Heart of darkness
"There's a little sausage place down one of these turnings. I think it's up a ladder." Grom peers through windows and pauses at open doorways to peek inside. This part of the Slab is eerily quiet. "Where is everybody? Hello!"
Grom's shout is swallowed up by the silence, not even answered by a dog. A window shutter creaks as an unseen breeze drifts through the Slab and you long to be outside in the fresh air and away from the oppressive gloom.
"Everyone's probably gone to the market. Let's get to the temple, then I'll buy you a sausage," Grom says but you can hear the doubt creeping into his voice.
The road opens into another of the Slab's caverns with floors jutting out over the space and the decrepit houses that have grown together. At the centre is a squat building made of stone with golden doors that gleam despite the subdued light. For an instant, you feel a calming warmth fill your soul only for it to be driven back by a wave of fear that starts in your feet and travels up your legs.
A black-robed figure strides out from a curtained doorway on your left and takes up a spot in the middle of the road blocking your way to the temple. She raises her arms and the long sleeves fall back revealing arms covered in a dense black script.
"She might know where the sausage shop is," Grom says optimistically but you doubt she has any interest in the pop-up food scene.
"Silence, you fools!" the woman shouts as a black cloud materialises at her back hiding your view of the temple and dimming its light. "You have wandered into my trap and must now bow before me!"
"Colin's Sausages?" Grom mutters to himself as the mysterious figure waves her arms around and launches into an incantation. "I'm sure it begins with a 'c'...Kelly's Sausage shop. They serve them on sticks with lumps of cheese."
You tap Grom on the arm and point at a closed doorway a few yards away. The handle rattles as something tries unsuccessfully to open the door.
"Maybe they know," Grom says as he crosses to the door and yanks it open. He lets out a shriek as a skeleton lurches out of the doorway and takes a swipe at him. The boney fingers come close to clawing at Grom's face but the dwarf trips over and performs a perfect backwards roll. He jumps to his feet with a little flourish that almost has you applauding.
"Thank you for your help," the woman says politely. "Skeletons do have trouble with doors and windows. It's to do with the lack of flesh on their fingertips. No grip, you see."
"Skeleton," Grom says with a tremble in his voice before running away.
"Oh, that's disappointing," the necromancer says before pointing at you with a crooked finger. "You will do though. Once Kevin has killed you I will reanimate your body and you will join my army. Kevin, attack!"
Kevin the skeleton lets out a ghastly moan as it shuffles towards you and fear bubbles in your stomach.
Roll a die to see whether you stand and fight or flee as your tour guide did;
1d2
roll a 1
roll a 2
roll a 1
Despite your lack of weapons, you stand your ground determined to defeat the skeleton and its master but as the undead creature nears you get a look at the scraps of flesh stuck in its teeth and change your mind. You take a step back only to find your way blocked by a pale wide-eyed dwarf.
"I'm not losing another one. Grarl won't let me lead another tour if I let another one go missing," Grom says. He peers around you at the skeleton and closes his eyes. "I can't do it, I hate bones, even chicken bones."
Kevin takes a swing but you duck and pull Grom through a curtained doorway into a room with a bed and a bubbling pot dangling over a cooking fire. A hand comes up from behind a sideboard and attempts to shoo you away but the skeleton stumbles into the room. Thinking quickly you grab the pot and swing it in an arc letting it go at just the right time to watch it soar across the room and knock Kevin's skull clean from its body.
"Kevin!" the necromancer screams as her champion crumbles into a pile of brittle bones. She curses under her breath as she runs away.
When you emerge from the home you find she's gone and the black cloud that had been obscuring the temple has dissipated. Grom hops over the pile of bones in the doorway and bravely peeks around the corner just to make sure there aren't any more skeletons waiting to attack.
"All good, she's gone." Grom slips the axe back into his belt and tries to give you a reassuring smile. "There's always some weirdo lurking around the temple. It lures them in with promises of power but none of them gets it. The god that lives in there is a good one. Go have a look, you earned it."
Grom waits patiently as you approach the tall double doors. Each has three panels with relief sculptures that have been worn by time but you can see mountains and seas along with forests and a great expanse punctuated with angular towers. As you approach a sound grows within your body, as a vibration played upon a string. A warm feeling of safety and comfort builds with the song and lifts your soul so that by the end you are on tiptoes and smiling to the heavens.
Time passes unnoticed until Grom coughs and taps you on the shoulder. He has his ticket book out an expectant look on his face. "Do you want a return ticket? You only paid one way. If you want me to show you the way out then it will cost you."
One return ticket, please
Or
Find your own way out.
by Chris Noonan
Or
Find your own way out.
roll a 2
Kevin takes a lazy swing at you but you fall over and scramble backwards. The necromancer lets out an evil cackle as you get to your feet and run after Grom shouting for him to wait.
Chased away from temple
Parent Plot
Comments