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

“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.

___________________________________________________________________________
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

Slumbering. Sleep.

Blaz’tik felt energized, and yet drained. He felt excited, yet fearful. Each emotion, each feeling, came like the tides Sunken Strait. Every time he closed his eyes, even for a second, he saw the swirling mist, then the slowly emerging gears, hundreds of them, the numbers, the letters, all scrolling before his eyes, rapid messages, too quick to read.

The voice had not talked to him, for what felt like days, but had probably only been hours.

Blaz’tik had drifted off to sleep standing up, when his eyes opened he felt different. He looked at his hands and the magic continued to crackle between his fingers. “What –tic!- is happening to me?” he said to no one in particular.

He had regretted getting separated from…

From?

He closed his eyes and tried to visualize who he had come down here with. There were others. He was certain of it.

A human?

Yes. A human. A human of some importance. What was his name?

His name was Tawmis! Yes! Tawmis. And he was the son of someone…

Suddenly Blaz’tik felt a shock through his body. The grey mist, the gears were back.

Blaz’tik gasped and looked around.

What was he thinking about a moment ago?

He stood for a moment, trying to recall what it was he had just been thinking about. After several moments, he simply shrugged and continued forward. “I must help the –tic!- Undying One if I am ever to get out of here.”

Elsewhere in Mount Grimrock…

Coy kneeled down and touched the ground, “Your mage friend is close. It looks like he was here not too long ago. But his movements – they’re not fluid. It looks like he’s … jolted when he walks. His steps are erratic.”

“What would cause that?” Tawmis asked.

“My guess?” Coy replied, twitching the whiskers on his nose. “Grimrock is getting the best of your mage friend. The magic is corrupting him.”

“How can that be?” Silvertan hissed.

“Has the mage friend ever told you about Grimrock?” Coy asked, standing up, wiping off his hands.

“Yes, that the entire mountain is alive,” Tawmis answered. “Magic courses through the entire mountain, like blood. That’s how the torches remain lit. That’s how everything got enlarged. That’s why there’s undead everywhere. He told us all of that.”

“Did he ever tell you about the Undying One?” Coy leaned back against the wall.

“He may have mentioned it,” Tawmis replied, folding his arms across his chest. “Even I have heard all the stories of some magical being that nearly destroyed the world and was imprisoned down here. It’s all nonsense.”

“But it’s not,” Coy said, looking much like his name sake. “I have seen it. It’s very much real. And I have seen what it does to magic users. It uses the mountain to vitalize the mages, makes them addicted, for lack of a better word, to the magic they feel down here – especially as they go deeper, get closer to the Undying One. So this way, the mages never want to leave. Then he slowly begins to drain the magic from the mages bodies, back into himself. He’s been doing this since he’s been cast down here.” Coy paused for a moment, “Your parents,” he pointed his thin, furry finger at Tawmis suddenly, “did not ‘escape’ from Grimrock. They were sent down here on a mission; a mission to try and stop the Undying One. The fabled Orb of Zhandul, staff of the mad mage Zhandul himself, that they had supposedly brought down here for ‘safe keeping’; that is the tale that is, as you would say, nonsense. The truth of the matter is they, along with their guardian, Mork the Minotaur, were escorting a mage academy dropout by the name of Sancsaron the Wry down to the Undying One to use the fabled Orb of Zhandul that they had helped Sancsaron locate. Sancsaron could not be trusted to do this alone, as he hungered for great power, and would have been easily corrupted by the Undying One. By the time they reached the Undying One, Sancsaron was too far gone – he turned on your parents. Mork died protecting them. Your father killed Sancsaron, and your mother shattered the Orb of Zhandul against the Undying One’s metallic prison. The resulting blast should have incinerated everyone in the room. It had barely damaged the Undying One’s prison, sending small fragments in different directions. The Orb was shattered, your parents alive, and the Undying One was still absorbing magic. Your parents retreated to the first floor again, and called out to the guard who tossed down a line to them and pulled them back out of this prison. Your parents came here to destroy the Undying One. They failed.”

Tawmis, with his hands still folded across his chest, scoffed. “How is it that you could possibly know all of this?”

“I’ve been down here a long time,” Coy replied. “A very, very long time. I’ve survived by moving through small tunnels and grates throughout Grimrock. I have waited for someone to come down here and destroy the Undying One. I believed that all of you were the key. At least I did until the mage was separated from us. Now I fear it may already be too late for him.”

“And now, us,” Coy finally added after a long moment.

___________________________________________________________________________
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

“You are close enough now,” the eerie voice whispered, startling Blaz’tik from his dream. “I don’t have to wait for you to be asleep anymore,” the voice continued speaking to Blaz’tik’s mind. “A long time ago, they closed the Portal by breaking the mechanism. It is here, nearby. Find it.”

Blaz’tik leaned against the wall, trying to gain his bearings. He had heard rumors, stories, legends of the Undying One. Legends spoke of the Undying One, several thousand years ago, nearly destroying the entire world – so corrupt, vile and evil, driven beyond madness. Grimrock had been created to imprison him so long ago; but the magic of the Undying One seeped out through his imprisonment and began to infect all of Grimrock – altering the beasts that roamed it, changing the guardians to disfigured, unrecognizable creatures. In essence, Grimlock gained life – and the caverns were littered with creatures that became the enzymes of the blood, fighting off the infections that entered – the prisoners thrown down, to fight and try to survive.

“I know –tic!- who you are,” Blaz’tik said to no one in particular. “I know what you have –tic!- done. I can not set you free.”

“They destroyed the mechanism,” the voice replied. “They took it apart to keep the Portal closed. But it can still be mended, I know how. To reopen the Portal, you need to find the missing parts. There are four parts missing. Go.”

“You don’t–tic!- understand,” Blaz’tik repeated. “I can not help you.”

“I am the way to freedom,” the voice said. “I am your escape. The portal is the gate, I am the key.” After a moment, the voice continued, “They throw all their scrap metal and old parts down the pits. We may find what we need here.”

Blaz’tik wasn’t even sure if the voice of what he believed to be the Undying One could even hear him – or if it was a one way communication. Still, if the voice was speaking the truth – if there was no way out without helping the Undying One – it would explain why no one ever escaped. Perhaps they all gave their life, once they realized the only way out was helping the Undying One escape.

Blaz’tik felt his fingertips tingle. He looked down and saw crackles of energy weaving between his fingertips. The magic of Grimrock was literally coursing through his entire body – energizing him, making him feel more alive than he has ever before. He had felt it from the moment they had been thrown into the dungeon – how the magic had been drawn to him. Each time they went deeper into the dungeon, each time they got closer, Blaz’tik suspected, to the Undying One, somewhere far below, the magic around him seemed to become stronger and stronger, also making him more powerful. Blaz’tik couldn’t help but recall the Goromorg that they had encountered; the one that had nearly ripped the soul from Tawmis’ chest.

“Thousands of years old,” Blaz’tik had explained, after that encounter. “Once believed to be human, the Designers – the First Mages – obsessed with magic, sold their –tic!- very sanity and souls, to improve and learn –tic!- and become better Mages. It is said –tic!- that they made a pact with a ‘Dark God’ that –tic!- bestowed these powers upon them and supposed –tic!- changed them in its image. They are, without a doubt, -tic!- the most powerful Mages in existence, but the cost –tic!- of magic was … what you saw. They –tic!- no longer appear human. They –tic!- emanate that fear –tic!- aurora, because there is nothing human – it’s literally the –tic!- magic within them flowing outward, seeking to drain any and all –tic!- magic it senses!”

Blaz’tik looked at his hands again. He saw the magic coursing through his fingertips.

And he couldn’t help but wonder – if he did not find a way to escape – would he suffer the same fate as the Goromorg? Would he eventually become so twisted and vile by the corrupt magic he could feel beating through his body. Would he become obsessed with the dark magic? Would he roam these halls, seeking to drain the life and magic of everyone who was thrown down here?

And for that brief moment, fear took over Blaz’tik. He closed his eyes, and prayed, before speaking the next words, “I will help you escape…”

____________________________________________________________________________
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