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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4127832" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 6BREAK-IN“That knight was prescient,” Parzad whispered, as they emerged from the shadow of the rectory to see the massive cathedral looming directly over them. “Focus on the objective,” Jasek muttered back.  He did not turn, but he thought he could feel the weight of the knight’s stare on his back, and he tensed slightly, waiting for the hue and cry that would transform their mission into something else. But no shout came, and in just a few seconds they were lost among the understructure of the cathedral.  Massive supports bolstered the building along its sides and rear, forming deep nooks in the stone, and in one of those the door was waiting for them.  Jasek led them to it; the lock took him less time than most people would have spent fumbling with the key, and then they were inside. The interior was dark, the corridor behind the door lit only by small lamps recessed into niches in the walls, but Jasek’s eyes adjusted quickly.  They could hear the noise from the cathedral that seemed to bleed through the stones of the wall to their right, and signs of activity were evident up ahead as the supporting cast for the ceremony went about its preparations.  The corridor opened onto a room that held a number of priests; all it would have taken was for one to turn to see them.  But Jasek led them through a small arch that opened onto a narrow staircase leading down, and once more they were gone before anyone could see them. “This would have been much simpler in the night hours,” Parzad said.“It may seem so, but it is far easier to lose someone in a press of busy people,” Jasek returned.  The stairs deposited them onto another level, with passages branching off in several directions, and at least a half-dozen iron-shod doors visible in the light of single lamp.  “Someone is coming,” Parzad began, but even as Jasek turned, a woman’s voice stopped them in their tracks.  “You aren’t supposed to be down here.”The speaker was a woman in late middle age, clad in robes almost identical to those worn by the two men.  The light from the lamp glinted off of the silver sigil of the burning torch that she wore around her neck. Parzad tensed, but Jasek responded before he could take action.  “Pardons, priestess.  I know that this area is off-limits, but the Patriarch’s secretary sent us to check the lower robing room for... ah, well, it seems that His Holiness misplaced the mozzetta that he had intended to wear for the second part of the ceremony.  People have been sent running in every direction; I suspect we were grabbed merely because we were nearby.”  He let out a sigh.  “After coming all the way from Elem, it looks as though we will miss the most important ritual of our age.”The woman’s expression shifted.  “Come on, I’ll help you look.  Though the lower chamber is hardly used any more, and it’s very unlikely that you’ll find it there.”She led them down one of the corridors, around one bend and then another, past a dozen iron-shod doors.  The only others they encountered were a pair of servants, teenaged girls who stepped aside to let them pass.  “Thank you for helping us, priestess...”“Naela,” she said.  “Ah, thank you then, Naela.  We have only just arrived in Camar this morning, and it has been rather... ah, chaotic, thus far.”“So, you are both from Elem?” the priestess asked. “I am, originally,” Jasek said.  “My companion Patriocles here, he is from Dalemar.”The priestess nodded.  “Well.  Here we are.”  They stopped at an intersection of two passages, next to a large door.  There was another archway nearby, which led to a set of stairs that headed down.  Jasek gestured in that direction.  “There is yet another cellar below this one?”“That stair leads down to the Vault.  You would not want to wander down there; there are guards, and the Patriarch does not suffer casual intrusions.”“Good to know.  Now, where would the vestment be located?”The priestess led them into the robing room, which clearly had not seen recent use.  Heavy wooden wardrobes lined the walls, interspaced with curved brass hooks at eye level; a half-dozen long benches were spread out between them.  Two small wooden chests lay on a table to the left of the entry.  Layers of dust covered everything, and a small magical flame set into a casement high along one wall provided a wan light.  “You see, no one has been in here in—umph!”Her words were cut off as Jasek seized her, wrapping a muscled arm around her throat and locking it tight with his free hand.  She started to struggle, but he was much stronger, and after a few feeble moments her body went limp as his grip cut off the flow of blood to her brain.  He maintained the hold until he was certain that she was dead.  Parzad had already secured the door behind them, and as he turned, Jasek nodded toward one of the tall wooden wardrobes. “Open that up for me, will you?”The guards assigned to duty in the church’s vault took their duty seriously, for all that they knew that they were the least of the protections that warded that safehold.  Neither was particularly perturbed at missing the grand ceremony above; all of the temple guards were going to pull long duty shifts today, and at least in the vault it was quiet. Quiet enough so that they heard the noise of people coming down the stairs, and were alert when the two priests appeared in the small guardroom.  They were having some trouble with a wooden chest that they were carrying between them. “No one is allowed down here without authorization from the Patriarch,” the older of the two guards said.  He glanced at his companion, who shook his head slightly; he didn’t recognize either of the two priests. “Oh, we don’t want access, the Patriarch’s secretary just asked us to move this chest down here,” one of the two priests replied.  “From what I understand, it just came in from Elem, and he wants it put in the Vault once the ceremony up there is finished.”The two priests had started to put the chest down, but the older guard forestalled them with a raised hand.  “I’m sorry, but you cannot leave that here.”“But I was told...”“Gelawin Sorath knows the rules better than anyone.  You’ll have to leave it upstairs.”The two priests shared a look.  Finally, the first said, “All right, I’m sorry for the bother.  Can I just put it down for a second, catch my breath?”The older guard glanced back at the other, who hadn’t moved from his position, and stood ready, his hand on the hilt of his sword.  He never even saw the small broad-bladed dart that sank into his throat as he turned back.  The guardsman clutched at the wound, gurgling as he slumped forward, and fell to the ground.  The other guard opened his mouth to shout an alarm, but he suddenly froze.  Jasek had started toward him, but as soon as he saw the guard stop he glanced back at Parzad, who had fixed the hapless man with a cold stare, ensnaring him with some power.  “Nice,” he said, taking his time, using the man’s own dagger to finish him.  He eased the dying man to the ground, then looked around.  “We need to be swift,” he said.  The secret door wasn’t hard to find, especially since he knew it had to be there somewhere, and that it had seen a lot of use over the years.  An entire segment of the wall swung back, revealing a larger chamber beyond. The chamber was dominated by the large metal door set deep into a recess in the far wall.  The door was ingrained with a sigil of a blazing sun, and there was no keyhole or other opening, not even any evident hinges, just a slab of unbroken, solid metal.  A pair of lamps set into the walls to either side provided a constant illumination. Jasek scanned the room.  “Where’s the barrier?”Parzard had the faraway look of a man who sees what others do not.  “It is there.”“Let’s get the guards in here.”It took about a minute to make the transfer, and then Jasek closed the door behind them.  After a wary glance at Parzad, who stood there stonily, making no indication, he started toward the door.  He got about halfway through it before something happened.  It started as a tingling across the skin of his arms, but the barrier quickly manifested as a translucent blue aura that seemed to radiate out from the walls surrounding the door.  Jasek extended his right hand, and snapped his fingers.  And suddenly, there was a sword in his grasp.  The sword was a short broad-bladed weapon, not unlike the gladius used by the Camarian legions.  But its blade was jet black, and shone glossily in the light of the lamps.  Jasek stepped forward, until he was within reach of the blue glow.  He extended the sword slowly, until its point was right up against the edge of the barrier.  Then, he began to cut. The sword sliced through the glow as though it was a coherent object.  Layers of blue slid off the barrier, dissolving as they fell away toward the floor.  He had managed to forge an opening almost the size of a man when the glowing field flickered and collapsed utterly, disappearing into nothing.  “They will know that we are here, now,” Parzad said. “Well then, we’d better get moving.  There’s nothing I can do about that door; that’s a slab of solid adamantine, with no locking mechanism to work on.  From what I’ve heard, it’s warded against magic, so no simple knock spell’s going to get us past it.  Your boss sent you here with me for a reason, so you’d better do whatever it is that you’re going to do.”Parzad did not respond, merely turned to the door and started walking toward it.  As he approached it, the outline of his form became hazy, and then his body became translucent, with the light of the far lamp shining through him.  By the time he reached the door, he was a ghost, and he passed through it without apparent difficulty. Jasek watched and waited for a minute that became two, and then there was a loud scraping noise, and the heavy door began to sink into the floor.  As it opened, it revealed Parzad, who stood there as solid as he had been before.  “Let us get what we came here to find,” the wilder said, turning to lead Jasek into the vault beyond the door.</blockquote>

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