Open Chronicles The Shades of Gods

[Caliane Ruinë]

There seemed to be a moment where the shadows considered those gathered before them. These new world beings had never thought to ask before what they had wanted and perhaps, these young creatures could actually be the answer to their salvation. Such thoughts, sadly, were dashed when the knight surged forward and plunged his light-glinted blade into the heart of one of the mammoth creatures. The scream that echoed forth was like a shock wave through the forest, flattening trees and no doubt some of the people gathered too with its strength. Caliane found herself knocked off her feet due to her light frame and struggled to sit up under the ongoing assault.

Whatever momentary truce had been called by the druids thoughtful care was gone.

The other shadows vanished, turning back into a churning pool of darkness that swirled around the group blocking all sight of the forest, the sky, even the ground beneath their feet from view. Suddenly, the travellers would find themselves falling through that darkness for what would feel like an eternity and as they fell they would face one of their darkest, most terrible memories...

 

[Gil'Tyrnin Solcrest]

Gil Shouted out to Sir as he pressed the attack on the creatures. "Wait!" But it was too late, as the sword of the undead knight slayed one of the creatures. Gil winced as the creature screamed his ears echoing the sound, Gil slammed his great two handed blade into the ground and leaned behind it to make himself harder to knock over, he remained standing. As the darkness closed in around them his light faded as he gripped the sword. His eyes grew heavy and he faded.

Gil woke up, he felt so small, he was in his family home, he was in his bed? He looked to the down blankets with their lavish duvet covers and the exotic silk sheets. He reached up to touch his hair, it was shorter now only shoulder length. Something didn't feel right, but he couldn't place. It he got to the side of the bed letting his feet hang over and stood up, to his surprise he fell to the floor, he swore his legs were longer. Gil pushed open the door to his bedroom. He looked down the corridor in both directions each seemed to go for miles and miles. Gil walked and walked for what seemed like ages, everytime he stopped walking he was back at his room. He heard something behind him and a shadow appeared, no matter how long or fast he ran the shadow was behind him. The walls shook and groaned as the large shadow consumed the corridor behind him. Gil jumped into his room, he slammed the door locking it in one swift motion and he ran to his bed hiding under the covers. There was slamming violent slamming on his door over and over again the hinges strained to stay bolted to the wall. Slamming banging scratching. Gil hid under his sheets.

Torie Sir Caliane Ruinë

 

[Sir]

His sword rattled and shook, and it took all of his strength to keep grip of it. The vibrations traveled down his arms and rattled his bones, until the shaking broke the very ground he stood on and he fell, backwards, into darkness unlike any other. He thought he heard his companions' screams as he fell before all sound was lost.

There was nothing. He didn't even have blood to rush through his ears or a heartbeat to pound in his head. He felt nothing. Just black. Then there were echoes, quiet and distant, impossible to make out. Egger... eygor... greggor...


"GREGORIC!!"

His eyes snapped open as the ringing in his ears started to fade. The snow at his feet was a filthy slush of dirt and blood. He could smell smoke and see fires, burnt bodies littered the ground, but they were not human. In front of him was a man in steel armor, with featureless black tabard and no markings. Armor like his own. He looked, and the man stared back. "Push!!"

The pair of them charged forwards. A wight, spindly and shrieking, ran for Gregoric with slashing claws. He met it with steel as arms, thick and muscled as an ox, brought his sword around and cleaved the monstrosity in twain. He didn't stop, and the momentum carried him towards the mound of bones at the center of the ruined keep, and the sorcerer atop it.

Sweat rolled down down his face, sticking thick, black curls to his forehead. Hot breath misted in the air until he again heard his name, "Gregoric!! Gregorr-aaaauUAAHUG!!!"

The scream built from agony to the unearthly as he turned, wide-eyed, to see his partner frozen in a glowing seal of green fire. A thin line of the ethereal flames connected him to the wizard's staff beyond, and he had scarcely called out Gregoric's name before his skin was torn away. Then the red muscle beneath peeled from the bone and burned into ash, showing a skull with bulging, terrified eyes that melted from their sockets. When the sickening process was done the green fire receeded back to its master, and a suit of armor and bones clattered to the ground.

Anger and righteous fury filled him. Revenge for his friend. Revenge for his brothers in arms whose bodies lay about the battlefield, revenge for his ravaged countryside. Justice would be met upon this unholy magus!

He ran, pulverizing a wight with a shoulder charge and slashing another as he closed on the necromancer. He deflected a whip of green fire and crunched up the slope of skulls. Another lash missed him and he was so close now he could see the creature's face. The madman was smiling.

Upon the enemy, Gregoric hoisted his sword high and bellowed for the killing blow-- and was stopped. He was held in the horrid flames just feet from the necromancer, his staff nearly touching the steel of his breastplate. He struggled, strained, but movement escaped him.

"It is done," spoken through blackened teeth in a low voice of quiet glee.

Gregoric heard more screams of men, and through his periphery saw geysers of green fire consume the other knights where they stood. The necromancer's laughter grew louder and more manic with each body torn apart, and the mad green eyes were the last image Gregoric saw before his flesh was stripped away to the sounds of his own howling.

 

[Torie]

Torie woke up in her human body.

"Oh," was the first words to her incorporeal mouth. This had to be an illusion. She'd been in tiger form for a few years now.

She was in the north, in the ice and snow - the home of her clan. Fur tents faced each other in a tight circle. Dogs, children and other exotic creatures ran about or sat doing jobs like skinning and cooking. Most of the dogs were actually dogs - no right minded druid changeling would take the form of a common pet. But the other creatures were her kin.

That's when she spotted Yaran, her lover, duck into one of the tents. At first she was excited to see him! How long had it been? But another part of her realised this wasn't real. Just a memory, and it recoiled from what happened next.

She walked towards the tent with lead feet, unable to do anything else. She didn't want to go, but the spectre of herself went anyway. She pulled back the tent flap...

... and found entangled with Ptolly, the master hunter's daughter.

Just like before she stood and watched, mortified. Just like before she picked up the ice pick from beside the doorway, held it high and brought it down on Yaran's head.

Just like before there was lots of blood, and Ptolly's screams filled her ears.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Drip... drip...

A faint scream pierced the stale air and disturbed the methodical noise of rain seeping through a hole in the roof of her cell.

No... Not here...

Scratchy straw rubbed against her skin as she struggled to her feet and cursed when she couldn't quite stand up, forcing her to stoop or go on hands and knees. Doing that for months had rubbed her skin raw, her hands covered in scabs and blood. She scrambled for the door and grasped the bars, hoping against hope that this wasn't real. It couldn't be real. Could it? She had escaped this hell a lifetime ago. She reached for the soulfire that lived inside of her but came up against the sickeningly familiar cold box in which her powers had been shut away by the metal manacles around her wrists. Panic began to set in.

Anywhere but here

Footsteps sounded from down the hall growing louder and louder and Caliane threw herself away from the door, pushing herself back up against the wall opposite. Those heavy footfalls stopped in front of her door and threw her cage into shadow. A menacing grin leered down at her as the thuggish man undid the heavy padlock and reached inside. The cage was small enough that no matter where she went he could reach inside and grab her by her leg to pull her out, which he did with her screaming for help.

"Maybe we will cut those pretty vocal chords out this time," he muttered as he hurled her to her feet, seizing her hair and forced her head back. A lightning pole pushed into the small of her back and sent a volt through her body. If it wasn't for the grip he had on her she would have fallen. Pain blossomed across her and now she was aware she had been in pain since she had woken. All the barely healed cuts from their experiments as they had searched for how her wings functioned...

Caliane began to sob.

No, please, no... anywhere --

" -- BUT HERE!"

Caliane lurched to her feet, reaching for a weapon that was no longer there. She cast around wildly and panic only grew when she could see nothing but darkness. But her head didn't hit the roof of her cell and the smell here was dank and damp, not stale and rotting. She was outside. She could feel a breeze... Taking quick, shallow breaths she lit a small flame to illuminate the area. There, her friends were cast around her and above them a tunnel that seemed to stretch on forever. She assumed it was down that which they had fallen. Her wings were too wide to fully stretch in the space leaving her just as grounded as the rest of them.

She wiped tears and dirt from her cheeks.

"Is everyone ok?"

 

[Gil'Tyrnin Solcrest]

The door rattled and groaned as the wood was pressed against bending against the force of who or what was in the other side of the door. Gil'tyrnin covered his ears.

"No, no, no, no! It wasn't me, it wast me!"

The door swung open with a great crash as it slammed into the thick stone of the castle walls. The sheets blew off of him and he was there on his bed, he saw the shadows swirl and coalesce into his father, fear gripped him as the strong armored hand of the Grand Paladin raised and struck him across the face with a clean back hand.

It all went black, he could hear himself crying. Until the sound faded, there was only black now. Gil woke up with a start, he felt so small, he was in his family home, he was in his bed? He looked to the down blankets with their lavish duvet covers and the exotic silk sheets. He reached up to touch his hair, it was shorter now only shoulder length. Something didn't feel right, but he couldn't place. It he got to the side of the bed letting his feet hang over and stood up, to his surprise he fell to the floor, he swore his legs were longer. Gil pushed open the door to his bedroom. He looked down the corridor in both directions each seemed to go for miles and miles. Gil walked and walked for what seemed like ages, everytime he stopped walking he was back at his room. He heard something behind him and a shadow appeared, no matter how long or fast he ran the shadow was behind him. The walls shook and groaned as the large shadow consumed the corridor behind him. Gil jumped into his room, he slammed the door locking it in one swift motion. ....wait... he had done this before, why can't he remember, as the door creaked and groaned, he took a deep breath. He placed his hand on the handle and the lock, unlocking it he flung to door open rushing through the door and tripped.

He was outside? He heard his brother and sister playing in the garden grounds. But he was, in the maze? How did he get here?

He heard his father yelling.

"Gil'tyrnin you should be in the training pits! When I find you, I'll beat you within an inch of your life boy!"

He was late for training?! Gil rushed through the maze over and over running into dead end then back tracking, again and again. He heard the heavy armored footsteps of his father, why couldn't he get out! Father was coming!

Torie Sir Caliane ruine

 

[Sir]

Sir started with a loud, pained groan. He had felt the pain of his death so vividly, as if it had just happened. But he was on his back, and it was dark. That wasn't how he'd woken up after... after what? The memory fell away as they had fallen into wherever this was. Deeper and deeper, and the more he fought to remember the more that was lost. Gre... eggor... orr... it was gone.

He sat up mechanically, feeling shaken and fragile. Caliane's fire bloomed into life behind him and he turned quickly, afraid of some ghastly and spindly creature he thought he might have just been fighting. The events of reality came back to him.

He placed his hand down to steady himself. The ground was solid, but very dark, and he pushed himself up. His armor only dully reflected the firelight, for it had been covered in dirt and mud.

"Is everyone ok?"

"I am alright," he replied hoarsely, and looked quickly to try and find Gil and Torie. Neither were difficult to pick out, the one being large and heavily armored, the other an exotic beast. He clenched his naked jaw with guilt. "I am sorry... I was reckless." He should have thought more about how the other creatures would retaliate. He should have considered the power they were facing. It was his fault if they died down here... and he would have to watch.

The skeleton stepped closer to Caliane and the middle of the pit, looking up, his helmet creaking as he did so. There was nothing but darkness above. He could stay down here forever, but his new friends could not. He cast his gaze around the walls to look for something, anything that could help them. Caliane's wings were trapped by the small area, and he did not know if she could carry someone and remain aloft even if given the space. Gil was as weighed down by metal as anyone. Perhaps Torie could turn into a bird and go for help... if she survived in that unknown blackness.

 

[Torie]

Torie's emergence into consciousness was slow, and her heavy body ached to its very bones from the impact of her fall. A low rumble escaped from her throat and she forced her eyes open. Orange fire flickered of slick stone walls, and she turned her head to see Calaine standing there, illuminated by a flame of her own creation. Like an angel in the darkness.

"You look very out of place here," she mumbled. A poor attempt at humour, and she didn't even know if Calaine had caught the meaning of her half growls.
The ground was uncomfortable, so she wriggled, trying to find somewhere comfortable she could recover. But no matter how she lay the pain wouldn't go away. "I think I broke something. Ugh. Everything hurts..."

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

"It's okay," Caliane placed a comforting hand on the dead-knight's shoulder and gave it a small squeeze alongside a smile meant to reassure and sooth. Blaming one another wouldn't get them out of the hole and neither would blaming themselves. She couldn't help but feel as though she too held some of the blame; she should have been more prepared for this. It wouldn't have been the first time the stories of her youth had been true. She thought of the wendigo that had first led her to meet Eren'thiel Xyrdithas and shook her head a little. No, far better to concentrate on getting out.

As Torie groggily woke Caliane gave the tigress a lopsided, sad smile, before moving over to the last of their party. The knight thrashed wildly in his slumber and she had to dodge a fist more than once before she managed to shake him roughly.

"It's a dream! It's a dream..." she said in an effort to rouse and soothe at the same time. Her eyes flickered once more up to the hole and then she stood with a sigh. Cramped spaces reminded her of that... place. She could feel the walls pressing in, tighter and tighter. If she didn't get out soon she would end up spiralling into a panic attack.

"We need to find another way out," up was hopeless. She let the fire grow a little bigger until it formed a rotating flat disc, similar to the illuminators 'fire wheels' that they used in their displays. It cast the light wider....

 

[Gil'Tyrnin Solcrest]

"It's a dream! It's a dream..." she said in an effort to rouse and soothe at the same time. Her eyes flickered once more up to the hole and then she stood with a sigh. Cramped spaces reminded her of that... place. She could feel the walls pressing in, tighter and tighter. If she didn't get out soon she would end up spiralling into a panic attack.

He heard her voice, he knew that voice, it was fresh, new, but he knew it. He stopped, he turned around. There was his father, Gil did not run nor flinch.

"This is a dream!" He yelled at his father. "You aren't real!" He continued to shout!
His father took a heavy armored step towards him, then another. They boomed like thunder as they crashed into the earth the closer he got with each step he seemed to grow taller. "YOU AREN'T REAL!" Gil roared bending over hand clenched in fists behind him. "THIS IS JUST A DREAM!"

His words echoed in the small place he woke screaming he lurched forward sitting up. He seemed surprised as he met face to face with Caliane. He looked to see Sir and Torie. He looked about seing the darkness around them. Noticing torie seemed to be in pain. Luckily he had been trained in healing magic, all Followers of the Light learned to heal during their training no matter which of the two paths the traversed. He made his way to her.

"May I help?" He asked torie, as they were not in combat, there were formalities to be had before one cast a spell on a companion "I am blessed with healing by The All Father"


He looked to Sir, everything told him that he was a good man, but how many innocent people had the undead killed? Who was his Master? Was he a danger? All of these questions ran through his mind as he weighed the scales of judgement. His spark was trapped here, did he not want to be with The All Father?

He looked back to torie with a forced smile as he continued to weigh the scales. He hoped that they world be tipped in Sir's favor.

Sir Torie Caliane Ruinë

 

[Sir]

Gil's eyes bore through him, and he felt naked before the paladin. The light he wielded had been malevolent towards the undead knight, it carried a judgement within it that lapped at his very essence. Did he know? Perhaps "Sir," as he was known to them, ought to have feigned injury from the fall. Perhaps he should have pretended to be tired. Would he even know how?

Caliane's hand on his shoulder was opposite to Gil's stare, at least in how it was interpreted. He appreciated her kindness, all of their kindness, but he wondered if the others would resent his actions.

He felt a need to be useful. He could not heal nor fly, but he could search for a way out as well as any of them. His eyeless sockets peered through his helm, by what power he did not know, as he inspected the pit. It seemed as though a great mouth had simply opened in the very earth, for it was seamless.

Except... there was a scraggle of roots over one patch of wall. Stepping closer, he thought it looked darker beyond them, almost as if...

"There is a passage here," he called back in a dry but urgent voice. He tried to pry the roots loose but they were too thick. Even when he planted a foot on the soft earthen wall beside and pulled with all his unholy might he could not loose them.

 

[Torie]

"May I help?" He asked torie, as they were not in combat, there were formalities to be had before one cast a spell on a companion "I am blessed with healing by The All Father"

"Go ahead," Torie said. She could heal herself, but such a thing took concentration, and it was hard to concentrate when it felt like you'd broken half your ribs. "I'm not sure what it is... I can breathe alright. But there's a stabbing pain... ugh. Just behind my shoulders."

She tried to move, to point, or somehow indicate where it was, but that brought more pain. A growl escaped her lips that filled the hole, and a fading echo reverberated from the tunnel Sir had just uncovered.

"Sorry," Torie said, then realised her claws were out, and she was gripping one of the tree roots as if dangling from a cliff. She made herself let go, drawing out each thumb-sized claw one-by-one. Looking up, she added, "It's not a natural sink hole. The walls are too straight. Someone made this."

"There is a passage here," he called back in a dry but urgent voice. He tried to pry the roots loose but they were too thick.

"I might be able to coax them aside," Torie said, through a mouthful of sharp, gritted teeth. "Once I'm feeling a little better..."

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

"They made it," of that, the Avariel was certain.

Caliane left Gil to tend to Tori as she went exploring around the hole too for any other options. She wasn't a natural climber but she thought that perhaps with a back braced against one side and legs outstretched, they might be able to shimmy their way up the hole. Well. Torie might struggle in her current form but the others could throw something down when they had reached the--

Her musings were disrupted by Sir's discovery, his search appearing to be much more fruitful than her own. In a few quick steps she was over by his side peering at the tunnel. It looked even smaller in size than the tunnel down which they had fallen. They would definitely have to crawl, and her wings... she grimaced. It wasn't going to be pleasant even with the roots moved.

The strain of Torie's voice made her turn back to the tigress and she wandered over whilst fumbling for something in the pouch around her waist.

"I'm no healer, but in Thyasari we use these whilst out hunting to dull the pain when we are a few days from a healer," she produced a few sorry looking leaves and held them out to her. "Just chew, it dulls it."

 

[Gil'Tyrnin Solcrest]

Gil leaned down over Torie. He closed his eyes and prayed. He placed his hands on the Druid and light washed over her. He could feel her broken bones and torn muscles. She would feel them coming together the bones and muscles mending.

Gil winced as he healed her he was one with her pain, if felt as if it were his own bones broken, his own muscles ripped. The holy light radiated through her eliminating her pain. He could year his father's voice. 'Remember to breath boy, holding your breath only amplifies the pain' he controlled his breathing fighting through the pain.

He looked to Caliane and Sir holding his ribs, they were not broken or even damages but his nerves fired as of they were, side effects of the healing spell, he could have used a painless blessing but that was only for dire situations usually reserved for the battlefield.

"What is the plan?" He asked to the rest of the party his eyes wandering to Sir, not quite sure what to make of him now.

Torie Sir Caliane ruine

 

[Sir]

Finally he stopped pulling, taking a few heavy steps back from the tangled, thick roots. "They are very strong," he said with a hint of... was it annoyance he felt? Something warm and prickly that had come through the keyhole to his memories.

"Could you burn them?" he asked, turning his body towards Caliane and being very conscious to move his head no further than a living being would be able to.

He stepped back further from the roots, not wanting to fall victim himself to Caliane's unnatural blaze, but found himself taking a sudden and involuntary step aside as Gil's healing light washed over Torie. It did not burn as bright in his vision or quake his bones as the orb had before, but he still felt a very instinctual fear of the power.

Gil is kind. He would not hurt you. He believed this, he wanted to believe this. He came closer, hoping Torie would feel better.

 

[Torie]

Torie stretched, testing her healed body.

"Thank you," she said to Gil, beaming a toothy smile at him.

"Could you burn them?"

"No, don't," Torie said, the roly-poly cat struggling to find her feet. Finally she hauled her heavy body off the ground and waddled over, still a little reluctant to move from remembered injuries.

"If you burn them, it'll suck all the air out of this hole. We'll suffocate," she said. "My way is better."

With that she placed a dinnerplate-sized paw on the roots, and closed her eyes.

For the first little moment, nothing happened. But then slowly, almost imperceptibly, the roots began to move. They creaked and groaned in protest, but a gap in the middle began to widen. After about a minute, it was as wide as the passage beyond.

"Tada!" Figgy said, clearly pleased with herself. She stepped back to admire her handiwork, though her smile only remained for a moment. "Er, just one more problem," she said. "There's no way I'll fit down there."

Torie's belly was big enough that even two long-limbed men would struggle to link their arms around her middle. She filled up most of the bottom of the hole. The others had to stand well against the walls to let her pass.

She cast her tiger eyes upwards.

"No way up. No way forward," she said, then shrugged. "Perhaps someone skinny could get through there, and get help?"

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Caliane had been about to open her mouth and voice her concerns that burning the black roots might only anger the vengeful spirits more when Torie cut in. With curiosity the winged elf watched the druid perform her magic. She had always wished her elemental gift had been that of the Earth; something that could have helped more often than destroyed like the inferno inside of her. A faint smile lingered on her lips when Torie turned round to announce the problem causing her to blink and the smile to fade.

"I wouldn't call myself large but..." she motioned to her wings. From the slight quiver to them it was clear she was having to pull them in tight to her back to take up the least room and even then they protruded over her shoulders and tripled her width. With a push she could squeeze through but she would most certainly damage her wings. She glanced back up at the hole and the tiny pinprick of light with a sigh - there didn't seem like much other choice.

"Torie... have you always been a tiger? Can you... shift to other forms?"

 

[Gil'Tyrnin Solcrest]

Gil nodded to Torie "You are welcome, may Sol'Nityr continue to bless you with his light."


Gil gave a half smile to Sir as he approached. Every fiber of his being told him that Sir was not like the undead he had met before, Sir was sentient, he had emotions, he felt bad for hurting a flower. He was only violent when threatened by the dark force that had led them here. He fought his urges and his training that were second nature to him now. Was this a test? Had The All Father sent Sir here to test him? If so he did not know the answer to the question. It would take him time to process. The scales of judgement were balanced for the time being. That was good enough for him.

His attention wa stolen away now by Torie once more as she worked her magic on the roots. She was very wise to suggest that they not use fire.

Gil removed his sheath from his back holding his sword now at his side the massive blade was useless now in the small corridors, if he kept it on his back he was liable to get stuck and make him a liability.

"I should probably go first, if there is anything ahead if us, we will not be able to backtrack if I am behind eveyone"

His size left him at a disadvantage here but he could summon a shield if confronted in the tunnels.

Torie Sir Caliane Ruinë

 

[Sir]

Sir watched with trademark silence as Torie coerced the vines to move aside. Had he possessed eyes they would have been wide with wonder. He enjoyed living things, likely from some sense of nostalgia or loss, and to be able to speak to them as the druid did must have been wonderful.

Someone skinny. In a literal sense the skeleton was certainly the thinnest among them, but his armor added enough bulk to make things awkward. He was relieved when Gil volunteered first. These people had been kind to him, and perhaps Gil suspected his true nature, but he was not ready to test their friendship so soon. Not if he did not need to.

Gil was a behemoth of a man, yet he did not possess the sweeping wings or vigorous girth of their other two companions. He may just be able to squeeze through. "I can follow," he spoke up, taking a few purposeful steps.

He wanted to trust Gil, so he would. Besides, there would be a better chance with two of them if anyone was to be saved.

 

[Torie]

"Torie... have you always been a tiger? Can you... shift to other forms?"

"No. I was born human. But shifting back would take a while. And I'm not sure it would help... sorry," she said, then added sheepishly, "Plus, I don't have any clothes."

So she looked on with thanks as Gil volunteered, and Sir after him, then shifted aside to give them access to the tunnels.

"I can search for danger," she said, then plonked down on the earth, wriggling her paws into the soil. "If anything dangerous is ahead, I might be able to sense it."

With that, she closed her eyes.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

With a sigh, Caliane banished the thought of Torie the Snake and then nodded with more conviction to Gil. She didn't like the thought of him going first but aside from set them all on fire she wouldn't be much better use up front. She was sure that both he and Sir would be able to find some kind of help, not that she really planned on sitting around in this hole doing nothing in the meantime.

Spoiler: As Torie sent forth her mind...

into the roots and earth beyond she might be able to sense the distant conscious of another being. A large and ominous mind that at the moment appeared to be slumbering. Other than that the only friends the team had were rats and bugs to help them along the way. However, these creatures did not appear as their counterparts on the surface did. There was something twisted about their minds that gave them an odd dark aura...

 

[Gil'Tyrnin Solcrest]

Next to Gil appeared two disks of light on on either side of him. His hands reached out into the disks and from the one on his right he pulled from it a weapon, a short spear made of pure light energy. His left hand reached into the disk on his left side and from it he pulled a shield of light.

He looked back to the party and nodded placing the shield in front of him pressing forward unto the dark tunnel. He hunched down as it tighten. He was glad to go first. If a creature came now he could take it full on now with shield and spear of light weapons blessed to him by Sol'Nityr.

The tunnel continued to narrow squeezing in around him as he push further and futher into the passage awaiting what ever may come.

Torie Caliane Ruinë Sir

 

[Sir]

If he had been able to squint he would have, and he steadied against the oppressive glow of Gil's holy armaments. He drew his own sword which appeared heavy and mundane by comparison, but its weight gave him a comfort as he crouched down and followed the paladin.

The tunnels were cramped and dark, and had he still been mortal, the skeleton would have felt the crushing weight of the earth above him. Perhaps bones felt at home buried in dirt. Whatever the case, he didn't falter as bits of dust and debris fell from the cavern ceiling when their armor disturbed it.

He saw a centipede crawling alongside them. He noted its many legs and strange, undulating body. It appeared almost skeletal itself, with its clacking plates and joints skittering along the wall. A small isopod trundled to their other side, joined by one, then two, then five of its siblings. Even down here life was inescapable. He felt comfort at this, and an appreciation for the small things.

But he grew uneasy. He noticed more and more insects and scuttling creatures as they moved, all of which seemed to be... following. They moved alongside the duo, uniform in direction. Their numbers had grown considerably over time, to the point that he could no longer avoid them getting underfoot, and needed to remind himself of the importance of pressing on, lest he be rendered motionless by compassion.

Centipedes began crawling up his leg armor, and they were followed by small subterranean spiders and beetles. "Gil," he spoke, as he felt the unmistakable itch of tiny legs inside his armor. "Hurry." He could feel pincers gnawing in vain at hard bone. He doubted they would be so benign to living skin.

 

[Torie]

"Something's... off. About everything here," Torie said, eyes still closed, sitting like a sphinx. "Even the insects are enchanted... or... different..."

She noticed them gathering around Sir, too, and his darkness mingled with theirs.

"They seem to be attracted to Sir. I don't know about Gil yet." For the moment they had left him alone, but would they always?

She followed the path of the tunnel through the soil, noticing the roots around them, too. The whole area was dense with roots, even though they should be too deep. She sent a little signal to one, and it twitched. Enchanted (or cursed?) as they were, she could still use them.

She opened her eyes, to check on Caliane, then smiled. "I may have found a way through these tunnels after all." Then, the roots about the opening of the tunnel began to shift.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

The tunnel system shifted and twisted.

Spoiler: For Gil and Sir...

The roots that had parted enough to let the other two out suddenly snapped shut like an animal trap. If the two knights did not hurry they would be sure to find themselves trapped within the tunnel itself which in turn would become their final resting place. If they hurried forward towards the dim light that lay ahead they would find themselves in a sudden large circular pit. Upon inspection they might even realise it was made and not a natural phenomenon. Pictures of the history of the Elder Gods line the walls and four different archways branch off from the main antechamber..

Caliane gave a small yelp as the Earth begun to tremble beneath the two girls' feet. She lunged when she saw the gateway to the tunnel begin to close but she was too late and fell against the thick web of roots that barred her path. Every attempt to tug at them was met with quiet indifference as though she were barely touching them at all. Opposite the Earth caved in and presented the two with another tunnel of sorts. There was no light to be seen only darkness but it was wide enough for a being with wings and a tubby tigress. The avariel sighed.

"I really hate being underground..."