The Missing Sorceress (TS)
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Through a dark haze Rythan felt a cool liquid flow over his tongue, “Drink.” A feminine voice commanded. As ordered he drank of the sweet potion; and as he did the numbness that had wrapped his body began to melt away. He opened his eyes slowly, blinking as his sight slowly returned. His hood was down, revealing his short cropped dark hair, and the cloth that masked his face was gone as a small dark flask was pressed against his lips. Rythan was a handsome man, holding years that numbered just over a score if one judged by his appearance. His eyes of ruby and sapphire found the azure eyes of a blue skinned beauty while she studied his shoulder, though she appeared upside down to him as his head rested in her lap. As he looked upon her with her cerulean hair flowing over her shoulders he knew that he had seen her before… but where?
The warrior tried to sit up but the woman laid a hand on his right shoulder and roughly forced him back down, “Finish the vial, and if you think you’re strong enough to get up you can hold it yourself too.” As he attempted to lift his left she sighed in aggravation, “You’re other hand fool; I’m trying to tend this wound.” Again Rythan complied, holding the flask and finishing the cool drink as he tried to piece his memories together through the fog. The healer spread a light paste over a small gash on Rythan’s left shoulder, upon the surface of his skin there appeared to be dark veins spreading ominously from the angry red stab wound.
When she finished spreading the paste Rythan set the flask she gave him down upon the dust covered stone floor, remembering where he was and why, “Have you finished?” as he spoke his canines showed themselves to small fangs, almost vampiric in size.
“Yes, you—“
Rythan rose quickly, giving Katerei no chance to stop him, “Thank you.” He refitted the dark cloth upon his face to once again hide his features and drew up his hood, “We need to keep moving.” The blue skinned woman with Elvin features frowned, but fast approaching sounds cut off what she was about to say.
A chorus of moans and gruesome cries rang out from behind the group, from the direction of the corridor where Alice had dispatched a scouting skeleton. It appeared that his comrades had found him and were less than happy as their cries grew louder and closed. Rythan narrowed his eyes, “Everyone move now, Silver, the trap ahead.”
The silvery figure smiled confidently from where he stood already before the trip wire, “On it.” Rotating his hands around a small orb no one else could see he began to weave an intricate pattern, causing the space between his hands to fill with myriad loops of intertwined metallic thread. Throwing the ball upwards he caused it to expand into a net whose edges embedded themselves into the stone ceiling. Hastily he snapped the wire on the floor before him. The trap was released and the chains rattled, but the blades fell barely an inch with his net to hold them at bay. The roars and screams grew louder, so close now, “I think it’s time to go guys.”
Rythan nodded, walking through the group behind, he stopped before Rapierian, lowering his voice so only the mage could hear, “Guide them through safely.” For a moment the mage gave him a quizzical look, but when it was apparent Rythan had seen a glimmer through his ruse he merely nodded. Inclining his head to him Rythan stepped passed, “I’ll slow them down and meet you further in, go.”
“What?!” Sideline’s voice came through above others who mirrored his sentiments, “We aren’t going to leave you here—“
“You don’t have a choice.” Rythan broke in, “Not all of you can fight these things, and some like Adrian cannot at all. Just as well we can’t send those of us ahead because there will be doubtless more inside, and they will overtake us if we advance without slowing them down. Go, now there is no time.”
Katerei called from where she still stood halfway down the tunnel, “Idiot, you—“
He looked back to her over his shoulder, “I will handle this, go.” As he turned back flames of crimson and black enveloped his arms and legs in a fiery rush, dissipating to reveal all of the cruel blades he had worn before. The onyx gauntlets which held his hands mounted with a pair of wicked black serrated blades laid flat across the backs, their serrated edges faced away from each other and their points extending a hand’s length past the knuckles of his closed fists. Another serrated blade ran from the backs of his wrists nearly the entire length of his forearms while a thumb sized spike which curved back protruded from a special guard upon each elbow. On his legs his shins were protected by guards of the same metal, each holding a razor thin serrated blade that faced outward and ran the entire length of the guard. A spike that curved upwards, slightly larger than those upon his elbows, topped a separate guard on each of his knees.
“Fine.” Sideline said with an air of quiet finality.
A skeleton burst from around the bend, wielding a sword and swinging wildly. Rythan dipped below the first swing, swiping with the blades on his right to cleanly sever the dark creature’s spine. Three more appeared as the first fell to the floor in two halves, and Rythan went on the defensive, parrying blows from sword and axe and spear. He was fast, but not nearly as fast as he should have been, and his left arm still felt numbed by the effects of the poison.
From behind he heard the sound of a blade sliding from its sheathe and suddenly Sideline was fighting beside him, the blade he wielded little more than a black blur as he started to cut the ever growing number of angry undead. Rythan’s slammed his elbow across the face of an Undead, the spike upon his elbow tearing into and obliterating the creature’s skull in a spray of bone and rotted flesh, “I told you to go.” He said as he deflected an attack from skeleton’s blade with his gauntlet, summoning a brief spark of light.
Sideline smiled as he parried an attack from an Undead, through the creature off balance. The rogue performed a spinning slash and as the dark wind that was his blade passed over his target the Undead’s head was separated from its body, “No, you told them to go, and they’re leaving.” He grunted as he blocked a blow from an axe, “Besides, I don’t remember electing you leader of our merry band.”
Behind them Silverfish was ushering everyone to head through the door, and Adrian was the last to step through. When he looked back to the heroes fighting the undead who chased the group he saw as several simply ran passed while their opponents were busy fighting others. As a group of five skeletons ran down the hall Silver simply shook his head, “I don’t think so.” With a simply flick of his wrist he pulled upon a thread he had kept attach to the netting mounted on the ceiling. The barrier collapsed instantly and the cruel heavy blades swung down upon the charging skeletons, smashing them to pieces and sending their scattered remains down the hall.
A voice called insistently from beyond the doorway, “Silverfish, hurry!”
Hesitantly he turned away from the scene of the battle and sprinted out after the others, he looked back over his shoulder into the corridor, “Good luck.”
Within the small dark cavern a furious battle raged on. For every one of these creatures Rythan put down two more rushed in to pick up the fight. He stood at the center of the hall, breathing heavily with fatigue with his back to Sideline as they battled enemies on every side. His robes were cut cleanly in places; stained with red from various cuts he had earned in the battle.
From behind the milling forms of the skeletons there appeared another. Taller than the rest a skeleton, crowned with small twisted horns and wearing flowing dark robes, seemed to float into view, a dark red light glowing out from the empty sockets of his eyes, his ivory teeth like wicked fangs. Twin trails of fire rose from the ground on either side of him, rising to sinuously flow around him as a strange wind began to howl through the cavern. He held his skeletal hands out before him, his palms facing Rythan and Sideline both, and the swirling flames collected into an orb of fiery death.
The fireball blasted out towards them, consuming the Undead unlucky enough to stand in it path. Rythan dashed in front of Sideline, crossing his blades before him as the orb erupted towards him. Just as it closed in Rythan slashed with both of his gauntlet blades. The orb erupted around him, splashing the walls with flame as he cut through the magic that held the fireball together.
The Lich who had attacked gazed on in surprise, though it recovered quickly. It was not long before the undead that surrounded them finally brought both Rythan and Sideline down. As the two men lay upon the ground, barely conscious, the evil creatures raised their weapons for the final blows.
A rasping voice like crumbling autumn leaves spoke, {{ Hold. }} The Lich looked down upon the defeated adventurers with a grim satisfaction, {{ Take them to the dungeons }}.
**
The sound of dripping water roused Rythan back to consciousness. He could feel a cold stone floor beneath him, as he tried to move his arms, only to meet resistance and the sound of heavy chains clattering. He opened his eyes to see himself laying in a dark cell, mere feet from where he lay was a heavy metal door, no doubt bolted from the other side, with only a small slit open, letting in a sliver of torch light.
“Sideline?” he called out.
There were several moments of silence, “Hmm… ugh my head…” Rythan could hear Sideline’s muttering from the cell opposite his own, “What happened?”
Rythan struggled to rise to his feet, surveying the sheer rock walls that encased his cell, “I think we succeeded.”
This post has been edited by Ragnar0k : 29 January 2007 - 08:09 PM
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Rapierian followed Brianna and Wizard through the Stronghold's passages. Inwardly, he was laughing: no one seemed to have remembered that he was a necromancer or consulted him on the dead. Instead, they'd just let him run with the rest. That was okay though; if they'd tried to make him fight, he probably would have been forced to disappear and proceed on his own. Rapierian supposed he was indebted to Rythan: by making sure that only Rapierian had heard Rythan give him the order to guide the rest, he'd made it easy for the necromancer to not do it. The group was trying to find the way down: in his tales, Hector had said the dungeons were down. Although the stronghold seemed to have changed somewhat since then, the group was confident that the cells were still below.
Suddenly, the wall in that Rythan was staring at wavered and something stepped through it. The daemon stretched, as it entered the cell. It looked at Rythan with undisguised curiosity.
"For many ages have I served my master, slaughtering those he willed, but I haven't seen you or your kind before. You are an intriguing creature...tell me: what are you and where are you from?"
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Rythan jerked back to awareness again, to find himself alone in his cell - no sign of the daemon. There must still have been a trace of poison in his system, but surely not enough to make him hallucinate like that.
"The daemon must have been probing my mind while my defenses were low," he concluded. "I must be even more on my guard."
He heard a dull scraping sound, mingled with the jangling of heavy chains, from the next cell.
"Sideline? What are you doing?"
"Getting my boot off," came the reply. "I've got something in it."
"We're locked in a dungeon, and you're worried about a pebble in your shoe?"
"A guy's got to have priorities."
Rythan shook his head in disbelief. Sideline had seemed hardy enough in battle, if a bit lacking in skill compared to others Rythan knew, but his behaviour otherwise seemed questionable.
Rythan tested his chains, finding them quite solid, and firmly fixed to the wall. Both the chains and their moorings had apparently been designed to restrain something even stronger than himself. If only he had his blades...
The jangling in the next cell stopped. "Ah, that's better."
"I'm so glad you're comfortable," Rythan snorted.
"Who said anything about getting comfortable?" came Sideline's reponse, accompanied by the sound of a stamping foot. It was shortly followed by a metallic scraping noise.
" Now what are you doing?" Rythan queried, curious despite himself.
"Hang on, I'm a bit busy - be with you in a sec."
"Busy? You're chained to a wall. How can you possibly be 'busy'?"
There was a metallic 'click'.
"Sideline?"
No response.
"Sideline, are you alright?" Rythan was becoming concerned. His companion had taken quite a knock to the head when they were overrun, and his erratic behaviour since suggested he might still be addled.
Something moved outside his cell door. The lock clicked, and the door groaned open. The light from the flickering torches outlined a dark, menacing silhouette standing in the frame.
"Just give me half a minute and I'll have those chains off," Sideline commented, tossing a lockpick up and down as he strolled into the cell.
This post has been edited by cache22 : 04 March 2007 - 04:57 AM
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Brianna and Silverfish pretty much led the way after Sideline and Rythan split off. Brianna watched for traps, and Silver disarmed them to the best of his unguided ability. By the time they reached an actual doorway, most of the party was coughing and wheezing from the noxious fumes of the poisons that Tavara et al. had created.
They stepped through the door and into a small, well-ventilated library. The Party of adventurers, and Adrian, crowded through the doorway. Adrian, poor fellow, was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, worrying that Olivia might be down here, killed by a trap, or captured by the undead. Silver crawled behind the books, and fell asleep, he did not want to miss the end of the Quest, like last time.
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Heavy metallic chains clattered to the stone floor within a dark cell. In view of what little light there was Rythan tested the use of his left arm, flexing the muscles, tightening his fist. It did feel better than it had before, his metabolism was several times faster than a normal human, giving him a small degree of accelerated healing. He shook his head, there was not nearly enough time for him to heal properly, such would take at least a day, perhaps two or even three.
He wondered about the demon he had seen. In his haze it was likely he answered the simple questions, as they were innocent enough, but why would the beast want to make pleasant conversation? When it had approached Rythan could feel the difference between that creature and the horrifying Blood Demons he had devoted his life to destroying. He concentrated, attempting to break through the poisonous fog that clouded his mind… What had happened?
_"For many ages have I served my master, slaughtering those he willed, but I haven't seen you or your kind before. You are an intriguing creature...tell me: what are you and where are you from?"
Rythan met the dark creature’s steady curious gaze, replying simply “I am Hyperian.” The creature returned an odd look at that statement, believing it true but not knowing what to make of the name. Rythan continued to meet its eyes with his ruby and sapphire orbs, “A child of the Dragon.” He said to clarify, however the creature still did not know what he meant. Rythan remembered he was a stranger here… Where was here? A strange mist clouded his thoughts and memories. How? He could remember a dark hall, Jenadel, fire… and nothing. Why…The dark figure shook his head in an attempt to clear his addled thoughts. Where do you come from, that was the question, “The plains of Daraken.”
The demon seemed to become slightly agitated by Rythan’s lack of coherence, “I have never heard of any of this before. How is it that you came here?”
What an odd question, when the answer was so simple. Didn’t everyone know? Rythan looked to the daemon questioningly, “I traveled the roads of Ygg—“ abruptly he stopped himself.
“Ygg?” The daemon asked curiously, “What is this place, how does one reach it?”
Rythan’s eyes attained a chill of icy crystal as some semblance of clarity was restored to him, “You are unworthy to hear its name, but I can bring you there if you are not partial to which pieces of you I take.”
The daemon narrowed its eyes and spoke darkly, “Insolent fool.” It drew back its right fist and slammed it across the side of Rythan’s face with a savage blow that rocked his body to the side. Everything went dark…_
Sideline knelt on the ground briefly, placing his lock pick back into his boot; the rogue’s nature had served the pair well. He spoke without looking up, “How’s the arm?”
Sideline’s words tore Rythan out of his reverie, “Better now.” he replied. He reached up with his right hand and touched where the blow had been struck; at least the creature hadn’t left a mark, still there was now a debt of blood to be repaid. As he clenched his fists onyx flames washed of the assassin’s tattered robes, with flecks of crimson lapping at the air and casting a dim light through the cell. The fires dissipated, leaving behind the dark blades mounted upon Rythan’s gauntlets and shin guards.
As Sideline stood he looked to Rythan quizzically, “If you could do that, why didn’t you free yourself?”
The shadowy figure looked back to the chains built into the stone wall behind him, “With my hands bound I couldn’t summon them easily, and I still suffer from poison weakness.”
Sideline made his way over to the heavy door, quietly opening it and peaking out, “We’re clear for now,” he whispered back, “You’re still well enough to fight?” Rythan nodded as he approached the door himself, “Good, because they took my sword, and I’ll want that back before we leave.”
The pair entered the hall, closing the cell door behind them. It was empty, silent save for the crackling flame of the corridor’s single wooden torch. To their right was a dead end, to their left… More cells lined the walls, at least a dozen on either side. Rythan stepped towards one of them and, motioning Sideline to check its opposite, peered through the steel door’s single opening. The pungent sickly sweet smell of rot was the first thing that greeted Rythan as he gazed inside. Within the dark cell was a lone figure in worn brown clothes, with flesh that was a shade of gray tinged with green and missing in places. The now dead prisoner was kneeling, leaning forward with his arms outstretched behind him, still chained to the wall.
That amount of decay should have taken weeks, so whoever the poor victim was, at least it wasn’t Katherine. “Empty.” Sideline whispered from behind, quickly moving to check the next cell.
With a last glance Rythan said a small blessing for the passing of the soul, “May Mana's light embrace you.” Slightly louder he replied, “Same.” And in silence he moved to the next cell.
This post has been edited by Ragnar0k : 30 January 2007 - 04:27 PM
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"Now that's good air," Retsy breathed, then collapsed on the floor to rest her feet.
Retsy picked up a book out of curiosity, and paged through it. "Bleh," she mumbled to herself, "people can read all this? When I rule Cythera, I'll make people to read to me all day long. Then I'll never be bored again."
Retsy noticed that the others were now talking about the wall opposite the door through which they had entered; a wall which apparently "looked suspicious." Retsy crawled over to eavesdrop.
"Is it even a wall?" Kerran asked.
"Is this even a room?" Retsy asked.
"This is a room, because we're inside of it," Brianna assured her, being the closest.
"I can plainly see a wall, and you're debating it's existence," Retsy argued.
"I don't think it is actually a wall," Wizard said.
And the group began checking for traps and inching forward toward the wall.
Retsy leaned against a bookshelf to rest her eyes. "How could a place this comfy have traps anyway?" -
On the other side of the "wall," a lich sat working on a table, working on a large alchemy set. It hadn't noticed the adventurers in the next room mostly because a lot of the liches had gone quite madand might not have cared if it had. After all, the enchantments on the Strongholds reanimated the dead within, so it wasn't terribly important to the lich if it died again or not. It might, however, get angry if its experiment were ruined.
"Wizard, I really don't think that you want to go poking around that wall. Perhaps, we should leave?" Rapierian suggested.
"Why?" Adrian asked, looking at the necromancer nervously.
"Because this place reeks of lich and from his 'scent' I'd hazard that he is still over there," he stated simply. "Might I suggest we search for an exit before he or someone else notices us?"
As the group debated, Retsy, out of boredom, pulled another book off of the shelf. Suddenly, the bookshelf groaned and slid back, revealing a flight of stairs leading down.
"Wow!" she said, pleased that her powers had helped her find the exit.
After a quick debate, the group agreed to head down into the darkness...
In another part of the Stronghold, Katherine sat on the hard bed in her cell, thinking hard. The liches' madness was readily apparent to her: most of them didn't seem to know that she had even come to the Stronghold. This was rather fortunate, since it meant that they did not try to interrogate her. However, they had told her that they would soon send her to Tavara and that he would make her talk. She guessed that it was Tavara that had noticed her at first and made the undead attack her, in spite of her charm. Her mission had been going quite well, until she'd stumbled onto a small room filled with scrolls. They had been spell processes, theoretical outcomes, etc. What she'd seen had chilled her to the bone: Tavara was developing a spell to convert the living directly to the undead and to his servants. He planned to use the magical artifact that controlled the legions of undead that had attacked Cademia some years ago and to use it to cast his spell on Pnyx, turning all the mages into liches and into his slaves. He'd then raise the undead army once more and would sweep across Cythera.
No sooner had Katherine deduced this, however, then something had hit her on the head. Next thing she knew, she was here in this cell. A few liches had come by and rambled on about their revenge, but she had not seen much. She wished that she could get a message out; she hoped that, at least, Akheron had come here and been captured too...
This post has been edited by Selax : 09 March 2007 - 01:17 AM
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Brianna carefully led the way down the dark staircase, doing her best to spot any traps before she accidentally set them off. Indoors wasn't really her strong suit, and she was missing Sideline's skills. She was beginning to realise just how good at his job he really was.
"Oops!" She carefully pulled her foot back from the glinting wire she'd almost stepped on. "Found another one! Is Silverfish awake, yet?"
"Regrettably, we seem to have left him behind in the library, with the others," the Scribe replied.
Brianna sighed. "Well, we can step over it, then. Watch your step." She nimbly hoped over the low-strung wire. "See? Nothing to i - urk!"
She stared, speechless, at the single blade protruding from her upper chest. A dark stain was spreading across her tunic. There was no pain - in fact, there was an unsettling numbness spreading out from the centre of the wound.
"Grand... grandfather... Kat...erei... help..."
She coughed once, and slumped to the floor.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Sideline and Rythan moved swiftly along the row of cells, pausing briefly to check each one. Sideline glanced through the window in the next door, then started to move to the next - then stopped, and went back for another look.
"Found her?" Rythan asked.
"No, but there's something..." Sideline pushed open the unlocked door and entered the cramped, forbidding room. He knelt down, ran his hand across the wall; then leaned forward to look under the sleeping bench. He emerged from the cell holding a shoe.
"Just an old shoe?" Rythan queried.
"Not so old," Sideline commented, "and it belonged to a woman. Also, someone's scratched a 'K' on the wall. Unless the liches have caught another female prisoner recently, whose name also begins with 'K', Katherine was here. I guess they must have moved her."
"We'd best press on."
"Agreed."
This post has been edited by cache22 : 31 January 2007 - 04:47 AM
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Before the party descended into the darkness, Starfall came running up to Rapierian, carrying a few books.
"Is is morally wrong to take books from this library?" she asked.
The mage pondered this for a moment, then replied, "It is an undead stronghold, and I doubt skeletons read much." Noticing the nature of the books she had found, he added, "And I also doubt that even liches would read about copper, gemstones or trees. If you carry them, you can take them."
The elf was about to squeal with delight when she remembered the need for silence. She ran back over to a section of shelving and started investigating.
Cat sighed, and said, "I'd better stay with her until she's happy with what she's got. She tends to forget where she is if she spends too much time with books, and it looks like she'll be a while. And I just might have a look myself. We'll catch up with you later."
Kerran opted to stay behind too, as the elves represented everyone he knew and trusted in Cythera. He was also casting glances at a section of shelving about music.
The rest of the party decended into the dark. Cat noticed Silverfish still asleep behind a book, and woke him up, telling him the party had left.This post has been edited by CrazyChick : 03 March 2007 - 02:44 PM
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Silverfish jolted awake, and thanked Cat profusely, before rushing out after the others, forgetting completely that Cat, Starfall, and Kerran were part of the party too.
Silver knelt, on the verge of tears, beside Brianna. He felt along the length of the blade, grimacing from the pain which the enchantment caused him. The blade was clean, so Silver began to slowly pull it out, carefully splicing her flesh together as the blade retracted, his mind within the wound, as if it was his own body, and not another's, which Silver was repairing. To those who watched, it seemed that he was pouring his life's essence into the wound, to safely remove the accursed blade; and they set a guard around them.
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Corridors of old dark stone, illuminated by the flickering light of torches that caused every shadow to dance across the walls, were what comprised the dungeon of the dark stronghold. Rythan and Sideline continued to check the cells as they quietly made their way through those dank halls, but they found no more clues, no more signs, only the occasional corpse of captives past. It seemed that after capture the Undead who ruled here simply threw their victims into the cells, fated to die alone in the dark and never see the light of day again. That is, all save for Katherine. It seemed apparent that Katherine had either found the location of the long sought artifact or had stumbled upon some secret of equal importance to those who ruled here.
Rythan’s dark robes blended into the shadows well and he silently flowed through them like the forgotten memory of a shadow. Sideline’s clothing was not as well suited, but the rogue was a master of stealth, and remained within the shadows without making a sound as the two progressed though the dungeon. At the end of the hall before them was a final door, a large portal of solid steal sealed tightly by a large complex seeming lock. Rythan looked to Sideline as the silent thief knelt before the lock and pulled out the pick he had used to free them, “Can you open it?”
Sideline gave a small chuckle, “Can I? This thing is so outdated; I could probably pick it with a spoon.” he tilted his head slightly to the side, “Not having any spoons on hand though…” click , he stood, pocketing his pick and giving the door a light push that sent it opening outwards, “I guess I’ll have to make do with what I’ve got.”
Rythan arched an eyebrow, impressed, though it was probably too dark for Sideline to see the gesture. He slid into the darkness on the other side, leading for now because Sideline was still unarmed. The dark room seemed to be a guard station, with weapons mounted on racks arrayed on either wall with a large dust covered desk at the center. The dust on the ground was disturbed in wide swaths and bones littered the area, the battle had been recent, and whoever had resulted in the defeat of the guards stationed here. Rythan’s thoughts went back to the Demon who had visited him, what was the creature after? The assassin whispered back through the darkness, “The room is clear, though it is black as pitch.”
Sideline pushed the heavy door all the way open, allowing at least a small amount of light to trickle in from the corridor behind, and entered. Rythan stepped lightly over the scattered bones, going around the large desk at the room’s center, when he noticed a large chest behind it, equipped with a lock through the rusted loop to keep it sealed. Sideline saw the chest as well, while Rythan stood over it in curious study, “Don’t worry, I’ll have it open in just a second, so if—“ Rythan reached down, grabbing the lock, and with a sharp snap, tore it form the rusted bindings, “Or not,” he said with a small smile, “whatever works for you then.” Sideline drew up beside Rythan as the dark warrior lifted the chest’s lid. Resting at the very top was a blade of the deepest black, the word Paradox engraved across its surface. The rogue grabbed the hilt of his blade, pulling it out and twirling it for a moment before sheathing it, “Much better.”
Beneath where the sword had lay was an assortment of other weapons and valuables, things confiscated from captives over the many years. Rythan turned away and headed for the door at the other side of the room, “If you think any of that would be useful then take what you can, I would rather not return.” Opening the door Rythan surveyed the area ahead. A great chamber greeted him, lit by torches that were arrayed along the walls at intervals; the smooth surface of the floor spoke of a beauty that was held in this place, long ago. There was a pair of grand sweeping staircases ahead which led up to a balcony two floors above, and Rythan could just make out the top of a set of dark doors. Another set of doors lay directly ahead, between where the two sets of stairs began, and there was a door on both the left and right side of the large room.
As Rythan entered the chamber Sideline was not far behind, and the two came to stand at the room’s center. The rogue took a moment to take in his surroundings before slowly nodding his head, “They moved Katherine out of the dungeons, so if we are to find her it seems more logical that they brought her upstairs, where the stronghold is probably better defended.” He looked to the left and right, “That Lich had us brought into the dungeons through one of these three doors, which means that one of them will lead us back to the where we were before we were captured.” Sideline sighed, “But the others could have covered a lot of ground by now. Do you see anything suspicious in this room?”
Rythan looked around for a few moments, “Nothing.”
The rogue nodded slowly, “They haven’t been through here, if they had they would’ve left us some clue for which path they took…”
Rythan understood what Sideline was saying. The others had not come this way, which could mean they would arrive soon, that it would take them some time to reach, or that they had found another way up entirely. There were simply too many variables in the equation, no way to really know which way they should proceed or whether they should move on at all.
This post has been edited by Ragnar0k : 31 January 2007 - 07:40 PM
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Katerei knelt swiftly beside Brianna, watching Silverfish work and prepared to lend her skills if need be. However, Silverfish seemed to know what he was doing. She looked on, impressed, as the blade finally slid out of the half-elf's body and the wound healed over. Although she couldn't tell in the dim light if the blade had been poisoned, it appeared that Silverfish's technique would have solved that too.
The small creature swayed slightly as he finished, then collapsed to the ground in a heap. Katerei picked him up in her arms and, deducing that he was alive, if only semi-conscious, looked critically around the other party members. "Here," she said roughly, settling on Alice, and passing Silverfish off to him to carry. Alice blinked, but didn't object.
Returning her attention to Brianna, she checked over the wound one last time. "It looks healed," she said in a quiet, measured tone. "How do you feel?"
"Fine, I think," the other woman replied, moving her limbs to make sure everything still functioned. "I should be able to keep up still-" and she tentatively stood up, noting with pleasure that nothing hurt, but in that 'healed' way rather than the 'numb' way.
"You'll have to be more careful, granddaughter," the Scribe cautioned. "We can't afford to keep having people injured left and right."
Meanwhile, two people were having a whispered discussion behind them. Alice was attempting to gesture while holding Silverfish, and the ghost was looking on in amusement. But it understood, and strode forward to the trap.
Indicating with a sweep of its translucent arm that everyone should stand well back, it stepped over the silver wire and waited patiently as a shower of daggers was flung through its body, clattering harmlessly to the floor and sliding down the staircase out of sight. The ghost turned and gave a bow, completely uninjured.
"Oh, I see," Brianna clarified for those that were looking around in confusion. "It wasn't a manual trip wire. There must have been a magical field of sorts set up over the wire that was set off when I walked through it. The ghost is just solid enough to set it off as well."
"Well, let's hope we don't find too many more of those," someone said, and everyone else voiced an agreement. They continued forward through the now-disarmed trap, heading to the bottom of the staircase.
They found themselves at a four-way intersection, forming a cross-shape. "Where now?" Adrian sighed.
Rapierian looked around. He remembered this area well and knew exactly where each path led to, but as he looked down the right-hand way, he thought he saw a furry ice-blue tail swish around the corner. Odd, he thought to himself.
Brianna was studying the walls, looking for any sort of sign or marking that might indicate where they should go next. "There might be something carved in here," she said, tracing her fingers over a small section, "but there's so much dirt and grime and the walls are so cracked that I can't tell for sure. Maybe if I could wash this filth off with some water or something... Katerei, could you lend a hand?"
Wizard looked around the small assembly of people. "I don't think she's here."
"What?" Brianna turned, exasperation and worry written across her face. "How did we lose her?"
"Does she, by any chance, have the shapeshifting ability that elves share?" Rapierian ventured, looking somewhat amused. "I happened to see some sort of animal disappearing down... that way..."
She followed the necromancer's indication with her gaze and nodded, leading the way down that corridor. In the dirt on the floor they could make out faint wolf prints, and from the stride Brianna could tell that it had taken off at a run. They wound their way through the dungeon-like passageway, praying not to stumble across any vagrant undead on the way, and in the distance up ahead came a faint 'yip', followed by a distinctive bark and the sounds of combat.
"That must be her," the Scribe said, and they quickened their pace, finally rounding a corner just as a small blue wolf came bounding towards them.
"What's it got in its mouth?" Adrian said. "Oh... urgh..." The elderly man paled as the wolf trotted up to them, holding a rotting zombie arm in its maw. It dropped the limb, barked happily, and transformed back into Katerei in front of them.
"Sorry," she said, kicking the limb with some measure of distaste. "Had to take down a couple of these on the way. It gets hard to fight the canine urges after awhile... anyway, I've found Katherine."
There was a choruses of "Really?" "Is she alive?" "How did you know?"
Katerei held up a hand for silence. "She's alive. I was able to smell her out while in wolf form. We'll have to find a way to get her out of the cell though. Come on... I'll lead you to her."
This post has been edited by iKaterei : 03 March 2007 - 03:21 PM
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Perhaps half an hour had passed since the main body of the party had left. All three in the library were still immersed in their chosen subject, and the pile of books that Starfall wanted to take was reaching alarming proportions, fully five feet high. Cat was privately wondering how Starfall would transport them. Perhaps her love of books would enable her to carry them all.
She glanced at her own modest selection - mainly on self-defence - and went to practise some judo quietly in a corner.
Kerran was enjoying himself immensly, having found a complicated book of flute music. He'd managed to play two completely different tunes at the same time, and was about to demonstrate the fact to the others, when he started feeling tired. It could wait until he'd had a sleep. He tucked his book into a pouch in his belt, lay down on the floor and dozed off.
Cat and Starfall were feeling the same effects, but the latter hardly noticed, in a world of her own. Eventually, they both went to sleep as well, after putting their books away. For Cat, that was in various pockets in her clothing. For Starfall, however, she produced a pouch from somewhere under her cloak and put all the books next to her inside. The vast pile of books next to her fitted in nicely, and she didn't seem surprised that every last one could fit inside such a small pouch.
Cat yawned, stretched, and woke up. The carpet under her had vanished, to be replaced by a hard, stone floor. And she was chained to the wall. Extending her claws, she cut through the metal in a few seconds, and jumped up, suspecting a trap. She was horrorfied to see she was alone in a small cell. She tried to cut the bars out of the door with her claws, but they skidded off. The door was of the same metal, impossible to cut.
Hissing under her breath, she paced around the tiny room, thinking hard.
After a while, she gave up, took a book out of a pocket, settled down and began to read.This post has been edited by CrazyChick : 01 February 2007 - 02:30 AM
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Cautiously, the group proceeded down the corridor, expecting some kind of trap. To their surprise, it was empty. The only guards had been disposed of by Katerei.
However, the cell door was now wide open and the cell was empty.
"Perhaps, they moved her?" Retsy suggested.
"I don't think so," Wizard replied grimly. He bent down and picked up a piece of parchment off of the floor. He read it aloud.
_Dear "heroes" (a distasteful term, do you not agree?):
I am the daemon Kitran (a true gentleman always introduces himself to his enemies). Perhaps you remember me from our brief encounter at that elderly gentleman's home? (In case, you are wondering, you all acted appallingly rude!)
Anyway, I have taken the Lady Katherine hostage, and, if you do not meet my demands, I will be forced to kill her in a horrible manner.
These are my demands: go to the second Stronghold and steal both the artifact and the spell-book with it. I will then turn her over to you at a place to be arranged on your success.
Please, do hurry, since it is impolite to keep people waiting.
Your Enemy,
Kitran_Kitran, meanwhile, had already escaped the area. Under one arm, he carried Katherine, whom he had rendered magically unconscious. The spell would last until the lifted it, saving him the trouble of having to worry a lot about his prisoner. Being a cautious creature, he had also tied and gagged her with magically-strengthened rope, just in case. In moments, he was out into the sky and hovering above the Strongholds. Patiently, he waited. Kitran doubted that the adventurers would give in easily or at all, but he could live with that. He already had plans along that line...
This post has been edited by Selax : 09 March 2007 - 01:18 AM
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The sound of swords striking stone, mingled with the incongruous snarling of a wolf, echoed through one of the three doors into the chamber in which Rythan and Sideline were debating their options. They glanced at each other and, without a word, dashed through the door and toward the source of the disturbance. They arrived just in time to hear the last few sentences of Rapierian's recitation.
"I guess we're looking for a way back out, now, then," Sideline sighed. "Wait a minute - where are Cat, Starfall and Kerran?"
-
Cat was intrigued by one of the techniques in her book, a type of kick with a spin in it. She got up to practise it, and soon had almost perfected. She was still halfway through a kick when the door opened, and she accidentally landed it in the face of the demon coming through. Stunned at finding the prisoner awake, free and attacking, the demon couldn't react fast enough to stop Cat landing another kick, this time with her claws out. She hit his face again, and her claws did enough damage to make him stumble back. Not letting him get an opening, she kicked him again, and again. He managed to retaliate, but his magical attack was feeble, certainly not enough to stop Cat's onslaught. Barely noticing the scorch-marks on her arm, she alternated kicks with punches, and the demon was forced to retreat further. Back against the wall, he tried to attack, but Cat was too fast for him, and eventually her attacks began to pay off - the demon was weakening. She responded with a will, and the demon vanished in a puff of smoke as her killing blow struck home.
Panting hard, Cat grinned in triumph. She went back in the cell to retrieve her books, and went off in search of her companions. -
On a world called Aria:
Flynn stood atop a boulder next to the newly-beaten trail, and counted off the refugees as they stumbled past. Twenty-six. Yesterday, there were thirty-one. As good a combat unit as the Ronin were, less than half of them had come to this land. Incomplete, they were outnumbered and outclassed by the troops that had been thrown against them. Far too many and too heavily armed for the task of slaughtering defenceless peasants, Flynn thought. Someone had wanted to make a point.
He scanned the once trackless forest back the way they'd come, eyes narrowed against the setting sun. There was no sign of further pursuit, but still, uneasiness cloaked him. Something was out there, he was certain of it. Biding its time, waiting for more favourable terrain.
In the other direction, Sasha laboured at the head of the weary column. She had to hold her pace back to that of the people they'd collected along the way, in spite of the blood seeping through the bandage on her upper arm. That was another cause for Flynn to worry. The Ronin's legendary recuperative powers were almost ineffective here, as were the magics of their most potent weapons. Clearly, the Cytheran Elements held no sway in this very different world.
Lucas Hart brought up the rear of the column, his seemingly boundless energy strangely out of step with the silver hair that betrayed his advancing age. Besides his own gear, and someone else's pack that they'd been too weak to bear themselves, he balanced a young boy on his shoulders. He chatted cheerfully with the lad, but Flynn read the grimness in the older man's one remaining natural eye. Lucas had been a soldier most of his life, and Flynn knew his instincts mirrored his own.
Behind him, wood rattled against stone. Flynn had no need to turn to know who it was. Trinias clambered up beside him, and leaned tiredly on his plain wooden longbow - without the magic of the Cytheran Elements coursing through it, the Opal Sting was worse than useless; its crystalline shell made it far too rigid for the woodsman to draw. Flynn's gaze remained fixed to the West, as he waited for Trinias to speak.
"There's a cave system not far ahead," Trinias reported, after catching his breath. "We could reach it in under half an hour, just before sunset. Marginally defensible, about ten feet up a cliff face, but if these people don't rest soon, those bastards won't need to do a thing except count the bodies as they ride by." Flynn's eyebrow twitched upward at the mild profanity. Like himself, Trinias usually avoided it. It was a measure of the depth of his frustration, and the stress of the situation.
"Speaking of riding, any sign of that heavy cavalry?"
"No. They'd be ineffective in this part of the forest, anyway - terrain's too irregular, and the scrub's too dense. They could ride through it, slowly, but they'd never be able to charge."
"Small mercies," Flynn muttered. "All right, you'd better point Sasha in the right direction."
Trinias inclined his head in acknowledgement, and jumped down from the rock. Flynn scanned their backtrail once more. In spite of Trinias' news, the sense of foreboding still oppressed him. He sighed, and followed Trinias down off the rock.
Trinias' estimate proved accurate. A slim golden arc was all that remained of the sun when Flynn, characteristically last, levered himself over the lip of the small cliff and into the dark cavern beyond. The refugees had collapsed in exhaustion, wherever they could find an open space. After a brief inspection of the interior of the cave, Flynn returned to the entrance. He trusted his companions to keep watch, perhaps more than he trusted himself, but in his uneasiness he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. He sat with his feet dangling over the edge, maintaining his vigil over the all-too-clear path they'd cut to reach this place.
Sasha slumped down beside him, as the last red gleam of sunlight winked at the world and was extinguished.
"How's the arm?" he asked.
"It aches, nachalnik, but I've had worse."
"I really messed up, this time," Flynn muttered, after a long pause. "Wolmark will be moving heaven and earth to find us and get us home, but we might not live long enough to see it."
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Some time ago, in Cythera:
"There's the portal, just like the scroll said," Leandra exclaimed, as the seven Ronin, Moonshadow and Lucas Hart entered the cavern at the end of their arduous trek, deep beneath Land's End volcano. To their certain knowledge, nobody had ever delved this deep before.
"But there's still no indication of where it leads," Moonshadow objected.
"Well, there's one way to find out," Flynn commented, stepping towards the glowing gateway. Moonshadow grabbed his arm, and pulled him a short distance away from everyone else - and the temptation of the dimensional doorway.
"Wait just a minute, Flynn O'Connor," she murmured. "You can't keep throwing yourself into these perilous situations without thinking it through. There's more than yourself to consider - you may believe the others have a choice to stay behind, but which of them would ever abandon you like that, hmm? They'd follow you into certain death, if that's where you were determined to go - and in this case, you don't even know where you'll end up! You can't keep doing that to your friends. You can't do that to me! "
Flynn shook his head, wearily. "We've been over this, Mada. The scrolls clearly state that the Displaced will 'find the Pole-gates and pass beyond; then return, strengthened, in time to face the apocalypse to come.' The clues in the first scroll led us here, and I guess this portal must be the first Pole-gate. We have to see this through!"
"Oh, and just because the scroll looks ancient and bears the inscription 'Temrel, the Seer', you automatically have to believe it, do you?"
Flynn looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean?"
"Well, what if it's a trap? What if Boralis is setting you up, or any one of a dozen other powerful enemies you've made? We've meddled in a lot of people's plans over the years. What if someone is trying to get rid of us?"
Flynn thoughtfully shook his head. "Granted, that might be so, but hardly anyone's ever heard of Temrel. Timon only found these scrolls a few months ago. He took them straight to Wolmark as soon as he deciphered references to the Displaced, knowing that that's what the Seldane call us. We know Temrel. You've even met him yourself at least once - in the cave of crystal artifacts beneath this very volcano, on that little trip to the past. More than that, I trust him in my very bones. I can't explain why."
"Temrel's always linked with Kronos, and you know how erratic he's been behaving, lately. You never know where you are with him, from one moment to the next! If that makes any sense, when applied to a time elemental. But never mind all that - whenever there's the slightest hint of trouble, the audacious Flynn just throws all caution to the winds, and rushes off into danger. And I don't want to lose you! "
Flynn smiled down at her. "Nor I, you." He lifted Moonshadow's left hand, tapping the silver ring on her middle finger with his thumb; the ring's mirror image adorned the middle finger of his own left hand. "Temrel's rings, remember? We can't lose each other while we're wearing these. Tell you what - next time, we'll find out everything we can, first, and you can decide when we're ready to go. Agreed? Right," he said, addressing the rest of the group. "Let's get this show on the road."
As Flynn walked past Ulf, he caught the giant's eye and surreptitiously nodded toward Moonshadow. Ulf, understanding that he was to protect the comparatively petite winter elf, nodded in return and edged nearer to his charge.
Flynn took a deep breath and stepped through the portal, with Sasha, Lucas and Trinias close on his heels.
Moonshadow stared at the portal, mouth agape. "Of all the stupid, arrogant, unthinking, unfeeling - if he thinks I'm going to just tag along behind him after that , he can think again!"
Leandra hesitated, shocked at the outburst. She'd spent the time talking with her husband, Wolmark, and hadn't overheard the quiet argument. She touched the still fuming Moonshadow lightly on the arm. "Are you all right?"
Moonshadow took a long, shaky breath, then breathed it out loudly. "I will be. It's just, he can be so infuriating... and I just can't stand the thought - if anything happened to him..."
"I understand," Leandra said, giving Moonshadow a sisterly hug.
Wolmark, hovering at Leandra's side, cleared his throat. "If we're going through, we'd better move," he said. "The others will be waiting."
"Of that, you may be certain," Kwon contributed in his long-winded manner. "What of you, dear sister?" he asked Moonshadow. "Will you keep to your expressed intent to remain behind, or will you reconsider, and rejoin Flynn?"
For a few seconds, Moonshadow chewed her lower lip indecisively. Then, with a look of determination, she drew a deep breath.
The light from the portal went out.
"What happened?" Leandra's voice queried in the sudden darkness.
"It appears we have lingered too long," Kwon stated, mournfully. "The way is shut, and we may not pass - nor may our companions return."
"What we do?" Ulf boomed.
"Don't worry," Wolmark replied, the tone of his voice failing to live up to his words. "We'll find a way to get them back. If I have to burn a hole through the fabric of a dozen realities, I'll find a way to get them back!"
Moonshadow was grateful that, in the darkness, none of her friends could see the guilt and anguish she knew must be blazoned on her face.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Aria:
"Why do I keep getting us into these situations?" Flynn bemoaned to Sasha, staring blindly into the dark night outside their cavern refuge.
"That's simple, moy priyatyel. You have an innate sense of purpose, of destiny. If fate drops a mystery in front of you, you feel bound to follow it, wherever it leads, just in case this is the one you were born for."
Flynn grunted. "If I'm that obviously insane, why do you all keep following me?"
"Because, deep down, we're just like you."
"But isn't that self-destructive? Sooner or later, we'll probably all end up dead."
Sasha shrugged. "I read people, not tea leaves. If you want to know the future, go talk to Kronos."
"No thanks, I'm confused enough as it is."
Somehow, Flynn felt better for the conversation. The two old comrades-in-arms lapsed into comfortable silence
This post has been edited by cache22 : 01 February 2007 - 03:29 AM
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Silverfish groaned, and opened his eyes; a thousand lights swirled across the ceiling, and he shuddered, vaguely remembering a stab wound, and the searing pain of mana enfolding his body. He felt within himself for signs of the wound, but found nothing. Puzzled, Silver extended his senses; somebody was carrying him, and a little way off was the quickly fading evidence that, (he opened his eyes), Brianna had ever been stabbed.
"Stop wiggling." said Alice, as the tone returned to Silver's body, "Here, it might work better for you to sit on my shoulder, if you aren't ready to proceed on your own."
Silverfish gladly accepted, and Alice helped him shift to his shoulder. They continued on, each a bit more prepared for action than they had been.
-
"In a room upstairs with a lich," Rapierian answered Sideline nonchalantly, "who has most likely noticed them by now and had them taken to the dungeons. If we want to find them, we should probably head back the way that we came."
After a quick check back up the secret staircase, the group found that the little library was indeed empty. Having no other really good place to start, they quickly headed back down the stair and followed Sideline and Rythan cautiously into the dungeons. No one seemed to have noticed the earlier breakout and there were still no guards. Carefully, the group made their way through the dungeons, looking for the other three party members.
-
The guard room remained black as pitch when the group of adventurers entered. Brianna and Katerei were leading the others slowly though the dust covered room as they were among the few who could see anything. Brianna glanced over her shoulder to Sideline who followed closely behind, “Are you sure there won’t be guards waiting for us in the dungeon itself?”
In the darkness behind the group, a lone Hyperian stood, his lean muscular frame clothed and hooded in layers of tattered onyx robes, with a dark cloth hiding all but his eyes. His hands were held in unique night black gauntlets with a pair of wicked black serrated blades laid flat across the backs, their serrated edges faced away from each other and their points extending a hand’s length past the knuckles of his closed fists. Another serrated blade ran from the back of his wrists nearly the entire length of his forearms while a thumb sized spike which curved back protruded from a special guard upon each elbow. On his legs his shins were protected by guards of the same metal, each holding a razor thin serrated blade that faced outward and ran the entire length of the guard. A spike that curved upwards, slightly larger than those upon his elbows, topped a separate guard on each of his knees.
Rythan was the one to answer from where he stood studying the contents of the open chest which once held Sideline’s blade, “No.” Within the chest something caught the assassin’s eye, a dark crystal set into a silver amulet on a fine silver chain. He pulled the amulet out to study, within the shadowed room only the Elves could actually see what he was doing, and after a moment he placed it securely within his robes. He strode around the large desk at the center of the room in silence, invisible to everyone who lacked strong night vision, “Though if we find guards we are in the right place.” Someone jumped, possibly Adrian, at hearing Rythan’s voice so close without realizing the dark figure had moved from the other side of the room.
Brianna began to open the large door which would lead to the cells, Katerei reaching for her knife blade while Sideline’s hand hovered steadily over the hilt of his sword. A sliver of orange torch light crept into the guard room and Rythan stepped towards the widening opening cautiously, only to be greeted by a low feline growl. A lithe figure leapt out at him into the darkness with a flurry of blinding attacks that ended in a slash of the claws on her right hand, causing the warrior to quickly leap back and retreat until his back was nearly to the desk behind him. The nimble feline pressed her attack continuing her fluid spin to lash out with an arching back kick with her left leg, trying to smash Rythan across the temple with her heel. Reacting quickly Rythan caught her incoming calf as it audibly collided with his right palm, pivoted, and threw the creature over his shoulder, clear across the room. The acrobatic figure spun as she flew through the air and landed lightly on her feet on the opposite side of the center desk from the assassin settling into another attack stance while he did the same.
“Stop!” Brianna said quickly into the temporary lull in the action.
“Brianna?!” Cat’s voice was filled with surprised and her eyes widened as her breath was quickened by her pumping adrenaline, “I thought he was another demon.” She shook her head, seemingly embarrassed, “I’m sorry.”
Rythan waved it off, “I returned your attack; you and I are even. But if you are here, where are the others?”
Cat wasted no time in telling her tale, from the initial separation with the group to falling asleep in the library and awakening in a dark cell, “I’ve been calling for them but I they haven’t answered, they might still be sleeping in their cells.” She finished with a look of concern that said she had not thought of or refused to dwell on the darker possibilities.
The sound of something sharp lightly running across metal drifted out into the room from the direction of the cells; as Rythan looked within he could see a small wolf with gleaming cerulean fur and azure eyes, which seemed to glow softly in the fading light, standing near one of the cell doors lightly scratching its surface, “Sideline.” he said softly, bringing the rogue into view from the shadowy guard room.
The assassin inclined his head to the wolf and the door she was indicating. The thief smiled as he walked over to the cell pulling out his pick, “Katerei found one of them.” At his approached the cerulean wolf loped further down the corridor, taking a moment to raise her nose and test the air before continuing to a second cell.
As the rest of the group entered the corridor Rythan quietly drew up beside Rapierian and the black mage glanced his way. The assassin was the first to speak, in a low voice for only the sorcerer to hear, “After escaping Sideline and I checked every one of these cells and then took up post at the dungeon’s only entrance.” He looked directly into Rapierian’s eyes, “There is a secret passage into this room and it wraps around to the second path we saw as we entered this place, where is it?”
Rapierian seemed to debate on whether to tell the truth before he finally decided to speak, “I’ll tell you, but you must answer a question from me first.” He smiled darkly then, glancing in Cat’s direction, “Why didn’t you kill her? You could have, if you blocked her attacks with those blades. If you knew who she was you probably wouldn’t have fought her at all, so why did you show mercy when some stranger attacked you?”
Rythan glanced over his shoulder at Cat, at the rest of the group, before looking back to Rapierian with eyes like frozen orbs of ruby and sapphire, “These blades don’t reap lives, they burn away souls.” He looked down upon his serrated gauntlet blades as though traveling into an old memory, “Killing a mortal with them is a dark blasphemy, there is no return from that death, because it is not death it is simply Oblivion, the final end.” The assassin’s next words were cold and dark as a midnight in the heart of winter, “If you want the truth, the truth is that I was preparing to kill her with my bare hands. Now, where is the door?”
Rapierian smiled, clearly having been entertained by the exchange, “You are not what you seem assassin. Fine, this way.” The mage walked away, leaving Rythan no choice but to follow him down the hall. The pair stopped before the dead end Rythan saw when first escaping his cell, “Our exit should be through here.”
Rythan heard something approach from behind, striding lightly but quickly down the hall. He glanced over his shoulder to see a wolf whose hair began to grow longer as it changed in both shape and size. Fur gave way to a violet dress and black cloak, while bestial features gave way to Elvin beauty. Katerei approached the pair without breaking stride, as though her transformation was completely ordinary. Her face grimaced in disgust as she looked to the wall, or seemed to look past it, “There are undead on the other side of that, a lot of them.”
Rapierian frowned at the news, or simply frowned at Katerei personally, “And how would you know something like that?”
Her hand seemed to unconsciously drift towards her dagger, “Because their foul smell is heavy in the air. Of course, it could have been you Necromancer , I’ll admit it’s hard to tell your scent from rotting meat.” The two mages stood with eyes narrowed, starring lightning at each other as though they would try to kill one another based on force of will alone.
Rythan held his right hand straight up, palm towards the ceiling, and concentrated. Onyx flames began to rise up from among the tattered shreds of his robes, flowing along his body and gathering in the palm of his hand. Crimson fires began to join the dance, mixing with the black and beginning to swirl upon his palm. The spinning blaze took on a physical form, a disc of onyx metal the size of a large plate, ringed by a series of slightly curved serrated blades like those of a saw. The center of the disk was virtually hollow, save for three bands of metal which extend from the outer ring to form a grip at the weapon’s center which rested in Rythan’s palm. As he gripped the Razor Wind and lowered his arm the circlet’s serrated teeth spun slowly. The bladed ring was actually made of two interlocking rings; one within the other.
Rapierian arched an eyebrow, “What is that?”
“Dangerous,” Rythan replied, “move away from the wall.” The moment the mage stepped away the assassin drew back his arm, and with a mighty throw let his weapon fly. The spin he put on the inner ring forced the blades on the outside to spin in the opposite direction as they loosed an unearthly scream. The Razor Wind, no more than a dark blur, ripped cleanly through the stone wall ahead and flew freely though the corridor beyond. Distinct sawing sounds and the moans of the undead could be heard leaking from the hole left in the deadly ring’s wake. Abruptly the blade erupted back through the wall, streaking directly towards Rythan who caught its central grip expertly. The blades still spun for a few seconds after it had been caught.
Sideline approached from behind with the rest of the group, drawing his dark sword as he did, “If there are so many of them on the other side we can use this corridor as a choke point, only so many of them will be able to get through at a time.” He looked back over his shoulder, “Adrian, you should stay as far back as possible. Silverfish, you’ve done a great job so far, but you should hang back and build your strength, I have a feeling we’ll need it later if we want to make it through the next stronghold.” At last the rogue gazed back towards the stone wall ahead, “Now how do we get it open?”
Rapierian, who now stood off to one side, merely shrugged with a bored look and leaned back against the side wall. His elbow glanced against one of the stones, which retracted slightly, and with a low rumble the wall before them raised into the ceiling above, revealing a dark corridor, filled with the undead. The group held their weapons at the ready, prepared for any attack the undead would launch… except there was no attack.
The mass of rotting figures and skeletons merely stood within the hall, starring around blankly, their weapons held loosely as though they had no intention of using them. Sideline arched an eyebrow at the scene, “What’s going on?”
Rythan only nodded. Reaching into his robes he removed the silver amulet with the dark crystal set into it. Gripping the amulet by its silver chain he held it out towards the assembled undead and those of them closest all took a few steps back. So this was the power of Akheron’s charm, which seemed only to work when in contact with one of the living. Rythan gathered the amulet itself up and handed it to Katerei, who accepted it without a word as she looked questioningly to the undead now gripped by its power. Drawing back the Razor Wind to his left shoulder Rythan backhand threw the dark bladed weapon. It easily cut a straight line through the undead, severing limbs and shattering bone. The screaming saw returned to him after a single lap through the dark hall and he caught it once more, “We can probably use that charm to leave safely, but I won’t chance it failing while we are right in the middle of a group that size.” His eyes combed over everyone, “You can move forward, but kill every one of them as you do.” As everyone raised their weapons Rythan could tell they had no problems with that plan of action, “I’ll scout ahead.”
Without waiting for a response Rythan dashed into the mass of enemies ahead, slashing through them easily with his blades as he made steady progress through the darkness. The sounds of swords meeting bone filled the corridor as the rest joined the assassin in cutting the creatures down. Half way down the hall, several yards from the rest of the group Rythan slammed his knee into the chest of one of the undead, tearing into it with the dark spike mounted on his guard as he felt the monster’s ribs shatter under the force of the blow, but as the creature rocked back and began to fall Rythan saw some semblance of awareness return to it as it died.
Abruptly, all around him, the undead seemed to awaken, grabbing their weapons as the fires of hatred were reignited in their eyes. An undead warrior swung a rusted hand axe at Rythan’s throat from the left. The assassin raised his left arm in defense, causing the undead to nearly severe its own hand as it collided with the blade mounted on Rythan’s forearm. The deathly robed figure moved with a serpentine grace, striking the undead in the face with his gauntleted fist and driving his gauntlet blades through the creature’s skull.
Dodging past a flurry of other attacks Rythan pressed on even further from the group as he settled into his pure killing style. At the darkened end of the hall ahead a tall figure glided into view, crowned with small twisted horns and wearing flowing dark robes, a dark red light glowing out from the empty sockets of his eyes, right on cue. {{ Let none live… }} the Lich’s rasping voice commanded. This was what disrupted the charm’s power, this creature had to die.
Rythan broke away from the undead who surrounded him, bolting towards the Lich who stood its ground confidently. Far behind, within the group that still cut down wave after wave of undead monsters, Brianna caught a glimpse of Rythan and where he went, and by the slightest chance she saw the reason the Lich bore its strange confidence as a single ray of light glinted off a trip wire directly in Rythan’s path. She yelled urgently in an attempt to get his attention, “Rythan!” but her call may have been swallowed by the fury of battle.
The assassin was a shadowed blur as he rushed forward, but he too saw the trap. Rythan threw his Razor Wind ahead straight for the Lich and leapt over the wire, diving to the ground to narrowly miss darts that had been triggered by a second trap and rolling under the swinging blades that had fallen from an unseen third. The warrior rose to his feet at the end of his roll, bringing the string of fluid motion to a close as he lashed out with a kick using his left leg. Still distracted from dodging Rythan’s first attack the monster fell victim to his second, the blades mounted on his shin guard bit into and tore through the Lich’s skeletal right leg at the knee while Rythan continued his spin to end with a backslash from the gauntlet blades on his right. With a loud spark and a sharp ring Rythan’s black blades met with a sword the Lich had pulled from his robes, an ivory long sword that seemed forged of bone. Without pause the assassin spun back around the other way and slashed with his left, throwing the Lich into a desperate defense. The two danced within the tight space as the Lich tried to gain some room, but Rythan’s hail of assaults was unrelenting. As the creature finally saw an opening it swung madly for Rythan’s exposed throat, but the warrior dipped below the attack and stepped into extreme close range. Rythan grabbed the Lich’s upper right arm in his left hand and viciously stabbed through its right shoulder using his left, severing the arm completely and letting it clatter to the ground with the ivory blade still clutched in its grip. As the Lich half staggered, half floated backwards Rythan tore the Razor Wind free of the stone wall and, with a final throw, used it to remove the Lich’s head.
As the skull fell to the floor the body followed to land in a pile of rags and bone. Within the hall the few remaining undead turned docile once more, though the adventurers showed the last of them no mercy. As Rythan studied the group and all of the bodies arrayed in the darkness, he could see that the Lich had tried to call its minions back to aid in the fight, but the other heroes had not let a single one make it…
This post has been edited by Ragnar0k : 01 February 2007 - 10:13 PM
