Chapter 5: The Black Academy

Mystical: "Are you ok?"
vivisected creature chained to the table: "Unnngh"

[Undead City] B loodied but not defeated, the party bound their various wounds on the sandy beachhead outside the walls of the strange city.

Zembahk Kaydian, chosen avatar of the War God Adorok
  Haer Gronagin said that this settlement had not existed when last he visited this area a scant twenty years before. Strong magics must have been required to cause such a place to spring up in mere decades. The walls appeared thick, and twenty feet high at their crest. They were honeycombed with a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. Mere thought of climbing brought forth their occupants, serpentine Naga with a warning of doom to any who attempt entrance via other than the gate.
  Using a spell of the Mentalism realm, the High Elf Rosvenir located the Paladin on the opposite side of the City. He attempted a Far Voice to communicate with Sir Kurik, but the strange mental shielding affecting the Paladin blocked the attempt. Closer proximity being an aid to the magic, we made our way around the outer wall to the south and west.
  This route passed near the main gate to the City. Constructed entirely of ancient bone and with a leering skull gazing down from twenty feet above, I could discern no obvious mechanism or seam to open. Intending to cross in front of it to reach the other side of the city, we skirted around it as far as the sandy path in front would allow. It was not far enough. As I expected, the gate was a summoned entity from the nether planes. At our approach it animated and demanded "What is the sign?" The halfling retrieved the drawing Mystical had purchased in Kalstrand and said "The Sign of the Devourer." The bone demon stood and stepped aside. It is good to let the lesser races accomplish something on occasion.

The Narrator
  Beyond the gate a small city beckoned. Constructed mostly of wood, small houses and businesses lined dirt roads and pathways. No apparent planning had gone into its construction, the streets meandering aimlessly between structures variously ramshackle and sturdy. Surrounding the city on all sides was an extensive graveyard where small patrols of skeletons and zombies worked under the direction of robed humanoids. A chance glimpse of one of these noted a skull tattooed prominently on his forehead. At the center of the city lay a huge mound of rock and dirt, topped with an enormous skull carved of blackish stone grinning down upon the city.
  Rescue of Sir Kurik took precedence over further exploration. Dusk had just fallen, and candles spaced at intervals atop the stone wall flared to life. Activity in the streets of the city was already beginning to pick up. The graveyard being less travelled, the party walked along the path clockwise towards the last known location of the paladin. As they drew near a ghastly figure stumbled toward them. It was Kurik, pale and haggard and having great difficulty walking. Made to rest and drink water, Kurik said he'd fallen asleep with a vision from Pandios, and had awoken within the City. He had no idea how long he had been gone, believing that but a single day had passed. He had not been a captive but had been free to wander and had apparently been doing so for four days in delirium.
  The buildings nearest the graveyard were in poor repair, many no more than hollow shells of thatch and wood. Only few were occupied as evidenced by the glow of candlelight from within. Mystical located two such huts close together, and made them more defensible with several Walls of Wood. Kurik was helped into the structure, given food and water, and immediately fell into a deep sleep. Rosvenir studied the stars, and cast Dream to know more of the grey robed humans with the skull tatoos, and to know the location of Desatysso and his amulet.

Rosvenir's Dream
  the amulet... can almost see it, but the light is too dim... featureless black disk in the darkness... must touch it... the amulet shatters into a thousand pieces, each one glowing like a star in the night sky... looking down from that sky, upon this city of the undead... hooded figures walk through the streets and into the skull monolith at its center... hooded figures seated on rows of benches in a huge hall, listening to someone speaking... In a back corner a figure is standing, not wearing a robe... It is Desatysso... his face contorted in utter despair... he disappears...

The Narrator
  Rosvenir awoke. He noted a similarity between the thousand glowing pieces the amulet had broken into and the thousand glowing candles atop the City walls, though the resemblance was slight. Checking on Kurik found him recovering quickly. It was shortly after midnight, and the City bustled with activity. Kurik remembered wandering through a market near the central plaza of town. This seemed a promising way to learn more about the nature of the place.
  From outward appearances the market was startlingly normal. Throngs of people funneled through row upon row of merchant carts stocked with wares. On closer inspection the nature of the place became more ominous, with vendors of owl bile and body parts intermixed with more the mundane food and clothing. Haer asked about a tavern, somewhere where he could get a hot meal. A merchant looked at the halfling askance, telling him "The Academy doesn't allow alcohol in the City, it distracts the students from their studies." Haer wandered onward to another merchant. 

Grey robe: And if that shipment of owl intestines isn't in my lab by tomorrow
	I shall turn my researches to the properties of human intestines. 
	Beginning with yours! <storms off>
Merchant: <trembling slightly> Yes, Marlowe. Of course, it shall be here tomorrow
	I promise.
Endira: <batting eyelashes as she makes her seduction roll> He sounded upset.
  With the prompting of a natural 100 on a seduction roll the merchant became quite forthcoming. The city exists because of the Black Academy, a school of sorcery housed beneath the skull in the central square. Anyone can enter the academy and apply to join. Additionally, merchants from the city frequently make deliveries. The headmistress of the Academy is Ferranifer, reportedly a very beautiful woman.
  The merchant also mentioned a crazy old hermit who lived near the outer walls, named Danele. Something in the merchant's manner regarding Danele prompted further investigation. The party left the market and went in the direction indicated. The walls near his abode were painted in bright colors, depicting scenes from the life of Acerak. A beautiful woman holding a hideously deformed baby had to be Valinda, mentioned in Acerak's journal as his human mother. Danele himself wore the grey robes and skull tattoo of a member of the Black Academy, but his eyes had been gouged out. He spoke in mostly incoherent babbling, punctuated by the occasional intelligible sentence.   Danele did not respond directly to any question. Eventually Mystical cast Mind Probe to elicit more information. She discovered that what had once been Danele's mind was in shambles, replaced by an accidental gateway to another plane of existence. His ramblings were randomly triggered, there was no real intelligence left.
  Only one thing was clear from Danele: The Devourer is Acerak.

  The party returned to the center of the city. A star shaped courtyard surrounded the entrance to the academy, with a small reflecting pool flanked by a jet black obelisk. The obelisk is carved with "Acerak Walks Among Us", and a depiction of the Devourer. Across the courtyard from the black skull is a large brown tent where members of the Academy could get animated skeletal servants for the evening. Indeed, many of the grey robed students in the market were accompanied by a minor undead to carry their purchases. Haer stalked over to the tent and looked under the edge, finding dozens of skeletons and zombies milling about bathed in the green glow of an orb mounted at the crest of the tent. Treatise on the Undead Three students experimenting with dust Laboratory 13 Foul Smelling Room Four humans chained to walls walls covered in parchment, human anatomy lecture Entry hall, with skeletal Naga Bone armored warrior Empty lecture hall Hall of Petitioners The Black Academy

Endira
[Partial Academy floorplan]   The entrance to the Black Academy was guarded by a huge warrior-type wearing a full suite of plate mail made of solid bone and he looked really nasty so we decided to talk our way in and for some reason everyone thought I would be the best one to try it so Zem and I took an armload of alchemical supplies that Haer picked up from somewhere and walked up the steps and said we were making a delivery for Marlowe. The guy looked us up and down and I explained that Marlowe was upset that his order of owl intestines wasn't here so we were delivering a special gift of other supplies to try to make it up to him and the guy said we should deliver them to Laboratory 13 which is down the hall and to the right.
  So we went through the archway and into this big room where all the walls were lined with hundreds of black candles and it gave off an eerie light and there were four columns holding up the ceiling with skeletal snakes wrapped around them and each snake had a human head like the ones we saw outside the wall hey I wonder if those are Naga skeletons huh? So we went down the hall and found the door to Lab 13 and Zem turned himself invisible and did some exploration but he couldn't go very far because even though he's invisible he's still this big warrior type with a bloodthirsty sword strapped to his back so he makes a lot of noise and at this moment I can't remember why we didn't send in the halfling.
  So I was stalling for time while Zem explored the area when this woman wearing a grey robe came up to me and asked if I was lost so I said I was looking for Marlowe in Lab 13 and she pointed down the hall to a door on the right and said that was the lab and that her name was Jocelyn and she was very glad to make my acquaintance. I thought she was quite polite and helpful for being a minion of evil and all so I chatted with her a moment and she said I should consider becoming a student and that she's learning so much at the Academy she just can't believe it so I said thanks I'd think about it but for now I was working for a merchant in the city making deliveries while I think things over so she said sure and that she had to head to her next class so she hoped to see me around.

The Narrator
  Zem explored several laboratories. The first irregularly shaped room held four humans chained to the wall, unmoving. Various surgical instruments and grotesque jars of unidentifiable organs lined the walls and tables. The door to the north was carved with a lengthy treatise concerning the nature of Undead. An archway to the east led to a room whose walls were lined with parchment detailing human anatomy and internals. A flayed human body lay on the table in front of a group of grey robed students, while a crazed-looking old man lectured.
  Endira knocked on the door to Lab 13, and was brusquely told to put the packages in the corner for Marlowe to pick up later. Zem snuck in invisibly while the door was open. The three students in the room wheeled in a corpse and stretched it out on the table. A small quantity of dust was sprinkled on the corpse from a velvet bag. After a few moments, the corpse began to quiver. Then it grabbed the closest student by the throat and began to strangle him, while the other two beat its arm back. In the room to the west were more students experimenting with the dust, while the room to the east was empty save for a ghastly smell.
  Zem rejoined Endira, and the two continued down the hallway and around the corner. A heavy velvet curtain hung across the open doorway of the far room. A huge stone skeleton stood along its far wall. When the curtain was pulled back the skeleton's eyse glowed bright red and a booming voice said, "Enter and be judged, Petitioner." Zem let the curtain fall, and the two rejoined the rest of the party outside the Black Academy.
  It was near dawn, and the bustle of activity in the City was winding down. Deciding to infiltrate the Academy en masse the following night, the party returned to the hovel, posted a guard and slept until midmorning. Treatise on the Undead Three students experimenting with dust Laboratory 13 Foul Smelling Room Hundreds of books line the floor Half assembled pile of bones Four humans chained to walls walls covered in parchment, human anatomy lecture Entry hall, with skeletal Naga Bone armored warrior Large lecture hall Hall of Petitioners Study Hall Distillery Study Hall Hunchbacked man at a desk Small room with books lining all four walls Dark room marked Necrohazard Skull burning with black flame, marked Necrohazard Four humans chained to walls The Black Academy

[Black Academy floorplan] Day 19
  The next morning, Kurik was gone. He left a note saying he had "something to check out. Will meet you at the Skull at dusk." Rosvenir's Finding spell was unable to locate him.
  A plan developed to deliver several corpses to Laboratory 13, so that the entire party would be able to enter the Academy. Once inside everyone would be turned invisible to explore the place fully. Zem went out to the graveyards to procure several suitable cadavers. Two stretchers were prepared, and at dusk the group lined up near the central square. As if on cue, Kurik showed up. Mystical confronted him to know where he had been, and why he now seemed to shun the daylight. Kurik would not answer. The fact that he radiated no evil and still prominently carried the holy symbols of Pandios were taken as proof that he had not been embraced as an Undead, but the other party members vowed to keep an eye on him nonetheless. Mystical in particular did not trust him.
  Arranging themselves to carry the two stretchers, the party approached the Black Academy. The warrior in bone armor was standing in front as though he had not moved since the previous day. He queried Endira briefly, then told them to proceed inside to Laboratory 13. Once inside and out of sight of the guard spells were cast to make everyone invisible, and a quick reconnaissance of the building completed with the assistance of Stonesight spells. The main lecture hall in the center of the building was full of students listening intently to an instructor at the front of the room. The outer walls of the structure were lined with laboratory rooms and places for students to study.
  Circling around to the side of the building Zem had not explored they entered a room dominated by a huge book on a stone pedestal. Setting the corpses down out of the way, the party examined the book more closely.

Mystical
  The book sat on a four foot high stone pedestal. Its covers were made of solid sheets of granite, and the pages appear to be vellum. According to magical analysis, the book had six powers, only three of which could be positively identified:

  1. the book will open magically with a command phrase.
  2. some action will trigger a minor Death to appear. Note that "minor" is relative: they are still extremely dangerous.
  3. anyone who opens the book but is not qualified to read it will be subject to a sorcerous Mind Erosion effect. That may be what happened to Danele.
  Deeper magical delving determined that the book was created here, in a lab in the Black Academy. It is a compilation of the knowledge of several of their most senior members, and is intended to pass on that knowledge to those "qualified" to receive it.
  Two doors in the opposite wall were heavily barred and chained from the outside. They were marked "Necrohazard". Haer's StoneSight found only a dark room behind the first door, and a skull burning with black flame behind the second. The second one sounds like a demi-lich, though I can't be sure without letting it out. That could be fun, but we're trying to be stealthy right now and a demi-lich probably wouldn't go quietly, so it can wait.
 

The Narrator
  Suddenly and with great commotion a crowd of students exited the surgical classroom, talking loudly amongst themselves. Being invisible means it is impossible to tell what other invisible people are doing. In the rush to get out of the way Endira and Kahlen bumped solidly into each other, cancelling the spell. Fortunately none of the students had been looking in that direction when they appeared, so engrossed were they in their discussions of the finer points of the preparation of intestinal bile in solution. Jocelyn, the minion of evil who had been so pleasant the previous day, happened to be in the crowd of students and pushed forward to talk to Endira. 

Jocelyn: Hey, you're back. I wasn't sure we'd ever see you again.
Endira: Why not?
Jocelyn: Well, townspeople tend to burn out quickly here, just can't take the pressure
    I guess. I'm really glad to see you again. Have you thought some more about joining
    the Academy?
Endira: Ummm... yes, actually thats why we're here. Oh, where are my manners, this
    is my friend Kahlen. She's thinking about joining the Academy too.
Kahlen: (whispers) I am?
Endira: So, we think we're ready, but we're not sure what to do so we thought we'd
    come see the place and all because its a really big step and we want to be
    really sure before we do it that this is the right thing for us.
Jocelyn: Oh sure, come with me I can show you.
Kahlen: (whispers) Is this a good idea?

  Jocelyn escorted the two to the Hall of Petitioners at the back of the Academy. Pulling the curtain aside activated the skeletal statue which boomed, "Enter and be judged, Petitioner." Ushering them into the room, Jocelyn then explained that she had to rush to catch her next class but that she hoped everything went well.
  Everyone they had encountered within the Academy had been polite and courteous. Believing that the place wasn't so bad after all, and that perhaps the only entrance criteria was an aptitude for working magic (which she obviously possessed, being a 20th level Bard), Endira approached the statue. "To gain complete access to the Black Academy, place your hands on mine." Placing her hands onto the upturned palms of the skeleton, Endira waited. The red glow of the statue's eyes coalesced into a beam focused on the center of her forehead. "Hold still", the statue exhorted as it spent several minutes scanning her before announcing "Rejected." The statue proceeded to kill Endira with massive bolts of electricity. Or rather, it would have killed her save for the quick expenditure of both of her remaining Fate points. As it was she was badly injured and required immediate attention from Kahlen.
  Mystical and Haer scouted out the hallways leading to the Hall of Petitioners to see if anyone would react to the commotion. No one did. Kahlen spent several long minutes casting spells to heal the burn damage, and then announced that Endira needed to rest for an hour to allow the magic to run its course. Haer and Mystical searched for secret doors, eventually finding that the skeletal statue was itself a secret door. A hidden catch caused it to swing into the room, revealing a short hallway beyond. Haer crept down the hallway to what was obviously the back side of another secret door. Oiling the hinges thoroughly, the halfling swung this second door open.
Coffin #1 Coffin #2 Coffin #3 Elvish lord Human female in full plate Skeleton with rusty scythe Burly dwarf Demonic skeleton Telekinesis + water trap Secret door Secret door Secret door Inner iron door Dr Moreau would be proud The Sign of the Devourer Tunnel under hallway The Hall of Petitioners Crypt [Crypt floorplan]   The hallway beyond appeared to be some sort of crypt. Alcoves were spaced at regular intervals on all sides, sealed with metal and stone doorways carved with depictions of various humanoid beings. Haer found a trap on the secret door if opened from the hall side, so he wedged it open. He then carefully checked the floor and all sarcophagi for traps, and used a Detect Traps spell in addition for good measure. Rosvenir detected magic on a few of the crypts. [Editor's note: as with all of the maps in this chronicle, you can click on the crypt map to get more details on each of the sarcophagi.]
  Given the encounter with the Dim Triad in the swamps, a crypt depicting three idyllic children holding hands was explored first. Opening the door led to a 10' by 10' room. Haer located the secret door in the back, which led to a crawlspace cut from the living stone roughly five feet high and twenty feet by ten feet wide. The ceiling was scored with innumerable claw marks. Sitting in this small space were three black wooden coffins. Kurik cast Detect Undead but found nothing within range. Each of the coffins was overturned and the earth doused thoroughly with holy water.
  The next crypt to be explored was inscribed with an image of a creature roughly half man and half fish. A secret door led to a long laboratory lined with surgical instruments and specimen jars containing unidentifiable organic parts. Strapped to a long table lay something which looked like it had once been human. One leg had been replaced with a slimy black tentacle, the other with a green leg rather like a frog's. One arm was human, the other an insectoid pincer. The head was covered with a cloth. It moaned constantly, seemingly in tremendous pain. Spells determined that it was not inherently evil, and had once been a peasant working on a farm somewhere beyond the great swamp. Its mind had cracked long ago, and it was completely insane from the gruesome experiments which had been performed.
  Zem killed it. Its final groan was one of relief, of having been released from a lifetime of pain.

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