A Gruesome History

He carefully unraveled the scroll, reading it with utmost care, its contents were related to the divine, it was apparently a page from a journal, or a note left by someone that knew Elder Speech.

"Interesting… didn't expect to find a journal… yessss… most interesting… yesss." Thought the skeletal Acolyte.

The scroll narrated events long past, the prosecution of a peculiar religion, followers of the Keeper of Souls in the city of Kel'Aztahl, the events were brutal, mass executions, defilement of women and finally desecration of the temples, none were spared, not even the children survived, all on the orders of high bishop Thynum Krammulrr of the Church of The Stone Hammer, Father of the Black Forge.

The writer deemed it necessary to describe in great detail the gruesome process that the worshippers were subjected to, their eyes were gouged out, a small, red-hot iron walking stave that had an imitation of an oil lamp hanging from the upper side of it was nailed to their right hand, a weight scale was sewn to their left hand, and finally they were throwing into the raging waters of the river of Kel'Natha, it was as if nature itself was full with wroth, the massacre created harrowing scenes along the continent, this wasn't the only settlement to be purged, as the High Bishop stated.

The river had dyed red from the blood, and bodies were left to rot on the red waters, disfigured and mangled as they were, they made for a grim spectacle, and finally the cities were burn, not a single stone remained unturned, not a single building remained standing, not a single soul left unharvested.

Then the same fate followed the cities Kel'Modtuhl, Kel'Neztahl and Kel'Nohlzha, all of them followed the river of Kel'Natha, a total death toll of forty thousand, no priest nor acolyte survived, the duergar were ruthless in their pursuit, the ones that tried to escape were shot with long runic arbalest, artifacts created in honor to the Father of the Black Forge, these were the contents of the scroll.

Finally, the writer singed at the end of the scroll it had a year and the signature of the writer.

"Written in the Year of our Lady 1523… Amaeus of Balthora… date can be something cultural, can't be sure its accurate, but this Amaeus… quite graphical his description… yesss… and this cult… wonder what kind of god it served… and that bishop… hmmm hope I don't find any of them crazy people… considering I'm an undead and all… yesss…" thought the kobold Acolyte.

Suddenly the acolyte felt like a light bulb had lit on his mind, he quickly gathered the tomes and carefully placed the scroll under one of the tome's covers to secure it in place, taking the tomes with him and heading out of the archives.

He made his way towards the egg chamber, hoping that Throzahk would teach him something.

The hallways were now simple passages, and the seals on the doors were now simple runic writings glowing with light, the Skeletal Acolyte ignored them, passing swiftly the statuette that still tried to hold sway in his mind.

When he arrived, he was met by Throzahk's voice [Ah, there you are… I was about to call you… what did you bring I wonder… show me] ordered the spectral Throzahk.

And so the skeletal acolyte obeyed, but seeing that there was almost no space available on the stone slab he placed Jiagoss's tome on the floor, and placing the more substantial tome of Damos on top of the stone slab.

Seeing the skeletal acolyte actions, the ghostly Throzahk commented [Hmm… wonder what you brought me… if it made you simply discard Jiagoss tome…] then he moved towards the hefty tome, after seeing the bulky tome his spectral widened [YOU! I didn't think you would find this so fast… tell me! WHERE IS THE SCROLL!] Shouted Throzahk, while pointing at Damos tome.

The kobold acolyte swiftly answered by moving the cover to the side and pointing to the now visible scroll.

Seeing this Throzahk's face relaxed, and then he asked [Interesting… can you read this?] said Throzhak when he saw the runic scriptures, and he was met by a swift nod from the acolyte [Impressive… I guess you now understand proper draconic… now I won't have to lower myself to speak lower draconic] said Throzahk and suddenly his tone changed, the pronunciation of the words became more serpentine, and finally he talked [Do you understand me Acolyte?] asked Throzahk, his voice sounded like the first time he had talked to the skeletal acolyte, however the Kobold Acolyte now understood what he said.

Seeing the answer from the Acolyte, Throzahk gestured the acolyte to approach him, saying [Come, I need to scry your soul status] after he ordered this the acolyte obeyed, putting himself in front of Throzahk who instead of putting his spectral arm through the skeletal kobold chest, put it on one of his shoulders.

He saw that he had changed somewhat, but he felt something that he had ignored before [Interesting… you learned rather fast… much faster than my acolytes when I was alive, but this is unexpected… although I don't know how much time has passed, I can somewhat guess how much time it took you… seeing that the intruders haven't come back, and what exactly do you have on that pouch?] said Throzahk, pointing at the Kobold's cloth pouch.

"Took you a while to ask huh? Yess yesss… look…. A precious core… yesss… yesss…" thought the skeletal kobold, while patting the undead alligator core before showing it to Throzahk.

Seeing the core Throzahk opened his eyes wide, and then put a hand on his chin before comenting [Interesting… is that a core?] asked Throzahk, his question was answered quickly by the skeletal acolyte with a nod [Interesting… normally cores are only one color, red normally… but this one… it is different… too different… mutated even… is this from the temple's pet… of course it is there haven't come any other noises from the inside… Acolyte bring me the remains of the creature that once wore this, be quick! And don't leave the core, take it with you… it is better that way] ordered Throzahk, his voice commanded speed to the skeletal kobold.

Obeying the order, the skeletal acolyte swiftly went to collect the remains of the alligator, heading to the room where he had defeated the alligator, seeing that the bones hadn't detached from the joints, it just laid there, almost completely intact, save the hole in its skull, broken ribs and missing lower back legs that had been taken by the Skeletal acolyte.

The acolyte proceeded to cautiously touch the skeletal remains, probing to see if it was truly defeated, he felt a strange sensation, it was like his senses expanded when he touched the bones, but he could not control the bones "Hmmm… wonder what that was… interesting yesss… yesss…" thought the skeletal acolyte, who proceeded to drag the remains of the skeletal alligator by the hole in the skull, and then slowly headed out to the egg chamber.

When he entered the chamber Throzahk flew towards him, impressed by the sheer length and size of the body that was being dragged by the skeletal acolyte [No… impossible… I'tzhal wasn't this big when I was alive… I was at most one quarter of the size… maybe its body was mutated by the curse…] said Throzahk puzzled by the conundrum that the corpse posed, and then he made five gestures with his hands pointing at the floor, wich immediately began rising forming another stone slab, this one was wider and longer than the previous slab, and then he ordered [put the skeleton there, and don't let it touch the core… lest we want to damage the bones even further].

And so, the skeletal acolyte obeyed, putting the skeletal remains of the alligator on top of the stone slab [Good, good… now bring me Jashiel the Quicksilver's tome, Quick!] ordered Throzahk.

His orders were quickly met, and the tome was placed near Throzahk on top of the newly erected stone slab.

Seeing the tome in the stone slab Throzahk said [It is time for you to learn to cast some basic spells, specially the one that will make you able to speak… it is boring if I'm the only one speaking, it feels like a damned monologue, anyhow… open it and go to the page one hundred forty six, quickly!] and soon his order was fulfilled, the page where Jashiel tome was opened contained what seemed to be instructions in both Draconic and Álfar Speech, along with simple drawing of the hands positions and gestures, accompanied by the chant that was to go along with that.

Then Throzahk ordered the skeletal kobold [Learn the spell it will make it possible for you to speak, now go and practice the chant and gestures, after that we will see if we can make use of that core… now Practice!] with a thunderous voice he ordered the kobold acolyte.

"Ah, at last… yesss… yesss… " thought the skeletal kobold at the prospect of learning the spell.

He then began to the practice the movements showed by the tome, slowly and clumsily at first, but son after he had practiced the movements he began to master them faster and faster, feeling and seeing the veins in his bones concentrating in the runic scripture of the spell, but being unable to fully form, he kept practicing the movement with his hands until he had mastered them, and he heard a comment coming from Throzahk [Have you already mastered them? Good, good, simple gestures like this permit a fast learning, well keep practicing, I need to study I'tzhal's corpse… Go on then!] said Throzahk.

Obeying Throzahk order the kobold acolyte began practicing the chant "Oh, mana, lifeblood o' the world, allow me to speak, Spectral Voice!" chanted with spectral voice the skeletal kobold, his voice resounded throughout the halls of the temple with deafening volume.

Throzahk felt glee and surprise at the event it was truly unusual for an acolyte to learn even the simplest of spells so fast, he hand even begun to make the preparations for the rituals [Impressive… that… was fast… good… very good…] said Throzhak while clapping his hands, although no sound came from the gesture.