[3.5E] The Deep Delve

[mshady]

Raltise touches the casing of the Stoneburner and has a most unusual thought.

It’s cold?

That was the last thought that Raltise remembered before a long feeling of incredibly intense pain.

It was not like being burned at all. It was like being burned. From the inside, in ways he had never imagined were possible. He remembered every bone in his body feeling like hot lances. His eyes felt like they were going to explode out of his skull. His arms were on fire. His fingers…

Raltise ran out of adjectives to describe what he just went through. Beyond that, he did not remember how he left the cavern and ended up…

Where am I?

Willing himself to open his eyes, Raltise cannot see anything. Even the thought of being blinded terrifies Raltise at a very primal level. He reaches for his eyes but he cannot move his arms either. Kicking out, even his legs don’t seem to work.

What happened to me!?!?

“Hmph. He's awake” a gruff voice says, than laughs.
“Too bad” says the other.
“For him” the first says, grunting.
“Back to sleep for you, human”

Raltise hears the whistling of something swinging through the air and his world goes dark again.

Sometime later, Raltise awakes to the splash of a bucket of water on his face, soaking him and his clothes.

Blinking, he opens his eyes and looks around. He is sprawled out around on a cold cavern floor next to the cart he was unceremoniously dumped out of to a chorus of laughter.

A savage kick to the ribs lifts him off the ground and rolls him over twice, leaving him looking up at the cavern walls.

Raltise finds himself looking up at a 7 ft tall humanoid with a glossy black breast plate and gray, stoney skin. His bulging arms are crossed and the towering giant scowls down at Raltise.

“Now Berk… we can do this the easy or hard way. Who are you and how did you burn a hole into my mines?” the creature says.

“Let’s be fair though” it says.

“In case you did not know, you’re in the Deep Delve on the Earth Plane. I am Laroos, the Overseer of Djinn Khamal Azzirri bin Assasi’s Most Glorious Diamond mines. We are all slaves here. This is where we all die now.” Laroos lets his words settle, giving Raltise a moment to think.

“So…” Laroos leans down and smiles.

“Tell me who you are. Tell me how you came here. I owe an angry Djinn a reason why a section of his mines have been slagged this day. Or I can just offer him your head and say it was a reckless mining team who opened a lava vent. I want the truth though. For him, any answer will do so long as he has one. Now berk... what do I tell my Master?”

[Yuki Akuma]

The human lets out a horrific cough, sitting up - with some effort - and feeling his ribs with one hand. He looks up at the large humanoid, vision slightly blurred. "Plane of... Earth..." He shakes his head, lightly. "...You can tell him... a weapon from the Material Plane... burned a hole here, I... I think. I can't... remember..."

He rubs his head, groaning. "Plane of Earth...? Heh. Fitting... Welcome home, Ly-" He stops, suddenly. He couldn't feel her! He looks up quickly. "A... a small elemental. Made of stone, with... crystals... have you seen her?! She should have been with me, she never goes very far-" Poor guy sound frantic.

[mshady]

Laroos leans down, his armor creaking and his movements rumbling.

Some kind of elemental?

"A Prime weapon here? Oh yes, our new Master will be most interested in acquiring it. Where is it, berk? What is it? Is it called a Lythe? Is the weapon an elemental spirit? We have ways of dealing with those..."

Laross's tone has a very hard edge to it, one of quiet, lethal confidence.

"Laroos, we saw nothing there. It was... tremendous. It carved a... sphere? Yes, a gigantic sphere in the cavern. I can't even see the top of the dome but magma pours from the top of it. It'll be a lake of it soon. It must be dammed off, I fear."

Raltise can see another humanoid figure, this one with horns and a snapping tail speaking. It's tone is urgent and nerveous.

"You seen nothing there?" Laross snaps.

"N-n-no. Nothing. It go boom. It go away. We all heard it. This...screaming sound and an enormous tremor and..and heat. The fire rolled down a tunnel and turned a team of... thirty miners to... I don't know. They were just GONE! That one there did it. He did it. There could be hundreds dead in other passages!"

"That's inconvenient. A good thing we have at least one new slave"

Laross smiles and looks at Ralise.

"Good with a pick axe, berk?"

[Yuki Akuma]

"No, no, Lythe is... Lythe is my friend. She's a... a geodite. An... envoy to the Material..." He frowns, trying to clear his head. "The weapon is called a Stoneburner. It's... like a magical bomb."

He gets to his feet, shakily. "I don't really know how it works. But it... it sort of bunches up the Weave and drains all the magic out of it and then... explodes, destroying everything around..." His face suddenly goes stark white. "Oh, no. No, no, she can't..." LYTHE! Where are you?! You can't be dead, not after what I...

[mshady]

"Ah... now the boulder rolls. So you came with a geodite named Lythe... and she was an emmisary? Tell me, human... did this emissary bring this attack? Or was she a companion?"

Laross's tone is perfectly flat. It reminds you just a bit of Carmard's emotionless tone that belayed the mad lethality of the dwarf.

"This vein only has one chance to strike true. Why did you attack my Master? Who sent you? There will be a most mighty price for this afront."

[Yuki Akuma]

Raltise looks confused. "What? No, you don't understand. I didn't come here on purpose..." He glares suddenly. "I don't have time for this! I need to find Lythe! Where did you find me?!" Frantic again...