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#1 zombiegleemax Aug 13, 2004 20:23:17

Yeah, so I stopped writing up the journals of my party's traipse through the KoD because it was a lot of work and no one took interest to read it; however, I thought this little snippet might be appreciated. This, my friends, is how a new player learns the hard way not to use magical items that he knows not much about. The scene: the final room on the sixth floor of the Shattered Temple, AKA "The Sepulcher." "Wait," Two Moons said evenly. "That flicker meant something..more so than the others." With a pensive glance at Kurama intimating to watch his back, the elf pushed his hand against the spot of the wall that he had seen ripple in their hallucination. The wall rippled briefly, and much to Two Moon's satisfaction, slowly disappeared to reveal what was hidden beneath: a door, in much better shape than the others they had come across in the accursed temple. Laurentia gaped at the Kagonesti healer, and Mikhal nodded solemnly, gripping his hookblade firmly. Closing his eyes and praying silently to his newfound lord Habbakuk, Two Moons began to cast the spell that would open the arcane ward on the door. He almost cast his spell from the strength he possessed within, as he was wont to do...but he was a new person now. His power came from Habbakuk, and from He alone. The door began to glow with a warming light, and just as suddenly the light was gone. With a deep breath, Two Moons stepped back and waited. He looked to his Sivak friend, who nodded and set himself in front of the door, ready to pull it open and head in. Behind him Laurentia knocked an arrow to her bow, and Mikhal popped his neck loudly. Pulling open the door quickly, Kurama opened the door and headed in, his friends just behind him. Nothing. Laurentia let out a sigh of relief. "Whew. After that last mirage upstairs, I thought for sure there'd be something horrible down here." The room was laid out very simply: on each side sat three ancient sarcophagi, covered with dust and grime. At the end of the small room was a larger one, in much the same shape. It wasn't the sarcophagi themselves that were of interest, however - not nearly so much as the two skeletons they supported. On the left side, a skeleton sat against one stone support. The skeleton was adorned by filthy rags that, upon inspection, were quite obviously white at one time in history. "The young priest," Mikhal said in his raspy voice. "He met his end here, as we feared." "Yes, but look," Kurama replied. "He apparently accomplished what he came to do before passing." The others looked to where the draconian was pointing. There, resting almost peacefully on the large central sarcophagus, was a skeleton shrouded in time-worn tatters of black cloth. Through the skeleton's torso stood a blade...one that the group recognized. The weapon's hilt was of tarnished metal, the blade of a crystalline composition. From within the blade pulsated a holy light. "It's wonderful," Laurentia gasped. She dropped her bow to aim at the floor in order to get a better look. "Indeed it is," Mikhal said. "Shall we?" He took a step toward the sarcophagus, but before he could get close, an ear-splitting explosion forced him to spin around, weapon drawn. There, standing in front of one of the sarcophagi, was something out of nightmare. A large skeleton wielding a ferocious-looking glaive, eyes aglow with an evil light. The creature grinned at Mikhal, and as it spoke he noticed its beard: a long, brackish thing, sharp as twine and tinted a sickly color. "Free me!" With that, the creature lunged at Mikhal, swinging mightily with its blade. The attack caught him unready, and the glaive caught him in the chest, slicing through his leather armor and gouging a huge gash into his torso. He fell back wincing, and would have fallen to the floor if not for his falling back onto a sarcophagus. "Save us, my Lord!" shouted Two Moons. He charged in toward the creature, and landed a glancing blow on its shoulder with his hammer. Laughing maniacally, it dropped its weapon and slashed at him with its claws, raking across his arms and drawing a shout of pain. The creature turned and clawed at Kurama, but the Sivak nimbly ducked under the attack and brought his sword and dagger to bear on the creature. His longsword, lightning running along the blade, crashed into the creature's chest. He was rewarded with an explosion of light, sending the creature to the ground wreathed in smoke. Laurentia let fly her arrow, but in her fear had not aimed well. It flew just past Kurama's face, glancing off of a wall opposite her. Kurama glanced at her in agitation as the creature stood up again. It raked its claws against his scaled neck, then slashed upward with its beard, of all things, and caught him in the face. He let out a roar and backed a step away, shaking himself out of his pain. "Lord, lend me your mettle, that I may vanquish your enemies!" Two Moons moved his hands rhythmically, light shining from his fingertips. "Die, foul demon!" Mikhal shouted. While the others were fighting, he had reached into his pack to retrieve something, which he now tossed at the creature. The little black bead flew through the air and caught the creature in the side, and an astounding energy explosion spread from his body, blinding everyone for a second. When she could see again, Laurentia goggled at the scene before her. Kurama was slumped against the far wall, ten feet from where he had been. His body was smoking visibly, and his eyes were rolled back into his head. Two Moons and Mikhal were still standing, although the former looked much the worse for wear. The creature stood still, some of its bones disentigrated to ash, the rest of its body smoking still. The most shocking part of all, however, was the crackling sphere of indandescent light that surrounded the three. Two Moons looked helplessly to Kurama as he touched the sphere, unable to breach the surface. The skeleton picked up its glaive and swung once again at Mikhal, slicing him from naval to nasal and dropping him to the floor like a sack of grain. Laurentia screamed the fighter's name, running toward him. She ran up to the wall of energy and banged on the surface with her firsts, but to no avail. "Help Kurama!" Two Moons shouted. "And may Habbakuk help me," he whispered to himself. He stepped forward with purpose, glaring at the creature as it grinned back. "For his death, and for my god, you will be destroyed, creature of darkness." "Will I?" was its reply. With a crazy chortle, it swung at him with its blade, but he ducked quickly. Their weapons met again and again, but the elf just could not penetrate through the creature's defenses. Their battle filled the room with noise, the sounds of the weapons meeting eachother and reverberating off of the walls of the confined area. Laurentia ran to Kurama and held his head, pulling a potion from her pack and pouring it down his throat. She massaged his throat gently, forcing the reptilian warrior to swallow. His eyes opened, and he coughed horribly. "What.." "We have to help Two Moons. He's in that energy globe with the creature, alone." "Alone?" "Yes. Please, help him" The draconian nodded and picked up his blades, walking toward the sphere and stopping at the edge. He paced back and forth angrily while watching his friend slowly being worn down by the creature, who seemed not to tire in the least. With a cry of dismay, Two Moons watched with an almost detached cognizance as his hammer was knocked out of his hand. The creature raised its weapon high above, ready to strike him down. Habbakuk. Make my end swift. He closed his eyes, but the moment never came. He heard a sound like parchment ripping, and then a resounding crash. As he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see the creature on the floor, an arrow protruding from its left eye. "Mikhal!" Laurentia cried, running to his side. The half-elf cradled the human's head in her lap, weeping terribly. "Are you well enough, my friend?" Kurama queried. "Yes..physically," Two Moons replied. "But first Shroud, and now Mikhal? I wouldn't say that my soul is well. Not at all."