The Gatekeeper
Dungeon Master
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2017
- Messages
- 543
- Reaction score
- 758
The descent of the pair would proceed without impediment, but each step carried with it a weight. The weight of dozens who had fallen in this tomb before them, and the weight of the Dark Side itself closing in around them. The tomb bled evil like nowhere else on the surface of the world. It was a nexus of dark energy that had been designed and shaped by the Dark Lord himself. In front of them it would feel like the enticing whisper of a lover and behind them it was the stalking blade of a rival. It was everything they hated, loved, and feared all at once. It was the promise of unrivaled power and slavery to that power.
As their feet touched the bottom step, the room below lit up with an unnatural light that streamed down from a position unseen above. Whether technology or some witchery of the Force didn't matter, but the room was pulsing with the Force. The two would sense it immediately as the door behind them - previously obscured by the darkness - rumbled closed. There was no retreat and no leaving. Simply the two warriors.
Beyond the stairs, the pair would be able to see cages filled with abominations of all different forms. The species were unable to be seen, but it was clear that each and every one of them had been twisted by the Dark Side. To their left and right were more cages filled still with the creatures, but none were released. Not a single one had been loosed, but it was clear that the room contained enough creatures to kill the pair dozens of times over.
Despite the creatures filling the corners of the room, there was an eerie silence and stillness to the room. The air felt stifling and stagnant, threatening to steal the warmth directly from their blood. If the two managed to pass the stairs they would find a contrived path to the central dome atop further stairs and bridges, and finally the sarcophagus of the Dark Lord himself, and atop it, sitting in a groove designed to fit its pyramidal base perfectly, the prize.
To reach it, however, was no small task. Beaten, bleeding, and bruised, the pair had yet to face the Dark Lord's champion. At the center of the room, at the base of the stairs, the pair would see a hulking figure, hunched over. Approaching the size of a rancor, it crouched unmoving. Never before had anyone passed this far into the tomb to see the creature. Not since the day the tomb had been sealed.
As they took a step forward, the floor behind their feet burst into flames in the shape of a single word that would draw both their eyes.
Kovoti