The Black Tower

Had we known the dangers and terrors we would have never allowed the Serpent to lead us to this tower. Lying there in wait for us was a vast and evil intelligence that I doubt was ever human, but something more terrible.

The crooked black tower pointed to the heavens as if a finger indicting the gods of some unimaginable crime. Here in this tower the dead were but playthings, pieces to be reshaped as a parody or an instrument of evil. Everything here was an experiment in form or function, but for what end none could say. Bodies and parts from sundry creatures sewn together, shapes and forms nature never intended, dead creatures stuffed with all sorts of strange organs functioning in a mockery of life.

The powers of the Serpent had been unappreciated by us, but after our flailing about in the tower for hours the master of the tower sought us out and the Serpent's powers saved us. The Serpent had waited and planned for this moment, and the most foul of incantations came from his lips and the very air itself was rent and creatures from beyond fear and madness came at the call of the Serpent and set upon the master of the tower. Terrible was the battle, and our company of accomplished swordsmen was trampled underfoot as daemons warred with things long dead and great magics clashed. To our surprise the tower's master fled, gravely wounded and hounded by the Serpent's servants or perhaps his masters and we rushed upwards despite our wounds and misgivings. How paltry our loot had been, when we looked in amazement upon the devices and tokens that this monster had possessed! One knew not where to start, but time was not on our side for the sounds of some great battle shook the tower and horrible cries echoed. The Serpent took but one large heavy tome, and urged the rest of us to take only those things not bound by some great enchantment, for such an item could be our undoing. Unnerved by his advice, we looked at the great treasure and half-heartedly contented ourselves with baubles and trinkets. I doubt not that the shadow still presides, maimed and bitter, over the Black Tower for the Serpent remained fearful, as if the great treasure he had seized gave him no pleasure and that he worried that its owner might seek the tome's return.

Bhagar and Quatar

Awed and fearful of the Serpent, we turned from his guidance and put our trust in Ibrahim. As we left the tower behind we continued east. The Serpent spoke of a city of the dead to the south, but Alkar warned us of the city of Bhagar, for his people knew of it. The city was on the forefront of the war with the peoples of Araby and its undead armies were powerful and vigilant, yet despite their strength they had failed to take the Araby city of Ka-Sabar, and that many of the fierce nomads and dervishes headed to the area to prove their strength and power in battle against the Undead. Looters such as ourselves are executed on sight by the powerful armies of the Caliph of Ka-Sabar and his fanatical allies.

Following the trails of ancient armies we headed to Quatar, the Palace of Corpses. To hear Ibrahim speak of its former glory rekindled the greed of this troupe of fools. One of the three great cities along with Khemri and Lahmia, this city united the regions of ancient Nehekhara and controlled a strategic valley. From the fertile river valley to the north had long ago come food, from the mountains to the East great mineral wealth, and Quatar had dominated the trade during its reign by its mortal nobility. The city's wealth and its nobility's influence played a great role in the fall of the Great Necromancer, the unification of the nearby lands, and the defeat of the city of blood-drinkers, Lahmia. The dead of Khemri had spoken bitterly spoke of the influence that the nobility of Quatar still wield, for the nobility of Quatar still play politics, engaging in bewildering diplomatic ties and alliances and controlling the important pass through the mountains.

This necropolis was of the greatest and most appalling splendor. The opulence of the palaces there was only surpassed by the decadence of their tombs. The city itself had suffered little in the wars due to the political wiles of the nobility, although the outlying fortifications guarding the city seemed to have experienced the brunt of the hardship. More importantly to use, its distance from Araby ensured that the place had not felt the sting of tomb robbers.

Think not that they the dead here are unwary, for their city is located so strategically that many covet it. The city has countless nobles, their moldering finery infected by the same rot as their funeral wrappings, and these withered husks still hold court and entertain within their resting places and their palaces. We paused at this city to make deal with a shriveled corpse who sought information to regain his lost power as well as to loot the palaces of the vain and shriveled lords and ladies. While the dead paraded and conspired in their luxurious estates, we crept about plundering the wealth of an empire. Our three-day looting spree nearly ended in misfortune when Fritz and I were discovered in a palace treasury. By daring, initiative and my sword I fought free in time to flee with my comrades, but I surmised that the dead had seized Fritz. However the wily Fritz was able to escape their clutches, return to loot the same treasury on his own, and meet up with us the next night as we departed.

Charnel Valley

Ruined and functioning fortresses defending Quatar pock the western end of this valley. It took much ingenuity on our part to sneak past the unsleeping sentinels. The Serpent spoke with the first living thing we had seen in a week, a sickly snake hiding in its hole, from whom he claimed he had learned of a high pass that was used in the past for accessing the mines of the mountains. Fortunately we followed his advice, for the valley is desolate and barren and the undead carefully patrol the valley floor. Great carrion birds as twisted and misshapen as this land guarded the valley as well. The Serpent claimed that these Carrion feasted on the flesh of the undead and were themselves turned into undead. Ibrahim, not to be outdone by the Serpent, delighted in telling us that the valley got its name from the countless funeral pyres that burned in the valley over the ages as armies fought and died for control of it.

Mahrak and Rasetra

What little relief we felt leaving the Charnel Valley ended as we found ourselves before another mountain range, which Ibrahim translated as the Devil's Backbone. Our goal was a city known as Lahmia far to the north. We conferred together and decided to take the quickest path north, through a valley dominated by a necropolis called Mahrak. We made advanced along the valley and saw little of the undead. Our goal was to skirt the city but upon arriving at it we discovered that impossible, for the city was being besieged.

It was critical for us to circle the city rather than pass through it, and a mere glance at the city assured us of this. We had heard the legends of how this city once earned its title of the City of Decay, and I saw no sorrier site than that crumbling city. A pall hung over the city and the buildings and pyramids outside the city seemed to be crumbling away. It is said that the Great Necromancer warred upon the city and they refused to surrender so he laid a great curse upon them, and the people of the city were affected with a plague and even in death they continued to suffer from the ailment. Ibrahim claimed that it was from this event that Tomb Rot was created. Whatever the truth of the story, even the buildings looked as if they were wasting away. We knew to approach the city would be to suffer a long and agonizing death.
Ibrahim noted that the army besieging came from the fortress-necropolis of Rasetra, a place not controlled by a Tomb King but by a circle of liche Priest Kings who still demand the submission of the nobility to their beliefs. The army was a fearsome sight. Leading it into battle were the mummified champions of the Priest Kings in their war chariots leading hordes of skeletons against the crumbling city walls. Great war machines constructed of bones of giant creatures fired over walls or were brought to bear on the weakened defenses. At the back of the army bearing great altars were assembled some of the priest kings, their very cerements inscribed with mystical symbols wielding ancient artifacts of their order, using them to create dramatic displays of magic that clashed with the equally great magics being wielded by the city's defenders.

While we should have been despondent about the waste of time, turning away from that city was itself a great relief. The city passed from view and se decided to continue north upon the other side of the Devil's Backbone.

The Crater of the Waking Dead

As we circled around the Devil's Backbone we passed the Crater of the Waking Dead that from a distance looked like a festering boil upon the earth. The rest of us had to suffer through long arguments between Ibrahim and the Serpent over the nature of the crater. Ibrahim believed that the Crater was the sacred burial ground for a Nehekharan priesthood. According to him the sect's diviners predicted a day when the dead would rise and carefully planned their burials with this in mind. The Serpent insisted that the crater was created by fallen warpstone that smashed to earth and awoke the dead. I suppose it is of little import now, for neither of them lived long enough to prove their theories.