arwink
Clockwork Golem
"Doomed," Yassam murmers, ignoring Amarin's question. "Doomed to die."
“We can speed that process,” Geoffrey says, his voice taking the tone of a dagger being slipped from its sheath. Yassam merely smiles.
“I can only hope there is truth in your words,” he says. “This place is cursed for us, for any. With my masters death we face only a few options – the soul death of the burning guardians, the long-death of starvation, or the eternal death offered by my master’s pet now loose in the caves. None of these have the same comfort of death by the sword, the dignity of an enemy’s blow. We have already lost some to my masters Basilisk, mercenaries whose forms we cannot return from stone. We seek to hold off the guardians while our magus seeks an escape, but all are aware that to Eyin we are but an afterthought.”
“What destroyed your master?” Amarin asks, his ever-present notebook in his hand.
“He tried to open the second portal,” Yassam says. “Channelling the energy of Set just as we entered the outer chambers. The power required was beyond him, and his control was simply too weak to contain the energy passing through him. Before our eyes, with Set’s power upon him, he withered and died. My master’s pet has run free through the caves, decimating the ranks of the mercenaries we sent after it in the hopes of keeping it from turning on the rest of us. Both Etenus and I tried to open the outer doors, but it is beyond our meagre abilities, especially weakened as I am now. There was a time, before the guardian, that I wielded more power than Etenus did. Now I’m forced to rely on his feeble spells to sustain my own existence...”
He pauses, lost in contemplation, and his eyes suddenly gleam with a wild light.
“You will kill me,” Yassam orders. “Now.”
When no one moves to react, the knife in his hand lashes out like a vipers tongue. It is a desperate strike, expected by everyone, but it has the desired effect. Both Blarth and Yip move on instinct, and the dagger clatters across the floor of the tunnel as Yassam El’Ahyid slumps against the wall, eyes glazed.
“Well, that explains a lot,” Halgo says. Everyone nods in agreement, then starts to raid the clerics equipment in a show of true pragmatism. There isn’t much of worth between either Yassam or Etenus’ belongings – a few scattered scrolls and potions, a small silver serpent that Halgo recognises as a Serpent Token that will animate and attack the enemy on its own, and some daggers and light armour. The one thing that captures everyone’s attention, however, is a crude map of the caves the Sulrathi have explored, with Yassam’s notes on where their troops are supposed to be stationed.
“Eyin,” Halgo says, pointing to the name written in the next room along their path. “He was the wizard. I don’t know who Dagrus is – maybe a mercenary leader of some kind given that he’s the only other person on his own– but we should probably expect him to come down and join in should a fight start.”
Yip is sent to scout, and soon returns with some news of the Sulrathi wizard’s defences. Eyin himself is somewhat oblivious to his surroundings, his attention focused almost entirely on the writing that fills the room he’s inhabiting, but he has a small group of serpent-like kobolds standing guard for him, all of them robed in black and carrying sharp daggers.
“Black-tongues,” Amarin identifies them. “They’re like kobolds, but they’re bred with snakes. Primarily used as political assassins, from memory.”
“I call them corpses,” Geoffrey says. He nods to Yip. “Sneak up and use one of the fireball vials to try and cut down their numbers, the rest of us will rush him when we hear the sound.”
Yip looks doubtful, his instincts telling him there is far to much danger in the plan.
“It’s an order,” Geoffrey says sternly, and with only a slight grimace Yip turns on his heel and starts crawling towards the wizard’s chamber.
His conviction that the plan is a bad one is only intensified when a glyph suddenly screams to life beneath his feet
“We can speed that process,” Geoffrey says, his voice taking the tone of a dagger being slipped from its sheath. Yassam merely smiles.
“I can only hope there is truth in your words,” he says. “This place is cursed for us, for any. With my masters death we face only a few options – the soul death of the burning guardians, the long-death of starvation, or the eternal death offered by my master’s pet now loose in the caves. None of these have the same comfort of death by the sword, the dignity of an enemy’s blow. We have already lost some to my masters Basilisk, mercenaries whose forms we cannot return from stone. We seek to hold off the guardians while our magus seeks an escape, but all are aware that to Eyin we are but an afterthought.”
“What destroyed your master?” Amarin asks, his ever-present notebook in his hand.
“He tried to open the second portal,” Yassam says. “Channelling the energy of Set just as we entered the outer chambers. The power required was beyond him, and his control was simply too weak to contain the energy passing through him. Before our eyes, with Set’s power upon him, he withered and died. My master’s pet has run free through the caves, decimating the ranks of the mercenaries we sent after it in the hopes of keeping it from turning on the rest of us. Both Etenus and I tried to open the outer doors, but it is beyond our meagre abilities, especially weakened as I am now. There was a time, before the guardian, that I wielded more power than Etenus did. Now I’m forced to rely on his feeble spells to sustain my own existence...”
He pauses, lost in contemplation, and his eyes suddenly gleam with a wild light.
“You will kill me,” Yassam orders. “Now.”
When no one moves to react, the knife in his hand lashes out like a vipers tongue. It is a desperate strike, expected by everyone, but it has the desired effect. Both Blarth and Yip move on instinct, and the dagger clatters across the floor of the tunnel as Yassam El’Ahyid slumps against the wall, eyes glazed.
“Well, that explains a lot,” Halgo says. Everyone nods in agreement, then starts to raid the clerics equipment in a show of true pragmatism. There isn’t much of worth between either Yassam or Etenus’ belongings – a few scattered scrolls and potions, a small silver serpent that Halgo recognises as a Serpent Token that will animate and attack the enemy on its own, and some daggers and light armour. The one thing that captures everyone’s attention, however, is a crude map of the caves the Sulrathi have explored, with Yassam’s notes on where their troops are supposed to be stationed.
“Eyin,” Halgo says, pointing to the name written in the next room along their path. “He was the wizard. I don’t know who Dagrus is – maybe a mercenary leader of some kind given that he’s the only other person on his own– but we should probably expect him to come down and join in should a fight start.”
Yip is sent to scout, and soon returns with some news of the Sulrathi wizard’s defences. Eyin himself is somewhat oblivious to his surroundings, his attention focused almost entirely on the writing that fills the room he’s inhabiting, but he has a small group of serpent-like kobolds standing guard for him, all of them robed in black and carrying sharp daggers.
“Black-tongues,” Amarin identifies them. “They’re like kobolds, but they’re bred with snakes. Primarily used as political assassins, from memory.”
“I call them corpses,” Geoffrey says. He nods to Yip. “Sneak up and use one of the fireball vials to try and cut down their numbers, the rest of us will rush him when we hear the sound.”
Yip looks doubtful, his instincts telling him there is far to much danger in the plan.
“It’s an order,” Geoffrey says sternly, and with only a slight grimace Yip turns on his heel and starts crawling towards the wizard’s chamber.
His conviction that the plan is a bad one is only intensified when a glyph suddenly screams to life beneath his feet
