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Arcanis: Gonnes, Sons, and Treasure Runs (COMPLETED)
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<blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 1920808" data-attributes="member: 3285"><p><strong>Temptations of the Flesh - The Lair of the Vivisectionist</strong></p><p></p><p>The inner chamber was a Nerothian physician's chamber of horrors. Illuminated by two large hanging braziers, the scene was straight out of a nightmare. Tables lay about, covered in the flayed remains of human beings. One man was sliced open, with all of his still-connected organs arranged carefully outside of his body. His eyes were open and he moaned with each breath. Next to him was Gaius val'Tensen, still shrieking for his life. </p><p></p><p>Hooded acolytes huddled around a large chunk of amber. Their leader had just finished reading from a scroll as the amber began to smolder. Overhead through a circular crystal ceiling skylight adorned with blasphemous sigils, lightning flashed and rain cascaded down in sheets. </p><p></p><p>"Alright, as we discussed," said Quintus, a vial of oil in each hand. "Beldin, you take the left, I'll take the right."</p><p></p><p>The four acolytes unraveled long, chains covered in barbed spikes all along their length and began swinging them overhead. </p><p></p><p>As the acolytes advanced, Beldin and Quintus lit the vials of oil and threw them. The glass vials were easily slapped out of the air with the spiked chains, but it only caused the oil to burst into a sheet of flame, engulfing two of the acolytes.</p><p></p><p>"Hold the line!" shouted Quintus over the roar of the flames. He picked up his longspear and lifted his shield. Beldin reached for his axe.</p><p></p><p>Kham was rifling through his overcoat. "They were chanting over that hunk of amber. You know what that means, Quintus."</p><p></p><p>"I said hold the line!" Quintus shouted back. "You want to get us all killed?"</p><p></p><p>Sebastian stepped around Quintus shield into the open. "We must press the advantage while we have it!" </p><p></p><p>Sebastian extended his palm. "<span style="font-family: 'Impact'">Fuco aspergo!</span>" A vivid cone of clashing colors sprang forth from his hand, engulfing the three of the acolytes. Two of them fell to the ground, but a third kept coming.</p><p></p><p>"He's not going to make it," said Kham, patting himself down. "I…"</p><p></p><p>"What's wrong?" asked Beldin.</p><p></p><p>"I can't seem to find my handgonnes!" Kham shouted with a hint of desperation in his voice.</p><p></p><p>"Why do you keep holstering them?" said Ilmarė, snapping an arrow off at one of the acolytes. "Have you gone mad?"</p><p></p><p>With significant effort, he finally managed to locate his handgonnes, as if they were somehow hidden on his person. "Maybe," he said through gritted teeth. Then he stepped around Quintus' shield.</p><p></p><p>"They never listen," said Quintus. He speared one of the acolytes who had fallen, skewering him through the throat.</p><p></p><p>A spiked chain snapped hard against the floor, causing metal and stone to spark as Kham leapt to the side. He dove and rolled, coming up in front of Sebastian. </p><p></p><p>"You're crazy, jumping into the fray like that! " he shouted at Sebastian over his shoulder. "Who do you think you are, me?"</p><p></p><p>The acolyte didn't give Sebastian a chance to answer. The spiked chain whistled overhead, forcing them both to duck. </p><p></p><p>Kham thrust both handgonnes out before him and pulled the trigger.</p><p></p><p>BLAM! BLAM! Two smoking holes felled the acolyte in his tracks.</p><p></p><p>There was a shuddering thud that caused all the combatants to pause. Something heavy and wet hit the ground. </p><p></p><p>Then another shuddering thud followed. A perpetually oozing monstrosity, covered in undulating flesh, had risen out of the amber. Two lidless eyeballs floated in and out where its head should have been. It was only vaguely humanoid in shape, with no discernable hands or feet. It stumped forward, leaving behind small pools of flesh with each footstep.</p><p></p><p>"Uh, Sebastian…" said Kham, struggling to reload his weapons.</p><p></p><p>"I see it," said Sebastian. He took a half-step back even as he chanted "<span style="font-family: 'Impact'">Radius gelidus!</span>" A bluish-white beam of energy coruscated from his pointing finger into the blobby form. It turned white and then was enveloped.</p><p></p><p>Ilmarė fired an arrow into the thing. It absorbed the arrow into its body with a slurping sound. Then it shambled towards Kham. </p><p></p><p>"Ladies, don't fail me now!" shouted Kham. He took aim and fired. BLAM! BLAM!</p><p></p><p>The handgonnes made one large gaping hole in the center of the thing. Through it, Kham could see the lead acolyte sneering back at him.</p><p></p><p>"Now, you will experience the joy that is Larissa!" shouted the lead acolyte. "Behold, her Beloved!"</p><p></p><p>The hole slowly filled in with more oozing flesh. "Run!" Kham shouted, elbowing Sebastian aside.</p><p></p><p>The Beloved lifted one appendage and smashed down at Kham. Waves of flesh splashed over his feet, covering him up to his knees. It flipped him upside down.</p><p></p><p>Kham took his second pair of handgonnes out from their holsters, but before he could fire them the Beloved sucked the Val into its body. He disappeared without a sound. Like a child in the womb, his flailing could be seen in the Beloved's torso.</p><p></p><p>"He'll suffocate," said Quintus, drawing his gladius. "Aim for limbs, slashes only. If you strike the torso you may hit Kham!"</p><p></p><p>He hacked at the thing's left leg, only to tear away a glob of flesh that quickly filled in. </p><p></p><p>"Witness Larissa's Beloved," shouted the lead acolyte. Ilmarė drew a bead on him. "Witness the Devourer of Flesh! "</p><p></p><p>"Will you SHUT…" Ilmarė fired an arrow, "UP!" It struck the acolyte between the eyes. He slumped onto a nearby table.</p><p></p><p>Beldin had dispatched the remaining acolyte and was hacking away at the Beloved's limbs. "Kham's not going to last long in there!"</p><p></p><p>Quintus ducked back behind his shield as the Beloved vomited a stream of flesh at him. The force of the blow against the shield slid him backwards. "Don't you think I know that?"</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, the Beloved began to produce a seeping black boil. There was a slash, and dark ichor spewed from the side of thing. Something long and pointed jutted from the side of the blob, tearing its way like a jagged knife through cheese.</p><p></p><p>"Get down!" shouted Quintus.</p><p></p><p>Flesh Ripper ripped through the middle of the Beloved in a wide arc, spewing fluid in all directions. Kham dropped to his knees from its center, covered in black liquid; only his very white eyes were visible. He looked like a man possessed.</p><p></p><p>"Are you alright?" asked Sebastian. </p><p></p><p>Something dripped from Kham's lips but he did not move to wipe his face. He had both hands on Flesh Ripper, blinking as he stared about the room.</p><p></p><p>Kham took one trembling step towards Gaius with the wicked blade held over his head.</p><p></p><p>"Stop him!" shouted Quintus. </p><p></p><p>Beldin grabbed Kham by the legs as Sebastian grabbed his arms. The Val let out a loud croak as Gaius squealed in terror, his murderous rage thwarted. </p><p></p><p>Then Kham stopped struggling and fell to his knees. He vomited a long gout of Beloved flesh.</p><p></p><p>"He'll be fine," said Ilmarė with a smirk.</p><p></p><p>Quintus rolled the lead acolyte off of the table. At its center was a book bound in human flesh. Beldin poked at the book. </p><p></p><p>"It is the holy scripture of the Goddess Larissa, the Lady of Thorns." The dwarf paged through it. "This is…disgusting."</p><p></p><p>"What?" asked Sebastian.</p><p></p><p>"It's a book about ancient Auxunite torture techniques," he said. "The acolytes were following it to the letter."</p><p></p><p>"What of this poor man?" asked Sebastian, who stood over the tortured soul with his entrails hanging out.</p><p></p><p>Ilmarė walked over to him. "I'll take care of him," she said, cradling the man's chin in the palm of her hand. </p><p></p><p>"Can you heal-"</p><p></p><p>There was a loud crack that answered Sebastian's unfinished question. There would be no healing.</p><p></p><p>Kham slowly rose to his feet, Flesh Ripper still in his hands. "I have some healing for Gaius too," he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.</p><p></p><p>Quintus barred his path. "No, he will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of Coryan law. " He lowered his voice and spoke to Kham conspiratorially. "If you kill him here, like this, you're no better than them."</p><p></p><p>Kham spat out another glob of something but said nothing more. </p><p></p><p>Gaius, still strapped to the table, looked down over his chest. "I had nothing to do with this!"</p><p></p><p>"We heard you," said Quintus grimly. "We heard everything. Tell us who did this."</p><p></p><p>"The Vivisectionist! He's obsessed with discovering the physical reasons as to why Val have special powers and humans do not."</p><p></p><p>"And who were those men?"</p><p></p><p>"The Acolytes of the Flesh. They came to the ancient temple and discovered the Holy Book of the Tormentor of Flesh." Gaius nodded in Kham's direction. "But they had me under a spell!"</p><p></p><p>"Under a spell, you say," Quintus exchanged glances with Kham.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, those dolls," Gaius whispered, "they talk!"</p><p></p><p>Beldin picked up one of the dolls. "They seem to be harmless now."</p><p></p><p>The doll's head spun around and leaned in towards Beldin's bearded face. "You have meddled with affairs far beyond your reckoning for the last time!" it said in guttural tones. Then it burst into flames, singing Beldin's beard.</p><p></p><p>"That's it," said Beldin with a huff. He threw the flaming doll to the ground and crushed it under his heel. Then he set about hacking up the dolls with his axe.</p><p></p><p>"You must set me free, I am the nephew of General Menisis!"</p><p></p><p>Quintus took a deep sigh as he drew his gladius. </p><p></p><p>"What are you—what are you doing? You can't kill me! Not in front of all these witnesses!"</p><p></p><p>Quintus shook his head, his face grim as he lifted the gladius over Gaius. Gaius' voice became a high-pitched wail as the blade came down, severing his restraints.</p><p></p><p>He grabbed Gaius by the throat and hurled him to the ground. </p><p></p><p>"Thank you," Gaius sobbed, "you will be rewarded!"</p><p></p><p>"I don't want your reward," said Quintus. He dragged Gaius to his feet. "Move." Quintus turned to the others. "Let's get out of here."</p><p></p><p>After he left, Ilmarė asked, "Why so glum? Did we not save a citizen of the Empire, as Quintus swore to do?"</p><p></p><p>"Leave him be, elf," said Beldin. "Honor is a tricky thing."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="talien, post: 1920808, member: 3285"] [b]Temptations of the Flesh - The Lair of the Vivisectionist[/b] The inner chamber was a Nerothian physician's chamber of horrors. Illuminated by two large hanging braziers, the scene was straight out of a nightmare. Tables lay about, covered in the flayed remains of human beings. One man was sliced open, with all of his still-connected organs arranged carefully outside of his body. His eyes were open and he moaned with each breath. Next to him was Gaius val'Tensen, still shrieking for his life. Hooded acolytes huddled around a large chunk of amber. Their leader had just finished reading from a scroll as the amber began to smolder. Overhead through a circular crystal ceiling skylight adorned with blasphemous sigils, lightning flashed and rain cascaded down in sheets. "Alright, as we discussed," said Quintus, a vial of oil in each hand. "Beldin, you take the left, I'll take the right." The four acolytes unraveled long, chains covered in barbed spikes all along their length and began swinging them overhead. As the acolytes advanced, Beldin and Quintus lit the vials of oil and threw them. The glass vials were easily slapped out of the air with the spiked chains, but it only caused the oil to burst into a sheet of flame, engulfing two of the acolytes. "Hold the line!" shouted Quintus over the roar of the flames. He picked up his longspear and lifted his shield. Beldin reached for his axe. Kham was rifling through his overcoat. "They were chanting over that hunk of amber. You know what that means, Quintus." "I said hold the line!" Quintus shouted back. "You want to get us all killed?" Sebastian stepped around Quintus shield into the open. "We must press the advantage while we have it!" Sebastian extended his palm. "[FONT=Impact]Fuco aspergo![/FONT]" A vivid cone of clashing colors sprang forth from his hand, engulfing the three of the acolytes. Two of them fell to the ground, but a third kept coming. "He's not going to make it," said Kham, patting himself down. "I…" "What's wrong?" asked Beldin. "I can't seem to find my handgonnes!" Kham shouted with a hint of desperation in his voice. "Why do you keep holstering them?" said Ilmarė, snapping an arrow off at one of the acolytes. "Have you gone mad?" With significant effort, he finally managed to locate his handgonnes, as if they were somehow hidden on his person. "Maybe," he said through gritted teeth. Then he stepped around Quintus' shield. "They never listen," said Quintus. He speared one of the acolytes who had fallen, skewering him through the throat. A spiked chain snapped hard against the floor, causing metal and stone to spark as Kham leapt to the side. He dove and rolled, coming up in front of Sebastian. "You're crazy, jumping into the fray like that! " he shouted at Sebastian over his shoulder. "Who do you think you are, me?" The acolyte didn't give Sebastian a chance to answer. The spiked chain whistled overhead, forcing them both to duck. Kham thrust both handgonnes out before him and pulled the trigger. BLAM! BLAM! Two smoking holes felled the acolyte in his tracks. There was a shuddering thud that caused all the combatants to pause. Something heavy and wet hit the ground. Then another shuddering thud followed. A perpetually oozing monstrosity, covered in undulating flesh, had risen out of the amber. Two lidless eyeballs floated in and out where its head should have been. It was only vaguely humanoid in shape, with no discernable hands or feet. It stumped forward, leaving behind small pools of flesh with each footstep. "Uh, Sebastian…" said Kham, struggling to reload his weapons. "I see it," said Sebastian. He took a half-step back even as he chanted "[FONT=Impact]Radius gelidus![/FONT]" A bluish-white beam of energy coruscated from his pointing finger into the blobby form. It turned white and then was enveloped. Ilmarė fired an arrow into the thing. It absorbed the arrow into its body with a slurping sound. Then it shambled towards Kham. "Ladies, don't fail me now!" shouted Kham. He took aim and fired. BLAM! BLAM! The handgonnes made one large gaping hole in the center of the thing. Through it, Kham could see the lead acolyte sneering back at him. "Now, you will experience the joy that is Larissa!" shouted the lead acolyte. "Behold, her Beloved!" The hole slowly filled in with more oozing flesh. "Run!" Kham shouted, elbowing Sebastian aside. The Beloved lifted one appendage and smashed down at Kham. Waves of flesh splashed over his feet, covering him up to his knees. It flipped him upside down. Kham took his second pair of handgonnes out from their holsters, but before he could fire them the Beloved sucked the Val into its body. He disappeared without a sound. Like a child in the womb, his flailing could be seen in the Beloved's torso. "He'll suffocate," said Quintus, drawing his gladius. "Aim for limbs, slashes only. If you strike the torso you may hit Kham!" He hacked at the thing's left leg, only to tear away a glob of flesh that quickly filled in. "Witness Larissa's Beloved," shouted the lead acolyte. Ilmarė drew a bead on him. "Witness the Devourer of Flesh! " "Will you SHUT…" Ilmarė fired an arrow, "UP!" It struck the acolyte between the eyes. He slumped onto a nearby table. Beldin had dispatched the remaining acolyte and was hacking away at the Beloved's limbs. "Kham's not going to last long in there!" Quintus ducked back behind his shield as the Beloved vomited a stream of flesh at him. The force of the blow against the shield slid him backwards. "Don't you think I know that?" Suddenly, the Beloved began to produce a seeping black boil. There was a slash, and dark ichor spewed from the side of thing. Something long and pointed jutted from the side of the blob, tearing its way like a jagged knife through cheese. "Get down!" shouted Quintus. Flesh Ripper ripped through the middle of the Beloved in a wide arc, spewing fluid in all directions. Kham dropped to his knees from its center, covered in black liquid; only his very white eyes were visible. He looked like a man possessed. "Are you alright?" asked Sebastian. Something dripped from Kham's lips but he did not move to wipe his face. He had both hands on Flesh Ripper, blinking as he stared about the room. Kham took one trembling step towards Gaius with the wicked blade held over his head. "Stop him!" shouted Quintus. Beldin grabbed Kham by the legs as Sebastian grabbed his arms. The Val let out a loud croak as Gaius squealed in terror, his murderous rage thwarted. Then Kham stopped struggling and fell to his knees. He vomited a long gout of Beloved flesh. "He'll be fine," said Ilmarė with a smirk. Quintus rolled the lead acolyte off of the table. At its center was a book bound in human flesh. Beldin poked at the book. "It is the holy scripture of the Goddess Larissa, the Lady of Thorns." The dwarf paged through it. "This is…disgusting." "What?" asked Sebastian. "It's a book about ancient Auxunite torture techniques," he said. "The acolytes were following it to the letter." "What of this poor man?" asked Sebastian, who stood over the tortured soul with his entrails hanging out. Ilmarė walked over to him. "I'll take care of him," she said, cradling the man's chin in the palm of her hand. "Can you heal-" There was a loud crack that answered Sebastian's unfinished question. There would be no healing. Kham slowly rose to his feet, Flesh Ripper still in his hands. "I have some healing for Gaius too," he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Quintus barred his path. "No, he will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of Coryan law. " He lowered his voice and spoke to Kham conspiratorially. "If you kill him here, like this, you're no better than them." Kham spat out another glob of something but said nothing more. Gaius, still strapped to the table, looked down over his chest. "I had nothing to do with this!" "We heard you," said Quintus grimly. "We heard everything. Tell us who did this." "The Vivisectionist! He's obsessed with discovering the physical reasons as to why Val have special powers and humans do not." "And who were those men?" "The Acolytes of the Flesh. They came to the ancient temple and discovered the Holy Book of the Tormentor of Flesh." Gaius nodded in Kham's direction. "But they had me under a spell!" "Under a spell, you say," Quintus exchanged glances with Kham. "Yes, those dolls," Gaius whispered, "they talk!" Beldin picked up one of the dolls. "They seem to be harmless now." The doll's head spun around and leaned in towards Beldin's bearded face. "You have meddled with affairs far beyond your reckoning for the last time!" it said in guttural tones. Then it burst into flames, singing Beldin's beard. "That's it," said Beldin with a huff. He threw the flaming doll to the ground and crushed it under his heel. Then he set about hacking up the dolls with his axe. "You must set me free, I am the nephew of General Menisis!" Quintus took a deep sigh as he drew his gladius. "What are you—what are you doing? You can't kill me! Not in front of all these witnesses!" Quintus shook his head, his face grim as he lifted the gladius over Gaius. Gaius' voice became a high-pitched wail as the blade came down, severing his restraints. He grabbed Gaius by the throat and hurled him to the ground. "Thank you," Gaius sobbed, "you will be rewarded!" "I don't want your reward," said Quintus. He dragged Gaius to his feet. "Move." Quintus turned to the others. "Let's get out of here." After he left, Ilmarė asked, "Why so glum? Did we not save a citizen of the Empire, as Quintus swore to do?" "Leave him be, elf," said Beldin. "Honor is a tricky thing." [/QUOTE]
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