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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 4533109" data-attributes="member: 3285">Heart's Blood, Fire's Vengeance: Part 6a – In View of the EyeThe streets were empty save for a few Nierite patrols.  Luck was with them as they arrived at Nishanpur Store and Supply without detection.  Oddly, the door was unlocked.Vlad kicked it open. The building housed a common general store with common everyday items.  “Over here.” Beldin pushed on one wall and a door opened.  The smell of age and torch fire filled their nostrils.  A dimly lit spiral staircase led down into cold, still darkness.  After several long minutes, they came to the end of the stairs.  The hallway opened into a cool, stone chamber.  A set of massive wooden double doors hung menacingly at the far end of the room.  Huge symbols adorned with images of daemons and devils were carved into the doors.  The wood itself seemed to breathe.  Blue light streamed through the cracks, illuminating the room.“Open it,” said Sebastian.Vlad and Beldin bashed the double doors open.A small cavern was on the other side.  It was roughly hewn, but there was the touch of man upon the place.  Ancient pillars that supported the vaulted ceiling were inlaid with intricate carvings, generations old.  Chains dangled silently from the ceiling and were laid out on the floor in intricate patterns.At the far end of the chamber was an emaciated old man resting cross-legged on the stone floor.  Around his neck was an ancient symbol of Sarish.  His right hand and forearm wore a green metal gauntlet; save a loincloth, it was all he wore.  In his hands he held the unsheathed Eye of Sarish.As Sebastian drew near, the old man raised an empty hand.  He looked at the dark-kin with tired, sad eyes.  “You’ve come to stop me, haven’t you?”“Yes, Ralich,” Sebastian said softly.  “Please put the dagger down.  This is not the way.”“Oh but it is,” whispered Ralich. “Those damn Erdukeen Nierities…” Tears welled in his eyes.  “They wanted to search my shop for weapons.  At the time, I didn’t have any.  My boy resisted their unjust inquisition…and they killed him for it.  THEY KILLED HIM FOR NOTHING!”  “I say we let him do it,” said Kham.  “This whole damned city is a cesspool.”“Would you say the same of Freeport?” snapped Sebastian.  “What this man proposes is Armageddon!  He isn’t providing a solution…it’s selfish rage!”“Those bastards will pay for what they have done to us!” Ralich’s tears flowed freely. “For what they have done to me!”“But so many will be harmed,” said Sebastian, edging closer.  “If you summon an army of demons everyone will suffer, innocent and guilty alike.”“We have lost too much to be thwarted now!  Behold, the power of Sarish!  See into his Eye!”Ralich drove the naked blade of the Eye into the stone floor.  It was at the center of a mystical circle carved into the very stone itself. For a moment, all was still.But only for a moment.The ground trembled.  Just when it appeared the stone would crack, the tremor subsided.“Uh oh,” said Kham.Then, as though from a great distance, there was the sound like the wailing of ten thousand souls.  The cavern wall began to glow a deep red behind Ralich.  A sharp, burning wind tore through the room.With a thunderclap, the stone exploded, flooding the room with light the color of fresh blood.  Where the stone once was, there was an expanse of nothingness, pulsing with primal magical forces.Ralich sat still, the eye in the middle of the storm.  His gaze rose to meet Sebastian’s.  There was pity, sorrow, and loss behind his eyes.  And something else…regret.“You cannot stop it now, my friend.  The time for vengeance has—”His words were cut short as several iron chains burst through his chest.  Ralich’s eyes grew wide in shock for a moment before they rolled to the back of his head.  He fell backwards, blood flowing freely from the fatal wounds.Behind the body of Ralich rose a creature clothed in living chains.  The chains swayed like iron vipers, waiting to strike.  The creature stepped into the room and somewhere, deep inside the darkest recesses of Sebastian’s mind, a voice was clear, cold, and final as death echoed.  “Flee, mortals.  Turn away now and you shall leave unmolested from this doomed city. By Sarish, I swear this.  Stay, and we will feast upon your souls!”Kham turned around.  “That’s it,” he said.  “I’m out.”</blockquote>

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