Darson's Stronghouse, Sithicus

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Darson's Stronghouse, Sithicus

Post by Moral Machivelli »

25th January

In a small wooded glen, just slightly north-east of Har-Thelen, everything is serene. The birds chirp with a will. The somewhat out of place statue of a female Vistana in the middle of the glade looks quite peaceful. For Ravenloft, it is a placid, natural scene, and not even disturbed by the pair of figures trekking through the undergrowth.
Last edited by Moral Machivelli on Mon Jan 16, 2006 3:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

Raephael Buchvold trudges into the clearing, holding a small leather bound book in his hand. Upon viewing the statue, he opens the book, and turns to a previously marked page and compares the statue with a picture in the book

"Yes, this is definitely the place. Now all I have to do is recite a short incantation, and the entrance will be revealed"

The tall Borcan nobleman begins to recite the chant from the book, never pausing, coldly and without emotion
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

As the tall Borcan Wizard finishes his chant, the statue seems to nod slightly, it's countenance becoming a little more beneficent, then the statue's pedestal slides, ever so slightly, forward, towards Buchvold and Hiro.

Though he can't quite see it yet, as the statue blocks his view, Raephael Buchvold *knows* that a door-sized hole has been revealed. He turns to Hiro

"Before we enter, I will enlighten you as to what little I know about this complex"

"Darson was an explorer ,(or to be more accurate an adventurer) of the old school. According to his journal ..."Buchvold waves the item
"He excavated ruins in Sri Rajj, Sebua, Pharazia and G'henna amongst a good many others. This place was designed to house them. Darson notes that he left them here for a "Worthy clamiant", thus some guardians can be expected, but I believe that the only thing we have any reason to fear are two perticular guardians. Darson's descriptions are somewhat vague but he notes with some glee "a thousand blades which will tear though the flesh, blood and bone of all…""

Buchvold closes the book. He can appreciate Darson's melodramatic (and macarbre) imagery.

“There is also mention of “The 20 Guardian Blades,” but I cannot clarify what that refers to”

“So, shall we enter?” The Fraternity of Shadows member turns to enter the dungeon
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Post by Coan »

Hiro looks towards the entrance.

"Come into my parlour said the spider to the fly..."

He then follows Raephael inside.
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

The passage is small and cramped, somewhat reminiscent of a crypt (with the decoration to match). Buchvold precedes down it at a slow pace, bemoaning in his head the undignified nature of these proceedings

Thank the watchers that no other Fraternity member can see this. They would burst with laughter. I would never live it down.

********

Soon, the Borcan illusionist enters the first room. It is built in the traditional Rijin style, laid out as a large temple. However, the ceiling has been raised to an enormous height, and several large lenses have been arranged in the newly made space. The lenses each reflect a small light into a central lens, which beams it down towards a trench in the centre of the room, forming a wall of light

Buchvold is extremely impressed. In current period of his studies (that concerned energies,) he had attempted to design a similar system himself, but was unable to manage it.

Perhaps... on my way out, I may stop for a little sketching

"Please stop, Mr Hiro. This room is trapped"

The trap, though designed extremely well, was painfully obvious to one who had studied such things. Buchvold is quite aware that the focusing of light is quite possibly extreme enough to melt anything that passes through. Save the stone beneath. Clever way of diverting attention from the trap itself

However, it should prove simple to circumvent. Taking one of the fragments of iron he had taken to carrying since the Manoir debacle; the Fraternity of Shadow's member utters a brief incantation

"Cognito ergo sum; Cognito ergo creo"

A sudden darkness envelops the pair. Buchvold, having anticipated it, flings the small iron shard atop the central lens

Having disarmed the trap, the Borcan turns to Hiro

"It is safe now. Shall we continue, Mr Hiro?"
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Post by Coan »

Hiro smiled seemingly amused at the illusionist's actions.

"Of course, let us proceed."
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Post by Coan »

Hiro and Raephael continue down into the depths of the stronghold. Hiro speaks little while keeping an eye on the surronding area for movement or anything else unusual. Eventually the corridor begins to shrink in width until the two must stand sideways to slide through. Hiro takes the lead while strapping his sword onto his back. After several minutes the two see light coming from ahead before looking out onto a suddenly very wide room with a low ceiling. The area seemed to have once seen a large fire as the walls are charred and black, though there are some glowing light sources spaced evenly their light is not sufficent to make out the clear contents of the room -only that it seems to be quite long. Hiro crouches at the room's entrance being careful not to step inside. Tapping the ground and looking forwards he concentrates and then reaches to his side. Pulling out a short stick he breaks the top off and flicks it. Blue light suddenly splutters from the stick and shines out in a steady pulse.

"What is that?" Raephael asks, obviously curious

"A scout flash light. Different colours for different uses, the blue helps outline changes in the room...." he again taps the ground "There wasn't a fire here, at least not an ordinary one. The lines of char are slender and move around."

"What does it mean?"

Hiro is pulling out a set of goggles and strapping them over his eyes. He then throws the stick inside the room. The result is startling.

Concentrated rays of flame burst out of the walls to hit the stick. The rays dissect and cross then shift again as the stick burst on fire and scatters blue sparkles everywhere, the effect is bright enough to show a statue in the centre of the room -identical to the one outside save the woman holds a sword in one hand and a set of scales in the other her eyes glow ever so slightly as if made of tiny mirrors that reflect the new light.

"Trial by fire." Hiro mutters as he takes off his coat and straps his sword back on. On his back Raephael sees an array of items strapped onto a leather back brace -many nasty looking items. Hiro's coat also makes a distinctive 'clack' when it hits the ground. The man then begins exercising.

"You are going to run across?" the illusionist asks

"No." He then begins walking across the floor

"What!?-" Raephael is about to exclaim but suddenly recalls details of some traps. By tapping the floor one could possibly tell where the triggers were. Hiro must have figured out ho-

A jet of flame suddenly ruptured out of the ground underneath Hiro.

"Hiro!" the man was insane and now very probably dead as the light moved and followed up the right wall. But Hiro was no longer in his original place, he had moved so quickly. He was now gaining speed slowly as another ray of deadly light moved at him at an arrow's pace. This time he rolled under it and rose not missing a step before shifting his footwork for a quick dive to the right as the previous ray locked on. More lights began pumping out of the walls illuminating the room, they burned the walls in perfect mathematical lines as Hiro dodged, side stepped and almost seemed to pass through them with nigh impossible grace and speed. As he approached the statue he gave a great leap and cleared it, only when he landed did Raephael realize Hiro had taken out his blade. The statue's head rolled cleanly off its stone shoulders and the flames died into spurts and then nothing in seconds.

"There were words written on the ground to blind the judge so all may pass the court's trials. But the flames had faded the instructions now she is forever without sense." Hiro explained sheathing his sword in one motion while moving to the doors at the end of the room. The blade was still sharp.
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

Worth every Rose Thinks Buchvold, as he proceads along the coridor. He embarks upon a long trail of thaught, as he proceads down the corridor, and only stops as he enters the next room.

It was the most obvious trap Buchvold had ever heard of. A row of 50 mechanical men were lining the walls of this new room. 5 feet ahead of where Buchvold and Hiro now stand, their is a continual stream of light, obviously met to trigger the activation of this mechanical army.

"This one I remember reading about" remembers the Borcan.

"Shall we spring the trap?" asks Hiro, knowing what the answer will be

"No. There are too many. We'll have to try to de-activate the blasted thing."

Buchvold looked up. According to Darson's journal, you should "Blind the Eyes of those with none. In other words, there were probably two swiches, in the shape of eyes, somewhere nearby that if hit at exactly the same time would de-activ...

Buchvold starts as he spots the switches . As he anticiapated they are in the shape of eyes

What he didn't anticapate was that there were six of them

Damn. If the have to be activated at the same time to be safe, this wont be easy. My missiles can only hit five, unless...

Hard. Extreamly hard, but possible

The Borcan began the missile inceantation, redieng himself for the extreamly quick reaction his plan called for.

The missiles were discharged.

Following them, and strikeing at the exact same time, was a single pistol shot.

The light was disperced. The trap was obviously disarmed
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Post by Coan »

"Good work. I think we make a good team. But where did you learn to shoot like that?"
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

“University of Dementlieu” smiles the Borcan “I learned a little gunplay, and a little swordsmanship, atop the arcane arts. Not enough to equal someone like you Mr. Hiro, but far more than enough for dealing with people less educated in swordsmanship, such as petty hierd thugs. I’ve had regular practice at that for quite a while“
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

"Now, let us continue. I can not believe the main chamber is too far from here"
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Post by Coan »

Hiro and Raphael continued on.

Continuing down the long deserted corridor Hiro was put in mind of the story of the child who journeyed down to the spirit world and was entrapped by Oni for all eternity to perform tricks for them. He doubted spirits resided here in this place, but could imagine it still retaining many explorers. Their life’s breaths still caught in the stone.

Hearing something up ahead he advised caution and that he would scout ahead. Jumping up he threw himself at the wall only to stick there. Climbing up to the roof above he moved off into the darkness. In moments Raphael had lost him.

The illusionist couldn’t tell how long he had waited there, the darkness was monotonous and distorted time. He faced the corridor Hiro had gone down should there be a cry for help or sounds of fighting but the silence was almost a physical presence. It was then he felt the tap on his shoulder.

Hiro was crouched behind him.

“We can go forward now.”

Slowly at first then at a more leisurely pace they moved on. Every now and again Raphael spotted a disarmed trap or marked space for him to step. Not long after the bodies started showing up. They were humanoid in shape, flesh golems or some creation by the look of them. Used to guard the area. Most had their bodies cut open, a few lacked heads, but all of them were dead. Raphael counted eight altogether. He also noted the precision of the cuts, most were one stroke kills –efficient and cold, lacking any of the brutality he would have thought a typical mercenary would possess.

It then occurred to Raphael. He hadn’t heard any of this.
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

The two reached a corridor with an ornately graven black mythril gateway on the right and a plan oldpair of woden doors on the other. One side of the door contained engravings of a multitude of different weapons; rapiers, longswords, kanatas, greatswords... almost any bladed weapon was engraved on this half of the door. The other half of the door contained mystic sketchings, extracts from thousands upon thousands of arcane texts, on any subject imaginable.

Buchvold and Hiro exchanged a single look.

The door flew inwards, crashing with a resounding impact due to the combined force of Buchvold's missiles and Hiro's kanata.

The room was deliberately beautiful. The walls were inlayed with uncountable black opals, glittering by torchlight. The floor was inlayed with a single, large obsidian ankh, with a small pedestal set in the centre of the loop. The remainder of the room was without note, but several items, swords, wands and a multitude of arcane trinkets littered the room

Buchvold sighed. He appreciated theatricality as much as the next man, but their were limits

"Before you say something Mr. Hiro, I don't think even Darson would be melodramatic enough to trap the pedestal"

Buchvold walks forward, across the marble floor. He then picks up the small flat item that rested there, Darson's most prised possession

Then the wooden doors flew back on their hinges, with speed no mortal hand could match and as they regained their true positions, a section of the wall on the other side of the chamber fades into nothingness

Now, the wizard, and the swordsman can see the true configuration of this area, this centre room, with a corridor on either side.

In other words, a trap

The corridor revealed by the re-alignment of the doors appears blank at first, but one by one, a compliment of spinning blades emerge from slits in the wall. A hundred, no a thousand , no a million blades made of the finest adamantine spin together like a flock of crows, rotating in place faster that the eye can see.

Every one of those blades is sharpened to deadly perfection

The other corridor is lined with an long row of ancient, though still in good condition suits of armour, with the helmets up, revealing ancient corpses within. A faint red glow of sentience enters their eyes. As a one they draw deadly eatched blades. One of these creatures looks a match for any mortal swordsman.

There must be at least 50 of them

“Well, it appears I over estimated Mr. Darson” Remarks Buchvold dryly

“Your Kanata won’t be of any use ageist those blades, and my spells won’t work against so many of the undying, Let’s choose our targets appropriately, shall we?”

“Now, lets get this done with"
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Post by Coan »

Hiro adjusts his footing. 50 undead... each strike must be perfectly placed and timed to allow him the ability to move out of range of their attacks. He could see weaknesses in the armour. It had been invented before gunpowder so it was bulky and thinner, used for more deflecting a blade than stopping a bullet. Their organisation was weak as well. Three well trained men, used to attacking in a group could kill anyone or any skill as the Rules of War dictated.

But these warriors were knights. Individuals who had quested for glory in life, armies used to overwhelming the enemy and killing anyone who looked part of the other faction. In other words they had no group co-ordination.

This was roughly Hiro's only advantage. But 50 versus 1...

"...Urgh"

He started relaxing. Easing his muscles and hearing the clank of armour, the sound of decay moving. The first strike was low, severing the creature's ankles at the weak point. It fell backwards into it's compartriots. As they stumbled back he swung the katana up high taking a head. He had to be careful not to get the blade stuck in bone or metal he had to concentrate.

There was one behind him now, raising a war axe with both hands. Hiro spun and cut him off at the elbows then quickly jumped as three weapons thrust into his previous location. Timing it just right he landed squarely on the warriors shoulders. He then began his second major move by spinning on the beast's shoulders. His blade darted out taking cuts on nearby faces, arms and stomachs -anywhere unprotected by that particular form of armour. It wasn't long before the others stopped trying to get at Hiro and simply swamped their own soldier who supported Hiro with groaning disatisfaction. Chopping and stabbing they went at him uncaring at Hiro's increasingly faster display of attacks. Hiro jumped just as his support's legs gave way but this time he had no where to go save down into the masses.

Raphael lost track of Hiro while he dealt with his own task but had he seen he would have feared for the man's life. Blades rose and fell. Hiro's mind wandered...

"..Erika."

Suddenly the sounds of the warrior's weapons stopped. Their silence quickly broken by another sound, that of metal hitting stone. Their swords had been cut, their blades now cascaded over the floor. A few of those with enough muscle gave vaguley surprised looks. Hiro slowly rose to his feet, he was visibly cut and bleeding, his clothes ruined and his stance uncertain and weak. It appeared Raphael's money had been poorly invested as Hiro dropped to his knees in a circle of soldiers. But nothing happened. The armoured figures stood still until one began to shift... it's upper torso sliding away from its body. Others followed; limbs, heads, chest, there was no exception as the small group fell to pieces in neatly sliced chunks. Were the alive the sight would certainly have been different, but instead dust was thrown into the air in slight 'puffs' as the enemy fell apart as Hiro fell to his knees in the centre of the carnage.
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

As Hiro falls to his knees in the center of the room and the last undead warrior slumps to one side and topples, the room is filled only with the hissing of the metal blades and the breathing of the mage and the warrior.

Suddenly the pitch of the metal blades changes, the patterns of their movements changing to make something almost human in form from the storm of metal. The maelstrom of blades is speaking.

"Well done, warrior," it hums. "You are indeed worthy heirs to my treasure. But it is mine, and I do not give it freely!"

The humming of the writhing blades speeds to a howl; sparks run along the slivered metal, and a bolt of electricity lances across the room, striking the Borcan and the Rokushiman both.*

*lightning bolt Hiro fails his save and takes 32 points of damage; Buchvald makes his and takes 16. Let's assume Hiro was down 15 from previous combat; that puts him at 19 hit points. Your action, gentlemen.
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