NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4151799" data-attributes="member: 143">The Bloodwraith, the Bloodways, and the Temple of the Final Sacrament are all expanded levels in the Rappan Athuk: Reloaded boxed set. You'll find out shortly!* * * * * Chapter 15THE THRESHOLD OF BLOOD“I don’t think so,” the Seer said, as he unleashed a lightning bolt at the crypt thing. The bolt could not miss at that range, but as it struck the blazing arc exploded in a frisson of magical energies that blinded them for a moment.  When it had faded, it revealed Aaphia sitting unharmed upon the throne. “A ward protects her!” the mage warned, already drawing back for the inevitable counterattack.  It came immediately, as the crypt thing lifted a finger and directed a fiery scorching ray into the Seer.  The wizard leapt aside with uncharacteristic spryness, patting wildly at the flames that flickered about his robe. Ghazaran invoked a spell, and swelled as divine potency infused his body.  The cleric expanded to almost twice his original size, and drew out a thick black rod that oozed raw magical power.  He stepped forward to engage the crypt thing, which waited patiently upon its throne, impassive. The cleric smote the creature with his rod, delivering a punishing strike that smashed in one entire side of its ribcage.  But the dark thing merely absorbed the hit, extending a skeletal hand to seize the cleric’s wrist before he could draw back his weapon.  There was a flash of magical power as the undead guardian discharged some sort of magic into him, but Ghazaran was infused with the power of dark gods, and he shook off the effect.  Tearing his arm free, the cleric smashed down with the rod again and again, until only shattered fragments of bone remained.  “What do you think happened to the others?” Ghazaran asked the Seer, replacing the rod at his belt as his spell faded, and he shrank back down to his original size. “It was a teleportation effect, but I do not believe that the range is especially great.  Likely they are somewhere else in the complex, perhaps a confined bubble in the rock, possibly prepared in some manner to be immediately lethal.”Ghazaran nodded; if he felt sadness or remorse at the loss of Falah and Zuur’ka, he did not show it.  Instead he turned to Navev.  “You were less than helpful in that encounter.”“Perhaps our ally was tempted by the creature’s offer,” the Seer ventured.Navev did not respond, but the cold stare that radiated from within that cowl gave adequate expression to the mummy’s thoughts.  Ghazaran did not flinch from that stare.  “Remember our arrangement, Navev.  We both will gain from the accomplishment of our objective.”Again the mummy’s reply was silence, until finally it turned and shambled off toward the door.  The Seer had gone over to the crypt thing’s remains, and bent to examine it. “Well, presumably this is the key to that door,” he said, drawing out a key on the long steel chain around its neck.  He did not feel compelled to share that he pocketed the creature’s amulet as well.  Ghazaran came over to investigate, but paused as a noise drew his attention around, back to the stairs leading up out of the crypt.  “Something approaches.”The three took up ready positions flanking the entrance, but the identity of the newcomers was obvious long before they became visible; they had gotten accustomed to Zuur’ka’s near-constant invective.  “What transpired?” Ghazaran asked, as the nycaloth and human fighter appeared together.  Both looked as though they’d been carved up; several strips of flayed skin dangled from the fiend’s arms, and Falah was even worse off, with bulging swathes of bloody muscle visible where the skin had been ripped away.  “I am displeased,” Zuur’ka intoned, as Ghazaran drew out his healing wand yet again.  “We were transported inside the stone crypts in the last tomb, where a fierce magic went to work upon us at once.  There was no space within to move; fortunately I was able to transport myself out of the prison within a few moments.”“And Falah?”“He freed himself, although with more difficulty.”“A devious trap,” the Seer noted.  “Someone without the ability to teleport, or one less strong than our fighter here, would have been in quite an unenviable position.”“Such devices would be most useful in Gehenna,” Zuur’ka said.  “I shall have to investigate this magic some time in the future.”“For now, we have the key, and a clear destination,” Ghazaran said.  Taking the key from the Seer, the cleric crossed the room to the steel door.  The key fit perfectly in the round lock, and after a few twists there was a loud click, and the door began to swing open. The portal, once recessed into the doorway, revealed a round chamber beyond.  The room was dominated by a circular shaft that descended straight down into darkness, for as far as they could see. “How far does it extend?” Ghazaran said. “Several hundred feet,” the Seer answered.  “I can assist in getting us all down, but it will be more difficult coming up.  There are handholds on the sides of the shaft, but it would be no easy ascent.”“We will manage,” Ghazaran replied.  “Use your magic to take us down.”The wizard’s feather fall spell facilitated the descent, although there was a brief, terrifying moment before the magic took full effect.  Zuur’ka floated above them, trusting in its own means of flight to traverse the shaft.  The shaft dropped them into a large cavern, seemingly of natural construction.  There appeared to be several tunnels offering exit, but it was hard to see clearly, as a cloying red mist filled the place, swirling and twisting as if alive, though there was no breeze.  Ghazaran looked down at his hands.  The red mists had already begun to condense on them, forming droplets of crimson like fresh blood.  Looking at the others, he could see the color already beginning to seep into their garments.  Soon, they would all be stained with it. “Welcome to the Bloodways,” the Seer intoned, his voice sepulchral as it drifted out of the mists.</blockquote>

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