Male Human
Breathing in quick, shallow breaths as his heart pumps hard, Darius kneels down by Ibid, who is too weak to even cough, and pulls the worn, leather hat off of his head. ”Take care of Cyrus. He is stubborn, but so am I, and you and I have been friends for years. He is foolish, but brave. You’ll need to help dig him out of the messes he gets himself into. I’m sorry for this, and for leaving him to you.”
Darius pauses for a moment to swallow the lump in his throat down as a tear swells in his eye. ”You wished death away from him once, with this contract. It should be a father’s place to die for his son. I couldn’t do that before, so I will just have to settle for this now.”
Taking the hat off of his head, Darius puts it crookedly on Ibid’s crown. ”This isn’t the end… Nothing ever ends...”
Male Human
"... do I have any choice but to accept…" Darius laments knowing he is stuck and will be hard pressed to get the better of the creature at his own game.
”Fine,” Darius spits the word, questioning if he has just allowed the devil permission to cover his tracks against his son. As he weathers the condescending stare from Auxziauk, the skinny keleshite looks to his dying friend, convinced he is doing what it takes to save both his own blood and Ibid.
Male Human
Darius closes his eyes and raises his shaky hands in the air, pantomiming a stop motion while he begins to speak, stuttering slightly as he rushes to put words to the thoughts in his mind.
”In return for Ibid’s immediate rescue and full healing, including safe egress from this mine, I, Darius will assume Ibid’s debt per the contract language.” Darius pauses for a moment, but then continues again suddenly, cutting off any response or rebuttal. ”In return for that clause, Ibid will ensure that my offspring will not make any attempt on the life of one, Auxziauk, or make any attempt to free me from my binding.”
”If Cyrus, or Ibid, makes any attempt to harm you, Auxziauk, Ibid’s initial wishes can be construed as being in breach of contract, and therefore, Ibid’s wishes are void. Their lives and their souls would be yours,” he continues, then adds. ”This will protect you from the retribution of my son, if he ever were to find out what happened here.”
”However, at no point in time will you, Auxziauk, or any of your minions, knowingly, or unknowingly, make any attempt to harm my son.” Then Darius pauses for a moment, before stating one final thought. ”And this is to protect my son from the likes of you. For if you break this clause, then you will be in breach of our contract.”
Male Human
”Take me instead. Leave him. Put my name on the contract where his was.”
Darius’ voice quivers as he speaks. He stands resolutely, but the weight of his words hang heavy in the air, and the tension grows thicker than the dust and heat of the underground tunnels.
Male Human
The Keleshite stands motionless while the devil silently reads through a contract scroll he likely has memorized. ”What are the terms of Ibid’s contract? It is clear what you get. What did he get from his deal with you?”
Male Human
Darius crouches next to Ibid, and speaks kindly while taking hold of a trembling hand. ”Of course it is, my friend. Something has gone terribly wrong,” he says, his voice for the first time filling with actual kindness and, even more surprising, resolve. ”But it doesn’t mean you won’t make it out of this.”
Rising to stand and stare off down the tunnel, overrun by twisting shadows, Darius continues, ”I couldn’t call… it… up,” he sneers while referring to the word ‘it’. ”Because Auxziuak is already here.”
”That’s why everything went wrong on us. He knew what we were planning…”
Male Human
Darius continues to murmur the words of the incantation, attempting to call something up from one of the nine hells. But at the end of his words, nothing happens.
Male Human
A few feet away lay Ibid’s haversack coated in a pile of debris, and without a second thought Darius wills a scroll to appear in his hand. He unrolls it with haste, a twinge of latent excitement almost cascaded across his face as his hand drags slowly across the parchment. ”This was to be the last step, calling… it up. But, I think I know now where we went wrong,” Darius says coldly, again his voice monotone and flat, and the next moment begins to murmur a string of infernal words, calling to life the ancient runes on the page.
Male Human
Now crouching beside the dying man, Darius squints and leans in closer to hear Ibid’s words. He knows Ibid is talking out loud, working through the problem by stating what he knows for sure, but a terrible thought crystallizes for Darius in that moment.
As Ibid drones on, prefaced by a fresh fit of coughing, Darius interrupts with a seemingly odd question. ”Ibid, what was the name of the one that… collected your signature?
Male Human
The man stares ahead, unsure if he should continue to try and excavate Ibid, or simply be there with him, talk and listen, while the investigator can still draw breath.
Male Human
A curtain of dust seems to hang suspended in the choked tunnel, a lingering remnant of the collapse. Eerie shadows dance between the shifting motes of stone and earth suspended in the air, projected and exaggerated by the light emanating from the ragged hat on the Keleshite’s head. The sound of coughing filters through from close by, and after turning a corner, the man sees the grisly sight of Ibid pinned, and slowly being crushed beneath the unimaginable weight of a jagged stone boulder. The hat wearing man looks quickly around the room and his eyes settle on a large wooden beam, broken free from the ceiling.
"Just hang in there, Ibid. I’ll get you out of this. This isn’t…” the man seems to search for some semblance of reassurance for Ibid, who continues to crane is neck, trying in vain to see the damage. From other’s vantage, he can easily see Ibid is dying, slowly pressed to death by the weight upon his back. ”This isn’t the worst mess we have gotten in."
His words cannot seem to find the proper inflection of true compassion or even fear for prospect of being buried alive, there is an almost calm quality to his voice, as if he is detached from the perils of the situation. It is as if his mind is not processing the true dangers about them. He moves to the beam and collects it with great effort, dragging the lever toward his friend. A moment later, he jabs it under a small, shadowed gap created by Ibid’s crushed body. With a grunt he throws his own weight down against the lever, muscles straining and sweating almost immediately as he prays the mechanical advantage is enough to allow Ibid to breathe. It is a grand victory when the stone begins to rise, creating the smallest of relief for the pinned investigator.
The relief is short lived when the terror and gravity of their situation returns with a crushing finality. The timber shrieks and groans under the stress and suddenly shatters. The cry of Ibid reverberates off the stones walls as the stone once again comes to rest upon his broken body.
Male Human
Dust hangs thick in the air as the echoes of the collapse just moments before fade down the long tunnels that connect through this main chamber in the tomb. A scrawny keleshite man crawls out from beneath a pile of rubble and puts a worn, wide brimmed leather hat back on his head after quickly dusting it off. ”light…” He whispers and light begins to shine from the hat. Frantically he begins to shout.
”Ibid! Ibid!” The man looks around, moving stones and rushing around the room, searching for signs of life.
”Dammit Ibid, where in the nine hells are you?”
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