From
The Abyss
Entered from
Escape from Aggrazzat
and from
Green-fire Oven2
To Part 7:
Bogg's Boar Head Inn
Characters:
[
Angel Dreamer] -
Angel Dreamer char
[
BadCat] -
BadCat Char
[
buddha_mjs] - as himself
[
Kim_Lundin] -
Kim char
[
Klyle] - as himself
[
medianduel] -
Aramil Nightbreeze (Medi)
Game Moderators:
[
xido] -
Vulcarisksk,
Buddha Mahjdahaus of Downriver (partial, with [
buddha_mjs]), Demons,
Imorphixius,
Brother Deren
[
Nightshadow] (resigned) -
Caylandra,
Brother Deren
Utter chaos ensues in the
Kingdom of Vraisynn, beside
Vraisynn Palace, where a huge cracking fissure is opening up
outside the palace walls.
A portal opens up within a thin crack in the astral plane, letting some random things and entities through the veils of reality, and in an odd and erratic manner, the cosmos try to correct themselves by spitting the extra radicals out in a manner that will fix the tear in the realities.
From the other side of the portal (
Green-fire Oven2), the body of a human male and female crawls slowly out of the crack, letting go of each other's hands only to pry their way out of the cave-like crack/vortex. The man, dressed in brown pants and vest, and a moderate amount of blue and gold jewelry, has brown hair in thick locks, and wears bracers on each of his wrists. As he wrestles out of the fissure, he grasps the woman, a brown-haired female in stained and torn navy-blue robes, and pulls her to freedom. Afterward, a yellow-skinned humanoid appears, wriggling quickly free of the stone wall's grasp. The lithe, gaunt figure is dressed lightly in thin leather armor, and appears to have skin that looks leprosy, with heavy mottles and spots on his neck and arms. A light and thin sword hangs from his back on a strapped cord that connects to his armor and belt-straps. He stands defensively as he exits the sparkling fissure in the side of the colossal building's foundation. Pulling his sword from its place on his back, he holds it with one hand while he helps another from the crack.
A small human male is next, dressed in commoners' robes and having a heavy, scared look on his face.
"Are you alright?" the gaunt fighter asks the man as he exits.
Kim Lundin feels heavy, as though he'd just put on iron bracers and shoes. His eyes look deep-set and morose, and his face shows both fear and surprise, although his inner feelings may be different.
Other than the deep rings around his eyes, he looks unhurt by the shadow-wraith'
s attack, and the dark spots could just be coal soot.....if it weren't for that heavy feeling washing over him.
Soon afterward, another larger figure pulls through, a winged elf with scaled skin, and a large shining sword, a bit scuffed from many battles.
Buddha holds onto Angel for some time after they escape, and after a few moments asks, "What happened? Does anyone know where we are?"
The yellow-skinned Githyanki responds quickly, "I'm not sure, but we're not in the Abyss anymore....not even in an outer realm. And I fear that we may have been followed."
As the words are spoken by the thin and defensive Gith, the sense that something follows them feels as if it is indeed true. After a few moments of tension that follow, there is a small rumbling in the walls of the building, and everyone instinctively steps back as many large stones and huge chunks of rubble begin to filter through the crack; the remains of the building-top that were crumbling as the group left the outer realm.
The gith closes his eyes to small slits and says menacingly, "Get ready. There are more."
Three large wasp-like bug-demons begin to crawl out of the fissure on one side of the wall edge, and just around a corner of the building, another two follow after.
Vulc begins slashing at the one closest to him as they claw their way out of the crack.
"Lets worry about how I feel later..." Kim sais with a low and tired voice "Right now those wasps are more important..."
Vulc agrees in his mind, after learning that Kim can speak, and continues hacking at the first wasp, that screeckes and hisses in retort, and begins slashing at another, kicking it in the head with his thick-strapped leather bootings.
Kim's head swims, and a wave of nausea fills him, but feels as if too weak to begin wretching in sickness. Flashes of images of black-and-white fill his mind in moments of intensity, and his shadow appears to want to swallow him whole in his mind.
As the first of the bugs are killed by Vulc, Buddha growls as he releases Angel from his grasp, running toward the wasps with a feral fury. Crying out, he lunges at the beasts, punching one twice before leaping up to kick him a further three times, knocking the snot out of the demon-bug, and leaving it unconscious or dead in the fissure to block the way of others.
One other wasp has manged its way out of the crack, very near to Medi and Kim.
The horrid wrath of the shadow that invades Kim lashes out in his mind once more before subsiding, leaving Kim feeling tired, but no longer inhibited by the furious tension in his mind. Taking a deep breath and a heaving sigh, Kim feels lighter, but still a bit dizzy from the mental onslaught.
It is becoming nighttime as the sun sets in this world.
Angel watches Buddha attack, then pulls her bootknife out and jumps the wasp near Medi and Kim. She manages, by pure luck, to cut/squish the thing in half, landing on her stomach in bug goo. "Gross....."
Medi hears Angels comment, and is finaly aware of any type of danger. "Thanks," he says, and with a wave of his hand the goo and carapice of the demon are gone. Feeling energized from the trip through his vortex, Medi draws his katana and cuts a crossways slash through the portal, violently closing it and catching one last wasp and cutting it in half and half again from the portal.
As Vulc and Buddha take out the last of the wasps, Buddha exasperatedly thanks Medi for the quick getaway, and smiles at Angel as the portal to the Abyss is closed. The purple hew of the shimmering planar energy is brightened to a vibrant yellow-white, and the abyss is sealed off from the palace grounds. The fissure, however, does not close, since it was not made by Medi, and the palace grounds, although cloaked in the darkness of night, are alight from the vibrancy of the shimmering rift in the palace's foundations.
Vulc looks around curiously at the open courtyards off to the south, the lush gardens hiding them from both the east and west wings of the grand building's windows or guard towers.
A terrible rumbling makes the ground shake once more as the temple pulls further away into the rift.
Buddha grabs ahold of Angel, keeping her from losing her footing. He exclaims loudly after the shaking subsides, "I don't think this is a very safe place to be at the moment. We should probably leave....like now." He nods his head insistently at the notion.
Vulc asks, "Should we try to go inside? We should find the front door, or something, maybe..." he suggests, looking around idly.
"No, this place gives me a really bad vibe. I think we should leave, just find a tavern somewhere, and find out where we are in the morning" Buddha quickly responds.
Vulc looks at Kim, "Are you alright? We're not under attack anymore... Do you need a healer?"
Kim's mental attacks have stopped completely. The shadow entity seems to have disappeared upon arriving at the new land.
"I'm all right..." Kim sais "Just a bit tired... I like the idea of finding somewhere safe to sleep.". He slowly rises on his feets.
Angel nods. "Tavern or something to sleep it is. We can charge it to Not Another, Tamer hasn't gotten around to paying me yet." She wraps her arm around Buddha's very tightly.
Buddha sighs, chuckling, and says, "Sounds good to me. Let's go."
Vulc turns to face Buddha.
"Take this, my friend, and I will catch up with you later" he says, handing Buddha a small talisman made of a thick root, some dyed and oiled twine, and a thin metal spike drawn through the center of it. "I will be able to track you with this when I am finished. As I said, I truly need what's in my cave back in the abyss."
The githyanki gives Bud a thin smile, which Buddha returns, knowing that he owes the creature his life. Angel senses this in his mind.
Vulc then turns back toward the palace foundation and the shimmering fissure, and creeps slowly back in through a space further away from the bug-demons. After a few moments of squirming inside, he disappears from sight.
Buddha stuffs the talisman into his pocket, figuring he'll understand what the gith was talking about when it happens, and looks around the courtyard.
"Hey, Medi, you think you could fly up and take a look around, to see if there's an easy way out of here? I'd be willing to bet that this place has soldiers around, and they might not be happy to see us.... We should find an inconspicuous route, I think."
Medi nods and jumps straight up and cirlces above the group. He yells down to the group "Follow me," and flies along the street to the first alleyway and follows it for a couple of blocks. He then turns out on a street and lands a few feet in front of a tavern with what appears to be a severed boar's head on a platter, on the sign above the door, and waits for the others.
Skirting the edge of the palace courtyards, Buddha watches Medi's path, and keeps the pace with the others.
Bogg's Boar Head Inn is the tavern that Medi places them at.
Kim stumbles after them "You've found something?" he asks.
Angel, still firmly clinging to her husband, goes into the inn to look for something to eat and somewhere to sleep.
Kim follows.
Back to Purple Vortex
Forward to Part 7: Bogg's Boar Head Inn
Stumble!