[Closed SRP] Investigating Origins

[Chonar]

"Th' reliquarians are thievin', powerhungry fiends that lack any smidge o' respect fer th' things they dig up. They don't even try an' hide this fact." The Mountain King grumbled, turning the corner as Denhomle proceeded them. "Though ye do make a fair point 'bout the Stonespire folk. Them 'avin a burialground atop a Titan ruin is... unfortunate. It was a burialground, wasn't it? Seems like it always is." The dwarf pondered for a moment, before thinking out loud; "If ye'd be willin' ta talk some sense into 'em, then even they would have tae see we're currenty deeper into th' ground than where any of their oldfolk could be restin'. Y'know, speakin' purely from a practical point 'a view."

The group continued downward, passing another layer of dirt and darkness. Chonar ducked a raptorbone as he headed downward, the jagged thing sticking out of the rocky walls.

"Ye 'ave your duties, and I have mine, Dawnseeker. We both 'ave our responsibilities, and I wager neither of us will be backin' down from stickin' to 'em." The dwarf replied stubbornly. "Still, this is all futuretalk. We dunnae yet know if we'll be findin' anythin' down here important enough fer th' League. Chances are th' entire place further down has been ground to dust 'n' rubble after th' Cataclysm. We'll see."

[Khorianas]

"So this is not inevitably going to end in violence. That is a good thing to hear. That basically is all I wanted to assure for now. I prefer negotiating with people I have stood in battle with to diplomats anyways. So If your theory about the entice place caving in proves wrong, I might get lucky if we stick together, sir Thunderbeard. You can call me Khorianas by the way."

The elf bowed slightly again and led his hand towards his chest.

[Vadoor]

Vadoor laughed with Chonar. The eredars mind began to travel back to that fateful day, as if a clock was rewinding time and space in front of his very eyes, allowing him to see the day when the mighty titan Sargares offered his race change.......

"It isnt tradition that separates us...its fear...fear of change. At first...I too was afraid... the though of such power...such strength...such change...we all were... And that's why we ran... We called our flight from power, tradition, but really it was just fear, fear of the unknowing, fear of what could be... But you can only run from change for so long, as I have found...Was I so wrong?"

"Yes Chonar," Vadoor said with an agreeing smile, knowing that the dwarf understood the draenei peoples strength in character,"without tradition the draenei would be mindless slaves of the Legion. And it is everyday that I am reminded of that gift of strength. It is through the Light that my people will find salvation!"

The very words burned at Vadoor's soul, and left a sour taste in his mouth. He knew what he said to be a lie, fully. Their salvation lied not in the Light, but in the acceptance of change, a change of tradition. Vadoor brushed his mouth to clear out the foul taste.

[Chonar]

The dwarf "hrmm"'d audibly enough under his helmet, but didn't reply any further at Khorianas other than a nod and a two-fingered salute at his forehead. The old man was rather set in his ways it seemed, though not to the point of being unreasonable.

Listening to Vadoor, he nodded again. "Aye, aye. Strength, honor. Values th' Light teaches. Values that cross over to many races, many people. Most often on either side o' th' battlefield, I've found." He murmured. A silent sigh escaped the elder dwarf before he straightened his back and headed further down the corridors.

[Nonfictionless]

The walked for what seemed like hours in a single file, endless corridor. It was made of earth and only a pair of glass tubes ran the length of it at its ceiling, but they were empty. The architecture spoke to Khaz'goroth's unmatched craftsmanship. The corridor was clearly millenniums old and yet no decay could be found, barely a crack. The lands above and around shaken by the cataclysm seemed to not even touch Khaz'goroth's facility. Denholme choose not to join in their conversation's. Frankly he found them uninteresting race didn't matter so much to him.

After nearly an hour though they reached the first test of their resolve to learn or steal from the Titans. They entered a grand circular antechamber filled with numerous gemstones, ores, and mechanisms (what they did they could only dream, for now). One hundred yards across from them stood several stone doors, much like the first one but with one a single word each and unreadable from this distance. However most captivating of all stood what could best be described as a human. The human however was fifty feet tall and made entirely of a diamond crystal. In his hands a claymore fit only for him and upon his left arm several more crystals, each of a different color. The nameplate read clearly from the entrance, were the group stood, was the name Acheras.

Denholme put his crystal away as the entire room was lit from many large metal torches. "Well then, Charles I believe you said you were gud with traps. Can you see a thing?" He then turned to Chonar, <"See if you can't find out what those doors say."> He spoke in dwarvish, not out of secrecy but simplely because he preferred the language. "I wuld take care not ta touch anythin for now. Acheras ova ther might still be active. Knowing Khaz'goroth I'd expect nuthin less." Denholme set himself to inspecting a particularly large anvil that had several different depressions and holes in it.


((Sorry for the long wait on this. Basically you can do anything accept touch things in here. Once someone does I'll have the next part up asap but if no one wishes to be the one to start it I will after most of you post. Also Chonar, for now the only two doors you can translate are Forge and Earth. Also be aware the speaking them aloud, as if to try and open them, will cause the same reaction as touching something. ^.^ Have fun.))

[The Madgod]

Charles nodded, grinning. "Ayep, give me a moment." said the assassin. Immediately, he began to go around the room, examining everything. He stopped by a pile of gems and noted the slight dip in the tile that they were piled on. He left, and examined a hole in the wall. There were many like it, and each seemed to ooze a tiny bit of oil, though from far away, the holes were tiny. There was a diamond pattern around the holes, similar to some of the tiles that were on the floor not covered in treasure. Looking down, he noticed he was standing on one of those diamond tiles, so he knew they were the safe spots. "You were right, the entire room is filled with pressure plates. Moving one bit of treasure will spring the traps. There's also holes here which look like they are capable of belching fire. Stay on the tiles with the diamond patterns. I'm also worried about that door... I fear that it will cause this guardian to awaken even IF we solve its mystery..."

[Chonar]

The dwarf's face lit up under his helmet as the cleared the corridor and entered the large, circular antechamber. Taking in the sights, the elder dwarf took the opportunity to sit down again, marvelling at their subterranean surroundings as he rested his back. "Och... I do love bein' proven wrong. Look at that... not a scratch." He murmured. He took off his helmet and looked up the tall statue, watching the light reflect off of its' many facets.

Turning to Denhomle, he nodded. <"Aye, on it."> He rose, unclasping the tome he carried from the chain hanging on his hip, and carefully made his way towards the doors. He was cautious for traps, but he didn't expect many outright, since all evidence sofar pointed to this room being some sort of inner courtyard. Still, at Charles' heedings, he took extra care to step only on the ornately designed tiles. Once he got to the double doors, he turned, calling out to the rest of the group.

"Ye fellas might wanna get comfortable. Th' writ is titanic runespeak o' the eldest kind. Single word translations miss context, so this might gonna be takin' a while." Overhearing Denhomle's warning, Chonar scoffed. "Pah. He looks perfectly harmless. A girl's best friend, thats what he is." He chuckled loudly as he placed his helmet down next to his feet on the floor. He opened his tome and began leafing through it, alternating between looking through the tome, and eyeballing the words on the double doors.

[Khorianas]

Khorianas was simply fascinated by the work in this room.

"This is better than all I expected. Maybe I will find something of worth for me after all" he thought to himself.

As Chonar commented on the huge Diamond statue, a low chuckle escaped the elf. He examined the Giant closely with his jeweler's monocle, astounded but not even daring to exhale on the giant.

"He is perfectly crafted, that's what he is. From the looks it really is diamond, and cutting it this smooth is impossible, even to those who mastered the craft of gem cutting. No visible facets at all. I wouldn't know a method of fabricating something like this. It was't made in any regular way. Also, there are absolutely no inclusions. This gem can't possibly be a natural stone. The gems on the arm are perfectly colored without any schlieren of different colors. Finding even one gem of this quality in a natural deposit is nigh impossible . These gems have very different requirements off rock composure and mineral concentration. Concluding, this giant would have enormous conductive capacities regarding magic If something chose to imbue him with them. I would bet he is more a weapon than a piece of art."

[Chonar]

Chonar muttered while turning another page. "Now now, th' one dont exclude th' other. Case in point; dwarven smithing." He chuckled. "Ah! Here we go. Th' first word is... Shrine? Wait, no.. that cannae be right." He turned another page, taking out a loose page of his own he had stuffed into the tome, held it up, and compared symbols.

Next to him, the helmet placed on the floor ever so slowly sank half an inch deeper on the unmarked tile.

[The Madgod]

Charles leaned against the wall, looking at the door. While he was no expert on the symbols of the titans, they had a familiarity to him. They reminded him of Vrykul calligraphy, which was all over the walls of a cave he had to visit while in Northrend. A necromancer had taken residence there after driving its original denizens out. A slight movement caught his eye; a helmet... on an unmarked tile... sinking... "No, you old fool!"

Charles half-sprinted half-skipped his way across the room over to Chonar and deftly picked up the helm, jumping into the wall and kicked off of it to backflip onto a safe part of the floor, but it was too late. The whirring and groans of ancient machinery coming to life after an eon of inactivity was heard, and a rumble grew from the walls. "Get down!" shouted the worgen, tackling the old dwarf just in time. A gout of crimson flame burst from the walls, directed right at where Chonar was standing. They hit the wall rather hard, Chonar moreso than Charles. Dazed, the assassin untangled himself from the dwarf, and stumbled around, trying to get his barrings, though still able to stay on the safe tiles. He was worried Chonar might be less coordinated.

[Chonar]

Chonar grumbled, fully caught up in his decyphering. "Will ye be quiet! This takes th' utmost concentr-WHOOHF!!" The breath got knocked out of the old codger's lungs as Charles tackled him out of harms' way, the gout of fire scorching the tiles he was just standing on. The slam of metal to stone rang throughout the antechamber as the armored dwarf rolled into the wall, slamming into it hard, and falling down flat on his belly to the floor, his tome dropping from his gauntleted fist.

It took several moments for the dwarf to gather his wits, pushing himself up on one arm with a painful grimace. His eyes falling on the tome he dropped on the floor, he pointed at the page it had fallen open on.

"Och! Here it is."

[Diabloss]

Alice wandered around the room, inspecting the equipment scattered around the room, shaking her head with distaste. Blacksmithing, to her, was like engineering with less finesse. She hears a crash, and then an explosion of fire erupts from a wall near Chonar. Holding her shield out in front of her she edges over to the two and holds out a hand for the dwarf to get up.

"Move yourself, Chonar, there might be more traps activated like that one! I can easily help fend off a physical foe, but fire is definitely out of my area of expertise!"

[Tovarish24]

Rahj'haar stood in slight disbelief as he watched the unfolding of events that had just occurred. He reasoned with himself "So individual triggers set off individual traps, interesting." The Ethereal had been eyeing the riches that were abundant throughout the great room, and planned full well to keep some for himself. He was no idiot driven by greed however, and was perfectly willing to be patient, and wait for the perfect opportunity. He had no intentions of putting those around him in danger for purposes of financial gain, partially because he figured he'd need them to get back out, and partly because he valued life enough to not do something that silly. Many others of his race might not be so self-controlled at a time like this, but Rahj'haar always kept the events of K'aresh in the back of his mind, and life was still something he held in high esteem. Hoping for a little bit of chaos to shroud his actions, the Ethereal simply continued to scan the room. He hovered gently above the ground, so had no concerns for setting off any pressure plates.

[Chonar]

Chonar took Alice's hand, hoisting himself up on his feet after picking up his tome. He coughed and pushed down on his lower back underneath his armor, standing up straight with a groan. He looked at the scorchmark on the floor where he had been standing, and turned to nod at Charles. "Ah, hrm! Seems this place is better guarded'n I thought, eh? Thanks, fella." He looked at his scorched helmet and frowned. That was gonna need some polishing to get the shine back.

He looked back at the door, opening the tome again as he murmured, "Now, this 'ere first symbol is "Forge". Which... aint all that surprisin', to be honest." He held his tome forward some for the others to read along, while pointing at the door. "Notice th' elongated line on th' left, with the hook? That defines th' topic as an object, rather'n a place. Fer Earthen, a forge is a shrine, and this is th' only way tae differentiate between a physical object an' a physical location."

[Vadoor]

"There goes wishful thinking. A guardian? That large? The titans always are ridiculous when it comes to protecting their treasures. Hopefully none of these imbeciles awakens it...."

As the others carefully watched their footsteps, Vadoor silently mouthed a spell. He quickly rose off the floor, but no more than a centimeter so as to not give himself away. The eredar then loosened his cloak about him, freeing up his arms and waist, so that when the time came he would be able to fight the guardian without being restricted by his robes. And he knew the fight was coming, one of these mortals would awaken the beast...

[The Madgod]

Charles nodded a silent "no problem" and resumed his casual "no-trap-setting-off-ism-to-be-as-incon-fucking-spicuous-as-possible-...ism". He sighed, wondering whether it would be by blunder or by attempting to solve the riddle that would awaken the guardian.

((Nonfic wont continue until one of us springs the trap! Don't make me use "that"... You don't want me to use "that"...))

[Chonar]

((Nonfic wont continue until one of us springs the trap! Don't make me use "that"... You don't want me to use "that"...))

(( I know! But.. Chonar already set off one minor trap, I dont wanna hog al the fun. Or spotlight. :P Gogogo folks! Pose some more and if no one will trigger anything, he'll just figure out the translation eventually and try and activate the door. But, yknow.. I dont wanna be constantly the one driving force here. :P Giving others a chance and stuff. ))

[Tovarish24]

Rahj'haar grew impatient. The grumbling dwarf Chonar was still flipping through pages, seemingly at random, and the rest of the crew seemed to just be eyeballing their surroundings. The Ethereal looked patiently around the room, there had to be some loose baubles or gold that weren't tied to any traps. Greed began to settle in his mind, and looking off into a corner of the room, the mummy-like figure floated gently, and slowly over to a certain pile of riches. Spotting a single, giant emerald, Rahj'haar was intrigued. It glimmered in the light of his own Ethereal soul's purple glow, and he felt as though it spoke to him.

Blinded by the greed in his heart and the voice in his mind, Rahj'haar quickly glanced around the room to make sure no one was watching him, and reached down for the gem. He touched it so gently that it didn't move, and he hesitated, knowing he was potentially putting everyone in the room at risk, but again, the emerald spoke.

"Taaaake meeeeeeee"

Moving the gem only a millimeter, a resounding, light *click* was heard around the antechamber.

[Nonfictionless]

Beams of light shot up protecting the doors and all the artifacts in the room. Rahj'haar was thrown back a few feet but left relatively unharmed. A large humming filled the room. It reached an earsplitting level and even the armor the warriors were wearing started to shake. Everyone was brought to their knees by the intensity of it. After a few seconds the humming stopped with a pop. Then without warning a strange tongue filled the room. The voice came from the center of the room. It contained gem-like clinking and was filled with an elegance not found in any other mortal language. It was unmistakably the language of the Titans.

Denholme clutched his Stonehammer tight as he turned from the anvil, now in-cased in light, and looked at the moving gem stone guardian Acheras. It was moving unnaturally smooth. It's head twisted and turned as the guardian looked at all the adventures. Acheras did not immediately move off his pedestal or lift his fearsome claymore. It seemed to be scanning the individuals. A tingle could be felt by everyone as Acheras' diamond eyes passed over each of them. The multi-color gems on his forearm shifted as a rather plain one shifted to the front. "Mortal races, why do you disturb this facility? I have no recollection of any planned entrances on this day. Please state your reasons individually and I will determine their worth."

Denholme was the first to speak, "Ta learn o'great Acheras. Ta learn from Khaz'goroth himself, our creator."

[Chonar]

"..and th' word on th' other door must be Ea-"
The startled dwarf nearly dropped his tome as the ear-piercing sound rang through the room, his monocle abruptly breaking as the glass itself was no match for the highpitched frequency. Clutching his head after being brought to one knee, he took the fractured monocle out of his eye and pocketed it, groaning as he looked up the diamond guardian. "By Muradin's frozen brow.." He muttered.

Standing up in awe, he turned to Denholme and listened, nodding. Denholme had done his research, he noted. Acheras, the guardian was called. He murmured to the other side, where Khorianas was standing; "Looks like ye were right, Dawnseeker. Just look at those lightbeams." He took his fractured monocle from his pocket, eyed down at it, and frowned. When the guardian's crystalline gaze fell onto him, the old dwarf clenched a fist as he stood tall. "Indeed! Passage we seek, by right o' blood! For we are descendants o' th' Earthen, o' the land, and its soul is ours, its pain is ours, its heartbeat is ours." He recited the old passage he recalled from hours upon hours of meticulous study.

He glanced around to his fellow adventurers. He knew he hadnt touched the door, and he didnt get to finish reading the inscription in full. Who th' blazin' breeches actived him? He thought, gritting his teeth.