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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Jan 17, 2013 0:25:18 GMT 1
Chapter 15
The sun’s rays made their way through the curtains as morning came. Tillian awoke first and rubbed her eyes. She heard a soft sound, a mix between snoring and hissing, like a snake. She turned her head and saw it was her lover, still deep asleep. The elf gave one of her rare smiles and kissed him on the snout before she slowly got out of bed and dressed in her robe. It was too early to meet the others yet so she did what she did every morning: she painted. By the time Gorvar awoke, she had all but finished the painting. She heard him yawn as he got up and walked over to her. He placed his arms around her shoulders as he pecked her cheek. “Morning sweets,” he said with a hint of sleepiness. “Morning,” she replied as she placed her painting materials away. “Sweets?” “Not good?” he asked. “No, it will suffice. But you're rather gifted with nicknames, if I recall correctly.” “I admit, I’m not good with non-insulting nicknames…” he replied. “Or is it to soon for that? Positive nicknames, I mean.” “We had intercourse several times in the previous night, and unless you see me as one of your previous conquests I believe our relationship will develop even more. So giving each other nicknames is a proper way for this relationship to advance.” She raised her head so she was looking at the lizardman upside down. “Wouldn’t you agree?” Gorvar looked at her for a moment before he smiled and kissed her.” I love it when you're so smart.” “'Tis a gift,” she replied with a hint of a smile before she turned back to normal. “I shall call you 'dear'. Agreed?” “Sure. Now we need to find a contract and a lawyer to sign it down. Hope you don’t mind using ink – I don’t like using my own blood, I like it better in my veins, you know. Where it–”
Tillian placed his finger on his mouth before she kissed him again. “Dear?” “Yes, sweets?” “Please be silent.” “Yes, sweets.” He chuckled and kissed her again before he looked at the painting. “You did this?” “Indeed,” she replied. “You always did nice paintings. You take jobs? I want one with me holding this big sword that is also a lute, and I'm on a top of pile of dead Skaven,” he said with a smirk. All hints of his depression were gone overnight, Tillian noticed. For that she was grateful. But it was only fair if they shared secrets. “Perhaps.” She paused. “Is our relationship advanced enough for secrets?” “Secrets?” Gorvar asked. “If this is about the electricity spell you used last night, believe me my lips are–” she stared at him. “All right, so it’s not that… sure, I can keep a secret.” “It is of the utmost importance you do not tell anyone,” she pressed. “I have never told anyone this before. You must keep the secret.” “Tillian, I told you that I was a magic construct. You gave me something to live for again.” He held her hands with his three fingered hand. “ I promise I won't tell a soul. Not even Buch,” he replied. “Swearsies.” She nodded. “That will suffice.” She stood up and walked over to the window. “You remember the Kraken attack on the Hero Wozzeck, more importantly the bottle of anti-kraken repellant?” “I do.” Gorvar replied.” Was that you?” “Yes.” She turned around to see him. “I foresaw the attack. I foresaw many things that would happen on this quest. The Forest Troll, our encounter with Ser Clint, the Kraken, my being saved by Ronnoc and Hodster…” She looked at the bed. “Our coupling.”
Gorvar stared at her. “You… saw all of this?” he asked. “Yes. Before you ask, no I cannot change it. No matter what I do, everything happens like I paint it. The only variables I can change are few. For example if I paint a dead dragon, I can turn it into an undead dragon who just happens to lay still for that moment.” The lizardman stood still, clutched her chair as he took it all in. “So, you knew about me… not being real?” he asked. “No,” she replied. “I did not.” “Gods… why didn’t you tell anyone?” he asked. “Several reasons. No-one would believe me, some people would try to change the future and make it worse, I do not wish to bother others with their fate… and I cannot tell yours either. Nor mine,” she said. “I hope you understand.” A moment of silence passed. “I understand if you wish to break–” “Question.” Gorvar interrupted. “When you foresaw us… you know…” he smirked. “Was I as good as you predicted?” Tillian walked over and held him in her arms, as he held her. “Yes, even better,” she said to him. “Good,” he replied as he stroked her white hair. “I like to beat the odds.” She nodded as they held each other for a while. Her eyes glanced over to the painting, which showed a city burning as it was attacked by ships, soldiers bearing a unicorn as a banner as creatures most gruesome marched in, leaving death in their wake.
An hour later, the fellowship assembled at the main hall. “Best sleep I've had in weeks,” Iron said as he chewed on some meat. “Good bacon too, what is it?” “It’s not bacon, but strips of antelope meat,” Lind replied. “Killed it and stripped it myself.” “Doesn’t beat that dragon you killed and prepared for us once though,” Gorvar said in between bites. “Surprisingly good despite... you know, also being reptilian.” “Lizardmen and dragons are not related, dear,” Tillian said, much to the surprise of the group. “You two got hitched?” Clint asked while Iron chocked on his antelope. “We are,” Tillian replied with in her matter-of-fact voice. “Although I prefer the term 'entered into a relationship'.” “Well, damn…” Iron coughed after Lillian slapped his back. “I think congratulations are in order,” Buch said with a smile as he raised his glass of wine. “To the new couple.” “Cheers,” everyone agreed and brought a toast. “As long you don’t do no love songs,” Iron pointed out. “First sign of that and I’ll twist your tail off.” “Relax,” Gorvar replied. “Lillian and Lind took all the sappiness when they got together.” “We aren’t that sappy,” Lind said inbetween munches. “We are, sweety,” Lillian said with a smile as she held his hand, making Iron gag. “Can we at least talk about the impending doom again?” he suggested. “He’s right,” Buch sighed. “Have we all had a think about it?” The group fell silent.
“I’m in,” Gorvar said after a moment. “You know me, man. We ride together, we die together. Puppet brothers for life.” He offered his fist to Buch and the half-elf gladly bumped it. “As am I,” Tillian added her voice. “You all would be lost without my magic.” “A bit arrogant there, Tillian,” Buch smirked. “But true nonetheless,” she replied. “Can you see why I love this woman?” Gorvar chuckled. “I’m in,” Lind said. “We got this far, and I've got a thing against royalty backstabbing people. Especially when it’s me they backstab.” He took out an arrow. “I even made an arrow with Calious’ name on it.” “Get in line,” Clint retorted. “If Calious is coming for you guys, count me in too. Got a score to settle.” “Well me too, obviously,” Lillain giggled as she fed a panther her scraps. “You would all die in the first five minutes. Isn't that right, sweety peety?” “True,” Lind replied. “I was talking to Sweety-Peety, love.” She grinned at her husband. “But I’m glad you think so as well.” “Get used to that by the way…” Lind said under his breath to the lizardman before he took a sip form his glass of wine. “I am grateful. To all of you.” Buch smiled. His eyes went to the dwarf who so far had said nothing. “Iron,” Gorvar said. “You're not joining us? I thought dwarves liked lost treasure.” “It’s not just treasure anymore, scales,” Iron retorted. “If we fook up then it’s the end of the world. You all considered that?” “We have,” Lind said. “But if we don’t do it… who else would?” Iron pondered as he tapped his fingers on the table. He took a big gulp from his stein and gave out a loud belch. “I’m in.” “Good,” Buch said as he rose and placed his hand at the middle of the table. One by one the other members of the Fellowship, and even Clint, placed their hands on his. “We can do this, together.” “Together,” they all agreed. “By the Thirteen, that was sappy…” Iron added under his breath. “Shhh,” Lillian hushed.
The door was kicked open as a bloodied Redbeard stormed in. “Pirates!” he shouted. “Urhm… you are a pirate?” Gorvar pointed out. “You have to be more specific here.” “Not me, lizardbreath! Calious and 'is goons ere headed are way!” “I've never heard that one before,” Gorvar said. “I think I've now been given every lizardman insult there is. Kind of a special moment.” “Need a hug?” Lind asked. “No, but I could use a handkerchief,” the bard replied. “Also some paper and a quill for a speech.” “Why would he attack us?” Lillian asked. “We didn’t find his treasure yet!” “We paved the way for him,” Clint replied. “We killed the Kraken and weakened the city with the revolution.” “Calious...” Gorvar glared. “That magnificent bastard, I read his book!” He held up a book entitled ‘How to be a Royal Douchebag’. “Think he'll sign it for me?” “Best keep that for later, old friend,” Buch said as he drew his sword. “For now we go to battle.”
The city of Axe Town, formerly known as Cape Shit-out-of-luck, prepared for war the moment Captain Redbeard warned them of the approach of Varharim’s fleet. A boat was sent to establish contact with the fleet but was quickly blown up. Calious was quite a dick, who knew? Well all of his ex-wives and his brother knew, obviously, but still there you go. The banners of Axe Town, showing an axe with a town next to it , were raised as its people prepared for war. “The quiet before the storm is the worst,” one of the guards said with a determined voice. “What about the actual battle?” another guard asked. “Oh… forgot about that…” the other guard said as his face turned pale. “That’s it, I’m out of he–” “Stay,” Ronnoc said as he and Magistrate Hodster came down with the Royal Guard (despite the fact being a magistrate had nothing to do with monarchy, but shows what I know) who had all dressed like Ronnoc and even sported a bushy moustache each. Even the women. Especially the women. “We are the good guys,” Ronnoc said as he placed his axe on his shoulder. “It’s our job to win.” “And what if we lose?” The guard asked. “We can't lose.” Ronnoc smirked. “How can they win if they don’t have any heads?” The fellowship came down, all steeled and dressed for battle. The people of Cape Shit…I mean Axe Town... all gasped and nearly fell to their knees before them. “Ah, my daily fill of hero worship.” Gorvar smiled. “All right, I’m good.” “Still liked you better when you were depressed,” Clint said as he gave a gun to the lizardman. “Think you can manage with just three fingers?” “As long I got my pretty face, I’m good,” the bard replied. A loud squawking sound came as a large eagle swooped in. Lind held out his arm as it landed on it and began squeaking. “Ten ships,” Lind translated. “Several hundred guards in total. They're all soldiers and archers. No mages, surprisingly.” “If they've teamed up with the cult, their mages would attack later on, when we're distracted.” Buch said. “Best keep an eye out.”
“Attention!” the goblin from the crow's nest shouted from the watch tower. “Les guerriers are coming! Go to votre battle stations, vite!” At this a large catapult fireball was shot from the first ship of the invading fleet and flew towards them. “Iron,” Tillian said. “Remember that spell we did in the Frostfang mountains?” “Aye,” the dwarf replied. “Sure that’s a good idea?” “It is tactically sound for us to try,” she replied and she looked at him. “Ready?” “Always,” Iron said, and walked forward toward where the fireball was going to hit. Tillian uttered a quick spell and fired a green sphere at Iron which engulfed him. He smirked as his eyes flared green and looked up at the fireball. “Iron, now is a good time to get angry,” Tillian said. “That’s my secret, lass,” he said as he turned to see her for a short moment. “I’m always angry!” As he turned back to the fireball, he grew larger and his skin became completely covered in sliding metal. With a heavy battle shout he punched the fireball and sent it flying. Buch muttered a spell himself as he propelled the fireball with a wind spell so it flew over the enemy fleet. “Hold on,” Clint said as he drew his gun and took a shot at the fireball. It exploded as a rain of fire fell over several of King Calious’ ships and set them ablaze.
The people of Axe Town cheered at this sheer moment of badassitude, it is a word shut up, as the fellowship prepared for battle. Ronnoc raised his axe in the air as the first Varharim soldiers made to shore. “WE WILL CHOP THEIR HEADS OFF!” he shouted and led the defenders into battle. “For Great Justice!” Buch shouted and led his fellowship into battle.
Meanwhile Calious remained seated on his flagship, surrounded by his harem as the glowing figure materialized next to him. “The battle has begun,” the glowing elf said. “Good,” Calious grinned. “It’s time for me to get my colony, my gold and make sure that Ranger King never reclaims Topica!” As he laughed, the glowing elf joined in with an evil smirk. Everything was going exactly to plan.
TBC
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Jan 18, 2013 0:03:38 GMT 1
Chapter 16
A group of Varharim men jumped off their boat and entered the fray. “Get your crossbows out!” their sergeant shouted. “Let’s kill these peasants before the day is done!” “Oi, my mum and wife are peasants,” one of the lower soldiers replied. “Well I didn’t ask you to kill them now did I?” The sergeant rolled his eyes. “I swear, I’m never going to take you anywhere to loot and pillage anymore.” “Nice job, Horrace!” The other soldiers berated the lower soldier. “I promised the missus some silverware!” “Hey, I've got my principles,” Horrace said.
The sergeant growled and led his group forward over the hastily-made barricade. When they jumped over them they had to stop to watch one of their own men flying back over their heads. “Look at that one fly!” the metallic dwarf shouted with glee. “Yes, well done Iron!” the half-elf wizard replied as he smacked another soldier across the face. “You make your mother and I very proud!” “Least I got parents,” the dwarf smirked. “Heads up – going to smash here!” “Touché and sure, go ahead,” Buch replied as he summoned a forcefield around himself. The dwarf held his hammer in the air and smashed the ground below him which sent the soldiers flying into the air. “I gotta ask Tillian for this spell more often!” “I rather wish you wouldn't: you're hogging all the kills,” Buch replied as he fired a bolt at the newcomers and sliced their sergeant’s head off. “Not my fault I’m a beast.” Iron grinned, but the look faded when he heard a familiar growl. Several actually. The duo turned around as a pack of white hounds appeared out of a portal, as did their mistress. “Oh, you have no idea…” Anaise said as she drew her staff. “Ah fook me…” Iron sighed. “'Tis Anaise.” “I’m glad you recognize me still, my Giant of Kharm-Drum.” She winked at the dwarf seductively. Buch snorted while iron merely glared angrily at him. “Shut it….” he warned. “You're giving us a hard time, my love,” she said as she took a vial from her belt and gulped it down. “Why don’t you…oh...” She blinked as she seemingly lost her balance for a moment. “Why don’t you give up now? My Lord and Master will kill you sooner or later. Probably sooner.” Buch quickly looked her up and down. “She was a healer before she turned to warlockery. I can kick her arse if you like?” “No.” Iron held his hand on front of Buch. “'Tis personal, you take care of her wee dogs.” “Fair enough.” Buch nodded and before anyone could react, threw a fireball at one of her hounds, arching back as it was consumed by a blaze of fire. “Noooooo!” Anaise shouted and sent her others to attack as she threw her own dark spells at her former lover.
Gorvar shot a soldier in the head as he whooped, “Twenty headshots, all time record!” “Nicely done, dear.” Tillian replied, holding up a shield as several soldiers tried to wail on her. She slammed her staff on the ground which sent the men flying. “I believe my score is thirty.” “Magic’s not fair,” the lizardman retorted as he reloaded his gun. He winced as a force field was erected behind him and a spearman trying to attack him from behind was sent flying by Tillian. “You were saying?” she said with a slight smirk. “Besides I recall you finding magic very fair during our inter–” “You won, taking it back,” Gorvar replied as he shot down another soldier before fighting off another one with his sword. He heard a dog barking as the soldier pressed onward. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a white blur heading toward him and made a large leap. Gorvar kicked the guard away and turned to face the dog but only had enough time to jump out of the way as it was set ablaze by his lover. “I wish to make a joke on this,” she coughed. “Hot, dog. Was that sufficient?” “I think I fell in love with you again.” The lizardman smirked as he got up. “Hardly possible since there was no falling out, but I find your comments stimulating. Thank you,” she replied as she turned and set the bridge on fire, which made the soldiers jump back into the water. “What I’m here for,” he replied as he cut down the rope which held the remnants of the bridge. “Stimulating things.” He chuckled. “Oh, I’m on fire…” “Technically the dog was, dear,” the elf replied. “But I can set your sword on fire if you prefer.” She flicked her hand which set Gorvar’s rapier ablaze. “Not exactly what I meant,” he said as he inspected his sword. “But defiantly worth five foot rubs when this is over.” “I aim to please,” she replied with a small smile, and stood next to him as a group of Verharim soldiers charged toward them. “Shall we?” “We shall,” Gorvar replied and leaped in.
Clint kept firing both his pistols as he dodged crossbow bolts, while more men charged at him. They drove him up into an attic where he was trapped. He quickly looked left and right for an exit and quickly established that there were none. With a grunt he charged forward at a wall and used his bullets to create an exit for himself, tackling the weakened wall down and rolling on the ground one story below. He quickly rolled back onto his feet and aimed his weapons at the first person he saw. Lind held back his arrow as he aimed straight back. Neither man said a word as they stood back-to-back and unleashed a hail of gunfire and arrows from their respective sides. In the end, as the last man fell, both checked their ammo. “Thirty.” Clint said as he lit a cigarette. “Thirty…” Lind replied, and pulled the useable arrows out of the corpses. “Oh, well. No shame in a draw is the–” Clint tried to say but stopped as a corpse fell down from the sky. He looked up as a pack of panthers growled loudly and drove three more men to fall to their deaths. “And four.” Lind smirked. “Yeah, yeah…” Clint retorted as he found solace in his rolled cigarette. “Bird found Calious yet?” “Yes. He's on his flagship,” Lind replied. “Why?” “Tell him I need a ride,” Clint replied, and threw his smoke on the ground.
Lillian slammed her staff upside down a man’s face before she kicked him off the ridge. Around her, Ronnoc and Hodster led the defenders. But one quick look at the incoming fleet told her enough about their chances. Their numbers were dwindling and already she saw her friends falling back as their magic and energy faded. She saw a glowing elf pop in from time to time and throw an iceball around, but besides him and the woman with the white hounds she saw little of the followers of N’Zath Buch had warned them about. “Bastards are trying to wear us down…” She glared at the realization. Even if they didn’t show, the Varharim army would overrun them. She saw the glowing elf draining all the magic from Gorvar, which made him nearly fade into nothingness, then Iron going toe-to-toe with the black cleric but being attacked by her dogs. Buch was nowhere in sight and a portion of Lillian feared the worst. She looked down to find her husband, but saw him limp away with a bolt in his shoulder. She made a promise to him she wouldn’t use this kind of magic ever again. But she had to. She whistled at Ronnoc who looked over. “Ronnoc, I need you to cover me!” “What are you going to do?!” he asked as he chopped a man’s head off. “I’m going to call in a friend!” she replied and sat down with her legs folded and her staff placed on her lap. She closed her eyes and began to murmur an old spell. One that might backfire, but she knew she had no choice but to use it.
The heavens darkened as lightning began to crack across the sky. A sense of dread seemed to erupt around the battlefield as all the combatants felt magic crackling in the air. Lillian mumbled the spell still as she tapped into the dead on both sides and pleaded with them for help. With an evil smirk on her lips, she felt the spirits on both sides and they were easily swayed to help. Several Varharim men saw her and tried to stop her but were quickly cut down by Ronnoc and Hodster. The Glowing elf gasped as he realized the spell and ported over to the cleric as Tillian rushed to her lover and fed some of her magic to him, so he would not dissipate into nothingness. The Glowing elf glared. “No, you will NOT summon him here!” he shouted. Ronnoc rushed to her defense but was blasted away with a push spell. Hodster fired his gun at the glowing magic user but he and his bullet were also thrown away quite easily. With a raised hand, he struck magic down to stop the ritual. But his hand was stopped in mid air by the wrist. Lillian held his arm and slowly rose. Her eyes glowed a bright blue and she stared the elf down. “It’s time,” she said with a dark voice. She pushed the Elf aside as she slammed her staff to the ground and shouted at the top of her voice, “FRONKENSTEEN, ARISE!”
Lightning flashed from the sky as a crater formed and swallowed all the dead corpses. Lind was pulling a bolt out of flesh from a (relatively) safe spot when he saw the large pale arm arise. “No...” he dreaded. “Not him.” Gorvar coughed after Tillian made him drink a health potion. He looked up and saw another arm arise from the chasm. “The hell is going on?” he asked as he was helped up by Tillian. “Death itself, made form,” she replied matter-of-factly. “Is it good death or bad death?” Gorvar asked. A large creature, the size of buildings, crawled out of the chasm. A large monster of sorts. He was made out of thousands of corpses and had only large blue pupils for eyes. He was dressed in tattered clothes and had a metal skull and iron chains for a belt. With a deep howl he slammed his hands into the Varharim army and sent them running. “Never mind, got my answer,” Gorvar replied, leaning on Tillian as she carried him off.
Redbeard went through the rubble of the battle, along with his crew. A hand punched its way through the wooden roof of a former building. “We got a survivor!” he shouted to his boys and ran over. He helped dig the man up and found it was their half-elven friend, Buch. “Nice ta see yer still around, lad,” Redbeard smirked as he helped the elf up. “Thanks..” Buch replied, pawing the dust off of himself. “Are you trying to find survivors through the rubble? Honourable of you.” “Oh, well.” Redbeard smirked. “Yer know us. Always doin’ what’s best fer everyone.” “Captain, I thought you said we were to find jewelry and vamoose before–” one of his goblins said before he was punched down by a ratling. Buch raised his brow as the crew, the downed goblin included, all smiled at him with their crooked yellow teeth. “Right…” Buch replied, and then began staring up to Fronkensteen. “Oh gods no, not Fronkensteen…” he forgot about the goblins and ran for Lillian. “She’s going to lose control!” Redbeard sighed with relief before he turned to his crew. “Quick, gather everyone. The back gate has to be opened by sundown!”
Calious shoved his mistress aside as she was blocking his view. “What the hell is that thing?!” “It seems to be a giant monster destroying our army, your majesty,” Ser Knight replied. “I know what it is!” He buckled his belt as he stood up. “Glow, the hell are you?!” “Right here, your majesty…” the glowing figure replied as it teleported next to him. “And I have a plan, but I must borrow Ser Knight.” “Do it!” Calious said without thinking. “The legend must not come true!” Before Ser Knight could object, he and the glowing figure disappeared. From afar he saw both reappear on the shoreline as more rumbling occurred. His dark knight began to grow taller, and taller, until it had become the same size as the monster. The monster growled at Ser Knight, who only drew his sword and engaged into battle with him. His sword seemed to cut at the monster forcefully enough, but his wounds regenerated. “Keep cutting him!” Calious called out. “Keep cut–” A click stopped his rambling mid-sentence. His harem fled when the new arrival pointed his gun at their king. “Hello, brother.” Clint smirked as a giant eagle flew off. “Long time no see.”
TBC
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Jan 19, 2013 13:40:34 GMT 1
The story of Anaise.
"You in-sufferable ingrate!" the veiled midwife seethed as she hurled the black marble pestle into the wall. "I needed-- and specifically demanded-- seven red hydrangea maragolis! You brought me pink! Pink!" she shouted as she spun back to the roaring fire. "Who in the thirteen hells uses bloody pink!"
"I thought they were--" Her paramour stopped. He dared not say the word "pretty" in this woman's presence.
The midwife straightened and glared at him through her thin veil. She inhaled sharply and softened her gaze. "Oh, go on. Say it."
He shook his head. He knew better. His right hand grasped the blade beneath his cloak and he visibly flinched. She caught his gaze and lifted her veil briefly to look at him anew. Then she turned to look at the shattered pestle and its contents and understood. He hadn't brought her a parcel of pretty flowers after all, but rather her doom with white oleander and bloodroot. She dropped the veil over her face, over the angry red rash that covered her nose and cheeks. "So it's come to this then." She almost sounded sad. Five years of service as the village midwife and taking on all the hurts and wounds of the clan as its healer too with Halatha gone, all undone for failing to save the chieftain's frail wife three nights prior.
Gheru nodded and looked towards the fire. The last thing he clearly saw was his lover's hand dropping something into the flames, and then he heard a clear thin voice move around and then through him before silence and darkness consumed him. But not before he found himself many miles from home staring at a burnt orange moon, hanging low in the evening sky.
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Anaise spat out a fleck of mud as she crashed through the moss-covered trees, somehow ignoring the stench and the insects while she whittled down razorvine and deadwood branches with a dark orcish blade. Forced into exile, with no prayers answered by any god she knew, she had found employment with a wizard of questionable talent and even poorer social skills that got himself killed by his employees for non-payment. His coin was useless, all counterfeit, but his unusually large white dogs with red ears were quite real. So was their loyalty, once she proved she meant them no harm. They were her only living companions worth her time or her trouble when they came upon the derelict temple in the clearing.
She stopped, unsettled by the view. The dogs had ceased all movement and stared ahead at what she could not see. Seconds later, they were surrounded by the sound of grunts and glowing eyes of varying hues. "I know you," a voice hissed near her left ear.
Anaise snorted. "Balls you do." Another spell-caster with cheap illusions, no doubt. Her largest dog could bring him down with a mere movement of her left little finger.
"Your healing magics... saved so many... and yet all their hurts and wounds... always found their way to you."
That got her attention. She lifted her head slightly, though she decided these were the words of a better-than-average charlatan.
"And your lesions, the swollen hands... no healer or god could make you free of them."
Her nostrils flared but she said nothing.
"But mine can." A slight breeze swirled around and down through the broken trees whose twisted branches grasped at the twilight sky, gathering strength as it centered around Anaise.
Anaise hurled the remains of her torn grey veil to the ground as she stepped forward to the brightest of the glowing eyes with the half-smirk that would infuriate her teacher for the next seven years and shouted, "Prove it!"
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Jan 21, 2013 10:55:13 GMT 1
Chapter 17
They heard the massive battle raging in the distance, roars and fires and battle cries, but that was mere background noise to them now. The king slowly turned around as he held his hands in the air. “Brother,” he smiled. “Brother,” Clint replied, but kept the gun aimed at his sibling’s head. One of the women of Cali’s harem was hiding behind the King’s chair, scared out of her mind. Clint moved his head to the right with a quick nod which send her running.” You always had bad taste in women.” “Look who’s talking,” Cali replied. “I at least didn’t forget our family’s duty and run away with one.” The gunslinger punched the king in the face, but Cali stood his ground and moved to see his brother again, with a bloodied lip. “It still smarts, doesn’t it?” “Why did you try to kill me?” Clint changed the subject. “Did you persuade Ser Knight to finally break his solemn oath?” “I didn’t tell Knight to do anything,” Cali replied. “He disappeared a few weeks ago but he came back soon enough. I asked where he went but he never answered.” “Bullshit.” Clint pushed his gun into Cali’s forehead. “We can either talk like gentlemen, like brothers, or you can go ahead and shoot me now. One way or another I’m sick of your new toy and I want it out of my sight,” the King replied with a glare.” Make your choice.” Clint kept his gun aimed at his brother as the boat moved with the waves and rain began to pour down. The gunman spat to his right side and put his weapon away. “No funny business.” “If I wanted you dead, you would be,” the King replied and turned around to see the giant Ser Knight wail into the giant undead monster. “You may think me a monster, but I do not kill family.” “Funny way of showing it,” Clint said as he looked for a cigarette. “Your boys tried to kill me back there.” “You were shooting at them and you destroyed three of my ships with one shot. What do you think they were going to do? Paint bull's eyes on their backs to make things easier?” “Id prefer if they did it on their helmets. I like a challenge,” Clint retorted and tried to light his cigarette. Cali lit a match and offered it to Clint, who took it with some hesitation. “You are with the Fellowship, Clint. You killed Captain Killgrave, a personal friend of mine I might add, and consorted with them to end my reign.” “First off, Killgrave was a slaver and what I did to him was a kindness,” the gunslinger replied in between puffs of smoke. “As for the second, I only joined with the Fellowship because those were the terms you gave me to come back home.” “Terms?” Calious asked.” What terms?” “Terms which allowed me to come home, get a castle, lady wife…” Clint replied. “If you wanted a woman, I have like fifty-eight or something. Take your pick. Father never wanted you gone, brother. I never wanted you gone.” “Yet you didn’t mind taking the throne and filling half the country with your offspring.” Calious smirked. “I owe it to the future of Varharim to breed, my brother. If I can get noble blood flowing through the veins of peasants, can you imagine how great this country can be? An army of Calious! Of Kings!” “Cut the bullshit.” Clint glared.” If I wanted to listen to it, I would’ve stayed.” “You should've,” the King said. “Unlike you I love my people, well in more than just the one way. I brought in wealth from the dwarven kingdoms, a railroad, a proper searoute to Van Xia, I raised an army so no nation or Orc horde would dare attack us. I made our people safe…while you sulked in some brothel or fighters' den planning to get back to me while father died of heartache.” “Don’t you dare blame me on any of this,” Clint said coolly. “If you do, I'll blame your brains out.” “Truth too much to handle, brother?” Calious walked over to him. “Why the Cult of N’Zath? Why this expedition?” Clint asked. “You could’ve hired any other adventurer group. Why them?” “The cult came to me asking me for protection after they got driven out of Topica for nearly killing Steward Lieden. I couldn’t blame them for trying to kill that woman – she's an ice queen, that one – so I accepted them after I…well…” he smirked. “Anaise, got it.” Clint groaned annoyed. “Go on.” “The Glowing Elf and his friends told me of Afrikyah and how its gold and technology coul help Varharim to a new age. Imagine it: we all might actually have airships and soar like the Pegasus on our banners! All I needed a man who had gone there before to lead the way. And they told me who it was.” “Who?” Clint asked.
Meanwhile
“Gorvar, Tillian!” Buch shouted as he held a protective bubble around himself with his staff and ran through the destruction. Houses and debris and even a few dead men fell and disintegrated as they hit his shield. It made a continuous hissing sound as rain fell over it and turned to steam. He saw Gorvar holding Tillian up after he shot a Varharim solder down. Buch dissipated his shield as he ran over. “Over here!” his friend waved over as they all sought cover behind the hull of a Varharim boat. He saw Tillian laying there unconscious as Gorvar tried to make her sit comfortably. “Is she –” he didn’t dare finish the question. “She’s alive. She’s breathing,” the lizardman replied as he wrapped a linen cloth around the left side of her head, covering her eye. “One of those dogs knocked her down hard… took a bite.” “You're both alive still good. That is good,” Buch panted. “We need to get to Lillian. Snap her out of this.” They all fell down as something heavy landed a few feet away from them, which later turned out to be a downed Knight, before it got back up minus its left arm. The duo had to carry the elf so they could run, but they had only made so many steps when the Knight stepped on the stranded vessel, crushing it utterly, then jammed its arm back in its socket and engaged into battle again with Fronkensteen. “Yes. Well, I forgot my umbrella today so… good luck with that,” Gorvar replied as they found shelter in a ruined house. “I’m leaving, and I’m taking Tillian with me.” “Gorvar, don’t go.” Buch replied. “We need you.” “No, I’m done! I’m fookin’ done!” Gorvar shouted. “No you're not,” Buch replied. “This is bullshit!” Gorvar shouted back. “This is fookin’ bullshit!” He looked around, gasping for air as the magnitude of it all crashed down on him. The battlefield, people dying in droves, the two giant monsters, him being a magical construct and the love of his life wounded.” What is this?!” he shouted out loud in panic. “WHAT IS THIS?!” he repeated. “WHAT IS MY LIFE?!”
When he saw blood beginning to appear on his lover's linen bandage he began to tear a little. “I cant do it, Buch!” “I cant either!” Buch replied sincerely. “I cant fookin’ do it!” Gorvar placed his face in his maimed hand. “Tell you what, Gorvar.” Buch walked over to his best friend. “You can give up now or you can stick it out. Because I cannot do this without you and I know you can't do it without me!” he had to shout above the sounds of war. “I appreciate it…” Gorvar tried to collect himself. “But look what we're dealing with, Buch!” he pointed outside to the chaos. “We got to draw the line somewhere! We got to draw a fookin’ line in the sand, man! We got to make a statement!” He began to panic again. “You got to look inside yourself and say ‘What do I have to put up with today?’” He pointed to the two monsters outside, arm straight. “NOT FOOKIN’ THIS!” Gorvar didn’t see the punch coming, but Buch’s fist did pop out of nowhere and decked the bard to the ground. Gorvar panted until he got back up, seemingly calmed down. “Sorry about that.” Buch replied.” You alright?” “I’m good.” Gorvar replied.” Just… lost it for a moment.” “Magic energies disrupting your behavior. It happens often with constructs in battles like these,” Buch replied. “That and it’s two giant things beating the unholy fudge out of each other and us scurrying around them like ants,” Gorvar replied before he went back to check on Tillian. “I’m not leaving her like this, Buch.” “Yer don’t have ta laddie,” Redbeard said as he climbed down the debris with his crew. “We’ll keep an eye on yer lady friend.” “Thanks, Captain.” Gorvar smiled as he held Tillian’s hands one last time in his. “We owe you more than one, Captain,” Buch said as Gorvar got up. “Thank you.” “Go before we all get turned into mulch,” Redbeard said and motioned them out. Buch nodded and summoned a shield around him and Gorvar and they both ran off toward Lillian.
One of the crew drew her sword and placed it around the unconscious elf’s neck. “We gut her now, captain?” “No.” Redbeard replied as he pushed the sword away. “We need her. Everything is going to plan.”
Lind pushed his way through the debris and chaos as he followed a parrot to his destination. In the distance he saw flashes of green – no doubt Iron was still fighting his ex, and of course there was the two giant monsters. “Hold on Lillian…” he pleaded to her. “Hold on just a bit longer, love...” Most of the fighting had awkwardly stopped since no-one sane was willing to fight with those two behemoths around. The rain made things slippery, but he was an expert in this. He was grateful still for the slipperiness when he used it to fall on his knees and slide as a throwing axe nearly chopped off his head. He fired a arrow into a black orc’s head before he drew his daggers and stabbed another two down. “Look, it’s the princeling!” he heard one of the orc’s growl. He turned around and saw the War Chief of the black orcs – Gorgutz he believed it was, guessing from the name he kept hearing when he saved Gorvar and Clint from one of their villages. But he didn’t understand why they called him a prince. No matter. He needed to deal with this fast. Lind merely flexed his daggers as he saw more orcs climb over the now empty walls of Axe Town. Gorguts chuckled as he walked over. “You aren’t so tough without your pets now, are you?” “Princeling?” one of his orcs asked. “That piece of goblin filth?!” “Oi, you take that back!” one of the other orcs shouted. “My mate IS a goblin!” “Oh… sorry, man.” “No problem.” “ENOUGH!” Gorgutz shouted and pointed his weapon at the ranger. “He dies, now!” “Not today…” Lind said and charged in. He had to kill them quickly: if Lillian didn’t snap out of this summoning soon, she might be lost to the darkness forever.
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Jan 23, 2013 0:41:36 GMT 1
Chapter 18
Iron wailed like a mad zealot as his former lover dodged or kept throwing up shields to protect herself from the large dwarf’s attacks. She tried to cast a spell but again it bounced off him. “You die!” he shouted for her blood. “You die!” “I forgot how much of an illiterate fool you were,” Anaise retorted and held out her hands, producing a stream of fire which made Iron finally relent a little. “And quite easy to seduce, too.” “You killed those people!” he shouted through the flames. “You made my people exile me!” “Shows you what idiots they are. You were the only dwarf who could fight well enough!” she replied as she stopped the spell and gulped down a large bottle of blue liquid. She wiped her mouth with her sleeve. “You destroyed the Heart of the Ancients, the thing I needed to bring about N’Zath's glorious return to our–” She ducked just in time as a large boulder flew through the fire and nearly squished her like a pancake. With a heavy shout Iron leaped after her and nearly smashed his iron fist (I made a pun there, see that? Clever bastard, aren’t I?) through the cleric’s skull. She rolled out of the way as she tried the stream of fire again. The stream hit him straight on and while everything around them burned despite the heavy downpour, he stood his ground… and actually pressed forward. “Why. Wont. You. DIE?!” She increased the stream but the dwarf kept coming closer. He grabbed her by her throat and raised her in the air. “You cant kill what’s already dead!” he shouted in her face. “Oh very melodramatic!” she shouted back. “I am a goddess, you worm, and I will–” Iron head-butted her and began slamming her to the ground like a ragdoll. His rage sated for a moment, he stared at her unconscious and wounded body, which still breathed. Iron raised his fists in the air again to finish her off. With all his might he went to stomp her and break her spine. The ground shook for a moment… but his foot did not come close to her. “Damn it! By the Thirteen, damn it!” he shouted as he paced around. He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t kill her. “I cant…” he whispered. “I can,” a voice said. Iron turned around and got punched through a house by a powerful spell. The dwarf shook his head as he saw his new opponent appear from a portal, catching up to him again. The Glowing figure. With a smirk the figure snapped his fingers as Iron’s metal skin disappeared and returned him to his normal flesh. The Glowing figure walked over as Iron got back up and took up a fallen sword and axe. The dwarf charged at the elf who smacked him aside using magic. The sword and axe were pulled away from him as three new figures leaped in: three black orcs. “Oh good, a dwarf,” the largest of them smirked. “Can we kill him?” “Dwarves have no magic in them. His blood sacrifice would mean nothing to N’Zath,” the Glowing elf said as he picked up Anaise. “Yes, kill him.” With that, the two cultists disappeared as the orcs cracked their knuckles.
Iron charged in and tackled an orc down but was dragged off him at once and kicked and punched everywhere. The ribs, the legs, the face. He did not know how to fight without any weapons. He looked desperately for anything: a sword, a stick, some wooden debris, a rock…anything! “Runt, runt runt!” they jeered at him. He was getting angry, making mistakes. Iron knew, but he couldn’t stop himself. He wailed on one but got beaten down harshly. He felt himself being held up in the air by his arm, he couldn’t feel exactly which one. One eye was punched closed, he lost a tooth or two… and now the biggest and ugliest orc he ever saw in his life was grinning at him, one choke hold away from joining his ancestors. “Any last words?” the orc slurred. Iron spat in his face. The others laughed but quickly silenced when the big one glared at them. “So be it, runt.” He raised his fist in the air for the killing blow. Iron closed his eye and waited for the inevitable. Fortunately for him, fate still had plans for him and a giant foot made out of dead people landed smack on the three orcs, which sent Iron flying into the ruins of what once was the Palace of Cape Shit-out-of-luck.
Lillian focused hard on keeping Fronkensteen intact and attacking. More and more dead filled him now. Varharim men, Axe Town men, dogs… and now three orcs. Odd, but it didn’t matter. Keeping that many dead spirits from killing each other took a lot of work. Thankfully she could aim all that rage at a target, that being the giant knight. She felt powerful, a goddess of sorts. Thousands of dead obeyed her command, she had routed an army, destroyed a fleet, she was laying the smack down on this mystical knight. She found herself laughing, giggling with glee. She stood up as her laughter sounded through the remnants of the city below. “I AM LILLIAN BLACK! BOW TO ME AND DESPAIR!” She needed more power, more corpses, it didn’t matter if they still lived. Her eyes fell to the livestock nearby.
“I think your wife has gone a little nuts, Lind.” Gorvar said as he stabbed a blade through an orc’s head. “Shut up,” Lind replied as he punched an arrow through an orc’s eye socket before he fired it with his bow. “Hey Buch, how well do you rank this shot?” Gorvar asked. He pulled out his gun and shot an orc spellcaster in the face. “Ten out of ten! ” Buch replied with a smirk before he stared up in the air. “Wait, are those…?” “Donkeys.” Lind nodded as a group of them flew past them as if they were sucked toward Fronkensteen. “How many?” Buch asked confused. “One, two, three, four… seven,” Gorvar concluded. “Seven asses.” “Forget the ranger, kill the cleric!” Gorgutz directed his attention toward Lillian’s cliff. “Go get Lillian, we’ll cover you!” Buch shouted as he threw his staff on the ground which threw back some of the orcs. “Go!” Lind nodded and immediately ran off as his two friends held off the attackers.
The flagship docked at what remained of the peer as Clint jumped off it, followed by Cali and a few guards. A few black orcs ran toward them but were quickly dropped by the gunslinger. “Orcs?” Calious asked as he stepped over them. “In league with the Cult. They were going after your boys next when you were finished with the rebels,” Clint replied as he reloaded. “Well… last time I deal with cultists,” Calious replied as he held a handkerchief to his nose and stepped over more corpses. “Even if the sex was mindblowing. Good thing about drug addicts, they're willing to share–” “This far from shooting you in the face, brother.” Clint locked his gun back in. “So, plan?” Calious asked. “Stop Lillian Black from being taken over by darkness and–” “Wait. Did you just say… Black?” Calious asked and stopped. Clint turned around, annoyed. “Yes, why?” “She related to another Black?” “Her husband, Lind… yes. Thought you knew this when you hired them?” Clint replied. “Can he talk to animals?” “Yes. Cali, what are you saying?” “It just dawns on me... the family line of Topica were the Blacks, until the last king. King Link and his Queen were assassinated thirty years ago!” Calious said as he worked through his epiphany. “The Blacks and all of their offshoots are gifted with the ability to talk to animals! Steward Lieden was Gabbor’s bastard daughter and was therefore elected steward and not Queen!” Clint looked at his brother strangely. “What the hell are you talking about?” “Don’t you see?! Someone is out for the Black family and ours!” Calious said. “Think about it – both king and queen are dead, the bastard daughter nearly gets killed and now this woman is in danger of being killed to save us while her husband is probably dying somewhere! And both you and me are dragged to this dark continent by some unseen hand!” “Wait… you're saying Lind is a King and this is all a big conspiracy?” Clint snorted. “Get the fook out of he–”
“You know how valuable King’s blood is to magic, to spells?” Calious asked. “Kings were chosen by the gods to rule, Clint. That is why regicide is the most heinous of crimes.” “And yet more and more tempting every second…” Clint blinked when his little brother took him by his coat. “YOU FOOL! DON’T YOU GET IT?! THIS WAS ALL A TRAP TO GET US HERE!”
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Jan 24, 2013 1:00:38 GMT 1
Chapter 19
“About bloody time...” Redbeard spat as several hooded figures with dark purple robes entered from the south gate. The pirates managed to persuade the few guards posted there to fight off the black orcs who climbed over the walls near where the summoner was. The people of Shit-out-of-luck were very gullible still – after all, who would trust a pirate? I wouldn’t. Hell, they've got those eye patches for a reason folks! Everyone you see with an eye patch? Pirate. Doesn’t matter what they say. “You took down the gate fast enough…” one man said before he took off his hood. “ You should be commended. “His eyes fell to the unconscious elven mage who was held up by a ogre and a minotaur. “You even managed to get the mage. I am impressed.” “I ain't here to impress yer, mate,” Redbeard replied as he extended his hand. “Gold, now.” “As you wish. Like we bargained,” the man said with disgust as he threw a bag over. “How goes the battle?” “Yer lot are losing,” Redbeard replied as he caught the bag. “ Emily.” He threw it over to the female human who took a coin and took a bite at it, nodding when it proved to be the real deal. “Not for long, now we have our… catalyst,” the man said as he stepped closer to the elf and drew his dagger. “Her soul will make a fine core for our own crea–” A single gunshot went off and froze the man to the ground. He looked at his chest which began to colour red as blood flowed from the hole punctured through by Redbeard’s gun. He whimpered as he looked up at the Goblin captain. “How could…” “Pirate, mate.” The goblin smirked and fired a second shot straight through the head. Other pirates drew their guns and fired at the cultists before they could launch a proper spell to defend themselves. After the gunclouds were done he walked over to the dead leader and kicked him in the ribs. “That’s fer that Kraken, yer bastard.” “What now, Captain?” Emily asked. “We grab ta first boat out of 'ere and go to a proper port,” Redbeard replied. “With ale, wenches and all ta good sh–” “Capitaine , regardez la!” his crows next goblin shouted and pointed to the massacred cultists. The captain turned around, and to his amazement they all got up, one by one. “Must be heard of hearing…” Redbeard said and shot their leader in the head again, but to no avail. “Fool….” the man said in a dark voice. “You think I did not forsee this treachery…?” his eyes looked at the goblin captain with a dark fury. “I am your Lord and Master, fool… and your soul will not be denied!” The man held up his hands as did the other cultists and they began shouting in a dark and horrible language. The pirates fired again, but the cultists all remained standing as one by one they levitated toward the sky… and than smacked to the ground hard as their bodies exploded like ripe tomatoes. Pretty heavy stuff for kiddies now, so you might want to cover their ears. Their bones scattered all over the place as did their blood and organs in one small lake of blood and viscera. Out of this lake something emerged: a blue creature with the head of a Kraken and a body a half time larger than an ogre and twice as scary. It had lobster claws instead of hands and the cold-bloodedness of the deepest frost dragon. Several more creatures also spawned from the lake, each looking at the pirates with a dark hateful look. “Rascarin…” the old pirate Jenkins said. “The spawn of N’Zath. These… no... these things appear only in the darkest of sailor tales!” “Any idea how we kill them?” Redbeard asked as he motioned his pirates to step back slowly as the Rascarin slowly advanced. “You cannot kill them,” Old Man Jenkins said, horrified, “We can only run!” “Fair nuff den, plan B…” Redbeard sighed. “What's plan B?” Emily asked. Redbeard took out his bottle, took a big swig from it, before he stuffed his handkerchief down the bottle’s glass and lit it on fire. “Francois?” “Oui, Captain,” the goblin in the crow's nest replied and took out his gun. Redbeard threw the bottle at the creatures when Francois took the shot, which engulfed the creatures In a sea of fire. “Leg it, lads!” the captain ordered and was the first to just so. The screams of the Rascarin filled the air with a dreadful sound which could numb even the bravest man… or in this case gave them wings to fly. Well not really, they ran like six year old girls but hey, spawn of the evil god stuff does that to folk. End of days stuff going on there.
Their tentacles shot from the flames and took a few of the pirates who were not fast enough, dragging them through the fire. The screams of men and women being burned alive and other horrible things the creatures did to them is best not written down or told in public. Redbeard and his crew, plus Tillian, ran back to the town as they were pursued by the creatures. “Someone wake the elf up!” Emily shouted. “I am already awake,” Tillian suddenly said and stood her ground. She clapped her hands as the spawn suddenly disappeared, as if they weren’t ever there to begin with. “My thanks, Captain Redbeard. You have made you and your crew into heroes.” “All part o’ ta plan, Lady Tillian,” Redbeard smirked. “I thought the plan was to ditch the–” Old Man Jenkins tried to say but got shot in the chest by Redbeard before he could finish it. She peered at the goblin who merely shrugged. “Pirate,” he chuckled.
Lind pushed a trashed ox cart aside as he ran to the cliff where Lillian was. She was cackling madly as she urged her creation to smash everything around it. Behind her were two monstrous versions of the Magistrate and Ronnoc. Magistrate Hodster was now a terrible lizardman with large claws, teeth, tiny eyes and spikes that ran across his spine. Ronnoc was a minotaur now, but on fire and with a large battle axe. “Lillian!” Lind shouted through the chaos as he tried to reach her. Both her guards immediately roared and ran toward him. Lind barely dodged the battle axe but did not counter Hodster’s massive spiked tail. He held on to the tail as he was swung around. Ronnoc chopped at the tail and eventually found his mark…sort of. Lind fell off the tail as he landed near Lillian. Hodster held the stump of his tail before he charged at Ronnoc and both began fighting each other savagely. The ranger slowly got up as he tried to get to his wife. “Lillian…!” he called out. It was no use; she was too far gone now. Nothing he said would bring her back. Unless… Lind took something from his pack and slipped it over his hands. The dark goddess that was Lillian Black stopped laughing as she slowly turned around to see who was making all that noise. She glared at her husband with warm, black eyes as she raised her finger at him and said, “Lind Varian Black, look what you did to those gloves I knitted for you!” Lind looked at the tattered remains of his gloves. “They are… broken.” The woman stormed over. “You know how long I spent making those?” “Sweety, there were black orcs and–” “No excuses!” she said as she pulled them off. “Your little adventures are going to be the end of me, I swear! And look at you, all beaten up!” “Sorry sweety…” He looked at his feet, ashamed. “You should be…” she said angrily. She sighed and held his cheek as the darkness in her eyes started to fade. “Why don’t you sit down and let me finish this field of death and destruction, all right?” “Sounds good.” Lind smiled a little. Lillian smiled back and kissed her husband briefly before she waved her hand, which made the creature stop in its tracks. As Lind sat down he saw the creature fall apart into thousands of corpses as it fell like the rain toward the ground.
“Yes, now to finish this!” a cultist lizard woman shouted from the sideline as she carefully controlled Ser Knight. She focused her energy now to make the knight attack the remnants of both Axe Town and Varharim. “All hail N’Zath!” “Hello there partner,” a voice said, which made the cultist turn around. “Who are you?!” the cultist demanded. “Are you a one of those good guys or a bad guy like me?” “Good, bad…” the gunslinger said as he drew his gun. “I’m the guy with the gun. And my apologies to your kneecaps.” “My knee–” the lizardwoman tried to say but screamed as she fell to the ground after two gunshots to her knees. Calious climbed up the small elevation as he walked over to his brother. “This the summoner?” “Must be, after your Glowing Elf jumped ship…” Clint replied. “She can answer some questions.” “Sounds good,” Calious replied as he saw Ser Knight dwindle down to his normal size. “Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun?” The king looked at his brother. “Really?” “Shut up…” Clint replied as he threw the lizardwoman over his shoulder, her having passed out from the shock.” Besides, I needed to shoot a lizard person. Needed to vent.” “Why?” the king asked. “It’s cathartic,” he replied.
A few days later, after the town had begun to rebuild, King Calious and Magistrate Hodster signed an armistice and a promised both rulers would work together to help their peoples. Hodster promised food and herbal medicine in exchange for Varharim supplies and boats now the cultists were gone. After the signing of the treaty there was a large celebration where everyone danced, ate and sired many bastard children , as per Varharim tradition. Buch smoked his pipe as he saw Lind and Lillian, Gorvar and Tillian and even a drunk Iron dance, although the latter did so on the tables while singing half-slurred dwarven songs. “So, what now?” Clint asked as he stood next to Buch. “We honour our agreement with the king, and find that lost city. Treasure, portal and all,” Buch replied. “Still up for it?” “I got this far…” Clint replied as he smoked his cigarette. They said nothing to each other for a long while as both debated within themselves what to divulge to the other. “We might as well cut the act,” Buch said. “You know something I did not want you to know, and I know something similar.” “Yep…” Clint replied. “Although I know you know both things already,” Clint replied. “Tell me, when you look at your friends inside, dancing, how do you feel?” “Hope, love. Happiness,” Buch said. “How do you really feel?” Clint asked again. “….Regret,” Buch replied. “Remorse, sorrow, anger.” “Your previous group was nearly all wiped out,” Clint said. “That part was true, but you lied about the location.” “It was here.” Buch nodded. “The Lost City of Afrikyah, two hundred years ago.” “A cycle?” Clint asked. “Ignorance of men,” the half-elf mage said.” Men who wake up in the middle of the night and see the world is not to their liking. Men who would see it burn than try to live in it.” “ So these cultists of N’Zath…?” “Are those men.” Buch nodded. “And I swore an oath to stop them at all costs.” “At all costs indeed.” The gunman exhaled his smoke and threw his cigarette on the ground as he stomped it flat. He stood in front of Buch. “Between you and me, Everbloom… I respect you. I respect the shit you had to put up with, what you did for this world…” “Say what you want to say, gunslinger,” Buch frowned. “But I know you plan to stab us in the back in that city. And when you do, even if the world is going to hell… I will be there, and I will end you.” With that the gunslinger walked off. Buch began smoking again as he watched him walk away. “May the best man win,” he said to himself.
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Jan 25, 2013 22:02:24 GMT 1
Chapter 20
The dwarf drank down another stein as the sun began to rise. Everyone around him either fell asleep on the spot, wandered off to some corner or had the decency to go somewhere private. He didn’t care. “You ever fall in love?” He turned to Redbeard who was snoring loudly, still nursing a cup in his limp hand. “Course you didn’t. I did though.” He filled another stein. “Anaise… beautiful woman. Had a thing with mushrooms though. But by the Thirteen…” He smiled a little. “She made me laugh, listened to what I had to say... and advised me on some of the battle plans.” He looked to the goblin captain, who was still snoring. “I know, I know… but the woman is smart when she isn’t eating shrooms. She even healed my leg after one of our cousins tried to kill me. Saved my life too…” He turned the contents of his stein around in his hand. “I loved her. Still love her.” He took another gulp. “Even after she betrayed me, threw me into exile… I still love her. I mean, how else can you explain that I haven’t shagged a woman since her? Or that I didn’t smash her brains out?” Redbeard moved in his sleep and fell down on the ground. A larger snore from laying on his back was the only difference. “Guess your right…” Iron sighed. “Mind if I have your drink? Thanks.” The dwarf took Captain Redbeard’s drink and gulped it down. His eyes widened and he spat it out. “Rum, I hate rum...who the hell drinks rum?!” “Pirates, obviously,” Clint said as he entered the room, stepping over sleeping people. “Good morning.” “Morning,” Iron replied as he rubbed his eyes. “How much did you hear?” “Enough,” Clint said as he took Redbeard’ seat. “If it helps, I know your pain, partner.” “Aye?” Iron poured himself in another drink, but Clint took the stein from his hand and had a sip himself. “Yup. Fell in love with my brother’s wife. This was after he married her by the way. Elise is her name. Beautiful girl, smart, Calious doesn’t deserve her…” “What happened?” Iron asked. “I wanted to marry Elise, so I challenged Calious to a duel. My father of course disapproved and he forbade me to see her ever again.” Clint took a drink. “So me and Elise eloped. It was romantic, sure, and we did find a nice place to settle down. Problem was, she was turning ill… you remember the red plague six years back?” Iron nodded which made Clint resume his story. “We needed money for the constant cleric care. So I entered cage matches to earn money for that care. In the end, she died three months later…”
“Lad, I’m so sorry…” Iron said. “Don’t be. Some would say we had it coming,” Clint replied. “Gods are arseholes, Clint. Doesn’t mean they always act wisely,” The dwarf replied. “You're still alive aren’t you? You've saved our arses several times over.” “I don’t doubt that I have a part to play still,” the gunslinger said as he poured both him and Iron a fresh glass. “But for what’s it’s worth, I’m glad it’s with you lot.” “Here, here,” Iron replied and took his glass. “To lost love?” “And new friends.” Clint agreed.
Lind woke up and sat upright. His heart was racing, he was sweating all over and worst of all he could still hear the cries from his nightmares in the back of his mind. He took a moment to calm himself and looked to his left to see his wife still asleep. With a relieved sigh he kissed her forehead and dressed before he walked outside to the balcony. He found comfort in hearing the sounds of the coming day. The birds were awake, the predators had gone to slumber and he even heard the distant cries of whales when he took a moment to really listen. He heard Lillian stir herself awake and slowly dress before she walked over and held her arms around his waist. “Bad dreams again?” she asked as she rested her head on his back. “Aye,” he replied. “Same dream.” “The one with the monster, the dragon, the city burning?” she asked. Lind nodded and turned to see her as he held her hand. “You were there too this time.” “I was?” she asked. “You were the Queen. You… summoned the dragon. You were near death when it was ripped apart by the monster. I held you in my arms then it became really warm, real fast. I could feel the flames as it –” Lillian placed her finger on his lips before she kissed him. “It was just a dream, Lind sweetheart.” She smiled as she placed her hand on his chest. “A bad dream, nothing more.” “How do you know?” he asked her. “What if it’s the future or something? Something that might happen.” “It’s the princeling thing, right?” she said as he walked off. “What the orc said?” “I don’t know what to think,” the ranger said. “I’m confused, scared.” “Lind Black, you are the bravest man I know. You faced a horde of orcs and two former friends turned into half demonic creatures to snap me out of influence of evil. You saved Gorvar and Clint from a tribe of orcs, you shot a kraken in the eye for the love of the gods!” “It’s not the same!” he retorted. “I knew what I was fighting, what the chances were, what I was doing… I don’t want to be unprepared.” He looked her in the eye. “I don’t want to lose you.” “You won't, my heart,” Lillian smiled as she held him. “You won't.” She kissed him again and eagerly her husband returned the kiss.
As Gorvar snored deeply still, a reinvigorated Tillian began painting again. Normally she was not a fan of coupling, but now it inspired her to paint more (Of course it would, he was THE Gorvar ). “Must be the magic essence,” she said to herself as she switched colours. “Nothing more.” Yet she began using more colours then she did before, began seeing things more clearly. It gave her clarity of sorts. And as she finished her painting, she could not help but notice that her most recent works had become more and more refined each time. Now she stared at the clear cityscape of a town built in the clouds as mysterious airship flew from place to place. Large towers connected each other with bridges and motorized vehicles drove on those as well. It was the place they were going to be at in two days. She turned around to see her lover sleep, and wonder if he would see this city before he died.
“More wine!” Anaise demanded as she threw another bottle to the wall. “You've drunk enough!” the Glowing elf said as he glared at her. “Are you so drunk that you don’t see Our Lord and Master will have us killed?!” “For what?” Anaise hiccupped.” We gave them a heavy blow, and we know for certain they will head for the lost city….” “We lost more then they did!” the Glowing elf said. “Gorgutz lost half of his horde!” “Thereabouts…” the orc war chief replied. “But she has a point. The metal humans lost a lot of people, as well as the ones from the Cape. Every force they send toward that ruin can easily be crushed by my hands.” “Also don’t forget we can easily dispel two of those Fellowship folk…” Anaise smirked. “Two?” The Glowing figure asked. “Yes, you old fool. Two. The lizardman and….” She stopped as she stared at the wall. “Iron spared my life…” “Great, we lost her again…” Gorgutz growled. “Doesn’t matter. I know whom she speaks of,” the Glowing figure replied. “Two Magic constructs, created for sentimental reasons…” He rubbed his chin. “What game is Everbloom playing?”
TBC
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Jan 25, 2013 22:03:16 GMT 1
( And now a epilogue starring everybody's least favourie character, Buch.)
The game Everbloom was playing was high-powered jet-ski racing, with movie stars, and naturally he was winning. His fantastic reflexes, uncanny, seemingly transmundane ability to observe and shape his world, and the fact that everyone else in the race was desperately in love with him made it hard for him to even consider the game a challenge. And yet, as gracious a winner as he was in all things, Buch congratulated the assembled admirers for their efforts and bashfully shrugged off his cash prize.
“Gosh, Buch,” said a beautiful dwarven maiden, “this is the best day of my life, largely because of your presence.”
“Thank you very much,” Buch replied like the moral crusader that he was. “Have you read my massively successful parody Mock Effect, the fanfic that launched not only a website but also in many ways a lifestyle? All good bookshops, and other classic lines?”
Everybody laughed, remembering their favourite scenes from the immortal classic in the field of fanfic videogame parody script. Two elvish men fainted and had to be dragged off.
“Honestly,” said a powerful wizard, albeit not so powerful as Buch and with a far-inferior neckbeard. “It's a wonder that you weren't featured in this chapter, what with you being understandably the principle character and generally the most interesting part of the plot!”
“I know, right?” Buch agreed, whilst oiling his massive chest muscles. “It's very strange for me not to be featured, and for lesser characters like Gorvar and Iron to receive so much attention and indeed romantic interest.”
“Yes, you' think that Tillian, Anaise and indeed everybody would be far more interested in YOU!”
“Yes you would.”
The wizard contemplated the matter. “Well, I suppose it must all just be another one of your deep and page-turning mysteries, another of your fabulous secrets, which we will learn later in the story – I mean it must be pretty amazing to justify you not being in this chapter.”
Buch smiled, his perfect teeth outshining the stars themselves. The dwarf girl handed him her phone number, and the wizard cursed himself for not having the courage to do the same.
“All I can say about that,” Buch teased, like the unfeasibly alluring God-King that in many ways he was, “is that you'll find out IN THE NEXT EXCITING EPISODE... OF BUCH'S THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE BLUE LADY!”
“Will you be in it this time?” they chorused, feeling their hearts beat against their chests like impatient steam-engines crashing through snowdrifts. “Will you do something cool such as beat Clint in a gunfight?”
“Yes I will,” Buch said. “It will rock your worlds. But for now, I must go and brood over my many secrets. Stay cool, stay in school. Vote YES in the gun control debate, and remember that all religions are false.”
“Buch.... you are our saviour,” said everybody in the story, and you the reader probably.
And Buch knew it was true. And that he would never again make the mistake of not appearing in a chapter.
TBC
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Post by Mister Buch on Jan 28, 2013 1:40:20 GMT 1
[Hi - Gorvar asked me to post his new chapter in his absense - long story. Enjoy! Also I'm petty sure the above epilogue is not canon. ]Chapter 21The Fellowship left the town after several days. Varharim's troops either sailed back home with their King (no he did not sign Gorvar’s book I'm sad to say) or stayed to aid in the town’s restoration and to protect it from future black orc attacks. The group's task was still the same: find the city of Afrikyah and tell the king where the gold was, only instead of ten percent cut it had increased to twenty, as a way for King Calious to apologize for the deception. Of course there were titles and they each would be given a castle along with servants and wenches upon their return, even the women. Especially the women, Calious had stressed. So if you want to know why he has fifty something divorced wives, well there you go. The Fellowship followed Buch’s direction as always, none of them knowing he knew the way. None save Ser Clint. “Anyone heard the song about the lime and the coconut?” Gorvar asked. “Why would you want to do a lime in a coconut?” Iron asked, confused as always. “I don’t know, why would anyone want to sing a song about 'Iron the Warrior Dwarf Who Can't be Hard Where it Matters’?” Gorvar smirked. “Keep laughing lizardbreath,” the dwarf growled in his beard. “Lizardbreath, that’s very tame of you, Iron,” the bard replied. “You going to call me a meanie next? Or tattle on me to your mum?” “Least I have one.” The dwarf smirked. “Ouch….” Gorvar said. “Well done sir, you just ruined my day.” “And improved mine,” the dwarf chuckled. “Children,” Lillian said with her motherly tone. “Be nice.” “Yes, Lillian,” both Gorvar and Iron said. “Hey, can I pick Lillian as my mum?” Gorvar asked. “Pardon?” Tillian snapped out of her revelry. “Well, I am in need of a mother and Lillian is available. See? The system works.” “The day I have you for a son is the day I scoop out my own eyeballs,” Lind replied. “LIND!” Lillian said shocked. “You shouldn’t say that!” “Am I having father issues now?” Gorvar asked. “I am not your father!” Lind shouted. “See, my father abandoned me. 'Tis a sad tale, my life.” Gorvar faked a tear. “I know I asked you a hundred times, darlin'…” Clint said to Tillian as he nibbled on a tree branch, since his cigarettes has run out the night before. “But why him? I mean seriously.” “I will respond with a question. Why do you dress the way you do?” she asked. “Because I feel good with it,” he replied. “There is your answer.” “But he's never serious,” Clint said. “Even when Iron’s ex sucked two of his fingers away he was still dandy as ever.” “Sometimes men who have known sorrow all their life just put on a mask and smile as the world smiles with him. But deep down he still carries that sorrow… and I know that pain as well.” She looked into Clint’s eyes. “He is an idiot, but he is my idiot,” she said before she walked with Gorvar. Clint shook his head as he took off his hat. “Women…” “I hear that,” Iron replied. “We nearly there yet?” Gorvar asked Buch a while later. “We’ll be there soon enough, Gorv,” the half-elf replied as he summoned a barrier which cut its way through the vines. “We’ll be there before you know it,” he added with some sorrow on his face. “Buch, you all right there?” Gorvar asked concerned. “I’m fine.” Buch lied. “Why?” “Look, if this is about the magic construct thing– no, let me finish.” He held up his hand so he could speak. “I want to thank you.” “Thank me?” Buch asked. “I lied to you, made you suffer, I disrupted the dead by giving you life–” “And that is the beauty of it. You gave me life, a chance to start again. I don’t know much about the Gorvar you knew, but look at me. I have lived a good life. I have friends, a woman who loves me. You gave me everything you could give and more.” He placed his three fingered hand on Buch’s shoulder. “Thank you, I mean it. Thank you.” Gorvar raised his fist. “Puppet brother junior?” Buch lightened his expression a little and fist-bumped his lizard man friend. “Puppet brother senior.” “Puppet brothers,” they said at the same time, with smiles on their faces, before they journeyed on. Lind jumped down the trees as the Fellowship took a rest. The all looked up at him wearily, but their spirits soared when he smiled and nodded. They all got up and followed the ranger as he led them out of the jungle into a large wide open space…which revealed a large ruined city. It had faded white walls covered in soot and wild plants, towers that once could’ve reached the sky and now were the height of a small castle wall, bridges fallen down to the ground. But still it had a sense of majesty, a sense that this place was still respectable despite no-one living there. It was a ruin, yes, but sometime ago it was the pinnacle of civilization on this world. “My friends,” Buch began, “this is Afrikyah, the lost city of legend. From here the Old Empire that stretched across Aourigha, Varharim and Topica was ruled.” “Afrikyah.” Lind smiled as he held his wife’s hand. “Afrikyah.” Clint nodded. “My people made larger cities,” Iron huffed. “They could make this as a model of a real city.” “Shhh!” Lillian shushed him with a smile. “Right, what are we waiting for?” Gorvar asked. “We got a world to save, right?” “And to get rich doing it!” Iron laughed as he and the lizardman ran off. “Iron and Gorvar agree on something?” Lind asked the gunslinger. “First sign of the apocalypse,” Clint chuckled as he followed the rest in. They entered the city through one of the useable tunnels. They traveled through it until they came into the inner city, which had aged quite well. These ruins were different than any others. There were no symbols on the walls, or anything primitive for that matter. There were many carriages of sorts, scattered all over, which Iron argued looked similar to dwarven war machines. Clint said several of them looked like airships of some kind. “Thousands of people must’ve lived here,” Lillian said. “Maybe millions.” She stopped as she stepped on something, looked down and picked it up. Lind came to see her when she showed a toy horse to her husband. Lind held her for a moment before they moved on. “Looks like everyone moved in a hurry…” Gorvar noted. “You know any songs of the lost city, dear?” Tillian asked. “I know only one tale, of a Watcher.” Gorvar said. “According to legend he is the last survivor from the doom that crept upon Afrikyah. This watcher, who has been here for thousands of years, keeps a silent watch on the ruins, keeping all kinds of evil creatures out until the descendants of those who survived come back and reclaim the city. That is all, really. Hell I don’t even know any heroes that came from this place.” “There were many, but their names have faded into legend, then into myth, then… into nothing.” Buch sighed. “Well I’m sure we'll find something, even if it is just some sheepherder called Gabbor or something.” “Gabbor?” Buch raised his brow at Gorvar, who merely shrugged in return. They entered some buildings and did find some gold, but nothing really worthy of Calious' coffers. That came a bit later, which we will skip to now. Lind pointed up ahead to a large structure; the tallest spire left in the ruin. “Think the gateway is over there?” “I sense magic coming from there.” Tillian shuddered for a moment. “Dark magic.” “Then that is our spot,” Buch said as he led the group forward. When they came inside the building, they found everything covered in gold. Desks, chairs, the walls themselves… all covered in gold. “There's being filthy rich, and then there is this...” Gorvar shook his head. “You don’t want it then?” Lind smirked. “Fook no, I want to be that rich!” Gorvar retorted. “I hear you, partner,” Clint replied. “We do that later. We have to find the gateway first,” Buch urged. “We'll be too dead to care if the Rascarin show up and slaughters us all.” “Unless we become undead,” Gorvar said. “But if you were undead, wouldn’t you stop caring about gold?” Clint asked. “Clearly you've never met Vampires before,” Gorvar replied. “Oh, the good old days,” Iron mused. “One of 'em seduced Buch at one point I believe.” “Magic,” Buch replied. “I saw plenty of ‘magic’ in that cleavage too, man,” Gorvar said with a smirk. “Seriously, nothing to be embarrassed about.” The group followed the corridor until they came into a large room. As they looked up they saw sunlight enter from the broken-off rooftop. In the center was a large purple orb of some kind, twisting and turning. The group stepped inside as Buch stayed back for a moment. This was the room he remembered, the room where it all happened… and had to happen again. “This is the magic I’m sensing…” Tillian said as she looked at the orb. Being near the thing made them all feel odd, as if all the warmth and cold from the world was sucked out of this room and was now draining them as well. “Purple, the most evil colour known to man,” Gorvar said to lighten the mood. “Next to pink of course.” “I like pink,” Lillian retorted. “You would,” the bard said. “So what hap–” Barriers sprung up on every exit as the group was sealed off. Everyone, save Buch. Before they could react, both Gorvar and Lillian fell down to the ground and shouted in pain. Both their loved ones rushed to their aid as they held them. “What in the name of the Thirteen is going on?!” Iron shouted. “The Magic inside Gorvar and Lillian is being sucked out,” Buch said sadly. Gorvar and Tillian looked at Buch. “The gateway needs to be given new magic energies every two hundred years. Tillian, you saw what the Rascarin were like. Can you imagine a world full of them?” “Then why am I not effected?” she asked as she held Gorvar’s hand. “Because the portal has enough… food already. Magic Constructs that have lived to their fullest are the best for this. Charged-up as it were…” “Why is Lillian hurting?!” Lind demanded to know. “She isn’t a Magic Construct!” “She is, Lind.” Buch said through the barrier. “I know, because I made her. Just like I made Gorvar.” “W–what?” Lillian asked confused as she winced from the pain. “I created you to keep an eye on Lind,” he said as he concentrated his magic so that the ritual would work. “He is of royal blood and will play an important part in the future.” “The Princeling...” Lind said before he shook his head. “Buch, you can't do this! These are your friends! Lillian is my wife, damn it!” “I’m sorry.” Buch said with melancholy. “I really am. But it has to be done. For the world, for the future. Tillian understands.” “You are killing the first man I have ever loved. My judgment is clouded at the moment,” she said as matter-of-factly as usual, but there was a hint of anger in there. “Release us. We can find another way.” “I like the other way…” Gorvar groaned in pain. “Gods, my hand is burning!” “You're killing them!” Lind shouted. “Buch, please!” Iron grabbed his warhammer and tried bashing his way through the barrier, but it deflected every time. “You half-elven bastard!” the dwarf shouted. “I’m sorry…” Buch said. “Just hold them close. It will be over soon.” A single click sounded nearby. “For once we agree, Everbloom.” Buch just managed to raise a shield as the bullet nearly went through his forehead. “Clint, not now!” “I told you I would be there when you stabbed us in the back.” Clint glared as he pulled out his second gun, Gorvar’s gun. “Now, if I got my magic straight, if I kill you the barriers open. And when that happens we just throw your dying corpse in there and everything is hunky-dory. Right?” “You bloody fool, if you do that N’Zath will come back!” Buch said as he drew his sword. The sword went flying when a bullet hit him near the hand, forcing the half-elf to use his staff. “When I was made a knight I swore I would defend the weak, and I will not compromise that oath. Not even in the face of the apocalypse.” Buch shot a fireball at the gunslinger while Clint fired on the war mage. Buch ran outside where Clint followed him. “Oi, get back here!” Iron slammed his fist on the barrier. As he did, the purple orb changed into a whirlpool of sorts…and something crawled out of it. Rascarin. “Buch’s loss of concentration is giving N’Zath a chance to send–” Tillian tried to say, but was interrupted by an angry dwarf who found something to vent on. With a leap he charged at the creatures and slashed them into ribbons as more and more came through it. The Glowing figure, Anaise and Gorgutz entered the city as they looked around in awe. “Marvelous..” the Glowing elf said. “Really… marvelous.” “Agreed,” Anaise said as she petted one of her hounds, then just began looking at the dog, intrigued. The Glowing figure rolled his eyes. “Let's move forward. We need to stop the ritual before–” “Look!” Gorgutz pointed up ahead. The Glowing figure cast a visage spell which allowed him to look from afar, and smirked when he saw the half elven mage fighting the gunslinger with bullet and spell. “Good... he is half-distracted, so we can easily stop the spell. Gorgutz, move your men!” The black orc war chief agreed and roared for them to advance. However when they crossed the first corner, three orcs fell in a flurry of bullets and arrows. “What in the name of N’zath?!” The Glowing figure flared up his fire spell. He glared when he saw a group of small green goblins, minotaurs, half-orcs, humans and even lizardmen walk up to them. All dressed like pirates, just like their captain. “Redbeard, you traitor!” the Glowing elf shouted, outraged. “Pirate,” Redbeard smirked as he drew his cutlass. “Kill 'em er scurfy dogs, ta treasure is mine!” “You mean ours, right mon Capitain?” Francois asked. “Aye, ours.” Redbeard rolled his eyes. “Number one, do yer thing!” Emily drew her cutlass and pistol. “Attack!” she shouted and charged at the black orcs with the pirate crew one foot behind. Meanwhile as everyone was fighting, a group of cultists tried to sneak in the city. “We have to stop the ritual,” their leader said. “Or else our lord and master will end us!” “What about the Watcher?” one of them asked. “He is a legend, nothing but a myth!” “Then… who's he?” The cultist pointed up ahead. The leader turned around as he saw someone in his way. It was a hooded figure, slender and tall. It had a tail, cold blue eyes and a long, oddly-shaped sword in its hand. It gave a hissing sound. “None ssssshal passs…” It hissed as it drew the blade from its scabbard. “Kill it, kill it!” the leader urged and cast a lightning spell at it, but the creature was too quick. It dodged left and right and sliced every single one of them to pieces. When they returned as Rascarin, the creature merely sliced them apart as well. It kept hissing as it used its robe to clean its sword. It turned its head as it heard a cry of pain, quickly leaped and jumped from rooftop to rooftop until it saw a half-elven mage and human using strange weapons that shot lightning, dueling each other. It kept its eyes on Buch, and they furrowed with anger. “Puppet…brothersssss…” it hissed. TBC
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Jan 30, 2013 0:49:45 GMT 1
Chapter 22
Then
Knight was sunk deep in thought when... the children are asleep? They are, you're sure about that…? Okay good. Knight was sunk deep in thought when the lady's garments were thrown over his head. He had to protect the king, so he stayed and observed. Especially with that pirate woman. The man had been a knight for two hundred years and given-up his flesh for House Calious nearly one hundred and sixty years ago. He had children – it was a requirement in Varharim to have at least a bastard child lest you failed to seem respectable – and they too had children and so forth. But his loyalty, his life and his soul were with his Kings and Queens. He had seen his monarchs lovemaking many times and deep down he resented it. He did not miss the act itself, but as he watched he saw more and more of a cycle: children were sired before his eyes, born, grew up, sired children themselves and died. He hated routine, he hated getting attached to people. It was like being trapped on a carriage. People would hop on and either talk to you or ignore you. They could be kind or evil, extroverted or introverted, but one way or another he would still be on that carriage when those people hopped off on their stop. Kings and Queens would grow, wither and die… but he was still there. He was still Ser Knight, sworn sword to House Calious, a house that would never die out, especially at this rate. As his King was enjoying himself with the pirate woman, telling her that Halmadir Everbloom knew where the lost city was , Knight began to think. Really began to think.
His mind always did wander during these sessions, but this time it was different. Rather than recalling the good old days or planning the training schedule for the men-at-arms, he was thinking. Hoping for something else. “My King, I need to speak to you,” Ser Knight said, which startled the woman. “It talks!” she said as she drew the blanket to cover her. “Well of course it talks, it’s my enchanted golem of sorts!” Calious smirked. “Why didn’t you tell me?!” she glared. The king merely shrugged as she began to dress. “What, had enough already, urrgh… Anna, right?” “It’s Emily,” she said with a glare and stormed out of the room. “Close the door!” Calious shouted after her, but she either did not hear him or did not care. Probably the latter. “Knight, be a dear?” “Of course, my king,” Ser Knight said and closed the door. “Thank you,” Calious said as he poured himself a drink. “Women, right?” “I do not know. My spouse died one hundred and fifty-six years ago. We did end on bad terms.” “See, typical for women.” Calious drank. “One moment they're into you, the next they get angry when you tell them you already have a wife or you want a son with her eye colour or I was bored…” “Or the enchanted golem spoke,” Ser Knight said. “Well there is that… you wanted to speak to me?” the king asked. “Yes. I wish to be relieved of service,” the knight said. Calious stared at him for a long moment. “Why?” he finally managed to ask. “Ever since I swore my soul to House Calious, I have protected the lives of you and yours for decades,” Knight said. “But because of the Glowing Elf I was forced to break my oath and I nearly killed you and your brother.” “Knight, you weren’t yourself.” Calious placed down his glass and dressed. “You had an off day, you are allowed an off day.” “I am not allowed a off day, my king. If I have a off day, people end up dying. They did die.” “Suppose I allow this… where will you go?” Calious asked. “I do not know… that is the problem,” the knight admitted. “I know nothing but being a knight now. I cannot write novels or poetry, sing songs, dance… everything that made me human is gone. I only know the one thing.” “And yet you wish to be free?” the king asked confused. “Not freed, released of service. I have failed your house and mine… and I do not deserve to be here anymore.” Calious paced around the room as he tried to collect his thoughts. With a heavy sigh, he nodded. “Very well… Ser Knight, you may be excused from your service. But only if you do one thing for me.” “Ask anything, my king, and it will be done.” The knight bowed. “I want you to go to my brother and aid him in his quest.” Calious urged the knight to raise. “Why, my king?” the Knight asked. “Did you not thrive when you took his crown?” “I did, and I know for certain he still does not want it,” the king replied with a small smirk. “Then why?” “He is my brother, and looking out for him and making sure he comes home is what we Caliouses are known for. Calious looks after Calious.” The knight bowed again before he rose. “Consider it done, my King.” “Go on then. You might catch up to him in time,” Calious said with a small smile. “I will… my king, more than all those who came before you, you may be the king that Varharim needed at this time.” “I had a good man watching my back,” the king said. Both men stared at each other until the king relented and gave the knight a hug. “Do not squander this freedom, all right? I’ll be very cross with you if you do.” “As you wish my king,” Knight said and turned to leave. Before he went to open the door he stopped and turned around. “My king, why did you tell the pirate where the city was. She is Redbeard’s second in command. He will no doubt take the gold.” “The gold was never my real goal, my friend.” Calious had a wicked smirk. “I want the technology so our people once more can fly in the sky like our ancestors did so long ago. Also I may have found a way to broker a proper truce with Topica.” “How? After your failed marriage with Steward Lieden, Topica has been officially in a proxy war with us.” “True, but I plan to shift the management to another more… likeable ruler.”
Now
“Come on Lilly...” Lind said as he held his wife’s fading hand. “Hold on, don’t give up.” “I’m so tired…” she almost whispered. “I need you, don’t go. Please...” the ranger pleaded. He looked quickly at Tillian, who was also losing Gorvar to the draining magic. Iron was still fighting off the horrors, but he was showing signs of getting tired. Neither Buch nor Clint was anywhere to be seen. They were alone, and no-one was going to help. “It’s all right…” Lillian smiled at him. “I had a good life, a very good life…” she held him close. “And I’m glad I had to share it with you.” “Don’t say that. We're going to get out of this,” Lind said, trying to encourage himself more than her. “We are – we are going to get out of this. Go back home to Snowpine Village, back to our little house with a dozen cats.” He held her face. “I don’t want you to go, love. We have to much to do still.” “I know…” she began to weep as well as her face turned pale. “But you… you will get past this. I want you to. There are more fish in the sea, my love. You can make someone happy like you made me happy.” She began to breath heavily which made Lind hold her closer. “I love you…” she said before she lost consciousness. “Lillian? LILLIAN!”
“Well…this sucks.” Gorvar winced as he tried to hide the pain from Tillian. “Do not talk, save your strength,” she said as she kept feeding him as much magic as she could. “What, and lose the only thing I had going for me?” The lizardman smirked weakly. “Well, that and my looks.” He laughed until he coughed violently. “Gorvar, please… stop talking.” The elf said with a hint of sadness in her voice. “Till, sweets…” he held up her chin as a single tear began to form in her eye. “It’s all right…” “It’s not. Not now. Not now we found each other.” She focused more of her magic to try and stop the draining, but it was like throwing a bucket of water in a tub full of holes: no matter how much she threw into Gorvar, it just kept fading away. “I am not losing you too!” “Tillian, I know this… this is horrible. I know it’s bad, and the timing is bad… but you can't fight fate. You saw this coming…” “The future isn’t set, you might wake up tomorrow,” she replied. “I might have painted it wrong!” Gorvar took her chin gently and turned it to him. “You… will be fine. Okay?” he said as he wiped her tear away. “You will be fine… and kick Buch’s arse for me.” Tillian gave a small laugh before she kissed him one last time and held on to him. “We were great, weren’t we?” he asked. “We were,” she agreed as she felt him fall unconscious.
Iron panted for air as he was stood on his pile of corpses. He had killed dozens of 'em, and yet they kept coming. “By the Thirteen…” he coughed as he sat down. He looked back and saw that both Gorvar and Lillian were nearly shadows now, as both their lovers wept into them. For a moment he wondered if Anaise would mourn him like this if she would find his corpse. He shook his head. Probably not. Chances are she would use his beard to light a herb pipe full of shrooms. He looked up to the ceiling angrily. “Kharn, I never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that I stood against many. That's what's important! Valour pleases you, Kharn... so grant me one request. Grant me revenge against N’Zath! And if you do not listen, then to HELL with you!” With renewed vigour he picked up his weapon and leaped into the hordes of Rascarin.
Buch threw up a fire shield just as Clint unleashed a bullet. The bullet melted immediately before it could hit the war mage. The half-elf threw back a fireball, which the gunslinger dodged and returned with another shot. A black orc and a cultist jumped down to face them but fell to a fireball and a bullet in the head respectively before the men continued their duel. Below them they saw pirates fighting the cultists as bullets, daggers and spells were flying. Both leaned against a wall for cover as they checked their supplies. “I always had a feeling it would come to this,” Clint said as he tried to look for more bullets. “You, me, climatic battle going on.” “Same, although I expected to have won by now,” Buch said as he tried to spark up a new spell, but failed. “And give you an easy victory? Fook no, got a reputation to protect,” Clint replied, but cursed softly when he found he had run out of ammunition. He slammed his fist against the wall from frustration until it began to hurt. He sighed and drew his sword when he stepped out of cover. Buch, staff cast aside, took a sword from the dead orc. Both men stared each other down.
“I will not allow you to stop this ritual, Clint. I will kill you if I have to.” Buch held his sword in a defensive stance. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” “And I will not allow you to kill our friends because you're too much of a damn yellowbelly to die yourself!” Clint retorted and went into his own stance. “However this goes down… I have respect for you, Clint,” the half elf said. “It's a pity we could not have been friends.” “And that's why I'm here kicking your half-elven arse,” the gunslinger, now turned swashbuckler, replied. With a heavy battle cry he lunged at the war mage as the two dueled and pushed up the stairs. Neither side would give up. In the end there could be only one.
Anaise ran as the battles with the pirates intensified. For the first time in a long time she did something sane, something she hated doing. She ran, like she ran when Halatha died. After Gheru betrayed her. Two pirates sprang in front of her and were quickly dispatched by her dogs who crushed their windpipes with their powerful jaws. She owed the Glowing Elf her life, but she didn’t sign up to be a warrior. More pirates joined in, amongst them the one with the ridiculous accent. “C’est la witch, grab her!” the goblin shouted. Anaise glared as she prepared herself with a spell. Before she could react, a flash of swords lit up the area before her and soon after, the pirates dropped down dead. In front of her was a hooded lizardman who carried a now-bloodied sword. He got up and looked at her with ice cold age. “You are a healer…” he hissed. “Good, you can give usssss time.” “What is that to you?!” she loudly demanded. “For me, clossssure. For you, redemption.” The lizardman took off his hood. Anaise held on to her largest hound as she recognized the lizardman in front of her. “No, you… it can't be you. You aren’t even supposed to be here!” The lizardman offered his hand, uncurling all five fingers. “Come with me if you want to live…”
TBC
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Jan 31, 2013 0:39:02 GMT 1
Chapter 23
Then
Buch panted as he and Gorvar half-dragged / half-guided their wounded friend through the corridors of the lost city. “Come on, Cikarian,” Buch said as they crossed another corner. “We've almost made it!” “I - I can't…” the aged warrior replied. “I’m a goner.” “No you are not!” Buch shouted. “We won the day and you are going home to see your family!” “Agreed with Buch,” Gorvar replied. “I don’t want to drag your large, human arse back out of here.” Cikarian coughed heavily.” You always were a jerk, lizardman…” “Doesn’t mean I want you to die!” Gorvar replied. “Who else can I annoy if you are gone? Now keep running!” “I-I cant. Need to rest.” Cikarian stopped and rested against the wall. The wound on his side was getting worse. “That’s not good.” “I dunno...” Gorvar panted. “The red does seem to suit you better than that silly blue.” The bard took out a health potion and made the older man drink it. “Also, who has a polar bear as a battle standard?” “Better then yours, egg-layer.” The old man laughed until he began to cough more. The coughing stopped when they heard rapid movement headed their way. “I cant move. Get out of here! Both of you.” “We are not leaving you, Cikarian,” Buch said. “We all go home!”
Cikarian smiled and placed his bloody hand on the half-elf. “I am going home, old friend. You helped me reclaim my castle, saved my family from N’Zath… you were there when my wife died.” He coughed more. “I am going to see her now. Her, and all the friends we lost in our travels together.” They heard metal-plated feet coming closer. Gorvar drew his sword and darted around the corner. The sound of sharp steel edges clashing drowned that of limbs being sliced off. “Get out of here, Halmadir… take Gorvar and Stone… and live,” Cikarian said before he turned limp. Buch felt the bloody hand fall off his shoulder. With a heavy sigh he closed his old friend’s eyes and took up his sword to bring back home. “I dealt with them,” Gorvar said when he returned. He glanced at the fallen warrior and made a quick prayer in his own tongue before he turned to the mage. Buch got up and motioned Gorvar to follow. As the two ran, more clanging footsteps sounded close behind them. Too close.
“We have to meet Stone and Antonio outside. Hopefully the route to Cape Shit-Out-of-Luck is still open to us!” The half-elf threw up a fire wall behind him which hopefully would slow down their pursuers. “Here's hoping!” the lizardman replied and took a few pot shots behind him with his special beam crossbow of sorts he picked up off the ground. “Can this day get any worse?!” Buch went to reply but felt himself fall to the ground. A metallic hand was wrapped around his ankle, the arm extending deep into the dark behind them: the dark filled with metal feet and metal bodies hungering for a kill. Gorvar slashed at the arm before Buch even had to call his friend, until it was cut deep and withdrew back into the dark. The lizardman offered his hand, which the half-elf gladly took. “Thanks,” Buch said. “Puppet brothers for life,” Gorvar smirked. Buch slapped his friend on the shoulder and resumed the run. “And then some... the exit!” Buch smiled as he pointed right ahead. The source of daylight lifted their spirits and gave them energy for one last rush to their escape, and out of the Lost City. “I can smell the freedom, the ale and the women already!” Gorvar exclaimed joyfully. The duo almost made their way outside but this time more metal hands flew from behind them. Buch managed to shrug them off, but Gorvar was not so lucky. “Buch!” Gorvar shouted as he held on to his sword, which was now embedded in the floor as the hands pulled on him. “Gorvar!” Buch fired a few fireballs but there was no indication to say if he had hit anything. “Hold on!” “The hell do you think I’m doing?!” the lizardman retorted and cried out in pain as the pull became heavier. “Buch, get out of here buddy!” “I’m not leaving you too!” “Someone has to prepare for the next cycle!” Gorvar shouted. “Someone who'll live long enough to see it happen. It has to be you!” He used his remaining arm to push Buch away. The half-elf got back up and tried to reach for his friend. He just saw him long enough to watch the lizardman give him a wink and pull out his sword, before he was dragged into the darkness. [Target acquired, mutant invader. Commence neutralization] a metallic and cold voice said. “You are going to have to work for it!” Buch heard his friend for the last time until his bravado turned into screams of pain and horror. The half-elf cursed himself and ran into the open. Outside, the dwarf Stone had started up the salvaged carriage he had managed to get working again as the white robe-clad assassin Antonio killed one of the machine men with his blades. “Buch!” Stone waved. “Come on, lets get out of here!” The half-elf nodded and ran past the dead machine man. These were the things that were chasing them after they closed down the portal, the things that killed Cikarian and Gorvar. He jumped into the carriage and pulled Antonio in as the carriage sped off. They looked back but saw none of the machine men chasing after them. Buch gave an exhausted sigh and gladly took the drink Antonio offered. “Cikarian and Gorvar?” he asked, to which Buch shook his head. “My condolences.” “They died so others could live,” Buch replied as he looked back at the lost city of Afrikyah one last time. He glared as he began to devise a plan for when the cycle would begin anew. No-one would die again. Not while he was still breathing.
Now
Clint kicked his opponent in the stomach before he tried to thrust his sword through the mage's gut. But Buch quickly deflected the strike and punched the gunslinger in the face. “Don’t you understand what you're doing?!” Buch shouted as blood ran from his mouth. “You are destroying everything I've built up in the last two hundred years!” “You're destroying people’s lives and killing your friends!” Clint retorted as he wiped his own blood away with his sleeve. “As far as I know you're just as bad as N’Zath’s folk!” “Don’t mewl out names like a child – this is the lesser of two evils!” Buch replied. “Gorvar and Lillian never existed. They are not real!” “To Tillian and Lind they are real. To me they're real!” Clint went for another strike, which Buch deflected. “If this gateway needs magic, why not sacrifice yourself?!” “Only I know how that spell works and I cannot trust anyone else to repeat it after I’m gone!” “You're just scared... you old fool!” “Scared? That's rich coming from a man who's too afraid to face his own mistakes and go home!” “I do not fear death, you do!” Clint pointed his sword at him. “From my point of view, you are a coward and a fiend and one who needs a good sword in his gut!” “Then you are lost!” Buch lunged forward and began slashing away again.
The hooded lizardman guided Anaise through the large building, which on the inside was made entirely out of gold. “What… is this?” she asked as she picked up a golden vase. “Oh, shiny…” “This wassss the main control room for the powerplant.” The lizardman pulled her along. “The people of Afrikyah found a way to tap into the planet’ssss core, and thusss into N’Zath. Thisss woke N'Zath after many centuries which made it summon itsss spawn... you know thesse as Rassscarin... and dessstroyed the city. Thankfully the scientissssts were able to use the city’s defenses to keep them within the city and managed to closssse the portal.” “Scientists, defenses?” Anaise asked. “You sssshall see,” the lizardman replied and brought her to the barrier. She peered inside and saw people huddled over fading figures: the constructs, she knew, since the room seemed to drain magic energy. But she was more drawn to the sole figure on the pile of demon corpses. “Iron…” she gasped. “He’s–” “In need of assssistance,” the lizardman said. He held out his right arm, which was covered in metal with flashing buttons. He pressed one with his left hand and a moment later Anaise felt the magic draining stop. Both the lizardman and cleric opened their eyes and sat up, much to their lovers’ happy surprise. The ranger looked at them as he held his wife, but his shocked smile soon turned into another kind of surprise entirely. “You… but...?” He glanced over to Gorvar who looked just as confused as he was. “The magic drain wasss the only thing keeping the gateway sssssoomewhat ssssmall. Quickly, we musssst leave and find Halmadir Everbloom and another ssssorcerer of hissss level.” Iron gave a painful cry as he fell down the pile of corpses. Without thinking, Anaise ran over, held her in her arms and began healing him immediately while her dogs kept the demons at bay. Iron slowly opened his eyes as she lifted him from the ground and ran outside with the others. “Anaise…?” He strayed her cheek. “I’m here.” She smiled. “Call it a Tabula Rasa.” “How are you going to stop the flow of demons?” Tillian asked the hooded lizardman as she helped Gorvar ran.” What you did sounds very illogical, guessing your profession.” The hooded lizardman reached inside his own gut and snapped something off. He threw it into the room before sealing it again with his arm buttons. When the barriers closed, inside the room several holes opened up from the floor as metal men– no, machine men came out. [Demon energy detected, commence extermination] one of them said before they began using strange beams made of light to burn the Rascarin away. “My battery will ssssupply the room of energy to keep draining while the defensesssss will occupy N’Zath.” He looked at Gorvar before turning back to Lind. “Where issssss he?” “If you're asking to kick his ass, we are going to first!” Gorvar exclaimed. “No. He issss the key to stop thissss cycle! We need him alive!” the hooded figure hissed. Gorvar held up his hands in surrender. “Fair enough… Crazy. And now I feel hypocritical!” “Tell me about it…” the lizardman replied in the same tone. “Thisss is not what I had planned.” They all turned as Redbeard and some pirates charged inside. “Begin lootin’, yer scurvy dogs!” Redbeard shouted. “Scurvy? I'll have you know I wash myself twice a day and I’m abstinent!” the minotaur folded his arms. “Neither am I a dog.” “Yer wanna go ta same way as Old Man Jenkins? Get crackin’!” he ordered. Lind gave a small cough which made the goblin captain turn around. “Oh, urghm… hello everyone. We found yer treasure!” “No shit…” Gorvar said. “Captain Redbeard, we need to find Buch,” Tillian said. “You know where he is?” The goblin smirked and pointed to the ceiling. “Upstairs.”
Buch almost fell from the edge as he was thrown across the roof. He held on to the sharp line of the metalwork but felt his fingers going. Despite his mind telling him not to, his instincts made him look down and he found himself nearly two kilometers in the sky. He was surprised they had both managed the climb so well. He tried to drag himself up but his fingers slipped and he began to fall. But his fall was stopped by an arm which grabbed him around the wrist and pulled him up. “I get to kill you today, not gravity,” Clint said as he pulled up the half-elf and gave him a sword. “Thanks...” Buch replied as he turned to see the Glowing Figure and a big black orc: the chieftain he remembered, interrupting their duel. “Kill the wizard, kill the key!” the Glowing Elf cackled as his left eye began to twitch. “The hell…?” Clint asked as he picked up a pirate’s gun off the ground. “It’s the magic energy!” Buch replied. “The portal’s influence is driving him mad!” “No, not mad!” the Glowing elf replied. “I am more sane now than ever! I see the madness in you all! Why bother living if it all ends in death anyway?!” “Remind me why I’m not shooting this guy yet?” Clint asked. “I’m not stopping you,” Buch replied. “Okay then.” Clint shot the Glowing elf in the chest before charging at him, while Buch focused on the Black orc.
The two fellows fought side by side, but eventually their magic and bullets gave out and the forces of N’Zath began to overcome them. They stood with their backs to the chaos of fighting and death down below. “We stomp you good now!” Gorgutz growled. “Our Lord and Master will enjoy sucking-out your souls….” the Glowing elf smirked. “Any last words?” Clint looked up and saw something falling from the upper floors. He could not help but smirk. “Yes. Knight fall. ” Gorgutz blinked. “Knight fa–?” he tried to say but got turned into one hundred kilos' worth of black orc jelly when the heavy set of enchanted armour landed on him. The Glowing elf hissed as he fell back and summoned several Rascarin to back him up. “Knight, what took you so long?” Clint asked. “I had to cross three battlefields and ask people where you are, my Lord. My apologies for the delay,” Knight replied, his sword and armour showing more blood than metal. “Your orders?” “Simple.” Clint pointed to the elf. “Grab our key for the gateway and kick his ass.”
TBC
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Feb 1, 2013 17:38:24 GMT 1
Chapter 24
The hooded lizard sliced a black orc in half before he led the group to a large pillar. “Jussst a moment. The power in thissss place issssn't what it ussssed to be,” he said as he began pushing buttons, both on his arm and on the pillar in front of him. “What is it?” Lind asked after he sat Lillian down. “An elevator,” the hooded lizard replied. “Thisss will take us to Buch and the other ssssorcerer. Sssaves us the trouble of walking.” “Can I point out to the elephant in the room now?” Gorvar asked after Tillian had made him drink some water. “Why are you here? Buch told us you died.” “Buch wasss wrong,” the hooded lizard replied. “He mussst’ve felt bad about it sssince he did create you...” the hooded lizard turned to the lizardman and hissed. “In my image.” “I always wondered if I'd still be handsome in two hundred years… clearly not.” “Ssssorry to disappoint,” the older Gorvar said. “It’s fine, can't help it,” Gorvar replied. “And this is the oddest conversation I've had in ever. So there's that.” “How come you are still alive urghm… Gorvar?” Lillian asked. “The machine men, they are called droidssss, captured me after we clossssed the gateway from N’Zath. They brought me before their sssssuper computer.” “A super com… puter?” Iron asked, confused. “The hell is that?” “It wasss a… golem of sssorts that ussssed to control Afrikyah. It was active for thousssands of years after the city wasss destroyed. He kept the gateway closssssed, but his power drained. He asssked me to become the watcher and dessstroy the portal. For that to work I need Buch and the Glowing elf,” the older Gorvar said. “Asked?” Tillian remarked. “Forced,” older Gorvar admitted. “He put thingssss in my brain. Chips with software which made me stay here. It isss like mind control, except it never goesss away. He alssssso told me sssseveral things, thingssss you never would believe.” The pillar in front of them opened as the Watcher urged everyone to go in. There was enough room for the party but it did feel rather claustrophobic when the doors closed and they felt themselves going up.
“What things?” Anaise asked. “Thisss city was the lasssst remaining city, after a great war that laid the entire world to assshes. Thissss war caused a… flaw in human reproduction. “The older Gorvar looked at them. “Elvesss, dwarvesss, lizardmen, cathir and even orcsss share the same ancestor.” He pointed to Lind. “Mankind.” “What?!” he exclaimed. “That's bullshit, we look nothing alike!” “I don’t know.” Gorvar smirked. “I thought I saw some of my handsomeness in you there Li– ” “Shut up!” the entire group, save Tillian, shouted at the bard. She merely gave a small smile which shushed the talkative lizard. “I know it isss hard to believe, but it issss true. Why do you think our racesss were able to crossbreed? We all sssshare the same air, walk on two legs. Think,” the Watcher said, “what we call Magic wassss another side effect. Nobody knew how it worked but ssssomehow many were able to influence the elements, time and ssspace and other things... with their minds.” “But… the gods gave us magic. They still give us magic,” Lillian said. “Like I ssssaid, we don’t know how it worksssss,” the Watcher replied. “For all I know sssseveral of the firssst magic ussssers transssended to another plane of being and are doing jusssst that. If creaturessss like N’Zath can exist… why not godsss too?”
“Gods, I need a shroom…” Anaise rubbed her face exhausted. “Might have to join you on that one,” Iron agreed. “All right, now that this is over, d'you think we can stop N’Zath?” “Here we can,” the older Gorvar said as the elevator came to a hold and the doors opened. “If we hurry.”
Buch slammed a Rascarin off the tower with his push spell before he slammed his staff across the Glowing elf’s face. Clint shot several Rascarin in the face with his pirate pistols, but it seemed to have no effect. Ser Knight was down for the count as he was overwhelmed by a mob of the demons. “You die!” The Glowing maniac finally snapped and began throwing powerful magic at Buch without care or control, which made the half-elf fall back a little. The two men left standing went back to back as their enemies surrounded them. “Buch, castling?!” Clint called out as he picked up Knight’s sword. “Deal!” Buch agreed and they swapped enemies. Buch held out his hands which summoned a wave of fire which set the demons ablaze, as Clint slashed at the Glowing elf and deflected his spells with the magic sword and his nerves. “We're a good team, aren’t we?” Clint said as he smacked the elf down. “We are!” Buch agreed. “Never thought I would see the day and live to talk about it.” “The day is young,” Clint replied as he punched the Glowing figure out cold and tied him up. Buch noticed a purple crystal. He peered at it until Clint wasn't watching, then grabbed it and wrapped it up when Clint wasn't watching. He turned when he heard movement and aimed his staff at the newcomers. “Hold your fire!” Lind shouted as he held his hands in the air. “Literally, hold it!” “Lind?” Buch murmured. “How did–” He stopped when he saw the hooded lizardman walk over to him. “Gorvar…?” “Buch,” the lizardman said in his cold voice. “It hassss been a long, long time.” Forgetting himself, Buch smiled and held his old friend in his arms for a moment. “I thought you died!” “I have in more wayssssss than one,” Gorvar said. “I can no longer eat, ssssleep or enjoy warm or cold. I sssimply… am. And that will remain true until the gateway is dessstroyed.” “Destroyed?” Buch asked as Clint pulled up the Glowing elf. “How?” Lillian moved over to Ser Knight and began healing him. Soon the enchanted Golem stood up and gladly took his sword back from Clint. “I will explain when we reach the power plant,” the older Gorvar said. “Now come; the defenssses can hold off N’Zath’s forcesss only for so long.” The Fellowship made their way back to the golden room, fighting through the hordes of black orcs. They heard Emily and Redbeard shouting orders to protect the Fellowship, which they were at least grateful for. They reached the control room again where the barrier was nearly gone and only a few of the machine men were left standing.
“You mind if I sit this one out?” Gorvar asked. “Last time I was in there I nearly died… wasn’t a nice feeling.” “Agreed. Only I can enter this room… and you, Buch.” “Me?” the half-elf asked. “The door closssing program registered you as a usssser when you closssed the gateway. Only your body, and another power source of equal footing, can dessstroy the portal permanently.” “But… that will also kill him,” Tillian noted. “Failing to see the down side of that plan,” Iron said, which got him a few angry glares. “What?” he spat. “Do you all have holes in your memory the size of giant's feet? He tried to kill two of us!” “Still waiting for an apology on that.” Lillian glared at Buch. “Buch is still our friend!” the younger Gorvar said. “He saved our lives hundreds of times in the past! There has to be something we can do to help!” “Gorvar, it’s fine,” Buch said with a sad smile. “You are right, Iron.” “See I tol…” The dwarf blinked at Buch. “What?” “You are right. I did try to kill two of my friends… and I left another one behind.” He looked at the older Gorvar. “I thought I was a hero, doing everything for the greater good… but I was just as bad as this joker here.” He pointed to the cackling Glowing elf. “At least you aren’t glowing in the daylight,” Gorvar said. “So… you're going in there?”
“I want to stop this cycle forever, and I don't want to come back every two hundred years and sacrifice more friends for the privilege. I have committed many sins in the past, sins that I will have to answer for now.” He looked at his Fellowship. “Lind, you are a Prince. The once and future king of Topica. I kept you oblivious to your heritage because I thought you were not ready for it… but you are now.” He handed him a letter. “I got this from your father in the future when he send you to me. It will tell you what to do to reclaim your birthright.” Lind took the letter and nodded at the half-elf. Buch looked at the two magic constructs. “Gorvar, I made you out of a sense of guilt. I know we talked about this before… but I am sorry. Lillian, I made you because I needed someone to keep a eye on Lind and make sure he didn’t pursue his birthright… I hope you will help him now too.” “Don’t you worry, I would never betray my friends,” she said while the younger Gorvar merely nodded. Buch nodded at the others, looking them over. “Iron, we never saw eye to eye on anything…just like I couldn’t with your father. When he asked me to help you I gladly did so and would do it again if I had to. You are a pain in the arse, but also a good friend. I hope we can part as that.” The dwarf gave a small nod as Anaise held his shoulder for comfort. “And Tillian, if there is one thing I am grateful for in the past hundred years it is my friendship with you.” He smiled at her. “I want to thank you for all the times you helped us.” “The feeling is mutual.” She replied. “Although I see logic in your atonement, I wish that you did not pay for them just yet.” “You can never really choose when you pay for something, old friend.” He smiled. “It was an honour to have fought alongside you all. From the bottom of my heart… I thank you. All of you.” He looked at the older Gorvar. “Start up the ritual, There is one more person I need to talk to.” The Watcher nodded and took the Glowing elf from Ser Knight's grasp and dragged him inside the room. Buch motioned Clint to walk with him, which the gunslinger did. “I never thought our little game of wits would end here, to be honest.” “Likewise,” Clint agreed. “Kinda thought I'd shoot you in the face before we got here, partner.” Buch smirked. “Yes….” He looked back at the fellowship before he took the Gunslinger aside. “These people are very close to me Clint. They will look to you now for leadership. Promise me you will do a better job then I did.” “What? Why me?” Clint asked. “You said it yourself. You're the second player and this round is nearly done. New pawns will come in – new knights, Kings and players, and you are the best man I know to pick up my work.” Buch pulled Clint close to him and whispered in his ear as he handed a package to him. Clint took the package, listened and nodded at him. “I will, promise.” “Thank you.” Buch said. The ground began to shake heavily as a insidious roar shook the city and filled everyone’s hearts with fear and dread. “Get them out of here, now!” Buch shouted and jumped at the barrier. Clint nodded and shook everybody up with Ser Knight. The Watcher threw the Glowing Elf in the frenzied mob of Rascarin, and while he pleaded for mercy he only got one common reply from the demons. “I DO NOT ABIDE FAILURE!” As one they tore the image of the elf apart as his magic energy was drained almost instantly from his body and into the room. “This is the end then…” the half elf said to Gorvar as he drew his sword. He already felt his own magic being drained away. “So when I die…?” “Your energy will classssh with theirssss, which will cause a heavy reaction and desssstroy the entire city,” the watcher replied. “This will desssstroy the portal and deny N’Zath accessss.” “All right then…” Buch said as the last machine man fell and got trampled on by Rascarin. The demons roared at them and began to move to them. Buch smiled as he began to sing. “Puppet brother junior.” Gorvar’s cold blue eyes widened as an old memory triggered in him, which made the old lizard smile despite himself. “Puppet brother senior.” “Puppet brother junior!” Buch stepped forward, lifting his sword and staff high. “Puppet brother senior!” Gorvar replied and drew his sword with renewed vigor. “PUPPET BROTHERS!” they both shouted and courageously charged into the dark hordes.
The entire city began to crumble as the fellowship tried to escape it. Tillian, Lillian and Anaise combined their magic to create a bubble strong enough to withstand the falling towers and buildings. Around them the Black Orcs fled as the Pirates made off with what gold they could carry. “I could’ve stayed in bed today!” Gorvar complained. “But no, we had to go save the world!” “For the love of the gods, keep running!” Clint shouted. They ran for what seemed like hours until they reached the outskirts of the city. When they took a moment to regain their breath, they heard nothing. The rumbling had stopped. The air fell silent until a bright light shone, ever so brightly, before it became a fireball which consumed the entire city. The blast knocked everyone of their feet as the ball reached far into the sky. The fire burned like a giant’s bonfire as the Fellowship got to their feet. They all looked at what once was the Lost City of Afrikyah. Some wept for the loss of their friend and mourned his passing.
A few days later, a coffin filled with the remaining clothes of Buch and his favorite pipe was put on a small boat as it was set to sail. The Blue Lady was its sail and the Fellowship stood on its side. Magistrate Hodster and Guard captain Ronnoc, along with many Varharim and Axe Town citizens, paid their respects to the fallen wizard. Even Redbeard and his pirates placed a few of the golden coins of Afrikyah on the boat. Clint stepped forward. “We have come here today to pay our respects to a special man. Not a good man, or a bad man… but a special man. If it were not for him, none of us would have been here today. He was a child of two worlds but that gave him the strength and kindness which we know him for. He had flaws and he made mistakes yes… but in the end he atoned for them. This man I had the privilege of having called my friend, I only have one thing to say. Of all the souls I have met in my travels. His was the most…human. He will not be forgotten.” Clint nodded at Gorvar, who began to play an odd instrument known only to them as bag pipes, which the lizardman knew was Buch’s favorite along with the song which was proper for the moment. The small boat was pushed off into the water as the wind guided it to sea. Clint gave another nod to Tillian, who threw a fireball at the small boat, setting the wood on fire. As the sun began to set, everyone had to fight back their tears. To them an era had ended and an uncertain future awaited them…
Epilogue
“Tell us what happened next, grandfather!” my grandson asks, which is soon picked up by my other grandchildren of course. Well my dears, although this was the end of Halmadir Buhan Everbloom, it was not the end of the Fellowship. In fact Clint, Anaise and even good old Ser Knight joined the Fellowship shortly before their next great adventure, “The Crown of Topica”, but that is for another time. “But what about Captain Redbeard and everybody else, what was that package?” my granddaughter asks. Well, I can give you a little bit more. Axe Town became the capital of the new continent and is now a thriving trade town which connects Varharim, Topica and Van Xia together. Magistrate Hodster still holds his office, along with Ronnoc's help. Those two still have crazy adventures to this day. Captain Redbeard was made Admiral Redbeard by Hodster and is now serving Axe Town as a proper navel officer… with his golden armada of course. I’m sad to say Emily left the Pirate’s life after this adventure, but became the 60th Queen of Varharim, also called The Pirate Queen... and so far has remained the only Queen of King Calious. Varharim began creating airships thanks to an unknown benefactor who survived the chaos at Afrikyah and that is why we have airship travel today. As for the Fellowship…well that is the tricky part. Clint became the new leader of the Fellowship until many years later he retired in his castle. Lind and his wife… well let's say they are living the high life now with their children. All I’m saying on that matter for now. Iron and Anaise gave their relationship another chance and are as far as I know still together. Although their relationship is very dysfunctional it is yet stable. Ser Knight is the current leader of the Fellowship and the only remaining member of the old crew. As for Gorvar and Tillian? Well they decided to settle down in a small village and raise a family there. The old lizard is still telling stories of the good old days to his grandchildren, much to his wife and daughter’s distress. But when anyone asks why he keeps telling those old stories, this old lizard only has one thing to say. Telling stories is a way to keep those alive who passed away a long time ago. And as one puppet brother to another, I owe him that at least.
The End
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