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No, she definitely wasn't overreacting. She jumped up, pacing, trying to think. "We have to wake him! Anything we can do! He has to wake up!" An idea popped into her mind and she acted without a second thought. She dropped to her knees, leaned over his face, and shouted,
They had caught sight of the boar’s spoor what seemed to Tymythy an hour ago, and had slowed their pace accordingly, knowing they were close. And, minutes ago, they had caught sight of the beast itself.
And a beast it was, Tymythy readily agreed. A patron of its kind, surely, if not the host of some spirit of the land. Tall as a horse and much, much more massive. Its curly black-and-brown fur crisscrossed with scars, signs of battles fought and won. One of its tusks had snapped but even the stump was longer than a dagger, and jaggedly sharp. Its red eyes gleamed in the falling light, its heavy snorts louder than the roars of a smith’s forge’s when a team of apprentices worked the bellows.
Wordless commands were given by hand-signs as the clan spread around the beast, slowly approaching as one, arrows knocked, spears and weighted nets readied. Tymythy did his best to match the others, as anyone straying too far ahead was at the greatest risk and someone falling behind might be too late to give support where needed – while it was true the one who struck the killing blow gained a lot of honor, it would not do to try and earn it while risking the hunt and one’s fellow hunters.
The beast raised its head suddenly, and Tymythy froze in midstep, hoping the creature would ignore whatever had startled it and go back to its grazing…
… by mere happenstance, he decided to cast his own gaze in the direction of the beast’s sudden interest…
… and found himself frozen in place, the quarry forgotten. In the horizon, a shape, a clothed humanoid form taller than any mountain, its head hidden above the layer of clouds, its feet lost in a deep mist that suddenly came sweeping in from its direction. The two strange figures following at the far distance took note of the new figure – the one in silver acknowledging the titan as an equal or more, bowing deeply in his saddle, while the one draped in black merely gazed at the apparition.
And next, a voice like a hurricane, like a stampede of the largest horde of beasts imaginable. A voice to shake the earth and stir the seas into storms, to raise hurricanes that level forests like a child crushes a fortress built from twigs.
Voicing one word alone.
With a yell of sheer terror Tymythy shot upright, eyes wide and wild as he stared around, clearly disoriented.
Dounia jumped at Cairee's desperate scream, nearly falling over. Whipping around, she ran for the doorway, where Tymythy lay, as still as a corpse. "What happened!"
She didn't wait for a response. Dropping to her knees, she slapped him hard on the cheek. At least, that was the intent. Instead, the warrior sat up suddenly, and it was too late for her to pull back, and she ended up hitting him soundly in the ear.
"Sorry!" she cried out, horrified, and pulled her hand back as if she'd been burned.
Tymythy suddenly sat up so fast he almost smacked his face into Cairee's, who was still leaning over him. The cleric pulled back, giving just enough space for Dounia to slap the wide eyed warrior.
"Oh!" The blow surprised her, and hopefully didn't do more damage. But Tymythy was alive and awake, and that was all that mattered. "Thank you Saiph!" She made no attempt to stop the tears streaming down her cheeks as she checked her friend over. "Are you okay? How do you feel? Dounia, get him some water."
Tymythy seemed disoriented and unfocused in a way that would stick with him for a day or two.
Tymythy’s scream was cut like with a knife when Dounia slapped his face. Befuddled still, the hunter automatically brought one hand up to his stinging ear and gave the rogue a wild look as he tried to process just what was going on.
Then Cairee was fussing over him, and a skin of water was pushed to his lips. He took a sip, again without real conscious thought, reacting without realizing. Slowly, the fog in his mind was starting to lift, the memories of the dream taking second place to stimulus from his senses.
”Spirits!” he swore, giving the waterskin back to Cairee. ”That was… I was… dreaming? Remembering? I was back home, doing what I loved, with my clan. My family. People who have already passed through the veil years and years ago. I was trapped… and I didn’t want to be freed.”
Indeed, the longing was still there. To step past the threshold again, to willingly succumb this time, to live an eternity every day in a blissful dream. ”That was some trap and a half. There were… something?... in the dream that didn’t seem to belong, but… had it not been for you, I might be on my way to join the poor bastard over there,” he said, gesturing broadly in the direction of the peacefully dead in the chamber ahead. ”I owe you my life.”
Zahra began to purposefully move down the hall as if pushed by some unseen force. She kept glancing down at Haseena's bag with concern etched on her face.
As if out of nowhere, Dounia approached Zahra which was clearly trouble.
"Take who where? What are you doing?"
Zahra turned her back to Dounia, protecting her hand from prying eyes while moving as far away from her as possible. "I'm not doing anything. Don't you have locks to pick or something?"
Just as Zahra was shimmying past Dounia with her back to the young rogue, Cairee's voice rang out in concern about Tymythy. Thankfully, Dounia rushed over leaving the sorceress alone. Zahra watched the scene unfold and her eyes widened in surprise, her gaze focused on Tymythy's chest.
The sorceress managed to tear her gaze away from Tymythy and turned her attention back to her hand. She began to move north under the direction of whatever she held in her hand but her eyes kept flicking back towards Tymythy.
Zahra let out a loud gasp as Tymythy sat bolt upright. There was something about his sudden movement that she found concerning. "I hope they're okay," she murmured to her hand as she purposefully moved towards the room to the very north.
Dounia's heart was pounding as she sat back on her heels. Tymythy seemed fine, but clearly something very bad, and very magical had happened. She called to Zahra, "Hey, can you come over here and check Tymythy? Does he still have some spell stuck to him, or something?"
She didn't know how it worked, but the warrior was clearly still not 100% fine.
The boy with the silver laurel was excited but kept it subdued as he puffed out his chest. The closer to the north room he got the more triumphant he became. The boy in the silver cloak only looked concerned and patient.
Zahra could see the contents of the next room from the doorway. It was an octagonal space with the archway she stood before in the south-most side of the room. The north, east, and west walls had fresco paintings of garden arbors. In between them were painted images of warriors in strange armour, warriors of old, standing proud.
The northwest wall had collapsed some time ago and earth poured in from behind.
The centre of the floor had a five foot well, no more than a hole in the floor. It's edges warn and creating cracks in the four cardinal directions.
Zahra patted her bag gently while muttering, "Alright, just everyone calm down. We're almost there...", she looked at her hand, "Right?"
"Hey, can you come over here and check Tymythy? Does he still have some spell stuck to him, or something?"
Zahra kept her back to the others. If they could have seen her face they would have seen slight annoyance. "Just a sec." She glanced over her shoulder, "He's awake. I'm sure he's fine. Cairee's got everything under control."
The sorceress then turned her attention back to what really mattered. She cautiously approached the hole and then crouched down to bring her hand to the floor. "Be careful."
She stared hard at the dirt that had collapsed in on the room. She appeared to be deciding about something.
. Also, can she tell if the floor around the well is unstable or does she not care?
Alarmed, Dounia jumped to her feet. "Zahra! Where are you going?" She scrambled after her, calling back to Cairee, "She was talking to herself before. Zahra, wait!"
”I was trapped… and I didn’t want to be freed...That was some trap and a half. There were… something?... in the dream that didn’t seem to belong, but… had it not been for you, I might be on my way to join the poor bastard over there,” he said, gesturing broadly in the direction of the peacefully dead in the chamber ahead. ”I owe you my life.”
Tymythy's description of his dream was haunting. A spell to not only kill you, but make you want to stay - who could devise such a thing? "A particularly cruel bit of magic. This place was built by those who did not give a thought to who they may be harming." The cleric had more to say but Tymythy was clearly disoriented and not in any place to debate responsible magic use. "You owe me nothing. This place is evil. We should not have come."
"Hey, can you come over here and check Tymythy? Does he still have some spell stuck to him, or something?"
”"He's awake. I'm sure he's fine. Cairee's got everything under control.”
"Zahra! Where are you going?" She scrambled after her, calling back to Cairee, "She was talking to herself before. Zahra, wait!"
Cairee had only just realized that Zahra hadn't come running when Tymythy's life had been in grave danger and now Dounia was off, calling out a new threat. Clearly the old magics of this room wasn't done with them. After what had just happened, Cairee could only imagine the worst. She got to her feet, pulling Tymythy up with her. She murmered a quick blessing on herself and, supporting Tymythy, started after Zahra.
"Zahra, stop! Please! Something has hold of your mind. Whatever it is telling you, do not listen. Trust your friends. Listen to us when we say you're in danger!"
There was something about the tone of Cairee's voice that cut through into Zahra's brain. Then Dounia grabbed her arm out of nowhere and wouldn't let her get away.
Zahra looked confused and a little disappointed. She began to realize that her new friends weren't real but she could still see them. She could still feel them wriggling in her bag, she could still see where they were pointing, and she could still see the glowing hand in the rubble. Part of her clung to the idea that they could have been showing her something even if they weren't real.
She looked at Dounia, "I need to see what that is," she pointed towards the back of the room. "It may or may not be real but I need to know."
Zahra pointed at the northwest wall, the collapsed wall. Earth pored out of it with a white substance that looked like lime. What was a softly illuminated white hand poking out of the earth to her looked like a hand to everyone else. It was shivelled and grey but human.
Zahra looked about the room and white illuminated figures were emerging from the corner walls These impressive ghostly forms matched the fresco paintings on the walls and each held a great Khopesh.
Zahra might have been seeing spectral warriors but everyone else saw fists burst through the plaster paintings. Shrivelled warriors broke through.
Eyeless but still seeing.
Tongueless but still moaning.
They took a step out of their plaster sarcophagi and brandished wicked looking blades. From blade tip to crown to the base of their iron sandals they crackled with the energy of a dark vacuum, like holes in the fabric of the universe.
Init
"GAH!" Dounia didn't know what she was expecting, but wall-mummies wasn't it. She leapt back, nearly tripping on debris and ending up on her bottom.
Tymythy shuddered at the sudden appearance of the undead warriors – less for of their nature, really, but rather because they reminded him of all the dead friends and relatives with whom he had just ran and hunted in his dreams. The hunter hurried to prepare himself to meet a charge, spear and shield raised.
”Zahra! Dounia! To us! We don’t want to be trapped in the room!” Tymythy shouted. After all, if three enemies had emerged from hiding who could say how many more waited for their turn? The doorway would present them an advantageous choke point and allow then to retreat if the three turned into a horde in the coming moments.
From where they stood Tymythy and Cairee could see one of the creatures walk across the far side of the next room, just the briefest glimpse. Then a second creature, garbed in ancient armour, moved infront of the doorway and and blocked the path into (or out of) the room.
It looked at the two and pealed its' desiccated mouth apart. A voice issued from the cracking throat that sounding like a burnt log. "Nig'ma lu'ni'zu ra e gi Bar Ku'bara'sigi!"
From inside the room Zahra and Dounia watched as the two other creatures converged on them. Instead of slashing with their horrible swords, they reached out with their free hands and tried to grab their prey.
The one grasping for Zahra croaked, "Lu'ni'zu!". It grabbed Zahra's arm in its' steely grip. She could feel it take from her. It was a spiritual vacuum, a hole in the universe, and her life-force was being sucked into it!
The one grasping for Dounia tried to speak but as it pushed the air through its' esophagus, "Lu'n...", the side of its' throat blew outward in a spray of dust. It reached for her but only got a loose hold of her shoulder.
But a loose hold was enough!
"GAH!!" Dounia was repeating herself, but she didn't care. This was creepy, even by their standards. Throwing herself forward into a roll, she tried to dodge past her ancient attacker and move towards the door, without getting too close to the others.
Zahra screamed as the spectres emerged and reached for her. She dropped the paper forms that she had been so carefully carrying in her hand and looked at the one boy accusingly, "Why bring me here?!?"
She tried to dodge the bony fingers as she desperately tried to get out the door, but one of them caught her arm. "Get off me!" She shook her arm free and said her own words back at the ghostly form, releasing magical energy at it.
"Help us!", she pleaded to Tymythy and Cairee.
The glowing figures spoke a strange language but, somehow, Zahra understood their intention even if she couldn't understand their meaning. Something about the condition she was in was allowing her to make intuitive leaps about the ancient tongue .
"Nig'ma lu'ni'zu ra e gi Bar Ku'bara'sigi!"
"Lu'ni'zu!"
Cairee saw what looked like mummified warriors burst through the walls. One blocked the door and she lost sight of her friends. We should have stayed together, we should always stay together, why did they run off ahead?
Now was not the time to panic. The cleric took a deep breath, doing her best to calm her nerves and clear her mind. Walking purposefully towards the creature in the door, she reached into one of the many pockets in her robes and pulled out a flint and a pinch of what looked like glittery dust. She passed the flint over the dust. "Ecnaid Arfot Srub!" She brought the dust to her mouth and blew it towards the creature.
"Help us!", she pleaded to Tymythy and Cairee.
Tymythy muttered a curse as the undead showed surprising amount of coordination to swiftly cut off escape and move to… not attack, but detain Dounia and Zahra, it seemed like? Puzzling, but then again, such unliving guardians were likely to stick to their instructions – if these ones had been told to catch and imprison rather than kill, then that they’d do. At least initially. What they’d do if the intruders proved reluctant enough to get caught…
Hearing Zahra’s plea Tymythy sprang into action, rushing towards the undead already blocking the doorway, feinting high and then struck low, sweeping his spear’s head across the undead sentry’s legs, ripping off bits and pieces of rotting fabric that might once been an uniform… but doing little actual damage.
Dounia cartwheeled away long before the monster she was facing could swipe out with its' cruel weapon. The young thief righted herself just as a great glorious radiance of light pulsed out from the hallway.
Zahra seemed unshaken and by force of will shot of missile of power into the horrid guardian. One after the other, the darts struck where the creature's liver should reside. The first exploded on the surface while the second blew through the rotting creature's upper hip.
Obviously materially damaged, it became furious at he insult.
Cairee stepped forward and a radiance like a white sun built up inside her and beamed outward. As the awesome light reached the doorframe the guardian within moved its' blade aside and bathed in the radiance.
"An-na! Ara dutu, as kam dar-uru e'ze. Nu! Dutu gis'sab'ba zalag! Gis'sab'ba zallag!" With its' empty hand, the guardian covered its' eyeless sockets. It staggered in the archway giving Tymythy time to rush in and slice into the guardian's husky thighs.
One guardian stayed put and swung to exterminate Zahra but the sorceress moved unexpectedly and the sword couldn't find flesh.
The other guardian followed after Dounia. It seemed fustrated like it was trying to remove a pest and clipped the back of her head. Though the wound wasn't deep, it bled profusely.
The creature in the archway, feeling its' thighs slashed, turned its' head slightly as if listening for breath. It swept at Tymythy and struck his shield arm!
"Why bring me here?!?"
The little boy with the silver laurel didn't seem to be listening. He had his hand out flat as if commanding the guardians to stop this attack while the boy in the silver cloak shook his head in embarrassment, his arms folded. They climbed up to Zarha's shoulders for more of a vantage point.
Zahra glanced at the boy wearing the silver laurel on her shoulder but never really took her eyes off the glowing guard before her, "Are you Ku'bara'sigi? You may want to try harder if they're supposed to obey you."
Meanwhile, she held up her hands and shook her head at the warrior, "No Lu'ni'zu! No Lu'ni'zu!" Her tongue stumbled over the unfamiliar word but thought she had said it well enough to be understood.
Zahra backed up and moved around the well to try to make her way to the exit and to stay as far away from the attackers as possible.
She yelled at the others, "They think we're thieves or vandals, although I guess we're intruders. But I don't know how to get them to think we aren't dangerous."
"Cairee, it like the sun and called it a sun god before exclaiming it was too bright. Maybe we could find common ground if they would just stop trying to kill us!"
"Cairee, it like the sun and called it a sun god before exclaiming it was too bright. Maybe we could find common ground if they would just stop trying to kill us!"
Had it only been yesterday that Cairee had made a similar plea to her friends as they fought the Flinds? Her heart warmed to know that Zahra wanted the same, even when facing these undead creatures. But there could be no common ground with enchanted corpses. It wasn't people they were fighting, but the cruel indifference of whoever cast this magic ages ago. If there was any memory of their former selves remaining, the kindest thing Cairee could do would be to release them to Saiph.
The cleric moved to Tymythy's left. She brought her hand to the pendant at her throat. "Please Saiph, recognize the souls that used to inhabit these bodies, and bring them to you."
Tymythy squeezed his eyes shut in the aftermath of the burst of brilliant light, then blinked furiously to banish the afterimages but found he could still see. Unlike the undead guardian he was fighting, although he noted the creature adapted quickly – clearly it had been a skilled warrior when still among the living, and whatever had been done to it to bind it into servitude after death had not left it a mere mindless minion. Something he really should have grasped the first time one of the three spoke, he chided himself. Not that the words had meant anything to him.
Following the sound of his footsteps, the undead warrior wrung its sword at him with surprising speed and it was all Tymythy could do to attempt to deflect the blow with his buckler, and while the small disc of laminated wood and leather held the sheer weight of the blow slammed the young hunter against the doorframe, leaving him sore from a dozen bruises and his head ringing when his right temple made contact with the stone wall.
Doing his best to swallow a grunt of pain he redoubled his efforts to get past the creature’s defenses, but the undead seemed to respond by instinct alone as its sword met with Tymythy’s spear in a series of ringing blows. Still, the efforts of dealing with his thrusts allowed him to slip under the undead’s guard and punch its ribcage with the pommel of his dagger, breaking a few of the more brittle bones.
The thing seemed just as impervious to pain as he had expected, but he was doing some damage. But an endurance battle with an undead was not a challenge Tymythy relished.
Dounia took a step away from her following attacker to thrust her dagger into the back of the guardian in the archway.
Tymythy dug his dagger in nearly to the hilt and he could feel the creature's abdomen split as he watched Zahra bolt to the other side of the octagonal room. She turned abruptly to dodge the incoming guardian harrying her.
And that's when it happened.
Another light poured into the room, before which Tymythy was the frailest of cloud silhouettes. It seemed like sunlight but wasn't sunlight. It looked white but wasn't white. It sounded like song but was completely silent. And it felt like a combination of palpable forgiveness and the heat of un-making.
It bathed the creature in the doorway directly and, unready, it took the un-making in full. Its' body dried to little more than wasp paper. It called out, "Sir-kug! A-na-am kam as?! As zi-du-nu ermin?!!"
The guardian chasing Dounia braced itself and remained standing in the powerful light.
Dounia's attack coupled with Tymythy's opened it's back in a long slash and its' wasp paper broke in half and disintegrated into ash pieces, the largest no bigger than a money pouch.
One of the remaining guardians rushed at Zahra and swiped a horizontal swipe that she barely ducked. The other cut downward at Dounia, but the desert thief knew better that to stay in one spot longer than necessary.
[damage]1d4+4+2d6[/dice]
Dounia spun out of the way, keeping close to the undead guard, but moving to its other side so she could have Tymythy opposite it. Then she struck again with her dagger, hoping to repeat her success with the last foe.
Zahra was on an amazing, confusing, and slightly terrifying trip. She turned towards the light and the voice trying to figure out what was happening. She looked at her shoulder, "Was that you? If so, thanks."
When she's rushed by another one of the guardians, she gives another shriek and moves towards Tymythy to get away from the threat. However, as a parting shot the sorceress sends more silvery force missiles flying at her pursuer.
Another light poured into the room, before which Tymythy was the frailest of cloud silhouettes. It seemed like sunlight but wasn't sunlight. It looked white but wasn't white. It sounded like song but was completely silent. And it felt like a combination of palpable forgiveness and the heat of un-making.
In The Order, novices would whisper stories about magics that could make the dead rise and the great clerics who risked their lives to release the spirits from their animated corpses. She had never given the tales much thought. She'd joined the order to avoid a life of adventure, and had been confident she would never be in a potion to see an Unmaking.
Cairee had used her connection with Saiph to heal more times than she could count. It always left her feeling warm and love and at peace. This was different. She felt fragile and strong, humble and righteous, unworthy and powerful. She watched the first Guardian crumple to ash and thought You're Welcome. She slipped passed Tymythy and stood to the right of the doorway. Hand to her pendant, she looked directly at the other two."Your suffering is over. Saiph releases you. Go in peace."
Tymythy smiled grimly as Cairee’s power washed over the undead guardians, reducing the one blocking the doorway into little more than dust. And she clutched her holy symbol with such a determined expression on her face she seemed about to do it again. Still, for all he knew there was a chance the remaining creatures would not succumb quite so easily, so Tymythy rushed into the room, catching Dounia’s eye and understanding the meaning behind her quick gesture. She wanted to pincer one of the enemies between them. Doing his best to comply, Tymythy moved around the nearest undead, launching a series of quick attacks its way to force it to keep its attention on him while presenting its back to the crafty rogue.