Aquisitions (I)
Lightning flashed and struck the earth with
a resounding crack and a lone figure, clad in a dark cloak stood on the
massive stone escarpment that was once an ancient clanhold of the Church
of Cyric. Once known as the original Church of Strife, its towers pierced
the skies with spear-like points and its battlements loomed over the surrounding
country like a great and terrible shadow. Now, it was no more then a massive
mound of rubble and recollections of a forgotten age. Its battlements reduced
to piles of rock covered in moss and dirt, and its glories and treasures
buried deep under the plateau that was now buffeted by chill winds and
ceaseless rain. As the figure picked his way through the surface remains
of walls, hallways, and rooms he began to recall several fond memories
of his time as a member, then leader, lost, then found again devotee of
Cyric. These memories had brought this silent and powerful Cyricist to
this lost place. As the wind rushed through the cavernous openings of the
plateau it caused shrill banshee-like cries to echo in the mountainous
region. The traveller paused a moment, and listened, his fine pointed ears
heeding the calls of the tormented souls still bound to the castle. His
sharp icy blue eyes scanned the large room he was in. The old library of
the keep now stood as a burnt husk, with its ceiling open to the elements.
Rainwater cascaded down the walls giving the slick black stone an almost
liquid appearance. It was not the water that caught the figure's attention,
but the way that it seemed to collect in a shallow at one end of the room
and swirl in a tiny whirlpool. Had it not been raining, he might not have
noticed the hidden and cracked seal over the secret staircase. His thin
pale lips curled into a smirk at Raistlin's ingenuity. Raistlin knew his
friend had always loved the rain, and therefore would be most likely to
understand its nature and its secrets. The
form drew a few pinches of dust from within his the confines of his robes.
Careful to keep it from the elements he invoked a spell of water destruction
and watched passively as the water in the shallow faded into nothingness.
He quickly moved to the seal and uttered another spell, this one of detection
to discern any wards present. None of consequence being found, he uttered
a third and final spell and was rewarded as the Dark Sun seal descended,
into a spiral staircase which he quickly walked down. Not long after reaching
the bottom, the figure watched the staircase elevate itself back into its
dark seal at the center of the library. S.
