PlaneShift
Fan Area => Roleplaying (Communitive Storywriting) => Collaborative Stories => Topic started by: KwartzTheKran on November 30, 2003, 11:58:56 am
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The Legend Has Wings
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The Legend Has Wings
Legend has it that many years ago, Talad formed 6 crystals. Each representing a different way of sorcery, and each imbued with an essence of his divine power, the Great Ebony God gave these crystals to his loyal followers so that he would become the one true God through their use and reverence. However, Laanx soon learned of this. She cursed the crystals with her own dark essence, and from then on, those mortals who called upon the magic of the crystals would suffer great mental and physical torture, and that pain would feed her own power. The crystals had become a double-edged sword to behold, and because of this, the followers of Talad banished the crystals to where it was thought they would never be seen or used again...
Hundreds of years later, another part of this legend has been unearthed. It is said that the bearer of all 6 crystals would obtain Godlike power and become an immortal being, perhaps even rivalling Laanx and Talad themselves. Even the average Kran is smart enough to realise that becoming a divine being would negate the curse of the crystals, and thus a power struggle between the major guilds and peoples of Yliakum has begun.
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Moogie awoke to the dull sound of rain at the window. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, pausing for a second to gather her sleepy thoughts. The girl pulled her quilt from the bed as she got up and moved towards the window, and sighed.
It\'s been five days... when will the rain stop...?
Moogie plodded lazily downstairs and made some breakfast, before dressing up warmly and venturing out into the rain-drenched streets of Hydlaa City. It didn\'t take long for the Feline to soak through as she dashed towards the marketplace, basket in hand, to do her weekly shopping.
What a horrid day... She thought miserably. The marketplace was almost bare and the gutters were overflowing with rainwater, creating streams that wove across streets and collected into deep pools where the roads dipped. Its no wonder that nobody\'s trying to sell goods in these conditions... It was stupid to even leave the house today!
The feline turned back and began running home. She found a sheltered alleyway nearby and decided to rest for a while, wondering where she could go to buy some bread to see her through one more day of rain, when a sudden explosion a few blocks away rocked the ground violently. Moogie cried out in suprise as she was thrown to the ground. She squeezes her eyes shut and covered her head in fear of falling debris untill the tremors ceased, which lasted so long she was afraid they would never end.
My god..! Are we being attacked?? Moogie\'s mind raced, as she picked herself up off the wet floor. Above the houses across the street, the girl could see a thick cloud of black smoke rising from the direction of the explosion. Immediately, Moogie began worrying about the possibility of casualties, and she ran towards the scene of the blast as fast as she could, her mind already preparing a range of healing incantations for the injured.
End Note: I have no idea where this could possibly go... so good luck. I thought I\'d take the first chapter seeing as nobody else was. ;)
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I\'ll go next.I suggest you read my charachter profile in the sign up thread so that the context is clearer.Anywho, here\'s my bit:
The Bowels of Hydlaa
\"Damn these incompetent mercenary mages!\" grumbled Auran as he advanced from behind the crumbled walls. The building had been razed in the explosion.\"What is the world coming to if a mage cant control the yield of his fire ball!!\" he muttered glancing at the mangled corpses of his two hired mages. His intention had been to have a hole blown into the building floor to access the ancient sewer system that ran beneath the city of Hydlaa.
Few knew about these sewers now. Of those who did, most tried to forget, and only a handful ever ventured into them. Still fewer returned from such adventures and were always stark mad from unnamed horrors they had experienced in its depths. This is how Auran chanced upon the secret of the sewers. In his wanderings he had come upon a mad man in the southern port city of Lorna. Among his insane ravings a few words and phrases caught Auran\'s fancy. The man spoke of Dark powers, powers over life and death. He also spoke of \"the Vermin Keeper\" and horrors beyond the comprehension of mortals. Auran knew this was somehow linked to him and he had to know more. Having followed the man into a dingy deserted ally and rendering him unconsious, Auran came upon a old parchment while rummaging through his rags. This parchment was a faded and tattered map of the Hydlaa sewers and spoke of an ancient artifact of immense power hidden in its bowels.
For years the parchment had lain in a chest among other strange things Auran had gathered in his travels. Now that he was in Hydlaa he intended to investigate it further. But unfortunately the secrecy of his task was now in peril thanks to the blundering mages. Something had to be done and quick.
The rain had paused and the clouds parted. Auran peered down the gaping hole. A gurgling noise seemed to come from some deep faraway passage in the sewers. The light through the hole showed strange glistening jellies clinging to the passage walls. Ugly unnatural plants and moulds clung to the recesses amid the crumbling masonry. They had shrivelled up and grown blotched where the light fell. A black trickle ran at the sewer bottom which could easily have been putrifying blood instead of foul water. A nauseating stench emanated from it.
None of this flustered Auran. He had seen things stranger and far more horrid. Even after hundreds of years in this realm he had dreams of faraway lands. Of lands fair and lush, lands harsh and barren, fiery pits, dark caverns with fetid pools of rotting flesh, countless things beautiful or vile beyond measure. He couldn\'t recall clearly but he knew he had seen and heard more than he remembered.
Turning his attention to the task at hand he prepared to enter the sewers, when he heard footfalls behind him. He darted into the shadows just in time to see a enkidukai head peer through the broken doorway. As the head drew back he recognised it as Mogura.\" Grab shovels and prying bars\" a voice sounded outside. A fair crowd seemed to have gathered. Seizing the opportunity at hand, Auran jumped through the hole and dissappeared in the darkness of the sewers just as the rescue workers came in.
FIN for now
Take it away me amigos:). I suggest everyone put in a chapter title for the part they write.
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KA-BOOM Seperot sat up from his bed to the sound. he quickly gatherd his wits and knew what it was. BOOM-Snap the door flung open and 5 kran charged into the house. the Feline ran for his dresser grabs some cloths and a crystal. \"You\'ll never have it NEVER!!!\" the rogue yelled down the stairs as sepeort opend his hidden passegeway to the grond floor. more kran emerged from the front door and charged around the house leaving 1 at the door. He had to take the risk and charged at the Kran. The kran looked dumbfound in surprise that anyone whould charge at him and was even more surprised when the enki dived through his legs. Seperot then used a small fire ball spell on his house useing the crystal. Seprots body when numb with pain for a minuet befor runing to his Magaras. and flew off to his guild HQ he had to find the rest.
short and crap :P
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[Edited: Ah nevermind... this can make sense, somehow... *pastes text back into the post*]
It took several hours to fully tend to the wounded at the scene of the explosion. Two mages, whos allegiance and names were as yet unknown, had died instantly. The authorities had been quick to declare the blast an \'accidental misuse of advanced magics\', claiming the caster wasn\'t powerful enough to control the spell he conjured.
Moogie was exhausted. Her energy had all but been completely drained. At the suggestion of one of the victims who\'s wounds she\'d healed, the girl wandered across the street to sit on one of the brick walls that seperated each building\'s entranceways.
I\'ll just rest for five minutes... there may be more... Moogie was suddenly knocked down as a figure crashed into her, himself tumbling over several times before regaining his feet and continuing down the road in a mad dash. Moogie looked onwards in shock for a second. A man with a shovel waved his fist angrily as several others rushed over to pick the feline up off the floor. It had happened so fast, nobody quite knew what happened or who had knocked the healer down.
\"Are you okay, Miss? What rudeness, some people...\" They fussed. Moogie nodded gratefully, still shaken but otherwise undisturbed. Her hand wandered to her neck as she walked over to the wall and rested against it. She frowned in annoyance. Where was it? She felt all around her neck, and finding nothing, Moogie\'s eyes widened in panic.
\"Ah... my pendant! Where is it?\" The girl scanned the floor where she had been knocked over... nothing. She hurried back to where she had been tending the wounded but it was nowhere to be found. She thought hard.
\"Have you lost something, Miss?\" One of the workers asked.
When that man knocked me over... I felt a tug at my neck... oh no! With a gasp, Moogie turned and bolted in the direction of the thief. No! No I can\'t lose it!
\"Come back!!\" She yelled into the mist, before disappearing into it.
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Draklar was sitting in his usual place in the Kada-El\'s tavern. Sticking to the bottle of morimatra wine, he tried to catch any late rumours from the local drunkards. \"That some people find every hour a good hour to get drunk\" - he thought. They were talking pretty loud, making it even easier for Draklar to track their conversation. Those people weren\'t drunk that much, so most of stuff they were saying might be considered as truth. Still... nothing of Draklar\'s interest was mentioned. He shruged and started searching his pouch. A couple of trias jangled on the table as Draklar got up from the chair. Ri\'Miyan, the local waitress, rushed to take the payment. \"Oh well...\" - he thought - \"It seems tis going to be another borin...\" - While walking out of tavern, loud explosion interrupted his thoughts. He immediately turned towards source of explosion. There was black smoke rising above the roofs. Few of the barflies passed him, rushing to see what happen. \"What now\"? - he asked in annoyence and one moment later started walking slowly towards the source of smoke.
While getting closer he was thinking what could cause such a explosion. \"Could it be another careless alchemist? Probably... though explosion was much louder than last time.\" Draklar wasn\'t in rush to see what happened. He had other things to worry about and even now, his thoughts were aiming in their direction. Suddenly he noticed a shape, someone was running quickly towards him. For few seconds mist was disallowing him to catch any details. When the person got a little closer, Draklar finally noticed more. The person obviously was running away from something. Holding an object in hand, he was glancing over his shoulder every few seconds. It was more than obvious what happened. \"Damn vulture\" - he said, grasping his sword\'s hilt. Just as the man was passing him he swinged his sword, hitting person\'s legs and making him trip in same moment. He crouched to take the object from stranger\'s hand. The man was still alive, but unconscious. He looked at the object. \"Moogie\" - he said while standing up. Not caring about the injured, he hid his sword back into the sheath on his back and walked away. It didn\'t take long to meet the owner of object, in front of him there was Moogie herself. Not saying anything, he threw the pendant to Moogie\'s feet and passed her in silence. Finally he got to the source of explosion. There was large crowd around the building. Pushing everyone on his way away, he got to the hole in floor. Looking into it, he had only one thing to say: \"What the hell?\"
ooc: now back to the main topic ;)
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Strange things are happening to me
It had started off a confusing day for Kwartz.* An explosion in the centre of town had people running past him away from the noise screaming, a few seconds later more people were running back the other way, this time towards the noise. Whilst following the crowd (behind 5 kran as it were.) He was just about to enter an old house where the rest went when an angry looking enkidukai ran towards him screaming, a few seconds later Kwartz found himself stood in the doorway of a house in tatters... he reasoned that it was better not to think any more about it, these things could give him headaches for months... He picked up his \'HeLLp FoURE hYEr\' sign and hung it around his neck, everyone has to eat...
* Everyday is a confusing day when your 9 ft, made of solid stone and yet cant seem to reason why when you flap your arms you fail to fly.
(I like the way this is going, several storylines all meeting, when this is more in depth i think ill put them in a more sensible order though =)
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The road had been long, too long. Keldorn wasn\'t sure anymore if his feet were even moving since he lost any feeling in them about 3 hours ago.
But he couldn\'t stop here, he had almost reached Hydlaa, he could allready see the temple of Laanx towering over the many houses. A magnificent view to say the least. With what power he had left in his body he moved on, keeping his eyes on the city that came closer and closer now.
Keldorn walked about ten minutes on, now he could see smoke coming from the chimneys of the houses. Aah, the city. I\'ve heard tales about it, busy streets, merchants at every corner. What a sight it will be. -- Keldorn thought.
Keldorn had never really ventured outside the safety of the small village where he had grown up. The small village had been his home for his entire youth, and he would most likely have lived out his entire life there if he didn\'t have such a need for adventure in his blood.
The tales he had heard from the travelers that sometimes stayed for a night in their village made Keldorn curious about this mysterious outside world, but of all the stories they had to tell, Keldorn was most interested in the stories about this city, this city called Hydlaa. The biggest and most beatifull city of the realms. If he would ever leave his home, that would be his first adventure. Reach the city that had allready taken shape in his head: Hydlaa.
Keldorn could now see people standing at the gates, by the looks of them they had traveled from far away. Their clothes looked worn from travel, dirty. Not much unlike his own he noticed as he looked down to reach inside his bag for some water.
They were merchants if he was not mistaken. They had large caravans with in them what looked like cloths.
They seemed to be talking to some guards standing at the gates.
Keldorn now was close enough to overhear their conversation: \"I\'m sorry, but you cannot go through that street. There has been an accident there, some sort of an explosion. You\'ll have to go around it.\" the guard said to the merchant.
\"But that will take me too much time! I have to deliver these goods in half an hour, I am allready late!\" the merchant replied, shouting.
Keldorn walked past the guards and merchants, they didn\'t seem to notice him. Since he wasn\'t that large anyway. So, an explosion? I have a feeling this city is going to get pretty interesting. -- Keldorn thought and smiled.
As he entered the city he could see tens of people walking in all directions, people talking to eachother. Merchants yelling across the streets.
It seemed like chaos to Keldorn, like the world was about to end and everyone was rushing to save themselves.
Allthough Keldorn had a feeling that he was the only one noticing the chaos, City folk -- he thought.
Walking down the street he saw several guards rushing down the street, they seemed to be in a hurry. \"Quick, to the site of the accident\"; the leader yelled.
The accident? -- Keldorn thought, Must be that explosion, could be worth checking out.
Keldorn\'s curiousity was too great, he had to know what was going on. Just a young boy, a sword he had inherited, and a unsationable need for adventure.
Keldorn followed the guards, running after them with all the strength he had left in his tired body.
Finally he could see black smoke, a lot of people were at the site. Hurrying back and forth.
Several people were standing around some hole, looking down.
Keldorn approached the hole, slowly.
Looking down he could not see much. His eyes had too much trouble seeing through the smoke which was still covering most of the entire place. Suddenly he heard something beside him: \"What the hell?\", someone said beside him.
Keldorn looked to his side, there was a Dermorian standing there, looking down the hole aswell.
The Dermorian, now noticing he was being watched, looked at Keldorn.
Keldorn, not so sure what to say said: \"D- Do you know what happened here?\"
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THE day had come. it was time......
i was young then, and we were a rare commodity and need for my severcies were few any far between, but the pay would be enough for life times
the \"job\" wasn\'t simple as i would have liked, my target was as elusive as they get , for months we played a cat and mouse game, it was as if he knew i was comming for him. time and time again he had out smarted me. however i knew he would slip make a mistake and i would get to him
that day had come sooner than i imagined , i had traced him down to a taveren it was out of the way and the authorties would be too far away to save him or ever know what happened
the lock was easy to pick, tavs didnt offer have much in secruity for its customes. I opened the door slowly my monent lay at hand.
\"helo, please do come in,\" the voice beckoned it had that raspy feel \" Ive been expecting you \"
i was shocked, dumb folded he couldent ,have he cant no!!!
\"Yes ! \" he said almost as if he was reading my mind \" but i did expect you to arive latter, it seems that i under estimated you dear Balac \"
HE knew my name BUT how ! ive never used outside help as i considered my self to be in the best of the best in my field there couldent been a leak even my employer did not know !
\"you can come in its safe ive havent done anything to the room thoses pesky owners would have charged me extra\"
his voice sounded asuring trustable , i entered even though my mind was screaming not for me to enter
\"you must be looking for this too \" his skinny frial hand placed the \'package\' on to the table beside him
\"years ago ive been entrusted with the task of keeping this crystal,\" his eyes looked stright at me they penetrated my mind \" and iam afraid the crystal does not accpet me and i therefore i must chose a new barear for the crystal before i leave this plane.\"
\"but how did .... you know.... how could you kn ... \"
\"Beacuse i was the one who hired you,\" the old man smiled as he saw the confusion on my face
\"The past months you have suceded the challanges and traps that i have set for you,\" i rembered one trip wire trap that lunched a salvo of bolts at me \" i belive you deem worthy of bareing the crystal or at least my part of it \"
\"but why .... why me ? \"
\"becaue the crystal chose You,\" i was getting no where i barely understod him and what did he mean by \'my part of it\' \"in time it will reveal to you what you must do.\"
\"now you my friend must do what ive payed you to do,\" he smiled \"you have to kill me now.\"
he opend his arms as if receiving me and closed his eyes and that was the last thing he ever did
i picked up the crystal from the round table and soon as my finger tip touched the crystal a pain i fought aginst it but it like a creeping vine it was slowly encloseing my soul and my mind wanted to scream but it blocked my mind then it all became claer ... it told me what i had to do and i obyed
now it was time ... time to return to hydlla city
hope u guys liked it :)
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Good move all. Lets stick to the original storyline *Looks angrily at seperotX( :P*. Here\'s the second installment of my narrative:
The Lord of Flies
Auran trudged on in the Darkness. He could feel the slime sucking beneath the soles of his boots. He could see better in the dark than most but these passages were dark with an unnatural darkness. A solid darkness. A darkness that could almost be felt. Auran avoided striking a light as long as he was unsure if its glow might be visible from the hole. He advanced roughly making for the gurgling noise in the distance relying on senses other than vision.
The sewer went on straight and downward inclined for a fair distance and then turned sharply right. Auran could hear tiny creatures scurrying about. He could feel numerous tiny eyes watching him. The stench had grown even stronger. The sewers turned left again and Auran decided it was safe enough to strike a light. Still he paused and listened to make sure no one had followed him. The passage ways were silent save the pitterpatter of tiny feet, the ocaasional squeek and the dripping of slime from the walls in muffled plops. Nothing else seemed to stir. It was silence save for the distant gurgling which had grown a bit closer.
The crystal embedded in the hilt of his Vorpal Sword lit up. The passage was filled with a eery blue glow. He could see the moulds and jellies grow even thicker here. Small rodent like creatures, warty and bloated, lurked in the shadows among the crumbling brickwork while slug like creatures slowly crawled among the slime. He could catch glimpses of various small creatures trapped in the jellies, being digested. In a bigger blob of Ochre jelly he even thought he glimpsed a human jaw bone and a hand. He looked towards his feet. The small trickle of thick fluid he had seen earlier had grown broader. He soon realised the cause. The liquid was oozing from the walls where the slime stuck and feeding the stream.
He paid little mind to the details having seen this and more before. Deeper he went into the labyrinth in the bowels of Hydlaa. It had been a steady descent throughout if not a sharp one. The gurgling had grown stronger and almost seemed around the corner. A faint light appeared to come from behind the next turn. The crystal went dark as Auran twisted it. He carefully crept close keeping against the wall.
The sewer channel came to an abrupt end as the floor fell away. Auran went down on his knees and crept on. The black fluid formed a putrid waterfall as it plunged over the ledge into a ring shaped pool forty feet below. This was a massive circular hall. Auran could make out twenty other sewer channels opening into it, feeding the vile pool below with the black liquid. Its roof was still ten feet above his position supported by four massive pillars of stone. Large slugs clung to these pillars for at least ten feet above the floor. The glow he had percieved came from the center of this hall. In the center of the pool, on an island of stone, stood a huge iron statue. The form of a humanoid with compound eyes of a fly ,tentacles issueing from its scalp and eight insectlike arms. A massive iron slug was near its feet. The groud around it was littered with skeletons. It was too far to make out their races and indeed the need was little. Auran recognised this place. It was a shrine to Baalzebub, the lord of flies, the slug duke. A diety mostly unknown in these realms. In front of the statue was a stone altar and on it lay a large Black crystal. Despite being black it seemed to glow in all the chromatic components at once. It was this radiance that filled the chamber.\"Obviously a offering to the lord by a devotee\" thought Auran. \"I wonder how a sect of devil worsippers came to be here and whatever happened to them?\" thought he. But this wasn\'t the time for idle speculation. \"I must get down there\" he muttered to himself.
Fin again.
Hey how about that chapter title idea!!?
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The rain fell from the hollow sky once again. Moogie sat quietly in a quaint little caf? a few streets away from the accident. Infront of her, a small cup of coffee; the liquid spinning to the motion of her spoon as she stirred it idly.
So carelessly... he just threw it on the ground. And he didn\'t even look at me... he used to have such a sparkle in his eyes... She mused. One hand, as always, was caressing the pendant she almost lost, the enigmatic stone she seemed to love so dearly.
Maybe he doesn\'t remember me. It\'s been a long time. The Enkidukai frowned as she remembered her old friend and she took a sip from the cup. Other faces floated by, people she had not seen in so long. Many guilds had called upon their members a while ago and left to faraway lands, admidst rumours of great wars between those who wanted to control the legendary Crystals.
Ahh... those... I wonder if Seperot managed to find that one yet... Moogie was so deep in thought that she didn\'t even notice when a stranger appeared in the caf? and sat down opposite her with his own cup. He paused to glance at her for a second, before deciding she must be mad, or blind, or both, and turned his attention to his newspaper.
Moogie continued to explore her thoughts, each one clumsily arguing for her attention and making little sense in the process. Her absent gaze drifted to the cover of the newspaper infront of her, and slowly, she focused on the headline.
\"RANGERS GUILD FINDS 2 CRYSTALS IN ANCIENT CRYPT!\" It announced. This perked the feline\'s interest, and pulling herself out of her musings, she began reading the passage. It talked briefly about the origins, purpose, and power of the crystals, before going on to mention the people involved in the exploration of the crypt, its location and other miscellaneous details.
The stranger peeked over the top of the paper to find her staring at the writing. With a cough, he sat up and folded it away. Moogie snapped back into the world and sat up straight in her chair as he left his seat and headed for the exit.
How strange...
Note: If you want to join in the story at this point, feel free to be the stranger in the caf?. I like making opportunities for people to enter the storyline. :)
Also note: Changes made so that something in the future of Sep\'s storyline makes sense. It\'s much better this way. :)
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Seperot fumbeld with his keys as he ran to The Rangers Guild HQ but as he ran closer he saw the door was broken open. The rogue slowed down. was he too late? he swung open the doorto find a bloody masecare his whole guild dead. Seperot paniced and ran inside \"GRAKRIM!!! MONKETH!!!\" he kept yelling as he ran though. he chouldent find them dead bodys or live ones. he eventually found a groupof enemys dead he checked ther emblem on ther shirts and realised the faction but dident know there name he had to find info so he chould save grakrim and monketh...if they wherent dead yet.
The rogue landed in kada\'s tavern and wandered into the far corner not looking around as he when.he figured he\'d ask questions after a stiff drink.
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TJ left the cafe feeling a little annoyed at Moogie not recognising him despite his attempts to get her attention. Heading through the bustling city streets TJ made his way to the city gates and began to barter for supplies with merchants being stopped there, the supplies being for the reason he had decided to take rest in Hyldaa
Being a magician himself the idea of the Crystals he had heard so much about was something that could not be ignored... godlike power was the aim of all dark magic users and at last there might be a way to achieve it he thought as he packed the food into a bag over his shoulder and attached the waterskins to his belt.
\"Best place to start is the crypt I suppose\" TJ said to himself, hoping clues to other Crystal locations might be there, shortly after he half sighed to himself \"The willd is no place for a mage of my stature..\" and began to set off into the wilds outside Hlydaa, hoping no one else would be at the crypt, at least not for the same reasons as him.
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\"D- Do you know what happened here?\" - the Enkidukai asked. Draklar glanced at the hole once again and shaked his head: \"I have no idea... I heard the explosion and just got here. Well one thing\'s for sure... it was no alchemist\" - he noticed surprised look on Enkidukai\'s face - \"Nevermind\". Draklar crouched and looked deeply into the hole. He tried to catch any view from the inside, when dead-cold thrill started spreading over his body. He couldn\'t take it, Draklar closed his eyes and moved away from the hole. \"Definitely... Definitely not alchemist... There\'s something very evil about that place\" Suddenly, Draklar recalled things he heard in the tavern few days ago. Some adventurers were talking about some cursed crystals. Since then he heard other news about them, but he didn\'t really believe that anyone could find them. The thought to explore this darkness was very tempting, but without right equipment it had no sense. Indeed, Draklar was meant to stay in Hydlaa just for few hours. He would be on his way to nearby fortress by now, if not for the explosion. Draklar stood up and turned to the enkidukai \"well... I\'m going, good luck finding out what happened, kid\". And so, he went to the Dark Empire fortress. Not only to equip himself, but also report what he found out.
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Keldorn descents down the hole
Keldorn watched the Dermorian turn his back and walk away. Keldorn frowned, Strange , he thought. Why was he so afraid of this hole? It only made Keldorn more curious as to what was down there.
Keldorn turned to the hole again and got on his knees. Trying to see anything, or atleast something that would make him understand a bit more what the Dermorian was talking about.
When he got on his knees all he noticed was a foul smell coming from the hole, Keldorn immediatly got back straight up again and took a few steps back. Holding his paw before his nose.
But Keldorn\'s curiousity only got bigger, wasn\'t this what he came down here for? Adventure? The hole was starting to look more and more irresistable, he just had to know what was down there.
A more wise man would probably not have gone down and used his common sense, but Keldorn was strange to these parts, and not very clever. He acted on impulse and on his desire for adventure.
Keldorn looked around, most of the people were busy tending to the wounded or trying to clean up the mess lying everywhere.
Keldorn looked to the hole again, a moment of doubt, maybe fear, overfell him.
The hole looked dangerous, it probably was.
But his curiousity got the better of him again. Keldorn quickly scanned the area. Noone was looking, from the shadows he quickly made a run for the hole.
Clinging on the inside wall of the hole he scaled down it, looking down to see where he was going.
The smell was getting more intense with every meter he went down in the hole. When he finally felt solid ground he let go of the wall.
Keldorn stood still for a few seconds as he let his eyes adjust to the darkness, Slowly he started to see shapes form.
Never had he seen anything like this, there seemed to be certain .. things growing on the walls. The foul stench was still present.
Logic told Keldorn that this would have to be some sort of sewer, Keldorn allready was sorry that he made such a stupid decision on coming down here.
Getting stuck in a sewer was not really one of the most heroic things. He tried to scale back up the wall, but it was too slippery. Keldorn fell back down in a puddle of some thick black substance.
Keldorn got back up, cursing under his breath. Now he was even more dirty than he allready was, this turned out to be a lot less fun than he thought it would be.
There seemed to be no other solution than to venture on into the sewers, there must be something down here, he thought, trying to find some good in his current situation.
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moving out of the forest in to a clearing, Balac streached his acheing wings, it was time to fly again. Flying was exuashting and demanding, often many the one thing all other races could never ever do young kylows would meet an untimely end by pushing themselves to far and to hard, But it was faster than walking or hitching a ride from some merchant, flying also made tracking him very diffcult
He took a running start , it was often easier to leap of a clif or hill but there was none close by where he had landed, he could have taken of verticaly but that would have taken up alot more strength then was nessary to atain flight.
He was soaring now above the tree tops, and even after so many flights the nolvetly of being able to fly never worn off, it was freedom doing so escaping from naturaly.
\"turn right\" it was the crystal, balac had often questioned the crystal\'s jugment but he knew it was never wrong. He leaned his body weight towards his the right and his body followed. And there just under the horzin lay their destination
it was getting dark now, it would be easier to land in side the city walls with out being seen \"perfect \" he though
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Hey no fair keldorn. Now you will find out my secret identity. Then you\'ll either have to join me or become my mortal enemy:P. But whatever you do keep my secret to yourself;). Third part:
The Master
Auran hesitated a moment. He never had shapeshifted to his original form in these realms. His reasons were various but the most prominent ones in his mind were that if anyone saw him, it would give away the presence of a strange being like him and more likely than not he\'d have crazy demonologists or bounty hunters on his trail. Distraction and constant botherations were the last things he needed. But there was another more powerful reason. His native form didnt appear to tolerate the light of this subterranean sun. He tired very soon if he lingered in it. But none of these mattered here. There was no sun and he certainly hoped noone would be foolish enough to follow him.
Auran form tensed and stretched out as the transformation began. His skin grew drarker until it was dark as the granite which formed the pillars. His eyes were wreathed in fires of hell. A hot blaze swirled about him as he rose into the air and began to grow to almost twice his human size. Talons sprand from his fingers as he lurched and his back grew arched. The wings behind him formed. Tattered wings of flame. Auran leapt from his perch and soared towards the statue. He came down in front of it. He felt comfortable in this place, one devilkin in the temple of another. He smiled as he felt the piled skeletons crackle and splinter under his feet. He touched the statue\'s head. It was cold and grimy. It had been bathed more than once in blood. The ironwork reeked of death and decay.
Auran smiled and turned. Maybe someday he would have followers of his own. The altar was right in front of him. A low pedestal of stone about two feet wide on either side. The crystal lay in its center amid various other relics and bits of dead mortals. A hand seemed to be clenching it. The part under the elbow was missing.
Auran reached for it but suddenly drew his hand back and turned. The liquid of the ring pool was in turmoil. It seethed and bubbled. Some enormous creature appeared to be swimming in its depths. \"How deep it this thing!?\", Auran wondered. He drew his great sword. Its blade licked by flames the sword glowed an incandescent red. He feared little but was apprehensive. Cleary a gaurdian of the temple, the supposed \"Vermin Keeper\". A lesser devil perhaps. He prepared for a battle just in case this creature didn\'t recognise him as the master race.
fin
Good job Keldorn. You put in a chapter title. Why dont others follow suit.
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Heh, we\'ll see where this goes Auran. Don\'t even know that myself yet :P
Foolish boy
Keldorn kept to the wall, it was the most dry part. The ground was higher there and most of the black water was in the middle of the narrow corridors.
Keldorn\'s eyes were starting to get more and more at ease in the darkness.
The sewer was a maze, various corridors leading to unknown places. His heart was beating faster and faster.
He could just picture himself dying here in this sewer. Dying?, Keldorn thought. He realized that he had never thought of dying before. It was something you do when you are old. That\'s how it was supposed to be, he never realized adventurers had to live with this everyday. Who knows what could be lurking down here?
And even if it was deserted, there was nothing eatable anyway. He would die of starvation for sure.
A rat ran by Keldorn\'s feet, Keldorn was so tense that the rat made him jump back in terror.
Keldorn grabbed for his short sword and kept it at the ready. Breathing heavily, his eyes going fast to every corner expecting some hideous monster to appear.
When nothing happened for a minute, Keldorn slowly got himself back together again and moved on. But his sword was still firmly in his paws, he would not let go of it till he was out of this hell.
Just as his thoughts had brought him at the verge of panic he heard a noise up ahead. Unearthly sounds, there seemed to be an eary glow coming from down one corridor.
Keldorn kept in the shadows, he didn\'t want to give his position away. He slowly moved from shadow to shadow closer to the place where he had heard the sounds.
There was some hall down there, a statue he could see now.
The statue was hideous, why would someone create such a statue? And what was it doing down here?
Keldorn did not have much time to ponder about this, as when he got closer he spotted something else.
Keldorn gasped, there was someone, something, standing there.
It had .. wings, it\'s skin looked tough. Like he had seen in the fields where he grew up, some of the creatures there needed twenty men with spears to be able to bring it down.
It was the only comparison he could make with what little experience he had.
The creature was dangerous, he knew that much.
Keldorn kept in the shadows, watching the creature. Too terrified to move, hoping, or even praying that the creature wouldn\'t notice him.
Keldorn was trying to control his breathing, which was getting harder to do by the minute. Suddenly he let his sword slip from his hands. The young enkidukai tried to catch it before it hit the ground, but was too late.
A loud noise of steel hitting a hard rock floor could be heard throughout the hall.
Keldorn quickly dove even further into the shadows, making himself as small as he possibly could.
He closed his eyes, too afraid to look in the direction of the creature. He just wished he had never even left home. That it was all just a dream. How foolish he had been.
-
Here\'s the next installment:
The master: Part 2
A sharp metallic sound drew Auran\'s attention. He glanced up. It came from the direction of his former entree. He had been followed. He would have investigated but the matter at hand was pressing. The pool grew more turbulent by the second.
Suddenly it grew calm and out of it started streaming vermin. Rats of every description, their little eyes growing yellow, swarms of crawlers, beetles and worms. But most of all came flies. Swarms of monstrous flies buzzed and flew in the hall till it rang with noise of their wings. Auran waited. He knew that the master of these legions had to make an appearance. And so it did. A terrible abomination, a living mass of cadavers! It had a roughly humanoid form. It quivered like a gelatinous mass and indeed that it was for it was composed of decaying flesh. Auran could make out bits of visages which once adorned mortals among its form. There was no face! A gaping maw lined with countless teeth greeted him with a hoarse moan. \"A construct!\" exclaimed Auran. He marveled the workmanship of the makers who had crafted this being of nightmares, the Vermin Keeper. He had little intention of destroying it. He had other plans.
The keeper paused for a moment. It seemed to recognize something. \"Perhaps the master race?!\" thought Auran. He lowered his sword and advanced a step. The keeper suddenly gave a low moan and lunged at him! Auran side stepped as the creature brushed against him. It had a purulent warmth. It made a gurgling noise as Auran\'s blade plunged through it. A sharp hissing sound indicated that the blade scalded as it went through. It was like plunging a knife through pudding. The sword slid effortlessly in and out without harming the creature much.
Auran readied for a second attack. But the creature hesitated now. It had tasted the infernal blade and it struck a note in whatever mind it possessed. Still it was unsure. It drew back to the edge of its pool and suddenly Auran found himself being rushed at by the vermin army. Auran smiled. The creatures stopped dead in their tracks. They dared not approach for they sensed a greater evil. And as suddenly as it came, the keeper was gone. A squelching sound announced its departure and along with it its vermin legions. Auran was satisfied. The creature was his now.
Auran turned to his original objective. He strode towards the altar and grabbed the crystal. No sooner he had grabbed it he recoiled with shock! The crystal seemed to penetrate his skin with sharp barbed tentacles! The tentacles tore through his veins and reached for his heart. Auran groaned with the intense pain but held on. He had expected this. The artifact had not been intended for his hands. It was rejecting him with all its fury. He clenched it tighter as the tentacles reached for his heart and started crushing it. He could bear no more. He threw it down with force. The power was not meant to be his. He roared with anger and the passages rung with his cry. His eyes glowed fiery red and flames leapt from them as he grabbed his sword. He struck the statue of Baalzebub with the infernal Vorpal. The iron melted in the path of the blade and the cleaved torso landed with a crash at his feet.
Somewhat pacified, Auran quickly decided what to do next. He tore the end of his vest and make a crude bag. Then he gently prodded the crystal into it with a bone. This done he carefully picked it up and tucked it into his sash. with a flap of his mighty wings he rose and headed the way he had come from. Suddenly it struck him. The hole must be surrounded by curious busybodies of the town by now. He must find another way out. He headed for the opposite sewer and flew into its darkness completely forgetting his clandestine companion in the process.
fin
Auran forgot you Keldorn. However you didn\'t learn who the fiend you saw was. I await your actions :).
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Seperot was getting angry no one in the tavern knew what the symbol was. he asked artound the market and all his contacts none knew Suddenly a assasin jumped at him from above knocking the wind out of him. The feline roll dodged a sword ment for his head and quickly rose to his feet. the assasin was a female coverd head to toe in black and bearing a longsword. Seperot had no further time to thing befor the assliant lunged at him. Seperot was more ready that time and parryed then swung for her arm. She was fast but not so fast to dodge the blade as it came down slicing her fingers as she tryed to move. she grabedher hand as seperot kicked her to the ground and stood on her one foot lightly on her throat \" who are you?\" The rogue demanded pressing down on her neck. the people in the town square where staring in shock of what had just gone on Sepeort knew the guards whould be here in a minuet so had to get his answer quick. she spat back at him and replied \" I shall tell you nothing scum exept your friends will die as soon as we have the crystal.\" she shot her hand to her mouth and chewed a small glass vial. Seperot jumped of her and kicked her he know she just took poison. he moved into the shadows after losing a few people who followed him then walked into a cafe and sat down next to a feline who seemed spaced out he sweared he knew her. \"moogie?\"....
admitliy it lacks detail but you get the drift
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\"Uh?? ...Seppie!\" The rogue\'s sudden appearance snapped Moogie out of her thoughts, and the sight of him alive and well made her face light up with happiness.
\"Are you okay? Did you find what you were looking for?\" She asked. Seperot raised his hands in a gesture to calm the girl down. He seemed slightly out of breath, but answered calmly, with a sly grin spreading across his furry face.
\"You betcha I found it... look at this beauty!\" Said he. Careful to shield the artifact from the eyes of strangers, the Enkidukai pulled a small object from his pocket and showed it to the girl in cupped hands. Moogie marvelled at the crystal.
\"This... is one of the legendary crystals?\" Moogie asked. Seperot nodded, his smile broadening with her reaction. \"It\'s so beautiful...\" The girl said, admiring the crystal\'s sparkle that seemed to dance brightly in his hands. As she peered closer, however, Moogie\'s expression changed. The other feline watched as she seemed to show shock, worry and a hint of recognition all at once. He looked at her questioningly.
\"What\'s wrong?\" Moogie did not answer. At first, Seperot thought she had receeded back into her thoughts, that perhaps she had somehow become mad. But then he saw it. Her hand lifted her pendant from her chest and brought it close to the glinting object in Seperot\'s paws. Both felines gasped at the resemblance.
\"My god Moogie... you\'re right... by Talad, you\'ve had a crystal strapped around your neck since before anybody ever knew about the legend... you lucky girl!\" He exclaimed. Seperot was incredibly excited at this revelation. Now the Rangers had two of the crystals in their possession, he thought, and when he found Grakrim and Monketh they would have three! He grabbed Moogie\'s hands and bounced happily on his seat... untill he noticed the girl\'s silence. At once, the bright expression he had plastered on his face drooped.
\"What?\"
\"I\'m sorry Sep... I know what this means to you... but I can\'t let go of my pendant. I don\'t believe in this power struggle... nobody should have them all... you know?\" She knew what it meant, indeed. Her eyes pleaded with him to understand. \"Nothing good can come of all this. I hope you don\'t think... I\'m betraying you again...\" Moogie\'s eyes began to fill with sorrowful tears. No explaination was needed. Seperot knew the meaning and sincerity of her words.
\"Moogie... I know what you mean. I don\'t have a clue what to do now. I\'d never just take it from you, but you gotta understand that someone will eventually get them all. Even yours.\" He reasoned. \"Would you rather the Cabal, or the Black Order, or some other dark group get a hold of them?\"
\"Of course not... but I don\'t think anybody deserves this power, surely you see?\" Moogie cast her gaze down. As always, her hands were busy twisting and rubbing the pendant in idle fascination. Seperot had often wondered about her obsession and attatchment to that piece of jewelry... and now he understood why.
\"Look...\" The rogue began. He peered at her untill she looked at him before continuing. \"You don\'t have to hand it over to the Guild. I mean, not right now anyway. But you know something will happen soon... you know someone will find out about this and take it from you, whatever it takes. As long as you carry this little precious trinket, you\'re in danger. Do you understand that?\"
\"Yes.\" Was Moogie\'s curt reply. She nodded and clenched the crystal in her fist tightly. \"I\'ll keep it hidden from view, from now on. Now that I realise... what it is.\"
The two felines talked for a while more before departing the caf? together. They parted a little way down the highstreet, after Seperot\'s promise to her that he would protect her in any way he could. He hated to leave her with such a precious possession and grave responsibility hanging dangerously over her, but he had no choice. He must find his guildmates before they were lost forever.
Moogie made her way home, drifting once again into her deep, medatative thoughts.
Edited: Changed the guild name that Moogie mentions to one that is actually evil. ;)
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ooc: bah Moogie... that changes a lot...
Not much time had passed after Draklar left Hydlaa, when the strange feeling returned. The thrill began to spread over his body again. Starting with his right hand it moved up and up thru his arm, delivering him lots of physical and mental pain. He wasn\'t going to give up that easly. He used all of his strenght to stay conscious, but still... the thrill wasn\'t stopping its spreading. Soon it got to his neck and kept moving further. Suddenly... darkness covered his mind. He didn\'t feel anything anymore. He stayed in this state for some time, when from the darkness an image appeared. Some person... he couldn\'t tell who was it, but it was enkidukai for sure. It was rather small even for that race. Before he could notice anything more a blinding flash striked him. Next thing he noticed was that he\'s lying on ground. It seemed that not much time passed while he was having the vision. He stood up.
\"Indeed, the vision... what could it mean?\" - he wondered. - \"Wait, I had this feeling before... next to that kid... could the one from my vision be him?\" There was no time to lose. He had to find out. He turned back to the Hydlaa and run as fast as he could to the place where the explosion occured.
When he finally arrived, he couldn\'t find the enkidukai. \"Could he go down? If he was the enkidukai from my vision, it may be possible\" Draklar asked people around if they noticed anyone going down, but no one even knew about the small enkidukai. Disapointed he glanced at the exit. There were few guards standing at the demolished doors observing the passing people. Draklar had to try again. He asked the guards if they\'ve seen anyone like that going outside. \"Sorry, no\" - he heard as reply. Draklar quickly turned to the hole. \"Mayhap... he\'s there\" - he whispered. He started searching the area for anything he could use inside. He managed to build few primitive torches -\"Should be enough\" - he thought and turned to the hole. He looked inside again and sighed - \"Here goes nothing\" - he said and moved inside.
His feet finally reached the ground of the sewers. Using simple fire spell he lightened one of the newly created torches. The place wasn\'t pretty, something slimy was covering the walls and the floor. Without his armour, he wasn\'t feeling self-confident. He had to move further though and so he did. He started turning to various corridors trying to find the right path. Without any success. He thought he was lost in the maze, when suddenly he heard strange noises. Quickly he realised where were they comming from and rushed in that way. The noise started to calm down, but still, he was running in that way. Not carrying about his safety, in the rush he suddenly triped over something. He landed in slimy substance and quickly jumped back to his feet. He looked back. There he was, the enkidukai Draklar was looking for. \"Kid, are you alright?\" - he asked
The enkidukai looked up at the dermorian. \"Oh good... i thought something happened to you. - seeing the fright in his eyes, Draklar tried to calm him down \"Don\'t worry, nothing\'s going to happen to you. Let\'s start this properly\" - he smiled - \"My name is Draklar Az\'randal, what\'s yours?\"
ooc: over to you, Kel :P
edit: oh sorry, Kel... didn\'t notice, but i made a little edit :) i hope tis ok now :)
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Seperot had his head down thinking.He was thinking about how the pendant had worked its wayto an almost obsesive part of moogies mind. He was interested about how many crystals this cult had not many at most 2 seperot kewn where the 4 others where he listed it out in a mumbeling fasion Moogie, me, grakrim and...the mountan. The feline knew something most did not the the 5 crystals must all be brought to the mountan where the 6th was inbedded in rock. the magic of the crystal prevented it to ever be taken out. he then pondered on his own growing obsesion of crystals and the risks today alone he took foe a small piece of crystal. The rogue had ended up in an ally way but he wasent lost. He jumped off one wall and onto the other sides roof if he chouldent get the answer off someone he just wait for it to come by. Not 5 minuets later a dwarf walked down the same ally he did Seperot spoted a tatto on his shoulder and jumped down silently and started to follow the dwarf.\"The hunter becomes the hunted\" The rogue thought to himself as he followed the dwarf.
just to point out seperots info can bewrong about the mountan
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ooc: Oy! drak, noone was supposed to notice me go down the hole. There go my sneak abilities, flushed down the toilet. :P .... heh, thanks for the edit ;)
Keldorn looked up, a hint of recognition came over his face. Followed by surprise. The Dermorian!, he thought.
Keldorn\'s thoughts were racing back and forth, trying to put all the events that had happened in an order that it would make sense to him.
He only got more confused, What is the Dermorian doing here?, this all seemed so weird.
The Dermorian, now noticing the enkidukai\'s confusion and surprise, became a little unsettled. He repeated his last sentence, hoping to get through to the young boy: \"What is your name, boy?\". Trying to put on an as friendly face as he could possibly muster.
Keldorn replied; \"uh .. my name, yes. I\'m .. Keldorn.\".
Keldorn tried to stand up, to his own surprise he succeeded to pull himself up. He dusted his clothes off, somehow they looked even more dirty than before he did so.
Looking at himself he didn\'t feel like an adventurer, this was definitely not how it was supposed to be. \"Nice to meet you\", the Dermorian said.
He felt really stupid, standing there infront of the Dermorian. \"Ehm, I\'m not usually this dirty\", he said, trying to fake a smile.
The Dermorian did not seem to look at Keldorn\'s clothes, he instead ignored Keldorn\'s comment and quickly scanned the area around them.
When his eyes wandered back to Keldorn he said: \"What happened down here?\"
Keldorn wasn\'t really sure how to answer that question. He didn\'t even know himself what had happened, so how could he ever explain it to someone else?
Keldorn tried as best as he could; \"there was a creature here. It was .. there was a fight. .. and a crystal, there was a crystal.\"
Somehow he knew the crystal was important, he didn\'t know how, he just knew.
\"the crystal, he ... the crystal was burning in his hands. It seemed to hurt him. The creature took it, in a bag.\"
Keldorn tried to recollect more, put it into words. But he could not, he was allready having trouble keeping his current thoughts in a coherent order.
Keldorn looked at Draklar. It surprised him that Draklar seemed to understand some of the things Keldorn had said.
Noticing Draklar was lost in thoughts, Keldorn looked around the floor. He had lost his sword here somewhere.
He spotted it some meters away, when he had picked it up he turned back to Draklar and said:
\"What is going to happen now?\"
Draklar looked up in the direction of Keldorn, \"Well, first of all we should get out of this place. We should not be here for too long. It\'s too dangerous.\"
They moved on into the sewer, Keldorn following Draklar closely.
Some of the things Keldorn had said troubled Draklar, A creature, in search of the crystals, and the magic imbued in the crystal prevented him from picking it up. This cannot be good, I must speak to someone about this.
After several corridors they reached a long ladder leading upwards, light could be seen at the top, \"An exit\", Draklar said.
They both moved up the ladder when they finally reached the top, the streets were up there. Keldorn and Draklar crawled up from the sewer exit. The Azure sun hurt their eyes from being down in the dark for so long.
Keldorn was relieved to finally be up in the city again. Eventhough the city was chaos, it was far more preferable than being down there in that sewer.
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[occ] Tycho speaks/thinks to himself, indicated in italics. I try to have him speak as often as possible in prose or strange riddle speak, but don\'t expect any consistency there. [/occ]
An Eye About
\"I know myself as me, and me as I, and I as myself, but you do not know me, nor I, nor myself, so you can call me Tycho.\"
People were everywhere; rushing about to treat the wounded, dousing the flames, clearing away the rubble, and most just standing about trying to figure out what was going on. No one would notice the barely visible figure, sliding across the rooftops or slinking against the back walls. Sometimes it would stop and watch, like a cat surveying a garden, waiting for a sign of movement to indicate some small animal it might launch itself upon. However this particular creature had no interest in pouncing upon anyone... not yet anyway. For now, Tycho was content to stay hidden and unnoticed amongst the shadows. And watch.
In such a large city, surely there will be tales to behold, for many a great story is already rooted in this city of old. Now looking around what can I scrye, searching this place with my ever keen eye? There is a hole at the source of this mess, yes some folks have travelled down there indeed. But, augh! What a smell! Why would anyone do such a thing? I must only hope affairs below are of no entrancing grandeur, for that is a stench I simply cannot endure. Then there\'s this matter of a lady healer and a thief, resolved by an old warrior with a heart full of grief. And now she is gathered with the leader of her band, each discovering they have great treasures in hand. What a city, what a time, I may find this trip worth my dime...
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Kidnap
It was the day after the explosion that destroyed one of Hydlaa\'s otherwise quiet, residential streets. Moogie stepped out of her house into the frosty morning air, pausing to take a deep breath and glance at the sky. The Azure Sun was still quite dull... 6 o\'clock at most, she judged.
With her, the feline carried a large rugsack, seemingly full to bursting with items. She had begun to worry about her safety, wondering if anybody knew about the pendant, or if someone had overheard her conversation with Seperot in the caf? the previous day. She had spent the night packing useful items, clothes, food and medical supplies, aswell as pouring through old books and maps of Yliakum, looking for a suitably secluded place in the world to hide herself from danger. When all preperations had been completed, she went straight to bed. She would be needing all the rest she could get that night.
The streets were silent and empty. The feline trod carefully along the icy road, watching as each breath materialised before her like a gentle puff of fog. She was glad to have wrapped up so warmly today. With her arms folded close, she followed the route that would lead her to the exit of the city.
A keen pair of eyes watched her from above. They narrowed in delight as they followed her along the street below.
The Enkidukai glanced upwards briefly- she had sworn she\'d just heard laughter from the rooftops. But no sound reached her pointed ears now. Perhaps it was just the wind.
She continued along the path, quickening her pace through the cold air. Something did not feel right. The girl had a horrible feeling that she was being watched from all sides. Sunlight would glint on something metallic in the darkened alleyways, yet when she turned to look properly, nothing was there. Her heart beat faster by the minute. Something\'s following me... I know it... this isn\'t just panic... I have to reach the guardtower..!
But she would never reach it. A huge bulky figure stepped out from between two houses just behind Moogie. It lunged forward and wrapped its huge hand around her mouth before she could even turn in suprise. Eyes wide with terror, the girl dropped her rugsack on the ground and began frantically trying to escape her assailant\'s clutches.
She yanked at his heavy arm, but he lifted her from the ground effortlessly. She kicked her legs with all her might, but touched nothing but air. Moogie was losing oxygen; the hand was so huge it was also cutting off her breathing through her nose. She desperately tried to scream, the noises getting caught in her throat, untill her vision began to fade and the feline\'s body slowly became limp.
Only when the girl was unconcious did the heavy attacker release his grip. He pulled the girl over his shoulder and trudged away in the opposite direction to the girl\'s intended destination. Behind him, Moogie\'s rugsack lay discarded on the ground, its contents spilling out onto the stone road.
Edited: Azure Sun details.
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Seperot rubed is neck. sleeping in a empty closet wasnot his idea of a good sleep but to was the bestplace for him to sleep while stalking the dwarf. He awoke to the dwarf closing the door. He mover quickly pickedthe door and followed the dwarf again this time the small figure wasent looking for him he was moving out of town. at the outskirts The feline whatched the cult member walki into the dark forist the rogue hated the forist it was one place had little clue of what to expect. he followed the dwaft from the tree tops and veiwed his open a tree trunk like a door and walk down. the rogue stoped the door with his foot befor it closed. as he started to desend the door behind him made a dreaded click.he was trapped with only one wayto go, down. he carryed on down and found himself in a gigantic hall tapsetrys coverd the walls showing demon lords slughtering men. there was a full prosession and a strange figure talking in the center.\" We will soon have crystal in our possetion the Wizards and near death there leader will soon fallto assasins and the girl has been captured. this leaves 3 to be found and once they are in our possetion i will use them to rule this land and you all will be my faithfull followers!!!\" mad cheers came from the rest of the hall. \"the girl......moogie!\" seperot thought to himself. he took another door right next to him and walled down the hallway.
After much searching he found a cell with 2 batterd wizards inside. he quickly picked the lock and moved inside. Monketh was already dead but grakrim moved slightly \" grakrim what happend?\" he gasped for breath \" they came without warning thousands of them\" \"have they got the crystal yet?\" the rogue urged inpatianly \"hehe *wheeze* \" grakrim opened his palm nothing was there \"what?\" seperot exclemed but then he whatched as the crystal slowly appeard his hand \" They never thought about checking for that *splutter* now go take it and leave if they find you they have 2 and all the work we put in whould be for nothing\" grakrim gasped for air as he spoke slowly his beathing stoped and whent lifeless. seperot dident whant to move he had lost everyone all his friends all exept...exept moogie! his thought of moogie returned as he forgot about the cult leader talking about a kidnapped girl. he stood up looked at the side and saw a giant fist coming towards him.
:P
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It was evening when Draklar was resting in his room in the Dark Empire\'s fortress. \"So the kid didn\'t know anything\" - he said to himself - \"If he wasn\'t the source of my pain then he couldn\'t be the one from my vision. Still... what was that creature he was talking about? Maybe leaving him alone wasn\'t such a good idea? What if this creature will try to hunt him down?\" Indeed, just after leaving the sewers Draklar just left the enkidukai giving him five octas. But after asking him few questions he knew it wasn\'t the one from his vision. Draklar couldn\'t care less. \"If he wasn\'t the one then who was it?\" He lied in his bed and closed his eyes. \"Who?\" - he asked again. He started thinking about people he met that day. Suddenly he recalled his earlier encounter - \"C-could it be Moogie? If so she might be in great danger... there\'s no time to lose, but...\" Draklar was too tired, without some sleep he couldn\'t do anything anyway. But before he went to sleep, Draklar ordered one of soldiers to wake him up at the midnight - he had to hurry.
And so it happened. Soon after the midnight the dermorian started his travel towards the Hydlaa. He didn\'t have much sleep, but it was enough for him to walk in his armour. Still, he had to take some breaks and the travel took him few hours. But he was at the gates of Hydlaa now. All he wanted to do was to contact Moogie and get some more sleep. It was pretty early and the streets were still empty. Draklar passed the gates and further the guardtower, when he noticed something on ground. At first he didn\'t care about it, but when he noticed it was a rugsack (maybe from boredom) he decided to check what is inside. The greater was his shock when he noticed the clothes - \"T-those are... Moogie\'s. What happened to her\" - Draklar sighed as he probably knew the answer - \"What\'s with this girl getting into trouble all the time?\"
He knew what to do now and he wasn\'t happy about it - \"I.... I need to contact Seperot.\" - he sighed again -\"But how?\" Draklar was out of ideas. All he decided to do for now was to go to the Kada-El\'s tavern. Maybe he\'ll meet some Ranger there.
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A Ghost At The Tavern
Draklar sat alone in the corner of the tavern, mulling over a pint of Kada El\'s finest ale. It was getting late and not a single Ranger had stopped by. Most strange since they were amongst the establishment\'s most frequent patrons. His mind half a mess from the alcohol and indecision, Draklar was just staring down at his mug. He sighed and looked back up... \"Waaaaa-ut the!?\" Draklar stumbled back almost falling over in his chair. There was someone sitting across the small table from him! At first stammering a bit, Draklar quickly regained his composure and gruff demeanor, \"Y-y-you errr, ehm, what do you want? I\'ve got a lot on my mind, and I\'d like to be alone.\" The figure just sat. Clothed in all-black garb, with only a pair of mute silver eyes visible from an opening in it\'s covering, it stared back at Draklar. At first he just tried to ignore it, but Draklar grew annoyed and started to get up to leave.
\"Wait.\" Draklar looked about a bit confused, wondering where it came from. His eyes fell back to the character still sitting at the table. As they did, it spoke again, confirming where the voice had come from. \"You are... unsure... you came here to seek answers, yes?\" \"My affairs do not concern you stranger.\" \"Perhaps not, but some resolve to your questions, I may be able to provide.\" \"I do not believe you know anything I need, and moreover I\'ve no reason to trust a queer shadow such as yourself.\" \"Most valid and well founded assertions those would often be sir, but this shade sees and hears many a thing.\" \"Look I\'ve no time for your nonsense, now if you\'ll excuse me I\'ll be off now.\" \"You won\'t find what you are looking for here, so when you are ready, make your way to the Zolokand Forest.\"
Draklar was heading towards the exit as it gave him that last piece of advice. Just some crazy fool, it can\'t know anything... Still he didn\'t have any leads so far. Draklar turned back to perhaps further question the mysterious being, however he saw no trace of it anywhere. It had vanished as though it were some sort of apparition. Draklar trudged out of Kada El\'s, now even more uncertain of what to do.
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hey errrrrr Mogura .... there is no sun in ps its some kind of magical light emiting diode ... errrr i mean crystal
the darkness covered my decent on to a small ally, i moved my body in to a siting position to absorb the impact of my landing.
I came down hard on the cobled ally. \"Behind you!\" the crystal hissed harsly , i was sure that the ally was deserted but again i knew that the crystal was never wrong, i turned my head around nothing there \" look in the shadows\" it wispered i stared harder in to the shadows and cought sight of the observer\'s eyes, they looked farmliar(sp?)
\"how long have you been observing me ?\"
\"long enough\"his voice was still as cocky as it was before
\"Have you found them yet ? \" i asked
\"hmm questioning my ablitys, thats unbecoming of you\"
\"Have you found them yet ! \" i repeated my self
\"of crouse of crouse but it\'ll cost you\" i threw a heavy pouch towards the spector \"there,\"i said \"all the money you ever need\" a dark had reached for the pouch and inspected its contents
\"Hmmmmm...\" it seems that the contents arent enough for... \" before he could finnish i threw another pouch at sqarely in the middle of his chest, it caught him by surprise. He inspected the contents \" this seems enough \" and i was sure i could make out a smile behind that hood (or ski mask)
\"now tell me what you know\"
\"sure,\"he said confidently \" the ranger guild seems to be in possess two but not for long some other \"
\"what about the others ?\" i hissed
\"oh be patecient,\" said the shadow \"another enki moogie yes i think thats is her name has a crystal fashioned i to a amulet.\" he paused \"now for the bad news, there seems to be deamon shearching for the crystals ...\"
\"tell me about the deamon\"
\"well that would c...\" i threw another pouch at the shadow to my surprize he cought the bag in mid flight
\"now, tell me about this deamon\"
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They call it the \"azure sun\".
The Incorpereal Thief
shadowmancer was in his apartment, practicing shadowmancing (shadowmancing is a form of high art involving the mancing of shadows) when suddenly, he heard a knock on the door. He said \"Who is it?\" There\'s no answer. He said \"Who is it?\" There\'s no answer. He said \"WHO IS IT?!\" They\'re not saying anything! So finally, he goes over, and opens the door, and just as he suspected, its some guy in a mask with a knife.
He starts going through his possesions.
shadowmancer takes his favorite knife and tries to stab him; his knife goes right through. But if the apparation is carrying things, then his hands must be solid... shadowmancer drives his knife through one of the robber\'s hands. It bleeds; the robber drops a bunch of stuff, but wescapes through the window.
shadowmancer assesses the damage, and sees that his newly \"earned\" jewelry was gone, including a particularly large gemstone he had taken from an uptown mansion of a powerful sorcerer...
Notes on continuation (important):The stone may have been stolen by a servent of the sorcerer, but the servent is attacked along the way, leaving the stone for a common person to find (letting an undeveloped character like the sorcerer simply get it back would be boring). Maybe the apparation was a servent of the demon. It is unlikely that he was acting independantly, or else he would not have the required spells and would not know where to go to get what he was looking for, or what it was worth. It could be an enemy of the Rangers, too. It shouldn\'t be one of the Rangers themselves, though, them being the \"good guys\" of this story, it would dispell the mystery. It is NOT the same ghost as in Wedge\'s section.
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CRASH!!!...!!! Seperot flys straigh though the cell wall and landed on the next wall and slid down. The rogue stumbeled to his feet. He was amazied he wasent dead yet but he felt his rib cage was smashed but that wasent a concern yet. he heard something epp in the corner and saw moogie chained and very frightend like she just woke up. he saw a chance and sayed \"Moogie\". Moogie looked shocked at The feline that he direct the beast at her. \" gotcha\" The beast looked back at the rogue to see him juming towards him. Seperot landed closely folloed by the demons head. Seperot staggerd over to moogie unlocked the chains then fell unconcuse on the floor.
:P
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Moogie stared at Seperot\'s body lying on the ground before her. Her eyes glanced backwards and forwards between him and the beast\'s bloodied, dismembered head. The Ranger\'s noisy appearance had startled her out of her sleep, and while he faught she desperately tried to escape. A few times she thought he wouldn\'t come out of the fight alive and she wished she could get free to help him.
Now she was free, but at a cost. She knelt down to her companion slowly, her hands hovering over his body as she closed her eyes and began reciting age old prayers to the Gods. Moogie never knew how she knew such things. She assumed she was born with her healing abilities, although her amnesia meant she could never be sure.
Seperot\'s body began to glow. Moogie concentrated hard on awakening him; she knew they didn\'t have much time. Who knows if the guards had heard the fight. Somebody must have heard the feline crashing through the wall. She had to get him up and escape from this dungeon immediately.
Little orbs of light danced around the rogue\'s limp form. They seemed to be singing in unison, a strange, ethereal melody that was both soothing and empowering at once. His eyes flickered open. Sensing this, Moogie opened her own eyes and smiled. Success! Now they could escape before-
An authoritive voice interrupted the scene.
\"Stop right there.\" It commanded. The girl lifted her head and turned to the source. He stood there, dressed heavily in ornate platemail armour, a long, silky crimson cape hanging heavily behind him. A longsword was sheathed by his side, with only a jewel-encrusted hilt showing outside the sheathe. Moogie guessed he must be the leader of this cult, if not some incredibly wealthy right-hand man or personal guard.
Whatever his rank, he was certainly above the two guards that stepped up beside him, pointing their halberds at the two felines menacingly. Seperot sat up slowly and saw the speaker for himself, cursing himself for being so careless in that last fight. Now the entire building must know of his presence.
\"You.\" The Ylian man spat. He obviously knew who Seperot was. \"Get up slowly.\" He commanded. Seperot eyed him cautiously. His mind raced to formulate an escape plan- a way to attack- a way to flee- anything! But they were cornered. Even the hole in the wall was now blocked by more guards brandishing halberds and lethal looking maces. He decided to go along with it... for now.
\"That\'s it... nice and slow. No funny business from you, cat, or I\'ll have your head right here.\" The man grinned as Seperot picked himself up from the ground. The rogue was pleasantly suprised at how well Moogie had healed him. Perhaps this would grant them an advantage, if ever an opportunity of escape would present itself.
Moogie looked at everyone in turn. She was terrified. If Seperot was taken away, their hope of escaping was next to nothing. The cult would find out about her crystal and get the other two from her friend.
She prayed for a miracle.
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Draklar was wandering around the Hydlaa for few hours now. Checking every tavern around, he still couldn\'t find any Ranger. It seemed like going to the Zolokand Forest was only chance to get some info. Would it be true or false didn\'t matter now. It was a chance and he had to take it. Draklar knew exactly where are nearby forests located. Still... he was falling off his feet. The dermorian was in need of some sleep. He turned to the Kada-El\'s tavern to rest for a few hours.
It was afternoon, when Draklar woke up. His strenghts were back and he was ready to go to the forest. The dermorian didn\'t expect any complications. He knew exactly where to go and so he did. He also knew going to the Zolokand Forest might be only way to get some information.
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A Visitor
Seperot awoke to see nothing but darkness. Slowly his vision began to come back, and his super-sensitive feline eyes amplified the little light in his surroundings. He looked over to see Moogie, either asleep or still unconcious. They were both chained to the wall now. Seperot fought to recover his memory of what had happened. And it all came back at once, striking a fierce blow like the club that had knocked him out. After cornering them, the guards had taken no chances and had cracked Seperot in the head a few times. He could feel the crusty covering of the dried blood on his matted fur. \"This was certainly not how I had hoped things would go,\" he muttered to himself.
Then there was a sudden gust of air, drafting down from above Seperot. He looked about startled, trying to find where it came from. Two silverly lights slowly materialized seemingly inches away from his face. No wait, they weren\'t lights, they were eyes!? As it all came into focus, Seperot could make out a barely visible figure, hanging from the ceiling like a bat, looking at him just a breath away from his face. \"HELLO!\" it shouted.\"Wah! Whaaat the who are you?\" Seperot uttered out. It leaned over and whispered into Seperot\'s ear, \"I know myself as me, and me as I, and I as myself, but you do not know me, nor I, nor myself...\" then it took a deep breath and yelled \",so you can call me Tycho!\"
Seperot leaned his head to the side, tryin\' to wipe a bit of spittle that had assaulted him off on his suspended arm. \"Well... Tycho... do you think you could keep it down, I\'d rather the guards not come down here and decide my conscious self needs to get lost again.\" \"Ooooh hooo hooo, I wouldn\'t worry about that my furry fellow. All the guards are gone, off to some big meeting. Just a buncha chanting and weird dancing, really not my scene.\" \"OooooK, so why are you here then? If you\'re not to busy I\'d appreciate it if you could-\" \"Loosen your chains up a bit perhaps? No, I\'m sorry, this really isn\'t my place to be doing such things. I just thought I\'d stop by to see how you were doing. Aaaaaand to tell you not to worry, you may yet get some help.\" \"I don\'t see why you just can\'t-\" \"Ah ah ah, it\'s all right, you can just sit tight here, or try and escape on your own if you want... it really doesn\'t matter.\" With that Tycho gave Seperot a big kiss on the forehead and with a sudden updraft he was gone. \"Hey! Wai---... well, I guess it\'s time I tried to find a way to get out of this.\"
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Taking a Trip
Kramy wandered idily through the forest. Such beauty in all the colours, brown, gray, black, wonderful flavours of rock! His favourite were the red ones, that the humans called \"rubies\". He heard that there were lots of them in cities, so had decided to travel to Yliakum, where it was rumoured \"merchants\" could trade hundreds for the simplest things!
yum! he thought, that sure will make a nice meal! Well, first he had to get there, and then find out what these \"merchants\" want so he could trade for \"rubies\".
It was approaching mid-day, and was almost time for a meal. He passed by a human orchard. It was so nice of them to plant food along the way for their fellow beings! He walked over and examined all the rocks ingraved with \"R.I.P.\", then picked one up, broke a chunk off, and started to chew.
Ahh, that sure was good! he thought, Nothing like RIP\'s for lunch!
A glint of light caught his attention; there was a man running over to him carrying a three-pronged thing with a wooden handle called, if he remembered right, a \"pick-fark\", used to pick up farks. From the way he was waving it it almost looked menacing....well, I\'ll find out what he wants soon enough :]...he thought, and chewed on happily.
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Who here is a farmer? :D
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Taking a Trip - Part 2
The man ran up to Kramy, shouting unintelligible nonsense. He doesn\'t make any sense! Kramy thought, It\'s like he\'s speaking another language.... The man kept blabbing on and making gestures at the RIP food with his \"Pick-Fark\". Obviously something was very wrong....if only he could figure out what!
Then it hit him, he\'s hungry and wants a piece too! so Kramy reached down, broke the RIP in half, and handed a chunk to the farmer. Something odd happened though, the farmer didn\'t eat the food, he just went really red and started shouting quite loudly. No, it obviously wasn\'t that the farmer wanted to eat....maybe there was something wrong with it...maybe it was contaminated rock...contaminated rock was awful. It gave pains for hours, but Kramy felt fine.
I know! Kramy thought, it must be something to do with these letters on the RIP food! Kramy bent down and examined the the food. Sure enough, the letters meant something very important. \"Maar-y Her-mshin, 386-486\" he read aloud. What could these letters possibly mean?
Then it hit him, something the farmer had said! \"Her-mshin\" he repeated thoughtfully....That must be a name...and this must be a reserved orchard! The name on the food is who it was designated to, and the numbers for how long! Hmm...100 more days until it\'s up for grabs and I can eat it...I guess I\'d better move on to Yliakum; I\'d starve in 100 days.
Kramy turned and walked out of the cemetery. As he was doing so an odd expression crossed the other man\'s face. It much resembled a :), so Kramy had to assume it was a look of relief, or happiness, or something along that line. You could never be sure with other races, some of them had the weirdest expressions. Kramy sent a smile X( back to the man to tell him thanks for helping to explain that, then strode off down the path.
He was getting very good at figuring out what other races were talking about. It made him feel proud that he was having such an easy time making sense of the other race\'s peculiar habits. Well there would be time to think more about this later. For now he was contented to meander along the path to Yliakum, taking in everything to see.
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Anyone, feel free to jump in here. :)
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Almost....amost. *click*. Seperot had used his claw to pick one of the chains it was a long prosess but it worked. He quickly unlocked the other chains befor unlocking moogies. he sighed and he looked at moogie her pendant was gone and so had his. moogie was still out cold the rogue found a few of his tools in pieces in the corner. he clamberd over to them and took them he was sure there whould be some use to them. He disided even if he was injured he whould go explore he had to leave moogie in the room. he took off down the hallway to the great hall. His mind was blurry the crystals had become his consuming thoughts. he whatched as the leader talked to his men and behind him was the crystals in some sort of alter. Seperot almost bolted across the room to get them but better judgment was still with him and so stoped himself. he moved from shadow to shadow the hall wasent very well lit. he finnaly came behind the alter. his heart was racing he waited for an oppertunity and prayed the leader dident turn around. Then his chance showed its self. the leader opend up a question time and the first question was being asked everyone turned to the speaker. Seperot scooped up the crystals and moved back though the shadows to the door. He returned to the cell to see moogie waking up.
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The feline slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry, but slowly the dark, damp view of the cell came into focus. She made out somebody entering through the doorway, their form sillouetted against the light that filtered into the thick, dusty air of her prison.
Seperot approached her and knelt down quietly. He showed her his paw; two crystals, his own, shone brightly.
\"Moogie, I was able to get out of here and find these. But... your pendant...\" He hesitated for a second, as if fighting something. \"I... have that too. Right here,\" He said, reaching into his pocket and revealing the necklace. Moogie peered at him, slightly puzzled with his apparent reluctancy to hand it over to her, but she took the crystal and attatched it around her neck without a word.
\"My head really hurts...\" She complained quietly. Seperot took her hand.
\"Don\'t worry Moogs. I\'ll get you out of here faster than you can say \'Holy Yliakum\'!\" And with that, he pulled her up and moved to the doorway. Seperot poked his head outside cautiously. Down the hall, he could still hear the echoes of people speaking in the room where he found the crystals. It was good to hear that nobody had noticed their absence, but that would not last much longer.
The feline rogue lead Moogie through a maze of corridors, avoiding patrols by hiding in shadows and waiting for the guards to pass them. Seperot counted himself lucky to be the species he was. His keen ears allowed him to detect the footfalls of guards before they could be sighted, and his highly sensitive nose lead the way to the smell of fresh air in the outside world.
Moogie stopped suddenly as they were nearing the exit. She held her head and grimaced, pain flooding her senses.
\"Ugh...\" She groaned. Seperot turned in alarm and approached her.
\"Come on Moogie! We\'re almost out... don\'t give up now!\" He encouraged. The girl leant against the wall to steady herself and forced her eyes open. She looked at him, nodding slowly, and he took her hand once again. \"That\'s it... not far to go now. Then we can look at that head of yours, hmm?\"
The two escapees managed to exit the building unseen. They fled deep into the surrounding forests, their aim to get as far away from the cultist\'s hideout as they could before nightfall. The sky was beginning to get dark; the songs of birds high up in the trees became quieter and crickets began to chirp in the undergrowth. Seperot gathered fallen tree branches as he moved through the dense carpet of leaves, and eventually they found a clearing, a perfect place to set up a fire and rest for the night.
As the night drew on, the two felines curled up next to the fire. They tended to eachother\'s wounds and talked about their situation. Neither of the Rangers knew what to do next. Events seemed to be dragging them along for a ride; The origins of the cult remained a mystery, yet they seemed to have eyes everywhere. Strange people seemed to stalk them from the shadows, such as Tycho, Seperot\'s mysterious visitor in the cultist prison.
After a long deliberation about their situation, Moogie and Seperot went to sleep.
Damn... what a long, boring chapter. I\'ve decided to stop writing and just ask Seperot to steer an event in a particular direction (there\'s nothing like getting someone else to do your work, hehe. ;))
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Seperot woke up to the sound of russeling. the rogue panicked because he dident have a weapon only his broken tool kit. he he woke to see a sword pointed at his neck. \" Heh for a master rogue your not very good\" Seperot looked up and saw Draklar looking down on him \"well i be dammed\" Seperot kicked draklar in the gut in a playfull way then grins \"what in talads name are you doing here?\" Draklar sat down opposite him \" looking for you actually a enki in black garb told me to look in the forists\" \"with silver eyes and goofy voice?\" Draklar noded \" im looking for moogie i hoped you chould help\" The rogue looked down \" i dont know we been in a cult prison chained to a wall we got out camed here for the night and...shes gone\" \"do you know where she when\" Drakalr was spinning his blade while talking he clearly was interested in something but he chouldent pick it up \" I\'m going back to town i need to buy new stock...thank god for banks eh?\" Draklar smiled \" do you know whitch way she went \" Seperot looked around \"see that shift in the leaves thats the way she whent good luck finding her\" Draklar noded and started to head off but turned back for a second \" do you still have thouse crystals. The rogue thought about telling the drow but thought againced it \" no the cult took them from me\" draklar made his goodbyes then set off Seperot dusted himself off then headed off towards town thanks to draklar directions.
seperot had managed to get a katana and an alsortment of daggers and a new lockpick set. he desided there was little point looking for moogie as she dident whant to be found. he feared she spoted seperots urge to keep her pendant. he feard if he was to find another crystal he whould loose his self control if he hadent already lost most of it. he mused somemore over a glass of elvish wine.
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Taking a Trip - Part 3
Kramy wandered down the path, chewing on the RIP he had kept. He hoped \"her-mshin\" didn\'t might, it tasted awfully good! The path was desolate. Apparently other races liked to travel during the day, but Kramy rather enjoyed travelling at night. All the interesting creatures came out to say hi. There was a weird 6 legged thing, and something with 2? eyes, and a big hairy thing that crawled along beside the path, keeping to the shadows of the trees. Not that it did any good...Night wasn\'t too much of a nuisance for a Kran.
It was odd though, virtually all the small critters were hiding. Obviously they were afraid of something.... Kramy peered into the trees. The big hairy thing was still following him. It looked hungry, though he didn\'t think it would enjoy him once it got a taste. Then again, maybe it was out looking for Kran to eat....either way, he had a pike to fend it off with if need be.
A slight breeze was building up...not much exciting going on, maybe he\'d just wander off into the bush and see what he could find. Kramy turned off the path, and the big hairy thing scamped away in the same direction. Well, it certainly wasn\'t following him! Maybe it smelled something interesting. Kramy proceeding on into the forest, heading in roughly the same direction as the creature...
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Hey moogie or someone, here\'s an opening if you want it.
Hey, I\'m rather good at this boring story writing aren\'t I? :]
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Crash!
She had been wandering for at least two hours now. Moogie was starting to wonder if leaving Seperot was such a good idea. The way he had been acting as of late was making her uneasy, but at least he knew the way out of this forest. To make matters worse, the light from the crystals was starting to fade. Moogie also kept getting this feeling of being watched. Only natural wandering in a forest alone... but she still could not shake the thought from her mind.
From above there was some rustling in the leaves. Subtle and faint... it must be a bird or some small tree creature. Yet the sound persisted as she moved, almost as if it were following her. Nervously Moogie started to increase her walking speed. The noise didn\'t stop. Looking back she kept seeing a dark sihoulette out of the corner of her eye, yet everytime she tried to get a better look, there was nothing there. Eventually Moogie started flat out running away, and the sounds pursued her. It had her in total control, directing her where it wished, yet Moogie was to scared to do anything about it. Everything was starting to become blurry, it all felt like some bad dream.
Out of seemingly nowhere, a large rock suddenly blocked Moogie\'s way. Too disoriented to react in time, she crashed headlong into it.
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Battle in a Clearing
Kramy stared down at the cat creature that had just crashed into him. It was called an \"Enkidukai\", right? He had heard of them; there were supposed to be lots of them in Yliakum. But what was one doing out here in the middle of nowhere? They weren\'t nearly as sturdy as Kran, and he doubted they would be wandering around during the night. He\'d have to ask her, but she seemed preoccupied with something.
Kramy peering in the same direction as she was. There was that big hairy thing again, entering the clearing! He so wondered what it was called. It seemed to like following people around. Maybe it scared people...that was quite possible, it could be feeding on fear. But why then had it followed him? Just then he realized he had been thinking a bit too long, as a giant claw came over and swiped him out of the way, into a tree.
\"oof\" he grunted. This thing was out to get him! He quickly jumped up and ran over to where his pike/walking-stick had been knocked aside. He reached for it and turned to see the big hairy thing looming over the cat-like creature. Well, perhaps it wasn\'t exactly out to get him...the smart thing to do would be run away while it ate the cat, but Kran are noted for their stupidity.
Kramy charged up to the hairy thing and stuck the pike directly into it\'s torso, hoping he\'d hit a vital organ. The thing screamed, if you could call it a scream, and sent four claws at him. He blocked the first two with his pike, but the others knocked his legs out from under him, leaving him on his chest. It appeared he had done something very dumb; now he was the focus of the hairy thing\'s attention.
The cat was backing up slowly, trying not to draw the creature\'s notice. Well, if he could distract it just long enough for the cat to get away, maybe he could get away too. He stood up, and a claw plowed into his head, causing a crack. That hurt! he thought, as he knocked the other three claws away from him.
Slowly he was being pushed back, the creature pounding his staff as he used it to counter each claw. They were moving away from the cat, which had now left the clearing and vanished, but the thing wasn\'t going to give him any opportunities to escape! That was bad, since it left him with only one option: Kill the thing, but that was quickly appearing more and more impossible.
*thud* he had backed right into a tree. Well, now it was over, there was no chance to block the claws if it could get ontop of him. The thing draw back all claws, having learned sending one at a time was easily defended against, and heaved them at him in a gesture that was likely to smash him to bits.
*thunk thunk crack* he heard. Surprised he looked to the side. The creature\'s claws were stuck in the enormous tree he was backed against! What luck! He quickly ducked under the creature(which tried to squish him) and crawled out from under it on the other end.
The thing was quite securely attached to the tree. It couldn\'t go anywhere until it got its claws out, and that was likely to take a long time! *swish* one claw snapped out of the wood...Maybe less time than expected!
Kramy turned around and took off, as fast as a Kran could go(which was not actually that fast compared to the more agile races) in the direction the cat had gone, hoping all the way that he could lose the thing, or reach safety before it managed to catch up. Just before leaving the clearing the battle had taken place in, he looked back.
It was using the two claws it had freed to cut the other ones out...
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Edit: Forgot the chapter title&formatting.
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Seperot was roof top jumping. it was a past time he enjoyed it helps to keep stress away. his mind chouldent get away from the crystals though he must have another. just then seperot spyed one of the cult members talking to a street thief. the thief was selling an alsortment of jewelry including a interesting looking crystal. the rogue chouldent belive his luck. he whatched the member buy the crystal and as he turned around observed who it was. It was the cult leader himself. seperot grined he chould kill 2 birds with one stone. kill the leader of that cult and at the same time get another crystal. he stalked the leader though the empty dark streets. suddenly the man turned around. \"so you think you can prevent this tycho? come out and show yourself\" Seperot stoped shocked for 2 reasons one that the man realised he was there and secondly that he called him tycho. The enki walked forwards one hand on his katana. \"Ah Seperot is it? well well im surprised to see you. still holding onto thouse crystals are we? yes we did have quite a shock once we found they where gone\" Seperot grined \" Yea well im still looking for others\" The cult leader put the crystal around his neck then drew his blade. \" im going to enjoy killing you rogue. The rogue drew his blade and moved into the shadows.moving quickly waiting to pounce.
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The Chase
Kramy charged out of the forest and onto the path. There were two directions: where he had come from, and where he was heading. Well, it would be best to head away from wherever the creature had come from, so he decided to continue on to Yliakum.
The path was scuffed as though something had recently travelled along it. Perhaps the Enkidukai had went this way, hoping to get to the safety of town before the hairy thing caught up. The path weaved back and forth, each curve putting more space between him and the creature...hopefully. But he knew such creatures had good noses, and could no doubt follow the scent of the rubies he had been eating. Mmm.. he thought, those sure do taste good...
On and on he ran, until he felt the ground shaking slightly behind him. Wondering what it could possibly be, he turned to watch. The giant hairy creature with claws rounded a bend and charged at him. Oh #!$& he thought, Of course it\'s still after me! Why did I even stop?! Turning he took off away from it, but it was obvious that it was quite angry now, and from the look of it, it \"ran\" a lot faster than he could.....if you could call propelling yourself forward on giant claws \"running\".
The thing was catching up. No doubt that within 1 or 2 seconds he was dead. The thing swiped at him and sent him flying far off the path, where he landed and barrelled into a tree. Dazed he lay on the ground, staring up at what looked like a cat-creature dressed in full black...
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Tycho, don\'t let me die! :D
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A Short Trip
The world started to fade from focus. The last thing he saw were shrill geysers of smoke rising all about... they reminded him of the mountain he came from. Everything had now passed into darkness and the world seemed to fall away around him. Kramy was falling, in an endless void. In a dreamlike state, he pondered where he could be. Floating around in nothingness, he must be dead now for sure. It carried on like this for a time, whilst Kramy wondered where he would end up. Or would he be here forever perhaps? Or would he--- THUD! Kramy suddenly crashed against the ground. There was still emptyness all about, and he could not move.
A voice! Faint, sounding miles away, yet he could still barely make it out. \"Yes, yes, this is it, the one created from the ancient Kran that had held the Brown Gem. His situation is dire, normally such injuries to a Kran would prove difficult, if not impossible to heal. You though, healer, have a higher power. Restoring it is well with in your powers. I cannot tell you where you should go from here. However, I can tell you this Kran may become your enemy later, if he is not your friend now. Farewell!\"
Some more time passed; now all he could hear was occasional murmuring in the distance. Then things began to lighten... the stimuli of seeing the world again flooded back in a rush. And there was the strange cat creature he had seen before, staring down at him.
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Coming to
Kramy dazidly looked up at the two cat-creatures above him. They were really blurry, and both making the same movements. As they combined into one he realized his eyes were out of focus. The black cat was gone, but luckily so was the hairy creature with claws. He wondered if the black cat had done something to it, but then sharply realized he had pain all over his body. The cat above him was reciting something as white light poured out from her hands, and his pain slowly eased.
He started taking notice of his surroundings. He wasn\'t anywhere near the tree he had hit...the creature must have had fun tossing him around like a volley ball. Still, it hadn\'t eaten him, and that was something... He looked up into the face of the cat-creature above him. She was now done reciting her queer-sounding incantations, and he felt quite a bit better than before.
Slowly he got to his feet, and looked down at the cat kneeling before where he had been. She looked exactly like the one he had saved from the big hairy thing. Well...this was fitting, he saved her and she saved him!
There was an awkward silence for some time, both just peering at eachother. Kramy wasn\'t exactly sure how other races interacted with eachother, so he just stood there and starred at her. She started figetting as though she was getting nervous....maybe I should say something to calm her down he thought. Kramy searched through his memory for words from their language, then came up with a breakthrough. \"Thank you,\" he muttered slowly. She smiled at that, evidently happy he wasn\'t going to eat her or something. He\'d have to explain later that Kran didn\'t eat Enkidukai. It would be awful if such a false rumour were to get out.
Kramy reached down and picked her up off the ground, to her surprise, so she was standing. \"Where to go now?\" he asked. He was still unsure where the big hairy creature had gone, and somehow trusted his luck to walk right into it again.
\"That way..\" she murmered.
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Thanks Wedge! Now I guess Moogie gets to write a chapter. :P
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To the casual veiwer all they chold see down this lonly dark street was a few sparks. what they chould hear on the other hand was a rogue trying to out manuver a cult leader who was a very good swordsman in a terrific sword fight while the rogue had the advantage of sight at night the cult leader had very good perseption and heard the rogue as he juped of things and ran around. Seperot was having fun this was his kind of battle. he knew the leader was tiering while the rogue had bounds of energy. The feline finnal found his chance and sliced off the leaders sword whileding arm. Seperot picked up the crystal. the leader made a attack and stabed a dagger into seperots foot. the rogue howled in pain before thrusing his katana into the heart of the leader. as he started to hobble off he saw cult members comeing towards the fighting. seperot paniced and ran for the rooftops he silently crawled across them towards kada\'s tavern. he figured there whould be a healer there to help him out.
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Moogie watched silently as the huge Kran plodded off through the undergrowth in the direction she had pointed him. Somehow, she felt compelled to follow him.
Even as she was running through the forest to escape the persuing monster, something had stopped her. She thought it was just her imagination- and perhaps it had been. But it had urged her to turn, and so she did, untill she had found the Kran slumped against a broken tree without a breath of life in him.
Seeing the poor creature in such a broken state had horrified her. However, even more terrifying was the fact that the clawed beast was also here, and it turned towards the noise of her approach, roaring triumphantly. In the same instance that it began bolting towards her, claws outspread to brutally cut her through, the monster had vanished in a bright flash of light. Moogie stood rooted to her spot, stunned and frightened out of her wits, for several minutes before she could move.
When she had recovered, Moogie spent no time questioning what had happened. She immediately moved to the Kran and assessed his damage. He was all but dead...
A voice beside her startled the girl. The apparation of her imagination had returned. Perhaps it was real, after all. An Enkidukai fully dressed in black garb had just appeared next to Moogie, as if it had been standing there all along. It had spoken to the girl in such a cryptic way before disappearing again, the feline had no idea what it had hoped to communicate to her. However, one thing was clear. It told her she had the power to revive her rocky friend, and thus she set to work on him.
It took roughly a full fifteen minutes to awaken the Kran, but when his heavy eyelids slid open, she saw only gratitude for her actions. After an awkward moment, Moogie pointed him in the direction of the city. And now she was alone, watching his bulky form disappear into the forest.
Only now did the girl stop to question the events that had come to pass this day. Her mind drifted back to Seperot. She had left him in the dead of night, wanting to iscolate herself from everyone in fear that her crystal would be the death of her dear friends. If she was to die, it would be her alone, and nobody else should ever get injured because of her.
Moogie sat herself down at the foot of an old tree. She had walked many miles that night, untill the pads of her bare feet were worn and sore. She had never worn shoes, she mused. Infact her clothes were always homemade from fabrics she had weaved herself during long winter nights and hot summer days. She was never a rich Enkidukai- any money she received was donated to charities or weary travellers or the homeless. Moogie was almost too generous for her own good, but it was the only way she felt worthy of being in the world. It was understandable, for a girl with no past, no memory, and no real purpose...
She thought about the creature she had just brought back from the brink of death and wondered about the mysterious words of the black Enkidukai. Would the Kran soon be her enemy? Was it not a friend now, both having saved her life and had his own life saved by her?
Moogie suddenly looked up.
Oh no! I never thanked him for saving my life! She thought. Although it may have seemed a trivial reason to try and catch up with a stranger, the girl nevertheless felt she owed him her gratitude. At once she took off in the direction he had plodded through and followed the trail of broken branches and crushed ferns he had clumsily left behind.
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Wandering is Danger
Kramy trudged through the ferns and various other plants on his path. Normally he would have tried not to trample them, but at the moment he had other things on his mind. What strange people Enkidukai are he mused, after pondering over the clawed creature. While he knew little about the Enkidukai race, and understood even littler about their culture, he determined without a doubt that they were all crazy by Kran standards.
It was odd that they should use their language in such confusing manners. The one wearing all black only spoke in riddles, and the other hardly spoke at all. He was beginning to think more and more that perhaps Yliakum wasn\'t the best place to travel...after all, he could get rubies anywhere, he\'d just have to search a little harder.
It was probably for the best anyway. His luck had taken him this far, but somehow he had a feeling it would be best to stop testing it. People from cities were rumoured to be very strange...by other race\'s standards. If an Enkidukai thought his own race was strange when from a city like Yliakum, imagine what he\'d think!
Just then he heard a faint rustling behind him. Great, just what he needed....another something-or-other chasing him to try to kill him! Having not had a chance to rest he was low on energy, so he decided to surprise it so he had a fighting chance. Walking quietly so it wouldn\'t hear him, he selected a hidden spot beside the path and readied his pike. If it wasn\'t smart enough to stop following it would get a huge chunk knocked out of it as it walked by... Better it than him...
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I hope you have quick reflexes ;) or don\'t mind being hauled off to a tavern. :D
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Cursed
Seperot tried his best to keep a steady footing as he entered Kada El\'s. A hub for travelers for centuries, it would be quick work to find a healer and then be back on his way. The sooner the better, he didn\'t want to be seen with any sort of weakness. Try as he might though, the wound was rather bad, and he still had a slight hobble. Seperot had barely gotten through the door when someone approached him.
It was a Lemur, wearing a black cloak with hood drawn back. \"Your foot is injured, you have come seeking healing yes?\" \"How do yo--\" \"You put on a proud face Enkidukai, but you cannot walk a steady path no matter how you may try.\" \"Quite, well seeing as it\'s so obvious I\'d like to go about finding someone who can get it fixed then. Now if you\'ll excuse me.\" \"I am a healer.\" \"You, a healer? What\'s with the dark getup, you look more like an arcane mage.\" \"Oh so you can tell my alignment by my colour is it? As it just so happens, black is in this year for healers. Now sit down and let me see this wound.\" \"Errr, ehm sorry, OK... so how\'s it look?\" \"Hmm doesn\'t seem that bad, I\'d say it\'ll only run you 50 tria.\" \"Sounds fair, now get on with it.\"
The acolyte began to chant... whatever it is they always do, never made any sense to Seperot. There was the glowing aura about the wound, Seperot could feel the pain easing away... BZAP! An arc of black energy flew up and sent the healer crashing into a table halfway across the room. Seperot franticly looked about to see who had done this... everyone else was looking just as surprised as he was though. Apparentley beyond the inital shock of being thrown, the cloaked Lemur was fine. He got back up and walked over to Seperot.
\"This is much more serious than I could at first tell...\" \"What do you mean?\" \"Tell me, how did you get this wound?\" \"I was stabbed... by some madman in an alley.\" \"Hmmm, well this madman certainly carried a devious weapon, one that was cursed in-fact.\" \"Cursed?\" \"Yes, this wound has been infused with a powerful dark magic. It will not heal on it\'s own, and will likely grow worse.\" \"So what do we do about it then?\" \"We? We can\'t do anything about it. Unless you\'re fine with amputation as an opt--\" \"No.\" \"Yes I assumed as much. This if far beyond my skill to heal. Only the most powerful of healers can remove a curse of this power. The sad fact is... you don\'t see this level of magic often these days, and I don\'t know of any healers around now that can cure such an ailment.\" \"Well... maybe I do.\"
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Not a problem. I like yours better anyway - I\'m no good at writing dialogs and stuff, so generally avoid them. :D
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Moogie yelped as she nimbly sprung out of the way from the sharp end of Kramy\'s pike. The dodge had caused her to lose balance, however, and she fell flat on her back as the Kran charged out of the bushes, pointing his weapon at her menancingly. The bulky creature stopped just in time, a look of suprise (if such emotions were so visible on a Kran\'s hard face) replacing his angry scowl. Moogie squeezed her eyes shut and awaited her fate, but to her suprise, Kramy pulled back his pike and spoke to her in his deep, gruff voice.
\"It you? I thought kitty ran away?\" He said, scratching the back of his head in confusion. Moogie opened her eyes slowly and looked up at him. A smile replaced her frightened expression as he offered a helping hand and lifted her effortlessly from the ground.
\"Why thank you... umm, what\'s your name?\" She politely asked, dusting herself off.
\"Me Kramy. I don\'t know kitty\'s name.\"
\"I\'m Moogie, it\'s a pleasure to meet you.\" She smiled again. The Kran attempted a smile of his own in return.
\"Where to go?\" He asked the feline. She thought for a while, her hand on her chin as she wondered what to do next. She could go back to the city, but wasn\'t her original plan been to hide herself away and be forgotten? Going back might mean her friends would be in danger...
She looked at Kramy, studying his large form shaded by the forest trees.
\"Where do you live, Kramy? What were you doing out here alone anyway?\" The Kran shook his head. Two questions at once? What was this kitty\'s hurry?
\"Kramy was eating yummy RIPs and going to big city. Then Kramy saw Moogie in danger and helped little kitty.\" He answered slowly. \"But Kramy going to big city Hydlaa now. Maybe more RIPs there for Kramy?\" His face seemed to light up happily at the thought. Moogie watched him and had to stop herself \"aawww\"ing aloud at his innocent cuteness. She padded down the path a few steps and turned to face him.
\"Well, Kramy, Hydlaa is this way. Come on, I\'ll come with you. We\'ll go to Kada\'El\'s Tavern and have a rest there after this little adventure, hmm?\" She offered, smiling at him. The Kran nodded his head and followed her out of the forest all the way to Hydlaa.
It took them a day and a half to reach the city. After buying two sackfulls of rubies from some merchants they met outside the city gates (both of which Kramy happily carried with one hand, slung over his back), Moogie lead him to the tavern and entered, making sure he minded his head on the way in. Kran are pretty tall creatures, after all.
No sooner had the girl stepped through the door then people from tables around the room looked up, greeting her with a hearty cheer and raised beermugs. She was well known here, and she had expected such a warm welcome after not visiting in so long, but the Kran looked shocked by the sudden rise in volume. He held his hands over his ears grumpily untill the noise stopped.
Several people approached the girl in turn to greet her, offer her a drink or a free chair on their table. But Moogie had already picked one out for herself and her bulky friend, who followed her through the crowded tavern awkwardly, lugging his sacks of crystals behind him. He ignored the strange looks he received; he was used to the little people gawking at his magnificent, powerful body. Let them stare! They were just jealous of him.
The Enkidukai and the Kran moved to the far back corner of the room where another feline watched their approach; his blooded and bandaged foot resting on a stool beside him. Moogie rushed to meet him upon seeing the injury.
\"Seperot... what happened? Are you okay!?\" She exclaimed.
\"I got into a fight with the cult leader, he stabbed me with some sort of cursed blade.\" He winced as another pain shot up his aching leg. He tried to hide it as much as he could, but it was weakening him with every minute it continued to eat away at him. As Kramy stood munching rubies and watching the two friends, Moogie moved around to his foot and kneeled down, preparing to heal him.
\"Wait!\" The rogue shouted a little louder than he realised. \"Another healer tried to do something to this a few hours ago. Next thing he knew he was across the room, on a broken table on the floor. Don\'t touch it, I don\'t want you getting hurt...\" He warned. Moogie looked at him with worried eyes.
\"But Sep, I have to try, I can\'t just let you sit there...\" She pleaded. She peered at him, silently begging, untill finally he nodded his head in agreement.
\"Okay, but... owe! ...Just don\'t hold back on them powers of yours, Moogs. I don\'t wanna see you flying across this room if you can\'t get rid of this curse.\"
Seperot made himself steady and comfortable on his seat before Moogie began whispering her incantations with closed eyes, her hands hoverring over his injured limb. After a while, small globes of light started dancing around, entering and exiting the feline\'s bare foot as if it were but a mere vision. The rogue squeezed his eyes shut. His foot felt like it was on fire. But he clenched his teeth and his fists as hard as he could to keep himself steady for his friend. He hoped to Talad that this would work. He was more concerned about the effect it would have on her, rather than any more pain it would give him.
Moogie concentrated hard. This was alot more difficult than it had first seemed. Though her eyes were tight shut, she could see an image of Seperot\'s foot in her mind, enshrowded by a dark swirling mist that strangled the limb tightly and stabbed it, passing through the other side of the flesh and bone. She visioned her own pure spirals of light trying to circle the tentacles of dark energy, hoping to smother it and choke it untill it disappeared. But it was so much harder than anything she had tried to heal before, she thought again in concern. Not even bringing Kramy back from the brink of death was as difficult as this, even though the task seemed many times more urgent and taxing than simply purging a curse.
But this curse was more powerful than she had ever experienced. She watched in horror as the black mist began twirling its way, almost gracefully, up her own light and towards her very soul. It started to overpower her, her light fading both in her mind and infront of Seperot\'s own eyes. Even Kramy peered at the girl in concern. This didn\'t look good. The rest of the tavern had stopped their social banter and drinking to watch the scene themselves. Random shouts of encouragement rang out, but Moogie could hear nothing. She could hardly breathe. The energy reached out towards her, strangling her, ripping her soul apart. She decided it was now or never. She would have to throw every ounce of energy she had into this, lest she be killed on the spot by the angry curse.
She suddenly began chanting louder, more complex sentences. She focused all the energy she had to fighting the curse and banishing it from Seperot\'s body. The poor Rogue had long ago been overwhelmed by the pain and slammed his fist into the table repeatedly, his jaw clenched so hard he thought his teeth were going to shatter any second. Long, loud howls escaped his lips as the light intensified steadily and the chants became louder, and louder...
Suddenly, the light seemed to explode. The patrons of the tavern shielded their eyes in suprise as Moogie cried out, the pain pouring from her friend into her own body in one sudden burst of healing power. The curse disappeared in a sparkle of darkness, just as the healer fell lifeless to the floor.
The room returned to its normal ambience as the healing magic faded. Seperot\'s foot showed almost fully healed and the feline could no longer feel any pain. However, he stared in horror at Moogie. His best friend and companion, and one of the most powerful healers in Yliakum it seemed, lay on the floor without but a soft breath escaping her bloodied mouth.
[Edit: *sees Kramy\'s post* NOOOOO!!!!]
[By the way, I didn\'t die. But darn near close to it.]
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Restoration and Running
Kramy looked down at moogie, shocked. This was worse than when he almost impaled her! She wasn\'t breathing, so that meant that she\'d soon be dead - he remembered that from somewhere. Other races need to breath or they die...and they can\'t breath water either. Then his mind refocussed on the cat on the floor...and the cat sitting at the table cursing. He could almost make out some of the words those curses were equivilent to in his own language. It made him happy that his language skills were improving.
But then he noticed moogie lying on the floor again. This was a problem....how did other races go about breathing again? He bent down over her, studying her features...then decided to press somewhere in the middle of her body to see what would happen. Gently, he pressed down and released...no that didn\'t work, she was still lying there without breathing.
\"HEY YOU!!\" he shouted at the bartender, which coincedentally drew the attention of the entire room, \"She not breathing!\"
Seperot jumped up immediately, muttering incomprehensible stuff, while the bartender ran over to see if he could help. \"What do?\" Kramy asked, hoping that either of them knew the proper course of actions. Seperot leaned over her and pressed down and released, in a similar fashion as the Kran had, then put his lips on hers and puffed out his cheeks. That was funny to watch...breathing was such an inconvenience.
After a while she coughed and spluttered, her eyes slowly coming back into focus. Kramy was happy, and shoved Seperot away, picked her up, and placed her in a chair. The sudden movement made her face go sort of contorted, but he didn\'t notice. Seperot cursed and kicked the Kran for knocking him into a table, but only succeeded in hurting his foot further. Kran mean well at times, but simply lack the understanding of how to do things properly...like letting people have a breath after they almost die. :D
Seperot stood up beside Kramy and asked moogie if she was ok, while her eyes dazidly came back into focus. The reply was lost to the Kran by the sudden noise and commotion from the door. Some mean looking people with swords, staffs, and wearing a weird-emblem were at the door, and one was pointing at them, or rather at Seperot, chanting something. Kramy tapped Seperot, and pointed toward the guys now circling them, wondering who they were. But just then a fireball shot out from the chanting guy\'s hand straight for Seperot. It must of missed though, because it hit the Kran square on, to his minor discomfort.
That got the attention of Seperot. He turned and knives flashed out into the throats of several of the weird-men. Kramy charged straight on for the one by the door, grabbed him as he reached for his katana, and hurled him through the wall. He then turned and hurled a few more through the walls, not realizing that throwing people through walls would likely get him in trouble with the tavern owner.
Meanwhile Seperot was weilding a katana of his own, dicing any that came too near, keeping 5 or 6 just slightly at bay. Moogie was at the rear wall, standing on a table, and climbing out one of the tavern windows. Knowing, or atleast assuming, that Seperot would be overwhelmed any second, Kramy charged in, bowling one of the weird-men over, and grabbed seperot around the waist. He hurled Seperot, surprised look and all, up through the window through which Moogie had just climbed. Pointed at him now were 8 sharp swords, so Kramy decided upon taking the safest route out. Turning he bashed his hand through the the wall, ripped a chunk off and climbed out...
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Hmm..if we get outside the city alive we\'ll have to meet up. Hope none of us get thrown in the labyrinth. :D
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Power
Ooof! Moogie was sent sprawling onto the ground, as Seperot came flying through the window right into her. Seperot quickly started to get up, but a glint caught his eye. Moogie\'s pendant was lying to the side of her neck. He was suddenley entranced, his eyes could see nothing but the gem. Frantically Seperot grabbed the pendant, dragging Moogie up with it, as the chain was still around her neck.
\"Aaaaa-ck! Seperot what are you doing!?\" Yet her words had no effect, so she struck her friend as solidly as she could in the head. Looking up surprised and seeing what he was doing, Seperot loosened his grip on the crystal. Moogie immediately drew back several steps, staring at him with a look of shock and horror on her face. \"GrrrrrrssssssshhhhAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!\" Moogie watched in terror as Seperot fell to his knees on the ground, writhing about seemingly in great pain. His hand were covering his ears, as if to block out a thousand people screaming at once.
Abruptly Seperot became very silent. Slowly he rose back to his feet, a visage of calmness and tranquility. Quietly he spoke, \"Moogie, I\'m so sorry... I just... lost control a little bit there. Just come here, we pry shouldn\'t stick around.\" \"Seperot, I don\'t know. Are you su--\" \"Yes Moogie, I\'m fine, now let\'s go.\" \"I-i-i-i\'m not certa--\" \"Moogie! We don\'t have time!\" \"B-b-b-ut you just--\" \"Moogie!\" Seperot took a step towards her, she in turn withdrew twice the distance back. \"Look Moogie, I\'m really sorry but if we don\'t le--\" Seperot was cut off as several more of the mysterious assailants had now caught up and headed towards him.
Seizing the moment, Moogie dashed off as fast as she could, not giving any mind to where she was going. Weaving her way through alleys and streets, only trying to make distance between herself and her disturbed comrade. Without knowing it Moogie had wandered into the slums of Hydlaa. A very dangerous part of town, she did not want to draw attention to herself here. Looking back, Seperot was nowhere in sight and she slowed her pace to a hurried walk. creak! Looking down Moogie was suprised she was now walking on wooden beams from some old excavation site. It looked none to stable, and surely just as she thought that the first grainy crack! sounded. With her footing already falling away, there was no time to retreat. Moogie let out a faint scream as she was swallowed by the darkness below.
Meanwhile, Seperot was now thoroughly enraged by his pursuers intrusion. Guided by some force not of his own will, Seperot flung his hand outward sending a focuses surged of energy that completely disentegrated two of his attackers. Looking down at his hand, Seperot was quite bewildered. The look slowly crept into a devious grin, as the remaining figures nervously circled about him.
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Stumbling and Bumbling - Pit in the Ground
Kramy took off down the street he had abruptly barged into. Some people had shocked expressions on their faces, as if they never saw a Kran charge through a wall before...well, most of them probably never had seen a Kran charge through a wall come to think of it... Pushing through the crowd, he headed directly away from the weird-men. He hoped his friends got away safely, but those weird-men looked pretty dangerous... If they were lucky they could dive into an ally or somewhere else and hide. Come to think of it, there were lots of hiding places all over Yliakum, not to mention this town. :D(http://www.planeshift3d.com/wbboard/images/icons/thumb_up.gif)Hydlaa
Travelling through several ally ways, and on several streets farther, he was not even watching where he was going when he stumbled into a deep pit in the ground. He watched the floor slowly coming at him. Oooh, this was going to hurt...too bad Moogie was with Seperot. This was just the time he would need her.
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Short and sweet, and took five minutes to write. :]
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Seperot chouldent belive what he was doing. he had incerated half the cult members then proceded to bring back there corpses to fight the other half. after defeting them all he felt great waves of pain surge though him. he staggerd into the in flung some coins at the bartender took a key and whent into an empty room and proceded to pass out.
Seperot hated dreams he had ever since his child hood. he found himself in a land where fire rained from the sky the land was scorched and there was only rubble around the area. his 3 crystals flew out his pocket and materilased into a crystal version of....himself. \"submittttt\" the crystal sayed the rogue quickly realised what this was the crystals had power over him now. he whent for his katana but dident have it while the crystal him pulled out its one. he kick for the crystals hand tring to disarm him but insted hurting his foot Seperot turned to run but found he was now in a cage with the crystals. The rogue was out of options he chouldent fight the crystas and was traped. the crystal seperot kicked the rogue againced thew wall let him slide down and put its katana againced his neck \" Submittttttttt\" The rogue had no choice and noded to aggree to submit.
The new seperot woke up and strangly seemed to know where the 3 remaining parts of himself where and quickly ran to the direction of his first target. Moogie
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Arise evil seperot Muhahahaha :P
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In The Dark
Moogie was lying on her back, staring straight up. A scarce bit of light could be seen up above where she fell, but it could not reach down too penetrate the surrounding darkness. Her thoughts were all a mess, Moogie just wanted to stop thinking... stop being. A disembodied voice rang out around her, seemingly coming from everywhere at once. At first she thought perhaps her own thoughts had come to taunt her... but no, this was something else. Rising to her feet, she looked about for what it could be.
\"I\'m really sorry, I am. You had to see it for yourself though. The strength they have, and what they do to those that seek their might. Half gathered they are now, and a fearsome force they will present. I imagine he is totally lost to it now, he will be coming for you again. You can rest here if you want... wait until he finds you... it can all end there. Just give in and die, it\'s less trouble for you. The havok that will be wrought upon this realm afterwards will no longer be your concern.\"
\"You-- who?... I\'ve heard you before... why can\'t you just leave me be?\"
\"Hahahahahahaha, oh I suppose that\'s not a fair way of putting it. Yet that is how it would be. You must continue. Not until all the gems are assembled is hope lost. The crystal\'s power grows, it may now be able to seek you out. You cannot hide any longer. He is a worthy conduit for the accursed artifacts. Few can now stand against him. An overbearing lust to be complete consumes him now though... and it may be the only chance you have.\"
\"I don\'t know what you\'re talking about...\"
\"Mogura Aensular, daughter of the legendary healer Viol Aensular! You have felt lost your whole life, lacking any purpose or meaning. This is a grave situation you now find yourself in; but should you decide to face it, you may find what you have always wanted...\"
\"M-m-my name? How do you know my name!? What do you know about me!?\"
Moogie shouted into the void. Only echoes returned, mocking her by asking things she did not know. Moogie let out a shrill cry, and collapsed back to the ground.
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Trudging in Tunnels
Kramy slowly crawled to his feet. It sure did suck falling several stories down a pit. He had cracks all over his body...moving hurt a lot, but if he didn\'t find a healer he might soon fall apart. Wandering through the cylindrical tunnels, with sludge and other things lining the walls, he slowly made his way on looking for a way out. There had to be a ladder somewhere...ahh, why do the other races make huge pits with no exits? he mused angrily. Just when he thought he was beginning to understand them, they threw something completely new and unexpected at him that was just plain confounding...
The tunnels were unnaturally dark. Even in other caves with no sun, he had been able to see better than now. Maybe it was his exposure to the light from the world above for so long, but he doubted it. Wandering on he came to a huge chamber with many tunnels leading to it, and a giant statue located directly in the center. Carefully climbing down some railings, he reached the bottom and waded to the statue. Something odd had happened there. He wasn\'t sure why, but the statue felt warm for some reason. He peered at it, studying it slowly, then walked around it until he came to a small pedestal. Walking up to it it discovered that it was the cause of the warmth. But why does a pedestal make warmth?
He waved his hand over the pedestal, and a dim brown light shone out from his hand. A crystal formed just beneath. It looked brown. Kramy carefully picked it up, but after a second it flashed and disappeared. Odd... he thought. Crystals didn\'t usually do such strange things. Waving his hand over the pedestal again, the crystal reappeared in the dim brown light. Picking it up again, it flashed and vanished.
Well, obviously it didn\'t want him to eat it, so he turned around and waded to the tunnel opposite the one he had entered. Climbing carefull up the railing, due to all the cracks in his body, he made it to the tunnel above and trudged on...
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Lets get this story moving again. 8)
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Seperot stroled into a street he was going to find the rest of himself he need help. he wandered into the slums an area of town that no one whent to unless they lived there if a fire broke out noone whould help. knowing this seperot set the whole slums ablaze killing anyone who had managed to excape. he cooled the fire after a short while so the bodys wherent beyond the relm of necromancy and reanimated them. with a small army of zombies he set them out to hunt moogie. he himself set out for the kran. The zombies where feral beasts a bite from them ment the person whould soon be turned into them without the right healing. they slowly where moveing though the city killing to gather forces as they carryed on there masters task.
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i cant think of much to write atm so im just giving backround on what im doing.....evil things :P
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[Occ]ok ive got tired of waiting for wedges aprovial to use his charater so here i go !!!!! [Occ]
\"Heres the other half of the payment as promised\"
the dark clocked figure reached out a paw to grab the heavy crystal laden pouch, it juggled it in its hand to measure the weight of its contents then it untied the top of the pouch to futher inspect the contents.
\"Were you followed ?\" i asked
\"what do you think \" He looked at me funny through his mask
\"one can never be too careful these days \" i sighed at the figure
\"A question to you why did you send me to retrive the healer ?\"
\"ill tell you when our dear healer wakes\"
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Traitor
Panik broke out in Hydlaa, and the townpeople fled for their lifes with the undead corpses that was once their friends coming after them to, with a single bite, turn them into armies of mindless zombies. The streets was in chaos. the undeads were everywhere, and their number increased rapidly.
The local Clerics did their best to protect the temple from invading zombies, but they were many, and the Clerics too few. The magical circle they had created wouldn\'t last for long, and when it disappeared all would be lost.
In the middle of the inferno stood an Enkidukai, unearthly calm and with a horrid smile on his lips. It was obviously the necromancer who had summoned this horde of nightmare-creatures. If they could put him down, then all the zombies would most surely fade away as well.
One of the temple-warriors drew his sword and rushed at him while he seized a warcry. He looked like he was ready to split him in half, but the feline just stood there as if it didnt have a problem in the world. Just when the temple-guard was about to end the Enkidukais life, it raised its hand in a quick sweeping motion, a dazzling light hit the guard and he was hurled away like a glove over the houseroofs, only to be crushed when he hit the ground.
This makabre scene frightened most of the audience, and they took a few steps back just in case the Enkidukai would begin casting more spells in their direction.
\"What do you want from us Necromancer?\" one of the priests asked. \"Why are you here?\"
\"I\'m searching for Moogie, perhaps you have seen her?\" He smiled at them scornfully.
The priest opened his eyes wide.
\"Se-seperot? But why?\"
Seperot continued \"I am also in search for a Kran who was with her recently. They have something I need. Tell me where they are, and perhaps I\'ll spare your beautiful town.\"
\"Seperot, you are a damn traitor! We will not tolerate this!\" The priest were red in the face with anger and fear.
\"Then you will die, and join my army of undead. No matter, you will help me either way.\"
Suddenly a boy came out from the crowd. He had a two-handed sword on his back, but didn\'t seem to be ready to draw it.
The priest shouted at him. \"Come back here Jadd! Foolish boy, you won\'t stand a chance against him!\"
The boy started to walk against Seperot, when a horde of undead came against him. He held up his hand, and the zombies stopped as if they had seen Talad himself.
He turned against Seperot, still without his sword drawn.
\"My name is Jadd, and I don\'t wish to fight you.\"
Seperot seemed quite unmoved by the incident, and waited for his next move.
\"I sense some kind of evil force within you Enkidukai. Perhaps I can help you get rid of it. But if so, you need to help me fight it.\"
Seperot hesitated. His mind was clouded, but still there was something deep inside him that told him the boy were telling the truth.
\"Why would I trust you, boy? You\'re just trying to trick me into my doom, besides, this \"evil force\" as you call it gives me power beyond imagination. Why would I want to get rid of it?\"
\"You already do. You\'re hesitating, and it means the living part of you is still there. I can only offer my help, but you\'re the one who must accept it.\"
\"Silence boy! You\'re nothing but a stripling! Why would I put my life in your hands?\" He drew his sword and pointed it at Jadd.
\"You know nothing! I have no reason to belive what you\'re saying. Now get out of here, or feel my wrath!\"
\"I\'m not going, not until you agree to let me help you.\"
\"Fine! Then you will die for what you are. A fool!\"
\"Damn you! He is nothing but a boy! If you hurt him I\'m going to crush you!\" the priest shouted.
\"You keep yourself out of this old man! This will be amusing.\" Seperot laughted bitterly.
\"I want to help you, and if you dont belive me, then look around. Dont you see what is it doing to you? Can\'t you see it\'s eating your mind?\"
Seperot calmed down a bit.
\"I swear by Talad I won\'t hurt you. Please, you have to fight it, or it will tear your soul apart! Are you ready to accept this when you can resist it?
I\'m trying to help you, but you refuse to let me. Please, I can help you get rid of it. I can help you fight it!\"
Seperot didn\'t move a muscle. Then he began laughting.
\"You pathetic fool! Do you really belive in that yourself?\"
He raised his sword and started to walk against Jadd.
\"Nice try, but now It\'s time for you to die!\"
He did a lithe jump against Jadd who were quick to jump aside and draw his sword. Seperot was fast and agile and his eyes seemed to glow with hatred and anger.
Jadd went into battle-position and began casting a defensive spell, but Seperot were faster. A ball of fire exploded from his fingers and Jadd, who didn\'t succeed in blocking it, was hurled away a bit by the impact.
Seperot looked at Jadds body, but he didn\'t move.
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My first post, yay.
It\'s getting crowded down here...
Thakaltas was fighting for his life. He was backed up against a building in the Hydlaa slums, holding a group of twelve zombies at arm\'s length.
The Enkidukai ducked a zombie aimed for him in a flying tackle and swung his halberd through another\'s neck. That left a hole in the group of undead charging at him. Thakaltas took advantage of the hole in their lines, and sprinted through it, the studded leather of his armor hardly slowing him. He shouted back at the zombies, \"What did I ever do to-\" His angry tone turned into a surprised one as his feet fell on nothing, and as he fell, he finished, \"Youuuuuuu!?\" He hit the bottom of the pit, and by some miracle managed not to land on anything sharp. All the air whooshed out of his lungs. He made an attempt to sit up, which failed, and a few moments later blackness replaced his vision as he fell into unconsciousness.
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Edit: Yes, I know it was pitiful.
Edit 2: Fixed the beginning to reflect the edit to the post above this one.
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bah! fanomatic i didnent whant it like that at all...
\" you have sealed this towns fate boy\" Seperot sayed to the uncouncious boy. a few townsfolk had already run away including the priest carriying the boy but everyone started runing once they saw what was above. fire was raining from the sky all concentraded on hydell and the enki standing in the midis whatching the townfolk who where not quick enough to flee, burning and screaming thouse who fled the gates where met up with zombies very few people stayed free of the event and hydell was reduced to rubble he felt the power of a crystal close by. With a zombie on each side moogie was trying to excape. the enki looking in horror as she saw who had caused all the death. \" Seppie? but-but why?\" The rogue dident replie he just grabed for the pendant around her neck. the crystal seems to almost meld into him. as moogie was trying to talk to him all voice of reason left Seperot heis hand rushed out and grabed moogie draged her sewer entrance. Moogie knew the drop whould kill her. he grabed her neck and dangeld her over the sewer while he was saying \" submit or die\" with dark magics flowing from his hand into moogies head.
see what happens when you try to defeat me by yourself? :P
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sepeort iam not a zombie !
and ive spent alot of time playing doom, house of the dead , resdient evil and other zombie games i know how to Get rid of zombies ! FAST ! - occ
taking aim balac drew his throwing knives tiped with deadly paralizing(sp) vemon that can take down a large beast within seconds, however there was no telling if it would work aginst the rouge .
holding the knife like a drat balac flung the blade towards seperots forehead. bullseye ! balac hit his target.
seperot droped moogie on to the floor street and wolbbled backwards. with a hand seperot yanked the blade out of his skull and the wound instantly healed. not a scratch or scar where the knive was before. he flunged the blade on to the cobbled street.
\"You ! \" seperot shouted at balac as he landed on the street, \" Miss me sortic ? hmm ... i see that you still have strange choises for hosts \"
seperot growled back \"thats none of your consern you cant stop me this time ! All life will end ! and you\'ve seen it happen in your dreams haven\'t you !\" Seperot grined
\"The future is uncertain Sortic ! Dreams are not reality And I will Not let them happen \" balac shouted back
\"You cant erase ME Tarsis\"laughed seperot
\"No,no i cant sortic but it dosent mean i cant bind you ! \" and as soon as the words left balacs mouth seperot\'s crystal felt the vemon taking effect
\"It wont harm me tarsis\" sortic strugling to finnish the words
\"yes sortic , i know,i know\" clamly walking past the paralized seperot and pushes him off his balance. seperot on his back tried to shout out at balac
\"whats that sortic ? cat got your tounge ?\"balac grined cheekly at the fallen rouge. picking up moogie in both arms balac flaped his Wings and took off leaving the rouge behind
-edit sortic is the name of the crystal that controls seppie and yah go give your crystal names and if u want to change the name i gave the crystal go ahead sep
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(Hey, something\'s trying to happen here, so I\'ll step in and steer the story back a while so it can happen... then you can take it wherever you want again :) )
Balac flapped his powerful wings and the two figures rose through the air, heading away from the crazed Seperot who was now struggling back to his feet. He shot his sight upward- all his crimson eyes could see now was Moogie\'s pendant, and his mind screamed bloody murder as it escaped him. Lifting a paw, he shot a single ball of energy hurtling towards the sillhouette in the sky.
Moogie shrieked in suprise as Balac\'s grip on her was released, a loud impact and a painful scream ringing in her ears as she free-fell through the air. She briefly glanced at the Klyros\' body falling not far from her own. Although they hadn\'t got too high when they were shot down, the cruel impact of the ground knocked the girl unconcious. Balac, still partially in control, struggled valiantly to land without injury, rolling along the road several times before skidding to a stop, smoke rolling off his smooth reptilian skin from Seperot\'s attack.
It was a few minutes before Moogie stirred again. She slowly, painfully opened her eyes, and struggled to lift herself onto her elbows. Her entire right side was numbed from pain and she couldn\'t move her right arm. A pair of Enkidukai feet entered her vision as she stared at the ground before her, and she lifted her gaze as far as she could manage. She didn\'t have to see who it was. She already knew.
Seperot reached down his powerful paw and lifted Moogie\'s limp body entirely from the ground. His grip around her neck was suffocating. Moogie struggled, so weak, so much pain... gasping for air, she tried to talk to him.
\"S...Sep.. s... stop..! Let... me...g...\" But he squeezed her throat harder untill no air nor blood could pass through it. Moogie\'s vision started to fade, but she struggled untill all hope of life seemed lost. As her body silently began to relax, Seperot brought his other paw around to rest on her forehead. He began chanting, little more than an unearthly growl in his throat, as if possessed by a demon from the very pits of Hell.
Dark red swirls of mist began to twist down his arm. It circled Moogie\'s body and enveloped her in a thin layer of evil power. Seperot began to speak to her, over and over, saying \"Submit... you MUST submit...\" while concentrating his power to take over her soul. Suddenly, Moogie snapped open her eyes. But their colour had faded, replaced by two deep pools of eternal blackness. Seperot gazed at her for a reaction untill a thin smile spread across her lips.
It was done. The Enkidukai slowly placed the girl back on her feet, before ripping the pendant from her neck. Moogie no longer felt the pain- her body seemed healed. Yet her mind was trapped. It could think nothing, however hard she tried to understand what was happening. She tried to speak, yet no words came. Even her mind seemed to be changing, and instead of fighting this evil, she began to relinquish to it. It felt good, some kind of pleasure that her friend was channeling into her mind. Moogie surrendered to this overpowering feeling, and as Seperot turned to leave, she willingly followed. The former snowy white fur was already darkening to match her empty eyes.
[Edited: Checked, added stuff]
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Thakaltas stirred, once, twice, and opened his eyes. Light shone into the pit he had fallen into, through the cracked boards that had once covered it. Splinters lay all around the Enkidukai, and his halberd had embedded
itself in the soft dirt of the pit\'s bottom a few feet away.
Thak sat up and instantly regretted it, as pain blossomed through his head. A quick glance upward confirmed that he had fallen around thirty-five feet, landed on his back, and survived. A quick glance at
himself confirmed that he had suffered no lasting ill effects from the fall. His head, however, pounded. \"Must\'ve cracked it off something on the
way down,\" he muttered to himself. He shook his head as if to clear it, and stood. A few shaky steps brought him to his halberd, which he tugged out of the ground. He smiled unconsciously; when he was armed, he could be dangerous.
Thak glanced around the pit, noting a few tunnels that led from it. He glanced up, and barely had time to blink at the zombie rapidly falling towards him. The undead creature fell directly onto Thak\'s halberd, and it quickly slid down the spear tip and over the blade before coming to rest on Thak\'s paw. The Enkidukai shifted his grip on his weapon so that his paw was above the zombie, and the creature slid the rest of the way down the halberd\'s wooden shaft. Thak moved his paw back to his normal grip on his halberd nonchalantly, pulling the end of the weapon from the zombie\'s body. He glanced up again, and this time danced out of the way of the next falling undead. He swung himself completely around once, and using the momentum built up, separated the zombie\'s head from its shoulders as it
stood.
A quick glance up confirmed that the undead beasts would not soon tire of throwing themselves down into the pit. Thak looked over the three tunnels that could accomodate a running Enkidukai, picked the only one that looked like it went generally up, and ran for it.
---Fifteen minutes later---
\"I\'m beginning to doubt the wisdom of coming this way,\" Thak said to himself conspiratorially. \"Actually, I think I started to doubt ten minutes ago. Now I realize I was wrong.\"
Thak was carrying on a conversation with himself as he ran through Hydlaa\'s sewer system. The smell was the least annoying thing about the sewers. Slightly more annoying was the prevalence of the citizens-turned-zombies in the dark sewer tunnels. Most annoying was the fact that he had not seen a single way out of the sewers for fifteen minutes.
A group of six undead pulled up one of the sewer grates ten feet in front of Thakaltas, and dropped through into the tunnels. \"Yet another annoying thing,\" the Enkidukai observed. \"They can get in much more easily than I can get out.\" He paused, and continued a few moments later. \"Six on one? Unfair.\" He offered a warcry at the group of six undead, and charged. The first one fell as it was impaled by the tip of Thakaltas\' halberd. The other five charged all at once. Thak took a few steps back, swinging down at two of them with the halberd\'s blade. \"Three on one. Still unfair,\" he said. Another zombie fell as Thak swung his halberd diagonally across the thing\'s neck. The last two had closed to ranges close enough to seriously hamper the Enkidukai\'s efforts to hurt them. One had moved into position behind him, and the other was in front. Thakaltas\' arm shot forward, putting the first zombie out of the fight, and then backward, cracking the second creature across the face. Thak spun quickly, and a moment later the fight was over. \"Unfair for them.\"
Five minutes later, Thakaltas once again faced a group of undead, this time only four. \"Persistant, aren\'t they?\" the Enkidukai commented. It took him a moment to realize how the zombies had entered-down a ladder. Thakaltas threw caution to the wind, running straight through the middle of the undead creatures. They seemed as surprised, at least to the extent a reanimated hunk of flesh can seem surprised. Thakaltas wasted no time in climbing the ladder.
An Enkidukai head poked up from a manhole, followed a moment later by the entire Enkidukai. All seemed clear in front of him. He turned, to see Moogie following Seperot away. Thakaltas saw Moogie begin to turn, perhaps hearing a footstep, so Thak brought the back of his halberd up to connect with the back of Moogie\'s head, hard. Thak found the resulting \'thunk\' oddly satisfying. He dashed into a closeby alley, and two minutes later, had scaled the side of a building. He lay flat on the roof, looking out over the burning city.
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Seperot strolled though the smolding distruction with moogie trailing behind shaking her head. the rogue lept up onto the once proud statue in the center now broken in half and raised his hands. at first nothing happend then slowly the dead started to rise. an army of skeletons where rising all around hydellia. they all walked to the statue standing in 4 groups. The enki pushed his hand againced one of the groupes distroying it and using the bones to create a bone wyurm. Moogie walked taowards the beast as its lowerd its head for her. \" The kran or the shapeshifter are all you should concern yourself on bring me the crystal as soon as you get them.\" she nooded and signaled for the wyurm to take off. Seperot turned his attention to the army of Skeletons \"Go bring terror to the lands, let none survive\" the armys moved out to the neboring towns each going a differnt way
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And thusly Hydlaa had fallen...
\"It seems,\" Thakaltas said to himself, \"that this city has become even less safe than it usually is.\"
He leaped the gap between two buildings, moving towards the city\'s north wall. Smoke rose from most of the few buildings that remained standing, and skeletal armies marched towards the gates. Night was falling, and the bluish light from the Azure Sun gave everything a surreal quality. Thak shook his head. \"The master of understatement, I am.\" The Enkidukai jumped from rooftop to rooftop, until twenty minutes later he had arrived at the wall. Thirty seconds later, he landed on the ground outside the city walls and struck off to the north.
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ooc: Yes, I know, even pitifuler.
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Seperot sighed...where the hell was he. he looked at the 4 steel wall and the red dirt floor he had to get out but the cage was too hevey for one person. a few hours ago he was charging into the wall clawing at it and generaly tring anything to get free but to no avile. the rogue begane to wonder what his body was doing while he was traped in the bizzare corner of his mind. he wondered if this was even his mind. he looked up and almost fainted is fright as he say moogie standing in the corner. she was looking around panic ridden. seperot ran over to moogie but she ran away from him. \" moogie is...is that you?\" \" stay away dont kill me\" she replied backing into the corner \" it realy is you how did you get here? where is here? whats the crystals doing?\" the barage of questions seemed to calm moogie a little \" sep? it is you..the real you where.....where are we?\" the enki sighed and sat down\" i have no idea but atleast now i know im not traped in my mind...so whats been happening down there?\"
moogie brings seperot up to speed on events that happend after he she ran away from him hissing outside the tavern.
\" ......im sorry moogie if i knew the way things where gonna turn out...\" \" its no good worring about that right now right now we need to find a way out\" seperot nodded in aggreement as they both walked over to a wall and charged at the other side with full force they toppeld the cage. the looked around to see a barrne landscape of red and a deep red sky. they dident talk for quite some time as they walked though the land both thinking on where they are whats happening and what the others thinking.
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Seperot was in a playfull mood his magic was now unmached in the lands but he still craved the last 2. It decided it was going to do a bit of remodling to the city with the earth crystal and then fly around with the last crystals ordering all the land to bow before him. The beast smiled as he muse of the easyness of his plan the willingness of his host to collect himself and the armys he has already ammased. its ears perked it heard a sound coming from the tavern one of the few buildings still standing. he though about just burnng the tavern to dust then go see later but fragments of its host made it more interested and he whent to go see. inside he found a zombie barkeep cleaning a glass. \" useless creture \" he murmured and snaped his fingers to turn it to dust he snaped 3 more times before he realised it wasent he who brought this one back. he then disposed of the zombie and felt a small wave of power... it interested him as he walked into the darkness grabed a diabloi by the neck and slammed him againce a wall. the mage looked stuned that the enki found him. \" ah good a toy just what i need while i wait for the crystals to come to me\" \"bu- but im no toy\" the mage stammerd this dident stop the Seperot speaking \" you have 2 minuets to run as far as you can if you excape you live if you dont you will be tourtued to death\" as he was talking Seperot took the mages staff shocking the diabloi again \"1.59...1.58\" seperot started counting as the diabloi ran. 2 minuets later seperot found him and started elctrocuting him untill he died.
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The board is set; the pieces are moving...
Thakaltas had managed to barely outpace the skeletal army that was heading north. He looked forward, and saw the first town north of Hydlaa ahead of him. He glanced backwards, and saw the skeletal army not more than ten minutes\' march behind him. His stride quickened, and he ran, then sprinted, towards the town\'s southern gate.
A few minutes later, he arrived. Rapidly, Thak moved towards the town square, and announced after a few minutes to catch his breath, \"There\'s a skeletal army coming to kill you all! Run!\" About two of the people in the crowded square seemed to believe him. The rest of them fell silent for a moment, and laughed almost in unison. They stopped laughing, though, when thirty seconds later a town watchman ran into the square and shouted exactly the same message. Chaos ensued as the townspeople ran for their lives in every direction at once. A few armored figures percolated through the crowd towards the southern gate, and Thakaltas followed them.
At the southern gate was assembled a force of some one hundred men, all armed with swords and armored with chain mail shirts, leg plating, vambraces, helmets, and shields. All of them looked nervous. \"Which one of you is the leader?\" Thak asked.
One of the militiamen spoke up. \"Th\' Sergeant\'s not here yet.\" A moment later, the same man spoke again. \"Now he is.\" Thakaltas turned around, and up rode a man on a horse. He was wearing full plate armor, and was armed with a gleaming broadsword.
\"They outnumber you ten to one at the least,\" Thakaltas reported. \"I doubt you will survive this.\"
The man on the horse gazed down imperiously at Thakaltas. \"And who are you, Enkidukai, to make such predictions?\"
\"A nobody,\" Thakaltas replied. \"But a nobody who has been in his fair share of fights.\"
The mounted man continued to stare down at Thak. \"And will you perhaps, Mr. Nobody, fight for us?\"
Thakaltas\' response is quick. \"Four circles. Argue, and it doubles.\"
The man on the horse thought for a moment. \"Some would think it unwise to spend so much on a mercenary they have never seen fight before.\" After a short pause, he continued, \"Although someone who quotes such a fee at the beginning must think very highly of himself indeed to demand it at his first meeting. I accept your fee.\" To all assembled, the began, \"We will fight a delaying action! The citizens will escape through the northern and eastern gates and move to the forest! After they have abandoned the town, those of us who are left will move to keep them safe from further attacks.\" He might have had more to say, but it was not to be known. At that moment, the wooden gate rattled loudly on its hinges. \"They are here! Quickly, brace the gates!\" the man on the horse shouted.
A watchman came running, and reported, \"They\'re tryin\' t\' surround the city!\"
The mounted man pointed at Thakaltas and a militiaman. \"Each of you, gather thirty men and hold them outside the eastern and western gates!\"
Thakaltas nodded, picked the thirty men closest to him, and set off at a run towards the west gate. Thirty men followed him.
A few minutes later, they were arrayed just outside of the western gate. At least two hundred fifty skeletons moved towards them at a rapid march.
Tune in tomorrow for our next segment: \'This day we fight!\'
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I\'d reeeeeeally appreciate it if I could write the second section of this too.
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*Thak i know you wanted to reply but it was 3 days later, and i wanted to put this up, i know its long but once i started i couldnt stop :S sorry for the length and my first attempt but i hope this sees some replies :D* OOC
The skeleton army had amassed on the West Gate, it was but a quarter of a mile from the gate, same with the East and Southern gates but the North gate still remained free as the citizens fled to the forests around the town. Sengoku watched from the hilltop, as the skeleton army marched towards the town, he sat down on the hill and slowly drew his katana blade, in awe he turned it around back and forth before pulling a large leaf from a nearby bush and he almost cleaned the blade as if it was dirty, it gleamed in the sunlight just the same as he stood up and looked towards the town, his mind was in confusion as to whether he should enter such a battle, although great honour would be his, it would not show loyalty to die so foolishly.
Thakaltas was atop the wall by now and watched the army as it marched towards him, around 30 of the skeletons seemed to be archers, and slowly barrages of arrows landed upon the west gate but non had yet damaged a man, Thak continued to watch and ordered the gate to be barricaded as he looked over them men who looked to him so badly for leadership and for a chance to keep their lives, he knew they weren\'t soldiers, they were farmers, masons, builders, towns men, and the officers were clearly well established gentry who had obviously left along time ago, more than likely before the citizens of this town. The men looked at him almost like a puppy waiting for the ball to be thrown a second time... he sighed deeply and shook his head.
\"What is the name of this town?!\" He yelled as quickly as possible.
\"Arth!\" shouted half his command back.
\"I have done many bad things in this life, and this it would seem is the first thing that could be good, but I say to you this, would it be so bad to die to day knowing that you had saved Arth and its people? Would it be so bad to know you stopped this army ravaging and pillaging this town, destroying you, your families and friends?!\"
The men looked to each other before turning back to Thak, they all raise their weapons and cheer valiantly as 30 arrows barely even cast a shadow above them, but his command is made 26 as 4 men drop from the wall, he quickly leaves this post and orders only archers to remain on the wall, but as he is about to run down the steps he sees the glint on the hill, he remembers something from his childhood, a mere myth, legend and folk tale but... he watched closely as the gleam was moving quickly towards the 250 skeleton army, as he watched he saw that it was a man, dressed in some kind of robe with a sword drawn, he was perplexed at this suicidal action but then he saw the situation they were in, this was suicidal, he looked back at the men behind him and around the town, he looked back out and quickly ran down the steps, he moved to the front of the men and looked up to the wall.
\"OPEN THE GATES!\" he screamed, he held his halberd with tight fists as the men who operated it looked confused, but the order came again, louder and more aggressively, they shrugged and opened it.
As the gate opened Thak charged towards the skeletons who were barely a few metres away, as he ran he shouted. \"DO OR DIE!\". The men followed gradually but eventually they all fell in and charged the enemy.
Sengoku smashed into the back of the unsuspecting archers, his katana leaving a hole in the skeletons skull as it dropped to the ground, he pulled it from the skull and grabbed the next archers shoulders and pushed the sword through its back, again this skeleton fell, now he had noticed the men who had charged from the town, he shouted to them \"THEY DIE LIKE MEN, DO NOT FEAR THEM!\" as he sliced the head off the nearest foe.
He moved almost like poetry, Thak watched in amazement as he ripped off heads of the unsuspecting from behind with ease whilst fighting with his blade, every move seemed choreographed and looked beautiful to watch. Sengoku cut down the last archer and pulled a sword which had bitten into the ground, he threw it into the back of the main column of spearmen, swordsmen and whatever weapon seemed to have been found, a skeleton crumpled to the ground as Sengoku charged into the back of the column, which had turned and he was now facing a straight on battle.
Thak\'s halberd rammed into the chest of another skeleton as it fell he turned, pulled it from the once again corpse and smashed the skull of a nearby skeleton, one of his men stabbed at a skeleton but as he did the skeletons sword was in motion and fell into his chest, he stumbled back gasping for air before falling dead. 13 of the men had already died and over 160 of the skeletons were left, although poor fighters there numbers would soon overwhelm them, he could also hear the screams of those behind him in the towns and those next to him as the man by his side was decapitated, the blood sprayed in his face, his own dirty hands washed the blood away just in time to move his head to the side to avoid being skewered by a keen spear jab, he drew his sword, cut the end off the spear, spins and jams the sword into what would have been the throat of the skeleton, it fell to the ground a pile of bones, his halberd again swung into action blocking a lunge from a sword before his own sword sung as it flew threw the air into the skeletons chest, Thak again charged the enemy with the halberd, skewering 4 before he had to pull it out, grabbing his sword again he began to defend himself as the men were beginning to become singled out.
Sengoku continued to fight alone, already having struck down 38 skeletons he felt he had earnt great honour, but still didnt understand where the voice that told him to help out this mercenary came from... but he had no time to think as his katana took the army, then leg of a skeleton, Sengoku moved with the movement of the blade and with his back turned to the skeleton he pushed the blade behind him, deep into the skeletons chest. He pulled it out as a spear pierced the back of his shoulder and tore through his muscle and came out the front of his chest, he groaned as he fell to his knees, the skeletons converged as he looked up, not defending himself.
\"Shamed at last, an honourable death...\" He muttered as he awaited death, but it didnt seem to come, infact it didnt come, the people watched as the katana that was in his hands was held infront of his face, it was glowing white, but more then white it seemed to be a holy glow, a force that was not himself pulled him to his feet and the skeletons seemed to freeze as the sword passed through one after the other making the skeletons piles of white dust on the ground, Sengoku began to take control again as he dealt out death to all those skeletons who were stupid enough to stay, yet skeletons aren\'t weak enough to run away so stay they did.
Thak dodged another stab at his gut, knocked the sword back with his own and pushed the halberd into its stomach, another spear was thrown at him, he moved back and it flew over his head, throw the chest of the man behind him, the man dropped to his knees and blood began to trickle from the corners of his mouth as he gasped for life, the men seemed to stop fighting... Thak moved back to defend this man, he seemed to be an officer or some important person, but before he could another spear landed in the mans chest and he was dead before Thak could defend him. It seemed the men had given up hope of victory as another 4 were slain soon after, now only 10 of them men continued to fight including Thak. Thak watched as the man in the robe cut his way though a further 15 skeletons to come to his side....
\"Who are you?\" cried Thak as he pushed aside yet another attempt to take his life, Sengoku sliced another arm off and parried a sword blow before answering.
\"I am Sengoku, son of Senako of....\" He was cut off as a skeletons sword slashed his arm, he grabbed the skeletons left shoulder and pushes his sword all the way through the skeletons chest and pulls it out, he steps back slowly and pulls the tanto from its sheath, although it\'s not adorned with such magnificence as the katana it\'s still impressive to Thak. \"I was told to come here, to save you, it seems your destiny is not to die today\" he finished at last.
\"My Destiny? I have no destiny!\" he replied, ramming the halberd into a skeletons leg and then rushing forward and using his sword, decapitates the skeleton, and it was over... The last skeleton fell to one of the men of the town and they looked around at the floor, 250 skeletons exactly and 23 human deaths, all the 7 survivors and sengoku were damaged in some way... Thak looked around and smiled.
\"I lived\" he screamed which was followed by a horn blowing which he knew was the horn of retreat...
\"Im told we must help the town\" said Sengoku
\"No, we need to get out of here...\" shouted Thak who was not happy about being commanded but for some reason he was beginning to want to go back.
\"There is something there for you...\" softly said Sengoku who seemed to be listening to something that wasnt there...
The men of the town turned to Thak and then looked back to the town, most of them were covered in blood, white dust and sweat, they began to move towards the town again, Sengoku stood looking at Thak who stared back...
-
Madness has its place...but is this it?
Thak stood stock still, regarding the man carefully. The Enkidukai\'s eyes flickered to his halberd and then his sword. The latter he slipped back into its sheath, and the former he leaned on like a staff. His breathing was only slightly accelerated as he gazed at each of the seven survivors in turn. The horn sounded again, and to the north the retreat was visible. The skeletons looked as if they had multiplied; at least a thousand pursued the soldiers as they moved to cover the townspeople. Thakaltas ran a claw down the blade of his halberd, eyed it carefully. Finally, he turned to Sengoku.
\"What are the possible benefits?\" Thakaltas asked himself. \"I don\'t know,\" he replied. \"Then why follow the man? Perhaps he could be useful. Yes, useful, but useful how? That remains to be seen. There is no basis to trust him. There is no basis to trust me, either. I\'m different. How? In many ways. Name them. I can\'t. Then I\'m no different. Yes, I am different. No, in the end, I am not.\" His conversation with himself drew to a close, the seven survivors watching him cautiously, and Thak\'s eyes focused on Sengoku. \"I will follow you, though it goes against my better judgement.\" Thak speaks to himself once again. \"No it doesn\'t. You know I\'m my better side.\"
-
*someone replied, wicked, heres more :D* OOC
\"We must go back to the town,\" said Sengoku as he sheathed his own Katana and Tanto blades.
\"Ok, are you sure?\" replied a slightly confused and seemingly insane Thak.
\"No, but the voice says we should\" muttered Sengoku as he began to trudge to the town.
\"Who\'s is the voice... your own?\" questioned Thak as he followed, the other 6 men of the town were already ahead and had entered the town and rejoined the fight to hold the army of skeletons back as long as possible.
\"The voice, is not my own but i seem to be the only one capable of hearing it which is worrying me,\" was the reply of the injured Sengoku.
\"You must find a healer soon or that wound will kill you,\" there was a slight hint of concern from Thak but nothing that could be called friendly in his voice.
\"We must hurry now before the town is lost!\" cried Sengoku as he ran towards the town, he entered in under the gate and stopped, he scanned the building before moving towards the biggest one.
Sengoku pushed the door open and stepped inside as an arrow landed in the door he turned to see Thak stabbing his halberd through the back of yet another victim, the skeleton crumpled and Thak ran inside the building.
\"This is suicide... Sengoku...\" Thak muttered to himself as Sengoku grabbed a torch from the wall and moved through the dark building, this section of it seemed to have no windows.
\"This is a... temple of some kind...\" Thak wondered aloud.
\"Yes, a necromancers templ...\" before he can finish his sentece, a huge pillar of wood swings from the ceiling, Sengoku throws the torch to the ground, grabs Thak and pulls him to the ground.
\"Get off me!\" screamed Thak and pushed Sengoku off.
\"I am sorry, it was necessary...\" said Sengoku as he bowed slightly.
\"Why are we here Sengoku?!\" cried Thak.
\"There is a weapon here, a weapon of legends...\" muttered Sengoku as he grabbed the torch and moved towards an alter, as long and thin as the strange man himself, Thak watched as his hand ran along the edge, almost as if he could read the ancient tongue.
\"weapon of legends... a strange man with a code of honour... will come from nowhere to help a battle of sure death, and will be the one to bestow the power of.... of light?\" it was as if he remembered it from his childhood, Sengoku stopped and turned to him.
\"Yes, that legend, that weapon is here somewhere, and it seems when needed most the voice has gone now...\" replied Sengoku as he began to push the altar forward, it begin to creek but moved little, Thak moved forward and with his help it fell backwards and smashed, inside it seemed to be some kind of spear... Sengoku picked it up and held it for a while before passing it to Thak.
\"There is the power the gods have granted to help you in this battle and I am to protect you until you get chance for your destiny to begin...\" said Sengoku as he drew his katana, and pushed Thak behind him, 10 skeletons entered the room and Sengoku charged forward, left and right when the strokes of his blade, smashed two skeletons, he spun and decapitated the third, the fourth couldnt draw his weapon as Sengoku grabbed his shoulder and pushed the sword through its chest, it fell to the ground but Sengoku couldnt draw the sword out of its chest. Thak\'s Halberd hummed as it reverbreted in the wall it had dug into, saving Sengoku from the fifth skeleton. Sengoku put his foot on the skeleton and pulled his sword out, he moved back towards thak and blocked a stab for his chest.
\"I need not you to protect me Sengoku\" cried Thak as the new kind of spear weapon smashed the school of the nearest skeleton.
\"This is not a choice you have\" cried Sengoku as his katana blocked an attack that would have killed Thak, he pushes the skeleton back before decapitating it, and the two skeletons left look to each other and charge towards the two men, Thak holds his new toy up, taking out one of the skeletons and Sengoku throws his tanto into the skull of the other skeleton ending the short fight.
After collecting their weapons Sengoku looks towards Thak.
\"I do not know how to get out of here...\" he admitted slowly.
\"I do, see that ladder?\" asked Thak.
\"Yes, follow me,\" cried Sengoku as he lead the w ay to the roof, there was a hatch of some kind that he opened and daylight flooded the room as the two men escaped onto the roof, as Thak crawled onto the tiles, Sengoku slammed the door shut and both men stood up to see the sight of the town, the whole town was overun by skeletons, over a thousand were swarming through the streets, houses, buildings were being burnt and searched for... well they didnt know what for but Sengoku suspected they had what was being searched for.
\"We need a miracle to get out of here Sengoku...\" whispered Thak.
\"Yes we do\" smiled Sengoku as he replied, sheathing his katana and his tanto....
-
[How\'s this for bringing back Auran?]
Monketh was barely concious, but he could feel the guards dragging him along the ground. As he was being dragged, an alarming thought crossed his mind; \"Why am I still alive? Where is Grakrim?\".
The dragging continued for quite some time, and when it ended he began to come to his senses. Monketh remembered little of what had happened when he was lying lifeless on the ground, only stars whirling again and again, and the silohette of some great being. The blurry shapes placed him on top of what seemed to be a crude altar. In front of him another dark, blurry figure stood.
He addressed it.
\"Wha.. who.. Why am I alive?!\"
\"We cannot have a sacrifice without a living will, can we?\" the figure replied, seeming to grin.
The figure, evidently a dark preist of some sort, started chanting. The room darkened.
Or was it his vision that darkened?...
The floor vibrated a little, then the door opened. A dim light, like a rod of fire, slowly penetrated the darkness. Some great beast was entering the chamber. Monketh\'s vision cleared, and what he saw was terrifying. It had wings of raw fire.
To his surprise, the great beast spoke.
\"Who among you, now dares to oppose me?\" the beast asked of the startled cultists.
They threw away their fear and charged the beast like the lunatics they were.
...Only to be thrown back by his tremendous strength.
\"Who are you, great beast, and what has drawn you here?\"
\"I seek the power of the crystals.\"
\"Really? Well there are none here, do not waste your time. Say, could you possibly unbind me?\"
\"No I will not unbind you.\"
\"But I know of the location of the crystals...\"
\"As do I, the enkidukai called Seperot has laid waste to the town of hydlaa.\"
Monketh stared off into space.
\"I... I do remember an old legend...\"
\"I care not for the legend, the ultimate power shall be mine!\"
\"But... The unity of the crystals will bring about the end of the world!\"
\"I do not believe lies from the weak, such as you.\"
\"I was once strong, I am called Monketh, a Master Ranger. Tell me beast, what has become of the Rangers, and what is your name?\"
\"They are dead, the cult attacked them without mercy.\"
\"And of Moogie? And your name?\"
\"I will not entrust you with my name just yet. But I will need a plethora of help to defeat Seperot, who has taken Moogie.\"
\"I see our interests cross for but a while.\"
\"Indeed. Do not stray from my command, or I shall slay you as well \'ere Seperot falls.\"
And with that, the beast released Monketh from his chains.
\"What is it exactly you need from me?\"
\"You will know in time, Master Ranger.\"
[Hope it wasn\'t too bad...]
-
Seperot and moogie had been walking thugh the waste land for what seems like an age then out in the distance there was a tent. as the walked over to it a old man was sitting outside \" well well the hero has arived at last\" seperot looked at the old man \" who\'s are you talking to \" the old man satrts to turn to Seperot while he is talking \" the one who has been fooled by the crystals alure and must now use the good to defeat yourself\" seperot looked at himself and back at the old man \" i hate to burst your bubble old man but im no person of good and light\" \" perhaps not anymore but you once where...your white fur..blue eyes remember that?\" seperot stared at the old man in disbelive. moogie spoke out \" how do you know this? where are we? why am i here? hwo is seperot going to be good? how...\" the old man raised a hand to stop the Enki from asking anymore \" i will answer your questions child to the first i am the keeper of the stone of talad the only item powerfull to equal the 6 crystals and lord of the barron lands which is where you are a land where minds stolen by the crystals you are here because you are the crystals accmplice you must be your friends helping and to rejoin the light. now there isent much time for more chat i must give you instructions on your task\" seperot and moogie stayed silent then belived the old mans words. he gave them instuctions on how to get to a temple 2 days walk from where they where a short sword each and a scroll to moogie who was told not to open it untill she felt it was time.
mean while Seperot had boarded Darkstorm and set off towards the city none of his troops had attacked yet. and moogie was walking into the cult base searching for the crystal>
-
*OOC: I decided that the legendary spear will be the naginata, which is pretty much a pole with a sword attached to the top, of course this one will be adorned with runes, ancient wriitngs etc. btw how is this being ended seperot... since it seems you will be going at a tangent to me, we might as well help set-up your idea!*
\"Why are you smiling?\" questioned an annoyed, but currently stable Thak.
\"Can you not see... I can feel it coming close... close to the end...\" replied Sengoku as he looked up into the sky.
\"Your a fool, do you believe... yes you do believe, you believe you work for him...\" stammered Thak.
\"I do not believe it Thak\" Sengoku turned to him \"I know it\" came the harrowing reply to Thak\'s constant line of questionning now for 4 minutes.
\"I didn\'t want to die here today... or infact for a long time to come...\" stated Thak as he drew his sword in preperation for what was bound to come as soon as he and Sengoku where discovered.
\"Do not worry... I have a way out of here... are you adept at all with magic?\" asked Sengoku as once again he drew his katana blade, its runes, glyphs, writings, whatever they could be described as, that ran down the blade still glowed the seemingly \'holy\' white.
\"I dont have the first clue...\" replied Thak as he began to wonder to himself whether he should kill Sengoku just to make himself feel better for this... betrayal.
\"Hmmmm... I think i can warp us....\" began Sengoku.
\"Warp? whats Warp? I don\'t like the sound of that and what if this spell goes wrong... being in a peices between places is not what i want...\" but before Thak could finish his speech Sengoku placed a hand on his shoulder and closed his eyes, Thak could feel Sengoku\'s body... and his soul itself shaking as he poured energy into the warp. A small sound of \'pop\' was made as the pair disappeared and a thousandeth of a second later appeared on the hill far from the town itself.
\"I should kill you now you fool!\" cried Thak as he jammed his new found weapon into the face of Sengoku.
\"I don\'t think you want to do this Thak... i mean... how else will we save this world?\" questionned Sengoku.
\"Shutup, i don\'t want part of this, who knows if we get lucky, maybe, just maybe something will go wrong and whatever, whoever... look i just don\'t care anymore...\" shouted Thak.
\"I do not care what happens either, for it is in the future and does not deserve my thought yet, instead i care what is happening Thak, right now people are dying back in Hyldaa, small towns like the one we just came from, villages, larger towns... militia slain, houses burnt, homes wrecked, wives, husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters, sons dead..... all dead and because you couldn\'t muster the strength within yourself to realise the only thing stopping you is what you\'re pretending to be... you pretend to be this god-awful, hating man but i know Thak, i saw you back there, you have a good soul, its in your eyes and the way you fight... if only you would realise this... you could end all of this... you could save them... become a legend... will you really leave them to die, leave the chance to make something of your life behind?\" spoke Sengoku, loud and clear through the air. Thak\'s face physically showed him thinking.
\"I... I can\'t do it, just leave me alone, all i want is to be left alone... OK?!\" cried Thak again.
\"No... I won\'t let you sacrafice there lives like this...\" Sengoku grabs the naginata and spins it around, pushing it into the throat of a surprised Thak.
\"Do it or you will perish, the world will end, but i will not let it end without first clearing any shame i may die with.....\" Sengoku pushes the blade into his throat so as it begins to slowly almost break the skin.
\"FINE!... but i hope your god has a place for us both, for we will never live...\" shouts Thak as he pushes Sengoku off balance and takes the Naginata of legends back, he begins to examine it closely as Sengoku, smiling, sheaths the katana and looks around... and then looks up.
\"The one we seek lies towards... Hyldaa... We must get there within the next day... our best path is that forest... and Thak... Have faith,\".
-
\"Our master is waiting for you, please follow us\" started one of the lemur guards assembled in the temple\'s hall. None of them seemed to acknowledge the massacre outside, they simply closed the doors and locked out the screaming. Zaeku crept obediantly through the corridors escorted by the three mages. The only light radiated from the merciless fire burning Hydlaa\'s inhabitants to ashes. If not for that they would have been crawling around in pitch black. As the group turned the next corner Zaeku took notice of one of the guards hastily shutting a door. Normally something so insignificant would have been shut out of his mind imediately, but in the room sat a beaten demon nearly three times the enkidukai\'s height binded to the wall and a man lying next to it near death. The guard glared at him, reminding him of his place and they stopped at their destination shortly after.
Two large doors ended the hall. One guard continued to lead Zaeku in as the other two slid the doors back. The only light in the room seemed to eminate from a cloaked figure sitting at a table in the center of the room, the rest of the light appeared to be avoiding the area. The enkidukai took his seat across from the figure. It\'s face was covered by the eerie absence of light, but other wise the figure was about Zaeku\'s size and wore a red tunic. \"We have a favor to ask\" one of the lemur servants dictated...\"a certain artifact was stolen from my master a short while ago....we need someone to retrieve it\" he continued. After a lengthy description of the thief the guards walked the enkidukai through the building back to the exit.
Once he was sure they had left Zaeku leapt onto the building and began scaling the walls for a better view of the area and to escape the hordes of zombies, which had increased rapidly since he had last seen the city. He came to an abrupt halt as he spotted a group of zombies surrounding a grayish lump resting on the road near the incident that occured just a day ago. Zaeku immediately began jumping the roof tops to reach the body before the undead could rip it apart. It was not long before he reached the crowd.
Zaeku snapped the remaining zombie\'s neck and crushed the head as he made his way to the fallen Klyros. It appeared someone had done his job for him. He grabbed it\'s legs and swung it over his shoulders. He had specific orders not come in contact with the crystal so he began the long zombie ridden path back to Laanx temple.
\"Before we pay you there is one last thing we need you to accomplish\" The master of the temple, tired of hiding leaned out of the shadows, revealing a hideous featurless mask. The words seethed from it\'s mouth as it spoke, \"Kill Thakaltas\"
-
A dark-green cloaked figure walked slowly down the old cobblestone road in unison with a cheerily dressed but equally covered ylian, or so he seemed. They had been walking now for about a day now, and finally the Ranger\'s curiousity got the better of him.
\"Excuse me, but I have a question.\"
\"What!?\"
\"If Seperot can vaporize things, how do you intend to fight him?\"
\"I do not.\"
\"Oh...\"
By now a tiny glowing speck was visible in the distance.
Monketh muttered queitly. \"There \'tis, Hydlaa, town of ruins.\"
The Man replied to this sharply. \"That is, of course, our destination. Do not dare run.\"
\"I\'m too lazy to run.\"
Eventually the sun dimmed, and they made camp. Monketh removed what little was left of his rations and supplies and set out what he could. A few blankets would suffice for tonight\'s rest, rest he would surely need tomorrow. The Man stood up in a tree, wide awake. Did he ever sleep? Probably not...
-
OOC: Monketh, is that person with you a PC? If so, who? If not, give some info about him.
Monketh woke up from something that hit him. He looked to the side and saw an apple.
\"I don\'t remmember falling asleep under a tree...\" thought Monketh. He looked around, and saw the Man looking at him and gesturing him to stand up.
Monketh stood up, and held his rapier in one hand.
\"What happened?\" Monketh asked. The Man jumped down from the tree, and wielded his weapon.
Monketh looked in the same direction the Man did, and realized what\'s going on.
A big Kran holding a massive axe was running toward them. It was more like trying to run, actually.
\"What in the name of Talad are you doing here?!\" the Kran shouted in a trembling voice, as he kept getting close.
\"Hydlaa is our destination, we want to stop this madness!\" Monketh shouted back.
The Kran was getting really close. Monketh and the Man each tighted the grip on his weapon more and more every second that passed, unsure what to expect.
\"And what are you doing here?\" the Man shouted.
\"I was thinking how to cleanse Hydlaa of all these undead too, actually.\" the Kran replied.
\"We should join forces, we\'ll have more chance together than alone.\" Monketh said, there was no need to shout anymore as the Kran was close enough.
The three sheathed their weapons. The Kran came to Monketh and shoot his hand.
\"Nuc.\" he said.
\"Monketh.\" Monketh replied.
\"You two thought you could take over Hydlaa by your own?\"
\"What do you know about what\'s going on there?\"
\"Not much. You see, I buy metals for my smithy directly from the mines. It\'s cheaper, and usually of higher quality...\"
\"Get to the point\" the Man said.
Nuc unsheathed his axe a bit, the Man stepped back and held his weapon, ready to unsheath.
\"Hey, hey... Relax you two...\" Monketh said.
Nuc sheathed his axe back and sat down. Monketh and the Man sat too.
\"As I was saying...\", Nuc continued, \"When I was about to enter Hydlaa, I saw a horde of people running terrified. I decided not to take any chances and went to the hills nearby and watched what\'s going on. Let me tell you, I\'ve been around this place even before any of you even dreamed of it, and I\'ve never seen anything like this. A horde of these -- things poured out right after the people. I thank Talad I didn\'t think it\'s some kind of a hoax and stepped into there!\"
\"Everything else I know is rumors that contredict each other. One of them even said that an Enkidukai did it!\" Nuc laughed, \"I bet it\'s one of those Lemurs and their god, Laanx\" Nuc spat.
\"As far as we know, it really was an Enkidukai... Called Seperot.\" Monketh corrected.
\"The crystals--\", the Man said, \"he\'s using the crystals, and will probebly get the others too.\"
\"ARGH! It\'s all because of you! You came here as if this place is your\'s, and now you\'re destroying it!\", Nuc yelled at them. \"I underestimated you, I thought it\'ll take you longer to find them, wich would be enough time for me to get one\".
\"What are you talking about?\" Monketh asked.
\"...And what were you searching a crystal for?\" the Man added.
\"Everything was much better before you came from wherever you came and settled here. Then you came, and we welcomed you, travelers, creatures we never seen before, and haven\'t tried to harm us - or so we thought. You paid for our hospitality by taking over, declaring everything as your\'s. But it wasn\'t enough, you were greedy, and searched for the crystals. Now that you got some of them, you\'re destroying the world.\"
\"So you were searching for the crystals to become a god and kill us all, huh?\" the Man asked teasingly.
\"Although I do wish you\'ll all just go back to wherever you came from and give us our home back, no. I want one single crystal. Without all six, they can do no good to their user, only harm. Atleast that\'s what I thought. I wanted to keep one so you won\'t have it\".
\"Hey, we\'re on the same side, remmember? We want to free Hydlaa\" Monketh said proudly.
\"Entring shouldn\'t be a problem. There\'s an opening in one of the walls in the slums, covered by bricks so it won\'t be seen. It\'s big enough for me, and the bricks won\'t be a problem either. The problem is once we\'re there. The place is swarmed with undead. Fighting one of them at a time shouldn\'t be hard, even a little boy can do it. But when so many attack you together, it\'s not pretty\".
\"We\'ll think of something.\", Monketh said, \"Wait, you mentioned something about metals for your smithy, where are they?\"
\"I hid them, no reason to walk around here with two sacks of metal bars as I have nothing to do with them without my smithy\" Nuc replied.
\"I can forge weapons too...\", Monkath noted, \"There\'s a small abandoned town not far, it might have a smithy. We could probebly salvage metals from there, together with your metals, and our skills, we might be able to make something to aid us...\".
\"We should rest now. We\'ll get my metals and head to the town at dawn\".
Monketh and Nuc each found a spot to lay down and rest. The Man went back to the tree to see if anyone is coming.
---------------------------
Edit: Ehh... Came out too long and kinda messy. Not that bad though...
-
Meanwhile in a tree far away a lone stranger slept seemingly blissfully unaware of her suroundings. the creature scilently drew back his bow string and took aim. he was about to release when her eyes opened and a slightly evil smile spread across her face. in a second she had her bow trained on him without thinking he released the shaft and it went sailing towards her she slightly turned her head and the arrow buried itself into the bark of the tree next to her creamy neck. she jumped toward the creature and landed at his feet and let loose her arrow which dug its way through his brain. she revered in the rain of blood and danced before licking her lips and drinking the fresh and warm blood straight from the wound her arrow had opened in the creatures forehead. After her breakfast she felt a tingling sensation drawing her to the east curious she turned toward the sensation and started walking
an hour later she apered atop a ridgeline of a cliff high set into the top of her mountain home she looked then turned as if to walk away but then turned again and ran to the edge of the cliff and jumped out. she let out a high pitched whistel and a huge magestic bird swooped underneath the faling lady just before she was dashed upon the jagged teath below. \"to the east my friend\" The lady known as Rouge Arrow cried to her avian friend still getting over the elation of free falling. and Rouge and her friend soared through the skies the elation constantly rising in rouge. Ever searching toward her prey.
-
(*Note: My first post, hope you like it)
Xyphon, the Enkidukai, stared intently upon the disappearing avian and his rider. He had recently witnessed her feast upon the evil creature and was half impressed and half disgusted. Nevertheless, he was bound by loyalty to travel to the Hydlaa Plaza and talked to an old man with two gold bands on his neck. A dying friend had asked him this, with no further details. Xyphon was quite mystified, but felt sure that this task must be carried out.
The Enkidukai skipped easily along a dirt path through the open wildlands. Little did he know that he was being tracked by two assassins, who were as slick as oil and as deadly as poison. They could have killed him there and now, but they had to bide their time.
Xyphon found a tree stump and suddenly discovered some fresh, edible berries nearby. He had immediately remembered that he had traveled 2 days nonstop and was extremely exhausted. Xyphon quickly plucked the berries and stuffed it in his mouth. Each mouthful of the lucious, sweet berries seem to tantalize his hunger pangs and he longed for more. Soon he was a big pile of purple goo.
The assassins thought that this opportunity was an excellent one to strike, so they quickly notched poisoned arrows to their shortbows.
Xyphon noticed a slight rustling coming from his right. After a few seconds he had suddenly realized that was the sound of a bowstring twang! He quickly leaped behind a nearby rock and was rewarded by a twang of arrows quivering moments where he was. Xyphon silently wrapped his paw around his runic crescent and went over the words of his sleep spell.
The assassins could not see well through the congested plants and trees, so they were suprised that their target\'s corpse seemed to have teleported. Each assassin cautiously searched the area.
Xyphon, using his superior senses as an Enkidukai, crouched in an attacking position toward one of the assassins.
(To be Continued...)
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Rouge Arrow studied the ground below her as she flew over the land, there were what looked like swarms of ants but she knew that were armies of undead zombies. As she flew over she lossed several spare arrows at them, \"why waste perfectly good targets?\" she asked herself. As she journeyed back to the place where she was to meet a contact who had a job for her and she had to take it as jobs were scarce and she was short of money. When she arrived the contact was there before her, he was a diabloi who worked for one of the main crime lords of Yikaleum. He payed her a circle and told her to kill a ranger called Monketh who was heading towards Hydlaa. Rouge accepted but although it sounded like a simple she was feeling uneasy and she knew she couldn\'t do it.
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The old man watched the two Enkidukai go. After they had gone a fair distance he turned to the tent. \"Smoak come out here, i know you were listening\" The young Klyros slowly came out of the tent. \"Yes my lord?\" \"Did you hear where I sent them too?\" \"Yes to the temple.\" \" Good , I want you to leave this place follow them to keep them safe.\" What?!\" he recoiled at this strange order. He had never left the tents safety since the lord had found him except on trips to the temple and now he was just supposed to leave! \"You are perfectly capable to take care of yourself and them, you only need to follow them to keep them out of trouble. I have watched you practice your skills and i know you can do this, now pack some things and go\".
Though still in shock at the concept of leaving Smoak accepted his masters command packed some food he would need and headed off. He knew the strangers had not gone far and could easily find them if he flew up to look. The hard part would be keeping track of them when they left the temple and he wasn\'t sure what he would do if they ran into trouble. He had lost sight of the tent now and could barely make out the travelers. He decided he would need to get get closer and took wing to begin his mission.
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Kramy was very confused, he had been wandering through the sewers for quite a while and he had managed to meet up with several freedom fighters but their numbers were too small to retake the city. At the moment Kramy was scavenging for materials with which to make a stocade for their HQ. Other membors of this organisation were TJ,Thakaltas, Saethan, Andromath Spellweaver, morgrob, Kayto and Electrokah. Kramy knew them well as he had been with this group for quite a while.
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Monketh leisurely strolled down the old cobble-stone path, that old town wasn\'t too far anyway. The loud noise of the Kran walking down the road seemed to be bugging the man though. He certainly wasn\'t thinking an assassin might be lying in wait for him. After all, why bother? With the current worldly conditions, it was certainly much more practical to watch your own hide. He spied a stone along the road with Mica in\'t, then passed it off to the Kran, he mightbe hungry. A fallen sign revealed just how close they were. \"Welcome to Dedreenburg\" barely could be read on its\' old wooden plank.
The Man acted alerted suddenly. He looked about to evaluate his surroundings.
\"What?\"
\"I heard something.\"
\"Hm.\"
Rouge hid quietly in a tree, waiting to pounce her prey. Her blood sang of the hunt. Adrenaline surged through her body. This was what she lived for. A nearby building with a large chimney was the only object in which her target might hide.
[I\'ll continue this part,if nobody minds.]
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Monketh walked down the road towards a building with a huge chimney. This was, of course, the prime candidate for a smithy. A few leaves glided across the path.
She could feel her blood throbbing, pulsating, racing through her veins. Now the moment was at hand.
Nuc absent-mindedly pondered if yliakum could withstand the onslaught of so much evil. He failed to notice a few bumped-up cobblestones in the road. The world became a whirling chasm.
Rouge leapt from the tree, but before she could react, a mass of rock seemingly jumped from the road into her path.
Auran thought. Perhaps the Kran is right, what if these stones bring the appocolypse? Well, I can survive. But what will be- What the****!?
Monketh was astonished to see a woman fall from a tree onto Nuc, then roll away in a matter of seconds almost unharmed. He knew he might be in for some trouble. To his left, the Man drew his longsword. Quickly, he unsheathed his Scimitar, while assuming a defensive stance. He could see her face now, blood was stained down around her mouth. He hoped he would not have to fight a female Dracula. She spoke.
\"Fortune cannot save you forever.\"
\"Oh, you\'d be surprised.\"
\"Shut up!\"
She dashed foward, sword drawn, ready to kill her opponent. He merely leapt up on top of the kran.
\"Why are you here?\"
\"That\'s none of your business!\"
The woman jumped up, slashing at Monketh. Deflecting her blade, the agile ranger kicked off the puzzled Nuc, landing a short distance away. His cloak had a slash cut through it. Nuc interjected.
\"It is his business, he\'s the tar-\"
\"Stay out of this.\"
The man stood quietly. It certainly wasn\'t his problem. The woman again ran at Monketh, who parried her attack.
\"Don\'t take it personally.\"
\"Don\'t worry, I will.\"
A vicious swordfight ensued. After receiving a devastating slash wound to her arm, Rouge had to flee.
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Rouge retreated to her camp to heal up, maybe it was time to throw off her disguise and join the forces of good again to throw off this oppresion of evil that has been devistating the land.
Now if she could somehow join up with the 3 intrepid advenutrers then they could help her avoid her previous employer and his contacts.
So Rouge slowly stalked the 3 as they contined there journey.
Rouge followed, dispatching a few ambushes that were lain in readyness for the three below.
Her bow ever searching for an impediment to the 3\'s cause.
Rouge waited for the right moment to introduce herself and start anew.
She ran through the trees above the 3 and jumped, fliped and landed with a sword in each hand crouched stareing at the three adventurers.
\"Stop\" Rouge said \" Before you attack im not here to kill you\"
Monketh rolled his eyes at this.
\"Truelly you must beleive me i have been working as a hitwoman only to pay my dues and most of the deaths i have apparently caused i staged because they were honest people.\"
\"please let me join your group of adventurers for i have no where to go now, please trust me with this i will not dissapoint you. you will be safe with me at you back\"
after her speach Rouge stood up and sheathed her twin long swords in a sign of respect and to show that she mean no harm. She sat down and waited for a desicion from the adventurers.
as a final plea she said to monketh \"you would not let another brethren of the forest, another ranger be left to the evil forces of this world? would you?\"
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One of the assassins stumbled over a well placed branch. Xyphon quickly took his chance and slashed his arm with an upward curve. He then made a swift kick to his gut and the assassin went sprawling.The other assassin was suprised for a moment, but regained his senses and leaped at the Enkidukai. Xyphon neatly stepped to one side and the careless assassin bumped his head on a hard treetrunk. Xyphon then cast his sleeping spell on the other bleeding assassin.
The two assassins were both rendered unconcious in less than two minutes.
Xyphon checked their bodies for any signs of a killer contract, or perhaps why they were sent to kill him. After searching for a bit he found a chewed up note.
\"I knew you would dispatch these fools - any Enkidukai could get rid of these. Ah, don\'t worry. I am no foe. I was simply testing you. Continue.\"
-The one with Gold Bands
Xyphon sat where he was standing, puzzled. He pondered what the heck was going on. The silence that followed allowed him to overhear commotion between three persons. He quickly hid in a bush and spied on them. \"Damn! A ranger! He\'ll be able to detect me!\" The Enkidukai cursed silently to himself and awaited his fate.
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Monketh sat pondering on the dermorian\'s proposition.
Nuc stood still, but carefully eyed her.
The cheerily dressed man with the dark and foreboding face leaned quietly against a tree, seemingly unaffected.
Monketh\'s train of thought was interrupted by a rustle in the bushes nearby. He lay his hand on his sword handle, preparing for the worst.
Realising he was detected, a small and rather dirty enkidukai crept out of the bush. He seemed to have some berry residue around his mouth, Brush-berry, posssibly. He also looked a little roughed-up.
\" \'ello there. You can put that sword away, I\'m not out to get you.\"
Monketh heaved a sigh of relief and put his sword away.
\"Good afternoon, traveller. Might I ask who you are?\"
The enkidukai hesitated.
\"I am... Xyphon. I\'m, uh, going to Hydlaa to meet somebody.\"
\"That person may be dead by now, are you sure you want to go there?\"
\"Yes, I must see my, err... Long Lost Uncle.\"
The Kran spoke.
\"Why don\'t you come with us? The more people we have, the safer we are.\"
Xyphon thought about this, suppose the old man or someone else sent more assassins? He didn\'t want to get them into trouble.
\"Is she travelling with you?\"
\"Um, well...\"
Monketh pulled Nuc aside to have a word with him.
On the other side of the road, the human-like dermorian and the kran conversed. Rouge wondered what this might mean for her.
\"I don\'t think it would be wise to have an assassin so close.\"
\"Well, although she would be closer to us, we would be able to watch her.\"
\"This is true, although I ought not be worried, she\'s not after me, anyway.\"
\"Alright, so she\'s in?\"
\"I suppose.\"
The Ranger returned to Xyphon.
\"Yes, she is.\"
\"Ok, now who are you?\"
\"Well, I am Monketh Saiviono, Master of the Guild of Rangers. Unfortunately, many of them have been slain. The Kran yonder is Nuc. He wants to stop an appocolyptic chain of events. The man I cannot tell you about. Perhaps at some later time he will tell you. The lady is a repentant assassin. I do not know her name.\"
\"It\'s Rouge.\" She interjected.
\"...and don\'t hold my past against me.\"
The ranger continued.
\"We are going through this town looking for a smithy. He-\"
Monketh pointed to a sack the Kran was holding.
\"-has a bag of metals we\'ll use to make more weapons. For when we go to Hydlaa.\"
Perfect. Xyphon could go with them and arrive safely, and better equipped, at hydlaa.
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I hope you guys don\'t mind me starting when I didn\'t hear an aproval yet.
Meanwhile, a young slender Enkidukai kneeled on a mountain high above them and whispered to himself\"I better check what\'s going on down there,\" he paused,\"Or maybe it\'s just a trap.\" He gripped his sheath and looked down,\"I am willing to take the risk.\"
He jumped from rock to rock as he came nearer and nearer to those filthy criminals. He stopped a moment from the fear of his father\'s murder. He shook his head and moved on toward them.
He pulled his foil out of his sheath and ran towards them as he yelled in anger\" Where are those assassins?\"
\"I killed them,\"Xyphon said.
\"You did. But I needed..... Nevermind.\"
\"Escuse me who are you.\"chimed Nuc.
\"I am Roscoh the enkidukai.\"
\"Hello I\'m Nuc\"
\"And I Monketh.\"
\"I am Xyphon.\"
\"Pleasure to meet you all. Since, you killed those assassins I will be happy to join you on your quest.\"
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The fredom fighters were slowly clearing the sewers of serpot\'s minions although that was a long way from the recapture of Hdylaa but it gave them hope. They were sending out birds with messages to towns all over the stalagtite warning them of serpot\'s power and his armies aswell as trying to cantact any travelers journeying to Hydlaa warning them of the danger and advising them how they could help the fredom fighters.
Kramy was surrounded by zombies trying to protect Andromath Spellweaver while he prepared a complicated spell called the Power of good involving huge numbers of glyphs. \"Take That!\" yelled Andromath as he unleashed his powerful spell, It vaporised the nearest zombies and bounced down the tunnel incinerating zombies as it went, followed by Kramy and Andromath. As they went further down the tunnel they met up with TJ and Thakaltas who were wathing Andromath\'s spell bounce down the tunnel. Suddenly the spell died as a fresh charge of zombies charged towards them. WForm a wall, prevent them from getting to Andromath at all costs\" ordered Kramy as the mass of zombies bore down on them.
The fight looked as though it would be lost when suddenly Andromath released another spell. This one split into two. One went off bouncing down the tunnel while the other went to Lanaax\'s temple causing the entire building to glow white. A beam of white light went streight up and hit the azure sun. Suddenly two beams of light emerged from the azure sun and one hit moogie while the othe hit a place far far in the north.
Meanwhile the fredom fighters were advancing further down the tunnel and reached an exit where they witnessed the beams of light.
p.s.
could someone else please post here
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The party left with Xyphon for the smithy in the abandoned town...
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As they entered the smithy, they heard some one mumbling \"Curse this enforcing work... why did he have to ask me? Why don\'t these damned rogues simply do their job? Why can\'t I be left to avoiding zombies and acquiring what I find?\". Rouge gave signal for the others to stand still and stealthily entered the building. She found an Enkidukai playing with a dagger at the balcony.
The enkidukai spotted her, but didn\'t get startled. In fact he smiled kindly. \"Greetings Rouge. Your employer asked me to analyze your progress, he... felt something about you. Why did you join up with them anyway?\".
\"I did what I had to do - she replied -. Who are you and what keeps me from killing you with the aid of my friends? Though I doubt I will need any aid.\"
The enkidukai bowed: \"Forgive my rudeness. I\'m Sangwa Raumo, I owed your employer a favor and so I had to leave my affairs in order to repay him. I wish I wasn\'t here, speaking to a murderer who indeed could kill me without needing any help. However, the reasons why you shouldn\'t kill me have a way nicer sound, that is if you want to listen.\"
Rouge stared at him, he seemed very calm and had this misterious smile on his face. She told him: \"You speak too much and say too little, Sangwa, say what you must... and fast, or I\'ll feast on you.\"
\"That\'s cool with me, fast\'s good. - he laughed - Here\'s the deal. You don\'t kill me and I live to tell your employer you met a ?most disturbing fate? and that you are ?lost to the world as the great assassin you once were?. He will assume you\'re gone and won\'t go to the trouble of sending trackers and assassins. However the deal won\'t be fair if I don\'t have my right share of it; keeping my life doesn\'t compensate you keeping yours and your friend\'s. Give me something valuable and we can call it a deal!.\"
[ooc: Carry on :D. I thought that making the whole text in green would get many people angry, so I just didn\'t :P. :P]
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Rouge pondered this proposition while she did want to get rid of the assasins from her previous employer and return to the path of the ranger she did not think she had an item valuable enough to give this envoy of her previous employer Then Rouge remembered the jewl her father gave her before he passed away this was her single most important possesion. Rouge stoped and prayed to her father \"please forgive me but this is more important than just our mortal lives and posessions and even without the jewl i will never forget you father\" as rouge stood up she wiped a tear from her eye\" i have only this diamond \"as she pulled the fist sized diamond from her bag she said\" however i want you to do something else for me can you tell the employer that i sucseeded in my mission and that i managed to kill monketh but he dealt me a single fatal wound in the battle and watch out for us from the shadows for if one of thi group falls i will hold you responsible and you will pay with more than just your life\" rouge promiced him Then rouge returned to the group and reported that it was just an old aquaintance and that he meant us no harm rouges visage however was drained as if she had lost something very dear to her heart she turned away then composed her self but it was still visible that she was shaken by what had occured \"monketh what shall we do now\" she said rouge was also pondering the right time to ask monketh to train her in the arts of being a ranger once again but she decided this was not the time.
[OOC continue please]
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Inside the city the battle raged on, the freedom fighters had been pushed back to their defenses by an overwhelming charge by Seperot\'s minions. The battle was a tight one, but they pulled through, all the people who fell victim to the zombies bite were restored by powerful magic. The numbers of zombies had been reduced significantly although they were still a force to be reckoned with, as both the freedom fighters and the zombies knew that there were a party of people approaching Hydlaa, the freedom fighters knew this because they could see the zombies taking up defencive positions, if only they could contact the approaching party. Meanwhile far to the North Moogie was continuing her journey to free her beloved sep from the curse of the crystals, she had to protect the old man and get him too the temple of Lanaax in Hydlaa before Seperot could succeed in uniting all of the crystals around the final one, which was buried in rock inside an ancient fortress protected by its ancient defenders. For the Moment at least Seperot had other plans, he was going to conquer Yikalum first then use an overwhelming number of zombie slaves to destroy the fortress and unite all the Crystals together. His troops were now massing to attack a city called Forentium as it was placed on the pathway between two levels, this was the place where all the major guilds had stationed their members, to make a large stand against this enormous and seemingly invincible army. Troops from all over unconquered Yikilum arrived and took up positions on the city?s huge defences.
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As word spread through the country of this horrible battle in the city. (news traveled slow) Andres Muli heard of it, he was disgusted by why someone would start a battle because of this, so he took 15 of his best soldiers to go help the \"freedom fighters had his informat told him. He didnt know if he would make it in time even if he ran the whole way, the city was 4 days away. It did not matter any way. He needed to gather his wits and if he helped take back this city for the good he might be able to actually gain the respect of all races that hated him and he might be able to live in society. He might make so Half-orcs are accepted, and then he started to run.
OOC:sry havent rped in awhile im used to wc3
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I am new to the thread so I don\'t know that much about the story.
The Awakening
Maverik awoke in the corner of a dark cave. \"What am I doing here,\" he thought to himself. Maverik had been haveing strange dreams or a girl being robbed of a necklace and a building that was half blown up. He saw dead carcasses and a huge sewer system under a city that looked ancient. He obsereved his surroundings. The place he was in looked exactly like the sewers in his dreams. He layed his head against the shaft of his great sword. Maverik heard the rush of foot steps and lumped to his feet and pulled his sword out. The sword turned a dark black as dark energey ran through it. A man came into site. \"Halt,\" said Maverik. \"Hey kid get of the way,\" said Auran. \"I am not a kid,\" yelled Maverik as his eyes glowed black. Maverik held his sword out infront of him ready to strike. \"Thats a big sword for such a small kid,\" said Auran. Maverik lunged at Auran with his sword. Maverik made contact with Aurans hip. A surge of dark energy ran through Auran as he screamed. Auran lay on the ground paralyzed. Maverik went in for the final blow but pitiyed Auran and withdrew. \"Auran I am no little kid, I am Maverik,\". \"How do you know my name you punk,\" gasped Auran. \"When I hit you with my sword I probed your mind for info,\" Maverik Snickered. Maverik walked away. Maverik wondered down a dark path dwelling on the thought of how he got here. Maverik arrived in a huge room. Maverik sat down to rest for a little bit. Suddenly a group of rats circled Maverik. Maverik lifted his hand. A red ball of energy formed in his hand. He threw it into the air . In a flash of light the rats dissapered. Maverik sighed in dissproval. A Sherik of anger rang in the air. Maverik stiffend and looked around. The ground quivered as a giant rat entered the room. \"Oh No,\" Maverik sayed to himself. The Rat swiped at his leg. Maverik screamed in pain. He quicly drew his swrod to block another swipe. Maverik made contack to the side of the rat as it retreated back a little bit. Maverik dropped his sword and plunged his palms onto the ground. Dark energey coursed through his body and into the ground. The ground started to split as rocks flew up into the air. the rocks started to fly right at the rat. The rat took hit after hit untill it was lyeing on its belly. Maverik took the chance and picked up his sword. He jumped into the air and stabbed the sword into the rats heart and gave it a twist. The died instantly. Maverik sat down relif watching and grinning at the rats lifeless body sitting right infront of him, as he started to make a fire and cook the meat. He was starved.
Hope you guys like
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The Battle
Maverik Emerged From the sewers into the mist of seperots battle. He looked at the battle and wondered who to help. A freedom Fighter glanced at him and beckoned him over. \"Can I help you,\"asked Maverik. \"Yes you look like a good fighter can you help us reclaim Hydlaa City,: asked the man. Maverik lifted an oncoming zombie with magic and ripped it into pieces. \"And a mage to,\" said the man impressed. \"I will help,\" said Maverik. Maverik ran into the mist of battle slaying many zombies. He Spotted Separot in the mist. Thinking that he was the leader of this putrid hoard he probed his mind for info. Maverik scanned his mind for info until he heard a voice.
\"Get out of my mind,\" said Separot. Maverik drew out quickely. Separot yelled out a command. All the zombies turned to Maverik and leaped at him. Maverik had no time to use magic and was captured and knocked out. He Awoke in a dungeon.
I Read some of the last posts and continued the story
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It had been a day that had not been so bad for the freedom fighters, a few members of the group that was heading towards Hydlaa had hurried on as an advance party to clear the way for their comrades. When this group had arived one of them had decided to go down to the sewers instead of remaining in the stockade, also, strangely enough seperot had shown up and so had this strange person, according to Andromath, although neither of them had stayed very long. Seperot had just appeared on a pterasaur with the object of crushing the fredom fighters but suddenly he had yelled something and ordered his zombies to capture the strange man that had shown up. Andromath did all he could to help but when the lombies charged ant him he had to flee to the safety of the stockade. The troops at forentium had been increacing in numbers, but so had the zombies and it was only a matter of time before the battle that settled the fate of Yikalum would begin.
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Separots Wrath
Maverik awoke in a dark room. It took awhile for his eyes to adjust to the light. He felt afround for a door until he found the knob. He tried to gather as much dark energey as he could,to force the door to open but it was no use he had been drained of power. He felt around for his sword but couldn\'t find. He cursed and stopped tring to find away out. The zombies seemed to have not hurt him but he felt very light headed. Maverik quieted when he heard the sound of foot steps. The door to his cell opened and a figure entered the room. \"You, you are the one who probed my mind?\" said the figure. Maverik just moaned he was too tired to talk to anybody. the figure moved closer and leaned down next to Maverik. \"No one probes Separot for information,\" Separot punched Maverik in the gut. Maverik screamed in pain.
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Maveriks Crystal
\"Now,\" said Separot \"Who are you, and how did you come to Hydlaa?\" Maverik didn\'t say anything. He sensed an immense power within Separot. Maverik Gathered up all his power and grasped at Separots power source. A small crystal shape appeared in Maveriks hand. \"Give me that back,\" Separot lunged. Maverik shoved the crystal down his throat. Maverik felt a feeling of renewed vigor. He grabbed Separot and threw him against the wall. Maverik summoned his sword back to him and forced a whole into a wall. Maverik entered back into the sewers. He felt a new power inside his body. A force of firery energy inside his body. He started to test out his new found power. He charged his sword with his new magic and his dark magic. The started to vibrate and become lighter. He hit a nearby rat. It errupted into flames and dissapered in an instant he smiled at his new power.
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Seperot was angry at the loss of his crystal, to appease his anger he vaporised several zombies. His anger appeased he began to wonder about this strange person who had stolen his crystal. Then Seperot decided to unlock the full power off the crystals that he possessed he then went into a trance, concentrating on channelling the pure chaotic energy into his very veins. Now Mavrik would not stand a chance. (ooc Mavrik even though you have the crystal you cannot defeat Seperot single-handedly)
OOC:Seperot you ahd better save your guy before Maverick+allies turn him into mincemeat.
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OOC: well, I am finally making an entrance
Just another dermorian...
Jessyn brushed hair from her eyes yet again, as she leaned over her mortar and pestle. \"Why did I come to Forentium? I\'m going to get killed by a horde of zombies...\" She thought to herself, \"Well, at least we\'ve got a decent force to fight them...\" Finished grinding the yellowish powder, she carefully poured it into a bottle of what looked like milk, it hissed and turned a clear blue. Turning, she gave it to the girl who would carefully carry it out to the catapult crews. Turning back to her work, she swore, \"DAMN, out of lightstone again!\" With a sigh, she started selecting ingredients to make the potions that would prevent the zombies bite from turning people, knowing full well she could only make about a dozen before she ran out of yet another vital reagent....
Jessyn
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OOC: well everyone else seems to have forgoten this thread, but I haven\'t!
Out of the frying pan...
Jessyn was fed up with being cooped up in Forentium, and was arguing with the captain of the guards,
\"I am no more use here, I am no warrior, I am out of useful reagents, unless you want me to cure the zombies of warts!\"
With that, she left though one of the small rear gates of the city, and headed out into the wilderness, evading a few zombie patrols on the way. Suddenly, she was confronted by three zombies on the trail ahead of her. They groaned and growled, waving their clawlike hands at her as they charged.
Jessyn ducked the wild swing of the first one, and stumbled back, reching for her belt and finding an empty row of bottle holders. Snarling, she pulled a small blade from a hidden back scabbard and chopped the arms off the second zombie, who was just reaching for her throat. Backhanding it across the torso, spun to face her remaining foes.
Screaming obscenities, she charged a zombie, and bashed it\'s skull in with the pommel of her sword. Spinning around, she swung at the last zombie, just as it slammed a fist into her side. Feeling something crack, Jessyn fell onto the zombie, stabbing it in the neck as she fell.
\"And me without a healing potion\" she said, slipping into unconsciousness.
Jessyn
OOC: someone, fell free to show up and save me
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When Jessyn awoke she was lying in the place where she fell and all the zombies around are dead, either by axe wounds or have arrows sticking out of them. There was a youngish looking elf standing over her, with a dwarf checking the bodies for valubles.
?Hello my name is Cirdan Telemnar, this is my companion Eitri Helmgard, we met up on our way to Forentium, we are both looking for some action and Eitri here has some rare ingredients to sell. Eitri is an explorer and has traveled throughout Yikilum looking for rare and valuable ingredients and now he has decided to sell them.\" says the elf.
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Jessyn groaned as she stood up.
\"Thank you,\" she said, \"I am called Jessyn\"
Calling to the dwarf, she asked, \"Do you have helmsroot and rathbane?\"
Eitri rummaged in his pack and produced small pieces of the dried plants. Favouring her injured side, Jessyn carefully made a small amount of healing salve, and rubbed it into her side. Binding her ribs with a section of bandage from her pack, she turned to the two men.
\"I can show you the way to Forentium, it will not be easy to get past the zombie army, but maybe we could hit them from behind...\"
Suddenly, she grinned, showing her slightly pointed teeth,
\"Do either of you know anything about catapults?\"
OOC: I like greek fire
Jessyn
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\"Neither of us has ever used a catapult, although I could give it a try. Eitri, do you think that you could make some catapult ammo?\" Said Ciridan.
\"Sure, I do not think that there would be any difficulties.\" Replied Eitri
\"Jessyn, do you know of anywhere that we could find a catapult behind the zombie army? We also need a way to get past the zombies.\" Remarked Ciridan.
?There are many mine shafts that lead from outside Forentium, perhaps one of those will takes us past the zombies.? Remarked Eitri.
Meanwhile the freedom fighters had reclaimed Hydlaa and were plotting to assult other major Zombie strongholds.
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Krayn\'s Tale
High above the skies Krayn the Klyros was watching Ciridan, Eitri, and Jessyn. He knew there was a high risk they might be evil. But he will take chances to find his parents. So he swooped down to the ground. They quickly drew there weapons.
\"I am not going to hurt you.\" Krayn said paniced
\" How can we trust you?\" Asked Jessyn.
\"How else are you going to get a catapult without zombies seeing you?\" Krayn said slyly
\"He has a point. If he hovers above the sky and distracts the zombies we can easily take the catapult.\" Ciridan remarked.
\"Okay you can join.\" Said Eitri
\" I am not too sure. But i guess.\" Jessyn said unsure
\"Great now lets do it.\" Krayn yelled
-
\"Krayn, did you see any siege equipment when you were flying over the area?\"
\"Well, i saw something that might do the job, but it\'s got about 20 zombies guarding it, as well as a dead glowing guy\"
Jessyn sighed, dead things that guarded things and glowed were ALWAYS bad news. Mixing a few powders together, she handed the Klyros three glass jars.
\"Could you deliver these...just try not to hit the catapult, \" she said to the Klyros, \"and don\'t shake them!\"
Jessyn, Cielen and Eitri headed in the direction the klyros had indicated, after hearing three large rumbles, they walked into a clearing. Krayn was just landing beside the large mangonel. There was no sign of the undead mage, but seven of the zombies had survived the aerial bombardment. The group fanned out the deal with them as they oriented on the still living with a look of rotten hatred.
Jessyn
-
Krayn nodded his head and flew away looking back at them. They are pretty nice he thought to himself i think they will really help me find my family and friends. He looked down and saw the glowing zombie. At the sight of it he shivered with fear. Okay, i got go i really high so it doesn\'t destroy me. He soared above the cloads and saw a castle. I guess this is the place. He landed in there and saw corpses every where. A beast came from behind he slung his two sword out and slashed its limbs off. It was still alive it tried to move but it couldn\'t so he plunged his swords through it. \"These zombies are getting out of hand.\"he muttered. He found some zombie cure potions on the ground he put them in his backpack and thought this will be useful. He flew back to the team and said \"They are all dead....But I manged to find some cure potions.\" He opened his back pack and everybody gazed in there.
\"This will be useful.\" Said Jessyn.
\" Now who is this guy we are trying to destroy with all these zombies?\" Krayn asked
\"Seperot.\" Eitri muttered
-
Meanwhile the freedom fighters, bolstered in number by the newcomers, launched a massive attack against the remaining zombies in Hydlaa, killing them all. Once the zombies had been destroyed, a search of the city was made for weapons and healing potions. Some megeras and pterosaurs were found, hiding in towers and other high places. The freedom fighters sent out messages to all of the nearby villagers that Hydlaa was safe again. Then, only leaving a few people behind to guard Hydlaa, the freedom fighters loaded up the megeras and pterosaurs with weapons, potions and equipment before setting off for Forentium.
As they were travelling over the country to reach Forentium they heard a few loud bangs and a few scouts were sent off to investigate. When the scouts returned, they said that a Klyros had dropped some objects on some zombies guarding a catapult, and that three other people had arrived and secured the catapult.
-
OOC: I just came back from a vacation, and was too lazy to read all these posts, but managed to read page 4, some of 5, and this page. I\'m not totally up to date with the story, but correct anything that\'s wrong with it.
PS: Thanks for adding me into the action ;)
Eitri panted with exhaustion. He had a hard time keeping up with the long-legged party. They soon arrived at the catapult. It seemed the Klyros had done his job... And now it was time for theirs.
Eitri, we\'ll give you the honours of setting off the catapult, stated Jessyn. Eitri nodded in recognition, and loaded some corosive material into the catapult. Hopefully this would, if not kill them all off, decrease their numbers greatly. Kissing his beloved double-edged axe \"Goliath\", he cut the rope, and the load flung into the air...
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Monketh sugested they get to making something out of nuc\'s metal and the spare metal aorund the town so they group gave monketh a hand making this thing to combat the zombies after a while of hard work they were done and decided to set out towards Hydlaa
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OOC: Here I go!(for now, I will be known as the mage)
Meanwhile, in a castle in an unknown place, a mage and a mysterious figure were watching the events that were taking place.
\"Do you not see all this destruction? All this killing? Why am I forbidden to intervene? Maybe I cannot defeat this Seperot or a whole army of zombies, but at least I could lend a hand.\" said the mage. \"But look at yourself! Even if you will not let me go, you could surely turn the tide! Are you telling me that you are just going
to stand by and allow all of this to go on?
\"...Inaudible noises...\" from the mysterious figure.
\"I do not have to reveal myself to them to provide aid. I could help them from the shadows.\" replied the mage. \"I could provide the aid of my magic, and they need never know of my presence. And you forget that I am a powerful illusionist. I would make myself appear invisible.\"
\"...Inaudible noises...\" from the mysterious figure.
\"Hmm...In that regard you are correct.\" replied the mage. \"The Enkidukais possess powerful senses. Even if I was invisible, they would be able to find me. But I do not even see the need to conceal myself, only my identity. I always cover my face, and I will not give my name. And if necessary, I will just make it so that they do not remember me offering my aid. They will believe it was someone else.\"
\"...Agitated inaudible noises...\" from the mysterious figure.
At this, the mage became angry. His staff glowed very brightly, and he was surrounded by a blinding aura. The ground and the walls of the room began to crack, and the castle shook. The mysterious figure sat, unflinching.
\"FOOL!!!\" shouted the mage. \"You actually think it wise to let this destruction continue? This blasted necromancer is taking the world, and you wish to sit by and let this go on? How could you even think that this could possibly end well?! I will go and offer my aid, and you will not interf...\"
The mage was cut off by a power that shot quickly through his body. It rendered him paralyzed, and he was gasping for air, barely able to breath. He was held in the air by the mysterious figure.
\"...Loud inaudible noises, full of rage...\" from the mysterious figure.
The mage is then dropped to the ground. He hits the floor hard, and regains the feeling in his body. His breathing passages are re-opened.
\"...Inaudible noises...\" from the mysterious figure.
\"*panting* I...see\" replied the mage. \"You... are right. My... interference alone... would change nothing. I...I am sorry that I doubted in your wisdom...My master.\"
-
Mean while, Krayn was gazing at the catapult. It had just flung the ammo. He looked forward and saw millions of zombies sprawled on the ground. He glanced quickly at his pendant and then said\"Where to next.\"
Jessyn replied\"well we are after seperot but i don\'t think we are strong enough yet.\"
\"Then can you help me find my family?\"
-
Maverick was confused, the crystal which he had taken from Seperot was directing him to a place where a great power was hidden. Drawn on by his curiosity he had approached the area that the crystal was directing him to. When he got there he could see absolutely nothing except bare ground. He was about to turn around and walk back when he saw something lying on the ground, it looked like a piece of stone. He walked up to it and was bending down when he hit his head on something hard and reeled back. After a few moments he picked up a pebble and checked it at the thing which he had hit his head on. The pebble bounced off nothing, curious Maverick put his ear against the invisible wall, inside he could hear the sounds of an argument between two people, one of them was shouting, the other was speaking in an indistinguishable murmur. Suddenly Maverick was flung back by a powerful force; the entire castle appeared and began to shake. Then just as suddenly it stopped shaking and Maverick was just about to go back and put his ear next to the wall again when suddenly another force, stronger than the first bust out from the castle. Maverick was unconscious before he hit the floor.
-
The cheetah-bard wandered for several days, muttering almost constantly about the sad state of the maps the shyster sold her for five tria each. She shakes her head, finally. \"Not bad enough that the maps are bad, dodging a zombie plague all the way.\" She mutters... and continues wandering through the woods, muttering the whole way grumpily. Finally she climbs a tree, getting her bearings, then tilts her head, a bit. She decides to take the tree-road, leaping from branch to branch, over the top of the zombie army, considering a bit as she wanders from tree to tree.
\"not supposed to happen.\" She mutters at one point, then continues wandering over through the forest, toward a nearby hillside that seems clear. She whistles, a small bird answering her call, an emphyry, her totem. \"no end to it huh?\" she says, and shrugs, then lets the thing go, then wanders along the hilltop a bit. She weeps a little as she finally sees the town nearby, the townsfolk. \"there\'s got to be a cure.\" she murmurs, then turns back, ghosting from tree to tree. S he blinks as she sees a catapult, and a kran nearby. Deciding caution to be the better part of valour. She hmms, noting that they don\'t appear to be on the side with the zombies, then slips down to approach them, carefully, trying to choose the time and place of her meeting. After a careful check of the area, she nods, then notices something stirring behind them... blinks once or twice. She gets out her atlatl, and starts to stalk the stirring.. then nods, sniffing the air, the soft scent of earth making it clear, then flings the thing... the throwing-spear strikes true, in the center of the nearly transparent mass that was feeding on some of the dead flesh nearby, then ducks as two crystals fly from it, aimed where she threw from. She waits a moment or two, then collects the crystal seeds, moving in closer to the mass, nods, and starts to butcher the thing, glad for the small hollow she found, taking the few medicinal parts. She then turns, but seems to have lost the other party, mutters, and starts trying to track them. Turning, she spots the tracks, and continues to follow, hoping they didn\'t put up a blind trail for her.
-
*seperot chucks his crystals on the ground climbs on darkstorm and fliys off never to be used it this story again.*
(dident know you guys where still making this and using me in it -.-)
-
Five minutes later Seperot got bored so he flew back, re-took his crystals and led the attack on Forentium. At Forentium, the walls were lined with soldiers who were unleashing volly after volly of arrows into the advancing zombies. The small fort that housed some of the fredom fighters, and the catapult was coming under attack from a small portion of the zombie army. Krayn and Jessyn were loading and firing the catapult as fast as the could, while Eitri was on the front line, having made a huge amount of catapult ammo.
(You are back in the story now, you are too important a character to be able to just leave like that)
Edit: spelling
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As Seperot arrived on the battle field he saw his army getting massacred by volley after volley of arrow fire, the few zombies who survived the arrows were killed as they tried to put their ladders up. On the walls catapults and ballistae fired into the zombies massed ranks. While the zombie army brought its siege weapons to bear on the walls zombies scaled the ladders on the walls and engaged in fierce hand to hand fighting on the walls. Seperot riding darkstorm approaches the walls and fires spell after spell into the massed ranks of the soldiers. They begin firing at Seperot, although he either dodged or blocked the missiles and spells. At the small fort things were going much better, although more and more zombies were leaving the main army at Forentium to attack the fort, and it was unlikely that they could hold them off for ever. Back at Forentium, Seperot was being held at bay by many arches and mages, although his army was gaining more ground. The soldiers had all been given a special preparation of herbs to prevent them being turned into zombies, preventing Seperot from increasing his forces and severely hindering his assault.