NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Wanted to try my hand at Fantasy and stuff other than FT and MT PMT.

IC: The Grand Shadow Empire of Deatharon was a dark accursed land under the Iron fisted rule of the Lich Emperor Alfred Von Antheron and his nobility of the Undead. The Human subjects made up the Peasant and commonfolk. The Armies of Skeletions and Zombies patroled the lands at night.

The Lich Emperor Alfred Von Antheron decided to expand his power by invading into another land with his vast forces of human and undead warriors.

He looked upon his advisior The Vampire Arch Duke Nym Kazar. Nym notices his masters red eyed gazed and saids, "Do you wish something Emperor?"

The Lich Emperor Alfred Von Antheron replies, "Yes, I will that we expand our territoral holdings."

The Arch Duke Nym Kazar replies, "My Lord how about we send out a large force into our Northern borders and see if any barbarian try to engage them."

The Lich Emperor smiled and said, "Very well send a Vampire General with a large force of Undead and Human warriors to the north."

The Vampire General Sarin Mizar was assigned a legion to head to the northern territory and from there to cross into the unknown lands and claim them in the name of the Lich Emperor Alfred Von Antheron. The Legion was assemblied from both Humans and Undead stock. The vast divisions of Skeletions and Zombies with Ghouls and Shadows followed by Human swordsman and archers was an impressive sight. The most intresting sight however were the Vampire Knights of the Order of the Shadow Sword that had assembiled with there Nightmare Warhorses. They made a horable parody of the noble warriors in other Kingdoms and Empires.


Force Size:
500 Skeletons armed with spears and shields no armor.
500 Zombies armed with pitchforks and other assorted weapons
100 Shadows drains life force of living opponets
400 Ghouls flesh eating undead that attack in lose packs
1,000 Humans armed with swords or long bows
350 Vampire Knights of the Order of the Shadow Sword.

The Legion under Vampire General Sarin spent three months getting to the Northern Territories from the Capital of Death Hold. The vast force finally made it and Sarin was very hungry for battle. He Gives an order to the Legion that after three days of rest and resupplying the Legion would cross into the border and spread the Emperor's will to the barbarians of this area. They rest at the City of Xharn the largest Deatharon city in the Northern territory.

_________________________________________________________________
3 Days later.............

The Legion finally departs the City and heads to the Northern territory to battle the barbarians and take there land and people for the glory of the Emperor and the Empire. The Legion finally crosses the border a few hours later.

The Legion had crossed the border and now had moved into what seemed to be a large forest. The Forest had never been explored before so the Shadows went ahead of the Legion to scout the area. The Shadows moved a dusk so they could spend as much time scouting as possiable.

OOC: If anyone wants to have an army notice this large threat or have characters encounter it feel free to post.

The Legion can only move at night thanks to the Vampires and Undead that can not fight or move effectively during the day.

(bump for intrested people)

IC: The Shadows found a sleeping Wood Elf village. The Shadows float back to report the location of this nice target. The Vampire General Sarin is notified of the barbarian Elf village.

He smiles and saids, "It has been a long time since I have had the blood of the Elves lets us attack."

The Legion silently heads to the village with the intent of destroying it and takeing slaves back to the Empire.

Elven Village........

The wood elves had been sleeping but they left sentries around there tree top village. The Elves had never been attacked by the Shadow Empire before. They primarly had there sentries to fend off the local goblin tribes and occasional troll. The Elf sentry easily heard the massive feet of thousands of humans and other undead creatures heading there way. Some of them hurried to warn the others. The Elf sentries had bows and arrows ready. They knew they were out numbered but they had the high ground.


The Legion from the Grand Shadow Empire
General Sarin watched as his minions headed to the village. He knew they were not being quiet enough but he made the mistake of thinking numbers gave him the advantage in this fight. The Legion entered the outskirts of the village and found a hail of arrows greeting them.

The Legion advanceing........

The Zombies and Skeletons heading the attack took a massive amount arrows. The Zombies and Skeletons seemed more hindered by the arrows then damaged. The Human Swordsmen behind them however found themselves a little more vulenrable to the arrows. Serveral swordsman who studdied armor or shields failed to stop the incomeing arrows found themselves dead with an arrow sticking into a vital organ or an eye socket or other more uncomfortiable places. The Human Archers returned fire with flaming arrows. They hoped to catch the Elves tree homes on fire. The Volley of flaming arrows proved to be effective.

Do you mind If I join? looks intresting...I'm surprised ur all alone here. I'll be whatever you wnat me too, but preferably the Humans.

I must say that I'm interested too. Could I be the high elves....I do so dislike being called barbarous. Also would you happen to have a map of some sort?

OOC: assuming it's open, I'll pop in.

IC:

Far off from the battle that was happening in the elven villages stood an old man, clad in a cloak covered in tribal lores. Around him stood 2 more with similar clothing, the faces of all three hid in the shadows of their hoods.

The one in front of the three spoke first, "Trespassers?"
Then the one on the right of their little triangle, " Yes, it seems."
And the last one, "And Undead of all of the evils to come."
The front spoke again, "Let's move hastily, there is work to be done."

The three of them turned and stalked off into the forest, the sound of rustling leaves followed them. There was war afoot, and the forces that these three represented would fight them off if possible, in order to protect the ancient lands of Amerath, one of the many countries lining the northern seas.

The armies of Amerath were to be prepared from the tribes, and whoever the victor, there would be many casualties.

(Note: This is all before Amerath turned into an Empire after a series of events that changed their view on all things outside their realm, but Amerath still holds some of the ideals as commonly accepted lore)

OOC: This is open and people can pop in just do not have an army magically appear. You can be humans elves of any type.

IC: The Village was decimated by the flame arrows. The Surrivors were rounded up and forced into Slavery for the Vampire nobility. (They can't eat citizen humans so slaves and enemies are the aleternative for there blood needs.) Some had managed to escape the Legion. The Humans had taken the brunt of the causilites. roughly 35 of them were dead. The elves had lost about 60 to the attack. The Vampire General looked upon the fallen humans and said to one of the Shadows, "Gather the bodies when we return they will make fine Zombies and Skeletions for the Imperial Legions." The Shadows quickly grab the bodies of both humans and elves and put them in into large wagons behind the legions front lines.

And that would be when he came walking out, one of the cloaked figures from the original three, his footsteps were heavy, announcing his presence as he walked towards the undead army. His hands were held high, his right hand clenched around a white peice of paper. This was the attempt to speak with this army before anything else happened.

Although one figure appeared, far behind him stood the other two, watching silently, both ready to run towards the area of the great tribes if need be to inform the armies of the undeads wish for war.

The Vampire General Sarin Mizar notices this stranger heading towards the Legion. He orders his guards (10 Vampire Knights) to escort him. They ride on there Nightmares. (Undead horses.) He smiles as he approaches this stranger that foolishly came so close to the Legion.

The stranger saw the man of obvious importance, he bowed his head in respect.

"Lord, I hail thee. I have come from the tribes north of here, in the lands of Amerath to try to sway your army from destroying these lands"

For the first time, the man lifted his head, the shadows now revealing his face. The face wasn't human, infact, the Amerathians were known to be human , but lead by a more superior intellectual race of people known as "Arkanins". The Arkanins are creatures of very pale complextion, their facial features are very angular, but what they are most known for is the mutation of a 3rd eye ontop their forhead. Along with that is the fact that they have 4 arms, 2 always hidden under their cloaks. It was later found that these "Arkanins" were mutations from metals in the caves of their homelands.

"Please, turn back now, to avoid bloodshed!" He kept his extra arms under his cloak.

The Vampire General Sarin Mizar smiled and said, "We are under the command of the Lich Emperor Alfred Von Antheron. He demands that we expand his Empire in order to feed the growing Vampire population. We can not very well feed upon our own human citizens."

OOC: Quick break down of our society.

Lich
Vampire
Necromancer
Lesser Undead
Humans
Slaves.

"Then expand elsewhere! These lands are peaceful, home to many generations of people. I advise you turn away!"

The two hiding in the shadows watched with slight interest, the third one (Out talking to the army) was often known to hold violence in his heart. It was obvious this might turn out very bad.

Eragon watched the destruction of the Wood Elf community through the crystal ball on-top of his desk. With a wave of his hand, the view switched to the scene of the meeting between the Vampire General and the Arkanin. Eragon knew that he was only able to watch the slaughter with via this method. He leaned back and began to plan a mission for one of the airial scouts.

OOC: Ohh, interesting choice, Deatharon. One question, how do you plan on completing the Shadow War thread now?

The Vampire General responds, "No one questions the will of the Lich Emperor. those that do suffer an external death. I will not turn this Legion around with out direct orders from him." The other Vampire Knights shiver at the thought of disobeying the Lich Emperor Alfred Von Antheron.

OOC: You can play FT and Fantasy midevil tech. I see Theao and other nations do it all the time.

"Then I am sorry..."

With a flash of movement, the Arkanin releases his bottum two arms, bringing them out from his cloak, each holding a small dagger in them.

"I will defend my land!"

The two watchers sighed, they knew this ment a war. As they turned to leave, they had no doubt in their mind that their fellow was or was going to be dead. They quickly shifted away to the north, headed for the great tribe lords.

OOC: You can do whatever you want to that arkanin, I was using him for communications only.

Eragon pulls out a quill and some paper. He dips the tip of the quill in the ink pot on his desk and writes quickly. When he is done, he uses a little heat magick to dry it. He calls one of the kir over and gives him the message.

Eragon says, "Take this message to the head of the Gargoyles."

Nodding, the Kir takes the note and says, "Yes, Dragonlord."

The Kir stands up and scurries out of the room.

Eragon turns back to the crystal ball and continue to watch.

Several minutes later...

The head Gargoyle, Grim, having read Eragon's message rolls it up and places it in a cubby. He lets his Second know that he will be off on a mission and takes wing. He soon lost sight of the Dragonlord Mountain behind him as he approached the edge of the island. He arrowed for one of the recently made openings in the reef surrounding the island.

OOC: I just use one nation for Future Tech and this one for Fantasy Tech.

General Sarin mearly waves his right hand and three of the Vampire Knights with a movement of unholy speed jump upon the lone Arkanin. Two of them hold his arms and the third begins to sink his teeth into the Arkanin's neck to drink his fill of this creatures blood.

As the Arkanin's life begins to drain, one last thing comes to his mind: "What have I done?"
With that, the figure was left to the vampires.

The two companions were already sitting in the lodge of Hussarin, lord of the 6 tribes of Amerath, each of the other lesser lords sat around him. The situation was grim, and if the armies of undead stepped once past the elven forests onto their plains.. they would face armies of Amerath.

Soaring through the clouds, with his stone joints creaking, Grim flew determinedly towards his goal. He knew he was heading out for a first contact with a dangerous group, but he was to retire soon and join his ancestors on the ledges of the mountain. Being made of stone, he had no fear of death. He would only be dissapointed if he was unable to return from this last mission the leader of the Dragonlord Council had sent him on.

OOC: Last post for the night. TTFN.

OOC: My Vampire's only kill you when they drink your blood. They can not create spawn through the drinking the of the victims blood the Vampire has to give the victim some of there own blood.

IC: The Arkanin's body was hulled to the wagons to become a zombie or a skeleton depending upon the Necromancer. The thought of this new four armed undead would be intresting to say the least.

The Legion begins to move on and plans on defeating the Elves of the Forest before moving on to the plains. The group of 30 Shadows were sent to the Plains to scout and decide if invasion was a safe bet.

Far away, in the distant cliffs of soaring mountains, perched two young dragons with equally young riders upon them. Only in their early teens, the two boys squinted out into the western vastness below them, trying to make out the source of all the far off smoke coming from the forested lands.

"I'm going to see what that is," said the one seated upon the red dragon.

"You know we're not allowed to go beyond these mountains," said the other, on a brown dragon. "We barely know the lands of the Western Wilds. We must report this."

"By the time we get back across these mountains to report anything, whatever is happening down there could be long finished and gone," replied the first, then set his mount into motion. The young red dragon hopped off the cliff, falling for a few hundred feet before unfurling its wings.

"Kallath!" shouted the second boy, still atop the perch. He took in a deep breath and shook his head as he watched the first boy glide westward.

Kallath looked around, yelling back, "Come with me, Tarnon, or run back to the Citadel. Either way, I'm going."

Letting out his breath in a sigh, Tarnon nudged his brown dragon forward, who likewise dropped off the cliff before extending its wings, and followed after Kallath.

The shadows would encounter a sight indeed. Standing guard over the plains was a long line of warriors, each wearing a breasplate made of rough wood, their faces painted like skulls, and metal swords in hands. Their armor was considered primative, but it was designed in ways that allowed the fighter to move with great agility. There was metal bits covering the knees , shoulders, and forearms. Their Waist and chest were guarded by wood, although not a good defense, the wood could offer atleast something. Ontop each warriors head was a wolf's scalp, decorated to make the warrior seem like he was it's soul. The archers standing behind the warriors, although not as well decorated, were wearing the wooden breast plate as well, but they had the scalp of giant eagles on their heads.

Infront of this line of men stoop the two Arkanin and the great lord Hussarin.
The great lord spoke.
"Turn back now, or face the ever freezing death!"

OOC: Warriors? Well, there's about 500 in view, and about 100 archers.

The Incorperal Shadows were told to scout not attack. They back away into the forest to report to the Legion that reinforcements may be needed before expanding to the plains.


The Sight the young Dragon riders would see is a massive legion of undead and human soldiers. Under the Iron command of roughly 350 Vampire Knights. The massive wagons of corpses followed this massive host to fill with the bodies of the fallen wheater enemy or ally.

The arkanin turned to the great lord, "I fear they will bring more."

One of the 6 Lesser Lords spoke up, "Yes lord! surely they will bring a force to fight!"

Hussinar rumbled loudly, "I will die before I let them have my lands!" With that, he turned and walked towards the army.

The Six Lesser lords followed him, leaving the two Arkanin to talk.

The eldest spoke first, "Things are spirally out of control."

The second spoke, obviously a female, "Yes, we may be bringing ruin to Amerath."

The eldar spoke as he turned to follow the lord, "Let us prepare the men, they will bring their armies, and we will fight it seems."

The Vampire General Sarin was notified of the enemy force outside the Forest. He had a plan. The Zombies and Skeletions would march in front and the Human Archers would be behind and they would fire into the enemy. The goal lure them inside the Forest where the core of the Human swordmen were hiding from view.

All along the line of warriors, fires were being set, small wooden barricades built hastily, and prayers muttered to ancient gods. The Arkanin had set off shortly after the shadows arrived, leaving Hussarin and his lesser lords to fight while they divined some ancient powers far from the army.

Hussarin himself sat amongst his warriors, leaning against one of the many barricades, he himself was worried of what may happen to the tribes, but they all pledged loyalty, and even if he wanted to leave... They would stay. It was vexing.

The six lessor lords moved quietly, tending to those in need and keeping watch over the forest. The building of the barricades had required many trees from the forest infront of the army. As such, the forest was now 40 yards smaller.

Heading toward the cloud of smoke over the village and following the path of destruction left in the wake of the undead army, the two boys and their dragons flew high above the legion, well out of range known projectile weapons. They just kept circling up above, both growing more apprehensive as the reality of what they are seeing dawns upon them. That was no normal army. Even at their distance, it was clear that a large mass of the soldiers were undeniably missing all their flesh.

"We have to go report this immediately!" Tarnon said.

Kallath furrowed his eyebrows, and looked north toward the plains. Another, much smaller group was approaching from that direction, more likely foe than friend to the army below. "Go!" he answered. "I'll stay here and see what comes of this. When you get to the Citadel, tell them that we may need to send forces to the underkingdom. They could very well turn east and attack us."

With a pull of reins, Tarnon guided his brown dragon back towards the mountain. An undead army of this size was never before encountered by Remtkara, and reporting such a thing was no small matter. "Sorry, Mynocinth," he said to his dragon, "but we're going to have to fly hard on this one." With that, he spurred his dragon on into a faster flight.

The attack on the forest was seen as an invasion from these barbarian peoples. The Legion moblizes and hides into the trees. The Human archers start shooting posion coated arrows upon any Arkanin caught cutting down the forest. The Vampire Knights of the Order of the Shadow Sword decide to launch a night time raid on the Amerath camps.


OOC: Just reminding of my forces. minus 35 humans swordsmen.





500 Skeletons armed with spears and shields no armor.
500 Zombies armed with pitchforks and other assorted weapons
100 Shadows drains life force of living opponets
400 Ghouls flesh eating undead that attack in lose packs
1,000 Humans armed with swords or long bows
350 Vampire Knights of the Order of the Shadow Sword.

OOC: Everyone is human, Arkanin are people who are mutated and seen as "Divine", they are elected to advice the lords of the tribes. It's rare to see Arkanin. Just so you know.

Also, this is my last post for this night.

IC:

The first Warrior sitting amongst the trees fell with a squeal, it didn't take long for the others to begin running for the barricades. Many were cut down by the arrows, infact, over 70 warriors died out infront of the barricades before 30 could make it back to safety.

The archers seeing their companions back in the safety of the barricades began a ranged war with the undead army's archers. Harsh to say, but 30 of the Archer's of Amerath also died from this sortie.

Hussarin knew this was to be a long night.

OOC: I'd love to join...but I don't know how. How about I just say a Company of Tocrowkian Rangers were in the area training or something? >_>

IC: The Vampire General Sarin Mizar smiled at what seemed to be a victory. The enemy was ravaged by the Human Archers of the Legion. The General looked upon the a wounded Archer of the legion he cowered at what seemed to be an enemy arrow in his stomach. He begged for a quick death than this slow painful one. The Vampire General was glad to be of assitance. He picked up the poor lad and began to feed upon his neck. another 14 Archers had been killed in the range war but it seemed worth the assualt. The Darkness was a friend to the Legion for at night was the only time they could fight unless the Humans were the only ones to fight. The Vampire Knights readied there Nightmares for the comeing night attack of the enemy camp.

OOC: Works for me.

The trip back to the Citadel would be a long one, and Kallath knew it. And, being a younger dragon, Thalanx could not stay in flight for long periods. While gliding helped increase air time, there must still be a limit. Thus, it would be quite a while before Tarnon gets his message back and have reinforcements arrive.

So, Kallath and Thalanx settled down by a small, isolated lake in the forest, far enough away from the armies that it ought to be safe. There, they rested, watered, and ate to regain their strength for what would appear to be a long scouting watch.

OOC: I'm going to bed. Deatharon, I sent you a TG.

One of the three patrols of 20 Vampire knights of the Order of the Shadow Sword were ordered by General Sarin to patrol the area by the lake. They rode on there dreaded Nightmares untill they came near a very intresting sight a Dragon and a humaniod near by. The rumors of the blood of dragons increasing a vampires strength was to tempting for the Knights to pass up. The Vampires Knights dismount there undead steeds and head to there victims with the intent of silently over takeing them. They pull out there Leech blades. (There swords drain life energy when they strike a living target.)

Grim arrives at the recently destroyed elven settlement. He lands and begins to pick his way through the debris.

"Damn," he thinks as one of his fore-claws breaks off, "I had just had it sharpened."

Grim climbs a tree and leaps from branch to branch to make better time. He eventually reaches the edge of the forest and catches sight of the battle between Deatharon and Amerath forces. He holds back, clinging to he last branch he had landed on and watches. His stone eyes taking in every detail.

The 4 Shadows guarding the destroyed elven village notice Grim as he climbs the tree. They follow him up via floating. They hungried for his life force.

OOC: Shadows are like ghosts that drain enemies life forces. Magical weapons or spells are the best way to hurt them. Normal weapons just phase through them.

Four figures could be seen slowly walking through the ruins of the elven village. Their white robes contrasted greatly with the destruction around them. One of them pulled out a small scroll and scribbled some notes before tying it around a pigeon's leg and letting it fly.

They were indeed troubled. They were a small squad of priests deployed by the high council to explore and bring aid to those who needed it. What should have been a relatively simple mission instead turned into this nightmare. They continued to search for any possible survivors. Upon seeing the dragon land, they concealed themselves with a spell of hiding. They watched carefully to see what would happen.

A small group of 5 Ghouls notice the four priests. They were ordered to guard the area around the destroyed village. They head to there new found prey with the intent on dineing on there flesh.

OOC: They wonder around in packs. The Legion has about 400 in here.

Kallath sat at the edge of the lake, staring out into the waves as he chewed on what little bits of cured beef and berries he brought with him. His mind was swimming with thoughts of the undead horde, wondering what they were doing. Was this a targetted attack against a particular enemy, and only that? Or would they conceivably try to attack Remtkara as well? He had never encountered the undead before, but have heard stories from the dragonknights of their encounters with these creatures. If there was anything he remembered from those stories, it was that the undead were usually bad news.

The sun was setting, and the skies were already a grayish blue. Without a cloud in the sky, save for many leagues to the east where the mountain ranges formed, the stars and the moon began beaming brightly onto the lake, casting speckles of light that danced incessently in the ripples of the small waves.

Kallath had started to pack up when Thalanx, who was laying lazily by the waters and taking occassional drinks from it, suddenly lifted its head, alert. Noticing his dragon's movement, the boy too seemed more alert. "What is it, boy?" he asked as he looked at his surroundings, a hand on the hilt of his sheathed shortsword. Kallath could not make out anything in the dimness that could be a threat, but he knew his dragon's senses were far better than his, and that they were worth trusting in.

The Tribes of Amerath had eventually given up with the long range battle, bringing their forces under the protection of the barricades. Under these Barricades, the wounded were tended and Hussarin gathered the lesser lords..

One of the lesser lords spoke first, "Lord! We've lost so many, how shall we survive?"

Everyone seemed to mutter the same question before Hussarin raised his voice, "We will stand here despite out losses, the Arkanin are working to aid us, it should not be long."

Although his words were assuring, people around him were still being killed or injured as arrows sliced through the barricade frames.
----

The female Arkanin quietly stalked through the forests, she had managed to get around this undead foe, and was moving back towards the elven village, hoping she could find clues as to how to defeat the undead that were battling with the tribes.
----

Far north, the Elder Arkanin moved, he was searching out one of the tribes that refused to join the other 7 (6 lesser lords and Hussarin). This tribe had been known as a military-like family, where children were raised as warriors from the start. However, it only seemed like myths as he had traveled far with no sight of them.

OOC: Hey, your zombies, are they classical slow movers, or normal speed ones?

Sensing the darkness approaching, the priests uttered one word with one voice,"Sanctum." Immediatly, everything within a meter or two was consecrated. Any demons or undead that would enter this sanctuary would suffer grievious injuries from it if not out right being destroyed.


-------elsewhere-----------
A dove landed on the balcony of a large tower. A man, high elven by the way in which he held himself, reached out to it and took the scroll tied to its leg. Unrolling the scroll, he began to read it. "Can it be? The council must be alerted immediatly." Leaving the room in great haste, the scroll lay forgotten on his desk. It simply read, "Darkness approaches."

IC:

The Company of Rangers had been watching for some time now. They had seen the monsters destroy the village, so it was quite clear whom their enemies would. The Captain ordered for 40 Rangers to silently sneak to the outskirts of the village, and ambush anything that tried to leave.

The only think still alive entering the village would be the lone female Arkanin, trying to sort out this mess. The eldar Arkanin had no success as of yet.. but the battle...

Hussarin was beginning to doubt his own use in this situation, they had lost another 10 warriors from hiding, although most arrows were deflect. He had no idea how much longer the front could wait for the Arkanin advisors.

Elial Rezual walked back to his office. It had only take several moments with the council before he was granted authorization to request aid from the A.N.B.U. He sat in his office awaiting the decision of their commander Gisaku Kimura. The A.N.B.U. divisions were the elite of Soragakure. They drew in the best of the best. Hopefully they would be able to get to the besieged lands fast enough while the rest of the forces were being prepared. Unfortunately though, while the anbu squads deployed could arrive at their destination rather quickly, the same large foboding mountains that protected them hindered their ability to gather all the necessary forces for a quick strike. A knock on the door soon came. The door opened to real a high elf dressed in a black cloak with a white ceramic wolf mask hanging from his hip. "The commander agrees that this situation must be dealt with immediatly," the elf said," Squads 1 through 20 have been activated, and he will join them with his own. Also, all priests wandering the lands have been given orders to go and find the elven headquarters to aid them. Our squads should reach the lands of Amerath within a week at most." Nodding, he dismissed the anbu.

-----------back in Amerath--------
A large contingent of about 30 priests and 30 crusaders were moving en masse toward the ruined elven town where they were to meet up with 4 more of their bretheren and from there, they were to find any wood elves and ask for directions toward where they might be of assistance.

As the priests were moving along, the captain of the Tocrowkian rangers rode out on a black horse. He rose his hand.

"Halt...are you friend or foe of these monsters that have destroyed this town?"

A female hig elven crusader rode up with a male priest walking calmly beside her. The crusader replied, "I do believe that we are enemies of whoever attacked this place as our high council sent us word to assist the elves here that were under attack from what, according to the report, appears to be undead and the like." "That is indeed true," said the priest, "But I must ask as well, who are you and why are you here?"

That is when the Arkanin made her appearance, actually, it was a total trip of the foot that put her right next to the crusader and the ranger.

"Oh dear, I've stumbled on something strange..."

Her 2 lower arms readied their weapons underneath her cloak, they gave no indication of their existance.

"He did what!?" Gaervin said. Though it was night and his face was obscured by the darkness, young Tarnon knew that the man was frowning. "That foolish boy!" Thorin continued. "Come, we must tell the king of this post haste."

The man walked briskly through the streets of the Citadel, night winds whipping his long hair back. Tarnon was not far behind as they entered the great hall. Large hearths made the room bright and warm, a stark contrast to the chilly ebony of outside. The king was not present, and after a slight delay in which he was sent for by a page, King Orodullin appeared in the hall.

"My lord," Gaervin greeted the austere royalty.

"Is something of the matter?" the king asked.

"Of the utmost," said Gaervin. "Tarnon here has returned from his scouting trip of the Ranjol Mountains, of which he was assigned alongside young Kallath. There, they reported an army of over one and one half thousand men, laying waste to the lands of the Western Wilds. Perhaps more, as many were hidden within the forests."

"We have no presence in the Western Wilds to warrant alarm," spoke Orodullin. "Are they moving eastward to the mountains, or marching 'gainst another land?"

"It was uncertain as to their destination, although another, smaller, army approached from the north of their locale. Whether this was to confront or to join the larger army, Tarnon could not be certain, for he properly did not intercept either armies, as instructed, but returned directly to report of such happenings. However..." Gaervin had to add, "Young Kallath chose to remain in the Western Wilds to see what comes of these events, counter to young Tarnon's insistence on return."

The king sighed deeply and closed his eyes briefly, clearly not pleased. "He must be retrieved, then. You will go, Sir Gaervin, and force his immediate compliance for return. As for the armies there, find all you can of their purpose, but do not intervene. The wars of foreigners do not concern us."

"My lord, I believe this one may. Forgive me, but I have failed to mention that the larger army was certifiably of undead make. If that be the case, then that army could just as easily turn against Remtkara as any other. In all my years of service have I not seen a single undead forgo the opportunity to loose destruction upon the living."

"Undead?" a dread came over Orodullin's features. "You are certain?"

Gaervin nodded. "I have trained young Tarnon here since the day he received his dragon. I trust his words to me."

"As I trust yours," the king nodded. "Very well, then. An army will take time to assemble. In the meanwhile, I will send a messenger and fifty men to King Thorin of Underkingdom to warn him of this. We will then use their passageways beneath the mountains to move our troops to the western edge of the Ranjols to aid them in the defense of their entrance from the Western Wilds from potential assailants while the rest of the army prepares itself. The mages of Ianorea will be of great import as well, if things are as you say. You, however, must depart at once to retrieve young Kallath. He is yet too young to involve himself in a battle 'gainst undead foes. Go now."

"Yes, my lord," Gaervin said with a bow. Taking a few steps backward, he then turned around and exited the hall with Tarnon as his shadow. They made their way to the dragons and Gaervin mounted his, saying to Tarnon, "Stay here. I will go alone."

"But sir!" Tarnon protested. "Please, let me come along."

The man shook his head. "It is more dangerous than you understand, boy. You cannot fly with."

"It's dark there," said Tarnon. "You won't see the smoke anymore, if it's even there. You could be searching for a while before you find the army, especially if they're not using torches or anything."

Gaervin watched Tarnon carefully for a moment, then said, "Fine. Get on Mynocinth quickly." With that, he turned his huge brown dragon around, dwarfing the young dragon. The giant creature moved forward and to the edge of the city, where it plunged down the sheer sides before letting the wind catch its wings. With several, powerful flaps of the wings, the dragon moved higher up and to the west, followed by a smaller pair of rider and dragon.

While all of these foreign events were taking place, the small band of defenders of the Amerathian tribes still stood under barrage. The eldar Arkanin had not yet returned, soldiers who were wounded were dying of unknown poisons and worst yet, there was muttering amongst the still living soldiers of the lesser lord's misplaced faith.

Hussarin felt secluded, he was surrounded by all of the known tribes warriors, and still felt helpless. He took a look over the long line of soldiers, many were holding swords, some hammers, others axes. Here and there an archer took a pot shot at the undead hordes. His gaze turned upwards to where a flag once stood, well, not really a flag, more of a wolf pelt attached to a stick, but a flag none the less. The banner had been torn by arrow and covered in grime from falling at one point before being quickly reraised. He was wondering if the banner was an omen of some sort. No, best not think of such things.

Hussarin looked through a crack in the barricade, viewing the monstrosities that poked their heads from the tree line. His silent watching was interrupted by a sudden pounding of footsteps from his right. One of the lesser lords was approachings.

The new attendant raised his voice so Hussarin could hear, "Lord, there are strange workings afoot, some of our warriors are claiming they saw flying beasts above the lands!"

Hussarin made a gruff snort, "Don't trouble me with such rumors, I only need to know what can help us."

The attendant spoke again, "But Lord! They could be allies! Someone to bolster our armies!"

The Great Lord of the 7 Tribes stared at the attendent, his eyes burning like fire. "No one would dare do what we have done, to face a much superior force in battle, especially if that superior force is undead!"

Hussarin turned to watch the next volley of arrows come at them before pulling his head back from the crack in the barricade.

A small group of 20 priests carefully made their way to the barricade. It was now in sight. With a small chant, they vanished with swirl of wind and reappeared inside.

The sudden arrival of priests would.. of course, suddenly raise shouts of alarm and rushing of warriors to beat back these sudden invaders.

Hussarin himself lead the charge against these new comers, warriors were closing from all sides thinking these were men of the undead, and they could finally get revenge for the blood of their own spilt.

Hussarin leapt at the 20 and shouted a challenge, "Trespass on my land, undead!? You will pay!"

A female hig elven crusader rode up with a male priest walking calmly beside her. The crusader replied, "I do believe that we are enemies of whoever attacked this place as our high council sent us word to assist the elves here that were under attack from what, according to the report, appears to be undead and the like." "That is indeed true," said the priest, "But I must ask as well, who are you and why are you here?"

"I am Aranor, Captain of the Tocrowkian Rangers. Me and my men were training here when we saw the destruction from afar. I decided I could not stand by while others died, so I am here to kill the demons....how ever, my rangers are few, and with out allies, we shall not last the night, I fear."

And, to the north, a king looked over his empire from his topmost tower and sighed. "Armies, you say? numbering many thousands?"

"Many armies, sir," his messenger replied. "The Undead are almost innumerable and the elves fight back hard. Many other humans have joined the fihgt, as well. And our spies have reported seeing strange, beautiful creatures with four arms in their midst..."

"Arkanin?"

"SO it would appear."

King Verrick's eyes strayed to the ornamental sword hanging above his throne. "The elves in this land have always been good, failthful allies to us. DO they not deserve our help as well?"

"It's not my place to say, your majesty."

"So there will always be war. Very well. Prepare the armies--we ride out as soon as darkness falls."

The female Arkanin who stumbled upon the ranger and crusader quietly shifted into the shadow of a ruined building, hiding and watching the two with curiousity. Perhaps they could become allies?

---

The eldar Arkanin still headed north, now on the trail of travelers that had not long ago passed these lands. He was eager to find these people, to ask for help protecting the plains.

IC:

Ghouls.......

The Five ghouls run away from the unknown spell that hurt them. They ran to there masters to get help.

Skrimish with the Amerath

The Undead Archers unleash another massive volley at the enemy. The Vampire Knights launch there attack upon the Amerath defenses. They come chargeing out of the forests with there deadly Leech blades ready to hack at the enemy. There Nightmares move with an unholy speed.

Dragon Ambush.....

The 20 Vampire Knights pounced upon the dragon and the boy in the darkness. They use there leech blades upon the dragon. One of them tries to hyponitze the boy with his eyes. He gives a commanding order to come to him. The voice is hypnotic and tempting to follow.

OOC: Yes the Zombies move slow but the Skeletions are fast.

The Amerathian tribes stop their charge of the priests, now knowing that they arn't undead, and infact.. they were getting charge. He quickly turned to face the battle, his archers already unleashing volley upon volley in the mass of attacking evil.

The Hussarin raised a new battle cry, "For Amerath!". His warriors answered his cry with their own. The warriors raised their weapons, preparing to take on the enemy once they came over their barricades. (So to note, each barricade is about 5 feet tall).

Any creature coming within the range of Hussarin's axe would face true death.

Grim grew tired of watching the battle and he, ignoring the Shadows following him, returns to the village to see if anyone was left alive.

A few minutes later...

The Gargoyle reaches the village and climbs down out of the trees. He takes note of the Rangers and the others in the area, but ignores them. He has no interest in them right now.

He walks on his four stone limbs to the center of the village. He stops and looks around him before mutterin aloud, "What a waste. Such a waste."

The 150 Vampire Knights of the Order of the Shadow sword Scream in unision as they head to the enemy barricade with the intent of having there Nightmares jump it. "Glory to the Imperial Fatherland!!!" There Leech Swords drawn and shield held out. The group radiated a aura of unholy fear. weaker or unexperienced warriors would want to run at the sight of these Vampiric Demons from hell.


OOC: Leech swords or blades are magically enchanted blades that drain an opponets life force and increases the wielders strength.

A small number of warriors did infact run, the rest tried to steel themselves before pikes were pushed out to where the nightmares would hopefully gouge themselves.

Hussarin returned the cry at the undead, "Your Fatherland is nothing but an empty carrion land! Death to your emperor!" The Hussarin made a slash at the first thing to try to jump his barricade.

The Shadows....

The Shadow continue there hunt of Grim they want his life force.

The Vampire Charge.......

The Nightmares jump the barricade. The Pikes were effective but the Vampire Knights had already jumped off there backs and landed to the ground in the mists of the enemy. They start hacking at the defenders. The goal to terroize them into trying to feel. There leech blades grow red with the blood of there enemies increasing there will to fight. The Vampires did recieve wounds from the enemy. They however seemed to get back up after taking damage that would fell or kill a normal human.


OOC: best ways to kill them caught off the head. Arrow or other pireceing weapon through heart. Garlic is like acid. holy symbols force them to suffer and holy spells. Magically weapons also are effective as well.

Hussarin watched his warriors fight with these beasts. (Occasionaly, a warrior would try to cut off the head of the undead) He noticed the disadvantage and how many of his warriors were dying. He surveyed the scene before him, then bellowed out the last words he'd thought he'd ever shout.

"Retreat! Run for Tribe Athon!"

The Lesser Lords stared at him in disbelief. Hussarin spoke again.

"These undead are too strong, we can't fight them with our current strategies. Run, lets go!"

One by one, his warriors turned to retreat, perhaps the Arkanin could enlighten Hussarin on how to destroy the undead. But right now, Hussarin was naive and had never faced undead before, and was unnerved by this dark tide.

As the wave of warriors retreat, some stayed to fight to hold off the undead. All that was left from the number of surviving warriors was 130 warriors and 30 archers. Things were spiraling out of control, and the future of Amerath was in balance.

Hussarin stopped and looked at the undead. "We will return for our lands, beast, you shall face true death soon enough!"

With that Hussarin followed the retreat into the tall grasses behind the barricade, each warrior disappearing into the night, moving towards the Tribe of Athon to regroup and rethink.

------near the ruins------
The crusader whispered something to the priest. Facing her, he gave her a affirmative nod. Turning back to the ranger, she said, "Greetings Aranor. My name is Elewithe and this is my old friend Zeliphyr. We would be honored if you were to join us in our quest to aid those who stand against this dark tide. My friend just told me that twenty of our bretheren have found defenders who are hard pressed and are aiding them now. We will be heading there now."

-------outskirts of Soragakure-----
63 figures could be seen dashing at unbelievable speeds toward the lands of Amerath.

OOC: Sorry about that Amerath, I posted a bit later :D I've corrected my previous post.

The remaining 145 Vampire Knights cheered and cried, "The Lich Emperor be praised the Imperial Fatherland is victorius!" They watch the fleeing enemy run away.

The Corpses of the enemy were gathered for the wagons.

The Shadows drained the lives of any wounded surriviors. T

he barricade was burned to the ground by the 30 Archers using flameing arrows.

The Five Vampire Knights were honored for there sacrifice. The other warriors saw there remains of dust and weapons and armor. The weapons were collected and anything of value was taken by the Undead Legion.

The Legion stayed in the forest. They would not advanced untill they sent word to the Lich Emperor. A lone Vampire Knight headed towards the South back to the Imperial Fatherland his goal reach the city of Xharn and get a few Necromancers for the Legion for there recuritment of the dead.

OOC: never thought killing undead would be so hard, whew!

The defenders were natives of these lands, they knew the fastest and best ways to get between the tribes, and soon enough, warriors began to trickle into the small agricultural tribe of Athon. Hussarin being amongst the last to enter, the 6 lesser tribal lords already waiting for him and immedietly began questions.

"What do we do now lord?"
"Will we be safe here?"
"Where are the Arkanin?"
"What were those men controlling death!?"

Hussarin sighed and growled at the group, "Listen! We just lost a fight, we don't have time to rush things, get this town secured and people tended, there arn't many of us left, but we must stand to protect the lands, next time there will be no retreat!"

He took a deep breath and continued in a calmer tone, "I have no idea where the Arkanin are, but I hope they will bring aid when they next return. As for the strange men, I have no idea, but we must be on guard, they were what caused us to escape, they carry deatha bout them. And we will need to find anyone able to fight and gather them here.." He dreaded that last sentence...

The lord's word was carried out, and, despite the greviance of children, the women and eldarly were equiped for war. (Let it be known that the tribes often allowed women to fight, but at the time of the battle, the lord's didnt suspect they needed the addition women-power). All that was left were the new barricades, each lined with rows of spike and paints of lore.

Hussarin was gathering with his lords and warriors again, "Now, I saw undead lying on the ground without moving, as if they were in true death, anyone care to explain this?" Noone spoke, Noone knew how they got them.

The squads reached the furthest outpost of Soragakure. They were to rest here for an hour or to. From there, they were teleported as close to Amerath as the wizards here could manage.

------near the ruins------
Seeing that the ghouls had fled, the four priests made their way to rejoin their bretheren.

OOC: bit of thing, Amerath is the name of the plains the tribes live in, it isn't yet a nation. Also, so.. what happened to the priests who got into my barricades?

OOC: Ah...good that clears things up for me. :D and as for the priests, well.....

IC: The priests that had made it to the barricades earlier now fell back with the warriors, treating those that they could and consecrating those who had died or were dieing so that they would not be used as undead.

Hussarin noticed strange figures moving about his warriors, most were too tired to question who they were, but Hussarin new better, and made quick steps to one of the many few.

"You there! Answer my call! Who treads on my lands and does not give their name?"

He was angry, and he was willing to cleaver anything close to undead. The humiliating defeat was a set back, and he was calling for revenge for his fallen comrades.

The Lich Necro Magus of Xharn was notified of the victory to the North by the Vampire Knight messanger. The Lich started a chant of unholy power and a dark mirrior on the wall were he was staring showed the feared Lich Emperor Alfred Von Antheron.

The Lich Emperor Alfred said in an imperious tone, "Why have you contacted me Necro Magus of Xharn?"

The Necro Magus saids quickly,"Emperor, We have defeated the barbarians from the north they appear to be a mixture of Elves and humans, and some weird creatures called Arkanin."

The Lich Emperor had a look of confusion and said, "Why are you contacting me exactly?"

The Necro Magus responds, "The Legion request the use of Necromancers and the assitance of another Legion to begin the advance forward North."

The Lich Emperor had a look of glee on his Skull like face and he saids, "They have my permission to bring in another Legion and to receive Necromancers from your City."

The Lich Necro Magus bowed and told the Vampire Duke of Xharn.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

50 Necromancers were called up from there citadel inside the city to assit the Legion in battle. The Necormancers are regular Necromancers non of them were upper levels or young Necromancers.

A Legion from Death Hold was being sent to front of north.

OOC:

Force size same as the last one.

OOC: I feel a swift purging of amerath coming on, oh well, my 100 will die well.

Aniel walked forward to speak directly with Hussarin. "Greetings might warrior. Peace, for we mean no harm to you," he began, "We are high elven priests of the Order of the Divine Seal. We were told by our high council to aid you in these dark times. Yet if we are not welcomed here, then we will not trouble you long with our presence. We will depart as soon as we have finished our task of healing if you wish."

Hussarin stared at the figure for several moments before dropping to kneel before the elf.

"Forgive me. We of course need allies in these desperate times, and would never turn away anyone who wishes to help."

The sight of shock appeared on many warriors faces as they saw their Tribal Lord bow before a stranger. The idea of finally being reinforced entered the mind of almost every warrior.

"We request your aid in defeating these undead menace, they threaten the existance of my land and.. my people.. we are now only 160 strong.. versus an army of uncountable numbers! Though I accept you with open arms, I fear your services may be unable to bring favor to our side."

OOC: We can hardly purge you without suffering the wraith of every power around here plus do you realize it will take the Necromancers 3 days to reach the forest and the Legion at least several weeks.

The Shadow Empire is reasonable if you make an appeal to the Lich Emperor he may show mercy.

He is highly paranoid of his own Vampire Dukes and barons and may want his legions back to protect himself from enemy nobles or rebel humans inside the Empire.

Aranor nodded. "Thank you for having me. I promise that my warriors will fight to the death, if need be, to defend your people. Now, let us go." He finished.

A scouting party of 6 Shadows was sent towards the direction the Amerath had fled they were told to give them a message from the Vampire General Sarin Mizar of the house of Mizar.

Hussarin nodded and restood turning to his warriors before making a last comment to the priests. "I must see to our defences..".

Hussarin made slow progress towards the defence construction sites. He was gaining an insight on his current status.. With the women, teenagers and eldarly, the forces were now up to 300 strength, which was 200 short of their previous army. The new warriors were dressed the same way as the first warriors were, each donning the wolf pelt.

Now and then, one of the warriors would greet him and he would nod and continue on until he reached the soon-to-be wall site. Things were slow, the warriors were just now bringing in the logs from far off lands to use to make the spiked and barbed barricades, hoping that these improvements would stop any rush at them.
----
The eldar Arkanin was swifty moving now that he had a trail, he had heard of a kingdom called that lived in this territory (Hopefully Nagatives will play the part, if not, I'll substitue something).
----

The female Arkanin stared at the crusader and the ranger. She could not waste time here and quickly turned and vanished into the forest, headed for whever the army may be at the time.

Nodding Elewithe gestured for Aranor and his rangers to follow them. Zeliphyr meanwhile sent a mental message to Aniel telling him that they were on their way to meet up with them.

--------with Aniel---------

Aniel walked with Hussarin and said, "There is no worry, we will not stand around idle as darkness threatens to overwhelm you. Fear not, a contingent of 34 of our priestly bretheren and 30 crusaders of the Divine Order are on their way. Also, my friend with them tells me that a group of rangers has joined them. They are coming as fast they can. From my last contact with the high council, the commander of our most elite advance forces has agreed to come to our aid with 62 of his own bretheren.

OOC: My anbu squads move in squads of three if that helps with calculations.

The Shadows found the village after several hours of searching. They head to the barricade screaming in a deathly screaming voices, "The Vampire General Sarin Mizar has a message to your people. He wishes to speak to you for a peaceful resoultion to this conflict!!!!"

OOC: Shadows are like ghosts but drain life energy out of there victims. They can only be harmed by magically weapons and spells. Holy spells and weapons also can be very effective. Those they kill with there life drain ability become shadows after several days after death.

Aniel and his bretheren tensed as the Shadows approached but said nothing and continued with their task. They would see what Hussarin would choose to do and act accordingly.

Aranor brought an odd looking wooden instrument to his mouth and blows into it, a bird call coming out. A few seconds later another bird call came out He nods and rides fourth with his new Comrades, now sure his rangers were following him.

Grim had grown tired of looking through the wreck of the dead village and had followed the Rangers throught the trees. He caught up with the one in the lead. He jumped a few trees ahead of the group and stuck his head through the lower branches so they would see him.

"Hello," he called to the Rangers, "Nice to meet ya."

The 4 Shadows that had followed the Gargoyle now found the rangers and they sweep down from there location and started attacking them with there Life Drain ability. (They have to touch you to do this.)

"I'd recommend you tell me your affilation, new comer. Or my men will have their target practice of the day."

Aranor said firmly.

Sensing the four shadows approach, the 34 priests channeled holy energy into the air around them forming a protective barrier before pushing the barrier outwards to meet the oncoming shadows.

OOC: Wait are you guys in the forest because it is crawling with Legion forces.

IC: The Shadows sense the Holy power and quickly flee before the priest have a chance to hit them. one of the Shadow was to slow and his screams of pain could be heard across the forest as his body disloved into oblivion.

OOC: Yes I believe we are.

"I'd recommend you tell me your affilation, new comer. Or my men will have their target practice of the day."

Aranor said firmly.

Grim said, still upside down, "My alliegence lies with the Saethe of the Dominion of Dragon Emperor."

The Gargoyle popped back up into the branches but soon came back into sight again while climbing down a near-by tree trunk.

About 200 Human Swordsmen heard the scream of the dying Shadow and came to investage with roughly 90 Ghouls in tow. They were intent on elimenating all barbarian forces out of this newly annexed territory of the Grand Shadow Empire.

How ever, they neglected the 130 Rangers spread through out the forest. As they walked, arrows suddenly poured out from the trees, each one incredibily accurate. They were all over the soldiers, in front, behind, and on the flanks. The rangers knew they had to kill them quickly, or else it would resort into hand-to-hand combat, and they had not the strength for that.

With a growl, the red dragon swiped a forearm at an incoming vampire knight to toss it away, while its tail lashed out to sweep the feet of another from beneath it. The third vampire, however, avoided these attacks and drove the leech blade straight through the scales. Thalanx roared, belching flames into the air while doing its best to continue clawing at its aggressors, but it could feel its strength being sapped away, and it slumped down to the ground.

Kallath tried his best at an intimidating scream and rushed toward those assaulting his dragon. Both hands gripping his shortsword, which was not so short compared to his own small size, he tried to thrust his weapon into the stomach of the nearest assailant, only to be parried to the side. He quickly brought it around to swing it into the side of the vampire, but the target was already outside of his range by then. He heard a voice coming from the vampire, beckoning him, and his immediate response was to do just that - opponent, but came to a sudden and unexpected halt halfway through. He stumbled, corrected himself, and stared at the one calling to him. In what could only be described as a daze, he loosened his grip on his sword, allowing it to fall at his side, and followed after the voice.

Quickly forming their lines, the crusaders formed a circle around the priests who began the spell of sanctuary.

------meanwhile-----------
The anbu squads had just reorganized themselves after having been transported to Amerath plains. With several gestures, they soon became fleeting shadows as they dashed toward where they sensed several of their bretheren were engaged in combat.

The two dragons darted over the last bit of the Ranjol Mountains and out into open country. The land below them was cast in a bluish glow from the moon, and all else was dark - save for the dying flames of what used to be the barricades outside of the forest. That was the best place to start looking for Kallath, and so there they went. It was hard to make out details at night, not to mention thousands of feet up in the air, so unless Kallath and Thalanx were in flight, it would be a difficult search by eye. As the eyes told them that Kallath was not in the air, Gaervin leaned forward in his seat and shouted, "Ariadell! Call out for Thalanx!"

In another moment, a powerful roar resounded through the forest, past the plains, and echoed against the distant mountains.

Forest

Grim sighed as stray arrows bounced off of his stone body. The metal of the arrowheads rubbed off onto the stone, leaving streaks.

"Great," he groans, "I just had myself buffed."

Dragonskeep

Furious after watching the attack on the young Dragon and its rider, Dragonlord Eragon ordered two full Dragon Wings to the location. Each wing contains five true-Dragons.

The sound of the call echoed. Hearing the dragon's call, Kimura and the rest of the squads quickened their pace. Only the Light knows what is happening.

The Dragon Fight.......

The Vampire Knight grabed the boy and began to drink from his neck. The boy was on the verge of death when the Vampire had an idea. He slit one of his wrists and forced his blood down the boys mouth. The Vampire Knight smiled for he had just created a new member of the Order of the Shadow Sword. The Dragon was wounded to the point the other 19 Vampires began to use there swords to hack away at his scales to allow them an opening on which to feed. They used there speed to avoid his claws.

The Skirmish in the forest

The humans took roughly 45 dead in the intial assualt. They kept up there fight for they had very little to fear in death. The Ghouls charged at the enemy even with the spell hopeing there posionious claws would cause some damage to the enemy.

OOC: wait till the Necromancers get into the conflict.

It was not wise to charge a Tocrowkian Ranger, especially ones as well hidden as these. Volley after volley left the trees and poured upon the human ranks. Every second seemed to contain a "whoosh" sound as an arrow left their oak longbows and traveled to meet an enemy. But soon they would run out of arrows.

The Human Swordmen retreat the hail of arrows and the Ghouls follow. They are brave but not stupid. The Zombies roughly fifty of them come shambling towards the area.

OOC: pirecing weapons like arrows are not effective agaisnt zombies. They are more effetived by blunt weapons like clubs, maces, flail ect.

It was all a blur for Kallath. One second he was fighting for his life, the next he was standing helpless in the arms of a creature biting at his neck. He began to lose consciousness, so numbed that he barely even noticed that the mouth on his neck was no longer there, and that instead something has been stuck up to his lips. Everything whisked around like fog again, and he finally fell unconscious, his body soon to convert into that of the very things he was just fighting.

***

Up in the air, Ariadell's repeated roars went unanswered. Telling her to cease, Gaervin looked around some more, and noticed some commotion farther to the north. He veered off into that direction, followed by Tarnon and Mynocinth, and flew toward the remnants of the tribal warriors and their smattering of allies.

Aniel sensed the message of distress sent from Zeliphyr. Shouting quickly to Hussarin, he said, "I'm afraid that you might need to accomodate more soldiers now. Our bretheren are in mortal peril, we plan to create a spike of energy to act as a beacon for which they can locate us." With that, Aniel and the other priests channeled their energy to cause a small momentary spike of energy.

-------near the ruins---------

Zeliphyr and the priests sent flares of holy flames at the enemy, Zeliphyr shouted to Elewithe, "Hurry! Gather those rangers and tell them to get close to us, we've pinpointed Aniel's location!" Nodding, Elewithe shouted to Aranor, "Quickly you must get your rangers near the priests, we're performing an emergency mass teleport!"

The Dragon Battle....

The Vampires feasted upon the dying dragon. They felt there strength increase beyond there normal capablities. The boy was picked up by his Master and he headed to his Nightmare to head back with the boy to get the approval of the Vampire General Sarin Mizar. The Vampires before they killed the Dragon wondered if there was such a thing a a vampiric dragon. One of the Vampire Knights lets the Dragon bit his arm. A large chunk of the Vampires blood entered into the beast.

OOC: Let me know if that is going to far..

Aranor nodded and drew his horn from a side pack on his horse. He blew into it, and the Rangers knew immediatly what it meant. When the horn blew, each ranger was to rally to the captain. The rangers descended to the forest floor and quickly began to fight their way through the zombies and toward Aranor and the preists.

The Zombies were slow but heaven help you when they hit you with there pitchforks and large scythes. They hacked into the incomeing rangers overpowering them in groups.

Seeing the rangers in trouble, the crusaders focused their own energies and unleashed it in a massive wave at the undead attacking the rangers. Some crusaders rode out cutting down their foes with blades forged from blessed steel and infused with the very essence of light. Grabbing them, they rode back to the priests. The priests on the other hand had just finished the final invocations for their spell, they, the crusaders, and the rangers vanished in a pillar of blinding light.

------With Aniel-------
All the priests stood ready. They were ready to begin a mass healing as soon as the group arrived. A split second later, the group arrived. The injured were quickly taken aside and treated by the priests. Meanwhile, Elewithe and Zeliphyr gestured for Aranor to follow them as they searched for Aniel.

------With the ANBU-----
Kimura had received a message from the priest Zeliphyr right before they teleported. Receiving the location to which they had gone, he and the rest of the anbu made a handseal before vanishing a swirl of leaves.

The Zombies slowly move away from the crusaders. The holy weapons hurt and killed them easily. They realized they could not get there enemy to fear them. The Human Archers decided to launch there own hit and shoot tatics on the crusaders and the rangers. (They know this forest pretty well now thanks to the covert tatics used agaisnt the Amerath.

From his throne room, deep under the mountains of the Ranjols, the dwarven king read over the letter from Orodullin. "Undead, aye?" he said to the messenger. "Well, thot'll 'ave ta be remedied. Orodullin is gettin' 'is army together, ya say?"

"Yes, King Thorin," the messenger replied. "The main columns should arrive in three to four days, should you grant us passage through your realm to the Western Wilds. In the meanwhile, King Orodullin has sent fifty soldiers to help you guard your western entrance should the undead attack you before our army is amassed."

The dwarf nodded, "Aye, our two kingdoms have been friends for many a generations, lad, an' I'm not about ta stop anytime soon. Tell yer king thot 'is army may come through 'ere, an' thot I'll be a-bolsterin' 'is ranks with me own warriors."

***

The bright flashes of light from the incoming teleportations told him that magic was afoot. Gaervin flew his dragon over the allied encampment several times, close enough to see what was down there, but far enough to stay out of arrow range. Tarnon, meanwhile, stayed high in the air as ordered. After a few passes, he landed at the outskirts of the camp.

Leaning forward in his seat again, Gaervin whispered, "Try to look menacing, Aria."

Ariadell snorted.

OOC: Undead dragon risen from necromancers? Sure. Vampire dragons? I think that's a little extreme, yeah :)

IC: The Vampire Knights learned one thing. A dragon can not become a vampire. The blood apparently was posionious to this creature and it died from the damage and the vampire blood infecting its system. The Vampire Knights laugh at the dead creature. They however grab ropes from there Nightmares saddles and tie them to the Dragon and the saddles of there Nightmares and 19 Vampire Knights drag the Dragon's Corpse to the main camp the first corpse to become part of the Legion.

The boy was still being taken by his master to the Camp. The Vampire General Sarin had to approve of his inventation into the unholy order. The Vampire Knight who created him just headed to the camp. The boy could feel his body change and feel like it was dying slowly and painfully.

A few seconds after vanishing, the A.N.B.U. squads reappeared in the allied camp. The medics among them circulated themselves and began healing the injured. Several of the anbu however spotted the dragon. With a flurry of handseals, several voices could be heard shouting, "Kanashibari no Justsu!"

OOC: Kanashibari no Justsu- a paralyzing tech. known only to the members of the A.N.B.U. It isn't quite magic, but can resisted or broken by force of will (ie. target's will stronger than anbu's will to hold the person/ object still).

OOC: How did you see the Dragon it is by a lake in the forest. I don't think it is even near the Allied camp agaisnt the Legion of Undead.

IC: The Necromancers had finally arrived they were raising the dead inside Legion's main battle camp. The bodies of fallen enemies and alllies begin to rise as Skeletons, Zombies and even Shadows and Ghouls.

Ariadell felt strange, like her limbs were tightening up and losing their will to move. She cocked her head at this oddity, and realized that it must have been magic or some sort from those who wished to harm her. And so, her natural response was to fight back. She flared her wings aggressively, spreading them to nearly a hundred feet apart to look bigger and more menacing, as she unleashed a deafening roar into the camp. If the roar from earlier was loud, then this one, combined with its close proximity to the camp, would have caused ears to ring. Flames erupted from her nostrils and mouth as she shot them into the air for further intimidation of the enemy, and the wings began to flap, throwing strong gusts of wind all around as she lifted herself into the air.

OOC: I think he means Gaervin/Ariadell, which is right outside the camp.

OOC: er...so did i get it right? o.O???

OOC: @Soragakure: Who were you refering to when you made the Dragon comment?

IC: The flight of two Dragon Wings reach Grim's location. The confer via mindspeak and land far enough away from the forest so that they can confer further in peace.

OOC: Yeah, my dragon landed outside the camp, and I RP'd it getting paralyzed. But it's a dragon...so it has a pretty strong will.

OOC: Rhinara Do you still want to control Kallath and the Dragon. Or do you want me to do it since they joined the ranks of the Undead?

The ten true-Dragons glance around. Four are put on guard duty, one at each point of the compass. They all discuss what they must do over mindspeak channels. Meanwhile, Grim the Gargoyle swoops into the group and relates what he has witnessed so far.

OOC: I'm using true-Dragon here to seperate them from my Were-Dragons.

OOC: You can control them. But if Kallath encounters anyone from Remtkara, ie Tarnon and Gaervin, then I might take control of some of the things he says and does, since I know what he knew back when he was alive.

OOC: Ah...I was referring to Rhinara's dragons. Sorry if I wasn't clear enough.

Kimura's eyes widened in surprise. "You fools!" he shouted. With several quick handseals, he whispered, "Suiton,Suijinheki!" Soon a large amount of water burst from the ground infront of them and surrounded them.

OOC: Suiton,Suijinheki- summons a barrier of water that surrounds the user and those nearby.

OOC: O.K. then

IC: Kallath was still suffering the effects of the transformation to the undead. The Vampire Knight bowed before the Vampire General and said, "My Master, I have created a new spawn for our order. I seek your permission to allow him the chance to join our noble order of undeath."

Sarin looks upon the boy and said, 'What possesed you to make this young lad into a Knight of the Order of the Shadow Sword? He looks hardly strong enough to lift a Leech blade!"

The Vampire Knight responds, "When I looked into his dying eyes something compled me to give him the blood gift."

Sarin laughs and saids, "Very well he may join but he needs to be armed. over there is a pile of armor and Leech swords and shields from fallen Knights armed the young warrior from this day forward he is a Knight of the Order of the Shadow Sword!"

The red Dragon was brought before the Necromancers. They all smile at this new play thing and together all fifty of them raise this beast into a massive skeletion Dragon.

OOC: This Dragon instead of breathing fire breaths a unholy energy that hurts living creatures touched by it. Still causes fear like a dragon except it is more like an aura of dark energy surrounding this unholy creature. Note has no scales.

Ariadell lifted off the ground and continued her ascent upward.

"What are you doing?" Gaervin asked her. "Calm down!"

But the dragon's basic instincts took over and she ignored her rider's commands. Instead, she began spitting out balls of fire into the encampment. Some fizzled out upon impacting the wall of water, heating it up more and more with every hit. Others fell upon the unprotected regions of the camp, as the dragon had no clue who the attackers were, merely that they came from within the barricades. And so, those who were saved from death earlier in the day were once again face to face with it, but this time not from the army of undead.

IC: The Legion had finally reinforced itself, despite the minor skirmishes in the forest and the annoying raid into the plains. The Legion believed it had control of the area. The Vampire General Sarin still wanted to wait for the leaders of the Amerath to respond to his message. He waits and stays in the Forest with his vast host. The Vampire General fears he will lose the intiative. So he has a plan. He orders the newest member of the Vampire Knight Order of the Shadow Sword to ride upon the back of the Skeletion Dragon and scout out the area for signs of enemies in the sky and the ground.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kallath had his armor enchanted by the head Necromancer to make it so he does not fall of during his Dragon ride. He feels a special conection to this creature thus the reason why he was chosen to be the Legions new scout. He was handed a Leech blade and a Leech Lance with a shield. He hads off to the east.

The ten true-Dragons and Grim are all lounging around when one of the guards spots the plumes of fire in the distance. They all take wing and arrow towards the location. The lock on course and begin to home in. The true-Dragons had recognized the plumes as Dragon fire. This being their first mission off the island, they were quite eager to meet one of the local mainland Dragons.

OOC: Is this okay? If not, I'll change it. Just trying to get those fighting the undead in the same location (that, plus what Dragon doesn't like to say hi to others of its species).

Kimura hadn't become the youngest ever supreme commander of the A.N.B.U. by just being good. He knew he had to end this before anyone was seriously injured. Forming a long set of seals, he whispered, "Kokuangyou no Jutsu." This tech. would create an illusion of complete darkness. Forming a string of seals, he whispered, "Fuuton, Fuuryuudan no Jutsu." The air around Kimura began to twist and forming into a dragon shape (chinese dragon not european) and rose toward Ariadell. Hopefully, he could bind that dragon with his wind tech. and stop this needless violence.

OOC: Kokuangyou no Jutsu- Creates an illusion of complete darkness. It traps the opponent into absolute darkness, where they can see nothing but their own body. The person/people trapped inside the genjutsu cannot see the user if the user decides to attack, therefore defending one's self is extremely hard.

The true-Dragon at the head of the formation led the group along a local lay-line. The glow of this lay line was minute and hardly visible to his aged Draconic eyes. The younger Dragons with him wouldn't be able to see it, but they would be able to smell it. Grim flapped his stone wings and kept up the rear of the formation. They were flowing slow, low, and silently so as to not cause any local wildlife to spook and give away their position and so that they could land fast if need be.

OOC: That's fine, Dragon Emperor.

IC:
From up above, Tarnon and Mynocinth saw the whole incident. Figuring that Gaervin discovered them to be enemies, Tarnon decided to help. Mynocinth descended lower while staying out of range of arrows, and began unleashing fireballs of his own. Being younger and unskilled, though, his were not so big, nor hot, nor accurate. Nonetheless, a second set of fireballs began irradically raining down upon the camp, sometimes hitting its targets, sometimes shooting off into the middle of nowhere.

Ariadell and Gaervin, however, were not doing too well. Spinning wildly in the air, and unable to see anything of the outside world, the dragon became even more unsettled, crying out with wails of distress as it breathes fire in every which way, as it could not control nor see where it was now going.

Tarnon backed Mynocinth away, shouting to Gaervin, "What's going on!?"

Gaervin, of course, could not answer back very easily in his state.

OOC: Hey Deatharon, east as in all the way to the mountains and past it, into Remtkara? Cause that's a very, very long way for just scouting. If it's no farther than the mountains, then I've got nothing there, as the forces at Underkingdom are all underground at the moment.

The Vampire Knight Kallath and his undead dragon continued there scouting around the east. They failed to find anything of intrest and decide head back before the inveatiable sun rise.

The Legion notices the sun starting to come up and many of them go into there wagons to hide from the sun's deadly rays.

The Necromancers and the Human soldiers are the only ones that can function during the day. The Legion of the undead litterly halts most of its activity.

OOC: No, he was just checking for enemy forces that could be coming that way.

This was getting way out of hand. Kimura decided to extended his Kokuangyou no Jutsu to include Tarnon and Mynocinth. After doing so, he and all 62 other anbu there flipped through several handseals and said as one voice, "Spell of Fake Sleep." This tech. they hoped would be enough to calm the beasts and end this now.

And so it did. The younger of the two, Mynocinth, was more quickly affected than Ariadell, and so it was the first to fall under the spell. Going unconscious, both dragon and rider came plummeting down to the earth, and would fall right onto the encampment. The much bigger Ariadell was not far behind, and being caught under her as she hits the ground would not be a pleasant experience for anyone.

OOC: Deatharon, check your TG.

This is when the priests chanted a spell of feather fall on slowing their descent greatly. Once they had landed. Kimura and several of the most elite anbu performed a complete version of the Kanashibari no Jutsu. This time, it would completely bind them so that no movement would be possible. Still, with enough will power, they could theoretically break free, but it would be considerably harder now that all of the squads used their own paralysis tech. Two priests walked up and cast a spell at cancelled out the sleep spell.

OOC: I need to go to sleep now, so maybe they could be kept asleep or something for a while longer if you guys want to keep RPing? Heh, I feel bad for Amerath's warriors and stuff, though...

OOC: I sent a Tg back to you

IC: Kallath and his skeletion dragon continued through journey to get back to the camp. They flew over a different course then they one they took. Kallath hoped it would get them to the safety of the forest before sun rise.

Grim and the ten true-Dragons landed within sight of the camp, but far enough away so as to not be considered a threat. Grim padded over as he was the smallest, and they had determined, thus the least threatening. That, and he was the only one in their group that could communicate without using mindspeak.

Grim stopped a meter from the edge of the encampment and called, "Hello in there. Anyone awake?"

OOC: Last post for the night. TTFN.

OOC: Poor Amerath indeed. :D Hadn't expected this too happen.....oh well..thank heaven for priests.

OOC: Ok guys last post for tonight. Please do not attack my forces during this time. use this time to plan. If you wish. When I next post the sun will be setting.

IC: The Vampire Knight Kallath made it with the Skeletion Dragon in time. The Vampire Kallath went into a wagon to sleep for the day. The Skeletion Dragon had to sleep in a large pit which the Necromancers covered with a Darkness spell. The Humans took up guarding postitions. The Legion was for now vulenerable to attack.

OOC: Ok Here is a bump for the others, Note the corruption only happens when the undead have a long term hold on an area. Holy magic can dispell it.

IC: The Sun had finally started to set. As the darkness descended upon the land. The Legion started to stir from there camps in the forest.

The Forest was starting to change from the contact of the corruptive Necromantic magic and the long term presence of the undead soon it would mirror the image of the rest of the Grand Shadow Empire of Deatharon. The forest land would become darker more gloomy and have the look of lack of living ability. It would soon give an aura of hoplessness and doom.

The Legion's warriors noticed this effect and the all of them that could think thought the same thing, this place is just like home.

Gaervin awoke to find that he was on the ground, surrounded by strangers, and unable to move his limbs. Ariadell, Tarnon, and Mynocinth were all nearby, likewise immobile. Those surrounding him were not undead, or so it appeared. Yet, he knew that Ariadell, being one of the better-trained dragons, would not have acted the way she did were it not in self-defense, meaning that these people attacked her first, so they were clearly not friendly. "I am Sir Gaervin, Dragonknight of Remtkara," he spoke out defiantly to his captors. "You hold us prisoner?"

Walking forward taking off his ceramic fox mask, Kimura said, "I have no intention of holding you prisoner. My name is Kimura. I am commander of the A.N.B.U. divisions of Soragakure. I must apologize for several of my soldiers actions. They were already on edge and when they spotted you, they felt it wise to immobilize you so we could make a better assessment." With that, the anbu released their binding techs.

With that, Ariadell once again raised herself and spread her wings out in preparation to intimidate and fight further, but Gaervin held up a hand to her and shouted in a loud, authoritative voice, "ARIA, STOP!"

The dragon hesitated briefly, then succumbed to its master's direct command. Mynocinth, too, knew to stay still from Gaervin's order, as Tarnon stood next to the little dragon and petted its head.

"A mistake, then," Gaervin said, getting to his feet and going up to Kimura. "That is understandable." He looked around at the others in the encampment, searching for any signs of treachery. "There were reports of an undead army attacking these parts. I came to see for myself the authenticity of said reports."

OOC: I go to bed and school and when I come back, there's so much more to read! I'll write up reply's for anything happeneing to my people. If I missed any events including my people, tell me and I'll write something up.

IC:

The evil messagers
----
The great lord Hussarin heard the call of the shadows, he was in no mood to talk to his enemy at this moment, instead, he decided to pick up a small throwing axe and toss it out at the nearest shadow.

"Tell your lord I'll make sure he rots for sure!"
With a huff the lord turned to face the priest.

"Allies you say? Are you sure?" He let out a sigh. "Thank goodness our prayers have been answered, we will allow any friend out yours into this place! Atleast if we die, we die with comrades."

The arrival of the crusaders
-----
Hussarin stared at the people who had just arrived. He was very suprised to suddenly find an army inside his defences. It looked like he had more work to do on the barricades before the undead came.

"What in the 7 Houses of Amerath is this? How did you all get into my defences?"

He was thinking outloud. He suddenly shifted his head towards teh sound of massive roars far in the distance.His warriors heard too and looked as well...
"What was that?"


OOC: next person to say "poor amerath" gets the tickle torture.

The Shadows......

The Shadow that the knife hit phased through the ghost like shadow. The Shadows realize they can not get the barbaric peoples to talk for an end to this conflict. The Shadows begin the journey back to the Vampire General to let him know of the barbarians still needed to be taught a lession in manners.

Hussarin gave a rude gesture to the retreating shadows.
"And tell your lord I have more for him if he wants any as well!"

OOC: So, hey, whoever's running the dwarves, mind if an arkanin finds ya?

OOC: Amerath, sure. Both the dwarven and Remtkaran (human) forces are still in Underkingdom, beneath the Ranjol Mountains far to the east of here. They're waiting for the main body of the Remtkaran army to arrive before going to the surface and westwards to confront the undead. Also, the whole dragon fight thing between my two dragons and Soragakure? That was in your camp, since that's where everyone teleported to. Thus the "poor Amerath," heh.

OOC: The heck? man, this party is going nuts, this is the last time I bring the keg! Also, I'll find your forces with my eldar Arkanin when your army comes out of the ground.

IC:

Hussarin stared at the fighters, it wouldn't take long for a few warriors to march over to them, weapons drawn.
Hussarin shouted over the challenges of his warriors, "Sieze this battle in my camp and tell your allegiance! If I see any combat between possible ally forces in this last sanctuary, then it may as well be the last words you speak!"

The warriors shouted to the cry of the lord, brandishing weapons and some even edging a bit closer to the group. Of course, this would be the best time for an Arkanin, and it was very well timed that the female one suddenly arrived, standing behind the great lord.

The arkanin spoke, "Lord, I bring news. Oh, I see you have already met them."

The Great lord jumped at the voice of the arkanin and turned with his axed raised. He paused and lowered it. "Great tribes, I thought we wouldn't see any more suprises this night! And this news, I don't suppose it was a little combat between these people?"

The arkanin laughed a bit, "No lord, I was going to tell you I found possible allies. Also, have you see the eldar?"

The great lord shook his head, "No, I am sorry, he is still out searching for aid."

With a nod, both returned to watching the previous fighters. If at all possible, they would ask the priests to see to those dragons.

three hours later in the Forest

The Shadows returned to the Shadow Forest as the forest was now called by the legion thanks to the corruption that had spread across the forest. The Shadows bowed before the Vampire General Sarin Mizar The lead Shadow said, "They refuse to agree to peace. We must advance and teach them the meaning of humility."

Vampire General Sarin Mizar was not surpised by this and yelled out to the rest of the Legion, "Legion prepare for war the Imperial Fatherland and the Lich Emperor need us to subdue the barbarian peoples."

The Legion slowly prepares to break camp and begin the advance towards the Amerath barricade. Kallath was ordered to ride upon the Skeletion Dragon and serve as a scout and if need be a arieal attacker for the wall of the Amerath barricade.

During the wait of day to night, the warriors had begun work on ways to get rid of the human archers that had assailed them earlier. the crude form of a catapult had been set up, only one, but still enough. Also, the tents of this usually peaceful village had been covered in wooden planks to keep arrows out of them as well.

Hussarin knew things were going to go bad, he also had heard rumors of one of his lesser lords becoming .. less than satisfied.. with his work.

OOC: Alrighty. They won't be moving for another couple of days or so.

IC:
Gaervin felt little threatened by the tribal warriors of the Amerath Plain. After all, a large, hulking dragon was right behind him, which could easily take out many of them with a single, fiery breath should they attack. Unless, of course, more magic was used against the four of them. He looked over at the man who shouted, "You are the leader of this encampment, then?".

Taking his attention off of Kimura and onto Hussarin, he answered, "I am Sir Gaervin, Dragonknight of Remtkara. I came on reports of undead attacking these lands. As this is your camp, then may I be so bold as to assume you know more of these rumors?"

The Legion marching across the plains......

The Skeletions and Zombies headed the vast force of the Imperial Legion towards the enemy position. The Vampire Knights organized the Ghouls and the other forces into the middle. Kallath and his undead dragon flew above the Legion giving them support from the sky. The Humans swordsmen, and the Human Archers look upon the sight and realize that the Legion was truely invincable. It did not fear death or cower out of fear. It even had shadows moving about ready to hunt the life force of the living. The Necromancers followed at the back with a escort of 100 Vampire Knights.

Hussarin snorted at the dragon person , "Ya, I'm the leader, and these rumors? They do exist, they only happened to take 400 of my warriors the day before, and we only managed to get -5- of them up close!" He spat on the ground in disgust, "The fight didn't last longer than it takes for a bird to flap it's wing before we were outnumbered.."

Hussarin paused to remember his dead, the arkanin looked disturbed at this being her first time hearing of the event. "Now I'm sure the souls of those warriors will wake to fight us now, controled by that force of the damned... Any help you'd be willing to offer would help, though I think the time of Amerath has almost come to close."

With the last sentence, all the warriors looked depressed, they knew his words were true.

Noticing that the commotion had died down somewhat, Aniel and several of his bretheren walked toward the dragons to take care of any possible injuries. The rest of the priests returned to their tasks. As the crusaders dismounted, Elewithe and Zeliphyr strode over to Kimura. "So you have deemed this matter important enough to deploy your squads here?" inquired Zeliphyr. "Zeliphyr!" shouted Elewithe before smacking him on the head with her armored fist, "Please sir. Don't mind him. It's a great honor to actually be working with the A.N.B.U." Chuckling lightly, Kimura said, "I felt that if the council unanimously requested that we take this matter up, then it must truly be important. As far as I can see I made the right choice." As they continued discussions, Several members of the anbu squads vanished in a small puff of smoke.

The two dragons growled at anyone who approached them who were not their riders. They still viewed what happened to them as an attack, and they were not about to trust these strangers.

"What is this undead army composed of? What tactics did they use in attacking you?" Gaervin asked, glancing around at the defenses of the place. "We would do best to secure this area from further such tactics, if it is not so already." He turned to Hussarin, awaiting the answer.

Hussarin was about to answer when the Arkanin called from atop one of the barricades, "You'll be able to see for yourself in a moment, I believe they are coming this way."

Hussarin dismissed the new people and moved onto the barricade next to the Arkanin, "Well well, looks like they got my message after all." He turned and shouted to his warriors, "Everyone into positions, hug the wall, there's no running from here this time, so it's all up to you! And if anyone figures out how to kill these things, I wouldn't mind being enlightened."

The small army attempted to laugh at his joke while moving into places, the 30-man archer force readying their newly replenished arrow stock. Everyone was pounding on their chests and shouting taunts at these beasts. All except Hussarin himself and his 6 Lesser lords. They watched quietly.

"Looks like they came to us, must be in a hurry to face true-death."

The Legion assembling about one 200 yards from the barricade.......

The undead legion had finally come within view distance of the enemy barricade. The Legion reeked of death and doom. The Legion would be a terrifiying sight for the Amerath for they had there fellow warriors up front as zombies and skeletions. The Darkness did not help matters for it help conceal there numbers from the enemy. The Legion would look quite imposing with hundreds of undead with and hundreds of humans. The Vampire Knights rode about the field giving the enemy the impression of thousands of charging Nightmares. The Skeletion Dragon and Kallath above would also look depression to the defenders at well.

The Vampire General Sarin Mizar screamed out to his minions, "Halt and wait!!" The Legion halted in its tracks.

Gaervin looked to the south, but was unable to see anything due to the barricade. Instead, he ran over to his dragon and got into his saddle. Shouting to Tarnon, he said, "Let's go!" With a flick of the reins, he ordered Ariadell into flight. She got up from her sitting position, jostling the rider about, crouched down, then sprung herself upward while unfolding her wings and flapping them, creating another rush of wind throughout the camp.

Tarnon and Mynocinth were in the air quicker, given their significantly lighter weight, and they moved out of the camp, following behind Gaervin and Ariadell.

The dragonknight soared higher and higher, until he was satisfied that they were out of range of arrows, and flew over the undead army, trying to make out what exactly they were doing. Looking over to Tarnon, he shouted, "Stay out of arrow range!" before he dived a little lower to terrorize the undead army with the roars of his dragon. After a couple of passes like this, and regaining some altitude, both dragons began bombarding the undead horde with fireballs.

Hussarin was still ontop the barricade next to the arkanin, despite the protests of his lesser lords, all of whom were hiding behind a barricade.

Hussarin raised his voice over the sound of attacking dragons, "Who leads this evil that -dare- treads on the lands I swore to protect?"

The warriors were watching both Hussarin and the undead, waiting for the order to destroy. The 30-archers stood by, their arrows notched but held firm, they were all veterans from the first massacre, and had escaped simply because they were hunters before the battle.

OOC: So um...where'd Aranor and the Rangers go?

OOC: I have no idea, that's up to you, really. You could have them come play with this army that seems to want the kegs in the party.

OOC: I'm assuming they got teleported into the camp with everyone else.

OOC: That's what I thought. I'll RP as so.

IC: The Rangers began reporting to Aranor so he could see what losses they took in the previous battle. All but 16 Rangers reported in, an unfortunate loss indeed, because Rangers were skilled warriors and they would be difficult to replace. None the less, the remaining rangers rested up and began chopping down trees and forming new arrows, as well as properly tunning their oak longbows for future battles.

Kallath and his Skeletion dragon engage the troublesome dragon and his rider. Kallath pulls out his Leech blade to begin the battle. The Dragon unleashes a blast of Necromantic energy at the opposing dragon in the hope of knocking it out of the sky.


The undead Army was surpised by the onslaught of the enemy Dragon. They had to rely on the Vampire Knight Kallath and his steed to protect them in this battle.

The Legion's Necormancers raise the bodies of the dead humans killed by the dragons attack. (Skeletions)

The Shadows charge at the defending barricade. They could phase through the wall and kill all inside unless the holy magic protected it.

Having somehow missed Kallath and his dragon before now, Gaervin looked around just in time to see the undead dragonrider coming at him. "What in the world?" he asked himself, upon seeing the skeletal creature, before having Ariadell tuck in her wings so that she would suddenly drop, thereby avoiding the strange attack coming from the dragon. The dragon then leveled out and tried to climb back up while avoiding the breath of the skeletal dragon.

Tarnon, not under attack by Kallath, was better able to see who the new undead rider was. "...Kallath?" It couldn't be...could it? "Kallath!" he shouted. "What are you doing!?"

The arkanin watched the closing shadows, she knew the problems they could cause. And it was at this time she chose to reveal her 2 lower arms which began to weave intricate symbols in the air towards the advancing shadows.

As the last symbol was completed, a wall of divine light rose from the ground infront of the barricade, it advanced towards the shadows themselves in the hope of slaying them all before they arrived. ( the wall of light is not just a giant flashlight, it's a holy spell). The wall woud die down shortly before reaching the main host.

Hussarin watched in interest, hoping he wouldn't have to die hiding from a ghost.

OOC: last post, If you RP anything with my warriors, just pretend they are shooting at eachother, or closing in combat. Also, try to send something that my warriors are equal with. I'll post again tomorrow.

The priests halted in their tasks as the undead charged. Their voices rose into the air as they chanted, "Sanctus flamma vallo pallens. Tribuo nos divinus templum." The ground beneath the defenders gave off a pale golden light. The camp had now been sanctified. Entrance by undead and demons would be....hazardous at best. Meanwhile, the rest of the anbu had suddenly vanished in puffs of smoke. The crusaders of the Divine Order hastily remounted and drew their blades. They cast spells of protection and strength upon themselves.

Kallath smiles revealing his ivory fangs. after a few moments he saids, "I was ordered by the Vampire General to defend the Legion from above." He has his Leech blade at ready. The Skeletion Dragon attempts to out manever his opponet. and hit him with another Necromantic blast.


The Shadows realize they can not out run the wall of light. They come together and form themselves into a small void of Darkness that ends up killing half of the Shadows in the entire legion once the light wall passes. The Shadows run back to the Legions front fearful of another holy assualt.

The Legions main troops hold postion and watch the battle in the sky.

OOC: I have to go to work so pretend my forces are still fighting.

Being bigger, Ariadell was much less maneuverable than the undead Thalanx was, but also much faster. With powerful strokes, she steadily increased the distance between her and the undead dragon, but not before being singed by the necromantic blast. She wailed out in pain as tiny bits of her left wing began to decay, but it was small enough to cause little more than an ebbing discomfort after the initial decay. Meanwhile, she turned her head around and let loose a fireball over Gaervin's head, forcing him to duck down in his saddle, to try to hit the undead dragon.

Tarnon and Mynocinth were some distance higher up and to the side of Kallath and Thalanx. Seeing that his friend was lost, and to aid Gaervin, Tarnon had Mynocinth start shooting fireballs down onto Kallath to attack him from two fronts.

OOC: Can someone please help me out, I'm so lost Its pathetic. I can't even find my own posts! Right now my army's moving to help the elves and dwarves and such...but where are they? and what's happneing? I'll post as soon as someone tells me, if thats alright...but i'm lost.

OOC: Can someone please help me out, I'm so lost Its pathetic. I can't even find my own posts! Right now my army's moving to help the elves and dwarves and such...but where are they? and what's happneing? I'll post as soon as someone tells me, if thats alright...but i'm lost.


OOC: The only post you made was on the first page, asking if you can join (unless this is an alt of yours). If you haven't already done so, read through the entire post if ya wanna join - that's the best way to know exactly what's going on. But in short, the Amerath tribes are making their last stand. There are a few elven rangers within there. There aren't any dwarves yet (the only ones mentioned so far were my dwarves, I believe, and they won't be arriving for another two or so days). The undead legion is beginning its assault on the Amerath encampment.

OOC: Wow! One day and I come back to about 3 new pages.

IC: Noting the arrival of the Undead army, Grim slips quietly into the shadows of the night. He quickly returns to the spot where the true-Dragons waited and informed them of it. The true-Dragons conversed over mindspeak. A decision was reached and Grim was told what he needed to do. Grim nodded his understanding at the mindspeak message from the true-Dragons and took to the air to follow his instructions.

A few minutes later...

Grim glided over the army. He made sure to keep to the shadows cast by the clouds. Spotting a target, he swooped down and grabbed one of the Deatharon human archers. His hind-limbs held onto the mans legs while his fore-limbs held onto his shoulders. He whacked the man on the head with one hand in an attempt to knock him uncounsious. With his cargo, Grim flew back to the true-Dragons. They wanted information about what was going on.

The A.N.B.U. squads had reappeared a fair distance away behind the undead army.
With several hand signals, the anbu formed into their squads. Each group had three members. One in a white cloak and two in black. With another gesture, they dashed toward the enemy more silently than the wind gently blowing through the leaves. Several of them were beginning to form a long set of handseals as well.

OOC: Just so everyone knows, I'm not playing as THL, I'll be playing as this nation: http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi/target=display_nation/nation=the_elven_forests for this RPG, of course their population will be greatly reduced.

IC:

2,200 Elves marched down the dirt road, forest on both flanks and nothing visible ahead. The Elven Queendom had heard of the destruction and death of their kind in this land, and had decided to dispatch a force to help the Elves in this land, under the command of Captain Nerwen Carnesîr. Nerwen was the veteran of several small wars, so she was an excellent choice. She rode atop a heavily armored horse, her leading unit a small force of heavy Calvary. She wore thick, silver mithril armor over a blue traveling tunic and skirt. The swan like helmet on her head hid most of her curly brown hair, but a good deal of it still hung out the back of it.

The Elves in her company were archers, but they also doubled as warriors. The Elves preferred flexibility over numbers. The last 200 were made up of Calvary, 100 light Calvary, and 100 heavy. The Elves were confident they were enough to destroy the taint of evil within this land...but first, they needed to find the Rangers and Elves they had seen earlier...

OOC: The only post you made was on the first page, asking if you can join (unless this is an alt of yours). If you haven't already done so, read through the entire post if ya wanna join - that's the best way to know exactly what's going on. But in short, the Amerath tribes are making their last stand. There are a few elven rangers within there. There aren't any dwarves yet (the only ones mentioned so far were my dwarves, I believe, and they won't be arriving for another two or so days). The undead legion is beginning its assault on the Amerath encampment.


OOC: I'm pretty sure your talking about my Rangers? If you are, just FYI, the Tocrowkians aren't Elves, their humans. ;)

OOC: I'm pretty sure your talking about my Rangers? If you are, just FYI, the Tocrowkians aren't Elves, their humans. ;)

OOC: Whoops, sorry. Alrighty, I'm going to bed now; miserably sick. Good night, y'all.

IC: The skeletal Thalanx could not dodge the incomeing fire ball which hit him the face. This hurt quite a bit but did not deter the now angry Thanlanx who retalated with a Necormantic blast aimed at Ariadell's rider Gaervin.

Kallath notices the incomeing fire balls and orders Thalanx to take evasive action. They try to dodge Mynocinth's fireball attacks.

One of the Necromancers notices the fight and cast a spell upon the dragon Thalanx. The Necromancer chants in an ancient language created back in the days of darker more sinster times. The Spell was Unholy armor (creates a barrier of Necromantic energy around the target creature and protects it from enemy attacks and deals damage to living creatures that touch it.) The Necromancer hoped the spell would even the odds for his side of the conflict.


A small group of ten Necromancers start to chant in the same ancient language used by the Necromancer that helped the undead dragon. They are attempting to dispell the protections around the barricade with Necromantic energy. The sight of huge dark energy ball heads straight for the protections around the baricade. with luck this would make it so the Undead legions could come through.


The Human Archer was knocked out and was unable to stop his aduction in anyway. The others do not notice he is gone in the confusion of the massive battle.

Hussarin still stood next to the Arkanin on the barricade, he snorted at the enemy army. He was worried, but not detered. His eyes wandered over the warriors hiding behind the barricades, and the archers launching arrows out over the barricade to try to stop the enemy's advancement.

Hussarin next looked to the clouds, not sure of what was going on up there, but ... He was cut off as he saw a large crater appear behind his barricades from a dragon's fireball going off course.

The Arkanin spoke first, "Lord, things are getting out of control."

Hussarin nodded in agreement, "Yes, I Know. The sudden appearence of so many allies is reassuring, but I'm afraid with their army, we are still weak. We'd need another force of equal size to aid us."

Hussarin raised his hand and waved it foward, signalling the single catapult to fire. When it did fire, a massive fireball was launched, but in midair, the ball broke apart. Each peice that broke off was a well-sized tree trunk that came unbound to it's fellow tree trunks and was set on fire in attempt to destroy enemy or frighten them.

The Humans warriors of the Legion start to fall back behind the more powerful undead to avoid the burning fire bits comeing at them. One of the Necromancers begins to chant. A large ball of dark energy starts to form and he throws it at the enemy barricade. The Dark energy would explode upon impact damaging anything it touches.

The Ghouls charge at the Amerath barricade.(They are human sized undead that can be killed like a normal human but they have posionus claws and they are a little scary up close. I think that will be a fair fight.)

OOC: Where are you arthas!?

Hussarin saw one of the barricades recieve a breach and quickly left the Arkanin to fend to herself as she set upon the task of keeping anymore of those destructive black energy balls from breaching the barricade any more.

Hussarin jumped into the breach first, roaring at the oncoming tide as his warriors joined him and his archers peppered the ghoul line with arrows.

Hussarin bellowed out a challenge, "Any creature ment to be dead that enters this land will face my axe! Come if you wish -true death!-"

Several Ghouls fell do to the arrow volley. They charge in the messey pack like groups. The ones that breech the barricade bear out there claws and attack the nearest enemy they find. They seek to devour the flesh of the enemies dead.

Hussarin was the only person in the scores of warriors to stand out more than the Arkanin. Rather than only wearing a grey wolf's pelt on his head, he wore a gigantic white wolf pelt, a rare breed to Amerath. The pelt reached down even to the ground where the back legs dragged. The front legs of the pelt were wrapped around his chest as if the thing was hugging it. And rather than having wood planks, he wore all metal, looking somewhat like a samurai of a far off land called Japan.

Hussarin pulled 2 small throwing axes out from behind his pelt, tossing it at the 2 nearest ghouls before leading a charge of 20 warriors at the now close-in ghouls, pulling out his axe to behead anything that got near him and wasn't wear the grey wolf pelt.

"Die beasts!"

The priests sensed the incoming darkness. Half of them began continually channeling energy into keeping the area consecrated in order to keep more ghouls from breaking in. The other half either cast spells of protection on the archers or healed the injured.

---------------behind the undead army---------------------

Having come within sight of the attacking army, the anbu halted. 21 of them formed several handseals before whispering, "Kokuangyou no Jutsu." Another 21 of them finished a long set of seals before saying, "Katon, Housenka no Jutsu." The air was filled with balls of fire as they headed toward the undead lines. The remainder of the anbu then finished their seals, using the Kanashibari no Jutsu. Hopefully, the techniques would first blind many of the enemy and then paralyze them before the fire techniques would burn them.


OOC: Katon, Housenka no Jutsu- A technique where the user blows multiple fire balls from his mouth. It can also be combined with throwing weapons, which creates weapons engulfed in flames.

The 30 Ghouls that breeched the barricade counter charge the 20 warriors led by Hussarin. They were led by a Ghast a more powerful and dangerous Ghoul. There posionious claw at ready. They would radiate a faint aura of fear to anyone who knew there histroy of eating there own kind and the smell of graveyard dirt. More Ghouls noticed the breech and kept coming.



OOC: Ghouls and Ghasts have no armor or weapons other than there skin and claws.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit: Behind Undead Legion

The Vampire Knights notice the Anbu priest and call out there presence to the Necromancers,

The Necromancers in the back start another Necormantic chant. A wall made of Necromantic magic forms to protect the Legion from incomeing assualting magic. The enemies spells that made it through were devasting as 20 Vampire Knights were frozen and burned to death by the magical power of the Anbu priests.

OOC: for notice, those "A.N.B.U" are ninja.

IC:

Hussarin noted the Ghast and launched himself at it, bringing his great axe to bear on the creature while the warriors engaged the other ghouls. Hussarin would move almost too fast for people of his kind, bringing steel to bear on claw and axe to rotting flesh of any ghoul in the way of the ghast.

"Face true-death!"

The Ghast was only able to reply with a guttering snarl at Hussarin. The Ghast was easily faster than his comrades. He jumped up and prepared to use his posionious claws on Hussarin. The other ghouls took notice of Hussarin. They were surrounded by food that they planed to take down. Some of them fell before enemy axes and blades but even a little cut from a Ghouls claw could be fatal.

Hussarin watched as within the first few seconds, he had already lost 5 warriors, but more were coming to back him and his comrades up from the other areas of the barricade.

Hussarin saw the ghast jump. He ducked down under it and brough his axe up in a position that would make it possible to gut the ghast as it passed over him. (What happens is up to you).

The arkanin far off was watching the battle with quiet pondering. It wasn't long before her attentions were turned to the mass swarming the breach. She quickly began reforming symbols and when she finished, she focus on the breach and the quickly forming ranks behind the ghast. At first, it seemed nothing happened, then there was a quick flash of light (Holy attack), it looked like a lightning strike, and it was soon followed by 40 more striking in close proximity of the breach.

OOC: We're sorry, but Prince Arthas is currently on vacation. If you wish to leave a message, please state your name, number, and preferred time for a return call after the beep.

IC:
Gaervin looked around just in time to see the incoming attack from Thalanx. He ordered Ariadell to drop as he leaned forward to avoid the blast, but he was not quick enough. The necromantic blast seared his back, and he gritted his teeth in pain as living flesh began to die off within seconds.

Tarnon positioned Mynocinth above and slightly behind the undead dragon and its rider; close, but not close enough for physical combat. After a couple of tries, Mynocinth unleashed a single, fiery breath. Not a fireball, but a deadlier torching akin to those of flamethrowers.

The Ghast noticed the Axe and struck with his claws trying to force the axes away. This would off balance Hussarin but also make the Ghast land without the ability to strike him untill he landed. The Ghast was angry but prepared to charge at Hussarin in a one one hand to hand clash.


The attacks killed 35 Ghouls and left 12 others injured. The problem was there were now hundreds there and they were trying to get pass the barricade and help overwhelm the enemy. The Zombies and Skeletion were charging to help in the assualt. The Human Swordsmen charge as well hundreds of them. The Vampire Knights hold postions along with the Necromancers and the Shadows.

Hussarin rolled foward and away from the Ghast, which brought him out of reach of the claws, but he quickly turned around and rushed the ghast, trying to avoid the claws while bringing the axe in for a cleaving sweep.

By now, 40 more of the warriors had joined into the fray, with more coming to reinforce them. But of the first 20 warriors to be with Hussarin, all of them were dead, lying in various forms of death. It wouldn't be long before another 40 warriors arrived, and they would keep coming to aid their lord.

The Arkanin felt that she had bought the great lord some time, and turned back to keeping any more dark energy balls away.

Seeing the breach, the crusaders let out an earthshattering warcry before riding toward it with their swords shining with holy energy.

The anbu then drew several kunai. Wrapping a small tag on the handle of each of them, they threw them toward the enemy. Their hands blurred as they formed a short set of seals before whispering, "Kage kunai no Jutsu." The kunai that were already flying at the enemy suddenly multiplied exponentially. Several of the captains dressed in the white reached into their cloaks and each pulled out a scroll.

The battle still raged as the warriors tensed themselves for the arrival of the next wave of Undead, their ranks now bolstered to 100. Some lost nerve and ran, but they were soon cut down by their much tougher allies.

OOC: Hey, do the ghouls follow the beheading rule of zombies

Dragon Fight in the air........

The flaming breath from Mynocinth. Hit the Unholy Armor which absorbed the greater bulk of the attack with its dark energy. Kallath felt firey blast and cried in pain his Vampiric regeneration would kick in if he had some blood.

The Undead Thalanx sends a Necromantic energy blast of his own at Mynocinth. Thalanx heads at them as he does this hopeing to get Kallath close enough his Leech Lance agaisnt the enemy.

Ghast Battle.....

The Ghast dodges the Axes blows with quick and precise jumps and flips. (highly acrobatic) The Ghast always tries to make a counter swipe with its deadly claws......

Battle For the Barricade.......

The Human Swordmen were starting to enter and attack the Amerath barbarians. The Humans had long swords with studdied leather armor and a shield plus a skull cap helemets. They screamed, "Glory for the Imperial Fatherland and Long may the Lich Emperor reign!!" The Ghouls and other undead creatures follow the humans example and redouble there efforts to attack the enemy.

Kimura and six other captains stood at the front of the anbu squads. The captains pricked themselves and smeared their blood onto the scrolls, performing several handseals, before slamming them into the ground. Kimura on the otherhand, pricked his thumb and swiped the blood onto his palm before slamming it into the ground. Seven large explosions of smoke soon covered them. Out of the smoke, a phoenix burst out with Kimura riding on its back seeminly unharmed by its flaming body. The cries and roars of wolves, eagles, hawks, and bears could be heard from inside the smoke.

Battling the Ghast
The great lord seeing that his battle with the ghast was equal sided, decided to gain favor for him. He threw his great axe at the ghast before reaching back to grab his last two throwing axes and use them as melee weapons as he rushed the ghast.

Battle of the barricade
The warriors attacked anything comnig near the barricade with call for revenge of their fallen comrades. The women, teenagers, adults, and eldarly charged the undead horde, hoping to bring about their true-death. And in all of this, the female Arkanin suddenly appeared, she had decided that the necromancer's were busy with the dragon. In each of her four arms there were short swords, she became a whirlwind of death and rotting-blood.

Beyond the barricade
Beyond the barricade, the catapult and archers fired into the swarming mass, sending their tree trunks and arrows into the mob.

The priests seeing some of the warriors fall, quickly called out to the crusaders. Nodding they charged headlong into the undead invaders slashing away with holy blades and an occasional burst of holy energy. The priests surged forward behind them. Unceasing prayers were murmured as they began healing the injured and attempting to revive some of the recently slain. Others on the other hand let loose blasts of healing energy. They would heal those hit by them and injure the undead that happened to be nearby.

Unable to avoid the blast from this distance, Mynocinth took the brunt of the hit in his left wing. The leathery skin immediately began deteriorating, spreading up to the socket where the wing joined the body. With a wail, the dragon plummeted towards the earth, trying vainly to flap its wings to stay afloat, but to no avail.

By then, however, Ariadell had turned around and was now in hot pursuit of Kallath, sending fireball after fireball with only a second's delay between each, in an attempt to keep the undead dragon from harming Mynocinth and Tarnon any further.

***

Meanwhile, far to the east...

Two dragonknights flew through the peaks of the Ranjol Mountains, making their way westward. Clouds covered portions of the mountaintops, making for a chilly journey, but the glow of the moon reflecting off of the snow-laden peaks served to some degree to make the trek more friendly. Suddenly, from somewhere in the mountains, he heard someone shout, "Agh! It's about time yer wee lit'le dragon showed up in me mountains. I thought I'da 'ave ta come 'n drag ya out o' yer city meself!"

Hassion frowned and looked about him. Off to the side, he noticed a large cliff with three dwarves and three gryphons. He grinned, as one of them wore the distinctive tri-winged helmet of his friend, Freylin. He nodded to the other dragonknight behind him before changing course to the cliff. After landing on it and getting off his dragon, Hassion went up to the dwarf and clasped his hand in greeting. "Shout any louder and you would have the entire mountain avalanching over your head, fat man."

"I say brrring it!" Freylin said with a laugh, lifting his hammer up as if in defiance of the mountains themselves.

"So what are you three doing out here?" Hassion asked.

"King Thorin said tha' you hew-mons might be needin' some 'o our help, so we've been awaitin' 'ere fer ya," said the dwarf.

"Well, the two of us are just looking for three of our dragon riders," Hassion said. "They've been gone far longer than expected, and what with the rumors of undead farther to the west, we fear they may be in need of aid."

"Then a good thing we're 'ere, aye, laddy?" Freylin turned to his two dwarven comrades. "Sad'le up, there be lit'le time to be awastin'." He headed over to his gryphon and said to Hassion, "Let's go!"

Battle for the barricade.....

The 20 Necromancers noted that several people had fallen in battle against the enemy. They smile and cast the most powerful spell they know. The Plague of Undeath Spell. A shadowy mist appears around the barricade battle. The black mist enters into the bodies of fallen living warriors from both sides. The bodies begin to rise as zombies. The fear of seeing there fallen comrades becoming part of the Undead legion would put a feeling of hoplessness in the hearts of the defenders. (note prior undead creatures that fell stay dead and the flaming fire ball killed a lot of humans and undead creatures.)

Battleing Ghast.......

The Ghast easly batted away the axe that was thrown at him but the enemy managed to hack into his body with one of the throwing axes. The Ghast screams in pain.

OOC: cutting off the head of a ghoul would kill it.

Nerwen and her troops neared the sight of the battle quickly, and saw the army of the undead. The Elves set up postions and two hundred Elven archers fired a volley at the undead monsters, hoping to draw attention to them selves and away from the priests.

Barricade battle
The defenders, seeing the dead rise brought a sense of dread, some tried to run, but again, they were cut down by the stronger warriors, seeing these dead meant they were like the rest, and had to be cut down like the other undead.

The arrival of crusaders lifted the spirits of the warriors, and they gave off a battle cry and charged around their great lord, meeting the undead head on.

Battling the Ghast
Hussarin made a swing the head of the Ghast now that it seemed to be distracted with the blade in its side.

"Face true-death!"

Seeing elves today
The Arkanin withdrew her blade from one of the many new zombies, over 30 new undead had been brought to life from the fallen warriors, it was good to know that however many died, another 100 would soon arrive to reinforce the last 70 warriors. But before she began her attack again, a glint of metal caught her eye, and she looked into the sky to see arrows.. lots of arrows, falling onto the horde of undead. She quickly jumped ontop of one of the barricade debris areas and looked out, she gasped at the army.

"Lord! Elves come!"

And then, under the cover of a vail of arrows, Aranor appeared out from the forest. The Tocrowkian Rangers had once again come to aid their allies agains the dead, and they would not falter. Twenty Rangers, including Aranor drew their long swords and charged into the Undead ranks head on...

Dragon Battle.......

Kallath and Thalanx recieve a command from the Vampire General Sarin Mizar. The order to retreat. The enemy Dragon's fire balls had broken what was left of the unholy armor and the bones of Thalanx were scorched from the flames. The Undead Dragon and rider begin to fly in the direction of the forest hopeing the others would go to help there comrade.


Vampire General Sarin Mizar.....

The Vampire General Sarin Mizar noted the reniforcements from some unkown group of Elves. He orders a mass retreat back to Shadow Forest.

The Battle of the barricade.......

The Legion's core forces recieve the message, The Shadows spread the message retreat to the Shadow forest. The Undead Legion starts to head back some cases running in others shambling to get to the saftey.

The Battle with the Ghast.....

The poor creature had its head hacked right off. It fell to its knees and died right there. It's body turning into dust as time took it rightful toll on the corpse.

Gaervin was still leaning forward in his saddle, as sitting up hurt too much for his back. Nonetheless, he saw the skeletal dragon suddenly fly off. Was this a trick? A ruse to make him lower his guard? There was no time to consider these possibilities, for Tarnon and Mynocinth were in mortal danger.

Folding her wings in, Ariadell dived vertically to try to overtake Mynocinth. Upon passing the smaller dragon up, now very close to the ground, she spread her wing out and flew beneath him, attempting to slow his descent some. It helped a little, as Mynocinth gently bounced onto Ariadell before rolling off at a much slower velocity than before.

Tarnon undid the fastenings that kept him in his saddle, and prepared to jump before hitting the ground. The earth still came at him at a rate much faster than he would have liked, but at least it was not as fast as before. Mynocinth was still trying to flap his wings, to some use. Then the dragon hit, tumbling and rolling over himself and stirring up dirt and dust. Tarnon leapt away from Mynocinth, likewise rolling into the ground.

Ariadell landed not far from the two, and Gaervin quickly went to check on Tarnon, who was not moving.

OOC: I thought it was supposed to take the second legion three weeks :P But anyway, off to class for me. Laters.

Hussarin pulled his great axe from the ground where it wedged itself after being thrown at the ghast. He sat down on a debris pile, looking off into the retreating army. All around him lay dead warriors, undead, and human-fighters of the undead. The female Arkanin came and sat next to him, she was also tired from the fight.

Hussarin spoke first as he watched his warriors give final rights to their dead, even the ones that were ressurected by the necromancers from the first battle and this new battle. "We lost many today, another 100 dead, atleast we fought longer than last time.." The great lord stomped his foot into a not quite true-dead zombie which was crawling towards the forest.

The Arkanin nodded, "If the eldar was here, he'd know what to do, but I suppose I'll have to make due today. We lost many warriors, but we took our toll on them."

OOC: I'ma hit up DOW: Winter assault, I'll check back here in a few hours.

Hussarin sat still, his lesser lords tending to the wounded as they all waiting for their new allies to introduce themselves. He would stand out as the only one in the great white wolf pelt.

OOC: Did I say three weeks I though I said a week? My bad will edit

Nerwen was amazed her army had suffered no casualties in their first battle, but pleased. It was now time to introduce her self to her new allies. She rode up on her horse to the man she had guessed was in command, the one with the white wolf pelt.

"I am Nerwen Carnesîr of the Woodland realms. After hearing of the destruction of the Elves in these lands, I have come to assist them and their allies."

Seeing the enemy retreating, the priests rushed out to treat the injured immediatly. The anbu dispelled their summons and vanished in a puff of smoke.

OOC: Here goes.

IC: No one saw the two figures approaching the barricade from behind until they were already inside. Wounded soldiers were being toted back and forth on crude stretchers while the more fortunate warriors sat and drank mead or rum to calm their nerves. The Undead army was a cloud of dust by now.

The two figures were dressed in gray robes and wore oval masks over their faces. When they entered the barricade, their hoods fell back and they removed their masks. One of them was a 22-year old woman with, at first glance, a bright smile. On second glance, someone woudl notice that her teeth were rather too long and that her eyes were dark red.

Her companion, a man of about thirty winters, had the same set of features, right up to the red eyes. He heaved a sigh, watching the bustle around him, and said, "We're late. The Undead have already been driven away."

"They'll be back, Khalin," the woman said, pushing a string of black hiar out of her eyes. She spotted a stately man in a white wolf pelt, talkng to a couple more people.

"My lord?" she asked tenativley.

The priests during their task, discovered much to their dismay that the crusaders, having chosen to charge them head on to help buy the other warriors some time and respite, suffered a large loss on their part. Out of the thirty that had come here, only twelve remained. Muttering prayers of peace, the priests bid their fallen bretheren farewell.

Grim dropped his burden to the ground. The ten true-Dragons, each representing one of the known elements of nature, even though no all the Elements were represented, this group would use the powers they did have to do what they needed to do, gathered around. Five bent their necks to peer closely at the face of the Deatharon archer. They would be the first thing he saw when he awoke. Meanwhile, Grim padded softly back into the night.

The great lord looked up at the elf, and raised a fist to his chest in salute. "I believe I owe you a great amount of gratitude for arriving when you did, we were in a losing struggle there.My name is Hussarin, most call me Great Lord."

He then nodded to the priests, "I thank you for the aid of those who died, they kill undead well.."

And now to the gray robes, "And who might you be?"

Well, looks like -more- allies had arrived, not to mention the dragons too, whom' he waved a hand to a few of his warriors and set them to check on the dragons, he also wanted to know who -they- were.

The female Arkanin had put her two lower arms back in their robes and was standing behind Hussarin as his advisor.

The Undead Legion was double timeing its retreat hopeing to get away from the enemy. They hoped the second Legion would arrive soon.


The Human Archer woke up and saw the Dragons, He naturally feels really frightened and surpised. The Archer gets up and tries to run away from them as fast as his body can take him.

OOC: Waiting for someone else to post before I do

Kimura reappeared in the camp flanked by two of his captains. Walking over to Hussarin, he said, "I hope you don't mind, but my squads are now laying traps around the camp. Also, I have received word from the high council. The first army should reach here in about three days at most."

Anbu could be seen touching the ground here and there, putting a strip of paper here and drawing seals into the ground.

OOC: Great now I am in for It. My guys will not have reinforcements for another three weeks and you can get them in three days ouch.

IC: The Undead Legions finally make it to the Elven forest that they have corrupted and named Shadow Forest. They begin reorganizing themselves. The Vampire General Sarin has a message for the Lich Necro Magus of Xharn. (Xharn is the nearest Imperial City) He has a Necromancer use a mirror to talk to the Necro Magus and Sarin sighs as he give news about the horriable defeat from the barbarians.

Hussarin looked up at kimura, "Your help is much appreciated, but I don't think I can repay your gratitude.. also, who are you exactly? Who are all of you?"

Hussarin still wanted answers as to who everyone was, it was confusing. The great lord signed and relaxed on the debris pile some more, flexing out his aching muscles from the fight with the Ghast. As he looked past Kimura, he could see groups of warriors looking around the dead, searching for those who were lost during the first battle, they were hoping they could find them and give them a proper burial. Some found who they were looknig for, others didn't and wept for their souls.

Hussarin looked at the breach itself, he noticed two of the lesser lords talking to eachother and looking at him strangely.. He was afraid there would soon be a revolt in the lines.

(History lesson! Current day Amerath has 6 houses, one of the 7 dying off. The 6 houses each represent an animal, from the first to last house, they iconage the following in order: Bear, Wolf, Spider , Hawk, Crocodile, Serpent. Each house trains elite soldiers to serve them and reflect their creatural icon. There is a general army, companies of soldiers of the general army are assigned to each house to be commanded, thus for never allowing any one house to become too power. This should be shown why in my next few posts!)

*Snip*

The Human Archer woke up and saw the Dragons, He naturally feels really frightened and surpised. The Archer gets up and tries to run away from them as fast as his body can take him.


One of the Dragons whips a tail in the man's path.

Three of the Dragons send a question over mindspeak straight into his mind, "Where do you think you are going, little one?"

The Deatharon Archer replies in a shaken voice, "Back to the Legion before they have me killed for being a diserter." His whole body is shaking in fright at the sight of these massive beasts.

Two of the Dragons look at each other.

The third sends another message, "You will be taken back to the island after we have finished our little talk. Do you understand that, little one?"

One of the other Dragons looks away and sneezes. A slight plume of flame billows from his nose.

The Archer saids in a surpised voice, "What Island are you refering to?" The Archer had droped his long bow and his quarrel of arrows was also on the ground by his feet.

OOC: Fantasy island. Once again, I'm waiting for one of the people around my army to speak up.

The Archer saids in a surpised voice, "What Island are you refering to?" The Archer had droped his long bow and his quarrel of arrows was also on the ground by his feet.

The island of Dinotopia. Its far from here and full of characters from all the world. Getting there is the easy part, getting off it is the hard part," replies the Dragon that had sneezed.

Two of the other Dragons nod.

The largest Dragon asks, "Should we settle the matter of names now, or would you rather get straight into answering our questions?"

OOC: hehe:D I should have said the advanced forces of the first army..thus not quite as dangerous. Oh btw, the regular soldiers (ie. priests, crusaders, knights, mages, etc.) are divided into three orders: the Divine Order, the Holy Order, and the Heaven Order. There is one more but.....

IC: -------------City of Aravel, one of the border cities------------------

The sound of marching could be heard as the advanced forces of the first army began to get into formation. From a balcony, Sir Isiel, captain of the crusaders of the Divine Order for the first army, and his friend Lady Lireth were watching the soldiers. There was a small rap on the door. "Come in," said Isiel. The door opened to reveal a blond haired high elf wearing a pale silver robe with gold symbols sewn in on the sleeves and collar. "So our dear friend the commander of the advanced forces mage divisions has deemed us worthy of his presence," said Isiel mockingly. Chuckling softly, the mage replied, "Indeed Isiel, Lord Kimura has just been informed of our progress. My mages should be ready in an hourt to warp us as close as possible to the plains of Amerath." "Understood, Mathlen," replied Lireth. "Did Lord Kimura give us any orders to deliver to his lancer divisions back in Soragakure?" asked Isiel. "No," replied Mathlen, "He said that the his lancers should remain in reserve until the right moment...though he didn't clarify when that'd be." The three turned back to observe the movement of soldiers outside.

---------Back at the encampment-------
Kimura paused to consider how to answer the question. Meanwhile, a medic from one of the squads came over check to see if he had sustained any injuries. "Well," Kimura began, "Ahh that is correct, I haven't yet introduced myself properly. My name is Kimura, commander of the A.N.B.U. forces of Soragakure and one of the captains of the Lancers of the Sacred Order. I was sent by the high council to aid you in these dark times. The priests and crusaders who helped you, were merely wandering and exploring the lands outside of Soragakure before the call to arms came. There are most likely more that are still coming, though I must admit that I know not when the will arrive. Is there anything else you would like to know?"

Priests rushed out to where the dragonknights were. Several anbu medics rushed in to as well.

The Archer saids in a respectful voice, "Names would be apperciated if that is alright with you." He hopes these dragons are not like the Dragons rumored in his own country. Those Dragons would not care if they killed a human like a human would swat a fly.

OOC: Oh i forgot to mention the size of the advanced forces.

30 priests of the Divine Order
30 crusaders of the Divine Order
10 mages of the Divine Order
10 mages of the Holy Order
10 mages of the Heaven Order
50 archers (mix of all three orders)

The Archer saids in a respectful voice, "Names would be apperciated if that is alright with you." He hopes these dragons are not like the Dragons rumored in his own country. Those Dragons would not care if they killed a human like a human would swat a fly.

The largest Dragon gestured at himself and the two Dragons closest, "As we three are the ones who will be asking the questions, I'll provide our three names. Those of the others can wait for later," he pointed at his white hide, "I am Nuju, I am of Ice," he moved his claw to point at the the slightly smaller blue Dragon on his left, "her name is Nokama, she is of Water," he pointed to the red Dragon on his right, the one that sneezed earlier, "and he is Vakama, he is of Fire, as you saw earlier."

Nuju held out a single talon in a common human gesture. He only hoped the man before him would recognize it as such.

Ignoring the pain in his back, Gaervin knelt down by his motionless trainee. The dragonknight rolled Tarnon over onto his back, who then let out a painful grunt, clutching at his left arm with his right.

"Careful, boy," Gaervin said, "you took a hard fall there. I would not be surprised if the arm is broken. Try not to move it too much. Can you get up?"

Tarnon took several deep breaths, trying to keep the tears at bay, before nodding and slowly made his way to his feet. The first thing he did after getting up was to check on his dragon, which he went to as quickly as he could.

The young Mynocinth was already up and about, with the full-grown Ariadell watching over him. The left wing, which was hit the hardest from the necromantic blast, hung lifelessly to the side, and he walked with a limp.

"Are you okay, Myno?" Tarnon asked as he scratched the top of Mynocinth's head. The dragon whimpered a little bit, but Tarnon knew that he liked to act more hurt than he really was some times. "You'll be alright," he said, now patting the dragon.

"Looks like you two can travel by land, at least. I want the both of you to go back east. The entrance to Underkingdom is in the valley between the two tall peaks over there," Gaervin pointed eastward to the Ranjols. "If you cannot find it, then there should be several scouts in that area by now, so they will find you."

"But sir, these people need our help," Tarnon protested.

The knight shook his head. "Neither you nor Mynocinth are in any shape to fight, boy. You are not even ready for a fight of such a scale."

"But that was Kallath back there!" said Tarnon. "I need to know what happened to him!"

"Obey my commands, boy," Gaervin said, giving the teenager a stern look.

That is when the Amerath warriors and the priests appeared.

The Archer drops to the ground near his arrows and bow. He assumed this dragon was planing to swap him with its massvie Talons.

One of the medics reached them first. He pulled off his ceramic mask, revealing piercing green eyes, before asking, "Are either of you hurt?" The other medics and priests were not far behind.

Aranor decided to speak up.

"This camp will not hold another assault. We must fall back to a more secure location."

Gaervin looked at the medic skeptically before gesturing towards Tarnon. "His arm," he said.

Nodding, the medic walked over to Tarnon. "Sir," he said, "This shouldn't hurt a bit." A gentle, pale green aura soon surrounded the medics hand as he moved it slowly over Tarnon's arm. The other medics and priests arrived then. One of the priests turned to ask Gaervin whether or not he had sustained any injuries or if the dragons need some healing as well.

Dragon Gathering

Seeing the man's reaction, Nuju drops retracts his talon and puts it on the ground.

Giving the Draconic equivilant of a shrug, he sends, "You have no cause to fear any of us. If this were a combat situation, however..."

He let the implied meaning hang in the air unspoken. Nokama whacked him playfully with her tail.

"Come on," she sent, "You don't have to be so big and scary. Can't you see the man is practically terrified of us? Perhaps you should hold back and let me be in charge of asking the questions."

"Very well," came the reply, "ask away, Nokama."

Nokama turns to the Deatharon archer and sends, "You haven't told us your name yet, little one."


OOC: This is taking place on the general mindspeak channels and not on private ones, so your archer can 'hear' the conversation between Nuju and Nokama, Deatharon.
F.Y.I.: 'Little one' in this instance, is used to indicate age.

The Damaged Camp

Grim walked up to the opening made in the defense of the camp.

"Hello," he called, his stone eyes scanning what lay beyond the opening, "Is anyone still alive in there? I come in peace."

Hussarin nodded to Kimura, "Good to meet someone that is outside my tribe and still breathing air." A bad joke about undead, and the mass amounts of them thus far.

Hussarin heard Grim and turned to look at him. Great, another person.
"Yes, we're very much alive, thanks to whatever divine being's whims, and the arrival of several many forces at once. Now if you don't mind introducing yourself, I'm a little agitated over this." He waved his hand towards the many crosses being erected far off, but still in view of the camp. The obvious final resting place of all the warriors.

The Arkanin female stood silent, her hood pulled up and hiding her face from view of the outsiders, perhaps they wouldn't know she was Arkanin, had 4 arms, and a 3rd eye.


OOC: Hey, was the ranger talking to me about moving the camp?

Tarnon did not move as the medic worked on him. His arm felt tingly, and once the medic was done, he hesitantly moved his arm just a little bit. When it did not hurt, he moved it more, then tested its full range of motion. "That's incredible!" he said to the healer.

In answer to the priest, Gaervin pointed out Mynocinth's injuries, both from the crash landing and from the necromantic blasts, as well as the blasts both he and Ariadell sustained from the skeletal dragon.

Grim stuck his stone head into the gap in the wall.

"My name is Grim. I was sent over here to check to see if anyone was left while the archer that was captured from those serving the Undead was questioned. Mind if I come in?"

OOC: He was talking to everyone as a whole.

Hussarin now fully grasped what he's talking to.. a something.
"If you can fit, great one."

All around the great lord Hussarin, warriors were gawking at the massive thing, not believing such creatures would meddle with the world of humans and undead.

"Also, If you wouldn't mind a short explanation?"

Hussarin spat on the ground then looked at Grim again. "Excuse my manners, I'm in a bit of a mood right now. Whole undead and dying tribe thing."

Looks like even the Great Lord was loosing faith.

OOC: Well, the dragons are waaay far away from Hussarin, might have a hearing problem there. By "Far away", I mean in the mass of dead bodies about 200 - 400 yards outside the barricade.

The Archer replied, I am Mavis from the city of Death Hold." He feels slightly less indimated.

OOC: Yeah, both my dragons/riders and Dragon Emperor's dragons are far away from the camp. But I think Grim's a gargoyle rather than a dragon.

The priests consulted with each other first. Meanwhile, the anbu medics took out a bottle of ink and a brush. They began painting in a seal onto the ground with the dragons and the knights in the middle.

After several minutes, the medics sat around them in a circle, each with a palm touching part of the seal. Soon, a green aura poured from their hands into the seal. The air around the dragons and the knights soon began to become a soft hazy green. Their injuries slowing began to heal. The priests then began casting spells of rejuvenation upon them as well as spells to purify any wound sustained.

Nerwen nodded, and spoke up.

"The Ranger is right. We must fall back to a more secure fort, and give time for reinforcements to arrive."

Kimura turned to face Hussarin. "If you'd like," he said, "I could deploy three of my squads to scout another suitable camp. Though it might take awhile for my priests to have healed those seriously injured well enough so they can move on their own."

-------Near the plains of Amerath--------
The first army's advanced forces had just been teleported via warp portals. Forming their lines, they began the journey to link up with the allied forces.

Hussarin took a quick glimpse out onto the field where the dragonknights were. He saw weird things out there and at first thought it was the undead coming back, but he quickly realized it was just some healing spells giving off the erie green light.

Hussarin shook his head and put his palm on his forhead to whipe the sweat off his brow. Things were a mess: His warriors were dying, new allies appearing, undead dying. What was going on in this crazy place? The lands of Amerath were going to be changed forever.

Hussarin looked back to Kimura, "Unfortunetly, this is the only hilly area left where we could put safe barricades, all the other places are in the forest of nightmares, the -very- flat plains of the northern Amerath. Or the jagged rocks of the eastern Amerath, by the ocean cliffs.

He quickly added, "This is the last place to be."

OOC: Yeah, both my dragons/riders and Dragon Emperor's dragons are far away from the camp. But I think Grim's a gargoyle rather than a dragon.

OOC: Yes, Grim is the Gargoyle I'm using in this thread. Basically, he is around the size and shape of those flying guys from the Tomb Of Light in the first Tomb Raider movie. Picture one of those if it helps.

IC: Damaged Camp

Grim paced into the camp. The missing claw left one his left fore-limb caused a noticable gap in his foot-prints. He sat down a few meters in. He was letting them get used to the concept of a walking statue that could talk being in their midst.

"If you find me interesting," he said, "wait till you see the others the Saethe sent. They may be few in number, but they pack a punch. Right now they are questioning an human archer they had me grab from that army that attacked here."

Dragon Gathering

"Well, Mavis," Nokama began, "We have alot to discuss. First of all, why is the Undead army attacking those in this area?"

"Interesting city name," scoffs Vakama, "Not exactly a name anyone would use back home."

An anbu captain walked up to Kimura and whispered something to him. Turning to face the captain, Kimura whispered something in reply and handed him a scroll on which he had written something down. Bowing, the captain vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Gaervin's back and Ariadell's wing healed nicely, but Mynocinth's left wing, although capable of slight movement now, was not flightworthy. Perhaps the taint of the skeletal dragon was too deep, or perhaps there was more to the injury than even the priests and medics could discern, but regardless of the cause, Mynocinth appeared to be grounded for the time being.

The dragonknight stretched his back, surprised at the near full healing, leaving little more than just some very slight soreness in the muscles. He looked at the healers and bowed his head, "You have my thanks."

Hussarin seemed distracted, looking up at the clouds as if trying to see angels. His mind was truly wandering, the battles were taking affect on his thought patterns. And worst yet, statues were talking, musta been something he ate this morning.. Which, really wasn't anything.

He looked down to the Gargoyle, "It'd be good for warriors like that to aide us, we'd appreciate it for many generations, if we have more. But first, why are all of you here? I am fully appreciating you all helping us, but why?"

Nodding, the medics and priests headed back to the camp. The green eyed medic however reached into one of his pouches and pulled out four small bags of pills. "These," he said, "Are blood replenishment pills and rejuvenation pills. You'll need to take these once every hour until you run out of pills. They should help ease any pain you still feel. Our spells and skills are only meant to heal wounds. We do have spells that ease pain but I think now would be better to conserve our energy for healing wounds." With that, he too headed back to camp.

Grim said, "Eragon, the head of the Saethe, watched the first battle in his crystal ball and sent me to investigate. During my time alone out here, I met some Rangers in the forest. They teleported away with some others before we could get a dialouge going.

"Then when he saw the attack on the lone young dragon and rider in his crystal ball, Eragon sent two full Dragon Wings to the area. They are the ones questioning the Archer. A true-Dragon is an imposing creature, thus they should get some answers pretty quickly.

"Oh, just in case you were wondering, they're called true-Dragons to seperate them from the Were-Dragons that make up the Dragonlords."

Gaervin nodded to the medic and said, "Thank you." He knew little else to say, not being used to magical healing as he just witnessed.

"I guess I can stay now?" Tarnon asked the knight, moving his arm around to prove that it was no longer broken.

The man gave a curt nod, "Yes, boy, you can stay now. Let us return to the encampment." With that, he got back on to Ariadell, and Tarnon on Mynocinth, though making sure not to agitate the still-wounded wing.