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<blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7625274" data-attributes="member: 143"><p>Chapter 311</p><p></p><p>Bredan reached for his sword, but in his dazed state he couldn’t quite concentrate enough to summon it to his grasp.</p><p></p><p>There was another hiss, familiar even to his addled senses, then an eruption of light and sound that momentarily blinded him. He blinked furiously as he struggled to get up, aware that death still stalked him, but his battered limbs still failed to obey his commands.</p><p></p><p>As the afterimages of the flash cleared, he saw that Kalasien had been the target of the explosions. Two dark marks had been seared into his coat, but while he looked injured, there was fury rather than pain in his eyes as he stared at a point just behind the prone warrior. “What are you doing, you fool!” he shouted in a voice that sounded little like the even-keeled agent that Bredan knew.</p><p></p><p>“I am doing what I should have done some time ago,” Kavek said.</p><p></p><p>“Then you can die with him, traitor!” Kalasien said. He lunged forward again, but Bredan had taken advantage of the seconds that the distraction had given him. As the odd club-hand came smashing down again his sword leaped into his hand, and Bredan used the stairs beside him as leverage to plant the hilt down firmly upon the floor while he propped the blade up before him. Kalasien’s eyes widened in surprise as his own momentum impaled him on the sharp shaft of steel. Dark blood welled from the wound, running down the length of the blade before it spattered down onto Bredan’s chest.</p><p></p><p>Kalasien lifted his hand; the hammer-growth dissolved back into slender fingers. But even they were strange; they were too long and topped with wedge-shaped claws, the skin gray and leathery.</p><p></p><p>Bredan looked from the hand up to Kalasien’s face, which was beginning to shift subtly, as if there was something under his skin trying to get out. “What are you?” he asked.</p><p></p><p>“Your death, and that of your friends, is inevitable,” the other said. “You… you may have escaped me… but others will come. Your victory… is merely… temporary…”</p><p></p><p>He slumped down to the floor, easing to the side as Bredan pushed on the sword. The young warrior got to his feet, staring down at the figure that continued to shift and change as death took him. Within just a few moments the features of the Arreshian agent had been replaced by a hideous gray-skinned visage that looked incomplete, like a sculptor’s work that had been abandoned unfinished. It had lidless red-tinted eyes that were just slightly too large, and a narrow slash of a mouth beneath two slits where its nose should have been.</p><p></p><p>Bredan stumbled back and looked at Kavek, who had been watching silently during the exchange. He was no longer holding his mace, but something had changed in him too, a subtle shift in demeanor, a difference in the way that he held himself.</p><p></p><p>“What was that?” Bredan asked.</p><p></p><p>“It was a doppelganger,” Kavek said. “A shapeshifter. That particular one was named Drekkath.”</p><p></p><p>“It knew you,” Bredan said. “You were working with it.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes. We were sent here to infiltrate your group and steal the book, once you had managed to locate it.”</p><p></p><p>“You admit it? Just like that?”</p><p></p><p>“There’s no reason to hide it now.”</p><p></p><p>Bredan lifted his sword, hating that he couldn’t conceal the effort it cost him. “Why?”</p><p></p><p>“Because I saw what you saw. The book spoke to me as well. I see now that what that thing and its masters want is just another form of slavery for my people.”</p><p></p><p>“Your people?” Bredan asked.</p><p></p><p>Kavek closed his eyes for a moment, and his features began to shift as well. In his case, however, it was just a faint shimmering before the illusion that had been concealing his true identity faded.</p><p></p><p>“You’re a hobgoblin!”</p><p></p><p>“Yes.”</p><p></p><p>Bredan blinked and looked again. “Wait a minute… were you…”</p><p></p><p>“I was there in the Silverpeak Valley, yes.”</p><p></p><p>“You tried to kill us.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes. And you tried to kill me. You came closer to success than I did.”</p><p></p><p>“How long? How long have you been…”</p><p></p><p>“Since Li Syval. Drekkath replaced the ship’s mate and hired me on as part of the crew.”</p><p></p><p>“Replaced?”</p><p></p><p>“He murdered the original.”</p><p></p><p>“Then… the real Kalasien…”</p><p></p><p>“Yes. It killed him as well. I was not present at the… event, so I do not have the details, but it happened during the sea journey, shortly before Trev was ‘washed overboard.’”</p><p></p><p>“Elias…”</p><p></p><p>“Killed as well.”</p><p></p><p>“Why… why are you telling me all this now?”</p><p></p><p>“As I said. I am tired of being a slave. My people hate yours, with good reason. But this sins you have committed against us are nothing compared to what will happen if those I serve get their hands on that book.”</p><p></p><p>“Sins… but Kavel Murgoth invaded us! Your people pillaged villages, murdered people!”</p><p></p><p>“We can get into an argument over imperialism and the historical justifications for it later, if we survive the next few minutes.”</p><p></p><p>“So what do you want?”</p><p></p><p>“I want you to do what the book wants you to do. To put an end to it. To seal our world away from those outside who seek to use us for their own ends.”</p><p></p><p>“I never agreed…”</p><p></p><p>“I know. I heard you address the mummy lord. But I have information that may affect your decision. I know the nature of the foe that you have been struggling against, the force behind Kavel Murgoth, the cult in Severon, and schemes of which you don’t even have the slightest awareness. I don’t know if the visions that the book revealed are true, but I can tell you that those outsiders want access to this world. They want to come here, and their goals are not benign. They wish to kill, to enslave, to rule. My people have aided them in exchange for power. I have seen their true nature, and believe me, you do not want them to get their hands on that book.”</p><p></p><p>“How can I possibly trust you? You’re an admitted killer, and you came halfway around the world to steal the book for yourself!”</p><p></p><p>“You shouldn’t trust me. But know this; I could have done nothing just now, and you would be dead instead of Drekkath. I could kill you now.” He lifted a hand, and a soft pulse of energy flickered in his grasp. “As battered as you are, one <em>eldritch blast</em> would do it.”</p><p></p><p>“Did you arrange for us to be separated? For you and Kalasien to be alone with me in the ruins?”</p><p></p><p>The warlock snorted. “That was luck, or fate, or whatever you want to call it.”</p><p></p><p>“Your power, your magic, it comes from these ‘masters’ of yours? What are they?”</p><p></p><p>“You would call them fiends, demons, or devils. You know more of how this works than you know. You have a few of their progeny as companions.”</p><p></p><p>“Xeeta and Rodan. You’re like them?”</p><p></p><p>“The Blooded. I knew nothing of the cult in Li Syval until you spoke of it on the ship, and I know not if the outsiders there are of the same breed that infused their bloodline into my tribe, but it seems we are all fruits from the same tree.”</p><p></p><p>The tension thickened. Bredan was clearly still too overwhelmed to decide on a specific course of action. The sword waved a bit, but did not come down from its ready position.</p><p></p><p>Finally, Kavek said, “Can we at least agree to a truce until we find the way out of here? You heard the guardian speak of your friends, and the danger they are in. There appears to be only one way out of here, and there may be further threats between here and the surface.”</p><p></p><p>Bredan finally let the sword drop, but he kept it in his grasp. “What do I call you?” he asked.</p><p></p><p>“My real name is Kurok.”</p><p></p><p>“Kurok. Pretty close.”</p><p></p><p>“That was another of Drekkath’s ideas. The thing was an expert at duplicity, I will give it that.”</p><p></p><p>Bredan’s eyes flicked down to the hideous form of the doppelganger. “If you try anything…”</p><p></p><p>“Yes, yes. We can stipulate that we do not trust each other and skip the various mutual threats. It is in times like these that the differences between your kind and mine do not seem so significant.”</p><p></p><p>“Would you do anything different, in my position?”</p><p></p><p>Kurok shook his head. “I have never been in your position. That is why I am here, and why I am doing this.”</p><p></p><p>“Your magic. It was you who intervened in my fight with the dragonborn chief, wasn’t it?”</p><p></p><p>“Yes.”</p><p></p><p>“You could have just let me die there. No,” he added before the warlock could respond. “You still needed me alive, didn’t you? To lead you to the book.”</p><p></p><p>“And I still need you now,” Kurok said.</p><p></p><p>“And if I refuse to do what the book wants?”</p><p></p><p>“I suppose that depends on what we find up there.”</p><p></p><p>“If I find that you did anything to endanger any of my friends, I’ll kill you.”</p><p></p><p>“I would expect nothing less.”</p><p></p><p>Standing as far apart as the breadth of the stairs would permit, the two of them began the ascent.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lazybones, post: 7625274, member: 143"] Chapter 311 Bredan reached for his sword, but in his dazed state he couldn’t quite concentrate enough to summon it to his grasp. There was another hiss, familiar even to his addled senses, then an eruption of light and sound that momentarily blinded him. He blinked furiously as he struggled to get up, aware that death still stalked him, but his battered limbs still failed to obey his commands. As the afterimages of the flash cleared, he saw that Kalasien had been the target of the explosions. Two dark marks had been seared into his coat, but while he looked injured, there was fury rather than pain in his eyes as he stared at a point just behind the prone warrior. “What are you doing, you fool!” he shouted in a voice that sounded little like the even-keeled agent that Bredan knew. “I am doing what I should have done some time ago,” Kavek said. “Then you can die with him, traitor!” Kalasien said. He lunged forward again, but Bredan had taken advantage of the seconds that the distraction had given him. As the odd club-hand came smashing down again his sword leaped into his hand, and Bredan used the stairs beside him as leverage to plant the hilt down firmly upon the floor while he propped the blade up before him. Kalasien’s eyes widened in surprise as his own momentum impaled him on the sharp shaft of steel. Dark blood welled from the wound, running down the length of the blade before it spattered down onto Bredan’s chest. Kalasien lifted his hand; the hammer-growth dissolved back into slender fingers. But even they were strange; they were too long and topped with wedge-shaped claws, the skin gray and leathery. Bredan looked from the hand up to Kalasien’s face, which was beginning to shift subtly, as if there was something under his skin trying to get out. “What are you?” he asked. “Your death, and that of your friends, is inevitable,” the other said. “You… you may have escaped me… but others will come. Your victory… is merely… temporary…” He slumped down to the floor, easing to the side as Bredan pushed on the sword. The young warrior got to his feet, staring down at the figure that continued to shift and change as death took him. Within just a few moments the features of the Arreshian agent had been replaced by a hideous gray-skinned visage that looked incomplete, like a sculptor’s work that had been abandoned unfinished. It had lidless red-tinted eyes that were just slightly too large, and a narrow slash of a mouth beneath two slits where its nose should have been. Bredan stumbled back and looked at Kavek, who had been watching silently during the exchange. He was no longer holding his mace, but something had changed in him too, a subtle shift in demeanor, a difference in the way that he held himself. “What was that?” Bredan asked. “It was a doppelganger,” Kavek said. “A shapeshifter. That particular one was named Drekkath.” “It knew you,” Bredan said. “You were working with it.” “Yes. We were sent here to infiltrate your group and steal the book, once you had managed to locate it.” “You admit it? Just like that?” “There’s no reason to hide it now.” Bredan lifted his sword, hating that he couldn’t conceal the effort it cost him. “Why?” “Because I saw what you saw. The book spoke to me as well. I see now that what that thing and its masters want is just another form of slavery for my people.” “Your people?” Bredan asked. Kavek closed his eyes for a moment, and his features began to shift as well. In his case, however, it was just a faint shimmering before the illusion that had been concealing his true identity faded. “You’re a hobgoblin!” “Yes.” Bredan blinked and looked again. “Wait a minute… were you…” “I was there in the Silverpeak Valley, yes.” “You tried to kill us.” “Yes. And you tried to kill me. You came closer to success than I did.” “How long? How long have you been…” “Since Li Syval. Drekkath replaced the ship’s mate and hired me on as part of the crew.” “Replaced?” “He murdered the original.” “Then… the real Kalasien…” “Yes. It killed him as well. I was not present at the… event, so I do not have the details, but it happened during the sea journey, shortly before Trev was ‘washed overboard.’” “Elias…” “Killed as well.” “Why… why are you telling me all this now?” “As I said. I am tired of being a slave. My people hate yours, with good reason. But this sins you have committed against us are nothing compared to what will happen if those I serve get their hands on that book.” “Sins… but Kavel Murgoth invaded us! Your people pillaged villages, murdered people!” “We can get into an argument over imperialism and the historical justifications for it later, if we survive the next few minutes.” “So what do you want?” “I want you to do what the book wants you to do. To put an end to it. To seal our world away from those outside who seek to use us for their own ends.” “I never agreed…” “I know. I heard you address the mummy lord. But I have information that may affect your decision. I know the nature of the foe that you have been struggling against, the force behind Kavel Murgoth, the cult in Severon, and schemes of which you don’t even have the slightest awareness. I don’t know if the visions that the book revealed are true, but I can tell you that those outsiders want access to this world. They want to come here, and their goals are not benign. They wish to kill, to enslave, to rule. My people have aided them in exchange for power. I have seen their true nature, and believe me, you do not want them to get their hands on that book.” “How can I possibly trust you? You’re an admitted killer, and you came halfway around the world to steal the book for yourself!” “You shouldn’t trust me. But know this; I could have done nothing just now, and you would be dead instead of Drekkath. I could kill you now.” He lifted a hand, and a soft pulse of energy flickered in his grasp. “As battered as you are, one [i]eldritch blast[/i] would do it.” “Did you arrange for us to be separated? For you and Kalasien to be alone with me in the ruins?” The warlock snorted. “That was luck, or fate, or whatever you want to call it.” “Your power, your magic, it comes from these ‘masters’ of yours? What are they?” “You would call them fiends, demons, or devils. You know more of how this works than you know. You have a few of their progeny as companions.” “Xeeta and Rodan. You’re like them?” “The Blooded. I knew nothing of the cult in Li Syval until you spoke of it on the ship, and I know not if the outsiders there are of the same breed that infused their bloodline into my tribe, but it seems we are all fruits from the same tree.” The tension thickened. Bredan was clearly still too overwhelmed to decide on a specific course of action. The sword waved a bit, but did not come down from its ready position. Finally, Kavek said, “Can we at least agree to a truce until we find the way out of here? You heard the guardian speak of your friends, and the danger they are in. There appears to be only one way out of here, and there may be further threats between here and the surface.” Bredan finally let the sword drop, but he kept it in his grasp. “What do I call you?” he asked. “My real name is Kurok.” “Kurok. Pretty close.” “That was another of Drekkath’s ideas. The thing was an expert at duplicity, I will give it that.” Bredan’s eyes flicked down to the hideous form of the doppelganger. “If you try anything…” “Yes, yes. We can stipulate that we do not trust each other and skip the various mutual threats. It is in times like these that the differences between your kind and mine do not seem so significant.” “Would you do anything different, in my position?” Kurok shook his head. “I have never been in your position. That is why I am here, and why I am doing this.” “Your magic. It was you who intervened in my fight with the dragonborn chief, wasn’t it?” “Yes.” “You could have just let me die there. No,” he added before the warlock could respond. “You still needed me alive, didn’t you? To lead you to the book.” “And I still need you now,” Kurok said. “And if I refuse to do what the book wants?” “I suppose that depends on what we find up there.” “If I find that you did anything to endanger any of my friends, I’ll kill you.” “I would expect nothing less.” Standing as far apart as the breadth of the stairs would permit, the two of them began the ascent. [/QUOTE]
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