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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 6686480" data-attributes="member: 9546">Deeper Into The Penance5 Lamashan, 4715 "I think it's time I revealed something to all of you," Lucian announced as the group stood in the courtyard."I wish you wouldn't," Mazael grumbled.Lucian shot him a look before continuing. "The depth of my understanding of the wood and the trees has grown tremendously since we entered the Forest of Spirits. It may be the nature of this realm, or that I was cut off from so much verdant life for so long when we were on the high ice. Whatever the reason, new secrets have been revealed to me."He stepped back from the others and raised his hands above his head. As his companions stared with curiosity, and then amazement, he began to transform. A bark-like covering grew from his skin, encasing every inch of exposed flesh. His legs stretched and broadened, looking almost like split tree trunks, while his arms became thinner as they grew, more spindly, like branches. His fingers formed into delicate twigs. The change continued until what stood before them looked more like a tree given a man-shape. "This is my true form now," Lucian's voice rumbled from deep within his trunk. "At times, I shall return to my former shape, but this is now my truth."Mazael snorted, then sneered."That's nothing! Take a look at what I woke up with this morning!"He whipped his cloak aside, revealing a pair of huge, white-feathered wings sprouting from his back. "Seems like all those stories my great grandma used to tell about how she once met an angel might have been true after all!"________________________________________________________Two of the doors that led from the courtyard gave only onto empty store rooms. The third, however, opened onto a long chamber. Grotesque carvings of sex, gluttony, violence, and oppression decorated the walls, seeming to leap from their surfaces. The broken bodies of a half-dozen humans, their flesh seared, hung among the vile imagery. Boris peered into the gloom, and his sharp eyes picked out arrow slits, four on each wall, concealed among the horrible carvings."Wait here," he said quietly, putting a finger to his lips.He twisted his ring, disappearing from view, and set off down the length of the chamber. When he reached the far end, he found another door, though it would not budge when he tried to open it. He crept to the nearest arrow slit and peered in. On the other side, he saw a hobgoblin staring back, a half-drawn bow in its hands. Silently, Boris drew his own bow, and before the warrior knew what was happening, fired two arrows through the slit and into the its belly."Why do we ever listen to him?" Zula shook her head in exasperation as she saw the goblin reappear down the hall, running full speed towards them.She began a spell, and mist appeared flowing down the center of the chamber, covering Boris's retreat."The fog is not real," Zula told the others, "but the hobgoblins will not know that. Stick to the center, and it should conceal you from their arrows."Mazael had other ideas. He looked towards the nearest arrow slit, spoke a quick prayer, then popped out of existence in a flash of light, only to reappear on the other side of the hole. Though he managed to surprise the hobgoblin stationed there, the warrior recovered quickly, throwing his bow to the ground and drawing out a morningstar. He swung it low, and caught the war-priest in the mid-section. Mazael grunted, and retreated a step, but as he did so, her brought Suishen around in a wide arc, slashing the hobgoblin deeply across the chest. Heeding Zula's advice, Haroldo hustled down the center of the room to the far door. There, he brought out his "universal key," smashing the barrier to splinters with his great-sword. On the other side, he found another hallway running perpendicular to the one he'd just crossed. More vile carvings decorated it, this time depicting acts of envy. Directly across from him, stone stairs climbed to a balcony lined with pillars, and atop that stood three burly figures, each easily over ten-feet tall...giants!Seeing Haroldo rush past him, Boris reversed himself, and followed after the blood-rager, using his ring to become invisible once more. He reached the doors just in time to see the trio of giants closing on Haroldo, while two hobgoblin warriors approached from a side passage where they had been manning the arrow slits. Haroldo didn't wait for the giants to come to him. He lunged forward, screaming like a mad man, dodging and whirling among their legs as they reached for him or swung their tree-trunk sized clubs at him. From back in the main chamber, Lucian let loose with his bow, throwing the giants into further disarray. In short order, the brutes began to fall, one after another. Haroldo spun away from the last one, heading towards the onrushing hobgoblins. One of them never reached him, however, as it fell face-first with Boris's blade sunk into its back. The blood-rager cut down the second as it turned to see had happened to its companion.Meanwhile, Mazael kept a trio of Withered Blossom warriors who'd converged on him busy as they tried to surround him. They were fast, and well-disciplined, but the war-priest was just plain meaner. He took their blows and shrugged them off, before striking back with such ferocity that they fell before him in a matter of moments. With the way forward open, the companions regrouped and ascended the stairs to the balcony. Here, the columns were decorated with more revolting scenes of vice and violence. The portico gave onto a long hallway. Broken bodies, some of which seemed to have died where they were tormented, lined the walls of the arched corridor, amid carvings and figures of torture and anguish. So vile and horrifying was the scene, that Lucian became physically ill. Watching a tree projectile vomit was not a pretty sight. As the heroes pressed on, they became suddenly aware of the sounds of a cracking, snapping sound coming from somewhere nearby. It had the unnerving quality, not of twigs breaking, but more like bones. It became gradually more certain that the sound was coming from one particular broken body that hung mangled on the wall at the end of the corridor. At the time of its death, it seemed that every bone in it had been broken. Then, just as suddenly as the noise started, it stopped. Mazael looked around nervously."Let's get out of this place," he growled.The others nodded their agreement, all save for Piotr. He stood staring at the corpse a moment longer, strange thoughts coming unbidden into his mind. Then, uncontrollably he began to sob."What wrong with fire-wizard?" Boris asked, staring at him as if he'd grown a third eye.Piotr took a moment to compose himself."N...nothing," he sniffed. "Let's just go."His mind, however, was filled with thoughts of vengeance. He would see Munasukaru dead by his own hand before he left this place.__________________________________________________________The long corridor ended at a stone shelf perched above a large cavern. A shaky-looking wooden ladder climbed down from the ledges to the floor of the cave below. The overwhelming roar of a waterfall to the left of the ledge echoed across the huge chamber. Some sixty-feet below, strange hovels constructed from assorted debris cluttered the floor of the cavern. The waterfall crashed down into a pool on one side, while a deep pit ran through the opposite side of the chamber, bridged by two stone arches. So large was the area, that a small stone keep had been constructed far away in the gloom beyond the bridges. Freshly fallen rocks littered the floor amid a profusion of animal droppings and fungi. Many hobgoblins could be seen among the shanties, as well as dozens of pigs roaming freely. As the companions stood on the ledge, a cry came from below as the hobgoblins spotted Suishen's flaming blade illuminating the darkness.Immediately, the hobgoblins below brought out bows and began sending flight after flight of arrows up at the heroes. Piotr answered this by creating a massive ice storm out of thin air. Fist-sized chunks of hail pummeled the hobgoblins, while ice and snow filled the air and covered the ground with a slippery sheen. Using the momentary distraction, Haroldo, Mazael and Boris all leaped from the ledge and flew down towards the village while Lucian covered them from above with his bow. Once the Scion warriors were actually on the ground, they saw that at least half of the hobgoblins present were little more than shield-bearers, leaving only a half-dozen or so actual Withered Blossom shock troops for them to deal with. And deal with them they did...harshly and decisively. The battle was over in moments. A handful of the lesser minions managed to make a run across the bridges, and towards the keep in the distance. The companions watched them go, knowing they would be accounted for in due time.</blockquote>

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