The ritual chamber was larger than Jade expected. They exited the short passage at a run, stealth abandoned in favor of putting a stop to the growing buildup of power emanating from just ahead. The room was circular, with a high ceiling and ringed with more giant pillars. Around a dozen robed cultists stood in a ring in the middle of the chamber, chanting arcane words with their hands raised high. Green tendrils of light snaked from their chests, coiling through the air before coalescing at a large emerald gemstone set high into the wall opposite them.
More currents of light joined those of the robed figures, and Jade traced them back to a series of barred cells recessed into the walls of the room. They were occupied with the remaining elven prisoners, all of whom lay on the cold stone floor, stirring weakly as energy was siphoned from their bodies.
Jade took all this in a moment. The cultists continued their ritual, not one of them turning to face the intruders despite their lack of caution. She hesitated, unsure how to proceed.
"They aren't done yet." Aylin hissed, keeping her voice low as she scanned the room. "Naomi, Nythis, heal the townspeople and help them. The rest of you, we have to stop the spell. Now!"
"How do we stop them?" Luis asked.
"The easy way." Aylin said grimly. She pointed her wand at the closest of the dozen ritualists, whispered an incantation, and blasted a beam of energy straight into her head. A barrier flickered into being just as the attack reached her, absorbing and dispersing the energy. The woman didn't even flinch, continuing to chant as if nothing had happened. Aylin cursed under her breath and began casting another spell. "Go!"
Jade didn't need to be told again. They scattered, each making for a different ritualist. As soon as she was more than a few steps into the room, tendrils of green light began wafting from Jade's body as well, forming into a wavy line that arced up towards the glowing gemstone. A wave of weariness washed over her, as if she'd been awake for a full day without rest.
* Combat Log
* You have been afflicted with an instance of 'Vitality Drain'.
Jade blinked away the notice. She didn't need to examine the status effect to know what it did, although the fact the system measured it in 'instances' meant that it probably stacked. They really did need to hurry.
She reached her first target, a tall, slender human woman with unnaturally pale skin and wispy hair. Her hood had fallen back, revealing a wrinkled face and glazed over eyes. She gave no reaction to Jade's approach, nor to the dagger held in her hand. Despite the urgency of the situation, Jade hesitated for a moment. The woman was practically defenseless, and she spent precious seconds overcoming an innate aversion to slaying a helpless foe. This time her demonic instincts were a boon. Jade tapped into the ever-present anger and bloodlust, giving it reign to guide her hand as she struck.
It took three attacks to break the woman's shield, but the fourth one cut her down. She collapsed in a heap, blood spraying from her throat as she spasmed, still gurgling out the words to the ongoing chant as she died. Jade was more than a little disturbed, staring down at the twitching corpse. Was this really just a Labyrinth spirit? The look of conviction… Of devotion in her eyes, it felt too real to be a conjuration.
This is fucked up.
But that wasn't anything new, and she pushed the thought out of her mind. She moved on to the next cultist, repeating the process with him. Their team worked efficiently, going about their grim task with detached efficiency. Each ritualist that fell caused a noticeable weakening to the buildup of power in the gemstone above them, although the energy it had already absorbed didn't seem to be diminishing. Bizarrely, not a single cultist reacted in any way to the slaughter. They each simply stood there, hands raised as if in supplication while they were cut down one by one.
By the time the last one fell, the emerald was glowing like a bonfire. Contrary to Jade's expectations, the wispy tendrils connecting them and the now-freed prisoners to the gem did not dissipate, although they did weaken even further. The feeling of fatigue lessened, but only partially.
"What's going on?" Fenrin asked, reconvening with Jade, Aylin, Luis, and Vamir in the middle of the room. "It hasn't stopped."
"It must have become self-sustaining." Aylin said quickly. She pointed up at the gemstone. "We have to break it."
"Any ideas?" Luis asked, shading his eyes against the bright glare and peering up at the brilliant gem. "It's pretty high up there."
"I can lift someone." Aylin said, pointing to the floor directly under it. "Who-?"
"I'll do it." Jade interrupted, already jogging to the spot she indicated. Fenrin joined her.
"Me too."
"We'll get them out of here." Luis said, nodding to where Naomi and Nythis were tending to the elves. They'd opened the cells, but most of them appeared too weak to stand. Vamir nodded, and the two of them left at a run.
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Jade reached the wall under the gem. The drain effect didn't seem to be damaging her, at least not directly, but she was growing short of breath. All she wanted to do was sit down and rest for a moment, but she knew that if she did, she wouldn't be getting up.
"You good?" Fenrin panted, wiping sweat from his face.
"Peachy." She grunted. Blood dripped from her dagger to the floor.
"I'm glad one of us is."
"Hang on!" Aylin called over to them. The mage brushed her hand against the spellbook clipped to her belt, channeling the earth magic it contained. The ground rumbled beneath Jade and Fenrin's feet, cracks spreading out around them.
"To wha-!?" Fenrin yelped in surprise as a broad, circular pillar shot up from the floor, carrying him and Jade into the air. He grabbed onto Jade for support, who had little difficulty keeping her balance as they rode the column skyward. It stopped some twenty feet in the air, bringing them to eye level with the glowing gem.
"Have you done that before?" Fenrin asked, letting go and looking a little embarassed.
"Something like that." She examined the glowing emerald. It was emanating a deep chill, and her fatigue was intensifying with the increased proximity. The translucent tether connecting her to the gem pulsed. Now that she was closer, she could see that its faceted surface was etched with dozens of tiny runes. "What now?"
"Smash it."
He drew a dagger, reversed his grip on it, and cracked the pommel down hard on the emerald. There was a loud 'clack!', and the gem flashed once, but it didn't break. Jade gave it a try next, using the hammer she'd used against the undead. Again, the stone was unharmed.
"Keep trying." Jade told him, stepping back and opening her dimensional pouch. "I'll look for something better."
She searched through their gear as Fenrin continued to hammer at the emerald, striking it repeatedly in the same spot. Jade knew little of gems, but this was clearly more resilient than any normal stone should be.
It must be magically fortified…
What else could they try? She was having trouble thinking clearly through the fatigue. The green light intensified, starting to pulse faster and faster. Down below, Aylin was casting some sort of spell, trying to disrupt whatever was happening. It didn't seem to be working. They were running out of time.
Jade closed her pouch with a curse, reaching instead for the Bag of Mystery. It was time to roll the dice. With a silent prayer, she plunged her hand inside its folds.
* Bag of Mystery
* Roll One (Value): 733/1000 (Uncommon)
* Roll Two (Appropriateness): 348/1000 (Unrelated)
Her hand emerged clutching a scroll of aged parchment. A quick glance showed the system labelled it as 'Scroll of Invisibility - Consumable'.
"Shit." Jade stuffed it into her pouch. "I can't find anything!"
"Help me with this, I have an idea!" Fenrin said. He had wedged the blade of his dagger into the crack between the wall and the gem and was trying to pry it free. "If we can't break it, maybe we can get it out of here!"
It was better than nothing. Jade joined him, jamming one of her own blades into the gap and heaving with him. The green glow grew brighter and the air around them grew colder. Jade braced herself against the wall, heaving as hard as she could, heedless of her precarious perch atop the narrow pillar. Cracks formed on the wall tiles, like branches of lightning.
Come on!
POP!
The emerald snapped free of the wall, thumping to their feet with a loud THUD. Jade picked up the spherical gem, which was surprisingly light, and immediately regretted it. It was freezing cold to the touch, and immediately began leeching warmth from her body at an alarming rate. She dropped it on reflex, gasping and shivering. The gem rolled to the lip of the pillar and fell, crashing to the ground with enough force to crack the stone tiles. The emerald itself remained intact and undamaged, still drawing in energy.
"What will it take to break this thing?!" Jade gasped, still shuddering from the lingering, deathly chill.
"Aylin! Bring us down! We'll get it out of here!"
The mage lowered them back to the ground with a wave of her wand, still focused on whatever enchantment she was casting. The others were carrying the freed prisoners from the room, but it wasn't going quickly. The light from the gem was now as bright as the sun, and Jade felt a pulse of power from it. It was about to unleash its energy, there was no way they could carry it anywhere useful in time. Not when they couldn't even touch it.
Jade hopped to the ground before the pillar had even lowered them to the halfway point, landing with a roll. She grabbed it again, this time wrapping her hands in the remains of an old shirt to prevent it from touching her skin. In a sudden burst of inspiration, she shoved the entire bundle into the mouth of the Bag of Mystery. An unseen force resisted her, as if the pouch itself were unwilling to accept the energized gem, but Jade ignored it. She pushed with all her strength, forcing the sphere into the bag.
The blinding light vanished, and the frigid chill faded away over the next few moments. Jade hardly noticed, because now the bag was pulsing with the same sickly green energy. She dropped it to the ground, backing away. Before she could take more than a couple steps, a blast of green light emanated from the mouth of the pouch. It washed over the room in a chill wave before that too faded away, leaving the room still at last.
Everyone was staring at the discarded bag, as if expecting it to explode. Smoke curled from its surface, which was blackened and charred. After several long moments, Jade cautiously approached it. She prodded it with her foot, and it flopped over, inert. Jade gingerly picked it up, ready to drop it if it proved dangerous. She immediately noticed that the 'question mark' icon that had been stitched into the bag's material was now a skull.
Uh oh…
"Is it… over?" Fenrin asked tentatively. The rest of the party was making their way towards them now, regrouping near the entrance. Jade caught Naomi giving her a look that said 'what did you do this time?' Which, of course, was completely unwarranted.
Before anyone could respond to Fenrin, the ground shook. Dust fell from the ceiling, and pebbles clattered down around them. Jade closed her eyes.
"We're never that lucky."
The ground shook again, and a web of cracks appeared in the center of the chamber. The floor bowed upwards, forming a small hill.
"If you're going to adventure with us, amigo." Luis shook his head at Fenrin. "You have to learn not to say things like that."
The dark energy filling the room had been greatly diminished when they'd dispatched the cultists, and again when Jade disposed of the gem, but it hadn't disappeared entirely. Jade felt the remnant of it rush down, seeping into the stone in a vortex of power. For a long moment, everything was still. And then an enormous, bone white arm ripped through the floor in a shower of stone and dust.