Non Mafia Game Lassara - Shards of Neril - Story Thread [Archive]

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TheLastDays

06-17-2011, 11:18

Character thread here (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?136202-Lassara-Shards-of-Neril-Characters-Backgrounds-and-Information&p=2053328258#post2053328258), OOC thread here (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?136201-Lassara-Shards-of-Neril-OOC-and-Signup-Thread-Sign-ups)

Lassara
Shards of Neril

The map:
https://img843.imageshack.us/img843/3383/lassara.jpg
The map is not drawn by me, but graciously provided for free by this website (http://www.fantasymapmaker.com/). I only removed or moved some towns and put in the nametags.

Status and Locations:

Thomas (with Gilford & Wizard): On sea route to Leon - Late Afternoon D3
Alain, Rufus (with Dietrich), Drax, Princess, Glungurd, Alaria: Docks of Leon - Late Afternoon D3
Guantano, Alyssa: Road south of Leon - Midday D3
Frijyk, Morangul: Woods, en route to the southern road - D3
Tawariell (with Raina): currently inactive
Glungurd: KIA

The history of Lassara:

Men have not always lived in the lands now known as Lassara. Centuries ago they have arrived on ships over the great sea, of where they originated nothing is known to this day, only that their lands lay far in the east and that to return there should never be desired.
They first landed on an island, and their Leader, Lord Cantus, called it Cantun, which later gave name to the surrounding Bay of Cantun. Two settlements they built and named them southern Cantun and northern Cantun, or, in their old language Nir Cantun and Tar Cantun.
https://img696.imageshack.us/img696/5711/howe080.jpg
The town of Tar Cantun
The days were happy in the first time on this new land and quickly they populated the island and, after first settling on a nearby island, founding the town of Ova they decided to send a scouting party to the mainland.
Under the leadership of Cantus’ son, the prince Leon, they set foot onto solid land near the mouth of a river and there they set up and outpost called Birun. The first thing they did was to follow the river to a Lake, which they named after their outpost, Lake Birun and then continued on at the shores of the lake. It is then that a letter from Leon arrived at the court of his father, now crowned as King of Cantun.

Dear Father,

We have set up a strong foothold and I gave it the name of my sister, which I love, Birun. Following the river we spotted when landing we reached a lake just a few days later and followed the shores northward and to the east, marching around the lake. It took us about a week to reach the westernmost point of the lake and we have not encountered a single soul until now.
[the letter contains many details and information on this land and is too long to be covered here so only what is relevant is copied into this historical document]
No man seems to live here, even though the land is rich and the animals are many. There is good soil for farming and we have found sources of clay and strong wood for our first settlement. Only yesterday have we encountered the first signs of civilization. A trail of smoke appeared to be emerging towards the sky from a position far to our west. We will follow this route now and you will hear from me again when we have met whomever is living there.

In love, your loyal son, Leon

The father received the news with joy. Not only had his son lived and prospered, he had also confirmed that the land was good and ready to be taken over, because the island of Cantun was getting smaller and smaller for the growing population of his kingdom. He was sure that Leon would be able to reason with those that were already living there. They didn’t seem to use much of the land and so they would surely allow Cantunese settlers to seek their fortune there. A few days later another letter arrived, but this time the parchment was stained by blood and seemed to be written hastily.

Father,

The indigenous population we have encountered is not as we are. They seem to be human but they are not. I cannot go into more detail as time is short but they are hostile and I fear we have made them aware of us being here. When we first entered their city we were met with hospitality but it was only to lure us in and so we readily shared with them where our kingdom lay and who we are. Their Lord, Darganta, seemed to be an honorable man but he isn’t, in fact he is a creature of darkness, but I didn’t understand this until later. Please forgive me if this causes the people of Cantun to fall into danger as it was my mistake but I will seek to correct it. Our scouting party was too small to fight them when we learned that they only tried to get more information from us before we would be killed and so we led them to believe there was more to learn and one night made our escape. They followed us and some of us lost their lives to give the others time to escape. I myself have been hurt badly but I will get through. We are making our way back to Birun now, to set up defenses there and defeat their small host before they can set over to Cantun. Look to the north and pray to the gods that we are strong. But be watchful.

Leon

The news shook the father and the whole court with grief and fear. They set up guards in Tar Cantun, looking northward. They could not see the lands north but on the sixth night there was a red glimmer in the far north and they had to assume that fire had reached their outpost. The king decided to wait if there would be any more signs from his son but the following night he had a dream, where his goddess of Light, Lassa, visited him and told him that time was short. He had a vision and saw many strange creatures prepare primitive ships and boats, behind them he saw what looked like a human settlement burnt down and he knew for sure what had happened. He asked the gods for help but Lassa explained that they could not directly intervene, as these creatures had their own gods and a war between the divine beings was nothing they wanted or at least it was not Lassa’s to decide it. All she could do was to enchant the king’s sword, Neril, with a spell that would help him to prevail against the magic that Darganta was wielding and to speak a blessing over their host that would put fear into the enemy they had to face.
King Cantus, although of old age now, immediately ordered the preparation for departure and two days later the Cantunese army was ready to sail but the king hesitated. He waited for another week and only his closest advisors knew for what reason he did this. When they finally set sail they were not on the water for long before meeting black ships, or rather boats that were on their way south. The king knew he had waited for the right amount of time because the one advantage the Cantunese had was the sea. They were experienced sailors and warriors on ships, while their enemies had never set their eyes onto the sea before. With very few losses they were able to sink all the dark vessels and many strange creatures were feeding the fish that day.
Encouraged by this they quickly set foot onto the mainland, near Birun, where they discovered the burnt remains of a small town and after mourning the loss of good men they continued in the direction they assumed the enemy to live. Every night Lassa returned to the king in his sleep to guide them and let them know the way and only four days later they reached the black citadel city that Leon had told his father about.
The next day they engaged the enemy but of the heroic deeds of the battles in these early days no accounts have survived or at least, none that we know of. We know that after a long and fierce battle the Cantunese force finally prevailed, only Darganta himself was still fighting, believing that no man could kill him he slew hundreds of soldiers until Cantus himself faced him in battle. It was a fierce duel but in the end Cantus’ sword Neril found an opening in the black armor and pierced the skin of the dark Lord who fell, under the magic spell of Lassa.
https://img195.imageshack.us/img195/8412/cc36t.jpg
The cavalry charging in, led by the king's friend and advisor Galan Undine
https://img64.imageshack.us/img64/6272/brom119.jpg
The swordfight of Cantus and Darganta
The rest of the dark forces had retreated and after the defeat of their Lord they surrendered to the host of Cantus. It was decided that they should be spared but not allowed to live there anymore. Their leader, the right hand of Darganta, Lord Vayne, suggested they would be sent to an alternate dimension, they called it “the void”, from where they originally had come, as, so they said, they were only able to reproduce and rebuild their people there. Thinking of Lassa’s words, Cantus did not want to upset their dark gods any more than necessary and agreed, using the sword of Darganta, the only tool that could open a gateway to the void, to send them back.
As they entered the real of the void though, Cantus realized that he had, like his son, been betrayed by these evil people and they tried to move a large host of their creatures back through the Gate, led by Vayne. He was the first to step through and in that moment Cantus realized their betrayal and attacked Vayne, wounding him deeply across his chest before being slain by Vayne himself who was struggling to keep the gate open. It was then that Birun, who had snuck onto one of the ships, disguised as one of the wizards who accompanied the army, stormed forward, tears of anger and grief in her eyes, after losing her brother and father to these enemies, weaving a spell that wrestled Darganta’s sword from Vayne and pushed him and his host back into the void.
https://img864.imageshack.us/img864/6402/fm08zzgeurgn.jpg
Birun closing the gate
The gate closed but at what price? Birun had exhausted herself and without the will to go on, she could not recover and so, arm in arm, both father and daughter died that day, saving their people, who were now without a leader. No one knew of the fate of Leon and so it had to be assumed that he died, defending the outpost of Birun.
In the aftermath of the battle it was decided that Galan Undine, Cantus’ closest and most trusted advisor, should become king, as the old king had no other heir to take the throne. Galan knew of everything that Cantus had known, so he honored Lassa for the help she had given them, against the council of the other gods. He decided that the kingdom of Cantun was no longer and there should be a new one, named Lassara with a capitol built right there, at the site of their most tragic hour, as a sign of the power and will to overcome, that was in all men. The island of Cantun was to be part of the realm, reigned by a nephew of Cantus who did not want to leave the islands but agreed to set the house of his uncle up as governors of Cantun, subject to the kingdom of Lassara which was to be reigned by the House of Undine for all time, should the gods so will.
https://img96.imageshack.us/img96/5936/nasmith16.jpg
The capital, Lassara
https://img714.imageshack.us/img714/3549/nasmith18.jpg
A glimpse into the streets of Lassara
The sword Neril was deliberately broken and shards of it have been forged into seven weapons to disperse the vast divine power that was sealed within the blade. They were given to the greatest heroes of the realm, to be used as weapons to defend Lassara but six of them have since been lost and only one of them remains in the hands of the kings of Lassara. The sword of Darganta could not be destroyed, not my physical or magical means and so it was sealed in a chamber beneath the castle of Lassara’s capitol to never be used again. It is guarded by a special corps as it is rumored that the hosts of the void would still answer to the sword, should they be called.

In the following centuries the realm was strengthened and expanded. Soon the rebuilt town of Birun and the newly founded town of Leon were thriving and the kingdom expanded further. Right now, eight hundred and seventy years after the founding of Lassara, the realm reaches south to Epayl Nir, the spear point of the south, eastward to the peninsula of Avin and west unto the great western mountains, the Ayal Royad hyo. The southern peninsula was colonized along the shores as the southern desert, Mayandar nir, was almost impassable and so settlements were only built on the shore and on the islands of Quin and Ai. Later a group of settlers followed a river north of Quin and founded Yonal in the southern reaches of the western mountains. Beyond these lay Ayal Mayn hyo, the great western sands. Nomads live there and over the years past they sometimes have raided the countryside west of Leon, so the two watchtowers of Null and Varim were built, to safeguard the western borders of the kingdom. They have since been almost deserted as relatively stable peace with the nomads has been reached about two hundred years ago. They didn’t like Lassara nor did most Lassarans like them but goods from the kingdom were needed in the west and vice versa, so a lasting trade relationship has evolved between both people, replacing the wars of their early encounters. Still all trade goes through Null and Varim and the garrisons are ever watchful to what happens in the great sands. Tarania, the northern realm, is a hostile land, not because of civilizations living there but because of the harsh weather and dangerous animals. None of the two usually crosses the northern mountains, guarding the kingdom's northern borders, so the Lassarans are happy, not knowing much about these lands.
Through all this time the House of Undine has prevailed and a descendant of Galan was always ruling in Lassara. Until now… The old king, Ramin Undinde II has died in a hunting accident without leaving an heir of age, only his daughter was left behind but she was only six years old when her father left the realm of the living. The laws stated that she could rule from the day of her sixteenth birthday, until then, three consuls were to rule the kingdom as stewards. This day is today but the expected coronation of Queen Amalia Undine I was not going to happen the way everyone expected…

Lassara's Religions:

The Old Gods:
This is the belief in the old gods, the gods Cantus and his followers already believed in when they set foot onto Cantun. They do not know much about their history before their journey to these lands but they have remembered all about their gods. It is by far the most common religion in Lassara.

Pantheon of the Old Gods:

Astaron: He is the head god of the old Lassaran faith. The founder and father of the people they originate from and he is the mightiest among the Lassaran gods. The Lassarans do not believe that their gods are the only gods that exist, neither do they believe that their god, Astaron, has created the world or other gods. He married Lassa and convinced her siblings, Bylaeid and Cayhalla, to join him in protecting his people, the people that Cantus and his followers came from. Over the while more divine beings joined them or were born into their ranks, making up the whole pantheon of the old faith. Astaron himself has power over the winds and air, over the creatures of the heavens and over the minds of men. He is a mighty warrior, his most common avatar being in the form of a knight, carrying a lance and a longbow, riding a winged horse. Astaron is also the god of night and darkness. His center of worship lies, together with his wife Lassa, in the royal temple district of the capital but both are worshipped throghout the country.

Lassa: Though not the head of the Lassaran pantheon, Lassa is the most beloved godess of her people because she was the one to appear in Cantus' visions, revealing to him the way to defeat the army of the void and enchanting his blade Neril to accomplish this deed. She is a loyal wife to Astaron, ever supporting of her husband, only once has she acted against his council, when she aided Cantus in those fateful times. Lassa is the goddess of light, song and beauty. Of all the gods she is most prayed to because she is said to listen to the prayers of men more than the other gods. Her most common appearance among men is that of a fair lady, clothed in a shining, white robe, not bearing any weapons. In addition to the temple district of the capital there is a huge temple, solely dedicated to Lassa, in Tar Cantun.

Bylaeid: Lassa's older brother and, after her, the first to join Astaron. He is the Lassaran god of water and the sea and all marine creatures. It is said that the old people of which the Lassarans originate were great seafarers and Bylaeid was one of their most important and worshipped gods but in Lassara seafaring is not such an important part of life and thus the importance of Bylaeid is somewhat diminished. He usually appears as a tall, muscular man, clothed in rough leather, armed with a giant battle axe and he is rumoured to roam the seas on his mighty ship Vanrim. The center for worship of Bylaeid is Avin, as well as the islands of Quin and Ai.

Cayhalla: Cayhalla is the younger sister of Lassa, a wild and ferocious character. She is also playful and loves a good challenge, showing that when not immediately agreeing to join Astaron but letting him take a few tests to prove his power, one of these tests being the defeat of another divine being in battle, a suitor Cayhalla wanted to get rid of. She is the goddess of war, the hunt and all land based creatures, appearing as a woman in chainmail and a red cloak, bearing a spear and two sabres. Cayhalla is worshipped mainly in the southern parts of Lassara, with a great temple in Epayl Nir.

Sylka: Sylka is the wife of Bylaeid, married to him before they ever met Astaron and she joined him together with her husband. She is the Lassaran goddess of fertility and all growing things, bestowing her blessing onto the farming population of the country, being mostly worshipped in the rural and agricultural areas. A large temple in Leon is dedicated to her. She usually appears as a young woman, dressed in green garments and carrying a long, wooden staff.

Lot'al: The Lassaran god of magic, wisdom and study. Like his brother he is interested in the arcane but his temper is much more stable and he is more interested in the controlled use of arcane powers than in the destructive unleashment of raw energy his brother seems to be so fond of. He has married Cayhalla and thereby joined Astaron whom he has come to respect greatly and his temper has made him a perfect counterweight for his wife. He is worshipped mainly in the royal temple district of the capital but there is also a large temple, dedicated to him, in the city of Anaba. Usually he appears in colourful robes, as a rather old man, bearing a scepter.

Faarik: He has joined Astaron after his brother Lot'al was married to Cayhalla. Being a natural wizard and cunning deceiver he has become the god of witchcraft and trickery. His love for the Lassaran people is limited and these feelings are mutual. Only some sects worship Faarik and he has no large temple or cult areas. He appears as whatever he feels like, not having a common form, although lately, over the course of the last two- to three-hundred years, he hasn't appeared much at all.

These are the seven head gods of the Lassaran old faith. There are several lesser divine beings associated with Astaron's pantheon as well, some regional, some attached to certain aspects of life. Gods are immortal, which means that they do not age or die of sickness or anything else, they can, however, apparently be slain, because Astaron himself is said to have slain a divine suitor of Cayhalla as part of her tests. It is of course very difficult to slay a god and in fact this occurence during Cayhalla's trials for Astaron is the only known death of a god.

The Lassarans know very little about the time when Astaron first approached their people because an important element of the old faith is that knowledge of the time before Cantus set his foot onto the island now known as Cantun should not be pursued.

The Lassarans have no god for the underworld or the dead because they believe that all dead souls will be judged before Astaron and, if they are worthy, they will enter his realm where they will live eternally in joy and peace. Those that aren't worthy are not spoken of and most religious leaders assume that they simply cease to exist.

I know it's much but I really encourage everyone who wants to participate to read the history as it's going to be important background for our game.

How are we gonna do this? (Rules)

The World of Lassara

There is a ruling class, the king's House of Undine and the nobility. A big majority of people in the kingdom are in the upper or lower middle class. They are living in relative wealth although they aren't of noble birth. There is the lower classes as well, they aren't as numerous in most places but Lassara is no Utopia it has poor people, bandits, rogues and a list of other problems as well
The currency is simple, there are coins made of gold, silver and copper with decreasing value. You don't have to go into great detail and exaclty list how much gold your character has, but describing how poor/rich they are and if they have regular access to gold is a very good thing
The military of Lassara might not have to fight big battles or win great wars, as the country lives mostly in peace but even in a kingdom like Lassara there are bandits, pirates and other brigands to fight and the military also has the duty to man the garrisons of the western watchtowers and guard the mountain passes into Tarania. This is probably where most fighting happens, especially during the winter months, when freezing temperatures and lack of food drives hordes of hostile creatures into the south. Their history has also taught the Lassarans to remain vigilant and ready for anything, so their military is very well trained and equipped although a lack of real combat experience might still be a disadvantage in a full blown war, at least for part of the army. There are women serving in the army.
There are elven tribes that have been found recently in the southern woods, by the settlers of Yonal. They are peaceful and technically there has been an alliance established with the kingdom of Lassara but encounters between men and elves are rare.
Technologywise this world is at a similar stage as classical fantasy settings like LotR. You can be creative with armor and weapons. Magic can be a good substitute for technolocigal parts and again, be reasonable and know that this is about working things into the story, not "powergaming", which is not possible anyway, since items and equipment don't have "stats"

Characters

Everyone who wants to participate: simply state it in this thread. Then create a character and post it here (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?136202-Lassara-Shards-of-Neril-Characters-Backgrounds-and-Information&p=2053328258#post2053328258).
Create a character for yourself. I will start the cahracter thread with a character of my own, so you can follow that example but you can even add more detail if you want to.
Once player character per person, you can create NPCs though, for example if you need them for your character arc or something else...
Your character can be of any race or creature imaginable, you can use creatures already known in the realm. There could be other civilized creatures inside the kingdom of Lassara that have only been discovered in those years that I didn't really go into in the backstory. Or you can have a character coming from a place outside the game map.
You can create any "class" you can imagine. We will try to keep it fair, so don't shun away from characters that seem weak if it fits what you wanna do, this is more about story than overpowering others.
I have the final say on characters, I might ask you to change things to keep 'em a bit balanced, please ask if anything is unclear
If you have any questions regarding character creation, please just contact me via PM. If you can't find a picture, AFTER TRYING ;) - you can ask me, I might find something you like

Playing

We will play by simply posting what our characters do, say, sometimes what they think, etc. You are completely free what you want to do but of course it would make sense to join in on the main story, otherwise I'd recommend just writing a book ;)
Posts in past tense and third person please
There is no posting order but be reasonable. If someone is in a conversation with another char and you are in the same group, it doesn't really make sense to post how the group packs up and leaves... Unless your character tells the two ingame to stop chatting and get going :P
It is allowed to "plan" certain things with other players via PM or other means, to post larger dialogues at once or things like that. Sometimes it makes sense but don't do it with everything. Surprise us
I have the final say on posts so if something just doesn't fit I may ask you to remove it. This may never happen and if it does I expect it to be very rare. If you want to do something that seems rather "stretching" you can always contact me beforehand

Battles

You can initiate or engage in a fight with NPCs anytime you want, depicting the battle any way you want, although sometimes you'll have to pay attention to what the others are doing. Also, try to be reasonable. Posting how your character kills an army of five thousand single handedly might make it hard to balance him and I might ask you to remove that post after you pot so much work into it, which is not favorable
Don't hurt or kill NPCs that are created by other players and have their own entry in the characters thread. Cannonfodder can be destroyed at will even if "created" by others.

PvP

You can engage another character in battle anytime you want, whenever that happens the game will switch to "turns" and all characters involved will post in a order I will set from battle to battle.
Every character involved will post three times depicting his moves and reactions, after that all involved characters will discuss in the OOC thread and try to reach a conclusion that they all can agree upon.
If no consensus can be found, I will decide who has the upper hand and how strong the advantage is
After that (no matter if the players agreed on who has the upper hand or if I have to decide it) I will do a biased random roll, to determine the winner, favoring the one in advatnage of course.
After that the results have to be worked into the story, it will be discussed beforehand if it is possible for a player character to be killed during that battle
This sounds more complicated than it is, let's get to the first PvP battle and you'll see ;)

All these rules are subject to change at any given time. If during the course of the game an issure comes up where you don't agree with the rules and it has support from the majority of players I have no problem tweaking them to what is wished.
After all, this is about having fun and creating a story together. I will work as a GM, steering the story a bit, which means of course I have a story in mind but it could be completely altered and changed by your actions and choices.

It felt like a normal day when Alain got up that morning, the seventeenth day in the month of Lassa. But it wasn’t, right? It was the princess’ birthday, her sixteenth birthday to be precise and what this meant for Alain Bynae was more work. He did not have a lot of time to get himself ready as one of his lieutenants entered his private quarters only a short while later. “Sire, the head of the town guard has requested to meet you immediately about security procedures for today’s festivities. He said to meet you right now, outside the barracks.” For a moment Alain thought about reprimanding the young soldier for entering his quarters without announcing himself but then he just nodded and dismissed him with a wave of his hand. The captain finished his breakfast and then made his way outside of the barracks, onto the city walls of the inner circle where he met captain Decarto, head of the town guard.
“Decarto, what a pleasant visit so early in the morning”, he shouted while climbing onto the walls, now dressed in his full armor which was both the royal guard’s combat and ceremonial armor, slapped the man on the shoulder and looked at him, “What can I do for you?” The older man raised an eyebrow and slowly replied. “Well how come you are in such a good mood? We have a lot to do today. What I was going to ask you is if you will need any more men to secure the innermost circle and the palace grounds? Because, if the royal guard can take care of that, I will have a few men left to inquire on something.” “Something?” Alain replied and Decarto nodded. “Just a minor incident. We have word that the murderer of Lord Carus Fay’ra is in Lassara, more precisely in the slums and we’ll have to take care of that.” Alain nodded and looked out over the city below him. If he had an opinion on the matter or even knew what Decato was talking about he didn’t show it. “Very well, the royal guard will be enough to take care of the innermost circle and the palace. Just make sure that you have everything else covered. I want the outer and inner rings completely under control, especially the route of the procession.” The chief of the town guard nodded and saluted before getting back to his work.

The rest of the preparation went as planned, the royal guard took their spots and everything was ready for the great ceremony. The princess would enter the city through the eastern gate and follow a route through all the defensive rings and walls towards the innermost circle and the palace, where the actual coronation would take place. The heads of the great noble houses, the chief generals of the army and, of course, the three consuls were there already, waiting for the princess to arrive, that is, everyone except Consul Vatano, consul of the army and current holder of power in the realm. He was missing and since Alain, captain of the royal guard was already welcoming the princess into the city and the care of himself and his most loyal men, starting the procession, the missing of one of the consuls was the concern of many. Servants were sent out to find him, because after all he was to deliver Essa, the shining one, the only weapon remaining in the possession of the royal house of Undine that was forged with one of the shards of Neril. The sword was always held by the current king or queen and even though Amalia was no swordfighter at all she would have it put into her hands at her coronation, as was tradition.

While captain Bynae was leading the queen through the streets of Lassara, thousands upon thousands of citizen’s gathered along the way to cheer for their new queen, the streets laden with flowers and trumpets echoing throughout the city, the picture in the slums was different. The only flowers on the streets were weeds growing out of the mud and the only cheering that was heard was actually the shouting of the town guard’s men: “Stop! Hold him!” an officer yelled as he was stumbling over a few wooden boxes, burying his face in the dirt while his men continued their pursuit of the figure at the end of the road. Drax looked back, seeing that he had almost lost them, just one more corner and… BLAM! Darkness was all the young man could see as his body was thrown back into the mud, soon to be replaced by circles of shiny stars that were still clouding his vision when the large soldier into whose shield he had just run leaned over him and grinned. “Gotcha… you ain’t going nowhere in my town”, the guy stated the obvious as the boy was quickly surrounded by men of the town guard and moments later he could hear the voice of the officer, still trying to get rid of the mud all over his uniform. “Indrax Dwymmer, you are hereby placed under arrest for the murder of Lord Carus Fay’ra of…”

The princess had finally reached the palace and with a final blast of the trumpets she entered the great hall in complete silence. Only the steps of the royal guard escorting her could be heard, hard metal against stone marble, as she took the steps down the hallway, towards the throne where the three consuls were waiting. Three? No, Vatano was still missing and Alain, marching at the princess’ side was exchanging confused looks with his second in command who had been in charge of the palace. There was no time to think about it now though. The princess had reached the steps before the thrown and a herald announced: “See your queen, Amalia Undine I, may her reign be blessed, her people prosperous and her life long in days!” At that moment the loudness of the streets was dwarfed to the cheering and shouting inside the great palace as nobles, military honoraries and other officers shouted their support for the queen and House Undine. It took a few minutes before the crowd finally settled down and silence was in place again. The queen, standing before the throne now and facing the gathered attendants opened her mouth to speak the vow that would complete the ceremony and was the last step before she would receive the royal insignia but she did not get to speak. The huge door, closed after Amalia had entered, swung open and Consul Vatano stormed in, the expression on his face being one of utter terror. “Treachery!” is all he could cry before falling onto his knees and then flat on his face, revealing the shafts of two arrows that emerged from his back. There was a moment of shock in which only the bright ring of Essa, the royal sword, hitting the ground could be heard, before a member of the royal guard ran towards the consul and shortly after that shouted: “He’s dead!”
Immediately chaos broke loose within the great hall of kings. Alain stayed calm though. He shouted some orders and his men began to lead the high nobles out, their escorts staying back mostly to protect the queen. The royal guard escort formed a circle around Amalia and Alain talked to his right hand. “You stay here with half of our men and protect the consuls. You have the noblemen’s escorts at your disposal, hold the palace if it is attacked, hold it as if the queen was still here. We will take the secret way out and you know where to meet us when we know what is going on here.” A quick nod and half of the guardsmen in the palace were escorting the queen out of the palace, following secret ways that lead them, hopefully, to safety.

In the meantime there was still shouting in the streets, but now people screamed of terror. A huge shadow was darkening the city and if anyone looked up he could see a gigantic fortress hovering in the air over the city, raining down arrows and fireballs onto the population and defenders of Lassara’s capital. Winged demons were swarming out of the fortress and down into the streets, picking up men, women and children just to let them fall from great heights. The town guard and royal guard didn’t know what to do. A few bowmen started to shoot at the demons but it was of little success. Around the city great parts of the Lassaran army were readying themselves for battle. They had come here to swear allegiance to the new queen, leaving only the most necessary garrisons all over the kingdom but now they were prepared to fight for what was dear to them but already the arrows were raining down on them, the fireballs sweeping through their ranks and these demons turned their attention towards the military as the town seemed to have fallen already. The soldiers were waiting for orders to storm the city and fight for its survival but the orders didn’t come. Something strange was happening here as the resistance against this attack didn’t seem to be what it should be.

Visor

06-17-2011, 11:28

Another wasted day. No pay, no jobs and too much money. Yet again he found himself at the Warrior's Sword Tavern, drinking away his hard earned coins on hard liquor. Once again, nothing of interest was happening, except for his increasing headache. He raised the cup to his lips and drank a long draught of ale, the cool liquid lessening his troubles already.

The door to the tavern opened, Rufus paid no attention to it. The door was always opening and closing. Who cared? A woman screamed, agitiating his pain.

He turned to the door, ":daisy: OFF WOMAN!"

Said woman's scream was suddenly cut off. Rufus smiled, turned back to his drink, and then stopped and looked back. The woman was cut in half and people were rushing out the door. Brilliant.

"CAN YOU BE QUIET FOR :daisy:'S SAKE!" Rufus roared. But the crowd payed no attention. He sighed and finished his drank, then got up unsteadily from his stool. He wandered to the door, sword in hand. "WHO STARTED THIS?" he yelled drunkenly. Then his eyes widened as he saw no mob, but chaos.

All he could see was screaming villagers and demons, corpses everywhere and the noise was unbearable. Not the worst situation, he thought. At least the damned woman's dead. He shrugged and walked out of the door. Time for a change of address he thought. Oblivious (or simply not caring) he walked down the streets, ignored for the most part. In his drunken state, he found that he had wandered into the wrong part of town, especially for someone who is wanted as an outlaw. The prison. He stared at it, then grinned madly, no people to imprison him now. He kept on walking with no idea of direction. Eventually he tripped over a trio of dead men, facepalming the ground. His headache came back in force and he groaned, dragging himself to a sitting position to clear his head. It was here, that he first saw the potato. Or at least that's what he first thought. "Why in the gods name is a potato in prison?" he said to the air. And when the potato responded, he was very surprised.

(OOC: So, B_Ray, I found your guy. :P)

Diamondeye

06-17-2011, 13:42

The Sword was always noisy, even on a day like today, plenty of commoners and strangers to the city found it worth spending their last coppers to drink their sorrows away. Alyssa sneered condescendingly before taking another swig of her beer. The irony of her thoughts were not lost on her, and she leaned back, pausing momentarily from the drinking, strumming the strings of her small lute, muttering a depressing ballad to herself.
"Drowning our future in our past,
Have we all gone so insane?
Drinking it away won't last,
But at least it numbs the pain."
It was a depressing song for a depressing atmosphere. She felt claustrophobic in such a large city, and restless without anything to do. She sighed, finished her beer, and prepared to leave for her room with the lute when a rough and bawdy man at the bar started yelling up. ":daisy: off, woman!" Alyssa's eyes darted to the man at the bar, then at the woman in the doorway. She had a crimson lining of blood all the way across her figure, around the waist, as if she had been almost cut in half. Alyssa got up, suddenly sobering up. People were panicking. The few windows that the Sword had were darkening, and from the street Alyssa heard cries of panic, and "Demons!". She immidiately picked herself up and started for her room to get her things. Below, in the tavern bar, she could hear the shouting of the drunkard from before, "CAN YOU BE QUIET FOR :daisy:'S SAKE!", and then, "Who started this!?". She had thrown on her backpack, had her sword and dagger in the belt, her lute over one shoulder, the axe in her right hand and bow and quiver in the left as she descended from her room again, now to a completely deserted establishment. She ran for the stables; luckily, her courser was still there, and the idiot of a stableboy hadn't even gotten around to unsaddling it. She clasped the quiver with bow and arrows to one side of the saddle, considered clasping the axe to the other before deciding to simply keep it in hand, dragged the courser from the stables and sat up. One look at the sky, raining in fire and arrows, were enough to convince her she needed to get out of the city. She spurred the courser and started down a street towards the nearest gate, with little respect for those too slow to get out of her way.
"Just what I :daisy:ing needed", she mumbled to herself as she shoved a slow pedestrian out of her way with the flat of the axe. He stumbled in the street and was taken by arrows from above. She kept her head down and spurred the courser again, gallopping towards the South Gate of the city.

Death is yonder

06-17-2011, 15:53

Elsewhere in Lassara

It was a typical day at the Three Brothers', and Guantano sat down quietly in a corner of the inn, a mug of ale in front of him, his gear casually laid out at the side. He pondered silently, sipping from the smooth wooden vessel, looking around the bar area. Nothing had changed, the same old creaking floorboards and same old flagons of foamy ale just the way he liked it. Letting out a sigh of contentment, Guantano stretched and set his eye upon one of the barmaids, her autumn-colored hair swaying as his eye followed. Home.

Yet his envisioned escapades were not to be, even as he planned his latest "conquest", Guantano was shaken out of his thoughts by the sudden commencement of screaming in the streets outside. Fear. Jolted into action, Guantano leaped from his seat, grabbing his gear, before his hand gripped on Gutripper, ready to draw her. Gesturing amidst the sudden panic that gripped the crowd to his brothers to bolt the door and hide, Guantano shoved his way out of the door, to be confronted with a grizzly sight that shook even the scarred veteran. A monstrous beast with blood dripping from its fangs raced after a woman desperately trying to flee, burying his axe into his victim's chest, roaring with delight even as she gurgled and choked in her final death throes. Withdrawing its axe, it then slurped greedily at the blood and then tossed the corpse aside as it went down another alley in search of more prey.

Momentarily stunned, Guantano shook himself and regained composure, drawing Gutripper and heading down the opposite passageway. Never will it be said that Guantano was a coward, but after that display, any sane man with a desire to live would avoid any unnecessary fights.

Suddenly, an arrow buried itself barely a hand-span from his torso, chipping a fragment off the wall and falling to the ground. Unshaken, Guantano raced onwards and despite the situation around him, he could not refrain from raising an eyebrow at the sight of a young beautiful woman racing her horse in his direction, an axe in her hand. Never one to think too much, Guantano grinned, and as the courser charged at him, he made a quick movement and hoisted himself on the horse.

The young lady clearly seemed unsure of whether to whack him with her axe, or to admire his dashing good looks. A smirk formed on his face as he saw her incredulous expression, and Guantano only slyly asked, "Room for one more gorgeous?"

thefluffyone93

06-17-2011, 16:13

Meanwhile, deep in Ayal Royad Hyo.....

All was silent in the peaceful woods, until it was interrupted by a raspy cackle that emanated from a cave entrance.
Deep in the sunken fortress, for that is what the cave was, Morangul was laughing his :daisy: off.
Literally, it actually fell off.
But thats what happens when your a walking centuries old corpse; things tend to fall off.

Morangul looked down, stared at it for a moment, shrugged, and put it back into place.
He then went back to his scrying bowl, where, much to his delight, he was still able to watch all the chaos unfold in Lassara.
Oh, he hadn't seen such destruction since his undead armies ravaged the land!
Morangul chuckled with glee as he watched a winged demon pick a soldier up, fly to a great height, and then tear him in two and used his body as a projectile to hit other soldiers.
Morangul continued to enjoy the chaos until he noticed the origin of the demons:the flying fortress.

"Hmmmm, that would take a lot of magic to make it float like that..." Morangul said to himself,
"And to summon demons, you must be either an idiot, or very powerful..."

At this, Morangul began to feel threatened; this interloper has no right to destroy this country, only he does!
"Besides," Morangul said, "I might be able to find a large enough power source on that fortress to creat another Phylactery and restore my powers!"

And with that, Morangul decided it was time to head out into the world again. He grabbed his staff, a ghastly looking thing made of bones with a skull cradled by hands at the top, and the Krivbeknih, his personal spellbook that contained many powerful spells he created to vanquish foes. As he was about to leave his fortress for the first time in centuries, he looked down at himself; a walking skeleton, wearing the ancient robes of the Archmage, for that was who he was before he became a lich. However, the robes were in perfect condition, due to the mighty enchantments placed on it. "Not many people would welcome a walking skeleton," Morangul thought, and with that, he cast upon himself an illusion to make himself appear as the man he once was, the mighty Archmage of Lassara.

And so, out of the cave, in the middle of Ayal Royad Hyo, walked an old, wizened man.
He looked around, smiled to himself, shot a fluffy bunny with a bolt of lightning, and continued on his way.

Diamondeye

06-17-2011, 17:04

Alyssa shot the stranger a single glance before refocusing on the road, and answered his dumbwitted question without her eyes leaving the road. "You'll excuse me if I won't let your dashing good looks distract me," she said with a voice dripping in sarcasm, "but I need to keep my eyes on the road, here. I guess you can stay on, if nothing else you look capable of defending yourself. But no grappling and no more 'gorgeous', or I'm leaving you in the gutter. I'm Alyssa - that's Lady Alyssa to you."
She paused for a moment as the courser leapt over a deserted stall blocking the street, scouting for the southern gate ahead.
"And who do I owe the honor, then?", she asked, again with the sarcastic tone in her voice.

Greyblades

06-17-2011, 17:37

With the nobles fleeing the Throneroom and the guardsmen either herding out the more stubborn aristocracy or taking potshots at the odd flying imp noone seemed to notice the small length of white steel just lying discarded at the foot of the altar.

Noone except a certain young squire leaning casually on one of the Throneroom supporting pillars pretending to watch his knight fail to whistle for a horse.

"You think anyone would notice if I borrowed that?" asked the squire.

The knight turned.

"Borrowed what?"

"That."

The knight looked to the fallen blade, then back to the lad. "Now is realy not a good time to be committing sacrelige."

"Oh come on, Gil", replied the squire "I'm sure its going to do more to beat demons than this blunt thing." He pointed to the sword slung over his sholder, a ceremonial brass and gold sword; good looking but likely to shatter with one swing.

"And you'd know all about what kills daemons would you?"

"Yes actually, remember when I fought the daemon of Bullock county?"

The knight stared at the squire for afew seconds before replying.

"First that wasn't so much a county as a large field, secondly that wasnt a demon that was Lady Bullock."

"She fought like a daemon."

"And you fled like a rabbit. Look if you want that sword so badly I dont think they'll mind too much as long as you put it back when you're done."

"Oh come on-"

"Thomas..."

"Fine."

Getting up off the pillar Thomas wandered across the chamber dodging the odd running guard and around a passed out noblewoman untill he was at the foot of the long stair leading to the throne's platform. Supposedly it was tall enough so the occupant could see over trolls if so wished, though why you would want to see over a troll was a matter Thomas didn't need answering as a certain other royal accessory lying at the foot of the stairs had taken his attention. It didnt seem all that special, a long silver blade with a white handle and leather grip, there even seemed to be a crack near the point.

"Not exactly what I'd expect a weapon of legend to look li-Hells!"

A bolt of electricity shot into the squire's hand as he reached for the sword. It didn't hurt but it left him numb up to his elbow and the flash blinded him for a second.

"What in the world..."

Rubbing the feeling back into his forearm Thomas started to notice that the crest on his pauldron strap seemed to be glowing, he bent back down and grasped the handle again. This time no bolt of lightning recieved him but a strangely warm feeling on the back of his hand as he lifted the surprisingly light sword aloft.

"Huh, Gil are these swords supposed to be this light?"

There was no reply, in fact there was no anything, so wrapped up in the sword the young squire hadnt noticed that the clamour of soldiers running back and forth had ceased, there was nothing to be heard but a slow gurgled breathing.

"Hey, Gil, I said..." he turned, the breath died in his throat as he just stared along with the entire hall at the figure standing in between the grand doors.

Death is yonder

06-17-2011, 17:37

A bemused look etched its way upon Guantano's face as he replied to the barb. "Milady," he drawled. "I'm positively wounded that you do not recognize one who could only be the legendary Guantano." Raising his sword to his brow, he said with a deep and pseudo-formal tone. "At your service"

As the horse galloped and leaped past several more obstacles, Guantano slid his arm around her waist with his left hand. "Forgive this minor slight milady, but this unworthy one has not ridden in a while. He most certainly hopes to get more practice once this is over. Guantano continued in the same tone, his eyes twinkling in humor.

For the first time in his life, Guantano was happy to see a mob of smaller winged demons ahead, which was probably the only thing that kept him from being launched off the horse and into the gutter.

"Showtime."

TheLastDays

06-17-2011, 19:04

Alain led the princess and her escort, twelve brave men of the royal guard, his best men, through secret tunnels down into the slums of the city. There was not much talking among the group as the princess was still in shock and the men knew what was to do without speaking. Each covered his angle as soon as they emerged out of a hidden exit into the slums and saw their first sign of the devastation the attack was wreaking on the capital. Corpses lay in the mud, pierced by many arrows; houses were burning, people running around in panic and in futile attempts to put out the fires. Obviously though the fiercest of the attack had turned away from this part of the town and so the royal guard with their princess stepped onto the roads and quickly made their way through the slums until they came across a group of town guard soldiers arguing among each other. Their officer had obviously died from an arrow and they were holding a prisoner and weren’t sure what exactly to do and so they hid underneath the canopy of a house. “What is going on here?” Alain inquired and one of the men turned towards him, his eyes widening when he recognized the captain of the royal guard. “Err, we… we have this prisoner but we are not sure where to take him.” Shaking his head Alain replied: “Are you guys crazy? Whatever he’s done, it can be sorted out later.” He looked at the young guy. “Can you handle yourself in a fight or at least not get in our way?” The boy nodded. “Alright”, addressing the group of eight soldiers, “I need you all to come with me, we have a job to do and cowering here is not part of it.” The soldiers nodded, some with reluctance but finally they all, including Drax, followed the captain back to the princess. The town guard knew well enough not to ask questions when they recognized Amalia and so the group quickly made its way towards a secret exit out of the capital.

Illian, the commander of the royal guard left in the throne room organized the defense as well as he could and obviously their trick worked. The attacker seemed to buy the ruse that the princess was still there but that also meant that the attack on the palace was the fiercest. Illian ordered some soldiers to barricade the main gate but then suddenly the gate just flew open or rather it burst into pieces, sending men flying through the hall as a huge creature made its way into the throne room. The creature stood at a height of about twelve feet and its mere presence made the defenders move away, towards the throne area where the royal guard was circled around the two consuls, a few nobles and their entourage standing off to the side. The Strangely there was almost no sound anymore. The petty demons had stopped attacking the palace and the creature was looking over the defenders, most of them already wounded, only few left standing by now. Suddenly it bent its hind legs as if preparing to jump right at the consuls and the royal guard when a deep, commanding voice was heard. “Livius! It’s enough.” The creature growled but then relaxed its stance and suddenly it began to shrink and deform, slowly turning into a man with white hair in a strange, black robe. All that separated him from a normal man was his strangely pale skin and the long nails on the hand that held on to a small, shiny object. “Alright,” he spoke calmly as three other figures entered the throne room. Two of them were other men, one of them clad in strange, red armor, wearing a matching mask and a deep red cloak over his shoulders. He carried two swords and was obviously the one who had kept the one named Livius from killing everyone in the room. The other was even stranger. He never bent his stature, keeping his posture completely strange all the time he followed right behind the red guy. He carried one sword in his hand, still sheathed but he looked ready to use it if necessary. The third was a woman, completely covered in a long, black cloak, only her pale blue face and matching hair visible as she let her gaze stride over the room. In her hand she held a scythe with a strangely shimmering blade that looked as if it was sucking in all the light around it, while they all now approached the room creating a darkness that was more than the mere absence of light around its bearer.
About twenty feet from the throne they all stopped and the red guy spoke again, addressing one of the consuls. “You… you are the one, you carry the sword.” At this all eyes were suddenly fixed on Consul Boreale, the consul of magic. A broad smile appeared on the consul’s lips and he nodded calmly, drawing from underneath his garment a long black sword that was shimmering in a way that was strangely alike to the woman’s scythe. “Well yes, I am” he replied and slowly made his way towards the four figures, no one stopping him until he stood next to the red guy. “I called you as with your help I will seize this country as my own. You will do as I please because I carry the sword of your Master, therefore I am your Master, right?” The red figure just nodded and so Boreale waited for a moment while no one seemed to find the strength to do anything but stand and watch. All the while the black cloaked guy was whispering words into the shiny object in his right hand which could now be identified as a small watch. “Alright,” Boreale continued “I will count that as a ‘yes’. What have you brought me… Lord Vayne?” It took a moment before Vayne answered: “I have brought the thirteen, all of them, myself and my twelve lords. I have brought Shamma, my stronghold and all our combined hosts. It shall suffice.” Boreale nodded and finally said: “It shall, yes… So, let us begin to take this land, some will have to die for it though…” and with that he gave a wave at the remains of the defenders and his colleague, the consul of law, who was still holding on to the crown that he held in his hand to crown princess Amalia. Boreale didn’t wait for his order to be followed as he just continued towards the exit of the throne room and Vayne commanded: “Livius, Shay’na, take care of them”, before he followed the consul, the strange guy with the sword following on his heels. “Right,” Livius smiled and extended his hand towards the remaining consul who suddenly let go of the crown and grasped his own chest, sweat pouring from his brow as his hair seemed to turn white and wrinkles appeared in his face. Consul Vaan seemed to age right before their eyes and none of them stayed to watch his dried out skeleton hit the floor and crash to dust as suddenly the blue skinned girl spoke a few words and four green skinned creatures appeared around her, immediately leaping at the defenders, literally ripping them apart while Shay'na herself pointed her scythe at the royal guard and their commander who suddenly all fell dead without an explanation, never to rise again.
Thomas was grabbed by Gilford who quickly dragged him towards one of the windows where they hurled themselves out, followed by two of their knights. After they fell for about ten feet they hit the grass on Lassara’s holy hill and rolled downhill, which was not very comfortable but might have actually saved their lives. Finally, at the bottom of the hill they took a moment to gather themselves. One of the knights had not survived the fall and the other had a wound right across his forearm. It seemed that one of the green skinned beasts had left a mark with its claws and the wound was letting of a foul smell. The knight was screaming in pain as his body was shaking in spasms for about another minute before he died of the venom.

Seon

06-17-2011, 19:18

Deleted

Seon

06-17-2011, 19:19

As the man who looked as if he could die any instant walked away from the charred remains of the rabbit, planes of reality began to shift, and what looked just like a large tree and a rock transformed to become a giant magnificent thunderbird with a large crest and a tail and a small peasant girl riding atop it.

"Why..." she said. "Do you think the thin man left the rabbit without eatin it?"

The thunderbird, the Great Eagle, did an avian equivalent of a shrug and walked over to the rabbit and pecked at it. "Dunnow," it said. "Maybe it was a territory dispute."

"but he looked so thin! And hungry! He was just clothes and bones! He looked like he was in mouth-stitching diet for the last century or two. Hey, what are you eating?"

"Rabbit," the Great Eagle replied. It tossed the remains of the rabbit into the air and tried to swallow it whole before the Fey's tiny hands caught the thing as it entered the bird's mouth.

"No fair! I am hungry too!" Alaria said.

"I thought you were a vegetarian!" the eagle protested. It easily swallowed the rabbit, forcefully tearing the remains away from Alaria's hand.

"oooh," Alaria groaned. The eagle looked at her sheepishly before beckoning her to leave it's back. "It's been a while," he said. "Since the last Fey left its home forest. About 120 years to be exact. I know almost nothing of this land and its people. Are you sure you wish to do this?"

"But we came here already!"

The bird chuckled. "Indeed, I will be watching you. Don't get yourself into trouble or I'll tell your father where you are, ha ha." it spread its wings and took off into the air. Alaria struck out a tongue in that direction. And then she turned to look at the direction where the bony man took off. He worried her somewhat. He looked so hungry that he seemed ready to kill anything. And then she forgot all about him as she noticed some mushrooms next to her. It was a purple mushroom, with bright orange spots in it. It looked tasty to her and so she chomped into it.

It was poisonous, of course, but then again Feys were notoriously tough to this kind of poison. After 2 or 3 mushrooms, however, she felt her thoughts returning to the bony man, who had looked so angry and unhappy.

"Maybe he will be happy if be ate something," she wondered. She picked up more of the mushrooms and started after the bony man, disguising her presence as she did so.

shlin28

06-17-2011, 19:22

“Can you handle yourself in a fight or at least not get in our way?”

Of all the questions the royal guard could have asked, this was the worst. As a trained apprentice, Drax was in theory a versatile battle wizard, but in practice, he is no better than a hedge mage. His alchemical skills meanwhile are useless against flying enemies, especially since the bloody guards had ‘accidentally’ broken most of the potions he had left.

Even the Voice deserted him.

Apart from waking Drax this morning with a dire warning, it had been strangely silent, even whilst Drax was cornered by the city’s finest. Though the Voice is thoroughly unpleasant and most likely the cause of all Drax’ troubles, it had always looked out for his safety, or some twisted and imaginative view of ‘safety’ at least. Not for the first time, Drax thought back to the Voice’s last words…
Do you remember the day your village burned?

He was back to where it all began.

He was just a child, but he saw the coming of monsters that should not be seen.

Do you remember the price of foolishness?

A metal-covered giant, at least two heads higher than Tall Malkur, strode menacingly across through the ramshackle gate. Aldrius, that silly old man who Drax and his friends mocked so much, was the only person brave enough to stand in the monster’s way, waving his rusty sword as he shouted his challenge.

“Be gone, foul beast! I am Aldrius the Vindicated and I wield the Sword of Trav-AAAAAAAAH!” Aldrius’ mad babble, so incessant and endless that once he got going he could not be stopped, ended in a horrifying scream as his broken sword melted in his hands and leapt at his face.

Do you remember how you tried to run from your destiny?

The giant advanced, ignoring the still screaming man beside him, its metallic skin rippling as it seethed in its hunger for blood. Drax was rooted to the spot - he couldn’t move, his hands still gripping the far too large pitchfork, shaking in fear. He wanted to let go of that cumbersome thing and just run, as far away as possible from this terrifying thing. But he couldn’t, if anything the old pitchfork was somehow holding him in place.

The monster snarled as it came ever closer, its hands forming intricate shapes in the air that defied imagination. Drax struggled to breathe as fire raged around him, his vision blurring as a charred metallic hand extended slowly towards Drax’s throat…

You can only delay the inevitable...

It exploded, each shard by a miracle missing the small figure mere inches away from the monster.

But this was just the beginning - more giants, silent and deadly, have somehow appeared behind Drax, their metal skin impervious to the fire that had consumed the village.

Do you remember the sound of battle?

A silent cry of rage echoed through the darkness as a hundred monsters battled in the firestorm. Metallic fists smashed through invisible force, pure rage met steely determination - it was devastation that no Man could have escaped from…

Of course not, you ran, like a coward.

Drax ran, fire and giants mysterious disappearing as he fled, too young to understand why they did so. He ran past the meadow, past the spot where Janeris broke his leg, past the well where – he stopped.

But you do remember what happened next?

He was holding something in his hands, something he definitely didn’t have before, something that he definitely should not have. With trepidation, Drax glanced down at the small object he was holding tight.

Remember, you can’t run from me.

Wake up, Youngling. Today is the day your destiny comes calling.Well, if this is my destiny, it could have been a lot worse, Drax thought. After all, he went from being a captured fugitive, no doubt soon to be executed in the chaos, to become an impromptu bodyguard of the Queen no less. Threats may have been involved, but all in all it wa-

This is a test.

“What test?” Drax blurted out, suddenly forgetting that there were others around him, relieved that the Voice has not abandoned him after all. The others looked at Drax, puzzled.

Look up.

Demons, a dozen of them at least, were flying straight towards their little group. Instead of cackling madly like the demons Drax briefly saw before, they flew silently and with deadly purpose.

Drax shouted a warning, hoping that it wasn’t too late. A few of the guards fired their bows, but they were easily dodged by the agile flyers. He tried to concentrate upon his wand, desperate wishing that his petty magics could do something, anything to hold the demons off, if only to save his own skin. A bolt of lightning, larger than anything Drax had summoned before, leapt from his wand into the sky, but missed the swarm by several yards at least.

Drax swore. This destiny thing is not so great after all.

thefluffyone93

06-17-2011, 19:37

Morangul was walking through the forest, heading in the general location of Lassara.
He was in no rush; its not like he was going there to save anyone!
And so Morangul continued at his leisurely pace, pondering on who would be able to control a flying fortress.
Eventually, he reached a conclusion that made him stop dead in his tracks.
"Darganta's Sword?", He muttered to himself.
Surely no one would be foolish enough use it, and yet the only being poweful enough to control a flying fortress
and hordes of demons would be a powerful demon, such as Vayne.
Morangul just shook his head at the prospect of Vayne and his demons in Lassara; they would not allow him, a threat, to live.
I pity the idiot who summoned Vayne, for they are surely going to betray him....
At that point Morangul sensed a being behind him; he twirled around, staff at the ready.

There was no one there.

But he didn't remember seeing that bush when he walked by....
With a shrug, Morangul continued on his way, with the thought of going into a meditation for a few hours.

Diamondeye

06-17-2011, 19:50

"In that case, you had better find your own horse then," Alyssa snarked, and refirmed her grip on reins and axe as she spotted a small flock of imps descending on the street in front of them. "Hope you're ready to prove your worth, I'm riding thru, it's the fastest way to the gate and these :daisy:es seem easy enough to knock out of the air. Whatever's attacking the palace, we need to put some distance between us and them." She clinched her teeth together, drew back her axe and drove the spurs into the side of the courser.

Seon

06-17-2011, 20:31

"Oh no!" Alaria said as she saw that the bony man was now sitting down on the ground, motionless. "He's already dead, oh wait he's just sleeping."

She left the poisonous mushrooms by the man's side. "You know, my grandma told me that she lost about 700 pounds on the mouth-stitching diet, but I think you lost enough weight, Mr. bones," she said.

Then she saw the Broach on the man's robes. It was an emerald of the largest size that she had ever seen, precisely because she never saw an emerald before. "Ooh," she said. She reached for the emerald...

Then paused. Stealing was bad.

But then again.

She did give the bony man the mushroom, and the curious rock was definitely not edible.

She took the emerald from his body and darted away.

Amsel

06-17-2011, 20:34

There were a lot more colours on show today.

Meghghan had gradually started to notice the colours as she wandered through the main streets. Ordinarily, there were quite a few colours visible, but most of them were not colours Meghghan particularly wanted to focus on: dirt brown, sky grey, a deep green which (for some reason) was always accompanied by an awful, stomach-churning smell and the sensation of wet feet. She hadn't quite worked out the genesis of the deep green yet, but made sure to steer clear of it if she smelled it.

But today, oh, a rhapsody of spectral excellence! Brilliant blues, regal purples, a shocking red that made Meghghan giggle with delight! There had even been an entire wall adorned with a vibrant magenta hue. She had spent the best part of an hour trying to get a good look at it, but kept getting jostled out of the way. There were more people around than normal.

Also, she could hear a variety of beautiful sounds, coming from the direction she was facing. She knew about this, these sounds: they were 'music', the best sort of sound, made by very clever people. Meghghan had tried to make music sounds herself in the past, but they had always been interrupted by her own laughter. Never mind, she dreamed. The music was nice just to listen to.

Her appreciation of the music, like that of the colours, was marred only by the hustle and bustle of the cavorting cityfolk around her. She had expected to attempt her statue act in whatever street she arrived in, especially since she had not eaten in some time, but the music had her enraptured, and all she could think about was how to get closer to it.

Unsure of how to proceed from this point, she fell back on her usual strategy for obtaining informaiton: stand perfectly still until someone bumped into her. And in record time, someone did.

"Hello!" she smiled, turning to face the errant blur that had almost knocked her down. "Where do I go, where is the 'music' today?"

"Blaarraghl," offered the blur, helpfully. It was a man, she could tell. The sound he made was very deep, and he smelled of the 'boos'. This surprised her, as usually she could not see those under the effects of 'boos', as they only came out to the streets when it was dark. She knew that boos made men want to be very funny, as they would fall over, like clowns; but sometimes when many such men got together, the hated deep green would appear, and she would get very upset.

One day she wanted to visit the land of the boos for herself. She wondered what a boo looked like. Surely not very nice, if the very sight of one had impaired this man's motor skills so thoroughly.

Meghghan tried again. "Where do I go, hello Man, where do I go for 'music'?" she tried. But the man did not seem to know where the music was, as his answer involved walking into the aforementioned hot pink wall, bringing all of the pink down on top of him, and causing a lot of shouting, bad sounds. Not like music at all. Meghghan had decided that she did not like this smelly man.

Oh well. It seemed she would not hear the music today, which was devastating, but at least she knew that nothing worse could happen to her over the coming days. She consoled herself by staring blearily at the sky for the next few hours.

Greyblades

06-17-2011, 20:50

<m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent> It was a rough landing, the soil while softening the blow did not completely absorb the impact, Thomas would be feeling those bruises for days. Spitting out tufts of grass he looked around, both of the knights were dead, Gilford was facedown, clearly having trouble righting him under all that armour, and clearly not in the position to move. Thomas got up brushed off himself and reached for his sword, to find an empty sheath, the sword was gone, no, wait it’s floating in the air...

Thomas shook his head; clearly he was dazed, maybe hallucinating. That sword was definitely floating, and was even starting to glow, really brightly actually... Shielding his eyes Thomas took his sight off the blade for a while, maybe the weird vision would end if he rested his eyes. Yes, there it goes, the lights getting dimmer. Opening his eyes he saw the sword had stopped floating, actually it stopped existing as in its place was a figure adorned in white armour and wielding a silver sword.

https://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1237/kingbt.jpg (https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/339/kingbt.jpg/)
The celestial figure turned its head towards the groaning pile of knights and spoke in a voice not heard in 800 years.

“Where’s my heir?”

“Oh good, now I’m seeing the dead.” replied the squire.

“My [I]heir”

“The palace most likely if not she’s probably in one of the secret passages.”

The figure looked down at the squire, nodded its head then ran faster than humanly possible into the palace. About 3 seconds later a voice roared through the air.

“WHERE IS MY HEIR!”</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac>

thefluffyone93

06-17-2011, 20:59

Morangul was sitting in the forest, meditating.
It was his form of sleep, if one had to make a comparison.
But Morangul only meditated before performing large spells and rituals, or if he wanted to think about something.
And so he sat there, searching his mind for every bit of information he knew on Vayne and the sword that summoned him.
He recalled the strengths and weaknesses for the different demons that were encountered all those centuries ago.
But how helpful would this information be now? Chances are there are plenty more different demons, which no one knows about.

With a sigh (more like a rattling noise) , Morangul opened his eyes, stood up, and prepared to continue on.
It was only then that he noticed the poisonous mushrooms at his side.
As he bent to pick one up, he suddenly noticed something else was missing: his brooch!

Morangul was more shocked than angry; it would take a very powerful being to mask their presence well enough to make them undetectable to him.
Luckily, among its enchantments was one that gave Morangul the general sense of direction of where the brooch was.
And so, Morangul went off, deciding he would try and capture the strange creature that had an affinity for shiny objects.

Secura

06-17-2011, 21:28

Several hours had passed since Tawariell had first set up a small fire at the edge of Ayal Royad Hyo's vast woodlands, yet the dying embers only just flickered their final flame when crushed beneath a booted heel; the campfire's last breath seemed to stir Raina from her slumber, the aistar raising her head inquisitively and gazing at Tah with sapphire-hued eyes as the elf began to gather their things and prepare to continue the journey.

A low, gutteral growl from Raina stopped Tah in her tracks; the aistar's ears were raised into the air and her snout periodically tensed as she motionlessly scanned the nearby area with her keen senses. Tah had spent enough of her life with the aistar to know when something had caught the beast's attention, and the elf immediately dropped to her knees and lowered an ear to the ground.

Over the years, Tah had found that the ground would gladly tell a great many tales, if only one would only open their ears and listen; she had perfected this skill over the years, and she found that it went some way towards alleviating her inability to hear anything at the range her feline companion could.

The soil usually told tales of thundering hooves or graceful footfalls, but this was something far different from travelling humans or cervine prey, something that she had never experienced before; the earth seemed to be breathing raggedly, as though in the throes of death, yet the fauna looked as healthy as it did when she arrived.

Concerned, Tah ran a hand over the ground, her fingers meandering through the grass and feeling each blade; they were unsually tense against her touch and seemed to shiver as though buffeted with an unholy gust of wind... something altogether unnatural had taken root in these woodlands, and with her curiousity sufficiently piqued, the elf was unlikely to let it go unchallenged.

"Something wicked roams these woods...", the elf whispered in her native tongue; with no time to waste, Tah quickly gathered the rest of her things and, with Raina in tow, began to head deeper into Ayal Royad Hyo, longbow at the ready.

seireikhaan

06-17-2011, 21:51

There was quite the hubbub going on in town, Kyran noted. Something bigger than an ordinary festival. A little curious, he strode down the mountain at a leisurely pace. Kyran took care to avoid being spotted and skirted his way around town. He motioned to a nearby tree, and it bent a limb down for him to climb. Up into the treetops Kyran ascended. He decided to work his way around the northwest side of town, taking peeks at the general madness reveling inside the city from time to time. He stopped at a moment's notice when his peripheral vision noted a bright spark to his northeast. Trotting along the healthy branches, he eventually descended to where the spark had originated. A small woodland creature, likely a rabbit lay before him, skin charred naked. A trail, only barely perceptible, continued to the northeast. A frown overtook Kyran's face. He was not opposed to the deaths of nature's creatures, but the hare seemed killed for no reason- it certain had not been eaten of. This brash disregard for nature irked him. Kyran ascended to the treetops once more, and took off at a brisk pace from tree to tree. He finally pulled himself to a stop when he saw an ancient, wizened man huddled on the forest floor, likely deep in thought. So odd for such an old human to be meditating in the woods, Kyran considered. Puzzled, by the strange old man, Kyran kept his vigil in the tree tops, until the old man suddenly seemed to jerk awake. He was looking around furiously, for something. Kyran worried at first he'd blown his cover, but it seemed something else was troubling the ancient man. Kyran ascended a bit higher in his tree-top haven, just in case....

TheLastDays

06-17-2011, 22:03

The royal guardsmen quickly reacted, readied their bows and with a second, more prepared volley they took down a good amount of the beasts. These demons were fast and strong but definitely vulnerable to weapons. Since harassing out of the air didn't seem like such a good idea anymore with all these arrows and lightning hurled at them the beasts took to the ground and surrounded the little group. Immediately the royal guard formed a defensive circle around the princess, prepared to strike at any movement. They had Drax inside the circle as well while the men of the town guard were already running away, down the next aisle. Nine demons were circling the group, slowly, ready to strike. "Now!" Alain's cry pierced the silence and the captain jumped forward, burying his sword in one of the Demon's chests while five of his comrades did the same, attacking the demons. Seven guardsmen remained in defensive position and were ready as the three remaining demons attacked.

"...and your incompetence has already cost me the royal sword which means one of the shards is now in the hands of someone probably in favor of the princess. And the princess herself has gotten away, all because you have moved to late and let the fool Vatano get away with the sword, not just away but you let him get to the throne room before I was ready to reveal myself." Vayne looked at his new Master, who was giving him this "speech" with clear disgust; still he had to serve him. "You are right, Milord Boreale," he hissed.
"Is Alastor with the army already? I sure hope so," the ex-consul tried to keep his temper down now.
"He is and you will be pleased with his work, and may I add..."
He did not add, as at that moment the walls of the palace behind them were smashed into oblivion as the giant body of Livius transformed was flying through them and down the hill. "What the...?" Vayne had no time to ask as Shay'na was running towards him, yelling "We have a problem!" followed by a figure Vayne remembered all too well. The holy knight made an attempt to hit Shay'na but missed her closely before she sent two greesh at him to keep him distracted. "Who is this?" Boreale asked, puzzled.
"You don't know?" Vayne's amusement badly concealed if it was. "You should know. It's your ancestor. COME HERE CANTUS, I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YA!" the Lord from the Void yelled as he jumped at the holy knight, both swords drawn.

The aforementioned Alastor was almost human looking although his eyes and the bright red hair could probably give him away as something else. This figure was marching up and down before the Lassaran military right now, most of the army still waiting in front of the capital with no leader to command them. "So it is up to you", Alastor closed his speech "if you want to be traitors, following a little princess that has not even been crowned and obviously is not able to protect her people or if you want to follow the rightful ruler of Lassara, the only remaining consul, Lord Ovyn Boreale." He bowed and waited for a few moments, letting the weight of his words settle in before he looked up, a bright smile on his face as his eyes were gazing at a vast army, all kneeling in loyal surrender.

Diamondeye

06-17-2011, 22:38

... Alyssa pulled the courser off the road, riding in between the trees. Behind them, smoke was billowing from the sacked town, and the South Gate stood gaping open, a trickle of fleeing people streaming out onto the road. She waited for the sellsword to dismount before doing so herself, tying the horse to a nearby tree. They were covered in minor scratches and gashes all three of them, but nothing serious. She looked at the man, properly this time. She could tell that he was handsome, although it mattered little to her. Men were :daisy:s, and being a sellsword did little to allievate that prejudice. Yet she felt compelled to at least treat him politely; he had helped her get out of the city alive. "You fight well," she said, kneeling by a tiny stream to clean her weapons and splash some water in her face. "For a half-drunken skirtchaser. Have you any idea what has happened to the city?"

thefluffyone93

06-17-2011, 23:10

After some time of tracking down his brooch, Morangul knew that he was close to who or whatever took it.
Instead of a direct confrontation, however, Morangul decided to test the being with a simple trap.
He wanted to know whether the being was intelligent, or simply a magical wild animal with an affinity of shiny objects.

And so, Morangul went about constructing the simplest of traps: the old box and stick trap.
For bait Morangul took off one of his many rings and placed it underneath the box.
This way, he thought, I would know how smart this being as, as any person with average intelligence would see the trap!
And so, Morangul levitated himself to a nearby tree branch, and waited for his prey.

Greyblades

06-17-2011, 23:19

"Ah, you're up, I think, or not, maybe your still down and I'm making it all up, or maybe you're dead too, I've been seeing alot of dead people recently."

The knight took a second to reply.

"What?"

"Oh right you were unconcious, or dead, still not sure about that part, anyway you just missed the most charming fellow, not much of a talker but makes up for it in presence, said something about his heir, it wasnt father because he was too old, heh, never thought I'd get to say that, so he wasnt looking for me"

Another pause.

"Are you feeling all right?"

"Oh yes absolutely, tip top. Not sure about that hulking fellow, nasty knock that, I suppose thats what you get for annoying an 800 year old angel, seemed to do more damage to the architecture that him, oh the angel that was that nice fellow I was talking about, he's Cantus long story something about a sword" The squire stumbled barely keeping his balance

"Right... Well as you're up maybe it would be a good idea to take a short stroll-"

"Don't touch my heir!"

"A long stroll out of the city."

"Sounds uttlery delightful, it might be a good idea to take a walk through the parks, the azure blossums are in season, then we could take a gander down to the graveyard allways wanted to pay my respects to old Cantus, I dont think the one back there is in the mood."

"Look, Thomas, i'm not going to lie we are afew inches away from death, we cant afford to attract attention so with all due respect; SHUT YOUR TRAP SQUIRE! Now lets start slow-"

CRASH!

"Change of plans, get moving!"

Seon

06-17-2011, 23:30

Alaria was flying around in the forest aimlessly in her tiny fairy form. The emerald brooch, now adorning her hair, was bothering her for some reason. It was almost as if... it was calling out to somebody else...yeah....

She floated up to a berry tree and took a chomp out of one of its fruits. While chewing, however, she looked down and saw something big and wonderous. (http://www.onlinejewelrymodel.com/images/2011/05/big_diamond_engagement_rings46.jpg)

Then she thought she heard somebody groaning and looked around, but there was nobody there. Well, except for that bony man from before looking at the shiny object from afar on top of the tree and the strange tall fellow looking at the bony man looking at the ring from afar from another tree. But surely nobody that would groan at her inner thoughts.

"Berries!" said a voice. Alaria looked down to see a squirrel chirping at her. "Berries!" it repeated. Alaria tossed it a berry and it scampered happily away into the forest. But there was something unnerving about that ring. Well, the ring was not unnerving her. It was dashingly beautiful, in fact. But there was the matter of the Big thing (http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhakisxlUp1qgi5aqo1_500.jpg) surrounding the ring. The string seemed to go straight to the bony man, who didn't move an inch and didn't even blink.

She decided that it warranted further investigations, and drew in closer. The structure around the ring didn't stir. Feeling bold, she ventured inside and touched the ring, which reacted to her touch by growing tiny enough to be worn as a bracelet for her. Strange, the string seemed to be movi-

Alaria shrieked as the box came down on her.

seireikhaan

06-17-2011, 23:32

Kyran waited for the elderly man to make his move. The man went to the northeast, at a pace somewhere between a walk and a run. Kyran followed above, until the old man finally stopped. He stopped, seemed to be observing his surroundings. The old man materialized a box from some place Kyran could not see, and propped it up with a stick. Kyran instantly recognized the highly rudimentary trap. He wondered what the man was hoping to catch with such a poor mechanism. While pondering the trap, Kyran was startled when the old man began levitating himself up into the trees. "Perhaps it is time to finally introduce each other," Kyran thought. "I suppose I've stalked him long enough. Nonetheless, let's take some precautions..." The old man was sitting on a tree branch about about fifty strides away, and a fair ways down. Kyran closed his eyes, and focused his mind on the tree holding up the old man. The tree jerked to life, and the branch wrapped around the old man. Kyran leaped down from his position and towards him. With a final leap, Kyram felt himself cradled down to the man's position by a generous limb. The old man was unharmed, but looked quite annoyed.

"You're a very strange human, you are," Kyran noted. He motioned to the box trap. "Looking for quarry, are we? I don't think that will catch anyt-" Kyran was cut off by the sound of the box falling. He cut his gaze back to the old man, who simply grinned.

"You were saying?"

thefluffyone93

06-18-2011, 00:00

"Now, if you excuse me, I'll be getting my jewelry back."
And with that Morangul uttered a few words in an ancient tongue, and the tree branch holding him withered and died,
leaving it weak enough to break easily. Just before the elf (silly tree-huggers, Morangul thought) was about to question him,
Morangul reached out his hand, and placed it on the elf's shoulder.
He took great delight in seeing the pain cross the elf's face; few beings in this world could resist the deathly cold that some undead
emanate and control.
With the elf momentarily incapacitated, Morangul went to see his now captured prey, expecting a small rodent.

Much was his surprise then, when he lifted the box and saw not a rodent, but a small fairy, crying out of fear.
"What matter of little devil do we have here, hmmm?", Morangul chuckled.
He sensed the power that emanated from the small fairy; true, it was geared toward illusions, but it was powerful nonetheless.
"So, you were the one who was able to hide your presence from me....interesting."
Behind him, Morangul heard the elf groaning.
Quickly grabbing the small fairy to prevent its escape (but not freezing it), he turned to face the elf.

"Now, what to do with you?"

Secura

06-18-2011, 00:07

Tawariell and Raina quickly sprinted through the dense forest, each silent footfall akin to a gentle caress rather than a dull thud as they gracefully bounded over fallen trees and elegantly darted around their upright brethren in pursuit of the unnatural taint; on the occasions that the pair momentarily stopped, the aistar would remain motionless as she continued to assess the sounds and scents around her, while the elf would pause and lower an ear to the soil, the ominous death rattle steadily growing more prominent as they ran further into the woods, clearly a sign that they were heading in the right direction.

Tah wasn't certain how long they'd been running for when their search finally bore fruit, though it was not in the manner that she nor Raina expected; in the distance, the pair noted a lithe human-like silhouette leaping across the canopy, the boughs seemingly lurching towards the figure as though to aid it's treetop travels. Continuing to watch it's agile ascent, it became abundantly clear that the forest responded to the figure's whims to some extent and that, while it was unlikely to be the source of the unholy taint, it was heading in it's direction.

Raina pawed the ground anxiously, keen to continue the trail; her elven mistress nodded in agreement, and the pair resumed their hunt.

Visor

06-18-2011, 00:14

The increasingly odd story of Glungard was beginning to interest Rufus, he seemed to forget about the destruction of the city as he heard the dwarf troll, apparently an Odglok, whatever the hell that was.

"So, a fancy dressed :daisy: stole your sheep, you hit him, and now you're here? I like you already. Hold still." Rufus went around to the jail, deserted of workers due to the attack. Taking the coveniently placed keys from the jailer's desk, he walked to the cell block.

"C'mon..... Free me please, I love you!" A woman said to him through the bars.

"No. You tried to rape my dog. You can rot in here." He said gruffly.

"I'm sorry"

"SHUT IT"

"But..."

He leans closer to the bars, and so does she in turn. He punches her in the face and she crumples unconscious to the ground.

"Now, to free you." After trying a number of keys, the cell unlocked, Glungard walked out.

"Probably best if we get out of here quickly, follow me if you want."

With that said, he walked out of the prison and waited at the entrance to see if Glungard would follow him.

Seon

06-18-2011, 00:16

"Ow! You crumpled my wings!" Alaria complained. "Wow, you really do have bony hands, Mister."

"Ah, it talks too," the Lich said. "Well, little thief, I think I would be having my brooch back..."

She stared sheepishly at the lich. "But I paid for it!" she complained.

"...what?" the lich replied.

"You looked so thin!" Alaria replied. "You were all bone and no fat! You didn't even have skin! Or Eyeballs!" The lich's jaws dropped. "And you seemed so hungry that you couldn't even maintain a good disguise!" The lich's jaws dropped, this time literally. He quickly picked it up and readjusted it back. "And you are falling apart all over the place now! By the way how did the mushrooms taste?"

"...mushrooms?" the lich mumbled.

"You know, the mushrooms that I paid for the brooch with. It was a pretty purple and spotted color!"

"...I thought that was poisonous."

"Poisonous? Oh no! It was fine when I ate it..." The lich groaned.

shlin28

06-18-2011, 00:18

Though he was behind a solid of wall of men against ever fewer demons, Drax still could not muster enough concentration (or courage, for that matter) to successfully cast any useful spells. After another attempt at the arcane fizzled out to nothingness once again, he resolved to try a different tack. He grabbed one of the few potion bottles he still had left, added a small smattering of sunpowder into the still solid mixture and watched in satisfaction as the alchemical process began.

Only three demons were left now, though they were the biggest ones and each now avoiding the expert blows of the guards with ease. A modicum of doubt troubled Drax at this point – [I]Are demons immune to fire? Does the Void even have fire? Think… think… Codex of Zyges says… no, Chronicles of Gygyiz… or was it the Hist-

His thoughts were interrupted as the guardsman in front of him suddenly fell back, impaled through the chest by the tail of one the fiends. Fearing for his life, Drax instinctively threw the bubbling bottle at the monster now advancing towards him and watched with barely contained joy as the volatile mixture spilt across the monster’s torso, catching fire immediately and stunned the demon enough to allow another guard to strike it down.

The two other demons were equally surprised, having both moved to exploit the gap in the guards’ line, making them easy prey to the well-trained guards.

“Demons…. should be immune to fire surely? Isn’t that what Clyges wrote in his Histories?” said a female voice behind Drax.

“If what he said was correct. Anyway, fire partially created by an arcane ritual should contain enough magical energy to counteract that, although…” Drax bent over to examine the dead bodies, noting the burn marks. “The potion definitely should have a bigger effect. Look at their skin, if you can just see here…” He extended two fingers into the burnt tissue to point out the damage done by the fire to the Queen.

A slight cough from the Captain suddenly reminded Drax of who he was talking to.

“Oh, er… um, my apologies Your Majesty, I didn’t mean to… I got carried… um, carried away. Sorry. Er, your Highness, I mean, your Royal Highness. I’ll… just stop… talking, now.”

Idiot.

“So, I guess we should, um, leave the city now?”

---

At the same time, somewhere beneath the earth:

They return… return… return…

[I]The Others will surely join them.

The Youngling walks in their Shadow.

Do we act?

No, we watch, as we have always done.

We acted… acted… acted…

It was necessary then, not now. We shall stay the course.

We concur.

Agreed… agreed… agreed…

For now.

thefluffyone93

06-18-2011, 00:27

"All right then; your telling me that you left those mushrooms because I look so thin?"

"Yes!" Cried the fairy, still squirming so her wings don't get crumpled, "I mean, look at you!"
So, she can see through my illusion; this creature is definitly a powerful magic user, if a bit naive, thought Morangul.

He looked at the fairy again, "You realize I am dead, right?"
The fairy stared at him, "Dead? But...how- your standing- but"
"You never heard of a Lich before, Little Devil?"

"That's not my name!" The fairy cried, "It's-"
"Well that's what I'm calling you anyway, so deal with it."
The fairy looked up at him with an annoyed face.
After a few moments, the fairy's face turned to confusion, "Whats a...Lich?"

"Well, I guess that answers that question....", muttered Morangul.

"So, whats your story anyway little devil?"
Morangul asked as he casually pointed a finger at the groggy elf; immediately, vines came alive and tied him up in a matter of seconds.

TheLastDays

06-18-2011, 00:32

The young captain gave a light chuckle before he nodded and his men continued with the princess and Drax while he knelt down to say a final prayer for the fallen comrade. Quickly he followed the group right after that and finally they reached the entrance to the hidden pathway leading to the shores of Lake Birun. Once inside they sealed the entrance and lit torches that were placed on the inside of these tunnels. "Alright. Follow me, we'll be out of here after maybe a day if we march fast and we'll have to." He allowed himself a short sigh of relief. He had gotten the princess to safety, at least for now.

***

The sounds of Vayne'S swords clashing against the sword Cantus was wielding were piercing the ears of those around. While Boleare just stood back, watching the fight, Shay'na joyned in, using her scythe like a weapon, actually getting close to Cantus a few times as the vengeful angel was focussed on Vayne.
"You cannot win. I defeated your dark Lord once and now I will defeat you."
"And I killed you once and I'll do it again. You have no idea where I've been in the meantime." Vayne chuckled and jumped to a great height where he stood in the air for a moment before suddenly diving down, swords first, onto the incarnation of Cantus. The holy knight had a hard time defending against this attack but he finally deflected it and got a grip on Vayne's hand, throwing him against the palace walls. He jumped right after him, attacking him again and the fight continued.

***

A few men of the town guard saw the knight and squire who ran with all their might to get away from this nightmare. Yet, they ran in the wron direction. "Shhht, over here!" Gilford reacted and the two approached the guardsmen. "Listen", the officer spoke up, "our duty is to help survivors out. Take this road to the end and there you'll see a small gat, it'll lead to a path down the city-hill and onto the eastern plains. Just continue east and you'll hit Lake Birun sooner or later, From there it's only following the shore and you'll reach the road to Birun. That's probably your best bet out of this for now." With that the guardsmen left them and returned their search for other survivors.

seireikhaan

06-18-2011, 00:41

Kyran awoke after a brief spell to find himself face-down on the ground. The old man was arguing with someone with an extraordinarily high-pitched voice. Something about a liche.... Just as he was gathering his coherency, the old man(?) wrapped him up in vines. Now, this was just an insult. Kyran sighed. He focused his mind on the vines, and they easily released him. He pointed back at the old man, and the vines raced to him, twisting themselves around his ankles. But as they worked their way up his legs, the vines shriveled and died.

"Now, what, exactly are you?" Kyran queried. He still felt a faint shiver from the icy cold touch earlier. "You are... something entirely unnatural. And what, exactly, is that little thing you've got in your hands?"

"I'm not a thing!" it squeaked.

Kyran raised an eyebrow. He concentrated on a nearby tree, and it lent himself a branch once more, lifting him up to a higher vantage point, and Kyran's preferred outpost. "Well, old man, what are you!?"

Amsel

06-18-2011, 00:44

If you think about it, the sky is pretty dull, compared to the ground. I mean, the ground has trees, grass, buildings, people, ferrets, dance competitions and warm woollen mittens, whereas the sky has... clouds and the Sun. And you're not even allowed to look at the Sun. Would you go to a theme park in which half the rides had been closed down and covered in tarpaulin? You would not, you would go to the non-tarpaulin theme park, because you are Clever, aren't you, reader.

As such, Meghghan had, over the course of 'the bit of her life she can remember', taken an absurd amount of flak for her skygazing. Why, screamed the cynics, do you spend so much time staring upwards? There's nothing up there, they bellowed, almost in tears. But she had steadfastly ignored her critics, by skilfully not noticing most of them, and forgetting about the rest.

And now, her choice had finally reaped dividends, as she was the first to notice when night snuck up on Birun.

The once-colourful city was now swamped by darkness. Festivities ground to a halt, the band faltered and then fell into total silence. The dance competition was declared a draw. Children, bereft of the nourishing warmth of the Sun, reached for their warm woollen mittens.

But it was not night. And the people of Birun knew it was not night, because they'd spent their entire lives getting their heads around the concept of night-time, and dammit if they didn't have it pretty much worked out by now. So as one, their eyes followed Meghghan's, all gazes fixed upon the puzzling sky. Maybe they were expecting to see a flying fortress? Ha ha, no. That wasn't it.

Where the clouds had once toiled, and the Sun had once reclined, there now flowed a torrent of birds. Pigeons, veering somewhat from their undulating flight-path. Farmyard geese, a shocking white against the umber carpet. Starlings in their swarms, not swooping and darting as in their awe-inspiring twilight show, but... simply flying. Moving forwards. Escaping. And every one going south. Over the sea.

There goes dinner, thought Meghghan Waltz.

thefluffyone93

06-18-2011, 00:50

"That's it, tree-hugger! Now you're annoying me!"

And with that, Morangul levitated himself up until he was level with the elf.
He willed his staff, which was leaning against the tree, to returned to him, which it did in an instant.
With an evil grin, Morangul asked, "You really want to know who I am?"

"Yes!", Said the elf, still hiding in the tree (just like a typical elf Morangul thought), "Now tell me or suffer the consequences!"

"Very well", and with that, Morangul removed the illusion he had on, relishing in the absolute shock and horror on the face of the elf.

"Does the name Morangul sound familiar?"

Seon

06-18-2011, 01:04

"Umm...No?"

thefluffyone93

06-18-2011, 01:06

Morangul facepalms, and then looks at the fairy.

"That question wasn't directed at you."

seireikhaan

06-18-2011, 01:09

"Not at all," Kyran replied to the skeleton. "I've lived in these woods for most of my life, and before that, I lived far to the south. I hardly know anyone. Plus, you're pretty good at hiding yourself. So what brings you out of hiding, you abomination? Searching for innocent woodland creatures to murder? Or have you bigger plans?"

The liche floated through the branches idly, while Kyran shifted his position, on guard for an attack.

"Tell you, tree hugger? Why should I?"

"Simple, abomination," Kyran retorted. He poured all his concentration into the forest. A wide limb swept around at the skeleton's back. The skeleton lazily floated higher, dodging the blow, only to have two more sweep in on top, landing on his porcelain dome. The skeleton crashed to the ground, pieces scattering. Kyran grinned at his triumph. The grin turned to a scowl quickly as the pieces began to re-assemble themselves, and within fifteen seconds, the skeleton was dusting itself off, clearly irritated again.

"Do you not get it, tree hugger? You cannot kill me! I am already dead!"

Seon

06-18-2011, 01:09

"Ow."

Chaotix

06-18-2011, 01:15

Frijyk's third impression of the city of Leon was that it was filled with those who watch from the sidelines instead of taking action. For, at least two hours having passed by, nearly every soul in the entire city was gathered together on a hill or a rooftop, to stare off into the distance to see what appeared to be a floating mountain with a black void above it. They stood, sometimes silently and sometimes gossiping, worrying, in fast, hushed, idiomatic phrases that Frijyk understood little of, and left their shops, businesses, and homes completely unattended.

His second impression had been that the city was a den of squalor and iniquity. Peddlers and beggars crowded the lower areas, constantly trying to buy and sell and trade, and ultimately to obtain small pieces of metal which they needed for their survival. The higher-ups, the nobles- they had plenty of this "coin", and flaunted it by wearing colorful, absurd clothing and riding livestock through the streets. In Frijyk's settlement, everyone had to work together and pool their resources in order to survive; they had no need for a currency. And they had made him feel unwelcome- they stared at his pale skin, gave him a wide berth, and many were wary of speaking to him.

And to think, his first impression was that the city of Leon was great and majestic, several times the size of his own hometown and with magnificent, if impractical stone architecture. The Borian town was carved from stone and steel, but mostly into the side of the mountains, a natural defense against the cold. Here in Leon, they had no such cold to worry about.

Now, Frijyk felt it was about time to be leaving the city. He wanted to head to the north, to see the floating mountain that everyone had been clamoring about, but something told him it was not a good idea. That void above the mountain... it was as pure black as the night, hearkening back to the stories of the dark creatures he had been told as a child. Perhaps to the north lived the fiends of legend that his people feared so. In such a case, he would have to go there eventually if he were going to make it safe for his people to return to the mainland. For now his caution conquered him - his gut told him the north would be certain death.

So Frijyk walked down the main street, entered several of the unattended shops, and began stocking up on supplies while the owners were away. He understood that it was stealing, and against the law, but he had no money with which to pay for the goods, and he needed to eat to survive. He couldn't continue his mission if he was starving. Frijyk settled on a few pounds of salted meat and cheese, and filled up his canteen with water from the city square's fountain. Then he walked through the southern gate, starting down a path that lead straight through the woods, thick with trees on either side.

thefluffyone93

06-18-2011, 01:18

Morangul could not help but glance down at the fairy, who was quite battered at this point.
"Grr, I'm going to need both hands to fight this fool, so..."
And with that, Morangul willed his frozen touch again, knocking the fairy out.
With a determined face, Morangul now flew up to the elf, the small pellet of a burgeoning fireball in one hand, and his staff in the other, with dark energy emanating from the skull,
and dark tendrils were seen slithering around the skull's mouth.

"I'll bring this whole forest down around us, if it is the only way to kill you, elf!"

Secura

06-18-2011, 01:32

The search for the forest's taint had led the elf and aistar into the depths of Ayal Royad Hyo; the forest had thickened considerably and the sunlight was now struggling to break through the canopy, leaving the pair with the difficult task of maintaining sight on the nimble silhouette, despite their own keen eyesight.

In the end they deferred to their other senses, in particular their hearing, with the death rattle that permeated Tawariell's ears as she lowered them to the ground having reached a feverous crescendo as they drew closer towards their quarry; it signalled a change in approach, their footfalls becoming slower and more cautious, Raina adopting a prowling stance with teeth bared, her mistress having already notched an arrow in preparation.

Having reached the clearing, Tah noted two figures; the first looked to be an elderly human male, dressed in time-worn, yet nonetheless extravagant, flowing robes and seemingly talking to his own cupped hands; while the second was clearly an elven male by his physique and pointed ears, though he wore more modest clothing, and he had his back to her.

The pair were talking in the common tongue, and though Tah understood the general subject, it was more the tone that interested her, with the male elf maintaining an inquisitive stance, while the old man seemed antagonistic, almost annoyed; their altercation reached an empass when the trees lurched towards the elf, branches scooping him from the ground and lifting him high into the air, out of the old man's reach.

"That's the figure we saw earlier!", she whispered hastily to Raina; the aistar did not acknowledge her mistress, her attention fixed upon the old man, a barely audible growl coming from her mouth.

In response to the elf's ascent into the trees, the robed elder rose into the air, propelled by some unknown force that Tah could only assume to be magic; her fears were only exacerbated when a gnarled piece of wood rose from the ground and hurtled into his eager grip and he asked the elf an inaudible question, a wry smile visible against his weathered visage.

Tah watched intently as first flesh, then muscle, began to erode from the man's frame, his flowing robes growing ragged and taut against his skeletal frame, the air growing cold around him while the fauna retreated from his malevolent aura; the forest's taint!

The unholy creature spoke once more, naming himself as 'Moragul', his frigid gaze levelled upon the male elf; Tah and Raina watched from the undergrowth as the trees levied their boughs at the abomination, slamming into him and scattering rotten bones across the forest floor, the ground decaying beneath them... but this did not deter the lich, as he quickly reformed and renewed his assault.

Hurtling towards the elf once more, fire emanating from it's hands, roaring about destroying the forest, the lich was prepared for a fight, but he had not counted on Tah and Raina emerging from the trees, sharpened teeth and longbow pointing firmly in his direction, a released arrow hurtling towards him...

thefluffyone93

06-18-2011, 01:44

The arrow was perfect; it hit Morangul right in the eye.
Or, it would have, if he had an eye; instead, it rattled inside Morangul's hollow skull,
giving him quite the headache.
He pulled it out, and looked just in time to see a branch hit him again, scattering his bones everywhere.
Again.

After reforming, he saw the archer: Another Elf!
But, this one was clearly different, Morangul noted; for one, it had short hair, something rarely seen on elves.
And, next to the elven archer's side was a large silver feline, ready to pounce on a moments notice.

Morangul studied the duo for a bit more, completely ignoring the other elf, who was watching from above.
"A bow made from the eirtheon tree, and an aistar for a companion....your a Bacilnan elf aren't you? Only they use the eirtheon tree to make their weapons.
Of course, if you have it repaired with boktah vines, you are also quite the traveler. Interesting."

Secura

06-18-2011, 02:03

Showing little surprise at the lich's ability to shrug off their attacks, Tah readied a second arrow while her feline companion remained at her side, back arched and ready to pounce; the unholy creature spoke to her directly, his aggressive tone subsiding beneath something more inquisitive and astute as he began to name the sacred eirtheon, the sturdy boktah and the majestic aistari.

Pondering the situation for a moment, but refusing to lower her weapon in the face of such a creature, Tah chose to respond in Lammirna, the Bacilnan's native tongue; "lah'nar'sha, aleno taer forna!"

Her eyes narrowed as her hand tugged at her longbow's sinewy thread; she would give no quarter to the abomination, just as he would afford her none.

thefluffyone93

06-18-2011, 02:09

Morangul sighed his raspy, rattling sigh when he heard the elf speak in her native tongue.
Clearly, she wasn't going to make it easy for him.
He could easily cast a translation spell, but any hand movements would cause her to attack.
And so, he racked his brain, mentally searching among all the books he had in his abode, each of which he had read
multiple times during his imprisonment.

Finally, he remembered the Bacilnan tongue; or at least, the centuries old version of it.
Not wanting to have two fights going on at once, Morangul asked in the ancient tongue, "Why do you attack me, elf? I seek no battle with you."

Secura

06-18-2011, 02:31

Tawariell raised an eyebrow in surprise as the lich spoke in old Bacilnan, it's words archaic and strained, lacking in the finer nuances of the modern, enlightened tongue of Lammirna; the language was largely forgotten among the people, little more than an ancient relic of a time when elf and man co-existed in peace within Aeglerona, long before war erupted between the two. Tah's knowledge of the language was sketchy at best, but she wasn't about to give the abomination any advantage.

"Your very being is a slight against nature", she replied dryly, her grip remaining firm on the stretched sinew of her longbow.

thefluffyone93

06-18-2011, 02:39

While the elf was speaking, Morangul quickly rattled off the translation spell, hoping she didn't notice.
All he heard was "slight against nature", but that was enough to understand the gist of what she said.

And so he cackled, an ear-splitting sound that chilled many beings to the bones.
"Tell me something I don't know!" Morangul said in perfect Bacilnan due to the spell, "Besides, why do you think I know so much about your race in the first place hmm?"

Secura

06-18-2011, 02:48

Tawariell narrowed her eyes, watching the lich make a strange hand gesture while he tried to goad her into losing her cool, his grasp of Bacilnan improving within mere seconds; she remained steadfast against his jibes, however, speaking once more in the old tongue.

"Choose your next words very carefully, creature..."

seireikhaan

06-18-2011, 02:51

Kyran was unsure how to proceed. The elven lady spoke a different language than his own, which was both a relief and concern. It did mean she had no idea of his shameful past, but it also meant she was not immediately a friend, despite the arrow which stayed nocked at the lich. He was not confident of what discussion the lich was pursuing with her, but it had at least ceased his irrational path of destruction, for now. The more immediate problem was what to do about the lich. Despite being torn apart twice, he would not be put down. But Kyran did have an idea...

Just then, the lich cackled loudly in the foreign tongue. The sound itself was a violation of Kyran's ears, but he focused himself, and leaped from his position. He focused his energy into his right hand, causing it to cackle red sparks. Morangul turned, noticing at the last second, and attempted to swerve in midair. Kyran missed his target, the lich's chest, but just scraped its right hand. A piece of the bone crumbled to dust as Kyran flew bye. A tree bent to lend Kyran a leafy branch, and he caught it before whirling around. Morangul looked enraged, but looked to have only lost a single fingerbone to the transmutation. Kyran cursed at blowing his chance- the lich surely would not be surprised a second time.

thefluffyone93

06-18-2011, 02:56

"Ahhh...But your slick ones, aren't you, tree-huggers?" Morangul cried.
"But, I grow tired of this foolishness! I will have my answers, now!"
And with that, he thumped his bonestaff three times on the ground.
And three tendrils or darkness shot out from the skull's mouth at the top.
One went straight for the feline, who was to shocked to move before the tendrils wrapped about its body.
Another went for the elf who turned his finger to dust; he too was captured.
Only the archer was able to dodge for sometime, but eventually, she, too, was captured.
"I was planning on saving the energy within my staff for another time, but you really pissed me off!"
"Now, why are you all here, and why did you attack me? Give me the answers, or I'll rip them from your minds!"
In his rage, Morangul completely forgot about the tiny fairy.....

Seon

06-18-2011, 03:17

Alaria lay wide-eyed in the grass, barely able to comprehend the range of senses that she and others around her were experiencing. Her crumpled wings were frozen solid and torn in some places, and she couldn't feel a part of her leg anymore. She slowly allowed herself to transform back into her usual shape. She still couldn't stand up but at least the wings didn't bother her anymore. The pain was still there, however.

All around the three combatants, the forest itself began to morph slightly. The druid and the aistari noticed instantly, looking around confused at the sudden strange and hostile woods. Both of Alaria's eyes turned blood red as she desperately crawled and hid behind a tree, just as maelstroms of emotions from the combatants hit her, mixing together with her own physical pain and turning into wrath. She roared out in fury at all three of them... who turned to face her just in time to see a blinding flash of light.

.......................................................................

When Morangul awoke, he found himself in the swamp, face to face with a Paladin just as he had done so centuries ago. He was broken, his pieces laying on the ground, regenerating but not regenerating quickly enough to save his Phylactory from its destruction. And as the Paladin raised his hand, not even to destroy him, but to seal him for all eternity, Morangul roared out in fury and shame.

........................................................................

Kyran found himself in the forest of his youth. He looked down at his hands. It was smoother than he had remembered, without the passing of age nor hardship of a hermit's life in the woods. He didn't understand what was going on. He could no longer see the Way. And then he heard the voice that he dreaded the most.

"Hey Kyran!" a female elf's voice said, the same one that he had tried so desperately to forget.

"Hey," Kyran replied. The body's response was fixed as per his memory, but his mind remained and knowing.

"So," she said, oblivious to Kyran's silent screams of protest. "Are you going to show me the woods or what?"

Kyran grinned, although he was sobbing inside. "Come on," he said. And he led her down to her death once more.

..............................................................

Tah found herself surrounded by fires, the voice of humans all around her, as well as the screams of the elves.

She looked around to see an elven woman running away from...something. A lance of flames appeared from the smoke and pierced her stomach, punching a fist-sized hole through her. A figure emerged from the smoke shortly after, holding a small wand. "Elf... what do you seek?"

Tah didn't bother with words. She pulled out her bow and arrows and unleashed arrow after arrows at the figure, only for them to be deflected off of an invisible barrier. "And do you really think that you can stop me with such mundane methods? Others of your kind tried, and they all paid for their error."

Tah grimaced and reached into her quiver only to find it empty. The man laughed, and pointed at her with his wand. "Come, let me demonstrate..."

A bolt of darkness emerged from the wand and traveled straight for Tah, only for it to strike something else. Raina.

"No!" Tah shouted. She rushed to the giant feline's side...as it slowly withered and died. The man let out a thunderous laughter. "Isn't this wonderous?" he shouted. "Isn't this freaking hirlarious? Eh?"

Tah drew out her shortsword and charged towards the figure and swung it with all her might. It clanged off against the man's shields. "Abandon all hope, ye," the man said. Tah suddenly felt something large strike her from behind, creating large gashes on her back that made her fall on the grass. She twisted around to see Raina, withered and dead yet still moving. The aistari lunged forward, straight at her throat.

........................................................................

As the other three squrimed in pain and flailed against invisible opponents, the aistari was arguing with a thunderbird, who had come as soon as he heard the Fey's screams and was now guarding her from the Feline's presence.

"Move aside," Raina growled. "Her powers trouble my friend."

"Your friend have caused the little one great pain," the Great Eagle replied. "The barbarity of the mortal folks are shown once more."

"The Fey is a rare sight around here," growled Raina. "And the mortal folks are not without kindness and honor. They are not the barbarians that you make them out to be."

"I have lived for centuries worth of time, I have seen nations grow and fall."

"But you have never experienced a life with them."

The Great Eagle chuckled. "Perhaps. It is maybe for that reason why I brought her here, to a land that no Fey that had come before, in hopes that mortals would be different here. But I was wrong. Mortals are same everywhere."

"I can prove it different," Raina said. "Make the child stop hurting my friend, and I will do my best."

"Very well," the Great Eagle said. "I will leave the little one to you. If anything happens to her..."

"I know," Raina said. The thunderbid nodded and moved aside, revealing Alaria, now asleep leaning against a tree in her true form. Raina moved towards the fairy and licked her face, awaking her and letting her lean against her face. The three flailing figures immediately stopped doing so and became unconcious. "Any longer may have been fatal to some," the Great Eagle mumbled. "Understand me. This child has never been...stable. Even amongst the Fey." It took off into the sky, leaving the aistar and the three recovering figures behind.

thefluffyone93

06-18-2011, 03:34

When Morangul recovered from the illusion-induced nightmare (for he could tell what it was when he was going through his defeat. Again),
his first thought was that of the fairy. He quickly got up, and a quick glance of the area gave him all the information.

The elf female seemed to be unconscious, either from his constricting tendrils, or the nightmare.
The male was groaning on the ground, weeping silently to himself.

And as for the aistar.....
the growling alerting him to its location, and he turned around to face the feline.
But his mouth dropped in shock when he saw the creature leaning against it.

"A Fey? Here?" Morangul asked, "That explains the powerful illusions, but why such rage-"
And then he remembered that Fey feel other beings emotions....and few can get as angry as him!
But, Fey are able to control their empathy, so...something like this doesn't happen..., Morangul thought.
So this Fey is either young or an outcast
Thinking back on the little discussions he had with the Fey- disguised as a fairy- he decided that the Fey was both.

And then something happened that Morangul never expected: he felt pity.

Morangul slowly approached the fallen Fey, but stopped when the aistar growled menacingly at him.
"Oh, please, I'm not going to hurt her, I'm just going to see if she is all right!"
If felines were able to make human expressions, then the aistar did, with the most incredulous look the lich had ever seen.
As if in response, it simply look back at the two fallen elves, and back at him.
"Hey, they attacked me first, and they pissed me off! Now let me see her!"

Reluctantly, the aistar slowly moved to the side, but not so far so that the Fey would fall off.
Morangul quickly checked to see how bad the Fey's wounds were, and , he realized, they were mostly caused by him.

There were heavy bruises on here back, where her wings would have been.
One of her legs were also completely covered by frostbite.
And so, Morangul began casting healing magic, something he hadn't used in a very long time.
But he was once the Archmage after all, so of course he knew healing magic!
Once she was physically healed, he cast a small enchantment to check the mental state.
A small orb appeared above the Fey's head, which quickly turned into a swirling mix black and red.
He sighed, knowing that he and the others caused this to happen.
He cast one other small enchantment, and watched as the orb turned into a smooth pink.

At least she will have nice dreams..

And with that, Morangul sat down and meditated.

Chaotix

06-18-2011, 03:55

As Frijyk continued to travel southward along the forest path, the trees on either side became more and more numerous, thickly packed close together, almost as if to keep travelers out. The path became darker as the branches of the great trees looming overhead blotted out the sun, allowing only small trickles of light to pierce through to the ground. Frijyk was unfamiliar with this type of terrain; in fact he was unfamiliar with most types of terrain except for mountains and tundra, snow and ice. He became uneasy traveling alone, as most who do not make their home in the forest do.

Suddenly, he felt a wave of negative energy and emotion pass over him. A pang of grief shot through his body as he recalled the dishonorment he had been forced to watch his father and grandfather endure. He was briefly dizzied and nautious, but the feeling passed and he continued down the path.

Straight into a massive spider web.

Unaware of what it was at first, he grunted in dismay when he realized his face, arms, and torso were caught in the sticky webbing. He heard the soft pattering of legs on the ground around him but was unable to see what was approaching. Frantically, Frijyk reached for his dagger, and drawing it began to cut himself free. After succeeding in doing so, he looked around himself.

Three giant, vicious-looking spiders surrounded him, each as tall as he was.

Frijyk passed the dagger to his left hand and drew his rapier with the right.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!"

seireikhaan

06-18-2011, 04:23

Kyran awoke from a nightmare he was all too familiar with to the sound of a shrill cry for help in the distance. He tried as fast as he could to gather his coherency. The lich was standing over a strange, sleeping woman. Half to get away from the lich, and half out of actual concern, Kyran hauled himself into the treetops once more, moving himself along as fast as he could towards the source of the cry. He soon caught site of a bizarre creature he'd never yet seen, as though a human made of ice. It was scrambling around tree trunks, sword glinting against occasional sunlight as it was on the run from three enormous spiders. Kyran breathed a sigh of relief that it was nothing more than spiders. He descended tree branches towards the icy fellow, who had backed himself against a particularly large laurel tree, slicing wildly to keep the spiders at bay. Kyran willed the tree's power, and it threw down its boughs on top of the hapless spiders. The human pierced each spider through the skull with a rapier, apparently to ensure their death. Kyran descended from his position aloft, to a low-lying branch about ten feet above ground.

"You seem lost, stranger. For most, it is rarely safe to wander strange lands by yourself. Tell me, what brings you out here?"

Chaotix

06-18-2011, 04:49

Frijyk panted heavily, winded from running and fighting the spiders. He eyed his apparent savior warily at first, but could not find anything but seeming benevolence from the man, who seemed like the others that populated the lowlands, but with pointed ears. Frijyk was surprised that this man had so readily assisted him; anyone else he had met so far would have been as likely to run from him as from the spiders.

Fryjyk spoke, the words of the Common language rolling from his tongue with some difficulty.

"I am-on a mission. Thank-you for help-ing me."

Then a possibility crossed his mind, and Frijyk was wary again.

"I have no-money to give you."

seireikhaan

06-18-2011, 04:58

Kyran eyed the strange man with a sardonic hint. He seemed genuinely concerned at the inability to pay him coin for the rescue.

"No fear. I have no use for your money. However, I could use your... assistance, now that I think on it. There's a certain, er, being, that I am concerned about nearby. I'd appreciate it if you would follow me to where he last was. He may still be there. If you help me, I may be able to help you in your 'mission', or at least, guide you out of the forest. What do you say, stranger?"

Chaotix

06-18-2011, 05:07

Possibilities raced through Frijyk's mind at what the man's intentions could have been. A scenario played out in his head of him following the man to a dark place in the woods, then suddenly being led into an ambush, robbed, and left for dead. But he remembered he had already told the man he had no money.

But his mind cycled back to the way the man appeared to command the trees to do his bidding. Was he... part of the forest? The forest seemed like a living thing, but it was both out to kill him and to save him. And now, it needed his help?

In the end, Frijyk reasoned he was just as likely to die without this man's help as he was to die by his own hand. He decided to place his trust in the strange man for now.

"Yes. I-will help. Lead the way."

Visor

06-18-2011, 05:48

As Rufus was turning around to speak to Glungard, a shadow fell on him, and he dived away away only milliseconds before the demon crushed him. Rufus scrambled to his feet, any thoughts of rescuing Glungard was banished. The demon roared loudly at him, it's beastly cry burning Rufus's ears. The thing was at least 7 foot tall, covered in black hair with eyes red as blood. Two twisted horns spiralled out of its head. It bared its teeth, picked up its greatsword and charged. Rufus easily dodged the first blow aimed to take his head off, and rolled out of the way of the second strike meant to cleave him in half through the middle. He pulled out the crossbow and aimed at its crown jewels.

"I'm warning you. One more step and your balls will be splattered six ways to Sunday."

The demon roared louder than before and charged him again, but Rufus fired the bolt, which would've impacted into the Demon's crutch if it didn't bounce off. Rufus was stunned. Balls of steel....

But now was no time to be shocked. He pulled his shield, pushing off the first blow with his shield, and then flykicked the demon in the head. Its only effect was to enrage it further. Rufus rolled over, again the greatsword missed its target and was stuck in the ground. Rufus through his shield at the demon smacking it in the horns. It screamed in anger and ignored the greatsword and charged at Rufus again. He pulled out his long sword and his broad sword, one in each hand and grinned at the rapidly approaching demon. The demon's arm swung up and the broad sword bit down on it, causing the demon to shriek in agony. The momentum of the demon carried in forward and Rufus turned around and stabbed the back of its knee with the longsword. Another sucessful blow. But the demon wasn't finished. With a massive crack, its fist smashed Rufus to the opposite end of the street. His broadsword still in the demons arm, all he had left was his crossbow, his long sword and the daggers.

The demon walked up to the greatsword and finally pulled it up. Rufus dragged himself upright. The demon grinned evily at him. Rufus grinned back and charged the demon. The demon rushed in and they met in the middle of the street. Sparks flew as the blades collided. They attacked each other, neither gaining the upper hand. Sweat began to pour over Rufus, this was the toughest opponent he had ever faced, and might be his last. The swords met once more, and the demon was pushing him back to the wall. Rufus gritted his teeth and tried his hardest, but the demon was too strong. The wall was only a metre away now. The demon screamed in triumph as he gathered the strength to push Rufus into the wall and finsih the fight. But Rufus pulled his blade out of the deadlock and stepped aside. The demon went forward into the wall, carried by its momentum. Rufus stabbed through the torso of the demon into the wood of the building, the greatsword dropping out of the demon's hand as he did so. It shrieked in agony of the blade piercing his gut. Red hot blood spilled everywhere.

Rufus grabbed the broadsword out of the creature's arm. He began to hack at the neck of the demon, severing muscles and tendons. Eventually he hacked through the neck, the demon exploded in a shower of blood, covering Rufus from head to toe in warm, slick blood. He stood breathing heavily for a minute, then gathered up his swords, shield and crossbow. He began to walk out of the street and was soon acosted by two noble looking people.

He grinned madly at them, waiting for their reaction.

B-Wing

06-18-2011, 06:06

(EDIT - OOC: Consider this to take place immediately prior to Visorslash's post above)

Glungurd's mind had been overwhelmed by the events of the recent weeks. Having been rather suddenly displaced from the world of caves and forests that he had known all his life, and unwillingly thrust into the urban world of humans, he probably would have gone mad if it had not been for the simplicity and consistency of the prison cell he had inhabited for a few days now. The cramped stone room was familiar and comforting, and he had abundant time to converse with the guards (when they would speak to him). In this way he learned a little bit about his new setting and about the men of the Kingdom of Lassara. Most of it didn't make any sense to him, but it was an immensely entertaining way to pass the time.

When chaos overtook the city, Glungurd could only strain to listen to the violence ensuing outside the prison. The guards had gone to the aid of the city hours ago and left the prisoners to themselves, which concerned the Odglok greatly - primarily because the guards supplied his food. When Rufus Guiscard came staggering into the hallway, Glungurd hoped his next meal was finally being delivered, but the drunken man had more mischevious intentions.

After they had conversed and Rufus had freed Glungurd from his cell, the Odglok really didn't know where to go from there. But he knew what he needed to do. After searching the nearby rooms, he found his trusty maul and bag of ideally sized, well rounded throwing stones, which had been confiscated when he was arrested and kept as evidence. No proper weapons had been left in the prison, but even if they had, Glungurd wouldn't have been very comfortable handling them. Eventually he found his way to the entrance of the prison, where he found Rufus sitting on the steps, laughing and observing the mayhem in the streets ahead. When he noticed Glungurd had joined him, he laughed even harder.

"So you finally decided to leave, huh? I was beginning to think you'd decided to call that place your home. Well, what do propose we do now, my lumpy little friend?" Rufus asked, amusedly.

"We gotta find my missing sheep," said Glungurd, without a hint of jest. Whatever else Odgloks are, they are not good at making drastic adjustments to their lives. At least not without long and careful calculation. Glungurd had not ceased thinking about his sheep since the day he was captured.

Rufus stood silent for a moment, and then began chuckling. "I don't think that's an option right now, Glunny. Maybe one day you'll get them back, but at the moment, there's a much bigger world out there for us to shear."

Glungurd did not like this response at all, but couldn't think of any course of action he could take on his own. He didn't even know how to navigate his way out of the city, much less back to his burrow. He decided that for the time being, sticking with the violent but generous man who had freed him was the best he could do. "I guess I'll do whatever you want to do, Rufus. Oh, and where did you find ale?"

Visor

06-18-2011, 06:08

"Glunny, over here! These the noblemen that stole ya sheep?"

(Talking about Greyblades character and Gilford, who Rufus has just seen.)

B-Wing

06-18-2011, 07:05

Glungurd still stood in astonishment at the brutal duel that had just taken place before him. When Rufus prompted him about the two knights whom he had just met at the intersection, Glungurd merely shrugged. He had no idea whether his missing sheep had actually been stolen or simply wandered off, but he was eager to find out if these two men knew what had become of them. As he approached them, Gilford drew his sword, pushing Thomas behind him, and growled, "I can handle this demon by myself; you stay back, Thomas!"

Glungurd froze, and as Gilford's blade was swinging toward the Odglok's head, it met Rufus's own broadsword, stopping inches above the confused creature. "This fella's no demon; he's just not from around here," spoke Rufus casually. "And I kind of like him, so if you don't mind, put your sword into somebody else."

Gilford hesitated, then withdrew his sword and sheathed it. "I suppose I can agree to that," he replied. "Now is an awkward time for introductions, but I think it is in order. I am Ser Gilford Millicent, and this is my liege, Thomas Targryn. We are knights from-"

"I lost my sheep. Have you seen them?" interrupted Glungurd.

Gilford stared at the Odglok for a moment before answering, "I have no idea what you're talking about. Listen, we are trying to make our way to Lake Birun, and-"

"I thought we're gonna visit the cemetery!" interjected Thomas, sounding both angry and disappointed.

Gilford turned and gave Thomas a stern look, saying, "We don't have time for that right now! Listen, we need to get to Lake Birun, now do you two wish to join us? It should be safer for both of us that way."

Visor

06-18-2011, 07:19

Rufus shrugged. He didn't have a plan, but they seemed to. Though their manner was a bit insulting to him. Gods, how he hated the nobility of Lassara, pompous fools and bigots. Knights were only a little better, but that's what they were so he would deal with it.

"Maybe the sheep went to Lake Birun?" he said to Glungard.

TheLastDays

06-18-2011, 09:01

Alain wiped the sweat from his brow. He had taken his helmet off to have better vision in the dark tunnel they were walking through but he soon entrusted the leading of the group to one of his men. "Alright", he spoke, when he was walking next to the princess, Drax being only a step behind them, "Your Majesty we should be halfway to Lake Birun now. We will find a secret hiding place of the royal guard at the end of these tunnels..."
"What? Why didn't I know of this place?"
"Well, your Majesty, we haven't told you. You were not crowned yet and even if you were, you would not know. Your father didn't know either. We can best assure your security if no one know of these places that we have hidden across the country."
"There is more?" the queen seeme puzzled as she inquired.
"Oh yes, there are plenty." Alain smirked and looked back at Drax. "I hope I can trust you so far that you don't betray our position to anyone once we get there. Still I will have to have a talk with you there." He didn't wait for a reply but returned his attention to the princess again. "Princess Amalia, we will find water, food, horses, fresh clothes and most everything we need for a journey there. I will judge the situation as soon as we're out of this tunnel to see if it is safe to spend a night there but I sure hope so. You will need rest, so will out new friend here and it wouldn't hurt us guardsmen either."

***

A loud roar was suddenly to be heard from the top of the city-hill that shook the city once more. Vayne was standing atop the holy knight who lay on the ground, holding his bleeding side. "Where... where is my heir?"
Vayne shook his head: "Such stubbornness, such loss. Things have changed, Cantus, you know? Your descendants seem to want us back here." He pointed at Boreale. "So go and go forever, this is not your realm ANY MORE!" The twin swords met with a metallic sound as they cut off the holy knight's head and Cantus died a second time and a blinding bright light seemed to pull his body into the sky. After the light faded thre was nothing left, no body, no armor, no sword, not even drops of blood on the ground. Vayne nodded and looked over the city while behind him LIvius slowly crawled back up that hill. "So, Milord Boreale, I think we can say we have taken the city, your army is under our control too and the rest of the land will follow. Are you satisfied?"
"I am not",the consul steppd ovr to Vayne, "you have lost the princess. As long as she is out there she is a threat. She will try to win back hearts and her followers will fight us.."
"Relax... She will be found. I sent Enego, he will find her and I will send Shamma to Tar Cantun and take revenge on the city that has broken my Lord Darganta."
"No, I need you right here."
"Don't worry, I won't go myself. Lorkan will go and command my forces, Bane will be with him and they will take this island of Cantun. May I advise to send most of the army down to Anaba, capturing the towns along the way? We can send Alastor and Serak with them to convince the people to follow you."
"What about Avin and the eastern peninsula?"
Vayne smiled and waved his hand. A wooden platform descended from the flying fortress, carrying a muscular creature, armed with a huge axe and a sword. "Meet Vron. He will take care of it and he doesn't need an army other than his deathknights. We can stay here and take care of the capital. Rashid will make sure we have enough defenders..."

Diamondeye

06-18-2011, 11:27

((OOC: We are advancing pretty fast here. I need DiY's reply before we can go anywhere.))

naut

06-18-2011, 11:56

(OOC: The Glungurd/Rufus dynamic is pretty cool. xD )

Death is yonder

06-18-2011, 12:05

Wiping his now clean blade on the grass to dry it, Guantano was pleasantly surprised as the woman he accompanied was civil to him.

Looking up, he replied nonchalantly. "Demons running amok in the city, useless city guards, scared people running around. I'd say nothing has happened to the city except for the demon part." Shrugging, he continued, "Thieves or Nightravens, the slums has never been a very accommodating place. Still, I suppose that has something to do with all this."

Following his finger towards a floating fortress above the palace, Alyssa silently marveled at the sellsword's capacity for the obvious.

Diamondeye

06-18-2011, 12:30

"We need to find out what is happening," Alyssa said as she cared for her courser; it had been ridden hard and carrying two people. "I think we should keep going, away from this, until we hit a city. Surely, someone there will know what all this means," she said, waving towards the scene of destruction and the huge, floating fortress. "But I don't doubt it's something serious. I haven't heard of any magicks powerful enough to keep a castle suspended in the air, and I'm well into the known history of this place."

"Also, we should probably continue on foot for a bit. I don't want the courser to fall dead all of a sudden. Can you keep a pace?"

Death is yonder

06-18-2011, 12:45

"Oh the lady would be surprised what a mercenary can do." Guantano chuckled. "Perhaps we should head for Leon, in my travels I recall a professor there at the library. Specializing in the study of demonic history, he should be well-qualified to tell us of the happenings in Lassara."

Hastening his pace till he overtook the female, Guantano flashed a grin as he turned around and said, "no hurry princess, there's only a bloodthirsty demonic army behind us busy ravaging the city". Whistling a happy tune, Guantano continued on, oblivious to the daggers stared into his back.

shlin28

06-18-2011, 12:55

Though fear still gripped him, Drax had to admit that the Guards were good at what they do. They quickly swept through the small and dilapidated farmhouse, searching for enemies and opening secret compartments to bring out much needed supplies. A few of them went outside and soon brought back two other guards back along with at least dozen horses, presumably the sentries permanently stationed here in case of emergencies.

The news they brought wasn’t pleasant however. The army had rebelled en masse and now there are isolated skirmishes in the area around Birun as the small number of loyalists fought their way out to the open – making their original plan to try to reach Birun unworkable.

“Maybe we should try to move west? We are bound to find support in Leon and the southern colonies; they were always the most loyal to the Royal House.” Suggested one of the guards.

Though he tried to maintain a neutral face, Drax was terrified – Leon was the ancestral seat of Lord Carus and his good-for-nothing step-son still holds it as a personal fiefdom. If Drax dared to step in that city, the personal guards of ‘Lord’ Nias would tear him to pieces most likely, civil war or no civil war.

His weak objections of course counted for nothing, as the Guards’ priority is the safety of their Queen, not some common criminal they found on the street – thankfully none of them had yet been able to make the connection between Drax and the face stuck on posters across the capital. The decision was soon made to move the next day and everyone was dismissed by the Captain.

Except for Drax.

“Er, you wanted to talk to me?” he said nervously.

Greyblades

06-18-2011, 14:55

<m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent> <m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent> With there being little more to do than flee the city the two sets of companions made their way through the streets until they happened upon a clearing that looked like it used to be a market place.

The knight raised his fist as a signal to stop.

"We're stopping here. I need to get something."

"What? Are you insane!" replied Rufus "There are demons flying around and you want to go shopping?!"

"Do you want to carry him next?" replied the knight, gesturing to the now delirious Thomas being clumsily carried by Glungurd. "We need to find an apothecary there's bound to be something to get him back in his feet."

Rufus gave the Knight a quizzical look. "You mean he's not always like that?"

“No. Besides the demons have been giving us a wide berth for some reason so I think we have the time.” With that the knight started searching the nearest buildings for an apothecary sign.

“Fine but take too long and we’re leaving, right Glungy?”

The Odglock looked at Rufus and then at the squire in his hands. “No.”

“What?”

“The Young man gave me an apple he found; I’m going to give him the benefit of doubt. Besides he seems special, see he’s even glowing.”

“He’s what?”

The crest on Thomas’ chest was glowing white.

“Damn it Glungy, put him down!”

Just as he said those words the world seemed to explode as a long shaft of blinding light pierced into the sky. It seemed to be coming from the palace hill.

“Well that can’t be good.”

“Young man’s getting hot.”

“Eh?”

Rufus looked back at Glungurd, this time Thomas’s entire body seemed to be white.

“Holy- Hey, Knight guy, there’s something wrong with your-!“

The spear of light came back this time centred on Glungurd and the squire. Blinded the Oglock dropped Thomas and jumped backwards, causing several roof’s worth of tiles to come cascading down onto the street. The light vanished as quickly as it came and in its place Thomas was standing staring at a white sword in his hand.

“...Anyone else smell incense?”</m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac>

TheLastDays

06-18-2011, 15:08

Alain sat down on a stool, waving for Drax to sit down on the only other stool that was left int he small cabin that had been assigned to the captain. He eyed his guest up and down before speaking. "Now, Captain Decato or the town guard told me about picking up a prisoner in the slums. Please tell me you're not the one they are looking for in the murder of Lord Carus..."

Diamondeye

06-18-2011, 16:54

Leon, Alyssa thought as she walked, trying to drill holes in the back of her companions head with her eyes, dragging the courser along with one hand and still clenching the axe in the other, just below the double head. A rotten place when it comes to inhabitants and rulers, but even that would be better than the army of demons currently on our tail. Very well, Leon it is.

She clasped the axe to the saddle and instead took the bow and the quiver. "Perhaps we should stay a bit off the main road," she suggested, "and we also need to hunt for food, and preferably find you a horse. I suppose taking one off a traveler would be the easiest way. You're not shy of a little highway robbery, are you? Purely out of necessity, of course."

Death is yonder

06-18-2011, 17:53

Looking distant for a short moment, Guantano paused, and Alyssa saw a nearly imperceptible emotion flash across his face. Yet as soon as it appeared, it was gone. As he resumed walking, Guantano muttered, "Not at all, not at all. Sighing, Guantano reached into his sack and pulled out a pastry, tossing it to Alyssa, who caught it, surprised at the unexpected action. "You might as well have this while we wait, I know just the spot, its not too far from here." The soft thud of leather boots on the sturdy ground, and the almost invisible imprint that was left in its wake were the only indications to the next traveler that someone was there.

Alyssa knew better than to question his experience. Slinging her bow back onto her shoulder, she gingerly bit into her bun as she led her courser to the small mound of dirt that overlooked the beaten path. Mmm, meaty and rich. Potatoes? Hint of some spice. Hardly what she expected from an arrogant, irresponsible skirtchaser. She found herself eagerly devouring the medium-sized pastry with relish, and an appreciative growl of her stomach reminded her that she hadn't eaten for a while. Grateful, she turned to glance at the mercen-... Guantano, only to find him staring at her, one side of his lips lifted in a smile.

"Careful milady, you wouldn't want to frighten away any travelers with that roar of yours."

The atmosphere between the two softened slightly, but it remained silent. As the sounds of whinnying and wheels rolling over dirt tracks sounded over the distance, Guantano slowly drew his sword, his soft expression replaced by a serious one.

"Now, we wait."

https://img715.imageshack.us/img715/9900/forestambush.png

shlin28

06-18-2011, 17:57

So this was the talk.

The Captain clearly knows more than he is willing to share at the moment – is this a test of some sort? Drax wondered. Regardless, lying at this stage was probably a bad idea, if only because of the rather visible sword only a stroke away from his throat.

“I am… wanted for the murder of Lord Fay’ra, yes. But I am not the murderer, it’s er… complicated.” He replied, trying to put as much confidence into his floundering voice as possible.

“From what I heard, the city guard was hunting for someone who was seen by several witnesses standing over the noble Lord’s body, covered with blood. Are you that person?”

Do not tell him anything.

“I… was there, but he was already dead when I found him, there was nothing I could do.” Drax replied hesitantly; it was the truth, but it wasn’t the whole truth.

“So why did you run?”

“Lassaran justice is hardly the most fair, you should know that, especially when nobles are involved. You must have heard of Lady Fay’ra and her reputation, she would probably execute me anyway for not doing enough to protect her husband.”

Drax glanced at the Captain wearily. Was he persuasive enough? Or will he be in chains again in a few moments?

Diamondeye

06-18-2011, 18:44

Alyssa quickly put the rest of the pastry in her mouth and grasped the bow again, stringing an arrow and waiting for the wagon to appear around the bend in the road. She narrowed her eyes until they were tiny slits. The sound of wheels approached, and soon, they could see the wagon; It was a small goods wagon, pulled by two stubborn drag horses. Seated on the wagon was a man with a whip, and in the back of the wagon were piled crates of goods. Riding besides it were three men; two were clad in boiled leather and chain, riding lean but unkept garrons, and with their weapons visible. The third man rode a finer horse, a courser somewhat like her own, only it seemed a bit plump and not as fit, a description that also applied to its rider, whose clothes betrayed him as a rather wealthy merchant. The three men were talking loudly between each other, and Alyssa quickly asked Guantano, "What approach? Friendly or ambush? We need a horse from them but we can't suffer their current pace. We might have to kill the guards."
She notched the arrow and drew the string half the way back.
"I think I can get a couple of good shots in before they reach us. Give the sign when you're ready."

TheLastDays

06-18-2011, 19:15

Again the young captain waited before he replied to the captive's claims. He was right about Leon. The nobility there was not exactly known for mercy or understanding and if they had found him next to the dead lord there was probably no prospect of a fair process. Still it seemed like Drax wasn't telling the whole story. Te captain decided to let the matter rest for now though. He had other things to worry about.
"So what is your name, boy?"
"Indrax Dwymmr... or Drax if you would, Sire"
"Alright, Drax. Look, my job is not to pursue murderers or suspects, I have the assignment to keep the princess safe. At the moment, to be honest, I don't know what in the name of Lassa is going on so I can't really concern myself with your case. Just keep the following in mind: If you show any sign of attacking one of my men, let alone the princess, I will kill you without hesitation, alright?"
The boy's eyes were wide, definitely in shock to the sudden change in tone but he nodded.
"Alright", the captain seemed satisfied, "then we'll get along just fine", he added, returning to his former, more gentle tone. "So... are you any good with a weapon?"

"Our circumstances must really be dire, my captain, if you are already enlisting young civilians to protect me", the princess had entered the cabin, unnoticed and was now smiling her warmest smile at the young Drax. "Don't worry, I won't let him throw you to your death." Her eyes telling that she wasn't completely serious about it.

"Your Majesty, I have to do what I can to ensure your safety..."
The young princess nodded and now smiled at the captain. "I know and I know how serious you take your duty but simply protecting me won't do right now. We need to find out what happened today and we need to make sure to end this crisis as soon as possible. My people are suffering and just as your duty is to protect me it is mine to care for them. We go as soon as everyone has gotten enough rest. To Leon. I know a scholar there, he has taught me while I was young. He will know what to do."
Ar fist it looked as if the captain wanted to disagree but he just hesitated for a moment and nodded then. "As you wish, your Majesty. I will be ready and I'll make sure the men are too. You should get some rest now... both of you", he added, looking at Drax.

Amsel

06-18-2011, 19:33

Rumours abound in Birun. The word on the street was that an old traveller, his face flecked with blood, had staggered through the city gates not long after the birds had fled. He had, or so claimed the whisperers, delivered reports to the city guard of skirmishes on the outskirts of Birun, and not just the typical 'carnival high-spirits' either. Attacks on innocent people. Then, to make sure his words had the required dramatic effect, the traveller died. Which was a bit selfish of him.

Naturally, a good portion of the mob, that had gathered in their droves to celebrate the coronation, did what any good mob would do on receipt of bad news, or good news, or a worrying lack of news: run around and loot things. Some particularly skilled participants were able to loot while still on the run. One young scalawag had got the wrong end of the stick, jubilantly running around the thing he had just looted.

All in all, some good-hearted family fun. But not for Meghghan Waltz, who had got into a spot of bother.

"'Allo, girrrrrlie," slurred the man, a different one from before, she reckoned, although this one also smelt strongly of the 'boos'. "Wosssup w'you then? Wossupwyou... wossaahaahaha."

Meghghan had decided that she didn't like this man any more than the first man. In fact, if anything, this one was worse. He was altogether too close.

"Please, man, please go away," she tried, backing into a doorway.

"Hahahahahurrr. Alright girrrrlie, I'll go iffayoooo... iffayooowahahaha. Gizzakiss, girrrlie. Goonthen. Orrrrr.... gizzamoney. Kissssormoney. Wahahahaha."

His courteous offer of a choice was lost on Meghghan, as she hadn't understood the first part, and as such, had forgotten it. But 'money' was a word she recognised. This man wanted money! Maybe he had to pay tribute to the boos. Well, Meghghan was a kind soul, and felt sympathy for this poor man, this modern-day hero. Reaching into the cowls of her quiltrobes, she pulled out a small pouch, and offered a coin to the man, who snatched at it.

It didn't have the effect she had hoped it would.

"Wossisthen? WOSSISSS?" he growled. "This ent money youlittle... iss bottel-kapp!" Grabbing the rest of the pouch, his anger only intensified. "Iss ALL bottel-kapp! Youfink I'm stupidthen, dooya? YOU FINK I'M STUPID? I'LL POUND YER HEAD -"

He hadn't been expecting a faceful of sand. Caught off-guard, inasmuch as a drunken looter can ever be 'on-guard', he staggered backwards a few steps, clawing at his eyes in a vain attempt to remove the errant granules.

"WOSSS - WOSSSYOUTRYINTA -" he managed, before his legs gave way, and he dropped to his knees before falling forwards, smacking his head against the door and narrowly missing Meghghan, who had sidestepped in a remarkable (for her) moment of clarity.

Unfortunately, quite a few of the looters and revellers who had been going about their business behind the unfriendly man also started to drop to the ground. It seems that, in her haste to be rid of her assailant, Meghghan had used rather too much of her sand, and some of it had gone a bit further than she had been expecting. Those who had been lucky enough to loot and revel out of range of the sand took a few, bleary looks at their newly-snoring compadres, before turning their gaze towards the girl in the red robe. Although the subtleties of their facial expressions were lost on her, know this, reader: they didn't look entirely pleased.

"Hello!" shouted Meghghan, happily. "I did this!"

Then the door opened, and a hand grasped at the base of her hood, pulling her inside.

seireikhaan

06-18-2011, 20:39

"That's good," Kyran responded. "Follow me." Kyran turned on his heel, and the tree raised him to a higher, more comfortable position, and he took a brisk pace back to the last place he'd seen the lich. Occasionally he had to slow down for the strange human, who labored on foot to keep pace. "We must hurry!" Kyran urged him. Kyran had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, leaving the other elf girl and that other strange lass with the lich. He had a very bad feeling about what was going to be left in that clearing. If anything. Kyran finally reached it, and turned his head to make sure the poor man behind him had kept up. Maybe a bit worse for wear, but he seemed in one piece. Kyran turned his attention back to the clearing, scanning, scanning.... there! The lich had recovered his disguise, it seemed, for a very familiar, elderly man was sitting, eyes closed, against a tree. The giant white cat was circling around its mistress, who was just beginning to pick herself up. A barely audible growl could be heard from the cat, but that it hadn't attacked seemed odd. Lastly, the odd girl, not quite elven or human or anything Kyran had seen, was still slumped over, looking to be in sleep.

Kyran jumped down from his position, landing on the soft grass. He looked to the strange human who had followed him. Perhaps it would not be wise to panic the poor man by telling him this creature's a lich, Kyran thought. Nonetheless, he wanted to know what it was that had happened here. The source of that nightmare, why everyone had been knocked out seemingly from nowhere, and why that lich was just sitting there!

"You!" he shouted out. "Er, Morangul! What are you doing! What happened?!"

thefluffyone93

06-18-2011, 21:02

Morangul's eyes snapped open at the elf's call.
"Silence, you fool! Lest you wake her up!"

"Wake who up?", the elf replied.
"The Fey, you dolt! She was the one that cast the nightmare on us!"
The elf look over at the Fey, still sleeping against the tree.
"Whats a Fey, and what is one doing here?", the elf asked.
"I was going to find that out some time ago, but then I was rudely interrupted!", replied Morangul, staring at the elf.

It was at this point that the blue-skinned human was noticed by the lich.
"Oh, great. Now who is this?"

Chaotix

06-18-2011, 23:01

When Frijyk entered clearing and saw several strange looking people and a huge white, fanged beast, his immediate impression was that he had been ambushed as he expected. Then, as he realized most of them were sleeping and the beast was in a defensive posture, he considered the possibility that he might not have to fight for his survival.

He addressed the aged man's question even as his own curiosity was bubbling up through his mouth.

"I-am Frijyk. You... look-like a magician. Most people here do-not have magic, I have-notice. And all of-you seem different from Lassarans. I-am curious..."

Frijyk turned his attention to the beast. It was not unlike the white wolves of his land, but much larger and somehow... with an aura of intelligence. It appeared to be guarding the woman it was near. Frijyk was struck by the beauty of both creatures. His eyes turned back to the man he had been following, and gestured to the beast.

"Is-this the creature you spoke-of?"

Secura

06-18-2011, 23:55

Tawariell groggily used her arms to help herself up into a seated position, a little worse for wear, truth be told; she was surprised to see Raina in one piece, contrary to the harrowing sight from her ordeal, and was grateful as the aistar nuzzled against her. The elf wrapped a forearm around Raina's muzzle and embraced her, muttering several affectionate phrases in Lammirna that the aistar responded to with loud purrs.

It was only in the corner of her eye that Tah noticed the old man from earlier, the abomination having clearly adopted his human illusion once more; he was seated in a meditative post and his eyes were firmly closed, but Tah knew better than to assume that this made him oblivious to the world. Nearby lay what appeared to be a elven youngling deep in slumber, though her vivid veridian hair and the small horns that protruded from her flowing locks suggested that this was not entirely the case; the elven huntress wondered why she had not noticed such a creature before, until she remembered that the lich's foul taint had taken much of her attention.

A sudden stabbing pain caused Tah to rub her forehead, the anguish she had faced in the fey's nightmare having smeared it's jet-black stain upon her mind; her head ached something awful, and in her pain she did not hear the elder mage talking, nor did she notice the return of the male elf with a mysterious companion that he had found while she was unconscious.

B-Wing

06-19-2011, 00:06

In the midst of the chaos and ruin of the capital city of Lassara, things were looking up for one group of survivors. They had managed to avoid fighting off demons long enough to gather supplies of food and medicine from the market square, which was otherwise abandoned. Thomas Targryn had been miraculously revived by a divine force that no one could explain, and perhaps even better, he now possessed a mysterious sword that was clearly enchanted. Given the circumstances by which it had arrived, it seemed safe to say that they would be needing it later.

While they looted the stores that hadn't already been thoroughly looted, Gilford explained to the two strangers the events they had witnessed earlier in the day. He expected them to share his grave concern, but Rufus seemed to be more entertained than troubled by the revelations, and Glungurd seemed disinterested in the story altogether. His thoughts were more focused on finding ale, which he had been deprived of for weeks. Gilford did not exactly trust this odd pair, but allies were very scarce presently.

After gathering all the basic essentials they could carry, they set out east, in the direction the guards had told them to go for safety. They managed to make it to the city gates without major difficulty. Exiting the city, they could see the western shore of Lake Birun in the distance. Not knowing whether demons were to be found outside the city, they debated where to go from there. Only Thomas and Glungurd had strong opinions. Thomas wanted to travel to Cantun to check on his family's safety, while Glungurd wanted to go into Tarania to check on his sheep. They voted, 3 to 1, in favor of sailing to Cantun.

Not certain how safe the roads would be, they decided that for the time being they would follow the edge of the lake, eastward. That way, they could only be beset by trouble from one side.

thefluffyone93

06-19-2011, 00:12

Morangul looked to where the blue-skinned human was gesturing to.
"The aistar? Ha! The 'creature' this tree-hugger was talking about was probably me!"

The blue-skinned human was obviously confused, and definitely not a local, Morangul noted.

"But you-are just an old man..." said the odd human.
"Don't let him fool you!" Cried the male elf, "He is much more than that! He is-"
The elf gave yelped when the small bolt of electricity hit him.
"That's enough out of you; we don't need to scare the boy, do we?"

Hearing some groans, Morangul looked and saw the elven archer coming to.
"Huh. Its about time you got up. You must have had a very bad memory for you to be out for so long-"
Morangul stopped, and smiled, "I wonder what that was, hmmm?"

"Anyways, whats your story, hmm?", asked Morangul, turning to the blue lad.
"Humans aren't supposed to be blue."

Amsel

06-19-2011, 01:15

Meghghan didn't like these new surroundings very much. The room looked like brown and smelt like grey. Neither of those colours offered much that would hold her attention on most days. However, her interest returned somewhat when one part of the room began talking to her.

"Well," said the old man, "you certainly caused a stir back there. I don't blame you, though: he didn't look like a particularly savoury character, did he? Don't worry, I have locked the door," and here an almighty THUD rocked the house, "although I fear it might not deter them for long." He sighed. "And I'd just repainted the 'Brown Room', too. Figures."

What is this thing? dreamed Meghghan. It looked like a cloud. But it was too close to the ground for that. And it was talking. Clouds don't talk.

"Unfortunately, the misdemeanours of drunken louts may not be the worst of our worries," continued the old man, stroking his fluffy white beard.

No, definitely not a cloud. Something else. Buoyed by the satisfaction of having reached a conclusion, Meghghan took the time to check her vial. Empty. Oh well. More could be made.

"You saw the birds earlier, I presume." The man was now striding with surprising haste down a similarly grey-smelling passageway, followed (at a reasonable distance) by Meghghan. "All in a hurry, and all flying south. This does not happen in nature." Another THUD. "They were fleeing something. I have attempted to scry the area around the capital, but my abilities are not... what they once were. Suffice it to say that what little I have seen does not bode well."

But wait. Maybe clouds talk all the time, but since they are so far up, in the sky, we can't hear them. This one has come down from the sky to talk to me! Meghghan's commitment to her earlier conclusion was wavering. She decided to take the blunt approach.

"Are you... cloud?" she asked.

The old man's face lit up. "Why, yes! Eucalyptus Cloude, mage-at-large, scion of the Cloude archmages, pleased to make your acquaintance! Might I ask how you have come to hear of my exploits?"

Meghghan didn't know what exploits were, so she decided that this must be a joke. "Ha ha ha," she offered. Cloude's face fell faster than an Odglok attempt at heavier-than-air flight.

"Yes, well." THUD. "There is something in Lassara, something that should not be there. Something that should not be. I know not whether it is old foe or new chaos. All I know is that it is malevolent, and it surely will not stop at Lassara."

Meghghan smiled, immediately forgetting all of this helpful information. In her defense, there was now a painting on the wall.

"Now rumour is rumour, and news is news, and both will travel faster than any malevolence. But I fear it will not be fast enough. The sooner we can alert the towns and cities to the south, the more time they have to prepare. Even an hour is thirty more fighters, one hundred more arrows, two hundred citizens evacuated."

There were a lot of colours on the painting. Red, blue, green, yellow. Purple, pink. Orange!

"And I think I talk too much, when there is so little time to spare!" laughed Cloude, nervously. "But it is important that you know this information. You are young, and can defend yourself in ways I no longer can. You must spread the word."

Was that... turquoise? Oh, what a sight. "Wow," Meghghan breathed, appreciatively.

The old mage cocked his head to the side, puzzled at the girl's reaction. "Maybe this is overwhelming, but I must insist that you understand my message!"

THUD. Meghghan's face was the epitome of blankness.

"Please try to understand, my girl!" Cloude pleaded, grabbing Meghghan by the shoulders in a move that would have caused her to reach for the sand, had she had any. "You must leave the city. You must warn everyone you see."

I must leave the city, dreamed Meghghan. And I must warm everyone I see. Well, that's easy, she could let them all borrow Rags for a few minutes each. Problem solved. Determined to complete her new goal, she turned to leave the building.

"No, stop!" cried the mage. Meghghan stopped. "There's fighting in the streets, you saw those men! It's dangerous to go alone! Take this."

From a cupboard filled with strange gewgaws and contraptions that would have interested Meghghan, had she been paying attention, Cloude withdrew an odd, conical... thing. At first glance, it looked like a horn, one of the music-makers that had enraptured Meghghan earlier in the day; but there was something abnormal about it, a puzzlement too subtle for the girl's half-open eyes to notice. It was as if it did not move with Cloude's hands: as if it wanted, with all its ferruginous heart, to be somewhere else.

"My father was a master of the summon magicks," rambled the old man. "Or at least, he said he was. Did a lot of work for clients (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?136202-Lassara-Shards-of-Neril-Characters-Backgrounds-and-Information&p=2053328610&viewfull=1#post2053328610), overprotective parents and whatnot. So they could summon their children back from whatever illicit clinch they were lucky enough to find themselves in, you know?" THUD. Jangle. "Anyway, he's dead now. I think he is, anyhow. You never can be sure, with an archmage."

How long is it since I last ate, dreamed Meghghan.

"But he never did master summoning in the other direction: summoning of the self to somewhere else. That was me! Eucalyptus Cloude, my girl, remember the name. But these horns, they always break after one use, so up until now, I've never found a market from them. If only they worked even twice, just twice... it would have revolutionised the way we view transport. Day trips to Epayl Nir! I would have been ear-deep in coin." He sighed, again. "As it is, transport's still a nightmare and I'm up to my ankles in bottel-kapp."

Pressing the horn into Meghghan's hands, he continued. "Just think of where you want to be, and sound a note on this. You will be transported there in the blink of an eye. And remember: you must warn everyone, anyone you see. The fate of this world could rest on you."

The cloud is giving me this nice thing, Meghghan dreamed. That is so very friendly of it! I must say thank you!

"Thank you Mister Cloud!" smiled the girl. "Here," and she reached into her quiltrobes once again, removing a ragged old toy bear, "have this 'Rags', and hug him, but give him back, because he is mine."

"Oh! Well thank you for your time, and I hope we have cause to meet again, young..." he trailed off, waiting for a name, but the arrival of the bear in his hands rerouted his train of thought. Holding it, he shivered. Something was not right about this bear.

"Your friend here is quite... odd, isn't he?" he attempted. "Did - did you ever -"

THUD. Jangle. THUD. CRASH.

"There isn't time!" Cloude yelped, pushing Rags back into her hands. "Blow into the horn, quickly!" She raised it to her lips.

I am hungry, dreamed Meghghan Waltz, as she vanished.

Chaotix

06-19-2011, 03:54

Frijyk's eyes widened at the old wizard's display of raw magical power. He had silenced the pointy-eared man with a lightning bolt that he launched with a casual flick of his wrist. He got the feeling that the two men were not on the best of terms, but they did not immediately start fighting, so he assumed they were companions of sort. The young green-haired girl and the beautiful woman and her tamed beast gave no indication of joining the conversation.

Frijyk had missed much of the subtext of the old mage's words due to the language barrier.

"I-am from the north... the mountains. Where I-am from, all-have pale skin."

Frijyk was wary of divulging any more of his past. He was more concerned with the present, so he changed he subject.

"What about you? How-should I call you? All-of you, I mean. You are all... different as well."

thefluffyone93

06-19-2011, 04:08

"Well, you can call me Morangul. As for the others," the lich looked over at the two elves
and the Fey, realizing he has yet to learn a single thing about them.

"Ehh...Its better for them to introduce themselves. Now, you said you were from the northern mountains, yes?"
The blue lad nodded meekly, still quite confused about everything he saw.
"Hmmm..." Morangul once again racked his brain for any information that could help identify
where human standing in front of him.
The only thing that came to mind was an ancient legend about a tribe of humans that fled the first
invasion of the demons. By hiding in the northern mountains.
Could this be true? Could he really be from....well, only one way to find out.

"Could you possibly be from...oh what was the name again?
Oh yes, the Borian tribe?"

The look of surprise on the human gave Morangul his answer.

seireikhaan

06-19-2011, 04:28

Kyran couldn't hide is scowl as Morangul began his inquisition of the strange man. He turned to the man. "I am Kyran," he said, pointing to himself. The lad's language seemed a bit off, so hand signals seemed a safe bet. "Kyran. I am an elf. She is an elf too," he said, pointing towards the woman behind the guard of the feline.

Finishing his introduction to the lost lad, he turned back to Morangul. "What's your aim? Why are you troubling us? I asked you questions, and you attacked. I have lived these woods a long time, and never have I seen you before. Why are you stalking my home? Like all men, there must be something you want that made you reveal yourself."

Chaotix

06-19-2011, 04:38

Frijyk was completely thrown off by this Morangul person's correctly guessing the ancient and little-known culture to which he belonged. But he was not about to give away any more information than he needed to.

"No. I-am no longer welcome among those people."

The above was not true in the slightest. His grandfather was disgraced, but they were still members of the tribe, and it was unthinkable to abandon or exile in the Borian culture- they were already dwindling without kicking people out. But Frijyk said those words with such conviction as to indicate it was a sore subject and to discourage any further questioning.

Frijyk's own questions had not yet fully been answered, and so he finished speaking. In
the meantime, he found his eyes periodically drifting over to the aistar and it's beautiful owner. "Elf", Kyran had called himself and this woman. They were unlike Lassaran humans, possessing a sort of grace and respect for nature that he had previously only associated with his own tribe. Frijyk suspected he had more in common with these elves than with the humans of his land.

thefluffyone93

06-19-2011, 04:40

"Ok then, Borian, you can tell me your story later."
Morangul then turned to Kyran.

"And you!"

"If you really think that causing a tree branch to wrap around someone is a good way to start
a conversation, you're even more out of touch than I am!" Morangul said with a bit of laughter.
"If you forgot already, I'm a lich, and if someone uses magic on me, what do you think my
first reaction would be?"

"But, if you must know, I have been in this forest centuries before you were even born.
Its just that I've been sealed up in my sunken fortress until now. I was traveling to Lassara to
investigate whether or not the return of Vayne and the demons had anything to do with the seals
weakening on my prison, allowing me to escape."

Morangul was quite surprised when he saw the looks on Kyran and the Borian's face.

".......You.....did know that Vayne returned with a massive army and flying fortress, sacking Lassara, right?"

Chaotix

06-19-2011, 04:55

"The flying mountain! All-of the people-of Leon were staring at it. It-is a fortress?"

Frijyk did not know what a "Lich" was, but he assumed from the context it was another of the many words Lassarans had to say "magician". He realized that the old man must be much, much older than he looked. For him to know about his tribe meant that he was around before they were driven into the mountains- at least a thousand years ago!

He must have been a very powerful "Lich" indeed. Frijyk couldn't help but think that traveling with this man would be to his benefit. Perhaps he could help Frijyk hone his own magical talent to be more effective.

"This flying-mountain... It had a great-dark void above it. I suggest staying away from-Leon."

Seon

06-19-2011, 04:57

Alaria woke up with a start. It felt as if she smashed every bone in her body, and she could concentrate only in brief intervals, but otherwise she felt fine. She took one look at the scenery around her and let out a gasp. She immediately hid her presence and tried to dart away into the forest, but her leg was still useless asnd she couldn't help but stumble and fall face first into the dirt, her disguise flickering on and off madly.

The aistar was next to her in an instant, placing a calming and a restraining paw on her back. "It's dangerous to go off into the forest alone, even if you are a Fey," Raina growled to Alaria. Alaria nodded fearfully at the aistar before she removed her paws off of Alaria's back. Alaria dragged herself back to her feet by clinging onto Reina and stared apprehensively at the druid and the lich before tearing off the emerald brooch from her hair and offering it back to the lich. "I..-I only wanted to help!" she muttered quickly. She handed over the ring just as quickly before withdrawing.

She then noticed the druid and the blue-skinned man staring at her green hair and horns and disappeared from sight although she still stood next to the aistar.

thefluffyone93

06-19-2011, 05:18

"And.....that was the Fey", Morangul said dryly,
glancing back at Fryjik, who had a blank look on his face.

"If you excuse me for a moment...."
And with that, Morangul walked over to where the Fey was standing.
With a few arcane words, his eyes were filled with a black light; he was now looking
at the world through Wraith Vision, where all things, present and not present,
were seen.

And so Morangul clearly saw the Fey standing next to the aistar.
"I can see you, Fey." Morangul said, stretching his arm out, with his hand open.

The Fey cringed in fear, until it noticed what was in the lich's hand: the brooch.
"I want you to have it," Morangul said, taking some joy in watching the Fey's face light up as she took it back from him.
"It looks better on you anyway."

"Now, there is no need to hide; all of this was a big misunderstanding," Morangul said;
"Let us get this all figured out, hmmm?"

The Fey, with a weak smile on her face, made a few cautious steps towards him, but fell
back on the aistar, her face a mask of pain.
"Huh...guess I didn't concentrate hard enough on the healing spells; its not like I used them a lot!"
Morangul's humor didn't cheer up the Fey at all; she just shook her head at him.
"Will you give me a chance to try healing you again?"

Death is yonder

06-19-2011, 06:03

Looking intently at the two guards, Guantano softly whispered into her ear. "See the two guards? The merchant won't consider giving up anything until we take them down." Pointing towards the pale man riding on the left of the merchant, Guantano looked at Alyssa, and moved his finger across his neck. The group was nearing, they would have to take avoid making sudden movements until they were ready. Readying his own throwing knife, Guantano pointed once towards himself, then at the shorter man holding a broadsword on the right.

As the wagon crossed the vantage point, Guantano's muscles tensed as he prepared to throw.

"Now!"

Alyssa's arrow whistled through the air and struck straight and true, impacting the man dead-center of his throat, exiting at the other end of his neck. Wordlessly, his hand released the sword it was holding and it dropped noisily to the earth, its owner following just moments after. The sudden attack had caught the party by surprise, and the dark-skinned owner of the broadsword twitched at the violent manner of his friend's death, and that was what saved him. The knife intended for his heart instead spun and buried itself in his left arm. Shouting with pain, he kicked his horse into motion straight towards Gauntano, his eyes ablaze, burning to revenge his wound. Guantano balanced another knife by the hilt, before swiftly launching it towards the speeding guard. Barely raising his shield in time, a dull thud sounded as the knife impacted the shield, embedding itself into it. Digging his heels to increase the speed, the guard readied his broadsword in glee, as his opponent simply stood there, hands at his side, staring into his eyes. Just as he raised his broadsword in anticipation of cleaving the upstart's head off, an arrow flew through the air, and caught him in the chest, the impact taking him off his horse.

Turning to face Alyssa, Guantano smiled as he addressed her. "I was beginning to wonder whether you could really fire off more than one arrow before they reached us." Scowling slightly, but knowing that it was meant in jest, Alyssa replied sweetly. "It was tempting I admit, to delay my shot for just a moment." Looking at her expression, Guantano chuckled and strolled over to the guard, and retrieved his knives, an unpleasant squelch accompanying one of the actions. Wiping the blade on the man's body, Guantano casually sauntered towards the cowering merchant who hid behind the wagon with the other man, twirling the knives even as he did so.

"If you don't mind, we'll be taking your horse." Guantano said in a loud voice, as he hoisted himself up onto the courser. Spotting a pouch of gold hanging onto the merchant's belt, Guantano drew his long sword and kicked the horse into a slow trot towards the wagon. The fat merchant squealed in terror as Guantano extended his sword to his body. "Relax fatty, I just want something from you." Cutting the strings that held the pouch, Guantano reached out his hand and picked up the bag of coins. Satisfied by the weight, Guantano signaled to Alyssa, and within moments, the duo continued their way to Leon, leaving the merchant behind, scrambling to retrieve all items of value and set off before he had any more encounters.

Visor

06-19-2011, 08:16

(OOC: This happens after B_Ray's post, when Gilford tells R&G who they are)

Rufus was indeed entertained. He knew who Thomas Targryn was now. He was a bloody noble of one of the most powerful families in Lassara. Not that that mattered much at all now. One of the Targryn squires had attacked him ten years ago in that stinking desert. Those that survived reported that they were attacked by bandits. Bandits that were actually army scouts that he was part of. He remembered the Targryn crest on the squire's pauldron, and how he had tried to strike Rufus down, but Rufus was a better fighter and killed him. The Targryns had ruined his life. Now was time for a little payback.

They were walking down the lakeside road, four in a line, Gilford in front, Thomas behind him, Glungard afterwards and Rufus brung up the rear. He walked quietly up to Glungard.

"Stay quiet and follow my lead. Make sure that Gilford doesn't attack me."

Glungard looked quizzically at Rufus but said nothing. Rufus hooked his loaded crossbow on his belt hook, then walked a little faster, and in two minutes, was walking side by side with Thomas. He started a conversation with the man, trying to lower his guard.

"So, what was a noble like back in Lassara?"

Thomas looked at the man, he was a weird one, that was for sure.

"It was... alright. Certainly helps that I can buy whatever I liked" Thomas said, smiling weakly.

Rufus grinned back, then tripped Thomas onto the ground, his long sword pointing at his neck.

"What the bloody hell did you do that for?" Thomas exclaimed angrily, trying to get up.

Rufus pushed him back down and put the blade at his neck, drawing his crossbow with his free hand.

"OI!" Gilford turned round to face a crossbow pointed at him.

"Your family owes me." Rufus said calmly and moved around so that he could see both clearly.

"For what?"

"A member of your household tried to kill me. He died, and I was declared an outlaw. Ten years I have been on the run."

"It's your own damn fault, you were a bandit!"

"No, I was part of the army, a scouting division. Now, no more small talk. What do you have that you can give up for your life?" Rufus said, the sword still pointing at Thomas and the crossbow at Gilford.

TheLastDays

06-19-2011, 10:07

"Lower your weapons, now or you'll never see where your death came from." The voice came from somewhere out in the night, who spoke could not be seen but obviously the group around Thomas Targryn weren't the only ones in the area of the lake. Rufus hesitated as he had no wish to die right now and after a moment he retreated his sword and lowered his crossbow. A moment later four guards in royal armor cam into view, surrounding the group, their bows ready, arrows pointing at Rufus. "Now hand them over, all of you. You will get them back but we need you to follow us and we cannot let your bear weapons where we go."

The men hesitantly obliged, especially Glungurd didn't seem to understand why he had to hand his hammer to a man who obviously had a hard time carrying the heavy equipment but since his question whether the men had seen his sheeps was ignored again he just followed for the moment to see where they were going. A few moments later they reached a small camp, hidden in between rocks, trees and bushes, the houses or cabins were covered in plantlife to make them blend in with the surroundings and the fire was out. The guards led the group towards one of the cabins and one of them brought their weapons inside while the other three watched them closely. About a minute later another man appeared in the huts door and mustered the group. He was of average height for a man, his body clearly showing that he was in form and his short black hair and facial features implied that he was from the southern parts of the kingdom. "So what do we have here, stumbling along the lakeside in the night. Thomas Targryn, his knight, a bandit, or so it seems, and you", he looked at Glungurd, "you are and Odglok if I am not mistaken." The shepherd seemed surprised that this man knew what he was but after all Alain had been stationed in the northern mountains for quite a while when he was with the army. "Well, we are quickly filling up the space here, this is not supposed to be a pension but we will find a bed for you tonight. Anything else can be discussed in the morning, except...", he returned his gaze to Rufus, "I would like to have a talk with you. Come with me." With that Alain entered his cabin, expecting Rufus to follow while he added, a little louder. "Also, don't try anything, you will all be watched while you sleep. Gerard, arrange two beds for them and ask the Odglok where he would like to rest for the night."

Alain sat down on the side of his bed, his sword ready should he need it while he watched Rufus enter and pointed him to a stool. "Alright, listen, my men have told me what happened back there and attacking a noble isn't really a great idea, not even in the circumstances we are in right now. My guardsman implied that you claimed to have reason though. What connection do you have to House Targryn? Tell me your story."

Visor

06-19-2011, 10:29

"Attacking a noble? A noble of what? The oh-so glorious kingdom of Lassara? Which is, if you don't know, under attack by demons. Why do you think I'm covered in blood?" Rufus shakes his head in disgust.

"Ten years ago I was in the army. I was assigned to a scout division in the desert. My scout leader, Dietrich had us combing the lands for any sign of life. We found some alright, or it would be correct to say they found us." He paused, remembering the events from ten years past.

"There were a group of nobles, I could tell because of their armour, clothes, weapons and they way they rode a horse. They must've thought us good target practice and that we'd be easy targets at that. The army insignia was plain for all to see, yet they still charged. A little gloryhungry I suppose. Anyway, me being from Lassara, I recognised a few of the nobles and a few of the families. The one with the crest of Targryn charged for me, but I had my spear ready. Stupid fool kept charging and as he came near, I stepped past his wide swing of his sword and stabbed his horse. He fell off and his friends circled near me. I only just missed their attacks, and if it wasn't for the bravery of my friends, I'd have been killed. Anyway, the man got up, the others left him to go chase down the other scouts, who had begun a small schiltrom. We took blows at each other, his weaponery was of higher quality though, so I had to end the fight quickly. I pretended to trip over my own feet, and looking for the kill he snuck in and I pushed my spear up, which he promptly impaled himself on. I searched him after ripping my spear out of his chest. I took his money and his weapons, then I went over to the rest of the troop, who had fought of the nobles, losing a few men. The rest of the nobles fled, either to the cities to inform the watch of our "banditry" or to look for easier targets."

"From that day on, I have been an outlaw. Targryn covered up for the nobles. Ten years without a home. My parents were killed by Targryn's men. Smothered in the night. He must've found out who I was. Certainly I am not an invisble kind of man in a uniform. :daisy: the entire nobility. They deserve being ripped to shreds."

"I wanted my revenge, and tonight I would've gotten it. Bastard would've been left with nothing, just as I was."

Diamondeye

06-19-2011, 11:20

Alyssa rode behind Guantano at a controlled pace, eating from a cluster of grapes that she had taken from the fat merchant. She had also seen fit to snatch a quail and some apples from the wagon while her companion "liberated" the merchant's pouch. "You know what, I could get used to this," she said, chewing on the last grapes and discarding the now-empty stalk, reaching back for her lute as they rode on towards Leon. The drab and staleness of Lassara had been washed from her mood, and the short skirmish had her blood rolling. It was the first song in a long while she sung that was not melancholy.
"I knew a man who was fat as a barrel,
On the highway he was stopped,
He lost his horses and guards in battle,
Oh it's better to be robber than robbed!"

"A fair maid and her drunken dog,
They took his coin and he sobbed,
Left alone in the forest fog,
Oh it's better to robber than robbed!"

She heard Guantano laugh ahead of her. "So now I'm a drunk dog, am I? You offend my pride, milady," he jeered.
"Let's be honest now, Sir, pride seems not our force, exactly."

TheLastDays

06-19-2011, 13:34

Alain nodded and tried to read the other's character after listening to his story. He gave it a moment of thought before asking: "So what's your name?"

"Rufus. That's all you need to know. "

"Alright, Rufus", the captain stood up, "I hereby reinstate you into the army with full honors and immediately recruit your for service at the royal guards side in this time of crisis." He saw that the man was about to protest. "You can't be gone long enough to not know that you don't really have a say in this and", he still had his sword in his hand, "to be honest, the only way I will let you walk out of this alive is by hearing you swear an oath on anything that might be holy to you that you will serve your nation and your queen. As soon as this is over, all that you've lost will be compensated as good as possible. Of course we cannot bring back your family but I am not a man who lets service go unrewarded. What do you say?"

Visor

06-19-2011, 13:56

I will think upon it. If I decline, will you let me go?

seireikhaan

06-19-2011, 14:15

Kyran sighed in exasperation watching the lich and girl having an overtly tender moment, and, after feeling he could bear no more, interrupted. "Lich, I have no interest in the cities of men. If someone has come to conquer them, it doesn't concern me. Leave this forest. Go, investigate the north, and don't return. I tire of your presence. And.... please," Kyran struggled the word out, "Take your pet or whatever that girl is to you too. I don't care for her to stay in my home."

Kyran turned to the Borian man, giving a curt nod of the head. "Sorry for wasting your time, Borian." Kyran pointed south. "Do you want me to guide you out of the forest now?"

TheLastDays

06-19-2011, 14:20

Alain sighed and sat down again. "I really should not. You are a danger if left alive but not on our side. On the other hand I am not one to kill unnecessarily and I will not think any less of you should you not have the courage to fight the menace that is threatening mankind." The captain waited a moment and then continued. "I will think about it until morning and I hope you have your answer by then too. Go now, the guard in front will take you to a sleeping place." While Rufus got up the captain added: "One more thing: Do not mistake my mildness for weakness. Should you pose any threat to our mission here or should my guards see any reason to mistrust you, you will be struck down immediately. You are being watched so use the night for rest and let us talk again tommorrow."

Greyblades

06-19-2011, 14:33

The room asigned to them was neither spacious or comfortable but save for one night in the city it was the best place they had slept in for months. The room had little to it; two beds stood against the walls on opposite sides of the room and between them was an old fireplace, the pit filled with what might have been logs about 50 years ago, the time had turned them into a fine powder. Thomas was lying on one of the beds staring at the ceiling, Gilford was seated on the other, sharpening his weapons with a whetstone, and Glungurd was squatting next to the fireplace fiddling with a rusty poker.
There was little to do but wait.

"So, which of my estemed reletives do you think it was that ticked off our hooded friend? Uncle Thanus had some trouble with a bunch of bastards a while back, claiming to be his, maybe the estemed rufus is one of them."

The knight looked up from his blade.
"If I remember correctly he paid them off, Rufus said your family had tried to kill him."

"Oh, probably for the best, the thought of him being my cousin" the squire made a face.

The Royal guard had given back most of thier weapons, save for Essa, they had kept that one. It had knocked the first one to try to pick it up unconcious and they ended up having to carry it in a leather bag. The looks of shock on the other guards faces was one Thomas wouldn't be forgetting in a hurry.
He smiled at the thought.

"Great Aunt Charlotte, she was quite batty towards the end, one hell of a temper, maybe he looked at her funny and set her off."

"No chance, you were only five when she died and he said he was on the run for 10 years."

There was a scratching sound, looking over thomas saw that the Oglock had started carving a message into the wall.

"What about you glungurd? You've know him longer than us, did he tell you what happened?"

thefluffyone93

06-19-2011, 17:14

Morangul turned to the annoying elf.
"If you think Vayne will stop when he finished off the humans, you are sorely mistaken.
He has waited for centuries to return to this world; he wants to see this place burn!
No one will be safe from him, unless he is defeated."

Morangul looked at the beings he was with;
the elven archer with her aistar, who was finally fully awake,
Kyran, the annoying one, Fryjik the Borian,
and the Fey.

"Now, lets get this misunderstanding sorted out, and then I will tell you all I know."

B-Wing

06-19-2011, 18:05

"Nope," Glungurd replied without hesitation. Whether or not Rufus actually had told him about his past, Glungurd wasn't going to tell this man anything about it. He didn't fully understand the distinctions between the nobility, the military, and bandits in Lassaran society, nor why it mattered so much to these men. But it was obvious that Rufus and Thomas did not like each other, and if Glungurd had to choose a side, he was sticking with the man who had released him from imprisonment.

Presently he was carving a series of symbols into the wall of the cabin near the fire. Odgloks aren't familiar with the concept of an alphabet, but they have symbols that represent words and ideas. And each Odglok had a customized symbol that represented themselves, basically a signature. The message he carved roughly expressed "Nearby sheep belong to Glungurd", which was also carved into countless trees near his pasture back in Tarania. He had no idea just how commonplace sheep were throughout the Kingdom of Lassara, figuring himself to be one of only a handful of people in the world who owned such creatures. So if any wandered nearby this place in the future, he wanted the residents to know that they were Glungurd's. He also planned on etching his name into his hammer and each of his throwing stones, since they had been taken from him twice now.

TheLastDays

06-19-2011, 19:12

Meanwhile the captain of the royal guard wondered if he would ever find sleep this night but after Rufus had left his cabin he knew he had one more thing to do. His men had returned the nobles' weapons but they had orders not to give any weapons back to Rufus. Glungards hammer and throwing stones were still with his men as they simply didn't know if they could trust such a creature. Captain Bynae picked them up and made his way towards the hut that had been assigned to Thomas, Gilford and Glungard.

"I may know more about the story Rufus was telling", he opened, when he entered the hut, "but I would suggest you ask him yourself it might surprise him to find you actually care, that is, if you do." A long, inquiring gaze towards Thomas followed but then Alain turned his attention towards the Odglok. "Hey, I didn't get your name but I think these belong to you." With that he put the hammer and throwing stones on the ground next to Glungard. "I don't think you mean any harm but what leads you so far south of the lands your people usually dwell in?"

"You people brought me here." Glungard then went on to explain how his search for lost sheep turned into the nightmare of being captured by the soldiers he suspected to have stolen the sheep in the first place.
Alain nodded and smiled at the Odglok. "I feel sorry that your search ended this way, especially because I can assure you that these soldiers did not steal your sheep. They are well provisioned and are there to look for the order and guard the passes into our land, not as raiders. When you attacked them they must have misunderstood this and so they took you captive. We surely have intruded there so I hope we can pay you back for the trouble we have given you. As you may have noticed, we have a few problems here at the moment, but as soon as we can, we will either help you to find your sheep or give you more sheep than you had before." Alain waited for a moment and the Odglok seemed to understand. The captain had a few encounters with the Odglok when he was stationed in the nothern mountains and thus he knew they were basically of a peaceful nature and so he left Glungard with his weapons and returned to Thomas. "I apologize for the inconvenience of disarming you, Sires but we have to be cautious here and you were not exactly in a position to use your arms anyway or so my men told me. You were in the throne room today, you witnessed what happened and you were there longer than I was. Please, tell me what happened there. Anything about the nature of the attackers, anything about the reason they attacked could help."

OOC: B_Rays char used with permission ;)

Seon

06-20-2011, 04:53

Alaria stared fearful at the lich's skeletal hand, and drew her closer to the aistar.

The aistar shrugged and tapped the floor. "Make your own decision, little one of the forest," she muttered.

Alaria stared back at the lich. She still remembered the pain that the hand caused her, but he gave the emerald brooch to her and he couldn't be all that bad. She let the aistar return to the elf and took the lich's hand, allowing his healing magic to fill her body. It mostly just dulled her senses to the pain, but that was still appreciated.

She allowed herself to become visible, this time transformed into her tiny fairy shape once more and felt herself being lulled back to sleep, and passively allowing her own magic over illusions to strengthen the lich's disguise.

Visor

06-20-2011, 08:37

The guard started to walk Rufus over to his sleeping area. Rufus however, was not going to be forced into any kind of servitude. The guards had taken his crossbow, shield and blades, but his daggers remained secreted on his body as they had not done a thorough check yet. Rufus slipped one of the blades out into his hand. As the guard entered the threshold, Rufus held his blade up to the man's neck and whispered, "Make a sound and it'll be the last one you make. Got that?"

The man said nothing. Rufus slid the guard's blade out of his scabbard. "Time for you to sleep!". The guard opened his mouth to shout but the sword hilt came crashing into his head, rendering the man unconscious. He took the scabbard and lowered the man down into the bedlike object and covered him up with a cloak, then blew out the lantern.

"Don't disturb me, I'm sleeping!" Rufus said loudly and snuck carefully and quietly out of the room, dagger at the ready, his new sword in his new scabbard.

He walked out through the shadows, pausing at each tent to see if he could hear Glungard. Instead, he heard a quiet conversation between the soldier he spoke to earlier, Thomas and Gilford. He also heard scratching sounds, which would most likely be Glungard. Rufus smiled in the darkness.

He walked out into the hut and had his knife at the soldier's (Alain) neck.

"Let me and Glungard go now. I know your type. You'll force me into serving you one way or another. So let me go and give me my weapons back!" Rufus hissed.

Greyblades

06-20-2011, 09:18

Within seconds Gilford was standing, sword raised, Thomas had drawn a dagger and was buisily untangling himself from his sheets.
"Nobody move, or the captain dies!" Rufus hissed.
The two froze for half a minute, the Rufus and Gilford staring at each other, then Thomas went back to untangling himself.
"...And?" said the Squire.
A brief flash of confusion appeared on the man's face "What?"
"Well, I mean you've got to have something we care about if you want us to do something. What do I care if a guard dies?"

TheLastDays

06-20-2011, 09:25

"Same here", the captain whispered as good as he could with a dagger at his throat. "This is not about me, we have much more important things to save than a soldiers life and you can kill me if you want, just remember that there is gaurds posted all over this place and you will not make it out alive if you try to run now." The captain sighed. "Also, you should probably let the Odglok speal for himself and, other than you, he was never a captive in this place and could have left any time he wanted."

Visor

06-20-2011, 09:28

"This is certainly not going well" Rufus shook his head, "But you don't know how fast I can run..."
"Do you really think you'll get away? I have sentries posted all around this camp and they'll kill you if I'm dead." Alain said calmly as possible with a blade against his neck.
Rufus eyed Thomas and Gilford for a few seconds. Gilford still had his blade drawn.
"Well..... sorry about this but, I gotta do what I gotta do." Rufus said sadly.
Alain closed his eyes and prepared for the inevitable blade across the neck.

But nothing happened.

Then...

"Gods! Stop trying to kill me!" Rufus was outside the hut, dodging a few pike thrusts by the guards who were enclosing on the hut.
Alain opened his eyes, surprised, he turned around to see Rufus running back into the hut to where Gilford took a swing which Rufus neatly sidestepped.
"Well this just gets better and better!" Rufus grinned, dagger facing Gilford.

TheLastDays

06-20-2011, 10:47

By now Alain had his own sword out and was standing right behind Rufus who was facing Gilford. "I don't really know what you were trying to accomplish just now, thogh I am grateful you didn't kill me. Now, put down your weapons and surrender. We'll deal with this tomorrow."

Visor

06-20-2011, 12:04

Rufus shoved his dagger into his belt.

"Fine".

TheLastDays

06-20-2011, 12:13

Deleted

Greyblades

06-20-2011, 12:14

Before anyone could react a small orb sailed through the air and shattered against rufus' head splashing liquid over his face.
"Ah! What the hell was..." He started to sway, "Ugh I dont feel so..." and like that he fell forward, crumpling to the ground.
There was a collective turning of heads as everyone stared at the door to the cabin where Thomas stood with a bag full of glass potion bottles.
"What?"

TheLastDays

06-20-2011, 12:24

"Guards" a few men entered the hut immediately and after taking orders from Captain Bynae they carried the unconscious Rufus out of the hut. "Alright, put him in his cabin and this time do a thorough search of the guy before you let him sleep. Keep watch the whole night. I don't want anything like this to happen again. Am I clear?" The guards nodded and shoved Rufus out of the hut after which Alain let out a sigh.
Alain shot a glance towards Thomas and sighed. "I don't think this was all that necessary but anyway, thanks." A short pause and the captain continued: "So it's Consul Boreale who we have to blame for this and he brought Vayne back?", Thomas and Gilford had just been finished telling their story when Rufus entered the hut, "I mean, I only know what has been taught to us as children and I assume Boreale knows much more about him, considering he has been archmage and consul of magic affairs for quite a while now but still I can hardly believe a Lassaran could do such a thing. It's good you were able to secure the royal sword. It's better to have it in your hands than in Boreale's, let alone in the hands of some demon from the Void."
He was basically talking as much to himself as to Thomas and Gilford but a moment later his attention was back in the present. "Alright, the princess will not llike to hear about this and I will let her rest for the night. May I ask what your plans are? I could use your help here as the princess doesn't seem content to stay in hiding."

Visor

06-20-2011, 12:29

Playing dead solves a lot of problems. And awkward situations. The poor boy thought that a glass ball filled with water would do something. He'd learn in time.

Vayne? Void? These were things he half remembered from his education. As he was roughly dragged to his hut and searched he remembered what they were. Well that put a dent in his escape plan.

Greyblades

06-20-2011, 12:42

Well the plan seemed to be working for now, he could wait till later and try to escape with glungurd again and- Rufus' started to notice a tingly feeling in his ears as he scratched it he felt that his ear had swollen to three times the size.

Back in the middle of camp one of the guards was cleaning the glass fragments away, on one of the pieces a lable was still attached, "Warning, ingest oraly, do not apply to skin, side effects can include, rashes, swelling and insatiable urge to eat celery.

Diamondeye

06-20-2011, 16:05

Alyssa could hardly see five feet ahead of her, and only a vague outline of Guantano on his horse stood out in front of her. "Guantano," she called, "we have to stop for the night, I can't see anything! And it's getting cold!"
Guantano nodded, then realized she wouldn't see. "Okay," he replied, "we can drag our horses off the road and in between the trees here."
She saw him unsaddle and disappear between the dark trunks. She hurried off her courser and after him. Some yards in, he had found a small clearing and was tying his horse up. She began to do the same with her courser while Guantano gathered some dry sprigs to start a fire. "I think it will be hard to keep the cold out," he said, eyeing Alyssa.
"Don't even think about it," she sneered, "I brought my own cot."
"Too bad I didn't bring mine, then," he said.
"Indeed. The soil seems hard and rocky."
Guantano's head drooped for a moment, she could see in the rising flames. Then he straightened up.
"Where's that quail we stole?"

Greyblades

06-20-2011, 17:52

"We're going to Tar cantun." replied the Knight "We both have family there, obviously, we cannot let them be harmed."
The squire glanced to Gilford, who was examining the remaining potion bottles, then back to Alain. He frowned "This Borealis, you know the man better than I, would he be likely to do anything to them?"

TheLastDays

06-20-2011, 18:39

"I really don't know. If he is trying to secure his power over the kingdom he cannot look past Cantun but it might not be his priority target. I picture he will send whatever he can south, to secure Leon, Vintom and finally Anaba. If he holds the west and south of the realm, his grasp is pretty strong but the problem is, we don't know what powers are at his disposal. If he actually controls Vayne and his followers he could very well be attacking on numerous frontiers."
The captain stood up and walked towards the small window of the hut, looking into the night.
"Another thing that worries me is the fact that the army hasn't done anything to help in the defense of Lassara. While it might be due to the fact that most of their leaders were lost in the palace I rather think that he has somehow assumed control over the military which is a frightening thought because honestly, then I don't know where to look for help. The princess seems intent on going to Leon to talk to her old instructor. He might be of great help in finding out what we can about our enemy but then we need to find the strength to fight him."
Now Alain turned around and leaned against the window, facing Thomas and Gilford.
"You say you want to go for Tar Cantun. Have you heard of your father? Has he made it out of the capital?"

Amsel

06-20-2011, 20:21

All things considered, Meghghan was feeling rather pleased with how that had turned out. Granted, she still didn't know where she was, it being much too dark for her to discern shapes and the smell of the place being unfamiliar; but at least she didn't have to look at that brown room anymore. And this new pigeon she'd found was a lot less emaciated than the pigeons from before. It hadn't even tried to get away! It had just been lying there, on a little rock.

Even so, she wished she'd been patient enough to remove the feathers before trying to eat it. Now she had to pause in order to remove the errant quills from her teeth. Which was annoying, because she'd much rather have been eating.

Before she could get too far with this job, however, her reverie was interrupted. A few yards away, Meghghan could just about make out a patch of yellow-orange that had appeared suddenly, as if provoked. The new and intriguing colour was accompanied by some pleasant sound:

"don't even think about it..."

"Oh!" gasped the girl, under her breath. "A 'song voice'!" It was 'music'! But the music had been back in the city - had she merely been summoned to a different part of the same town? She could smell a faint tinge of 'boos' coming from the song's direction...

She didn't care, though, for she was enraptured. 'Music' was, it turned out, a yellow-orange colour! That made sense to Meghghan: yellow and orange made you feel warm and so did music. The thought of warmth returned her concentration to the quest Cloude had sent her on, long enough for her to remember that she had an empty vial to fill.

"the soil seems hard and rocky..." The patch of colour grew larger as the music continued.

The pigeon could wait, she decided. She would fill her vial now and listen to more of the colour music. Grabbing a couple of nearby stones and positioning them above her vial, she began to grind them down.

skrrrrrrtch... skrrrrrrtch... skrrrrrrtch...

Greyblades

06-20-2011, 20:33

"Nothing." Replied Gilford. The Squire smiled weakly as a thought occured to him. "He was accompanied by Tar Cantun's arch mage, maybe he was able to cover his tracks?" The smile vanished as he remembered the last time he had seen the doting old man, to call him blind as a bat and only a tenth as nimble would be optimistic.

TheLastDays

06-20-2011, 21:08

"Alright, we will have to decide tomorrow then. It's been a long day, I'm sure you excuse me, Sires. Have a good night, all of you", the last bit was directed at Glungard, right before the captain left the small hut and made his way towards his cabin, hopinh he'd finally get some sleep now.

Chaotix

06-20-2011, 21:36

Frijyk looked at Kyran, who had offered to lead him out of the forest. Then he looked at the old wizard Morangul, who was about to tell a story about this "Vayne" person, who commanded the flying mountain, and sounded conspicuously like one of the demons who had terrorized the Borians in he past. The decision was clear in his mind.

"Thank-you, Kyran, but I will stay to-speak with the-wizard. Do not-wait for me if you must-leave. Though I do-wish you would-stay."

As Frijyk looked back at Kyran, the beautiful elf woman, now standing, had caught his eye again, and would not seem to let go of it.

"You... you looked-hurt before. Are you not-harmed?"

Diamondeye

06-20-2011, 21:46

Flames were leaping across the sky, leaving grim and dark wounds in the dark blue sky. The stars had disappeared. The moon was drowning in dark smoke. Alyssa was on her back; her mouth tasted of blood. Her own blood. Her head spun from the violent pounding she had taken with a wooden shield. One of her eyebrows had swollen up and blood was running into her eyes. She could feel the scraps that were the rest of her cloth breeches around her feet as they hang down just above the ground. The wooden table pounded against her back and her shoulders, the back of her head as well, with the rocking motion, and the pain between her thighs was the worst thing she had ever felt. It was pure agony. Above her, the bandit's merciless eyes ate her half-naked body raw. Finally, he stepped away from her, before rolling her violently onto the ground and leaving her there. Salt tears were slowly flushing the blood out of her eyes as she tried to stagger to her feet, but pain shot through her abdomen and she collapsed on the ground.

Weak. She was weak. Weak and alone, and in agony. Around her the small village was aflame, and corpses littered the ground as the world spun beneath her. Finally, her consciousness seemed to fail as reality washed over her in waves of agonizing throbbing. This was real. This was happening. She screamed.

Guantano woke with a shock. Alyssa, on the other side of the small campfire, was screaming like nothing he had ever heard before. She was crying through closed eyes, too, he saw. She sounded as if all Hell's demons was gnawing at her skin. From inside. He got up and crawled to her side. "Alyssa, Alyssa, wake up." He grabbed her shoulder - ever so slightly - and she spun awake and held out a dagger. "Get away from me! Get awa-" She suddenly realized where she was. "I'm- It- I had a nightmare," she explained feebly, her grab on the dagger loosening till it hang in her grasp between them like a dead fish. "I know, you were screaming. I tried to help."
"Oh! What did I say?" She sounded suddenly emberrassed. "Nothing much. Just screaming. You... You frightened me."
She was silent, looking down and putting down the blade. Then suddenly, she picked it up again. "Did you hear that?"
"What?"
"Listen!"

Skrrrrrrtch.... Skrrrrrrtch...

Secura

06-21-2011, 01:10

Tawariell was grateful that Raina had returned to her, though she was somewhat confused at the aistar's behaviour around the veridian-haired creature; the old m- the abomination, as Tah had to remind herself, had said that the creature was a fey, but surely that was nonsense... not only were they creatures of myth, but they were said to use their powers for the good of nature, not inducing terrible visions of a lost companion and the ultimate treachery.

The nightmare! Tah had almost forgotten, but the searing pain that raced across her head served as a swift reminder of the creature's powerful magic; between the abomination and the supposed fey, the elf knew that she didn't stand a chance while she was in this sorry state, and so decided to slink away into the night to recover her strength and return another day.

At least, that was the plan until the new arrival spoke to her, seemingly concerned for her welfare; taking in his appearance, Tah noted that while he certainly looked human, the azure sheen to his skin suggested that might not be the case. Apprehensive about his motives, and perhaps slightly annoyed that her attempt to disappear unchecked had been foiled, she responded dryly in her own language, before sighing and translating into the common tongue.

"I am... fine."

The pained expression on her face suggested otherwise.

Chaotix

06-21-2011, 01:35

Frijyk was sure he understood the elf woman correctly, but her answer did not match the look on her face. He frowned as well, soon managing to convince himself that she was not as well as she let on. Looking over at the fey girl and the wizard, an idea crossed his mind.

"Perhaps Morangul can-heal you."

After scanning her face for her reaction, he quickly added a second option.

"Or- I have-some herbal medicine in my-possession. I know you are not-hurt, but if you-need it..."

Frijyk scanned his brain. What was that Lassaran saying again?

"What's mine is yours."

Secura

06-21-2011, 02:05

Massaging her forehead, Tah listened to the human-like gentleman talk, only narrowly managing to avoid snorting derisively as he suggested that the abomination could tend to her ailment, before he quickly averted the subject and instead offered her a herbal remedy that may be of some help.

The elf narrowed her eyes; why was the man being so generous? She turned to Raina to see that the aistar was levelling a cold glare at the Borian and thus, trusting in her companion's perception, she waved the man's gesture away.

"I am fine", she said haughtily, "alor'nah felen tor..."

Tah steadied herself, then knelt to the ground and began gathering her things.

thefluffyone93

06-21-2011, 02:21

Morangul noticed the elven archer gathering her belongings, preparing to depart.
"I would suggest staying for a bit longer, you're going to want to hear what I have to say."
The elf didn't even acknowledge him.
"If what I fear is true, then you'll be encountering worse things than a recently freed lich, elf!"
At this the elf did momentarily pause, but that was all.
"All right then, have it your way then; may whatever god you worship have mercy on your soul!"
The elf looked up then, surprised that the lich would make such a comment, then began to walk away,
her aistar at her side, looking back at where the Fey was.

Morangul sighed, then turned back to face Kyran and Fryjik, "Its about time I tell you whats going on.
You all know of the old tale of how Lassara came to be, right?"

Morangul was met with the blank faces of Kyran and Fryjik.
"Ok then, a short history lesson, then."

Morangul took a deep breath, and began.

"When men came to Lassara they settled on the island of Cantun where they prospered. A little later they attempted to settle on the mainlands and after initial success they encountered a citadel, ruled by a man named Darganta, who was not really a man though. He killed the king's son and destroyed the human foothold on the mainland and then set out to destroy their dwellings on Cantun. The king sunk his fleet though and brought his whole army to the mainland where he marched to Darganta's citadel and defeated the "Dark Lord" in battle, killing him with the help of his sword Neril, which was enchanted by the human's goddes of light, Lassa.
The rest of the dark host was to be sent back to their dimension, called the Void, from where they had originally come. Their new leader, Vayne, formerly right hand of Darganta, tried to trick the men and bring a great host back through the gate. In the ensuing short battle the king Cantus died, and his daughter magically wrested Dargantas sword from Vayne (the sword was the "key" to the gate) and sealed the gate, dying in the process. As there were no heirs an old friend of the king, Undine, was crowned the first king of the new kingdom of Lassara."

Morangul looked at the elf and the Borian before him, both of which were trying to absorb all of this info.

"And now, we are currently about 800 years later, and Vayne has returned. And by the looks of it, he brought some new friends with him, and even his own flying fortress!"

Chaotix

06-21-2011, 02:31

"Are-you leaving?"

Frijyk asked the question more as a formality, as he had already guessed the answer. He was genuinely sad to see her leave in such a sorry state, and disappointed that her pride had prevented her from accepting assistance. It was a pride his own people knew all too well, and one that he himself had been victim to at times. Nonetheless, he was not going to waste the effort conversing in this unfamiliar language any longer, especially since the elf only seemed to become more irritated the more he spoke. But he couldn't help but sneak a glance as he returned to Morangul and the shy fey girl. And when he heard the wizard's words, his interest was instantly held.

"Morangul, you must-tell me more about Vayne! He-is a demon from the ancient times? But it's getting-dark, and I am-hungry... I have-food, if you would like to share it. Surely it-is too late to-hunt for anything."

He had spoken loudly enough that the elves could hear him if they so chose.

Secura

06-21-2011, 02:37

Tawariell rolled her eyes at the elderly mage's ramblings, holding little interest in the tangled affairs of humankind; she could have sworn that she heard a mention of food from the azure-hued human, but the elf's pride grudgingly shrugged it off before she gathered the rest of her things and following Raina's lead back into the depths of the forest.

Or at least, that's what she wanted those in the clearing to believe, for when she was certain that she was out of sight, Tah began to listen intently as the mage regaled the elf and Borian with a lengthy history lesson; her knowledge of the common tongue was insufficient for her to understand everything, but she knew enough to get a basic interpretation of a 'dark lord' who had apparantly returned to wreak vengeance upon Lassara.

Satisfied, Tah and Raina descended further into the darkness of the woods, their heightened sense of vision serving well in the absence of the moonlight which had failed to break through the thick canopy.

B-Wing

06-21-2011, 03:55

Glungurd had trouble falling asleep this night, a problem he rarely faced. He was exceptional at falling at sleep, often without meaning to. Especially when he had some warm ale to keep him company. But this night, he felt anxious. More than when he was imprisoned in the city. He tried counting sheep, but that only made him worry about his missing flock. Even apart from that, there was a great deal more uncertainty in his life now than there had ever been before. He did not know where he was, he barely knew the people he was with, and he didn't understand the great significance and urgency that they all seemed to feel about the war within the Kingdom of Lassara. Why didn't they all just run away? Or surrender?

He definitely wanted to run away, but he had no idea how to get back home. He only knew that it was north. The only person he trusted at this point was Rufus, and he clearly wanted to run away, too. But much as Glungurd liked the man, he also had his doubts. Rufus seemed too rash and unpredictable when compared to the other men in their company. He did not seem to ponder things the same way Glungurd did. Still, the other men were clearly on a mission that did not interest Glungurd at all. He had no reason to care for one side over the other in this war between men and demons. And it seemed like he was still their prisoner. He desperately wanted to be free again. Free and at home.

Amongst all the troubling thoughts in Glungurd's head, there was one comforting one in the person of Alain. Glungurd found him to be a very calming person, and he had been fairly kind to the Odglok. Glungurd perceived a strength in Alain that was reassuring to him, even though he was his hostage. And with a more pleasant thought to ease his mind, Glungurd eventually drifted into sleep.

seireikhaan

06-21-2011, 04:51

Kyran simply shook his head at the lich. He summoned a leafy branch, and ascended into the canopy. "If Vayne wants the cities of men, I don't care. If he wants to burn the forests, I will find new ones. Now, again, I request you leave, Lich. And you, Borian," he said with a curt nod. "May you not regret your decision."

With that, Kyran took off, vaulting himself through the treetops and away from the other three. He was not intending to completely isolate himself, however. The elven girl... she intrigued him. She held a power and wisdom he lacked. She and that beast seemed to operate almost as one being. It was far more than bond between pet and master. Bending plant life to one's will surely paled to mastery over the more dynamic animal kingdom, he thought. Even after over 50 years in isolation, so many beasts of the world remained elusive, hostile creatures. He would find her, and she would teach him this command. Yes, of this he was confident. Somewhere, deep down, they shared common heritage. And she had come to his aid against the lich, afterall. There was no way she would refuse him.

First thing was first, he needed to get back to his canopy home. He had felt sore without his staff and sword against the lich. He silently scolded his carelessness as he leaped through the night.

Death is yonder

06-21-2011, 05:13

Skrrrrrrtch.... Skrrrrrrtch...

Definitely not a natural sound. Come to think of it, didn't the quail go missing before they slept? They had eventually passed it off as some scavenger who had nipped by and nabbed the bird, before scampering off, but now... there was no other explanation. They had company. Guantano motioned for her to stay there, a concerned look lining his brow as he saw the state that she had been reduced to by the nightmare.

Drawing his short sword, he quietly advanced towards the other end of the camp, where the sound was originating from.

Skrrrrrrtch.... Skrrrrrrtch...

Apprehensive now, Guantano readied his sword and crept up to the bush which shrouded whoever was there.

Skrrrrrrtch.... Skrrrrrrtch...

Leaping out from the bush with a yell, Guantano raised his sword in anticipation of a quick chop and thrust, only to find a young girl there, a blank expression on her face, not even registering his presence, engrossed (was she even conscious?) in the act of grinding some stones... with her bare hands.

His posture relaxing as he considered the sight of the seemingly unresponsive girl, Guantano lowered his sword but did not sheath it. "Hello? Who are you, and what are you doing here? Are you lost?" Guantano asked in a soft nonthreatening voice.

shlin28

06-21-2011, 12:41

Blood.

He was there again, standing over the torn body of Lord Carus. The body was barely recognisable under the lacerations caused by a blade of some sort and Drax could only discern his identity by the heirloom armour the lord was wearing. Evidently his liege was practicing his swordcraft in the armoury, which made the murder all the more troubling – who could have had the skills to kill a well-trained and armoured noble in such a brutal fashion and not raise the alarm elsewhere?

Conflicting feelings fought inside him. Though Carus had essentially given Drax a new life as a ward of his House, he always suspected it was for a more utilitarian reason instead of any sense of charity. After all, trained mages were in high demand and a young child that demonstrated magical talent early on was not a tool to be wasted. Not that his initial talents had manifested into anything useful despite years of study of course. Indeed, Drax had suspected that he was recalled to Carus’ side so that his education can end without too much embarrassment for the Academy, who otherwise produced some of Lassara’s finest mages.

It was only the first step in your path.

What is the Voice talking about? Was it talking about the murder? Drax was puzzled; he had just walked in here, hoping for an audience with Lord Carus, hardly something that cou-

A small shape is in his hands, wet and sticky to his touch. Its edge sharp enough to cut through the finest armour Lassaran smiths can make…

Realisation struck Drax.

Blood. Blood stained his hands and robes.

Blood will always out.

---

Was it just a nightmare? Or was it something more? Drax wondered as he stared at the wooden ceiling, pondering the Voice's words. It was dawn now and footsteps could be heard just outside. He closed his eyes and decided that whatever the truth is, he can't let anyone know...

Visor

06-21-2011, 13:16

(OOC: This takes place at the same time as Shlin's, then a little after)

Goddamnit. That stupid boy had made his ears grow massive. Rufus gritted his teeth and tried to suffocate himself with his pillow to go to sleep. Unfortunately, the stupid ears got in the way. He's gonna regret that later, that's for sure...

With thoughts of revenge, Rufus drifted off to sleep, having strange thoughts of celery, which was weird, considering he hated the damned thing. The sun started to creep over the horizon, and a rooster was about to start crowing to start the day, when Rufus sat up.

"CCCCCEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He rushed out of bed, still in his armour, past the stunned guards, checking each hut for food. He found one, but the guards were on his tail. He dived into the hut and shoved the boxes out of the way until he found celery.

He started shoving the disgusting thing into his mouth, his ears shrinking as he did so. After a few minutes, he slowed down and realised what he was doing. His eyes widened and he turned around, to where the guards were standing in amazement and threw up all over them.

"Sorry about that, late night craving," he grinned, wiping his mouth and walking out to the sunny morning.

TheLastDays

06-21-2011, 13:32

The two guards were soon to be replaced by two others. Alain was watching the whole scene from the door to his cabin, where he discussed provisioning with one of his officers. Although it had been very late when he finally found some sleep last night, he had been up before dawn, beginning preparationgs for their departure. Skins had been filled with water, horses packed with food and other necessities and the guards and their weaponry was ready for their duty. All in all there were twenty-two royal guardsmen, including those that had been stationed here as permanent sentries but would now accompany the princesse's escort. They had twenty horses at the camp but Alain was planning to leave at least six man behind anyway, to man the camp and hopefully conceal it again after the rest of them left. This meant that with the princess and himself riding they had two spare horses so depending on what the nobles and Rufus decided to do they might have to leave more men of the guard behind.
Shortly after the incident with the celery Alain was approaching Rufus, now wearing his full armor, ready to ride. "So, Rufus, it's time for you to decide. My offer still stands. I could use a man like you in this, so if you ride with us your service will be compensated. You will also be reinstated with the army and whatever you deserve for the past years will be given to you. You have my word on that but if you decide so, you will have to swear an oath to me. Honestly, I am not sure I can trust you but I'd rather have you close where I can keep an eye on you and then you can prove my mistrust wrong, right?" The captain took a walk towards the hut Thomas and Gilford were sleeping in, he didn't enter yet though as he didn't want another fight between Rufus and Thomas. "If you decide to leave us, the guards will take you right back to the hut you have been sleeping in. You will stay there for a few hours after our departure so we can be sure you are not following us to lead our enemy onto our tracks. After that you will be given back all your possessions, including your weapons and you are free to go where you will. So, I need your answer, now."

Visor

06-21-2011, 13:38

Rufus scratched his beard. He had nowhere to go if he left, but he had no friends here besides Glungard, who might not even consider him a friend. What would he do? Join the demons? Unlikely. They'd kill him first. To the east, on the run again? Or a chance at having a permanent life?

"I'll tag along for the time being. We can talk about what I deserve later, right now I want my weapons back, a horse, and to know exactly what is going on. I heard about Vayne and the Void, tell me the rest."

TheLastDays

06-21-2011, 13:49

Alain nodded. "Fair enough, I will tell you what I know but not right now. I need to talk to your two friends in there", he added, smirking. He then waved to one of his officers. "Here, follow Gerard for now and he'll take you to your weapons. Make yourself ready for a long ride, I'll be there in a few moments and will tell you what little I know." He entered the hut but turned again in the door. "Also, Rufus, please do me a favor", the captain almost looked pleading on this one, "and don't do anything stupid."

Gerard and Rufus dissapeared behind another hut and Alain was about to finally enter this one when one of his guardsmen came running up to him. "Captain! I need to talk to you!" With a sigh Alain approached the young man and a few minutes later he finally entered the hut where Thomas and Gilford were already getting ready for their journey. "Sires, I have bad news. Our sentries have spotted the flying fortress that was above Lassara yesterday. It is headed for Tar Cantun and at current speed my men estimate it will reach the city before noon. I am sorry."

Amsel

06-21-2011, 16:41

Meghghan picked up her vial and examined it. While it was still too dark for her to figure out how much sand she had collected by sight alone, the weight of the little flask in her hands suggested the following answer: not much. She grimaced a little. Her legendary patience with her woefully inefficient methods was starting to wear thin.

Why was this? Was she worried? Had she seen or heard anything worrying recently? Meghghan cast her mind back as far as she could.

...

Oh! That's right. She was worried because her flask wasn't filling up fast enough. That'd be it.

Maybe she should get a grinding tool. Whatever that was.

Ah yes, and there had been 'music', too. She only recalled this fact as it had just started up again. Not as nice as before, she dreamed. A lot higher-pitched. She had noticed that the patch of yellow-orange had become smaller and less pronounced as of late. Perhaps it was on its last legs. Meghghan hoped she didn't have to stick around long enough to witness the death of music.

Satisfied that all of her dreams were in order, she went back to her grinding, her previous doubts about its effectiveness blissfully forgotten.

skrrrrrrtch... skrrrrrrtch... skrrrrrrtch...

---

A rustle, and the colour vanished. What a shame, dreamed Meghghan. Music is not what it once was, she concluded, before going back to listening to the Stones.

She thought for a moment that she heard a soft, non-threatening male voice, as well, but decided to ignore that. Non-threatening boys had nothing to do with music.

No, it was the smell that made her turn her head.

There was something there, casting a silhouette against the dying embers of the music, and it was very, very close. Much closer than Meghghan would have wanted something smelling of... that to be.

So this was what 'boos' looked like, she dreamed. And this boo had come to claim her. Well, she didn't have to stand for that!

The fire exploded from her body like the malevolent demon bursting forth from the lowest circle. The fearsome blade, the Gutripper, instantly liquefied as the intense heat burst ever further. Alyssa could only watch in horror as Guantano the rogue, the old soldier, the man so married to combat that he had somehow managed to acquire the nickname 'Cannon-Fodder' in a world without gunpowder, was wordlessly immolated.

Two black, soulless spheres. A scream.

Okay, that's not what happened. What really happened was that some of Meghgan's dust got in Guantano's hair, and that annoyed him a bit.

Meghghan was surprised by this. How was this monster still standing? She had thrown a tiny amount of non-magical sand at him! Surely no living being could stand up to such an onslaught... but were boos alive? She couldn't remember. Nevertheless, she decided to move on to plan b): surrender.

Resigned to her fate, she wandered past the (somewhat nonplussed) abomination that had attacked her, into a small clearing, where she could see that there was another one, and also a... no. Surely not.

"A girl?" exclaimed Alyssa, softly, her instincts not yet permitting her to lower the arrow that she had already notched (although it wouldn't have been much good in a combat situation because she was aiming it at Guantano. She had fought temptation, and lost). "Are you alright? Were you making those... sounds?

It can't be, dreamed Meghghan, staring at the dying embers of the campfire.

Boos made music?

Suddenly she did not know what to believe.

Diamondeye

06-21-2011, 16:56

Alyssa lowered the bow again. The stranger looked harmless. She saw as the strange girl sort of nodded towards the campfire and stopped.
"Guantano, get the fire going again, will you?"
She draped her cloak around her and looked at the strange girl again. "Hello," she said, tryingly, "who are you? What are you doing here?"
She frowned for a second, then, a bit louder, "Can you hear me?"

Amsel

06-21-2011, 17:33

It certainly was very orange. Very orange indeed. Very very very very orange orange orange orange orange orange.

But no music. That was unquestionably coming from the boo. This was amazingly disappointing!

Would the boos eat her, she wondered. They didn't eat the men in the town, but those men were all men, and she was not men. Maybe they spared the men and ate the ladies. I should make sure that they do not eat me, she dreamed. I shall give them food and tell them not to eat me. Then they will not eat me. That orange orange sure is very orange. I wish I hadn't eaten part of my pigeon already.

Turning away from the (very) orange campfire for a moment, she addressed the song-voiced boo. "Hello, I am, Meghghan Waltz, love and dreams to you 'boo'. You can be my friend, but you make the men fall over, when they go to see you, they fall over. And then they make green. You should not, but do not eat me. I have food, for you."

She then reached into the cowls of her quiltrobes, pulled from their depths the (headless) remnants of the quail, threw it at Alyssa's feet, spat out about a million feathers that had all decided to go down her throat at once, and then sat down to watch the orange orange orange orange orange orange orange orange orange.

Death is yonder

06-21-2011, 18:18

[OOC - Consider this to be Guantano's perspective of things through the events]

His guard lowered, Guantano had been caught semi-unaware when the girl unleashed a shower of... sand? At first annoyed, as it would be very hard to remove, Guantano had then reminded himself that the girl was hardly in the realm of the living.

More surprising however, was the presence of Alyssa who had her bow at the ready before she finally lowered it. He had motioned for her to stay at the campsite. Then again, the sight in front of him was a clear example that women seemed to operate under different rules from mere men.

--------------------------

His weapon finally sheathed, Guantano had grabbed some more firewood and sticks that he had gathered from their surroundings and set them upon the dying embers, cupping his hands around them and blowing gently onto the flickering flames. As the orange tendrils started to rise again, Guantano placed a few more sticks onto the now crackling pile before settling back onto a sturdy log that he used to rest his back.

She was young, very young. Couldn't be past her teens even, and already she had... issues. Guantano couldn't help but feel pity for her mental state of mind, perhaps lyrium magically induced. As she began to address him, the 'song voice boo', Guantano noticed a feather sticking out of her robes, coincidence? Suddenly, the girl reached into her robes and yanked out the headless remains of a quail and tossed it at Alyssa's feet, before she literally spat out a series of wet and slimy bombardments at the same position. Despite his tiredness, observing the now unpalatable sight right before Alyssa, and her cringed up face oozing with a mixture of disgust and shock, Guantano burst out laughing.

Greyblades

06-21-2011, 20:00

The squire looked that the guardsman in surprise, then as quickly as it came the look vanished.

"Yeah I was expecting something like this."

He stood and took one of the bags, Gilford, with less enthusiasm than his charge, set about appling his armour. They had found that the camp had no containers large enough to put them in or animal to carry them so the knight had resigned to wearing full plate near constantly, in afew days day and he'd start showing the strain of carrying the constant weight.

"My father's advisors were probably left in control of the island, the city will surrender the instant a daemon flies over the city so I dont think there's much danger to my family"

The squire scowled, it was obvious he did not think highly of the advisors. He sighed and started helping the knight into his breasplate

"They will probably be used as hostages to keep the bannermen in line. Thank you for the report, We'll be out in a afew minutes, you may go."

Diamondeye

06-21-2011, 21:19

Alyssa frowned. There was clearly something wrong with the woman. "Hello Meghghan," she said, "do you have a horse?"

Then she turned to Guantano. "We can't possibly drag this one along without another horse. Not that I'm sure we want to, in any case. I intend to ride at sunrise no matter if she can follow us or no."

TheLastDays

06-21-2011, 23:22

"I sure hope that you are right and they spare the city if it surrenders. I can spare two horses if you need them to get there as soon as possible. Just talk to Gerard outside, he will also give Essa back to you. You might need the sword more than anyone if you should arrive in time and since it has bound itself upon you no one else could use it anyway."

The captain was worried but he didn'T speak of it just now as he waited for the two nobles to leave to have a word with Glungard.

Visor

06-22-2011, 09:03

Rufus followed Gerard over to the hut where his weapons were being held. Rearming himself, he walked outside. It was good to be back in control of his future again. And that future would contain his revenge, one day Thomas Targryn will die by Rufus Guiscard, and the many wrongs done to him will be repayed in kind. But none of that showed in his face as he smiled to Gerard and walked to the horse pen to collect a steed. There would be a while to go yet, but so far things were looking up.

TheLastDays

06-22-2011, 10:29

When Thomas and Gilford had left the hut Alain sat down on a stool across from Glungar. He smiled at the Odglok who didn't really seem in a hurry to leave right away. "Glungard, right? I hope you did get a good rest this night."
He waited for an answer and then continued: "I need to talk to you, because I will be leaving in a short while. I am sorry if it seemed like you were our captive because that is not the case. You are free to go where you will. I understand that you probably don't know the way home from here and if it were in my might I would take you there myself but right now I can not." The captain sighed. "I will try to explain. You are a shepherd and your duty to protect your sheep is important to you, right? In a sense it could be said that I am a shepherd too, the one I protect is not a sheep but it is my duty to protect her nonetheless and at the moment many want to harm the one protect so I have to make sure she is safe and for that I will have to fight those that want to harm her." The captain nodded and continued after a moment to let the Odglok think about it. He had decided to offer Glungard to accompany them. First of all he knew that the Odglok were strong and they could be stubborn and strong willed if they decided on doing something and secondly he knew that the Odglok would probably get lost on his own or worse, would get himself harmed or killed. "Now listen Glungard, as I said, you are free to go where you will and if you want you can come with us. You can help me to fulfill my duty and when we have fulfilled it you have my word that I will take you to your home and do what I can to help you fulfill yours. What do you think?"

Amsel

06-22-2011, 14:32

"Hello Meghghan, do you have a horse?" said the music.

Do I have a... what? she dreamed. A 'whores'? Well she didn't know what that was at all. She felt a bit confused by the song-voiced boo. There was clearly something wrong with the woman.

Orange orange orange orange. Orange.

Diamondeye

06-22-2011, 16:16

Alyssa shook he head. "She's your problem, Guantano. I'm going back to sleep. See you at sunrise."
With that, she crawled back to her cot and went to sleep, dagger in hand.

Death is yonder

06-22-2011, 16:54

[OOC - Consider the first elements of the post before Alyssa speaks to take place before DE's post]

Shaking his head, Guantano decided to save Alyssa the trouble. "I would suppose that in the state we found her, as well as her inclination against for the normal way of doing things, that she does not have a horse. I wonder even, whether she can ride."

Continuing with a half-smile, Guantano whispered back to Alyssa, "In any case, I seem to have a knack for picking up damsels in distress." Glancing side-ways at the girl, Guantano said, "She is small of stature anyway, and I am fairly experienced with inexperienced passengers." Alyssa merely shrugged, and replied. "She's your problem, Guantano. I'm going back to sleep. See you at sunrise." Heading back to her roll, yawning, Alyssa did not notice Guantano's normally composed features contorting as he stood there silently for a moment, his smile disappearing before he muttered, "indeed she is," walking back to the pile of leaves that he had designated as his bed spot.

Inwardly, Guantano grappled with a feeling that he had not faced in a long time, abandonment. Damn that girl, why did she have to come by now, and damn Alyssa too, for suggesting to leave her, who would have been ripped apart in a heartbeat had his intentions been violent, to face what was surely an encroaching demonic horde who had probably finished their fun in Lassara. The barman was a decent father, but he had three real sons who came soon after, to whom most of his attention was devoted to, lest they grow jealous of their adopted brother. His father had left him, and so had his mother, even if she hadn't meant to. Grinding his teeth, Guantano silently resolved to himself, that he would not abandon Meghghan right now. He would get her to Leon, and he would make sure that someone watched over her, yes, he knew just the person.

As tiredness set in once more, Guantano took one last glance at the young girl, who currently bumbled around, innocently and happily oblivious to the dire state of affairs in the kingdom, and he walked over, and told her in a serious voice, "Stay here, don't go wandering off elsewhere. Make yourself comfortable," he gestured to a soft patch under a tree. "We'll be here until morning anyway." And with that, Guantano walked back to his pile of leaves, set his gear under the pile, easily within reach, settling himself down, the pile rustling and shifting under his weight. Sighing, Guantano stared into the night sky. He thought this chapter had been long buried and past. Stilling the flurry of memories in his mind by force of will, Guantano finally drifted into the stillness of sleep, his expression gradually relaxing and becoming peaceful.

B-Wing

06-23-2011, 01:44

Glungurd considered Alain's words carefully. As miserable as he had been all this time, and as badly as he wanted to return to his home, there was suddenly something indescribable that made him hesitate. He had finally been given a real choice, and no longer felt like he would be running from anyone. It was no longer a choice between being captive or fugitive. He could choose to depart and be free, or stay a become a guardian. This made all the difference in the world to Glungurd. He did not understand the importance of the princess, but protecting the helpless was a concept he was quite familiar with, and a role he had kept for 9 years now.

For several moments, the rational part of the Odglok's mind clashed with the rash and illogical feelings that were now appearing. Ultimately, it was the side which made him a good shepherd that won the struggle. When faced with a pack of dangerous predators, or caught between two raiding parties, when the only rational thing to do is run or hide, Glungurd had always stayed and defended his flock. And why? Were they more valuable than his life? Certainly not. Glungurd could not answer why, but he knew that somehow it would be better to stay and die for them than to retreat and leave them to be killed or captured. And that was how he felt now.

So after a long hesitation, which almost sapped Alain's patience, Glungurd finally spoke. "I'll follow you and protect the woman," said Glungurd, grinning for reasons he did not know. He stood up, flexing his disproportionally large shoulders in an effort to add to his stature, and added, "I can fight." This boast was, of course, somewhat exaggerated, considering Alain's expectations for a soldier. But Glungurd felt confident that when the opportunity came to prove his worth, he would impress the company.

TheLastDays

06-23-2011, 06:00

"Alright Glungurd", Alain stood up and smiled, "I'm glad to have you with us." This was the truth, although the captain obviously didn't go into all the details he really was glad to have the Odglok around. He walked towards the door and before he exited he added: "Get ready, we're leaving in a short while. I have to get going to prepare a few things."

With that the captain left the hut and went to look for Drax, not knowing that someone else had already found him.

The princess had been up for a while now and was helping where she could. Since she did not know too much about weapons that meant mostly the filling of skins with water and the preparation of provisions. She had exchanged her royal ceremonial garment for travellers clothes and her clothing gave the impression of a wandering merchant or bard now rather than a princess. Still she emanated a beauty and elegance that was hardly concealed by her new appearance and that must have also been Drax' first impression when she entered his hut, right after he had gotten up and made himself ready to leave.

"Good Morning", she smiled as she spoke, "I hope your night was as good, too."

He just nodded, surprised to have the princess visit him and at a loss of words for now.

Amalia couldn't hide the hint of amusement in her tone when she continued: "Drax, right? My captain will probably be here shortly to tell you your options and he will most certainly ask you if you want to leave or come with us. Now, I know you must feel intimidated with all these soldiers around and you might feel like you cannot be of any use to us but that's not true. I feel a strength and power in you that has yet to arise and I think by coming with us you will both profit from the journey and be of great help to us... To me..." Again she smiled and right when she finished, Alain entered the small hut.

He was surprised too, to find the princess here, nonetheless he saluted: "Your Majesty, I didn't expect..."

"I know", she laughed, openly now, "don't worry, my captain, I was only trying to help. I was just asking the young man what you would have asked him anyway. So", she looked back at Drax, "are you coming with us?"

shlin28

06-23-2011, 11:25

A choice between staying with 20 heavily armed men or striking out for himself? The choice seems obvious, but Drax did hesitate - if he had really done the things he suspected he has done, he really should not be around the Princess, nor indeed anyone for that matter. Cowardice however won out over his guilty conscience; if something did happen, he was sure that the guards could stop him and-

They will kill you.

The very thought of death terrified Drax, but it at least it added another reason for him to stay with the group - after all, if he ventured out on his own, who knows what kind of harm he could do without anyone to stop him?

By the Spirits, that didn't even sound convincing to himself.

"I'll follow you, Your Majesty. Safety in numbers right?" Drax replied, masking his thoughts with what he imagined an off-hand comment would sound like.

Greyblades

06-23-2011, 12:28

The Knight and the Squire left the camp with haste, only pausing to recieve Essa from a rather cranky guard with bandages on his hands, he had flinched when Thomas pulled it out of the leather bag. As promised two horses were waiting for the duo, a pair of coursers, fast but strong enough to bear the knight in armour. Thomas helped Gilford mount the largest horse and strapped thier supplies to the other as not to overload the first.

They had procured a tent and some bedrolls from the guards the night before and a jittery man had helped identify thier rather handsome inventory of potions; two cure light wounds potions, one cure moderate wounds, three cure critical wounds, three lesser restoration potions, and something called "sanctuary", the man had said "pour it on yourself if in battle and it should help". He didn't say how but Thomas had taken to keeping it in his own pocket instead of the bag with the others.

Mounting his courser Thomas looked to the sky, the castle that had lingered ominously over lassara the day before had moved south and was now alot smaller hanging almost unmoving over the path they had to take.

"Think we can catch up, Gil?"

The knight took several seconds to reply.

"It doesn't matter what I think, we're still going."

He dug his heels into the horse and it launched into a canter. Thomas turned to the closest guard.

"Tell your leader; if you see my father and that castle hasnt crashed into the sea by then tell him not to go to Tar Cantun. Please."

And with that he coaxed his horse into a gallop and chased after the Knight.

TheLastDays

06-23-2011, 13:01

"Quite the opposite, young man," the captain replied, "we will ride with few people." He turned to face the princess. "Your Majesty, I have reports of the army marching south towards Leon, under consular banners. We will not be able to reach the town before them. If you really want to go that route secrecy is our best bet and fewer numbers will accomplish that more easily. We will only take two of our guardsman and we will ride under disguise."

The princess nodded and then replied. "Well in this case you should stop calling me 'Your Majesty' captain. Call me Liana. I always liked the name Liana."

Alain wondered how the princess could keep her spirits up so much given the current situation but he was glad about it. "You are right, Liana it is then."

They all left the hut and met the others outside. Alain had chosen two of the royal guard, his best and most experienced fighters, to accompany them, Florin and Damon. He left Lieutenant Gerard in charge of the rest of the men and they should wait and if necessary hold this outpost. So the princesses escort consisted of three royal guardsmen, riding in chainmail and mercenary's garments to disguise themselves, an actual mercenary or rather bandit, an inexperienced mage and an Odglok.

Before they could go Alain remembered that he had promised to explain their situation to Rufus and so he did, before mounting his horse. He told the mercenary what he knew about Owyn Boreale and Vayne, that they didn't know who the others coming with Vayne were and that their mission was to protect the princess while trying to find out how to fight this enemy. With a sigh Alain mounted his horse and explained to everybody: "We ride in secrecy. From this moment on this," he pointed at the princess, "is Liana, our cleric. We will disguise as a group of mercenaries should anyone ask."

They all nodded, only Glungurd seemed to be a little confused as to what to do. Everyone else had mounted their horses but it was obvious the Odglok had never rode a hore before. After a few moments the princess waved him over and said. "You ride with me. You can keep me safe, yes?"

Secura

06-23-2011, 21:47

Raina lazily opened her eyes and ears to the familiar sights and sounds of nature emerging from slumber; the morning sun's warm glow shimmered upon her fur, while the gentle serenading of the local avian population heralded the aistar's awakening. The majestic creature stretched her forepaws out, raking her claws into the soft ground as she arched her back and emitted an unmistakable yawn; the hunters had only bedded down a few hours previously, having made their way through Ayal Royad Hyo's expansive woodlands for several hours during the night until Tawariell's ailment forced them to make camp.

The aistar turned her sapphire-hued gaze towards Tah, who was wide awake, resting against an aged oak tree, head resting firmly in her hands as though she had been weeping; Raina needed no encouragement, wandering over to her companion and nuzzling against her. Tah gently sighed, moving her hands from her face and embracing the aistar; the veridian-haired girl's magic was still taking it's toll even now, with Tah's limited unconsciousness through the night marred with visions of death and destruction.

The elf's thoughts wandered to the girl herself, one of the feys according to the abomination, and she found herself struggling to remember anything about her, apart from the fact that the sinister magic that ravaged Tawariell had seemingly taken it's toll on the fey's physical wellbeing too, the creature forced to sleep in order to recover her strength. Despite the fey's responsibility in Tah's predicament, the elf couldn't help but feel sorry for the little one, though she suspected this was due to her appearance more than anything.

Instead, Tah thought about the others present in the forest's depths; the lich Morangul, an abominable amalgam of everything that her kin stood against, yet he showed a willingness to help the fey with her wounds and offer advice to the others; the male elf, apparantly named Kyran, a master of the forest and her fauna, a curious sort who didn't seem to show hostility towards the lich as she had; the azure-skinned human, with his peculiar manner of speech and naivete, provided Tawariell with the greatest food for thought, his kind nature towards her contradicting everything that she thought she knew about humans and their ilk.

Tawariell had little belief in the concept of fate or destiny, yet somehow it felt as though their peculiar meeting was meant to happen, but that couldn't really be the case... could it? Frustrated with her thoughts and sighing once more, Tah climbed to her feet and gathered her belongings, before leading Raina out of the clearing.

Chaotix

06-23-2011, 22:37

Frijyk was up early, a few minutes before the sunrise, as was habitual for him. The chilly morning air did not bother him in the slightest. He began cleaning up the remains of the campfire he had started the night before and the dinner that had gone with it. The wizard and the fey had eaten a surprisingly small amount, even less than Frijyk had expected. At this rate, he'd be able to sustain them with salted meat and cheese for another three of four days before he would have to hunt or forage- though he supposed it might make his meals rather bland.

Both Morangul and their fey friend appeared to be sleeping still, but the wizard certainly did not sleep in a position he would find to be comfortable. He was a strange old man, but Frijyk could tell he was very powerful and very wise... And very old. An ally like that, Frijyk believed to be invaluable. Perhaps he could teach Frijyk to widen his own rather sparse library of magical spells.

The fey... Frijyk did not know what to think of her. They had had precious little interaction. She seemed if anything to have an aura of innocence about her.

Frijyk's mind drifted to the two elves he had met, who had left before supper. Out of all the people he had encountered so far, Frijyk seemed to share a similar view of the world with them. Kyran, the kind and yet formidable master of the forest; the mysterious, beautiful hunter and her majestic beast companion; he regretted that he had to part ways with them.

And then Frijyk began thinking about what he would do next. Where would he go? That was one subject he had not had the chance to discuss with Morangul last night. Before, he had been traveling arbitrarily to the south. He did not know where his new companions wanted to go, but he did not feel like returning to the cesspit called Leon- not to mention the fact that Vayne's demons and the mysterious flying mountain were in that direction. But on the other hand, Frijyk also felt he had much to learn from Morangul... he didn't want to split up so soon.

After cleaning up the campfire, he wondered silently when his companions were finally going to wake up... he didn't want to resort to wondering noisily.

B-Wing

06-24-2011, 01:04

"Yes," Glungurd replied awkwardly, as he hasten over to Liana's horse. He stopped at the steed's side and puzzled over how he was going to get himself atop this animal. After a moment, Liana chuckled and dismounted. She then demonstrated how to properly climb onto the horse. Glungurd mimicked her as best he could, finding that his inferior height was severely disadvantageous for such a task. But he made it on his first attempt and sat behind the princess, feeling simultaneously proud and embarrassed. Odglok civilization had realized no uses for horses, being unsuitably shaped for riding them, and having developed little above-ground industry that they could be utilized in. One of the guards tied a rope onto the horse that had been intended for Glungurd so that they could take it with them, in case they needed an extra in the future.

As the riders began to take off, Liana warned Glungurd, "You may need to hold onto me." After saying this, she almost cringed at the thought of the Odglok's beefy hands grasping her waist. And indeed, Glungurd's grip was a bit too firm for her liking, as he did not realize the relative fragility of human teenage women. "Well, at least he's strong," she thought, hoping she would be thankful whenever they met their next danger. The Odglok's mind was more focused on not falling off his horse. And so the motley crew rode off toward Leon.

seireikhaan

06-24-2011, 03:20

Kyran picked himself up from the wooden, leafy floor of what he called his home. He'd intended only to take a brief respite before setting out to find the elven woman, but the encounter with the lich and fay had drained his energy more than he realized. So it was that Kyran peeled his eyelids open to sparse bits of sunlight peering in sideways from the horizon. Cursing to himself, Kyran stashed his short sword into his belt and picked the staff he'd carved for himself about six years ago. Its wood was a touch nicked, but overall was still quite smooth. The bottom had been shaved down to a point, while the top was kept broad, though the corners cut to make it dome-shaped. Kyran gave his bungalow a second glance before taking off. He knew he'd have to keep a blazing pace to catch the woman, but hopefully that wouldn't be a problem. Kyran gripped the first, nearest branch, hugging it as he willed the branch to stretch down near ground level. With a creaking, it twisted down until Kyran was within arm's reach of the grass. With a snap, the tree jerked itself back with a vengeance, and Kyran let go as the branch neared its apex in an arc, launching himself through the canopy. As he vaulted downward, Kyran scrambled himself to determine his landing point. "Aha!" He gripped the target limb and it whipped downward. Kyran felt himself graze the turf below, just before the tree twisted around to launch Kyran once more. 'Not the safest,' Kyran grinned to himself. 'But definitely faster. And a lot more fun. Now, time to catch up.'

Seon

06-24-2011, 05:59

Frijyk was preparing breakfast when he suddenly heard light footsteps behind him. He turned around to see a strand of viridian hair quickly duck behind a tree, with a small face shyly putting from behind cover.

Frijyk couldn't help throwing a glance towards the girl's horns and green hair, and saw in shock as the horns vanished and the green hair change to brown before his eyes. It looked, to Frijyk's minds, what the elf woman would have looked like if she was young.

"Umm..." she said. "I... Err... Brought some mushrooms..." she came out from behind the tree, holding a giant bundle of mushroom in her arms. Many of them, even Frijyk could tell to be poisonous.

"Sorry," Frijyk said. "But we can't eat those. Those are poisonous." The girl's face fell immediately. "But..."

"Don't worry, I already made breakfast. Do you..." The Fey's face brightened considerably. "Sure!"

Frijyk handed her a hard piece of bread, which she looked at curiously for a couple of seconds before biting into it. "What about Mr. Bones?" she suddenly asked.

Frijyk glanced at the old wizard, still sleeping in the uncomfortable position. "You mean Morangul?"

"Yes. He's a skellington, you know. Doesn't have a bit of flesh on him. He needs to eat more... It's not healthy."

Frijyk glanced once more at the wizard. He was kind of in the thin side, admittedly. But he seemed to be perfectly fine otherwise. "...maybe he just discovered that eating less can actually extend his own life time?" he wondered out loud.

"But that's stupid," the girl replied. Frijyk shrugged. "My name is Frijyk, by the way," he offered. "What is yours?"

"Alaria," the girl replied.

"By the way..." Frijyk said. "isn't it dangerous for a girl like you to be travelling alone? I mean, how old are you?"

"96," Alaria replied. Frijyk chuckled. Alaria made a face. "I met a spidew out in the forest, by the way."

"...?"

"...it said it was looking for the man who killed its babies. Pierced their brains with a sword."

"Umm..." Frijyk said. "Where did you encounter the... Spidew?"

"Oh, around here," Alaria said. "I promised to help her find whoever did that though. She told me that she's going to join me here soon. Also told me where to find the mushrooms."

Frijyk glanced down at the pile of mushrooms. By the saints there were even death caps in there. "Wasn't she a nice spidew?"

"Ha...ha..." said Frijyk.

Diamondeye

06-24-2011, 14:44

The sun was only just breaking the horizon, but already Alyssa was up. Guantano looked at her, tired, as she was saddling her courser. "Are the two of you coming, turtledoves, or are you going to leave a Lady like me all alone for the road?"
The acid was back in her voice, Guantano heard. She had warmed up - a little bit - since they had plundered the wagon, but the appearance of the strange girl seemed to have put her right back in her baleful mood. "Whether you're coming or not, I'm leaving in a minute. There's someone on our heels."
Guantano stirred. "There's what?"
Alyssa pointed the horizon in the north. With this kind of distance, the smoke from a single cookfire would have been hard to see, but the coloumns rising in the distance were numerous as flies on a carcass. "It's an army," Guantano muttered. "You really do know how to state the obvious. Are you coming or not?" Her words were like hot pokers, but at least they woke him up.

Death is yonder

06-24-2011, 17:52

Now shaken out of his groggy reverie, Guantano lifted the girl up onto his courser, grunting as she proved to be heavier than she looked, before hoisting himself up onto the jet black beast. His sack hanging loosely on the saddle, he kicked his horse into motion, following Alyssa, who had already impatiently started on a moderate pace. Grabbing the coarse reins, Guantano took great care to ensure that Meghghan did not tip and fall off, the girl still in her 'normal' blank demeanor, steadying her by leaning forward as he rode, the horses kicking up a small trail of dust as they rode down the crude road towards Leon.

Settling into the rhythm of the horses gallop, Guantano gazed forward towards the chestnut-brown haired rider, her hair flowing as she rode, pondering upon Alyssa's recent change in attitude. Could it have been related to the nightmares last night? Recalling her screaming and pained expression, coupled with crying, Guantano was certain that the happenings of the past night had shook her somewhat. A reminder of a painful and traumatic event in the past was definitely something that affected a person, and Guantano completely understood.

She rode silently, her beautiful green eyes burning with a fire even as they fixated themselves onto the path yet to have been tread. She was still young to have endured so much, Guantano thought, time would heal this wound, and age will bury it deep, though sometimes never deep enough. But what if that was not what was troubling Alyssa? Was it because he stubbornly wanted to bring Meghghan along? Sighing, Guantano turned his thoughts to his even younger pillion rider. They definitely could not bring her around everywhere, it would suffice to leave her in Leon with the man he could trust watching over her, and besides, he wanted Alyssa to... what did he want her to do? His mind darting back to the mutual pleasure at the playful banter between them the other day, Guantano swiftly came to the realization.

He wanted her to talk to him again.

----------------------------------

It must have been at least a good three hours since they had broken camp, and Guantano looked down at his charge, who still lolled around as the courser moved, by all appearances still lost to the world. Unable to do anything for her, he turned his attention to someone else whom he could. Concerned by Alyssa's stubbornness, Guantano once again ventured forth an attempt to inquire about her well-being. "Alyssa, its been at least three hours since we started riding, at least drink some water if you aren't going to stop and have a bite." Dismissing his attempt without even looking at him, Alyssa brusquely stated, "I'm fine."

Sensing that further attempts would be met with stronger refusals, Guantano kept silent.

----------------------------------

As the sun approached its apex in the sky, Guantano raised his hand to shade his eyes, squinting as he looked across the horizon. In the distance, he could roughly make out walls, Leon. Raising his voice slightly to address Alyssa, who was now further in front, he said, "Strange, the gates are shut. Lets hope there's no trouble." A quiet nod of the head followed his statement. Eventually, they arrived to within a bowshot of the stone walls when a guard clad in the livery of the town guard signaled for the party to halt, before addressing them.

"Stop or we'll shoot!" As if on cue, five bowmen ran up onto the walls, wielding shortbows which would still be deadly accurate at this range, and nocked arrows, ready to fly loose upon orders. Grinding to a halt, Guantano looked warily at the bowmen, his muscles tensing as he held onto Meghghan, ready to throw her off the horse with him if need be. "Looks like the welcome party has changed since I've last passed by," he muttered.

Diamondeye

06-24-2011, 19:07

Alyssa looked up at the walls, still in her saddle even as she had stopped her courser.
"Who is your Captain? I am the Lady Alyssa Fangstrike and these-" she looked at the odd couple on the horse behind her, "are my retainers. You will let us into the city, we bring tidings from Lassara."
The guard seemed doubting, perhaps because Alyssa was clad more as a soldier than a Lady. Nevertheless, he shouted down. "Wait there!", and disappeared from their sight.

A minute or so later, the gate opened slightly, allowing a Captain of the guard to ride out, four guards on foot after him. The gate closed behind them as they came closer, and the guards held their helbards at the ready. "What is a Lady doing on the road in this garb," the Captain asked, "and with these companions?"
Alyssa could sense that Guantano was about to speak, but she cut in first.
"I am running for my life, good sir, and I saw fit to spare my pair of personal retainers. The Capital has fallen to a host of demons."
The Captain nodded. "Aye, so we have heard. Hence why we take these precautions." He waved towards the gatehouse, where the bowmen were still visible, though they had lowered their bows.
"I am afraid I will need more than your word before I can trust you, Milady," the Captain said, dutifully.
"Very well, we are also looking for a learned and respected man in this city. He may vouch for us, Guantano knows him." Only then did she seem to lend Guantano any attention. "What was his name again, Guantano?"

Chaotix

06-24-2011, 22:55

As Frijyk processed the information the Fey had just passed on to him, he realized he would probably be in danger again very shortly. The giant spiders he had fought with Kyran the day before were babies? And now the angry mother, no doubt twice or three times as large, was searching for their killer! And Alaria had so kindly "invited" her to this clearing. Frijyk looked at Alaria with an indescribable expression on his face, somewhere between wonder and aggravation. Then he scanned the forest around the clearing, trying to figure out from which direction this giant spider would be arriving. Eventually his gaze turned back to the Fey.

"Listen. I am-not sure how well the great-spiders get along with the Fey, but I-know for a fact that they do-not like humans. Unless they are for dinner."

Frijyk grasped one of his throwing hatchets and held it in his hand. He couldn't use the rapier just yet; he hadn't had a chance to clean the baby spider blood off of it. Perhaps there was a chance he could avoid a conflict. Can spiders smell blood? In that case, it might not even matter. Almost frantic, he couldn't shake the feeling he was forgetting something... then he remembered. Frijyk ran over to the old wizard, still apparently sleeping, and tried to stir him awake.

"Morangul! Wake-up! I think we could-be in trouble."

He looked back over to where the Fey was standing, and called out to her.

"When did you-say that spider was-going to get here again?"

thefluffyone93

06-25-2011, 00:04

"Don't worry, I heard the whole conversation," Morangul replied, getting up from his meditation.
The lich looked down at Fryjik's rapier, "And they can smell blood."

With a quick spell, Morangul removed the blood from the rapier, giving it a shiny new look.

"Oooooh.....shiny," Said the Fey, watching the light reflect of the clean sword.
"Okay then, we might be able to avoid a fight, but if not, it shouldn't be that
hard to kill." Morangul continued, "A few bolts of lightning should do it, and you can always make sure
its dead with your sword."

"What? No! You can't kill her!"
Both Morangul and Frijyk looked at the Fey with disbelief.

"And why, Little Devil, can't we?"

Greyblades

06-25-2011, 00:25

"Well this just keeps getting better and better!" exclaimed the knight.

The squire gave him a dirty look "We got a good ship that can get us there in time, what are you complaining about."

"A blockade runner is not what I call a good ship and I cant say I am particularly partial to the crew."

They had made good time to Birun, a rather large port town with its own shipyard, at the cost of the horses health, by the end the two corsers were close to ruined and one was unlikely to go beyond a trot for afew days. Regardless, they were here the day was almost over and they had closed to the point where the castle was looming almost over head. Now they were on the pier along with several sailors lugging boxes of potion bottles onto a square mast Brig, The Silver Maiden.

"Stop whining, your not the one almost out of pocket, now shut up and help me with this crate."

They had found a ship able to sail to Tar cantun before the castle but it had cost somewhat, Thomas's fingers were now berift of rings and they had to sell the horses. It should be understood that the crew and ship had come cheap, finding enough restorative potions to maintain a weather mage's wind control spell for hours on end? That had bitten into their stipend quite a bit, they had used up Thomas' allowance to pay for the town's entire supply and an alchemist willing to brew in-transit. Thomas was considering asking Gilford to hold off the crew while he throttled the alchemist if he didn't deliver, the mage too.

"I have a right mind to clip you around the ear."

"Simmer down gil, think of something happy, like the splashing of the water or a formation of geese, like that one."

A formation of about twelve birds was flying towards Birun from the north, they seemed to have dispensed the V formation for a ragged H.

"...Uh, Gil, do geese usually have arms?"

"..."

"I'll take that as a no. CAPTAIN! WE'VE GOTTA LEAVE, NOW!"

A scuffy head popped over the side of the ship. "What the hell are you shouting about?!"

"Captain, you see those birds?"

"Those geese? Yeah I see them. What's your point?"

"Well those 'geese' just burned through the Capital city, I think it might be a good idea to get out of here before they get here."

"What those things? You've got to be fu-"

The Captain's curse was cut short as an Unholy Roar (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBD63LTJDOA&feature=related) filled the air sending the nearby seagulls into a frenzy.

"...LADS GET ABOARD QUICK!"

TheLastDays

06-25-2011, 08:03

As soon as the ship's crew realized what was coming their way they were running around in a frenzy, shouting and trying to get the boat ready to leave, while suddenly through all the noise they could hear... laughter? A shrill laughter was coming from the approaching formation and sent a chill down the sailors' spine. About twenty demons were now spreading their formation to swarm the ship from both sides, some of them beginning to take out the sails, one was setting fire to the aft deck, using a torch that was set up there. Though the crew fought back where they could they were no soldiers and stood little chance against these beasts and soon the deck was filled with dying men while others were barely holding up against the crazed attackers.

One of the demons was still flying circles above the ship, seemingly carrying someone but suddenly it let go and a figure was falling towards the ship, actually right towards the captain. The greenish blue skin of the smaller demon was shining red from the fire beneath him as his body was diving towards the captain, face first, his sword pointing forward and still he was maniacally laughing! The captain had the presence of mind to grab a lance from a nearby arms stand and took a defensive position against the approaching creature but the demon, still laughing, just before hitting the spearpoint, vanished into thin air and a moment later the captain's face turned into a pained expression as the bloody tip of a blade was emerging from his chest. Retreating his sword Enego appeared behind the captain's lifeless body, now dropping to the deck and the demon gave one last maniacal chuckle before hissing towards Thomas: "Where? Where isss the princessss?" Thomas quickly looked for Gilford but he could see the knight engaged in a fight with two of the larger demons so he would obviously not be of great help against this fast approaching enemy.

***

Alain and his group were driving the horses hard all morning in hope of cutting the the army on it's approach of Leon, reaching the city before them. The shores of Lake Birun quickly vanished from sight behind them and Glungurd learned his first horse-riding lessons the hard way as he had to work hard not to fall off the galloping horse. The countryside was flying by as their were making their way towards the road that would lead them to Leon.

Reaching the major fork that connected the roads towards Leon, Birun and Lassara the captaing gave a sign for the group to halt and the horses, sweating from the exhausting ride all morning, stopped as Alain scanned the area. A few moments later a man in simple farmer's apparel emerged from behind some bushes and approached the group while Alain dismounted and walked towards him. They met just out of hearing distance and a few minutes later the captain returned while the man started down the road towards Birun.

"Who is that and what was that about?" the princess inquired and Alain smiled before mounting his horse again.

He then replied: "I have issued the orders yesterday, right before we left the capital. The royal guard is going into hiding, this was one of my officers and he was watching the road for us." He sighed and looked towards Leon for a moment, before turning his horse. "We have lost the race with the army. It has passed the fork about an hour ago so there's no need to ruin the horses. We should carry on slowly. I don't want to run into the army. Leon will fall and in fact I hope the town surrenders quickly so there's as little damage done as possible. I'm guessing most of the army won't stay there but continue south so we'll just have to hope that we can enter the town after that and still talk to your old instructor, your Maj... Liana." With that he turned his horse and the group settled into a walk, not wanting to tire the horses, now that it wasn't necessary anymore.

While they hadn't talked all morning, seeing as they had to concentrate on riding at a very fast pace, the princess now turned her head and looked at the Odglok who seemed at least a little frightened by the speed they had been taking to all morning. Gliggling, the princess asked: "So, Glungurd, how did you like your first hours of riding a horse?"

After a short while Alain left the lead to Florin and let his horse fall behind until he was riding next to Indrax. After a few minutes of silence the captain decided to address the matter directly while they were far enough behind so no one else could hear them talk. "Drax, I don't think you've been completely honest with me. You've told me that you've been suspected to be the murderer of Lord Carus only because you found him but there's something troubling you. We're going to Leon now and we should know if there's more to this story than what you have already told me."

Greyblades

06-25-2011, 13:58

"She's in the hold, Please dont kill us!"

Enego burst out laughing, "HEHEHEHEHE, Run little cowardsss and maybe you'll live to sssee another dawn!" and with a crack he vanished.

The scene was pandemonium, the ship had been disabled, the main mast had lost all its sheets and the foremast was smashed, the Bridge was ablaze and sailors were scrambling from the lower decks. Some of demons had landed onto the main deck and were attacking anything that moved, the rest were hovering overhead or pearched on the remaoning masts like gruesome mockerys of crows. Several of the loading dockmen had jumped overboard and some had ran down the dock into the city, the sailors on the other hand had fared better and had started fighting off the demon's with hatchets, swords, crossbows, longbows and the odd harpoon.

Thomas paused to pour the sanctuary potion over his head before runing across the burning ship's deck to Gilford who was having trouble with a particually ticked off demon that was grappling with him for control of Gilford's Greatsword, its friend had been knocked overboard and was now floating face down. Taking advantage of the demon's distraction Thomas circled behind the beast, "Gilford get away!". Obeying Gilford let go of the sword and stumbled back, Thomas drew Essa and plunged the holy sword into the demon's back. It screamed and started to flail, electricity coursed through its body as it spasimed and little bolts jumped between it's claws. Thomas wrenched his sword free and the demon collapsed onto a luckless sailor and lay twitching. Gilford walked over, pulled his sword from the demon's claws and with a flourish decapitated the beast.

Thomas grinned at the knight "They dont seem so tough."

Gilford shrugged "Well if they're not so tough maybe you can kill them before this ship burns completely"

"I think that problem's being solved for us."

Gilford turned to look at where Thomas staring and saw the Weather Wizard they had hired an hour ago standing on the for-castle, one arm outsretched with a staff in hand the other pouring a potion over his head. One of the potion crates was lying open at his feet.

"How do you like this you imp pansys!" The wizard cried and with that a great black cloud appeared over the entire dock pouring rain and lighting onto the ship, putting out the fires quickly and frying some of the demons.

"Wahey! I havent felt this good in years!" cried the wizard "Taste Bugsby's Crushing hand you spineless squits!"

Thomas turned to Gilford, "He seems to have things under control."

"Money well spent?"

A demon swooped down from the sky and made to strafe at thomas but was stopped an inch from taking his head off by a great celestial hand that proceeded to squash the demon into literal paste.

"Oh yes. Pity about the ship."

"What happened to that man with the winged helmet you were fighting?"

"I'm not sure I think he might be below deck searching through the crates."

As if on cue Enego appeared on deck with a Crack.

"Oh, there he is."

shlin28

06-25-2011, 19:27

Should Drax tell the Captain more? Could he tell more yet emerge with his head still intact?

I doubt that.

What was the truth anyway? Did he really murder his liege? If he did, surely he would have remembered it, yet all he could recall was him walking calmly into the armoury and seeing the slain lord on the floor.

The truth is in front of your eyes, yet you still cannot see it.

Then again, he does have a Voice in his head; who knows what it could do?

Self-preservation however came to the fore again – he hasn’t told me anyone of his secret before and it had worked out reasonably well for him (relatively speaking). The one time it had been revealed forcibly had led to the immolation of a dozen brigands, a fate he does not wish upon the noble Captain nor the lovely Princess.

“No, Alain. What I said before is correct – I had only… stumbled upon Lord Carus’ body. Anyway, can you even imagine me duelling a trained noble and besting him?” Drax smiled nervously.

Stumbled? Is this how Surfacers describe the murder of a noble?

One of these days, he will find a way to get rid of the Voice.

TheLastDays

06-25-2011, 23:28

The captain's eyes narrowed while he listened to the boy's answer and he waited for a while before he spoke again.

"Listen, I know you're not telling me everything. What you're hiding might not concern the death of your liege but you certainly aren't absolutely honest with me. Now, I understand that you may have reservations but honestly the list of people I have to keep under close watch is growing longer..." He sighed, though still smiling: "You don't hve to be afraid of us, you know?"

***

Enego was circling Thomas now, like a wild cat, ready for the jump as he suddenly whistled and two of the demons perched atop the main mast dove down to attack Gilford while Enego flexed his thigh muscles and jumped at the squire. His sword was following a crescent, coming at Thomas from his left side when suddenly it hit... nothing... The strike stopped in mid air and the demon was caught off guard for a moment, though still mindful enough to quickly teleport back a few meters. "Now.. where isss she?"

Greyblades

06-26-2011, 00:06

Thomas looked around for one of the potion boxes , spotting one to the left he tensed to run.

"Have you tried the captain's cabin?"

A look of irritation passed over Enego's face, or what little could be seen of it, and with a Crack he dissapeared for a second time. Realising that the dark invader would not be as inclined to search this time Thomas bolted for the box, dived upon it, wrenched open the lid and extracted one of the bottles just in time for an enraged Enego to return with his signature crack. With barely a second before Enego had realised Thomas had moved the lid was off and potion was streaming down Thomas' face. He felt quite odd, like all the aches and pains had gone and he felt so fresh that he might as well have woken up afew minutes ago from a restful sleep. No wonder the elderly wizard was so energetic, heck he was practically vibrating.

Thomas jumped up, flexed the hand holding Essa and lunged at Enego. Surprised at the boy's new turn of speed, Enego swung at the approaching youth with a horizontal swing, but Thomas with his newfound agility, simply rolled under the blade's arc and upon regaining his footing swiped off one of enego's hands. With another crack Enego vanished to appear on the other side of the deck, cradling his newfound stump which, to the horror of the surrviving sailors, within seconds had started to sprout new fingers.

"I don't suppose I could persude you to search the bilge?"

Seon

06-26-2011, 07:11

"But she's a nice spidew!" said Alaria. "She even let me ride around on her back. Oh look!"

She rushed towards a rustling bush. Morangul swore and ordered her to get away from the bush, but it was too late. Red eyes glinted from the bushes and from it leapt out...

A giant 2 feet long red spider. Alaria hugged the giant arachnid and shielded from Morangul. "See, isn't it cute?" Alaria said.

"No," Morangul replied. "Now drop the spider."

"Why?" Alaria said. Frijyk sighed. "Was that the mother?"

"No," Alaria said. "She's right behind you."

Frijyk whirled around just in time to see a giant silhouette disappear into the dark forest. Hissing noises suddenly enveloped the entire forest. "Oh," she said. "She says that she knows who killed her babies now."

Frijyk gulped.

"She says that he was an elven Druid!" Frijyk let out a sigh of relief. "and... Oh dear, Frijyk!"

"Alright, that's it," Morangul said. "Where is it?"

"Umm..." Frijyk said. Red eyes were appearing everywhere around them now.

"Don't worry," Alaria said. "She said that she would forgive the blue-skinned man if he did something for her."

"What is it?" Frijyk hurriedly asked.

"Rescue more of her babies! She says that some men in Leon took them away to harvest their silk. She wants them back."

Death is yonder

06-26-2011, 07:24

At the suggestion that he was subservient to Alyssa, Guantano rolled his eyes, but did nothing obvious to avoid blowing their cover.

Maintaining the facade, he adopted his pseudo-subservient tone again, the words rolling off his tongue with expertly concealed sarcasm. "Milady, I last encountered the man under a half-score years ago, but his most peculiar appearance and mannerisms struck my mind. His name is Gunther, and for the week that I was here, daily he wore his speckled blue robes with a star in the center, a flat green cap drooping over his forehead, yellow boots which he claimed helped him to think, and holding his red oak walking stick which he used to randomly prod any passer-by at odd intervals before asking them a riddle, before walking off deep in thought." Chuckling, he continued, "Definitely if he's still around most would know him lady."

Diamondeye

06-26-2011, 12:27

Alyssa turned to the guards with a polite attitude, not letting her annoyance shine through. "So, yes, the esteemed elder, Scholar Gunther the prodding Sphinx. I am sure you know him, or can find him, Captain."
The rider nodded and sent one of his men running back to the gate, disappearing within to find the old man Guantano had described. They waited for quite a while unless an old, but healthy man was escorted out of the gate towards them. He was leaning on a red oak stave, and was wearing lemon-yellow boots. Guantano nodded as the man approached, slowly, "Yep, that's him alright."
When the old man finally got to their little group, the Captain had lost most of his patience. "Master Gunther, do you know this man?", he gestured towards Guantano.
The elder prodded the captain with his stave. "Does one really know anybody, Captain?"
The Captain shook his head. "You know what I mean! What can you tell me of this man?"
The old sage narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to one side. "Ah! If it isn't Guantano..."

((OOC: DiY, you decide what the old man tells about you, then :beam:))

TheLastDays

06-26-2011, 13:47

Growing a new hand seemed to be an incredibly amusing thing in the Void or at least for someone like Enego as the demon had reverted to his manicacal laughter as he was watching his new fingers forming out of the bloody stump on his left arm. Once the process was finished he flexed his claws as if testing their functionability before returning his gaze to Thomas, eyes narrowing in on his target.

"You could persssuade me to search your brain once I have dislodged your head from your shouldersss" the creature hissed and closed the distance between the two of them with incredible speed and not underestimating his opponent any more. The strange blade was coming down hard and fast from different angles and for a few strikes all Thomas could do was to defend himseld against the fierce attack, more than once being saved by the spell of his sanctuary potion. All of a sudden Enego jumped the ship's reling and used it to lift himself above Thomas, striking down while jumpin over the squire's left side and then vanished in mid air again, reappearing on the nobleman's other side where he finished his blow before Thomas could turn around completely, the cursed blade cutting his arm, leaving not much more than a scratch, hurting but not dangerous in and of itself.

The demon licked the blood off his blade. "Lassst Chance. Where isss she?"

Death is yonder

06-26-2011, 14:38

As the iron gate finally creaked open to admit them, Guantano paused for a moment, startled by the appearance of Leon. Gone was the day when he and the lads had stopped by in a vibrant city with plenty of hustle and bustle, exuding an aura of excitement. Swinging off the horse, his brown leather boots landing with a soft thud on the paved road, Guantano saw a Leon where the fountain and the market place was quiet, where people anxiously glanced towards the gates to see who had just arrived, stall areas lay empty, most of them packed up.

"So, what brings you to Leon Guantano? Gunther asked, his stick jabbing Guantano's side. As you can see, our impending guests has created quite the change in the city." He mentioned with a slightly gloomy look on his eyes. Yet just as quickly had that sad look materialized it was swiftly replaced by a cheeky grin and a twinkle in the wizened man's eyes. "Have you come to challenge me to a rematch Guantano? I'd wager I can still outdo you." Laughing, Guantano replied, "I wish old man, I wish." His tone growing serious as he finally broached the subject, Guantano stopped and turned around, pointing towards something in the sky very far away, slightly bigger than a copper piece. "We're here to ask you about that." Resuming his walking, and glancing quickly at Meghghan to make sure that she followed, Guantano tugged lightly on the courser's reins. "And the army too I'd imagine." Sighing, Gunther continued, leaning on his stick even as he did so. "Well Guantano, that's a question I've been wondering about too," said Gunther, "let me take you back to my study. Harkin should be preparing the mid-day meal and I've just bought a fresh casket of honey-ale from a merchant who was desperately trying to clear stock before he left Leon, our favorite!" Clearing his throat, Gunther asked, "and just who is 'we' anyway? You haven't introduced me to your lady friends." With a speed uncharacteristic of the wizened man, he shifted to Alyssa's side and with his free hand, he held her right hand and asked with a toothless grin. "To whom do I owe this pleasure?"

Greyblades

06-26-2011, 15:33

"Try the brig, WIZARD! I COULD USE A LITTLE HELP HERE!"

The mage looked down from his position without pausing his casting, "Ooh is that their leader? Well I've got something special in mind for that little trollop! Bugsby's Crushing hand!"

A giant celestial hand appeared behind Enego and grasped him bodily in an iron grip asnd started to squeeze but before it could kill him Enego vanished again with a crack, appearing in front of thomas and proceeding to trade blows with the youth.

The wizard's brow creased. "Teleportation eh? I think I something for that." He pointed his staff at the fighting two and took aim. "Dimentional Anchor!" A green bolt lept from the staff towards Enego who took it in the gut. Confused, Enego slashed towards his left and attemted to teleport mid swing.

Crack

...

Crack

....

Crack, Crack

......

Crack, Crack, Crack

Nothing, with each crack Enego stayed exactly where he was, getting progressivly more and more annoyed.

"Meddlesssome mage!" Enego whistled again and two more demons swooped down at the mage, diverting his attention.

Grinning Thomas, siezing the initiative, lunged again and stabbed Enego in the left thigh grabbing and holding Enego's sword arm in place with his free hand. Enego cried with pain but Thomas kept going, switching his grip to reverse he dragged Essa through the leg, slicing through before coming free and embedding the sword into Enego's other leg. Ignoring the pain and the electricity coursing through his body Enego puilled his free arm back and punched Thomas straight in the forehead sending him sprawling before falling on his back himself clutching at his cut up thighs.

Diamondeye

06-26-2011, 15:42

Alyssa smiled courteously at the old man. "I am Lady Alyssa Fangstrike, Sir. I, too, am very interested in... Whatever is happening, which is why I am keeping company with Guantano here," she padded Guantano's shoulder, "whom I now see spoke truly when he said that he knew a wise man who could tell us more. I am glad to find you in good health, Sir." She let the man's hand drop and gestured towards Meghghan. "This woman calls herself Meghghan. She is... hard to talk to, but we picked her up on our way here nonetheless. Guantano seems to have a weak point when it comes to women in danger."
She laughed with the old man. Guantano found himself staring at her, dumbstruck for a moment. So she does know how to be courteous when it's needed, he thought.
Whatever the reason, he was glad as long as Lady Fangstrike kept her venom to herself...

Chaotix

06-26-2011, 16:01

Frijyk wondered how he had got himself into this mess. Things seemed to be looking so well the night before, but now he was in a situation where making the right choice could mean everything. He looked around himself, his eyes shifting first to the wizened old Morangul, then to the legion of red eyes staring at them, and finally to the beaming, hopeful Alaria. He would hate to dampen that crazy girl's spirits, but he was not about to go wasting his time risking his life for some monsters that tried to kill him. At the same time, trying to challenge them here would be unadvisable; there were simply too many, and he would have to deal with Alaria protesting as well. He looked at Morangul flatly.

"Are-we really considering this? Go back to Leon to-save a bunch of monsters?"

Before Morangul could answer, he laid out his case.

"I-am not saying we should-fight them now. But if we get-back on that road, even if we go to-Leon, I have no-intention of rescuing more of those... things. Besides, did-not you say Vayne has an army of demons? We should be-going south, not north."

Alaria made a childish, sour face. Both looked to Morangul to cast his own vote and resolve this dispute before they were all eaten by spiders.

TheLastDays

06-26-2011, 16:35

The demon was past the point of annoyance now although one could easily misread this as he was laughing again, like a lunatic he was giggling while he lifted himseld up, the muscles and sinews in his legs reconnecting and rebuilding themselves already.

Crack

...

His teleporting ability was obviously still under this mage's influence as the demon was still standing there, eyeing Thomas who was slowly coming back to his senses. "Now it'sss time for thisss to end." Enego pointed out his left index finger and with his long claw he scratched symbols into the planks underneath him. A soft giggle escaped him when he lifted his eyes up again and was viewing Thomas, standin up again, ready to kill this beast once and for all when suddenly another Enego appeared right next to the demon. A third one appeared on his other side and before long Thomas was facing six of the sort, all laughing, obviously amused, especially after back-right-corner Enego stepped on the toes of the one beside him and earned himself a retaliatory slap to the helmet.

"Now what?", they all exclaimed with one voice and immediately circled the squire. Now, they might have been a little careless and overly depending on their numbers as two of them were quickly pierced by Essa and immediately vanished but the remaining four were attacking in a more coordinated way now, leaving Thomas almost no time to breathe in between defending himself against their deadly blows. One of the swords brushed by his face at a dangerously close distance and soon the squire was looking for Gilford or his mage again.

Secura

06-26-2011, 17:55

If the lack of sleep or the persistence of the fey's magic were affecting Tawariell, the elf showed no sign of it to her feline companion; little time had passed since the pair had been roused by the dawn chorus and resumed their journey, but they had made the sort of progress that may take others the best part of the day to achieve.

It was thanks to this blistering pace that Tah and Raina now stood at the edges of the forest, mere paces away from where they had made camp a few days ago; the elf noted several animal prints in the soil, suggesting that a small group of animals had passed through this area recently, probably scavengers hedging their bets on an abandoned meal or two. Tah shook her head sorrowfully as her gaze turned to the long-extinguished remains of her campfire; it was standard practice for her kind that if they took something from nature, they would return the favour, yet she had forgotten to leave some food behind as thanks for the firewood. She recalled being distracted by the soil's plea for help, though she refrained from cursing the lich on this occasion.

Raina ensured that Tah's attention returned to the task at hand, nudging her head against the elf's legs; nodding in agreement, Tawariell continued towards the road, though she was soon stopped in her tracks when she heard her companion growling at her side.

An eyebrow raised, the elf turned to see that Raina had become statuesque, her ears rigid and eyes narrowed as she silently scanned her surroundings; needing no encouragement, Tah sank to her knees and lowered an ear to the ground... hundreds of thudding footfalls responded in time with one another, steadily drawing closer and closer, louder and louder.

Cursing in her mother tongue, Tawariell climbed to her feet and scanned northwards; her gaze initially fell upon the town of Leon, but in the distance, a few miles beyond the settlement's walls, she could see it... a blackened mass hurtling across the horizon, like flies crawling over a carcass.

An army was on it's way to Leon; the truth in Morangul's words rang in Tah's ears and she was at a loss for her own.

Greyblades

06-26-2011, 18:23

The blows kept coming, even with a potion's effects he could only last so long. He retreated back a step and swung as one of the clones lunged at him, cutting it in half. It disintergrated before hitting the ground.

'If it's this easy to kill the clones' Thomas thought, 'I guess they arent as strong as the original.'

'They arent as skilled either' he thought as another clone rushed to take the last one's place only to be skerwered as it's overhead swing came down a second too slow.

The last clone's charge was easily side stepped and resulted in it falling over the rail and into the dock water. 'Or as smart if that's even possible'.

The real Enego seemed to be posibly seething at this point but he didnt have much time to sulk as a severely ticked off Gilford came charging in battering at Enego's defenses with his Greatsword. Enego easily dodged Gilford's somewhat slow swings and leaped backwards whistling for more demons, but this time before they could land the two demons were litterally plucked out of the air by two great disembodied hands and plunged screaming into the water. Thomas looked on as Enego found himself in the middle of a semicircle with the ship rail behind him and a cresent composed of an annoyed knight, a wizard and the remaining members of the crew.

shlin28

06-26-2011, 19:52

“Afraid of you? I am terrified out of my wits by demons and flying citadels, you and your guards are quite possibly the only people stopping me from screaming incoherently and running around in rags. Given the circumstances, you are probably the only person I can talk frankly with, but I genuinely have nothing else to tell you.”

They are the ones who should be afraid.

Drax paused, before continuing: “Anyway, shouldn’t you question the mercenary too? He most likely has actually murdered someone in cold blood.”

TheLastDays

06-26-2011, 22:37

The captain had to laugh at Drax' response and nodded as he was talking about Rufus. "Oh he sure has and that's one of the reasons you should be able to sleep at night, knowing that right now he will most probably rather use these skills against the demons than against you. The thing is, I am aware of what he is and I have a good idea of what he is capable of doing, both of his skills and his morality, what makes me nervous is uncertainty not danger. And you, Drax, you are the one I'm not so sure about." He smiled again. "Don't take it personally, I don't mean to insult you, I'm just telling you why it's you that is being questioned and not Rufus. In fact I'm happy to have both of you along."

seireikhaan

06-27-2011, 04:01

Kyran cursed himself again for letting the encounter with the lich slow him in the morn. He'd slung himself through the canopy for the better part of a couple hours, but was not sure he was making progress in his pursuit. This was complicated by the increasingly hilly terrain which was stunting the growth of the flora, which encouraged Kyran to abandon his catapulting in favor of a safer, but more plodding trek. It was to the point where he was questioning whether he was on a goose chase- the woman likely knew terrain well, and traveled quickly, even if stuck on foot. Kyran stopped for a second, and clambered his way to the tallest tree in the area, and lifted himself up once more. Gazing east, he could see the surprisingly abrupt end to the forest. 'A bit too abrupt,' Kyran thought to himself. That meant a human settlement was likely nearby. He was all to aware of their tendency to cannibalize the world around them without care. It also meant his chase was close to an end. There was no way he was going to find that woman out of the forest.

With a sigh, Kyran lowered himself into the shade of the canopy, and set off for the eastern edge of the forest. Hopefully he would find some hint of her location, or her direction. Something concrete. He trotted through the boughs as briskly he could.

About twenty minutes later, he found himself hunched over on a sturdy limb, a scowl adorning his face. The forest had officially ended, and in his consternation, Kyran decided to spend a good few minutes glaring at the human road, just so it knew his displeasure. It was only after a few minutes of this fruitless endeavor that Kyran noticed something. Or, more accurately, a lack of something. For a road, it was extraordinarily quiet. It was not even that there were not humans traversing it. Kyran figured a good number of fauna would frequent the area to sneak food from passerby travelers. The quiet was almost eery. Where were the birds? 'Surely,' Kyran thought to himself, 'Even humans would not do this. They might burn and destroy, but theses trees here are intact, yet life has abandoned them. Humans cannot do this, right?'

Kyran's musing was interrupted when a faint sound from the north broke the silence. His eyes lit up. A voice! Female! Angry! Had his journey not been fruitless after all? With reckless abandon, Kyran leaped to the nearest tree and slung himself into the boughs again. His eyes stayed plastered to the ground, desperate for the source of the lone voice in this bit of forest. Unfortunately, Kyran lost himself so in scanning the ground that he lost track of the actual forest he was traversing. His grip inadvertently slipped, and he tumbled downward. Kyran's scrambled mind managed to move the nearest tree to lend a low-hanging branch at the last second. Kyran grabbed for it, but momentum was unkind, and the branch snapped after a second's give. Kyran managed to save some bit of grace with a tumble as he fell on his side to the grassy turf. Embarrassed, but otherwise unharmed, he stepped out to the road, and gazed north. Haha! There she was, gazing north. The feline had noticed his awkward entrance, so Kyran stayed where he was. He wondered how to address her. She seemed preoccupied gazing northward at the town. The last time he'd seen her, she seemed to prefer an elven tongue he was not familiar with. Still... perhaps she knew some of his clan's. He started to give it a try.

"Aaye. Oio naa el... " Kyran's greeting drifted off when he saw what she saw. It was not the town, as he'd thought, but some amorphous black mob some distance behind it. It seethed like a living organism all its own. Well, at least he had a decent idea why the forest was so quiet. Now, for the woman... it was at least polite to finish his greeting. "Oio naa elealla alasse'," he offered. He bowed his head for a response.

Secura

06-27-2011, 08:00

The elf's approach had not gone entirely unnoticed by Tawariell, his less-than-graceful landing having registered faintly on a mind that otherwise remained fixed firmly on the horizon; as he spoke, in an elven dialect that she was familiar with only at a conversational level, she found herself wondering why he had followed her, and for how long... but this was no time for questions.

Without turning to face Kyran, Tah raised her left arm into the air and clenched her hand into a tightly-closed fist; it was an old hunting command, signalling for one's partner to stop, and while she was unsure if he knew of it's meaning, she hoped that he understood the reason for it's use.

"Valeh", she whispered in his language, offering a curt nod of her head in acknowledgement of his own politeness; she wasn't particularly certain whether the word was a greeting, as she intended, or actually a slur against one's parentage, but it was one of the few phrases she could recall at that moment.

seireikhaan

06-27-2011, 14:20

Kyran stayed his place as the woman raised an arm. The sign, he recognized from the days of his youth, which told him to halt. The phrase the woman uttered in response, however, was a touch strange, which caused him to raise an eyebrow. Kyran was unsure why she would issue a formal greeting to one's parent. He was quite sure he'd not fathered any children. 'Perhaps a language issue, maybe she's not spoken it in a long while,' he thought. 'Still, better than nothing, I suppose. Might as well get down to business' Kyran offered a quick prayer to L'athan, that the woman would understand his request for instruction.

"Amin sinta thaliolle e dagor. Ahmin irna tuall ruthaerea."

Secura

06-27-2011, 18:48

Tawariell did not turn to face Kyran as he continued to speak to her, which was probably a good thing as she would have failed to hide the confused visage she was currently sporting; he had stated that he was aware of her battle prowess, that much was clear to her, but she could have sworn that this was followed up with an off-colour remark about her bottom... she momentarily clenched her fist as to strike the man in her indignation, but relented as her attention returned to the horizon.

After what seemed like an eternal silence, but actually amounted to a minute or so, Tah responded to his comments in Lammirna, hoping to impress the difficulty of understanding his tongue by foisting her own upon him... it was a test of sorts, a measure of how willing the elf would be to break down the barrier and establish a common ground.

"Balun, il vena tor'ah malah nei."

thefluffyone93

06-27-2011, 19:20

Morangul stood there, Frijyk on one side of him, and Alaria on the other.
He still wanted to find out more information on Vayne, and the spider mother
gave him an easy excuse.

"Unless you want to be slowly eaten alive by hundreds of spiderlings, I suggest we head to Leon."
Morangul watched as Alaria's face brightened up, while at the same time Frijyk's face fell.
"Don't worry, we will only be there for a short while," Morangul said to Frijyk,
"Besides, I would rather have these spiders as allies, not enemies."
With that, Morangul looked over to Alaria, who was telling the mother spider the good news.

"Lets just hope Leon isn't overrun with demons....."

TheLastDays

06-27-2011, 23:20

Suddenly there was a stir among the spiders surrounding the group, even the huge mother was feeling something and it seemed like she was trembling. The fear in their minds surely overwhelmed Alaria as she stopped talking to the spider and the next moment the arachnids were gone even more quickly as they had appeared. The lich and Fryjik looked at each other, clueless at first as to what would have stirred up such a reaction.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Distant, yet clearly to be heard, these sounds had to be what had driven the spiders away. The departure of the eight-legged creatures wasn't exactly an unwelcome turn of events, except for the fey maybe, but hearing what was coming their way the group now feared they might have been better off with the spiders.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

It was definitely drawing closer and sounded like the monotonous beat of a wardrum, spurring on the oarsmen of a galley. The trees around them seemed to tremble now, as if the forest was aching and in pain. Something completely unnatural was coming through these woods, even more unnatural than Morangul.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

It was close now. They could hear the cracking and bursting of wood among the monotonous beats now and with every muted stomping sound the ground was shaking. Footsteps... They finally realized what they were hearing and a few moments later it broke through the trees and right into the clearing in front of them. It was a moving rock or rather mountain, towering at easily twenty feet the creature was crashing through the trees, the ones in it's way bursting as if their were made of parchment. The giant's left arm was covered in plate, the shoulder armored and it was wearing some kind of spiked helmet which gave it an even more frightening look.

Fortunately it didn't seem to notice them as it continued without ever stopping or slowing down but then they saw the red form upon the giant's shoulder. Standing atop the beast, with one hand holding on to one of the helmet's spikes was an incredibly skinned... thing... almost completely covered in a strange red armor. it's body being the complete opposite of the muscle-mountain, yet it's presence was more frightening than the giant could have ever been. It's gaze went over them, one by one and it halted on Morangul, looking at him closely as it's 'vehicle' was passing by. The lich felt these eyes percing through him as if his deepest soul had been exposed to the demon. Right when he thought he couldn't take it anymore and was close to throwing a fireball or something similar at the strange couple, these eyes finally turned away, the creature looking onwards again as the giant crashed into the treeline, leaving a path behind on it's way southwest.

Chaotix

06-28-2011, 01:19

As the mammoth figure and its rider passed by, a chill ran down Frijyk's spine. Which was unnatural, because Frijyk was rarely, if ever, chilly.

Even as his mind tried to fathom what the two beings could be, in his heart he knew all two well. These were the demons. The same ones who had slaughtered his people a thousand years ago and driven them into the mountains, hiding in fear. The same demons whom Frijyk swore to himself to destroy, if they still existed, to secure the future of his tribe. Frijyk grasped the shimmering, glittering sapphire that hung around his neck, and remembered the shame he had caused his family to endure. If he returned to the settlement now, with demons still roaming the land- if he allowed these beings to retake the lands the Lassarans drove them from- it would prove, in his people's eyes, that he was a fool after all, to hope to leave the mountains.

Besides, the smaller demon had looked right at him, no doubt marking his unusual skin tone. If word got out to Vayne that the Borians were still around... his people would be in grave danger.

Frijyk's road was crystal clear. His path had been built on uprooted trees. He looked back at Morangul and Alaria.

"I'm following them. I would-prefer it if you came with me. But if you must-go to Leon, then we must-part ways."

His two companions looked unsure for a moment. They no doubt believed he was somewhere between determined and insane.

"I can-not wait. There is-no time to waste. Follow me if you-wish."

The road that had been so clearly laid out for him beckoned. Frijyk turned away from his new friends and began walking briskly toward the southwest. Even though the pair of dark creatures were long-gone, he would be guided by the unbroken chain of uprooted trees. Frijyk hadn't the faintest idea of how he would overcome a massive demon like that. But with a clear goal in mind, he was able to set his mind to work. He was no longer wandering, but traveling with a purpose.

thefluffyone93

06-28-2011, 02:38

Morangul watched the lumbering giant slowly make its way to whatever destination it had.
He recalled the power of the demon riding the golem.
That has to be one of Vayne's associates....

"I shall go with you. It is time we learn what this is all about."

shlin28

06-28-2011, 12:24

Drax managed a weak smile: "That's comforting. Though if you still don't trust me, you can keep me in the middle of the column, surrounded by your men. I doubt even a thrice-blessed mage-king can escape from twenty Royal Guards." It would also be the safest place when there is an ambush, but the Captain no doubt knew that Drax was a craven coward already anyway. As an afterthought, he added: "When we reach Leon, it may be a good idea for me to... stay outside of the city. Lord Nias probably has enough men loyal enough to try take me even after his city surrenders. He always was a popular one with the commoners."

Death is yonder

06-28-2011, 14:26

As they crossed the street, Guantano craned his neck to take a look at a small building that lay inconspicuously off the main path, its darkly colored wood blending into its shaded environment. Good, its still open, thought Guantano. Continuing on the path, the group turned a few corners before eventually arriving at a brick house, enclosed in a small compound with green walls that matched the well-kept grass in the garden. There to welcome them was a thin tall man, middle-aged, who opened the bright purple gates for them. "Greetings young master and mistresses, welcome to The Enclosure of Knowledge, if it pleases you I shall lead your horses to the stables at the back where they shall be watered and taken care of," said the man, who bowed slightly. Without hesitation Guantano brought up the reins to the man, who led the coursers to a small sheltered shack by the side.

Strolling towards the door, Guantano reached forward his hand and grasped the handle, turning it, only to have it remain shut. Chuckling, Gunther walked up and said, "silly me, I've forgotten to teach you how to open a door." Brandishing his stick, Gunther raised it high, before rapping a small carved crevice at the top of the door thrice, before he brought his stick back down. "Open says me!" He cried in a booming voice. To the surprise of the group, the door swung open by itself and Guantano's eyebrow rose, briefly making eye contact with Alyssa who was likewise surprised by such odd happenings. Seeing their expressions, Gunther turned and a broad smile was on his face. "Nifty huh? I had a mage enchant it for 20 silvers only!" Whistling a merry tune, he spun around and continued walking into the house.

As the group walked into the hallway, the door shut itself abruptly and Gunther changed into another pair of lemon-yellow boots before waving them into another room. "Harkin will be back from the stables soon enough, and I can already smell the egg on the boil and the bacon sizzling on the grill." Looking at Guantano who remained at the doorway, Gunther spotted the expression on his face and sighed, waving his stick towards him. "Go then, run along, don't take too long." Grateful for Gunther's tacit understanding despite the years, Guantano tried the handle, and thankfully it opened normally from the inside. Racing down the footpath back to the streets, Guantano hoped that his hunch was right.

---------------------------------

Pushing past the door of the Leaky Tap, Guantano pushed his way through a group of people who were by the door, spying just what he was looking for, and he walked swiftly across the room and sat down at an occupied table. Facing him, was a man roughly his age, unshaven, his hand rubbing across his stubble-laden chin as he watched Guantano sit down. "Well I'll be, its Guantano you thrice da-:daisy: lucky son of a :daisy:, I haven't seen you in years, what brings you to Leon? Planning on going 'conquering' again?" The man said, winking at him. Laughing, Guantano replied, "its good to see you too Loren." Even as Loren shifted a full mug of ale in front of him, Guantano raised his hand, and said, "Its fine, I won't be here for long, I've just got to settle something." Sipping from his mug, Loren looked forward into Guantano's eyes and asked, "So what be it this time?" Breaking the stare, Guantano ruffled a hand through his dark hair, and began apprehensively. "Well... there's this girl an-" Guffawing, Loren broke in and with an amused tone, said, "I knew it! Brunette I'm guessing?" Raising a hand to silence the man, Guantano continued in a serious tone, unaffected by the joke. "You of all people know my history Loren, and this girl... well, she brought back memories. She's young, sixteen only if I guessed correctly, and seems to have some, issues."

Folding his hands, Loren eyed him and said, "What do you need Guantano? My sword always stands ready for you." His expression dead serious, Guantano stared back into Loren's eyes. "I want you to watch her Loren, a young girl named Meghghan, she's at Gunther's place with me and another before we'll head out. We'll have to part ways with her, and I want somebody I can trust watching her." Reaching out from his tunic and loosening a small pouch, Guantano placed it on the table, a soft jingle accompanying the movement. "Something to help out." Standing up, Loren reached forth his right hand, his hand touching the small pouch of coin, before he pushed it back towards Guantano. "What is my coin for if not for friends?" Standing up too, Guantano got out of the table, re-pocketing the pouch, before he tightly clasped Loren's hand and pulled him close. Whispering into his ear, Guantano said, his voice wavering even as he did so. "Thank you Loren. Keep her safe, keep her well, watch over her." Stepping back and releasing the grasp, Guantano said solemnly, "I will not forget this. I hope to repay you back some day." Placing his hand on Loren's shoulder, Guantano continued. "We leave in about an hour's time from the house, you'll be able to get a good look at her then." Tightening his grip, Guantano said, full of emotion. "Goodbye Loren." Walking away swiftly, Guantano did not hear Loren muttering under his breath, his mind fresh with the events of the day when the young foolhardy Guantano had charged in and miraculously saved the small band of surrounded mercenaries, escaping unharmed. "You already have, old friend, you already have."

---------------------------------

Reaching the gate again, Guantano stood waiting for a moment, before Harkin opened the gate. "Welcome back, the front door is already open." When he finally passed through the doorway once again, Harkin right behind him, Guantano walked back to the fireplace, and settled down into a chair. At Alyssa's questioning look, Guantano simply replied, "I had something to take care of." Pouring a cup of honey-ale, Gunther offered it to Guantano, who accepted it with thanks. Leaning backwards with an appreciative sigh, Gunther placed his walking stick in front of him and grasped its handle with his hands. "Its time I told you a story, a story that goes back for hundreds of years, about a man named Cantus, and those whom followed him..."

TheLastDays

06-28-2011, 17:18

He then went on to recount to them the story of how Lassara came to be, how Cantus defeated the dark Lord Darganta and was in return slain by Vayne, before he and his demonic host could be banished into the Void. Most of it was already known to Alyssa and Guantano but they still listened with interest, especially when Gunther returned to the present and speculated on the more interesting parts of the story; the things they probably wouldn't know about.

"Now... it seems that Vayne has returned but this was not his doing alone." The old man had gotten up and was searching for something in his bookshelf. "Ah, here it is", he exclaimed triumphantly and pulled out a book, skipping over the pages until he found a drawing that showed a long black sword, exotic in shape. "This is Darganta's sword and as you probably know, it couldn't be destroyed and was kept under high security in the palace. Well, it is the only key, the only way to open a portal to the Void and that means that someone from this side has opened the way for them, someone very human, a Lassaran." He sighed and put the book on a table, sitting down again. "Now listen, this is only my idea because no one has ever been to the Void but I don't think it's where these creatures originate from. They were too diffferent among each other. Accounts of the battles at the beginning of our kingdom describe many of the foes Cantus and his army were facing and there were so many variations that I think they must all have lived somewhere else, before going to the Void. Now the big question is: Why did they leave their worlds to enter the Void when obviously they don't want to stay there?"

"Now, to be honest, even my knowledge on this is limited but I guess your interest lies more in the area of how to defeat them anyway, right? You just want to be prepared when they come so I will tell you what I think. Neril, Cantus' sword, blessed by Lassa, has been broken into seven pieces and out of it seven weapons were forged. This blade has defeated the wielder of Darganta's sword once and it has tasted the blood of these demons. I would suggest finding yourself one." He chuckled and looked at his guests to observe their reactions to his little speech.

Greyblades

06-28-2011, 19:28

Crack

Crack

Crack.

“...Damn!”

Nothing, the wizard’s spell was still in effect. Enego tried to step away from the encircling crew but stopped as his back hit the railing with a thud.

“Not so dangerous without your friends eh?” One of the sailors called.

Enego said nothing and with one hand holding out his sword felt behind him for the rail and taking a grip proceeded to turn and vault over the wooden beam.

“Don’t run away, I was just starting to have fun”, the wizard’s hand was raised before Enego had cleared the rail. “Bugsby’s grasping hand.”

A shining purple hand about the size of a wardrobe appeared trailing smoke from some unseen portal and plucked Enego out the air and carried him back to the ship where it hovered, restraining the struggling demon. The rain had lessened somewhat from torrent to drizzle. Noting the situation had become a lot less deadly; Thomas walked over to the hovering hand and looked the demon in the eye.

“Right, good job... uh...”

“Ced.” The cheerful wizard replied

“...Seriously?” Thomas looked at the wizard who just gave a warm smile. “A wizard named Ced, I thought it was mandatory for wizards to have names like Methuselah, Zachary or Morangul.”

The wizard kept smiling. “You can call me Cedrick if you wish.”

“Ok then.” Thomas turned back to Enego. “Right, who are you and who are you working for?”

Enego looked perplexed. “You really expect me to anssswer that?”

“Yes, Cedrick give him a squeeze.”

The hand tightened and Enego started to hiss like he was stifling a scream.

“To hell with you human! You know nothing of the void and I'm not going to be your teacher!”

Thomas’s brow knotted “Again”

The hand tightened, the Demon’s armour started creaking under the stress and Enego hissed even louder until he could hold no more and let out a cry;

“More, more!”

Thomas looked to Gilford who shrugged then to the wizard who had stopped smiling, the sailors retreated a few steps as Enego started giggling.

“What the... Cedrick break his legs.”

The hand’s ring and little fingers squeezed and with a series of Snaps the demon’s wiggling feet went limp. Enego started to howl with laughter.

“Yes! YES!”
Thomas’ stomach started to turn, the sailors had started to make holy signs and Ced had started to mutter under his breath. Even Gilford was touching his the crest on his cloak’s clasp.

“I... I don’t think I want to know anymore, that’s enough Cedrick, Kill him.”

The hand Clenched with a Crunch as Enego’s torso collapsed and a dark liquid started trickling on to the deck. The head still lived. It’s laughing, while gurgled, resonated around the dock.

”What the hell” Thomas’ stomach clenched and it took some effort not to choke. He staggered forward, drew Essa and after a second to calm his breathing swung at Enego’s laughing head.

Tcha-
Thomas’ body froze as Essa was halfway through the demon’s neck. He couldn’t move, no matter how much he tried. It felt wrong, it was very wrong, every part of his brain screamed at him to move.

move.

He couldn’t even move his eyes, Thomas’ vision was frozen on Enego’s half cut throat.

Move.

The drops of blood and water were just hanging in midair, like shiny red and blue pearls.

Move!

There was no sound. The silence would have been maddening if not for the panic already occupying Thomas’ mind

MOVE!

Out of the corner of his eye he thought he could see Gilford, he wasn’t moving either

MOVE!!!

Nothing moved, not Thomas, not Enego, not Gilford, not even the rain.

MOVEMOVEMOVEMOVEMOVE---------!!!

“You failed Enego.”

A voice.

“I can’t say it was a surprise but I thought you would last at least one assignment”

I know that voice.

“You’re not getting a second chance.”

Who is it?

“The first said I should rely on you-”

First?

“-but I left a curse on you that will kill your killer, just in case.”

Curse?

“At least this way you can be somewhat useful.”

I remember that voice.

“Goodbye Enego”

The palace it was-

-ack

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.”

Diamondeye

06-28-2011, 22:51

Alyssa bit her lip. Seven weapons in all this world can stand against this? Only seven?
Guantano didn't seem to have grasped the full implications of what had been said, not yet. Alyssa had.
"They're all going to die. Everyone who stand in their way until these weapons are found, they are going to die."
Guantano was shocked to see tears threatening to roll from her eyes. She looked at Harkin. "Have our horses been tended? We'll need them, and soon. Please make them ready."
The man left the room and Alyssa looked first at Meghghan, then at Guantano. Silently, she mimicked, we can't bring her along. Then she turned to the old sage again.
"We need to know where we can find these shards. Do you have any idea where they might be?"

seireikhaan

06-29-2011, 14:51

Kyran frowned. Her clenched fist, and a response in her native dialect hinted his prayer had indeed gone unanswered. Or was it offensive to request instruction in the clan she hailed from? As far as her response went, he only picked out a small bit of it he was fairly certain of. He thought she'd referred to him as 'bold friend'. The rest was, sadly, a mystery. And the "bold" bit, he had a hunch, was not entirely complimentary. His mouth tweaked a bit before he sighed a bit. So perhaps trying to converse in elven was a poor idea after all. Well, if one method would not succeed, try, try a new one.

"Fair huntress, would common be preferable? I think we misunderstand each other."

Secura

06-29-2011, 18:28

Tawariell pondered the offer for a moment; her knowledge of Lassara's common language was worse than her grasp of the elf's dialect, and she wasn't particularly fond of speaking in the foul human tongue anyway... but the elf was insistent in both his words and his actions, and so she conceded defeat, at least to hear him out.

"Manka lle merna, taur'amandil", she responded in his language before settling with his choice of common, "what do you want?"

TheLastDays

06-29-2011, 22:22

"How would I?" the old man appeared to be amused by the question even though his eyes looked sad when he shook his head. "I am not an adventurer, my dear, and I have always relied on books for my knowledge, not the direct approach to go out and hunt treasures, search dungeons and discover ancient ruins. What I know is, most of them are lost. They seem to have the inherent quality to spur their bearers to significant deeds or it is just a coincidence that they have always been put into the hands of those who sought glory and adventure."

He looked through his books again and picked out two. "Look, these are legends about the history of the shards. We don't know too much, most are myths as the weapons have been lost centuries ago. We don't even know what kind of weapons they were, at least for most of them. It seems some were lost in the northern realm of Tarania; some seem to have been carried to the west and for some we have no clue as no one knew where they bearers were headed when they were lost. We only know of one: Essa, the pale beauty, the royal sword. I fear it is now in the hands of Vayne or whoever is commanding him. It was kept in the palace, in the capital."

Diamondeye

06-29-2011, 22:58

"In that case, our first priority is survival and stealth. Guantano," Alyssa said, turning to him, "I think we should be heading further south. We cannot linger here, but I imagine that Leon will last longer than Lassara did, being prepared for an attack and having walls for protection. We will have time to seek out stories and myths when we have more distance between death and us. We should leave immidiately." She turned back to Gunther.
"Sire, your assistance has been much useful. Is there any reward you would ask of us? I fear we have little money, and only horses enough for the two of us. I would advice you to leave this city while you can, as well, if you hold your life dear."

TheLastDays

06-30-2011, 11:49

Gunther did not answer at first but the expresion on his face turned even more gloomy for a moment before he returned to his usual state of amusement. "Ah well, this is my home and I am too old to travel. Besides, you cannot escape fate, no matter how far you run so what's the point in running? But take these", he handed them both books, "they'll be of more help to you than to me, I fear."

Right at that point Harkin entered the room again, hastily. "Sir, something is going on outside, the soldiers are runnig to the walls, they are manning the defenses." He turned towards Alyssa: "Your horses have been made ready. You should leave soon if you want to escape this."

"Go quickly now. It has been a pleasure seeing you again, Guantano," the man prodded the mercenary with his stick, "try not to get into more trouble than you can handle." He was joking and seemed genuinely amused but he did show signs of worry. "If you hurry you might still make it out of the southern gate before they close it."

Visor

06-30-2011, 12:00

On the road once more, to some end or another. Rufus wasn't really caring about a destination, just whether he'd get a chance to escape and make good, or whether he would stay. He could quite easily kill the princess or the captain, but his chances of surviving were not something he would like to consider. He thought about the other companions, the young man with them was obviously under some kind of mental duress. He'd seen enough of it during his life to spot someone inexperienced at hiding it. Glungard probably wouldn't let him kill the princess though, he's certainly taken a liking to her. The two guards were just bricks.

With these thoughts in mind, Rufus rode his horse along the path, the captain Alain and the psycho behind them, having a private conversation. He noticed a shadow hiding in the grass near the group of the princess, including him. Rufus was unconcerned, but cautious. The group passed by, and the ambusher came out, his halberd pointing at the princess. The man had army clothing, turned to rags but an eagle insignia was still visible, marking him as a member, or at least former member of the scouts.

"Give me what supplie you have and the missus don't get hurt," he said in a harsh bark.

Rufus however, had noticed who the man was from his clothing, his appearance, bad as it may be, and his voice. The man was Dietrich, his former scout leader.

"Dietrich!" he yelled, and rode over to man's side, "This man is my friend, he is coming with us." Rufus said to the group.

Diamondeye

06-30-2011, 12:04

Alyssa threw Guantano a single serious glance and hastened out of the door towards her horse, leaving him with his concerns about Meghghan. From outside, she shouted, "Are you coming or not? I'm leaving!"

Death is yonder

06-30-2011, 12:19

Taking one last look at Meghghan, Guantano reassured himself that he was not abandoning her. She would not have been able to survive for years in that condition if she did not know how to take care of herself.

Locking gazes with Gunther, Guantano replied with a sad smile. "Likewise, stay safe and alive Gunther, I'll be back one day to challenge you to a rematch."Smiling back, Gunther said. "I'll hold you to that promise Guantano, now go! Time is of the essence!" Waving Guantano off, Gunther stood by the porch, looking there as Guantano raced after Alyssa, Meghghan slowly following them to the gates. There, Alyssa and Guantano mounted their horses, Alyssa kicking her courser into motion. Glancing one last time at Gunther, Guantano bidded him farewell, before continuing at a moderate pace. Looking at a small dark corner, Guantano spied Loren there, watching. Nodding once at him, before gesturing behind him, Guantano waited for the acknowledgement, before he whipped the reins once and with a cry, the duo were off once more, their mounts galloping down the streets heading for the Southern Gate.

They would have to get some distance on the approaching army, before they examined where they needed to go. Refreshed anew the race of their life was.

B-Wing

07-01-2011, 02:44

Glungurd had experienced quite a few new things recently, all of which he did not like. And horse riding was the latest. He was glad that the pace had now slowed to a trot. When the Princess asked him about the experience, he grumpily replied, "I'd rather walk."

Glungurd looked around at the company that he had decided to follow. But he wasn't just following; he was one of them now, a guardian, a protector of Amalia. In the idleness of the slow ride they were now taking, it occurred sharply to Glungurd that he did not really know anything about any of his companions. He was curious about their pasts, wondering what had brought them all together in this seemingly dire situation. But perhaps their pasts didn't matter so much; Glungurd's own past certainly had no connection to his current situation. Maybe they had all been thrown into it unwittingly. Royal guards were not familiar roles to Odgloks. In their society, the government did not control the soldiers (or much of anything, for that matter), and royalty was a vague concept to begin with. Glungurd's own burrow did have a king (or at least it was widely speculated that one existed), but his position wasn't hereditary to anyone's knowledge.

At least one person here had certainly not found their present situation by accident, and that was the princess, Amalia. Glungurd decided that if he was to be protecting this human, he might as well know why she was so important to everyone else. "Amalia," he said as he poked her shoulder with his thick finger. "You are the princess here, right? So why do those other people want to kill you?"

TheLastDays

07-01-2011, 12:07

Amalia couldn't answer the question anymore as suddenly this bandit jumped out of the bushes, waving his weapon at her. One of the guardsmen had instantly readied his bow and had an arrow facing Dietrich while Alain and the other guardsmen drew their swords. Confused Alain rode up to Rufus, his gaze still locked on Dietrich. "What do you mean,he's your friend? If you're a friend there are better ways to introduce yourself", that last part was directed at the ambusher. "Speak, who are you and why does a member of the army dishonor his service to the king?"

Visor

07-01-2011, 12:17

The ragged man smiled. "It wasn't me who was dishonourable. The King's own men tried to kill me and my troop. We were a band of scouts in the desert..." He trailed off as he saw the recognition in the man's eyes.

"You've heard this before? I was the leader of the troop. And if you don't want the missus dead, you'd best be getting your dogs to lower their claws, or this halberd's gonna bite before I die." The man said grimly.

shlin28

07-01-2011, 13:08

Drax smiled as he spoke: "Another turncoat finds us, do you still think I'm the most dangerous one here Captain?" He turned away before either of the two brigands could respond and rode to the front of the column - he may be a useless mage, but even he knew that going beyond a snide comment would be very bad for his own health.

Diamondeye

07-01-2011, 16:22

The hooves thundered against the cobblestones as Alyssa gallopped towards the Southern Gate, Guantano on his horse right behind her. Luckily, the streets were mostly empty, but Alyssa still found the need to shout at everyone who looked like they might get in her way. She didn't relax until they safely crossed the shadow of the gatehouse and had only the open road ahead of her. She slowed to a trot and allowed herself a look back. They could still see the gate when the mighty purtcullis slid down and blocked the passage. Then, she turned to focus on the way ahead.
"On the road again, eh?", she head Guantano on the side of her. He was smiling.
She looked back at him, considered scolding him for his good mood in the face of such terror, but decided against it. Her face was a neutral jumble of emotions as she replied, "guess we are."
There was a moment's silence. "What'd you have to do in town?", she asked. She was speaking to him again.

seireikhaan

07-02-2011, 02:24

Mellonamin, manka lle merna," Kyran started off. He wanted to phrase this as politely as human tongue would allow. "Your talent with animals is impressive. Unlike the flora, fauna remain stubborn to my command." Kyran pointed to the feline. "Your companion fights for you as it would itself. I wish to learn this." Kyran offered a curt bow once more to indicate he was finished.

Death is yonder

07-02-2011, 08:16

She seemed perfectly calm in response to his question, nothing sarcastic or anything. She was thinking about something, Guantano thought, but what? "What'd you have to do in town?", an even voice by his side asked. Caught momentarily off-guard by the question, Guantano shifted slightly on his horse, before he regained his composure and replied, his voice rich in humor. "Why milady, while you rested your petite and dainty feet at Master Gunther's house, sipping honey ale and popping nuts to satisfy your little hunger, your noble knight had ventured forth to the dark depths of the tower over yonder and slayed the brutish black dragon that kept vigil over it, valiantly thrusting his sword into the foul creature's belly, before claiming its treasure trove, all in milady's name! And the lady asks what he has been doing?" Displaying a feigned expression of hurt that followed the grandiose actions that he accompanied his words with, Guantano inwardly smiled that he still had it in him.

Diamondeye

07-02-2011, 10:24

"Oh," she let a smile grace her lips, briefly. "I could use some treasure, always can. If there are things you want to keep secret, just say so. I'm not without understanding," she giggled, "and I'm not stupid, either."

Visor

07-02-2011, 11:31

Rufus smiled at the retreating figure of Drax and responded, "Turncoats? Is that illness afflicting your hearing and your memory or are you just plain stupid?"

Death is yonder

07-02-2011, 17:06

The ends of his lips curved in a smile even as he responded. "I make no secret of my admiration for my lady's generosity to have blessed this lowly one with a smile." Flipping a coin and catching it again in his outspread hand, Guantano continued. "Perhaps... we shall speak of this someday in the future." Tossing the coin to Alyssa, who caught it though surprised by the gesture, Guantano proceeded to whistle merrily as they continued down the road, southwards. It almost seemed as if all was right in the world.

Secura

07-03-2011, 14:23

Tawariell turned her head in the druid's direction and raised an eyebrow as he bowed before her, before she responded slowly and concisely in an attempt to keep her use of the human language as understandable as possible.

"Raina does not act upon my command", she stated dryly, "nor would I issue any to her."

The druid had made a poor assumption about the relationship between the two huntresses, but at least she had an inkling where such a preconception might have come from; she recalled encounters with hunting parties in the past, with horses and hounds trained to act entirely upon the orders of their human masters.

"She acts as a friend, not a servant."

TheLastDays

07-03-2011, 20:45

It was late in the afternoon when the gates of Leon closed and the town fell silent. Defenders had manned the walls and the banner of Lord Nias was flying on the citadels. The young Lord would not back down to whatever was coming his way and he was intent on proving that his father's legacy would not be lost, even though that's what this father's old advisors had whispered among each other from the day Nias had taken the lordship upon himself. Now he was standing at the northern gate, watching with growing unease the mass of soldiers that was approaching the city and all the townspeople's hopes suddenly were placed upon him. He had always been popular with the masses, now he had to prove that he was more than just the son of a noble man.

The sound of the marching army was ever present. Metal grinding metal, iron boots falling on the dry ground and the marching horses stirring up the dust. Like a silver serpent the Lassaran military was creeping towards Leon. What had never happened before, since the founding of the kingdom, would come to pass. A Lassaran army would march upon a Lassaran county, a war of brothers, a dark chapter in the history of men. But there would not be much fighting. Not if he could prevent it. Alastor was riding at the head of the army, Serak on another horse right next to him. "Halt!" the demon called out and with a bit of delay the whole host came to a full stop.

"Just in range for the catapults", the Lord upon the wall thought to himself as he watched the army come to a halt and saw the movement of preparation among the enemy's lines. "They don't even bother with surrounding us. Well, I do have some surprises for them."

Alastor eyed his partner. "Ready?" Serak just nodded and together with an escort of thirteen knights they broke rank and approached the city. They made sure to stop just outside of the defender's range for arrows and Serak opened his foul mouth as he spoke with a voice that seemed to resound right in everyone's head for miles. "This be from now on a loyal county belonging to the righteous ruler of Lassara, King Owyn I Boreale. We hereby demand the opening of the gates and the hospitality of Leon towards the royal army. Surrender and pledge allegiance or face the consequences."

Chaotix

07-03-2011, 23:37

Frijyk continued down the path created by the huge monster for a minute or two, then looked back to see whether or not his companions had joined him. He saw Morangul shuffling close behind, moving quickly for an old man but still struggling to keep up with Frijyk's brisk pace. Alaria the Fey was nowhere to be found; perhaps she had decided not to follow them, or perhaps she was merely hidden in the trees, playing some sort of hide-and-seek with them as they moved onward. He slowed his pace slightly to allow Morangul to catch up, and then continued forward, not wanting to fall too far behind the demon he was chasing. Frijyk reasoned that the demon had to be moving toward some destination- and when he stopped there, Frijyk would catch up.

The Borian looked over at his companion. He wondered exactly what kind of magic a "Lich" specialized in, anyway. It was a term he was not familiar with, but he assumed it must mean some sort of wizard or magician. In Frijyk's culture, there was no word for "magic-user," since all Borians were born with some level of inherent magic potential, and they integrated magic seamlessly into their occupations and lifestyle. Those most powerful with magic were known as the "Defenders", while the rare few born with none were the "Defenseless", and were always trained with weapons to compensate. Frijyk fell somewhere in between- he had some potential, but had never used magic extensively since he was trained with a sword. He had found it thoroughly confusing that Lassaran culture had so many different words that, to him, meant the same thing: wizard, warlock, sorcerer, magician, enchanter.

"So, Morangul... what-kinds of spells do-you know?"

He hoped that, at some point, he could convince Morangul to teach him some real magic. He had a feeling it was a useful skill to have.

thefluffyone93

07-04-2011, 02:42

"Hmmmmm...... that's quite a question, child. Most magicians would not give up that information, for fear of that knowledge being used against them.
But, to put it simply, I know a lot in many fields of magic."

The lich noticed how Frijyk's face changed to one of befuddled excitement.
Eventually, the Borian asked, "How-many.....'fields' of magic are there? And how long did it take-you
to learn them?"

Morangul pondered the question for a bit, wondering why this Borian was so inquisitive.
"Well, there are five major fields of magic.
Destruction; This is the most offensive field, which battle-mages specialize in.
This is the field you would study if you wanted to shoot fireballs and lighting bolts, cast earthquakes, and other such spells,"
Morangul explained while causing small bolts of lighting to arc across his hands,"The magic users call upon the primal
elements of this world, earth,wind,fire,earth,and water, and bend it to their will."

"Next would be Nature; If you were a tree hugging elf, you would probably
have an inherent advantage in this field, as they are more in tune with nature than many other beings.
That said, if you weren't an elf, most people would go the way of a druid to learn this field.
It specializes mostly in control over various other entities, such as trees and animals.
Also, it offers a great many defensive spells as well, such as the Stone-Skin enchantment,
which any magic user should master. However, it is also said that very powerful druids
can achieve the ultimate connection with nature, and become one with it; these druids are able
to transform into any natural entity that they wish to be. That squirrel over there might
be a druid," Morangul chuckled, "But why a druid would choose to be a squirrel is beyond me!"

"Now, the next two fields are polar opposites, yet they share a connection: that their sources do not
come from this world. What I speak of is Holy and Demon magic. Now, holy magic
what you would study if you were to become a cleric or," Morangul grimaced," a....Paladin. Of course, that means
this field specializes in powerful healing magics as well as powerful blessings. These blessings could be many things,
such as increased strength and stamina, sanctifying land, or, as was the case of Neril, imbuing it with pure holy might.

Morangul stopped and looked at Frijyk; "Are you getting all of this?"
Frijyk meekly nodded his head, "Then on we go."

"Demon magic is pretty much unheard of in Lassara, mostly because the only ones that practiced it were, well, the demons.
No mortal has tried to use the magic of the Void, for fear of accidentally opening another rift, but many scholars have
speculated that Demon magic deals mostly in destructive magic as well as manipulative magic, such as illusions and the power to persuade people."

"Now, the last one," Morangul smirked, then continued, "Is a field of magic that many would associate with Demon magic, but its
practice has been forgotten over the centuries, and little know the truth. This final field is Necromancy, the magic of death.
An apprentice of this ancient art can commune with the spirits of the dead, but a full fledged necromancer can control the very energy, the very essence, that is death. Necromancers make the dead their servants, and powerful ones can even make an army of undead! Imagine, an army that does not tire, does not need food, and most important of all, does not feel pain..."

Morangul stopped when he noticed the alarmed look on Frijyks face. I might have been a bit to energetic, Morangul thought," But as I said, the art of Necromancy has long been lost, so there is no reason to fear undead hordes," Morangul jokingly said, although he sombered up immediately, "Undead hordes, no. Demon hordes, yes."

TheLastDays

07-04-2011, 09:45

Grimacing Serak rolled his eyes to the right, his gaze following a mosquito that was flying circles around the demon. Other than that they sat there motionless, waiting for a reply from inside the city and then it came. All of a sudden a pillar of fire crashed down on one of the siege engines, engulfing it and the nearby soldiers in flames, then another one and another one. Battle mages! "Make them shut up", Alastor yelled at Serak and with the knights returned to the lines, issuing commands to fire and moments later a barrage of projectiles was lunged towards Leon, hitting the walls, the gate, the buildings inside the town. Fires were soon spreading within the city while Serak still sat motionless. He concentrated as if he was still locking his gaze on a mosquito but his eyes were wandering over the wall. Suddenly he stopped and whispered "Silence!" but in the heads of the wizards it rang like a massive bell and when they recovered from the shock they tried to cast but nothing happened, their hands were glowing a bit but the flaming pillars upon the Lassaran army stopped and did not return, no matter how hard they tried. A smile on his face, Serak retreated into the lines while an angry lordling was cursing the day his father died and made him responsible of this city.

Death is yonder

07-04-2011, 16:47

In the distance, a fell voice was upon the winds. "This be from now on a loyal county belonging to the righteous ruler of Lassara, King Owyn I Boreale. We hereby demand the opening of the gates and the hospitality of Leon towards the royal army. Surrender and pledge allegiance or face the consequences." Instantly the mood was killed, and the sombre reality hit them once more. The army had reached Leon, and despite the distance, it took a blind man not to turn around and see the fireballs flying, both magical and catapulted across the clear blue sky. His mind thinking about Gunther, Guantano hoped the old man would be safe. Wait, wasn't one of the shards located to the West? Guantano recalled. Pulling his courser to a stop, Guantano turned to Alyssa. "Gunther said some of the shards might have been in the West. Shouldn't be heading along that road which we just passed by?" he asked.

Diamondeye

07-04-2011, 17:47

Alyssa frowned. "I heard that, but our safety is a higher priority. Even if Gunther was a wise old man, his intel on the shards' location, as he said himself, was scarce and outdated. We should keep going south. That way we can also stay on the road to move faster. I think that's safe for now; it sounds and looks like Leon gives the army battle. That buys us time."
Alyssa stared back towards the road and they rode on in silence. After a while, she found her lute and strummed the strings, humming.

Chaotix

07-04-2011, 17:57

Frijyk listened intently to the old wizard's words, but he was confused as he was informed. Was magic truly so rigidly divided and disciplined like that? His people had never spoken of "fields" of magic, merely its different uses and applications. But Frijyk supposed he would take the experienced sage at his word.

"Thank-you for your explanation. That was-very informative."

As Frijyk and Morangul continued along the road, their conversation was sparse but always meaningful; Frijyk would ask about another aspect of magic and Morangul would answer, growing ever curious of the apparent warrior's interest. This continued for most of the day, until the sun had set and Frijyk was tired from walking at that brisk pace. Morangul looked no worse for wear, but perhaps he was all worn to begin with. The path they followed was still lined with uprooted trees, but they were at a higher elevation now. The air had grown colder, and while there wasn't any snow, Frijyk could see the snow-capped peaks in the distance across the hilly landscape. Soon they would come to mountains, and he was fine with that.

Frijyk decided it would be a good idea to set up a campfire at that point. Firewood was not hard to find; with his hatchet and all the fallen trees around him, he had plenty of it. Frijyk made a pile of wood, surrounded by stones so the fire would not spread beyond it, and then he pointed his fingers at the fire. A small spark of flame shot from his fingertips, igniting the campfire instantly. As he looked over, Morangul was watching with a wry look on his face, and Frijyk couldn't help but smirk back.

Seon

07-05-2011, 04:32

Alaria clutched the red spider in her arms as she was carried by the giant spider queen. "Wait!" she shrieked. "Where are we going?"

The spider clacked its jaws. Away from the monstrosities, of course, child. And towards the city of men, for the army of men marches against the city of men, and even now they have begun to kill each other in a gruesome battle of the flames. I must be there to ensure that it is truly beyond my ability to save more of my kind.

"What? Why?" Alaria asked.

The thoughts of men are beyond my comprehension. I may be ancient among my kind, but I am a spider.

"What about Frijyk and Mr. Bones? We got separated when I bolted into the forest...do you know what happened to them?"

Them? The spider seemed almost amused. A youngling of mine whispered in my ears that they were chasing after the monstrosities.

"But they'll die!"

Who knows? Perhaps they have a plan... hmm?

"What is it?" Alaria asked.

Humans. On horseback. They must have escaped from the city of Men, the spider queen muttered. Alaria heard a strange yet beautiul sound in the air.

"Humans?" Alaria asked. "They can't make that noise. It must be a bird or something."

The spider queen laughed. The devices of Men are imcomprehensible to beings such as myself, she muttered. But they do have the frightening ability to mimic with the use of tools.

"Can I see them?" Alaria asked. The strange sound seemed louder now.

...Then this would be where we part ways. I must not dally any longer.

"Thank you," Alaria said. The spider stopped, allowing Alaria to jump off of her back.

Take the youngling, the spider said, motioning towards the red spider in Alaria's arms. It will keep you safe. Then the spider queen disappeared into the woods.

Alaria, meanwhile, was already racing towards the strange sound. Reality shifting around her and changing her appearence to that of a small elf and the spider into a basket of flowers.

thefluffyone93

07-05-2011, 04:41

"Heheheh....Now I know why you were so curious about magic! Now, what else can you do?"

Frijyk paused for a moment, wondering how he should phrase his answer.
"Other than that, mostly just small enchantments for my weapons and myself, although..."
Frijyk look at Morangul with a confused look,"I'm-not sure what 'field' that is in...."

At this, Morangul could not help but laugh, "Oh, that slaps me on the knee!", Morangul cried, still rocking back and forth.
"Frijyk, what I explained were the five overarching fields of magic! Do the Borians not know of these?"
Frijyk, looking quite embarrassed, slowly replied, "Well, all-of my people have some magical talent. We all use it so-much that
we don't consider it that special....." Frijyk gave a weak smile, "Please, tell-me more."

Morangul thought for a bit, then finally answered.
"Well, there are hundreds of minor fields of magic, Frijik, and some are connected to more than one
major field. Take alchemy, for example. This field is heavily tied to the Nature field, as it requires
various ingredients that only nature can provide. The powers of illusion, however, would be tied to multiple fields,
most likely Demonic, and probably Nature, as Feys are definitely not demons! What I mean by this, is that either the Demon field or
the Nature field can grant the powers of illusion."

Morangul thought for a moment, staring at Frijyk for the entire time, "The weapon and physical enchantments and buffs you use are more aligned
to Nature, but as I stated before, the Holy field can also bestow such things as well."

The old lich sat silent for some time, watching the young Borian process all of the information.
".......You know....I could perhaps teach you a few more enchantments and spells...if you want..."

Diamondeye

07-05-2011, 09:14

From the roadside, Alaria could hear the strumming of strings and a clear female voice singing over the hoofbeats of the horses,

"For that day blood rained from the sky,
And right men turned to wrong,
And flames they licked at cinder'd flesh,
And sang their crimson song.

"A thousand men went out that day,
In armour, brave and strong,
They were no match for dragonkind,
And the burning crimson song.

"Today where once the dragons flew,
And sung with blood-red tongue,
Now only ashes do remain,
Gone is the crimson song."

The strange sound stopped, and the man riding in front turned around. "Do you know any other songs about dragons? I've never-" turning his head towards the road again, he caught a glimpse of the fey. "Who goes there!?"

TheLastDays

07-05-2011, 10:59

"Frijyk..." the Borian turned his head to into the direction the whisper was coming from but he could only see the treeline, dark in the fading light of the day.

"Morangul..." this whisper came from the exact opposite direction, both the whispers were only resounding inside the head of the one addressed.

Suddenly the fire went out and the light seemed to fade even faster. Fryjik was sure he could still see the sun approaching horizon in the east but around him it almost seemed like night was fully upon them. "Come...", now this whisper was louder, heard by both, but it seemed to come from every direction, like a breeze caught in between the trees surrounding them.

***

Time after time the projectiles hurled into the city of Leon crashed down onto the town, ruining buildings, setting more and more of them on fire while the population and town guard were desperately trying to put out as many fires as they were able to, save families from collapsing buildings and still keep up a front of fighting men on the walls. The town looked for leadership and decisions from Nias now, but the young lord was still standing atop the gatehouse, motionless, his facial expression not showing any emotion but shock. He was paralyzed by the overwhealming situation and yet he did not decide to surrender. He would not bow. He was the Lord of Leon.

Seon

07-06-2011, 00:52

Alaria completely ignored the funny man, her gaze transfixed upon the woman's strange device.

"Are you a bird?" Alaria asked. The question seemed to take both the man and the woman by surprise. Alaria began to slowly walk towards them.

"Excuse me?" the woman asked in the tongue of men. Obviously not then.

"What's a dra- drag- draga- dwagon?" Alaria asked. She was close enough to touch the horses now. "It sounds scary. Does it look like the giant monster that passed just around here?"

Chaotix

07-06-2011, 01:26

When Frijyk heard the disembodied voice he nearly jumped with a start. He looked at Morangul, who was also alert- both a blessing and a curse, for it meant he wasn't hearing things, but also that the danger was real and present. The wind howled about, whistling to them with what sounded like words, and the darkness seemed to be closing in around them.

Frijyk had enough of this. He brandished his rapier in his right hand, and snapped the fingers of his left. A small orb of flame materialized in his left hand and stayed there. Frijyk tried to light his surroundings with it, but it was no use. It was already taking most of his concentration to hold that flame there in the first place. Yes, he could definitely make use of some lessons from Morangul. That is, if he made it through the night alive.

"Show yourself!"

seireikhaan

07-06-2011, 04:02

The only indicator of Kyran's frustration was a slightly elevated right eyebrow. He pondered how to break her defensive manner as he stared at the human city in the distance. The inhabitants seemed displeased with the seething mass arranged in front of it, and chaos was clearly reigning over the walls.

"There is more than that. That abomination. It was an offense against nature. Natural fauna could sense it, and should know to flee. But, your.... friend, instead, faced it without hesitation. No ordinary friendship does that. Friends fight for each other when times are well. But when all else fails, so does it. You and your... friend gave a powerful abomination pause. You have something beyond it, I am sure.

But.. if friendship, as you call it, is what is what it takes to achieve this unity with beast, I will learn it. Teach, and I shall listen."

Diamondeye

07-06-2011, 16:11

"... No, I don't think so. Dragons are extremely rare, some even say they are extinct. And even if there remain any, they are not roaming forests randomly."
Alyssa had put away the lute and picked up her axe instead. "We don't have time for this, but I'll ask anyway. Who are you? And what large monster are you talking about?"

Seon

07-06-2011, 17:18

"Oh, it was a...a... Big big thing. It shoved down trees on its way. It went...err..."

Alaria looked around the forest. "...Umm... Where did it go again? Far Away from here, yeah. Missy was carrying me away from it... Oh!" she gasped. "I forgot about Mr. Bones and Frijyk! I hope they are alright."

"... Mr. Bones?"

"He called me a little devil. No fair, I'm old enough," Alaria pouted. The woman sighed. "Do you have anyone that you know nearby?"

"Oh, no. Missy said that she needed to go to Leon. Had children there. I wonder what my mom is thinking."

"What happened with her?"

"Oh, I ran."

The man eyed Alaria's face. "Long... Pointy ears. Do you think she may be an elf?"

"What's an elf?" Alaria asked.

"Maybe not then." the woman said. "Alright, I'll ask again, what are you?"

"Everybody calls me Alaria, except fror Mr. Bones."

Diamondeye

07-06-2011, 18:28

"Alaria, then. I'm sorry to say but if whoever Missy is is headed for Leon, you're not like to see her again. There's war in Leon. And that's what we're trying to escape, so unless you have urgent business with us, or can keep up with a horse, we'll be going."

Alyssa's courser began to trot slowly along, forcing the others to follow her in order to respond.

TheLastDays

07-06-2011, 20:00

"Now Relax", Alain was searching for the right way to end this conflict before there was any fighting. He didn't want to risk the princess' life in a pointless battle with a bandit that would probably make Rufus his enemy again. The guard's arrow was still pointing at Rufus and all arms among the group were drawn when Amalia raised her hand in a calming gesture. "Friends. Give the man what he needs." She smiled at Dietrich and then looked at the captain. There was a moment of silence, before Alain decided what to do.

"Alright", he sheathed his sword and gave the officers a sign to lower their weapons, "it's late anyway. We will rest here and you will eat with us, Dietrich, now stop threatening our friend here." Dietrich hesitated at first but Rufus nodded and so the veteran scout lowered his halberd and everyone was able to take a deep breath of relief.

The group led the horses off the road and made camp, making a fire and getting some food ready they settled down into smaller groups while Alain pulled Rufus and Dietrich away to sit with him. As soon as they sat down and had taken a few bites he began: "So, what is this incident you both keep talking about. Rufus, you told me a band of nobles and retainers attacked your scouting party and you, Dietrich, blame the king's men. What really happened there?"

Visor

07-07-2011, 12:11

"Nobles are the Kings men.... or at least that's my view on it," Dietrich said with a small smile after wolfing down the food, "Sorry about the threatening to hack and slash, but I'm desparate for food and water, so if you could show me to some more...?"

He turned to Rufus, "I found him..." He then turned back to Alain, waiting expectantly.

TheLastDays

07-08-2011, 07:03

Alain nodded to one of his guardsmen and they brought more food and drink to the fireplace while the three of them continued to tall. "Now that would be a wrong view though. The nobles are, if anything, their own men. Most of the time they are fairly loyal to the king but then at times they also do whatever pleases them. I am sorry for what happened to the both of you but I cannot let you put us all at risk for the sake of mere vengeance." He shot a sharp glance towards Rufus with these words.

"Now, Dietrich, you are welcome to accompany us. We have food and drink enough and we could use another fighting arm but you should know that it could be dangerous. Also", he gestured towards the army crest on the scout's armor, "hide this, we aren't exactly trying to look like the army here."

Visor

07-08-2011, 07:07

"What have you done now boy?" Dietrich said, "Nevermind, that's not the matter at this moment. Thank you for your offer, but I must know where you are headed."

TheLastDays

07-08-2011, 07:16

Alain nodded. "Fair enough, I suppose. We're headed towards Leon. We need to consult a friend there. Where we will head from there on we do not know yet."

Visor

07-08-2011, 07:21

"Leon, leon..... yeah, that's fine, we'll come with you that far, but who is this friend?" Dietrich said.

Rufus looked at Dietrich with a strange expression. He didn't quite understand what his friend was on about.

"You'll find out when we get there lad."

thefluffyone93

07-08-2011, 17:53

Morangul heard the voices.
Oh yes, he heard the voices; and no, he didn't see anyone.
Too bad Morangul wasn't in the mood for mind games.

"I've had enough surprises for now! First it was nature-loving elves, and now its disembodied voices!
You will reveal yourself, whether you like it or not!"

And with that, Morangul brought forth another fireball into his hand, which he tossed straight up in the air.
It detonated 20 feet above them, bathing the nearest trees in flames, and lighting the whole area.

Morangul was quite shocked at what he saw.....

Seon

07-09-2011, 00:29

Alaria quickly shouted out in an incomprehensible language, and the horses skidded to a halt, surprising both the man and the woman.

"You haven't told me what a dwagon is yet," Alaria mumbled.

Diamondeye

07-09-2011, 01:25

"It doesn't matter, no-one's seen one in a hundred years!" Alyssa shot back, angrily. She gave a short wail which shocked both the fey and Guantano, and before they had blinked, an arrow was pointing at Alaria and Alyssa was again in control of her horse, spurs at the ready. "If you want companions, you need to treat them better than this." She nodded towards her horse. "And if you're looking for a horse to steal you've walked into the wrong couple. We could chop you to mutton before you could object. Now get out of my way or explain yourself, properly. Then, I might answer your questions!"

Death is yonder

07-09-2011, 05:51

The arrival of the elf-like creature had thrown their plans for a quick get-away, and Guantano had to grip the reins tightly to avoid losing his balance. Well aware of the fire balls flying through the air behind them, and suspicious of the whole situation, Guantano followed suit and drew his sword. "Be quick about this elf, if you wish to distract us for an ambush you would be sorely mistaken." With an arrow at her throat, and a sword ready to dice her up, Alaria looked distinctly uncomfortable.

TheLastDays

07-10-2011, 06:50

...because Morangul saw nothing at first. That is, nothing but trees and that the fire spell, although it did light the area, wasn't quite as bright as the Lich remembered it to be. While he was still wondering about that he heard the voice right behind him.

"I'm right here."

Both Morangul and the Borian spun around and saw the red clothed figure that rode past them on the giant's shoulder a few hours back, standing right next to their campfire. His sharp eyes narrowed on Morangul again and again the Lich felt as if they were piercing right into his soul. "I know who you are, Lich, and soon Lord Vayne will know too."

Secura

07-10-2011, 18:43

Tawariell remained sceptical as the druid explained his desire, his wish to truly become one with nature in all her beauty; she knew what he meant, her own life having been devoted to such pursuits since her departure from Aeglerona, but she couldn't find a way to explain the bond that she and Raina had formed over the years without frustrating him further.

"I'm afraid that I cannot give you what you seek, taur'amandil," she responded softly, "I believe that the bond Raina and I share is unique."

She turned her attention northwards, her gaze falling upon Leon once more; the town's walls had since been surrounded by the army and were buckling under the strain of the assault, and yet Tah momentarily found herself admiring the tenacity of the town's defenders, before reminded herself that they were humans and had probably earned themselves whatever hardship they were currently facing. She shook her head solemnly.

"It would appear that there was some truth in the abomination's words."

TheLastDays

07-10-2011, 19:49

And still the Lord of Leon was standing atop the gatehouse, immovable and unmoved. The defeat was certain. Leon had no means to answer such an attack, there were no siege engines or weapons that could retaliate at this range. After all, the army that was supposed to protect the lands of Lassara was facing them out there. The ones whose aid they would seek in the case of an attack were the attackers. Perhaps it would have gone different if they had dared to sally. Perhaps they could have surprised the enemy, taking out their long range weaponry and forcing them into a siege. Perhaps they could have waited for help to come in this event but Nias made no such move. He stared at the enemy lines right until the end, right until suddenly he felt a stinging pain in his side and reached down, only to see his hand covered in blood, his own blood. He looked to his side and saw his captain, the commander of his forces had turned on him. There were no last words as the lifeless body hit the floor and right away the captain gave orders to wave the white flag and offer surrender. Moments later the attack had stopped and two satisfied demons were leading the Lassaran army into the broken city of Leon. And so ended the short reign of Lord Nias, ruler of Leon.

Chaotix

07-10-2011, 23:56

This was it. This was the moment Frijyk had been waiting for. He was now face to face with one of the demons who he had seen before, the same demons who had driven his people into hiding. He had not expected it to come so soon. He was not ready yet. But he could not shirk the opportunity. He kept his sword raised, but he extinguished the flame in his left hand and spoke to the demon, who had its attention turned to Morangul at the moment.

"Demon! Tell me, how long have you served this Vayne?"

Seon

07-11-2011, 06:17

Alaria looked confused for a moment, and then a hint of annoyance began to creep into her eyes. "Fine then," Alaria muttered. "I'll find out some other way."

Alaria waved her hand towards the two people in front of her... and then vanished.