Ironworks Gaming Forum - solo story 2

Quietly entering the entrance hall to the crypt, Moiraine suddenly felt very cold. Gareth had warned her about the Mavin Sword, and now she began to fear even glimpsing the powerful blade. With a loud grating noise, the door behind her slammed shut. Her heart began to beat faster. She was sealed inside, with only corpses for company. She spun around to come face to face with an evil, grinning skull. It swung it's rusted axe at her, and her elven reflexes kicked in just in time to avoid the blow. With her hand outstretched, she unleashed a small ball of fire. In no time the skeleton was toast, and rapidly decaying on the dusty tiled floor.

Looking up, she saw she had only one path of action. To continue into the crypt, and find a way to get out. She moved towards the first passageway warily. The corridor was dimly lit, so, with the aid of her magic, generated her own light, enough to banish the shadows forming on the walls around her.

There was a room to her right. Cautiously, she opened the door and walked in. There was an aged table and a dust covered chest. Bending over, she began to tinker with the trap. Shortly, the chest was open. There was nothing fantastic, but gold was gold after all, whether in large amounts, or in this case, small ones.

Moiraine Sedai continued along the passage, and came across a locked door. She pulled out a set of lockpicks from one of the many pockets of her robe and used them to open the door. Sitting on the table in the middle of the room, a skull sat staring blankly at her. Shuddering, she looked around the room. A chair, a broken crate and another chest. She was beginning to like it here! The chest yielded more gold, some average items; a sword, an axe, a rotted shield...But something caught her eye. It was a jade necklace, in the the shape of a scarab beetle. Dusting it off on her robe, she studied it closely. It radiated protective magic. She slipped the amulet around her neck. Well, at least it wasn't cursed! She would have to see what it did when she returned to town (if she ever got out of this hell hole).

Sighing heavily, Moiraine left the room and continued her exploration of the upper levels of the crypt. Stairs branched off to her left and she followed them down. In the room stood a marvelous statue made of pure white marble. Adjacent to her was a passage, but it was blocked by a grate and she had no means of making it open. She had read about the magic statues scattered about the Gael Serran back home. They often performed certain tasks, like one she had heard of that would be paladins had to seek and pray unto to become warriors of the light. Maybe this statue did something, but she had no means of knowing what it did, let alone how to activate it.

She left the room, still pondering the possibilities of what the statue did. She came across a T intersection, with a door to her right and stairs to her left. From what she could see, they were badly damaged, so she decided instead to try the door.

When she was just metres away from the door, it opened and a group of skeletons scraped towards her. Panicking, Moiraine tried to summon a creature to aid her, but none answered. With the skeletons getting dangerously close, she crafted several small globes of fire and set them down in front of her, effectively blocking the skeletons from her. Standing back, she watched as the skeletons walked right through the flame, their bones charring and whatever flesh left on their bones searing off. Remarkably stupid for such frightening monsters Moiraine thought, smiling to herself.

The skeletons fell, one by one, until none were left. Moments later, the fires she created disipated, leaving her a clear path into the room. As she entered, she was stunned to see a fountain set against the wall, still flowing after all these years...More interesting, however, where the two chests at either side of the room. Grinning, Moiraine set to work.

A few minutes later, the chests were empty and Moiraine Sedai's pack was comfortably heavy. Realising that the only path left to take was the broken stairway, she wandered over to it, trying to see if the decay was natural, or otherwise...

She lowered herself down, and was greeted by the foul sound of goo squishing about. Sure enough, a small gathering of oozes slithered over to her, their amorphous forms changing every second. Growing weary of such trivial beasts, Moiraine banished them with a large bolt of flame. With a disturbing screaming noise, the oozes were destroyed, leaving only the faint smell of charcoal in the air.

The room she was in was large, and had only two passages; the one she had come from and one going in the opposite direction. On one of the walls there was a small opening, a receptacle, for some form of key. Furrowing her brow, Moiraine tried to get it too work, but to no avail. Getting somewhat angry, Moiraine stormed off down the new passage and was confused by what she saw. The centre of the room was filled with water, with four other rooms going off it. Jumping over to the room to her left, Moiraine saw that there were grates in the corners of the central, watery room. Seeing as there was nothing of interest in the room she was in, Moiraine lept to the next one, and found another chest.

When it opened, amongst the bags of gold and weapons was a small wooden wand with a gold tip. Gathering them up, she lept to the next room and was greeted by a short little dwarf clothed in rotting rags, who was munching away at a...

Emptying her stomach at the sight of someone eating a rat, she squealed to the man.
"How could you!?"
"Oh, hullo. Have you seen any rats? Oh yes i do love them rats. <Smack> Yes i do loves em, yes i do. I do be en forgettin my manners! My name ish Rethpian, and I'm the Keeper of the Crypt, and all rats that lie herein!" The little man said proudly.
"I was going to ask for some help, but i'm obviously not going to get any out of you, you insane, pompous little fart!" Moiraine growled angrily.
"Now, now m'lady, that's no way to speak to the Keeper of the Crypt! How can i help you?"
"I wanted to find a way to leave, that is all. But i can't go back now, because the stairs are broken!"
"Oopsy!Been meanin to do that someday. The rats get stucks in here withe me though..." Rethpian said, drooling at the idea of rats.
"So how do I leave?" Moiraine said, getting increasingly angry with the dwarf.
"You'll have to leave by F'lokis Ra's room" Rethpian shuddered, "The rats don't taste so good near him. To go there, you'll need to take the elevator up. But you'll be needin the key, and it just so happens i dropped it the other day. Now its sittin just out of reach beyond the grate, you have to use the bauble stick, but i donts knows whats i did with it..."Rethpian said, scratching his head in confusion.
"Thanks for your help" Moiraine said as she left.
"Tell me if yah sees any rats!"
Shuddering once more, Moiraine dived down to retrieve the key. The glimmering crystal was beyond the grate, out of her reach. Using the stick, the crystal slowly moved towards her. Grabbing it, she headed back off to the large circular room.

Shaking the last bit of water out of her robe, Moiraine tried the key. It fitted perfectly in the receptacle. With a grating noise, the elevator started to come down as she was wondering what F'lokis Ra would have to say about her intrusion...

hope you liked it. Feedback is appreciated...

Cheers,

Moiraine Sedai