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Kalanna Rai
Assassin for Hire
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 Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 1:58 am Post subject: The Hero and the Assassin |
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Hello, If you're just joining us for this tale you might want to check out this link and save yourself the trouble of reading all these chapters. That way you can inform yourself of all the important moments in the story without taking too much time before you can start playing. Just scroll until you see the 'Caution' sign. Synopsis Here!
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The Hero and the Assassin
Chapter One: Shame of the Fallen
The two guards were little more than lumbering shadows in the darkness, the linen sheet between them a silent cocoon. They slowly made their way to the edge of the pit and on a three count tossed the body over. It took a long time before the splash.
The bigger of the two men shook his head. "Well that's one I have some respect for Irmy. She got 'im good before she went down."
"Yeah Rill, somebody should say some words over her." The big man nodded and then was stunned as his companion bowed his head and chanted in the Elder tonge. With a swift motion he grabbed him by the shirt collar only to have his hands knocked away. "What are you doing Rill? Get you're hands off me!"
"You spoke in the Tonge Irmy! Yer' flith!" His friend only winked at him.
"Blasphemy for the blasphemous Rill, you didn't think I was actually one of," Irmy's eyes widened just a bit and he began to laugh. "You really did think it didn't you! Oh Rill you're a lug you know that!" Rill started to laugh too now, realizing just how well Irmy had played the part.
"You got me good kid! Gave me a heart attack you did!" He swung his arm over the little man's shoulders and practically drug him down the dark passage. He was so busy laughing and talking he didn't notice Irmy glance over his shoulder at the pit and surely didn't read his thoughts.
'Damn you Shade, you were our last hope! How could you go and die on us! What's the rebellion supposed to do now...fold! I didn't sacrifice everything to get here just so I could watch our best fail again and again! And now you too....Rest in peace old friend...it's more than any of us can expect now.' Irmy pretended to laugh and if Rill thought those laughs were hollow...well he blamed it on the tunnel.
Down in the pit, under the murky surface of the dead still water, the slithery things were moving. The preditors and scavengers who had been without a meal for a day or so now crawled from their nests among the bones of former meals to investigate the new addition to their realm. Yet they did not consume this prize as they had all others.
Instead they bouyed it up, making it rise in the water instead of sink, taking not a single bite from it yet savaging each other in an attempt to get closer. They peeled away the cloth shroud that wrapped the body, driving the winding sheet down into the bottomless depths of the abyss. They brushed and caressed this new-comer, sliding smooth scales against silken sking and supple steel.
Then, with the sudden energy of a summer storm, the body jerked into motion, head breaking the surface of the water with a silent gasp. The slithery things milled in confusion, keeping the creature ever floating even as it now moved to do so it's self. One hand then another trailed against them in the water, imparting silent thanks to them, something never given them before. It ment the world to them.
She brought a hand to her face to wipe away the water that streamed down from her brow...and stopped dead. Nobody would ever call her beautiful again. She realized why she could see only darkness...she no longer had eyes. Her face was swollen, and tender there, with cuts trailing away from the corners of her eye sockets across the edge of her high cheekbones. A smaller cut carved a crescent moon at the curve of her jaw on each side.
She wanted to curse and to scream! Her eyes were gone, her EYES! Had it been a finger or an ear she could have replaced it with only a thought and a mumbled word but her eyes...she'd have to earn them back. And everyone knew you couldn't earn much without honor.
Yet the slithery things under her seemed charmed and wooed by her presence. That aspect of herself had not deminished with the loss of her sight, nor, she realized, had any of her others. With a deft movment she reached into the water for the hem of her cloak...only to have a slithery thing press something else into her hand.
She ran her fingertips over it again and again, feeling it's dry surface...underwater! It was something rare indeed and she brought it to her lips...tasing the magic within it. Oh rare indeed was this gift! After tying it aroung her damaged face, securing it by looping it around her hair, she reached into the water for the slithery thing that had brought her the strip of cloth.
It was shy at first then became more bold when her quiet patience and simple offer of friendship remained extended. It slunk up her arm and wound itself around her bicep, locking on like a magical arm-band or the like. She gently touched the top of it's head and knew instantly what it was.
'Small child of the ocean king why do you sleep here?' The small serpent hissed quietly before flattening against her arm and becoming utterly still. So her familier he was determined to become? So be it. She would have precious few friends left after her failure this night...the spy could not have failed to inform them.
Now she turned her mind to the task at hand. She hummed a few bars of a melody and listened to the way they bounced upward, the spiraling echo's telling her just how deep the pit was. Under her the slithery things were beginning to grow tired, needing rest from their exertions that had failed to get them a meal.
She was loath to use magic here, he would sense it for sure. With deft movements she patted herself down, checking to see what else he had taken along with her eyes.
Her swords were gone naturally. She quaked with rage at the thought of him weilding her beautiful blades Akeiri and Daelani and then a smile curved her lips. More likely he couldn't touch them and was right now having someone else hang them on the wall. Her babies would have to protect themselves until she came for them...them and her eyes.
Yet the rest was promising. Her armor was still on her, the spells on it still intact and strong. Her belt and all the contents of it's many pouches. Her war gloves...that's it! Her war gloves weren't like the others that were tucked into the other side of her belt. They were hand to hand offensive weapons with six inch flexible blades running the length of her fingers and extending into talons beyond that.
Unbreakable blades...she slipped them on. Then there were her boots. They too were built for silence and speed, yet also for battle. They had razors in the sole that only needed a hard tap in just the right place to reveal...and they were already locked into combat position.
Slowly swimming to the wall she swung her fingertips at it with all her might, kicking as hard as she could with one foot. She felt the wall give before her blades and tested her weight...it wouldn't be the first time she'd scaled a wall like this.
A few hours later she managed to haul herself over the rim of the pit but she didn't allow herself the luxury of resting. Instead she began to humm, listening to the way the echo bounced back to her, using the map she already had in her head to match up those sounds. Slowly she swung in the direction of the tunnel and began to pad along it, all her remaining senses on high alert...and who has better senses than a highly skilled assassin...nobody.
She made it all the way down the long corridor, the darkness and strange shadows it twisted leaving no impression on the blind woman. To her it was just another tunnel, not a living creature from some dark dimension. Reaching it's end she continued to hum, continuted to follow her sonic map.
Slowly she edged through the dungeons, and up into the cellers where she took some food she knew to be good. Couldn't fool her sense of smell or her innate 'poison sense' she'd developed long ago under a cruel master. She wound her way through a darkened part of the kitchen, having a near miss when she nearly intrrupted a tryst between a serving boy and a scullary maid.
Yet now she was faced with an option. She could move upward, onward to the lower halls where exits were plenty and cover was sparse, or she could take the kitchen door to the outer garden and try to make her getaway through that rotten jungle of evil life, plant abominations created by twisted magic.
Decisions, decisions. Time was running out and she couldn't pause long...which was the best way to go? With a snap she made her decision. She had to go...
_________________
"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
Last edited by Kalanna Rai on Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:07 pm; edited 29 times in total
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Shady Stoat
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 2:41 am Post subject: |
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Wow! A third storygame. Excellent start Kalanna 
A blind assassin with sonar senses and a strong instinct for survival. I think she should stick to the shadows, like any good assassin would.
Unfortunately, that means going out into the deadly gardens, but she already has poison sense, so the worst effects of the plants should be lessened in her case.
Once she's escaped (presuming she does), she has to look to her continued survival. She needs better weapons, a way of disguising herself, preferably her own swords back and revenge on whoever tried to have her killed in the first place.
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Chinaren
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 2:42 am Post subject: |
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Nice start there Rai!! 
I say go through the jungle. She sounds like she can take care of herself, eyes or no.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 2:50 am Post subject: |
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Who said anything about poison in the gardens Shady...but it's a better idea than what I had in mind...
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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Chinaren
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| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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'ted.
When you put a poll up it's a good idea to add a comment saying so, then it brings the story back to people's attention. I would have missed this, but I have logged on and off a few times, so the 'stories since last visit' thing is messed up for me now and I am trawling through the forums trying to catch up.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 1:30 am Post subject: |
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Sorry Chen, was tired when I put up the poll so...
HEY EVERYBODY!!!! COME AND VOTE ON THE FATE OF A BLIND ASSASSIN!!!!
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Smee
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| Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 2:28 am Post subject: |
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Hey Kalanna,
Intriguing opening chapter. She's clearly highly skilled already and I look forward to finding out just how good she is in a tight spot. I'm not convinced her humming is going to help when it comes to a fight.
If she's as good an assasin as it appears then she should have no trouble in making her way through the house and to one of the many exits quickly, rather than wasting time trying to get through the garden.
However, I might have voted for the garden by mistake  - erm.. can you pretend I voted for house
Happy Writing.
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The path of my life is strewn with cowpats from the Devil's own Satanic Herd!
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 2:31 am Post subject: |
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I was wondering when you'd get around to reading this...and yes I'll add a vote for the house just in case you made a mistake...
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 3:54 am Post subject: |
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The gardens are winning eh??? Thanks for the warning...
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jarcor
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| Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Cool story. I voted for gardens, and await Chapter 2.
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 2:18 pm Post subject: |
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Hmm, an interesting story, Rai. I love the idea of a blind assassin. I am going with the majority here, and heading for the gardens. Like Smee said, if she is supposed to be as experienced as implied, she probably will come out fine, whichever way she goes.
But also, I don't see her going the quiet way at the present. She doesn't seem to be that cautious right now.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 4:28 pm Post subject: Chapter Two: Midnight in the Garden of Evil |
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Okay we're going with twisted plant abominations here...
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Chapter Two: Midnight in the Garden of Evil
She had to go into the gardens, had to choose the saftey of the shadows over a speedy exit in these circumstances...not that she couldn't handle anything she would have encountered in the halls. Now was just not the time to risk a second confrontation with anything that might report back to him...not that the plants wouldn't.
The door to the gardens opened easy enough under her touch and she slipped through into the heavily perfumed night air...and the endless rustling and whispering of a million sentient plant-beings. Clearly her humming wasn't needed, using her ears instead of her eyes to guide herself was going to be useless as noises came from everywhere. Her sense of smell too wasn't going to be of much use as all she smelled was flowers.
That in itself was a problem. She smelled the poison that those cloying scents covered, smelled it like one would smell a rotting corpse under their floor. She groped about blindly, no pun intended, for a moment before her hand encounted a staff of polished wood. Some gardener had left a savage pruning hook next to the door. For a moment she debated it's use as a weapon then realized that there was a much better use for it.
In a voice as pervasive as the scents on the breeze and in a language that no plant, no matter how twisted, would fail to understand she spoke quietly to them and them alone. "Here me prisoners of this garden. I come not as another who would harm you, but as a simple traveler. I wish none of your secrets for my own, nor do I seek to take anything, but myself, from this place. I wish only safe passage through your domain." With that she snapped the cruel blade off of the pruning hook.
With only a simple staff of wood in her hand she began to tap on the ground, as she'd seen every other blind beggar do, and feel her path through the garden. Too soon she was deep among the rustling leaves and the deadly blossoms, praying that the plants would let her pass.
Suddenly a stout vine barred her progress, ivy from the twisting feel of it. "Who are you?"
"Only a foolish blind woman caught out after dark with no other way home." Slowly the vine turned her to the left.
"Then this is the way you must go, the other path ends only in death." She bowed low to the vine and continuned in the new direction, her stick tap-tap-tapping as she went. Suddenly a huge leaf tickled her chin with it's sharp edge.
"You are recently blind and well armed as well, foolish you may be but what else are you?" This was dangerous ground she would have to tread softly.
"What I was concerned only the animals that slumber beyond your soil beds. My blades were not made for trimming and pruning the likes of your kind, but for parting the flesh of the likes of mine." The sharp leaf trembled a moment with indecision the moved to gently buffet her a little to the right.
"You must follow this side of the path else you fall into the mulch pile." She again bowed to the plant who steered her on, a philodendren in this case. There were many more such incidents, each plant asking a question then turning her path aside from where it had been. She knew they could be leading her in a circle yet sensed they were not.
Finally she heard the rustling begin to diminish and she began to hum. Yet there was no door before her, only a large shrub with long cruel thorns...a giant rosebush...now doubt the leader of the plants in the garden. She heard it's long vines run past her, enclose her in a cocoon of sharp thorns, if she moved even an inch she'd be pierced and even if the wound wasn't fatal itself the poison on the thorns would most likely do her in.
"You are neither young, nor are you like any of the others in this place of bloody soil and dark magic. The one who calls himself our master is much like you...yet weaker in too many ways. You have artfully answered our every question...yet you have told us nothing. Now I will ask you for the last time. Who are you?"
She slowly smiled. The plant was to shrewed to be fooled, that must have been why the others had steered her here. The serpent was pressed on her arm so tightly that she was forced to move him to a pouch on her waist, a hard thing to do with all those thorns so close to her skin.
"My name? Is that what you want? Or do you want to know what manner of creature I am? Or what profession I have accepted? Most likely you want to know it all. Therefore, inquisitive one, I will proffer you a deal." The thorns constricted the points so close she could feel their proximity.
"You are in no position to make any deal..." The rosebush fell silent as an unseen force, the same that caused the slithery things to lift her out of the water, pushed it's thorns away from her. Slowly it moved from a threatening position into an enclosure. A ball of rosewood with no way out. "All right. The terms of your deal."
"I will tell you my story and you will let me go." The rosebush shook for a moment.
"We will listen to your story and if you tell us the truth we will let you go in good stead...if you lie we may be forced to let you go...but you will wander in the garden until someone finds your bones one day..."
"Fair enough." Slowly she setteled on the ground, serpent in lap, and began...
I was born on an isle far from here, years before your ancestors first put roots in this thin northern soil. Then I was called Adaria, or beautiful. Until I was twelve I led an idyllic life of peace and tranquility. I learned the arts of painting and dancing. I could ride and use a bow fairly well. I showed promise as a healer and had a great gift in the magical arts. My father was even teaching me buisiness, a shocking thing in those times."
"Then it all changed. One summer night a man in black came into my room with a knife his intention to cut my throat. He then encountered the full force of my gift, the one that turned your thorns aside. He was barley able to bring me back to his master a man named Shyl. What I endured at that man's hands need not be recounted. His vision was a warrior that blended the stealth and cunning of an assassin, the battle presence of a Nord warrior, the spells and tactics of a Weaponsmage, and the abilites of a Combat Healer."
Her smile turned brittle. "He forced me to take poison so that my body would develope a resistence to it, slowly upping the doses so that a leathel dose for me was impossible to achive. Then he started with exotic poisons, things he mixed himself or made me mix. Some of them had adverse effects. My eyes, when I had them, turned a startling shade of brilliant green, like a jeweled forest apple. My hair, as you can tell, turned the brillaint blue of an Azure Drakon. My skin as slick and hard as bone and a shade paler too."
"I learned to turn the world into a weapon, a delicate string became a stout man's garrote. A simple stool a leathal weapon that maimed men. My master succeeded after years of training to create what he had set out to make...a perfect weapon. Yet even as he did this I rebelled. I continued to learn, to read and write many languages, to become a skilled merchant. He felt proud of me, considered me as near to complete as he could get. One night he even gave me a new name...Shade. Then, one day, a rival killed him leaving me free to do what I wished."
"For a time I sought out the most skilled masters of the battle arts be they mage or warrior. I learned arcane spells and fighting skills, and drove myself to limits many of my kind had not dreamed of. Then, one day, when all this battle had left me feeling grimy and useless, I returned to my first love...dancing. I became a bard, as laughable as it seems, and wandered the world."
"For a time all was well...then somebody tracked me down...a relation long lost. He was my younger brother, my father had survived the assassin that long ago summer, and continued his family. He'd never given up searching for me and had found me only by my voice. Even at twelve my bardic talents had been promising...as an adult they were rather apparent. Aside from that I sounded just like my mother."
"Thus my brother had been sent to fetch me and I returned home...yet I was no longer the innocent little maid they had sought so long to reclaim. I was jumpy, edgy, a creature to fey even for my own people. I was never without a weapon and in that community it sowed only unrest. Soon I was asked to leave and, surprisingly, my brother went with me."
"We traveled for a time but now that my story was known nobody would take me as a bard. When I caught my brother stealing it was the last straw. I went to some people I knew and returned to the night, went back to being an assassin."
"My brother sold himself out as a blade-mage for a time and then...one day he vanished. I looked high and low but by the time I found him he was already well on his way to the shadowlands. All he asked of me was to take care of his wife and son...a human wife at that. Knowing that a half-blood would be even more ostricized from our people than I was I travled to this village where the woman lived."
"She had moved on and taken her son with her, gone to a city in the south and married an innkeeper there. The boy was not well treated yet there was nothing I could do. In a city that big I was constantly forced to defend myself from myriad challengers and counter assassins. I was forced into more jobs than I could handle, the boy with all the beatings he took was better off than I was."
"Then one day I was called across the sea by a council of Elders. They gave me an option. I could turn my skills to good, or I could die on the spot. I happen to have a very good sense of self preservation so I accepted to be their 'holy hit man'. I spent several centuries putting down cults of the dark god with the weapons they gave me...a pair of enchanted swords said to be made from the fangs of the twin Dragon god's themselves."
"I went back to the isle for a rest nearly five hundred years ago...upon waking I found that a tyrannical ruler had killed all but the Council and myself and that even we were being sought out. There was a resistence, but not much of one. I busied myself helping them and sent many young men to their doom to fight this fanatic of the dark god. Yet none prevailed."
She paused, feeling daylight through the rosewood, and swollowed hard. "I then picked up my swords and went myself. I battled with him in his lair, as an equal, and was struck down by trechery. As a trophy he took my eyes, casting me into his dungeons as he would do with any corpse. My swords he kept for himself."
"If you have not already guessed, rosebush, I am the assassin sent to kill your master. I failed this time but I will not the next time. If you let me go then I will only return to finish the job, reclaim my lost swords, and restore my vision."
The rosebush, the entire garden was silent. Then the chamber of rosewood moved and opened. "The way out is straight ahead of you. We have only one request, o last of a noble and ancient race."
"Ask." A thin tendril of the rosebush, a fledgling runner, curled itself around her free arm.
"Take us with you." It was a dangerous request. Yet could she refuse it? Under the circumstances the best solution was to...
_________________
"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
Last edited by Kalanna Rai on Fri Dec 15, 2006 5:54 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Shady Stoat
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| Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 12:55 am Post subject: |
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I like the feel of this story. It's definitely original! 
Hmm... is it possible to take the plants with you? They don't seem evil... but neither have they declared their loyalty, one way or another. You could be taking the dark lord's spies out into the world, to sow their mischief.
How about demanding their story in return for yours, before you make the decision?
If that won't work, I think you should take one runner-vine (or whatever) with you, just so that you can get out of here alive and unharmed. It would be dangerous to refuse the request, even at this point.
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Chinaren
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| Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:44 am Post subject: |
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Nice chapter!
I f5 Stoat, or of course you could promise to come back and release them at a better time. Carrying a lot of plants when you have no eyes and are surrounded by enemies is probably not the safest choice!
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LordoftheNight
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| Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 5:50 am Post subject: |
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are they asking you to take all the plants, or just the small vine?
thats what i thought it was saying - either way they have you surronded so refusing completely is not an option, though lying could well be
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Ave Dominus Nox
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:57 am Post subject: |
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A page turner as usual, if this were in book form, Rai.
I am asking the same question as Lordie here. I don't know if would want to be caught carrying a rosebush with me. It would just a tad bit suspicious. LOL. A part of it would not be a problem. It would be just like carrying the water sprite she picked up in the sewers.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 11:56 pm Post subject: |
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It's a scout vine guys...kinda like the serpent. And if Smee will nix the poll I'll get the new one going...
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 12:20 am Post subject: |
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We were just asking that is all. Like I said it would be a tad difficult to hide the fact you're carrying a rosebush. Sorry it's really late for me, and I just finished posting up my last chapter for my storygame Truthseeker.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 12:28 am Post subject: |
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Go Rave go! And as for the bush...yeah it might have been a little confusing but look at it this way...if the bush was big enough to enclose her in a sphere...how in the hell was she going to carry it...?
But yeah I'll admit to being confusing on that point.
Yet again way to go!!! I hope I'll complete one of my projects soon...but my stories tend to be long winded...I'm hoping to keep a few of them short...
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 9:41 am Post subject: |
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It is hard to write a story in a only a few pages. Truthseeker may be only 9 chapters, but a lot of the chapters are very, very long. I think the largest is chapter 2 being 13 pages typed in Word, Arial, 12 point font.
I have a friend, who is a fellow writer, but not a part of this site, who also writes stories. She told me that to keep a story short, you have to avoid putting into many complications, or else it will turn into a novel. The beginning, middle, and end have to flow. And the middle has to be strong. Its like running a sprinting event. You have to stay strong throught the story, or else the ending won't be conclusive as you want it to be due to too many loose ends still left undone.
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Chinaren
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| Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | It is hard to write a story in a only a few pages. Truthseeker may be only 9 chapters, but a lot of the chapters are very, very long. I think the largest is chapter 2 being 13 pages typed in Word, Arial, 12 point font.
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I totally agree with this! My only Short Story is "ARMS" which was my speed story game, written in 5 days, lasting 5 chapters. Previous to that, I could never manage a short.
Of course, it is just as hard to write a full novel.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:00 am Post subject: |
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I do short story writing exercises like create a one page story, written by hand, and most of those turn out fairly well for me.
However what you guys are getting are embelished versions of my favorite freewrites. So remember, all of my stories your reading, except You Cant Take It With You, originally started as 52 word stories...
I've got the beginning middle and end...It's just a question of how much detail I add to them all....
This one's shaping up to be an epic though people...you're in for the long haul...
P.S. I do write novels...but I'm not going to put any of them on here for the sake of letting you people have a life...Maybe if people express interest, or I get really stuck, I'll post them but I think Key'd get kinda mad if I started posted fifty page chapters... 
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Chinaren
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| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 4:22 am Post subject: |
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Maybe you can post them slowly in Linear.
Sector 507*, was a novel I started moons ago but, as usual, didn't get past the first chapter. Now I have started it as a storygame I have actually worked on it!
I have another** SG waiting in the wings which is also based on an old novel idea of mine. So I know what you mean! This is a great site to encourage writing***.
*Check it out, it is one of my non-humor stories, quite different to most of my stuff.
**Actually, I have about three waiting, but I am not going to start more until other have finished. Probably.
***Thanks Key!
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 5:08 pm Post subject: |
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Rai, you should do NanoWrimo this year. I normally announce it in October in my sig, and Open Forum. It's a writers' competition that has people write 50,000 words of a novel within the 30 days of November. Here you don't worry about quality whether it be grammar, spelling, flow, that all goes away. When I say 50,000 words of a novel, you don't have to write a complete story. I mean I guess you can end it in at the end of the month. I have done this for the past two years, and enjoyed it immensely.
My story for the 2005 competition reached 50,000 words right when I wrote the climax. I would post it here, but its 119 pages typed...
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 10:35 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the tip Rave but I don't think I could do that...I'm just not ready to have other people rip my character apart. I've said it once before at least but I've been working on this story for eight years and so far I've only gotten the main character to a point where people don't have any more to complain about.
Maybe I'll put her in a short story for your viewing entertainment but the character I picked for my user name, well half of it, is a little to dear to me to bring out of my private little domain.
You'll understand I hope...
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:30 am Post subject: |
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Poll is up peoples!
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Smee
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:46 am Post subject: |
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Great chapter
I think the threat of them being spies is enough to make the request for its own story reasonable.
It might not be that interesting a story, but maybe we'll learn something of its master that could help with the next attempt to kill him.
Happy Writing
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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| V'ted: I think you have a great story going on here Kalanna.
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Kalanna Rai wrote: | Thanks for the tip Rave but I don't think I could do that...I'm just not ready to have other people rip my character apart. I've said it once before at least but I've been working on this story for eight years and so far I've only gotten the main character to a point where people don't have any more to complain about.
Maybe I'll put her in a short story for your viewing entertainment but the character I picked for my user name, well half of it, is a little to dear to me to bring out of my private little domain.
You'll understand I hope... |
I think you misunderstand me, Rai dear. I don't know if this in reference to my suggestion to do NanoWrimo, but you should know that the characters are your own. Whether or not a reader likes him or her should not matter really. Don't change a character just because somebody else doesn't like them.
As for NanoWrimo, it's about writing something original. You're not allowed to continue writing something you may started a few weeks earlier. It is amazing how well some stories sound when you do it within a limited amount of time.
Voted btw. Don't know if I am on the winning side. Yay if I am, oh well if not.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:46 pm Post subject: |
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Oh...
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:49 pm Post subject: |
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*laughs* I love the poll here. It seems most of us don't really want to talk to a plant at the present moment.
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 1:23 pm Post subject: Chapter Three: A Rose that is No Rose. |
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Man you guys are even suspicious of a bunch of mutant plants...gee, can't my science fair project get a break?
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Chapter Three: A Rose that is No Rose
She hadn't lived this long by blindly accepting the first deal put on the plate. Though the roses sounded truly sincere in their plee trust was not in her nature. "How can I do this? Why should I shoulder the responsiblity of your actions when I have enough troubles of my own?"
"We could aid you in your travels. You have no eyes, let us guide you with our sense of the earth."
"And you think I have not other ways to see? You think I cannot sense the earth on my own?"
"Normal earth certainly, pure earth assuredly. Tainted earth...dose that not pose a danger to one as tainted as yourself?" These roses were no fools whatever else they might be. Tainted earth was linked to their master and she would rather he not know she had survived.
"You ask a boon beyond the deal we have struck. Am I not justified in asking you for something more than was bargained?"
"Yes. Ask and be it in our power, recieve."
"Then I ask your story in return and do not seek to lie! I have delt with many whos livelyhoods depended on their ability to spin falsehoods able to withstand scrutiney." The vines shifted and seethed, seeking a way free of their bargain yet failed.
Slowly, with hesitency born of shame, they began. "We were once beautiful blooms that grew in a twilight garden at the edge of the world. Surely you have heard of such a place for we know not the name by which men know it."
"Yes I know of the place you speak, continue."
The roses rustled and began their tale again. "People sought us out from time to time for our beauty and our healing properties...or so we were always told. We gave freely, unsparingly, and without the suspicion that now marrs our dealings with things such as yourself.
Then, one day like all the rest, an man in a deep cowled robe came up to us and begged for a cutting, just a small one, that he might take back to his garden and grow. He said there was a great sickness in his land and that, should we try to give him enough to cure it, we would surely parish.
We thought his intentions pure and noble, we thought his concern for our wellbeing and that of his 'people' true and touching. So a tiny seedling was bestowed upon him to take back to his home, to tend until it matured into a flowering bush.
We were frightened and often sought the comfort of our mother bush for reassurence. When he began to exert his magic upon us, he claimed we would be unable to survive in his land unchanged, we wailed out to our mother bush...but they could not help us.
Slowly we were forged into that which now grows here, like all the others in this garden. We have been forced to commit horrors and atrocities all in the name of our survival, our continued existence. We established ourselves as the masters of this garden, the leader of these twisted wreches that no longer remember what they once were.
We would have continued, unchecked, had a terrible thing not happened. One night, as he who calls himself our master, walked amoung us we reached out for our mother bush in terror...and they no longer recognized us. They shunned us and turned us away, their very presence a painful thing to us. And as we sat there weeping he came upon us and asked our ailment. When we told him...he laughed.
'You are evil now! None will ever look upon you as things of life and beauty again. Men will burn you in fear and hatred, they will seek to stamp you out wherever you grow. Only here in my garden are you safe. But don't worry my beauties...soon the world will be my garden.'
We don't want to be his beauties, we don't want a tainted world for our garden. We want to go home, to put down roots in soil that dose not scream for our distruction. We want to be able to dissuade people from the path the evil one took...and we want to topple the evil one ourself.
Can you not help us? Will you not free us from our prison?" She considered their words.
"If what you say is true then the other plants are loyal to this master of theirs. Have they not already heard what we have said?"
"No words spoken have left the leafy bower you rest in. He built us for secrecy." Useful she must admit but still there were a few other problems.
"What of pursuit, once I leave what will stop them from telling him you let me go?"
"Watch." Slowly she felt the life-giving essence, present in even this most tainted earth, drawn out and into the rosebush itself. All that was left were dying plants who's own essences were soon leeched out into the rose. "They are dead and their kinds shall never grow again. Now will you take us?"
"One last question. If you give me a cutting of yourself, what will happen when he takes out his displeasure on those left behind?"
The roses shifted and sighed. "Once the cutting is given to you we shall die. It was decided long ago that it must be so. All that we were would live on and it would so please us to thwart the evil one thus. Now..." She felt a prickle in her scalp as a thin, strong vine put down tentative roots.
Without another moment's hesitation she began to hum again in the now still garden, clearly hearing the damage that the dying rosebush had wrought in it's last act. She walked to the stout door in the wall and put a hand to the handle.
It was blazingly hot yet she pulled it open anyway. She was sucked through the doorway, the door slamming shut behind her, the roaring of flames surrounding her.
"Be not afraid." The single rose bloom whispered. "One fire is illusionary, the other the futile ragings of a trapped monster. The monster is no happier than we yet she is just as unable to escape. She was set to guard against theives that might come to steal us."
"Then no doubt she will be furious at the sight of me as you are indeed my companion. Will she not think me a theif?"
"Can you not be as fearless of her flames as you were of our thorns?" Fearless was not quite the word.
"The force that protectes me cannot go unnoticed always. Sooner or later the evil one will sense it at work. I prefer not to trust to luck."
"How vile of you! In your pouch you carry the water beast the evil one trapped in a pool under his castle was he not kept against his will? We hold tightly to a root bond with you and do you not carry us to freedom? Why should you shirk your duty and forgo she of the fires for your own safety?"
"Who will return to fell the evil one should I fall? What stake have you in the plight of the flames?" She felt dry pressure as the serpent coiled around her arm again. Suddenly a light appeared before her. Slowly a watery sort of vision took place of that she'd lost.
She could clearly see the fires now, not as she would have seen them, but as the serpent saw them. In his vision she could clearly see which flames were real, which false, and at that moment a lonely cry split the air. A bolt of black lightning streaked from the highest tower window to strike at the creature that stood in the heart of the flames.
The creature shrieked once in great pain then fell silent. She felt rage tightening her shoulders. "Well?" The bloom inquired in a dry voice. With a swift decisiveness she made her decision...
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Shady Stoat
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 1:52 pm Post subject: |
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Another highly enjoyable chapter Kal
She seems to have been sucked into saving all kinds of beasts and entities from this dark place. Why stop now? Perhaps they can help her, even if the Dark Lord notices her. If not, then at least she's being consistent
Let's hope this is the last one though. She wants to get clear of this place sooner, rather than later
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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No it would be really bad if the Dark lord notices her...things would get nasty quickly and not even all the powers in the universe could save either of them...also she cannot start a second conflict with him nor can anyone aware of her true idenitity...but more on that later...
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Chinaren
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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Ya, coolo Rai!
Maybe try and help it, but ask it not to leave until after she is gone?
That's all I have. For now.
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 4:55 pm Post subject: |
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Poor little roshbush.  I feel sorry for the horrors it had to go through.
I agree with Shady. Let us save another creature from the horrors of the monster. One more addition should not hurt I think. But let us up hope there are no more we must save. The plot must move on to somewhere away from this place.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 1:03 pm Post subject: |
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Okay as soon as the poll goes down the new one will be up.
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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What are we deciding on again? I have forgotten since we seem to have gone a bit off topic.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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We're deciding if the Assassin, I will give her a usable name soon, is going to save the beast of fire or walk through the illusionary fire to whatever lies beyond...hopefully freedom.
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 9:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Kalanna Rai wrote: | | We're deciding if the Assassin, I will give her a usable name soon, is going to save the beast of fire or walk through the illusionary fire to whatever lies beyond...hopefully freedom. |
*slaps self* I knew that. I just got the is fire beast mixed up with the time we saved the water creature. You know I couldn't help noticing about how our Assassin seems to be collecting different elemental creatures. She has the water serpent, the rose bush runner, and now maybe the fire creature.
Voted.
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| Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 1:30 am Post subject: Chapter Four: Fire and Freedom |
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So she's going to save the fire beast...wise choice.
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Chapter Four: Fire and Freedom
Sighing at her own foolishness she turns toward the real fire that leaps and bends in searing tatters. The wavering vision the serpent gave her could not last long and, indeed, it faded just as she reached as near the flames as the heat would let her.
The fire roared in her ears and sparks would swirl around her to land on exposed skin and sear it painfully. Over all the amazing noise she could hear the sobbing of the beast in the fire's heart. The sound played eerily on the scabbed wounds of her soul and she remembered how many times she herself had thus sobbed in the hands of her cruel master.
Slowly, trusting her luck to continue holding, she let her thoughts wander out to brush against the edges of the beasts. Before it realized she was there much information was imparted. The beast was female, ancient and powerful beyond reasoning, and it was trapped against it's will.
"Sister why do you weep thus?" The flames rushed out to encircle her, no longer to hot to bear unless she moved to close to one of those massive walls.
"I weep in the pain of my soul sister. I who once knew the earth's heart as my bed, the sea's surface as my mirror, the high sky winds as my wandering paths, now am chained here like a common mongeral dog by a wretch who calls himself a 'desicple of the gods'. The gods did not make me that I might be the watchdog of some sinviling, pussiant, brat."
"Ah. Truely I understand your plight."
"You understand nothing. You have not been bound by the worthless one. He of the cut blood."
"Bound no but he has taken from me this night something I prized dear." The beast crept closer to the edge of it's perpetual fire, farther from it's self imposed exhile at the fire's heart.
"What has he taken that is of such great worth. Your wounds are slight, your spirit strong, your mind whole, and your magic still flows without limit. Child of the Ethereal what have you to complain about, what hurt can you not heal."
She sighed. It seemed all anyone wanted to talk of in this drear place was that which they had lost, save the serpent who spoke not at all but was merely content to coil tightly about her arm. "He has taken my eyes in a cruel jesture of victory."
"And has he so defeated you?"
She spat on the ground. It sizzled and bubbled a moment in the heat before becoming naught but a wisp of steam. "He hath only staied my hand for by the rules of the game I play I may not challenge him again."
The beast settled into position near enough that she could hear it's heartbeat over the now noiseless fires. She wisely chose not to seek out the beast by her ears, content to tell the story and receive tale in return. "I was sent to end his madness. Sent by both my elders and those among the simple peoples to slay him this night. His being what he is I chose an honorable death for him, following sacred tradition I bound myself to the ancient rules of the Deathmatch."
She sensed the beast waiting for the tale's conclusion. "Under these rules I could only challenge him once, and I could use no magic to harm him or defend myself. For a time all went as should and soon I was raising my swords above him to send him to the world beyond. And the wretch breaks millenia of tradition and casts a deathspell upon me."
The flame beast hissed and for a moment the fires roared again before settling. "There is that about me, which, when such things are flung upon me dispels them utterly...but at cost. I could not move, not even to cry out in pain, as he took his black dagger and cut out my eyes for his own. The last vision I glimpsed was his own eyes, lit with an unholy zeal, as he smiled down upon me."
"So you too were tricked, yet you live so there is hope you might trick him again. Is there no way to finish what you started?"
"I cannot challenge him to a deathmatch, I cannot challenge him at all. He must challenge me and loath he will be to do that. He would rather I rot in this world as he destroys it, forever sending his lackeys to bay for my blood while I am forced to send them back a head shorter."
The beast was close indeed now, it's scalding breath swept over her. "But what if another challenges him, a mortal. A mortal is not bound by the rules of the deathmatch, it would be a simple duel. In a duel there are seconds, those who take over if the fighter is too wounded to continue but not in a fatal fashion."
She considered the beasts words, indeed it had spoken a loophole she herself had already sized upon. "Yet how is it with you? Something with your power could never be bound utterly to something like him."
"Alas. I might as well be bound forever. There is about my neck a collar, if you could see you would know the wording of the runes etched upon it. I cannot see them so I may not know them and if I know them not I cannot undo them. The spell keeps me bound to him and is renewed with every Burning."
The assasin thought a moment before speaking. "You must dull your flames, dull them as if in exhaustion. When they are thus dulled should I not be able to put hand upon said collar?"
The beast shrieked loud, as if in pain but pain of joy it must have been. "Yes! Such a measure would work. Then you would know the spell but," The fires grew hot again. "Might you not simply bind me to yourself?"
"Some spells cannot be broken by creatures such as we but all can be bent. If I cannot break the spell utterly I promise to free you from all enslavement as best I can."
The beast was silent then all the fires stilled. "In truth there are worse than being bonded to one such as you. I place my trust in you." Slowly the assassin slid her hand along a feathery neck until she hit a collar made of some chilling metal.
She felt intense pain from the roots of her teeth to the tips of her toes as she traced the vile wording of the spell. She wept tears of blood before she was done and the knowledge of the spells undoing were hers. "We shall have to work swift with this sister. Tell me truely, how close to Burning are you."
"I fear it shall come soon, with my fire dimmed thus it already sinks into me."
"Then let it come for as you burn shall I bend this spell of steel in the forge of your rebirth."
"I will be useless and he will know that I am free. He will come for us again."
"Trust me." For a moment nothing happened. Then the beast moved far from where the assassin waited...and burst into a towering collomn of flame. As the pillar stretched higher, she recited the spell, quietly twisting a few words slightly, exerting her will in a subtle pattern. All traces of 'her' linked to the spell, her signature, if you will, were scoured clean by the intense burning of the flames.
Suddenly the towering blaze collapsed and a faint twinge came to her from where it must have burned. Humming softly she picked her way aross the blackened earth to the very center of the slight crater. There lay the new incarnation of the beast, the new phoenix chick, covered in soft amber down.
"Sleep little sister and let me carry you." The chick only sighed quietly as she placed it in her pouch. Quickly, before anyone came, she put two fingers into her mouth and whistled shrilly. Out of the night, on silent wings, came something unexpected.
"Ah," the rosevine said quietly. "I wondered how you'd gotten past him in the first place, he's supposed to keep anyone from getting here."
"The serpent wasn't the first I saved." The massive wind drake landed softly on the ground, the silken strands of his mane trailing over his sylvette neck.
"Quickly mistress. He stirrs and it's best we be away before dawn." With a quick nod she slid her hands over drake until she found the hollow between his shoulders at the base of his neck. Here, where the great wing muscels met, was the only place one could sit easily on a drake. Wrapping the long strands of hair around her wrists like reins she settled in.
"Let's be off my friends. Only death stalks this island and I'm sure my opponant will be very displeased to find all his hard stolen treasures taken from him."
With a massive bunching of muscles the drake launched himself skyward. They knifed the air as he spiraled ever higher, seeking the safety of the upper reaches of the mortal plain. As the sun rose they were far from the shores of the black isle.
The assassin thought again of the loophole. Few were the mortal warriors remaining who might be willing to consider such a quest. Too many had already fallen trying the evil one's hand. Yet there were a few options.
There were some resistance cells in the near by countries. There were fearful kings with armies in distant lands. There might even be something left in the shattered wreck of the Council's Hall. Yet she had the nagging suspicion that the evil one's end would be found near his beginning. "Where to my mistress?"
------------------
Where to folks, you know I don't.
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Chinaren
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Smee
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| Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:09 am Post subject: |
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Good chapter Kalanna,
I don't think ruffians are going to be much use. They'll want paying and probably a lot of protection to get any where near to a duel.
We need some sort of hero-type that can be taught and trained. The council may know of someone.
Happy Writing.
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Shady Stoat
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| Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 3:07 am Post subject: |
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I knew you'd get the drake in there somewhere, Kal Good chapter.
I'm with Smee on this one. See if you can find anyone in the council to consult. Either that, or trace the Dark Lord back to his roots and see if you can find a weakness back in the mists of time
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 12:08 pm Post subject: |
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I agree with Shady and Smee. The two seem to have the best suggestions
Any more information we can find about this Dark Lord would prove to be most helpful. And it more likely it would be someone of the Council that would know.
Do we know of there being a place that stories historical records or something alike? That could be something a Council member would know.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 1:09 pm Post subject: |
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Poll up, voting time!
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 6:06 pm Post subject: |
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I was thinking, would it make more sense to find more about the Dark Lord's past through the Council ruins? Or is that something totally different?
I will withhold my vote in the meanwhile.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 11:43 am Post subject: |
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Vaild point...she may just end up heading to the Council ruins after all Rave...
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 12:01 pm Post subject: |
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Seems well enough, Rai. I will cast my vote in that direction.
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| Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 9:34 pm Post subject: Chapter Five: The Ruins of Ascanda |
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We're off to see the ruins the ruins of Ascanda...
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Chapter Five: The Ruins of Ascanda
"To Ascanda my friend. I must speak with the shades of the Council." The drake sensed the grimness of her tone. The Council had stood alone against the Dark Lord until a few weeks ago. Just as she had reached the edge of the Dark Lord's corrupted kingdom she'd felt them fall. The shattering of their unwavering power had unnerved her, most likely was one of the reasons that she'd been a little off going into battle.
"My lady I have no qualms about carrying you to the ends of Pharl and back but..." She patted the drake's neck reassuringly. He was just a young drake after all.
"When the time comes I will cross the Barrier, you just must allow me in." The drake spoke not but by the smooth rythem of his wingbeats she knew he'd been soothed. She hummed softly, her skin telling her that two of the three moons had risen and she couldn't resist asking, moonlight having always been special to her. "Which moons ride high my friends?"
"Alaryeen the Brave lights guids our way, Sydjul the Wise crests our left shoulder." She smiled. The pink moon before them, the green moon to one side...a good omen.
"And Enxeren the Cunning?"
"Yet to rise my lady." She sighed.
"I've had enough of this my lady stuff. I'm not a lady." She barked a harsh laugh, her a lady. "You may call me Xsyle." The rose pricked her scalp.
"But dose Xsyle not mean Fool?"
"In some languages, in others it means Blind and that suits my purpose for now." There was only silence to greet her answer then, all of the sudden, the serpent tightened around her arm. Again vision blurred where there should be no vision at all. She and her companions watched the blue moon rise together.
"Ah my...Xsyle the sight of the blue moon never fails to calm my nerves." She patted the drake's neck again. The tri colored raidiance pooled over the dark land, transforming the bruised, scarred earth with their pastel colors, rose pink, sage green, and sky blue. Stars twinkled their soft, cream light and she sighed before stroking the serpent a little.
"Don't strain yourself little friend. The moonrise was treat enough. Rest now and dream of deepwaters and riptides." Slowly the serpent crawled into her belt pouch where the phoenix-chick rested. Before her vision faded completely Xsyle smiled. Fire and water, strange bedfellows indeed.
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For a time she contented herself with humming, trusting in the soothing rhythems of her peoples softer music but, too soon, she felt the drake laboring to fly. "We draw nearer the barrier Xsyle. I won't be able to go much further."
"Then brace yourself. I have far too many poisons and far too much blood upon my soul for this to be easy." And it wasn't. As her soul flowed from herself into the young drake he shuddered and jerked in the sky. When she'd poured so much of herself into him that only the thinnest connection held her to her own form.
In that instant she knew everything that had ever happened to Z'Shissre, the young drake. He was too young, the scars of the Dark Lord still too fresh, for him to have the sort of sheilds around himself that she did. Politly she withdrew, walling him off, concentrating on what he saw. The air around them was very alive from the wind drake's point of view.
But everything was alive to her's. The drake gasped as she imposed her former vision over his eyes. "This is the world? This is Pharl as you see it."
"As I saw it yes. Now you know why I must stop the Dark Lord."
"Who ever would have thought that beauty motivated you."
"Anyone who heard me sing." The reply was slightly misty, as if recalling much happier moments. Then it was back to buisness. Ascanda lay behind a sorcerous barrier that had been constructed by the Gods at the dawn of the world, a place set aside where their chosen ones could live and work undesturbed. How the Dark Lord had crossed the barrier was still a mystery but Xsyle had her theory. And it scared anyone who heard it shitless.
The barrier itself was thought of as a myth. It seemed only the native magical creatures of Pharl could see it, certainly no mage had ever been able to. Yet in Xsyle's former sight, it stretched like a curtain of golden silk from one horizion to the next. Behind it lay only open country like that they had passed for hours.
Then Xsyle spoke the words, mentally of course, as there was no way the drake's mouth could ever have spoken them. They flowed and danced outward, like tiny twinkles of violet light, and they touched the barrier. For an instant nothing happened. Then the drake and his companions passed through it as though it was only empty air.
The moment they did the flat landscape vanished to be replaced by a floating mountain in the sky. Waterfalls ran off the edges to fall away into the misty nothingness below. This was Ascanda, the earthly Lair of the Gods.
Slowly Xsyle separated from Z'Shissre and he mourned for the loss of the sparkling vision. With a chuckle Xsyle patted his neck. "At least you can see my friend." There was a guilty lurch to his wings she laughed again. "Just set me down at the foot of the mountain." The drake bobbed his head, at least that's what it felt like he was doing, and she reached up to comb her fingers through her hair.
"You, my friend, will have to go into the pack with the phoenix and the serpent." The rose started as she pulled it's roots out of her scalp.
"No! I can't go in there with the fire!" She stroked it's petals gently.
"If the serpent can lay next to it and neither of them have fear of the other, I think you'll be able to as well." Slowly she lowered the rose into the sack. As the drake landed like a settling snowflake, she slid off his back and placed the sack in the bowl between his wings. "Take care of them for me." Humming her song she mapped her way through the night.
Everywhere was the evidence of the Dark Lord's passage. Yet, as she climbed the now broken steps of the Council Hall the sound image she got contrasted sharply with the image in her memory. "He'll pay someday won't he?" There was a breath of something next to her. She turned blindly, her sonic sight telling her nothing was there, her spirit knowing better.
The Council stood there or they did in spirit anyway. She respectfully inclined her head. An icey touch on her shoulder made her look around. "I know you're there Wyquilnor. I don't need my eyes to recognize you." There was a spectral chuckle from infront of her.
"You're a little beat up from the last time I saw you...what six months ago now? It seems like a lifetime."
"It was, yours." There were a few more chuckles.
"You did your best and that's all we could ask of you Shade. That's all we've ever asked." She shook her head.
"That wasn't my best. I let the little fool trick me into a Deathmatch with him, let him trick me into thinking he was honorable enough to die like one of us...trechery I should have expected it."
"Don't berate yourself so. There were many factors to your defeat. Trechery on a divine scale you might say." She nodded sharply to him once, his statement confirming her theory.
"Is there any further use of me? Now that I've failed the Deathmatch I cannot challenge him again. I had the idea of a mortal..."
"They've told us of your idea and they approve. The answer is found in the place of the Dark Lord's birth, Mascrallas. On the mountain above the city there are burial caves in which a mortal man sits under heavy enscorcelment by the vengful shades there."
"Am I to go save him? Last I heard I was commanded to leave the dead alone lest the wraiths of my past raise up against me." She sensed the shade was about to answer when a massive sense of Presences washed over her.
Our Champion. You and your companions must rest and rest deeply. Even now our nemesis stalks the land, fearing you have survived yet certain of nothing. He lets his desciple think that victory has been achieved, yet remains wary. Thus we command that you rest for a century here, and heal what you can. We shall wake the mortal and send him about our bidding. She touched her face reverently. Her eyes...Then she got back to buisness.
"Lord and Lady I have but one question. Once you give the mortal your support won't your nemesis track him as he must have tracked me?" The choral voice, both male and female washed over her again.
Even more so. You he was constantly frustrated by, your subversiveness and cunning, your stealth and your purity tempered by the poisons that shaped you. The blood on your hands covered your magic. This youth is a true innocent, a hero of shining soul. He will be a magnet for the dark one. Yet we will protect him.
She thought for a moment. "Perhaps we could help him my friends and I. If the dark will track him so strongly he has no hope with his mortal skills learned in a mortal lifetime. Not even you can make him invunerable forever against a dark god. Can I do nothing to help him?"
There was a sense of thinking before they finally answered. You could be his Dream-guide, his spirit companion. Your body would be extrememly open to attack if you were not there to guard it...and yet your friends could do that as could the Council spirits and here, in the Lair, we could redouble our efforts to keep you safe without HIM noticing..."
"I could also send the drake, he's young but will grow rapidly. The rose needs a place to put down roots and grow, not even the bush it was cut from was a full Guardian yet...but then that bush never really wanted to mature fully anyway. The phoenix won't be ready for a century at least...and that leads to my second question. Are you going to grant him immortality?"
No. We will make him seek out the scroll of Vascaron for that. No sense in making him the biggest target possible. We do wish you would rest but...if you insist on helping him then we shall try to protect you as always. The choice is yours... The presences adopted a listening quality and Xsyle thought about her choice.
Slumber and safety...or aid the hero and throw herself into danger yet again...my, my never a dull moment in her life now was there?
--------------------
Okay guys gimme the suggestions.
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Shady Stoat
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| Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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Very informative chapter
Go help. There's nothing in her that wants sleep or safety. Not her style at all. Anyway, she wants revenge too badly
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 10:31 am Post subject: |
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Beautifully written. There were some spelling errors spattered through the chapter. I am sure you will catch them if you read this chapter over again. And like Shady said, very informative
Best go help the Hero. Sitting around does not seem Xsyle's way of life.
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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Lordy, that's not nice. I am sure Cry could write another exciting chapter whether or not we help the Hero.
Besides, just because Xysle decides to rest in the next chapter does not mean she won't help the Hero, maybe later on. I would say this is hard decision because both ideas are very different. One focuses on the short-term, while the other long-term. How soon Xysle helps the Hero is up to her.
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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Damn. I keep getting Rai, and Cry mixed up. They write very similiarly.
Sorry, Rai dear. I meant to say you would write a wonderful chapter whatever the decision. 
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 10:58 pm Post subject: |
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Well Crymmy and I are both stark raving mad and co-conspiring on gangland so I can't actually get mad at you for the comment Rave...
Also Lordy this story is written from two viewpoints note the title The Hero and the Assassin. So far you've only been hearing from the assassin now it's time for the hero to take over...
Plus no matter what she dose Xsyle's not going to be able to physically leave Ascanda, the Gods didn't give her that option, it's spirit form or nothing...but she can send her friends...when they grow up...
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 12:06 am Post subject: |
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Come vote! Yay!
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 1:28 am Post subject: Chapter Six: The Hero |
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Okay so she's with him in spirit...
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Chapter Six: The Hero
The caves were shrouded with cobweb castles, the occupants long dead or having scuttled elsewhere in the massive cavern complex. All around lay the beds of the dead, corpses gone so long they were nothing but brittle brown bone...save at the foot of one grave.
The marker was simple, just a neat etching in the cave wall. 'Mythra Selensdatter.' At the foot of that grave, covered in the dust of ages, sat a young man. He was a knight by his armor, which still glowed dully in the light of luminous mushrooms. He should have known better than bring an enchanted blade into the Wraith Caverns...no matter how saddened he was by the loss of his mother.
He'd sat there so long, wrapped in the spell that held him in a frozen sleep, that his memory was long forgotten save amoung the remnants of his knightly order as some rags to riches story told in song and scroll. His name was Inthas and he would have been a paladin in a few more years. Instead he was a dust collector.
Yet, in these chill halls where only the spirits of the vengeful dead wandered, a ray of light passed through the solid stone. It wiped the dust from Sir Inthas's head and burnished his mail to a bright shine. It wound its way into his scabbard, embuing his already enchanted broadsword with powers greater than almost any sung in legend.
Rise! Rise Inthas, our noble warrior, our Paladin! Rise and rid the world of the Dark One! The command rang in the ears of Inthas, rousing him from his sleep. For a moment he was disorinted, then the memories of years he had missed rushed into his head, playing like some Traveler's Tale on a Fair Day. Inthas wept as horror after horror crossed his eyes.
"Noble Lord. Noble Lady. I accept the burden laied upon me. My only concern is that I am a mere mortal. How am I to stand against an unaging darkness?"
Seek the Scroll of Vascaron. There in lies the answer to your question.
"But noble Lord and Lady! How am I to find such a thing of legend? I know not the faintest clue of where it lies!"
You need only bide a moment Inthas. One who shall help you will be along in a moment. With that the presences in the light ray vanished. For a moment Inthas shuddered, listening to the empty whispers of the wraiths. They had parted for the gods but now they crowded close again, their misty forms becoming ever more visible.
With an oath Inthas sprung to his feet, drawing his sword. For a moment he was enraptured by it's change. The mirror bright steel shimmered in rainbow colors, throwing light like a torch on the cave walls. The wraiths took a step back, clearly visible now, then grew bold and began to advance. Inthas held his sword before him, ready to do battle even if the blade should pass through them harmlessly. He need not have worried.
"Back off! He's with me!" The wraiths swung around, seeking the speaker. One of them, a noble in rotting finery drew his specteral blade.
"You! You who put your steel through my heart! Passed into the realms of the dead at last immortal bitch!" They turned, as one mass, to where a slender woman all in black leaned against the cave wall.
"Do I look dead to you?" The wraiths advanced, hissing like so many angery snakes. Yet as the leader struck with his weapon it passed through her as Inthas's weapon might pass through them.
"What manner of trickery is this? Some new spell bloody one?!" The woman laughed and came closer. Inthas couldn't see her clearly but there seemed to be some kind of cloth wrapped around her eyes...A Seeress then?
"I am halfway between the living and the dead. Vunerable to the weapons of neither." She suddenly lashed out with her hands, which Inthas noted, were covered by the strangest pair of gauntlets he'd ever seen. The wraiths recoiled in fear. "Begone shades! Seek your eternal rest lest I scatter the strips of your soul to the stars!" Like dust stirred by the angery desert wind the wraiths vanished with a wail, cheated both of their treasure lost and their hated enemy.
Slowly the woman picked her way over to where Inthas stood. "Well noble warrior, are we going to stand here while the world rots around us or are you going to show me the way out of here?"
For a moment Inthas lost his composure, it was only natural being caught up in such a momentus thing as he had been. Then he regained his chivalry. "If you would but take my arm I shall guide you." With a sigh the lady put her hand upon his arm and Inthas shuddered. "You're as chill as a wraith. I feel it through my armor."
"I'm not actually here Inthas. My body lies sleeping far away from here yet I have come to guide you in your fight against the Dark one." Inthas was silent a moment as he puzzled out the wording on the tunnel. The lady tugged his arm. "This way Inthas." Slowly but surely it was she that led them out into the light of day where she calmly waited for his eyes to adjust.
"I thank you lady...?"
"My name is Xsyle, just Xsyle. We can drop this whole lady thing right here and now because I'm no more a lady than you are...less infact." Inthas didn't know whether to be amused or insulted. On one hand she seemed humorus, chuckling at her own lack of ladyness. On the other hand she insulted his manhood and his knighthood...He'd let it go just this once.
"Did their august personages send you as well?"
"No. I came on their own, with their blessing of course but I would have come blessing or no...It's damn deicnet of them to give me my weaponry though." She sighed. "What I wouldn't give for my swords...but there's no help for it I'll just make do." Inthas eyed her, getting a good look for the first time.
She was tall, nearly his height, and as slender as a willow. Yet that was about all that was human about her. Her skin was hard, tough like his armor or the hide of a Bonemawler, and as pale as a fish's belly, glowing slightly in the brilliant noon sun. Her fingers were long and dexterous, spindly and strong as steel cord. Her hair as long and silken as spiderweb, bluer than the depths of the sea or the moon shadows of Enexeren.
Her ears seemed to suggest something in the manner of the fox or the direcat, and her face, from what he could see, was very fair. He absently wondered what color her eyes were. "I don't have any." Inthas jumped.
"Lady you read my mind." She chuckled.
"No but I felt your stare and answered the first question I would have had for one such as myself." Inthas coughed into his gauntleted hand. She laughed and it was a beautiful sound. "They weren't lying. You are an innocent. I bet you've never even bedded a tavern wench have you?" Inthas was blushing so hard his face stung.
He coughed again. "It's not right that you should know of such things Xsyle..."
"Get used to me telling you things you don't want to hear, that's the whole reason I'm coming with you. You are the God's Paladin, one of their two Chosen warriors. It's both a blessing and a curse. A blessing to serve, to save our world and all it's glory. And a curse to be haunted and hounded by evil at every turn. You are mortal, for all your gifts in the arts of warfare, I am not."
"I grasped as much lady. You are a member of the Elderfolk."
"You mean elves...no I'm not an elf Inthas, nor a dwarf, sprite, pixy, brownie, drow, kobold, kender, or any of the numerous other Elder races you could name. I am something much older...the last of my kind..." There was such a note of sadness in her voice Inthas dared not pursue the conversation further.
"Ah. Well then...what of this scroll I'm to find. The God's mentioned something about your aiding me in finding it." She nodded.
"Ah yes, the scroll of Vascaron. I remember him. Tricky but talented fellow...went quite mad in the end as I recall. But no doubt that he was a great magical genious. Last I heard the scroll lay in the great Library of Beligaina."
"The Library burned nearly a millenia ago...do you not know of a more recent location?" She tapped a claw, for she was still wearing those curious gauntlets, on the leather of her thigh armor.
"I suppose I'd have to ask Maegia. She'd know if anyone would." Inthas had always prided himself on being brave and courageous, yet the name of Maegia, the last Ebon Drakon, filled him with a quaking. Xsyle turned to him. "Something wrong knight?"
"Is she really as dangerous as legends say?"
"And more but you've a pleasing look about you and if you keep a quick tounge she just might take a liking to you..."
"How do you know what I look like?" She turned her blind face to him.
"Shall I describe you to yourself Inthas? Will that prove that I am not a helpless cripple. No don't answer I'll do it anyway. You're taller than I am by a palm's width. Shoulders are wide enough to pull an ox yolk, arms like a blacksmith. Over all your strong and slender, built tough and lean. Your armor is a curious blend of plate and chain mail, leaving it strong and flexible, and your hair is shoulder length, most likely blond, eyes are most likely blue. Your nose is a little small for your face, your eyes too large, probably people used to tease you about being a gril until you beat the stuffing out of them. You mouth is generous and you havn't shaved in a few days judging from the stubble on your face, like shadows in a cornfield. Did I do a good job....Shut your mouth Inthas it makes you look simple to leave it hanging open like that."
Inthas quickly shut his mouth. "How...no. I don't want to know I just want to do my duty. You lead, I'll follow."
"As I was saying Maegia knows everything that goes on in that part of the world. Or there's the tower of High magick, don't shudder like that Inthas it makes you sound like a Tinker on Market Day. It seems we'll have to start your training early."
"Training? Xsyle I've had the finest training of any knight..."
"Be that as it may I bet I can beat you. One hand bound to my side if you wish...you're growing wiser already Inthas." Inthas had indeed kept his mouth shut, wondering why the Gods had visited this...female...upon him. He'd known female knights, good ones, but Xsyle was nothing like them.
"So, Xsyle, where do we go?"
"Good question Inthas. I was just about to ask you it being your quest and all...." Inthas pondered. Two highly dangerous options, one highly unstable companion....What was a knight to do?
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:02 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Well Crymmy and I are both stark raving mad and co-conspiring on gangland so I can't actually get mad at you for the comment Rave...
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And I thought the two of you were close to being the same person.
A change in perspective....nice transition. I am curious about this Maegia. Logic tells me that this person, or creature, whatever it may be would be able to tell Xysle and Inthas more about the scroll we seek.
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:30 pm Post subject: |
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Well, he could be one god's warrior...but the story has dictated that there are more than one god.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:36 pm Post subject: Re: Chapter Six: The Hero |
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| Kalanna Rai wrote: | | You are the God's Paladin, one of their two Chosen warriors. |
There are generally two Paladins, the twin God's choosing one for each of themselves. At this point in time there is no female candidate for Paladin so that position is empty.
To clerify Xsyle is the Champion of the Gods, their strongest warrior and she was not chosen by them. The Council, finding her the strongest fighter anywhere, called upon her. It was her choice to serve. That is the difference between the Paladins and the Champion. One retains their freewill, the other is just a shiny meat-sheild.
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:43 pm Post subject: |
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Are we dealing with one God or many? I understand the part about there being two paladins. That makes sense. Just trying to understand the whole theology here.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:45 pm Post subject: |
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Three. You've got the twin dragons, referred to as the Lord and Lady, and the Dark God...but more on him later...
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:53 pm Post subject: |
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I had a feeling we were dealing with dragons as gods...I wouldn't put it past you.
So I guess along with looking for this scroll, we will somehow meet up with our female half of the paladin pair? Or must we find her?
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:55 pm Post subject: |
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Probably won't run into her...except in the Epiloug maybe...
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:03 pm Post subject: |
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Thats too bad. I had the thought she would be somewhat like Xysle, thus their interaction would have been interesting to watch.
| Quote: | | You are the God's Paladin, one of their two Chosen warriors. |
From this sentence, I thought the two paladins would be working together, but you have refuted that thought. So I am guessing each Paladin is given their own mission, and that that they don't work together? Or am I just thinking about this too deeply? I do have that tendency.
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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Generally the two Paladins would be working in concert with anything they couldn't handle being referred to the Champion. I was going to put the lady warrior in but realized that the title only left room for one Hero. Thus she'll be alluded to but you'll never actually meet her, for good reason, until the very end.
Don't worry Rave...maybe she'll do a guest apperance or something before that...
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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*nods* I figured that was the way of the world, but then again this is not reality, so anything can happen. Actually, not to be a hypocrite or anything, but adding the female warrior I think will ruin the banter between Xysle and Inthas. And also add two Paladins, and the Champion seems like a recipe for an overdone Dark Lord.
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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True but I think he's pretty done anyway...you just don't make Xsyle mad...you guys havn't seen her mad yet...*shudders*
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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Fear of a character. Wow. Xysle must be really real like.
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| Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 1:30 pm Post subject: |
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Vote! That said sorry for the delay so go ahead...choose the peril for our brave heros....
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Chinaren
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| Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:57 pm Post subject: |
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Hmm. I think I will choose the Drakon. I have no desire to visit a tower or do any training. *laughs*
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 1:41 am Post subject: |
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Oh goody, we're off to see some magicians about a second hand scroll....I sense close encounters of the Smee kind coming up!
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Chapter Seven: The Quest Begins!
Despite his attempt at valor the thought of facing a drakon, any drakon, even a drake, nevermind one as powerful as Maegia made his innards twist into curley knots any sailor would have been proud to call his handywork. The Tower of High Magik, despite it's reputation, at least had people in it.
"Well Inthas? Or did a wight get your toung?"
"No Xsyle I was merely pondering the options for our outing." She smiled, reavealing a pair of fangs nestled at the corners of her mouth, funny he'd never noticed those before. "I've decided that our best option is the Tower of High Magik." Xsyle's brow grew darker and, for a moment he thought she'd strike him. Instead she walked over to a tree and wrenched herself off a stout limb. With a few skilled movements with her 'claws' she stripped it down to an effective weapon.
"Well at least the walk will give me time to whip you into shape. Let's get going Inthas, we've got a continent to cross." Inthas put on his helm, took off his helm, put on his helm, and took it off once more.
"I'm sorry Xsyle but I could have sworn you just said walk across a continent." She turned back at him and Inthas got the eerie impression that, even blind, she was staring at him. Then she smiled that sweet, venomous smile at him.
"Why yes Inthas, I did. You didn't think that the Gods were going to give you a mount right out of the blue did you? Did you honestly think you were going to start this quest mounted on some grand, winged horse weilding that blazing sword to the justic of all you come across?" The flush that colored Inthas's cheeks was an indication that he'd been envisioning just that.
She didn't need to see him to know his reaction and she laughed. "Poor innocent Inthas. There's a whole world of cruelty I must school you in and here's the first part." She walked over to him, caught hold of a chunk of hair, and pulled his face down until it was flush with her other hand. "What do you smell Inthas?"
He tried to jerk his head up and was rewarded as his hair was yanked painfully. "Try it again and you'll start a new fashion with your bald patchs. Now what do you smell?" Inthas closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, trying not to think how odd and humiliating this was. "Well...?"
"Steel...Cold steel...Magic...Blood." The smell almost overpowered the others. It was the first and foremost scent on Xsyle's hand, ingrained even over her own smell, which Inthas could neither detect nor discern.
"Even over a distance, even without my physical body, my hands still reek of blood Inthas." She released her hold on him and picked up her impromptu walking stick from where it had fallen in the dust. "Don't forget that lesson Inthas. It's the difference between you and me. I know the depths of evil, and those depths know me. You..." She shook her head. "A babe in the cradle is scarce more innocent than you."
Without so much as another word she turned and began to walk down the road, humming an old ballad to guide her way. Sparing a glance at the sun, which was already beginning to shimmer with heat, Inthas wiped his brow. Marching in plate armor...fastest way on Pharl to roast a man to death.
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It seemed like they'd been marching for days, even though he knew it could only have been a few hours, when Inthas collapsed from heat exhaustion. With a growl of anger Xsyle walked back to where he lay, unconcious and sweating. With another mild, and by mild I mean a grass blistering tirade, expression of her displeasure Xsyle fished around in the pouch on her belt.
Soon she pulled out a gem, white where hers was black, and held it between her hands, blowing on it to warm the magic within. Like the gem that clasped her cloak this gem was a soreal, a gem made to hold more things than any train of packmules could carry. Unlike most these particular gems were made only to carry a few specific items and to transfer them from storage to the correct part of the user in an instantanious flash.
Slowly Xsyle committed all of Inthas's armor and his massive sword to the gem's inventory leaving him in only the light undershirt and breeches that he'd had on under his armor. His belt she also left, and his cape. She tossed away the ornimental broach, a bit of tin trash, and set the gem there instead.
With another protest, this one about the stupidity of a certain northern race of people that happened to play a strong part in Inthas's ancestory, she laid cooling hands upon his brow, willing the fever away. Soon enough Inthas woke.
"What happened."
"You fainted o'noble warrior. Sun exhaustion from packing around the armor lunkhead. Next time let me know something's wrong."
"What you, the omnipotent Xsyle, couldn't tell?" Inthas was a gentle man with an even temper, but push him too far and you'd find all that righteous anger that motivated any knight. "You, with all your wisdom and power, couldn't notice I wasn't well?"
With stinging swiftness Xsyle slapped him hard...once. But once was enough to leave his eyes watering and his ears ringing. "Fool! I'm here to guide you, to help you, to train you, not to play nursemaid! You're supposed to learn to rely on yourself! How can you do that if I'm hovering over you attending to your everywhim! I already do too much for you, shading you from detection!"
"Detection! By who!" Xsyle shook with suppressed rage. I can't kill him, they'd be rather unhappy, I can't kill him. She took one look at him standing there, so defiantly innocent, and shook even harder. Oh Lord and Lady I'm gonna kill him.
A gentle touch, a pair of them actually, reached into Xsyle and cooled her anger the same as she had cooled Inthas. She understood the message and knew it was for the best. Tonight she'd have her fun with him, tonight when he settled in for peaceful slumber. Peaceful wasn't what he was going to get.
The sense of them left her, the Lady retreating back to Ascanda while the Lord spoke privately to Inthas. Xsyle had no idea, didn't want to know, what the God said to his Paladin, but whatever it was made Inthas's eyes go very wide and his face very pale under it's sunburn, not that she could see but she could tell Inthas was shocked.
When they were left alone on the road neither spoke for a time. Then Xsyle turned and began to walk. "Let's go."
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They made several more miles before nightfall, Inthas limping painfully from his injured feet. "I thought it would be easier without boots. Boots chafe, they rub blisters, they wear out, or drive nails into your feet. But all that's worth it compared to this." They sat under a shady apple tree, nothing but the cloak to protect Inthas from the night air.
Xsyle seemed dim and faint in the twilight. "You should get some sleep Inthas. We've got a long way to go tomorrow." The big man nodded, settling into his cloak with the weary resignation of one too exhausted to care where he slept. His eyelids fluttered shut and for a moment he was in a blissfully dreamless sleep.
Then suddenly he was awake and standing in a medow. Xsyle stood across from him, a pair of gleaming swords in hand. She flipped them around expertly. "Not my usual pair but they'll serve for your training. Are you ready Inthas?" Before he could answer she lunged at him, forcing him to recall his training and defend.
"What are you doing?" He asked inbetween blows.
"I've taken the liberty of bringing your spirit to another world while you dream. Here time passes slowly, a hundred years to an hour, and we shall train you here. You shall know much of what I know by the time we reach the Tower of High Magik, enough to be a skilled warrior at least."
Suddenly, as he was cracked hard on the ribs, Inthas realized this wasn't going to be fun. For one thing, since his body was sleeping, he wouldn't need to sleep, nor eat, nor have any other excuse for taking a break. Looking at Xsyle's savage expression he realized what he was in for.
"Lord and Lady protect me from this female."
----------------------
He woke in the morning sore and stiff, and not just from sleeping wrong. Somehow he knew that, even though he'd never physically undertaken Xsyle's challenges, that his body was benifiting from the dream-training. He wasn't going to ask how, or why, having a feeling that they'd lead to reather complex answers.
Instead he got ready to follow Xsyle and surpressed a groan when they got moving again. "How long do you think the trip will take?"
"On foot...oh the better part of two years." Inthas groaned again. "If you somehow manage to procure a horse....then things will go much smoother. A few months at the most then."
"Horse? Don't you need one?" Xsyle laughed.
"I weigh nothing, eat nothing, take up no space...Inthas nobody else can even see me. I don't need any horse, I'm not bound by those kind of limitations while in this half state. I'm touched that you care, I expected you would but I'm touched all the same, but you are the primary concern on this trip...not me." For a few moments Inthas looked out over the lands.
"So where's the nearest place to get a horse?"
"With what money?" Inthas jingled his coin purse. Even after a few hundered years with the wraiths the old coins would still be worth money, from face value alone although in these days of debased metals he'd be lucky to be given half value.
Xsyle chewed a fingernail for a moment. "Allbridge is the nearest and the largest. It's also probably got at least one spy, maybe more. It'll also have the best horses at the fairest prices. Tillmon is a little farther on down the road and it's much smaller. Less chance of somebody realizing what you are there...an even smaller chance you'll find anything but a plowhorse."
It was Inthas's turn to chew on a nail. "No magic steeds to be found eh? None at all?"
Xsyle turned to him, a cheery little smile lighting up her face. "I was hoping you'd ask that. There's a local legend about a fierce winged stallion named Horefrost. They say he appears on summer nights, chilling the air around him unnaturally. If you want I could call him, but you'd have to break him, alone and without help. Your choice. Buy a good horse in the big town, a bad horse in the little town, or try for the magical flying horse all on your own?"
Inthas began chewing on a new nail. He needed a steed if he was going to accomplish anything but his choices seemed grim. Risk detection, by whom he was still clueless, humiliation, when that stupid plowhorse refused to do more than plod, or injury, when the magical stallion refused him.
A painful decision indeed...
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Shady Stoat
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 1:52 am Post subject: |
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I'd say go to Allbridge and procure a good horse from there. Xsyle's got this guy so unsure of himself I don't think he'll want to tackle anything that seems challenging at the moment.
And, given that he's supposed to be the hero, he ought to start sticking up for himself more. Xsyle is acting like a bully and what sort of hero allows himself to be a victim? She may be better than him through more experience, but there's nothing wrong with demanding respect while she teaches him - and if he's not going to get it, then maybe he's better off without her.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 2:09 am Post subject: |
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Yes she's bullying him now. She needs to push him to his limits to see what she has to teach him and what he knows. Thus the poking nagging, the hope he'll pull himself out of self doubt. She wants to see the backbone he has under all that armor.
Don't worry Stoaty. She won't be mean to him forever. She actually likes the guy underneith it all.
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 4:41 am Post subject: |
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I don't have time to give this chapter a through read, but I will get back to you when I do.
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 6:14 am Post subject: |
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F5 Shady. Xysle I think has Inthas best interests in mind, it's that she has an odd way of showing that.
And going for the winged horse seems too elaborate of an idea. If they don't want spies to follow, best not get too fancy of a mount. Though I don't know if Inthas is thinking of that.
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Smee
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:05 am Post subject: |
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Somehow I missed 3 chapters, but I'm back on track.
I was a bit lost in the first half of chapter 5 but 6 and 7 were much better, and then 5 made more sense.
I think go for the big town/good horse. If a spy spots him and gives him some trouble it'll be good practice for him.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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Your absence was noted but I just assumed that you were too busy. Glad to have you back Guildmaster.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 9:43 pm Post subject: |
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New poll...test your voting skill...
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:56 am Post subject: |
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You know how hard it is to resist this place over a weekend? Anyways, I think it best we go for a 'good' horse.
Not much of test, Rai when it's a simple click of a mouse.
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:53 pm Post subject: |
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How typical of you, Lordy.
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| Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 11:25 pm Post subject: |
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Okay I broke the tie...with unexpected results...
--------------------
Chapter Eight: A Bit of Heroics
As the suns rose in the sky Inthas's temper had finally had all it could take. "Look I realize that you don't have to be here, that you're doing me a huge favor by hanging around and teaching me everything that you know but I can't take it any more. I'm sick of being treated like a half-weaned child, an incompetant boob. You might have the better of me in age, experiance, and rank but I've never let anyone push me around before and by the Gods I'm not now. Given time, training, and half a chance I could become someone you'd be proud to associate with." He walked over to a tree and savagely ripped a limb off creating his new walking stick.
"I've gotten little more out of you than 'You're on a quest, I'm your guid, now follow me down the mountain and do everything I say' and that's not going to cut it anymore. I realize that you're probably wondering why you're stuck with me, an experienced but still junior knight. Well I'm wondering what I did wrong to get stuck with an up tight assassin like you." The massive knight strode angrily down the path, casting about him with his massive cudgel, not even bothering to see if Xsyle was following him.
"I'm not asking for much. A little explanation, some respect, a pair of boots would be nice. Is it too much for you to handle, a little civality? I'm doing my best to learn, to not embarass you. I'll do my best to meet the upcoming challenges as best I can but, damn you, quit pushing me around and respect me!" Xsyle was suddenly infront of him, cutting him off, with her eartips quivering and her mouth was little more than a jagged slash in her face.
"You want respect! Earn it Inthas! I'm not just going to give it to you because you've been chosen! Since I became the Champion, and believe you me it might not seem like a long time but it is, I've seen Great Paladins and I've seen Paladins. I'm trying to make you into one of the former instead of the latter but it's not easy! You've chosen the wrong era for the slow and steady method! If you don't shape up fast the Dark Lord's going to be picking your carcass clean."
Inthas waved his arms in the air. "That's another thing! Who is this Dark Lord! Who are these Spies! What's going on." Xsyle stared at the vista that spread out before her, the small cliff where they'd stopped for this 'chat'. She turned her face toward the sky where the twin suns painted it in silver and gold light.
"I can't believe you'd give him six hundred years worth of shifting boarders, changing customs, evolving languages, arts, sciences, and economics and conveinently 'forget' to mention the Dark Lord. You're either getting old or deliberately trying my paitence." Just like that twin bolts of lightning came out of the clear sky to scortch the earth just inches away from Xsyle. "No, that won't work. I'm not backing down this time. Either you tell him or I will tell him my way."
For an instant there was nothing, then the sense of Presences decended and enveloped them. By the time they departed the night was oncoming and the suns had long been set. Inthas stared over the night drenched lands with tears on his face. "Your people..."
"Yes I am the last Kanshugon. The last Pureblood from the Dawning of Pharl. Now you understand don't you. Understand why I must be the firm Taskmistress not the 'gentle but firm guiding hand'." Fpr a moment they were both quiet, watching as the three moons rose. One with his eyes, the other humming a ballad older than the mountain benieth them.
Finally Inthas answered. "Yes I do...and that is why I'm going to ask you to summon Horefrost." Xsyle put a feather light touch on his arm.
"You don't need to do this now Inthas, there'll be plenty of oppertunities in the future to humiliate you." But the big knight only shook his head.
"No, this is something I need to do now. Please send out the call." For a moment all was still again, then he felt the call go out rippling, like a stone thrown into a still pond.
"There is something I should have told you before Inthas. Horefrost isn't the only magical steed on the mountain. There is also Balefire who brings the blackness of abyssal night to a summer's noon. He too might answer the call."
Oppertunites to humiliate him huh? This must be one of them. "You realize that this information might have been helpful a few moments ago."
"Yes that's why I'm telling you at all." They stood waiting then, until the night grew suddenly cold and the smell of charred ashes reached the spot where they stood. "They're here." She whispered suddenly. Inthas brought his hand up to his cloak gem, a habitual gesture that was supposed to tempt luck into aiding him.
This time, however, he found himself suddenly cloathed in armor with his sword in his hand. Courage flooded his veins like a heady wine and he turned boldly to face the creatures that now flanked the path behind him. He was truely amazed by what he saw there.
On the left, his pinions ice encrusted, his breath steaming in his self imposed chill, stood Horefrost. His forehoof tore the earth under him nervously, frost furrowing the ground and spreading each time he touched a massive silver hoof to the ground. His white coat sparkled like snow under the sun, like crushed diamond drops, and his silky mane and tail were straight from a blizzards heart.
On the rigth, wings made of ebony flames, smoke rising from his four iorn hooves, pranced Balefire. His mane and tail were comprised of ever rippling fire, sparks of darkness jumping clear of them to deaden the night around him to complete lightlessness. His coat gleamed and glistened, a patch of darker than black amid the inky cloud that spread from him, consuming the moonslight utterly.
They took one look at each other and began to rear and paw and trumpet their clariant calls at each other. Their ears were pinned back against their skulls, teeth bared in open snarls. Inthas noted that Balefire had fangs with Horefrost had razor sharp hooves. The pair acted exactly like stallions battling for control of the herd. From what seemed like far behind him Inthas heard Xsyle's voice. "Did I mention that they hate each other with a passion?"
Bravely, heart pounding in his ears like tribal drums from the deserts of Akahmad, he walked down the path until he was dead center between the two stallions. Then he put his fingers to his lips, gauntlets and all, and whisteled the comman for 'Stand Ready' that was taught to all knights during their traning. Amazingly the pair of maddened stallions dropped to all four hooves and stood looking toward him for more commands.
Gently he sheathed his sword, feeling naked without it's reassuring weight, and reached out his hands to the massive stallions. He waited, sure that if they were not burned off or frozen solid that the horses would simply bite them off. He then gave the command for 'Come to Me'.
Almost instantly he felt two warm, velvety noses bump his palms. He turned and looked, astonished to find that both the massive beasts had come onto the path, separated only by the space of his body. He was even more astonished to find that their magic, flames and ice, had vanished and that a pair of magnificent chargers remained.
A plan formed in Inthas's head. With one quick movement he stepped from inbetween the huge beasts leaving them with no separation. They eyed each other once and then turned back to him, centuries old hatred forgotten in an instant. "Amazing. They remind me of a pair of charger's I once had. My mother bought my brother and I each a good horse as presents one year. My brother ran away before he could be given his though so she sent the colts to me."
"I was returning for her funeral when they disappeared. I missed them so much, especially on the walk up the mountain. I brought them both because I thought that my brother might attend, that I might be able to give him his mount, well-trained and well raised. But he never showed and I..."
Xsyle laughed. "They should seem familier...but that is a tale for a later night. For now let it suffice you to learn that you've earned a small mesure of respect from me Inthas...not enough to change how I'll treat you but enough."
The stallions offered no argument when Inthas's armor and sword returned to the gem. No argument as he mounted Horefrost. And Xsyle stood easily against the massive charger's flank, a map in hand. "Look Inthas. We are here, Wraith Mountain in Mascarella. Our destination is there, the Tower of High Magik in Finerss. We've got several options of travel."
She spread the map out farther, allowing him to see all the routs. "We can go due south, along the caravan route, through Amfra and Curassis. Or we can swing east a bit and follow the Escarpment all the way. Or we can go west through Fullheilm Marsh and BlackGate."
"Well due south and we'll attract attention...but it's the shortest. The Escarpment's not a problem with flying horses but well be running chronically short with supplies and the Marsh is known to swollow men whole while BlackGate is a known paradise for 'unsavory' characters." He couldn't help but notice Xsyle's grin at that.
"All and all I think we should go..."
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Smee
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| Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2006 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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Well I caught up, but still missed the poll. 
Nevermind.
Interesting chapter, although a little 'easy' in places. I think you have plans to explain that though, so I'll not mention them now.
I agree with Lordy, take the escarpment.
Happy Writing
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2006 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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Hmm. Seem to have missed this chapter when it was posted on Sunday.
Your description of Inthas calming of the two stallions, I thought really showed something of his character. I don't know how else to explain it really. But I certainly saw something of the character other than a bratty, whiney knight, and paladin in training.
I definitely see Xysle wanting to go through towards the Gate. But since its Inthas' choice, I think he would rather go through the escarpment.
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Shady Stoat
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| Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2006 10:51 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, life's rough enough for the Paladin at the moment, without adding extra trouble. Go for the escarpment.
I liked the dialogue more this time. There was a sense of balance between the two of them that had been lacking before. I'm still not convinced by her malicious tricks, but I'll wait to see how the relationship develops now...
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 11:08 am Post subject: |
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Why does this DP seems somewhat one-sided?
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 9:43 pm Post subject: |
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I gave you guys plenty of good options...each one will make a chapter with more twists and turns than a sidewinder snake on a hot summers day....
You all just seem to think that one way happens to be much better for him than the others...
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 10:30 pm Post subject: |
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Well I know we had options. It's just that one seems better than the other. There's probably no need to put up a poll.
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| Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 3:46 am Post subject: |
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There have been numerous examples of when poll votes haven't matched comments either in number or opinion.
It's always worth sticking up a poll, if only to catch those Players that don't comment for whatever reason.
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| Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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Right Smee! I call for a vote...so vote!
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| Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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Voted.
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| Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:57 pm Post subject: |
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Well I cut this vote short because...well...I already knew what was gonna be decided...so no sense in keeping you waiting...
-----------------------
Chapter Nine: Logistics and Plotting
He tapped the map gently. "The Escarpment. With the magic horses we should be able to make the trip in...six, seven weeks tops." Xsyle gave a knowing smile and wrapped up the map. The little voice in the back of his mind chirped a warning but Inthas, caught up in the heady rush of his success with the stallions and the sense of adventure, ignored it.
The map vanished from whence it came, wherever that was, and Xsyle squinted into the darkness. "Well perhaps we should devote some practice time to the planning of this undertaking...as you already mentioned supplies will be a problem." Inthas grinned and rubbed Balefire's nose. Anything that stopped Xsyle from kicking his seat across the realms of sleep was good in his book.
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The next morning he woke with a start, surprising since Xsyle had let him plan the trip, with minimal help other than the occasional 'eh' or 'hum' or derisive snort. However, after studying the map to it's death, he'd come to the conclusion that running out of supplies would be the least of their worries. There were several interesting markings on the map, in a very old unusual language, that could have ment anything.
But whenever he asked Xsyle about it she'd shrug her shoulders and say, "Don't ask me, the map came with the job." Apparently Champions got equipped by the Gods as well...that must explain those odd gauntlets of hers. Yet, strange markings aside, his sense of adventure was undimmed.
Thus the morning brought with it a grand sense, undimmed by the fact he now would have to buy supplies...with outdated coinage. "So the fate we escaped going to buy the horse in Allbridge now comes back to us." Inthas turned to Xsyle.
"So just what are we up against? I mean are they that important to the Dark Lord?" Xsyle looked at him then pulled out the map again. Inthas really had to learn where she kept things. She tapped the small region that was labled 'Wraith Mountain' in a larger zone marked Mascarella. The map magically zoomed in to show a detailed map of the region.
"At the top of this mountain are the Wight Caves...a place where all the dead on the mountain are buried." Inthas noted that...it didn't seem practical to him but then tradition wasn't known for being particularly practical. Xsyle pointed to another spot on the map.
"This is Allbridge, one of two major towns on the mountain and the only access across the Ghoul Gap." Inthas shuddered. It was said that a great monster had once broken the crust of the world to create the gap, and that ghosts of those who's loved ones had been to tired or lazy to carry up the full way sought revenge upon the unwary for the injustice done them.
"I have no doubt that the Dark Lord will have at least one major agent there, for the simple fact of harnessing the engeries in the Gap for his own uses. Most likely there'll be two with several rings of under thugs. It won't be pretty and it won't be easy to get anywhere unnoticed but with the training I've given you it should be enough."
Inthas tapped the map thoughtfully, a name near the base of the mountain catching his interest. "And what's this place."
"Watch, the second major town on the mountain, the last in this region. You'll note that the southern trade route runs straight through it and it exports thousands of phrls, the current currency, in Spiritwoods each year. Inthas, startled, looked at all the trees around him.
"So the whole economy of the mountain is built on the trees...on lumber?"
"Well that and would-be heroes adventuring up the mountain, spending coin in towns along the way, but never coming down again. These good folks have learned how to make the legends of their mountain work for them. For instance, those stallions you so recently aquired. Over one hundred questers met their doom trying to catch them last year alone. These people make a substantial profit off idiots."
Inthas's eyes widened just a bit at that. "Well, will the Dark Lord have any agents there?" Xsyle gave him one of her 'you've been ignoring me' looks.
"Naturally. It's a huge market for magical woods and magical goods, plus being on a major trade artery. There'll be more agents there than in Allbridge. A risk of danger so high that it reminds me of my youth..."
Inthas returned to the map. "Can you have it move to the region surrounding the mountain?" Xsyle snapped her fingers and the map zoomed out, showing Inthas the region around the mountian again. After studying the map for a few moments he put his finger on a small marking off to the southwest...the last marking before the Escarpment rose out of map.
"What about here?" Xsyle focused the map once more, staring intently at the smudge mark...which had resolved into a moderately sized township.
"Ridgegate. It's a decent little town that ships farmgoods to the city of Watch. It's known for it's good food and fertile feilds. A garrison of the Mascarellian army was built there some years back to prevent invasion from over the Escarpment, though who'd be stupid enough to try that I have no clue."
Using the span between his first two fingers as a guide, Inthas 'walked' his way from where they were now...to that little township. "Would there be an agent there?" Xsyle shrugged.
"If there is...he's not really high on the food chain. However I'd rule this village out as your supply station Inthas."
"Why?"
Xsyle tapped one of the mysterious 'marks' on the map. "Because whatever this means...it can't be good..."
-----------------
Where do you go?
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LordoftheNight
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| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 5:55 am Post subject: |
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Well, this could be a chance to prove himself to her - go in, disregarding any danger posed by the mysterious symbol, in a chance to impress her with his bravery - or possibly foolhardiness.
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:40 am Post subject: |
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Hmm. I think otherwise. I think Xysle is right to be suspicious of that area. Seems too quiet, and unknown of a place. I would say head to Allbridge.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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We be polling so now be there voting here...
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Chinaren
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| Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:38 pm Post subject: |
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| I voted for Watch, for no strong reason.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 7:28 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry...the poll malfunctioned. Ridgegate was supposed to be option three but it didn't appear...damn.
Right then tell me if you want Ridgegate and I'll keep track of those votes...
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Chinaren
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| Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 8:23 pm Post subject: |
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Maybe get Smee to delete the poll and start again, before too many people vote.
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Smee
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| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 12:48 am Post subject: |
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New option added - only Chinaren needs to let you know if he wants to change.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 8:57 am Post subject: |
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Many thanks Mayor Smee! And by the way, since I don't believe I've said it before...Congrats!
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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Voted.
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| Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 12:35 pm Post subject: |
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Humm...Ridgegate...you people want to see violence and heroics...okay then..
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Chapter Ten: No Sure Way
Inthas mounted Balefire, just because he was closer, and looked at Horefrost with a thoughtful expression. Xsyle walked over to him with two leaves and a twig in her hand. "You're going to go to Ridgegate...I can already see it in your eyes." Inthas turned to ask her how she could see anything...then thought the better of it. Something he just didn't want an explanation for.
Slowly Xsyle concentrated on the small objects in her hands. There was the bright flash of magic that momentarily dazzled Inthas, and when he looked back she held a pair of sturdy green boots in one hand and a soft, sturdy rope in the other. With deft movements she handed him the boots and looped the rope securly around Horefrost's neck.
"These will come in handy for you on your journey." Slowly Xsyle returned to where the map was spread out on the ground. She knelt over it again. Inthas couldn't resist asking the question that had been on the tip of his tounge since he'd first seen the map.
"Xsyle...how can you read that?" He saw a smile quirck the side of her mouth.
"The map is magic if you havn't noticed, a very special type of magic. I can feel it's every eddy and whirl, it's every line and conture. Thus I can read the names and landmarks just by brushing my fingers over it like so." To prove her point she traced her finger over the word Ridgegate, following every arc, whirl, and curlique exactly.
"I knew were you were tapping because you have a magic about you Inthas, comes with being one of their Paladins. You left a bit of it on the map each time you touched it, allowing me to find where your fingers had been, that and the fact that every time you tapped you created a sonic ripple that mapped the surrounding surface for a few feet. Once I knew where you were talking about I simply supplied my own knowledge of the place."
"You mean you've been to Ridgegate." Xsyle's smile faded as she rolled up the map and tucked it away. Slowly she wandered back and swung up on Horefrost's back. The stallion snorted and danced under her and she ran a soothing hand down his neck. "Thought you said you didn't need a horse."
"I don't but this way I can keep my level of 'desturbing' down to a minimum. The less magic I use, the fewer ripples of effect I cause, the lower the chances I'm detected. I'm not wandering around in a shade state because I like to you know." Inthas nodded. When you were the last surviving member of your race...it made sense to take precautions. He coughed guiltily.
"The gifts you just gave me then..." Xsyle chuckled.
"Don't feel bad. A pair of decent Healing Boots and an Everope are hardly major arcana...unlike the spacial displacing I'd have to do to keep up with a flying horse." With that she patted Horefrost on the neck and the stallion took to the air, Balefire right behind.
Inthas had never flown before, having never mastered any of the levitation magics taught in his Advance Arcana course during his knightly training. It was amazing, to have the wind rushing past you at amazing speed, the chill bite of the air telling you this is living. The ground benith you rushing past at terrifying speeds that were both fearful and exhilerating.
Too soon Xsyle directed them toward the ground well enough away from Ridgegate that no one in the small town could possibly have seen him. With a happy air he trotted into town. People on the streets stopped and stared open-mouthed as he passed them, a stranger in well kept clothing with not one but two flying horses.
He practically reeked of magic. He stopped his horses outside the towns general shop and wandered in, the bell over the doorway tinkling merrily as he entered. "Good day young fellow!" The man called in Pharlese. "Can I help you?"
Inthas wandered over and laid an arm on the counter. He was amazed that the man couldn't see Xsyle, who stood right next to him with her head cocked to the side, using the echos of the simple greeting to 'see' the inside of the store. Turning on his polietest smile Inthas nodded. "I sir, am an Adventurer from the northern side of Wight Mountain. I've recently come down off the mountain with plenty of plunder but precious little in the way of supplies."
The man behind the counter nodded. He was the big jovial sort, used to rebuffing any offense with a warm smile and meaty handshake. His belly jiggled a bit under his homespun wool shirt and plain leather vest. "Ah so it's victuals and the like your after eh...what did you say your name was again son?" Inthas had never lied in his life yet it didn't seem prudent to tell the man his real name...thus he used his childhood nickname.
"Name's Thatz neighbor." He offered a hand which was only slightly bigger than the meat hook that clasped it.
"I'm Jhodivar young Thatz, inkeeper and shopkeep here in Ridgegate. I know how to outfit you for any kind of travel to any kind of land, spent time as a trader in my youth don't ya know." Inthas nodded politely. The man's eyes sparkled. "But seeing's how you're a noble adventurer there's only one direction you'll be traveling from here...up the Escarpment no doubt."
"Why yes I am. It seems like a good route to other lands...a road less traveled. I didn't want to take the caravan route because I hadn't been off the mountain a minute when some nifle of a theif tries to steal one of my horses. Those beasts'll fetch a pretty penny in southern markets I wager." Jhodivar nodded.
"Ah so then you didn't come to slay the Grappion?" Inthas shook his head.
"Nope, can't say as I've heard of the Grappion. What is it." Jhodivar shook his head.
"Northerners...no offense intended but you lot are about as observent as an ox. It's not a what...it's a who." For a moment he glanced around nervously, then his smile returned and he began to bustle about the shop piling up all the goods, including journy food, that Inthas would need. When everything had been parcled up Jhodivar turned and smiled at Inthas. "There you go young Thatz...three silver dinna's a bargain for you!"
Xsyle nudged him sharply in the ribs. "Bargain him down to two and you'll have a good price for the goods...don't settle for more than two dinna's and three copper nu's. Oh and incase you didn't know ten nu's equals one dinna." Inthas looked up at the man.
"I may make my way adventuring Jhodivar but that dosen't mean I wasn't raised around trade. I'll give you a dinna and a half for all that." Jhodivar reeled back.
"Ah! I couldn't even buy them that cheaply and I still have a family to feed. I couldn't do less than two dinna seven nu." Inthas took his head.
"A dinna and eight."
"Two and four."
"Two dinna and that's my final offer. I could always take my money somwhere else." Jhodivar was sweating at the thought of loosing a customer. Besides he wasn't really loosing on the deal...he just wasn't getting as much cream as normal.
"Two dinna it is young Thatz and may I say you drive a hard bargain." When the coins were poored out Jhodivar gave him a raised brow over their antiquity. Then, remembering Inthas was an adventurer fresh off the mountain, he took them. Inthas gave him a slight smile and left the shop with all his parcels in hand...or in his arms as it were. He then encountered his second problem, tack for his horses.
Jhodivar looked up at him as the bell tinkled again. "You know if there's a saddler in town that can make something for flying horses?" Jhodivar shrugged.
"Old Amous is the leatherworker...don't know if he can do exotic work though...you can always ask him. His shop's next to the stables down the street." Inthas gave Jhodivar a friendly nod and told the horses to guard his packages while he went in search of tack.
He found Old Amous finishing the stitching on a vest when they walked in. "Excuse me sir. Jhodivar down the street said you were the man to see about tacking up my horses." The old man didn't speak, merely jabbed a thumb at the wall of saddles and bridles that lined one wall, most of them built along the lines of the Mascarellian Military.
"I don't think you understand me sir...they're rather peculiar horses...they can fly." With great care the man put down the vest and turned to Inthas.
"Flying horses you say? Are they here now?"
"Just down the street sir. Infront of Jhodivar's shop." Amous stood and grabbed his knarled cane and a measuring tape from where they sat next to him. He motioned for Inthas to follow him. Xsyle walked up beside Inthas and whispered in his ear.
"Be careful of this one. He's got elvish blood in his veins. Wouldn't be surprised if he knew something was walking with you two. He'll be able to make you your tack alright, might even magic it a bit, so don't cheat him and don't bargain...just give him what he asks."
Amous looked over both horses, something close to a smile stealing over his sour features. Bring them to the stables boy and be sharpish about it! With that he turned and ambled down the street, leaving Inthas to bring both stallions and his packages to the stables. Amous joined him shortly after he finished his final trip.
"Right this one here's got fire in him while this one's got ice...that means they both need special harnesses just for them, harnesses that double for riding and packing since it don't seem likely you'll be carrying all that stuff by yourself. Now be you be having any armor boy...I need to see you in it to get the measurement's right."
Xsyle only shrugged when Inthas covertly glanced her way and tapped his 'cloak pin'. A moment later he was covered in armor, head to toe, and holding his massive sword. Amous looked at him for a moment and something stole into his eyes. One palsied hand pointed to the emblem engraved on Inthas's chest.
"The Order of the Skyeye Rose! But...you're all supposed to have perished years ago!" Inthas made a shushing gesture with his hands and again glanced at Xsyle who was shaking her head.
"Old man for the love of the God's keep quiet!"
"You're on a quest ain't you! Well I'll make your tack alright, the best tack ever seen! But in return you'll have to do something for me."
"What?"
The old man's eyes went steely and his face set. "Kill the Grappion! Slay the beast!"
-----------------------
Inthas felt next to naked as he scrambled over the rocks at the foot of the Escarpment. The huge wall of solid earth reared above him a thousand feet high. A steep trail had been cut into it's massive face, more steps than any man cared to count. And here he was, in the dark, about to face some terrible menace with only his armor, sword, wits, and a very unwilling Xsyle.
She moved gracefully, hopping rock to rock though she might have glided right through them. Her humming was nearly inaudible over the gentle night breeze and Inthas found her choice of a lullabye rather appropriate. He hopped down from the last boulder and onto the first landing on the stairs where Xsyle was already waiting for him.
"Amous said he attacks farther up, around the tenth landing. Should I rest or should I go?" Xsyle said nothing, only cocked her head further to one side. "Fine then we'll keep going." They moved onward, each of his steps echoing against the raw stone like a horses hoof on a chariot track.
The muffled thuds stirred outward on the breeze, drifiting upward to the concealed crevass where something unspeakably evil stirred. It's long snout poked out into the wind and took three long sniffs. Satisfied that it's prey was approaching, the Grippion oozed out of it's diurnal dwelling and into the cool shadows of it's hunting time.
Xsyle must have known where it was but she gave Inthas no warning. He almost didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. The thing seemed to drop out of the stars and land all around them with sticky, pus covered legs and the stench of death covering them. A tounge as stout as warf rope, thick as a tree limb, and slimy as most innards are descended to wrap around Inthas's neck.
He hacked about him ineffectually with his sword, the bespelled blade barely denting the thing's gooey hide. He did managed to strike a heavy blow on the tounge and spared himself the fate of suffocation. He made the mistake of glancing upwards though, looking into a maw filled with six circular rows rotting, yellow fangs, black boiles, and three long toungs that led to the belly of the beast.
A stench like nothing he'd ever known before made Inthas rech as his stomach heaved and his eyes water, blurring his vision. He raised his sword again and felt the beasts maw close on his arm like a vice, the teeth grating shrilly on his armor. Legs, too many for one creature to have possession of, gripped him with their chipped, green claws, as the pus slathered his armor, making him stick within it's grasp. "Xsyle help me!"
She shook her head. "I can't! The Grappion is a Tainted Wirinia. Wirinia are only vernerable to powerful magic!" Inthas groaned as he felt the bones in his arm snap. Great and he'd never finished his Advanced Arcana lessons! Even the sword, enchanted both by man and Gods, and he hadn't a clue how to use it's powers.
"Maybe you should have taught me magic then!" His leg buckled under him. He tried to call on the Lord...to no avail. "This things sheilding me!" Xsyle glumly nodded as a talon passed through her.
"Mabye I should have but you must try Inthas...you must try. Surely you know a spell that might defeat the monster!" Inthas racked his brain, trying to both resisted the beast and summon the ability to cast. "I'm not a wizard Xsyle! You have to help me! You can't let me die here!"
--------------------
What do they do?
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LordoftheNight
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| Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 2:59 pm Post subject: |
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Umm..die?
Reload from the last saved point?
Get cheats from the internet?
Buy a new game?
Realisitcally though - or as realistic as a story can be - could she fuse with the creature in some way, and try and control it? Or at least withstrain it long enough for him to summon something up?
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 4:22 am Post subject: |
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Well if Inthas can't do magic, how is he going to summon something? It was Xysle that called forth the flying horses.
Is there a possibility of having the weapons magiked or something? Would that work?
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:21 am Post subject: |
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His sword's already got uber enchantment's upon it Rave...unfortunately he hasn't gotten to the point in his lessons where he knows how to use them.
But the fusing with the creature thing is an interesting possibility...I could do some good twists on that...
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2006 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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Okay poll's up...do some vote casting!
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| Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 11:37 am Post subject: |
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Hey Kalanna,
Good to see the Hero being tested a bit.
I voted for summoning the horses - time we see what they can do.
Happy Writing
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 9:17 am Post subject: |
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I agree with Smee. Surely these mystic horses can do something more than fly.
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| Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 1:36 am Post subject: |
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Right, well I can't leave you hanging now can I? Time to get moving on these chappys...
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Chapter Eleven: A Loss of Guidance
For a moment Xsyle stood there as if paralyzed and Inthas feared, more now than ever, for his life. The wretched creature above him gave a gods awful shriek before bearing down with it's full weight. A tear leaked out of his eye as the bones in his broken arm first ground together then punched through his skin to scrape the inside of his armor. Starbursts of pain lanced across his vision. "Xsyle!"
The Wirinia suddenly backed off and gave a terrible shriek as a large boulder landed on it. Xsyle, perched on a jutting rock just above them leaned out and whistled shrilly. Inthas felt the rippling of magic again, just like he'd felt it on the mountain when she'd summoned the horses for the first time. Wirinia felt them two, it's mutilated head whirling around to search for the source of the magic.
"Inthas, get away from it now! I'll keep it distracted until the horses arrive!" Inthas didn't see the point in calling the horses, other than to make a quick escape, but he was more than glad to try scrambling away from the putrid Grappion. Yet fate was not with them. The moment Inthas moved the rattle of his armor alerted the creature that it's wounded supper was escaping.
It spun viciously, lashing out with it's spare legs, and knocked Inthas off balance. He only just managed to catch hold of the rock, digging steel clad fingers into the solid stone, before he hurtled into space. More boulders rained down upon the Grappion as Xsyle scrambled across the rock face, nimble as a squirrle, and kept pelting the distracted creature.
For a moment, Inthas breathed a sigh of reliefe...then his fingers began to slide. As he trickled ever closer to his sealed fate, something, a tiny spark long dimmed by mis, and dis, use flaired to white hot brilliance. Reaching deep inside himself, Inthas sent out his own Call to Horefrost and Balefire. His own ethreal whistle to the flying steeds whipped out through the night, it's power drowning Xsyle's tenative whisper like a rogue wave a fishing vessel.
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Back in Ridgegate Amous's head pulled up at the same time the stallion's did, hearing a call no one else in town could have. He simply lifted the half finished harness off Balefire and nodded to the pair. "That's right boy's. Go help your master." Horefrost snorted, lipping the magical tack that adorned his snowy back. Amous shook his head. "GO ON! GET!!"
The stallions didn't need to be told twice. They lept skyward, massive wings churning the night air into mismatched eddys of hot volcanic ash and chilling winter snow. Townspeople stared out their windows in awe and more than one child that night ended his prayers to the Gods with 'and I want a magical flying steed when I grow up.'
Like star and it's shadow, they flew off, snorting smoke and freezing fog, ready to do battle with whatever it was that had the audacity to threaten THEIR master.
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"Xsyle...I...I'm slipping!" Xsyle lept off the cliff face, passed through the now completely befuddled Grappion, and gripped Inthas's arm in a vice. He stared at her white cloth bandage, desperately wishing he could stare into her eyes, because that was how the hero's in old legends always died, and realized that he really was about to die.
Xsyle's grip tightened as if she could sense his dispare. "Hold on Inthas. Don't give up the fight because the odds aren't in your favor." The Grappion shot out a leg, aiming for the magical disturbence around Inthas's hand and roared in frustration as it passed through Xsyle's intangible form once again. She kicked one of the many loose rocks at it and grinned when the creature clutched a wounded eye.
Inthas felt himself loose another inch. "Tell me Xsyle...what's dying like." The assassin, with a sever frown, reached down with a long leg, and kicked him lightly across the face.
"Only the weak die Inthas! Only the pathetic give up! The God's didn't choose you because you were weak and pathetic! Fight man! Find your will to survive!" Inthas tried, tried to use his broken arm as dead weight leverage, tried to haul himself up.
Whatever power had allowed him to summon the horses burned even hotter within him, seemed to blaze like a million suns. He felt it filling ever empty place in him, streaching the bounds of his soul to capacity. He closed his eyes and sought deep. For a moment the world went still as a God Chosen Paladin came into his own.
A million miles distant, raging in his tower over the loss of his precious pets and the slow going of his war, the Dark Lord felt this emerging power and glanced nervously at the pair of swords mounted on his wall. He relaxed only slightly when they didn't even quiver. "A Paladin...how charming." His laughter made his guards shiver and his smile would have done his master proud.
In Ascanda, the Lady congratulated the Lord on his fine choice for a mortal crusader. The Lord shook his head. "He only now opens his eyes. Don't call him a warrior before he takes his first steps." Behind them four sets of elemental eyes met, wondering how their mistress's spirit faired.
In a deep darkness many coils rustled and the Evil One himself stirred. Opening a pair of eyes greener than vile poison, he moved closer to the blood pool that allowed himself to view the Outside. He saw the face of the young Paladin, saw the shade of the assassin and chortled to himself. "My minion truely has his work cut out for him. Your move enemy mine..."
Kneeling on the cold stone of the mountain Xsyle swore as the Power flaired around her. Pure white light coursed up Inthas's arm and into her own aura. She gritted her teeth as the innocence of the man flooded her own corrupt system, feeling like a flaying knife slowly peeling her skin away inch by inch. Yet she would not let Inthas fall...she would not allow her grip to weaken. With an effort most living men could not have called upon, Xsyle pulled her feet under her and heaved.
Slowly she hauled Inthas onto the rock landing, standing herself up in the process. With unseeing eyes she saw a truer picture of the young warrior than either the Dark Lord or the Gods, both evil and not. She shook her weary head. "Boy...you've got trouble ahead...too much trouble."
A ringing neigh split the air followed by another. Twin jets of ice and fire poured out of the sky, targeting the Grappion, who'd been bliding and stunned by the waves of power pouring off Inthas. The beast gave one massive scream of pain before becoming little more than dust on the night wind.
A small jewel winked from within the pile of ash. Xsyle bent to retrive it and turned, holding the gem to Inthas. He reached out a gauntleted hand was surprised when he realized it was his broken arm that took the gem from Xsyle's palm. He stared at her. "But how..."
His question was cut short as the unflappable Xsyle collapsed to the ground, like a puppet who's strings have been cut, and seemed to fade. "XSYLE!"
"Go Inthas. Go to the Tower and find the Scroll. I'll meet you there I promise." Even as the frightened Paladin's hands passed through her form like sand through an hourglass, she smiled. "Go. I leave the Map to guide you. Make haste Inthas. The darkest hours are still approaching."
He knelt there for a few moments, staring at his useless, empty hands. The horses nosed him and stamped their hooves, worried and impaitent to be on their way. His sword lay a few feet away, glimmering with the first ray's of a cheerless dawn. Lacking any zeal or motivation beyond the fact he couldn't be without a sword, Inthas reached out and took it, consigning it, and his armor, back into the jewel with one beleaugered thought.
He stood, the weary stand of an utterly defeated man, and barely managed to haul himself onto Horefrosts back, strapping himself into the harness. The white stallion fixed him with one blue eye and gave a worried whicker as Balefire came over to nudge his hair. Inthas managed a worn smile. "I'm fine boys. Back to Ridgegate I should think. We'll plot our moves from there."
As the steeds took to the sky in the earilest rays of the new dawn Inthas felt the glow inside him. It had diminished now, from raging sunfire to single candle glow, and seemed as small and weak as a newborn kitten. He suddenly realized what a force Xsyle had about her, a presence and a power he was only now beginning to feel in it's abscense.
He rubbed his hands over his face and allowed a few tears of fear, shame, and regret to fall. "I cannot gain without losing, I cannot lose and continue to gain. How am I to use this power of mine if I don't know the first thing about it?" As Ridgegate came into sight, Inthas stared at the gem Xsyle had handed him.
"This is all that's left of the creature that nearly destroyed me. I wonder what's so special about it?" He looked from the gem to the town and back to the gem. Too many things were happening to Inthas, too many new problems. "Life seemed so simple when all I had to do was keep walking and plug my ears. Now what am I going to do?"
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What's Inthas going to do now folks?
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 2:08 pm Post subject: |
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Nice chapter, Rai. It was nice to have a new chapter to read after being away for so long.
Well I think we should listen to Xysle and head for the Tower.
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Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 10:01 pm Post subject: |
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Just read this entire story, its really addictive. I like it a lot.
Inthas should naturally do as Xsyle says and go to the tower and find the scroll. However I dont see it as urgent. He should go back to Amous, ask what the deal was with the Grappion and get his harness for Balefire. Then after he has rested, he can go to the tower.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Reg and it's nice to see a new face around H/A. Thanks all for the comments I'll see if I can't get a poll going over here soon...but first I've got chappys in other stories to write.
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Ravenwing
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| Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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Well you did start writing a lot of stories, Rai. I guess they all just caught up to you. LOL. I will be looking for that poll.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 1:10 am Post subject: |
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Hey guys, girls, and assorted mystical creatures out there I'm back from my too long forced hiatus! Here's your poll now start paying attention again...there's a few two part chappys brewin' if youse all will start voting.
*flies off to write more on other stories.*
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| Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 11:09 am Post subject: |
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Well this is a low point in the tale's life but it will continue...the outlook seems bleak though. Please dear readers return...
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Chapter Twelve part One: Unexpected
The whole town seemed to be waiting for him, roused from their beds by the surge of Inthas's power, called to stand in the square as their hero returned. As he landed on his shimmering white horse, the sun sparkling off his beautiful armor and sitting behind his head like a halo, they clapped, cheering his victory. He forced a smile and extended the jewel toward the townspeople. "I bring you proof the beast is dead!"
A gasp ran through the crowd as the sparkel of light in their eyes reflected the sparkle of light in the heart of the jewel. "Quite a treasure you've got there boy. It was merely a rumor that the Grappion had that in his possession." Jhodivar licked his greasy lips. Inthas held it out to him.
"Take it. It belongs to the village does it not?" Inthas was shocked when Jhodivar and all the villagers surrounding him recoiled from the gem as though he was offering them a vile poison instead.
"Nay young Thatz. That is your treasure now. We'd like to kindly ask you to take it an go." That really surprised him. Go? As in go before they became an angery mob and chased him out? The horses were becoming defensive and Inthas worried he might injure one of the townsfolk before he made good his escape.
"Just a minute now! I havn't finished the tack for that black beast of your's yet sonny! I ain't gonna have it laying around my shop until my bones turn to dust! You just get down off that white horse and come help me finish!" Inthas could have kissed Amous at that instant.
The cranky old man was standing there shaking a feeble fist at him. With a sigh of reliefe Inthas slid off Horefrost's back and politely excused himself from the villagers, who parted for him to pass, many making the ward against evil. With an angery snort Balefire followed, his hoofprints charred into the mud.
Once they were safely back in Amous's shop Inthas took the soft rag the old man handed him and began to buff his brestplate. After a few strokes the engraved insignia of his order reappeared. "I have to hand it to you Amous. That stuff really worked."
"Humph. I'm old not stupid. I know what works and what doesn't. Hold still!" The last bit was directed at Balefire who moved to nudge his master affectionately. "Hum, these two really seem to be fond of you. How'd you manage to do that? Most magical horses I've met in my lifetime would rather take your arm off than take sugar out of your hand."
Inthas opened his mouth and promptly shut it again. He didn't have a ready made explanation for where they horses had come from...nor why they seemed fond of him. It wasn't like he could tell the old man that he was the Lord's Paladin and the horses had probably sensed that and decided it was better to like him than hate him. "Speechless eh?"
"Well sir I don't rightly know how to explain it. I was just in the right place at the right time. I'm lucky you could say." Faster than an old man should have been able to move Amous reached out and caught Inthas's chin just as his armor vanished back into the 'cloak pin'.
"Luck has nothing to do with it boy. I knew from the moment I saw you you had an air about you. And I don't mean that spirit that was traveling with you. By the way, what happened to that?" Inthas watched the old man's gaze soften as he clenched his jaw to control his emotions. He might only have met Xsyle a few days ago but time had flowed much slower in the realms of sleep. Maybe she was unaffected but Inthas was rather attached to her.
Her loss hurt just like the loss of any dear friend. Amous's hand moved to pat his shoulder. "I'm sorry boy. Lemme guess. The spirit of a good friend hung around to help you after they passed on and the Grappion managed to dispell them?"
"Something like that. Only..." Amous didn't press him to finish. He merely went back to stitching the leather tack together.
"Hey, there's some warm cider on the stove in the back. A bit of bread and cheese in the cupboards too. I feel a might peckish myself and I've no doubt that the fight took quite a bit out of you."
"I can't take your food..."
"Eh, what's that? I'm a mite deaf you know. If you'll just get that food you could sit closer..." Inthas smiled. That old man could probably hear better than a rabbit. Gathering two wooden mugs, a pot of cider, a basket of bread, and the wedge of cheese he walked back into the shop. "That's better. Now sit and we'll talk while I finished the tack for this fiery fellow."
"I'm not much of a talker sir..."
"No you're not much of a liar. If I'm not mistaken you're normally an open fellow. However, the reason you're not much of a talker at the moment is because you have some secrets you don't want people to know and are afraid that any attempt at honest conversation is going to end up with you pouring out the whole story. You're also afraid that the cider is going to help."
"Don't miss much do you. She was right about that." Amous's busy eyebrows went up.
"She eh? So your spirit was a lady friend? Mother, Sister, Former Lover?" He winked and burst out laughing at the shocked expression on Inthas's face. "I'll rule out the third one then."
Inthas blew the steam off the top of the mug and took a slow sip. "She was my trainer. Taught me more than I had any right to know. Might have been a little rough around the edges but..."
"But aren't we all. Hand me that pin, thanks." Amous took a long look at Inthas's face and sighed. "Well I've got no secrets to hide so I might as well tell ye why I even agreed to make this tack in the first place." Inthas turned attentively, refilling the man's mug at the same time.
"Once I was young. I was also foolish, reckless, and did as I damn well pleased. I was a bit of an archer and knew how to track like no man's buisness. I didn't like my home much, was too keen on getting out and seeing the world. Half my family wasn't happy about that, the other half practically shoved me out the door." Amous's hands moved of their own accord, his eyes taking on a faraway look common to old men remniscing.
"I fell in with a rough crowd and, too soon, was so indebted to them that I couldn't have gotten away had I wanted too. I was in a mercinary company you see, a sniper for them, and they had enough dirt on my to have a nice fat bounty on my head at any time. I've long suspected the reason they never did was because of a friend of mine.
His name was Duliale and he was a Koshugon blade-mage. Not only was he the best blade-mage I've ever met it was rumored he was the kindred of the dire assassin Adara." At the mention of the name Adara Inthas felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He had sworn to end the life of that foul nightblade, been tracking her down when his mother had died.
"I see you've heard of her? Well even if he was related to her, although he wasn't the kind to lie about something like that, he was very different from her. He didn't want to be in the company any more than I did but he had too. He had a wife and kid, he had to feed them somehow. And as a rumored relative of Pharl's most infamous assassin he didn't get many oppertunities for work.
He saved my life you know. We were hired by a lord to bolster the strength of his garrison. What he didn't tell us was we would be doing that by being bait. We walked right into the enemy lines and were swarmed. I was up in a tree, fireing arrow after arrow until my quiver was dry and their archers were shooting back. One hit me, knocked me from the tree, and their knights surrounded me.
Next thing I knew Duliale was there, cutting through them like they were nothing. I remember he looked at me and said run just as a spear took him through the shoulder. I knew a death wound when I saw it and he screamed something in that language of his that I still don't understand to this day." Amous stopped what he was doing, his hands trembling.
"What I do understand is that the sky turned black, as black as pitch, and a storm whirled up from nowhere. The wind howled, the thunder boomed, and the lightning flashed. I was there, watching him, too stunned to move, when a figure just appeared beside him. Just one flash of lightning and the figure wasn't there, the next flash it was.
I was a woman, a beautiful woman, all in black armor. Oddest armor I've ever seen at that. Never seen anything like it, never could make anything like it, but it was beautiful. He whispered something to her, something I still couldn't understand, and I watched as a tear slid down her nose and she grasped his hands even tighter.
Why he didn't heal himself I don't know. Why she didn't try I can't tell you either. But I can tell you that that woman took the feild. When she walked out there there were nearly a hundred knights on their chargers and around fourty of me mates were still standing. When she walked off that field, not a soul remained."
"Adara." Inthas breathed the name. Amous could have been lying but something, something deep in Inthas, a sixth sense if you will, told him he wasn't. Amous nodded.
"I thought she was going to kill me when she walked back but instead she just picked him up, picked Duliale up like he weighed nothing and looked at me with those eyes of hers...those eyes..." Amous shook himself. " and she said the same thing he had...run."
For a moment there was silence, a long moment. "I'll be damned if I didn't. I ran, fast and hard, and kept on running, until I came to this little hole. I've hid here ever since boy." Amous went back to working, finishing the last touches on the tack.
"My spirit friend was right then. About you being an elf. Because the time of Adara was long ago...very long ago." Amous looked at him.
"And you were there too, just like I was. Those times were your times though I'll be damned if I know how you've managed to stay the hand of time. You were probably another one of those knights that was hunting her down weren't you." Inthas nodded. "Well boy I havn't stayed hidden all these years for no reason. It's said that Koshugon don't age, that they'll live forever unless something kills them."
"There are no koshugon anymore. They've all been killed." Amous looked at him.
"And there are no Knights of the Skyeye Rose yet one stands before me. It's written in the book of the Gods that the Koshugon saw the beginning of this world and that they'll see the end of it. It's my thinking that if any Koshugon could have survived long the scourging it would have been Adara." With a last pat Amous finished the Balefire's armor.
"So that's what made you help me? That I was a Knight of a long dead order?" Amous shook his head. He looked Inthas square in the eye, lock their gazes so tightly Inthas hadn't the heart to look away.
"What made me help you was the fact you look like a damn replica of Duliale."
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Don't you just wanna read part two?
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 4:04 am Post subject: |
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| Kalanna Rai wrote: | | Don't you just wanna read part two? |
Yes, yes I do! Quickly! 
By the way, that chapter could have used a spellcheck.
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Chinaren
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| Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 4:17 am Post subject: |
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Ooh, nice chapter there Rai, except the typos and a couple of grammar oddities.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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Hehehe...so the plot thickens...well keep your camo on Reg. I'' be getting there soon now that interest seems to have returned. I'll try to have it out before weeks end, it's Wednesday here in U.S.A. just to let you know.
And China...what would one of my stories be without typos? At least I'm spellin does right...
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| Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 12:41 am Post subject: |
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Right, now for part two. Enjoy
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Chapter Twelve part Two: Happenings
She was falling down, no being pulled down, dragged by a million unseen hands each as powerful as her own. She oozed through the rock, living essence, until something stopped her, absorbed her. For a moment there was a disjointed feeling, a feeling of weight, and then a skin slipped over her, fitting her just as it should. Her body, her flesh, whole.
This did not bode well in her mind. Yet before she had time to ponder it Xsyle hit a rock floor with a thud that might have killed a lesser creature or certainly shattered most of the bones in it's lower extremites. As it was she sprained her ankle and cut the soles of her feet. A curse slipped between her lips. Her spirit might have been armored with astral replicas of her armor and minor weapons but her mortal flesh was attired in little more than a sheer silk sleeping gown and the soft cloth over her eyes.
Not good if it came down to fighting, especially not here. After a moment of gentle kneeding with the tips of her fingers Xsyle stood. Head cocked to one side she cast about her with senses not possessed by the average person. She swore again. "You must admit that this time I have bested you A..."
"Do not call me that. Say nothing more, you've done quite enough." A dark chuckle swamped her hearing, so vast and encompassing it gave her no sense of where she was or what was around her. But she knew, as all creatures know, great evil ringed her...and she was centered in his coils.
"What, you don't want to know how I managed it? How I stole your sleeping flesh out from under your attentive Masters." She ground her teeth.
"I am not a dog to need a leash, nor a churl to bear mundane burdens. I have no need of masters as only you would dare call me a servant." There was a sound a thousand times worse than nails on a chalk board, yet it rustled like silk on rough planks or the flipping of a thousand old pages in a thousand old books. Evil was moving.
"I would never call you servant. I've never wanted to call you servant. All I've ever asked of you is simplicity itself. I made you, my perfect weapon, shaped you in ways no other could. Cursed you, yes, and blessed you. My weapons fail against your skin, my poisons burn from your blood, and my lies tear like silk before your eyes. Tell me, why have you turned against me?"
She smiled, a truely cold gesture that must have thrilled him to no end. "When you forge a double-edged weapon you must realize that, when you weild it, it may just as well cut your flesh as that of your opponant. I hate to say it but you are not skilled enought to weild such a weapon without injury."
Before another breath could escape her she felt her limbs each encircled by a stout coil as flexible as spiders' silk and just as strong. Scales shreeded the thin dress and bit into her skin, freeing blood to slicken the embrace. Slowly the coils moved, bending Xsyle into a position she might never have been able to obtain save that she had centuries of stretching behind her.
With the ease of a man with all the time in the world his claws, as long as your forearm and as sharp as chipped obsidian, traced along her throat and onto her face. "You dare speak out against me? Your creator?" She spat, aimlessly since she truely was blind at the moment, and was rewarded by a tightening of coils and an angery hiss from him. "Wench."
"You did not create me, nor did they. All of you have twisted me to suit your purposes but only as I humor you. Curse me, bless me, do what you wish but break me...I think not." The claws drug across her face, drawing cuts she knew would scar, marring her face even further. Slowly one caught the edge of the cloth binding her eyes and tipped it up, exposing the empty sockets to the fetid breath that caressed her face in the scent of carrion.
Two claws played at the edge of the sockets, the ragged edges healed by the march of time, reopening the wounds. Wherever the claws stroked came a felling of rot and decay even though she knew neither of those things touched her. The coils twisted her body yet again, causing her to grit her teeth. "A pity really. All these chains heaped upon you, holding you down." The claws pulled back and a forked toung stroked her face as if to make her feel the next words even more.
"Could it be that the one thing you fear is yourself?" The claws descended. She swore as she was thrust into, the claws exploring deeper into the hollows her eyes once occupied. For a moment he was content, then, as suddenly as he came, he withdrew from her. With a blood slick hand she reached up and pulled the cloth down about her empty eyes. Standing like a bent paper doll, she seemed to glide across the floor. "Yes come to me."
He allowed her to sense now, to find her berings. Once again she saw him, or what she could with the imperfect system that served as her sight. She gazed up at him and, with the same lightning speed that had marked her every attack before, she moved, loosening one of the many chains the wrapped her blackened soul in spun gold. With the ease of long practice she looped the garrote around the neck of Sylidor, the dark god.
"If I fear my self, how much more should others?" The evil one gurgled, all of his vast power useless against this, a chain spun from the powers of the Twins themselves. "I could end this war now, destroy you here, in your own lair." Again the gurgles. "True, no god can be destroyed, but I can certainly scatter your power, leaving you too weak to try anything till Pharl is less than desolate."
She eased the pressure, swinging out of his grasp. Rubbing his neck the he chuckled. "You will see. The day will come when sight means more than honor, then you will accept my gift and see again. My Desciple certainly has his work cut out for him. Tell me again why you didn't kill him? If you could destroy me you could have scattered his soul to the wind." Seeing the turn of the conversation she began to search for a way out.
But evil has a way of cutting to the quick of your soul, of finding that which you dearly want hidden and dragging it to light. Truth is the ultimate double-edged weapon and evil may use it at will, as he did so now. "Could it be after all those lessons that you still neglect your master's first lesson? That love is useless? Come now don't tell me that you spared him simpled because he's your..."
The chain lashed cross his snout, cutting off his words like a knife might cut a cord. "Speak again and I'll finish what I started today. I would rather lose my honor than defile my blade. My master could do many things, beat from me the ancient customs of my people was one thing he could not. Now if you'll excuse me I've your downfall to instigate and your plans to ruin. Have a nice day."
With that Xsyle tugged the chain in her hand and only now did the dark god realize that the other end of the chain floated up and disappeared, a link with his hated enemies. As he reached out to her, Xsyle slipped through his talons like the shade she'd been only moments before.
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Inthas stared at Amous like you would stare at a three headed hydra. "What did you say?"
"I said you look like him, just like him." Amous squinted. "Well like him when he was passing himself off as human. You had a human mother if I'm not mistaken right? Duliale had a human wife, at least he always said so. I've waited years for this, centuries in fact. I've always wanted to repay what he did for me somehow and now I can."
"By making me tack?" Amous looked at him with the strangest mix of anger, horror, and disgust on his face.
"Is that all you think my life is worth boy? A couple pieces of tack! No! I'm talking help on your quest. Now don't bother telling me you're not on a quest, the half-blood son of a long dead blade-mage, wearing the armor of a long vanished order, riding steeds of legend, weilding a blade of divine might, and accompanied by spirits of great power is not on anything but a quest." Inthas shut his mouth.
"Now I'm obviously too old to go with you but if you're willing to make a slight detour on your travels, because I'm sure you're not going anywhere near this place, I can arrange for my niece to come with you."
"Your niece?" The image of a young woman with a broom in pesant garb came to mind. "What would she know of war? Of weaponry?" Amous smiled in the way Inthas knew, from long experiance with Xsyle, ment he was in for a mental adjustment.
"I'm sure you realize I'm not human. Bet you might even know I've got elven blood in me. Well what you don't know is that I'm a half-elf, or that my mother was the nobel Lady Triannnia. My niece is Illiriae Asaelor, I'm sure you've heard that name before." Inthas's jaw dropped.
"The Sypi Archer herself." Sypi was an ancient elven term meaning, to command magic, or to bend magic. Needless to day it wasn't given out often. Amous smiled even wider.
"She's always had a bit of a soft spot for me. I used to carry her around on my shoulders and give her sweets. Tell her stories and such. I'm sure she'd be willing to help you, if you're willing to treck to the Arelliniania to find her." With a sinking feeling Inthas pulled out the map Xsyle had left with him.
The Arelliniania was in the far west, well out of his way. It would add months to his journey. "How will you get a message to her." Amous rubbed his hands together.
"You leave that to me. I'll make sure she knows your coming." Inthas stared at the map again. Surely the God's were arranging this for him, repayment for losing Xsyle. Another mage, an archer at that. Yet if they truely wanted Illiriae to travel with him, couldn't they also arrange for her to meet him a little closer to his destination?
Perhaps Amous could send a message asking her that? Or would that be rude? Inthas didn't understand much about elves but he did understand that they didn't hurry...ever. Yet time was of the essence. What was he going to do?
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Well?
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You like?
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"Music makes you braver."
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 12:01 am Post subject: |
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Ask Amous whether it would be polite to send a message asking Illiriae to meet him closer to the destination. Also ask whether she is likely to agree without meeting in person.
If the answer to either question is "no", he should go to her, despite the detour.
If the answers are yes, send the message, being as convincing as possible, and go to the meeting point with all haste.
Powerful allies are always a good thing.
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dragon_fire372
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| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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Wow, I finally caught up with this story. Very good, it is.
Anyway, I agree with Duk Reg. We need someone else to help us. She might even be able to help Inthas learn to control his magic better.
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The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing ~ Edmund Burke
Sans Dieu Rien Without God, Nothing
Visions of Shadow - 2nd part of Uncertain Quests! Chapter Two
Dreamwalker - Relocated to Linear Lane Sixth Chapter
Linear Story Nightrobber Now Complete!
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:20 pm Post subject: |
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Welcome D-Fire and thanks for the comment. I'd nearly consigned this one to the collection heap.
I should be getting the new poll up in a couple of days so keep your eyes open.
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"Music makes you braver."
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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Welcome D-Fire and thanks for the comment. I'd nearly consigned this one to the collection heap.
I should be getting the new poll up in a couple of days so keep your eyes open.
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 10:54 pm Post subject: |
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Right there's a new poll here too...Better hurry up and vote for the proper option...
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"Music makes you braver."
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 10:54 pm Post subject: |
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Right I'm letting the poll continue for a few more days to try and get a few more people to vote. As it stands I'm indebted to one reader in particular, you know who you are, for keeping this story alive.
Thanks from the management.
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"Music makes you braver."
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 4:43 pm Post subject: |
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Okay sending off a message...Enjoy.
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Chapter Thirteen: A Cry for Help
Inthas looked at Amous and rubbed his chin. No offense sir but the 'quest' I'm on right now is of paramount importance. I cannot afford costly delays such as a detour to the elven wood. However, I am alone now on this quest, and can ill afford to turn down help of this nature. Would it be possible to send your niece a message asking her if she would come to meet me a little closer, and would she even agree to such a thing having never met me?"
Amous squinted at him in a most disconcerting manner. "Well you think like he did...weigh all the options then make the best decision you can. I can ask Illiriae if she would consent to meeting you...but she's going to want to know more about you and the nature of this quest you're on...If you cannot tell me such then I cannot help you."
For a moment Inthas struggled to come to terms with this. It was indeed a reasonable request, certainly he would have wanted to know more. Yet he couldn't tell Amous much...he still didn't know how the message was being sent. "I would like to know how you will get such a message across such a distence. The matters you seek to know cannot be transported if there is even the slightest chance my foes might get ahold of them."
Glancing around Amous cackled a bit, flexing his knarled old fingers. "Wait here boy." With that he stood and shuffled off into the dark back of the shop. Many minutes later he returned cradling something in the crook of his arm. Sitting down with a groan and the popping of old bones, Amous set a small velvet-wapped lump on the bench between them.
With a gentle touch he flicked the folds of the cloth open, revealing an emerald stone the size of a grown man's fist. It was polished smooth, light sinking into it's surface, patterns like leaf and water rolling in it's heart. "Behold and elven loliedra one of the great speaking-stones." Inthas stared, enraptured. He'd heard of such things but they were so rare that few other than powerful elf-folk could have ever seen them.
Yet here was one, close enough to touch if he dared. He reached out a cautious hand, reaching for the liquid seeming surface, only to have Amous rap his hand across the knuckles. "Ah, ah. Can't have you touching it...who know's who you might talk to. This stone let's you speak with kindred only. Useful for elves since all elves are descended from the same family, but for you..." Amous stared at him.
Inthas could understand. If he truely was Duliale's son then he might very well end up speaking to Adara...and that was not something Inthas felt he'd relish doing...considering that the dark mage he was up against might well command her loyalty. "So you will speak to her using this?"
"And you will as well boy. She carries a stone on her at all times, making it possible for us not only to hear and see each other, but for our companions to as well." Inthas frowned, if anyone was around the Sypi archer when he spoke to her then they would hear the message as well. Guessing the train of his thoughs Amous remarked, "You'll have to trust my niece to be prudent."
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Back in Ascanda Xsyle landed at the feet of the Gods with a bone shattering thud. Above her THEY conferred, their conversation not reaching her ears, it was not ment for her. Above her a drake, her drake, called out in both exclamation and relife. She'd returned, safe, but far less sound than she had been when she left. Taint oozed off of her now, like poison oil.
Her body was alternately hot and cold, pain wracking her and leaving her shuddering. And, of course, there was still his latest 'blessing' something she wanted like...well like she wanted to be dead. A weight pressed on her back.
We should destroy you now! The weight increased and Xsyle panted feeling the breath driven out of her. Her ears started ringing as her lungs labored for breath. Then suddenly the weight vanished. But we won't. For now you still serve a purpose...For now. There was a sudden feeling of being torn in two and suddenly her spirit and her body were seperate again.
"Does this mean you want me to go back to chaperoneing Inthas?" The weight returned. "I guess not?"
We don't want you Tainting him. She felt like laughing but wisely didn't.
"How am I supposed to Taint him? It's not like I can suddenly transfer my misfortune upon him..." There was a sense of THEM mulling it over. She didn't feel it was prudent to point out that if they had kept her better protected she wouldn't be in this situation.
We have decided. She looked at them. You may return...when he has reached the Tower. Xsyle spluttered.
"But...but..." The weight returned.
That's final. The Presences departed and Xsyle, in a childish moment, stuck her tounge out at them. So she was stuck here until Inthas reached the tower? Setting herself infront of one of Ascanda's many pools she trailed her fingers in the water, summoning a vision of a shadowy figure.
"Who...oh it's you...What's with the headgear?" Xsyle smiled.
"Nevermind the new look...interested in a little excitment?"
"What did you have in mind?"
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Back at Amous's Inthas swollowed hard. All of Amous's arguments were sound, especially the point about trust...but Inthas was new come to the job and sorely lacking guidance and training. Any help would be welcome but not at the cost of damning Pharl.
He turned to Amous yet his decision was stuck in his throat.
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What should he do?
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Well I've left you with another DP, sorry the chappy didn't move things much but everything you heard was of importance....Make informed decisions.
_________________
"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:31 pm Post subject: |
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Greetings dragoness. Came in because well to blunt I was bored, and the title lurred me into reading five pages. Let me say even though my eyes are killing me right now, it was worth it.
The title definetly seems to fit, and if this continues the way it does, it will be a great story.
As for the DP, I would say to accept the help offered. You may not know the girl well, or even who's near her, but right now I think our paladin is going to need all the help he can get. Plus there's the added bonus that if the neice agrees, our paladin may be able to convinence her to help train him in using the new magic he has gained.
The cons of not accepting the help far outway the consquences of accepting it, therefore take all the help you can get, cross your fingers and hope for the best.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 8:53 am Post subject: |
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Welcome to Pharl Din...glad to see you jumping on in. As for your eyes hurting...sorry. Hope you enjoy the rest of the ride as much as you enjoyed the first five pages.
P.S. Con you who me?
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"Music makes you braver."
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Kalanna Rai wrote: | | P.S. Con you who me? |
Kalanna Rai cons like a pro.
Bad puns aside, I am still in favour of getting help. A powerful ally is worth the risks.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 1:17 am Post subject: |
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New poll.
_________________
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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Right the people have spoken and Inthas must be trusting. Enjoy.
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Chapter Fourteen: Ride the Wild Wind
Inthas cleared his throat once, then twice before staring into Amous's eyes. The old man had been trusting enough to tell him the secrets of his past and offer Inthas the key to Pharl's future, Inthas could not afford to question motives. "All right. I'll tell her, tell her everything I know."
Amous's eyebrows twitched upwards. "Everything you know...you mean you don't know it all?" Inthas shook his head, he didn't even know the half of it.
"No, the spirit traveling with me was my guide. She knew everything, or more than she told me at any rate. All I know is what I will relate once you've got that loliedra working." Amous nodded before taking the stone in his bare hands. He closed his eyes, humming ever so slightly.
A glow gathered, like morning dew, on the stone. Slowly a vapor of pure light arose, swirling like a phantom mist in the air, until it formed a circular window. The ageless face of a beautiful elf maid appeared in the pulsing fog. "Uncle Amous! You shouldn't strain yourself so." Amous grinned.
"Ah you always did scold me so Illiriae." The Sypi Archer smiled and then seemed to notice Inthas for the first time, Amous glanced at him. "Oh pardon my rudeness. Illiriae this is my friend Inthas. He has a quest of great importance that he needs your help on."
The elf maid raised a scornful eyebrow. "You seem well enough...what quest is so important or so dangerous that you seek my aid?" Inthas nodded to the lady in the smoke.
"My name is Sir Inthas Jurrsonne. I am a junior knight of the Skyeye Rose. Over four hundred years ago I was sent on my Quest to gain seniority in my order...I volunteered to track down the assassin Adara. I had not been gone long when word reached me that my mother died. By the time I arrived home she'd already been interred in the Wight Caves."
Inthas took a calming breath. He hadn't talked about himself in a long time, it didn't feel right. He also still dreaded having to say the real reasons of his true quest. He owed them both background and explaination but he didn't feel comfortable giving them either.
"I went up to the Wight Caves against the advice of others to see her. The wights captured me and held me in an enchanted sleep until very recently. Then..." He stopped for a moment, gathering his courage and realizing how this was about to sound. "Then Light awoke me. Brilliant light that shone through the mountain it's self. The Gods spoke to me, gave me a new quest and a new Calling."
If the elf maid had raised one eyebrow before she now raised two from what he could see. The smoke mirror was a little distorted now that Amous's hands had started shaking. "A spirit, the spirit of the Gods Champion, a Koshugon called Xsyle, traveled with me. She trained me as we slept, taking me to a dream world where time stretched so that I might learn more fighting skills. Enought to keep me alive in newly dangerous times."
Now Inthas felt badly. He didn't want to recount the experiance with the Grappion. "When Amous sent me to fight the Grappion Xsyle came with me. We didn't realize what we were up against at first, or I didn't at least. Before I knew it I was dangling off the side of the cliff and Xsyle was pelting the creature with rocks. Don't blame her, she couldn't have done much else."
He realized that neither Amous or Illiriae believed Xsyle couldn't have done more than throw rocks but he'd go into detail later. The faster he said it the faster it would be done. "My magic awoke then since my life was threatened...but I've got not idea how to use it. Our lessons never got that far. Xsyle seemed to melt after the battle with the Grappion...I think she must have broken a rule or done something wrong and be taken back by the Gods."
"Now I'm alone on my quest and I think they've arranged this so that I'll have help in my first task. I have to find the Scroll of Vascaron." Amous nodded to him.
"You still havn't told us what your quest is yet lad but I'm sure I can guess...I has something to do with that Dark Lord who's taken over the eastern lands don't it?" Inthas nodded. "And now you've got no help?" Again Inthas nodded.
"Wrong." They both turned to face the portal. "My bow is at your
service Sir Inthas. I suggest you come to Arelliniania as fast as you can...infact I will help you. Uncle what kind of steed does Inthas have? A charger of good breeding I hope?" Amous smiled.
"He's got a pair of flying steeds Illi, good ones at that. They won't mind the kind of journey I think you have in mind." Inthas couldn't follow that. What did his horse have to do with anything...except how many months it was going to take him to get to the elven wood.
"Well then I'll send the wind for him." She turned and stared right at Inthas. "I'm looking forward to meeting you in person sir Inthas. Perhaps you'll tell me more of yourself over chava this evening?" Inthas nodded, spluttering some respectful words. How was he going to get to Arelliniania by this evening...and what did she mean by 'I'll send the wind'...
The smoke faded and the light mist returned to the stone as Amous replaced it in it's velvet wraps. "Well Inthas, it looks like we've got to get you ready for the trip. Help me fit your gear onto these brutes." Inthas stared after Amous shaking his head, watching the old man spryly leap around his shop.
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An hour or so later Inthas swung up on Horefrost's back, admiring Amous's work with the tack. "Remember the wind isn't gentle, it's ment to help you travel from one place to another very quickly. It's going to be up to you to steer yourself and keep the horses together. If you get separated most likely you won't see Balefire again."
"I remember. Goodbye Amous...I have the feeling we'll meet again." Amous gruffly shook his hand.
"Bye kid. Hope you keep yourself in one piece." The wind had just started to kick up when Inthas remembered the stone that had come from the Grappion. He'd tried to give it to the villagers but they hadn't wanted it. Maybe Amous would.
"Amous!" He shouted but by now the wind was howling. The old man leaned forward trying to hear before waving him off and vanishing inside. "Oh well, I'll just have to ask Illiriae about it."
The wind howled, no roared, and blurred his vision until he could see no more than his own tears and Horefrost's white mane. He felt the stallion wanting to spring into the sky, felt Balefire's tugging on the end of the Everope. As the wailing wind reached it's high point Inthas counted to three then urged the stallions into the sky like Amous had told him.
The moment they spred their wings they were whisked away like autumn leaves in a windstorm, hurtling through space at blinding speed. Inthas didn't know what he had too steer around until a large mountain loomed in his way. He tried pulling Horefrost around it but the stallion could not move despite his valiant efforts, the wind was just too strong.
At the last moment, just when Inthas thought he'd be getting an up close and personal look at the sheer sides, the wind flung them upwards so that Balefire's hooves just clipped the apex of the mountain. Then they were over the grasslands. Looking on in awe Inthas could see an ocean of green-gold waving grasses and, in the distance, the dark line that must have been the Escarpment. Behind him the western spine range loomed.
Slowly grass gave way to lush fields, then to the elven wood it's self. It spread like a dark sea across the horizion with some trees taller then mountain peaks. The wind was now no more than a guiding force and his horses were exhausted. Slowly Inthas felt Horefrost descending into the tangled canopy of the anicent wood.
Inthas felt the essence of life within these trees. They seemed to glow with health and vitality...and perhaps awareness, sentience. His eyes would pick out what he thought was a flicker of movement and he would turn to look but nothing would be there...then everything was there.
And entire elven city seemed to spring out of the trees, built in and on them as if the trees had grown into dwellings just so the elves could live there. Baubles hung in places, glittering in the filtered sunlight and unicorns grazed near the base of the massive trunks. Balefire and Horefrost called greetings and screamed weak challenges as other flying horses trotted along the branches to greet them.
Slowly the landed on a massive branch that had served as the main causeway of this city for many generations. Standing there, in green leather and felt, hand on bow, was Illiriae.
"Welcome Inthas Jurrsonne, to my home. The elven wood Arelliniania." Sliding off his weary mount Inthas rubbed their noses, inclining his head to the lady. She nodded back. "Ah I forget, humans know not our customs. I will instruct you later after we have seen to your fine mounts."
"Thank you Lady, we three are most grateful for your hospitality." She again inclined her head and began walking.
"This way to the stables. Normally we don't use them but visitors generally do. Once we've seen to your mounts I will show you the city...or would you rather discuss your quest in private with me? Or perhaps you would rather take some study in our library...you did say you lacked magical understanding...All possibilities are open to you...you only have but to ask."
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What will Inthas do first?
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Hope you liked it.
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2006 6:17 am Post subject: |
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They should briefly tour the city, but then I suggest they find somewhere private for Inthas to tell Illiriae more about the quest she will be helping him with.
If the topic of Xsyle and her disappearance comes up, as it no doubt will, Inthas should take the opportunity to show Illiriae the Grappion stone and ask whether it means anything to her.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:45 pm Post subject: |
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Right a many choiced poll is up...couldn't wait any more.
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:38 pm Post subject: |
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I voted for getting down to business, as it was closest to what I wanted.
The poll has "Take the full tour?" twice, by the way.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:40 pm Post subject: |
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Wow I was tired when I put that up wasn't I? The second one is supposed to be take a short tour.
I guess I must just want to really describe the city in detail  ...it's the first major settlement in Pharl you've seen after all...
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:44 pm Post subject: |
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Hmm... then I want to change my vote to option 2, short tour. Hopefully some more people will come along and vote this time.
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LordoftheNight
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| Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 4:33 am Post subject: |
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You've got a problem with the poll Rai. I voted for the short tour, and a vote came up for both short and long tours.
You'll have to get Smee to delete the poll, and make a new one.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news and all.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 9:18 am Post subject: |
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Dammit! Thanks Lordy I'd rather hear about the problem than just have it continue, I'll PM Smee right away.
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dragon_fire372
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| Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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Voted to get right down to business. Nice Chapter!
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Visions of Shadow - 2nd part of Uncertain Quests! Chapter Two
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| Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 9:53 pm Post subject: |
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Right he's taking care of buisness...Enjoy.
------------------------------
Chapter Fifteen: The Elf Gate
Inthas stared at the Sypi Archer a moment, studying her. She had the ageless face of all elves who had lived more than a mortal span of years. Her form was willow thin and supple as well worked leather, her muscles as strong as the yew wood bow she carried. Her hair was short and purple, her eyes a starling green. Her tunic was soft green felt, her breeches and boots leather so well made you could hardly tell where one left off and the other began. Every stitch perfection.
Aware he was being uncommonly rude Inthas coughed and shifted his weight. "I beg your pardon lady but I've never seen an elf as..." She waved his comments away.
"Yes, yes. No doubt you've only seen the wretches cursed to wander the lands. Far-footed we call them. They seek the ends of the earth and care not what company they keep." She sniffed. "Most elves won't have a thing to do with them." Inthas took a step back. True there was a distinction between the elves he had seen and the graceful form of Illiriae but he hadn't expected her stern dissapproval, nor her snide manner.
"Ah, yes..." For a moment the long silence that made Inthas uncomfortable but seemed not to bother Illiriae. She was used to such things. Elves did not need to be hasty with each other, not with their near endless lifespans. Inthas coughed and began again. "You said we might discuss buisness...I'm afriad the matters I travel upon are both pressing and private. Have you a place where we might..." Illiriae held up a shapely hand.
"Follow me knight." She set off at a springing pace that seemed no faster than a walk yet had Inthas not been conditioned by Xsyle he would have been hard pressed to keep up. Personally he thought the elf was testing him, measuring his qualities. And he was very sure she was doing her best to make him seem wanting in as many areas as possible.
Soon enough they came to a small bower on the very edge of one great branch. The leaves and smaller branches twined about, creating a circular globe with another swath of leaves that could be drawn, like a curtain, for privacy. Stopping for a moment to touch the crystal node that hung from the bower, Illiriae beckoned. Staring at the node, which had changed from green to blue, Inthas shuffled forward.
Once inside he saw it was furnished beautifully, with soft pillows lining loops of branch for seats. As he took his seat Illiriae drew the leafy curtain behind him. "Most likely you've never been in an Elf Bower before knight, therefore I'll elaborate on their benifits. The are small, yet comfortable, with many wards of protection and privacy within and without. Nothing unwanted may enter, nor leave. Nothing of import said within shall be heard without. All you say only you, I, and the great Mother Tree shall here."
Nodding gratefully Inthas took the Grappion stone from within his 'cloak pin'. Illiriae's eys gleamed a bit. "Where ever did you get a soreal?" Inthas smiled.
"It was a gift...from Xsyle." Illiriae sat back, clearly impressed with it.
"Ah, more's the pity she's vanished. I would have liked to meet the one with power capable of creating something as fine as that...May I have a closer look?" Inthas smiled and tried to remove it from his cloak...but the pin would not come off it merely unhinged. He handed his whole cloak to Illiriae who took it with a look of extreme distaste. "I only wanted to examine the gem."
She touched it lightly once and a beam of power arched from the gem up her fingers, giving her a mild shock. Illiriae whipped her hand back like a scolded child and gracefully handed the whole bundle back to Inthas. "Certainly was protective of you. But I suppose with you being the Lord's Paladin and her being the Champion of the Gods she felt some responsibility for you."
Inthas fastened his cloak back on, grinding his teeth. Where were the grace, tact, wit, charm, and manners of the elves. Illiriae was treating him like some kind of cur dog than like the being he was...one deserving of respect. Even Xsyle treated me better. The abuse was rougher but her reasons were plainer. How can I fight a silver tounged assailent?
Slowly he extended the Grappion stone back to Illiriae. "What can you tell me about this?" Illiriae cupped it in her hands, blowing upon it a few times, even going so far as to tap an arrow tip to it.
"It's a very pretty gem, perfectly smooth but smoothed by nature, not magic although it seems magical in nature. Beyond that..." She shrugged handing it back. Almost as if to say 'not worth my time'. "Now I believe you came here on pressing buisiness...will you tell me the rest of it?"
Running a hand through his hair Inthas began at the beginning, floundered through the middle, and ended on the end. Illiriae sat listening with ever twitching eyebrows, and expressive ears. They would perk forward, or lay back. The expressions might have been readable to another elf, no doubt she was being lax with her control in such company. But Inthas couldn't read elf emotions and couldn't fathom Illiriaes mind.
Then abruptly she stood pulling back the curtain. "We must prepare at once for the journy to the Wizards. I shall have some elves bring you suitable things, your horses will be Revitalized, and we shall take the Elf Gate tomorrow. I'll be there to fetch you, fear not." She put a finger to her lips and whistled shrilly. A young elf popped out of nowhere. Whispering to him quickly in that sing-song language of theirs he took Inthas's hand and tugged him off in the opposite direction.
Inthas was unwilling to leave the only elf he knew but quickly he allowed himself to be led. They travled through amazing districts and more than once Inthas regretted his decision not to see the city. Soon he stood outside a massive tree dwelling, the sounds of a forge coming from within. The elf boy made a 'wait here' gesture before walking in. What seemed like hours later he returned with a short dwarf in a smith's uniform.
"Rush job 'eh laddy? C'mon in 'ere then. We'll get ye set up in no 'time 'tall." Completely amused, or maybe bemused, Inthas allowed himself to be dragged into the dwarf's forge. He took one look at Inthas's old armor, not even blinking when it appeared from nowhere, and pronounced it 'unfit for slag'.
In moments he had mesurments and set his entire forge crew, which included seven burly dwarven apprentices, to making new armor. However, after taking one look at Inthas's blade he only whistled and asked where Inthas had found such a blade of 'wonderment and grace' then shook his head and busied himself with the new armor.
While it was still hot the elf boy dragged Inthas off to other shops, some of which made him surcoats, some which improved upon his supplies, and one which made him a new set of clothes in the style of elfin warriors...much to the mirth of everone in the shop since Inthas was built like an elf about as much as an ox is built like an antalope.
Still they wandered back to the forge in time for the cooled armor to be final fitted. To his great surprise the fit was perfect the first time round the dwarf, one master Guldroon, must have been a master armorer indeed. His order emblem was burned into the armor, blazing forth in all it's glory while not damaging the metal. As Master Guldroon said. "Etching damages armor. Puts little lines and cracks where 'nar a crack should be."
With a solomn tug for now Inthas was a fierce sight indeed, the elven boy pulled him along through bows and streets where elves with grace and poise tried to maintain both while trying to spy what the commotion was about. Inthas was bone weary and only now, when he caught sight of the great clock did he realize he'd been up for close to three days straight.
His stallions, both still walking with heavy feet and hanging heads, were led fully tacked and packed toward him. Catching sight of him they broke free from their elven handlers with coarse snorts that threatened violence and came to him with outstreched noses. Positioning themselves on his flanks they followed him like puppies to where the elf boy led.
Soon enough a towing oval of branches came into view. Through every flower and tendril and branch and leaf flowed an emerald energy like that of the earth itself. Inthas could fancy that he was breathing in the essece of Pharl itself here in the power laced air. Illiriae, now dressed in her own armor with a very large and menacing war bow, stood next to the nexus of this power, the center of the oval.
The elf boy stopped, ushering him forward with awe written on his features. Walking up Inthas noticed just how massive the Elf Gate was. Two drakon could pass abrest and not feel the pinch. Illiriae was clearly in no mood for waiting.
"Good of you to join me Inthas...this is your quest after all." She returned her attention to the gate. "Just focus on you destination and the gate will take us there." Now Inthas blushed scarlet and stammered something under his breath. Illiriae was unable to contain her shock. "What do you mean you've never been there!"
Inthas shrugged. He'd never felt a burning need to see the High Wizard Tower. Illiriae fumed as the green light twined around them. Inthas was perfectly happy to stand here. The green light was returning his strength, his energy and from the look it was being just as kind to Horefrost and Balefire.
"I'm sorry Illiriae...but I've never been there." The Sypi Archer looked like she might shatter like a marble statue but a slim voice cropped up from the back of the crowd.
"I've been there." The form was a slender figure, elf like but not an elf, dressed in rags of a uniform blah color neither brown nor black nor grey nore deep green but a seeming blend of all three. Illiriae hissed.
"Nordule. You were told never to return here." The man walked forward. He might have been an elf at one time but something had changed him. His pale skin was closer to blue slate than silver, his hair stark white, and his eyes glittered a brilliant cherry. He mocked a bow to Illiriae.
"Put that mouth of your's to good use Ill and stuff some journey bread in it." Illiriae turned a brilliant shade of silver, the blush of an elf, while Nordule bowed deeply to Inthas. "Sir I believe we have a mutual aquaintance. She's sent me to make sure you arrive...how did she put it...'still as innocent and relativly intact' at your destination."
"How did you find me?" Nordule winked.
"She's got lots of ways of finding things out, most of which don't require any mortal imput. Now you need to head for the south the Wizard's Tower to be exact. I've been there, I've memorized the place. If we use the Gate I can take you there."
"Or you could send us straight to Hell Nordule, I won't run that risk with him." Nordule raised an eyebrow.
"Certainly someone of your powers Sypi would be able to keep me from straying off the beaten path? You've been to the south you'll know if we're headed the wrong direction. But I suppose it's all his choice in the end." The dark elf turned to stare at Inthas.
"Yes and he'll make the right choice. There are other options, such as another trip on the wind. He'll make the best choice." Inthas suddenly found himself pinned between dual elf gazes. He could choose to let Nordule work the gate, Xsyle had sent him...right? Or he could play it safe and let Illiriae choose another way for them to swiftly move.
But it was still his choice....
----------------------------
Right who to trust, who to follow.
--------------------------------
Hope you liked.
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"Music makes you braver."
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:08 pm Post subject: |
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"So how did our mutual friend suggest that you prove that you aren't lying through your teeth?"
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:39 am Post subject: |
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*Din walks in raising a eyebrow at Dukereg, but then nods*
I hate to say it, but for once I actually agree with someone a hundred percent for once. Can someone take a picture, I'm certain it would last longer than your stares.
Besides, I wouldn't hundred percent trust the-oh-so-righteous-high-and-mighty-miss-I'm-all-beautiful-elf Illiriae either. Why? Because it is just plain stupid to trust anyone fully anyway, but then again Inathas isn't what you'd call world wise.
But DukeReg said it best in his suggestion, I leave the talking to him.
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MagBla
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| Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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But the pretty elf seems so trustworthy! ...oh well, I know better than to judge by appearances, so I can't trust either of them, but Inthas seems really trusting.
I think he should semi-trust both of them by allowing Nordule to take them but while letting Illiriae make sure they're going the right direction.
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dragon_fire372
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| Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 8:11 pm Post subject: |
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I agree with all the above. First make sure (as well as possible) that Xsyle really sent Nordule, then use both their resources without fully leaning on either of them.
_________________
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing ~ Edmund Burke
Sans Dieu Rien Without God, Nothing
Visions of Shadow - 2nd part of Uncertain Quests! Chapter Two
Dreamwalker - Relocated to Linear Lane Sixth Chapter
Linear Story Nightrobber Now Complete!
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:43 am Post subject: |
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Right the poll is up! Vote!
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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All the poll options have clones...
I'm voting for using them both.
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Duke Reg
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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I love my computer so much I'm plotting it's demise six-hundred and sixty-six different ways. As soon as I get my new computer I'm going to [insert random idea for computer destruction here]...
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"Music makes you braver."
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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| I understand your pain. I had a computer like that once. Thing would refuse to turn on or work for weeks and then suddenly act as nothing had happened. When my cord split and the power box fired itself, I was all to happy to recieve my new computer. What happen to the cursed thing that 'died'? As soon as no one was looking, I performed a new version of the Mexican Hat Dance on the Computer with a rather large hammer. It was quiet rewarding.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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Okay, lets get going shall we? Enjoy.
--------------------------------
Chapter Sixteen: The Scroll of Vascaron
Inthas stepped toward Nordule, hand on sword hilt and visibly threatening. "Mutual friend eh? Got a description or better yet, someway to prove that it's really the same 'mutual friend' we've 'mutually' in mind." Nordule looked at him in mild shock for a moment before chuckling.
"And here she said you wouldn't be too sharp about things." Inthas stiffened at the insult but then realized that Xsyle probably would have said just that. Nordule continued. "As fore the description, she's a kosughon with pal skin, deep blue hair, and green eyes although she's taken to the whole 'blind seeress' look with a cloth around them.
Inthas raised an eyebrow. "So. That proves we've got the same person in mind, how do I know she actually sent you." Nordule yawned.
"She said to tell you three things. First, get laid." Inthas flushed brilliant scarlet. He was going to have a serious talk with Xsyle when they caught back up. Nordule grinned but didn't stop. "Second, make sure that you don't break that soreal because she doesn't feel like making you a second one. And lastly that if you've lost the Grappion stone she will personally flay the skin from you hide shortly after she castrates you, Gods or no." Now that sounded like Xsyle.
Inthas nodded. "Right I'm convinced. Shall we?" He indicated the gateway and Nordule nodded. Stepping to the front of the group he squinted at the Elf Gate, concentraiting until the green energies crackled and the image of a soaring white tower presented itself. Illiriae gripped his arm.
"Inthas I warn you, do not trust Nordule he's..."
"Not a stuck up shyeda like you?" From the way Illiriae reacted shyeda was a grave insult amoung elves. Inthas filed it away, mentally reminding himself to ask Nordule what it ment. The dark elf looked at the Sypi Archer for a moment before shaking his head. "Look I know I'm a disreputable cad and nefarious villian but believe me. I do not wish to incurr the ire of herself. She makes you look positively warm and cuddly Ill."
Sparing a glance at Illiriae Inthas decided that there could hardly have been a woman more like an ice carving. Yet he also didn't see much about Xsyle's nature that invited someone to closeness. Still, to stop the bickering and be done with it, he strode through the Elf Gate without looking backward, his stallions following him like trained puppies. For a moment he felt lost in a misty haze, walking eternally forward without really moving one step forward, then he walked out into the unforgiving hammer of the southern sun.
Sweat instantly plastered his elven cloathing to his skin and heated his armor to unbearable temperatures, his hair matting with sweat. Inthas had never been out of the North be it Mascarell or the countries further north than it so this heat was totally unfamiliar to him. A chill breeze instantly cooled him down and he greatfull rubbed Horefrost's sleek white nose as the stallion continued to blow the breath of winter over him. For a moment it was just the three of them, then Illiriae bounded through the gate followed by Nordule's cat-like movements.
"Well Ill? Did I lead you astray? Did we go to some horrible hell-hole where the nobel lad's honor will be destroyed?" Illiriae shot him a hatful glance over her shoulder, her bow still in hand.
"I don't know. Having never been to the tower of High Magick how am I supposed to know what it looks like." Inthas had walked up the path away and now pointed to a bronze plaque on a marble plinth.
"It says 'Welcome to the Tower of High Magick. Place of Great Learning and the Vault of Wisdom.' Shall we go in." Looking properly chagrined Illiriae followed them both and a sedate pace, muttering under her breath at how the Gods could allow their Paladins to associate with filth like Nordule. Nordule only grinned and accepted her words as high praise.
Coming to a halt by the steps leading up to the main entrance Inthas allowed himself a moment to gawk like a simple country bumpkin at first sight of the King's Palace. It was made of stone, or something very like for he could see no masonry marks, only a smooth white surface that shimmered with magic. The steps were wide and there were signs that they'd been magically replaced when the old steps had grown too worn. The railings carved to look like leaping Naga, their men halves rearing up, holding high their golden tridents in welcome.
Slowly Inthas started up the stairs, his horses following him with much prancing and careful picking of their footing. Illiriae grumbled at the mistreatment of the glorious building, allowing animals inside. Nordule shrugged. "Riding them beats walking up all those stairs." Once inside Inthas's mouth dropped open even further. The tower was larger inside than out, rooms expanding off in every direction down long hallways that were not circular at all. A reed thin young man in a soft grey robe and sandles scurried over to them.
"Ah pardon worthy folk but might I ask your business?" Inthas extended his blade.
"I am Sir Inthas Jurrsonne and these are my companions Illiriae Asaelor and Nordule..."
"Leaysold." He supplied.
"Nordule Leaysold." The young man nodded.
"Ah they I have heard of, you I have not, however you bear an interesting device on that brestplate of yours. I'd love to know what it means...but you seem pressed so I'll ask you your buisness."
"I'm here for the scroll of Vascaron." Instantly all the sound the room stopped. Pages with piles of scrolls stopped their scurrying, the scrolls hitting the floor and rolling away unheeded. Other men in various shades of robe all turned to lock their gaze on Inthas. The reedy man was staring at him in open shock.
"How...how did you know we have it? Everyone thinks that the black drakon..." Inthas held up a hand. silencing the man. "You're right it does not matter. Please wait here while I fetch someone who can help you." Nordule sighed.
"And now we wait at their leisure since Mages never hurry about anything...almost as bad as elves." Illiriae knocked an arrow to her string and Inthas was forced to step between them to stop it from going further. After some time a man with robes as black as night, strange symbols twistingly written in golden thread across it's surface, came and bowed before them.
"I am Telsil, Master of the Vault. You have come looking for a very peculiar manuscript. Walk with me." He eyed the horses a bit but did not make the mistake of asking Inthas to leave them behind. He took them down a long corridor and through an archway of living stone, entering a long hall that seemed to have no doors. "Now young man, I suggest you tell me why you want that particular scroll."
"Because the Gods have sent me looking for it." Telsil nodded, stroaking his long grey beard with one hand, bushy brows knitting together in deep thought.
"Then dark times have indeed come but I'd rather give the life work of my ancestor to a Knight of a noble order than to that skulking man that's come around looking for it before." Illiriae looked sharply at Nordule who held up empty hands and put on an innocent face. "No not that one, although he isn't the kind of company I'd expect a Skyeye Rose Knight to keep...nor are you exactly my lady."
"They are the kind of company I keep though Master Mage." Telsil nodded. "The Gods have thrown us together you might say."
"Then there is only one thing more I can do for you." He stopped suddenly and tapped the blank stone wall with the head of his staff. The rock churned and seethed a moment before a doorway opened into a tall round room. On a pedistal in the center, surrounded by a shaft of golden light, was a single dusty scroll. "Use it wisely young man."
Just like that the rock sealed up again behind them leaving them alone in the room. Releasing his grip on the stallions he walked over and lifted the scroll, light pouring over his form in a golden shimmer. Slowly he slid the ribbon off of it and unrolled it's ancient length. His eyes skimmed the runes which, after the second time through, rearranged themselves into something readable for Inthas.
'Thistle and down,
Wheat and thyme,
Speak the words,
And slow down time.
Root and leaf,
Branch and bower,
Beforewarned,
You'll need great power.
Fen and feild,
Storm and breeze,
You must give,
Before you recieve
Sea and sky,
Hill and dale,
Chant the rhyme,
And part the Veil.
Life and Death,
Rise and set,
Hold the past fast,
Or you'll forget.
Moon and Stars,
Sun above,
Life you'll have,
Forever enough.
Last the verse,
Past the time,
Forward you go,
The Future is thine.'
There was a sudden sense of wrenching as something was sought from him and his connection to the gods was blocked from him as if it had never been. And yet the spell demanded power...more than he had. He opened his mouth to scream, remembering the warning the rhyme had given. Then a spark in the growing darkness, cold hands thick with Taint gripping his.
"Foolish boy. Take what you need, it is freely given." Power flooded him, hot and burning, to be sucked away by the spell, Taint and all. Yet he felt a residue burning within him, something coming to light that had been long buried. Accept me. It whispered like a siren.
Would he?
-----------------------------
Right a little weird but this is important.
-------------------------------
Hope you liked.
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"Music makes you braver."
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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The whole Taint thing sounds pretty unappetizing. So... no.
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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I have a feeling that we could thank a particular friend of all our acquatiances for the presence of the taint, and that is why I say take it. First Inathas needs it, and secondly I guess that Xslye gives it, which is more than enough reason for me.
Lovely Chapter, Dragoness.
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JezSharp
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| Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Difficult to know what the drwbacks of either choice might be, but if he heeds the rhyme's advice then do so and take it
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 12:43 pm Post subject: |
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Right. Poll is up.
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Masterweaver
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| Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 5:05 pm Post subject: |
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Tough, dragoness. Tough indeed.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 2:14 am Post subject: |
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I'm not out to make this easy...these heros can take just about anything I dish out....well just about.
Besides, Xsyle would hate me for the rest of my life if I just coddled her through the whole story.
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"Music makes you braver."
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Masterweaver
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| Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 2:03 pm Post subject: |
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Why are you called a dragoness if your avatar is one of a nice-looking elf?
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 2:42 pm Post subject: |
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It's Rath from Ergos sans red skin and spines. I'll go back to a dragon av when that ends.
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shadowofthetiger
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| Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Hey, I'm lovin this! Keep it up, I'm lookin forward to the next chapter!
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:45 pm Post subject: |
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Now I know you've all been waiting to see what exactly the Scroll of Vascaron, or more precisely the power that allowed him to weild it, will do to Inthas but there is someone you need to meet first. Thus this half of the chappy will not have a dp, or include the results from the current dp. That's for the second half. Just hold on and Enjoy...
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Chapter Seventeen pt 1: A Dark Interlude
He stood on the balconey of his tower gazing across the despoiled lands at his feet. Not a year hence he had suffered some blows to his ego, namely the disapperence of all his elemental guardians and the destruction of his precious garden. He blamed Shade for that, shade and all her damned powers. He'd thought it was just her death curse coiling back on him, doing what damage it could since he held talismans against her powers.
He turned back into his chambers, marching across the room with a desperate air, hands clenched tightly behind his back and teeth gritted. On his wall, above the roaring fireplace, hung a pair of glittering swords. Magic practically dripped from them and he could not stand to look directly at them for fear they would charr his vision, both normal and his inner mage vision, forever. Below them on his mantle, encased in an orb of unfreezing ice, were a pair of sightless brilliant green eyes that always seemed to be watching him.
Without warning he hurled a chair across the room, watching it splinter against the orb's icey surface without a scratch. "Why do you mock me! Why!" He whirled, enraged, as delicate footsteps stopped at his threshold, the slender figure of a dark woman waiting for his approval to enter. "What do you want!"
"Raging at her sightless eyes won't help you brother. You've got to ask him, ask our Lord if she survived." Myrrila was right, he knew it, he had to ask his Master if Shade had survived, if she was still out there plotting her revenge. Sensing his anguish, his elder half-sister walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder timidly, hoping he wouldn't punish her for her boldness. "Remember, even if she survived she can't harm you. She's still bound up by all those silly old customs. She can't challenge you, can't raise her hand against you. Where Shade is concerned, you are untouchable Rovan."
He look at Myrrila, realizing the weight of the truth behind her words, and began to laugh mirthlessly. "Oh wouldn't that be rich. She's too powerful to die, to clever to be killed, and yet she'll be trapped in a world where she has failed, is less than nothing, with no escape save to end it all on the edge of a handy dagger with no more honor than a worthless cur." His laughter turned savage as he gathered his power. "Honor, pah. Honestly what would an assassin like her know of honor. Certainly she holds her kin in no high regard. She's fickle enough about her masters. The only things in life that matter to her are herself and those damn blades."
"Which I might add you stole from her. You bested her in death combat brother, you are her better." Silence fell in the room as Rovan's laughter faded. He'd never told Myrrila the truth about that night, about how he had beaten Shade. If she hadn't given him the chance to pick up his weapon he'd never have been able to weave the spell that brought her down, a spell that was dishonorable by the rules of the death match itself. Myrrila looked at him cringingly, fearing that he might strike her or cast some fell spell on her, but he turned his attention inward instead, seeking the Master.
Deep within himself, Rovan found what he was looking for, the black heart of his power hidden in the darkness of his soul. "Master will you hear me?" For a moment Rovan thought that yet again tonight the Master would forsake his lowliest Desciple in favor of the Dreadlord himself. But then he felt the all encompassing blackness that came with communion to his Master.
What do you seek? Groveling inside Rovan reached out to his master like a surf might reach for the hem of the robe of the king.
"Master...I must know. Does the assassin still live?" There was silence for a moment before the Master replied.
She lives for now. But in a matter of moments she will fade from this time. Rovan had, for a moment, felt the icey fingers of fear liquify his guts. But the last words of his master brought him nothing but joy...the assassin was not long for this world! His joy was short lived. As with all good things his Master felt the need to spoil them. Beware my Desciple. She shall return a drakon's year hence more powerful than ever before. Use your time wisely. And suddenly Rovan found himself alone in the silence of his inner soul.
Returning to the world around him he walked back to the balconey, ignoring Myrrila for the moment. "Well? What did the Master tell you?" Rovan's grip upon the railing became a white knuckled one of fury and shame. Fury that he had not defeated her and shame that he had botched the job when she had lain easy prey in his hands. He opened his mouth to reply to his half sister when a wave of power rocked over them, it's sheer volume knocking him to the floor, it's siren song of Taint spinning him in whirls of subliminal pleasure. In the center of this magical malestrom a thread of pure holy power blazed then succombed, vanishing along with the rest of the wave.
Sweat drenching his body, plastering his dark gold hair to his head and weighing down his mage robes, Rovan stared off toward the south from whence the blast had come from. "What was that? Every mage on Pharl must have felt those reprecussions." Rovan had a theory. It came from the Tower of High Magick, the Mages of the South and judging by the response it had given off this was the first casting of a very potent spell.
"Whatever it was it had to have been done by a minion of the Master. Nothing could have Taint so rich, so pure, so...no." His eyes went wide as he recalled the feel, the texture, the taste of that rich tainted power. He glanced toward the orb on his mantle and jerked his eyes away, shivering despite himself. The brilliant green eyes were pulsing with power, pupils expanding and contracting rapidly in a manner much like a heart beat. Behind their heavy sheilds, Shade's swords sung their song of piety and power. "Yes...it was. But what could she be doing?"
Myrrila walked next to him, following his gaze with her own eyes. "You don't think She had anything to do with it?"
"She had everything to do with it." What was it the master had said...she would fade from this time but would return in a Drakon's year with more power than ever. "What is a drakon's year?" He had muttered this to himself, expecting no answer, and was surprised as Myrrila answered him.
"Well it could be a cultural thing, like a name for a year or a year when the drakon constellation will rule the sky. It could be the year you break the drakons. It could be anything brother but you know it deals with drakons and that's a start." Indeed it was.
"Come Myrrila we have work to do." She nodded as he swept past her, her ash blond hair bouncing on her shoulders. Rovan had a hunch that the answer to that mystery was hidden somewhere in his library...and he had all the time he wanted to research...all the time he wanted.
"Whatever you say Dark Desciple. Where you lead I shall follow."
------------------------------------
Well I hope you liked that. The real chappy, the one you voted on, will be along in a day or so. I just wanted to let you know that the powers of darkness havn't been sitting on their hands this whole time. They're involved in this too.
_________________
"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:22 am Post subject: |
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OOOhhh...a back stage look....I like. I enjoyed this chapter Rai as it was very interesting and added a sense of suspense to the whole work. Great work!
I so look forward to your next chapter but until then....
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:27 pm Post subject: |
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Right here's the second half of the chappy, including the outcome you voted for and a new DP...Enjoy.
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Chapter Seventeen pt2: The Drakon's Year
For an instant power blazed all around Inthas, his own and the Tainted. Accept me. The voice whispered once more. Yes. Inthas felt as though something exploaded within him sending shards of light and pain into every cell in his body. His back arched and he felt the strange sensation of being ripped clear, though clear of what he couldn't figure out. Those hands though, icey to touch and burning with dark power, never wavered in their iron grip of his hands.
There was a single moment where Inthas felt like he had realized something of great importance. Then the moment was gone and the realization with it, leaving him nearly weeping with frustration. Inside him something seemed to stretch and expand, causing himself to expand before his entire world went black and he knew nothing more.
------------------------------
Xsyle dropped Inthas's hands from her own, staring down at where the Knight lay curled like a babe on the floor. Only the slight rise and fall of his chest gave any indication he still lived as his heart beat too quietly for even Xsyle to hear. "Why didn't he tell me he was a half blood? He certainly hid it well." Yet now as Xsyle leaned against the marble plinth in the center of the room, her entire body shaking from exertion and the massive drain of her power, she could clearly smell it in him.
"I'm losing it. I knew something about him was strange from the moment I met him but....damn those gods." No doubt they'd messed with her mind to keep her from realizing what Inthas really was, a half breed koshugon. "I've been training him all wrong." Xsyle went to move, to push off from the ruined collumn and explore the crumbling room, and instantly regretted the attempt.
Pain shrilled across her remaning senses causing her to gasp. Almost reflexivly her body reached for it's safety switch, the wellspring of power she had buried long years ago. Stifling her pain she quelled the attempt. "I'll not wake the beast with the boy in the room. I'll not wake the beast again if I had it my way." Slowly sliding to the floor Xsyle cursed herself for being a thrice damned fool. Slowly singing to herself a ballad as old as dust she listened to the way it echoed off the room.
Much had changed since they had begun casting the spell. She'd arrived nearly too late to help the fool boy, bursting past the old mage and into the room where Nordule and Illiriae had both been staring in horror at the young man. Upon seeing her Illiriae had shrieked and ancient elven curse and fired an arrow which Xsyle only now noticed protruding from her left shoulder. Gritting her teeth she reached up and pulled it out, gazing at the ribbons of pink flesh that hung from the barbed arrowhead.
"Never again will I ever allow my powers to dip this low. I hate being only slightly more than mortal." Just then Inthas wimpered. "Ah sleeping beauty wakes." She turned toward him, forcing herself to stand despite nearly blacking out, and felt something utterly foreing to her...pity. "He'll have it rough waking up. He's got puberty to make up for now."
---------------------------------
Inthas woke with a start, feeling for all the world like a man who has just been dragged to the bottom of the ocean and then forced to claw his way back up to air. His body ached in strange ways and his head pounded with every beat of his heart...and something else. He looked up blearily and shut his eyes. The colors, the shapes, the world was too intense...too vivid. Lines of power crisscrossed everything in amazing hues, the natural world painted like a canvass.
Smells assailed his nose, must, age, mold, stone, himself sitting in the putrid sweat of terror, and another...Xsyle. But Xsyle wasn't the first thing that jumped to mind when he caught her scent...female was. Something, some instinct warned him off of her instantly, she wasn't for him at all. Forcing himself to his feet he clapped his hands on his ears, every sound seemed to roar with intense hatred, a crescendo of sound even though it was little more than his ragged breathing and this double beat underlying pulse.
The swift beat that seemed to race along, too high and fast, was his own pulse running a mile a minute. The slow, even rhythem that seemed unconcerned...that was..."Gods I can hear Xsyle's heart beating. I can hear her breathing."
"And I can hear your thoughts." He started back violently, gripping his head and slowly dragging his eyes upward. "Don't look at me fool! You'll blind yourself until you figure out how to shut down your inner sight. Indeed if we don't get you adjusted to your senses soon you risk crossover madness. I hate to think what you'll be like when your beast slipps it's chains." Her voice sounded perfect in his head and he knew that had she even whispered the words aloud they would have nearly deafened him.
"What's happening to me? Xsyle what did you do?
"I did nothing. You were the one who spoke the words on that scroll. You were the one that called for immortality and now it's been granted. No wonder the Gods sent you to find this thing...they knew what you were." A sense of panic was growing in Inthas chest...what manner of creature had that blasted spell turned him into.
"And just what in the hell am I Xsyle?" A cool hand touched his cheek, Taint searing across his over sensitive skin. Inthas jumped a foot in the air. He hadn't known she'd moved! Even with his hightened senses Xsyle was still nothing more than a shadow...yet he could tell she was really with him this time, not just with him in spirit.
"You, Inthas, are a half-blood, a koshu-man. You are the result of one of my people having an affair with a human. You're rare since generall these offspring never survive past the onset of adulthood." Inthas stiffened.
"Why don't they...we...survive?" Xsyle's hands were moving over his features like he'd seen other blind persons do. She was getting a picture of him, a better picture than she could get listening to the way sound bounced off of him. Inthas had the sudden urge to see if he'd changed outwardly. He could feel that he had, his armor now seemed ill-fitting, but he couldn't see the changes.
"Normally half bloods do not survive to adulthood because they are generally driven mad when their koshugon half asserts itself at puberty. They go wild, unable to deal with the sudden rush of information their hightened senses give them, but mostly they are unable to deal with the beast. Inthas wanted desperately to stare at Xsyle but her warning from earlier still rang and he kept his eyes tightly shut, feeling her power beat at him through this meager protection. At this rate he'd get a sunburn just standing in her presence.
"I never knew...why didn't you tell me before this?"
"It was kept from me. I knew, now that I'm allowed to actually realize what you are it comes as no real surprise...feels like I've known for a while actually." There was no hiding the bitterness in her voice. "What really surprises me though his how human you actually were. You managed to skate through puberty as a human, none of your koshugon blood woke then. It took this spell, which is fairly major I assure you, and a good shock of my power to bring it to life. I can't figure out why but I don't think it has anything to do with the Gods."
Xsyle withdrew from him and for a moment Inthas thought she'd left him completely. Then he felt a light touch on the soreal on his chest. A few moments later he was assailed by the smell of magic and parchment, listening as Xsyle unrolled the map. "Inthas have you noticed anything funny about this room?"
"Not a thing. But then I can't really concentrate, all the chunks of ruined stone seem to vie for dominance in my line of sight."
"Was this room ruined when you came in?" It dawned on Inthas that it hadn't been. Nor did it seem magical in any way like it should have. "And, if you havn't noticed, Nordule and Illiriae are both missing, along with Horefrost and Balefire..." Inthas opened his eyes, forgetting his enhanced vision for a moment as he looked around, worry snapping everything into focus and dropping his senses back to a workable level.
Speaking aloud to Xsyle, relieved that there was no discomfort in it now, Inthas's voice shook with worry. "What's happened...where are they?" Xsyle tapped the map which clearly showed four dots marked 'Nordule', 'Illiriae', 'Horefrost', and 'Balefire'.
"As to where they are...looks to be a dungeon or prision if you preferr. As to what happened..." She turned, her cloth bound face fixing on his as if she had eyes. "Inthas I think we're in the future."
"What?"
"I think the spell sent us into the future." Xsyle looked thoughful for a moment, head cocked to the side as if she was listening to something. "Yes we are, one hundred years in the future to be precise." Inthas looked around. Judging by the state of the ruins around him it seemed that the High Tower of Magick had fallen close to one hundred years ago. He could almost still hear the battle hanging in the air. Xsyle, meanwhile, was a flurry of motion as she rerolled the map and picked up Illiriae's arrow.
"Xsyle...we've got to save them." The assassin didn't turn around, instead headed through the ruined archway of a door. Inthas, sighing, followed her out into the sunlight. The ruins of the Tower lay all around them. "I said we've got to save them." Xsyle had taken a seat on a large boulder, chin on fist, a thought frown across her face.
"I know but that's easier said than done. I've only been in that particular dungeon once before Inthas...I lost my eyes there. It's probably the second most dangerous place on Pharl, no doubt even more so than when I last went there since they've had one hundred me free years to work on their evil plans." Inthas tapped his foot.
"My mind is made up. You're either going with me or not. The Gods will aid us." Xsyle smiled nastily at him.
"Oh I'm coming. I've left a few important things there. As for the Gods...why don't you try talking to the Lord Inthas...he should listen to you right?" Puzzled Inthas reached for his connection to his god and found it nonexistant. "They don't know we're here, they still think we're in the past."
"How's that possible? God's are ominpresent, omnipotent." Xsyle smiled and shook her head.
"They're not quite as all seeing and all knowing as you'd like to think Inthas. I've lost them quite a few times althoug I'll admit, this was the most spectacular way I've lost them yet. Still being catipulted one hundred years into the future has it's benifits. I'll be back to full strength in a day or so." Inthas shrugged.
"Okay so."
"You don't get it do you? Inthas you thought I was strong before? I'll let you in on a little secret...that was the second lowest point I've ever been in my life. You're watching my lowest. Right about now I've got just enough power to sink a contenant. In two days I'll have enough to crack the world in half." Inthas stared at Xsyle, mouth hanging open. "Shut your mouth, you'll catch flies. Now you see why the gods put up with me at all."
"How can one creature be mortal and still have so much power?" Xsyle stared at him levely.
"Who said I was mortal? You're not exactly mortal anymore yourself. I'd love to tell you the story behind why I've got so much power but we havn't the time. Our gods might not know where, or when actually, we are but I'm not so sure their's don't. We unleashed a fair amount of power, it's safe to say we were noticed." Inthas nodded, agreeing. "So I say we find some place to hole up for a few days."
"We could always try letting the gods know we're here?" Xsyle grimaced. "Or we could start heading towards Illiriae and Nordule?" Xsyle hopped off the rock.
"It's up to you Inthas. You're the weak point in this partnership so you've got to make decisions based on what you feel best doing. I can take care of myself, it's you that needs watching." Kicking a rock hard and watching in horror as his new strength sent it through the stone pillar it hit, Inthas wondered what was best.
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What now?
-------------------------
There you are, the much awaited chappy with dp. Hope you liked.
_________________
"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:51 am Post subject: |
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Personally I don't think you should be going anywhere. Especially not Inathas.
Xsyle said it would take two days to regain her full power, I suggest you find a nice hide out until those two days are up.
In the meanwhile, Our Hero boy here should take the time to readjust to his new 'powers' and strenth. It is extermly unwise to go anywhere without first knowing your own strength and how to use that strength. If you don't you might end up hurting something, and probably hurt yourself in the process of saving the world.
Besides it's been a hundred years....what are two days going to hurt?
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Masterweaver
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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F5.
But those two days hurt a lot more then they know...
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:05 am Post subject: |
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Any more suggestion...poll's going up tomorrow so last call.
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"Music makes you braver."
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 12:29 pm Post subject: |
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They could always start traveling, albiet slowly, thus accomplishing something while they train.
That's my only other suggest Rai, sorry.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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New poll..vote.
_________________
"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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Kalanna Rai
Assassin for Hire
Joined: 21 Jan 2006
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Location: The Frozen North
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 7:34 pm Post subject: |
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I've been motivated by some 'concerned' parties* to post a synopsis of the action so far for some of our new** readers.
Here you go.
CAUTION: Contains 'Spoilers'
Chapter One- Shame of the Fallen
You meet an assassin calling herself 'Xsyle' who is recently blind. She was sent to kill a Dark Mage, who is often called the Dark Lord or the Dark Desciple. Using her hearing she is able to 'see' the world around her and with the help of a small serpent escapes the watery pit she's been thrown into only to be forced to decide whether she's going to travel through the upper halls or through a garden of evil plant monsters.
Chapter Two- Midnight in the Garden of Evil
After choosing to go through the garden Xsyle finds herself being manuvered through the maze by the plants themselves. Each asks her a question that she answers without telling them anything until she is ushered into the grip of a massive rosebush which demands her life story. After telling the rose everything she is faced with a problem when the rose offers her a runner vine and demands to be taken with her.
Chapter Three- A Rose that is No Rose
She agrees to let the plant come with her on the condition the plant tells her it's own life story. After listening to the sad tale of the rose, she watchs as it destroys the other plants in the Garden by absorbing their energies. Now safely out of the garden she's suddenly wrapped in searing heat...the rose tells her a being of fire entrapped by the Desciple. The rose gives her the option of saving the creature but they risk alerting the mage if they do so.
Chapter Four- Fire and Freedom
Xsyle, having freed the rose and serpent, cannot refuse to save this creature...which turns out to be an anicent Phoenix. Unable to break the binding spell that holds the creature, Xsyle twists it so that the Phoenix is bound to her...but is now only a mere chick. Summoning the wind drake she freed from captivity on her way to fight the Desciple she makes her escape...but where does she head?
Chapter Five- The Ruins of Ascanda
Xsyle chooses to visit the ruins of the koshugon council on the legendary hidden isle of Ascanda. Once there she is in the presence of not only the Council she once served, but the Gods she champions. Xsyle tells them that she is now unable to challenge the Desciple to fight since he tricked her into a Deathmatch...then cheated to win. They tell her that she has sustained grevious wounds and must rest for a century and that they have chosen a mortal to continue the fight. Unwilling to let failure get the best of her Xsyle tries to convince the Gods to let her train the young man. Her only options are to go in her weakened state, go as a spirit, or not go at all...
Chapter Six- The Hero
Inthas is a Knight of the Skyeye Rose who has been in an enchanted sleep for four hundred years before the Gods wake him. Unfortunately he's still in the cave filled with vengful wights that put him to sleep in the first place. Enter the spirit of Xsyle who's neither living nor dead. She manages to get Inthas to freedom only to then drop his first quest upon him. He must get the legendary scroll of Vascaron...problem is it's been missing for years. However he has two places to look where it might be. One is in the hoard of the last Ebon Drakon. The other is the Tower of High Magick.
Chapter Seven- The Quest Begins!
Inthas and Xsyle get off to a very rocky start as they begin the trek toward the Tower, and things don't really improve between the slightly too innocent knight and the waspish assassin. After Inthas faints from heat exhaustion from packing around his armor Xsyle gives him a magical gem, call a soreal, to store a few things in. Thinking things have gotten better Inthas manages to doze of later that night, only to find that Xsyle runs him ragged training him in a dream world where time stretchs impossibly. Waking the next morning Inthas realizes with horror just how long the quest is going to take with him on foot. Xsyle gives him the option of buying a poor horse in a small town, a good horse in a larger town, or try to capture the legendary flying steed called Horefrost...each task has it's own risks.
Chapter Eight- A Bit of Heroics
After a heart to heart argument about Xsyle's treating Inthas with a lack of respect Inthas realizes that he's going to have to work hard to earn the respect of the last living koshugon. Being the Lord's Paladin doesn't quite cut it with the Champion of the Gods. After the God's give him a little more information about the dangerous times he's living in, Inthas tries to tame Horefrost and ends up not only with that stallion, but another magical winged horse named Balefire to boot. Now that he's got mounts he's got his choice of routes off the mountain. One is the great southern trade route...which is probably covered by the Desciples spies. Another is heading east along the danger filled Escarpment. Or going west through Fullheilm Marsh and BlackGate...some of the most unsavory territory there is...
Chapter Nine- Logistics and Plotting
Deciding to take the Escarpment, since it seems like a cakewalk with flying steeds, Inthas has spent the whole night plotting all his needs for the journey and calculating how much time it should take him. Now he only needs to figure out where to supply himself. Allbridge and Watch are both big towns on the mountain where he could get supplies...but both most likely have agents of the Desciple well established there. Another town is Ridgegate, a small outpost of the Mascarellan army with a surrounding village, nestled up against the Escarpment itself. Only problem is a strange marker on the magical map they're using seems to indicate great danger there...
Chapter Ten- No Sure Way
Making his way to Ridgegate Inthas poses as a smiple traveling adventurer named Thatz. He learns from the shopkeep in town that the only man who might have the skill to make tack, since he can't carry all his purchases himself, for his steeds is an old man named Amous. When they meet the man Xsyle warns Inthas that the man has elven blood in him and is not to be taken lightly. She cautions Inthas to pay the man whatever price he demands for his work rather than offend him. Amous asks them to slay a beast called the Grappion which has terrorized the town for years. But when they get there they find out that the beast is a Wirinia that's been tainted. The creature's only weakness is magic and Inthas is no strong spellcaster and Xsyle can't cast without telling the whole world she's still alive. They're left with the choice of using any spell Inthas might know...or summoning the horses to help.
Chapter Eleven- A Loss of Guidance
After summoning the horses Inthas struggles to stay alive while Xsyle distracts the beast since the Wirinia can't touch her. However, when Inthas is on the edge of death, his Paladin's powers awaken bringing both Horefrost and Balefire on the double. The stallions turn the Grappion into so much ash and the day is won...at great cost. Inthas's powers have banished Xsyle, who manages to give him a jewel dropped by the Grappion before she vanishes completely...leaving Inthas on his own. As he rides back to Ridgegate he ponders what his next move will be.
Chapter Twelve pt 1- Unexpected
When Inthas lands in Ridgegate he tries to give the stone to the townsfolk and gets a rather chilly reception. He's saved from being run out of town by Amous who takes him back to his shop to finish the tack for Balefire. While there the old man has a heart to heart talk with Inthas about his past and why he's even making Inthas the armor. Seems the old man was a mercenary in his younger days, a half-elven sniper for a rough outfit. His only friend in the company was a koshugon blade-mage named Duliale, a relative of the dreaded assassin Adara. Duliale saved Amous's life at the cost of his own once, and Amous watched as Adara killed those who had killed him. What's all this got to do with Inthas...seems he looks just like the dead Duliale...
Chapter Twelve pt 2- Happenings
Remember Xsyle? Well our assassin hasn't been having an easy time of it since she was banished by Inthas. Turns out she's been sent to hell...or a place very close to it. She ends up in the coils of the Dark God himself...litterally. Seems that he somehow managed to get a hold of her body. After a terse argument about why Xsyle has left his service for that of the Twin Gods of Light he give Xsyle a new 'Gift'. In return, Xsyle nearly garottes him with the power of the Twin Gods, using a connection to them she has to pull herself to freedom. Inthas on the other hand must decide whether to take up Amous's offer of his neice's services. Turn's out Amous has some very high connections with very powerful Elves...
Chapter Thirteen- A Cry for Help
In Ascanda Xsyle isn't getting along very well with the Gods. The Dark One's latest 'Gift' has Tainted her to the extreme and they don't want it rubbing off on innocent Inthas. However, knowing that Inthas can't do it alone, they agree to let Xsyle return to help him once he reaches the Tower of High Magick. Unwilling to let that decision be final, Xsyle contacts a friend with Inthas in mind. Inthas, meanwhile, has decided to ask for the help of Amous's niece, Illiriae a powerful elven archer mage known as the Sypi Archer. Amous is willing to contact her though a loliedra or speaking stone. The catch is Inthas must explain everything...including his quest and purpose. And that can be dangerous if overheard by others...
Chapter Fourteen- Ride the Wild Wind
With no real choice but to explain Inthas give a breif outline of his quest, his person, and his problems promising to explain more once he gets there. Illiriae agrees to an in person meeting and promises to send the 'Wind'. The wind, as Inthas finds out, is just that, a magical wind that sweeps him to the great elven forest Arelliniania where Illirae resides. Once there she offers him a tour of the city, a chance to rest, a chance to talk in private, or use of the magical library...
Chapter Fifteen- The Elf Gate
After having an in-depth private talk with Illiriae she agrees to help him and sees that he is outfitted with a new set of elven cloathing and custom dwarven plate. She is unable, however, to tell him anything about the Grappion stone. Then she escorts him to the great Elf Gate, a magical gateway that will take them anywhere providing they've been there before. But neither Illiriae nore Inthas have ever been to the tower before. Before they can despair a shadow elf steps forward with offers to help. Nordule, as his name is, isn't exactly a friend of Illiriae who cautions Inthas against his help but he is the only one that knows the way...
Chapter Sixteen- The Scroll of VascaronInthas, finding out that Xsyle sent him to help, let's Nordule take them to the tower, appeasing Illiriae by allowing her to monitor their progress and ensure they're not taken somewhere else. Once at the tower Inthas finally finds the item he's been questing for, the legendary Scroll of Vascaron. But when he goes to use it he finds out he's in deep trouble since he hasn't enough magic to appease the scroll's need. A new source, full of Taint, shows up and saves him but something is whispering to him. It wants him to accept it...at what cost?
Chapter Seventeen pt 1- A Dark Interlude
We take a moment away from our hero his companions to look at the flip side of the story. The Dark Mage, Dark Lord, or Dark Desciple is a half koshugon named Rovan. He and his elder half-sister Myrrila are having a discussion where Rovan is finally convinced to lay his fears to rest and see if Xsyle, an assassin they know as Shade, might still be alive. Finding out from his Master that she is alive but will vanish and return in a 'Drakon's Year' with more power than ever Rovan, who calls himself the Lowest Desciple, takes his sister with him to find out what the 'Drakon's Year' could be.
Chapter Seventeen pt 2- The Drakon's Year
Inthas accepts the power within him and falls unconcious. It turns out the being that provided the power that saved him was none other than Xsyle herself. Now greatly weakened she sits with Inthas and contemplates what's happened to them. When Inthas wakes he's in for a surprise...he's got immortality but it seems he's also something he never dreamed of being...half-koshugon. Now as he tries to deal with his new powers Xsyle tells him they're one hundred years in the future...and Nordule, Illiriae, Horefrost, and Balefire are all being held in the dungeon Xsyle escaped from in chapter one! Xsyle tells Inthas in two days she'll have more power than he's ever dreamed of, and Inthas does have these new powers, but both of them are wondering if their friends can last another few days in that place...
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Right that's it, now you're all caught up.
*Lordy
**And Lordy
_________________
"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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Masterweaver
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| Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 5:57 am Post subject: |
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I say wait two days! It causes great character conflict.
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Kalanna Rai
Assassin for Hire
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Posts: 3102
Location: The Frozen North
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| Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 7:44 pm Post subject: |
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Tie-Breaker anyone?
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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Kalanna Rai
Assassin for Hire
Joined: 21 Jan 2006
Posts: 3102
Location: The Frozen North
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 12:43 am Post subject: |
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Right nvm the tie-breaker, that's what executive decisions are for. Besides, I have bad luck getting timely tie-breakers. Enjoy.
Chapter Eighteen: Training Grounds
"I think I'm going to be sick." Inthas dropped to his knees as his senses bent out of shape again. A few paces away Xsyle was rubbing at the edges of the cloth around her eyes. A stray breeze had caught her hair and tugged it on the wind, a dark blue banner against the brilliant southern sun. As he finished heaving, and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand before replacing his gauntlet, Inthas turned toward her and cried out.
It was like looking at the twin suns when they touched, the intense brilliance that flaired in rings of power of a rainbow hue. Probably the only thing that saved him was the fact her powers were dangerously low and the veil of Taint that hung over them. He looked away quickly blinking at the blurry teared vision and his burning eyes. "Did you do permenant damage?"
When the tears cleared it took him a few stinging moments to look around but the colored lines of power still dappled everything in his enhanced sight. "I don't think so but I think I've got to conceed those two days to you Xsyle. I'm in no shape to go wandering around." Xsyle snorted.
"All well and good for me Inthas but it's going to take you more than two days to get used to this...unless." Xsyle snapped her fingers and grinned evilly behind his back. "Unless we speed things up a bit." Inthas groaned. He had the sudden feeling that he wasn't going to get much rest when he slept that night. "Oh don't whine. That's one problem taken care of."
"Oh well one down, that makes me feel so much better. What's the next problem on the list...oh right. Saving the world. Sounds easy doesn't it." He punched the stone infront of him, feeling futile, and gave a startled yelp that left his ears ringing when the rock crumpled to a pile of dust.
"Sarcasm and fits don't suit you Inthas. Actually I've already taken care of our next problem. Finding a place to hole up. The ruins of Katzbarang are only a day's flight away from here on the back of a wind drake."
"And just where are we going to get a wind drake on short notice Xsyle. Or do you just happen to have one hiding in your soreal?"
"Not quite, but close." Inthas was sent to his ears in pain, roaring at the top of his lungs with his hands clapped over his ears as Xsyle let loose the loudest whistle he'd ever heard. Inthas swore it could have been heard half-way round Pharl, and indeed it nearly was. "Now he should be here in any minute." A few seconds later a dark shadow covered the land and Inthas glanced up, amazed to find that it seemed the descending wind drake looked inches away even though it must have been one-hundred feet in the air.
It gave a defening roar of joy as it recognized the figure of Xsyle below it. "Mistress! You've returned!" It landed with a hurricane swirl of winds and a thud that shook the earth as it dropped down on all four paws, massive snout nearly knocking Xsyle down as it nuzzled her, mewling like a small kitten.
"Z'Shissre you've grown well. You look fit to be the king of the air. Drakon's must run in fear of your shadow by now." The last was, perhaps, the highest praise that could be given a drake of any breed. The massive beast, he had to be at least one hundred and fifty feet from nose to tail, gave a strange noise one might find coming from a fuzzy brass instrument, and thumped it's tale. Suddenly realizing Inthas was there it rounded on him, bearing teeth as long as a man's leg. A growl that was nothing short of epic preportions rumbled from deep in it's chest, along it's massive serpentine neck, and echoed in it's cavernous mouth.
"Who are you? Do you endanger my mistress!" Endanger, at this point Inthas was nothing short of crippled by the sound, vibration, and light but he still managed to glare at the drake for a full five seconds.
"Easy Shiss, Inthas is a friend. He's in a bad way just now and we've got to help him." The drake turned back around to look at her an 'anything for you' expression plastered on his face. Xsyle helped him get in place, securely knotting long strands of Shiss's mane around Inthas's waist and legs, giving him a long coil to hold. "And whatever you do, don't try to yank him around. He doesn't need directions." Inthas had the feeling that, if he needed this much restraint, he'd be holding on for dear life if he was doing anything.
Xsyle slid into the place of honor just behind Shiss's head, wrapping a few long strands around her own waist, before the drake shook a little bit. "The fit's fine. Shall we be off?" Reciving a slight nod from Xsyle the drake gathered himself...and suddenly they were airborne so quickly Inthas didn't hear the boom of air the take off downbeat for a few seconds.
Flying on the back of the drake was, Inthas concluded, a most pleasant sensation once you got used to it. It was a constant rolling motion, like the galloping of a horse and the rolling of a ship in one. They would jump forward and upward in the air with every little beat of his wings, sliding downward a bit each time he lifted them. The wind seemed to sing through the long strands of his silver mane, dappling across his silver skin. Unlike common myth dictated the drakes of Pharl had smooth, silken, yet steel tough hide...it was drakons had the shimmering scales.
Inthas lost himself in the roar of the wind, the motion of the great wings, the beating of the drake's great heart, and the beauty of a southern summer sky. His new vision streatched for miles, allowing him to easily watch the ground below as they flew over it miles above. Occasionally someone would glance up and Inthas would have to stifle the urge to wave, the people seemed that close.
They also seemed unhappy. With his new vision Inthas could see that the land was, wrong. Lines of power were weak and dim, covered with grime and Taint. They crossed wrongly in some places, tearing up the earth around them and twisting the creatures into abominations. Dark shadows covered the surface of the world, leaving only brilliant patches, like emerald gems, where power still sang sweet and pure.
For some reason Xsyle came to mind as one with the land. The land without Taint was a beautiful thing to behold. The land with it was beautiful as well, in places, but it was a dark deadly beauty...like belladonna blossoms. Or it was just not beautiful at all...only wrong and broken. He wanted to reach out, scoop up that battered earth in his hands and heal it. But he knew he didn't have the power or strength needed to do that. "Your time will come Inthas. But nobody can say if you'll be strong enough when that time comes."
Didn't look at Xsyle, concentrated instead on keeping his thoughts to himself. But the assassin had, ironically, never steered him wrong yet. At first that had been the doing of the gods...now. Inthas didn't think Xsyle genuinely liked him, knew she wouldn't weep over him if he died, but he knew that for some strange reason, maybe just her own pride in a job well done, she was still helping him.
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When the drake landed by the side of a massive mountain of granite Xsyle unwound herself and walked back to free Inthas. Turning back to the drake she nodded to him. "You know what you must do. I'm counting on you Shiss." The drake bobbed it's huge head and nuzzled Xsyle again.
"I won't fail you mistress." With that the drake kicked up a massive wind...and was little more than a silver flash on the horizon when Inthas had cleared the dust from his eyes. He found Xsyle staring at a shrub covered face of rock. Reaching up she ripped out a bush, roots and all.
"Would you care to help me?" Walking up Inthas pulled free another bush and Xsyle yet another. This went on for a few moments before Inthas pulled free a bush...and the dirt began to pour off the slanted face, dumping down on his head. He coughed and choaked and brushed himself off. "Thank you Inthas." He was about to ask for what when he looked and found Xsyle dusting the last of the dirt off a series of beautifully carved runes...Koshugon writing.
"What does it say?" Xsyle smiled.
"We used to try to keep out unworthy folk from places like this by posting riddles on the side doors, the main doors were always guarded. This particular riddle says...
Give me the one that points the way,
Then give me the tallest.
Give me the one that you bind,
Lastly give me the smallest.
When you are done,
Give me the worker,
Turn to the side of power,
And Enter."
Looking closely at the door there were five holes arranged in a slightly circular pattern and the remains of an ornate design that drew a circle around it. For the life of him Inthas couldn't figure it out. "Well I'd be one of those going through the main gate." Xsyle smiled again.
"We koshugon are fond of making simple things very complex. Watch." Slowly she inserted first her pointer finger, then her middle finger, then her ring finger, and lastly her pinky finger in the semi-circular holes. Next she put her thumb into the big hole at the bottom of the 'circle' and took a deep breath. "Let's hope the mechanism still works after all these years." With that she gave it a sharp turn to the right.
For a few moments nothing happened. Then, with a muffled booming sound and much grinding, the door swung open. Rocks from above began to tumble down, threatening to block the doorway as they both darted through. As the door slid closed, and the rocks sealed it forever, all light vanished. Inthas expected to be blind but instead found himself easily able to navigate with the amount of light the magical lay-lines and power nodes gave off. Xsyle he carefully avoided looking at even though she threw off enough light to make the cavern as bright as day.
"Follow me." And he did, through a maze of passageways that would have confused even a map weilding treasure hunter. Inthas found it eerie that while dust had settled, no creatures, not even spiders, had moved into this vast, empty hollow mountain. "This city was the first to fall to the Dark Lord. I know, I remember. Nobody had taken him seriously before he showed up here and slaughtered every one of the ten-thousand koshugon inhabitants."
Inthas wondered if their wights still haunted this place, indeed not much spooked Inthas anymore but wights still did. He would never forget that enchanted sleep. The shops still had items in them, preserved when the mountain had sealed itself. And skeletons, as brown as the rocks, littered many passageways and open areas. Xsyle deftly steered them away from these places, leading him up spiraling tunnels and stone stairways until they stopped infront of a large building.
"Welcome to where we shall be staying for two days Inthas. This was the kudur a place where young koshugon came to learn to be warriors. I thought it fitting that we should base your training out of this building." Opening the massive bronze doors Inthas got the shock of his life.
On a high dias in the center of the first great room, a skeleton lay where a warrior had laid down and died. The thing was, the bones were not human. Giving a soft whistle into the space Xsyle found what Inthas was looking at. Walking forward she ran her hands along the blade still clutched in it's massive hands. "Poor Galdern, he was worried about growning too old to teach his students. Still from the knicks in his bones he must have fought valiantly before he drug himself back here to die."
"Xsyle...were you here for this battle?" She did not answer, merely went past the skeleton and into the chambers beyond. Inthas bowed to the skeleton, giving it his utmost respect incase the wight of the old koshugon lingered, before following. He found Xsyle in a large round room with steel reinforced walls and bars on all the windows and doors.
"This is where you shall be training." Inthas looked around. There were massive marks in every surface that looked like some monster had tried to claw it's way out.
"What is this room?"
"This is where Galdern kept his half-koshugon students. He had the highest sucess rate of any trainer in the land. That's why I brought you here Inthas. The history and power in this place. You won't be alone as you go through your trials but we've got alot of ground to cover and very little time to cover it in."
She shut and bolted the door behind him. "You're staying in the room with me? Is that wise?" Xsyle walked up until she was about an inch away from him.
"You're not the first half-koshugon I've had to deal with Inthas though you're probably the last. It'll take a whole lot more than you've got to do anything to me because I know exactly what I'm dealing with. Now here's the question. Do you want to fall asleep as a man, or as a beast?"
"Is this a trick question?"
"No Inthas it's very real. If you fall asleep as a man and are still a beast when you wake...I might have to deal you some pretty hard blows to wake you up. On the other hand if you're a beast and wake up a beast...I'm going to have to do everything but kill you to bring you down. Now if you're a beast and wake up a man...well you might get stuck like that and we'd have to sort it out the next night. It doesn't matter to me...the choice is all yours."
Inthas stood there for a moment, beyond being dumbstruck at this point he was just going to go along with the program. Fall asleep as a man, or fall asleep as a beast...he had no clue..
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There you are folks...hope you liked.
_________________
"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 2:05 pm Post subject: |
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I'd say fall alseep a man. Obviously the question is talking about being half-krushen. Taking a chance of waking a beast after falling asleep as one as well is not a chance I would to take especially if Xysle is the one dealing the hard blows.
Just a few hard knocks won't be as bad. I think.
Enjoyed the new chappie as a whole.
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Kalanna Rai
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Location: The Frozen North
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| Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 3:44 pm Post subject: |
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New poll is up...vote!
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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Masterweaver
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| Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 3:46 pm Post subject: |
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Go beastal!
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 12:45 am Post subject: |
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Come all yea voters...this tie must be broken...by someone other than I.
_________________
"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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Kalanna Rai
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Location: The Frozen North
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 1:56 am Post subject: |
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Yay! I take back anything bad I've said about you in the past four seconds. Chappy will be up tomorrow guys...see if you can't quit drooling until then.
_________________
"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 6:32 am Post subject: |
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| just fin reading this... interesting though i'm late to break the tei. even i need a tei breaker. Well...I would have chosen the first too.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 12:55 am Post subject: |
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As promised...a new chappy for a New Year. Enjoy!
------------------------
Chapter Nineteen: Beast Within, Beast Without
"As a man I suppose. I've got more experience being human than I do being anything else." Xsyle nodded, walking over to a corner where preserved blankets still lay in a heap. Shaking them out, and smiling when they didn't disintigrate, she spread out a make-shift bed on the floor.
"Lay down then Inthas...we've got a long night ahead of us." Slowly Inthas crept over to the bedroll and laid down. A few feet away Xsyle sat down, legs folded in a lotus style, arms draped over her knees. "Relax Inthas...I've done this before."
"I'm glad one of us has." Laying there Inthas knew he'd never be able to sleep, no matter how hard he tried. "Uh...Xsyle?" A gentle mist wafted over him, making him feel very drowsy all of a sudden. Xsyle chuckled from her spot on the floor.
"Way ahead of you...way ahead of you..." He wanted to say some witty comeback to her...but he was already sinking into the realms of slumber, drifting this way and that through the worlds behind his eyes.
He'd expected to end up in their usual world, a place of open, grassy meadows and tall stands of trees. Instead he ended up right back in the metal room where Xsyle was leaning against the wall. "You'll have difficulties containing the beast at first and I don't want to spend half the night chasing you down. You need every moment I can give you." Inthas could agree with that, every moment and more.
"So how do I unleash this beast of mine? And, more importantly, what is 'the beast'?"
"The beast is our name for our war-form. It's a massive creature that runs more upon instinct than it does upon our higher minds. In that form we are twelve times stronger, twenty times faster, and nigh on invincible. Our hide has the same strength as diamond armor, our talons and teeth are diamond razors. Yet we forge weapons and armor to make us even stronger Inthas. We cast spells that bounce off our skin and devistate the world around us.
As you've already found out our senses are the strongest of any creature to walk the face of Pharl and we have regenetive rates that can fully regrow a limb in three days. Battle wounds are nothing compared to that. However, our strongest asset is the fact we can acess our higher minds. When you're well trained you can be both the beast and yourself at the same time. During battle you sometimes snap back to it, it's called Coldrage. A fully enraged koshugon is an awesome sight to see Inthas...I know...I've been one."
She pushed off from the wall and walked up to him, her entire body seemed ready for something devistating to happen. "As for awakening it..." She put the tips of her first two fingers on her right hand against the center of his forehead. There was a snap and suddenly there was something inside him that desperately wanted out.
Staggering back from where Xsyle stood, his arms wrapped around his sides, his mouth opened to scream. But no human scream issued forth, instead a bestial cry of pain and rage spilled past his lips. His spine cracked, standing him up and flinging his arms wide, his cloathing fell away in tatters and shreads. His skin darkened, a rippling pattern emerging on it's amber surface.
His knees cracked while his heel turned into a hock, leaving him bent over on four jointed legs. His fingers and toes fuzed together in some places, finger nails and toe nails turning into talons. He was expanding in size, hisses escaping his tightly clenched jaws as his senses expanded ten-fold again, sending him tripping over his own tail. His mouth and nose jutted forward as a long muzzle took it's place.
He turned toward Xsyle and, just before his mind faded away, gave her a last pained look with human eyes. Then came a strange sensation as his intelligence seemed to drain away, leaving savagery and cunning in it's place. His memories seemed dim and fuzzy now and he was slightly disoriented as he tried to get his berings.
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He figured out he was in a room, his room, his territory. There was another with him, a female! Whirling toward her he snarled in the manner of bestial koshugon. Are you friend or are you foe?
Neither. A growl deepend in his throat. The female smelled of old blood, the blood of many kills, and of rot and wrongness. Unclean. She felt powerful but then why did she remain such a puney thing.
You are not my mate, you do not kill my food, you have no right in my territory. She did not move, she could not see! She was weak and weaklings died under the hand of the strong.
This is not your territory. This is cune territory. Cune was not a word Inthas the man would have understood but to Inthas the beast it was clear as day. This was the territory of spirits. His tail drooped a little and he felt a slight fear. However, not wanting to seem weak infront of this elder female, he puffed out his chest.
I do not fear them. I shall take it from them. She shook her head.
I cannot let you do that. Then she spoke aloud. "Control yourself Inthas. I can't help you if you don't fight the pull of the beast." Inthas shook his head as a buzzing, like that of a small fly, echoed inside it. Other self wanted to break in but He wouldn't let it! The other self had all the time and attention while He was locked away and suppressed.
There were things He wanted to do. He wanted to hunt, to kill, and feel the sweet life-blood of his prey run down His jaws while it's meat slid into His belly. He wanted to claim His territory and set out His markers for other's to test, wanted to fight the fools who thought they could best Him. He wanted to..."No!"
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Inthas managed to swim back up to the surface of his mind for a second. Xsyle still stood there looking at him. "Help me Xsyle, I can't control it!" She smiled at him.
"Then work with it. Try to give it what it wants, try to ease it a bit. Let it know that it can have more working with you than it ever could on it's own."
"I..I can't do that. I can't give into it...no." Xsyle shook her head.
"The beast is a base creature Inthas. It's wants are not complicated at all. It's a creature of war so it will want it's territory and will fight anyone for it. I can handle that. It will want fed and, well have you ever dreamed about eating something? We can feed it Inthas." Inthas was having trouble holding on to control. Only sheer mortification kept him going, and fear of what would happen if he failed to keep this in check.
"That's not all it wants..." Xsyle now took a step back.
"I warned you innocent Inthas...I really did warn you." Unable to hold it any longer Inthas lapsed back into the beast.
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The beast was angery now, angery at Other self. Other self was trying to keep Him from control, trying to keep Him weak. Well if Other self wanted Him to be without food, then He was going to commit slaughter. If Other self wanted Him to be adrift, He would claim the world as His territory. If Other self wanted Him to leave this female alone He was going to claim this female.
He stepped toward her and she stood her ground. He looked her over once and twice, even though He didn't want this female. It seemed 'wrong' to Him, unclean, to be looking at her so. Yet Other self didn't want Him to have her so He was going to take her, want or no. She was strong enough, when He was done He would cast her off, make her guard His den for Him and the new mate He would find.
It was obvious from the way she moved that she did not desire Him, maybe her beast wanted Him and her Other self was trying to spite it, just as He was. You are weak, you do not change, you cannot fight.
You are mad, you cannot control yourself. He roared. Other self could not stop Him. Other self was the one who could do nothing, He was in control. Yet the female did not seem to be worried, was her Other self that strong? His Other self had been until...until this female had let him loose! He heard His Other self calling to Him, telling Him things. His Other self had wanted Him free, had wanted to be One with Him.
Impossible. It could not happen, not when Other self did not listen to him, when every time He went to speak Other self slammed the door of their mind shut. Yet Other self was apologizing...was offering to do things with Him. He wanted proof, He did not trust Other self. "What do you want beast?"
You want to walk around in My body with Me, I want to walk around in Your body without You.
-----------------------------
Inthas had managed to get through to his beast, at last, but the demand the creature was making was rediculous. Yet if Inthas wanted to master being a half-blood he needed the beast's help. Yet, glancing at Xsyle through the beast's eyes, he wondered if there wasn't some way around this particular demand...
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What does he do?
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Sorry if the chappy seems confusing but it's supposed to somewhat...Hope you enjoyed anyway.
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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Masterweaver
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 7:40 am Post subject: |
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Agree. It's safer.
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| Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 7:16 am Post subject: |
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Ofcourse we enjoyed it. it makes some sence to me. maybe weaver understands since he talks..well.. *coughcrapcough* *clears trought* what I said nothing.
*Waiting for next chappy.*
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 3:29 am Post subject: |
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*sigh* I keep missing polls.
So if I understand it correctly, the beast wants to wander around in full control of Inthas' normal body? Agree for sure.
This is almost a blessing, because he will be relatively weak and incapable of causing anywhere near the damage of his big ugly form, even if he is going completely loco.
As for the beast trying to use Inthas form to fool or manipulate Xsyle... I'm sure smarter, more charming monsters have tried and failed.
Eventually the beast will calm down a bit and they can try to make more progress.
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 12:41 pm Post subject: |
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Disagree. Try to compimise if you can. Perhaps offer the beast the same thing he offers you, that he can walk in your body, but with you.
Keep talking. Bargin like you have never have before. Just try to keep the deals even, so that Inathas and the beast both get they want, but that Inathas remains in control of his body.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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New poll...voting begins now.
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| Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 2:12 pm Post subject: |
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Rai i hope you'll understand i boted disagree, what i meant was he had to listen to the beast and disagree his thought.
hope you understand, because if he doesn't trust the beast and doesn't let it have what it wants it'll go beserk. and if it asks for more then disagree. thus coming to a conclusion of dins answer.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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Asking for a tie-breaker...otherwise I'll have to do it myself.
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| Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 12:21 am Post subject: |
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| Broke the tie. Unleash!
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 2:14 am Post subject: |
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Thanks Fenny for the tie-breaker...see what I said about me an my tie-breaker luck? Enjoy.
--------------------------
Chapter Twenty: Untouchable
Inthas could do nothing but accept, nothing but give the beast what it wanted. He felt it's smugness as it let him take over, guiding him and instructing him in the ways of his new body, his new powers. Inthas wasn't as stupid as the beast...no wait. The beast wasn't stupid, merely basic. It didn't have the complex needs that required complex thoughts.
That was probably why Inthas could read the suspicion written in Xsyle's face while the beast only noted her words as she made them do any number of little things. They seemed annoying and pointless to the beast, endless repititions of movement. Even if it was combat movement, the beast didn't see how learning these patterns was going to help when the blood was actually flowing. But it was willing to take Inthas's word for it.
Slowly the training session wound to an end, the dream world fading away. Before Xsyle could change him back Inthas allowed the beast to the front. He never really knew how the beast did it but one moment they were in the dream world...the next Inthas was stuck in the back of his own mind as his body woke up. Other self will watch now while He does His work. He will have the small female and Other Self will have nothing!
Inthas wanted to do something, anything, but he was not in control. He'd made the bargain and now, despite all his trying, he couldn't break the beast down. He could only groan, a prisoner in his own mind, and watch what happened when the beast tried to take down Xsyle.
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Xsyle knew something was wrong the moment she woke up...Inthas was staring at her with an intensity she could feel. "Well...last night was rather productive. Another night like that and I might consider you capable of not getting killed in battle. Maimed most likely...but not killed." Her suspicion deepened when Inthas stood in a fluid manner unlike his usual self...it was much more like a big cat getting ready for the stalk.
He did not speak to her, another unusual thing, nor did he move sulkily, which was the biggest tip off yet. "You're still the beast..." With a wide grin Inthas lunged at her with a growl. He hit the metal side of the room with a meaty thud, Xsyle having neatly side-stepped him. You should listen to your Other Self...he knows better than this. She snarled at him.
Other Self is weak! Other self may not be able to take you but He can! Another rush, another neat side-step with a quick foot trip added in to make the beastial Inthas hit the floor again. This time Xsyle had had enough.
I do not want you filthy little half-blood! Come at me again and I shall make you beg. Inthas turned to her, muscles bulging, nostrils flaired, hair swept into feral eyes. His lips drew back in a snarling smile.
You are too weak to change...too weak to take me.
If that is what you think then test your luck. If you win then you have your rights...if you lose you shall work with your Other Self to become One Self. The beast laughed.
He and Other self can never become one. No Other self can ever bond with Us.
If I still had my eyes you would know different. Normally all she would have needed to do was stare Inthas down...but she didn't have that painless option now. Cracking her knuckles she grinned...finally an excuse to legitimately beat the piss out of the boy.
He played right into his part as well although he no longer charged her. Now he circled cautiously, trying to find a weakness in her defense no doubt. She grinned...better had tried and failed. Blind or not she could still take Inthas any time of the day or night. He waited until he had circled three times before trying to strike at her left shoulder from slightly behind her.
She sprang into the air, the swipe blurring past underneith her, spinning around and landing a kick that blew Inthas across the room. Your reflexes are disgraceful runling. He hissed, drawing himself up off the floor with wounded grace. Xsyle wasn't even winded as she cocked her head to the side listening. That was when beastial Inthas must have either picked something up from the Inthas trapped in the back of his mind, or shown some basic cunning.
He took off his shirt and began to toss about with it, slapping in different directions while he growled and padded softly. It would have worked if it had been any other blind person but Xsyle. Xsyle, however, had only been truely blind once...in that garden where everything had been making noise. Here, no matter how hard he tried, he was still just one thing making noise.
She let him think he had her off balance and, sure enough, he took the bait, trying to tackle her from behind. You can imagine his surprise when she slipped past him, digging her fingers into the soft flesh of his throat while another steely arm locked both of his down. Struggle as he might he could not break free, her grip on his windpipe growing tighter all the time. He jerked back with his head, trying for a headbutt to her face. Her head, however, was somewhere by his shoulder.
He tried to sweep her legs, both were obvious tactics both probably offered by Inthas to the beast, but she neatly avoided both times. Give it up runling...I'm above your abilities. Slowly the struggles ceased and she released him before he lost conciousness. He fell to the floor on hands and knees, coughing and gasping for breath.
How can you do that?
I'm Untouchable. You'll learn. She placed her hands on hips, head cocked toward him. You'll learn or you'll die runling. He spat on the ground.
And I suppose you'll kill me Tainted One? You'll spill my blood like you've spilled the blood of thousands of others. You'll embrace your darkness once again to lay me low? A grim smile spread across her features showing dazzling teeth, two of which were slightly pointed.
Only if I have to to save your hide. Now work with the man, not against him. You'll have far better results if you do.
-------------------------------
The beast left him with a whump, retreating to a corner of his mind muttering about 'Ganheathers' whatever those were. Poking the beast he asked but got no reply save more grumbling about being 'treated like a runling' whatever a runling was. Inthas felt he had been well worked over even though it could have been worse. And his abused throat allowed him no speech whatsoever.
For a few moments they just sat there, Xsyle leaning against one wall, Inthas curled up against another. He thought he was imagining it at first when a foggy mist crept into the corner of the room. He certainly couldn't mention it to Xsyle, who seemed oblivious, not with his voice out of serivice. Instead he watched it until it crept back out again.
'Strange', he thought, and wondered. 'What should I do about that?'
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Well, what can he do?
----------------------
Sorry bout the wait. Hope you liked.
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 2:43 am Post subject: |
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What is strange about the mist exactly? Is it something he has picked up with his new senses, or was he just not expecting it?
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| Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 10:22 pm Post subject: |
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Wow...Inthas is really...weak.
Anyways, cool chapter Rai, now just let me catch up on the rest....
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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To Reg: What seems strange is that the mist seemed to have a mind of it's own...it acted like a living thing.
To Fenny: Inthas is not weak, as you'll find out when things get going. It's just when you compare him to Xsyle he's a marshmellow in tinfoil wrapping...Mostly he's just naive.
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:06 pm Post subject: |
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Well if Inthas really can't talk at all, can he at least crawl? If he crawls to a place where it will get to Xsyle before it gets to him, he should be fine.
I'd be surprised if she didn't know something was going on anyway. Not being able to see seems more of a quirk than a handicap for her. Unless the colour of the mist is significant in some way that Inthas recognises and can communicate, I think Xsyle has more chance of doing something about it than Inthas does.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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He can crawl. He's a little brused up, especially on his throat, but he's otherwise okay. He's just a little weak and shouldn't be thinking about fighting.
And you're right...Xsyle has spent years eliminating possible handicaps. She's one of the best assassin's after all...
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"Music makes you braver."
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 5:04 am Post subject: |
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| Kalanna Rai wrote: | | one of the best |
 You mean there's other assassins who are even in her ballpark?
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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The two best assassin's ever on record are Shade and Adara. It's assumed they met even though they were active in different time periods since both are koshugon and, therefore, almost ageless.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:08 pm Post subject: |
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New poll...make some voting magic.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:15 am Post subject: |
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Well hallo there *comes out darkness of my world* I think it be cool like hide he knows. wear something protective when you hide, like maybe a helmet of somesort.  haha maybe he'll have a close cut from his enamies. I think. Now let me think of the little secrit your hiding.  ... g2g.
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| Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 11:33 pm Post subject: |
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| ...hmmmm...*closes eyes and reaches out for a button*
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 12:17 am Post subject: |
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And it's time to draw you back in. Enjoy.
-------------------------
Chapter Twenty One: The Eater of Dreams
Inthas knew he needed to relax as much as he could for now, regain his strength and wait for the aches to subside. He debated mentioning the mist to Xsyle but his throat would allow him no more than a rasping hiss. As he slowly crawled across the floor he resigned himself to the fact that she probably already knew it was there. This was Xsyle afterall...she seemed to know everything.
He looked at her, standing there in the center of the room. He'd have accused her of staring at him even though she could do no such thing and was, indeed, facing the door to his left instead. Reaching his blankets he wrapped himself up, rubbing his bruised arms and making sure he hadn't rebroken his nose. He finally managed to coax a whisper from his bruised throat. "It's time's like this I wish I'd never left home." Xsyle turned to him.
"You'd rather be back in the halls of your Order hum? In the Cloudthorn Keep?" Inthas remembered the Keep's hallways like he'd been there yesterday...indeed to his mind he'd been there only scant months ago not well over five-hundred years. But it wasn't the carved granite blocks and fluttering hangings of the Keep he was missing...it was his real home.
"No Xsyle. Before I went into service for the Order I lived on a farm with my parents...or well with my mother. My father was a traveler of sorts...mother always claimed he was a caravan guard. We worked the farm and waited for him to return, he never came back at the same time, never staied for the same amount of time...that much I can recall.
I remember that my mother woke me one night not long after my little brother was born. She was crying and told me she'd dreamed my father had died. I was too young to believe her...maybe five at the time. But when papa didn't return the next year I knew something was wrong...he'd been gone for a long time before Vanni was born and with the passing of another year...well he'd never staied away that long.
Mother tried her best to keep the farm going but it had been hard before when it was only herself and I and Father was bringing home money when he returned. Now with the three of us and no other source of income...well when that knight rode into our yard and lodged at our house for the night...." Xsyle nodded.
"At the tender age of six your mother thought that an order of knights could better provide for you than she could....Is that right?" Inthas nodded, then vocally affirmed.
"Things did get better for her though...she married a wealthy man in town and sold off the farm. It was better for her health and at least Vanni had a better chance at a father than I did." Inthas's eyes took on a misty quality...a rare thing. "I sometimes remember him you know...as a smell and a big pair of rough hands that picked me up and tossed me in the air...and never missed catching me." Inthas coughed and grimaced as pain flaired in his throat again. "When Mother died I was off on my test to rise to the rank of Paladin. I was hunting down Adara."
Xsyle moved toward him now, pressing her hand on his throat again. A cool sensation spread from her fingertips and, in moments, the healing was complete. "Thank you."
"You're voice was so low you weren't giving me enough echo to map your face. It's disconcerting that...a disembodied voice in your ears." Inthas laughed.
"Good to know there's something you don't like out there." Xsyle snorted at him.
"There's a great deal of things out there I don't like Inthas, myself first and foremost amoung them. Now if we could quit with the nostalgic moments and move onto a useful discussion...such as what you've learned about your beast I'd appriciate it." With a sigh Inthas began answering Xsyle's questions.
"Xsyle...what about you?"
"What about me?"
"You came from somewhere. You had family. What were they like? Where were you born?" For a few moments she tapped her fingers on the stones...then a smile split her face. Inthas groaned...he knew that smile.
"Tell you what. You start showing improvement and, when you reach maturity, I'll give you my history as a present. Or you can just keep acting like the idiot I know you're not and you'll remain in the dark. Is it a deal?" Inthas took and shook the hand she extended.
"Deal." It was at that moment he noticed the fog again but this time...this time it covered the ceiling. It had snuck in without his noticing and only now as Xsyle's contacte flaired his senses wide open again could he detect it's subtle movements. "Xsyle...?"
"I know Inthas...I felt it's presence last night. It's also marked on the map. Remember the Grappion? This creature is like that. It's a Caelrog a Dreaming One. Normally they were kept as pets by my people since they bestowed wonderful dreams upon their owners if they were well treated. This one, however, is a miasma of evil. It stalked us last night in the Dream World for part of the night...had it found us sooner I would have had a terrible time fending it off without trapping us in that world for far longer than we wanted."
Inthas looked back at her. "So what are we going to do about it?"
"It depends..are you brave enough? And can you work with your beast well enough?"
"Just tell me what needs doing."
"Caelrog are as invunerable as fog for the most part. You can hack at them all you want and deal them no damage. You can cast any spell and it will absorbe the energy for food. However, if you can strike the heart of the beast while it's unprotected, a single mighty blow will kill it. I will go to sleep and fight the monster there. Since it will have to concentrate most of it's energies upon me there it's heart will be prime for the striking. But you'll need the beast to help you locate it and then you'll need it to help you deal the blow."
For a moment Inthas despaired. "Isn't there another way?" Xsyle shrugged.
"You can try holding it off in the Dream World if you want and I'll seek out it's heart. But I warn you, there's no way to kill it in the Dream Worlds. You'll have to play hit and run, keeping a close eye on the way back to your own body or else it'll strand you there and devoure you. Your choice Hero...seek the heart or keep it distracted."
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What will he do?
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Hope you liked.
_________________
"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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Sallume92054
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| Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 8:46 am Post subject: |
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| Kalanna Rai wrote: | And it's time to draw you back in. Enjoy.
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Chapter Twenty One: The Eater of Dreams
"You can try holding it off in the Dream World if you want and I'll seek out it's heart. But I warn you, there's no way to kill it in the Dream Worlds. You'll have to play hit and run, keeping a close eye on the way back to your own body or else it'll strand you there and devoure you. Your choice Hero...seek the heart or keep it distracted."
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What will he do?
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Hope you liked. |
Given that he's not had overwhelming success with his beast, I think he'd rather not risk going rogue when trying to fight something. I don't know. He's got enough of a devil may care attitude to risk things, but enough good cause to want to work out a compromise with his beast. I think he's going to try to keep it distracted and try to keep the beast on a short leash at the same time. I also think that he's going to have a very interestesting time of it. Perhaps actually teaching his beast something about the strategy of the human side of him. Instint and beastial abilities are fine, but there is something that being small, pink and not very tough that teaches you some caution. Give him what for from the beast for trying to keep it distracted. And the beast gets a real lesson about thinking verses instincts. I'm looking forward to the poll. See you then.
Dave
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 10:51 pm Post subject: |
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Once again I love your suggestions and will definetly take them into my writing pool of thought. You've misread the DP slightly though.
His choice is either to strike the Heart of the Eater of Dreams or go into the dream world and distract the Eater while Xsyle strikes at the heart.
Also you read all this in one sitting? Wow. *bows deeply with great appriciation*
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"Music makes you braver."
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 9:41 am Post subject: |
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I agree with Sallume.
Don't take the chance of the becoming rogue. Also I agree that in the dream world our 'hero' may be able to teach the beast a lesson or two about caution.
Besides, with Xysle's skill, experience, and training, she should be able to find the heart relatively quickly verses Inathas who probably struggle at the task.
So to the Dream World we go.
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| Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:41 am Post subject: |
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I agree with both Din and Dave-sallume....
the dream world would be a great place to face it....
Since it works almost everywhere.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 3:43 pm Post subject: |
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New poll...vote.
_________________
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 7:58 pm Post subject: |
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I voted to go after the heart, for 2 reasons.
Firstly, Inthas and the Beast together, at this time, are almost useless for anything but going into a controlled rage and tracking down and destroying things. This is what needs to be done to the heart.
The dream, however, requires restraint and caution, and focus on avoiding the enemy and remembering the way back to the body. He is not ready for this, and could easily end up trapped away from his body.
Secondly, over the course of the story I have come to believe that if Xsyle sets out a plan without hesitation, it is probably the best plan available. Inthas had to ask her for alternatives, but I don't see why the alternative is more attractive.
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| Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:15 pm Post subject: |
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Alright I've let this alone long enough so now, net willing, is the next installment. Enjoy!
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Chapter Twenty Two: In the Dark
Inthas stared at Xsyle's cloth-bound eyes, wishing he could look beyond the cloth and know what lay behind it, however ruinous. He looked at her form, her figure, and though he knew her to be older than nations, older than lakes and rivers, he could not think of her as so much older than himself. He wanted to know how this slender whip of a female, with delicate bone structure and chorded muscles like silk-bound wire, had come to shoulder the weight of the world. And to do that he needed to prove himself.
"You seek the heart, I'll distract the beast." She nodded and he continued, eager to explain his reasoning. "When I faced the Grappion it taught me something. You distracted the beast just long enough for it to be destroyed even though you could do nothing to kill it. If throwing rocks at a menace only magic could lay low worked in reality I'm sure the struggles between myself and my beast will be like blood in the water for this..."
"Caelrog." Despite not having eyes Inthas could feel her attention boring through him. "If this is what you wish then so be it Inthas. I will strike at the Heart instead and I shall be as swift as permitted." Her hand flicked out to caress his brow and, before he could contemplate the meaning of those last words, Inthas was falling into the Dream World.
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Xsyle listened as Inthas hit the floor, his breathing light and regular. She could feel the Caelrog all around her, pressing in on her own awareness even as it dampened sound. She didn't know if it was smart enough to figure out that she depended upon sound to hear or whether it was just taking pains to keep it's prey asleep but it was playing havok with her 'sight'. Still she knew this chamber well enough to find the door unaided, open it, and slip into the hallway beyond.
Nobody knew how hard it was for Xsyle to actually make noise as she moved. Trained most of her life to be as silent as a shadow, as stealthy as a controlled breath, it was apalling to her to be forced to hum. It was galling to allow her feet to slap the floor with what seemed like leaden thuds even though they were hardly louder than a childs footstep on tile. Her breath hissed in and out as her hands slid into her gauntlets, fingers flexing to make sure all settled well.
Using her teeth to tighten the ties in place, lips deftly fastening buckles, she allowed her claws to scrape the stones of the wall. The screeching echos illuminated her world, showing her the tunnel she followed and those than branched off of it. Throwing out her 'feelers' she caught a whisp of the Caelrog and tried to lock on. It was like trying to take a handful of mist and clasp it tight. But if anyone could manage such an impossible task it was Xsyle.
Indeed after the first few attempts in which it slipped from her grasp, Xsyle merely allowed her psyche to sweep it, brushing as gently against it as a feather. Indeed it was better this way, the beast would dismiss her as a threat if she seemed indifferent of it. Yet still, every contact made it realize that only one of the pair was within it's dreaming clutches. At this rate it would be aware of the physical being stalking it...and that wasn't good.
"But how else am I to find it? It make no noise and I cannot see it." She stopped for a moment, pondering her options. There seemed only one answer. She allowed her humming to fall away as her voice, full and lilting, swept out before her in the Old Tounge. It wasn't just a song, it was a war song, a call to arms. In moments she could feel the chill as the one she had called answered her.
Lady, it has been long since last you walked these halls. Welcome back.[i]
Xsyle turned toward the chill that crawled up her left side, inclining her head at the formal words in slightly archic Old Tounge. [i]Galdern I thank you for the welcome old friend and pardon my bad manners for desturbing your rest.[i]
[i]I was not resting Lady, none of us do here. We only walk in circles inside this mountain, once our home now our prison, dreaming of light and vengance. Why have you called?
Xsyle grinned. Always like Galdern to be both long windedly poetic and tacturn in the same sentance. The Eater of Dreams desturbs the rest of my pupil. I will not stand for such. Yet I cannot track the beast by sight, smell, sound, or psy-sense. Thus I ask you Galdern to lead me to my prey.
A long laugh issued from the spirit. Were it any but you Lady I'd say this was a sign of weakness. But since it is you I know it to be a sign of cunning. The creature pays us spirits no heed any longer as we are no longer flesh and can do it no harm. You, however, it would do well to fear. I take it this student of yours is the same you led past me some time ago?
It is. What say you of him Galdern?
He is the spitting image of his father Lady, I can only hope he weilds one tenth the power and sense his Lordship exercised in life.
Xsyle cocked her head at the spirit. Despite her best efforts she really had no idea what Inthas truely looked like. She was half tempted to ask Galdern who Inthas's father was. Obviously it was someone Xsyle would know as well. There had only been three koshugon that Galdern had called 'Lordship' and all three were well known to Xsyle.
But now was not the time. Now was the time for fighting, for striking at her foes. Ah it felt good to know something was going to die at her hands in moments. Lead on Galdern if you please.
Nothing would give me greater pleasure Lady.
Slowly Xsyle padded off in the wake of the spirit, easily able to track him via his chill. Her steps ceased to make noise, her humming dropped to the lowest timbre possible, barely outlining the world she moved through. Like the very shadow of the spirit that moved before her, Xsyle went to face the Eater of Dreams.
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Inthas ran, legs pumping, heart pounding so loud he could hear nothing but his own ragged breathing. And still the creature behind him gained. Other Self is too weak! Other Self cannot outrun the beast! Other Self should not run from the
Caelrog! Other Self should fight! He would fight!
"Really? Would you? Fine then, you take over." And just like that Inthas ceded control to the beast. "Just remember how well you did against the female earlier. I did try to warn you."
Pah! Other Self is weak...
"But not foolish. You depend too much upon strength and instinct, I don't. I depend upon training and stratagy...and you'll need that to fight this creature."
The beast was stubborn, refusing to see it Inthas's way. No. Other Self has already admitted He can deal with the Caelrog better. Other Self will sit and watch while He slays his foe!
Inthas couldn't help but laugh when the beast tried to slash into the monster persuing them. An ordinary creature would have been sent reeling and bleeding from the powerful blow. The Caelrog instead swirled around the blow, exactly like striking into a painting made of colored smoke.
IS NOT RIGHT!
"I tried to warn you. Run!" For once the beast took Inthas's advice and turned and began sprinting away. "Not so fast! Don't run in terror...run as if chasing long winded prey. Fleet of foot but sustainable." Inthas felt a thrill of joy as the beast adjusted to his instructions. Behind them the spirit form of the Caelrog let loose a primeval bellow at loosing it's prey. And though it strove it could not match the fleet footed koshugon half of Inthas.
"We cannot let it give up the chase though else the Xsyle will not be able to slay it and we shall be trapped here." The beast grunted assent and slowed, letting the monster behind them nearly catch it by the tail, then it sped up again.
How does Other Self know this? And this Xsyle...the old female?
"Yes the female is Xsyle and I wouldn't call her old if you don't want another 'lesson." Inthas felt the beast wince. "As for how I know this...it's what I do. This is why Xsyle wanted us to become 'One Self'."
It can't happen. Other self and Him are too different.
Inthas thought for a moment. "Not so much different as opposite. You are what I am not, impulsive, decisive, reliant upon instinct and strength. I am thoughtful, restrained, dependant upon my training and lessons to see me through. All these things can be found in most people...I'm sure we could find a way to work ourselves together."
The beast was quiet, slowing again as it thought in it's limited way. It quickly sped up again as the Caelrog nearly caught hold of it. Inthas could feel the way it had relaxed control. Before it wouldn't have even listened too him, nevermind allow him to speak freely. Yet maybe that session with Xsyle had knocked more sense into it than Inthas thought.
Other Self knows about these things more than Him. How would we do this thing?
Inthas tried to remember...what had Xsyle said. He wished she were here now but wishing wouldn't make it so. Then it came to him in a flash. "We must fight, together, as One." Instantly the beast whipped around in mid stride until it was charging back toward the Caelrog. It reached out to embrace Inthas who felt himself sliding into the beast.
It was an odd sensation, like finding a part of yourself long lost and missing. For a moment it was still 'Him' and 'Other Self'...and then it was just Inthas. He instinctively put his head down, presenting a hard skull cap and protecting his eyes, as he rammed through the Caelrog lashing with his tail as he bolted past. This felt right and Inthas knew it was keeping the monster off balance.
Springing off at a quick pace again, Inthas launched himself in the air, landing and scattering the monster's manifestation once again. "Come on you bastard. Try me."
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We are here Lady. Shall I guide you in for the strike?
Xsyle chuckled. Now that she was practically on top of the Caelrog she didn't have to exert herself to find it. Galdern was being polite but not even were she missing all her limbs and her will to move would she have another guide her for the telling blow.
No thank you Galdern. You have been most kind but I release you back to your wanderings. And I give you my word that soon shall the Battle Call come and you will be at last free. She could feel his bow.
Then I shall retire Lady and see that the army is ready to march upon your orders. May our talons be wet...
And our flanks be dry. Farewell.
For a moment the chill of the spirit enveloped her as Galdern left then she was alone with the beast. Centering her body on the creatures central point she waited for the last of the energies eddying around it to vanish. The slight exchange between Galdern and herself had gone unnoticed, the Caelrog was used to speech amoung the spirits...no it was not quite fully concentrated upon it's dream prey.
Xsyle could only will Inthas on...
And then the opening came. Hurling both of her hands, the talons on her gloves blurring faster than sight, the metal heating in the friction of air passage, Xsyle plunged toward her target. She let out a screech of joy as she connected, feeling the Caelrog scream silently under her blow.
It detonated like a the explosion of a small sun, thousands of years of hatred, malice, and twisted magic blowing Xsyle backwards. Her training allowed her to twist around and catch herself on the wall, the force driving her hands into the rock itself...
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Inthas suddenly came awake alone in the room. Sweat soaked him and he was exhausted yet jubilant. Slowly he went to stand...and noticed the world around him was funny, he was looking from the wrong prespective. He stared at his hands and was mildly horrified to find they were still his beastial taloned paws. "What! How...what's wrong with me?"
Something had gone wrong...but what?
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So what's gone wrong with Inthas? Is he permenantly stuck in his Beast form or is this temporary? If it's temporary how might it be fixed?
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Hope you liked.
_________________
"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 5:56 am Post subject: |
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It should be temporary. He should have to get used to being one with the beast before he can change his form at will. Xsyle will help of course.
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:24 pm Post subject: |
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| I F5 Duke Reg as always...like I always say, "It is always best to surrender to wiser heads than your own."
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:09 am Post subject: |
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ok let me start at what i think.
It should be willing or unwilling- temporary. It means that- yes he'll have to know how to work with the beast, but still he'll have trouble conrtolling actions, and mainly the beast will give him ideas and mabye something about hell or anything about history or the past.
nightshade g2g...
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:28 am Post subject: |
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Poll's up.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:50 am Post subject: |
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Finally! A New chappy! Enjoy!
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Chapter Twenty Three: Powers Unfold
Inthas fought down a rising surge of panic. "Think!" His voice was a deep thundering bass rumble, hissing slightly through his sharp teeth. He paced around the room a bit noticing where it had once seemed large it now seemed small. As he passed one of the metal walls, covered in grime it had accumulated over the years, he noticed his reflection in it's remaining mirror-like surface.
He didn't know the standard size for koshugon but he estimated himself to be on the large side if the size of the room was any indication. It might be a half-breed thing or it might be inherited, he had no way of knowing. He was covered in a thick pelt, like a tigers sans stripes, that was dappled in shades of honey gold, tawny yellow, and buff creme, dark along his spine, fading along underbelly and limbs.
He had a pair of horns on his head, perfectly placed to slash or gut an opponant with a shake of his head. Or to lock up against another male mating...where had that thought come from? A gleam between those horns announced the thick bone plating that reinforced his upper skull. He had fangs, two visible pairs that showed when his mouth was shut, opening his mouth revealed sharp teeth that locked together. If he took a bite of something, and didn't want to let go, that something would be giving up a chunk of flesh to free itself from his grip.
His hands were paw-like, set on the end of strong arms. The fingers were none too flexible, with only rudimentary movement, and the alabaster talons were sharp and slightly curved...like flaying knives almost. His feet were paws, thickly padded and made for silent movement, talons poked out from the tips of the toes and gripped the rock underfoot. Flexing them a bit he watched them retract, then fully extend. The one in the middle was hook shaped and far bigger than the other two...a killing weapon.
His tail was thick, crocodilian almost, made for balance durning runned and movement and delivering bone crushing blows. He had strong shoulders, even if his arms were less mobile than his human arms, with strange interconnected spines rising off them. His haunches were massive, his legs four-jointed and built for massive amounts of speed and power. His body was thin, flat ribs almost inter-locking without gaps. His head was a large wedge shape on a thick neck, eyes massive and huge ears were almost flat against his skull. Along with flaired nostrils it wasn't hard to see why he had better senses.
He stared at his reflection a long time before a single thought snapped him out of it. 'I wonder what Xsyle looks like?' Suddenly he realized Xsyle hadn't returned and felt guilty that he hadn't been looking for her. He almost bellowed her name out...then realized how futile it would be here in these honeycomb passages in the solid rock.
Instead he sniffed for her scent, which wasn't hard to find with it's saturation of taint and old blood, and began to track her through the laybrinth maze of twists and turns. He finally found her in a strange room, maybe once the living room for a family, hanging from a wall. Her arms were entombed in rock to the elbows and her feet were braced against the floor, cheek pressed hard against the stone. She looked like she was resting, gathering her strenght.
The moment he entered the room her head snapped toward him, smile quirking her lips. "It seems you've learned something from all this."
"I think I can safely say I've learned to work with myself...anything I can do to help you?" He expected her to brush him off with a brusque no. Instead she nodded.
"You can use your inner senses and pick up the gem that's laying around over there." She nodded with her head to a blasted patch in the center of the room. Inthas could barely make out a glint of light as something shimmered there. "Then you can put it in your soreal and go outside so I don't hurt you when I pull free of this."
Inthas was shocked to realize he was still wearing his soreal. His other clothing had vanished but the magical gem had actually sprouted tendrils it seemed, weaving them into a loose collar around his neck. He touched it gently before pacing over to where he'd seen the gleam, inner senses open and carefully tuned away from Xsyle. He spotted it quickly enough, a gem like the Grappion stone only pale silver instead of blood red. Scooping it up and depositing it in the soreal, he quickly shuffled out of the room.
He stood there for a few moments, puzzling over the similarities of this new stone and the one he already had, when there was an odd sound. It sounded like rock turned to water and, moments later, Xsyle walked out shaking something off her hands. She turned her face toward him, cloth-bound eyes aiming uncannily at where his own eyes were.
"It's time to leave now. We've done what we came to do. I have unfinished business at the Dark Mage's Tower...you have friends imprisoned there." With that she turned and began to stalk away.
Inthas, for all his longer stride, found himself pressed to keep up with her silent tread. "Xsyle...Your drake friend impressed me last time...but I think I'd be a bit much for him to carry like this. We need to get to the tower...but it's on the other side of the land. We'll never get there in time." Her laughter stung slightly since he couldn't be sure if it was good natured or not.
"Oh ye of little faith. I've grown tired of hiding, truth be told, both from my foes and the...Gods." The last came out wrong, like a rotten scrap of meat or...or a title undeserved. "It's about time I step up again and make things happen."
Inthas blinked at her. "You make things happen?" She stopped so suddenly he nearly trod on her, only her own reflexes kept it from happening. "Xsyle...have you repudated the Gods?" From under his feet a sigh came.
"I only served them to minimize the damage they were doing to Pharl Inthas. Truth is...they're not Gods. They're not even real dragons for what it's worth. They're Akrons, the Star-Serpents that strike at realms that have none to guard them. They come in the guise of Gods, inspiring the people to believe in them and give them yet more power...but the people of Pharl no longer believe in gods."
Inthas stared down at her. "How can you say that? Of course they believe." Her hand patted his leg softly, the talons of the glove whispering of pain against his skin but doing no damage.
"No, Inthas, they don't. They've seen their lands corrupted, their people slaughtered and tormented, their herds die, and their crops fail. They've seen the koshugon, the chosen Race, vanish from this world. Each time they've called upon the Gods. Each time the gods have denied them. Inthas...the power you weild never came from the Lord. It was always within you, your half-blood birthright. The only powers they ever gave you were those that bound you closer to them. Trust me Inthas...I know."
She began moving again and Inthas followed her. "So what will you do now? Overthrow them in a bloody divine coup? That would certainly etch your name in the history books Xsyle...the assassin of Gods. You'd be greater than Shade...greater than Adara even." Xsyle laughed again.
"Inthas...I am Shade." He sucked in a breath as though he'd been punched. He should have known, he realized, but it he'd never really thought about it. Now he felt...he wasn't sure how he felt about it. "By your silence you're shocked. Would it help if I told you I was also the Black Bard? I'm quite the character where history was concerned...but that is what it is...history."
She twisted around a bend in the tunnel before he could ask another question but his mind was still whirling. The Black Bard...Adaria then? That's who Xsyle really was? What a fool she must really think him. He wondered how many of the rumors he'd heard about her were true...he could believe more of them than not although some he know clearly knew to be false.
He finally caught back up to her in a massive stone all. Huge glyphs were inscribed on the smooth polished walls, no two the same, each calling to him in a voice he didn't understand. There was power here and it thrummed along his veins. Xsyle spoke, her voice carrying in the room. "Welcome to the Crossroads. Each of these glyphs was once the gateway to another community of our people. Now there are only ruins at the end of these roads, but two of those ruins lay close to the Dark Mage's Tower."
She slowly pointed. "One is the city of Bakatla, once a great river city and center of trade. Now it sits in the middle of the Deadmire, the corpse of a once great beauty fallen to rot and ruin. It's no more than two days away from the Tower."
Inthas considered the Deadmire, a marsh that was uncharted for the most part. Strong men went in, crippled lunatics came out. He'd seen some of his mentors broken by that lightless place. Yet where they were headed was even worse from the little he knew. Xsyle had lost her eyes in that Tower...that was as good as a death sentance for him.
She then pointed to another. "And this was Ketarika, the forest city. It was from us elves learned how to build their towns in living trees, and Ketarika was the greatest of all the Natural Homes. Now it is ensconced in the blasted remains of the wood around it, a wood crawling with plant and animal abominations. These are recent changes, made while you slept the first time. It had a different name when you were awake but that forest is now called Cravenslade. It's less perilous but farther away..."
Inthas knew little about the forest but plant and animal abominations didn't sound like anything he wanted to run into. She'd also said it was less dangerous but a longer route. Just once couldn't he find speed and safety in the same passage? Still...they might be swifter if less resistance were encountered. But the Dark Mage might expect attack from that direction, if he expected attack at all.
Once again Inthas wondered why Xsyle, or whatever her real name was, was leaving it up to him to choose...
----------------------------
Right, another travel option. I know it seems boring but it's actually a big choice...
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:05 pm Post subject: |
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This chapter could do with a proofread, Rai.
Go the less perilous, farther away option. The time gained going the other way could be more than canceled out by the trouble they run into.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:15 am Post subject: |
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*grimaces* Sorry Reg, it was late, I was tired...and now I'm just making excuses.
I do see what you mean though, I'll start running a spellcheck on my late night ramblings from now on...
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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Any more suggestions? Last call...
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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Seeing as Reg was the only one to make a suggestion I'll act on his for the next chappy. It'll be up in a couple of days.
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 3:02 pm Post subject: |
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Right, new chappy. I was considering cliff-hangering this story but I've got a better plan instead...Enjoy!
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Chapter Twenty Four: Cravenslade
"We go to Cravenslade." He felt confidant he could deal with anything in this new form. Not for nothing were the koshugon known as the Guardian race and a half-koshugon must have powers of their own right. Inthas was more than willing to find out what they were and what better to test them upon than creatures that deserved naught but death anyway.
Nodding her head Xsyle struck the glyph a ringing blow and a chime resounded through the room. Slowly the lines of the glyph began to glow, changing and reshaping themselves into something far different, something that made the ElfGate look like a weak hole in the fabric of Pharl. Standing aside she looked up at him again, cloth-bound eyes seeing nothing yet finding his own easily enough. "Now go Inthas."
He started forward only to stop when he realized she wasn't coming with him. "You're not coming?" She shook her head.
"No Inthas. I have another purpose. I must distract the three Akrons so that you might succeed." For a moment there was silence as he looked from the Portal to his companion.
"Are you sure? I..I don't know if I'm strong enough to do this Xsyle. What if I need help?"
She patted his leg again, gentle but firm. "Inthas...there comes a time when every male must leave his mother's care and strike out on his own. He must carve his own territory from the perils that wait him and hold it against all who would take it away from him. The only difference for you is that the whole of Pharl is your territory and great forces wish to take it away from you." She moved away, toward another glyph striking it till it opened.
Turning over her shoulder she smiled. "Fear not Inthas. Every male had those he could call upon in need. If your need is great, call for me and I will come. I ask only one thing of you," he strained his ears to catch her words so softly were they spoken. "Don't slay the Dark Mage. Break him, bind him, cow him into submission, but slay him not...or we shall be enemies." With that she stepped into the light of the glowing glyph and was gone, leaving him with his own journey to make and his own problems to encounter.
Taking a deep breath he stepped through and into the light. Every hair rose off his body and it felt like a viscous liquid was being rubbed along his skin. Then, with a pop, he fell a few feet onto a floor of rotten wood. Losing his balance, he scrabbled for purchase to no avail as the rotten timber gave way benieth him and he plunged through.
He bounced off several protruding ledges of wood, each of which splintered as he hit it, and crashed through several more rotten floors until he impacted hard on the ground. All around him splinters of wood rained down, several hitting him but none broke the skin. He lay there for a few moments, panting and waiting for his strength to return. Every sense he had was screaming for him to get out of this place, the Taint hung thickly.
Worse he could hear the movements of something close. Forcing himself to his feet, he glared around himself and, locating the source of the sound, began to growl softly. He remembered what Xsyle had said about needing to claim his territory and, at that point, instinct took over. Opening his jaws as wide as they'd go he sucked in a massive lungful of air and roared his challenge across the forest. It was time to grow a spine...
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In his tower where he was hunched over a workbench, Roven heard something that made his head snap up and a shudder corse through his body. It came again, reverberating through every bone he had, striking against his inner self. "Impossible!" He snarled as his eyes changed. "There cannot be another!" Yet, as a sharp crack in his spine signalled the beginnings of his change, he was proven wrong.
Moments later he stepped out of the shredded remains of his robe, crossing lightly to his window. Sparing a look in the mirror, he snarled. It had been a long time since he'd been in his beast form and he took the time to study himself and assess the changes.
He had lost the extra bulk he'd had in his adolescent years and had slimmed out into a lithe form, his pelt mixtures of near-black, mahogany, and rich red-brown. It swirled in no real pattern save when light might spark the red highlights clear. His long, thick tail lashed in irritation and his massive ears were flat, spreading out from the sides of his head.
His arms were long and slightly bulky, years of training had allowed him to keep near human dexterity in his long thin fingers with their short, sharp, ebony talons. His stride was silent, his neck flexible, his entire bearing one of nobility. The spines on his shoulders flexed a bit as he shivered.
His massive blue eyes snapped sparks as he tore them away from his reflection. Scanning the horizion for the source of the sound, he barely twitched when Myrrila thudded into the room. "You too?" He barely spared her amber-furred form a glance.
"Yes me too. You realize what this means don't you?"
"There's a powerful half-breed out there." She cowered in his shadow despite being slightly larger than he was. "He's issuing a challenge." For a moment they both stood there, waiting and listening. Finally Rovan turned away.
"Interesting. Well we'll see how far it gets him. I'll be interested in seeing the fool willing to challenge the Cravenslade..."
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Inthas stood, waiting. His eyes were narrowed to pin-prick slits, every little movement catching his attention. Slowly, the entire forest began to shudder and shake as something huge moved toward him. Slowly, as trees snapped like matchsticks, a massive form covered in blighted moss and dangling strips of rotten hide moved out into his line of sight.
Twice his size the skeletal beast reared back and roared it's own challenge right back at him. The smell of rot rolled over him, making him almost gag, and corpses could be seen stuck in it's massive tombstone teeth. It's bones were covered in blood both fresh and not, running in a thick ooze that made the ground under it's clawed feet squish. It's huge talons tore open holes in the turf that instantly festered and it's bony tail turned tall trees into rotting stumps as it smashed them flat.
It's empty eye sockets burned with a poisonus green fire that seemed to drip down it's cheeks, a green fire that was echoed by a similar glow in the center of it's boney chest. Were it not for the covering of rotten pelts and plants the thing would be wholly skeletal...and wholly abominable.
For a moment Inthas doubted he could do then. Then shook away his fears and roared back in the thing's face. This surprised the abomination and it sat back to study him for a moment. Finally it opened it's mouth but this time did not roar. This time it spoke in a voice so full of corruption and Taint that it shrilled against the ears. "Why do you challenge me lord's son? Have I displeased my Master?"
Inthas was unprepared for this. What was the beast talking about?And how should he answer?
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Well, what will Inthas tell the beast?
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Hope you liked.
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 4:53 am Post subject: |
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"All that matters is that you have been challenged! I have no patience for your questions."
In other words, he is in a bit too much of an impatient animal state to stand around playing 20 questions with an evil abomination. He'd just ignore the confusing questions and stick to what he knows.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 1:44 pm Post subject: |
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*sighs* Are there no more suggestions? If there isn't another by tomorrow I will act on Reg's suggestion and write the chappy...and I'll have to make it the final chappy at that. It'll probably leave room open for a sequel, most likely since not all the loose plot strings are tied up, but it will effectively end this one.
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"Music makes you braver."
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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Is it too late to offer a suggestion Rai? I hope not. I've just managed to find the time to read this.
I disagree with Reg. I do not Inathas should be so bold as to challenge this thing straight off.
Question it first.
Why does it call him, "My lord's son?"
Ask what it is? What's purpose? Find its tale.
Xysle did in the beginning, why not Inathas?
Do not be a fool, I say, ask questions. If you don't like your answers, then fight, but after, not before.
I hope I am not too late.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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Not too late at all, in fact I'm putting the poll up now!
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Blast a tie! Time to find Lily and convert her in time for the poll to my point of view. *runs to find Lily*
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 9:16 pm Post subject: |
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Voted to attack, since I think a fight is where the conversation is inevitably headed.
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 6:15 pm Post subject: |
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Excellent, more readers....
And he might not have ended up fighting...Din raises some very vaild points with her questions.
Still...I like writing fight scenes...
Poll's up for another day...
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dragon_fire372
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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Wow, this story has only gotten better.
I just got caught up and yay! I didn't miss the poll. Even if we do end in a fight, well-informed battle is better than simple instinct and brutallity.
Looking forward to the next chapter!
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Sans Dieu Rien Without God, Nothing
Visions of Shadow - 2nd part of Uncertain Quests! Chapter Two
Dreamwalker - Relocated to Linear Lane Sixth Chapter
Linear Story Nightrobber Now Complete!
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:43 am Post subject: |
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Welcome back D-fire! And the poll's now closed. Next chappy up tomorrow...
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:27 am Post subject: |
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Right, took me an extra day but here it is...
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Chapter Twenty Five: Reunion
Inthas stared at the massive creature in wonder. "What did you just call me?" The beast shook itself, it's indrawn breath sounding like the death-rattle of a mountain.
"Lord's son...you are the Lord's son are you not?" It took two paces closer, it's fetid breath washing over him and nearly making him gag. It's glowing eyes swept over him, raking him like hot coals even though it's gaze was not a physical thing to touch him. "Ah, you wish to see how effective I am. I assure you nothing can get past me. I'll show you."
With that it swept it's massive talons at him, making him jump back in surprise. Lord's son? Which Lord? Surely it was mistaken...his father was long dead...wasn't he? He would have come back otherwise wouldn't he? He had to!
Inthas was so preoccupied with his thoughts he didn't pay as much attention to the battle as he should have. The foul beast quickly made short work of him, beating him soundly all around until, at last, it delivered a smashing blow with it's tail that knocked Inthas's wits from him. Looking up at the beast through a haze of pain he heard it's massive jaws clicking together as it studied him. "I seem to have hurt you...I should return you to the Master's Tower."
Before he could protest, indeed before he figured out the implications of the words the creature had spoken, it scooped him up and carried him off. Sometime during the nightmare ride filled with the scents of a rotting hell, Inthas passed out.
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Rovan was pouring over a collection of old scrolls he'd pulled up from the lower Library when the Cravenslade bellowed for him. "Oh what can that misbegotten mash of vegitation and animal carcasses want now." Walking over to the balconey he was rather surprised when the thing hurled a limp body up to him.
"I've brought him back, only a little worse for the wear! Tell the Lord I am ever vigilant Master!" With that the thing turned and loaped back along the path of distruction it had carved, heading in the direction from whence it had come. For a moment Rovan could only shake his head and make a mental note to upgrade the brains he was using in these creatures.
Then he turned to examin the body...and exclaimed in shock. It was a koshuman, a half-breed just like himself. "So you're the one who challeneged the Cravenslade. Foolish...but brave." He could sense the life energies coming off the limp figure, proving it was still alive, merely unconcious. "I wonder why he didn't kill you?"
Unable to smell anything of the half-breed thanks to the left-over oder of the rotten beast that had brought him, Rovan was sure it was male, he paced around it. As he stepped back and took in the whole of the figure he noticed something. "Myrrila! Get in here!" His sister was in the room in minutes. "Change your form...I have a hunch that..."
His words were cut off as the figure moved, regaining it's senses. With a soft intake of breath, he stretched out his hand and his staff of ebony wood lept into it. Resting easily, as if board, he nodded to Myrrila to keep silent and watch. He wanted to know more about this stranger...
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Inthas came to, knowing instinctively that he wasn't in the same place he had been. With a groan he got to his feet, feeling the energies swirling around him. With a wobble and a pop he felt his bones rearrange, his human form returning at last as his beast subsided. Reaching up he tapped the soreal and was relieved to feel his armor encase him. He ran a hand through his hair, he winced as his visor snapped shut on his fingers. Pulling them free he let loose and explosive breath as his eyes cleared enough for him to take stock of his surroundings.
Something prickled the back of his neck and he spun around, coming face to face or well cloth, with a hooded figure leaning against a staff. For once Inthas was glad his visor was down so that the figure couldn't see the shock on his face. Was this the Dark Mage? The Dark Lord he'd heard so much about? Obviously the Mage wasn't all that happy to see him as he suddenly straightened up. "A Knight of the Skyeye Rose? Impossible! We wiped them off the face of Pharl hundreds of years ago...did we not Myrilla?"
Another shuffling sound had Inthas turning to look behind him as a slender maid, hair the color of his own, moved deeper into the shadows cast by the leaping fire in the hearth. "Why yes...but we also thought we'd culled the half-bloods. So it seems that a contridiction, or a ghost from the past, stands before us."
The Mage walked forward and rapped his staff against Inthas's plate. A ringing note sprang clear and instantly Inthas had his sword in his hand. The Mage paused then reached out a hand to the blade. "I recognize those runes..." He pushed back his hood and Inthas gasped. The face under the hood, the face of the foe he'd come to defeat, was the face of his little brother...all grown. "Inthas?"
With numb hands Inthas reached up to lift his visor, then just banished his helm altogether. His throat was nearly closed tight yet still one name tumbled past his lips. "Rovan..."
For a moment the two brother's face each other down, years peeling away until Inthas was six and Rovan was little more than a toddler in smallclothes. "They sent you against me? The Twins would pit brother against brother? How can they be so cruel?"
Inthas shook his head, eyes hardening. "You ask that when you've been doing the very same thing. Not so fun when it's your own flesh and blood you've got to fight is it Rovan?"
The Mage opened his mouth to speak but never got the chance. Instead the whole of Pharl shook, as if someone had struck a great black bell and set it ringing. Quickly, in rapid succession, two more great chimes rocked the world, different notes each. Both of them so sweet as to the point of cloying, the kind of sweet that disguises a rotten core. The crystilline beauty that hides a decayed heart. Both Inthas and Rovan dropped to their knees, a thud from behind telling Inthas that the woman had done the same.
Rovan looked at him with hostile eyes. "What did you do! Why are they in pain!"
"I did nothing! I've done nothing since arrival!"
"I don't believe you! You always were the lucky one, had everything given to you! You don't know what it was like after you left Inthas!" Suddenly Rovan surged up toward him, staff whirling like darkness incarnate. Inthas's blade swept up to parry, sparks flying as the two enchanted weapons met.
"You're being a fool Rovan! You know why I left! Mother could never have fed us both! She had to send me off, I didn't want to go one bit! And Work! I've never worked harder in my life than I have since I started tracking you down!"
Inthas called his helm back to his face as the battle began. Their weapons met again and Inthas marveled at the dark strength that imbued his brother's frail form. Still, it was one thing to marvel, another to fight and the combat continued. Inthas noted that the woman was wisely staying out of the battle, content to watch.
Yet the press of arms was telling and, dark strength or no, Rovan was not used to this kind of combat. Inthas, with all the benifits of Xsyle's training, was going to win. A ringing blow sent Rovan's staff flying and Inthas's blade was set at his brother's throat. "I don't want to do this Rovan, please yeild."
Rovan, his soul lost to the dark madness that had overcome him, snarled wordlessly at Inthas, who merely shook his head. "So be it brother." With tears in his eyes he began to shift the balance of the blade so that it would lay Rovan's throat open, then he suddenly found it wrenched from his grasp.
He looked up and found himself staring into a pair of intense green eyes, eyes the color of a jeweled forest apple. Black scars traced away from those eyes in a starburst of ebon-shadow, midnight blue hair framing the pale face...Xsyle's face. "Fool! I told you not to kill him! Still, your defeat of him has allowed me to regain that which once was mine."
Whirling she walked over to where Rovan lay and fisted her fingers into the cloth of his robes. With a heave she lifted him to his feet...and beyond. Snarling into his face with all the chill of a North Sea gale, eyes snapping sparks, she began a tirade she'd been saving since the day she lost her eyes.
"You FOOL! You idiot boy! I would never have believed any of my blood would go crawling to the Akrons! Even after you learned their true nature, after you realized you'd never gain what was promised still you aid them!"
Inthas broke in, his sharp hearing dectecting something he didn't want to be true. "Wait...did you say you shared blood with him?" She flicked a glance over her shoulder at him.
"Yes...he's my brother's son. Unfortunately." That was enough for him...Inthas sat down.
"Xsyle...Shade...Adaria...Whatever your name is, I've a question for you." With a rough gesture he yanked his helm off. "Did your brother look like this?" For the first time he saw an instant of surprise on the assassin's face...and instant that was quickly gone and replaced by calculated fury.
"You...but my brother said he had only one son. Duliale you..."
Rovan cleared his throat. "It would be easy for him to think so, he never came home after I was born. Likely he didn't even know Mother was with child when he last left. And Myrrila, her mother didn't even tell my Father she existed. Her mother and Father spent one night together and he never came back. I wasn't even sure when I first encountered her but...blood does call to blood."
Looking around Inthas had to agree. The three children his Father never knew he had and his aunt...he looked at Xsyle with hard eyes. "Wait. If you're Duliale's sister...you're Adara aren't you?"
She looked at him and a slow smile crept upon her face. "It took you long enough to figure it out, still kudos Inthas."
For a moment none of them moved, the question of 'What Next' heavy in the air...
-----------------------------------
At LAST! One of two major sub-plots has been tied up. I'm surprised none of you caught on to that one, I left enough clues for you to follow...or did I. Nevermind. The End is near dear readers, hasten it along will you?
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 5:16 am Post subject: |
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An interesting question indeed. A question I can feel an entire plot, a entire, nay an entire world hinged.
I will give this one approriate time and thought, but I will be back hopefully more the wiser then I am now.
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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Awww... a family reunion. They should go off together and live a happy life raising playful puppies and baking cupcakes in a little cottage in the middle of a valley filled in the spring with daisies and ...
Oh, wait. The 2 males just tried to kill each other after they recognised that they were long lost brothers, and the aunt doesn't seem the sentimental type. I don't even know what that other chick is going to have to say about any of this, but aren't they all still mortal enemies? I mean a pair of uneasy allies who are enemies with another pair of uneasy allies? I don't think the family relationship is going to change their minds about anything much.
So. Xsyle and Inthas are going to do whatever it was they were already planning to do next, and presumably Rovan and Myrrila will have something to say about it, which wont stop Xsyle and Inthas but may involve some kind of fight scene.
Sorry 25 chapters have overcome my memory, what is it they were planning to do after they came to this place?
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 6:42 pm Post subject: |
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Well, they were planning on saving Illirae and Nordule and the stallions...oh and saving the world of course.
However, Xsyle doesn't want Rovan killed...because he's family and she's got a thing about killing family...it's her one no-no. She was only trying to make him yeild in the Deathmatch in the first place...
There's also another of the sub-plots looming...namely if Rovan is the Dark Mage the 'Master' the Cravenslade beast spoke of...then who is the 'Lord'? I used the terms interchangably at the start because Inthas didn't know any better but there is a difference...
Think of it as two evils...Rovan is the lesser of...
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:08 pm Post subject: |
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Ok thanks for the memory refresh. I still don't think priorities have changed, but maybe a new approach is needed before pursuing the priorities.
So far inthas has pretty much done what he was told and blindly fumbled around.
Now Inthas should dig his heels in and flatly refuse to do anything until they explain everything to him.
They need to tell him who is who. If there is anyone with a vague title like the Lord, he should find out who it is and what the guy has to do with Inthas and his family.
He has to find out where his siblings loyalties lie; why they are doing what they are doing, etc.
He needs Xsyle to decide who she is and what she stands for and then explain it to him in simple sentences.
He needs to know where Illirae and Nordule and the stallions are, and what exactly needs to be done to rescue them (accepting no vagueries or "you don't need to know yet").
Similarly he needs to know what exactly the threat to the world is and how he can stop it.
Only when he knows what is going on will he be in a position to actually go and do it.
That's quite a mouthful. "Inthas demands a detailed explanation." would be easier to fit in the poll.
It's good to see you kept on with the story right to the end Rai. I cant wait to see how the whole end-of-world subplot turns out.
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:21 am Post subject: |
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*smiles at Reg* As always the brillant Reg comes to the clueless Din's rescue. Thanks Reg.
Rai, *jerks thumb at Reg* I agree with him.
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dragon_fire372
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| Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 10:48 am Post subject: |
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As do I.
Very exciting developments, can't wait to see how it all ends!
It seems my memory needs to be refreshed too. I remember that Inthas swore to hunt down and destroy Adara, but I can't recall why. I read that part far too long ago.
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Sans Dieu Rien Without God, Nothing
Visions of Shadow - 2nd part of Uncertain Quests! Chapter Two
Dreamwalker - Relocated to Linear Lane Sixth Chapter
Linear Story Nightrobber Now Complete!
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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Right another re-cap, this tells me it's a good thing this SG is almost over...*wipes forehead*.
D-Fire, Inthas swore to kill Adara because he's a Paladin, a Knight of the Skyeye Rose.
The Knights of the Skyeye Rose were a force of ultimate good. They never had a single one of their members go evil, crazy yes but not evil. They were fair, just, and powerful foes in battle. Many of them took vows to end all evil or at least stop the work of certain evil personages.
Adara, being the most legendary assassin in the history of Pharl, was pretty high on their hit list. At one point, right around the time of Inthas, the entire order swore on their swords they'd seek her death...naturally she laughed her butt off about that.
So, Inthas has sworn to kill Adara because that's what he did back then, crusaded around killing evil people...of course he's not so sure about that oath now...
Hopefully that clears it up.
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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dragon_fire372
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| Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 9:58 am Post subject: |
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Thanks. I couldn't remember if he had a personal agenda against her or if it was just a "kill the icky assassin!" type of thing.
_________________
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing ~ Edmund Burke
Sans Dieu Rien Without God, Nothing
Visions of Shadow - 2nd part of Uncertain Quests! Chapter Two
Dreamwalker - Relocated to Linear Lane Sixth Chapter
Linear Story Nightrobber Now Complete!
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:08 pm Post subject: |
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Right POLL!!!
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Kalanna Rai
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 6:11 pm Post subject: |
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This is the final chapter. H/A is my longest running SG to date. Many of it's readers have forgotten about it, lost interest, or gone from IF enterly. Thus, it is time for it to bow out. Enjoy!
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Chapter Twenty Six: The Twilight Gloaming
Xsyle, Adara, whoever she was walked to the window ledge and looked out. "So much pain Rovan. What are you gaining from it?"
He laughed darkly. "Oh isn't that the pot calling the kettle black. But it's a simple answer really. I've been promised power."
Adara smiled. "The Akron's always promise power but rarely do they deliver. They use that incentive, that lure, and blinding illusions to control those who are powerful enough for their needs."
"As you were controlled? You served both the Darkness and the Light in your time Adara...if that's who you really are." Inthas's arms were folded over his chest and he glared at her. She smiled back.
"Rovan, if I was serving the Dark God's interests so well...why wasn't this world already conqured? If I was served the Light so well, why were you allowed to get as far as you did? Honestly, I could have killed you...I chose not to. I could have forsaken my honor as you did and simply cut you down, become Kinslayer."
For a moment the brothers, and the still silent sister, thought about this. Finally Myrrila spoke. "It seems we have all been manovered into doing the dark work of these serpents from Elsewhere. They have torn our family apart in their need for power...why?"
Adara smiled. "Because my Mother wasn't my mother. The woman my father married he married to take care of me. And Duliale's mother was much the same. You see, Duliale's mother and mine were both...more than Koshugon...more than mortal."
A rumbling shook the tower suddenly, an unearthly keening filled the air Adara's grip tightened on the rail. "So that is what happened to him. That is what Duliale has become. Inthas...meet your father...the Dark Lord."
Slowly a massive, monsterous, koshugon walked from a dark rift in the ground. His horned head was ragged and rotten, one horn broken horribly. His hide was pulled tight over his muscles, great seething stripes of green poison trailing over the hide black as a rotting corpse. In the center of his chest was a gaping hole, the death wound caused by the spear.
The long spine on his back were mostly broken away, a few remained with the reminants of tattered wing membraines between them...once he'd been able to fly. With a gate neither harried nor slowed he approached the tower and took a great leap, landing on the balconey just before Adara.
He stared down at her from his great height, eyes pits of red darkness in his skull. "Sister...so long it has been. Will you not stand before me once more?"
Adara backed up a step as her form flowed and changed. Her hide turned the midnight blue of her hair, stripes the color of bone breaking into gentle ringed spots as they faded from her spine. Her long spines were still intact and webbed, looking like great sheets of ebony silk on deep blue spindles. Wings to fly or to glide. Her talons were black, chased in silver, her fangs the purest ivory. Her green eyes shimmered and long hair spilled from her head where a pair of horns curved gracefully back from her forehead.
She was light, lithe and trim. Her claws long and serrated, her fangs like daggers. Her swords were still crossed over her flanks, hilts in just the position for her nimble fingers to draw them. Their size had increased with her own, these were obviously koshugon blades. Her whip-like tail snapped, the delicate featherings of hair like an ocean spray, rippling as it moved.
"Well brother? Have I changed as much as you have?"
The Dark Lord cocked his head to the side. "No, you remain...unchanged. How can this be? I was told that you were diminished."
"For a time I was...I am no longer. You see I gave up listening to the promises of Akrons and Gods and I have made my own way, Council will it or no."
The Dark Lord roared and instantly Inthas and the others found themselves in their half-blood forms, standing crowded in a room not made for creatures of this size. They looked at each other wonderingly, Inthas was larger than his father, Rovan more agile, Myrrila more lithe...yet they all resembled each other strongly.
Duliale noticed it. "What is this?" He demanded of Adara.
She grinned, hissing. "Children, yours, that you knew not you had. You had more than one son my brother. You should be proud that they've all grown strong, if not wise. That they all fight for reasons of their own, be that self power, freedom, or a place to belong."
Duliale recoiled. "What has been done to us Adara? Once we had plans and dreams..."
"And now the Akron's have shaped us, shaped our world. It is time to cast them off my brother. It is time to fight."
"And time to die." Duliale hissed. "I have been unable to die these long centuries. What I have done I have done expecting my soul to be freed, but it never is."
"That is the way they work, it is how they survive. They take who we would have been and make us their slaves. I have been affected, you have been affected, and your children have been affected. Why do you think I never tried to reverse my barreness? Why do you think I never wanted to bring children into this world? I would not see them enslaved as yours have been."
Duliale gave a great roar and unsheathed a massive blade from between his tattered wings. Outside a storm was growing and rolling shapes could be seen in cloud and soil. He grinned at his sister and his children. "We have done my damage, all of us. Perhaps it is time to start setting things right?"
Adara slowly unsheathed her blades, a growel building in her throat. "Yes," she purred. "I believe it is time."
Behind her the siblings had been discussing things and now they stepped forward, sword and staves in hands. Inthas looked at Adara. "We do not agree much. Infact since we three have been together this is only the second thing we agree on besides hatred for each other. But we agree the Akron's must be stopped at any cost. Pharl must be saved. We will fight even if it means our deaths."
With a gesture Rovan threw open all the doors and windows of his tower, unlocked all locks. "Your friends are free of my dungeons. If they survive and we do not we can at least trust them to carry on the fight."
Adara looked at each of them in turn, smiling, then looked to where the Akron's had gathered outside the tower. "Today we fight...if you are still alive on the 'morrow I will be proud to call you kin."
With that the five of them turned and faced the Star-Serpents. A roar burst forth from Adara, a roar quickly taken up by Duliale then Inthas, then Rovan, then Myrrila. And still roaring they descended into the fray...
-------------------------------
That's it. There's no more. It's not a cliffhanger, none of them will survive this suicide charge and that's plain to see. Will there be a sequel? Maybe someday but for now I thank you for reading and bid you adue.
_________________
"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."
"Music makes you braver."
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DukeReg
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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Woohoo! You made it! I'm impressed at the sheer amount of persistence you showed in continuing this story to the end.
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dragon_fire372
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| Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:25 am Post subject: |
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A fitting end to a good story. Well done!
_________________
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing ~ Edmund Burke
Sans Dieu Rien Without God, Nothing
Visions of Shadow - 2nd part of Uncertain Quests! Chapter Two
Dreamwalker - Relocated to Linear Lane Sixth Chapter
Linear Story Nightrobber Now Complete!
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dinranwen
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| Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:11 am Post subject: |
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I'm glad I snuck in long enough to read the end of this Rai.
D-Fire is right. The ending fits. Mysterious, uncertain yet certain, filled with rebellion, defiance, and a note of glorious if somewhat frutile pride.
*smiles and sighs* Ah, you have no idea how much I am going to miss this...
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