RP:The Blue-Eyed White Dragon: Part Three
This is a Devout's Guild RP.
This is a Warrior's Guild RP.
Summary: Rorin, Kailani, Kasyr, and Zahrani finally put an end to the necromancer, Kaibbah.
Collapsed Wall, Frostmaw
Rorin || After the guard-dog of a dragon had been defeated the team made their way inside. Beneath the lid of a giants coffin, through the ancient mausoleum, decrepit catacombs, and crumbling crypts. Legions of undead stood in the way from various periods of time and races, human wraiths, giant zombies, lumbering skeletal monstrosities. A labyrinth of black stone walls, roughly hewn, the floor littered with refuse and long forgotten remains, the necromancers last line of defense. An eerie fog slithered between them as the devout made their way to the core of the lair.
Rorin wiped the congealed black blood from the face of his helmet and continued to march ahead. His crossbow was empty, he had spent several knives, and his stamina was running low. “I guess when you decide to shore up your army in the ruins of a tundra, you have a lot of time to build up defenses. I’m not surprised no one noticed all this till now - only mad wastelanders living above. Probably knew better than to stick their noses in this guys business. By Olrics Beard, this bastards really put us through the paces.”
Rorin came to the last bend in the corridor and lowered his weapon. A huge circular sigil was worked into the floor here in front of massive stone doors. “We have only moments to ready ourselves. This is it, his inner sanctum. No doubt he knows by now we’re coming for him. He has likely prepared some horrible welcoming ritual and is in the midst of casting it even now.” Rorin took the time to stuff his face with a measly ration, curses as this place was to make it taste foul and rotten. He quaffed it down with a strange silvery potion and readied his armor and weapons. “Let’s go introduce ourselves then.
Kasyr might have some (decidely hypocrtical) things to say about leaving evils to fester unattended, but in the given moment he can't help but feel a distinct sense of sadistic satisfaction. After all, it's the first time in a long time where the Kensai isn't nursing some grievous injury or another- an opportunity to feel out the motions of his freshly healed wounds on a vast array of shambling, scuttling and even sprinting targets. Still, whilst the Kensai is certainly prepared for this particular endeavour, and his trenchcoat is doing it's job in sparing him the worst of what the reanimated sentries can offer- it's a poor bulwark against the steadfast drain of the cold, and the faint ache in his limbs. "Do you have a plan? know anything about him other than 'he once had a dragon'?" Kasyr's going to use this moment to take another swig of the potion of warmths he's been stocking up, hoping that the magical heat that spreads through his limbs helps to dissuade the encroaching chill.
Kailani :: With the help of the others who are on the scene, Kailani works to carve a path through the legion of undead. Some fell with less fight than others, but by the end of it all they were standing before door that had a sigil carved into the floor. The druid drops her gaze to it, studying the pattern with the hope that it might reveal something to her about what lays beyond the door. There is a brief moment of distraction when Rorin...pulls out a ration and eats it? After just having wiped blood from his face? Even the woman who prefers living in the wilds to actual civilization questions this moment and wrinkles her nose up. "You didn't even wash your hands," the half-elf chides the younger Rorin. Kailani takes the liberty of answers Kasyr's question, brow lifted just a bit, "You heard his plan. He's going go to introduce himself." Kailani did not say she thought it was a -good- plan, but this is why Rorin brought company.
Zahrani sticks close to the group, armed to the teeth and garbed in warm black fur, freshly oiled platemail, and a fur-lined hooded grey robe garbed with symbols associated with sunlight and divine warding. The sounds of rotten bones and flesh crunching beneath the glowing metal of her mace echo through the blackened labyrinth. An amber glow emanates from the eyeholes of her fitted, plated balaclava, the headgear covering her panther head perfectly. A plane of hard yellow light manifests at her right arm, acting as a curved rectangular shield against mundane and arcane attacks. The paladin is truly in her element, fighting hordes of undead from who knows how many ages past, stoking the divine fire within her as she frees each undead thrall from its rotten prison. Once they arrive at the door, she smiles softly beneath her helm at the banter between her comrades. She rests her mace at her shoulder, the blackened undead blood sizzling and evaporating off of the sanctified weapon. She eagerly waits for Rorin's response to the others, before eventually saying to the lad, "I'm right behind you, my friend.
Rorin sort of had a plan. Kind of. Not really. “I’m going to kick this door down, then we come at him all at once, from every angle. We beat the tar out of him, and set things right. Then we run like hell.” He had been stalking the Necromancer and his armies for some time now, and what information Rorin could capture had gotten them here. “I have no idea what lies beyond this door, save for that’s likely where he... forms, his various undead soldiers. The Necromancer himself is weak and old, if we can dodge his spells it will all be over. Once we reach him, we should be able to take him out in one blow. Reaching him will be the hard part though.” Rorin steadied himself and prepared his shield. “Try to spread out, but if you need it, my shield is ready. He knows we’re coming, so be careful. It’s most likely he has a nasty surprise waiting for us beyond this door. Oh- and one other thing. He stores energy in some form on him to sustain his life force. Don’t know how or what his lifeline looks likebut if we get it off him, we win for sure.“ With that Rorin stands in the center of the circle and utters a foul word recited from memory. The black stone doors shift, sliding inward..
Rorin || The room is a high vaulted horseshoe shaped chamber with the northern wall at the opposite end curving round what seems to be a ritual circle. The Necromancer stands inside it, gaunt and withered, as decrepit as the tombs around him. His lifeless sunken eyes flower darkly from beneath a shining crystal diadem atop his head. A deathly grin stretches taught the wrinkled lipless mouth around his teeth and his robes shift over his hunched and twisted form. In his right hand is a staff made from some poor creatures spine, the skull of a human child set atop with the same gleaming hungry dead eyes. With a wave of his staff the room comes to life. The walls seem to pulse and bulge as if alive, gooey black flesh wriggling and writhing
Rorin || A yellow-green fog jets and sprays out near the door where it hisses and sizzles at the party but Rorin is ready. With a touch of his Amulet of Arkhen, the acid cloud dispersed around him, allowing him and anyone close enough some breathing room. Once inside the core proper however things didn’t become any easier. The room itself was against them, writhing tentacles flanking two pools of what looks like jellied flesh with reaching arms and screaming faces divide the territory into three pathways, a middle, a left, and a right.
Rorin chooses the Right path, dashing up the corridor with his shield at the ready, only to see it crack and shimmer as the Necromancer launches a blast fit to render the paladin to ash. Slicing at the tentacles and twisting back to the wall, Rorin throws a silver knife through the muck and gloom, biting into the necromancers shoulder in retaliation. The left path is riddled with basilisks eyes set into the wall and on weird fleshy stalks, huge and glaring, the middle carved with runes and sigil traps set to bind trespassers to them.
Kasyr would fault Rorin for this approach- but honestly, after that whole thing with Xicotl, he probably should have expected this. Plus, there's a distinct bright side- at least this means that any improvisation on the Kensai's part isn't apt to raise any eyebrows. Probably. It's hard to tell when the plan involves casually fiddling around with an divine relic imparted onto him by Coreliant and, with the aid of a quickly spoken spell, promptly winking out of the sight of his companions. Sure, the undead themselves are still apt to be able to detect the invisible outline of the Kensai, but the necromancer might not- and Kasyr is certainly not against a bit of subterfuge in order to get a job done. Especially when there's someone absolutely roarin' (Sorry, not sorry)- to provide a distraction. Which is to say, the swordsman proceeds to follow on Rorin's heels, counting on the noise the paladins making to cover up the sound of his own steps as he tails after the man. That he also happens to be serving as a living blockade between himself and the necromancers machinations is just a happy coincide, we're sure. Still, close proximity also means the swordsman can at least tip his hand slightly, "When you get closer to him, Kneel for a second, s'il te plait." Here's hoping that invisible antics don't spook the young paladin.
Kailani chooses no path. This decision is not based out of fear of engaging the necromancer in battle, but faith that her comrades would be able to handle this without her. For the moment the druid enters the room, she makes her own decision as to how this needs to play out. Yes, they needed to defeat the necromancer but that would not be enough to satisfy Kailani after seeing the abhorrent mess that the necromancer has created. All of his work needed to be burned, nothing could remain, this is what Kailani decides. Given that she is a druid, one might think that the task of setting this room ablaze would be an easy one. They would not be wrong, but maintaining that blaze while also trying to flee was a completely different story. So could do one or the other, but not both. So she would enlist the help of some type of accelerant. It's not every day that Kailani carries this stuff around, but sometimes when you have to deal with the undead the best solution is to just watch them burn. So...while Rorin, Zahrani, and Kasyr kick some necromancer butt, Kailani busies herself with trying to make sure the fire she starts will stay lit long enough to do it's job. Her focus is around the entrance of the room they are currently in.
Zahrani takes the left path, the amber glow emanating from her eyes disappearing as she shuts them tight, opening her other senses to the world as she avoids the stare of the basilisk eyes. The sounds of churning flesh and tendrils, the sickly smell of rotten meat and festering wound and damp earth. With a very literal application of "blind faith," and with a litlte sensing assistance from her Divine aura, she dances through the deadly eyestalks, narrowling missing the grasp of some, while smashing any that were foolish enough to obstruct her path. The squelch of tendril yielding to her weapon was quite satisfying, but the paladin keeps her wits about her; they're here for a reason. With Rorin and Kasyr taking the right path, the three paladins would provide a two-pronged attack on the necromancer's person, while Kailani sets to work undoing the dark sigils and hopefully destabilizing the obstacles in their way.
Rorin has a bit of a hard time hearing the weirdly invisible guy riding his coattails, but that’s fine. Not being a particularly large half elf, it’s Rorins divine shield crackling and spitting under duress that truly disguises Kasyr behind him as a sort of magical chaff. Kailani, meanwhile, is left rather quietly alone, the living room and its occupants focused on far busier things. Besides the lingering vapors of flesh melting acids the Druid will have little to worry about. The eyes of the basilisk suspended in necrotic tissue stared and blinked as Zahrani squished and smashed her way through them, and then they were at the Necromancers feet!
Rorin || But he was ready for them. As Rorin slid in, sword out, Kasyr barreling over, Zahrani cutting in to flank, the Necromancer laughed. His body shimmered and he reappeared as a dozen images surrounding them! Before the Paladins could react his doppelgängers uttered foul magic on their breath and the area around the alter became a life sucking trap. Rorins shield expended, buckled, shattered, but the paladin himself would have remained unharmed. The Necromancer shot out his hands and from every direction burst forth a trail of crystalline ice, intending to entomb his prey right here where he could sap them of their strength.
Rorin used his physical shield to try to block this attack as he went in to lunge at the image he suspected to be the real Necromancer, only for the undead mage to stretch out his hand and utter a single word - a word that came from the dreaded maddening glyphs stretched across the black blood moon, Arh’nuk. Rorin was sent to his knees, trembling to hold on as the death-grin of the Necromancer pierces his mind in an attempt to kill or control him. For the others who may have resisted his devious might, a wave of his staff towards the ceiling reveals them to be surrounded by more of the basilisks petrifying eyes, gazing down at every angle. He believes he has already won.
Kasyr's instincts take over the moment Rorin's body dips down, the Kensai hopping forward not to vault over the man- but to quite literally use his body as a spring board to launch himself up into the air. Frankly, the Kensai is expecting to earn an earful later, given the sheer amount of weight that was briefly exerted on his colleague. That said- the abrupt multiplication of the casters image, and the voracious pall of dark magic that pools within the area serves to solidify the Kensais focus- obliging him to sharpen his senses. In this case, it's the paladins empathic senses that are leaned on- as they trace out to encompass the immediate proximity, seeking out the source of the malign contempt that permeates the place. To Rorin's credit, his instincts were true, the image that loomed before him the veritable sorceror. With barely a moment to spare, the Kensai finds himself needing to hastily manifest one of his summoned swords within the trajectory of his own descent- effectively creating a foothold so he can forcibly redirect his momentum and send himself barreling down towards the necromancer. Rather specifically, Kasyr's wholly intending on driving one gloved hand right into the center of the necromancers face, and cannon balling his head into the crypts floor under his combined weight. A weight that seems to be rapidly growing by the moment as the fringes of his body begin to turn to stone.
Kailani :: Noxious, flesh eating gasses honestly do not rate very high on the druid's concerns right now, not given the current situation. What Rorin was not able to disperse with his initial entry is easily heralded away with a stiff breeze. There is not much fanfare to this, the only way one would be able to tell that is the druid's influence is based on the direction of the breeze. Then again, her comrades are probably too busy to notice, eh? Since she is able to move around mostly unscathed, the druid is able to spread much of the gunky accelerant around in prime locations. By the time Kailani finishes her self-assigned special mission, it's clear to her that this necromancer is close to the point of defeat. I mean, Kasyr is trying to shove the necromancer's face into the floor right about now...So, rather than get in the way of things the druid opts to guard the entrance. If anything untoward creeps into view that seems like it might hinder their departure, the druid would dispatch of said creepo.
Zahrani 's eyes remain shut, her ears pointed towards the location of Rorin's fall and Kasyr's ascent, before the latter begins a rapid approach towards the necromancer. The panther's coughs briefly, some of the acidic vapor having reached her nostrils and caused them to burn. With a snort and a sharp exhale, the paladin centers herself, taking care not to give into panic. She makes a prediction where the sorcerer is based on his voice and Kasyr's approach towards him, and the feline sprints forward, before sliding like she's about to take home base and swinging at the back of the old sorcerer's kneecaps. The goal is simple, make sure he goes to the ground properly when the Kensai makes contact with his face.
Rorin || The cocky Necromancer is quite surprised when he realizes one of the Paladins manages to escape *above* him, breaking his concentration from Rorin just as Kasyr breaks the old mans criping jaw. Zahrani comes in with the knee busting back slide and the Necromancer falls. Rorin rises from his mental fugue and the trio commence beating the ever living tar out of the crap heel. Rorin makes his way over to the dark mages diadem and crushes it underfoot, savoring the last rattling death gasp of this monstrous mortal being until things take to rumbling. The pools of flesh wail, spirits scream, eye balls whirl around madly as tentacles flail- stone splits and begins to crumble! “Time to go,” Rorin declares, picking up his shield and starting off at a run. “Kailani! Now!” Rorin all but picks up anyone slower than him as they make their way out the doors. It’s a mad dash to the top as the bones rattle and roll down in the catacombs until at last they are greeted by the sun. The harsh white glare of frostmaw a clear sky blazes down as the earth collapses in behind them with a last fiery belch. A zombie dragon, a stone labyrinth, a Minotaur skeleton, and one arrogant Necromancer Down and things have finally been set right. Our heroes rest and prepare for the next step of their journey. A Paladins work is never done.
Kasyr might feel a brief moment of solidarity as their brutal takedown of the dark caster devolves into what can only be surprised as a surprisingly effcient curb stomp. One that is brought to literal and figurative heel when Rorin obliterates the necromancers unholy headwear. By this juncture, the Kensais certainly no longer veiled by Coreliants Ring of Deception- which means attending to his appearance is slightly necessary. Yeah, he's definitely waiting a moment while everyone flees to adjust his scarf- and not to buy a second so he can search the guys pockets for drinking and danish money. "...Oh wait. Is this place actually falling apart?" ...Yeah, it's actually self destructing with the villains death. "On y Vaaaaaaa." You know, for a guy that's wearing an extremely cumbersome trenchcoat, it's pretty surprising that he can get ahead of a group of people fleeing so fast. The joys of conserving your energy for when things -truly- go south.
Kailani has to be careful with how this blaze spreads while her comrades make their escape. She's spread the accelerant toward the front of their current room, so were the blaze to begin there...? Everyone would be out of luck on making an escape. The flames begin to manifest from the back of the room, from behind the running paladins, and spread forward as they run. Kailani would effectively be the last person to exit the room, on purposes, as she is the one manipulating the flames at present. She wants assurance that this burn will be done right...However, she won't be long behind her comrades. They'll very quickly have sight of her running just a few paces behind them.