Hero Quest, episode fourteen
The King of the Faceless
Character Sheet
Race: elf
Class: bard
Background: scholar/street urchin
You glance over your shoulder at the archway. “What is that light?”
The ferryman doesn’t answer. Is he shaking?
“What is it? What awaits me within?”
The ferryman stiffens, hesitating. “There’s nothing for you in there,” he says after a moment.
“You bring me all this way just to tell me there’s nothing?”
“Within…” he pauses, letting out a long breath. “Within awaits my master, a mighty king of old and…”
“And what?”
The ferryman pulls down his hood, revealing a faceless skeletal head. His only feature is his mouth, and even that is ill-formed and lipless. “And a great collector of faces. He took mine, just as he took your brothers, just as he will take yours if you venture within.”
“I’m going to retrieve my brother’s face. I could retrieve yours as well.”
The ferryman considers for a moment, then shakes his head. “It is impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible. If you helped us, you could be made whole again.”
“No! Don’t taunt me! My face is gone. I am the great king’s servant now and nothing you can do will change that.” The ferryman’s raised voice echoes around the cavern.
“It is no taunt,” you say, trying to keep your voice steady and calm. “It is my purpose here.”
“Then you’re a fool! You think you can march in there and make demands from one such as him? He will take your face and you will be trapped here for all time, just as I am.”
You glance at your brother’s faceless body, then at his hovering spirit. The ferryman is trembling. “I have to try.”
“Then you’re already lost.”
You sigh and turn away from him, walking towards the arch.
The ferryman’s muttering of, “fool,fool, fool,” follows behind you.
You pass through the archway into the darkness, slowly edging your way towards the distant firelight. Your footsteps ring out upon what you guess to be a smooth floor of stone, echoing around what must be a huge chamber, but other than the light ahead, it’s too dark to see.
You draw near to the fire. It burns within a low brazier of brass, squat and round and etched with runes. Then finally, with your brother’s faceless body to your right and his floating, silent spirit, to your left, you step into the firelight.
Across from you, just beyond the firelight’s reach, a gloom shrouded silhouette sits upon a raised throne.
“Finally you have come,” a voice rumbles around you. “I was beginning to think your people had forgotten to whom they owe their fealty. But you are here and all is as it needs to be. Now, kneel before me and pay your tribute.”
Thank you for joining me on this adventure.
You found the stone bust in episode eleven when searching through the pile of treasure. You also found a magic lyre at the same time so it might've been over shadowed a little bit.
I did wonder if anyone would remember it 😅
Do you think including foot notes with reminders about stuff like that in future would work? It might make it easier for people who've missed episodes jump in as well.
So it looks like we are presenting stone bust while serenading him… best possible outcome? Me thinks so.