With a huge sigh, Decia opens the wrought iron door of her basement; her library lies below, as well as her alter to Saint Iskren. Her prayers to him have gone unanswered as of late and her runes are of no use to what befalls Bandarr; her village a few days’ travel from the royal capital. More and more folk from the farmlands and various smaller settlements have been arriving in Bandarr with various bodily parts covered in scales and even some of them developing fangs; with Decia being the only healer within miles, her abbey is full, chock full of so many people that she cannot keep up, nor cure what ails these poor people. Any amount of runes that Saint Iskren has gifted before has not worked, and with her prayers falling on deaf ears she has resorted to the library of her former mentor.
Stepping into the room the darkness greets her, a confidant in these times in her head; her candlelight stretches into the room illuminating the alter of Saint Iskren; the writing desk she uses, as well as her collection of books with runes plastered upon the pages and covered in wax to keep them forever. Allowing herself a moment, Decia steps over to the alter and offers up a soft prayer; opens her eyes, and looks over to her library. It was time, time to find answers. She needed to save these people and find a cure before the worst happened to her. Stepping over to her books, she begins to look for ones on curses and diseases; she pulls all the ones she can find off her shelf and begins reading.
As the hours pass by in the candlelight, Decia's eyes grow heavy, the dust eats at her lungs and the wax is almost spent on her candle; nothing again today. Her books reveal nothing, the secret of this disease is still shrouded in mist; with a soft knock on the iron door, Decia looks up and spies Vend. “You have been down here for hours Decia, we have a few people who need help above.” Vend, Vend was the Abbey master; the leader of the paladins of the abbey. Although the abbey had very few paladins as is, his role was quite important. Looking up from her book Vend stood in front of her, his whiskers black, his brown fur tinted with patches of grey, and with blue eyes greeting her back she couldn’t help but smile. He was always watching out for her, she was very thankful for him and all he did. She would not have been able to keep up had he not been here. “Please tell me they aren’t beset by our unnamed disease as well Vend.” Vend the mouse steps into the room, his armor shining off the candlelight, his face grim, “It’s worse Decia, someone is fully covered in scales, their nose gone, fangs fully developed, it took three of us to hold them down.” Decia stands up quickly her chair falling over behind her. Cursing under her breath Vend continues, “They are becoming snakes Decia, we have to do something with this poor sod.” Decia steps over to Vend, “Follow me, please, we need to deal with this now.” Shifting her habit to allow for greater reach of movement, she rolls up the brown sleeves for less restriction as she ascends the steps up to the central hallway of the abbey. “Why did you have to hold them down Vend, were they thrashing about? Trying to bite?” Vend, behind her, his armor echoing off the stone walls of the abbey, “Yes, they were shaking and foaming at the mouth; poison was a fear we had, so we also gagged them.” Decia shakes her head, this was a disaster, someone this far along should have been here sooner, there was no telling how many people they had spread this disease to.
Getting to the main corridor, Decia stepped towards the hospital of her abbey opened the reenforced iron door, and stepped in; it was late evening, the sun's golden rays peak through the windows of the abbey; the moans and groans of the many people in the room fill her ears instantly. The pain of her people is enough to shake anyone to their core; especially someone meant to heal and take care of lost souls. As a priest of Saint Iskren, it was her job to guide lost souls much like he did in life. Yet, there was not much she could do. “Show me them, then go grab Pius. We will need to bury them.” Vend stops as he enters the room behind her, “What? You haven’t even looked at them yet Decia.” Decia turns to Vend, her face full of profound sadness, “Vend, they are long gone, by the time I find a cure, they will have reached the final stages of whatever this is. They are lost; even to the Saint of lost causes Vend; we must save everyone else.” Vends face is struck with a somber look, his eyes are downcast, his demeanor trodden. “Yes, priestess.” Vend leads Decia to the unfortunate soul and swiftly exits the room to grab Pius.
Looking over the person, Decia can’t help but feel even deeper for them, to come to the saint of hope, and yet to be killed off, this person's fate is sealed and Decia wishes she could do more; alas they would endanger everything here herself, and all of what she has accomplished. His skin is fully scaled, his face has fangs protruding from his lips, and a small tail pokes from under him hanging off the side. Why snakes, and why now of all times; why curse her start as High priestess of this Abbey; Decia looks them over closer, no rune she knows could reverse such an effect or cure them. “By the power of St Iskren, I pray for your soul and hope it finds his eternal inn on the travels into the afterlife.” Decia ends her prayer as shuffling can be heard behind her, turning to Pius and Vend, Decia motions to the person strapped down. “Grab them once I put them under a rune of sleep; then we will usher them outside.” Pius and Vend stare at each other, an unspoken pact between them. Setting to write the rune onto the chest of this person, Decia finishes it quickly, and with a swift move of her quill, the person is sent to sleep. The restraints groaning against the lessened weight against them. Decia stands up, “Grab them, let’s take them to the back and get this over with. Pius, you dig the hole, I will grab the tarp, Vend, you take them.” Turning away after giving orders, Decia sets off to the morgue; grabbing the tarp needed she exits swiftly and to the back of the abbey. Arriving to find Pius digging the hole she asked in a spot near more graves, the sleeping person on the ground in front of them. “Let’s get them onto a table.” Helping Vend lift the person onto a table they lay him to where his head is left hanging off. Stepping over to him, Decia begins giving his last rites to St Iskren; the sun is almost down all the way, darkness encroaching, Decia finishes quickly. “By Saint Iskren, I decree this day, the twelfth day of Saypor, the year 510EY; that this soul be sent to the afterlife.” Grabbing the broken chain around her neck as she prays, the symbol stays dormant, and the rites are finished. Vend looking at Decia hesitates, but draws his blade, hefting it into his two hands, he brings it down upon the neck of the diseased, and with a lop, the head rolls to the ground. Decia watches, dead in the eyes, her spirit faltering. After what seems forever, Pius approaches, “Decia, this may be shallow, but it should do.” Decia reaches down and wraps a hand around the head, her hand covered with a glove, she wonders what it feels like, but stops herself. Pius and Vend carry the body over to the hole and lay them to rest inside. Decia walks over and places their head inside as well. “Let us cover them up; I will contact the stone mason soon; mark it with a simple chain on a stick. I need rest.” Decia steps away and starts off to the abbey, but Vend steps up behind her, “We can’t do this again, we can’t kill them to stop this.” Decia stops and turns to Vend, “I will find the answer, it has to be in the library Vend; look with me tomorrow.” Decia continues walking, but stops and turns back to Vend: “Where did that person come from?” Vend looks to Decia with the same look on his face, “Townhall, they were a worker there.” Decia starts running towards the exit to the abbey. “Tell Pius to lock up and finish this off, then catch up with me Vend!” Decia quickly vanishes around the abbey.
Running as fast as her legs will carry her, Decia bolts through the streets of Bandarr her brown hair flailing in the wind behind her; night finally upon the town of Bandarr. Running past guardsmen and late-night drinkers, Decia reaches what she is looking for. Townhall, there would be guardsmen there, but that would do. Walking up to the main entrance, torchlight lighting the door, Decia enters and is met by a guard in a chair sitting watching the door with a desk and a scribe nearby. The guard looks up as the scribe does, “Ma’am, the town hall is closed and the judge is gone for the day.” Decia scoffs, “I am a priestess of Iskren; I am here to investigate what besets this town. I am not here to meet the judge.” The scribe holds a hand up, “You are here, but to look at what priestess?” I recently got someone in the abbey who was far along in the process of the disease. They worked here, and I am here to look around and into their working space.” The scribe stands up, “You are talking about Darl, he did work here, but I would be sick as well as he if the sickness started here.” Decia ignores his logic, she can use a rune to look for the sickness, but this is the biggest lead she has. “Just let me use my runes to look for a source, I will be gone and out of your hair quickly.” The scribe looks to the guard, and looks behind Decia as the mouse Vend enters, “he with you priest?” Decia nods her head, the scribe sighs, “I will give you three hours. Be out of here by then.” “Show me his working space.” The scribe looks to the guard, and the guard speaks, “Follow me.”
Guided to his scribing room, the guard lets Decia and Vend get to work, “what are we looking for Decia?” Decia, a quill and book in her hands scribbling away ignores Vend, then finishes her drawing. “We are looking for anything, I don’t quite frankly know. It seems to drip decay off them in smaller amounts like rattlers. Yet, no glint runes are involved.” Vend looks to Decia, “Glint sorcery is banned, who in this town would delve into such forbidden practices?” Decia shakes her head, “No clue, but keep watch please.” Looking at the rune on the paper, Decia activates the rune and looks around while holding the paper, a brown golden glow spreading over an area in front of her; looking through the area a tinge of fear enters her system. The decay, small indiscernible wisps in the air, a cold chill creeps over her. “The decay is here Vend, cover your mouth.” Reaching down for a cloth, Decia pulls hers over her mouth. Muffled through her mask, her voice carries out, “Let’s follow the wisps.” Following the wisps all over the room, they eventually lead out of his station and down the wooden hallway; making sure to wield her symbol of Iskren Decia follows with Vend close behind. The wisps lead deeper into the town hall, Decia begins to get on Edge, but her fears are escalated as they reach a hatch that leads lower into the town hall; but it’s locked. “Break it Vend.” Vend looks to Decia with hesitation on his face. “Do it Vend, we are going to save this town!” Vend draws his blade and bends down and slams the pommel into the lock shattering it and sending small sparks flying. Pulling the hatch open Decia looks down into the lower area, nothing but darkness greets her, the coldness of the cellar making her shiver; foot padding can be heard behind them, and two guards round the corner, swords drawn. Decia instantly hisses at them, “It’s the decay, cover your mouths and noses!” The guards stop and step back around the corner. With more wisps of it becoming visible, ever so slowly out of the hatch. Looking behind her again Decia calls out, “What’s down there you two?” One of the guards pokes his head around the corner, “Food supplies for the winter. No one goes down there but town hall scribes and guards.” Decia looks to Vend, “I don’t have a blade with me, let me have your sword for a second.” Vend hands her his sword and she gets to writing a rune on the blade, finishing it swiftly. “Get closer friend, I wish to write a protective rune on your armor as well.” With a swift movement, she is done with that one as well. Looking at her hand she writes a quick rune of repelling and one of a holy shard strike as small as she can. Stepping over to the hatch, Decia quickly writes a light spell onto her arm and a ball of light comes up, hovering above her, the ink fading from her arm after use. Decia descends into the food cellar.
Reaching the bottom, Vend close behind the ball of light pushes the darkness away but the cold persists; ice is stored down here, Decia's breath is visible in the light, and she holds her hand in front of her ready to set off her rune. Looking around there is nothing but barrels and crates. The smell of mulled wine, raw poultry, and beef is evident, but looking around with her paper back in her hands, the wisps seem to be coming from a box. Vend reaching the floor behind her, she steps closer and opens the box; nothing but food; no glints. Looking behind the box, it seems the wisps go through the wall. Confused Decia moves the boxes with the help of Vend and she steps up to the rough stone. “What the?” Reaching out to touch the stone, Vend moves to stop her, “Decia plea-” Decias’ hand goes through the stone wall, and Decia begins to fall forward, off balance not expecting the rough stone wall to be an illusion. Crashing through the rough stone, a pathway sits in front of her, carved out of the stone, sconces line the wall, rusty, and torches unlit in them. Gathering herself, Decia gets up and readies her palm, but nothing comes, Vend in a panic appears behind her, “Please don’t scare me like that Decia!” Helping her up Decia Vend keeps a watch towards the unknown path to the front. “This could get dangerous, please stand behind me Decia.” Decia nods her head as Vend shifts to be in the front. Looking at the torches, they seem to have been used recently, but not within the last day or so. They begin following the path slowly, skimming the ground in front of them listening for footsteps and watching for torchlight in the front. Rounding a corner, an old mining ax is lying on the ground, tossed aside and dull from use; the rough stone passageway bleeds into a carved stone. Man-made stone; Vend steps closer looking deep into the murkiness of the room, and then turns to Decia, “Seems clear, but we must be wary of rattlers.” Vend steps in slowly, sword up and at the ready, his heart beating faster than he had felt it in years. The last time was during his time as an adventurer, traveling the lands, the archipelagos, and the city of Miralith; the dungeons that lie below. This was all before he swore his oath to Decia and her Saint and settled down in a home. Stepping into the room Vend casts his eyes about nothing greets him, the red eyes don’t stare back at him, and the rattle of bones doesn’t echo off the walls. Decia steps in behind him and light illuminates the room. A large great rune is plastered in the center; decay drips off it into the air, and stained glass windows dot the sides of the room, broken with rubble, long gone. Pathways lead in many directions, all of them long blocked off by rocks and inaccessible. Looking over the great rune, Decia knows it is active, this has to be what caused this sickness, but what is it, what is this great glint doing down here under the town hall? It looks ancient and long abandoned, the only way in is the passage they took, and looking at the glint, there is blood. Not recent blood but it looks newer. “You think Darl stumbled into this Decia?” Decia, bending down at the edge of the glint, looks over the intricate writings, “Possibly, no one else has been as far along as he, but, hide it because of shame? He could have doomed the entire town.” Decia reads over the glint, memorizing everything she can, writing down notes, and making sure to put up wards of her own to keep this at bay while she finds out how to dispel it if she can. After an hour of labor, her body starts to fail her. Standing up, Decia stumbles a bit but is caught by Vend, “Thank you, old friend.” Vend gives her a smile, “You are to rest as soon as we get back, research into this tomorrow, Pius and I will attend to the sick, once you wake, you can do your reading.” Decia, far too weak at this point only nods her head, she cannot give any discredit to his logic.
Waking up with a start, Decia looks up at the stone ceiling of the abbey; her memory flooding back to her from the night before. Leaning up Decia looks about, it’s her chambers, and she is still in her habit. Taking a deep breath, Decia gets off of the bed, washes herself, and sets off to the sick ward. Making it to the sick ward, Pius is standing at the doors speaking to Vend, Pius a knight in the abbey is leading by example for the initiates and squires. Even the other abbots and priests are following Vend and Pius's example. Too bad there have been fewer members recently. Stepping closer Vend nods his head to Pius and he vanishes into the ward. “You look better today Decia, sleep well I assume?” Decia smiles at Vend. “Yes, thank you for everything you do Vend.” Pulling him into a soft hug, she lets go, “I will be in the library. Please come get me if any of the priests cannot handle it.” With a small bow, Vend smiles at her. As Decia steps away, a paw can be felt on her arm, “If you need help, please don’t hesitate to ask Decia.” Decia looks to her mouse friend, “I should be fine Vend, thank you for the offer.” “Of course.” Vend takes his paw away and disappears into the ward mask raised.
As the hours go by, Decia is puzzled even more by each discovery she makes; the great glint is far more complex than she thought; Darl activated it when he had fallen onto it, a long unactivated rune glint, causing the town to buckle was because of one overly curious scribe. What was more confusing though was that the books Decia poured through seemed to point her in a direction that she knew nothing of; this glint had a partner glint; where this one was, is a mystery and one she had no time to figure out; she needed answers to the questions she had. Yet none had shown themselves to her. The only way she could find how to stop it was to disrupt both runes at the same time like she did with her wards on the one she found. These glints from what she can tell are meant to facilitate teleportation and the creation of rattlers. Yet it had been changed, altered, as if someone tried to destroy it; but failed and just sealed the place to be forgotten to time. Standing up from her chair, Decia almost reaches for her quill and writing paper to pen a message to the Runic guild. Yet her hand stops her, they would not make it in time and to convey her problems in a letter would do no good. The town doesn’t have a teleportation rune circle, nor does the abbey. Decia snuffs her candle and quickly steps out of the room and up the stairs to the abbey.
Finding Pius and Vend Decia convenes and meeting with them. “There is a partner rune glint one I cannot locate myself as I have not the expertise in the area.” Vend looks at Decia closely, “So, I will be going to Miralith myself to meet with the Runic Guild and locate this other rune glint and disrupt both to end this disease.” Pius and Vend look at each other and Vend is the first to speak, “Who is to travel with you to the capital?” Decia thinks for a second, “You two will come with me, be my guards, and represent the abbey; help me find this rune glint.” Vend seems to approve and release a breath. Pius speaks, “Who will watch the abbey?” Decia smiles at him, “The priests and senior priests. I have but to inform them that we will be away for a bit.” Pius accepts this answer as well as Vend. Decia stands up, “It is settled then, Pius, Vend, prepare for a few weeks worth of rations for travel; as well as all the necessities. Bring your sets of armor and three horses.” Decia steps towards the door and out of it and begins to gather everyone for an abbey-wide meeting.
With the meeting adjourned, Decia sets to pack her personal belongings, habits, a short sword, quills, and paper for rune crafting and scribing, as well as her notes for the rune glint for the rune weaver in the guild. Passing through the imperial lands will be the easy part, it’s just avoiding bandits, rouge weavers, and dead masters; or cultists, corrupted weavers who use the rattlers to do their bidding. Though the imperial lands are safe, bandits and weavers still tend to try and carve out swaths of lands from kingdoms and Duchies; caution is needed. Making her way to the front of the abbey, Pius, and Vend stand waiting for her; “Everything ready you two?” Pius nods his head, Vend speaks up, a horse behind him, “Everything is loaded and ready Abbess, we are set to take the Silk Road to Miralith.” Decia walks to her horse and pulls herself atop. “Well, shall we set off then?”
The Silk Road, the main stone road that connects all of the empire. Aside from the smaller connected islands of the eastern archipelagos, and the archipelagos too far out, the stone road with runic lanterns connect the entire empire and the many kingdoms inside it to each other and foster a major route of trade. Communication, and movements of the empire's soldiers as well as many others. The empire of Miralith, the strongest empire to date, and the longest-standing one spanning over 500 years, and many successors to the imperial throne from the current line of lineage. Miralith spans all the way to the mountains to the south, but with the mountain rage seemingly endless, no one has been able to pass through it, unknown dangers, creatures, and civilizations could lie within the range. What lies south is unknown; and with the empire content with their land, only internal struggles remain. Wars break out among kingdoms, Duchies, Baronies, and much more. Left up to their own devices, many kingdoms fall and come back, and Duchies fall and reform; as long as they swear fealty to Hawthorne, he does not care. Petty kingdoms of Mice, Humans, and even the Lowborns have appeared and fallen much the same.
Traversing the road north, Pius, Decia, and Vend pass through the verdant forests of the Thervoisan kingdom, specifically the duchy of Elvor, rich plains of golden fields dot the road north; houses and vineyards, many smaller settlements and roadside Inns litter the Silk road. The Thervoisians are folk who love good wine, and good ale, and export their fine jewelry, textiles, and wine. Many festivals are held year-round here, as the closest kingdom, and since their capital is not far from Miralith, the orchards and festivals stretch into the bustling streets of Miralith itself. The stone road is decorated with various fallen colors of leaves as the party treks north; autumn is here; stepping through various towns full of smiling people, ribbons adorning the various streets above the houses and guardsmen weDeciag tabards of different nobility and towns. The first week blows by, the swaths of land covered by the party are peaceful and civilized and dangers are next to none, even some of the emperor's soldiers are seen patrolling the roads and keeping the peace; their travels for the first week are unstopped. Making it through the various villages was the easiest part, Inns charged less to priests who could mend a broken bone, or cure an illness; their rooms were easily compensated. One crown bit is what it costs for their room when it was usually two. A steep price, but this Inn was seemingly frequented by merchants, and the food was cooked to perfection for all three of them. As the days carried on, Pius, Decia, and Vend kept their conversations and stays in towns short; what they were dealing with was something that needed secrecy, a plague that could turn people into things worse than rattlers. This was something that needed to be kept between them. Only mending wounds for scant amount of bits and sometimes marks, they stayed out in the small patches of forestry and less luxurious Inns throughout their time in The kingdom of Thervos.
Arriving at the border of Thervos, Pius, Decia, and Vend spend a few days in rest, the road was peaceful yet harsh; their bodies racked with pains and soreness, they rested in the town outside of the vast reaches of the capital; as the capital did stretch this far out; the stone walls of Miralith are visible and many of the great iron doors dot the wall in all directions. The maze of houses, since the party had departed the golden plains of Thervos, has been almost disorienting; losing direction even in the outskirts of the biggest city in the empire is possible. Resting in an Inn, the town of Eldrun, a town full of fishermen the people have been kind to Decia, she had been helping mend the wounds of Delvers all day the moment she had arrived. So, the kindness she had been given may be temporary, but, a room with a soft bed was worth it. A great bridge leads across a large river, what lies on the other side is the start of Miralith, this town fishes under very said bridge; the Inn Decia, Pius and Vend are staying at is situated right at the edge of the water as well. The soft lap of the river can be heard outside her window, Decia lays on her bed; letting her back and body rest after the last few days of sleeping on the ground. A soft knock can be heard at her door, getting up, Decia steps closer to the door and cracks it open. Vend can be seen, armor not on, but a short sword still strapped to his side. A red tunic fit for casual activities can be seen on him with black leggings. “Decia, if you wouldn’t mind a small conversation? May I come in?” Decia opens the door and lets Vend in, then closes the door behind him. “What do you need Vend? Anything wrong?” Vend looks at her and speaks softly. “Under no circumstances, are we going into the dungeons below Miralith.” Decia looks at Vend confused, “Why would we enter the dungeons?” Vend shakes his head, “I have had a bad feeling the entire way here; like something crawling on my spine. A cold chill.” Decia sits on her bed and stares out the window at the bridge leading to Miralith's wall. “That could be the winter coming Vend, it is Malom and late Malom at that.” Vends whiskers shake in the sleight wind seeping through the crack in Decia's window, “No, this is different, this is something like from my days traveling. An instinct Decia.” Decia shakes her head, “the second rune could be in there, we cannot forsake the biggest possibility; because you are what? Scared for me?” Vend almost wants to reach out and grab her and shake her; he stops himself. “Something is not right; I am against going in there; even if our twin glint is in there. Too many stories come from that place.” Decias at her edge, “Get out Vend, we shall discuss this once we find our second rune glint.” Anger tinging her voice she allows herself a second to calm down, once she opens her eyes, Vend is gone from her room. Regret filling her system, she flips open her notes and starts studying her notes.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The city of dreams, the city of tunnels, the graveyard, whatever you wish to call Miralith, and the capital; it was the city everyone came to. The streets packed, the buildings even more so, rings of walls covered the inside as well, making a ring separating the districts from the common ring, to the merchant ring and Noble ring. It was all crafted by rune weavers and their great runes; as well as the wards surrounding the city. The city stretched far into the sky, the capitals pointed towers high in the sky looking down upon the various rings of the city. Guardsmen weDeciag the empire tabard walk the streets and vendors line each pathway with their stands selling items from the dungeons below the streets of Miralith. Three guilds dominate the streets of Miralith, The Lantern Guard, the Ironbound Enclave, and finally The Depthsworn Pact; these three guilds are the three major dungeon-delving guilds in Miralith, and many hopeful to take a step into the dungeon join one of these three guilds; or form their own parties. The Lantern Guard being the most popular of the three, many people every day join up in hopes of finding riches. These guild members can be seen and so much more as Pius, Decia, and Vend make their way through the bustling streets. On their way through the common district, and into the merchants district the streets become even more crowded; an open entrance to the dungeon lies in the district since it is the home of the Lantern guard. It also is the home of the Runic Guild; the place Decia is looking for.
Stepping through the white stone streets and the various carved statues to delvers of the past, the wrought iron gate and stone walls of the Runic Guild lay in front of Decia, her final objective so close; her heart beats relentlessly. Stepping up to the gate a Stoneborn places his huge ax in front of her; stopping in her tracks and looking up at the man, stone covers his skin in many places, his eyes shine like shards of emerald, and he is bigger than any man Decia has ever seen. A rune weaver in grey robes steps up to the gate, “Why do you approach the runic guild healer?” Decia goes to speak but Vend steps in front and speaks before she can form words in Mithian, the language of the capital and the common tongue; she is versed in it well. Like most people. Although she can read it unlike most. “My name is Vendavrin, I would like to speak to Theodric; he should be a rune weaver here.” The student looks over the mouse; “very well, wait here.” The student vanishes behind the wall and for a few minutes, an awkward silence breaks out among the group, but the student comes back before things stretch on for too long. “Theodric will see you, step through.” The stoneborn moves out of the way as the gates open and lead to the courtyard of the guild. As they step in the student speaks up, “Follow me.” As the group shuffles along the stone pathway, the huge courtyard is full of empty space; holes marr the ground where it seems like balls of fire landed, earth is moved and sticking out of the ground as if it appeared from nowhere, and soft glowing blue wards poke from the ground as well. Decia looks to Vend, “When did you become friends with a Rune weaver?” Vend shakes his head, “Remember how we met? I was slaying rattlers near Bandarr and I had a Rune weaver in my party; that was Theo.” The memory comes back to her now, a man dressed in a grey robe with blonde hair and blue eyes; always tucked away in his books, even while she was dispersing the decay from Vend and healing his wounds and saving his life. “He is a teacher here? Just how smart is this man?” Vend smirks, “smarter than both of us combined I am afraid.”
Entering the building, Piuss eyes are high up stDeciag at everything, the tapestry, the massive stairs that lead up a spiral stone tower in the middle of the room with bookshelves made into it. Hallways lead out in almost every direction, the ground and building are made from oak wood, so the dark brown is contrasted with the vibrant colors of lights floating about. Being guided up the stairs Decia, Pius, and Vend are led across a stone bridge that seems to just suspend itself in air to a section; and put in front of a door, “Theodric will be in there.” Vend, leading, opens the door and looks into the room, some desks sit in rows of seven, all facing a stage and a board with chalk lying on a bit of wood jutting out. The same visage of the man Decia remembers sits at a desk writing with a quill on some paper; Theo looks up and spies the group, and then Vend. He sets his quill down and stands up with a look on his face, confusion, and friendliness. “What are you doing here Vend, what brings you back to Miralith?” Vend steps over and clasps his friend into a hug. “I am sorry I have to disturb you old friend, but alas I have a favor I need done.” Theo waves a hand and looks to Pius and Decia, “How long has it been? Over ten years? I recognize your friend Decia, but not the other. An apprentice?” Decia steps closer as does Pius, “A knight in service to the abbey, this is Pius and you know Decia.” Vend says gesturing to Pius. Vend looks to his friend, his tone shifting, his gait turning serious. “I need a favor old friend.” Theos face also turns serious, he looks to Vend, “Anything, what is it?” Decia steps forward and relays all that she can to Theo and gives him the notes she has taken time to mark down and her own theories as well.
After a good few minutes of Theo reading, he looks to Vend, and then stares Decia in the eyes, “You are correct; this is a twin glint; I can help you find the other. I teach advanced combat runes, but tend to spread myself out; this shouldn’t be hard.” Decia's heart soars, this whole disease will be over, and she can go home and get back to healing minor scrapes and mending broken bones. “We can start now if you wish.” Decia nods her head vigorously, “Yes, let's start now!” Theo looks to Vend, “I will have to come with you, is that okay?” “Of course, having a rune weaver with us will help us.” Vend looks to Decia, “Besides, we need you to find it.” Theo pats his old friend on the shoulder, “Let me get started on a great rune; once I finish it, I should be able to lead you to the twin rune glint.”
After an hour of nonstop drawing on his stage, Theo stands in the middle of it, reaches down with a hand, and focuses on the rune; purple gleams surrounding him as the rune begins to glow. After a few minutes of Theo stDeciag blankly out into the room, Theo stumbles to the ground, sweating suddenly, his body shaking. Vend runs over and helps him to his feet. Theo looks to Decia, “What you seek is in the dungeon…” Falling to his knees again Decia steps over quickly and starts drawing a rune to replenish stamina on his stomach. After finishing it, purple slivers of small light in the air again, and the color comes back to Theo's face as he leans up from his place lying on the floor. Vend looks to Decia, “I warned you Decia, this is that feeling, I knew we would be diving in, by Saint Iskren…” Theo, getting to his feet shakily with the help of Pius, claps his friend on the back weakly, “We have two knights, an Abbot, and a rune weaver, we should be fine! We aren’t looking for artifacts nor loot, we are just going in and getting out.” Pius cannot help but feel the danger, the small specks of adrenalin enter his system, but he can’t help but agree with Theo, “We can just go in, and be out quickly; we can avoid fighting with Saint Iskrens runes to repeal the rattlers as well.” Vends face of concern relents, he sighs deeply, and runs a paw over his face. “Okay, but we leave tomorrow, give you some rest Theo and we need to buy some potions to mend our wounds, as well as scribe runes onto our armor and buy light sources.” Vend looks to Decia, “We need to be sure we are prepared to go into the dungeons, I cannot lose any of you.”
As the day comes to a sharp close and the night sky begins to fill the empire of Miralith, shopping is done, and crowns spent, Vend heads to the rooms that Theo had set them up in within the runic guild and knocks on Decia's door softly. “Decia, may we speak.” After a bit of shuffling, the door opens and Decia's face is visible through the crack in the door she makes. Looking around at the rooms with their doors closed in this housing area, Vend gives her a soft look, “Can we speak in private, please?” Decia opens her door and Vend steps in and can see that Decia is upset, he had just dragged them through the entirety of the merchant's district to buy potions and delving supplies. She had wanted to delve in as soon as they were done, get all of this over with, just mend Theos' wounds and give him energy; but, Vends head and logic won out. “I know you are upset with me, but I am thinking of nothing but your safety.” Decia looks to Vend and her rage seeps into her veins ever so slightly. Her thoughts are all over the place, why would he care so much about her, their vow of service is fulfilled just by him being here, he just needs to fight and they can get back home. They just need to solve this glint problem and she can get back to tending the abbey. Vend steps closer and looks up at Decia. “I care about you, I don’t want anyone to get hurt Decia.” Decia laughs and falls onto her bed, “same thing as before and during our trip into the merchant district. You care and want Pius and my safety ensured; I get it Vend.” Vends head starts to sink low, but he raises it, whiskers twitching, “Decia, this is not about cDeciag for you, this is about my love for you.” Decia, sitting on the bed lost in her head of frustration, stops, did she hear him correctly? Decia stares up at him; “what did you say Vend?” Vend walks over to her, taller than the average mouse, but still a mouse, he meets her face sitting on her bed, and puts a paw on her shoulder. “I love you Decia, that day you saved my life from the decay, the curse of the rattlers, and each day after.” Decia's head is spinning, he loves her, where has this all come from? “I have loved you every day since then, your drive to help people, the way you try to save everyone. Even now… I love you.” Vend steps up on his toes and lifts her chin to look at his face. “I want you to make it out of that death trap alive because I love you Decia.” Decias face turns red, embarrassment building up in her features. “Vend, I am a Abbot of Iskren, I… I don’t even know what the saint's words have to say about love or marriage.” Vend shakes his head, and pulls her into a soft kiss, stopping swiftly, “I just needed to let you know how I felt before we went into the most dangerous place in Miralith.” Decia never dwelled on her feelings towards Vend, she never put thought to it; she had at one point years ago when she was just a priest thought he was dashing, but, this years ago. Her feelings bubbled up inside her, and a hot streak went down her stomach; her lower half was on fire; had she been repressing these feelings for him this long? Had he been resisting this long when she felt this way unknowingly? She grabbed Vend and deepened the kiss pulling him on top of her. Unstrapping his sword Vend tosses it to the floor and reaches up and grabs Decia's breast and squeezes softly, a moan escapes her, and she begins taking off her habit and holy chain and sets it to the side. Soon, both of them are naked, heat rising up off of them, Decia lost in bliss with Vends member slipping inside her; blood pools on him as he shifts to be deeper inside her. “I love you Decia, from day one.” Decia, in pain, but her back arched in the air, her body pressed against Vends arms wrapped around him whispers back, through a soft moan, “I… I wish I had let myself feel these things sooner… I love you too Vend.”
Darkness greeted the party, pure blackness stood, an impenetrable wall behind the rune light from Theo; they had entered through the main entrance into the dungeon; the closest place to where the other glint rune was. Once you enter the dungeon and delve past the wall of darkness, you end up somewhere randomly in the dungeon; you get out by going back to where you entered or using a rune to find your way back to the entrance or another way out without approaching a wall of darkness as entrances to the dungeons directly are found all the time. Once you go in, you are in and must be ready to fight your way out to preserve your life. The danger of the dungeon is unparalleled, and why so many form guilds or parties to enter. All of them stepping through the darkness at the same time find themselves within the cold stone walls of the dungeon; this time, a king's throne room, two empty thrones greet everyone, webs decorate them, the rune light pushing off the darkness of the room. Corpses lay about, bone piles and rusted blades from long lost annals in history just from their bony hands on the ground long rusted to time and unusable. “The glint is this way, get into the formations we practiced this morning.” Theo's voice echos off the stone walls surrounding them; the room has multiple exits, Vend is in the front walking towards one Theo makes a soft call out to him, “Through that great reinforced wooden door and then to the left; be watchful of traps” Nodding, Vend steps around the piles of bones and shards of armor laying about, placing a boot on solid ground, his breath visible in the rune light. Grabbing the connective sticks to make a long pole, Vend connects it together before stepping into the room he was guided to. Tapping it on the ground in various places and on the wall allows Vend to trip traps ahead of time so he does not step into one. Running the stick along the ground a good ways in front of him, listening for rattlers, Vend falls back into the older days of his travels and adventures. Time seemingly passes slower in the dungeon, the cold oppressive and always at the back of your mind, the dangers of traps placed by rattlers and even ones that are naturally left by ancients. Feeling the stick tug suddenly downwards, Vend stops as it falls from his grasp and down into a pit; but not before a bone-clad hand wraps itself around his ankle and he is tugged; falling to the ground Vend draws his blade and slashes down at what is at his feet. Decia dives forward and grabs his arm holding him in place suspended above the pit “No! Please, I will pull you up;” Pius goes to move forward but turns around at the sound of faint bone against stone scrapping. Chills run down his spine as he draws his blade.
Acting quickly on his feet, with a rune already written, a wall forms in the pit, covering the spikes down below; turning around as the red eyes greet him Theo's sweat pours into his eyes, Pius is swinging his blade, severing multiple rattlers at once, one strikes at his exposed side but Pius barely manages to block it, sparks flying off his shield illuminating the decay surrounding him. Pius takes a step back but starts to stumble over the bones starting to shift under him; Theo quickly writes his rune onto his hand, holding it out a wall of ice forms in front of the fallen Pius; signing more into the rune, Theo forces the ice to expand down the stone hallway shattering the rattlers. Theo, out of breath turns in a huff to see Vend up out of the pit. Dropping his concentration on the pit wall it crumbles and falls deep into the pit covering the spikes. Vend looks to his old friend, “When did you get this much better?” Theo leans against the wall sweat plastered on his robe, he waves his friend off, “Ever since I started teaching combat runes. Let’s continue.” Pius gets up, mystified, he had never seen such masterful rune weaving; it was a spectacle, one he couldn’t get out of his head, a wall of ice wall that stretches to encase those abominations. This was masterwork. Theo leans off of the wall and gestures to the pit, “The glint is to the right of it; I wish I could be of more use, but keeping my great rune active to find the glint, even more so in this dungeon is quite the mentally draining task.” Decia walks over to him, “Pius, watch that wall of ice, Vend, watch the front,” Decia takes out her quill and looks at Theo, “Lift your robe up Theo, I am going to place a rune on you that will increase your stamina.” Theo lifts his robe and after a quick few awkward seconds, his chest glows, and the fatigue he had vanishes. “That will last for a few hours, keep using the runes the way you did Theo; let’s continue.” Vend nods towards Decia and mouths the words thank you and turns to maneuver around the trap in front of them and take the right passageway.
“Once I disrupt the glint rune; we get out as soon as possible; you Theo lead us at that point.” Decia was speaking in soft whispers as the various rooms went by, all empty, save for the piles of bones and things lost to time; the stone walls had led on for an hour; possibly more. No one could track time that well in the dungeons. The glint rune had been getting closer and closer, Theo had been talking about a racking headache; one that had him on his knees at times. The rattlers were nowhere to be seen, and even as they drew closer to the glint, the rattlers were noticeably not there. Vend was on edge the entire time, his shield up, another pole in front of him with his other hand. The runic light shines deeper, the walls begin to drip decay, and pure darkness surrounds them, light doesn’t reflect off as Vend feels a chill run up his spine; Decia does as well, Theo shrugs it off, having studied into the dungeons even more since becoming a teacher, “ignore the chills, what we seek lies beyond the door in front of us.” All of them haggard from the decay and chills, the runes Decia had inscribed to all of them to keep the decay at bay had been weakening so the chills had been getting deeper; stepping close to the door Theo almost yelled to stop, keeping his voice low, he continues strained, “There is a magician beyond that door, look at the door closely. It glows in their red foul glow.” Magicians, users of foul and decayed sorcery, they need no runes, they need no surface to write on, their practices are filled by unknown means, and their sorcery potent. Dangerous and only countered by certain runes. Stepping up to the door, vend draws his blade with his left paw and readies his shield, “Whatever lies on the other side must be vanquished for Bandarr.” Decia places a hand on Vends shoulder, “As you have been stressing love, we must be careful though.” Theo steps forward past Decia and looks closer at the door, “This is easily dispersed, get yourselves ready, once I do it, I will be incapacitated for a small amount of time.” Everyone gets into a pincer formation with Theo right behind. With a quill to his hand finishing the rune to dispel sorcery, he holds his palm forward; the door shakes, the whole hallway seems to shake, everyone’s vision is blurred, and they all stumble, but right themselves as a blast of air comes through the stone passageway. The door's foul redness vanishes in wisps into the air.
With a push, everyone pushes the door open, and the foul stench of decay and darkness fills their eyes, the red glints and the eyes of rattlers turn to watch them as the radiant light from Decias’ rune fills the room; all of them visible in the rays of sunshine hailing down on them. Vend, sword in his paw with Pius beside him charges in as his sword begins to glow with a silver hue; sweat pouring down her face, Decia's rune activates on Pius and Vends blades. Vend swings at the darkness that presses back at the rays of light from Decia's rune, a wave of silver emits from Vends blade traveling forth in a line in front of him cleaving rattlers in half and making them fall over each other as they begin to finally dart forward. His sword losing its glow, and decay dripping off of him a rattler swings a dagger at him swiftly, his shield meets an inhuman strength, and he is knocked backward, boots sliding across the stone; another from his right, Pius threw one over his body, decay falling in a waterfall through his eyes. Theo, gaining his wits, steps closer dodging away from a hammer-welding rattler and with a swift thought, the rune on his palm activates and a gout of flame emits from it turning the few in front of him to ash. Looking over the fight, everyone is holding their own, but where is the magician? Theo's thoughts are interrupted, his eyes widen in panic, a dark sorcery pelts Vend on his shield, a dark arrow. Falling to the ground, Vend curses under his breath, rolling to the side of a sword, sparks falling onto his fur and coming dangerously close to him, he gets back up to his feet, shield splintered. He counters a strike and slashes through a rattler. His will is not broken.
Theo begins writing a rune on his hand, he will throw a fire arrow at this fiend. Decia gets closer to Vend and starts fighting with him, covering the side he doesn’t have with a shield, “My rune disappears soon!” Her voice rings out over the room, echoing off the walls, the hordes of rattlers stand tall, unfeeling, their morale nonexistent, still coming. Pius, using his shield, blocks and strikes out at as many as he can, yet they still come, unending, he has never been in this type of fight before, and his mind is clouded, he cannot keep fighting on like this. A loud crack, the light vanishes in the room, seDeciag pain shoots through Piuss leg, he falls to the ground, his right leg crumples beneath him, Vend spies this, and rotates around to stand over him; “Archer!” Theo finishes his rune and aims it towards the archer, it needs to be gone now, letting his rune go, flame spits out of his hand and an arrow made of pure fire hits the archer and explodes around it taking many rattlers into the inferno. Fire licking at Theos hand he begins to write the same thing, but makes it into a ball instead of an arrow, he will take out the magician next.
Decia spins around and takes a knee as Vend fights on and begins to rip the arrow out, “this will hurt like hells below; please bite onto something Pius!” Ripping the arrow out, the arrow head is stuck in there, rusted from countless years of nonuse; drawing a rune around the wound, Decia seeks to force the arrow out and heal it as quick as she can. Vend slashes, kicks, perries, and dodges as much as he can, making sure to put his small frame in front of attacks aimed at Decia. His stamina neDeciag an end, the rune on his chest no longer giving him strength, he pushes on, until a wave strikes him in his chest and he flies backwards over Decia, rolling on the ground, his blade falling from his hand. Foul sorcery. Theo yells in rage as his rune finishes, he unleashes a ball of fire at the remaining rattlers, their eyes vanishing into the flame of the great rune. After ten seconds of non stop fire, the flame dissipates, Pius, Decia, and Vend all protected with wards written into the rune, Theo falls to his knees blood coming from his ears. Theo looks over the battle, all the rattlers dead, ash on the ground; reduced to soot and nothingness. Theo falls forward losing his consciousness; his stamina of will gone. Heat greets the rest of the party as his runes fade. Vend lifts his head from his laying place on the ground, coughing, blood falling out of his mouths corner, he checks his wound, and it looks fine; his armor of Saint Iskren protected him. Decia finishes her healing on Pius, and rushes over to Vend and bends down in front of him and kisses him, and then begins to heal his wounds. “What about Theo?” His voice comes out in a croak, “he will get his due love, let me take care of you.” Falling back to gain some rest as well; Vend falls into darkness. Decia quickly begins healing everyone, their wounds come first, then the glint. Tending to their wounds, Decia brings her focus to the great glint.
Stepping over to the glint, Decia bends down and begins to write in her runes to disrupt the great glint; it takes an hour of time, her hand hurting and barely able to scribe runes down at the end. Reaching down and activating her collection of runes, her body fails and she falls to the abyss as well.
With a huge intake of breath, Decia sits up and looks around; her room, her room in the runic guild. Vend sits on a chair a book open, glasses on his mouse nose. He closes it swiftly and reaches over and pulls Decia into a hug. “You stopped the glint Decia, me and Theo dragged you guys out as quick as we could.” Decia squeezes Vend harder, she takes in a deep breath, relaxing. “We did it, we can finally go back home. Let’s go home Vend.” Vend gives her a smile and holds her at arms length, “Theo wanted to talk to you before we left, let me grab him.” Getting up, Vend steps out of the room and Decia breathes in deeply; they made it out, death was the biggest possibility in there and they made it out. The door opens again and Theo steps in, Vend behind him. “You look good Decia, I am glad you are finally awake, it is the next day; early morning; but this is not what I wished to talk to you about.” Decia gives Vend a confused side glance, but Theo continues: “When i finally came to with Vend carrying me, I had a few thoughts and Vend was willing on one condition.” Theo stops and looks to Vend and Vend gives him a nod, “I would like to form a party with you two. Pius included; he already agreed.” Decia is taken aback, a party? An adventure party? This is something she never thought about doing as her post had been at the abbey all this time. Iskrens call to the abbey was what made her who she was, but Iskrens holy feelings were not telling her no, Iskren seemed to tell her to go with them. “I will do it, but I need to send a letter to Bandarr, tell them what’s going on. Rest for a few days.” With her affirming her interest, she gets to writing her letter addressing her abbey, appointing a new abbot and relieving herself of her duties to serve Iskren while traveling. This new step was surprising, she never thought she would explore the empire, but she refused to be away from Vend, she knew he would come with her, but the foray into the dungeon was truly something she thought would result in her and his death. She was glad they all survived. Sending out her letter she appoints a new abbot from the senior priests, and Vend appoints a new Abbey master. Saint Iskrens disciples teneded to head out to travel, and it was only a matter of time till Decia did as well. With the rune glint broken, and nothing else needing to be done, Decia gets herself ready for the next step in her life on the road, and perhaps in the dungeons under Miralith.
No one truly ever avoids entering the labyrinth under Miralith; as treasures call it home and secrets draw everyone far and near…