RP:Xiang Meets His Maker
Background
This is part of the Kurgan's Run story arc.
Xiang remembers his own dark roots as a child of the Obsidian Pool, and has a meeting with the mastermind behind it all.
A Short Time Later
Xiang Lao makes his way towards the headquarters of the Eldritch Cabal with due haste, the monk having sensed a calling from the vile and haunted place that seemed to be aimed at him. If the masters were calling, he had to answer. His entry leads his to a passageway, with three looming archways that seemed to never end. Its quite an impressive site, but due to the nature of the monk's birth and childhood, he somehow feels at home in the dark and foreboding place of evil and chaos. It seems as if the walls move, in and out, in and out at such a steady pace, that one would believe this building to be breathing. Logical minds would find this place their own personal hells, as nothing is logical here. Xiang, looking down all three archways, hears a faint voice calling to him from the middle. " This way... my son..." The monk knows that voice, for it has guided and commanded him all his life. Eldritch. " She must destroy the pool..he cannot be allowed to escape.." The monk inclines his head, and takes off at an impressive sprint down the hall. He had little time, for by each passing second he could feel another presence growing stronger, one that was just as old and powerful as his father. That alone presented terrible thoughts to the man, for who could be trapped within this place for so long? And what would he do if he got out?
Unlike the other passages, this central path led to no twisting maze of corridors, nor to twisted visions of the past – instead its smooth, straight floor and heaving walls led to another chamber, a large space decorated with stone couches, a massive hearth and the ring-shaped stone wall of the fathomless well that housed the Obsidian Pool. The waters were quiescent for now, still and inky as a black mirror, in which Xiang would clearly see his own face reflected should he gaze into it.
Xiang comes to a halt as he reaches the edges of the Obsidian Pool, the monk feeling an incredibly odd feeling as his pale blue eyes come to rest upon the murky depths of the mass of chaos the lies before him. Looking upon his reflection, the monk seems transfixed upon its image, which even though it seems to be nothing more than his own image, something is off...
His reflection was smiling. That in itself was odd enough, the monk hardly the kind to idly wear such an expression. Indeed, he might raise a hand to his lips, just to check whether his features did wear such a smirk, by some magic or untoward tic of muscle. They didn’t. The figure in the pool mimicked his motion, in every way – except that its still wore the smile, which widened now to a clench-toothed grin, through which the apparition spoke: “Ah about time you were here, my son.” The voice was tinny and distant, a faint metallic rasp, as though channelled down a very long pipe. “You’ve work to do. An infestation has occurred, meddling associates of the Key. They need putting down, my boy.” The voice broke up in a hiss and crackle, and the Pool rippled faintly, distorting Xiang’s mirror-image. When it stilled again, the speech resumed. “The bitch has made it hard to… must see to it that she completes… and with my freedom will come your own… the illusionist’s pet…damage…interference, I can feel…your destiny, Xiang, take your place among….” Another ripple, and the Pool grew still as glass and spoke no more.
Xiang watches as his reflection takes on a life of its own, and the voice of his creator utters forth broken commands. The monk, hearing only bits and pieces, senses that there are powers here that are disrupting Eldritch's connection to the mortal realm. And that power... it grows stronger with each passing moment, as if feeding off something. But what? There were others here, and he could now feel there presence too, but just as with the messages from the pool, his connection is broken and distorted by the unknown power that radiates down every corridor of this haunting castle of chaos. Closing his eyes so that he can concentrate fully upon locating one of the many associates that have decided to meddle in the affairs of his father. Down, down the rabbit hole he goes. Who he will find first, well, that nobody knows. He travels along the darkness, steady as she goes. Who he finds first, will be devoured by the carrion crows.