“Alright, I’ll help you. Let’s just all stay calm,” Li Kao sooths as he edges back into the workshop. He calls to Malvick in a calm but commanding voice.
"Don't get in her way Malvick. Follow after the others they will need your help. I'll deal with my pupil.”
Malvick, who had come to a skidding halt in the other doorway, looked unsure. “Uh, ok, take it easy now Xer, I’m just going to step over here.”
Xer snarls and launches herself at Malvick. “You will not stop me from saving my children!" Malvick flattens himself against the wall and tries to bring his arms up to defend himself, but Xer is too fast for him. Her charging snap-kick knocks the wind out of him. Behind him Ariva gives her own snarl and bounds into the room to defend her master. Xer avoids the animal’s jaws with a quick step and tries to elbow Malvick in the head, but this time the ranger manages to deflect the blow.
“Oh yak piss!” Li Kao curses as he trots towards the fray. He mutters a quick spell envelops Malvick and Xer, forcing them both to blink several times and… Ariva the hound whines once and curls up on the floor, snoring loudly.
“Double yak piss!” Li Kao curses more vehemently.
Xer takes advantage of the confusion to leap over the sleeping Ariva and make a break for the corridor. Malvick looks questioningly at Li Kao. “Go, go!” The old monk shouts. “Catch up with the others. I’ll catch her.”
He follows her into the corridor, mentally sifting through all his lore for something that will help him save his pupil before she can open the door to the swarm of hungry rats. He has time for one more spell before she reaches the door, so he tries an old prayer to Irori.
The prayer of protection from evil works and Li Kao lets out a sight of relief as he watches the undead aura flee Xer’s warded body, which collapses just feet from the broken door.
Meanwhile, Yola and Sasha follow Seoni’s headlong rush down more than a hundred feet to the bottom of the spiral stairs. The stairs end in a limestone cavern. The walls drip with moisture and swaths of black and dark blue mould grow in tangled, spiralling patters on the walls, floor and ceiling. Bits of rubble and broken bones clutter the floor, and a rhythmic sound – as of the breathing of some immense creature – echoes through the cave from three tunnels, one to the north and two to the west.
Seoni doesn’t stop for more than a heartbeat before squeezing herself into the middle, westbound tunnel. It is at about this time that Yola and Sasha realize that their companions are no longer following them. As Seoni’s form disappears into darkness, they also realize that neither of them is carrying a light source, and this cavern is very, very dark…
OOC: Yola and Sasha, do you chase after Seoni in the dark? Pause long enough to light a torch? Wait for backup? The longer you wait the farther ahead your undead “guide” gets.
3 comments:
Sasha half-runs-half-jumps down the stairs chasing after Senoi with Yola.
"When did she get to be so fast? A month ago she was the one chasing us around."
Hitting the bottom of the stairs she falters seeing the near black tunnel up ahead.
"I'm not one for ambushes Yola but that's a perfect set-up. I'm also not one for letting my friends go not like this! It might be suicide and everything else I've done is either ruined me or my friends. I've had enough of this: I'm going after her."
Sasha draws her rapier and brandishes the point. Uneasily she steps into the dark.
"Seoni, you're running the wrong way! You're going to have to go through me to get to him!" Sasha yells out into the darkness.
Turning to Yola she says do you think she heard me?
Yola: Lights a torch from her kit.
Listen Sasha, the others know where we are going - they can follow us, make a mark her for Xer or Malvick to follow us, I'm not letting Seoni get away. Plus she only has hate for Foxglove, hopefully if we find him then we can solve the rest of this undead mystery.
Yola runs to keep up with Seoni with Sasha.
Stumble to my feet using the wall for support. "Damn ghosts how I hate thee." Stumble down the hall as fast as I can trying to follow the others. "Thank you old man for making sure I did not kill anyone."
Post a Comment