Equilibrium
A long road into the high peaks leaves each of the adventuring companions drained; there conditions deteriorate as the four press onward. Leone nurses bruised bones that apply pain to every step he takes. Dedrick’s mental fatigue mounts as he tries to block out the thoughts of his brothers death. Tolvis is able to contribute despite the near-fatal wounds he suffered from the vault passage trap. Ozzob focuses on fighting an internal war to maintain his sanity.
The broken and rocky path into the mountains is tough on the four friends; sandy gravel irritates the skin, every step becomes more difficult. The labored walking stops at the sight of rocks rolling down the face to meet them; something has disturbed the path up ahead. The four take a moment to rest and watch the crag-line. With no father indication of danger, the group presses on.
The clarity of the path begins to fade as the ascension continues; in reality, the path remains clear, the four companions’ perceptions are beginning to falter. Ozzob sluggishly leads the way over a rise that opens to a plateau. A small hut sits lodged against the cliff face, the path continues up the precipice.
Ozzob looks back to inform his friends of what he can see, instead of being greeted by the faces of his companions he sees three bodies laying spaced out on the ground, littering the path behind him. The sorcerer struggles to keep his footing, but he ultimately falls to his knees. A strange figure approaches him from the direction of the structure, and then nothing, only a void of blackness.
#
A voice slowly fades into a perceptible sensory range. The sound is cracked, but it is in an understandable language.
“You should not have climbed in this weakened state.”
In near unison the four companions begin to awaken; they take measure of there surroundings. The group appears to be inside the hut Ozzob briefly observed, presumably dragged in by this stranger.
“The altitude affects strong men.”
Looking for the source of the voice reveals an elderly man sitting near the door of the construction.
Leone is barely able to speak through the grogginess, but manages to say, “What are we doing here?”
“You and your friends collapsed outside my house here. You’re actually quite lucky; there are some backward tribal humans up here. They might have eaten you.”
Straining
to speak, Ozzob presents the question. “
“Yes, you came up the side so fast that your body could not adjust, and it put you under.”
Ozzob releases a frustrated sigh, “I don’t understand how that works.”
“Well, I am up here studying it. Look at this.”
The
old man uncovers a scale model of the mountain that was hiding on a small
table. He points to a small peg on the
“This is you, before you began to walk up the path.”
The old hermit reaches down and begins turning a small handle protruding from the side of the model. The peg begins to inch forward, representing the trip of the cliff face. As the marker gets farther along the path, the entire mountain begins to tilt. The higher the peg goes, the more the model tilts.
“Do you see?”
Ozzob says, “Yes, the farther we walked up the mountain, the faster we separated from the ground.”
Dedrick adds, “And this phenomenon did not let us perceive the change.”
“That’s right.”
The old man stands, “I am Egan. You are welcome to recover here before you continue your climb.”
He hunches slightly, with labored breaths he says, “I must attend to some chores away from here.”
The man breaks out of the door, his face is pained and his arms tense, he bolts from sight. Ozzob is quick to his feet and rushes outside. There is no sign of the man, only a few stones falling from the cliff high above the construction. There is no way the old hermit could have bounded up the rock face so fast.
Returning inside Ozzob says, “There is no sign.”
Tolvis says, “He was fighting back something, some
“Your psychic now?”
“No, but I know the look.” Comments the psion as he blankly stares as Ozzob.
“Not in this condition.”
“We will go slowly.”
Ozzob’s face tenses up and his teeth show as he fights off the mental assault. “This Rhulgar… he waits, build up his strength. Each time is…”
The sorcerer’s fists clench and his entire body jitters in a petrified state. The spectral face of Rhulgar peeks out through Ozzob’s skin. After a few moments, he relaxes; wobbling over to a wall, the sorcerer takes a seat next to Leone.
Dedrick, concerned, says, “We will leave soon, after a short rest.”
#
A human skull protrudes from the dirt near the summit; gravel nearly conceals another grouping of skulls. Following this morbid trail, the four explorers have little trouble finding the cave entrance. More skulls form a cobblestone path that leads down a cut in the rock face, the sigils of ancient death grow thicker as the group walks to the cave entrance. The Rocky opening is host to giant faces frozen in gruesome moments of turmoil, a decadence of stonework.
The morbid visage amplifies as the group enters the passage. Human skeletons crumble against the walls, crushed bones grind under the feet of the four friends, and the floor is thick with white death. Human skulls hang on lines stretched between the walls, a decrepit décor.
Leone leads the way as the group of companions creep through the darkened tunnels. High pitched chattering echoes back from the darkness. Carefully, and with patient steps, Leone sneaks closer to the source of the sounds. Gathering at a corner Leone peeks around to see what causing the high-pitched noises.
A group of humanoid creatures lounges about a small fire; the creatures are cooking chunks of meat over the open pit. The silently observations are unable to distinguish anything beyond the ripped muscles and grey fur that covers all. A burst of flames pops up from the fire, the flare illuminates the face of one, and the features are distinctly rodent-like in origin.
With a subtle whisper, Leone informs the others, “They are human, but disfigured somehow.”
“How many are there?”
“Eight or more.”
“We should avoid this fight.”
“Agreed, but I have seen no other paths.”
“Nor have I…”
“Perhaps I can communicate with them, negotiate our way past, the sounds filling the cave is there language.”
“So they are intelligent?”
“I believe so, just not sure if they are hostile.”
Stepping from around the corner, Ozzob draws no attention. He quickly glances back to his friends in hiding, and then takes a step forward. One of the rat-men notices the approaching stranger; the creature slowly begins to stand. Ozzob offers a friendly greeting.
“Hello, may I pass through your camp?”
The creatures seem to be oblivious to the words. Ozzob tries again in a different language.
“Noss goth nos ney?”
The words have no effect. All of the rat-like people have there attention turned on Ozzob; some slowly reach for weapons that lay nearby.
“Lessse glooo… morr re’a.”
Ozzob’s voice carries a tone of concern as the different languages all fail in communicating with the peculiar humanoids. Weapons slide from there scabbards in silent, silky smooth action; metal blades glisten in the flickering light, reflections caused by the fresh coating of poison applied as the weapon was drawn from is sheathe.
Seeing the inevitable, Ozzob turns to warn his companions, “There weapons are poisoned!”
Leone and Dedrick emerge from the shadows; Ozzob turns his attention back to the rat-men and sees one sprinting directly at him with weapons in hand. With a flash, blue ripples begin to slide along the cave walls; Ozzob’s hands emit the light, covered in a familiar glowing energy. The first swing slices at the sorcerer’s neck; he is able to duck it with ease. A speedy retaliatory strike hits with a loud clap and flash of white light, the sorcerer’s hand sends veins of blue energy slicing through the hasty attacker. Showers of sparks burst from the creature’s body as blood veins explode. The rat-man’s eyes liquefy, its drained body crumbles to the floor.
Two of the diseased humanoids rush past there dying comrade and drive at Leone. The agile rogue makes a fighting retreat as the blades stab at him from all angles. Dedrick runs in from the side and catches one of the attackers off guard; he shoves both spirit blades deep into the creature torso. Leone, taking advantage of the opportunity presented when the second attacker turned on Dedrick, fires a dagger from his hand. The spinning weapon hurdles through the air and strikes the creature in the back of the head, a kill.
Arcing through the air, an arrow screams into Leone’s shoulder. The viscously bladed shaft fully penetrates the meat of his body; Leone drops down against the wall at a threshold of pain. Tolvis step forward from the background casting an inflexible stare at the creature holding the bow. Wobbles of energy refract the air as the streak to the shooter, the strike angles into the rat-man’s chest and passes completely though, the creature falls to the ground and splits apart impact.
A wave of the rat-men assaults each of the standing companions. Isolated from the others, Ozzob goes head to head with two of the creatures. The first one slices in with a razor-sharp, dripping blade. The strike is haphazard and Ozzob is able to retaliate with deadly force. The glowing energy that encases the sorcerer’s hands passes off and begins to envelop the creature; within moments, the blue waves have wrapped most of the rat-man’s body. The encasing energy shrinks down, crushing the bones of the creature inside.
The second attacker is deceptive; the rat-man is brandishing a long saber in one hand, and a concealed dagger in the other. Ozzob ducks a high swing from this cunning opponent and appears to be in the clear, but the attackers second hand goes unnoticed, streaking behind the first. A dagger pierces Ozzob’s lower torso from the side. Poison is sucked off the blade as it is retracted from his flesh, the toxin instantly finds its way though his blood.
Ozzob reaches forward with unflinching will and grabs the rat-man around the neck; before the creature is able to fight back, Ozzob slings his attacker into a nearby wall. The creature cracks the wall with such force that it’s humanoid skeleton shatters and flattens; giant torque rips appear in the creatures flesh. The dead rat-man peels off the wall and crumples atop Leone; the mutant’s black blood mingles with Leone’s open wound. Ozzob collapses under the effects of the fast-acting poison.
Only three of the vile rat creatures remain, they assault Dedrick with a flurry of slicing and stabbing weapons. The spirit blades of the master psion hold back the flood. A ghostly grey image of Tolvis runs into the melee. Poisoned blades slice through the spiritual essence; the image of Tolvis dives headlong into one of the rat-men and disappears; the creatures are awe struck with the event.
After a few moments the rat-man that absorbed the ghostly spirit turn back on Dedrick, the creature launches a swift sword strike, but the blade goes awry and pierces one of the other rat-men in the belly. Dedrick pounces on the confusion and slices apart one of the remaining creatures with his spirit blades. The final mutant humanoid, under the control of Tolvis, drops its weapon and pulls out a small dagger. The creature plunges the weapon into its own rat-like skull, and joins all the others in death.