The Quest for the Sirna-Ha (standard:fantasy, 6214 words)
Author: Acekiller	Added: Sep 13 2000	Views/Reads: 4541/2541	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
This story is set in the Warhammer Universe. A group of adventurers goes pyramid-raiding in Arabia, the realm of the Undead...but they are alone in their quest, and strange things await them on their quest!

This is the first story I ever wrote, so the style or the plot may not
be excellent...I tried to write a Warhammer-adventure with some 
Lovecraft-bits in it...I hope you like it...feedback is welcome. If you 
want to post this story, please ask my permission first. 

Kane was sitting alone at a table in the “Thirsty Dwarf”, an inn of
Miragliano. The room was empty except for a pair of Dwarfs snoring at 
their table, and the barkeeper who was busy washing glasses. Kane was 
thinking of what had happened to him and his friends in their latest 
adventure. He still had trouble remembering everything. They had never 
been shaken like that. Sure, they had been through a lot of perilous 
situations together, but never anything like that. He sipped his ale, 
passing everything he remembered through his eyes. It was very vivid 
and yet he wasn`t entirely sure of what had happened. Duke Antonelli of 
Miragliano had hired him and his party, in order to retrieve an ancient 
artefact in Arabia. An Ork Waagh had been approaching the Dukedom, and 
the Duke`s army was in no shape to fight it. The Duke`s sorcerer and 
councillor, Hernando, had declared that they stood a chance of 
repelling them if he could get his hands on the Sirna-ha. It was an 
ancient item, which had been used effectively against the greenskins in 
the past, and it would certainly prove useful against the troops at the 
frontier. Kane`s “Shadow Fighters” had been hired to go to Arabia in 
order to retrieve the Sirna-ha. The pay had been most generous, or so 
they had thought. In fact, all the gold in the world could never make 
up for what had happened to them back in Arabia. Kane emptied his 
tankard in a single swallow, sighed, shook his head and looked at his 
companions. So many good comrades had died on that adventure. The 
survivors looked very tired, even now, weeks after their return at 
Miragliano. They surely hadn`t been expecting something like that what 
had happened in the southern continent. The first part of the journey 
had been normal, except that they had been attacked repeatedly by some 
Skaven assassins. He should have remarked that there was something 
wrong. Why would Skaven attack you if you were up against Orks? Why 
hadn`t he called off the entire operation? He shook his head again. He 
had refused to break off their journey because the Skaven had been very 
ineffective and had never posed a serious threat. None of his men had 
even been wounded once by them. It had all seemed so easy then. No, he 
had been stupid. Yes, he remembered it very clearly. The day where he 
shouldn`t have gone further. That hot day in the Arabian Desert, as 
they were closing in on the Harni pyramid, where they were supposed the 
Sirna-ha. They had found more than just that. 

The sun was cooking the seven men that formed the party of the “Shadow
Fighters” and both their guides. They were slowly making their way 
trough the sands of the Arabian desert. The horizon shimmered because 
of the heat. Everybody sweated, and lips began to crackle because of 
the harsh, dry winds that blew at them all the time. “We`re lucky we`ve 
got this oil to protect our skins, otherwise some of us wouldn`t have 
made it this far!” thought Kane, a tall man clad in a black leather 
armour. The straps of his armour cut more or less deeply in his flesh 
in some places, but he refused to take it off, fearing that sand might 
penetrate in the wounds. Suddenly Beli was at his height. “Kane, do you 
really think this is worth the price we`re paid to do it?” he asked. 
“Yes, sighed Kane, you see, if we find the Sirna-ha, we will not only 
get our gold, but Duke Antonelli will also be able to stop the Undead 
troops that are gathering near his lands. If he can`t stop`em, the door 
to Kislev will be wide open for them!” Beli nodded and, after having 
looked suspiciously around himself, he asked: “What do you think will 
await us in Harnia?” “ I don`t know! There will be those Undead scum 
that followed us during our entire journey, and probably one or two 
traps. I can`t imagine how one of those pyramids can be as dangerous as 
it is told. They`re surely nothing more than a small heap of old stones 
with a cave under it!” Fridolin von Meilenstein, a magician that was 
walking in front of them, turned around as he heard these words. “I 
take it you`ve never seen one of the */*Arabian Pyramids, otherwise you 
wouldn`t be talking of them like that!” “What`s wrong with my words?” 
“I`ve been in one already, the one in Massagari, that`s north, near the 
coast. Damn big heap of stones, that thing. I`ve never seen anything 
like it before! It`s a big angular house where the Arabians bury their 
dead kings. The problem is that most of these kings were Necromancers, 
so they`re now haunting their tombs. Furthermore, */*the pyramids are 
all filled to the roof with traps and other nasty things like zombies 
and ghouls. If the first one */*don`t get you, the second */*ones 
certainly will!” By now, all the other members of the party had come 
closer to listen to Fridolin. “You`ve certainly all heard of Nagash, 


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