Week 1
Celsius group continues towards their destination
Week 2
"Look! Gravemounds."
One of the younger hunters ran towards a group of mounds that he spotted on a glade. Immediatly, he felt a violent pull on his collar, sending him tumbling to the ground. Celsius had stopped him.
"Fool. If they are cursed and your feet rot off we will let you out in the wilderness to die, you hear me? We are not scavengers. We have a target, and we will keep our eyes on that."
Only a few hundred meters in front of them, a great deal of ruins dominated the forest. The trees had long reclaimed what was theirs, but black rubble and the remains of walls made of obsidian were near everywhere. A stone road, now nothing but a trail of black mess led towards the center of the ruined city. The great tower, easily 200 meters high throned at the edge of a lake, it's pitch black profile like a thorn in the harmony of this place.
The closer the hunters got to the tower, the more intact the remaining buildings were, some looking completely untouched. The reason for their preservance was an unnatural cold that was radiating from the tower, coating the black stone of the walls with a fine layer of white frost. Eternaly guarding the entrance of the tower stood a statue, dressed in shiny platemail, and equiped with a sword of steel.
"Let's send one of the Kharmanathi up there first. if there are any traps, he will show us."
Luckily enough, the stairs were untrapped. Above the portal of massive iron stood the words:
"Let those who seek the Lord on High speak the words of truth."
The hunters tried to open it, but it wouldn#t buldge even a centimeter.
"Celsius, it's hopeless! Do you see that writing above the door? Surely it is hold shut by some sort of magic trickery."
Violently, Celsius grabbed the hunters back of the head and pushed his face against the ancient hinges.
"Do you see that? There is no magic going on here. These doors are old, rusty, and more importantly, frozen shut. Stop whining about magic and put some force into it."
After a few minutes the 4 hunters finaly managed to force the door open. A cold, biting wind blew threw their hair, suprisingly enough, considering it came from inside the tower, but it mattered not. Taking the sword from the statue, celsius blocked the door, keeping it from falling shut again.
Inside, there was only little light, only whatever daring ray of sunshine was courageous enough to enter through the tiny windows of this pitch black tower. A red carpet, half rotten already floored the room, and big lumbs of ice were lying on the ground. Upon closer inspection, all of them contained a human, their faces full of terror and pain.
"There are two stairways. You three will go down, I and you over there will go up."
3 of the hunters made their way down a small flight of stairs. they were slippery, and it was particularly dark down there, so it took a great deal of concentration not to fall. The basement contained nothing but a small kitchen, something that might have been a room for storage, or a sevrants quarter (the furniture has long rotten away, so there was no way to tell), and something akin of a detention cell. At a rusty hook on the wall was a heavy keychain, which the hunters took with them. There was only one cell, but many keys, so they probably would have use further upstairs.
Meanwhile, higher on the stairs Celsius was trying to break open the desks in a room above. 2 of them were easily opened, bearing some scrools, which the Thalon accompanying them identified as magic spells, which none of the people around understood. Nevertheless, Celsius pocketed them, one never knows when such a scrool might be useful.
However the last one of the desks was particularly resistant. No matter how much forced used, it would not bulge. The lock was engraved with complicated symbols, probably a spell. Finaly giving up on breaking it with force, the group was rejoined by the ones that checked out the basement, and they climbed further upwards the stairs of the dark tower. Most rooms they found were unspectacular, rooms for servants, dining rooms, the door to a wide balcony, a library full of books of no particular interest. Only one door took the groups interest. A large steel door, lavishly decorated, engraved with words that the Thalon translated to: "What lies herein belongs only to the Highest of the High. He who takes from herein will be cursed with the wrath of heavens, and so shall his sons be cursed, and their sons to the thousandth generation. Let all who would steal from HIM know that his wrath is Mighty, and Righteous."
"Hey, graverobber. Here comes your time. You want to loot something? open that door for me, will you?"
Celsius handed the young hunter the keychain,a nd after a few minutes, a key was found that suprisngly enough, fitted. The young hunter had a hard time actually fiddling the key into the hole, one one side a curse by something that was probably ancient and evil, on the other side Celsius, who was not that ancient, but deffinetly easy as well. Oh cruel fate, you are the most evil of them all....
Nudging the door open, the hunter immediatly ducked away, awaiting to be smitten by fireballs, but nothing. Instead, a great mound of gold, silver, gem encrusted weaponry and armor and all the things that make the heart of the greedy skip a beat.
Celsius snatched the keychain from the hunter, removed the key to the treasury and locked the room again. It's contents were worthless, at least right now. For now, they key shall remain with her.
Further and further they made it upwards the tower, untill they reached a door to the top. Behind it, a great throne room, open to all four sides, leaving a marvelous view of the surroundings. The throne room was circular. In it's middle, a human figure, raising one hand into the sky, the other hand holding a piece of parchament. Around him, armored guards, frozen completely still. On the very back of the room, a lavishly decorated throne, and the also completely frozen figure of a king.
Inspecting the figure in the middle, Celsius took the parcghament from his hand, as well as a small silverkey hanging from his neck.
"Frozen by magic presumably... I can't tell if they are still alive or not."
Celsius drew a knife from her boots and stabbed it into the figure in the middle. No blood. No reaction. Probably dead.
However, those who know celsius know one thing: She is not a risk-taker.
With a few forcefull kicks, she broke of the hands of the armored guards. If they should spring back to live, then at least not in a condition that could take her off-gouard.
Finaly, she approached the crowned figure on the throne. He had a long beard, much to big and voluminous for his thin body, and his his hands was a scepter of the purest of silver. Embeded in it was a big, light blue gem, that constantly radiated a faint blue light. As her hand reached for it, suddenly the king's eyes sprung open.
Immeditaly she jumped back and readied her spear.
"Who comes before the king of kings? Who dears to threaten the Highest One?"
The Half-frozen mummy attempted to rie out of his throne, but was seemingly unable to. It didn#t matter if he was a frozen corpse that suddenly sprung back to live after a few thousand years. There was no way in hell Celsius would feel intimidated by such a figure.
"Highest one? Then let my inform you that you are about to be de-throned by the deepest one."
She send down her spear in a wide arc, attempting to bash his skull right in with the flat side of the tip. The Ice king, considering his condition, was more agile than one would assume. Quickly he rose his arm with the scepter, and a blue flash of light deflected the attack.
The steel of the spear was vibrating violently, and Celsius shoulder was almost dislodged.
"INSOLENT DOG. Do you not know to whom you speak?"
"Dogs you say?"
Untill now they were only waiting for a chance, but upon a small gesture of her hand, 3 Kharmanathi started to bite and tear away at his frozen flesh. Not letting a second pass, Celsius feign a stab at his lower body, and immediatly rose up up to stab right into his hearth before he could even react. But the king, despite having his hearth stabbed, seemed to be miracously alive. With a few swings of his scepter, he send the Kharmanathi fly, shattering their bodies like glass.
"What an interesting tool you have there, old geezer"
Violently she brought her spear down unto his arm, attempting to break it, but again her spear was deflected by a blue flash. her arm was seriously hurting now, but she forced herself to endure it.
"The fools may not speak to their betters, dog." voiced the king and speaks ancient words of command.
The guards, previously froen, sprng back to live. Only to be taken out by the 4 other hunters, who were observing Celsius fight with great entertainment.
Celius took a new battle stance, holding her spear high above her head. Her right hand hold it at the bottom, the shaft resting on her left forearm. With a speed and force that the king could not match, she began a series os stabs on his head, eventually piercing his neck completely.
The king speaks with difficulty: "I AM IMMORTAL! I...cannot...die..."
"We will see to it that you will, old man"
With a violent yank, Celsius tore his head right of his shoulders. The kings head landed a few meters back from her. No words were leaving his mouth, but his lips were gesturing panickaly.
Celsius took the scepter from his cold claws, and went forward to pick up his head as well. Without a word, she went to the window that had the best viw of the lake, threw his head a little into the air and smashed him away with the scepter like a baseball.
With a violent blue flash, his head was torn apart.
The other frozen corpses were thrown out in a similar fashion.
On the way back down, the party checked out the magicaly closed desk, now having the key for it. Inside, they found the diary of someone, probably of the person who was now swimming at the bottom of the lake.
"I am writing this in elvish for fear of being spyed upon. I'm certain the servants are reading my papers when I'm away. I just know it."
"That man is getting crazier than ever. He is obsessed with the winter and cold. He insists that he doesn't feel a bit cold up there even during winter. I swear I can see him shaking underneath those clothes. I've seen some of his poems. Creepy stuff."
"Impossible! He is demanding to be turned into an ice-man. Insanity! As if I could do such a thing. I had to agree though. Gods, howam I going to get out of this one."
"He is pressing on me more and more. Not a day goes by without him asking how am I progressing. Oh gods in the heavens. I'll have to do something or I'll be executed, I know it.
"I think I found something. It should fool him, enough at least for me to make an escape. I just hope there are no side effects."
"Tonight I will act. Once I release the spell, he'll be fused with ice. I hope he won't know the difference until I'm long gone."
Week3-5
Celsius group is camping at the obsidian tower. They send out a thalon to inform the tribe of their findings, asking them to come here. This would be the perfect place to erect an unsanctuary, introducing the cult of Nagarach to this new world, strengthening his icy grip around the universe...
Week6
The Thalon arrives. the Nacka-Rachti are preparing for departure, stocking up on supplies and discussing travel-routes.
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((The glacier continues to grow, and the storm around the artifact picks up in strength and size. The Storm now reaches over the Ipetian settlement))
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Topic: Battle of the Gods III+ (Read 62714 times)