Ambrosia Software Web Board: The Tyrant’s Ring (a TS) - Ambrosia Software Web Board

Um, what is there to say? I don't know how it works on the Nova board, but here you just invent a character and jump in. You can reveal everything about your character at once, or let them remain a mystery for a while. When you have something to post, long or short, post it. About the only rules are 'have fun', and try not to tick anybody off too much.

Everybody's different, and not everyone may like your character, but it's up to you to decide what you want to make them. Personally, I find god-like characters (like a couple in this present story) to be extremely annoying; but I don't have to interact with them if I don't want to, leaving their posters free to do what they want. As long as they abide by any rules set by the originator of the story (and don't annoy him or her too much ), that's fine.

------------------
The e-mail of the specious is deadlier than their mail

OoC
Since several people I asked don't seem to know what time it is in the TS or where the questers are, I'm just going to write Brink and Harper in. The story is already a mess anyway so it can't get much worse.
BiC
Brink and Harper quietly talked at a table lurking in the shadows.
"Telling you Brink, questing ain't what it once was" said Harper
Brink groaned. Harper was slipping into his professor act. Brink stared at the table. It was well scarred, filled with carved intials, love messages, small burn marks from candles over turned by drunks, wax stains, small fissures on the planks of wood. Like a soul, thought Brink. "…now its go here, go there…" Harper droned on. Brink sipped at his drink, slowly. He slowly looked around the tavern, noting the usual drunks and a few less then ethical people. "Hey, Harper." Harper stopped in mid sentence.
"Yeah?"
"Going to get another drink and fix us up, alright?"
"But your drink is only half…"
Brink already had left the table.
He walked over to the bar. "Yeah, I'd like another ale" (*note* There's always a bartender in stories like this, isn't there? 'course it *is* a bar so )
The bartender sullenly gestured to a lackey who scuttled about to get Brink's drink.. "aaaaaaaaaaah!" Brink turned quickly , hand moving on its own slickly drawing a shining blade from a hiden scabbard, Brink was,after all, the best swordsperson in all of the galaxy, drawing the best sword in all of the galaxy! (But…wait…if he was the best swordsperson in the galaxy…everyone else would have to suck at fencing/sword fighting…so…that means…Brink couldn't be the best swordsperson in the galaxy! *gasp* And that also means…he couldn't have the best sword…even if he had it, how would he know it? So lets rewrite that sentence) Brink's hand slid down and grasped the rough handle of his well used sword, but over compensated and sent the sword flying into the wall, causing angry yells from customers. Harper grabbed his quarterstaff as he got up from the table to find out what all the yelling was about when he slammed into someone and the quarterstaff knocked someone firmly on the head. A fight broke out, in which everyone was just randomly hitting people, hoping to punch the person who'd caused the whole mess in the first place.Brink waded his way over to the man holding a diamond in his hand, evading punchs and flying body parts…"Whats wrong with him?" he asked Larc, looking the screaming man.


------------------
"Anything is possible, except skiing through a revolving door."

[This message has been edited by idiotSavant (edited 08-14-2002).]

Ooc: PLEASE try to remember that we are in motion, and on our way to the swamps. I will imagine that the previous post's events event took place before we left. Bic.

Therru Flame walked down the shore, not looking back to see if he was being followed by the rest of the party. He stopped. Something was not right. His mind was going crazy with alertness. Suddenly, he saw them. Five dark spots on the ground. Shadow Demons. "Everyone in defensinve position!" Therru Flame heard no movement. He saw no companions. He turned around. There was no one there. They must have missed him leaving. Maybe that Magpie had them already. Who knew. The point was the moment. There were five shadow demons beginning to form around him. Two he might be able to take. But five? It was not likely he would survive. Therru Flame whipped around again. "Sasha!!"

"What are they?"

"Shadow Demons!" He replied. She responded by slicing one in half with her sword. Or at least, that's what she thought it did. The black, faceless creature formed a hole in it's flesh that moved with the sword.

"How do you kill them??" She yelled, half asking, half wondering.

"Technically, I don't know! I had to make them retreat!" He yelled back.

"Oh! Great! Hang on!" Sasha pulled a shield off her back. She dropped it and stomped in the middle and a small force field formed around them. "That should keep us safe for a while." She commented. The beings circled around it, waiting. One of them reached out an extension of itself that was probably a finger. It breifly touched the force field and reared back. They all sunk into the ground. Therru sighed, but was still cautious.

"Don't take this thing off the ground for a while, it might be a trap."

"Of course. I am a Ronin, you know." Sasha replied. A minute passed. Therru looked at the ground.

"Pick it up! Pick it up!"

"What, Therru?"

"They're coming up inside the field!" Sasha picked up the sheild immediately. They drew their swords. "Let's hope the others catch up, real soon." Therru murmured. It was then that Sasha knew they were in trouble. If an expert with this kind, especially one with Therru's personality, was afraid of an undead creature, you know you are in trouble.

"Yes." Sasha replied, trembling like Therru. "Let's hope so."

------------------
Which way will the
balance swing? To the
east or to the west?

*** OoC ***
Well done, Mr. S., you're the first person - including me - to find a way to use that particular feature of Sasha's shield!
*** BiC ***

Brink, Harper, Sideline, Ulf and Kwon rounded the corner, and stopped short at the sight of Sasha and Therru, back to back, swords drawn, being harrassed by - what? It seemed to be a crowd of milling shadows.

Brink exchanged a frightened glance with Sideline, and gulped. "Oh boy, not this again... and us without any healing potions!"

One of the shadows turned in their direction, and let out an unearthly shriek. Suddenly, several more rushed in, confronting the newcomers.

"I'm guessing this isn't good," Harper said in a quavering voice.

Without warning, a radiant white bolt sped from nowhere - ahead of Therru and Sasha. It struck a shadow from behind, before it even noticed it coming. The point of impact glowed brightly, expanding slowly over the shadow's entire being. It wailed, a keening, despairing sound that drove the remaining shadows into a frenzy of panic. With a final wail and a burst of white light, it broke into fragments and faded away. Its companions fled.

Further up the trail, Trinias pushed back the hood of his chameleon cloak, deactivating it. "Looked like you needed some help," he grinned.

"Never mind that, what did you do?" Therru demanded.

"Charged an arrow with Life magic," Trinias explained. "We'd faced something like those things before, so I thought it was worth a shot."

"And a good shot it was," Sasha complimented him. "But I think you won't be so lucky next time, tovarisch; they'll be waiting for it, and they can dodge quite well if they see it coming."

"What were you doing so far ahead, anyway?" Harper queried, beginning to regain his composure.

Trinias shrugged. "Scouting. It's what I do."

------------------
I will classify my lieutenants in three categories: untrusted, trusted, and completely trusted. Promotion to the third category will be awarded posthumously.

[This message has been edited by Overmind (edited 08-15-2002).]

Quote

OoC
Please try and make it more clear next time, as only one sentence in your previous could've meant they'd gotton going, which was "Let's go." I did ask for clarification but even your response seemed vague. You also didn't give a clear sense of what time it was, not mentioning if it was morning or night.
BiC


------------------
"Anything is possible, except skiing through a revolving door."

Quote

Mental Note: Too vague. Gotcha.

------------------
Which way will the
balance swing? To the
east or to the west?

"Gahh! De dam person! You no let go ov de tree brainch!"

"Come back here, you wretched bird!"

"Kraaawkh! Loik out below!"

Therru whirled around just in time to see a figure falling out of a maple tree behind them. A black-and-white bird hovered nearby, shrieking loudly.

"Dam person! I told you no let go ov de branch!"

Sasha looked at Trinias wryly. "You said you're a tracker, but I bet you didn't see that coming."

The figure who had fallen from the tree stood up and the adventurers recognized it as Katerei. She shook leaves out of her long blue hair and called up to the bird. "Krai! Come down here!"

The bird scowled at Katerei and swooped down, fluttering above her head. "Vhy come down? I no come down, I fly. Vings still good!"

Katerei flicked out a hand and grabbed the bird in mid-air. The bird screeched at her. "Yark! Yark! Yark! No, let go ov me! Kah- let go!"

Laughing, Katerei released the bird. "You wretched gull. Come on." The gull scowled and landed on her shoulder, and Katerei walked over to Therru and the others.

"Hi," she said brightly, then noticed the other's expressions. She realized they were all staring at the bird. "Oh- This is Krai, a friend of mine. He's a black-headed gull."

Krai flapped his wings, stretching his blood-red legs and digging his claws into her shoulder. "I t'ink you no friend ov mine! You grab me outta de air!"

"Shush up already," Katerei scolded him. She turned to Therru Flame. "Are you going on a quest somewhere?"

Therru nodded, watching the gull suspiciously. "Yes, we're-"

He was interrupted by Krai, who rose shrieking up into the air. The people on the ground looked up to see a kestrel hovering there. Krai started shouting insults at the kestrel, who responded in a guttural, unintelligable language.

Katerei looked at the gull, infuriated. "That horrid bird, he just won't listen..." She raised an arm into the air and a thin strand of light shot from her hand into the air, wrapping itself around Krai and dragging him back to Katerei.

"Yark! Yark Yark! Y-" His screeching was cut off by Katerei grabbing him around the throat. She turned to face the others. "Dreadfully sorry about that. Anyway, what were we talking about? Oh yes- would you mind if we came along with you?"

"Sure, you can come, but we're not so sure about the bird," Harper joked.

Katerei smiled wearily and once again tried to silence Krai as they set off.

------------------
Arrogance and ignorance walk hand in hand.

Quote

Oh... I think its time for a character change then, alright umm.... I spose Magpie can be a powerfull mage, like powerful Lindus type mage. And he can still be hunted by an assasin, and he wont rule over any great land anymore... umm... cant think of anything else at teh moment.




------------------
Yesterday, we bent our necks to kings and emperors. But today, we kneel only to truth -Kahil Gibran

After the battle with the now dead antimagic, the old group had parted ways, and though DF followed Martel and Larc, exchanging blows, jokes, and general merriment, it came time for him to leave them be and pursue his own path.

After about 4 days of wandering east of the tavern where Martel and Larc dropped off to, DF heard an odd sound in the forest ahead. Always curious, but ever cautious, he drew his sword and moved forth to the forest to find out what was going on. After creeping a bit, DF climbed onto a tree and watched in horror at what he saw. A small troll village was being terrorized by what looked like undead beings and some menacing shadow fiends. The shock of seeing this grew as he saw a couple of the villagers fall before the might of the undead beings and suddenly start moving again, with their blood still running and organs still trailing from their bodies. DF searched around for clues on this oddity and soon figured it out as he saw the mage nearby the town chanting something.

After a few more minutes of this, DF couldnt take it anymore, he had to help the hapless trolls before they were mowed down for no particular reason. As he leapt from the tree, he wished he had the grace of the elves who never seemed to make any noise in movement, no matter what kind of terrain they were facing. With a loud thud, DF took off toward the town, determined to put an end to the terror that haunted this tranquil little grove.

---
Delthor heard a noise in the near forest. His ears were good since he was far from the culling that he was ordered to do. The noise was uninteresting in its own, just sounded like an average forest animal, but something about it perked his attention. His undead minions were only on loan from the more powerful of his cult, and his cult was just a part of the ever growing army. His cadre of mages had been granted the power to rule over all, and had seized it, though it did mean leaving most of their humanity behind. Now their goal was all the same, to create a silent army to overthrow Cythera. Though the army was started, it was far from ready but they had been able to keep it quiet.
Delthor remembered his last culling, fondly, on a remote island that not many visited and that had not contributed many citizens to the mainland. The island of Trilanis. There they had easily taken over most of the population within a matter of a couple hours. They had no defenses ready for the undead. The undead were curious creatures, not falling until you made them fall and not staying down unless you made it impossible to get back up. Only near the end did the knights of Trilanis realize this and by that point, they were fighting their old comrades.
Delthor smiled as he realized a few of the minions he had brought with him were take from that remote island. Several remote islands were taken, but not as many as successfully as that one. That filled out the small army packets the undead now had, but they needed to draw on more than that. His task was simple, kill the villagers, raise them, return. But that noise. It wasnt natural.
With his mind, Delthor summoned one of the shadow fiends to check out the source and to report back to him....

----
Letruo stared at his feet again. It had been a while ago that his homeland was razed by the armies of darkness. The heavy armor meant for a king's guardian was bearing down heavily on his shoulders and he moved into the forest nearby the route to the next town. Letruo had been walking for an extremely long distance, travelling from town to town telling of the horrors he encountered when his island was destroyed. Very few believed him and it was making him more and more angry every day. It was as his life had been torn apart for no good reason and nobody cared to stop what had done such an act. Letruo knew he couldnt face the legions of enemies on his own, and knew much less people that could. There was an open grove nearby, Letruo could tell by the light through the trees, and there was a pond there too, letting Letruo know he could rest up a bit before continuing on his lonely path. Upon reaching the forest edge, though, he heard screams and warcalls of the demi-humans known as trolls. he had never seen a troll and had only heard vague rumors of their existance, none of them good, and what he was seeing was beyond belief. Dark forces were now trying to conquer their hometown as well. Letruo looked around at the undead units and from the general look at them, most were rotting and deathly looking. That was the only problem of the undead, they were corpses and were decaying as they moved, making it a problem down the road. Letruo wouldnt have looked twice if but for some of the armor of some of them.
By the gods. Those bastards Letruo's mind screamed as he saw the armor of his comrades and even the markings of his best bud from the military.
The sight of his once old friend attacking innocents from beyond the grave but Letruo in a rage unquenchable by anthing except for blood. Letruo decided, that for anything, that he would slay the wretched mage that was working with the foul beasts first, then take them all on in a glorious combat that would prove his story to the mockers in the towns...

----

DF noticed the fiend before it spotted him and he ducked behind a tree. Remembering that light magic banishes it, he thanked Avatara for his help once again as he charged a healing spell in his hand. It was a weak one, but the stronger fiends were so weak against light that it was sad. DF then charged the fiend, who was caught off guard and slashed deep into it, then without skipping a beat, he thrust the heal spell deep within the fiend's frame which immediately disintegrated it. With that small deed done, DF stealthily moved onward to the mage...

----

Delthor now knew that something was amiss. Through his distraction, a good third of his minions were dead and not many of the trolls were dead as a result. He knew it was only a matter of time before the warriors fell and they would be easy pickings, but something was making him more and more uneasy. He felt the shadow fiend blink out before it regestered anything, which meant someone was there, someone with either great skill, or great luck. With a few chants, he retreated his forces, all but the ones fighting, and sent them to take out whatever had taken out his fiend.
"Die foul being" Delthor heard from behind and whirled around to see who it was....

-----

Letruo emerged from the forest with his longblade ready. Very few people could wield these with ease and he was trained quite well by his old mentor, Grefar, to be the only one in the small kingdom who could. His skill was unmatched by his peers, but he was untested in battle. He saw the mage chant something and then suddenly the dark forces moved to the opposing forest for some odd reason
What is he doing? Is there something over there? Someone who saw and is trying to report it? Did he notice me?
After a few more steps, Letruo's blood met its boiling point and he shouted at the mage a line he had yearned to shout for so long
"Die foul being" he said aloud, readying his charge
"By the wretches of algrototh, a Trilanian!!!" the mage spoke
"How do you know my hometown?" Letruo asked, quite confused by this turn of events
"Im the one who cleansed your lands, but it seems I missed a spot"
"This is one spot youll regret"
The mage charged up an electric bolt as Letruo charged him and let loose the magical energies as Letruo let out his warcry and flung forth his longblade...

----

DF was suddenly made aware that hed been noticed when the undead were moving toward him but he was absolutely stunned when he saw another warrior appear out of nowhere and challenge the mage. His attention was divided between the approaching mess of enemies and his first target. The mage said something which snapped the warrior into a rage and the two went into a one shot duel, in which the sword of the warrior, which was a melee two handed longsword, was flung forth at the unsuspecting mage as the mage let loose a static charge. The bolt sent forth sent shudders up and down DF's spine as he remembered his final battle with Dethelon, where his march for a missing tome was offset by many raging storms, and his every step met a lightning bolt, which pierced into his body and hurt even his fragile mind. The objects struck simultaneously, with the electricity propelling the warrior back and the sword almost splitting the mage in two, making him quite dead. DF was stunned by the result but had no time to do anything as he had been spotted again by evil forces and targeted. The undead were rushing toward him now, with swords, body parts, and hooks all being thrown at him in a frenzied manner, forcing him to use his sword defensively, only to attack when he saw an easy opening. After a manner of minutes, he had only half the forces that were attacking him left and had only been cut bad in two areas. A deep gash in his leg limited his mobility and one down his left arm limited his strength. Or they would have, if DF hadnt used one of his handy spells to supplement his fighting and his vigor. With renewed power, DF slashed left, right up, down. hacking off legs, arms, fingers, feet, heads, chopping bodies in half. He felt as if he were a meat grinder given a huge load of meat to grind. Every few moments, a new splatter of blood on his armor and a new appendage littered the ground. After a few more minutes of this, DF noticed that, despite his lust for battle, there were no more enemies. Light spells had been used, meaning the supplemented strength and attacking killed the shadow fiends while his frenzied attack style hacked the undead to bits. He looked around him at the piles of rotting bodies and pieces of bodies that lie around him and quickly moved into the village to see if they needed any more help.
The beings in the town were awestruck by his appearance into the town. It wasnt often that humans interacted with trolls and even when they did, it was usually with a bad result. This one, on the other hand, brought forth great happiness as DF realized he was made an honorary member of the tribe, though there was only one troll there that understood human tongue enough to speak to him. There was the tending to the wounded and dead and the troll told him that their would be a great feast in his honor tonight that he was obligated to attend. DF nodded politely and he moved off to see what had become of the warrior who had attacked the mage....

----

Letruo had seen it coming from the start, and saw it hit, but after a few seconds of lying on the ground, he realized that the armor he wore must have repelled most of the magic, leaving virtually no damage to him whatsoever. He sat up and saw something going on in the forest. The undead were converging on one spot. Letruo suddenly jumped to his feet and ran to the impaled mage, who was almost split in half by his massive sword. He withdrew his sword from the body and moved quickly halfway to the battle spot and suddenly slowed. He heard warcries of another human, and saw bodies fly off from the spot and saw appendiges being hacked off by some weapon. He saw undead after undead fall and saw the person who had done it in the end, almost covered in blood, and from the look in his eyes, ready for anything. Almost too stunned to do anything, Letruo went back to the pond to wonder what just happened. He had felt outnumbered and outmatched by this massive force yet one solo human slew them all. This must have meant Cythera had many great warriors. Benevolent warriors who work for the good of all. After cleaning up and sitting for an hour, the person he had seen approached the water....

----

"Greetings, friend" DF started when he reached the waters edge of a small pond which was the lifewater of the town.
"You were amazing" Letruo blurted out, too overtaken by the mere presence of this man. He was cleaning the blood off his body and rinsing the rag he was using out on the grassy spot next to him.
"You did good too, except you forgot one thing" DF critiqued this person
"Oh, and what was that?" Letruo asked, suddenly taken aback by the rudeness of this person
"You let him know you were there before you wanted to" DF said calmly "You could just as easily gotten close in to him and then got his attention, then split his guts onto the grass"
"Well..." Letruo thought for a few moments and realized the truth in this "Im not too experienced in combat. ive been trained, just never have seen true combat"
"Inexperience can be an excuse, but you best get over it or the mistake will cost you" DF said sternly "Maybe it wont even be your life, maybe itll be the life of a friend"
The gentle reprimand hurt Letruo much more deeply than DF intended
"Whats wrong? Was it what I said?" DF asked, a bit more cautiously this time
"I, I have no friends anymore" Letruo announced "My hometown is no more, the place where I lived, completely destroyed"
This suddenly piqued DF's interest
"What happened?" DF asked, trying to pry information out of the guy
"Trilanis is an island kingdom. We traded with others. We did nothing" the anger and pain flowing from Letruo's voice would bring woman to tears "The undead, well, the forces under something came in, killed everyone"
Letruo had to stop for a second to regain himself
"Everyone there died. Everyone I ever knew is now dead. I am the sole survivor." Letruo finally stated "I seek revenge on the armies of darkness that destroyed my life. Its already over for me, im just looking to end this before it is over for everyone"
DF thought this over. He remembered long back when the dark emporer sent forth troops to Cythera in which Cytheran armies fought back and eventually beat, though with much bloodshed and a lot of lives lost. This ploy seemed bent by someone else. Oddly enough, DF couldnt put his finger on it.
"So, that would be a necromancer then" DF finally said, after a few minutes to decide
"Uhh, yes" Letruo said, a bit confused at the line of questioning
"After you distracted him, his minions only followed his order to the death, leaving me in a bind but also not allowing them to retreat when they would finally realize they had no other option. The necromancer is the key to the power. im guessing, and its only a guess, that if we take out all the corrupted necromancers quickly, we would stop the army from amassing and eventually, all the undead will fall since they have no mission to follow." DF thought outloud, allowing Letruo to know his thoughts
"I would think so, but we dont even know where they are" Letruo answered DF's idea with his own, finally realizing that DF was going to travel with him from this point on
"Well, we just gotta keep on our toes and find those that may have a clue" DF thought out
"I have a few friends to the west of here, they may not be there but they cant be far" DF finally said "We shall head west, after tonight of course"
"Tonight?" asked Letruo, who was very confused at the idea.
"We must feast to our victory, the trolls think us gods for what we did" DF said with a huge smile "and are more than willing to stuff us like pigs for our deeds"
"Ahh, a feast sounds so good compared to what ive had for that past long while" Letruo said, getting up
DF stood up next to his new friend
"By the way, what is your name?" DF finally asked
"Im the last knight of Trilanis, Letruo Trilanis is my name" Letruo said, with a hint of pride and pain in his voice
"I am known as DesertFox here, many will welcome you if you say my name" DF said, nodding as to validate his claim "Did you take your last name for your fallen lands?"
Letruo nodded "It seemed to fit since not many can claim heritage to there anymore"
"Lets not keep our hosts waiting any more" DF said as he started off to the village
Letruo walked alongside DF, as he would until the threat was over with.


****NOTE**** Think of this as a sidequest, im going to join with the main group with this knowledge that I have. Use the knowledge that I give you, but dont let it seep into the posts and thoughts of your people cause, in reality, they shouldnt know.

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

We were the first political party to advocate renaming the Washington Monument the Big Stone U.S. Penis and putting big, orange foam testicles at the bottom.

[This message has been edited by Desert Fox (edited 08-16-2002).]

Uh, hi. I looked over this story, and I decided to join. Since this is my first TS, please go easy on me, eh? I'm uh, not sure where everyone is, but from what I can tell, you are heading for the swamp... Before I write in my character, could someone tell me where I should put him? Thanks. Good Times.

*SoySauce ducks as thrown tomatoes fly over his head and splat onto the wall behind him.*

------------------
"Mmmmmmm..... Pie Cannon."
[url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/soysauce2242"]House of Soy (Last update- 8-15-02)[/url] | [url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum26/HTML/007247.html"]Event Horizon 2 Sign up Thread[/url] | [url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum26/HTML/007243.html"]EV: Nova 'Reality' Sign-Up Thread[/url]

[This message has been edited by SoySauce (edited 08-17-2002).]

A prepost message to SoySauce:

Find an interesting way to either integrate yourself into the main group or into my side group. For the next several days Ill be doing sidequests before meeting up with the main group, meaning you can also do little missions of youre own with me. Either that or you can go with the main group and go with the banter and gentle direction set by the storymaker, who has yet to push the main group towards its destination recently.

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

We were the first political party to advocate renaming the Washington Monument the Big Stone U.S. Penis and putting big, orange foam testicles at the bottom.

In a subterrainian cavern was a large town of dwarven townsfolk. Generally a noble race, these short men are some of the best miners in the cytheran mainlands, and it was quite apparent by the elaborate underground stone cities that they had throughout the mainlands.

This particular town wasnt quite as elaborate as most, but still had its eccentricities that made it a sight to see, though not many non-dwarves were allowed to see it, owing to the fact that the dwarven guardsmen made sure not to let travellers into the depths of the city to explore.

Recently, the town has undergone a strange disease which is making most the people sick and many are starting to die as well from the disease. The townsfolk have sent out runners to human and other sentients to ask for their assistance in battling the plague, since the dwarves are known for hardiness, not medicinal superiority. Oddly enough, the runners never returned, and the disease was now being classified as a plague by those in town, seeing as most of the people now had it. Luck had met them one day as a very small group of travellers happened upon the guards outside....

"No, I dont have a dwarven password, Im just looking for a place to sleep" DF said, getting slightly irritated by the staunchiness of the dwarves and their undying need for privacy
"Damn you then, you may not enter Throrital" Drehg the guardsman replied, just as irritated "if you want to sleep, the grass is soft enough even for your thick head"
Letruo stood by, both amused and astonished by the banter between the two. He had never much heard of dwarves and this was the first time hed even seen one. This one was quite stubborn in his ways but Letruo knew it to be a safeguard. The way was protected to keep outsiders from knowing all about the place. Still, both human and dwarf werent gonna back down, and the argument would only cause more harm than good.
"DF, I think we should just unpack our stuff out here, the sky looks like its clearing up and I think we could easily avoid animals" Letruo started, allowing DF to respond and back down from hostilities with the dwarf
Just as suddenly, a dark cloud came above the land and looked just about to burst.
"Ha, ha" Letruo exaggerated "Funny, you can use magic to manipulate the weather to a certain degree, how amusing"
"Not quite as amusing as making it rain on you alone last night" DF barked out, which immediately caused him to start laughing hysterically
"How did you get wet then?" Letruo asked, quite confused by the admission
"I got up before you and washed in the river" DF said "That way I was wet and could be amused all day"
"ooh you, do you know how hot it got in those clothes?" Letruo demanded, quite annoyed now "I sweated like a pig and you were completely comfortable"
"thatd be the gist of it" DF smirked
"Oooh, I loath you" Letruo steamed as he started muttering under his breath
"heh, now back to my argument" DF said as he turned to the dwarf, who was no longer there
"Looks like your stench scared him off" DF laughed as he headed toward the cave
"Perhaps it was your bad breath, seeing as river water could only serve to make it worse then it already was" Letruo shot back
After a few steps, a group of dwarves quickly approached them
"Hmm, Dregh wasnt all that wrong about this one" one distinguished looking dwarf stated "he has powerful magic, more powerful than any ive seen before but his magic cant help us"
"Help you" DF and Letruo said, quite shocked, at the same time
"We are having....difficulties at the moment" the dwarf started but was quickly stopped
Another dwarf, one more distinguished looking one, stepped forward
"I am Malador, the cheif of Throrital, and we have become plagued by a sickness which threatens our entire existence, and no matter what we have done, we cant seem to find out why" the chieftain started "we have tried to find out and even sent for help, but it seems every person who tries to get help dies, and the closer we get to figuring this out, we lose more people"
"Have you thought about leaving this place, perhaps its haunted" DF asked, just to see "Or it could be cursed"
"We are the only dwellers here, carved the city right from a small hill, it goes deep in the ground, there is no way its haunted and curses could only come from those inside, which nobody whos been in here has been powerful enough to do such a thing" Malador answered, making DF sure that he had even thought of such things.
"we can help discover the source of your problem, but we need admission to be able to do such a thing" DF said, trying again to get inside
"Hmm, we would, under normal circumstances, challenge you to a fight, 1 warrior against another, but our warriors are all ill and we cant do such an honorable deed." Malador said, with some shame creeping into his voice "But we can allow you entrance, under the premise that you will fight once our warriors are cured of this illness.
"Its a deal, my friend here will fight for us, because im sure that I would accidently slay your warrior if I were to fight him" DF gravely stated
"I would be honored to fight your men" Letruo said after casting an evil glare at DF
"It is settled then, you will discover the source of our troubles, you will fight our men, and we will all feast to the mother earth, for there is nothing better to feast to" Malador stated, and with that, the group went inside the caverns....

----

"My lord, the plans are set, the disease has spread to each dwarf, and the longer I am here, the more desperate they get" Reulgan submitted to an unseen being
"Be sure not to fail me like last time, those souls were so twisted an their bodies so rotten that they couldnt even be cast into the ranks of the undead"
"I will be sure to slay them before they get that far" Reulgan muttered, quite angry to have his failure flare up in his eyes again.

the spell hadnt been ready, not perfectedReulgan's mind paced around itself it was too good, too fast, and it rotted the body and the mind, how was I to know he got angrier with each thought and now I will be forever viewed from that one attempt, never to cleanse myself of the shame that occurred that day

No, I WILL cleanse my name from the stench of failure an with one final thought Today I shall reveal myself and show the lesser beings that humans hold power of Cythera, right before I kill them the presence of his undead minions were quite soothing to his mind, they had killed off every scout sent out, and were now waiting for the final order to slay the village and let Reulgan redeem himself
Today Reulgan's eyes burned red as he prepared himself

----
DF decided it would be best to split up and hunt for clues, since Letruo had become increasingly annoyed with his hunting and he really didnt want to deal with Letruo's. The two parted ways within the depths of the caverns.

DF was stunned by the absolute beaty and power both shown in the carvings and the buildings themselves. The houses were not just houses, they were complete dwellings for a family, carved by the masters of the house. It seemed the most prestigious were the ones toward the front of the caverns while the newest ones were just recently carved and toward the ever expanding rear. The whole process bogged DF's mind enough that every time he turned a corner, he was again stunned by the total beauty assualting his mind.

Almost by accident, DF happened upon an odd looking part of a cave wall. It was toward the back and had a large stone in front of what looked to be a small entrance. His first attempt to remove the stone ended in failure and a loud ringing of a bell high above which sent the chieftain scrambling to his location

"What are you doing?" the boomingly loud, deep voice of Malador thundered at DF"trying to enter the prison ward of the city
"I didnt know, but I do want to search it, if that is alright with you" DF said back, making sure to keep a sharp eye on Malador and he didnt flinch as Malador came less than an inch from his face
"Youve got spirit, human, but I dont forsee anything with that area" Malador grunted at DF
"I may find it there though, so what is the harm?" DF finally explained
A few minutes of thinking, and Malador came up with his decision
"Hmm, thought it is unorthidox, since the dead bodies of our outlawed members lie in there, but I will do as you ask and let you search" Malador said, and with that, 3 guards came forth to assist Malador and DF to move the rock out of the entrance's way
"Watch your head, sonny, for we didnt anticipate any larger creatures than dwarfs to enter here" Malador stated as he stepped back

A few steps into the hall, DF's jaw dropped....

----

Letruo grumbled as he walked. He knew people like DF before. A lot of people liked him for who he was and what he has done, but not many knew him fully. Since they had been a two person group, DF and him talked, A LOT, and Letruo had learned things about DF that he probably wouldnt have wanted to know, such as his being banished from a paladin training ground and then him turning around and killing all but one inside of it. Also that the one left over hunted for several years to find DF, only to be twisted into an evil entity to be slain by DF, who had only wanted to spare him for not being tainted. Shameful things, glorious things. From the stories he told, Letruo figured DF's claim of many people allowing him passage for just the uttering of DF's name had more truth to it than he was at first willing to believe.
But DF also was kind of a lazy bum. When he could get away with cutting corners, he would, and this annoyed Letruo to no end. DF would cut across fields though a path would lead them to where they were needed. DF would take out weak animals just because he could catch them easier, even though the stronger ones would probably provide a lot more for him. Even here DF's laziness bled through as he didnt hunt every turn and corner there was, just because some other person probably thought of it first. Though DF's way was sound and definately easier, there could have been something missed in the most obvious of clues. One of which, was a broken down entrance to a long forgotten alcove that Letruo could only see the entrance of. Before he could do anything, a bell startled him and send him into shock, but nothing happened of it and he kept moving forth. probably an hour marker for all I know Letruo shrugged and went forth. Bringing forth his agility and his bravery, Letruo steeled himself for pain as he leapt for a hole high above where most dwarves could reach, jump, or even boost themselves to. With his highest jump ever, Letruo caught the edge as his face and body smashed into the broken cement wall. With cuts, bruises, and a general pain through the front of his body, he pulled himself to the open area.
"stupid wall, stupid arm, stupid cuts, stupid...." Letruo muttered to himself as he got his agitation from being hurt by a wall out in the open.
Almost immediately after he stopped muttering, Letruo's mouth gaped open at what he saw....

-----

"Ahh, looks like youve found me" Reulgan's lips curved upward into a wicked snear "And it appears that youve found a friend"
"Evil swine, you were taken in under friendly means" Malador gaped at the evil necromancer "You ate with us, lived with us, worked with us, helped us in times and were in turn helped with youre own problems"
"You dont even realize how bad you were duped, this is rich" Reulgan sneered as he stood up from his chair of bone "You dont realize that dwarven code is easy to break, and a dwarven body is just as easy to take down, using the right methods"
With that, Reulgan summoned forth a group of long dead and new dead dwarves
"B...b...but...this is impossible!" Malador gasped as he saw long dead outlaws and even his cadre of stout scouts in the mix together, facing off with him and DF in the darkness of the prison stall
"Oh, but it is. It looks like impossible has struck twice, a human warrior, here to rest I suppose?" Reulgan frowned when he looked upon DF "Why arent you something, I believe that shadowblade was probably taken from our ranks, I shall dispose of you first and return it"
"You will learn that trying to take my sword will only end up in pain, for you" DF warned as he drew his sword from the sheath on his belt.
"Ha, Id love to see that happen" Reulgan sneered as he turned back to Malador "As for your town, it is to be taken over by my minions, who have been hiding for this very day" With that, Reulgan slammed his staff into the ground and the undead dwarves advanced on Malador and DF...

-----

DF saw Malador pull out a massive axe, one that could only belong to a very skilled warrior. And heard the battlecry of the chieftain of the dwarves. DF took it as a cue and let loose his own warcry and sprinted towards the ranks of undead which took up the spaces between the dwarven undead.
The battle quickly joined around the two as they fought off a good 20 undead warriors and 12 undead dwarves at once. DF's blade and Malador's axe split bone and flesh as they quickly became more meat butchers than warriors. The undead fought much fiercer in this battle, DF noticed, than the last. He figured it was due to the necromancer's intervention. With this knowledge now steeled in himself, he got back to work.

A skeleton warrior raced toward DF and slashed downward as two undead dwarves leapt, each slashing upward, DF used his speed training from Talos to its fullest and blocked both of them, taking out one of the dwarves in the process. The other and a few more now drew close, jabbing and slashing menacingly at DF with their crude, rusty weapons. DF slashed and hammered with his sword, using both edges of it despite the fact that only one was very sharp all the way down. His sword split bone, broken armor, and flesh all the same. His slashes split skeletons up and made the undead that were there sorry to be there. He took on whole groups of 6 and 8 on and quickly broke the weapons, causing the undead to resort to martial skills, which they werent very successful at. DF had many cuts and gashes in his skin but it was nothing compared to Malador...

----

Letruo looked forward in shock. There were 20 undead troops just standing there over several dead bodies of dwarves who had been curious enough to get ladders and climb there. They werent doing anything. They stood there, like statues, and faced toward the dwarved city
DF was right!! Letruo thought They do nothing when they arent needed or controlled. I better destroy them before they are used
With that, Letruo unsheathed his sword and speedily moved himself from corpse to corpse and completely destroyed the abilities of them. He hacked off the heads, arms, and legs, and in the end, he looked back over the bodies and saw one he hadnt fully disabled yet suddenly start moving to the city, stop, then turn around and rush at him. With no other option, Letruo faced off against the the one minion and quickly downslashed, splitting the corpse in half and destroying the use of the body forever. Looking over his handiwork, Letruo thought to go ask DF to burn the bodies, so they couldnt be thrown together to make some horrific creation, as the necromancers might just do if they were so twisted. Hopping down from the raised level, he heard the bell ring again, but this time over and over and he sense urgency in the air. He rushed to the opening and saw the dwarves fighting undead beings at the entrance and saw that many were in fact sick, causing them to fail and die. He rushed immediately to help out...

----

Reulgan was amused by the battle before him, if not a bit agitated. The cuts and gashes were becoming deeper and more frequent on the human as the dwarf had just fallen before his minions. Though, despite all this, the human fought on with a fury that he had never seen before and it was disturbing him greatly, since over half of his minions had already died trying to quell him.

REULGAN!!! WHAT IN THE FIERY PIT ARE YOU DOING? a maddenlingly loud voice came into Reulgan's mind, sending him sprawling to the ground
Im setting forth the plan earlier than anticipated, to compensate for the potency of my spell Reulgan meekly answered
Speed does not matter, stealth does. This human knows of us now, he MUST be killed
It will be done, my lord Reulgan said grudgingly, then looked up in horror....

----

DF saw the necromancer fall for some odd reason and noticed a lack of any skill or coordination in the undead attacks. The attacks were now a breeze and his lust for blood increased as his attacks became more and more frequent for the success that was suddenly meeting them. Slash up, down, left, down, stab, cross, up, split stab, stabslash. DF hacked and mangled the bodies of the undead before they fell, all into familiar heaps of bloody meat upon the now-bloodstained stone floor. Organs and rotted meat were flying everywhere for the next few moments as DF finished off the last of his foes and looked around. Unlike before, there was 1 last enemy to be found, which DF quickly rushed forward to meet....

----

The battle was going bad at the cave mouth, the undead advanced and attack with such fury and coordination that Letruo could only fight on and on without hope of victory. This overwhelming attack was used in the first assualt on the island, which easy broke through, killing the many ranks of men. These dwarves were quick though, and somehow formed better strategies to kill the fiends they now faced. Doubling up and tripling up became an often used trait as well as double attacks. Letruo loved his slashing, especially when it killed two at once. But there were more and more dwarves dying than they could keep up, eventually the last one would fall, and they would all be raised. After several mins of fighting like this, Letruo noticed that there were only 20 dwarves left fighting but somehow, they were winning. Each one was battle weary, but suddenly a fire hopped into their eyes that wasnt there before. Letruo charged forth with his longblade, slashing back and forth, stabbing deep into the final ranks of the undead. The coordination that made it hard to fight at first was waning, letting Letruo fell his enemies much quicker with much less pain. He hacked back and forth, dodging many attacks that would cause more pain and even his demise. He hopped, stabbed, thrust, slashed, rushed, counterslashed, headbutted, kicked, and tore loose on the final ones, throwing his sword down and knocking the being over, beating its head in and spilling the brains all over the ground, which didnt stop the undead, just stuttered it even more. With his lust gone, Letruo finished off his hapless target and looked around. After about 5 minutes more, the undead army was crushed, and the resulting dwarves were whooping in celebration. They all brought him into the fray of banging, smacking, and general war bliss and he became one of them, one of the guys again....

----

Reulgan looked at his enemy, finally gripping on the entire idea of what fear was
"You have no chance against me" he sneered "The minions were named as such because they have no hope of competing against competence"
"Too bad you have none" DF snorted as he charged forward
"Fine, seal your fate" with that, the necromancer charged a spell.
"Hoodala, grentula, armalta" DF chanted and slashed his sword at the evil mage, sending a gash of shadow magic across and whipping toward the mage, slashing him in half and ending his life
"Pow...er...has...fai..l...ed....me" Reulgan said as his body started twisting in the eternal torment he agreed to with his unholy pact with darkness.

----

DF looked down at the dead necromancer with no pity, no sorrow, and headed towards the chief who had fallen in mid-combat.
"Damn...things" Malador started" Too...many....cut...so many times" he stuttered out
"Calm down, my friend, I can help you" with that, DF ran out into the hall and hefted his medium sized pack up and brought it to Malador. A few seconds later he dug around in it and pulled out a small vial of bluish water, which he spread across the body of the elder chief.
"My...strength...its returning" Malador was stunned by this new change of events "Im whole again, I knew I was going to die there, but since I could help you, I did" he rose and stood on his toes "Its good to see that you survived too, but you didnt heal yourself"
"I rarely do, I find it easier this way, less costly" DF smiled and showed the dwarf his many other battle scars "it also gives me some decent stories to tell"
"Aye to that my friend, lets go out and tell my people what was the cause of all this" Malador started and realized what he just said "the disease, its lifted, was it an offshoot of the medicine?"
"It only heals, it doesnt cure" DF said with wonderment "perhaps the necromancer was the source for the disease"
"Probably my friend, probably" Malador said as they got to the main part of town, one which was now occupied by 20 dwarven warriors and one human....

"Ahh, DF, I wondered when youd show up" Letruo announced as DF and Malador made their way to the center
"What is going on here? Where is everyone else" Malador demanded as he looked over the remaining men
"The undead swarmed the entrance, we fought them off, with the help of this one here. We fought with the honor of our families and with the burden of disease while this one fought for the dwarve's right to live. He has been given the code, and made an honorary member of my house" the ranking warrior Eldroth stated, giving his chief the main part of what happened
"So, we have lost many, meaning we must rebuild and restock ourselves. My friends, DF and Letruo may enter this city at any time and any dwarven city with our code" Malador stated, reassuring DF and Letruo of their deed "And tonight a feast, to honor the dead and the living both
"DF, I must keep with you, for I have never eaten better before I met you" Letruo jested, only half kidding
"Before long, you wont even need me, kid, with the actions you made, you are probably the greater hero today" DF answered as he was swept away by the jovialness of the remaining warriors and of the rest of the dwarven community as it started to amass in the depths of Throrital...

----

A dark sinister presence was quite furious with the turn of events. His cult must live through secrecy, otherwise theyd have no chance against the armies of cythera and the bond humans could forge with the other sentients.
That human, he must be destroyed, otherwise the plans will all be for naught the dark mind brooded over the image of DF, cursing his minion Reulgan for being so weak.

----

The next day, DF and Letruo assisted the dwarves in brining their dead in for a mass funeral, and left them after stocking up a bit on foodstuffs, the road back would still be some time....


****NOTE**** This is yet another sidequest for DF, who is gathering information for himself. Use the notes ive made here for battles, but no blatant information has been given to the characters of the main group. Thanks.

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

We were the first political party to advocate renaming the Washington Monument the Big Stone U.S. Penis and putting big, orange foam testicles at the bottom.

Another day had passed and DF and Letruo were travelling down the roads, with Letruo involved in conversation of him adventures the past couple years.

"The dragon was facing the entire group and we knew we were in trouble" Letruo started "The claws of it were crimson from its last kill, which couldnt have been more than an hour previous to our spotting it. Instead of flying it was grounded and nursing an injured wing, though how it got injured we dont know"
"Suddenly, we saw it, a group of trolls doubled back and attacked it with quite a fury, hacking and slashing futily at the body while a few got brave and tried to take its wings. With speed, the giant dragon devoured one of the hapless trolls and thrashed around, using claw and fire one after the other, frying and tearing the trolls apart. While this was happening, we snuck up upon it"
"The beast's mind was in my own, I could hear its thoughts, and its goals, and they were quite terrible" Letruo continued on with his story "It was busy thrashing the remains of the trolls when we attacked, taking it on big time, and again, it reared around and smashed our forces"
"Only this time, I had the brains to charge up and stab its least protected area, its belly" Letruo beamed with pride "My sword dug deep into it as it grabbed at me with giant claws "Letruo showed DF gashes in his thick armor "This armor is well made for it stood up to it. After a few more minutes of thrashing about, a few more of my fellows fell, but then the dragon fell"
"For my deeds, I got a dragon eye and went on my way, thankful to be alive after jumping into that" Letruo pulled out a medium sized glass globe with a giant dragon eye in it, staring omnipotently at everything "ever since, ive had a bit more confidence in battle"
"My, had I only thought of getting such things when I hunted dragons" DF whisted as he gazed into the eye "Damn, that thing could unsettle even my old friend Avatara"

It was at this point where they came upon a small village with some commotion occurring in the center around an intricate fountain
"We must hunt down the vile wolves that have been plaguing us" one of the villagers said, wielding an elaborate staff "It has taken 7 children and 3 men and women so far and they seem to be unable to stop haunting us"
The crowd around him cheered.
"Who will go forth with me to the forest, to take down the wolves" the same villager asked, recieving far less enthusiasm
"Why must we, if those beasts can take us down, what hope do we have against them when searching them out?" another villager cried out
A general murmur sounded as the others started to agree with the dissenter
"So you would all rather die in your homes rather than hunt down and try to kill what is killing you, pathetic" DF called out as he approached, silencing the murmur
"We shall join you, honorable one, in your quest to kill these wolves, for animals need to know, as we need to, when enough is enough" Letruo called out
"Ahh, good, some warriors with backbone" the villager said as he noted the armor of Letruo and the weapon of DF
"What is your name, friend" DF asked, anxious to help out
"My name would be Durak" Durak spoke "and I am a mage, speciallizing in light magic"
"Ahh, you wouldnt happen to know of the mage Avatara, by any chance?" DF asked as he got closer
"Why yes, he helped us found this town and keep ailments away for a time" Durak said, quite shocked that the name of his diety was spoken
"Ahh, good. then shall we get underway? Time is wilting away and it will be night soon" Letruo asked forcefully, not expecting any dissent

With that, Letruo, DF, and Durak went off into the nearby wood to the town....

-----

So the wolves spotted the forsaken one near the target town, you say a dark mind made itself known
Yes my lord, and ive made preparations for him. I know that he is good, but he cant be perfect, which is his downfall. He will be slain tonight Haclodar thought, making his plans obvious for the dark one he served
good, dont be a fool and youlll keep your life. act a fool and ill be the least of your problems
With that, the dark presence dissipated, leaving Haclodar to brood by himself.

This one may be strong and good with magic, but there is no way he can combat my deadly arts, as well as the minions ive set up to stall and injure him Haclodar thought to himself, with a confidence
With new found purpose, Haclodar set himself up for the oncoming darkness, and the excitement to come...

-----

DF and Letruo had noticed that they worked quite well independant from one another, and that DF was good alone, so the group now split into DF on his own, and Durak to travel with Letruo.

DF's mind wandered as he looked around the forest. Wolves were nothing to him, as he had slain so many of them in his life that he was starting to regret it. Finding wolves were not as daunting a prospect as running into the evil that had seemed to plague him for years now, but had only really found him very recently. Wandering around, he found several packs of wolves in the forest, but none of them were terribly aggresive. With a sigh, DF sat down and got something to eat, waiting for clues to come to him...

----

Letruo and Durak hunted through the forest, every 30 mins running into packs of wolves which Durak immediately set of to slay. It was only through Letruo's intervention that the wolves, and Durak, were still alive.
Another such incident was about to occur when Letruo tackled Durak to the ground
"Have you learned nothing in your time with me?" Letruo asked, furious that Durak was about to kill innocent wolves "These wolves have done nothing, the growl and snap because you invade their territory. From what they have told me, there is a dark pack running around at night"
"Bah, your petty druidism is going to kill my people" Durak snarled at Letruo "There is no such thing as an innocent wolf"
"Wolves are like men, just with less sentience" Letruo countered "and for your information, I did study druidism and can commune with them, dont doubt me or I will have you torn apart and continue on my own"
Furious at one another, the men travelled together out of pure necessity. After a time, they came upon a small clearing in the trees and saw DF sitting on a stump. Durak was about to call out to him when Letruo stopped him. So slightly, Letruo wispered something to the wilds and a wolf from a nearby pack came out of the wood silently, ready for his mission which Letruo gave it...

-----

"Ahh, darkness comes and the groups have figured out my dead wolf pack" Haclodar said to himself and his minions "Its funny, every time they hunt wolves to stop us, they never figured out that it was the ones they slew that attacked them, only after they were slain"

"We shall wait until the groups resplit and then we shall take them out" Haclodar announced, letting his armies split to follow his orders

-----

DF was taken off guard when a wolf leapt upon his back and threw him to the ground. It had moved so stealthily that he hadnt noticed it until its paws were on his back and his face was in the mud. Getting up and cursing, he turned to find his menace but instead met with a red, faced Letruo and Durak laughing so hard that everything in the forest heard them

"I figured you would catch it earlier" Letruo was able to get out "But it took you down all the way to the mud without trying"
"And you" Durak had to pause to catch his breath "and you fell right into the mudpit"
DF chuckled to himself as he wiped mud off his face and armor
"You got me, ill give you that" DF said finally, letting his friends have their fun and calm down
"The wolves say there is a dark pack running around" Letruo finally said, regaining his composure
"The wolves say? DF asked, suddenly interested in his friend's choice of words
"He thinks he can talk to animals. I swear, the man is nuts" Durak said "He even beileves the undead walk among us and are massing to kill every last cytheran"
"Dont disbelieve him, for he may be right on the first count" DF said, with new credance added to the druidism now apparent in Letruo "As for the second, there is an undead army massing, we must destroy it"
"Oh, not you too" Durak said, with utter disbelief "I must team up with the nutcases. Of all the people who could visit our town"
"Listen, we shall reconvene here in 2 hours, which should be shortly after the sun sets" DF said, giving a plan "We shall split here, you two hunt east to the edge, ill go west. We shall find the dark pack"

With Durak still angry, the group split up and moved out...

----

Through the eyes of his wolf scouts, Haclodar saw his enemies split up again and sent his troops out to meet the other two, and his loyal wolf scouts to take on the one. After splitting them, he followed up his wolves and was preparing to encounter the one known as DF...

-----

Letruo and Durak moved forth through the thick vegetation, knowing not what they would find, but were still intrigued by what they could find. They had only wandered for 15 mins before Letruo shuddered uncontrollably

"Whats the matter?" Durak asked, genuinly concerned and quite a bit curious
"Something....evil is near" Letruo answered "I dont know what but I can feel it through my body"
"Evil?" Durak asked and he hunted his own senses "Oh, I can feel it now..."
It was too late for that, they had now seen the enemy. There were good 40 strong warriors facing them, all in formation and ready to fight
"oh hell" Durak said "youve got to be kidding me"
"Just charge up youre magic, this isnt gonna be pretty"

-----

DF saw movement before him and before he knew it, his sword was drawn and he was prepared for the battle about to ensue. He looked around and all he saw was movement, nothing more. The beings he was facing were all dark and hard to see in the fading light
"Pitiful human, walking right into the trap I set for you" Haclodar announced "You have worried my lord, so he asked for me to eliminate you once I saw you in the forest. You must have done something to have caught his eye that much"
"Another one of the cult? You all will fall before my sword and my skill" DF snarled as he whirled around, unsure where his enemies lie "Even without eyesight I can take any amount of you out. In fact, my powers have barely been used to combat your forces. Fighting in the evil realm hones skill so much that its barely possible for one not to become an expert fighter in a short time"
"Ahh, the evil realm. You must have been all the rage and fury that pulled forth the mighty armies there" Haclodar said "The evil realm stormed with rage once a single being slew masses of their troops. Im more powerful than anything that place produced, so your idle threat doesnt scare me"
"Why not stop with the shadow games and the threat wont be idle anymore" DF demanded angrily
"Why?" Haclodar asked "Because its quite amusing watching you sweat"
"This isnt sweat, its my rage pouring out, getting more and more prepared for your wretched face" DF snapped back, ready for attacks from any angle, and steeled himself for combat....

-----

Haclodar was smiling, his prey was in the middle of his pack of darkwolves. Though he was sure each of his wolves would fall, he knew the damage they could do when falling and before they fell, so he was ready for a weakend enemy which he could easily take down with his weapon smarts. He also gave the order to attack to both groups, heading in closer to watch this DF struggle against his deathwolves pack.

-----

Suddenly, the army of undead raced to meet the two warriors that stood against them. Almost as instantly, Durak let loose a magical chaos spell which destroyed 10 of the corpses
"Wow, keep it up, ill protect you" Letruo called out as he raced forward to meet the enemy

Using all the skill and strategy he had acquired with DF and the dwarves, Letruo gashed and slashed his sword back and forth, putting the enemy on the defensive and even killing a few of them. The attacks were all smashing into his armor, not piercing it but definately injuring his body below it. His sword did destroy the weapons of his enemies but they were quickly coming at him and surrounding him. At this pace, he couldnt keep it up for long...
With a desperate attempt, he fell to the ground chanting and was greeting by newfound strength and new allies....

----

The wolves all attacked at once. Their teeth and claws went at DF at a fury that even Talos himself couldnt match. DF was having a hard time since there was a full pack of 26 of them, each one trying to take a chunk of flesh from DF's heavily scarred body. They bit and clawed but though they were attacking with vigor, they left their own hides undefended, which left DF with the easy task of taking the injuries and slaying the wolves one by one. DF's sword gleamed back and forth, spreading wolf limbs and guts all over the ground, felling many at once. He stabbed, slashed, hacked, slashed, downstabbed, and kicked the wolves, giving himself time and allowing the bloodlust to take hold in his veins. His body became the desructor it wanted to and it pumped his own blood out through his body, pumping a large amount of that blood to his cuts, allowing him to know he was fully alive and in charge of his destiny. In the end, his arms all torn up, his legs bloodied, his armor damaged, and his sword glowing in blood, DF looked around at 26 dead wolf bodies and sighed some relief.
"Ive slain all your pathetic minions, scourge, now its time for you to show your own head so I can split that in two as well" DF called out his challenge, awaiting his enemy.

"Oh, they may have fallen, but you have yet to see their capabilities" Haclodar sneered, and then thrust his own sword into the air, causing each of the wolves bodies to explode in the negative energies that had been pulsing through their veins. The explosion of dark energy enveloped DF and scarred the ground all around him, uprooting trees, vaporizing dirt, and causing a mass crater to form around him as the explosion completely consumed him....

-----

"Amazing he killed them so fast, though nothing could come of it other than extreme destruction" Haclodar said to himself as he surveyed the explosion "The bodies all exploded at once, he should be no more. No man could have survived that blast"

-----

With a burst of energy, Letruo flung all the enemies that had thrust their bodies and weapons down at him upward and sent more than one flying. His fury was now that of a beast, and his power mirrored his anger. He slashed with a new found power as he looked back at Durak, who was casting spell after spell, dispelling undead one by one. He took his longblade and slashed up and down with a speed even he couldnt match before. Now, though, he wasnt being overwhelmed as the undead had more enemies to fight. The wolves themselves flung themselves into battle once Letruo asked for the spirit of the wolf to assist him in the battle. The flung themselves at the undead, tearing them apart and taking down more than Letruo could count quickly. He slashed back and forth, taking down 3 or 4 at a time. He hacked up and back, knocking many over, and downstabbed, ending their miserable existance. He hacked and slashed, earning a lot more scars, which DF said added character to him, and he was feeling what DF had described as the bloodlust, the lust to slay his enemies as fast as possible so that he could see more enemies fall. His lust took him down the pained route of ending the possibilites of them coming back, taking them apart with his sword by hacking over and over on each and every body. The moans and screams from the undead were of pure terror, an emotion Letruo had not thought possible for such evil entities, as he approached them. Soon after, the battleground was stained in blood, though it wasnt readily apparent due to the lack of light save for the light spells that Durak was constantly using. The bodies littering the ground soon outnumbered the ones standing and after more hacking and dispelling, the ground was littered in exploded bodies, slashed and hacked up bodies, and chewed and clawed up bodies. The wolves, after the battle died down, left to be with their own pack, leaving Letruo and Durak alone. Durak looked around the battlefield, stunned at the carnage he and his ally wrought with this undead army
"remind me never to doubt you again" Durak said as he surveyed his friend and noted many many gashes and cuts
"You didnt know, ive seen it everywhere so it doesnt affect me anymore" Letruo answered, finally free from the bloodlust that consumed him for a time
"I can make it up to you" Durak said as he chanted a small spell
Letruo was amazed as his cuts soon scarred and healed up, leaving scars for him to show to whomever asked
"Amazing, I forgot about that ability of the light mages" Letruo said with pure astonishment coming forth in his voice
"Its a basic spell for us, even your friend probably knows it" Durak said, a little oddity coming in his voice "he has some evil powers as well as good powers, the fact he uses his powers only for good is the only reason he isnt an outlaw everywhere"
"I felt it, but I never guessed" Letruo answered "I figured he was a mage of some sort, his stories always tell of dark battles"
With that, a huge dark explosion sent the ground quaking and a portion of the forest flying....

-----

DF felt the explosion coming as the negative energies fading in the wolves suddenly spiked and tore loose their bodies. With the thought in mind, DF suddenly chanted a short spell of his and was surrounded by a shadow barrier.
The explosion tore everything around him up in a torrent of destruction. The ground, trees, animals, and even spirits were twisted in the pure darkness of the explosion. About halfway through it though, his halfhearted attempt to protect himself failed and his body was now in the center of the explosion, ripping him up, teaching him pain all over again, and when it died down, it spat him back up onto the ground, bleeding and almost out.
With the little power left in his spirit, he rose and drew his sword again, Ready for battle.
"Foul being, this place isnt yours to control, fight me and see your end" DF called, ready to end this here and now...

-----

Haclodar was stunned, the one known as DF was standing and was ready to fight. After all that anyone, including himself, would have been ripped to pieces and unreconstructable. Despite this, the warrior facing him lived, and called yet another challenge to him. He started to shake as he realized what he had gotten himself into. His wolves were dead, his undead minions had all fallen, and now he was honor bound to fight the warrior who had taken the biggest explosion he had ever seen and was ready for more

"You think you can still take me?" Haclodar summoned some false courage "well, its time you fall like my minions"
With that Haclodar charged DF, and a one on one ensued. For all his energy being drained, DF was still at peak shape, defending against every attack and pressing every advantage. The two were evenly matched at this point, allowing Haclodar to know that DF was the superior of the two, no matter how he cut it. He tried a couple stab-slash combos but whatever he tried, his attempts were foiled and he was forced to defend as DF came at him with a couple high-low attacks which sent him retreating steadily. eventually, his enemy finally caught him off guard and slashed deep into his side, forcing him to the ground.
"You do fight with honor, though you fight for the wrong side" DF said with a grudging respect for his enemy "Speak your last before I slay you in a warrior's death"
A warrior's death, I should be so worthy Haclodar thought to himself I could have been, a great hero, but I chose this life and death for myself
"My ways are my own, my choices are my own, and my death is my own, though I will not go easily" Haclodar said as he pulled forth a knife and thrust it up at DF.

The knife imbedded itself deep into DF's stomach as his sword fell down at his enemy's head, slaying him. The next few moments DF tried to get something and passed out....

-----

Letruo and Durak raced to the source of the explosion and saw a submitted enemy before DF stab up as DF cut him in half, causing a bad injury to DF's body. They also saw DF fall to the ground, grabbing for his stuff and failing to get it, then passing out.
"Lucky you are here, can you save him" Letruo asked of Durak as they raced to DF
"Since he just fell, it shouldnt be too hard" Durak responded, and with that he cast a powerful spell on DF, healing all the hundreds of cuts on his arms and legs and finally getting to the stab wound in the center of his body.

5 minutes later, DF awoke and patted down his body, making sure he was all there. He looked up and saw Letruo and Durak beaming at him.
"You should see how bloody you are, my friend" Letruo said as he offered a hand, which DF took immediately
"They had me, you saved me." DF said suddenly "thank you both, this would have been my end had you not been here"
"And without you all, my town would have all died" Durak announced "I think its time to return to town, they are probably wondering what all the commotion was all about.

For the next 2 hours, the weary group headed back to the town, and once the broke the treeline, the town guard was shocked to even see them alive.
"the town has all awoken since the explosion in the forest. Did you guys...oh god" the guard stammered as he saw DF and Letruo "are you injured at all? Were the wolves really that vicious?"
"The wolves and the undead were fighting us in there, the townsfolk are lucky to have stayed behind, for they would have died had they gone in there" Durak said "as for the explosion, it was a twisted spell by the overseer of the army to kill our friends here, which was quickly thwarted and the being killed by DF here"
The town reconvened in the night and celebrated Durak's victory over the darkness with his friends.
The next day, DF and Letruo were heading out when Durak stopped them.
"Im ready to go along with you, I cant stay here anymore when I know there are greater threats to this world" Durak stated "I will follow, even if you will not have me"
"We welcome you to come along with us, young one" DF answered after a few minutes of thinking "You could be a great help to us along the way"
With that, the three set off to the west, hoping to meet up with DF's friends with new information.

-----
The dark lord was seething. This DF had thwarted him 3 times now, though the first time it was unknown to him. This couldnt be, the mages were no good, the mage-knight failed, and all there was left was the cadre of evil knights under his command
this cant be happening, my ranks are being spoiled, im being mocked, and my seat of the cult council is now waning, they are going to kick me off if I dont eliminate this DF soon, my knights should be more than enough for him, though, I shall give them minions and my full control to assist in their downfall
the dark lord brooded over his next encounter with this DF person.

****NOTE**** Yet another DF sidequest, I will meet up in a few days, count on it.
------------------

We were the first political party to advocate renaming the Washington Monument the Big Stone U.S. Penis and putting big, orange foam testicles at the bottom.

[This message has been edited by Desert Fox (edited 08-17-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Desert Fox (edited 08-17-2002).]

That whole day the adventurers met nothing to be worried about, though Durak seemed on edge the whole time...

"Why are we travelling through the field when there is a path leading to the next town" Durak asked, quite anxious about all this
"Cause DF is a moron and thinks he is leader" Letruo answered, castin a sarcastic glare at DF's neck
"Oh, youll thank me when we get there" DF answered, a little irritated by the never ending whining from the two
"I sure will thank you, ill thank you upside your head if you lead us into some swamp we are bound to reach" Letruo responded snidely
The entire day they had been going through fields that desperately needed tending for they were overgrown with weeds and high grasses. The wind moving through it made soothing noises, but Durak was quite unsure about it seeing as his entire life had been commanded by listening to what was around him and this made him felt like he is being followed, which he naturally responded to by turning his head every so often.
A couple hours of silent walking later, the group happened upon a small tended area of grass, at least, a less grassy area that was easy to relax in. The group quickly set up shop there and sat down, joked, and trained
DF quickly scrambled to his feet.
"Ok, Letruo has fought me before and though he tries, he cant beat me. I want to teach you a few methods, Durak, which you will then perfect on Letruo" DF said as he looked at his two friends and unsheathed his sword
Nervously, Durak stood and faced off against DF, has staff gleaming in the light. It was a beautiful staff, made of pure ivory with a large deep blue sapphire gracing the top of it.
"Im more mage than warrior,so go easy" Durak said as he started to sweat
"As long as you dont start hitting me with lighting, my sword will not split your flesh" DF promised "I have fought alongside many a great mage and they too have had their share of martial combat, for when the frontline falls, the backline takes a mangling"
"Only with these skills, you might not be so badly mangled, my young unscarred friend" DF jibed, chuckling to himself
It was then that Durak noticed that DF's arms and legs were heavily scarred. Some huge scars, some small ones. Tons of them overlapped and overall made his body have its own character, other than the one DF presented to others. Even Letruo had his own set of scars, though not as prominent and not in such gross quanitiy as DF's. The very odd thing was that the only scar DF had was one across his eye, for he must have kept his face protected in most of his fights.
For the next hour, DF trained Durak in the fine arts of defensive fighting, teaching him when to block where and against what sort of attacks. In the end, Durak seemed to be absorbing this very well for as DF got faster, so did Durak, and not until he whipped out his extreme speed did Durak fail and get his staff knocked from his hands and a shoulder to his chest, sending him sprawling to the ground.
"Good, good. You have learned well" DF congratulated his friend, offering a hand to help him up "Now you will fight with Letruo, who has learned the same type of training, but with more a focus on attack"
As Letruo got up, DF hopped onto the ground and rested by a fallen tree, proping his head up on the tree itself "Now begin"
At first, the two warriors tentatively tested each other's defenses with probing attacks, but after 10 mins of this, they had discovered that the other could handle their attacks, and furiously battled.
DF watched amazed as Letruo sliced back and forth and finished with a downslash, which Durak deftly blocked, avoiding the final blow and landing one of his own across the side of Letruo, knocking him over.
"Excellent" DF called out, immediately jumping to his feet "You two lasted over an hour in combat with one another, im shocked at your vigor and quite pleased how this experiment turned out"
Durak and Letruo just smiled as they shook hands.
"Now, Durak, charge up your most potent spell and cast it on me" DF announced and smiled
"I was trained by Avatara, not some fool, I would destroy you if I did so" Durak said, refusing to do such harm
"I was also trained by him, and I have extra skill to assist me, I will not be hurt" DF shot back "And besides, im not trying to get killed, im trying to gauge your power"
Durak thought this over for a few moments, and thought to hell with it
If hes so eager to face my power, then I should show it to him full force Durak finally thought
With that, Durak charged a spell, his strongest, and let it fly at DF
DF stood there, and soon after it became apparent he was casting his own spell.
The magic blast hit him, spreading light magic everywhere, blinding both Durak and Letruo. After a few seconds, the brightness subdued and DF looked as if he had a cloak of dark armor on for a second before that too blinked out.
Durak stood there stunned. His attack against the undead which killed 10 of them wasnt even that powerful, meaning DF's magic must be greater than his own.
"As I said, you must hone martial skills as well as mage skills" DF warned "Because even if you are an almighty mage, your power becomes nothing against warriors who are both skilled and competent"
"And you, Letruo, learn a skill, a magic one. Even if its just a dispelling spell, it could save your ass one day" DF chided "Martial skills alone will not save you"
Letruo looked a bit annoyed at being spoken to like a little kid, but he held his tongue and looked onward. The sun was telling him it was about 4pm and that they had been travelling for some 8 odd hours. Though it wasnt as much as the day before, he was starting to get sore. DF was a madman for movement as he knew he had to catch something, but was completely unsure what, so he was trying to make the best time ever in the history of Cythera. After another hour of rest and banter, they had started off again.
"So, Durak, what has been your greatest adventure to date?" Letruo asked, trying to pass the time as they moved onward
"Besides this, the best I can offer you is the fight against large lizards that moved into the water hole nearby the town I lived in" Durak started, trying to keep pace and talk at the same time "The lizards were like the salamanders and aligators that you see around you today, but much larger, and with a meaner temperment"
"They had developed, like dragons, an organ which allows them to breath forth fire and had developed a hardy apetite for flesh, so our attack on the group wasnt without casualties" Durak said, stopping shortly to pay homage to his fallen allies "I was only a fledgling mage then, not very useful but to distract enemies, not actually hurt them directly so I was back from the battle"
"We approached it, the band of 40 of us, we snuck up on the 5 beasts as they slept" Durak stated, suddenly getting very excited "We attacked simultaneously. I cast ice, fire, and even light spells to try and distract one of the huge beasts as they trampled my friends and ate a few of the villagers."
"eventually, two of the huge beasts could take no more and their wounds became too grievous even for their huge bodies to take and each of them fell" Durak finally was finishing up "The last one to fall was the one I was fighting, and the final blow they credited to me and my strategy. I shot light magic into its eye, blinding it, and allowing them to hit vital areas which slew the beast"
"For my bravery in battle, I got a canine tooth from the beast I slew, it is fairly large but it has kept my mind focused whenever I have it so i keep it with me" Durak said proudly as he presented the tooth to his allies
"Quite amazing, how many were killed in the assualt on the beasts?" Letruo finally spoke up after investigating the tooth for himself
"a good 27 died that day, we buried their remains in the grounds surrounding the water, forever thanking them for securing the water for us" Durak morosely said "One of them was a good friend of mine, another student of Avatara"
"Thats a sad ordeal" Letruo commiserated "Hey, DF, why are we stopped?"
Durak glanced around and noticed that they had stopped for the past few seconds
"We are being watched" DF said gravely "Something is watching us and following our movements"
"Another group?" Letruo asked, trying to figure out if this was another prank
"Most likely, but it would have to be more powerful, for they must have found out that we are too powerful for anything that they have thrown at us so far" DF answered as he tried to find the presences that had just availed themselves in his mind.
"Another?" Durak said stunned "I thought we eliminated the threat back there"
"Why would you have joined us?" DF asked, curious at the mental capacity of his friend
"Uhh, damn" Durak was trying to grasp at reason "I dont know, I think I may have thought there were more, or that youd need my help"
"Your help is welcome, but be assured, there are so many more than we have seen, and they are bound to come after us sooner or later" DF laughed a grave laugh "it seems as though sooner has won out"

----

I will no longer tolerate my plans to be messed up before I achieve my goal. This DesertFox and his comrades will be taken slain today by my own will, not through my minions with this, the dark entity that had followed DF from the dwarven mountains formed up into a minion, a particularly strong minion whos own spirit was torn from its body, leaving the dark entity with a body of his own
"From this day forth, I am reborn, this man shall fear the name Gewldain and will be slain by me too" Gewldain shouted and to his extreme pleasure, the voice of his was gruff, and to the point, just as his old body had been.

Gewldain had been a necromancer, just as his minions were, but after a time, he discovered more dark and powerful spells which boosted his speed and his power, making him quite strong enough to exist outside a body and exude his own influence over others much better. From that day he did that, Gewldain remembered how the others looked at his shadowy presence in awe and fear. Even those above him still trembled at his appearance and couldnt bear to even look into his dead soul.

Gewldain moved from his quarters in the long forgotten ruins of Heldroma, a former city of mages that had discovered power in its greatest form, allowing its inhabitants to find the secrets of power eternal. The loss of the city was no big deal, as they had easily rebuilt their city in their own minds, making one of extreme difficult and disturbing imagery. He moved to the council room which had summoned him less than 3 mins previous to his changeover, and he intended to surprize them with his quest

"Gewldain, you have taken a body I see" Nec'Trolas announced as he arrived
"Yes, my liege, I am off to take down the one who has spoiled my name" Gewldain responded, paying due respect to the leader of the assembled clans of undead
"Well, it is unorthidox that you do this, but he has besmudged your clan and has robbed you of much" Nec'Trolas thought out "But you have shown competence and even a zeal for battle that ive not seen before
"Ive also taken the body of one of my knights, for this occasion, I will summon my powers to combat this DesertFox, for he has shown no lack of power for himself" Gewldain said aloud, stunning those in the council chairs
"Am I to understand that you think this being as an equal to us?" Nec'Trolas demanded "You were once the strongest of us all but I think that power has faded if you believe one who hasnt been granted power to take all could beat any one of us"
"Go, now, and eliminate this one who scares you so, and do not dare come back unless you do" Nec'Trolas shouted, angrily sending Gewldain out the doors and into the hall
"Have your fun now, old man, for I will take that ring and it will be all over for you, as well as for Cythera" Gewldain murmured to himself as he rose and walked away
"Was the assassin sent to eliminate the other, the Magpie that has also tasted the power of the gods?" Nec'Trolas queried of the others assembled
"Yes, my liege, we have sent a stealthy one, as you requested, and he is quite good, Magpie will never see it coming"
"Good, all we need to do is to build up from that idiot's fallings and hope he does come back, for we still need a shock troop to fill our ranks" Nec'Trolas said with an evil glint in his eye...

----

DF couldnt stop thinking about the feeling of the shadows coming for him, they seemed to be swarming closer and closer every hour he walked forward to warn his friends. Every battle was scarring him more and more, though not as badly as the ones he endured in the realm of evil. The sights and sounds that assualted his ears and eyes on a near constant basis could stop an average man in his tracks, but DF wasnt an average man by any account. He had a will stronger than most even gave him credit for. But this new feeling caught him offguard. The feeling suddenly got much stronger and he knew that something was amiss. Letruo and Durak were babbling onward about some crap DF could care less about.

"You two, set up camp here, Im going to hunt around." DF said, finally unable to let his friends walk with him into another trap set up for him
"Why should we set up, you are the one who wants to be in a field" Durak asked angrily
"Because ill gut you both like fish if you dont" DF said calmly "also im getting uneasy and I think a short stroll by myself might do me some good"
"DF, be sure to keep yourself safe then" Letruo said with a sharp eye on DF's even gaze "shout if you get into some trouble, we dont need you dying on us. Also, Ive something else I have noticed about these creatures, but Ill tell you once you get back"
"Thanks, ill be sure to call if something gets after me" DF said with a set face "And you ladies scream for me if you see any rats that you get frightened by, ok?" DF started chuckling aloud
"are snakes within your offer?" Durak asked
"Shut up" DF answered
With that, DF left, leaving Letruo with an uneasy feeling
"Hey, Durak, we will follow him, just give him a minute or two to lose us and we will follow by our hearts and minds, and also by his footsteps, ive got excellent hearing" Letruo finally said, after DF was outside of earshot...

-----

Gewldain saw DF split from the rest of the group as was his normal, and decided to act upon it that moment, and with a wave, him and his 6 knights raced towards the one who had caused so much trouble
"Watch out for his sword, and keep upon your mounts, after we slay him, we will trample him and raise him, then we can watch as he tears apart his own friends, the very ones he doesnt want to involve any more in this" Gewldain called out, with a wicked smile spreading across his face
now I know why DF is running around, preparing for battle is half the fun Gewldain thought as he raced toward his unsuspecting target, his blade drawn to take the head off the one who had caused so much trouble....

-----

DF heard it, the thundering hooves of horses all pounding their way towards him and looked far forward and saw who he percieved as the enemy. He drew his sword and started chanting, a battle vigor and speed spell to help him fight

The horses charged forth with a speed unmatched by living creatures. The dead horses could attain the speeds because they didnt tire, and their muscles could take the strain from prolonged action since they werent fully used, since the evil bursting through their veins propelled them forward as much as the strength did.

The horsemen were soon upon DF, who seem more charged than ever, he was facing enemies that were higher set than most beings and who could take more than he could. His first concern was to block attacks, then to harrass the mounts to drop their charges. With that he charged forth and blocked the initial swordstroke meant to take his head off his shoulders....

-----

Letruo and Durak heard the thundering of the hooves too, and decided it was time to rush to aid DF, as he was probably the target of such loud beasts. What they met when they reached there was a charged DF leaping in the air and slashing knights from their horses and generally being a harrassing ass to the rest, making them focus on defense more than attacking. Without more than a word, they rushed into battle with their weapons drawn.

-----

Letruo knew he had an advantage in this fight, since his sword was long, he had a furthur reach than the horsemen did, and he was sure to use it more than once, blocking and shearing off one enemy's weapon, leaving him utterly useless on the horse other than for charges. That knight quickly retreated as another took its place by rushing in and trying to impale Letruo on his weapon, but Letruo thought differently and knocked the attack off to the side and knocked the knight to the ground. With no words, Letruo let out his warcry and slashed down at his enemy, which surprizingly blocked his attack. He suddenly jumped up and started slashing at Letruo, the shorter blade easier in closer quarters, but Letruo knew this too and brought his blade back for closer protection. The enemy pressed his advantage to the utmost, slashing left and right, forcing Letruo to block as he feinted up but thrust toward Letruo's side, which Letruo was deft enough to sidestep it and make a jab of his own. Slash, counter, slash, backslash, downstab, block, counter. The enemy didnt stop coming. Slash, slash, counterslash, upwhip and twist into a heavy slash. The attacks were constant. It was all Letruo could do to avoid being torn to bits on the razor's edge of his enemy's sword. Slash, counterslash, upslash to an immediate downslash, back forth, left right right left, slash jab slash slash, left right right center. Letruo was trying but this one was too intriquite with his attacks to leave an opening. Slash, slash, upslash... but before the downslash could come, Letruo smashed an elbow into the enemy's face, propelling him back and forcing the attack to go wide and allow a deadly counter, which Letruo took and separated the top half of his enemy's torso from the bottom. After seeing his enemy fall, he surveyed the battlefield and saw that, though the knights were all off their mounts, only 3 were standing, and one was over Durak's body, about to finish him....

-----

Durak and Letruo split ways, and while Letruo went to take on the enemy directly, Durak decided to go another route and blast the horses out from under the men. Charging up 10 of his deadlies spells, he cast them all at once, forming a blinding light surrounding his entire body and suddenly all of it veered off for his targets, half of them missing and disintegrating the enemy soldiers, which Durak didnt think were powerful enough to do, the others blasted the horses to bits, leaving only 4 warriors left facing DF, Letruo, and himself. One of which looked directly at him and moved quickly to face him. The menace attacked quickly, like Letruo, but without the finesse and skill that wa Letruo's hand at work. All during the fight of him blocking the many attacks, Durak was charging a potent spell to destroy this one. Up down, slash jab, slash slash, downslash jab slash upslash twist slash. The combos were bearing down at him with rapid speed, which he deftly blocked but he was losing ground quickly. Not even Letruo kept up this pace for long and now Durak saw the jam he was in and knew it to be bad. The slashes were starting to feel faster and faster and eventually one got through, piercing through his skin and knocking him to the ground, heaving his exhaustion to the enemy, which now stood over him, dripping the goo that had formed on his dead body down onto Durak. But before he could thrust down into Durak's heart, Durak cast the spell hed been charging, blasting the enemy to bits, spraying Durak's entire body with blood and sending the sword sprawling to rest to his side. Relieved, Durak fell asleep...

----

Gewldain wasnt liking the results of the battle thus far. Nor did he like his horse being slain by the bumkin mage who destroyed half his troops and sent the others to the ground. For now it was him and 1 other, as DF had just slain another of his minions and was eyeing him greedily, the bloodlust apparent in his eyes and his movements. He, unlike most, did not wipe his foe's blood off his face, instead, he let it linger and breathed in the scent of it, driving him more and more wild. Gewldain knew the power he felt in his hands at that point and knew that this power could, in fact, rip him to shreds if he allowed DF to get close to him. Instead, he stalled for time to charge his most potent spell to eliminate his foes, well, the mage had fallen and the other warrior was tiring, so it was mainly to destroy DF for all hed done. All he needed to do was stall.
"I must give you credit, you have exceeded even my highest expectation for you" Gewldain said, giving DF credit for his skills
"I know that you are the leader of this group, where are the other hundred? Or did you expect this small force to keep me and my allies down?" DF demanded, knowing that this could lead to trouble
"I didnt want to have to reveal my power, but you have forced my hand" with that, Gewldain sent a spell toward Letruo which knocked him over and killed his own ally. "I control life and death, your friend is almost dead, making him the best candidate for our next experiment of death. But first, you must fall, which I will do now" the stalling had worked and his spell was charged, but despite this, DF looked smugly at him
"Do your worst, you are no match for me" DF said gruffly, pointing his sword at Gewldain
With that, Gewldain chanted "THOR" and a dark wave of energy suddenly pulsed around DF's body....

-----

The dark energy would have frightened DF had he not learned of the powers of darkness. He learned a spell similar to this, his ultimate dark wave spell, which sent waves of similar energy out to the outmost sides of combat, killing of friend and foe alike. Through Avatara's intervention, though, he was able to control this wave better to form a shadow wave, an exact duplicate of the dark wave spell except that it didnt kill his allies. It killed them slowly, making it possible to escape from it, but midbattle isnt the easiest place to escape from so it would be utterly useless to try and run for you would be just as likely to be hacked to pieces on your way out. DF saw little problem with this because he had known a way to twist the power not to harm him, which protected him
"You havent known of me long, otherwise you would know this attack has no bearing against me" DF snidely remarked, letting the enemy know he had failed "Now you shall see a true attack"
With that, DF leapt high in the air, following some training from Martel, and charged up magic to enhance his sword, with that, he dropped down and slashed down at Gewldain, hitting him and paralyzing him at the same time, loosing his cells from one another for the true attack. DF landed, right through a shocked Gewldain, and continued to the ground, thankful for learning an ultimate single attack. His darkslash was too specific to work in major battles but he had perfected it nonetheless, for an occasion such as this. Soon after he died, Gewldain's magic lifted, and Letruo stirred, though not too much, as most of his energy had been drained and he was quite helpless their on the ground
At least the bastard didnt destroy his body, for that I have no counterspell DF breathed a sigh of relief[i] in fact, only Avatara knows and its one of his ultimate spells.
DF was feeling empowered, not hurt, but he knew the same could not be said for his allies. Durak had fallen and was now deeply asleep, unable to fight the pain, the body shut down until he could deal with it. DF went back several yards and picked up his pack, which he always tossed before each battle, and brought out a healing salve he had bought at the dwarven village. With this, he spread the salve into the wound of Durak, who quickly stirred and awoke to the prodding inside the impalement
"Thanks, but I can take it from here" Durak said, struggling to get up
"That is gonna leave one nasty scar" DF whistled as he gave Durak a hand
"Yes, but it is a good starter somebody would say" Durak said as he retrieved his staff
"That it would be" DF answered with a smile
Durak then cast a healing spell on himself, and went over to Letruo.
Durak looked at him for a few moments and then kicked him in the side
"Get up you lazy bum, you arent hurt" Durak shouted merrily as he kicked him over and over
The only responce he got was grunting by Letruo
"All he needs is an energy spell, which you are better at" Durak said to DF "But get your kicks in now cause he cant do anything back"
DF laughed at the prospect but just cast his spell on Letruo, who immediately got up and punched Durak in the head. Soon after, a small fight had broken out and DF was forced to intervene
"Ok, ladies, we can stop slapping one another now" DF said in his most parentlike voice
"Put a sock in it" Letruo countered
"Put several socks in, you have a big mouth" Durak added
"Lets set up camp instead, I think we deserve a feast for today's deeds" DF announced " I believe he was a leader of sorts. His power far exceeded any of our previous enemies"
Both the others agreed with him
"DF, I noticed something yesterday" Letruo said "The undead are much more powerful and coordinated with their leader. Also, they seem to like the cover of darkness. They are never around during daylight. Havent you noticed this?"
"Not really, but you do have a point" DF said "But tonight we slew the enemy of the area, time for a well deserved rest
"True for that, gnight all" Durak interjected as he got up and went to his tent
"Heh, lets soak his pants in water" DF said, quite merrily
"Wait until hes asleep first" Letruo added, also quite giddy

-----

Nec'Trolas seethed, his best warrior had fallen, and the attack wasnt anywhere near being started. This DF was much stronger than Gewldain even thought, which was much more than the council would give credance to until today.
"We must decide what to do with this one, he could destroy our plans"
With dark eyes, Nec'Trolas thought away at his problem....


****NOTE**** Another sidestory with DF, use information in battles, but dont let your charactors know

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

We were the first political party to advocate renaming the Washington Monument the Big Stone U.S. Penis and putting big, orange foam testicles at the bottom.

Larc was running fast, leading the rest of the group. He came upon Sasha, Trinias, and Therru fighting some undead shoadows. Larc dropped, and pulled open his pack. "What are you doing?!?" Martel yelled at his brother. "I'm fixing this!" Larc replied and pulled out his alchemy equipment. He started making a poulitce of some kind, crushing herbs, pouring liquids and potions. "There! Finished!" He picked up some of the glowing orange powder and threw it into the air in front of the group. It formed a throbbing cloud, like a fog. It was between the group and the Shadow Demons. The Shadow Demons roared and began to run through the cloud. When they got out, they roared again. Martel shook his head and sighed. "That was good, Larc!" His voice full of sarcasam. Then, the shadows dissapeared. "Did they retreat?" Sasha asked Therru. "No, if they had done that, they would have sunk into the ground. They must have died! What was that?" Larc smiled. "Truth potion. Unless they are protected against it, it works. Because they were truly dead, they died!" "Ah. I will remember that, Larc."

---------

Nec'Trolas strode over to a blank wall. "Door of Darkness, open for me." Nothing happened, but he walked through the wall. He had entered an empty room. He turned around and pulled a lever on the wall. To test, he pressed his hand to the wall he had come through. He did not slip through. There was a mosaic on the floor. It showed a skull, coming through flames. He stood on the skull, his feet in the indented eye sockets. He stood for a minute and then the mosaic started to rise. Nec'Trolas was quickly going to be squashed against the ceiling, if the ceiling hadn't been an illusion in that spot. Nec'Trolas stood in a dark room. He snapped, and some dim torches lit. He stepped back off the mosaic and knelt. "Lord Goshnak. The Desert Fox the lesser Necromancers were worried about has prevailed. He and his friends still live." Goshnak did not move. His slow, but powerful voice came out. "What of the Flame?" "It still burns, my lord. They killed the demons with truth. I am afraid we will not win, my lord." "Let me tell you a story, Nec'Trolas. In the age of the third Tyrant, he sent all his troops to Land's End, right near my entrance to death, to make a silent assault on Pnyx. In one wave, I killed them all. Some, I have here, but the rest, I need to raise. The ones here are first Tyrant, because they had a base there. The third Tyrant was afraid of magic, and therefore much more protected. He bound their deaths to his ring, so only the bearer of that ring could raise them. Nec'Trolas, if you can find me that ring, then we will not be defeated. I want that ring, Nec'Trolas. Find it, or find yourself dead, and not raised." "Yes sir."

------------------
Which way will the
balance swing? To the
east or to the west?

Actually, on second thought, I probably shouldn't join. Once the two webstories that I am involved in get started on the Nova Forum, I won't have much more free time to spend on the boards. Sorry.

------------------
"Mmmmmmm..... Pie Cannon."
[url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/soysauce2242"]House of Soy (Last update- 8-18-02)[/url] | [url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum26/HTML/007247.html"]Event Horizon 2 Sign up Thread[/url] | [url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum26/HTML/007243.html"]EV: Nova 'Reality' Sign-Up Thread[/url]

[This message has been edited by SoySauce (edited 08-18-2002).]

OOC: Uh... what actually became pf Bane? I intend to stick with my only character (Razmalak, the failed evil wizard) so I would quite like to know what happened to him... I think an entire undead horde would probably make him extremely jealous...

Az

------------------
___
"Your superior intellect is no match for our primative weaponry!"
[url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/acomicaboutus"]Don't ask, just click.[/url]

Bane died, but all the characters lived on.

------------------
Arrogance and ignorance walk hand in hand.

Night had fallen after another long day. Much to the relief of DF, Letruo, and Durak nothing happened. They had encountered nothing at all that day and were free to set up camp without fear of being attacked.

"Always we have seemed to stumble upon the evil deeds" Durak mused, completely lost in his own thoughts "Perhaps it isnt us they are after"
"You seem to keep losing track of our last battle, friend" Letruo reminded Durak, which caused him to wince "You and me both, we almost fell, but in turn we saved DF from being turned to ribbon and he in turn saved our butts"
"Ahh, perhaps I do forget things too easily" Durak wondered "But then again, certain pains tend to completely dull even after the shortest of time"
"Wish the same could be said of these blisters" Letruo noted, pointing at his feet "DF may be used to running around the countryside for days but Im pooped"
"Maybe, but we are trying to get somewhere quick and this is quite possibly the fastest route" Durak countered, letting his friend ponder that some more
"Hmm, either way, I hope we get there soon so we can slow down a bit" Letruo finally responded
"Well, im gonna ease my muscles and get some sleep" Durak yawned and stood "and to help with your whining, you might want to as well"
"Perhaps in a bit" Letruo said "Im still not fully ready for sleep
"Night then" Durak stumbled off to his tent
"g'night" Letruo sat by the fire for a bit more before he realized that DF was nowhere nearby
Damn guy and his damn privacy Letruo grumbled to himself almost got himself killed going off alone the other day and he continues to do so anyway
Letruo hefted himself to his feet and started towards his tent when he saw off in the distance another person, and after squinting a bit, he noticed that it was in fact, DF.

DF looked different somehow, as if he was fully relaxed, and Letruo didnt quite know what it was at first. He looked his friend up and down and couldnt quite place it.
"Whats up?" DF asked, making some room for Letruo
"Just wandering, saw you out here" Letruo responded, easing himself to the ground and lying back
"Nights like this, they remind me of what ive lost" DF said, his voice a bit softer than normal "Back in my youth, I was destructive, and didnt see the folly of some of my ways"
"What did you lose?" Letruo asked, quite content with the kinship that had developed between him and DF
"About as much as you did" DF said, same voice but a little sadder.
This shocked Letruo as much as anything could and before he knew it, he was sitting upright next to DF, asking questions
"How could you lose as much as me?" Letruo asked, quite pained by the thought
"My own stupid selfish self" DF responded "I thought I could rid the world of evil, and in that destroyed my own life right there"
It took this a little time to sink into Letruo's brain, and after a while he finally mustered up the courage to ask.
"How?" Letruo asked meekly
"My powers, they were meant for me, but with more control" DF said, looking down at his hands "I saw the corruption of men, the twisting of their selfish souls into evil entities all their own"
"I saw them fall, their honor and their pride fall just for the chance of power and another sense of belonging" DF continued on, becoming sadder as he went "And in my youth, I thought I could change them. But they were fools and didnt want to be changed. They wanted the power to corrupt them, they wanted the shame which power brought. They cared not for the cost and they were supposed to be the holiest of knights"
"So, in the darkness of night, I stole away, gaining freedom for myself from that cursed place" DF said, a bit of pride going with his voice but quickly being torn away by shame "But it wasnt that easy, and they forced my hand"
"I destroyed the entire thing" DF finally confessed "I killed every last man woman and child on that base. My attacks were careless and the few that I actually did care about survived. But also in my wrecklessness I set traps that all but one couldnt evade, therefore sealing their fate and twisting my own"
Such a thing DF had not said in a long time, Letruo could tell, but it hadnt hurt any less than it did the day he did it. It stunned him to no end, that though his loss had been great, DF's had been even worse. He had been forced to turn on everyone he ever knew, and he did it without question, killing off everyone that he knew...except...
"What happened with the last person?" Letruo pried, trying to get as much information as possible
"It...it...it was....I cant say" DF was trying his best to hold back tears of torment "It hurts too much"
"Forget I asked then, it was selfish of me to try and figure you out all at once" Letruo looked at his friend again and finally realized what looked so different. For the first time since he met DF, DF wasnt wearing his armor. After looking around, Letruo finally spotted the equiptment off some ways, showing that DF had been walking and needed the freedom.
"You noticed now" DF said, puzzling and shocking Letruo again "My armor is off, I am taking the world off my shoulders for one night"
"The world?" Letruo was puzzled "How is it the world is on your shoulders?"
"Why do you think I take such risks and stick my neck out for so many?" DF asked, not expecting an answer "I do it because I felt I had nothing to live for anymore, that the more I buried myself in other's problems and finding solutions, the furthur I could hide from the truth that I felt was real."
"When Avatara told me of my heritage, it was like I was given a new reason to live" DF said, a pure ray of pride bearing out from his voice "Avatara himself is a reason for anyone to live but he gave me direction and gave me an origin"
"Avatara did all this?" now Letruo was completely puzzled "The man doesnt look that old, there is no way hes your father"
DF started chuckling "No, he is not, but he did know who my father was and he did know what I was destined to do" DF said, pride beaming from his entire body now "And when that duty finally comes to me, ill do my utmost not to let him down"
DF was no longer ashamed or sad, his friendship with Avatara had broken the funk he had experienced
"He welcomed me into his life for nothing more than mere adventure and with that we stormed into his lands and reclaimed the rights and honors that were rightfully his" DF said, giving even more details of his quest for the treasure, Rogan's drinking habits, Talos' speed, banter with Kestrel, and the overwhelming bond he felt with each of these men
"In the end, I was welcomed back home by people I couldnt put names with, was treated and trained by mentors who had always been with me despite my lonliness" DF said, his body started to look larger, as if making up for his lack of armor "and even today, when I think im alone, I know im not. I knew that I could finally carry the world on my shoulders since I knew there were people that wouldnt let me fall"
"Tonight is the first time ive taken that armor off" DF said, showing his true self "I take it off to change clothes, but never to relax, for if I were to ever relax, the world might fall without me to save it"
Letruo finally realized what made DF go every day, what made him get up in the morning, and what made him eager to risk life and limb for. He found that this same goal was spreading within himself too, and he figured that this was the feeling that all the true heros shared, the weight of the world depended on them, and if they werent there to stop the shadows, the demons might just overwhelm the entire lands. As this feeling spread across from him, he looked at DF, who looked as pained as ever.
"Now what?" Letruo asked, feeling the warmth seep out of his body
"I have a question for you actually" DF said with a weak smile "What was it like, to be loved?"
The question hit Letruo like a brick wall. He felt the sting of losing his fiancé to the dark army and he felt it everyday. He worked hard to try to end what had ended her, but only recently felt success toward his goal. He remembered the good days, the days when he and her would go out into the fields and forests and just feel the warm day together, to just be together. They loved each other so deeply, that it felt as though even their souls united into one, and when she was killed, half of his soul was ripped away too. The loss of his soul wasnt nearly as bad as the loss of her entirely, but it was just another thing to add to his misery. He also remembered the bad days, where they could never agree upon anything. Though they would fight and argue and bicker at one another, it felt as if it were part of himself disagreing with another part. Not two separate, but one whole. And they werent fighting for long, for they would soon find solutions and their soul would be at ease. The love, the bond, the special link, all shattered by the wall of death, which he kept running into as he tried desperately to answer DF's lonely question.
"It is when you find another person who completes you" Letruo finally answered, not being able to fully express what he felt it was
"I figured as much, but what does it feel like?" DF asked, trying to get a specific answer out of Letruo
'It feels like...." Letruo's mind raced again, to all the good times, the bad times, the times before, the times after, he thought about every waking moment with her, he thought of every waking moment without her "It feels like...." Letruo then realized that DF probably only knew fighting, as he had never said anything else of his life, and decided to equate his answer in a form that even DF could understand "It is like someone has decided to help you hold the world, but not as an assistant, as your own strength and blood. Thats what it feels like" Letruo was quite satisfied at his answer and looked to see wonderment play across DF's face
"Ive only ever been with somebody once, when I was a young one" DF admitted, letting Letruo know he had been right to guess that DF's life had almost been completely enveloped in blood and toil "It was back there, at the academy that I lived in when I was found in Cythera. We shared glances and took strolls talking about our various experiences in life, which she had so many to my few. But she didnt mind telling the stories. The ones of her going to town with her father and meeting all sorts of people, the ones of her working with her mother making clothing and gathering food for the others around us, the ones of her little brother, who had been taken away from the family by a pack of wolves and killed for their food and amusement. She also told me of the day her father went to hunt down and kill those wolves, and that he never returned" DF's eyes looked back out over the field "I think that could have sparked something within me, but I cant go back, for I killed her mother, her sister, and her."
Letruo was again shocked, DF had a softer side which was quickly cast aside by the greed of men, those who would harness the power of evil to eventually cause havoc along the entirety of the continent, had DF not stopped them early. It was because of the greed of men that DF had set out on a path of lonliness, and with a past so tragic that no man alive would ever want their children to bear the same like he had as a child. Letruo thought back to his own past, with all his friends as he grew up, his kid friends, his preteen friends, his teenage friends, and his soldier friends. He could remember those that went along with him on the full trip from his childhood to soldier. Those that he made pacts of life with, those that he had spent trips hunting or camping with great and some funny results. He also remembered his enemies. Those he loathed beyond anything that got the same fate his own friends did. He could barely suppress the pain and torment that that had yielded, but it was nothing, absolutely nothing compared to DF. He grew to 15 with some bare friends, but he wasnt even allowed to live within the walls of the place where he was being trained. It was a miracle in its own that he was allowed to train. Perhaps DF would reveal everything else to him, but it would take some time. DF had experienced more lonlieness then Letruo could imagine, even after his few years of solo travel.
"What do you need with it anyways?" Letruo asked, quite fed up with the negative feelings "You havent needed anything or anybody for most of your life, you are the single most influential person ive met in my life, and ive only known you for what, 3 days?"
"I need it to keep me going" DF said, finally releasing a deeper aspect of his mind "You're young, you will see eventually, that you can only go so far by yourself, and only so much furthur with others, but eventually you need one person to complete you"
"As you said, the soul is completed by a union with someone special" DF said, finally looking up "And with that union, the will and spirit are set aflame so much more"
Letruo finally sensed what DF was trying to say, that alone he could only go so far, and that he had walked long and hard for his goals
"You will find a person, count on it" Letruo said, with pain knowing his someone was lost "Me, ive lost the person I had. My soul is forever damaged"
A few moments later, Letruo had a sharp pain in his cheek and he was a few feet away from DF
"The more you speak like that, the more it becomes true" DF said, toughing up again "and if you really believe it, the spirit you saw in her will become apparent in another"
"Yea, but you didnt have to hit me" Letruo rubbed his cheek, it would leave a mark "Time to head back, before Durak notices we are gone"
"Absolutely, we cant let anything sink our spirits again, until the tasks are done we must remain strong, for Cythera again depends on the actions of its people, and I for one intend to do right by her name and fight all that might try to harm her" DF looked around and spotted his armor "but first, time to put my armor back on"
With a few more laughs, the friends walked back to camp, and DF finally felt as if he had a true friend...

-----

Barldor, a knight of Delrarus, was making his rounds. The town itself was a base camp for one of Cythera's armies, and it housed many troops that would, if needed, protect the Cytheran citizenry from the rogue armies that seemed to spring up every several years.
"Hey Delnor" Barldor called out, calming his steed and waiting for a responce
"What is it you lazy bum?" Delnor called back, obviously annoyed at having to spare some attention from the lady friend he had visiting
"Why am I making rounds? Shouldnt the towers be enough?" Barldor was concerned that something bigger than was being said was going on around there
"You are making rounds because the rumors of the undead are freaking people out"came another annoyed responce "And anyways, what do you care, you are making triple time just for coming out tonight"
"Just curious I guess" Barldor answered as he ordered his horse to advance
Barldor kept his horse at a nice easy pace, making sure not to run her too hard should she get fussy and mad and not cooperate with him. He had a long 5 hours to watch over the area....

-----

Nec'Trolas was furious that he was deemed low enough to do something as trivial as to claim a ring for his lord. The ring was surely powerful, but how could it make anyone as powerful as he claimed? Nec'Trolas had figured out what his minions had done wrong and had set forth to fix it. DesertFox and his allies would certainly fall against a whole army set out to kill him. The problem that Gewldain had was he figured he could use a cunning few to take out DesertFox and keep a low profile when they failed at both counts. All his attempts were fruitless because he didnt see the threat for what it was worth, and therefore he failed to even take out the mortal.
Gewldain, wherever your spirit lies, remember that I can destroy it. Also know that you have crossed me by failing, and that if you were to come around again, you would be destroyed immediately Nec'Trolas had tried to reach Gewldain for many days but nothing came back even so much as a confirmation, which meant that Gewldain was probably truly dead, making his order also dead. No matter, the few minions that remained to that order were reassembled under his sergents, Deldora, Grithor, Vorduth, and Wardem. Each of them were as competent or moreso than Gewldain, but Gewldain had become stronger than any single one of them was. The stupid one, though strong and almost invincible, had a fault which was easily defeated. He split his forces up to destroy DF, when if he had gathered them all together, DF would have been crushed and his strength would have been there own. So now, since he had his own mission, he had sent out Grithor to take down DesertFox once and for all, by authorizing the use of his entire wing in a single action. They plotted DF's current course and then summoned all of them to the single most daunting area, right after an open clearing and close to two different forests. All in the night, the army was summoned, and was sent to march towards DF's last known location....

----

Grithor had a whole wing of undead at his disposal. He was astonished at the speed and the strength of the order, and he could hardly understand what use his lord could have for such an army. To kill a single human hero? Come on. He himself and several of his men had killed off heros singlehandedly.
Gewldain was a fool and that is why he died, now for his foolishness we must reveal ourselves? To compound the mistake is just that more aggrivating Grithor mused to himself If I were in charge, id take him out while he was asleep, or does he not do that either? They fear him as if hes a great dragon that will incinerate them and so they throw caution they had used for so long to the wind and revealed all. Gewldain, you may have dragged us all down to your grave Grithor moved his troops out to comply with his master's order, for he dared not bring the wrath of Nec'Trolas on his shoulders...

-----

Barldor smelled it before he saw it, troops, hundreds, nay. thousands of them. The stench of undeath lingered upon the fields and it made him sick to his stomach to just smell it. Even worse was when he saw them, the wretched bunch. Few of the troops were full bodies, many had their entrails strewn about their body in a weird honorbound way, to let others know how many kills they had or how many damage they took. The majority seemed to fill out the frontline as the battlescars and decay became less and less as the ranks went back. They appeared out of the grovepass that ran between the two forests, making the appearance even more daunting. With a new purpose in mind, Barldor raced as fast as he could back to Delrarus to alert the others there.

"Sound the alarm, an enemy army approaches from the west" Barldor called out over and over as he reached the town walls "Sound the alarm"
"What are you yapping about?" Delnor ran out, most his clothes off his body
"There is an army, sir, with death stained in them marching this way" Barldor called out, as the gate opened for him
"Undead army...hmm" Delnor thought to himself
"How far off are they?" Delnor shouted his question, diving back into his room and gathering his clothing "Sorry, but this is ending now"
Before Delnor exited his room, one of the town maidens left with quite a red face
"About 5 hours off" Barldor called
"Good, it gives us time to prepare....

-----

The morning saw an army of men, ready to face the enemy again in battle. They lined the walls of the town, armed to the teeth, the stood behind large pikes, meant to divert and obstruct passage to the armed footmen, who stood in long ranks and were followed up by a few cadres of knights, who were still putting the armor plating on their mounts.
"Listen up men" Relgar the bold started "The army we are about to face is unlike most we have or ever will see. This battle will undoubtably test our skills and our mettle for battle. We must not fall, for we are the ones who now hold the fate of Cythera in our hands. Do your best, know that by killing one, you increase our chances of winning, and by saving your allies, we increase it even more. Now we see them, in the distance, coming our way, we cannot let them pass. Steel yourselves, and get ready for one hell of a fight.

-----

It was an hour before dawn broke, and DF was up waking the others
"We must get up now, we are only a couple hours off the next town from what I can tell" DF said excitedly
"Then why in gods name did we sleep outside last night" Durak asked, still rubbing sleep from his eyes
"Cause you two were complaining so much about how much we walked, we shall go there and resupply, since you two eat more than two men ever have before" DF chided, letting annoyance and amusement play into his voice
"Fine, fine" Durak said "Forget I asked"
Within 30 mins, DF was off and on his way.

-----

An hour after dawn broke, Relgar was now starting to fear for his soldier's lives, for the enemy had come in extreme force, and there was no way they could stop them as it was.
"Fight as youve never fought before" Relgar called out, they make their way here now"
15 mins later, fighting broke out, the undead army surged forward, more of a mass attack than anything else, the footmen had an easy time of hacking and slashing, while the knights raced through killing many undead, but there were just so many. After hacking for so long, even a footman trained at that gets tired and will eventually fall, and that was the strategy being used here.
Reulgan was up there fighting, too, with his cadre of knights, they raced around the battlefield, taking out some especially fierce pockets of undead and making the battlefield that much better.
God save us all, for there are too many of them Reulgan thought
God came in the form of an arrow, which imbedded itself into Reulgan's left shoulder and sent him flying off his horse. His knights hacked and slashed around him and raced him back to the town where he could be saved
"You bastards, get out there, fight with your friends, help them in their time of need, dont stay here with me" Reulgan screamed at his knights, shoving them out to fight the horde of enemy warriors. With that his knights left, leaving his medic to yank the arrow out and apply and anesthetic
"Thanks, friends, now tend to the other wounded" Reulgan said to the medic whom nodded and went on his buisness
It was about this time that 3 well traveled warriors had appeared in town
"Whats all the commotion?" the heavily scarred one asked, quite curious to know what was going on
"The undead are putting this city under seige" Reulgan quickly turned to talk to those who spoke first and froze dead in his tracks
"DesertFox!!!" he was quite shocked by the appearance of this well known warrior
"Yes, how may I help?"
"Could you save my soldiers, they stand scant chance against the legion of undead which are out there" Reulgan pleaded
"Yes, ill do my best" DesertFox announced and he, Letruo, and Durak were lead to the gates where they saw many footmen being brutalized by the horde of undead. There were no footmen bodies, for they had been raised to serve the other side upon death, and there were countless bodies of undead.
"This is an unwinnable war, why are you fighting?" DF asked, trying to ascern what motives were in play
"This is a military city, and we had to defend it, and Cythera, from this evil" Reulgan looked at his boots "We will all be slain, and you as well if you dont leave"
"Leave? In my greatest moment? You know me too little" DF smiled and walked to the middle of the battlefield and drew his sword. He killed several undead who were teaming up on a footman, who thanked him profusely for the save. Then DF did an odd thing, he cried out with his sword drawn high in the air. His eyes turned a deep grey and he surveyed the battlefield "Shadow wave" was the only thing he said aloud, and what happened next was either a miracle, or a great tragedy, depending on what side you were on. Waves of darkness started eminating from DF's body, shredding up nearby undead bodies. It moved outward, killing undead units en mass, while leaving the living men generally unscathed, if not dumbfounded by what was happening.
Letruo and Durak stared at DF, mouths agape, and watched him do the impossible and destroy the entire army of undead soldiers, leaving the backlines alive.
Suddenly, DF stopped glowing and the greyness that had taken over was wearing out, leaving him slightly weary
"Couldnt hold it anymore, was too powerful" DF stammered
"That was beautiful, DF, leave the rest to us" Letruo announced as he drew his longblade and stared out at what looked to be the leader of the bunch....

-----

Grithor was stupified.
The human DF knew of the darkwave? How did he get it so powerful? Gods, he is unbeatable Grithor was nervous, his army was dead and now the living were charging his leutenants, killing them all, destroying his wing, and he would be dead soon, for his body wasnt nearly powerful enough to take down something like DF.
my lord Nec'Trolas, this DesertFox knows powerful magics, and will destroy us if we dont find that ring. Ill hold him off whilst you retreive it Grithor thought to Nec'Trolas
"Now time to seal at least one of their fates, and he chose the one with the largest sword....

-----

Letruo charged the enemy general as the others attacked the minions. His sword longed to split flesh once more and was more than happy to be weilded by Letruo's expert hands. He swung several times; left, right, up, slash, jab, block block, jab, slash, downslash, slash-backslash. But every attack of his was rebuffed and he was hit by spell after spell, which his armor somehow rebuffed. After several such attempts, both warriors knew they were evenly matched, which seemed to please them each greatly. They fought on with vigor and passion, which made it almost a shame when Durak came from behind and smashed Durak in the head with his staff, knocking him unconscious. The battle was over, the living had won. Dire losses had been taken but they had won against insurmountable odds, which made the day even greater....

-----
"We interrogated and executed the prisoner" Reulgan said "But we didnt get much information, except that he was sent for you and was astonished at your power"
"Thanks, we will head out in the morning, we need to rest and rejuevenate as well" DF said, trying to pull away
"You get free stay and take what you need from the shops, tell them to charge it to me" Reulgan said, laughing heartily "Hell, half the shops are owned by soldiers so they might not even take your money"
With that good laugh, they parted ways, and DF found a nice room to sleep in for the night, while the others found games of chance and friendly drinks to pass the time. Tonight was a night of peace and rest, tommorrow, though, would be one of hellish proportions....

-----

Nec'Trolas was furious. The enemy had destroyed another army of his, making him a mockery. He must find that ring. But he wasnt entirely sure he should just hand it over when he got it. He shrugged off that feeling and set off to do as he planned
if its to be done, ill do it, no sense wasting time now on it Nec'Trolas thought, as he continued on his own dark quest

***NOTE*** Another DF adventure, a little weak cause im tired but turned out nice.

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

We were the first political party to advocate renaming the Washington Monument the Big Stone U.S. Penis and putting big, orange foam testicles at the bottom.

"Truth potion," Sasha repeated again. "I didn't know there was such a thing. But it stands to reason that if it exists, it would have the same effect as Flynn's Sword of truth on the undead."

"Aye, I heard tales about that sword after the attack on Cademia that time," Brink commented. "I wasn't there, but it sounded impressive."

"Oh, it was," Sideline replied. "All Flynn had to do was touch one of those things with it, and the creature disintegrated into dust. But even so, it wasn't enough to turn the tide on its own. I'd rather have had a good supply of that powder, Larc!"

"Aye, me too. How about it?" Brink added.

"Uh, I'll see what I can do," Larc replied, unused to these people paying him so much attention.

While they were talking, Sasha took Trinias aside. "Tovarisch, I don't like the thought of walking in on a large group of these things without warning."

"Say no more," the irrepressible forester responded. He quietly made sure his cloak was wrapped closely about himself, and pulled up the hood.

Sasha nodded in satisfaction at the empty space where Trinias had stood. "Take care, my friend."

"You too," a disembodied voice whispered from the empty air.



------------------
I will classify my lieutenants in three categories: untrusted, trusted, and completely trusted. Promotion to the third category will be awarded posthumously.

Nec'Trolas wondered. The ring of the first tyrant... he had searched the Undine Strongholds, as well as Abydos, the Cult of Scylla, and the city of Cademia. He had also searched Lands End Volcano, Catamarca, Land King Hall, Odemia, Pnyx, and Tombs and Caves everywhere. He had not found the ring. He was in trouble. Then he searched indipendent houses. No luck. If he did not find this soon, he would be dead. He had searched all logical places. It was time for illogical.

------------------
Which way will the
balance swing? To the
east or to the west?

OoC:

I f I want to start posting on this, does it have to have anything to do with what is happening with everyone else, or can it just be my own little adventure?

------------------
"The day Microsoft makes something that doesn't suck will be the day they make vacuum cleaners." -White Lightning
1500 posts as of 8.23.2002 8:55 AM (11:55 ASW time)
This is just your [url="http://"http://www.EVula.com/"]E[/url]v[url="http://"http://www.EVula.com/"]E[/url]ryday link to an [url="http://"http://www.EVula.com/"]E[/url]v[url="http://"http://www.EVula.com/"]E[/url]ryday w[url="http://"http://www.EVula.com/"]E[/url]bsit[url="http://"http://www.EVula.com/"]E[/url]. Th[url="http://"http://www.EVula.com/"]E[/url]r[url="http://"http://www.EVula.com/"]E[/url] is no n[url="http://"http://www.EVula.com/"]EE[/url]d to g[url="http://"http://www.EVula.com/"]E[/url]t [url="http://"http://www.EVula.com/"]E[/url]xcit[url="http://"http://www.EVula.com/"]E[/url]d about it.
Selfish Advertising | [url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum23/HTML/003635.html"]Least Frequently Asked Questions[/url]. Post if you got 'em!

Quote

In almost every Team Story, when you want to join, it has to be related to the main thread (sometimes there's more than one). Desert Fox isn't quite doing this, but he's the only one allowed to get away with it.

------------------
A sense of peace fell over me as I watched the sunrise from my room...then I realized my window faces west.

* Dragged forward for DF's reference *

------------------
Slayer's guide to Cythera:
[url="http://"http://www.macclassics.com/cythera/cythera.htm"]http://www.macclassi...era/cythera.htm[/url]