Samurai paladins are delicious, I always thought they made good samurai.
I'm partial to "Taphite", sounds about right. Apparently (since it's an actual word/place) the term is "Taphians".
Just to keep the creative juices flowing I'm going to be typing out random fluff dumps. I'll also get around to requesting an official subforum shortly, looks like it's going to be Raineh (paladin?), Frogman (monk?), Phaedrus (psion if he can play?), and Flaming (unknown).
Do you remember the motherland? I did... but it feels like forever ago.
Taphos was majestic back then, especially Deshret where I was stationed. It was a city sandwiched between the rolling coastal waters of Akhet and the sandy red desert and painted sandstone plateaus, and the whole place was painted like a vivid sunset of golds, oranges, and yellows and rare splashes of blue from polished lapis lazuli stonework. I was a knight there, part of the Jackal Squad, and was merely wasting my time away as auxiliary protecting the city from threats we honestly didn't have. Other squads would see action being sent over on missions to Hinnom, or sent to one of Rubicon's mines that dug too deep or too greedily. They brought in a good deal of funds playing police for others who couldn't handle it, and they got to stay in shape in case of danger. Its how the Queen managed to keep us so well stock, even an auxiliary squad like ourselves. I hear the ragtag group that makes up Espere's "army" don't even get magicite-infused weapons, never mind things of masterwork quality. I wish I appreciated it more, if I knew then what I knew now, I would revel in the peace and beauty of it all.
Everyone respected us there. Sometimes we would polish up our armor so that the brass and gold shone like the sun and went walking with our helmets and masks on. The kids seemed to love it, we'd look like the giant statues which littered the place had come to life to protect everyone. Well, I did, with the heavier armor. Sadat was our party scout so his armor was more robes than anything, and Adly was our spellcaster so he was lightly equipped too. There were more of course, but us three were close knit.
I remember morning it happened. It was really early, the sun hadn't even risen yet and I was up in the Amber Oasis getting a drink. I didn't sleep very well for some reason, and decided to call it quits on trying to get any rest from that point. I was just waking up when I heard thunder, unlikely given it wasn't rain season, and the entire bar shook. The whole place went silent and people starting moving towards the windows, as did I. Normally a keen eye could look over the waters and see the distant glow of lights placed around the base of the Throne of Heaven even from this far back, but the dim haze of distant Chrysanthemum was missing. Far above I thought I saw the sun risen in the air a dim baleful red, and distant stormclouds forming a line which separated sea and sky. I honestly didn't know what to make of it, I figured it might be a trick on the eyes like a mirage, or some magical tomfoolery. But then the thunder returned with a vengeance, a catastrophic boom which shattered the windows and knocked several of the less stable patrons off their feet. I was already running towards headquarters to report, hastily getting my gear in shape. The red haze above was no longer a single sphere, but was fragmenting apart and coming closer. It began to rain fire, ash, and crimson sparks from the sky setting fire to flammable objects and starting fires all around the city. Things were so chaotic it was a blur of shouting and trying to get people indoors, trying to take control of rising flames, and to claim the people. By the time we got everything under control I do not know what time it was as the sky was blackened with smoke, or perhaps the shroud that was forming around the mountain. That day there was no sunlight.
They immediately sent off their messenger birds to other places, but the ones headed for Chrysanthemum never returned. I hear they even had some of the master spellcasters in the capital attempting Sending spells, with no avail. We were one of the closest spots, and so our squad was immediately conscripted as forward scouts to move into the area and try to make physical contact with someone, anyone, and report back what we saw. We were expecting a disaster zone, wildfires and the like, but we weren't really expecting a major fight so we went in with our usual gear. In any normal situation the "normal gear" would have been overkill in and of itself, but...
It was 9 hours into the trip I think, and we were making steady progress. We had gotten pass the border with no problems, the border checkpoint was completely abandoned with no sign of the bodies or anyone having manned it. There was signs of conflict, but analysis was inconclusive. I can only imagined by the tracks leading inward they were recalled to help, but we found no horses or carts. What we did find was strange glowing patches on the ground. It was magicite, or ground up magicite dust, glowing a baleful red color. If I remembered what they told me about the substance in school, purple was dangerous, and blue and green were normal. I've even heard of strange yellow magicites, but never red. We couldn't tell if it was safe to approach or where it came from so we moved on. 13 hours in, and my sleep was interrupted by the cart nearly falling on its side.
"Attack! Attack!" I grasped my shotel and rolled out the cart door, tumbling onto one knee as the others turned sharply to avoid another blow. Our attackers looked like oxen, but their bodies were covered in thick metal plate, and jagged red shards stuck from their iron flesh. Foul green yellow smoke poured from their nose and eyes as they attempted to ram into the cart again. I immediately sprung into action, aided by Adly's sorcery as they played evasive and immediately drew both their attentions away for a moment. Breathing in their miasmas must have done something bad to me, because my body felt stiff and ached, but I managed to tear upon a blood vessel in one of their necks before I had to retreat, and the other was mounted by Sadat, that fool, who managed to get himself gored pretty well before the poison he had forced into the creature's eye took effect.
"What are these?" I asked as we bound Sadat's wounds and used our healing supplies to stop the bleeding. Aldy was the one most knowledgeable, but he seemed troubled. "Shades... I... I think. From the Underdark."
"Shades? Shades are cave squids, or walking mushrooms, or even black elves. I've never heard of armored cows, especially ones that breathe death and take that many blows to bring down..."
"Sadat is right, these shades are strange. And their bodies... there's magicite all over them. Its that red stuff. They trashed the cart pretty badly, we may have to leave it here and go with just the horses."
"We'll take a sample and keep moving, I don't think we can afford to wait here. ...there's not a mine in sight. How did shades get this far out here? Whose watching the mines?"
We'd find out soon enough, it was only 2 hours more until we hit the town of Remus. The whole place was abandoned, every last man, woman, and child was gone. There wasn't too much fire damage and there was only minor signs of chaos, likely from the rush of evacuation. As our horses drew close to the town square we had to stop. Before us was an enormous sinkhole which must have swallowed up... god, who knows how many square blocks. The whole thing went into a sharp incline, and the sides of the wall glistened with raw violet magicite. It was like someone had dug a mineshaft straight into the center of town with an impossibly large drill. But the fate of their housing was not what shocked us, but the bodies. The sides of the shaft were littered with corpses broken and shattered on sharp rock edges below. Hundreds, no, maybe thousands of bodies for I could not see the bottom of the shaft as it spread downward into darkness. An entire town population seemingly pushed into a death pit, or maybe they leapt into it in a fit of madness. I could not tell if the sickness I felt was from the sight or the radiation dose we must have been taken, but I could not move affixed on the darkness below. I swore I heard something, it was a voice. I swore I heard it say-
"Snap out of it, we got to go!"
"Oh my god..."
I barely avoided a titanic hand reaching out of the blackness, stretching towards me unnaturally before slamming into the edge of the pit. I don't know what got over me but the others dragged me to my horse and we mounted, beating a hasty retreat. As I glanced behind me I saw a shadowed figure black as night shaped like a gaunt humanoid, nearly all bones. Its body had been threaded out to a grotesque height and its face... no, that wasn't a face. A blank void with a cross shaped gaping wound where a face should be. We were going so fast, but it towered over us, over the town, over anything I've seen as it began its long and purposeful strides towards us. In its hand was a spire made of shadows. It was no use, there was no way to get out of its reach. I saw Adly trying to evade the incoming lance, and then I saw Adly being lifted into the air by the lance. I do not know where his body or horse landed. It's grim of me to say, but it was just the delay me and Sadat needed to outpace the thing. Eventually the titan seemed to give up its chase as we rode our horses to the bone trying to get back. We hand to warn the others. But when we arrived, there wasn't anyone to warn. We could see it from the horizon, titanic shapes, black shadows, burning flames. We had only faced one, but Deshret was dwarfed by a horde of them. They rose from the bay, trampling the city under their long needle legs which were nevertheless as thick as tree trunks. Our horses slowed down to a stop as we wanted the city burn and crumble.
Sadat was barely awake. Between his wounds and our rough retreat his wounds were re-opening and he had lost a lot of blood. I regret to say that I do not deserve the honorable title of knight. In their time of need, I abandoned them. I wasn't even able to warn them in time. I fled in shame with Sadat in tow, with no destination or future. I have long lost track of how long it has been. Under the shroud there is no day, only eternal night. Sadat is still with me, but he no longer speaks. And I have been troubled with the nightmares and that voice from the pit. No matter what I do, I can't seem to leave this place. I can't face those I abandoned, and there is something here in this cursed land. Something that is calling.
Maybe I should go deeper and find out the answer...
