Rashemen - RP Thread

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Delinos looked at them strangely. "Am I not here or something?"

After no reply from the others, he said, "Well, Kelvados, looks like we are on our own."

With that, the brothers became invisible to all, except to the one holding the Earth's Heart.

 

Atten observed all the of the pointless debating with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. Why couldn't everyone just get on with the job rather than discussing it so much?

"I'm going to set up a camp of sorts in that grove of trees over there. Whoever wants to stay with me is welcome to, so long as they can stay quiet and not attract too much attention. It'll be tough enough to mask the power of the Heart of the Earth without anyone making that job any more difficult."

 

"We will head in now?" they whispered to Delphinae.

 

"Yes, now we shall take the missing piece of the Heart back."

The six adventurers followed a path that it seemed only Delphinae could see, winding their way toward the keep. They were fortunate enough to avoid the patrols, and quickly they were at the southern wall. Delphinae examined the wall, found the one brick that seemed slightly more polished than the rest, and pushed on it gently. With surprising quietness, a three-foot tall door of stone swung inward on well-oiled hinges.

"Nakia, you and Sepp should go first. The rest of us will have to crawl to get inside."

 

Nakia steps through the opening into a narrow corridor but high enough for the 'Big People' to walk upright. It is shadowy with only a little light. She hopes Del won't have a problem seeing. The rest should be fine moving in the near darkness.

 

Delphinae keeps a lookout for the inevitable return of the patrols and hurriedly ushers the others through; first Sepp, then Delinos, Jex, and Kelvados. Finally crawling through the door herself, she rotates a torch-holder from tilted right to tilted left, and the secret door closes just as quietly as it opened.

"Good, I don't think we were seen. Follow me."

Delphinae strides purposefully into the darkness as the rest follow. With each measured step she follows the map in her mind until she reaches a non-descript wall, seemingly a dead-end. Turning back to the group, she beckons in what she hopes will look reassuring to the infravision of the others, and then disappears into the wall.

 

Sepp stepped up to the wall. It looked real, but when he put his hand up to it to feel its stone, he realized it was not there. Closing his eyes, he felt a strange buzzing feeling in the air where the wall seemed to be. He took three steps forward, then opened his eyes and saw Del on the other side.

 

Atten sat down to wait. He got hungry and decided to fix himself something to eat. Meanwhile the power of the Heart of the Earth continued to be a presence which he could not ignore.

 

Seeing Del and Sepp walk through the wall, Nakia walked up to it, closed her eyes and stepped through. Opening her eyes she saw Del and Sepp.

Breathing a soft sigh of relief she stepped over beside them.

 

Jex walked through the wall with ease. He felt it's magic as he stepped through. When he appeared on the side with his companions he looked at them all with a bewildered look. "Where to know?" He whispered.

 

Delphinae frowned pensively. "That's a good question. Sepp, can you sense your mother's spirit anywhere?"

 

Atten found some berries and munched on them. Juicy.

 

Sepp closed his eyes for a minute. "Yes, I can feel her. She's down below us a ways. She's in pain. We've got to find her and get her out of her cage. Let's be careful though, this place is scary."

 

Kelvados and Delinos were at peace and were at the top of their game in the darkness. They passed through the wall without a second glance.

 

Alexi followed quietly behind the two drow not really knowing what else to do.

 

"Down. Hmm, I can get us to the basement, but we'll be on our own from there. Nakia, I don't want the group to be dependant on me to get them out, so I'd like you to set a different kind of trap at each intersection. One type of trap would mean turn left, another would mean turn right, and a third type would mean go straight. That way anyone from our group who spots a trap would know which way to go.

"You could start here with a fourth kind of trap, preferably one that will collapse the tunnel. If don't have one that you want to use here, Sepp might be able to loosen some stones. I want to make sure that if they manage to chase the group, they won't be able to any farther than this."

Delphinae turned to Delinos. "Much as I hate to admit it, you may actually be useful in this endeavor. Area silence and invisibility spells would help keep ... the less stealthy members of this group unobtrusive when we get out of the passages. I'd also like you to keep a spell in reserve to collapse the exit once we're out."

 

POSTING AS FELLOWSHIP OF THE SERPENT

Midnight Death was shaking uncontrollably. Thirty years of pain and waiting, then having the honor of taking the hostage to find the Earth's Heart go to Viper's Fang. The only joy there was that he had failed miserably, just like Midnight Death knew he would. Then the attack on the stupid villagers. It was fun, but more importantly, it brought him the guide he needed to follow the little one on his journey to find the Heart. Losing Claw was not a bad price to pay to get a living connection to the halfling. Days and days of following from a great distance, totally out of touch with any of their senses, just barely mainting contact through the piece of scalp growing on his forearm. And now, all the years of waiting and toiling were coming to fruition. The halfling and the larger part of the group had entered the Fortress, to their certain doom. And only the Tree-hugger and one or two others were left guarding the Heart. All he had to do was reach out and take it. He willed his body to stop shaking, and stepped inside the Earth's Heart power envelope.

He pointed signals to his four Vipers. "Killer, Bones, Darkblade, Shank, move ahead, kill everyone, don't touch the Earth's Heart." They all advanced quietly, and deadly.

He moved through the forest, suddenly a black dog lunged at him and bit into his forearm, right were the halfling's scalp was grafted on.

"Grrrrrr! Grrrr!" growled the dog. Then with a sickening sound a large hunk of flesh tore off his arm, taking all of the halfling's scalp with it. In two gulps the dog had swallowed it all.

"Arrggh!" Midnight Death screamed at the dog. He pulled out his longsword, and as the dog lept at him, he cut it clean in half. The two parts lay twitching on the ground, its eyes still glaring at him. "I'll finish you, you scum dog!" he roared. He stabbed his blade in the ground, and then cast an Agnazzar's Scorcher out of each hand, burning each half of the dog to cinders. He kicked the ashes to the wind and shouted ahead of him, "Vipers! Attack, they know we're here! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

 

"Aye, Del. I'll set an explosive trap here but it would help if Sepp could weaken the stones some.

Poison trap to go left. Fire trap to go right. Arrow trap to go straight."

With that she placed the explosive trap ready to be set. It blended into the stone and shadows. Only a master thief or mage seeking traps would find it.

Seeing Alexi she was surprised. "Alexi, you should be with Atten. He has only Maron if there be trouble."

With that Alexi hurried back the way they came.

 

Sepp looked up at the stone ceiling. "Sure, that won't be much of a problem to collapse. I'll go ahead and weaken it now, so that if I'm not with the group coming back, even a few sharp blows with a weapon should bring it down." He closed his eyes and went into the stone, seeking their natural weak spots and bringing them almost to the breaking point.

 

"Itredi Fo Romurs!" Delinos whispered hurriedly, and the group was invisible and had a silence spell for movement. He gave them each an enchanted stone that gave them the ability to talk and cast spells if need be, and not dispel the silence.

Delinos stuck his blade fingers into the wall and climbed up to crawl like a spider. Kelvados strapped knives to his wrists and followed, quiet as a shadow.