Land of Darkness RPG

[Sarin Mithrilanger]

Zuromor was the first to run in after Grash. With his torch in hand he walked closely behing Grash, expecting to see some horrible beast to come bursting out of some corner and attack them. He had no idea what this monster even looked like, let alone how to get past it. All he knew was the her name was Shelob. He had heard the orcs talking about her "having her way" with some of their own. He had respected Grash for freeing them but when he had told them that he only freed them to be monster fodder, he began to distrust him. None of them knew if he worked with the enemy. He decided that he would keep a very close eye on Grash.

THe tunnel was dark and their torches barely lit the walls around them. It had an eerie glow that pierced down to the very bones. "Grash, how do you expect to live through this? You said you freed us so you would be able to leave. What if you are one of those who are eaten?"

[CaptainofDespair]

The dark, immortal elf male stood, watching, and listening, to the clamor ringing about him. Tee dwarves, clad in their iron shod, orc armor, stood together, as if this unity might save them from the death that lurked in the Tunnel. He smirked at this sight, and continued to scan the motley group that had assembled itself in the dark, dank corridor that would take them to Her. The humans had sectioned themselves off once more, but this had been foreseen. "The Race of Men will never unite..." he murmured to himself. As he continued to sweep the area with his mysterious, brooding eyes, his mind was lured to gaze into the gateway of the foreboding, pit-like entrance of the Tunnel. Thoughts of a death soon to come swept over his mind like a flood of misery and suffering. But he caught himself, and ended his dark trance prematurely. He spun around, and met the stare of his counterpart.

"It is time," he spoke, in a cold, seemingly spiteful voice. "The Tunnel awaits us, and She will welcome our presence. We should not..." He paused, searching for a distinct word for their current situation. "...Disappoint Her," he continued after his brief lapse. "Come, we go."

Morgoroth turned round yet again, and began to walk into the Tunnel entrance. Raeis followed, with Jordo not far behind her. As they made their way into the passage, the dark, creeping air swept over the trio. All around them, cobwebs of ununsual size began to make themselves known. With only a small torch to guide the way, a sense of dread soon inched its way into the minds of those within, for none knew when the Lady of the Tunnel would strike, ensnaring those hapless enough to tread in Her Tunnel.

Thoughts of death, and a bleak future for Ea, enveloped his mind, as he wandered into the narrow, almost prison-like passages. Raeis and Jordo followed closely, watching their step, for many jagged rocks and pitfalls dotted the landscape of the Tunnel. His mind wandered, as he did, from thought to thought. The atmosphere of the tunnel was not conducive to happier thoughts, only a deepening gloom was present as they made their way between the stalagmites, and tattered and torn webs of the rocky corridors. "This will prove a most interesting situation," the dark Elf muttered to himself.

[Amanaduial the archer]

Durelin's post - Jordo

“Some get eaten, some do not..." those words were all Jordo's brain could handle for many moments after they were spoken. And the man who spoke them were all his eyes could see. He stared at this man named Grash, the one whom he had obeyed when the creaking of metal had announced his freedom. But now his eyes could not acknowledge the man as someone to be obeyed. His mind cringed in terror as it realized what his eyes were doing. They were defying! Only his soul was interested in what was seen. His mind disregarded it as foolishness, and a dangerous foolishness, at that. But then the movement around him brought his eyes away, and he felt his mind relax, though it remained on the alert.

He watched Grash enter this tunnel, somehow ignoring his own words completely, and entering this pit of darkness - a pit of darkness even standing so close to the fires of Mordor - which he may not exit, which no one was guaranteed to exit. Jordo of course could not see this as something to admire, if courage it was. But he would not see courage or any other trait in someone, either. Another man followed him immediately, carrying a torch. Jordo almost followed this man, carrying precious light, but then he looked at those he stood with, who he found security in obeying.

The male elf spoke in a voice that made Jordo flinch, wanting the elf to command him so that he could show that he would be good. He felt as if all the spite in Morgoroth's voice was directed to him, and it frightened him to no end. Even that man Grash did not frighten him as much as this elf with the dark hair. He missed the elf's first words, but the rest were enough. They stung him like no orc whip had ever done, choked him like no ash ridden air ever had, and chilled him so deeply, deeper than any screams of the dying. "The Tunnel awaits us, and She will welcome our presence. We should not...disappoint Her." She...he wanted to scream at the knowledge that he found in his mind, memories of orc's speaking about a 'she' who was more than a nuisance even to orc kind.

Morgoroth entered and Jordo of course followed, almost bumping into Raeis as he did. He quickly muttered an apology, and looked up from the ground into the female elf's eyes only to see her smile at him. He smiled back, recognizing those eyes. But then the recognition faded as he saw himself back in his cell, alone. Raeis was making her way into the Tunnel now, as well, and so Jordo followed. In his first few steps he already had the feeling that something was watching him, and he felt little better knowing that others were slowly finding their own reasons to enter the Tunnel.

~*~*~

Amanaduial's post - Raeis

Raeis glanced over her shoulder at Men as she hesitated on the edge of the tunnel. Despite her apparent voluntary distance from them, Raeis did not mean to deliberately alienate herself - she was not afraid, but they made her wary. There were few now who didn't, and besides, it was evident that they didn't trust her. The fear that flashed in the dark man's blue eyes and the resentment in Aldor's told the elf that much.

Turning to Jordo, she smiled slightly at the man-child. He hung back at the edge of the tunnel, fear showing unrestrainedly on his childish features as he gazed warily into the tunnel. She held out a hand tenatively to him, gesturing for him to come. After a pause of only a second, he obediently came, darting close to Raeis's side where she stood on the edge of the tunnel. She smiled at him and touched him lightly on the arm in some awkward gesture of comfort, unsure of how to reassure him - unsure even of why she felt she should reassure him, for what business did she have with him? He was a Man, like those others who hung back away from the elves, the distant mortals... But Jordo was different, obviously. His simple trust in Raeis, although he knew nothing about her, made that very clear, and it somehow reassured Raeis as well: not everything in the world automatically turned it's back on her.

"Don't speak," she whispered to him, using the Common Tongue rather haphazardly - she had begun in Sindarin, then realised he would not understand. Usually it would have been a slight to her pride to use a different tongue for the convenience of others, but she barely noticed, seeking only to make Jordo understand. Ignorance is bliss had never proved right for Raeis, certainly not in the last few years - knowledge of what you were up against was far more useful. "Keep close to the group, stay quiet. Hush hush." She held a finger to her lips like a small child's nanny and Jordo subconciously copied the gesture, bringing a stumpy digit in front of his mouth and smiling tentatively at the elf.

She nodded, then turned back to the gaping maw of the tunnel. Steeling herself and holding herself straight and proud, the young female elf took a deep breath and stepped in, feeling as if she was going underwater - and the world into which she walked was so alien that it may as well have been underwater. Cobwebs floated with eerie lightness all around them, lit ethereally at this stage by what little light filtered in from the tunnel entrance. Huge rocks lay scattered, as if merely pebbles, knocked by a careless foot, before seperating into a rat run of caves and tunnels, a weaving mouse run, a warren. But no warren was ever on such a huge scale, no cobweb ever so large, no carelessly knocked 'pebble' large enough to crush a man.

It was like stepping into a giant's lair, and suddenly, Raeis felt smaller than she ever had before, dwarfed by what was in front of her. Her eyes peered through the gloom more easily than the others, allowing her a little more vision than their poor, weak eyes afforded them, but little help it did her; for once, Raeis was quite prepared to say that knowledge made her feel no better: she suddenly wished she had no idea of what was further on in the tunnel.

The group subconciously clumped closer together, men, dwarves and elves moving slowly and fearfully, each not admitting that they needed the others but taking solace from the prescence of the others.

Like it would help when She came.

[Novnarwen]

There was a strange attitude amongst the members of the company. None spoke, or at least not loudly. The darkness, the smell and the whispering of the wind; could there possibly live a creature in here? Rhând listened eagerly to the sound of several pairs of feet tripping and the sound of their heavy armours as he had nothing better to do. He wondered if anyone of them realised that they might walk into something just around the corner, which could end up being their last moments; their deaths. Grash had said it himself. The Monster would kill . . .

Rhând had already decided that he would not be the one who didn't come out at the other end of the tunnel, and the other side of the Gates. He would not be the one who was eaten by a female monster, even though she was gruseome and terrible. He would not be the one who would meet his death now. Surely, a man, very much like himself, would make it out of these tunnels, even if there was a monster. With these thoughts in mind, he started preparing mentally for the inevitable.

The darkness grew with every step they took. Only the torch Grash held firmly in his hand, lit up so that they could see their path. However, as the tunnel only bent one way, they knew where to put their feet. But this was not what Rhând concerned him the most; it was not the tunnel he wanted to see clearly or the cobwebs. He wanted to see Her when she showed up. Shaking, both by the anxiety, and the pain, from the bit on his neck, going through his body, he tried focusing on watching out for anything unusual. However, it pained him and he couldn't stop thinking about it. When touching it, he felt a huge lump. Not huge maybe, Rhând thought to himself going slower due to the pain. But it is something . . .

Not taking heed to anyone at the moment, as the pain grew within every second, he was unfortunate enough to bump into someone. The noise from the armours hitting each other made everyone turn towards Rhând and the person he had bumped into. Silent, they stood for a while listening to the echo which made its way to all of the corners of the tunnels. Rhând, alias Aldor, swallowed. He turned to meet the person he had bumped into. Looking upwards, he found himself staring into a couple of dark coloured eyes. He recognized them instantly as the two eyes which belonged to the male elf. You filthy traitor and disgraceful creature, Rhând thought. When looking at him more closely, seeing that the rest of the company turned their attention to the tunnel again, Rhând made out the ugly features of the Elven kind; the pale skin, the ears, the height and their pride. As the feeling of hate towards the elf arose inside of him, he hoped She would single the male elf out, take him and eat him. Rhând smiled a peculiar smile as he thought of the elf being eaten; the cries, eyes being filled with pain as She set her teeth in him and the horror in his eyes. It would be a terribly short journey for the male elf, Rhând would see to it.