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Deep in the forests North of Deathcap Outpost, a group of questing individuals was found. All wore dark green cassocks and various bits of armor. Each one of them was a part of the Empire of Thorns, and more specifically, the Order of Uzzadujoza. Ordered to go to an old, ruined castle by the highest command, the four had long been in the ancient tunnels to seek out that which they had come for.

As the Empire of Thorns, they would be rattus, or sometimes known as Dodeeja. They were a species of humanoid rats that, more often than not, had a better head on their shoulders than most of the other species.

The darkness devoured the traveling group, as they ventured through the ancient passageways. Their eyes were fairly adapted to the darkness, but it was still difficult to see fine details. Four in all, and none of them had brought a lantern.

"I didn't realize it would be so dark in here," a female in the group said. Her voice was quiet, but carried a gentle capacity of caring. She had mostly white fur, but with a light brown pattern across her back and all over her head. Upon her head she had a copper headband, but otherwise wore a very non-descript dark green cassock.

"It's alright," a male said, "if I must brave the darkest cavern, I will. Once we find something, we'll head back." His voice was filled with a commanding presence, and he had strength in his tone. He was Isaad, the High Inquisitor in charge of the group, and without argument the most experienced there. Upon his head was a silver headband which glowed gently at the center, where a pearl was set. On his left hand was a mail gauntlet of steel, decorated on the backside with dark green and the words "Forever Loyal" engraved in golden Dodeeja script. He wore a sleeveless robe, and a hooded mantle, both of them rimmed with golden woven edges. He wore a belt made of steel, and at his right hip was an articulate plate that had a heavy chain and holster, holding his Flanged Steel mace at his side.

The female made a noise of agreement as she followed his lead down a side corridor.

"So Isaad... tell me again why we came down into this ancient underground castle," a dark brown male rattus said. His voice was favorable, though it had a hint of contempt.

"Because Grand Inquisitor Coldclaw commands it. He sensed an artifact in this dark place... somewhere." Isaad responded in his strong voice. He stopped and turned around to face the others. "If you would like to disobey the Grand Inquisitor, then you may go back on your own, Tayin, and I shall make sure to let him know."

Tayin shook his head. "Sorry, High Inquisitor Isaad... The length of our expedition is growing on me, and is making me think strange things."

Isaad turned and continued on. "I shall make sure to test you for madness when we are done." Then he stopped and pointed to his side. "I believe this is a door. Tayin... with your "excellent eyes..." why don't you go in there and see if there's anything useful on the other side?" Isaad folded his arms then, as he watched Tayin silently agree, and go to the door. He found the door's handle, and slowly opened the way.

A horrendous smell assaulted them, as the pent up scent of dead corpses came from the room. Tayin turned away and moved back into the hall, then bent over while holding his mouth. Isaad brought his right sleeve up across his nose, but was not deterred, even as the other two dispersed. He stepped into the room, while holding out his left hand. His green metallic gauntlet glowed gently, giving off a bit of light into the room. He knew that there must be something nearby of the same sort of origin as his gauntlet, which was given to him by his god, Uzzadujoza.

As the stench became a little more bearable for Isaad, he slowly let his right arm drop. A clattering sound of shifting metal could be heard from across the room, where a dim purple glow was seen. A skeletal hand appeared from the other side of a table, clawing and pulling the rest of the skeleton up. It was a dead rattus, one of Isaad's own species. Its eye-sockets burned with dark purple flames, creating an eerie illumination.

Isaad gritted his teeth and growled lightly as he reached down to his belt and took up his holy flanged mace. "We've got some company in here, guys... Whispee... Tayin... give me a hand when you can." His words weren't very loud, but they heard him.

More purple lit the room as more corpses began to rise from the floor. Their skeletal forms all the same species, and with them came their weaponry, which were rusted relics of the past. Most of them had swords which were no better than iron rods and would break in one swing, and some held axes which were nothing but clubs.

Isaad tightened his grip and narrowed his eyes as he awaited the first to advance. A tense moment hung in the air as he stared down the group of skeletal creatures, undead who had risen by the powers of dread mana within the air.

Then it happened, one of the skeletal figures silently leapt at Isaad, swinging its axe in a downwards-chopping motion. The axe met the metal shaft of Isaad's mace, and he riposted, swinging it away and smashing his mace into the skull of the skeleton, crushing it into fragments. The flames of its eyes went out in an instant, as the rest of its body crumpled to the ground.

Two more came at him immediately after, giving him barely a chance to leap back, as their weapons shattered on the stone wall around the frame of the door. The sound of the impact sent a loud ringing through the hallways. As the sounds died down, a soft whisper was heard, and then Whispee's hands lit up as an arc of lightning connected between her hands and one of the skeletons. The strike of the lightning broke the skeleton's body apart, sending bits of bones everywhere, as a deafening roar went through the hallways from the sound of the spell's thunder.

Luckily, Isaad was already dampening the sounds around him, or he may have gone deaf at that moment. His body moved forwards again as his mace whooshed through the air. The shaft got stuck as the skeleton swiftly grabbed onto it, and with the overpowering element of surprise, it jerked Isaad towards it, and bit his right arm.

Isaad growled loudly and tipped his head back in pain, but his left fist rose, and his heavy gauntlet collided with the skull of the skeleton. He sent fragments of the skull flying across the room. One of the skeletons took the opportunity to jump onto Isaad's back. It latched its claws into his robes, and dug into his flesh. He moved backwards and slammed the undead up against the stone wall, heaving his whole weight against it.

Isaad's breath left him in the impact, and the remaining four skeletons began to congregate at the door of the room, separating Isaad and the others. Tayin finally turned around after successfully avoiding losing his lunch, and lunged at them with his long sword. With an energetic roar, he brought it around in a half circle and smashed through the mid-section of one of the undead, breaking it into two sections. However, this didn't seem to bother the skeleton as its bottom half twisted around and lashed him across the face with its boney tail, then latched onto his leg with its disembodied top-half, holding him forcefully.

Isaad circled around to the flank as Whispee finished another incant and destroyed another one of the skeletons, while her companions covered their ears in the resulting boom.

Tayin smacked the skeletal creature's skull with his pommel, trying to disorient it away from his leg, but ended up swinging his sword down into its torso, and shattering the rest of the boney beast.

Isaad growled loudly, and then charged against the remaining pair. Swinging at an incoming sword and shattering its rusted metal, he kicked one of the skeletons away while smashing his gauntlet into the head of the other. His body twisted as he leapt at the skeleton that he pushed away, and slammed his mace down from skull to foot, creating a shower of bone fragments as he finished it off.

He then crouched down and breathed coarsely a few times, letting his mace hang before he moved his right hand to grab at his new wounds. Heath, the last member of the four, came to his side. He was not an inquisitor, but rather just a monk, portly and grey with curly fur and large ears. He spoke in a gentle and caring voice. "High Inquisitor... are you badly hurt?"

"No Heath, not enough to stop over. My wounds and Tayin's both will need cleaning, as I fear that their claws may have carried something nasty with their fermentation," Isaad said, still crouched down. He was now looking at his torn robe, and his bleeding wounds, using the gentle light his gauntlet was producing to see them.

Heath nodded and immediately got his canteen, holding one hand against Isaad's side, immediately below the claw wounds as he poured the cold water onto the cuts. "This will do for now, sir. I recommend that when we return, we all be cleaned properly." He nodded to confirm his own words as he poured some of the liquid on Isaad's wrist, where he was bit. Then Heath went over to Tayin to tend to him.

Isaad sighed gently, and put his mace back on his belt. "With all the dust in here, a bath does sound good. Now, let's see where this object could be." He signaled for the others to come in. The room itself had a few tables set out, but the center table was broken inwards, and shattered boards were piled on top of each other in the center of the table, as if some strange force had pulled them all together there. Then there was the wooden ceiling which was curiously plotted crossways underneath another stone floor above them.

There weren't any containers in the room, so the choice was obvious, and the high inquisitor put himself to work, even in his condition, as he grabbed wooden planks and started tossing them to either side. The others came and watched him from the doorway, until he stopped. He held up a square black box, with green metallic bandings on it. He looked back at the others. "Inquisitors, and good sir monk, I believe we have found our artifact." He stood, and approached the others, and with his right hand holding the box, he used his glowing gauntlet to open the top of the container, showing all of them what was inside...