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A Gift from the Dark Gods
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ilently,
Nazim crept down a darkened hallway in the
subterranean fortress of Tor-Meretak. Nervously clutching
her unholy symbol in one hand and a bloody stiletto in the
other, the priestess whispered a supplication to Kalas for
courage. It was here, in this stronghold, that the dwarves
guarded the priceless Talisman of Ice. Before the sun rose,
Kalas willing, Nazim would hold it in her bony hands.
Flickering torchlight illuminated the doorway ahead.
Nazim could hear several gruff, merry voices from beyond it.
Blissfully unaware of their impending deliverance from this
world, the dwarves caroused.
hrough
the doorway slipped Nazim like a shadow. She
quickly surveyed the room, counting - two, three, four
dwarves. They noticed her an instant later. Muttering a
quick prayer, Nazim waved her hand. One of the dwarves
opened his mouth to shout, but there was only silence in
the room now. Two of the squat warriors scampered for
their nearby axes. The other two turned and ran toward
an opposite door. Concentrating, Nazim made a silent
entreaty to the God of Death. A wave of fire swept out
the door, toasting the two fleeing dwarves. They dropped
and lay still in the hallway.
The priestess's two opponents charged her, axes gleaming.
One was surprised as his weapon was deflected by the
black aura shrouding Nazim. The other looked briefly
satisfied as his swing connected. Within a few seconds,
however, both dwarves lay mindless on the floor, as Nazim's
spells made short work of them. Cursing, Nazim moved her
hands over her wound until it closed. She then bent and
sent both her erstwhile opponents to Kalas's side.
Quickly, Nazim moved down the next hallway, deeper into
the stronghold. She could sense her goal was near. Ahead,
the corridor opened into a large cavern. Nazim's eyes
widened as she approached - the cavern ahead was vast
indeed.
tretching
perhaps a hundred yards into the mountain,
the room ahead was dominated by a central pillar climbing
fifteen feet toward the ceiling. More precisely, the
capacious room was dominated by the small object atop the
pillar. Radiating bright indigo light, the Talisman of Ice
illuminated even the far corners of the cavern. Nazim
smirked as she glimpsed the goal of her mission. This
had all been too easy.
Nazim's unwariness cost her. As she strode toward the
pillar, she failed to notice the dwarves patrolling the
far side of the cavern - or the twenty-foot gap in the
wall high above the passage from which she had emerged.
Nevertheless, the dwarves noticed her. A shout rang
across the cavern, and shortly thereafer, the toll of
a gong echoed from somewhere nearby. Dwarves spilled
into the cavern at various points; Nazim snapped her
head around, suddenly worried. Clutching her unholy
symbol, she shouted out to her deity. Whirling blades
surrounded her, and tremors began to shake the room.
Suddenly, dwarves lost their balance and tumbled to the
floor, clutching the rock with astonished expressions.
The Talisman was jostled from its pillar, and fell to the
floor. Nazim had more immediate concerns - the Talisman
was nearly indestructible.
One concern Nazim didn't have was the creature emerging
from the gap in the wall behind her. The size of a house,
the beast was covered in scales, and flexed sword-sized
claws as it unfolded its wings. Peering at Nazim, the
creature let out a shriek. Suddenly, Nazim was very
concerned.
"
alas,
aid me with a gate to the dark planes, that I
might bring my enemies more quickly unto death," intoned
the priestess. At her gesture, a rift opened nearby.
"Kalas, I entreat you to send a minion to help," shouted
Nazim, as the scaly beast plummeted toward her. A
giant skeleton popped into existence near Nazim, and
immediately moved to intercept the beast. Meanwhile,
the dwarves backed away, obviously fearful of the great
green beast.
The beast was upon her. Drawing upon the power of
the plane rift, Nazim sent torrents of mind-numbing
energy at the creature. The giant skeleton slashed at
its scales, leaving large gashes that the oversized
reptile seemed to ignore entirely. With a swipe of its
claws, the creature shredded Nazim's upraised arm.
Tears of pain rolled down her cheeks, but her resolve
stiffened. Holding her other hand out toward the
beast, she called upon Kalas. Scales ripped open, even
as Nazim felt her arm begin to heal. The plane rift
wavered as its power was sapped.
For minutes, the mighty priestess held her incensed
enemy at bay, drawing upon the unearthly powers of the
rift. The dwarves shifted nervously on their feet, none
of them willing to enter the fray of swirling blades,
claws, and spells hurled. The winged reptile began to
tire from its wounds, but its meager thought processes
assigned this development little importance. The dwarves
had brought it a meal, and tonight, its meal was fighting
back.
Nazim allowed her mind to race ahead as she hurled
spells at the beast. How would she deal with the scores
of dwarves waiting for her? Where has the talisman gone?
Whatever time she had for such considerations, however,
was about to vanish.
he
plane rift wavered as something on the other side
neared. With an audible pop, a spirit shot from the
rift, which quickly dissolved. Several of the dwarven
warriors fainted at the sight of the extra-planar denizen.
A jumble of bones and rot, it was an incarnation of death
itself. Despite Nazim's familiarity with the genre, the
spirit seemed unhappy with the disturbance. "Nazim,
tonight you die," it growled in its unearthly voice.
Panic gripped the priestess as two opponents bore down
on her. She supplicated Kalas again and again to close
her wounds, but she was so beset that she felt her
control of her healing spells slipping. Soon, she would
have no energy remaining to pray for help from Kalas.
Upsetting as it was, her mission was a failure. Now,
she could only attempt to escape alive. Turning, she
fled through the doorway from which she had come.
The reptile pursued her as far as the doorway, but was
far too bulky to chase any further. It lost interest,
and flew back to its nest. The spirit, however, was
not so easily deterred. Following the priestess, it
roared and pointed its finger. Nazim let out a cry as
she suddenly was blind.
The spirit assaulted her ferociously. Unable to see
to run, Nazim had no choice but to fight her enemy.
Turning, she chanted to Kalas to strike the spirit down.
The battle raged on, as Nazim's knees trembled with
trepidation. She was not ready to embrace Kalas's final
gift this night. Her death seemed imminent, though,
as she attempted to hold off the angry spirit.
Nazim prayed to Kalas to restore her sight. The world
around her came back into view, cloudy at first.
Turning, the priestess continued her flight, the spirit
not far behind.
ut
of the fortress ran Nazim, past several shocked
dwarven guards. Suppressing her panic, Nazim gasped
through tired lungs: "Kalas, allow me to commune with
my brethren!" From across distances near and far, her
fellow priests received Nazim's chanted message:
-={@ Nazim (Priest 31): Brothers and Sisters, my life is
in danger! I beg you to aid me. @}=-
Exhausted, Nazim turned to face the approaching
specter of death. She knew she didn't have long.
Luck was with Nazim this day, though. One of her
brethren, a follower of Nocturnis, was nearby. Sister
Vanda hurried to aid her dark sister.
Vanda arrived with little time to spare. Nazim, spent,
was on one knee, hurling what little energy she had left
at her attacker in an attempt to hold it off. Shouting,
Vanda called upon Nocturnis to strike the spirit. Bolts
of lightning shot from the night sky, striking the foul
incarnation of death and lighting the hillside. The
spirit, wounded, continued undistracted in its goal of
eradicating Nazim. With another supplication to her
deity, Vanda called more lightning down upon the spirit.
The acrid stench of electrocuted, rotting flesh reached
Vanda, but she persisted, until the bones and flesh fell
apart and quickly withered away. Nobody would claim her
sister's life tonight.
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Inscribed by: Thyros
