Stolen Crystal [RP/IC] [Closed]

Lore World's End Tavern: Role-play and Fan Fiction
166

Shouting to the group who most likely is behind him, "Tread carefully, but don’t get lost mortals, what ever that creature is, it definitely had no interest in taking us all at once."

The ghoul infront of him looked around, trying too gather any form of scent of living it could use to track for a path.

but suddenly… blades come out and impale the ghoul, not getting the head, it merely floats in mid air as it is impaled in the torso.

“Pitiful…” he mutters as the ghoul lay impaled on the spear but unable to get off of it, he grabbed the ghoul and ripped it off the spear, the ghoul grunts as it gets back up.

he spots a floating scroll in the center of the room with three entry way of pathways, walking into the center pass the spear, he grabs for the scroll and reads it loudly.

Finish reading it, he looks at the path ways, “This is an utter waste of my time… but, i will humor you wyrm…” he mutters to himself, he turns around to the group.

“Seems we have additional path ways, any suggestions?” he rolls up the scroll, keeping the paper in hand.

167

Damalys cleared his throat “Quite! Well my real identity I’m afraid I can’t reveal but I can give my anagram,Steel Maverick. I specialize in military combat specifically in swordsmanship. I also dabble in the means of both goblin and gnomish engineering ranging from various gadgets to fairly powerful explosives should the time come for them.” He peered around the inside of their current location “And if things go south,the occasion may rise for a sticky bomb or two.”

168
Kersia/Aanka/Orlock/Vesthi

Kersia thought about the riddle herself. "One."

"“No matter the length or steps in the journey, no matter the actions, you always remember the one journey itself. The steps are irrelevant. That’s my answer anyway.”
“I’m actually thinking two myself. The whole point of wandering is to not remember the journey but to just take it. But you remember the step that started it and the step that ended it. What does everyone else think?”

Vesthi moved to hall, and leaned to place a hand on the clawprint. As she stepped into the “riddle hall”, the floor tingled with energy. A slight zap would course up her arm as she touched the print.

Kersia remained focused on the riddle on the wall. “I think we give our captor too much philosophical credit.” She looked down the hall and back at the two clawprints. “That and regardless of philosophy, we must deduce how to imprint our answer. There is no beast or creature here that I can see who will hear us verbalize it and open the way.” She thought hard, looking back at the words on the wall. “My guess is our answer is in plain sight and our input involves this hall with prints.”

Tolbyas/Laatu/Kora/Darak

Tolbyas jumped to the side as the ghoul was impaled. This was no pleasure trip, to be certain. As the ghoul was pulled free from the spear, the spear rescinded back within the hole in the wall. A click, barely audible, sounded to notify the trap reset.

Tolbyas skirted along the wall, out of the spear’s reach should the trap spring again. He followed behind Darak as they eventually came to a crossroad with a scroll.

"“A path chosen wrongfully first leads to saddened ends, a path chosen rightfully leads to a wonderful gem. Straight or turn, turn or Straight, a capital arraignment shall you go forth. Remember your prize, for it is the key.”

Tolbyas scowled. “What? Why must everything be so complicated?”

"“Seems we have additional path ways, any suggestions?” Darak spoke to them with the scroll in hand.

“Well, we could just split up and go both ways.” Tolbyas sighed. “But our numbers are already few enough. ‘Straight or turn, turn or straight, a capital arraignment shall you go forth.’” Tolbyas repeated from what he heard. “Can I see the scroll? Maybe there is a clue overlooked?”

Damalys/Lynara/Myorga/Kawisa

As the group exchanges introductions, the music in the room slowly starts to fade away. A tail unfurls from the beast, thick and reptilian with spikes along both sides. It shudders and begins to stir.

169

Laatu, having peered over the Death Knight’s shoulder as he read, narrowed her eyes. “The text points out the word ‘straight’ in particular, using the capitalized form of Common’s ‘s’, even where it would not normally be thusly emphasized. ‘A path chosen rightfully’… rightfully…” She hummed under her breath, holding out her right hand. “I think the emphasis of ‘Straight’ is a deliberate feint- that we are meant to follow ‘bar dexter’- the right-hand- path. Furthermore, our prize is not Stritegos himself- ‘Strite’ and ‘Straight’- but the crystal Stritegos guards.” Laatu suggests.

She sighs, “But, I am no Nathrezim. I scarcely have the cunning for such puzzles…” She concedes regretfully.

1 Like
170

Vesthi moved to hall, and leaned to place a hand on the clawprint. As she stepped into the “riddle hall”, the floor tingled with energy. A slight zap would course up her arm as she touched the print.

Vesthi recoiled a bit. The shock wasn’t particularly painful. Just unexpected. Her hand tingled as she rubbed it. She made it a point to take a step back out of the tall. No telling what that extra tingle of energy might be forecasting.

Kersia remained focused on the riddle on the wall. “I think we give our captor too much philosophical credit.” She looked down the hall and back at the two clawprints. “That and regardless of philosophy, we must deduce how to imprint our answer. There is no beast or creature here that I can see who will hear us verbalize it and open the way.” She thought hard, looking back at the words on the wall. “My guess is our answer is in plain sight and our input involves this hall with prints.”

Vesthi nodded. “You may be right. Perhaps we’re over thinking it.” She glanced back at the riddle that was scribbled for them. So noticed then a peculiarity with the lettering. “There are three letters in the common tongue which are capitalized, when normally they wouldn’t be.” She glanced at those gathered around, and pointed to each letter in turn. “The i’s. There are three of them,” Vesthi pointed to each print in turn. “And there are three claw prints. So I’ll amend my answer to three.”

Vesthi turned down the hall. “If the magic in this room doesn’t respond to verbalization of the answer, then perhaps we need to proceed down the hall in groups of three?” Vesthi idly rubbed her hand. “That shock I just received wasn’t really that bad. I’m thinking with it disbursed between three of us we likely wouldn’t be bothered by it.” Vesthi glanced down the hall. “And perhaps it’s the weight of three people that will trigger a pressure plate, or something of the like.”

Vesthi crouched in place, waiting for the group responses.

171

Aanka followed Vesthi after the wall wouldn’t give.

“Yes, I believe that would work,” Aanka said, placing her hand on the claw print. She was prepared for the shock and only shivered when it coursed through her arms.

172

Kawisa brought his staff forward and leveled it at the beast. “Alright, we don’t exactly have time to chit chat and make a plan.” Kawisa exclaimed with an edge of concern in his voice. He did not want to let the beast take the first attack. He noticed that the beast only started to stir once the music had faded out. “Anyone here got a musical instrument or got a good singing voice?” If his assumption was true, they would be able to get past the beast without needing to risk injury. And if he was wrong, there was still the ‘make it explode til dead’ plan.

173

Kora grumbled under her breath, disappointed the spear hadn’t impaled the death knight. This one gave her more of a foreboding feeling than most of his kind, Kora didn’t think he could be trusted to have any of their backs and would likely switch sides if Stritegos would even take him. She cast a small spell making herself as insubstantial as mist and floated beyond the trap before reconstituting herself to physical form. She sighed, she hated riddles, “It could also be as simple as straight being the right answer.” She shrugged, “If there are too many of these we are going to be in trouble, since two of us aren’t good with riddles it seems and one of us doesn’t seem to care.”

She shuddered at her own words, they sounded so foreign coming from her, she was losing her mind by having to act like a damned robot.

174

feeling the eredar reading the scroll over his shoulders, he lets her finish reading it and hands the scroll towards the elf Tolbyas.

Turning towards the large woman looming over him, “Don’t have to be a nathrezim to be cunning and intelligent, But it does leave minor questioning to it, yes we could go straight, but i may believe in two possibilities.” he says this calmly and turns around to the group.

“It is possible that we are being lead to believe straight is the answer, but that is to be expect, it is a common route after all, along with the answer it leads to.” raising up a hand, with one finger raised.

“It is likely that this could either be a trick means of leading us into the trap, or personally my favorite… both are trapped, some more than the other.”

“What we should do is, pick one, and prepare ourselves for a trap, or if you prefer, i could break down my ghoul here in favor of two skeletons to venture out into each pathway.”
he smirked under his hood, who ever made these traps, never did count for the basics.

“My recommendation however, is based on the intelligence of our little thief, one hand, he or it, could be a mongrel with no cunning tactics at all, or could be a sly fox who knows how too tease they’re prey.”
he taps his chin in thought, few seconds later, he points straight, “Does not hurt to pick that pathway since it sounds like we are hinted that direction.”

175

“I am in accord with you all. If we cannot verbally give our answer it must be simple and deals with something in front of us. I will join in this. Nilanth, stay back in case this backfires in a gory mess.”
“Even as I joke that isn’t funny.”

Nil backed off as Orlok joined the two Night Elves and pressed the free claw, putting his weight behind it. He could see and feel the magic in the area and he could only hope that this didn’t kill him. Meanwhile Nil retreated more into thought. She thought this whole situation and the fact they had to do this as…odd.

176

“I can try.” She said as she approached the beast. She began to sing a haunting melody.
Nordrassil
Zin-Azshari
Quel’dorei
Nordrassil
Elune
Elune adore
Nordrassil
Elune
Zin-Azshari
Zin-Azshari
Adore

She sang her song, memorizing with its beauty. Despite her death her voice was still distinctly elven. She saw the beast was not dazed or sleeping or whatever Kawisa had hoped for. She reached into her quiver feeling the feathers on her arrows grabbing three of a kind. In a single fluid motion she pulled her arrows back and let them loose. Each arrow was laced with a tranquilizing venom.

177

Meanwhile…

Strite paced back in the room prior as her trap sprung according to plan. It was taxing as the flux and flow of mana was siphoned from her by mages more skilled than she, but it would buy her time.

An elf man walked into the tower with stone plate armor and a large greatsword on his back. “It worked, I take it?”

“Yes, better than I thought.” Strite sighed and turned towards the elf. She looked up at his face with watery eyes. “Evaz, I thought they were going to kill me! Ooo I don’t know how I managed to stay calm, my heart was pounding the whole time.”

Evaz sighed, “Well, how long do you think we have?”

Strite shook her head. “I dunno, have they made any progress?”

“Some. But they are not unified in the cause. A few don’t think reviving Tiana necessary before attempting Malygos.”

Strite put a hand on her chest. “What? But that was the plan! I can’t have them skipping the crucial step! The whole point of all of this is to revive mother!”

Evaz shook his head. “Your mother, not theirs. You just have to be firm on it.”

“Right! You are right. I’ll go there now and make sure they are clear!” The void around them shimmered for a moment before fading back into a plain tower. Strite made her way to the stairs in the back and began to climb.

“Master.” A human appeared next to Evaz as Strite vanished above.

“How do our plans fair?” Evaz mumbled.

“The stone puppet for Vinarion’s soul is nearly complete. Once this foolish attempt at revival weakens the magic surrounding the crystal, we should be ready to shatter it and give him a suitible body.”

“Good.” Evaz snickered. “Stritegos doesn’t suspect a thing, though those adventurers may be troublesome.”

“You let the simpleton design the maze, like a children’s plaything.”

“It helped build trust. I need his trust. Even if these heroes make it through, the magi and blues should slow them down enough we can finish our task.”

“Why keep him around? We could be done by now.”

“The blue is why the broodfather is sealed away to begin with. Strite offers a break in stopping her. It was luck we even found the half blood abomination to begin with. All the pieces play their parts.”

“I trust your judgement, Master Evazion.” The man vanished.

Evaz looked towards the steps Strite had taken. He shook his head and rubbed his temples. Just a little bit longer before he can be rid of this annoying beast.

178

Myorga frowned. “Well that didn’t work…probably because it’s not a real beast.” She turned to Damalys. “Guess you can use one of your bombs, just don’t miss.”

Myorga then rolled to the side under Lynara’s arrows, shouldered her gun and fired off a single round at the beast’s head.

179
Kersia/Aanka/Orlock/Vesthi

Kersia scowled as the three went to test Vesthi’s theory. “I don’t see a third clawprint.” She muttered as she examined the hall again. Though, Vesthi was onto something with the odd way the Is were capitalized. And the way it read seemed to emphasized the I use. “Incomprehensible number of steps, yet remember the number right.” Kersia repeated as she let her allies test their own theory. She looked back at the runes. There were more than three Is capitalized. Five were incorrectly capitalized, while seven total were capitalized.

As the others attempted their solution, a jolt enough to annoy and sting would course through them. Like a punishment of sorts. A touch stronger than the first instance that had zapped Vesthi initially but not strong enough to kill… yet.

Tolbyas/Laatu/Kora/Darak

"“I think the emphasis of ‘Straight’ is a deliberate feint- that we are meant to follow ‘bar dexter’- the right-hand- path. Furthermore, our prize is not Stritegos himself- ‘Strite’ and ‘Straight’- but the crystal Stritegos guards.”

“That could be true. Still…” Tolbyas thought. It was a possibility he hadn’t thought of. “Regardless, it sounds like we need whatever gem we find in the right path.”

"It could also be as simple as straight being the right answer.”

“Does not hurt to pick that pathway since it sounds like we are hinted that direction.”

“See, that was my thought. My vote is we just go straight and see what happens. We are strong enough to handle whatever trap happens, especially if we have our scapegoat go in first.” Tolbyas pointed towards the northern hall. It was nice having this undead ghoul thing, like a rodent to sniff out toxins, it would be a grand sacrifice to keep the rest of them safe. So, what did they have to lose if it is a false pass like Laatu suggests?

Damalys/Lynara/Myorga/Kawisa

The beast stirred more as the group conversed a swift plan. And then the female elf began to sing. Her voice relayed a haunting melody, but it was only haunting to her. The sound stirred the griffon fully as it snapped its eyes open. In a scurry, it got to all fours and reared with a powerful screech.

Quick to act, the elf loosed three arrows at the beast. It pumped its powerful wings at the arrows and at the group. Though one arrow found its way into the feathers, it met no flesh where it struck. The others lost their velocity and went wildly off course. The griffon beast slammed its tail into the ground and crouched low. Chunks of ceiling from high above rattled free and bits of rock and stone rained down. In the flurry of stone rain, the griffon charged forward with its talons ready to strike the arrow firing elf.

Another had also attacked with a bullet aimed at the griffon’s head. It shifted course at the sound of the gun fire, through the bullet off course and causing it to graze its beak. The griffon swung instead at the closer human with the loud weapon.

180

“Ngh… Just as I thought, this is getting deadly…”

Orlok stepped away from the rune and thought about Kersia’s words. Nil too was thinking. They had to be thinking too hard about the riddle.

“I had assumed our captor was a bit challenged in the writing department but you may be correct to point that out… I’ve never been good with this kind of thing.”
“Regardless father we’ll need you to put your mind to work a little harder. Miss Kersia that would leave just two that cannot be cancelled out by the correct. That would line up with the claw marks… No way that can’t be the solution. Even for a novice trying keep us captive that’s too simple.”
“What do you have Nilanth?”

Nil looked up from her thoughts and to Orlok before looking to the others. She hadn’t realized that she was talking out loud and that Orlok had heard her.

“Oh um… Take this with a grain of salt but why not just press the runes while face the direction they face? It’s too simple but, ah…, it’s all I have at the moment. Please allow me more time.”

181

Damalys gave a nod as he reached into his bag grabbing a small,green orb pressing a button about it “You may wanna step back,this gas is strong enough to knock out a kodo!” He tossed it towards the beast as it stuck to its fur/scales/skin “For our sake,please let this work work…” he muttered before grabbing a small switch from the satchel and pressing the button to detonate the device. It would explode and envelop the beast in a light purple gas attempting to incapacitate it.

182

Vesthi retreated with the others. She chose a spot in the hall close enough to remain part of the group yet to not be under foot, and sat on the floor. She stretched her legs out, stretching sore muscles and aching joints from the shocks before crossing them. She leaned back on her hands, and hung her head backwards, taking deep calming breaths to smooth out her frustration.

“Sorceress of Azshara.” Vesthi groaned aloud, to no one in particular. “That’s what I was, once upon a time. An agile mind keen on the complexities of spell works and fascinated by deep arcane mysteries.” Vesthi sighed hard. “I was in the top tier of my classes. Always.” She grunted as her head swung forward and rolled from one shoulder to the other. Her neck joints popping in the process. Vesthi gave a sigh of relief. “And I always hated riddles.” She hung her head forward in defeat. “They make me feel… a dim wit.”

Vesthi swung her legs around, scooted closer to a wall, and pushed her feet up on it, legs still crossed. She pulled out the warglaives Laatu had made for her and tipped them against the wall then laid back fully, putting her arms behind her head. Wiggling her clawed demon toes she muttered. “There are seven capital i’s in the riddle. Four of them are in error. Adding four and seven might yield an answer. Multiplying them might as well. Of course, if that’s thinking too hard then perhaps the answer is simply four, the number of i’s that are in error.”

Vesthi blew a puff of air, causing her veil to flutter upwards. “I always find a nap help me think clearer.” Her head rolled to one side, looking at the riddle wall. “Someone should try shouting the answer down the hall. Or maybe stamping your foot a number of times on the claw print.”

183

Aanka walked over to Vesthi as she slouched to the wall in defeat.

“Vesthi,” Aanka said, sitting down next to the elf. She was about to deliver a snide comment about Azshara but stopped herself as she saw the state the Demon Hunter was in. “Promise me you will never call yourself that again. You are nothing of a dimwit.”

184

Vesthi rolled her head toward the Druid. A clawed scaled hand, rough, worn and leathery, slowly lifted to her face and removed the jeweled head piece; taking the full-face veil with it. The face revealed below held a similar structure to that of a Night Elf. The proper lines and curves denoted a particular beauty that may have been fairly common among the aristocratic nobility of an ancient forlorn Empire. This was all that remained.

Her eye sockets were hollow. A kind of other worldly darkness filled their cavity and in their midst a single small orb of emerald fel light smoldered. They did not move or otherwise visibly function as eyes would. They just merely lingered within the darkness of each eye socket. Burning with eerie light. The outer edges of her eye sockets were burnt, or looked to have been at one time. Old scars crusted over with a layer of blackened scab-like skin. Thin claw marks started from just above the brow and descended into each socket. They looked to have been cut deep and never healed properly, leaving horrific scars that looked to slice into the sockets from above. A single claw mark began within each cheek and cut deeply into the flesh, up and into the bottom of each socket. More difficult to tell at first glance, perhaps, but a keen mind might note that neither eye had anything resembling eye lids.

The flesh of the face was pock marked and scarred. Her lips were thin and black, devoid of any pigment that might seem healthy to any reasonable living creature. Even her lips, thin and black, appeared scarred as if they’d been cut several times. Behind them resided a row, not of teeth but fangs. Every tooth replaced by a sharp instrument designed for one thing. To rip and tear.

Crowning Vesthi’s haunting visage was a pair of stout horns which protruded from each peak of her forehead. Vesthi’s face twisted into a sneer as she looked up at the Druid. Condescension practically oozed from her pores. “Really? Trying to buddy up with me as though we were in any way on friendly terms? As if I’d completely forgotten that just the other night you heaved one of your glaives at me in a fit of childish rage.”

Vesthi rolled her head to stare back up at the ceiling. With the same hand that removed it, she replaced her jeweled headpiece and pulled the veil back down over her face. “We are not friends. Go sit some place else.”

185

“Fine,” Aanka said quietly, turning away to leave the Demon Hunter in silence. She lingered near the second clawprint for a while, and then sat down near a stone wall. Vesthi was right - her actions had painted her as an arrogant, condescending elf.