Fable - Ask Meanwhile Up In Heaven

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Xunari Auceus

Xunari Auceus

Runic Commander
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Character Biography
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Xunari had been so busy since the emergence of the two massive dragons and everything that meant. What it meant, it turned out, was a lot of upheaval for the locals around where the dragons had emerged and more chaos across the continent as well. Some people even went so far as to keep looking down, as if surveying the ground would tell them if there was a third world-threatening dragon beneath their feet.

She wouldn't rule the possibility out.

But instead she had spent her time running back and forth sure-ing up the defenses of the city and other tasks. Some of it had been very challenging and she had enjoyed all of the work itself - even if some of it was only challenging because she was still currently only using a single arm. The right arm she had lost against the dragon and her minion had yet to be replaced.

Stopping at a nearby city had netted her with an adventuring companion - a curiously pale drow male. Usually she would have turned her nose up at the man but it was either the pale male drow or some of the humans. The male drow was a lot better a choice than those round-eared fuckwits so she was happy enough with her choice.

Plus she would get to ask him questions.

He was clearly a half-drow by the colouring... but what was the other half? This question, and more beside, needed to be answered for science!

"So Salazar was it?" she opened with as they stood in front of the massive stone entrance to the temple, "You probably get asked this a lot - what is your other half? The non-Drow half."

She was nothing if not direct.
 
Salazar had been away from home, and in the excitement of city-life, for some time now. He still preferred it over hiding away in a long forgotten part of the jungle, but even this had grown boring for him. It seemed to be at the moment of this realization that he met his new traveling companion. A feisty Drow with one arm. She seemed exciting enough, and he agreed to join her on her travels.

He often avoided the Drow, as they were the only ones who ever questioned his race. Everyone else were felt unease enough by Drow, that they never thought to question it. It was still surprising to him how quickly she questioned it.

With his slick-as-he-could-muster smile he answered, "Just Drow. Well half Drow, half Drow mutant more like it. My father had a rare discoloring blood condition and was seen as an outcast. It was only my mother who ever gave him any mind." He smiled again, "So where are we headed exactly?"

He never hated a good lie, but it always felt wrong lying about his species. The one condition upon leaving the village, was that he swore to never reveal his origins. It was probably silly, he thought. After seeing the diversity of the world, he doubted anyone would care what he was. But, nevertheless, he made a promise to keep his people and village a secret.

Xunari Auceus
 
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Well if she had learned anything from having a conversation with Lythrani Undraeth it was that a person could lie through their teeth while smiling to you... and they could have a very good reason for doing so. The other drow lied often but as a spymistress it made sense to not actually call her on it.

She got the impression that she could call the male on it but it wouldn't be worth it. Instead she just tilted her head to one side and raised an eyebrow slowly. It gave the impression of 'really? You are sticking to that?' without actually saying a word.

"To each their own I suppose."

It wasn't something worth dwelling on right now so she didn't. Instead she started walking toward the imposing closed doors of the temple. Taking out a stick of chalk from her pocket, she began to draw a runic array upon the door at around torso height for herself.

"This Temple has some caverns underneath it that we are going to be raiding." she admitted with a small shrug, "You've not got anything against stealing from the long-dead, right?"

Most adventurers didn't.

Salazar Abydros
 
The Drow female didn't seem too pleased with his answer, but she also didn't push the issue. Salazar felt relief.

With a much more genuine, but still slick, smile "You had me at stealing. Sounds fun to me."

Salazar stayed back, and watched her produce her runic etchings. His people were known to use dark magics, but he never seemed too interested in it.

Xunari Auceus
 
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Ah she did so appreciate it when someone wasn't a stick in the mud about such silly little things like 'ethics' and the like. Who cared what the dead thought? They were dead and the dead didn't have the luxury of feelings because they were busy being dead.

Worst case scenario they were busy being undead and that just meant they had bigger things to worry about to her mind.

"Knew there was a reason I brought you along."

The runic array was a fairly simply one in that it's purpose was to fold the surface it was placed on into as small a cube as it possibly could. What powered it however? Well that was the nine feet of door surrounding the small array.

She activated it and watched as the circle of the array began to almost suck in the metal surrounding it in a nine foot-wide circle before the subject of the array folded itself into a cube of metal about the size of her fist. She happily stepped over the cube.

"Don't kick the cube." she warned him as she stepped into a massive welcoming hall, "It's got the mass of 10 foot of door metal."

Why bother breaking the lock when you could just destroy part of the door?
 
Suddenly, Salazar thought he might understand the use of magic. Looking at the cube, "Handy."

Carefully stepping over the cube, he joined Xunari Auceus into the ancient hall. Living in his village, he was always surrounded by old monuments, but he had never seen anything quite so vast and impressive.

Where to begin?? He thought to himself. He wondered if he was drooling for real. He felt like he was drooling. There seemed to be corridors all over. Grand stairs even lead to further passages on a second story. Trying to keep an order to the mayhem of temple robbing, he gestured toward the 1st hallway on the left. "Shall we?"
 
Awww she could practically see the greedy little gleam in his eye... she might just have to keep this one if he was going to be so amusing like this. She chuckled a little bit before spinning slightly on the spot before stopping, pointing at the same hallway he had chosen.

"That one?" she shrugged, "Well alright then - first rule when going down corridors like this in a dungeon or temple raid? Always go either left or right at any forks. Pick on and only go in that direction - it'll help you map the area better."

Or well that was one of her little tips at least.

"What do you have in the way of weapons and tools?" she asked with a frown, "I can go first but these kinds of places tend to attract defenders and traps - and right now I am half as armed as you."

She shrugged her right shoulder at him as though she would have waved had her arm not ceased to exist below the shoulder.
 
"Sure, I can give you a hand if you need." Salazar regularly amused himself. Most of the time he was his best audience. Actually, Salazar was usually his only audience.

Salazar unsheathed his trusty dagger, Fang. It had been an extension of his arm ever since the Elder Chief gifted it to him upon his leaving the village. It was a sharp, dark blade with a blood ruby embedded in the handle.

Salazar led the way down the hall, searching for traps. The building was dark inside, but that never bothered a Dagyt. He guessed it didn't bother the Drow either. He clicked his mouth, but stopped himself. Pretty sure that trick isn't for Drow. Can't risk it.

I don't think this hallway has any traps in it. There is some sort of chamber up ahead, and another one to the left. Which one feels lucky to you?

Xunari Auceus
 
And then... puns.

"Puns?" She sighed dramatically, "And I was going to let you live as well... shame really."

She was joking.

Mostly.

Depended on her mood and what else he did during this little field-trip. She was about eighty percent certain that she was joking about him needing to die but that was what you got for using terrible puns. Didn't help that she had heard that exact pun about a hundred times a day since losing her arm.

She looked around for a moment before pointing to the left.

The door to this one was open, broken open in fact, and revealed a room full of large cages. Cages that had their doors broken open some time ago by the looks of it. Eyeing the cages and the evidence of food that was around... she sighed.

"Giant spiders." She declared with a groan, "Why is it always giant spiders?"
 
As he started to look around, Salazar saw some movement in his peripheral. A dark shadow slipped down behind Xunari Auceus ' head. He knew it right away. His people dined on a venomous green version of their kind. The ole giant spider.

In the fastest movement he could muster, Salazar took Fang and slashed the spider clean in two. He could tell this one had been an infant. He knows they come much more giant than that.

"Upon review, this might not be the treasure room..."
 
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Oh this was turning into something she was going to need to actually focus on which was slightly irritating - it meant she was going to be slightly less effective in actually catching the treasure and the clues to proceed. Watching the child version of the spider be cut in half she sighed a little bit.

"I'm going to need to ruin my sleeve for this." She bemoaned lightly, flexing her left arm magically and burning the sleeve from her skin harmlessly to show the dozen runic arrays carved into her own flesh both by blade and ink, "If I know my giant spiders they will be trying to protect what they see as the most valuable loot."

For some reason the biggest of the spiders loved to curl up around things that were built into the well-protected center of wherever they were residing. Raising her left hand ahead of her, she drew on her own internal energy to power a couple of the runes as she strode forward down the corridor.

Sparks of flame rose from her skin almost lazily, the strands of spider silk catching alight but rather than being destroyed immediately they conducted the fire like electricity down a wire. Screeches of inhuman pain further in was evidence that the fire did the same to the hidden spiders.

"You're not afraid of spiders are you?"
 
"While I've not tried these beauties, we enjoy eating a green cousin of theirs as a delicacy. This room just looks like a buffet to me." He gave a toothy grin. It was at that moment five of the giant spiders descended on them from above, stringing down on their elastic webbing. "Maybe my mouth was bigger than my stomach..."

Taking his dagger in hand, Salazar leapt for the closest spider, driving his blade into the arachnid's grotesque face. The creature's large mandibles, however, prevented any noticeable damage as they clasped the dagger tightly. After a second of shock, the Dagyt pulled a knife from within his cloak with his left hand. Using his hidden wings to give him a thrust upward, he soon found himself above the spider's face. Using the small knife by stabbing it into the spider's web sack, the two combatants fell to the dusty floor below. The struggle continued for a moment, but Fang had been released from the spider's grasp during the fall. It didn't take long for Salazar to drive the blade deep into the bug's face. After a couple spasms, the beast was dead.

Looking back at Xunari Auceus , covered in slimy spider blood, "You think they'll let us take doggy bags home?"
 
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We hmm?

Such an innocent slip of the tongue but enough to tell her that Salazar had not been alone. That he was, perhaps, still not alone on a higher level than merely being close to people. Seemed to her that he felt like he belonged somewhere with a people all his own.

It was cute if a bit naive really - a shared ancestry was no confirmation of shared goals after all.

She grabbed the flaming web-line that she had coated in fire and pulled, brandishing it like a whip with the silk acting the part correctly. Running her magic through it, she commanded it to wrap around the head of one of the spiders before squeezing itself shut like a vice.

As the remainder stalked toward her however she merely smiled at them as they launched themselves at her in a pounce. She activated one of the runic arrays found on the small of her back, powering it with more of her own energy. The spiders slammed into her but rather than her being crushed all of their momentum, all the force of their attack, was instead instantly reversed and amplified back at them.

They nearly liquefied themselves with their own attack.

She hummed as she continued onward.

"I think they're all too dead to care." she shot back, amused, "Come along Salazar! Treasure awaits us!"

Marching forward, she paused in front of a door that had been webbed shut. It was a large, imposing, door. Honestly the door looked imposing as all hells and having a nest of giant spiders thoroughly web it up in fear?

"... oh if this doesn't just scream danger I don't know what does." She grinned, "Want to try your hand at opening this one?"
 
Salazar stood there, covered in spider guts from Xunari Auceus ' attack. "I hope this comes out in the wash." he said, looking himself over. He took a taste of the slime, and gagged. These spiders had none of the flavor of the ones from home. It tasted as if they were devoid of the spice of life.

He shook the slime off his hands and joined the drow at the webbed & ominous door. "Oh boy, you mean I get to open the haunted chamber? What an honor." Salazar stepped forward and used Fang to cut away at the layers and layers of webbing. It would be a miracle if he got out of this quest without being covered in every sticky substance known on the planet. He finally reached stone. Feeling the wall, he found the crack between wall and door. Sliding his blade between, he began to act as a wedge, parting the two surfaces. With a nudge, the door seemed to pop free, and dust billowed beyond Salazar's face. He coughed a bit, as the door was pried open with the sound of ancient creaking. "With luck the death that awaits us will be riddled with shiny treasure." He smiled a toothy smile.
 
She didn't have the heart to tell him that no, the guts of the giant venomous spiders, likely did not come out in the wash. He was a big boy and she was certain that he would figure that out before too long after all. Still she rolled her eyes in some small amount of amusement at his reaction to the ominous door.

"Where's your sense of adventure?" she taunted him with a smirk, "This just means whatever is past it is worth the price of admission."

She hoped.

She'd honestly been on a few expeditions where what they actually uncovered had been far from worth it. But that was fine because only unimportant people had had the misfortune of dying so it was fine.

What the door opened to reveal was, indeed, a treasure room but there was something in the middle that caught her eye. A statue of a man wielding a spear, seemingly made entirely of solid gold.

It's eyes flashed with life and it stood from where it had been posed, kneeling, to stand between them and a small mound of gold coins and jewels.

"... does being right make you feel better?"
 
"Being out of this temple, and stinking rich would make me happy. But this is a start." Salazar eyed the room over. The place was so shiny, it filled him with a rush of adrenaline. After a beat, he noticed the shiny statue. "Ooh, dibs on the cool spear!"

He sped over to the statue and caressed the handle of the golden spear. This would be his favorite prize. He grew up on stories of legendary dagyt warriors who went off and founded an ancient order of dragoons. As a youngling he had always dreamed of joining their ranks, but the life of a rogue had always kept him from that idea. He attempted to tug it out of the statue's grasp.

Xunari Auceus
 
Well grabbing shiny things was half of her daily life but even so she didn't think that grabbing the shiny weapon that a statue was holding was a good idea... when the statue seemed to be alive. She stared at it for a moment before humming.

"Stay alive!" she called out to Salazar as she pulled out a notepad and set it down so she could write with her one arm, "I want to get some good notes!"

As she said this the living statue lifted it's weapon - if Salazar was still clinging to it then he would be lifted with it. Either way it would spin it's weapon, either to fling Salazar from it or as an opening attack. Either way, it was fascinating for Xunari.
 
Salazar gave a couple tugs at the spear, but the grasp was oddly strong for an immobile statue. "How's that now? Stay alive? What do you think I'm d...... WUH OH!" With that the spear was lifting Salazar high into the air towards the ceiling of the chamber. Of COURSE it's alive. Nothing can be easy, he thought to himself as he was gracefully flung back and forth by the rising statue man. "Hi, I'm the guy who talked to you through mail about your spear for sale. I'll give you 3 loose bags of spider guts for it!"

The solid gold statue man, whom Salazar named Mr. Statue in his mind, did not seem the least interested in the dagyt's offer. With it's dead emotionless stare, it seemed to realize it had a clinger and began to spin the spear faster and faster in its palm. "You, sir drive a hard bargai... omigod!" Salazar was instantly flung from the spinning staff as his grip gave way. He had only a moment before he would smash into the stone wall. Trying to prevent revealing his wings, Salazar spun midair, planting his feet firmly against the wall. (d20 roll = 17)

"So hey, it's a statue guardian," he called out to Xunari Auceus. "The statue... not the spear." He kicked off of the wall, propelling himself back at the flailing stone guard. With blade in hand, he met Mr. Statue face to face. It was probably in slow motion or something.
 
"Fascinating."

It truly was wonderful to find a statue guardian in such good condition. She had read about them from time to time but she hadn't managed to find any working ones. Or would the correct term be 'living' ones? She wasn't sure and that alone made her want to know more.

Her desire to know more intensified.

Unfortunately the fighting intensified alongside it and the statue twirled it's staff in it's attempts to attack Salazar. It was in moving to do this that it stepped into her personal space. She backed off but her book was crushed and mangled underfoot.

She paused and stared at her book.

"MY RESEARCH!" she shrieked before glaring angrily at the statue guardian, "I'm going to tear you into pieces and keep your head alive long enough to see me melt down the rest of your body and re-forge it into cock-rings and septum piercings!"
 
Salazar met the statue guardian head on in glorious battle. He attempted to parry the force of the oncoming spear attack as best he could. Using his blade, he swung at the statue's own weapon, forcing it leftward as much as he could muster in the split second he had to do so. He had expected this statue to be strong, but the amount of force he just felt coming off that spear gave him warrant to worry. Luckily for him, he was able to avoid any real injury from the oncoming assault, using the momentum of the strike to swing him around the statue's face, and cling on to it behind its shoulders. The impact onto the stone back, winded him a bit, but he held his composure.

Below he could hear Xunari Auceus' rage over newly damaged report bindings. "Hey thanks for worrying about me! Don't worry, I got this." Salazar, in fact, did not have this...

The statue was far more flexible than Salazar had guessed, and reaching over its shoulder, grabbed the dagyt by his cloak. It lifted him high in the air and slammed him hard down at Xunari's feet. With a cough of pain that could only come with a cracked rib, Salazar looked up at his companion and smiled with blood dripping slightly from his mouth, "Okay, I think I wore him out..."
 
Her research had been destroyed and she was incredibly unhappy. Reaching into the magic reserves that she had, she activated runic arrays up and down her remaining arm. Stepping over Salazar's prone form, she stood between him and the statue.

It raised it's weapon high before swinging it mightily down toward her head.

Reaching up with her left hand, she activated the spell she had been building up as soon as the weapon impacted her skin. There was a second where the great force of the weapon applied to her palm before there was suddenly no force anymore.

Because there was no weight anymore.

Removing the effect of gravity on the statue had it bouncing backward off of her when it had collided with her. It felt like a bubble impacting her before spiraling away. She hissed at it and reactivated gravity on the statue when it was at the apex of it's movement.

It slammed heavily to the ground on it's back.

"Are we going to complain about workplace conduct or are we going to destroy this waste of space?!"
 
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