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(what????)

The group, after completely rested from their duplicating soldiers/titan stampede affair, rise and head off for the stronghold.

Day by day passes with no event, and the companions start to worry about how long the Tyrant's patiance would last. As the last day before ariving at the stronghold dawned in a uplifting sunrise, a scream rang out far into the hills. That scream, filled with the pain of a broken soul cut through those gathered. It could only mean one thing. They had been too late.

Crysothemis was dead.

They stared at one another in disbelief, rightfully blaming themselves for not moving fast enough to save the woman. Quickly they gathered their things and rushed down the long slope towards the hill with the castle peaking out at them from a distance.

[that's what happens when people don't post ]

They hear a clang of swords and start to run.

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J.Ace21 decides to scout out ahead. He gathers a few supplies and after a good rest sets off through the woods...

[This message has been edited by Slayer (edited 12-31-2001).]

(Hey,yea,HELLO OUT THERE!THIS STORY IS HALF DEAD!)

When they reach the castle they crawl into one of the windows.The clang of swords was getting louder.They rush around in the castle until they find Grapper fighting and casting death strike,mistic arrow, and lightning at guards.The group rushes to help.Grapper almost drained opens a door and stumbles inside.When the last guard is slashed to the ground.The group walks into the room were Grapper is and they see Chrisothomis(sp) and Alaric in a corner and Grapper in another corner.Grapper sees the looks on the groups faces and says,"The scream you
heard was from Chrisothomis.(sp)But acually she was wipped.Grapper walks over to Macman and wispers in his ear,"It's a good thing the door doesn't have a window. Chrisothomis might have seen us casting spells and then she would know we were mages."

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[This message has been edited by Grapper (edited 03-03-2001).]

Rogan bursts into the room with a guard in one hand and his sword in the other. "The leader is in a heavily guarded underground section of the stronghold. We should get Crysothemis and mr.A to a safe location and go after him." Everyone agrees and when they walk out the door with the two former hostages, Grapper whispers to Rogan: "Mr.A??" Rogan smiles and responds: "Well, in the future, he always makes me call him "king Alaric"

They continue down the hall. Rogan escorts Crysothemis and Alaric outside and Crysothemis says: "Thank you. There's a farmhouse not far from here. The farmer can take care of us. You go after the leader along with the others. Again, thanks for your help"

Rogan leaves the two and runs to catch up with the others...

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I`m a bomb technician. If you see me running...try to keep up.

Avatara comes running, full speed from the hills. Upon seeing Alaric and his mom, he asks them where his friends went. She points back to the way they had come, back into danger.

Avatara takes off, heading after Rogan and company.

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

Moonshadow looked down the corridors at yet another intersection nervously - nothing. For the 5th time. But she was so sure she had heard a sound. Where were all those guards? This was a Tyrant's castle, after all.
Suddenly someone put a hand on her shoulder. "Wait, there's something. Do you hear it?" Rogan asked.
Everyone listened intently.
"Yeah, it sounds like ... feet, someone's running." Grapper said.
"And it's coming from the direction of the entrance ..." Moonshadow added.
"But we've come that way. I'm pretty sure nobody was there." Rogan objected.
"Well," Grapper said "let's hide and see who's coming our way!"
The group hid in the shadows of the intersecting (word?) corridor and waited ...

*Please tell me: who's still in the story?*

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You cannot expect to be saved in any one thing, person ... Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore.
- Ray Bradbury

Talos unsheathed his sword, as the hard-to-hear running feet grew closer. The group hid in a nook just beyond a corner in the corridor, so that they couldn't been seen by the approaching party. Talos waited until the sound was almost to their hiding spot, when he suddenly burst out, sword raised as if it would lop off the head of their pursuer. A clang of steel rang through the air, and Talos was thrown back a couple feet. The group caught a glimpse of Avatara stumbling backwards as he sheathed his sword.

"Sorry about that." Talos said after he was on his feet again.

"No problem. Anyway, I've made an important discovery, that's why I had to come here with due haste. It involves us getting back to home...in the correct time, with a very minor margin of error." Avatara told them calmly.

"How much is this margin of error?" Rogan asked doubtfully, although failing to hide his excitement.

"5 seconds, we might get there just before we originally left, or just after...its minor enough it shouldn't do any harm." The group was now excited, a nearly flawless way to get back home. "I've discovered a hole in time and reality, we must have caused it with the little time error we had in coming here. However, the problem is we do have a time limit. In a short amount of time, just less than 24 hours, the hole will close. If we get through the hole in reality in time, then we are safely home, and the hole will disappear harmlessly from this world."

Avatara's voice took on a grimmer aspect. "However, the sword swings both ways. If we fail to pass through the portal, the hole's closing will cause a ripple of time and space to plague this world. In other words, by passing through we weaken the hole's energy with time travel. Otherwise, the energy of a closing hole in reality and time would cause a devastating shockwave to destroy everything on this land, including us. The shockwave will still occur, even if we pass through, but as I said the energy would be greatly diminished and it will only expand for no more than 5 yards from the hole. It also isn't likely to do any damage."

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

(I am.)

J.Ace21 appeared and ran on past them without seeing them.

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"Wait a sec! Don't get too excited!" Moonshadow looked at Avatara. "So, you're saying we have less than a day to rescue Alaric, get him somewhere safe, find the hole in time and reality, and pass through, all this without interfering more than we have already done or else this whole world is doomed? Sounds like it's not gonna be easy ..."
Avatara nodded. "Right, and we have to make sure that everyone passes through, or the energy will not be diminished sufficiently."

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You cannot expect to be saved in any one thing, person ... Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore.
- Ray Bradbury

"Right, though I've already bought you some more time. I've found the hole, and enchanted a nearby rock with an invisible rune. With that, I can safely and effortlessly teleport the group to the hole, which actually isn't all that far away. However, we need to hurry and rescue Alaric. As for not interfering, its a little late for that..."

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

"Wait, isn't there a rumor that the tyrant and his council were destroyed by a blast of magic, reputibly by Alaric? If we made such a blast to end the age of the tyrants, and made it appear to be Alaric's doing, then we would be completing destiny, right?"

[Feel free to ignore the above. I admit, it is the easy way out and I don't like it, but I would like this story to have an end without becoming forgotten in the process. This seems better than nought.]

"The only problem with that is Alaric is a newborn right now, and it seems to be a couple years too early for that. I could be off though, the historical records weren't all that great."

(The one error in your post Lindor )

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

"Mages, prepare to DIE!"

Battle crys filled the air, while a strange person who seemed to appear from nowhere cast a spell that seemed to form a shield around everyone in the party.
but the enemy still multiplied..........

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cythera rules, pc's drool!

(I came back in.)

Ferazel charges an elemental. "Are we going to fight them or run?" he questions.

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Ferazel Rocks!
Cythera's 'Team Stories' Rock!

The group still at the intersection, and enemies were come from three of the four possible directions.
"That depends ..." Moonshadow replied. "We either fight, including the risk that they totally enclose us, or we run, not knowing where that corridor might lead us."
The enemy kept charging at them, and neither the mysterious energy shield, nor the elemental would keep them off much longer.

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You cannot expect to be saved in any one thing, person ... Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore.
- Ray Bradbury

Before anyone could answer the question, a glow began to form far down the fourth corridor; a group of people dressed in grey, hooded cassocks emerged, and began running towards them.

"Too late," Rogan muttered. Trusting the barrier and elemental to hold off the enemies in the other three corridors, they prepared to fight the new menace.

Much to their surprise, the seven figures halted several yards away; the one that seemed to be leading raised his arms, palms out.

"We're not here to fight you, we're friends!"

"How do we know we can trust you?" Slayer called out.

"Well, they used magic to get here," Moonshadow said. "That at least means they aren't allied with the Tyrant." The group looked at each other questioningly.

Sensing that time was running out, Avatara made a decision. "We accept your help - for now."

The lead figure in grey nodded. "You must come this way; time is running out for Alaric - and for us all."

The group, now eighteen strong, hurried along the corridor, leaving the elemental for the guards to deal with.

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As they ran, Moonshadow did her best to observe the newcomers. There were five men and two women; one of the men seemed to be almost 9 feet tall, three others were of average height, and the last was considerably shorter. The women were remarkably similar, except one carried a pair of clubs, about two and a half feet long.

Weapons of that kind seemed to be all any of the seven carried - two of the average sized men carried quarterstaves, and the small one carried a pair of clubs joined by a short length of chain. The large man didn't appear to carry a weapon, but Moonshadow imagined he wouldn't really need one.

They reached a T-intersection; unhesitatingly, the leading man in grey turned left.

"Well," Moonshadow thought, "at least they seem to know where they're going."

A guard stepped out of a side door, plainly not expecting anything. Grapper unhesitatingly leaped at him, blades swinging.

There was a crash - and Grapper found his swing had been halted by a quarterstaff. The woman with the clubs stepped up to the startled guard, and rendered him unconscious.

The grey man spoke. "You mustn't interfere in this time any more than you already have; we must avoid all deaths!"

"He's right," Avatara said.

The group ran on.


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There are three kinds of computer users: those that use Macintoshes, those that wish they used Macintoshes, and those that don't know any better.

Avatara didn't trust these people, they knew more than they should, making more than him uncomfortable. A glance at a few of his companions assured that. Setting his body to react to the world automatically, Avatara delved into the mysteries in his mind, hoping to fit another peice into the puzzle.

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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

Soon, they reached the area the man was taking them. There was a kind of image projecter in a corner, showing some strange black swirls against the wall. They looked around, seeing strange contraptions all over the room. The man pulled back his hood and revealed himself to be...

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If I'm not new here, and I'm not old here, what am I?
------------
Get on [url="http://"http://ircle.com"]IRC[/url]! My channels: #ferazel. Join in to #levo and #cythera too!

The man pulled back his hood and revealed himself to be... a total stranger. He had black hair, and his eyes were blue; although he looked fairly young, his eyes seemed to bear the weight of a great many years.

"Somewhere, leading from this room, there is a secret passage; it should take us fairly near to where Alaric is being held. The location of the passage and the mechanism for opening it are among the few things we couldn't discover."

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There are three kinds of computer users: those that use Macintoshes, those that wish they used Macintoshes, and those that don't know any better.

[This message has been edited by Ronin (edited 11-28-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Slayer (edited 12-31-2001).]

Moonshadow looked around the room, frowning. "I could try something there..." she began, hesitating as the stranger turned his attention on her. "Well... I know something about magical analysis."
One of the cloaked women nodded. "That could be of help." She remarked.
Moonshadow closed her eyes, focusing her mind on the still rather unfamiliar thesis of Detect. It pointed out a spot on the left wall. She walked over and ran her fingers tentatively across its smooth surface, feeling for a crack. "It's here." She smiled, icing the surface over quickly. The ice entered the crack, widening it and subsequently activating the opening mechanism. Moonshadow bowed a little. "Alaric, here we come!" she announced with a smile.

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As l lay in my bed staring at the sky I asked myself:
Where the hell did the roof go?

The group entered the passage Moonshadow had discovered, and once again began to hurry. They ran for some distance, twisting and turning through several bends and corners, until at last they reached the end. There was an obvious latch in this wall, so exiting the passage would likely pose no problem.

It was at that point, however, that Slayer decided they'd gone far enough. He grabbed hold of the apparent leader of the grey-cowled figures, and forced him up against a wall.

"This is as far as we go, until we get some explanations! You seem to know all too much about us and the problems we face here, and we don't even know your names! For all we know you could be leading us into a trap - beyond that door could be a whole legion of guards!"

"Oh, forgive me, Slayer!" the black haired man replied. "I didn't stop to think. Call me Quinn; that's Kline and Robert, the big man is Sven, over there is Cassandra and Natasha, and the short guy is Kane."

Slayer was a bit taken aback by the straightforward reply, and didn't quite know how to react. "How do you know so much about us?" he asked, after a moments hesitation.

It was Quinn's turn to hesitate. "I'm not permitted to say much. You can trust that we were sent here to help, in which case we carry on, and maybe clean up this mess; or you can refuse to trust us, and a disaster beyond all you can imagine will befall Cythera. The choice is yours."

Grapper was still somewhat annoyed at having his opportunity for combat foiled. "Why did you stop us fighting the guards? I'm sure we would have won!"

"That would have had much further reaching consequences than you realise," Kline answered. "One of those guards is an ancestor to Hadrian; kill him, and Hadrian will never be born. No Hadrian, no Hector. No Hector, and Bellerophon's quest will fail. Even if you managed to save Alaric now, he would still succumb to the corrupted Crolna in a few centuries time."

"You walk a much finer line than any of you have realised," Natasha added. "The three deaths you have caused have already stressed things almost to the breaking point; another death might be enough to tip the balance."

Slayer looked from one grey figure to another. "I'm not convinced, but I can't see any other course of action. If no-one has any other objections, let's continue."

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There are three kinds of computer users: those that use Macintoshes, those that wish they used Macintoshes, and those that don't know any better.

Moonshadow looked at the strangers. They seemed sincere, and she did not share Slayer's objections. It did not really matter to her who those people were right now, it was way more important to save Alaric. She tilted her head slightly, reaching out to open the door. She stopped dead, however, when she suddenly heard the sound of footsteps on the other side of the wall, and people talking to each other in hushed voices. She could only make out a few words, but it was enough to know that they were guards and they were looking for someone, probably their group. She turned to the others, who were facing her impatiently. All save one, that was. The small man seemed to have heard them, too, judging from the expression on his face. "We should wait some more, to be sure they're gone." He suggested.
"And try not to be that loud," Moonshadow added, turning to Slayer and Quinn. "You could draw their attention to us."

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As l lay in my bed staring at the sky I asked myself:
Where the hell did the roof go?

Moonshadow turned back to the door, listening carefully. Eventually she nodded. "They've gone."

"No," came a voice from behind her; she looked back, seeing Kane standing there with his eyes closed. He held up two fingers, then gestured to the right of the door; he then held up four fingers, gesturing to the left. Quinn readied his quarterstaff, and Natasha whirled her clubs, preparing for battle.

"Now!" Quinn said; Robert pulled open the door. Quinn and Kane went left, while Natasha went right. Moonshadow made it out of the door just in time to see Quinn rendering the last two guards unconscious; she was a little intrigued by his style with the staff, it was almost like he was dancing, to some music only he could hear. There was no time to ask about it, as the rest of the group pressed out into the corridor.

Natasha looked around to get her bearings; "This way," she said, moving off to the right. She stopped a few doors down; through the bars of the window, they could see Crysothemis and the young Alaric.

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There are three kinds of computer users: those that use Macintoshes, those that wish they used Macintoshes, and those that don't know any better.

[0oC] Ok, Ferazel wants me to join in here to help keep it going. I'm going to try and get Katerei in, but I'm not sure if what I'm going to do will mess anything up. I hope not so I'll try to keep it as close as possible to what you guys have already come up with. If you need me to change it, just tell me. [BiC]

Moonshadow gasped. "There they are!" she said. "Come on." But Quinn suddenly flung out an arm, stopping Moonshadow from going to the end of the passageway. "Stop," he said sharply. "There is somebody in the room next to us ." Everybody stopped to listen. There was a faint sound coming from past the door on their left, then all of a sudden a door slammed open and dozens of feet pounded into the room. The familiar sounds of battle rang out.
"Somebody's being attacked!" Avatara said. He flung open the door to reveal at least a hundred guards, all clamoring to get at a tall figure standing in the middle of it.
"Katerei?" Natasha said in stunned surprise. "But how'd you-"
Katerei gritted her teeth. "I don't know how I got here. But- you guys? Some HELP here, if you don't mind?"
The group bounded into the room, rendering as many soldiers unconscious as possible. They were trying to avoid any deaths at all costs.
As they battled, Ferazel noticed that Katerei had her morning star back. she was doing terrible damage with it, so much that he realized she was in danger of killing some soldiers.
"Hey, Katerei!" he called. "Lay off with the morning star. Use your dagger."
She nodded and pulled out her dagger.


[This message has been edited by Katerei (edited 12-01-2001).]