NationStates Jolt Archive

Balfar sighed. He told everyone to stay within the protection of the circle, and so they leave the damn thing. Picking up his staff once again, Balfar dodged a few more rocks and stepped out of the circle. He would have to move closer if he wanted to provide decent support.

The mage placed a dark ruby within the grasp of his staff head and began to channel the gem's power. The crimson glow of his eyes matched the staff as flames began to swirl around his being, setting the nearby grass on fire. He kept his focus on the flames, keeping them under his control. Balfar didn't want the forest to burn down but he did need to use the element most effective against these creatures.

Rocks continued to imprint the ground around him, growing increasingly accurate as he drew closer.

The golems closest to Balfar began backing up and spreading out in an attempt to stay out of his reach; those a "safe" distance away continued to throw rocks as quickly as they could.

Anahid rushed to Jonathan thrusting the torch into the remains of the Golem, not paying much attention to it he grasped Jonathan by the arm and began pulling him towards the ring of stones,
'Unless you want to die you'll come back to the ring of stones and stay there.'

Jonathan sighed. He'd blown it. Embarrassed himself. He had been too foolhardy. His sword skill, though good, was not, in itself, enough to defeat such monsters.

Several rocks made their way toward the lone figure of Balfar. Raising his hand, four large boulders halted inches from his body. The flames began to pour into the rocks, heating them at rapid speeds. It wasn't long before the rocks had taken on the white glow of a material pushed to it's absolute limits before melting.

The mage traced the path of the four rocks, staring down each golem. In a final nod, the rocks were launched back toward the golems, travelling at far greater speeds than they were thrown.

Four golems exploded in showers of flaming twigs.

Four golems down, Balfar retreated back to the circle and lay against a rock. He was starting to feel the effects of frequent major spell use. With half of the beasts gone, he prepared himself to join the last leg of the fight.

"If you are going to move close to them, carry flame for they fear it."

'Thanks for the advice.' Anahid said as he reached the stone circle, 'But I think that I'll stay here and take them out from afar.'
Even as he spoke he picked up his crossbow and began preparing it for another shot, lightend the bolt and shot towards the golems. He contineud the activity stopping only to wipe his brow (he took off his helmet again) or to dodge a thrown rock.

Balfar continued to rest against the rock, occassionally obliterating any incoming rocks. He needed time to recover his strength or he would be useless.

"I can't really do much for the moment, save blocking those rocks."

A short distance from the cave, one set of tracks (the one that entered it) turned aside into a rocky area and vanished. The other set began curving through the woods, with new tracks occaisonally joining it...
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Several more of the golems began throwing rocks at Jonathan.

Azara ran silently, his eyes watching the ground, concentrated upon the tracks. His staff continued to glow brightly, illuminating the way. Azara stumbled upon a rock as he moved. Cursing, Azara muttered a quick incantation allowing him to hover in the air. Moving over the ground quickly, Azara readied himself for battle...

Most of the strange tracks turned off and headed toward the camp site, but the set that had been present from the cave continued into a rock outcropping. Here there were several piles of gravel, and a deep pit in the ground with an overturned boulder next to it. The tracks continued on, now going up hill and joined by a much larger, deeper set.
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Golems continued to fall to the flaming bolts; soon, only a few remained. These retreated out of sight of the camp, lurking in the shadows of the forest.

Frowning, Azara gazed quickly over the tracks. After discerning which set of tracks came from the cave, Azara quickly followed it, his glowing staff illuminating the way, but making him a perfect target of opportunity.

When he arrived at the hill, Azara frowned again, as he gazed upon the new set of tracks. Extremely wary, Azara slowly proceeded his way after the tracks...

Azara soon discovered that the tracks had led in a rough circle, and he was again approaching the cave. He heard a strange chant echoing from its depth....

Calmly, Azara stepped forth, his glowing staff held in front. With a deep booming voice, Azara yelled into the cave.

"Come out you spawn of darkness. Come and meet Azara Riskal, dragon mage!"

Anahid stopped shooting as the golemns dissapeared, with a sigh he turned to Balfar,
'What do we do know, follow them or get some rest?'

The chant rose for a moment, and then stopped; a flash of light illuminated the cave. In that brief time, Azara glimpsed an enormous stone figure standing near the entrance, six creatures that looked like steel skeletons, and a skeletal figure carrying a staff, and dressed in light armor and a cloak of chain mail.

Mostly recovered from his use of magic, Balfar stood and pointed to where he could faintly make out the enemy thanks to his mage sight.

"We hunt them down. I can sense some other problems around here so I suggest we take care of these ones as soon as possible."

Balfar stepped out of the circle, a sword and staff in both hands.

"Just don't get too close to these things, they pack a mean punch."

Anahid put on his helmet, checked if his weapons could be easily drawn before following the mage. It looked like it would be a long night.

Balfar unleashed spell after spell cutting through any nearby tree golems he could locate. With the combination of his distraction and the refined skills of the others, they were soon laying on the ground, no more than random timber.

OOC: Let's just speed this up. All characters should gather back at the camp soon and they can get what little sleep they can, then it's up the mountain.

Anahid wnet back to the fire pulling off his helmet.
'What a night' he said 'Kind of reminds me about this one time when me and some other guy's went looking for something...'
his voice trailed off as he returned in his thoughts to those days.

The chant rose for a moment, and then stopped; a flash of light illuminated the cave. In that brief time, Azara glimpsed an enormous stone figure standing near the entrance, six creatures that looked like steel skeletons, and a skeletal figure carrying a staff, and dressed in light armor and a cloak of chain mail.

"Let's see if you sonsuvabitches can handle fire," Azara muttered as his hands traced a fiery emblem in the air. A emblem quickly formed in the air and from it a fireball emerged, flying straight at the skeletal figure carrying the staff.

Without waiting for response, Azarar ran inside the cave, his staff twirling as he engaged the other skeletons.

The cloaked figure raised his staff, and a stream of ice shards shot forth. The spells collided, and were reduced to a cloud of steam. The staff twirled in its hands, and a thin wall of stone rose from the floor.
The massive rock golem charged toward Azara from the side, filling the cave with the sound of stone grating against stone.
OOC: I'm not going to be able to post for a while....
The mage and the metal skeletons escape out a tunnel in the back, which they then collapse, while you're dealing with the golem and smashing the wall. Both are lightly shielded, but shouldn't cause you any real trouble.
There is still useful information in the cave, so say something about "an interesting discovery in the back of the cave" or some such. I'll describe it when I get back, or possibly sooner if I have time.

Azara was boweled over by the golem. Backpedalling quickly, Azara hastily vacated the cave. Cursing under his breath, Azara quickly used his agility to put some distance between him and the golem. Throwing his hands out wide, Azara suddenly embraced them releashing a massive gust of wind at the golem. A wind that was turning swiftly into something big and terrible...

((Feel free to do what you wish with the golem. It's large, strong, and durable, but rather clumsy and not very smart. It has a bit of shielding against magic, but not very much.))

Balfar collapsed against the same boulder he was resting against earlier. Exhausted from magical and physical exertion, the mage closed his eyes once he finished placing his beacons. He would sleep, yet the slightest warning of danger would have him leaping to his feet.

Morning came and the party was feeling revived and ready to tackle the days task. A small fire sat in the middle of the gathering, toasting bread and heating water.

Balfar was quietly munching on some fruits and breads when he decided to inform the group of today's task.

"We'll be heading up that mountain today. It should take about 5 hours. Hopefully not too much trouble and we'll be there."

'Five hours?' Anahid asked for confirmation as he strapped on the last piece of his armor,
'Than we should get going, I don't enjoy travelling in noon time sun.'
he stated before getting his horse ready for travel.

"Indeed five hours. Perhaps four if we make very good time."

Balfar finished his meal and began placing a saddle upon his horse. His staff sat within the ground, giving off a slight magical pulse to wake up anyone still asleep.

Meal finished and horse packed, Balfar sat within the saddle ready to go. By now everyone was awake and he merely awaited for everyone to have their gear packed and ready to depart.

"Could we hurry things up a little."

OOC: Where the hell is everyone?!

"I'm ready" said Kragoth, as he prepared everything that he still carried with him. "I agree, we do need to get moving. We've wasted too much time here."

Azara was boweled over by the golem. Backpedalling quickly, Azara hastily vacated the cave. Cursing under his breath, Azara quickly used his agility to put some distance between him and the golem. Throwing his hands out wide, Azara suddenly embraced them releashing a massive gust of wind at the golem. A wind that was turning swiftly into something big and terrible...

Azara slowly led the golem on a chase, constantly annoying the golem with sudden strikes and sudden retreats. By dawn, Azara had led the golem to the party.

"Hey folks, wanna have some fun with this golem, here? Or should I just finish it off?" Azara yelled, when he saw the others preparing to go.

"I guess we'll help you.." added Kragoth. He smiled at his own sarcasm, and prepared himself for battle. Kragoth repeated a small phrase in Latin and his hands started to glow light blue. He then yelled "Aqua", and water was launched towards the golem, knocking it to the ground. It was still alive though.

"We need to finish him off. He's stunned for now!" yelled Kragoth to the rest of the members.

Balfar was extremely anxious to get moving and wanted to conserve his energy. He decided to observe as the others took care of the golem, but was prepared to help if necessary.

"Make it quick guys, we need to get out of here."

Bump damnit!

"Make it quick... easy to say."
Anahid began looking through his equipment looking for...
'Here you are.' he proudly stated pulling out a warhammer.
Then calmly he took up his shield and began attacking the golem.
He jumped close, hit it a couple of times, jumped back to avoid a counter attack, stalked for a while before jumping in again and repeating the process. Sooner or later it would begin to crumble under the constant attacks.

Balfar watched as the golem finally crumbled after a combination of attacks from Anahid, Kragoth and Azara. Pleased that the three had done it fairly quickly, the mage waited whilst they saddled up.

Finally ready to depart, Balfar pointed toward a slight opening between two rock faces.

"We have to move between the rock walls, it's a bit tight, but it's the most direct path toward the mountain. It shouldn't be too difficult."

The mage edged his horse on as he quickly approached the gap after half an hours riding

Azara yawned and after brushing the dust off of his tunic and cape, Azara followed Balfar towards the mountains.

When they reached the gap, Azara ascended into the air, gazing about, scouting and checking for possible opponents...

Balfar halted at the beginning of the thin pathway as he waited for Azara to scout the area. It was the perfect place to ambush travellers and he didn't want to risk anything happening on such an important journey. Once through the path, the way up would be fairly void of any difficult natural obstacles.

The mage quickly send a mental communication to Azara.

"Do you see anything to pose a threat to our crossing?"

Azara frowned as he glanced over the area, straining to see if there were any creatures in ambush. He noted several sets of tracks and several possible locations of hidden creatures, but didn't see any creatures out in the open.

"I'm not sure... I see some tracks, but I don't see any creatures that would impede our progress..."

Frowning, Azara continued, "But we should be careful... There are several possible hidding locations..."

Frowning, Azara continued, "But we should be careful... There are several possible hidding locations..."
...in which skeletal forms, forged of pure steel, lurked unseen...

Balfar nodded.

"Alright everyone. You heard the man, we may have some trouble crossing through this place. Keep your guard up and be ready for anything."

Balfar moved his horse into the narrow passage, barely squeezing the beast within the walls. He raised his staff, a golden light eminating from the topaz lodged in the head. The energy sat at the ready, awaiting the commands of the summoner.

First checking if his weapons could be drawn easily Anahid followed the group keeping an eye open for danger...

Azara landed on the other side of the pass and quickly set up two shield, protecting the members of the party as they passed through the pass. One of the shields protected the members from any magical attacks, while the other provided a shroud of magic allowing the party to pass through seemingly undetected.

Although satisfied that his shields would provide safe passage for the party, Azara quickly concentrated his power trying to sense the presence of any enemy creatures...

The "skeletons" had already seen the party (after all, they had been waiting for it); when the target vanished, they decided it was time to act. A moment after Azara cast his spell, six metal forms jumped from their hiding places into the canyon. Each carried a gleaming steel sword.
http://66.0.193.113/isroot/www11650/ProductImages/mrl1470.JPG

Skeletons!?! Wait, they're made of steel... Steel Skeletons!?! What in blazes is going on!?!

Swearing inaudibly, Azara quickly dissolved the shrouding shield, freeing magic and power so that Azara could deal with the skeletons. Speaking a quick word of power, Katalark, the top of Azara's staff exploded in a fury of light as a powerful fireball, burning at 20,000 degrees Celsius was launched, screaming towards the nearest group of skeletons.

"Burn in hell you bastards!"

Anahid did not notice at first that the skeletons are made of steel, but having delt with skeletons in the past and immediatly went for the warhammer. He kept near Balfar planning to cover him as to allow him to easily cast his spells.

Balfar stopped his horse as he evaluated the situation. A skeleton in itself would not be difficult to manage, yet steel skeletons are far tougher. Going over all the spells in his head, he finally found one that would be effective.

Chanting quickly as he cast sigils of power into the air, Balfar directed his staff toward a point on the ground, not far from the skeletons. With his final word uttered, a short beam of energy shot into the ground, with what appeared to be no effect. As the skeletons advanced, the first one moved onto the spelled ground and immediately began to sink. Thick, sloppy sand lay all around the skeletal figure as it was complete engulfed by the land.

(OOC: Um... I did send a fireball of 20,000 degrees celsius at the skeletons, so you guys should seriously stay back...)

OOC: They're aren't near the skeletons. Still some distance in front of them.

BUMP

The three figures on the side closer to Azara glowed red in the heat, and molten metal began to drip off of them. One of them turned and flung its sword, which left a trail of sparks and melted steel, at the mage.
On the other side of the canyon, one skeleton fell into Balfar's spell and was buried. It struggled futily against the sand, its metal joints moving with greater and greater difficulty. The other two jumped from the side of the canyon down amidst the group, swords flashing. The two who had been blasted by Azara's fire and retained their weapons staggered toward the edge, the thickness of their "bones" diminishing as they a path of iron drops.

Azara grinned smugly at the destruction, or better said melting, his fireball had done. Moving forward, Azara began to twirl his staff impressively and effectively, slowly driving the few survivors back.

"Come foul offspring of darkness and fall before the might of the whirling staff of Azara..."

The constructs were fast, and outnumbered Azara, but they were no match for his skill. The first one he encountered was unarmed, having already thrown its weapon at him, and quickly collapes into a heap of half-melted metal bones. The other two, working together, faired slightly better, but it was obvious they wouldn't last long...

Balfar decided to take a lucky a chance and summoned some more elemental energy. Pointing his finger at the nearest creature, he unleashed a long arc of lightning into the metallic creature.

I hope this works, I'm running out of ideas.

The skeletal form stopped in its tracks, quivering and jangling, as electricity poured through its metal frame.
OOC: Is anyone else going to attack them, or shall I let you two finish them off?

OOC: Looks like it will be us.

IC: Balfar kept an eye on the remaining skeletons as he searched his brain for more effective spells.

Azara battled two skeletons at once, his staff twirling expertly through the air. Azara slammed his staff into the middle of one of the skeletons and swung upwards, destroying the ribs and knocking the skeleton's skull loose. With a powerful roundhouse kick, Azara sent the skeleton flying. Expertly, Azara attacked the other skeleton, twirling his staff and tripping the skeleton. Suddenly the staff glowed red as Azara unleashed a blast of coherent light. The skeleton exploded from the fury of the power of the staff.

Satisfied, Azara turned and watched the others as they took care of the remaining of the skeletons...

The metal bones began to glow red, and finally the creature was shaken apart as elemental power overloaded the magic that animated its steel frame.
OOC: Anything that directly attacks the magic controlling them will be very effective; anything else that makes sense as a blow against animated steel skeletons will work.

OOC: How many more are there? I want to get to the end of this before it completely dies.

OOC: It's down to two. I'll skip step three, as well, I think.

OOC: Ok then.

IC: Balfar was disturbed from his thought just in time to dodge the full force of a sword blow. The blade missed his head but sliced along his upper arm, creating a moderate wound within his flesh.

Gritting in anger, Balfar decided a more direct approach would be appropriate. Withdrawing a small ruby, the mage lunged forward the placed the gem within the confines of the skeleton's rib cage. The skeleton seemed unaffected and continued it's advance when the gem burst into a brilliant ball of flame, completely engulfing the creature.

Balfar jumped back to avoid being burnt and smiled as the creature slowly melted into a pile of liquid metal.

Then remaining construct charged, with a loud clatter.

OOC: the last one is all yours 5CN.

(OOC: Why mine? *shrugs* Oh well...)

Azara sprang forth, his staff twirling through the air. Like lightning, Azara appeared behind the skeleton and slammed his staff into the legs of the construct. Part of the staff crumpled at the hit, but the skeleton collapsed upon the floor. Pointing his staff straight at the fallen skeleton, Azara muttered, "Tinask Madrula Abralsk," a small Internal-Ferno Spell. Within seconds, the skeleton melted as a fire, started up within his bones...

Slight drained from his use of magic Balfar took one last glance upon the molten skeletons before remounting and moving out of the narrow path. He took a long glance up the mountain before returning to others.

"Alright, let's keep going. It won't take us too long if we hurry."

Azara grimaced as he felt the hunger within him. Something was attempting to feed upon Azara's hunger for dark, demonic magic... Something evil. Wearily, Azara shouldered his staff and began walking. After three steps, Azara stumbled and fell to the ground, his sides groaning in pain as he writhed upon the floor.

(OOC: Arithon, you know that Kain has quit NS right?)

OOC: I see. No I wasn't aware of that. Crap.

IC: Balfar immeadiately leapt off his horse and onto the ground near Azara. Enscribing several wards of protection around his body, Balfar delievered a mental message.

"What is wrong my friend?"

“Stay away, Balfar… The pain has come back! Ah, the agony…” said Azara as he writhed painfully upon the ground. Slowly, Azara regained control and mentally shut out the torment that afflicted him to his core. His eyes pleadingly, Azara said, “Kill me Balfar, before I become something that you do not want to see… Kill me, before I fall back into the darkness. Kill me before I become an addict of the power and might of demons.”

(OOC: Please don’t really kill him…)

Balfar raised his staff and pointed at Azara as he pleaded to die. He knew Azara wouldn't say something like that unless he meant it. Gathering energy for a lethal blow, Balfar hesitated.

"I'm sorry my friend, I cannot kill you. Is there any other way I can help?"

OOC: Uber boost.

IC: Balfar called upon a large carpet of energy and laid it upon the ground before himself and Azara. He quickly gathered all necessary items off the horses and placed them upon the carpet. With the aid of some magical force he heaved his ill friend onto the energy and sat beside him.

In a matter of seconds, the energy took off, heading for the mountain top.

(OOC: Um, my character is basically comatose, so just do what you want, Arithon)

OOC: I see. Well I'll get around to making some sort of closure, but it is unfortunate to see this die.