The Ascent to Limbo

[Zarsies 6795]

 

Using art for once. Also this is just one post of two.

 

Harrowing shrieks born of an abyssal maw and thunderous pounds against the sands shook a reclusive, desert oasis. Beneath a fair pond with its bottom of mud and caked grime replaced by still forces of air and enchantment stood an imposing obelisk of stone, its rocky faces alight with a constant churning of teal and bleak waves. Surrounding this mystical pillar and the floating pond stretched out a room of six men’s length in all directions, a cavern carved by claws below the arid gales and sparse vegetation of the oasis and desert. From the chamber came horrific howls, monstrous slams, and the clanging of metal and rock; this was the unmistakable sound of combat. Within this open cave, illuminated by refracted sunlight from the floating, watery ceiling lumbered seven combatants and an eighth observer, all but one released from the shackles of life.

 

Levitating before the large stone spire at the center of the chamber sat the image of a skeleton with thick, fat bones and an outer silhouette depicting a gluttonous and swollen heap of blubber and stretched skin bearing a single eye upon its head and a massive maw down its middle, all wreathed in obscuring shadow and black haze. The Apparition sung out with wretched squeals from its massive, mouthy gut and threw its stubby, skeletal arms to and fro in a frantic fashion. Before the great black spirit lumbered five colossal suits of armor, composed of earthen slabs and plates of rock the same color and texture as the obelisk, taken up in sickly greens and nautical blues that froth and churn amongst each other. Each of the towering suits either stood firm or were laid upon the ground, hollow and bearing large armaments of aurum; visually unique yet all one, every knight slogged forward with their massive, golden axes and claymores, maces and picks, and struck, beat, and flailed the Apparition. With every strike the undying knights laid upon their enemy, another convulsive wave of sable wind would throw them back and sheer their stone hides, laying deep scratches and cuts, following the black phantom’s arms. Fallen, one by one the groaning and hushed statues would erect to standing positions and lumber back towards the Apparition, ready to land another blow, fall, and repeat. Kopesh, the only knight with a protruding chest cavity, led each slothful charge alongside the vigilant wave of Xaoc, Saelor, Arkhar, and Julius to which their blows met new perforating gales in the Apparition’s attempts to cleave the limbs of the knights, yet its invisible talons and throwing winds were only met with hard rock and metallic twangs. Arms swung and cries ensued.

 

 

Algrim/Kurse by Andy Part Art

Beyond the unrelenting tide of the Paleknights hovered a pale spirit, one of mild tangibility and extreme age. Beset by a similar glow to the stone guardians and the central pillar, the corpse-like figure of Kozilek floated in a stiff, upright position with his half-translucent garb of barnacle-ridden platemail and drenched, draping cloth seeping with ethereal trails of water whilst he wove back and forth through the air and doused the Apparition in spouts of babbling water, distracting it for moments to allow the Paleknights additional strikes.

 

 

 

Barrowlord Kozilek by Numirya of LotC <3

 

With each howl and flailing wave of the great spirit, the wight darted behind the most peculiar of all the entities and objects within the chamber before ducking out to splash the spirit once more; behind the Apparition-hosing Barrowlord laid a massive, intricate sarcophagus. Its sides were comprised of ebony shaped into the figure of coiling serpents around bones and numerous sharp and fine runes covered the upper rim of the sophisticated coffin. The open top and inner tub was forged entirely out of illustrious, glittering gold bearing countless deep, savage claw marks and scratches. Cast aside of the great casket laid a wholly golden lid to the sarcophagus, the aurum cast into the shape of a skeleton laid within a bed of countless snakes bearing the same brand upon their heads.

 

 

 

The same runes etched into the ebony runes upon the sides of the sarcophagus were carved in a rigid manner upon the forehead of the lid’s golden skeleton.

 

 

 

Lastly, the observer knelt away from the battle within the safety of an adjacent, sandstone corridor. A Southeron man, mortal unlike all else within the violent space, sat quietly and tensely against a patch of marbled stone. Every howl, every splintering of rock, and ever surge of water send pulses of shock down his back and made him harden his already steely grip upon the onyx, hedron-shaped dagger gifted to him by the wight in the battle. Sweat poured down his face and the fright of combat and death wore heavy upon his mind, but not just as heavy as the reality that would soon face him -- to join the status of all those battling death within the pond-lit room.

 

The sun set upon the desert and the brawling continued. The night wore on in a hatefully long-feeling duration of combat and before long the sun returned, bringing light to the previously enshrouded fight. It never ended. The sun crawled across the sky like a wounded victim of a hunt when it set, just before the pale moon of the next night came, a final wave was cast out by the Apparition. Each of the Paleknights were sent back and into the walls of the chamber another thousandth time, scattering with sections of their armor sliced off and bodies hammered by combat and the wight shuddered behind the untouched body of the ebony and aurum casket. Silence for once met the field. Then, erupting from the maw of the exhausted Herald, the phantasmal baritone of Kozilek sang;

 

"̸Arch̷em̸bal̨t͏, ̧n̵o̸w!"

 

The Southeron instantly lept to his feet and bolted into the room, his hands bearing down upon the borrowed blade of his with intense strength, that of fear and adrenaline bound as one. His scholarly attire swept behind him as he rushed into the room, sprinting around the corner to face Kozilek ducked behind the sarcophagus, the Paleknights scattered about the room, and the black Apparition nigh limp and floating before its rocky spire. He ascended to the thick rim of the coffin in a matter of skillful rushed footwork, almost slipping in his charge, while his skin began to peel upwards and away from him in flakes, losing their opaqueness while being ripped off. His bearing muscles, tendons, and bone began to glimmer with the same spectral hue as those tossed about the room -- a dim mix of teal and sagely green. As quick as his advance, his body became wreathed in the ghostly aesthetic and his very bones glowed through the meat of his body, frot with textures of decay and degradation. His left foot came down hard upon the coffin and his right was already in the air. He lept forward, blade already positioned high above his head with both hands firmly on its handle, and soar up into the air before the weakened and drained Apparition. His knife shone a faded tinge of blue and lime just as he and took on patterns of rust and rot as he brought it down, its point meeting the single, large eye of the crippled phantom. In a dull flash of light, the Apparition dropped with the brown man -- his form immediately returned to normalcy within the instant -- and he held its pitch skull within his left hand with his dagger in his right. He swept aside and threw the mass of the weightless creature back and away from its pillar, the dagger still lodged within its fat head. From behind the sarcophagus rose the bleak, faded, and exhausted form of Kozilek, his petrified skin appearing exceptionally thinner and more pale than usual. He snapped aside the coffin and with his arms risen snatched the Apparition in a telekinetic hold. The wight sharply sent the thick monstrosity down into the coffin to which it began to seethe with the same heinous cries but was almost instantly gagged when the Barrowlord levitated over the lid of the coffin and forcibly sealed it. The seam of the coffin’s lid and its body glowed with bright, violet lights in spiky flutters as from within the black spirit released unfathomable wails, that of a lone banshee in the night. Without pause the Southeron approached the jerking, purple-lit sarcophagus and dropped to his knees before its end. The wight swept its hands aside and, just as the living man had, grew in its glimmering intensity and shone with bright light of the sea. He held one hand towards the coffin and the other towards the kneeling man, fingers splayed whilst thin, ethereal wisps of the same colored goop and sludge flowed from his undead palms and between the two subjects. The Apparition’s howls were silenced within moments and the light of the coffin died, becoming still as the body of the Southeron became weaker and weaker, his form drawing in and bringing him closer to the floor. The calm after the storm settled in and just as the life for the Apparition was shed, so too was the living man’s conscience.

 

The warriors of stone slowly gathered themselves, individual limbs heavily slowed and burdened from damage. They corralled their golden weapons onto a black sheet, bundled it, and Xaoc carried it onto his shoulder. Saelor, Julius, and Arkhar went to the center of the room and demolished the base of the stone structure, freeing it from its base. Each of the three Paleknights took up a side, hoisted it into the air, and began to carry it away and out the threshold of the chamber. Kopesh, listening to the whispers of the exhausted wight Kozilek for a moment, knelt down and scooped up the passed out Southeron. She and Xaoc marched out of the room with their precious cargo to follow the other three and Kozilek merely watched them depart. After a long moment, one unhinged from time and a duration only one more associated with time -- the living -- could measure, knelt down before the dark slate and golden sarcophagus. A gravely, heavy voice wept from him in a sorrow-laden murmur to the open air.

 

"̴͖̤͉̠̫ͥ̾I͙͉͇̯̭̥͍̿͛̓̚ ̰̝̮͋̚ͅạ̷͙̺͙͖ͮm̹͔͎͢ ̻̟̫͓ͯc͔̪͑̂͌̚̚o̸̭͇͍̘̹̍͒̓ͭ͗m̸ͦ̈́̉̚í̮͔̜̥͖̍͛͒͂͛́n̾͟g̜̭̳͕̹̹͚.̪̱̭͕͋ͯ̋ͨ̉͑"̮͈̪͓̝̤͒ͫͥ͂

 

[tea with Gwyn 218]

(( tl;dr?

[Zarsies 6795]

[[overall effect:

-the synod killed an apparition
-the southeron consumed the apparition through mysticism
-the southeron began a transition because of consumption and passed out
-the synod broke down and took the apparition's menhir
-kozilek said he is 'coming' for something to the open air]]

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Moved to the Archive. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.