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Catacombs of Kabal

Chapter 1:

The streets of Kabal were just as busy as any other night as the cloaked figure made his way through back alleys. It was always best to avoid the streets as one could never tell what barker would recognize the man. Power exuded from him and many of the street rats of the distinctly Arabian town avoided the black covered figure out of fear, even if it wasn't that tall. Lamps in windows lit the way as he ran quickly now excited at the prospect of what discoveries he might find in the underdark tonight.

Kabal's sewers and catacombs had for a long time been the thing of legends. As the largest city in the country of Salah it should be expected. After all, the city had many other legends surrounding it before the darkness began to be whispered about in the bars and brothels. The tales were widely known now and as such the city had decided to seal off the underdark as a precaution. Blood and death magic were strictly forbidden but should the tales be true, well, it could spell disaster to the city.

This action by the government had led to something of a mass exodus to the smaller outlying towns of the region as to the people it meant their government knew there was something happening below their feet and that it was dangerous. Raine knew this was a load of something unpleasant as he'd been traveling into the underdark for months now and while he had encountered the undead a few times there was nothing to suggest that a necromancer was building any sort of army down there.

Upon reaching the bent grate leading down into the darkness he had taken every night for months now Raine slipped off his hood to show his long black hair tied up into a pony tail careful to avoid his black fennec ears. Raine had to keep all of this quiet as he knew should a battlemage like himself be seen going into the underdark, which by itself was forbidden, it could be assumed he was in fact the necromancer.

Scanning about with his left green eye he made sure he wasn't seen. The right eye was hidden behind a tuft of his black hair as it's colorless blindness often bothered people he spoke with. In truth though it wasn't blind, in fact, it was rather useful on these trips. Hopping down into the dark Raine shifted his hair to the side and the white eye glowed slightly letting him see quite well in the dark.

Raine shifted slightly taking off the cloak to show he was rather well armed. Tight leather armor covered his form while remaining black in color. Some undead didn't see well at all and so his black color and armor often were the difference between a fight and moving on quietly. He hadn't quite figured out how to cover up his white markings on his chest all the way up to his chin and along his lower muzzle as well as his paws on his arms and legs.

Carefully pulling free his scimitar the fennec started his trip into the depths of the darkness. Something was definitely going on down here though Raine wasn't sure what it was. He'd begun his trips the moment he heard the first stories and began to document any undead he encountered. He was a building a bestiary of sorts in order to aid the fight against the undead. Many pages were complete with weaknesses and fears though some of the undead he encountered were quite powerful and their eyes had a sort of intelligence behind them. This was unprecedented and it meant something big was happening down in this place. He had to figure it out before something terrible happened.

It was dank in the stone hallways of the catacombs as Raine made his way deeper and deeper inside. He was planning on taking the turn he hadn't the night before but upon reaching the intersection he was greeted by another cloaked figure fighting of a horde of simple undead zombies with a spear.

Raine reacted quickly pressing himself into an alcove and closing his right eye to hide himself completely in the black while he watched the spear fly about the space tearing through fetid flesh and felling zombie after zombie. The warrior possessed incredible skill but one false move allowed a zombie to get a hold of the combatant's cloak yanking him down.

The warrior cried out as time seemed to slow. Raine knew the risks if he saved the man but he couldn't just let him die like that. He leapt from the shadows casting a spell to aid his speed upon himself. The fennec brandished the Scimitar whirling through the group much like a dervish as limbs were cut free. With deadly efficiency Raine cut through the mob of undead until all of them were on the floor, felled by the deadly blade.

Raine panted a few times as he pulled a scarf free from his leather tunic and used it to wipe away much of the gore he had splattered on him in the battle. It was best to keep as clean as possible as he wasn't sure how the undeath was spreading. Tossing the scarf to the side Raine found the spear at his neck forcing him to lift his head and frown slightly as he spoke, "You got a funny way of thanking people..."

"I don't know you... For all I know you could be a regular cutpurse... Besides, this place if forbidden," Exclaimed the man still hidden under the cowl of his cloak.

Raine dropped his blade and put his paws up shaking his head, "Look I'm just down here studying the dangers these creatures pose to the city. So that someday we might take back the underdark and well... Kabal can be like it used to be, without everyone being afraid all the time."

"How can I trust you?"

"I saved your life!"

"Why?"

"Because it was the right thing to do... Do you have a death wish or something?"

The warrior faltered for a moment after the quick exchange and with a sigh put his spear down. Raine reached up and rubbed his throat softly before leaning down. Gathering up his blade he put it into the sheath on his back. The two stood in silence for some time trying to decide if they could trust each other at all.

It was Raine that offered his paw and spoke softly, "I'm Raine Diam... A battlemage and demonologist by night, alchemist by day."

The warrior nodded slowly before reaching his own paw forward and shaking the offered one. With his other paw he lifted his cowl to show his yellow and white face. The man was a fennec as well with short cropped brown hair. His green eyes looked at the battlemage before he finally spoke, "I'm Qab Telan... captain of the guard..."

Raine's heart sank as he backed away slowly with a frown, "You're... Qab?"

"I've no intention of arresting the man that saved my life Raine..."

The black of the couple relaxed slightly before speaking, "Why are you down here? Don't tell me you know what's going on down here is true..."

Qab nodded slowly rubbing his temples, "I didn't... until tonight. There was a street rat that came to me today saying he saw a man in a cloak going down here every night. I assume that it was you. I'm going to have to ask you to come with me of course but not under the guise of an arrest. I want to learn what you know about this place."

Raine bit his lip knowing this could very well be a trap. He continued to keep his right eye closed as they had a bit of a standoff. They looked at each other for some time Raine not trusting this man and Qab knowing that at this point Raine would be questioning him.

"Look Raine... I know you don't trust me. You've every right to believe it's a trap..."

"What if I showed you firsthand what I've seen," Interrupted Raine while looking to the junction he hadn't been down yet.

Qab stopped speaking and started thinking it over. This could very well be a trap as well. One of them would have to show some trust though or this arrangement would never work out. He knew that if he went missing someone would go looking for him while Raine didn't have that same luxury.

"Okay... I'll go along with you tonight if you explain things on the way... but if I do, you have to come with me to show all your findings to the royal guard so we can be better ready to protect ourselves. You will also be handsomely rewarded I am sure. The Sultan is a generous man," Replied Qab.

Raine nodded slowly before looking to that captain and pointing to his cloak, "Lose the cloak. I learned that the same way you just did, nothing loose. They will grab it."

Qab nodded dropping the cloak and showing that he was actually in a decent amount of shiny silver armor. Raine quirked a brow as this only gave veracity to the man's claims. He had to be careful now.

Leading the way to the passage he hadn't been down yet Raine opened his right eye again projecting light in front of them to see their path. It was some time before Raine started to speak, "Yes I have been going down here for some time but I assure you I've only come down here to study them. I'm an alchemist after all it's what we do. I want to find ways to put them down efficiently... The city is afraid and people are leaving. If it continues I'm sure we both know it will die... and what I fear then is that the Undead won't be content down here."

"Then you and I have the same intentions Raine. We both want this scourge out of our city... even if these catacombs have always been a little creepy. You don't believe it's an actual blood mage necromancer do you," Asked Qab as they made a turn into a rather large chamber. It was large enough that Raine's eye couldn't shine to the other side.

Raine shook his head while looking around and pulling out an enchanted parchment to make sure the eye's sight was drawing it out correctly, "I don't know honestly but I think if there was a real blood mage down here it would be a lot worse. Though there is some signs that there is something somewhat powerful behind it."

Qab looked at the self writing map and nodded slowly, "What sorts of signs?"

"Intelligent undead... I ran into a few of them over the time I've been here. They spoke to the others as if directing them... I have a feeling they might be the cause of this. Not some blood mage," replied Raine before backing up slowly and frowning, "Best brandish your weapon there is a mummy ahead. Be careful not to breathe the air around them. It contains a rather nasty fungus... a rather potent toxin."

The two fennecs took up their weapons as Raine began to form a ball of fire in his free hand and threw it forward only to see there was a great deal more undead there than a single mummy. In fact there was a whole brigade worth seen easily as the mummy fell and continued to burn. The alchemist looked to the captain and they frowned as they knew this was no battle to fight here.

"Raine pull back to the tunnels! That way they can only come at us a few at a time! Hurry," shouted the yellow fennec as they both ran to the entrance of the room standing slightly back in the tunnel with weapons at the ready.

"Hold them back while I conjure a fire wall! It will take some time," Shouted Raine as Qab started using sweeping strikes with his spear but soon one of the undead grabbed the end and broke the pole. Qab frowned as he pressed a spring loaded button on both of his wrists as Katars sprung free from the armor. He tore into the undead though found his strikes were not working well.

"The neck and the head... sever them," shouted Raine as his Scimitar started to glow red hot from the conjuring. It was then that Raine saw the undead running down the hall towards them from the other direction, "Qab we're surrounded! We have to cut our way out!"

Qab took the advice and started to aim for their necks feeling the bones snap each time his blade sunk into their vertebrae. Hearing the second part he looked over his shoulder and frowned as he went back to back with Raine, "We'll have to fight this way, deal with the ones ahead and I'll take care of the ones behind!"

Raine didn't need to reply as he turned his spell into a burning inferno in front of him that burned hot enough to leave nothing but ashes though there were many more monsters where those few came from. Raine was forced to use his blade to cut through them as the smell of burning flesh filled the air. The blade was still glowing bright red after all.

Countless undead continued to pour forth and Raine spoke up, "I'm starting to rethink my hypothesis Qab!"

Qab couldn't help but smirk slightly at the comment though he saw they were becoming overwhelmed even though they had the advantage in the battlefield. Their numbers were simply too much.

Raine reached back and embraced the man from behind as a powerful shield went up around them just big enough to cover them. Raine looked up scratched and injured while Qab was sporting a few wounds himself.

"What now then," asked Qab with a bit of a grim look on his face.

Raine frowned as he reached into tunic and pulled free a vial of orange liquid, "This is essence of fire... I throw it out of the shield and then we run together out of this hell hole!"

With that Raine tossed the bottle and suddenly they were surrounded by fire and the sounds of countless undead cries. The two began to run through the tunnels working their way back as the fire began to spread clearing their path. It wasn't long before they made it back to the entrance and emerged panting as the shield fell.

Raine adjusted his hair while trying to catch his breath. Using so much magic had made him exhausted and he was having a hard time not passing out right there. Qab put a paw on the other fennec's back with a nod, "you did good though why wouldn't we just use more of that... essence stuff?"

The black fennec frowned looking down and whining softly, "That one vial took me seventeen years to collect... I've been working on it since I was a child... The ingredients are incredibly rare."

Qab nodded slowly before looking up at the sky with a sigh, "So it's real then. There really is something going on below the city... We have to report this. I'd like it if you came..."

The alarm rose in another part of the city as screams could be heard in the distance. Raine and Qab looked at each other before nodding and running through the alleys only to find mummies and zombies in the streets of the city. They had torn down the gates at the entrances to the catacombs and were pouring out into the streets.

The city guard was there but finding their job hard to do they were mostly covering the magi casting spells at the flood of undead. Raine was quick to enter the fray with Qab close behind. He began to whirl again through the flood of undead monstrosities slicing them to pieces quickly while Qab leapt into the fray next to the battlemage tearing into the monsters with his katar, severing heads at times in ferocity.

Raine didn't see the attack from behind as the huge colossus of a beast came out of a nearby catacomb exit. The beast swung a great piece of stone smashing it into the side of the black fennec's head and sent him flying into the nearby trader's stands. Qab saw what happened in terror knowing that the man held important knowledge.

He fought his way through the crowd and to Raine's side quickly getting him aid and making sure he was carried away from the battle to ensure his safety. Turning back to the beasts Qab took control of the situation ordering his guard to form a line as the magi all prepared powerful fire spells. It wasn't long before barriers of fire hot enough to turn bone to ash were put up and the undead ceased their attack.

Ragged, worn and exhausted Qab excused himself and let the medics take care of his men. The fennec was much more concerned with Raine's health at the moment. Working his way through the fire lit streets of Kabal, Qab found the infirmary where medics were already wrapping the last bandages around Raine's head.

The yellow fennec sat down next to the man's bed waiting for him to wake when the Sultan arrived. He was an aging Jackal jet black in color. He had gotten a little overweight as he was waited on hand and foot every day. The man was known as Sultan Jahan and while he used to be known for his kindness, lately he'd become more and more apathetic. Qab wasn't sure if it was the threat that tonight became real or just that he was getting older.

"Qab what happened," Asked the old man as a throne-like seat was fetched by one of his servants so he could sit himself down.

Qab sighed softly rubbing his temples, "I was out investigating a claim that someone saw a man going into the catacombs every night. It turns out it was this man but he was conducting research. He has a whole book of different kinds of monsters and their weaknesses as well as their strengths that could turn the tide now that we know we do face a threat."

"Then he should be imprisoned and sold at the slave auctions," Replied the Sultan with a frown on his face.

The captain's eyes went wide at the reply shaking his head, "This man saved my life tonight on more than one occasion and may have found the secrets that will save Kabal and you want to throw in him jail!?"

The Jackal stood with a frown, anger reflecting in his eyes, "Qab Talan you dare question your Sultan!? Had you thought it through you might have realized this man is the one responsible for this whole mess! Were he not mucking around down there the undead would surely have been content by their lonesome in the catacombs!"

Qab shook his head looking to Raine as his heart ached. He knew this was wrong, every fiber of his being told him to save the other fennec but he didn't. He stood down and bowed his head, "I am sorry to have questioned you your majesty... Your will is always my command..."