Part 1: Decent into hell.

Chapter 1: Entry

 

Xzi stared in wonder and amazement at the splendor before him. This was it! What he had been searching for all this time. Down below the sand dune he was perched upon sat a ring of buildings, each facing in towards the center of the ring, with some sort of pedestal in the middle. This was it! The tomb of Retas... Sliding down the slope, something immediately caught Xzi's attention. One of the tomb doors was already open, it's opening like a hole into nothingness. Running up to the pedestal, Xzi noticed an object already placed there. It was in the shape of a gauntlet, and it was placed in a hand shaped depression in the center of the pedestal.

 

A loud commotion came from the other side of the sand dune, followed by the sound of galloping feet. Audible curses were herd from the other side, and a ragged looking wizard appeared at the top. "They'll come back,” he muttered as he approached where Xzi was standing.

 

"Camels are gone. They'll be back soon though. Were near the only source of water for miles,” the wizard said. "Zara, those are or only method of transportation. Without them were stuck. Why didn't you tie them up?" Xzi asked. "They bit through the rope..." Zara replied. Xzi took a good look at the opening and wondered about their luck.

 

Xzi was an elf, as was easily determined by his size and accent, and was an adventurer from the west. Years ago he had hooked up with Zara at a tavern and made a deal to both look for the grave of a elvin noble of legend, in a place that was no longer forest but sand and sun now. Xzi wore a suit of studded leather armor, and the studs glistened in the sun, giving him sort of a reflective ness.

 

Zara was the exact opposite. He was a human, poorly kept with wild brown hair and a ratty robe of the Xilidor, the lowest level of the mages of the west. The mages were only allowed to wear their robes, and he had been wearing it so long it had been... well used. He also had the smell of herbs following him wherever he went.

 

"So this is it..." Zara muttered as he starred off into the inky blackness. "That's what I'm guessing. Did you bring the lantern?" Xzi asked. Zara reached back into his backpack and pulled out a lantern. Taking his flint and steel, he lit it after a few strikes.

 

Xzi scooped up the lantern and disappeared into the blackness. Just as he started to descend the stairwell he heard a click, and the door slid shut.

 

 

Chapter 2: Into the mouth of the beast...

 

Xzi stared off into the depths of the stairwell. It was too late to go back now, for the door was sealed. Off in the distance, Xzi could hear the sound of metal grinding on stone. With little other choice, Xzi ventured off down into the dark depths of the crypt.

 

The hallway wound for a bit back and forth, and it hit a Y, with one leading what he guessed was south, and the other one east. The scraping sounds were getting louder, and Xzi was getting curious at what was making them. Following the noises, he ventured down the left hallway.

 

Scrape, Clunk.

 

Scrape, Clunk.

 

Finally, the hallway seemed to widen out a bit, and the odd smell of rusted metal hit Xzi's nose. As he approached the end of the hall, the sound stopped. Walking down it, he watched as the walls melted away into blackness around him, going beyond the reach of lamplight.

 

In front of him stood two massive statues, each made out of Iron and badly rusted. They had mechanical joints, and it appeared that at one time they might have been automaton. Between them was a door, cut into the rock face, scrawled with carvings of runes. Xzi walked up to the door to examine it, and barely ducked as something flew past his head...

 

---

 

Zara was in a bit of a predicament. First, the Tomb was shut. Of all the things that had gone wrong that day, which was the most troubling. Second, the glove had flown off the pedestal and clocked him in the back of the head when the door closed. He had absolutely no idea how it fit on the pedestal.

He had been attempting to put it back on, with very little luck. There was runes carved into it, but they were indecipherable to him. He had been messing around with this for near ten minutes.

 

A camel walked up to Zara, chewing on some grass it had found, and looked over the mages shoulder at the pedestal. It seemed to hold little interest, so the camel turned away.

 

"This is all your fault, you know." Zara accused the camel. "If you hadn't have wandered away, I would've been down there with Xzi..."

 

Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.

 

"And then I could get this blasted thing open..."

 

The camel became annoyed and gave Zara a nudge, making him press his full weight on the gauntlet. There was a cracking sound, and Zara disappeared into the darkness below...

 

The camel watched the hole for a little while longer, and though seeing that nothing was happening, disappeared over the dune.

 

---

 

Creak, Clunk, Shuffle.

 

Zara woke with a start. He looked out in front of him, and saw a pair of glowing red eyes...

 

Chapter 3: Gateway to Oblivion...

 

Zara scrambled up and over the pile of dirt and rocks, trying to put as much distance between him and this thing that was starring at him. From the other side of the mound, the two blood red eyes slowly followed his movements.

 

Clank, Creak, Shuffle.

 

One steel leg slowly slid forward in the dirt. Metal rods and tubes sprouted from all sides of this armoured pillar, and from first appearence looked as if it had stayed and rusted in one place for a very long time. More grinding sounds echoed through the room as the creature moved it's other leg forward, stepping full into the beam of light from the hole in the roof.

 

Gears and tubes jutted every which way from the chest of this creature, leading up to a helm that sat as if an emporer on the top of all it's servents. From this helm two blood red spheres glowed, the "eyes" of the beast.

 

This beast's chest cavity was open, the very gears and devices that ran it's movement exposed for all to see. These gears seemed corrupted somehow, gor each had it's own visible warp. Steam vented from an open tube, which made it have all the more daunting appearance.

 

Clank, Grind, Shuffle.

 

This gave Zara an idea. Grabbing one of the wooden beam fragments, he jammed it spear-like into the open chest cavity. There was a squeal of protest from inside the automaton, then it fell silent, with the exception of the gradual woosh of steam.

 

Zara counted his options. He could try to climb out. Examining the distance to the cieling, he decided against it. He could adventure farther into the Tomb. That seemed like the more reasonable option.

 

Mustering some of his innate energy, he summoned one of the most simple cantrips he knew of: Light Baubles.

Using this as his lantern, he entered deeper into the Tomb.

 

The Automaton never took it's eyes off him.

 

"Glar..." Xzi muttered as the lantern fell from his hands. There was a creaking sound, and Xzi turned just in time to meet another attack.

 

The giant fist caught him right in the stomach, and sent him skidding across the floor towards the hall where he entered from. Lights buzzed before his eyes, weaving intricate patterns before him.

 

Grind, Screech!

 

'So this is it.' He thought. 'I'll die in the bottom of some demon spawn crypt.' He tried to move, but found he couldn't. He laid there, waiting for the end to come.

 

Screech!

 

Thoughts raced through his mind, one of them being that this was taking a long time.

 

Silence.

 

Xzi opened his eyes. from where he lay he saw the two statues, reflected errily in the fallen lantern's light. Just then he noticed something he hadn't before. There were chains wrapped around these statues. It appears someone had to deal with them before. With much effort, Xzi got up and inched his way ovet to his lantern.

 

Immediately as soon as he picked up the lantern, the statues started to move. They could not move much, but it was just enough to reach the edges of the doorway. Using this information, Xzi slowly moved along inbetween the range of these statues and started off down the tunnel, slowly and painfully.

 

In a tunnel opening up to a rather large room, Xzi found the first body. It was a Warrior, evident by dress and stature, but it was missing something. Namely, the head.

 

It appeard as if he had been taken completely by suprise. The body was still fresh and warm.

 

There was not much left of the second one, ash and a few bones. While examining this body Xzi noticed a tooth lying on the ground. Picking it up to examine it, he found it was attached to a silver chain. Xzi was not much one for superstition, but it seemed that this charm may very well be what is needed to improve his luck. Just as he was putting it around his neck, he heard a crash. Drawing his scimitar, he moved to investigate.

 

First thing that struck him as the amount of tresure in this room. It was packed with weapons, armor and urns of some kind. Most noticeable about this was Zara lying flat on his face in the middle of the room. A second later a group of little white balls decended from the cieling.

 

Xzi ran over to Zara, and checked to see if he was still alive. There was a pulse, but he seemed to be out cold. From there he noticed some rasping breathing.

 

Scimitar drawn, Xzi walked over to the group of shields that the sound was coming from. There, he found a man obviously near death.

 

His eyes locked with Xzi's immediatly. They conveyed a fealing of fear, and of betrayal. "Go... Through the portal... He has the Staff... He will get the..." THe man stopped speaking and his eyes closed, his breathing became more laboured. Beyond the man lay an anchient portal, it's the inner rim covered in some sort of quicksilver like substance.