Prelude: No Rest for the Weary

[DoomulusPrime]

"Drumlin, is that you?" A voice echoes out from the darkness, as a robed dwarven silhouette steps into the edge of the light. You recognize the deep, baritone voice as one of your juniors in the Order, Bor Stonecarver. He walks with a slight limp, and as he approaches, you can see a thin trail of partly-dried blood running down his scalp. "Benyar," he curses, "what are you doing down here? Last thing I remember, I was retouching the southern engravings..."

Bor looks in a bad way. As he approaches, you notice that his is clutching his side and leaving a trail of blood flecks on the stone. Oblivious to danger as he is, it seems like it's no surprise that he would approach and investigate despite his wounds, despite the fact that he is not yet initiated into the Order's arcane mysteries. Indeed, the jury is still out on whether he would even be capable of such things, as he is not the brightest of the new crop of Apprentices. It seems they keep him around for his hand at craftwork, and his hardiness. Of course, it seems the latter trait is being sorely tested on him right now...

[Vardaen]

"Bor? Are you alright, you are bleeding." Drumlin moves up to the Apprentice, "What happen, you look terrible." Drumlin glances behind him once and then helps the fellow dwarf giving him some support to lean on. "My goodness you are bleeding all over." Drumling links his arm under Bor's to support him, "What are you doing down here, you should have headed up to seek medical help."

[DoomulusPrime]

"Bor, still clutching his side, accepts the help with walking. "Not sure if that's the best idea, ser," he replies, "on account that I wasn't sure I would make it." He winces with pain as he shifts his weight slightly. "There's someone or something out there that can see in the darkness, sure as it crept on me as I was working. I came out with a couple others... they weren't there when I woke up, though. Not sure if they scattered or if something got them."

Bor shakes with a horrible, racking cough that echoes out into the cavern. Surely, it occurs to Drumlin, if there is something out there it knows where both of them are at this very moment. Bor is tough, but his wounds are grave. Any misstep at this point would mean his undoing. And there is still the question of what lies within the tomb...

[Vardaen]

"Drumlin hands Bor his staff with the lamp on the top. He lets the apprentice use it to support himself like some old man. The political suggestions of giving the Warden's totem to such a young dwarf doesn't occure to Drumlin. Looking back at the tomb, "Well, you are in no shape for this, and we better not stick around to get attacked again. I... I wouldn't want to you get killed now. Come on, we getting out of here to tell the others." He then leads Bor back out of the tombs and the common areas. His goal is to get to safety as quick as possible, leading the hurt dwarf, shoulding his weight, and running from danger that he doesn't want to face. I'm not warrior, no sense is us both getting killed.

He continually checks behind him as they make their way to the 'surface'...

[DoomulusPrime]

The two Dwarves, Initiate and wounded Apprentice, leave the dying glow of the guttering torchlight and attempt to make their way to the surface. Of the two, only Drumlin knows the way. Bor, his junior by over a decade, leans heavily both on the staff and on Drumlin, his other arm around his shoulders for further support. The wound on his side is even worse than the other two, a deep puncture than has left a seeping patch of deep crimson on his rough silken robes.

"Is there something out there?" Drumlin thinks to himself as he takes the journey slower than he would perhaps like to, mainly due to Bor's slower movements. Everything around him seems as deathly quiet as it ever has. Numerous times during the journey, Bor stumbles and falls, his body racking itself with dry coughs. Drumlin's infravision makes it obvious that Bor is in bad shape, his body temperature slowly falling, the remaining heat coalescing in random, strange patches in his system. However, with a short, tense moment of rest after each fall, and the subsequent aid, perhaps, of Drumlin, the younger dwarf eventually manages to find his feet and continue.

By the time both of them reach the doors of the Scholars' Enclave, Bor is breathing heavily, a slow wheezing sound punctuating his obvious injury. The hand near Drumlin's neck is clammy and sweaty, clenching in a near death-grip. The heat from his body is slowly dying. In triumph, Drumlin shoves open the door to the enclave, and practically throws himself into the warmth and safety it promises...

"Drumlin!"

A sudden jerk whips Drumlin Fossilbreaker around, ripping Bor from his protection. Something stings white-hot across the Initiate's face, and the dusty warmth of the Scholar's Enclave blossoms with the scent of blood and miasma. In front of him is Master Gul, arm outstretched, and crystalline motes of energy bleeding off into the Ether from his hand. The look on his face is one that Drumlin has never seen in the eyes of any Master of the order - a mask of utter disbelief and terror.

Out of the corner of Drumlin's eyes, he sees what could only be Bor, and large amounts of blood...

[Vardaen]

Drumlin is utterly confused, he doesn't know what just happned. "Wait master! Bor is hurt, I found him in the crypts, he needs healing." The Apprentince grabs his face with his hand and wiggles his jaw from the pain of whatever just hit him.

OOC

i'm a bit confused, what just happened? Was I hit with a spell, or did Bor just become an undead and attack me? Please clarify so I can get this right.

[DoomulusPrime]

Gul doesn't even appear to acknowledge Drumlin's protests as he approaches Bor's body. As he watches, dumbfounded, he touches his face where he felt the sharp lance of pain a few seconds ago. When he pulls his hand back, a thin line of red stains his fingers...

Bor's body lies broken and twisted, nearly torn to pieces by the spell Gul cast. Drumlin has heard of the more potent war magic used by skilled Elementalists in the past, but their demonstration within the heart of civilization is something that is nearly unheard-of. Wickedly jagged crystalline shards are embedded in everything behind him - the great door, the stonework walls, as well as Gul himself. And then, oh gods, the blood...

The entire scene is spattered in it, and the stench is nearly unbearable, but Drumlin is perceptive, and sees that there is something horribly wrong with Bor's body - his skin is ghostly-pale, almost translucent, with unnatural violet veins working their way up his head and stopping at his temples. His eyes appear completely clouded over. What's worse, is that he appears to be still alive. Even though his body is completely destroyed, his breath coming in quick gasps reminiscent of a dying fish.

Gul quickly reaches the corpse, and without any hesitation, thrusts his hand into the wound in Bor's side. After a few seconds, the hand comes back out, trailing an arc of blood and holding a small, wriggling mass of tentacles. Gul throws the tiny creature on the ground and grinds his boot on it, destroying it in a wet crunch. Once the tentacle-covered thing is destroyed, Bor's body completely shuts down, a final, wheezing sigh causing the blood on his lips to froth slightly before he lies completely still.

With the... whatever it was... destroyed, Gul seems to come to his senses, the mask of anger and terror on his face melting into one of genuine concern as he turns to Drumlin, finally. He sighs, and says, quietly, "By the gods, Drumlin, I'm sorry you had to see that. You have no idea how close you were to death, just now..."

Display

Easy Arcane Lore: Success

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Average Intelligence: Success

[Vardaen]

Drumlin turns away from the whole scene, the blood is turning hsi stomach and when Gul reaches into the body of Bor and pulls out the tentacle thing that finishes it. The Apprentice turns and vomits all over the floor, sickened by the sight and smell and thoughts of the whole thing. He makes the gagging noise three times until there nothing left in his stomach but bile. Using his sleave he wipes his mouth, "Wha-what is going on Master?" He can't bring himself to look at Bor again, and remains doubled over panting heavily, "I don't feel to good."

[DoomulusPrime]

Gul looks on Drumlin with no small measure of sympathy as the Initiate loses his lunch over the grisly scene he has just experienced. The senior member of the order helps Drumlin up after he regains his senses, and says in response to his question, "Something very bad indeed is going on, Drumlin, but I think the most important thing this instant is for you to get some rest."

As Gul guides Drumlin away from the scene, a shout is heard - bringing with it the rest of the Enclave. The dwarves stream in slowly, a dumbfounded look on all of their faces, not a word between any of them as they stare. Gul holds out a hand, addressing the young Elementalists as they enter:

"Something terrible has happened this night, I'm afraid. It appears that one of the old enemies of our people has made a move to infect the mind of one of our Apprentices. Sadly, it was far too late for him, and I was forced to destroy his body to save the life of another." He pauses, letting this sink in. After the rumblings in the room die down once again, he continues. "This is going to mean more work for all of us. Leave this body, it will need to be examined further. I want the Guard informed - Doric, you handle that. The rest of you, gather your lanterns, we are going to have to help search the tombs in a few hours. Go!" The final word seems to snap the young dwarves out of their reverie and they rush to work.

Gul, meanwhile, helps Drumlin down a hallway into a nearby chair in the library, then says to him, "Rest here. It should take around three hours for the guard to arrive. Do you think you can guide them down to where you found Bor when they do?"

[Vardaen]

Drumlin is taken to the chair and sits, leaning back like a rag doll flopping in the chair, "I can. It was in the deeper chambers, beyond the common area. Bor said he was down there doing some work and he was hit on the head." Gulping, "I almost traveled further into the mines, alone! To think I would have been dead." He is pale and shaking slightly still in terror at what just happened, "What...what was that Master?"