D&D: The City of Shaldra~Zin

[Yesman]

Jaks drew his knife and quickly started cutting away at the possessed bodies' stitched mouths. "Alright, but Gilda said something about our hostess," he reminded the cleric before turning to Gilda. "So what do we need from the lady upstairs? Do we need to get her anything or make her read something?"

 

[Grimsvald]

"Summit? Delivery? There's no time! Don't you understand?! The portal is closing right now. It's already past the point of being usable. We need the misses natural connection to arcana energy to open the portal again...if we do your little errands my people will die." Gilda turned to Kelter and saw no sence or urgency or compassion. So she turned to Jaks. "I will calk arcana onto the ground. When she stands on it she can channel her power to open out gateway. Once we are through the gate I will end the arcane ritual. She will be tired and thirsty after, but thats a small price to pay for saving lives. Please!"


She starts walking to the stairs as she plees with them.

 

[Yesman]

The rogue gave the girl a thumbs up and followed her. "You go do that, I'll go get our hostes," he said approaching the stairs. Before going upstairs, Jaks turned to the other two. "To be honest, I don't think I'd mix well in a gathering of holy people. How about you guys go to the summit and finish your delivery and whatever while I stay here to help with the portal opening and everything (I know you, Jameak, are good with words so if you want to get more help, go ahead). If any of the not-undead-zombies starts getting violent, I'll run over and warn you guys. Then again, if they do..." Jaks looked at the 200 some corpses waiting to be possessed. "Gilda, you're very sure that your people don't hold any grudge against us, right?"

 

[Redsirrah]

Jameak nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. We'll split up for now. Kelter, lets do some research while we're gone. We might be able to find a solution at the summit."

 

[Grimsvald]

Gilda looked to Jaks still maintaining those desperate eyes. "If they had a grudge against the people of Shaldra~Zin they had probably possessed the armors which attacked you on the first night. The people who came here were fleeing, probably looking for a peaceful way to start again. I cannot speak for all of them, but I can speak for myself." She began to pull the ruined bloody thread from her lips. Her hands trembled and dirty streamed down her face in two dark rivers of rolling tears. It seems the body had been read so recently there was still some moisture in it. "Plus do I really look like a threat?" She wiped her face quickly and walked up the stairs.


Kelter pushed off the wall being careful not the damage any part of the catacombs. He gave a mean look to each of the undead men in the hallway then walked towards the stairs. "Sometimes it is the helpless looking ones that are most deadly. The smallest creatures are sometimes the most Poisonous and an unassuming girl slaying a mighty warrior is hardly a new tale to be told..." As the paladin passed Jaks he looked sincere, "It is not wicked of you to be cautious. So don't be afraid to be afraid...if...that makes any sense.." The older man's face quirked to one side as if he was searching his mind for an old phase that says this better, but he gave up. "If things go bad. I will come running."


Gilda put her back to the wall and her eyes to the floor when Kelter walked by. They body tensed up as if she expected to be hit. Kelter would proceed outside to wait for Jameak. He didn't know anything about this delivery, but he was eager to get away from those undead. If he wasn't allowed to kill them, he didn't want to be within reach of them. As soon as Kelter was outside Gilda would begin searching for the misses of the establishment.


Jaks and Gilda would find the mister and misses of the business arguing in the office room. "There peaceful I just know they are!" The woman says slamming her hand down on the desk in front of her husband. The man shakes his head and looks through their books, "I never said they were violent dear...I just have a bad feeling about all this. How could you see the dead walking around and think the best of it? How could good really come of that?" He protested flipping through a few more pages and checking off payments. Then the wife saw Gilda entering the room. "I'm sorry for my husbands narrow mind.." She sheepishly said approaching. "Can we help you?"


Gilda nodded and lead the misses into the buildings corpse cleaning room just before the catacomb door. With some make up off the tables here Gilda drew a large spell circle on the ground. "Please miss step into this circle and we can use your body as a conduit for lost souls. They wish to come from another world and posses corpses as I have. They only wish to live out the remaining years they were robbed of when our city was destroyed."


The woman was surprised to hear Gilda speak after all this time, but she nodded and stepped forward. Just before she made it into the circle her husband grabbed her arm. "Please don't..." He asked with sad eyes locked on hers. The wife pushed away his hand and stepped into the circle.

 

[Redsirrah]

Outside, Jameak looked at the address for his delivery. "Let me deliver this really quickly, then we'll head to the summit. First, we gotta find this address."

 

[Yesman]

Jaks used his arm to escort the husband out. "She'll be fine," he reassured the man. "The spell may tire her though, so if you don't mind, please prepare some refreshments for her." In truth, the rogue knew next to nothing about how magic worked. If Jameak or Kelter was here, they might be able to better reassure the man...well, maybe Jameak. Kelter, not so much. Either way, Jaks thought it best if nobody interrupted whatever Gilda was having their hostess do.

 

[Grimsvald]

Jamaek and Kelter have an easy time navigating the city. The streets are vlearly labeled and the people are helpful. It isnt long before they come upon a blacksmiths forge.


The young husband looked bewildered and sad more than assured, but he let himself be ushered from the room. "Yes....I will fetch her some refreshments..." he started walking in one direction then turned around muttered to himself and wondered into the other room.


"Thank you.." Gilda said smiling to Jaks. She made one final line in the spell circle and it began to glow. The magic was the same blue green as the souls. The glowing color rose up to covered the wife. "Wha..whats happening to me?" She finally questioned having second thoughts about all of this. "This glow..its hot and makes it hard to move my body. Its tingling"


Gilda stepped back, "its ok miss, you're doing great. Just remember your pain and efforts will save hundreds of lives." Green bursts of energy begin to shoot off of the wife. Then a large portal opened behind her. The womans body lifted from the ground and pulled tight together. She begins to grunt and moan in pain as souls shoot out of the portal and down the stairs to fill corpses.

 

[Redsirrah]

"Hello?" Said Jameak as he entered the forge. "We have a delivery from Moradins Blessing."

 

[Yesman]

Jaks bit his bottom lip and crossed his arms but otherwise remained still. "I don't remember you telling me that the spell would cause her pain," he spoke watching flying spirits zip by. He tossed a sideways glance towards Gilda. "Before this continue any further, is there anything more I should know?"

 

[Chayliel]

Jameak and Kelter approach an incredibly average looking forge. Not big enough to have a lot of workers, but able to have all of the equipment a metal worker could ask for. The wide open doors lead to a torch lit area, with a large man standing in the middle, hammering on a red hot greatsword. A hole in the top of the forge let in a pillar of light, revealing the muscular, cut arm and sweaty back of the blacksmith. The very rhythmic beating from the hammer making contact with the sword could be heard from many meters away. The large man in the room, standing over his anvil and forge wiped his brows with the back of his right forearm and examined his sword in front of him, smiling. He grabbed the hilt of the sword and dragged it off of the anvil and into a very large pool of cold water, releasing a cloud of steam along with a hissing sound that seemed to come from Hell itself. The large man turned around very quickly when he a person's voice. He grabbed his sledge hammer from a nearby table and walked towards the front of his forge, his hand was gripped around his hammer as to scare off some weaker men.


Once the man was in the light completely, he covered his eyes with his left hand and let himself be shown to the potential customers. He looked them up and down quickly, a young fellow and an older fellow, slightly larger than himself. Kelter and Jameak could finally see the attractive and muscular man in front of them, tan and large, sweating and with his veins on his arms showing. After his eyes adjusted to the light, he lowered his arm and gave a large smile to the two in front of him. He spoke in a friendly manner, "Hello, friends! Welcome to Talion's Forge for Real Men! What can I help you wi-". He stopped himself early when he saw what the two men had. He continued in a much lower voice, "Moradins Blessing? Huh. What have you brought me this time?!" His tone getting more agitated as he spoke, in a joking way, however Jameak and Kelter would most likely not know Talion was joking.


(Sorry for the wait. Very busy with life. Everything has slowed down a bit so I will hopefully be posting more often.)

 

[Grimsvald]

----Talion's Forge----

​

Kelter knew nothing about this transaction. Nor did he know how little Jameak knew about it. He stayed one step behind his cleric companion in order to remove himself from the conversation. The old paladin crossed his arms and let his facial hair twitch. Although he admired the man's clear dedication to his craft that must have developed such a physique, he also thought it was a bit over the top. He remembers killing plenty of foes with much less. 4 abs maybe, but 6, 8? ha that was just showing off.

----The Morgue----

​

Gilda looked to Jaks with different eyes. They were still sad, but more of an 'I'm sorry.' Her long tangled mess of wavy black hair fell over her face and she tucked it back behind her ears. Stomping footsteps clambered up the catacomb stairs. The undead began to poor out of the underground and rush through the building. "There's no stopping it now my sympathetic outlaw. I was never told what would happen, but I was told this is the only way." She shook her head and disappeared into the crowd of 200 marching corpses. The woman inside the spell cried out for her husband and he fought his way towards her like a salmon swimming up steam.

 

[Yesman]

"Told? Who told you what? What 'only way'?" asked the rogue before Gilda disappeared. "Son of a mother--" cursed the rogue as the zombie girl melted into the crowd. He spotted the husband frantically pushing past the horde towards his wife. Jaks looked back and forth between the door and the unfortunate woman who had been used for the spell, wondering whether to help the hostess or run and warn his fellow adventurers. He finally stopped looking and charged into the magic circle. "As long as a demon doesn't come out of the portal," growled Jaks as he attempted to pull the woman out of the circle. "Or, if there is one, one I have to make a pact with."


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[Grimsvald]

----The Morgue----


Jaks could feel a tingle crawl across his skin as he reached out for the woman. Her body was hot to the touch and completely tense. It seemed like she had ran to the point of dehydration. As soon as Jaks grabbed her the tingling sensation on his skin turned to shock. Purple arcane lightning arched along his arm to the metal buckles in his leather armor. His body tightened in pain and he was forced to stumble backwards. (2 damage)


The husband caught Jaks. He almost asked if the rogue was okay. Then he remembered the promise that his wife would be fine. His mouth closed into a grimace and he pushed away. "Darling I am going to get you out of this!" He yelled rushing to her side. The truth was he had no idea what to do for her. Souls that went down the stairs began to spew back up. There were no more corpses, but plenty more souls.


The front doors to the morgue swung open. Undead and souls spilled out into the streets. Blue green souls would slam into the weak willed. The soul would be inhaled. This killed the victim, but they quickly rose again with their new consciousness in control.

 

[Redsirrah]

Jameak brought out the stonework. "I have this delivery for you sir." Any further conversation was interrupted by an incredible amount of souls spewing into the streets. Jameak could only muster two words.


"DAMMIT JAKS!"


(college is a bit busy, sorry for the delay)

 

[Chayliel]

Talion cracked a small smile when Jameak brought out the stonework, excited to see what his rival had brought him this time. The excitement was not cut short when he heard and saw souls, what he thought was hundreds, pouring into the streets and possessing random people. Although this excitement was not the same, instead of something he was passionate about, it was more of a bloodlust he was trying to satisfy. His eyes seemed to be ignited and he spoke to the two in front of him, realizing they had something to do with, "Tell me, friends, shall we kill or shall we die?" Talion threw his sledge hammer inside of his forge and let it hit the ground. He then held his right arm out with his hand open, letting a rune appear on his hand and a the hilt of a sword appeared on top of the rune. Once Talion gripped the hilt, the rest of the greatsword materialized. Large, weighted, and not the typical looking greatsword. It was obvious that Talion made it himself. He let the sword hit his shoulder with the broad side, and took a deep breath in and out, readying himself for a fight. He waited for the orders of his new friends.

Spoiler

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[Grimsvald]

----Talion's Forge----


The visage of the foes was only beginning to spill into view from the forge. Several blocks away Jameak and Kelter may recognize sluggishly moving figures in plain black cloaks. Soon followed by swirling green blue spirits.


By the time Jameak, Kelter and Tallion were ready for battle the closest enemy was still two blocks away. Three average sized men unarmed and one more holding a large rock in one hand.


Kelter was obviously prepared to cut down these undead at any chance he got. But he would not advance on the undead without Jameak. So he watched the cleric and moved to battle only after he had as well.

 

[Yesman]

Jaks shook himself. So that didn't work. He watched as the husband tried to figure out a way to pull his wife out while the rogue took his bow and prodded the woman in the circle. Maybe if it was an indirect touch, he wouldn't get shocked.

 

[Grimsvald]

Because there are no great conductors within the rogue's bow electricity does not damage him. He can see purple lightening crackling across the far end of his bow. They look like small claws swiping at Jaks and smacking against his wooden weapon. When these electric claws hit his bow string it worryingly smokes and hisses.


The little nudges Jaks gives to the woman barely move her. He can feel the resistance of this spell holding her in place. Its like a weighted anchor on her feet pulling her back into position. It may be possible to pull the woman out of the spell, but it may hurt to rip her away from this magical anchor.


Jak's notices her husband openly sobbing. He's telling her how sorry he is for letting her go through with this. Then he looks to Jaks and says, "You said she'd be ok...She said she'd be fine." A glint of light catches Jaks' eyes and he sees the knife in the hisbands hands. "I LOVE YOU BABY, BUT WE HAVE TO STOP THIS." Its clear he plans to kill her to end the spell.

 

[Yesman]

Before the man could take another step, Jaks shot an arrow into the into his wife's chest, killing her.

 

[Grimsvald]

Jaks arrow found its mark and her body went limp in the air. She barely made a sound and what sound she made was hidden beneath the noise of undead marching through the room. The humming sound of arcane electricity faded away and she slowly dropped to the floor.


The spell pattern seered into the ground leaving a horrible smell in the air. Her contorted, burned body layed on the ground in a pool of boiling blood. The ground beneather her was so hot her skin began to cook intensifying that nasty stench.


The man trembled then fell to his knees. Her eyes staired at him. The heat caused them to move side to side in her head which made it look like she was searching his face for answers. He cried so hard that he lost his breath.


The knife fell from his shaky hand and slid away on the slick floor. He reached out towards his wife's corpse, but he couldn't bring himself to move any closer. He didn't have any answers for her. He just knew that he failed her.


Part of him hated Jaks for reasuring him that she would be okay. Part of him hated Jaks for killing her. Then again part of him thanked Jaks. The guilt rested on the rogues shoulders now so the husband didnt have to live with it. A mercy killing and a murder for the greater good. Something he almost did himself. He couldnt believe he almost did that to the love of his life. He looked away from her corpse and closed his eyes but he could still see it.


The spell had been stopped. More than 200 undead roamed the city, but no more would come through the gate now.

 

[Yesman]

Jaks let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding. A shaking arm returned the bow to his back as the rogue turned, refusing to meet eyes with the husband. He silently observed as the zombies silently shuffled out of the house. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Jaks moved to the back of the undead line and drew his rapier, pointing it at the back of the last zombie. Shame wasn't the only thing he was feeling.


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[Grimsvald]

This particular undeath was in the back of the line for a reason. It was a straggler in mangled body and mangled spirit. The meek and oblivious creature gave out a light groan as the rapier ran it through. Jaks' steel had more trouble piercing the black robe than it did the cold flesh. It slid between ribs, puncturing the heart and exiting through the chest. The creature died instantly. Its weight rested on Jaks rapier pulling the tip towards the ground. Then the undead slumped to the floor with a wet, sloppy sound.


None of the other undead reacted to Jaks' attack. The masses marched forward unaware of the rogue.

 

[Yesman]

Seeing that zombie die made Jaks feel a little better. If only all the other zombies would be as weak. He moved to the next zombie and repeated the process.


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[Naxtaroth]

Dorric approached the outer edges of Bexely, Adrora at his side. His shortswords hung at his sides, one on each hip, a quiver and bow on his back. He was running low on ammunition, thus encouraging him to venture into the civilization of man once more. His long black hair was pulled back, exposing gently pointed half-elf ears, each adorned with earrings he had crafted from the bones and feathers of a hawk. His golden eyes flicked around, looking for anything that could lead him to this city's nearest blacksmith. He picked out a random civilian to ask directions from. The man pointed him toward Talion's Forge, which was only a short walk away, and Dorric thanked him as he walked in that direction. As he got within a few blocks of the forge, a blue-green light passed overhead, causing Dorric to turn around in confusion. His eyes widened as he saw figures in black robes and more blue-green lights pouring out of a building a few blocks back. In a cautious manner, he signaled to Adrora and the two attempted to sneak into a nearby alley. He pulled out his longbow, knocking one of the few arrows he had left and waited with the panther at his side.


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