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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 289662" data-attributes="member: 2323">Part 4: Darkness FallsMalak gazed upward at the mountainside, his eyes pausing for a moment at the carvings of Shaharizod and Meruna. He bent to a single knee and bowed his head in prayer. Karak muttered something under his breath as the Battleguard got back to his feet."This surely be tha place we be lookin' for, Karak," Malak said. "But Arngrim spoke as though tha monks wou' be welcomin' us when we got here.""Aye, me chalak, but it seems tha monks nae be here at all," Karak grumbled. "I dinna get tha sense from Arngrim tha' we'd find tha place deserted."The warrior's grip on his war axe tightened as he looked up at the darkened monastery.Malak walked ahead toward the stairs a few paces and peered at the heavy doors that blocked the way back into the mountain.  "And it looks like this place has been deserted for some time..." His voice trailed off as he pondered Arngrim's fate."I wonder what wou' make 'em leave their sanctuary?" Karak muttered, as much to himself as to Malak. "Else they be barred inside away from this 'ere storm."The latter thought seemed to hearten the dwarf until his brother pointed to the chimneys."If they're within than why have they nae lit a fire?" the Battleguard asked. "Surely nae even monks wou' suffer tha cold when there's warmth ta be had."Karak harrumphed and nodded his head once."A goodly point," he said. "What say ye, we just open tha door and make ourselves at 'ome, eh?""At tha very least, we shou' try tha doors, me chalak," Malak replied, his firm voice now betraying the dread he felt for their guide. "This weather will freeze us both before much longer."Malak tied the mountain goat's reins to the rusty gate and unsheathed his scimitar."Lead on, me chalak," he grimly said.They crossed the courtyard to the front door, their armor clinking and the snow crunching beneath their boots. There were no other tracks but their own to mar the vast white surface. Five wide steps led up to the doors set into the cliffside. Each step was coated with a thin layer of ice that cracked underfoot as they climbed to the ironbound doors.A simple catch held the doors closed. There appeared to be no locking mechanism."You open tha doors while I go in first an' I will set up a small perimeter," Karak said, raising his axe defensively."I will check for traps first," the cleric suggested, although he had little experience with such things.Malak stepped forward, checked the door and the area around it as best he could for any obvious traps, and, once he was satisfied that there were none, grabbed the handle with his left hand. He tried the thumb-latch but it was stuck; it took a few moments of straining to crack the ice that choked the mechanism. A shower of frozen dust fell downward as he finally swung the left door open revealing the darkened room beyond.The only light came from the open door, but that and the dwarves' darkvision was enough to reveal some details of the hall. The room formed the bottom floor of a high-ceilinged room. A set of spiral stairs that began to the right of the doors led up to the second floor of the monastery. The floor of the hall was of rough-cut tiled stones that had been worn smooth by the tread of many feet. Two low archways led out of the room. One was set into the left-hand wall and the other was beneath the stairs directly ahead.The air inside was cold as a crypt and just as still.Undaunted, Karak marched inside, his axe at the ready. Malak watched him from the doorway.Upon reaching the center of the room, he could see that the archway to the left opened into a large, empty room. The one straight ahead met up with a hallway with another archway directly across from it. Hidden in a shadowy recess beneath the stairs on the right wall, was a small ironbound door.No sound reached his ears save the faint howl of the wind.All at once, darkness fell upon him. It was magical, he knew, for it quickly dimmed even his dwarven eyes, which were long accustomed to the darkness of the mines. He was about to shout a warning when something heavy dropped on him like a wet blanket. Only it was a blanket made from flesh and muscle that wrapped itself around his head and shoulders, trapping his cry and threatening to smother the life from him all together.Only Malak saw the blackness descending. It fell, billowing in the air like ink poured into water and in a moment Karak was enveloped by it. It filled the interior of the hall completely. The doorway through which Malak was watching was filled entirely with featureless darkness. His brother let out no cry of warning or pain, but Malak heard some scuffling and clanking coming from the blackened room."Karak!" Malak yelled. "Keep makin' noise!"The scrape of metal on metal continued straight ahead, and he took a single deep breath before he plunged into the featureless blackness.Karak heard nothing of his brother's cries. The thing that had clamped itself onto his head muffled all outside sounds to inaudability. His breath and the pounding of blood in his ears were the only sounds that seemed real to him... and the thing was trying to smother his breath away.He held his breath in and grimly raised his war axe to the leathery side of the thing on his head. And began to saw.Malak wandered blindly toward the sound of movement with his scimitar held at his side and his left hand outstretched."Karak?" he called again before his hand brushed against something most undwarf-like. It felt rather like the flesh of the giant cave slugs that were sometimes bread for food in some of the poorer and more remote delves. He dropped his hand a little and touched cold steel plate. It was a shoulder guard, he realized; the slug-thing seemed to have attached itself to his brother's head.The thing squeezing his face spasmed as Karak felt his axe penetrate its tough hide and bite into the meat beneath. A hot wetness spattered against his arm and trickled down his chest beneath his heavy armor. The thing shuddered and renewed its efforts to suffocate him. It fought him with a savagery born of desperation.He knew the creature was near death.Malak raised his scimitar and hesitated with it poised to strike. It occurred to him that he'd be just as likely to strike Karak as whatever was attached to him. He didn't want to risk injuring his brother, so he lowered the weapon and headed blindly for the far-left corner of the room. He reached it with ease and in doing so stepped out from the darkness' radius. The light seemed blinding after the total blackness, but it was just the light from the open doorway that he saw.From his vantagepoint in the corner, he could see that the darkness - which formed a hemisphere roughly 20' across - didn't extend far into the room Karak had indicated lay through the archway at his left. He made for it, sticking close to the wall, stepped briefly back into darkness, found the edge of the doorway, and moved hastily through it and into the dim room beyond.Karak pressed the axe blade against the creature's hide in a new spot and began sawing up and down, careful to cause as much damage as he could to his opponent without injuring himself in the process. His fingers were getting slick from the beast's ichor. The thing went into a wild series of convulsions that almost sent the dwarf sprawling. He righted himself and moved his axe up to renew his cutting but it quickly became unnecessary. The thing stopped moving and fell off his head. He sucked in a fresh lungfull of the cold, cold air and heard the thing hit the floor with a wet slap. Darkness was still around him, he saw (or, rather, didn't see) and with his second full breath of the sweet air he bellowed out, "Malak! Be ye alive?"The room that Karak had described as 'big and empty' was only partially either. It was the same size as the entry chamber and the floor was free of furnishings. A stack of what looked like straw mats was piled in the corner. Shallow alcoves lined the walls; five in all with two set into the wall to the left of the archway and three on the wall opposite. Each alcove held a statue, and small clay bowls have been left in front of them. Another archway led out in the far corner of the right hand wall.All this Malak saw in the few seconds between the time that he entered the room and Karak shouted for him. At the sound of his brother's voice, the Battleguard spun about and returned the hail."Aye, me chalak!" he shouted. "I be here! I be here!"Karak burst out of the darkness, nearly clipping his shoulder on the doorframe as he came. His axe was dripping with gore, and a goodly amount of noxious black blood was splattered all over his armor."There be nae need for shoutin'," Karak grumbled. "I be close enough ta 'ear ye well an' good without ye makin' me ears ring.""Are ye injured?" Malak asked and his brother shook his head."Only me pride," he said. "I walked into that one like a beardless babe.""What happened ta ye?" the Battleguard asked, indicating the grisly mess on his fellow's armor and axe."Some sort o' beastie attached itself ta me 'ead," Karak explained. "Took me by surprise, it did. But I slew it straight away."Malak started to say something else but Karak waved it off."What've ye found 'ere?" he asked, looking around the room.Malak looked closer at the alcoves and the statues within them. They were each made of wood and seemed to depict several of the gods of virtue. From left to right there was: Merikka, Orin, Ibrahil, Shaharizod, and Meruna. The idols were made of wood that had cracked from moisture and frost. The small clay bowls in front of each statue were empty."It looks like a shrine ta me," Malak said. "Here's Merikka, Father o' tha Sky, Orin, tha Light bearer, Ibrahil, tha True, Shaharizod, tha Silver Queen, and finally Meruna, tha Handmaiden."He indicated each one in turn and then shook his head."Tha shrine's been neglected for a good long while," he added. "At least a few months, maybe longer."</blockquote>

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