Relics of the Old Gods [DaGlobster]

[Ethereal-Star]

Tags @DaGlobster !

These chambers were old. No, scratch that, they were absolutely ancient. Who knows how long underneath the earth they've laid undisturbed by any who would walk its echoing, empty corridors. Alright, so perhaps they weren't completely empty. For it is rumored there is some kind of ancient treasure somewhere, of artifacts and tomes from beyond the stars and very skies of Earth. They were purported to be in a vault somewhere in these tunnels, guarded by traps, underground monsters and who knew what else. Byron and a few other Soot Wolves had been tasked to go find these relics of some ancient people that seemingly no one knew about anymore. What secrets exactly these halls contained and what else could be found here was unknown. However one thing was certain. It was by far one of the most dangerous missions yet Byron had undertaken. Little did he know at this point just how dangerous.

Byron held up a hand for the group behind him to stop. He was leading the others so he could best detect and disable what traps were around here, some of them that he had already undone were quite nasty in their effects if accidentally triggered. Sensing another trap just ahead, he carefully stepped over to the edge of where the trap was and bent down to examine it, assessing the difficulty and type. The others, a human rogue named Aleck, a human rogue/fighter named Gregory, and an elf rogue named Vanya waited patiently a foot away from him while he set to work about disarming the trap. It was yet another acid trap, not too deadly but could still cause serious damage if it were set off.

Once Byron finished he gave the signal for them to continue on, and off they went again, all of them wielding weapons with the exception of Byron who served as both their scout and trap specialist. As they were walking the other two human males talked amongst each other quietly, no doubt discussing what else they would have to deal with further in. Having made some significant progress, the group still had quite a ways to go before they reached their destination. Some meager beasts seemingly made out of the very rock and earth itself had been slain some ways back, having come right out of the walls themselves as though they were a part of its structural build. Not too tough to defeat, although Gregory had sustained a few wounds, but nothing too critical.

Walking some more down the stone halls which looked like some mighty fine architectural designs Byron had to admit to himself. Some of it more so than others, but nonetheless it was all pretty impressive to behold. He found himself wondering what kind of tools these people had used to carve out the rock and dirt in these passageways. Passageways that seemed to go on endlessly. Luckily for them there were not too many dead ends to have to put up with. Byron hoped their luck on that front would continue.

Vanya the elf then shushed the group, a finger to her lips as she glanced around for threats. "Be quiet. I thought I heard something....over there." she pointed down to where the tunnel went towards the right and off into pitch black darkness. Byron moved his torch in that direction, dispersing some of the shadows which dissipated under the light shone on them. All listened carefully for some hint of what Vanya had heard. There was nothing discernible to be seen or heard.

"I don't hear anything." Aleck commented, looking that way.

Vanya frowned. "I could have sworn there was something. A sound not unlike that of scuffling."

Listening some more, but there was nothing else to be heard and nothing jumped out at them either. "We'll proceed with caution." Byron said to the others.

"Yes, and that means no talking." Vanya warned Aleck and Gregory, a stern look on her angular pale features.

Aleck held up his hands that were clutching two sharp short swords in an innocent gesture. "You don't have to tell me that. Gregory on the other hand..."

"Hey now." Gregory protested, mildly affronted.

"Shhh!" Vanya rolled her eyes. Looking in that direction again, she told them, "Be on your guard now. Something doesn't feel right to me."

They walked that direction where there was yet another trap to disable, this one a deadly poison trap, which Byron undid with ease. The shadows here seemed unnaturally thick though even with the torch in hand. Byron could have sworn there was one shadow in particular some several yards away that looked even more suspicious than the rest. He pointed it out quietly to Vanya who in turn looked that way. "I don't see it." she whispered to him. 

Byron frowned. Indeed when he turned to look back, the shadow was gone. Now if that wasn't downright eerie, he didn't know what was. However there was nothing for it than to keep on moving. So they did, their uneasiness slowly growing like a dense molten rock in the pit of one's stomach.

[DaGlobster]

Ceaseless black, never-ending...

Varian found himself at home in these ruins. Quite masterfully designed they were. The first few layers resembled something one would traditionally expect in a dungeon. The depths, however...

Baleful red gaze, haughty cackle of a dying god... Ceaseless halls of ebony...

It was the guidance of his fathers that allowed him to find this place. A vision, sent from the coldest reaches of the starless void. There was something here, yes.

A book! The terrible secrets of endless life, ways to acquire power neither holy or unholy. A spell-filled grimoire packed with the maddened scribbles of those who'd peered too deeply into the true nature of the universe...

Sweetest Astronomicon...

Yet, he wasn't alone.

The preliminary traps, he'd found disarmed. The tomb's first defenders, slain.

He kneeled over the corpse of one of the stone creatures, tinted spectacles hiding all emotion. He noticed with a certain degree of delight that one of them had fresh blood. He smiled, although the scarf he used to keep his face covered up hid that as well.

Intruders, usurpers... Four little mice, wandering the cat's den...

Varian stood back to his feet, and resumed walking down the halls, slowly following the trail of those who arrived before him. He clenched a fist, and a cold, unnatural wind blew through the tunnels. Varian disappeared amidst kicked up dust, but not before a few words, thoughts made vocal, escaped his lips with a whisper.

"Corridors of the mind, doors of the soul..."

[Ethereal-Star]

A cold wind blew through the halls, which was unusual to say the least, considering they were underground and everything. No sooner than that had occurred, there was the sound of strange whispering from nearby. Only Vanya could actually hear those chilling words that were spoken, but she didn't understand what they meant at all. The others only heard the sounds of faint whispers coming from somewhere behind them, the words lost on their human ears.

"Did you hear that?" Gregory asked alarmed, the barest hint of fear showing on his face.

"I think we all heard that." commented Aleck, yet he too was unnerved by the strange whisperings.

"I don't like this." Vanya looked around, eyes darting behind her then in front of them, before looking behind her once more. "I'm starting to think this was a bad idea."

Byron hushed them with a finger to his lips, he too looking around for the source. "Did you hear what was actually said?" he asked Vanya.

"Yes, but it didn't make any sense." Vanya countered. "I heard what sounded like--"

But she was interrupted, as Gregory stubbed his toe on a loose rock in the passageway. "Oww, mother fucker!" he shouted, the sound echoing all through the eerie cold tunnels.

"Yes, real subtle there, Gregory." Vanya sighed and shook her head, more alarmed now than ever before. "Good way to alert whatever else might be here to our presence."

Aleck and Byron could only agree, Aleck too voicing his opinions. Byron however remained quiet, eyes searching the shadows around them. Searching, but finding nothing...

Coming upon another trap, this one of a sonic boom effect, Byron cocked his head again at the corners where the darkness gathered in pools of sinister depths of mystery. Once again, he thought he had seen something out of his peripheral vision but when he turned to get a better look it was gone, whatever it was. He sighed, but knew they had to keep on moving. Guild duties required it. Disarming the trap before him, they continued their steady pace, all the while on high alert. Byron, as well as the others felt things were about to get ugly. And soon at that too.

[DaGlobster]

Varian slipped out of the material world. He occupied a space between space and time, neither the realm of the dead nor the realms of angels or demons. No, he tracked the intruders from the 5th dimension, the plane where unspeakable things resided, just out of sight yet all too far away. These were the things that cats hissed at in the night, that provoked dogs into random bouts of barking.

And Varian was among them, standing above the four intruders with a look of sheer disgust on his face. These humans and elves, who sought it fit to play with items of power beyond their comprehension. They couldn't possibly hope to survive the trip down to the depths.

So he reached into the mind of Gregory, overriding his will with his own. He warped Gregory's perceptions, so that his allies would appear to be enemies, and decided to observe what would happen next.

[Ethereal-Star]

((OOC: Trigger warning for language, blood and violence.))

The group of four continued on, the tension and unease in the air becoming thicker with every step they took. For some the feeling was so acute they could hardly breathe, and in the case of Gregory his own breaths were coming out in raspy puffs of air as though he couldn't get enough fresh air in his lungs. Vanya turned to look at him worriedly, but said nothing. They were all on edge after all and talking would do them no good. So they continued on warily and with extreme caution, no one felt like talking amiably anyway now.

Just then a feeling of outright wrongness overcame the quartet, as though something were looking straight at them. Yet there was nothing to see, no enemy in sight. Yet, Byron and the others could have sworn that something was standing right in front and above them but looking up at the ceiling yielded no further results. Gregory swallowed nervously, his hands shaking noticeably now, eyes wild in fright.

It was as Byron was bending down to inspect a fatal trap of coldness, that was when Gregory snapped. Roaring in fear and anger, he then charged his only allies in this lonely forsaken place, going for Vanya first, managing to slash her on the arm. Vanya stumbled back in sheer shock eyes wide as she yelped and clasped her arm, red blood oozing down from her elbow to her forearm and then dripping onto the floor. Her dagger clattered to the ground as she let go of it, the sound echoing throughout the stone tunnels. "What the hell Gregory, are you out of your mind?!" she screamed at him, backing away now while trying to grab her fallen weapon from the floor.

Byron and Aleck stopped what they were doing and stared at Gregory, no less in shock than Vanya was. Gregory continued to advance on the elf and made to swing at her just as her hand closed around the handle of her long knife. "Die vile vermin! You will not get what you came for!" his voice croaked out, but it almost sounded like someone else were speaking, like it was Gregory yet not. His own voice mixed with an eerie sound like nothing they had ever heard before. His eyes were filled with a terrifying gleam as though he were possessed and had completely lost his marbles. It was safe to say that Gregory wasn't home anymore.

Vanya screamed at him to stop as did the others but Gregory did not listen and continued attacking the elf rogue with a vengeance that Vanya found she could barely dodge. "What the fuck man, what are you doing?!" Aleck in turn shouted for his friend to stop and listen to reason. Byron was doing his best to help as well but since he was not a fighter he could only do so much. Neither of them wished to hurt Gregory yet it seemed that the chances of that not happening were pretty much gone. In desperation, Aleck hit his friend in the back with his main short sword and Gregory whirled around furious and made to attack Aleck. Vanya yelled at him and also tried to slice at him with her own dagger which connected with his arm. It was pure and utter chaos for several minutes, lasting almost half an hour as the group literally turned on each other.

At the end of the unforeseen fight, both Gregory and Vanya ended up dead, with Vanya having been stabbed straight through the heart. While she slumped to the ground in shock and agony, her life blood steadily and rapidly seeping from her body in thick rivers of red, Aleck howled in despair and landed a killing blow to his dear friend and slashed his neck open cleanly right where the main artery was. As Gregory gurgled to death on his own blood and the last of Vanya's life ebbed away, the two remaining companions could only stare. There were so many feelings and thoughts roaming through Aleck and Byron's heads, a combination of shock, despair, trauma, fear and anger all rolled into one very nasty package.

Aleck slumped to the floor and grabbed his head, letting out a wail which echoed through the dark, sinister corridors. Byron too found he couldn't move, much less say anything. What could he say? For some time, the two men that were left just sat there staring at the dead bodies of their comrades, sometimes just staring at nothing at all. It was probably an hour later, that Byron found the strength to get up and try to continue this quest although he was getting to be about ready to be done with it all. Aleck was even less sure about anything now, and looked only like he wanted nothing more than to bolt and leave this gods-forsaken place of evil. To hell with this mission, it had already failed! Or so he tried to tell Byron.

Byron merely set his jaw firmly and shook his head, eyes sad and forlorn, his throat throbbing from everything that had transpired. "No, Aleck we can't." He pleaded with Aleck. "We must contin-"

"Fuck this all! Just by the gods, just...." Aleck sobbed which was something he never did, but you try being pitted against a friend, being forced to kill them and see how you act. After several more minutes, he regained some of his composure and nodded solemnly to Byron. Byron sighed and opened his mouth to speak, then abruptly closed it. There was nothing to say. Nothing that would make this better. Byron bent down once more to disarm the cold trap, while Aleck kept looking towards the path leading back the way they had come, back to the entrance, his head swiveling back and forth in his indecision.

With a click and the sound of gears moving, the trap was rendered harmless and Byron pocketed it into his knapsack, hoping it could prove a boon for themselves to use and for whatever else may creep up on them awares. And so with nothing else to do, they continued on and Aleck gave the entrance route one more longing look before reluctantly following Byron. If one more thing happened, no matter how small or minor, Aleck decided with surety he would quit and leave the first chance he got. He didn't tell Byron this as the two walked along carefully, an air of grief surrounding them in full. He couldn't and wouldn't take any more shit. Aleck just hoped it wouldn't come to that, but it seemed things would get even more bleak than they were now.

((OOC: I was thinking that Varian would do something to scare Aleck next and make him flee, leaving Byron behind.))

[DaGlobster]

With the glee of a clockmaker watching his newest piece of work whir to life, Varian watched the nearly hour long struggle between the four companions, eyes taking in every detail, studying every twitch of their bodies as the fighting hit its swells and lows.

And then, it was over. Vanya dead, Gregory dead, and the remaining members dripping with sweet, sweet fear.

Varian lingered in the room after Byron and Aleck left, and he knelt down by the corpses. He made sure that he was alone, and he returned to the physical realm, appearing just in front of Vanya's slumped corpse. He put his fingers beneath her chin, staring intently into her distinctive elven eyes. He smiled, and passed a finger over her cheek.

"Such a fine little mouse..." he whispered, and he looked over to Gregory.

"...With weak friends."

He turned his attention back to Vanya, and he lifted his hand up, palm facing her features. A mouth formed on the black flesh, and a ropy black tendril emerged. Cackling, he plunged it down her throat, and her body began to twitch.

---------------------

It would be another hour until Varian next visited Aleck and Byron. By this point, they were just about past the dungeon's preliminary phases. So deep they were into the earth, that the walls were riddled with giant roots and and cracked, ancient bricks. Hieroglyphics depicting maddening yet utterly nonsensical scenes appeared in periodic bands, completely undecipherable to any Le'Rannan tongue.

Finally, they came across a door.

Simple, wooden and left completely unlocked and untrapped.

Past it, the sounds of erratic drumming and chanting filtered through. Past the door, however, was a desolate and grim scene.

It was a giant ritual room, with vaulted cielings and ruined, formerly detailed statues of alien creatures. Above the main altar at the end of the room, a giant symbol hung, depicted in pitted and rusted brass. A galaxy, with a burning eye in the middle. The eye had a screaming mouth for a pupil, and that screaming mouth in the center of the brass symbol seemed to lead into absolute nothingness.

In the center of the room, there was a pit covered by a circular dias made of solid gold. Whistling air came from beneath the dias, filtering out through some cracks in the rim of the pit like an ever-present wail.

At some point during Aleck and Byron's investigation of the room, Varian would give Aleck an auditory hallucination:

Vanya's voice, from beneath the golden dias. Screaming and wailing for help, calling Aleck's name.

The room was strewn with robed skeletons, some human, some... not so much. The amount of corpses was staggering, almost a hundred.

[Ethereal-Star]

The two men continued to go deeper and deeper into the earth, the gnarled roots pushing through the walls and cracking the brick and stone work all around, from floor to ceiling. Byron stopped to examine the hieroglyphic symbols on the walls, trying to determine their meaning. It was nothing he had ever seen before and he doubted even a skilled scholar could do much to read the alien inscriptions. For indeed they were incredibly alien in nature, strange pictographs and geometric designs worked into the rough grayness filled the long hallway they were in for many many meters up ahead. Other representations were even stranger than that, showing scenes from beyond the stars and into the cold reaches of space itself.

One in particular was of a strange alien creature with a truly monstrous appearance, light shining from multiple eyes and black tentacles with razor sharp barbed edges on them, the creature decimating a group of humanoids with its powerful rays of light, turning them into nothing but ash. Byron glanced at all this with a feeling of foreboding in his gut, yet also fascination. Whoever or whatever made this place and carved these intricate patterns here were obviously incredibly advanced in whatever technology or magic they used to create all this. So much so that Byron only hoped that whatever it was was long gone from these halls for he would very much not like to meet their ilk.

On the other hand, his mind showed him the wonderful possibilities of useful body parts that some monstrous aberrations would have. After all the teeth, claws, horns, fur, scales and who knew what else could very well make for a very finely crafted trap, one in which he could make a fortune out of selling and help the guild out at the same time. Of course he would much rather come across a corpse or pile of bones rather than a living hostile beast of unknown origin. Considering he was not a fighter and their little group was now half the size of what it used to be. Still he had to keep his wits about him and focus. For the guild and to make sure that Gregory and Vanya's deaths were not in vain. And neither he nor Aleck knew what exactly had occurred back there or more accurately, how it had happened. Something had obviously taken control over Gregory's mind and turned him against the others, made him completely beserk. The real question was what, and was it still around. That was the part that had Byron most concerned for it could very well strike again. And Byron wished not to find out what other devious plans it had up its sleeve.

Or maybe he was going about this all wrong and there was no invisible enemy after all. Perhaps these halls and their extra-terrestrial nature just finally got to Gregory with some strange supernatural power which flowed throughout the entire structure and he couldn't take anymore of it. Either one of these was entirely possible from what he had witnessed, Byron silently concluded. He turned his attention back to the symbols and continued to see what he could find out about them, if not just to study the obvious wonders of it all. The craftsmanship was certainly exquisite he would give the makers of these lost ruins that credit at the very least.

Aleck was also impressed but even more so he was still on edge, eyes darting around to look for hidden danger just as much as to examine the artistry around him. He kept jumping at every shadow, every little sound he heard giving him cause for alarm. Still he tried to squelch it and concentrate, having calmed down only slightly from their previous ordeal.

Coming across a door, Byron quickly checked it and the areas around it for traps and tricks. Finding nothing and seeing that the door opened upon turning the rusted, albeit very odd-looking doorknob, they went on inside cautiously watching their steps and checking all the corners for any foes that may potentially jump out at them. What they saw inside the large chamber here definitely surpassed anything out in the hallways from before. Staring in awe at the altar and galactic symbol, as well as all the bodies and broken statues, Aleck's attention was then turned to the golden dais, whistling an eerie wind from inside. At first he was hesitant to get any closer, but that was before he thought he heard what sounded very much like Vanya calling for help. Startled, confused and afraid he whirled around violently and stared at the dais intently. The voice was definitely coming from there and it was most definitely the elf woman calling to him for help!

"Vanya?" he called out frantically, making Byron turn toward him in confusion. "Vanya, is that you?"

Vanya's voice sounded yet again and Aleck became determined to rescue her. Somehow she was trapped inside the depths of this pit and by the gods he would get her out of there!

Byron looked bewildered towards his comrade. "Aleck, what is the matter?" Hearing him call out to Vanya, the trap specialist sighed wearily. "Aleck, we both know she is d-"

However the rest of his sentence was further cut off by Aleck screaming at the pit, clawing at it wildly. "Don't worry, Vanya, it's Aleck, I'm here and I will get you out, I promise! Just hang on!" The hallucination called out again in Vanya's voice but was only a muffled cry now.

"Aleck, there's nobody there, you're hearing things! Come back to reason please!"

Yet Byron's words did not seem to penetrate Aleck's awareness, so intent he was on rescuing their former companion. Somehow she had survived and it was up to him to help! How she had survived and why she was in there, Aleck had no clue but right now none of that mattered. Vanya's safety was the most important factor as of this moment in time. Aleck stuck his head inside the pit as far as he was able to and screamed Vanya's name in utter terror for her.

"Vanya!"

Inside the black dark depths, the unknown yawned before him like the maw of some primordial beast of legend, the whistling now louder than ever to his ears. Underneath that, only audible to Aleck came a terrified scream. "Help me Aleck!"

[DaGlobster]

Aleck's voice echoed down the pit, the golden dais having lost much of its sheen once it was moved so he could peer down there. For a few moments, there was silence, and then, some kind of groan came echoing in through the halls. It could've been a strong gust travelling down from the cave's entrance, but they were far too deep for any natural wind to affect them.

The earth shuddered, and the darkness that coated walls and floor of the pit gave way to a single eyeball. More and more started to appear, then, along with mouths, which started to gnash, whisper, and gibber with both chilling lucidity and maddenning chaos. The eyes all split apart, to reveal the faces of Aleck's loved ones. Not jus Vanya and Gregory, but his mother, father, anybody who he cherishes in life.

"It's so peaceful down here, Aleck..." The hallucination whispered in a voice composed of dozens.

"Join us..."

Meanwhile, the doors at the entrance of the room swung open, and at first, there was nothing, but then came the telltale sound of a sword dragging against the ground. A chuckle, and then Gregory stepped through the door, his features sunken in. His eyes were pits of blackness, and his mouth hung open, face permanently twisted into the most extreme expression of abject horror that human flesh could muster.

"Gregory" locked eyes onto Byron, and Vanya, who was similarly disfigured, joined him at the doorway.

Wordlessly, they raised their weapons, and let out piercing wails, mouths splitting apart and bursting into a mess of tentacles as they charged.

[Ethereal-Star]

Aleck nearly fell into the yawning pit but quickly regained his balance due to his roguish reflexes. The sight of all his loved ones down there, or at least the images of what looked like his loved ones, shook him to the core. It was enough to slow him down when the mangled corpses of their former companions shuffled in, raising their weapons and attacked. He could only stand there for a moment in bewilderment and fear as 'Gregory' and 'Vanya' charged at him and Byron. Finally, he managed to shake his head to clear it and rushed at the undead forms of their comrades who looked nothing like what they had in life. Certainly not with all the tentacles waving about them.

While Aleck fought the dead forms of their friends, trying to keep them at bay from Byron, the trap specialist took that opportunity to set up a couple traps around the area, trying to place them where the 'enemy' was likely to step. One was a deadly fire trap which he intended to place near the former Gregory, and the other was an average spike trap which he would place near the former Vanya. He knew that the figures in front of Aleck and him were no longer their friends, only mere puppets for whatever evil had overtaken them, and so he felt only a small tinge of regret in doing what he was doing. He needed to do this. "It isn't them." Byron reminded himself.

Taking a deep breath, he set about placing the traps where they would do the most damage which doing so would take at least five minutes or more to properly activate. Meanwhile, Aleck continued to fight for his life.

[DaGlobster]

"Gregory" and "Vanya", despite being shambling corpses, fought with a level of skill that might have approached their skill in life. Their reflexes were sluggish, however, and their movements were a tad too jerky to facilitate any form of graceful combat. Aleck had them squarely beat when it came to skill, but their advantage became increasingly obvious at around the third minute of fighting.

One of Aleck's swings cleaved a valley right down "Gregory's" torso, and the wound spurted black blood for a few moments. Suddenly, a vile twisting and cracking sound came from "Gregory", and his chest split open into a gnashing mouth, tendrils lashing out from where his ribs used to be. The tendrils didn't quite lash out that effectively, however.

These horrifying displays were designed more to terrorize and reduce the sanity of the target, at the cost of being viable in combat.

"Whyyyy..." whispered the possessed corpse, and it surged forwards.

"Vanya" turned her head to Byron, and while whatever force that animated her corpse didn't quite recognize what he was doing, it knew when to spot a viable target. She lunged forwards, and a long, snaking tendril shot from her mouth and attempted to grab Byron around the ankle.

[Ethereal-Star]

Having just finished the setup of the fire trap, Byron was about to move over to the next area in order to place the spike trap, when the animated corpse of the Vanya lookalike launched out a black tentacle from her mouth, which promptly latched onto Byron's right ankle. Seeing as he was preoccupied with the traps and couldn't pay as much attention as he would have liked to the enemies in their midst, the attack was a success. The trap specialist grunted as he was pulled off-balance, landing on his back. Immediately, he struggled to get the foul appendage off of him, trying to pry it off his ankle.

Spotting his torch a few feet away, the fire from it starting to dwindle as it touched the dirt-covered ground, he ceased his struggles for just a second and tried to reach the fallen torch. Seeing as it was too far away to get a hold of, Byron continued his previous attempts at unlatching the barbed object, the spikes of which were digging into his skin rather painfully.

Aleck, upon seeing the gnashing mouth and hearing the raspy words of his former 'friend', finally lost it and chose that moment to flee. Running towards the door, the exit, his salvation and saving grace from this wretched place of torment, the rogue attempted to flee the premises having dropped his dual swords in his panic.

Byron, seeing this, called out to Aleck. "Aleck, wait! Don't leave!"

However Aleck didn't hear him, so lost in his terror he was and continued to try his luck at escaping.