Is Tegn Haunted?
"Spirits Loosed"
by GM Chance
Isolde walked slowly back to
her watch chamber. The Spell of Forgetting had drained her somewhat. One
of the intruders had been a strong-willed mage and had fought her to the
bitter end. The intrusion, so close to the secret chambers of her Order,
troubled her. The outer entrances had been found and sealed many years
ago. Yet this was the third attempt in under a week. Treasure hunters.
Isolde chuckled. The only treasure to be found in these caverns was her
own tired bones and the fungi unless one counted the blind cave fish that
occupied the pools. ("Or the lantern," some internal voice warned.)
Oh yes, the Lantern whose merciless
light blocked out the darkness from the portal. Concern quickened her step.
Could the Dark Ones have gotten past her somehow? Gained a foothold among
the mortals? Isolde shuddered. Surely not. No one outside of her Order
even knew of the Lantern's existence. Isolde and the Matrons before her
had been faithful in their duties. Still, her ruby eyes caught the light
from the tunnel ahead and something seemed changed. Sudden chill swept
over her then. Claws ripped, not at her meat-flesh, but at the fabric of
her inner self. Disaster! Isolde did not panic.
She had been Matron of the Caverns
for over a hundred years. She knew what she must do. As more claws latched
onto her, she reached out to her Well, to her link aboveground. To her
apprentice: "Kiashandra! Disaster. Plague of Spirits!" That was all she
had time for before a score of chill claws ripped into her being. Then,
though it caused her great pain and nearly blinded her, Isolde detonated
the well in a blaze of spirit light.. The flock of chill predators was
shaken for a second. That was all she needed. The weakened Matron used
the last of her stored energies to flee deeper into the caverns. She prayed
that her warning would do some good.
