A Grove of Restlessness

[SiriaCessmera]

The afternoon sun sparkled in patterns on the foliage of the forest floor. A young, female wood-elf surveyed her surounding before releasing a call like that of a mourning dove and leaping from her perch among the tangled branches of the old oak. She turned to look back into the masses of twigs in leaves, nodding to the shadows that swayed in anticipation among the treetops.

Returning her gaze back to the path in front of her, the wood-elf crept silently between the tree trunks, pausing every now and then to sense the direction in which she was heading. Soft music seemed to be playing in the distance; she was close and still she remained unnoticed.

"Prepare yourselves, Soilder's of Fortune, you time of peace will soon be ending; these forests will become ours once again," the wood-elf whispered to herself so as to ease her nerves. Her heart beat echoed in her ears, her palms sweated and she pushed her staff in front of her as to protect herself if the need arised. "I can do this," she said softly to herself.

A voice from behind her, startled the wood-elf from her thoughts, "Lets go, Siria. It's time to move!"

[Haliit]

Haliit motioned for Siria to follow him as he crept through the bushes. His wolf walked slightly ahead of him, leading him through the forest. When they were clear of the foilage, Haliit used his hand to sheild his eyes from the sun.

"Right there....that's the camp. Get the rest of the Guard here. We will need all the force we can get, the Soldiers of Fortune have a large army."

[Frosty_Thundertrod]

Frosty sat at the gate of Aldalonde going over his supply wagons.
Most of the guard was attacking the solder of fortune camp,
He and his supply train had A different target.
His charge was to get the wagons safely to there destination near the enemy camp.
For these wagons cared the supplies necessary to convert A fountain from dark to light.

A massager came running up.
“Frosty, The hawk and wolf have moved out. The fox says there is light defenses at the target.”
Said the messenger. Frosty node and said. “Very well accompany us.”
Frosty then called out. “Time to move out soon has we reach the fountain.
Set up A picket line and set your traps. don’t let any solders of fortune near the wagons.”
With that the supply train lurched in to motion with six or the sturdiest fighter in the guard
Has its escort.

[Nevar_Darkmoon]

Looking at the table with many maps of Ganareth, the Half Elf pondered. He could see that that Dark has been gaining more strength for the last months, unchecked, and hoped today.. that would begin to change.

The Guard had been picking off the occasional victories here and there.. but the time had finally come for a full push. The muster was over... War loomed heavy.

Pulling his green hunting leathers off the manaquin, the ranger dressed quickly and unconciously.

Grabbing his bow, the ranger strode out into the bright light. Aldalonde was in full preperations. His order (the order of the Lion) was responsible for defence and had set the city's resources accordingly should the need arrive. The junior members of the order stood at their post in the towers and walls.. nervous, but proud and strong.

Crossing the court-yard, the remain officers and senior ranked members of the guard watched as the wagon train left the gate.

The group, no more than 12 strong stood proud... and very, very calm. You could almost smell the approach of a storm as you came apon them.

"Are we in order?", Nevar asked.

"Yes captain, the defences are in place. Is it time to lend our arms to the battle.?"

Nevar looked at his old friend Talwin, and shook his head at how odd it was that his teacher now took orders from him.

"Lets go.. we are running late. The Hawks and Wolfs will be in place."

Without much sound except for the click of claws on the court-yard cobble stones, the group transforms. Where stood 12 friends... now stood 8 large wolves and 4 immense bears. The group raced like a wind from the gates, heading north to join the comming fray, only the sound of the heavy gates closing wishing them well.

[Edited on 1/12/2003 by Nevar_Darkmoon]

[iseldiera]

The monk looked around herself to find members of her kin. She never felt this stressed for a long time, and a mind full of concerns was the last thing she needed in the situation in front of her. She noticed the Brave behind some bushes, but all of the others were nicely hidden in the shadows.

She waited for Haliit's sign to move closer to the camp, and she eagerly tried to empty her mind, for her only weapon and defense was the coordination of her body and soul.

She moved next to her druidess sister, as silent as possible. If everything went well in about two hours Frosty and the others should reach the fountain. Her mission was not an easy one. She would have to draw the attention of the guardians at the fountain, so Frosty's party could work without any problems. Her kin trusted her swift speed, they always have. She never failed them before but there was a feeling of uneasiness in the air.

She felt something was going to go wrong this evening.

[SiriaCessmera]

Siria startled as someone moved next to her. She recognized her sister kin, Iseldiera, and placed a shaking hand upon her shoulder.

"I'm glad you made it, did you have any trouble?" Siria asked softly in a trembling voice. She closed her eyes adjusting her magic to the nature around her. Softly Siria began to chant, words that echoed like the song of the winds as it whistled through the trees. Iseldiera felt her heart increase its beat; her legs gaining new muscles so that she might carry out her task with swiftness. As the spell ended, Siria too a moment to refocus her sight.

"Isel, here is the plan. Nevar should be arriving soon, I sent Voronwe back to summon him, but until then, you are on your own. I will continue blessing you as you create the distraction, and Haliit is here to mend your wounds if they become too serious..." Siria hushed the two for a moment, listening to make sure no one had heard her. The music continued to play loudly just beyond the tree line.

Siria continued her instruction, "You are to, by no means, kill anyone. We are here only to clear out this land, I want as little blood to be spilled as possible while I am blessing you. Once Nevar arrives, his troops will take care of all who remain to oppress us, killing if absolutly possible. Until then, just stay alive."

Siria hugged her sister tightly for a few moment, tears rolling down her cheeks. She nodded to Iseldiera, and with that the monk was off into the grove that members of the Soldier's of Fortune were currently residing in.

"Be well, Iseldiera."

[VoronweEldalom]

Voronwe takes his hand off of Siria's shoulder and leans in, giving her a soft kiss for good luck.

"Take care love, be safe. Be sure someone gets to the rear of the camp soon to prevent any messengers from running back."

With that, the wood elf ranger leapt silently down from the treetops and began running briskly away from the camp. No relief came to him as he left the enemy's area; this would be a hard night.

At home in the forest, Voronwe effortlessly and almost gleefully ran through the thick underbrush. Leaping, grabbing branches, sliding under trunks, all were parts of the dance to travel unhindered through the forest. He was certain the advancing troop would be shapechanged, so they would have little trouble, either.

While running, Voronwe's mind drifted to the imminent battle, it would be hard. Soldiers of Fortune had been steadily gaining ground in this area for well over a week. They were moving down a corridor rarely traveled by either Light or Dark, and so were capturing mana fountain after mana fountain without confrontation. It would have to stop. Their advancing was passing too close to the Guard's main fortress, and so they had finally attracted attention to themselves.

After the wave of easy victories, the SoF members were enjoying themsleves tonight. But even so, Voronwe doubted that they would let their guard down too much.

The ranger finally broke through the treeline, and into the wide clearing that held Aldalonde - Treehaven. Moments later, Voronwe was nearly run over by a troop of wolves and bears as they ran swiftly towards the forest Voronwe had just emerged from. The wolves looked like they were in their element, while the bears seemed to move with unnatural speed. Things that big should not move so fast, but such was the force of magic.

Voronwe turned and raced to catch up with the lead wolf, who growled in greeting as the two ran parallel.

"The advance group is waiting Nevar. I believe Iseldiera just entered the camp to start unnerving them. I doubt they will catch her, and will count their enemy greater than it actually is, but we do not have long."

Nevar growled again, and amazingly picked up his pace. Voronwe did the same, as did the rest of the odd contingent of TSG troops. They were tireless as they began to move through the forest.

[Aleta]

Glancing at the sun to check the time, Aleta lifted another barrel off the cart she and two others of the Fox had sneaked into the enemy camp and handed it to one of her companions, careful to keep her face somewhat hidden from any nearby guards lest they realize that she was NOT part of their supply chain. The uniform she wore wasn't quite the right fit, it's owner (currently unconscious in one of the barrels) was rather larger than her and there had been no time for any real tailoring. The sword at her side felt rather cumbersome, but she had managed to wrap her true weapon around her waist so it was hidden by the belt, while also filling up the slack effectively making her look a bit heavier than she truly was.
Glancing around, she sighed mentally and thanked the stars that her team had not been more thorouhly searched. Rush jobs like this always had the extra element of danger, but this time the other side was suffering from rather the same problem.
Pretending to stretch, she checked the sun, nodded once at her men and began to direct the cart towards the center of the camp. The three of them kept up a lively banter as they neared the fountain, a ring of soldiers standing around it. As they passed the sentries stationed to protect against, well, HER, she moved the handle of the cart at juuust the right angle to trigger one of the axles they had rigged to collapse.
Dropping the cart, Aleta and the two began fighting as loudly and as obnoxiously as they could, blaming each other for the cart's "accident", she calling them idiots and berating them for slowing down the fortification of the area while they tried to defend themselves and get in the occasional insult.
Kicking a clod of dirt at one of her companions, Aleta put a hand on her "borrowed" sword and pulled it out ever so slowly to enforce her authority... and so the sun's rays hit the cold steel exactly as she wanted, flashing a signal to others hidden in the forest.

[sivitri]

A young elf explorer laying under an old oak tree in the forest resting under the scorching morning sun, whilst waiting for the surrounding to be cooler before setting out on her journeys. She notices the strange disturbance in the forest, reckoning that a big event is about to happen.... But she continues to lay there as if nothing is happening.

[Edited on 1/12/2003 by sivitri]

[Tinok]

As Tinok lay panting under the tree....he again wiped the sweat from his brow. Gods, how could they still be tracking him? What fell, Dark magic were they using? Yes, he had made the minutes of lead time, into an hour or more, but he still could not lead them toward his friends....yet he needed to get this message through to them. He had asked help of the surrounding forest creatures, but as yet, none had been able to get through the SoF magics...

Tinok's thoughts drifted back to three days ago when this chase began. As a new scout with TSG, he was sent to do a routine check of the forests around Aldalone. The coming storm would be begginging in three days time, unless something had changed. The Guard would be sending a very strong message to the Dark minions of SoF. As the young Ranger made his way through the forest, he began to detect a foul smell. What was that? Death, decay....in the Guards forest?! No, no, not yet in the forest...but close.

Moving towrd the forests Northern edges, Tinok looked out on the Meadows that bordered there...what was that?! The grasses here were no longer stood tall and green! Something or someone(s) had tainted the meadow....crawling out of the forest, the smell almost unbearable, Tinok took some of the grass into a pouch..."What fell magic did this?" Movement to the left of him...at the edge of the forest...Half-Trolls! Damn! One had seen him! Time to move, way to many to fight here....Nevar had to hear of this atrocity!

As Tinok began to rise a bolt of some hellish spell seared into his shoulder....Gods, the pain! Looking behind, he saw that there were Human mages with the Half-Trolls. Quickly bringing his Bow around, Tinok let loose with a quick volley...not looking to kill, but to disrupt in order to make good his escape...once he got into the forest some, the SoF group would never be able to find him.....or so he thought....

Thoughts coming back, along with the pain in his shoulder, Tinok tried to think of another move...he could not lead them further into the forest...they were to close behind for that...if he did, they would discover our main camps location before we could stop them from relaying the inforamtion to others...

"Gods, what now?"

[Tasital]

Tasital knew he'd be noticed behind this bush. He watched Isel's approach and preparation for her task. He was human but was often mistaken for a Brave. After all his parents had been human before the wars took them from him. But doubt always lingered. He was bigger than most of his Brothers and Sisters of the Guard. He favored the heavier chain mail over the leather. He used heavier weapons, sword or axe, as opposed to bow. And if he was a Brave that might explain the golden glow of his eyes that were once brown....

"No time for such thoughts," he said. Siria looked at him quizzically. "Old doubts," he said smiling. "I understand," she said knowingly.

"I will take two rangers and make my way to the rear of the camp. No messengers will escape us." She nodded, placed a hand on his arm, and whispered, "Good luck, Brother." He nodded slightly. He pointed to two young ranger bowmen and motioned them to move out. He moved with amazing quickness and stealth for a man of his size. The three moved silently through the brush with determination.

[Edited on 1/12/2003 by Tasital]

[SiriaCessmera]

With that, Tasital had vanished into the shrubbery at the forests end. Siria smiled, hope refilling her soul. "Perhaps we can pull this off after all," she thought to herself with a sigh.

A rustling to the right of her made her heart jump. Someone was running toward her. Wait, no, it was a chase; could one of her kindred be in trouble? Warily, Siria began to stand so as to see what was happening. Without warning, a member of the Guard on scouting duty, Tinok, ran into her.

"Tinok?!" Siria screamed with suprise, before quickly cupping her hands over her mouth to silence herself. Too late. She had alerted the Soldiers of Fortune camp to their position. Siria stood for a moment not breathing as she looked into each of the Soldier's faces, three of whom she knew.

Aleta glared at Siria in anger, before releasing the hilt of the clumbsy sword and with a swift punch to the nearest Soldiers throat, the fight began. "Haliit, help Aleta if you can. Nevar should arrive soon, I just hope we will hold out until then..." Siria instructed in a half daze.

"What about you?" Haliit asked while his wolf was occupied with an oncoming Soldier guard. Siria nodded at the deep wound in Tinok's shoulder, "he's losing a lot of blood, he needs help now." Haliit nodded then jumped from behind his cover to join his wolf in the fight.

Siria carefully removed Tinok's leather shoulder armor, revealing a charred hole. "This may hurt a bit," Siria whispered softly to him. She slid two fingers into the wound, suprisingly Tinok only grimanced a little, he was strong for a ranger. Siria sung softly, feeling her body recieve the blood of nature, as she gave her own health to Tinok. His wound began to shrink, his skin mending back together with help from the blue sparks emitting from Siria's hand.

"Siria, get down, their coming!" Tinok said with new strength. Once again, Siria heard th sound of rustling from beyond the bushes.

[Edited on 1/12/2003 by SiriaCessmera]

[iseldiera]

The monk moved on top of a small mountain east of the camp and tried to understand what was going on. Voronwe's calculations were wrong, there were eight guardians around the fountain and she could spot only one of the hidden archers around the camp.

She had to think of something fast. She looked around herself and found a huge rock which was nicely covered with some bushes. She moved in there and started collecting some rock pieces. She could not carry big ones, so she found some around the size ofa mellon and placed them on top of the slope of the mountain.

Her plan was simple: When Aleta was in position with the fox members, she would roll these stones and help her with the confusion that she is supposed to create. This would give time for another team to move to the back entrance to prevent some messengers, while Siria and the team of shapeshifters would arrive at the scene. Iseldiera would have to draw the fire of the archers and hopefully get the attention of a few guardians, for the sake of Aleta and the stealthy fox members.

She closed her eyes and focused. She let her mind become one with her body and felt her life force in every cell she possessed. With the grace of a lynx and the awareness of a wolf, she started rolling the stones down the slope. The Monk rolled six of them and started a fast run - impossibly fast, thanks to her own training as well as siria's enchantments- towards East.

The stones she rolled gained momentum and started rolling with bigger leaps. One unlucky guardian was hit right behind his head and fell to the ground unconscious. Two of them started running up the hill where the stones came from.

At this moment, she heard a scream from Siria's way. The music in the camp came to a sudden stop.

Iseldiera knew her kin was now in trouble.

"Archers! Do your job!" barked one of the guardians and Iseldiera saw 3 elven figures climbing on top of the watch towers. The Monk knew those were least of her troubles. They had the report of the hidden Lutin archers with the poisinous arrows, always hiding in some shadow, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

One arrow flew harmlessly over her shoulder as the monk dove into a roll. The first guard in front of her was wearing a chain mail suit but her neck was exposed to her disarming blows. She backed away, then evaded another sword slash and punched the guardian in the face. Stunned, the guardian brought her hands towards her bleeding nose and with superb speed the monk moved behind her, and lay her unconscious with a kick at her neck.

She did not have to check the heartbeat of this one, for she was a master in laying an enemy unconscious without having to kill him(or her).

"Take your best shot, archer boys!" She screamed and she started running South East. She could hear the team of the shapeshifters advance, as well as the chaos in the camp full of Soldiers of Fortune trying to prepare themselves for the upcoming battle.

Her instincts told her to duck and another arrow flew above her head. "She is running towards Malekhor's tower! Follow me!" said one of the guards which brought a smile on Iseldiera's face. But that moment of relief cost her dearly, for an arrow nicked her left arm and caused her blood to start spilling. She did not want to leave any trails for her chasers. Running away in time would be no problem thanks to her swift feet but she would have to take a very different course now. Iseldiera noticed the poisonous fluid at the tip of the arrow. "Lutin Archer", she said to herself.

An expression of doom came to her face when she found out that the antidode pouch she was carrying was no longer in her pocket.

[Edited on 1/12/2003 by iseldiera]

[Aleta]

Leaving the one guard gurgling as his lips struggled to draw air, Aleta whirled around with one hand pulling free her whip with a sharp crack, her other signalling her two men to fall back. "For the Guard!!" She bellowed with all the breath in her rather petite frame, raising her weapon to strike as several guards moved forward... only to find herself suddenly on the ground, tripped by the unfamiliar swordbelt. "Siria! Stop rubbing off on me!" Twisting free from the strap of leather across her ankles, she rolled to avoid a sword slashing into the ground where she had lain a moment ago. A swift kick and the guard tumbled back with a broken nose, her discarded sword belt smacking him in the face and bringing him down.

Doing a little flip to rise to her feet, she twirled and a guard cried out in pain as he dropped his blade, blood appearing where her whip had struck his hand. Sliding sidewise, she grabbed the arm of a guard as he thrust at her, giving a vicious twist that broke his arm with an audible crack!, silencing his screams with a quick twist of his helmet that covered his face and kick to the groin that brought him to his knees.
As more guards closed in, her whip formed a dervish around her, lashing and tripping, fists, elbows, knees and feet striking swiftly to incapacitate guards as quickly as she could, remembering the request not to kill anyone- even if it would be so much easier and would have allowed her to have gotten out of here already

Continuing to fight and dodge, she hoped the others arrived soon... Aleta knew she was very good, but even the best could only do so much when a whole camp was rousing to kill them.


[Edited on 2/12/2003 by Aleta]

[Sagares]

The morning air in the forest is crisp and clear, I could smell the mist that a creek in the distance was letting off. I idly whistled to myself as I hauled my weighted down back and belt filled with potions and mixtures after me. I've never been one for those forest trails, only a fool would wander those alone with the wares they carried. I still can't believe what a fool Eldarion was making of himself earlier that morning, scolding me like I'm some little kid because I am short. Well he must be a follower of Hel." I laughed to myself. "That’s right! That explains it! All muscle and not one ounce of intelligence in him!"

My bored mind continued talking to itself, "Ah well, its not like I care about what he thinks, I’m still on my way going about my business as I always do, got me these potions that need selling." I said ni defiance of my leader. "I'm sure the my guild mates will have use of these, at a price though of course. Hummm, I the forest here gets a little dense, bloody bush! I should have brought a short sword and just cut my way through these! Now I have to go 4 kilometers out of my way, and then walk back!"

Two hours later I was hopping rocks to pass a narrow span of a river near the trading post that Andorian was to meet me at. I can now see out in the distance the mana fountain looming high over the trees, I can feel the awesome power of the dark magic embracing me with its soft tingle, Its always a pleasant sight and wonderful feeling, about the only time I feel the gods smiling on me is when there is a magnificent structure such as this in my view.

*splash*

"Shit!" I had to get side tracked! Now I missed the rock! So I swam to the other side of the river and continued on my way to the hut where I am to meet Andorian.

"I wonder what that bastard Andorian has been up too since I was gone, he's always been one to sleep all day and drink all night, come to think of it, he better have a mug of mead ready for me when I get there or there’s going to be one angry gnome for him to deal with!"

In the distance Sagares hears a growl as he fumbles his way up the river bank... He glances side to side to see where it’s coming from, "Strange, Wolves don't roam these parts of the woods, especially since those braves on the other side of the border have a taste for fur lined briefs."

Out of the woods leaps out huge wolf, startling the living shit out of Sagares, Sagares reaches into one of his sleeves and pulls out a dagger which has been carefully dipped in poison earlier and lobs it at the creature. "Damn I missed!" As the Wolf lept once more this time right at Sagares, the gnome rolled out of his way leaving his pack behind. Sagares winced at the sound of glass breaking; his precious potions were rendered a wreck. "Ha you vile beast! See what you did!" yelled Sagares as he watched the beast limp from a shard of glass stuck in its foot. As he was laughing, the pack started to smoke! "Oh sh*T! The fire potions!"

Well Sagares made one hell of a run from the pack and the bewildered beast as the fire made its way into other bottles and caused a loud explosion to hurl the beast, deed in mid-flight, over 10 yards away. At that noise, he heard the deep charismatic voices of braves alert each other to the crater near where the dead wolf laid. With the braves was a wood elf, directing them on what to do, at this site, I knew there was trouble. Not a typical Brave raid that happen every so often in these parts of Ganareth, but a well planned invasion of our territory. At that, I fled as fast as I could, I dropped my belt, and only kept my trusty dagger.

I swam across the river, dodging the site of the invading forces, luckily my height helped out a lot After 25 minutes of running, I came across a traveling party, I grabbed the reigns to their dodo, totally ignoring my fears of a dodo sitting on me, and bounded off in the distance, on my way towards Eldarion and his forces.

An hours since the sightings of the invading forces, I bolt through the gates, disturbing the normal peaceful daze the guards are in, and yelled out to the servants, "Warn Lord Eldarion, We are under attack, A force of Lighties are invading our fountain in the south east!"


I fumbled my way off the dodo, then I ran for the nearest tavern, emptying mug after mug of mead.

[CommanderDelta]

"Wake up lord Eldarion! wake up!"

Eldarion immediatly woke up and, with a quick reflex, grabbed his sword. A Dark-Elf Wizard like him must always expect danger. When he saw that there was only a peasant messenger standing in his room, and there was no immediate danger, he relaxed and sat up at his bed.

"Lord, one of the camps at the border of our kingdom has been attacked!"

Eldarion rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, thanked the messenger for bringing him the news, put his robe on, and walked down the stairs of his fortress in the heart of the SoF Kingdom. When he reached the ground floor, his battle commanders were already there and ready to propose countermeasures.

"Lord, our scouts have informed us that we have been attacked by a group called The Sundered Guard. We propose standard countermeasures! Since we are unaware of the strength of these invaders, I suggest we defend ourselves with full force!"

"Agreed" said Eldarion, "Saddle my wardragons and wardodo's. Send out the word over the kingdom that we are doing a massive counterattack. Every available Soldier should take his part in this attack. We will teleport to the nearest manafountain, set up a camp there, and take our invaded manafountain back. Send messengers to the priests, and let them pray to the Gods, so that we will have the strength to defeat our enemies swiftly".

When Eldarion was done explaining battle tactics, he inspected his own troops, and made himself ready for teleportation. He knew that there would soon be hundreds of troops, ready for battle, commanded by the finest Soldiers of Fortune. He whispered to himself, "poor people, they shouldnt have come here uninvited. Let us learn them a lesson once and for all."

After saying this to himself, he turned around, said a few words in elvish, and teleported to the manafountain near the invaded area. After arriving at the manafountain, he took the liberty to wake up Luin to make him aware of the situation, right before he mounted his dragon and flew to the invaded camp.

[Bluenose]

Luin Nengwi = Bluenose
Eldarion = Delta
_______________________________________

Luin awoke from meditation to hear his close friend speaking to him. This obviously wasent anything unusual, often he would be interupted from meditation by either Eldarion or Denieru, and he was becoming sick of it.

He attempted to clear his head of thoughts while he got up form the floor, but the talking wasent making things easy.

"Give me a second will you!" Luin shouted impatiently to the imposter.

He stood in the empty room of his large stone fortress located in the northern regions of Ganareth, took a few breaths and replied to Eldarion.

"Whats the problem now my impatient friend?" luin said.

Eldarion's voice was now clear and sharp inside his head, and he could tell something was seriously wrong. He has been using this method of communication now for so long that it took little effort, but this time there was something in his tone when he spoke.

Eldarion was speaking clearly but fast, "Ive just been informed that one of our new southern outposts is under attack, it's just started but we need reinforcements there quickly or it will be taken whithin minutes."

At this news Luin was already calling his servents and personal guards, shouting instructions to them while continuously holding the conversation with the other leader of the largest dark force on Ganareth.

"I assume Denieru is currently overseeing things, he wont be happy with that so get him relieved by the Mouse. The teleportation outpost there has been operational for a while, but theres no way they could know that so they wont be expecting us. Im on my way, darkness will fall on our enemies before the night is over."

"Goodluck my friend, Eldarion replied, and with that he was gone.

Luin was now outside in the cool dark air. He loved nights like this, he felt it such as only a dark elf could. The sky was starless with only the dark moon shining down brightly upon them, it gave him strength, but there was no time to appreciate it now. Wondering what kind of light force would attack on a night such as this he betrayed himself with a smile and moved quickly towards the mana fountian a short ditance away from his home. Stopping at it's side, he focused his mind and concentrated on what he would ask her as his strength grew.

Feeling better he left the fountain and ran for the back of his home, as he neared a huge building, what looked to be some kind of shed and ran straight inside. A large roar erupted form whithin, and after a few seconds he reappeared at speed, on the back of a huge black dragon.

The dragon rose a couple of times, circling in the air above his house, nearing the central point. Luin had now decided what to ask, he was always answered and was sure this time would be no diffrent. He kept her happy and she served him well.

As the dragon now made a final turn and flew straight over the tall building, Luin now closed his eyes and started speaking. He hadent asked for her in a long time but now he had no choice. He focused his mind, and began to pray.

At the final moment Luin smiled and opened his eyes. "They shouldint have bothered us on this night. They will feel her wrath."

At that instant he and the dragon were gone.

[Edited on 2/12/2003 by Bluenose]

[Cheese_Mouse]

"YOU! Get some armor on that dodo! YOU! Ready the infantry! We have a war started, we have to move out NOW!"

A swarm of Soldiers rushed around the dark elf, readying for battle.

"Get poison to the archers! YOU! Ready the dodo cavalry!"

As the last of the infantry settled into position behind him, the dark elf stepped out and turned, facing his army. Dodos, hundreds of them, stood in rows behind the infantry, both them and their riders watching their commander's every movement. The dark elf was silent, then with a boom, shouted to the troops. "The Sundered Guard has attacked one of our southern mana fountains. Being as we do not fully know the situation, we shall not teleport there, but march. We are the closest Soldiers of Fortune fort to the attacked fountain. We WILL overwhelm and destroy the enemy! These light newcomers have no place... in a world of darkness... in OUR world, of the Soldiers of Fortune."

With that, the masses cheered, and thrusted into the air their swords, bows, axes, and maces. I pointed foreward over the open meadow. "MARCH!"

The army's armor clanged in rythm as we moved, flags raised, drums booming. The light from the dark moon glinted off the sea of steel helmets. Far in the distance we could see the flicker of fire and the blue aura put off by the mana fountain pulsing. The dark elf looked up to see a mass of dragons, swooping foreward past us in formation, flying so low that one could make out the crest embedded in their armor. He felt the gust of air from their huge wings and smiled. "They have no idea what they've started..." He thought to himself.

[CommanderDelta]

Eldarion flew above the outpost that was being attacked by the forces of the Sundered Guard. He had fought a lot of wars before, and he was confident that this unannounced invasion would be resolved quickly. When nearing the ground, he took a closer look at his enemies. He was suprised to see so many women fighting. It wasn't Eldarion's way to kill women, and he didn't like the idea of having to make an exception today.

Eldarion landed at a fairly calm side of the camp. He stepped off his faithfull dragon, Loki, and whispered some words in it's ear. Loki understood the words, and followed Eldarion closely. Eldarion slowly walked nearer to the battlezone. He decided to investigate what the terrible screams were that he was hearing, from a place not too far away. As he was getting closer to the screaming, he saw what was happening.

A woman of extraordinary beauty was defending herself, using a whip as a weapon. The screams came from the guards surrounding her, who got hit by the whip. Eldarion whistled, and the guards slowly withdrew., leaving Eldarion and his mysterious enemy standing across each other. When Eldarion neared her, she highered her whip. But Eldarion is an experienced wizard, and he jumped out of the range of her whip immediatly. He then grabbed his staff off the back of Loki, and pointed it towards his female enemy. This caused her to be thrown in the air. Using his staff he made sure she landed safely on a stack of hay at the other side of the camp.

When Eldarion was about to turn around, he heard a terrible scream. It seemed that a TSG invader was trying to sneak towards him from the back. But Loki interrupted the enemy, and suprised him with his bfreath of fire. The poor soul nearly vaporized immediatly. "Never attack your enemy from the back" thought Eldarion as he witnessed the death of his enemy, "Fighting without honor is dying without honor". After saying those words, he thightened the grip of his staff, screamed, and ran into the main battle area, followed by Loki. "Let's show this people how to fight!"

[Edited on 2/12/2003 by CommanderDelta]

[Tinok]

Moving out from under the tree, Tinok decided he had enough distance to try to set some traps for his pursuers....if he could slow them some more he knew he could make good his escape, no matter what fell magics they used. Within a half hour, he was off again....now it was time to get home and give them the news...he only hoped it would not be to late.

Tinok ran hard for a few miles, but then began to realize the extent of his injuries.His site became fuzzy and he began to grow listless...soon he was just wandering about, somewhat delirious..."I cannnot give up! I must make it back."

Suddenly, he crashed into something or someone...."Tinok!", he heard a familiar voice yell. All strength then left him and he slumped to the ground. He then felt warmth wash over him, he felt the muscles and bone of his shoulder begin to heal and a renewed strength washed over him. He also quickly relized, that although he had found a familiar face, he was at the location of the attack! "Siria, get down, their coming!", he shouted.

Coming to his feet, he grabbed his boot daggers and took quick aim at an oncoming Guard...both daggers found there mark, felling the Dark mercenary. With know others in site, he knelt back down beside Siria, gave his thanks as he quickly prepared his bow.

"Siria, we have bigger problems on the way...as I was scouting, I came upon a war party from SoF...they were probing the Northern side of the forest."

"They are but a few hours behind me at best and they probably have alerted their main forces...maybe we should retreat and re-group?"

Tinok stood then and looked for another target....he now saw three Elven Archers atop the nearest tower....he fired a quick volley from right to left. The first shot hit the wooden wall below archer one, the second hit archer two in the left hip and the third flew truest....burying itself nearly feather deep in the third archers throat..."That should give Iseldiera some breathing room.", he mumbled.

"Siria, our main force has not yet arrived and I helped to ruin our chance at surprise, should we not go now?"

[Cheese_Mouse]

As the army approached the fort, the carnage could be seen. "CHARGE!" the dark elf yelled, and hundreds of feet pounded past him. He sank his hands and arms into his cloak and let his hood cover his head.

"Polda lugni!" The dark elf chanted beneath his hood, and as he removed it, his eyes glowed a deep blue, and as he took his hands from beneath his cloak, they looked as if they had been set aflame with the same blue. He spread his arms.

"Nuruhuine tul!" He shouteded, head back. The ground beneath him began to rumble as a large skeletal beast rose from the soil. As it emerged, the dark elf sat on it's back and drew his sword. He gave a yell and dust fell from the beast's frame as it sprinted into battle. The dark elf swung out his sword, slicing clean in half a light elf, his blood glistening. Smoke bollowed from the hollow skull of the beast, as it charged through the fighting. The beast slid to a halt next to Eldarion.

"Sir, infantry, dodo cavalry, and archers from our fort just west of here have arrived."

"Good!" he shouted back, as he blasted a light elf with his staff.

The dark elf nodded quickly to his leader, and turned the beast, who's head swung into a light intruder, knocking him to the ground. The dark elf looked from the weaponless fighter, to his summon, who had the elf's sword stuck through its eye socket and out the bottom of its jaw.

"You cannot kill something... that is already dead." And the beast tore into the elf's body. Strips of flesh hung from it's teeth and blood dripped down it's frame.

The dark elf laughed and pulled the sword from the beast's skull, flinging it to the dead elf so that it landed with a satisfying squish as it pierced the elf's already shreaded body.

[Edited on 2/12/2003 by Cheese_Mouse]

[shortmuff]

"Thulza! Wake up, the war is on!" the soldier shouted. "The light has attacked one of our mana fountans, your lord needs you and your bow." Thulza lets out a roar only half-orc would, thinking this is a good day to die.

"Bring me my bow and armor, I'm ready to serve my lord and master. How close is the enemy now?"

"They are at our camp far to the south" says the soldier.
Thulza runs out of his quarters, and to his faithfull dragon, Doom. "Off we go my friend, lets help our SoF friends."

"First a over look at the battlefield." Thulza thinks to himself. "and I need to find CM, my friend and mentor." He finds CM shouting orders to his soliders. As he lands the on the field, Thulza runs up to him. "Where am I needed?"
"We need a high point to take out some on-coming attackers." CM says quickly. "Glad to have you with us."

Adrenaline rushing through his veins, Thulza charges onto the battlefield, his bow in hand, ready to fight. Toughts run through his head, looking for the perfect spot to shoot from. There, a tower. Thulza runs up the ladder, sets an arrow, and aims his bow, letting one after another fly, showering the on-coming Light troops in a storm of arrows.

[Sagares]

A servant Rush's through the shambling door of the poor excuse of a tavern that Sagares was passed out on the floor of. "Woah, what a run down shack!" exclaimed the servant. A cough was heard from the hearth of the tavern Looking over and seeing the owner sitting there, listening to the servants last remark, made him blush in embarrassment. Luckily the owner kept quiet due to the royal Crest of Lord Eldarion embroidered on the servants shirt.

"What is it you need," said the relaxed barkeep.

"Lord Eldarion wishes for all active members of his guild to be called to arms, is there any residing here or in the inn above?" replied the servant with a hint of urgency.

"Well there's just the one," said the barkeep as he pointed to the passed out Sagares on the floor.

"Him?!" exclaimed the servant, "That pathetic gnome is one of the Soldiers of Fortune?!"

"He don't look like much, I agree with you there, but this 'alchemist' is no simple merchant either, he's been serving the Lord since he ever laid foot in this miskept fort."

"Well when he wakes, and seems sober enough mind you, tell him to get his arse out of here and report to Luin Nengwi." said the servant to the barkeep.

"Aye, I'll do as you asked, but please put a good word in about me with ye lord there. Good Day young sir." replied the barkeep.

After the Servant left the room, the barkeep dragged the drunk gnome to the far corner of the tavern and propped him against the wall. Sagares still laid asleep as the night hours started to set in and the first evening customers entered the shelter of the tavern. Hearing unknown voices and random laughter surrounding him, Sagares startles awake finally. At the sight of his eyes opening, a voice of a dwarf sitting at the bar yells, "I win, pay up guys! Hurry too, before that harlot runs off with another man!" Laughing and downing the last of his mead, the dwarf receives a few coppers and a couple silvers then runs out the door with a jolly skip in his step.

Sagares waddles over to the bar, "What was that all about?"

"Well, since you were sleeping there for hours, we set a pool up to see who can guess what hour you would wake up at. Despite my prayers to Zephyr, you held out for an hour longer then I hoped for." Claimed the human.

Sagares just shrugged and the barkeep ran over to him and told him what was needed of him. "Oh great! the lord scolds me about my lack of involvement, then I do my rightful duty and report an attack to the kingdom, and he still expects more of me!" grunted Sagares. As Sagares leaves, he tosses a gold piece to the barkeep and thanks him for his hospitality.

Reporting to West Barracks in the keep, Sagares searches for a commander to inquire about Luin Negwi. "What can I do for ya," yells the commander. "I'm looking for Luin, have you seen him around?" responds Sagares. "Well I hate to break this to you, he was one of the first ones leaving the keep when the news arrived. He mounted a dragon and went south with his elite guard following behind him."

"Oh just what I need, another thing to be chewed out about, being late for a battle! Get my equipment commander, It's in the chest in front of bunk 13 in room 7 of this barracks... What are you waiting for commander! I AM NOT KIDDING! I’ll be saddling a war dodo in the stables."

Sagares ran off to the stables and started to sweat at the thought of saddling the dodo, must have been that weird fear of a dodo sitting on him. As he was pulling the leather straps around the dodo's beak, getting rid of that horrid spade bit untrained fools use on the poor animals, the command comes running in with Sagares's bundle of clothing. "Put it down over there, Unravel it, and start separating armor from weapons and items. Prepare my belt, make sure I have at least 6 potions of healing in there, its going to be a long night. And also throw in 3 antidotes and 2 fire potions. The rest throw in the pack in case I need them. Fill the Quiver too please." As soon as the gnome was done saddling the dodo he started arming himself.

Within 10 minutes, Sagares was galloping at full pace out of the keep, startling the guards for the second time this day. His cackling making the hairs on their neck stand on end. "Ahhh the smell of burning wood in the cool night air always invigorates me!!!" Clad in his all black armor and armed with his daggers, short sword and short bow, this rogue was ready for battle.

Villagers surrounding the keep stopped in their tracks at the irregular site of a gnome galloping by them on a war dodo. Once clear of the houses, Sagares was finally able to take advantage of his rare black dodo and blend into the night sky like he was so used to doing. As the forest neared, you could see the excitement filling Sagares, his reigns were held tight enough to make his knuckles white, and the grin on his face was for sure not the look that a sane person would have.

As the region where Sagares's sighting took place approached Sagares slowed his pace to not alarm any beings near by, As the river entered his vision, Sagares dismounted, "GIT!" demanded Sagares to the dodo, at that, the bird rushed off into the night, away from the conflict zone. Sagares was here to stay for the sole purpose of shedding the blood of his enemies, he didn't want them using his bird to flee from him. "Ha, that’s what these vermin do! they flee at the sight of any true might!" said Sagares agreeing with his thoughts.

"Alright, my first objective, get to the trading hut and secure the area, that way any allies in the area have a place for a breather when needed," thought Sagares. He sat in the brush, listening, making sure he could not hear any other noises that don't belong in the night. When he was sure, he headed for the rock crossing and hopped his way across, although with this time, he used extreme concentration.

Sagares avoided where he encountered the wolf earlier, and made his way to the hut. In the Distance, He heard the Roar of what can only be a war bear, "ahh so it seems we have a beast master on the enemy side, all the more fun!" mumbled Sagares to himself.

arming his short bow with an arrow, he ran off into the forest with his sure foot glide, "For once, help me guide my arrows tonight Aesir," prayed Sagares as he looked at the blow of the cold demon twinkling in the sky."

Bursting into a clearing he did not expect, Sagares almost ran right into the bear, startled, he let the arrow loose and he nailed the equally startled beast in the shoulder. Sagares Cursed to himself and quickly armed another arrow as the bear raised to his hind feet and let out a battle cry. "Thank the gods that these beasts no nothing of defending themselves," and at that, Sagares released the arrow and it lodged right between the ribs of the beast and pierced the heart. The Bear tried to paw at the wound but only managed to tear the wound open more, it roared in agony and Sagares approached with his dagger drawn, then dove on the bears back and slammed the dagger at the base of its neck, severing its spinal column and its trachea at once. The Beast passed out and died with Sagares still on its back. Wiping the Dagger on the bears fur, Sagares clips off an ear of the controlled beast and tosses it in its pouch.

Now moving more to the east towards the hut, Sagares is enjoying the adrenaline that is still pumping through his veins. Al he can here is *THUD THUD* *THUD THUD* echoing in his ears as he nears the lit hut. Outside the main entrance is a half asleep half-troll resting a club against its knees. "Now there has to be a scout around here someplace, and there should be about 2 people inside judging from the fogged up windows," contemplated Sagares.

Circling the hut and moving away from it slowly, Sagares Scoured the surrounding forest in search for a scout or two, behind him, he hears the sound of a heavy weight suddenly snapping a twig, as fast as he could, Sagares dropped to the ground in a half spin, loosed one of the few poison tipped arrows he had and heard the soft grunt of an Half elf getting hit. "Got him!" exclaimed Sagares as he approached the body barely moving.

"Ha lookie this! A woman, looks like the lights are getting desperate and using their limited female rangers!" As he went to check the pulse, she lashed out with the last strength she had and sliced Sagares across the chest. Sagares Winced at the burning sensation and as he slammed his dagger in her throat. "Holy Gothar! a little lower she would have gutted me! Thank gothar for the invention of Ribs!" Sagares bandaged his wound as quickly as he could and got on his way.

Back to the hut he went, and thankfully, that lazy half troll still sat there at the entrance, still dazed. With his acute accuracy, Sagares was able to launch an arrow right through the Half trolls Temples, Killing it without a sound, well except for the *twang* of the bow string and the thud of the arrow hitting, but hey, there’s a half troll out there, there will be noises. "YEA! what a shot, he didn't even budge from the chair, that’s two down, about two more left inside!"

Sagares was walking around the side of the house to peak in a window, when he heard battle cries in the distance, "Ahhh They are fighting their ways towards me, with luck I'll clear this are before they approach so I can pick them off from inside well the Lords men hacks them too pieces from the other side." whispered Sagares to himself. Just then, a wood elf burst out the door and ran into the distance, Sagares lobbed an arrow her way, but he missed by a long shot, "GRRR! that one looked high ranking too! Ah well, I'll make easy work of the one inside!"

Sagares Draws his Short sword and dashes inside to meet an injured Brave who just had a his arm amputated! The Injured Brave and the Gnome stared at each other for a moment before the brave snatched up a Sword with his only arm. "You will die wee one!" declared the enraged brave. "Gothar himself fills my veins with might! I'll slay you as easily as I would throw a dwarf!"

Sagares isn't much for pre-battle Bravado talk, he just charged right in, sword in hand. potions ready. The Brave Swung his sword down right where Sagares was moments before, getting the sword stuck in the floor boards. As Sagares Goes in for a quick stab, the brave lets go of the sword handle and backhands the gnome into the far wall, breaking two of his healing potions as he hit. "Guess this is a better time then any to take one of the remaining potions, "Sagares said to himself as he gulped down a healing potion. He sprung right back to his feet after that as the brave broke the sword free form the floor boards.

The Brave and the gnome parried, dodged and lounged at each other for some time now and Sagares studied his injured opponent. "He seems to be favoring his right leg and when he swings his sword, and he puts too much power in his swing for a quick recovery," thought Sagares. Judging from the movement of the Braves feet, Sagares bolted between the braves legs right when it committed to his swing and hamstringed the fanatic. Letting out a grunt of pain as he tumbled to the ground, the brave managed to get a weak back swing in Sagares's thigh. Gritting his teeth, Sagares laughed, "Well look at this, A gnome defeating a brave, you'll hear of this in your lives to come for sure." At that, Sagares backed away and loosed an arrow at the Braves head, and listened with satisfaction at the thud of the arrow hitting its mark, and then the thud of the braves head bouncing off the floorboards.

Hearing The battle outside near, Sagares downed another potion and headed for outside, seeing the fight closing in to his position, he readied arrows and fire potions for the defense of the structure.

[Aleta]

Rising from the stack of hay, plucking a piece from out of her backside with a sigh of distate, Aleta looks out at all the forces arrayed before her. Rolling her eyes, she slowly shakes her head.

"Wow, I don't think anyone's ever given me a compliment like THIS before. They brought their whole army just for the handful of us... truly flattering." Watching for a few minutes, her eyes grow cold as she sees the two trainees she had brought be slaughtered. Knuckles white on her whip, she whispers softly. "They now belong to the forest..." Allowing a single tear for the fallen, Aleta curses herself for listening to Siria and sparing the guards. Tilting her head back, she screamed as loud as she could. The feral sound echoed through the forest, shaking boughs and waking sleeping creatures. Heads turned to look at her, hardly able to believe that such a cry could have come from her throat. Silence suddenly descended as activity stopped and stared. Grinning sheepishly, Aleta gave a little wave.

Arrows peppered the hay, but she was already moving. Dashing between a column of troops, she streaked across the field. Jumping in the air, Aleta landed on the shoulders of a very surprised officer. Twisting her body and then dismounting with a graceful flip in one fluid move, she left him slumping to the ground in a boneless heap with his neck cleanly snapped in two. Sliding between the legs of another, she drew the dagger from his belt and expertly rammed the tip through the back of the joint in his greaves. Rising with a cartwheel, she lashes out with her whip, uttering a syllable that hardens the tip into a blade the shape of a leaf.

Spotting the one whose dragon had killed one of the boys, she snarled a war-cry and sprinted towards him, diving under a blast of flame that scorched her back, baring her back and leaving a blistered trail of skin. Pushing off the ground with both hands, she tackled him, knocking his staff from his hand. Wrapping her whip around his neck, she wrenched him to his feet and held him immobile. Aleta's word came swiftly, pouring from her lips in a venomous stream by his ear.

"Bastard! I'd been making a point not to cause any permanent damage to your troops, but you had to kill him. Yet to see his twentieth summer, but I'm sure you don't care. You spoke of honor after his death... yet you started the bloodshed. All of this is on your head. Every death. And where is the honor in attacking in such numbers against so few that were not even killing your men? I think you should try some herbal teas... might help you relax a bit. Do you some good." Glancing at those about to intervene, she sighed. "No manners... butting in on a friendly conversation. I'd love to stay and chat, but for some reason I'm feeling as though I am not wanted. Before I go, I have something for you to remember me by." With that, she stabbed Eldarion in the right buttock with a piece of hay, her whip no longer around his neck and with a quick move sending him collding with troops coming to his aid.

Dodging more attacks, she faded away as he picked himself up.

[SiriaCessmera]

Tinok's words became muffled as Siria watched the hordes of Soldier of Fortune members bound into view. Why such a large army for a small attack as this one was? Siria smirked with this thought, she took the Soldier's massive defense as a compliment, they were afraid and would resort to numbers of minions than actual skills of hand to hand.

Tinok too turned his gaze in Siria's direction, just in time to see one of the guards members brutely run through with a sword. A small gasp came from Siria, as she watched this morbid slaying. Thoughts began to run through her head,

"They killed? On my command I had stopped from any slayings on this tender land, but here they have so mercilessly spilled blood? I...I stopped, they have not? I...I..." she continued to reason with herself, but no longer could she keep the blood from staining the soil. Everything began to move slower, her heart beat was all that echoed in her ears - she was through restraining. Her bones began to twist and expand, her eyes burned as they adjusted to new sight and her breathe came quick and heavy.

She had allowed Nature's fury to enter her, and where stood a wood-elf moments earlier, now was a large, fierce black panther. Licking her chops, Siria glanced at Tinok then back to the battlefield; she longed to kill them all, such feelings that she normally restrained for a reason.

With a growl, Siria pushed her paws against the ground and leaped toward the savage Soldier who had killed her kin. Pouncing on his chest, Siria positioned her mouth around his neck, halting her attack for mere seconds so as to appreciate the fear that filled his eyes. As he tried to scream out for help, Siria bit down hard on his throat, watching his mouth foam before tearing out the rest of it.

Another Soilder fell to the left of her. Looking up Siria saw Tinok smiling at her with renewed confidence; there eyes meeting in a private moment of victory before Tinok ran out to meet with another Soldier. Siria bounded towards the center of the battle, looking for where to aid. Her eyes lay momentarily on her sister, Aleta, whom was currently standing ontop of a Soldier, taunting him with relish. Aleta obviously was handling herself just fine.

Suddenly Siria felt a pain of sorrow as her elven form began to emerge once again. She began to hurt for the Soldier she had just killed. She returned back to her normal shape, loosing her hate and blood lust and once again feeling connected to all things living. As she changed back, a DoDo rider came full force towards her, giving Siria only moments to react. She held out her hand toward the oncoming creature, connecting her soul to its own. With a jerk, the DoDo halted mid-run, throwing its rider into the same stack of hay Aleta had just been thrown upon.

As two more Soldiers came towards her, Siria summoned herself to the position of her lover, Voronwe. He didn't startle as he could sense her presence. He opened his mouth to speak but she quickly covered it with her hand, "Voronwe, we have an advantage..."



[Edited on 2/12/2003 by SiriaCessmera]

[Edited on 2/12/2003 by SiriaCessmera]

[Taspharel]

Taspharelel sat on a branch in the midst of the woods surrounding the Enemies City. All this life around her made her feel ill, her nerves tingling with the sensation of real life energy flowing all around her. These perverted elves and druids really LIKED that kind of living.
Taspharelel stretched her wings that where hurting from the long flight she had already behind her and thought about the days of traveling that lay behind her. her anxiousness had grown with every mile she had come closer to their town.
One time, they had almost caught her, she had seen a long trail of waggons pass her and if she hadnt jumped into a deep and swampy water hole right next to the way they would have for sure caught her and done the worst of things to her.
But they hadn't seen her. And now she was almost where she wanted to come to. All the training, all the years of hard work and all her spilled blood and the friends she had lost had made her hard. And good. she was sure there was nobody equally cunning in all the explorers areas of work.
her thoughts focussed back onto the work laying before her. First, she had just gotten the Order from Caveo to check out their ressources and see if their city had any weak points. But seeing all those warriors pass by her had made her think. Maybe there was a lot more to get for her and for SoF today. At the same time she was worried. she was not able to send out a warning to her friends in the Outpost. she just had to thrust them that they would manage to fight the enemy back.
Taspharelel spread her wings and with a powerful stroke of her faery wings she flew back up between the branches of the trees. Once arrived up there, she started flying towards the city again. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw one of her summoned undead follow her deep below, the plants and flowers greying around it, small birds suddenly falling dead from the trees. It was too loud and Taspharel would have to make a new and better one once she had the time to do so. But at the moment she had no time for such thoughts. The city lay before her as she broke through the branches of one of the trees standing right by the clearing that surrounded the city. she immediately stopped and backed up some, just far enough so as to not be seen by any guards that might still be positioned on the walls of the city.
she had to prepare. Taspharelel dropped every part of her equippment that could make any noise, dropped all of her metall parts into a treehole and struck one of the trees roots hard and deep enough to kill the tree, after all, she didnt want her stuff to be "infected" by this life-energy all around her. Then she flew back up and took a closer look at the city.
she laughed. All she could see were some young Members of the enemies army. But right after she laughed she noticed that they were stronger than she had first thought. Their movements looked very trained and she suddenly wasnt sure anymore wether she alone would have a chance to fight through all of them.
she needed some help. Flying back about half a mile into the forests she found a small clearing. she prepared everything. Taspharelel started mumbling a chant. her wings unfolding and moving slightly, feeling her mana energy flowing out of her. There was a mana tower nearby, but it was Light Mana. Disgusting. she feeled so weak and knew that she would have to sacrifice her stronger companion that was still standing hidden in the shadows behind her.
But it worked, a portal opened, right over to her friend and leader Caveo and a few of her men that where hopefully still waiting for her to call them over. she threw a small piece of metall over that carried the SoF's crest. They would know what to do.
Then she flew back to the tree she had put her stuff into. The trees leaves had started hanging and it felt much better standing next to it already. Taspharel grabbed into it and pulled out a small bottle with a brownish fluid that she had gotten from Sagares.
"NEVER open the bottle and smell at it, dont even think of it you dont. It will kill you the instance you breath in even a slight amount of its fumes. Only if it is mixed with water it looses its smell and colour, poisoning everything that drinks from the water it touched."
she grinned slightly. Those Young Enemies that had chosen the wrong side where going to live a big surprise. Or better: They where going to DIE it very soon.
Waiting for the night to come, she flew away as the sun started dropping below the horizon, flying carefully and slowly close to the citys walls and flying around them until she reached the small creek that supplied them with fresh water from the mountains.
A small *plopp* was heard when she opened the bottle and, holding her breath and painfully watching that no drop of the fluid touched her skin, poured it into the water. Then she flew back to the clearing she had opened the portal into and with a broad smile on her face sat there and listened for sounds from the fortress. she expected to hear the first ppl screaming after an hour at latest. And till then Caveo and / or some of her men should have arrived already. This was going to be a good night. A night where another part of the Light would die. Forever.

[Edited on 3/12/2003 by Taspharel]

[VoronweEldalom]

The tireless pack continued to run, not into the camp, but around it. They were going to flank the army that was approaching from the north.

Voronwe felt something though, an image flashed through his mind, and he nearly panicked. Siria transformed. In a short moment the feeling was gone, but Voronwe knew that she was in danger.

Turning his head to Nevar, still leading the pack in wolf form, Voronwe spoke, "I am needed, my life bond to Siria calls."

With that, he veered off the pack's path, and straight towards the camp. He picked up his speed, and ran at a pace that would soon tire him out. Foolish, but he did not care. He could hear some sounds of battle, already. Not much, it was obvious the Guard was rimming the camp still, not plunging into it yet. This did not ease Voronwe's mind though, SoF would likely react with a great show of force, taken by surprise as they were. Voronwe could only hope Nevar's pack would help with blocking the reinforcements.

Voronwe's mind eased a moment later, however, as he felt the connection between Siria and himself grow stronger. He knew what was about to come, and stopped running.

A rush of air blew across his body as Siria suddenly stood beside him. Before he could say anything, she cupped a hand across his mouth. "Voronwe, we have an advantage..."

The two elves ran to the outskirts of the camp. Voronwe was glad to see Haliit and his group of druids still hidden amidst the trees, not injured.

"Haliit! Look to the sky!" Haliit did, and smiled as he saw the light moon cresting over the horizon, giving chase to the dark fragment. Haliit knew what was coming.

"Begin to call the sky, localize winds and heavy fog in the camp. Avoid any damaging spells though, we have people in there. They have many mounts approaching, we'll do our best to impeed them, though some of them are dragons."

A dodo, obviously not a warmount as it was unarmored, wandered close to the treeline where they were hid. Perfect. Voronwe approached it, coaxing it with his movements and sounds. It cocked its head and made a cheerful chirp sound as Voronwe reached out to touch it.

"I'm sorry to have to do this." Voronwe thrust his hand to the back of its neck, not physically harming it, but engaging a harsh link with its mind. In moments, the beast's eyes were dilated, and it began to tremble with terror. Voronwe released his hold on it, and it ran, crying, away - into the camp. The poor bird would spread its fear rapidly amidst the warmounts now approaching. They did not scare easily, but Voronwe hoped the terror he instilled would touch the mounts deeper than any training.

Violent wind started to descend upon the camp, and soon the building's outlines became blurred by the dust billowing up.

[Denieru]

The dark elf made his way through the forest. The order had gone out hours earlier by Master Eldarion but certain events had caused his departure to be delayed. He could sense the disturbance ahead. He was dressed in his dark cloak and carried his walking staff, he had no need of armour made of metal, the shadows would aid him if needed.
He cursed the council under his breath for preventing him from continuing his research and had called him out on this simple mission. He knew one of the camps had been attacked but that was to be expected, whoever was responsible for this attack could surely be handled by the regular militia. You do not kill an ant with a sword, you crush it under your boot.

As Denieru got closer he could hear the sounds of battle in the distance. He was surprised by the fierceness of the battle, by the sounds of it there were more people involved than he had anticipated. Perhaps this would prove a worthy distraction of his studies and a much needed practice of his skills. Suddenly a figure emerged from the treeline ahead, someone was running from the battle.

Denieru released the spell concealing his presence and stepped out into an open spot.
"Stop friend! What are you running from? Is there danger ahead!?"
The figure stopped dead in his tracks and quickly pulled a short sword from his side. He was dressed like a ranger and was most likely an archer. The archer took one look at the stranger, his face was concealed under his cloak but he seemed unarmed.
"Careful stranger! These are dangerous woods at the moment. There is battle up ahead, I suggest you turn back and continue on another path. It is not safe here for anyone!"
Denieru slowly moved closer.
"Really? I must thank you for this information. I suppose now that I should torture you and extract every little bit of knowledge about our attackers you could possibly have, but judging from your character I suspect I would be wasting my time."
As he spoke the words he began preparing a spell and let his hood down to reveal his dark elf nature.
"A dark elf! You are one of them! I shall..."
His words were cut short as the lightning spell hit him square in the chest causing him to be lifted of the ground and flung backwards into a tree. He slumped to the ground in a smoking heap of melted skin and burnt cloathing.
The battle is still raging, perhaps there is more worthy opponents to be found, Denieru thought to himself. He pulled back his hood and shadows emerged to encircle his figure, wrapping him in concealing darkness. The shadow form moved closer towards battle.

[Nevar_Darkmoon]

The pack ran with the power of Zephyr fueling their blood. Voronwe, ran swiftly beside.. barely touching the ground.

Night had fallen.. and the Dark moon hung shattered in the sky.

They must think we are fools to attack on the night they "believe" to be cosmologicaly alligned... obviously they do not follow the star charts well enough.

Looking to the western horizon, a pale white glow could be seen just above the trees.

Soon, the Light will come.

The smell of burning snapped Nevar's lupine nose back to the north. The stink of dragons, and the charred putrience of burnt flesh and blood briefed him on what was swiftly coming up. The smell was like a ripple through the pack, they knew things where now moving faster than they planed for. They were going to be hard pressed to hold till the forest could be called when the clean mana of the Light eclipsed the dark.

Voronwe, racing beside spoke without loss of breath, "I am needed, my life bond to Siria calls." and the ranger was gone.

Cresting the ridge, the pack did not falter. They where facing the left edge of the Soldier of Fortunes heavy dodo calvalry. Not a sound came from the pack, no howls, no growls.. just the soft, rapid padding of paws in the dew wet grass.

Shadows from the fires toyed with the light, the enemies armour shone like diamonds, reflecting the fire, making them easy to see.

The first 8 dodoes fell before they even realised they had foes apon them. The wolves tore through the soft bellies of their mounts, saddle straps rending with eldritch strength. The bulk of the bears followed up, they shatter steel armour as easy as bone and flesh. Another 10 fell... nothing but screams and squawks.

The pack than left the calvary as they attempted to turn and face the new attack. Zephyr's magic still flowed through the pack... the glowing of tattoos shone brightly from beneath their blood-matted fur.

Reeling towards the mana tower an immense dragon was turning to face them; the commotion had caught its keen ears. Nevar saw a Dark Elf standing, looking the other way, staff glowing fierce as he thrust it into the air. A few elves, caught in the zeal of battle rushed the dragon before the pack could close the gap. Dragon fire glazed the ground to glass... and all but cindering the elves. The bright dragon fire must have dazzled the dark elf for he did nothing, he had to see us coming, but did nothing. The dragon did though.. and again fire spewed from its maw. Tattoos of Calder flared bright on many of the pack... their magic spent but sparing them the brunt of the fire. Nevar could hear the fumbled steps of a few in the pack as they fell to the flames, but the bulk pressed forward. The dark elf's eyes wide at the tenacity of this group... racing across the glowing hot ground. Two wolves and a bear hit the caster... the bear shattering the staff in his maw and wolves just nipping to keep him distracted. The rest of the pack focused on the Dragon.

To the west, the first tip of the Light moon crested the mountains shining bright.

Fur changed to armour, claws to swords, axes and bows. Where stood 6 beasts now stood 5 men and 1 woman. Now the bellows of war where called out, now the screams of blood lust lifted from the pack. "FOR THE SUNDERED GUARD!"

Blows rang against the dragon’s hide... arrows flew to the soft spots of the eyes, wing joints, and belly. The dragon could not breath its death here... its master would be consumed with the rest of us. The bear and wolves continued pester the caster... the moment he would ready a spell, they would press their attacks. Small rivulets of blood ran down the dark elf’s face and arms, shining like silver in the firelight.

The dragon began to faulter. Three more of the pack lay motionless, one still pressed under the beast's claw. Nevar began the incantation... the time was close, the main attack was due. Releasing an arrow laced with the icy death magic of Aesir, Nevar let fly. The bolt was not meant to kill... it would not have the strength to do that... but it did its job, and did it well. A blazing blue, white flash flared... where once was hell with fire and death, now stood winter wonderland. The dragon frozen and the ground covered in a slick hoar frost and a gentle snow falling in the immediate area.

The pack fled... it was time to do other things. It was a costly diversion... 5 of the 12 lay back in that field, the snowy mounds marking their graves.

Breathing hard now... the group broke into pairs... and blended away into the forest around.

The bright white light of the Light moon was full in the sky now. Soon, very soon the eclipse would begin.

[Denieru]

Denieru watched as the Light Moon began to rise, the enemy must have foreseen this and planned their attack carefully. A strategic move which showed of atleast basic knowledge of the stars. The shadows surrounding his body quivered for a moment under the rays of light. He had to spend more mana, increasing the force of his magic, to maintain his concealment.

As he closed the distance to the battle he saw a black dragon frozen to the ground. Surrounding it were five dead bodies, slain by the beast. Denieru moved closer and discovered that the dead bodies were of elven kin and that they all shared similar tattoos, suggesting they were druids of some form. Denieru laid his hand on one of the freshly slain elves and a soft glow emerged, for a moment the tattoos on the dead body flared into light and then died away. He had picked up the scent of their magic now. He let his mind expand, ignoring the sounds of battle, and searched for the other links of this newly broken chain. He could see them as dots of light in a grey mist, they had split up into pars. One of them shone with greater force than the rest, his light guiding the others. Focusing his senses to the leader he opened his eyes, this one will be mine tonight, he thought to himsef.
He began the hunt...

[Frosty_Thundertrod]

The wagon train had been making good time.
It was two thirds of the way there.
But the all clear signal had not yet been received.
The fork in the road was just ahead.
Frosty ordered the wagon train to halt.

He scanned the area around him for any singes of the messenger.
But did not see any thing. But Frosty knew that eyes where easy to fool.
Frosty wanted to be sure the messenger was not hiding some where near by injured.
Frosty began to release the bonds that bind his sole to his body.
Has he did it expanded to fill all the space around him.

Frosty was looking for A bearer A place that he could not enter.
The one sure sine that A living person was there.
But there was none, so he began to force himself back in to his body.
After the freedom of being so large getting all of his soul back in his body.
Was like tiring to put on A pair of boot that where to small.
One day I will have served my prepuce and I will be able to let my self expand.
Completely for in this day and age that was the only way to die.

Now frosty had A chose to make he needed to send to messaged but only had one messenger.
“Krell, Hertin” come hear. Said Frosty.
I need you to run ahead to the target camp and tell who ever is the highest rank you can find there.
To tell them that we never received the all clear so the wagon train is returning home.
Frosty waited tell the two had gone far enough to not be able to hear or see the wagon train any more.
Then called the messenger or run to Aldalonde and tell Nafren and Tila that I am diverting to the unclaimed mana fountain to the west of the original target.

They will need to get the occupation force teleported there soon has I take control of it.
The messenger looked at frosty and said that means you lied to those other two.
Frosty answered yes I did. “But why asked the messenger“.
“Because I sent them to die that’s and I did not want them to reveal the truth.”
Now get going before it gets to be to late for you to make it threw.
The battle must not be going well which means Aldalonde is going to be the next battle field.

The messenger was off hidden from normal view but frosty still could see the disrupting he mad has he passed. Frosty consider scolding him for that but just let it go.
Thing like that generally take A death or to get pounded threw A some one skull.
With that the wagon train got rolling agene has fast the beast could pull there heavy loads.
Heading west to the fountain that now became strategically vital.
For I flanked the main artery that was being fought over now.

[CommanderDelta]

He needed to use all his mindcontrolling abilities to keep Loki, his dragon, from instantaniously vaporizing the beauty that was attacking him. He had hardly the mental power left to interpret her words. Then suddenly he felt a stinging pain in his behind, and was thrown at several of his men. He stood up, quickly gave the men orders not to follow, and eyed Loki, panicking that Loki would follow the beauty. To his amazement, Loki was just standing there, completely frozen, and his staff was shattered into pieces.

"They broke my staff! They will pay!" Eldarion thought, and with that, he turned towards the pack of creatures attacking him, and shouted:

ORTHANO FURDIGAMA!

Suddenly the ground was shaking, splitting, and most creatures were swallowed by the earth. The ones that escaped, under which the elf that ordered the pack to attack, were still bedazzled with amazement over this powerful, but costly trick of Eldarion the Wizard.

When Eldarion was done worrying about this sudden attack, and unfreezed Loki, his mind turned back to the beauty. He was intrigued by the female that just caused a bit of his blood to be spoiled, which hasn't happened since the giant C'dron felt like throwing a spear between his ribs. Eldarion smiled again, and shouted "STAFF". Immediatly a new staff came to him. Talking to Loki, he said: "So, she thinks she can just throw with Eldarion hmm, the kids these days have no respect!" After saying this, he closed his eyes, and began wandering between the minds of the people on the battlefield. And there, in the midst of the field, waving with her whip, he found her, and entered her mind.

"Aleta... So that is your name."

Aleta, suprised by this sudden invasion of her own mind, asked: "Who is this?"

"My name is Eldarion, Lord of the Soldiers of Fortune. Son and follower of Neutra, and keeper of the orb of Eternal Darkness. I am one of the few who was here before the moon split, yes, even before Dragoon was created!"

After a little pause he continued.

"You have invaded my home, decided to attack us in a time of peace, and you are throwing me the blame? Other light guilds with more honor usually come forward with their request to war, so that we can fight on a battleplain, where there are no women, and chidren that can be hurt by mistake. But instead of this, you choose to destroy our camps, violate our borders, and then still question our authority to kill? The troops that you see here are just a fraction of what power we possess, and we will keep coming, until you are destroyed. We do not take chances with people like you, who can easily kill our women and children. We have seen evil light guilds before. They entered our realm, killed our men, pets, women, children... my wife..."

Eldarion paused

"You have made a mistake by entering our realm. If you want this bloodshed to stop, then you will withdraw and refund everything that you have destroyed. As for your trainee" Eldarion smiled, "His spirit is still with us."

Eldarion made a handgesture, and whispered "pikul solelo samatska!". Upon completing the sentence, the trainee who was earlier vaporized reappeared next to Loki. "Don't make any sudden moves and he wont harm you" said Eldarion to the trainee.

Crawling back in Aleta's mind, he continued: "There is your trainee back. My present to you... just dont let him near dragons again. So what do you say about having a nice meal after this is al o..."

Before Eldarion could finish his sentence, he felt something new...

"I have to go now... we will meet again..." he said to Aleta, and quickly got out of her mind, and teleported himself and Loki back to the sof military commandpost. Luin was already there.

"Luin, the sky... the light moon is coming here..." Said Eldarion, but Luin waved with his hand, and there suddenly were hundreds of magicians at the commandpost.

"I have everything under control, my dear brother" said Luin. "Care to join in the ritual?"

"No" said Eldarion "I felt something else when I was there.... one of them is not what she appears to be. She is not fully Light, there is some darkness in her. I fell her wrath and rage when she killed one of our men... I might be able to get her to our side."

With this said, Eldarion turned around, and walked towards Loki.

"Eldarion, what happened to your behind?" Luin asked.

"Probably some kind of paring ritual of those people" Eldarion replied, with a big smile on his face.

Secinds later, he mounted his dragon again, and flew towards the camp, in his search for the light...that didn't really appear to be light...

[Edited on 2/12/2003 by CommanderDelta]

[Edited on 2/12/2003 by CommanderDelta]

[Aleta]

Under her breath she whispered to herself "Yes... I'm sure we will, Eldarion." Mentally berating herself for not thinking to raise any mental defenses, she turned her attention back to her trainee that he had materialized. She whistled a signal and he ran to her side, face white. He stumbled a few times as he ran, as though not used to his legs. Aleta frowned slightly to herself. He saluted her and bowed low. "L-lady Aleta... I...I failed you.."

Mustering a comforting smile, Aleta quickly hushed him. "Shhh... I will have no such talk. Come... we must leave." She watched him as he turned to go where she pointed and murmured an apology as she struck. One blow and he collapsed senseless. Swiftly binding his hands and feet she made a short whistle, summoning a white wolf the size of a pony to her. Lifting up the boy with a grunt, hoping the soldiers on the other side of the treeline had not heard, Aleta draped him across her mount's flanks before jumping on herself. With a clicking noise from her tongue, her steed bounded off into the forest.

Aleta had to find Siria...

[CommanderDelta]

Siria...

That name was the focus of his attention. She was unlike the others. All the members of the sundered guard had a special bond with nature, but this one was special, as if she could feel all living things. Eldarion knew that he was going on a difficult quest, but not impossible. He had turned light into dark before. The key to do this is either by convincing the Light that all other Light has abandoned him, or to fill the light with a rage so terrifying, that it can only lead to darkness...

Eldarion knew he had to do the latter with Siria. If he could gain control of her, the Soldiers of Fortune would have an even better position in this war. The war was going bad on both sides, both were losing people. But the forces of the sundered guard would never be able to withstand the massive troops of the Soldiers of Fortune, together with the power of the gods, that the Soldiers owned in this region. Neutra has always helped him in his quests. Furthermore, The Mouse is a good commander. He will know when to show our enemies our true strength, and when to begin the real massive attacks.

Eldarion also knew that all manafountains were heavily fortified since the beginning of the fight. He saw people moving to the west manafountain, but they would get an unpleasant suprise once they've reached it. He considered the option of a counterattack on Aldalonde, to absolutely scare them off....

He stopped wondering when he saw what he was looking for. There she stood. Siria, with a man next to her. But he was leaving, and would soon be under massive attack by Denieru. Eldarion smiled, and flew with his dragon straight towards Siria, with the aim to capture her, and fly back to the commandpost... and hopefully be able to turn her dark...

[Bluenose]

Luin was now standing in the centre of the military commandpost to the north of the battlefield, his troups behind him and dragon by his side. His prayer has been answered, but help was needed.

Gathered behind him were the elete SoF wizzards, apart from Denieru and Eldarion there were the best to be found in the southern lands of the Soldiers of Fortune, and he was going to make good use of their powers.

He finished speaking with Eldarion, and turned to face them.

"Their numbers are not great, but they have great skill and power behind them, not to mention the timing of the attack. That is something we will now remove as an advantage for them. The dark moon is now falling and the light rising, I ask you to get what power you can now." Luin was speaking quickly

"We are here tonight to defend, and we will use whatever means we have, follow my lead and give me stength."

With that Luin was finished speaking, he mounted Treblid his dragon and rose high into the sky. Once he had stopped climbing he circled surveying the battlefield, anticipating the size of his task. He was ready, and Treblid gave out a large plume of fire and smoke, signaling to those on the ground. He was All in black covered by his cloak, with only the glint of the moon from Treblid's back giving away his position.

In an instant, the wizzards on the ground had started, misty beems of power flowing from their staffs into the night sky and into the one held in the hand of Luin. He held on as long as he could, eyes closed and praying, but he could no longer hold it in and started the spell. He spoke low, his voice soundless to most creatures but the words draining power from him as ever he spoke.

"Amin kano Tel' ilmen sina dome. Yel-huine!"

He repeated these words, and slowly a fog was emitted from his stalf. It became thicker and thicker, rising into the night and growing exponentially with evrey second that passed. It moved south as he spoke but he did not open his eyes. In a matter of seconds, the sky as far as the eye could see was filled with a thick black cloud which neither star or moon had any chance of penetrating. The wizzards on the ground begane to lose strength, and one at a time fell to their knees. Luin stopped chanting but continued taine their strength until he was sated. He lowered his stalf and opened his eyes. A grin spread accross his face, it had worked better than he imagined.

With this, he pushed Treblid hard down on his neck, and began the decent into the midst of battle.

[Tasital]

Tasital had watched Aleta's duel with the wizard. He would have helped but he had already intercepted several messengers and would not abandon his post. He had wanted to help his brethern against the dragon, but thought it more useful to watch and learn. Now he saw a way. Using hand signals, the three Rangers sprinted noiselessly into the camp. They came upon the central command tent rather quickly, but it was far too heavily guarded for an assault. Dragons were tethered nearby. Obviously the mounts of The Fortune's commanders. A thought quickly formed. He motioned for the others to stay as he slowly approached the dragon with caution. He hummed a soothing tune in a rumbling bass voice to calm the nearest one. He grabbed a reign gently and placed his hand on the thick scales. His mind reached out to the dragons. They began to merge and become one. He felt the dragon's desire to be free of this saddle, buried deep within.

I have a favor to ask, he said. I will release your kin from these bonds, but I ask the services of you and two others. We fight your masters so that others might be free. Will you help us?

There was a long pause before a gutteral voice resounded in Tasital's mind. Remove this device from my back and I will do as you ask. Drawing his hunting blade, he sliced the saddle straps and slid them to the ground gently. Motioning to the other Rangers, they began to cut off all the saddles of the other dragons. Three dragons knelt to the ground and they mounted swiftly. Do as I say and you and your companions will not fall.

With that all the Dragons leaped into the air with a mighty gust of air. The others spun away south while the three Dragon Riders flew to battle.

[Taspharel]

Taspharelel jumped from a short moment of falling asleep, her heart pounding like crazy, she had had a horrible nightmare of light, and green things that where living and pulsing with energy..... It had been horrible.
Calming down a little she looked around the clearing to see if something had changed. None of her friends had arrived in the last hour. This was more than disturbing, the train that had passed him must have been part of a large scale attack on one of the Mana Fountains surrounding camps. And this attack must have caused more hassle than anyone could have expected.
Well, she couldnt be much of a help there, so the best she could do is infiltrate that camp laying behind him.... or ... even better ... conquer it and kill all the Young Ones in there. she would cut the hated ones from their home camp ...
SoF would have an easy Game hunting down every last of them.
she looked into the portal runes that where still glowing on the floor, waiting for Caveo or one of her other friends to pass and help him, but nothing seemed to happen.
Taspharel took her thin but deadly rope and wound it around her wrist, the end hanging down ready to grip and use, put her blackened knife into her belt and secured it so it wouldnt fall when climbing and finally she attached the small crossbow to her back. she caressed it while readying it, it had been hand crafted by her long lost friend Shazi, he had been the one who got him into her new family: SoF, and now he was gone. he had left one day, only saying "I have something important to do, and when it is done, we will meet again" and then walked into the dawning sun...
But Taspharelel didnt have any time for this kind of thoughts, shaking her head she stood up, unspread her wings and started flying back towards the camp, her thoughts crisp and clearly focussed on what lay before her.

[Edited on 3/12/2003 by Taspharel]

[Tinok]

Seeing Siria change was a shock to Tinok...he only new her for the gentle Druidess. Now he knew different....he was pleased actually. The power & courage of the Panther that was Siria infused him with an inner strength and he had a few tricks up his sleeve as well.

Cutting down a nearby soldier with his Long Sword, he turned in time to see Siria turn back..and a DoDo rider bearing down on her...in the time it took to go from sword to bow, she lifted her hand and the DoDo stopped short, flinging the rider into a nearby haystack....then Siria mumbled to herself and was gone....

Going back to cover, Tinok surveyed the hectic scene....then spotted a newcomer in the tower above...a Half-Orc....not wearing SoF colors either....so, they have friends. Looking about to make sure non were watching Tinok began to whisper, drawing from the power of the rising Light Moon...his fingers flared with an intense flame and he quickly lit 4 arrows that lay on the ground in front of him. Upon ending the chant he lifted his bow and fired the four arrows into the base of the tower...the dry wood quickly caught fire...lets see the brute stay there now, mused Tinok.

Before he could make another move, several changes began.....first a fierce wind kicked up, making visability difficult, then Tinok saw what looked to be leaders and a...Dragon! In the center of the battle...Aleta was there as well...and a pack of wolves, lead by Nevar and Voronwe...he watched in pride as the Dragon was turned to ice and snow began to fall in the area. Trapping the beast and confusing the defenders.

"Where can I help in all this...I think I will wait to see what will open for me."

Tinok waited as the wolf pack fired off to another area and Aleta made good her escape...then he saw something...or did he? Someone over the mounds where lay the slain wolves...a figure coming out of nothing?! Then just as quickly...gone. Whispering again, Tinok touched hands to his eys and the view quickly changed...ahhh, now I see you, a Dark Elf! He was intent upon something or someone...he was powerful, Tinok saw the power emanating from him...another gift of his spell.

"Let us see what you are all about then...."

Tinok moved back into the forest growth and became invisible himself...using the Nature he was so attuned with to cover his way.

[Edited on 2/12/2003 by Tinok]

[kwagher]

*in the sky something flys*
with a BRAAAAAAAAAKKKKk the Big Orc Kwagher lands in the SoF forrtess. he mummels to him self *hmm that catapult did work good i see, but i did only get 100 meter*
*he looks around to see if someone is there but it looks abit emty*

[VoronweEldalom]

Haliit's druids were still concentrating their focus on the camp, barely spending energy as they combined their power, and used only a little with the minor distractions they were causing. Voronwe ran back to them after instilling the fear into the dodo, they needed to be guarded.

Siria was sitting against a tree, in distress. Vorowne kneeled down next to her to comfort her, but she was to deep in thought to notice. He kissed her forehead, "What was caused tonight was not your fault, love. Death is a part of the cycle, but I know you've never believed in this." Sighing, Voronwe looked up to the sky to smile at the light that was approaching.

NO! A foul mist was clouding the sky over, rapidly approaching from the north to blot out the sky, and their great hope. The mist covered half the sky from the horizon to the zenith, already. Voronwe looked at the Haliit's group, and knew that if he used their power for this, they would be utterly spent for the night, but there was no choice. Scrambling up a tree, he lept from branch to branch until he found a tree that was suitable enough for all of them. The branches of this tree rose above the foilage of the forest, and the sky was plainly in sight.

"Haliit!" He called, "we need your group up here immediately."

The druids ran in their robes over to the tree Voronwe was perched in, breaking their concentration on the camp, where the air soon settled.

Uncoiling some rope from his pack, Voronwe threw an end down and proceeded to hoist the druids up, one by one. Haliit, being younger and more agile than the older druids, scrambled up the tree without any assistance. As he was helping secure the druids in their perches, Voronwe chuckled to Haliit, "you really are a monkey, you know that?" Haliit smiled, but his mirth was gone in a moment as he looked up at the sky and saw what it was Voronwe wanted from him.

A grave look crossed his face, "Voronwe, we will do it."

"Thank you friend. But please, if you feel yourself weakening too much, stop. I'll secure all of you with rope so that you will not fall if you falter." Haliit nodded, but Voronwe knew that he would push himself and his troop beyond their limit if it called for it.

The ranger moved from druid to druid, securing them comforably in a web of rope that would catch them if their legs failed them. As Voronwe moved about the tree canopy, the group of elder druids began a low chant, sometimes rising, but monotone for the most part. They moved their arms in slow circles, calling to the winds. They were turned to the north, and that was the direction they called the wind from. Attempting to blow the mist towards the north, opposing the force that called the mist in the first place would be futile. No, they must blow it to their own lands. Aldalonde would have to suffer the lack of light, but the troops here needed their strength. Worse, the druids after this would be utterly exhausted.

The unholy mist's northern edge started to be nipped by the wind. It would be take a while, and Voronwe could only hope that the power that had caused the mist to come in the first place was too spent to intervene.

[SiriaCessmera]

Alone again, Siria put her back against the trunk of a tree and slouched down to sit. She stared at her right hand intensely, flexing it gently to be sure it was hers. A tear rolled down her cheek - she could feel the death in the surrounding areas but was helpless to do anything. She slowly laid her arm down to her side again and watched lathargically, the siloettes of Soldier's and Guard's against the fire light in the distance.

Siria began to think to herself, remembering how for so long she had tried to contain herself in wolf form just as the rest of her kind were able to. Never was she able to establish such a connection within her heart, she did as the life of nature commanded, but never could she destroy.

"Yet...tonight, tonight I drank of the enemies blood, and it was good. Enemy? Who is the enemy? Is it me, am I the one whom I should hate, who kills with joy and pleasure? What's...happening to me?" Siria burried her head in her arms, shaking violently as a pain within her stomach grew. She did not notice the dragon that landed beside her, nor did she care when hands lifted her onto the steed, she felt like a doll, confused of her own being and morales.

Once she awoke during the flight, looking down over the battlefield, feeling the hate and love that entwined itself there. Another presence was there too, stirring Siria for a moment from her comatose state. Tracing the flight of the dragon with furosity, Aleta bounded tiredlessly after her sister.

[Denieru]

Denieru moved through the edges of the battle trying to locate his prey. The target moved with remarkable speed. From what he had seen earlier the tattoos suggested some form of druid magic and many users of this magic had also mastered the art of chapechanging. At this rate he would never catch his prey, it was time to change his approach.

As he expanded his mind once more he searched again for the magic connecting the tattoos. This time he searched for the nearest possible target, especially one that showed signs of fatigue. The remaining party was scattered and Denieru almost gave up when he suddenly sensed someone close. The flickering light inside the mist was moving away from battle towards the forest. Denieru smiled inside the shadows and closed in on his new prey.

At the edge of the forest a lone wolf crawled towards the security of the trees. He was badly wounded and an arrow was sticking out from his back. As he slumped against a tree the magic maintaining his wolf form faded and a wood elf appeared sitting against the tree. Suddenly the air infront of him wavered for a second and a figure cloaked in what seemed like living shadows emerged.
"Greetings Master Elf. I see that the night has not been kind to you so far, perhaps there is a way for you to change your luck." the figure pulled down his cloak and revealed the face of dark elf with long black hair.
"Stay back fiend! If it so costs me my last breath I will use it to destroy you, my brethren are close by and you shall not escape us!" he screamed causing him to cough up some blood from his bleeding lung.
"Oh, I will not ask you to give up your last breath, I simply want you to call one of your kinsman. Surely he would not want one of his minions to suffer when he could save him?" the dark elf smiled and the shadows swirled anxiously.
"I will never betray the light, do your worst dark one!" the wood elf said grimly.
"Oh, I intend to, you can be sure of that. It is somewhat familiar to me the art of suffering, it is amazing what a lot of practise will teach you."

As Denieru spoke his final word the shadows lunged forward penetrating the wood elf in several places, the darkness beginning to spread underneath his skin causing every nerve in his body to scream. His psionic screams for release would be sensed a mile away. Denieru projected a part of his mind into the elf and said one name over and over again. VoronweEldalom. VoronweEldalom.
Yes, he would come, if not, it would still be an interesting experience to see how long the wood elf would last before death came to release him.

[shortmuff]

The arrows are flying all around him, Thulza just gets an eye on the elf befor he launches 4 fire arrows at the tower he is in and the tower blasts into a fire trap.Thulza curses the elf.

Then the elf runs into the forrest and disappears. But he will never forget the elf. “I will get you back for this” Thulza says to himself. But now a bigger issue - I need to get down from the tower. The tower starts to give in to the fire, it will soon fall. The tower starts to move, “I need to get the tower to fall away from the camp so it doesn’t fall on my friends”. Thulza starts moving to the side on the tower that’s away from the camp. It’s getting hot, the fire is getting closer all the time.

But then the tower moves the way he wants, he calls to his god: “This is not the way I want to die!” As the tower starts to fall Thulza jumps out of it landing in a slope so he roles down. He hears some of his ribs break, it hurts but he will live. Lying on the ground he sees an elf running towards him with a sword in his hand ready to cut his head of. He gets on his knees taking out his bow, takes aim and lets an arrow go. The arrow finds his target right in the throat, the elf stops dead in his tracks. Thulza shouts “I need a healer here!”

[Bluenose]

Luin was on Treblit, diving towards the battleground. He felt the presence of his followers below, strugling with their own battles...

"Eldarion," Bluenose invaded his friends head this time.

"As you can see they will be gaining no power from their moon for at least a few hours." Bluenose smiled to himself. "They will attempt to blow the cloud over their own lands, But it is of a huge size and will be many hours before they manage. We will be finished with them by then."

"Have you any news on the battle? Which poor sole are you fighting at the moment?"

Eldarion replied with heavy breathing. "Im on Loki, and I have.... a passanger. But I feel there is another following on foot, if you are finished with the moon then assist me. I dont want to have to kill my guest when her companion arrives."

Luin smiled hearing this. His friendship with Eldarion has gone on for centuries and in this time he had grown to know him as he knew himself. The actions of Eldarion did not supprise him at all, infact he had been expecting it in this battle.

"You think you can change evreyone dont you my friend." Luin asked.

"Only those of which I feel some darkness, you know that." Eldarion replied in a serious tone.

"Ok Eldarion, I'll assist you with this, I would have thought a couple of light woman would have been no challange to you. But then perhaps you may be a little.... distracted when you land. I would be careful with her though, these are no normal light soldiers we are facing, the magics I have felt have been strong, the strongest light I have come across in many years."

With these words Luin stroked Treblid and instructed him on their new destination. The dragon banked tightly to the left in a steep circle, and flew after the dragon of his friend.

[Haliit]

Haliit continued to aid his group in summoning enough wind to blow the clouds that had casted darkness over the land. He had only used a fraction of his energy so far, but from the rate the clouds were moving, he would most likely be on the edge of absolute exaustion by the time he has succeded.

He heard shouts nearby, and an arrow whizzed by him, digging itself into the tree he was on. Haliit hears swords being drawn, and a moment later he heard a scream of pain and a shout from Voronwe.

"Got him! Keep working, more are coming to defend this position."

Haliit sighed in relief and summoned more of his energy. It was going to be a hard night.

[Tinok]

Tinok followed the Dark Elf and watched from a safe distance....no need to tip him to the fact he is being followed. It had gotten dark again and that did not bode well for his new brothers and sisters. Tinok liked it this way though...he was pleased to see Siria turn into a creature of the Dark, even for that short time...it showed him that although his past was far from a clean one, he would be accepted here...he would never boast of his past, no that would remain his secret and he thought, his hidden strength.

He watched as the Dark one approached an injured wolf...one that was changing back to wood elf form...should I strike? No, he is dead anyway, it is not yet time. Plus, the Dark Elf was very powerful and Tinok knew he would not be able to slay one like him. His only hope was to disrupt some plan he had and to hurt him enough to get him out of this fight...it was not a good idea to leave a Dark Elf, magic using assasin wandering about.

As the Dark Elf again began to appear out of his shadow cloak Tinok grabbed for a well hidden vial at his side and dipped two arrows into the oily liquid inside. A pulse of magic got his attention back on his quarry. Gods! He was powerful, scary powerful! He watched in awe as the Assasin actually pushed his shadow form into the wood elf...

"This I cannot allow.", he whispered under his breath.

Tinok waited, drawing careful aim...he held till he saw the struggle going on mentally with the Dark Elf and his victim....NOW!

He let loose the two tainted arrows and as they zipped toward their target he whispered sharply his own words of power....just before impact the arrows began to smoke.

"Enjoy Assasin!", he shouted.

The first arrow struck deep into the Dark Elfs back, but quicker than Tinok thought possible the Assasin spun about catching the second arrow in his forearm...Tinok knew he had broken the spell, but he also knew he was in deep trouble. The Drak Elf was angry and the spell on the arrows had not yet taken effect...lightning streaked at Tinok with sickening speed. He tried to dive but got caught by the spell and was hurtled hard against a tree...out of breath he struggled to watch the Dark one, to make sure he had driven him off.

"Fool Ranger! You think a few arrows could defeat me?!", he screamed as he began to stalk toward Tinok. "You, I will kill slowly!", he hissed.

Then it started...the look on the Assasin face was priceless, if only he could enjoy the shock he gave him! Blood dribbled from his lips and he stopped cold, trying to figure out what was happening.

"One of the Light using poison?", he asked in confusion.

Tinok smiled a bloody smile in return for an answer.

Then the Dark Elf stated, "Interesting....I will find you again...human. You have harmed me, but I am far from dead. You on the other hand will die by my hands when next we meet."

With that, the Dark Elf coughed out a quick spell and disappeared in a cloud of inky black smoke.

"Kill me next time?", Tinok mused. "I believe you did that this very night."

Blackness then came upon him as he slipped down the tree trunk.....

[Edited on 3/12/2003 by Tinok]

[VoronweEldalom]

"Got him! Keep working, more are coming to defend this position." Voronwe spoke to Haliit after dispatching an attempt at the druids' lives. Voronwe saw a contingent of braves starting to climb the tree now. Excellent, the druids would be well defended now.

Suddenly a shock ripped through Voronwe's mind. One of his kin was being tortured. His cries of pain were loud and clear, but oddly not in his ears, it was in his mind that he heard them. Yet he knew he could find the source just as easily as he could track a sound with his ears.

"Strange, this is not normal, it must be a trap." Voronwe whispered to himself. He looked around; the druids showed no sign of feeling anything, nor did the braves and elves that now perched on the canopy, and on the surrounding trees.

"Keep things safe, I'll return as soon as I can," Voronwe spoke to the captain of the group. The ranger nodded, and Voronwe began to leap from tree to tree, chasing the cry he felt in his mind. The feeling sickened him, but Voronwe refused to spend himself on the chase, he would have to be cautious.

In moments, Voronwe could hear the ranger's scream audibly, and he couldn't help but make his way even faster across the trees. Suddenly the screaming stopped, and Voronwe saw a flash of light from beneath the canopy. He leapt down and continued on the ground, coming across a dying ranger just in time to see a small black cloud disappear in front of him. Another ranger writhed on the ground a few feet away, still whimpering out sounds of anguish, and in a moment, he was still. Voronwe said a prayer for the fallen, and turned to the ranger that lay still before him.

Kneeling down, Voronwe held the ranger's head and turned his face upwards towards the sky.

"Tinok!" Voronwe shouted in surprise. His eyes fluttered a little, and a short breath escaped his mouth, but no other movement showed. Voronwe quickly pulled out a small bottle from his side pouch, and poured the contents into Tinok's mouth, tilting him up so that the liquid would go down his throat easily. Voronwe then placed one hand on the ranger's chest, and one on the tree he lay on. I apologize, but I must borrow some of your strength, Voronwe thought to the tree. When it was clear that the tree did not refuse, Voronwe hummed a little, and a barely tangible glow emanated in a path between his two hands.

Tinok opened his eyes, and saw Voronwe sitting over him, tightly bandaging some of his burn wounds.

"You healed me?" Tinok said to Voronwe, who nodded as if to say, "of course". As Tinok rose, he felt a sharp pain from the skin that was burnt. "Ow! Not very well you didn't."
Voronwe replied by sticking his tongue out at Tinok and applying some pain-killing salve to a bandage, "Sorry, I'm no healer."

Voronwe helped Tinok to his feet. "Is he gone?" Tinok mentioned to the other ranger, lying still on the ground.
"Yes, I'm afraid so. He'll return to the ground soon."

"He'll be back soon. The assassin, I mean," Tinok said to Voronwe. Voronwe gazed around, scanning to make sure no one was approaching. "I'm sure. You're not well enough to fight, head to the south of the Soldiers' camp, up in the trees you'll find Haliit's druids. You can get some more healing from them, and then I think it's best you return to Aldalonde. You've done a lot tonight." Tinok nodded, and started a brisk walk, obviously still in pain.

Voronwe called after him, "sorry I couldn't heal you better, I don't have Siria's gift", Voronwe chuckled. Saying her name snapped his mind to thoughts of her. He felt his heart sink as he realized he left her sitting against the tree, in a state that would leave her defenseless. Turning to Tinok, he spoke, "Tinok, I have to leave. I'm sorry I can't escort you back, but at present it might be that Siria is in more danger than you."

Tinok nodded, understanding. "Go," he said, "I'll be fine. I've already cheated death once tonight!" Voronwe nodded, and took off full speed back towards camp, tears in his eyes, not all from the wind. "Why'd she have to be so damn consionable. She can kill if she needs to!" But Voronwe knew that her compassion would never let her do that easily.

He raced on.

[Edited on 12/3/2003 by VoronweEldalom]

[Edited on 12/3/2003 by VoronweEldalom]

[Haliit]

"Haliit!"

Haliit looked down from his tree to see Tinok stumble and end up at the base of the mighty oak. Taking his focus away from trying to move the cloud, he jumped down and raced to Tinok's side.

"You've been healed, but it doesn't look like it worked fully."

Tinok laughed. "Yes, Voronwe tried to heal me."

Haliit grinned and began focusing his energies. A soft light extended from Haliit's hands to Tinok's wound. The light danced about Tinok's flesh, mending skin back together and cleaning away the blood.

"There you are, you should be fine now."

Tinok stood up and bowed to Haliit. "Thank you Haliit. Voronwe told me to return to Aldalonde. I should start heading there now."

Haliit nodded. "Good luck Tinok, swift journey."

With Tinok gone, Haliit climbed back up into the tree and once again began aiding his fellow druids.

[CommanderDelta]

He couldn't see the battleplain anymore. They were flying above the clouded sky, with only the 2 moons and the stars. Eldarion could feel her moving behind him, but he knew that even the strongest person couldn't wake up from the Tana Kwo spell so soon. They would be back to the commandpost before she would wake up. Still, he could feel her, see inside her head, dreaming.

A few moments later, they were flying above the commandpost. Hundreds of warriors of all kind have been called there and were standing ready to go into battle. He landed in the middle of the base, and brought his passenger to a fast constructed wooden house. He put her on a bed, signaled 2 soldiers that she had to be guarded. "I sense a powerful druidess in her" he said the them, "If she changes into a creature, then call upon me immediatly... you know how.". The soldiers replied with a loud "Yes me Lord" and began guarding the house as Eldarion left it.

Outside, Eldarion walked straight to a messenger. "Give the following message to the Mouse: He must use his tactics to get rid of all the enemies in the campthey invaded. If they will not withdraw, then kill them all. There is also an additional force comming up fromthe south west, he might want to send some troops there to engage them, before they reach a populated area. One other thing. Tell him to kill every beast he sees."

"But sir, those woods are filled with..."

"You have your orders messenger, now go and bring them to the Mouse!"

"Yes my Lord."

After making sure the messenger was running away in the correct direction, Eldarion walked to the manafountain, in the middle of the commandpost. When he stood in front of it, he looked up, and began to shout to the sky... "O Neutra, Not God, Not Goddess, Keeper of this planet! I am standing here as your son and servant! I need your help once more. People have inaded my home, which is also your home. They are here, seeking to disturb the peace that has been with us for so long. They call themselves Rangers, and people of Nature. But no one can fool us, the only one who nature listens to is you, Neutra. Please, help me to spare innocent bloodshed!"

After saying this words, the most remarkable thing happened. All wild animals were going crazy, running towards the north. There was a big swarm of birds also going that direction. Eldarion grinned. "Now all animals that are left, must be those shapeshifting enemies." he thought.

He walked towards the largest group of soldiers, and walked straight to the commander. "How many men are yours?" he asked.

"three hundred my Lord. "

"Are they ready for battle?"

"They are always willing to fight and die for thee, my Lord"

"Good" Eldarion said, and then turned to the men, who were all looking at him in awe. "Soldiers of Fortune, we have just been invaded by The Sundered Guard. They thought it would be nice to destroy our homes and properties. But as we speak they are being surrounded, and if they dont surrender, they will surely die. But their death will not bring us back our lost soldiers, our lost properties and our homes that we have to rebuild. If they are not willing to give it to us, then we are going to have to get it from them ourselves. I have acquired information about where they are from. Let us go there to cry havoc, and let loose the dogs of war!!"

All the men were screaming from satisfactory. Eldarion mounted Loki, and soon was marching in front of the troops, on the way to Aldalonde, with a grim smile on his face. "They should have surrender when I gave them the chance..."

[Edited on 3/12/2003 by CommanderDelta]

[Edited on 4/12/2003 by CommanderDelta]

[Denieru]

In the forest a dark form was crawling on the ground. It showed no resemblance to a humanoid form, instead it looked like a pool of writhing shadows, clawing its way forward like a spider. Then it stopped and the shadows dissipated to reveal a dark elf lying on the ground, staring at the stars. Blood trinkled down his ears, nose and mouth.

Denieru was hurt. Badly. But it was not going to be fatal, unless someone found him in this state. He had spent a lot of mana tonight and the little he had left was used to drive the venom from his system. He could no longer maintain his shadowform and he no longer had any sense of direction. He had to trust Calder that the night itself would provide shelter from his enemies. He never did put much faith in Gods benevolence towards their subjects. His thoughts wandered back to where the ranger had surprised him during his calling of VoronweEldalom. How could he have been so oblivious to his surroundings? A mere human had surprised him! The thought made him want to scream and tear down the heavens on the whole world. He would find this human, he would find them all.

A sudden sound through the forest caught Denierus attention. It was the sound of soldiers moving through the forest in a chain. He tried to stand up but could only bring himself to his knees without falling over. He held up his staff. If they would come for him they were going to see the power of the immortals like never before, his death would bring them all screaming to whatever hell they deserved.

As the soldiers broke through the trees and spotted Denieru he felt a sigh of relief. They wore the emblem of Soldiers of Fortune. They on the other hand did not recognize the dark form in the night and with their swords ready advanced forward towards Denieru.
"Halt! I am Denieru, wizard of the Soldiers of Fortune, trusted friend of Master Eldarion and Master Luin, keeper of the Lunar Circle. I am in need of aid and transport to the camp." Denieru felt sick adressing these humans, he would have liked nothing better than to release his anger of the ranger upon them.
One of the soldiers stepped forward and spoke.
"I know of Denieru, but how can I be sure that this is not trick. I have seen him many times with Lord Eldarion but you do not show much resemblance.."
"You listen to me little insect, if you do not follow my order instantly I shall remove your flesh strip by strip and hang you from a tree to rot in the sun." as Denieru spoke the shadows came alive again, small tentacles lashed out striking the air with frenzy.
The soldiers all took two steps back as if controlled by a single brain.
"I am sorry Sir Denieru. We will take you to the base immediately. Lance and Terry! Escort him back and see to it that his wounds are tended to. We still have orders from Lord Eldarion to clear these woods."

As the soldiers escorted Denieru back he tried to walk by his own but when camp was just a few hundred feet away his strenght faded and he was about to fall when the two soldiers grabbed him on each side and carried him. Denieru spoke carefully before his mind drifted into oblivion.
"Take me unnoticed to the camp, do not reveal my identity. If one word of how you carried me slips from your lips you will surely live to regret it, for a very long time. No doubt you have heard the rumors concerning my experiments and I can assure you that the rumors does not do my work justice, fail me and you shall find the truth behind my work. Now hurry..."
This night would torment him longer than the wounds would heal. Not only was he brought to his knees by a mere human, but it was humans who helped him escape an almost certain death. Just before sleep came for him he saw Garion in his mind, strangely the sight of his human servant brought peace, then darkness swallowed him.

[Aleta]

Her back burned and her blood stained the pure white of her friend's fur, but Aleta felt no pain. She had long ago learned how to push aside such feelings. Her mind was soaring, riding her rage and melding with the beast... and the presence of Siria's mind. She would follow that to the very Wahl if need be! And if they hurt her, Aleta would know. Whispering to herself, she lifted her head to glare at her quarry in the distance.

"If that happens... well... let's just say that those who fear the Dark have never seen what the Light can do!"

[Tasital]

Three Dragons soared on the night sky. Down below Tasital spotted a column of mounted War Dodos. Pressing his hand to the Dragon's scales he thought, " Do not harm the dodos. Merely frighten them. The soldiers are the ones I seek to harm. Spare their mounts. Grudgingly the Dragon agreed.

The three turned into a dive, roaring their challenge as they swooped down in a graceful arc. The dodos began a widespread panic. Many riders were thrown from their saddles. Others were carried off, unable to control the animal's fear. Some of the unseated soldiers were trampled by the frenzied dodos. A column of men had regained their feet and took aim with bows at the Dragon. The Dragon let loose a torrent of flame, turning bows to ash and men to char. The column had regained control of the animals as the Dragons finished their first pass. The two Rangers began to pick off riders with their bows. At the finish of the first pass, nearly one-half of the riders were killed, injured, or fleeing. The Dragons turned about for a second strike. The mounted archers let loose a volley as the second dive began. One struck Tasital in the right shoulder, causing him to rock backwards. His vision swam. Snapping off the end of the arrow only made it worse. Slipping, he fell sideways off the side of the Dragon to the ground below.

The shock of hitting the ground was unbearable. Pain shot from his arm through his spine. He rolled to his left side and noticed the wave of riders coming to him. He would never outlast them all, but he would not die on his knees. Forcing himself up, he unhooked the axe from his belt and stood firm. As they closed, he raised a silent prayer to Neutra and looked briefly to the sky. The light moon was clouded. He knew these were his final moments. As he moved to strike, all of the riders lurched and were thrown from their mounts. Puzzled he looked behind him to see seven archers in green lead by a familiar face.

"Nevar! I am glad to see you!" Tasital watched a number of green leather-clad warriors leap onto the dodos and engage the enemy. As Tasital fell to his knees, he realized the blood on the ground was his own. As he lapsed into unconsciousness, he heard a friendly voice yell, "Poison-tipped arrow!" He was glad that he had not been hit with that arrow.... or had he?

[Nevar_Darkmoon]

The earthquake had hit hard. The ground claved and heaved, but the rangers footing stayed true. The chaos had separated him from the rest of the pack, he didn’t even know if any still lived.

The sound of battle was faint behind him now. Catching his breath and readjusting his gear, Nevar slowed to a walk.

The dragons roar whipped the ranger’s attention back to the direction he had just came from. "That was more than one roar," he mused to the voices in his mind. "That blasted elf couldn’t have thawed that beast that fast."

Calling on Zephyr once more, and knowing that he would be forever in prayer should he survive this night, he head back to the tower and the fight.

One, of three dragons was falling from the air when he cleared the ridge, and from the back of another he saw a heavyset body fall from it. "Good, at least one of those dragon warriors can die tonight,"he thought.

But something wasn’t right, he felt a burning in his shoulder, and then it dawned. That wasn't the enemy falling from the dragon; that was friend.

The falling dragon, quilled through with many arrows, crashed into the line of archers. The ground heaved for a second time this night as it impacted. Bodies disintegrated under its bulk, and others caromed through the air. That was not his focus though.


Shaking his head at the recognition of the crumpled form, Nevar smiled at Tasital. "Last time it was you draging my sorry ass from a field of battle, so I guess I owe you the favour." he said smirking. "Not sure if its poisoned."

Tasital passed into oblivion, face relaxing like unto sleep. Nevar knew why he cared so much for them all, but it still struck him hard when pressed with their mortality.

Hoisting him over his shoulder, he let the other rangers deal with cleaning up the remaing cavalry, not much sport left for them anyhow and it didnt look like there were any more SoF in the immediate area. To bad things got so spread out, this tower would be easy to take now.

Running to the woods, Nevar cleared his mind. He could feel the direction he needed to go. He never understood it, it was like the wind was guiding him, or an arrow in his mind pointing the way.

Finding the druid that had saved their lives more times than he can count, Nevar laughed. It was chaos around the tree that the druids were enclaved. Braves where fighting against scattered Soldiers of Fortune, but holding their own. Those righteous bastards could fight like the immortals that had their blood flowing in them when pressed, he was glad they were for Light.

"Haliit, I found another one for you.” proping his friend against a tree. "He was trying to swim in the air off the back of a dragon. I dont think the fall was to bad… that arrow wound though.” he said with concern.

"Bah, why do I do these things?” muttered the Druid. "Voronwe comes to me and says, "Haliit, summon wind,” Tinok comes to me with a smouldering chest, and now you come to me with this sack of ranger, swimming in delusion from an obviously poisoned arrow!" "What? Do you want me to go back to the earth so fast?" "Get out of here, he will be fine, go kill something.” cursed the druid with a smile.

Standing around would only encourage the half-crazy druid to curse more, so the ranger did as he was told.

It didn’t take a genius to realise that attrition was tearing apart their forces. The simple fact was that the Guards information on the swiftness that Soldiers of Fortune could mobilise was lacking. They had expected a token army, nothing hard to defeat... and especially not the losses that have been incurred on both sides.

"It never fails." said Nevar to the winds. "You figure you are ready, and you are proven wrong by the simplest thing."

"I can only hope they suffer the same fate in this regard,” he says to the whiping wind.

Looking up he knew the druids were working hard. That opressing cloud was begining to thin and a faint silver shine peeked through here and there.

It was weird being away from the sounds of the fight. And the forests, seemingly void of all manner of creature didn’t help restore his confidence.

Earlier, Nevar had felt the conflict that Neutra placed across these lands. Being a worshiper of the Ysatis, he felt her presence fade and the animals flee. It didn’t bother him so much... he just wish she would have stayed around a bit longer. But such is the way with life and nature, its very impartial.

He hoped that his message to pull back was received by all. He knew that the regrouping would happen soon... the clouds had delayed, not stopped the coming storm.

Losing so many of his friends was still hot against his heart, especially the loss of Talwin. His old master would be sorely missed in the years to come. He was proud though, Talwin did cause that dark elf no end of trouble, and at least his death allowed more to remain alive. That ol' bear will feed the trees now, he always reinforced that death was the way of life.

Crouching behind the trees, Nevar could hear the soldier line moving deeper into the woods; he laughed to himself. "They think a line of common soldiers will see rangers and druids in the woods", "Ha!" They had walked by him within arms length, and still could not *see*. He shrugged, "well they wont catch many, least it keeps them busy." he said to himself.

The pressing thought that part of the family was in trouble was clear now. His quiet moment here in the woods to reflect, had brought it clear to his mind.

"Hmm, so that dirt scratcher of a Dark Elf is thinking to have his way with Siria. Voronwe will not be impressed".

Reaching to a small, soft pouch on his belt, he pulled out his rune stones. A gift from his mother they were. They let him see the future when cast to the ground or to use the magic of life around him when combined. Her gift as an explorer would be well used this night.

He needed speed, Siria's presence was fading away, moving fast to the North. "Must be flying." thought Nevar. He knew the druidess wasn’t in any real risk, she could take care of herself and she was infamous for playing possum. It was more Voronwe... his rage could blind himself sometimes, especially when it was summoned from his heart.

The bone runes clicked in his hand, and a small ghostly light covered the tree he was beside. Placing the runes back, Nevar listened to the wind howling through the tree branches and looked up to see more of the pure white light sneaking past the clouds. It was time.

Stepping into the tree Nevar disappeared.

If someone had been watching it would look like a ghost had just walked through the trunk or the tree itself was an illusion and the Half Elf had walked through. But instead of coming out the other side, he stepped from a tree many, many paces away. He repeated the process over again stepping into the next tree ahead... ever-leading north.

With each step, Nevar moved from one tree to the next. With the initial vertigo of moving so quickly gone, he began to run. As his momentum built, wolf replaced the shape of the half elf.

Pausing once between trees, the wolf lifted its nose to the winds blowing from the north. Ah, Aleta is also hunting. There is no way she is going to get to toy with that Dark Elf before me, she would leave little sport in him for me. With a low growl the wolf sprang into the next tree.

The wolf passed between the trees, blinking in an out quicker than his shadow could fall. Only in places were the trees grew far apart was the wolf even seen, as he dashed to the next thick trunk. Nevar knew if the forest held he might be able to catch up to where Siria and that wretched elf flew.

Time would tell.


[Edited on 3/12/2003 by Nevar_Darkmoon]

[CommanderDelta]

"One two three march, One two three march". The men that were with Eldarion all marched in pace, on their way to Aldalonde. They could hear the sounds of men fighting from the east, but Eldarion had all faith in his men. The Sundered Guard were new, and foolish to attack the Soldiers of Fortune. The directions to Aldalonde werent hard to find, since the Rangers werent very careful when they marched from their home towards SoF territory. It was simply a matter of following their tracks.

It didnt take long before they noticed that they were now indeed in light territory. The sun burned warmer, the trees were greener and the smell was awful. But these men were hardened fighters, who have fought many battles on light grounds, and won. It couldnt take much longer.

And then they saw it. Big gates, more shaped like an arch with decorations, rose up from the south, and became bigger as they neared the city. He saw that all the buildings were brandnew, as were the people. Eldarion heared the warning signals. They had been noticed. Eldarion raised his hand, and all people abruptly stopped marching. Eldarion grabbed his staff, and began chanting. Soon, dark clouds began to move over the city.

"Lord Eldarion, will you destroy them all like you did with the city of Gnescan, with that meteorshower?" One of his soldiers asked. "No, we will not hurt this people. Let us show the sundered guard how you fight a decent war." Eldarion turned around, so that he faced his army.

"Listen to me, I have created darkness in the city, so that we will feel more comfortable in it. Do not kill anyone who attacks you, we must be tenfold of the amount of people in that village. Most of the strong ones are probably in SoF territory, fighting for their lives. You will not touch the women or children. You will only take what we have lost due to their attack. Only take one spoil of war from each house, nothing more. When you hear my voice again, return to this place outside the city, and we will return home with the loot. I can teleport us away immediatly if there is any danger."

After this was said, Eldarion turned to the city and yelled "Charge!" and with this command, all men ran towards the gate. There was nearly no resistance. They would be gone before any additional forces could show up. Eldarion himself just walked inside the city, staring at the unfamiliar constructions. He stopped at one house... he felt like he should go in. When he opened the door, a big smile came onto his face. On the right wall there were countless whips, one even longer then the other. Eldarion choose one that he liked, and tied it to his belt, and then left the house, closing the door.

Outside, he saw one of the soldiers grabbing a young girl at her neck, and trowing her away from the front of a door, that she was blocking. Eldarion didnt hesitate a second, quickly raised his staff and shouted: "FURDIGAMA". A fireball came out of his staff, vaporizing the soldier. Eldarion looked around and said "This will happen to all of you if you dont obey my direct orders".

After a while, Eldarion gave the sign, and all the soldiers went out of the gate, most with some nice loot. Eldarion smiled, he would like to see Aleta's face when she notices that one of her whips are gone. When all the soldiers were standing around him, he raised his staff to begin chanting the transportation spell, when suddenly out of nowhere an arrow flew directly into his staff. The soldiers turned around, and what they saw struck terror in their hearts: On the top of the small mountain nearby the place they were standing stood an army of TSG. In front of the army stood one man who raised his bow.

"We were expecting you..."

[Tasital]

Awakening with a start, Tasital immediately regretted it. The throbbing pain in his shoulder made it hard to get up. There was a female half-elven Druid standing over him. "Sit down, silly. The poison is gone, but you still need time to rest."

"Karieth! What are you doing here?"
"When I lost contact with your mind, I got a little worried. So I brought myself here, " she said smiling. Grapsing her hand gently, he let her help him up. For a few moments no words were spoken between them. He was merely glad that she had been there for him.

Aware of everyone staring at them she blurted out, "Nevar gave the order to withdraw."
"Why?"
"Siria has been taken."

A noise from the brush startled them. A scout stumbled into view nearly out of breath. He quickly collected himself and said, "Captain, the enemy is moving on Treehaven. They mean to take Aldalonde."

Turning to Karieth Tas said, "Return home. Bolster our defenses. I will aid in pursing Siria's captor."
"No, I'm going with you." He knew that look in her eye. The one that said I am a mountain and you cannot move me.
Sighing he said, "Very well." "Escort our troops home," he said to the scout. "Come, Kari. We must hurry."
"Why not have the Dragon carry us there?"
"Dragon?" It was then he noticed that while the other Dragons had gone, the one he rode remained behind.
"I don't understand..."

You saved my kin. I will help you save yours. Nodding, he made his way onto the creatures back, pulling Kari behind him. They lifted off into the air, looking for signs of the black Dragon.

[Haliit]

Kelithas raised his bow at aimed it for the SoF army. He heard many others being drawn.

"Fire!"

The volley was unleashed, sending a wave of arrows towards the gathering of the Soldiers of Fortune. The rest of the rangers charged, drawing swords and axes. Haliit stood atop the hill with the rest of the Druids.

"The Soldiers of Fortune made a great mistake, with the clouds over Aldalonde, we can summon lightning."

The other Druids nodded, each adding their energy to the coming storm.

[Taspharel]

Taspharelel had reached the walls of the camp. Landing near its foot she listened for sounds from the inside of the camp. All she could hear was the sound of the Young Warriors that walked the walls above her. she closed her eyes and sent out her senses right into the castle, being careful not to make to much of a disturbance with the enemies still in the camp. she felt death lurking there, the waters that flowed in the creek where poisoned and full of death, some of the animals still inside their walls where dying already, and she sensed the death lurking in some of the enemys. They must have been drinking from the water. Everything was going very well. she saw her chances rising to make a lot of damage before they caught her.
Taspharelel readied her bow and spread her wings, preparing to lift off. Listening to the steps of the guards above her she waited for a moment in which she was almost absolutely sure that nobody was standing above her and swung himself up towards the edge of the surrounding wall. she was lucky. The last guard just entered the tower to her left, and the next guard would have to pass her position on its way. she slipped back down so she was hovering right below the edge of the wall and waited.

The steps came closer, shuffling towards her, she could sense the guard being bored and not paying attention.....
Then, all of a sudden, the guard above her took a sharp deep breath and stopped.... what had happened? Had she been heard? she had to react fast. The rope was in her hands faster than even she could think, so used was she to making this movement. her wings lifted her body up over the edge of the wall and she was ready to jet towards the guard on the wall, the guard had its sword readied and the last thing Taspharelel ever saw in her eyes was surprise. Then they broke as her rope pulled close on the young guards throat and the guard wasnt able to utter even a single sound before tumbling to the floor. Taspharelel had a hard time making sure the guard wouldnt fall down and make loud noises.

Grinning broad she knew she had won the first part of the battle. Now she had what she needed. she let her mind flow right into the body of the killed enemy. she could feel the others muscles move again, the blood flow through her vains....
Now THAT was the right kind of life. her pets skin turned pale and she knew that it completely belonged to her now.
This was so easy.
she let her puppet walk forward and let it pretend it was still on guard on the city walls, Taspharelel himself just stayed next to her, right outside the city walls.
When they reached the tower on the next corner she stopped and let her puppet stand right behind the door with its sword drawn. The next guard entering here would be more than surprised. That would be two of them dead already, about 6 more on the walls to go, and several other ones in the camp itself. Luckily, all the strong warriors had left and there where only Junior Members of their enemies here.
she flew on to the other exit of the tower and looked outside. The guard in front of her just barely didnt notice her as she quickly jumped back. she had to be more careful. Even a Young and stupid enemies sword could be sharp.
she thought hard on what to do. Then she had an idea on how to distract all guards on the walls for some time. she let her mind glide down behind the inner walls and searched for the corpse of one of the dead dodo's inside the town. When she finally found one that had just died from the poison in the water she revived it and send it out into the camp ravaging, breaking everything it could reach and go absolutely nuts. In the back of her head she felt that her other puppet had fullfilled its job and let it loose, the dead body slumping to the floor immediately.
The chaos in the middle of the camp did its job, everybody on the walls looked down and didnt take care of what happened behind them. That costed 3 of them their lives. The first one fell, her throat cut from Taspharelel's knife, the second one died as the first one had, a small thin line being the only sign of the reason of death.
The third one, a young guard standing on the top of a tower, died from a bolt she fired from her crossbow that hit right into the guards throat. All that was heard was a small *shloarrp* and the fall of a body, that could hardly be heard with the dodo going crazy inside the walls.
A feeling of joy and energy flowed through Taspharelel's body. This was great. she loved killing ppl and adding their energy to her own mind. Making her stronger and stronger as she went.
she felt read enough to control two guards at one time, and she sat down in the next tower for one second to prepare for it.

[Edited on 3/12/2003 by Taspharel]

[CommanderDelta]

"STOP" Eldarion screamed, pointing at the arrows that already travelled half the distance between his army and the army of TSG. Eldarion knew that he would lose, since both armies were the same size, and TSG were on an elevated position, which would give them tactical advantages.

"We surrender"

"But Lord" his men protested, but Eldarion gave them a strict look. "We know when we are defeated, lets not spread more bloodshed." After having said that, he pulled his arm down, and with his arm, all the arrows fell on the ground.

"I would like to speak to your leader to discuss the terms of our surrender. Can the leader please meet me halfway, without weapons. I will do the same, and we will come to an agreement. And please, stop pointing those bows at us, You will surely win from us, even without them." The TSG seemed to agree, because all simoultaniously they unarmed their bows, and put them into friendly positions.

The man at the front shouted: "My name is Kelithas, and I will represent the sundered guard. I will put down my bow and arrows, and shall leave my sword at my men. You shall leave your staff and we will come halfway and talk."

"But sir" Eldarion spoke "You wouldnt rob an old man from his walking stick now would you?"

"I know you wizards too well to fall into that trap. Put your staff on the ground, then step on it until it breaks, and then move slowly towards me, and put your hands where i can see them. I never trusted wizards and I never will."

Eldarion did what Kelithas told him to do, broke his staff, and movede slowly towards Kelithas, who already was halfway. When Eldarion arrived at the meeting point, he could see a big smile on Kelithas face.

"So, you are ready to surrender. We are just too good for you to handle arent we?" He said.

"No you aren't" Eldarion replied. "Actually, you are as foolish as a regalian ox!" With this said, he quickly pulled the whip out of his belt, which was previously covered under his wizard rope, and smacked it against Kelithas' neck. With a quick pull, the wizard managed to throw him several passes far. The sundered guard didnt believe what was happening. They were confident that they had won. Without hesitation, Eldarion screamed "STAFF" and there his staff appeared again, followed by a loud "Orthano Furdigama" which made the ground shake under the feet of the sundered guard.

Kelithas', who has recovered of the suprise attack, screamed "FIRE" and arrows rained upon the soldiers of fortune. However, a lot of men of the sundered guard were swallowed by the earth too.

Eldarion ran towards what remained of his army, shielding himself from the arrows with a spell of protection, and ones he arrived at his men, he quickly resited the spell to teleport home.

"Eldarion, what happened?" Luin asked.

"It was a trap. It was foolish of me to walk into it. Surely, we didnt give up without a fight, but looking afterwards, this is one battle that they won. The loot that we gained is worth nothing compared to the men we lost" Eldarion sighed.

"How is the war here going Luin?"

"Well, they are retreating, we are winning. But I am sure that they will come for her"

"How is she?"

"Still unconcious, but she wont be for long..."



[Edited on 3/12/2003 by CommanderDelta]

[Edited on 3/12/2003 by CommanderDelta]

[Aleta]

Aleta watched as the army of the Soldiers of Fortune marched forth from their base, her eyes narrowing as they picked out Eldarion leading them forth, so full of confidence and disdain for her friends chances it made her want to laugh. They certainly weren't holding back, judging by the number of troops. So much the better. The more they took, the fewer she had to avoid or kill to get Siria out of there.

Turning, she stroked the head of her companion and shook her head at his plaintive eyes. "Sorry, my friend. I must go alone. I shall call if I need you... which I no doubt will once I leave." She had left the trainee in a tree a ways away, figuring he would be safe until she could retrieve him. She could not risk bringing him with... there was no telling what Eldarion had done with him until one of the druids had a chance to examine him.

The wolf bounded off to await her need and she melted away, following the tug that led her to Siria.

[Bluenose]

Luin had followed Eldarion and arrived minutes after his departure with the army. He entered the room where siria was held, and seeing her still in a transe like state, left to deal with other matters. By the time of Eldarion's return he had caught up on news of the battle. Reports were coming in of high losses, but the enemy were in retreat and we had moved the fighting towards their own homes rather than ours. Things were progressing as planned.

There were still a number of men of whom Luin had no reports of, be they alive or dead. But he felt their presence, however weak they were. He sat down to pray, awaiting the return of his friend.

His meditation was broken by the return of Eldarion. It was time to deal with the hostage...

[Prodigysof]

The great 1/2 troll woke from the bushes to find blood was spilt from his brothers 'a steathily army had passed here last night, Prodigy was only one left of the group of 5 scouts, he fell asleep in the bushes and the army passed and slaughtered his friends. The path led on east to Aldalonde, with only his trusted sword he set off after them getting revenge for the blood spilt. Taking giant steps pacing through the woods anger rose in him at the rate he was going he would not reach them for days as he was slowing bumped into a dark messenger. 'quickly you must come with me the great eldarion requires your help' panted the messenger. We have set up a camp for the remaining scouts we were ambushed by the sundred army we were utterly defencless'. Prodigy quickly went over to the camp and got the equipment immediately and grabbed a armoured dodo. 'Wait where are you going ' murmured a little fairy voice. 'I'm going east to Aldalonde' , he whisked away on the dodo travelling at great sppeds throught the woods

[Prodigysof]

The great 1/2 troll woke from the bushes to find blood was spilt from his brothers 'a steathily army had passed here last night, Prodigy was only one left of the group of 5 scouts, he fell asleep in the bushes and the army passed and slaughtered his friends. The path led on east to Aldalonde, with only his trusted sword he set off after them getting revenge for the blood spilt. Taking giant steps pacing through the woods anger rose in him at the rate he was going he would not reach them for days as he was slowing bumped into a dark messenger. 'quickly you must come with me the great eldarion requires your help' panted the messenger. We have set up a camp for the remaining scouts we were ambushed by the sundred army we were utterly defencless'. Prodigy quickly went over to the camp and got the equipment immediately and grabbed a armoured dodo. 'Wait where are you going ' murmured a little fairy voice. 'I'm going east to Aldalonde' , he whisked away on the dodo travelling at great sppeds throught the woods

[Denieru]

When Denieru drifted back into conciousness he was lying in a bed looking up at the ceiling. He was in a house that had been set up to provide for soldiers wounded in the battle. There were about fifty beds lined up in two rows on oppposite sides of the walls. He still felt weak from the poison but the potent magic of his immortal blood combined with a few incantations of his own had worked while he slept. He felt drained and needed to visit the mana fountain in the area to restore his power.

The soldiers must have kept his presence a secret because nobody noticed him as he got up and left through the door. Outside the battle seemed to be over, there were ofcourse remaining soldiers of both sides scattered through the area but since the Soldiers of Fortune still held the camp Denieru assumed that they had been victorious. He grabbed one of the officers of the local militia and demanded to know where Lord Luin or Lord Eldarion were. The officer pointed towards the main building in the camp and continued to shout orders to restore order in the camp.

As Denieru entered the building a servant approached him and demanded to know his intentions. He presented himself and asked an audience with the guild masters. The servant asked Denieru to sit while he informed the Lords of his presence. As Denieru sat down he went over the nights events in his head. His failure weighed heavily upon his mind and he hoped that the nature of his rescue had not been known.
He was called back to reality when he heard the footsteps of the servant as he approached.

He wondered briefly if Master Eldarion or Master Luin would recieve him...

[Kelithas]

Sliding into the earth, Kelithas struggled to rise with speed. Jumping up in a flash he unhooked his bow from his back and strung the arrow looking seeking the wizard, Eldarion. "Gone" he muttered. He turned to see several of the SoF ranks fall under the rain of arrows. Settling for another wizarrd, Kelithas let his arrow loose and ran swiftly back to his kin.

The elf gracefully climbed up the tree and scrambled up next to Halit. "Good call on the staff," Halit chuckled. "The Dark Elves show no honour, I should not have let my guard down," Kelithas grinned. "I told you I should have gone down instead". "Just fix up my neck, crazy Druid," Kelithas replied flinching as he touched the wound. Placing two fingers on the Ranger's neck, Halit uttered a word and the skin healed.

"Thank you brother..." Looking along the ranks he noticed a few missing. Voronwe, Siria, Nevar, Tas, Kari? "Halit whither is everyone...?"


[Edited on 3/12/2003 by Kelithas]

[SiriaCessmera]

"Mother Neutra, why have you betrayed your kin?"

I give my blessing to those who ask for it.

"Neutra, please unbind my hands, allow me to kill without pain."

It is done, child. Your dark brother approaches. You do not have permission to harm him.

"Eldarion is not my brother."

All elves are children in my name. Now hush child, it is time for you to awaken.

Siria's eyes opened with a flash, as they focused upon a wooden ceiling. Slowly she turned her head to examine the prison she was kept within. She was within a small one room cabin, laying on a cot, with two soldiers leaning against the wall, resting. Siria sat up cautiously; her head ached terribly, and her body felt as if she had been run over by a stampede of dodos. One soldier stirred from his rest, "the prisoner's awaking", he said to his companion.

Siria outstretched a hand so as to warn the soldiers to keep their distance. From her hand shot out a vine that pierced the chest of the soldier that spoke. It lifted him slowly off the ground, before flinging him out an open window. As the other guard took a step toward her with his sword drwan, Siria pointed a finger at him, "please stay away from me, I cannot control this." From her outstretched finger, another vine wrapped around the soldier, constricting and crushing him. In panic, the soldier atttempted to cut the vine with his sword, running his own body through accidentally.

Siria stared for a moment at the now still body of the soldier, almost expecting the vines to come after herself next. Cocking her head up towards the ceiling, she sputtered her thanks to Neutra, before turning her attention to a voice outside the door. "What's going on in there?" Siria thrusted her hand towards the door. A bundle of vines attaching themselves to the doorknob, and spreading across the length of the wall. With a crooked smile, Siria continued to grow a jungle within the room, complete with man-eating plants, poisonous dart flowers, and many quivering vines. She even grew a rare type of plant that was known to absorb mana, and devour magical effects.

[Edited on 3/12/2003 by SiriaCessmera]

[Aleta]

Sitting in a healer's tent in the middle of the Soldiers' base, Aleta allowed her back wound treated while keeping up a steady banter with the healer, fooled by the Soldier of Fortune uniform she wore.

"Yes, it was a brutal fight. The Sundered Guard was putting up a good resistance to our mighty forces." The healer frowned and smeared more salve across her burns, speaking in a friendly, albeit somewhat confused, voice.

"You know, I am surprised to see one such as you... we don't have many women in our forces."

Aleta shrugged vaguely. "Well, I joined for Lord Eldarion. I saw him once and fell in love... I knew I had to join so I could try and meet him," The healer placed the final bandage.

"Aye, he is indeed a glorious leader. I can certainly see a pretty girl such as yourself becoming smitten with him," Nodding, Aleta rose and moved experimentally to test her range of motion with the dressing in place. Smiling as she found that she had full mobility, she turned her charms to the healer.

"I'd like to do something to thank you for your fine work." Shaking his head to indicate it wasn't necessary, the healer started to speak but she cut him off. "I insist." As he gave a little smile, her hands flashed forward in a blur of motion. He fell back against one of the cots for the wounded, dead before he hit the mattress. Aleta moved over to the body and gently raised a sheet to cover him. "I'm truly sorry... but I couldn't take the risk. May your etrnal rest be peaceful."

Rising, she moved towards the flap of the tent, reaching a hand out to tip a lit brazier as she strode back outside, slight wisps of smoke trailing behind her as fabric began to burn. She began to walk forward, but a sudden flash of magic made her halt in midstride, head jerking in the direction it came from. Siria! Turning, she moved swiftly towards Siria's location as the flames of the burning tent began to lick the sky.

[sivitri]

Sivitri woke up in the morning, stretching herself she looks at the overcast sky. Blood has been shed last night, i wonderwhat has happened....
She then took up her bow and back pack and strode off towards the nearest accesible mountain to take a look at the surrounding area. Surprised to see the plains being covered with blood...
As she continue surveying the area she found 2 camps 1 with the banner that read SoF and another that reads TSG...
She wonders which camp should she go too......

[eXp|ict]

Far distance from the war, a young Dark Elf named Explict was returning from his long journey to visit the Mage of the Shadows. Still being trained as a Shadow Knight for SoF's army, his long journey was a stressful, yet strengthful one. His visit to the Mage gave him new learned magiks and increased sence ability. This he knew, would be one of the first of many steps to obtaining a mighty name. Though young and inexperienced, powerful ones could feel a new unbringing in him. Still unexpericenced in the art of war, his sword was craving for enemy blood. As he reached the last forest he would have to travel through to get to his final destionation, he could vaguely smell blood in the wind that blew from the direction of his Guild's encampments. His hands began to tighten around his sword as he began to realize what was happening on the other side of the forest. Gracefully yet quickly, he began to sprint into the forest, his comrades might need his help.

[Tinok]

With renewed strength and knowing he had used two of his nine lives tonight already, Tinok began to head for home. Two simple incantations blurred him from view and quickened his pace....if all went well, he would make Aldalonde by mid day.

The silvery light of the moon was again coming throw the dark clouds and the metallic smell of blood was thick in the air...but for some pockets, the fighting had slowed considerably.

As he thought about the events of the past hours, Tinok thought how strange, a simple raid on a Dark outpost....one that was designed to warn SoF that they had expanded to quickly and into territory not their own...had become a battle that spanned many more miles. Many had died this night and many more would die that next day...when would it stop? Did SoF understand that TSG was not going to be easily pushed aside? Would they now stop the expansion they had undertaken? A nice thought would be to hear yes to these two questions, but he felt in his heart that, if anything, this sparked a underutilized, hungry army to war....

As the hours passed, the miles between the "front" and the city were barren...strange, even the animals have hidden in fear. Tinok slowed and decided to climb a tree to look about....something here was not right. Up among the tree tops Tinok saw, above Aldalonde, a dark cloud was gathering...

"They attack us?", whispered Tinok in disbelief. "The city must be near to defenseless!"

Climbing down swiftly, Tinok doubled his pace and began to circle so that he could come into the city from secret ways only TSG was aware of....

[Cheese_Mouse]

The dark elf swung his sword, blood splashed on his cloak and the armor exposed on his chest. His summon beneath him smoked with a dark bloodlust. Breathless, a soldier in not but leather armor approached him. The dark elf's sword flew down at the light-armored human.

"SIR!" He yelled in panic.

The dark elf's sword stopped but inches above his head. His eyes slowly lost their glow as he saw the SoF crest on the humans armor.

"I... I bring word from Lord Eldarion." He stuttered, in shock of the attack by his kin.

"I apologize, what word?"

"He says to kill all who do not retreat, and that additional forces will arrive from the south west. Also, kill every creature you see." He took a breath.

The dark elf eyed the messenger. "Kill every creature... shapeshifters. Thank you."

The human nodded, "Sir." and hurried back in the direction he came.

The dark elf turned back to the fighting. "It appears as if they are retreating..." he thought to himself. "You have served me well." he said, and stroked the beast's spine. "Fainu sule." and the beast tuned to dust beneath him. Landing on his feet, he pulled a soldier to him. "Inform the troops. Make sure that the light invaders have been pushed back. Watch the forest line, they can transform. Once pushed back, establish a strong border be on high alert until I say otherwise."

"Sir!" He responded under his helmet, and hurried away.

"YOU, gather twenty healthy infantry, we're going hunting."

As they stood in front of him, the dark elf explained the situation. "We are dealing with light cowards! They hide in the forest as birds, as wolves. These forests must be cleared. Enter the forest west, and make way along the border of this outpost, killing any creature you see. I will join you shortly."

"SIR!" They responded as one, and marched into the trees.

The dark elf looked across the battlefield. Many lay dead from both sides. The Sundered Gaurd has been pushed back. He turned to the woods and followed his men. As he walked, he looked to his side to see a dead rabbit. He heard movement up ahead and the sounds of struggle. Slowly, sheathed his sword and drew his dagger from his boot. The dark elf lept over a bush, and into a small clearing, dagger drawn, seeing only his soldiers around him. He sighed and sheathed his dagger. He looked to his right. Up in a tree, was a Soldier, mace in hand, streaching it out as far as he could towards a bird perched just out of his reach. It appeared as if the bird had made a game of jumping out of the Soldier's rang each swing, then jump back, taunting him. Sweat dripped from the Soldier's brow and he was biting his toung. The dark elf shook he head.

Suddenly, the bushes behind him began to shake. The dark elf turned to see a squirrel leap from the bush, over his head, and continue behind him. Close behind the squirrell, were three Soldiers, out of breath, and swinging their weapons. They passed the dark elf giving a quick salute and plunged into the bushes where the squirrell disappeared.

To his side, the dark elf heard the slam of steel on rock. He turned, seeing a Soldier smashing his boot down on the top of an ant hill, making sure to kill every last insect. "LIGHT SCUM!" The Soldier yelled, as he stomped the bugs.

"..." The dark elf paused, shook his head, and returned to the bloody, lightless battlefield.

[CommanderDelta]

Eldarion, Luin and Denieru were walking towards the place where they had hidden Siria. Eldarion and Luin had picked up Denieru as he requested, and were filled with joy seeing him, though they have never doubted his abilities to bring things to a good end. As they approached the hiding place, it became clearer to them that something was happening inside. Standing in front of the building, Luin asked Eldarion: "Can you feel her?" "No, can you?" replied Eldarion, "No" answered Luin. "She must have shelded her thoughts." "What is going on in there?" Asked Denieru. Carefully the 3 wizards opened the door...

They were totally suprised by what they saw. The room was filled with different kinds of plants and weeds. At the back of the room, the window was broken, and the wizards could still see the feet of one of the guards hanging outside the window. To the right, nearer to the door, a lifeless body of the second guard lay on the ground. In the middle of the room lay Siria. When the wizards took a better look at the plants... they felt like the plants were ready to attack them, but it was like they were hesitating. The three wizards began to approach Siria on a very slow pace...

There was a moment of silence when they got near her. The three wizards were all holding their breath. This was the first time the three of them could have a good look at Siria. She must be one of the most beautiful creatures in existance. She was an Elf, with black hair, which was very rare amongst the normal elves. Her eyes were eyes that you could stare at for hours. Even in the state she was in right now, you could see that she was an elegant being, blessed by the gods. Eldarion wondered if he hadn't seen her before somewhere.Siria slowly pulled her head up and looked him right in the eyes. And then she whispered "Look out."

But it was too late. Eldarion, who was standing the furthest away from Siria, was grabbed by a giant flower with teeth like swords. It was only because of the quick reaction of Luin, who immediatly reached to his sword and sliced the flower with the teeth off the plant itself, that Eldarion was still alive. The teeth of the flower still wounded him though. "Denieru" Luin shouted. "Help him!"

Denieru came closer to Eldarion and began the healing process. Luin turned towards the jungle of plants, put his swird back, and now reached for his staff. "You are cursed plants, wounding my brother, and a fellow servant of Neutra. You will feel my wrath." And with this said, the plants got sonsumed by fire. This costed Luin a great deal of mana though, due to the mana-eating powers of some of the plants. He had to sit down and regenerate.

And exactly on this moment... while Eldarion was getting healed by Denieru, and Luin was out of mana, the door opened,..

[Nevar_Darkmoon]

Blood still dripping from Nevar's muzzle, he looked and wondered the "why" of all this.

The out lying sentry didn't even see him come till jaws clamped onto his neck. Only a small gurgle sound escaped the sentry's lips, and was followed with a sharp *crack* as the bone finally gave way.

A blur of motion changed the wolf to Half Elf. Bending down, the ranger pulled some moss from a rock and wiped the blood on his face away as well as he could.

Stripping the sentries uniform he place it aside. His own leather armour, soaked through with sweat was going to be a burden to carry. Digging a shallow hole at the base of a tree he put down his armour and pack within it; covering it with sticks and leaves.

Once dressed in the sentries uniform, he set off for the city.

It was a shame that he wasnt able to tree run as far as he hoped to, but the dark mana was too thick this deep into the enemies territory, and wouldnt support the light. He knew he was close to catching Aleta. Her trail, so very faint was quickly being eaten by the rangers quick steps.

The guards didnt even hinder him entering the fortress once they saw the sentry uniform. Ha, least I know this would never happen back home. Everyone knows everyone by name and face there., thinking to himself. He was still proud how the Guide system ensured the familly feel to the Sundered Guard. It did limit their size though. "I suppose quality over quantity is what we are after."

Cities and fortresses never sat well with the ranger... he just couldnt feel comfortable, out of his element.

"Finding Aleta in this warren of buildings is going to be impossible", he reflected. "And still I don't sense Voronwe about." This worried him the most. Things could get ugly fast here... and here the Guard was WAY out of its element. Sometimes its better to use a needle instead of a hammer to get rid of the splinter.

Shouts from behind him, forced him to freeze. "FIRE, get the buckets... the healers compound is starting to go up!"

Ahh, Aleta is near by.

Walking into an alley, Nevar smiled as the sound of rats came to his ears. Bending down into a shadow, the ranger whistled softly, several rats came up quickly. Slicing the tip of his finger with his dagger, blood began to well and flow. The rats grew restless at its smell. Placing his hand before them, they began to lick and naw on his finger as the ranger began to chant. "Sorry little ones. Your sacrifice is need to feed the whole." More rats began to gather, frenzied by the smell of fresh blood. The rats that drank of the rangers blood fell over... bloated and dead. Their bodies were quickly devored by the large pack of gathered rats. "Listen little ones." The rats fell silent and stared intently at the rangers face. "I need your help. There is a Druidess within this city. Lead me to her by ways unseen."

The rats surged with a singular purpose further down the alley and around a corner. Streaming through a grate in the ground, Nevar lifted it and jumped down into the sewers to follow.

The stink was enough to kill a dodo. How could these people live like this he thought. Racing through the filth and stagnant water, Nevar chased the rats.

Something odd was happening ahead, the ground was cracking and it appeared that roots where snaking down from above.

"Ahh, she must have woke up." A grin spread across his face as the rats pressed on.

[Taspharel]

Taspharelel was in rage. One of the soldiers had seen her too early and had caught her at the tip of her wing. He had died alright, but it hurt nontheless. Taspharelel counted about 12 more Young TSG soldiers spread throughout the town, and probably hundreds of woman and children. And old people. The children where dangerous. She knew that they could become TSG Soldiers and help in attacks after attacks on her friends in only a few years.
The poisoned water had done its part, she sensed many people dying. But the others already started to notice where the death was coming from, and her killing had not gone undetected. Just now, she heard one of the guards vomit just outside of the tower she was standing in. "He must have seen my last work. One of those disgusting high elves. Its throat probably was a little more open than the ones of the other guards. And maybe she shouldnt have pulled the inner throat so far out. But it helped her approach her next victim.
As she looked outside she noticed dark clouds gathering above the city. And she knew she didnt have much time left, sometime somebody would send for help. Or, even worse, sometime the army of TSG would come back, victorious or not, and find her amongst all the dead soldiers.
She had to move quickly.
Flying out the entrance of the tower she passed by the guard in the flash of an eye and stabed it into the eye, making sure the guard would remember who blinded him forever.
Then she shot down into the middle of the town and hid amongst some dead dodo corpses in the stables. She had a plan.

If she was not going to be able to kill everybody, she just might as well render the town useless. The water was poisoned, but sometime, the poison would have been washed away. So she had to take care that the poison would be spread over everything inside the city.
Fire.
Her eyes started glowing. She looked around the stables and found several torches that she lit, always watching carefully as to not be seen by anybody. But most of the people inside the area she was in where running to see who was shedding their blood all over the castle walls and screaming like a baby.
Taspharelel attached the torches to the dead dodos. Then she send her mind into the corpses, bringing them back to "life" and making them ALL run into the inner parts of the city. Once they would have reached some vital point they would run into walls and hey stacks and wooden objects. The fire probably could be seen far enough so somebody approaching from the battle would be able to see it from miles away still.
And when they used the water to bring the fire down, the poison in the water would be spread all over the place. And where it would land, never again would there be any plants growing. Maybe he was lucky and somebody poured water onto himself to stop his clothes from burning... This probably would be fun to watch. But there was no time. She knew she had to leave now or die here. It was ... precognition perhaps. It had saved her life several times already and this time ....

Sunken deeply into her thoughts she hadnt noticed the soldier approaching her from behind. The only thing saving her was that the other stepped onto a dry branch. Now everything happened at once. Taspharelel turned around fast and pulled out her dagger, jumping back several feet with one swing of her wings.
Most of the dodos reached their destinations at the same time, and started fires througout the city, most of them in places hopefully nobody would notice them too early. On or two ran into peoples houses and started fires there that would spread fast in the wooden surroundings.
The soldier readied (his / her, Taspharelel didnt have the time to really check) weapon.....
This moment would decide over life or death if she couldnt think of a way out......

[VoronweEldalom]

Leaving Tinok to fend for himself, Voronwe ran with all his speed towards the spot he had left Siria at. He tried his best to steel himself against his emotions, preferring that his energy be devoted to running. As he ran, he slid his mind along the connection he and Siria shared, and panicked that she felt very far away, and fading fast. It was not just distance, it was her low strength he felt too. He pushed harder.

Nearing the camp, he found that the fighting had moved on from this spot, but he cared not to see what the results were. Instead, he ran straight to the tree Siria was propped up against. To his dismay, she was indeed gone. He began searching the ground around the tree, looking for the tracks of her feet. When he came upon the awesome prints of a dragon, his heart sank. He knew what became of her.

He tested his connection with her again. She was still alive, but there was pain in her mind. He felt something rise from deep within him. He had failed! Failed to protect her and keep her safe. His body began to tremble in despair, but only one sob escaped before all his emotion changed into anger. He breathed in a strong, labored breath, and squeezed the handles of his two long swords. Gritting his teeth, he thought of what might be happening to her. With a cry, he drew one of his swords and hacked at the dragon's footprint. The dark had kidnapped his wife, his love! He needed no incantation for the magic he now called upon.

He closed his eyes and tried his best to clear his grief and anger stricken mind, causing unnavoidable sobs and growls to choke themselves out of his locked jaw, as he pushed his soul out from his body, letting it grab instead along the eternal tether that would exist between him and Siria. He knew that even if one of them died, the tether would still exist, allowing the remaining one to choose to follow, even into death. Voronwe never doubted what choice he would make if it came to that. But he didn't need to despair yet. She was alive, and the tether led straight to her. He again felt a pang of a kind of despair combined with anger, and his rage grew as he let himself be carried across its ethereal length, emerging on the other side... let there be none that stand between her and I, he thought.

The pressure of the dark mana that flooded this region pushed against his consciousness, clouding it before his rage took hold of his mind once again, and made it razor sharp. He now drew his two swords, gripping their handles tightly so that his hands hurt, distracting him from his heart's pain. He looked around, still confused that he was not directly next to Siria. Instead, he was standing right next to a wall of a small house, inside a courtyard of what had to be the Soldier's fortress. He heard muffled sounds from within the cabin, and knew that Siria was inside. His fury burst forth, knowing that she could and must be saved.

Running around the wall of the cabin, he came to the door, and he pushed it open. In his fury he did not see anything but the one elf wizard that stood right in front of the door, and in an instant he was upon him. With a growl that seemed unnatural for the ranger to make, he brought his two swords to the dark elf's neck...

[SiriaCessmera]

Without a moments thought, Siria surged upon Voronwe, causing him to lose his footing and fall backwards, his arms extending so that his swords pointed at the necks of the two elves nearest him. It was rare for a Ranger to fall, obviously Voronwe was in more distress than Siria had been in. He looked into her eyes, his rage ceasing at the knowledge that his love was alright. "You cannot harm him, it is not our purpose yet. I have made my promise," Siria said in a definite tone.

"Promised who?" Voronwe asked absent mindedly. Siria shook her head at him, and crawled over next to Denieru. The Dark Elf was unsure how to react, and so stood his ground. "Please, let me finish the healing process. It may mean nothing to you, but it was my plant that wounded him, I have a debt to pay for that and," Siria paused for a moment, wondering whether she should mention her dream of Neutra. Deciding it was best not to, Siria just stared pleadingly into Denieru's eyes.

Denieru said nothing, but obliged by moving away from his Lord's body, giving Siria space to finish the healing. Siria kneeled next to Eldarion, looking him in the eyes to establish the trust she needed to heal him. As she stared into his gray eyes, she began to fully sense the strength he posessed, much of which he himself was probably unaware of. A desire came over her, for the power that he posessed within his soul.

Siria closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She turned her head towards Eldarion's wound, kissed the tips of two of her fingers, and lowered her hand into the still gaping wound. Simultaneously, the two elves cringed, the presence of light and dark sent shivers through both their spines. Trying to ignore it, Siria quietly sang her request to the world, feeling the energy of the earth restore her own health as she gave hers to Eldarion.

As soon as the first blue spark entered Eldarion's flesh, Siria could feel her mind become clouded; new feelings and emotions swirled in her head and it was all she could do to stay focused on the hymn that she would occasionally hum in her sleep. A feeling as though her heart was tearing in two, began to cause excruciating pain to herself, but she continued to work through it.

Her pain could not have been as bad as Eldarion's, however. He began to scream in agony but bit down hard to preserve his strength. Beads of sweat began to drip down his face, but he held strong, gripping his fists so hard that they had become white.

With tears of suffering streaming down her face, Siria pulled her hand away, being unable to take much more. Just before her skin left connection with his, a feeling of completion and wholeness, washed over Siria. The wound had been successfully healed, but what she had just felt was more than the feeling of a patient being mended.

Siria backed away from Eldarion carefully and looking towards Voronwe, she gave him smile of utmost love.

[Edited on 4/12/2003 by SiriaCessmera]

[Denieru]

Denieru knelt besides Master Eldarion and began to heal. It was not his specialty in the field of magic, but then, he would not say his specialty was hurting people although he certainly had potential for that too.

Suddenly the door opened and there stood a wood elf with swords drawn and mana was surging from his being like waves. Denieru knew in an instant that this was the other half of SiriaCessmera, later he would wonder how he knew so instantly. Denieru had no time to react before the two swords descended upon them. But as quickly as the wood elf brought down his swords SiriaCessmera was quicker still, as she came to her lovers side he fell backwards. She said something to him and then turned back and crawled towards Denieru. This was so surreal. He didn´t know if he should defend himself or swear allegiance to this woman and follow her for the rest of his life. And then she spoke to him, her words didn´t seem to enter his mind through his ears, they were speaking directly to his heart. He could not speak but moved, allowing SiriaCessmera to move closer to Master Eldarion.

As she diverted her attention towards Master Eldarion Denieru was able to think clearly once more. His gaze shifted again to the wood elf that sat on the ground, still clenching a sword in each fist. Denierus survival instincts began to surface, even if he could not bear himself to consider the woman a threat the wood elf was surely beyond doubt trouble. Inside Denieru began to fuel his body with the last remaining mana he could muster, if the situation became hostile he would be ready.

[Bluenose]

Drained from the spell, and gasping for strength Luin could do nothing but watch the surreal play unfolding before his eyes. He went over the past minute in his head trying to understand what had happened.

They had entered the room, walking slowly towards the centre of the tangle of plantlife. But then as fast as they could think, a giant flower had Eldarion in it's grip. It was a reflex action to cleve it in two, but it seemed his wounds were great.

Luin had closed his eyes and done the only spell that had come to mind for the situation. It was massivly inefficient but there was no time to think of another. As the spell subsided, he fell to the floor and when the stranger burst through the door, all he had time to do was throw his leg out to trip, but too late. The stranger had advanced on Denieru and all looked lost.

At that moment, Siria seemed to have pushed him back, the intruder stumbled over Luin's foot and fell saving denieru from what looked a certian death. She then went on to sit and heal Eldarion.

This was where Luin currently sat. He had witnessed all this and was trying to come to terms with it in his mind. He put it to one side, and prayed for strength. With the plants now gone, and him sitting in his home, the feeling of powerlessness left him quickly, and he rose to his feet, surveying the situation he was now in.

The intruder was still on the floor, with a look of relief on his face. Luin took advantage, and muttering under his breath, thrust his hand at him. The elf was thrown backwards out of the room the look on his face changing from relief to hate, the door forced shut and locked tight as he left.

What in all Ganareth is going on here? Luin yelled.

[Edited on 4/12/2003 by Bluenose]

[ufokid]

"Interesting. Very interesting."
With a wave of his hand, Grath Celebrandir told the messenger to go and wait in the hall. He was in his own fortress, about a day's ride for a dodo to the north-east from the border between SoF and TSG territories. He sat in his chair, thinking about the news the messenger had just brought him.
"Well, let them fight for a while. It won't kill SoF to have a decent opponent for once. But we should be prepared to intervene if necessary..." He called the messenger back in.
"Go to the Consuls and the Council and tell them what you told me."
"Yes sir." Grath went off to find another messenger.
"Go to Ethrendil. Tell him to have the airforce standing by."
With this done, he decended to his underground library, to consult his scrolls on The Sundered Guard and the star charts for the following nights.

[Tinok]

Tinok reached the area that only a few of the TSG members knew of...moving aside the covering, he lowered himself into the tunnel and quickly put the cover back in place. It was peaceful here under the earth, the power emanating from all the living creatures made Tinok a bit giddy. As he moved on though, he noticed a smell that did not seem quite right...similar to the smeel he had encountered when scouting the perimeter...the smell of death and decay. Then he saw it...near where the tunnel went under the brook feeding the city its main water supply. The roots and larva to near it were dead...a grayish hue surrounding all of it.."What is this?", he whispered. Moving forward but trying to stay as far as possible from the decay Tinok began to move on...something about that smell was familiar.

"Poison!", he blurted out, "They have poisoned our water supply!"

Tinok knew that it had been awhile since it had been done as well by the area of death under the brook. Rage filled Tinok then and he scurried forward toward the city, hoping to catch the ones who had perpetrated this atrocity! Coming out into the city at last, the cloud cover was almost complete and Tinok could here the call to arms of the city, a sign that SoF had arrived and the cloud cover got darker...

Gods, there, by the stables...a...a...Faire! So delicate looking...what was a magical creature like this one doing in Aldalonde? Tinok moved forward cautiously as the creature was working on the animals nearby... What?! They are dead! And the Faire is tying torches to them and....a Necromancer!

Tinok thought, what type of guild are we fighting? One that talks of honor on the battlefield, but sends its minions to kill innocents by poisoning the water?! Well, this one would not live to see the next dark moon rise!

Arming himself with his sword, Tinok moved forward. Gliding quietly toward his quarry. As he approached, the Faire spun about with lightning speed, drawing a small dagger at the same time....

"You are quick, death mage.", stated Tinok, while drawing out his dagger.

Quick was an understatement. Before his dagger cleared the sheath, the creature darted forward with blinding speed. Tinok was forced to twist at the waist in order to avoid most of the impact, dropping his sword in the process and getting scraped across the side of the neck. The creature was already in attack position as Tinok completed his spin and went into a defensive stance.

"Wow, you are a quick one...", muttered Tinok.

Without a sound, other than the wisp of her wings, the Faire darted in again...this time Tinok feinted with his dagger, but punched out instead and he smiled as the Faire was knocked back into the barn wall. Tinok did not hesitate, but came in hard with a slash and did nothing but sink it deep into the barn wall.

"Wish I could stay and play.", taunted the Faire.

Tinok spun around and was slammed by an invisile force of some kind that pushed him through the wooden planks and down hard on the floor of the barn.

"Uh, oh...company.", and with a whir of wings the creature disappeared from site.

Tinok began to crawl toward the darkness in the back of the barn...he knew of a few broken bones and felt a few shards of wood in his back as well...as he drifted off into unconsciousness for the third time this past day, the last thing he heard was a harsh and commanding voice yell, "CHARGE!"

[CommanderDelta]

All the previous pains and wounds he had, fell nothing compared to what he was feeling now. There was a strong physical pain, caused by the burning poison of the plant that he was almost eaten by, not to mention the pain of the wounds themselves. If it wasnt for Denieru and Siria, he might not have been here anymore. But besides this physical pain, there was also mana damage. Eldarion was being filled with Light mana. He knew that this had to be done, and Siria only tried to heal him, but the light force crawling up his body didn't feel too good for the dark wizard.

And then there was the mental pain. Having to be healed by a light druidess, one that he had captured earlier, who was under his control... and now he was under hers... his life was depending on her. Eldarion didn't like this at all. But strangely, another part of him was feeling something else, like this was as it was ment to be. Still being healed, he opened his eyes and look above him, right into the eyes of Siria. For a second, his mind didn't feel the pain anymore. It has been replaced with a feeling of compassion, towards the druidess that was saving him. It could have been his imagination, but he thought that he saw something likewise in her eyes too.

When the healing was done, and Siria turned back to Voronwe, he fell an immense pain. Could it be jealousy? No... it wasn't that.... it was something else... With a certain amount of pleasure he saw Luin throwing Voronwe out of the door, and screaming: "What in all Ganareth is going on here?"

Eldarion looked at Siria. He knew she belonged with the man that was now standing behind the door. Their love was no secret, and it could be felt by anyone immediatly. He knew that he was powerful, but not so powerful that he could interfere with true love. But another part of him, something darker, something deeper, wanted to keep her, to investigate what their actual bond was.

These thoughts were still fighting inside him, making a clear decision impossible. But his instinct told him to reach for his staff which, for a change, was still in one piece. There they stood. three dark wizards, a light druidess, and behind the door her light lover and maybe even more people who have come to rescue her. Eldarion looked into Siria's eyes again. What should he do? Let her go? Fight for her? He tried to look for the answers within her eyes, but couldn't find them yet...

"I don't know Luin" Eldarion finally replied. "But I do know we will have a hell of a show if they try to take her by force!"

And he kept staring at her, with no other thoughts in his mind.

[Aleta]

Aleta listened to all the activity in the room below her, ear pressed against the roof. Knowing Siria was soon to be in quite a bit of danger, she sat up and began focusing her energy along her arm to gather in her palm. Slamming it down on the wood, there was a quick flash and a chunk of the ceiling gave way and collapsed, letting alive jump down to her sister's side.

Hissing a warning to the Dark mages, her whip cracked and blood spurted from a hand that had begun to rise to try and cast her out like Voronwe. "Don't try it."

Glancing over at Siria she smiled crookedly. "Miss me?"

[SiriaCessmera]

Siria looked wide-eyed as as her sister came crashing through the roof, landing delicately next to her. "Miss me?" Aleta asked with a crooked smile. Immediatly Aleta began to understand that Siria was not in any immediate danger. In fact, the look Siria presented to Aleta was a look of wanting to stay.

"No. Hell no. Nevar is on his way and we are taking you back to Aldalonde." Aleta said in the firm voice she used for scolding her younger sister. Siria shifted her eyes between Aleta and Eldarion, deciding what she should do or say. "Then I guess you will have to stay here with me, won't you," Siria said with a wink, "I'm not ready to leave, not yet."

Aleta kicked the dead Soldier who still layed on the ground once, before turning her direction to Eldarion. "You did something to her, damn it. Now change her back!" Aleta said, just barely retaining her fury.

"It's not him," Siria said calmly, then to Eldarion, "what do you feel?"

[Edited on 5/12/2003 by SiriaCessmera]

[Denieru]

Denieru watched as another wood elf dropped from the ceiling. She showed close resemblance to Siria but something about her was still very different. He wondered how many of them there were out there, they seemed to be able to move through their fortress at will, and were literally coming out of the walls.

As Master Luin raised his hand to give the girl a force blow she instantly raised her whip and with a flash to fast for the eye to follow Luins hand withdrew like if it was stung by a bee.
"Dont try it" the girl hissed at them.
"Miss me?" she turned towards Siria with a crooked smile.
Denieru had to smile also, he was not sure if the girl displayed either courage or stupidity, how was she planning on facing the three most experienced wizards in all of Ganareth, alone.
"Master Luin, Master Eldarion, please, allow me to dispense of this one. I have been waiting all night for someone to test my skills." Denieru spoke and released the final spell he had saved, a surge of power went through his limbs as he released the final energies of mana into his body.

Darkness emanating from Denieru transformed his entire body into shadows, long tendrils of shadows extruded from his back, stretching out towards the walls and ceiling, causing the impression of dark wings. Only the eyes remained clear as the shadow form flowed towards Aleta.

Aletas whip cracked the air once more and almost sliced the shadow form in two, but as quickly as the whip passed through the shadows surged back, mending together instantly.
"Fool, your whip is useless against my shadow magic." the shadow form spoke, his voice no longer sounding remotely elvish.
Denieru sent out four long shadow tendrils to grab the girl. As she dodged the first two and quickly sliced the third using a knife she suddenly somehow held in her hand the fourth shadow arm connected with her right leg, wrapping itself around it. Focusing for a moment Denieru jumped through the hole in the roof, carrying the girl with him, causing the roof to open wider. He had to remove them from the scene below and his shadow arms needed space to maximize their efficincy. Suddenly he was jerked back in midair and slammed back against the rooftop. The girl had managed to find foothold and used his own shadow arm as leverage to throw him into the roof.
"You were not leaving a girl up here all alone, were you?" she smiled once more, this time the smile didn´t seem all that friendly.

[Nevar_Darkmoon]

"You were not leaving a girl up here all alone, were you?" echoed down through the cracks in the tunnels ceiling.

The vines and roots still writhed and dug deep through the tunnels wall from above, seeking nourishment… seeking life. Small shoots had sprouted from some of the vines, shoots that had mouths, snapping thorn filled maws. The few rats that were devoured only seemed to give the plants in this area more strength, more lust.

It was driving the half elf ranger mad being this close to them all, only a few feet of dirt and rock blocking him from his adopted familly and enemy. That madness resolved itself to an idea, a hope.

It had sounded like Aleta came through a wall or ceiling... lets come up through the floor. Pulling back on his bow... the bow that was more arm and hand to the ranger than the physical arm that held it; he let fly a few arrows to loose crumbling points in the sewer tunnel ceiling. Rocks and dirt splashed into the foul spew of water beneath it.

"Ahh.. lets speed this up... and give some strength to the plants." Calming his spirit the ranger called to the plague of rats around him. There were thousands now, all swarming and feeding off the magic that was in them. The magic was like a virus that spread from one to the next, and there were so many rats here it could spread to.

"Come little ones, dig with tooth and claw. Make a way to those above." the ranger chanted to the rats. The action was immediate. Where one rat would never have made it through... the thousands of rats worked like a half-troll with a mining pick. The carnivorous plant roots kept eating more or the oblivious rats. In the few places that roots and vine could be seen beneath the mass of grey moving fur, they had begun to change from green to dusty black. The blood was coursing through the plants now... sap giving way to the more power draught of blood.

The sound of the rats and the plants changing hue had been notice by those above. Aleta turned to Siria, "I told you Nevar was coming," she smiled. "And yes dark elf... we move amongst you with imputy." "If there is shadow there is the Guard", grinning at the irony to this shadow creature before her.

Siria struggled with the plants... they were close to being out of her control before, but with the flow of blood feeding them, the strain was becoming too great.

Several of the plants snapped and coiled at the wizards, thorny teeth dripping with venomous blood. Nature is a cruel mistress when given reign... and that reign was about to begin.

With a surge the mass of plant life shattered out the back wall, sending vines, shoots and creepers screaming into the city. Magic founded in the light was becoming poisoned and stained by the dark magic that seeped through the very grounds and air of this place. The pureness of the plants was being mutated from the blood and the dark mana, and nature found in "bliss". Many don’t realise that nature is as much dark mana as light. It is a balance between things; it had grown from the light mana of Siria's works, but it would feed and grow from the dark.

People fell to the plants, and the plants drank deep on this new blood. The plants where not intelligent, they did not care if they killed, for with each death, new life in the plant was formed.

The physical brightness fell like a ray from Gothar into the sewer tunnel when a section of the sewer caved in. Leaping up through the hole, along the snapping vines Nevar drew back this bow and aimed at the Dark Elf wizard standing at the back, dodging and pushing back the plants. "DON'T even think of moving against us or I will blast a hole through you to let in more light than you would care." spat the ranger.

"Aleta, Siria... lets go to a quieter place. We can come back when the Green has slacked it's thrist."

Rats now boiled up through the hole, chewing ravenously at the plants... clearing a path out.

The ranger could see the anger in the druidess's eyes, this is not what was suppose to happen this way. He could feel the tug of her emotions, a compassion to these dark worms that now fought for their lives against the living green.

Will let her deal with me later... need to get out of here and fast., reflected the ranger.

The rats where beginning to loose the battle to keep a clear path out... their mashed and severed bodies formed a thick slopp along the floor between the vines.

"Aleta!!! Cripes sake girl, drag her if you have to... we will be dead if we stay here.!"

"GO... let the plants deal with them." "They are big boys... they can get out of this."

As Aleta began dragging her sister out... Nevar could see the spells the wizards casting being eaten by the magic dampening of the green mass. The flowers that soaked the mana where glowing bright every where he looked. "thank Gothar for those flowers." muttered the half elf.

Running out the twisted entrance, and collecting Voronwe (who was fighting like a dervish against the plants) the party of four fled.

[Taspharel]

Taspharelel flew outside as fast as she could. This fricking TSG had hurt her more badly as she would want him to see. She had a very hard time staying on her feet and moving her wings. But somehow, she managed to get outside. And somehow, she even had the power to lift herself high enough to pass over the outer walls.
Then, all she heard was somebody shouting: "CHARGE". After that, everything happened at once.
Taspharelel turned her head while folding her wings to her sides so she would shoot downwards to the earth to be covered from site.
Behind her, she saw the TSG that had surprised her laying on the floor, his eyes just now closing.
Somewhere in the town, a piercing cry emenated from a womans throat. One of the DoDo's at least must have been successful and hit something valuable. Maybe she had been lucky and it had been a high elve. Every single one of them killed before he died would be a present of the gods to her. Everything moved in perfect slow motion around her. She even had enough time for some thoughts on what she had done.
She knew that everything she did would not be called honourful by most, but for her... She was a faery, standing no chance in a fight man to faery, and she had killed a many of them in there even though. And: Nobody had been talking about honour when these elves had marched into her village and killed all her friends, his family, her parents and sisters, EVERYBODY..... A tiny little tear flowed down over her cheek before she could whip up enough strength to push her feelings back.
Then, everything snapped back in, in the city, something almost exploded as the flames reached a point of no return.
Somebody must have seen her, because a bolt hit her right wing and the calculated drop down towards the outer walls turned into a screaming crash that made her hit the floor hard enough to break most of her ribs.
The only thing she remembered was like still images of what happened next.
Somehow she managed to crawl into the woods without somebody shooting at her again. The dark clouds above the TSG city must have helped in that she thought later.
Behind her, she could hear screams and wood crackling, and something that sounded like people shouting for water, and people pouring water....
Everything started turning. With one last part of her mind she managed to throw herself through the still waiting portal. The portal that lead right into the walls of the SoF Fortress she had come from. Hoping that somebody would find her there and be able to help her, she fainted. She didnt even notice her crossbow that had fallen from her when she fell down from the city walls....

[SiriaCessmera]

Kicking violently at the ground, Siria struggled against the strength of her sister. "Let me go, I have to know! Get your damn hands offa me!" Siria continued pleading, but her sister gave no leeway, pulling Siria across the courtyard. Siria fumed silently to herself; why now, why when I was finally understanding things.

Something suddenly dropped out of no where, right into Siria's opened hands. It took her a moment to register what had just happened, as an unconsious fairy lay in the palm of her hands. Looking carefully, Siria spotted the 'SoF' symbol on the Fairy's small tunic. Her wing looked to be hurt, but other than that, the fairy was just stunned. Siria rubbed the delicate wing with her finger tip, repairing its broken spindles.

With a spell of binding, Siria dropped the small creature into a belt-pouch and sealed it there for a short time. "Sleep well, you should return back here soon enough," Siria said with a smile to the bag. With that completed, she tore away from Aleta's grip, willing to walk on her own with her kin.

[CommanderDelta]

It took him a while to realise that she was gone. He must have been staring at the door, instead of her, for almost a minute now. When he finally got back to reality, Eldarion walked through the door. He saw Denieru and Luin, running like crazy, wondering where the enemies could have hidden themselves, or did they transform again?

Eldarion couldn't be bothered by this now. He knew that he probably wouldn't find the answers he was looking for with Siria. She seemed just as clueless as he was. Suddenly Eldarion knew what to do. He closed his eyes and began to meditate. He needed to find Neutra and talk to her. His meditation was broken by Denieru reporting.

"Master Eldarion, we haven't been able to find them yet, would you care in joining our search?"

"Wait" Eldarion replied, and he went back to meditating. After a short while of deep meditation, he saw that he had reached the state which was required of him to talk to Neutra.

"Neutra, God of Ganareth and everything that is on it. Why are she and me so connected. She is Light, I am Dark. I have never felt anything like this before with a Light person, and it has been a long time since I have felt this with any Dark one. What has happened? Who is she?" He asked. Neutra seemed to understand the desire of the dark elf to understand, so she didn't hesitate with giving a clear answer (where she would normally give a cryptic one).

"She is your sister, my dear son. And that is all that I will tell you about her. The rest you will have to figure out of your own."

"My sister... " thought Eldarion... "Of course....." He turned his mind back to Neutra.

"One final question" He said "Should i go after her and keep her with me, or should i let her go?"

"You will have to go after her... she is in possession of one of your people, my dear son. Taking her back with you is something else... You will be able to answer that one yourself too." Neutra replied.

"She has one of my... By the beard of Gothar" Eldarion screamed, getting out of meditation and turning towards Denieru.

"Where is Tas?"

"Haven't seen her in a while Master" Denieru replied. "Last time I saw her she was with your group to Aldalonde."

"She has her" Eldarion replied to Denieru. "She has Tas, let's get her back!.... LUIN! LOKI!" He screamed, and immediatly both his friend Luin and his dragon Loki came running towards him. "Saddle the dragons, and prepare a teleportation distortion field. They are not allowed to teleport out of here." Eldarion said. "I can feel her... so we will find her. She will not get away with Tas"

The three wizard quickly saddled their dragons and chanted a spell that would make it impossible for anyone to teleport. When they began elevating, Luin turned to Eldarion.

"So what is your deal with her anyway?" He asked.

"She is my sister, a daughter of Neutra. That is the only explanation I can come up with. In a way we are of course all sons and daughters of Neutra. But there are only a few who were direct decendants of the God. I always thought I was the only one... but now I know better." Eldarion replied.

"Hmm, this could get very interesting then" said Luin...

And the search began.

[Aleta]

As they moved Siria stopped in her tracks, staring at Aleta's back with a slight frown on her features. "Where did you get that bandage? It doesn't look like Guard work..."
Glancing at her sister and stopping as she would not keep walking, Aleta nodded.
"You're right, it isn't Guard work. One of the Soldiers' healers did it thinking I was one of them." Reaching for her sister's hand, Aleta was surprised to have her recoil from her touch.
"You killed him, didn't you? The healer.... you killed him." Silence lay heavy between the two sisters before Aleta bared her teeth and snarled an answer.
"Yes! I did. I had no choice... I couldn't take the chance. He could identify me and possibly reveal me to the enemy."
Siria's eyes blazed and she yelled back, the outburst stunning Aleta into silence. "There is ALWAYS a choice, sister! And you chose death... and you always have." With that, she broke her sister's gaze and walked past leaving Aleta standing dumbfounded before she regathered herself and grabbed Siria, spinning her around and slapping her across the cheek.
"Fool! Don't you get it?? I did choose life... MINE. Would you rather I die coming to your aid? Would you rather VORONWE died to rescue you? I won't let that happen... I'm your sister... I'll always protect you, no matter the cost to myself. I want you to find happiness... and you can't do that dead or chained in a dungeon, even one as friendly as a tavern." Releasing her Sister, she turned away... and frowned.
"We have company... they follow."

[Taspharel]

She woke up. Or at least she thought she had woken up. At least, she could see. Something....
Her mind was clouded.
She was... somewhere.... not at home..... not... where the portal would have lead.
It must have... collapsed.... before it could have taken her home to her Friends.

And now. Had they gotten her already? Or where they still searching? She couldnt move. And couldnt see where exactly she was. She just had to hope that somebody would find her soon. And that it may be the right person......
A Soldier of Fortune.

[Tasital]

The search was hopeless. They had lost the trail of the Black Dragon. I should be on the ground, tracking, Tasital thought. Never pick up the trail again up here.

Two voices, yet one thought, resounded in his head, "Where are you?"
"Kelithas, Haliit. We track Siria's abductor."
With great dismay Kelithas asked, "Siria's been taken?!
"Voronwe and Aleta will find her," said Haliit abruptly. "We need you and Kari at home.... Treehaven burns. I don't know if I have the strength left to put it out."
"No..... We are on our way. Don't shoot at the dragon."
"Dragon?!" "Aye, dragon. Trust me."

" Dragon! Come about! We return to Aldalonde!"
"What is it? What's wrong," Karieth asked anxiously.
"Our home burns. Haliit will need you."

The plume of smoke told them a woeful tale as they approached the city. Dark clouds loomed over the horizon. It was part of his responsibility to defend his people. The thought of failure clouded his heart. They soared into the center of the city. The dragon hovered over the tree dedicated to Neutra at the heart of the modest frontier town. The smoke clouded his vision, but he could see dodos with torches attached to them at the heart of the pandemonium. He saw Kelithas firing arrows into the dodos, pincushioning one. It grieved him to see such, but the animals must be put down for the sake of all. The animal fell, smothering the torch with its body. To his surprise and horror, it rose again and nearly trampled Kel. These dodos were unliving! Foul magic!

Karieth gripped his forearm tightly, "You're going down there, aren't you." It wasn't even a question. She knew he was. She knew how much he cared for his people. Sighing she let go and said, "Go. Just be careful, ok? For me?" With an impish grin, playful tone in his voice and a soothing gleam in his yellowish eyes, he said, "I'm always careful." With that he launched himself into the boughs of the tree.

And almost instantly regretted it. Felt like his arm was being torn from his shoulder. Almost lost his grip and fell. The tree was tall and quite old. The fall would surely kill him. He worked his way down the branches as quickly as his shoulder would allow. As he neared the ground he jumped the rest of the way, hit the ground, and rolled into a combat stance, axe at the ready. He made his way over to Kel. Helping him up he said, "Lazy scout. We have work to do." Kel retorted, "'Bout time you got here. One would think on the back of a dragon, you would've been here sooner." Haliit spoke from behind them.

"Now is not the time for talk. Now is the time for action."
"And I suppose you have a plan," said Tasital.
"I do."
"Should we be worried?" asked Kelithas sarcastically.
"Not at all. Trust me." Tasital and Kelithas both looked at each other and said, "We should find cover." "I remember what happened the last time you told me to trust you," Tasital added. As Tasital and Kelithas moved off, they heard thunder rumble in the sky.

He nearly fell off that tree. She knew he'd deny it later, but his hesitation was clearly seen from her perch on the dragon's back. Reckless, she thought, shaking her head. Brave, courageous, but reckless. Why does he do those things when he knows I'll worry? Once she saw him hit the ground and she was sure he was safe, she began her spell. Haliit and his druids had created ideal conditions for a storm. Her chanting was lost in the flapping of the Dragon's wings. But it was heard by Zephyr. The wind howled in tribute to the Druid's spell. Thunder rolled up above her. Lightning crackled. The wind blew her hair into her face, but still she chanted. The clouds opened and let forth their contents. The fury of what she had created threatened to throw her from the dragon's back. The rain increased steadily to a downpour. The fires started to wane and wither. Holding her temples, she motioned for the dragon to descend. Aldaldonde was saved.

The rain hit him in the face as he waited for Haliit to begin his spell. He cheered inwardly. Way to go, Kari. Now if Haliit would only do what he... What the...???

A green mist formed around Haliit. It began to spread towards the Undead dodos. He looked at Kel and saw the same worried expression he knew must be on his face. Haliit's experiments could be dangerous to one's health. Both of them had been on the receiving end on a number of occasions. But when they worked the results were beyond belief. The green mist struck the first dodo and it collapsed to the ground, smothering what was left of the fire on the torch. Tas began to smile when he spotted someone crawling across the way.

"Kel, who is that? Your eyes are better than mine."
"Gods, it's Tinok!" They both ran to him.
"He's badly wounded, Kel. We need a healer. I've only got a few herbs in my pouch to halt the bleeding."
"Kari should be here soon," Kelithas said looking up.
Tinok reached up and grabbed Tasital's tunic. "P...p...p...oison. They.... they've... poi..soned.. the water..." Tas and Kel looked at each other and nodded. Kelithas didn't hesitate. He barked out the names of a few druids and left to check the water supply. Tasital took out the herbs from his pouch, crushed them slightly and applied them to the wounds. "Easy, Brother. Help is coming. Kari, are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I will take care of this. Lie still Tinok."

Tasital looked up. The beasts were falling rapidly. The fires were diminishing. The Soldiers of Fortune were powerful indeed, but they had underestimated the Guard's resolve. And the Guard had underestimated their strength. It would not happen again. As he surveyed the damage, he couldn't help but wonder how the rescue of Siria was going.

[Haliit]

Haliit smiled as his mist spread. He knew his experiments with weather control would pay off. He had came up with this trick by combining a wind summoning ritual with a small poison spell he had picked up during his training on healing.

"We should regroup with as many as we can and continue moving. We must put faith in the others. They will rescue Siria."

Tasital, Kelithas, and Karieth all nodded. Karieth finished with Tinok's healing, and then the five moved towards Aldalonde's water supply.

[Tinok]

"Thanks for the healing Karieth, I seem to be making a habit of needing them the past few hours.", Tinok smirked.

"I saw the taint while transversing the secret way. I do not think much is left, by now it should have mostly disappated, but the damage is a problem.", he stated.

Tinok brought them to where he saw the decay begin...

"Well, I am off to hunt for that little Assasin. I got one good shot in and maybe she did not get that far.", with that he was off to the site of his fight.

Tinok began be looking at wall the Faire had slammed into earlier. As he examined closely he saw what looked like blood and also some pieces of a silky material.

"The wings...I did hurt her some after all.", he muttered.

He looked along the the wall fromt eh inside of the city to see if he saw prints. Nothing, I hurt her, but not enough to prevent flight....Tinok then when up and over the wall and began the same serach outside along the wall. After a short time he spied a bolt on the ground. As he approached the item he also spotted a small crossbow. Picking both up he examined the crossbow. It reeked of poison...not as deadly as the one that had been used in the creek, but deadly none the less.

looking to the ground Tinok easily picked up the small footprints of the faire...so, the bolt must have winged her, he thought. As he moved across the clearing surrounding the city and entered the edge of the woods he could feel the tingle of magic. Only traces though...

"You are gone then little one."

Then the smell came to him again, death and decay. A snap of a branch brought his head up.

"Who approaches?", he asked.

No answer. Tinok slid his sword and dagger free and moved forward toward the noise.

"What abomination of the dark is that?!"

He had found the little ones "pet"......

[Ethrendil]

The messenger Grath sent, finally reached Ethrendil's castle. He rode through the mountains for 2 days straight. He had pushed himself to the limits, as he saw the importance of the message he was delivering. The guards quickly brought him to see Ethrendil. After the messenger explained everything about the war going on, he sat there thinking why he did not hear about this earlier, he sent one of his own messengers a week ago. Did the messenger not reach Grath's castle? It should not have taken him longer than 3 days to reach it...
But he could not linger any longer at the thought of betrayal, as it was more important at that moment to gather the air force troops, and have them stand ready for a battle that draws near...
He sends out 2 scouts to bring the news to his troops, as they mount their black dragons, they pray for a safe journey, as the dragons were only tamed 2 months ago.
Ethrendil retreats to his library to think over his strategy, as he gathers his maps about the area around the battlefield, but the thought of the missing messenger seems to swallow his mind...

[CommanderDelta]

The four guards that they were following couldnt have gone very far. After all, they didn't have any mounts and they couldn't teleport. Luin, Denieru and Eldarion were looking down from their dragons in their search for the fleeing Sundered Guards. Denieru was the one who caught eye of them first. He warned the 2 others and soon they were on a direct route to intercept them. Luin turned to Eldarion: "They are most likely aware that we are following them, but still, they are with 4, we are with a company of 3 people and 3 dragons, we should be able to take them easily."

"We shouldn't underestimate them either. Our first priority is to make sure that Tas is save. We have no idea where they hide her. But I have a plan..."

Eldarion whispered something in Luin's ear, and he seemed to agree. After informing Denieru of their plan too, they were all ready to begin their attack on the four Guards. A few moments later they were already flying above them, flew in a circle, and then started to fly downwards. The TSG stood ready to defend themselves. "Wait" screamed Eldarion. "You have something of ours, and we have something that belongs to you. Let us negotiate."

Luin, Denieru and Eldarion landed savely and unmounted their dragons. All four TSG were now fully healed. They could see that the TSG were wondering what they could have that belongs to them. So it was not something unexpected when the Elf who stormed into the room they held Siria earlier, and who carried her soulmate away, stepped forward and asked "What do you have that belongs to us?".

"This" Luin answered. He took a step forward and gave Nevar a blow on the head with his staff and held it on the edge of his neck. "One move and he dies" He shouted.

Eldarion looked at Siria. "Now, give us our fairy back!"

[Tinok]

Tinok stood in shock as the Faire's pet lurched toward him. It was groteque, an abomination...what was once a living being was now one of the undead. Tinok struggled to keep the bile he felt in the back of his throat down as he began to back up at the creatures continued advance.

As the shock of seeing the thing for the first time began to wear off, Tinok began to look for weakness'. Tinok quickly relized this would be easy. It was slow, very slow and did not seem to be doing anything to try to defend itself, it just lurched forward with dead black eyes toward him.

Tinok struck a hard blow to the creatures mid section. It felt like he was hitting a tree that was waterlogged and the smell that emanated from the walking corpses' wound was nauseating. Taking a few steps back Tinok again sized up the situation. The thing had not made a sound from his attack and had not changed his advance one bit. Again Tinok struck, this time stabbing with his sword and slashing across the things throat with his dagger. He retracted from his attack quickly, but not quickly enough.

The "swat" he received in return for his efforts was hard, very hard. Staggering backwards and trying to keep his balance, Tinok was shocked at the power of that blow and again he saw that his attack did little to slow the things advance.

" Well now...", muttered Tinok, "What to do about you."

He did not receive an answer, just watched as again the creature closed ground between them.

[SiriaCessmera]

Narrowing her eyes, Siria tosses the pouch containing the fairy over to Aleta, who promptly sets the pouch on the ground and gently lays her foot on top of it, an evil smile curling on her lips. "She needs little encouragement to crush your friend, and would be more than happy to do so. So I suggest you take care of Nevar; I'll revive him if he goes down, I can't promise the same for your comrade," Siria spat, attempting to keep the power of the conversation in her own hands.

Ignoring the looks Voronwe, Siria continued, "just tell me what your felt, and this confrontation will end peacefully. I must know what you saw!" Aleta kept her concentration on the three wizards, prepared to stomp her foot down hard if any of them so much as moved with suspicion. Siria kept her eyes focused on Eldarion, but signalled Voronwe to prepare. Drawing his swords carefully, they awaited Eldarion's response...

[Edited on 8/12/2003 by SiriaCessmera]

[CommanderDelta]

Eldarion wanted to tell her everything. Tell her how they are related. Tell her about what Neutra told him. Tell her about their combined powers. Tell her how they, together, could reign over a vast empire if that was what they wished Ask her to come with him and share their power... But he couldn't. He couldn't stop wondering about what he would break if he'd tell her. She might actually want to come, the thought of power like this could overthrow her love to... to... him! But on the other hand, she had a right to know and he really fell like telling her.

Eldarion had a quick glance at Voronwe, on who's head you could now bake a dodo egg. He then turned to Siria. "Tas is a fairy, and fairies dont need reviving, they resurrect from themselves" he said. "But it's a very painful transition, and Tas is still young. So lets make this a bit fairer shall we?" Siria smiled and replied "Why should we? We could also fight and have a great battle. Without pain, there can be no joy." "That is true, replied Eldarion, "But there has been enough bloodspoiling today. If you want a real battle I will give you one in the future. Pain can be a joy, but too much pain is not."

After having said that. Eldarion turned and signaled Denieru to do a few steps away from Luin, who was still holding Nevar in a grip of death, ready to strike. Siria understood what Eldarion was doing, and signaled Voronwe to get closer to Luin, so that he could take over Nevar at the same time that Eldarion took Tas from Aleta. Eldarion moved closer towards Aleta, who was very eager to grab her whip and show Eldarion how it was ment to be used, but somehow she managed to control herself. "On the count of three. One, two, three!"

At three, Luin let go of Nevar, and Voronwe dragged him over to Siria. At the same time Aleta highered her foot, and Eldarion grabbed the pouch and ran away from Aleta as fast as he could. When he was standing next to Luin he opened the pouch. Tas was still half sleeping. Eldarion put her on the hood of his cloak and turned towards Siria again. "Well, I guess this is the end for now. Well met Lady Cessmera, and to answer your earlier question....."

Eldarion unblocked his mind, and let Siria in. He could feel her presence again, now growing inside of him. When we fell he had shared enough, he pushed her out of his mind and turned his head away from her eyes. "You will leave this land at once, and return to your homes. You will not attack us any more without warning, or next time there will be nothing left of Aldalonde but shadow and flames."

The three Soldiers of Fortune mounted their dragons. Eldarion, still not ready to look at Siria, turned to Voronwe and added "We will meet again." Then the 3 dragons started to wave with their wings, and soon they were in the air, returning to the camp to rebuild what was destroyed and bury the dead. Eldarion was satisfied, he thought he did the right thing. He smiled and turned to Luin and Denieru. "Lets go to the dodo tavern when were done in the camp. I'm starving..." His 2 companions smiled and they soon couldnt see the 4 TSG any more.

http://www.sofdnl.com/Delta/SoFOwned3.jpg

[Edited on 9/12/2003 by CommanderDelta]

[SiriaCessmera]

OOC: WTF Delta. That's it, I take back my huggles to you, I should give you a royal kick in the groin, boy! Nah, that's alright...but believe me, we will meet again, *narrows her eyes, points to Loki and makes a cutting motion across her neck*

[CommanderDelta]

:D

U cant take back huggles! And as for the pic... go and create ur own... im only stimulating your creativity... :P

pfff... and look what i get back... a kick in the butt hmm... but you cant fool me... behind all the big talk theres still a little girly that wants to HUGGLE!!! :D

[Tinok]

/ooc Man! I cannot believe we ended it! I was in the middle of a fight! I was going to actually win too! I was 0-3 to this point and do I get to finally win?! NOOOO! It gets left in limbo and I finish with an 0-3-1 record!

Thanks!

[Denieru]

[OOC: Tinok, you should thank your lucky star it ended before I coud lay my hands on you. I still owe you for the arrows-from-hell. Btw, I loved your Santa post! ^_^ ]

[Nevar_Darkmoon]

ooc: BAh... it cant end. I have this lump on my head and now i can do nothing about it.... This lump demands retribution damn it!!! I had just woken up... i could post again. YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS. Thank you for making the big picture showing TSG won this round though.. appreciate that :P

[Tinok]

/ooc LOL, Yeah Denieru....I figure I have a Fairey, a shadow mage AND a rather ticked off Half-Troll archer coming after me when this game launches....

[Kelithas]

(ooc) Just something that every time you make a post Deniuru, I sit and try to figure out every time... what in the heck is that elf guy doing in your sig? I've seriously sat and stared at it for hours (as pathetic as that may sound) and it drives me nuts! It looks like he has his arms out like he's flying or something, or itching his hand.. or hanging upside-down from something... am I just retarded?

[Edited on 13/12/2003 by Kelithas]