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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spider_Jerusalem" data-source="post: 251469" data-attributes="member: 5507">Edit: Before you read this, chapter six consists of four parts because it was way too long as one post. So grab yourself a coffee and set aside half an hour, there's a lot to read! And now, without further ado...[Edit]Edited into past tense on 19th September 2004[Edit]Ice, Luck and HonourChapter 6: A Duel of ShadowsPart 1 of 4Early to Middle Winter, Realms Date 1372…The dragon’s mouth pulled back in a ripple of muscles, revealing a deadly fanged smirk as Zalaznir stepped out of the tower. Titling his head back to look Klauth eye to eye, Zalaznir shouted out with not a trace of fear,“Klauth, I come here to destroy you. I, and my new found companions challenge you.” Zalaznir stuck his thumb over his shoulder, pointing to where Torious stood with his mouth hanging open…- - - - - - - - - -Klauth watched the man strut out of the tower and shout his absurd challenge. Curling his mouth into a razor sharp snarl, Klauth laughed. The tower shuddered, sending a small shower of mortar to the sand below. With merely a step forward, Klauth planted his right claw onto the armoured man, folding the upraised longsword onto itself as the man desperately struck upwards, screaming this and that to Lathander. Klauth grinned, shrill screams vibrating up through his body as the man was pressed further into the sand. A dull, wet snap buckled the right leg of Zalaznir into two as Klauth shifted his weight forwards. The man under his foot continued hollering in pain as Klauth watched a second man, this one with blond hair and a broken chainmail shirt spattered with blood, advance slowly forwards from the shadows of the tower doorway. In a steady voice, belying his fear, the man begins to speak.“Dragon. Free that man, he is no threat to you.”Thinking for a moment, Klauth responded, "No."The man standing before him wavered, then placed a foot behind him to steady himself from falling.“Dragon. I am aasimar, descendant of Tyr the even handed and slayer of…”"I know what you are. But it seems you are trying to prove that to yourself, despite all you know." said Klauth with a wicked smile. With a heavy sucking sound, Klauth moved his foot out of the fresh crater to reveal Zalaznir underneath. The man screamed as he leaned forwards to hold his crushed leg, but is flung back down as Klauth balanced a single talon over the man, holding him down once again. Zalaznir screamed at the aasimar,“Help me. Oh Lathander please, no. Help me!” his hand stretched towards Torious."Aasimar, here is your choice." Klauth said evenly, coming to a decision. "Either this man dies, or you die. It is up to you, you can be his saviour or your own."- - - - - - - - - -Dariel’s wings beat once, spinning himself about on the tower floor. Thalin, shaking violently, and with great effort, dropped his body sideways so that he could no longer see the great red out of the tower door. Immediately, the blinding white fear shuddered out of him and was replaced by a twisting pain to escape. Picking Dariel up, as he began to flutter to consciousness, Thalin pushed the fear stricken Milo sideways with the butt of Erifeci. Milo shivered as he fell, and still unable to speak through fear, crouched into the shadowed corner of the tower, stroking Isplit like a child’s doll.Thalin quickly began to think rationally again, mentally cursing himself for being so weak in the moments when his strength was needed most. Looking around the tower, and being anxious not to stray into view of the dragon, kept to the shadowed edge. Well aware of dragons hunting abilities, particularly hearing and sight, Thalin motioned towards Milo to stay where he was. Looking for something to escape by, Thalin carefully lifted a crate, making sure not to make a sound and placed it to one side. Looking back at the empty space, Thalin shuddered with relief as the wooden slats of a trapdoor were revealed. Now wishing that he had learnt his spell of soundlessness, Thalin lifted the iron handle of the trapdoor and began to lift.- - - - - - - - - -Lyle sprinted back down the tunnel, his boots thudding on the stone flagstones as he ran. Looking back, the sword spider leapt from the web and landed with only a patter of taps as its legs touched the ground. Leaping forwards, Lyle dived into the dwarven sleeping quarters and spinning quickly, threw his weight into the door to close it. With only inches to go, a chitinous sabre slid into the crack, holding the door open. The soft scraping of the spiders legs sliding over stone as it began to push made Lyle quickly alter his course of action. Rolling onto his side, and roaring in pain as he used his stump to push against the door, Lyle withdrew his shortsword and drove it into the flailing spider leg. The leg disappeared, scraping back through the gap in the door which was quickly slammed and locked by Lyle, who sat back against the door and began to think if his revenge was really worth all this.- - - - - - - - - -“Take my life.” said Torious. The words are said quicker than any other creature the dragon had faced with the same choice.Klauth, already having decided his course of action to either answer, snaked his head down and ripped Zalaznir's head from his body. With the flailing torso in his maw, Klauth swung his head leisurely to the side, sending half of the dead man sailing across the lake and into the cliff face with a damp thud. On their ledges of grass, the watching aarakocras screeched in unison and dove to gather what remains they could. As the legs of the man twitched violently, Klauth began to speak before the aasimar could react."You talk of sacrifice, but you do not know of what you speak. If you were to truly martyr yourself for that pathetic man, would I even let him live after your head has been ripped from your shoulders and your body lies a smoking husk?"With a sly smile, Klauth watched the pious man before him falter for a moment. The dragon continued, "What would you achieve? Glory in Tyr?" Klauth raised his head and laughed deeply, shaking loose stones from the cliff face."You are a fool indeed, and you would be a dead fool were it not for your blind devotion." Klauth paused for a moment and swooped his head to the lake and drank deeply. The aasimar stood unmoving, his face blank.- - - - - - - - - -Thalin lifted the trapdoor open as he heard the dragon talking to Torious, hoping the dragon’s own voice would mask the noise made. Carefully, Thalin eased the trapdoor against the wall and motioned at Milo to move over. The halfling, having calmed down considerably, nodded and chose his moment wisely to jump across the open doorway. Hearing Klauth laugh, the halfling tumbled across the opening silently and padded to a halt next to the open trapdoor. With a nod, Thalin slid himself over the edge and lowered himself until only the tips of fingers were showing. Milo watched silently as the fingers disappeared then a split second later a small splash below. Not wanting to be alone in the tower with only Isplit, who was still unconscious and probably dreaming of she-weasels, Milo dropped carefully over the edge without holding on and landed in a foot of freezing water.Whispering to Milo that spell casting might well alert Klauth to their position, Thalin peered into the darkness of the room that they now stood in. It seemed that the two shaking heroes had dropped into a shallow pool indented in the centre of the room. Sniffing, the stench of algae and stale fish was overwhelming and Milo gagged as he went to get out of the trench and pressed his hand into a diseased fish corpse.Hauling himself out of the stagnant water, Thalin saw a small stone dwarf figurine at the edge of the water holding a transparent rod, which lightly touched onto the dust-strewn surface. In the half gloom, the room is slightly larger than the tower width above it, and had a set of double stone doors set in the wall immediately in front of the mage. Milo pulled himself out finally, having scraped the dead fish from his hand with a disgusted look on his face. The halfling crouched next to the figurine in the available light and smoothed his hand over the glass rod leading into the water, his hand came away with a singed edge of what looked like a square of leather, or perhaps burnt fur. Seeing nothing more interesting about the figurine, Milo crept over to Thalin, who was pushing the stone doors open slowly. As the doors creaked open, a murky blue light filtered through, bathing the heroes’ faces in an azure glow. Looking inside, Milo’s eyes fired up with curiosity as he saw, in the centre of the glowing room, a rail track leading through another set of heavy doors and upon that track sat a strange metal and wood contraption about the size of a large boar. Stepping in slowly, Milo looked in awe as he saw the contraption appeared to be an underwater submersible, with a dwarf sized seat visible through the thick glass. At the fore of the craft were a pair of little claws, although Milo couldn't think what for. Without a word of encouragement, the pair of adventurers prized open the cockpit and clambered in, just managing to fit a human and a halfling into the small space. Milo squirmed suddenly as Dariel flapped his wings in the halfling’s face. Milo shot his limbs out in all directions, pressing his knee against a small lever as he shouted a curse at Thalin’s familiar. With a grinding noise, the doors that the tracks led through slid open, letting in a blast of water, which began to flood the basement of the tower. With a squeal of brakes that had not been used for over fifty years, the Apparatus of Kwalish rolled into momentum.- - - - - - - - - -Klauth lifted his head, water spilling from his jaws as he turned back to the aasimar. "Now leave. And discard you martyrdom here, for it will achieve you no glory, only death. Now hurry on little man and follow your creeping companions."- - - - - - - - - -Torious turned and walked, his mind thumping with the words that the dragon spoke. His thoughts reeling, the only words which emerged clear from the maelstrom were Now Leave. Before Torious could douse the blaze raging in his head, he had already climbed back up the footholds and stood on the edge of the laddered shaft leading back to the airlock below. As the thoughts finally begin to filter from his mind, Torious turned in time to see Klauth sat up his hind legs and kick forwards like a cat. Spreading his immense wings, Klauth circled in the air.Torious saw Klauth make a slow, lazy circle as the aarakocras began to drag and fumble the sodden red torso of Zalaznir up the cliff face, tearing chunks from the paladin as they pulled him towards their nests. Klauth completed his slow circle towards the cliff face and sucked in deeply before moments later hurling forth a searing blast of white-hot fire that rolled off the jagged stone in an avalanche of surging flame. Klauth ascended slowly, letting the rising blaze soothe across his stomach as he passed through it and placing his back legs onto the cliff edge, pushed forwards again, soaring high into the sky. As the blast died and the flames pealed upwards in a broil of smoke and heat, a fine shower of dust settled slowly to the surface of the lake. Torious gazed coldly once again at the dragons choice of searing justice, then turned and began to descend back into the mines.</blockquote>

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