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Chapter 29 - The Golem in the Garden


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#1 Guest_Clovis_*

Posted 28 July 2005 - 04:07 AM

The stone stairwell behind the halflings’ lair was built along the sides of a large metal shaft that stretched up into the darkness. From the size and shape of it, it seemed reasonable this was one of the shafts the lift rooms used.

“We have some climbing ahead of us” Theodoric said.

“You’ll not hear me complaining” Valygar growled. “Anything is better than that infernal lift that almost killed us.”

The steps were narrow and in poor repair, making climbing them treacherous. Neracer was soon breathing hard and sweating from the exertion and from glimpses of the perilous drop should he lose his footing.

“I really need to get my hands on a flying carpet”, he puffed.

The party passed several metal lift doors during their climb, doors that would not open and doors that were just a bit out of reach from the staircase. Finally, they spotted an open door just a couple flights up. The staircase crumbled completely just a few feet beyond the opening.

“That will be as far as we go” Theodoric announced.

One by one they stepped from the shaft into a huge chamber. One by one they raised eyebrows.

“It seems the wizard has still more surprises for us” Yoshimo observed dryly.



*



There was again a bit of the odd mixing of familiar stoneworks and exotic metal, at least near the lift door and the perimeter of the room. The rest of the cavernous chamber was occupied by a lush, if badly overgrown, garden. Plants of every imaginable variety flourished side by side. Light came from glass panels in the ceiling high above, and water came from a gentle stream than ran through the garden. In the center of the room stood a statue-like stone golem upon a small pedestal. The golem was overgrown with vines and moss, and did not move. At the far end of the garden was a short passage with a large metal door at its end.


“Any thoughts?” Theodoric asked, addressing the entire party.

Yoshimo and Minsc shrugged. Valygar too said nothing, though he looked at the scene with great suspicion.

“M-maybe it’s some sort of farm?” Aerie asked, pointing to several fruit-bearing trees and plants. “For the wizard to grow food?”

“Don’t be stupid, girl!” snapped Jaheira. “There are but a handful of edible plants scattered about.”

Aerie flushed scarlet and closed her mouth.

“Lavok is likely to have become undead long ago, though he may use it to help feed his minions” Theodoric added gently, trying to ease the sting a bit. Easy, Jaheira.

“Well” Neracer said, looking about. “I don’t know about food, but there are some valuable crops here, for a mage. Those purplish weeds over there – that’s mugwort. Good for warding spells. And, unless I miss my guess, those bushes over there are mondragora.”

Jaheira snapped her head about, now intensely focused on the flora. “Yes…I see several healing plants. Chamomile, elderberry, kudzu vine.”

“So it’s an…apothecary of some sort?” Valygar asked.

“That would make sense” Neracer agreed. “Though there are many plants here I do not recognize.”

“Nor do I” added Jaheira. “I believe many of them are not native to Faerun.”


“That’s certainly possible” Neracer agreed, rather enthusiastically. “Why, with all the traveling the sphere has surely done, there could be any number of unique specimens that…”

Yoshimo cleared his throat. “Perhaps this discussion is best delayed until after we have found our quarry?”

“Er, yes. I, ah, suppose it would be at that” Neracer mumbled, a bit pink in the cheeks.

Theodoric looked at the golem. “It doesn’t look like that’s moved in some time. I wonder if it is the garden’s caretaker?”

“Or its guardian” Valygar countered.

“Caretaker or guardian, I like it right where it is” Yoshimo muttered.

Theodoric eyed the golem warily and the passage beyond it. He then looked back at where they had come from.

“Well, unless anyone is game for heading back down the stairs right now, I suggest we explore this area to see what we can discover. Valygar?”

Valygar shrugged. “One danger is likely to be as great as another in this place. None of us will be safe for a moment’s time until we have found Lavok.”

Is he always this cheerful? wondered Neracer.



*



The party carefully advanced into the garden, poking about a bit. Minsc and Valygar found signs the halflings they’d fought had been here a number of times. The tangled grasses were matted down in a rough path leading from the shaft opening to several of the fruit trees. The halflings had also visited recently, judging from the fecal droppings they had left in and along the path. The tracks went as far as a pear tree a dozen yards inside the garden.

“Curious that the creatures did not travel beyond this point” Theodoric noted. “There is more food over there.” He pointed to a cluster of berry bushes in another part of the garden.

“Perhaps the berries are poisonous” suggested Yoshimo. “Or maybe they simply do not care for the taste of them.”

“Or maybe there’s something in the garden they fear” Jaheira said, scowling. “It is difficult to tell, but I have a sense that something is out of balance here.”

Theodoric considered whether he should ask Jaheira for specifics, but decided against it. Whatever had happened back at the halfling’s lair was clearly still affecting her.

Best to give you some space, my friend. For now.

“Valygar” Theodoric said. “I’d like you and Minsc to scout around a bit. See if there’s anything more than weeds and flowers about.”

“Boo says that is a fine idea!” beamed Minsc. “Together we will find where the thorny bushes of evil hide and give them a good pruning!”

Valygar gave Theodoric a sidelong look but went with Minsc without further comment. The two rangers began weaving through the foliage, making suspicious glances here and inspecting plants there. Theodoric paced a bit as they did so. He disliked sending others ahead while he stood in the rear. He was no ranger, however, and knew he would just get in their way.



*


A short time later, the two men had worked their way a short distance into the garden, to a large cluster of mossy rocks not far from the golem. The men stopped, obviously having discovered something of interest.

“Theodoric” called out Valygar. “We have found something!”

“What?” the paladin called back.

“We are not the first ones to visit this place, it appears. We have found a very old camp…and several bodies.”

Aerie drew in a sharp breath but bit her lip before saying anything. Likely her words would have matched the reactions of her fellow adventurers.



*



Following Valygar and Minsc’s steps, the rangers led them to the campsite they had discovered. It was quite old, and had obviously been makeshift at best. The skeletal remains of three people lay about the area. The moldering bones had not been disturbed in a long time, though at some point several of them had been broken or crushed. The corpses’ armor was in a similar state, the ornate breastplates and beautifully crested helms battered and rent in many places. Some of the damage looked to have been caused by familiar weapons. Some did not. Theodoric absently rubbed his recently wounded thigh.

“Whoever these people were, their end was a violent one” he said grimly.

Yoshimo spied several packs and bags piled up near the rocks. “It would appear some of their equipment is still present.”

“Perhaps we will find some clue to who these people are, then.”

A quick search turned up a number of mundane adventuring items – iron rations, climbing rope, and so on. Most of it had long since rotted away as badly as the leather packs themselves. At the bottom of the pile, however, the party made a pair of discoveries. There was a small bag, made of some slick, flexible material. It had a number of objects in it. And next to that were the tattered remains of a journal.

“Look!” Theodoric said, pointing to the brittle, crumbling pages. “There may be the answers we seek.”

Valygar knelt down and skimmed a few of the pages. “It’s not in Common” he said. “I can’t read it.”

“It looks like Elvish” Neracer observed. “Well, sort of.”

“Jaheira, Aerie?” asked Theodoric.

The two women took turns looking at the writing. Jaheira spoke first.

“It is Elvish, though the dialect is… odd. It will take some time to translate it.”

“Okay, see what you can do.

“I’ll take a look at this” Neracer said, holding up the bag next to the journal.

“Fine. Minsc and Yoshimo, I want you to scout about the campsite a bit. But be careful. I’ve had enough surprises for one day.”


*


Neracer found a spot by himself, carefully opening the bag and laying out its contents.

First he withdrew a pair of flexible metal cards. They were similar to the one he had used to activate the lift. These bore different markings, however. One had a yellow ovoid symbol instead of the more angular purple rune seen on the first card. The other had an asymmetrical green character.

In the bag were also several small gourd-like objects. Each was shaped to fit a man’s grip, and made of the same white shell material that lined the passage walls. At the top of each gourd was a button, and a narrow spout extended from the front of the grip. Engraved along the side of the device was a small yellow symbol identical to the one on the metal card, and more of the strange writing like they’d seen elsewhere in the ship.

At the bottom of the bag was clearly a weapon of some sort. It resembled a large throwing dart more than anything else. It was made of sleek gray metal, with spiral grooves along its length and metal fletchings attached at the back end. A short, thick metal pin was inserted in both ends, each attached to a metal ring. Neracer handled it gently, noting the prominent red symbol on the nose of the weapon, along with some smaller writing.

Thinking for a long moment, he dug into his pack and pulled out the wand device he had recovered from the halfling chieftain earlier. He compared the writing on it to that on the dart.

“Interesting” he murmured.



*



“Be careful, child!” Jaheira admonished. “These pages may be our only clue to surviving this ordeal.”

“B-but I didn’t even touch them!” Aerie squeaked. “I mean, I wasn’t going to-”

“Never mind, child. Just be careful!” Jaheira said sharply.

Aerie swallowed hard and kept her hands to herself, allowing the druid to lay out the tattered parchments. She focused on the unusual writing, trying her best not to provoke Jaheira again.

“T-t-this looks very old” she stammered out.

“Of course it is old, child” Jaheira said testily, “you can see the pages are faded and crumbling –”

“N-no n-not that” Aerie said. “I m-meant the writing. The style, I mean.”

Jaheira scowled at the words, then slowly nodded. “You may be correct, girl. There is some similarity to our ancestor’s language.”

Aerie swallowed again, grateful she had been right about something for a change.



*



Theodoric paced about the campsite, feeling useless. Inaction did not become a paladin.

Would that there was a foe to face here! he grumbled silently. In truth, there was a foe, in a sense. The sphere had presented them with yet another mystery, one that had to be solved. But the solution did not require force of arms, or holy purpose. At least not yet Theodoric said to himself.

Valygar was moving from corpse to corpse, studying the bones and gear carefully.

“Do you recognize anything?” Theodoric asked absently.

Valygar shrugged. “The crest and design of the armor is unfamiliar. Whoever they were, they were not Corthalas.” Valygar went over to a corpse that was apart from the others. “But I can tell you this one died before the others.”

“What’s that?” asked Theodoric.

The ranger pointed to the sets of bones. It was apart from the others, and a large, rectangular shield lay beneath it.

“This warrior fell before his comrades did” he repeated.

“Really? How can you tell?” asked Neracer. The illusionist had finished his inspection of the recovered artifacts, and was coming over from his spot. Valygar made a sour face and answered the mage in curt, clipped tones.

“His remains lie on top of his shield. I saw such things when I was a scout in the army.”

“Of course” agreed Theodoric. “They bestowed honor upon a fallen comrade. This says much about who these people were.”

“Hmm, could be” Neracer mused, walking over to the pile of bones. Reaching down, he unceremoniously pulled the large shield out from under them.

“What are you doing?!?” Valygar snarled in disgust.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Neracer replied. “I’m taking this shield.”

“Bad enough you use magic, you rob graves too?” Valygar’s voice did not go up, but took on a cold, menacing tone.

“In case you hadn’t noticed” Neracer said sarcastically, “we’re in a pretty bad spot right now. This shield” Neracer held up the shield. “This shield looks to be enchanted. I don’t think we can afford to pass up anything that might help us.”

Valygar glanced furiously over at Theodoric. I’d better put a stop to this before it gets any worse the paladin said to himself. Theodoric raised a hand.

“Ah, it is true that we must make use of what equipment we find” he said, diplomatically. “But we must never forget to show the fallen proper respect.”

Neither man seemed particularly mollified, but both men nodded. “I’m sorry” Neracer added, setting the shield aside. He quietly placed the bones back into their original position. When he was done, he excused himself and again sat away from the others, examining the shield.

Theodoric knelt before the remains and made a quick prayer of thanks to the fallen warrior’s spirit in the name of Torm and Lathander. Valygar watched coolly, saying nothing.

“You are a strange one, Theodoric” he said in a low voice after the paladin had finished.

“Why do you say that, Valygar?”

Valygar motioned towards Neracer. “You seem to be a man of character, yet you tolerate that mage’s presence among you.”

“Valygar, I know you have cause to dislike mages, but -”

“It is more than that, Theodoric. There is something odd about him I do not trust.”

“I admit he is a bit secretive, and is not particularly forthcoming at times. But he has proven himself in battle at my side.”

Valygar shrugged. “Perhaps my obsession with finding Lavok has colored my judgment. Pay me no heed, Theodoric.”

A short time later Neracer determined the shield he’d examined as magical. He handed it to Theodoric.

“It has fairly light enchantment, but it should give you good protection” he said. “Especially from arrows and the like.”

“Thank you” Theodoric said, hefting the large shield. Valygar watched from the corner of his eyes, but said nothing.



*



Minsc and Yoshimo reported back a few minutes later. From their expressions, he could see something was wrong.

“Someone has taken great pains to place all manner of stupid mousetrap in this place” Yoshimo growled, holding up a vine-like snare. "This nearly broke my ankle.”

“Well, that would explain why the halflings wouldn’t venture forth into the garden” Theodoric observed. “Minsc, did you find anything unusual?”

“Boo is not confident everything is as it seems” the Rashemani said warily.

“What do you mean?”

“Minsc cannot explain it any better than that. Minsc tries to understand, but sometimes Boo talks over Minsc’s head.”

“Er, well done anyway, Minsc” Theodoric replied. “Better to be on guard, at least.”



*



Jaheira and Aerie set the last of the journal entries aside and rejoined the party a few moments later. “We have discovered who these knights were, Theodoric” Jaheira stated plainly.

“Knights? They were of an Order?”

Jaheira nodded. “Their leader, she spoke of this.”

“The Knights of S-Solamnia” Aerie added.

“So-lamnia?” Theodoric puzzled.

“Some place other than Faerun, I am sure” Jaheira interjected, taking control of the conversation back from Aerie. “Reyna, the leader, indicated they had somehow become trapped in the sphere.”

“Did she say how long ago?”

“Not by any calendar of the Realms. Her later writings ramble, as if despair or madness had begun to take hold of her.”

“Being trapped in this damnable place long enough would do that to anyone” Valygar muttered.

“Is there anything that could help us?” Theodoric asked. “To find Lavok, or how to navigate through the sphere?”

Aerie made to speak up then caught her tongue. “Do not keep Theodoric waiting, child!” Jaheira snapped.

“Well, w-we did find a message on the back cover of the journal” she said. “She – I mean, Reyna, wrote ‘Golem, Green, Freedom.’”

“That’s all?”

“She wrote it in blood” Jaheira added. “She may not have had time to write anything more.”

“Golem, Green, Freedom” Theodoric repeated, unable to make sense of the words. ‘What could that mean?”

“It may be the golem is our means of escaping this level” Jaheira suggested. “As the sewer golem was in Irenicus’ dungeon.”

“Assuming this ‘Reyna’ was correct in her assumptions” Yoshimo pointed out. “She does not seem to have fared too well.”

“What did she mean by ‘green’, I wonder?” Theodoric mused.

Neracer fished out the green metal card from the bag. “Do you suppose she meant this?”

“Oh no, we’re not fooling with those things again!” Valygar growled.

“If this card controls the golem, ‘fooling with it’ may be the only way to get out of here” Neracer replied evenly.

“I’m a bit reluctant to test that theory, Neracer” admitted Theodoric. “We have no way of knowing if that is what the writings meant, or what could happen.”

“Well” began Neracer. “I admit I’m just guessing here. But I think we should find out what this card is for one way or the other. I believe I am starting to make some sense of this place. At least the significance of these colored symbols.”

“Significance? What are you talking about?” Valygar asked, now more puzzled than cross.

Theodoric could see the wheels turning in the mage’s mind. “What have you discovered, Neracer?”

Neracer reopened the bag and laid the contents out on the ground, grouping the items by the color of the symbol. He pointed to the items.

“Each of the colored symbols on the wardstone cards, and on the devices we have recovered, appears to be an identifying marker, a way to categorize things, if you will. For instance, the wand the halfling chieftain used on you, Theodoric, and this ‘dart’ both have a red octagonal symbol on it. I believe the red symbol is used to identify weaponry. See how the smaller writing on each device is different? Perhaps that explains a device’s specific function.”

“What about the other artifacts we have uncovered?”

“I’m not sure” Neracer admitted. “I’m guessing, guessing mind you, that the green wardstone is somehow affiliated with the gardens themselves. The purple card we found earlier was in a bag of tools, though I am at a loss to tell you what kind of tools they were.”

“How does any of this help us?” Valygar interrupted, growing impatient with the illusionist.

“It doesn’t, at least not yet. But it may help us to make some sense of our surroundings.” Neracer held up one of the gourd-like objects. “These devices have the same yellow symbol as this metal card. If we can determine what the yellow symbol indicates, we may be able to determine the general purpose of the device, and any like it.”

“This is troubling” Theodoric frowned. “Why would Lavok do such a thing?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps it is a means to categorize all of his supplies. I suspect not everything here is Lavok’s creation. If the planar sphere truly has been visiting different worlds and realities for over five centuries, there’s no telling what sort of things he was been able to acquire. Not to mention make use of.” Neracer let the last sentence hang in the air meaningfully.

“Which makes it important for us to know what these devices do” finished Valygar, nodding slowly. Grudgingly, he added “I see what you are getting at, wizard.”

Neracer gave the ranger a faint appreciative smile. “That was my thought too, Valygar. We saw what that wand did to Theodoric. I figure we’d better learn as much as we can about the things we find here.”


“This is all quite interesting” Yoshimo interrupted, in a tone that suggested it was anything but interesting to the thief. “But what do we do right now?”

Theodoric thought for a moment.

“I am loath to activate the golem without knowing what will happen” he said. “Yoshimo, do you think you can lead us past the snares?”

“It will take some time, but I believe so.”

“Then we’ll try it on our own, first” the paladin said.



*



The party moved forward slowly, giving Yoshimo ample time to check for traps. He found several snares, about half of them still in working condition.

“These have been here a long time” he muttered, prying out a stake with his dagger.

While waiting for Yoshimo to complete his task, Aerie caught scent of a fragrance. It asserted itself over the many scents in the garden, yet remained alluring. She glanced about and spotted a small bunch of purple-yellow flowers in an open patch of grass. The blooms were tiny relative to their stalks, and seemed to be wet with fluid of some sort. The scent was strong now in Aerie’s nose, almost miasmatic.

“Those flowers – they’re so strange” Aerie thought aloud. “They smell wonderful though, don’t they?”

“Eh?” said Minsc, looking over his shoulder. “Ah, Boo says they smell very nice. Would little Aerie like to have one?”

“Oh! There’s no need, really” Aerie said, shaking her head to clear it. “My mind must have been wandering.”

“Minsc does not mind” he replied cheerfully, ambling over to the flowers. “A pretty elf should have things that smell nice.” Aerie blushed a bit.

Yoshimo looked up from the snare he was disabling. “Strange” he said to Theodoric, who was standing nearby. “I saw those same flowers before, but not here. They were over –” Yoshimo pointed to the spot he’d seen the flowers. There was nothing but grass there now.

Minsc reached down to pluck a few of the flowers. The flowers twitched when his hand came near.

“Minsc, look out!” Yoshimo shouted, scrambling to his feet.

The ground around Minsc exploded and rose up around him. The big Rashemani's reflexes did not fail him as he leapt away, nearly clearing the danger.

“MINSC!” shouted Theodoric.

The earth surrounding Minsc shook violently and fell away, revealing the flat, leathery body of a huge, vaguely manta-like creature. It had wrapped itself around the ranger's lower half, and was quickly drawing the rest of him in.

Theodoric and Valygar grabbed Minsc by the arms and pulled with all their strength, forcing the creature’s grip slightly. Yoshimo grabbed Minsc under the arms and added his strength. The creature responded by tightening its grip.

“Jaheira, Aerie!” Valygar shouted, his arms shaking with effort. “We need your help!”

Jaheira instantly understood the situation and rammed her staff into an opening in the creature's folds. Aerie followed suit.

“Use your staff as a wedge!” Jaheira yelled. “Force the creature open, child!”

Using the leverage of their staves, the two women pried the creature just a bit farther, enough that Minsc was able to wriggle free. Minsc whipped out his greatsword and drove it straight through the creature, pinning it helplessly against the ground. The rest of the part drew weapons and quickly slaughtered the creature.


“What *was* that thing?!?” Theodoric demanded. “One of the wizard’s creations?”

“It’s possible” Valygar said. “It’s certainly vile enough.”

“Who the hell cares where it came from?” Neracer said, wiping greenish goo from his blade. “The question is, are there any more of them out there?”

The party exchanged glances. The huge garden looked quite a bit more sinister than it had moments earlier.

“Maybe we should try the golem after all?” suggested Yoshimo.

“Valygar?” Theodoric asked. “Any objections?”

“Plenty, but I’ll abide by your decision” the ranger replied.



*



With the rest of the party just a few feet behind him, Neracer inspected the golem. A pair of softly glowing fire agate gems had been set into its face as eyes. Around its waist was a belt with a large pouch, made of the same slick material as the bag recovered from the campsite. In it was a number of mundane looking agricultural implements. Vines and moss covered much of the golem’s body. A particularly thick layer of moss on the golem’s chest nearly obscured a carved design. Neracer spotted it, and pulled several large clumps of the moss away, nervously eyeing the golem for signs of life the entire time. Neracer completed the task and took a couple of steps back.

The design had been painted at one time, judging from the flecks of green on it. Even without the paint, however, the odd shape was easily identified. Neracer pulled out the green metal card and compared it to the carving.

“Looks like Reyna was on to something” he announced to no one in particular. “Theodoric, shall I try to activate the golem?”

“Alright” Theodoric said, hoping he wasn’t about to see a repeat of the lift misadventure.


Neracer held the card close to the golem. Its agate eyes brightened and with a rumble it golem stirred to life. Neracer took another step back, but held the card up in plain sight of the golem.

“Pay attention, big fellah. I’ve got the card, see? Don’t hit, don’t hit!”

To his mild surprise and great relief, the golem bent down on one knee and hung its head in submission.

“Ja tvoi sluga, ja tvoi Rabotnik” it said in an oddly chiming voice.

I’m guessing that means he’s not going to hit me Neracer reasoned.

“Er, okay then, big fellah. I’m your master and I ah, I want you to lead me and my friends through this garden and over to that door, understand?”

The golem said nothing, but stood and stepped down from its pedestal. The vines and mosses growing on it snapped and shed away as it walked into the midst of the gardens. The golem withdrew gardening tools from the pouch around its waist and headed for a weed-choked patch of flowers.

“No, no, I didn’t say it was time to weed the garden!” Neracer yelled, waving the card at the golem. “I told you to lead us to safety over by that door and –”

The golem stopped abruptly. It looked about and became agitated.

“IN-TRUDER-S!” it rumbled. “This guardian must destroy the intruders!”


Oh, I *really* hope he’s not talking about me thought Neracer.




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