Stardeep (novel)

Stardeep, by Bruce R. Cordell, is the third book in the loosely related The Dungeons series. A few characters from Darkvision continue their adventures in the book.

"Nightmares of the traitor's escape haunt her... nightmares that have become reality.

Guarded by fell magic, deep within the heart of Stardeep, death and madness sleep. Defending this heart are warriors who kill rather than question intruders. The only way in is with a key&mdash;a key that falls into unknowing hands, pulling danger in its wake."

"All Kiril Duskmourn does is run away—from guilt, from her past, and from her responsibilities. But she can't run any longer. She lost everything stopping the Traitor from loosing his unholy revolution, and now the bindings on his cell are weakening. She alone holds the key to his release or further imprisonment. But does she still have the strength of will and arm to make the right choice?"

Summary
In the fortress of Stardeep, the Keeper of the Cerulean Sign Delphe observes unusual activity from the Traitor's prison while in the Chamber of Surveillance. She consults with the intelligence of the fortress, Cynosure, who dismisses the activity; its conclusion is proven wrong, and Delphe has to employ a spell to stop the Traitor's attempt. She questions the efficiency of Cynosure, which informs her that, were there any dip in its capabilities, she would be the first to be informed. Her fellow Keeper, Telarian, is instead in the Epoch Chamber, which he amplifies his divination abilities manyfold; he confirms as he has for months that the aboleth city of Xxiphu is destined to rise, indicating that the mission of the Keepers is destined to fail unless his extreme measures are continued. He has forged the sword Nis from the remainders of the forging of Angul, which his agent, Gage, is seeking out in Laothkund. He has also altered the mind of Cynosure, to make it more pliable to his requests, and to selectively force it to forget whatever is inconvenient for his schemes.

Shortly after, Commander Brathtar of the Empyrean Knights is rebuked by Keeper Telarian for gainsaying his order to dismantle an elven camp close to the monoliths. Brathtar ultimately sets out to attack the wood elf encampment, but sends a letter to Delphe; she discovers the letter, and decides to investigate Telarian. She discovers from Cynosure that Telarian has delved a new chamber, the Epoch Chamber, and requests teleportation there. Once there, she interrogates Telarian as to Brathtar's assignment.

In Laothkund, Gage is sneaking into the headquarters of the Shadow Tongue, employing the Hands of Paymon in the attempt. He manages to sneak into the vault, but is found out by the crime ring's leader, Sathra. He's forced to make a deal with the sentient sword he is seeking, Angul, which grants him enough strength to defeat the cadre personally defending her. The sword's rightful owner, Kiril Duskmourn, is waken up by Xet, a carved opal dragonet that accompanies her. She gets out of the gutter reluctantly, and soon finds that her friend Gage, now armed with Angul, is picking a fight at a tavern. She retrieves her blade, and at a different tavern, explains her story to him.

Kiril relates that about a decade before, her fiancee, Nangulis, was forced to give up his soul so that a sword could be made with the power to thwart the Traitor's escape; the sword turned out to be too powerful for Kiril after the incident, making her slay young wood elves from the Yuirwood with its overpowering influence. Unable to give up the sword that held her lover's soul, and unwilling to return to her task, Kiril fled with the weapon, turning to brigandry and mercenary work. Gage lets slip that Sathra told him that Nangulis sought the sword, to which Kiril responds that Nangulis couldn't be alive, but still decides to head back to Stardeep to verify the situation.

In Telflamm, the half-elf monk Raidon Kane is seeking out Chun, a mid-rank mobster of the Nine Golden Swords to retrieve a family daito. He stops at his usual tea house for a drink, in between attempts to infiltrate the Nine Golden Swords. He is surprised by Chun suddenly patronizing the tea house; he instigates an altercation, and Chun offers him a task to induce him into the organization. Raidon refuses, and the situation quickly turns violent; he manages to steal back his heirloom, but upon returning to his rented dwelling, he finds his roommate slain. He decides to escape Telflamm completely, but before he makes a decision, he notices his mother's other heirloom has changed color. This motivates him to instead head for the Yuirwood.

He signs up as a guard with a caravan; after an attack by two roaming Red Wizards where he begins to suspect his mother's heirloom has protective powers, the caravan finally arrives at Emmech. He retains the services of another caravan guard, the mage Adrik Commorand, to reach the Yuirwood; they manage to find a guide who takes them to Relkath's Foot through a portal. At Relkath's Foot, Raidon learns that his mother's heirloom is related to the elves that have attacked an encampment which studied a portal in the Yuirwood. He decides to join the Masters of the Yuirwood in their offensive, so as to get closer and learn about her heritage.

At the woods, Kiril Duskmourn and Gage are seeking out Stardeep. They are beset by Sathra, who attacks them with an undead minion; though Kiril and Gage ultimately prevail, their arrival at Stardeep is colder than expected. The Empyrean Knights demand Kiril surrender her sword, which she refuses. Soon, Gage warns Kiril that they are after her sword, and that she must not give it up. A battle ensues, where Angul is unwilling to act against the Knights. However, Kiril and Gage are joined by Raidon Kane and Adrik Commorand, who are remnants from a previous attack. During their combat, Keeper Telarian is gainsaid again by Commander Brathtar, and kills him; naming a replacement instantly, the replacement too believes that Telarian has gone insane, and orders the Knights to cut him down. Telarian activates a trap to drop them all in the Underdungeon beneath the fortress. Delphe, within the Chamber of Surveillance, is attacked by a Well-born Avatar, and Cynosure arrives in the nick of time to inform her that the fortress is under attack. Reasoning the timing of the attack is too suspicious, she gives the order to close the Causeway: this prevents Kiril and Gage from entering the fortress. She also disengages Cynosure from the higher functions of the fortress, as it agrees that it is malfunctioning and likely compromised.

Telarian eventually relents that Cynosure must be examined thoroughly before it is reincorporated into the fortress. He rides out into the Underdungeon with a company of Knights, arriving at a hidden underground city where his forces come under attack by a relic lich and its revived fossil minions. Delphe, on her side, is left in Stardeep, examining the nodes of Cynosure one by one; Cynosure proposes reincorporating itself with only confirmed nodes, and she accedes. Cynosure reviews its own memory, and relates to Delphe that there is a command lock on one of its memories, placed there by Telarian. She overrides the command, and the intelligence explains that it has been tampered with by Telarian, who has also created the blade Nis, slain Brathtar, and left for Laothkund far more frequently than originally explained. The two of them quickly investigate, finding that Telarian has all but cleared out the barracks of seasoned warriors.

On their side, After Gage comes clean about being an agent of Telarian, Kiril parts ways with him, joining instead with Raidon and Adrik. She follows a different route into Sildëyuir, discovering it under attack from nilshai. The first two strongholds she seeks out are both destroyed and in ruins. Adrik is poisoned by a nilshai, and so, Kiril decides to seek out the Edgewarden. He opens a different path for them to reach Stardeep through its Underdungeon, and slows down the effects of the poison on Adrik. They head down that door, and explore the hidden realm beneath Sildëyuir, until they are beset upon by endless revived fossils. The fossils fatally injure Adrik; while escaping, the adventurers come across Telarian, fighting the relic lich. Kiril joins the battle, and the lich is felled. Adrik is buried in the underground city.

Telarian tells Kiril Delphe is the actual schemer, and that she has gone insane; he explains that Nangulis may return to life, if they can defeat Delphe. Kiril is swayed; on their way back, they are stopped by a number of Cynosure instances. In range of the fortress' functions, Kiril requests Raidon to employ his own Cerulean Sign to teleport them into the Chamber of Surveillance, so they may attack Delphe directly. Delphe magically contacts Kiril, and explains that Telarian has been compromised. Kiril stalls; when it looks as though Delphe has gotten her around, Telarian attacks her- just as Raidon manages to teleport them all into the Chamber of Surveillance. Once there, Nis merges with Angul, forming a new sword, Angul-Nis, and rejoining the halves of Nangulis; Kiril falls into a trance where she communes with Nangulis' spirit, while Telarian attacks both Delphe and Cynosure, sundering the wards that keep the Traitor in place, aided by another Well-born avatar. Raidon and Delphe focus on the avatar; as Telarian slays Cynosure, Kiril and Nangulis come to agree that he must split the blades, and thus his soul, again. Gage reveals himself as having impersonated one of the Knights teleportedi into the chamber by Raidon, and backstabs Telarian; the diviner falls into the Traitor's prison, and his sword splits into Angul and Nis again.

Raidon, after the battle, agrees to aid Delphe in reinforcing the wards. Kiril mends fences with Gage, and learns that if Angul is not touched, the spirit in it will depart for the afterlife at last. Before it can, she reaches for it, finding life without the sword unbearable.

Index

 * Characters




 * Creatures


 * Ethnicities


 * Locations


 * Magic
 * Spells
 * Magical Items
 * Practices
 * Tomes
 * Practices
 * Tomes
 * Tomes


 * Fauna


 * Flora


 * Organizations


 * Religions


 * Armor
 * Clothing
 * Food and drink
 * Vehicles: wagon
 * Alchemicals
 * Vehicles: wagon
 * Alchemicals
 * Vehicles: wagon
 * Alchemicals
 * Alchemicals


 * Materials
 * Animal products
 * Minerals
 * Gemstones
 * Metals
 * Gemstones
 * Metals
 * Metals


 * Weapons


 * Miscellaneous


 * Constellations


 * Other


 * Unidentified