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Post by Jenny on Sept 1, 2013 1:55:15 GMT -5
Yiska felt it too. It was a cold lump in his belly, a growing trepidation. It was as everything good in this world was being sucked up in this place, the entity all consuming like a sinkhole in the sand. He shivered from time to time. Even the air was pressing, cold fingers pressing against his spine, something close to the back of his neck. He nodded to Klai. He wanted to save Sinjun, but could they all be saved? Or was walking deeper into its layer already their death sentence. Well, if he were consumed as well, at least he could hold Sinjun before the end. He hoped beyond hope that she was still alive.
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Post by KD on Sept 1, 2013 2:16:03 GMT -5
Klai gave him a weak smile. "It's not like it would let us turn back now even if we wanted to..." she said quietly, knowing that was right. It had done its best to keep them out but now that they were truly challenging it, it was drawing them toward it. Eagerly.
Sinjun was alive indeed, and not in any condition for a fight, but that was what she got. The twisted, mad form of Matthias materialized out of the darkness in front of her, holding that twisted staff in his hand, grinning. He spoke not a word but attacked outright, sending out a pulse of magic toward her. Sinjun flicked her fingers toward him. What came pulsing around her was not music, but pure sonic energy that danced along the spine and raised the hairs along her arms. Matthias frowned as his magic was thwarted, unused to fighting such power, something Sinjun had been counting on. He drew on the corrupt power pulsing through him and Sinjun realized she didn't have much time. She pulled her sitar, miraculously undamaged, calling a spell to her lips she had hoped she would never have to use, was nervous about even coming up with it. But there was nothing for it now. Her deft fingers, so used to plucking out a lovely tune, danced over the strings. But it wasn't a song that rippled through the air, more like a series of jarringly discordant notes that raked along the inside of the skull of anyone who heard it. Including the one it was aimed for. If he'd been fully human and not possessed by that creature, it would have killed him. As it was, he could literally feel blood start raining down on the inside of his skull. His jaw went slack and his staff fell from his nerveless fingers as blood started to pour out of his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
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Post by Jenny on Sept 1, 2013 2:23:25 GMT -5
Yiska began to walk at a disjointed pace, almost as one drunk. To keep himself from becoming completely overwhelmed by this dark, all consuming force, he began to chant a prayer, something becoming more and more habitual to him, like someone humming a familiar tune. With his chant came a soft light around him, as he was trying to keep the darkness at bay with it’s very light.
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Post by KD on Sept 1, 2013 3:05:54 GMT -5
The songstone she'd given him flared to life in his pocket, it's soft song echoing through him softly.
Matthias collapsed to the ground and Sinjun edged around him, biting her lip and swallowing hard. It was a horrible way to die and she was horrible for coming up with it. The ruins stirred as if the thing had sensed the death of its soldier. She heard a familiar song that echoed from her heart to Yiska's and listened hard. She picked up a soft chant, a yitoki chant.... "Yiska...." Her voice came out as a croak and she swallowed to clear it. "Yiska!"
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Post by Jenny on Sept 1, 2013 3:12:08 GMT -5
Yiska let out a soft sigh at the songstone’s gentle chiming, his hand raised to press it against the stone and smiled, a measure of peace reassuring him that Sinjun was still alive. He began to imagine that she was so close he could hear her voice.
His ears perked up. No, he hadn’t imagined it, that was her voice, calling to him. “Sinjun’s alive!” Yiska turned his eyes on Klai, not bolting outright since he had learned his lesson the first time. “I can hear her calling to me.”
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Post by KD on Sept 1, 2013 10:20:44 GMT -5
Klai sat up straight, not questioning him for a moment. "Titus, go on!"
There were no more traps waiting for them, not here. Not for any of them. Just a winding expanse of caves. Klai looked up and noted runes that had been carved in over the frescoes of death and destruction so lovingly portrayed throughout the rest of the temple. Lined with metal, they trailed over support beams and in lines through the rock, not caring about the pictures beneath. They'd clearly been carved by whoever had trapped the thing, carving protective and captive runes to keep it shut in. The metal was shining with light, which was probably the one thing that had kept the thing from emerging. Matthias or someone else had been at work here, destroying the runes he could reach but he'd only gotten started, thank the gods.
Sinjun stumbled around a bend and felt something hit her mind like a blast, drawing a gasp out of her throat. She started to stumble back and let out a cry as someone grabbed her from behind. She smelled blood and worse as Matthias's voice hissed in her ear, his shaking hands holding onto her tightly as he brought a blade to her throat and pushed her forward. "No, no...you've come upon the master, now it's time for you to meet Him...."
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Post by Jenny on Sept 1, 2013 23:11:03 GMT -5
After a nod from Klai that it was safe to go on, Yiska followed the golem, running as quickly as he could. His foot steps echoed the name in his mind Sin… jin. Sin… jun… He ran until his lungs burned and he pushed the feeling away and continued to run. Though the golem could take large steps, it was bulky and moved at about the same pace as Yiska. He began to sprint, almost ran into the golem, and then slowed a measure, shifting from one foot to another, breathing heavily but going on.
Yiska picked up the scent of blood and it made his nose twitch reflexively. Something or someone was bleeding. It had to be a living person, for the metal creatures had not been made from living material. He tasted the metallic taste of fear, and the back of his head tingled in alarm. Was it Sinjun that was bleeding? He gritted his teeth and let out a growl. If she was hurt there would be hell to pay.
When they reached a widening of the cave, Yiska slipped past Titus and continued on at greater speed. He skidded to a halt as his eyes roamed over the place where blood had been spilt. He sniffed as he bent to a squat and examined the sand. There had been two here, he was sure of it. He spotted her lute and picked it up, swallowing down the bile that threatened to rise. He could no longer hear her. Yiska pulled off his bow and strung the lute over his back. He then knocked an arrow to his bow at the ready, and tracked Sinjun and who was most likely her captor, running at a fast lope.
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Post by KD on Sept 2, 2013 5:33:20 GMT -5
The chamber was surprisingly small. Somehow, Sinjun had been expecting some sort of immense prison holding whatever it was. The chamber was certainly smaller than the cathedral like rooms above.
It wasn't even proper to call it a room. It was more like an engine. The entire room was a machine of gleaming gold cogs and wheels and pulleys and pumps. The floor was made up of a series of concentric circles that spun at various speeds. The moment Matthias dragged her into the room, the floor rotated them around the creature imprisoned above them, hung in the center of the room.
Perhaps imprisoned wasn't the right word. It was a beast of shifting metal and churning grey flesh that was implanted with the machine, part of the machine, the beating heart of the temple. Its malignant power was barely constrained by the room, trapped within its own temple by the lines and spells woven into the rock around it. Sinjun stared in horrified awe as the ever shifting machine turned and the creature, impaled on spikes and held up by wires that ran eternally through its flesh let out a hiss. From where, Sinjun didn't know. It had no mouth or features that she could see. It seemed to be a mass of malignant flesh churning like there was more machinery beneath hit. Odd, thin appendages dangled down from its underside, forever getting tangled with the wires. Matthias crooned something she couldn't make out in her ear and stepped close enough one of the tendrils brushed her face as they rotated by it. She jerked back with a short scream, her gut twisting with loathing, and struggled to pull herself free from Matthias.
Klai hurried after the other two as Titus turned in the direction of Sinjun's cry. Yiska was sensing that darkness that was pressing in on all sides, but for Klai it was the sound of the machinery that told her they had reached their destination. It was louder here than anywhere in the temple, the sound of a machine so complex she doubted she'd ever seen its like. She was right.
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Post by Jenny on Sept 2, 2013 22:11:45 GMT -5
Yiska heard the scream and headed towards it but slowed to a halt as his eyes trailed upwards to the hulking abomination. He wrinkled his nose in distaste. It was as ugly as it was malignant. The sound of the machinery was loud and displeasing. It made him want to recoil, not from fear, simply from disgust. His eyes then roamed about the chamber, noting the strange floor which was spinning. Yiska spotted Sinjun, entrapped by Matthias. He bared his teeth in anger and pulled his bow taught but was reluctant to let the arrow fly as Sinjun was thrashing about trying to get away.
“Let her go, human.” Yiska growled lowly, looking the fearsome beast that a Yitoki warrior could be. His blood boiled in anger, but he remained cautious for humans such as he could be quite devious indeed. Sinjun may likely be intended as a sacrificial lamb to this evil abomination. He could not bear it.
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Post by KD on Sept 2, 2013 23:06:23 GMT -5
Matthias was distracted by Yiska's sudden appearance which gave Sinjun the chance to stomp on his foot. He cried out and she twisted away from him, shoving him away and moving toward Yiska. Matthias screamed in anger and raised his hand, calling on the last of his strength to call a spell. Above their heads, the machinery shrieked as more of it started moving and the beast let out a horrid gurgling sound. Ignoring Matthias for the moment, Sinjun scrambled toward Yiska, trying to put distance between her and the monster. She heard her aunt Klai yell behind her.
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Post by Jenny on Sept 3, 2013 7:09:21 GMT -5
Yiska had kept the bow taut and ready to fire. He released the arrow as soon as he had a clear shot. It flew true and struck Matthias in the chest. Yiska tossed the bow aside as if it had scorched his hand, but he knew when a spell was being cast. He raised his hands towards Matthias and began to chant a negation spell, one that would ward off a spell of evil intent and reflect it back to the caster, just as Sinjun reached him. His spell created a sizeable shield around his body, and he was aware of his love’s close presence to him. Yiska would be damned if he should see Sinjun hurt.
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Post by KD on Sept 3, 2013 12:27:53 GMT -5
If Matthias was still alive after the arrow hit him, he sure as hell wasn't by the time the reflected spell sent him flying back. Another shield came up beside his, then another as Sapphira finally caught up with them. They flanked the two in the room, staring up at the creature.
The creature didn't even take note of its lieutenant falling. It's ice cold voice hit them full blast, the words like icy claws skittering over their brains. Sinjun winced, finding her thoughts scrambled, aware of some kind of sick red energy starting to build up in the machine around them.
Later she wouldn't know if it was instinct or if something had prompted the idea in her head but she started singing, her voice shaky at first, then building up in volume and power. Klai felt the things hold on her mind start to fade, its voice overpowered by the song. She briefly wondered what language Sinjun was singing in, she had never heard it before and she didn't think it was the Yikoki's native tongue either, but didn't have a thought to spare for it. She stepped onto one of the inner rings, allowing it to rotate her away from them both to give Yiska a clear shot for his spells and give her room for her own without risking interfering with his. Sapphira did the same thing on the other side, forming a triangle of three separate kinds of power around the thing. Divine, elemental, and arcane, which Sinjun's bardic abilities running through all three of them, lending them strength.
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Post by Jenny on Sept 4, 2013 23:06:53 GMT -5
Yiska instinctively grimaced as that voice ran through his mind. He was trying to shut it out, and the spell he was casting likely had dimmed the effects, but it was not until Sinjun started singing that he began to feel himself again. That sweet, clear voice that had comforted him, inspired him, and brought him joy. He looked to her and smiled, his eyes sparking with thanks and pride. But he had not forgotten the threat they faced, his face sobering as he looked up at the abomination, wondering what its vulnerabilities could be. He would allow his allies to lead, but he began to pray in a quiet voice, trying to call back the consumed spirits that it had devoured. He concentrated on the pull of the spell, asking the spirits to fight with him, to overcome this darkness, and return to their world.
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Post by KD on Sept 5, 2013 1:44:45 GMT -5
That got a reaction. The creature was not unused to people trying to challenge it, but it was not used to someone trying to steal back its souls. Klai called out a warning and Sapphira threw a shield around Yiska as the energy pulsing through the machine glowed brighter and a spear of it lanced toward him. Sinjun's voice stuttered over her song as she cried out in fear, only managing to start her song up again when it became clear the shield was going to hold.
Outside, Magnus stood guard in the corridor as the thing called its remaining golems to it, scorpions and beetles mostly, flooding the corridor only to come up against the mithril golem's fists. Janus and the rest of Klai's golems came sweeping up behind them, attacking from behind, the sound of metal screeching against metal filling the entire temple. It was drowned out by the sound of rhythmic pounding as Titus, too big to enter the chamber with them, started pounding through the wall above the doorway, smashing through rock to get to the machine beyond.
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Post by Jenny on Sept 5, 2013 23:54:37 GMT -5
Yiska did not flinch when the spear of energy struck at him, silently thanking Sapphira in his mind as the shield held against its power. He straightened and channeled more power into his efforts, emboldened by the fact that doing so had upset the creature. He had made it angry which surely promised success. A golden light began to swirl around the creature, chaotic and unsteady since Yiska was still in training, but the light struck at the creature here and there, testing its mettle, trying to weaken its defenses. The contact too would help the consumed spirits know that Yiska was with them, and that they were not alone. The small cavern trembled as Titus pointed from above, sending dust and shards of rock to shower down onto the floor.
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