Dreadlords A Life Etched In Blood

[Drastus Tal'deneshaar]

Drast remembered hitting the ground, he remembered the scrambling around him, and then a snapping sound pulled him back into the fight. A quick cursory glance and he saw Edric. Fuck.

"Eddy!" He growled, rolling to his feet and firing a few more of those necrotic blasts at the beast, trying to draw its ire from Edric. It worked, kinda.

Edric would feel the tendrils loosen some before he was whipped outward and around, clubbing the other initiate as if he were a bludgeon. Whatever confident grin Drast tried to keep, would immediately vanish just before the collided and he would hit the far wall with a crunch, yelping as the arm that tried to soften the smash cracked in three places on impact.

Appearing from the shadows beyond the creature, Rupert would bring his ethereal blade downwards on one of the tendrils squeezing Edric, severing it entirely, before swinging his blade along the main body of the creature.

Ryan Ashford Edric

 

[HRavielle]

Ryan’s head hit the wall before she slid down to the floor. Fuck, that hurt! She thought as she rubbed the back of her head. She would definitely have a nice array of bruises after this party. She found her feet as Drast tried to fight off the creature. Nothing. This was not going well. Ryan picked up the dagger that had fallen from her grasp when she was thrown against the wall.

The whatever the fuck it was creature attacked Edric and seemed to give it all its attention as it strangled the Initiate. Edric was fighting the creature as the creature fought to kill him.

Ryan grabbed the short swords that she had liberated from one of the dead bodies and plunged it into one of the tendrils of the beast. It was in the middle of strangling Edric, throwing Drast into the wall again, and getting stabbed cause it to return attention to her.

Good, that is what she needed. She had already absorbed a good portion of its energy and power when it had thrown her before, and she just needed a little more. The tendril lashed out and Ryan grabbed the energy as it flew at her. The tendril never made it to her though. There was a horrible scream that came from the creature before it went still.

Ryan now had a good amount of pushing force built up inside of her. Thank you, mystery monster!

Edric Drastus Tal'deneshaar

 

[Edric]

The Ethereal blade flickered down, severing the tendril in one quick swipe. The creature screamed, shifted to move and attack once more...then suddenly lurched backwards as Ryan drew upon whatever energy was rushing around it.

Edric pulled a breath into his lungs.

His windpipe seemed to flex, pull at itself, and then finally air pulled into his chest. A flicker of pain ran through him as the wound healed, head shaking as he let out a curse. "Fuck me."

Edric said, rubbing at his throat.

"Drast, you okay?" As he called out the words once again rang in his mind.

"It doesn't matter if the others die, Edric. You have to kill him."​

His lips thinned as the echo thundered within his mind. Slowly his gaze drew towards the creature, peering at the monstrous amalgamation of flesh. He could feel his stomach twist slightly, looking at the monstrosity before him.

It was a monster, flesh knitted together, the tendrils made up of dozens of arms and legs sown together. What were they doing here.

Edric asked himself, drawing his gaze away from the monster and towards the door at the other end of the hall.

 

[Drastus Tal'deneshaar]

As the beast screamed in pain from whatever good sucking Ryan was throwing at it, Rupert would move with a grace unfit for an undead, the ethereal blade removing two more tendrils before he planted a boot and drove the blade into the main body of the creature, through the open maw of one of its many screaming faces. "Ry! Rupert! Keep it up!" Drast would yell as he rolled.

Drast would struggle back to his feet, one arm totally useless for the moment and so it would hang limply at his side. "Guess I don't need to sit on the hand anymore to call it the stranger.." he would laugh through a pained expression. Pain was weakness leaving the body. Pain was weakness leaving the body. Pain was.. He dropped to a knee again and leaned against the wall.

"Fuck you, buddy..." He hissed as the ethereal glow entered his eyes and ethereal chains would emerge from the cavern floor and begin to wrestle the remaining tendrils. The focus was hard, but even if he couldn't restrain them, he could keep them busy for the others.

Edric Ryan Ashford

 

[HRavielle]

Ryan was only half paying attention to Edric and Drastus as she pulled energy from the creature. Once she felt full, she unleashed the power back towards it. She pushed her hands out towards the monster as the energy force flowed from her, directed at the faces and the tendrils and the main body that she needed to destroy.

She, honestly, had no control over what would happen if the force hit either of her partners. She was focused on killing the creature. Destroying it was the only way the three of them would make it out of this cavern together.

The creature screamed as the force hit it and began to tear through the flesh of its grotesque body. She hoped she had taken enough to kill it.

 

[Edric]

Drastus pushed the edges of those ethereal magic, Ryan lashed out with the power that she had stolen.

The creature seemed to buckle, shift beneath the weight of his allies assault. He could sense it wavering, could feel the life being stripped away piece by piece. Fingers curled into fists, and then a long breath drew into his lungs.

A loud screech to echoed within the hall. The beast screamed, it's mouths opening as the horrors own fate began to lash back at it. Pain seemed to lash and lance around the beast, it's skin shriveled, it's tendrils wavered, and then it curled in on itself.

Edric reached out, grasping, tearing away at the last of it's life.

What little power Ryan hadn't already stolen he took for himself. The Initiate dragged the rest of the beasts life from it's very heart. Taking the essence of what tortured souls still remained at it's heart until the last of it's cries died and they were plunged into silence.

All that remained was the sound of their breathing.

The thundering, rushed beats of their heart.

 

[Drastus Tal'deneshaar]

The chains flickered as he focused, trying his hardest to restrain the beast. When he felt them seizing the moment, he would cut his focus.

Drastus watched as the others decimated the abomination. Good, he could switch gears to his arm. Unclipping one of his daggers from his belt, he would use it as a splint for his arm, his belt soon being removed to wrap around the limb.

Once that was secured, he focused on the pain, several sharp breaths before the pain faded from his mind. Several more, and it was gone entirely. As long as he didn't move it or clench his fist. He would straighten back up onto his feet. "So is this the fucker we were sent to kill?" He asked with a grin.

Edric Ryan Ashford

 

[HRavielle]

The power that she had not expelled on the creature retreated into her stores for later. There was not much but it was enough that she would be able to blast a few attackers before she needed to absorb anything again.

Ryan looked at Edric and then at Drast. She was happy that they had all survived that bullshit but she was a little worried about what waited for them. That thing had been no fucking joke.

"I highly doubt it, Drast. That was just the first course!"

She picked up the daggers from the ground and she stuck them in her belt. All weapons needed for later.

Drastus Tal'deneshaar Edric

 

[Edric]

Edric frowned for a moment, looking at the strange corpse amalgamation. "Ryan's right."

He knew why they were here.

Renou's words were clear now in his head, and so was the image that she had shown them before they'd left. The frown on his lips deepened, and he slowly curled his fingers into tight fists. Teeth sank down on his tongue.

"You have to kill him."​

The words compelled him, dragged him forward.

With slow, echoing steps Edric made his way across the room. He stepped over the tendrils which had been cascaded over the room, ignoring the beast as though it had never been a problem. Before long he reached the second door, grasping it.

There was a loud shriek of metal as Edric enhanced his muscles and pulled the door from it's hinges. The loud clatter rang out, echoing within the room as he revealed a winding staircase. His head poked through the doorway, then he glanced back to the others.

"Up we go." To the end. Theirs or this missions.

 

[Drastus Tal'deneshaar]

Drast sighed. "Yeah... I figured as much.. a guy can dream though, right?" He would say trudging after Edric. "C'mon Rupe. Let's keep up the killing."

Hopefully this next foe wouldn't be immune to his necrotic magicks. Rupert would go up the steps behind Edric, then Drast would head up after his companion.

Circular stairs. It always was, wasn't it? He would take out his flask and with one hand, remove the cap and take a pull from it. It helped with the pain quite a bit.

Edric Ryan Ashford

 

[HRavielle]

Ryan followed the others as they headed towards the next door. The sound of the hinges being destroyed on the door caused Ryan to flinch. It was like nails on a chalkboard but louder and more grinding. Luckily, it did not last long. Edric pulled the door off the wall leaving the doorway as a brand new archway now.

Up. Stairs. This was going to hurt.

She started up the stairs behind Edric and before Rupert and Drastus. Every step hurt but she would be fine. She was not going to die. Not today at least.

"Good thing Kristen isn't here. She would be freaking out over these right now," Ryan laughed as she took another step. She was trying to lighten the mood a little.

Edric Drastus Tal'deneshaar

 

[Edric]

Edric didn't respond to Ryan, entirely focused on the winding staircase ahead of them.

They seemed to wrap upward and upward. Curling in on themselves again and again as they wandered up the tower. He felt no life above them, nothing that the reserve fawned for. No guards. No creatures. Nothing to speak of at all. It were as though the whole of the tower was entirely empty.

Yet for some reason he knew the man he was seeking was still at the top. Knew that Proctor Renou had been right. Her words still rung in his head, calling over and over again. Like a puppeteer, leading Edric along his strings. It was all he could do to keep going. To climb those ancient and empty steps.

Every so often they would pass by a doorway.

A single glance within would reveal one gruesome sight or another. Bodies flayed and cut, flesh stitched and down, skeletons twisted and turned into horrid abominations.

No life filled these creatures, and when Drastus tried to raise them…he would find a disturbing emptiness. Warded and protected from the touch of undeath, brought on by some other horror that had been brought upon them. As though whoever had done this had not just taken a life, but what lay after it as well.

The sickly sweet scent of death clung to everything as they walked, the steps seeming to last almost forever.

Until finally, they reached a door.

It was different from those they had encountered before. Steel, but carved ornately with a symbol Edric did not recognize. It was a beast, with a lion, crocodile, and goat's head. A scorpion's tail curled over its back and leather like wings sprouted from its shoulders. At its chest sat something Edric did recognize, something Ryan and Drastus would recognize too; the sigil of the Dreadlords.

 

[Drastus Tal'deneshaar]

Up the stairs they went, turning and turning. It was about as exciting as those chariot races that seemed so big in southern Aniria. He had two words for those people: hill people.

He stayed close to Ryan, if she ever looked like she was about to stumble, he would hold her up or support her. They were all here for the same thing, all on the same team.

Ryan would crack a joke at Kristens expense, which though there would be no outward reaction, it did bother him. But he would smile. "If Bull was here, we could stretch him out into Arethil's ugliest blanket and suffocate some enemies with it."

Drast didn't seem to notice, but Rupert would, and the initiate could feel his companions displeasure, but even some excitement. That meant that the soul that lay before them would be delicious.

When they reached the door, Drast would come to a stop and eye the sigil, he had to admit, they had a badass sigil. He offered a glance at the others. "Well, Ry, is the door enchanted? And if so, can you fix that?"

Ryan Ashford Edric

 

[HRavielle]

The door that the Initiates stopped in front had a creature that looked like something from a childs nightmares. A monster they created in their own mind that haunted them until they were old enough to realize that such a thing could never exist. The scariest part of it was the sigil of the Dreadlords that rested on the monsters chest. Why was that here? Where were they? These questions and more filled her mind.

Ryan's eyes cut over to Drastus when he spoke. She stepped forward and brought her hand close to the door. Yes, it was enchanted. No, she could not fix it. It was not an enchantment that had an energy around it. It just...was. It was as if the door was the enchantment and the enchantment was the door.

"Yes, it is enchanted. No, I cannot fix it. It is built into the door itself not the lock like before." Her eyes narrowed as she studied the door. "It seemed like it needs some kind of offering to open. Like it is attuned to a specific person or a group of people..."

Drastus Tal'deneshaar Edric

 

[Edric]

Edric frowned for a brief moment as he considered Ryan's words.

A memory flickered through his mind. It was distant, still a haze through everything else. He frowned for a moment, and then was about to say something when the door behind them suddenly echoed with a loud click. All three of the Initiates would hear the mechanical turning of gears.

The sigil within the door shifted, and then slowly the heavy steel barring them entry began to fall away into the ground below. A darkened hallway leading into a massive chamber which sat directly on top of the tower they had been ascending.

"Come Children, it is time we had a talk."​

A voice resounded through the hall, it's tone echoing, resounding, strangely mechanical. It was as if the whirring of a clock punctuated every word. Edric looked to the others, lips thinning, and then he stepped forward.

His odd eyes adjusted to the darkness as he entered the hallway.

It was not long before the great cavern presented itself. Mostly empty, spacious, with thick wires running over the floor. Dozens upon dozens of cables that stretched out and eventually reached a massive throne upon which sat a decrepit and skeletal looking man. His head barely held aloft as he looked to Edric.

Arrayed around him were four beasts, all almost as large as the one that the Initiates had struggled with in the chamber below. They were horrid amalgamations of man and beast, cobbled together by an arcane.

Edric looked to them, and he knew they would not allow a touch upon their master. "Archon."

He said the word with such assurance, such blatant confidence that the man on the throne only began to laugh in ascent.

 

[Drastus Tal'deneshaar]

Drast listened to Ryan and just cursed. If they couldn't get in how could th-

Then they heard the loud click. Such an unwelcoming click at that. The sigil in the door shifted and turned, before it recessed further into the door, and then the door itself fell away into the floor. Drast had never seen anything like it.

"Come Children, it is time we had a talk." ​

Drast's eyes had barely started to adjust to the new darkness when the voice resounded off of the walls. Edric and Ryan would enter, and so would Drast and Rupert.

His gaze dropped to the floor where the cables were, his feet shifting so that they couldn't be immediately entangled. Next were the beasts, loyal guards to the Archon that they would have to kill first, in order to get to him.

This was going to be a lot of fun.

Edric Ryan Ashford

 

[HRavielle]

No one really had time to ruminate on Ryan's words before the sigil moved in time with the sound of gears turning. Ryan frowned as she studied the door again. It was opening but not in the normal way. Of course not, that would have been too easy. It disappeared into the ground below it and unwanted shivers ran down Ryan's spine. It was creepy and not something normal door did.

And then all three of them heard the voice.

"Come Children, it is time we had a talk."

Yep...that was creepy too.

Ryan followed Edric into the hallway and she was quickly followed by Drastus and Rupert. Her eyes adjusted quickly since they had been in pretty dark areas the majority of their time here. As they entered the cavern, Ryan looked around in awe. It was huge but it was the old man on the throne that caught her attention first and then she saw his four beasts.

Fuck, she thought to herself.

 

[Edric]

Edric's heart thundered in his chest as the trio stepped into the room. His gaze, like Drastus, flickered over all that was inside.

He tried to study anything and everything, catching what grasp he could of what was around them. Eyes lingered on the beasts arrayed in front of the corpse Archon, his lips thinning as he finally drew his gaze towards the man himself.

"Which one was it that sent you?"​

The voice was old, broken.

Disheveled. As though it strained the man to speak in the first place.

"Gilram? Nassau? Isbrand?"​

Three Archons, rattling from the man's tongue. One of those men was dead, Edric knew that much. The other two...the other two he had stood in front of only a few months ago. A breath slowly drew into his lungs, chest rising, then falling.

His hands flickered down to his sides. He motioned to Ryan, pointing to the right, then motioned to Drastus, urging him to the left.

Edric took a step forward, striding towards the middle.

There was no point in talking.

"They all plot. Plan. That's what they do. Scheme. Not a one of them could ever be trusted. Not a one of them wanted what was best...no...they just...just wanted to use. They just wanted power. Not like me. Not like me."​

The Archon babbled, whispered, spoke as though the students understood every word he said.

"I was making the world better. Every one of them lost...every one of them born. I was making them better. We were all making them better. Some were just kids. Some were older but...but we could do so much more."
​

A quiet, hanging pause.

"They had to die. They had to die. So we could make them better. So we could make you better."​

The man looked up, and Edric froze.

"You understand, don't you?"​

Then suddenly the four creatures screamed, lurching forward towards the Initiates.

 

[Drastus Tal'deneshaar]

Oh no.. gods above and Rupert beside them.. this guy was seriously gonna monologue. Yup, he was definitely an Archon. He couldn't believe it, what a waste of breath.

Movement caught his eye, a signal. He stepped to the left, that ethereal glow working its way into his eyes. Rupert would step beside him, shield and sword at the ready, his hunger almost consuming Drastus. He wanted part of this mans soul, he needed it.

"Might be a bad time, but I'm kinda hungry." He mused lowly, just loud enough for Edric and Ryan to hear mid short autobiography.

When Edric stopped, the creatures charged, and Drast summoned those ethereal chains to wrap and constrict around the beasts, it would take his full concentration, and Rupert would step before him to protect him from any incoming attack.

He didn't expect to catch them all, but he did think it would slow the bastards down.

Edric Ryan Ashford

 

[HRavielle]

The mysterious man rattled off Archons names like he was speaking of the friends he had dinner with yesterday. Ryan still had not plucked out his name from the recesses of her mind though. There were not many Archons but her brain was betraying her right now.

Her eyes caught Edrics hand movement so while the Archon was in the middle of his monologue about plotting and planning and doing and yada yada, she moved to the other Initiates right side. Her dagger was in one hand and she was ready to absorb any attacks that would be coming their way.

The silence caused her to focus on the Archon and then he spoke four more words.

"You understand, don't you?"

No, Ryan did not understand, but there was no time for that as the four creatures screamed loudly and began to move towards the three teenagers.

Fuck!

Ryan immediately expelled the rest of the energy she had taken from the previous monster. It shot out towards one of the creatures and sent it skidding backwards. It only slowed it down for a few seconds though.

Shit!

Edric Drastus Tal'deneshaar

 

[Edric]

Chaos broke loose.

The man on the throne did not move, staying himself as though he were an Emperor watching over his court. It was the beasts that lurched into action. They lurched like vipers, darting forward towards the Initiates with reckless abandon.

Ethereal chains wrapped around one of the creatures, catching against it's flesh and binding in place. It thrashed and hurled itself against Drastus' magic. Tearing, biting, clawing in desperation. Then, suddenly, it seemed to split.

The creature tore itself apart, ripping itself through the ethereal chains as it's flesh parted.

Yet it hardly seemed to stop. The pieces of the creature shambled, shifted, growing legs and appendages that lashed forward out towards the Initiates. One tendril sweeping to where Edric stood.

Feet kicked off into the air as the Initiate launched himself up and over the tendril. Crashing into the ground in a roll as he stood into a sprint. Edric ran as fast as he could, pulling magic from his reserve and pooling it within his muscles.

He sprinted as fast as he could towards the Archon, another of the beasts suddenly shambling from the left and slamming down it's arm in an attempt to crush him.

 

[Drastus Tal'deneshaar]

"Rupert!" Drast roared as the beast split itself in two. Of course it could do that.

The undead protector would drive a shield into the beast that had charged Drastus, knocking it back, and twisting to slash a tendril free from its host as it flailed past.

Drast would side step the flopping tendril, and still drawing upon his chains, his gaze would shift to where Edric was. Not today, bitch. He thought to himself as the arm that came down, would never connect with Edric. Instead, chains had coiled around its owner and snaked their way to his arm, keeping it from dropping on the Initiate.

Sweat would bead Drast's brow from the strain, but he needed to hold it for just a second more. Roaring, Drast would twist, the chains flicking the arm and swinging it into the body of a neighboring beast, as the chains dissipated.

Edric Ryan Ashford

 

[HRavielle]

Ryan saw Edric start to sprint towards the Archon's throne and her first thought was that he was a fucking idiot but then she realized that he was probably the only one who had a chance of succeeding. He could die and he would just come back again. Well...she was pretty sure that was how it worked.

Drast seemed to have the beast that was after Edric under control for the moment. She had her own to deal with at the moment. The short sword that had become her trusted weapon today was at the ready as the best headed towards her. The powerful swipe of its huge taloned paw allowed her to absorb the energy and she really wished they had magic that she could steal but she would take what she could get.

Ryan's blade came towards the arm and it cut through it cleanly.

Another began to grow in its place.

"Fuckkkkk!"

 

[Edric]

Edric never even noticed the tendril stopped by Drastus' chain.

The impact of flesh against the ethereal binding resonated in the air, exploding with a shudder that wracked the beast. It howled in desperation, doing it's best to reach out and break through the encapsulating strike. Another of it's limbs lashed out.

His focus drove him home.

Muscles ached, pulsed as he vaulted over the lashing arm. Striking against the cobbled earth and rolling onto his feet back into a full sprint. Rage flickered inside of him, his hand extending.

A pulse ran through the air, an odd sort of shimmer as he drew upon the reserve of magic within his chest. He called upon the lessons he'd learned, those echoing Everleigh, Ralene, even Vance. The life he'd stolen, entropy in it's purest form pooled together within his palm.

An edge of shimmering midnight appeared within his palm as he leaped forward, hurling himself towards the throne.

The blade flickered up, and then arched downward towards the enfeebled Archon.

Then, it stopped.

The Archon's hand rose, and from his arm extended thousands upon thousands of tendrils. Multiple masses of flesh and muscle burst from his skin, stabbing through Edric and holding him in place. Flesh pinned and sown beneath the Initiate's skin.

"More...more...we need more...troublesome Children...so troublesome."​

Whispers floated from the mad man's lips, and his flesh would begin to peel apart. Masses of skin tumbled from his form, and within seconds they began to grow. More amalgamations, horrors of muscle and sinew forming together into the beasts arrayed around the room.

They tumbled forward, stepping like newborn babes, rushing into full monstrosities in an attempt to kill the Initiates.

Edric roared, screamed as the tendrils within his flesh began to pick at him. Ripping off his skin, tearing into the muscle beneath as grasping at bone.

"This one...this one will do great things."​

The Archon said as he began to rip Edric apart.

 

[Drastus Tal'deneshaar]

Drast roared as he forced the chains to pull the tendril back and into the beast, toppling it. Rupert would leap onto the beast and drive his ethereal blade into its skull filling the cavern with hundreds of blood curdling screams.

Oh yeah, he was hitting that peak where the waves of adrenaline were coming back around. Or maybe it was just a high he got from using his magick.

His toll was already growing as he delved deeper into the near unending reservoir of magick that was Rupert. The Undead Protector would hurl his blade in a spinning arc at the Archon, blade slicing through the tendrils now piercing Edric before fading to reappear in Ruperts hand.

With the Archon creating more children and distracted between his multiple tasks, Drast would roar as the ethereal glow around his eyes deepened. Parts along the Archons body would bubble and pop as he pulled the Archons blood through every possible orifice and directed that healing energy to Edric.

He needed the healing himself, but if anyone had the power to defeat the Archon, it was Eddie. Drast wouldn't be able to hold the drain for long as blood began to pour from his own nose and mouth, but hopefully it would be enough juice for Edric. Breaking the flow, he dropped to his knees before getting swatted three yards back by the tendril from another beast.

Ryan Ashford Edric