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Wizard rode steadily NW for days. He rode on the main path, where he would expect to see other travelers, but he saw very few.

When he reached the River Sitia, he avoided the conventional method of crossing, which was the stone bridge that usually was bustling with activity. It was, in fact, the only "safe" way to cross Sitia. Everybody from merchants and caravans to ordinary folk used it to reach one half of Cythera from the other.

The land of Cythera had always been an interesting subject of study for Wizard, being more of the scholarly type. The River Sitia did effectually divide Cythera in half. It's source was somewhere in the mountains to the north. Wizard did know of a pass which led from Land King Hall to the other side of the mountains, but it was pointless to go that far for nothing. There weren't many other crossing points.

There was one other he know of, however. He rode north for several miles, to where the waters grew thinner and more shallow. He traversed the water at the narrowest point. It was a fairly simple task for him, with the aid of his telekenesis. His horse did not enjoy fighting the current, but the water was cool and refreshing. As he crossed he continued on his previous line of thought.

Cythera was populated oddly. Land King Hall always seemed so distant from everything else. Pynx did as well, but then again, none of the towns seemed to be near each other. And none of them seemed to like each other. It was as though each part of Cythera was a world unto its own. Perhaps it was the "House" system of ruling towns that caused such a rift, or the people themselves.

Even with a good, just king to rule them, much of the land and its inhabitants remained a mystery to Wizard, and he was generally one who could understand human behavior.

Perhaps the dissension was damage that remained from the Elemental Wars. . . Thinking of those times brought a shiver to Wizard.

He did not enter Cademia, but instead headed west. Soon he would reach the mountain pass to Pynx. Perhaps there will be time for a stop at Cademia on my return. . ., but he doubted it. He did not have time to waste, and he did not wish to get hung up anywhere.

This post has been edited by The Wizard: 20 June 2005 - 05:01 PM

Gin walked with his fellows, he was nervous and aprehencive of anything and everything. He simply did not like the place and so quietly he slipped out of the group, and so did not see the great cathedral, he was insted meticously looking at the dead corps, holding his breath, for about a minute he would hold his breath and then run outside the cave breath deeply and run back in. he repeated the procedure untill he had found that there was simply no evidence that the men had ever been attacked, Gin went outside and sat upon a rock, podering how it was possible for all of the men to die without ever being totched. Well at least there was no evidence of broken bones, who ever killed them either didn't have to touch them or had killed them without damaging the bones or puncturing the armor, whoever had killed these men was definetly a being of intelligence, no monster gaurded the depths of that cave and so holding his breath Gin ran to the others of the group, he got inside of Selax's bubble just before his lungs burst. Then having time to breath and look around he gasped at the site before him.

OOC I would be happy to create the unknown site but I do not know the nature of the Zetacomb and therefor can not construct a creature being or other "unknown site", if anyone would tell me exactly what the thing is to the best of their knowledge I could do more. Or if they could direct me to the post that I probably missed that tells what it is ^^, sry. BIC

*OoC*
I'll try to think of something for the unknown sight.
*BiC*


In the center of the cathedral stood a being nearly 12 feet high. It seemed to be made out of many different gems, shining like a rainbow. At first glance, it might resemble a statue, but the way it moved its head proved that it was "alive". It seemed to be some sort of golem. From what resembled its head, a voice issued.
"So at last another group thinks they are worthy to take the zetacomb."
It chuckled and waved its hand. Suddenly, the air seemed breathable, and the group emerged from the bubble. Before anyone could speak, it continued.
"If you are worthy, then you may take it, but you first must pass through the Maze. You cannot leave unless you survive."
Again, before anyone could speak, it waved its hand, and the group suddenly found themselves in a different cavern with three exits, each of which led in a different direction. The creature was gone. Everyone started talking at once.
"What was that thing?"
"Where are we?"
Suddenly, Medoc asked a different question.
"Where is Selax?"


Selax emerged into the open outside the tomb. The instant that the air had become breathable he had turned invisible and sped back out into the open. Like everyone else, he had known that they were being watched, but, unlike the others, he had never intended on entering the tomb at all. He had another task to take. Pulling out his swords, he stepped toward the woods. At the same moment, Balthon emerged from the woods, his swords already in his hands. He smiled.
"Come. Let us finish this, Selax."
The two sprang at each other and began again to fight.

Gin looked at the three tunnels, and then counted the people in the room with him. "I hate to say this, but if we all split up at least one of us may make it to the zetacomb, however I think that this maze can be solved by deduction. So let us look around before we do anything." Gin was calm on the outside but inside he was angrey and frightened, he felt, like a rat in a maze. However Gin liked himself and didn't intend to die. He joined the others in searching the cavern carfully combing its every square inch, they found only 3 things each one was a small object, one looked like the zetacomb, others were statues showing three key human behaviors., one statue showed a man with missing a leg holding a hat with several coins in it as well as there was a finly made prosthetic leg on the other side of the statue, the other showed a king being crowned by pesants. Gin put the objects down, "Anyone know what these are for?" he asked quietly, his own mind racing. He saw that the objects showed virtue but he didn't understand what exactly what they were ment to show. However he saw something else when he sat down and walked over to the wall, he blew and the dust came away, there was a message, there were like messages on the other walls. the messages were "warrior of deseat and power." "Thee who is poor and lonely." and the last was "thee who seeks material objects." and there were symbols under the inscriptions, the symbols matched those over the door of each maze. Gin also noticed that the inscriptions and symbols where upon stone rings that were movable, you could move the inscriptions on their ring and the symbols on their own. Tej found depressions in the form of boot marks infront of each door, when he stepped on the depressions light came from the door, it was red. Mabye red ment that Tej needed something to go through the door, sure enough the door would not open for him, he stood on another depression and the door glowed green and could be opened, Tej shut the door and stepped off of the depressions the door was once again locked, he went to the third door, it too glowed green and opened. Gin wonderingly walked up to Tej, "Hey, go back to that one door with these he handed Tej one of the objects, Tej approached the door and it glowed violet, he approached the other door and it glowed blue, the third door glowed blue as well. After a while they had it seperated out, from left to right the statues glowed purple at each door, Left: zetacomb Middle: King, Right: beggar. and so they had an object to match each door and therefore a symbol to match each object.

the zetacomb statue matched a symbol that looked like a triangle

the king matched a circle

the beggar a square

Tej then stood infront of each door in turn. the zetacomb's door opened, the beggar's door did not, the king's door did (when he did not have a statue in his hands.)

The symbols on the wall could be moved and at three times they blocked the doors, the phrases also blocked the doors at three diferent places (move the symbols and there were thre times in which the doors were obscured and three places they were not, the same goes for the inscriptions.)

Jin found one more thing, a tablet, on it was written thus:

Though must in this chamber show to us that wich is utmost importance to thee, even more important than that which you seek.

OOC For anyone who wants to solve this I will leave it at this, nothing or very little is as it seems and deseption is a main part of the puzzle. Also if you would propose what to do so that I can tell you whether you have the answer or not I will appreaciate it. Also I'll check the posts every day to see if anyone gets the answer. If you think something should be changed or anything of the like PM me. BIC

This post has been edited by Kentonis 417: 23 June 2005 - 10:08 PM

The golem watched the progress of the group in the Maze. If they got through it successfully, they would have to face the tomb guardians. If they survived that, he was designed to allow them to have the zetacomb. He was designed only to destroy those who he deemed unworthy to face the challenges. But...
Something was wrong.
The golem had been given a great deal of free thought when he was designed, and he knew that something close by was wrong. At that moment, a frigid wind blew into the chamber. The golem looked up, startled. Calling his powers to him, the golem stepped forward.
"Who is there?" he demanded of the blackness in the entrance.
"A primitive construct designed to protect the zetacomb. How amusing," answered a voice from the darkness. Before the golem could say anything, a dark figure emerged from the shadows.
"Who—what are you?" the golem said.
"A servant of a greater power. A power that will soon rule all who live."
"Regardless, you are unworthy to face the challenges and must be destroyed," the golem answered as he had been designed.
"Foolish beast! You think that I need to fight you? You will be some of use to me, I think."
With that, the figure stepped forward, letting the shadow fade around it. The golem had enough free will to take a step back. Before him stood a creature of nightmare. It stood 12-feet tall, with leathery wings, three horns on its head, and massive talons sprouted from hands that were curved to grip a sword (if it was necessary), and long tentacles capable of breaking stone with ease. It had eyes that were almost entirely white. It raised its arms before speaking again.
"Prepare to meet your real master."
The golem raised his hands to fight, when suddenly he felt a presence in his head. Something more evil and dangerous than the creature before him. He tried to fight it, but it blasted him aside and began to remake his mind. Suddenly, the presence finished withdrew, and the golem straightened. He knew what he must do. He must destroy the group if they defeated the guardians. He didn't even remember the creature or notice disappear back into the shadow.


Selax and Balthon's rematch was much like before. Only, it was daylight and there was no lightning. Again and again, the two flew at each other. Again and again, each was able to defend himself, and the fight dragged on.

*OoC*
I am not much good at describing fight scenes, but I figure I may as well give it a try.
*BiC*


Selax flew at Balthon, swinging one of his swords down from above and thrusting the other forward. Balthon twisted out of the way of the second, parrying the blow from above. He brought both of his swords around to slash at Selax's side. Selax blocked and kicked out at Balthon's side. Balthon jumped and brought both of his swords down from above; Selax blocked the blows and twisted out from under Balthon. The two backed away from each other and then lunged.

Gin quietly began to assimilate the data he had.

The inscription: Obviously something highly nessicary to solve the problem.

The statues: Possably worth something, possably not.

The inscriptions and the symbols: Reminded him of a combination lock

Gin quietly went over the facts again. Could he solve it? Gin continued to ponder the question. if the giant rings were actually a lock of some sort, then how do you open the lock? Where is the arrow to the combination lock (There is no phisically ingraved arrow, he is just wondering, where is the point that you use as 'the arrow')? What is the combination? Gin pondered these questions and came up blank, so finding no answer he quietly divulged the information he had to the others. He concluded his speech with this: "I think that we are in some type of combination room and puzzle. I think that the answer is obvious but is hidden so well whithin all the other peices that it is a task within itself to find the answer. However I'm not sure that there is only one answer." Which in fact was true for a thief would be unto the beggar, just as a noble warrior would be unto another of the statues. Where did the group fit? For it seemed at that point that the only wrong answer was to lie.

OOC I think it would be better if I did this; anyone who can come up with a plausable answer, post it, call the thing sloved, and move on. BIC

This post has been edited by Kentonis 417: 06 July 2005 - 12:55 PM

OoC: With Wizard again BiC:

Wizard rode onward, deep in thought, wondering where the group might be now. When he looked up suddenly, he could see Pynx. The sun bathed its ugly, gray roof in rays of ultraviolet. It was still unattractive, but had an air of splendor about it. Wizard pulled up for a moment and paused, examining the spectacle that spread before him.

Pynx did always smell so very pleasant . . . Wizard reflected warmly.

Pynx was not too far ahead now, and he was about to ride on, when his horse snorted. "What's the matter boy, huh?" Wizard spoke in a gentle, soothing voice. The horse pricked its ears, listening intently. Wizard listened as well, and in doing so, he opened his mind to sense what was around him. He sensed several people near him.

He turned and found himself looking into the faces of a couple of weather-worn men -- ruffians, as the populous of Cythera had come to call them.

They stared at each other for a moment. One was middle-aged looking. Probably been doing this for his whole life, Wizard thought for a moment. The other looked much younger, but just as tough.

The younger one was the first to move, carrying a large club, with crude spikes at the end, but the second was only a moment behind. Wizard lashed out with his staff, whacking the first across the face. The older one ducked from the staff, and stabbed at Wizard with an old sword. Wizard moved to avoid it, but fell off of his horse in the proccess.

"Ack," Wizard cried out as he slammed to the ground. He was getting to old for this sort of combat, but he kept fighting.

The ruffian with the sword dove at Wizard, who was scrambling to get to his feet. The other ruffian was coming up just behind the first when suddenly he lifted his club and struck the other on the back of his head. The older one, who had the short sword, fell to the ground, most likely dead.

The younger one looked at his hand, the club, and the other ruffian, trying to grasp what had happened. Then he looked at Wizard who was on his feet. The man's eyes narrowed, and he charged at Wizard again.

Wizard backed away quickly. Summoning all of his strength, Wizard struck the man across the jaw again and promptly knocked the club from the man's hand. The ruffian was furious, as was evident by his facial expression.

He charged again, with no weapon, intending to take this old man on with his bare hands. His judgment was clouded and he was virtually blinded by his rage. He'd kill this relic if it was the last thing he did . . .

Which it was. Wizard stared at the body. In the last moment, he had telekenetically picked up the fallen man's sword and pointed it at his assailiant, who had blindly charged into it.

He sighed, he didn't like to kill, but it was often necessary in such rugged lands as this. He mounted again and rode on to Pynx.

Gin had already given up solving the puzzle, he had gone as far as he could. Therefor he took from his backpack a sandwich. Several of the other members looked at him as though to ask "what the hell? How can you think of food at a time like this?" Gin answered their unspoken question "I can't solve the puzzel, so I'm going to eat and sleep, this place seemes safe enough." and he proceded to do just that. He ate his sandwich, pulled a blanket out of his pack, zipped it shut layed out his blanket, put his pack at the head of the improvised bed lay down on the blancket, pulled it over him and was soon asleep, though the '7th sence' which had always served him well was out on patrol; Gin would awaken at the slightest noise that didn't conform to his idea of 'rightness', for Gin was not exactly human, though what he was other than human he did not know.

"We have been standing around here for hours looking for other clues and come up with nothing" Medoc said a little quicker than usual, "I don't know about you people but I have to take a leak, I am going to go down that tunnel a little ways and pay tribute to the wall" Medoc pointed down the brightly lit tunnel that runs 20 meters before hitting a dead end like all of the other off-shoots from the main chamber.
"I think Medoc has a good idea" Avatara replied looking over at Gin who was sound asleep, "we could all use a rest and something to eat".
"Well you all know where I am going to be" Medoc said walking down the tunnel. He stopped at the end, looked over his shoulder to make sure that no one could see him and started watering the rocks. The rocks at the end kind of the tunnel where kind of shaped into a basin but it just looked like a random rock formation or possibly just where something had stuck when the tunnel system of being created. Medoc finished his business and walked back to the group.
"Did you do anything back there?" Tej asked.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, why?" Medoc asked curiously.
"Just before you came back a crystal started to glow on the roof. Are you sure that you didn't do anything or was there anything that looked out of the ordinary?" Avatara asked.
"At the end of the tunnel it looked as if their was a basin, it looked more like something had struck the rock when the tunnel was begin made." Medoc replied.
"If you men don't mind I have something to say." Moonshadow said with some show of superiority in her voice, "I have seen something like this once before, I heard about some magician a while back who was experimenting with trying to make a way of getting out of a tunnel for miners if the tunnel collapsed and block their way out. He theorized that by adding a liquid to a certain type of magical crystal it could create enough energy to instantly teleport someone or a small group of people a short distance. I think that is what we are dealing with here...I think you men have some work to do now, get to it, I don't want to be stuck here all day."
"What are you going to do?" Avatara asked.
"You don't actually expect me to..." Moonshadow stopped mid sentence looking offended, "I will wake up Gin and fill him in on the situation." She said composing herself.
"I guess we have been to. There are three other tunnels and they all have to be activated to work I guess so lets go." Avatara said to the group, "We will needs Gin's help here." he said to Moonshadow and then they took a tunnel each.

About a minute after they had met back at the statues the room darkened slightly and seemed to warp as if they were under moving water. Everything around them slowly went dark...
The group appeared in-front of the giant being again and began to speak...

This post has been edited by Half Truth: 11 July 2005 - 04:52 PM

*OoC*
Half Truth, Selax is outside the tomb.
*BiC*


The giant golem clapped its hands, and a noise came from behind it. All the dead bodies that the group had passed on their way in were now coming toward them, obviously intending to kill them.


Outside, Selax and Balthon circled each other, looking for an advantage. The two lunged at each other again.

When the other's of the group teleported away Gin remained asleep, no one it seemed had actually woken him, and for some reason he did not teleport with the rest of the group, he awoke, groggy and looked around, "Where'd everyone go?" he asked the walls, then he silently shrugged and walked to the walls, an idea dawning on him, he put his hand on one of the sliding circles and pushed, he put the words, "Thee who is poor and lonely." in front of the passage, then he went to the circle and moved it until it was under the inscription, suddenly something poured out from the celing of the tunnels and Gin too was gone from the room, he found himself standing in a room devoid of light or anything else, he quietly felt his way around until his hand touched something, he felt a sharp pain go into his arm. The world rushed up to blanket him in darkness, but being in a strange place Gin fought with all his might and won, images began to flood his mind and he soon had knoledge that he could not understand, then a presence made itself known, "We are the creatures of the zetacomb, alass the item is not to be found here, it was taken long ago from this place, in its place we bestow upon you a gift, a gift of both power and healing, go mortal. Seek elswhere for the zetacomb." Gin felt his heart fall, The zetacomb gone? Where is it now? Who took it? answers to his thought questions were not forthcomming and so Gin resulutly sighed and sat down on the floor, then he heard water rush once again and he sighed as he appered where the others were, being uncerimoniously dumped out of a hole in the celing he gasped as he fell and curled up in a ball. He had become solid steel when he crashed into the ground and began to roll downhill, curled up thinking he must be dead. Gin crashed through several dozen undead and inot a wall, where he sat pondering how he could be alive and what had jsut happened as well as exploring something new within himself, what was it? Magic? I do not have magic! Gin would be against that wall for the better part of an hour, exploring the new sensations he was experiening.

*OoC*
Kentonis, I don't think the TS will last long enough to have the zetacomb be elsewhere. I think we just need to find it quickly and go back to the tavern.
*BiC*


Outside, Selax and Balthon backed away from each other. Neither had yet hurt the other. Suddenly, Balthon said, " You never did figure out why our world was destabilized, did you?"
"No, I have wondered for a long time." Selax answered warily.
"I guess there is no harm in telling you." Balthon grinned evilly. "I found a way to draw strength from our planet. After I had been doing this for years, I discovered a side-effect."
Selax looked at him with dawning realization.
"You. . ."
"Yes," Balthon answered proudly, "I caused our world to be destroyed."

Then, something happened to Selax that had not happened to him for many ages. He erupted into a rage, flying at Balthon in fury. Balthon responded in kind, also flying forward in a rage.
It would have been quite a sight had there been in spectators, to see both normally calm elementals in an absolute fury and trying twice as hard as before to kill each other.

[edit] Golem bit made no sense. [/edit]

This post has been edited by Avatara: 31 July 2005 - 11:55 AM

"This is getting old," Avatara muttered as the group faced the advancing undead horde on one side and the rumbling pace of the golem behind them.

"There has to be some way out of this, we can't take all of these creatures at once," Medoc's voice seemed more frantic than usual. The shadowy chamber and the glowing city behind them creating a sinister scene.

"If we can make it to those doors, we'll be fine." Moonshadow suggested, readying her weapon.

"Get ready." Out of the corner of his eye, Avatara saw Gin tumble out of the ceiling and slam into the far wall. He walked over to Tej and pulled him in, "Tej, listen up very closely. Gin is trapped back there behind the horde. I need you to fly over and get him out of here when we begin to move." Tej nodded in assent and took a deep breath, preparing himself. Avatara turned to face the rest of the weary group, "Okay listen up. We're going to make a break for the gates over there. No time to argue, just go! Go now!"

The undead, just meters away, broke into an all-out charge, but instead of turning and facing them, the group sprinted straight towards the golem. "Spread out!" Martel shouted, "Make it harder for him!"


Blinded by the overwhelming desire to kill these intruders, the golem charged onwards, each step crushing the ground beneath him. The group, heeding Martel's warning, fanned out into multiple targets. Unable to hit them all, the golem settled on the one that seemed to have commanded them.

Martel almost lost his footing as a massive leg of rock slammed down just off to his side, sending cracks along the solid stone underneath. He felt a sudden rush of wind and instinctively tumbled forward as the golem's arm slammed down behind him. The impact knocked him forward, where he fell on his side and rolled to a painful stop. His chest ached, something was damaged, but there wasn't any time for pain. He saw the golem move again, and forced himself to roll to the side, narrowly missing another hit. On his back, he looked up at the rock beast towering over him, waiting for the next hit. It didn't come.

Through the ringing of his ears, he could barely make out shouting voices. Above him, a projectile whizzed by to bounce harmlessly off of the rock beast.


"Something must be wrong," Avatara mentioned to Moonshadow as he sent a small fireball at the golem's head, something it easily dodged.

"C'mon Martel, move!" Medoc groaned as he waved his arms. The golem stood for a moment, unsure of what to do. A blast to the head from another fireball made up its mind, and it began to move. Suddenly out of the immediate danger, Martel picked himself up and began heading towards the doors that marked their salvation.

"Okay, lets go!" Avatara cried out, as the group turned and fled before the golem. The stairs leading to the ornate doors were just ahead, but the golem had the advantage of size and was gaining rapidly. Medoc and Martel reached the stairs first, bounded up them and pushed open the double doors enough to fit through. The rest of the group was right behind them. Moonshadow was the last one in, sliding through before the others pushed the doors shut and bolted them. A massive impact knocked them backwards as something heavy slammed into the doors. But the strange arcane material held fast.

"Everyone okay?" Avatara slumped down, trying to catch his breath. Martel nodded in reply.

"I think this is the same cathedral we saw earlier," Medoc noted, looking around. Directly ahead of them, down a short hallway that shifted colors with the twinkling of the gems lay a sheltered alcove within which was an ornate marble pedestal. Upon approaching, the group could see the gold markings that lined the pedestal wound upwards in some sort of inscription, the apex being a small hole where an oddly shaped crystal would sit.

"Its not there."

"Someone must have taken it before we got here," Avatara slammed his fist into the wall, "We're too late!"

"Do you think Desert Fox reached it before us?" Moonshadow asked.

"I don't think so, it doesn't seem like he's been here at all."

"Who took it?" Medoc asked.

"I don't know."

"Who else was hunting this?" Moonshadow looked around.

"I don't think anybody knew it was here, unless they were following us," Avatara sighed, "I just don't know."

"Wait a minute, I think I have something," Martel had strayed slightly to inspect an oddity he found. "Look at this, I know exactly who took it."

******

Selax lashed out in fury, his forceful swing sending sparks flying as it clashed upon the sword of his adversary. He lost all thought, all focus was on killing this creature who had murdered so many. He was determined to win, no matter the cost.

"Selax!" A voice from below echoed remotely in his mind. "Selax! Selax!" The voices grew in number and in intensity. His opponent's thrust flew by him, narrowly missing, the voices were distracting him. He pushed himself back a bit and glared down to see who was interrupting him. To his mild surprise, he noticed the group was waving at him.

"Selax!" They called, then something about a zetacomb he missed as he blocked his opponent's next strike. Selax ignored them, their wishes and desires were unimportant. He returned a strike, slamming into his enemy's sword with enough force to send him sprawling.

"Selax!" In his mind, the voice came through clearly now. "Selax, look out! He has the zetacomb! Balthon has the zetacomb!"

OOCThx Avatara.BIC

Gin looked around him amazed at what he saw. Undead, hundreds of them, then he saw Tej flying twords him, he'll never be able to lift me if I'm a rock. Gin muttered to himself and suddenly he was human again, Oh drat! He added seeing undead suddenly turn and start heading for him. He unsheathed his sword and lopped the head off of a nearby undead. After a minute or two Tej reached him and Gin reached up grabbing hold, suddenly something hit him and he lost focus, when his eyes unrossed again he was in the cathedral where Tej had dropped him, he sighed and slowly rose to his feet, feeling the spot where a club had hit him. He sighed and walked over to the others, he noticed something different and sat down to wait. I suppose it's my lot in life, to get left out. Gin grinned to himself and then went back to where the tunnel led to the outside, he looked through the tunnel and the corpses, and decided to wait for the ohters and sat down leaning against the wall.

The only response from the elementals to the arrival of the group was to intensify their attacks. This was something of problem because the elementals were so similar to each other in appearance that the group could not tell which was which. In any case, the two were changing position to rapidly to mount an attack even if Balthon was identified. Some of them watched in appreciation for the chance to see two such masters fighting was not common. Almost the combat seemed like a dance which neither could break. Suddenly, something disturbed the rhythm.
There was a flash of black light, and one of the elementals was sent sprawling into a nearby tree. The other turned to face the group and smiled. It was Balthon. A strange glow seemed to be coming from his chest, and he seemed overjoyed.

"That's the zetacomb," Avatara shouted in sudden realization, "somehow, he is using it to give himself magical powers. We have to get it away from him."

The elemental smiled and drew both his swords. Then, he spoke.
"You? I was old when your worlds were young. To me, the oldest of you is but a child. And you dare to challenge me! I have learned more and traveled further than you could even dream. I am far greater than you can imagine; in my youth, I destroyed a world! Can any of you boast of similar deeds?"

"I don't think that I'd want to." someone in the group muttered.

"That matters little, child." Balthon said. "I will still be around when all your worlds have faded. But for now children, you shall try to steal my prize. . .and shall fail."

Then, everyone moved at once.

This post has been edited by Selax: 17 August 2005 - 12:05 AM

When Wizard rode up to the front gate at Pynx, he wasted no time. He dismounted, leading his horse to the nearby stable, where a young boy was tending to several other mounts.

“Would you care for my horse here, young man?” Wizard asked softly. Though it was not noticeable to the boy, Wizard’s question was almost a plea. The group could be in danger even now, he had to hurry.

“Yes, sir,” replied the boy, with great respect. Then he continued, “How long will you be staying then?”

Wizard thought for a moment. He shouldn’t need too long, for he was a very swift reader when he used his full mental abilities. There wasn’t anyone here that he expected to recognize him either, save one. So he wasn’t likely to get caught up in idle chatting. “I don’t really know that,” then he changed his tone, gesturing towards the horse he had just dismounted, “if you do a very good job of caring for him, I’ll pay you two oboloi (sp?).”

The boy lit up, “Really?” Wizard nodded with a smile, and the boy turned to his tasks enthusiastically.

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

Inside, Pynx was well lit, and it had a certain warmth about that one couldn’t quite place. Firstly, Wizard spoke with Lindus, who, to Wizard’s surprise, remembered him. After a brief conversation he headed on to the dining hall.

It was lunch time by then, so every body was crammed into the inadequate room. Most of the occupants were students, but Wizard did spot the occasional master sitting at a table discussing the day’s lessons with his or her students.

In the corner sat an elderly man. He ate peacefully reading the book that lay open on the table before him. This would be the librarian. Wizard headed in that direction getting a glance from a student here and there. Most of them, as Wizard expected, believed that he was just an old student coming back to visit, which in a way, he was.

When he reached the corner, Selinus did not even notice, until Wizard stood in front of him, blocking his light. The old librarian looked up, met Wizard’s eyes, then proceeded to examine him up and down.

“Do you know who I am?” Wizard asked suddenly in a soft voice.

“Well, with that beard, you have the look of a master mage. And judging by your age I’d say you probably graduated as a mage only a few years behind me.” Selinus paused then his expression went gleeful as he spoke, “I know, you’re -” it continued to go something like that for about the next minute. After Wizard had already been put to at least a dozen different names, he was able to get a word in.

“You’re still just as forgetful as you were those many years ago,” Wizard reminisced with a smile. The memories flooded to him then, of the days when he himself was a student at Pynx. It was some 20 or 30 years past now, but Wizard could still remember it clearly. He came to Pynx to learn ways of human magic, since he only knew telepathy and telekinesis. Disguising himself as a young man, using his power over his mind to alter his appearance, he enrolled. Unfortunately, because he never developed beyond the simplest of spells, he was forgotten by most of the teachers as a failure. During his time there, though, Wizard did come to know one master well, and that was Selinus.

“I wasn’t that forgetful in my younger days, so you can’t be as old as I thought,” Selinus spoke, snapping Wizard out of his thoughts.

“I’ll help you,” Wizard looked into Selinuses’ eyes, bringing forth some memories.

“Wizard?” Selinus questioned, somewhat surprised.

He nodded in response, “Hello, Selinus. It’s been a long time.”

“Please do sit. If I may ask, shouldn’t you be in your 40’s now?” Selinus asked incredulously as he looked over Wizard again.

Wizard smiled, “No, I’m quite a bit older than that. I was not entirely powerless when I came here those years ago.”

“It would appear not.” Selinus hesitated, pondering the possibilities, before he continued, “Oh, yes, sit, sit,” he said gesturing anxiously at the chair oppostie him. “So, what brings you? It can’t be a social call.”

“You are direct, but I guess I do need to hurry if I can,” Wizard said, almost to himself as he settled in the chair. “All right, I need to use the library. There is something that I must look up.”

“Ahh, you and the library. You spent so much time there that you almost didn’t do anything else, like eat or sleep,” Selinus mused. “What is it that you would like to know?”

“Have you ever heard of something called the ‘Zetacomb’?”

“Zetacomb, zetacomb,” Selinus repeated quietly to himself, as if to jog his memory. “Ahh, yes, I think that it’s just an old myth. You know, like all the others. ‘He who finds it will be given unimaginable powers’,” he quoted in a deep, teasing voice then laughed.

Wizard, too, chuckled about it.

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

The next couple of days, Wizard spent entirely rumaging through papers, scrolls, books, and more books. He found mentions from time to time of stones and artifacts, but nothing he could find seemed to describe what they were after. He took note of all the references and committed them to memory, but beyond that, he could find no things of interest. He even examined all the books behind each hall door all the way up to the eighth degree.

On the last evening he was there, Wizard sat brooding over some prophecies. Most of it seemed to be gibberish. It was then that Selinus entered small, well-lit room. “Still didn’t find anything, eh?”

“No,” Wizard shook his head. “It would appear that the Zetacomb just isn’t recorded anywhere.”

“It may not be. Then again, we don’t have everything here. Land King Hall has a library and most other places do. Most of the judges have built up a rather impressive collection of books for themselves, and there are a lot of others who may have books we don’t, you might want to keep that in mind if you’re going to be traveling abroad. But still you may not find anything.”

“Yes, it’s too bad, but I may not.” Wizard sat thinking for a moment, “I guess I’m just finding myself wondering ‘What’s the cache’. I find it hard to believe that this “Zetacomb” is really good. You know?”

“Yes, I know. And there may be a cache or there may not. It’s been my experience that wisdom is just as iimportant as power if not more so, just look at history.” Selinus winced slightly as he spoke, “Tavara was intelligent and powerful, but he was power-hungry. He wished to be immortal, and it probably cost him his life.”

“But we don’t know that, he may be alive now.” Wizard objected.

“Well, I doubt it, but anything is possible. The point, however, is that it was his lack of wisdom that took him down that path. The tyrants that once ruled the land were very formidable, but they were, in my opinion, not very wise. Most people with power don’t know what to do with it. They only want more. Those with wisdom know how to use what strength they have to the best of their ability, and they are the kind of people that win, that change things. Like the people who overthrew the tyrants, and now look at what we have.”

“Selinus, my friend, you are very wise,” Wizard said with a smile.

“And, Wizard, my friend, so are you,” Selinus spoke while laying his hand on Wizard’s shoulder. “The zetacomb may be good or it may be evil, but I believe that if you use your wit and your wisdom, you’ll be able to use it.”

Wizard thought about it, then spoke again, “But what does it do? Why is it so important?”

“The zetacomb? I expect that you ought to know that better than I. Well, at least why it’s important.”

“Why?”

“You’re the one who’s after it aren’t you? It’s as important as the reason that is making you search for it. As for what it does, I can’t say either of us know right now, but I expect that when the proper time comes, you’ll know what it does and what to use it for.” Then Selinus yawned. “Oh, it’s getting quite late. I hope this little talk helped you.”

“Oh, it did. It helped me a lot. This trip was worth it just to visit you, and you have proved to be the only reason why I came.”

Selinus had started to walk out, but when he heard the last sentence, he turned. “Why is that?”

Wizard chuckled lightly, “I came to seek information on the zetacomb, and you have provided me with more than any book could have. Thank you.”

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

Wizard stayed the night, and at dawn, he set out. He swung up into the saddle with a wave goodbye to Selinus and the stable boy.

He hoped that the group would have the zetacomb by now. It wouldn’t be long before he would find them again. He rode onward, stretching his thoughts out in front of him to find any trace of them. In front of him, to the east, the sun slowly rose over the distant horizon.

Hoping that Balthon had the same problems with magic that Selax had, the mages in the group all attacked him with whatever spells they could think of.
Or rather, they tried to.
What actually happened was that when the mages began to cast their spells they felt their mana draining. As soon as they stopped casting, their mana began to return.

"What is going on?!" someone yelled.

Balthon laughed.
"Children, that is one of the many virtues of wielding the zetacomb," he laughed before continuing, "but I think that I'd prefer to kill you with the sword. Now, will do you still presume to dare challenge me."

As he spoke, Avatara, Gin, and Martel lunged at him. Whirling his swords at incredibly fast speeds, Balthon passed between them. Somehow, in that mad melee, his foot found a rock. Balthon (like Selax) was a shapeshifter and suddenly his foot was another hand from which the rock flew at one of Avatara's legs. Avatara easily overleapt the stone, but Balthon's hand changed back into a foot that flew towards at the same leg. Avatara realized that Balthon somehow knew of the injury that his ankle had sustained at Catamarca and was trying to take advantage of it.

Throwing himself backwards, he barely missed the kick and quickly rolled back to his feet. He blinked in amazement as he saw that Balthon was now holding off Tej and Medoc in addition to Gin and Martel and still dodging the arrows that Moonshadow was shootin at him. Something is wrong. Not even Selax is that fast, he thought. Then, he guessed what was happening.

"He is using the zetacomb to enhance his speed," he shouted to the others before leaping back into the fight.


Balthon was calm, completely centered and focused. These men were good, but they had not the experience that he had and were not of the Children of Air, who devoted their lives to the sword and had great physical advantages. With their variance in strength (including their magic ability), some of them would be a match for him one-on-one; some two-on-one. It infuriated him to think that some of them could normally stand up to him in single combat (though there were few that could do that with the sword), but he knew it was true, depending on the circumstances. Under these circumstances, he was sure that he could defeat them all. It was, of course, not just the zetacomb that gave him his powers. It taken a journey (which was now over since he had the zetacomb) of eternities and many other means of preparation to obtain the magical powers that he had so desired.

He raised his hand and a wall of energy flew towards Moonshadow. She managed to protect herself from the worst of the attack, but because of the great power of the zetacomb she was thrown into a tree and stunned for a few moments. In those few moments, Balthon threw five rocks (which he had picked up over the course of the fight) at Avatara leg. Avatara again overleaped the attack. With both Moonshadow and Avatara distracted for just a few seconds, Balthon used his magically enhanced speed to grab at Medoc's staff but missed because of Medoc's foresight. Never one to waste a move, Balthon leapt up and spun in a circle with the point where his hand had grabbed at the staff as the center. Medoc ducked, but Balthon (above Medoc for a moment) blasted him to the ground with another magical wall. He sent another wall of energy at Martel and Tej and threw them back.

Avatara lunged back into the fray, and Balthon leapt up and flew at him, overbalancing him and causing his ankle to twist the wrong way. Balthon now found himself facing Medoc and Moonshadow. He lunged at the still recovering Medoc, shapeshifting so that he had eight hands grabbing at the staff. If Medoc had been fully recovered, he might have been able to dodge, but he was still winded from the magical blast, so Balthon grabbed the staff and used it to throw Medoc into Moonshadow.

Martel rushed him, and they simply stood exchanging blows for the next few seconds. In a few moments, Balthon's enhanced speed enabled him to score a blow on Martel's arm and knock him back. He lifted his head to laugh, but the move was his undoing.

While the others distracted Balthon, Tej had worked his way quietly around so that he stood behind Balthon. Knowing that his skills alone would not enable him to defeat Balthon while he still used the zetacomb, he had come up with a desperate plan to knock the zetacomb away from Balthon. Changing his own form into that of a Hippogryph, he lunged at the glowing spot in Balthon's chest that marked the zetacomb. Balthon broke off his laugh and spun with a snarl.

Too late.
Tej careened into the zetacomb and sent it flying out of Balthon. Balthon howled as though part of him had been ripped away. Dazed by his flight through the elemental, Tej was not able to get clear fast enough and was whacked into a tree. Balthon started to advance on him but stopped as he realized that without the zetacomb he couldn't take them all. He turned, leapt into the air, and flew up.

A streak of black hurtled after him. Balthon looked down to see Selax rising after him. He checked his flight and dove upon his pursuer. High above the group, the two elementals once more engaged in combat. If slightly slower (because both had calmed), it was still very impressive (and still moved at a very high speed). There were attacks, retreats, shapeshifting on both sides, kicks, punches, parries, and the fighting forms of long dead races. However, neither seemed able to gain an advantage on the other but only seemed able to go in a repetitive cycle. After what seemed like hours, both simultaneously realized that they would never solve their contest this way. Balthon set about thinking about a way to escape, but Selax set about thinking how to break the cycle. It suddenly occurred to him that there was perhaps one desperate way to break the cycle; however, it would most likely be fatal. He considered this and shrugged.

He threw caution to the wind and lunged forward. Balthon, still deep in his own thoughts, instinctively stabbed threw Selax's unprotected chest, but in that motion he left himself vulnerable and Selax ran his sword through Balthon's heart.

"NO! It can't end like this! I can't die!" Balthon wailed one last time before falling. Both fell and smashed into the ground just in front of the group. One glance told the group that Balthon was dead, and, as they watched, his body began to dissipate until only his swords lay on the ground where he had been. Glancing at Selax, they realized that he still lived but would not last much longer. Moonshadow ran over and began to use her healing magic.
It was a near thing, but two hours later Moonshadow declared that Selax would survive. Hearing this, Selax insisted that they set off the next day. The others agreed because somehow they knew that they would be in great danger if they lingered.


By noon the next day, the group was off. Before they had left, Selax had made a marker where Balthon fell; it read: Here fell Balthon: betrayed and murderer of an entire civilization, one of the eldest of living beings and one of the last Children of the Air. Selax walked slowly still weak and lost in his thoughts. From time to time, he stopped to look at Balthon's swords and to remember his past. Then, he would shake himself, remembering that the past was gone, and he must move on as he always had. The group headed south, glad to be heading back to Cademia at last.


Behind them, the cloaked figure watched. The time was not yet right. Soon, master would be revealed, and all Cythera would be ended. For now, the figure and its brethren would wait.


*OoC*
If anyone wants me to make any alterations, please let me know.
Avatara, should I post Balthon to the Character Info thread or the Character Info archive (seeing as how he is now dead)?
*BiC*

So ends the Team Story Shadow Games.
Thanks to Desert Fox (the TS's creator) and all who participated and hope to see you all again when the next TS starts!