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Arcanis: Gonnes, Sons, and Treasure Runs (COMPLETED)
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<blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 5019937" data-attributes="member: 3285"><p><strong>Isles of the Damned: Part 5d – R’lyeh</strong></p><p></p><p>As the forest started to break up, Beldin pointed out a deep, ridged furrow in the earth. </p><p></p><p>“Looks like claw marks,” he said, “the same as in the tunnel.”</p><p></p><p>“Howled all the way, he did!” said Harry. “The ground didn’t stop blazing for ten winters!”</p><p></p><p>They followed the trench out of the forest. As the forest fell away to marshland, the ground turned to brackish, rust-colored mud that bubbled and oozed, sending off heady clouds of sulfur. The stink was overpowering.</p><p></p><p>“Bled himself dry, he did, when he tore through here!” observed Harry. “Mark the ground well—the rest of his wine, as willful and wicked as it were when he lived! Look lively now, else ye’ll melt down into the earth yerself!”</p><p></p><p>Finally, they saw it.</p><p></p><p>The spire rose some three hundred feet from the marshes, jet-black in the sulfurous mists, covered with ridges and crenulations and crude sculptures of tortured faces. They looked curiously at an immense carved door with a familiar tentacled skull bas-relief. It was like a great barn door; and they all felt that it was a door because of the ornate lintel, threshold, and jambs around it.</p><p></p><p>“Can’t decide if it lays flat like a trap-door or slantwise like an outside cellar-door,” said Beldin. “The geometry of this place is all wrong.”</p><p></p><p>Beldin pushed at the stone in several places without result. Then Kham felt over it delicately around the edge, pressing each point separately as he went. He climbed interminably along the grotesque stone moulding. Then, very softly and slowly, the acre-great lintel began to give inward at the top; and they saw that it was balauced </p><p></p><p>Kham slid down the jamb and rejoined his fellows, and everyone watched the queer recession of the monstrously carven portal. In this phantasy of prismatic distortion it moved anomalously in a diagonal way, so that all the rules of matter and perspective seemed upset. </p><p></p><p>The aperture was black with a darkness almost material. That tenebrousness was indeed a positive quality; for it obscured such parts of the inner walls as ought to have been revealed, and actually burst forth like smoke from its aeon-long imprisonment, visibly darkening the sun as it slunk away into the shrunken and gibbous sky on flapping membranous wings. The odor rising from the newly opened depths was intolerable. </p><p></p><p>Beyond the door lay a narrow iron stairway that coiled around a central shaft until it reached the top of the tower. More faces lined the stairwell, wrought into the iron of the walls and steps. Vlad and Beldin led the climb, Harry in the center, and Kham and Sebastian behind. </p><p></p><p>One of the faces addressed Harry in a croaking voice. “<em>Thank you, maroon, for bringing me fresh meat…I will save you a shank or two, rest assured.</em>”</p><p></p><p>Harry chuckled. “Pay it no mind.”</p><p></p><p>“<em>The dark-kin can’t be trusted,</em>” whispered another face. “<em>He’s a devil worshipping liar. He’ll kill you if he gets the chance.</em>”</p><p></p><p>When nobody reacted, another voice chimed in. “<em>The dwarf doesn’t trust him. Who would? His allegiance isn’t to his friends, it’s to his forge. He’d sacrifice you all if it meant completing Elabac’s life quest!</em>”</p><p></p><p>Beldin snorted but kept climbing. </p><p></p><p>“<em>Remember the old battles the Full-Fathom Five fought,</em>” said one face to Kham with barely controlled rage, “<em>remember the glory days! You have no idea what I will do to you—and to her—if you refuse.</em>”</p><p></p><p>Kham ignored it.</p><p></p><p>As Vlad rounded the bend one of the larger faces fixed on him. It said but one word. “<em>RAPIST.</em>”</p><p></p><p>Vlad drew a dagger. “That’s it!”</p><p></p><p> “Forget it!” Beldin grabbed him. “Forget it, it’s just a stupid statue!”</p><p></p><p>“I did not touch that girl! She lied!” He addressed Kham. “You were there!”</p><p></p><p>Kham shrugged. “I don’t remember much these days.”</p><p></p><p>“What?” Vlad started to say more when they heard clicking from both ends of the staircase.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="talien, post: 5019937, member: 3285"] [b]Isles of the Damned: Part 5d – R’lyeh[/b] As the forest started to break up, Beldin pointed out a deep, ridged furrow in the earth. “Looks like claw marks,” he said, “the same as in the tunnel.” “Howled all the way, he did!” said Harry. “The ground didn’t stop blazing for ten winters!” They followed the trench out of the forest. As the forest fell away to marshland, the ground turned to brackish, rust-colored mud that bubbled and oozed, sending off heady clouds of sulfur. The stink was overpowering. “Bled himself dry, he did, when he tore through here!” observed Harry. “Mark the ground well—the rest of his wine, as willful and wicked as it were when he lived! Look lively now, else ye’ll melt down into the earth yerself!” Finally, they saw it. The spire rose some three hundred feet from the marshes, jet-black in the sulfurous mists, covered with ridges and crenulations and crude sculptures of tortured faces. They looked curiously at an immense carved door with a familiar tentacled skull bas-relief. It was like a great barn door; and they all felt that it was a door because of the ornate lintel, threshold, and jambs around it. “Can’t decide if it lays flat like a trap-door or slantwise like an outside cellar-door,” said Beldin. “The geometry of this place is all wrong.” Beldin pushed at the stone in several places without result. Then Kham felt over it delicately around the edge, pressing each point separately as he went. He climbed interminably along the grotesque stone moulding. Then, very softly and slowly, the acre-great lintel began to give inward at the top; and they saw that it was balauced Kham slid down the jamb and rejoined his fellows, and everyone watched the queer recession of the monstrously carven portal. In this phantasy of prismatic distortion it moved anomalously in a diagonal way, so that all the rules of matter and perspective seemed upset. The aperture was black with a darkness almost material. That tenebrousness was indeed a positive quality; for it obscured such parts of the inner walls as ought to have been revealed, and actually burst forth like smoke from its aeon-long imprisonment, visibly darkening the sun as it slunk away into the shrunken and gibbous sky on flapping membranous wings. The odor rising from the newly opened depths was intolerable. Beyond the door lay a narrow iron stairway that coiled around a central shaft until it reached the top of the tower. More faces lined the stairwell, wrought into the iron of the walls and steps. Vlad and Beldin led the climb, Harry in the center, and Kham and Sebastian behind. One of the faces addressed Harry in a croaking voice. “[I]Thank you, maroon, for bringing me fresh meat…I will save you a shank or two, rest assured.[/I]” Harry chuckled. “Pay it no mind.” “[I]The dark-kin can’t be trusted,[/I]” whispered another face. “[I]He’s a devil worshipping liar. He’ll kill you if he gets the chance.[/I]” When nobody reacted, another voice chimed in. “[I]The dwarf doesn’t trust him. Who would? His allegiance isn’t to his friends, it’s to his forge. He’d sacrifice you all if it meant completing Elabac’s life quest![/I]” Beldin snorted but kept climbing. “[I]Remember the old battles the Full-Fathom Five fought,[/I]” said one face to Kham with barely controlled rage, “[I]remember the glory days! You have no idea what I will do to you—and to her—if you refuse.[/I]” Kham ignored it. As Vlad rounded the bend one of the larger faces fixed on him. It said but one word. “[I]RAPIST.[/I]” Vlad drew a dagger. “That’s it!” “Forget it!” Beldin grabbed him. “Forget it, it’s just a stupid statue!” “I did not touch that girl! She lied!” He addressed Kham. “You were there!” Kham shrugged. “I don’t remember much these days.” “What?” Vlad started to say more when they heard clicking from both ends of the staircase. [/QUOTE]
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