'Very true, when it's all said and done he's just another powerful person who thinks he's found a way to live forever.'
Forgetting about the clockwork woman for a moment, Harakhty gazed into Straub's visage. Is he playing us against his enemies?
He agreed with the Elven man's approach: "We're glad to hear you're also of the mind the shards should be destroyed; you have one, we saw."
This place only gets weirder
Cyna stood as calmly as possible and observed the lord and his clockwork creations. She didn't trust him and was rather uncomfortable around the constructs, however this Straub character seemed to have information that the group could use and he wasn't trying to kill them which was a pleasant change of pace.
Not having anything further to add at the moment, Arista just stands by in a semi relaxed posture. Since she can't discern what this "person" is actually intending to do she didn't want to relax too much.
Harakhty is fairly sure that Straub is planning on using you to eliminate his (and to some extent, your) enemies, though what his ultimate goal is eludes the vanara.
"Yes, much like the masks," Straub says with a gesture to the glass case. "These Shards are a symbol of the necromancers' power and right to rule. But I have spent much of my time attempting to distance myself from them and their ways. So, if it would please you, go to the Shard in the center of my kingdom and destroy it. I am actually quite curious myself as to how this is done."
'This feels like a trap. He want's to find out how we've been able to destroy the shards. The minute we drop our guard he'll try to get his hands on you. At which point he won't need us.'
Harakhty didn't buy Straub's complete compliance; there had to be some darker end to his offer of the shard. "Perhaps we can learn more about the process together. I only hope the destruction of it will not injure your home." Injure. It was an appropriate word. How many of these thing-people were like Straub, still capable of feeling pain? Having no desire to harm them, Harakhty was bothered by the concept he might need to...
But if it was necessary, so be it. He'd been keeping the thoughts of this new woman with a sword looking precisely like Aurelea's out of his mind, but they came to the front now that Straub wasn't murdering them on the spot. Who was she?
"I'm sure it will not have much of an effect on Utopia," Straub says, following the group's glances at Sādhanā. "Shall we?"
Lord Straub nods and leads the way to the Shard in the center of town. You notice that more of the automatons fill the street as their maker passes them. They bow and curtsy to the tall machine; some of them elegant motions, others more herky-jerky. When you arrive at the Shard, Lord Straub removes a part of the railing and gestures to the stone. You can feel the power emanating from the Shard. It too is etched with the same draconic writing you've encountered before.
'Well it's be quite the gambit if he was benefiting from the shard in any way. It would probably be best to take the easy one when it's handed to us wouldn't it?'
Sādhanā studies the metal monarch and her companions' reactions.
Not having actually seen the shards before, Arista just stares at it in wonder as she waits to see what the rest of the group does.
I wonder if she can destroy it like Aurelea could. The Elf thought to himself.
Sādhanā looks at the companions, giving each a meaningful glance before stepping forward.
"Ok, each of you, the same as it was done before, spread out, each facing the shard, focus on the gods granted power within and draw your weapons as was done last time." She speaks, leading the others through the movements.
Lifting Oblivion over her head she cries out in a loud voice.
"ל ידי כוח של האדמה הזאת שאנחנו לשאוב את כוחו של Aroden. להעצים את כלי הנשק שלנו, ולהעניק לנו, שנבחר, את כוח שלך כדי לשרוף את החושך. כדי לאגד את הדברים שחיים מעבר לקצה של הלילה. לשבור שבר זה כמו אלה שלפני ואלה שיבואו אחרי."
As she shout build to a crechendo she looks to the others,"Now STRIKE!
Timing her blow to coincide with the other weapon strikes, she plunges the ebon blade into the surface of the shard.
By the power of this land we draw upon the strength of Aroden. Empower our weapons, and grant us, your chosen, the power to burn away the darkness. To bind the things that live beyond the edge of night. Break this shard as those before and those that will come after.
What in the hells is she trying to pull? Alethiro thought, but followed the instructions anyway.
Might as well play along.
Cyna follows the others and strikes the shard.
Arista, not sure of what is going on takes her cue from the others and does as instructed. As far as she knows this is what happened last time and who was she to argue with these experienced warriors.
She shrugs and lifts her Scimitar into the air striking the crystal at the appropriate time.
Glancing back at Sadhana, Harakhty was unsure what she meant by the stare. For a short time, that was; she had a ruse to play. Very clever; I could learn a thing or two.
Seeing nothing threatening towards them, Harakhty aided her duplicity as best he could.
"May the Master of Magic guide our hands, cleansing the world of this cursed stone." Using his telekinesis to heft his holy symbol in the air, he made as if to focus on power drawn from it - then struck at the stone in concert with Sadhana.
"What is this?" Straub demands, seeing the elaborate but useless ritual for what it is. "Why are you trying to fool me?"
Before any of you can answer, the Shard shatters beneath Sādhanā's blade. The usual screams from unknown places emerge as well as the blinding flash of light which blankets all of Utopia.
"Paulette! Paulette!" the young man huffs catching up to the girl.
[b]"What is it, Prince Aduain?" Paulette asks with a concerned look on her face.
"I...I...I wanted to see you today," the prince answers, face flushed.
Paulette's face adopts a contemptuous look. "Are you sure your father would approve?"
"I don't care, Paulette, I love you."
"I love you as well, Straub, but, since your father became king, we cannot be together."
"I'll forsake my crown and whatever claim I have to the throne, if you'll take me to be your husband!"
Paulette is taken aback by the declaration. "Do you mean that?"
Straub gets down on one knee and presents a simple golden ring. "With all my heart."
"Prince Straub! You are to come with us!" the tallest of the soldiers declares.
Straub stands from a wooden, sword at his side. [b]"What do you want with me?"
Paulette stands near a simple wooden crib, eyeing her husband and the soldiers. She picks up the small child in pink swaddling within and begins rocking her.
"Your father, the king, has died. You are to assume the throne."
"I told my father I gave up my claim. Give it to my brothers."
"They are dead as well."
"What? What from?"
"Plague."
"So why do you burst in my home and disturb my family? So that I could inherit a plague infested kingdom? These would not be my father's orders."
"They are not. They are the orders of Minister Solomon. You are to come back by any means necessary."
"I will not! Now leave," Straub declares.
The soldiers draw their swords and Straub is easily overpowered. The men show no mercy, putting Paulette and the child to the blade as Straub watches, tears welling in his eyes. The tallest soldier strikes Straub on the back of the head, causing him to go limp.
"Have you reconsidered?" the minister asks, his voice raspy.
"You killed my wife and child. I'll have nothing to do with you."
"Two years I have waited, I'll not wait another two. Either you come with me or you die here, forgotten and alone?"
"My heart died with Paulette and Beatrice. I am already alone."
The minister wraps a skeletal hand around Straub's neck. "I want the key!"
"And I tell you I don't have it."
"Then I shall spill your blood and be done with it. Guards!"
Soldiers enter into the dank dungeon and unchain Straub. They guide him further down into the dungeon. Surprisingly, they pass the execution room and into parts below the castle he had not known about. Solomon follows behind, his eyes watching the young man. The group stops at a strange door, covered in arcane symbols.
"What is this place?" Straub asks.
"The vault of the Mage Lord Rapallo."
"The man my father killed to become king?"
"The same," Solomon answers, drawing a dagger from his robes. "His secrets lie beyond this door and I shall have them."
"There is no keyhole."
"These words," Solomon says, gesturing to the arcane sybols. "'Only the blood of royalty shall open this door, the key hidden within them'. I was a fool to think it was a physical key..."
Before Straub can speak, the minister cuts open the prince's palm and presses the fresh blood against the door. The door creaks open, revealing a musty study within.
"But I am not..."
"Rapallo was clever," the minister says cryptically. "Ah, what have we here?"
Solomon pushes past the soldiers. "'Power unending, life eternal, the fabric of the cosmos lies in Zahvroma.'"
The minister shuffles through the various stacks of papers. "Take him to the boat, we leave for Zahvroma now."
"You have what you wanted. Just kill me now," Straub says, the soldiers guiding him out in chains.
"No, prince, the time is not yet right."
They marched for several days past the beaches and woods, skirting past any inhabited areas. Straub marked these places in his mind. Whispers in the wind spoke to him of things lost and eternal. As he heard these whispers, the hopelessness that had taken hold of him for years began to change into a undying hatred of Solomon. He would find death, but he would take Solomon and his men with him.
They reach a large stone standing out in the middle of a desolate plain and stop. Solomon rushes to the stone, reading the inscription upon it. He lays his hand on the stone and begins to convulse. Solomon lies on the ground for several minutes, Straub secretly hoping the stone had killed the foul man. To the prince's dismay, Solomon stands up, his eyes besieged by madness.
"Here is where we shall start. Chain the prince to the stone."
The soldiers wrap Straub's chains around the stone, the prince's back against the firm object. Then he hears a voice he had not heard in a long time.
"Paulette? Paulette!" Straub cries.
"Quiet, fool," the minister mutters, surveying the area.
Straub puts his ear to the stone and he falls asleep. What he hears no one knows, but it comforts him.
"Yes, the stone spoke to me as it did to you," Straub answers, his face gaunt. "I will serve you and learn its secrets."
"Very well," the minister says, looking out of the tower.
Solomon had enslaved many of the neighboring towns in the last months, mostly with the aid of the mysterious stone. The minister was merely a second-rate wizard before coming here, but now he stood peer to the mightiest arch-mage. The enslaved villagers constructed this keep in a short time, giving Straub another place to be held captive besides the stone in the courtyard.
He had learned much listening to the stone, but the only thing that mattered was the connection he found to Paulette. He would whisper to her and she to him. She gave him strength in these times and a plan. He knew of Solomon's precious jewel, the black stone which extended his life and gave him power over the undead. It wasn't until the keep was finished and the villagers useless to him, that he exercised this power.
Solomon opens a large box and extracts another black stone, pulsating with necrotic energy. "Then, my apprentice, you shall need this. Our necropolis shall expand."
Straub took the stone and went to the window. A city of the undead lay below him. This was a mockery of the true plan: a city with no conflict, no disease and no death. The meeting with the vampire and his mistress was key to what would happen next. Isenci's displeasure was evident.
"Will you follow the same path and raise an abomination to our goddess?" Isenci asked, hand around Straub's throat.
"No, this is not what I wanted. My kingdom will be something more to my liking."
"I sensed that when you sent your letter. I find that fear extracts the truth from a man far better than anything else," the vampire says, setting Straub on the ground. "Here, this is yours now. In return, give me your stone."
The vampire stooped and picked up the plague doctor's mask off Solomon's corpse. He extended it toward Straub. The prince took the black stone from around his neck and gave it to Isenci.
"Chalandra! Quit fooling around, we must return home."
"Yes, master," the vampire's mistress said with a exaggerated bow.
Straub saw in Chalandra's eyes what he saw in his own. Isenci would be dead someday by her hand. But that was not his concern. No, Utopia would have to be built and it would take a lot of dirty work.
His first clockwork was a stunning failure. There was simply no way to create the intricate parts he needed. The stone whispered another suggestion to him. So he took to it with determination and hopefulness. So people had to die. That was a constant in his life.
The first was a young woman, who looked a little like Paulette. Carving out her heart and her brain from her corpse, he placed them within the clockwork shell. With a small incantation, the automaton came to life. Though her speech and movements were crude, he considered it a success.
In time, he became a legend among the villagers. He was praised for such glorious clockworks that the lords of the region decided to become his benefactors and provide him with sufficient wealth to continue his grand project. He was also a legend for another reason, but not one that the public could attribute to him. Legends of the "Bogeyman", a stalker in the night who kidnapped people, began to spread like wildfire. Straub was cautious to keep others from connecting him to these disappearances, but he feared he would be found out someday.
The curse of Zahvroma began to drive away the patrons and the people. The lingering magic of the black stone was fading and he could feel his body beginning to give out. With his creations, he had a veritable army now. He laughed to himself. Six hundred kidnappings and they never found out it was him. Six hundred automatons and he was now dying. He would have to do to himself what he did to all the others.
He returned home, for the first time in a long time. The cottage still stood, overgrowth preserving it. He entered into the small home and collected the crib and the portrait that hung on the wall. He remembered taking Paulette to the city to have their picture painted. Her belly was full with child and she was a little reticent to have it done. Still, Straub got his way and the artist was a skilled painter.
If he could cry, he would have. But that was of no consequence now. He would have to redo his own image when he returned home.
He returned to Zahvroma to find a few of his automatons lying broken. A woman with strange tattoos upon her stood defiantly near the stone. She wielded a strange sword cane.
"Straub Aduain! You have cheated death for the last time. I, Coorah Orana of the Anizari, will end your misbegotten life," the woman said.
Straub was no fool, remembering his shortcomings in the swordplay department. He had trained himself for this eventuality. Silly girl, slaying his innocent creations, she would serve as his new Paulette. Overcoming the girl with little difficulty, Straub took her inside to begin the dirty work anew. The strange sword disappear, but he had a new subject. He was pleased.
The light subsides. "What manner of devilry have you done?!"
"I could ask you the same question." The Elf replied.
After the images have passed and Arista comes out of her daze, she looks around stunned at what the stone had shown them. She didn't know what to expect, but she never imagined that anyone could be driven to such desperate and evil measures. This man was obviously more of a threat than she had anticipated and capable of insurmountable pain and suffering. At the sound of his words Arista, not knowing what her companions are thinking speaks her mind.
"We have done nothing wrong Lord Straub, you on the other hand are another matter. The stone has reveled to us who you truly are, a fiend and a murderer. It has shown us your pain and your loss, but your actions have shown you to be a monster. Your pain and grief do not give you the right to take it out on innocent people and turn them into what you want them to be, what you can never have again. What did you expect would happen?"
Arista eyes the machine man warily, her hand on the hilt of her sword. She is not sure how the rest of the people with her will react to this revelation, but she will be ready to do whatever is necessary.
Sādhanā turns to the clockwork man, highly aware of the danger they were in "We destroyed the shard just as you wished us to. What we will continue to do until the people of Zhavroma are safe and free."
"That vision was an effect of the shard not us."
"Lies!" Straub yells. "Kill them for their blasphemy, except for the Anizari girl!"
The automatons stand, motionless. "You dare to disobey me, your creator?! Kill them!"
A familiar fat figure makes his way through the crowd, the plague doctor's mask hanging by his side. "Well, well, if it isn't Straub, Lord of Nothing. I see the kingdom you told Isenci of has come to nothing. Just a bunch of empty shells littering your streets."
"Ixen, what brings filth such as yourself to my door?"
"I was merely passing through when you decided to have your fireworks," Ixen says, pushing a clockwork man to the ground. It crashes against the cobblestones. "I'm looking for someone, but he is not among you."
Ixen turns his attention to the group. "I don't know how you escaped from the fort and, right now, I don't care. I was quite saddened that I didn't get to know the feel of your fur against my flesh, vanara. But, to the point, where is Drago?"
Arista looks at the stranger who just wondered in,"Who are you?" and then looks to the rest of the group,"What is this man talking about? Who is this Drago he speaks of?"
She looks around confused by everything going on.
At the mention of Drago's name, the Elf just lost it. "You let him go?! How could you let a monster like that free?!" Alethiro screamed as he tried to make his way to the fat man.
Ixen simply looks at the rushing elf. "Who are you?"
Stopping in his tracks, the Cleric answered, "Alethiro Milocathe. Cleric of Pharasma and hunter of the undead." He drew his mace, "And those that create them."