A brief respite in the main chamber allowed the party to reset their cooldowns, Cas roasted up a hunk of cockatrice meat for the omnivores to enjoy, regaining their health and filling their bellies. Descending the obsidian stairs took the better part of an hour, a tunnel awaited them at the bottom. Passing through, braziers lit up with green flames illuminating paintings of a dwarven warlock, "Lavis is a dwarf?" A hint of surprise in Cas' voice.
"I guess I failed to mention that, the dwarven race once controlled a large sector of Nusciynia.* Sadly, when the forces of Parrish Zul'do* attempted to extinguish the eternal flames* and were defeated by the Divine Entente* many dwarfs were exterminated. Those who remain live predominantly in the mining capital Minbuldohr,* rarely surfacing except for those conducting trades. Lavis was an archmagi corrupted by Zul'do and one of the ten terrors.* In the battle beneath Elysium's Pinnacle,* Lavis and majority of the terrors were sealed eternally by the Entente."
Realizing how little he understood of the world he now inhabits, Cas made a mental note to study its history when he had more time. He recalled a tome in Vale's study called "Nusciynia: A History of Conquest and Cooperation." Once their quest was completed he intended to borrow the volume. The eyes in the pictures seemed to follow the party down the tunnel, nearing its end they could see a strange door made of solid gold, no handles or visible way to open it seemed to exist. "Any ideas Vale?"
Observing the door, Vale was lost in contemplation, she inspected the door, then the wall and finally the nearest pictures of Lavis. The last depiction of Lavis was of him pointing to the ground, when the party searched the floor they found unique panels with runes engraved. "These contain traces of magic, allow me a minute to search the tunnel." Having already set off before anyone could chime in. Raeja sniffed the golden door, circling before plopping down and proceeding to preen. Gruxe trailed after his master. Some time passed before Vale returned to announce her findings. "I've got an idea, come, there are panels that I believe if we stand on in unison will allow us to open the door." Following her instructions, the party spread out across the tunnel, each standing near specific pictures of Lavis which Vale identified. Finally, Vale returned to the final picture of Lavis, standing on the rune engraved panel and pressing her palm into the artwork triggered some sort of mechanism. Sliding into the wall, the golden door open the path forward.
Inside, a vast assortment of treasure filled a massive marbled room, piles of coins, gems, jewelry and ornate weapons littered the marble floor. "We're rich!" Cas exclaimed setting out to fill his bags.
"Wait! Something feels off, don't touch anything, there is a reason the adventurers who sealed the phoenix left all this wealth behind."
Her words made sense, staying his lusty hands Cas turned his attention to the back of the room, a massive energy case held the phoenix. Black streaks wove intricate patterns across the firebird's flame colored feathers, its plumage was fire made flesh, great golden chains bound the bird to its structure. The majestic entity appeared to sleep, yet radiated a powerful aura even through its entrapment. Cas look passed his awe finding a pedestal in the center of the room. Atop the plinth, an emerald casted hand held an orb of encased flame. Indicators flashed in Cas' mind menu.
Item- Inferno Essence (Epic) "Used to seal the corrupted phoenix Synder, absorbing the essence endows the user with power of Vulcan*."
Having found what they came for Cas announced, "There! That item is what we need to complete the quest!" Raeja stared at the bound phoenix, growling the mighty lion circled the birds tomb, energy rippled through the case's wall.
"Careful Cas, that's a powerful item, when you remove it we need to be ready for a fight" Removing a scroll from her bag she activated it, a tide flooded the room to their ankles, with a wave of her staff the water formed a barrier guarding the party from the phoenix. Gruxe's amulet of crystallization activated, freezing the water barrier and forming a wall of ice to protect the party. Sensing they were ready, Cas approached the inferno essence, he reached out wrapping his fingers around the orb, jolts of energy reverberated through his arm. Removing the orb was a strenuous job, the emerald hand seemed to pull the orb back to it, after a brief struggle Cas managed to store the item in his bag.
System Message, Inferno Essence Obtained, Defeat the corrupted phoenix "Synder" or escape Blackrock.
As the system message faded, the energy tomb containing the phoenix faded away. It's great golden chains unlocked their cuffs, falling to the ground with a heavy metallic thud. As if the sound awakened it, the phoenix's eyes open, letting loose a high pitched shriek the bird stretched black streaked scarlet wings .
Character: Synder (Corrupted Elite)
Level 10
HP 3500/3500
"Empowered with the force of darkness, Synder slayed many would be jailers before a Legion tasked by the Divine Entente managed to seal it away."
Flapping its mighty wings, Synder opened his beak, a spiral of flame erupted, engulfing the recently constructed ice barrier. Under the heat of the attack the ice began to melt.
"Quick, if were to survive we need to utilize the barrier while it still stands." Rushing to the left most side of the barrier Vale stepped beside it, waving her staff she sent a blast of condensed water at the birds breast. Gruxe, in tow reached out, transforming the blast as it exploded into an icy jacket.
-90hp Target slowed for ten seconds
Roaring, Raeja rounded the right side of the barrier, leaping into the air with outstretched paws his claws digging into the phoenix's back as they collided. His pounce stunned the slowed Synder, the lion followed up his initial attack with a mighty swipe of his claw, shrieks, blood and feathers filled the air. Opening his mouth to expose shining white fangs, Raeja bit into the birds large neck, damage indicators flashed in rapid succession.
-75 -110 -90 bleed inflicted, ten damage per second for ten seconds
Gruxe sprinted towards the beast, activating fracture fist, the ape smashed a balled gray fist into the icy jacket covering Synder's breast. Icy shards flew as a massive -310 damage was inflicted. (Stun Failed) As another powerful punch flew towards the phoenix the bird let loose an angry roar, magic flashed in the beady eyes of the bird, an energy wave pulsed from its body sending both ape and lion flying through the air. Raeja smashed through a pillar, taking 150 damage, stones fell from the destroyed pillar pelting the lion. Gruxe landed hard on the marble floor before sliding another ten feet away and taking 115 damage. Cas lashed out with lions tooth, imbuing the whip with the basic earth endowment as it flashed through the air, the barbed tip took the bird in the wounded nape of its neck with a sharp thud. Yellow damage indicator turning red as the beast received 75 damage, Cas rushed to the opposite side of the bird causing the sunken barb to rip a rather large gash in the corrupted phoenix's neck. Dark red blood drooled from the wound.
Target is severely wounded, bleed inflicted 10 damage per second for sixty seconds.
Enraged, the phoenix lashed out with a torrent of flame, barely raising the bone scutum in time, still the flames superheated the shield causing burn damage to Cas.
-20hp -20hp-20hp
At this rate Cas would be engulfed in a matter of moments, thankfully Vale doused the bird with a tidal wave of aquatic energy, extinguishing the flames burning Cas and causing the bone scutum to whistle as steam filled the air.
Bone Scutum rendered ineffectual.
Casting the shield to the ground Cas replaced it with his gladius and charged the corrupted beast. Raising the sword and slashing across the monsters chest resulted in fifty damage and a thin cut. Vale repeatedly cast balls of condensed aqua energy, each dealing 75 damage when they exploded. The tamer's beast having regained their feet returned to the battle, Raeja swiped at the birds powerful legs, periodically dodging the monsters talons. Gruxe stood behind the beast, channeling ice essence before unleashing winter's wraith dealing an amplified 340 damage and inflicting frostbite. Wounds littered the corrupted phoenix's body, inside Cas' mind menu the bird was a jumble of green, yellow and red. Under the assault from the party the bird resorted to taking flight, circling the room the beast swooped down launching torrents of flame at the party. Sweat covered Cas' brow, dripping into his eyes he pondered a way to ground the phoenix. "Vale, can you summon a wave above it? If Gruxe freezes it perhaps the result will crush this fire chicken!"
"Its worth a shot, we just need to time our attack with its flight path!" She went to work swaying her staff. Ahead of the bird a stream of water formed a ten by ten slab, Gruxe used his magic to freeze the result as Synder flew under the wodge. Vale released her hold, the block smashed into Synder, driving the phoenix into the ground. The impact resulted in a massive 410 damage while trapping the wounded bird under the block of ice. Gruxe retrieved a large stone from the fallen pillar, lifting the boulder the ape leapt, once above the trapped phoenix he flung the rock into the icy anvil. Shrieks of pain emitted from the phoenix as it suffered another 250 damage. With less then 700hp remaining the bird was in dire straits, blood pooled from under the trapped beast as it struggled to rise. Utilizing an energy pulse to shift the weight of the icy anchor Synder managed to free himself. Hobbled, the bird limped towards the party, eyes filled with rage and pain. "Lets finish this!" Shouting a war cry, Cas charged the injured beast, lashing out with lions tooth he dealt strike after strike. Gruxe and Raeja joined the fray, the ape launching heavy handed punches as the lion clawed at the bird's flank. Vale again fired condensed aqua energy blasts. Under the barrage, Synder fell.
An indicator flashed, 2000exp received
System Message- Synder slayed, Flames of Vulcan Completed, return to the tapestry.
With the influx of experience both Vale and Gruxe reached level 11, Cas reached level five, his experience bar continued climbing before reaching level six and granting 22 total attribute points. Raeja reached level seven receiving 15 attribute points. Cas allocated the lion's points first, adding eight to strength, five to defense and two to intelligence. He proceeded to add 15 to his own strength total and the remaining seven to defense. With that out of the way Cas turned to Vale, she was already examining the loot with visible delight.
Material- Corrupted Phoenix Feather (Gold) Used for crafting
Equipment- Magmatic Greaves (Silver) +20 defense +10 Dexterity "Derived from molten magma these greaves add 50 fire defense."
Item- Phoenix Egg (Unique Legendary) "The reincarnated spirt of corrupted phoenix Synder, Can be hatched or infused."
"Holy Crap you got an egg!" Lifting the scarlet speckled egg Vale handed the item over to Cas. "Here, its your quest."
"What do I do with it?" Staring at the egg in his hand, Cas was in awe, seemingly made of obsidian the shell had streaks of varied shades of red and orange. Oddly, the egg was light as a feather.
Vale spoke, snapping him out of his trance. "Lets get out of here, the volcano grows restless, I fear the release of magic is going to lead to an eruption. We can talk more once we safely away." She turned, wasting no time in heading for the exit.
*Nusciynia- Largest continent in Xternity roughly the size of Asia
*Parrish Zul'do- An Elven King who discovered an ancient tome of darkness, corrupted by the magical contents, he formed the ten terrors who sought to douse the eternal flames.
*Eternal Flames- Seven holy fires that are said to prevent the evil God Siaos from returning and casting Xternity into eternal darkness.
*Divine Entente- A combined effort between races, consisted of humans, elf's, orcs, dwarfs and fairies, banded together under the leadership of Holy Chancellor Uldreyin Krisyarus.
*Ten Terrors- Sacrificing their souls for power these abominations led the forces of Zul'do against the Divine Entente.
*Elysium's Pinnacle- The highest peak in Nusciynia, a holy shrine rests atop of it where the six of the ten terrors are said to be sealed. Guarded by stone sentinels built from fallen meteorites.
*Minbuldohr- The mining epicenter of the dwarven race, The Opulence Burrow and Gilded Brick trading companies compete for control of the city.
*Vulcan- Elemental God of Flame