#770 words is a perfectly normal length for a starter right

[skyheld]

@ferinehuntress liked for a test starter

The mace casts a bright light into the vast chamber under Rosymorn Monastery. Ameridan knows he should run, but something about the place him slow his steps to a walk instead, a dignity fitting for a holy sanctum. Lathander is here. He can feel his presence. It's dawn down here, in this chamber far under ground where no natural light has ever reached. Ahead of him is a star-shaped platform — no, sun-shaped, of course — and at its center, the mechanism which will keep the relic safe. Not an altar, not a pedestal; something more elaborate than that.

Little Dread gives a small bark: stop being dramatic, hurry! Ameridan draws a breath and speeds up. His companion is right, this is no time for dignity. Vaseid is waiting by the entrance, ready to seal the chamber: activate the arcane barriers, close the hidden entrance, shift the statues out of the position which allows that entrance to open. The Dawnmaster would have gone himself, but his wounds became too much for him and they're both too exhausted for more healing spells. "The monastery will be ever in your debt", he said as he pressed the mace into Ameridan's hand. What he really wanted to say was, of course, "I cannot believe a cleric of another deity is getting the honour", but he had the restraint not to.

The platform is tiled with an elaborate mosaic few people will ever see. The slot for the Dawnmaster's crest is empty, but the crest isn't needed for placing the relic, only for recovering it. Ameridan holds the mace up, and the sun-bright forcefield takes it from his hands and suspends it in the air. There. Done. Removing the mace without the crest will cause the entire temple's destruction. He turns around.

And goes still.

A barrier at the end of the chamber has activated. Sizzling blue light, deadly when touched. Behind it another shimmers, and another one yet. The way is blocked.

But that's not... that makes no sense. It's too early. He is still here.

Fear rises in him as he moves towards it, sudden and bewildered fear, cold fingers at the base of his neck. Little Dread runs beside him, sensing his distress. There must be— there must be something he missed. Maybe there's an opening. There should be some kind of crystal keeping those barriers active, and if those are destroyed the barrier will fall. But Vaseid explained the security measures in great detail, taking pride in their infallibility. If the barriers are active, the entrance will be sealed. Where there was an opening there will now be a stone wall.

They're trapped.

"No", he says out loud, reaching down to stroke Little Dread's head, as much for his own comfort as for the wolf's. "No, that's not it. This is just... Vaseid must have made a mistsake. Any moment now the barriers will come down. The barriers will come down. They have to."

They don't.

He doesn't know for how long he stands there, unable to think or move or speak. This can't be happening. This isn't right. Little Dread whines, worried because he's worried, although he may not understand the situation fully. Stay calm, for his sake if nothing else.

He walks back to the platform where the relic hovers and sits on the floor in front of it, drawing a knee up to his chest, Little Dread's heavy head resting on the other. He tries to pray. Not for anything specific, not for rescue, but because it calms him to go through the usual words, to reach out to Tymora's presence and feel her there. Except she isn't there. He can't feel her bright, hopeful presence, he can't sense the roll of her lucky dice, can't catch a glimpse of her golden coin glinting in the back of his mind. There's only the Morninglord's light washing over him. It's dawn down here, in this chamber far under ground where no natural light has ever reached — it's dawn and the Morninglord is watching.

It's dawn.

It's dawn.

It's dawn, and he opens his eyes, not remembering when he closed them. Across the chamber the barrier is down again and he thinks, there really was a mistake then, or Vaseid was just testing the mechanism... But it's not Vaseid walking towards him through the chamber, nor is it the githyanki attackers. It's a party of four, led by a tall tiefling woman with a broken horn and a strange light pulsating in her rib cage. He lifts his head. Little Dread stirs. It's dawn, and something feels... off.

For how long has it been dawn?