This is the first part of a longer story that I'm writing. I post it here just to see if you like it. If I get a positive response Ill post more in the future. If not, then oh well...
Silvara looked over at Sol thoughtfully for a moment. The Dark Elf glanced back at her and smirked.
“Having second thoughts about this mission?” He asked.
“No, I know we’ll get the job done. I was just wondering if that wizard….Tim, I think his name was, will hold up his end of the bargain; or are we going to have to beat his ass and take what we want?” She smiled.
“It wouldn’t be the first time we were double-crossed and I doubt it would be the last time either”, he paused and smiled, “but either way we always come up ahead right?”
“Damn straight we do!” She almost laughed, but then remembered where they were and stopped herself.
The group, the self proclaimed “BD Mafia” (whatever that meant), had been hired by Tim to retrieve the mummified eye of a long dead lich. Not the most pleasant work, by any stretch of the imagination, but he promised to pay well and provided magic bags up front to support his claim. Silvara fingered the strap of the magic bag that she carried on her back. Pretty useful, she admitted to herself. She had been able to put most of her tools and gear, all but the necessities, inside and her load was considerably lighter.
Still she had her doubts about this mission and this wizard “Tim” by name. If that’s even his real name, she thought as she walked ahead. It all smelled off. She was suspicious by nature, for sure, but she doubted that just natural paranoia was the reason for her current feeling. She had mentioned it to Sol more than once, but he just assured her that everything would be O.K.
She shook her head as she thought about the Drow. She and Sol had been companions for more than two years now, and he had never let her down. They had been in some dangerous situations before; situations where Sol could have easily turned his back and left Silvara to take the heat, but he had not. Instead, Sol had stuck with her throughout all of her crazy schemes and ideas, a few had succeeded while many others had brought on more trouble than gold. Still, through all this Sol had been a loyal friend and adventuring companion. She supposed she could go along with his idea for once. It had been his idea to hook up with the other two members of their group: Aten, a Human; and Ramisa, an Aasimar.
She hadn’t liked the idea of adding anyone to their little organization much less some self righteous Aasimar and his Human lackey. But again, the Drow had proven right in his judgment. Silvara had gotten to know Ramisaa, and found a kindred sprit, if not in occupation, in ideology. Ramisaa had a way about him that made Silvara nod in appreciation. It was rare in life to find a person who agreed with you, and Ramisaa agreed with Silvara. Much to her surprise over time Ramisaa had developed the ability to communicate with her telepathically. At first Silvara had been put off, thinking that he could read her thoughts, but she quickly realized that he could only send messages and then wait for the response, if she chose to send nothing, then he heard nothing. It hadn’t taken Silvara long to put this little talent to good use.
Silvara glanced at her companions. Sol was a Drow, he stood five and a half feet tall with black skin, silvery white hair, and silver eyes. Hair just above his shoulder, he was built like a warrior. The armor he wore and the way he walked only accented this look. He glanced back at her again and smiled. Ramisaa, was an Aasimar, bronze skin with blonde hair and dark eyes. He had the look of someone who has spent too much time in the sun. He was tall, slightly over six feet, and heavy. His armor bore the symbol of Torm, marking him as a cleric of that faith. Ramisaa noted her inspection and waved while sending the mental message, Hi there! Silvara just smiled and said nothing. Aten, the last of her companions, was a Human. This fact, and his company, made him seem the most exotic of the group. He was as tall as Ramissa, with similar build, but his white skin and midnight black hair made him seem much different than his traveling companions. He wore a breastplate and a sword that marked him as a warrior, but his eyes showed intelligence not common among warriors. Aten didn’t notice her covert inspection so focused was he on their present path.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the door. The group had been traveling underground for some time in search of the tomb that supposedly held this mummified eyeball.
“What’s this then?” Aten asked. The door appeared to be made of iron and looked heavy.
“It’s a door dumbass!” Ramisaa chided. Aten looked nonplussed by the jab.
“Well let’s see what we can do about this….” Silvara said, as she shoved past them in the hallway and approached the door.
Upon inspection she found that the door was unlocked and would open with a strong push. She said as much to the others. Aten and Ramisaa promptly moved forward and pushed the door open.
The room beyond was dark to Aten’s eyes, but the rest of the group could see as well in the dark as in the light and they saw that this was a Mausoleum with a raised dais at its center, the far wall was too far away for even their eyesight to make out.
“Silvara, I think you should go scout ahead. We will cover you from here.” Sol suggested.
“Fine, I’ll return shortly.”
Silvara moved ahead using as much stealth as she knew how. She tried to stay low while still moving toward the dais. She reached the dais without incident and made an inspection of the area. The walls were covered in alcoves, presumably for “dearly departed” and the far wall, across from their entrance had another double wide iron door. The room was roughly 150 feet across and was square. She waved the rest of the group over to her. She still hadn’t placed foot on the dais.
After stumbling three or four times on his way over Aten cursed and said, “Forget this darkness I need some light.” After which he promptly used some small amount of his magic to make his greatsword shine to light the area around him. Sol winced and looked none too happy about the light source, which he shied away from, moving to take up a position flanking Silvara, away from the light.
“I suggest we spread out and search the area.” Sol said. Silvara wondered if he was eager to move on or just eager to get away from Aten and his light. Inwardly she smiled. Silvara was glad that Tieflings were not affected by light like Drow were, or she would have gone crazy by now.
The search was completed in short order and they all met up back at the dais. The search had yielded nothing of interest, so Aten suggested they move to inspect the far door.
This door was the same as the last one, except that it had a mosaic inlaid into it. The picture showed a Dragon-like creature on top of a pile of corpses. The Dragon thing was in the process of devouring the corpses.
“Im not much for art, but as far as it goes I would say that’s a pretty disgusting picture.” Silvara noted, her face was scrunched up in a show of obvious distaste. After making this proclamation she advanced on the door and began to inspect it. Sol turned around and began scanning the darkness behind them for possible dangers. That was one of the things Silvara liked about Sol, he was always ready for anything.
Silvara made the inspection quick and thoroughly, but no lock to pick presented itself. As far as she was concerned, this door had a seam in the middle but no lock. She made this known to the group in general and Aten and Ramisaa began to push the door open. This was as far as they got, because the door would not budge an inch. After much straining and struggling, they finally decided that there must be some other way to open it.
Looking around for an explanation, Silvara suggested it might have something to do with the dais in the center of the room. She explained that old tombs sometimes had complex traps and secrets.
“The problem is,” she noted, “distinguishing which is which.”
“Well, I don’t see any other distinguishing feature in this room.” Ramisaa said.
So the group moved back to the dais, and Silvara inspected it; finding no traps and nothing unusual. Aten moved forward stepping up onto the dais as he did.
“I don’t see the….” He began, but just then the dais started to lower and he started. Aten jumped down off the dais and began looking around frantically. Of course, with the little light that his sword shed he couldn’t make out anything more than the group and the dais.
The sound of stone grating on stone increased sharply shortly after the dais started to lower. Sol noticed that parts of the walls were sliding up to create doors, where before there had only been alcoves. He glanced around and noticed that this same thing was happening on the opposite end of the room as well, but not on the walls with the doors.
“Doors are opening up around us, spread out and get ready!” Having said this he moved toward one wall while drawing his greatsword. The rest of the group did as he said, and took up positions at the four corners of the dais.
Soon the sound of stone grating against stone stopped and a new sound issued forth from the new doorways. The clanking of bones and a low, dull moaning could be heard all around.
Soon after, the source of the sounds became apparent. Zombies and skeleton warriors began to shuffle out of the doorways. Silvara could not tell how many were assaulting them, but she did not wait around to take a head count. Instead, she charged at the nearest one, drawing her daggers and putting them to good use against an unfortunate zombie.
All around her the sounds of battle filled the tomb. The stone muffled the sound, making the tomb seem to vibrate with it. Yet, still more undead were pouring into the tomb. Silvara saw their route ahead about to be cut off and she sent a telepathic message to Ramisaa and a vocal one to the others, "We need to get to the dragon door! We can use it to guard our backs." Having said this, she dispatched the zombie nearest her, cut between two others, and headed toward the door...
