Post by zipp on Aug 10, 2009 18:20:35 GMT
Owain had a strange dream. He was naked and tied down on a rocky plain, his skin chafing against the rough rock. Above him the sky was ominously illuminated by the clashing of storm clouds. The clouds swirled and smashed against each other as viciously as any ocean waves, the sight turning his stomache. Yet, even this view was not as terrifying as the visage that sat to his left.
It was a shadowy figure, huge and squat. It peered at him with eyes that were only visible because, impossibly, they were darker than its skin. The creature worked over Owain's body with a strange solemnity. It seemed ridiculously calm as it pried open his chest with its bare hands and dropped something inside.
Whatever it was that fell into the cavity was alive. Owain could feel it moving inside of him.
He awoke to find at least part of his dream was true. He couldn't move. He was stretched out and bound by tight chains to a cold stone wall. Though his clothes had been left to him, his equipment and backpack were gone, and nowhere to be seen.
The room he was in was very large and longer than it was wide, with a raised dias at the opposite end of the room, and several tables laid sporadically throughout the room. Many of the tables were littered with what looked like magical equipment: tubes and vials and strange devices. Stretched across other tables were bodies, whether dead or alive, he could not tell. It almost felt like a grand reception chamber, except that its stone had no decorations (except the occasional sputtering torch) to make guests feel at home.
Looking to his left, Owain could see the rebel Moira hanging in a similar fashion. The woman was just coming to with a slight sigh. Beyond her, near the end of the room and a grand set of double doors, was a cage. Inside it sat Gregor, though it took Owain a moment to recognize him from his disheveled state. He, too, was just coming around.
On the other side of the room, opposite Gregor, was another cage, this one packed with people. None of them were moving much, though they seemed to be alive. They were positioned in various postures of despair. One of them, sitting with her head between her knees, he recognized as Mowyer. She didn't look up and he didn't have time to get her attention, because at that moment a piercing scream split the air.
Turning towards the source of the scream, Owain saw one of the bodies writing around on a table set neat the middle of the room, about ten feet away from him. It was a girl, and she was mostly naked, wearing only a ripped open tunic. He could see the mark of Oasis on her clenched hand and thought he recognized her as one of the rebels who'd followed them into the garden. She was tied down securely to the table, yet her spasms were so intense that the table shook and even moved a few inches back and forth.
Her body had been terribly mutilated. One of her breasts had been cut away, leaving a gaping hole which led directly to bone and muscle. With horror, Owain saw something moving within the hole. The girl continued to scream as whatever the thing was disappeared further inside her.
At that moment, a side door that Owain had previously not seen, set near the dias, opened and a man entered the room. He was tall and very clean looking. He had a neatly trimmed grey beard and short cropped hair. He wore the white flowing robes of a master priest and symbols of Kai and Ishir adorned his neck. On one cheek was the mark of Citadel.
Flanked by two unarmed, unarmoured, citizens of Oasis, the priest strode to the table where the girl lay. He exuded infinite calmness as he watched her writhe in agony. At one point she managed to lay still enough to look at him and form words:
"Please... kill it... it's moving inside of me..."
Then she screamed again and vomited blood, an expulsion which the man made no move to avoid, staining his robes red down the front with her bile. She continued to drool a steady stream of her own blood, until the stream turned black and her eyes rolled back in her head. A few more spasms and she lay still. The room suddenly stank of urine and feces.
The man sighed.
"Another failure," he said.
Beneath the table, the woman's fluids pooled over a large panel of vents, dripping down into some unknown passageway. Standing in this secret passageway, well away from the dripping mess and unseen to all within the room, Aram looked upwards with wide eyes.
Welcome to Chapter 9.
Some notes... each of you (except Aram) has no equipment. You've been totally stripped of everything you had. There are a few exceptions, which will be noted on your private boards. You may have a chance to retrieve some of your equipment.
Owain, you cannot move much. Gregor, your cage is about three feet by five feet, you have very limited movement. Mowyer, your cage is larger, but it's crammed full of people.
Aram, you can skip, hop, jump, and run.
It was a shadowy figure, huge and squat. It peered at him with eyes that were only visible because, impossibly, they were darker than its skin. The creature worked over Owain's body with a strange solemnity. It seemed ridiculously calm as it pried open his chest with its bare hands and dropped something inside.
Whatever it was that fell into the cavity was alive. Owain could feel it moving inside of him.
He awoke to find at least part of his dream was true. He couldn't move. He was stretched out and bound by tight chains to a cold stone wall. Though his clothes had been left to him, his equipment and backpack were gone, and nowhere to be seen.
The room he was in was very large and longer than it was wide, with a raised dias at the opposite end of the room, and several tables laid sporadically throughout the room. Many of the tables were littered with what looked like magical equipment: tubes and vials and strange devices. Stretched across other tables were bodies, whether dead or alive, he could not tell. It almost felt like a grand reception chamber, except that its stone had no decorations (except the occasional sputtering torch) to make guests feel at home.
Looking to his left, Owain could see the rebel Moira hanging in a similar fashion. The woman was just coming to with a slight sigh. Beyond her, near the end of the room and a grand set of double doors, was a cage. Inside it sat Gregor, though it took Owain a moment to recognize him from his disheveled state. He, too, was just coming around.
On the other side of the room, opposite Gregor, was another cage, this one packed with people. None of them were moving much, though they seemed to be alive. They were positioned in various postures of despair. One of them, sitting with her head between her knees, he recognized as Mowyer. She didn't look up and he didn't have time to get her attention, because at that moment a piercing scream split the air.
Turning towards the source of the scream, Owain saw one of the bodies writing around on a table set neat the middle of the room, about ten feet away from him. It was a girl, and she was mostly naked, wearing only a ripped open tunic. He could see the mark of Oasis on her clenched hand and thought he recognized her as one of the rebels who'd followed them into the garden. She was tied down securely to the table, yet her spasms were so intense that the table shook and even moved a few inches back and forth.
Her body had been terribly mutilated. One of her breasts had been cut away, leaving a gaping hole which led directly to bone and muscle. With horror, Owain saw something moving within the hole. The girl continued to scream as whatever the thing was disappeared further inside her.
At that moment, a side door that Owain had previously not seen, set near the dias, opened and a man entered the room. He was tall and very clean looking. He had a neatly trimmed grey beard and short cropped hair. He wore the white flowing robes of a master priest and symbols of Kai and Ishir adorned his neck. On one cheek was the mark of Citadel.
Flanked by two unarmed, unarmoured, citizens of Oasis, the priest strode to the table where the girl lay. He exuded infinite calmness as he watched her writhe in agony. At one point she managed to lay still enough to look at him and form words:
"Please... kill it... it's moving inside of me..."
Then she screamed again and vomited blood, an expulsion which the man made no move to avoid, staining his robes red down the front with her bile. She continued to drool a steady stream of her own blood, until the stream turned black and her eyes rolled back in her head. A few more spasms and she lay still. The room suddenly stank of urine and feces.
The man sighed.
"Another failure," he said.
Beneath the table, the woman's fluids pooled over a large panel of vents, dripping down into some unknown passageway. Standing in this secret passageway, well away from the dripping mess and unseen to all within the room, Aram looked upwards with wide eyes.
Welcome to Chapter 9.
Some notes... each of you (except Aram) has no equipment. You've been totally stripped of everything you had. There are a few exceptions, which will be noted on your private boards. You may have a chance to retrieve some of your equipment.
Owain, you cannot move much. Gregor, your cage is about three feet by five feet, you have very limited movement. Mowyer, your cage is larger, but it's crammed full of people.
Aram, you can skip, hop, jump, and run.