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Part Nine.

From the Writing of Pamorata, Mage of Pnyx, Murder Investigator to the LandKing.
The general Consensus was to wait until Nightfall, as it would make it harder for the Archers to see us.
I put a plan of mine into action: Using Remote Manipulation to shake a tree on the other side of the Fort. Then several ‘Glowstones’ (stones with Embrightenment cast on them) fell from the branches. Now the bushes and undergrowth around the tree were starting to move, as if an Invading Army was approaching.

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Melchior and Talinor were watching the archers on the wall carefully, waiting for them to investigate the commotion. The archers were uneasily checking over their shoulders, but they weren’t deserting their posts. Time to activate the next phase of the plan.
A large rock flew out of the bushes and just cleared the wall. Several smaller ones followed, and the archers ran to the other side.
“Now!” hissed Melchior, and he, Baldor and Talinor ran to the wall, rope and grappling hook in hand. The fighter hurled it skywards, and luckily it caught first time. Melchior swarmed up the rope like a monkey, with Baldor following a trifle slower.
Pamorata waited until all three were up before activating the final stage in the plan. A heavy stick, leaned carefully against a tree, shifted and fell against a tepee of sticks with a large stone on top. The stone hit another tepee with a clatter, dislodging the next stone, and so on. Different-sized thumps and clatters ringing in her ears, she released the spell and ran towards the the rope. Quickly tying it round her waist, she tugged it twice. She was pulled up fast, lifted over the top of the wall, and set down carefully. Baldor cut the rope from around her waist, and the four climbed down the rope into the fort.

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From their hiding place - a broken down hut near the gate - our heroes watched the archers returning, sounding happy about the “battle”, telling each other how many people they killed, and describing the battle titans. Pamorata had to suppress a fit of the giggles as one archer explained how he had killed fifteen men, six titans and a harpy.
So enthralled with the wild stories of the guards, not even Melchior reacted quickly enough when the hut door burst open and nine or ten ruffians burst in. So fast, they were on the four before anyone could do anything. One swung at Pamorata with a club, and before she could do something sensible (such as duck), it connected with her head with a sickening crunch. The last thing she remembered was the blackness welling up.

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Part Ten.

From the Writing of Pamorata, Mage of Pnyx, Murder Investigator to the LandKing.
When I (very muzzily) Awoke, I wondered where I was. My head felt almost Stove in. I tried to sit up, and couldn’t - a tight feeling around my wrists meant I was probably tied up.
I opened my eyes. I was in a small Cell, with a tiny barred window high in one wall. It was quite Light - I couldn’t remember what that meant for a Minute or two. Then I realised it was morning. How long had I been Unconscious? I tried to heal my aching head, and couldn’t. There was no sign of my Companions.
A guard came by presently, and opened the cell Door. He yanked me up Unceremoniously, and lead me through a maze of corridors into a large room. My Friends were there, all alive, although Baldor had a black eye, and Talinor, a nasty gash on his forehead. They were, like me, tied up.
A man behind the room’s desk stood up. He wasn’t very tall, and had brownish hair, green eyes, and the sort of features you can never remember afterwards.
“Good. You are all here.” He then giggled, and I realised the man was probably insane.

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Stopping as suddenly as he started, he motioned the four to stand in front of the desk. They did so, and the man dismissed the guards with a wave of his hand. He sat down again.
“Really, Pamorata, I expected better of you. Did you really think we were fooled by your childish plan? Before I decide how to kill you and your friends, I must commend you on coming at all. If it wasn’t for that fool Pelops and his pesky kid, I doubt you would ever have had an inkling of my motives. I will tell you what you so desperately want to know, before I summon the guards to take you away again.” He glanced at the mage to see how his words were sinking in.
Pamorata was still fairly concussed, and wasn’t taking much in. Annoyed, he continued.
“As you still haven’t guessed, I hired the Nexus Lord. I was behind the portals. I wrote those anonymous notes you doted on.”
Talinor was beginning to look decidedly worried.
“You may also be wondering how I could afford to hire the Nexus Lord, with his disgustingly expensive fees. That is where the portals enter the equation. Each is a gateway to a different world. Many are rich.” He stared off into space, a happy smile on his face. Snapping back to reality, he added, “Oh, and I was behind the test. Noticed the ruffians around are richer now?”
Still grinning happily, he continued. “Getting rid of the heads of the Houses means Cythera will be plunged into chaos. Alaric was next on my list. Then I, Vandern, would be the LandKing!” He broke off to laugh insanely.
“Anything else you wanted to know?”
Melchior spoke up. “Is the Nexus Lord invisible?”
Vandern started giggling again. “Invisible? Of course not! He teleports! The hissing noise you are no doubt wondering about is the noise of him teleporting. I remember when he teleported in upside-down!” He went off into a fresh peal of laughter.
Melchior whipped his hands from behind his back, grabbed the paper spike off the desk and threw it at the laughing ruffian. It hit him in the chest, spike first. Vandern looked at it, and whispered, “But how...”, and slumped backwards, blood slowly seeping through his tunic.

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Melchior untied the others, saying “Good thing I learnt escapology at school.” He picked up a strange amulet that had been tucked into Pamorata’s cloak. Looking at it carefully, he declared, “This looks like a magic-preventation charm. You should be able to cast magic if I do this...” he said, and threw it away. It hit a window, which shattered.
“There’s our escape route!” said Baldor gleefully. “If only we had our gear...”
Talinor had been examining the room. “Here it is!” he shouted across to them. “Stashed behind a pillar!”
Pamorata healed various wounds, and our heroes retrieved their equipment, Talinor checking his bow to make sure it hadn’t been tampered with.

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Jumping out the smashed window, Pamorata rolled as she hit the ground, and jumped up. The others followed her, Melchior pausing to retrieve the amulet, and they ran towards the safety of the forest. The mage was inordinately happy. Two mysteries solved, a potential threat to the LandKing removed, and a possibly valuable amulet recovered. She wouldn’t begrudge Melchior that. After all, he had saved their lives.
All she would have to do now was explain to Lindus why she went on an unauthorised scouting mission, but she could undoubtedly think up a decent explanation. One with lots of dragons, perhaps.

The End (in case you were wondering!)

Overall, a nice chron, CrazyChick; I enjoyed the NL's inclusion as a character, by the way. I must say they had an interesting plan to get into the Encampment.

Out of curiosity, how did Vandern get the resources and men to start his plans?

He had better strategies for killing lone adventurers. Just kidding. He actually organised a night-time raid on the Iron Mine, pulled it off successfully, stealing a very large amount of the smelted ore, and sold it at a vast profit. He then cashed in a few favours - including large ones from four mages () - to recruit ruffians and add to his fortunes.

[EDIT] Just did a word count, and unless my computer is wrong... Guess how many words! It's Weird or what? [/EDIT]

This post has been edited by CrazyChick: 27 January 2007 - 02:20 AM

Nice, Crazy. A very enjoyable read!

Awesome!!

This Chron lacked the finesse of some, but more than compensated for it by being so fun to read!

Thank you everyone! Not bad for a first, huh?
I am half-planning a sequel, but that might take a while to appear. Any ideas?

No sorry but i don't really think it's good but i think its brillant.



I hope i didn't offend you. please write some more i love reading