The Code To Death's Door

[MetaSolaray 242]

 

http://imgur.com/fxyHBpM,WJzsOro

 

"Mother...Father, Can you not feel it?" A firm tone carried throughout the cloudless, the speaker staring ahead at the remains of a bridge that laid ruined in front of them as the trio came to a slow stop. The speaker, a fair red hair stood in the front of the group. Seemingly in her early adult life as an elf she still maintained an air of respect in her movements, even if she had a slight jump to every step. Her eyes were liked the other two, a deep piercing blue that seemed to fall on her parents with a watchful eye.

 

"Yes Neci, whatever happened here," Another tone, softer and seemingly gentle came from the blue haired fatherly figure, "Many lives were lost before their time was ready." However; assured that he sounded to his daughter, the half breed could only have a rushing sense of foreboding dread at the sight of the fortress before him. The air even outside was stale, the rancid smell of death and decay lingering around his nostrils that seemed to wash over the scenery of innocence that the landscape tried to portray. His fingers curled over the hilt of his blade as he almost seemed to dread the idea of moving forward.

 

"Meta..." soft and compassionate that Meta could only place with one person; Resia Sae'lantae. While this red hair mother was only a humble five feet three inches tall her demanor was one of force. Staring into the only 'normal' eye she had left gave one the impression of compassion, staring into the green ender eye set into her right eye gave off the impression of quiet force. As she stepped lightly and silently on the unsteady gravel she stepped ahead of the two towards the hedge. Her eyes surveyed the land with a quiet calm as her fingers wrapped around her own staff. "This way," she adds in a hushed tone as she pointed out upon the hill.

 

http://imgur.com/HwHfI1v

 

Silence fell upon the elven family as they moved silently up the hill, moving as closely as they could with only the moon to guide their path. With Meta in the lead, taking a soft gentle step at the edging of the hill and with a single kick from his rear leg landed on the wall of the fortress. Turning around he signaled with a quick hand motion for his daughter and wife to leap over with him. Now with the three elves settled within the cracked stone, their eyes could only glance down to where the sound of both running water and the smell of decaying flesh originated from...

 

http://imgur.com/bvl99wk

 

With Meta taking the lead, one hand after the other as the gentle creak of wood came from beneath his weight. His eyes more so focused on the landing as he neared the ending he simply let himself fall to the ground below as his legs absorbed the impact of the fall. Hand precautionary on the hilt of his blade as he slowly rose to a stand, his eyes falling onto a nearby note that was pinned to the wall. The words calling out to him he read off what was written in what seemed to be a half panicked, half tear ridden note..."Oh Creator Help! They are at the door!" Blood splattered the rest of the note...

 

http://imgur.com/HQgBPT4

 

His head bowed as he looks over the area, finding no remains to even properly bury as he looks to his left, finding that both Resia and Neci had already moved into the main area. Rushing out he found a rather pleasant scene, if one excluded the pink tinged water that sat in the middle.

 

http://imgur.com/jFHfb7I

 

"A-ahh!" A shiver of a gasp came from Neci's mouth as her eyes widen with shock, her body shaking slightly as her focus zero's on the water's depth. Resia, the nearest of the two walked over as her eyes fell into the fountain, and paused as her eyes quickly came to a shut. For within the body of water laid a bloated body of a drawf, it's garments eerily floating along the near still-waters that it rested in. Shaking her head slightly as she turned to face Meta, who also stopped to look at the fallen drawf before them as each member of the family only can confirm a nod. It was Resia who was the first to be able to speak up in the glass like silence.

 

http://imgur.com/2fIeVy4

 

"We should keep going,"  She remarks quickly and quietly; moving towards the nearby door as she goes to read over the words on the door. "Akheron Academic's Main Tower...Enter code?" She glances over a series of marking in the wall that seemed to indicate numbers, however as she looked at Meta she shrugged her shoulders in confusion. Looking at Meta she frowns as she waves her hand to him to come closer...

 

http://imgur.com/04RXXOA

 

"We'll have to find a way inside, can you bl-" his words were halfway out of his mouth when another voice broke in over him, calling both adults over.

 

"Mom! Dad! Over here!" Neci's tone carried over from a short room just off to the right of the codes, her signature smirk plastered on her brighten face as she stood over another hole. Glancing down in it as if gauging the distance she would need to make a perfect dive into a pool. "Might be a way we can sneak in from here." And without another word to her parents Neci makes a jump into the tunnel below the walk way, leaving Meta and Resia to nod once at each other and follow her into the unknown tunnel.

 

http://imgur.com/AQPPA3Q

 

Thump! The sound of boots meeting crafted stone echoed in the small tunnel; while it had plenty of room for the trio to stand beside each other it would have surely not fit a full grown orc within it's grasp. As Neci moved confidently forward the same stale stench of decaying flesh was becoming more putrid, causing the family to wrinkle their nose in disgust as they eyed a fresh light source above a nearby ladder. Wordlessly Neci again took point as she placed her gentle hands on the ladder and rose above it, with Meta tailing the group noting only one thing...

 

The smell was becoming more putrid, sinking into his nose with every step he took. As he from the hole the source of the smells became quite clear. The maggot infested remains of undead monsters laid upon the ground, signs of a rashly held assault obvious from the impact of what appeared to be make-shift weaponry; and in one was the marking of someone with nothing else to lose. Eyes falling upon each other the blades of Meta and Neci were both quitely unsheathed into a ready position as they pushed past the bodies and into the next room belonging to Dak.

 

http://imgur.com/oGmL3kc

 

As the trio got into the room, the signs of a struggle gone horribly, horribly wrong were apparent on the walls. Blood laid the floor where they stood, and on the walls were notes written onto what seemed to be scrapped paper laying around. As Resia walked closer to the notes laid on the back wall her eyes had to discern what was ink, and what was blood. Blue eyes scanned over the writing as it became clear that as time had passed the writer had become more and more deranged...

 

"Day one; "Locked in my room, strange invaders came. Heard lots of screaming, will hide here till help arrives." The first note seemed easy enough, expectations high as it was furthest from the bloody mess below.

 

"Day Four: "Still have food here. Much quieter now will try sneaking out later tonight." However the note was quickly followed by an additional note plastered right beside it. "Bad idea! Campus is overrun by horrid creatures and strange people! What is going on?!" The second note that was added seemed to have been the beginning of the end as the ink begun to edge away from a clean font.

 

"Day Seven: "Saw from window, robed people torturing my old friends..." This letter seemed more in-cohesive then the former, in some spots it was wet. "What the nether is going on, is this the end?" It ended much neater then before. Resia could only shake her head as she went on, unhearing of her family behind her.

 

"Day Ten: "Help not coming," Those few words rang out to Resia as she felt a tear of her own joining the one that dotted that sentence as she continued on. "Cultist and beasts overran the campus. Running low on food, escape impossible." She could only envision the trembling hand that had come to accept it's fate as she notices one final note, this one blood ridden as it had been closest to where the undead had fallen.

 

"Day eighteen: "Undead colleagues found my room, they claw at my door." A pause as more ink splotches dot the spot before adding, "They will attract the attention of those cultists. I must strike them down....if not for food..." He seems to resolve as he dots his final sentence, blood adding a final ending to it as Resia bit her lips roughly as she turned around to see where her family had gone.

 

http://imgur.com/jFBZZHR,tjo7qAV,IJ4baKz#0

 

The answer became apparent when she found Meta and Neci over standing a skeleton huddled in the corner in the fetal position. It's skeletal claws gripping at a paper tucked within; the jaw of the bones seemingly screaming out in terror, fear, or maybe simply pure madness. As she tapped her way over to the pair she found Meta with his eyes closed, in obvious prayer in the way he breathed in softly as she looks at the fallen skeleton, "Van'ayla llir..." She adds in a sad tone, barely missing as Meta quitely reaches for the last scrap of paper that Dak ever wrote, this time listening to her husband read it out.

 

"Seven, two..." he shakes his head as he glances at the rest of the letter not bothering to read it as he glances over at the skeleton's hand once more. While it had been fighting, in death three fingers remained curled  into a fist with the rest out. "Seven." he adds again as he glances at the note, then the hands, then his family. "Dak; may you rest eternally in the land of the forefatheres in peace." He adds gently to the fallen man, before nodding to Neci to take his skeletal remains and bury them with respect. To Resia his eyes fell on her as he nodded his head back towards the towers entrench, "Even in death does Dak guide our hand..."

 

With that, the trio made their way past the maggots, swatting a few aside as they approach the tower's entrench, Neci tasked with burying the body of Dak in the soil away from the castle grounds. As Meta leans towards the code pin he gently begins to tap in the combination, Seven...Two...Seven.

 

Click. The Sound of an unlocking mechanism was heard as the door creaked it's way open, with a fresh rush of the smell of death followed by sticky, fresh blood. The elves could only pause in a sense of foreboding even stronger then before. Yet with no other alternative they stepped into the next wave of madness...

 

((Credits to RHcrow for designing this little dugegon :D He did such an awesome job I decided to break down the RP into three chapters, the next chapter "Descent of Death" will follow the trio's adventure into what excately happened in this fortress. Please do not Meta-game any knowledge of what is going on here unless you saw this happened in RP which no one ever emoted being around :D))

Offical Credits

 

Lolitadoll: For providing the character Resia for this RP, being my awesome RP partner as well as being the catalyst for this entire situation. For this I dedicate the first credits to you!

 

_Kraal_: For providing the character Neci Sin Serena Solaray for this RP, being my daughtter in RP as well as coming with me for the RP. For this you get one less beating during training

 

RHCrow: Simply put you gave this fun RP scene which I had a lot of fun talking :O while there were a lot of space unused I felt it was a blast searching for clues and I hope I can make your dugeon sound just as epic in this writing! 

 

Throak_Sludgefist: Giving me perms to the land in RP you rock!

 

Hex37: Thanks for getting me to crow or else I'd have miss this great RP :O

 

You: For reading all of this ;D Thanks!

[Lark 2227]

((Cool stuff Meta! Can't wait for more!))

[MetaSolaray 242]

((Making minor adjustments to text, see if that makes it a less of an eyesore to me, but thank you :O sadly...for some reason these forums hate me and keep on making me put in a "VERIFY YOUR HUMAN code."))

[Lark 2227]

((I dunno why what's still there. *looks at a certain tech looking at this thread* Why.))

[Trintea☕️ 335]

((Can't wait till it's built up and running :3))

[Tom_Whiteman 949]

((Famine still can sell you that ring))

[Ezo Karasuga 356]

[

 

I loved reading this journey through the first part of the Akheron Academy. Its one thing to build the dungeon or "act" in it from the perspective on the dungeon master.  Its a whole new thing getting the perspective from the heroes venturing in and uncovering all the clues and piecing together what happened.

 

Bravo. Since I know how the story ends, I look forward to reading it :D

 

+10

 

]

[Aptrotta 162]

((What? There was one not in Gemglade?))