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New Quest Objective

- Find Amaryllis

You’ll be playing Grey Steel, a minotaur with a burning desire for vengeance against the creatures that destroyed his life.

***

Certain that he had found the way out, Grey said, “This way.”

While Sky took a look around the chamber's murals before starting up after him. The aged wood flaking beneath Grey's palms and groaning beneath his cumbersome weight as he lifted up his arm to slowly push the trap door ajar.

The chamber overhead a old dusty bedroom that hadn’t been used in decades with the faded and worn out tapestries that hung on the walls, embroidered with glyphs of the Lightbearer, a fully armored warrior clothed in light with a greatsword raised to the sky. The clouds above parting at the warrior’s presence to bathe him in the light of the fours suns.

Seeing no one in sight, he thrust open the hatch, and clambered out of the tunnel, before turning back to give, Sky a hand. His friend stepping up to inspect the above ground chamber with an upraised eyebrow. “You sure this is the right spot, Grey?”

Brow knotted in confusion of his own, Grey looked again around the room. The chamber dark for the most part was dimly lit by light streaming through dust laden windows. The few rays of sunlight revealing an ornately crafted bed made up of faded blue silks. The expensive furnishings looking much too fine for a simple herbalist. All of it causing doubt to creep into Grey’s mind.

Whoever had used this bedroom once had to have been wealthy, which in itself was a rarity among herbalists. Especially seeing as most were foreigners and were therefore treated as a disease for messing about with the whims of fate. Even Grey had to admit it was unnatural to use health poultices not sanctified by the temple to heal himself. The only problem with that was that most potions he’d gotten from the temple in the past never worked quite so well as those made by foreigners. Which explained why they were still able to trade in the Land of Dreams, but even they would have struggled to amass wealth such as this where they were barely tolerated.

Head cocked to the side to listen out for anything, he waved for Sky to follow him and headed toward the door at the opposite end of the chamber. When Sky kicked the trap door shut behind them with a loud enough thud,that had Grey almost turning to strangle the idiotic fool. The pair of them making their way nervously across the room's wooden floors to the dry musty stench of rotted fabric. The silence only adding to the ominous feeling that they were entering someplace they shouldn’t be, when he heard the distinct sound of footsteps outside the room.

Breath caught in his throat, Grey froze in place and immediately signalled for Sky to stay still. The roguish minotaur rolling his eyes briefly in annoyance, before he too heard the sound of heavy footfalls. The thumping sound drawing closer and closer to the door, then fading off as it continued on without pause past the door.

Letting out a huge sigh of relief, even as he realised this probably wasn’t the right place, Grey thought to go back. Only he doubted very much he could survive another trip through that maze like labyrinth. Better to at least see where they were first.

With that thought uppermost in mind, he gently grabbed the door handle, and twisted it around, before peaking his head out to make sure the hallway was clear. Sky licking his lips anxiously from behind.

Decorated with portraits and more tapestries, the hallway outside was just as well-furnished with a gorgeous white rug sprawled out along the corridor. The candle holders that hung on the walls, fairly recently changed with their wicks barely scratching the surface, their flames offering a warm, rich glow to the hall.

Head half bowed as he crouched down, Grey slipped out into the hallway, and darted in the opposite direction of the footsteps. Sky following closely behind him with his hands resting lightly on the hilt of his sword. The hallway stretching out to either side of them with dozens of rooms in both directions. The air smelling much sweeter here with the headier scent of forest cedar, and lilacs in the air. Their footsteps scarcely making a noise on the soft, fur rug as they moved from one room to the next. Grey’s mind telling him time and time again to just turn back. But he needed to know for certain.

Nearing the end of the hallway, he paused yet again to take a look around the corner, and saw another aisle that stopped at two huge wooden doors that bore the embossed symbol of a shattered green shield set in the middle of the doorway. And knew then that he had made a mistake.

Falling back a step, he felt his heart quicken and his pulse begin to race at the realisation he was in Colmar’s home of all places. The noble lordling that had stripped Grey of everything that had ever really mattered to him in the world, almost within his reach.

But by the same token, Grey would be abandoning Amaryllis, whose fate still rested in his hands...

Mind turning this way and that he tried to decide what was more important, when Sky nudged in the back and whispered, “What are you waiting for, Grey?! Let’s just go already. I don’t like the feel of this place.”

Seeing no other alternative that would not risk her life as well as his own, Grey quelled the fury inside of him and turned back the way they had come when invisible ropes stronger than the strongest pieces of steel, bound his arms behind his back, and wrapped themselves around his torso.

His usually fast thinking friend, staring at Grey in open mouthed horror before trying to backup and run away when the same invisible ropes that bound Grey, latched on to Sky's feet and dropped him soundlessly to the floor with a inaudible thunk as his head smacked against the floorboards.

Distinctly human in appearance with midnight coloured robes, the woman that glided up to them from behind had a small cruel smile playing across her pale lips, waxy grey skin wrinkled with age, and sharp blue eyes that were slitted as she studied them both with interest.

“Well, isn’t this amusing?” she rasped, “I had hoped to add several more specimens to my collection this morning, but it seems fate has been kind to my poor old feet? Tell me, dear, is that an Honor Blade's sword on your back?”

Too numb with shock to fully comprehend what had just happened to him, Grey tried to grapple with his own fear before wildy bucking back and forth against his restraints. His arms that had been pinned behind his back scraping against the rusted metal edges of his greatsword as he tried to wriggle them free. But no matter how he struggled, the ropes refused to budge. Sky’s body flying up from the ground beside him to show his face sheeted with blood, and eyes closed shut as he hung there limply in the air.

Smile, twisting into a sneer at the fury that rolled through Grey, the dark mage twirled her fingers at her side, constricting the ropes around him. His silence causing a small twitch of anger to flash across her face as she whispered, “No matter. Honor Blade, or no, you will prove to be a most interesting specimen. Come along now, child.”

Dragged backwards by the invisible strings that held him, he watched as the double doors vanished from view, then let out a gasp of surprise as he saw himself being drawn towards a secret passage that had opened up behind them. The dark one leading them down into the pitch black darkness of another tunnel. “Come, I have friends of mine that you should meet.”

Body shivering uncontrollably at her cold words, he tried to connect his mind with Tamrel, but the voice that had come to him so easily to him on the battlefield, the voice that had saved his life was gone. It’s call somehow muted by the darkness. The gift that had almost become a part of himself vanishing away in an instant. The cool air seeping through his bones as they descended down. The oozing pus that came from the walls, rubbing against his wide shoulders as they floated into the very bowels of the world. The dark one all but disappearing into the inky blackness ahead of him with the only the sound to be heard was her rasping voice as she droned on and on in that smug, self satisfied manner of hers. “...It seems the gods of the world have given me their good fortune today. First a temple priestess, and now two more warriors to add to my already growing collection...”

The rest of her speech lost to Grey as his mind exploded at the words 'temple priestess' his minding instantly connecting her to Amaryllis. The why? And how of it? Irrelevant now that he knew that she was here and alive, or at least hoped she was. The chances it could be another captive were high, but he knew deep down that it had to be her, which meant he had to be--

His trail of thoughts cutoff by a sudden nauseating stench as the dark mage took them down into the dank, sweltering cesspools of death. The ground sticky with pools of congealed blood while the bodies of minotaurs hung upside down from the air, their throats slashed open to pour out their lifeblood into a great big ceramic bowl at the center of the dungeon. The torture chamber illuminated by glowing balls of white light that flickered about the room like sprites. The whole horrific scene unfolding before Grey like a nightmarish scene revealing stack upon stack of dismembered corpses lying about the dungeon's blood soaked floors. The torn and hacked up carcasses of the dead devoured by packs of adult sized hobs coated in layers of blood that snarled and fought each other for the juiciest morsels of meat. The cages that lined the walls to either side filled to the brim with terrified captives that drew back at the sight of her.

Mind blanked by the sheer horror of it all, he stared as silent warriors clad in black leathers appeared out from the shadows to close on him from all sides. Their sudden appearance waking something inside of Grey, almost like an unnatural hunger.

Brought to stop in the middle of the chamber, he felt something to touch his face and looked up to feel the warm trickle of blood drip down onto his forehead as he openly gaped at the bodies of women and children along with dozens of other faces, each one of them caught in a rictus of agony. The four guards splitting apart to grab hold of Grey with cold lifeless fingers, bringing with them the strong stench of rotting corpses. The magic that held his arms, loosening a little to allow one of the warriors to manhandle the greatsword away from him, before dragging him forward across the sticky floors. Grey trying everything he could to rip himself free of this nightmare, only to be thrown headfirst into one of the empty cages near the back of the dungeon. The mage’s magic finally releasing him completely. (All equipped weapons have been removed, reducing your attack dice to 1.)

Back on his feet in an instant, he lunged back towards the iron gates just as Sky’s unconscious body was tossed into his arms. The effort to catch and stop his fall, causing Grey to drop to one knee as the cage slammed shut in front of him.

The dark one moving forward to peer at him with that same small amused smile of hers that never quite reached her eyes. “My lord Colmar, will pleased to finally have a proper warrior for his plans. Till then you must rest, dear child.”

Grey his veins pulsing white hot with rage at the thought Colmar was involved in this as well, felt himself beginning to shake with the amount of anger that coursed through his body. What he’d done to Grey’s family! And now these people as well! He would pay back the lordling in a river of blood.

“What plans?!” he growled.

The dark mage giggled, “Now what would be the fun in telling you that? No, better you find that out for yourself. You’ll enjoy it more that way. And besides you have more pressing problems to deal with.”

Her blue eyes flickered over to the far corner of the cage behind him where the mound he had assumed to be a pile of rags began to stir, the mage laughing as she walked away.

Rolling apart, the bundle of furs revealed itself to be a lean human figure with golden yellow eyes that sparkled with intelligence. The creature looking at him through a thick mane of greasy jet black hair. It’s pale skin pebbled from the cold and fingertips extended into claws. All of it leaving no doubt in Grey’s mind that he was face to face with a vancloren (Vampire). One of the many savage races that inhabited this cursed world. Beasts that fed on the blood of the living to exist, their long lives were subject to their own whims and desires. The lessons taught to him by his uncle, described them as nothing more than rabid animals who revelled in their own baser hungers. An unsettling thought considering Grey could see the creature’s ribs protruding through its belly.

Golden flecked eyes gazing first at Grey then Sky, it moved to rest it's back against the bars, and curl the rags around it’s thin shoulders.

“It’s been some time since Aalissa has brought me anyone to feed on. Longer still since I’ve seen any daylight. Before you die, I would hear of the outside world. I can barely recall it anymore. Apologies,” he said with a slight bow of his head, “I am Calain, Second Son to Prime Demavol, Lord Defender of the Golden Gates.”

Instinctively reaching out for Tamrel, Grey realised too late that the greatsword was gone, taken away from him.

Calain’s gaze narrowing in a brief flash of anger. “As a said. I would speak first, but if you wish to die now, I can help you with that. Consider this time a gift.”

Stomach churning at the thought of sitting down to speak with this sworn servant of darkness, Grey tried to conceal his loathing, before replying, “Why are you here?” while his eyes discreetly swept the cell for a weapon to slay the creature.

“Why do you think?” replied Calain with a languid flick of his arm. “I am a prisoner, just as you are. Only that witch of a woman wishes to use my hunger to build an army of my own kindred to use in some petty war of hers. And you? Why are you here?”

His mind distracted, Grey barely heard his words as he scoured every inch of the poorly lit cage, but besides the bundle of rags the vancloren slept in and Sky’s unconscious form, the cage was completely bare of everything. The single ball of light outside his prison, exposing a writhing mass of hobs huddled around a mound of minotaur limbs. Their small diminutive forms, drenched red in blood as they gnawed on bones with razor sharp teeth, their shadows cast back towards them. While the statuelike guards stood on watch all around the chamber. Every crack and slurp, causing Grey to flinch inwardly, when Calain’s words floated through the back of his mind, forcing him to stare at the creature in shocked surprise. “Colmar is using you to build an army?! What for?! How?!”

Calain shrugged his shoulders. “The kindred we birth are not linked to our minds as yet. Till they mature, they are like newborn children who must relearn everything that made them who they were as mortals, it’s not so difficult to believe the witch has found a way bend them to her will when they are so young and vulnerable. I would admire her ruthless cunning in discovering such a method but this cannot be allowed. Without my guidance, my children will be like ravenous beasts unable to sate their appetite. More importantly when my father learns of this endeavor, I doubt very much he will be pleased with me. A pity considering I have always been the dutiful son.”

Grey found that hard to imagine, but that was the least of his worries. If what this wicked creature said was true, Colmar could well threaten the entire Land Of Dreams with this new army of his. But none of that would matter, if he could not find a way out of this cell. There was also the matter of finding Amaryllis who could be in any one of these damnable cages.

Head whipping from side to side, Grey searched for a crack or weakness in the metal bars, but even as he tugged and pulled at them, he could already tell that these bars had been reinforced with some type of magic that made his fingers slide across the surface without ever really giving him a proper purchase.

“I wouldn’t bother with that. Tried it myself many times. The mage has cast some sort of enchantment on the bars that will not allow anyone to--

Ignoring the vancloren’s voice, he backed up as far as he could, before charging at the cage head first, his horns hammering hard against the bars. The reverberations coursing through him as he fell back once more. Calain clapping his hands together in delight, while a dazed Sky sat up. “What’s with all the noise?”

Taught to use every part of his body as a weapon, Grey gritted his teeth once again, gathered his legs under him and bounded forward once more giving everything he had to smash against the bars again and again, until with a final charge he snapped the bars like rotted twigs. The hobs attracted by the loud noise immediately moving towards the opening he had made when the vampire sprang through the gap to scythe right through them. The half man, half monster whittling through their flimsy bodies like they were nothing, before picking one up to tear out it's throat and drain it dry. The vampire releasing a terrible pent up roar of rage that echoed around the chamber. The vampire becoming a whirl storm of death as it butchered the filthy little beasts. The hidden guards along the walls sweeping down from all sides to aid in the battle.

With only one shot at escape, Grey shouted back to Sky, ”Let’s go!” Before scrambling through the opening, the jagged ends of the bars raking across his flesh as he picked up a discarded bone and ran forward. Calain racing to meet the kindred with claws extended, while hobs rushed to face Grey. (Femur, allows for two attack dice, but requires a much greater strength to wield effectively, reducing resilience by - 5.)

x 8

Heart throbbing like a drum, he smashed in the skull of the last hob and turned to see Calain become surrounded by dozens of kindred. The creatures short swords stabbing in and out in lightning swift strikes as the vampire did his best to block and dodge in between them, his claws always moving at an unnatural speed to shred open their insides. The vampire beginning to flag beneath the unending assault.

(Click here to help Calain.)

Spoiler: Spoiler

Reminded again of his duty to all creatures, even those of rotten hearts, Grey launched himself forward.

x 1

Dispatching one of the kindred and distracting two more as Calain used the opening to spin out of the trap in a single smooth motion, before sliding forward in a blitz of speed to tear out their throats. (+ 2 Honor.)

(Click here to wait.)

Spoiler: Spoiler

Disliking the idea of aiding such a foul being as this, Grey stood by as the vampire found a way to dispatch all the remaining kindred. (- 2 Honor.)

To be Continued...