Under waterdeep Kail touched a black coin against the floor of a crypt on a metal plate. As he did so a portal opened between two pillars. Carefully he drew his blade and entered the portal.
It had been so long since he had been here. Such memories it filled him with. Slowly he drew back his hood and allowed his dim backlit eyes to illuminate the dusty gloom of Vanrakdoom.
Skeletons and rotten fur lay on the floor infront of him. He recognised the body of an old friend and also the corpses of the werecats that had invaded their home, sent by the church of Selune.
In passing he booted the mummified head from one of the werecat corpses. He wasted no time. His memories were painful to him and he wanted shot of this part of his trip.
Kail swept throught the corridors and rooms of Vanrakdoom like a shadow in the night. The breeze he left in his wake lifted curls and plumes of dust into the air, dancing in the dark and caressing the walls like mournful ghosts as he fluttered on.
Kail turned a corner and looked down. Another friend of his, now a suit of leather armour with bones within was slumped on the ground in a corner holding in itÂ’s hand a dagger visible through the ribs of the werecat skeleton slumped ontop of him. Kail batted the werecat's skeleton down the corridor, itÂ’s bones bursting into purple and yellow flames from his sword.
The eyes of the Onifhet child seethed with a crystalline white heat in the dark as he looked to the end of a long corridor.
He passed through and to the door of the old temple. As he opened the door it stuck. Vanrak must have collapsed the archway inside across the door so the werecats could not escape.
Kail smiled with an admiration for the man that he had not had in those days. He hadnÂ’t appreciated through all the cruelty how truly devoted he had been to his followers. Kail pulled a scroll from a cylinder and cast a spell upon himself reducing his size so that he could squeeze through the gap. On the other side he looked across the greatness of the temple. Bodies littered the floor, most were werecats, parts and pieces mostly. Vanrak had gone down in style.
There he lay sprawled out on a black circular carpet with a purple edge. Vanrak, Lord Vanrak, Doomknight of Shar, Doomlord of their sect.
Kail summoned the bones of one of the dead priests to rise and move the debris from the doorway. As his reduction spell expired he enlarged back to his normal size and walked to the altar to clear it of dust and debris. There was an inverted brass bowl usually used to collect the blood of any sacrifices made on the altar. Kail lifted it and was immediately hit by the intensity of the moonlight from the stone beneath. His face usually grey with shadow almost took on a flesh tone, his eyes became hazel brown and his hair a rich mahogany colour. Kail had not possesed human colouring since his corruption by his fathers sword as an infant so powerful was the light at dispelling shadows.
He looked back at Vanraks corpse knowing his death must have come after those of the werecats he had cut down but as a result of facing the orb defiling the altar. It must have taken everything for him to cover it before the magics had killed him.
At the far end of the room Kail’s skeleton assistant collapsed from the light washing over it. ‘Impressive,’ he thought but not that special to one who travelled the planes.
Kail bagged the orb and slung it on his belt. This would have to be dealt with elsewhere.
He summoned his succubus thrall and the two of them carried Vanraks body placing him onto the altar. The succubus enchanted the old darklight torches around the circumference of the room and once more they ignited in negative energies casting a red glow over the room.
The succubus drizzled potions over VanrakÂ’s corpse and painted runes with hers and KailÂ’s blood onto his armour. A black obsidian disk carved into a Sharran holy symbol was placed in VanrakÂ’s skeletal mouth.
Dark magics coalesced in the gloom and gathered over the altar. Cracklings of red lightning bolted into the body as the succubus chanted.
Kail cast negative energy spells onto the corpse and finally a raise undead incantation.
Slowly the magics faded and a gentle red aura spread over the bones and armour of the doomknight Vanrak.
Kail stepped back and watched. He nodded to the Succubus who took that as her cue to leave and vanished erupting in a plume of abyssal fire.
Kail faded back into the shadows and watched as VanrakÂ’s form absorbed blood and energies from the articles on the altar. The muscles of his neck reformed and his bones cracked back into place within his armour. Slowly he sat up and looked around the temple. He reched across the altar and picked up his helmet putting it back onto his hellish head to conceal his features.
“Where are you?” He said quietly. “Who is here?”
The doomknight looked around the temple. He walked a few paces back to where it was he had fallen all those years ago and pulled his massive greatsword from the dry corpse of a very big werecat.
Kail paced from the shadows and crossed behind the altar. Vanrak spun and looked at him.
“Onifhet… hmm, I am pleasantly surprised.”
Kail smirked, and crossed his arms. “If not impressed?”
“Don’t be cocky with me Onifhet, remember your place. Your still the only one obnoxious enough to stare me in the eyes. I should teach you some respect.”
Kail raised a hand. “Hold your tongue Vanrak, you don’t need to pull seniority on me anymore, I died like the rest of you. Arose in the grey wastes, soulless and lost. I’m only here because I know my existence is down to Shar’s will whilst my soul goes wandering carefree in the planes of negative.”
Vanrak tilted his head. “I’ll let this insolence pass for now due to the circumstances.”
“Fear not you owe me nothing.” Said Kail as he pulled the moonlight orb from his belt pouch. Vanrak stumbled backwards steam rising from his body. “I’ll be taking this with me and fear not I have a suitable and subtle use for it that I think you’ll appreciate.”
Slowly Kail put the orb away into his belt pouch once more.
“Bastard child of Onifhet, you dare…!”
“I’ll do as I damn please and you’ll show some bloody respect Vanrak. I’m not coming back to this world or this plane for all the jink in the multiverse. I got bigger fish to fry Doomlord. See you in the void when the end consumes us all.”
As Vanrak raised his blade, Kail exploded in a cloud of blackness that once faded, left Vanrak alone in his temple.
The doomknight stood in the dark temple under Waterdeep alone with no followers, with no plans, with nothing to his name. Beneath his helmet his hellish flesh contorted in a smile. The Onifhet child had done him proud and made amends for the failures and treacheries of his friends all those years ago. A new beginning, another chance. Shar smiled upon him this day.
Outside the temple Kail moved swiftly through the corridors and rooms back towards the exit of Vanrakdoom. A quick visit to his old room and he tossed a small chest of personal artefacts into a bag of holding.
As he left the room he looked down the corridor at the other rooms. He felt a pang in his heart as he saw names on the doors of old friends and companions now dead. One room he entered. The skeletal corpse of a woman and a child lay curled up on the floor a glass vial on the floor from the poison they had drank.
Kail pulled his hood over his face with a stoic look upon his brow and headed for the portal back to Waterdeep.
Disciples Of The Void
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*Azulfae
- Posts: 238
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
In the house of the moon clerics of Selune ran to the aid of a screaming high priestess.
Upon their altar lay the corpse of a mummified werecat with an orb of glorious shining moonlight wedged within itÂ’s maw. The creatures hands and feet were bound with black rope and in itÂ’s eye sockets were two black marbles.
It was a messege and a sign. The high priestess knew the orb for she had made it long ago. ItÂ’s being here was not only a nightmare but a messege.
“It’s alright Priestess, everything will be just fine.” Said one robed priest. As he held her reassuringly. The other priests picked up the corpse and lifted it from the altar to carry it away.
The priestess held her face as she contemplated the return of Vanrak. And looked up to the one consoling her. As she looked under the pale grey/blue hood she saw a face grey as shadow with eyes white like a wolves and a grin of pure evil.
“YOU!” She screamed.
As the others turned, Kail threw back the priest robes revealing his dark fiendish armoured form and shadowy black cape. He leaped backwards on his toes seemingly in slow motion taking a hefty yet precise swipe with his massive bastard sword. The blade swooped in and clipped the High priestesses face opening the sides of her mouth with a loud rubbery snap, a look of sheer horror in her eyes lasted only for a second before the magic of the blade tore through her skull clouding over her eyes with veins black magic.
Then she was lying on the floor quivering in fear of the darkness, unable to scream for the wound across her mouth as the priests all ran to her aid. Kail was gone, vanished as if he had never been there.
Redemption
Upon their altar lay the corpse of a mummified werecat with an orb of glorious shining moonlight wedged within itÂ’s maw. The creatures hands and feet were bound with black rope and in itÂ’s eye sockets were two black marbles.
It was a messege and a sign. The high priestess knew the orb for she had made it long ago. ItÂ’s being here was not only a nightmare but a messege.
“It’s alright Priestess, everything will be just fine.” Said one robed priest. As he held her reassuringly. The other priests picked up the corpse and lifted it from the altar to carry it away.
The priestess held her face as she contemplated the return of Vanrak. And looked up to the one consoling her. As she looked under the pale grey/blue hood she saw a face grey as shadow with eyes white like a wolves and a grin of pure evil.
“YOU!” She screamed.
As the others turned, Kail threw back the priest robes revealing his dark fiendish armoured form and shadowy black cape. He leaped backwards on his toes seemingly in slow motion taking a hefty yet precise swipe with his massive bastard sword. The blade swooped in and clipped the High priestesses face opening the sides of her mouth with a loud rubbery snap, a look of sheer horror in her eyes lasted only for a second before the magic of the blade tore through her skull clouding over her eyes with veins black magic.
Then she was lying on the floor quivering in fear of the darkness, unable to scream for the wound across her mouth as the priests all ran to her aid. Kail was gone, vanished as if he had never been there.
Redemption
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*Azulfae
- Posts: 238
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
Somewhere south of Triboar Kail hopped off the back of a wagon and tossed the caravan merchants a small sack of gold before waving them goodbye.
Ahead of him stood a small fortress village with high wooden walls.
Kail paced up to the gates where two halfling guards stood armed with shortswords and shields.
“Hold ye tall folk this be hin land and ye kind are not to pass through!”
Kail crossed his arms and chuckled. “How old are you?”
“What..? What’s that got to do with it!”
Kail kneeled down so as to be face to face with the halfling and pulled his hood back showing his face.
“Ever heard of the soulless one?”
The little halfling lurched back and bumped into the wooden wall behind him. The other hit a gong with his sword pummel. Within seconds the village walls were lined with halflings with crossbows.
“Your dead, they said they killed you!” Shouted the halfling waving his sword around at Kail.
Kail stood back up and looked at the gathered halflings. “Not before I got all your sorry souls back eh. Well are you going to let me in to see Soppie or am I going to have to kill you all?”
The humanÂ’s joke didnÂ’t go well and one trigger happy halfling nervously loosed a bolt from his crossbow. Kail looked down as the unenchanted wooden shaft, tipped with a bronze head, clacked and bounced weakly off his highly enchanted, adamantine armour.
He looked up at the halfling with a poker face and raised an eyebrow. “Are you kidding me?”
“Let him in." Said a dainty little voice from inside.
Ahead of him stood a small fortress village with high wooden walls.
Kail paced up to the gates where two halfling guards stood armed with shortswords and shields.
“Hold ye tall folk this be hin land and ye kind are not to pass through!”
Kail crossed his arms and chuckled. “How old are you?”
“What..? What’s that got to do with it!”
Kail kneeled down so as to be face to face with the halfling and pulled his hood back showing his face.
“Ever heard of the soulless one?”
The little halfling lurched back and bumped into the wooden wall behind him. The other hit a gong with his sword pummel. Within seconds the village walls were lined with halflings with crossbows.
“Your dead, they said they killed you!” Shouted the halfling waving his sword around at Kail.
Kail stood back up and looked at the gathered halflings. “Not before I got all your sorry souls back eh. Well are you going to let me in to see Soppie or am I going to have to kill you all?”
The humanÂ’s joke didnÂ’t go well and one trigger happy halfling nervously loosed a bolt from his crossbow. Kail looked down as the unenchanted wooden shaft, tipped with a bronze head, clacked and bounced weakly off his highly enchanted, adamantine armour.
He looked up at the halfling with a poker face and raised an eyebrow. “Are you kidding me?”
“Let him in." Said a dainty little voice from inside.
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*Azulfae
- Posts: 238
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
Kail crouched low with his head touching the ceiling in a little room at the back of the shrine to Yondella.
He grinned as he looked around. So many small things, it was like a dolls house.
“Have a seat.” Said Soppi as she boiled some water in a pot over the stove. Kail Looked at the nearest seat and considered the floor instead.
“It’s not impossible I know, but how are you here Kail? The elves supposedly killed you.”
Kail accepted a tiny cake. “They did eh? Well that wasn’t my memory of events. I went and explored the mountains, got eaten by a bunch of Xorns. Pretty pathetic way to meet my end eh.”
Soppi looked at him hard. “What did they kill then and what are you doing here?”
“Goodness knows what they killed, it’s not my concern really, perhaps something my soul conjured up.” Kail shrugged. “You know they would have never have caught the real me surely?”
Soppi smiled.
“Anyhow Miss Widenbottle, I did die and passed on to the other side, to my afterlife. Curious it has been though. My soul still evades me and the dark magics that kept my soulless body living and animated has made me a shadow of my soul also in the next realm. It roams somewhere out there and here I am, risen from the dusts of Oinos, the grey wastes.”
Soppi dropped a tiny cup in shock. As she looked down it sat perched on the tip of Kail’s boot which was stretched out beside her. “Uh thankyou…
So… you really are dead?”
“Yes.” Said Kail.
“But not an undead?” Said Soppi cautiously.
“No, I really am just how I was in many ways. It’s quite bizarre really. Like a physical ghost rather than a spiritual one. Quite unique, I’ve not known anything like this to be honest. Then again I wasn’t normal when I died either.”
Soppi handed Kail a cup of tea and looked at him with concern. “Why are you here Kail and what are you doing?”
Kail sipped his tea and took another small cake. “I’m here to round up loose ends, deal with unfinished business.”
Soppi held her forehead. “Not the elves please don’t.”
“No no, much as I’d like to there was something more important I neglected for too long. A barmaid in Yartar, I gave her my seed see. My first had been a drow but I was happy when I was with her until her interfering mother destroyed our lives. Years later when I first walked the long road I was headed north to find the ends of the world, a place of desolation and quiet. I only reached Yartar before a human woman with as much sadness in her heart as I took pity on me and we spent a night together above her inn.”
Soppi stared in dismay. “I don’t need any more details thankyou Kail.”
“Soppi, I saw her with child the next time I headed up that way hoping for another night of... I... I ran away, I never returned to see them. If she has my child, I will find him and begin for him what my father began for me before I can carry on to find my end. He will look like me, overshadowed, white eyes, black hair. It’s what the blade does. I will have to go but he will have many questions and spend his life searching for answers this plane cannot answer. He will not know the dangers that appearing to be my child will pose. When he passes through here I need him warned about the elves so he doesn’t just stumble right into the blades of those that would have killed me in a second.”
Soppi looked at her old friend with concern. “You’re a bad apple Kail but you always took care of the hin of this village. I’ll do this for you but if he turns out bad and he’s a problem I won’t be protecting for long after and how do you know it will be a boy anyway? It could be a girl!”
"Sure it could be, but then if it is, she wouldn't be like me. The Onifhet taint is only passed to males from what I understand. If so you'll be looking for the grandchild."
Kail slipped a pouch of planar Jink on a table beside Soppi and a pair of very well enchanted daggers, the kind that common folk in these parts wouldn’t see in their lifetime but the kind that were common place on market stalls in Sigil. “For your temple and for old times, for friendship.”
Soppi looked in the bag. “Kail, that’s just too much!”
Kail laughed. "Bah it’s nothing, out in the planes.”
Kail put down his empty tea cup. “I think this will be the last time I see you Soppi. Take care of your people, you’re a better sort than some around these parts.”
The two said their goodbyes and Kail took off north through the haven with eyes of many little hin watching him as he passed through their village. Some older ones giving a wave possibly remembering him from darker days.
He grinned as he looked around. So many small things, it was like a dolls house.
“Have a seat.” Said Soppi as she boiled some water in a pot over the stove. Kail Looked at the nearest seat and considered the floor instead.
“It’s not impossible I know, but how are you here Kail? The elves supposedly killed you.”
Kail accepted a tiny cake. “They did eh? Well that wasn’t my memory of events. I went and explored the mountains, got eaten by a bunch of Xorns. Pretty pathetic way to meet my end eh.”
Soppi looked at him hard. “What did they kill then and what are you doing here?”
“Goodness knows what they killed, it’s not my concern really, perhaps something my soul conjured up.” Kail shrugged. “You know they would have never have caught the real me surely?”
Soppi smiled.
“Anyhow Miss Widenbottle, I did die and passed on to the other side, to my afterlife. Curious it has been though. My soul still evades me and the dark magics that kept my soulless body living and animated has made me a shadow of my soul also in the next realm. It roams somewhere out there and here I am, risen from the dusts of Oinos, the grey wastes.”
Soppi dropped a tiny cup in shock. As she looked down it sat perched on the tip of Kail’s boot which was stretched out beside her. “Uh thankyou…
So… you really are dead?”
“Yes.” Said Kail.
“But not an undead?” Said Soppi cautiously.
“No, I really am just how I was in many ways. It’s quite bizarre really. Like a physical ghost rather than a spiritual one. Quite unique, I’ve not known anything like this to be honest. Then again I wasn’t normal when I died either.”
Soppi handed Kail a cup of tea and looked at him with concern. “Why are you here Kail and what are you doing?”
Kail sipped his tea and took another small cake. “I’m here to round up loose ends, deal with unfinished business.”
Soppi held her forehead. “Not the elves please don’t.”
“No no, much as I’d like to there was something more important I neglected for too long. A barmaid in Yartar, I gave her my seed see. My first had been a drow but I was happy when I was with her until her interfering mother destroyed our lives. Years later when I first walked the long road I was headed north to find the ends of the world, a place of desolation and quiet. I only reached Yartar before a human woman with as much sadness in her heart as I took pity on me and we spent a night together above her inn.”
Soppi stared in dismay. “I don’t need any more details thankyou Kail.”
“Soppi, I saw her with child the next time I headed up that way hoping for another night of... I... I ran away, I never returned to see them. If she has my child, I will find him and begin for him what my father began for me before I can carry on to find my end. He will look like me, overshadowed, white eyes, black hair. It’s what the blade does. I will have to go but he will have many questions and spend his life searching for answers this plane cannot answer. He will not know the dangers that appearing to be my child will pose. When he passes through here I need him warned about the elves so he doesn’t just stumble right into the blades of those that would have killed me in a second.”
Soppi looked at her old friend with concern. “You’re a bad apple Kail but you always took care of the hin of this village. I’ll do this for you but if he turns out bad and he’s a problem I won’t be protecting for long after and how do you know it will be a boy anyway? It could be a girl!”
"Sure it could be, but then if it is, she wouldn't be like me. The Onifhet taint is only passed to males from what I understand. If so you'll be looking for the grandchild."
Kail slipped a pouch of planar Jink on a table beside Soppi and a pair of very well enchanted daggers, the kind that common folk in these parts wouldn’t see in their lifetime but the kind that were common place on market stalls in Sigil. “For your temple and for old times, for friendship.”
Soppi looked in the bag. “Kail, that’s just too much!”
Kail laughed. "Bah it’s nothing, out in the planes.”
Kail put down his empty tea cup. “I think this will be the last time I see you Soppi. Take care of your people, you’re a better sort than some around these parts.”
The two said their goodbyes and Kail took off north through the haven with eyes of many little hin watching him as he passed through their village. Some older ones giving a wave possibly remembering him from darker days.
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*Azulfae
- Posts: 238
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
“The Wink and the Kiss.” Kail said as he leaned against a wall in an alleyway in Yartar. “Shit it’s been too long.” He smiled and finished his smoke before heading into the inn.
Inside he looked around the bar. Not much had changed in the last ten years. Comfy furnishings and dim lighting. The music was cheerful and the girls were half naked.
He looked around but couldnÂ’t see who he was looking for. At the bar was a young man serving drinks and chatting with some female customers.
He grinned to himself and walked over.
“What ales you got lad?”
The young barman stood up straight and peered at the strange dark hooded man. He said nothing and simply gestured to the pumps infront of him.
Kail nodded and looked them over. “Ramsbottom Drizzle it is then.” He said almost sarcastically before tightening his top lip and sucking air through his teeth.
The barman poured the ale into a stein and put it down on the bar infront of Kail.
“Ten coppers.”
Kail delved into a bag and pulled out a handful of copper pieces all bright green from heavy handling by fiends in Sigil.
The barman took a step back, staring at the strongly tainted money.
Kail looked up realising how it must have seemed to the young man.
“We don’t allow people to wear hoods in here sir.” Came a voice from behind. You’ll uncover your head if you don’t mind.”
Kail raised his hands and put them upon his hood then slowly drew it back.
His eyes pale and giving off a slight luminous glow in the dark inn, his face dark and grey.
The barman reached under the bar slowly.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you lad.” Said Kail putting a hand on the hilt of his blade. The nearby fiddler stopped playing his fiddle and the people at the bar nearby slipped away a few paces to a safe distance.
Behind Kail he heard the movement of a blade in a scabbard.
“You some kind of tiefling mate?”
“No not at all.” said Kail “Just a man without a soul come back from the dead.”
Suddenly with quickening speed one of KailÂ’s boots kicked out and hits the bar. He arched up into the air somersaulting back, up and over the man behind him. As the man swipes the air with a short sword he is then left standing, looking in circles.
“Shit, where’d he go?” Said the bouncer to the barman. “I dunno, I dunno he just went up over you!” Replied the barman.
An older lady came in behind the bar from a back room. Her hair was dark and her skin pale with blue eyes and small teardrop earings of a smilar shade. Her dress was of a fine quality in rich velvet blue with a white blouse showing lots of bust. She was not a young maiden anymore but still she was not past her best days.
Kail stood in the shadows at the far end of the bar. His eyes scanned her over and a soft smile came over his face. “Miranda.” He says softly as he steps from the shadows and raises a hand to wave at her.
The woman looked at him in shock and covered her mouth stepping back out where she had come from.
The bouncer leaped forward towards Kail. “HA got ye!” he cries right before he takes a boot in the stomach and flies backwards and out the door of the inn.
As two more men draw blades and move on Kail he draws his blade, dark and forboding it rises from the scabbard made of a black oily material that looks more like some kind of glass than a metal. Runes shimmer purple on itÂ’s surface and dark shadows swell within as the blade moves in a circle slowly in more of a display than an actual attempt to hit anyone. The blade is large in comparison to those that the roguish men are using and they are not heavily armoured either. Kails presence almost saps them of their confidence and they both step back cautious of fighting him.
“I am just here for a pint and to speak to an old friend. I really wasn’t expecting to be gutting any fish this evening so if you folks would all just back off and give me the slightest of courtesy and respect I’ll leave you all to live the rest of your days out with four limbs and the correct amount of fingers and toes!”
The barman collects his dirty coppers and nods to the others in the bar with a semi confident look. “Rightly so, rightly so.”
Kail stashes his blade in itÂ’s scabbard and heads to the other end of the bar before passing on after Miranda.
As he enters the back room barrels line one wall and cooking stoves and pans line the other. “I heard you died.” She said looking him over.
“Didn’t you ever hear what else they say?”
Miranda smirked and looked Kail in the eye. “True evil never dies?”
“Ah, you did hear that one.” Kail walks up close to the woman and touches her shoulder.
“I did move on yes but through ways and means the planes of the dead can be traversed through portals to the city of doors and from there anywhere can be reached.”
Miranda cups KailÂ’s hand softly in her own and holds it to her cheek.
“I waited for you to come back.”
“I should have, I was foolish chasing ghosts, I should have been here, this is where the circle always lead.”
Miranda pressed her hand against the breastplate of Kail’s gothic and nightmarish armour. “You won’t be staying this time either I'm guessing?”
Kail hung his head sadly. “No, I can’t, this is not my life anymore and I don’t think I have much time.”
“You have a son.”
“I know.”
Miranda paced away from Kail and perched herself upon the edge of a table with her arms folded. “He’s a little sod you know. Always getting in trouble, a thief and a prankster. He takes on the law and the guilds always starting fights from both sides. I don’t know if I can handle him anymore.”
Kail smirked in amusement. “Reminds me of how I used to be back in the copper alleys of Selgaunt growing up.”
“I’m glad your amused Kail but it’s not a good time. I’ve had to give my notice here, you came just in time for in the next tenday we’d have begun our journey to my uncles place in Red Larch.”
Kail opened a bag of holding and slipped out a small chest of belongings which he placed on the table and popped open. From inside he removed a scroll and handed it over to Miranda.
“Deeds to my old house in the centre of town, in Red Larch.” It’s yours, don’t go in the basement… if you ever find it.”
Miranda looked up and Kail. “I don’t know what to say.”
Kail leaned in and put his lips against hers as she just stared back at him almost in shock.
As he pulled away he carried on like nothing had happened. “The box has other things in that the boy will like, nifty stuff. He’ll understand. There’s a key to a deposit box in Waterdeep, twenty thousand gold pieces worth of precious metal trade bars and some ingots of admantine with plans for armour like mine. Tell him…”
“Tell him yourself.” Said Miranda as she put a hand against Kail’s face and pushed his head to look at the doorway.
There he stood, a young adolescent, still shorter than his father but beginning to fill out. Kail looked at the young man in fascination.
“Who’s this scrote mum?” The young man walked up and eyed Kail from close up getting right in his face.
Kail examines the boys mild tan and chestnut brown hair. His thayan blood made him look a little more exotic than the locals.
“Hmm, you’re a lot better looking than I was, not as charming though.” Kail grinned and ruffled the lads hair before he could get out of the way.
“Oi bugger of! Don't touch me! Who are you?”
The boy danced in circles light footed around Kail, trying to get on his offside.
Kail kept turning to face, watching the young manÂ’s movements. The lad wore the garb of a rogue, loose leathers and plenty of pouches. He even had a few daggers concealed but not well enough for Kail not to spot.
Miranda stood up from her perch on the table and introduced the two.
“Kail meet Faun, Faun meet…”
At that second as Kail took a step back and gestured to introduce himself Faun took a swift and nimble step sideways in towards Kail and whipped KailÂ’s blade clean from itÂ’s scabbard.
The boy bounced backwards towards the door with a smirk on his face that quickly turned to a look of horror as he went rigid and hit the floor.
Kail stepped over the boy and watched as black veins of shadow coursed over his face and hands. His eyes drained of colour becoming white, his hair turned raven black and his skin turned grey like a shadow had been cast over him. It appeared for a few seconds that the boy was having some kind of seizure but slowly it passed and his grip on the blade finally released letting it fall against the floor.
“I guess that’s one way of doing it.” Said Kail calmly. The boys mother was not so impressed. “What have you done!” She shouted.
“He did it, not me.” Replied Kail. “It was mean’t to happen anyway.”
Kail leaned down and slapped the boy on the face a few times. The poor lad stared up past Kail trying to deal with the visions he had just seen.
“Son, are you listening, I’m your father, your going to be just fine.”
Inside he looked around the bar. Not much had changed in the last ten years. Comfy furnishings and dim lighting. The music was cheerful and the girls were half naked.
He looked around but couldnÂ’t see who he was looking for. At the bar was a young man serving drinks and chatting with some female customers.
He grinned to himself and walked over.
“What ales you got lad?”
The young barman stood up straight and peered at the strange dark hooded man. He said nothing and simply gestured to the pumps infront of him.
Kail nodded and looked them over. “Ramsbottom Drizzle it is then.” He said almost sarcastically before tightening his top lip and sucking air through his teeth.
The barman poured the ale into a stein and put it down on the bar infront of Kail.
“Ten coppers.”
Kail delved into a bag and pulled out a handful of copper pieces all bright green from heavy handling by fiends in Sigil.
The barman took a step back, staring at the strongly tainted money.
Kail looked up realising how it must have seemed to the young man.
“We don’t allow people to wear hoods in here sir.” Came a voice from behind. You’ll uncover your head if you don’t mind.”
Kail raised his hands and put them upon his hood then slowly drew it back.
His eyes pale and giving off a slight luminous glow in the dark inn, his face dark and grey.
The barman reached under the bar slowly.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you lad.” Said Kail putting a hand on the hilt of his blade. The nearby fiddler stopped playing his fiddle and the people at the bar nearby slipped away a few paces to a safe distance.
Behind Kail he heard the movement of a blade in a scabbard.
“You some kind of tiefling mate?”
“No not at all.” said Kail “Just a man without a soul come back from the dead.”
Suddenly with quickening speed one of KailÂ’s boots kicked out and hits the bar. He arched up into the air somersaulting back, up and over the man behind him. As the man swipes the air with a short sword he is then left standing, looking in circles.
“Shit, where’d he go?” Said the bouncer to the barman. “I dunno, I dunno he just went up over you!” Replied the barman.
An older lady came in behind the bar from a back room. Her hair was dark and her skin pale with blue eyes and small teardrop earings of a smilar shade. Her dress was of a fine quality in rich velvet blue with a white blouse showing lots of bust. She was not a young maiden anymore but still she was not past her best days.
Kail stood in the shadows at the far end of the bar. His eyes scanned her over and a soft smile came over his face. “Miranda.” He says softly as he steps from the shadows and raises a hand to wave at her.
The woman looked at him in shock and covered her mouth stepping back out where she had come from.
The bouncer leaped forward towards Kail. “HA got ye!” he cries right before he takes a boot in the stomach and flies backwards and out the door of the inn.
As two more men draw blades and move on Kail he draws his blade, dark and forboding it rises from the scabbard made of a black oily material that looks more like some kind of glass than a metal. Runes shimmer purple on itÂ’s surface and dark shadows swell within as the blade moves in a circle slowly in more of a display than an actual attempt to hit anyone. The blade is large in comparison to those that the roguish men are using and they are not heavily armoured either. Kails presence almost saps them of their confidence and they both step back cautious of fighting him.
“I am just here for a pint and to speak to an old friend. I really wasn’t expecting to be gutting any fish this evening so if you folks would all just back off and give me the slightest of courtesy and respect I’ll leave you all to live the rest of your days out with four limbs and the correct amount of fingers and toes!”
The barman collects his dirty coppers and nods to the others in the bar with a semi confident look. “Rightly so, rightly so.”
Kail stashes his blade in itÂ’s scabbard and heads to the other end of the bar before passing on after Miranda.
As he enters the back room barrels line one wall and cooking stoves and pans line the other. “I heard you died.” She said looking him over.
“Didn’t you ever hear what else they say?”
Miranda smirked and looked Kail in the eye. “True evil never dies?”
“Ah, you did hear that one.” Kail walks up close to the woman and touches her shoulder.
“I did move on yes but through ways and means the planes of the dead can be traversed through portals to the city of doors and from there anywhere can be reached.”
Miranda cups KailÂ’s hand softly in her own and holds it to her cheek.
“I waited for you to come back.”
“I should have, I was foolish chasing ghosts, I should have been here, this is where the circle always lead.”
Miranda pressed her hand against the breastplate of Kail’s gothic and nightmarish armour. “You won’t be staying this time either I'm guessing?”
Kail hung his head sadly. “No, I can’t, this is not my life anymore and I don’t think I have much time.”
“You have a son.”
“I know.”
Miranda paced away from Kail and perched herself upon the edge of a table with her arms folded. “He’s a little sod you know. Always getting in trouble, a thief and a prankster. He takes on the law and the guilds always starting fights from both sides. I don’t know if I can handle him anymore.”
Kail smirked in amusement. “Reminds me of how I used to be back in the copper alleys of Selgaunt growing up.”
“I’m glad your amused Kail but it’s not a good time. I’ve had to give my notice here, you came just in time for in the next tenday we’d have begun our journey to my uncles place in Red Larch.”
Kail opened a bag of holding and slipped out a small chest of belongings which he placed on the table and popped open. From inside he removed a scroll and handed it over to Miranda.
“Deeds to my old house in the centre of town, in Red Larch.” It’s yours, don’t go in the basement… if you ever find it.”
Miranda looked up and Kail. “I don’t know what to say.”
Kail leaned in and put his lips against hers as she just stared back at him almost in shock.
As he pulled away he carried on like nothing had happened. “The box has other things in that the boy will like, nifty stuff. He’ll understand. There’s a key to a deposit box in Waterdeep, twenty thousand gold pieces worth of precious metal trade bars and some ingots of admantine with plans for armour like mine. Tell him…”
“Tell him yourself.” Said Miranda as she put a hand against Kail’s face and pushed his head to look at the doorway.
There he stood, a young adolescent, still shorter than his father but beginning to fill out. Kail looked at the young man in fascination.
“Who’s this scrote mum?” The young man walked up and eyed Kail from close up getting right in his face.
Kail examines the boys mild tan and chestnut brown hair. His thayan blood made him look a little more exotic than the locals.
“Hmm, you’re a lot better looking than I was, not as charming though.” Kail grinned and ruffled the lads hair before he could get out of the way.
“Oi bugger of! Don't touch me! Who are you?”
The boy danced in circles light footed around Kail, trying to get on his offside.
Kail kept turning to face, watching the young manÂ’s movements. The lad wore the garb of a rogue, loose leathers and plenty of pouches. He even had a few daggers concealed but not well enough for Kail not to spot.
Miranda stood up from her perch on the table and introduced the two.
“Kail meet Faun, Faun meet…”
At that second as Kail took a step back and gestured to introduce himself Faun took a swift and nimble step sideways in towards Kail and whipped KailÂ’s blade clean from itÂ’s scabbard.
The boy bounced backwards towards the door with a smirk on his face that quickly turned to a look of horror as he went rigid and hit the floor.
Kail stepped over the boy and watched as black veins of shadow coursed over his face and hands. His eyes drained of colour becoming white, his hair turned raven black and his skin turned grey like a shadow had been cast over him. It appeared for a few seconds that the boy was having some kind of seizure but slowly it passed and his grip on the blade finally released letting it fall against the floor.
“I guess that’s one way of doing it.” Said Kail calmly. The boys mother was not so impressed. “What have you done!” She shouted.
“He did it, not me.” Replied Kail. “It was mean’t to happen anyway.”
Kail leaned down and slapped the boy on the face a few times. The poor lad stared up past Kail trying to deal with the visions he had just seen.
“Son, are you listening, I’m your father, your going to be just fine.”
-
*Azulfae
- Posts: 238
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
Kail spent some time with Miranda and Faun, a night and a day and assisted in dealing with a few threats the two faced from the local thieves guild. It was on the evening of the next day that Kail purchased travel with a caravan headed for Waterdeep.
Over the next few days He taught Faun of using the hand and a half blade and gave him tips in perfecting his stealth and itÂ’s uses in combat. The child was a good student for his life experiences had him hungry for such learning. When they finally reached Red Larch and saw the caravan pass on leaving them behind KailÂ’s heart panged remembering that he was to leave them behind, that this was not his life anymore.
With Faun they spent a full afternoon disarming traps that had been laid in the house by those that had invaded it years back. Miranda began to tidy the place up and seemed delighted with the place and the extremely ornate bedroom on the top floor.
MirandaÂ’s uncle, a propieter of a local tavern who had been co-incidentally an old friend of KailÂ’s and a member of the same Sharran clergy was happy to come over to the house and help his niece move in. He brought food and wine and they dined well that evening.
As the evening passed on into night MirandaÂ’s uncle talked of the old shrine Kail had built under the house to the Lady of the night. Kail took a special looking key from his old chest and showed Faun and MirandaÂ’s uncle how to open a secret door in the floor under the footspace beneath a desk in a small office room and from there they all headed down.
The temple was desecrated horrendously but not beyond repair. Pillars ran down the sides of the temple, cages with bones in, crates and chests of weapons and loot from endeavours with the orc tribes near westbridge. Behind a great altar of bones lay a pool of crystal clear water sparkling in the darkness. At the end of the pool appeared to be a doorway in the wall. The doorway was ornate and beautiful with a smooth black obsidian wall blocking passage through it.
Kail watched the arch carefully for he now knew more about portals than he used to.
At the base of the stone alter a stone face with no eyes was carved with an open mouth.
Kail put his hand inside the mouth and watched as two fangs closed down into his flesh taking blood from him.
Faun winced as his father gave his blood to the altar. Slowly blood began to trickle from the eyes of skulls build into the terrible altar and the pool behind turned a dark red seeming to become a pool of blood.
The process of purifying the temple had begun.
“There is much magic in this place Faun. I gave a lot of myself to make this temple. If the Lady of the Night calls you it will be from here she sends a messenger.” Kail pointed to the door at the back of the temple.
“That door can open on the night of a new moon and on the other side is a place where the shadowswyft dwell. The shrine will need blood, your blood to power the portal though.”
Miranda put an arm around her child. “Kail he’s just a boy, I won’t have him dabbling in such dark things at this age.”
Faun gave his father a smirk and a subtle wink.
Kail just looked back to Miranda and her uncle with a sincere face. “Of course, of course.”
As the three headed back upstairs and sealed the hatch to the dark temple beneath a knock came at the front door.
MirandaÂ’s uncle moved to answer the door but kail stopped him and told them all to stay in the main room whilst he passed into the front corridor and looked into a mirror box to see who was outside.
A tall figure wrapped in a dark cape and hood under which all he could see was a long dark beard with some streaks of grey and white in.
Kail placed a hand on the door knowing who it was. “Not enough time…” he said to himself. “I needed more time.”
Outside the man replied even though he couldn’t have possibly heard kail’s whispers. “You’ve had plenty of time boy!”
“Who is that?” Said Miranda peaking her head around the corner.
“It’s Abgaziel, my father. It’s time for me to go.”
Faun appeared standing on his toes next to Kail and peered through the mirror box. The kid was sneaky, Kail had to admit.
He said his goodbyes and kissed Miranda one last time before opening the door and facing his father.
“Abgaziel.”
“Kail.”
Abgaziel looked Kail over almost emotionless and then peered in at the other three, particularly taking a moment to scan Faun over.
“Lets go.”
Kail pulled his hood up also and waves the others goodbye as he followed after Abgaziel westwards towards the Kryptgarden forest.
As they came towards the edge of the village they passed the ruins of an old tower. Kail smirked remembering itÂ’s destruction.
Abgaziel gave a slight grunt and exploded into a cloud of ravens which dissipated into the night.
Kail knew where he had to go and kept up a good pace across the fields and into the forest where he travelled for the best part of the night into the early hours of the morning before sunrise. He slipped past all manner of beast and apparition in the forest before finally entering a small maze like structure of hedges.
At the center of the maze lay an old stone structure, square and unattractive. It was open and a rope ladder slung over the side. Abgaziel had already headed down inside.
Kail looked at the shadows nearby. He could see nothing but he knew the entrance would not be unguarded.
He hopped over the edge and descended into the ancient halls beneath.
Over the next few days He taught Faun of using the hand and a half blade and gave him tips in perfecting his stealth and itÂ’s uses in combat. The child was a good student for his life experiences had him hungry for such learning. When they finally reached Red Larch and saw the caravan pass on leaving them behind KailÂ’s heart panged remembering that he was to leave them behind, that this was not his life anymore.
With Faun they spent a full afternoon disarming traps that had been laid in the house by those that had invaded it years back. Miranda began to tidy the place up and seemed delighted with the place and the extremely ornate bedroom on the top floor.
MirandaÂ’s uncle, a propieter of a local tavern who had been co-incidentally an old friend of KailÂ’s and a member of the same Sharran clergy was happy to come over to the house and help his niece move in. He brought food and wine and they dined well that evening.
As the evening passed on into night MirandaÂ’s uncle talked of the old shrine Kail had built under the house to the Lady of the night. Kail took a special looking key from his old chest and showed Faun and MirandaÂ’s uncle how to open a secret door in the floor under the footspace beneath a desk in a small office room and from there they all headed down.
The temple was desecrated horrendously but not beyond repair. Pillars ran down the sides of the temple, cages with bones in, crates and chests of weapons and loot from endeavours with the orc tribes near westbridge. Behind a great altar of bones lay a pool of crystal clear water sparkling in the darkness. At the end of the pool appeared to be a doorway in the wall. The doorway was ornate and beautiful with a smooth black obsidian wall blocking passage through it.
Kail watched the arch carefully for he now knew more about portals than he used to.
At the base of the stone alter a stone face with no eyes was carved with an open mouth.
Kail put his hand inside the mouth and watched as two fangs closed down into his flesh taking blood from him.
Faun winced as his father gave his blood to the altar. Slowly blood began to trickle from the eyes of skulls build into the terrible altar and the pool behind turned a dark red seeming to become a pool of blood.
The process of purifying the temple had begun.
“There is much magic in this place Faun. I gave a lot of myself to make this temple. If the Lady of the Night calls you it will be from here she sends a messenger.” Kail pointed to the door at the back of the temple.
“That door can open on the night of a new moon and on the other side is a place where the shadowswyft dwell. The shrine will need blood, your blood to power the portal though.”
Miranda put an arm around her child. “Kail he’s just a boy, I won’t have him dabbling in such dark things at this age.”
Faun gave his father a smirk and a subtle wink.
Kail just looked back to Miranda and her uncle with a sincere face. “Of course, of course.”
As the three headed back upstairs and sealed the hatch to the dark temple beneath a knock came at the front door.
MirandaÂ’s uncle moved to answer the door but kail stopped him and told them all to stay in the main room whilst he passed into the front corridor and looked into a mirror box to see who was outside.
A tall figure wrapped in a dark cape and hood under which all he could see was a long dark beard with some streaks of grey and white in.
Kail placed a hand on the door knowing who it was. “Not enough time…” he said to himself. “I needed more time.”
Outside the man replied even though he couldn’t have possibly heard kail’s whispers. “You’ve had plenty of time boy!”
“Who is that?” Said Miranda peaking her head around the corner.
“It’s Abgaziel, my father. It’s time for me to go.”
Faun appeared standing on his toes next to Kail and peered through the mirror box. The kid was sneaky, Kail had to admit.
He said his goodbyes and kissed Miranda one last time before opening the door and facing his father.
“Abgaziel.”
“Kail.”
Abgaziel looked Kail over almost emotionless and then peered in at the other three, particularly taking a moment to scan Faun over.
“Lets go.”
Kail pulled his hood up also and waves the others goodbye as he followed after Abgaziel westwards towards the Kryptgarden forest.
As they came towards the edge of the village they passed the ruins of an old tower. Kail smirked remembering itÂ’s destruction.
Abgaziel gave a slight grunt and exploded into a cloud of ravens which dissipated into the night.
Kail knew where he had to go and kept up a good pace across the fields and into the forest where he travelled for the best part of the night into the early hours of the morning before sunrise. He slipped past all manner of beast and apparition in the forest before finally entering a small maze like structure of hedges.
At the center of the maze lay an old stone structure, square and unattractive. It was open and a rope ladder slung over the side. Abgaziel had already headed down inside.
Kail looked at the shadows nearby. He could see nothing but he knew the entrance would not be unguarded.
He hopped over the edge and descended into the ancient halls beneath.
-
*Azulfae
- Posts: 238
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
This place had always been a place of deep religious significance to Kail, he never knew why, it just was, since the first time he ever came here he felt something, something old and powerful, something that predated all that the organised church had to offer. It was almost like this place had held personal significance.
He walked through dark featureless halls with black granite walls with strange cold iron spikes and metalwork built upon the walls, some of it for no apparent reason than possibly to throw somebody upon.
Eventually he came to the main chamber.
The floor was cracked and pulled apart. Huge chains bolted to the stone which had been pulled from the floor with enormous strength. Something immense had been chained here once. Something of great size.
To the far end of the hall was a doorway and through the doorway came a dim red light.
Kail stepped over the chains briefly kneeling and touching them out of impulse.
He could hear chanting ahead in the next room. Chanting of many.
He moved on and entered the shrine.
Along the rooms edges what looked like molten lava moved in channels along the floor and in the center a small simple stone altar with a stone tablet bolted to the top of it.
Kail looked at the many robed figures in the room, all were in black and from what he could see they all had grey skin or dark beards visible under the hoods.
These were his ancestors. These were Onifhet one and all.
Kail watched as Abgaziel took guidance from another, reading through a small tome of prayers.
The man dropped his hood and eyed Kail smiling with a warmth his father never seemed to show. He set Kail slightly off guard.
“Kail, welcome. I am Zuriel your grandfather and this,” he gestured to another who dropped his hood also, “Is Pandemus, your great grandfather.” Pandemus to Kail’s surprise was a teifling or at least appeared so with small black horns and a bald head mottled in dark shapes. The colouring of all the men was the same as Kail with their grey overshadowed skin and white eyes.
Pandemus gestured at the others briefly. “You will get to know the elders in time but for now we must get on with the task at hand."
One figure peered out at Kail from under a hood with dim glowing eyes and seemed not to have any kind of form at all, merely whisps of shadowstuff wafted from his robes.
Kail looked to his father.
“What must I do?”
Abgaziel pointed at KailÂ’s blade and then at the small altar. We all sought the blade in our life but never truly found it until we realised it was not an object but simply an extension of ourselves.
We all carry it and we are all one as the blade is one and many also.
Behind the altar is a place you can slide the blade into. When you do so you must maintain your hold on it and read the words upon the tablet.
When you do this your soul will be bound to return. Then we shall deal with the separation once and for all."
Kail drew his blade and approached the altar. All around him the ancestors gathered in a circle and began to chant in menacing tones.
The chant became euphoric to Kail as he focussed on the altar and sank his blade deep into the slot behind the tablet.
As it clicked in place a light shone from within the hilt and illuminated the room. It was blinding to the point that vision was lost. All was white, a darkness from the light.
Kail screamed but his voice was drowned out completely by the chanting and the roar of flames rising from the lava at the edges of the room.
In the whiteness he looked around, his hand still clasped on the hilt of the blade, the only thing giving him a sense of direction in the chaos. The flames around them looked like black fire, made of shadow, the figures of his ancestors blended in with the whiteness but their eyes shone like tiny black specks through the negative and before him the words on the tablet stood out black and clean perfectly readable and made of shadow.
"If honour is truth and a lie is respect, then a secret is sacred.
Confide in me my friend and I shall love you like no other!"
Cried Kail and as he did so the others fell silent.
The blade poped loose and some visage of the room returned but still in greys and white of negative. The Onifhet all stood around appearing to be shrouded in white. The walls looked like shining white marble and the black shadowy flames from the lava died down a little.
The source of the light now was the blade itself that he held in his hand. it's illumination almost acted as some kind of planar shift in this place.
Kail watched as his breath wafted out infront of himself like spiralling shadows. He felt uneasy on his feet and wobbled backwards.
Abgaziel and Zuriel caught him by the arms and steadied him turning him towards the door where Pandemus beckoned him to follow out into the main hall.
As they entered the hall it was like entering some palace in a realm of angels. The walls were white and beautiful, lined with ornate metal work of crystal and there in the center of the room stood an angelic being, celestial and pure, gianormous with itÂ’s arms stretched out beside it.
The being dropped to the floor kneeling with itÂ’s head hung low. Inside itÂ’s chest kail could see a red glow swirling, the only colour in the whole place.
“It is your soul Kail, it is what makes you Onifhet. You must give it to the blade once and for all and become your true self!”
Kail peered sideways at his father who peered back with dark orbs within a face like porcelain.
Kail stepped towards the soul and raised the blade pointing it at the heart of the being.
As he drew the blade back and then hefted forwards with it, the soul looked up suddenly, itÂ’s face like his own but bearing long horns reaching up high above itÂ’s head, itÂ’s face menacing and evil like a devil and suddenly as the blade sank deep into it's heart the normal colours of the room washed back like a flood upon Kail.
He found himself standing in the center of the room, chained and looking upon the Onifhet all watching him as he writhed around with his blade pieced through his own chest and sticking from his back.
He spun and pulled at the chains screaming with a terrible otherworldly squeal.
“Change…” Said Abgaziel desperately. “Change damn you!”
Kail felt everything slipping away as he went light and began to fall but then it felt as though he was stepping from his body and rising up again. Dark shadows enveloped him and he rose high and tall becoming something else.
A terrible sound like the hum of a thousand bees bussing echoed in his ears and he found the chains torn from his expanding wrists.
The Onifhet watched as the nightwalker stood before them.
One by one they began to drop their robes and from beneath rose up one after the other a nightwalker in their place.
AbgazielÂ’s nightwalker gestured to the exit and Kail headed out into the darkness of the Kryptgarden forest.
As he rose up and peered around the forest he became aware of thousands of nightwalkers emerging from behind trees and deep shadows.
As they began to gather, every Onifhet that had ever lived and died, stood before him and he was the newest to reach maturity.
The Nightwalkers moved like an army to the edge of the forest and watched from the shadows as Lathander rose over Red Larch in the distance.
A shrill noise erupted from the horde as they cursed the light and then something increadible happened.
The sun finally revealed from the horizon began to darken as the dark side of Selune's orb crossed itÂ’s path.
A perfect eclipse and then moments later as night came within day the nightwalkers marched from the forest and spread across the land causing fear and terror wherever they went.
From the Spine of the World mountains to the river Delimbiyr that day the eclipse lasted unnaturally until noon had passed.
As the darkness faded and the light returned a figure dressed in black returned on foot towards the northern gates of Waterdeep.
He walked through dark featureless halls with black granite walls with strange cold iron spikes and metalwork built upon the walls, some of it for no apparent reason than possibly to throw somebody upon.
Eventually he came to the main chamber.
The floor was cracked and pulled apart. Huge chains bolted to the stone which had been pulled from the floor with enormous strength. Something immense had been chained here once. Something of great size.
To the far end of the hall was a doorway and through the doorway came a dim red light.
Kail stepped over the chains briefly kneeling and touching them out of impulse.
He could hear chanting ahead in the next room. Chanting of many.
He moved on and entered the shrine.
Along the rooms edges what looked like molten lava moved in channels along the floor and in the center a small simple stone altar with a stone tablet bolted to the top of it.
Kail looked at the many robed figures in the room, all were in black and from what he could see they all had grey skin or dark beards visible under the hoods.
These were his ancestors. These were Onifhet one and all.
Kail watched as Abgaziel took guidance from another, reading through a small tome of prayers.
The man dropped his hood and eyed Kail smiling with a warmth his father never seemed to show. He set Kail slightly off guard.
“Kail, welcome. I am Zuriel your grandfather and this,” he gestured to another who dropped his hood also, “Is Pandemus, your great grandfather.” Pandemus to Kail’s surprise was a teifling or at least appeared so with small black horns and a bald head mottled in dark shapes. The colouring of all the men was the same as Kail with their grey overshadowed skin and white eyes.
Pandemus gestured at the others briefly. “You will get to know the elders in time but for now we must get on with the task at hand."
One figure peered out at Kail from under a hood with dim glowing eyes and seemed not to have any kind of form at all, merely whisps of shadowstuff wafted from his robes.
Kail looked to his father.
“What must I do?”
Abgaziel pointed at KailÂ’s blade and then at the small altar. We all sought the blade in our life but never truly found it until we realised it was not an object but simply an extension of ourselves.
We all carry it and we are all one as the blade is one and many also.
Behind the altar is a place you can slide the blade into. When you do so you must maintain your hold on it and read the words upon the tablet.
When you do this your soul will be bound to return. Then we shall deal with the separation once and for all."
Kail drew his blade and approached the altar. All around him the ancestors gathered in a circle and began to chant in menacing tones.
The chant became euphoric to Kail as he focussed on the altar and sank his blade deep into the slot behind the tablet.
As it clicked in place a light shone from within the hilt and illuminated the room. It was blinding to the point that vision was lost. All was white, a darkness from the light.
Kail screamed but his voice was drowned out completely by the chanting and the roar of flames rising from the lava at the edges of the room.
In the whiteness he looked around, his hand still clasped on the hilt of the blade, the only thing giving him a sense of direction in the chaos. The flames around them looked like black fire, made of shadow, the figures of his ancestors blended in with the whiteness but their eyes shone like tiny black specks through the negative and before him the words on the tablet stood out black and clean perfectly readable and made of shadow.
"If honour is truth and a lie is respect, then a secret is sacred.
Confide in me my friend and I shall love you like no other!"
Cried Kail and as he did so the others fell silent.
The blade poped loose and some visage of the room returned but still in greys and white of negative. The Onifhet all stood around appearing to be shrouded in white. The walls looked like shining white marble and the black shadowy flames from the lava died down a little.
The source of the light now was the blade itself that he held in his hand. it's illumination almost acted as some kind of planar shift in this place.
Kail watched as his breath wafted out infront of himself like spiralling shadows. He felt uneasy on his feet and wobbled backwards.
Abgaziel and Zuriel caught him by the arms and steadied him turning him towards the door where Pandemus beckoned him to follow out into the main hall.
As they entered the hall it was like entering some palace in a realm of angels. The walls were white and beautiful, lined with ornate metal work of crystal and there in the center of the room stood an angelic being, celestial and pure, gianormous with itÂ’s arms stretched out beside it.
The being dropped to the floor kneeling with itÂ’s head hung low. Inside itÂ’s chest kail could see a red glow swirling, the only colour in the whole place.
“It is your soul Kail, it is what makes you Onifhet. You must give it to the blade once and for all and become your true self!”
Kail peered sideways at his father who peered back with dark orbs within a face like porcelain.
Kail stepped towards the soul and raised the blade pointing it at the heart of the being.
As he drew the blade back and then hefted forwards with it, the soul looked up suddenly, itÂ’s face like his own but bearing long horns reaching up high above itÂ’s head, itÂ’s face menacing and evil like a devil and suddenly as the blade sank deep into it's heart the normal colours of the room washed back like a flood upon Kail.
He found himself standing in the center of the room, chained and looking upon the Onifhet all watching him as he writhed around with his blade pieced through his own chest and sticking from his back.
He spun and pulled at the chains screaming with a terrible otherworldly squeal.
“Change…” Said Abgaziel desperately. “Change damn you!”
Kail felt everything slipping away as he went light and began to fall but then it felt as though he was stepping from his body and rising up again. Dark shadows enveloped him and he rose high and tall becoming something else.
A terrible sound like the hum of a thousand bees bussing echoed in his ears and he found the chains torn from his expanding wrists.
The Onifhet watched as the nightwalker stood before them.
One by one they began to drop their robes and from beneath rose up one after the other a nightwalker in their place.
AbgazielÂ’s nightwalker gestured to the exit and Kail headed out into the darkness of the Kryptgarden forest.
As he rose up and peered around the forest he became aware of thousands of nightwalkers emerging from behind trees and deep shadows.
As they began to gather, every Onifhet that had ever lived and died, stood before him and he was the newest to reach maturity.
The Nightwalkers moved like an army to the edge of the forest and watched from the shadows as Lathander rose over Red Larch in the distance.
A shrill noise erupted from the horde as they cursed the light and then something increadible happened.
The sun finally revealed from the horizon began to darken as the dark side of Selune's orb crossed itÂ’s path.
A perfect eclipse and then moments later as night came within day the nightwalkers marched from the forest and spread across the land causing fear and terror wherever they went.
From the Spine of the World mountains to the river Delimbiyr that day the eclipse lasted unnaturally until noon had passed.
As the darkness faded and the light returned a figure dressed in black returned on foot towards the northern gates of Waterdeep.