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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Medriev" data-source="post: 4706084" data-attributes="member: 21864">Chapter 19 - Tides of Blood (Part 2)“This looks to be the place we seek,” Erlmoor rumbled as the group stopped before a pair of dark, wooden double doors that faced west. The companions had spoken little since the visit of the quasit and Telkya was determinedly ignoring the efforts of Lavren and Litiraan to speak with her. Dulvarna and Erlmoor looked back at their troubled group and with their blades held against their shoulders, they each reached out for an iron ring handle attached to one of the doors. They both pulled the doors back together and taking their blade sin both hands stepped forward into a chamber that seemed to hold a scene torn from the Abyss. They stood on a small stone platform overlooking two large pools of blood. A stone walkway divided the room and sat just above the surface of the pools while on opposite sides of the room, large bronze statues of snarling minotaurs faced each other. Each minotaur statue held a long, barbed whip, as if about to strike while a smaller minotaur statue stood beside the doors and beside another set of double doors further south along the east wall. Flanking the large statue on the far side of the room were two pedestals that rose out of the blood. On one rested a grey dagger-sized blade while on the other rested a matching hilt.Lavren was the first to start forward, his wand in his left hand and his sword in his right. He moved past Erlmoor and Dulvarna and started down the steps into the blood pool. The blood came up to his waist and the metallic smell was almost overpowering. As he started to wade forward, he felt a burning pain around his legs and his waist and terrible nausea threatened to overwhelm him.“The blood is poison,” he called back to the others through gritted teeth.Despite this he strode forward and then he realised that he was not alone in the pool. The eerie magical light in the chamber showed a dark form close to him beneath the surface of the blood. As he watched, it began to move and he held up his wand and his blade, ready to defend himself.“We have no choice if we are to retrieve the dagger,” said Dulvarna, starting down the steps.She felt the same terrible burning and nausea as she waded into the pool and as she drew near to Lavren, she saw the same dark form moving beneath the surface. Raising her blade, she brought it down towards the creature but struck nothing but blood.“Something dwells within here,” she called out but then she saw a more dangerous menace.Beyond the walkway, the farthest minotaur statue was beginning to move, lashing out with its whip in each direction as if seeking any nearby enemies. Dulvarna looked nervously towards the nearest statue that could easily reach her with its whip and Enlishia, still back on the ledge, followed her gaze. Nocking an arrow to its string, the ranger raised her bow and loosed an arrow at the nearest statue. It drove into the bronze but still the minotaur construct began to move. Enlishia loosed another arrow but this shaft bounced aside and splashed into the crimson pool at the statue’s base.Telkya closed her eyes and vanished in a cloud of light motes. She reappeared on the plinth next to the closest statue and lashed out at it with her sword. Her blade clanged off the bronze of the statue and struck the stone of the plinth. She cursed and looked up at the statue as it began to swivel at the waist.Erlmoor rushed forward into the pool of blood and felt the same burning and nausea that the others had felt. He waded to join the others as quickly as he could and lashed out at the form moving beneath the water. His blade struck flesh and with a roar, a crimson skinned demon of the kind that had plagued the companions so terribly in the chamber of the howling pillars, rose from the blood pool. It lashed out with one of its claws and Erlmoor drew back, evading the blow. Then, the scourge that the bronze statue wielded cracked over the head of the dragonborn and he knew that he faced a more terrible danger.The statue’s whip cracked out again and struck Dulvarna, dragging her from her feet to fall face down in the blood. Lavren was struck next and similarly pitched forward before Litiraan was dragged from his feet by the scourge and pulled towards the steps into the blood pool. The statue turned towards Telkya and struck her with the handle of the whip, pitching her from the plinth into the blood pool. The whip cracked again and this time, the red-skinned demon was struck and dragged from its feet. Litiraan pushed himself to his feet as the statue swivelled again and uttered the words of a spell that he had only penned to his spell book the previous night. He added a silent prayer to Corellon that the spell would work and then uttered the final phrase. As he had expected, the room around him twisted and vanished and he reappeared on the ledge between the two blood pools and next to the north wall. He reckoned he would be safe from the whips of the statues where he was and took a moment to pause and survey the scene so as to plan his next move.Lavren saw Litiraan’s travelling spell take him across the chamber and could not help but be impressed. As he watched the whips of the statues lash out, he realised that Telkya’s brother had discovered a place where they could be safe from the terrible scourges. Concentrating, he closed his eyes and vanished into a cloud of light motes. An instant later, he appeared next to Litiraan with a  wink and a smile.“What do we do now, then?” he asked the elf.“No idea,” answered the other. “I was hoping you might know.”</blockquote>

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