Location: Under the Grey Mountains
Date/Time: Day 10 – Now
"I have decided that this sword is not 'magic' but rather a relic from the gods as Thor suggested. As such I will keep it. Now lets get after those Shelnak." Billy said.
Thor laughed heartily at the large man, “A wise choice lad, some fine reasoning there.”
"Now let us hurry, the faster we find Siliwen the better. I will guard the rear. Billy, Thor, and Thon take this last battle as a clue as to how to fight these Shelnaks. It seems that if you can get to them before they can become a collective of minds then they are vulnerable. First we need to concentrate on the leader." Alea added.
The small party started off as Alea suggested, Billy, Thor and Thon taking the lead with her at the rear her bow ready to render aid. They proceeded quickly guided by Thon’s knowledge of these tunnels and his dwarven location sense underground. They went on for some time without encountering anything though they heard sounds down the passages they passed as if a search was being conducted.
As they proceeded down one passage, Alea heard a shout behind them and turning she saw a group of the heavily muscled rock dwellers behind her that had spotted them and were giving chase though she couldn’t tell how many as she could only see the ones in front. From what they had seen in their last encounter on the ledge where they lost Siliwen, these rock dwellers apparently had some magic of their own over the rock and she knew this was the wrong place to have a battle in such close confines.
“RUN!” She yelled.
The party took off down the only passage with the howls of pursuit behind them; if they could find a more open area then maybe they could have room to fight. They ran for several minutes, the sounds of pursuit still behind them, when they saw the light ahead brighten meaning they were perhaps coming to some type of cavern.
Seconds later they burst into a medium size cavern filled with a strange red glowing light which seemed to come from cracks in the walls, almost as if lava flowing just behind the walls and cast their light into the room. The room was not empty they found, and what they saw caused them all to pull up and stare in horror and amazement at what they were witnessing.
________________________________
Siliwen’s Plight - Starting at the Chasm
Siliwen screams as the leader stumbles to the edge with her it it’s grip; it seems unaware of it’s impending doom but is only concerned in finding something on her. It reaches for her necklace as they plunge over the ledge and off into the darkness, she struggles to the end and then suddenly in the darkness she feels an impact that is somehow softened by something but she is loses unconsciousness immediately.
Slowly she regains consciousness in total darkness; she realizes that she is not dead but she is hurting and has a large bump on her forehead. Feeling around she finds a soft wet body beneath her; she soon realizes it is the Shelnak Leader and from the amount of what must be blood that he is dead. She can still hear the waterfall close by and she realizes that crying out will not be heard by anyone.
Continued feeling about she finds she is on a small ledge and she soon finds another body near the Shelnak’s feet; probing reveals a dwarf, it must have been the one that tried to save her. She sighs in relief when she realizes that he is still breathing.
~~~~~~~~~~~
After feeling around and finding the dead Shelnak and the unconscious dwarf, she reaches for her backpack to search out a candle, but when she tugs at the straps she realizes it is way too light. Taking it off she determines, by feeling, that the back of the pack has been ripped open, maybe from some rocks above as they fell, and the contents of her backpack are gone.
Without any other choice, she manages to cast dancing lights and looks around her situation. She is standing on a small ledge about 6’ wide and 20’ long; she is surprised and alarmed to find a cave opening onto this ledge almost directly in front of her.
Looking upwards she sees a faint light way up the cliff, it looks like she had falling quite a ways down and must have hit the wall further up knocking her out as the three of them slid down the cliff face. She sends the dancing lights up the cliff until she cant seem to send them any further but she sees nothing. No sign of the rest of the group, or any other way off of this ledge.
She doesn’t know if the group survived or if they were killed or captured by the Shelnaks. She knows they were in bad shape and she can only think that maybe hopefully they were captured and not killed.
She is startled as a hand touches her arm, whirling around she sees the dwarf that was unconscious standing there with a gash in his forehead and blood on his face. He raises his hands in a non-threatening gesture. Looking up he shakes his head and points to the cave entrance as their only choice.
He still has his backpack so he manages to get out a torch and with the help of his tinderbox, gets the torch lit before her spell expires. He waits for her to make up her mind but the cave seems the only way off of this ledge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silwens will wait for a bit but when nobodys appears and she know her dancing lights spell has worn out her only choice is to continue the mission she hopes that the others are still okay but it difficvult to put a good face on and continue on as if nothing had happened.
Lifting up her ring that has directed her unfallingly so far she consults it as she prepares to follow the Dwarf into the cave. She uses gestures.to indicate her readiness to move only after placing some rocks on the ledge in a pile that if anyone finds they will know it is man made. She can only hope some of her friends and the dwarves have survived and will try to find her.
Corellon if they are alive guide them to us. if not guard their souls.
Siliwen get to her feet and motions the dwarf forward with a smile even if it is a bit forced. She had been given the ability to somehow to find and destroy that item of evil. and she was still alive and will continue to do so.
~~~~~~~
Silwen followed as the Dwarf led the way into the cavern holding his torch aloft. They found a small cave and a passage leading away from the ledge deep into the mountain. After about 5 mins the roar of the falls dissipates and they can converse naturally.
“My name is Thrumdil,” the dwarf said, “I am sorry I was unable to stop Shelnak from harming you. It is my fault we are in this predicament. My life to see you to your destination.”
The star in Siliwen’s ring float up and points her in the direction they are going, it seems they are still headed in the right direction though right now they don’t have any other choice. Proceeding along the passage they enter some other small caverns all of them appear to be naturally made just like the passage.
They stop and rest several times, the first one the dwarf bandages his head wound with Siliwen’s help. Proceeding down the passage they come to a branch in the passage and the ring points then to the left which appears to slope downward. Following the ring, they proceed on and past several other branches, always to the one which leads them downward and deeper into the mountain.
Hours later, they enter a cavern which contains a small pool of water (10’) and they decide to rest again and have something to eat. Thurmdil has some rations in his pack and while they are not very tasteful they are nourishing. While they eat they hear a constant dripping sound, though they seen no sign of water dripping into the small pool.
~~~~~~
After eating and studying her spell book, Siliwen stores her book away in her backpack and decides to investigate the strange dripping noise and can not seem to locate the sound. She can see no sign of water dripping into the pool of water but the light from their torch isn’t very good. She squats down and dips her hand in the water, it feels cool but not too cold. Touching it to her lips it seems cool, fresh and she believes it is drinkable.
She notices a strange feature of the pool, she cant see the bottom; even near the edge where she is squatting. Her reflections shines back at her with an almost mirror quality. As she is studying this strange feature, she hears the dripping noise growing louder.
Suddenly something bursts from the water and she only sees a flash of something grayish as it grabs onto her and pulls her into the water. Surprised she goes under and barely has time to hold her breath as she is pulled deep into water. She struggles but she feels several pairs of hands grasp her and drag her deeper. She soon feels the hands dragging her sideways as if she is going through some underwater passage. Her lungs start to burn from the exertion and she doesn’t know how much longer she can hold her breath.
Just when she thinks she cant hold it anymore, she feels the hands drawing her upwards and soon she breaks the surface of the water and gasps for air. The hands drag her out of the water and release her to lie panting on the stone. As she regains her breath she looks around and finds that she is in a dimly lit room, lit by the strange growing mossy growth, a small cavern with several entrances emptying into it. A small pool lies here, the one she came out of, and across the room near one of the entrances she sees about three small gray creatures about two feet tall.
These creatures are small, looking like children, with grey stone colored skin and large dark eyes suitable for underground dwellers.
As she is trying to determine what kind of creature has taken her, the pool behind her churns and soon a couple more of the creatures come out dragging the dwarf by his feet. They immediately release him and run to join the others as the dwarf struggles to his feet ready to do battle with them.
“You foul beasts will die!” The dwarf cries as he jumps to his feet and whips out his battle axe.
The small creatures look like a bunch of cowering children as they watch you and despite having dragged you through the water, they don’t appear dangerous here on dry land. They look ready to run up the passage at any minute as they show fear at the dwarf’s anger.
~~~~~~~~
Siliwen’s curiosity about the pool was satisfied in one part. At least the water seems drinkable with no undo mineral taste. However, the source of the dripping she was unable to find. She was about to return to tell the dwarf about the water when the surfaces roiled and hands grabbed her and pulled her under. Luckily, she had gasped a deep breath before she was pulled under. She tried to free herself but she did not struggle long. She was dragged further and further away from where she had been through many twists and turns. Those she could feel but she could see nothing in the dark underground waterways. She knew that even if she did get free she would probably not be able to find her way out of these underwater tunnels before running out of breath. Her only hope is that whoever had grabbed and pulled her though the water would get her to somewhere where she could get a breath of air.
Siliwen hopes were slowly vanishing as her breath ran out and she fought the dizziness of the lack of oxygen and the overwhelming desire to take a breath. Her will won out because that would quickly render her convulsed with water sucked into her lungs. Siliwen was straining to refrain from breathing but she was dizzy, totally out of breath and blacking out when she was suddenly dragged upwards and broke the surface of the water into the air above it.
Hands dragged her out on the edge of the water and left her. . Lying still, Siliwen sucked din great gulps of air into her burning lungs unable to do much more now, as her muscles was weak from the lack of oxygen. Finally, she was able to raise up her head an stare about her in the dim glow provided by glow moss.
As she is trying to determine what kind of creature has taken her, the pool behind her churns and soon a couple more of the creatures come out dragging the dwarf by his feet. They immediately release him and run to join the others as the dwarf struggles to his feet ready to do battle with them.
“You foul beasts will die!” The dwarf cries as he jumps to his feet and whips out his battle axe.
The small creatures look like a bunch of cowering children as they watch you and despite having dragged you through the water, they don’t appear dangerous here on dry land. They look ready to run up the passage at any minute as they show fear at the dwarf’s anger.
Still dragging in great breathes, Siliwen could not speak yet but she crawled upwards to struggle to stand between the angry dwarf and the small child-like creatures.
“No,” she gasped, “No” she motioned toward the dwarf holding her hands out as if to make a barrier between the dwarf and the creatures. “Put your...” she gulped more are, “ax down.”
“Please,” she adds as she gets her breathing more under control.
“Had they wanted....to harm us .....they could have.....just left us off down there.” She take two more breaths, “We would have died...unable to get to aid.”
“They might be able to help us get to where we are going. Please”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thrumdil halted as she stepped between him and where the small creatures cowered. He looked at her then to them and finally he nodded and lowered his axe. He took a couple of deep breaths himself, showing that he too was out of breath but not as much as she.
“Very well,” he finally said and stood ready still holding his axe but held it dangling at his side.
Siliwen heard a sound behind her and turned seeing that one of the creatures had come forward from the others, apparently he had been chosen to represent the others.
“I Bin,” he said pointing to his own chest, “we Shoma,” gesturing to all of the small ones. His voice was gurgling as if it had a mouthful of water as it spoke in broken common.
“We no harm,” he said raising both hands in a plaintive gesture, “we want help.” The way it said it she wasn’t sure if it was saying it would help them or if it need help.
It looked at Thrumdil and then to her and fell silent apparently waiting for some reply.
_________
Siliwen Listen attentively to the small being that stood so uncertainly beyond her.
Srawing on the much vaunted composer of her her kind and her upbringing to calm herself to speak to this shy people, She could not show how desparate their need was. Siliwen nodded gratiously and replied replied in a calming voice.
"We will not harm you and thank you for you offer of help. We are lost and separated from our companions, but more importantly I must go where this leafs me." She pointed to the ring.
We have been sent her to destroy a thing of evil and this guides us to it," she explains
"Bin, I am Siliwen and this is Thumbil."
__________________________
Thrumdil grunted but said nothing; it was amazing how often outsiders mispronounced Dwarven names. He stood by with his axe lowered but ready to defend them if these small creatures turned out to mean them harm.
The speaker of the Shoma, Bin, looked at her ring when she pointed to it. It’s eyes widened as it saw the small star float up off of the gem and hovered in mid air rotating till it pointed towards a far wall and slightly towards the floor.
It looked back up at her when she explained,
“We have been sent her to destroy a thing of evil and this guides us to it,"
Bin turned and spoke to the other Shoma in a strange gurgling language to the others, after several heated words and gestures, it turned back to Sil.
“We can help,” it said excitedly, “we know this evil of which you speak. It invade our home, kill many Shoma. We would be happy to see it gone from this place. We will show you.”
With those words it turned and gestured for her and Thrumdil to follow and started off down a passage. Several of the Shoma went ahead of them and some fell in behind them as they lead them down a passage which was in the right direction to which the ring showed her to be their destination.
After being led along a path past many diverging corridors, they finally come to a cavern where the Shoma stop them and gesture for them to be quite. Several up front gather around talking in whispers and then one, she assumes Bin since they are hard to tell apart, comes back to them.
“Ahead is trouble,” it whispers, “patrol… several will divert then we will hurray past.”
Soon she sees several of the small creatures run into the cavern out of her sight, a commotion is heard and then roaring of something and sounds of running which soon fade away slowly.
“Come,” Bin whispers, “they have been led away. Quickly!”
The remaining Shoma run out with her and Thrumdil into a large cavern with many diverging corridors leading to it. They race across the open flat chamber towards the far side; however when they are half way across they heard shouts of discovery.
Turning Siliwen sees a group of the tall Shelnak racing on all fours into the chamber from another side passage. They stop, stand up and quickly form into a fighting wedge and start forward again. The Shoma immediate screech in terror and begin to run about as if suddenly bereft of their senses. Bin grabs Siliwen by the arm and drags her in the direction they were headed as he gurgles to the others. The Shoma regain some of their composure and gather together into a tight ball and place them selves between the Shelnak and Siliwen.
Thrumdil snatches his axe up and moves towards the Shelnak gesturing at her, “Flee. You must go on or all is lost. I will hold them here.” He runs towards the Shelnak as they finish their formation and move towards them. The Shoma move behind Thurmdil to provide him with whatever support their small bodies can against such a overpowering foe.
Bin pulls at Siliwen, showing amazing strength born of fear, gesturing her towards passages on the far side, “We must go! Come!”
~~~~~~~~~~~
Siliwen heart leaped into her throat when the Shelnak appear across the cavern and moved into that arrow head formation. Thrumdil snatches his axe up and moves towards the Shelnak gesturing at her, “Flee. You must go on or all is lost. I will hold them here.” He runs towards the Shelnak as they finish their formation and move towards them. The Shoma move behind Thurmdil to provide him with whatever support their small bodies can against such a overpowering foe.
Siliwen was torn but she had to go on, she knew about sacrifice She knew about duty and responsibility, but it did not make her next decision any easier. She had to go on. She had been given the task to fulfill and only she could destroy the shard, but she had to get to it.
Bin pulls at Siliwen, showing amazing strength born of fear, gesturing her towards passages on the far side, “We must go! Come!”
“May your Gods witness you honor, Thrumdil,” she called out to the dwarf headed to intercept the Shelnak wedge. Siliwen turned ran as fast as she could with Bin leading the way. Thrumdil have given her a chance at least to carry on. Siliwen would not waste it. She would have to rely on Bin’s knowledge and her own skills and abilities to see this through. As she runs she offers a silent prayer to Corellon to help them both, no, help us all, she ammended. Some of the others might still live.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Bin pulled Siliwen down the passage as fast as it’s little feet would carry it; the last she saw of Thrumdil and other Shoma were as they crashed into the Shelnak with battle cries. She was only down the passage a little ways when she heard a cry of pain and anguish; the sound of a dwarf as he died in a hopeless battle.
Bin lead her along for several minutes ducking down different passages causing Sil to lose all sense of direction. Finally it stopped and breathing heavily it listened for sounds of pursuit. After a couple of minutes hearing nothing, Bin sagged against the wall and began to cry.
“My people,” it said between sobs, “they are gone.”
Bin suddenly stood up and grasp her by the arm, it’s small frame holding amazing strength in it’s anguish.
“You must stop them,” Bin said it’s eyes blazing, “you must not let my people die in vain.”
Bin relaxed it’s hold on her so it no longer hurt then lead her off down another passage. After about half an hour, they come out onto a ledge traversing a chasm. This is a small ledge with barely enough room for one person to walk without danger of falling. Bin leads on, passing many passage that come out onto the ledge.
“We must hurry,” Bin said as he tugged her along, “the battle above has begun and they will be most distracted at a time like……”
Bin’s words were suddenly cut off as a dark foreboding shape exited one of the passages as they passed it, it rose up right in front of the little Shoma and Sil saw it was a large Shelnak wielding an long triangular Iron stave. The stave was glistening wet with some dark liquid that almost seemed to ooze from the metal as the Shelnak swept it at Bin.
The little guy had it’s head turned slightly as it talked to her and started as it saw something arise in front of it, but before it could do anything but pause, the iron stave struck it hard across the chest and Sil felt Bin ripped away and flung from the ledge. Bin cried out screaming as he fell from the ledge into the chasm, it’s tiny body bursting into flames before it fell out of sight.
Sil was surprised but only for a moment; if the Shelnak had attacked her first then she might have been the one falling to her death, but Bin’s sacrifice had saved her and give her time to react.
~~~~~~~~~~
Siliwen’s heart went out to the small being who had just lost so many of his people to the Shelnak/
“I am so sorry for your lost, Never have a met a people so brave and courageous in the face of overwhelming odds.
Bin suddenly stood up and grasp her by the arm, it’s small frame holding amazing strength in it’s anguish.
“You must stop them,” Bin said it’s eyes blazing, “you must not let my people die in vain.”
“Bin, your people, Thrumdil, the other dwarves and my friends have given their lives for this mission. I will not let them have died in vain. I shall do all in my power to see this through.” Siliwen looked at the diminutive Shoma as she spoke.
Bin then urged her on, “We must hurry,” Bin said as he tugged her along, “the battle above has begun and they will be most distracted at a time like……”
Bin’s words were cut off with a shriek as a previously unseen Shelnak rose up and drove home that wicked triangular headed spear into Bin’s tiny body and then slung the Shoma off the ledge they had been traversing.
Siliwen’s reaction was instinctive, she brought up her hands and let loose a Color Spray into the Shelnak’s eyes praying it would affect him and she raced along the ledge glanicing down a her guiding star on the ring her only guide in this place. She relied on her elven speed and endurance. She was determined to do her best to finish her mission. She was not going to let all those that had gevn their lives that she migh carry on die in vain.
However she could not put the nagging thouhgt that arose inher as she fled quickly way. THe old wizard said she had been giving the ability to destroy the shard, but she had not the slightest idea how to do what she had been given to do. Siliwen pushed the thought from her mind for know She would have to trust now that she would be able to do what she had been sent to do, Now she just had to find the shard. She had to be smart now about what she could and could not do. Siliwen slowed her mad flight. She had to last and be carefully not to run herself into trouble she couldn't get off not She was alone with only herself to rely on..
Siliwen stopped then, consulting the pointing star and moved in the direction it indicated. This time she moved silent feet, listening carefully to all around her.
~~~~~~~
Siliwen's quick Color Spray took the lone Shelnak full in the face and blinded it; as it stumble along the ledge she slipped past it and ran on looking down at her ring. She heard a eerie shriek behind her and glancing back she saw the Shelnak was gone, apparently he had stumbled over the ledge and joined Bin at the bottom of the deep chasm.
She followed her only guide now, the ring with it's floating star pointing steadily forward and down. Sil entered a passage and then only had to consult the ring when she came to a passage as she had no other choice but to stick to the passage until it branched.
She followed it for hours and didnt see or hear any signs of pursuit; maybe she had lost them. She came to another passage and stopped to consult her ring; it pointed to the left passage of the two available. Sil turned and headed in that direction when she suddenly saw movement by the right passage. Turning suddenly she saw one of the shadows seperate from the wall and launch itself at her. Another lone Shelnak was suddenly upon her, she raised her hands to cast but before she could the long iron stave reached out and struck her on the forehead. The blow hadnt seemed that severe but her mind exploded in white hot pain leaving her unable to concentrate enough to cast a spell. Sil stumbled and then the pain intensified to a level she hadnt thought possible; with a scream of pain she lost consciousness and the white hot light in her mind faded into utter darkness.
She seemed to float on a sea of darkness and had a sense of time passing, which was strange while unconscious. Slowly she saw a small blue light begin to glow in the darkness and she fixated on that glow. It grew in intensity until it was a strong light in the distance, but it's soft blue glow conforted her. As she drifted, the light stayed in the distance and soon a soft masculine voice came gently into her head.
"Siliwen," it said in a pleasant yet strong tone, "you have been through much to come this far... but soon you will face the end of your journey. You will be tested beyond anything you have endured and if you wish to save your friends and the lives of countless people on this world, you must make a personal sacrifice that only you can choose to make. In the end, remember the ring and watch for the glow. A sign will tell you when you must act; when you see it, act fast of lose all hope!"
The voice faded and so did the blue glow until she was in darkness once again. But she didnt have to wait long before another light began but this one was not localized in a single spot but grew all around her. She realized she was becoming conscious and soon she must face the inevitable.
Her eyes fluttered open and she found herself in a small cavern (approx. 20' dia) which was lit by a harsh red light. As her vision cleared she could make out more details: There were several entrances to this cavern, three spread around two-thirds of the cavern. The final third of the cavern held a rock dias raised up about 2 feet above the rest of the floor; upon this dais sat a rough rock hewn throne and upon this throne sat one of the most vile loathsome creatures she had ever seen. She couldnt tell to what race this thing once belonged for now it was humanoid shaped but it looked like it's flesh was slowly melting off of it's skeleton. In some spots the skeleton and skull were visible through patches of oozing flesh and blood. It didnt seem possible the thing could be alive, yet it sat upright and looked at her with red glaring eyes filled with malice and hatred.
"This.." it screeched in a voice filled with insanity, "... this is it? This is what they send against us?" It laughed maniacially and she knew that whatever it was was quite insane.
"How pitiful!" It raised off the throne and with great effort and pain, it struggle down from the dais and walked over to her. Sil tried to flinch away but realized now that she was hanging from manacles anchored to the cavern wall just to the right of the dais. All of her weapons and gear were gone, taken from her but she felt a reassuring presence of the ring still upon her hand though she couldnt see it with her hands held above her head.
The creature stopped a few feet away, out of her reach, and glared at her and laughed again.
"If this is the best they can do then we have nothing to fear!"
Sil noticed that the thing wore only a loincloth and was adorned with a large red stone the size of two fists hanging from a heavy chain about it's neck. The stone steamed and glowed a blood red color that hurt her eyes to look upon it; somehow she knew that this was the source of the creatures power and was very important to their mission; could this be the object she had to destroy?
~~~~~~
Siliwen eyes fluttered as she regained consciousness. She knew she was still alive because her head ached horribly from the blow of the Shelnak’s spear. Siliwen fought to marshal her thoughts thorugh the pain. She moved herd head only to have her head began to swim with pain. Pain can be ignored. Pain had to be ignored, When her eye gradually focused on her surroundings all she could see in the lharsh red light was a hideously twisted creatureof oozing flesh that was melting to reveal bare bones in the lurid red glow of the shard that dangled on a heavy chain around his neck seated on a sort of throne on a dais in the small cavern she was in. She had know idea what it had been and right now she did not care either..
"This.." it screeched in a voice filled with insanity, "... this is it? This is what they send against us?" It laughed maniacially and she knew that whatever it was was quite insane.
"How pitiful!" It raised off the throne and with great effort and pain, it struggle down from the dais and walked over to her.
Siliwen tried to flinch away but realized now that she was hanging from manacles anchored to the cavern wall just to the right of the dais. All of her weapons and gear were gone, taken from her but she felt a reassuring presence of the ring still upon her hand though she couldn't see it with her hands held above her head.
The creature stopped a few feet away, out of her reach, and glared at her and laughed again.
"If this is the best they can do then we have nothing to fear!"
Siliwen’s flinch was more instinctive than thought out. She wished she had been able to just stand there before him part and tall. But she was still wobbly on her feet. How ws she going to be able to finished their mission. She was alone with no one to help her. She did not know how she would get free to act mor if she could get free what she could to to destroy the Shard. Nowever she knew one thing very clearly. That is it. That is the Shard of Evil that has caused all the evil that plagues this world.
The distorted creature appeared more like some fiend form the Abyss, it’s maniacal laughter ringing her ears helped her though. Alcaran said she would know what to do. The voice, while she had been unconscious. had said she could. Siliwen fought to remember those words. What were they again. They seem to float just out of her reach. Corellon aid me. Let me remember. Then the words can to her
"Siliwen," he said in a pleasant yet strong tone, "you have been through much to come this far... but soon you will face the end of your journey. You will be tested beyond anything you have endured and if you wish to save your friends and the lives of countless people on this world, you must make a personal sacrifice that only you can choose to make. In the end, remember the ring and watch for the glow. A sign will tell you when you must act; when you see it, act fast of lose all hope!"
Siliwen took heart and stood up a little straighter marshaling her strength. Focus, Siliwen focus on that Shard. Come one Siliwen, focus on your chance. Wait for the sign. She told herself while another voiced whispered to her. What chance? To do what while you are chained to the wall? What sacrifice? Haven’t you sacrificed enough?
Hold strong or let go which path would she choose?
~~~~~~~~~
As Siliwen pondered her chances, the foul beast glared at her as if waiting for a response but when none came it snorted derisively as it leered at her.
“Nothing?” it enquired in a shrill voice, “you have nothing to say eh? Well .. just as well it would matter not!”
It turned away from her and hobbled a few steps, each movement seeming to cause it great pain. Sil couldn’t see how the thing could even be alive as let alone walking. Huge lumps of bloody flesh hung down as if ready to fall off and she had to wonder what was keeping this thing alive. A sudden thought entered her head… “the Stone” .. that had to be what was keeping this thing, whatever it was, alive. She believed it was the cause of it’s condition as well; the power of the stone was malevolent, twisted, and it was too much for this creature’s body to handle. In time she was sure the power would leave nothing but a walking skeleton standing before her.
“BAH!”
She was brought back from her thoughts by the creature’s outcry. It whirled again to face her with one foot on the dais; it’s red bloody eyes regarding her again sending shivers down her spine.
“The Gods are fools to think that such as you could hope to defeat my Master’s plan.” It laughed again, maniacally, it’s insanity filling the small chamber.
“You are doomed!”
At it’s words, Siliwen felt herself uplifted with hope, a warm inner glow suffused her being as if something, or someone, was behind her filling her with confidence and power. The power to face what was to come; she knew it wouldn’t be easy but now she felt she would be up to the task and the thought of death no longer filled her with fear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back to Now
Any reply of Siliwen’s was cut off with the sight of some people rushing into the chamber, looking at them instead of this repulsive creature before her and she was stuck silent by the sight of her companions rushing in to her rescue.
Billy, Thor, Alea and the Dwarf Leader Thon, rushed in and stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of the cavern and the creature they saw standing before Siliwen as she was chained to a wall. She was alive, but the thing that semi-crouched before her; it’s flesh hanging from it in bloody tatters, and defying all logic it moved and spoke.
“More pathetic things to challenge my Master,” It shrieked and pointed at them with a hand whose flesh sagged as if ready to slide off it’s bone, “DESTROY THEM!”
At that precise moment, the rock dwellers that had been chasing them burst into the chamber behind them and fell upon them. Thon snapped out of the shock first and whirling he shoved Alea out of the way and crashed into the first of the creatures. Alea stumbled forward having not realized they were under attack; Thor caught her and righted her then turned to help his fellow dwarf try to hold off the creatures coming in.
To the sides of the chambers, among the shadows, emerged four of the tallest and darkest Shelnaks any of them had ever seen. Fully erect they stood over 7 feet tall and wielded the typical triangular Iron stave that dripped with red power as the creatures chanted in a strange language that rumbled the chamber. These four came forth, two to each side, and approached Billy and Alea as they stood now closest to the center of the chamber.
(OOC: Ok I know it is huge, but I thought you might like to know what Sil has been through as well. If not you can always skip over it to the NOW moment. The next update will be next week sometime. Have a good weekend, it will probably take you that long to read all of this post.
)
(Oh, Brianna, you can post here now.
)
Shadows of the Empire Q&A
Shadows of the Empire
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