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<blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3814406" data-attributes="member: 143"><p>Thanks for the posts, guys!</p><p></p><p>* * * * * </p><p></p><p>Chapter 269</p><p></p><p>THE SEARCH</p><p></p><p></p><p>They encountered the cleric again not long after. </p><p></p><p>The priest of Orcus lay on the altar in the Talon, his armored body surrounded by the sharp edges and spiny protrusions of the stone slab. He was dead, his eyes open and staring into nothing. His scythe lay across him, its handle still clutched loosely in a lifeless hand. Dar took the weapon, but after a moment frowned, and placed it back against the altar. </p><p></p><p>“What’s the matter?” Allera asked. </p><p></p><p>“It... I don’t know, it felt like I had stepped into a pool of filth, when I touched it.”</p><p></p><p>The weapon was clearly powerful; Alderis identified its smoky blade as having sort of <em>brilliant energy</em> property, capable of penetrating any sort of physical armor, but deadly against flesh. </p><p></p><p>That much, Dar and Shay already knew. </p><p></p><p>“The scythe is too valuable to leave to our enemies,” Alderis said. </p><p></p><p>Before anyone else could comment, Shay stepped forward, and brought <em>Beatus Incendia</em> down in a two-handed stroke that smashed hard into the haft of the weapon a foot below the blade. There was a flash of black energy and a sound like a dying animal as the holy sword crushed the scythe against the jagged spines of the altar. Then the weapon clattered to the floor, now just two harmless pieces of wood, the insubstantial blade gone. </p><p></p><p>Dar looked at Shay in surprise, but the scout was already heading toward one of the doors situated around the perimeter of the temple. The others followed. </p><p></p><p>Their search was quick but cautious. Dar reminded them that Navev had gotten away, again, and while he personally did not expect the undead warlock to have hung around after their victory over the cleric and wizard, none of them were going to take any chances. As they set out, Allera and Nelan continued to tend to their wounds. They had plenty of healing magic left to them, and soon they were all at full strength, at least in physical terms. </p><p></p><p>They first explored a complex of rooms that clearly had served as quarters for the late high priest. The chambers were dirty and cluttered, although there were signs of recent attempts at cleaning. The outer chamber, a small sitting room, had a locked stone door that was literally layered with traps, both mundane and magical. Shay found the traps but could not disarm them, so after Alderis had neutralized the ward with a <em>dispel</em> Dar used his club to batter the door open. In the process he found another trap that Shay had missed, as a gout of toxic gas poured out from the top of the threshold onto him. But Dar retreated in time to avoid breathing much of the othur fumes, and after a quick examination Allera pronounced him healthy. Once the cloud had dispersed Dar resumed work on the door, and a few seconds later they were through. </p><p></p><p>The inner chamber was the high priest’s bedroom. This room was more richly furnished than the antechamber, but it too showed signs of neglect. A strong smell hung in the air, and stains covered the linens on the fancy poster bed in the center of the place. The companions spread out and searched the room, examining the bookshelves, wardrobe, and tapestries along the walls. Behind one of those tapestries, Mehlaraine found something unusual; a ten-foot square area of wall that was perfectly smooth, a sheet of utter black that absorbed the light of their torches without reflection. </p><p></p><p>Shay had retreated to the doorway, clearly impatient, but on the elf’s discovery she came forward again. Mehlaraine touched the black wall, cautiously, but drew back her hand suddenly as she received a small electrical jolt from it. “It’s solid,” she said. </p><p></p><p>“Are there any indications of how one gets past?” Shay asked. </p><p></p><p>“Well, there’s always force,” Dar said, hefting his club. </p><p></p><p>“Do not bother,” Alderis said. He had come over to examine the wall, and he ran his fingers along it, just shy of actually touching the surface. “This is a <em>wall of force</em> of some sort, bolstered by a potent abjurative aura. I suspect that you could pound on it for days without making the slightest impact.”</p><p></p><p>Shay stared at the wall. If will enough had been strong enough to sunder its magic, her gaze would have broken it. </p><p></p><p>“Do you think that Talen came this way?” Nelan asked. Shay shrugged her shoulders, but did not respond. </p><p></p><p>“Well, let’s finish our sweep,” Dar said. “We can always come back here later.”</p><p></p><p>They continued their systematic exploration of the complex. Another door opened onto a corridor lit by a diffuse, ruddy light. Forty feet down the passage terminated in another door. The walls of the corridor were marked with runes carved into the stone, and the far threshold was further deeply etched with additional inscriptions. </p><p></p><p>“There’s something... not right... here,” Nelan said, shivering slightly. They could all feel it; while the temperature hadn’t fallen, there was a cold chill that seemed to run up and down their spines as they approached the far door.” </p><p></p><p>“What are those runes?” Allera asked Alderis. </p><p></p><p>“They are a warding... and a warning,” the elf said. </p><p></p><p>“Perhaps we should go another way,” Mehlaraine suggested. </p><p></p><p>But Shay, driven by something deeper than conscious knowledge, pressed on to the far door. She opened it, revealing a tunnel that was entirely suffused with a thick, cloying red mist. The coils of fog crept outward toward the scout, wrapping around her arms and legs as they pushed into the passage. </p><p></p><p>Shay turned, and they could see tendrils of red that had condensed on her skin, looking like smears of blood. </p><p></p><p>“Shay, close the door,” Dar said.</p><p></p><p>The scout hesitated. There was... <em>something</em> in the mists, a life that beat within like the pulsing of some ephemeral heart. She could see nothing beyond a few feet, but she got the distinct impression that these tunnels continued for a vast, unknowable distance beyond this door. </p><p></p><p>“Shay!” </p><p></p><p>The scout flinched as if struck. Dar strode forward, and slammed the door shut. Shay looked up at him, her cheeks stained with red where the fog had touched her. Allera was just behind him, a look of worry on her face. </p><p></p><p>“We’re wasting time,” the fighter said. “Come on, let’s get moving.” This time it was Dar who took the lead, taking them back down the passage to the temple. Allera remained behind, with Shay. </p><p></p><p>“Are you all right?” the healer asked. </p><p></p><p>The scout reached up and wiped her face with her hand. For a moment, she stared down at the bloody smears. </p><p></p><p>“Shay?”</p><p></p><p>Without responding, the scout strode suddenly down the passage, leaving Allera to hurry to keep up. </p><p></p><p>Their exploration of the Talon continued. Trying another of the doors leading off the temple, they found an unfinished part of the complex. In one room they found a number of skeletons and zombies, carrying picks and mauls, standing silently along one wall. The undead did not respond to their presence, and Nelan destroyed them all with a surge of holy power. </p><p></p><p>Heading to the far side of the temple, they found another door that accessed a complex of private chambers. These too had obviously served as quarters for priests of Orcus. It seemed that at one time the Talon had supported a considerable garrison; there were enough beds here to quarter almost two dozen persons with ease. The decorations were grim, including frescoes of undead armies sacking villages and putting holy warriors to the sword, and priests fornicating with the dead, or foul demons. The furnishings looked mundane at first glance, but when one looked closer the screaming faces carved into the wood could be seen, or the unholy sigils woven into the fabrics of colorful tapestries and bedcovers. The area seemed to have been hastily looted, and they found nothing truly valuable in any of the four rooms they searched. </p><p></p><p>They had almost completed a full circuit of the temple, but there were two more doors that they had not yet investigated. One was a mirror of the one on the far side, leading to another warded tunnel and another entrance to the blood-fog complex. Leaving that one for now, they opened the last door to find a torture chamber. </p><p></p><p>The equipment here needed no explanation, and had obviously been kept in good order. Old bloodstains on the various apparatus suggested that the devices had seen frequent use. Four torches, their flickering red flames clearly magical, provided a bleak illumination over the chamber. There was an arched exit on the wall to their right, and on the far wall they could see four small barred windows. </p><p></p><p>Selanthas moved to examine the nearest of those openings. “There are cells beyond,” the elf reported. “Likely they put these openings in so that the captives could witness the events taking place in here.”</p><p></p><p>“By the Father,” Nelan said. The cleric had clutched his holy symbol tightly since they’d started their search, and he looked pale as he tried to assimilate all that he’d seen in this dread place. For all the time he’d spent in the temples of Orcus, there was a calm, almost neutral efficiency in the organization of the Talon that sent chills down his spine. </p><p></p><p>After absorbing what was—or more precisely, what was not—here, Shay had crossed to the room’s sole exit, and disappeared. Distracted by the chamber’s grim contents, the others hadn’t noticed her absence immediately. Dar was heading after her when the scout’s cry echoed to them through the archway. </p><p></p><p>“Damn it!” Dar cursed, rushing forward. </p><p></p><p>They found the scout in another chamber a short distance away. She was on her knees on the edge of a pile of black earth, in the center of which a long wooden box rested. </p><p></p><p>No, not a box, Dar saw, as he entered the room. A coffin. </p><p></p><p>The coffin was a crude thing crafted of rough wooden slabs and thick nails. The dirt under it had been dumped in a heap; a few of the canvas sacks it had been brought in lay nearby, forgotten. The scout had pried open one of the boards on top of the coffin, which lay discarded by her side. Her body shook silently, rocking back and forth.</p><p></p><p>Dar came forward, the others right behind him. He knew what he was going to see, but it didn’t make it any easier. </p><p></p><p>Talen might have been asleep, lying inside the coffin, his features placid. He was still clad in the banded armor he’d worn in their last encounter, rather the worse for wear for their clashes in the Talon. He appeared to be intact, the damage to his head wrought by <em>Valor</em> restored by the unholy power that animated him in undeath. </p><p></p><p>“Oh, gods, no,” Allera said, as she came around Dar and saw him. Like Dar, she’d known what she’d see, but it was still a stark blow to witness it in person. The healer knelt beside Shay, trying to offer comfort, but the scout seemed oblivious to their presence. </p><p></p><p>For a moment, they just stood there, looking down at the vampire who had been their leader. </p><p></p><p>And then Talen’s eyes opened. Allera screamed as the vampire rose up, arms extended toward Shay, jaws open wide to reveal pointed fangs.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lazybones, post: 3814406, member: 143"] Thanks for the posts, guys! * * * * * Chapter 269 THE SEARCH They encountered the cleric again not long after. The priest of Orcus lay on the altar in the Talon, his armored body surrounded by the sharp edges and spiny protrusions of the stone slab. He was dead, his eyes open and staring into nothing. His scythe lay across him, its handle still clutched loosely in a lifeless hand. Dar took the weapon, but after a moment frowned, and placed it back against the altar. “What’s the matter?” Allera asked. “It... I don’t know, it felt like I had stepped into a pool of filth, when I touched it.” The weapon was clearly powerful; Alderis identified its smoky blade as having sort of [i]brilliant energy[/i] property, capable of penetrating any sort of physical armor, but deadly against flesh. That much, Dar and Shay already knew. “The scythe is too valuable to leave to our enemies,” Alderis said. Before anyone else could comment, Shay stepped forward, and brought [i]Beatus Incendia[/i] down in a two-handed stroke that smashed hard into the haft of the weapon a foot below the blade. There was a flash of black energy and a sound like a dying animal as the holy sword crushed the scythe against the jagged spines of the altar. Then the weapon clattered to the floor, now just two harmless pieces of wood, the insubstantial blade gone. Dar looked at Shay in surprise, but the scout was already heading toward one of the doors situated around the perimeter of the temple. The others followed. Their search was quick but cautious. Dar reminded them that Navev had gotten away, again, and while he personally did not expect the undead warlock to have hung around after their victory over the cleric and wizard, none of them were going to take any chances. As they set out, Allera and Nelan continued to tend to their wounds. They had plenty of healing magic left to them, and soon they were all at full strength, at least in physical terms. They first explored a complex of rooms that clearly had served as quarters for the late high priest. The chambers were dirty and cluttered, although there were signs of recent attempts at cleaning. The outer chamber, a small sitting room, had a locked stone door that was literally layered with traps, both mundane and magical. Shay found the traps but could not disarm them, so after Alderis had neutralized the ward with a [i]dispel[/i] Dar used his club to batter the door open. In the process he found another trap that Shay had missed, as a gout of toxic gas poured out from the top of the threshold onto him. But Dar retreated in time to avoid breathing much of the othur fumes, and after a quick examination Allera pronounced him healthy. Once the cloud had dispersed Dar resumed work on the door, and a few seconds later they were through. The inner chamber was the high priest’s bedroom. This room was more richly furnished than the antechamber, but it too showed signs of neglect. A strong smell hung in the air, and stains covered the linens on the fancy poster bed in the center of the place. The companions spread out and searched the room, examining the bookshelves, wardrobe, and tapestries along the walls. Behind one of those tapestries, Mehlaraine found something unusual; a ten-foot square area of wall that was perfectly smooth, a sheet of utter black that absorbed the light of their torches without reflection. Shay had retreated to the doorway, clearly impatient, but on the elf’s discovery she came forward again. Mehlaraine touched the black wall, cautiously, but drew back her hand suddenly as she received a small electrical jolt from it. “It’s solid,” she said. “Are there any indications of how one gets past?” Shay asked. “Well, there’s always force,” Dar said, hefting his club. “Do not bother,” Alderis said. He had come over to examine the wall, and he ran his fingers along it, just shy of actually touching the surface. “This is a [i]wall of force[/i] of some sort, bolstered by a potent abjurative aura. I suspect that you could pound on it for days without making the slightest impact.” Shay stared at the wall. If will enough had been strong enough to sunder its magic, her gaze would have broken it. “Do you think that Talen came this way?” Nelan asked. Shay shrugged her shoulders, but did not respond. “Well, let’s finish our sweep,” Dar said. “We can always come back here later.” They continued their systematic exploration of the complex. Another door opened onto a corridor lit by a diffuse, ruddy light. Forty feet down the passage terminated in another door. The walls of the corridor were marked with runes carved into the stone, and the far threshold was further deeply etched with additional inscriptions. “There’s something... not right... here,” Nelan said, shivering slightly. They could all feel it; while the temperature hadn’t fallen, there was a cold chill that seemed to run up and down their spines as they approached the far door.” “What are those runes?” Allera asked Alderis. “They are a warding... and a warning,” the elf said. “Perhaps we should go another way,” Mehlaraine suggested. But Shay, driven by something deeper than conscious knowledge, pressed on to the far door. She opened it, revealing a tunnel that was entirely suffused with a thick, cloying red mist. The coils of fog crept outward toward the scout, wrapping around her arms and legs as they pushed into the passage. Shay turned, and they could see tendrils of red that had condensed on her skin, looking like smears of blood. “Shay, close the door,” Dar said. The scout hesitated. There was... [i]something[/i] in the mists, a life that beat within like the pulsing of some ephemeral heart. She could see nothing beyond a few feet, but she got the distinct impression that these tunnels continued for a vast, unknowable distance beyond this door. “Shay!” The scout flinched as if struck. Dar strode forward, and slammed the door shut. Shay looked up at him, her cheeks stained with red where the fog had touched her. Allera was just behind him, a look of worry on her face. “We’re wasting time,” the fighter said. “Come on, let’s get moving.” This time it was Dar who took the lead, taking them back down the passage to the temple. Allera remained behind, with Shay. “Are you all right?” the healer asked. The scout reached up and wiped her face with her hand. For a moment, she stared down at the bloody smears. “Shay?” Without responding, the scout strode suddenly down the passage, leaving Allera to hurry to keep up. Their exploration of the Talon continued. Trying another of the doors leading off the temple, they found an unfinished part of the complex. In one room they found a number of skeletons and zombies, carrying picks and mauls, standing silently along one wall. The undead did not respond to their presence, and Nelan destroyed them all with a surge of holy power. Heading to the far side of the temple, they found another door that accessed a complex of private chambers. These too had obviously served as quarters for priests of Orcus. It seemed that at one time the Talon had supported a considerable garrison; there were enough beds here to quarter almost two dozen persons with ease. The decorations were grim, including frescoes of undead armies sacking villages and putting holy warriors to the sword, and priests fornicating with the dead, or foul demons. The furnishings looked mundane at first glance, but when one looked closer the screaming faces carved into the wood could be seen, or the unholy sigils woven into the fabrics of colorful tapestries and bedcovers. The area seemed to have been hastily looted, and they found nothing truly valuable in any of the four rooms they searched. They had almost completed a full circuit of the temple, but there were two more doors that they had not yet investigated. One was a mirror of the one on the far side, leading to another warded tunnel and another entrance to the blood-fog complex. Leaving that one for now, they opened the last door to find a torture chamber. The equipment here needed no explanation, and had obviously been kept in good order. Old bloodstains on the various apparatus suggested that the devices had seen frequent use. Four torches, their flickering red flames clearly magical, provided a bleak illumination over the chamber. There was an arched exit on the wall to their right, and on the far wall they could see four small barred windows. Selanthas moved to examine the nearest of those openings. “There are cells beyond,” the elf reported. “Likely they put these openings in so that the captives could witness the events taking place in here.” “By the Father,” Nelan said. The cleric had clutched his holy symbol tightly since they’d started their search, and he looked pale as he tried to assimilate all that he’d seen in this dread place. For all the time he’d spent in the temples of Orcus, there was a calm, almost neutral efficiency in the organization of the Talon that sent chills down his spine. After absorbing what was—or more precisely, what was not—here, Shay had crossed to the room’s sole exit, and disappeared. Distracted by the chamber’s grim contents, the others hadn’t noticed her absence immediately. Dar was heading after her when the scout’s cry echoed to them through the archway. “Damn it!” Dar cursed, rushing forward. They found the scout in another chamber a short distance away. She was on her knees on the edge of a pile of black earth, in the center of which a long wooden box rested. No, not a box, Dar saw, as he entered the room. A coffin. The coffin was a crude thing crafted of rough wooden slabs and thick nails. The dirt under it had been dumped in a heap; a few of the canvas sacks it had been brought in lay nearby, forgotten. The scout had pried open one of the boards on top of the coffin, which lay discarded by her side. Her body shook silently, rocking back and forth. Dar came forward, the others right behind him. He knew what he was going to see, but it didn’t make it any easier. Talen might have been asleep, lying inside the coffin, his features placid. He was still clad in the banded armor he’d worn in their last encounter, rather the worse for wear for their clashes in the Talon. He appeared to be intact, the damage to his head wrought by [i]Valor[/i] restored by the unholy power that animated him in undeath. “Oh, gods, no,” Allera said, as she came around Dar and saw him. Like Dar, she’d known what she’d see, but it was still a stark blow to witness it in person. The healer knelt beside Shay, trying to offer comfort, but the scout seemed oblivious to their presence. For a moment, they just stood there, looking down at the vampire who had been their leader. And then Talen’s eyes opened. Allera screamed as the vampire rose up, arms extended toward Shay, jaws open wide to reveal pointed fangs. [/QUOTE]
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