|
|
|
|
| Monday, October 23, 2006 |
| A prelude |
Lorcast slowly and quietly turned the corpse onto its back. The throat had been torn out. Killed by one of its own. Disgusting things, dolgrims. Both mouths of the creature were caught in silent screams, the tongues hanging dried against its sharp teeth. One of its four arms had been broken and now rested sickeningly underneath its back. The lithe githyanki woman rose from a squatting position over the dead abomination, pulling a torn parchment from a pouch on her hip. The pitch blackness of the khyber tunnel didn't stop her from studying the map to reaffirm her bearings. Silently she began to move deeper through the caverns.
The mind flayer paced across a raised stone cropping in a large cavern far beneath the surface of Khorvaire. A constant sound of metal-on-metal and undercommon ramblings filled the expansive cave. Countless dolgrims hustled about, crafting weapons and armor. As often as they chattered and spat at each other they talked nonsense to themselves. The telepathic orders from the mind flayer filled them constantly, keeping their dual-minds busy with the tasks at hand.
Good timing. Lorcast peered out into the massive khyber cavern from an entryway some twenty-five feet above the cave floor. She slowly scanned the mass of dolgrims below. Preparing for a strike on the surface... I wonder where. Her eyes now followed the mind flayer on the risen stone near the north end of the cave. There you are.
"The mighty illithid hunter." Before Lorcast could react to the raspy voice in her ear, a slimy tendril erupted through her chest from behind. She tried to stand and failed, finding a clawed hand holding her neck. She felt more protrusions tear into her flesh across her shoulders. She quickly tried to reach the silver greatsword on her back. As she moved her hand up, another long tendril plunged through the back of her palm, halting her arm. She turned to stare at her attacker as a long tongue licked at her cheek. Empty eye sockets on a pale face stared back at her. She coughed up some blood as the tendrils began sucking the life from her.
"O'lagarit will be glad to finally have you in his grasp, slayer." The wretched dolgaunt clinging to Lorcast smiled wickedly. "Let's you and I go say hello to him, shall we?"
"Tell you what." Lorcast turned painfully to look down at the mind flayer, O'lagarit, below. "You go on ahead of me, and tell him I'll be right there." Lorcast quickly formed seals with her left hand, as the dolgaunt began to furrow his brow and laugh at the obviously disillusioned gith.
"We'll be going down togeth..." The dolgaunt stopped speaking, and found himself staring not at Lorcast anymore, but right at O'lagarit. He blinked twice, and looked down. He fell with a thud to the stone platform. He let out a small gasp as he realized he no longer had a lower torso or legs. He went to pick what was left of himself up, only to find he no longer had any arms either. "O'la...garit... slay...er.." The dolgaunt died. O'lagarit stared at the body for a moment in disbelief, then wheeled and scanned the cavern.
Lorcast pulled the tendrils out from her hand, shoulders, her back. She threw them on the stone floor next to the dolgaunt's arms, legs, and lower torso. She peered down at O'lagarit who was frantically looking about the cavern for her location. The dolgrims had also started scampering about in search. Not exactly how I had planned this... but so be it. Lorcast formed seals again, and blinked out of sight. She reappeared not a moment later behind O'lagarit on the stone platform below her previous position. O'lagarit wheeled to face her, taking a step back.
"Ahhh... we meet again." O'lagarit regained his composure and readied himself against the gith hunter.
"For the last time, flayer." Lorcast unsheathed the silver sword on her back, the blade seemingly becoming a silver liquid as she did so.
The mind flayer shrugged and probably smiled. "What, you don't enjoy my company anymore?" He stepped back once more and started walking a radius around Lorcast.
Lorcast slowly pointed her sword at O'lagarit. "Let's finish it."
The mind flayer bowed. "As you wish." With a deafening screech the mind flayer threw his arms back and the air between the combatants warped with mental energy that smashed against the Gith like a train. Lorcast braced herself, taking the blast and getting pushed back some ten feet. The gith had hoped for just such an attack, however, and as quickly as it hit her she let out a cry and the blast from the mind flayer was sent back against him. His eyes widened as the blast tore back into him, sending him into a rock wall thirty feet behind. Lorcast slowly walked the distance to O'lagarit, kneeling and pulling the stunned flayer up by his collar.
"I learned that just for you." Lorcast spit onto the mind flayer's face. With her silver sword, she slowly cleaved through the neck of the flayer, taking his head and dropping his body back onto the stone ground. As the dolgrims, screaming and flailing their weapons, began to make their way up to her position, she quickly formed a familiar seal and was gone from the cavern.
--------------------------------------------------
I was gone far too long. Lorcast walked towards the small town of Valan where she lived with her family and many other githyanki refugees. She had presented the head of O'lagarit to the Gatekeepers at Greenheart, receiving much praise, but now she wanted nothing more than to go home. She had been gone for over four months on mission to infiltrate O'lagarit's sanctum, learn what she could about his plans, and finally dispatch him. It will be great to see Aliarn and the children again... little Biaka... Syphin...
As Lorcast came into the clearing that marked the edge of Valan, her heart sank. The city was crumbled and decrepit, and a stench of decay assaulted her nostrils. Aliarn... the children! She ran into the city towards her house. As she turned a corner, she saw a group of githyanki in the street huddled together.
"Hello! By the Five, what happ...?" Her shouted question trailed off, as the group wheeled and stood to look at her. Blood dripped from their gaping maws, and their reddened hungry eyes widened as they saw her. They all began to hasten towards her, some slumped, some missing arms and legs. The overwhelming smell of undeath made Lorcast retch involuntarily. As the group moaned and feverishly made its way in her direction, she steeled herself for battle once again. Unsheathing her silver greatsword and holding it menacingly in front of her, she let out a gasp and a single tear fell as she saw her husband, Aliarn, amongst the group headed her way.
"Zombies." A voice on top of one of the few still nearly complete buildings made Lorcast turn abruptly. She saw a pointy-eared, stocky man with a short-trimmed beard and a long trenchcoat. He had a feral look about him, but his demeanor seemed to contradict his appearance. A short cigar rested between his lips. He finished pulling on a glove, and retrieved a finely crafted bow from his back. As he knocked an arrow and took aim at the group moving to Lorcast, he looked down, smiling lopsidedly.
"I fucking hate zombies."Labels: dungeons and dragons, eberron, fiction |
posted by JavaBomberman @ 4:02 PM   |
|
| 4 Comments: |
-
-
That was awesome, and the fact that this story is integrated into your game is even cooler. I really dig that idea. This makes me want to play in your game. Keep posting stuff like this!
-
I hope more people are reading this.
(Spud, Wolf)
-
|
| |
| << Home |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
| |
|
| Previous Posts |
|
| Archives |
|
|
|
|
|
Shifters FTW.