Chapter 10: Imtarumbar

Ordain, having finished his dialogue with the voluminous voice of the supposed shade of imTar Koranthur, turned to his companions, who at once finished their conversation, strangely having taken place in Quenya.
Ordain returned the vial to his pocket, not needing it for Tirion anymore. Ordain's frustration with the elves seemed like it was beginning to rise. He turned to address his companions.
"Your unwillingness to communicate your ideas with me indicates that you do not trust me. Do you think that I would needlessly place the life of the child or myself at risk? If I cannot communicate with Lord Koranthur in a manner that will appease his anger, then, as he has stated, he will have our souls as food. It is this that I seek to avoid. Recall how easy it was to enter the mansion. I'll guarantee that our egress will not be so straight forward. I suspect that he controls who enters or exits the manse. If we cannot gain his favor, even if to some small extent, we are certain to meet the same fate as the bard's party; a party with greater skills than our own. Already I fear that we have lost one member of our group, and it may be that two others have now been separated, along with the child. If you feel that my actions are imprudent, consider the consequences of the actions taken by the others and then draw your conclusions. Whatever your conclusions may be, do not exclude me from hearing them."
Daern, looking concerned, replied to the Dunedain's fears. "Ordain, I fear that this being is not necessarily as trustful as you suppose. Certainly, we cannot know his true intentions. How can we dare to let him pass this doorway when we don't know if we can stand against his might?"
"I agree," Taurvantar his opinion. "If we can trust this apparition, then time will make this evident. I do not by any means wish to risk the child. I can only guess at what intent he has there. If his intention is honourable, then let him state it openly."
Taurvantar finished studying the spear, but held onto it just the same.
"I will go to find the others. Now that darkness is almost upon us, I think we should at least be together." Before he left, exiting down the hallway where Fred had disappeared, Taurvantar whispered something to Daern in Quenya.

"Try to distract, Ordain. I still don't trust his motives."

"Try xx xxxxxxxx, Ordain. I xxxxx don't trust his xxxxxxx."

"Xxx xx xxxxxxxx, Ordain. I xxxxx xxxx xxxxx his xxxxxxx."

After Taurvantar left, Ordain resumed his argument, hoping to expose the fallacy in Daern's ignorant distrust.
"Lord Koranthur appears to be (have been) a man of pride and honor. He has a particular dislike of elves, and some disdain for lesser men. I do not know his views on hobbits, but he is probably just as 'short' tempered towards them as elves. He wishes to deal with one of Numenorian blood. I would gladly represent the party, and its best interests, and meet with im-Tar Koranthur."
"I do not think that wise," Daern replied, seemingly unmoved.
"Nevertheless, as master of my own actions, I am willing to take that risk," Ordain told him and moving forward, began to unbar the door, ready to pass through into the courtyard.
"Please wait here while I converse with Lord Koranthur," he told Daern.
Immediately, Daern moved forward and pushing in front of Ordain, tried to prevent him from leaving the hallway.
"Ordain, I am sorry but I think you are under a spell of some sort to pursue this madness. I cannot let you pass," he told the Dunedain.
"I beg of you, Daern," Ordain grunted as he began to wrestle with the tall Avari elf, "Let me pass. I wish there to be no strife between us. You are not my master, so let me pass I say."
"I cannot," Daern forcefully replied. "You will not pass me, Ordain. Why do you wish to sacrifice the child?"
"I did not say I wanted to sacrifice the child," Ordain protested between gasps of air. "I just want to appease him. He could be our best hope!"
Though the lithe elf was the taller, Ordain nevertheless possessed a remarkable strength, which began to tell as he pushed Daern back. Still, Daern resisted with all his might and a great wrestling match ensued which became rather violent as Daern was strongly butted against the door. (Daern take 4 hits) However, Daern was obviously the faster of the two and thus far managed to react quickly enough to put Ordain off of his intent to go through the door. Tirion, oblivious to all, lay unconscious still on the floor. Still, Ordain's strength proved formidable and though the mage did not seem to want to hurt Daern, his rough insistence to pass through the door told itself on bruises on Daern's body. Finally, after picking Daern up and throwing him to the ground (Daern take a 5AG - +5 for a total of 10 hits and a loss of initiative), Ordain proceeded to finish unbarring the door. Barely conscious, Daern attacked Ordain from behind, seeing it as his only chance to prevent the Dunedain from taking rash action. With a blow that must have been blessed by Orome himself, Daern struck Ordain from behind (17DMaSt - +4 hits, stunned 3 rounds), knocking the wind from the mage. Ordain sagged against the door, which Daern once again pushed shut. Readying himself for another blow, Daern once again confronted Ordain, his fists held ready. Ordain waved him off, letting the Avari know that he had had enough.
"Truly, Daern," Ordain gasped, trying to catch his breath, "I did not know the depth of your conviction. If you felt so strongly about it, why didn't you just say so?"
Daern laughed but then grimaced as he felt the bruise in his side. "I thought I just did," he told Ordain.

Taurvantar opened the door and walked into the long hallway that Fred had last been seen disappearing into. However, there was no sign of the diminutive hobbit. It was bitter cold, as was the rest of the house. The frozen dampness of the room draped icicles along the rails of the upper story, where a walkway mirroured the one beneath it, giving a vantage from the second story to the entire pond below it. Large bronze shells bordered the pond, one on each of the short sides, while bronze statues cast as fishlike Maiar and beasts of the deep frolicked in frozen animation, in poses that suggested that water once played about them in streams and fountains when the house had been alive.
On the right hand side, Taurvantar saw an elegant statue of a nymph or naked maiden, caught in marble as if from life, just at the moment of surprise at being observed in a bath. However, the once lovely form of the statue was marred as gashing parallel gouges were obvious on the statue's face and breasts. Lights had appeared in each alcove, over each statue, but no explanation for the light was apparent. Looking into an alcove, he could see that light poured down from several glowing white stones set into the tile that made up the alcove. There was no explanation for it save that some forgotten craft of the Numenoreans who built this house lived past the lives of its makers. Legends spoke of the arcane knowledge of the sea bourne Edain. Looking up through the glass roof far overhead, Taurvantar could see that the day gone. Darkness had descended outside.
Taurvantar had just come to the first door on the right-hand side when it began to rattle, as if stuck and someone was trying to open it. Taurvantar stood in front of the door and tried to listen inside. There was a muffled thumping noise and Taurvantar called out aloud for Fred. From inside the room came a faint cry for help. Clutching the Numenorean spear, Taurvantar didn't even bother to draw his own sword as he kicked the door open, the hallway light flooding into the small chamber.

Fred tried as best he could to open the door, but his weak limbs couldn't even budge a hint of opening from it. The shuffling sound had grown louder, as if the foul creature was just behind him.
Running quickly to his right, Fred found the corner and followed the wall until he came to the bed. Then, feeling for the bed's underside, Fred rolled underneath it and began to strike his flint, hoping to kindle a quick flame to save his life. A spark flew away from his piece of steel and settled on the floorboards. Fred quickly ripped a piece of rag from the stuffing of the bed and tried to fan the spark into life, his cheeks full of blowing air as he huffed and puffed.
From outside the room, someone called for him. It couldn't have come sooner as the shuffling had once again made in his own direction. His lungs exhausted from blowing frantically on the spark, Fred yelled back, calling for help. There was a pause as the shuffling stopped just in front of where Fred was lying, underneath the bed. Then the door burst open, kicked in from outside and a tall form stood in the doorway, framed by the light. In the person's hand, was clutched a great wicked spear. Help had come but Fred, not taking chances, continued to try to work some life into his spark, hoping for greater things now that a distraction had so kindly presented itself.

Taurvantar looked upon a room furnished as though a small apartment or bedchamber, thirty by thirty. Though he caught quick glimpses of a ruined bed and some furniture, what at once caught his eye was the grey tattered flesh and rags of was once a tall man. The corpse stood as if propped, its back facing Taurvantar. As the door opened, it at once turned and it's peeling visage gazed at Taurvantar with dead eyes that registered nothing but a blank torment. Reaching out with mouldered arms showing patches of bone, it advanced upon the surprised Peredhil. Fred was nowhere to be seen.
Seeing the insane vision of a walking corpse advancing upon him, ready to enshroud him in its decaying arms, Taurvantar froze for a moment, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. Then, almost as woodenly as the corpse itself, he brought himself to bear the spear into some semblance of a stance, readying for a defence. Like a dance of wooden puppets, the two entered into combat, the corpse flailing the weight of its dead arm, trying to strike out at Taurvantar as it moaned, as if protesting any movement of its dry limbs. Taurvantar prodded meekly, his mouth still tasting his own fear while his legs wiggled underneath him as if they had been made of wet clay, ready to collapse at any moment.
Unfamiliar with the weapon, Taurvantar used it as it was already in his hand. He doubted his ability to master himself enough to change weapons. There was no strategy in his attack. It was merely a reflexive action of survival. Taurvantar's first attack was ineffective as he rushed to stab the thing, but the corpse managed to hit him with a tremendous blow (8AK) as Taurvantar's failed rush carried him past the corpse and exposed his back. Fortunately, Taurvantar carried his shield upon his back and the weight of the dead man's blow crushed the shield, cracking it into useless pieces. Taurvantar's back ached and something of the pain served to bring him back to his senses. The next attack for both antagonists were misses, but likewise the next series of blows both rang true. Taurvantar hit first and the spear cut through the dead flesh like it was liquid, spilling rotten guts out onto the floor. However, the dead man's arms still held onto a semblance of strength and the next blow knocked Taurvantar off of his feet (9AU +12 hits and stunned for 2 rounds). As his head hit the floor, the heavy weight of the spear dropped from his arms and Taurvantar went unconscious.

Just at this time, Fred appeared, holding onto a torch. Unseen while Taurvantar fought the thing, Fred had torn a piece of rotted wood loose from the bed frame and had wrapped equally dry and eaten rags around this wood, feeding both to the fire. Though he too was gripped by his fear of the undead thing before him, Fred danced forward, his torch in his hand. Lighting the rags to the creature's rear, Fred nearly burned his hand as his makeshift torch fed flame, not only to the creature, but along the length of wood that Fred held onto. Taurvantar's spear had done much damage, but still the wreckage of the dead man managed to turn around and reach down its arms to embrace Fred. But the mummified flesh of the thing proved too tempting the fire and soon enough of its body was burning that whatever animation it possessed soon failed it and the thing collapsed to the floor, continuing to move while the flame ate away at it, sending off curls of noxious smoke. Even so, the floor of the room did not burn, though it appeared to blacken. Still Fred was assured that the fire would not spread.
Attending to Taurvantar, Fred could see that the half-elf was alive, though he had suffered a savage blow and would be out for some time. Fred decided he would have to go for help. There was no use of someone like himself trying to drag Taurvantar back to the others. But, looking back at the chest, Fred couldn't tear himself away to go to the others, just yet at least. Rubbing his hands together to take away the chill, Fred advanced upon the chest. Determining that their was no trap, he opened the lid of unlocked box only to find nothing but the decayed rags of clothing. Still, something of the box didn't seem correct, as the dimensions of the inside didn't fit what Fred would have perceived to have been its measurement from the outside. Knocking about it on the inside, Fred pried up a loose panel and discovered a secret compartment inside the chest. Reaching inside, for the room was still somewhat dark with no light except from the hall, Fred pulled out a small book whose yellow pages seemed brittle with age. Also he found a large heavy pouch which he could even lift. Opening it, he found it to contain a large number of silver coins, with some gold thrown in for measure. On top of these was a small box. Fred opened it and discovered a small cache of uncut gemstones. Pocketing this, he also gleaned seven gold coins out of the bag and pulled another handful of twenty-two silver coins as well, before replacing the sack, intending to reclaim it when others came to help him. Whistling, he patted Taurvantar on the head.
"Don't worry, old man," he told the unconscious Taurvantar, "I'll be right back." Quickly, Fred hustled back to where he had left the others.

Ranciryon beamed at Eoras and Kal.
"My friends, it is good to see you again," he told them. "I don't know how long I have been gone, but it seems like days."
"You've only been missing a few hours," Kal told the knight while jostling the baby to keep him asleep."
"Anyway, have you met any foul creatures? Did you find 'her'?" Eoras gestured towards Pric. "Did you see anything interesting?"
"Well, I don't know what to make of what I saw, Eoras" Ranciryon seemed to shiver in the cold.
"When I came to, I was in a small room, with but a single exit. There was a pool of shimmering water in the room and above it was floating the image of a blue clad maiden. Her face seemed sad, but before I could speak, she made a gesture across her arm and then pointed below her at the pool. Then a savage wind entered the room, though it was enclosed altogether. The wind seemed to shred her and then she was gone."
Eoras and Kal looked at each other. "I think we too have seen this maiden. Fred and Tirion claim she was the one they saw back in the forest," Kal explained.
"Well," Ranciryon continued, "Not knowing what to make of this, I left the room and found myself in a corridor. Turning left, I began to descend a turning stairway. I counted 333 steps before I came to a landing, where there was a stout wide door. This door was barred and chained and nailed such that I could see that great effort had been taken to keep it shut. And there were runes carved into its surface."
"Then, returning to top, I paused for a meal, and then I continued on through a zig zag corridor, where there were many door, most of which, unfortunately, were locked. In one door, however, that I found unlocked, there were a great number of dead bodies. I should say bodies that were not alive, but they were animate somehow. Some where skeletons, some were shredded rags of flesh, but they all moved and their greatest concentration was at a darkly glowing stone. And about this stone were gathered what I took to be dead knights, bowed in their armour as if in prayer to the stone. Feeling a great dread I left that room until I could find aid to face its denizens."
"Next, I came upon another corridor where there were two more doors, yet unexplored. In one, there was a grate in it's top to give a view, but all beyond was darkness, yet I sensed that something waited in that room and the stillness was but a pregnant silence, as of something waiting to be born. Leaving that room, I came through the other door, which led me to a roundish room with queer planks set into the side. Examining these planks, I found this part of the room to be a door and pushing it revealed that the planks were steps leading down. Coming out, I saw that the room was a great cask of some sort and that is how I found myself here."
Kal clapped Ranciryon on the back, saying, "Ranciryon!! I am happy you have come out of that bad place! How did you do it? How did you find the exit from there?"
Ranciryon shrugged. "I just followed my feet really. Just luck I suppose. I wasn't aware that I had been gone all that long. Must've been out for a while I suppose."
Kal nodded and began to inform his companion of what they had found so far. "I fear we're in a really nasty place. We've found writings from an adventurer who came here quite before us. And he was MUCH more powerful than me, and he has found a foul undead operating here. I am sure it is better for us to get away from here as soon as possible! But now the best thing to do is joining with the others I think. What do you think of this idea guys?" Kal asked, turning to his companions while still jostling his body to keep the baby asleep.
Eoras nodded, saying, "I think we should go find the rest of our companions, lest more evils befall them, or us." Assuming the others would follow, he began retracing his steps to where he and Kal had split from the rest of the group.

As Eoras, Kal and Ranciryon exited the room that had visited, they found to their dismay, upon coming back to the end of the hall that a fight of some sort had occured. Tirion was lying on the floor unconscious, his thigh bandaged. Both Daern and Ordain were sitting on the floor, looking as though both had been through combat themselves and, though not seriously wounded, both looked weary and very bruised. Taurvantar was nowhere to be seen.
"What has happened here?!" Kal exclaimed. But, before either Ordain or Daern could offer a weary explanation, surprised themselves by Ranciryon's unexpected appearance, Fred ran into the hallway from the other hall where he had gone off to explore.

"Come quickly," Fred called out. "Taurvantar's been hurt and I left him lying unconscious!"
Both Eoras and Ranciryon looked at each other and nodded. Neither had sheathed their swords and both quickly followed the hobbit as he led them back to where he claimed Taurvantar was lying.
A few minutes later, while Kal tried to get an idea of what had happened to Daern and Ordain, Eoras and Ranciryon reappeared, each half dragging, half carrying Taurvantar's unconscious body in one arm, while Ranciryon held onto the spear which Taurvantar had taken with him in the other arm. In his other arm, Eoras carried a heavy sack while Fred followed them. They told the party they had found Taurvantar in a ruined apartment room where he had apparently battled something. All they could find was the burning remains and bones of something dead.
"I suggest we retire back to the hallway where the spells of the bard Englorion the Fairfound might still have power enough to keep us safe from harm this night. As well, Ranciryon has things to tell us of his adventures and certainly we have things to tell him as well," Eoras told them.
Nodding his agreement, Ordain added, "And certainly Tirion and Taurvantar will be needing care and attention. They have taken grievous blows that have rendered them senseless. I cannot see continuing to adventure while the evil denizens of this place become active, while we ourselves are weaker." Glancing back at the door to the courtyard, Ordain could see Daern there shaking his head, as if to deny Ordain any possibility of exit in that direction. As if by a consented truce, both picked Tirion up and carried him back down the hall to the Hall of Arms, where dead Englorion and the Ironman waited.

Saving their tales for later, the weary adventurers rested and ate their meals (deduct 1 meal). Ranciryon gazed with wonder at the number of weapons and armor on display, but Eoras warned him away from touching any as "dangerous to the soul." The sad body of Englorion and the mysterious armoured suit of the Ironman were also items of curiosity to him.
During the night, there was a terrible thumping of all the doors to the hall, as if a great host of fiends were about to crash into the place, but this soon gave way to silence, except for a scratching sound that could be heard at all the doors as if one persistent wraith was intent upon gaining entry. Fred screamed once, claiming that he could see disembodied heads floating outside, their grim faces taunting him from the window. All eyes turned outside to the night, but nothing could be seen. Still, no one seemed to doubt the keen hobbit this time. Toward morning, Ordain was startled awake when with a groaning of twisting metal, the heavy limbs of the Ironman began to move. Everyone else at once awoke, and saw the Ironman swing his huge sword at the stairway above him, while the runes at its base glowed as if on fire. Though no combatant could be seen, their was a wet tearing sound and an unearthly scream, after which, as the runes faded, the Ironman resumed his pose, resting and ready at the base of the stairs. Tirion regained consciousness during the night, while Taurvantar only just awoke as the greying sky of morning let them know they had all survived and were on the threshold of a new, cold day. Now, everyone could begin to tell their tales. (All members who have not eaten, deduct 1 meal now. If you don't have a meal to eat, you're in trouble. Contact the D.M. All members regain only 18 hits, due to the restless activity of the night. No power points regained by spellcasters as yet. Fred counts out 191 silver pieces and 8 gold pieces from the sack Eoras had carried out of the room for him.)

(You know, I was just about to tell you what the book said when I realized that you couldn't read any of it.)

The gold coins are exactly like those you've already seen, but are only half size and show a ship instead of a sea dragon. The silver coins feature a tower and show the image of a young Lord Koranthur and some are that of Ellenya. Other silver coins seem to be of a different style altogether. They are also written in an unknown language, probably Adunaic. JK

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