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Duke Ravage Moderator on this forum Gravebane Zombie Last page view: 5873 days, 12 hours and 51 seconds ago. |
Iridia got her axe off her belt only moments before the first fighter tackled her shield. She lashed out, and felt a satisfying smack as her axe bit through it's body, crushing it's heart beneath the axe and it's ribs. The next one fell back as she shattered it's face with the rim of her shied, but soon she was swamped with attackers. Konan, meanwhile, was having a difficult time defending himself. He was used to having the big grip of a greatsword in his hands, but he'd left that behind when he'd leapt into the water after Iridia. Realizing a wepon would be useful, he grabbed the spear of the nearest warrior with one hand and dealt it a mighty blow with the other, destroying it's life - as well as it's face. This done, he began using the whole spear - haft, head, and his fists - to knock a path to the nearest tree, leaving two more dead lizardmen and three wounded. He then hurled the spear through the fray, impaling two archers, and tore off the biggest brance he could find, which he used as a massive club - to great effect. He soon was tossing archers left and right. Three wend down, and the last one fled. At the same time, Iridia was hacking apart the limbs of lizardmen, but was being forced back. She prayed Konan could see her predicament - she was face-to-face with 6 lizardmen, and she was already wounded - and come to his rescue. She realized she needed to take the offensive. She was preparing herself, reading herself for her last charge, when she suddenly heard a great roar, and the lizards parted, two of them going down. For an instant she thought Konan had come to her rescue, until she saw the lizards burning. She barely had time to lift her shield before the firebolt slammed into it, tossing her backwards. When she recovered, she realized the glare from the red flames was coming from her shield. She dropped it immediately, then thought better of it and grabbed an edge and hurled it into the group still-stunned lizardmen. Another went down. Frantically, the three surviving fighters and the shaman fled into the forest after the last archer, closely persued by Konan. Iridia paused a moment, then followed, coming to the conclusion that the fleeing lizards might lead them to Fire adn Meridon. ivan.sourceforge.net |
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Vennom Registered user Champion of the Undead Last page view: 7926 days, 12 hours, 3 minutes and 30 seconds ago. |
While Konan and Iridia gave chase to the fleeing lizardmen, another battle was being fought nearby... The young human male muttered in the arcane tongue, and a bolt of brilliant blue energy crackled forth from his fingertips, striking the nearest of two lizardman, one a warrior and the other some kind of magic user. The spear-carrier hissed in pain and clutched at its flash-frozen chest, falling to the ground. The other creature waved its claws in an mystical pattern in the air, and a bolt of concentrated magic leapt from its talons. The black-robed mage narrowly dodged the magic missile, and managed to land on the ground next to the fallen lizardman warrior. Gasping for breath, the young man reached out and laid a hand on the corpse, channeling dark energies into the lifeless, inert tissues. The corpse began to spasm and jerk, and small cracks became apparent in the creature's scaly hide. Purplish light began shining through these cracks as the dead lizardman spasmed more violently. The cracks grew wider, and the flesh of the creature cracked and crumbled, flaking off into grey powder around the body. In the space of a few seconds, only the skeleton of the lizardman remained. The skeleton ceased its spasms and rose to its feet, still brandishing the wickedly barbed spear. The lizardman shaman frantically began weaving another spell in the air as the undead monstrosity shambled forward. Another magic missile streaked from the shaman's claws and struck the undead squarely in the ribcage. The undead did not falter, though pieces of bone chipped and fell on the ground around it. It swung its spear, cutting a gash in the shaman's left side. The necromancer rose, brandishing his quarterstaff, and swung with full force. The skull mounted atop the quarterstaff smashed into the shaman's face, crushing its own skull. The vile creature went down in a twitching heap. The skeleton stood unmoving while the young man searched the shaman's body, finding a small crystal vial containing a sparkling fluid, as well as a large, leather-bound tome. He tucked both of these into his backpack, then rose, considering what next to do. His thoughts were interuppted, however, by four more lizardman warriors, one of these carrying a bow, and another shaman who crashed through the trees several yards ahead, followed by a large human male brandishing a massive tree branch and a dwarven female a small distance behind, clutching an axe. They all headed away from him, apparently not noticing his presence. He decided to follow them, having no better plan at present. He took off at a run, ordering his undead slave to follow... "The dead aren't so bad, once you get to know them." [Edited 4 times, last edit on 3/6/2003 at 22:15 (GMT -5) by Vennom] |
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Duke Ravage Moderator on this forum Gravebane Zombie Last page view: 5873 days, 12 hours and 51 seconds ago. |
Meridon pushed through the bushes. "Ma! Pa! Where are you?!" he cried. He stumbled as a root caught his foot, and fell. Scrambling, he stood and started running again. Something was chasing him, and he didn't know what it was. Pain started to grip him, and he ran faster. But try as he might, the searing pain only grew greater, until he thought he could no longer take it... ...and then a bright light filled his closed eyes. Heat brushed his face as he woke up, but his head still hurt. He groaned and tried to wave the light away, but found his hands bound. Confused, he opened his eyes, and saw a torch held half a foot from his face. He jerked back from the licking flames, and regretted it immediately as the back of his already sore head bashed the pole he was tied to. A slithery, snake-like voice hissed something, and the flames moved away to his right, where Fire was bound similarly. As his vision adjusted (and Fire awoke in a painful method similar to his own) he saw a lizardman was holding the torch. The lizardman was shying away from the flames himself, as though distrustful of them. As soon as Fire was satisfactorily awake, he hurried to a bucket of water and quenched the torch, plungeing the chamber into a dim half-light, and hurried away. Fire groaned beside Meridon. "Ohh, my head..." "You-" Meridon croaked, then cleared his parched throught. "You alright?" A pause. "Yea, I think so. You?" Meridon assessed himself, gently moving everything. "Nothing's broken. My head hurts, but other than that I'm fine. What happened?" Another pause, as Fire marshalled his scattered thoughts. "I'm not sure. I do remember... You and I were running along the river after Konan and Iridia, when suddenly I heard you shout. Lizardmen had attacked you, but before I could render assistance - not that I could have done much from where I was - I heard a rustle and something hitting the back of my head. After that I draw a blank..." Meridon put his burning head back gently against the cool stone. Dimly he could make out the outline of a door on the other side of the room. There must have been a short corridor beyond, because he could see firelight shining on a wall. Slowly the light grew brighter, and he realized someone was coming. Two figures entered the room. One, carrying a torch at a good distance, was a very nervous lizardman who found a sconce on the wall and placed the torch in it, then retreated to the doorway. The other person stayed in the shadows of the room, and Meridon couldn't get a good view of them, but the shape suggested a large lizardman. The two conversed in hisses for a few moments, and then the larger figure turned to the prisioners. "Sso, you are the prissionerss that have caussed me sso much frusstration," he hissed. "Tell me, what brought you into my territory?" Fire raised his head. "Well, we were going to visit the Mad Minstral, but then we ran into you." "And why, exactly, iss it sso vital that you speak with the Minstral? Granted he knowss much of Chaoss, but the Gate iss now shut." Meridon gave a soft chuckle. "Do you think Chaos is gone? Hah! No wonder the Drakelings deny any relation to the Lizardmen." There was a tense pause. Suddenly, and with a violent movement, the larger figure gestured the smaller away, then turned back to Meridon. "No. I do not believe Chaoss is gone. If it were, I would be all but powerlesss. Ass for the relation... we do know that we are related, but most of uss would rather not be related to our lessser coussinss. You should know that... Meridon Half-elf." Meridon started. He hadn't given his name, and the light was inadequate to tell the difference between a half-elf and a full-elf. Then it came to him. But... "Javas? But your... dead!" A chuckle. "Yess. I was dead." He stepped into the light. Not a lizardman at all, but a drakeling. A horribly scarred drakeling, but a drakeling nonetheless. "I have you to thank for that... but none other than Andor Drakon himself to thank for my life - and my power..." ivan.sourceforge.net [Edited 1 time, last edit on 2/14/2003 at 03:34 (GMT -5) by Duke Ravage] |
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Vennom Registered user Champion of the Undead Last page view: 7926 days, 12 hours, 3 minutes and 30 seconds ago. |
"Quickly, quickly!" hissed the reptilian shaman. "We mussst reach the tree!! Sssstop them, at all cosssstsss!!" The archer spun, swallowing his fear, and nocked an arrow to his bow, while two of the three warriors also turned, hefting their spears, to meet the charging Konan. The barbarian shouted incoherently, caught up in the rage of battle, as he met the two lizardmen. Thrusting spears were barely felt as he brought the massive club down atop one of the snake-like skulls, caving the lizardman's head in. The second warrior got in one more slash with its spear before its jaw was shattered, sending blood and sharp teeth flying in several directions. The archer, meanwhile drew a bead on the charging Iridia and fired, putting a wickedly barbed arrow in the dwarf's left side. Iridia ground her teeth with the pain but charged onward, hurling her axe with all her considerable strength as the archer nocked a second arrow. The whirling axe thunked squarely into the archer's chest, and it fell, its last breath rattling from its lungs as they filled with blood. Iridia snapped the arrow's haft away and yanked her axe from the corpse, and then coninued the chase as Konan took off after the two remaining lizardmen. Meanwhile, the necromancer had decided, while following the two adventurers, to aid them in catching their fleeing quarry, hoping that they could at least direct him to the village of Terinyo, where his much-loved older brother lived. The mage cut ahead through the trees, the lizardman skeleton following on his heels. Hearing footfalls approach his hidden location, the necromancer pulled from his backpack a slender ash wand, with the image of a spider carved into it. As the shaman and the last warrior ran by, the mage activated the wand, firing a large, sticky cobweb that managed to snare the shaman, pinning it to the forest floor. The warrior dodged the webs and threw its spear at the necromancer. The mage ducked, but the lizardman skeleton behind him was not so fortunate; the spear hit its skull squarely, knocking it off the undead's body, which collapsed into a heap of bleached bone. The necromancer again fired the wand of webbing, and managed to ensare the warrior along with its master. The young man nodded calmly, wand still pointed at the two lizardman, as Konan and Iridia came onto the scene. "Greetings," the necromancer spoke. "I am called Vexander, and was also set upon by these vile beasts." He kicked the shaman, which grunted in pain. "I saw your quandry, and decided to lend my services. Who be you, and what wrong have these creatures done to you, that you chase them like things posessed through the forest?".... "The dead aren't so bad, once you get to know them." [Edited 1 time, last edit on 2/14/2003 at 03:39 (GMT -5) by Duke Ravage] |
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Iridia Registered user YASD Last page view: 3966 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes and 7 seconds ago. |
Iridia opened her mouth to answer, but Konan beat her to it. "I be Konan," he said. "The dwarf is Iridia. We had two friends who was captured by the lizards." "Then we have the same enemy," said the robed man. "You would permit me to join your company?" A lizardman had managed to tear apart the sticky strands of webbing that held it; Vexander's wand spewed forth more sticky strands. The creature fell back to the ground, grunting as it tried to free itself. Die Gedanken sind Frei |
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Duke Ravage Moderator on this forum Gravebane Zombie Last page view: 5873 days, 12 hours and 51 seconds ago. |
Konan looked at Vexander. Something was not quite right... where had he befrended - enslaved - a skeleton, unless he was... Iridia voiced his concerns. "What is your profession? What form of magic do you practice?" Vexander chuckled. "I would have thought you would have geussed. Very well; I am a necromancer. I raise the dead to do my will." Iridia shuddered. Images of what might happen filled her head. Necromancers owed allegiance to the gods of Chaos. This one might change sides in a pinch, stabbing them in the back. But another allie could be useful, particularly considering they didn't know what to expect in their search for Meridon and Fire. She looked to Konan; his instincts usually seemed to be right. And apparently they trusted this stranger. "Very well, you may come with us. Do you know where we might search first for our friends?" Vexander gave a barely perceptable smile. "No," he said, "but they might." He indicated the ensnared lizardmen, both of whom had ceased to struggle and lay awaiting judgement. ivan.sourceforge.net |
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Vennom Registered user Champion of the Undead Last page view: 7926 days, 12 hours, 3 minutes and 30 seconds ago. |
OOC: Sorry I've taken so long in continuing folks..been rather busy recently >:-) IC: Vexander kneeled down next to the lizardman shaman, who glared back at him balefully with one yellow eye. "Now, friend, we can do this one of two ways", spoke the necromancer. "Either, you can tell these angry and heavily armed strangers where their friends are, or I can question your spirit after I rip it from your tortured body with my necromancy." This was a bluff, of course; Vexander was quite sure that he did not yet possess that kind of power. The shaman seemed to sense this as well, ignoring the death mage's question. The lizardman warrior, however, began quaking and shivering as soon as Vexander spoke the word necromancy. "They'ssss in sssome caves, under a big tree!!!" the warrior said, ignoring the hissed threats and warnings coming from the shaman. "The tree issss bigger than all the otherssss around it. That way!" The lizardman indicated as much as possible with a nudge of his head. Iridia came forward next. "What do you lizardmen want with our friends?" The vile creature shrugged under the webs. We'ssss got no clue. We'ssss only do as we'ssss told." Konan had remained silent during this exchange, but now he also stepped forward. "How many lizards are at the tree?" he asked. This time, it was the shaman who spoke, with a sneer and a laugh. "Many of ussss, human sssslime, many. You'll never make it out alive, much lesss with your friendssss." Konan's face contorted with rage, and he took another step forward, hefting his club, and would have dashed the shaman's grey matter all over the forest floor had not Iridia stepped in front of him. "Please, Konan, there's no need to kill this garbage; we'll see plenty of that soon enough, and these will likely be taken care of by forest predators anyway." After a few tense moments, Konan nodded, still staring murder at the shaman before backing down. "Come then", Iridia spoke. "Let's head to this tree and rescue our friends." "The dead aren't so bad, once you get to know them." [Edited 3 times, last edit on 2/18/2003 at 14:56 (GMT -5) by Vennom] |
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Duke Ravage Moderator on this forum Gravebane Zombie Last page view: 5873 days, 12 hours and 51 seconds ago. |
Beside Meridon, Fire stirred. "Would someone like to explain what's going on here?" His comment went unnoticed by Meridon, much less by Javas. Slowly, Javas stalked foreward, towards the two prisoners. He thrust his face at Meridon, who glared back at him. "You see, Meridon? This is what you did to me." He pointed one scaly finger towards the mess of his face. "This scar here. And this one. And this one here too." His hand suddenly grasped Meridon's face. "You will pay dearly for each and every scar you gave me." Fire stirred again. "And... where do I come into all of this?" Javas looked at him blankly for a moment. "You are an orc, yes?" Fire nodded. "Hmm... I hear orcs are tasty, when cooked right. My servants will dine well." Meridon shook Javas' hand off his face. "Let him be," he said. "He has nothing to do with this. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." A sharp movement left Meridon gasping for breath. "Silence! He is my prisoner, as are you. I shall do with you - and him - as I please!" He paused, then stepped back. "I will leave you two to yourselves." He stepped towards the door, then turned back. "I wouldn't suggest trying anything to get free. The bonds are very resiliant, and I have a lot of servants. I doubt two prisoners still struggiling with their manacles would do well against fifty spear-carrying reptiles." With that he left. ivan.sourceforge.net |
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Vennom Registered user Champion of the Undead Last page view: 7926 days, 12 hours, 3 minutes and 30 seconds ago. |
Konan, Vexander and Iridia soon came upon the tree they were looking for: It was huge, at least as twice as big around as the surrounding trees. The tree's foliage was a dead gray color, and sap oozed from its cracked, peeling bark like blood from a raw wound. At least six lizardmen warriors patrolled around its base, carrying spears and wickedly barbed metal shields, as well as three of the magic-wielding shamans. From their hiding place in a thicket of young saplings, Konan growled. "They even hurt the trees," the barbarian muttered. His grip tightened on his club. "They'll pay." To Konan's left, Vexander nodded. "Yes, but the trees will be the least of our worries if we charge in without a plan and are merely cut down. It will be difficult to find the entrance without some sort of distraction." The necromancer turned toward Iridia, who was studying the tree and the guards. "Well?" The dwarf hesitated for a few moments before answering. "Mabye your...talent...could prove usefull here. You saw how afraid that warrior was when you mentioned necromancy. Perhaps at least some of these lizardmen will share that fear, giving us an edge." The death mage nodded, turning to Konan. "You will have to cover me, so that I can get close enough to one of the corpses." Konan hefted his club. "As long as I can bash some lizard skulls." Iridia continued: "Then, while you two provide this distraction, I will do my best to locate the entrance to the caves. It can't be much harder than locating an old mine shaft, after all." Konan nodded, and without further preamble charged from the thicket with a blood-curdling war cry, Vexander close behind, offensive spells selected and ready in his mind. Iridia angled off from the group, around the side of the tree, and began quickly searching, as the sounds of battle began in earnest... "The dead aren't so bad, once you get to know them." [Edited 2 times, last edit on 2/20/2003 at 01:25 (GMT -5) by Vennom] |
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Iridia Registered user YASD Last page view: 3966 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes and 8 seconds ago. |
Iridia didn't have to search for long before her sense of smell gave her a lead. She pushed her way through a clump of bushes and came out in a small clearing, which was completely filled with debris of all kinds. Looking closely at it, Iridia could see among the gargage, discarded bones, charred from the fire. It took Iridia only a few seconds to identify the sickening origin of the bones: They hadn't belonged to animals. The dwarf averted her eyes from the garbage pile and made her way around it, looking for the entrance that had to be somewhere near. She found it only a few paces away from the edges of the pile, a door made of rotten swamp-wood and set into the forest floor. As Iridia was debating whether or not to look inside, the door popped open and a lizard-man female came out, carrying a bucketful of kitchen waste. Seeing Iridia, she dropped her bucket, hissed, and drew a throwing dagger from her belt. Iridia was a fraction of a second quicker: Her axe hurtled through the air and struck the izard squarely in the chest. Gurgling, the lizard fell backward onto the door. Rotten swamp-wood gave under her weight, collapsing the door inwards. Iridia quickly ran towards the door and grabbed the lizard's belt with one hand and her axe with the other. Throwing the lizard off the door and onto the pile of garbage, she cleared away the splintered wood. Had anyone heard the door shatter? They had. Coming up the stairs were two lizardmen with no more than dirty rags for clothing. They saw Iridia, hissed, and attacked, one holding a long, bloody carving knife and the other a dagger. Iridia backed out of the passage; the two lizardmen obligingly followed her out. Good. Though she would have to face them both at the same time out in the open, Iridia could not have used her axe very well in the narrow stairway. Iridia wasted no time in attacking the lizardmen. Though there were two of them, they weren't warriors. While she relieved one of his head, the one with the dagger managed a shallow cut across her forearm. He lost his hand for it, and, seconds later, his head. Taking his dagger and the first lizard's weapon, Iridia threw him and his companion onto the garbage pile. She would have to go in now. The battle had not been silent; she had to exterminate any ear-witnesses before they raised the alarm. Die Gedanken sind Frei [Edited 2 times, last edit on 2/20/2003 at 04:22 (GMT -5) by Iridia] |
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Duke Ravage Moderator on this forum Gravebane Zombie Last page view: 5873 days, 12 hours and 52 seconds ago. |
A sudden roar behind her caused Iridia's instints to spin her, cleaving the axe through the air where seconds before a lizardman's head had been, before it was smashed by Konan's tree branch. He grinned at her. "Found the entrance yet?" She nodded, and the two raced down the stairs. "Where's Vexander?" she called as they ran. "Killing off those lizards, along with some help from a few dead ones." He flashed her a strange look. "He told me to come help you, after he got a few of those critters moving again." He shuddered. They didn't have time for any more conversation, however. The stairway ended in a large room, filled with more reptillian creatures than Iridia had ever seen in one place before in her life. There were at least 60 lizardmen, ten of which carried swampwood staves, and half again as many giant lizards, cave lizards, and other lizards - Iridia even spotted one in the back that had shimmering scales she immediately recognised as those of a karmic lizard, creatures she had only heard of in legends. There was no time to back out now. With a roar, Konan rushed into the room, swinging his club left and right. The lizards, caught mostly off gaurd, went flying at first, but quickly regained their composure and attacked the two heros in full force. Spears and daggers darted in at them. Lizards threw themselves on them, trying to drag them to the grounds, and an occasional spell shot through the crowd. Iridia managed to dodge the first icy blast, but the second sent her arm into a cold numbness, while Konan took two beams of magical energy full in the chest. Iridia quickly realized they had no hope against the small army of reptilian creatures they were facing. If they had Meridon and Fire around, maybe... Her head snapped up. Meridon and Fire! That's why we came down here in the first place! In between slashes with her axe, she scanned the room. There were three exits: one leading to a staircase, the way they had come, a second, large one, and a small tunnel, little more than a hole in the wall. No doubt that was where the prisoners were being held. This didn't look like a terribly complex cave system, so the large tunnel was probably a storage area of some sort. She began hacking a path to the smaller tunnel. ivan.sourceforge.net |
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Vennom Registered user Champion of the Undead Last page view: 7926 days, 12 hours, 3 minutes and 31 seconds ago. |
A bright flash lit the room from behind, and a roaring ball of hellish red flames sailed into the crowd of lizardmen from the direction of the staircase. A thunderous explosion shook the room as the fireball exploded, sending many charred lizardman bodies flying in various directions. Konan was nearer the blast, but his excellent reflexes allowed him to fall to the floor in time as the wave of fire swept overhead. Iridia was not caught in the blast radius, but felt the great heat at her back. Both turned to spare a look at the stairway: Vexander crouched there, supporting himself with his skull staff as blood ran from his nose and his ears. Also coming down the stairs to join the fray were the animated corpses of the nine lizardman guards, now with rough, grayish skin stretched tight over horribly visible bones. The eyes of the lizardman ghuls burned with an intense hatred and hunger as they waded into battle, paralyzing enemies and stopping sometimes to take large bites out of fallen warriors or shamans. Konan's stomach churned at the sight of the abominations, but he turned away from the ghuls to take stock of the situation: The magical fire had decimated perhaps twelve of the lizardmen, while his club had accounted for at least that many, plus several of the lesser lizards. Though ten dead lizardmen and several slain giant and cave lizards lay strewn about her, Iridia was still being attacked from all sides by more of the beasts, with one arm hanging limply at her side. The necromancer's ghuls were fighting another group, and the enemies' sheer numbers were slowly whittling the undead away. Half-stumbling from the magical blasts he had recieved, the barbarian ran to help Iridia as she carved her way through the enemy to the smaller tunnel. Unseen behind him in the choas of the larger battle, the karmic lizard stalked closer, scales shimmering in myriad beautiful colors as it closed in on its prey... "The dead aren't so bad, once you get to know them." |
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Duke Ravage Moderator on this forum Gravebane Zombie Last page view: 5873 days, 12 hours and 52 seconds ago. |
Meridon pushed through the bushes. "Ma! Pa! Where are you?!" he cried. He stumbled as a root caught his foot, and fell. Scrambling, he stood and started running again. Something was chasing him, and he didn't know what it was. Suddenly he broke into a clearing. "Ma! Pa!" he cried. There they were, lying in the grass. Javas was standing over them. He looked up sharply when Meridon broke in, then shouted "Get down!" and chanted a short spell. Meridon barely had time to dive to the ground before the firey blast tore over his head. Behind him he heard a grunt, and then a thud as whatever it was that was chasing him fell to the earth. "Meridon!" Javas said. "Meridon! Wake up!" With a groan, Meridon pried his eyes open. Fire was practically yelling at him. "Meridon! Wake up, damnit!" "What is it, what do you want?" Meridon muttered, shaking off sleep. Then he heard it. From outside their cell, he heard the din of battle. A thundering explosion caused dust to trickle down from the celing. "What's going on?" he asked. "I don't know," said Fire, "but whatever it is, it's an oprotunity. Ahh!" he grunted, then brought his wrists around and rubbed them where the rope had cut into them. He moved behind the pillar Meridon was tied to, and began to work his bonds. Soon, Meridon was rubbing his wrists as well. Meridon took one last look around the room. "I hope I never see this place again," he muttered. "Come on. Lets get out of here!" The two of them took off through the doorway. The sight that met them at the end of the hallway made them pause momentarily. Iridia and Konan were backed into a corner, menaced by a shimmering karmic lizard. Konan had apparantly struck it, for he was suffering from some horrible luck. Wherever he put his club, something seemed to get in the way. Iridia, however, was hacking away at the lizardmen around her, avoiding the lizard like the plague. By the stairs, a stranger was cornered by three ghuls -- no wait, the ghuls were fighting for him! Meridon put it out of his mind. An enemy of these reptiles was a friend of his at this point. Fire and he had a few moments to sum this up, before the nearest lizardman noticed them. It let out a hissing cry, but Fire's fist silenced it quickly. Fire's Orcish instincts kicked in, and he leapt into the nearest reptillian group, fists flailing. Soon he had recovered a shaman's swampwood staff, and was dealing even more damage than ever. His voice called his name over the din, and a staff soared over the heads of the lizards. Meridon caught it and brained a lizardman that was about to skewer him, then chanted out a lightning bolt that turned seven more into twitching bodys on the ground. ivan.sourceforge.net |
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Iridia Registered user YASD Last page view: 3966 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes and 8 seconds ago. |
Out of the corner of her eye, Iridia saw Meridon and Fire emerge from the tunnel. It was high time they gathered up the former captives and beat a hasty retreat to the exit. She couldn't evade that karmic lizard forever, and more than once she had had to duck a stray blow from Konan, who seemed to be suddenly unable to swing his club properly. The karmic lizard had a broken forelimb for its trouble, but even with that it could still finish both of them off. Meridon and Fire seemed to be making their way towards her. Good; she could use the help. Iridia redoubled her efforts against the lizards. The one she was fighting at the moment was bigger and more skilled than usual. She went for his legs; the lizard jumped over the axe and went for her heart with his spear, an attack she barely blocked. They both made several more attempts to land a blow, none successful; finally, Iridia managed to slip past the spearpoint and decapitate the lizard. Two more came to take his place; Iridia stole a glance at Konan just in time to see the big warrior's club land a glancing downward blow on the shoulder of a lizardman and head straight towards her. She tried to duck, but she wasn't fast enough; the club connected solidly with her skull. Iridia felt the blow; suddenly everything seemed distant and the room spun, then turned black. Die Gedanken sind Frei |
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Vennom Registered user Champion of the Undead Last page view: 7926 days, 12 hours, 3 minutes and 31 seconds ago. |
Meridon swung his staff, cracking a lizardman on the back of the head and sending it tumbling to the ground, while Fire moved through a knot of three warriors like a whirling dervish, fangs flying from cracked jaws and blood spattering his face. The druid cursed as he saw Iridia go down to Konan's wild swing. "Help me get to her!" he shouted to the orc, who nodded and began clearing a path through the enemy towards their fallen friend. The karmic lizard snarled in hunger and pain, whirling to meet the new threat. Deadly jaws snapped at Fire, but the beast's broken forelimb hindered its accuracy. Fire dodged left, then right, twirling his own staff to keep the creature at bay. Konan, meanwhile, had dropped his club, afraid to risk harming Meridon and Fire with another badly-aimed swipe. Only one lizardman now faced him, a large, burly-chested specimen that thumped its scaled chest in challenge and dove at him. The barbarian managed to leap to the side, then turned and charged the beast. The lizardman was not as nimble as Konan, and the two fell to the floor, Konan's fists pummeling the lizardman while the creature's biting jaws came closer to sinking into the human's jugular. Meridon felled his last two opponents with another stroke of lightning, then knelt next to the unconcious Iridia. Blood oozed from an ugly wound on the side of her head. The druid placed his hands gently over the wound and closed his eyes, matching his own breath to Iridia's. Pale, green light began to issue from his hands, and a soft breeze blew through the room, faintly carrying the scent of wildflowers and spring rainstorms. The dwarf's wound closed as it was touched by the divine magic, and her eyes fluttered open. Meanwhile, the karmic lizard's tough scales were protecting it from Fire's staff blows. The beast lunged, and caught the weapon in its jaws. It proceeded to bite the hardy swampwood staff neatly in two. Fire frantically rummaged through his pack for a potion, or at least a rock, as the beast advanced...and then fell dead at his feet. Vexander reached down with a shaking hand and pulled a small dagger, with an animal skull as the pommel, free from the beast's neck. Konan and the burly lizardman rolled about the floor in a deathgrip, but it was the barbarian that finally prevailed, grabbing the lizardman's neck from behind and repeatedly ramming its head to the floor until it stopped twitching. He heaved himself off the ground as Meridon helped Iridia to her feet. The five adventurers looked at each other for a moment. "I suggest", Meridon stated, "That we save the introductions and explanations until we are out of this gods-forsaken lizard hole..." "The dead aren't so bad, once you get to know them." [Edited 3 times, last edit on 3/5/2003 at 21:39 (GMT -5) by Vennom] |
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Duke Ravage Moderator on this forum Gravebane Zombie Last page view: 5873 days, 12 hours and 52 seconds ago. |
"That won't be happening ssoon, Meridon." Meridon whirled. Javas stood at the end of the cavern, aparently alone. His scarred face was contorted into something like a smirk, and he held a thick, gold-plated wand. Something moved about in the gloom behind him. Konan took a step towards him. "An' what are you gonna do, you scaly-skinned reptile?! I just mashed a good pile of your brothers, an' you think you're gonna stop me?" He let out a loud laugh. "I don't think I'll even bother." He began walking towards the stairs. Javas hissed. "You underesstimate me, human." He aimed his wand at the stairwell, and hissed a command. A beam shot out of the end -- a beam that seemed to absorb the light and heat out of the room as it traveled, leaving an absence of energy in it's wake. It slammed into the stone near the stairs. Suddenly there was a silent roar, and Meridon felt as though a titan had swept him aside. All five companions were thrown against the wall opposite the stairwell. When they recovered their senses a few seconds later, the stairwell was gone. A mass of rubble was in it's place. Konan had suffered a severe blow against the unyeilding stone of the wall, and was out cold on the ground near Iridia, who had fallen unconsious again. Javas had vanished, but the feeling of movement from the corridor was still there. The room was almost completely dark; a single torch lying on the ground was the only source of light. Fire immediately ran to the remains of the stairwell and began trying to dig a path through the rubble. His attempt was futile, however; soon a new heap of rubble fell and erased any progess he had made. Meridon, meanwhile, was warily moving about the room. He had taken up the torch, and was keeping an eye on the large corridor. Vexander was moving about the corpses of the lizardmen, attempting to raise some. Most, however, had been too mutilated by the trampling reptilian feet to be raised; however, three stood again, shaking off the shackles of death to serve their new master. ivan.sourceforge.net |
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Iridia Registered user YASD Last page view: 3966 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes and 8 seconds ago. |
There was a sound from the corridor. Swish-thump... swish-thump... Something was in there, and Meridon could bet it wasn't too happy. He noticed Fire, desperately trying to mix a few potions before they most likely had to engage whatever it was in battle. When Meridon saw it, he gasped. It was a turtle--but it was about as far removed from a normal turtle as the karmic lizard had been from a six-inch garden lizard. This beast was the size of a small dragon, its shell midnight-black. It radiated some sort of energy that cloaked it in darkness and confusion. Meridon couldn't make out its shape--it was as though the animal lurked permanently in the edges of his vision, even though Meridon was looking directly at it. All this, Meridon had to note in a few moments, for despite its bulk, the creature moved very quickly. And, most frightening of all, the connection Meridon felt with all animal life was absent in this creature. Somehow, Meridon sensed, the animal wasn't completely of this world... Die Gedanken sind Frei [Edited 1 time, last edit on 3/7/2003 at 02:43 (GMT -5) by Iridia] |
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Duke Ravage Moderator on this forum Gravebane Zombie Last page view: 5873 days, 12 hours and 52 seconds ago. |
With a shout, Vexander ordered his three slaves foreward, leading them with a frosty blast. Meridon began to chant a lightning bolt of his own -- but was forced to break his concentration to avoid the ice bolt as it ricoched off the turtle's shell. From the ground, he watched as the turtle ripped a ghul in half without any apparent effort. Another ghul managed to dart under the turtle to claw at it's underside, but it didn't last long as the turtle simply sat on it. Suddenly Meridon saw something. There, under those hides, he thought he saw... yes! He scrambled over and yanked the skins aside, revealing a fair pile of items - potions, spears, swords, armor, even a wand. He also spotted his book of lightning bolt. He grabbed the wand, his book, and rushed accross the room to Vexander. As he ran he fumbled with the wand, finally activating it, and fired it towards the turtle. Please, be something powerful! he thought. As if to mock him, the wand stuttered, and then spat out a reddish beam of raw energy. The missile was low, but when it struck the ground it bounced up, striking the bottom of the turtle and reflecting downwards again. It repeated this several times before finally dissapating. Hissing in fury, the turtle tossed the last ghul asided and began thundering towards Meridon. It's underside looked singed by the energy beam, but it didn't look seriously injured at all. All it looked now was mad, and very dangerous. ivan.sourceforge.net |
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Iridia Registered user YASD Last page view: 3966 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes and 8 seconds ago. |
Meridon backed away from the turtle as quickly as he could, staying out of range of those dangerous jaws. In the corner of the room, Fire had finally finished a new batch of three potions. They weren't his best work, but the situation didn't exactly match the peaceful environment Fire preferred. Fire had only had enough pepper petal for one potion, so the other two were quite a bit weaker. Still, they would have to do. Fire could see the turtle had Meridon at a disadvantage. Quickly, he selected the strongest potion and threw it, hoping to distract the turtle. The results were better than Fire had anticipated, for the potion lodged between the turtle's shell and its body before it shattered and exploded. The concussion--Fire felt it even from where he was standing--caused Meridon to stagger back, nearly losing his balance. Fire heard the turtle roar in pain. The haze cleared, and they could see the turtle had been wounded. A chunk of its shell had been torn off; black ooze seeped from the place where it had been, and there seemed to be something wrong with a front leg. Still, the turtle was far from completely disabled, and now turned its attention to Fire, who grabbed the second of three potions. Taking careful aim, Fire threw the potion. Die Gedanken sind Frei [Edited 1 time, last edit on 4/6/2003 at 17:41 (GMT -5) by Iridia] |
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duke ravage Unregistered user |
His aim was slightly off this time, however; the potion glanced off the turtle's face and shattered on the ground. Fortunately it was close enough that the fumes did affect the turtle, who suddenly stumbled and seemed to lose it's sence of direction. Vexander didn't wait to see what would happen next. He fired a blast of cold at the turtle, aiming for the hole in the turtle's shell. Luck or the gods must have been with him, because the blast not only struck home in the flesh, but dug very deep, freezing the whole way. The turtle roared in pain, and began making it's way slowly toward Vexander. However, it was distracted again by a second pain: Meridon's lightning bolt slamming home inside it's open mouth. |
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Iridia Registered user YASD Last page view: 3966 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes and 8 seconds ago. |
The turtle's head exploded. Fire almost put his last potion away, but, incredibly, the monster was still alive, and angrier than ever. Its lower jaw was gone, and its wounds gushed black blood wherever Vexander's ice bolts hadn't frozen its flesh solid; and though the snapping mouth was no longer a danger, the turtle still had razor-sharp claws. Fire threw the third potion. He missed. The turtle came staggering towards him at surprising speed. Critically injured, it had evidently decided--or Javas had ordered it--to fight to the death rather than running from its attackers. Fire was weaponless now, and no great expert when it came to unarmed combat, so he waited until the turtle was almost upon him, then dodged quickly to the right. The turtle's momentum carried it past him, and it bashed its head against the wall. A bubbly roar escaped the turtle's damaged mouth as it turned to chase Fire once again. The orc, looking back at the turtle, didn't see the trampled lizard-man corpse in his way. He tripped and fell face-first onto the filthy ground. The turtle's claws came for him; Fire rolled away, but not quite fast enough to escape several deep scratches across his back. As he scrambled to escape a second swipe of the turtle's claws, Fire found himself face-to-face with the cave wall. Nowhere to go now. The next swipe would kill him-- The next sound Fire heard was the most welcome sound of his life--the combined Zipp-crack of a lightning bolt, and the crackling hiss of a blast of wizard's ice. Both bolts hit home. The turtle, now headless, twitched spasmodically as Fire scrambled away and stood. The Chaos creature took a long time to die, and by the time it was over, the ground was covered with black, foul-smelling blood. Meridon wasted no time in rushing to help Iridia and Konan, who were thankfully still alive, though Meridon didn't have the power, after all those lightning bolts, to heal them completely. In a minute, both were conscious, though still weak and more than a bit annoyed to have missed the battle. Though the turtle had been defeated, the adventurers were still in quite a bit of trouble. They were blocked into the cave, nearly weaponless, and badly wounded. Meridon knew, and the others suspected, that they couldn't hope to take on Javas. If the drakeling came back, they were as good as dead. Iridia, Konan, Meridon, and Vexander started clearing away the rubble that blocked the passage, while Fire searched the room for much-needed equipment. As she worked to unblock the entrance, Iridia felt a familiar sensation towards the side of the tunnel. Jamming her fingers into a crack in the wall, she pulled strongly and a piece of the wall came out, releasing more rubble. Konan cursed at her. "What do you think you're doing?!" he demanded. "We're tryin' to dig ourselves out, not get ourselves buried alive!" Iridia paid no attention, pulling away loose rubble until she uncovered a niche in the wall, which had until then been encased in solid rock. The niche was filled with thousands of gold pieces. "There," said Iridia with an air of satisfaction. Her eyes glittering, she started scooping gold into her pack. Konan, who knew enough not to get between a dwarf and gold, went back to his digging. Finished, Iridia went to join him. Die Gedanken sind Frei |
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Duke Ravage Moderator on this forum Gravebane Zombie Last page view: 5873 days, 12 hours and 52 seconds ago. |
It wasn't long before they decided that that effort was futile. The digging went on forever, and every few minutes someone would knock loose the wrong rock and a wash of new rubble would erase any progress they had made. After a while Meridon and Vexander stopped and took a rest, while Fire continued to loot the bodys. It wasn't long before Konan stopped as well. He was made for hacking and slaying, not digging through rubble. Fire came over as well, having found the ingredients for some potions, and began mixing them. A few minutes passed in silence, except for teh sound of Iridia moving stones twice the size of her head. Vexander drew out a leatherbound tome and began paging through it. Meridon glanced at the carcass of the giant turtle. Was it real? Was Javas truly alive? Or had some wizard cast an illusion over him? He was jerked from his thoughts as Iridia sat down heavily beside him. "We're never getting out that way," she declared. Nobody spoke for a few moments. Then she looked around. "Anyone have some food? I'm awfully hungry. I haven't eaten all day." The thought of food stirred Fire into action. He paused, about to drop an herb into a potion, and tore the arm off of the lizardman he was sitting on, and offered it to Iridia. When she balked, he shrugged and took a bite. "You asked for food. They don't taste too badly, actually." He offered it to her again, and this time she cautiously took it, still grimaceing. Finally she took a small bite, which she forced down with a face. She took a few more bites before handing the arm back to Fire, who was carefully watching his mixture cool. He absently took the arm, then suddenly grabbed the potion, leapt up, and hurled the mixture away from him. As luck would have it, it landed in the turtle's corpse, which muffled the ensuing explosion but still spewed black ooze about the room. Vexander looked up from his studies at the explosion, and saw Fire standing over a lizardman corpse holding it's arm. He cried out in alarm. "What are you doing?! Don't destroy the corpses! I need them!" Iridia looked at him disgustedly. "What for? More of you evil 'experiments?'" "Excuse me?" Vexander frowned. "What are you -- oh. You mean my animations." "Your abominations, more like!" Iridia growled. "You tell Fire not to damage the corpses, and then you go and turn them into undead... beasts! I'd rather eat half the corpses in this room than watch you bring them back to life." Vexander shook his head. "You are naive. Those 'abominations' are valuable allies. What do you think covered your reckless charge down here in the first place? What helped you survive the fight? What--" "--got smashed almost instantly by that turtle?" Iridia interupted, indicating the hulking carcass. "What is the mainstay of the legions of Chaos?! If you're going to raise those bodys, I'm going to hack them down again, and take you out with them!" She reached for her axe. ivan.sourceforge.net [Edited 1 time, last edit on 4/12/2003 at 01:34 (GMT -5) by Duke Ravage] |
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Iridia Registered user YASD Last page view: 3966 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes and 8 seconds ago. |
Vexander had enough power for just one more spell. A few cryptic words, and a frost bolt zipped towards Iridia, who tried to duck it, only to realize it wasn't aimed at her. Instead, the bolt had passed her and hit her axe. Instantly, the weapon was encased in a block of solid ice. "What do you think you'll accomplish by trying to kill me, dwarf?" demanded Vexander. "Evil like yours must be destroyed," Iridia growled, staring at the axe. "Without my so-called 'evil', you and your companions would be dead," said Vexander calmly. Iridia gave a wordless cry of rage and charged Vexander, fists flailing; the necromancer prepared to defend. Iridia easily had the upper hand, having dented her share of ale-filled heads in tavern brawls. Out of the corner of her eye, Iridia noticed Fire ineffectually trying to stop the fight. She ignored him. Though Vexander tried to block her furious punches, Iridia lost no time in landing a fist on the necromancer's ribs, hitting a deep cut inflicted by a lizard-man dagger and re-opening it. Blood stained Vexander's robes as he staggered backwards. Iridia made a final rush and pinned him to the floor, drawing back a fist to hit the dazed man again. But then the dwarf, noticing Vexander's injury, hesitated. "Iridia," Vexander said quietly. The dwarf growled. "I, too, fight Chaos." Iridia growled again, but her fist shook slightly. "You say my talents are evil," Vexander said. "But now you have seen true Chaos, at least a part of it. There are things much worse than that in Ancardia. Chaos is the true evil." The bloodstain was slowly spreading on Vexander's robe; the necromancer appeared not to notice the injury. Iridia's fist was shaking noticeably now. "How do I know you will not betray us?" she demanded. "Chaos threatens us all," Vexander said. "Chaos is my enemy as well as yours. I simply fight in my own way, as you fight in yours." Iridia remembered exactly what Vexander's way of fighting Chaos was, and her fist tightened and drew back again. Vexander closed his eyes; the loss of blood had begun to weaken him considerably. "All right, dwarf," he said. "Kill me, if it is your wish. But one day, you will need me and I will not be there to help. You and your company may be Ancardia's last hope. If you fail... if we fail..." Vexander's voice trailed off into unconsciousness. Iridia lowered her hand. What Vexander had said rang true; and, besides, she could not honorably kill a helpless creature, even a necromancer. She stumbled backwards, hardly noticing as Meridon pushed her aside and pressed a bandage over Vexander's wound. The necromancer was right, Iridia thought, gazing at the corpse of the corrupted turtle. Reluctantly, she admitted it to herself: There were worse things than necromancy. Vexander was standing, shakily; Meridon, almost as weak due to the healing spell he had cast on the necromancer, stood by his side. Iridia thrust out a hand towards Vexander, who grasped and shook it. They regarded each other silently--a look shared between allies, if not quite friends. A chuckle from the other side of the room interrupted them. Javas stood there, a mocking smile on his face. "Too bad," he said. "I thought you might be doing me the favor of killing each other. Ah, well. I suppose I shall have to do it myself now." The smile widened into a predatory grin, twisted around Javas's many scars. Die Gedanken sind Frei [Edited 1 time, last edit on 4/13/2003 at 00:12 (GMT -5) by Iridia] |
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Duke Ravage Moderator on this forum Gravebane Zombie Last page view: 5873 days, 12 hours and 52 seconds ago. |
The adventurers immediately forgot any quarrels they might have had with eachother, and wearily organized for battle. Meridon stood out in front of the group. He motioned for the others to wait. "Javas!" he called. "There's no need for this. Before... when you were..." He faltered, then drove on. "You always were sensible. You seemed to care. What happened to that?" He took a step foreward. The expression on Javas' face had changed; it was indecipherable now, however. "What happened to the Javas that saved me from the direwolf?" He took another step. Javas began working his mouth. "What happened to the--" Javas suddenly shouted something, and thrust his hand foreward. Meridon heard a hiss and saw a shadow speed toward him, and then felt an explosion of pain. He flew backwards and slammed into the wall, then collapsed, moaning and writhing in agony as something dark moved over him. Konan let out an enraged roar, and charged forward. Javas laughed, and waved his hand; Konan, too, collapsed, clutching his leg, where the still-healing wound inflicted by the river had suddenly become a mass of corruption. The other three heros were less eager to move toward the twisted Drakeling. Javas simply laughed again, then drew a broadsword shrouded in an evil aura. "Not so eager to fight me now, are you? Well, no matter. I'll kill you wether you struggle or not." His face twisted again as he stepped forward. He hadn't taken five steps before he cried out suddenly. He looked down at the arrow that had suddenly blossomed from his thigh. A second zipped out of the darkness, narrowly missing him as he leaned backwards to avoid it. No longer suprised, he was able to slam the third aside with his sword, but then an ice bolt slid past him, inches from his face. He spat a curse as he ducked another arrow. "Damn you!" he growled. I'll deal with you later! Chaos will prevail, no matter how you try!" With that he waved his hand in an arcane gesture, and a fifth arrow passed through the greasy smoke that was left where he stood. Iridia, not questioning the sourse of the arrows, imediately moved toward Meridon, to offer assistance. Fire, also, was only intersted in reviving Konan. Vexander, however, looked around the cave. "Who are you?" he shouted. "Show yourself!" A shape flitted through a sliver of light that managed to filter it's way through the cracks into the cave. Vexander caught only a glimpse of unmistakably elven ears and hair, and the wood of a longbow, and then the shape was gone. A feminine voice spoke in the darkness. "I am a friend. You will find a passage out of this cave through the large tunnel." A pause, then a clink of glass on stone. "Take these." There was another pause, then the shuffle of a boot as the elf left. ivan.sourceforge.net |
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Iridia Registered user YASD Last page view: 3966 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes and 8 seconds ago. |
Fire lost no time in hurrying towards the potions the elf had dropped on the floor, though he picked them up and handled them with care until he was sure they were not trapped or otherwise dangerous. A few quick tests identified them as healing potions--good, strong ones too. Fire, shouting the good news to the companions, hurried towards Iridia. The dwarf was desperately trying her limited knowledge of first aid on Konan. The barbarian lay on the ground, face flushed with fever, shivering violently. Meridon was crumpled in a heap against the wall; the dark mist had dissipated, and the druid was unconscious but still breathing. Fire ran headlong into Vexander's outstretched palm, which he immediately tried to push aside. "Stop!" commanded Vexander. "Who is that archer?" "The potions are safe," said Fire. "She said she was a friend. We don't know any more. Let me go, or--" "Those potions may not be safe, and that elf may not be a friend," said Vexander quickly. "You may know alchemy, but you don't know enough to be able to tell if this Javas has tampered with them." Fire pointed to Konan, who seemed to be struggling just to breathe. "We haven't got a choice," the orc said. "Let me pass. Now." Vexander dropped his hand, muttering to himself; Fire dropped to his knees next to Konan, uncorking a potion. The big warrior nearly bit the neck off the glass bottle before Fire managed to pour the liquid between his lips, but the potion worked almost immediately. Konan's face lost some of its sickly color, and he opened his eyes and sat up, staring confusedly at the spot where Javas had been standing. Fire threw a pointed look at Vexander as a repeat of the procedure on Meridon returned the half-elf to full health--better health, in fact, than any of the others, who still had numerous wounds from the battle with the lizardmen. Meridon immediately started for the spellbook he'd dropped when Javas had attacked him. Snatching it from the ground, he remembered the pile of confiscated weaponry among which he'd found the spellbook. Meridon started towards the pile; Fire, after chipping Iridia's axe from the half-melted ice and tossing it to her, followed. It wasn't long before they had plucked their equipment from the pile and begun examining the rest of the items, undoubtedly loot taken from other, less lucky, prisoners of the lizardmen. None of them paid much attention when a crack began spreading across the ceiling from the portion of the wall that Javas had destroyed. None of them, that is, except Iridia. The dwarf needed only one glance at the ceiling to determine the obvious danger. Well, at least it was obvious to a dwarf, Iridia thought to herself. The others were completely oblivious. "We have to get out of here!" Iridia hissed to Konan. "The cave's going to collapse!" "What?!" "Trust me! I know the underground!" Iridia said. Konan didn't question further; he and Vexander immediately made for the tunnel. Iridia went to tell Fire and Meridon about the danger. Meridon immediately headed for the tunnel; Fire stopped to quickly scoop the pile of weapons into his pack before Iridia pulled him away. Before they had crossed half the room, the ceiling was criscrossed by many cracks; before they had crossed three-quarters of it, the floor was shaking; and just as they entered the tunnel, the ceiling collapsed, sending tons of rubble down into the room, burying the dead lizardmen in a mass grave and blocking them into the passage they had just entered. They were suddenly plunged into darkness as boulders and dust cascaded into the tunnel. They felt their way in the dark until Iridia lit a torch that revealed they were all alive and unhurt, though Konan was shaking with fever again. The torchlight glanced off the walls as they made their way down the tunnel. "If that elf was lying to us about this being the way out," thought Vexander to himself, "we're doomed." But, of course, they had no other way out. Die Gedanken sind Frei [Edited 4 times, last edit on 4/26/2003 at 10:51 (GMT -5) by Iridia] |
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Duke Ravage Moderator on this forum Gravebane Zombie Last page view: 5873 days, 12 hours and 52 seconds ago. |
They didn't stand around for much longer. Soon they were on the move, following the tunnel, thankful they had yet to encounter a side tunnel to confuse them. After a while, they noticed the humidity rising steadily, and before long, water began dripping from the celing. The corridor didn't narrow at all, however. Vexander began to wonder what they possibly used this path for, then remembered the turtle and shuddered. Maybe he was better off *not* knowing. They followed the damp, winding tunnel for about half an hour before Iridia noticed a light up ahead. "Look!" she cried. They rushed as a group toward the sun, Fire helping the weak and limping Konan. Then they were free. The tunnel walls fell away abruptly. It was dusk, but in the failing light they could just make out that they were surrounded by a trecherous swamp. Behind them a large rock stood, partly hiding the damp entrance to the cave. The group climbed atop the rock, found the flattest, driest spot, and built a small fire with what brush they could find lying about. They huddled about it, and Meridon moved to Konan and began doing his best to treat his wounded leg. Little conversation was made. Fire left for a short while, and returned with the bodys of several lizards and some half-ripe fruit -- the best he could find in the swamp. He passed them around the group, who ate in silence. Meridon finished his work on Konan, and sat staring into the flames for a while. The eyes of the entire group were focused on him. He barely noticed. He felt their unspoken question, however. Or perhaps he simply felt the need to speak about his past. "I was young." he began. "My parents... They were hounded out of my fathers's town by her townsfolk, for taking a human to bride. They had nowhere to turn. Her own town had burned in an orc raid, and she had been the sole survivor, and a prisoner at that, rescued by my father and his kin when the orcs passed through elven territory. The three of us -- me just a babe -- we wandered through the forest, living off the land, for neigh on a month before we found... him." He paused. It went unspoken who "he" was. He poked the fire with a stick, then continued. "He took us in. He was kind to us, seemed to understand. He claimed to be an old war veteran, and showed us a few scars and some old equiptment he had. He loaned us a room, fed us, and took only labor in return. He had a vast estate, and few to help him work it. "Then something happened. A peddeler came, and sold us a book. A black book. I was very young, but I knew something was wrong by the way my perants talked about it. They were worried. Javas assured them all was well, and that he would be careful. But still, my parents worried. "He began to change. Slowly, at first. My parents became more and more worried as the changes became more apparant, however. I was still to young to notice, but I did notice that his attention began to shift onto me a lot more often. He gave me presents. He spoke to me often, asked me questions. He even taught me how to read. He showed me books, many books. Taught me a few simple spells. Many things. I thought he was just being nice. "My parents saw otherwise, however. They dissaprooved. At first, however, they did nothing but talk. I heard them argue sometimes, as I pretended to sleep, or heard them plan. I started to become afraid. "Then one day, he took me to his study. He sent my parents off, and took me to his study. He told me he was going to show me something special. And he did. He gave me the black book, and told me to read it. And I did. I read page after page, and each page seemed more intriguing than the last, telling me to turn just one more page... "Finally, he took the book away and hid it. He took me back to my room and left again, telling me not to tell anyone about the book. When my parents came back, however, I told them about it. They immediately began arguing, and sent me to bed while they talked. I lay there for hours, turning what I had read over in my head, listening to them talk, and pretending to sleep. "In the morning, my parents woke me early. We snuck out of the house without anything, and though I didn't understand, I obeyed. I understood only that something had happened, and that the book had had something to do with it. "We hadn't gone very far when suddenly there was a roar. My father told me to run, and I did. I ran. I heard screams and shouts behind me, but I ran. Soon I felt something chaseing me, and terror gripped me. I ran. The thing chasing me turned me this way and that, always seeming to be right behind me. Finally I burst into a clearing, and saw my parents lying on the ground. He was standing over them. He heard me, and yelled at me to get down. I dove for the ground and heard him shout something, then heard a thud behind me. "I figured it was safe, and I wanted to talk to my parents, try to get some answers. So I crawled to them." He paused, and poked the fire again. "They were dead." he said finally. "The grass around them was stained red with their blood." He paused again, gathering his courage. "Javas lied to me then," he said, finally saying the name. "He told me the beast had killed them. He told me he had arrived too late, and that I was lucky he had been there when he had. He took me back to his estate, and let me be for a while. I was thouroughly tramatized by what I had seen. It was a long time before I discovered the truth." He looked up. Vexander noticed a sheen of wetness on his eyes, but under that was a fire of anger brighter by far than the fire in front of him. "My parents were not killed by any beast. I didn't know the difference than, but those wounds were caused by a broadsword, not claws or teeth. That beast had been summoned by him to keep me away until he could deal with me, then bring me back. He meant to corrupt me. Turn me into another slave of chaos, as the tract had done to him. He very nearly did too. Had I not discovered the truth, and through one of his own devices, too, the gate might never have been closed. The world would likely have been overrun by now. You would all be moving about doing the will of Chaos, if you still had form at all and weren't an amorphous blob of entropy. "But I discovered his deception. I was corrupted badly, but I learned of his deception and killed him for it. I murdered him in his own study. I blasted him with his own wand, and hacked at his body with his own sword. I burned him. I drug him about his estate. Then I threw him in the river and lit fire to his home and left." He stood. "Now he is returned, and I vow by the names of Istaria and of Ayssia, I shall slay him again. He will die, and not return, if I must sacrifice my own life to do it!" ivan.sourceforge.net |
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Iridia Registered user YASD Last page view: 3966 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes and 8 seconds ago. |
For Iridia, Meridon's tale carried a haunting sense of familiarity. Both she and Meridon, it seemed, had lost families to ChAoS, though Iridia still had reason to hope her father was alive, fighting ChAoS somewhere in the deep mines below the dwarven city. The dwarf looked up from her axe, which was now sharpened and clean of lizard-man gore. "I suppose you'll want me along?" Iridia said. Meridon opened his mouth to reply, but Iridia cut him off. "No, you don't get rid of me that easy. I'm coming, no matter what you do!" She ran a stubby thumb along the blade of her axe and smiled grimly. "My axe wants blood, and lizard-man's is as good as any!" "What you are proposing to do is pure folly." Their heads swiveled to regard Vexander, who had been quietly listening until then. Iridia opened her mouth to reply, but now it was the necromancer's turn to interrupt. "Javas is more powerful than you could ever imagine," he said. "He could kill you with a thought, even if you had the advantage of surprise. Which, I assure you, is an advantage he will never grant." "What do you know of Javas?" Meridon demanded. "Of the drakeling? Nothing," said Vexander. "Of ChAoS? Too much, perhaps." "We may not defeat him, but we mean to try," said Meridon. "If you have any information that would be useful, I suggest you tell us what you know." Vexander sighed, knowing that turning Meridon away from his quest was next to impossible. "Javas has great power," he repeated, "but his power comes from ChAoS. As it gains power, so does he; if ChAoS is defeated, he will be no more than an ordinary mage--knowledgeable, certainly, but no more powerful than any mortal." "How do you know?" Meridon asked, cutting off Iridia's inevitable comment regarding Vexander's own chaotic leanings. "I do not know," admitted Vexander, "but I have heard of the black tome you mentioned. Its power comes from ChAoS. And you, Meridon, defeated Javas when the gate was first closed, did you not?" Meridon nodded cautiously, thinking over what Vexander had said as the necromancer wrapped himself in his cloak and prepared to sleep. Fire and Konan were asleep, probably out of sheer exhaustion. Fire emitted his usual loud snores, but Konan's arrhythmic breathing troubled Meridon. Healing spells seemed to do very little good, but Meridon applied one anyway, hoping for the best. "How is he?" asked Iridia. "We'll have to get Konan to an altar, and soon," said Meridon, meeting Iridia's questioning gaze. "Fighting with that karmic lizard probably placed a curse on him. The gods are the only way I know of to get rid of it. It's making the sickness worse." "I know about an altar near here," said Iridia, "in the dwarven village where I used to live. But the village was overrun by Chaos creatures, and if they're still there, we may be in trouble." "We had best discuss it in the morning," said Meridon, "but it may be our last resort." Meridon offered to take the first watch, but he ended up staying awake the whole night, watching over Konan and thinking. It was midnight when the clouds pulled away and the stars shone down on the mists of the swamp--a hauntingly beautiful scene. Though Meridon kept a close watch on the swamp, no undead bothered them that night; it was as if the gods themselves had decided the party had had enough fighting for one day. The sun rose, prompting them to push back dew-drenched blankets and break camp. "I mean to continue to Terinyo today, to see my brother," Vexander announced as they donned their packs, "so, if you are not headed that direction, I will have to take my leave." None of them said anything for at least half a minute; then they all started talking at once. Die Gedanken sind Frei |
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Duke Ravage Moderator on this forum Gravebane Zombie Last page view: 5873 days, 12 hours and 52 seconds ago. |
"I wont turn back." "I'm tired of travelling; we should find a good place to rest." "Terinyo's gone." "We have to keep moving!" "Wait as second here!" interupted Vexander. He took a moment to digest everything that had been said. Then, "Gone?" "Yes," said Konan gravely "we found it razed some time ago. Hobgoblins." "So my brother...?" "Dead, most likely." Vexander was silent. Meridon looked to the northwest. "I am not going back to that burned hulk. We have no means to, anyway, unless through the Great Marsh. I mean to track Javas until he or I are dead. The Minstral may have information I need." Iridia agreed. "Chaos must be stopped, and the Minstral is our only real clue to where we can find it." Vexander looked at them. "Was ... was my brother buried well?" "As best as we had time," said Fire. "We built a mass pyre for everyone we found dead in Terinyo." He streched. "There's nothing for you there. We should continue to the Minstral's hut and rest. Even you," he interupted before Meridon could even open his mouth. "You've been exerting a lot lately." There was another pause. After a time Vexander made up his mind. "I do wish to accompany you; however I must return to Terinyo. My brother bore an item of much sentimental value to me. I wish to retrieve it." Konan shook his big head. "If it had any aesthetic value, or any use, the hobgoblins may have taken it. But if you wish to return, I will not stop you." Vexander looked at him for a moment, contemplating, before saying anything else. "The item should still be there; the hobgoblins would not likely have found it. But travelling the Great Marsh alone is trecherous." He left the question unspoken. "I will go with you," said Konan. Vexander gave him a slight smile of appriciation. Meridon sighed. "Very well," he said. "We will be waiting at teh Minstral's home for you to return. Do not take too long, or we might leave without you!" ivan.sourceforge.net |
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Iridia Registered user YASD Last page view: 3966 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes and 8 seconds ago. |
They parted company, and though Meridon didn't like the pale cast of Konan's skin, the barbarian assured him that he was well on the mend. Meridon wasn't so sure, but since he knew Konan to be tougher than anyone he'd ever met, he wasn't overly worried. Konan and Vexander headed south for the swamps, while Meridon, Iridia, and Fire headed northwest to visit the Mad Minstrel. As Meridon's group traveled further from the river, the ground grew firmer and the swampy mud slowly gave way to grassy plains, with a shadow of woodlands approaching them on the northern horizon. As they exited the swamp, the mist dissipated and the sun tinted the sky a soft blue. They passed the time in idle chatter; eventually, Meridon asked, "Say, Fire, where does an orc learn alchemy?" Fire laughed. "Now, that's a story for you," he said. "I wasn't more than five when I first discovered what could be done with herbs, gems, different liquids..." he said. "My first memories are of living with a group of orcish barbarians, fifty or sixty of them. Not quite enough to take on a village," he said hastily, casting a sidewise glance at Iridia. "The strongest orcs were always fighting each other for leadership. I remember I thought them quite stupid, which, of course, they were." Meridon chuckled to himself at that; Fire had always had a rather high opinion of himself, though Meridon didn't blame him--most orcs were pretty stupid! "So I kept out of the way most of the time," Fire continued. "Didn't take me too long to get tired of the constant fighting, and the shaman was always getting in my way because I didn't participate in nearly so many rituals to The One Who Rages as he'd have liked. Tried to kill me a couple of times. Annoying creature." Fire's exasperated expression belied the fear he'd felt during the shaman's attempts on his life. "To pass the time, I tried to remove the rust from a spear I'd stolen from one of the weaker warriors," the orc continued. What Fire didn't mention, but which was evident enough to Meridon, who knew a little about orcs, was that the alchemist had obviously been in danger and needed a good weapon. It wasn't unusual for an orcish youngster to be killed by an annoyed elder, and orcs wouldn't have appreciated an upstart youth with more intelligence than they themselves possessed. "So, one day while I was trying to mend the spear, I tried mixing some orcish spirits with some burb roots," said Fire. "It didn't work, and I was frustrated, so I threw it at a lizard which happened to be sunning itself on a rock nearby. Imagine my surprise when it exploded and stunned the lizard!" Fire laughed, recalling that first exhilerating realization that he had a special talent the rest of his clan did not possess. "I dined well that night," he remarked. "And of course I eventually managed to create a mixture that removed the rust quite nicely. But, by then, I'd found out the spear wasn't my best weapon!" It didn't take long, Fire told his friends, before he'd become one of the best hunters in his tribe. The first potion had only stunned a lizard, but soon, Fire's concoctions were strong enough to stop a grown boar in its tracks, while the other orcs rushed in to stab it to death with spears. "I guess it had to happen," Fire said with a sigh, "but the others got jealous of me. The shaman, especially, thought I was a threat to his power, so one day he announced that The One Who Rages had determined he wanted me for a sacrifice. I didn't agree," laughed Fire. "So I left. And good riddance!" Iridia couldn't help laughing at the cocky orc's tale. Still, despite Fire's casual attitude, it was obvious the alchemist had managed to slip out of more than one tight situation during his short life. She was about to reply when Meridon stopped and turned back the way they'd come. A figure in black robes was running towards them, and Meridon's keen eyes quickly identified it as Vexander. Where was Konan? Iridia thought, and a few seconds later, hand on axe, demanded the same of an obviously exhausted Vexander. "I had to leave him," gasped the necromancer. "It's the fever. It's come back. Meridon, hurry!" The half-elf didn't question Vexander any further, and soon Meridon was following their own trail back to the swamps, running more swiftly than the dwarf, orc, or exhausted human could hope to keep up with. Iridia still had a hand on her axe, and she and Fire needed only an exchanged glance to inform the orc that she suspected treachery. Nevertheless, she followed Fire and Vexander back through the plains and into the swamp--If Vexander had killed Konan, Meridon would need Iridia's help. Her misgivings were, thankfully, unfounded. As they plunged through the marshy ground, they saw Meridon bending over Konan, who was wrapped in blankets. The half-elf's calm chant belied the tension that seemed to hang in the air, for as they came closer, it became obvious that Konan was struggling for his very life. Iridia's eyes were so focused on Konan that she didn't at first notice that a second figure also knelt next to the fallen warrior... a slender elven female.... Die Gedanken sind Frei [Edited 1 time, last edit on 5/20/2003 at 05:49 (GMT -5) by Iridia] |
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duke ravage Unregistered user |
Konan's sickly face showed the battle he was fighting within himself with the disease. He shivered and shuddered, moaning in pain. Meridon stood over him, both his hands on his chest, chanting constantly, trying with all his might to keep him alive. Iridia ran up and crouched near him. A glance at the elf confirmed that he hadn't been dreaming back by the river, but she didn't care about that right now. She turned to Fire. "Find an herb. Or something. Do something, he's dying!" Fire nodded and hurried off. Meridon said "More. I need another potion," and the elf handed him a vial of liquid. He quaffed it in one gulp, then returned to konan. A few more minutes passed as Konan writhed in agony, the only sound being Meridon's chant. The tension was almost physical. Konan was fluctuation: one moment, he would calm down and appear to get better, the next the screams would be back tenfold. he roared battle cries, called out warnings, relived his past in his delirium. Iridia looked about uneasily at the marsh, fearing what might hear them, and fearing for Konan's life. Finally, Fire returned. he handed Iridia an herb. "Here. Feed him this. I need to mix a potion." He withdrew another herb and an empty vial, which he filled with the dank pater that stood in pools about them. he dropped the herb in and plugged the bottle, then began shaking it. Iridia did as she was told. Carefully, she held Konan's head still. A violent shudder passed through him, and he jerked his head away, staring at Iridia in terror, not seeing the dwarf, but some long-dead foe. She paused. "I'm sorry," she said, then slammed her fist into his jaw. he growled, and turned back, anger in his eyes -- but then he caught hers. Lucidity filled him for a moment, and he understood, and opened his mouth. Iridia put the herb in his mouth, and he began to chew weakly at it. He hadn't even finished it before the fever took hold again. He continuted to chew, but still he shouted curses at imagined monsters. It seemed to take forever before he had swallowed the whole thing. Meridon took his hands off. "I can't do any more. Not with magic, anyway." iridia looked at him. Indeed, he looked exhausted. His face was pale, and his eyes were sunken. He straghtened, staggered, then knelt again and attempted to apply more conventional healing methods to Konan's leg. "Here." Fire handed Iridia the still-warm potion. "Give it to him." She took it, and poured a thin stream into Konan's mouth. He lapped at it, and weakly tried to grab the bottle. Iridia pressed his hand away, and continued to give him the potion. The writhing had subsided, and when the potion was gone, Konan almost appeared normal. He looked around himself at his gathered friends, even the elf he didn't know, and said, "Thank you." With that, he fell into a deep slumber. [Edited 1 time, last edit on 5/30/2003 at 18:24 (GMT -5) by Duke Ravage] |
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