The Tomb of Maltus Korr

[Balgar Grimeye]

[Open to all]

Balgar stood in the thick undergrowth of the forest, brushing off some vines on a large stone door with the head of his axe. It seemed to lead inside a building shaped like an enlarged pedestal - its circle shape rising above the ground to a flat top 4 feet above Balgar's head. The upper platform was incircled by pillars, some largely preserved while others had detoriated into small stubs of masonwork. The dwarf grunted as he took one step closer, eyeing the arcane runes and drawings inscribed in the anchient stone of the door. It seemed to have no handles, and as he tried to push it open, it did not move by an inch. Balgar was blank as an empty sheet.

3 hours later, Balgar had tried everything. He had searched around the construction for another way in without luck, he had even climbed it to the upper platform where he only found the remains of a stone-cutted arm and hand protuding from the center, reaching at a height of about 2 feet. It seemed the hand had a hole in its open palm that tunneled all the way down through the arm, making the whole thing hollow.

After trying to bash the door down with an improvised battering ram (from a loose trunk on the ground), he ended up making camp. He rolled out his bedroll and split the trunk with his axe, using it for a fire as he lay down for the night.

Perhaps chance would have someone else come by. Someone who would know how to read those markings on the door - or at least be able decipher their content. He was certain he woulden't be the only one who had heard about the rumors of this Tomb. The place where Maltus Korr, a monarch of long and almost forgotten times had been put to rest.

Balgar did not come here for the archaelogy though, he had a different motive. For it was also said that in the Tomb where Maltus Korr had been put to rest, all his vast treasure had supposedly been buried with him.

[Nalitz]

Nalitz floated through the darkness of the woods, his form barely visible from lack of moonlight. He was an unsettling sight if any were to see, as he did not need to walk, his dark magic instead levitating him an inch off the ground. He traveled no path, as his tattered robes caught many times on bushes and cruel snags, but he would proceed with as much care a wraith would have.

For the first time since his awakening, he had a specific purpose. Hearing faint whispers of a possible cache of powerful items somewhere in the wood, he left to investigate. It was after some time of crossing the pitch black silence, that a light would flare in the cold, tunnel-like reaches of the deep forest. He recognized the light as belonging to a small encampment.

Hovering ever forward, his sinister gaze eventually settled upon a ruined building, the source of the light. Entering the recently cleared entry-point he saw a resting dwarf and a camp.

"..nrh.."

He desired draining the dwarves life force. It seemed the logical choice, considering he would have time before the dwarf would reach for his weapon. However, the other side of his thoughts included that the dwarf would be a useful tool to use in order to uncover the treasure of the place. After all, finding the ruins already sealed the dwarves place in usefulness.

Dismissing his levitation, he touches the ground and studies as to see whether the creature had noticed the presence of another arrive.

[Terror's Thrall]

Thios awoke.
Not that he had been truly sleeping, for a spirit can never be at complete rest. But nevertheless his attention had been turned inward upon himself. Once, he had been great, but no longer. His form all but banished, he resided deep in the core of the Althanian land, far beyond the reach of any surface dwellers. The cold, dark crystalline prison that entangled his essence hummed and buzzed in response to the former god's every thought.

It was a few weeks or more, by Althanian reckoning, since he had last attempted to breach his prison and return to the surface of Althanas. During his meditations, he had regained a little of his strength and this allowed him to call on his fellow spirits. These two had been the most loyal of his followers before he was banished to this dank cell and they pledged their very souls to his freedom. Using their power he could briefly break his bonds, though he would need to return or find a safe anchoring point before long.

Flexing his metaphorical wings the essence of Thios, once the greatest of the Elders of his home plane, prepared to return to the body of a man who had no defences, a man who through no fault of his own had attracted the attentions of the spirit as he searched the planet for way to break free. The tenuous contact that Thios retained with the man's unconscious mind allowed him to be tracked and so Thios was aware of the precise location of his pawn...

Which was more than could be said for the poor man himself. Rathe was a rather portly man, who affected the bearing of an honourable merchant, and attempted to dress the part. However, he was little more than a petty criminal swindling the middle classes and the wear on his silk shirt and hide trousers betrayed his meager wage. He had been attempting to track a particularly irritating street urchin who had stolen several valuable items from his collections and suddenly found himself in a part of the forest he didnt recognise. He stopped suddenly, his footsteps echoing for a split second through the canopy. A sudden fear clenched his chest, a vague memory of the area, and more importantly, the locations of the goblin tribes that were forever moving through the brush. The hair on the back of the merchant's neck prickled and he leaned against a gargantuan tree to catch his breath.

Thios' essence was encroaching on the unsuspecting man. Rathe's mind had been so traumatised by the previous invasion of his mind, that he had locked it away in the furthest reaches of his memory and so he remembered nothing of the spiritual force that had inhabited him. This time however his unconscious mind was more prepared. As Thios' spiritual companions, Beren and Fenris broke through the makeshift mental defences summoned by Rathe, the merchant fell to his knees, his vision clouded and obscured by the projected forms of Thios' chosen followers. Thios followed them into the man's mind.

As Thios fought to bind his pawn's mind and lock it away, Rathe's soul fought back with equal ferocity. The overflow of spiritual energy ripped through the merchant's dispossessed body, knotting and tightening the skin; greying its pallor and causing the senses to wither, the eyes healing over and tongue rotting in the mouth of the thrall. Thios had learned to disable the primary senses as he had no use for them, but the imprisoned soul could attempt to manipulate them, causing much damage to his plans. They would be restored when he left.

Having gained control for now, Thios stood. The physical form felt restricting but at least he was no longer bound to the crystal until he was removed or left. The spirits of his companions had melded with his, each controlling a faculty to allow his concentration on the surroundings to be absolute. Fenris the warrior resided in the hands of the thrall and as Thios raised them, dust from the floor flooded up to his hands, forming a solid sword in his grasp. The fear of the man he had taken over screamed through out Thios' being and wrenched at his own soul, but his determination would not let him relinquish the thrall. A sudden wave of... something, made Thios look around. There was Dark magic nearby. Thios twisted the features of his thrall into a grimace that displayed his own feelings about the practice and headed towards the source of the feeling, the now loose fitting silk shirt flapping about him in the light breeze.

[Balgar Grimeye]

Balgar was snoring loudly. He grunted and snorted as Nalitz approached, finally awaking after several of exposed moments. He blinked his eye, regarding the figure that had entered the light of the fire before scrambling up to his feet slowly.

The dwarf tilted his head quickly to the sides, giving off evident cracks.
"Who be ye?" he asked gruffly.

It was a strange person before him, not like most of the tall-folk he had seen in town. Balgar sized him up, squinting his still functioning eye as he judged whether his "guest" was a bandit or a stray traveler - or perhaps a fellow investigator who had come to the Tomb?

He supposed bandits usually weren't running around in robes. But who knew, humans in general could be very unpredictable.

[Nalitz]

Nalitz had a feeling the dwarf would wake up eventually. Just in time too thankfully, for his planned window of striking a comatose adventurer drew very near.

"Ah, greetings dwarf. One of your kin I have not seen in many a year.. but do lower your guard, for I am a friend. ." he says with a small smile, gesturing his hand to the nearby tomb.
"It appears that you would not be alone in your awareness of this place."
Nalitz already figured the dwarf was seeking some kind of fortune as well. If he was a guardian of the place, he would not have been resting in such a temporary affair.

"I have come to unravel the secrets of this sanctuary.. would you allow me to join you in this endeavor? That is too why you are here, I presume." He says, while thinking he felt an odd energy approaching from the outside of the place. Having just awakened, his senses were dull so he dismissed the premonition.

[Terror's Thrall]

Thios strode through the forest. He stumbled several times as he had not quite got used to his thrall's body yet. It irritated him to think that he who was once feared by the stars themselves was being bested by a few scattered tree roots.

Ahead stood a purple-robed figure. It was standing over a squat humanoid that had obviously just woken up. They appeared to have reached an agreement about something. As the taller one appeared to be the source of Thios' discomfort he had no doubt it could not be truce that would benefit anyone else. The thrall's body shook as its possessor struggled with his indecision. However as he took in the surroundings, he realised that there was probably more to this than met the eye (or the mystical force that substituted for eyes in his case). The meeting of the two was taking place in front of what was evidently an expansive tomb. As such he guessed they probably meant to rob it.

Such places often held items of great power and while wealth meant nothing to one of Thios' kind, magic was of great value if it could help him breach his tomb. Given his physical form at the moment it should be easy to convince the pair that he could be an ally. He approached the pair, his voice echoing from his presence - the thrall's tongue being useless he merely projected a voice of greeting, the sword crumbling from his grasp as he spoke.

If needed he could always cleanse the Dark one at a later date...

[Balgar Grimeye]

Balgar heaved up in his belt, grunting. He seemed to give it a little moment's thought, before answearing.

"Aye, all right. if ye can figure out how to get inside, be me guest! Bloody impossible to bash down tha door without a proper ram. I have a gut-feelin' it takes a little mysticism-shizzle to get inside," Balgar stroked his beard and sized Nalitz up again, "which I'm guessin' be close to yer field o' expertise." He grinned crookedly, revealing a few golden and missing teeth.

Balgar took up his shield and slung it over his shoulder to cover his back, before taking the axe as well. "I found somethin' though, a strange -- stone-carven hand I think. Up on top o' tha platform," Balgar pointed at the upper section of the construction.

That was when he spotted the other human approaching, Thios in the form of a mortal. Of course the dwarf had no idea of this, all he saw was another human entering the little campside. Evidently, he drew his axe as his first reaction - he knew the forest hosted many hostilities. Balgar made a gesture with his head partly to Nalitz, nodding forward towards the incoming individual with slightly bared teeth.

[Nalitz]

Nalitz settles his gaze over the sealed entrance, stroking his chin beard as he took a measure of it. Approaching, he does see faded archaic writings carved within certain parts of the structure. He shakes his head. "Not a correct guess, I fear to say. Consider myself no more different than any other hedge wizard you may come across. Not one for solving ancient mysteries.."
Most of this was a lie.

Spinning back to look at Balgar again, he nods at the mention of a stone carved hand. "Attempting to make movement with the hand is the obvious course. I should not have to say that such things require strength so I leave it to you, dwarf. If there is naught to be done, I have ways to strengthen any small ram we may create here." He would say before noticing Balgar drawing an axe and gesturing. Raising a single brow without much care in his face, he crosses his hands in his robes to cast the newcomer an expecting look, rather surprised by the arrival of another.

"I trust you are not a watcher of this crypt." He says, forming a somewhat devious half-grin. Nalitz did not see the mans appearance in the poor light but he did sense a very strange quintessence he had not felt before. It was powerful for a certain and he knew having it would restore a substantial segment of power in his fallen form.

[Terror's Thrall]

Thios laughed at the wizard's question and the comical look of aggression plastered across the Dwarf's face. The understated chuckle emanated from his thrall, though not from any particular orifice. The same disembodied voice continued, the thrall's jaw hanging motionless.
"Alas, I am not a watcher. For if I was I might have the knowledge of entrance we both seek." He addressed the purple-clad mage as he was obviously the superior force. "Unless your halfling friend has any ideas?"

Without waitiing for an answer, Thios drove his shuffling body between the two and up to the door of the tomb. It was risky to turn his back on the two rogues but confidence was key in gaining trust he knew. He ran his thrall's hands over the solid work of the door and examined the runic symbols. Beren, the second companionsoul who resided in the mind and ears of Thios' slave-body, had been a scholar and a priest but could make neither head nor tail of the strange script. Thios was not about to admit defeat that easily however and dropped his body to a crouch, examining the hewn stone floor around the gateway and brushing away vines and leaves as he did so.

[Balgar Grimeye]

Balgar snorted, releasing spittle on the ground before approaching the two sagelings, resting the axe on his shoulder.

Upon closer examination, Thios recognised these markings to be of an anchient language. It was the common tongue almost a thousand years before, now an almost extinct dialect. Through deciphering the long-ago written words, he read the inscriptions to be somewhat of this meaning:

"Here rests Maltus Korr, great King and Ruler of his people. The Gods had granted him the power of giving and taking life, and his might expanded greatly. An avatar of deities, his grand body was thrice as anyone, and therefor he can only rest in this fitting Tomb.

Anyone who wishes to enter must do so to honor him - and lay down their arms in submission. Give the blade unto the hand, thus will the door open."

Balgar scratched his rear. "So. Are ye clever skulls comin' anywhere?" The dwarf grinned faintly. He had to admit, it was amusing to watch those two tall people bend their long necks down and read closely over the musty old stone.

[Nalitz]

Nalitz would stare at Thios' back. From his wear, he appeared some sort of merchant. He immediately suspected him to be a greedy lout with an eye for the most valuable things. Nalitz for a certain wasn't about to allow some fattened civilian take the most precious loot for himself.

When Balgar finishes reading the markings he smiles wide, but only for a moment. Raiding the tomb of an avatar of deities, he knew, would have to bear no small rewards. His colorless orbs glimmered at the prospect of gaining the treasure deep within the complex, for he knew without a doubt they would be vital tools in gaining a strong foothold of power toward the future.

"Remarkable work, dwarf. I would suggest we do as the inscription says and leave behind all our arms, should the way open of course." He says warmly. "..-unless any of you wish to chance a dire curse upon our souls. For a place dedicated to an individual of such strength in life, I say it would be prudent to tread with the utmost amount of care."

He raises a finger. "With our talents combined, the end of this should very well be within our grasp.."

[Balgar Grimeye]

"Lay down me -axe-? Ye've got ta be outta yer mind!" Balgar protested.
He shuffled uneasily, keeping a bit of a tighter grip on the shaft of his axe.

"Must we put down -all- our weapons? Can't it just be done with one?" The dwarf glanced upwards to the top of the platform, bearing the stonecarven hand with a small slit in its palm and its hollow arm. Balgar did not like the idea of letting go of his weapon. Walking unarmed into an unknown area was generally a bad idea to him. He cringed his nose at thought.

"I doubt just puttin' down our weapons on tha ground will open tha door anyway. Must be somethin' more," he said, with a slight tone of uneasiness.

[Terror's Thrall]

'The short one makes a fair point, I believe'
Thios had stood and turned his twisted, eyeless face to the pair of rogues.
'From your recitation, it would appear that you must place a sword into the hand you-' He indicated Balgar here '-found up there. I think I may be of some assistance here as it appears neither of you wields a straight blade.'

Calling again on Fenris' soul, Thios reached a hand toward the floor forming the dust to a blade in his palm as he did so. Then, with some difficulty from the lack of experience this new body, he scrabbled and clawed his way up to the upper platform. Both clothes and skin caught and tore on the stone and vines, though Thios noticed neither, being not yet acquainted with the pain reception of his second-hand body.

Reaching the hollow hand, he plunged the dust-blade into the opening. Leaving a small amount of his essence in the sword allowed it to hold its form once he had released it from his body's grip. He could reclaim it later and the blade would return to dust.

He projected his voice down to the others below the platform.
'Has the door opened now?'
The question was a formality, a grinding sound from within had convinced him the door had opened. Now they would see what treasures lay below the surface...

[Nalitz]

Nalitz parts his heavily sleeved arms as if though he cared little.

"Very well then.. take your weapons with you. There is much doubt in my mind however that this old ruin, sealed as you can see, would bear any malevolent forces to halt our progress."
He was well aware that there was always a chance the place would already be inhabited, either by burrowing creatures finding the crypt tunnels by chance or anything else of some nature. But usually he figured tombs to be empty of life, thinking works of necromancy such as guardian skeletons within such places to be a silly thing to expect.

He looks over to Thios and listens with a empty expression, offering a small nod as he watches the humans attempt to unlock the passage. He raises his brow considerably seeing him conjure a blade out of dust and hearing the grinding sound coming out the door afterward.
"Well then, that was much simpler than I had thought. If the doors do in fact open now, I propose the swiftest one of us to scout ahead and report back whether the way is safe. Unless any one of you bears a better plan in mind.."

[Balgar Grimeye]

The doors opened with a heavy grinding; rubble, vines and small stones released themselves and fell to the ground. Inside was total darkness, only a few steps revealed leading down the stairs into the unknown.
"Hah! It worked!" Balgar cried in excitement.
The dwarf went as quickly as his small legs could allow him and picked up a large stub from the bonfire which still had fire to it, using it as an improvised torch.
As Thios joined the two others, they head down the stairs.


At the bottom of the stairs, a large room was revealed. It seemed 30 feet wide and long, perhaps longer. A low layer of mist was clinging to the floor here, concealing the boots of the intruding. The meager flame of the torch did not do much, as there already was a single fire burning - a grand brazier at the end of the room. Its flames were lively enough, and behind it was a stone throne. It was elevated a few steps off the floor. It seemed the room continued behind the platform, the throne concealing the end wall of the room.

On the throne sat a monstrous skeleton covered in an old breastplate. It was sitting, yet it seemed well able to reach a height of 9 feet back when it was alive and standing. A faint glinting could be observed at the skeleton's head from the fire, as well as the metal of the massive two-handed blade crossed over its lap. The figure was as dead as the stones that surrounded it.

At the left and right wall of the room 3 gargoyles resided. It seemed the mist came from their jaws, slowly flooding down like a stream and creating a sea of obscurance at the floor. Balgar took a few more steps inside, peering down as one could hear the clatter of something metallic graze over the stones. Perhaps gold?
More did they not reach to see, before they again heard the grinding of the stone door, several stairsteps above them. It was closing again.