Dungeons & Dragons - The Temple Of The Thing

Tierim walked apart from the Naztharunes, feeling the changes taking place within him, as they always did every evening. The light of day slowly faded away as the red sun sunk behind the long mountain ranges off to the west. His white skin wavered, as if it was insubstantial, and slowly turned dark and smoky. Pain gripped his body, and he writhed about as he walked, as if he was being pierced by a hundred spears of ice. He felt like his heart was being encased in a block of solid ice, and he shuddered. Suddenly the land around him became brighter, as his vision increased ten-fold, and the transformation from Human to Shade was over.
Reapyr watched Tierim warily, still very unsure of what was going on and how they had landed up with the Shade. The last few days had gone terribly wrong. What was supposed to be a simple retrieval mission had turned into an inconceivable disaster. They hadn't even found what they were looking for before they were attacked by a bunch of Shades. And then Tierim turned up out of no-where and saved them from their quandary. Most of the humans under their command had died, the rest had fled. Through no fault of the Shades', Tierim included. But Reapyr still thought that Tierim was the ulterior cause of their tribulation. Why else would Jarx send him along with them? They had been nonplussed when Tierim turned up at Jarx's side. If Jarx had been angry when Reapyr and Adorno had returned to Waterdeep without the artefact, or any of his soldiers for that matter, then he was livid when Reapyr lied to him about Shades stealing the artefact. Reapyr could still remember the Rakshasa sitting upon his bronze throne, his furry tiger-like face contorted in fury. His voice, on the other hand, had been utterly calm as he called Tierim out from an adjoining room. "Are you sure you don't want to change that statement?" he had asked. And then he had sent them back without any soldiers, but with Tierim, instead, to watch over them.
The temple is up ahead, beyond the rise. Three orcs patrolling outside, pulsed his raven, shaking him out of his reverie. It circled above them as they stealthily topped the rise, weapons in hand. The temple stood before them, a dilapidated ruin of stone structures and pillars from the outside. It was surrounded by trees and foliage, creepers covering every inch of it. It was all but invisible if you didn't look hard enough. Reapyr and Adorno, with two arrows nocked in his bow, waited till Tierim could get closer to the orcs. Adorno let his arrows fly just as Tierim flung a knife under-arm into the eye of an orc. The three orcs dropped like logs, making no noise as they died. Beyond the orcs was the entrance to the temple, barely discernable amidst the greenery, and the darkness of night.
Cloz swooped inside to take a better look. With it's enhanced vision it could see the entrance clearly even though the sun had set. Inside though, the level of light was considerably higher. A long hallway extended in front of Cloz, lit up by fires burning in sconces along the stone walls. Orcs lined the walls, bows in hand, and at the end of the corridor were giant bronze double-doors, gleaming softly. The doors were guarded by two orc sentries. Suddenly an arrow flew past Cloz, scraping past it's right wing, shot by a startled orc. Letting out a short shriek, Cloz flew back outside to inform Reapyr.
"So how do we do this?" queried Adorno, as they stood outside the entrance, aware that even though they were facing only orcs, the odds were still very much against them.
"We will need to use stealth. There's no need to kill them all. We just have to find a way to get through unseen," replied Reapyr, carefully peering into the corridor beyond. Standing at an angle to the entry, he could only see part of one wall of the hallway.
Suddenly the light inside dropped drastically, the fires along the walls diminishing into mere pinpricks of yellow. Intense coldness wracked his body as a figure of thick, swilrling smoke walked straight through Reapyr and into the corridor, it's pale white eyes emphasized by the blackness of the figure. Reapyr spun around and stared at Tierim, who was standing absolutely still, white light glowing under the hood of his blue cloak. The Shade had reduced the intensity of light and had formed a replica of itself. Reapyr turned to watch the wraith walked down the length of the hallway. The orcs standing guard exchanged furtive glances with each other, wondering at the sudden drop in light intensity. They didn't notice the wraith at all, as it headed straight to the doors on the other side and disintegrated as it hit them.
"Neat trick you got there," admired Adorno
"We can go through now. We'll have to be fast and quiet. The orcs have realized that something is amiss, so we will have to get through those doors before they react,"said Tierim.
The three sprinted across the corridor, making absolutely no noise, with Cloz flying overhead. The orcs were beginning to panic, and the two that stood sentinel at the doors began moving forward blindly. Tierim flung two knives at them, taking one in the eye, and the other in the throat. He grabbed them by their leather armour as they fell, and slowly laid them on the floor. Dimming the light in the room beyond, the Shade opened the great doors slightly, and they quickly slipped through.
They found themselves in a large circular room, tiny pinpricks of light along its curved wall signalling where the fires burnt in their brackets. Right across the room from them stood a small wooden door, brand new and polished. All around the room were huge statues, of heroes past, and creatures unknown. In the centre of the room was the largest of them all, a creature with legs sprouting out of it from every possible part of its body. It seemed to be carved to perfection, almost as if it was real. The three slowly moved towards it, as Cloz circled the room, and the subtle changes in light reflecting off the behemoth made it look as if it was moving.
And then they froze.
It was moving.
"Ortyugh!" exclaimed Tierim as it turned slowly, making noises.
"Shut up, you idiot," hissed Reapyr. "It'll hear us."
The sounds coming from the creature were similar to sniffing sounds.
"Oh don't worry. It can't hear us, or see us," said Tierim casually.
The creature stopped turning, and it's legs spread revealing a hideous maw, flanked by giant pincers.
"But there is something else that i can't quite recollect." Tierim rubbed his head, trying to remember what it was. "Oh yeah, it has an extraordinary sense of smell."
And then the thing charged at them.
Reapyr and Tierim dived to either side as the thing collided head-on with Adorno, sending him flying back towards the double doors. Bolts of crimson fire leapt from Reapyr's fingers, peppering the creature's legs and burning holes into them. Shying away from the deadly barrage, the thing turned towards Tierim, pincers clacking, and a few of it's feet being consumed by fire. But Tierim was ready with two knives in his hand. The first one plunged straight into the creature's mouth, stopping it in it's tracks. The second found an exposed part of it's flesh, and buried itself there, extracting thick green blood. Mortally wounded now, it's vulnerable body exposing itself from the sudden lack of legs, the creature slumped to the floor. Four arrows, in quick succesion from a furious Adorno, put paid to it's slim hopes of survival.
"Cloz says there is a box over there." Reapyr pointed to a huge, stone likeness of a legendary warrior, holding a massive, double-edged battle axe over it's head. A small box lay under it's spread feet, it's gilted edged glowing dully.
"Well, even a bat can see that," growled Adorno, squinting at it. "Stupid, talking bird," he grumbled as he stalked off towards the statue. "Let's see it shoot arrows."
"Wait," shouted Tierim, just as Adorno bent down to pick up the box. "Step aside." Adorno edged back as Tierim stood to the side of the statue. Bending down, he stretched his hand around the foot of the statue, his fingers just about getting hold of the box.
Suddenly the giant axe crashed downwards, lodging itself hard into the stony floor with a resounding crash, exactly where Adorno's head was moments ago.
Adorno stared in shock, his jaw dropping low, while Tierim calmly pulled out the box.
"There's a trap on this too," he said as he procured a few tools from his cloak, and started working on the catch. "It looks like som-"
Tchakk
Long and thin spikes sprung out from the box, puncturing Tierim's hands, and then fires lit up the box, consuming it entirely within moments. Holes riddled Tierim's palms, and the Naztharunes could see light filtering through the holes, from one side of the palm to the other. They stared in awe as the holes slowly reduced in size, giving out thin wisps of black smoke.
"Maybe we should just stick to doors," Adorno said pointing to the small, polished wooden door. And then he looked at Tierim. "Unless that has a trap too."
Tierim walked upto it and examined it carefully. "No."
Then they entered.
A small antechamber greeted them, the only light in the room radiating softly from a blue crystal suspended in air a few paces in front of them. Its beauty and brilliance captivated the three adventurers, holding their gaze. Soft pale blue light pulsated within, giving it a depth that mesmerised. Immense power emanated from it, so much that the three could feel it's magic within them. Unable to tear their eyes away from the gem, they didn't notice the two huge minotaur statues that stood sentinel on either side of it. And then a screech from Cloz pierced the air.
The minotaurs weren't statues.
They were alive.
And they had weapons.
Adorno and Reapyr jumped backwards, avoiding the swinging axes that the minotaurs heaved. Clinging to the shadows, Tierim circled the minotaur on the left, wicked knives at ready, while Adorno strung two arrows and aimed at it. They left Reapyr to deal with the other minotaur.
Two arrows struck the minotaur on the left, in the chest, while knives collided into the back of it's head. Simultaneously, brilliant blue light lit up the room, as a bolt of lightning leapt from Reapyr's fingers, melting the flesh of the other minotaur. Both minotaurs staggering in pain, they turned on Tierim, who was closest to them. Barely being able to lift their axes, they advanced menacingly onto Tierim. Reapyr watched helplessly, as Tierim backed away, hesitating to finish off the minotaurs with another bolt of lightning for fear that it might melt through them and strike Tierim.
But an arrow in the back of each of their necks, from Adorno, was enough to drop them dead in their tracks.
"Now we are square," Adorno said with a grin, walking towards the suspended crystal. His hand reached out to pluck it out of the air, and then he hesitated. The ball hung there, teasing him and enticing him to grab it. "It's rigged. I think i can handle this one though. Wait."
Reapyr, Cloz and Tierim watched as Adorno closed his eyes and stretched his hands out towards the gem. His palms were just inches from the crystal, not touching it even slightly.
Then suddenly his eyes sprang open. "INCOMING!"
With a puff he disappeared in a cloud of curling smoke, just as thick spears of crystal shot out of the ball. Reapyr dived to a side, one of the spears grazing his shoulder, extracting thick, viscous blood. Adorno apppeared at his side, as suddenly as he had disappeared.
"It's off now," he said as he reached out and held it. It glowed brighter, responding to his touch.
"Now i know why Jarx is so keen on obtaining this." Cradling it carefully, they walked back into the circular chamber.
"Those orcs are still out there. The crystal will give us away," warned Reapyr, just as they reached the huge double-doors.
Then they stopped.
Right in front of them, the air wavered slightly, and then a thin column of light appeared, like as if there was a tear in the fabric of the air. Slowly the column thickened, becoming a hole and growing larger. Dazzling white light came from it, blinding the adventurers.
Then a shadow fell across their faces, as a figure stepped out of the portal.
"Well, well. Where do you think you are going with that?"