NationStates Jolt Archive

"You didn't kill anyone." She replied with sincerity and seriousness.

When the little girl handed her a flower, Ar'mai took it gladly. A flower was rare in a land ruled by the blight. The red and pink coloring stood out from the surroundings, which were almost completely gray and black. "Thank you..." she said in a voice that was naught more than a whisper.

Kalzog smile faded slowly until it was only a slight curve of his lips. "A party for everything..."

He gently rubbed his cleaner hand on her head, ruffling her hair.

She smiled as he ruffled her hair before going to take a seat on the grasses to listen to the grown-ups.

ooc; Be gone for a bit.

"If not, we ought to formulate some sort of plan. As I said, I am completely unfamiliar with this territory and do not know my way around. Someone who knows this area would do well to explain it to those who do not, and perhaps have an idea or two." Karasu said.
"While I've never been to the capital, I've been here to country before, and it wasn't that dangerous, more weird than anything. Politeness is key." Lorathin commented.

"Have you forgotten already?" Ar'mai said in the same whisper of a voice. She began describing the citadel. "Death Hold... the capitol of the undead lands in which we now stride... is, as its name implies, a stronghold. A fortress. It is surrounded by thick, twenty-foot stone walls that block much of the city from view. The few gatehouses are imposing structures that only allow in those who the undead wish to permit. The massive towers jut into the sky and keep watch over the lands, normally spotting its enemies approaching for miles. The walls are patrolled by the infamous Vampire Knights and Human Archers are imbedded in strategic positions. In addition, each gate is guarded by a voracious pack of ghouls under the direction of a Vampire Overseer. The city itself is quite large, holding over forty-thousand.... and is home to powerful Liches and Necromancers..."

"Childs play...just get me inside and I'll deal with the rest of 'em..." Kalzog chuckled, before remembering Luthien's words.

"Of course, only if we're attacked first..."

"Oh ya." He replied, "I might be able to go and get a necromancer license, and possibly bring you in that way, but...." He commented dubiously.

As she heard that, Lúthien stated flatly, "No."

"I can use transformation jutsu to create as many copies of myself as perfect transformations. I will look like guards, necromancers, undead... whatever you need in whatever numbers. However I would not know what to do. Someone would have to help me in that department. I know not how the city works." Karasu replied.

"Thank you Luthien!" Karasu replied as she was given a flower. "Was it not fun on the way here?" Karasu smiled at Luthien. So precious.

"You might be able to do that but, and you'll have to excuse me, I don't think you'd be able to pull it off. They have an complicated hierachy and order of preference and all that. Also some have aura that might be difficult to emulate." He commented

"Why not just create an army of yourself then...?" Ar'mai questioned.

ooc: I know she can create copies of herself... but can she create copies of herself that can transform into other beings?!?

ooc: It is the transformation jutsu... she has all the jutsus from Naruto.

"An army of myself would be noticed immediately. I was thinking along the lines of getting in stealth mode and letting everyone else in." Karasu replied.

ooc: It is the transformation jutsu... she has all the jutsus from Naruto.

"An army of myself would be noticed immediately. I was thinking along the lines of getting in stealth mode and letting everyone else in." Karasu replied.

"So what? If you had an army of massive dragons they would be hard pressed to stop you..." Ar'mai commented.

ooc: I am not in the least bit familiar with jutsu or Naruto.

"OK, let us say I do this. Then what do I do when I get in there? As I said, I know absolutely nothing about this place." Karasu replied.

"Destroy everything?"

An eye for an eye.

"Please, folks, I thought we were looking for Mavis, not taking on the entire Empires. I reccomend we stick to our original objective." Zyergi frowned. "Is anyone particularly skilled at scrying? It's not a strenth of mine, but if we could catch just a glimpse of the Lich's location, we could forget this whole Death Hold buisness and deal with our adversary alone."

"A viable idea, but more likely than not, there will be so many warding spells, scrying would be difficult to say the least." He commented

"That Undead guy we met a while back seemed to be able to," Ar'mai said after she had been brought back to the reality of the situation. "But his presence is missing."

"Maybe not exactly scry on the lich...but that night that we met when we attacked the city..." Kalzog said quietly as he rested himself next to Luthien.

Karasu sighed in relief. The last thing she wanted to do was copy jutsu herself as a dragon and fly in. It was uncomfortable to her. So far, it seemed every idea was shot down one way or another.

She sat down on the ground listening to the others' conversation.

"Maybe we could just ask them to let us in..." Ar'mai commented, remembering her last trip here when they simply let her in through the front gate after a couple of questions.

Lorathin took a seat with the others, and gestured for the others that remained standing to join them while they discussed.

"Maybe not exactly scry on the lich...but that night that we met when we attacked the city..." Kalzog said quietly as he rested himself next to Luthien.

"I remember that one...He rode away before I could stick a knife in his back." Zyergi remained motionless, thinking hard. "I wonder if Mavis would go through the trouble to ward all his servents as well as himself...If not, then perhaps scrying is a viable option."

"Well do we have anyone here who can attempt to scry? I think just trying it would be better than talking about whether it might work or not when we truly do not know," Ar'mai commented as she took a seat on the dark ground.

The white moon rises over the treetops, revealing slightly many silhouettes still as statues.

A pair of bright orange eyes looked down onto the scene beneath, a small party of adventurers, talked loudly as if they wanted the whole world to hear.

Augustus noted down his target's numbers, then glanced at the assassins and mercenaries with him. He signalled them to wait just a bit longer.

"Well do we have anyone here who can attempt to scry? I think just trying it would be better than talking about whether it might work or not when we truly do not know," Ar'mai commented as she took a seat on the dark ground.

"Count me out. I couldn't scry my way out of a paper bag with a map."

Zyergi paused and turned around, scanning his surroundings. He could have sword he heard something...Or perhaps felt something. Are we alone? Zyergi could have sworn he felt several pair of eyes locked on him, but couldn't tell their direction. Perhaps all that flying messed with my senses...

ooc: What's scry? I cannot remember.

"Someone is watching us." Karasu said. "I do not believe them to be friendly. I am sure Ar'mai can hear them. We best be on guard."

"Right, we shall strike now." he whispered to the others. Augustus closed his eyes for a moment.

The battle played itself out inside his eyelids. He opened his eyes again and gave the signal.

The shadows leap downwards from the treetops, the sound of knifes being pulled out of hilts in unison disturbed the resident birds.

Right back at you, Zyergi thought, grinning. He flung two daggers upwards, downing a pair of assailents before they hit the ground. They're human...Zyergi wondered who they were. Surely not Mavis's men, or any other undead lord. There didn't seem to be any spells coming out of these guys either; probably just normal brigands.

Zyergi dodged a flying knife and drew his sword, impaling an assassian through the solar plexus. At this rate, there wouldn't be any enemies left.

Karasu made some copy jutsus of herself and some transformation jutsus which were exact replicas of their enemies. They would not know if it was the enemy or one of them, but she did.

As one of their group, she impaled two of them before she was impaled, and just disappeared.

The Karasus got out their various weapons, and slashed at the members of the group, several getting it in the neck with shuriken throwing knives.

While the copies fought the enemy, Karasu went into a forested area and transformed. She knew this was risky, but she flew at the other group, her shadow covering everything, and spit acid on them, then flew straight up.

Too bad our group is here. I could roar and knock them to the ground.

From quite a height, she breathed fire, accurately, without harming any of their group, at the enemy, while watching what else was happening, thinking of what she might be able to do, other than stomp on them, which may or may not.

Meanwhile, the other Karasus and transformation Jutsus continued to attack.

Indeed Ar'mai had heard the assailants as they lay in ambush atop the trees. When they moved to strike, she was off in whirlwind of moves. Her bow was instantly notched with a dozen arrows, each tracking their targets wherever they went... the fools did not pick the right party to ambush...

Lorathin cast a shielding spell, primarily as he'd been caught off guard and the fact that the others were doing well dealing with the bandits.

Kalzog growled as he gently took hold of Luthien and sheilded her from any blow one of the assailants could attempt to do. I wish I could fight...

Lúthien looked at Kalzog. "Please make them go away, but don't kill them." She asked

Karasu continued her air assault, being careful not to hit any of their own. So far, these assailants did not look like guards of any sort.

The adventurers fight better than they looked. The assassins were pretty much getting slaugthered. He was expecting more out of these henchmen, but oh well.

Augustus sat near a base of a tree, unnoticed by the combatants, scanning the ambush for his target.

He must act fast, or reinforcements from the Lich would come and ruin his plan.

He headed towards Zyergi purposefully.

Zyergi's eyes widened with a sudden fear as he saw a new opponent walk towards him. Are these Alarian's men? Possibly...but he really expected his nemisis to do better than this. He summoned up a large ball of lightning and flung it at his new adversary before chargin the man with his sword.

From her view up above, Karasu saw the man going after Zyergi. Not a chance buddy!

She speed dived, buzzed the guy, and spit acid all over him.

That should do it.

He walked slowly under the rain of acid and bile, droplets landed all around him.

Augustus avoided the lighting sphere easily and continued to approach, blocking the man's strike with his dagger.

He stared into his adversary's face. "Your kingdom wants you dead, Prince."

It is them! Zyergi gaped increduliously at the man as he avoided both his and Karasu's attack. I didn't see any shield spell cast...How did he do that? He stepped back, rasing his sword to eye level.

"I'm suprised. No "Join us or Die" option, eh? Do me a favor and stick that dagger into your master's back. It would save me alot of trouble."

Well, since they already know where I am...Zyergi undid his left-handed bandages, twirling the magical cloth like a deadly garrote. He wondered where Alarian got someone so talented.

"Well, come on then; let us spar together!"

Nothing is working? What the fuck? Then Karasu thought of something that would work in every dimension, even if there were thirty...

It would affect her own people, but it would throw the approaching enemy to the ground, perhaps giving her a chance to ice him.

Karasu roared. Everyone lost balance and fell. The Karasu jutsus attacked the man, as Karasu breathed ice on him. While he was incapacitated, she turned human prior to landing on the ground.

"Zyergi! I'm going to transform again! Get on my back!" She yelled frantically.

Karasu transformed and beckoned Zyergi to get on her back while stepping on the other man. Perhaps he would not die, but he would not feel good.

Zyergi struggled to regain his balance as he watched his opponent go down under Karasu's dopplegangers and a sheet of ice. Sorry, dear. I don't think that's going to work on this one. He kept wondering how thhe bastard was dodging all those attacks. Suddenly, Karasu's foot came crashing down. It was a mighty blow, but Zyergi didn't think that even that did the job.

Zyergi looked at Karasu, then shook his head, motioning for her to fly off. If that thing was still alive, he wanted a fair duel-no interventions. This was his fight.

The dust settled. Water seeped into the cracks of the earth and turned the ground into mud. Augustus got off the ground and brushed himself off, soaking wet. He scanned at the sky with his eyes, and then fixed them back at Zyergi.

His dagger lost somewhere in the mud, Augustus spread his hands open, and smiled pleasantly. The effect was slightly ruined by the caked mud splattered on parts of his face.

"Let us begin."

With two steps, he closed the distance between them, his hands behind him ready to tear into bandages and flesh.

ooc: Augustus seems like a godmod char. He doesn't even suffer damage.

"Alright, Zyergi, " Karasu responded and transformed to human with a spray of rainbow colored crystals around her. She walked up the tree and got to a high branch and stood upside down watching.

Nothing can hurt him.

No weapons except his hands...how does he expect to fight me? Zyergi blinked, and the man was suddenly right in front of him, swinging his fists. He's fast! Zyergi ducked to avoid an impossibly fast punch that missed him by inches. He fell to the ground, delivering a powerful kick aimed for his opponent's chin as he did so.

Karasu stood upside down from the branch and would help Zyergi as much as possible.

ooc: Does Augustus have any weakness? This char is a bit... well I already said it.

OOC: Right, I didn't notice he had 20 tons stepping on him.

The prince was as strong as he feared.

Even though he shortened the dimensions between his target and his hands in order to have a higher accuracy rate, his nemesis still was nimble enough to dodge his blows at the last moment without coming to harm.

Augustus paused for a moment, taking time to dodge several blows. The flying sack of weights stepping on him crushed the air out of him, the mere impact enough to bruise most of his ribs and crack a few. He was lucky he was ready beforehand and temporary shortened the dragon's limb; otherwise its foot would have gone far enough into his chest to touch the ground beneath him.

I'm having trouble breathing, let alone fighting.

His eyes slightly unfocused, he continued to claw at his target with his hands.

OOC: All his external dimensional manipulations are effective only if he focused and does not have any permanent effect at all upon the environment, or the affected. He can only bend the rules, not break them.

ooc: Well over 100 tons, actually. He seems to bend the rules even though he is being distracted left and right... that is what is a bit disconcerting.

Seeing Augustus in less than his usual condition, Karasu made 30 jutsu copies from the trees, and threw 6 shuriken knives a piece at him. This had to make a dent, if not kill him. 1800 shurikins in someone cannot be easily walked away from.

Karasu yelled, "Zyergi! Attack now!"

Zyergi had to move as fast as he could to avoid his opponent's lightning-quick blows. Luckily, his acrobatic fighting style helped him immensly as he twisted his body every which way to avoid a painful death. One blow grazed his elbow, nearly knocking him off his feet and drawing far too much blood that it was supposed to.

Zyergi was getting torn apart in this type of close combat. He jumped backwards, summoning a magical smokescreen around his body; the manuver gave him just enough time to summon a trio of his own dopplegangers before turning invisable. Zyergi slowly hopped around his opponent, hoping that the clones would distract the man enough for him to give his opponent a critical blow.

As Karasu's clones let loose their payload, Zyergi jumped high into the air and-still invisable-plummeted downwards, his bandages flying out in front of him, reaching for his opponent's neck. He would choke him, then behead him.

Smokescreen in front, clones (?) around the sides, a shower of foreign throwing knifes heading towards him from behind.

This isn't good. Time for artful.

He launched himself at the clone (?) closest to him, knocking him down, and then using him as a human shield against the rain of knives. Augustus thought he heard someone landing nearby.

Half-way through the storm, the clone turned into mist. Augustus jumped backwards in surprise as the rest of the knives formed a small forest on the ground. He checks his wounds, and pulled out the shuriken knife stuck to his shoulder, ignoring the pain.

A good thing they don't coordinate attacks well enough.

Augustus kneeled down to retrieve a handful of mud.

Soon the other assassins and mercenaries will be dead. Then he'll really be in trouble.

The Karasus did another move when he was busy removing the knife... They threw throwing stars, with hidden second throwing stars behind them... the second one unable to be dectected.

This should cause some damage.

Zyergi cursed as his target moved out of range. He didn't think he had been detected; the man had simply moved to avoid Karasu's barrage. As the second wave of shuriken approached, he snapped his bandage forward. Perhaps if he could get a hold of his opponent and keep him locked in place, he would be unable to avoid Karasu's shurikens. He send a crackle of lightning up through the bandage, hoping to stun the man.

Karasu was quite fascinated with Zyergi's abilities. The problem was that Augustus could do anything, for the most part.

Is he a god or something? she mused. Her throwing stars covered a huge area, and were thrown while he was busy removing the shuriken.

She decided to concentrate on mimicking his allies.

Augustus felt a tree behind him as he backs away in the face of certain death. He risked a look. A mercenary corpse lies to his left.

He looked back at the spinning blades. They seemed to have got a lot closer. The moonlight reflected off their sharp edges. He dropped everything in his hands, the counters he had planned will not happen now.

Jump. A voice not his own echoed in his mind.

He leaps upwards; a bandage coils around his right ankle and pulls him back down again, stunning him.

His body felt like as if it was on fire. He reached for the dead mercenary's shield with his left hand, hoping to make it in time. His right hand holds the vial of his necklace to his heart.

Moments later with the shield covering the man's head and most of his chest from the sharp edges of the metal stars, leaving his limbs pinned to the tree, Augustus succumbs to the darkness.

Just for good measure, Zyergi gave the man a good punch in the face.

"Finally got the bastard." He looked around; the rest of the mercenaries were either dead or running for their lives. "That's a neat trick. I wonder how he can dodge that much without taking damage."

Zyergi examined his unconcious foe carefully, then looked at Karasu.

"Well, I suppose we should let him down; otherwise, he might die of blood loss. What do you think?"

"He is trying to kill you, I would let him die, however you will get no information about him that way." Karasu answered as she walked down the tree.

"So those bandages have a purpose!" She grinned. "I would not have guessed. Good roping!" she added.

"How do we keep him tied up? He seems to have some very strange abilities. He can take just about anything." Karasu yelled to the others, "Could the rest of you please come over here? Does anyone see what his abilities are that allow him to survive the things he does? It is unimaginable!" She sighed.

"I have a feeling when he is conscious he can slip out, unless someone can create a barrier around him. Azrael, I think you can see what his trick is... perhaps I can as well." Karasu began.

"Remember when we were in the ethereal plane and we could go through solid objects and nothing could touch us? He seems to have something similar... as if he can go to another plane." Karasu continued.

"Azrael, can you put up a barrier around this guy that will keep him locked up through all planes and dimensions?" She asked the mage.

"Also, we ought to whack him a few more times so he is injured and cannot hurt us."

She kicked him in the side.

Lorathin came over, after asking Lúthien to remain there. "Knock it out Karasu. Don't kick an injured man, it's unbecoming of you." He commented as he examined the man. "I think it's something like the blink ability of blink dogs. Yes I could, but I'm not doing it until he's mostly healed." Lorathin added

"Well, you know how I am always trying to impress you, Azrael," Karasu stated sarcastically, and rolled her eyes. "Sorry, I just have the feeling he cannot be held." She added.

"By the way, what is a 'Blink Dog'? I have never heard of such a thing." She asked Azrael.

"Zyergi... How could they have found you?" She was quite concerned. "I hope the rest of the others sent after you are not this difficult to defeat." Karasu looked at Zyergi, worried.

"On the other hand, I have not yet seen any undead."

All of the mercenaries and assassins had been fallen. The gray land was stained red with blood and corpses lined the blight.

Ar'mai had suffered a few scratches as well as a few deeper blows, but she had healed herself for the most part while watching the duel. Now it was her turn to intervene. She stepped in between the others and the man they were contemplating and began whispering a few soft spells to heal his wounds. The cuts, slashes, and bruises he had suffered began disappearing; however, his exhaustion would remain when he woke up soon.

Zeratul's meditation was disturbed by sounds of fighting nearby, he scrambled up alert and ready, prepared to defend himself if necessary, he saw a very large reptilian take to the skies and launch many attacks at enemies on the ground before returning to the ground itself. Shortly afterwards the sounds of battle ceased.

Curiosity urged him to investigate and he moved towards the origin of the noises, using his psionic power to 'feel' any intelligent creatures nearby, if undead were involved or if their minds were shielded he would not notice them. He did his best to remain unseen as he approached. the reactions he had recieved from villagers and peasents he had met since his 'creation' had given him a warm welcome... involving fire. He had managed to escape and had been trying to find food and shelter since.

He could sense several intelligent creatures of varying power (mentally), one stood out more than others and near it was one that seemed weaker than the others.

As he drew closer, he decided to see if he could gain some knowledge of them before revealing himself. He was still clumsy with his psionic skills and was slowly refining the skills needed to make an unnoticed entry into a target's mind and delve for information. It was possible that, due to the recent distraction of being attacked they might be less likely to notice an intusion. He decided to examine the weakest mind that he could sense.

"Well, now what do we do? It ought to be done quickly I think." Karasu stated.

She took Zyergi aside and spoke to him alone. "How could they know? We are going to have to fight these guys along with this other mission... wow." She shook her head and grinned at him. "I am still with you all the way!"

"If he can get out of a force cage, he won't be our problem for a while." Lorathin replied, "As the only ways out are astral or planar travel, which will put him out of our hair for a long while."

'A blink bog, also called a wink hound or tempus wolf can teleport at will, as well as blink back and forth betweent the material and ethereal plane." He explained, "And they're generally good, and also intelligent."

"Also I'm not going to imprison him injured as he is, but if you want him to be able to escape if he wakes up..." He commented


Lúthien's mind was perhaps the weakest, not through lack of intelligence, but through lack of experiance and knowladge. Zeratul's probing would likely get her name, Ar'mai's name and the name of Kal in relation to the ogre. He'd also see Lorathin identified as daddy rather than a conventional name.

Zeratul was pleased that he had not been noticed, perhaps he was improving with his abilities. The information he had garnered was not a lot, but the mind he had read believed them to be good people, they would be unlikely to attack if he approached. Caught between wishing to probe another to verify his thoughts and caution, if he was noticed they would almost certainly think him an enemy, he needed to find some friends if he was to survive.

He decided to approach them, stepping into their line of sight he slowly walked towards them, unsure of how to act. Before fully leaving Luthien's mind he tried to give her the feeling that he was not a threat, in the hopes that she may be able to help him.

"Azrael, I would love that power." Karasu smiled. "I was concerned that he could hurt us if he was uninjured. I am not familiar with all the planes."

"Well the only way out of a force-cage, what I'd lock him in after he was well, beside it being destroyed, a difficult thing to do, would be to planar hop, which could put him any where up to a thousand miles away." He replied, "So will you heal him now?"

"I cannot heal anyone! I do not have those powers. Ar'mai healed him, but left him tired." Karasu replied.

"Ah, I failed to notice that." He replied as he turned and cast the spell on the assassin, locking up in the force-cage so he could wake up later and be talked to by Karasu.

"I think it would be best if Zyergi spoke with him. After all, this group is specifically after him." Karasu frowned. "Poor guy. I hoped this would not come up until the lich problem was dealt with." She added.

Just then, Karasu looked up. "Hey, some man is coming toward us." She alerted the rest of the group. He certainly did not look as if he was going to attack.

"Sir, may we help you in some way?" Karasu asked the man.

She took Zyergi aside and spoke to him alone. "How could they know? We are going to have to fight these guys along with this other mission... wow." She shook her head and grinned at him. "I am still with you all the way!"

"I don't know...This is the most talanted assassian that's tried to kill me yet. I'm amazed Alarian was able to find someone that good." He rubbed his elbow where he had been grazed; the bleeding had already stopped and the wound was healing, but it still hurt. "Ow..."

He quickly re-bandaged his arm and watched as Lorathin force-caged the assassian.

"I'll give him a talking-to when he comes around, although it might be a while."

Zyergi turned around to view another newcomer, tensing slightly at the man drew near. He didn't look very threatening, but looks could be deciveing.

"Sir, may we help you in some way?" Karasu asked the man.

"Could you help me? i have not eaten in days and have found no shelter or help in this land." He replied, "I have been chased away from towns when i try to ask for food. i would not steal, if i could join you i would help you in any way i could to repay you."

OOC: bear in mind he's a 7 foot tall figure hunched over in a black robe, at the very least he would be suspicious

"Uhhh... I think this would go to a group vote. We will all have to discuss this." Karasu told him.

Death Hold


The fabled capital city of the dead and heart of The Grand Shadow Empire of Deatharon, one of the most feared realms in the world was once again covered in perpetual darkness.

The many rumors across the world say the sun had been banished from the city by the Shadow Emperor himself and that darkness and shadow were only permitted within the city.

This made it hard to see for most living inhabitants of the Shadow Empire but was a great thing for the city's primary inhabitants the undead.

The city had become a heaven for the undead and it was rumored to have over 100 million inhabitants both living and dead. Mostly dead however was the common phrase. The city had roughly thirty five-foot stone walls with a large moat filled with alchemic acids.

The dark city also had some important residences one of them was the Shadow Emperor Alfred Von Antheron himself.

The mighty undead lich that was well known to be the son of Minax the dark goddess herself. This made Alfred a very important and dangerous inhabitant of the city. He was locked away constantly in his dark citadel inside the mighty metropolis. It was rumored that he had a small bodyguard of Liches called the Black Cloaks.

A secret brotherhood dedicated to protecting the Emperor and wiping out any threats to the Shadow Empire.

The Lich Mavis had become famous for causing the utter and totally destruction of the city of Val'Thalmas, the hated Elven city to the north. In the eyes of the local undead and other living citizens of the Empire. Mavis was an unsung war hero and a Lich of great standing. How little they forgot he was a renegade an illegal lich that ran from the Emperor's justice long ago.

The Shadow Emperor did not forget this and decided such a threat had to be dealt with immediately. If he could sack and obliterate Val'Thalmas what could stop him from crushing Death Hold?

The Shadow Emperor knew Mavis and definitely knew his mother. He would not let either of them have the power to destroy his Empire.

The Shadow Emperor called his best assassins together for a little meeting of the minds. They came with surprising quickness most of them seemed to come out of the shadows and one even slipped past one of the Emperor's own bodyguard Vampire Knights .

They all appeared and bowed low before his unholy majesty the Shadow Emperor Alfred Von Antheron Supreme Lord of the Grand Shadow Empire and Master of the Undead. It was a privilege just to gaze upon his dark robes and be able to speak to him.

The Shadow Emperor smiled in his own skeletal way and said, "I have an important mission for you. I need you to find a certain upstart and show him true death before he destroys the world!"

The black clad assassins' answer as one, "Who is the upstart and how do you want him to die?"

The Shadow Emperor replied, "He is Mavis the false Champion of Minax. I want you to kill him and bring me back his soul from his ringed hand."

The Shadowy assassins nodded and slipped away into the darkness of the walls of the palace and into the eternal night of the city. It was just a matter of time before the one known as Mavis meet his end at the hands of the Emperor's assassins.

"Uhhh... I think this would go to a group vote. We will all have to discuss this." Karasu told him.

"Very well, i will be meditating over there" He replied, indicating a patch of ground nearby, "My name is Zeratul, by the way." He knelt on the ground and after a moment a small stone began to rise and hover in front of him, at first it was unstable but gradually remained still and another stone joined it, he would repeat, honing his skills until the decision was made.

Ar'mai looked at the newcomer for a long moment; studying him. There was something about him that seemed calm. "I say we let him join... he looks to be useful," she commented as she realized he had some mental powers.

ooc: Does Zeratul have the energy spikes hidden beneath his cloak?

Wake up.

Augustus awaked. He made sure he was alive.

The trick worked, lucky me.

His captors gather around him, none of them has yet to notice him come to. Now might be the time for him to run. He scanned his surroundings.

They seem to have surrounded him with some sort of invisible barrier.

He felt exhausted. He sighed dejectedly, and held his necklace in the dim light, watching its contents.

Karasu noticed Augustus holding and looking into a necklace, awake, of course.

"Azrael, everyone, Augustus is awake and looking into a necklace." Karasu alerted them. With her dragon eyes, she had superior sight.

"What is that thing Azrael?" She asked.

Lorathin looked over and commented, "No idea. I'm not the fountain of wisdom on all things magickal after all." He replied, "I can almost guarantee that it won't aid him to destroy the cage thought."

"Well, you are a mage, so you would be the first one I would ask." Karasu replied to Azrael.

"Does anyone know what that necklace does?" She asked.

The newcomer was still meditating, but had a harmless air about him. That did not mean he was harmless, however, Karasu thought bringing him along would be a good idea.

While other things were going on, Karasu took a large piece of bread and several pieces of fruit from her bag and brought them to the man. At least we can give him food.

"Zeratul," Karasu got his attention, "Here is some bread and fruit to tide you over. We do not want you starving out here." She smiled at him.

"The person to best ask would be an artificiar, not a mage, but I can try to figure it out." He replied as his eyes began glowing blue as he began looking for any magickal abilities to the amulet and ideally what they were.

He knew he might not be able to entirely identify it, but he was confident he could get a good reading on it.

As Karasu spoke to him the collection of stones he had been focused on suddenly fell to the floor. He rose somewhat ashamedly and did his best not to tower over her as he accepted the food. His face remained hidden beneath his hooded cloak.

"Thank you, kind mistress. You have the advantage of me, i don't believe i caught your name" He replied, he wanted to devour the food, but did not wish to appear rude, breaking a small chunk off of the bread he began to take small bites, savouring the taste and the feeling.

He also took the opportunity to thank Armai for her vote of confidence.

Noting the other's stares, Augustus puts on his necklace again.

He looked passively at the adventurers. "You have something to ask? I am ready." He smiled.

"My name is Karasu. It is a pleasure to meet you." She smiled. "Also, you appear very very hungry. I have plenty of bread and fruit, also some good water and even a little mead. You are welcome to as much as you like."

Karasu could see that Zeratul was famished. She opened her bag and pulled out a large loaf of bread, and a bag of apples, oranges, plums, as well as a flask of water.

"Do not worry about manners," Karasu smiled. "I can see you are famished." She handed him the rest of the food and smiled. Karasu got a positive feeling from Zeratul.

"A pleasure to meet you Karasu" He said as he bowed. "Thank you for this bounty in food, how can i repay you for your kindness?"

He began to take larger bites from the original loaf of bread of he had been given and followed it with a small apple, the rest dissapeared beneath his cloak into some conveniant pockets.

Examining the situation he saw that the 'prisoner' had awoken, "Perhaps i can help with this person, i may be able to detect if he is being untruthful in his answers." Eager to both hone his talents and prove himself as a useful addition to their group, he did not wish to boast his abilities too far though, he was unsure of how powerful they were.

"Oh Zeratul! That is exactly what we need!" Karasu could hardly contain her excitement.

"Everyone, Zeratul may be able to help us with Augustus. Eventually when Zyergi questions him, Zeratul may be very useful!" Karasu grinned at him. "Thank you for offerring! You came at just the right time!" She exclaimed. "Go ahead and do what it is you do. It is much appreciated."

Karasu liked this guy a lot. He came across as so kind, but she wished he would let everyone see his face.

"First of all, what's that necklace for?" He asked the imprisoned man, "And second, why'd you attack us with your thugs?"

Karasu watched with interest. She knew the answer to the second question, quite to the dismay of Zyergi. She sighed...

"I will not answer your first question. It is none of your business." Augustus smiles again.

"As for you second question, the thugs you mentioned are the Prince's countrymen, who find it dangerous to have him still alive. I tagged along, and after some persuasion with the group's leader I managed to lead the band of men myself."

He stares at Zeratul. "I feel ashamed that you would think I will lie."

"It is my buisness, because I choose to say it's my buisness." He replied, "And you attacked us because you were, in essence, bored?"

"I do not believe you would lie, I merely do not discount the possibility." He replied, "It is your choice in the end. I have no grudge with you, but you have given offence to these people who would aid me." He remained focused on the prisoner, watching him intently for any signs of deciet, both physically and mentally.

"I will not answer your first question. It is none of your business." Augustus smiles again.

"As for you second question, the thugs you mentioned are the Prince's countrymen, who find it dangerous to have him still alive. I tagged along, and after some persuasion with the group's leader I managed to lead the band of men myself."

"Ah, that answers it. It's not like my nemisis to hire one as competent as you, anyways."

Zyergi sat down next to his would-be assassian and glared at him.

"So, what was in it for you? Money, or perhaps power?" He frowned. "If I had any conviction, I would slit your throat right now and burn your carcass. However...You may prove to be useful. First off, do you or don't you know Alarian? Did he hire you, or are you simply-as you say-a random tagalong?"

He paused.

"And, just as a curious afterthought...How do you do that "dodge projectiles and swords" trick? That's a mighty useful skill you have there."

Karasu listened intently. After all, after this lich business was done, she promised Zyergi she would help him get his kingdom back... and she would do just that.

I want to know every obstacle we may be up against. Karasu mused to herself. She also found Zyergi to be an amazingly interesting man, or prince, to be correct.

Karasu hoped to get some real truth and information from Augustus. How could he avoid the barrage of attacks? Karasu could only think of the ethereal plane, but had no idea.

"Don't worry; the necklace is merely a souvenir from a friend. Happy?" Augustus's smile cracked a little. However, the crack disappeared when he smiles again.

"I didn't want to attack all of you; in essence all of us are here for the prince only." He points to Zyergi. "I have similar interests with the assassins regarding his status and find it best if he, well, never goes back.”

He addresses his next sentence at Zyergi. "I do happen to know the man you speak. He did hire me, but not the band of men. It seems that he was not the only one wanting you dead. As for your bounty, he was willing to give me something better than money or power."

"Not that it matters now, since I have failed in my quest." His smile disappears completely from his face. His eyes glow for a brief moment.

"Regarding your next question," he said, smiling once more, "I was born this way. Having access to the next dimension, even if it was severely limited access, gives one powers beyond common folk's imagination. For example, I tracked you here easily due to the waves caused your ethereal experience."

Mavis's Dark Sanctuary…

The Arch Lich Mavis had slowly rebuilt his strength in the silence of an abandoned citadel near Xhanthou. He had also been gathering enough of his dark energies from his hand of destruction to gather a few ancient friends together. Mavis's spies and magical scrying of the border had revealed a group of adventures had been coming for him. The evil Lich decided to pay them a visit personally. The adventures would be caught completely by surprise being hit by Mavis and his personal guards in one quick strike. The evil Lich reasoned in his own warped mind.


The Lich Mavis and five of his Devourers and a Vampire necromancer named Kolthmor stepped onto a red pentagram. The assembled group stood in the pentagram together as the Lich Mavis recited an ancient incantation to activate the energies needed for him and his companions to teleport together to meet these fools that dare challenge the Arch Lich Mavis.

The area around the pentagram started to warp and web as the evil party disappeared into the mystical energy of the spell.


The spell would send them close to the people Mavis's magic sought after….

"Wait a minute," Kalzog growled, obviously annoyed at the reasoning of the group. "How can we trust one outsider...to help question this outsider? How do we know Cloaky here, can be trusted? Can he not twist the truth? Will we just believe whatever he says? Can he not delve into the man's mind and make him say whatever Cloaky wants to say?"

"I say we kill them both and be done with it..."

"You'll have noticed," Ar'mai said, directing her statements to both of the newcomers, "that despite his appearance, our Ogre friend here is not as dumb as he looks."

"Point taken..."

"Good questions, ogre and elf." Augustus smiled; his head leaned to one side, as if he wanted to look at them from a different perspective. "And of course, I never doubted your wisdom and intelligence."

"I fear the cloaked one would have trouble doing anything to me. He wouldn't be able to handle the sensation of a new dimension."

"Three other reasons, since the Prince would want to find out more about his home from me, the fact that other members of your group already bonded with the cloaked man, as well as the fact that other not-so-friendly outsiders are converging on our location as we speak, I'm not entirely sure doing what you said would be a wise course of action right now." Augustus looked at them sheepishly.

Responding to both the ogre and Armai he said, "How can you trust anyone without giving them a chance to prove themselves? and what would i gain from lying to you?" He was curious about this ogre, Kal, the child had called him, he could not feel this creatures mind, it must be protected in some way, curious.
"I would prefer not to fight you, it would serve no purpose. Perhaps Lúthien should be taken to safety, she may not wish to see you fight, 'Kal'" He was unsure of how the ogre would react to this statement. He did however prepare himself, if things did become violent he would be ready.

Turning to Augustus he said; "I have heard that there are many ways to skin a demon, the principle works similarly here, you are not telling the truth about your necklace, that much was obvious. Much of what i am experiencing is new to me, i have managed so far. You spoke of something greater than money or power, i do not know of 'money', but what is greater than them both and why would 'he' be willing to give it away?" His creators had been under the impression that nothing beat power.

At the mention of incoming enemies he reached out with his mind but found nothing. "I cannot sense anything coming..." He said quietly, he was not infallible, he could not sense mindless creatures and would have difficulty against creatures whose minds were shielded in some way, like Kal's. "It may be an idea to leave our grievences until after any situation has been resolved." He began to focus in preperation for creating his weapons and armor.

OOC: Deatharon, Are any of those creatures not undead? or at least vulnerable to mind affecting? most undead tend to be immune. Just curious as it would change how i would fight them.
Balanite, Psychics do have some abilities that influence the fourth dimension, but i doubt i will use any.

"At the very least, someone should take that necklace from this man." Karasu suggested. If a group is coming after us, who is this group, Augustus?"

Karasu could rarely feel evil or good, but she felt evil. "I do not have the power to detect evil, however, I feel something horribly evil coming this way." She told them. "I do not know why."

ooc: They should have dropped in riding a Buick w/a chainsaw... if anyone knows what I mean! :p

"I don't trust anyone," the ogre replied with a grin as he stretched himself out. "And what can you gain? I don't know...some hidden agenda of yours could be completed? Maybe you're here to cover this assassin's trail...or finish the job."

Suddenly Luthien was brought into this. Not to mention the name 'Kal'. "Don't call me that, Cloaky..." he growled as his eyes began to glow slightly.

Then, they spoke of another ambush...one the undead are playing.

"Yeah...I smell undead...this whole land is undead," Kalzog said as he put a protecting hand over Luthien. "Maybe we should finish this later, Cloaky."

OOC: They are all undead, They are all high ranking undead in challenge rating and they are immune to mind effecting charms unless you can cast spells that can try to dominate the dead. They are all immune to having their minds read and so forth being undead and having very high spell resistances.

IC:

Mavis and his cohorts arrived about fifty feet away from the enemy group. They seemed to be made up of various creatures and they even had an Ogre this would be great fun and a great way to test Mavis's abilities.

The Arch Lich stood back and started to cast a spell, Mavis's undead voice was loud and shrilling as the incantation was said swiftly and hurriedly. The Lich suddenly multiplied in front of his now surprised enemies as instead of seeing one Lich they saw nine together in a group.


The Vampire who wore a black robe and held a dark book in his left hand and a dagger on his right began to speak in another ancient language. The necromantic energy formed around his right pointer finger after he sheathed his knife. The Vampire then pointed at the elven woman Ar'mai with the feared Finger of Death spell.

The necromantic energy shot from the Vampire's finger and headed towards it's target. This dark spell would kill/or greatly injury whoever was hit by it unless they had a large amount of resistance to the dark arts..


The five Devourers were seven foot tall Zombie like creatures with a strange human like creatures in their rib cages that showed them in states of utter and totally agony. The head of the Devourers spoke in the common tongue, "The Master wants you all to die. We shall bring your deaths and feed upon your life essence!"

The other Devourers advanced upon the group, one of them pointed a hand at Kalzog and sent a beam of yellow energy right at the Ogre. The monster had used the powers its essence had given it to cast a ray of enfeeblement to weaken a potential troublemaker to their feast of the life essence of the living.

Karasu immediately multiplied into 10 copies of each of her allies, and 10 copies of Lich Mavis. Hopefully this would confuse them. All were able to use the weapons they had.

"It's go time!" a Karasu yelled.

ooc: Couldn't resist Billy and Mandy... Hoss Delgado..:p

Shit.

Zyergi recoiled as a large group of undead appeared before them, led by what seemed to be a powerful lich-Mavis, perhaps? Not taking any chances, he unravled both his arm bandages as he survayed possible targets. He took a few moments to summon several shields and wards around himself and the other members of the group before charging forward into battle. Zyergi cast a lightning bolt into one zombie's chest before rolling and chopping at another's knees.

Zyergi looked up and caught sight of the vampire casting a deadly spell in Ar'mai's direction.

"Ar'mai, watch yourself!" Zyergi flung one of his blessed knives in the vampire's direction before being forced to dodge several large zombie hands speeding towards him. He roped one with his bandage and flung himself upwards at the zombie's face, slicing into it's mouth with his sword.

Karasu felt unprepared for any of this, the best she could do was multiply everyone and have them all attack, which she did. There was the option of transforming, however, most of the attacks she used would also affect the allies.

"I wonder if acid would melt their bones." Karasu thought aloud.

"Does anyone know if acid will melt them?" She asked the others.

I'm guessing not!" growled Kalzog as he took the energy blast head on, his chest tattoos glowing white. He smiled at the zombie creature and cracked his knuckles. "You're going to have to do better than that!"

"I am no ordinary ogre," he growled before he threw a punch at it's rib cage.

Seeing the band of undead appear and attack his new allies, Zeratul focused his psionic blades and shielding into reality, he glowed a faint blue colour beneath his cloak and a 2 foot long blue blade grew from each hand.

Before charging he attempted to probe the enemies minds to no avail, he realised that several were mindless and the ones that were not, were impossible to read or effect mentally. He used his used his psychic power to lift several small stones from the dirt and hurl them at speed at the various liches, seeing them do little damage he lunged at the closest one, only to be grabbed by one of the Devourers.

He tried to thrust one of his blades into the abomination in the chest of the creature while grappling with his other arm, trying to force it to the ground. Focusing his psychic power he prepared to blast the creature back.

OOC: A little warning if the Devourers touch you they drain your life force slowly and that does hurt to those that are grasped, hit, punched etc.

IC:

The unusual copies of the various people in the opposing group that came at the Mavis's group were suddenly meet with a several blasts of negative energy. Four of Mavis's copies were blasting them with enough energy to drain a human of almost all of it's life force.

The original Mavis was in the back of his copies preparing a very high level spell. The spell was a time stop spell, it would speed up Mavis to the point reality itself would seem to stop. This would give Mavis plenty of time to rain down some very high level spells down on the heads of these fools.


The Vampire noticed the incoming blade and managed to use his unholy speed to jump out of the way. The blade did however tear into his robes angering the already peeved necromancer. The necromancer Vampire raised his hands and said a few words in Deatharonian, his hands shot forth a bolt of lightning at the enemy party…


One of the Devourers fell back from the attack Zyergi pulled against its jaw. The sudden and intense pain was highly unexpected for the undead creature. It however started to drain more from the essence in it's stomach. The poor creature in it's chest screamed as the Devourer jaw started to heal. It then ran back into the fray..

The Devourer that failed to effect the ogre was not that surprised the Ogre had taken a direct hit and not been effected. Some creatures were just plain hard to effect with your own abilities. The Devourer tried another ability taking yet more energy from the essence in it’s chest it cast a suggestion spell. The Spell would attempt to force Kalzog to turn on his friends and use his massive strength against them…


The other Devourers continued to try and pound the others with their fists. They hoped to suck their life forces out with their fists and weakening their prey enough to use their trap essence ability to get a recharge.

Karasu walked up a tree to the middle, and threw several shuriken knives at the vampire... silver tipped of course.

She then continued her barage of weapons from above, watching carefully for anything that could reach her...

Lorathin could feel the reek of magics coming off almost all the undead, and decided to have a little fun messing with them. It was a spell he personally disliked using, for a number of reasons, but it completely messed with mages of any power or type.

He prepared and began casting the anti-magic spell, in a way racing the lich to be the first to finish the spell.

Karasu realized that because she posessed no magic or psychic abilities, she was useless in this whole lich business.

She prepared to leave. She would only be a hinderance.

Zyergi grimiced as the Vampire dodged his well-thrown knife, then summoned a bolt of lightning; he shot his own blast of electricity off a moment later. The two energy bolts met in midair and collided with each other, both ricocheting in different dircections harmlessly. Both his bandages shot out and wrapped around a zombie's chest; Zyergi started exerting a great deal of effort trying to tear the undead in half.

Karasu flipped off the branch and used her two katanas in a scissors move to hack the zombie in half. She flipped herself back up to the branch.

The blast of force pushed both him and the Devourer back, hopefully hurting it. he felt more tired than he thought he should after that, suspicious. Seeing the lich's preparing something he decided it was time to protect himself, focusing he used an ability he had learnt when being chased by the villagers, it would absorb some elemental energy from each elemental attack and the stored energy could be launched as a seperate attack.

Then, using his psychic power to encircle the casting lichs and the vampire, he began trying to stop the creatures from moving or at least slowing them. They would have to exert more energy to move through the force. Any spellcasting the lichs were doing would take longer.

OOC: Thanks for the heads up about the devourer's. I don't think the energy absobrtion i mentioned would absorb negative energy, but fire, ice, electricity and sonic it has covered.

Augustus sat smiling as both parties fought hard against one another.

Let's go. He nodded in agreement.

He stood up, observing the battlefield. He felt less tired now.

The force cage is probably weaker in the 4th dimension. He attempted to escape, and felt a sturdy wall. He retreats back to his original position.

He throws a handful of dirt at the wall, doing nothing except emitting a loud noise. A Devourer notices him. He waves at it and smiled.

[ooc: I guess you are pretty safe in there, aren't you :p]

As the undead party materialized no more than fifty feet away from them, Ar'mai immediately felt the dread that followed them wherever they went. Apparently they had been preparing to ambush the party of do-gooders as the moment they appeared, they began launching spells and advancing on them.

The elven priestess was able to turn around just in time to see the vampire launching a spell at her - a powerful one by the look of it. As a knee-jerk reaction, Ar'mai's hands shot up into the air where they remained waiting for the attack to come. It took less than a second for the deadly spell to cross the distance between them. It was a kill shot alright; aimed right for the cross-section of her neck and body. When the spell reached where her hands were stuck out to, it erupted into a blast of dark negative energy. She had put up a holy shield to protect her and as the blast hit it the area it was covering, the shield manifested itself and glowed a hot white.

The two powerful manifestations of energy clashed. Dark against Light. They fought a battle of power as the black pushed against the white, trying to penetrate, and the white pushed back. After a seemingly eternal phase of time, the energy of the darkness finally gave out and dissapated. The light triumphed and Ar'mai was safe... for the moment.

Though it had taken much energy to maintain the wall of protection, it had saved her life. She was on the brink of death, with her back against the wall, but she had overcome it. However, now was not the time to sit around feeling euphoric in her victory - she had to move... and quickly. Picking her bow off the ground in mid stride, Ar'mai dashed into the dead and bleak looking woods that lay just feet behind the party. Slipping into the shadows, she disappeared from sight.

Kneeling in the shroud of a tree, she began analyzing the situation as she caught her breath and began regaining her energy (though it would take much time). She stood up and leveled her blessed, elven bow. Reaching her hand into the air above her, she remembered a trick that she had been taught and soon arrows of pure energy began materializing in her hand. Regreattably it took about three times as long to summon one and notch it as it would take to notch a normal arrow, but the benefits were twofold: there was a virtual, endless supply of them so long as she did not run out of energy, and they were much more powerful.

The time had come to let loose her fury. There stood the man... if you could call him that... surrounded by his escort with whom she had journeyed not two years ago. Now he was marked for another death. From the darkness of the forest came a torrent of blazing arrows, white hot with energy and tracking down the targets that she had sighted...

Augustus stared happily at the devourer. It was trying to break open the prison to get at him. He could feel the hum of the barrier slows down as its walls weaken.

We both have similar interests.

He sighed. It was going to take a while. He tried conversing with the single-minded undead.

"You're dedicated, aren't you?"

"Try striking here, this area feels a bit weak."

"Can you speak?"

"Zyergi! Are you OK?!" Karasu yelled to him from the branch, the zombie sliced in half.

From Karasu's view in the trees she saw what Ar'mai was trying to do. Nice to be able to shoot a dozen arrows at a time. I hope she nails it!

She looked down and saw one of the undead trying to break open the box, and Augustus using that to his advantage. Silently Karasu jumped behind the zombie and using her acrobatic Hiryuu Double Ryuu style, she hacked at the zombie from every angle, moving with a swiftness that could not be seen, while at the same time, watching for other threats.

The devourer, a lot bigger now for some strange reason, chased its attacker, ignoring the barrier.

Augustus looked at the thin barrier that still imprisoned him. Planar jumping now would not take much effort. He smiled at the knife-thrower and disappeared.

He entered a vast grey ocean, standing on the surface. The sky above was night, with a bright moon and stars, yet the ocean beneath him glowed as if shone on by the sun itself. A few orbs of strange light glows in the horizon. Augustus faced one of the shapes, and took one small step in its direction, causing ripples on the surface. He disappeared again.

A figure appeared in the deep forest, half-buried in the ground. He struggled to free himself.

This is why I don't use planar jumping to travel, he reminded himself. At least I got the distances right.

OOC: He's quite far away from the battle.

Kalzog grunted as his head tattoos continued to glow.

Turn on my friends? Kalzog stopped as he looked at his fighting allies. He took a step away from the zombies to his allies, his hands wrapping around the large deadly club at his waist...

After asking twice if Zyergi was OK, Karasu got no reply. She was concerned and walked over to where he was.

"Zyergi? Are you OK?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm good. Just a little exausted." Zyergi looked over at the decapitated zombie he and Karasu had cut in half. "We seem to have good teamwork." As he surveyed the battlefield, he noticed the Force Sheild empty.

"Shit! That assassian's out again...looks like he got that zombie to feed on it's energy and jumped out when it was weak enough. Wonder where he is now." He gave a look to the now-giant zombie, pumped up on the shield energy. Better stay away from that one...

Zyergi threw himself into battle once more and ended up beside Kalzog; he started to slash at the zombie in front of him before he noticed that the big ogre was standing still and glowing, then reaching for his club. Zyergi stepped back as Kalzog started to advance towards him.

"Uh....Kalzog? The zombies are over that-a-way...."

Karasu quietly watched, trying to figure out what was going on. No one had ever told her what the glowing tattoos were for except that they protected him.

"Zyergi! Get out of the way!" Karasu yelled.

Meanwhile there was this multiple lich issue... hmmm....

Seeing Kalzog behaving strangely, Zeratul decided to use his psychic power in an effort to wrench the club from Kalzog's hand, if he managed to he would both disarm the ogre and psychically hurl the club at the milling crowd of Lichs, if he failed, it should at least distract the ogre and he may be able to make him swing it at an enemy anyway.

It would take a lot of effort and he was already tiring from trying to slow the movements of so many powerful creatures, it this continued it would not be much longer till he would have to rely on his physical strength rather than his mental prowess.

He was not absent minded to the battle raging around him though, he was keeping a watchful eye on the devourer he had been fighting before and the 'super' devourer that had lost its target and may attack anyone.

Dusting himself off, Augustus stood up. He thought for a moment.

I guess I will follow them after all. Fortunate that I'm not too far off.

He walked back slowly, using the sounds of battle as his guide.

From her treetop perch, she saw Augustus in the distance, coming back.

"Augustus is coming back!" Karasu yelled.

In the mean time, she created 100 Karasu jutsus just to attack the devourer. She threw many kunai knives, and fought "hand to hand" without touching, with tongfas, trying to break it's bones. One hundred to one should help.

She was unaware that Zeratul was working on the devourer's mind... what there was of it.

OOC: Note Time Stop freezes everyone including allies. Spell cast during time stop do not effect until the time stop ends but they effect immediately after ward so be ready…

IC:


The Devourer continued to use more essence to increase the potency of Suggestion. The spell would make Kalzog want to kill his friends even more. It would almost make him think they were his enemies to begin with..

Mavis the Lich was suddenly being hit with multiple arrows and Karasu
Shinobi weapons. The Lich should have been disrupted by these attacks alone. The reality of the situation was a tad different. One of the Lich's clones jumped in the way and sacrificed himself against the remaining impacts of Armai's arrows.


******TIME STOP EFFECTS*****************************


This gave Mavis the time needed to finish his diabolical spell despite the fact it was greatly slowed by the psychic interference of the enemy. Mavis cast his spell Time Stop. The Spell speed up Mavis to a speed that literally slowed time (Enemies, Allies effected) to a crawl giving Mavis a great advantage against the rest of the enemies assault. The Lich moved away from his original point and started to cast a few spells at his enemies.


Mavis raised one hand and focused a spell known as Flesh to Stone at Zyergi direction. Once the time stop ended this spell would head towards Zyergi with the intent of turning him into a statue. It would be up to his reflexes and roguish speed to save himself from being a stone piece of art for the rest of eternity.

The Lich then seeing Morti's casting a spell prepared to unleash a little surprise, The Lich started to recite an ancient incantation and muttered another spell that would also take effect once the time stop ended. The Ground under Morti would start to become like a giant spider's web and the webs would hold him down and hopefully disrupting his casting.

The Lich Mavis (original) performed his last and finally spell he looked at the point of origin for the arrows the Elf had started to shower down upon him. Mavis started to launch a little surprise of his own. Mavis cast a negative enchanted fireball upon the area. The dark energy that added to the flames would seer the trees that Arami had used for cover..

*********TIME STOP ENDS**************************

The remaining Mavis's started to disapate into dust. The Spells duration had expired and holding that many minor replicates was a difficult chore for the Lich.


Karasu's suddenly impaled the Vampire Necromancer with her sliver enchanted blades. The dark energy in the Vampire's cloak protected him from the majority of the slivers power but the damage could not be unstopped in entirety. The Vampire fell to his knees and said, "Lord Mavis, I am wounded." The Vampire then fell to the ground and the weapons impaled further in causing the severely wounded vampire to form into a misty form…

The Devourers were busy trying to drain their opposition, They were shocked to watch one of their own get dispatched so brutally in the fight. That angered the Devourers greatly. The Devourers took note that the one causing the most damage was the strange woman who kept moving and throwing weapons and ambushing Devourers one at a time, This prompted one of the Devourers to decide to try a new tactic. It used its ability to jump into the Ethereal plane to sneak up behind and jumped at Karasu in attempt to pin her down. If the evil creature succeeded it would attempt to trap her essence into itself..

Due to Karasu's excessive speed and constant movement to begin with, the slow down of time did not affect her quite as much as the others.

She jumped down and shoved Zyergi away and used one of her jutsu copies to shove Armai aside.

Speed was all she had on her side, so she continued to throw kunai and shurikin knives at the the undead, also fighting the ones that got too close with tongfas, wakazashis, sais, stars, kodachis, and anything she could use and not touch the devourers. She made sure to keep moving as fast as she could under the circumstances, and never made the same move twice, spending a good share of her time airborne, hoping this would help keep the spells away from her friends.

Whilst the lich had managed to get his spell into effect first, he had not done it by any appreciable margin. As the sticky strands began forming and attempting to pin him down, Lorathin finished his spell. As the last word exited his mouth, a suppressive field radiated out, rendering the webbed spell inert until either he moved away, or the spell faded.

Lúthien meanwhile had picked up a few stones and began throwing them, with fairly good accuracy, at the Lich.

The Lich glared at the little elven girl after a well aimed stone hit him on the head and screamed, "If you want to see your family again in the Plane of Death please continue to throw those rocks. I promise it will be a painful experience for you little one!"

Mavis took note of the Anti-Magic field, This kind of magic was always a bother to deal with, If Morti could continued to stay inside the field. He would be totally protected from any form of magical attack. This would make killing him more difficult than ever before.

Mavis took another long look at the man he once knew as Morti and a strange memory popped into the undead necromancer's brain. It could have been from the concussion from the stones or it could have been a flashback but the man inside the field seemed strangely familiar..

Zyergi's eyes widened in slow motion as he saw Mavis's spell speed towards him; he tried to move out of the way, but his reactions were far too slow to aviod the deadly arc of magic. He shut his eyes, waiting for his surely impending doom...then opened them again as the time field vanished. He was lying on the ground with Karasu over him.

"Thanks; I owe you one." Zyergi was still shaken from the time field's affects. He was not used to having his mobility reduced to such worthlessness. "Now, Mavis, let's stop playing around..."

Zyergi started to wave his arms and began muttering his own incantations; soon, a bolt of energy leapt from the sky into his hands. A magnificent lance, pulsing with electrical energy, materialized in his hands. It was a relic from one of the long-dead minor gods of light that Zyergi had summoned back into existance; the spell took a good deal of energy, however, and by now he was quite run down. A little longer and he might collapse from exaustion.

After taking a moment to render both himself and the large lance invisable, Zyergi began to manuver behind Mavis; once his enemy had his back turned to him, Zyergi charged, hoping to skewer the Lich on the point of his powerful lance.

Zeratul had seemingly escaped the notice of the Lich, no attacks had been directed at him. Taking the opportunity to survey the battlefield he realised that the Lich clones he had been 'holding' had all vanished. It had drained his energy to hold so many and he was relieved at their disappearance.

He felt a field rise around the mage, his psychic power could not penetrate it, he decided to avoid it if possible.

Noticing that the other seemed to be holding their own he refocused himself on Kalzog, using even more of his flagging energy, he once again attempted to wrench the club off of him and throw it at the Devourers.

Realising that it might not be enough to overcome Kalzog’s strength he threw a separate telekinetic thrust at Kalzog’s legs, hoping to unbalance the ogre and maybe knock some sense into him.

Hearing the Lich threaten Luthién he slowly moved closer, ready to protect her if the need arose. He used telekinesis to lift and throw some small stones at the lich aswell, they would be more powerful than those of the girl, but would still only serve as an annoyance. He felt a certain link to the girl and did not want to see her hurt. They were both inexperienced with the world in general.

OOC: If anyone is wondering why he isn't using most people's names, he doesn't know them yet. Also, is Luthien in the anti-magic field with Lorathin or elsewhere?

ooc: I can't really do anything until I find out what powers I can have. TG me Death when you read this.

Kalzog's eyes averted themselves from Zyergi to his club, which seemed to twitch anxiously in his grip. He gnashed his teeth together, before he turned his face up to see the strange cloaked figure. I'll crush everything here...

He ignored everything else, even the rapidly moving lich, as he slowly made his way to the mind mage, who, above all, moved towards Luthien.

"Get away from her!" he roared as he stumbled down to the ground. Immediately he rolled to his side and leapt up. He roared again and charged at Zeratul. "You're dead!"

As the undead start phasing into the Ethereal Plane, Augustus notes each devourer's presence, as bright black shapes of light in the distance, ruining the harmony and the silence of the Plane with each movement, sending out ripples in the air.

I'm walking too fast. He slows his pace into one similar to an average pedestrian.

Forest creatures scramble away from the man with his orange eyes brighter than usual, walking purposefully towards the black shapes that only he sees far away.

Karasu threw several pins into pressure points in Kalzog's neck, hitting nerve points making him unable to move his arm with the club in it.

That should last at least ten minutes. She hoped that would be long enough for someone to stop the spell.

He had kept an eye on Kalzog and saw him start moving. Abandoning his attempts to disarm the ogre he focused all of his energy on his shield and weapons, they glowed a much deeper blue and his blades took on a more menacing aspect.

Hearing the ogre's shout he cast a quick glance at Luthién, perhaps she was the key to returning the ogre to his sense. Zeratul himself would not be able to do anything with the ogre bearing down on him, but the mage perhaps, he tried to send him a message telepathically but it was stopped by the field around him.

He returned his attention to the ogre and leapt out of the way of the it's charge. Scanning the battlefield, he looked for something that may give him an advantage of the ogre or at least distract him. Seeing one of the devourers, he charged at it, hoping Kalzog would follow and maybe hit it by accident.

ooc: Hyper, Kalzog's skin is very tough and has a chance to stop many blades from piercing. I don't think pins would be able to puncture...plus I don't think you'd want to take out an enraged ogre and his weapon arm, especially when you can use him against the enemies ;)

The ogre felt a light tapping on his skin, and noticed several small objects fall to the floor. He gave a quick glance at who threw it and found out it was Karasu. I'll kill her later... he thought with a grunt, before returning to the retreating cloaked man.

"Get back here, coward!" he growled before he walked by Luthien.

"Little elf, find yourself some place to hide. I do not want you getting hurt," he whispered to the elf, while picking up a large rock nearby. He smiled slightly at Luthien as he tossed it at the retreating Zeratul.

He had hoped Kalzog would chase after him without stopping, it was only by luck that he had looked back and saw the rock hurtling towards him. He dropped to the floor and allowed it to sail over him. Ignoring the rock which carried on towards the Devourer. Zeratul stood and turned to Kalzog, there was enough distance between them so that he wasn't in any immediate danger of being caught if Kalzog's charged him.

He began to warily circle the ogre, keeping the distance betweem them the same, unsure of what it would do.

OOC: Suggestion is a mind affecting spell, so does that mean that i might be able to effect Kalzog mentally?

"Daddy will protect me." She replied as she picked up another stone and tossed it at the Lich, thought it was poorly aimed and headed for a devourer's skull instead.

Karasu just continued to throw stars and kunai at the devourers and the other undead, exploding their empty heads... That was about all she could do at this point.

She considered slicing Kalzog's club, but did not know if she should or not.
Karasu sighed.

Mavis was getting really tired of dealing with these troublemakers that kept throwing rocks at him. He was about to cast another spell to try and break the barrier when a feeling of extreme danger coming his way.

The Lance managed to bypass Mavis's detection and it pierced from his back too his chest. The Lich screamed in extreme pain and agony as the lance's holy energy smashed into Mavis's body. The Lich moved his hand of destruction at his attacker direction and fired a negative energy ray at Zyergi's direction. The concentrated amount of negative energy would zap his life force giving Mavis enough energy to counter balance the sever wound that was continuing to damage his chest and back.

Mavis also used his other hand to try and dislodge the weapon from his body, It was a painful process but had to be done to ensure the Champion of Destruction's survival.

The rocks kept coming, which angered Mavis greatly, The Lich said a few quick words to his staff and a dark mist rose from his Staff of Death and Shadow. The mist fell to the ground roughly thirty feet away from Morti. The ground started to rumble as hands and heads started to rise from the ground. The sound of moaning and groaning gave away the creatures that had been summoned Zombies…


The Devourers continued to attack the opposing party. One of them attempted to jump Zyergi and save his master from certain death. The Evil creature's hand glistened with negative energy as it attempted to help drain his life force.

The others attempted to gang up on Karasu the three of them kept leaping from the ethereal plane and striking then retreating. They hoped to wear her down and stop her from interfering with their master's attacks…



The fifth Devourer smiled as the Ogre continued to fight against his friends. It would be a matter of time before they weakened themselves to the point that they would be too weak to save themselves and then their essences would be food for the hungry Devourers..




OOC: Suggestion is a mind-effecting spell, It makes the target want to do the command. It also helps if the target is not that bright or wants to follow the command by instinct. You could try and counter act it but be careful you could hurt Kalzog's ogre brain…

Lorathin chuckled as he saw the zombies begin to poke thier heads and arms up. Summoned creatures were just as suppressed as the average spell to an anti-magic field. It was always fun to watch a summoned creature try and attack someone in an anti-magick field and get suppressed.

In case one of the Devourers decided to try and attack, even with thier supernatrual abilities suppressed, he drew a dagger, even thought he wasn't that great a fighter.

Meanwhile the elven child continued to pelt the Lich, thought as often as not, missed or hit one of the Devourers.

Karasu, thanks to her training, which was like that of a modern day circus performer and gymnast in one continued to flip and spin at speeds with at least two blades in her hands at all times. When she shot kunai, it was eight at a time spread out, hacking at everything around her and never stopping her movement.

ooc: I don't know what any of the spells are in the ooc thread... none.

Zyergi had been ready for the Lich's retaliation; as soon as his foe shot off the negative energy ray, he quickly cast a powerful shield spell to block the spell. The power of Mavis's hand, however, was greater than expected. Although the spell didn't hit Zyergi directly, the ray shot off the shield, leeching a good deal of it's energy. He gasped as he let his shield down; Zyergi was reaching his limit. Soon he would have to remove the rest of his power suppresors if he wanted to keep fighting. He started summoning the last drops of energy to cast one of his most poweful spells...

Zyergi was suddenly tacked by a Devourer from behind; the zombie lifted him off the ground and wrapped it's huge hands around him, draining his life force. Thinking quick, Zyergi divirted his spell's target from Mavis to the Zombie.

"Hadoken!"

A huge, brilliant blue beam of energy shot from his hands and hit the Devourer full-on, completely disintigrating the zombie; the beam continued onwards, wiping trees and rocks out of existance, eventually it dissapeared after blasting a faraway mountintop off the face of the Earth. Zyergi grimiced; he had wanted to use that spell against Mavis, and now he was almost completely out of energy; he had the streanth for perhaps one more manuever.

Holding on to the last of his energy, Zyergi watched as Mavis started removing the large lance from his body. Determined to prevent the Lich from doing so, he unsheathed his sword and jumped high into the air, swinging his weapon downward. He meant to chop off that shrivled hand; surely doing to would defeat the Lich.

Karasu was amazed by Zyergi's powers, but could see he was getting tired. She still had quite a bit of energy in her. She had run what would be known in the future as supermarathons, was very strong and had nearly an endless source of energy.

Seeing what Zyergi was about to do, Karasu continued using her weapons against the devourers, the undead, the zombies could probably be taken out by Luthien's rocks. Karasu found the little girl to be very charming and special. She had courage at such a young age, and was yet otherwise a little girl who considered Azrael her daddy. Karasu could not help but smile.

If Zyergi missed, Karasu would try for the hand. She had just the weapon for it as well. One she had not yet used.

As the Lich's fireball flew towards the forest that Ar'mai had been using for cover, the elf decided it was time to withdraw. She quickly began moving deeper into the forest, but was surprised to see that the fireball had moved faster than she had anticipated. It collided with the forest's outer layer and exploded into a brilliant blaze. The nearly dead forest lit on fire and the trees began crumbling quickly. She had to leave... fast.

Karasu used her Ball Lightening, to first hit the Lich and then the zombies, undead, devourer, everything there, at least giving everyone a chance to collect themselves if not defeat a few undead.

She wished she had some way to put out the forest fire.

Augustus stopped; he smelled a scent, one he had tried to forgotten. He looked cautiously at its source.

Fire.

He panicked, why was it so similar? His eyes clouded as he remembered.

Red-orange lights flickered in the distance. Smoke drifted above the treetops, and then sluggishly came down. The trees were burning, the dwelling animals fled their homes, yet the man stood there, as if in his own world.

A burning house appears in his vision, the fire feasting on the floor, licking the stone walls and spreading onto the roof. A familiar voice, a voice he had not heard for a long time cried his name repeatedly, and was silenced brutally, suddenly as the stone roof collapsed inwards.

Augustus struggled to breathe, his ribs hurting from the fighting previously. He looked downwards at his shaking hands, which became dirty and pierced by wooden splinters. He tried to move but his feet held ground, as if they forced him to stand there, too far away. The sky turned into the same colour as his eyes. Blood dripped from his forehead, caused by a pebble fell from the roof, blinding him partially.

Now he held a corpse in his hands, in her neck hung the necklace he had bought for her that day, blood on her face, her open eyes surprised, yet managed to stare coldly at him. He was in the house now. The fires licked at him painfully but he did not care. He felt cold air from his back. People were shouting at him. He stared at the pale face that was so lively and full of colour in life. The vision faded into darkness, leaving the shaken man staring at the flames, which had came a lot closer.

Augustus came to his senses, gathered his nerves and ran quickly from the fires to the small clearing with the lake he had passed, tightly clutching the necklace in his hand.

Undead began to fall and shatter under the bolts of lightening. At least something is helping. Karasu thought.

[ooc: Augustus is near the fight in the normal dimension, right?]

Ar'mai had stopped just briefly after escaping from the clutches of the burning forest to catch her breath and get a cool drink of refreshing pure water. As the droplets dripped off her face back into the lake, she heard a faint noise somewhere behind her.

With whirlwind speed, she spun around and notched an arrow to her bow that had formally been sitting harmlessly on the ground. The arrow's menacing metal point was glimmering as it marked its target... (Augustus)

Much calmer now, blocking the memories that overwhelmed him previously, he heard the sound of an arrow notched.

He scanned the area quickly. There was no doubt the sound was not from the battlefield behind him. He found it as the sunlight reflected off the deadly tip.

"The forest is burning and all you want is to kill me?" he said mocking to the elven archer, he closed in quickly onto the archer, snapped off the deadly tip and most of the arrow in the bow. The enchantment burned his hand, so he dipped it into the water. He smiled sheepishly at the act.

He sat down and start bandaging his wounds, not quite sure how to fix his ribs. The elf wouldn't know how to deal with him, so there's an added advantage there.

"I don't want to quarrel. I have no contract on you." He nod his head to the lone house near them, its occupants’ scared indoor by the flames, staring frightfully at Augustus and the elf. "You might want to help them, though." He drinked the lake's waters thirstly, cupping it in his hands.

Ooc: I thought she can make rain.

"It is best not to sneak up on an archer with deadly aim," Ar'mai replied, having realized long before whom it was and deciding not to fire.

"And you might want to help yourself..." she retorted at his bruised ribs.

ooc: She can cause a holy rain, but she is nearly drained of energy. She had to stop a very powerful death spell without being properly prepared.

"I knew you wouldn't fire, you don't even know who I am. Besides, there would be witnesses." He indicated the house again. He looked at his chest, knowing/trusting no magic or green-coloured potions, he can't do anything.

He washed his face from the dried blood and dirt on his face from the ambush, and wiped the water off with his shirt.

Pulling out his necklace, his annoying smile replaced with a serious expression, he stares into it, lost in thought.

"Why now?" he whispered.

The memories were ignored all this time, letting him concentrate on his new work, but that moment have left him shaken and weak. He cursed himself for taking this mission for the sake of it, what did he expect?

His face remained a careful blank. Best not to dwell onto it.

He smiled at the elf. "Peaceful, isn't it? A nice place to live." Property value will probably drop after the woods burned away, he thought.

"Yeah..." Ar'mai grunted in response as she looped her bow over her shoulder. "Just like home," she said sarcastically. Home was an enchanted forest of beauty and life... this was a valley of death. Blight and darkness as far as the eye could see.

"You off somewhere?"

"The forest is still burning around us, what's the hurry?"

Augustus casually put the necklace back under his shirt.

"I don't know what I'll do yet. It seems like the Prince is too well protected by you fellows for an successful assassination. His skill is suprising for a noble too. I also never knew he could gather bodyguards enough to take on three times their number." His smile widened a little, then a small cough escaped him. He looked puzzled for a moment.

"Well, in my condition right now I doubt I could get home without trouble. I don't have a weapon," He hid his hands under his long sleeves, " and of course I can't report my failure to the client and why I was the only one who survived."

"With your set of skills, I doubt he would have any trouble believing you were the only one who survived," Ar'mai responded.

The sounds of energy and weapons clashing reached her ears. "The battle rages on... I must return. You stay out of trouble now..."

Why am I waiting here? This is foolish. Not to mention hazardous.

You must. The Prince wishes to save his people. I believe it is a noble cause.

Augustus holds his head in his hands.

I've long since abandoned the both sides of the eternal conflict, the hypocrites of Justice and prejudice, and the all-consuming madness of stereotypical Evil. My client requested for his death. It would not be wise to leave matters unfinished.

Your client is not important to you.

The reward is. She is. I am desperate.

You are hypocritical yourself. Being a follower of the Middle Path, you still are motivated by selfish human desires, crushing those unfortunate to be in your way, playing God with the lives of common folk. And you wish for an unnatural second chance, as if you deserved it more than others, as if you were unique. You are no better than those around you.

Augustus was silent.

The adventurers fight not only against Evil, but Imbalance of Forces. Death wishes to rule the Living, the latter are hardly able to defend themselves. Once the situation unwinds, the Circle perfected, then there will be reasoning.

ooc: Lots of complicated stuff to flesh out a villain.

After nailing her ball lightning, which she could not WAIT to get to sprite strentgh, she took down a lot of bones.

"Zyergi,' Karasu yelled to him, "They sent an assassin after you, that means Augustus! I still will help you with that issue."

Karasu ran over to Zyergi and used her amulet to protect them both from any attacks. "Do whatever you have to do now! We are safe in here for a while.

"If it does not work, I will run him off. I will transform and nail him with a few things. It should at LEAST injure him. Or maybe I could squash him," she chuckled.

"Now get your shit together... your strength and your attack and go for it. This will hold off all attacks for a while. Maybe a half hour or so, but we have to take off one way or another and search for that thing of his and destroy it, all the while worrying about Augustus and whom ever he communicates with.

"It is likely I will draw dragon attacks on myself, so I will not fly back this way. I do not want to bring them here." Karasu explained.

"On another note, I was not aware your bandages had attack use. And you are quite the magician. Are you a mage?" Karasu asked?

Ar'mai appeared in the darkness near the raging battle. With her energy nearly depleted and regular arrows doing little against the undead, she could not fight. She would have to wait and hope that everyone was okay while her energy replenished.

Meditation was the key...

What you are suggesting would cause plentiful of violence in this land. Allowing the Prince to go back would also cause civil strife in his country. Although a dictator, you have to admit the ruler knows his craft well. The Prince is violent, and stubborn. While good traits for a warlord or an adventurer, I doubt they would be helpful as king.

Then you help him. Offer advice.

Why would one take advice from a lowly assassin when one is destined to greatness?

Get their trust. Friendship exceeds rank. And the Prince is not too nobbish.