Runch listens to the whispers. Their words are twisted and forbidden, not meant for the ears of mortals to ever comprehend. Even now, as the cold arms of death reach for him from the darkest recesses of his very soul, the voices remain hard to understand, as if the language was well known, but barely understood.
In the back of his mind, Runch hears a repetitive music, an eery litany of winds and pipes inhabiting the volutes of mist floating all around him. His mind has a hard time processing the notes, their associations and the tune they are supposed to evoke. The sounds fade away in the distance, forever lost to the scrutiny of his waking thoughts.
Runch opens his eyes to find himself in a strange place. He is lying on the cold stone floor of the dais. The spherical room around him looks the same, and yet, somewhat different. Everything seems dull and colorless. His eyes get used to the surrounding nuances of grey : there is no question this is the same space he and his companions, his brother, explored earlier.
Where is his brother Tudd? He was right there, fighting at his side...
Runch finds himself all alone. The fight. The injuries. It all comes back to him now. He checks his chest and can see an enormous gash right there where the undead hit him. It was real, then. Somehow, it all seems so far away, Runch can hardly believe this just occurred to him.
He lies there for a moment, amidst complete silence...
Gingerly fingering the flayed edges of flesh around the wound I shake my head and whisper "Charlathan guide your humble servant" then loudly "Tudd?!" as I scramble to my feet.
I look wildly about and go into a defensive stance, reaching for the (comforting) hilt of my longsword.
Fingering at his own wound, Runch finds that he can feel no pain there. He gets up, and feels like he has to get used to his state, as if he was standing in a place with a slightly different gravity than the world he was always accustomed to.
There is the sound of a whisper in the air. An echo dying far away in the darkness.
He can see he is still in this round chamber, on the dais, at the very spot where he fell victim of the zombies' assault a little while earlier. How long ago was it ? He is not even sure...
I step cautiously down the dias steps towards the N., hand upon hilt (if such a thing exists...)
"Tudd...Ulas?"
Runch steps forward, towards the north. He can spot the two huge crystals each shining in the dark as though there were the only colored elements, along with the flames emanating from the lanterns, in his immediate surroundings.
Runch can see the gaping hole that's been made by the Dragon thing as it went through the pile of rubble there. He can see other lanterns, shining distantly in the corridor that stretches beyond.
He feels cold.
There is a whisper, somewhere, but Runch cannot understand the words, if it ever was any spoken language he could have understood in the first place.
A drop falls off the ceiling in the distance.
He is alone. In complete silence.
droping to his knees as the sword slides away from his grip..."Charlathan, why have you abandoned me?!" as I grip my talisman and hang my head in prayer...
Just as Runch says that last sentence and hangs his head in prayer, he hears something, a commotion, a loud noise echoing down the corridor to the north. It sounds like a beam, or a stone, that would have fallen from the ceiling somewhere, in the darkness stretching out there. Runch isn't sure.
finishing his prayer he waits a moment for reply, with a sarcastic whisper...."Well, no suprise there."
I gather my blade and rise, looking once again at the gaping wound before striding towards the N. to investigate the noises and lanterns.
The surrounding darkness hides most of the features stretching away from gaping "wound" into the northern wall in front of him. He remembers there is a pressure plate between the two huge crystals on each side of him.
There seems to be a alignment of lanterns, however. A long corridor oriented towards the north. Three red lanterns are hanging there, and a fourth one, perhaps, though the light itself might be some kind of reflexion born from the light of the last red lantern far in the back, he is not quite sure.
rubbing my chin..."I wonder?" I walk directly over the pressure plate.
Runch steps directly onto the pressure plate. The two crystals immediately come to life, striking him with strange blogs of plasma and throwing him out of the way like a magical catapult.
Everything goes dark. Runch opens his eyes and finds himself lying on the dais. He hears the sound of combat, away from it, away from him. Tudd is not here. He chokes on his own blood filling his mouth. The putrescent smell of his own death invades his nostrils. He tries to breathe, but cannot. He drifts again...
... and feels he hits something very hard. He watches the red hue of the lantern shine over his face. He has been projected by the plate far to the north, at the level of the second red lantern, the one just beyond the wall of rubble. He tries to come back to his senses when he suddenly receives a fist on the jaw that sends him on the floor, close to a large closed door.
He looks up, and sees an orc standing besides the red lantern and urn. He can see others behind, as well as a small monk... a hobbit? With orcs?
(http://enrill.net/images/play-by-posts/maps/dungeon/DG-L01-14.jpg)
shaking off the effects of the trap as best I can "Well so much for that idea!"
I glare at the orc and sit up, rubbing my jaw and as I see the monkish hobbit I can't help but crack a wry smile muttering " Perhaps this is the realm of Charlathan the trickster after all!?"
"Morgûl argash noch! Ulgâbul och krimpatûllukh!"
Runch hears the Orcish words coming out as soon as he opens his mouth. "Don't let him (use) dark magic ! Silence and/or bind him !"
The hobbit starts to say something to the orcs but they spring into action to try and grab Runch as quickly as they can. What does he do?
a bit taken aback by the strangeness of it all I resist feebly stammering in Orcish "Dark Magic!?...who are you folk?"
The orcs seize Runch by the shoulders and push him towards the largest one of the bunch, their leader probably, who happens to be the one who just spoke to Runch.
The hobbit tries to stop them before they do him any harm: "Stop! Stop! He might be one of Gareth's friends!"
The large Orc doesn't seem to understand the Common tongue the hobbit is using, but he looks closer at Runch's face and asks, still in Orcish: "You one of the people? (Or) are you Ugly Man?"
Drawing myself up and planting my feet wide I size up the orc before replying, in Orcish " Your words are like a wind in my ear. I abide by the tenets of Charlathan. Other then that, I am my own !" as I keep my eyes locked on the brute for a few moments then...
I turn to look closely at the Hobbit" Aye, Gareth is known to me. How do you know of him in this shadow realm ?"
(ooc: apologies for not posting sooner.)
Runch can clearly see the Orc having a reaction of doubt when he mentions Charlathan, as if he believed Orcs like himself to not worship these kinds of gods, for whatever reason.
The hobbit, on the other hand, answers to him as best he can: "Well. I have been trapped here for... oh... I don't know how long. I was trying to get through an iron door, I remember, and then... then I was here, on the dais. I just came to my senses when Gareth and his friend Rissthil woke me from my torpor. I was just standing there in the round chamber, looking at the paintings. I don't know how long..."
"Hmmm...are Gareth and Rissthil lurk'n about?" as I look around, half expecting to see them emerge from the shadows.
"Rissthil is back there (the hobbit points in the opposite direction, towards the room west of Runch's current position). He is unconscious. Gareth, ... Well. Gareth disappeared a little while ago. I would have hoped you could tell us what happened to him?"
"Rissthil is back there (the hobbit points in the opposite direction, towards the room west of Runch's current position). He is unconscious. Gareth, ... Well. Gareth disappeared a little while ago. I would have hoped you could tell us what happened to him?"
Just as the hobbit is done asking his question, Runch can feel some kind of dizziness coming over him. He closes his eyes instinctively. He feels his brother close, very close, and could reach him if only he let go...
Does Runch let go, or does he try to fight the dizziness overtaking him at the moment?