."
While those two were going about their respective tasks, the others assisted Gellor in minutely searching the whole place once again, being careful to avoid getting in the druid's way. Eventually the whole was done. The magic-user could discover little more than what Gellor had already found. Something powerful had been here, and a bit of its aura remained, intermixed with the malign essence of the altar stone. All concluded that the object protected by this place and its guardian daemons had probably been the portion of the artifact that they sought.