Private Tales Dark Depths

[Cinder]

Catacombs. Seemingly endless, deep, ancient and black as night. It went as far down as dwarves mines, perhaps farther. No one really knew, no one had seen it’s furthest depths, not even the brave, arrogance of the drow could send them into such a place. Only covens of witches, necromancers and the damned dared venture into it’s darker levels, where things most sinister had taken root. Witches mayhaps they were, demon worshippers or the possessed, or something else entirely, but there they were, their wicked purpose driving them into the waiting black.

Children, terrified and frozen they were, were brought with them, their flesh, blood, bones and souls extinguished to fuel the sigil. Blood marked the floor in an intricate yet ugly shape, bones laid in place, skulls soaked in blood marked the focal points of the sigil, and a circle of red candles surrounded it. In the center was the flesh of the children sacrificed, and set to burn it was, and from it came the monster, an eldritch horror of unspeakable evil.

Now done away with it’s summoners, the demon walked, and hunted for those who sought the mages who were foolish enough to call it into existence. Torchlight it saw, and lie waiting it did. It’s prey approached.

(Hey, an outlast based horror experience. Injury may occur to your character but no death unless explicitly allowed.)

 

[Gale]

It was dark.

Really, really, really dark. When the religious freak had hired her and the rest of this band of merry idiots she assumed it'd be some kind of simple peacekeeping job or maybe a charitable endeavor. Instead they were deep within the earth. It was the perfect place for someone of her talents. As a geomancer she could feel every vibration in the stone, every slithering creature in the soil. But her comrades were absolutely freaked. If the pay wasn't so good she was certain they'd all have ran hours ago.

And, to be honest, she was pretty freaked too. Not because of the locale but because it was really, really, really dark. It was also really, really, really deep. Deeper than she'd ever been. If she exerted too much force the wild geomancer could accidentally encase the whole venturing party in stone, killing herself in the process.

"'Ow much further luv?" a voice from Sawyer called out. He was a tubby lad. Red beard, determination in his step, and a pretty excellent swordsman from what she could tell.

"Dunno," the sandy haired woman called back, "frackin' idiot priest said it weren't too far. He better have that full coin he promised or I'm gonna enjoy crushin' his spine."

The group of mercenaries consisted of Gale, another two humans, an elf, and a particularly annoying dwarf. One of the humans had a cousin in Oban, seemed like a decent guy. Sawyer was her favorite among the group but all of them were pretty awful to deal with. Especially the elf and the dwarf.

After a few more paces the group found themselves in a large chamber. Lit only by the dancing flames of torches. The group's shadows were manipulated in odd shapes on the walls. It was clear that someone, or something, had been here.


But what?

 

[Cinder]

A group, a female elf, one female human, three human men, and a bearded dwarf. They’d be fun to torment. He allowed them to pass, to better trap them under the earth. He followed them, unseen but not entirely unnoticeable. Footsteps, the patting sound of bare feet’s on stone told them he was there, but no sight of him was seen.

His biggest concern was the priest, his holy Magics were repulsive, and he couldn’t stand to be in proximity to it. He’d be the first to die. Then the dwarf and other human men. They’d be the most filling snacks, while the screams of the elf would be the most pleasant, so she would not die that day, no matter mow much she begged for it.

As they went deeper, they’d find the conjuring sigil of blood, bones and the remains of burned flesh. The conjurers were nowhere in sight, nowhere distinguishable anyway, their skeletons having been stripped of meat and their bones broken to get the marrow. The only sign so of their demise being their torn, shredded robes.

Cinder stalked them expertly, his intent was to crush their souls before their bodies expired. So first he’d need to hurt their psyches. Hence, he’d first introduce them to terror.

 

[Gale]

As the six pairs of footsteps echoed of the walls of the antechamber they found themselves greeted by a grizzly sight. The elf girl audibly winced in disgust, Sawyer let loose a high pitched whistle, and the priest who had contracted them scratched at his chin. For her part, Gale simply covered her nose to try and block the stench of the sizzling flesh that had been stretched across an arrangement of bone.

"Worse than I thought," the priest said before anyone else could verbalized their fear. "Much... much worse. I thought this was a simple doomsday cult that was communing with demonic entities but now. Well, now I'm not so sure what we're dealing with."

Gale's brown eyes stared at the holy man incredulously. He'd paraded them down into these dark depths so that he could say he didn't know why at the precise moment they had clearly found something. It was the stout little dwarf who spoke next, "see those blood patterns? They aren't natural. Looks like some kinda ritual to me."

The geomancer broke her stare away from the priest and towards the blood splatter. Dwarves might be stupid but in this case he was right. Those patterns were intentional. "I'll be," she said simply.

And that was about the time that they heard the footsteps behind them. Flesh on stone. The sounds belong to no form, cast no shadows, but it was unmistakenable. The group wasn't alone and the hairs stood up on the back of each member's neck.

"That ain't good."

 

[Tera Lynx]

The depths of the earth, the underworld it was called. An entire world existing beneath the crust of Arethil while mortals and monsters walked in blissful ignorance of what lay beneath their feet. Even the Swarm preferred the surface, or perhaps that was simply the preference of their once human queen who's interest lay more in the mortals and their affairs and affronts.
But even she couldn't deny that powerful creatures lived deep in the earth, creatures who's strength and essence could be added to the Swarm to make them stronger as well.

The Swarm traveled through the earth in the bellies of great monstrous worms, seeking the hidden tunnels and mazes where these powerful creatures lurked. The Swarm will kill them, then their essence will live on, repurposed for the cause of the Swarm.
Havilah guided the worms, her mind at once her own and one with her swarm. She could sense what her worms sensed, the seismic vibrations in the earth created by the footsteps of creatures in a tunnel complex nearby.
She recognized the seismic signature well, bipeds.

On her command one of the worms broke off from the pack and burrowed it's way to hunt the humans while the rest moved on into the catacombs to begin their monster hunt.

The worm that broke off slowed down to "stalk" the bipeds, not breaking into the tunnel just yet but keeping pace with them as it followed their seismic vibrations.

 

[Cinder]

The demon knew he was heard and he let himself be seen, if only briefly. A flicker of his form was seen, a massive creature that looked like an elongated human with no skin, a mouthful of broad, triangular teeth and a very long, whip-like tongue. His mouth, eyes and the nasal cavity glowed softly yet angrily like hot coals, or cinders rather.

As quickly as he appeared he was gone, but his presence could still be felt. A demon lord of wrath and fire was he. Insatiable and ever furious. The aura of hate and bloodlust lingered in the air, and the candles in the room, once dark, were again lit.

A sound, more audible in their minds than with their ears. A deep, rumbling chuckle. He was upon them.

The insects were yet inconsequential to the demon Cinder, though he'd soon have to deal with them, with as much ferocity as he could muster.

 

[Gale]

It was pretty discomforting that there was a mural of blood on the floor. Rather disturbing to see the bones and charred flesh. And while it was completely terrifying when the demonic chuckle emerged after the ancient beast of evil showed himself only Gale felt the seismic disruptions not far off.

So, while the rest of her comrades may have felt some mild comfort believing that the priest could cast down this demon before them, the geomancer was well aware of how completely screwed they all were.

"Yeah, we need to leave. Like, yesterday," her voice was ragged. Maybe a bit panicky. She was well aware of their impending danger even if the rest of the mortals weren't. She clung her shovel tightly and mentally prepared herself to claw and fight her way out.

It was the priest who interrupted her thought process however. "No, he wants to scare us," the so-called holy man stated as a matter of fact. "We must make our stand together. Defend me while I begin an incantation."

With that the robed priest began to murmur or mutter something. Gale was focused on the disturbances she could feel in the rock and soil around them. What was it? Clearly it was something massive, unlike anything she had ever encountered. It was Sawyer who came over and placed a firm hand on her shoulder.

"You ok lass?" he questioned with genuine concern.

She snickered slightly, "we're in deeper shit than any of you's realize," was all she managed to eek out before the other man who traveled with them made a run towards the door.

"I won't sit around to die!" he yelled as he ran, not wishing to wait and see what the demon had in store for them or if the priest's holy incantation would have any effect.

 

[Tera Lynx]

Sudden movement, a quick set of vibrations moving rapidly. A little morsel bolting in fear, what predator couldn't resist such a treat?
As the man bolted up the passage from where they came the ground suddenly disappeared below him, crumbling away to instead reveal a circular mouth over ten feet wide full of teeth and rock crushing mandibles.
The man vanished in an instant as the worm swallowed him whole and struck the roof of the passage.

The ground shook as stones fell, the worm retreated down the hole it came from while a small cave in blocked their only known escape.
To the others before the passage closed, glimpses of what could have been a purple worm is what claimed their friend, but this worm had armor.

----------------------------------------------​

The other worms breached the surface in several larger chambers amide the maze of catacombs at different locations. The huge toothy heads breaking through from the ground below where they rested with their mouths wide open, out from the cavernous depths of their bodies millions of creatures poured out and swarmed all over the chambers, spreading a vile sticky substance over the floor, ceiling and walls.

Havilah stepped out of the largest worm that breached in one of the larger chambers . She looked about the room as her swarm workers labored over the room.
She smiled with her monstrous fangs, this place will do nicely.

 

[Cinder]

Fire, a tall pillar of raging, furious fire materialized as the priest began his incantations. There he stood, tall, skinless and antlered. He let loose another’s, identical chuckle that was now audible in the ears. “I’m no imp priest.”

He zipped with impossible speed across the distance he tore the priest’s head from his shoulders, and his corpse burst into fire, leaving only charred bones behind. He would assume that the group would flee. He’d deal with the parasites later, now it was time to hunt.

 

[Gale]

The adventurers looked on in horror as the bedrock split open and a goliath of a worm burst upward, swallowing the fleeing human and creating a barricade of rubble in its wake. Gale could feel the vibrations in the rock as the beast descended back into the depths from which it had come.

So, there weren’t one but two formidable beasts looking to kill the group of mortal. Joy!

But before anyone could tremble at the arrival of the earthly monster the otherworldly demon revealed himself. He spat an insult before severing the priest’s head. Having their only known exit blocked, their holy protector slain, and being stalked by two beasts caused the group’s social structure to break down entirely.

Gale attempted to use her geomancy to clear a path through the rubble whilst the rest of the group searched for an alternative path.

 

[Tera Lynx]

The worm receded, but it still tracked them. The presence of another creature appeared and attacked the bipeds, but the worm could only sense the vibrations from the demon and couldn't report for sure what it was.

Without direct instructions from the queen the warlord riding inside the worm took over. Ka'Gi was an expert at hunting humans and humanoids, he was the warlord of the Swarm of Harvest. And so once again they stalked the bipeds, their movements had become frantic, one more was dead, Ka'Gi enjoyed hunting like this, but he couldn't wait to take their essence and taste them for himself.

---------------​

Havilah sent Runner Drone s to hunt the catacombs while her Worker Drone s labored to build a hive. They needed more essence stored up and these subterranean warrens were always a prime hunting ground, whether they sought material or the strength of more powerful creatures.
Already her runner packs killed a family of blind rock trolls and workers were dragging their remains back to fill their entropy pit.
The Swarm was change, always changing, to not change is to stagnate, to stagnate is to be weak.

 

[Cinder]

Chaos, panic. TERROR. He loved these things and little else save the agonized screames of tormented mortals. The worm provided competition though, and he needed to secure his favoured prey quickly.

The elf, who had drawn her weapon and pointed it at him, was the one who would suffer most completely. And his long, whip-like tongue ran over his lipless, triangular teeth.

The woman was seized by her throat, and he vanished, taking her with him into the furthest depths of the catacombs, a ways away from the new hive. Any member of the hive would face unprecedented agony, agony only demons of the highest caliber could inflict.

The tortured screams of the elf woman tore through the echoing tunnels of the catacombs. The geomancer would be allowed to use her magic, but escape was not yet an option.

 

[Gale]

"Oh god it took Vaelin!" the terrified dwarf shouted. His poor little body was shakin' like a leaf in the wind.

"Vaelin? I thought her name was Violin?" Gale called back in a questioning tone. Sawyer parted his mouth first to add his two cents, "Nah, that's an instrument. Pretty sure her name was Laevin."

Before any of the three could comment further the antechamber was filled with a cacophony of blood curdling screams. The elven woman's voice bounced off the walls of stone the party had found themselves encased in. They were so unsettling that Gale took her eyes off the rubble to examine the fright in their dwarven ally's face as well as the growing terror displayed in Sawyer's glazed over eyes.

It was the dwarf who stated, "my name's Darzien. I've got family back in Belgrath. If I don't make it... tell 'em... I dunno, tell 'em that I died honorable." His chiseled face had tears streaming down it. Tears.

"Enough of that talk, we gotta do something to help the girl," Sawyer cut in, his voice raspy with fear.

Gale shook her head, spiraling her dusty locks in a rapid back-and-forth. "They're far underfoot now. Nothing we can do for her at this point." It was a bad spot to be in and both of the 'men' she was with were proving to be absolutely unhinged at this point. One thing was absolutely certain to the Obanese treasure hunter though, this place would not be her tomb.

 

[Tera Lynx]

Her Worker Drone s were in the process of building the hive walls while Havilah oversaw the construction. Monsters were being dragged in and melted down to basic genetic strands in pits of entropic fluid.

But suddenly there was an assault, a wave of agony struck the Swarm and chorus of monstrous screams echoed through the tunnels. Havilah was struck as well and her scream was the loudest, she clutched her head and fell to her knees, the agony was intense!
With a flash of anger she lashed out with her own immense psionic power in an outward wave, this wave simultaneously protected her swarm as well as tracked the agony to its source.

This mind was different from a mortal mind, different from any psionic presence she'd known. Otherworldly... Powerful... Savage... Her Swarm wouldn't be able to use his essence, but she could... Especially that empathetic assault, if she could harness that alongside her own psionics...

She sent the Hunters out in place of her runner drone s, they would stalk every tunnel and track the demon wherever he teleported while Havilah guarded them from any psionic or empathetic attack.

---------------------------​

Ka'Gi was growing impatient, there were several tunnels all around them that they could run down and he was eager for a real hunt. The best way to make prey scatter is to make their hiding place unsafe.

He directed his burrower drone directly at the group at the center of the chamber. The seismic vibrations growing stronger as they picked up speed.
They'll either move, or face a death similar to the first.

 

[Cinder]

She sent the Hunters out in place of her runner drone s, they would stalk every tunnel and track the demon wherever he teleported while Havilah guarded them from any psionic or empathetic attack.

Oh he had a great deal more than just sympathetic agony ready for them. The Hunters would find a a stillness living, but viciously mutilated elf, without hands, without feet, without skin, eyes or a tongue. She was left crawling pitifully across the floor, moaning in unutterable agony, only partially aware of the hunter drones who were in there with her.

A flash of fire, in the shape of a burning sword would appear in front of them. And their lives ended, but not before their chitons were ripped from their bodies. And their innards left spilling from what remained. Before the last one died, a voice spoke. “Much better must ye be, if best me thou wishes to.”

 

[Gale]

Just beneath the surface Gale could feel the tremors rising. The shifting of soil and stone. Another worm was writhing it's way upwards towards the antechamber.

"MOVE! Now!" she screamed at Sawyer and Darzien. Both of the other mortals followed her lead and ran towards the rubble that blocked their exit.

She attempted to move some of the rubble to create a barricade between the trio and where she thought the worm, or worms, might be ascending from. She didn't know if the three had made it far enough across from the vibrations to be safe or if the beasts that hunted them could maneuver quickly enough to make their reposition possible.

All three breathed in a rapid succession as they could now feel the ground rumble. Gale continued to move more and more of the rubbled earth from the passageway in an effort to not only keep them safe but hopefully reveal their exit.

 

[Cinder]

The geomancer would open a way, but they were by no means safe yet. The led remained alive, despite the fact that’s she now desired death. So now that she was immobilized with physical mutilation and pain, he wasn’t free to hunt the rest. He would mercilessly and sadistically butcher any of the hive sent his way.

He would stalk the mortals, he needed entertainment after all. The hive could be dealt with later.

 

[Cinder]

( Gale Havilah )​