1.13G - Estrode

Although dusk was falling again, and she would dearly love to rest after the day’s excitement, she took the hammer and made her way back up the steps to the very base of Hammerknell.

It’s funny, she thought, each time they send me back here I get a little bit closer to the door.  Maybe one day I’ll go inside.  Then she stopped and shook her head, knowing if the doors of Hammerknell ever did open Telara would be in a worse state than it is now.

Holding Scotty’s gift, she crossed the paths heading towards the east.  As she rounded a corner of the fortress she knew she was in the right place.  Before her, an Abyssal Cultist was channeling magic through the rune vessel and into water-being four times as large as she was.  The water-being crashed into the wall of Hammerknell.  Again and again it crested over the stones.

“Hey!” Gwenllian shouted before her conscious thought caught up to her mouth.  The abyssal cultist directed the elemental towards her, and away from the wall.   Gwenllian, pleased that the destruction had paused, but unsure what to do next, conjured a protective bubble while she thought.

The rusted golem fell to an element that made it weaker, Gwenllian thought.  Maybe this water elemental will do the same.

She willed herself to produce fire.  Fire spells were somewhere between Life and the Elements in her range of competency.  It took some concentration, but eventually she was able to conjure the fire.  She hurled it at the water-being.  As she suspected, it began to shrink, steam joining the atmosphere until it was no more than a small puddle.

“You’ll pay for this loss with your life, Dwarf.” Yelled the furious cultist as he approached her.  Feeling it couldn’t hurt, Gwenllian shot a second fireball at him before he could reach her.

She rushed forward to the now unoccupied vessel and began to beat it with the hammer.  It felt strangely light in her hands and did far more damage than she thought her momentum could produce.  When the vessel cracked, Gwenllian pocketed the tools and moved on to the next vessel.

It was truly dark when at last all the vessels were destroyed.  Gwenllian blew on her hands as she walked.  Her path of destruction had led her off the great castle steps.  There was little activity here, but a strange glowing in one of the crumbling gazebos of the Grey Gardens caught her eye.  As she approached she watched the guard change.

This can’t be good, if the Abyssal are protecting it at all hours of the night, Gwenllian thought.  She lured the cultist guards away from the platform and bound them with vines, clearing the path for her to approach the device.  Even standing before it she was unsure what it could be used for.  None the less, she took up the hammer once more and smashed the glass and gear work of the machine.

There was a moment of ringing silence as Gwenllian watched, unable to move from fright, while Tidelord Brenin approached the platform.

“You destroyed my prototype?” he asked her calmly.  “A meaningless gesture!  The walls of Hammerknell cannot stand against the power of Regulos.”

“So its true then!” Gwenllian shouted, finding her voice at last.  “You are working with the Endless.”

“That’s right.” Said a cool female voice from behind her.  As the woman entered the pavilion, Gwenllian was struck by a sudden flash of memory.

“Alsbeth?” Gwenllian asked her.  “I remember you from the Shade war, but you were supporting the good.  What happened that you should fall so far so quickly?”

Alsbeth looked at Gwenllian, her cold frown never leaving her face.  “Foolish Girl.  I support those that insure my survival.  Regulos has promised me eternal power.”  She turned to Brenin.  “You must free Akylios from his prison within Hammerknell, or I will take back what I’ve given you.”

“Yes, my queen.” Brenin said.  “With the power you’ve bestowed, I have dominated Gorvaht himself!” 

Gwenllian gasped as Gorvaht was summoned to their party.   He was much larger than she realized.

“Annihalate this scum, Gorvaht!” Demanded Brenin.

“I am yours to command, Tidelord Brenin.”

Gorvaht took up his axe and brought it down hart against the stone floor of the gazebo.   Gwenllian crumpled to her knees under the shockwave.  Thinking faster than she had ever been forced to before, she summoned the wind.  Though it did not destroy him, it did swirl the fog of death energy Brenin used to control him, giving her more cover while she worked.  She channeled the same vines she had used earlier and bound his feat.   With his feat bound he was unable to counter balance when she called forth the wind, pushing him forward off his feat.  He landed squarely on the blade of his own axe.

Thinking the fight was finished, she released her focus on the winds that swirled the magic, but as the fog cleared, a new being was with them; A shade being, much like the one that followed Gwenllian through Grey Gardens. 

Gwenllian noticed the flicker of recognition on Brenin’s face before it turned to surprise.  The shade being entered his body, the mortal man growing as the shade disappeared.

“My flesh... is dying... what a strange sensation.  Estrode and I are one!”  Brenin said.  “Hammerknell’s secrets unfold before my eyes... the Stonekey Court is the Key.  Akylios will be free!”

He ran off towards the fortress as Gwenllian ran to Reclaimers Hold.