Neverending Nights

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
Part 21
Part 22
Part 23

Tawmis covered his ears, “What in the gods is that humming sound?”

“We’ve nearly found him,” Coy said, his nose twitching with excitement.

“Blaz?” Tawmis asked.

“Undoubtedly him as well,” Coy nodded, scampering ahead.

“Him as well?” Tawmis looked at Taren, who in turn, shrugged.

They quickened the pace and saw Coy peering around a corner. He turned and faced them and gestured for them to be silent as they approached. “What’s going on?” Tawmis whispered.

“It’s as I feared,” Coy replied. “The Undying One has taken control of your Mage friend.”

Tawmis peered around the corner, and in the center of a massive room was a magnificent cube made of gleaming steel and gears. Tawmis turned to Coy, “That’s the Undying One? Not exactly how I imagined him to look. I thought he’d look…”

“More human?” Coy asked.

“Less square,” Tawmis managed to joke. He peered around the corner again, “So what’s happening?”

“My guess? The Undying One is sending mental commands to your Mage friend to complete him,” Coy replied.

“Complete him? What do you mean?” Tawmis asked.

“When your parents came down here with the Orb to try and destroy the Undying One, they, as you can see did not kill him; but they did damage him. Pieces of him were scattered around the dungeon; some of the pieces flew with such force that it penetrated various levels of the dungeon, embedding themselves within the very walls.”

“So why isn’t that… statue… doing anything?” Tawmis asked, nudging towards the one massive statue.

“Those are called Wardens,” Coy explained. “They activate if they believe that there’s an attempt to free the Undying One.”

“So why aren’t they activated with Blaz in there?” Taren asked gruffly, sizing up the statue.

“The Undying One must be using his magic to ‘hide’ Blaz from their view,” Coy explained. “He can probably afford to hide one; but if we all come around that corner, the Warden is going to activate.”

“And that would be bad,” Tawmis asked, knowing the answer.

“Very,” Coy replied.

“So how do you propose we do something about this?” Silvertan asked, still not trusting Coy.

“Well, I suspect the only way out is activating the Undying One,” Coy shrugged, looking back at the others, and with a shrug of his furry shoulders, added, “but it might cost us all our lives.”

“Or just ours, as you make your escape,” Silvertan said aloud.

“I can see why you wouldn’t trust me, despite the effort I’ve made,” Coy replied. “If you know of any better ideas, I am more than happy to hear it. Going into a room with the Undying One siphoning the magic from your Mage friend and a big, stone guardian just waiting to activate as soon as we set foot in there is not exactly an ideal good time to me.”

“So how are we going to do this?” Tawmis asked.

“I take the Warden,” Taren said. Tawmis looked back into the room, gazing over the stone Warden then back to Taren.

“I can’t let you fight that thing alone,” Tawmis shook his head. “That thing has a flail in each hand. And its hide is made of stone.”

“You will need to get Blaz away from the Undying One,” Taren said. “I am the best suited to fight the Warden.”

“I will keep the Undying One occupied,” Coy said.

“I will help with the Warden,” Silvertan finally replied.

Tawmis looked at Taren, whose deep, dark eyes stared back down at Tawmis. A smile formed on the corner of Taren’s lips. “This will not be the last time we see each other, human.”

“It feels that way,” Tawmis whispered.

“There is the life after this one,” Taren said with a nod. “We will find each other again there.”

Tawmis and Taren clanked their blades together, and chanted, “In life, I lived with honor; in death, I will be remembered.”

Taren stepped into the room, holding his sword and shield. Instantly, the Warden’s eyes suddenly glowed blue.

Time seemed to suddenly move in slow motion as everyone charged into the room. There was no fear. Only a purpose to do what was expected. Death may come for them all – but there was no time to think of that now.

Taren dodged the Warden’s slow swings. Being made of pure stone, the Warden was at least slow. The Warden brought the flail downward, and though Taren was able to side step, the strength of the Warden became very apparent, as the flail crushed the stone floor that it collided with. It would only take a few hits to break through Taren’s massive muscles and shatter his bones.

Tawmis reached Blaz’tik, who seemed to be hypnotized. Tawmis was shouting at Blaz’tik, but the insectoid just seemed to stare forward at the massive, metallic box in front of him. Tawmis looked around and shouted, the words seeming to fall from his lips at a decelerated speed. “He’s not responding to me!”

As Tawmis looked around, he saw Silvertan trying desperately to pierce the Warden’s stone hide with his weapons. Tawmis looked around and could not see Coy.

“Where’s Coy?” Tawmis suddenly shouted as the room suddenly jolted into normal speed.

“I knew we couldn’t trust the damn rat!” Silvertan shouted as he barely dodged a backhanded swing from the Warden. “He set us up to die in here! Sacrifice to the Undying One! That’s how he’s lived down here so long! He’s made a damn deal with the demon!”

Suddenly Tawmis saw, from the corner of his eye, Coy was screwing a piece of a gear unto the Undying One. “What are you doing?” Tawmis shouted.

“Believe it or not, I am getting us out of here,” Coy replied.

“By putting the Undying One back together? You said my parents came down here to destroy him! Why would you undo what they risked their lives to do?” Tawmis shouted. He shoved Blaz’tik aside and quickly strode over to Coy.

“Because,” Coy said, stopping to look Tawmis in the eye. “I know how to get us out of here. I admit, I have not been up front with all of you. Yes, I did set your Mage friend up.”

“What do you mean you set him up?” Tawmis shouted.

“I knew the Undying One syphoned off magic from Mages,” Coy replied. “I knew from the time I was thrown down here nearly twenty years ago, when the mage that was thrown down here with me was compelled by the Undying One. In his dying words, he told me about the dreams he had, how the Undying One had visited him, called to him. Since then, I have been gathering the magical components of the mages that perish down here. Hoping one day, a set of prisoners would come down here, strong enough to possibly do something against the Undying One. So yes,” Coy snapped, “I knew giving those spell components to your Mage friend would trigger the Undying One to call upon your Mage friend. I knew this. I used your Mage friend as bait. But your Mage friend is the key. And by the gods,” Coy gestured to the Taren who was fighting the Warden. “I have never seen such courage and determination in anyone else that’s been thrown down here. The bond you two shared pushed one another to keep going. And to learn that you’re the son of Contar and Yennica… I knew this was the time. I knew it was now or never.”

Taren barely had time to worry about what was going on with Tawmis and Coy; he could only see that his dearest, and truly his only friend, was flailing his arms in an angry gesture as he was speaking to the Ratling. The Warden brought his flail down, which Taren was able to deflect. The chain around the flail wrapped around Taren’s blade, and the Warden was able to yank the blade from the minotaur’s firm grip. “I don’t need swords,” Taren growled. He bowed his head down and charged. The Warden managed to bring his other flail down into Taren’s back, ripping the minotaur’s fur, splashing blood upon the ceiling as the flail left the tattered skin. But Taren did not stop, he charged, his horns slamming into the Warden’s abdomen, barely giving Silvertan enough time to slide out of the way as Taren crashed the Warden into the far wall. With no need to breathe, the Warden was not stunned for long, and brought his flail down again, striking Taren in the back once more.

Silvertan watched in horror. There was nothing he could do to even damage the Warden. He watched in sadness as the Warden raised his arm, the bloodied flail coming up. Much to his surprise, as the flail came down it did not strike the crushing blow that would have severed Taren’s spine. Instead, it struck a metallic shield. Tawmis was now standing between the Warden and his best friend. “Not today,” Tawmis growled. “Not today…”

“Silvertan!” Tawmis barked. “Go help Coy put the Undying One back together!”

“We’re putting that thing back together?” Silvertan asked.

“Just do it,” Tawmis shouted as the Warden brought down the other flail, denting the shield in Tawmis’ hand.

“I can not believe we’re doing this,” Silvertan grumbled as he ran by Tawmis and began helping Coy put the Undying One back together.

Tawmis pulled out the Dismantler, the electric humming began, electricity coursed through his body. “What are the odds that this blade can cut through you?” Tawmis sneered as he brought it down upon the Warden’s arm. Much to his surprise and disappointment, it barely nicked the stone guardian’s armored flesh. “Well,” Tawmis muttered, “that’s certainly disappointing.”

He tilted his back towards Coy and Silvertan, “If you two are going to do something, you’re going to have to do it real quick. This is not going well over here.”

The Warden had forgotten Taren and now focused on the new threat; the one still standing, the one with a weapon – Tawmis. Time after time, the Warden brought its massive flails down; Tawmis tried to deflect with his battered shield until he was sure that the very vibration of the pounding he was taking had finally broke his arm, and he could not raise his shield anymore.

“It was a good plan,” he muttered, “except for the part where we all die.”

Much to his surprise, again, he saw two large, black hands wrap around the Warden’s throat from behind. Huge, gleaming eyes of crimson burned in the shadows. Tawmis had seen it before. It was Taren, and he was in a blood rage.

“No more,” Taren gargled, barely coherent, his words giving way to the savage beast within him. “No more.” He put all his weight into his hands and slammed the Warden down upon the ground. The surprised Warden was caught off balance and collapsed to the floor, seemingly unable to stand again.

“We’ve got it!” Coy shouted gleefully. The Undying One was now beginning to hum massively. “Now! Now!” Coy jumped up and down. “Strike it with the Dismantler.”

“Then what happens?” Tawmis asked, rushing to Coy’s side.

“We pray to the gods that your Mage friend is able to harness all the magic that’s about to come pouring out of him,” Coy shrugged.

Tawmis looked at Blaz’tik who still looked like he was in a trance. “He’s not even coherent!” Tawmis pointed to Blaz’tik with the Dismantler blade. “How is he supposed to know to channel magic?”

“The Undying One has been in touch with his mind,” Coy replied. “He will sense the release of the magic from the Undying One, and begin to absorb it into himself.”

“And then?” Tawmis asked.

“Hopefully your friend creates a portal before all of this explodes,” Coy smiled, as if he were saying, “The sun should come up tomorrow.”

“This seems like a really horrible plan,” Tawmis muttered.

The Undying One began to glow. “Horrible or not,” Coy said, “it’s the only one we’ve got and the Undying One is coming out of the magical trance. You do it now or he starts killing us.”

Tawmis thrust his blade into the Undying One – and at that moment, there was an unholy scream.

Magic suddenly poured out of the gaping hole that the Dismantler had put into the Undying One – and just as Coy had said; Blaz’tik suddenly opened his arms, closed his insect eyes, and gazed upward, pulling all the magic into himself. Though there were no doors, no windows, the wind within the entire room seemed to come alive.

The wind’s speed increased, so that it became a part of the Undying One’s screams.

A loud boom – and everyone was thrown to the floor. All except Blaz’tik who was floating in the air, arms out stretched, eyes glowing blue. “I have –tic!- found the way. We can –tic!- be free.”

“Blaz! You’re back?” Tawmis shouted with joy as he began to stand.

“I –tic!- am,” Blaz’tik replied. “I have never felt to –tic!- alive in my life. I can see the world in –tic!- ways you could not even begin to –tic!- imagine!”

He closed his eyes and a small shimmering light appeared; slowly it grew larger and larger. “We must –tic!- go quickly – tic!- for the Undying One is about to explode!”

The shimmering light grew to large square; through the lights, they could see the world outside. “A teleporter,” Blaz’tik smiled, “as I had assumed, not an incinerator.”

Tawmis smiled. He watched Coy quickly jump through. Tawmis helped Taren to his feet and allowed his friend to go through the teleporter. “What about you, Blaz?”

“I will close the door behind us,” Blaz’tik said, “so that –tic!- the explosion is hopefully contained within Grimrock.”

“Behind you!” came a shout from Silvertan who had not yet stepped through the portal. Tawmis turned in time to see Silvertan push him out of the way as the Warden’s flail came crashing down; crushing Silvertan’s fragile, reptilian spine. “Silvertan!” Tawmis screamed.

“Go!” Silvertan cursed, as the Warden moved forward. “Go, damn it! Go!”

“I can’t leave you behind!” Tawmis shouted.

“You must!” Silvertan said. “It’s already too late for me.”

Tawmis stared hopelessly. The Warden was approaching again. Tawmis cursed and stepped into the portal.

Blaz’tik looked back at Silvertan, “You found what you came –tic!- for here,” he said, nodding. Blaz’tik opened his insectoid hands and with a simple blast incinerated the Warden to rubble. He kneeled down in front of Silvertan. “You found honor –tic- and I will speak of it to all who listen.”

Silvertan gripped Blaz’tik’s hand and nodded, “Thank you.”

“I must –tic- go now,” Blaz’tik said. He turned and stepped through the Portal.

Blaz’tik emerged north end of the Great Lake, just south of the Deathfang Ridges. “We should be –tic- safe here,” Blaz’tik said.

Then the explosion came.

It was louder, stronger, more powerful than any of them could have expected. It knocked all of them into the Great Lake’s waters.

Tawmis opened his eyes, and looked around. There was a familiar sight. And for a moment, he wondered if he had dreamed the entire event of Grimrock – and wondered if he was still in the prison cell in Curvia, where this had all begun.

But when he could barely stand, and not because he was groggy from the explosion, but because the ground seemed to sway beneath his feet; he grabbed the bars for balance. Then he could smell it. The fresh ocean breeze. The sound of waves crashing against a ship.

He looked around him and saw Taren, Blaz’tik and Coy.

“Where are we?” Tawmis asked, having no memory after the explosion that shook Grimrock.

“We’re on a slave ship,” Taren muttered, recognizing the interior of the ship.

“The Elf Wind,” Coy said, “to be exact. Chances are we’re headed up Daejon for Gladiator combat slavery.”

“What happened?” Tawmis asked.

“The explosion drew a lot of attention,” Coy replied. “Mages. Warriors. Thieves. All interested in what might be within Grimrock’s remains. Apparently we were fortunate enough to be found by slavers and traders down stream from the Great Lake.”

“That’s just wonderful,” Tawmis sighed, and sunk against the bars. “What else could possibly go wrong?”

___________________________________________________________________________
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

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
Part 21
Part 22

Taren Bloodhorn led the front of the party; his massive, hulking body seemed almost as wide as the very tunnels themselves. He towered over seven feet tall, his horns nearly scraping the roof of the halls, forcing Taren to bend over slightly as he walked. Behind him, Tawmis walked, the Dismantler blade in his hand, crackling with energy, forcing Tawmis’ hair to stand on end. Tawmis stood nearly six feet tall, but next to his only friend in the world, Tawmis felt like a small pebble, and Taren a mountain.

Behind Tawmis, Silvertan moved quickly, his skin sometimes allowing itself to try and blend, like a chameleon to the wall. Silvertan was nearly five feet tall, falling short behind Tawmis. Silvertan’s arms and legs were exceptionally thin, which allowed him to easily squeeze into small, and what would otherwise be, uncomfortable areas. His reptilian body, however, allowed his bends far more flexibility than a human or minotaur.

Bringing up the rear was Coy, whom Silvertan had often voiced a lack of trust. Coy stood nearly five feet tall as well, and though his arms and legs were thin, his gut seemed pudgy. But that was mostly fur, because when he needed to, Coy could almost seemingly collapse his rib cage to allow him to fit into what seemed to be, impossible places. Like at Ratlings, Coy had the ability, much like a ferret to seemingly become paper thin and squeeze into areas that one would not expect him to be able to fit into.

Together, the four of them marched in grim silence. There had been no sign of Blaz’tik lately; no foot prints, no charred remains that he might have incarnated with magic. Tawmis could not stop thinking about what Coy had said about Blaz’tik, that he Insectoid mage was somehow now ensnared by the Undying One.

Tawmis could not shake the memories that came back to him as they walked in silence through the halls. The days, weeks, months, he had spent a prisoner of the Mages, who ripped his mind apart, devoured his soul, all because they wanted to know the location of Zhandul’s Orb. And if Coy was to be believed; and there was no reason not to trust the Ratling, since he had been truthful and helpful so far; the Orb was actually brought down into Grimrock by his own parents in an attempt to finally destroy the Undying One.

If Blaz’tik was a slave of the Undying One, with his last breath, Tawmis would kill Blaz’tik if it came to it. It was better to be free in death, than live enthralled, a slave to mad mages.

As if hearing Tawmis’ thoughts, Taren turned his head slightly and said, “We will find Blaz,” his voice was gruff. “We will free him one way or another.”

Taren and Tawmis had saved one another’s lives too many times to count. There had been an unbreakable bond between them. They shared blood. Their souls. Their hearts. And without question, their minds. It was no surprise to Tawmis that Taren knew exactly what he was thinking. Without saying a word, because no words were needed to be said, Tawmis simply nodded his head, a fire burning in his eyes.

___________________________________________________________________________
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

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
Part 21

 

“Well, that was some good thinking,” Tawmis said looking behind him, the loud humming nearly deafening. It was suddenly silenced by clicking, then crackling. Tawmis peered around the corner again. “Okay, so what were those things?”

“Down here they’re called Shrakk Torr,” Coy explained. “They’re essentially flies that had mutated by the magic and become aggressive, and oversized.”

Tawmis looked around the corner again and watched as several Shrakk Torr struggled against the enormous webs that the giant spiders had weaved. He looked back at Coy, “It’s a good thing you knew about those giant spiders so that we could essentially lead them right into their webs.”

“Like I said,” Coy replied, his whiskers twitching, “I have been down here a long time. Many prisoners have fallen to those spiders. I survived by scavenging off the dead, using their weapons, gathering their food. The spiders in that room have been very beneficial to my survival.”

Coy heaved a deep breath and urged them on, “Come, we’re getting close.”

Silvertan trotted behind, keeping pace with Tawmis. “Have I mentioned,” Silvertan slithered the words from his reptilian lips, “that I don’t trust this Coy? He seems to know entirely too much about this dungeon. He survived down here for 20 years? Alone? Something’s strange with that one.”

Tawmis nodded, “I agree, something is strange. But we’re alive, and further than we would have probably ever got on our own. I trust him.”

Coy led them down another flight of stairs and into a large room, where there was one door caged. Magical writing was scribbling along the wall. Tawmis looked, “What does that say?”

“Thieves beware,” Coy replied. Silvertan looked at Tawmis, as if to silently question how the Ratling had been able to read the magic writing. As if to answer Silvertan’s unspoken words, Coy continued, “This is not my first time here. I was thrown down here with others. We got this far. We went inside this room and there’s a magical sword in there. One of the prisoners I was with tried to take it – it… did not end well.”

Coy pulled on the gate, and the metallic gate creaked open. Inside, as Coy had said was a blade that was humming with energy. “I would not recommend just trying to take the blade,” Coy warned. “Bad things happen.”

Tawmis stared at it for a moment. “The sign said thieves beware,” Tawmis pondered out loud. “But that blade is here for a reason.”

“To lure us to our doom,” Silvertan muttered.

Tawmis rolled his eyes at Silvertan. “No, like everything else in this crazy dungeon – it’s a puzzle. We just need to figure it out.”

“They key has to be in the warning,” Tawmis said. “And you’re sure you read that right? The magic writing?”

“I wasn’t the one that originally translated it,” Coy assured Tawmis. “One of the prisoners thrown down here was a mage, much like your friend. He had translated it.”

“So how do we take it, without taking it,” Tawmis wondered.

“What if we put something of equal weight upon the altar?” Taren asked. “That way, the altar never believes anything is taken.”

Tawmis was about to protest how silly of an idea that had been when he paused, gave it more consideration and finally said, “Taren, my friend, I believe you may have solved this riddle.”

Tawmis pulled out his sword and placed it just inches above the glowing sword, while using his other hand to wrap it around the magical blade, without lifting it off the altar. Tawmis took a deep breath and was about to do the swap, when he paused and looked at Coy, who was standing near the entrance, as if ready to bolt. “What happens if this goes wrong?” Tawmis asked.

“It’s just better that you don’t know,” Coy seemed to smile.

“That’s absolutely comforting,” Tawmis muttered. Tawmis took three deep breaths then swapped the blades. He kept his eyes closed for several seconds, waiting for death to come in some terrifying manner. After a few moments he opened one eye, then the other, and saw everyone standing around, also frozen in fear. Everyone was glancing around waiting for something to happen.

“You did it,” Coy finally said. “You really did it.”

Those words were exactly what Tawmis had needed to hear. He heaved a deep breath and collapsed to his knees, his entire body tingling with energy as the sword seemed to come alive in his hands. Tawmis stared at the blade, “There’s so much power in this sword.”

“From the mage that had perished in this room, he called it the Dismantler – a claymore supposedly forged deep in the underground magma furnaces. It is said to be the weapon that brought the Undying One to his knees, and that’s how they had captured him several thousand years ago.”

Coy peeked outside the room then turned to the others, “Now we’re ready to face the Undying One.”
___________________________________________________________________________
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

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.”

___________________________________________________________________________
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

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

“So we’re supposed to believe you have survived down here for that long?” Silvertan hissed, his serpent like tongue, flickering.

“I was thrown down here when I was really young,” Coy replied. “I stowed away on a ship from the Isle of Nex to Nothamton. From there, I rode with some travelers into the Kingdom of Conwyn, where I eventually stopped in Ranwyn. I lived on the streets there until I was caught stealing. I was found guilty and thrown into Grimrock. I survived down here, like I said, by squeezing into small tunnels and grates, moving all around Grimrock. I saw things, learned things. That is, for example, how I knew about the tunnel that allowed me to get behind the Uggardian.”

“The what?” Tawmis asked, furrowing his brows.

“The fire guardian,” Coy replied. “They’re called Uggardians.”

“So now you think our mage is in danger?” Taren asked, his massive, minotaur muscles twitched.

“We all are,” Coy replied. “If the magic of Grimrock corrupts him, he will become incredibly powerful,” Coy thought back and the seared ice lizard, “He’s already displaying power boosts beyond his normal ability. It won’t be much longer now, if we don’t get him out of here.”

“Do you know a way out of here,” Silvertan asked, almost sarcastically, “since you have been here for so long?”

“There’s only three ways out of here,” Coy replied. “The first, and most common one is death.”

“That’s helpful,” Tawmis muttered sarcastically.

“The second way,” Coy’s eyes fell on Tawmis, “you go the route his parents took. You get the local authorities to pull you out. That’s not going to happen.”

“And the third?” Silvertan asked.

“The Undying One,” Coy replied.

“You say he’s real,” Tawmis said, lowering his arms. “So how is the Undying One going to help us get out of here? From everything you’ve said, he’s evil. I doubt he’s going to show us the door.”

“He won’t,” Coy replied. “But his magic could get us out of here. The teleporters scattered throughout these dungeons – like the one that your mage friend passed through – are efforts by the Undying One trying to create a portal that would lead outside of the mountain. The first mages cast a spell around Grimrock that should prevent the Undying One from doing that… but it’s been a long time, their spell is weakening, while the Undying One is growing stronger. It’s only a matter of time before he gets a portal open and out of here. If we can destroy him, and if your mage friend isn’t turned, he could channel the magic released by the Undying One and create a portal out of here.”

“So, we just need to beat some ancient being who, according to stories told, nearly destroyed the world? That’s it? We do that and we’re free?” Silvertan spat the words, chuckling sarcastically.

“Exactly,” Coy replied, “doesn’t seem so hard, right?” He returned Silvertan’s sarcasm with his own.

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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