The more Arin was moving ahead, towards his direction unknown, the more his surroundings were becoming surreal. The graffities appeared to be coming alive when he was not looking at. Thanks to his lord Ner'thazir's warning, he now knew that followers of God of Decay was at play here.
*donn*
Arin realized he had put his feet on a pressure plate. Before he could react, darts started rushing towards him at lightning speed from both sides. But those darts were relatively pretty small to actually hurt him. "Most probably their tips were poisoned" Arin thought, "because I am undead, simple poisons would not work on me anymore, but it would seriously endanger any other living beings."
Twice Arin had activated traps till now. But problem is, there was water on surface, which would hide the traps planted beneath the watery surface. Arin decided to use the stave to identify traps submerged in water, like the blind people do. The more he progressed more traps were discovered. Although he was avoiding them thanks to his stave, it had hugely affected his movement speed. It was getting frustratingly slow.
After a while, he had a strange discovery. A part of the inner wall of the sewage had collapsed, and it had revealed a hidden chamber. That chamber was dark, but at the same time, was emitting a feint reddish glow. Strangely, even Arin was not being able to clearly see through this strange darkness. It was clear that, this darkness was not natural, but rather, was due to some strange otherworldly miasma that had filled the chamber and was obstructing vision. Arin could sense in his bones that there were some dangers, lurking in the shadow; waiting, gritting their teeth, to pounce on him, as soon as he steps inside. But there was no turning back. He gripped the short sword and stave firmly in both hands and walked in.
As soon as he stepped foot in the chamber, he received a notification-
[ You have entered territory of death and decay. All Light, Creation Spells will have their efficiency reduced up to 20%. All Dark Spells will have their efficiency increased up to 25%]
"Death and Decay?" Arin wondered. As par Ner'thazir, Nahun was God of Decay. But Death was domain of his Lord. It made Arin a bit confused. But at the same time, he was happy knowing his only power beside Necromancy, - Dark Skill had actually become more effective upon entering this zone.
"Look who is here" Arin suddenly heard a whisper, in a very shrill voice, that was enough to freeze his now mutated blood. But there were no one. He looked around. But in that thick, red mist nothing could be seen. However, he could feel that he was not alone right now, rather was surrounded by one or more hostile beings. Occasionally he could hurl a snarl, swiftly passing by him. But the problem was that they were literally invisible to him at the moment.
Suddenly he recalled, he had his scrying skill. It could prove effective in identifying the enemies which were hiding in the treacherous mist, and slowly but steadily were closing on him. Arin stood farm, silent; calmed his mind, and activated his Scrying skills. And, as he had anticipated, their levels were now visible over their head, revealing their position; although they themselves were still obscure like a silhouette. It seemed at least six were there around him. They were circling around him too fast for him to take any action. They had to be slowed down, and Arin had perfect tool for it.
He stretched his hand, gathered the dark energy floating around, which was abundant specifically in this part of the labyrinth. "By the death's might and pale moon's dark glow; let your courage wane, and your spirits low" he chanted and unleashed his Dread Howl. The six Rat-men, which were circling around him, suddenly tripped over and fell on each other. This was an opportunity Arin could not pass, for his enemies were many and he was alone.
Arin jumped on one Ratman and trusted his stave in its eye with all his might. The stave pierced its eye and went inside it's skull where it got stuck. Arin put his right foot on its throat for support as he pulled the stave out which was stuck in the Ratman's skull. In this process its neck got broken as he could hear the snapping sound.
Arin did not waste time and smashed the other's head with his stave. However, the repeated attack of blunt force cracked not just it's skull, but Arin's stave as well in that process. As he dropped the broken stave, Arin suddenly faced a sensation behind his back. His left hand which was grabbing the short sword automatically moved behind instinctually and there was a splatter of blood and shriek. Arin looked behind to realize a rat-man had pounced on his back, but he instinctively shoved dagger in its throat.
Rest of three jumped on Arin together. Arin kicked the middle one in the abdomen to push it down. The left one fell on the short sword in Arin's left arm and lost its life. The one on right side found it's neck in deathly grasp of Arin's right hand. Arin chuckled, "As I cast my curse on thee, let your life flow into me" and the Rat-man lost its life in minute. He tossed the dried-up body of the Ratman, grabbed the short sword with his both hands and jumped on the last remaining one, which had stood up now after getting kicked by Arin earlier. Before it could react, Arin fell on it with the sword shoved in its chest, putting weight of his whole body behind. Arin tried to pull out sword, but it probably had broken it's rib cage and got stuck inside.
Arin huffed and decided to search those six of their belongings. All of them had those strange amulets of similar pattern. He absorbed the dark energy imbued in them and as a result withstood barrage of earlier strange visions as side effect.
Each of them had a dagger with them. Arin took all six and arranged them in his belt. One had a strange flask with a yellowish liquid in it. With help of scrying skill, he identified it as Acid Flask. Arin kept it in his backpack to use it as a projectile if situation demands.
As he moved ahead there were some patrols here and there. Most were alone or a as a team of two. They could not pose much threat to Arin. He quickly finished them before they could call for help, and create unnecessary difficulty for Arin. He continued his journey till he ended up in front of a big door. Surprisingly, there were no guards. But he felt something was behind this door. He could feel an ominous energy swirling inside. Arin felt a sensation. As he looked at himself. To his surprise, he could see his veins were glowing bright green, as if his necromantic blood was boiling inside.
Arin, with the tip of a dagger, slowly opened the door. He had anticipated a trap would spring or some enemies hidden inside the room will jump on him. But nothing like that happened.
The room was pitch black, too black to see even for his eyes. But he could see a strange glow coming from the center of the hall. On a closer look it seemed like the glow was emanating from a stone tablet which was placed on an altar-like structure in the middle of the hall. Strangely, it felt like, the tablet was beckoning him.
Arin slowly walked towards it to get a closer look. There was a strange pattern inscribed on the tablet. It vaguely seemed very familiar. As Arin was trying to recognise and decipher it, he felt a thick oil like something dropped on his shoulder. Before he could try to understand nature of the liquid, he felt a burning sensation on his shoulder, where the liquid had fallen. It was too much painful. Arin looked upward to find out where from the liquid had dropped, only to discover a pair of bright yellow serpentine eyes. And it swept on him, like a hawk sweeps on a hare. A cold slippery lump of flesh brushed past him. Before he could react, he found himself being suddenly constricted by the same oily fleshy substance. His body below his shoulder felt a crushing pressure around. Only his hands were free. Before he could react, he found himself being lifted upward by something to bring him at the same level of those big cruel and vicious eyes. Arin looked at those eyes, and realized he had been caught in deathly coils of a huge serpent. It opened its mouth and extended its tongue to lick Arin, probably to understand his nature. "Look who we have here, a cute little walking corpse!" it spoke, "I have not tasted your ilk ever, let's see how do you taste!"