To Twist Both Metal And Flesh...

[*Selebius]

Mauric gains some valuable knowlege from the ritual- it was not just designed to deliver a soul to a demonic power but at the same it corrupts the surrounding area, a tiny, tiny step towards the descent into the Abyss.

The demoness had no soul of course- she was a soul, twisted and corrupted, given shape by the Abyss itself and so the ritual caused this place to take a larger step towards its final fall.

And there is another thing Mauric realizes- the power who will curse or claim this place has almost shown itself, an Abyssal Lord of Undeath and Decay, perhaps even Orcus himself.

The doomguards realize that they witnessed old memories, that all the energies and souls seem to be connected to the crystal pillar. Perhaps the scene they see now is a mere dream? A sactuary for refugees hiding from a dire fate or the last hope for the doomed to live a normal life?

[*Mander]

"Could there be any way to free these trapped souls, ansei?" Already his thoughts were running towards trying to destroy the crystals and perhaps free these ghosts from their stasis; it was an issue all too familar to the Athasian.


In any case, Azor would try to find his bearings and lead Mauric back to the settlement if he could.

[*Selebius]

They are both not too far away from the settlement and they find their way back, the crystals themselves showing the way, looming over the village. Gone is the cold and darkness, everything is bright, warm and friendly.

Noone asks them what they did or where they have been, the guards not approaching them this time. It seems almost as if they have been accepted as a part of this small community and soon they realize that noone asks where the woman is who has arrived with them the day before.

If they want to they can investigate the crystals freely- noone seems interested in stopping them?

[*Krayt]

"When we find and retreive the ship we will need a tremendous amount of souls to power it, we cannot release them. Mayhap it is nothing but a large soulprism that holds them but I doubt it. We both felt that being. A mere harvester? I think not. But let us investigate the crystals themselves further until nightfall. I suspect if we topple this twilight realm in either direction the metal would lose its stability but if we learn the secrets how to make this metal that is precisely what we aught to do. If we risk spreading this technique it must be destroyed. Lead the way!"

He fell in behind Azor. It had become a habit letting the dervish plot the route while at the same time giving him a good angle to attack from when he stormed at the enemy like an arrow.

His armour dripping of moisture from the thawing frost. His dampen long hair slithered thightly against his armour at the back following the curves of the metal.

[*Mander]

"Should we make any mention of the night to these people? If they even are people." Azor had gotten a very strange feeling from the townsfolk even before he'd seen their nightly wandering. Their thoughts were difficult to decipher with The Way, like murmurs echoing within a deep cavern...He began to wonder if coming here had been wise, even as valuable as the mysterious living golems were to the cause of Entropy.

[*Krayt]

"Not yet. If we need them later we might just disclose a snippet of it." He paused. this was one of the many occations when he became lost in a maze of innumerable possibilities. "They was perhaps. Yet now.. mayhap like the metal itself a mixture of many aspects. A disc balancing on a pike where the slightest disuption would topple it over." It was rare to sense doubt in the Atheasian. If it was but a whisper in a howling wind the Doomlord would catch it. He spoke as the pair made their way towards the crystals in a inciting tone.

"Perhaps we can learn something far more valuble than making that metal. What if the entire verse rest on a axis similar to the one here? We could open a rift that will tear itself until the last of ends if we could but find that pillar and knew how to shatter it."

[*Selebius]

As they approach the crystal they feel some pressure building in their minds, and now, close to the rocks they can see small motes of light sparking inside some times.. appearing here and there, rarely lasting more than a second or two.

Somehow this all seems to be a giant soul gem- but probably with different properties, more like something that is able to store souls and release them again when certain circumstances are met?
It is hard to say if this is a natural or artificial property.

Then, suddenly those lights form a face- or perhaps many different faces, one overerlaying the nect, the features shifting and changing quickly. There is a silent, neverending scream on the lips of this face and soon a body forms as well, ghostly and without sibstance, just a mirage caught inside the stone. Whatever it is it struggles to get out, tried to claw its way to freedom desperately but then it is pulled back again by an inky, taloned claw.

"Our ancestors." A voice behind them says and they see an old man, leaning on a shovel- how was he able to approach the two experienced and vigilant doomguards so easily?

[*Krayt]

Gauging the size of the structure as they came closer to it. "Did it form the plane or did it break away from one I wonder. Perhaps all that remains of the Obyriths realm. Or it may simply be the corpse of it."

He let his hand trail along the crystal surface as he walked along it watching the faces. He halt spreading his fingers as he put a palm close to a face as it appeared leaving it there looking as the soul got dragged away.

This was exactly what they needed. A device able to siphon souls and imprisoning them. But how instrumental was the powerful being?

"And you the caretaker of what remains of them?" He asked without turning his head. Looking into the reflections of the crystal seeing the old man.

[*Mander]

Even as the stranger began to speak Azor was whipping around, stepping to put himself between Mauric and the unknown. His frame as tense as a steel cord, he stared as Mauric asked his questions. Among Athasians the elderly were regarded with respect and fear, for only the most skilled or vicious were able to survive past adulthood.

"You alone keep vigil for them, grandfather?"

[*Selebius]

He smiles at them, a genuine but also sad smile.

"I take care on them, I remember them for what they really were. Most here denie the truth, live their lifes ignoring who they are and where they will go."

He steps closer to the crystal, puts a gnarled, wrinkled hand on it. "We all will end up in there. Noone who dies in this place can escape the hungry stones."