"There's supposed to be some hidden room where this 'Dark Window' thing is...whatever that is." Vibenia says as she combs through the chamber.
”Right, right. Hidden room... hidden room... where are you?”
Bernard wanders about rather aimlessly, knocking on the backs of bookcases and staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.
"We're sure it's in here? Maybe... I don't know. Not very good at this kind of thing."
”Anybody got a sledgehammer?”
A more thorough search is conducted, complete with the overturning of tables and the moving of shelves. Even this inquisition seems fruitless at first, until finally Vibenia—having worked her way around the room, knocking for hidden hollows—comes to a part of the wall in the southwest that sounds almost imperceptibly different from the others. Indeed, without her keen hunter's instincts, it is unlikely you would have found the hidden entryway at all: only after the ranger has found the hidden switch to operate them do the others perceive the cleverly hidden mechanisms within the wall.
Passing through the door, you find yourselves in a dusty passageway which encircles the library, inhabited only by web-spinning spiders and the watchful statues of Iroran saints in various combative poses. The hall terminates in an iron door in the southeast, covered in complex sigils and runes painted in delicate black lacquer. Among the esoteric symbols is a message, repeated over and over in several languages, including Taldane:
"So... ah..." says Bernard, scrutinizing the warnings. "This looks... like we're found it. Who, ah, wants to open the door?"
And with that he looks to Zaijika and the others.
"I spy sigils and runes and... oblivion. Joy." Syksy murmurs as she looks over the door.
Staring at the door and frowning. [i[We could not and just run..[i] Shrugging, "Much as I want to be the noble one and go in first I do better keeping you all alive if I stay in the back."
Looking around and making sure the red lines connect Bernard and Syksy to her. And for good measure Dusk as well.
With no method of opening the foreboding iron door and with no further information forthcoming, you decide to leave it for the moment.
Retracing your steps, you find Thaena exactly as you left her: her eyes firmly fixated on the firmament.
"Oh," she muses vaguely as you enter the atrium. "You are back."
As if suddenly recollecting your parting words, the naga cranes her neck and looks at you expectantly. "Did you... did you speak with him?"
"We did!" Syksy says cheerfully in an almost sing-song tone. "He felt bad when we brought you up, he's thissssss close to his research paying off that he kinda tunnel-visioned. He mentioned something about needing a fresh Daughter of the Dark Tapestry-that's what they call non-starmetal things that fall from the above, right?-Anyway, he's needing one and heard one fell down in a mountain range in Qadira recently-ish. Buuuuuut aside from you he doesn't trust anyone to deal with these sorts of heavenly things and so hasn't sent anyone, and he can't leave his work. And you're already doing so much for him he didn't want to burden you with more work."
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Thaena listens intently to Syksy's words, clinging to each one as if they were a part of some profound divine sermon or a lecture on a matter of great scientific import. For a moment, she appears crestfallen, muttering confusedly to herself. "Oh. He wants me to... leave?"
As the armiger finishes her story, however, the naga's face lights up with renewed interest.
"A newly fallen meteorite?" she muses, her sorrow replaced by the kindling fires of a newfound obsession. "It must have come down during the daylight hours, then. Of course! There must be some rare material, or a seed of life from beyond the Dark Tapestry, which is needed for an experiment or a ritual..."
Lifting from her perch, the snake-woman lowers her now-smiling visage in your direction, her sinuous body swaying perkily from side to side. "Thank you ever so much! I am horribly sorry, but I have no more hats to give you. I must be on my way south as quickly as possible, but if there is anything I can aid you with presently—any question I can pose to the stars on your behalf—then please, do not be afraid to ask."
"Think nothing of it," Syksy happily replies. Maybe fate would smile upon this poor wayward soul and should would come across a fallen star or something else non-malevolent that would gain her attention down there, the hellknight hoped for her.
Syksy tilts her head for a moment. "Actually do you have any advice for the iron door here? We don't want to mess anything up."
"The door in the lectern library?" puzzles Thaena, scratching her head with the tip of her tail. "Aeteperax has not told me where it leads, but I know it is missing a key. I have been trying to divine its location, at his request. I believe it lies underneath the sanctum, the holy of holies, in the temple of the Man God. That is the large building just to the north of here. I would have told him, but… well, you know. He appears to have found a way through without the key, in any event. Do let him know, would you?"
”Of course!”
Once the naga is gone, Bernard sags in relief.
"Well done, Syksy! Not only have we removed her from play, but now have a target for locating the key. Underneath the sanctum. Wasn't that a location mentioned by our shadow friend? Where's that map she made...?"
Bernard scrutinizes the map. "Ah, right here, perhaps? The trapdoor under the rug? I say we go right there and take a look."
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"Never ask me to do that again!" Syksy blurts out to Bernard, "I'm not good at lying straight to someone's face like that, especially when they're so nice. I gots a condition. I break out in shame all over."
"And yeah that's good, she adds, her tone back to normal.
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Bernard stares at Syksy, completely taken aback, and then can't help but laugh.
"Wait. Hold up. You're telling me that you have no problem laughing maniacally while throwing yourself into the maw of death, but lying to a monster gets you all knotted up? How is that any worse than cutting them into quivering gobbets?"
He then holds up two palms in the universal gesture for peace. "Never mind. I swear by Abadan to never ask you to lie to a deluded naga about the desires of her dragon domitor again."
With no worldly belongings to take along on her journey, Thaena slithers away into the night with one last absent-minded smile in your direction. Her thoughts are clearly miles south already.
Viterri scoffs. "The snake was clearly neck-deep in her own bullsh*t already. What’s a little more?”
You return to the shrine and move the prayer rug in front of the altar. Beneath is a trap door, which opens into a ten-foot deep shaft fitted with a ladder. This leads to a tunnel to the east that in turn connects to a second shaft, providing access to a dusty crypt deep below the sanctum.
The walls of this bare chamber are painted with faded frescoes of monks engaged in acts of acrobatic prowess. At the room's eastern corner is a square stone dais on which sits the well-mummified corpse of a Tian man, clad in blood-stained white robes and with a braid of black hair circling its neck like an adornment. Its arrangement is quite familiar by now, legs crossed and hands folded on the lap—it looks as if the monk died at a moment of intense meditation.
As you make to enter, the mummy suddenly lifts its head and looks up, staring at you with the hollow pits of its eyes. The creature holds up its right hand, signalling you to halt. In place of the malice and unholy hunger you have come to expect from the living dead, the seated figure radiates a sense of understated dignity.
"I know not your convictions," it says with a voice as dry and thin as parchment, in somewhat archaic and foreignly accented Taldane. "I must know whether you possess the aptitude to close the Dark Window."
With motions as graceful and smooth as any living martial artist—beautiful, even, in their practised elegance—the cadaver leaps to its feet and assumes a defensive stance. "To the challenger goes the first blow."
Viterri curses beneath her breath, glancing expectantly between the rest of the group and the mummy.
Exceedingly rare occurances, successful Iroran mummies are widely regarded as living saints amongst the faithful, having righteously delayed their own reincarnation to speed up others’ along their respective paths to enlightenment.
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Syksy shuffles herself and makes herself appear taller at Bernard's outburst before deflating as he holds up his hands. "Well, the things I'm fighting are trying to kill me back, so it all works out. And lying is HARD! It's like trying to eat a sandwich with mayo on it. And she's not a monster, she's really sweet... and lovestruck... in the bad way."
At Viterri's comment the Armiger shrugs. "As long as she's happy."
-----
Coming into the hidden room Syksy takes in more of the art before the corpse animates, causing her to jump. When it issues its challenge she turns to Bernard and points. "See! A duel!" she she giggly says.
"Pleased to meet you," she says to the corpse before charging.
"Undead don't talk.. Don't kill it. Moving along the wall and watching the chatty corpse. Pulling magic to her fingers but waiting to use it. "How does fighting you prove we can close the Dark Window? Can't we talk?"
"We're just playing! It's good to play!"
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"It may not be evil, but if it's here for a purpose, it isn't likely to let us take what we need without a fight Luv." Vibenia says, securing her crossbow across her back and quickly heading down the ladder.
"Dusk, stay and keep Nisany safe girl!"
"How does fighting you prove we can close the Dark Window? Can't we talk?"
"There is a time for words," responds the mummy, "and a time for action. No voice carries in the Void."
Syksy leads the charge, eager to answer the challenge. Bernard and Viterri rush in soon after, swinging their swords at the long-dead ascetic. However, their blows are parried with ease, either dodged or swatted aside by the desiccated monk. Only Syksy's blow penetrates its defences, sinking into its side with a dry crack. The corpse proves to be surprisingly tough—more akin to a knot of sappy tree roots than old bones—with only minimal damage despite the depth of the cut.
"An expert blow," it notes matter-of-factly, "or perhaps simple luck. Again!"
The mummy begins pummelling Syksy with series of punches and kicks, the speed and strength of which is plainly superhuman. The first attack is an peculiarly painless jab at the side of the neck, one which causes her to suddenly feel stiff and light-headed. She manages to keep her bearings, however, blocking a kick at the shin at the cost of taking two open-palmed strikes to the chest, which break ribs and leave her severely winded. Two deep, perfectly round dents mar her breastplate.
Nisany retaliates by launching a pair of fiery rays at the mummy, which only manages to dodge one. The other hits it in the midsection, its dusty habiliments catching fire almost instantly. While the corpse makes so sign of being in pain or otherwise perturbed, fire clearly causes it more harm than steel.
Syksy lets out a garbled and cut off scream as the wind is, literally, knocked out of her. Rather than crumple she forces herself to remain standing and trade blows with the corpse. No time to be witty, go in for the kill while he's still focused on you, she tells herself. Unable to form words at this point in time not-withstanding.
Bernard wastes no time in coming after the mummy once more, swinging with greater care this time.
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"Mother%!@#" Vibenia blurts out at the sight of the absolutely brutal pummeling Syksy takes, though she gives back almost as good as she gets. Distracted by her concern, the rapidly fired shots are poorly aimed.
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Gasping in pain and releasing the magic she was holding. Watching the fire lick around the undead. Anger and fear flood Nisany's mind. Yelling but instead of words it sounds like a roaring fire. The small gnome erupts into yellow and white flames. Running through Syksy and healing her, white fire lingers on her before fading quickly. Punching at the undead but slamming her fiery fist into the wall instead.
Showing no signs of being overwhelmed despite being cornered by superior numbers, the mummy continues to dodge and deflect attacks from all sides. Bernard and Viterri find their attacks deftly parried, and it makes sure to keep them in between itself and Vibenia's line of fire. Nisany's sudden transformation seems to take the undead monk by surprise, but it soon adjusts, taking special care to avoid her swing despite its apparent clumsiness.
Syksy's blow comes the closest to hitting its mark—an overhead swing powerful enough to split a living man from shoulder to groin. However, with incredible speed, the undead monk manages to step to the side and tap Wyrmsmite on the fuller mid-swing. The force of the slash is redirected at the dais below its feet: a large crack appears in the stone, with fragments thereof flung into the far reaches of the room, but your opponent leaps away from the debris unharmed.
Suddenly dropping down into a low crouch, the dead ascetic springs at Bernard like a frog. It strikes at the space between his helm and gorget, its gnarled fingers jabbing deep into a pinch of nerves the former guardsman had not even know existed. From there it bounces back and smoothly transitions into a whirlwind of kicks aimed at Syksy, one of which hits the armiger's jaw with a sickening crunch of breaking bone.
"Expect no mercy," says the mummy, landing into a one-legged stance. "You shall find none in the Dark between the stars."
Moving back though Syksy and revering to her normal self. Pointing a finger at the mummy and two rays shoot at the undead.
Forcing herself to relax her breathing, and not reflect the worry and near panic she feels, Vibenia loads her firebolt, going for accuracy over speed and fires off a near-perfect shot at the undead monk.
Bernard reels back, clutching at his throat as his throat closes up, coughing and gagging as he does his best to not drop his blade in the process.
One of Nisany's fiery rays catches the dead monk across the chest, which is enough to burn through the desiccated flesh, allowing ribs to protrude through its charred robes. The other draws a scorched streak over the athletics-themed murals on the back wall. Vibenia's bolt sinks into the mummy's midsection, delivering the alchemical payload straight into its guts. Though flames eat hungrily through its dried-up innards, its reactions remain stoically subdued.
Brought to her senses by Nisany's healing magic, Syksy lashes out wildly from her now-prone position. Her attacks are easily dodged, however, as the mummy leaps over each swing like a child skipping rope. Viterri manages a glancing cut on its shoulder, but it does not have much of an impact on its tough flesh.
The mummy leaps at Bernard, its fingers curled for another jab at the neck. Realising that he had, indeed, dropped his sword, the former guardsman is just able to raise his armoured forearms to shield himself from the blow. Another punch comes from down low, denting his breastplate and causing a sharp jolt of pain from some doubtlessly vital inner organ. Without taking its eyes off Bernard, the dead monk delivers a heel-kick to the back of Syksy's head, dropping her once more.
"Oh, come on!" snarls Viterri. "She really doesn't need any more brain damage!"
Right after, the mummy steps to stand over Syksy's body, placing itself in between Bernard and Viterri.
A sneer curls Vibenia's lip as she watches the monk tearing into her companions, her deadly focus putting another bolt into the undead warrior.
Grunting in pain, working through the desire to curl up and abandon this hopeless battle, Bernard draws his old, trusty two-handed blade and takes a great, erratic swing at the monk.
Vibenia shoots another bolt into the monk's flame-eaten torso, sending bits of charred bone flying through the air. Viterri flails uselessly at the creature's back, clearly frustrated with your hard-to-hit opponent. Bernard's quick-draw attack goes wide as the dessicated corpse bends at an incredible angle to dodge it.
Retreating from the enemy, who appears to be eyeing her and shifting closer, Nisany releases a wave of bright energy to rejuvenate everyone in the room—including herself, with her empathetic phantom wounds. Syksy re-returns to consciousness with a sputter. The dead monk reacts almost instantly, dropping into crouch and then sprinting towards the gnome at full tilt. Bernard, Syksy and Viterri all make attempts to slow it down or cut it down mid-run, but fail to react fast enough.
"You rely too much on this one," it says as it closes the distance.
It directs an open-palmed strike at Nisany's sternum, with enough power to send send her flying against the wall—there is a visible distortion at the point of impact, rippling through the air like a shockwave. The sound of many, many breaking bones resounds throughout the chamber.
"Nisany, NO!!" Vibenia screams as she witnesses the devastating blow, her blood going cold at the sound of splintering bones. "Die, Die DIE you dried up MOTHER#@%@!!"
Screaming in rage, she fires again, determined to bring the monk that was decimating those she held most dear, while poorly equipped to fact him herself.
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With a savage snarl, Dusk leaps down into the hall racing forward to Vibenia's side, a deep menacing growl filling the chamber.
Racing forward, Dusk hurls herself onto the monster, tearing into it with unrestrained savagery.
Gritting his teeth, doing his best to ignore the horror that has just taken place, Bernard moves forward to do his best.
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Vibenia shoots the mummy in the face, chipping off a piece of its cheekbone. This, along with the fact that it is still out of balance from charging Nisany, allows Dusk to sink her teeth into its calf and tear free chunks of dried flesh. Bernard harries the enemy from the other side, but it appears to be taking special care to avoid his heavy swings.
Syksy, badly bloodied, answers Vibenia's scream with her own incoherent exclamation of anguish. Viterri, who had been helping her to her feet, is pushed aside as the other armiger rushes through the room and driven her blade through its right arm, nearly severing the limb altogether. Unfortunately, the effort is too much, and she collapses from blood loss.
"F*ck!" curses Viterri. "Does anyone have potions?!"
Badly torn, slashed and charred by flames, the dessicated monk retains its impassive mien in the face both violence and outbursts of emotion. "Hate me if you must. Death is a mercy, compared to the horrors of the Void."
With its right arm hanging limply by its side, the mummy starts to rely more on its feet, spinning in place and launching kicks at everyone in the vicinity: Bernard manages to block another debilitating strike at his neck, and Dusk manages to leap aside as the flags beneath her are shattered under the monk's heel. Vibenia, unused to fighting at close quarters, takes hit to her left shoulder, which wrenches back painfully.
"Then hurry up and die!"
The excruciating pain in her shoulder didn't matter. None of it did. Her only focus right now was putting this undead thing down before more people she loved died. Taking a single step backward, she snaps her crossbow up to fire a bolt directly between the dead monk's hollow eyes.
Bernard grits his teeth and seeks to contribute something - anything - to the fight.
Vibenia's bolt finds its mark, sinking up to its fletching in between the desiccated monk's eyes. Its head snaps back and it stumbles momentarily, losing for a brief second the uncanny, practised rhythm of its movements. Capitalising on its loss of balance, Bernard cleanly severs its head from its shoulders. As the mummy crumples to the floor, its hand moves into the pocket of its white vestments—and as it crumbles into a pile of dust, a hand still juts from the remains, clutching a black iron key. You also see the monk's braid, which it had around its neck like a collar, as well as the red silken rope it wore for a belt.
Victory is bittersweet, however, as you rush to Nisany’s side and find her lying dead on the floor of the crypt. Dusk licks her fast-paling face and whinges softly.
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Rushing over, Vibenia uses the wand on Syksy, waiting only long enough to see her start breathing again before scrambling toward Nisany's body, knowing deep within that it was too late. As Dusk whimpers, the ranger gently scoops Nisany's battered body in her arms, tears streaming down her face as she cradles her battered form.
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"... f@*~," Syksy lets out as a groan as life and pain, mostly pain, comes rushing back into her battered body and head. "What I miss, it still up? How is," she asks, her words slurring as she tries to focus any of her senses on her immediate surrounding before they come up Vibenia... and Nisany.
"No... no" she lets out as the breath was ripped from her again. Shoving herself over she forces her body to crawl through the pain to her lovers.
For a moment, the crypt is quiet, save for the echoing sounds of quiet sobs. Bernard and Viterri stand aside, unsure what to do.
After a few minutes, the armiger speaks up hesitantly: "Ahem. Sorry, I know you're close, and you're still processing this sh*t, but we probably shouldn't hang around in a crypt. Maybe that druid guy can do something to help? I dunno, this is really messed up..."
Impatient and obviously unused to condolences and other such pleasantries, Viterri nonetheless makes a token attempt to sound respectful. As you finally muster the strength to relocate, she helps Syksy on her feet and offers her a shoulder, while Bernard carries the gnome's body upstairs...
It takes you a while to get everyone into the chapel, and another to signal Azmur. He arrives in a matter of minutes—drawn out into a veritable eternity by grief—slipping into the room only to notice Nisany's body, as well as the many wounds shared across the rest of the company. He bids you to wait and ducks back out, returning briefly with a brass bowl full of bright berries. This she hands to Syksy and tells her to eat—quite insistently so, despite her clear lack of appetite.
As you tell him what happened in the crypt, the druid listens very intently. He is clearly interested in the mummy and its key, but pushes that aside for the moment. He digs around in his satchel and produces and an ivory scroll-case, age-worn in a way that speaks of true antiquity.
"This should bring your friend back, he explains, "after a fashion: the Wyrd would remake her according to its own inscrutable whims. I had been saving this for Rima, but... well, it wouldn't return our child to us, were she to perish. Perhaps it's better to use it now."
"Thank you, Azmur," says Bernard quietly. "Your help is truly appreciated. How does this work? Will her body change before us, or...?"
"You can thank me by slaying the dragon," says Azmur, with a wry look on his face. "As for how it works... well, I can't say I've ever seen this ritual performed. The change should be much like the changing of seasons, old life giving way to something new. Please, try to rest in the meanwhile."
With your assent, he goes to where Nisany's body lies before the statue. He opens the scroll-case and draws from it an ancient scroll of birch-bark, which he unwraps from its twine bindings with the utmost care. On the inner layer of the bark are carvings illuminated with natural pigments, all faded by age.
The druid begins reciting from the scroll in the secret language of his order, filling the small chapel with the sounds of a tongue which, in turn, brings to mind a roaring fire, a babbling brook, a wind blowing through vast tree-tops, and the crunch of dry soil under one's feet. This falls into a steady rhythm, one litany following another with the predictable nature of natural cycles: day to night, summer to winter, and back again. The effect is quite hypnotic, leaving even Viterri struck with humble awe.
For minutes the chanting goes on unabated, and you can hear Azmur's voice go hoarse from the effort. As he finishes the incantation, the scroll crumbles in his fingers. Nisany's old body appears to crumble, as well, leaving behind something vaguely gnome-sized and luminous—much like the form of pure life-giving energy she assumed during your battle with the mummy. This energy reaches out with wisps of warm quintessence, seeming to draw from its surroundings like a tree drinks through its roots. The energy expands until it is nearly thrice its former size, and fades away to reveal something quite unlike the diminutive gnome you have known...