A Gathering (1)
From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki
Title: A Gathering [1]
Author: Rune Artisem - OES
I laughed as the thieves scurried away, like rats being chased by a cat. Yet, in the place of the cat was that of a daemon. I watched from the rooftop of my tower, and I was amused with this. The daemon would catch up with them, and their fates would be sealed. But yet, I was annoyed. They were late, and this angered me. Another minute or two passed, and my anger increased. Finally, a gate appeared in the center of an altar that I had constructed long ago.
Out of the gate came Drake, Nas’Rath, and Laertides. I smiled and greeted them. "You're late..." Drake answered me by "I am sorry... sir... It took longer to gather what we needed for this and..." "If you continue with an excuse than I shall personally sever your fingers from your hands..." I said. He nodded and was silent. "Now then... As to why I have summoned you all here..." I began. I glanced each of them over, one by one. I thought to myself "Yes.
They shall prove most useful." "I trust that some of you have heard of an ancient tome that has recently come into my possession." They nodded and I continued. "Good... Within this tome is a spell that is so powerful... So destructive..." I stopped myself from continuing on this. Useful and trustworthy they were, but I could not allow them to know what the spell was used for. Only the Master, Lord Dealthagar, and myself were aware of what the tome contained. "It requires peculiar spell reagents. I have been given command of gathering these reagents so that this spell might be cast. And you all have been given the grand honor of assisting with this." I continued. "What form of reagents shall we be searching for?" asked Nas’Rath.
"Interesting ones... There are only four needed, and we should not have a problem with three of them. The ones that we shall begin searching for are interesting indeed...
For they are the essence of a Shadow Wyrm, a sword of a noble drenched in the blood of a murderer, and the ribs of a Balron. I shall not name the fourth reagent... As I am still puzzled with how to locate it..." I answered and then glanced at Drake. He nodded and a gate appeared simultaneously. I walked through it, and within an instance, I stood before the entrance of Destard.
We proceeded into the den of dragons, and we walked a bit into it without any greetings. We came upon a small pool, and there, a young dragon was busy drinking from it. Spell upon spell was let loose upon it, for even a young dragon is a dangerous threat. Before too long, the creature was reduced to a pile of burnt flesh. We made our way towards the northwest part of the dungeon. A few wyverns were sent towards Oblivion, and all seemed to be going well. As we made our way towards the entrance to the lower level, I was given the rare gift of looking directly into the eyes of a dragon. The beast was upon me, and within moments, I was separated from my body. The fighting had also brought in some young drakes and wyverns, thus dividing the remaining necromancers.
"Retreat... Gather my items, if possible. But leave this dungeon. I will be at the entrance in moments." I commanded as I spoke with their minds. I proceeded to wander the dungeon, so that I could find the exact den of a Shadow Wyrm. I wandered on the lower levels and saw many more dragons, a few human slaves, and a daemon or two. And at the very back corner of the dungeon, there stayed a Shadow Wyrm. Great in size it was, for I had never seen a creature so massive. Pleased with my findings, I left the dungeon. Drake, Nas’Rath and, Laertides awaited me at the entrance. They appeared tired and hurt, but they were alive. Laertides returned me to the physical world and we rested. It was during that time that Nas’Rath had business to attend in another realm, but he was quickly replaced with both Sal Veya and Jergal.
I decided that obtaining the essence of this wyrm would be most difficult, as it might even require assistance from others in Caina. This choice did not please me in the slightest. So, I decided to gather the other two reagents before attempting another attack in Destard. I ordered Drake to go to Britain, and to bring a noble to the Necromantic Scholomance in Caina. He bowed and said the words of recall, and with that, he was gone. We returned to the Scholomance and waited on Drake.
He arrived promptly, with a fair lady draped in the clothing of the nobles. She looked around and asked This is not Nujelm... Where are we?" "Welcome to Caina," Drake grimly replied. A look of terror came onto her face as he said this. I walked up to the lass and took a close look over her. A girl maybe of eightteen years of age, and was quite pretty at that. I grabbed her right hand and looked over it. No, she was not the one. Not that I expected her to be. I looked directly into her trembling eyes, and smiled at her. Apparently the smile brought some form of comfort to her, as she was no longer trembling. I turned around and took a few steps away from her. I glanced towards the other necromancers and ordered rather loudly "Kill it."
Almost the second I spoke my command, the young noble let loose a scream and four archers recalled in. We met them head on, and they soon fell. I laughed at the young girl, who now had collapsed to her knees and was crying out of desperation. "Please... by the virtues..." I laughed at this and muttered "Kal Vas Flam," and watched the young girl burn to her death. After she was dead, I had Laertides search what was left of the young girl, and he brought me her sword. "Excellent... And now this sword shall need to be drenched in the blood of a murderer. Come now! We shall make our way to Blackthorn's Shrine of Chaos!"
We arrived at Blackthorn's Chaos Shrine. Although he no longer dwelled on the Felucca Facet, his shrine was most valuable to those that made a career of murder. We waited near the shrine for a few hours, and no murderer came near. I decided to have the area searched, going all the way to the entrance of Wind. Both Laertides and myself went on ahead, while the others followed behind us.
We came upon a man who was busy gathering wood for his home. I touched his aura and felt that many times over he had killed for gold. Before I could even signal to the others, Laertides sprang forth screaming words of power. A blast of magic hit the man, and he took off running. Laertides chased after him, vanishing behind a building.
I followed suit, and as I turned the corner of the building, I saw Laertides standing over the man's corpse. "Excellent... Very excellent work..." I told him. He bowed and thanked me for my praise. I unsheathed the noble's sword and proceeded to gut the man, covering the sword in blood. By the time I had completed this, the remaining necromancers made their way to us. I looked at them and said "We now have gathered one of the reagents. Go now and rest for a while. For we shall be making our ways into the bottom levels of Hythloth soon."
After a few hours of rest, we proceeded towards Goodman’s Rune Library. From there, we made our journey to the bottom level of Hythloth. We were greeted by a large group of gazers.
The battle with these creatures was difficult, but the power of the Skull was too much for these foul things. And then he came... Like an unstoppable force of nature, the Balron came charging down the hallway towards us. Spells upon spells were cast at the creature, and the battle lasted for what seemed to be days. The infernal being nearly brought us all to a horrible end, but in the end the Balron lay slain. His ribs were removed from his giant corpse, and thus, the second reagent was now in my hands.
I returned to my tower. The other necromancers had been ordered to return to the Scholomance. There I would meet with them, but first I must secure these reagents. The only place that these reagents were safe was under my care... In my home...
Under my watch... After hiding and securing these in a place no thief would ever think of, I returned to Caina. Now, we would attempt again the horrid task of gathering the essence of a Shadow Wyrm. I had prepared a small wooden box, and although it appeared normal to any who would gaze upon it, it was anything but normal. For it was designed to trap and hold creatures that dwell within the shadows. It was with this device that I would be able to contain the essence of a Shadow Wyrm. However, in order to contain the wyrm’s essence it must first be slain. This would prove to be a very taxing goal. I then felt an infernal presence behind me.
--continued in volume two--