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(AQ/DF) Legacy of Blood

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1/14/2011 16:56:57   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L


 Prologue
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III: Green Equals Luck
Chapter IV: Business as Ulgathi
Chapter V: On Dragons and Dangers
Chapter VI: A Volution
Chapter VII: Over Dinner
Chapter VIII: Reality and Dreams
Chapter IX: To forge the steel while it's hot
Chapter X: To be enlightened
Chapter XI: Light in Sight
Chapter XII: Where the Falcon reaches for the Sky
Chapter XIII: Seek the Seeker
Chapter XIV: Finding what You Hold Precious
Chapter XV: <Bonus Chapter>
Chapter XVI: Mistakes
Chapter XVII: Dreams of Rebirth
Chapter XVIII: Gold Cannot Buy You Everything
Chapter XIX: Beginnings of a Legend
Chapter XX: Birth and Death
Chapter XXI: Places of Shadow
Chapter XXII: How the Worthy have Fallen
Chapter XXIII: A Guest to Royalty
Chapter XXIV: What is Left in Darkness
CHAPTER XXV: Home is ....


The discussion for this story can be found here.

PROLOGUE


The forest was eerily quiet that night, despite the apparent lack of, wind the trees' branches moved slightly. This allowed moonlight to create shadows resembling menacing Deathwoods which would make bold men grow uneasy. The peace was unsettling, as if nature was in trance under a moonlit sky. As if it tried to deny the horrors committed by monsters and men. Whether this peace found its origins in guilt, fear or denial was hard to tell. It was obvious though that something was amiss. A lone bat in search of gnats found death in a hungry owl, who proved to be the better hunter that night. As the owl sat down on a branch it pecked at its prey and as it gobbled down the bat one could hear the bones breaking in its throat, breaking the trance and shattering the illusion. Gnats started humming again and the sound of crickets filled the night, relieved that their hunter had become the hunted.

In this forest stood a house, a hut with a roof of straw and walls fashioned out of clay bricks.
While the forest around returned to life, the house remained quiet. On the doorstep two men wearing commoner's outfits lay dead, one leaning against the broken door. The cuts were clean of blood and so was the blade that had made them. Outside it had started raining lightly, the raindrops making for a soothing rhythm as they hit the roof. The figure inside used this to its advantage and imitated the sound of raindrops, by walking on its toes in a strange fashion, to alert none of its presence. Quiet as a shadow the figure made its way up the stairs. While he made no sound the woman who was upstairs noticed his presence and turned around with a shriek. "No, I will not allow you to take him!" She exclaimed as she backed away to grab the knife which was lying on the bed. She had nearly reached the bed when the figure struck her down with a swift strike. The cloaked assassin sheated its sword and walked up to the child lying wrapped up in a blanket. He looked at the child with a certain guilt, he had not been able to save the child's parents. But he was determined to care for their son as if it was his own. Slowly he pulled back his cowl, revealing the face of an old green dravir. He took the child up in his arms and walked away from the now ever silent house.

< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 8/15/2013 15:33:39 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 1
2/25/2011 16:35:52   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L


 CHAPTER I

10 years later

A decade had passed since that night and time had wiped the memories of all but few clean of what had happened and how it would affect the world soon. Although you might ask yourself the definition of "soon", as for those who have an eternity to plot and scheme it could be the lifetime of a man, a mountain even. Yet it would come much earlier than that and this he knew all too well ...

"Master?" The boy interrupted his pondering.

"You were telling me about monsters." He glanced at the hooded dravir who was looking absent-minded at the parchment which was filled with numerous goblin and fey species.

"Ah, yes the goblin species." He replied quickly and coughed a little. The cave could get quite warm in summer, much like the caves in his hometown and accelerated the process of him losing focus he thought as his finger went over the parchment. "Let me see, Sneevils!" "These goblins first appeared roughly 200 years ago." "They're obsessed by boxes and other containers, I could know as they stole one of my vases." He frowned.

"Sneevils have relatively short lifespans compared to other goblins, although that may be a misconception seeing how so many meet their end due to adventurers. It's hard to keep track of natural age that way." He exclaimed somewhat annoyed.

"Sneevils have formed communities and live in Boxforts. In the hierarchy of their society is the common sneevil by far the most common, then you have the boxers, who are outclassed by arcas, who are ruled by boxlords and at the top of it all stands the king, the high lord. Three kingdoms have been discovered thus far and perhaps there are more to be found." He pulled out an illustration of the said classes in Sneevil society. "There is a subspecies of Sneevils." His finger moved down on the parchment to point at an illustration of a Sneevil with fins. "Aqueevils are very similar in build and nature as their cousins who thrive on land, yet have a liking to fish bowls."

"Master, does their community really depend on boxes?" The boy asked in disbelief although he had heard this tale about Sneevils many times before.

"It does very much. They use them for militairy tactics, to build their homes, as armor and whatnot." He paused for a moment, "In the circles of mages I have heard rumours about their origin lying in magic, as in being the work of a mage who deliberately created them and their odd interest." He said with a grim undertone. The boy stared at his master, both fascinated and confused. He had seen and heard of monsters created by mages and necromancers to guard or destroy things, yet they always kept them in check.

"But enough of Sneevils." His master said as he turned back to the parchment.

"Let's talk about Archeonauts." He exclaimed as his finger reached a rather sturdy monster.

"Archeonauts make use of ingenious bombs and their strenght lies in Stone and Earth, now can you tell me what element would be best to use against them?" He asked with a little smile.

"Wind." The boy answered without hesitation.

"Good, very good. Unfortunately we do not know much else about them, so why don't we continue with practicing magic?" He smiled.

"We have left at light magic, so why not a spell to become immune to light?" The dravir exclaimed and the boy replied with a little nod.

"Now pay close attention." The dravir said as he began chanting strange word filled with power. As he ended the incantation he slowly vanished into thin air. As the boy looked around him, he was startled when the dravir reappeared behind him.

"And now try to cast the invisibility spell yourself, you had practice with it before." The dravir said as he checked if the invisibility had worn off completely.

The boy started to mimic the movements and words of the dravir, yet pronounced one of the words wrong. While it had no serious effects, some of his fingers and his left eye were still visible. He turned visible and tried it again, this time he completely vanished from sight.

"Well done, we should continue with a little more offensive spells now." The dravir said and light exuded his hands. The boy smiled and shot volleys of light at the skeletons the dravir raised at a rapid rate.

"I see your student has made quite the progress." A voice said with a light chill. They both turned to the newcomer and watched into the hollow eyes of the dravir lich.

"My friend, what a pleasant surprise!" The dravir said as he shook hands with the dravir lich.

"If only the reasons were pleasant." He replied coldly, stripped of most emotion yet the troubled expression on his face was the same to that of any living. "I would suggest that you send him away." He spoke on a hushed tone.

"Hm, yes. Come here, lad. I have got a little quest for you." He said as he turned to his apprentice.

He handed him a scroll, "Get me these ingredients from the forest, it'll be a good test for me to see how much attention you pay to my lectures about herbs."

He gave the boy a small nod, "Off you go."

The excited boy grabbed a wooden sword and ran outside. The dravir watched him with a smile, but that smile disappeared as soon as he turned to the dravir lich again to continue their talk.

"What is the matter?" The dravir frowned deeply as he spoke.

The dravir lich remained quiet for a moment before he said. "I have located them."

< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 3/30/2013 13:19:31 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 2
3/5/2011 11:35:53   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L


 CHAPTER II

The sun was shining through the thick roof of leaves, illuminating the forest yet blocking enough of the rays to make the sunlight not grow too harsh on someone's eyes. His master had taught him that where the trees in forests still where plentiful enough to do this, human civilization had not destroyed the delicate balance of nature yet. It was at places where you could clearly see the sky, people had already been. Of course there were plenty of places where nature did not allow trees to grow, like in the Sandsea, the Skraeling Desert and the Frozen Northlands. He only knew those places as spots on maps and of drawings in books, it seemed so strange that a world completely different to this one where he walked existed at this moment. It was nearly as strange as the elemental planes his master told him about, dimensions where the raw elemental powers hailed from and manifested in many worlds including this one.
The eight greater gods had used them to create entire worlds under the guidance of the Creator, who had married the Uncreator.
He knew this history, yet never had understood the function of the Void. He knew that many realms existed and each and every single one of them seemed to fulfil a certain function, but the void .... It had been empty for years, but it had been polluted by matter brought into it by explorers and mages. Some stories even claimed that wizards had found a portal to the void in the Ethereal Realm, a realm where they drew their extra power from. It twisted those who got trapped into horrible aberrations, corrupting their mind until madness was all that was left of it. It also served as a prison to hold all but the most dangerous creatures in existence. He had tried to envision what such a place would look like many times before. He shook his head and the thoughts retreated as fast as they had come.

He took the scroll his master had given him and rolled it open.

-30 Dingleberries
-1 Sweetpalm
-2 Snapdrakes
-11 Jagged Cherries

He looked at the scroll with a surprised expression on his face. He already knew that these ingredients were used in the production of health potions, which he already knew how to make strong enough to completely heal the average person with merely one potion.
This was either a repetition or his master wanted him gone to discuss important matters. Since he doubted such a simple errand would be of much help in his training, he suspected it was the latter. The last time he had overheard them talking about the cruel Sek-Duat dynasty, who had crippled its people with high taxes for ages. The lich had sought to undertake a mission, yet the harsh sunlight had forced him and his forces to retreat to more darker lands. His master had scoffed the lich was growing weak, yet the lich had insisted there had been a magical reason for his forces to be weakened so severely. He wondered what is was this time. Perhaps the lich had finally discovered what magic the emperor of the Sandsea was using. He had his doubts that he would be welcomed with open arms, should he manage to march on the capital though. From the many stories, people greeted undead and necromancy with fear and would sooner side with their living tyrant than with a noble liberator without flesh on his bones.

He looked around, on paths like these Snapdrakes were common. He was about to turn when he spotted a Snapdrake behind two Forest Furies, who were chatting with each other.

"Excuse me, could you please move over so I may pick that Snapdrake over there?" He asked politely.
"Why, most certainly." "It is so nice you asked, rather than attack us for no reason like those adventurers we sometimes get here!" The Forest Fury said with a smile as she flew away a few inches to let him pick the Snapdrake.
"You were saying something about the gift he proposed you with?" The other Forest Fury asked booming with curiosity.
"Oh yes, he flew all the way to the Mollo Tree to get me some fruit!" The Forest Fury exclaimed excited.
"How romantic. Why don't I ever meet men like that?" The other Forest Fury sighed.

He left the two Forest Furies chattering about men. He realized he had never seen a male Forest Fury once, like he never had seen a female Clawkin Wanderer. Those were here alright, although you never saw them until you picked something from their territory. The thing was to leave some nuts on the spot where you took something away. Barely anyone knew this and thus it often came to fights between the Clawkin Wanderers and adventurers who were on a quest. Sometimes they just wanted to know your business that brought you on their territory, if it was honourable they usually let you go on your merry way. Suddenly he spotted a Sweetpalm to his right, but he wasn't exactly sure if it was within the territory of a Clawkin Wanderer. If he left nuts in its place he would be safe if it was, but otherwise he had spent nuts he might need to get the other reagents. He then remembered that his master once had brought him to the Ethereal Realm to study its physics and magic, when he stumbled across one of the Kenns, invisible talismans which grant knowledge needed to harness the Ethereal Realm's magic. He slowly began to chant the spell on a hushed tone and felt the magic rolling off his tongue, leaving it tingling. The magic hailing from that place was great, despite the spell he had cast cost little effort.
He knew there was a Clawkin Wanderer watching him, so he left some nuts before he picked the Sweetpalm and put it in his pouch.
How simple things were if you simply obeyed the rules of the forest.

He noticed he had walked a long way already, seeing the trees were no longer blocking his view on the blue sky.
A loud noise disrupted the peace, as if thunder had hit solid rock, making dozens of birds flee their trees in fear. They all flew in his direction. The noise repeated itself multiple times, before he heard some strange sound heading towards him. He heard arrows singing a deadly song, before they hit some metal object followed by what sounded as a crash. He hurried to see what was going on, just as several Mushrooms and Seedspitters tried to escape whatever made that sound. He had to jump over several of them and tripped over one of the Seedspitter's roots, causing him to make an ugly fall. With a painful chest and leg he got up, so at least he would not get trampled by the fleeing creatures. It took several minutes before the last of them got past him, so he could get to the origin of the sounds he had heard earlier without much problems. The pain in his leg still proved to be a hindrance however and he only progressed slowly. When he finally reached the scene he heard several men yelling and cursing.

An orc with a short grey beard, a monocle made out of yellow glass in front of his right eye and a backpack so full of mechanical gadgets sticking out of it you had to wonder if the backpack itself was a gadget on itself was holding his own with a big wrench.
He wore a leather longcoat with deep pockets and a construction belt. Several men wearing leather armour and masks assailed him from all sides. They were wielding metal maces with nasty spikes that could crush a man's skull. He immediately understood what these men were, bandits! And by the looks of it, these bandits were out for revenge! The orc kept grinning as he parried a mace from behind, hit an attacker at his front on the head with the wrench and kicked him backwards. Then the orc spiralled to face the bandit who had sought to attack him from behind and broke his left leg with a firm hit. The bandit with the broken leg screamed curses that would make orcs blush. The orc then put the bandit out of his misery with a hit against his head. Just when he had dealt with that, three more bandits with crossbows came running to the scene. The orc ran as fast as he could to the nearest and knocked him down, the other two had just loaded their crossbows and were about to shoot when the orc pressed a button and one of the gadgets spit steam in their eyes. Shrieks of pain and anger followed as they shot and both arrows missed. The orc simply walked towards them and finished the blinded bandits off.

The boy had observed the whole scene in awe, one orc had slain all those bandits. He was about to contemplate what he should do next when someone grabbed him by the arms and cuffed them with a sharp rope that cut in his wrists. He had been so focussed on the battle he had not even noticed the bandit sneaking up on him, despite of his spell!

"Hey, greenskin!" The voice of a man behind him shouted.
The orc who had been busy scavenging the corpses of shiny metal objects turned around with a crossbow half deconstructed hanging from his construction belt.
"You may be monsters, but even you would not want to get the blood of a child on your hands." The voice shouted full of confidence.
He held a metal mace with spikes against his throat. This man was a bandit. He became nervous, he had heard all kinds of unpleasant stories about what these men did to children and elderly, not to mention prisoners.
The orc grinned at the bandit for a second, then his hands quickly went to his construction belt and he threw the red ball which had hung there at the bandit. "Think fast!" He yelled.
The bandit dropped his mace and had to let go of the boy to catch the red ball, who duck away not a moment too soon for then the red ball exploded in the bandit's face with a loud bang, leaving only smouldering remains which barely resembled a human.

The orc grinned at the boy. "You should really be more careful with bandits in the area, kid."
"Doc Weyrd." He said and put out his hand.
The boy shook his hand. "Azer."

< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 7/11/2014 17:05:08 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 3
4/12/2011 17:40:22   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER III: "Green equals Luck"


"Well Humee Azer, you got to thank o'l Doc here for much." The orc said with a crooked smile.
"I wouldn't even know how to repay you, sir Ulgathi." Azer replied politely.
"An educated human, rather than a quick draw huh? That's a pleasant surprise to say the least." The Ulgathi said as with raised eyebrows, causing his green skin to stretch and reveal several stitched scars.
"You won't be singing songs of those pointy ears now though? And for the sake of the Lords of Energy and Fire call me Doc. Save that sir for the pointy ears and the royal courts." Doc grinned while heaving his hands high in the air.
"Might I ask what are you doing here Doc? I don't know of any Ulgathi settlements for several hundred miles." Azer asked.
The orc grinned. "I'm here to collect a bounty and win a bet. I came upon the bandit camp sooner than I had anticipated though."

His gaze darkened as he spoke. "My chopchop got badly damaged and I hit a tree with an impact that would make my homemade bombs sound like crickets during a pointy ear concert."
A glimmer appeared in his eyes. "But I showed them!"
He pointed at his construction belt. "Before the sun had dawned this thing was packed with my homemade bombs."
He paused to smile. "I traded them all for a handful of arrows."

Doc turned and started to walk at the smoke plume in the distance, Azer followed him. They passed through a landscape filled with the remnants of battle. "There is my chopchop ... or what's left of it anyway." Doc pointed at a machine with thin steel blades on top of it.
They were bent pretty badly and out of what seemed to be the main part leaked a fluid, not surprisingly seeing how it was hit by several arrows. It looked like a gnomish device, something he knew would have a good chance of exploding in your face.
"Uh, is that gnomish in origin?" Azer asked hesitantly, fearing the thing would go up in flames with a huge explosion.
Doc pulled out the arrows, causing the fluid to stream out even quicker than before. "Nah, I made this meself." He said while observing the dents on his machine. "Isn't it dangerous to play with oil?" Azer said with a growing fear in his voice.
"If it were oil, aye. My chopchop flies on carrot juice." Doc held his finger under one of the streams and put it in his mouth.
"Flies? That thing ... flies ... on ..... carrot juice?" He said while he looked as if he had seen an ugly elf.
"Yeah, it's safe enough. Unless you believe in those tales of bunnies that live beneath the surface and come out to steal your carrots at night." Doc jested.
"I'm more concerned that a Burrow Worm comes up to the surface and devours us." Azer jested back.
"Now kid, don't go and jinx us. Bad things happen to people who say such things." Doc said with a wide grin to show he was joking.
Doc took a look at the sky. "We'll have to fix ourselves a ride if we want to reach the bandit camp by nightfall and I cannot collect my bounty if I can't transport it."
"Perhaps I can help, but I'll need to know just how heavy your chopchop exactly is." Azer carefully said while walking around it.
"It's lighter than your average troll, if that is what you're aiming at humee." Doc replied.
Azer looked at Doc. "Okay, that'll work." He ran off and plucked some grass in a hurry. "Now, they're usually at cliffs or clearings in the forest." He mumbled to himself. His spell kicked in again, yet he heard very little apart from a gentle breeze rustling the leaves of the trees. Meanwhile he spotted some Biters moving through the underbrush and heard one scream as a Mantik caught him. He shivered by hearing the jaws crunch as it feasted on the biter's flesh. They were only more dangerous to themselves than others, as female mantiks ate their mate's head. Luckily, they were very rare this far west. He quickly moved on to leave the Mantik to her feast, while his free hand held an elemental sphere of fire, just in case. He wandered for at least twenty minutes through the forest when he saw one. He relaxed and the elemental sphere evaporated in his hand. "Come on, come here." He whispered as he held out his hand.

"Where did the little humee go?" Doc thought as he checked the gears. He knew that if only one thing was wrong with them, the blades wouldn't even matter. Every few minutes he looked up if Azer hadn't returned yet, if the little humee didn't figure out a way to move his chopchop it would cost him a day and perhaps even his bounty. He had just gotten two parts back in their right place when he heard a sound and saw a ... green cow? The little humee fed it some juicy grass and it willingly followed straight to him.

"This Boveox could pull your chopchop, I bet." Azer said with confidence while tickling the Boveox behind the ears.
"I bet it could." Doc said while looking at the green cow. "Green cows, they should have those at home." He thought as be tied a rope to the chopchop so the Boveox could pull it forward. Once he was done and sat down on the pilot chair, Azer led the Boveox to start pulling. It moved like a snail and left behind a trail that was easy to spot, but Azer noticed that the chopchop only seemed to have two wheels that functioned as landing gear and would only hinder should they be put to use. "Not according to Kruath'ri design, I sometimes even wonder why I put them there in the first place." Doc said as he saw Azer looking at the wheels. "It would probably slam the front into the ground, if I'd use them."

Doc returned to fixing his chopchop, grabbing stuff from his backpack ranging from the common Gnome laser screwdriver to things that resembled Kruath'ri design. With an ingenious device he heated the metal blades till they saw red with heat and hit them back into shape with the hammer of a blacksmith. With the laser screwdriver he carefully repaired the holes the arrows had pierced into the tank and used a filthy rag to wipe off scorch marks done by any fire arrows. Once he was done, the flying machine looked pretty impressive for something that could only lift two persons at best. Then again, this craft seemed to be build for agility rather than cargo transport.

"Care to demonstrate?" Azer asked while looking at the chopchop.
"Can't do that, the blades still need to cool down. If I were to go fly it in this condition, I'd have done all of my work for naught." Doc replied, while greasing some mechanism behind the chair.
"There, now I can get what I came for and back to Augerthorne." Doc said as he withdrew his hands from the mechanism.
"Might take a night for it to be able to fly though." He frowned deeply and one of his stitches nearly broke.
"Let's pay our friends a quick visit, shall we?" He said while he lowered himself to sit properly. "Hop on!" He exclaimed.
"Do you want us to derail or something?" Azer asked him.
"Pfah, the bandit camp lies straight ahead and should your green cow go wrong you can simply jump off to put it on track again." Doc waved away his concerns. Thus Azer jumped on the by-seat, which sat pretty comfy and found it unfortunate that the bandit camp came so quick in sight. While the wooden palisade still stood within smouldering piles of rubble and bodies was pretty much all that was left. At the entrance a few armoured men stood guard, obviously Knights of the Pactogonal Table sent by King Alteon.
"Halt, who goes there?" One of them shouted with his hands on his sword. "Calm yourself humee. I'm here to review my work." Doc said surprisingly calm. It seemed he was used to the treatment of his kind by humans. "You destroyed this bandit camp? Then you've done the merchants and townsfolk in this region a big favour." The knight still had his hand on his sword, ready to counterattack if necessary. A knight came from within the bandit camp. "It's all clear of bandits, sir." The knight reported. The knight in charge turned to Doc. "The King lets no great deed of good go unrewarded, even if those that do good are orcs." The Knight spoke firm, yet it seemed while he supported his king he did not seem to like the idea of rewarding an orc. "Bring him the chest!" Two knights came carrying a chest that they had guarded and left it in front of the Boveox, who startled the two by snorting. "As this area is secured, we will continue to patrol the nearby woods for any bandits that might've escaped." The knight said and gave Doc a little nod before departing.
When they were past the chopchop, Doc jumped out and opened the chest to be met by lots and lots of gold.
"I should consider working for Humee King, he pays good." Doc thought while observing his newfound wealth.
Azer joined him. "Still after your bounty?" He asked. "Perhaps." Doc simply replied. "Perhaps."


< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 7/11/2014 17:22:11 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 4
4/19/2011 17:38:41   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER IV: "Business as Ulgathi"


Doc was still looking at his newfound wealth, meanwhile Azer was exploring the destroyed bandit camp. Between the destroyed containers once filled with loot and now had it spread across the ground, the broken charred bodies of bandits could be seen.
Azer got a light urge to vomit at the sight of them, but it remained a bad taste in his mouth. Deprived of hunger he continued to search the ruins for something interesting. He had not forgotten that Doc had said he tracked his target to this point, which made Azer wonder if anyone could have survived this onslaught. Doc certainly had not spared the bandits, from the air he must've had them bombarded with bomb after bomb after bomb. Not a Sneevil would be able find something to salvage here. Here and there you could see a gold piece, but it would hardly be enough to buy yourself a decent weapon. Not that most adventurers around these parts seemed to buy most of their equipment anyway, they usually just found them on their travels and all the weapons the bodies held were either molten by the sudden heat of the explosions or broken in two after slamming into their owners. Again he felt stomach acid creeping up and quickly withdrew his eyes from the corpses. He figured the chest with gold the Pactogonal Knights had given the Ulgathi was actually a share of the bandit loot they had come to retrieve and add to the treasury. He picked up a gold piece and put it in his pouch. He had never seen the value of the yellowish metal, but it never hurt to have some gold. People and monsters did all sorts of things for gold, they waged wars over it or even betrayed their friends' trust if only given enough. Quite ridiculous if you thought about it, really.
In the Kruath'ri language, the human word "gold" meant "dung". He found the resemblance fitting. You needed it, but it attracted trouble like dung did flies.
There were plenty of adventurers who were little better than bandits themselves, always killing monsters that got in their way so they could get quicker to their loot and saving villages not because they ought it to be the right thing to do, but rather for the rewards they received afterwards. He wondered why they even bothered with fighting at all, negotiations were a rare thing and monsters often found themselves on the wrong end of the blade when they did. Neither side was without blame, although the true culprits remained out of reach while they left their pawns meddle in the ways of war. He knew that many fire dragon would leave as much destruction in his wake as Doc had done here, although the magical fire would continue to burn for much longer till nothing but ashes and stone remained. That was all that was on his thoughts while he observed the scene.

Something sparkled and caught his eye. He slowly moved over to the broken container, he couldn't tell whether it had been a chest or barrel, where he saw it sparkling in the sunlight in the midst of splinters. Carefully he pulled it out and came to the conclusion that must have been some sort of crystal. He was busy examining it, when a green hand plucked it out of his hands. "By Fiamme's heat and Haeos' shocks!" A familiar voice exclaimed.
Azer turned his head around to see Doc's face in awe of the crystal. "Do you have any idea what THIS is, humee?" He uttered.
"A crystal to hold energy?" Azer said. "Not just any crystal that holds energy, this is a Warp Crystal." Doc said excited with his eyes on the crystal. "They use these on places between the stars for travel!" Doc said. "Places between the stars?" Azer said by looking at the sky. "Yeah, I didn't believe it at first either. I thought the books I read and myths from the tribe I heard were a load of rubbish, till I saw this." He said and shoved the Warp Crystal under Azer's nose. Azer pushed Doc's hands down a bit to relieve his nose from the pressure. He thought over what he just had heard, everything had just become a lot bigger than it was before. If the planes and realms were not the only things that seemed to be endless, he was truly miniscule, even less than an atom within a Fire Ant.
"Wait, you said there were myths of your people that described these crystals and the vessels that used them?" Azer suddenly said.
"Yes, little humee. Myths of home tribe tell that Ulgathi once met those who came from places between the stars." Doc said with enthusiasm. "They came to destroy, but we beat them good!" Doc grinned and showed Azer his knuckles. "And as they left as fast as their worthless bodies could carry them, they left several of these crystals behind!" Doc's eyes twinkled with delight.
"We kept a few as souvenirs on our victory, of course the other races also might've gotten hold on some." Doc's face was now shining with pride of his ancestors. "Just how many crystals did you find?" Azer asked him while leaning against an inner part of the palisade that still stood. "About ten, if I am to believe our myths." Doc replied while he studied the crystal for any inconsistencies.
"Only ten? Are you sure there weren't more?" Azer said. "We Ulgathi are nor blind, nor stupid, humee. We can count perfectly well." Doc said and showed his sharp teeth with a threatening growl. Azer did not flinch, he had seen his master growl in worse ways while teaching him the ways of Dravir culture. "I meant to say if the Ulgathi could not have sold some or have been mugged through the years." Azer replied calmly. Doc hid his teeth again as he calmed down. "We might have. To think of it, our muhrbles got used more recently." A brief state of panic flashed over his face. "I'll stick that in my utility belt for now, I cannot have it being stolen from under my wrench, now can I humee? He said as he put it in one of the many, many pockets.

"I've got meself a bounty to collect still." Doc said with a stern look that scouted the area for anything suspicious.
"Do you know what you are looking for?" Azer asked him while looking in the opposite direction for any clues.
The half-torn wooden palisades within the bandit camp itself blocked a large part of sight, as did the green tents.
"Can't say, humee. Guardian business." Doc said while he searched the camp. He suspected that his goal was to be found somewhere near the bandit leader's tent. From the air it had looked much smaller and tidier, he tried to remember a landmark.

A vision flashed before his eyes, in the middle of the bandit camp a flag waves before a green tent which is significantly bigger than the other tents standing around it in a circle.

"We should go over here." Doc said while pointing Azer in the right direction and increased his pace. The circle of tents now lay demolished, like a broken shield, while the bodies of bandits scattered the field outside of the circle. Curiously enough, within the now broken circle lay none and the bandit leader's tent still stood. "Did you notice anything strange during your encounter with these bandits." Azer asked him while kneeling down to examine the still lush grass that was free of scorch marks unlike the rest of the camp.
"Those knights the humees have nowadays don't cut it anymore. Anyone could see there's something strange with this place!" Doc said while taking out his wrench. "If those lousy knights' investigation gets either of us killed, I'm getting myself a raise!" Doc snorted and spit on the ground. They both slowly walked backwards into the tent where they were met by darkness. The only light came in through the entrance and only with the help of the spell Azer was able to see anything at all, although they remained vague shapes.
He could make out a desk, a few tall shapes he thought to be cabinets and some chests and barrels. "I don't like this." Doc said and pulled out a knife which he used to cut a large square hole in the canvas that shed more light on things. There were indeed a desk, with gold pieces on top and several notes, a large collection of loot which the bandit leader had obviously kept to himself and a cabinet, which upon inspection held some leather gloves and belts. Azer put the gloves on which ... fit like a glove. Doc on the other hand took the ALL of the belts, surely with the intent to craft something nifty and unexpected out of them. The other tall shape was not a cabinet as he had surmised, but rather a huge chest with a broad peep-hole so one could look inside. Azer approached the chest and took a barrel so he could peek into it. He saw nothing but darkness even with the spell, when all of the sudden two glowing red eyes lighted up and startled Azer, causing him to fall of the barrel. He stared at the glowing eyes in awe.

"Doc, I think we've found what you are looking for."

< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 2/20/2012 5:58:20 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 5
4/22/2011 11:16:46   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER V: "On Dragons and Dangers"


*meanwhile*

(Wait, did the author of this story just shift the scene that was highly anticipated with that of some presumably boring stuff?)

It just so happened that the both Dravir were finished with their talk about the thing the Dravir Lich mentioned after Azer left.
They were sitting at a round stone table.

"Akriloth is half the dragon his father was, he damages more than just land and creature. By the next decade, all humans will hold us for vile beasts." The Dravir Lich exclaimed as his blue ethereal eyes glowed with bright ferocity.

"I do not like his actions either, my friend. But you must not forget that the other Fire Dragons regard him highly as he is the Great Dragon of their kind." The Dravir Mage spoke calmly while leaning against the back of his stone chair, which was adorned with orange Dravir runes.

"They act as if he gave birth to their entire lineage, as if he is their god. Blasphemy!" The Dravir Lich said coldly. The black Dravir runes on his chair made his comment seem even more threatening than it was.

"Akriloth's fire heats up your emotions. His power and influence reaches far I see, if he can do what nor I, nor my magic could do.
The thing is, Akriloth spread that exact rumour to gain influence over them. He does not have any of our brethren in his service, but the Drakes are easily fooled and their nature compels them to violence. Since Akriloth does not have any of our brethren in his ranks we get little information from there, but it seems obvious what he seeks." The Dravir Mage said with a small gesture of his hand to calm the Dravir Lich down.

"He would not dare." The Dravir Lich replied emotionless.

"Like he did not dare to upset the Elemental Realms?" The Dravir Mage countered with a face both calm and dead-serious.

"Let us hope to the Creator that Gorgok will not follow his example." The Dravir Lich simply said.

"Knowing Gorgok's legendary greed and our luck, he will do exactly that, if not out of fear." The Dravir Mage said and sipped of his tea.

"Fear is an irrational emotion of the living." The Dravir Lich said with a plain face.

"It also makes us aware of danger, my friend. And this danger is very real ..." The Dravir Mage paused for a moment.

"Your-OUR banishment makes things complicated, my friend." The Dravir Lich said as emotionless as ever.

"That does not make me blind, nor unaware of things. Our agents act as my eyes and ears, even as my tail and teeth. Gorgok can think he exterminates us all, we will move through his caves and hear and take as we please. Even up north, our eyes and ears are present. Not nearly as many up there follow our convictions, but one is enough to tear down their entire dream of conquest." The Dravir Mage replied with confidence and not even the Lich in his presence, who held mortals for overconfident, would consider it to be more than realistic.

The Dravir Lich began playing with his knuckles. "And what of Southwest to the well?"

"Still on that case? Remember that we need you as well." The Dravir Mage said slightly troubled.

"My undead found nothing ..." He said slowly while looking at the knuckles in his other palm.

"Does that not concern you?" "He slowly looked up.

"It does, but other things concern me more right now." The Dravir Mage replied as he stared in his cup.

"Does this thing still work?" The Lich said while going over the table with his free hand.

"It should." Was the answer he got.

His finger went to the part of the table which represented spring. "From Spring comes forth Creation."
His finger slid to the next. "From Summer comes forth Order."
The nail slightly scraped, yet did not do any visible damage as his finger slowly continued to draw, what appeared to be, a circle.
"From Autumn comes forth Chaos." The finger continued his trail over the table-leaf and by concentrating, one could actually see a pale light in the wake of the finger. "From Winter comes forth Destruction." When the circle was supposedly complete, the finger suddenly drew a straight line to the centre of the table-leaf where a small circle was carved out. "From all comes forth Balance."

"Creation, Order, Chaos, Destruction and Balance." They said simultaneously.

"Hear the servants, the protectors, the watchers of those who guard this world."

"Aid us and through us our masters, our brothers, our charges."

"Then let us see what the future holds for us." The Dravir Lich said as he threw his knuckles on the table.


As in slow motion, they rolled across the stone table.


< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 7/20/2012 6:55:37 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 6
4/25/2011 5:58:01   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER VI: "A Volution"


The crate flew open with the sound of cracking wood, and a body which matched the eyes stepped out of the crate. It was bigger, although probably not more muscled, than the average Ulgathi Warrior and had a blue/purple-striped skin. Azer could not tell which of the two was the natural colour, if this creature even had one.

While Azer still lay on the ground, Doc had mustered his courage and swung his trusted wrench at the creature's head.
The creature made use of it's horns to parry the wrench and Doc got his wrench jammed between two of the four horns, which pulled his weapon out of his hands. Disarmed, Doc evaded the sharp claws that grasped for his neck.

Azer got himself to his feet and quickly came to the conclusion this creature had to have human ancestry.

Doc kept backing away to evade the claws, which went well till he tripped over the creature's tail. Azer quickly shot a sphere of light at the creature, which seemed to hurt it considerably as it roared in pain and gave Doc enough time to grab a blacksmith hammer from his belt. Azer shot another sphere of light at it, but this time it was prepared and conjured a blue magical barrier on which the sphere exploded without any doing damage, other than briefly blinding it. It grinned at his feeble attempt from behind the magic barrier.

It had miscalculated with the size of the magical barrier however so Doc was on the inside! With a firm swing he landed the blacksmith hammer on its foot, temporarily distracted by the pain the magical barrier flickered and it punted Doc away. Doc hovered about a meter from the ground for several metres before crashing into some barrels.

Anger spoke from the red eyes as it slowly walked up to Azer. Azer knew that he had little chance of success and cast another sphere of light before he drew his wooden sword. The sphere of light seemed to have little effect on the creature now, it was clearly determined enough to not let a little spell keep it from getting to it's target. Azer had taken a defensive stance, but he knew that would not save him when the wooden sword splintered under the creature's claw and so he quickly duck away behind the barrels.
He grabbed inside a barrel and tossed the first thing he got at the creature, which looked familiar somehow, as if he had read something about them before.

The first thing he tossed happened to be a silver spoon, and bounced off against the blue/purple skin without causing any damage.
"Let this be the next part of the set." He mumbled as he grabbed something about the barrel again. He got hold of a ruby, pitied he didn't have the chance to examine it further, and then threw it with all his strength against the arm. It is to be said that he intended to hit the head, but this time at least some damage was done. He guessed it either had to be draconic or demonic in nature, but when he saw how much it had neared him, he ended his contemplations and headed for the exit as fast as he could. Needless to say, he got cut off before he even got there by the creature, which looked fine except for the bruise on his arm and broken foot.

"Not so fast, Seeker." A male voice shouted from the tent opening. "I'm not losing my bounty. I only enabled your magic to keep myself safe and now I no longer need it." The person who said it looked like a black figure with the sun in his back. From the hand a white beam of light shot at the Seeker. A Seeker, of course! The demonic half-giants bred by some foul cult to hunt Guardians.

"He is MINE." Doc said while gritting his teeth. He held his wrench in one hand and the blacksmith hammer in the other to show he meant business.

"I found him first, that's the deal in our trade." The man mocked Doc and stepped over the stunned Seeker, while casually dropping the diamond that had disabled it in his pocket. Out of the light, he revealed his superior smile to all others in the room, silently taunting them. You didn't have to try very hard to dislike this man, who looked like a bandit in every sense of the word.

"You even had your chance now, yet you failed like that little monkey of yours Orc." He said hatefully while he unbuckled his mace.

"That is not to say you can simply walk away in defeat after destroying my camp." He said coldly and his smile slid off his face.

"HAH, you fled at the sight of some knights! What makes you think you can defeat me?" Doc grinned while trying to hide his pain.

"You're aware of the bonus you get when you deliver the Seeker in time, are you not? Of course you aren't, you're just a dumb Orc."
The bandit leader laughed hatefully.

"Ulgathi honour compels me to ask for your forgiveness, oh intelligent humee." Doc said while biting his tongue, if he hadn't Azer was sure he would have learned a lot of new Ulgathi curses.

"Forgiveness for destroying my camp? Hah! It is in vain!" The bandit leader sneered.

"Not for your camp, for THIS!!!" Doc exclaimed as he jumped forward and back flip-kicked the bandit leader against the chin, it is to be considered that Ulgathi have very sharp toenails, followed up by a strong blow with his wrench in the stomach.

The bandit leader was temporarily dazed and sought to regain his balance, while with his free hand he rubbed his bleeding chin.
In disbelief he looked at the blood on his leather gloves, then his face turned into a mask of anger and hatred.

"Say, weren't Orcs slow brutes with low accuracy too?" Doc spit while he used the term "Orcs".

The bandit leader leaped forward and his mace hit Doc's arm, which made him let loose of his blacksmith hammer.
Before his wrench could hit the bandit leader it was parried with the mace and he got stabbed in the chest several times with the bandit leader's dagger, till Doc lost most of his strength and dropped his wrench. The bandit leader was about to knock off his head when he was set on fire, in panic the bandit leader dropped his dagger and tried to put it out. Doc regained some of his will to live as saw the blood running freely and gave the bandit leader a headbutt, before pushing him off of him with a foot.

"Little humee, you got yourself a fight on your hands." Doc said and fell over in a pool of blood.

The bandit leader had gotten up again and now wasn't burning anymore, merely scorched. "So, the pet monkey got some magic huh?" The bandit leader sneered. "That will not help much against my magic-resistant mace! Go on, try it!!! He taunted wildly.

Azer had heard and read of such weapons, yet failed to see how a weapon could increase it's wielder's protection without casting some sort of spell first. He shot a water sphere at the bandit, who now held the mace in front of him, surprisingly enough the mace actually blocked the spell.

"Hah, the little monkey sees I speak the truth." With the impending victory in sight, the bandit leader seemed to regain some of his sanity and arrogance.

The bandit leader slowly walked up to him. Azer knew the mace would deflect all magic or worse, so he shot an ice sphere past the mace and managed to freeze the bandit leader's pockets on one side.

"Hey, what's that over there?" Azer said as he pointed behind bandit leader.

"What?" He exclaimed as he turned to watch.

Azer slipped past him, tore the frosty pocket from the bandit leader's pants and showed him the rag.

"And what are you going to do with that? Magically animate my pants into doing your bidding?" The bandit leader laughed.

Azer took off the rag and revealed the white diamond.

"No, although you shouldn't mock magic. If you mock magic, BAD things happen" Azer replied with a sly smile.

Another white beam from the pure diamond hit the Seeker.

"Freeee ...." The Seeker said as he rose to his feet and stretched his limbs.

"You fool, do you have any idea of what you have just done?" The bandit leader said in terror.

"You have used me and planned to sell me to those I fled, human." The Seeker slowly said.

"You shall feel just why Guardians fear us." The Seeker spoke as he slowly approached the terror-stricken bandit leader.

With a mighty haul of his claws, he split the mace in two and then picked the bandit leader up to toss him into the crate, that had served as the Seeker's cage, like he was a ragdoll. He grabbed the part of the crate he had kicked away and placed it back in it's place, then took the split mace and bent the pieces to hold the door like staples. Azer guessed that only someone of similar strength could open that crate now. Once the Seeker was done he turned to Azer.

"You are in allegiance to those that seek to imprison me ..." He said with a distrustful look on his face. He clearly didn't like that his future had just become a twist of fate.

"You are a Seeker, correct?" Azer asked.

"You could say that I am a Seeker." He said, while rolling with his eyes.

"Then you'd better not move an inch." Azer replied harshly.

He walked up to Doc, who was losing a lot of blood, lay down the diamond and held out his hands.

"If only I had a staff, best a staff with a leaf." He thought before muttering some words that lit up his hands in a green glow.

Doc bathed in the green light for several moments, till all wounds had been reduced to cuts and bruises. It took several moments still, before he opened his eyes again. When he knew Doc would make it, Azer picked up the diamond again.

"Am I dead yet?" He said while blinking with his eyes. He then looked Azer in the face. "You too, eh?"

He groaned in pain. "Ugh, well at least we know now that the Elemental Lords put us all in the same afterlife."

He slowly got up to sitting up straight and saw the Seeker. "But I did wish they'd make SOME exceptions."

"You're not dead, orc." That little human saved you, the Seeker snorted.

Doc looked at Azer. "But I was near death!"

"I didn't say it was easy. It did cost me all of my remaining mana." Azer said weakly and realized he had to look drained by now.

"Impossible, no human can do that!" Doc exclaimed.

"Anyone taught by a moglin can do that, Doc." Azer replied tired.

"But enough of that, what do you want to do with this Seeker?" Azer said after he had sat down on a barrel.

"Hm, I did not know it was a half-demon giant. I seriously doubt I can lift him with my chopchop." Doc said while checking his wounds.

"It's not perfect yet, you'll find plenty of cuts and bruises." Azer said when he saw Doc looking at his wounds.

"As for the other part, I'd like to know a bit more about our friend here." Azer continued and nodded in the direction of the Seeker.

"They're bred to hunt Guardians, what more is there to know?" Doc said grimly.

"The fact it were my masters that wished to see me brought to them." The Seeker calmly replied.

"Don't lie to me, Seeker! I've got an official Guardian document right here!" Doc said.

"They are forged. Do you think the cult would simply use it's own name for official business?" The Seeker said.

"Even the idiot I put in my crate knew of their involvement." He continued calm as ever.

"And how can you tell if it's forged?" Azer asked while looking in the direction of the Seeker.

"Check with the home owner's desk of "greatly important matters". Besides, it's not that hard to spot if you are looking for it" The Seeker said as he sat down on a barrel.

Doc moved over to the desk filled with papers and gold, after a few minutes of searching he had found out a great deal about how the caravans in the surrounding area moved and how the bandit leader cheated out his men of loot they found. Then he found the letter.

Dear "Guardians",

if you wish your property retu---d to you, just visit my ba---- --mp. My reputation precedes me, so I am certain you will find it.
On the terms of payment, I ---- -- have twice the amount w- ------ --on or others will learn of this most unfortunate "error"
of yours. Surely you will ho-- ---r reputation valuable enough? D- --- ---- ----k of double-crossing me by sending your other
"guardians" to destroy me, f-- - -ave the tools to kill each and every --- -- ---m.

Oh, do not Seek me out with ---r special forces. I know I said so before, but you people have the tendency to be
rather stubborn.
----------------------------------
~-----------------------------------------


The letter had smears of ink on some places.

Afterwards took both his own and the bandit leader's official Guardian document and discovered some faults, like the Seeker had said.

"He's speaking the truth." Doc said after a moment of silence.

"This letter speaks of you as if you were an error, Seeker." Doc said slowly. "Why is that?"

"I'm smarter than my brethren, who only think of hunting and killing Guardians." The Seeker said.

"Do you perhaps have a name then?" Azer asked. "Seeker sounds so ... primitive."

"Hm, I suppose you could call me Volu." He replied after a while.

"Well then, Volu. I can hardly hand you over to enemies of the Guardians, besides my payment allows for me to drop that assignment." Doc grinned.

"I'm glad that is settled. I seek to gain power and I am certain that I will if I keep close to you, human." Volu said.

Doc burned the papers regarding the movements of caravans, filling the tent with smoke.

"It's not incense, but it'll do." Azer said as he began meditating. The rate at which this replenished his mana was painfully low, but it cleared his thoughts nonetheless. He saw that Volu did the same.

"Hey, what is this now?! Am I to get two pointy ears to endure in my company?" Doc said offended.

Doc turned to see a familiar face by now.

"Well cow, at least us green folk stick together."

"OH MY GOSH, HE SAW US!!!"

A bunch of Sneenjas fell out of the chopchop, desperately trying to get away from Doc, who was laughing out loud.


< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 8/2/2012 16:49:35 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 7
6/10/2011 11:20:07   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER VII: "Over Dinner"



Azer and Volu meditated till the evening, then they sat around the fire Doc had made in front of the big tent, because they were getting hungry (that and the bandit leader who had regained his consciousness made it impossible for them to meditate with his cursing and screaming).

"What are we eating, Orc?" Volu said as he sat down before the fire.

"It is either Ulgathi or Doc for you." Doc said with a threatening glare, before he gave everyone a spoon.

"Fine, what are we eating Ulgathi?" Volu said only mildly interested in the matter as his tail was moving a little bit.

Doc took a little black kettle and used a long stick to hold it above the fire. Soon a delicious smell filled the air surrounding the campfire.

"Is that meat?" Volu asked while licking his lips.

"They're vegetables." Doc said without looking in Volu's direction, clearly he did not want the Seeker's opinion or had to concentrate on the kettle above the fire or both.

"What, no meat?!" Volu exclaimed offended.

"Since neither of you pointy ears went out to hunt, I had to settle for vegetables since they don't run." Doc calmly replied, without looking up.

"Who says you had to go on a hunt?" Volu said while looking at the Boveox. When Doc didn't respond, he set up a grumpy face.

Doc continued to ignore Volu's foul mood till his guts told him the soup was ready. Then he gave each a wooden plate and poured the soup on it. While Volu clearly refused to admit it, he seemed to enjoy the soup. When he saw Doc watching he said with a grunt.

"I must be truly hungry to eat this soup!"

Azer took out a little bottle with a colourless fluid and drank it while shuddering with an expression of revulsion and put it away, before he started eating his soup.

"That looked like you drank poison, humee." Doc said while grinning.

"That is because it was poison." Azer replied calmly.

"What?! Do you want to get yourself killed or something?!" Doc said startled.

"I don't want to get myself killed and that's exactly the reason why I drink it." Azer said and took a spoonful of soup.

"I don't understand that." Doc said clearly confused.

"I do." Volu said while looking at Doc.

"He's building up his resistance against the poison." Volu replied while putting away his plate.

"Yes, that is correct." Azer said calmly.

"I still think it's ridiculous." Doc shook his head.

"As ridiculous it is that your skin probably grew harder and more resistant to fire as result of your experiments, but that's how it is." Azer calmly replied and continued to eat his soup.

"*yawn* What kind of poison was that?" Volu asked as he stretched out his arms.

"Sandslicer venom, imported from the Sandsea." Azer replied him, without looking up from his soup.

"I heard the Sandsea is a danger in itself, getting Sandslicer venom from the tail before you get stung .... most men don't live to tell that tale. Add that up to a burning sun, I'll pass this one." Volu said as he shudder at the thought of heat.

When Azer finished his soup shortly afterwards, Doc stood up and gathered the wooden plates.

"I think you should head to bed, humee. I heard your kin make children sleep before the darkness falls." Doc teased him.

"I do believe it is time for me to head home." Azer said after yawning deeply.

"You can't get out alone at night, humee. The darkzards might get you." Doc said with a worried grin, not knowing whether to commend or reprimand this lack of fear.

"There are no darkzards this far west, greenskin-*ahem*Ulgathi. I hadn't eaten one for weeks, before I got put in a crate here." Volu said, while licking his lips.

"Perhaps you fancy me putting you back in there?" Doc glared, putting away the dishes and cracking his knuckles.

"Quit it, you're supposed to be grown-ups!" Azer shouted as he stood up with a frown on his face.

"Calm down." He thought to himself. "This will get me nowhere."

"I'll be leaving now, perhaps I will be able to come and visit in a few days." He spoke much softer now, unsettlingly relaxed by appearance.

It had taken him many years to get this spell right. Most adventurers knew it before they even started on their journey as it was by far the most useful spell in their arsenal. Yet it required utmost concentration and adrenaline blocked the focus that was neccesary to cast it. It also required for you to capture a scene perfectly, so perfectly even that even the most experienced archmages could only capture one scene of choice and if only one thing were to change about the scene in your absence, the spell might not work.

He waved for a moment at them and the other moment he was gone.
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 8
10/24/2011 8:57:39   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER VIII: "Reality and Dreams"

Music


"Are you sure you do not want the last mana ice?" The dravir mage asked after he wiped off some of the snow of his fangs with a gray napkin.

"You know I cannot digest it." The dravir lich replied, clearly unamused.

"And you know I cannot simply throw it out, last time that happened a giant ice elemental formed and the dragonlord that came to deal with it nearly saw through the illusive wards I put around my dwelling." The dravir mage said.

Azer appeared on the doorstep and ran inside, behind him the stone door with gilded metal bars slid into place hiding the entrance from those passing by, from outside it would look just like a round rock formation, but inside it was an octagram adorned with gilded bars that were enchanted to ward off the most severe magical attacks. He ran past the book on the dragonstand which reminded him of the pictures he had seen in the books about the Guardian Towers. He snuck into the library, past the sated bookworms that had been feasting on false formulas and forged copies of literature such as the legend of Harey Potter by W.W. Howling.

Then at last he came upon the divination chamber, where his master and the lich sat. He sneaked by, barely taking notion of their conversation and ran towards his bedroom. It was merely a shadow that moved to the untrained eye, but there were none of those present.

"Youth, I remember when I was but an ikn." The mage sighed, clearly nostalgic, while he turned to the opening where Azer had just snuck past.

"We never lose that name, we merely add to it, ikn hewa." The lich said while looking at the silver goblet, with a blue substance that emitted light in it, before him.

"He can already share that title, ikn anatar. He has already mastered the basics of magic." The dravir said with a certain pride a parent takes to a success of his children.

"Your faith in your apprentice was not misplaced, he has mastered my teachings too." The lich said with a nod.

"I know, but I am rather surprised you did not teach him the other thing." The mage replied.

"You are wrong to think I will teach him something like that lightly." The lich said in a tone that was even serious for him.

"I thought you would love to teach him such a thing." The mage replied while giving the lich a slightly surprised look.

"You thought wrong, one such as myself knows well the responsibility of such teachings." The lich said grimly.

"He will learn to do so sooner or later, but not from me. Not yet at least." The lich continued, before taking up the silver goblet with the blue substance. He drank it empty in one go.

"Your stock of spirit fire remains the best I've tasted in all of my unlife my friend and I would love to stay, but I have to get home before day dawns." The dravir lich gave the mage a nod, before he pulled up his black cowl and left the dravir mage to himself.

Ikn, no that title was not yet to be applied. Hewa .... a vision of a human female wearing a brown robe with golden trim came to him. She-

He closed his eyes, a tear rolled past his cheek as he clenched his fists.

Outside the stars shone brightly in the sky, almost as if they spit on his existence. They could not destroy him or anything close to it, but their light still stung his being. He saw his companions lying still between the bushes. "marfedelom qe waphir" He whispered and dark spheres flew from his hands. As they hit the skeletons they slowly began to stir, rising till they reached up to his ankles. They had served him in life and they continued to do so in undeath. He petted the undead togs.

"Come on, let's go home." He said as he scratched them behind the skull.

Meanwhile Azer was lying in his straw bed, covered by a blanket made out of the skin of a fierce bear. Nearly asleep he observed his room, going from his wooden drawer filled with scrolls and some fairy candy to the rocky walls covered by arcane notes and dried herbs that were meant to keep malevolent influences at bay. His room was not very spectacular so his eyes kept resting at the most interesting thing there was, a staff with a sapphire set in it and a sword with a ruby set in it. Supposedly his mother had wanted him to become a mage, whereas his father had wanted him to be a warrior. They had both argued about it, even though they still loved each other very much. So much to the point where they had both decided to give their son a different weapon once he came of age.
The gems were filled with magical energies that gave off a mesmerizing glow and being the only sources of light in the room it was rather effective, Azer noticed how sleep pulled him further in till he could no longer hold his eyes open.

Azer was bathing in purple light. It was peaceful, too peaceful. A gigantic Seeker formed from the light, leaving nothing but black darkness to surround them. Much to his dismay, he found himself carrying a Guardian's shield. The giant seeker, which was about the size of a mountain drew closer to him. "I SEEK YOU." The Seeker snorted while his hand came down and exploded in a big white light upon hitting the shield. The force was enough to throw Azer off his feet, causing him to fall down with a huge splash. Water had formed and plants grew everywhere around him, blue lines stretching across the sky turned yellow and vanished from sight and then .... there was nothing.


< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 9/17/2012 7:50:26 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 9
10/24/2011 9:03:33   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
Those who made it this far, congratulations. Consider yourself entitled to post comments on my story, here.


< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 3/3/2014 14:52:52 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 10
11/26/2011 15:36:55   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER IX: "To forge the steel while it's hot"



Azer hung upside down from a branch with only his legs to keep him from falling, holding his knees was a red brown Clawkin with a mischievous look in her eyes. He hadn't had a proper breakfast yet, lest you consider a handful of berries and an apple such, nor had he been able to tell his master about his adventures as the mage had insisted they would continue his training at dawn. All in all, he was a bit of a lacklustre and could only grimace at the cheerful clawkin who he believed to be an insomniac.

"Come on, Azer!" She shouted in a rather mischievous way.

Azer gritted his teeth and pulled his body up, only for her to scratch him. As he held his arms, which had metal bracers attached to them with two straps of light leather, to protect his face, she clawed his belly and when he moved them to protect his belly she scratched his face up to the point where he let himself fall back over again.

"Learn your enemy's mind, if you can learn it no attack will ever land." The dravir mage said as he casually sipped from a cup which spread a sweet aroma that intoxicated Azer for a brief moment before the mage walked away from the tree from which Azer was hanging.

"Can't we stop?" Azer begged the clawkin, pretending to let go and fall like the jester he had seen during a brief visit in a little village. The people had all laughed at his boots with curled tips, his green hat with little bells and how he looked after he fell into a water barrel. Afterwards the jester left with a fool's grin on his wet face and his silly hat filled with gold, despite it being just a simple human village. He did not dare think what would happen to the treasury if the jester ever stumbled upon Swordhaven.

The clawkin smiled.

"I think you deserve a rest, no some snack. Nobody can expect to pull yourself up if you don't eat properly." The clawkin said.

"To give Azer a little treat." She sang.

"Hm, what should I give him?" She pondered with her eyes closed.

"Perhaps there is something in the mage's bag?"

The clawkin descended from the tree, looked in the leather bag and took out some mana ice, which she shoved into Azer's mouth.

"M-h-ey" Azer protested with a full mouth of ice cold stuff.

"Eat up." The clawkin chuckled.

Azer found it hard to swallow his master's tasty treat upside down, worse he felt like throwing up.

"Now you must get up if you want for your snack to reach your stomach." She giggled mischievously.

"Ugh, I'll get you for this Redtail." Azer grunted while looking a little bit green and started pulling himself up again.

"Oh merciful lords, save me from this mighty hero's wrath!" Redtail cried out, before giving Azer a fat wink and took off.

Azer got about halfway, before Redtail returned to her position and began a counterattack.
He got scratched repeatedly, making him wish he wore leather armour rather than these lousy garments which let attacks through like butter does with a hot knife. That is if you could still call it garments, all the scratches had reduced it to mere straps of cloth.
He blocked one arm, only for her other arm to scratch him. He decided it would be best to fall back and prepare another attack.

"Already had enough?" Redtail chuckled, flinging some hair out of her eyes.

Azer said nothing and pulled himself up again, meeting a few hits again before falling back again. As he fell back, she scratched thin air a few times. With a shock he realized she had missed him and with newfound confidence he ached his legs again to get himself up again. She hit his bracers once and his belly twice before he fell back again. With each time he fell back he gained a little insight in Redtail's mind. She was a red clawkin, a species of clawkin that never left the treetops and thus were rarely, if ever seen by humans. She had trained him from young age, teaching him to climb trees, how to balance his weight when standing on branches and how to break his fall should things work out for the worst. Just in the recent months they had begun with this training and Azer had found it much more intense than the sparring that had taken place in the treetops. Having his master ask questions about the Kiminari, Amilani, Silari and how they had shaped the course of history during the training hadn't helped either.

He recognized a certain pattern and he dared to pull himself up with greater speed every time she missed, but while his legs had grown stronger due to the intensive training his stomach had not and protested heavily against the rough movements. Azer felt his nausea grow in strength, through sheer willpower alone he did not stop. After the training was done he had both a ruined shirt and appetite. Redtail munched on her payment, which was why the mage had once called her nuts.

"Would you like to eat something? I brought some mana ice with me." The dravir mage said to Azer.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry." Azer replied while he held his hand against his belly as he felt the acid burn.

< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 7/11/2014 18:16:49 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 11
2/19/2012 7:49:10   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER X: "To be Enlightened"


"Master, I must-" Azer started while trying to keep up with the dravir mage, his legs were aching from the training session. The nausea wasn't exactly helping either.

"-be quiet." The dravir mage interrupted him, without slowing down his pace nor looking back.

Azer cursed mentally that his healing spells could only mend tissue, but not relieve the pain. Then he cursed his master for not hearing him out about the Seeker. Normally he could not have cared less, but today the strict training sessions were a real nuisance.
The only days he was allowed some slack were the days his master received guests that brought information too important for him to hear. Yesterday had been such a day, so he was not expecting some free time for several weeks, if not months.

As they arrived at a clearing in the forest, the dravir mage came to a halt. Sunlight seemed to pierce this part of the forest, making the rest of the forest seem dark in comparison. A chill breeze played with the grass, causing it to make a soft rustling noise. It was calming and unsettling at the same time.

"Cite the spell." The dravir mage said without turning.

"What spell?" Azer asked confused.

"The spell we have been practicing for days now." The dravir mage replied patiently, Azer could still not see his master's face.

Azer was still puzzled. They had been practicing light magic for some time now, so the spell had to be of that nature. He did not see much use in casting a light sphere right now, nor a daybreak spell. He pondered a bit till his eyes grew wide in disbelief. He was to do that? Slowly he extended his arms, preparing for the incantation.

"CryoLumino Maximus!" Azer spoke the words with a with firm voice, but his fingers trembled.

The air before them filled itself with a sparkling light that seemed to snow even as it drew strength from the sun. As the light cracked with energy, a crystalline form emerged. As if the form soaked the light like a sponge, the crystalline features began to radiate with light. As two arms separated themselves from the mass, a cold shockwave ran through the clearing and destroyed some of the brittle grass. As the shockwave passed Azer, he shivered while the light temporarily blinded his eyes. The dravir mage was a bit more fortunate and pulled down his cowl when the freezing light hit. Apart from startling a few am-bushes, it did no damage whatsoever. When the blindness wore off, the creature had formed a head with two bright eyes who observed Azer's every action.

"WHO SUMMONS ME AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE?" The creature spoke with a loud voice.

"I-I do." Azer said in awe of the golem of ice and light that had formed before him. He had studied the spell many times now, but never before had he actually used it to summon an Adalon. They had lost their purpose for war, but certainly not their status of striking fear into creatures of fire and darkness and this was a Greater Adalon.

"AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE?" The Adalon recited the part of the message it had not received an answer for.

Azer looked at his master, who now was standing idly by. The Adalon was still waiting for it's answer, without paying to much attention to anything other than Azer.

"Go and get the one who enlightens all who wish enlightment." The dravir mage suddenly said.

"What he said." Azer quickly confirmed, hoping for the purpose of this all to become clear soon.

"COMMAND ACCEPTED!" The Adalon shouted, before the process of its summoning was reversed.

It bowed its neck and folded the arms in again, till a big crystalline lump lay before them. As it leaked light, energy flashed all over it's body as it slowly shrunk to nothingness. All it left behind was a thin layer of snow that started melting even as Azer looked at it.
At first this didn't seem too strange, but when he looked up the light shone a lot stronger than it had before. With squeezed eyes, Azer tried to see what was happening.

"You should be honoured to have this audience, my apprentice." The dravir mage said when he finally turned to face Azer.

"Only a few even consider speaking to a mortal fleshling." He added while looking back up.

Azer followed his example and as the light withdrew a bit, he could now see a creature of pure light levitating a few inches from the ground. Then it began to speak on a tone that showed nothing but beauty on the subject, as if it was a poet by heart.

We are the sun and stars. Our reflection is a blessing to most and a curse to some. We destroy darkness where we venture and lighten the hearts of those who were trapped by the veil of night. Without us the world would be a place of despair, without us the world would be devoid of life as plants would not grow. Without us fire would not be, if anything else than predator. We are therefore more important than anything else to this world.

"Take the wisdom of the light." The light elemental said even as it's form was reduced to little more than rays of light.

Azer waved goodbye, but it was already gone by then.

"It's gone." The dravir mage told him.

"What did we need the Adalon for?" Azer asked him curiously.

"One does not simply venture into the plane of light, you must use a messenger to find one of the few light elementals who still are willing to enlighten mortals. There are some on Lore, but the odds of finding any who will assist you are next to none. Most of them are enslaved or not interested to help. So I'd take the opportunity to speak to one, if I were you." The dravir mage said as he placed his hand on Azer's shoulder.

"So, you would take the opportunity of speaking to one with enlightening information?" Azer asked with a devious grin.
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 12
3/7/2012 17:37:18   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER XI: "Light in Sight"


It was a quiet night at the western border of Darkovia, more quiet still were the two guardians who were doing their patrol. They both wore the basic armour of the guardian order, a stainless steel with a yellow trim and the shield that matched it on their back as if the dragon symbol of their order would have their back. Their grip on their special long swords was unusually tight and they were sweating a little as they kept an eye on the cursed forest.

"By the gracious light, was that a vampire?!" One of the guardians exclaimed with a shriek as he swung his long sword at the air.

"Calm yourself, i-it w-was j-just a-a b-bat." The other guardian replied unnervingly while looking around her anxiously.

"Yeah, don't vampires turn into bats?! And what of werebats?! I've heard some scary stories about bats growing humanoid limbs and dragging their victims off into the night!" The guardian hardly calmed himself, but at least he stopped swinging his long sword. Now he held it right in front of him as he walked, jumping at each little sound.

"S-stop it, you are driving me on edge here. We are guardians, the protectors of the innocents and the safe keepers of balance. We can handle the darkness of this cursed forest." The female guardian replied, trying to speak courage into herself and her partner.

"Yeah right, like the others they found. Their armour was ripped open like it was nothing, their shields were cut in half and their heads were impaled on their own weapons. Not even werewolves are that monstrous and vampires have no need to tear off their victims' armour to get to their prize. I'm telling you, we're going to end like the Amityvale guardians." He kept going on, continuously firing frightening arguments at which mere townsfolk would drop undead.

"Our light magic is strong, we will not fall like they did." She responded with a confident voice.

"Why us, why not the paladins? We are meant to protect the towers, not wander around Lore to give a sense of order. We lost several good guardians to that foolish undertaking in the east. It's not that I enjoy slacking around in the tower with nothing going on, but why don't they send us to deal with the bandits ...." He said, completely oblivious to her previous remark and then he spoke the magic words which made her reach for the little sun pendant around her neck. "... even the paladins cannot stand against the more powerful necromancers living in the woods."

"Oh Celeritas, shine your light this night." She whispered a quick prayer as she held on to her pendant which faintly radiated light and gave her courage. She had heard about a temple of light that lay deep within the cursed forest and deep down she had always hoped to visit it one day, but like any other she knew that only paladins could safely venture that far without succumbing to the darkness of the forest. Like her partner she wondered why the paladins couldn't just make this patrol instead of them, especially with the numerous reports of dead guardian patrols in the last few weeks.

"Light, light! We nearly made it!" The male guardian exclaimed relieved as his grip on his long sword relaxed.

"We made it." The female guardian let out a small sigh. She thought about making a charitable donation to the pond at the border settlement.

A rustling noise was heard to east, just behind the foliage that separated them from Darkovia. The two guardians suddenly felt awfully bold in the presence of the light and with a small nod headed towards the source of the sound. The female guardian readjusted her helmet, then signalled her partner to stand ready with gestures of her hand. 3 fingers ... 2 fingers .. 1 finger .

That night, the traders at Moonridge heard screams that made their blood run cold and gave birth to yet another story about Darkovia.
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 13
6/9/2012 7:18:29   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER XII: "Where the Falcon reaches for the Sky"

Music: Enter the Guardian Tower in Falconreach and go to the room where the bookstand is.


The captain of the Guardians turned over a page in the book, which rested on a pedestal adorned with two dragons in the main room. With yet another pair of Guardians found dead near the outskirts of MoonRidge, the rosters had to be adjusted again in a very short period. He dipped his quill in the ink and crossed out their names from the lists. Looking at the many crossed-out names reminded him of all the many good people that had served him over the years had fallen victim. Morale had hit rock-bottom for most other Guardians in the tower, he had even caught some drinking at the inn during their assigned duties, but had decided to let it slide. He wondered if he should even continue with sending out Guardians, their main job was to keep the tower safe and if possible the logging camp at the foot of Mount Falconreach.

He put the quill back in the pot of ink and rubbed his eyes as he thought of the other dangerous missions the Guardians had undertaken in the past decades. The missions to clear out dungeons had cost them dearly, the road patrols' occasional skirmish with bandits also took lives, but lately complete regiments were being decimated.

"Sir?" A female voice from behind him spoke.

"What is it?" He replied as he turned around to be greeted by three female Guardian recruits who were saluting him. They weren't as grim as most other Guardians, seeing he had kept it from their ears. He did not want these young and inexperienced fighters to live the rest of their lives in fear, they still had a whole life ahead of them. He remembered the first two all too well, Chiku mostly spent her days in the library and Myra was so often praised by the trainers for him not to know her by face. The third one's name eluded him though.

"Sir, we know a lot of Guardians are being relocated to the towers in Willowshire and Barrowdell." Chiku slowly began.
To the captain those words sounded sour and he couldn't believe the recruits bought that lie. Did they really think so many Guardians would be relocated at once? He found it hard to believe. Still, having local officials to be the first at the sights of the crimes had helped considerably in stopping rumours. The murders were not being denied, but instead the victims were being said to be traders and adventurers.

"And we thought you could use our help in taking over their assigned duties." Myra added with a gleam of adventure in her eyes.

"Aye, anything to get out of this dusty town." The other Guardian said.

"I'm sorry, but what was your name again?" The captain said.

"It's Mindi, sir." She replied, somewhat agitated. Not that the captain noticed, he was deeply worried. "Sending recruits on missions were the veterans would fall? Madness!" He thought to himself.

"It's relatively quiet right now, so I doubt we'll need anyone to take over their duties." He said, the lie leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

"But seeing you are so eager, I'm sure we can find you something else to do. Chiku, our tower's loremaster could use some help sorting out books and researching possible places of great malice." He said, knowing it was not even a lie. At least she seemed to be considering it.

"Myra, you'd be a fine addition to the arena from what I keep hearing." He said with approval, but cursed himself when he realized he knew nothing about Mindi. She might not be persuaded so easily and even while he was in command and she was to listen, he knew from experience that people could become very unpleasant in time when doing a job they didn't like.

"The arena?" Myra exclaimed annoyed loud enough to tear the captain from his thoughts. "That dusty old place where we bring in some captured sneevils? That place offers neither challenge or monitoring!" She fell out to him, but quickly closed her mouth when she realized what she had done. In her mind she already prepared herself to being reprimanded by the head of the tower, but instead he smiled.

"Well, then I assign you to make it a place which will prepare Guardians for what they will face outside these walls. Mindi will be free to help you, of course." He smiled. It hadn't occurred to him that the Guardian Arena did indeed offer little challenge, the need for safety had always stood in the way of bringing in creatures which could harm or kill the contestants, but now it was clear they would be killed off regardless without the extra training.

"But, sir. I-" Myra spoke.

"This is your chance to make a difference, recruit. If you carry out this assignment with success, you will help shape the next generation of Guardians. Now do me proud." He said and saluted the three. Myra was still baffled and merely nodded as she returned the salute.

"Dismissed."

The three girls walked off in the direction. "I can't believe it, I'm so jealous of you two!" Mindi exclaimed.

"Jealous? Neither of us can go out exploring Lore!" Chiku replied.

"Exploring Lore, you? Don't be kidding me! You are always with your nose in some book!" Mindi jested.

As the conversation moved out of ear sight the captain slowly moved to the window and looked out over the Falconreach Bay. The water in the bay shimmered in the sunlight under a cloudless sky, in the distance he could discern the ferry from Verteroche making its way to Siren's Anchorage. In his mind he silently prayed to the Lords of Light and Water for advice. Try as he might, he could not let the peaceful look fool him. He knew the troubles which seemed so far off were about to surface.


< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 7/11/2014 18:47:13 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 14
6/27/2012 18:47:55   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER XIII: "Seek the Seeker"


The news of the Seeker had alarmed his master greatly, as Azer had anticipated. For the remainder of the day, he had spent in his room which he had found odd. Usually his old master had something to do which involved being out of the cave during times like these, but it seemed like the old Dravir worried too much to remember. Even his wrinkles seemed deeper than usual when his master had told him to go study on the dragon language, adding to the seriousness of this matter. For the first time in a decade he witnessed what happened in his absence, thanks to his little wizard spell. Shadows moved alongside the walls like wildfire, shadows he had thought to be objects in the room now faintly resembled dravir running as if their very lives depended on it. He overheard pieces of conversations in draconic. "Moonridge" "covered up" "local officials" "more cases" "Darkovia" "Greenguard" "Hitokiri".
This continued the whole day and it wasn't till he fell asleep over his books at night that the questions of what it was he heard stopped plaguing him.

The next day he was gently woken up by his master and handed him a bag.

"It is time we talked about yesterday." The dravir mage said as Azer looked up sleepy, not really interested in what his master had to tell him. The forest furies hadn't even begun with their morning singing lessons yet, so it was way too early to talk about that stuff.

"Azer, are you listening?" The dravir mage had his intense gaze focussed on him. Whereas just a moment ago he was busy of trying to open his eyes, he was now fully awake. His master never addressed him by his name unless it was a special occasion or was he just too worried to notice his wording today?

"We have a serious problem. A Seeker is nothing to be taken lightly, especially not with all the reports lately. You must go to the Seeker you met and bring him in." The dravir mage looked very serious.

"I have to bring in a half-demon giant who could swat me like a fly?" Azer asked with a dry voice.

"He'd swat just about anyone we have like a fly, besides he seems to trust you. Once you get him in a confinement room, we'll take things over." The mage replied. Azer just looked at him. He had to bring in Volu? Granted he did not kill him first.

After a long silence between the two of them, the dravir mage gave him a bag and directions where to go after he had captured the Seeker, training sessions were suspended till further notice and Azer was told he would have to see into the case personally upon his return. He got up from his bed and took some sunshine swirls and candied cherry blossoms with him, just in case he would encounter any of his fairy friends. He viewed himself as their big brother, who protected them from the predators lurking about in the forest. They were usually quick enough to avoid those beasts, but they more than often used that same speed to escape their parents.
Then he went outside, not even paying attention to the cave he had lived his entire live, and summoned a Frogzard with a few gestures and words of arcane, a beast which was hard to find in the wild this far west, and nearly got thrown out of the saddle before he even got on. It was no surprise it had taken him months of training before he could ride one without constantly being thrown off. The zard was hardly big enough for him to ride at this age, he could only imagine how silly it would look once he reached full height.

The forest paths proved unusually calm, there were no wolves who wanted to pick a bone with anyone or merchants who had gotten lost in the maze. It was remarkable how profitable it was to simply help merchant out by pointing them into the right direction or carry their supplies to the next settlement. Bandits used to terrorize these parts, but Azer surmised that with the destruction of one of their camps it would take them a while before they would regain their foothold in the area.

Just as he was about to lead his zard into a more forgotten path, which was easily overlooked by those who had a horse due to the young trees that were just the height to block a horse rider’s view, a couple of fairies dashed in.

"Hey Azer, come to play?" A fairy with brown hair and a violet dress asked him.

"Oh, just ask him if he's got any candy!" Another fairy with blue hair and dress said impatiently.

"Here you go." Azer smiled as he handed them both a sunshine swirl.

"Oooooh, sunshine swirls!" The blue fairy exclaimed overjoyed.

"Thank you, Azer." The purple fairy said politely.

"I had expected there to be more of you, where are the others?" Azer asked while looking around. The blue fairy was so lost in her sunshine swirl that she didn't even notice the question.

"We came here to train, you know the drill. Fight some adventurers and be home for nightfall." The purple fairy sighed.

"Lately the adventurers are getting stronger though, so we're thinking about moving our training spots farther east."

"Getting stronger?" Azer frowned.

"Yes, I believe I overheard some adventurers say that they got better healing potions from the Royal Alchemist in Swordhaven."

"The only way we will get some training without dying before we can heal is to distance ourselves from the human capital."

"Mhmn." The blue fairy mumbled sadly with a sunswirl in her mouth as if it were to be her last.

"Shall we race?" Azer asked them, noticing how sad they were. A good competition would get their mind off of things.

"Oooh, that sounds fun!" "You'we goiwing two lwose." Were the responses he got.

Azer pondered on the long-term effects of better potions as he bent over and whispered the words of the beastmasters of old in the Frogzard's ears. He grabbed the brown fur on tight as the frogzard started to run at maximum speed. Anyone who would've seen them would only see a green-brownish thing flashing by, followed in hot pursuit by a purple and blue little thing. Azer would love to chat some more with his friends, especially considering he might never see them again, but he wanted to get to his destination as fast as he could set his mind off all these troubling events. Once one side gained more power, the other one would soon follow.

As they arrived at the bandit camp Azer tapped the frogzard on its furred side to make it slow pace.

"Yay, we won!" The blue fairy exclaimed as she clapped her hands and spun around in the air till she became dizzy and fell on a soft patch of grass.

"Oh no, you didn't." Azer replied smiling.

"We did so. Bye Azer." She said as she got up and waved him goodbye.

"Next time we'll meet, we're going to have some training." The purple fairy winked as she flew off.

Azer waved them goodbye, but he knew that they were likely long gone. He turned his steed to face in the direction of the bandit camp. It looked even more miserable than it had two days before, he tried not to pay to much attention to the smouldering piles of corpses. It looked as if Doc had thrown them together.

"Humee Azer!" Doc greeted him as he emerged from behind a pile with a boot in one hand and a small bag in the other.

"Hey Doc, what are you doing?" Azer said as he got off the zard.

"I'm rounding up these dead bandits, I don't know whether the priests will come for these sinners but the animals might get sick from eating their tainted flesh." He said as he shook some gold coins from a bandit's boot into the sack.

"Best not give them a stomach-ache." Doc looked up as he grinned, making a stitch of his lower lip stretch to its full extend.

"That's very thoughtful of you or is it just thoughtful of your wallet?" Azer grinned as he shook his head.

"There's more than enough now that, that Seeker ran off. I knew I shouldn't have trusted him." Doc's eyes darkened when he said that.

"He's gone?!" Azer exclaimed.

"Yep, I suppose his nature kicked in and he smelled some Guardian passing by when I was asleep." Doc said. Azer and his steed followed him to the big clearing in front of the big tent. There stood the Kruath'ri device and the Boveox waiting for them, the beast was grazing and didn't even notice them until the curious zard came sniffing at her grass. It was a peculiar sight indeed.

"Doc, I-" Azer started.

"It wasn't my wallet I was thinking of though." Doc said as he pushed the bag in Azer's hands.

"Huh?" Azer blinked as he received the bag.

"Well, don't just stand there Humee. You earned it fair and square. I already got me a King's bounty, it's only appropriate you get the loot of the sinners." Doc said as he watched Azer looking unsure what to do. He could relate, it was weird to go out on your first conquest and reaping your rewards from the dead. His brothers didn't seem to have had much difficulty with overcoming that problem.
Azer looked inside, there were a few gold coins, a rusty badge and a pendant which held a child's drawing. It was some time after the mana ice, but seeing that made the nausea return. Azer felt really sick and the only thing he could hope was that the pendant didn't belong to one of the bandits. With watery eyes he put the pendant back in his bag and attached it to his belt. Then he remembered what he wanted to ask Doc.

"Doc, I need to know where Volu went to." Azer said even as he dried his eyes.

"Why kid, does he still owe you an apology for not taking his promise to you seriously?" Doc jested.

"Promise?" Azer asked confused.

"You know, the whole I seek power and I think I'll gain it by following you-thing." Doc shrugged.

"That's right, why would he leave?" Azer thought.

"Tell you what, I'll try to see if I can spot him during my test-flight." Doc said as he nodded towards the chopchop.

"It'd be much appreciated." Azer replied.

"We can't have him eat Guardians, not after making me credible for his rampage." Doc laughed and his stitches showed the strains they had to put up with.

Azer went inside the tent and grabbed the white diamond from the floor, ignoring various insults the former bandit leader tried to taunt him with. It wasn't the nicest language he heard by a long shot and he couldn't help but smile as he imagined Volu washing out the bandit's mouth with soap. Meanwhile Doc was fastening the chest with his bounty on his chopchop so it wouldn't fall off.

"Look what I found." Azer exclaimed as he held up the diamond.

"Maybe he can't touch the damned thing without paralysing himself or something?" Doc opted while looking up, before he returned his attention to the chopchop.

"There all done." Doc said satisfied and hopped into the pilot seat. He turned over to the Boveox.

"I'll be back before dinner, honey." The Boveox snorted in response and returned to grazing.

"You scour the land with your zard, while o'l Doc here reigns the sky itself!" He said to Azer with a big grin.

"Be sure not to make the Lords of Wind and Light hear you, lest you'll get feathers and a golden tan!" Azer jested.

"Oh, look out for projectiles coming from the northeast." He added.

"Northeast?" Doc said surprised.

"Popsprocket."

"Ah."

Doc flipped over a switch, the motor began humming and the blades started spinning. It was not before long that the chopchop lifted itself up to embark on its quest, seeking the Seeker.


< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 9/17/2012 7:56:30 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 15
7/14/2012 15:55:16   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER XIV: "Finding what You Hold Precious"

Music


Doc soared high above the lands in his chopchop, while looking below at the lush forests and fields of grass where herds of Boveoxes were grazing while being preyed on by packs of unicougars, whose horn's reflection gave them away from afar. It was because of that, that unicougars plunged their horns, which were white when pristine, into their prey's flesh to bloody them so the rays of Solaris, Lore's sun, wouldn't give them away. Success lead to success, so to speak. The chopchop's humming blades scared most of the slender cats away.

Like Azer had mentioned Popsprocket came in sight after a while like a sickly cannon shooting debris and gullible adventurers who were not aware of the gnomes' reputation or choose to ignore it in favour of the gold they'd make. Hardly enough if you broke your neck if you asked Doc. He'd rather help to build the contraptions than volunteer as a test subject.

He had to evade some falling rubble, the gnomes were at it today. The ramps on the few mountains here also didn't show much other than a lone altidont, huge balls of light brownish colour which cracked open to feed and devoured any plant life that would dare grow in its habitat and thereby kept the mountains around Popsprocket among the most bare regions of the western continent.

Just when he was about to turn back, an object hit his chopchop with such a force that it made a spin. Were it not for the fact Doc was an experienced flyer who had experienced many storms and mishaps which would make a gnome pale, he would've lost his breakfast for sure. Doc looked annoyed at the big dent which he had fixed just two days ago and set course for Popsprocket. Those gnomes were in a heap of trouble, for there is hardly anything as dangerous as an angry Ulgathi.

Music: Falconreach Guardian Tower


The head of the Falconreach Guardians sat in his office with his head deeply buried in paperwork. Work often helped him to forget to worry. The fact that no more recruits had bothered him with permission to leave Falconreach didn't hurt either. Myra had already found a good help in Ynnae, who understood the importance of her job better than herself no doubt. Chiku had also proven herself to be a valuable asset for the library, even going to the length of visiting the town hall for missing titles which she then copied like a master scribe. Only Mindi had a hard time getting on terms with her orders and only reluctantly helped Myra with expanding the arena. He had just held a small ceremony for the two new victims of the attacks with the older guardians. There had also been a few people attending who were family, friends or relatives of the victims amongst which a Pactogonal Knight.

"Hello."

He looked up from the parchment on which he was writing his speech. The only thing he saw were two pair of jagged ears and furry tails sticking out. He had to stand up to see two "tall" moglins wielding a wooden staff with golden blades attached which seemed to hold a gem which sprouted two leafs, the only similarity the weapon showed with any other moglin healer’s staff. One was orange and had red eyes, while the other one was green-greyish and had blue eyes. Both of their eyes looked like little gems, shimmering with eagerness.

"Can I help you?" The head asked them surprised.

"We have come for the help ya issued." The moglins replied in sync.

"Do you want to apply as healers?" The head replied.

"Hahahaha ... HAHAHAHA" The moglins slapped their hand against their knee, barely managing to keep himself standing with the help of his weapon.

"Heal ya humans? Please, we kick evil's ass!" The blue moglin laughed with tears in his eyes.

"We are of a secret order of warrior moglins, but we prefer the term Mogleet ourselves." The orange moglin said after he caught breath.

"I am Krum and this is Rhum." He continued.

"Let's get down to business, how much will ya be paying us?"

"The guardians of this tower have pooled their resources and we can offer you a sum of ten thousand gold pieces, but if I am going to pay you I'll need some proof of your skills." The head said not completely convinced.

"Ten thousand?!" Rhum said and whistled.

"Yes, ten thousand after which you agree to only go on missions with guardians from that point on." The head nodded.

"Okay, Krum. Let's give the man what he wanted." Rhum said and Krum nodded in response.

"Where can we convince you of our ability?" Krum asked.

"Follow me." The head said as he moved his chair back a bit. He lead them towards the arena, if you could call it that. Aside from the fine Guardian blades, which were forged at the tower in Willowshire just like the Order's armours were forged in Falconreach, standing in the weapon racks the arena lacked any sign of being the training grounds for a great and ancient Order such as the Guardians. Some shields stood against the wall. The thing which drew his attention though were six recruits which were complaining to Myra.

"We don't need no new arena!"

"The expansion will hurt our private space!"

"This is just another way to get us to drag stones around!"

Myra was swarmed with complaints coming from dissatisfied recruits who felt they didn't need a better place to train. Mindi stood next to her, but she knew she couldn't expect help from her. To her luck she spotted the head walking in.

"Sir!" She exclaimed extra loud and saluted. The other recruits who had been complaining, quickly stopped talking and saluted as well.

"What is going on here, Myra?" He inquired with a firm voice.

"The other recruits are of the opinion we do not need the extra labour and the arena is fine as it is." Myra quickly responded.

"Well then, I think I have the perfect test for you." He smiled at Myra.

"You there! What's your name?" He barked at a male recruit.

"Y-ynnae, sir!" The recruit shouted intimidated by the head.

"You believe your training is sufficient? Prove it! These two little maggots wish to give a demonstration. You may prove they are nothing but the would-be warriors they got to think they are after playing around with sticks a little bit too much when they were just children!" He barked.

Only now did Ynnae see the moglins and chuckled to himself. Was this the test the head got so worked up about? He walked to the weapon rack and grabbed a sword. There was a little spot in the arena where the floor was covered with a thin layer of sand where one could spar against one another, so if one fell they at least got the impression it was softer.

"Begin." The head said.

While they had not looked very threatening at first, the two mogleet suddenly became a lot more fierce in appearance. Ynnae swung his blade around, hoping to get them both in a single move. Against another recruit such a move would have proved very effective, but the mogleet who had trained for years and were experienced warriors simply ducked the sword. Ynnae now brought the full weight of his sword down on Rhum, but he slid right underneath him and ticked him with his peculiar staff. The gem glowed white and much to his dismay Ynnae found himself frozen in place. Krum slowly walked towards him and aimed his staff at the helpless guardian. Ynnae closed his eyes as the gem started glowing red. He waited for the final blow, but nothing happened. In fact, he felt like he was warming up.

"Stop! That would be all." The head said and he walked to the recruit.

"Do you understand now?" He asked.

"Yes, yes I understand." Ynnae replied softly.

The head looked up as he heard someone clapping. In the arena's doorpost stood the Pactogonal Knight who had attended the ceremony. He stopped clapping and extended his hand.

"Maximillian Tax, but you can call me Max."

Azer rode on the zard all afternoon, like his friends had mentioned he did not see any fairies. They were already leaving the area. "Stupid humans." He thought. Not only did they drive his friends away from him, but they also neglected to realize the fairies kept bandits and other more hostile creatures at bay.

Apart from a Sneevil toll post which let him pass once he handed them an empty bag, always hand an empty bag or they'll be offended that you're trying to give them your trash, his search was little eventful. He looked at one of the mountains and recalled a time when he had trained with ogres who kept smashing his ribs till he coughed up blood for weeks and stayed out with his fairy friends to play tag and hide-and-seek often till late in the evening.


< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 5/20/2013 14:06:02 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 16
9/15/2012 17:58:19   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER XVI: "Mistakes"


"Heya, dreamer!" A chittering voice exclaimed, tearing Azer away from his thoughts. Redtail dropped herself upside-down from a tree, hanging there as she looked at him with gleeful smile as she swinged a little bit with her tail.

"Hey, Redtail." Azer said a little weary of the search which had taken all day.

"Why so gloomy, little hero?" Redtail asked him.

"I'm looking for Volu, a Seeker." Azer replied.

"I don't know this Volu, but it's more like you're the Seeker." Redtail joked to which Azer's lips curled a bit in response.

"Perhaps, but I'm talking about a big, muscled and purple guy with four horns. You wouldn't happen to have seen such a person?" Azer asked to ask, his voice evidently devoid of hope that she might've seen something. So he jerked straight up his frogzard at her response.

"Oh, that guy. Yeah, I saw him."

"What, when was that?" Azer inquired, leaning so far forward that his nose nearly touched Redtail's. She merely extended her hands and made a cup underneath his nose.

"If you want to know .... pay up first." She said with a wink. Azer sighed and took out some nuts, which she quickly gobbled down.

"You are really nuts."

"Ah, down't bwe wike twat, mwah pwince. Or I won't giwe wou wa kwiss." She giggled or at least made a bad attempt with her mouth filled with nuts.

Doc was standing in a gnomish workshop which resembled a Kruath'ri dwelling under a mole hill as far as he was concerned. It hadn't exactly taken him a lot of trouble to get the gnomes to find their finest engineers to fix his chopchop .... free of charge of course. Not that any sane person, gnome or otherwise would dream of charging an angry orc. Well, another angrier orc or troll maybe. He had taken off his most prized possessions just in case those gnomes would think of stealing anything. Only the chest with his gold, which he deemed too heavy to move or hard to pry open without him noticing, remained where it was. That was why he had refused any offer the gnomes had made to stay at their inn, the Copper Teakettle, also free of charge.

"What is taking so you long, son of a dwakel?" Doc said. He had waited for hours and was at the end of his patience.

"We're almost done. Balthar?" A gnome's head with a short black beard and bald head appeared from behind the chopchop.

"Ready!" A voice yelled and shortly afterwards a redhaired, beardless gnome entered the room with a remote control.

"This took way longer than needed to simply dent out my chopchop." Doc grunted.

"We did more than just dent out your-uh chopchop, mr. O-Ulgathi." Balthar said nervously, trying not to anger the towering green man before him.

"What did you gnomes do to my chopchop?" Doc said as he eyed the gnome before him suspiciously.

"We improved it, of course. It now takes 10% less carrot juice to fly the same time and I personally installed A.I." Balthar announced proudly.

"What in Fiamme's name is A.I.?" Doc blurted out.

"Uh, A.I. is artificial intelligence. It enables machines to think for themselves, I would have thought that an inventor such as yourself would be familiar with it." Balthar said with raised eyebrows. He had observed the technology and the equipment the orc had with him to make such a calculated guess.

"You think to control what can think for itself?" Was the answer he got.

"Yes." He said a bit frustrated, he may have only been a low Mechagius but his research would change all of that.

"How?"

"Like this." With that remark Balthar pushed a red button on his remote control.

"Destination Augerthorne confirmed. Initiating launch in 3..2..1."

The chopchop began to hum, its blades began to rotate and it slowly lifted from the ground.

"What are you doing?" Doc screamed as he watched in disbelief as his chopchop flew away from sight. Balthar was pressing the buttons on his device anxiously, but it didn't seem to help much.

"Um, don't worry it'll arrive home safely." Balthar said.

Doc said nothing, he gritted his teeth and slowly turned away from his transportation and treasure which was flying away farther from his reach with each passing second. Then he jumped at Balthar who only narrowly managed to dodge the angry Ulgathi and ran for his life.

Two dark shadows were cast over the body of a beheaded man wearing a grey armour with yellow trim. The front of the armour had been torn open with ease.

"You idiot!" Someone growled.

"What?" Another voice replied.

"That wasn't a Guardian!" The first voice said angrily.

"What do you mean? He has the same type of helmet as them."

"That's a Paladin helmet, you fool. You just killed a Paladin!"

"Why would Guardians wear Paladin helmets? That doesn't make any sense."

"Why do adventurers dress up like villains? They just do!"

"Maybe next time I should ask if he's a Guardian or not?"

"Maybe you should and don't forget to use your nose while you're at it."

"I won't." Some drool fell on the paladin's corpse as that was said.

"I guess we won't have much need for this anymore." The paladin's head was tossed next to the body with the face down.

< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 9/17/2012 8:13:02 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 17
9/16/2012 14:23:42   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER XVII: "Dreams of Rebirth"

Music


It was a haze, he was running through a dark hallway and he heard people fighting. Scarce beams of moonlight fell through small windows in the walls. He had to hurry, they were close. His heart pounded in his throat as he ran as fast as he could. He had trouble running, he didn't feel too well. His vision blurred again. He halted for a brief moment as he held his hand against his head, only now did he notice his head was bleeding. The warm blood covered his gauntlets and large areas on his face and neck. It looked so strange to him, but then again he wasn't exactly feeling like himself. He had never been in this kind of situation before.

He ran on, hearing the death wails of people he had known for his entire life. He ran on over the red carpet which seemed to lead him. He was afraid, he was running. He cursed himself for his cowardice, his weakness to leave his friends to die alone, but he couldn't muster the courage to turn around and meet his enemy head on.

He ran on, but they gained on him. He ran on, but they seemed to be around every corner. They lacked flesh and muscle, but still they moved and fought and killed. He had faced them before, but had fallen to them. Only by cowering behind the mask of death had he survived the encounter. His vision blurred and his head ached. The shadows formed by the moonlight gained nightmarish forms. He lashed out a few times with his longsword, but they didn't seem to be much impressed. His condition was hardly anything which normal people would feel threatened by, let alone these things. They didn't look more dangerous than most monsters, but he felt they were different. Their was malice emanating from their very being, as if they hated everything and everyone. They had carved through friend and foe alike without mercy, as if they did not have a conscience. That was a thought which chilled him to the bone.

He came upon a door which he realized was the door to the library. He did not have much time, he was losing a lot of blood in a short time. His vision blurred as his eyes went over the books. Nothing in here could help him. He held his hand against a stone on the wall and spoke some words he did not recall knowing. A rune lit up and the stone slid away, giving away a hidden cabinet. He took out a worn book with pained faces on the cover, no in the cover, whose eyes glowed blue and red, which looked familair and tried to focus on the pages as his vision kept blurring from time to time. He knew these words would mean his salvation ....

"Master?"



A voice called, blurring the contents of the room till it was gone and he saw the darkness of his own closed eyes. His eyelids trembled a little bit as he slowly opened them. The first thing he became aware of were the symbols carved in the dark ebony wood behind his back which pulsed with dark magic as always. The room itself was about the size to fit eight adult Gorrillaphants and scarcely lit by the dimmed light which fell through stained glass, behind his wooden throne adorned with the bleached white horns of unicougars and armrests made from the tusks of an adult Gorrillaphant, which portrayed a black slender moon sickle. In front of him was a man clad in a black cloak kneeling, waiting for him to speak. As always he saw world in a haze of red.

"How goes the hunt?"

"This one humbly reports to the Triad of One that the hunt goes well." The man said without looking up.

"Most excellent. Like always I shall bide my time." He said with a little nod which was addressed more to himself than anything else.

"The game has gotten allies to protect itself though." The man said a little hesitant, fearing his master's wrath.

"What aid do they bring to the hunt?" He said.

"Many, the whole Kingdom appears willingly enough to support them. Even the Order of the Dragonlords have sent help in defending their tower strongholds." The man seemed agitated at the mention of the dragonlords.

"What is the news of the defected? Have you found him yet?" He spoke the words filled with bitter disappointment.

"No my lord, there were some complications." The man replied nervously.

"Complications?" He inquired somewhat annoyed.

"Yes, it seems he moves in darkness. We cannot track him there." The man quickly said.

"Do we have its last known location?" He inquired further.

"Yes, it's the darkness." The man said a bit relieved.

"Good, I want you to look into the matter personally. You may wish to take Venerata with you so she may learn a thing or two."

"Would that be all?" The man said, only just now looking up. He did not see his master’s face, as he was concealed by darkness even at this time of day. Only the armour he wore could vaguely be seen, not that it mattered as it was jet-black and soaked up all light which fell on it anyway.

"Bring your leader here, I wish to converse with him." His right eye started glowing for a brief moment, it was red and was remarkably big, around the size of a ripe plum. Not to mention it lacked a pupil.
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 18
11/18/2012 14:29:31   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER XVIII: “Gold Cannot Buy You Everything”



Sir Tax left the office. Just as that happened, the shadows stirred.

“Hm, do you still require our help?” The figure in the shadows inquired the head of the Guardians.

“Yes, we cannot get enough help at this point. Sent word that we will no longer resist.” The head replied.

“Good, our Hitokiri look forward to serving you.” The figure in the shadows said.

Sir Tax made his way down the hill of Falconreach and if you could've looked behind his visor you would've seen a slick smile slid across his face as he recalled the meeting with the head.

Sir Tax and the head were sitting in his office.

"I have heard of your problems and I'd like to offer you my help." Sir Tax said.

"That is very generous of you, Sir T-." The head began.

"Max." The knight interrupted him.

"Right, Max. But we already have acquired quite a lot of help." The head continued, somewhat uneasy about how casual the tone of this conversation was.

"Yes, the dragonlords are most generous by taking over Moonridge and training the local militia. You do understand however, that it is not enough. You need more help and help takes up resources. That is where I come in." Sir Tax said.

"What would be your part in this then?" The head asked, unsure whether to be curious or keeping his guard up.

"I hold great influence within the court of King Alteon, as such I could petition royal funding for you. But that is not what I offer to do." Sir Tax said meaningful.

"What do you mean?" The head said genuinely interested now.

"You might recall how a few years back King Draynor of Deren accepted a law which made all Guardians, regardless of nationality, citizens of his kingdom?" Sir Tax said.

"I do, it enabled many Guardians to study at the School of Thought." The head replied.

"Well, I could petition Guardians to become nobles in the realm of our good King. It would allow you to enjoy many of the privileges, including the joining of the knightly orders and access to many exclusive mage libraries. Very useful in preparing yourselves for the battles sure to come." Sir Tax said, looking at the head who was too stunned to say something.

"Finally, I would like to bolster your defences. I will see to it that a keep is built to hold a garrison of knights for your protection." Sir Tax said confident he would succeed.

"You would do all of that? I wouldn't know how to thank you!" The head exclaimed as he got up from his chair and shook Sir Tax's hand baffled, but overjoyed.

"A keep requires a lot of financing. That fat treasurer won't budge easily, but luckily I know just where I can get something to convince him otherwise .... I just need to get rid of those filthy rats first." Sir Tax thought to himself as he walked through the lumberjack camp and held onto a necklace with a little sun attached to it. He didn't notice how he was being observed by a remarkably pale woman with an eye patch and wearing a black kimono with white sleeves.

< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 11/18/2012 14:48:59 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 19
11/18/2012 14:32:17   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER XIX: “Beginnings of a Legend”

Music



It was a dark and damp cave, aside from the single opening which had granted the men inside access there was no natural source of light. In the middle of the cave, there was a white light. The men, wearing simple garments and leather gloves, were standing over an altar of some sorts, waiting for something as their faces were being lit up by the white glow. The altar was made out of black stone or one would surmise that to be the case, but unlike stone it showed no signs of erosion and the carved horses were disturbingly smooth. A figure appeared in the opening of the cave, casting a shadow over the altar at which the men moved aside. Lying on the altar was a sword, its otherworldly blade glowing white as it was held in place by a safeguard of runes, its apparent great power further contained by a single red gem on the handguard resembling two feathered wings. As the figure walked to the altar, the men bowed and spoke as one.

"Hail King Awethur!"

"So it was that King Awethur, using the power of the set of Awe, fought off the agressors and hunted them from whence they came. That spelled the doom for the Vykkings and their monstrous servants." With that the knight closed the book shut.

"Oh, uncle Valen. One more chapter, PLEASSSEE!" A little girl with red hair in a green dress begged.

"I'm sorry Victoria, but I have to leave now. Your father needs me." Valen replied with a smile as he got up from the wooden chair the King often used when he visited his daughters' rooms.

"Uncle Valen, is my daddy as great of a king as Awethur?" Victoria asked him.

"Hm, he was so brave and handsome in his youth, wasn't he? I envy mother, today's princes are all full of hot air." A slightly older girl with brown hair in a blue dress sighed.

"Yes girls, your father is a great king and husband." Valen said with a smile on his face, but his heart ached a bit as he said that.

Valen left Victoria and Brittany in their chambers and left for the King's study.

King Alteon sat in a high oak chair coated with purple cloth, a reminder of the previous kings' tastes and rules, at a big sturdy tabe cluttered with parchments about treaties, pleas and the financial reports, the latter which were mostly written by Baron Bayconn. These parchments were constantly being edited by the many scribes and advisors sitting all around the table.

"For the next point. We must ensure that we have the allegiance of the Herdmasters when the B.U.R.P.-plagues begin again. Those rodents must not be allowed to eat our harvests for the winter, food is hard enough to come by with this population as it is." King Alteon said.

"Yes, your majesty. I will sent a messenger to arrange a meeting with the Herd Bosses in the morrow." An elderly scribe said as he scribbled down something on a parchment.

"Where does your majesty suggest we sent them?" A relatively young man, wearing a grey robe, asked.

"We should drive them towards the Sandsea, those that don't perish in the harsh desert will surely weaken the Emperor's armies." An armoured woman with purple hair said hatefully.

"Out of the question, Vax. Anything we do to sabotage the Emperor's foothold in the Sandsea only leads to the further suffering of his subjects." Alteon objected.

"That is true, I have heard from a messenger I sent to hire the services of the weather witches that the Emperor uses the high taxes he collects to get his water, which he then uses for ponds to decorate the insides of his palace while his people starve." Another iron-clad man nodded.

"Yeah, that was a wise decision. I heard the frost in the farmlands was averted that way." A scribe mumbled absent-minded.

"Hm, you think the Emperor will wait with attacking us forever? No, we must strike and destroy him now while we still can!" Vax snorted at all the opposition she received.

"While I do agree with Vax that the Emperor must be defeated, we would most surely be defeated." Valen said.

"Sir Pulchure, you think the Emperor's legions would not fall to our finest knights? Have our armies successes not proven that to you?" Vax replied coldly.

"Not at all, but we must not forget that the Sandsea offers a great disadvantage to our soldiers. They are suited to fight on the desert sands, while we are not." Valen simply replied.

"Yes, well I am sure a regiment of forty thousand men is more than capable of holding their own." King Alteon quickly said to end the argument, feeling the tension brewing between the two like all the others present.

"Not even a quarter of the soldiers that are stationed near the border with Doomwood." Vax said agitated.

"Not even remotely as dangerous as the haunted forest either." Valen countered and Alteon quickly got up from his chair.

"I would hereby like to conclude this meeting. Thank you all for your tireless work for making this kingdom a better place. Now, if you'd excuse us Valen and I have something to discuss." King Atleon said, ignoring the continued debate between Vax and Valen. The others were quick to get the message and within a matter of moments all things indicated there had been a meeting with advisors were gone, save for Vax who halted at the doorstep to give Valen a quick glare. Valen turned towards Alteon as she walked away.

"You wanted to see me, my liege?" Valen asked.

"Yes Valen, I do." King Alteon said as he sat down again with a deep sigh.

"As you probably know there will be a diplomatic meeting held tomorrow, I have received a message from the Vandarian ambassador himself that he will be attending." King Alteon continued, looking many years older as he said that. He seemed so tired that he didn't notice how Valen raised his eyebrows.

"A Vandarian ambassador? I thought those only served as declarers of war?" Valen said surprised.

"Or assassins." King Alteon added weakly.

"So you think something is about to happen?" Valen inquired as he looked at the bookcases, lost in thought.

"I do. It is why I am glad my wife is unable to attend the meeting due to her pregnancy and it is why I would like you and Mentana to attend the meeting." The King said clearly distressed.

Valen assured him he would attend the meeting, knowing the Vandarians' dogma all too well and then left the king alone with his thoughts who were being preyed upon by inner demons.

< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 11/21/2012 11:59:02 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 20
12/18/2012 14:43:45   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER XX: Birth and Death

Music


The man with the black robe walked through the black-stone corridor with the cellblocks, accompanied by two armour-clad soldiers in black whose faces were hidden behind helmets, his mind wandering towards a fateful night of what seemed to be only yesterday.

It was night, it was always night when they were born. He could hear the mother of the unborn child scream, or rather roar, as she was in labour. The chains that held the mothers were always strained at most during times like these, he needed to remind his assistants to repair them in the morrow. He entered the room, knowing well what to expect and that wasn't pretty. The woman lying on the bed was so large that no one could mistake her for anything but a giant. She wore a black dress, depicting her as a bride of darkness. Several undead, skeletons for hygienic reasons, nurses ran around, panicking. This was unusual, the undead of his assistants showed no sign of emotions as long as their masters didn't either, so great was their control it was choking to think about it. He had trouble locating them in this chaos, but did eventually spot her from the corner of his eyes making some arcane gestures.

"Xeloc, thank the Darkness that you have come!" She said, holding a black wand.

"What is going on in here?!" Xeloc yelled, having little patience for pleasantries when a birth was at hand.

"T-the incantations, they have failed. She may not be able to deliver." She said, growing even paler than before.

"The incantations have never failed, what has gone wrong?" He replied, adrenaline racing through his veins even as he tried to look calm for his assistant. He could not cave in, he was the only one which could help her regain her control. Without his assistants, he would neither be able to save the mother or child.

"I am trying to stabilize t-the incantation, it should buy us a few minutes.." She said, clearly agigated by the alarming situation.

"Oh Darkness, I never had someone die during my shift before. Jane told me about one, she-." She started sobbing.

"Listen, keep with me here. We may not be able to save the mother, but if you can keep this up at least we'll be able to save one of them." Xeloc said as he grabbed her by the arms.

"I'll try, just hurry up, Xeloc." She nodded while tears poured past her cheeks.

He didn't need that to be said twice. He gave a firm shout, at which the assistants and undead stopped running around.

"Bring me some towels, clean ones. You there, fasten those chains. I don't want her to break my ribs." Xeloc commanded.

Something was wrong, clearly she was having labour yet she seemingly refused to give birth.

"Dispel the incantation." Someone behind him said, he turned to face Jane, a middle-aged woman with a wrinkly skin and not a hair that wasn’t grey and wore a purple robe.

"You heard me, clearly something's unnatural is at work here." She said.

Xeloc remained silent, he watched as the giantess smacked some undead who had been busy with putting wet blankets against her forehead. Clearly she was in a lot of pain.

"You know they'll die both, don't you? The giantess may hold up for a while, but it won't do any good." He heard Jane say.

"..."

"Cease stabilizing the incantation!" He shouted, he moved away from the giantess and Jane took over.

"Push, you are doing fine. Push!" Jane's comments were more directed at the giantess, but he felt his heart skip with each and every scream.

"You are doing fine, there is the head already!"

Though he had experienced this many times before, it did not make it any easier. Especially not in this case, it were many nerve-wrecking minutes before the baby was finally born. The mother died instants later of exhaustion. Her corpse was not well covered before everyone in the room heard the words which they would remember for decades to come.

"By the Darkness, it is a girl!"

He halted at a heavy metal door of the cell which was his destination. He absentmindedly took out a copper key and turned the key to his right, at which the door swung open. The interior was rather simple, nothing but an empty bookshelf, a medieval toilet and a simple bed filled with straw all made of ebon wood. Sitting on the bed was a hooded, rather large and muscular woman, wearing a black robe with purple trim, who squinted her red eyes as the light fell into her sanctuary.

"The Triad of One requires your skills, Venerata." Xeloc said emotionless.

"The Triad of One be blessed and he shall know not news of failure." Venerata replied in a similair manner as she got up from her bed, bracing herself for what was to come next.

< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 12/20/2012 6:38:04 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 21
1/4/2013 18:09:37   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER XXI: Places of Shadow

Music


Azer rode after Redtail, who jumped about as fast as his mount could run. The Zard panted with his tongue out of his beak like a dog, because while it had no difficulty maintaining the speed of the red clawkin he had to constantly evade the trees and was not as apt as her in that regard. Azer was quite adapt in manoeuvring, but it took all of his willpower not to reign in the leads to make the Zard go slower.

From what Redtail had told him, Volu had come past stumbling past the tree where she had been taking a nap. Having piqued her interest, she had followed him from the treetops to tell something for the weekly tea-party she had with the local Forest Furies. When it was apparent he wouldn't do anything interesting, she had, although disappointed, abandoned the pursuit. Luckily she did know what direction the Seeker had gone, that and she was an expert tracker (when motivated with some nuts).

Through the forms of trees which got blurry dark green and brown at the speed he shot past them, he could see they were letting the mountain in the east behind them. This could only mean they were heading north and from what he recalled from the geography lessons he received from the dravir mage these parts were covered by pine forests. A fact which was confirmed after what seemed like an hour of riding, rather uneventful aside from a few wolves and a bear which they crossed their path with. While the latter would easily have gained on a horse, a zard was a completely different matter and for this Azer could not be more than grateful.

The pine forests were a stark contrast to the Shaal Forest not found too far apart, it was fascinating how different the climate was on two different sides of a mountain. The trees here had no branches which offered much support, opposed to the trees in the southern forests, causing Redtail to slow down considerably as she had to continue by foot.

Doc had been chasing the little gnome through many of Popsprocket's workshops and tunnels. The poor gnome had run as fast as his short legs could possibly carry him, but he surely would have lost to the Ulgathi's longer legs if he hadn't decided that those treacherous gnomes could not be trusted with his gears without tinkering with them and installing some brains while at it. Honestly, who would blame him? After all, a free stay was nothing too much now that most of his income had decided to go home without him.

Balthar might even had agreed with the Ulgathi, were it not for the fact that he demanded to tear off his head to get even with him. He had nearly gotten to the shafts which he knew would not allow for his pursuer to follow him, but he had been cut off just before reaching them. Now his best bet were the green meadows which hid the testing areas to the gnomish prototypes, a spot where a lot of adventurers gathered who could and most surely would kill that berserking orc.

"Blast that Orc. I nearly got to the shafts, but oooh no. He had to cut me off, now he'll be sorry." Balthar thought.

The testing areas were strangely deserted, only a few leather and metal helmets along with some bloody bandages were lying around. Not too strange considering it was night, but for Balthar it was the last hope to plummet into the abyss. Blinded by his despair, Balthar missed a wire and tripped. He rolled over onto his back and could only watch paralysed as the rampaging Ulgathi stormed at him.

"By the Energy Lord, if I were to live I am going to find myself a place where no Orc will ever find me. The shafts ...."

And that is where Balthar's part in this story ended, the last thing he saw was how the expression on the green face changed from anger to surprise just as he lowered his wrench to bash the gnome's skull in and was catapulted into the air by one of the earlier prototypes of the sky-net, a thing which could clearly be seen as nothing short of a bad omen.

Azer had followed Redtail to the ruins of a stronghold, the ground here was covered with the bones of the fallen which reached up to his heels while in the saddle. He recalled that this was Braughlmurk Cape, home to an order of Paladins long ago who had sought to collect all artefacts of the light realm. The statues' solemn expressions greeted him, standing out like silent sentinels or angels in the hills of bones. Not so solemn was Redtail's expression as she made funny faces after climbing on one of the winged paladin statues.
Azer let out a chuckle, before letting the gloomy landscape regain its hold on him again. There were some darkness elementals as well as light elementals scouring through the somber ruins, resembling ghosts seeking to find their final resting place as their eerie glow cast even more shadows on the land.

There, like he had always belonged there, Azer noticed the Seeker wading himself through the bones.

"Volu?" He said.

"Hm, the little human again?" Volu looked up, hardly surprised.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The yell was followed up with a loud splash, Volu, Azer and his mount made their way to the shore as good and fast as they could. Redtail suffered not from any of those empairments, nimbly hopping over the skeletons without having to worry about sinking away in that mess.

"Hey look, it's a frogman!" She giggled and pointed at Doc who had just come to shore, looking like a drowned .... frog?

"And the Ulgathi follows suit." Volu grimaced, hardly surprised.

"Hello Humee, Seeker .... squirrel ... lass." Doc stared at Redtail and then at Azer.

"Is she your girl?" Doc asked him at which Redtail giggled and Azer rolled his eyes.

"Ah well, I can get me answers later. Right now I need my gear oiled and dried, before it rusts away." Doc said when he didn't get an answer or at least the answer he was looking for.

Doc put out his longcoat and a few branches and dried twigs were collected for a campfire on the shore. Redtail splashed the water a few times with her claws and in no time there were a couple of fish were sprawling on dry land. Volu grimaced again when he saw that.
When all of them were sitting around the campfire, roasting fish and Doc was talking, mostly jesting, with Redtail it gave Azer time to talk to Volu.

"Volu .... why did you leave?" He inquired the brooding Seeker, who had just torn off a piece of the fish's flesh with his teeth.

"You left, remember?" Volu replied after chewing and swallowing the fish. Doc noticed the Seeker was lying, but pretended to be deeply engrossed in his conversation with the Red Clawkin. Volu returned to his medidation and thought over the real explanation to his straying from the camp.

It had been a while, the young human had not returned. What was worse, the Orc or Ulgathi, as he kept saying over and over with his wrench unsheated, would not have it that he looked at the Boveox whom he had apparently grown attached to. After he had complained about his dinner the sentimental fool had told him to hunt for his meat if he wanted to have any. Then, during the evening when the Ulgathi was already asleep and he had gone for a stroll, as by miracle a saber deer had come out of the woods near the bandit camp. These shy creatures were herbivores, despite the fact they bore tusks easily an equal to those of an adult tuskmonger.
He had leaped for the purple beast, only to have it run deep into the woods. He had chased it, but unfortunately Seekers weren't all that fast and when the need for meat had been subdued and he came to his senses he found himself lost in the woods. Not even predators would dare to approach him, not anything living in these parts anyway. His guts told him to go north for some reason and so he followed his guts north, he figured it could not get him in any bigger mess than he was already. He was wrong.

A pair of purple eyes sparkled.

"Why hello there handsome." A female voice exclaimed. Volu, blissfully walking through the forest, turned around to be greeted by a young fairy with black hair with purple extensions, wearing a dress which matched the colour of her eyes and wings.

"You must be lost, wandering the woods all by yourself." She continued, walking towards him. She looked like she was seventeen, but he could never tell for certain with fey, dragons or himself for that matter. Time meant little when spending it in complete darkness, unaware of the cycle of Solaris and how it died to be born again.

"I am." He said, continuing to walk now that his curiousity was sated.

"Why don't you stay for a while?" The purple fairy invited.

"I do not have the time, I must be off." Volu said bluntly and a thought made him shudder internally.

"To where, losing yourself?" She inquired. This time he remained silent.

"Fine, be like that! But know that you have scorned a princess!" She said miffed and he heard her wings ruffle as she took off.

"Princesses, princes, countesses, counts, lords and ladies all were the folks you met these days. How often did my journey west not have such claims, as if the world would be needing more nobles than it does villagers." He shook his head and walked on.

The woods around him changed from lush foliage trees into pine trees as he moved through the forest. Volu had not come any closer to the bandit camp and he didn't dare to sleep here either, animals would never attack a predator while it was awake, but once it was asleep that was a different matter altogether. He needed shelter and a fresh source of water. A carcass of a Wolverine had provided him with a bit of food, its yellow and dark blue coloured fur covering its skeleton was now all that remained of it. Needless to say, that predator had probably been asleep when it had died. They were ferocious animals and did not go down without a fight.

In the morning, the sleep-deprived Seeker came upon a place which reeked of death. The animals would not bother him here or just about anyone else, really. He made his way into a crypt and lay himself on a coffin, the bed of choice was hard and had splinters, but he slept like a log.

There was also another reason, time was against him. Perhaps it was its way to avenge itself, on how little it could do to bring him closer to death like it couldn't do with dragons. To the east, this immortality might have been what drove the mightiest fire dragon to the belief that nothing could ever stop him. The Order of Carcharas would, in the end, do what time could not itself. Already some of Akriloths mightiest servants were slain, it was just a matter of time.


-Stop Music-


Volu listened to the conversation Azer and Doc were having.

"I am missing her, we'll never see her again." Doc sighed.

"Who?" Redtail asked, finding herself left out of the party.

"His girlfriend." Azer remarked dryly, at which Volu chuckled.

"Oh, can I meet her? I do love a good conversation with women, are frogwomen just as good of talkers as Forest Furies are?" Redtail exclaimed excitedly.

"Firstly, I am not a frogman. I am an Ulgathi. Secondly, she is not an Ulgathi .... she is a cow." Doc replied with a grimace.

"A Minotaur? Hm, yes I could see you dating a minotaur. Heard they get rather hot-headed during spring though, so hard to get a decent conversation out of them without them trying to ram their horns into your stomach." She said.

The conversation in which followed, Doc was not able to explain Redtail what they were talking about at which Azer got a little smile on his face and flicked his wrists, before pronouncing some words while making arcane gestures with his hands. In a ring of green light, the Boveox appeared. She seemed very confused at the laughing squirrel and annoyed at the lack of grass, instead she slowly moved to the greener side of the river.

< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 6/9/2013 8:41:33 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 22
1/23/2013 15:34:26   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER XXII: "How the Worthy have Fallen"


A young dwarf glew with happiness as he entered the stone sleeping halls, his dreams were coming true and here he was to prove it. The fortress of Dragonsgrasp hung high above the Dwarfhold Mountains, the dragonlords had sent an emissary on a large dragon to the city of Dwarfhold with the message that all dwarves were free to try their luck with the hatchlings and become dragonlords. Of course, they first needed to excel at certain tests. Magical affinity was not necessarily the trait of a dragonlord, but it was definitely an advantage. The second test consisted in having the guts to mount the dragon and flying to Dragonsgrasp without getting airsick, for if one were to bond with a dragon flying was usually part of the training, if one were to get a dragon to bond with you that was. In the first weeks he had been with the dragonlords he had heard a lot of nervous recruits mention failure. When the day of judging for him had come to pass, he had been sweating faster than his father could drink Magma Melange, a brand of steaming hot coffee. There had been quite a few hatchlings, of various colours and sizes, present in the room and they were all staring at him with eyes that resembled shiny gems, like the ones mined, but then filled with curiosity. The thought of gems had calmed him down a little, but once he became aware they were observing him he became quite nervous again.

"Eh, hello. My name is Rom and uh I am a dwarf. I guess you don't see those very often, because uh we stick to the uh ground uh lot." Rom stuttered.

He had been standing there in awkward silence for a couple of minutes when a small brown hatchling without wings, having short spikes instead, approached him and laid its head on his leather boots. He didn't move until the caretaker, a man with long blonde hair wearing the basic armour of a dragonlord, came in and picked the small dragon up.

"Hm, she seems to like you. Not surprisingly, earth dragons prefer partners who stick to the ground." He joked.

"Heh." Rom tried to smile while still standing stiff from the adrenaline which coursed through his veins.

"It is not very often we get a non-human these days, we'll fill in the paperwork to get you your Dragon Amulet tomorrow." He said when he noticed the dwarf being unable to do much more than breathe.



Rom put out his boots and crept into his bed, smiling how he would have his very first conversation with his dragon tomorrow. His eyes flew open when something was put into his mouth. He tried to move his arms to get it out but couldn't. Someone pulled the blankets over his head and threw him over their shoulders. He exclaimed some smothered yells, but it only seemed to motivate the person to move faster. No, judging from the footsteps there were multiple persons. Rom wondered what they wanted from him, he had no gold and his family was hardly rich enough to get a good ransom out of him.

"Quickly now, before anyone notices us."

"Hush, they'll be sooner to hear you talk than to think anything of some footsteps."

Rom was left to wonder where they went, but he did feel the mountainous winds blowing through the thick blanket. When the footsteps stopped he received a whack on the head with something heavy and before he lost consciousness he heard a menacing voice saying.

"Back to where you belong, shorty."

"So much beautiful envy." Someone whispered as if enchanted.

A purple light grew in the streets of Dragonsgrasp.

The female dragonlord with short red hair, wearing a white night robe with a silver trim, looked with a sadistic smile how a few recruits threw the dwarf over the ledge of Dragonsgrasp's high walls. She recalled how she had flirted with a wood elf once and asked him to meet her on the wall at midnight. Her smile grew broader. She had reeled him in like a fish and then when he had closed his eyes waiting for the kiss she had pushed him to his death. Her smile slid off of her face. If the descendants of the dragonlords did not deserve the dragons, then nobody did.

Inside there were a number of dragonwarriors lined up against the walls whom she gave a small nod as sign that she would manage without them. She looked around the room, it had a fireplace in the shape of a dragon's head, more specifically the head of Akriloth, right on the opposite side was a lectern fashioned out of dragon bones. When the last dragonwarrior finally left the room she strode over to the lectern, passing over a rug made from a skinned tuskmonger whose head faced the single entrance of the study, to look at the thing of interest. A book with a scuffed cover made from Boveox leather she had "borrowed" from the Order's library. She held her hands on the cover and muttered "Nythera!", causing the book to fall open. Greedily her eyes absorbed the pages' content, flicking through the pages for more of it.


~The First~



The first of the Dragonlords were instructed by a mystic, said to be instructed to do so by the Earth Lord as a form of penance. They were lords and they were just. Their dragons bonded with them for their noble hearts and their keen will.

The first taught them to be humble.
The first taught them to be true.
The first taught them to be just.


The first taught the Dragonlords the gift of the Avatars to them was more than just a means to communicate between man and dragon, it was a mighty artefact which possessed great untapped magical abilities.

Even though he had never laid his eyes on the Amulet before, he knew would to use it like he had always known.

The first conjured up enormous flaming dragonheads, each one bigger than the last and none could match the first.
The first shrugged off damage of melee and magic they dealt to him, none could even so much as scratch the first.
The first sprouted dragonwings and flew way from the lords and apprentices, none could ever hope to catch the first.

Though none could ever dream of besting their teacher as long as the first held a Dragon Amulet firm, they would each grow into a quarter of his grandeur and even that was a supernatural feat.

When they asked the first how it was that they could never win, the first answered.

As I am the first, so was my amulet.
As you are fast, I was faster.
As you are strong, I was stronger.
As they are great, it was greater.
As they control, it dominated.


With these words the first ended the training of the first of the Dragonlords.

"The first." She mused.
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 23
2/12/2013 18:28:05   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER XXIII: "A Guest to Royalty"


Valen had gotten up early, he had difficulty with sleeping over the meeting. He had managed to get into his heavy armour without waking Vax up. He readjusted his helmet and walked up to the mirror. He looked at a knight in shining armour, but something was lacking. He opened a casket to the right of the mirror and took out a few medals and badges, one by one he pinned them on. One badge was made of gold and showed two crossed swords, indicating that its bearer was a sword master. Next he pinned up a flarinium medal in the shape of an axe with a blue ribbon, proof for slaying a thousand orcs. Over a dozen of them followed, it made him look like a colour palette, but if Vandarians respected one thing it was military prowess. Word about a soldier's honour not so much.

Aeron, a bearded brown-haired wood elf, ambassador to Dreamwood looked at the royal castle of Swordhaven while leaning on the branches which formed the balcony of his house. Being the house of a wood elf, it had been grown rather than built by the various diplomats who had gone before him within this part of the city the king had reserved for his diplomatic contacts to live in. The house was 13 feet tall and its base consisted of six tick oaks which had left just enough room in between for a door and five windows. The roof was naturally covered by leaves which always remained green due to an artificial sun, or light orb, which hung on a chandelier. For that reason the leaves were also turned inwards during winter and the trees' seedlings were transported to Dreamwood each fall. Inside, it couldn't have been more of a garden. Fruits and vegetables were grown in jars of various sizes as opposed to flowers. Something which was remarkable however was that the red flag of Swordhaven hung on the wall; depicting a white dragon head.

He didn't understand elder Pilagroth's words which had expressed pity when he left for Swordhaven, which also expressed the opinion of the majority of his people, on why they insisted on remaining separated from the world outside their forests. True, his house was located next to the ambassador to Neld; the Valesti family's representatives being about as loved as the family itself. Still, while the wood elven embassy was the only home that was completely grown out of plants, there were many other buildings worth admiring for their architecture. Even the knights, whose thick metal armour was way heavier than that of the wood elven warriors fighting on Treetop, were worth admiring. Aeron considered that the wood elves were too haughty to admit they weren't the only ones who could craft things of beauty. They badly needed fresh spirits, young elves who would break down the old traditions which slowed his people down to a point where they would be all forgotten by the rest of the world. Pilagroth and the other elders often mumbled something about the heart of the Earth Lord when he had questioned why the elves and humans had grown so far apart. Only a new generation could grow a bridge by forgiving and leaving behind the old grudges of the races. Aeron sighed deeply, it could take an elven life.

A man in a white gown walked past several knights, wielding halberds, who did not even attempt to hide that they were all closely following him with their eyes from behind their visors. These knights were tasked with the king's personal safety and no Vandarian diplomat would attempt an assassination on their watch. In truth they had little to worry about since, especially for the ambassador's visit, the King's Champion attended court today.

King Alteon looked at the man who stood before his throne, defiantly refusing to bow to him. He quickly glanced at Valen and Mentana, their presence eased him a little bit. Diplomatic relationships with Vandar had grown tense since Feldar, a high-ranking member of the Vandarian military, had made the claim to put an end to all monarchies. Any contact with the Vandarians was now considered as a possible plot to remove the king from his position. Even now, reports from scouts indicated that Vandar had constructed camps on the Nostril. It was as if bringing a rabid dog into your home.

"I bid you welcome, ambassador." King Alteon said, the words sounding cold and emotionless even to himself.

"Please, why the formality? We are but common men, you and I." The man replied.

"Common men, both chosen to represent a nation or kingdom, Ludwig." King Alteon said.

"It is a sad fact you still do not consider doing what is right, even after overthrowing the Slugwrath-dynasty." Ludwig said and pulled a scroll of parchment, scenting of seawater, out of his silk jacket.

"Slugwrath was a tyrant." King Alteon merely replied while he gave a quick nod to Valen.

Valen grabbed the parchment out of Ludwig's hands and handed it to Mentana, the court wizard, to investigate the scroll for harmful enchantments placed there with malicious intent. Ludwig looked with interest at the young woman who held the scroll now, she was quite beautiful with her brown hair reaching till her shoulders and her blue sleeveless dress. What stood out most were her eyes which had white irises, however. He wondered if the rumours about her were true.

"It is safe, your majesty." Mentana said and handed the king the parchment, interrupting his train of thought.


To Alteon the Kingslayer,

With much disappointment have we, the Democracy of Vandar, observed that the conqueror of Slugwrath has stepped in his footsteps and continued the kingdom, rather than ending it with the start of a nation run by democratic means.

While you have continuously ignored our heeds and warnings, we feel it would only be fair to give the kingslayer one final chance to save at least his people from demise.

High regards,

~The Republic of Vandar

A paladin wearing a white cloak which covered his armour completely and riding a brown horse, a most unwise choice for a mount, entered the capital of the Sandsea, that which was said to be the seat of the Sek-Duat dynasty for nearly 1500 years. While in other parts of the world this city was described as a place of wealth and luxury, the only thing the paladin discerned that was to be described as such was his destination, the great pyramid of the emperor which towered out above the simple houses of the commoners who clearly lived a life of poverty. This injustice filled the paladin with an urge to smite the emperor into the hands of the Light Lord, forever relieving him of his throne. First he had to hear the emperor out however, the fact that a couple of starving children came begging him for a couple of coins did not make this task any easier.

He attracted a lot more people, the one looking more miserable than the other, and as a servant of the Light Lord he was obliged to help those in need. His pouch was already a lot lighter when he made it to the lane which led to the front entrance of the imperial palace. A number of women wearing golden armour over white linen clothing, including skirts stood lined up leading to the pyramid. The ones nearest to him waved their golden halberds violently at which the crowd behind him quickly dispersed and ran back into their houses. Feeling they had intimidated the people enough, they then returned to their static positions and stared at their adjacent colleagues.

Somewhat unnerved by the display the paladin led his horse to the base of the pyramid where the horse refused to go any farther. It didn't seem to like the place any more than he did. He slowly ascended the steps, gaping at the size of the palace and the colossal statues of what he presumed to be the first Sek-Duats. He felt very humble and uneasy under the statues' gaze, part of him wanted to rebel against them for what they had done yet a certain fear and something else held him back from doing so.

Inside a male servant wearing nothing but a linen skirt and a golden dagger of some kind waited for him.

"The emperor wishes the servant of the light welcome and an illuminated stay. May I take your cloak?" The servant offered him.

"If you don't mind I will be keeping my cloak on. My visit will be brief and I long to return to the temple." He replied.

"Most certainly, the emperor will be pleased to have you earlier then. Please follow me." The servant beckoned him.

Walking to the throne room the paladin had again a lot of time to annoy himself about how Sek-Duat kept the riches and water to himself. He also took off his hood and scratched his beard which had become itchy with all the grains of sand which had gotten stuck there during his travels through the desert. Meanwhile the servant bored him with the etiquette on how to act in the presence of the emperor.

"Please remain courteous in front of the emperor. Bow on introduction and do not rise until given permission. Do not speak unless given order. When addressing the emperor you may refer to his exaltedness as Celestian, king of the sands or simply emperor."

"This Sek-Duat is even more strict than the priests back at the temple." The paladin thought as he looked at basins of water.

"We are here. Wait here until I have announced your arrival." The servant said.


The paladin had had enough however. He pushed the servant aside and entered the throne room. Sek-Duat was sitting on his golden throne bathing in a light which came from above and above his throne was a triangle with an eye, symbolizing the emperor's omniscience underneath the sun. The paladin had seen the same motif above the entrance of the palace, but it wasn't much in comparison to the statues. Some claimed that his powers were so great that he knew everything which was going on during the day, rivalling even the Light Lord. Of course doing so outside his lands was considered to be an act of blasphemy by the church of light.

Looking more closely, the golden throne was topped by something which looked like the upper torso of a priest who was impersonating the desert hawk which had been revered in the Sandsea up to some point. With its spread feathers, partly blue so that it resembled the long sleeves of a priest's robes, it seemed to support Sek-Duat's exalted position. The emperor himself did not seem to care much, he seemed to be playing with an apple which was lying on a table to his right. His other arm rested on one of the throne's arms, which resembled scarabs who stared at the paladin with their blue gems for eyes as if they were alive. A lot of things had blue gems in the room, the paladin guessed it was the Sek-Duat dynasty's favourite colour or had been at one point. While he could not see the emperor's face behind the golden mask, he could tell he was bored. Nobody would play with fruit and seem disinterested in wealth when not bored. The light above the throne room had temporarily blinded the paladin, but now he stood in front of the emperor he could not really understand why people feared him so. For starters he wore a robe in the colour of the sands, but he also seemed extremely frail and skinny. The golden accessories only seemed to further increase that image, maybe some people felt intimidated by that sort of wealth yet it seemed desperate in the eyes of the paladin. Only the golden scarab pauldrons and the mask with a single cobra above the blue gems for eyes were somewhat intimidating.

The paladin stepped forward, only to find two men wearing red skirts, hoods with golden trim and golden scarab shinguards blocked his path. They looked like they were brawlers and even though he had never seen or heard any accounts on such warriors he didn't doubt their might. He reached for the sword in his scabbard when they took a step in his direction, but the emperor waved his arm at which they retreated. Though it wasn't with any of the cowardice the paladin had seen bandits flee, no these men were dignified and a force of order.

"Please, we cannot have a dead paladin. The church would never send me another one, considering the years it took that they answered my summons." The emperor said, waving again at which the two men walked backwards up to the point where they stood in front of two golden heads of a desert hawk which faced away from Sek-Duat, as they would otherwise be blinded by his brilliance no doubt.

"What do you want, Sek-Duat?" The paladin blurted out impatiently.

"I wish to warn your church of a great danger." Sek-Duat commented dryly, "Though with the time it took you to come here, it might as well be too late."

"And what is this danger you speak of?" The paladin responded unconvinced.

"I will tell you in return for a favour." Sek-Duat answered, "Though I will not end your life for your insolence, think not that I will give this information for free."

"So again, what do you want?" The paladin asked frustrated and added in thought, "Forgiveness for your sins?"

"I want you to go to De-Doomwood and give the guild called “The New Dawn” an assignment. Have this assignment treated as business of the temple or do so incognito, I do not care. I will even pay you the gold." Sek-Duat stated calmly.

"What sort of assignment?" The paladin replied suspiciously.

"Hunting Barrats, nothing more." The answer came.

"Barrats? You want the fiends of the night hunted? Why not do it yourself?" He asked.

"Wish though I could, I cannot degrade myself to such matters. Were this news to reach the ears of commoners it would certainly stain the good name of my forefathers who were all great huntsmen. Sek-Duat II took down five sand sharks during his lifetime." Sek-Duat stated with some pride, "It goes without saying that if word got out I would still have to kill you."

"I can relate the assignment so you may have your hunters." The paladin slowly said.

"Excellent, I knew you would." Sek-Duat said with a hint of joy in his voice, "Now for my part of the bargain …. In the woods north of my empire I have felt a presence which my forefathers warned about would return again. It is back and its presence alone is an omen of death."

"Forgive me my interruption, but that is as vague as it sounds stupid." The paladin said bored.

"Had you come earlier, you would have had the time to prepare. Now all you can do is pray to the Light Lord it is not yet too late to act." Sek-Duat replied pointedly, "But to be fair, it is rather vague. You will be looking for something that is hard to discern. By the last account it looked like a man, but that may have just been a guise. You think I am lying, but my words are all too true."

The emperor’s words sent a chill down the paladin’s spine.

"Before you go, I have something for you. It would be a shame if the damned forest killed you before relating my messages, would it not?" Sek-Duat stated and the paladin would bet his life that he was smiling behind that mask of his. The emperor clapped his hands twice and at the clinging of the golden gauntlets a male servant appeared with a white cloth folded over an object. At the foot of the throne the servant kneeled down and the paladin’s eyes grew bigger as an orb of light was revealed.

"An orb of light, by courtesy of the cyclopses. It is said to keep dark and evil presences at bay, all which can be said about Darkovia." Said Sek-Duat to his visitor. The paladin carefully took the orb from the servant, looking at it in awe.

"Now you may leave my palace. The sands will not touch you, that I promise." The emperor waved his hand, dismissing the paladin.

< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 7/12/2014 13:47:14 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 24
3/30/2013 13:07:35   
  Dwelling Dragonlord

ArchKnight AQ / OOC / L&L
CHAPTER XXIV: "What is Left in Darkness"


The moment she had stepped out of her cell, she could hear them getting restless in their cells. Some of them began to roar, others she could hear bashing their chests, but the worst was when they chanted her name. How she despised them, it took all of her self-control to not recede to her cell again. Luckily she found strength in a ring with giant runes, all that remained of her mother, a thing she could fiddle with unnoticed while she held her arms folded like a monk. Not that the resemblance with a monk was too far off.

The hallway had been seemed ten times as long as it was. A path she always had to take, an ordeal she always had to face. Xeloc, her teacher in the necromantic arts, instructed their armoured companions to move faster.

"What is it this time?" Venerata inquired, partly out of interest and partly to drown out the noise in the background.

"A hunt." Xeloc replied.

"I see." She said, looking at the floor while still fiddling with the ring.

"The ritual for the spell will be complete at dawn."

"That many, huh?"

They hadn't exchanged words after that after they arrived at a room with a large obsidian circle built into the floor, surrounded by several necromancers and undead. Equipment and spell components were being dragged in by the undead. At the darkest of night they began and when Solaris was about to rise again it was time and the complete hunting party crammed together within the perimeter while she and Xeloc chanted the incantations to complete the ritual. The Obsidian beneath their feet turned completely black and it sucked everything above it into it, not even the light was spared this fate. Venerata always enjoyed the moments that followed, they fell through complete darkness while gravity was no longer in effect. For a short moment the darkness lingered, then it was as if the light reminded reality itself how it looked.



Having arrived at their destination, which was not quite as dark as the portal they had taken but still fairly dark, the troops began to spread which allowed for Venerata to stretch her arms a bit. She looked a bit more relaxed now at the small army of soldiers wearing black armour as they began lining up in rows of ten; The Darkheart Guard or the Blackheart Guard as they were only called in whispers. There were about one hundred of them. Too many to fall victim to bandits, too few to go to war still. She quickly glanced over to Xeloc who had just been looking at a black chest behind him but was now facing the troops.

"We will want to make this fast, the Triad of One is counting on us." Xeloc stated, "We will split up in five groups. Four search while one stays here to make up camp. One hunts or one is hunted."

"One hunts or one is hunted." The Darkheart Guards spoke in unison and marched out in the decreed hunting parties of twenty.

It was a simple enough office. There were some red banners portraying a golden dragon head and a young earth dragon was lying beneath a wooden desk at which her caretaker sat, it seemed as if she was waiting for someone. She raised her head in anticipation when she saw the door opening, but she lowered her head disappointed when another man, with long black hair and a longer beard, wearing the traditional dragonlord armour and a horned helmet under his arm entered the room.

"He hasn't come yet?" The man inquired.

"No Baumbard, I don't think he'll ever come. Such a pity too, not many are given this chance." The caretaker responded with a sad tone in his voice, petting the dragon.

"I hope he will change his mind, but send word to the priestess either way." Baumbard nodded, "She still charges ten thousand gold per hatchling, does she not?"

"That is correct, that does however also include an enchantment for growing wings. Not that she'll be likely to fly." He petted her again. Her eyes which had sparkled just the other day were now dim and lustless. It happened to many dragons who lost or had their bond betrayed.

"I'll come back in an hour or so, perhaps he'll still show up." Baumbard said while halfway out, before closing the door behind him.

He thought of his own dragon, Glumbert. He hadn't even considered the possibility of walking out of their bond after their meeting. No, something was definitely not right here. It was very, very wrong. A crime to offend a soulmate was viewed as a despicable act within the Order of Dragonlords and even those who were guilty of the crime were often considered horrible people by themselves.

He walked to the training grounds where an aged warrior, wearing the armour of a dragonwarrior, was drilling Dragonsgrasp's future dragonwarriors. A helmet worn by most dragonwarriors covered his head, but his wrinkled face showed his age and determination.

Noticing the dragonlord's small nod, the trainer quicky shouted an order, "Line up, recruits!"

"Has anyone of you seen a dwarven initiate going by the name of Rom? He has gone missing since last night." Baumbard inquired.

"He probably got airsick." A recruit whispered, just loud enough so that the other recruits could hear. His comment caused for some smirks and chuckles in the ranks. After that it remained silent other than the squeaking of the group's armours.

Baumbard sighed and then nodded to the instructor that the recruits could continue their training.

"Maybe I should go see an old friend of mine." He thought.

< Message edited by Dwelling Dragonlord -- 9/16/2013 14:50:31 >
AQ DF AQW  Post #: 25
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