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The battle had ended and some people were now mounting titans. Retsy only sat on the ground, completely baffled.
"Retsy?" Retsy looked up to see her concerned friend, Starfall. "Do you want to ride a titan?"
That was an interesting question, Retsy thought. She'd never seen a titan before, she didn't trust them, and the thought of being near one gave her the shivers. But she nodded, thinking about walking all the way to the other side of the mountains.
"Well come on then," Toreon said to her; he was already sitting on a titan.
"How did you get up there?" Retsy asked, amazed. Titans are quite tall.
"Tree," Toreon replied, pointing to the tree next to him.
"Nalkii. . ." Retsy complained.
"Need help?" Silverfish offered, making a ladder.
Retsy grinned. "Thank you!" she replied sweetly, utilizing the ladder and joining her brother atop a titan.
Everyone was on titans now, except for the weirdos who didn't feel like riding titans and would in fact rather wear their feet out walking. And so they began journeying again.
"What's wrong?" Toreon asked his sister.
"I'm very powerful," Retsy announced.
"You are?" Toreon was amused.
"Yes, I am. I magic'd those wolflizards. I'm a powerful sorceress! And I never even knew. I could take over Cythera if I wanted."
Toreon shock his head at her. "You didn't drink any of Rapierian's water, did you?"
"No! I'm very powerful! Didn't you see?"
"I saw everyone freaking out over a bunch of weak little green things."
Retsy sulked. "You should be nicer to me; I could destroy you."

Selax had no intention of riding a titan. Selax didn't even ride horses or other such animals, considering it to be a waste of time for him. Instead, he decided to fly along above the group, keeping in sight of them and at the same time watching for other threats from his vantage point.


Rapierian, too, was unenthusiastic about riding a titan. It turned out that the titans were unenthusiastic about being ridden by Rapierian, moving away from him whenever he came near. The necromancer shrugged and turned to the wolflizard skeletons. After a bit of work, he managed to make two passable full-sized skeletons. These two skeletons in turn took wolflizard pelts and a few branches to make a stretcher. Rapierian climbed onto the stretcher, and the skeletons lifted it. This whole process had actually been fairly quick, so Rapierian and his minions were able to catch up with the others. They began to run alongside the titans, being able to keep pace due to their strength and endurance.

If these things trip, thought Rapierian to himself. I'll kill them again. Although the dark mage rested, he didn't sleep or let down his guard, fearing that Cat might attempt something. He also kept an eye on his skeletons in case somebody did attempt to trip them.

As they were moving along, he happened to pass close enough to Retsy and Toreon to overhear Retsy proclaim herself a sorceress. He laughed quietly to himself. This had potential for fun, and Rapierian decided to cast spells at the right moments to make it seem as if Retsy were casting them. Oh yes, this should be fun, he thought to himself as the group rapidly crossed the mountains with little trouble and began to descend into the plains on the western side of Cythera...

Talryn had personally seen no use in riding said titans, and sent a thought over to Wizard that he was going to scout ahead. He ran, jumped, and traditionally transformed into the Storm Crow and flew ahead of the party and would circle back.

-Dark

This post has been edited by Dark Jet: 13 January 2007 - 10:48 PM

The next couple of days were uneventful. The company headed North up a creek-bed, and they were all well-rested when they finally reached the ruins of the old city.

Crumbling stone walls blocked the road, and the adventurers had to dismount the titans. They tied them to the rock piles and clambered in. A stony meadow spread out before them, and they nearly twisted their ankles in unexpected holes, but they soon reached a large foundation rock near the cliff-face. Time had worn away at the juncture between foundation and cliff revealing a small hole, marked by a fire-rune.

Most of the party had gathered around the hole when Toreon and Retsy joined them. "What's THAT for?" asked Retsy, and motioned toward the hole. Rapierian surreptitiously kicked a stone into the hole; flames burst out, consuming it in a moment. Silverfish was standing near the hole, and the blast knocked him back behind a rock.

Retsy looked ashen, "S-Sorry-ry, I d-didn't m-me-mean to d-do th-that." And burst into tears.

Silverfish picked himself up off the ground, "Don't worry, nobody got hurt badly." He straightened out his back, "I'll be perfectly normal in just a minute!" But the shock of was too much for Retsy, and she fainted.

Rapierian laughed gleefully, and tossed a speckled metallic puce potion into the hole. It gurgled for a moment, the Runes disappeared, and five daemons burst forth, "WHO DARES DESTROY THE RUNE? WEEP AND DIE! FOOLISH FOOLS!"

This post has been edited by Jehezekel: 07 January 2007 - 07:31 PM

Rapierian found himself caught next to Toreon and Silverfish in front of Retsy. This was upsetting to him: he would've preferred to be behind Selax or Sideline. Then, he would have just sat down and watched the fight. Now, he'd actually have to do something. Idly, he sent his two skeletons forward to attack the daemon bearing down on them. Then, he began to prepare one of his more dangerous spells. However, just then, he noticed something interesting...


Selax flew forward and brought his swords down hard on a daemon that had been heading for Wizard. The creature blocked with its talons and sparks flew off. Selax kept on the creature, not giving it a chance to cast a spell. The daemon was fast and strong but wasn't terribly skilled in such combat. Selax managed several wounds on it through its defense before it tripped over a stone and stumbled backward. Before it could recover, Selax removed its head. He turned around to see that the battle was almost over...

Talryn's golem had automaticly leaped as the demons appeared. It tackled one then grabbed at some near by debris and begun to beat it to death. Talryn sensed the demons had access to mana, and he begun to syphon the mana of the demons into a blue orb above the party. This caught Rapierian's attention and he tapped into the spell and begun to syphon some of the mana towards him so that he could better improve his spell.

This, however, was still enough for the curse to kick in. Talryn lost another bit of his memory but gained some more knowledge of the Dark Arts. Due to the sudden knowledge, the syphon spell backfired with an increased intensity. Rapierian remained unharmed but quickly discontinued his tap immeditaly. The inverted intensified spell went flying back into the bodies of the remaining Demon.

Sadly for Talryn's golem, it was caught in the spell and like the remaining demons, it exploded out of exsistance. Talryn screamed and fell to his knees. Some of the group looked at Talryn strangely, while someone focused their attention on getting on with the next clue.

Wizard assumed quickly that it could've been because of Rapierian and begun to study the hole. As he begun to study it, a stray powerful thought shot into his mind, ...you will all die.... Wizard scanned the groups minds till he saw Talryn's eyes as he stood back up. Their color changed from the normal blueish grey to a black. Wizard, sensing that this might have to do with the side of Talryn that willing served the Death King, threw up a barrier.

About thirty seconds later, Talryn begun to unleash random dark spells at the party. Since Talryn had not slept at anypoint in time during the party's rest breaks, and due to the extent of the power of the spells that he had cast, Talryn burned out quite quickly. Wizard dropped the shield and bound him to the ground and Selax stood near the now seemingly peacful Talryn. Selax and Wizard both refused to answer questions about what had just happened. Wizard then insisted on hurrying up with the next clue.

-Dark

This post has been edited by Dark Jet: 13 January 2007 - 10:48 PM

Silverfish had been the lucky recipient of a Terrorization spell at the beginning of the attack, and didn't make it back until it was all over. He was concerned when he saw Talryn lying on the ground, but since Wizard was urging them to continue to search for clues he decided that he'd better help search.

Silverfish felt his way carefully down the hole, on the lookout for more runes. The hole twisted under the stone slab, and opened out onto a three foot ledge. The room was round, five meters across, and the ledge extended unbroken all the way around. A hands-breadth down from the ledge, a deep-dark pool of water, and Ethereal Butterflies flitting about over the water. The faint glow emanating from the butterflies lit the room.

Silverfish reported his findings.

"Something really seems connected between me and these Seldanes," Uzsuy thought to himself. He had, afterall, blue skin, and Timon, now he remembers it, had been talked about a lot by his mother. His mother looked like an ordinary human though, and he couldn't think of any species that can change their appearance except Undine. He shuddered at remembering his first encounter with them.

He had not been paying any attention to what Silverfish was saying and decided to start listening instead of just thinking to himself endlessly.

Selax left Wizard bending over Talryn and walked over to the hole. He assumed that Wizard would either keep Talryn unconscious or would help the good Talryn beat or at least control the bad one. Silverfish went back down the hole, and Selax followed him.

"Do you think it's in the pool?" Silverfish asked, pointing down at the water. Selax was about to nod when a sound caught his attention. Silversfish noticed it too and both went silent.

The butterflies were producing an odd humming sound. The humming had an odd repeating rhythm, and the longer the two listened the more they thought they could catch sounds, almost like words, in it. Silverfish, having no knowledge of elemental languages, looked at Selax and asked, "What are they saying?"

Without answering, Selax spun around and leapt for the hole. "Come!" he said to Silverfish over his shoulder. "It is time for the last stretch."

To the others, he said, "We must go at once to the Southern Swamp." However, this was not the group's real destination: Selax had no intention of saying it aloud with the Undine listening in. Thus, he decided to relay it through Wizard.

The rest of the group heard Wizard's voice in their heads, and that voice said, "Somebody must do something to the butterflies to stop them from repeating their message, or the Undine may hear it and decipher its meaning. The butterflies were saying, 'At the beginning.' So, we must go to the beginning mentioned in the manuscript: Mayer, city of the elements. We must keep up the appearance of heading to the swamp, or the Undine will beat us to Mayer. There is no time to lose: Mayer is high in the Southern Mountains. We must move as fast as we possibly can. Although the Undine still need us to lead them to the sword, they might figure out its location and beat us there, or they might attack us and attempt to learn it from us. Wizard will ensure that this information is safely hidden in your minds so that they can't force it out, like they did with Retsy. There is no point in moving at an ordinary pace to attempt to deceive them: they will know this must be the last clue and will expect us to dash."

With that, the group sprang into action. They were relieved to find that all of the titans had survived the fight with the daemons. Meanwhile, Shanadar collapsed the cavern with his explosives to prevent the Undine from finding the clue given by the butterflies. Wizard took the unconscious Talryn with him, intending to do what he could for him and to keep an eye on him. Selax again flew above the group, and Rapierian again rode on a stretcher carried by his skeletons, which had also managed to survive the fight. Shanadar, done with his task mounted his titan, and the others followed suit. With that, they sped off south...

This post has been edited by Selax: 14 January 2007 - 12:11 AM

The group was not enjoying their brisk walk down south, most of them riding on titans.
"Nalkii?" Retsy asked her brother. She had been woken up while Selax and Silverfish were wandering underground.
"Yes?" Toreon replied.
"Did I hurt anyone while I was unconscious?"
"No."
"Good," Retsy said. "I think I need to learn to control my powers."
Rapierian was sitting on his stretcher next to them, and overheard Retsy. "I can teach you."
"Really?" Retsy asked, wide-eyed.
"Of course. It's in my best interests, so you won't accidently kill me."
Retsy nodded eagerly, "what do I do?"
"You need to practice moving things without your mind," Rapierian explained, grabbing a rock from the ground. "Here, see if you can hit Wizard with this," he said, tossing it to her.
Retsy accepted the rock, then looked at the back of Wizard's head; seeing as Wizard was on the titan in front of her. She aimed and threw; but missed Wizard and hit Talryn instead.
"Oops," Retsy blushed.
"Try again," Rapierian urged, tossing her another rock. Retsy did try again, and this time hit Wizzy's back.
Wizard turned to glare at her, but Retsy only grinned. "Look, Mister Wizard, I can control my powers!" Then she paused, "wait, how does that help me control my powers, Mister Rapierian?"
Rapierian burst out laughing, and he also threw a rock at Wizard for good measure.

Cat, noticing Rapierian throwing rocks at Wizard, totally lost it. Standing up on the titan's neck, she emitted a feral shriek and leapt onto Rapierian, in the middle of throwing yet another rock.
Starfall, in the background, shook her head sadly, and said to anyone that would listen, "He had it coming. It was going to happen, if not just then, soon."

Shanadar was beginning to have his doubts about the party. Thus far, they had been ambushed by sea elementals, attacked by scylla, stampeded upon by titans, ravaged by wolflizards, confronted by demons, and even assaulted by one of the party's own.

Negotiating with ruffians was beginning to look like a very pleasant occupation indeed.

Naturally, of course, something had to give, and it certainly did when Cat finally snapped. Fed up with Rapierian's antics, she almost literally flew at her quarry. Rapierian, being a caster by nature, was quick to counter with his arcane spells, but even his potent magics were insufficient to halt the fearsome feline projectile. Clawing a biting at the dark mage, her wrath was clearly evident, even as she was subjected to Rapierian's spell-weaving.

Shanadar would just as well have let Cat tear Rapierian to pieces, but the feral gleam in Cat's eyes gave him pause in regards to the safety of the rest of the party.

He heard Cat's companion, Starfall, remark that Rapierian had it coming, which he matched with quick rapport, "Then let me teach him his lesson first-hand, and your friend a manner of restraint."

With that, he ran at the dueling party-members, who, locking in mortal combat, were all but unaware of the judgment who made haste towards them. Withdrawing his staff to attack as he closed to distance, he prepared to deliver his strike.

And strike he did.

His staff smashed into the forelimbs of Cat and Rapierian, the iron it was made of bending from the force of the strike. The blow could have easily crippled a normal man, but his quarry were far from normal.

Enduring the shadow fire and static from Rapierian's spell-work, and the deep wounds inflicted by Cat's rage-blinded slashing, he delivered blow after blow in a desperate attempt to forcefully end the battle royale. By one means or another, he was not sure of whom by or how, Shanadar's staff was wrenched from his grasp and flung away; as it embedded itself firmly in a nearby tree.

Now weaponless, he had no choice but to end the quarrel bare-handed. He delivered three concise kicks to Rapierian, which although were by no means enough to actually harm him, were enough, just enough, to knock him off balance.

In a span of time that could not have lasted longer than an moment's span, but seemed as if it were yet a lifetime unto itself, Shanadar turned to face Cat, and found her leaping towards the now-prone Rapierian. Seizing the instant, he threw himself at her, arms outstretched, and tackled her to the ground. He held onto her arms for dear life, he saw firsthand what she was capable of back at the Tavern, but he found that her legs were no less lacking in strength. Her knee was propelled into Shanadar's chest rather forcefully, and he felt a number of ribs break and his left lung collapse from the blow. Reeling in pain as blow after blow were soundly delivered, he struggled to hold on as they tumbled from the force of the battery.

After a time, they rolled to a stop and face met face at last. Although he could not tell exactly what emotions Cat felt through her unfamiliar, alien eyes, but he could tell that the grip of her rage had weakened. Between coughing up blood and struggling for breath, he managed to speak one stern word.

"Enough"

And with that, he expired for his wounds and exhaustion.

This post has been edited by ~vIsitor~: 16 January 2007 - 12:07 AM

Rapierian was quite surprised when Cat leapt on him, knocking him off of the stretcher. Well, he would have been more surprised if she hadn't gotten his attention with an awful shriek. His cloak protected him from the worst of it, and the two rolled end over end. Rapierian was about to get his hand on her face which would, he hoped, stalemate the fight (because, although Cat could still claw him to death, he could drain her life) when something heavy smashed his forearms. Irritated, he looked up to see Shanadar, bravely sticking his staff into the middle of the battle. At some point, Cat got fed up with this and ripped staff out of Shanadar's hands. Shanadar, most unfairly (at least Rapierian thought it unfair), kicked Rapierian and knocked him over. Then, Shanadar engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Cat, until she almost killed him.

Serves him right, thought Rapierian to himself as Moonshadow came over and started working on healing Shanadar, interfering in other's business.

Then, Selax dropped from above and lifted Cat and Rapierian off of the ground. First, he began to shake Rapierian.

"You, first, don't throw rocks at Wizard or anyone else: promoting internal conflict will hinder our goal and is pointless. Second, don't play games with anyone actually willing to listen to you or take advantage of Retsy. Third, cease to injure your allies and to be annoying."

With that, he threw the dazed necromancer back onto the stretcher. He put Cat down and turned to her, "As Shanadar stated, 'Enough.' Please, don't do that again, although why you did so is understandable: loud noises are counterproductive to our goal. Please, practice restraint and do not kill or maim any more of our number until after we have achieved our goal. Also, unless you intend to kill the young one, attacking him is pointless: he won't change."

As Selax turned away, he thought to himself, This is what I get for accompanying such young beings...


"That Shanadar and that ancient elemental certainly have a short tempers," Rapierian commented to Retsy. She didn't answer him, prompting him to ask, "What is wrong with you?"

"I'm not going to talk to you anymore," she replied. "You tricked me and are mean."

"You just spoke to me," he pointed out.

"I did not!"

"Did too."

"Did not!"

"Did too."

"QUIET!" someone yelled, finally losing his temper.

After a few minutes, Rapierian decided to try again. After all, playing Retsy offered a source of amusement, and he wouldn't want to lose that. So, he continued in a quieter voice, "You see, Retsy, I didn't trick: I did teach how to move something with your mind. After all, if your mind didn't tell that rock where to go, then how did it hit Wizard? At the very least, you must admit that you told your arm where to make the rock go. That takes quite a lot of achievement! Why I'd say you're almost ready for—but no, you wouldn't be interested."

"In what?" Retsy asked, intrigued despite herself.

"Well, it's—no, you wouldn't be interested."

"What is it?"

"Well, if you are going to have powers, you have to learn how focus magic blasts..."

And so the conversation continued as the group moved rapidly southward. Moving as fast they were, they had crossed the Pnyx-Cademia road before the end of their first day of travel and had entered the beginnings of the Southern Mountains...

This post has been edited by Selax: 14 January 2007 - 12:11 AM

When he heard the fight behind him, Silverfish quickly returned from watching ahead; fearing that an enemy had surprised the party from behind. He was rather shocked to see that infighting had reared its ugly head, but was not sure what the correct response would be. He was glad when Selax effectively interfered.

Silverfish settled down near Retsy, to help guard her from Rapierian's twisted reasoning. He couldn't do magic himself, but he had learned enough about it to know that Retsy just wasn't intelligent enough to use it.

He interrupted: "Retsy? I haven't seen any indications yet, that you can do magic. What makes you think that you haven't been mistaken from the beginning?"

Uzsuy thought there was something familiar about the place, despite the fact that he was never let out of his house in Cademia without his mother and he had not gone out since he grew up. He tried to push it out of his mind, but didn't need to. He heard a squishy sound, felt something under his left gator boot, and stopped. He looked down and found he had stepped on a baby crab, not yet developed its outer shell hardness. Without wondering about what the crab was doing there, Uzsuy wiped his boot and caught up with the group. By now he had forgotten about the place.

He saw a hole in the ground to his left, and stared at it. It seemed to perfectly circular and too perfectly coned shaped at the bottem, so that there was nothing there but a point. He remembered his mother could make holes in the ground with magic. He never found out what that spell was, and never knew one even existed, aside from his mother doing it. Maybe his mother was actually the same species as his father, but never said it. 'Species' rang a bell. Then he remembered.

"My mother took me here once, though I don't remember how or why. She wasn't acting very normally and we ended up running away from a gator," Uzsuy said to no one in particular, but out loud. "I was never allowed here, and my mother rarely went anywhere, so it was strange, but I was very young and can't remember it."

Once again, Sideline was deep in thought. "How -" he began, then remembered they might be being spied upon. He tried to think of some way to get the Wizard's attention.

Another stone hit the Wizard on the back. He turned to glare at Rapierian and Retsy.

"What? What did I do?" Retsy objected.

Knowing that deceit (other than of herself) wasn't really in Retsy's nature, the annoyed but baffled Wizard looked around for another culprit. He noticed that Sideline was staring at him intensely.

"What?" the Wizard queried. Sideline just continued to stare.

{{ Oh, all right. Is this what you wanted? }}

{{ Yes. I have a question. }}

{{ What? }}

{{ Assuming, as we have, that we're being followed, how are we going to distract the Undine long enough to make our break, when the time comes? }}

This post has been edited by cache22: 09 January 2007 - 06:39 PM

Do you mean just to reach the Sword or to get away with the Sword? Wizard answered. For the first, we should be able to reach Mayer if we do it right. Knowing the Undine, at least some of them have gone to the Swamp to search while perhaps one has remained to watch us. By the time, they learn of their error we should be in Mayer. Also, I think that the Seldane might hide us from them. Although they have not really shown themselves, they don't want the Undine to find the Sword: they want us to take it to Alaric, so they can gain power in the Balance. That is something we will have to address when we find the Sword. If we can reach the Sword, its powers should be able to protect us from the Undine.

Their conversation was abruptly cut off as they entered a clearing.

Bodies and the remains of bodies were strewn all about, and the ground and trees around were covered with blood. Retsy gasped and fainted again.

Sideline stepped forward and examined the scene. He looked up at the others, "These are—or rather were—the ruffians that we fought in the north."

"What happened to them?" someone said.

"It looks," Wizard replied grimly, "like they were torn apart."

"Didn't they have a leader?" someone asked. "I don't see any sign of him."

"Maybe it was the Undine and they took him alive," Toreon suggested.

"Perhaps, but we have no time to wonder now," Sideline replied, having finished his examination of the area.

This post has been edited by Selax: 14 January 2007 - 12:11 AM

Wizard had been happily plodding along on titan-back when they saw the first dead ruffian. The others were hidden from view by a wall of trees at this point. The old man dismounted and approached the corpse, kneeling next to it. Retsy glanced around Toreon, gasped, and disappeared behind her brother again.

“He was torn apart,” Wizard commented, grimly inspecting the mutilated ruffian. Silverfish walked around the body and then turned pale as he looked ahead of them, “he’s not alone.”

“What’s that?” Wizard got to his feet and moved next to Silverfish. “Oh my...”

“What do you see?” Selax asked. Wizard did not respond; he merely stared, mouth agape, at the sight before him. The rest of the group moved from behind the trees and the clearing came into view.

The glade was a cluster of corpses, everything was dead. A crimson coat adorned each tree and blade of grass. Retsy, sickened at the scene, gasped again and fainted.

Wizard stood behind everybody, silently watching, as they went to study the bodies. Sideline was the first to point out that he recognized the ruffians.

“They all died the same way,” Wizard suddenly spoke ,”It looks like they were all torn apart.”

“Who would do this? And why kill them like this?” Alice gestured to the mutilated corpses. Discussion ensued, but after a few moments, Sideline urged that they drop the conversation and move on.

As everyone who was riding remounted and slowly made their path through the bodies, carefully avoiding contact with stray limbs, Wizard glanced around them. He did not like mentioning his paranoia, but for a while now he had had the feeling that they were being watched. It had originally started shortly before they accepted their quest to find the Sword of Elements and had been plaguing him ever since. I wonder if anyone else feels that, he pondered to himself, taking in a full view of the area.

He was shocked when he looked behind them. There, calmly standing over the body of a ruffian, stood a cloaked figure. It was completely covered in black, its face hidden under the shadows of a cowl. It had broad shoulders, which rose once as it drew in a powerful breath, and then fell again when it exhaled audibly. Wizard stared at where its face must have been, and he could feel by the chill in the air around him, that it was staring back at him.

Wiiiizzzzaaaarrrrrd, a cold voice wormed into his mind. Its one word, drawn out unbearably long, echoed at the back of his thoughts as he continued to gaze at the black shadow. The moment was fleeting, and as he watched, the figure vanished. Surprised, Wizard took a step forward to look around for it. It was gone. “How did--” he began to whisper to himself.

Selax grasped his old friend by the shoulder, breaking the trance, “Are you all right?”

Wizard kept his gaze steady for a second, in case the figure should reappear, but it did not. “What? Oh, yes, I’m perfectly fine. . . Just a little distracted by all of this death, I think.” He turned, trying to forget what could only be a trick of the light. I must be more paranoid than I thought, he told himself. Yet, if the shadow had really been there, what was it?

The group resumed their way, Wizard silently pondering what he had seen. They were drawing near to the base of the mountains where Mayer was located. Soon, they'd have to make their break for the city and reveal their intent to the Undine. If they had fooled their pursuers as to their destination, they would have a good chance of beating the Undine into the city. . .

This post has been edited by The Wizard: 13 January 2007 - 10:23 PM

Starfall was whispering to Cat again. "That was nice work, but you really need to learn to control yourself better. Look what you did to Shanadar, who wasn't even in your way. You really should apologise."
Cat, contrary to expectations, wasn't even looking contrite. "Yes, you're right, but I can do better than apologise. Remember?" she said, nudging Starfall gently on the last word. Quickly she leapt down off the titan, fiddling with her belt-cover at the same time. She made her way over to Shanadar, who was limping even after Moonshadow's ministrations, not wanting to ride in a stretcher.
Cat looked him straight in the eyes, and said, "Shanadar, I deeply apologise for my behaviour a while ago. Sometime I just have these moments when I lose it entirely, and that, I am afraid, was one of them. If you hold your hand out, I can heal you completely."
After a few moments to think about it, and seeing nothing but honesty in Cat's amber eyes, he warily complied.
Cat gently took his hand, and placed the other on her belt. Slowly, a warm feeling spread throughout Shanadar's body. The elf carefully controlled the stream of energy from her belt, keeping it slow and steady so as not to rush the healing in its final stages.
She let go of his hand, said, "There," and walked off before Shanadar could say anything.

As the journey continued, Silverfish noticed that Starfall was crying, "What's wrong?" he asked.

Starfall indicated the path ahead. A tree lay across their path, just the right size to make the titans walk carefully over it, which would slow the rate at which the party was traveling. By the look on his face, Silverfish obviously didn't understand why she was so upset. "Someone tore them up!" wailed Starfall.

Silverfish looked more carefully. Then he noticed, the rootball of the tree was not where it would be if the wind had pushed it over. Understanding began to creep into his eyes. He smelled the air, first he noticed the expected smell of the woods, then he noticed a flavor of freshly turned dirt, obscured by salt-water.

"Now is not the time for weeping. The Undine have done this, and we must be strong to fight them!"

Starfall laughed through her tears, even wearing (so she thought) armour, Silverfish looked rather puny.

Talryn's arm flinched just enough to catch Wizard's attention... Wizard stopped the titan and begun to examine Talryn more closely.

(inside Talryn's Head)

Talryn stood in darkness. He looked around, saw nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing. Then a figure infront of him begun to materialize. Before Talryn asked, he knew who it was. "So Talryn, how do you like your mind? I think I like the dark theme you have going on, but thats just me. Oh wait the dark theme is because of me, sorry."

The area around the two Talryns grew a bit brighter. The original one spoke next, "I'm suprised you didn't drop by to say, hey you look like me?"

"Well I thought you might want to know what is going on with you first, because you apparently don't know. You've been cursed, either it was by the Great Evil Dark rule the universe one or by someone else. All I know is that your cursed. Remember that blast of Telepathy that you used to read Rapierian's mind back at the tavern? Granted by the curse. However, I suppose you can't remember your parent's names now can you?"

"Well of course i can they are K-, oh crap. What does this curse do?"

"From what i can tell, you lose a part of yourself to gain the abilities of someone that you are incontanct mana wise. Like that mana sap spell there. Rapierian, nice fellow, thanks to him my skills have been, how would you say it...refined?"

"There might be a time, in the near future during a fight with the undine that I will need your help. What must i offer in return for that help?"

"Well I would like to speak to Rapierian some time. And to avoid the question i already know the answer to, its because i want to survive. I plan to have a lot more of these conversations in the future. Waky Waky time."

--

Talryn suddenly sat straight up, and looked around. Wizard jumped a bit and then scanned his mind. Wizard, seeing that the good side of Talryn was present, urged the titan to move forward again. Talryn sat silently eating, he looked over at Toreon, who was nearby and started up a conversation.

-Dark

This post has been edited by Dark Jet: 13 January 2007 - 10:45 PM

Moving the tree out of the way didn't prove very difficult, and the group continued their rapid journey south. After another day and a half of hard travel, they had reached the base of the mountain that held Mayer. Here they would have to make their break and reveal their real destination to the Undine.

Selax came down from above and said, "Wizard knows the route up the mountain to the city. I shall fly there now and see what I can find. Anyone else who is able to do so may do so. Based on the clue, there are two possible locations: where the Sword was first made and where its bearer, Seldane, died. Wizard will be able to find the first, and I shall see if I can find the second. We must move with all possible haste now, as the Undine will come as fast as they can."

With that, he was gone, flying up toward the ruined city. Silverfish followed, eager for a glimpse of the lost city. Wizard and the others continued up the mountain. As Selax had said, Wizard knew the way well and they ascended rapidly.

"How do you know where this city is?" someone asked him.

"Oh, I used to come by here fairly often when it was still inhabited." Seeing the person's surprised expression, Wizard joked, "I'm not as young as I look."


Soon, the group came out a narrow crevice into what had once been a large and fertile valley filled with a sprawling city. At its height, Mayer had been counted Cythera's greatest wonder, with spiraling buildings and wondrous architecture. In the days before the elemental wars, when Cythera had been young, it was here where first the Four Elements met together. Many of each element had dwelt here and had contributed their own unique skills in its building. There had been great pools made by the Undine, buildings and objects made of fire by the Ignae, entire halls designed by the Sylph that made music out of the wind, and solid foundations and immovable stone buildings made by the Seldane.

Now, that was all gone. The valley was barren and almost empty, cut through by pits, hissing fissures, and upthrust jagged rocks. The valley walls were scorched and blackened, and the ground was warped and distorted in places. All that remained of the buildings were now a few crumbling stone ruins, through which the wind still howled mournfully. The only thing that really remained intact was a set of closed doors at the end of the Valley—sealed doors to the Meeting Hall which only the elements could open.

Selax was pacing around in front of the doors, as though looking for something. He had, ages ago, seen Seldane fall as he and what few survivors he could find had fled, and the city hadn't changed much since then. However, it still had changed and that had been a long time ago, so Selax feared he would have something of a search left.

Wizard let the other straight through the ruins. Silverfish saw them and flew back over toward them. After a few minutes, Wizard led them into the ruins of one building in particular. There were enough traces to show that it had once been the home of a artisans. Part of the smooth floor was still intact. Wizard bent down and examined it.

"Hmm," he said to himself. He pressed his hand against the floor and closed his eyes. Suddenly, there came a rumbling sound and the floor fell away like a trapdoor, revealing a set of stairs descending into darkness. Wizard went down, lit up his staff, and held it up. The area at first seemed small, until Wizard realized that the far end was in actuality a tunnel which stretched off into the darkness.

"This is it," he announced. "At the end of that tunnel, though that could be some distance." Using his telepathy, he informed Selax who immediately headed toward them. Everyone else packed into the room after Wizard.

Selax was the only group member left above ground, and he was approaching the trap door when it happened.

A blast of something struck the ground next to the air elemental, sending him spinning off into the sky. Sideline saw the reason through the open trap door: the Undine had come and not just two but four now. He slammed the trapdoor shut and yelled to others, "Run! We have to make it to the Sword; it's our only chance now!"

The rest took off running down the tunnel, guided only by the glow from Wizard's staff.

"What about Selax?" someone panted.

"He'll be fine," Wizard responded. "His student, Alkar, wants to beat him with in a swordfight, to prove who's better. He won't use any magic, just his sword because he's crazy enough that he'd rather die than not be better and is so convinced he is better that he can't lose."

Behind them, there came a crashing sound as the Undine smashed down the trapdoor and began to run after the group.

"Why don't they teleport?" someone else yelled.

"They can't! The Seldane put spells around here blocking that! They have to chase us, but they move very fast and will kill us if they catch us!" Wizard replied, looking back to see shadowy forms behind them. "RUN!" Everyone doubled his pace, and Rapierian stopped to throw a potion into the ground behind them. It burst into the flame, slowing the Undine for a just a moment as they stopped to put the fire out...


Selax regained his balance in time to see the three Undine follow the others down. He landed again and looked around, drawing one of his swords and enchanting it. (Against an opponent with one sword, Selax usually used only one sword, being equally skilled with one or two; when faced by an opponent with two swords or more than one opponent, he usually used two swords.) Alkar dropped from above and produced a sword of his own. As Wizard had said, Alkar wanted to better than Selax with the sword and not with his magic. Although using his magic he could win the fight, he had no intention of using any magic other than that required to match Selax's agility (i.e. flight). He believed he was better so he had nothing to fear by not using his magic.

"You should be leading your men," Selax told him. "It is foolish of you to waste time on this personal vendetta when you have more pressing concerns. For all your station with your people, you still act like a student."

"The other three can handle those others: we are Undine!" Alkar shot back. "Now, prepare to meet your better. I've waited a long time for this."

"You act like a student still: still just the child playing with a sword that I once knew," Selax said, maintaining his complete calm.

Alkar lost any semblance of calm and roared with fury. He swung his sword, and Selax blocked. Selax countered with his own attack, and Alkar parried. They began trading sword blows rapidly, the only sound besides the wind in the dead city of Mayer.

This post has been edited by Selax: 14 January 2007 - 12:12 AM

Silverfish flew at the back of the group, just behind Retsy. Retsy was mad at him for suggesting that she that she might not be a sorceress, even though she hoped it was true. Silverfish finished making something and threw it behind, *twang* Retsy heard a noise like metallic lyre-strings. "What was that, Shorty? Do you know?"

"I just setup a spider-trap for the Undine." replied Silverfish, "It should slow them down a little."

This post has been edited by Jehezekel: 11 January 2007 - 03:46 PM

Again, Shanadar found his life in mortal peril.

The group, or rather most of the group, was running away from a triad of very angry-looking waterborne elementals, supposedly called 'Undine'. Selax had stayed behind to duel with a fourth.

There had been no time to retrieve his staff after the infighting, which had left him without a proper weapon. Just as well, he thought, It probably wouldn't be that effective anyway.

His sides ached, not only from the running but from the abuse his body had taken previously. Although Cat had healed his wounds, the pain of them remained; no amount of magic could truly erase the damage that had been done. Worse still, Shanadar feared that Cat's promises to restrain herself were as hollow as her demeanor after the fight. And then there's Talryn, he mused to himself, Rapierian's antics are becoming increasingly mild by comparison to the others.

The group kept running, but to occasionally set a trap to stall our hostile elemental friends, but fatigue was beginning to show on some of the group, and their pursuers were tireless.

Running was fast becoming an non-option, and something had to be done about it.

Unfortunately, there really didn't seem much that could be done. Even the Wizard advocated that they could not hope to oppose the Undine in combat without the sword...unless...

Shanadar tore through his pack as he ran, frantically searching its contents. After nearly a minute of combing over his inventory while navigating the dark passageways, he found what he was looking for. First, he pulled out a torch, and then...his other bomb.

He turned to his companions, "Hurry on to the sword, I'll draw them off." He was met with several puzzled stares, "No time to argue, get to the sword now"

Rather abruptly, he came to a halt and ran in the other direction, igniting his torch as he did so. Now charging the enemy, he held his explosive firmly in his other hand and prepared to light it as well.

It was a fortunate twist that the Undine did not expect their quarry to turn and fight, much less to have the least of them make a running charge against them. Somewhat bemused as Shanadar ran blindly past them, they did not notice the small but potent charge he left at their feet. Two of them continued their pursuit, but the third hesitated as it contemplated whether or not to deal with this madman. Its indecisiveness was rewarded with a very large explosion.

The blast-wave caved in the walls, and threw Shanadar clear even as the Undine was reduced to a puddle. After a moment, the elemental reformed, unharmed, although perhaps slightly dazed. Its first observation was the newly-created earthen obstruction blocking its path, and it quickly found that it could not seep through it as is would ordinary dirt. Frustrated, it turned to the recovering human who had caused its troubles.

"What's wrong, can't follow your friends?" Shanadar asked sarcastically, picking himself off the ground.

The Undine began a spell to eliminate this nuisance, but Shanadar was already running.

"If you want me, you've got to catch me, you ugly bag of water" he cried at the Undine, his shouts echoing in the halls.

Running as fast as he could, Shanadar backtracked with the Undine hot on his heels. He knew that he would likely encounter Selax during his escape from the old elemental ruins, but obviously he had little choice to the contrary.

I hope Selax will forgive this little intrusion, he thought to himself, But frankly, I think we've had enough honor-duels already.

This post has been edited by ~vIsitor~: 16 January 2007 - 12:08 AM

"You're a braver man than I am, Shanadar," Sideline thought to himself as he dashed along the narrow tunnel, his evaluation of the old man improving greatly. "I hope you made it." The explosion had bought the remainder of the team a second or two's grace, as the pair of surprised elementals briefly hesitated.

Sideline hated to admit it, but he was scared. Before now, the most frightening thing he'd ever faced had been a horde of shadow creatures in the cellars of Pnyx, with a healing potion as his only weapon. Now, he'd rather be facing that horde than this single pair of Undine. He knew his limitations. He was just an ordinary man, with no magical powers; just a keen eye for detail, and a set of skills that tended put him on the grey side of the law.

He suddenly noticed that, every few strides, they passed a kind of groove in the walls. He glanced upward as he passed the next one. "Something's wedged up there," he realised, seeing in the after-image in his mind, two sharp triangles of stone that had seemingly been hammered into the top of each groove. He slid to a halt just past the next set of grooves, and pulled out his sword.

It was an unusual sword. It wasn't magical, as far as he knew, but it was made out of a piece of tough, dull black, hard to work metal that had fallen from the sky, or so the smith had claimed. Lucas Hart had once told him it was 'Dilantium', or 'carbon-nanotube-reinforced-titanium-in-a-diamond-filament-lattice, used in the contruction of starship hulls'. It meant nothing to Sideline, but he'd been intrigued by Lucas' reaction to the name of the blade, engraved into the metal even before it fell scorchingly to Cythera: Paradox.

He swung the sword with all the strength he could muster. Sparks flew, and the first wedge was knocked slightly askew. Something grated overhead, and dust fell from the groove in the ceiling. He swung again, and a third time. The wedge fell to the ground. Moving quickly to the other side, he glanced back along the tunnel. The Undine were rapidly approaching.

"Please be enough time, please be enough time," he chanted to himself.

"Sideline, come on," Brianna called from further along the tunnel. He dared a quick glance, and realised that both Brianna and Moonshadow had stopped to see what he was doing.

"Run, you idiots," he yelled back. He swung the sword once; twice. The third time the stone cracked, but it was still wedged in tight. "Just one more swing," he told himself. He glanced down the tunnel, and his heart sank - the Undine were upon him. "Too late," he almost wept.

He took an involuntary pace backwards as a wall of ice suddenly and quickly filled the passage between him and the water elementals.

"Now, hurry up!" Moonshadow commanded.

He lifted his sword, and stepped into one great, final swing...

The wedge shattered. Faster than he'd have believed possible, a huge slab of stone slid down the grooves and slammed into the ground, sealing the tunnel.

He ran a finger carefully along his blade as he slid it back into its sheath. "Not one nick," he thought in satisfaction.

"I'm ready," he said. "Let's move."

This post has been edited by cache22: 15 January 2007 - 01:32 PM