Horror

When you reach the bottom, you find yourself in a large room, poorly lit by flickering torches. The room is long enough that the far side is shrouded in darkness. Looking around, you stop and stare in horror at what you see. Along the walls on either side are slabs, and upon the slabs are what appear to be bodies. Lifeless, thankfully, and clearly having been experimented on in some way. You feel your gorge rise as you realize that this is what’s been happening with the people who go missing.

I don’t like this place. It feels…wrong. Unclean.

You nod, eying the bodies on the slabs. The room is vast, and there must be dozens of bodies here. The girls are all quiet, clearly as horrified as you are. Tearing your eyes away, you can make out the far side of the room now, and you see a final slab, with two figures standing over it. They prod at the body lying there, causing it to twitch. As you come closer, however, they straighten, and turn to you in unison.

Though it is dim, you can see that this must be the twins. One man and one woman, nearly identical. They both smile evilly, and you see now the telltale marks of corruption on their faces. They seem unsurprised and unconcerned at your arrival. The man, Altus, takes a small bow.

“Ahh, here is the great hero. We suspected you may be here. So good of you to join us.”

The woman, Petra, crosses her arms. “And so eager to walk into our very lair. You’re either very brave, or very stupid.”

You raise your sword. “A bit of both. What have you done here?”

Altus shrugs. “Following the experiments of our lord. Niran has shown us the glorious future.”

Sarah spits. “This is vile! An abomination!”

Petra laughs. “Ahh, so unenlightened. It’s too bad you won’t be able to see the glory to come.”

Altus nods. “The corruption will rule, and we will be free. Nothing to hold us back anymore!”

You shake your head. “You’re insane.”

Petra grins. “All visionaries are thought to be insane until people realize that they were right all along!”

Alex snarls. “You talk too much.”

With that, she hurls a fireball at Petra, who weaves aside easily. Both twins hold out a hand, and swords appear in each. The blades glow an unhealthy green, and you can feel the wrongness of the magic even from here.

Petra smiles. “The hard way it is, then. No great loss.”

Altus laughs. “Master Niran will reward us for your death.”

He waves a hand, and you hear noises all around. The bodies you thought were lifeless begin to animate, sliding off the slabs and advancing, some with limbs that have been replaced with blades, others with claws on their fingers. The four of you make a circle, preparing for the fight to come. You keep an eye on the twins as well, as they begin to move forward, an insane gleam in their eyes.

Don’t let those blades touch you. I don’t know what they do, but it can’t be good.

You nod. “Let’s do what we came here to do.”