Legend of Grimrock: Destiny’s Chance. (Part 21)

Part 01
Part 02
Part 03
Part 04
Part 05
Part 06
Part 07
Part 08
Part 09
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20

“So when you say you’ve been down here a long time,” Tawmis began. “Just how long is ‘a long time.’”

They continued moving through the darkened hallways of Grimrock. “By human years, I have been down here twenty years,” Coy replied.

“Twenty years?” Silvertan turned around. “You have managed to survive down here for that long?”

“Like I said,” Coy replied, “you’d be amazed where a rat can get to, when it needs to. Ratlings, like myself, are no different. We adapt to survive.”

“Let me guess,” Tawmis shrugged, “you were once a normal rat that the magic of Grimrock changed into what you are now?” He raised an eyebrow sarcastically.

“It’s funny you say that,” Coy began.

“No. No.” Tawmis shook his head. “If you’re about to tell me I’m right, I am going to stop believing anything else that comes from your mouth.”

“I was not changed by the magic of Grimrock,” Coy replied, “though, having been down here as long as I have, I do feel it in my veins. However, among my people it is said that we did indeed come from the magic of Grimrock. When the First Mages first imprisoned the Undying One at the bottom of Grimrock and cast the spell over the mountain that should have kept him there; it is said that several rats, trapped there, also changed, along with everything else. The first Ratlings, they say, came from Grimrock itself. They escaped by going through the grates, further down the mountain, because it eventually leads into the Great Lake just south of Grimrock.”

Coy continued his tale after everyone stopped to listen. “It is said that those who escaped through the grate; those that survived anyway, ended up surfacing in the middle of the Great Lake. Most, as you can imagine, drowned before ever reaching the surface.”

Coy was silent for a moment. “But even those that did survive to the surface, not many survived beyond that. The terror of the deep, as they are called, had also been changed by the magic of Grimrock, just through proximity. You see, the spell cast by the First Mages, as I said, is growing weaker, while the Undying One is growing stronger, the more mages they throw down there, accused of various crimes. The Undying One’s foul magic is corrupting everything around it. Soon he will need to wait for those thrown into Grimrock. He will be able to absorb the magic from those within close proximity.”

Coy continued, “Those that were able to make it to shore followed the river south to Nothampton. There they found people reacted in terror and fear, and sought to destroy them, so they quickly stowed away on a ship Ormond, up north. However, as the ship passed through the Sunken Strait, it struck rocks and was run around. Several of the Ratlings managed to survive, along with some of the magic of the First Mages by making it to the Isle of Nex. The home of my people now.”

“This terror of the deep you speak of,” Taren said. “What is it?”

“Squid,” Coy shrugged. “Or that’s what it used to be. The Great Lake was full of small squid at one time; many fisherman made their home around its shores long, long ago. But several of the squid made their way into the very grates that the Ratlings escaped from, and found themselves being changed, growing larger within the mountain prison. Eventually they became so large, that they could not escape back through the same grates they had come in. So now, they lay in waiting for unsuspecting prisoners to pass over the grates that they lurk beneath – then with lightning quick reflexes, enhanced by the horrid magic of the Undying One – they snap prisoners in half and pull them through the grates and devour them whole.”

Taren nodded his massive minotaur head. “Then the terror of the deep you speak of is similar to the ones my people know. My people are the best sailors of this world – and there is a beast that we call ‘Krakoun’ – giant squid, so large that their tentacles can wrap around the hull of a ship and snap it in half, and like the ones of Grimrock, they too, have the need to feast on flesh.”

“They, and the slime,” Coy nodded, “are the main reason traveling through the grates is unsafe.”

“What is the slime?” Tawmis asked.

“Everything in Grimrock gains life, eventually,” Coy shrugged. “So far as I have been able to discover, the very algae water in the grates, has also gain life. The slime that roams Grimrock is a slow moving, ball of green liquid and moss. It attempts to devour anything that it can – whether it be stone, steel or even flesh.”

“It’s alive?” Tawmis asked, appalled.

“Alive,” Coy nodded, “but not intelligent. It simply exists to consume, no other reason. It will attempt to devour anything and everything – and anything killed by the slime, will eventually become slime as well, as the flesh bubbles and burns. It’s not a pretty sight,” Coy added. “We should really begin moving if we hope to find your mage friend.”

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Tawmis Sanarius – Human (Son of Contar Stoneskull and Yennica Whitefeather) – Warrior
Taren Bloodhorn – Minotaur – Warrior
Blaz’tik – Insectoid – Mage
Silvertan – Lizardman – Rogue
Coy – Ratling from the Isle of Nex – Rogue