Isaac begins to look at the corpses as Tierce speaks of his pursuit, but his head snaps back around at the mention of slavery. What?! Slavery is no tenant of Praetor! Who dares affront His names with these evils? And what is this talk of no honor? Praetor's name is the very name of honor. Why are the evildoers not put to the sword?
Tierce honestly looks to the priest with confusion. "Gaius Furis, Emperor of Tyrene was the one to allow the keeping of slaves, and that was... over 200 years ago, just before the start of the war."
He looks to the priest, "The priesthood of Tyrene is the largest keeper of slaves. So there would be no one to put them to the sword. The Emperor controls the priesthood, and the priesthood controls Tyrene..."
Isaac whips out his spear and holds it out, ready to strike Tierce. That is a lie! Your mind has been destroyed by the terror of the past hours. Those who are weary may turn to Praetor for freedom. Praetor unites and guides us all, and by His name we live at peace. There is no slave under Praetor. Only those with His light and without. Isaac's face softens to pity toward Tierce, and he lowers his spear. You are blinded by the horrors you have witnessed. Open your eyes and let Praetor bring you into His peace.
Tierce rests his hands on his weapons and dares Isaac to strike him. "Keep your prays and your god to yourself. The only thing that guides me are my hands upon my weapons. I hope that one day you really see what Praetor's light is capable of...
Keeping his eye on Isaac he backs up several steps before turning and heading towards the east passage "Now if you will excuse me, I have a thief and a murder to catch..."
Soris could not stop himself and laughs out, it was just too funny.
"You foolish boy he speaks the truth. You know nothing of the real world, spouting words without wisdom. You do not even know your own god's history."
He liked the stranger more then he did a moment ago.
"Horrors huh."
He looked over the undead.
"These things are a sweet dream compared to what Tyrene's are capable of. Well you have your job and we have our contest. Good luck and I hope you get to keep your head."
If we are done debating theology, philosophy and politics, maybe we can continue on and try to advance in the contest.
Indeed, Galdor, you are right in this matter. We must continue on. Our purpose here is to bring back a great artifact. I do not know which of these two tunnels holds our quarry, so I will follow.
Soris sighs.
"We know this man came from the north tunnel. So the east tunnel is the one that has yet to be explored."
Boomer ignored the religious prattle. The gods of men rated further down on his list of concerns than whether he should shake three times or four after he was done pissing.
"Head t' Cross, pal." Boomer said to the man in the guilded armor. "Now's a good time t' be there. Straight south 'til ye hit th' road, then due west."
Agreed, right now the east tunnel seems to be our best choice.
What an odd attitude for a Tyrene. "Well, the days not getting any younger, shall we go." Heads down the east tunnel, but not quite with the same stride he had before.
Felisin looks at Darius inquisitively, He seems strange, not quite himself. Well not quite what I know of himself anyway. She rushes off to catch up with him and heads down the east tunnel also.
As you head down the east tunnel, it banks sharpy to the south for a few yards before banking again to the east. The tunnel narrows and you are only able to travel single file. After traveling down the tunnel for a few minutes, the walls of the cave tunnel suddenly smooth out. The tunnel then ends and you can see what appears to be a door frame. The door has long since rotted away.
You notice Tierce is currently crouched beside the door frame, looking out into the room beyond. The room is quite large and you can see from here that it leads off into another hallway to the east (straight ahead). However the entire floor of this room is covered in writing, either in white sand or salt. The writing is a collection of circles, shapes and runes.
Int
Detect Magic
Int
Tierce looks up as you approach and whispers, "Glad for you to join me, although I was expecting to get farther then this..."
What is this mysterious design? Tierce, what are you pursuing this way?
"Precisely what I want to know." Looking at the strange markings.
This is some sort of trap. Magical in nature. I suspect some sort of energy attack.
"Gimme a sec, an' point out th' magic bits." Boomer says opening up a sporran-style pouch at the front of his belt.
Tierce looks up to Isaac and Darius from his spot by the door, he then watches Boomer prepare to disarm the trap. "I am after a thief and a murderer. A few weeks ago, we had a break in at my family estates in Tyr and some important items were stolen. The thief also murdered a lot of our guards and house staff... and I mean to repay him for that act"
"And you didn't tell us this earlier, because........why?" Leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed.
"Long story, if we make it out of this, I will tell you. All I will say is that I believe the thief who stole from me is behind all this mess"
Tierce looks to Boomer "How you making out with getting us beyond this?" He geastures to the room of writting.
Soris listens to the story.
"What would be worth stealing from you that badly I wonder. Thieves are only interested in profit, killing people and getting exposed to types that would chase them is not the way of a thief. Its more the way of an agent, someone who is working for a person or group. Your hiding something from someone and they want proof of it or you have something someone wants real bad. But thats just guess work, maybe Tyrene thieves are just sloppy and foolish."
He sure was not going to stick his nose into so called "nobles business". Let them fight and kill each other was his policy on that.
If you can disarm this trap Boomer, that would be wonderful.
"Hmm. Issac, gimme yer shield. Imma try somethin'."
A moment later Boomer was waving the shield up and down at a low lever kicking up an impressive amount of wind in the narrow passage.
Boomer waves Isaac's shield, which creates a nice gust of wind. The writting begins to blow away.
A flash of bright light explodes from the middle of the room and a large bloom of fire ingites. You are safely out of the blast radius, but the explosion has created a loud sound wave that knocks you on your feet.
Felisin is knocked from her feet and lands roughly on the floor. She slowly straightens disorientated from the explosion. What was that!!!
"Sonic concussion. Good one too." Boomer said with a shake of his head. "Be glad we were back 'ere. Someone really don't want folks comin' this way. More important, now they know we're comin'."
As the concussive wave washes over him, Darius cannot take it and falls into unconsciousness.
Perception
Soris gets thrown back, as he recovers.
"Next time your going to mess with a trap. Make sure to let me know so I can be far away. Crazy dwarf."
"Ah did tell ye." Boomer said with a finger in his eat, working it around to stop the ringing. "How 'bout next time ye try it?" he said moving to Darius' side and kneeling.
"Looks like he's pretty dazed. Just 'bout passed out. Prob'ly still weak from gettin' hit wit' those energy waves earlier. He'll come 'round in a sec. Is 'e undead? His heart's beatin', but Ah'm no' an expert on that sort o' thing. Why would somethin' tha' heals us 'urt 'im?"
Percepton
Tierce see's the blast and gets hurled backwards, you can hear him chuckling. "I guess that's one way to do it! Not too bad if you ask me." He slaps Boomer on the back. "Are all Dwarves as fun as you?" Tierce continues to chuckles until he sees Darius go down.
"Didn't think that blast was that strong, he alright?"
Aah! I'm not lending you my shield anymore if you're going to do that. That hurt. Now, is there still more to it, I think. Was that powder magical or alchemical?
Galdor stands up clutching his gut.That was magical. If there was also some sort of alchemical component, I do not know.
Boomer moves forward and checks the powder.
"Yeah well I think we should take a break to recover from that. If not call it a day sense we have a man down."
Before the priest can say anything.
"I dont care about glory or this contest when compared to my life or someone elses. Nothing will change that."
Everyone's skin begins to prickle and you all suddenly feel a little weird, like your soul was splattered with mud.
A new voice is heard from the east passage, "Consider that my good deed for the century" The voice is very raspy, almost like sand paper drawing on a piece of wood. You all turn to look and notice two people standing by the exit to the east, their faces are hidden behind the cowls of their robes. They must of just appeared there as you didn't hear any foot steps or the approach of them down the corridor.
One man draws back the cowl of his cloak, and he appears to be a handsome man. Jet black hair and pale skin, but the part that interests you is that he looks very similar to Darius, almost like they could be brothers. The man looks to Darius "Consider that a gift, from one of our kind to another" The man smiles, as if this is some joke.
You hear Tierce intake breath at the sight of the man, Tierce draws both his sword and his dagger and charges at the man. "You bastard!!!. Tierce runs right up to the mysertious man who doesn't seem phased at all, and Tierce's foot touches what appears to be new sand around the man. Tierce is thrown flat on his back as he appears to run straight into a wall.
The man shackes his finger from side to side "Tsk tsk Vraie, you should start to think with your head instead of you sword hand" He then turns back to the party and smiles. "Now that I have healed your friend, would you do me a kindness and please step aside so that I may leave?"
Soris studies the pair.
Perception
Sense Motive
Felisin goes to move towards Darius but as she does she feels the horrible prickling across her skin. She feels sick and unclean like her hands were covered with blood and her soul was dripping in darkness.
After it passed she tries to regain some sanity. She sees Tierce charge and get flung back she gasps fear filling her but then she remembers the townspeople and what became of them "Why are you here? Did you create those...those things back there?" she says referring to the Zombies.
From your sense motive you can tell that Tierce hates this inidividual and that he in turn likes to taunt and tease Tierce. Your quite sure they know each other in some fashion.
The man with the pulled down cowl looks to Felisin and smiles. He shows his full teeth in the smile and the effect is quite disconcerning. You can see that his canine teeth are pointed and slighty more pronounced then a normal human. "My... aren't you a pretty one. Surprised my brother there hasn't tried to take you for his yet! He gestures to Darius.
The man's smile fades, "They aren't things, they are perfect creations. I transformed them for a greater purpose. They no longer need to worry about sleep, or eating, or disease. They will serve the masters purpose. Just like you will all do unless you let me pass!" He resumes his evil smile.
Darius snaps awake, bolts upright and looks around with fervor.
What the....? Then he sees the robed figures face. "YOU!" Quickly, Darius gets to his feet, snaps his weapon together with blinding speed, and takes a defensive posture. "Why are you here................Brother?"
Galdor slowly slides his blade from its sheath. Come now, it should be well known everywhere about that these caves are to be used for the adventuring competition. I dislike how crowded and... political they are becoming. That said, I have no love for necromancers. What is your purpose here?
Boomer calmly removes the cigar-shaped round from his weapon and replaces it with a new one.
"Did'ja kill 'em b'fore ye made 'em perfect?"
"Geez did any of you see what just happened. What makes you think that you will fair better. They want to pass, if thats all their asking then I say give it to them. You want to play hero then throw away your own life. It has nothing to do with me or this contest. I dont get into other peoples fights."
He did not get to live this long by being stupid. Making zombies, magical walls, and the power behind that magic. Not to mention the way they toyed with their enemy, more like a snake playing with a mouse. All of it added up to these guys being out of their league by a long shot, passing by was a sweet deal. Anyways the Tyrene had what was left of the world as an enemy, this sort of stuff is expected.
The man balks and then chuckles, "Necromancer? Hardly! Necromancer's are children playing with dead bones! And in order to great perfect undeath, death most occur first!"
The man points a finger to Soris and nods, "He's a smart man, I appreciate smart people..." The man continues to nod and then stops. "You will have to excuse me, I have been quite rude, I forgot to introduce myself and my companion. I unfortunatly no longer have a name..." He glares at Tierce, "But you may refer to me as Nemesis, and this is my faithful servent, Hatred." He gestures to his companion. "Hatred, remove your cowl. Its unpolite to greet guests hiding ones face!
Hatred removes his cowl, and you are met with a human skull. As soon as he removes the cowl, the bones catch on fire and remain burning.