Lassara - Shards of Neril - Story Thread

[TheLastDays]

Character thread here, OOC thread here

Lassara
Shards of Neril

The map:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The map is not drawn by me, but graciously provided for free by this website. I only removed or moved some towns and put in the nametags.

Status and Locations:

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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:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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.

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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.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The cavalry charging in, led by the king's friend and advisor Galan Undine

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.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The capital, Lassara

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:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

1. 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"
2. Characters
   
   • Everyone who wants to participate: simply state it in this thread. Then create a character and post it here.
   • 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
3. 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
4. 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.
5. 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]

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, " 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 '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]

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. " 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 '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 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]

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]

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 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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Deleted

[Seon]

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]

“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…

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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]

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]

"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 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]

"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]

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]

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.


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 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!”

[thefluffyone93]

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]

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]

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]

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]

... 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 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]

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]

"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]

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.

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 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]

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]

"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]

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]

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 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]

"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.