NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: This thread is for Hakurabi and Demon 666 to post their round one fight in. No fighting to the death, just until the other is unconcious and unable to answer a ten count. No one may post IC interference, but feel free to take on audience member roles, and Heckle them. No weapons though, Securities too good. the Audience also has a top level Anti-Magic and Anti-Psi barrier on it. the only ones not effected are the Judges.

"Oh, we're fighting now? How annoying."
The Brothers yawned and marched slowly onto the stage.
"Well, who's coming to fight me?"

"I am."

Karathis stepped into the arena, staff at the ready. He intoned a spell rapidly and a shimmering sphere of light materialised around him and he watched them, as if daring them to make a move.

(OOC: Prismatic sphere to begin with, in the 'buffing' round if possible. Then moving into counterspell mode.)

The grey robed wizard set the weave moving around him, prepared for anything they might cast.

The brothers smiled as the brother of ice, Leta took over.
"How amusing. Now let's begin"
And with that, he punched the ground, causing the earth to shake as some rather large rocks flew from the floor and straight at the wizard.

Behind the prismatic sphere Karathis only raised an eyebrow as the rocks disintegrated against the shield.

"How very amusing, yes."

He intoned a spell, which caused him to glow slightly for a split second but nothing else.

(OOC: Following up with Shapechange.)

"Fine then."
The Brothers glowed for a second, and Tora, the Middle Brother took over.
Wings sprouted from his back, and he took flight, ready to attack whatever would come from this wizard.
The spear slightly extended.

Karathis stepped out from the prismatic sphere (it worked both ways, though the wizard could go through at will.

"My, my, my. Flying, are we? We'll have to fix that."

He formed the air itself into a blade of pure force, glistening in the light. Pointing at Tora, the sword-shaped force plane rocketed towards him, locking with the spear. It fought independently of Karathis' will, and its maker had already begun to cast again.

Clashing with the sword, the brothers descended slowly, though still in mid-flight.
One hand extended, and a lightning bolt shot through the sky, aiming straight at the wizard.

(OOC: Slightly dramatised. It's basically a dispel magic used as a counterspell.)

Karathis smiled. This was the moment he was waiting for.

He had formed it.

He had explored it.

He had poured some of his very soul into it.

It was his masterpiece.

The weave blossomed around the lightning bolt, the magic unravelling itself almost in slow motion. Those who could perceive the weave directly saw the magic unwind into a glorious scintillating pattern, reshaping itself even as it unravelled.

This was magic given life. A living spell. A child of the weave.

The bolt of magical lightning crackled with discontent as it reached the wizard, and seemed to split away. In the realm of the weave, the unravelled threads spun together once again, as gracefully as they had split.

The lightning bolt came back, stamped with a 'return to sender'.

OOC: may I join this? ...like, I could fight whoever wins?

IC: A hooded figure could be seen among the audience, although everybody sitting around him was seemingly unaware of his existence. He smiled at Karathis' move, wondering what the brothers would do next. "I'm already starting to like this Karathis guy..." he thought to himself.

OOC: Um, no. Go find the tourney thread (too lazy to post link)
IC:
"You have to do better than that."
Easily dodging the lightning bolt by changing his flight of direction some, the Brothers frowned.
"It looks like beam attacks don't work very well against him, doesn't it, Tora?"
"True, should we try-"
"That? Sure, let me take over."
The brothers flew down to the ground, and now Joed, the Brother of Fire, took command.

ooc: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=520183

"You've seen nothing, yet." replied Karathis, gathering the weave about himself.

Magic itself seemed to have become hostile towards the brothers, as the abjurer's eyes appeared aflame with arcane energy.

The shimmering force-blade zoomed down, continuing its furious attack on the brothers.

Except right now the Brothers were right behind Karathis.
"Let's see you try this."
They slashed at him with the flaming sword.

(OOC: I rolled a six sided dice, subtracting one, to simulate the amount of 'free spells' this act would buy, for one reason or another.)

"An interesting parlour trick" said Karathis, as the sword landed a solid blow on his arm, a split second before he was able to weave away from them. His skin seemed to shimmer for a second as the spell he had cast earlier made itself apparent.

The sword intercepted the brothers once again, and the wizard cast a spell rapidly, suddenly surrounding them with a cage of solid energy, which resisted their attempts to escape.

(1d6-1=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=921439)

He knew it wouldn't last long, and took advantage of the few seconds he had to cast a few more protective spells.

First, he blew into a simple leather glove, and a massive 10ft hand made entirely of force energy materialised, placing itself between Karathis and the brothers. Next, he conjured a two more blades, one joining the one already attacking the brothers and one remaining to defend the wizard against a similar ploy.

After the casting of those spells, he returned to his ready stance, in case they tried to attack him with magic again.

OOC: Its not that I wasn't enjoying this battle, its that its been a long time since apost went up. I've got other people waiting for round three, which all six of you do together.

I'll call this over, and start round two in a moment. I'll give each of you an equal number of points, to have an equal chance of winning first.

Edit: To speed things along, I'm skipping straight to round three. Its in the main IC thread.

Your points will depend on your round three performance.

Alright, ready for round 5.

Yep, same here...

OOC: I would've had these up sooner, but, you know why, you've seen the OOC thread.

IC:

Hakurabi:

As Karathis was waiting in the Arena for his round to begin, The light seemed to pick up considerably. A Knight in armor that shone more brilliantly than any other known source of light, riding an War-Alicorn, a Unicorn with Pegasus wings bred and built for War, landed in the arena. The light subsided, but it was still hard to look at the man. His armor was White, but it was purest Silver, and thus it was Mythril, the Magic metal favored by Dwarfs, elves, and most folk who knew of it. His Shield was the same, and the Crest on there showed that this knight was a Paladin, who served the one true source of all things, The Omnisource. A Gold Chain bearing a Gold Medallion hung about his neck. His sword seemed to have power all its own.

And The War Alicorn, it was pure white, completly. Even its horn was white. It was beautiful, and seemed to put every other Creature to Shame. Its Blood was worth more than the GNP of the ten richest nations combined.

This was no common challenge. This was Rahegalhoff, The Legendary Paladin.

"Salutations, Karathis. I apologise beforehand, for the injury and harm I am about to deliver upon your body, but surely The Magi-Mistress Khalan will heal us both after we are done assaulting each other." Rahegalhoff said.

Starfire dipped his head in greetings.

Then Rahegalhoff Drew his sword, and the crowd went deathly quiet. You could hear a pin drop it was so silent.

Starfire Spread his wings, and leaped through the Air at Karathis, intending to Trample him to death.

----

Asfaltum:

OOC: I believe you said your Characters name was also Asfaltum, if I'm wrong, I'm sorry.

IC:

As Asfaltum stood waiting for his opponet, the light grew weak, and dark.

A door opened, and Hellfire the winged Hrulga came charging out of a pair of double doors, wings and jaws wide open.

Out of another pair behind Asfaltum charged ffohlagehaR, sword pointed at Asfaltum's Heart.

OOC: Rahegalhoff and his Mirror only get one special opening the first time I use them. Sorry.

Both of you Remember, you can summon a partner to help you if you want.

Meanwhile, in the stands...

"Okay, now!"

The three party members snapped the jewelled rods with the number '5' engraved on them.

---

"No offense taken." said Karathis, as he cast a Dismissal on the Paladin's mount.

A split second later, Ulrich, I'mdyp and Vaikwur materialised next to Karathis.

"Rahegalhoff!" exclaimed Ulrich, quickly summoning his own mount, bowing to the paladin who was every bit his equal, though dedicated to a different god.

He leapt onto Silvermane, who reared dramatically, the paladin raising his bastard sword and large shield for effect. His armour at first appeared to be also comprised of mythril, but soon revealed itself to be a suit of the divine platinum armour favoured by - and exclusive to - the Vassals of Bahamut.

"May the best contestant win, fellow champion of the divine!"

Since the entire party was now here, Karathis prepared to suppress any and all divine effects the other paladin tried, while Vaikwur focussed on augmenting Ulrich and I'mdyp.

"Try to keep him down - Silvermane can't compete against a flying opponent." commented Vaikwur to Karathis, who nodded and watched for Rahegalhoff's next move.

"Right. I'll do backup healing and try to get in some solid strikes where I can."

After a moment, Karathis realised that the other paladin was sorely lacking in proper divine capacity, and simply Greater Dispelled his equipment, rendering its magical properties temporarily useless.

Asfaltum:

OOC: I believe you said your Characters name was also Asfaltum, if I'm wrong, I'm sorry.

IC:

As Asfaltum stood waiting for his opponet, the light grew weak, and dark.

A door opened, and Hellfire the winged Hrulga came charging out of a pair of double doors, wings and jaws wide open.

Out of another pair behind Asfaltum charged ffohlagehaR, sword pointed at Asfaltum's Heart.

OOC: Rahegalhoff and his Mirror only get one special opening the first time I use them. Sorry.

Both of you Remember, you can summon a partner to help you if you want.

OOC: His name is Vector actually... so, I and Hakurabi are fighting together, in the same arena, if I've understood things correctly...

IC:
"Now we're talking!" Vector said, grinning madly. The light seemed to grow even weaker, and then a huge wave of Force burst out from him, heading in the direction of the attacking Hrulga, intended to hit the opponent with a huge electric burst and sweep it right off its feet and into the arena wall. At the same time, he activated a time bubble, making everybody in the arena freeze in the middle of their movements, while he could move unimpared. Thus, to the audience, it seemed as if he simply vanished from the spot he was previously standing at, and appeared in front (and slightly beside) the charging mirror knight, hitting him right in the face with a mithril baseball-bat.

(Alright, seeing as how Ri-an is back, in an attempt to shift this up his priority list, bump.)

OOC: No, asfaltum, its the same arena, diffrent times, diffrent opponets. no prob though.

IC:

Hakurabi:

" Good luck yourself, and might i say, if I still followed all the traditonal old ways, I would have quite a problem on my hands. But wouldn't you know it, I just so happen to be friends with a brilliant Magiscientist, and have access to many diffrent tricks.

Incidently, Starfire, Be fair." Rahegalhoff said. Starfire snorted, and its horn and wings disappeared, temporarily.

Rahegalhoff reached into his saddle bag, and threw three vials at I'mdyp, Vaikwur and Karathis, all three of which broke on the ground before them.

The stuff in the vials burbled and grew, and grew, and grew.

Facing I'mdyp was a good old fashioned Beholder. Facing Vaikwur was a frankenstein's monster, and facing Karathis was a Genuine Ri-anese Slypher.

Then, Rahegalhoff leveled his sword for an old fashioned charge at Ulrich.

Asfaltum:
As the force hit the Hrulga, the dark knight backflipped off his horse, activating his neck amulet at the same time. a Magic shield sprang up around ffohlagehaR, as Vector went to smash him in the face with the bat.

The dark knight ducked, and smashed his mailed fist into Vector's side.

Hellfire stood up.

((What's a Slypher?))

"May the best man win." said Ulrich, lining up Silvermane and lowering his visor, before spurring (more lightly tapping, Silvermane was more than smart enough to know the signal) onwards, his own sword levelled.

Karathis stared at the Slypher, as if daring it to make a move.

Vaikwur took out a scroll, showed it to the Frankenstein, then threw it at it's forehead, taking the opportunity to summon a Black Blade of Disaster to lock with it. The planar rift went straight for the golem's arms, each slice disintegrating portions its unfortunate receiver.

I'mdyp, her magic items temporarily useless in the antimagic cone, threw a trio of shuriken coated with drow knockout poison into the beholder's central eye, before tumbling under it and leaping over to slice at its other eyes.

((What's a Slypher?))

"May the best man win." said Ulrich, lining up Silvermane and lowering his visor, before spurring (more lightly tapping, Silvermane was more than smart enough to know the signal) onwards, his own sword levelled.

Karathis stared at the Slypher, as if daring it to make a move.

Vaikwur took out a scroll, showed it to the Frankenstein, then threw it at it's forehead, taking the opportunity to summon a Black Blade of Disaster to lock with it. The planar rift went straight for the golem's arms, each slice disintegrating portions its unfortunate receiver.

I'mdyp, her magic items temporarily useless in the antimagic cone, threw a trio of shuriken coated with drow knockout poison into the beholder's central eye, before tumbling under it and leaping over to slice at its other eyes.

OOC: A slypher, is a large insectoid creature the size of a man. Its eight feet long by five feet tall, and has legs like a spide. Its body is coated in dragon scales, and its impervious to magic. It can go invisible, but cannot attack while invisible. I mean invisible as in undetectable by most senses any standerd mage would have. Sight, sound, smell, feel, taste, and any other senses. Its sole weak point is its chest, but you have to get past its Claws. I usually use a good stout spear, but even still, its hard work to beat. It moves very fast. It reminds most people, ICly of course, of a large ant. If you can get past its scales, then the only real problem is its speed and its claws. I'm intrested in seeing how you'll get through this.

IC:

The Beholder and Frankie proved to be secondary distractions when they died, as the Slypher disappeared from senses. It reappeared seconds later nearby halfway up a pillar. Then it disappeared again. Karathis and the other two could hear it racing around them, kicking up a cloud of dust Then it stopped behind Vaikwur, and slashed at his Neck and backside as it flashed visible again.

Rahegalhoff had a long reach for a human. Orangutang arms was his childhood nickname by the local bullies. It was possible Ulrich reached Rahegalhoff first, but that was unlikely. He jabbed for the less than vital areas on Ulrich's body, not wanting to kill him, just incapacitate him.

(OOC: I think this would be referred to as 'Ethereal')

"Arghhhk! Damn it!" yelled Vaikwur as the claws bit into his back and his small form skittered about a metre. "Karathis, we need a slow on that thing!"

Karathis quickly cast a the spell in question, drastically reducing the speed of the Slypher to around a quarter of what it was before. It's reactions were so seriously retarded by the magic, that it could not even move any significant distance and then attack before others could simply move out of the way. Vaikwur stood and motioned to I'mdyp, who ran across and jumped on the evoker's ready hands, becoming the recipient of a Haste spell, and leaping forwards at the slowed Slypher, while Karathis projected a True Seeing spell onto her. As she approached, she made two impossibly fast slashes at the Slypher's torso, lacking the time to aim for more sensitive areas.

Ulrich caught the blow on the shield, and was thrown to the ground, kicking up a considerable cloud of dust. Silvermane moved over to one side, as Ulrich stood and bowed to Rahelgahoff before returning to a combat stance.

"I bow to your superior ability in mounted combat, Rahelgahoff."

The paladin wasn't seriously injured, and his shield had absorbed most of the blow.

(OOC: I think this would be referred to as 'Ethereal')

"Arghhhk! Damn it!" yelled Vaikwur as the claws bit into his back and his small form skittered about a metre. "Karathis, we need a slow on that thing!"

Karathis quickly cast a the spell in question, drastically reducing the speed of the Slypher to around a quarter of what it was before. It's reactions were so seriously retarded by the magic, that it could not even move any significant distance and then attack before others could simply move out of the way. Vaikwur stood and motioned to I'mdyp, who ran across and jumped on the evoker's ready hands, becoming the recipient of a Haste spell, and leaping forwards at the slowed Slypher, while Karathis projected a True Seeing spell onto her. As she approached, she made two impossibly fast slashes at the Slypher's torso, lacking the time to aim for more sensitive areas.

Ulrich caught the blow on the shield, and was thrown to the ground, kicking up a considerable cloud of dust. Silvermane moved over to one side, as Ulrich stood and bowed to Rahelgahoff before returning to a combat stance.

"I bow to your superior ability in mounted combat, Rahelgahoff."

The paladin wasn't seriously injured, and his shield had absorbed most of the blow.

OOC: Your forgetting that magic doesn't affect it. The secret that was eventually discovered, is that you can't directly target it, but area effecting spells still hurt it, thus, an exploding fireball aimed near it still hurts it. Nothing says you can't pull a giant rock out of the ground and crush it either.

IC: the Slypher sniffed the air as the slow spell was cast on it. Its scales glittered and negated the spell.

Its scales cracked. It slashed forward at the Kobold.

Rahegalhoff dismounted Starfire. His Unicorn horn had returned.

He did something most fighters would normall consider foolish in a battle. He used a minor healing spell on Ulrich.

"Eventually, you will be too, it just takes practice, and trust me, I've had a long time to practice. I stopped aging physicly at 35 years of age. I look like an old man beneath this helmet, but I'm as spry as a teenager. I've lived far too long, and soon perhaps, it will be time for me to take my rest." Rahegalhoff said.

He adopted a stance that was very, very old. One kept in the history books only.

"I've made a few changes to this style over the years I've practiced it." Rahegalhoff said. His sword began to glow as it pulled in the energies in the air around it, the magic returning.

It traveled down his arm, and into his armor. Rahegalhoff swung the blade in the air, a ghost trail of energy followed his every movement.

Rahegalhoff swung for Ulrich's right side.

I'mdyp was belted back, but seemed unharmed as she tumbled and remained standing. As she threw a couple of shuriken at the Slypher, the two wizards sprang into action, timing their magics very carefully to negate the possibility of the thing escaping.

It was quite the feat, as the weaves of the two spells intertwined and coalesced into their resultant forms only slightly out of phase, as was intentional.

Time seemed to go in slow motion as a yellow-green blotch of fog began to blossom in front of the Slypher, and a split second later a 10 ft cube of force materialised around the creature, trapping it with the deadly, deadly contact poison conjured by Karathis' cloudkill spell.

The bloom expanded and filled the cage, rapidly sapping away the health of any inside, the combination ensuring that not even the greatest of titans would be able to survive until one of the spells terminated.

But, just to be sure, Karathis applied a dimensional lock, just in case the Slypher could teleport or go ethereal or something.


Meanwhile, Ulrich smiled at Rahelgahoff. "You need not expend such magics on me, fellow champion of light. I am fully capable of doing so myself."

He watched the ancient paladin adopt his fighting stance, and moved into a counterstance. His own sword also blazed with energy, and he shifted his body, Rahelgahoff's weapon glancing off.

Ulrich followed through with, at least in this reality, a similarly ancient and refined technique. Divine energy channeled through his blade as he made what seemed to be an exceptionally reckless attack, though this was far from the truth - he swung like something twice his size, yet lost no balance. The Bastard Sword swung across at Rahelgahoff's chest.

I'mdyp was belted back, but seemed unharmed as she tumbled and remained standing. As she threw a couple of shuriken at the Slypher, the two wizards sprang into action, timing their magics very carefully to negate the possibility of the thing escaping.

It was quite the feat, as the weaves of the two spells intertwined and coalesced into their resultant forms only slightly out of phase, as was intentional.

Time seemed to go in slow motion as a yellow-green blotch of fog began to blossom in front of the Slypher, and a split second later a 10 ft cube of force materialised around the creature, trapping it with the deadly, deadly contact poison conjured by Karathis' cloudkill spell.

The bloom expanded and filled the cage, rapidly sapping away the health of any inside, the combination ensuring that not even the greatest of titans would be able to survive until one of the spells terminated.

But, just to be sure, Karathis applied a dimensional lock, just in case the Slypher could teleport or go ethereal or something.


Meanwhile, Ulrich smiled at Rahelgahoff. "You need not expend such magics on me, fellow champion of light. I am fully capable of doing so myself."

He watched the ancient paladin adopt his fighting stance, and moved into a counterstance. His own sword also blazed with energy, and he shifted his body, Rahelgahoff's weapon glancing off.

Ulrich followed through with, at least in this reality, a similarly ancient and refined technique. Divine energy channeled through his blade as he made what seemed to be an exceptionally reckless attack, though this was far from the truth - he swung like something twice his size, yet lost no balance. The Bastard Sword swung across at Rahelgahoff's chest.

The sword made a wound in Rahegalhoff's chest. Rahegalhoff chuckled as his armor healed him and mended itself.

"Indeed, you and your friends are good." Rahegalhoff said as the Slypher died.

"One last challenge." Rahegalhoff said.

He let out a quick prayer to The Omnisource.

The air shimmered and vibrated, a golden fog filled the sky, and silver lightning flickered through it.

a Great bolt lanced down and struck Rahegalhoff, he raised his blade. Starfire back away. He swung it in a broad Arc, and a great flash of energy shot out at the four. It seperated, into four diffrent Rahegalhoffs, each one only a specteral outline, but that was all that was left of the man. Each one was still very strong.

Starfire kneeled, and faded away.

As each Rahegalhoff neared his opponet, Time itself ground to a sudden and complete halt. the audience members were all staticly frozen in time, as were the judges. Karathis, his three friends, and the four Rahegalhoffs were the only ones that could move, or do anything. There was no outside help to be had. They were going to win or fail under their own powers.

OOC: Treat each one as though it were the Real flesh and blood Rahegalhoff, and fight it as though it was. Otherwise, spells alone will fail, and cause you to lose. This is one of his most powerful attacks.

Karathis dodged around his Rahelgalhoff and his assailant caught his smile as he pointed his finger at him, in the mock gun position and said "Dispel!", in an all too cheerful voice, and rendered the paladin's armour a liability as its enchantments were suppressed temporarily, creating a distance between the two as fast as possible, intoning a flight spell as quickly as he could, before taking off into the air.

Vaikwur held his hand out, as if commanding his Rahelgalhoff to stop, intoned a spell. A shimmering fist of force blew past and through him, causing his robes to flap forwards dramatically as the enormous fist punched Rahelgalhoff away. He then evoked into his hand a prismatic bow, similar to the one employed by Karathis in the previous fight, and threw it towards the center of the arena, seemingly for no logical reason.

I'mdyp shifted into the ethereal plane, phasing through her Rahelgalhoff and leaping onto his head, kicking off the helmet and leapt for the prismatic bow. As her hand clutched the bow, she nocked the red arrow and fired it at Rahelgahoff.

Ulrich, of course, responded by delivering a powerful slash to the spectral paladin, following through with a shield bash before jumping backwards towards the center of the arena.

All four adventurers were steadily making their way into the centre, though it wasn't obvious.

Karathis dodged around his Rahelgalhoff and his assailant caught his smile as he pointed his finger at him, in the mock gun position and said "Dispel!", in an all too cheerful voice, and rendered the paladin's armour a liability as its enchantments were suppressed temporarily, creating a distance between the two as fast as possible, intoning a flight spell as quickly as he could, before taking off into the air.

Vaikwur held his hand out, as if commanding his Rahelgalhoff to stop, intoned a spell. A shimmering fist of force blew past and through him, causing his robes to flap forwards dramatically as the enormous fist punched Rahelgalhoff away. He then evoked into his hand a prismatic bow, similar to the one employed by Karathis in the previous fight, and threw it towards the center of the arena, seemingly for no logical reason.

I'mdyp shifted into the ethereal plane, phasing through her Rahelgalhoff and leaping onto his head, kicking off the helmet and leapt for the prismatic bow. As her hand clutched the bow, she nocked the red arrow and fired it at Rahelgahoff.

Ulrich, of course, responded by delivering a powerful slash to the spectral paladin, following through with a shield bash before jumping backwards towards the center of the arena.

All four adventurers were steadily making their way into the centre, though it wasn't obvious.

The armor was effected, but remarkably very briefly, as the Anti-magic enchantments in the armor took hold and dispelled the dispell. Karathis's Rahegalhoff stayed at the outer edge.

Vaikwur's Rahegalhoff Used the speed in his boots and blew past Vaikwur, joining the other Rahegalhoff, but away from the other's position.


I'mdyp couldn't possibly Kick Rahegalhoff's Helmet off, as it was fused to his Armor, Like one giant Exoskeleton. His sword Tore open a gateway to a Reality where everything was under water, and the Arrow flew in, as the gateway closed behind it. he joined The other two at the walls, again, away from the other two. He shook his head once or twice to clear the ringing in his ears from The kick.

Ulrich's Rahegalhoff Blocked the sword slash with his shield, and was knocked back by the Shield bash. He leaped back to the wall.

The four Rahegalhoffs Circled the wall, and formed back into normal Rahegalhoff, Glowing brightly.

The True intent of his four way split was known, as his power was now multiplied four times over.

He Charged for the center at Blinding speeds even slow spells couldn't hinder, all the energy going to the blade, in an attack normally reserved dieties.

He was going to hit them with Annihilating Strike.

If one of them was unfortunate to be caught by the sword blow, there would be nothing left of them for Khalan to revive. If he missed, then they would all be caught in the resulting explosion that rippled accross the planes Dimensions and every layer of space in the local area.

As he rose in the center of the resulting crater, Time had resumed its normal Flow.

"Enough. I am done." He said. He walked away.

OOC: Its a very hard thing for him to do. The split causes him to gather enough Energy to Equal his normal self for each spectral self. He cannot keep himself split up like that for long, he just doesn't have the skill, that's not what he focused on. All that leftover energy has to go somewhere, and its enough to equal An annihilating Strike. I trust you have The Book of Dieties and Demigods, Version 3.5. Its where I got it from.

(OOC: She kicked off from the helmet. But I think I'd like to keep this phase going. I want to actually counter some of the stuff he's trying to pull.

At any rate, anti-magic enhancements would not render a suit of armour immune to dispels... Do I really need to pull a Mord's Disjunction?

Ah yes, I'm using all four charges for today of a mirror of opposition on the souped up Rahelgahoff.)

As the Rahelgahoffs coalesced into one being, and began their charge, Ulrich looked at him and held up a mirror, whispering its command word. Instantly, a second glowing quadrupled Rahelgahoff materialised and and charged, his blade also seething with an annihilating strike.

I'mdyp leapt forwards, grabbing the mirror and tumbling across, created three other hostile duplicates. For all intents and purposes, they were all Rahelgahoff, just hell-bent on his destruction.

The kobold ninja then caught a scroll and read it, directing its magics at Rahelhagoff. "Mordenkainen's Disjunction!" came the fatal call, as every magic, both arcane and divine, was stripped from him and his equipment permanently.

Then, the party linked hands and Karathis cast an Ethereal Jaunt spell, turning the whole party ethereal and making them not subject to whatever magics were released as the four Quadrupled Rahelgahoffs descended on the now stripped-of-magic Rahelgahoff, all with charged Annihilating Strikes.

Ulrich, of course, gave a disapproving glare to his party members.

(Actually, an annihilating strike really only replicates the effects of disintegration-death. True Resurrection would still work.)

(OOC: She kicked off from the helmet. But I think I'd like to keep this phase going. I want to actually counter some of the stuff he's trying to pull.

At any rate, anti-magic enhancements would not render a suit of armour immune to dispels... Do I really need to pull a Mord's Disjunction?

Ah yes, I'm using all four charges for today of a mirror of opposition on the souped up Rahelgahoff.)

As the Rahelgahoffs coalesced into one being, and began their charge, Ulrich looked at him and held up a mirror, whispering its command word. Instantly, a second glowing quadrupled Rahelgahoff materialised and and charged, his blade also seething with an annihilating strike.

I'mdyp leapt forwards, grabbing the mirror and tumbling across, created three other hostile duplicates. For all intents and purposes, they were all Rahelgahoff, just hell-bent on his destruction.

The kobold ninja then caught a scroll and read it, directing its magics at Rahelhagoff. "Mordenkainen's Disjunction!" came the fatal call, as every magic, both arcane and divine, was stripped from him and his equipment permanently.

Then, the party linked hands and Karathis cast an Ethereal Jaunt spell, turning the whole party ethereal and making them not subject to whatever magics were released as the four Quadrupled Rahelgahoffs descended on the now stripped-of-magic Rahelgahoff, all with charged Annihilating Strikes.

Ulrich, of course, gave a disapproving glare to his party members.

(Actually, an annihilating strike really only replicates the effects of disintegration-death. True Resurrection would still work.)

OOC: You remember Life 3 from the Final Fantasy series? Raggy has the contractual equivalent with The Omnisource, instant true Ressurection. Its not the sort of thing you can counterspell, its not in his armor, his sword, his Alicorn, or anywhere near him. Besides, he's disintegrated. Either path, you won. The Omnisource is hard to explain, but I disagree with nearly every religon in one way or another so I made my own.

IC:

A bright golden light filled the arena. Everyone knew, either by rumor, Legend, Myth, or worship, that this Light, was From The Omnisource itself.

I am that I am. The beginning before the beginning, The end after the end. The one true source of all things. Begin again, your journey is not yet over, faithful.

Rahegalhoff reappeared.

"This round is over. Good job, just imagine the challenges you'll face later." He said.

He turned and walked out of the arena.

The crowd gave a standing ovation for superior performance, even the judges bowed.

OOC: Best fight I've ever had. thank you.

(OOC: Well, agreements are hardly magical. No complaints. It'd be practically the same thing if you had a cleric standing by with a True Res anyways.)

The four came to Rahegahoff and stopped him.

"Good show, Rahegalhoff. Good luck, and Pelor be with you!" said Ulrich, as the group took turns shaking the ancient paladin's hand.

"I don't believe Demigorgon himself could have done better."

"May we meet again, someday."

"If you ever need our help, just let us know."

Karathis handed Rahegalhoff a scroll completely of silver and bound with a bit of red ribbon.

"Just read the scroll out loud, and we'll come running."

The party of adventurers then bowed to their opponent, then bowed to the crowd before leaving the arena.

(OOC: Well, agreements are hardly magical. No complaints. It'd be practically the same thing if you had a cleric standing by with a True Res anyways.)

The four came to Rahegahoff and stopped him.

"Good show, Rahegalhoff. Good luck, and Pelor be with you!" said Ulrich, as the group took turns shaking the ancient paladin's hand.

"I don't believe Demigorgon himself could have done better."

"May we meet again, someday."

"If you ever need our help, just let us know."

Karathis handed Rahegalhoff a scroll completely of silver and bound with a bit of red ribbon.

"Just read the scroll out loud, and we'll come running."

The party of adventurers then bowed to their opponent, then bowed to the crowd before leaving the arena.

OOC: I'm going to save that scroll, for my final thread.

Now, for something I can handle better, Nothing, as in, round five, Karathis Versus a Dragon enhanced by the Void, AKA, a Void Dragon. I wanna make sure we're on the same page about this creature before we actually get rolling on the IC fight.

A Void Dragon can be either from the normal Chromatic, Gematic, or Metallic Dragons, taking the typs from Monster Manuels 1 & 2, 3.5 edition.

But that's where the similarities end.

Its normal coloration is Void, meaning each scale is white in the middle, and Black on the edges. Makes for a pretty nice visual if you pause to imagine it. This is included in the wings, and eyes. Its Claws, Fangs, and the two dragon horns on its head are Ivory white.

Spells are only 50% effective, and Dispells, and Mordy's Disjunction cannot take this status away. Its breath attack is actually an absorbtion attack, it appears to be a billowing black Cloud, but in truth, its absorbing everything without exception about its attacker, and with enough successive breath attacks, can completly uncreate someone. I should point out that ICly, this has never happened.

thinking back to a D&D Character sheet, With each breath attack, 10% of life, Stats, Defense and and even skills and magic. This will NOT return with time, but after the battle, It will come back, you just need a good rest. Again, Khalan can take care of this. In battle, unless you know how to counteract the complete cessation of existing, healing spells and the like cannot return life or stats. If this were a D&D game, it would be a feat one could learn.

Visually, this means that Karathis/whoever, will fade away just a little bit each time, until he/she completly disappears.

On the physical aspect, its still good old fashioned Dragon scale. However, continued contact, whether by physical contact, or weapon to hand contact, will enact an Enchantment that causes its victim to fall asleep. This can be banished for a time.

Questions?

(OOC: Well, first, about the scroll: When you use it, please TG me.

Alright, so the Dragon as an intrinsic 50/50 chance of negating any magics, correct? However, I also have to note that not all magics are subject to this; namely, the ones which are listed to not allow spell resistance.

For example, if one of the wizards launched, say, an Orb of Fire at the dragon, it would not be subject to this resistance because the magics only create the orb, and launch it - the orb is fully in existance.

Also, what effect would this breath weapon have on magical effects, say, like a Wall of Force?

How big is the void dragon? Does it inherit resistances from it's base dragon?)

(OOC: Well, first, about the scroll: When you use it, please inform me at pingcode@hotmail.com.invalid, since I may not notice a telegram for some time. Telegram me all the same, though.

Alright, so the Dragon as an intrinsic 50/50 chance of negating any magics, correct? However, I also have to note that not all magics are subject to this; namely, the ones which are listed to not allow spell resistance.

For example, if one of the wizards launched, say, an Orb of Fire at the dragon, it would not be subject to this resistance because the magics only create the orb, and launch it - the orb is fully in existance.

Also, what effect would this breath weapon have on magical effects, say, like a Wall of Force?

How big is the void dragon? Does it inherit resistances from it's base dragon?)

The Black Cloud absorbs everything it touches on its way to its target.

Its as big as a standerd adult Male Dragon. Its Resistances stem from The Void, which is 50% accross the board.

The Resistance. I think I have it all figured out wrong. Or at least maybe I haven't explained my thoughts clearly.I think the above explains it better, 50% Resistance accross the board to everything, making you work twice as hard to face it.

The point is, is that Void Dragons are touch creatures to face, and generally bad ideas to try and tackle, alone or in small groups.

Oh yes, they do not bow to Tiamet or Bahamut. they only bow to the three void Gods htineejaK, erafraW, and Omega.

As for that Telegram, sure. its Pingcode@hotmail.com.inva?

(OOC: No, I appended an 'Invalid' - you know, anti-spam measures and everything. Haven't a clue why it changed it to '.inva'. Alright, it's cleared up then. Onwards with it's intro, then.)

After Karathis had the time to rest and renew his strength, he was again called out for round six.

Before him opened a great Black Portal, and from it, a dense black fog. It disapated, leaving behind an Angry Void Dragon.

Any Wizard worth his salt had heard of these creatures, Few ever got to face them, fewer still survived to tell the tale. Today was Karathis's day, to either Live or die.

The Void Dragon did not wait, did not do anything spectacular, didn't even attempt to speak, it just immediatly struck Karathis with both its claws, and moved in for a Bite attack.

Thus began, Round six.

(OOC: They're mocking the dragon using etheral jaunt and items of Ventriloquism at will. That, and programmed images.

Yeah, they're not being particularly fair to the dragon.)

As the first claw struck Karathis, he looked surprised for a second then vanished. An eerie laugh echoed, mocking the void dragon. The voices were magically changed to sound scarily childlike.

"What a silly dragon." came his voice, from behind the dragon's head.

"Why, I think he needs a lesson in manners!" came Vaikwur's voice, apparently from somewhere in the air.

"Don't be so harsh. He's only a whelp." This time, the voice seemed to be coming from directly under the dragon.

"Come on, let's play!" echoed I'mdyp's voice, to the dragon's left.

As I'mdyp finished speaking, thousands of crows erupted from the ground in front of it, fluttering past its face and obscuring all vision. When the birds had cleared away, the arena had been transformed into a twisted nightmare version of itself, the stone warped, the sky a crackled blood red, and the platform itself writihing as if it were alive.

The audience and judges' box, of course, was not affected, but as far as the dragon would be able to tell, the spectators and judges were changed into bizarre mockeries of their being.

It was illusory, yet at the same time, it was not. The illusion at the very edges was merely a projection, but the arena had been invested temporarily with a bit of the plane of shadow, and warped as such. The breath of the void would still affect things the way it should, as things were merely warped, but it would not affect the state of the arena, due to it being under the effects of a planar rift.

"No running away now."

Walls of force were evoked around the arena, as part of the psychological warfare.

"I'll be the good guy, and you can be the bad guy!"

The arena floor began to crack, and a steel fist burst through the floor. Slowly, horribly, the thing pulled itself out of the ground, a dirt covered creature of steel and cogs, slowly advancing on the void dragon, it's footsteps echoing through the arena.

"Oh, it looks like rain..."

Dark thunderclouds with bright orange fissures through them formed above the platform, the first hints of a drizzle pattering down. As the rain picked up, the smatters of water transformed into liquid fire, burning drops hailing down and onto the thing of the void's back.

(OOC: They're mocking the dragon using etheral jaunt and items of Ventriloquism at will. That, and programmed images.

Yeah, they're not being particularly fair to the dragon.)

As the first claw struck Karathis, he looked surprised for a second then vanished. An eerie laugh echoed, mocking the void dragon. The voices were magically changed to sound scarily childlike.

"What a silly dragon." came his voice, from behind the dragon's head.

"Why, I think he needs a lesson in manners!" came Vaikwur's voice, apparently from somewhere in the air.

"Don't be so harsh. He's only a whelp." This time, the voice seemed to be coming from directly under the dragon.

"Come on, let's play!" echoed I'mdyp's voice, to the dragon's left.

As I'mdyp finished speaking, thousands of crows erupted from the ground in front of it, fluttering past its face and obscuring all vision. When the birds had cleared away, the arena had been transformed into a twisted nightmare version of itself, the stone warped, the sky a crackled blood red, and the platform itself writihing as if it were alive.

The audience and judges' box, of course, was not affected, but as far as the dragon would be able to tell, the spectators and judges were changed into bizarre mockeries of their being.

It was illusory, yet at the same time, it was not. The illusion at the very edges was merely a projection, but the arena had been invested temporarily with a bit of the plane of shadow, and warped as such. The breath of the void would still affect things the way it should, as things were merely warped, but it would not affect the state of the arena, due to it being under the effects of a planar rift.

"No running away now."

Walls of force were evoked around the arena, as part of the psychological warfare.

"I'll be the good guy, and you can be the bad guy!"

The arena floor began to crack, and a steel fist burst through the floor. Slowly, horribly, the thing pulled itself out of the ground, a dirt covered creature of steel and cogs, slowly advancing on the void dragon, it's footsteps echoing through the arena.

"Oh, it looks like rain..."

Dark thunderclouds with bright orange fissures through them formed above the platform, the first hints of a drizzle pattering down. As the rain picked up, the smatters of water transformed into liquid fire, burning drops hailing down and onto the thing of the void's back.

The Dragon roared, and took to the skies it circled high, and absorbed great quantities of energy. It fired a mighty blast of Void down at the arena, blanketing everything.

the four fighters, wherever they were in the arena, would feel that part of themselves was irretrievably lost.

The Dragon Dive Bombed the creature of steel and Cogs.

It noticed that the Arena was effected by The Plane of Shadow.

In Ancient Draconic:

MASTER SHADOW!!!

The words rippled into the Plane of Shadow.

Beyond the control of the mages, The Shadows extended, deepend and the illusion stopped being an illusion.

The Plane of Shadow emptied onto Ri-an, encompassing it, warping it, twisting it. The light of Fatherstar faltered and then failed, becoming nothing more than a dark object in the stary sky.

The audience was screaming in horror, as The Dark moon of Remora lit up.

They were back, the Ministry of Shadow. Born of the night, they were to the darkness, and shadows, as Fish were to water. Only now they had joined into The Shadowlord.

the shadowlord crushed the dragon flat like it was an ordinary aluminum can, blood guts and gore flying everywhere.

"Stupid mages. don't you ever read 'Evil Today'? It had an intresting article in there detailing the complex relationships between the void Gods, their servants, and myself. Any novice evil sorcerer would tell you not to mess with the plane of Shadows. I don't like people screwing with my home. Illusions? Try using them against me, I dare you. I've masterd Illusions so well, I can cause lies to become Truths." the Shadowlord said.

Its voice had a supernatural fear effect in it. The Shadows contained many fleeting images, and it was hard to tell just what was really in them. The Shadowlord peered deep into their minds, and saw what gave them fear, then he became what they feared.

"Hope your not afraid of the Dark." The Shadowlord said.

Then all light was banished, and the mages and Paladin would find any subsequent attempts at making it would fail.

OOC: If I had known you were going to use the Plane of Shadows, I would've warned you not to. Not against a Void Creature.

I cannot attack until after your next post. I need to find out your fears, to determine Shadowlord's shape. If there are none, then I'll randomly choose what he is. But, I need a form, in order for you to be able to attack it. Randomly casting spells in the darkness would be an exercise in futility.

(OOC: Point being? It makes the whole battle that much more epic.)

And yet, they were not. The ethereal plane was not linked directly to the plane of shadow, only to the prime material.

"Oops?" said Karathis, smiling.

He was still fully in control of the situation, as countermeasures tripped and incomprehensible contingencies were set into motion.

To the supernatural senses of the shadowlord, they were invisible. Imperceptible. Completely out of it.

Illusory magics were merely the beginning. The school itself encompassed immense potential, and not even a shadowlord could pierce a mind blank. It was at that point that the 'fears' began to leak through, manufactured by a calculating mind. All total fabrications, of course.

"Petty things like 'illusions becoming real' are the bread and butter of even the weakest initiates of illusory magic. Why, I've known dozens who do such parlour tricks on a daily basis."

"For instance, consider this situation. You assume we were hiding somewhere here, and hence, have imposed magical darkness on the arena. You have assumed we cannot match your will, but you fail to consider if we have any contingencies of our own."

"Take what form you wish. You're getting no quarter from us."

The party, of course, was on the ethereal plane, and not particularly affected by this intrusion.

"Oh, and Mr. Shadowlord? We take you up on that challenge. You may as well dismiss the dark. There's really no point."

Their own truesight effects rendered the darkness pointless, and their mind blanks rendered their wills impregnable.

(OOC: Point being? It makes the whole battle that much more epic.)

And yet, they were not. The ethereal plane was not linked directly to the plane of shadow, only to the prime material.

"Oops?" said Karathis, smiling.

He was still fully in control of the situation, as countermeasures tripped and incomprehensible contingencies were set into motion.

To the supernatural senses of the shadowlord, they were invisible. Imperceptible. Completely out of it.

Illusory magics were merely the beginning. The school itself encompassed immense potential, and not even a shadowlord could pierce a mind blank. It was at that point that the 'fears' began to leak through, manufactured by a calculating mind. All total fabrications, of course.

"Petty things like 'illusions becoming real' are the bread and butter of even the weakest initiates of illusory magic. Why, I've known dozens who do such parlour tricks on a daily basis."

"For instance, consider this situation. You assume we were hiding somewhere here, and hence, have imposed magical darkness on the arena."

"You have now attempted to read our minds."

"And you assume we are incapable of facing off against you."

"Take what form you wish. You're getting no quarter from us."

The party, of course, was on the ethereal plane, and not particularly affected by this intrusion.

"Oh, and Mr. Shadowlord? We take you up on that challenge."

the Shadowlord laughed.

"you have no idea the situation your in. You assume simply because your on another Plane the Darkness will not reach you. you assume that simply because You have blanked your minds, I cannot find out what your afraid of. Any form I wish? Any form at all? How delightful." The Shadowlord said.

A Scream on the supersonic scale overloaded their auditory senses

Everything faded away.

They found themselves in a castle. Teleportation would not work. there was nothing to dispell. the castle was one massive illlusion, yet it was completly real. It had been an illusion for so long it stopped being an illusion. That didn't mean it couldn't change at will, just that it was Shadowlord manner for now. All doors and windows lead only into another part of the castle. Should a wall be knocked down, it would only lead to another part of the castle. For now, they were in a giant ballroom.

Specters and ghosts of those that had died in the castle arose and began dancing. They danced ever closer. Then they danced into the mages, sapping part their life in the process.

The Ghosts could not be blamed. They were incapable of sensing the mages, or else they would've begged for the mages to help them escape. yet still, the Mages had to defend themselves against the ghosts, in order to escape the ballroom alive.

OOC: Rather than try and figure something out for Shadowlord, i've decided to take a diffrent tack to him. He's using his Castle against you. Three successivly more difficult challenges then a short battle with him. Make, and you get to wait for coreworlds and Theao to catch up. Round sevin sees all of you together against a single opponet.

(OOC: Uh... Forgive me for asking... but how can a scream be supersonic? That would imply sound travelling faster than itself...

Another thing: Hey, if Mind Blank is effective against even Asmodeus, what makes the shadowlord so special?)

"Bah. Arrogance. All of it."

The two wizards and the ninja were laughing at this particular challenge. This was one challenge which really was not worthy of adventurers, even novices.

Taking a moment to raise an eyebrow, Ulrich raised his sword and channeled positive energy, obliterating the undead forms of the ghosts and sending them to whichever plane they were destined for before their deaths.

"Really now, you'll have to try harder than that."

To pass the time, Vaikwur conjured up an Elder Earth Elemental, which proceeded to start knocking holes in the Castle.

(OOC: Uh... Forgive me for asking... but how can a scream be supersonic? That would imply sound travelling faster than itself...

Another thing: Hey, if Mind Blank is effective against even Asmodeus, what makes the shadowlord so special?)

"Bah. Arrogance. All of it."

The two wizards and the ninja were laughing at this particular challenge. This was one challenge which really was not worthy of adventurers, even novices.

Taking a moment to raise an eyebrow, Ulrich raised his sword and channeled positive energy, obliterating the undead forms of the ghosts and sending them to whichever plane they were destined for before their deaths.

"Really now, you'll have to try harder than that."

To pass the time, Vaikwur conjured up an Elder Earth Elemental, which proceeded to start knocking holes in the Castle.

OOC: The Supersonic scream referrs to the fact that its of such high frequencies, as to be un hearable, but highly damaging. It was also used as Echolocation, like bats use. I didn't look into their minds, I just used another method of detection. Bats can't really see that well, if at all, yet they get around just fine with Echolocation. why can't a fellow being of darkness also find people by reflecting Soundwaves off of them? And besides, which sounds cooler, a Supersonic Scream, or a High Pitched Scream?

You couldn't possibly be too far from the Arena without having been considered as running away, and thus admitting defeat. thus, I didn't have to go screaming too far to find you. The only exceptions is Round Ten, round Eight, and this round, because Shadowlord took you away.

IC:
The Room changed, and they were in an underground Railroad. A Train packed full of Plastic Explosives was barreling down on them. There was no room to sidestep it. It was either die a horrible firey death, or run. The nearby zomby chose to run.

The front of the train had a horrible leering skull looking at them. It spat out a small Grenade at them. there was a switch up ahead to choose the trains path.

If they could disable the engine...

Slow spells weren't likely to work against a Locomotive. Spacial magic might though.

OOC: Asmodeus? Who?

(OOC: True. 'High Pitched Scream' wouldn't quite give the same effect. And no, they weren't very far at all. However, Ethereal does mean that they are basically imperceptible by most every means, as they aren't quite on the same plane anymore. They're close enough though, as the Ethereal Plane is only semi-detached. There are ways to get around that, but it's more or less irrelevant right now.

Asmodeus is the lord of the ninth circle of hell. Pretty much the single most powerful (im)mortal to exist without actually being divine.)

"What the hell is a lightning rail doing here?" yelled I'mdyp as the group ran, Vaikwur augmenting them with a mass haste spell.

As the train came ever closer, they considered their options. There were actually quite a few, and the caliber of this challenge was not quite up to par with that of previous rounds.

For one, a Wall of Force would simply detonate it and completely resist whatever damage that might have been caused by it's impact and subsequent explosion. A prismatic wall would work too, but would likely be overkill.

Another option was simply diving into a portable hole, a highly cartoonish situation.

Then, one could also summon an elemental monolith, which would plug the gap and have basically the same effect as creating a wall of force.

Disintegration would work. It would simply annihilate the engine, though the problem of a speeding cart of explosives would still be a problem.

Casting fire immunity on everyone and fireballing the train would work, too.

In the end, Karathis just turned around and Conjured a wall of force directly in front of the party, which would absorb the detonation entirely without so much as a shimmer.

(OOC: True. 'High Pitched Scream' wouldn't quite give the same effect. And no, they weren't very far at all. However, Ethereal does mean that they are basically imperceptible by most every means, as they aren't quite on the same plane anymore. They're close enough though, as the Ethereal Plane is only semi-detached. There are ways to get around that, but it's more or less irrelevant right now.

Asmodeus is the lord of the ninth circle of hell. Pretty much the single most powerful (im)mortal to exist without actually being divine.)

"What the hell is a lightning rail doing here?" yelled I'mdyp as the group ran, Vaikwur augmenting them with a mass haste spell.

As the train came ever closer, they considered their options. There were actually quite a few, and the caliber of this challenge was not quite up to par with that of previous rounds.

For one, a Wall of Force would simply detonate it and completely resist whatever damage that might have been caused by it's impact and subsequent explosion. A prismatic wall would work too, but would likely be overkill.

Another option was simply diving into a portable hole, a highly cartoonish situation.

Then, one could also summon an elemental monolith, which would plug the gap and have basically the same effect as creating a wall of force.

Disintegration would work. It would simply annihilate the engine, though the problem of a speeding cart of explosives would still be a problem.

Casting fire immunity on everyone and fireballing the train would work, too.

In the end, Karathis just turned around and Conjured a wall of force directly in front of the party, which would absorb the detonation entirely without so much as a shimmer.

They found themselves in a room with a Sphinx.

"Perhaps fate has seen fit to give you a break from overly difficult challenges. I know what waits for you in the rest of the rounds.

Next is a mighty anomaly.

Afterwards is a legendary killer

Then you must fight one who knows everything you do, and possibly more.

In the last round, you will either win, or be not.

For now, Riddle me this, and if you riddle correctly, I will open the door to Night itself."

The Sphinx cleared its throat and held itself in a more proper riddle giving position.

"I mentioned Shakespeare in the last puzzle, which reminds me of the visit the Bard paid me a while back. No, I will not prattle and bore you with an overlong anecdote. He revealed to me, between cups of Almond Bréve, the location of the only manuscript of his "lost play." Now have I piqued your interest? There hasn't been such a literary discovery since the recovery of Dante's Divine Comedy! Anyway, the puzzle is to discover where the play is hidden. It can be found in an English city, the name of which has been obscured in this puzzle:
(32,4) (3,3) (2,1) (15,1) (15,3) (1,1) (2,9) (31,8) (31,3)

And if it helps, I can tell you that this is equivalent to:
(8,4) (16,2) (10,1) (97,2) (3,10) (2,5) (16,4) (89,3) (3,8)

Figure out how to read the name of the city, and do the English literary world a monumental service." The Sphinx said.

Figuring it had four easy meals on its hands, it took out a file and began sharpening its teeth.

OOC: If you need help, I can give you a hint.

(OOC: See, the thing about high level characters, is that they can pretty much just blast their way through most things. So, in this case, they could just cloudkill/forcecage the sphinx and be done with it, or any other myraid ways of annihilating an annoying foe. But I won't, simply because it's more fun that way.

That, and it was a little obvious that it was from the internet because the beginning was awkward.)

"Very well, we shall humour you, just this once."

"Come on, Karathis. This is a waste of time, let's just annihilate it and be on our way."

"Lemme just take a crack at this riddle first - these creatures are quite amusing whether or not you answer it correctly."

"Oh, fine. If you get it wrong, though, I'm going to vapourise it."

Karathis then pondered what the sphinx had said.

"But you haven't given a last puzzle! Doesn't that make it blatantly obvious that the numbers have something to do with your opening spiel?"

He wrote the entire thing out from memory onto a piece of spare paper (wizards tended to need to be good at such things) and sat down, examining it. Starting to circle letters, he wrote out a word below it.

(I) (m)entione(d) Sh(a)kespeare in the last puzzle, whi(c)h reminds me of the visit the (B)a(r)d paid me a while back. No, I will not prattle and bore you with an ov(e)rlon(g) anecdote. He revealed to me, between cups of Almond Bréve, the location of the only manuscript of his "lost play." Now have I piqued your interest? There hasn't been such a literary discovery since the recovery of Dante's Divine Comedy! Anyway, the puzzle is to discover where the play is hidden. It can be found in an English city, the name of which has been obscured in this puzzle:
(32,4) (3,3) (2,1) (15,1) (15,3) (1,1) (2,9) (31,8) (31,3)

And if it helps, I can tell you that this is equivalent to:
(8,4) (16,2) (10,1) (97,2) (3,10) (2,5) (16,4) (89,3) (3,8)

Figure out how to read the name of the city, and do the English literary world a monumental service.

CAMBRIDGE

And if this happens to be wrong...

EXPLOSIVE RUNES

He passed the piece of paper to the Sphinx, and readied a forcecage spell.

(OOC: See, the thing about high level characters, is that they can pretty much just blast their way through most things. So, in this case, they could just cloudkill/forcecage the sphinx and be done with it, or any other myraid ways of annihilating an annoying foe. But I won't, simply because it's more fun that way.

That, and it was a little obvious that it was from the internet because the beginning was awkward.)

"Very well, we shall humour you, just this once."

"Come on, Karathis. This is a waste of time, let's just annihilate it and be on our way."

"Lemme just take a crack at this riddle first - these creatures are quite amusing whether or not you answer it correctly."

"Oh, fine. If you get it wrong, though, I'm going to vapourise it."

Karathis then pondered what the sphinx had said.

"But you haven't given a last puzzle! Doesn't that make it blatantly obvious that the numbers have something to do with your opening spiel?"

He wrote the entire thing out from memory onto a piece of spare paper (wizards tended to need to be good at such things) and sat down, examining it. Starting to circle letters, he wrote out a word below it.



He passed the piece of paper to the Sphinx, and readied a forcecage spell.

"Darn. Can i at least have a little nibble? a pinky, a toe, maybe an arm or a leg?" the Sphinx asked.

It moved aside. The hallway behind it was entirely devoid of light. There was an ominous sinister feeling in the air.

"Oh, what the hell." said Karathis, throwing a small piece of glass over his shoulder as he left. The piece of glass transformed into a very surprised looking badger.

Peering into the darkness, Karathis pondered what would be the best course of action.

Signalling Vaikwur, the two Gated in a pair of Prismatic Golems, and followed them into the darkness. The elemental light was sufficient to counteract the elemental darkness, and when they cast Daylight spells on their staves, the area became illuminated.

"Oh, what the hell." said Karathis, throwing a small piece of glass over his shoulder as he left. The piece of glass transformed into a very surprised looking badger.

Peering into the darkness, Karathis pondered what would be the best course of action.

Signalling Vaikwur, the two Gated in a pair of Prismatic Golems, and followed them into the darkness. The elemental light was sufficient to counteract the elemental darkness, and when they cast Daylight spells on their staves, the area became illuminated.

OOC: Prismatic Golem? a Creature made entirely of light? cool. Nice idea, but, well, as your about to find out, The Ministry of Shadow, and Shadowlord himself can activly supress light against its source. Its a classic tactic though, congrats. if you had a SW lightsabre...

IC:

The Darkness recoiled and screamed.

The Light was not being weakend, it wasn't being counteracted. the Darkness became the darkest substance known, and transmuted into Darkmatter, it expanded and pushed the light back against it's sources.

Two Dark Matter Claws raked at each person in turn.

They could see to white slits in the darkness. The Shadowlord's eyes.

OOC: The Prismatic golems and the light spells are still there, but the light is pushed back against it's source. thus, the light from the golems is pushed back against their bodies, the light from the Daylight spell is pushed back against its enchanted weapons.

They say the eyes are the doorway to the soul...

(OOC: I've got lightbows, so I suppose that's close enough. I can still see the direct effects of the light, right? As in, the light from the golems and the weapons is still making it to the adventurer's eyes, but not bouncing about so it doesn't properly provide light.

Yeah, I'm actually breaking the rules of the prismatic bows a bit, but what the heck - a rainbow storm is more interesting to describe than one light arrow at a time slowly advancing up the spectrum. Just like a supersonic scream.)

"Bows. Now."

The wizards evoked a pair of Prismatic Bows and passed them to Ulrich and I'mdyp, the two non-mages swinging to concentrated light bows to block the Dark Matter Claws.

Prismatic Aura! called the two wizards, sheathing themselves in scintillating light and defeating the dark matter's attempt at striking them.

The prismatic golems, of course, simply extended tendrils of light and vapourised the Dark Matter, cancelling it with Elysian light generated within their forms.

Mass Haste!

The counterattack was as swift as it was vicious. Ulrich and I'mdyp raised the bows and unleashed a storm of arrows, expending all the bows' magic in a space of six seconds, a terrible rainbow of light arcing across the darkness, piercing through the dark matter and arcing towards the shadowlord's eyes.

Just as the bows dissipated, the wizards raised their hands, their eyes burning blue.

Prismatic Deluge!

Torrents of Elysian Light cascaded down upon the shadowlord, forcing I'mdyp and Ulrich to shield their eyes, the blinding rainbow of light being too much for mortal eyes.

Brilliant Aura!

The blades of Ulrich and I'mdyp's swords became transmuted into brilliant energy as they drew their weapons, slicing deep into the darkness.

(OOC: I've got lightbows, so I suppose that's close enough. I can still see the direct effects of the light, right? As in, the light from the golems and the weapons is still making it to the adventurer's eyes, but not bouncing about so it doesn't properly provide light.

Yeah, I'm actually breaking the rules of the prismatic bows a bit, but what the heck - a rainbow storm is more interesting to describe than one light arrow at a time slowly advancing up the spectrum. Just like a supersonic scream.)

"Bows. Now."

The wizards evoked a pair of Prismatic Bows and passed them to Ulrich and I'mdyp, the two non-mages swinging to concentrated light bows to block the Dark Matter Claws.

Prismatic Aura! called the two wizards, sheathing themselves in scintillating light and defeating the dark matter's attempt at striking them.

The prismatic golems, of course, simply extended tendrils of light and vapourised the Dark Matter, cancelling it with Elysian light generated within their forms.

Mass Haste!

The counterattack was as swift as it was vicious. Ulrich and I'mdyp raised the bows and unleashed a storm of arrows, expending all the bows' magic in a space of six seconds, a terrible rainbow of light arcing across the darkness, piercing through the dark matter and arcing towards the shadowlord's eyes.

Just as the bows dissipated, the wizards raised their hands, their eyes burning blue.

Prismatic Deluge!

Torrents of Elysian Light cascaded down upon the shadowlord, forcing I'mdyp and Ulrich to shield their eyes, the blinding rainbow of light being too much for mortal eyes.

Brilliant Aura!

The blades of Ulrich and I'mdyp's swords became transmuted into brilliant energy as they drew their weapons, slicing deep into the darkness.

Everything shifted Spectrums, and all of the Darkness faded into Blindingly bright white light.

shadowlord came up from below with shards of the Indestructible Darksteel from Mirroden and slashed at them, even through their lightshields.

The light was bleeding energy.

Karathis was clobbered by the darksteel, flying across the area and tumbling across the 'floor', badly injured.

Ulrich was also struck, though he managed to hold on to the darksteel, running up its length and taking flight, moving in to smite the shadowlord directly with his bastard sword.

I'mdyp tumbled underneath the shard, leaping onto another and making a running leap to strike the Shadowlord.

Vaikwur's reaction was markedly different, however. As the shard narrowly missed the small profile of the evoker, he pointed at the shards in turn, intoning a complex spell.

Karathis stood up, and realised what spell the kobold was casting.

"Brace!" he yelled, his companions completing their attacks and dropping to the ground, anchoring themselves with immovable rods, as Vaikwur had already done before he began casting and Karathis was in the middle of doing.

The sound of lightning striking wood echoed through the realm, a rift opening in the reality and dragging the darksteel shards into it, as well as anything else left unattended.

Seconds later, it was gone, and so were the darksteel shards. The prismatic golems were circling the Shadowlord, sapping its being by cancelling it using Elysian energy, while the adventurers deactivated their anchors.

The wizards then cast a spell of mass flight and the moved to dodge the attacks of the shadowlord, the wizards calling in prismatic deluges every so often, both greviously harming the being of shadow and completely rejuvenating the prismatic golems.

Between blasts, I'mdyp and Ulrich grabbed prismatic bows from the wizards and fired streams of multicoloured light arrows at the shadowlord.

Karathis was clobbered by the darksteel, flying across the area and tumbling across the 'floor', badly injured.

Ulrich was also struck, though he managed to hold on to the darksteel, running up its length and taking flight, moving in to smite the shadowlord directly with his bastard sword.

I'mdyp tumbled underneath the shard, leaping onto another and making a running leap to strike the Shadowlord.

Vaikwur's reaction was markedly different, however. As the shard narrowly missed the small profile of the evoker, he pointed at the shards in turn, intoning a complex spell.

Karathis stood up, and realised what spell the kobold was casting.

"Brace!" he yelled, his companions completing their attacks and dropping to the ground, anchoring themselves with immovable rods, as Vaikwur had already done before he began casting and Karathis was in the middle of doing.

The sound of lightning striking wood echoed through the realm, a rift opening in the reality and dragging the darksteel shards into it, as well as anything else left unattended.

Seconds later, it was gone, and so were the darksteel shards. The prismatic golems were circling the Shadowlord, sapping its being by cancelling it using Elysian energy, while the adventurers deactivated their anchors.

The wizards then cast a spell of mass flight and the moved to dodge the attacks of the shadowlord, the wizards calling in prismatic deluges every so often, both greviously harming the being of shadow and completely rejuvenating the prismatic golems.

Between blasts, I'mdyp and Ulrich grabbed prismatic bows from the wizards and fired streams of multicoloured light arrows at the shadowlord.

Shadowlord Reached into the hearts and souls of the Ri-anese on the world below, and fed off their fear of him. He was strengthend, renewed.

Then everything turned into normal light. They were in a large empty stone room.

Before them was The Shadowlord, as he truely was. Indescribable horror made real. It made Cthulu look like a bad imitation.

what might have been either a long rubber tenticle, or a huge scaly Crab claw reached out and slapped them all. The Light attacks no longer effected him.

Something that was supposed to be a leg like appendage, but was festering with open wounds crawling with Maggots and Parasites moved toward them. The smell was really, really bad.

the head was full of eyes and long googlely eye stalks with eyes on the end. it was full of mouths and noses, and made one's stomach churn. The body was simply beyond description.

OOC: Nothing left to do but hack him to pieces, and burn the pieces.

Ulrich stared at the abomination for a moment, gritting his teeth. Swallowing his fear, he raised his sword and charged.

"You do not scare me, abomination!" he yelled, closing the distance and channeling the will of Pelor, his sword returning to normal and taking on a shining golden hue.

Flanked by the Elysian Prismatic Golems, he fell on the thing, a holy warrior bearing the will of the sun god.

Riding on his shoulders was I'mdyp, who kicked off from his pauldrons and vanishing, only to materialise a split second later to deal a precise blow, then disappearing again.

The mind blanks were still in place, and rendered their minds numb to the unspeakable horror that was the Shadowlord.

By now short on arcane power, Karathis and Vaikwur began to expend charges from their staves, conjuring into existence elder elementals of all kinds, the elemental forces of nature advancing on the Shadowlord in increasingly large numbers.

It was costing them dearly in charges, but after twenty were in existence (five of each) they stopped, and simply readied disintegration spells for the finishing blow.

The hulking stone fists of the elementals pounded into the flesh of the shadowlord, watery and airy hands pounded on it, and fire elementals ran on its skin, igniting the vulnerable shadowlord.

OOC: Good job.

IC: As it was pounded to pieces and ignited, The Shadowlord yelled out " The Day must end eventually. Night always returns, and so Shall I."

Then, he was gone.

They heard a slow mocking clap.

The Void flickered in the room, banishing all the summons.

The only thing left, was them, and a man.

The Dark Black Leather, The Pale white skin, The Black lips, and the eyes, Filled with Hatred, Filled with destruction.

This was no illusion. This was a very real danger, unlike any previously faced.

His Divine aura should have bowled them over, but there was none. In fact, except for seeing him, and hearing him, it was as if he wasn't there at all. There was only one entity that could pull off such a feat.

Kajeenith, The mad God.

"So, congratulations, you've done something most children have done by age ten, and defeated The Boogeyman. I suppose you'll be wanting a trophy and a tickertape parade now. But really, does it hurt to be so stupid? I mean your adults, and your just now defeating him? Come on people, Really.
Next I suppose you'll be saying your experienced adventurers or something. As if." He said.

He walked over to them.

"Ahh, but then again, Shadowlord could've been harder, more difficult, if he wasn't held back by the Ri-anese. So I guess you'll just never know if it was you or them that defeated him. I've been watching your petty little tournament down there." Kajeenith said.

The four found themselves outside the castle, looking down at Ri-an.

The Shadows were gone, and it was daylight.

"Their too soft. You should see their mirror versions. Tougher than the Terrasque they are. The Challenges you've been facing so far, haven't been all that tough. They don't want to harm anybody. Oh boo hoo. I kill people for entertainment everyday, then I torture their souls for eternity. Doesn't bother me in the slightest."

"I've decided. I'm taking over. I want to see just how tough you really are. But remember, I don't play fair." Kajeenith said.

The Four found themselves atop The Zohar Reactor on Ri-an. the energy it was putting out was more than enough to recharge them. Karathis and Vaikwur would find they almost had more than they could handle.

Memories of what just happened faded from their minds, leaving only The battle with Shadowlord.

Lady Ri-an materialised naext to them, and embraced all four of them at once.

"Are you ok?" she asked, genuinly worried about them.

"Uhhh..." said Vaikwur, dazed by the odd feeling of the memories fading from his mind. "...somebody is taking... over?" he muttered, drowsy as the memories rapidly faded.

"Black Leather... Eyes of hate..."

"Mirror... Tarrasque... Kill... Entertainment... Souls... Eternity?"

"Pale... Like a vampire... Void."

The adventurers muttered the last of the memories of their meeting with Kajeenith as they faded away, rapidly regaining full awareness as Lady Ri-An embraced them.

"Arg... We're okay, mostly, I think. I feel as though I'm missing something... but I'm not sure what. Is there any possibility of learning how to combat the void?"

Karathis had a strange foreboding feeling, as if there was something vitally important he should know, but had been made to forget.

Damn it all! Wizards shouldn't be able to forget these sorts of things!

The adventurers seemed slightly faded, as the until-now unnoticed effects of the Void Dragon's breath became more clear as the adventurer's forms were no longer opaque.

"Uhhh..." said Vaikwur, dazed by the odd feeling of the memories fading from his mind. "...somebody is taking... over?" he muttered, drowsy as the memories rapidly faded.

"Black Leather... Eyes of hate..."

"Mirror... Tarrasque... Kill... Entertainment... Souls... Eternity?"

"Pale... Like a vampire... Void."

The adventurers muttered the last of the memories of their meeting with Kajeenith as they faded away, rapidly regaining full awareness as Lady Ri-An embraced them.

"Arg... We're okay, mostly, I think. I feel as though I'm missing something... but I'm not sure what. Is there any possibility of learning how to combat the void?"

Karathis had a strange foreboding feeling, as if there was something vitally important he should know, but had been made to forget.

Damn it all! Wizards shouldn't be able to forget these sorts of things!

The adventurers seemed slightly faded, as the until-now unnoticed effects of the Void Dragon's breath became more clear as the adventurer's forms were no longer opaque.

Lady Ri-an paused, and stood. Between her, and the Zohar Reactor, it was as if The Void effects had never happened.

"Kajeenith."She said.

She paused, thinking.

"Well, then we'll just have to bring in his Mirror opposite. For some odd reason, Kajeenith doesn't go anywhere near htineejaK, and htineejaK is The High Priest of The Omnisource, so he can easily counter Void effects. Plus, since there will be an entire day's intermission between rounds 9 and ten, he can take that time and help you learn to combat the void. Mostly it involves having a source of Creation within you, and knowing how to use it." Lady Ri-an said.

She stood, and gathered Clouds beneath them. The Clouds lifted them, and carried them to the arena.

"After a few minutes time, we will get on with round seven, which involves all contestants together, we haven't quite decided the challenge though. I might step in for a round, maybe a magicly protected Gareen, or The Aquamarinians." Lady Ri-an said.

OOC: So, unless there's more IC banter, its back to the main thread to wait for Coreworlds and Theao to finish fighting.

And so, the day off had come, and passed. It was morning. The audience waited in anticipation. It was time for Round eight.

Karathis and his friends were called for their Round.

"From The Main Ri-an Battling Arena, we are proud to bring you live from The Restored Realms of Ri-an, Round 8, Karathis, Versus The Three Demons of Elru!" Xos Announced.

Instead of cheering, the crowd got deathly silent, and bowed their heads, as though the competitors had just died. Some were crying even. Children were ushered out of the Arena. Even Lady Ri-an looked distressed and upset.

The Ground shook, as the three demons appeared. First, came Id's son. His hair, Black and white. The Mana burned in the air against his skin, and it appeared Grey.

Then his sister, the Demoness of Elru appeared. She loved punk and it showed. pink hair, Pink eyes, Pink Clothes, pink flesh. Even the mana burned pink against her skin.

Then, their father, The Original Id, The Demon of Elru appeared. His clothes were blackest leather, his hair, his eyes, and the mana burning in the air, it was all red. The Demons were abnormally strong, and even The Magi-masters had trouble with them.

The original Demon stepped forward. The air was deathly silent.

"So, you think your strong. You've made it through six rounds of weaklings and claim to be epic mages. Filth. I doubt your strength. It took a Demon with the power to destroy entire worlds just to stop me. Now I have two children, just as powerful as I am. What makes you think you and the same old tricks are going to win this fight? The thought that the mages made Father Shadowlord play fair, make him hold back? I made a similar agreement so that they would ressurect me. But I lied. Even Khalan's geas has died within me. You will not progress any further, but don't worry, millions have died at my hands, four more will not overly trouble me so." Id whispered. Though he only spoke at a whisper, he was clearly heard throughout the Arena.

All three clenched their fists, and the Mana burning against their skin burned brightly. Even if the attacks missed Karathis and his three friends, the demons would not care. It would then kill half the audience. Not even the Shields of the Magi-masters could completly stop their attacks.

Original punched the ground solidly. It cracked and trembled beneath the feet of Karathis and his three friends.

His Daughter, The Demoness Clapped her hands together forcefully, and a massive blast of energy shot towards Karathis and his three friends.

Her Brother, Demon Jr. Simply disappeared, only to reapear right behind I'mdyp, right where she was, and kicked her as hard as he could, which was hard enough to kill a kobold.

Karathis and his friends were in serious trouble indeed, for The demons fought not to beat and leave unconcious. They did not try to hold back on the injuries. They fought to kill.

In the act of learning how to create magic, the wizards too had gained a deeper understanding of the fundamental nature of reality. Magic could be rewoven, as they were already skilled in doing, but the underlying knowledge of the intrinsic workings of magic also aided them to allow fundamental meddling in the nature of magic itself - at least on a localised scale.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Amateur." replied Vaikwur, cutting off Id's speech.

He stared at the blast, a smirk on his face.

"Why is it that those born with the most natural power learn the least from it?" he said, at the last minute, as his careful manipulation of space time altered the nature of the bolt.

A mere metre away from the party, the subtly altered course of the energy redirected it directly towards I'mdyp.

---

"Honestly, such immense power is wasted on those such as you."

Time almost seemed ground to a halt for a split second, as Karathis conjured the beginnings of the magic he needed. As it slowly sped up again, the blossoms of magic bloomed outwards into the spells, while he rapidly wove the expanding magic into its intended form.

The earth began shaking even faster, and an enormous earthen fist punched its way out of the floor, beginning to pull itself up.

---

Ulrich summoned Silvermane to him and mounted his steed, rearing dramatically again.

"Down with thee, Demon, by the light of Pelor!" he bellowed, charging down at Id.

He hardly expected to actually make contact, though, and was focussing on fortifying the already heavily enchanted plate barding of Silvermane.

---

I'mdyp waited until Vaikwur was able to redirect the energy burst, the lethal kick coming in towards her back as she span to the side, producing what appeared to be a single shackle on a chain, which she swung at Id Jr.'s leg.

As the shackle clicked into place (or didn't), she let go of it and vanished, becoming as a ghost and tumbling out of the way of the energy ball. A small spike attached to the end suddenly jerked down with exceptional force, pinning the leg to the ground.

If her maneuver was successful, the shackle would lock down the demon's ability to teleport, or disappear, or whatever for the crucial split second before the energy blast (modified sufficiently to avoid any irritating issues with immunities or strengths) would impact.

It was something of a cheap dimensional shackle, but even with the ungodly speed and strength of the demon prince, a chain could be broken only so fast. Well, at least, that was what was hoped.

In the act of learning how to create magic, the wizards too had gained a deeper understanding of the fundamental nature of reality. Magic could be rewoven, as they were already skilled in doing, but the underlying knowledge of the intrinsic workings of magic also aided them to allow fundamental meddling in the nature of magic itself - at least on a localised scale.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Amateur." replied Vaikwur, cutting off Id's speech.

He stared at the blast, a smirk on his face.

"Why is it that those born with the most natural power learn the least from it?" he said, at the last minute, as his careful manipulation of space time altered the nature of the bolt.

A mere metre away from the party, the subtly altered course of the energy redirected it directly towards I'mdyp.

---

"Honestly, such immense power is wasted on those such as you."

Time almost seemed ground to a halt for a split second, as Karathis conjured the beginnings of the magic he needed. As it slowly sped up again, the blossoms of magic bloomed outwards into the spells, while he rapidly wove the expanding magic into its intended form.

The earth began shaking even faster, and an enormous earthen fist punched its way out of the floor, beginning to pull itself up.

---

Ulrich summoned Silvermane to him and mounted his steed, rearing dramatically again.

"Down with thee, Demon, by the light of Pelor!" he bellowed, charging down at Id.

He hardly expected to actually make contact, though, and was focussing on fortifying the already heavily enchanted plate barding of Silvermane.

---

I'mdyp waited until Vaikwur was able to redirect the energy burst, the lethal kick coming in towards her back as she span to the side, producing what appeared to be a single shackle on a chain, which she swung at Id Jr.'s leg.

As the shackle clicked into place (or didn't), she let go of it and vanished, becoming as a ghost and tumbling out of the way of the energy ball. A small spike attached to the end suddenly jerked down with exceptional force, pinning the leg to the ground.

If her maneuver was successful, the shackle would lock down the demon's ability to teleport, or disappear, or whatever for the crucial split second before the energy blast (modified sufficiently to avoid any irritating issues with immunities or strengths) would impact.

It was something of a cheap dimensional shackle, but even with the ungodly speed and strength of the demon prince, a chain could be broken only so fast. Well, at least, that was what was hoped.

Id went completly black, Mana was drawn in from all sides and burned away. It transferred itself to all four Contestants. They would find their higher level magicks were completly sealed against use, as were their more powerful artifacts.

Demoness Teleported and punched Silvermane just as hard as she possibly could, and even with armor, it was enough to seriously injure even the best of horses.

Meanwhile, Id Jr's own burning energy reversed I'mdyp's shackle attack and sent it it upon her, making it catch around her leg and pin her to the ground. He looked at what his father had started, and what Karathis had turned it into.

He leaped away, landing sideways on the nearby wall.

"Just as Cocky as the last group of wizards I killed." Id Jr. said.

"seriously, like, why does everyone always think they can klill that which was designed to kill them?" Demoness asked.

"Come, While I was in Hell, I made some friends." Id said.

The air took on a sickly green color, as The three demons chanted a mass Teleportation spell.

"They want to meet you." Id said to the adventurers.

the Ground disappeared, and the bowels of hell itself replaced them. Hellfire creeped over the Arena which was now completly empty, except for the Magi-masters.

In the center was a Lake of fire, upon which Id stood. a swarm of demons peeked their heads out from the lake of fire. Then they scattered, as a Pit Fiend rose up from The fire. He raised his arms, and the arena sank beneath the ground, taking everyone with it.

"Oh look, our favorite little lamplighter sent us another Paladin to play with and kick around, how cute. I hope he dies in the fires of his own suns. I doubt he's ever even seen one face to face." The Pit fiend said in a horrible language.

It spied Vaikwur. It reached out with its horrible calws and raked the spellcaster.

"Karashnathak." said I'mdyp, the shackle breaking away.

Silvermane was punched heavily by the Demoness, but didn't appear to slow down, the myriad effects of its association reversing the effects almost as quickly as it came.

Artifacts, of course, were *far* beyond the reach of even the most powerful demons. No amount of power Id possessed would suppress that.

Karathis was very much immersed in the world of magic, and rapidly unravelled this supposed 'anti-magic', tearing it to pieces and turning it into the magical equivalent of a bleeding wound.

Their most powerful magics had been suppressed temporarily, but the attempt was inherently flawed, and the effect would shatter after a mere few seconds.

The fist finished pulling its body out of the ground, and a colossal elemental of earth rose before the demons, just as the teleportation spell completed.

Even as the Pit Fiend had just noticed Vaikwur, standing there, the adventurers had sprung into motion.

The kobold wizard held out his hand, an enormous, reptilian claw suddenly manifesting and clutching the pit fiend. It melted away in just a few seconds, but by then it would be too late.

Ulrich was not idle either, as he charged the pit fiend from behind with a sword burning with divine energy. He would not be stopped, his years of training on Silvermane coming to the fore. All of a sudden, the pit fiend was impaled on the holy blade, divine energy burning through every fibre of its being. "I've ended far greater devils than you, fiend!" bellowed Ulrich, cutting his bastard sword free of the baatezu as he charged past.

He then glared at the demons and devils observing.

"Don't you have a blood war to be getting back to?" he said, ice almost dripping from his words.

The earth elemental had also been brought with the adventurers, and it responded to the disturbance by slamming a fist down on Id.

I'mdyp was flickering, materialising almost randomly to fling a few shuriken alternately at Id and his children.

Karathis snapped his fingers and his eyes took on first a red glow, then a golden hue. He gazed upon the three demons with piercing eyes, and their vulnerabilities became known to him.

Eventually, the Ninja switched to the mirror of opposition, creating anti-Ids and anti-Id's Children, who single-mindedly pursued their real counterparts with all the skill, knowledge and ability their real versions possessed.

"Karashnathak." said I'mdyp, the shackle breaking away.

Silvermane was punched heavily by the Demoness, but didn't appear to slow down, the myriad effects of its association reversing the effects almost as quickly as it came.

Artifacts, of course, were *far* beyond the reach of even the most powerful demons. No amount of power Id possessed would suppress that.

Karathis was very much immersed in the world of magic, and rapidly unravelled this supposed 'anti-magic', tearing it to pieces and turning it into the magical equivalent of a bleeding wound.

Their most powerful magics had been suppressed temporarily, but the attempt was inherently flawed, and the effect would shatter after a mere few seconds.

The fist finished pulling its body out of the ground, and a colossal elemental of earth rose before the demons, just as the teleportation spell completed.

Even as the Pit Fiend had just noticed Vaikwur, standing there, the adventurers had sprung into motion.

The kobold wizard held out his hand, an enormous, reptilian claw suddenly manifesting and clutching the pit fiend. It melted away in just a few seconds, but by then it would be too late.

Ulrich was not idle either, as he charged the pit fiend from behind with a sword burning with divine energy. He would not be stopped, his years of training on Silvermane coming to the fore. All of a sudden, the pit fiend was impaled on the holy blade, divine energy burning through every fibre of its being. "I've ended far greater devils than you, fiend!" bellowed Ulrich, cutting his bastard sword free of the baatezu as he charged past.

He then glared at the demons and devils observing.

"Don't you have a blood war to be getting back to?" he said, ice almost dripping from his words.

The earth elemental had also been brought with the adventurers, and it responded to the disturbance by slamming a fist down on Id.

I'mdyp was flickering, materialising almost randomly to fling a few shuriken alternately at Id and his children.

Karathis snapped his fingers and his eyes took on first a red glow, then a golden hue. He gazed upon the three demons with piercing eyes, and their vulnerabilities became known to him.

Eventually, the Ninja switched to the mirror of opposition, creating anti-Ids and anti-Id's Children, who single-mindedly pursued their real counterparts with all the skill, knowledge and ability their real versions possessed.

And so the Earth elemental slammed its fist down on Id. The Pit Fiend had served its purpose. then, the entire Earth elemental was lifted off the ground. Id rose in the air.

"Really now. Throwing Earth Elementals at people. That's not really fair. Take it back." Id said, and threw the Earth Elemental at the adventurers.

The Demons let the shuriukins hit them. As the mana burned in the air, their wounds were closed and healed.

Then I'mdyp made the mistake that spelled doom for her and her friends. She used the Mirror of opposition.

the three new Demons looked at their counterparts, shrugged, and turned on the adventurers.

Id smiled.

"So you wish to die that badly? Very well then. Surely even you realised that we were made with wills bound to the will of Kajeenith. As our wills are his, so too are those of our counterparts bound to the will of htineejaK, Kajeenith's mirror opposite. By the joining of The brothers, and the reunification of Yore, all those created in our image must then serve Yore. The bad news is, Kajeenith is in control of Yore, thus all demons, regardless of their source, must serve Kajeenith's will."

The six demons advanced on the now outnumbered party.

I don't play fair The memory of those words would flash accross the minds of the adventurers, as it was reawakened. Now they knew who had a hand in selecting their challenges this round.

One demon Jr. went to literally rip silvermane's head off. The other demon Jr. leaped in the air, and went for a Meteoric kick to Ulrich's head.

Two demonesses went to I'mdyp grabbing her legs and pulling.

"the one who gets the head gets a wish." One demon said.

The Original went to Karathis and kicked him just as hard as he could. If the Kick connected, Karathis would bounce around the arena like a pinball.

Id's Mirror created twin advanced on Vaikwur. He clenched his fist, the mana burning strongest at his fist, increasing his strength exponentially.

He punched downward, from Vaikwur's head, to the ground, making an impact crater in the ground, his fist running along the front of Vaikwur's body. Even if Vaikwur to step back, or leap away, the puch was fast enough, Vaikwur would still get hit by the chunks of ground flying upward.

(Ah, ahem. A mirror of opposition copy single-mindedly attempts to kill their counterparts. There is no 'subversion' factor. They are under no command. They exist *only* to kill their counterparts, nobody else. This is their only purpose. They are *clones*. Not Mirrors.

If a creature sees its reflection in the mirror’s surface, an exact duplicate of that creature comes into being. This opposite immediately attacks the original. The duplicate has all the possessions and powers of its original (including magic). Upon the defeat or destruction of either the duplicate or the original, the duplicate and her items disappear completely. The mirror functions up to four times per day.

Just for a little more clarification: The copies from the Mirror of Opposition did not ever exist in the mirror world, in any way. They will never exist in the mirror world. Their souls, well, are distinctly lacking, despite being duplicates - note that this does not make them open to magics effective on soulless things, yet renders them immune to soul-binding magics, since they only have pseudosouls, derived from their true counterparts. These things are completely fabricated by the mirror, and their only goal in life is the destruction of their counterparts.)

(Ah, ahem. A mirror of opposition copy single-mindedly attempts to kill their counterparts. There is no 'subversion' factor. They are under no command. They exist *only* to kill their counterparts, nobody else. This is their only purpose. They are *clones*. Not Mirrors.



Just for a little more clarification: The copies from the Mirror of Opposition did not ever exist in the mirror world, in any way. They will never exist in the mirror world. Their souls, well, are distinctly lacking, despite being duplicates - note that this does not make them open to magics effective on soulless things, yet renders them immune to soul-binding magics, since they only have pseudosouls, derived from their true counterparts. These things are completely fabricated by the mirror, and their only goal in life is the destruction of their counterparts.)

OOC:The Mirror shouldn't have worked in the first place, its powers temporarily sealed. What part of his appearence makes you think he's a demon? Surely anyone can tell by looking that he isn't actually a demon, and that maybe, just maybe Demon of Elru was a nickname he earned when he slaughtered the former captial of Elru when he first appeared. On top of that, what Demon family actually sticks and fights together cohesivly? All you had to do was cut off the connection between them and Kajeenith. that's all you had to do. That was the whole point of that long speech that Id gave, to avoid this, hoping you would get the hint and cut bonds.

(OOC: Hold on - The mirror of opposition is a normal wonderous item, so it wouldn't have been sealed. If it wouldn't have worked on them anyway, then the end result of using them needs to be reversed, since it means that the attempt would be a result-neutral failure.

That, and I actually have no ability to directly cut said bonds. Perhaps planeshift madness might work?)

(OOC: Hold on - The mirror of opposition is a normal wonderous item, so it wouldn't have been sealed. If it wouldn't have worked on them anyway, then the end result of using them needs to be reversed, since it means that the attempt would be a result-neutral failure.

That, and I actually have no ability to directly cut said bonds. Perhaps planeshift madness might work?)

I was thinking more along the lines of the D-lock Karathis used. Yes, it would stop their teleportation, but a previously unseen side effect would be the bond seperation.

you know, or maybe not, how The Borg Hive mind is made of Massive Transwarp based Telecommunications that spread through slightly diffrent dimensions? Its kinda like that. The Bond is just slightly outside of the dimension they happen to be in at any given moment. Since a D-lock, among other things, prevents teleportation and Dimensional shifts, it would effectivly temporarily cut the bond, long enough for Ulrich and I'mdyp to jump in and while they were fighting each other, kill them. Beheading works remarkably well. Vaikwur and Karathis could on the other hand, while the fighting was going on, enchant an arrow to become hundreds once released, and fire it into the group of Ids. Energy attacks fail, even fire. Solid attacks though, like a bullet, work pretty darn good. You just have to work fast at killing them, or the Regeneration will kick in and heal them. thus, Regeneration, or the arrow swarm. Even if an arrow multiplication spell isn't in the books, surely spellcasters as good as Vaikwur and Karathis have made up at least one or two of their own spells. Why not an arrow multiplier?

Thus, in one fell swoop, the demons turn on each other, and in a spot of brilliant strategy, the demons are not only incapacitated, but killed!

What's Planeshift Madness?

((I meant extensively using plane shift spells to shift the battlefield to environs hostile to the Demons of Elru. Pretty much anywhere between Mechanus and Elysium. Mechanus is likely the single most friendly plane, though, given that they're all strongly axiomatic, if not good.

Alright, so where do we go from here? Since it appears that the Demons of Elru draw their power from Kajeenith, then their 'perfect copies' won't have that power, and will be pathetically weak, most likely. What say you that we have the copies torn to pieces and go from there?

Come to think of it, if the adventurers figure it out, they might be able to lure the demons to Sigil, where they will be pretty much powerless.))

((I meant extensively using plane shift spells to shift the battlefield to environs hostile to the Demons of Elru. Pretty much anywhere between Mechanus and Elysium. Mechanus is likely the single most friendly plane, though, given that they're all strongly axiomatic, if not good.

Alright, so where do we go from here? Since it appears that the Demons of Elru draw their power from Kajeenith, then their 'perfect copies' won't have that power, and will be pathetically weak, most likely. What say you that we have the copies torn to pieces and go from there?

Come to think of it, if the adventurers figure it out, they might be able to lure the demons to Sigil, where they will be pretty much powerless.))
OOC:
Go ahead and tear the copies to pieces. But the demons will refuse to leave the Plane. If you leave even to another dimension but still within the arena, they'll say you ran out of cowardice and forfieted the battle.

Now, in order to send them somewhere against their will, you have to have twice the normal strength it would require to Teleport them, even to the city of doors. They've been there before, they know how to find an apropriate portal to another Plane they can easily teleport away from.

The reason you need twice the strength, is that while the first one is dying, you can cast the second one, thus teleporting them.

(OOC: That's why it's helpful having the Arcane Reach Archmage ability - touch spells at 30ft. That, and the Plane Shift spell can be used to force somebody into another plane against their will. Well, since these guys are also quite big players, to some extent, they have certain areas of Sigil well known, so I'm going to go with them picking out an area sparser in portals, and inhabited by more lawful outsiders. Since Sigil is completely barred to deities, it should effectively shut down all powers not personally possessed by the Demons.)

The earth elemental disintegrated as it was thrown back, its form being dismissed by Karathis with a wave of the hand.

The copies rushed at their counterparts, but appeared distinctly lacking in the awesome power demonstrated by the Demons of Elru. They projected energy balls, all right, but they were somewhat lacking, the power seeming to be almost token compared to what they'd seen.

How interesting. They seem to have powers that either cannot be copied, or are from an outside source...

"Well, when in doubt, assume there's something you're not taking into account. Vaikwur?" "I hear the City of Doors is nice this time of year." "Sigil it is then.

The two wizards cooperatively cast Greater Plane Shifts at each of the three demons in turn, the spells firing off slightly out of phase so their powers meshed nicely. The destination for our fine friends the demons? One of the more lawfully aligned and portal-spartan districts.

A split second after all the demons were shifted to inconvenient locations (for them, at least), the Adventurers shifted in after them, ready to rejoin the battle as soon as they reappeared.

Karathis also readied himself to begin throwing dimensional locks, so if the demons indeed had teleportation abilities of their own power, he could cut them off. (OOC: This would be SOP for a teleporter, I suppose. I assumed that such direct effects would just be eaten by the manafire.)

(OOC: That's why it's helpful having the Arcane Reach Archmage ability - touch spells at 30ft. That, and the Plane Shift spell can be used to force somebody into another plane against their will. Well, since these guys are also quite big players, to some extent, they have certain areas of Sigil well known, so I'm going to go with them picking out an area sparser in portals, and inhabited by more lawful outsiders. Since Sigil is completely barred to deities, it should effectively shut down all powers not personally possessed by the Demons.)

The earth elemental disintegrated as it was thrown back, its form being dismissed by Karathis with a wave of the hand.

The copies rushed at their counterparts, but appeared distinctly lacking in the awesome power demonstrated by the Demons of Elru. They projected energy balls, all right, but they were somewhat lacking, the power seeming to be almost token compared to what they'd seen.

How interesting. They seem to have powers that either cannot be copied, or are from an outside source...

"Well, when in doubt, assume there's something you're not taking into account. Vaikwur?" "I hear the City of Doors is nice this time of year." "Sigil it is then.

The two wizards cooperatively cast Greater Plane Shifts at each of the three demons in turn, the spells firing off slightly out of phase so their powers meshed nicely. The destination for our fine friends the demons? One of the more lawfully aligned and portal-spartan districts.

A split second after all the demons were shifted to inconvenient locations (for them, at least), the Adventurers shifted in after them, ready to rejoin the battle as soon as they reappeared.

Karathis also readied himself to begin throwing dimensional locks, so if the demons indeed had teleportation abilities of their own power, he could cut them off. (OOC: This would be SOP for a teleporter, I suppose. I assumed that such direct effects would just be eaten by the manafire.)

And The demons had shifted and were gone. But the Magi-masters prevented the adventurers from following. It was like having somebody grab the back of another's shirt and pull them back.

"There's no need." Lady Ri-an called from the stands.

She jumped down.

"I have connections. The Followers of a certain well known Lady will keep them occupied, and if they become too troublesome, well, then I guess she'll have to trap them in a prison designed by them, and openable only by them, but only from the outside. I've never met her personally, but I understand that its a fools errand to cross paths with The Lady of Pain. Meanwhile, go take a break, watch the rest of the fights. then, come out and fight in Round nine." Lady Ri-an said.

"Alright, if you know the Lady will move against them. I know of no being, mortal or immortal, who has yet survived a run-in with the Lady of Pain. Well, not for long, at any rate."

The adventurers dispersed, off to prepare, relax and in I'mdyp's case, to watch the ongoing battle with the the proclaimed ninja master.

Karathis and Vaikwur retired to a smaller arena, where they engaged in a friendly game of 'chess' using summoned monsters, which appeared more a battle than actual chess.

For one, the monsters were moving once every six seconds, and they were all moving at once. That, and the wizards (playing the parts of the kings) were periodically blowing up one creature or another.

Ulrich was standing on the sidelines, refereeing.

This was a tournament after all.

"Alright, if you know the Lady will move against them. I know of no being, mortal or immortal, who has yet survived a run-in with the Lady of Pain. Well, not for long, at any rate."

The adventurers dispersed, off to prepare, relax and in I'mdyp's case, to watch the ongoing battle with the the proclaimed ninja master.

Karathis and Vaikwur retired to a smaller arena, where they engaged in a friendly game of 'chess' using summoned monsters, which appeared more a battle than actual chess.

For one, the monsters were moving once every six seconds, and they were all moving at once. That, and the wizards (playing the parts of the kings) were periodically blowing up one creature or another.

Ulrich was standing on the sidelines, refereeing.

This was a tournament after all.

Convieniantly enough, after their chess game, it was time for round nine. they were called back.

As they entered the arena, and Nine Magi-masters were on the wall in their judging positions.

"round nine." Lady Ri-an called.

the nine masters jumped down. First, scria, The Rune Magi Mistress cased the entire ground to collapse into a giant Rune hidden beneath the ground, which lead straight to her position, and she collapsed into Runes.

Ray, The Fire Magi-master became pure fire, and flowed into the runes, swirling around and burning in place.

Quis became pure water, and flowed into the fire, causing steam to rise.

This steam swirled around Kado, The sky Magi-Mistress, and became one with the vaporous cloud, drifting over. Lightning flickered within it.

Ros walked over, and became a great stone golem, collapsing into mud as the boiling water touched him. The four elements combined into one new element.

Khalan's robes grew Black, as she let the full force of her power shine through, both killing and healing at the same time, as she moved, become the heart of the new creature.

Stella and Chron leaped into it, giving it more definition, and it began looking solidly like a real person.

Xos merged with it, and the New Being was complete, and looked like all of The Magi-masters.

the Runes on the floor spread throughout the arena, and swallowed the adventurers.

the magi-master and The adventurers found themselves ontop of Magi-masters tower, where Agrinja was waiting, barely seen. He walked into the Magi-master, and with that The being was complete.

They were in the Dimensia Harmonia, The Dimension between all others, where there was nothing solid, only energy, and as all must follow the rules of the sacred Dimensia Harmonia the Magi-masters and the adventurers were also pure energy beings, as was the tower, Silvermane the horse, and all their belongings.

"Round Nine, live from The Dimensia Harmonia The adventurers versus THE MAGI-MASTER!" Lady Ri-an's voice sounded.

The Magi-master crossed its arms. Energy cracked around it, forming a Prismatic Sphere.

OOC: All forms of Anti-magic automaticly fail due to the nature of Dimensia Harmonia. Sound is sight, sight is sound, there is no diffrence between the two. Not even Mordenkainen's Painful disjunction works here.

However, everyone, and everything has unlimited energy. That doesn't mean that can't fail, or die, they just have unlimited energy.

You will not of known or heard of Dimensia Harmonia before this, its impossible to enter, even on accident. The only reason you can enter now, is because Xos spent 90 incarnations and over 30,000 years cracking the seals and developed a key within his own body. The concept of this round is, is that The Magi-master is all 10 Magi-masters combined into one expert. The Magi-master is pure Arcane Energy.

(OOC: Regular dispels still work, yes? I'm asking because that's a component of prismatic wall deconstruction.)

"I knew it! They are power rangers!" exclaimed I'mdyp as the MegaMagi formed together.

They all had stock contingencies ready, so they would not be caught unawares, and a number of protective and augmentative spells active already.

Allowing the prismatic sphere to be created, Karathis applied the epic dimensional lock, and summoned a set of four elemental monoliths.

Meanwhile, Vaikwur evoked into existence a black blade of disaster, which he commanded to hover outside the sphere and strike immediately at anything which emerged. The planar rift hovered loyally while the evoker set to work dismantling the sphere, stripping away the first three layers with the appropriate spells.

The MegaMagi would need to leave the sphere sooner or later - it functioned both ways, and even with some sort of immunity it was opaque to magics. The jet black blade hummed ominously, while the elemental monoliths took up positions around the sphere.

"Even I know better than to try to pull that one!" called Karathis, not that MegaMagi could hear any of them or tell what they were doing. The violet layer alone stopped all magic, matter and energy - everything save actual dimensional transportation. That, of course, would be considered forfeiting.

The blanket dimensional lock, of course, shut down any such notions of teleporting out. It was stopped by the sphere, but they couldn't just teleport out into agreed arena confines.

Given that the MegaMagi was unable to tell what was happening outside (well, without exposing itself gloriously to the building firepower), Karathis and Vaikwur set about walling the sphere in with prismatic walls of their own - if they had time. The prismatic cage was then fortified further with forcewalls, and a number of cloudkill spells filled the gaps, before the final force wall was put into place.

"They'll figure a way out, of course. Still, it doesn't hurt to be prepared, and I think it's safe to venture that if they teleport out further than the dimensional lock's radius they've forfeited anyway."

All the same, they prepared to shoot down the Magi Masters should the ones with the appropriate immunities attempt to escape the bind.

(OOC: Would it be fair to assume that the Magi-Masters would need to divide again to employ their resistances? I mean, there's 13 (I think) of them, and only 1 or 2 of them have the appropriate immunities... At any rate, note that a prismatic wall would also stop space-time folding, except maybe within it's own confines. The effect would be stopped by the prismatic sphere, and the dimensional lock ought to keep such tomfoolery out unless they divide into specialities.)

(OOC: Regular dispels still work, yes? I'm asking because that's a component of prismatic wall deconstruction.)

"I knew it! They are power rangers!" exclaimed I'mdyp as the MegaMagi formed together.

They all had stock contingencies ready, so they would not be caught unawares, and a number of protective and augmentative spells active already.

Allowing the prismatic sphere to be created, Karathis applied the epic dimensional lock, and summoned a set of four elemental monoliths.

Meanwhile, Vaikwur evoked into existence a black blade of disaster, which he commanded to hover outside the sphere and strike immediately at anything which emerged. The planar rift hovered loyally while the evoker set to work dismantling the sphere, stripping away the first three layers with the appropriate spells.

The MegaMagi would need to leave the sphere sooner or later - it functioned both ways, and even with some sort of immunity it was opaque to magics. The jet black blade hummed ominously, while the elemental monoliths took up positions around the sphere.

"Even I know better than to try to pull that one!" called Karathis, not that MegaMagi could hear any of them or tell what they were doing. The violet layer alone stopped all magic, matter and energy - everything save actual dimensional transportation. That, of course, would be considered forfeiting.

The blanket dimensional lock, of course, shut down any such notions of teleporting out. It was stopped by the sphere, but they couldn't just teleport out into agreed arena confines.

Given that the MegaMagi was unable to tell what was happening outside (well, without exposing itself gloriously to the building firepower), Karathis and Vaikwur set about walling the sphere in with prismatic walls of their own - if they had time. The prismatic cage was then fortified further with forcewalls, and a number of cloudkill spells filled the gaps, before the final force wall was put into place.

"They'll figure a way out, of course. Still, it doesn't hurt to be prepared, and I think it's safe to venture that if they teleport out further than the dimensional lock's radius they've forfeited anyway."

All the same, they prepared to shoot down the Magi Masters should the ones with the appropriate immunities attempt to escape the bind.

(OOC: Would it be fair to assume that the Magi-Masters would need to divide again to employ their resistances? I mean, there's 13 (I think) of them, and only 1 or 2 of them have the appropriate immunities... At any rate, note that a prismatic wall would also stop space-time folding, except maybe within it's own confines. The effect would be stopped by the prismatic sphere, and the dimensional lock ought to keep such tomfoolery out unless they divide into specialities.)

OOC: They don't neccessarily need too, that certain person could take over as lead caster, but Remember, Their also very creative and know ways around normal barriers, such as a Prismatic barrier of any sort. To think they cannot attack from inside the sphere, is wrong.

IC:

While they had been employing their own defences, because of Karathis's own Dimensional Lock, The air supply steadily being piped in from Ri-an was cut off. A little alarm panel lit up and sounded an alarm because of this. The Shields at the top opened up, and the great vacuum normally repelled by the shields sucked out first the remaining air, and then the adventurers and the things they had summoned.

The Prismatic Sphere began to boil like a pot of water. It exploded outward into several hundred smaller spheres, flying at each adventurer and item, and caught in the Prismatic onslaught spell were the other Prismatic walls, Forcewalls, and Cloud kills spells, turned them all into little balls and sending them flying every which way.

Magi-master Glowed brightly, being nothing more than pure Arcane energy. He disapated into the ambient energy in the air as the attacks passed through where he was.

Then he waivered back in.

OOC: Given that the complete lack of oxygen and threat of being sucked into the vacuum of space is going to provide plenty for them to do, could you possibly fill me in on what the things are you summoned, and what their supposed to do?

Remember, no oxygen and the vacuum means not even air elementals can survive. The easiest solution of course, is to remove the D-lock.

(OOC: An air elemental would, incidentally, survive, as would the other three elementals. They're elements incarnate - the fire elemental can survive in a vacuum, since it's elemental (ie. fire as fire), and not the result of anything. Just as the Earth Elemental doesn't need to be constantly connected to the ground and the Water Elemental exists even away from water, the Air Elemental can survive in a vacuum, and on the contrary, provides a perfectly acceptable air supply.

They're also quite heavy. Yes, even the air.

That being said, a prismatic sphere DOES indeed cut off all your avenues of attack. The way you describes is not a *real* method of circumventing it. I'd consider it more 'getting rid of it for purposes of avoiding automatic defeat' than 'creative'.

Elemental Monoliths are basically gargantuan elementals, and the pinnacle of elementals that can be summoned. They're still not vulnerable to things like Vacuums, though.)

Mass Fly! gestured Karathis, and the adventurers descended back to the arena, now wearing masks with attached bottles of air. They divided themselves between the air and earth elementals, latching on and being carried.

The elementals were all unaffected, being too heavy (in the case of the Earth, Water and Fire monoliths) or being in total control of the air comprising their forms (in the case of the Air monolith).

As the MegaMagi annihilated their cage, the Wizards quickly redirected the energy recently liberated into arcane walls, which absorbed the so-called 'prismatic onslaught' into nothing. Noticing the MegaMagi was a being of pure arcane energy (and employing this fact to avoid their abilities), they began channeling its energy into reality maelstrom spells, attempting to fight the Magi-Master by shredding the plane. The dimensional lock would prevent planar shifting as a result, but they were tearing up the plane all the same.

No other method would work against a being which apparently had the power to completely ignore any spells they used, if not turning the spells against them. What amounted to an avatar of a plane could only be truly fought by damaging the plane directly.

(OOC: Again, defeating a wall which specifically blocks all magic and mundane by 'casting a spell through it' is hardly creative. By all rights, the fortifications around should have just blocked the magic and potentially killed off the Magi-Master by creating an enclosed area for the magic to bounce around in. *Especially* since the parameters of the match were that Dispel effects were nonfunctional.

Beating a prismatic sphere by walling in its occupants and cutting off escape routes is a creative method. Saying 'I shoot you through the sphere' is not. Creative methods require beating it or circumventing it within the parameters, not ignoring them.)

(OOC: An air elemental would, incidentally, survive, as would the other three elementals. They're elements incarnate - the fire elemental can survive in a vacuum, since it's elemental (ie. fire as fire), and not the result of anything. Just as the Earth Elemental doesn't need to be constantly connected to the ground and the Water Elemental exists even away from water, the Air Elemental can survive in a vacuum, and on the contrary, provides a perfectly acceptable air supply.

They're also quite heavy. Yes, even the air.

That being said, a prismatic sphere DOES indeed cut off all your avenues of attack. The way you describes is not a *real* method of circumventing it. I'd consider it more 'getting rid of it for purposes of avoiding automatic defeat' than 'creative'.

Elemental Monoliths are basically gargantuan elementals, and the pinnacle of elementals that can be summoned. They're still not vulnerable to things like Vacuums, though.)

Mass Fly! gestured Karathis, and the adventurers descended back to the arena, now wearing masks with attached bottles of air. They divided themselves between the air and earth elementals, latching on and being carried.

The elementals were all unaffected, being too heavy (in the case of the Earth, Water and Fire monoliths) or being in total control of the air comprising their forms (in the case of the Air monolith).

As the MegaMagi annihilated their cage, the Wizards quickly redirected the energy recently liberated into arcane walls, which absorbed the so-called 'prismatic onslaught' into nothing. Noticing the MegaMagi was a being of pure arcane energy (and employing this fact to avoid their abilities), they began channeling its energy into reality maelstrom spells, attempting to fight the Magi-Master by shredding the plane. The dimensional lock would prevent planar shifting as a result, but they were tearing up the plane all the same.

No other method would work against a being which apparently had the power to completely ignore any spells they used, if not turning the spells against them. What amounted to an avatar of a plane could only be truly fought by damaging the plane directly.

OOC: Maybe according to d20 rules, but I like thinking up my own spells. Prismatic onslaught was one of the first. It was supposed to do as I said, make a sphere and shot it in every which direction. As the other spells were close enough to its effects, they too were caught up within it its effects.

Secondly, if the Elementals are too heavy to be sucked away by the vacuum, then their also too heavy to even stay on the top floor, and will promptly crash through the floors to the bottom, all the way through the diffrent planes and dimensions it runs through and fall out and onto its location on Ri-an, killing them in the process. If the air is flying, then its not as heavy as you say, and can be sucked out with the rest of the atmosphere. Same with water and fire.

Third, a Prismatic anything cannot stop Mega-Magi-master, because Light is a form of energy, and is also a natural byproduct of fire.

Fourth, Dimensia Harmonia is a highly specialised Dimension, whose sole purpose of existence is to house the Crystal of The Heart of Creation. Tearing it apart will only result in you tearing yourself apart while it continues on in complete safety. Had I known you was going to attack the dimension, I would've warned you not to. the usual punishment is the complete removal of your powers, all of them. Aside from that, there are a multitude of attacks and defences the Dimension itself will employ.

Finally, it is faulty logic to assume that those four cannot defeat the magi-masters directly. All Ulrich and I'mdyp have to do is distract Mega in one manner, while Vaikwur and Karathis used magic to tear them away from each other.

Then it'll be the real fight, as the ten get to casting. These are all custom made spells, or variations on pre-existing spells.

Now, lets not do any editing. After we've gotten to another understanding, I'll simply post ICly about the Dimensia Harmonia.

OOC: Hmm? Fortunately, Reality Maelstrom tends to peter out after about thirty seconds or so, so when things start going kittywhompus they'll probably either figure out it's probably not the safest thing to do, and stop, or be told not to, and stop. It's still only a small tear, and they've tried nothing of the actual 'reality shred cascade' thing, just creating these tears wherever the Mega-Magi-Master is to cause damage directly to its form. That would, as you described it, force them to divide, as otherwise they would be encouraging the destruction of Dimensia Harmonia, by requiring their opponent to damage the plane to damage them. The argument would probably go with them demanding they stop causing such damage with the reply being to stop forcing them to cause such damage.

And about the Vacuum - the elementals don't need to be that heavy, you know. They just need to be heavy enough that they may as well be considered anchored to the plane, that the gravity acting on them is enough to overcome the suction. The Air Elemental has mastery over its own form, so it can simply capture the air of its own body and remain.

Also, How would the two Non-Casters be able to attack the MegaMagiMaster directly? If they can avoid physical attacks from Elementals by simply turning into magic, then it's a logical conclusion that attacking them with normal weapons will also have a similar result.

About ignoring prismatic effects: What about the force effects? Those would stop the prismatic onslaught. However, a Prismatic Sphere would still stop the magic the MegaMagiMaster uses, which is what I banked on when I sealed them in.

Custom spells I'm fine with, but could you OOCly post a description of their effects, what it affects and how it affects its subjects? For instance, was the Prismatic Sphere required to cast the spell in the first place, or was it merely the first phase of the spell? What is the nature of the spheres produced? Are they similarly prismatic magics, or are they elemental magics, etc. etc. etc.

OOC: Hmm? Fortunately, Reality Maelstrom tends to peter out after about thirty seconds or so, so when things start going kittywhompus they'll probably either figure out it's probably not the safest thing to do, and stop, or be told not to, and stop. It's still only a small tear, and they've tried nothing of the actual 'reality shred cascade' thing, just creating these tears wherever the Mega-Magi-Master is to cause damage directly to its form. That would, as you described it, force them to divide, as otherwise they would be encouraging the destruction of Dimensia Harmonia, by requiring their opponent to damage the plane to damage them. The argument would probably go with them demanding they stop causing such damage with the reply being to stop forcing them to cause such damage.

And about the Vacuum - the elementals don't need to be that heavy, you know. They just need to be heavy enough that they may as well be considered anchored to the plane, that the gravity acting on them is enough to overcome the suction. The Air Elemental has mastery over its own form, so it can simply capture the air of its own body and remain.

Also, How would the two Non-Casters be able to attack the MegaMagiMaster directly? If they can avoid physical attacks from Elementals by simply turning into magic, then it's a logical conclusion that attacking them with normal weapons will also have a similar result.

About ignoring prismatic effects: What about the force effects? Those would stop the prismatic onslaught. However, a Prismatic Sphere would still stop the magic the MegaMagiMaster uses, which is what I banked on when I sealed them in.

Custom spells I'm fine with, but could you OOCly post a description of their effects, what it affects and how it affects its subjects? For instance, was the Prismatic Sphere required to cast the spell in the first place, or was it merely the first phase of the spell? What is the nature of the spheres produced? Are they similarly prismatic magics, or are they elemental magics, etc. etc. etc.

Actually, Prismatic Onslaught is more of an add on spell. I may not get this quite right, but, its like Windows Media Player. It plays all types of media. Maybe not all formats, but definatly all kinds. A Prismatic barrier, whether it be sphericle or wall, stops all attacks. Never mind Xos and Ray's abilities for the moment.

Now, Prismatic onslaught, as was said, is more of an add on. Its automaticly linked to the caster's favorite Prismatic spell. Like the Music stores accessible through WMP. Prismatic onslaught is not neccessary for the sphere itself to be cast, but the sphere, or a wall, is neccessary for Prismatic onslaught.

As for the two non-magic attackers, and this might affect your tactics with the elemental monoliths somewhat, but, I thought you knew. I thought I posted it alongside the Infinite magic part. Its the whole reason why everything you see, you hear, and everything you hear, you see. Even green has its own unique sound.
*Reviews posts* Nope, I didn't.
Its the reason everything me comes to an end in the Dimensia Harmonia in my final thread.

There is no solid matter what so ever in all of Dimensia Harmonia. The tower is insubstantial, The adventurers are insubstantial, The elements are insubstantial. Your artifacts and items are energy. Yoiu don't really need air after you get used to the wierdness of Dimensia Harmonia, but its still a powerful weapon here. Thus, Ulrich's blades and I'mdyps weapons all effect Mega, even though he is pure Arcane energy. Unlike who you face in round ten, Mega can be targeted by spells. So while their attacking him and making him disapate, Vaikwur and Karathis can use spells to force the ten to scatter. they'll all be in their ultimate forms, but still, Ulrich and I'mdyp can I'mdyp can attack as though Mega was solid.

Its also why the mages have infinite magic.

About the Custom spells. Sure thing. I'll post them as I use them for the first time. Like The flares.

OOC: Alright, so am I right as saying that the Prismatic Onslaught isn't a true Prismatic spell, rather something employing nearby Prismatic spells?

So it basically consumed all the prismatic spells around it and turned into spheres of energy.

However, while a Prismatic Barrier is nigh-indestructible, and stops all attacks, the reverse does not hold true when prismatic energy is used as a weapon; to give an example, Prismatic Spray is stopped by a Wall of Force, despite being a prismatic spell. The same holds true with a Prismatic Deluge, which is a ninth level prismatic attack spell.

Alright, it's your move all the same.

OOC: Alright, so am I right as saying that the Prismatic Onslaught isn't a true Prismatic spell, rather something employing nearby Prismatic spells?

So it basically consumed all the prismatic spells around it and turned into spheres of energy.

However, while a Prismatic Barrier is nigh-indestructible, and stops all attacks, the reverse does not hold true when prismatic energy is used as a weapon; to give an example, Prismatic Spray is stopped by a Wall of Force, despite being a prismatic spell. The same holds true with a Prismatic Deluge, which is a ninth level prismatic attack spell.

Alright, it's your move all the same.

As Karathis and Vaikwur tore at the dimension, the dimension halted their attacks.

It formed a Hailstorm, and shot Golfball sized hail at them at high velocieties.

"I would suggust you stop harming Dimensia Harmonia. Its aware, and doesn't like being hurt. Now are you two going to cause very bad things to happen, or are the four of you going to stop screwing around get serious? as you may or may not of noticed, your all Energy. There is no solid matter in this dimension, at all. thus we are exactly evenly matched. a sword can hit me just as easily as a Magic missle can."

A Magic Missle, literally in the shape of a minature InterContinental Ballistics Missle shot at each adventurer in turn. While nowhere near as destructive as an ICBM, it was still substantially stronger than your average Magic Missle.

Meanwhile, Mega turned to the Elementals.

Mega visably changed into a woman wearing Reaper's robes. She pointed at the Elemental Monoliths.

"Die." was all she said. As she spoke Death magic activated, severing the lifeforce that kept each Element alive.

Changing slightly She counterspelled the Dimensional Lock.

((Actually, now that the D-lock is active, by the rules of the arena it's now impossible to dispel it. Or dismiss it, for that matter. Counterspelling can only happen mid-cast.))

"Very well, if it's that serious an issue that you must break duel to inform us of such."

He raised a hand and created a wall of force, blocking the hailstorm.

"What, a souped up magic missile? One would have hoped you would have tried something a little more to the caliber of ones such as yourselves."

Vaikwur reaved the magic of the magic missile, and channeled it with that of the surroundings - armed with the knowledge that he had unlimited arcane reserves at his disposal, he evoked the magic into something a little more... potent.

As he drew the incredible amounts of magic together, large globules broke off and arced into the MagaMagiMaster, each detonating with enormous amounts of force. ((This would be a combination magic missile + meteor swarm + Orb spell))

Ulrich spurred Silvermane, charging at the MegaMagiMaster with I'mdyp on the back, where she launched a barrage of arrows using a . Ulrich raised his crossbow, and countered MegaKhalan's death magic by firing bolts enchanted to apply death wards at each of the elementals in turn, pre-empting each of her attempts.

Karathis watched the MegaMagiMaster, and even if it did have the capacity to dispel the dimensional lock, despite the planar conditions, he would counterspell it and turn its effects upon its caster - modified to get around any resistances it might have.

((Actually, now that the D-lock is active, by the rules of the arena it's now impossible to dispel it. Or dismiss it, for that matter. Counterspelling can only happen mid-cast.))

"Very well, if it's that serious an issue that you must break duel to inform us of such."

He raised a hand and created a wall of force, blocking the hailstorm.

"What, a souped up magic missile? One would have hoped you would have tried something a little more to the caliber of ones such as yourselves."

Vaikwur reaved the magic of the magic missile, and channeled it with that of the surroundings - armed with the knowledge that he had unlimited arcane reserves at his disposal, he evoked the magic into something a little more... potent.

As he drew the incredible amounts of magic together, large globules broke off and arced into the MagaMagiMaster, each detonating with enormous amounts of force. ((This would be a combination magic missile + meteor swarm + Orb spell))

Ulrich spurred Silvermane, charging at the MegaMagiMaster with I'mdyp on the back, where she launched a barrage of arrows using a . Ulrich raised his crossbow, and countered MegaKhalan's death magic by firing bolts enchanted to apply death wards at each of the elementals in turn, pre-empting each of her attempts.

Karathis watched the MegaMagiMaster, and even if it did have the capacity to dispel the dimensional lock, despite the planar conditions, he would counterspell it and turn its effects upon its caster - modified to get around any resistances it might have.

Occupied with avoiding the attacks from I'mdyp, Vaikwur's spell hit full on.

Mega stumbled and fell.

She pushed a button hidden in the floor.

The entire room lit up in a hyper complex rune that was almost too large to fit in the room. Its purpose, disturbingly enough, was to reinforce the tower against spells powerful enough to kill gods with impunity.


Mega stood.

"You want more? Fine. you will get more. Dimensia Harmonia, Defend thineself." Mega called out to the dimension.

Then, Mega died, the body fell to the floor. the body expanded and expanded into 10 seperate bodies, all of them alive.

Ray was the first to stand. Then Quis. Next was Ros, and then Kado.
Khalan brushed herself off, and helped Stella and Chron up, followed by Scria. Lastly Xos stood.

Khalan healed everyone. the nine Magi-masters, The four adventurers, Silvermain, and the four Elemental Monoliths.

Then the nine Magi-masters stood in a line. With their hands each made a symbol of their particular element. The Arcane energy levels dropped drasticly, as all nine masters absorbed enough energy to kill lesser mages. The symbols made by their hands began to glow. It ran accross their perspective bodies.

Ray became a small star. The Heat should've killed them all, but thanks to the Mega defence rune activated, no heat was felt. He was still very bright, but too bright to look at. The Nuclear Fusion reactions were intresting to look at. The Radiation was not present.

Quis became a great Maelstrom of water. Some parts were frozen.

Ros became what may have been the basterd child of a Treant and a Rock golem.

Kado meanwhile twsited and turned into a massive Thunderstorm Lining the top of the tower, and marking the upper limit.

Khalan's powers inferred no specdial elemental form, b ut it was remarkably harder to continue living from moment to moment. It was like being in the presence of The Grim Reaper. And yet, at the same time, Everyone felt remarkably rejuvenated, and so full of life.

The Space Time Continuum visably fractured around Stella and Chron.

Scria became nothing more than the runes she had mastered, having mastered every form of Runic magic there was, even Kanji symbol magic.

Xos did not have to use his powers to assume a superpowered form. He had completly evolved into a being of pure Arcane energy.

"We will not all nine attack all at once. If we did, the very thing we desire to protect would be destroyed. Thus, one element at a time, one master at a time. Chron, now."

Chron concentrated. Time was fractured nine ways. All nine of the Masters disappeared.

Then one fracture restored itself. Ray Returned, still a bright shining star.

The Ray hovered in the exact center of the Arena.

The A solar Flare occured, not reached much farther than an inch off the surface. Even the Gravity of a star was gone. Truely, there was no diffrence between Ray, and fire.

After the Flare, an Inferno came out of nowhere, went nowhere, and screamed its way accross the Tower. It hit everyone and everything, and its heat measured at 1,000 degrees Centigrade. Only the none present Magi-masters were missing. (*)

Ray seemed Stronger for the spell, as would the Fire Monolith.

OOC: While yes, he might be in the form of a star, attacks still hit.

Fire and Ice heal him. Everything else harms him. The Normal characteristics of a star are still present, just restrained by the Mega-Rune. The Key to beating Ray, is not to use strong spells against him, because they all take time to cast, and require substantial effort. He'lll keep using fire and Ice based attacks, thus healing himself.

Really, you need to overwhelm him with a great rate of lesser magic, so as that even though he is still healing himself with fire magic, its not as effective

the spell used was Merton from FF3 US FF6 Japan. Its a fire based attack that hits everyone, and is a high end attack. Its normal Temp for lesser mages is normally 500 Degrees farenheight, but Ray has practiced fire magic so much, for so long, his expertise has increased the temperature. a Quick thinker could easily shield against it.

* The other Masters are in the fractured parts of time, and cannot effect anything outside of their part, or be effected outside of their part. Chron's actions are automaticly self healing.

((OOC: Would this be a sort of fractured timeline? ie. All battles at the same point in time, but with specific differences?))

The heat immediately set everything on fire, including the adventurers and all of the elementals. The water monolith was not particularly affected, given that it was a native of the elemental plane of water, and not the paraelemental plane of ice. The fire elemental was not damaged, for obvious reasons.

Energy Immunity! abjured Karathis, employing the unlimited amounts of magic available to him to quickly apply fire immunity to everything on the tower, even Ray - it was not worth the trouble to exclude him from the effect.

Next, Vaikwur evoked a Coldball, the logical choice, which zinged into Ray and failed to provide any discernible effect - owing to the fire master's immunities. Falling back on the next possible element, he launched an Electrical Storm (Meteor Swarm with Mastery of Elements into Electricity) at the Magi Master.

The Water Monolith descended on Ray, pummeling the star with watery fists, each blow extinguishing a little of the magical fires which powered the form. If they were not magical, the elemental's watery blows would pass through with no resistance whatsoever, cutting swathes through the 'star'.

The Earth and Air Monoliths simply set to pummeling Ray, while the Fire Elemental stood by and basked in the heat.

Ulrich and I'mdyp, fortified against heat, charged in, weaving around the towering elementals, and leapt into the fray, I'mdyp jumping to descend on Ray while Ulrich charged in below and began to hack the 'star' apart, ignoring his mind nagging at him that a ball of gas could not be cut.

While the attack increased in ferocity, the two wizards provided support by hurling lightning bolts and lightning storms (Ice Storm + Master of Elements to Electricity) at Ray.

((OOC: Would this be a sort of fractured timeline? ie. All battles at the same point in time, but with specific differences?))

The heat immediately set everything on fire, including the adventurers and all of the elementals. The water monolith was not particularly affected, given that it was a native of the elemental plane of water, and not the paraelemental plane of ice. The fire elemental was not damaged, for obvious reasons.

Energy Immunity! abjured Karathis, employing the unlimited amounts of magic available to him to quickly apply fire immunity to everything on the tower, even Ray - it was not worth the trouble to exclude him from the effect.

Next, Vaikwur evoked a Coldball, the logical choice, which zinged into Ray and failed to provide any discernible effect - owing to the fire master's immunities. Falling back on the next possible element, he launched an Electrical Storm (Meteor Swarm with Mastery of Elements into Electricity) at the Magi Master.

The Water Monolith descended on Ray, pummeling the star with watery fists, each blow extinguishing a little of the magical fires which powered the form. If they were not magical, the elemental's watery blows would pass through with no resistance whatsoever, cutting swathes through the 'star'.

The Earth and Air Monoliths simply set to pummeling Ray, while the Fire Elemental stood by and basked in the heat.

Ulrich and I'mdyp, fortified against heat, charged in, weaving around the towering elementals, and leapt into the fray, I'mdyp jumping to descend on Ray while Ulrich charged in below and began to hack the 'star' apart, ignoring his mind nagging at him that a ball of gas could not be cut.

While the attack increased in ferocity, the two wizards provided support by hurling lightning bolts and lightning storms (Ice Storm + Master of Elements to Electricity) at Ray.

OOC: Time still goes forward like normal. Like a highway, you and Ray are on the main road, the main part of time. As Time wears on, other roads join in, the other fractures of time join the main one. Eventually all nine fractures will have joined the main one. In their seperate fractures, the Masters are completly isolated both ways.

IC: The cold of course, healed Ray. The rest of the attacks hurt.

Energy flicked out of his star form, and altered the Mega Rune.

The Surface of the star had a starquake, and a massive Solar Flare occured.

Ray cast Absolute 0. The air turned blue. All heat vanished. Even Ray's starform turned to a blackened ball.

There was no heat at all, and the extreme cold temperatures required to reach absolute 0 was lethal to everyone, except Ray. The Fire Elemental was useless, and could not emit any heat at all due to the agreed upon laws surrounding Absolute 0.

Trapped in his blackened sphere of a dead cold star, Ray idly wondered if Karathis and Vaikwur had ever encountered Magiscience before.

OOC:
Absolute 0 is a Spell from Magiscience. Magiscience is when Magic and Science come together and influence each other to create a new deadly power. Magiscience is hard to defeat if used correctly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_0#Absolute_temperature_scales

The above link explains the science part of Absolute 0 The idea from which I got the spell.

Absolute 0 removes all heat thus lowering the Temp to absolute 0. that's all it does. The rest is the science. Since everything is Thermicly inert, and the super cold is super lethal and bound to kill reptillian creatures quickly like, say, a kobold, its looking like victory by death. Unless you can figure out how to counter Absolute 0 fast enough to warm up the air, and the fire elemental. Its heat has been stolen too. Its still fire, but it no longer burns or emits heat. Not until you can make the heat come back again.

If they do die, its not permanent. Khalan can pull them back and restore them.

(OOC: Of course, the problem with magiscience would be that the end effect is nonetheless subject to the whims of magic anyhow. If anything 'Absolute Zero' is comparable to a cold substituted 'Deadly Sunstroke' spell (Complete Mage, Sorc/Wiz 9), which causes what essentially amounts to a massive heatwave. It's a little more specific, but the wizards have the range on it to affect everything in the area anyhow.)

Blanket frost effect, looks to be environmental. Must retain heat... thought Vaikwur, his mind doing double time as the spell was cast and he realised it meant instantaneous death if it completed before he could finish a spell to counteract it.

Deadly Sunstroke! he evoked, thrusting a claw upwards and shaking off thousands of crystals of ice as the magic worked its way on the surroundings.

The frost hit almost immediately afterwards, causing icicles to form almost everywhere, and turning the floor into a layer of shimmering ice. At absolute zero, the adventurers and elementals had turned into frosty statues, preserved perfectly by the snap freeze as the deadly sunstroke spell came into play.

The 'absolute zero' rapidly changed into 'scorching desert', and counteracted the snap-freeze process which had taken place.

As soon as movement returned, Karathis applied a blanket Cold Immunity spell, rendering the adventurers and elementals constantly at a comfortable temperature.

With a roar, the fire monolith burst back into flame, the elemental fires towering for a split second before it began pounding on the icy sphere, aided by the other angry elemental monoliths. Despite the magi-master's healing capacities from flame, the monolith caused immense damage due to the majority being caused by mere bludgeoning and only a comparitively token amount coming from actual heat.

The adventurers redoubled their assault, and the wizards evoked shimmering balls of lightning, which moved into Ray and electrocuted his form, slowly orbiting around the centre within the star and electrocuting the magi-master.

I'mdyp and Ulrich were preoccupied trying to cut the star to ribbons, of course.

(OOC: Of course, the problem with magiscience would be that the end effect is nonetheless subject to the whims of magic anyhow. If anything 'Absolute Zero' is comparable to a cold substituted 'Deadly Sunstroke' spell (Complete Mage, Sorc/Wiz 9), which causes what essentially amounts to a massive heatwave. It's a little more specific, but the wizards have the range on it to affect everything in the area anyhow.)

Blanket frost effect, looks to be environmental. Must retain heat... thought Vaikwur, his mind doing double time as the spell was cast and he realised it meant instantaneous death if it completed before he could finish a spell to counteract it.

Deadly Sunstroke! he evoked, thrusting a claw upwards and shaking off thousands of crystals of ice as the magic worked its way on the surroundings.

The frost hit almost immediately afterwards, causing icicles to form almost everywhere, and turning the floor into a layer of shimmering ice. At absolute zero, the adventurers and elementals had turned into frosty statues, preserved perfectly by the snap freeze as the deadly sunstroke spell came into play.

The 'absolute zero' rapidly changed into 'scorching desert', and counteracted the snap-freeze process which had taken place.

As soon as movement returned, Karathis applied a blanket Cold Immunity spell, rendering the adventurers and elementals constantly at a comfortable temperature.

With a roar, the fire monolith burst back into flame, the elemental fires towering for a split second before it began pounding on the icy sphere, aided by the other angry elemental monoliths. Despite the magi-master's healing capacities from flame, the monolith caused immense damage due to the majority being caused by mere bludgeoning and only a comparitively token amount coming from actual heat.

The adventurers redoubled their assault, and the wizards evoked shimmering balls of lightning, which moved into Ray and electrocuted his form, slowly orbiting around the centre within the star and electrocuting the magi-master.

I'mdyp and Ulrich were preoccupied trying to cut the star to ribbons, of course.

The star shook to peices.

"Hold it. I'm no longer a legal opponet." He said as he walked calmly over to an area outside of fighting area, shielded by a wall. He took a seat.

"Many long years ago, back before recorded history, Fire was the first magic discovered by primitave spellcasters. Fire was power, and those who could control it, were revered as Gods. Thus the first primitive spells were developed, but really nothing more than dances around a bonfire. A fireball is the easiest and first spell one can learn, and is the last oneany caster ever forgets." Ray said. The wall rose.

The Fractured timeline Quis was in restored itself.

The great Maelstrom was in the same place Ray was in star form.

In the center, they could see a creature from the depths, but, it was entirely uncertain as to just what it was. They knew it was Quis though.

Quis cast Aqua Flare Water shot out and hit everyone with great pressure. It was like being on the recieving end of an ocean wave, with the entitrety of the ocean coming behind it.

Aqua Flare was perhaps the strongest Waterspell any spellcaster could cast.

OOC: The descriptions in the text. Just like it says. You do have an Air elemental though.

Fireball. The first, and the last. The archetypal evocation. muttered Vaikwur, paying homage to the signature spell of the journeyman evoker.

As Ray vanished, the Adventurers had pulled back, ready for the next master.

Wall of Ice! evoked the kobold, eyes still closed as a shimmering hemisphere of ice crystallised even as the wave began to wash over the adventurers.

As the water struck the fire elemental, great gouts of steam rose from its form, the water boiling away around it, failing to extinguish the elemental fire. It caused damage, but that could be healed rapidly enough.

The Water Elemental enjoyed it, of course, while the Air Elemental turned into a cyclone and began sucking away the wave.

As the aqua blast finished, the ice hemisphere faded away and the adventurers stared for a few seconds at the maelstrom before taking out a number of small leather bags and emptying them into the maelstrom, each one absorbing a hundred gallons of water.

Clearly, they were trying to set Quis on Dry Land, or at least force her to abandon her water form, given the dust's immense lethality to water creatures.

The Water Elemental shot them what functioned as a nasty look for an elemental.

Fireball. The first, and the last. The archetypal evocation. muttered Vaikwur, paying homage to the signature spell of the journeyman evoker.

As Ray vanished, the Adventurers had pulled back, ready for the next master.

Wall of Ice! evoked the kobold, eyes still closed as a shimmering hemisphere of ice crystallised even as the wave began to wash over the adventurers.

As the water struck the fire elemental, great gouts of steam rose from its form, the water boiling away around it, failing to extinguish the elemental fire. It caused damage, but that could be healed rapidly enough.

The Water Elemental enjoyed it, of course, while the Air Elemental turned into a cyclone and began sucking away the wave.

As the aqua blast finished, the ice hemisphere faded away and the adventurers stared for a few seconds at the maelstrom before taking out a number of small leather bags and emptying them into the maelstrom, each one absorbing a hundred gallons of water.

Clearly, they were trying to set Quis on Dry Land, or at least force her to abandon her water form, given the dust's immense lethality to water creatures.

The Water Elemental shot them what functioned as a nasty look for an elemental.

The Maelstrom disappeared, the creature with it. Then the Water Elemental found it had a resident, as Quis appeared inside it. Short of disbanding and killing itself, it would find there was little it could do to harm Quis. He shook his fins and tenticles. Niether the elemental nor quis could harm each other.

Quis caused a glacier to drop on the heads of the adventurers. Even with an immunity to cold, there was still an awful lot of Ice chock full of the ability to squeeze them to death against the floor.

OOC: Quis is male.

(OOC: Oh. Right. Must have misread the post in Om.

Look, for the sake of description I'm going to RP a hit. As always, feel free to retcon parts of the post if you feel Quis could have done something to stop it.

That being said, the water monolith could survive being punched through the gut by an earth monolith, so if the pseudopod idea doesn't work, then the thing carries through with the Earth Monolith punching Quis out from wherever he is.)

The glacier came down heavily, and shattered on the Earth monolith's head, as it turned to face the water monolith.

<Do you think to hide yourself with a prince of the elemental plane of water?> roared the water monolith, in aquan reminiscent of the sound of a raging torrent.

The gargantuan elemental forced Quis into a limb, the water elemental's mastery over water easily equalling the ages long learned abilities of the Magi Master, if not overcoming it as Quis was drawn into a extended pseudopod.

A split second later, Karathis barked an instruction in a gravelly dialect of Terran.

<Grind him into the dirt from whence he came!>

The Earth Monolith said nothing, as the sounds of a thousand rumbling avalanches filled the air, and a fist the size of a mountain* slammed into the pseudopod, bursting it and forcefully ejecting the Magi-Master, the form tumbling into the waiting tornado which was the Air Monolith, which seized Quis in a whirling hurricane and forcefully held the Magi-Master in place while Karathis quickly applied a Dimensional Anchor to Quis.

"Give up yet?" yelled the Abjurer, as the two wizards cast a veritable torrent of magics, in assorted energy types, but mostly force magics.

The other monoliths and the two non-mages kept their distance. The whirlwind of an Air Elemental did not distinguish between friend and foe.

*Well, from Quis' point of view, it may as well be. There's hardly any mountains to compare.

(OOC: Oh. Right. Must have misread the post in Om.

Look, for the sake of description I'm going to RP a hit. As always, feel free to retcon parts of the post if you feel Quis could have done something to stop it.

That being said, the water monolith could survive being punched through the gut by an earth monolith, so if the pseudopod idea doesn't work, then the thing carries through with the Earth Monolith punching Quis out from wherever he is.)

The glacier came down heavily, and shattered on the Earth monolith's head, as it turned to face the water monolith.

<Do you think to hide yourself with a prince of the elemental plane of water?> roared the water monolith, in aquan reminiscent of the sound of a raging torrent.

The gargantuan elemental forced Quis into a limb, the water elemental's mastery over water easily equalling the ages long learned abilities of the Magi Master, if not overcoming it as Quis was drawn into a extended pseudopod.

A split second later, Karathis barked an instruction in a gravelly dialect of Terran.

<Grind him into the dirt from whence he came!>

The Earth Monolith said nothing, as the sounds of a thousand rumbling avalanches filled the air, and a fist the size of a mountain* slammed into the pseudopod, bursting it and forcefully ejecting the Magi-Master, the form tumbling into the waiting tornado which was the Air Monolith, which seized Quis in a whirling hurricane and forcefully held the Magi-Master in place while Karathis quickly applied a Dimensional Anchor to Quis.

"Give up yet?" yelled the Abjurer, as the two wizards cast a veritable torrent of magics, in assorted energy types, but mostly force magics.

The other monoliths and the two non-mages kept their distance. The whirlwind of an Air Elemental did not distinguish between friend and foe.

*Well, from Quis' point of view, it may as well be. There's hardly any mountains to compare.

"Actually my particular evolutionary line comes from sea coral, not dirt. I had the occasion to look it up once."

Quis countered the anchor as it was being cast.

Quis smiled as he resumed human form.

He clenched a fist and as he dead, he absorbed all water and made it his own. He completly absorbed the water elemental, any and all water in the earth elemental, any and all water in the air elemental, any water that might have been in the fire elemental by some odd chance, all the water in the four adventurers and silvermane, all of it, inducing a state of severe dehydration.

Karathis reflexively reaved the instant-death magic into the fire elemental, which continued its attack unabated while the magic expended itself trying to draw water out of a gargantuan form of fire.

Karathis and Vaikwur then fired off Dimensional Anchors simultaneously, the magic converging at once on the water mage.

Vaikwur then began a barrage of Disintegration spells, while Karathis prepared to reave anything Quis may try. Including counterspell reversals. The air elemental scooped up the water mage and kept him imprisoned while the Evoker did his work.

Quis had just attempted what amounted to a death spell - despite the non-use of negative energy, it was a death spell all the same, and crossing said line released Karathis and Vaikwur from the tradition of not employing death magic in a formal duel.

They were nonetheless restrained, and were wary of employing the dangerous death magics which were at their disposal but reserved for the most dire of situations.

Karathis reflexively reaved the instant-death magic into the fire elemental, which continued its attack unabated while the magic expended itself trying to draw water out of a gargantuan form of fire.

Karathis and Vaikwur then fired off Dimensional Anchors simultaneously, the magic converging at once on the water mage.

Vaikwur then began a barrage of Disintegration spells, while Karathis prepared to reave anything Quis may try. Including counterspell reversals. The air elemental scooped up the water mage and kept him imprisoned while the Evoker did his work.

Quis had just attempted what amounted to a death spell - despite the non-use of negative energy, it was a death spell all the same, and crossing said line released Karathis and Vaikwur from the tradition of not employing death magic in a formal duel.

They were nonetheless restrained, and were wary of employing the dangerous death magics which were at their disposal but reserved for the most dire of situations.

The Dimensional anchors were not stopped by Quis, rather by the mega Rune on the floor.

Quis smiled as the disintegration hit him, and died.

He flashed an amulet made by Khalan that protected from death magics and disintegrating someone was also a death spell.

"Well, I guess my testing is done. Just what until we're all done and actually use our strengths."

He went behind the wall, and Ros appeared.

"Yes. Just wait until we're all done testing you, forcing you to cast elemental barriers against each of us, and if you don't, your going to die anyway, your caught helplessly tangled in our web." He said.

He cast Terra Flare. Few knew of Terra flare or what it did. It caused massive amounts Shrapnel to fly everywhere, along with sharp stones, sticks, dirt, and enough leaves to fill the Grand Canyon 1/8th of the way up. It all promptly disappeared after the spell finished. It was like a giant explosion.

When it cleared though, they were in a giant garden, the smallest of flowers, was larger and taller than than the Elemental Monoliths.

"Welcome to my garden. I hope you'll stay, for the rest of your lifes. Don't be so surprised that we're out to kill you. we never said we wouldn't try, we only promised to ressurect you afterwards if you did."

A sweet scent filled the air, possibly from the fruit tree not too far away.

(OOC: *whistles* An elemental monolith is... about the size of a mountain. That flora's pretty damn big.

Well, I assume the fruit tree is an obvious trap. Nonetheless, I have a method to overwhelm it.)

Wall of Force!

The force walls deflected the brunt of the assault, the shards being crushed or deflected upwards.

The elementals took the attack head on, and all suffered some significant damage (though not fatal) from the assault, the Earth Monolith recovering the fastest.

Ulrich and I'mdyp looked at the fruit tree, and stared, Silvermane slowly walking towards it.

The wizards looked in horror as they realised their allies were falling under the tree's spells, but had little enough time to react as the monoliths also turned, falling under its alluring spell. It was perhaps rather fortunate that the Fire Monolith reached it first, as the elemental flames rapidly (and inadvertedly) put the tree to the torch, as well as many of the flora around.

Break Enchantment! abjured Karathis, working to dispel any residual enchantments from the flora around the arena.

By the time they reacted, the fruit tree was already burning, and a thought occurred to them with regards to the deadly garden.

"I hope you have insurance, Ros."

Vaikwur lit a tindertwig, and intoning a dweomer, he blew out the flame, suddenly enveloping the arena in a thick haze of burning embers, igniting the surrounding foliage as it spread slowly.

It had the unfortunate side effect of obscuring everyone, but they were still wearing their bottles of air and would not be affected by the smoke and flames. Whether Ros was immune was a different matter.

Everybody returned to position, Ulrich fortifying himself for when Ros returned to sight, while the fire monolith set about igniting some of the forest. The air elemental blew the burning cloud around the garden, while the earth elemental waited for an opportunity and the water elemental tried to keep out of the way of the flames.

The wizards occupied the time conjuring small and medium fire elementals to run about and get rid of the 'garden'. If they were rebuffed, the monolith could probably do the job.

"Sorry about the Garden, but this is a full battle, after all."

(OOC: *whistles* An elemental monolith is... about the size of a mountain. That flora's pretty damn big.

Well, I assume the fruit tree is an obvious trap. Nonetheless, I have a method to overwhelm it.)

Wall of Force!

The force walls deflected the brunt of the assault, the shards being crushed or deflected upwards.

The elementals took the attack head on, and all suffered some significant damage (though not fatal) from the assault, the Earth Monolith recovering the fastest.

Ulrich and I'mdyp looked at the fruit tree, and stared, Silvermane slowly walking towards it.

The wizards looked in horror as they realised their allies were falling under the tree's spells, but had little enough time to react as the monoliths also turned, falling under its alluring spell. It was perhaps rather fortunate that the Fire Monolith reached it first, as the elemental flames rapidly (and inadvertedly) put the tree to the torch, as well as many of the flora around.

Break Enchantment! abjured Karathis, working to dispel any residual enchantments from the flora around the arena.

By the time they reacted, the fruit tree was already burning, and a thought occurred to them with regards to the deadly garden.

"I hope you have insurance, Ros."

Vaikwur lit a tindertwig, and intoning a dweomer, he blew out the flame, suddenly enveloping the arena in a thick haze of burning embers, igniting the surrounding foliage as it spread slowly.

It had the unfortunate side effect of obscuring everyone, but they were still wearing their bottles of air and would not be affected by the smoke and flames. Whether Ros was immune was a different matter.

Everybody returned to position, Ulrich fortifying himself for when Ros returned to sight, while the fire monolith set about igniting some of the forest. The air elemental blew the burning cloud around the garden, while the earth elemental waited for an opportunity and the water elemental tried to keep out of the way of the flames.

The wizards occupied the time conjuring small and medium fire elementals to run about and get rid of the 'garden'. If they were rebuffed, the monolith could probably do the job.

"Sorry about the Garden, but this is a full battle, after all."

Ros laughed.

"Yes, fight. There are more dasterdly traps and tricks, but realise, the more you fight me, the more life energy the garden takes from you. You are correct that the garden is weak against fire, but only one certain kind, and not the normal kind. Hellfire isn't it either, nor is Warpfire." Ros said.

The fires went out, having no fuel to feed themselves.

"In order to best this garden you must combine polar opposites, in exact equivalent measures, in order to cause a new fire. It isn't cold fire, for that which I speak of has heat, and cold fire, witches fire, mage fire, or whatever other name you might know it by, has none, it is smokeless heatless light, little more than an illusion giving off light."

"I might add, for your own sakes, that only your arcane energy is infinite, not your life energy. Sure, you can heal, but after a time, even that will be innefective, as every soul needs to rest for a time."

Ray knew full well what Quis was crypticly talking about. Blizzard Fire. A special magic fire that was so cold it burned, and so hot it was freezing, both at the same time.

But would Karathis and Vaikwur be wizardly enough to figure that one out, while combating the garden?

A giant bee large eough to qualify as a warplane spotted them. It flew back to the hive, and a swarm of Killer bees decended on the party, but that wasn't the only thing happening, The Ground had turned to quicksand, as a Ri-an Mantrap surfaced. It was much larger and far more agressive than its Venus Flytrap relitive. Infact, in Ri-an, it was the preferred form of execution.

The Ri-an Mantrap, under the same protections as the rest of the garden, snapped at all eight opponets. Its Jaws were as hard as adamantium, and not easily pierced.

The fire monolith simply consumed the Ri-anese Mantrap, the elemental fires within overwhelming any defences it might have, as it attempted to snap at it. Elemental Fire tended not to care about resistances to being set on fire when it engulfed something.

Ulrich and I'mdyp went straight for Ros, furiously attacking the Magi Master and attempting to cause every spell to fizzle under the intense assault. Things like closing one's hand into a fist as part of a spell were somewhat noticeably harder with swords trying to run you through.

Vaikwur cast an epic-level Dire Winter spell, immediately plunging the entire garden into a blizzard which would rival even a hurricane in Antarctica.

Seconds later, Karathis followed through with an epic level Dire Drought spell, the heat of the sunny side of Mercury washing over the garden and incinerating everything within.

Taking a brief moment to apply more resistances, they redoubled the assault, continuing with an epic Acid Storm, adding to the blizzard a second storm raining immensely caustic acids, and an epic Lightning Cloud, blanketing the area with constant bolts of lightning.

They then stopped to counterspell anything that Ros might manage to cast to modify the battlefield again.

All of the effects persisted for precisely twenty hours.

The fates of the the Killer Bees went without saying. Not much can survive a blizzard, firestorm, acid rain and almost constant lightning without preparation.

The fire monolith simply consumed the Ri-anese Mantrap, the elemental fires within overwhelming any defences it might have, as it attempted to snap at it. Elemental Fire tended not to care about resistances to being set on fire when it engulfed something.

Ulrich and I'mdyp went straight for Ros, furiously attacking the Magi Master and attempting to cause every spell to fizzle under the intense assault. Things like closing one's hand into a fist as part of a spell were somewhat noticeably harder with swords trying to run you through.

Vaikwur cast an epic-level Dire Winter spell, immediately plunging the entire garden into a blizzard which would rival even a hurricane in Antarctica.

Seconds later, Karathis followed through with an epic level Dire Drought spell, the heat of the sunny side of Mercury washing over the garden and incinerating everything within.

Taking a brief moment to apply more resistances, they redoubled the assault, continuing with an epic Acid Storm, adding to the blizzard a second storm raining immensely caustic acids, and an epic Lightning Cloud, blanketing the area with constant bolts of lightning.

They then stopped to counterspell anything that Ros might manage to cast to modify the battlefield again.

All of the effects persisted for precisely twenty hours.

The fates of the the Killer Bees went without saying. Not much can survive a blizzard, firestorm, acid rain and almost constant lightning without preparation.

Ros didn't do anything, except smile. This was his garden. The Mantrap was just as immune to fire as the rest odf the garden. Seconds, was to long of a delay to innact blizzard fire.

"No! It has to be done at the exact same time, by the exact same mage, its its own spell. Don't do a blizzard, then a drought, do it at the same time. Have you never broken Science before, its just Blizzardfire?" Ray called out. Meanwhile, all the spells they cast, were absorbed into the garden by the plants themselves, plants that thrived on magic.

The Plants curled aroung the elementals, and began feeding on them. Even the fire Elemental was being eaten by something it normally killed. Plants.

As for Ros and the swords, the upper levels of bark and rock broke away to reveal diamond interior.

"Your starting to disapoint me. I mean, come on men, Master of earth magic, new form, I mean, hello? did you really think stabbing was going to be anything more than an irritation?"

Ros stood. he waved his hand, as if shooing something away. the spell ended, and the arena returned to normal. The few plants still feeding on the elementals quickly died.

Knowing what his guts were made of, made the fists shooting at Karathis and Vaikwur seem all that much more deadly.

Meanwhile, Kado entered.

"Really now, this is a surprise. No matter." She said. She began the normal brownian movement observed in most clouds.

She concentrated really hard, and shot a lightining bolt at Ros that if measured would be aproximatly 1 Yottawatt or approximatly 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 watts of electricity. The blast of lightning occured at the same time as Ros's punches, and the blast killed him, it did more than kill him, it vaporised him. The Shockwave spread out.

"Well, he should've gotten the hell out sooner." Kado said

The power of that lightning bolt wore Kado out considerably and she just hung there ranting about Ros.

"the one man I love and marry, and I catch him red handed in a compromising position with a Hotel maid. Kado he says, you don't know the whole story he says. Lying basterd. I killed them both then, I killed him now, and later on after he's ressurected again, I'll kill him again." She went on.

Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn indeed.

OOC: Yes, a yottawatt does exist as a scientific measurement of electricity, yes he is dead, but not out of the fight, and no, it wouldn't of mattered if you had overpowered him or not, he was still dead meat when Kado entered.
She has it wrong though, he never cheated on her, she just never had a Paladin handy when he was alive and around to ask to verify if he was truthful or not.

As Kado ranted about her husband, the adventurers slowly backed away, and checked their immunities and applying more, to be safe. In case Ros showed back up (somehow), I'mdyp and Ulrich removed crystals (until now more or less unnoticed) and attached different ones, turning their blades into what appeared to be pure light (it wasn't) in order to easily pierce the Earth Master's form if he returned.

Piercing, was, of course, not an accurate term. Directly damaging was closer, but it was still not wholly accurate.

The entire area was still under constant dire chills, hails of fire and acid, and lightning storms, all the same. They were all arcane effects, and

While Karathis carefully made preparations to counter any offensive ability the Air Mistress decided to use, while Vaikwur evoked a gentle breeze to slowly blow away Kado.

I'mdyp took out a scroll and cast it, muttering the words quietly, to apply a Calm Emotions spell on the Air Mage, which, if all went well, would abate her fury and simultaneously render her non-hostile.

Perhaps it was fortunate that there was no provision for halfway results - either her rage was completely abated and she was rendered incapable of combat, or she remained angry at Ros. Then again, it might not.


OOC: Calm Emotions:

This spell calms agitated creatures. You have no control over the affected creatures, but calm emotions can stop raging creatures from fighting or joyous ones from reveling. Creatures so affected cannot take violent actions (although they can defend themselves) or do anything destructive. Any aggressive action against or damage dealt to a calmed creature immediately breaks the spell on all calmed creatures.

Also, I know what a yottawatt is. It doesn't change the fact that there's still a dire winter, a firestorm, acid rain and a storm of pure electricity going on, all pretty much undispellable thanks to the 'No Dispel' rule in effect.

Nor do they pose any threat whatsoever to the plane, for that matter.

As Kado ranted about her husband, the adventurers slowly backed away, and checked their immunities and applying more, to be safe. In case Ros showed back up (somehow), I'mdyp and Ulrich removed crystals (until now more or less unnoticed) and attached different ones, turning their blades into what appeared to be pure light (it wasn't) in order to easily pierce the Earth Master's form if he returned.

Piercing, was, of course, not an accurate term. Directly damaging was closer, but it was still not wholly accurate.

The entire area was still under constant dire chills, hails of fire and acid, and lightning storms, all the same. They were all arcane effects, and

While Karathis carefully made preparations to counter any offensive ability the Air Mistress decided to use, while Vaikwur evoked a gentle breeze to slowly blow away Kado.

I'mdyp took out a scroll and cast it, muttering the words quietly, to apply a Calm Emotions spell on the Air Mage, which, if all went well, would abate her fury and simultaneously render her non-hostile.

Perhaps it was fortunate that there was no provision for halfway results - either her rage was completely abated and she was rendered incapable of combat, or she remained angry at Ros. Then again, it might not.


OOC: Calm Emotions:

This spell calms agitated creatures. You have no control over the affected creatures, but calm emotions can stop raging creatures from fighting or joyous ones from reveling. Creatures so affected cannot take violent actions (although they can defend themselves) or do anything destructive. Any aggressive action against or damage dealt to a calmed creature immediately breaks the spell on all calmed creatures.

Also, I know what a yottawatt is. It doesn't change the fact that there's still a dire winter, a firestorm, acid rain and a storm of pure electricity going on, all pretty much undispellable thanks to the 'No Dispel' rule in effect.

Nor do they pose any threat whatsoever to the plane, for that matter.

They were too late in their attacks as the previous ones that were on going wore her down. She went to the safe area. Therefore the Calm emotions went nowhere.

However Khalan appeared. She felt the attacks from the ongoing spell, but shrugged them off. She had the ability to invert damage to healinf effects, thus, she was continuously healed by the attacks. It was not dispellable either.

She healed the four adventurers, the Monoliths and the other Magi-masters.

She ressurected Ros and sent him to the safe area.

"I'm just a healer. What do you think I could possibly do to you? I mean, what, are you really going to stand still long enough for me to fetch the proper surgery impliments and cut you open? I don't think so." She asked. She walked over, a force shield in place diverting the continous attacks.

"Would you like some refreshments?" she asked, holding a plate of cookies and a pitcher of milk. There was no secret attack involved, and even Ulrich could feel the sincere honesty of her words. There was a silver platter with four empty glasses hovering in mid air beside her.

"Thank you, but no thanks - we have our own."

"Well, if that's all, can we move on?"

Of course, none of the adventurers believed Khalan when she said she was no more than a healer - she had also proven she had formidable necromantic capabilities earlier in the battle and they were prepared to instantaneously spring into action at the slightest hint of foul play.

Not that they showed it, of course.

If she dallied too long, or aroused Vaikwur's suspicions, he would cast a blindingly fast Solipsism spell, which, suffice to say, would render the 'healer' completely incapable of fighting, then Karathis would ship her off back down to Ri-an, still convinced that she was the only one who actually existed, and that everything else was a figment of her imagination.

"Thank you, but no thanks - we have our own."

"Well, if that's all, can we move on?"

Of course, none of the adventurers believed Khalan when she said she was no more than a healer - she had also proven she had formidable necromantic capabilities earlier in the battle and they were prepared to instantaneously spring into action at the slightest hint of foul play.

Not that they showed it, of course.

If she dallied too long, or aroused Vaikwur's suspicions, he would cast a blindingly fast Solipsism spell, which, suffice to say, would render the 'healer' completely incapable of fighting, then Karathis would ship her off back down to Ri-an, still convinced that she was the only one who actually existed, and that everything else was a figment of her imagination.

"Well, ok." She said.

She walked back to the spot where they all appeared and turned inh place while casting an instantainous spell that stole the life forces of all 9 of them, the four elementals, and the four adventurers plus silvermane.
It wasn't done with Death magic, it was done with life magic.

She had done it so fast, they couldn't defend them all, they could either save the elementals, and lose the match, or lose the elementals, and save themselves, not both.

The D-lock placed earlier on the dimension itself prevented any summoning of new ones, or of teleporting Khalan away.

OOC: And by your own words, the D-lock cannot be dispelled once its in place.

(OOC: True. But, Khalan has also made one crucial mistake...

As usual, if you have a counter, insert it at any point along the line. However, I note that Khalan has no such defences against mind affecting magic.)

The spell fizzled against the adventurers and the elementals.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You've made a very important mistake here, Khalan."

The life mage's error was twofold - not only were life and death magic only two sides of the same coin, but also that death ward protected against instantaneous death, not death magic.

"I'm afraid I must inform you that life and death magics are different only in their ends. Manipulation of the life force is still manipulation of the life force, no matter what the name. Unfortunately, this is where our battle ends."

Vaikwur concluded his Solipsism spell and plunged Khalan into the delusion that she was the only thing which exists, rendering her totally incapable of combat.

"This conversation can serve no further purpose. Goodbye."

The Earth Monolith then picked up Khalan and crushed her into dust.

(OOC: True. But, Khalan has also made one crucial mistake...

As usual, if you have a counter, insert it at any point along the line. However, I note that Khalan has no such defences against mind affecting magic.)

The spell fizzled against the adventurers and the elementals.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You've made a very important mistake here, Khalan."

The life mage's error was twofold - not only were life and death magic only two sides of the same coin, but also that death ward protected against instantaneous death, not death magic.

"I'm afraid I must inform you that life and death magics are different only in their ends. Manipulation of the life force is still manipulation of the life force, no matter what the name. Unfortunately, this is where our battle ends."

Vaikwur concluded his Solipsism spell and plunged Khalan into the delusion that she was the only thing which exists, rendering her totally incapable of combat.

"This conversation can serve no further purpose. Goodbye."

The Earth Monolith then picked up Khalan and crushed her into dust.

"Stupid mage. Come back when you actually learn a thing or two about healing." She said reconstitutimg from the dust.

"You cannot inflict a psychological disease on me, but you wouldn't know that, your not a healer. Boy, you gotta learn, good healers are immune to disease of any kind, even supernatural and Psionic diseases. Psychological diseases have no chance either."

Then a Toxic Green Gloud filled with illnesses so vile they could not bear Description or naming appeared. With the effort she put into it, one would think that was her objective. But she cast another spell at the same time as the other one, masked by the first spell. This second spell removed their lungs, thus removing their ability to breath. Anti-death magic couldn't protect against this, and it would take more than the healing magic adventurers took with them.

"Oh, how interesting. More necromancy."

Karathis ignored the first of the spells, knowing that Ulrich could easily strip the diseases from their bodies as it took hold, concentrating instead on the lung-remover, eschewing no small measure of precision to simply shred the spell to pieces.

"Perhaps more extreme measures are called for."

Ulrich was rather busy throwing remove disease spells left and right, lifting the afflictions even as they attempted to take their toll. He himself was unaffected, his body immune to all forms of disease.

I'mdyp was nowhere to be seen.

The Elementals bided their time, waiting.

Vaikwur suddenly cast a Vision spell, gaining an instantaneous insight into the abstract degree of Khalan's power - gloriously great, but nonetheless assailable.

He then cast a time stop spell, and pulled enormous amounts of arcane energy into a huge diamond, worth at least a king's ransom.

Karathis, meanwhile, had used a vision spell to discern the true name of Khalan.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this. We will release you the moment the fight is concluded."

Vaikwur raised the fist sized diamond and Karathis placed his hand on the top. The Abjurer spoke the true name of the Magi-Master while the Evoker focussed the latent arcane energies. The spell was cast twofold, in order to overwhelm any counterspelling capacity.

Trap the Soul!

And Khalan's soul was drawn into the gem, where it would be rendered completely incapable of any combat. Nothing short of direct divine intervention would release Khalan from her prison remotely, except the deliberate shattering of the gem - which would occur at the conclusion of round nine. It was impolite not to reverse such dire effects after a formal duel, anyhow.

They did bank on Lady Ri-an not releasing the healer immediately, but in the event of her release by divine intervention it was perfectly fair to claim a victory by total incapacitation.

If Khalan somehow managed to avoid the effects, I'mdyp lay in wait with her blade, prepared to run her through.

"Oh, how interesting. More necromancy."

Karathis ignored the first of the spells, knowing that Ulrich could easily strip the diseases from their bodies as it took hold, concentrating instead on the lung-remover, eschewing no small measure of precision to simply shred the spell to pieces.

"Perhaps more extreme measures are called for."

Ulrich was rather busy throwing remove disease spells left and right, lifting the afflictions even as they attempted to take their toll. He himself was unaffected, his body immune to all forms of disease.

I'mdyp was nowhere to be seen.

The Elementals bided their time, waiting.

Vaikwur suddenly cast a Vision spell, gaining an instantaneous insight into the abstract degree of Khalan's power - gloriously great, but nonetheless assailable.

He then cast a time stop spell, and pulled enormous amounts of arcane energy into a huge diamond, worth at least a king's ransom.

Karathis, meanwhile, had used a vision spell to discern the true name of Khalan.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this. We will release you the moment the fight is concluded."

Vaikwur raised the fist sized diamond and Karathis placed his hand on the top. The Abjurer spoke the true name of the Magi-Master while the Evoker focussed the latent arcane energies. The spell was cast twofold, in order to overwhelm any counterspelling capacity.

Trap the Soul!

And Khalan's soul was drawn into the gem, where it would be rendered completely incapable of any combat. Nothing short of direct divine intervention would release Khalan from her prison remotely, except the deliberate shattering of the gem - which would occur at the conclusion of round nine. It was impolite not to reverse such dire effects after a formal duel, anyhow.

They did bank on Lady Ri-an not releasing the healer immediately, but in the event of her release by divine intervention it was perfectly fair to claim a victory by total incapacitation.

If Khalan somehow managed to avoid the effects, I'mdyp lay in wait with her blade, prepared to run her through.

Everything went awry with the adventurers plans at the time stop spell. Of course, they had no idea what a time stop spell would do under present conditions.

As the time stop went into effect, it countered Chron's earlier Time split, thus ending the spell, though it was not immediatly made obvious to the adventurers.

Xos altered the fundamental nature of the spell they were using to trap Kahalan in the diamond, allowing her to come and go from the diamond as she pleased.

Stella banished the elementals to another place in Dimensia Harmonia so far off it would take the combined acts of three gods to bring them back.

Scria Reversed Karathis's vision spell making him see only his own true name.

Vaikwur willingly killed himself by touching Khalan, an act he surely would've known was going to happen, even through gloves or steel or any amount of protection. She ripped his skeleton out of his body and forced it to serve her will.

Chron meanwhile reversed The time stop, and made it infinite, trapping the adventurers forever in a timeless second, helpless to undo their own spell.

Yet for all these actions they all looked they were caused by Khalan. No feel of the other Magi-masters were present.

((OOC: Howso?

Time Stop

This spell seems to make time cease to flow for everyone but you. In fact, you speed up so greatly that all other creatures seem frozen, though they are actually still moving at their normal speeds.

Turns out time stop is actually a 'haste' spell on coffee.))

((OOC: Howso?



Turns out time stop is actually a 'haste' spell on coffee.))

OOC: I read it literally, as in Time was completly stopped for everyone except the four adventurers. Any time spell still cancels out the time split, so the rest of the actions still stand without correction, but instead of reversing it on them in one manner, its still reversed in another manner, as in, Chron stopped the four adventurers in a timeless second, which would be the complete opposite of a haste, even more so than a slow spell, and made that second last for eternity, so, they cannot move, because there is no more time for them.

All actions happened at the same time.

OOC: A time stop spell is personal range. Hence, Vaikwur sped up incredibly for six seconds, used this time to pile four wish spells together and create an uberdiamond, and returned with it. Under no circumstances did he actually stop time, he merely sped up enough to wring several times as much as many spells from the same space in time.

In the same space of time, Karathis was casting his own vision spell, I'mdyp was moving into position, and Ulrich was suppressing the illness cloud.

It did not in any way actually affect the flow of time, despite the name. A few examples of spells which would break the spell as you described its 'dispel conditions' are:

Safe Time:
"Safe time can move the character (or the target) out of harm’s way by shunting him or her into a static time stream."

Time Duplicate:
"The character snatches him or her self from 1 round in the future, depositing this future self in an adjacent space as a free action that counts as a quickened spell. The character’s future self is technically only a possible future self (the time stream is a maelstrom of multiple probabilities), but snatching that future self from 1 round in the future collapses probability, and the possible future becomes the definite future."

These two (epic) spell actually do affect time, and would end the time split spell, but Time Stop would not, because it's not a true time spell.

These two time spells are based on the Transport Epic Seed, a Conjuration(Teleportation) effect.

"As a special use of the transport seed, a caster can develop a spell that temporarily transports him or her into a different time stream... If the caster moves him or her self into a faster time stream, the caster speeds up so greatly that all other creatures seem frozen, though they are actually still moving at their normal speeds. The caster is free to act for 5 rounds of apparent time."

This would apparently support your claim that Time Stop is a time spell. However, Time Stop is a Transmutation spell, not a Conjuration(Teleportation) spell, and as such does not use the 'Change Time Streams' effect of Seed: Transport.

Instead, it merely causes the caster to accelerate significantly so as to wring more out of a small space of time.

Incidentally, the 'Temporal Stasis' spell would, in fact, end the Time Split spell, but that was not used at any point by the wizards.

OOC:
All aspects of speed are subjective to the Time/space Continuum because it is the Time elemment that allows one to speed up. It may not of actually messed with the STC, but it is still of the temporal school of magic, because their going faster than their muscles can normally allow. Hence by the very nature of the thing you are trying to do it is Time magic. It does not matter if its range is personal Their still apart of the STC they still effect it by their own personal range spells.

OOC: But it's *not* a time spell. It's like boiling a pot of water with a hot plate or a wood fire - one will set off a smoke alarm, the other won't.

The effect is the same, but the method is different, and does not affect time in any way. Hence, it is not time magic. Just because one effect is possible with a given school does not mean said effect is exclusive to that school.

For instance, Trap the Soul and Soul Bind. Say there was an effect that ended whenever a 'Necromancy' spell was used. Soul Bind would trigger it, but Trap the Soul would not, despite both spells trapping the victim's soul in a gemstone, as Trap the Soul is a Conjuration spell, not a Necromancy spell.

Similarly, I argue that while you stated that a Time Spell would end the Time Split, Time Stop is not itself a Time Spell. The effect 'move fast enough to do more in six seconds' can be achieved by manipulating the space time continuum, but it is not the only way, and can also be achieved by simply accelerating the user to high speeds for a short period of time.

It may be possible with the Time School, but it does not actually touch the Space Time Continuum - as you said - and hence does not constitute a Time Spell. Otherwise *every* spell would be a time spell, because on some level every spell is fooling about with the space time continuum. Which means that 'Time Split' should have ruptured the moment Ray did that Heat spell, because the Heat increased faster than it should have been possible to do so within such a short space of time.

OOC: But it's *not* a time spell. It's like boiling a pot of water with a hot plate or a wood fire - one will set off a smoke alarm, the other won't.

The effect is the same, but the method is different, and does not affect time in any way. Hence, it is not time magic. Just because one effect is possible with a given school does not mean said effect is exclusive to that school.

For instance, Trap the Soul and Soul Bind. Say there was an effect that ended whenever a 'Necromancy' spell was used. Soul Bind would trigger it, but Trap the Soul would not, despite both spells trapping the victim's soul in a gemstone, as Trap the Soul is a Conjuration spell, not a Necromancy spell.

Similarly, I argue that while you stated that a Time Spell would end the Time Split, Time Stop is not itself a Time Spell. The effect 'move fast enough to do more in six seconds' can be achieved by manipulating the space time continuum, but it is not the only way, and can also be achieved by simply accelerating the user to high speeds for a short period of time.

It may be possible with the Time School, but it does not actually touch the Space Time Continuum - as you said - and hence does not constitute a Time Spell. Otherwise *every* spell would be a time spell, because on some level every spell is fooling about with the space time continuum. Which means that 'Time Split' should have ruptured the moment Ray did that Heat spell, because the Heat increased faster than it should have been possible to do so within such a short space of time.

OOC: Okay, Okay, I admit defeat.

But that still leaves the point of Vaikwur instantly dying by touching Khalan. Even if nothing else happens, touching her gives instant death. Its one of her defences. There's usually no need to mention it, because usually, she's not fighting, and then people are not trying to fight her physicly within a close range.

Its like a superstrong aura. It instantly kills however touches her, unless she wills it otherwise.

(OOC: Well, there's one small problem - You've mistaken one character for another. I'mdyp was the one who attempted to run Khalan through... Even if there were extra circumstances, like the brilliant weapon enhancement, running someone through tends to include the hilt, so the ninja's dead for the time being.

Vaikwur and Karathis both have the ability of arcane reach, so there is no reason for them to actually make physical contact.

Alright, let's move on then.)

(OOC: Well, there's one small problem - You've mistaken one character for another. I'mdyp was the one who attempted to run Khalan through... Even if there were extra circumstances, like the brilliant weapon enhancement, running someone through tends to include the hilt, so the ninja's dead for the time being.

Vaikwur and Karathis both have the ability of arcane reach, so there is no reason for them to actually make physical contact.

Alright, let's move on then.)

OOC: By the end of this post, it soon won't matter.

IC: So, Khalan had found herself ran through by a ninja.

"Unpleasant." was all she said.

She turned and knelt byside I'mdyp.

"Live again." She said, using a ressurection spell on I'mdyp.

She calmly pulled out the sword and handed it back to the ressurected ninja. Had anyone bothered to check, they would've discovered that Khalan was a lich. Running through a dead woman didn't make much sense. She walked to the safe area. Stella, Chron, Scria and Agrinja joined her there.

"We decided. Xos shall be the last one you face, before we do that." Khalan said.

"Yes, That. Trust me, That will be unpleasant for both sides." Xos said as he appeared, he appeared to be a ghost, but that wasn't accurate. Bur, one should remember, that in Dimensia Harmonia, there was no solid matter. That didn't mean Xos would be easy. But here and here alone, he could still be hit.

"I am not a spellcaster. I am not a God. I am not a Psion. I am not a mortal. I am not powerless. I, am a Quantum Being, and embody the concepts of Quantum Physics, and the associated mysticisim. I can control all around me, with only thoughts alone. I am perhaps one of the first." Xos said.

And with that, he folded his arms. and waited for their best.

OOC: a Quantum being, naturally has no body, existing only as energy on the Quantum Level. They can use Magic, Psionics, and can even duplicate some lesser Divine abilities. They need no magic, they alter the universe around them by thinking it. They are susceptible to all attacks, but one person should distract them with one thing, while another does something to them. One on one, their very difficult to beat. However, a group of four like yours, should be able to do it. Just remember, Speed is meaningles to Xos, so the Timestop we were discussing earlier, would do you no good.

"Hnf. Believe me, Liches have been run through before. You were lucky to have such a strong negative energy aura."

Ulrich and I'mdyp switched their crystals again, the shimmering hue of their blades being replaced by eldritch runes glowing on the surface.

Brandishing their newly magebane weapons, they leapt to the assault, Ulrich charging while I'mdyp vanished and reappeared, loosing a barrage of shuriken and diving into the attack.

Karathis cast a prismatic deluge, torrents of deadly light pouring down on Xos, while Vaikwur crushed a small piece of quartz and called in a shardstorm, spears of crystal torrenting through Xos.

Meanwhile, he would still have to deal with the matter of the dire winter, firestorm, electrical storm and acid rain.

"Hnf. Believe me, Liches have been run through before. You were lucky to have such a strong negative energy aura."

Ulrich and I'mdyp switched their crystals again, the shimmering hue of their blades being replaced by eldritch runes glowing on the surface.

Brandishing their newly magebane weapons, they leapt to the assault, Ulrich charging while I'mdyp vanished and reappeared, loosing a barrage of shuriken and diving into the attack.

Karathis cast a prismatic deluge, torrents of deadly light pouring down on Xos, while Vaikwur crushed a small piece of quartz and called in a shardstorm, spears of crystal torrenting through Xos.

Meanwhile, he would still have to deal with the matter of the dire winter, firestorm, electrical storm and acid rain.

The Dire Winter, Firestorm, Electrical storm, and Acid Rain abated. Xos had altered the nature of the neverending storms, and ended them.

The attacks disappeared into a warp, which opened up into the hearts of Xos's eight opponets. the four elementals, and the four adventurers.

Thus far, Xos had not once attacked, only used their own attacks against him.

Humorously, I'mdyp and Ulrich managed to charge right into this 'warp' and appeared again, apparently none the worse for wear.

Karathis smiled. He was in his own element now.

(This would be dramatic-time, not any magic)

His mind and body moved rapidly, every part exerting subtly on the magics and the quantum being of Xos. The magics channeling through this supposed reversal was merely a different fashion of magic, and through all the alternative methods there existed countermeasures to every one, to redirect.

Everything seemed to grind to a halt, one of those moments so loved by media types, the participants standing there for an impossible second while Karathis expertly rewove reality, the portals passing out from the eight combatants and forming together, the altered storms flowing in alongside.

The elementals crumbled away, returning to their native planes as the magics binding them to this plane were drawn into the point of enormous arcane stress, as was the dimensional lock.

The nature of this collected energy, was, incidentally, under guard with Karathis' considerable powers, and similarly such attempts would be rebuked.

Vaikwur took a split second to react, casting the first spell which came to mind for Karathis to use as a focus.

The magic at the core of Xos suddenly bloomed, the pent up arcane energy being exerted in a colossal spell.

Ulrich and I'mdyp were shocked for a moment, then returned to the attack, trusting in whatever insane ploy the Abjurer had, in a bid to buy time, as did Vaikwur, frantically firing off all assortment of spells to provide foci.

A moment later, Karathis' bastardised spell fired off, a bizarre combination of Reality Maelstrom, Dimensional Lock, Resilient Sphere, Fireburst, Black Blade of Disaster, Genesis, and a slew of force and reality-splitting spells.

The dimensional lock and resilient sphere sealed the actual plane against harm, preventing such nasty side effects as planar retribution, as the area Xos was in became a miniature demiplane which existed momentarily for the purposes of the spell.

No sooner had the miniature demiplane been created than enormous fissures crashed through the substance of the mini-plane, slicing through Xos and rumbling, the Harmonia showing through the gaps - not that it would help Xos, given that he was the focal point of the brief life of the plane and was himself being pulled to pieces.

With a roar, the plane tore itself apart, its essence rapidly dissipating into the Dimensia Harmonia, as were the portions of the Magi-Master of Magic.

Fortunately, none of the more permanent measures were in place, and this was hardly going to stop Khalan from resurrecting him, though somewhat more powerful magic would be required.

Humorously, I'mdyp and Ulrich managed to charge right into this 'warp' and appeared again, apparently none the worse for wear.

Karathis smiled. He was in his own element now.

(This would be dramatic-time, not any magic)

His mind and body moved rapidly, every part exerting subtly on the magics and the quantum being of Xos. The magics channeling through this supposed reversal was merely a different fashion of magic, and through all the alternative methods there existed countermeasures to every one, to redirect.

Everything seemed to grind to a halt, one of those moments so loved by media types, the participants standing there for an impossible second while Karathis expertly rewove reality, the portals passing out from the eight combatants and forming together, the altered storms flowing in alongside.

The elementals crumbled away, returning to their native planes as the magics binding them to this plane were drawn into the point of enormous arcane stress, as was the dimensional lock.

The nature of this collected energy, was, incidentally, under guard with Karathis' considerable powers, and similarly such attempts would be rebuked.

Vaikwur took a split second to react, casting the first spell which came to mind for Karathis to use as a focus.

The magic at the core of Xos suddenly bloomed, the pent up arcane energy being exerted in a colossal spell.

Ulrich and I'mdyp were shocked for a moment, then returned to the attack, trusting in whatever insane ploy the Abjurer had, in a bid to buy time, as did Vaikwur, frantically firing off all assortment of spells to provide foci.

A moment later, Karathis' bastardised spell fired off, a bizarre combination of Reality Maelstrom, Dimensional Lock, Resilient Sphere, Fireburst, Black Blade of Disaster, Genesis, and a slew of force and reality-splitting spells.

The dimensional lock and resilient sphere sealed the actual plane against harm, preventing such nasty side effects as planar retribution, as the area Xos was in became a miniature demiplane which existed momentarily for the purposes of the spell.

No sooner had the miniature demiplane been created than enormous fissures crashed through the substance of the mini-plane, slicing through Xos and rumbling, the Harmonia showing through the gaps - not that it would help Xos, given that he was the focal point of the brief life of the plane and was himself being pulled to pieces.

With a roar, the plane tore itself apart, its essence rapidly dissipating into the Dimensia Harmonia, as were the portions of the Magi-Master of Magic.

Fortunately, none of the more permanent measures were in place, and this was hardly going to stop Khalan from resurrecting him, though somewhat more powerful magic would be required.

Everything went brightwhite.

They were back in the arena. The sun was in the exact same position as it was when they first started. Absolutly no time had passed at all whatsoever, and in addition, absolutly nothing had happend.

"I won't tell you how it is, that no time has passed, and that nothing has happend, despite our shared memories of the event. I mean, you can't expect us to reveal all our secrets. However I will tell you that this ends with a declaration of stalemate. Khalan would've ressurected Xos, we all would've continued on, casting spells, countering them, casting more spells, creating and ripping apart Demi-planes, and things could've continued in this manner until the great gapping chasim at the end of time came to be." Chron said.

"However I will tell you that currently your skills put you in first place. One more round remains, but your opponet, is your choice. There are only two choices.

One, is an entity sometimes known as The Omnimental. It has other names and titles, such as being called the Greatest of all elements. I will tell you, that this being is made of all elements, without exception. In order to beat this being, you would have to think outside the box.

The other, is a one of a kind being, and truely, the greatest challenge one could ask for. Not too much is known about her, but she is indeed, a living paradox. If it weren't for certain circumstances, she could be considered a Magi-master, instead of Agrinja.

Choose the one you wish, and for round ten, it will happen." Xos said.

"Wow. We really would have done that? I don't doubt that you know this for certain."

They then learned of their choices for round ten.

"An omnimental...? I believe I turned into one of those for a short time when Kajeenith came around with ERMAC... Not quite as far as transforming into The Omnimental, but it seems an apt comparison."

"So... What is Agrinja, exactly?"

In the meantime, I'mdyp vanished, off to purchase supplies and prepare more arcane items and supplies for the final round. "I'll be back later."

"And what exactly are all the elements?"

"There's obviously the classical ones, the chemical ones and the abstract ones, but to what extent are the different things called 'elements' actually elements?"

"Any special rules or effects going to be in effect for either of those situations?"

"Wow. We really would have done that? I don't doubt that you know this for certain."

They then learned of their choices for round ten.

"An omnimental...? I believe I turned into one of those for a short time when Kajeenith came around with ERMAC... Not quite as far as transforming into The Omnimental, but it seems an apt comparison."

"So... What is Agrinja, exactly?"

In the meantime, I'mdyp vanished, off to purchase supplies and prepare more arcane items and supplies for the final round. "I'll be back later."

"And what exactly are all the elements?"

"There's obviously the classical ones, the chemical ones and the abstract ones, but to what extent are the different things called 'elements' actually elements?"

"Any special rules or effects going to be in effect for either of those situations?"

"I am Agrinja, it's been my name for an incredibly long time. I learned to master the powers of destruction and uncreation on my own, culminating with learning to master the Void, without Kajeenith's assistance. She, used Kajeenith. We cannot trust someone that follows a Diety hellbent on our own destruction."

"As for the Omnimental, it is comprised of ALL Elements without exception, following the Arcane tables of elements, the scientific periodic table of elements, and to put it simply, this elemental, is comprised of everything that makes up creation.

As for the other choice, Jiralyn is her name. Jiralyn is a Living Paradox because she both exists, and does not exist. You cannot directly target her with magic, making most spells pointless, because there is nothing for them to effect. However area effect spells, and things of a similar nature to Fireballs still work. Magic Missle fails though. Physical attacks work though.

Either fight would take place here.

We just need to know now, so we can take the time off to go and fetch them." Xos said.

"Wait. We need to know exactly what is, and what is not an element. For instance, is, say, force considered an element? It appears nowhere in creation, and is a purely artificial construct which exerts itself as compelling forces."

"Is reality considered an element?"

"Is Divine power considered an element?"

"So... The question remains. What is an element?"

"And... Did you just change personas for a second there? And who is 'She'?"

"Where did the third option come from?"

"Wait. We need to know exactly what is, and what is not an element. For instance, is, say, force considered an element? It appears nowhere in creation, and is a purely artificial construct which exerts itself as compelling forces."

"Is reality considered an element?"

"Is Divine power considered an element?"

"So... The question remains. What is an element?"

"And... Did you just change personas for a second there? And who is 'She'?"

"Where did the third option come from?"

"Your confusing yourselfs by making it overly complicated. There is no third choice, I never stated a third choice. It is very likely your making the third choice up yourselfs out of your confusion. I told you what Elements were involved with the Omnimental. The Scientific Periodic Table of Elements, and The Arcane directory of Elements, which covers everything else.

According to the Zeshi Tribe of Nikelang 7, Divine Power and Reality are considered an Element. According to The Jedi, and The Sith, force, as in The Force, is that which holds everything together, so yes, contrary to your statment, it does occur naturally in nature, because it is Nature itself. Because of what it is, it would be a part of The Omnimental.

There was no persona switch, again your confusing yourself by overly complicating things. I told you full well who "She" was, if you were not paying attention then too bad. I will not repeat myself." Xos said.

"There is a distinction between 'the' force and simply force, you understand. For instance, if some Jedi fired off a bolt of lightning, it would be considered part of 'The' force element, yet if I were to cast one myself, it would not."

"Similarly, a Magic Missile would not be of 'The Force' but it would be made of force."

"Right, look, have an elemental almanack sent up to our quarters. I'll need to brush up on the elements."

"We're going to face the Omnimental, of course."

"There is a distinction between 'the' force and simply force, you understand. For instance, if some Jedi fired off a bolt of lightning, it would be considered part of 'The' force element, yet if I were to cast one myself, it would not."

"Similarly, a Magic Missile would not be of 'The Force' but it would be made of force."

"Right, look, have an elemental almanack sent up to our quarters. I'll need to brush up on the elements."

"We're going to face the Omnimental, of course."

"Alright, it's your funeral." Xos said. The Magi Masters disappeared. Then the audience disappeared. Then the lights turned off.

They had the rest of the day, and all of tomorrow to themselves.

A current list of Arcane and Scientific Elements was sent to the room.

The Scientific Table had the standerd assortment of Elements such as Gold, Carbon, Dark Matter, and all the rest.

The Arcane Table had Light, Darkness, Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Space, Time, Life, Death, Law, Chaos, and finished with Pure Raw Mana, but with that one, it was noted that few energy spellcasters existed, with the majority actually having skills in more than one elements and more than one field.

there was a note, That the powers of destruction contained Element Void, but since Void did actually not exist, it was not actually an element, because one could not find something that did not exist under normal Conditions.

OOC: We can either skip to round ten, at which point I must TG Theao to get him back, or, we can RP the day off. If you do RP the day off, then I'mdyp can recieve training against the Void like Karathis and Vaikwur did.
I must point out, that this training would make her superior to any of her peers, except for Empress Kiku of The Black Lotus Society, and Nightstalker. She would be their equals.

I also want to know if you would like to participate in optional round 11, against Kajeenith, which is the entire point of this training, to fight him.

((OOC: We'll go with the day off. I'm all for the optional round eleven.))

While Karathis and Vaikwur pored over their notes, stacks of paper slowly filling with incomprehensible arcane writings and diagrams, a series of tags slowly appearing in their work spellbooks and their normally concealed grimoires out on the tables and being consulted.

Notes appeared in the margins of the spellbooks - not the grimoires, of course - as they worked to develop a fresh spell overnight. Ulrich was almost constantly out for more components or meals, or even pots of coffee and tea.

I'mdyp, in the meantime, sought out the training against the void which had been delayed until now. She had all her gear ready, and was using none of her normal magical augmentative items save her blade and her pendant of Io. The rest of her equipment had been replaced with mundane, if high quality, fare.

((OOC: We'll go with the day off. I'm all for the optional round eleven.))

While Karathis and Vaikwur pored over their notes, stacks of paper slowly filling with incomprehensible arcane writings and diagrams, a series of tags slowly appearing in their work spellbooks and their normally concealed grimoires out on the tables and being consulted.

Notes appeared in the margins of the spellbooks - not the grimoires, of course - as they worked to develop a fresh spell overnight. Ulrich was almost constantly out for more components or meals, or even pots of coffee and tea.

I'mdyp, in the meantime, sought out the training against the void which had been delayed until now. She had all her gear ready, and was using none of her normal magical augmentative items save her blade and her pendant of Io. The rest of her equipment had been replaced with mundane, if high quality, fare.

I'mdyp was asked to return to the Arena.

Once there, she would see Father Rekshan, The Blind Master.

Xos was onhand setting in the stands.

Father rekshan, took the time out to introduce himself.

Then he asked her to show him what she already knew, after all, why tell someone what they already knew?

"What aspect would you want me to demonstrate? My greatest abilities lie in the realms of stealth, not combat."

Nonetheless, the Kobold Ninja tumbled to the side and completely vanished, unbelievably concealing herself in what would normally be impossible to conceal oneself in.

No amount of magic would find her, for she was cloaked in her own abilities, defying logic. This would test talent against talent, skill against skill. I'mdyp refrained from combat yet, though.

The eyes of an eagle would not see her lightless movement, and the honed senses of a snake would not hear her noiseless steps. The arena was not a favoured locale, but it would suffice, and she certainly had the ability to practise her skills there.

"What aspect would you want me to demonstrate? My greatest abilities lie in the realms of stealth, not combat."

Nonetheless, the Kobold Ninja tumbled to the side and completely vanished, unbelievably concealing herself in what would normally be impossible to conceal oneself in.

No amount of magic would find her, for she was cloaked in her own abilities, defying logic. This would test talent against talent, skill against skill. I'mdyp refrained from combat yet, though.

The eyes of an eagle would not see her lightless movement, and the honed senses of a snake would not hear her noiseless steps. The arena was not a favoured locale, but it would suffice, and she certainly had the ability to practise her skills there.

And True enough, he could not see her, for he was indeed quite blind, and even his highly attuned ears could not hear her, but She still impacted the air around her, and still shook the earth ever so slightly with each step.

It was sense of feel that Rekshan used to find her.

He stood there, feeling the vibrations in the air from going around her, feeling her steps on the ground. Then he readied a ball of water.

"There you are!" he shouted as he hurled the water ball, it would impact with her, and drag her out of stealth mode.

"To truely be invisible, you must blind all senses, smell, touch, sight, sound, taste, and time." Rekshan said.

"This is true. While I may not have been able to find you with an arcane locater, I still could've simply looked forward to the second you appeared, and used that against you." Xos said.

Rekshan went into a long discourse, on how to use her Chakras to truely hide herself. He even demonstrated how to do it. There was no sight, there was no sound. There was no smell, there was no taste. His footsteps did not shake the ground at all, and the wind flowed right through him. He was completly invisible. His talents altered time, making the second he reappeared, become questionable.

He reappeared moments later.

Xos cast spells left and right, altering the local area, so that I'mdyp could truely show off her stealth skills. the situations ranged from the incredibly easy, to the insane and nearly impossible.

For each time she failed to achieve the scenario goal, Rekshan ran through various pointers and suggustions, and made her run through them again and again until she passed.

It didn't matter how long the training took, there was a massive bubble around the arena, making each second last a year, yet no one aged.

After she had completly mastered stealth to such a degree that not even Rekshan was sure he had anything more to teach in that area, he decided it was time for battle skills.

I'mdyp did not take long to adapt to the changing tests, already a foremost member of her trade.

"Combat? Alright then."

The kobold leapt forward, drawing her blade and vanishing just before contact, manifesting again at a weakspot and thrusting the weapon at it, employing the merciful enchantment attached to it to prevent any permanent injury.

This time she had employed a more magical ability of hers, rendering her still visible to magic sight, but nothing else. An effort to conceal herself properly there would render her completely undetectable, but all the same it was pointless to use it as such.

As soon as the blow struck (or failed to) I'mdyp vanished again, reappearing further away and launching a single shuriken.

I'mdyp did not take long to adapt to the changing tests, already a foremost member of her trade.

"Combat? Alright then."

The kobold leapt forward, drawing her blade and vanishing just before contact, manifesting again at a weakspot and thrusting the weapon at it, employing the merciful enchantment attached to it to prevent any permanent injury.

This time she had employed a more magical ability of hers, rendering her still visible to magic sight, but nothing else. An effort to conceal herself properly there would render her completely undetectable, but all the same it was pointless to use it as such.

As soon as the blow struck (or failed to) I'mdyp vanished again, reappearing further away and launching a single shuriken.

The enemt she was fighting, was not Rekshan, nor was it Xos, though surely either of them would have been suitable opponets.

Xos created an army of Clone I'mdyps that knew everything she did, had all her skills, and all the items she had on her. The Clones were a variety of colors, and while having free will to fight how they pleased, were otherwise enslaved to Xos's will.

One by one they attacked, using everything she knew, and everything she knew, but forgot she knew. They used all the item copies they had.

As the Battle progressed, Rekshan had a running commentary on everything, which, if one listended, would improve one's skills ever so slightly. It wasn't anything particularly grand, just tips and hints for improving this or that, and for things already perfect, simple words of praise. He drilled her over and over, but for every bit she improved, so did the clones of her, forcing her to become even better in order to beat them. Eventually, he called an end.

While I'mdyp rested, if she reflected on the days events, she would be able to see her improvement.

That's when Xos swapped places with Agrinja.

"The void is particularly difficult to fight." Agrinja said.

He altered the Clone army with the powers of The Void, turning them into an army of Void Ninja.

"every time you hit them, they will absorb some of your life force, your Chakras, your soul, everything that makes you, you. Eventually, under normal circumstances, you would just, be not." Agrinja said.

"Not only them, but for every Void Creature. However, I must point out that special Circumstances apply to Kajeenith, I would point out what they are, but the he always changes them, so despite all my wisdom and knowledge, I don't have a clue what they are, and even with all that I am about to teach you, there is no promise that they will work against him." Rekshan said.

"Now, A chakra is a center of activity that receives, assimilates, and expresses life force energy. The word chakra literally translates as wheel or disk and refers to a spinning sphere of bioenergetic activity emanating from the major nerve ganglia branching forward from the spinal column. There are seven of these wheels stacked in a column of energy that spans from the base of the spine to the top of the head. There are also minor chakras in the hands, feet, fingertips, and shoulders. Literally, any vortex of activity could be called a chakra. It is the seven major chakras that correlate with basic states of consciousness.

Sahasrara governs Conciousness, Ajna is The Chakra of time awareness and light, Vishudda controlls communication and growth, Anahata controls complex emotion, equilibrium, Love, Compassion, and well being, Manipura, also known as Nabhi is related to the transition from simple or base to complex emotion, energy, assimilation and digestion, Swadhisthana controls base emotion, Sexuality, and Creativity, Muladhara controls instinct, security, survival and also to basic potentiality.

Chi, or Qi as it is properly known, Flows through your body via natural channels called Meridians, and is generated by the Seven Chakras. You must meditate deeply, to such a degree that you appear as dead to all. The reason being, you must let go of all guilt, all stress, all doubt, and all worry. You must align all seven Chakras and bring them to balance and harmony, to gain access the the eighth Chakra, The Transpersonal Chakra. This is only possible, when the other Seven are shining at their brightest and in full harmony, with your Qi flowing in harmony with all things around you.

The Transpersonal Chakra is a mysterious and often misunderstood thing. It is not on your body, yet it is apart of you. It is your connection to The Source of All things, and if this Chakra were destroyed, you would cease to exist. It is This Chakra that you must strengthen in Meditation, to enable its use. If This Chakra is strong in you, Then even when fighting the Void, you cannot be absorbed by the Void, unless you so will it. It will empower all other aspects of your being, making them stronger, better. Against Creatures of The Void, your hits will be as a lit match to a can of Gas. With practice, you may even be able to create the same weapons you use regularly on the spot, making you truely deadly indeed." Rekshan said.

Boy he could talk.

"Now, sit. relax. Go deep into your mind, in your body. Face your guilt, your stress, your doubt, and worry. These things cannot be present in your body, mind, our soul if you wish to gain access to The Eighth Chakra.

You must align all seven Chakras and bring them to balance and harmony. Make them shine brightly within you. Eventually, you will see all around you like a second skin, The Eighth Chakra. It shines with a Golden Light, and is symbolised by a white Lotus with petals beyond counting." Rekshan said.

He guided her as best he could, but in the end, this part was more of a personal Journey than anything. He could show her the path, but he could not make her walk it, nor could he help her walk it.

OOC: So, if your feeling creative, show us like a dream sequence, the path she takes to finding the Eighth chakra.

I'mdyp sat and meditated, venturing into the depths of her own mind. A construct of her subconscious, the world which met her was as orderly as her discipline, but as chaotic as a summer breeze.

Aspects of her life circled around her, from her late master - who had died five years before her shunting to this reality - to abstractions of her own abilities, strange fractal constructs of herself composed of ever-smaller representations.

The kobold slowly focussed on each chakra in turn, the shifting thoughts of her subconscious fading as it conjured up the chakras, and the demons surrounding them.

The worst was a spectre, long forgotten, assailing several of her chakras - the ages old xenophobia of kobolds, something she had long attempted to cast away and bury in her mind. It was there she knew there was the oppressor, the creature which rebuked her soul.

All other pains would be as nothing compared to it, the haunting hatred so entrenched in every kobold.

Everything faded away, and in the real world her unconscious form winced in pain. The shifting dreamscape was replaced by a battlefield, gnomes and kobolds fighting and dying in the background. I'mdyp found herself clutching a sword, and garbed in grey, formless robes.

Before her were Garl Glittergold and Kurtulmak, the gods of the gnomes and kobolds, each one demanding that she kill the other.

"Kill the gnome, for what he has done to our people! Do not let his great injustice go unpunished!"

"No! You have gotten over this struggle! Strike down your old god and be free of his endless grudge!"

I'mdyp looked back and forth. The obvious choice was there, but it did not seem right. As the two gods argued, I'mdyp looked down, and found her Amulet of Io. The concordant dragon.

Finally, she reached a decision, and raised the sword. Her mouth spoke soundlessly, and the gods stared at her in shock.

She plunged the sword into her chest, and the battlefield blew away, crumbling into shards as the greatest of her inner demons was exorcised. I'mdyp stood, and was standing in a void. The Seven Major Chakras winked into existence one by one, and danced around her.

A refreshing breeze blew past as the seven chakras and all the minor ones began circling faster, and a single white lotus floated down, spinning and spiralling slowly. Raising her arms, I'mdyp caught it, and it melted away, surrounding her with a golden hue.

---

I'mdyp opened her eyes slowly, and smiled, despite the blood on her lips.

She had succeeded.

I'mdyp sat and meditated, venturing into the depths of her own mind. A construct of her subconscious, the world which met her was as orderly as her discipline, but as chaotic as a summer breeze.

Aspects of her life circled around her, from her late master - who had died five years before her shunting to this reality - to abstractions of her own abilities, strange fractal constructs of herself composed of ever-smaller representations.

The kobold slowly focussed on each chakra in turn, the shifting thoughts of her subconscious fading as it conjured up the chakras, and the demons surrounding them.

The worst was a spectre, long forgotten, assailing several of her chakras - the ages old xenophobia of kobolds, something she had long attempted to cast away and bury in her mind. It was there she knew there was the oppressor, the creature which rebuked her soul.

All other pains would be as nothing compared to it, the haunting hatred so entrenched in every kobold.

Everything faded away, and in the real world her unconscious form winced in pain. The shifting dreamscape was replaced by a battlefield, gnomes and kobolds fighting and dying in the background. I'mdyp found herself clutching a sword, and garbed in grey, formless robes.

Before her were Garl Glittergold and Kurtulmak, the gods of the gnomes and kobolds, each one demanding that she kill the other.

"Kill the gnome, for what he has done to our people! Do not let his great injustice go unpunished!"

"No! You have gotten over this struggle! Strike down your old god and be free of his endless grudge!"

I'mdyp looked back and forth. The obvious choice was there, but it did not seem right. As the two gods argued, I'mdyp looked down, and found her Amulet of Io. The concordant dragon.

Finally, she reached a decision, and raised the sword. Her mouth spoke soundlessly, and the gods stared at her in shock.

She plunged the sword into her chest, and the battlefield blew away, crumbling into shards as the greatest of her inner demons was exorcised. I'mdyp stood, and was standing in a void. The Seven Major Chakras winked into existence one by one, and danced around her.

A refreshing breeze blew past as the seven chakras and all the minor ones began circling faster, and a single white lotus floated down, spinning and spiralling slowly. Raising her arms, I'mdyp caught it, and it melted away, surrounding her with a golden hue.

---

I'mdyp opened her eyes slowly, and smiled, despite the blood on her lips.

She had succeeded.

She found herself stripped of all objects, and her old clothing, wearing only a simple black sneaking suit, not that either of them misappropriatly touched her or handled her, or even looked at her. No, Agrinja just used some basic magic.

"Congratulations. It would appear, that you have succeeded. Gaining access and strengthing it, and knowing how to use it are two seperate things. Yes, The eighth Chakra has empowered you. I'm sure you can feel it. I can feel it, and we are in two diffrent bodies.

First, a simple demonstration." Rekshan said.

Three Void clone I'mdyps stepped forward to attack.

the fight would be remarkably brief, as each hit did Double its previous Damage. Because these were Void Clones, the Damage soared even higher, which meant that each Void clone was a one hit kill waiting to happen.

I'mdyp would notice she was faster, stronger, and her reflexes and senses were far more acute than previously felt. She even thought faster.

"Now, you will learn to create shuriken, darts, and even swords as you normally use. Your normal ones you came in with, lay next to Agrinja.
It is easy to be prepared and walk into a pitched battle fully armed. What of othertimes though. You walk to market. A Thug steals your bags and runs off. You have no Shuriken, what will you do? There are many ways to deal with this situation. Perhaps Children are with you. You cannot just dart off and leave them behind. With the power of the Eighth Chakra and Creation, which is diffrent from Creativity, you can make on the spot, a shuriken and throw it.

the Battle is long, and dangerous up close, You have exausted your normal supply of throwing weapons. Your Mage Friends are to busy dealing with the magics being thrown around. Your Paladin friend is far to busy keeping the monster at bay to pray for a miracle supply of throwing weapons. Do you then sit out? No. Qi attacks are ineffective compared to the magic your Mage friends use. You make more Shuriken. If you can make a simple Shuriken, then you have mastered the powers of the eighth Chakra, and there is then no limit to what you can do, save your own imagination. This isn't to say you can or should try to make your own Demiplane in the astral Plane. However, as far as The Martial Arts go, the sky is the limit.

You know what a shuriken looks like. You know how it feels. Manifest it in your hand. It can be of any substance, even Void, or the raw energies of Creation." Rekshan said.

I'mdyp tried to picture a single shuriken, sorting through her mind for a simple, basic shuriken, lethal in its own right.

The first attempt was a failure, the shuriken turning into dust mere seconds after being created. The second was not successful either, the unbalanced form immediately becoming apparent to I'mdyp, who cast it away.

She stopped, and gathered the image of a shuriken in her mind, the variety she used so often, and the theories of magic often rambled about by Karathis.

The ideal shuriken...

When she looked at her palm, she was holding a well balanced shuriken, which she promptly whipped at an errant void clone which had managed to hide itself, the spinning razor slicing through its unexpertly controlled form and embedding itself in a wall of the arena.

I'mdyp tried to picture a single shuriken, sorting through her mind for a simple, basic shuriken, lethal in its own right.

The first attempt was a failure, the shuriken turning into dust mere seconds after being created. The second was not successful either, the unbalanced form immediately becoming apparent to I'mdyp, who cast it away.

She stopped, and gathered the image of a shuriken in her mind, the variety she used so often, and the theories of magic often rambled about by Karathis.

The ideal shuriken...

When she looked at her palm, she was holding a well balanced shuriken, which she promptly whipped at an errant void clone which had managed to hide itself, the spinning razor slicing through its unexpertly controlled form and embedding itself in a wall of the arena.

"To all things, a balance, and in absolute perfect Balance, all things." Rekshan said.

He bowed his head, and disappeared.

"But you aren't a true master yet." said a mysterious fellow. His appearence practicly screamed ninja.

"I won't be satisfied, until you've proven yourself in battle." He said.

Agrinja and Rekshan were gone with the clones.

"Not to the death, there is no point in going quite that far." said an odd royal looking woman.

"Indeed." Said the man.

"I am The empress Kiku, my husband's first Bodyguard. I have trained legions of Master ninja." The Woman said. She was wearing a beautiful Silk Kimono Robe.

"I am the first and foremost of all assasins. My name is my own secret, but the wind still whispers that which others have called me for thousands of years. Nightstalker." The Man said.

He stood and took a position in front of I'mdyp.

"So, Rekshan is easily fooled in his old age. But we are not so easily decieved. Fight us, with your new found strength. We will see if you are truely our equal, or run and flee, and hide like the craven coward I believe you to be." Nightstalker said.

"A power is in and of itself neutral. It is determined to be offensive or defensive only by how it is used. Good and Evil are secondary connotations, and strong or weak third Connotations." Kiku said.
She quickly formed beautiful Shuriken with an intricate delicate design, and threw it at I'mdyp. The single star glowed and split into thousands, all flying at I'mdyp.

"With time and practice, you can make Enchanted Shuriken on the fly, with whatever enchantments you desire, so long as you do not kill yourself trying to make them. The appearence naturally changes with skill. As The old Teacher said, everything has a Balance, and in absolute True Balance, all things."

Nightstalker merely waited for the return attack.

"No help, just you, and us." Nightstalker said.

OOC: It'll only last a little while, running through various attacks and defenses, and then it'll end. Its a chance to exercise the ability, and give it some practical use and practice. Nightstalker is not really thousands of years old, it is a title handed down from master to master.

"And you are so arrogant as to dress yourself in borrowed robes, from a discipline you know nothing of." said I'mdyp to the Nightstalker, as she created the basic kit needed for a ninja to function as one, and not some glorified magician-combatant. She herself needed to abandon the normal stealthy ways more often than she would have liked, but against mage-assassins (as opposed to mage assassins, who killed mages) a blow using more traditional skills seemed more appropriate.

The kobold ninja leapt into the thousand shuriken, and faded away, becoming ethereal and weaving past the spinning razors.

She stopped, rendering herself undetectable and creating a scroll of mind blank, wincing at the effort. She activated the scroll, rendering her completely undetectable by magic as well (given that magical sight had a nasty tendency to omit those affected by a Mind Blank).

Moving carefully and as undetectably as was possible - also employing the eigth chakra to her advantage - she positioned herself behind the Nightstalker.

Creating herself a throwing spike, she filled it with an almost impossibly powerful version of the famous Drow Sleeping Poison, charged with her Eigth Chakra to bypass any immunities to the poison, and threw it into the assassin's back, following through quickly with a swift kick in the side with deadly strength and a punch to a pressure point with a studded ring.

"And you are so arrogant as to dress yourself in borrowed robes, from a discipline you know nothing of." said I'mdyp to the Nightstalker, as she created the basic kit needed for a ninja to function as one, and not some glorified magician-combatant. She herself needed to abandon the normal stealthy ways more often than she would have liked, but against mage-assassins (as opposed to mage assassins, who killed mages) a blow using more traditional skills seemed more appropriate.

The kobold ninja leapt into the thousand shuriken, and faded away, becoming ethereal and weaving past the spinning razors.

She stopped, rendering herself undetectable and creating a scroll of mind blank, wincing at the effort. She activated the scroll, rendering her completely undetectable by magic as well (given that magical sight had a nasty tendency to omit those affected by a Mind Blank).

Moving carefully and as undetectably as was possible - also employing the eigth chakra to her advantage - she positioned herself behind the Nightstalker.

Creating herself a throwing spike, she filled it with an almost impossibly powerful version of the famous Drow Sleeping Poison, charged with her Eigth Chakra to bypass any immunities to the poison, and threw it into the assassin's back, following through quickly with a swift kick in the side with deadly strength and a punch to a pressure point with a studded ring.

"You say I know nothing of the Ninja disciplines? I havwe spent more years than you've lived studying the arts of Ninjitsu." Said a totally unharmed Nightstalker beside I'mdyp. The robes fell off to reveal a log.

Empress Kiku used the eighth Chakra to turn her thin delicate nails into long hard incredibly sharp Claws, and tore at I'mdyp's skin. Her blows seemed to be a combination of Ninjitsu death Blows and Bushijitsu techniques.

Nightstalker just waited, one more go round, and then it would be time to switch tactics.

"All those with powers beyond the physical are glorified Magician-Combatants. Assasin, Ninja, magekiller, their all just distinctions of technique." Nightstalker said.

"I hope you can fight blinded." Nightstalker said.

He threw up a defense preemptivly. It was a technique based off the Ninja smokesceens, but so much more. The Arena became filled with a rolling fog bank. It blinded all senses, and not even a category five hurricane could move the Fog. If one could fight blind, like Master Rekshan, then the fogbank was meaningless, making only for a formidable escape strategy. Nightstalker didn't mention that the eighth chakra provided a form of blind sense.

"Says one who cannot perform the simplest of skills without resorting to magic." retorted I'mdyp, sharply, while she drove the unused spike into Kiku, and used the iron bars in the suit to deflect the long fingernails.

"You would love to believe that, wouldn't you, petty magician."

I'mdyp veiled herself again, taking the opportunity to stock up on less basic gear before pausing to test her powers again.

Her current abilities, combined with the state of the arena, meant that she was completely undetectable, so she simply experimented with the Eighth Chakra.

A moment later, she conjured a scroll of greater dispel and cast it, blowing away the fog and launching a barrage of shuriken at the Nightstalker, as well as a hexagonal spray of throwing spikes filled with the same drow poison.

(Bump?)

"Says one who cannot perform the simplest of skills without resorting to magic." retorted I'mdyp, sharply, while she drove the unused spike into Kiku, and used the iron bars in the suit to deflect the long fingernails.

"You would love to believe that, wouldn't you, petty magician."

I'mdyp veiled herself again, taking the opportunity to stock up on less basic gear before pausing to test her powers again.

Her current abilities, combined with the state of the arena, meant that she was completely undetectable, so she simply experimented with the Eighth Chakra.

A moment later, she conjured a scroll of greater dispel and cast it, blowing away the fog and launching a barrage of shuriken at the Nightstalker, as well as a hexagonal spray of throwing spikes filled with the same drow poison.

"When you have completly mastered your skills, there is no diffrence between magical, and non-magical use. The only magical thing I've done so far, as throw up the blinding fog. You've used more magic than I have. Whose the Magician now?" Nightstalker asked.

"Besides, as The Magi-master Xos has dicovered and proven, there is no such thing as magic." Kiku said.

The attacks hit them, and everything dissolved. She found she had been looking deeply into Father Rekshan's eyes.

"Yes, Good. I am satisfied in your skills. Those were not the real people of course, just fragmented illusions from my memories of them. That whole thing, happened within my mind. Just be careful, we can talk discus and give skills and hints for fighting The void and its master, but when your actually face to face with it, its a whole new ballgame and all those theories and ideas go right out the window. Just be sure of yourself, and believe in yourself, and you'll have a good solid basis right there." Rekshan said.
Agrinja spelled all of I'mdyp's things back to her. Then he helped Rekshan out of the Arena.

OOC: It never showed in my CP that you had posted. Sorry.

(OOC: Ouf. Missed the thread for a bit.)

"The arrogance of a master knows no bounds - I should do just fine." joked I'mdyp. "Shame I hadn't another chance to retort, but all the same it is unfair to remove one's equipment while retaining your own, then claiming your opponent is using more magic when they need to recreate their gear."

I'mdyp left silently, and the day drew to a close.

Karathis and Vaikwur put the finishing touches on their amalgam spell, and had the varied material components prepared. It would be a stretch, but it should work.

They were ready.

(OOC: Ouf. Missed the thread for a bit.)

"The arrogance of a master knows no bounds - I should do just fine." joked I'mdyp. "Shame I hadn't another chance to retort, but all the same it is unfair to remove one's equipment while retaining your own, then claiming your opponent is using more magic when they need to recreate their gear."

I'mdyp left silently, and the day drew to a close.

Karathis and Vaikwur put the finishing touches on their amalgam spell, and had the varied material components prepared. It would be a stretch, but it should work.

They were ready.

The day was here, finally. The air was tense.

It was Karathis and his three friends turn. They were the last, and so far, the most successful.
As they came out Xos spoke up.

"And so here we are, round 10. From the Infinitly twisted depths of Pandemonium, we bring you, the greatest of all elementals, The Omnimental!" Xos said. The screens flickered to the depths of pandemonium. They saw a being that was made of many things. Its skin was like dark matter, the cosmic material between the galaxies, and scattered all over its skin, were all other elements, manifested. Its cloak was its body, and it billowed out behind it. Its eyes really were twin stars, so small, but so bright. It stepped through all the moniters, all 100 of them, and all 100 Omnimentals joined back into the original Omnimental It was built, and looked like a warrior, and some old obscure legends referred to the omnimental as The Elemental Warrior. He nodded his head to the four adventurers. He bowed to Lady Ri-an, and to the Magi-masters. He grabbed his cloa, and obscured his frontside with it. It fell away back to the back, but this time he was holding a sword, made entirely of enriched Uranium. He was confident that these four adventurers had not yet grasped the secret of how to beat him, so he just stood there, and let them have the first blow.

(OOC: Is it a uranium katana?:p

How big is the omnimental?)

"A uranium katana?" muttered Vaikwur, noticing the reference to a certain Wizards.com in-joke.

Karathis opened with a simple spell, just to gauge the omnimental's reaction, waving his hand like the archetypal apprentice and firing off a small barrage of magic missiles, while the others quickly divided from their initial, vulnerable positions.

Vaikwur raised walls of force, to provide obstacles and cover, while I'mdyp shifted into the Ethereal Plane.

Ulrich charged first, drawing his bastard sword and locking blades quickly, while the two wizards prepared themselves to respond with counterdweomers and defensive spells when the Omnimental inevitably fought back with whatever immense powers it was holding back.

I'mdyp moved to flank the Omnimental, and materialised just as Ulrich made contact and slashed at the being's form.

The melee attempts were doomed to fail, but the adventurers needed to know what the Omnimental's capabilities were first. There was probably some glaring weakness common to such powerful beings, but they hadn't figured it out yet.

(OOC: Is it a uranium katana?:p

How big is the omnimental?)

"A uranium katana?" muttered Vaikwur, noticing the reference to a certain Wizards.com in-joke.

Karathis opened with a simple spell, just to gauge the omnimental's reaction, waving his hand like the archetypal apprentice and firing off a small barrage of magic missiles, while the others quickly divided from their initial, vulnerable positions.

Vaikwur raised walls of force, to provide obstacles and cover, while I'mdyp shifted into the Ethereal Plane.

Ulrich charged first, drawing his bastard sword and locking blades quickly, while the two wizards prepared themselves to respond with counterdweomers and defensive spells when the Omnimental inevitably fought back with whatever immense powers it was holding back.

I'mdyp moved to flank the Omnimental, and materialised just as Ulrich made contact and slashed at the being's form.

The melee attempts were doomed to fail, but the adventurers needed to know what the Omnimental's capabilities were first. There was probably some glaring weakness common to such powerful beings, but they hadn't figured it out yet.

The Omnimental just stood there, and let it all hit him. As he was in contact with the ground and the air, he was healed by these two elements. Ulrich's sword had absolutly no effect on him at all what so ever, because all metals were differing forms of elements, even when combined whether naturally occurring or man-made. As such, he was immune to attacks made by weaponry.

He pulled up the ground and made a chair out of it and sat down. He pulled out the latest edition of Wizards Weekly and started reading. His Enriched, Weapons-Grade Uranium Katana attached itself to his leg.

He paused, and snapped his fingers.

The sound of four World War Two Era American Bombers came out of nowhere, but none could be seen. The whistling sound of something falling through the air could be heard. Explosions ripped accross the arena as the bombs materialised as they hit the ground.

He licked his finger and turned the page.

"When you start trying so will I." Omnimental said.

OOC: The following was used:
Space, to bring the Bombers to Ri-an.
Time, to bring them into the modern day.

The Light was bent around the Bombers and the Bombs to render them invisible.

After the Bombing, Space and time were used again to send the Bombers back to the proper place and time. Other than that, the Bombs were the same used during World War 2, but not Fatman and Big Boy, you haven't worked me up to Atomic Bombs, yet.

His weakness, is the highest form of destruction, and the one for which, I made a diety for. Uncreation, The Void, that which is not. Remember, the book said the Void was technicly an element, but it also technicly did not exist. Therefore there was no elemental Void creatures. Omnimental clearly exists...

Also, I don't get the Joke. I thought it up as a Nuke sword.

(OOC: "When you absolutely, positively have to have the stupidest weapon in the room." Katanas because there were threads almost continuously by people believing them to be unreasonably powerful, and Uranium Swords because of one guy trolling about it. Basically, all a Uranium Katana would do is cause cancer in a few years time to your opponent. It's really soft, and unless you're prepared to keep fighting for a few years you're not going to see any result.

It would be powerful on about the same level as transporting someone to Elysia or Gehenna - Unless you're prepared to try and hold them there for a matter of years, there won't be much point.)

The prepared true sight spells allowed the adventurers to be ready for the bombing run, quickly ducking under one of the myriad walls of force before the bombs hit.

Vaikwur slipped a small platinum sword into his hand, and swung it, intoning a Black Blade of Disaster spell, and creating a planar riftsword, which he catapulted towards the Omnimental and set is slashing, making the base movements remotely while the magic animated the sword and performed complex maneuvers Vaikwur was unable to do.

Ulrich and I'mdyp kept up their assaults - futile as they were - to distract the Omnimental. They varied their attacks, one moment Ulrich smote, the other I'mdyp tripped, and still another the black blade attempted to bisect the Omnimental.

Karathis began intoning the first verbs of a long and complex spell, weaving the base strands of the time consuming gestalt spell, carefully masked from temporal incursions and spatial analysis. Their mind blank spells already prevented their viewing by remote vision (including scries with temporal components) but he was taking no chances.

(OOC: "When you absolutely, positively have to have the stupidest weapon in the room." Katanas because there were threads almost continuously by people believing them to be unreasonably powerful, and Uranium Swords because of one guy trolling about it. Basically, all a Uranium Katana would do is cause cancer in a few years time to your opponent. It's really soft, and unless you're prepared to keep fighting for a few years you're not going to see any result.

It would be powerful on about the same level as transporting someone to Elysia or Gehenna - Unless you're prepared to try and hold them there for a matter of years, there won't be much point.)

The prepared true sight spells allowed the adventurers to be ready for the bombing run, quickly ducking under one of the myriad walls of force before the bombs hit.

Vaikwur slipped a small platinum sword into his hand, and swung it, intoning a Black Blade of Disaster spell, and creating a planar riftsword, which he catapulted towards the Omnimental and set is slashing, making the base movements remotely while the magic animated the sword and performed complex maneuvers Vaikwur was unable to do.

Ulrich and I'mdyp kept up their assaults - futile as they were - to distract the Omnimental. They varied their attacks, one moment Ulrich smote, the other I'mdyp tripped, and still another the black blade attempted to bisect the Omnimental.

Karathis began intoning the first verbs of a long and complex spell, weaving the base strands of the time consuming gestalt spell, carefully masked from temporal incursions and spatial analysis. Their mind blank spells already prevented their viewing by remote vision (including scries with temporal components) but he was taking no chances.

"Quite right, I've had enough of this." Omnimental said. He put the magazine away.

He stood and collapsed in upon himself, becoming a Quantum Black Hole, but that wasn't all, in the same place, An Arcane Maelstrom opened up, sucking up all the Magical and Psionic Energies in the area. He sucked in large Quantities of dirt, and also sucked in Ulrich and I'mdyp, due to their closeness. They weren't killed, Omnimental preserved their life. Then he shifted into a White Hole/Particle fountain, and shot it all back out straight at Karathis and Vaikwur, including all the energy, in a massive directed blast that would take more than just a few shields to protect from. Ulrich and I'mdyp were randomly mixed into all the dirt, and would have to dig themselves out.

Before that could happen, Omnimental slipped into the ground.

Lady Ri-an started giggling. The Magi-masters turned from where they were to look at her.

"What? He tickles." She said.

They could feel Omnimental moving in the ground, but even the best of true seeing spells could only tell them he was somewhere beneath them.

The true intent of what he was doing made itself known. the massive dirt blasting attack was merely a diversion, knowing the two wizards could easily escape to another plane, and pull their friends there.

Omnimental became the arena, integrating himself into ever Dimension, Plane and Alternate universe there was, spreading to the far edges of Andromeda itself. There was nowhere to hide, No where to run, for everywhere they went, there he was.

The central core of Omnimental rose in the center of the Arena, and rose to the skies of Ri-an. The light grew darker, as he cut out the light Lightning flickered and fire sparked.

The Central Core began to spin, and the wind spun with it, becoming a stationary Tornado and Air shield. All senses were lost as Light flickered.
Omnimental cast a spell negating all standing enchantments, including Shields, True seeing spells, Mind Blank Spells, And Prismatic walls.

As the Mind Blanks were negated, Omnimental peered into Karathis's mind to see what he had planned.

The attacks would come next, along with far more impressive defences.

It took more than quantity to beat walls of force, as they reflexively raised sloped walls of force to deflect the brunt of the damage. Ulrich and I'mdyp were catapulted into the air by the sharp angle, easily high enough that they would take hours to return from the stratosphere.

And there the battle of countermeasures began, Karathis' carefully structured defences and preparations counteracted the negation of his mind blank, revealing that his 'plan' was to create a storm of tea and biscuits to overwhelm the Omnimental with British Stereotypes, and to conjure an army of Keystone Kops to launch hails of cream pies.

The blanket enchantment had no effect on their layered countermeasures and preparations, countermeasures upon countermeasures responding in kind to the attempt to negate their standing contingencies and evoking shifts in reality and diverting the power.

Nonetheless, they expended significant energy counteracting the blanket assault, and were forced to restore their defences quickly from stored reserves.

"The most annoying thing about trying to pull that, Mr. Omnimental, is that we're going to have to cause some real, serious damage to reality to get at you! I suggest you cut the crap now, before we're forced to do something drastic and wholly inappropriate for a competition!" yelled Karathis at the core of the Omnimental.

"There's really no way we're going to be able to attack you like this unless we do something similarly far reaching in consequence!"

It took more than quantity to beat walls of force, as they reflexively raised sloped walls of force to deflect the brunt of the damage. Ulrich and I'mdyp were catapulted into the air by the sharp angle, easily high enough that they would take hours to return from the stratosphere.

And there the battle of countermeasures began, Karathis' carefully structured defences and preparations counteracted the negation of his mind blank, revealing that his 'plan' was to create a storm of tea and biscuits to overwhelm the Omnimental with British Stereotypes, and to conjure an army of Keystone Kops to launch hails of cream pies.

The blanket enchantment had no effect on their layered countermeasures and preparations, countermeasures upon countermeasures responding in kind to the attempt to negate their standing contingencies and evoking shifts in reality and diverting the power.

Nonetheless, they expended significant energy counteracting the blanket assault, and were forced to restore their defences quickly from stored reserves.

"The most annoying thing about trying to pull that, Mr. Omnimental, is that we're going to have to cause some real, serious damage to reality to get at you! I suggest you cut the crap now, before we're forced to do something drastic and wholly inappropriate for a competition!" yelled Karathis at the core of the Omnimental.

"There's really no way we're going to be able to attack you like this unless we do something similarly far reaching in consequence!"

Everything just stopped, and reverted to normal. Ulrich and I'mdyp found themselves safely on the ground.

Omnimental had his back turned, he was facing the exit.

"I will not fight these cowards. I was promised an exicting battle with four strong epicly powerful adventurers worthy of my services if they defeat me, not two cowardly whining mages afraid to go to their limits and do whatever it took to win. Maybe they should run home and hide behind their mother's skirts, the gods know a real life or death challenge would kill the pathetic little freaks. Thank Omnisource they chose me instead of Jiralyn, The Dark Priestess of Kajeenith. they wouldn't have lasted five minutes with her, and she wouldn't have had mercy for those cowards." Omnimental said in a highly insulting tone. He began to walk out.

OOC: The above is entirely IC and should not be taken in an ooc manner. This does not constitute a win or a loss, and the fight can still continue but you gotta act fast before he completly walks out. No talking to him just straight out using your strongest stuff to attack him, and yes, if you beat him, all four of them will be able to summon Omnimental, under the name Elemental Warrior.

"Oh, that does it." muttered Vaikwur, evoking the last spell necessary to trip the carefully frayed reality set up for the gestalt spell. "Nobody insults a wizard and lives!"

He summoned another black blade of disaster, and the reality of the arena began to tear to form the sword. Karathis looked at the kobold evoker in shock. The gestalt spell was exceptionally dangerous, but there was nothing to be done now. The abjurer had to participate, or the direction of the spell would be lost.

The crowd parted rapidly, sensing that the fury of the wizard was not going to end well if they happened to be in the way.

Karathis launched dimensional lock spells rapidly around the forming black blade, twisting reality to direct the spell.

Vaikwur swung his arm, his eyes glowing with arcane power, and completed the powerful magic. The ground in a line from him to the Omnimental exploded into the air, though that was but a side effect of the exceptionally powerful dweomer. Eschewing dramatic effect in favour of safety, he leapt to the side as a great jet black wall formed, slicing through the Omnimental mid stride and anything else unfortunate enough to be caught in the line. It didn't go for more than a kilometre or so, but it was plenty.

With a peal of thunder, the arena wrenched itself into two, the fabric of reality tearing apart, its loose ends flapping into the astral plane, with half the omnimental on one side and the other half on the other. Vaikwur, his anger not finished, summoned a giant hand of force to shove the halves of the omnimental into the astral plane before the stuff of the astral flowed into the gap and closed the tear in the prime material.

(OOC: Don't worry, I know that. And yes, they scaled up the Reality Maelstrom and Black Blade of Disaster spells into the epics to create a tear in reality. It's technically void, but thanks to the self rectifying nature of the planes the astral plane quickly filled the gap before too much could flow out.)

"Oh, that does it." muttered Vaikwur, evoking the last spell necessary to trip the carefully frayed reality set up for the gestalt spell. "Nobody insults a wizard and lives!"

He summoned another black blade of disaster, and the reality of the arena began to tear to form the sword. Karathis looked at the kobold evoker in shock. The gestalt spell was exceptionally dangerous, but there was nothing to be done now. The abjurer had to participate, or the direction of the spell would be lost.

The crowd parted rapidly, sensing that the fury of the wizard was not going to end well if they happened to be in the way.

Karathis launched dimensional lock spells rapidly around the forming black blade, twisting reality to direct the spell.

Vaikwur swung his arm, his eyes glowing with arcane power, and completed the powerful magic. The ground in a line from him to the Omnimental exploded into the air, though that was but a side effect of the exceptionally powerful dweomer. Eschewing dramatic effect in favour of safety, he leapt to the side as a great jet black wall formed, slicing through the Omnimental mid stride and anything else unfortunate enough to be caught in the line. It didn't go for more than a kilometre or so, but it was plenty.

With a peal of thunder, the arena wrenched itself into two, the fabric of reality tearing apart, its loose ends flapping into the astral plane, with half the omnimental on one side and the other half on the other. Vaikwur, his anger not finished, summoned a giant hand of force to shove the halves of the omnimental into the astral plane before the stuff of the astral flowed into the gap and closed the tear in the prime material.

(OOC: Don't worry, I know that. And yes, they scaled up the Reality Maelstrom and Black Blade of Disaster spells into the epics to create a tear in reality. It's technically void, but thanks to the self rectifying nature of the planes the astral plane quickly filled the gap before too much could flow out.)

As the attack struck, Omnimental literally blew up and was gone. That didn't mean the fight was over, not by any stretch of the imagination.

Omnimental had split into many Elemental monoliths.

One of normal regular sky based magic, one air monolith containing the many gases and alternate forms of energy found on the periodic table of elements.

One was a normal Earth Monolith, one contained the many metals, Crystals, Gems and minerals found on the periodic Table of elements.

One was a normal Water Monolith, the other looked like a toxic waste spill, as it contained the many fluidic elements found on the periodic table.

One was fire, one was light, one was darkness, one was filled with the powers of the Space/Time Continuum, Most intresting of all, was the elemental representing the mysterious Dark Matter that lay out in the reaches of outer space.

They all shared a single mind, and that mind had them reverse all elements.

It was going to be somewhat easier, but not by much, because an elemental of a single type was easy enough to counter with its opposing element, but with all elements reversed, that wasn't going to be too easy, at first.

OOC: I was sure you knew that, its just that on occasion when a character gets insulting, I get worried that someone may not not its just IC and not ooc, so I feel the need to post an ooc disclaimer like that.

Wind becomes earth, Lightning and metals switch, Fire to water to fire, Light and darkness trade places, Space and time switch, but are so closely linked anyway its hard to tell.

Karathis looked quizzically at the monoliths, and cast a gate spell, twisting it carefully to open a short lived portal to the Far Realms, a twisted place outside of time home to such happy creatures as wizards with spiders in their heads.

Vaikwur acted quickly, casting a Telekinesis spell and hurling the fire monolith into the gate with violent force, Karathis closing the portal quickly behind it.

Ulrich spurred Silvermane, and with I'mdyp drew their deadly weapons to assault the Space/Time Monolith, using ghost touch enchantments to strike at that which cannot be struck.

Vaikwur then set about unleashing torrents of magic missiles, hailing down on all the monoliths, while Karathis abjured a consumptive field on the sky magic elemental to bleed its magic into the casting of Summon Monster IX spells to summon Couatls to attack the other elemental Monoliths.

Karathis looked quizzically at the monoliths, and cast a gate spell, twisting it carefully to open a short lived portal to the Far Realms, a twisted place outside of time home to such happy creatures as wizards with spiders in their heads.

Vaikwur acted quickly, casting a Telekinesis spell and hurling the fire monolith into the gate with violent force, Karathis closing the portal quickly behind it.

Ulrich spurred Silvermane, and with I'mdyp drew their deadly weapons to assault the Space/Time Monolith, using ghost touch enchantments to strike at that which cannot be struck.

Vaikwur then set about unleashing torrents of magic missiles, hailing down on all the monoliths, while Karathis abjured a consumptive field on the sky magic elemental to bleed its magic into the casting of Summon Monster IX spells to summon Couatls to attack the other elemental Monoliths.

The Monoliths fought back as best they could, and after several minutes of fighting, the Dark Matter Monolith banished all the Monoliths to the Far Realms, and all the summoned creatures to the places they came.

"Enough." Was all it said.

It killed all the magic. Rather, it used the powers of entropy and made all powers useless. The magic was still there, it was just useless energy now. There was no more magic to be cast. The Dark Matter Monolith descended and took on the familier form. It formeda Dark Matter Blade and advanced upon the group, slowly. Then it fell apart and moved no more, killed by its own Entropy attack.

The Time/space Monolith returned, and rolled time backwards.

The Omnimental reformed, and then rolled time back forward.

"Long have I been away from the worlds of mortals. It would seem that they have become, stronger." Omnimental said.

"You may use my services whenever you wish." Omnimental said, before disappearing back to Pandemonium. All that was left behind, was a scroll containing the Summon The Elemental Warrior Spell. with that, one person could summon Omnimental whenever he or she wished.

They had one.

"Celebration tomorrow!" Xos said.

The crowd departed.

"You've taken first place, but we'll make it offical tomorrow." Xos said.

Then, they were alone.

OOC: When their asleep, The Void overtakes them, but this is not known or noticed until the "Celebration" tomorrow. You'll see, when your ready, just post them going to sleep.

The adventurers retired very late that night, the wizards taking the time to decode the scroll and scribe it into their spellbooks, so they could summon the Omnimental as they could any other without relying on the scroll.

For this same reason, they had given Rahelgahoff a programmed sending rather than an actual summon spell, because if they had given him an actual summon or gate spell keyed to themselves the scroll could have fallen into the wrong hands or worse.

After copying out the Omnimental's scroll, they settled down and drifted off to sleep, unaware of the new challenge which would seize them in the night.

The adventurers retired very late that night, the wizards taking the time to decode the scroll and scribe it into their spellbooks, so they could summon the Omnimental as they could any other without relying on the scroll.

For this same reason, they had given Rahelgahoff a programmed sending rather than an actual summon spell, because if they had given him an actual summon or gate spell keyed to themselves the scroll could have fallen into the wrong hands or worse.

After copying out the Omnimental's scroll, they settled down and drifted off to sleep, unaware of the new challenge which would seize them in the night.

As they slept, their entire room dissolved into the void, but Kajeenith was a crafty old fox, and had the Void perfectly mimick things as they normally were. Thus when the adventurers got up, everything seemed as it should be.

Nothing out of the ordinary would happen until they stepped outside.

"Hello!" a voice was echoing as though from a great distance away.

"Can you here us?" it asked.

But then it was lost among the crowd, and very well could've been one person calling to another.

"Come back" The voice called, but then it was lost in a chorus of impressionable young people all wishing the adventurers would come back again some time.

Something felt wrong, the entire Astral Plane just disappeared, vanished into nothing, followed by the Ethereal and Shadow planes.

The nearby wall stretched out as though someone was trying to force their way through spandex, and it completly outlined the persons head and arms.

"You sicken me." said a dark and terrible voice.
"You fight battles obviously designed for weaker individuals, and yet you claim superiority as though they were designed for you, acting all smug as though you were actually strong. I even gave you a chance to face a truely strong opponet worthy of your skills, but you wimped out and went with the Magi-masters original choice of Omnimental. "

The crowds were frozen in place. All the planes, dimensions and everywhere and everything else disappeared, leaving only the illusion of the arena from yesterday, themselves, and the voice, so dark and terrible.

"So, if your so superior, if your so epic, then push me around, I DARE you." The Voice said.

Everything went white, as the void's true form revealed itself.

they were all four alone in the Void, and in front of them was Kajeenith, The Mad God of Darkness. He had Divided the Void into four, and each one was inescapable. He wore his classic Black Leather style, and his black lips were twisted into a grin that would give even the most powerful of dwellers in the pit reason to pause with fear. Kajeenith was insane, and did things for little to no reason at all.

The adventurers would find they were completly cut off from anything Real, nothing they could summon, no one they could call upon for help. Just them, and the things they had on themselves.

Each Kajeenith started out with the same actions, though the fights would inevitably become diffrent. Each Kajeenith pushed his hand into his own chest, and pulled a sword out of his body, his sword, a weapon even more dangerous than the reaper's scyth. The sword of Dissolution.

Then each Void changed diffrently. Karathis's Void resembled a Library, filled with knowledge as old as the cosmos, and indeed Karathis could learn anything he desired here, because this massive seemingly infinite library was filled with everything Kajeenith knew. Karathis was at one end, Kajeenith was at the other, and he was advancing with his sword slowly, terribly, inevitably he would arrrive at Karathis's spot. The books flew off the shelves and began attacking Karathis.

Vaikwur's void changed and became a haunted terror inspiring Graveyard. From a tomb Kajeenith came walking. The dead rose from their graves, skeletons and mummies all of them. They advanced on Vaikwur to attack him.

I'mdyp's Void became the inside of a Temple. Legions of Samurai clad all in black charged in to attack her. The main doorway flew open, and there was Kajeenith. He slowly walked towards her, preparing to attack.

Ulrich's Void became a broad flat plain, constructed entirely from the bones of all of Kajeenith's victims, and they were in numbers beyond counting. Blood flood freely in the form of a great and mighty river. Kajeenith came walking, the sun shining brightly overhead. Dark Clouds came, and obscured the sun, casting the land in darkness.
"Kind of fitting, don't you think? the bones of those you stand on, in that area, they too worshipped Pelor. They too died in the darkness. It shall be the same with Pelor, I shall kill him too, clad in eternal everlasting darkness not even the brightest of his rays can penitrate. Its been awhile since I last killed a follower of Pelor, come, show me how his Paladins fight." Kajeenith said to Ulrich. His sword was ready, he carried no shield, and wore no armor.

Kajeenith's blows were slow, for a God, which meant they were still faster than most mortals could do, but his blows were incredibly powerful. He favored Power over speed, always had, and always would.

As all four fought against his blade, they would find every where it struck was destroyed, even if blocked, the struck surface of the blocking item was destroyed in the spot the blade struck.

OOC:This means anything and everything. All layers of a Prismatic wall are destroyed in the spot the blade strikes, Energy shields are destroyed in the struck spot, all of it. It was this destroying ability, that lead my scientists to create Substance Z. Substance Z can still be destroyed, but then it immediatly fixes itself afterward. Yes their seperate for now, but part 2 will begin with the Magi-masters able to pull you out of the Void for a moment, but Kajeenith pulls you right back in, but not before you get a Mana Well. Its a miniture Zohar reactor. It can put out enough energy to restock your mana supplies, but that's it. Its not even done quickly, its done slowly, and even then only while your holding it. Most people wear it as a pendant and forget about it. Otherwise, there's no way to recover your magic in the void. In part 2 its all four of you together against kajeenith.

"How odd. I thought I took precautions against irritating people like you." said Karathis, who most certainly knew the importance of not humouring a madman - even though this one happened to be incredibly powerful compared to him.

He knew that he needed to employ his greatest reserves to make a dent in this one, but it was crucial to know precisely when to use those for maximum impact.

"Bah, you annoy me." he scoffed, not even deigning to look as he walled off the attacking books with a Wall of Force from a scroll. Keeping the impression up, he flicked a hand and conjured a Mage Sword, which attempted to impale the mad god.

With a second wave, he used a Shatter spell on Kajeenith's sword, sundering it into a thousand fragments without regard to its composition or nature.

---

Vaikwur looked at the oncoming horde, and shrugged, deciding to expend his highest valence magic (and some of his own power) on a couple of wish spells. He first evoked a simple wall of wind, which in itself did nothing to help his situation - a situation which would soon change. His first wish was nothing more than a Limited Wish, to save valencies, and he used it to control the winds of the wind wall, creating a tornado centred on himself with a radius of 80ft, with a small 5ft eye on himself.

His actual use of his Wish Spell was to create a blade barrier ringed around himself 75ft in diameter, enough to put a serious dint in anybody's day. The winds picked up the undead like they were little more than playthings and slinged them through the blades, cutting them into ribbons within seconds.

If Kajeenith decided to try and brave the winds, he too would be picked up and sent through the blender, with or without his consent. However, odds were he was already within the radius, and being put through a whirling circle of spinning force blades.

(OOC:Well, that took longer than I'd have liked. I'll get the actions of the other two posted when I've got them done.)

I'mdyp was in a bit of a bad spot, placed right in the middle of an army of generic samurai where her skills were suited for offensives. While her access to the ethereal plane was clearly blocked, she did have the capacity to hide in plain sight, and promptly did so, wrapping her surrounds around her and confounding the samurai.

Kajeenith was a different matter, of course, but she was confident that she could keep up with the madgod if there were none of these void-mooks about. Recalling the extreme weakness these things had to the Eighth Chakra, she took a moment to gather her thoughts and then began tearing through the mooks, doing her damndest to keep away from Kajeenith.

It didn't matter what that sword was made of - getting bisected was not on her to do list.

---

Ulrich drew his sword and shield, and walked slowly to meet the madgod.

"I have no words to waste on you, villian. Have at thee!"

The paladin locked blades with Kajeenith, watching as the madgod attempted again and again to smash his weapons and armour - and to his horror, succeeding!

He realised that the had to be careful, and decided to simply try to prolong the battle, carefully trying to catch the flat of Kajeenith's blade and weaving - as best one could in a suit of full plate, of course.

Karathis:

Indeed, the sword did shatter. It lay on the floor in 172,658,934 Pieces. They all disappeared. His sword reappeared.

"Silly mage, that sword was an extension of my power and clearly not real, but I shattered it for your benifit because you wanted it so." He said.

He looked at the mage sword impaled through his midsection. It slowly disappeared into Kajeenith. The hole knit itself shut, having absorbed the energies of the Mage Blade.

He smiled, as a great collumn of energy shot out at Karathis, but it disappeared halfway there. Kajeenith punched Karathis just as hard as he possibly could.

Vaikwur:

Kajeenith paused, and sank into the ground, went under the wind wall and blade wall, and rose up from the ground infront of Vaikwur. He grabbed the Mage and bit him, his poisonus jaws introducing diseases into Vaikwur's system.

"Delicous." Was all Kajeenith said.

I'mdyp:

Kajeenith just stood in one spot and watched her. It was like watching a ball move around an empty room, at least to him.

He banished the Samurai and had spikes shoot out of the floor at her.

Ulrich: Kajeenith laughed evilly as the Void altered and changed. His appearence changed with it, as he became Pelor. He wasn't really Pelor, he just looked like him. He even changed his sword to look like Pelor's Mace, Sunsceptor. The Void was a massive hazy grey fog, but how much harder would it be, for a Paladin to fight even the semblance of his own diety.

And Karathis, being a wizard, simply flew backwards, slamming into the back of the library as the punch tossed his somewhat lighter form without much resistance.

"So, the little madman can fight, can he?" he asked, pulling himself to his feet. Hints of blood came from his mouth. Evidently the Mage Blade had failed to overcome the madgod's inherent resistance to magic.

"No matter. You won't be needing all that power." he said, waving his arms and casting a Flensing spell, which, while was totally unethical for use on anything else, was perfectly acceptable to use of demons and fiends - at least, by some moral almanacks.

Kajeenith's skin and muscle (or at least his skin and muscle analogues) tore away from his body, as if something was trying to peel him away in layers like an onion. Karathis, of course, had ensured he was proofed against it if the madgod tried to reverse it. It certainly would not do to be affected by your own spell.

---

"EEEEAAAAARGH!" screamed Vaikwur, as Kajeenith bit into his arm, introducing a cocktail of poisons into his arm. Clutching his arm, he cast a Battering Ram spell, pointing his good palm at Kajeenith and blasthing him backwards with a Battering ram made of force, throwing him into the storm of blades.

Panting, he grabbed a potion of restoration from his robes and drank it, purging the deadly cocktail from his system and reversing its effects.

---

I'mdyp wove through the spikes, and regarded Kajeenith with an annoyed look, before leaping to the offense, with a spray of needles.

---

Ulrich was checked by this new development. He saw Kajeenith. He knew he was not Pelor, but only taking the form of his deity to check him.

His fighting slowed down, as it took great effort to fight a perfect impression of his deity, trying his best to hold in mind the image of Kajeenith instead.

Karathis:

Karathis's Kajeenith smiled. The spell didn't effect him. It jumped voids and hit the Kajeenith Ulrich was fighting. Karathis could watch as that Kajeenith was peeled.

The great collumn of energy that had disappeared Reappeared coming from behind Karathis, even through the wall itself if need be, and slammed into him from behind.

"So, the puny mage can fight. can he? No matter, you won't be needing all that power." Kajeenith said, using Karathis's own words.
The air around Karathis reflected his image for a moment then disappeared. high level spells would now be automaticly reflected back upon him.

Vaikwur:
Kajeenith was appearently chopped into a fine liquid, and blown all about. Some small parts entered Vaikwur with the breath he was breathing.

Kajeenith began to attack from within, more dangerous than any disease or poison. He decided to attack in the form of Rot. Vaikwur's skin quickly developed open bleeding sores. Then he left Vaikwur's body, having introduced Void Rot to his system. Void Rot resisted 80% of all cures used against it. The only known cure sat locked in a vault in the main Ri-anese hospital. Not even Regeneration could beat it. It could slow it certainly, but not stop it.

Vaikwur's spells moved away from where they were. Kajeenith rose from himself, reforming.

I'mdyp:
The Void Twitched as she attacked. Suddenly her needles were coming at her. She was where Kajeenith was, he was where she was.
He reached into his cloak and pulled out a disintegrating Ray Gun. He pulled the trigger, and the ray gun disintegrated.
"These Cartoonish antics will not do. Remind me to kill Xos again next time I see him."
Then with a snap the pillars began to decend intro the ground, bringing the stone ceiling with it.
"although I doubt a Kobold could do it, a regular human Ninja could blast through the walls and get to the central Void and assist her friends. But then, your JUST a Kobold so I doubt you can do it." Kajeenith said as he disappeared.

Ulrich: Thanks to a Flaw in the division of Kajeenith, Ulrich's Kajeenith peeled away into nothing.

He had not long to collect his wits. The ground shifted beneath him, opening into a gaping 20 foot hole. He did not drop, a stel slab just as large took its place. Those he was standing on, the dead followers of Pelor that Kajeenith had taken rose from their death and began to attack Ulruch.

If I'mdyp did get to the Central Void, she would see that Ulrich needed her help the most.

Everybody:
The Image presented by the Void wavered and disappeared.

"We got to pull them out of there!" Xos shouted.

Karathis could see as though from a great distance away the familier Arena they had been fighting in. The Magi-masters were trying to fight off a fifth Kajeenith and pull the adventurers out at the same time.

Then the Void took back over.

OOC: This isn't the beginning of round 2, just a sign he is weakening. Everything is as it was before the Void wavered for the purposes of what happens next.

Kajeenith isn't the sort to give any sign that he is being beaten or weakening, until it actually happens. Your making good progress though.

I'mdyps chance to break through the walls they are presented with go for everybody. If they all meet in the central Void, the real Kajeenith shows up, his avatars disappear, and we get down and dirty in the second half sooner than if you had just beaten the four kajeenith's to a pulp.

If there is no wall to break through, one need only to run far enough to reach the central Void. Direction is meaningless, only Running.

Karathis was thrown forwards by the magic, skittering across the floor, and firing off a lightning bolt as he passed.

The next time he climbed up he needed to lean on his staff, noting the magic which had been applied to him by the madgod.

Then, he laughed.

"So, a petty madgod enjoys parroting back the words of a superior?"

He cast a greater dispel magic from his personal abilities, and the reversed spell turning crumbled away into fragments. Raising himself up, Karathis cast a few fireball spells at the madgod from his staff, noting that in this realm, the madgod had absolute control.

---

Vaikwur fell to his feet, coughing as he cast a shapechange spell, shifting into the form of an iron golem, rendering him completely immune to all diseases, and purging the fragments of the madgod which he had inhaled.

He cast a repair spell on himself, healing his current form completely, and used a greater teleport to move himself back to his blade cyclone.

---

I'mdyp couldn't do it - nor could a human ninja, either.

Well, other than for the fact of the little hint that Kajeenith had dropped. The needles struck her, making a neat little kobold-shaped pattern on the wall behind her.

"Well, handy that I neglected to poison the needles, then." she remarked, as she took a moment to drink a light healing potion and remove the needles. They hadn't been thrown particularly deftly, and their subsequent reversal was similarly lacking in deadliness.

Of course, she could simply cheat in reducing walls to rubble. The ninja took out a pouch from her personal bag of holding, and extracted a wyrm ditherbomb, shaking it and throwing it at the wall. After a couple of the ditherbombs, the wall was reduced to rubble, and she jumped out.

---

Ulrich sighed with relief as the undead rose to attack him. Fighting undead was one thing - someone who could look like your god was another.

He started by turning them, reducing many to dust instantly, then set about breaking them to pieces with his sword.

Karathis was thrown forwards by the magic, skittering across the floor, and firing off a lightning bolt as he passed.

The next time he climbed up he needed to lean on his staff, noting the magic which had been applied to him by the madgod.

Then, he laughed.

"So, a petty madgod enjoys parroting back the words of a superior?"

He cast a greater dispel magic from his personal abilities, and the reversed spell turning crumbled away into fragments. Raising himself up, Karathis cast a few fireball spells at the madgod from his staff, noting that in this realm, the madgod had absolute control.

---

Vaikwur fell to his feet, coughing as he cast a shapechange spell, shifting into the form of an iron golem, rendering him completely immune to all diseases, and purging the fragments of the madgod which he had inhaled.

He cast a repair spell on himself, healing his current form completely, and used a greater teleport to move himself back to his blade cyclone.

---

I'mdyp couldn't do it - nor could a human ninja, either.

Well, other than for the fact of the little hint that Kajeenith had dropped. The needles struck her, making a neat little kobold-shaped pattern on the wall behind her.

"Well, handy that I neglected to poison the needles, then." she remarked, as she took a moment to drink a light healing potion and remove the needles. They hadn't been thrown particularly deftly, and their subsequent reversal was similarly lacking in deadliness.

Of course, she could simply cheat in reducing walls to rubble. The ninja took out a pouch from her personal bag of holding, and extracted a wyrm ditherbomb, shaking it and throwing it at the wall. After a couple of the ditherbombs, the wall was reduced to rubble, and she jumped out.

---

Ulrich sighed with relief as the undead rose to attack him. Fighting undead was one thing - someone who could look like your god was another.

He started by turning them, reducing many to dust instantly, then set about breaking them to pieces with his sword.

The Fireballs struck Kajeenith, and he burst into flames, as did the Void, just Karathis's void.

Suddenly, Karathis was face to face with his own burning mother.

"Your own mother, how could you?" the image of his mother said. She went into convulsions on the ground and the void faded to black, leaving Karathis all alone in the Void, the victim of a Psychological attack from Kajeenith. Not all of his attacks were physical or magical. The worst ones of all used your own mind against you.

Suddenly he was next to I'mdyp in the central Void.

There was a portal to Vaikwur, and a portal to Ulrich.
----------------------
Vaikwur: He was next to a wall of his spells, the dimensions of his box shield kept getting bigger and bigger, moving further and further away.

Kajeenith caused a tidal wave of Acid to begin moving towards Vaikwur. Unless he had an Acid Proof Form, he was in trouble.

---------------------

Ulrich had carved his way through the undead. He seemed to have won, the sun came out and shone upon him in a single shaft of light, and a portal opened. But what he saw beyond it was his three friends fighting Kajeenith together as one. Suddenly before he could cross over and join them, they were all killed in a massive worldslaying blast of energy that took both Kajeenith and Ulrich's friends, leaving him eternally trapped in the Void.

In truth, Kajeenith was floating up behind him, without any sound. He readied a blade to behead Ulrich, and swung...