KLAUS II
Klaus was certainly no stranger to strange places. He had fought the Beastmen in their blasphemous forest shrines to the Dark Gods, chopped his way through the vile Orcs in the wastes of the Borderlands.
All the same, the lair of a necromancer was somewhat beyond his average paygrade. Which is why he was pleased that he was not risking his immortal soul for anything less than a small fortune. So he had that.
When the knight had first ventured into the dark Klaus more than half expected him to never appear again, devoured by the countless abominations to Sigmar that no doubt prowled in the dark.
Instead, the fool lit a torch, and was met with nothing but an empty passageway, which seemed to run towards the center of the structure, where Klaus imagined was where the stairs to the top of the tower ran.
Klaus idly scratched the side of his face, rubbing the whiskers that grew there. Beside him, Gorgi stood with his hammer ready, looking rather disappointed that he would not get to use it once more.
"Well, that's a bloody let-down if I ever saw one, aye?"
Klutzer stood with his hands clasped beyond him, as straight as a pole. "Indeed, I had been relishing slaying more of the Anathema."
To the reckoning of Klaus, the witch hunter looked like he lacked relish of any kind, but he supposed that was just the nature of the Holy Order. As a group they made their way down the passageway. On the walls were pennants and paintings, of a rather surprisingly homely style. He saw banners of prayer to Sigmar, and small woodcarvings of common devotional scenes. He picked one up and inspected it, almost expecting to find a foul Mark of Chaos adorning it. But no, just wood.
Klaus raised a bushy eyebrow. "Who bloody lives here anyway, my grandmum?"
Klutzer gave a snort. "Only if your grandmother dabbles in the Dark Arts."
Klaus frowned. His granny did not dabble in the Dark Arts, but she could however make delicious strudel, to make a halfling master chef green with envy. If halflings could turn green. A thought for another time.
He put down the carving, and sniffed deeply of the damp air. "You smell that, lads?"
In response, the witch hunter smelled deeply, and narrowed his eyes. "Black powder. Fresh, too."
Klaus rubbed his head in confusion. He smelled it now too, the acrid, sulfuric stench like rotting eggs, though he couldn't speak as to it's...freshness. He had been smelling it all his life, after all, it was as familiar to him as an old friend. But to smell it here…
"Why is it here, then?" Heinrich finally spoke now, voicing the thoughts of the entire party. He removed his steel helm and cradled it in the nook of his elbow, a black haired eyebrow raised. "And where?"
Klutzer directed his unblinking attention about the room, looking here, staring there. Finally he narrowed his eyes at a small desk in an alcove on the right. It was a crude thing, with imperfections obvious in the wood. It sagged at an angle, like an aging whore, further evidence of the mediocre work. An extremely, unusually, obviously average construction.
"Gentlemen, assist me with moving this desk," Klutzer and Klaus each grabbed an edge. "It makes me suspicious."
Klaus barely suppressed a snort. Every bloody thing makes you bloody suspicious, you paranoid maniac. But he managed to silence his tongue, and his thoughts too. Just in case.
Lo and behold, just as the witch hunter predicted, there it was. A trapdoor, just small enough to fit under the desk. This door was unlike the door to the building, being worm-ridden and held in place by an extraordinary rusty hinge. Klaus pulled the handle gingerly, for fear that it would collapse under his touch. Surprisingly, the void was lighted, though the angle of the trapdoor meant he could not see past it into the space below. He unstrapped his greatsword from his back, and threw it down first.
He muttered to himself, "Ulric guide my steps, I suppose." At that, he leapt the short distance and landed heavily, rolling with the fall. As he rose and got his bearings, he was struck by the sight before him.
This was no mere cellar, it was a bloody armory. On the wall opposite he saw a veritable quartermaster's collection of weaponry, arquebus and pistol, long rifle and halberd. All seemed to be rather new and free of wear. Along the wall beside his own were rows of barrels and casks of foodstuffs, all packed in jars and bottles for long term storage. As he made his way towards the middle of the room he inspected the centrepiece. There sat a strange device, wrought of copper and steel, all elegant lines and carved insignia's. In the center sat a sphere, that was surrounded by a series of bars that connected to form a cage of sorts about the sphere. At the apex of the cage was placed the blessed twin-tailed comet, crafted from some metal that shined and caught the light, making the metal look like it were truly aflame. Surrounding the cage and sphere was a single metal ring, upon which rested a series of spheres, that Klaus recognized as being the planets. It was strange, and undoubtedly threatening, but it was not the most frightening thing in the room to his reckoning, no.
That would be the crackling and lightening sheathed blade that was now being held at his throat.
Klaus gulped, the hair on his neck and head standing on edge as the shimmering sword sent small arcs of electricity sparkling along his jawline.
"Heh, mate, I appreciate the work, but I already have a fine barber back in Carroburg."
He risked a look at the blades bearer. It was a man, clad in long fine robes of swirling midnight blues and fiery coppers. All across the cloth were small moons and stars, embroidered in gleaming silk-of-silver. His head was uncovered, though upon his brow sat a circlet of beautiful bronze, embedded with glittering gemstones, shining emeralds and rubies. They all seemed to pulse and shake as Klaus viewed them. His face was rather plain to view, age worn and more than a bit scarred with a small goatee of light blonde like his hair upon his chin, though nowhere near like Klaus himself. But his eyes, which were themselves a midnight blue with flecks of lighter azure, almost shone with an inner energy, the energy of the heavens and the stars themselves. A bloody Wizard, this one was.
"Ah pardon me, Master Wizard, I would raise my hat in salutations, but I seem to have left it back upstairs. I also must compliment."
Slowly, the wizard pulled back his blade, still keeping his eyes trained on Klaus.
He cleared his throat and cocked his head to the side."I presume that you are a Greatsword of Carroburg, and a servant of Sigmar too?"
Klaus snorted at that. "No, I'm the King of Bretonnia"
If he was amused by the jest, the wizard gave no sign of it.
He gave an almost imperceptible nod. "I am Johann Geller of the Celestial Order, and that man there is my brother, Jakob, of the Jade Order."
Klaus raised an eyebrow. "Your brother? Who in Sigmar's name are you talking…"
That was when he noticed there was indeed a man standing next to him, where there wasn't before. This man was clad all in greens and light blues, like a mountain stream fed by snowfall. His robe was quite simple otherwise, a small leather belt attached at the waist, on which was tied a polished silver sickle with a fine wooden handle. His hair was a blonde like his brother, but darker still, almost brown. Also just like his brother were a pair of striking eyes, except these were the deepest green of the forest, with flecks of glimmering jade.
When he spoke, it was quiet and yet clear, like he was both hearing it in his ears and his head. "If I were you, I would ask the witch hunter to put away the pistol."
Klaus raised both eyebrows now. He looked back and saw Klutzer hanging upside-down from the edge of the trapdoor, holding a cocked pistol in each hand towards both wizards. He spoke clearly, "I'm fine, no need to get rash, sir."
Silence for a few seconds, and then the sound of a firearm being uncocked. Klutzer's harsh tones drifted down. "I assume the grey one knew I was pointing a pistol at his head without even seeing me do it? Wizards, ugh." Klutzer sounded as though he were talking about a particularly disgusting insect. He righted himself and jumped down into the cellar, Heinrich right behind and Golgi staying up to keep watch.
To their credit, neither mage flinched from the baleful gaze of the witch hunter. "Why might there be two wizards hiding in a necromancer's cellar, might I ask?"
Now the brothers looked at each other. Johann spoke up. "Not his tower. This is our tower, he merely stole it from us. We barely managed to hide in here before he broke in with his undead horde. We were working on an… experiment."
Ah, so it definitely wasn't granny. Praise Ulric. Seemed rather strange choice of decor for a necromancer anyway. Klaus chuckled to himself, quietly.
However, if looks could kill, the Geller family would suddenly lack two members in that moment, for the eyes of the dreaded witch hunter were upon them. Klutzer spoke carefully and clearly, like a hunter preparing his killing shot. "An experiment? Of what nature?"
Johann sighed, like he was resigning himself to a difficult task. "Yes, an attempt to use the Winds of Magic, especially Ghyran and Azyr, to pierce the realm between worlds. We discovered ancient Elven writings on the subject. That is why we pooled our money to acquire all of this, so we could arm and outfit an expedition of sorts to whatever we find beyond the veil. We believe we were very close to a stable, working portal when the necromancer found our tower, and decided to take it for himself. Hence our current predicament. So our aims align, it would seem."
Klutzer spoke venomously, "So it would seem. But if I catch even a whiff of treachery, no magical portal anywhere will let you escape from the wrath of Sigmar, sorceror. Now come, we must make haste to dispatch the filth at the top of the tower."
Together they rushed out of the armory, up the spiraling stairs in the centre of the building, up towards the inner sanctum. As they approached the top, Klaus was struck by a most peculiar stench, one that made his head hurt and his eyes water.
"Taal's breath, what is that smell?" Klutzer held his sleeve to his face, undeterred.
Gorgi sniffed, looking unaffected. Must be that spending his life in the mines and forges made him immune to most ill-smelling substances.
"I've smelled that before, it's damned warpstone"
Klutzer grimaced, his eyes shining furiously. "We have little time, then. That wretch must seek to enact some foul, blasphemous ritual."
They came upon the final door before the sanctum. It was huge and wrought of bronze, the surface coated in protective wards of all kinds. Klaus, Golgi, and Heinrich pushed with all their might, but it did not budge.
Jakob stepped forward now. "I can undo the wards. After all, I put them up in the first place. But be ready, he'll know as soon as the door is open."
At that Klutzer reached into a side pocket on his jacket, and pulled out a small talisman. From what Klaus could see, it was a small device of the Hammer of Sigmar, the fabled Ghal Maraz. With a whispered prayer, Klutzer placed it about his own neck.
He drew his greatsword and stood with it in front of him, the dwarven-forged steel shining gloriously, for all the good that would do against a magical attack, and his comrades did the same. Even the wizard Johann raised his blade and a glimmering copper staff, topped with a glass sphere that shone an electric blue.
With a whisper and a sound like glass shattering the wards broke, the great door flying open with a tortured screech. Inside the sanctum was light in the same sickly green glow they had spotted outside, a glow they now saw was from a nefarious device of some kind that was attached to an edifice of stone on the far side of the room, an aperture inside of which glowed a silvery white portal. Inside the shimmering white haze of the portal, images flashed, like a glimpse of a dream. They shifted quickly, but Klaus though he saw a white wolf, a tree with red leaves, a black dragon, a wall of white. He understood it not at all.
Sputtering and whirring stood the device, which was all gears and tubes and wires without any sense at all in the design, no logic or sanity. At the centre of the device sat the source of the light in the room, a chunk of sickly green glowing rock. Warpstone.
In front of the stone were a series of levers, dials, and cranks. Attending to them were a hunched over being, clad in tattered robes of black and green. He turned back to face them, his face haggard and cruel, almost skeletal in its gauntness. He cackled evilly, and raised a withered staff of bone, pointing the edge towards the witch hunter
Klutzer was unfazed, and pointed a pistol at the wretch, declaring loudly, "Foul heretic, you are charged with performing blasphemous witchcraft and vile heresy against Sigmar. In the name of His Imperial Majesty Karl Franz, I judge you guilty, and sentence you to die."
His eyes glowering with malice, the necromancer spoke. "Foolish worm, you are far too late. My ascension has begun! I shall become a god!"
At that his staff began to shimmer, a purple haze gathering about the skull crowning it. It was something that Heinrich had seen once before himself. It had been earlier in his career, when he was attached to Graf Todbringer's army as they purged the Beastmen from the Drakwald. A mage had joined them at the Graf's blessing, a sinister figure of purple and blacks. He had worked horrible magics against the Beastmen, causing them to wither and die before him. He had been a Amythyst Mage, and it was those death magics that the necromancer now weaved.
His eyes widened along with the rest of the party, as a bolt of shadowy violet rushed towards the witch hunter, just as a bullet exploded with deadly intent from Klutzer's pistol. Naturally, the bullet travelled first, and collided with the chest of the foul sorcerer. He stumbled, and collapsed against the controls, not dead but clearly out of commission. His bolt, however, was anything but, as it smashed into Klutzer, throwing him off his feet and half the room back.
Klaus rushed to his side and bent over his prone form, expecting to see his master with a gaping hole where his chest used to be, but to his surprise Klutzer seemed alive, if rather dazed and out of sorts.
That was when Klaus noticed that the hammer talisman was now smoldering, glowing red hot even as it collapsed into dust. Clever bastard had enchanted the thing, so he would be unharmed by the death magic.
As though reading his mind, Klutzer opened his eyes and gave a weak smile to them. "Gentlemen, do you really think I've survived this long without knowing any tricks about preventing my magical demise? Yet it is a shame about the talisman, it truly was like a little piece of the Divine Hammer. Well, get me up, I must make certain that filth is dead."
He was pulled to his feet, and stumbled ahead of them, pulling out another pistol from his scorched jacket. He strode to the necromancer, aiming between his eyes. He gave the wretch a wicked grin. "I would ask for last words, but that would be rather naive."
His finger pulled on the trigger, but before the deed was done the necromancer yanked on a lever near where he sat, an insane look on his ravaged face. "You have not won. I shall pierce the veil, and you shall be exiled!" He laughed maniacally, which was put to silenced quickly when a gaping hole opened in his forehead from the bullet of a pistol.
All the same, the machine roared in response to his actions, the warpstone glowing malevolently. In response, the portal glowed brighter and brighter, almost blinding. Around them the stone walls shook and rumbled, plaster falling down upon them. Johann had a horrified look upon his face and muttered to himself.
"It's… opening? BY SIGMAR BRACE YOURSELVES!"
At that they all dove for whatever meagre cover was available, even as a white light washed over them.
Then they knew nothing, save for silence.
Author's note: They're not dead, lol. Next chapter our heroes finally meet the residents of the new world. Should be out in a couple days max, I do have uni to work on too.
Author's note 2: I edited Jakob into being a Jade Wizard, I thought that would be more interesting come future events.