Copperheads: Betrayal and Strange Runes and Burning Dead, oh my (short update 02/12)
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arwink
Clockwork Golem
Friday, August 25th, 508 AF, continued
Halgo and Geoffrey settle in to the chamber, taking the better part of an hour to explore all its nooks and crannies. The many side passages seem to lead into long unused portions of the mine, and offer no clue of which way to go.
The chamber itself is as large as the Temple Chamber of St Cuthbert in Hommlet, and the blue light cast by the brazier of fire before the dragon statue is particularly disturbing. Worse, the eyes of the dragon statue are huge, blue gems that sparkle seductively in the light. Halgo and Goeffrey both look at it uncertainly from time to time, contemplating their relative value against the feeling of unease it gives them.
The walls of the room are intricately charged, a detail that didn't register during their fight. The carvings seem to show images of humans mining and forging, overseen by a benovelent dragon. Halgo finds one carving depicting humans offering sacrafices to a huge brazier before the dragon, startlingly similar to the one burning in the centre of the room. HE frowns when he notices that the carving actually depicts two dragons accepting the offering, and scrapes away at the layers of dust and mould covering the picture with his dagger.
At the base of the image, he finds several small runes that read "Worship and praise him, for he is a just and true God. View him only with thine eyes, if ye wish not to face him in judgement alone. His wrath is mighty, and while he descends from the mountaintop to praise, also does he punish the lately and untrue." He reads the words aloud to Geoffrey, he simply spits the words "False god."
Just as interesting, they discover that the a patch of wall opposite the statue is smooth and without carvings. Careful examination of the area finds shards of glass on the floor below.
"What in Nine Hells is this?" Geoffrey swears.
"Part of a mirror, maybe?" Halgo offers. He lifts a few of the the shards up to eye level on the tip of a finger. "Maybe part of some magic?"
"What in hell would need a mirror here?" Geoffrey says. "Is the dragon vein enough that he needs his statue to see its reflection?"
"Well," Halgo says. His voice trails off as he glances at the statue and notices the sheen of the blue eyes. "Didn't we find a mirror?"
Geoffrey shrugs and rummages through his pack, eventually pulling forth the copper hand mirror they found earlier. He hands it to the grinning dwarf. Halgo cautiously holds the shiny surface up to the dragon, and starts as the blue light reflecting from the gemlike eyes narrows into a beam of pure azure energy. Static energy runs through Halgo, and his his hair starts to lift slightly.
"Does it hurt?" Geoffrey asks, concerned. Halgo shakes his head, staring at the statue in fascination. For a moment, he could have sworn that it moved slightly, shuddering. He braces himself to run, but keeps the beam trained so the blue light continues to bounce between mirror and eyes. After a minute the beam vanishes, but the statue lurches to life and walks slowly to the side. Behind it's perch is a passageway leading off into the depths of the mountain.
"Secret door," Halgo says, his skin tingling. They look at each other, contemplating pressing forward, then decide against it without discussion.
"Can you close it?" Geoffrey asks, visions of something emerging from the gaping passage while they sleep plaguing his imagination.
"I don't know," Halgo says. It proves a moot point, as the statue returns to its original position after less than sixty seconds.
"We take it tomorrow. Lets make camp in one of the shorter tunnels, it'll be easier than keeping watch on all these passages at once," Geoffrey says. Halgo silently nods, wrapping the mirror in cloth and securing it in his pack.
Saturday, August 26th, 508 AF
Halgo is on last watch, carefully examining his spellbooks while keeping a wary ear for the approach of others. His instincts tell him it's a little after day-break, although he's not certain that's correct. There's a worrying feeling gnawing at him, something he's having trouble pinning down. Eventually he realises its the lack of communication with Blarth - that although the Half-orc may be able to find help, neither Halgo nor Geoffrey have anyway of knowing when the help may arrive. Much as he enjoys spending time underground, Halgo isn't sure he wants to wait around all day for help that may or may not be coming.
He sits quietly, reading through the runes and gestures necessary to detect magic, and tries not to think about it. Geoffrey rouses a little after Halgo closes his book, spends a few minutes clambering back into his armor and goes through his morning prayers to St Cuthbert. Halgo keeps watch, silently observing the young humans pious look as he prays. For all his time and debts to St Cuthbert's church, he can't quite understand the level of faith Geoffrey maintains.
Geoffrey pauses mid-prayer, an eye openining and glancing down the passageway.
"Did you hear that?" He asks. Halgo shakes his head slightly, but reaches for his loaded crossbow. They listen, breath held, for a few moments before they hear the noise again. Soft footfalls, and the scrape of metal against stone.
"Attacker, or the help we asked blarth to send?" Halgo asks. Geoffrey shrugs, readies his shield and mace. He nods at the blue light coming through a gap in the passage, the doorway back to the dragon temple.
"if we've got to fight, lets take away one advantage," he says. Halgo nods and they creep forward as silently as they can.
The wait is terrible, long minutes passing as they hold their breath and conceal themselves behind the dias holding the copper brazier of flame.
Then they hear the footsteps come close, the whisper of a weapon swinging lazily through the air and a long sigh from the doorway to the cavern.
"So is there anyone here, or am I heading back to town to beat the crud out of a half-orc?"
Geoffrey and Halgo peer around the edge of the dias. There is a human youth standing at the doorway, a heavy flail on his shoulders. He wears gleaming black leather armor that bears numerous spikes, and his short hair is greased into smaller spikes that look far less deadly. He has a steel ring forced through his nose, like a prize bull, and is staring accross the room with red-glazed eyes.
"You two are looking for help, right?" the youth asks. "I'm Thrash. This half-orc with a sore foot said you needed someone with a bit of muscle. Actually, he said you were puny magic users who needed someone not puny, but I read between the lines."
Thrash pulls a small pipe out of his belt pouch and lights it with tindertwig. He grins widely as he puffs yellow-tinged smoke into the air. Halgo and Geoffrey look at one another.
"He's got to be kidding," Geoffrey mutters.
Halgo and Geoffrey settle in to the chamber, taking the better part of an hour to explore all its nooks and crannies. The many side passages seem to lead into long unused portions of the mine, and offer no clue of which way to go.
The chamber itself is as large as the Temple Chamber of St Cuthbert in Hommlet, and the blue light cast by the brazier of fire before the dragon statue is particularly disturbing. Worse, the eyes of the dragon statue are huge, blue gems that sparkle seductively in the light. Halgo and Goeffrey both look at it uncertainly from time to time, contemplating their relative value against the feeling of unease it gives them.
The walls of the room are intricately charged, a detail that didn't register during their fight. The carvings seem to show images of humans mining and forging, overseen by a benovelent dragon. Halgo finds one carving depicting humans offering sacrafices to a huge brazier before the dragon, startlingly similar to the one burning in the centre of the room. HE frowns when he notices that the carving actually depicts two dragons accepting the offering, and scrapes away at the layers of dust and mould covering the picture with his dagger.
At the base of the image, he finds several small runes that read "Worship and praise him, for he is a just and true God. View him only with thine eyes, if ye wish not to face him in judgement alone. His wrath is mighty, and while he descends from the mountaintop to praise, also does he punish the lately and untrue." He reads the words aloud to Geoffrey, he simply spits the words "False god."
Just as interesting, they discover that the a patch of wall opposite the statue is smooth and without carvings. Careful examination of the area finds shards of glass on the floor below.
"What in Nine Hells is this?" Geoffrey swears.
"Part of a mirror, maybe?" Halgo offers. He lifts a few of the the shards up to eye level on the tip of a finger. "Maybe part of some magic?"
"What in hell would need a mirror here?" Geoffrey says. "Is the dragon vein enough that he needs his statue to see its reflection?"
"Well," Halgo says. His voice trails off as he glances at the statue and notices the sheen of the blue eyes. "Didn't we find a mirror?"
Geoffrey shrugs and rummages through his pack, eventually pulling forth the copper hand mirror they found earlier. He hands it to the grinning dwarf. Halgo cautiously holds the shiny surface up to the dragon, and starts as the blue light reflecting from the gemlike eyes narrows into a beam of pure azure energy. Static energy runs through Halgo, and his his hair starts to lift slightly.
"Does it hurt?" Geoffrey asks, concerned. Halgo shakes his head, staring at the statue in fascination. For a moment, he could have sworn that it moved slightly, shuddering. He braces himself to run, but keeps the beam trained so the blue light continues to bounce between mirror and eyes. After a minute the beam vanishes, but the statue lurches to life and walks slowly to the side. Behind it's perch is a passageway leading off into the depths of the mountain.
"Secret door," Halgo says, his skin tingling. They look at each other, contemplating pressing forward, then decide against it without discussion.
"Can you close it?" Geoffrey asks, visions of something emerging from the gaping passage while they sleep plaguing his imagination.
"I don't know," Halgo says. It proves a moot point, as the statue returns to its original position after less than sixty seconds.
"We take it tomorrow. Lets make camp in one of the shorter tunnels, it'll be easier than keeping watch on all these passages at once," Geoffrey says. Halgo silently nods, wrapping the mirror in cloth and securing it in his pack.
Saturday, August 26th, 508 AF
Halgo is on last watch, carefully examining his spellbooks while keeping a wary ear for the approach of others. His instincts tell him it's a little after day-break, although he's not certain that's correct. There's a worrying feeling gnawing at him, something he's having trouble pinning down. Eventually he realises its the lack of communication with Blarth - that although the Half-orc may be able to find help, neither Halgo nor Geoffrey have anyway of knowing when the help may arrive. Much as he enjoys spending time underground, Halgo isn't sure he wants to wait around all day for help that may or may not be coming.
He sits quietly, reading through the runes and gestures necessary to detect magic, and tries not to think about it. Geoffrey rouses a little after Halgo closes his book, spends a few minutes clambering back into his armor and goes through his morning prayers to St Cuthbert. Halgo keeps watch, silently observing the young humans pious look as he prays. For all his time and debts to St Cuthbert's church, he can't quite understand the level of faith Geoffrey maintains.
Geoffrey pauses mid-prayer, an eye openining and glancing down the passageway.
"Did you hear that?" He asks. Halgo shakes his head slightly, but reaches for his loaded crossbow. They listen, breath held, for a few moments before they hear the noise again. Soft footfalls, and the scrape of metal against stone.
"Attacker, or the help we asked blarth to send?" Halgo asks. Geoffrey shrugs, readies his shield and mace. He nods at the blue light coming through a gap in the passage, the doorway back to the dragon temple.
"if we've got to fight, lets take away one advantage," he says. Halgo nods and they creep forward as silently as they can.
The wait is terrible, long minutes passing as they hold their breath and conceal themselves behind the dias holding the copper brazier of flame.
Then they hear the footsteps come close, the whisper of a weapon swinging lazily through the air and a long sigh from the doorway to the cavern.
"So is there anyone here, or am I heading back to town to beat the crud out of a half-orc?"
Geoffrey and Halgo peer around the edge of the dias. There is a human youth standing at the doorway, a heavy flail on his shoulders. He wears gleaming black leather armor that bears numerous spikes, and his short hair is greased into smaller spikes that look far less deadly. He has a steel ring forced through his nose, like a prize bull, and is staring accross the room with red-glazed eyes.
"You two are looking for help, right?" the youth asks. "I'm Thrash. This half-orc with a sore foot said you needed someone with a bit of muscle. Actually, he said you were puny magic users who needed someone not puny, but I read between the lines."
Thrash pulls a small pipe out of his belt pouch and lights it with tindertwig. He grins widely as he puffs yellow-tinged smoke into the air. Halgo and Geoffrey look at one another.
"He's got to be kidding," Geoffrey mutters.
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arwink
Clockwork Golem
15 or 16 from memory. Although it's less an age thing, and more related to the mindset. Thrash basically carries himself like your average teenage punk rocker, which tends to make him look a little younger than he actually is to the more serious minded members of the group 
Lela
First Post
So, full-of-himself, hair that scares children, and, as we've already seen, a smoker.
Okay, I can't wait to see what this guy's speciality is (aside from causing children to run in fear and shocked old ladies to use comments that start out "In my day, we never. . .").
So, Rogue?
Okay, I can't wait to see what this guy's speciality is (aside from causing children to run in fear and shocked old ladies to use comments that start out "In my day, we never. . .").
So, Rogue?
Last edited:
arwink
Clockwork Golem
An answer to Lela's question in update form, cause I'm at work, I'm bored and I can't be bothered working on thesis stuff at the moment
Saturday, August 26th, 508 AF, continued
Goeffrey and Halgo huddle together, whispering quietly while Thrash strolls languidly around the room. "Blue flames," he exclaims every couple of minutes. "Whoah. Freaky."
"Does St Cuthbert offer any recourse for killing Blarth," Halgo pauses and counts to five under his breath, "because of this?"
"I'm not sure, " Geoffrey says. "If things go bad, maybe we can file it under vengance rather than justice. Cheer up though, it might not be that bad."
Halgo raises an eyebrow.
"He looks strangely frightening," Geoffrey offers. "Not to us, of course, but goblins may find the spikes intimidating. And he does look like he knows how to use that flail."
"To do what? Flagellate himself to prove he's as tough as he looks?"
"Hey," Thrash yells. They both look up to see him standing by the statue, kneeling and looking at something close to the ground.
"What?" Halgo asks.
"Does this thing move or something? Or has someone dragged it aside?"
"It moves, there's a secret door behind it. Why do you ask?"
"There's some slight scraping on the stone here, and the dust has been shifted recently."
Thrash looks up at them, red eyes gleaming.
"Could you make it move for me? Watching a statue walk could be cool. The best I've ever done is talk to this glowing blue pool. He told good stories, but he didn't much like it when I needed to take a drink."
"You could tell that, just by looking at the ground?" Geoffrey asks.
"Sure," Thrash says. "Some dwarves taught me back home, how to read tracks over stone. Harder than trailing someone through the forest, but it's doable if you know what to look for."
He stretches his arms and applies pressure to the statue, trying to make it move. It's an impossible task, but the muscles straining against seem impressive.
"He's an idiot," Halgo says abruptly.
"So's Blarth," 1...2...3...4...5..."and we work with him." Geoffrey explains. That seems to settle things.
"Thrash, you might want to step back," Halgo says, digging the mirror out of his pack. "I think it's time we moved on."
Saturday, August 26th, 508 AF, continued
Goeffrey and Halgo huddle together, whispering quietly while Thrash strolls languidly around the room. "Blue flames," he exclaims every couple of minutes. "Whoah. Freaky."
"Does St Cuthbert offer any recourse for killing Blarth," Halgo pauses and counts to five under his breath, "because of this?"
"I'm not sure, " Geoffrey says. "If things go bad, maybe we can file it under vengance rather than justice. Cheer up though, it might not be that bad."
Halgo raises an eyebrow.
"He looks strangely frightening," Geoffrey offers. "Not to us, of course, but goblins may find the spikes intimidating. And he does look like he knows how to use that flail."
"To do what? Flagellate himself to prove he's as tough as he looks?"
"Hey," Thrash yells. They both look up to see him standing by the statue, kneeling and looking at something close to the ground.
"What?" Halgo asks.
"Does this thing move or something? Or has someone dragged it aside?"
"It moves, there's a secret door behind it. Why do you ask?"
"There's some slight scraping on the stone here, and the dust has been shifted recently."
Thrash looks up at them, red eyes gleaming.
"Could you make it move for me? Watching a statue walk could be cool. The best I've ever done is talk to this glowing blue pool. He told good stories, but he didn't much like it when I needed to take a drink."
"You could tell that, just by looking at the ground?" Geoffrey asks.
"Sure," Thrash says. "Some dwarves taught me back home, how to read tracks over stone. Harder than trailing someone through the forest, but it's doable if you know what to look for."
He stretches his arms and applies pressure to the statue, trying to make it move. It's an impossible task, but the muscles straining against seem impressive.
"He's an idiot," Halgo says abruptly.
"So's Blarth," 1...2...3...4...5..."and we work with him." Geoffrey explains. That seems to settle things.
"Thrash, you might want to step back," Halgo says, digging the mirror out of his pack. "I think it's time we moved on."
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Capellan
Explorer
Durhon said:Blarth heard that!!!!
Geez the Dwarf with no beard is saying that Thrash looks weird.....
Blarth heard "Blarth because of that." Not very elucidating
And Halgo has a perfectly good and sensible beard. Just because it's not as overgrown as some dwarves, certain people seem to feel they can criticise it ...
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