The Death Knight's Squire (Finished!)

[dae mec]

Sylrila follows the sign to the cemetery. Her throat catches as she thinks of the poor boy, of all the poor children who are taken, never to be found again. And the presence of a cemetery, so close to the usual haunt of the Death Knight... she hopes it doesn't mean what she thinks it does. As she walks, Sylrila keeps one hand on her sword and her eyes open. She reaches out with her divine senses, searching for the presence of the undead she expects to feel.

 

[GinkyGotBack]

Slowly and with weapon at the ready, you make your way into the slightly disheveled looking cemetery... gravestones are crooked in places, but here and there are freshly placed flowers. At the far end of the cemetery, you see a large crypt, like a dome that has been cut in half. Ornate metal gates stand before a stone door. There is a plaque on the outside, but it is too far away to read.

With foreboding in the pit of your stomach, you edge forward into this haven of perished souls...

 

[dae mec]

Sylrila swallows. Her senses tell her that there's an undead being in the disturbed grave. She doesn't want to charge into the grave and run into another trap like before, but she can't ignore it, either. Making sure that her back is never to the grave, Sylrila skirts around carefully to the dome. She tries to speak a mental prayer to Tyr in her mind, but she's too focused on her surroundings (and her own tension) for it to work.

 

[GinkyGotBack]

You try to move stealthily towards the crypt, but the weight of your armor makes your footsteps heavy and loud and you cringe with every clinking noise that your chain mail makes. You can hear something from underground... as if someone is moving under there, turning in their grave! And a scream, faint... you get the distinct feeling that your presence has been noticed! Alas, nothing happens after.

You tread carefully through the gravestones, weaving between them and taking care not to disturb whatever sleeps beneath your feet. You are about 100 feet away from the crypt.

​

You walk slowly forward, primed for any surprises that might suddenly present themselves. As you near the crypt, you see that it is ornately carved, and also set into a solid bank of earth that sits behind it. It appears the crypt extends underground in some way. It doesn't take a dwarf to see that whoever this was constructed for was lavish in their tastes.

Above the door is a coat of arms with a small plaque set beneath. It reads: Together for all eternity, abiding peacefully in the Rays of Amaunator, the Family of-

Where the name of this family was presumably carved before, now the marble has been chipped away until unrecognizable. You can possibly see the top of an 'a' near the middle of what used to be the name, but that is all. You see the gates, and the double stone doors beyond are ever so slightly ajar. They appear open.

 

[dae mec]

A scream! Could that be Darek? Could the Knight be hiding out here? She doesn't know—she doesn't think that the knight's tomb would be so ornate... but she did sense undead. And she's looking for an undead knight. Sylrila has to at least try. She checks for traps by the gate and cautiously walks to the doors.

 

[GinkyGotBack]

You give it a reasonable look over, but decide that the entrance is not booby-trapped. Gingerly, you ease the gates open. The metal seems to be relatively rust-free and does not creak as you might have expected it would. Easing yourself within the gates, you grasp the handle of the left stone door and lean back. It swings smoothly out.

You move inside the door and into the cool silence of the crypt. A stone passage, well-paved with solid rock walls, extends ahead.

Creeping warily forward, you peer down the passageway, and see a chamber at the end. A brief inspection here reveals no traps, and you move forward, listening, watching your periphery, all your senses heightened.

You enter a large chamber, and on either side are marble plinths, four in all, each topped with a coffin. The air is stale and musty.

There is an exit on the far side of the room, and you can see it continues for a short way and then bends to the right.

Spoiler: Your Location

 

[GinkyGotBack]

The room is silent, and smells of decay. The four coffins are well kept though, and don't look especially old. The wood is of a high quality and amongst the musty smell there is also the aroma of laquer in the air, a sure sign of wealth. Whoever this dead family was, they were not short a gold piece or two. The exit on the far side leads into an open passage that continues and then bends right.

 

[dae mec]

She reaches out with her divine sense, fully expecting skeletons to burst out. No, nothing. After scanning the coffins, she continues onward into the open passage, following it around the bend. Hmm, there goes her theory of the tomb having tunnels that lead to the western patch. (Does it lead to the cave she saw earlier?) Sylrila plans on following it just a little more, and if it continues in the wrong direction, she'll head back the way she came.

 

[GinkyGotBack]

You proceed into the passageway and make your way towards the bend.

You edge forward, and fancy you hear something, from afar, far down the passage ahead. Your heart leaps at the sound and you freeze. But all falls silent again. Slowly you move forward again, gripping the handle of your weapon.

Spoiler: Your Location

 

[dae mec]

The sound spurs her to continue on just a little more, just to the entrance of the room. Sylrila sees what appears to be an altar. (This is the third: the monastery, the tree, and now this. Is Tyr trying to tell her something?) She approaches cautiously.

 

[GinkyGotBack]

As you pass the corner, you feel the ground drop about an inch underfoot, and hear a 'click' sound.

That can't be good.

Scything blades come swinging out of the walls towards you, but you manage to jump out of the way just in time. You feel the air from the razor-sharp edge as they swing, back and forward, like dual pendulums. Heart pounding, you stand and proceed towards the circular room which is now clearly visible ahead.

This room is perfectly circular, and unlike the last one, does not smell musty. There is a faint smell of incense in here, and at the other side of the room when where you entered, you can see the altar clear as day. Rubble is scattered across it, and at the floor at its base.

You move over to the altar and check out the rubble. It becomes obvious quite quickly from looking at these fragments, that a holy idol of some sort once stood here. It has been destroyed. Wondering what this could mean (or perhaps you already know), and seeing nothing else of interest in the room, you continue to the exit on the far side.

You hear that same sound again, much clearer than before; someone is in pain, groaning and pleading. It sounds like... like a boy. You breathe silently, steadying your nerves and move slowly forward, your mind surprisingly clear. As you approach the left bend ahead, the noises become even clearer... a low groaning, and underneath that, a growling sound. Then another sound - the chink of metal, the sound of armored feet across stone... Then a ragged, broken voice, speaking a two-word command: "Kneel, squire!"

 

[dae mec]

Sylrila takes in a deep breath. She closes her eyes, invokes Tyr's blessing and casts protection from evil and good. She knows this will likely come to violence, but she isn't going to begin with it. Not until Darek is out of danger. She doesn't know where he is in relation to the knight. That will be her first goal: keeping him safe. Punishment can come after. Sylrila strides in, hand by her sword but not yet drawn.

 

[GinkyGotBack]

As quietly as you can, you sidle around the corner... a diagonal passage continues ahead and opens into a room, which appears to be illuminated. You hear the voice again, little more than a growl shaped into words: "Look at me, cur! Look at me!" You take advantage of these words to make a few more steps, and then you have a view into the room. What you see stops your heart.

​

Seated on a large throne atop a dais is a gruesome-looking warrior. Even sitting down he appears tall; you reckon his height to be at least seven feet, probably taller. He is armored from head to toe, although his face and parts of his midriff are exposed. The armor is patched and rusted. In his hand he holds a huge sword, and he is glaring at the bound figure groveling before him. This figure has their back to you, but you notice the clothes of a noble. From his size, you judge this to be a teenage boy; likely Darek Brewmont. Which can only mean one thing: the big ugly guy on the throne is the Death Knight! And it looks as though you have arrived just in time - this appears to be the Squiring ceremony!

You feel a malevolent energy pulsing from the warrior. Watching, your mind races as you carefully consider your next move. Oddly, to his right is a brazier which emanates an unearthly blue light, casting an eerie pall over the huge warrior.

Suddenly, the Death Knight's bearing changes. He looks over the head of poor Darek and stares at you. "SO!" he booms, his rasping growling voice filling the chamber. "You've finally arrived. The great hero, come to rob me of my squire, eh?!" There is a brief pause, and then the creature breaks into a hollow, grating laugh that reverberates off the stone walls. Finally, he recomposes himself and stands, uttering, "Prepare to die, foolish knight!"

Spoiler: The Battle Map

 

[dae mec]

"I just want to bring him home," says Sylrila, straightening. She draws her sword. "This fight doesn't need to happen. Let me take Darek back to his family." She looks at him steadily, mind whirling. Part of her is judging the distance between the knight and Darek. The other is wondering what the brazier is, but the majority is preparing for the impending fight.

The words don't seem to work. She invokes Tyr—and for luck, Amaunator—and steps forward with her sword. Even as she makes her first attack, Sylrila already knows it won't connect. The angle's all wrong.

"Why do you need a squire?" she asks, hoping to find some answers... or at least distract him.

 

[GinkyGotBack]

The Death Knight parries your blade with ease, you can see how someone of his skill managed to butcher the town's guard all those years ago. "I will avenge my son and take the heads of the cowards who killed him! If I'm to set out, I must have a squire! I MUST!!" His words sound like they are well-rehearsed, lines repeated over and over to dozens of other children, and would-be heroes before. It is not uncommon for the minds of the undead to become warped and confused, forcing themselves to take the same actions over and holding the same grudges from life.

As he prepares to attack, the Death Knight pauses and smiles at you, a chilling sight to behold. Then, from his bony, decimated gut, a horrid laugh arises, filling the chamber and echoing all around. The air is laced with fear, and Darek Brewmont cowers into a corner, whimpering and covering his face. However, his horrendously terrifying cackling has no effect on you, in thanks to your Protection from Good and Evil spell!

Then, still laughing, he lashes out at you with his longsword, giving you a nasty slash on the arm!

Take 6 slashing damage.

 

[dae mec]

She feels no fear, only anger at the pain—and anger for Darek, forced to suffer for the sins of the past. It seems like there's no reasoning with the remnants of this knight. (Yes, she feels pity... but what drives her now isn't that.) But the wound is distracting enough—or the years of time have only dulled the knight's mind, not his skills—because her second attack doesn't connect either.

 

[GinkyGotBack]

Your swords clash as he blocks yet another of your attacks. You stare into each other's eyes before you separate, and all you can see is hate and suffering. "Damn you, interloper!" the Death Knight roars. "You will not rob me of my squire, as those wretches robbed me of my boy so long ago!" With a savage roar, he quickly moves forward to attack once more, his longsword arcing towards you, the undead warrior seemingly out of his mind with rage.

But alas, in his mindless fury, his swing is easily blocked by your shield.

 

[dae mec]

"You're robbing two parents of their child!" she snaps. "The poor boy lost his mother already. His grandparents raised him after their daughter's death, and you're going to steal yet another child from them?"

She slashes forward again, and her blade connecting, but not deeply. Sylrila's righteous indignation is truly righteous, though, because she calls upon the power of Tyr and strikes with radiant light. He will not stop her from saving this child. The knight's decades-long shroud of terror ends here!

 

[GinkyGotBack]

The Death Knight howls in pain as the holy fire burns over the wound where he'd been cut. It looks to have done quite the number on him, as he begins to pant and wince as he raises his sword again. Whether this is just another remnant of a time where he still drew breath, you have no way of knowing. He pauses at your words for a moment, but the undead fervor that willed his body to move before overcomes him and frothing like some crazed animal, the Death Knight harnesses his rage once more and attacks!

His efforts are fruitless as you knock his blade aside with your own, flipping the tables and parrying him.

 

[dae mec]

Sylrila parries, but her counterattack is fruitless. Her sword bounces off his armor, and she steps back, trying to get a little space. She doesn't expect her words to work, but he did pause. Maybe she could use that to her advantage.

"Is this what your son would want? Is this what you would want? Look at yourself!" she demands to the presence that may or may not be in there. "You were a knight! You've become the kind of creature that knights hunt down. Let us go!"

 

[GinkyGotBack]

"SILENCE!!" he roars, landing a sudden blow on you as your words stir feelings of true, remorseful anger within him. Raising his longsword, he plunges it deep into your gut, twisting the blade as he begins to push it deeper, inch by bloody inch. "You who do not know of loss could never understand! I will share with you a pain that goes beyond the physical! I will wrack your mind with such sadness and emptiness, and even after that you could never begin to feel what I feel!"

Take a whopping 11 Slashing damage.

 

[dae mec]

Sylrila staggers backwards, a hand clasped over her wound. It's difficult to bring the state of mind needed to heal it. Lord Tyr, please... she thinks. Let me serve. I know the path you want for me. Don't cut it short before I can decide. Her hand grows warm, and she feels the flesh start to knit together.

"I don't know how it feels," she wheezes. "You're right. And your loss is deep and old and that time won't do anything for it. I don't know how that feels," she repeats. Sylrila raises her shaking sword arm and points it to Darek. "But his parents know. Don't do this."

Lord Amaunator, you showed me your temple and your broken shrine. Let me spare this place from more defilement.

She plants her feet and raises her shield.

 

[GinkyGotBack]

"His parents be damned! It was people like them that watched idly as I hanged, choking out my last breath!" He swings his sword again, bringing it across your face, leaving a nasty slash across the bridge of your nose. "You can call upon your Oath and your Gods all you like, but they'll abandon you, just as they did me and my boy!"

Take a much more modest 4 Slashing damage.

 

[dae mec]

Blood gets in her eyes, and her attack goes wild as she blinks it away.

"They might," she says angrily. "But that doesn't mean I'll abandon Darek! What happened to you was wrong. What you're doing won't make it better." She raies her sword and prepares for his attack. "Don't you want to join your son? Don't you want to rest? You've been apart for so long. Please."

 

[GinkyGotBack]

"I'll rest when those cutthroats have been given a taste of their own medicine. And not a second before." The Death Knight lands another perilous blow, slashing at your leg, which is almost enough to bring you down to your knees. "Denounce your Gods, forsake your Oath, leave your weapon and run with your tail between your legs," he offers, raising his blade above his head for the final strike, "And I may just let you live, to spread the tale of the hated Death Knight and to dissuade any other foolish would-be 'heroes' from entering my forest!"

Take 6 Slashing damage.