A Druid's Story {Graphic Violence, Some Sexual Content} [Archive]

Ferunnia

11-12-2005, 10:24 AM

A little warning before you start in on this. I tend to be very graphic in describing the violence that happens in the world of Norrath. If you think gory descriptions and such would bother you, I wouldn't bother reading anything I've written here <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" />" Other than that, read on, and enjoy my unfolding tale of the journies of my character.Book 1: Elhonna’s Travels, a PreludeChapter 1: First Encounter A loud crash against the wall on the floor below me brought me out of my reverie. A few chips of old molded paint fell down from the ceiling and landed on my face, one on the end of my nose, which bugged the hell out of me. I sighed and brushed the paint fleck off my nose and rolled over onto my side as I opened my eyes. Scattered beams of light shone in through the dingy windows of my second room apartment in the Beggar's Court. Suppressing a groan of irritation at the calamity going on downstairs, I got off my lice-ridden pallet and walked over to my chipped and cracked mirror and washstand. I rinsed some of the night's collected dust and grime off my face with the already clouded water from the basin then looked at myself in the mirror. I found myself staring at over half a dozen reflections of myself. Crystal blue eyes, pointed ears, a slightly too-long nose, white hair, and dark, nearly ebony skin were the features of the face I beheld. I thought to myself nothing worse than a half-blood like myself. Not only am I a half-blood to begin with, half of my parentage just happens to be one of the most hated races on the face of Norrath. Bah, enough musing, let's see if I can find any work today. I tossed my nightgown onto my only chair, a bedraggled thing with a loose leg and half of the slats missing out of the back-rest, and commenced to digging through the mess on my floor. I was attepmting to find the assorted pieces of my worn leather armor I had tossed off as I got back from a long night's work in the early hours of the morning. Once I was fully dressed, I found the two pieces of my collapsible staff, assembled them, and then walked over to my door. I unlocked the five separate locks on my door, then stepped into a dank, barely lit hallway, turned back around and locked the three locks I had keys to. As I turned back around, I caught a slight twinkle of light from the far end of the hallway, and without missing a beat threw myself to the side and down. A speeding crossbow quarrel flashed through the space I had just occupied and buried itself finger-deep into the wall at the end of the hallway. I leaped to my feet and barreled down the hallway, but whoever had shot the bolt at me had fled as soon as it was apparent that I was not lying dead in the hallway on a pool of quickly drying blood. I sighed yet again, put my back to the wall beside me and crouched down. I sat in that position, straining my ears for any sounds, but only heard the still-continuing ruckus from the floor below. I let out a breath I had not realized I was holding then closed my eyes and prepared one of the only tricks of magic I knew. Using only one hand, I crossed my first two fingers, the pointed my fingers straight up. I slowly moved my forearm in a circular motion as I gathered the tiniest bit of mana into myself. Once I knew I had enough, I stopped moving my arm and splayed out my fingers, which sent out a thin web of life-sensing mana in every direction for maybe fifteen feet. There, I said to myself. I could feel the slightest flicker of life around the corner and maybe ten feet down the hall to my right. Oh, how sneaky. The assailant was above me, obviously bracing himself against the narrow walls with both legs and arms, a good eight feet from the floor, in a hallway I knew to be pitch black due to only having light coming from around the corner on each end and the one sconce in the hallway itself was long broken, the bolts holding it to the wall snapped clean in two one night as an ogre and a troll rampaged through here intent on murdering each other. Well, what a predicament, I thought to myself, how was I supposed to get around the corner and do anything about the assassin hiding in the hallway. If it looked like I knew he was there, I was sure he would simply drop down, then use his undoubtedly re-loaded crossbow to bring me down before I could cover the ground to bring him low with my staff. I suppose that leaves only one option, though I would have preferred to not have to reveal myself this soon. I knew that if I took the rogue out in the only way I knew how, it would leave no doubt as to my identity. I took a deep breath and decided there was no other way. I kneeled down, knowing the assassin wouldn't become impatient and come around the corner to see what was taking me so long. There was no other way out of the building from my room. The windows had nearly wrist-thick bars covering them, supposedly to keep thieves out, but more likely to keep tenants from escaping without paying the rent, and I lived at the end of a dead-end hall. So I took my chances and brought my hands together, chanted one word as quietly as I could, and gathered all the mana to myself that I could hold. I felt a tingle roll across my skin as I drew more and more mana to myself, then all my hair stood on end as I hit my limit, and I stood up. I could feel small sparks of electricity bouncing between my fingers, and I closed my hands into fists to keep from giving myself away until the last moment. I squinted my eyes to keep the small lightnings I knew were playing across my sapphire eyes from showing through enough to betray what was coming. I took a deep breath, and strolled around the corner as if nothing was wrong, making it seem as though I had decided that there was nothing there. Keeping my eyes to the floor, I took a step away from the corner, then two. I looked up just as he fell from the ceiling, his toes touched the threadbare carpeting in the hallway and he sprung towards me. As I looked up, there was just enough time for him to register what was about to happen and his eyes, which I were looking into from four feet away, shone with terror. His dagger was less than two feet from me when I threw up my hand in front of his chest and opened my hand. The motions of him trying to dodge were nearly comical, and I allowed myself a small smile as the electric surge poured from me and slammed directly into his chest. It blasted him backwards a good ten feet, and he lay there, a smoking hole through the middle of his chest. The smell of ozone and burnt flesh permeated the air in the enclosed hallway, and I stepped swiftly past the corpse to make my way downstairs. People were rushing out of rooms in response to the screaming peal of thunder that had accompanied my blast, but as soon as they saw the result of said blast, they nearly hurt themselves trying to get back into their rooms, and the sounds of doors locking could be heard down the entire length of the hallway. I looked to neither side as I walked down the hallway, trying to give no one a reason to attack me, whether it be out of pure fear or just for making eye contact. Soon enough, I made my way to the stairs down to the ground floor, and I started my descent. Halfway down, an ogre nearly head and shoulders taller than me almost pushed me over the banister of the stairs in his rush to see what had happened on the floor above. Not what I need today, I thought to myself. I had recognized the ogre as one of the landlord's bullyboys, his so called "Keepers of Peace". I hurried my walk down the stairs, and hit the landing just as a startled oath came down the stairs from the ogre. I unhurriedly walked down the hallway in front of me towards the front of the building. I passed the three linked rooms that the landlord kept as his office and living quarters, and then walked out the front door into an overcast day, with the slightest drizzle coming down just enough to make my day miserable. I walked across the courtyard to a small brick building after giving the rain a few more choice curses under my breath. I stepped inside just as the drizzle started to harden into a more substantial rain and took in the bleak surroundings. A few steps led up to a raised floor to keep water from flooding the owner's belongings. I walked in and then up the steps and looked around. A small table stood in the middle of the room, with chairs for three people. Against one wall stood a rickety bookshelf stacked with molded tomes and a few assorted odds and ends. Against the other wall was a small fireplace burning with a flame that was nearly sputtering out, casting fast moving shadows across everything in the room. "Are you here, Lopir?" I said clearly but not too loudly. "Yes, just a moment," grumped a rough voice from beyond the only door in the room besides the one I had walked in. A few moments later, out stepped a skinny, emaciated human with black hair where he wasn't bald, and much-patched gray robes that hung loosely from his bony frame. He looked over at me and narrowed his eyes. "What do you want, Corissa?" "I need work," I said simply. "Preferably something that will take me to another part of the city for a while." I said, not giving any reason as to why I would need to be away from this area for a while. "Ah, had a bit of trouble have we? Well, I think I may have just the thing for you," Lopir responded. I stood there, waiting for his next words, not giving anything away, and finally he sighed and walked into his room, beckoning me to sit down in one of the chairs that looked no better than the ones in my own room. I went and sat down as he closed the door behind him. I heard him rustling around in the room beyond the door and muttering under his breath about secretive half-breeds. A few minutes later he came out with a package wrapped in brown parchment and sat it on the table, then sat in a chair across the table from me. He launched directly into his spiel that came before every job I had ever done for him. "I will have you know that this must reach the hands of the person it is for without being opened or otherwise tampered with. Not many people here would give your kind any kind of work, and you should appreciate that enough to keep my client's package intact and delivered as promptly as possible." I looked directly at him, and said, "Have I ever let you down, opened one of your packages or been less than speedy while delivering them to your clients?" His words choked off and he looked at me for a moment before responding. "I suppose you haven't at that. Well either way, you know my conditions. It's five silvers on delivery, to be given once the package is received." He looked at me one last time. "You wouldn't be responsible for the noise I heard a short time ago coming from the apartments, would you?" I flashed him my brightest, most insincere smile, and said back "Who me? I haven't the ability to cause such noise as that. I just happened to be heading out about the same time as the commotion commenced in the building," and left it at that. He looked at me suspiciously, and nodded. "Yes, I suppose you are right, I would be able to feel it if you had even the smallest spark of talent in you. Well, anyways, get you gone, I need this package delivered promptly, it is already nearly two days late. You are to take it to Big Bend, to this address." He handed me a small piece of parchment with an address written in his nearly illegible handwriting, then said, "I suppose I shouldn't be expecting to see you back again anytime soon then?" I smirked at his obvious attempt to get more information from me, and replied, "Oh, I'll be here and there, never know when you might see me." I stood up then, took the package off the table and slid it into my small backpack, then turned to walk out. "Be careful with that, I will not tell you what is in it, but I will say that it wouldn't be a good idea to break it," he said as I walked to the door. I turned to him and nodded, then walked out into the steadily pouring rain that had started since I walked into the building.First chapter Final Edit (not...)Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 11:23 AM

Eriol

11-14-2005, 10:54 PM

Keep it coming. You have a good descriptive style that's pleasant to read.

Ferunnia

11-15-2005, 08:53 AM

Chapter 2: Confrontation After walking nonchalantly to the mariner bell in Beggar's Court, I jumped on the small skiff sitting at the dock and told the boatman to take me to Big Bend. After sneering and trying to get me to pay him for the trip, the boatman sighed and started poling his way through the filthy water. A good half an hour later, during which time the rain thankfully stopped, we arrived at my destination. As I stood up, I suddenly acted as if I had forgotten something and bent back down to look into the bottom of the boat, swinging the staff I had strapped to my back sideways and catching the boatman in the temple, knocking him over sideways to splash into the murky rancid water at the dock of Big Bend. "Oh, I'm sorry, sir, I would help you out of the water but I can't chance falling in myself, got someone important to see and all," I yelled over my shoulder as I jumped lightly onto the dock and sauntered away, trailed by the boatman's curses. I walked far enough to get out of the man's sight then pulled out the parchment with the address on it. Great, I said to myself. The address was in one of the roughest sections of Big Bend...and that's saying a lot. Not a place for a half-blood like myself, but oh well. Work is work. Finally decided on actually making the delivery, I set off for the address. I walked past shops and homes that looked like they had been erected in the middle of the Shattering, so pitiful was their state. Windows dingy enough to write on, where all the panes weren't entirely gone, walls long devoid of paint, now the flakes coming off the surface were simply the wood or stone decaying, signs decrying shops that looked like driftwood that had sat in a desert for a millennium, and where they even existed, sconces in walls that I was sure would fall off with a strong gust of wind. The sad part was that I had not even stepped foot into the truly slummy part of Big Bend yet. This was where the relatively well-to-do adventurers and merchants lived. Continuing deeper into the warren of mazes that Big Bend consisted of, I walked past houses that were no longer decaying, they had simply given up and fallen in on themselves, yet even here, street trash lived in the ruins, sheltering under crookedly leaning eaves fallen down to lean against short sections of walls that somehow kept standing. Even I nearly felt sorry for the beings forced to live in these conditions, but I soon overcame my pity as a gang of adolescent ogres, trolls and a couple of barbarians who could pass for either of the aforementioned races stepped out of the shadows to one side of the street I was walking down. "Wha'cha wan' 'ere, halfsie?" snarled the largest of the ogres, seemingly the leader of this group of hoodlums. "Oh, I'm just wandering along, wondering how long I can walk around before someone decides to accost me," was my reply, given with the largest smile I could conjure. I also let a bit of the deadly intent I always carry at my side show through in my eyes, but the gang was either too stupid or too desperate to notice. "All yer money, all yer clothes, and if'n me two cold boys 'ere," pointing at the barbarians at this last statement, "want anything else, that's what ya giv'n em," said the lead ogre in the nastiest voice he could muster. I simply stood there for a bit, then walked over to a wall and removed my backpack. I walked back into the middle of the road and stood there to wait and see what the ogre would do. It didn't take long for his patience to break; in fact, I was surprised that it took the thirty seconds that it did. As the leader realized I wasn't going to cheerfully comply with his demands, his eyes started to tighten around the edges, and I could nearly hear the huge flush of blood that rushed through his body. Veins stood out on his forehead, his biceps, and every other visible part of his body, and considering his clothes looked like a good dry cough from one of his friends would have him standing there shivering in nakedness, that was quite a few visible veins. I allowed myself a small grin, and prepared myself for the assault I knew was about to commence. The leader shouted something in Ogre I assumed was a command to surround me, as that is what his gang started to do. Knowing that the only advantage I held in this cramped side street was my small stature in comparison to the humanoids around me; I did the only sensible thing in the world. I attacked full on. I screamed like a banshee and dove between the legs of the nearest ogre. As I slid on my side underneath him, I snapped my staff into its two smaller pieces and jammed one as hard as I could into his nether-regions. He let out a rather pathetic squeal while sinking to the ground in the fetal position just as I slid out from under him. Using his body as an improvised barrier to that approach to me, I turned and snapped off two quick attacks with either half of my staff directly into first the left knee of the barbarian who happened to be the next closest to me, then into the solar plexus of one of the trolls, who was crowding the barbarian to get to me first. With a crack that made my teeth clench, the barbarian's knee cracked under my assault, and he fell to one side, his left leg bent completely in the wrong direction. The troll, however, was a bit luckier, and due to the immense constitution common to their kind, he only grunted and took a step back to catch his breath. I heard a small noise from one of my blindsides and instinctively threw myself backwards into the wall behind me, then watched as a street post thicker than my thigh smashed down into the ground in front of me, shattering the post and sending cracks in every direction in the mildewed stone of the street. Splinters flew in every direction, and the ogre who had swung the post gave out a yelp of pain as the impact of hitting the ground with the pole sent a shock up his arms that surely caused more than a few minor fractures. Considering him now a bit less of a threat, I put my feet, toe-down, flat against the wall and pushed off with as much strength as I could muster. Just as I reached the troll I had failed to incapacitate before, I snapped both my wrists sideways, triggering small mechanisms in my staff sections that caused small blades the length of my forearms to snap out of the ends. I drew my arms together and stretched out as I flew at the troll. I speared into him hard enough to jar both my shoulders, and then kicked my feet up between my arms and pushed against his chest as he fell over backwards, pulling away from him. As I fell, I pried both blades out of the troll's chest with a pair of sucking noises. At the moment my back was about to hit the ground, I slung both arms out to my sides, sending the small spears flying into two separate targets, catching the remaining barbarian in his right thigh and one of the remaining ogres just below his left knee, the blade sunk hilt deep into the tender spot just below the bones of his knee and I allowed myself a small grin at my luck. I snapped my arms down to hit palm-first and absorb much of the shock, then as my back finally hit the ground swung my legs back over myself and kicked straight up, knowing nothing as minor as a couple of stab wounds would hurt the troll I went again for the only possible part of the male anatomy sensitive enough to put him out of the fight for a moment. Both heels caught him and picked the massive being a good hand span up off the ground. I went with the reversed momentum of my legs and rolled back forward directly to my feet, and gave the ogre leader, his ogre companion with the nearly useless arms, and the only troll remaining on his feet my sweetest, most emotionally devoid smile. The troll at least had the courage to snarl at me before he ran off; the other two didn’t even bother meeting my eyes before they fled. I turned to one side and ducked my head slightly just in time to feel one of my staff sections whiz over my head, the barbarian having plucked it out of his thigh to swing at me. I kept going with the motion and turned in a complete circle, dropping to one knee and spinning around in a kick that I delivered to the same spot on his right thigh that my blade had been removed from only moments ago. There was a sick sensation as the end of my boot slid a good finger-length into the hole, and he screamed and dropped my staff section, pulling his leg free of my toe to clutch at his thigh as he fell to the ground. I snapped off a few quick kicks to his face that at least knocked him blissfully unconscious for a bit then turned, bent over and retrieved my staff section. I walked nonchalantly over to the ogre and plucked my weapon from his knee; eliciting a new pitch of yowl I never imagined hearing from an ogre. I then went back over to the unconscious barbarian and wiped the blood off my blades before snapping my wrists to sheathe them. Last, I walked over to my backpack, which had somehow managed to not get stepped on or otherwise damaged. I glanced around and made sure all of the gang I had on the ground were either holding something in pain, unconscious, or in the fetal position before I turned my back and walked away. A few street corners later, I took a right and walked a couple of blocks, not really worrying about being attacked now, knowing the story of what just transpired would keep the gangs at bay until I could finish my delivery. I took a left and went down a few doors, looked at the faded black address number written on the door, and knocked sharply three times, then once, then twice, this being the code I was given so the client would know it was me. After a few moments, the door swung open and I stepped in. I allowed my vision to slip in the red and black shades of infravision as I surveyed the pitch-black room, and soon spied the shrunken old troll hiding behind the door. I turned and looked at him, then nodded at the door. He closed it amidst many creaks and groans, and the background noise of shouts and cursing prevalent in the streets was shut out.(Added the breaks so nicely advised, also fixed some minor typos and sentence structures. Hopefully this part will be easier to read now. I love good feedback <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> I ACTUALLY LISTEN TOO. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" />)P.S. Final Edit (hopefully <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" />) Also, changed the title of this chapter. Was a bit too lighthearted considering the tone I use throughout the story. If I could, I'd set this story in the Warhammer setting, for the darkness and such, but this is an EQ2 character, so yeah, you know.Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 11:24 AM

Ferunnia

11-15-2005, 08:56 AM

Thanks for the feedback, it's always nice to know at least someone is reading these things I write <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Give me any feedback ya want, I know I have a very descriptive way of writing, but feel free to let me know if I'm putting too much into description and lacking somewhere else. Not sure how often I will be able to post after today, but I've suddenly had a burst of inspiration after reading many of the wonderful stories in this forum, and I'll try to slam out as much of this story as I can. Happy hunting and enjoy the read.

Eriol

11-15-2005, 10:37 PM

My only feedback would be paragraphs in the fight scene. It is described very well (something I don't have as good a flair for myself when describing action), but you can easily lose your position due to it all being in one large block. Perhaps divide it by each opponent, or "smooth motion" or SOMETHING, but I think it suffers being in one block like that.Otherwise good. Hope to see more of what happens to this half-elf.

Ferunnia

11-16-2005, 03:30 PM

I completely agree. Musta had me head up me [Removed for Content] when I penned that paragraph...didn't help, me writing when I was half asleep either <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Thanks for the suggestion, looks a lot better now. Update most likely later today after I catch a few hours of sleep.Message Edited by Ferunnia on 11-16-2005 02:32 AM

Ferunnia

11-17-2005, 03:36 PM

<div></div><div></div> <div></div> <div></div>Sorry guys, had some rl probs and such. got maybe a quarter of the next chapter done so far. edited a few things at the behest of a fellow english nerd friend of mine in the first passage. also found some more typos and knocked em flat. ill be getting the third chapter up tomorrow, maybe in the AM (CST) On a side note, before you read much further, I'm sure some of you who've read this wonder why I would call this "A Druid's Story" then go into detail about how well she fights in melee. Well, my background long before eq was even a cool thought in some developer's mind was dnd. unlike in the eq games, druids in dnd do not suck butt in melee, but there is also a feature called multiclassing (or dual-classing, depending on your race and which edition you play) and you can take levels in other classes, i.e. fighter. I don't know how long I'll be playing to her melee side, but without spoiling any of the story let me just say that she spent at least 1/2 of her life to this point using melee weapons. For you eq puritists out there, if the thought of a druid doing more than whacking an enemy with his/her staff just hard enough to bruise some flesh bothers you, I'd close this window, go back to eq2 and stop reading when you could be playing the game <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> With that said, I hope some of you enjoy the dual nature of this character, and I plan to toss in more background as the story goes along. (the dnd explanation i saw as neccesary after a friend of mine asked me what the h*** she was doing killing people with her staff <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> )Message Edited by Ferunnia on 12-27-2006 06:14 PM

Ferunnia

11-18-2005, 01:31 PM

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>:Warning, for you squeamish people out there, I threw in some pretty graphic stuff in this chapter, read at your own risk :Chapter 3: Memories The troll looked me over for a moment, then gestured at the coarse, stained table in the middle of the tiny room. I walk over, and pulled off my backpack, then set it on the table and commenced to rummage around in it for a bit. Once I found the small package, I took it out and set it on the table. I then put my backpack back on, stepped back, and waited for the troll to survey its contents before I left. He fixed me with a glare, but then his greed got the best of him and he scurried over to the table to inspect the package. I stayed behind him so as not to be seen as prying. I simply wanted confirmation that all was well before I went on my merry way. I watched his shaking movements as he slowly unwrapped the package, noting his care in doing so, and felt a bit of a jolt in the deepest pits of my stomach wondering just what I had been carrying. If it was something explosive it could have very well blew me up in that alley. I thought to myself, Who knows, I made a delivery for a half insane alchemist to a decrepit troll in the worst part of the foulest city on the face of Norrath. It could be a potion that exploded with lethal force or that exuded noxious fumes that would leave my flesh rotting off my bones. Either way, I was glad to be rid of this package, and when the troll turned to me and nodded once, curtly, then pointed at a small coin pouch on a stand beside the door, I decided to take my leave of the place and my pay and put the whole situation out of my mind forevermore. I stepped back out into the muggy, fetid street and started making my way back to the mariner's bell I had arrived at what seemed like half a day ago, but had been in reality only a couple of hours. I was nearly there when I saw them: A group of four militiamen, with the obvious leader stopping people as they walked by and showing them something on a parchment. When the stopped passersby eventually shook their heads in answer, the guards would seem to teeter towards the edge of killing them on the spot, but they refrained from doing violence for now. When the next person, a large ogre wrapped in bandages from shoulder to wrists, was stopped, there seemed to ensue a great deal of exclamations from the ogre, and the guards all got evil grins as the ogre pointed them in the direction I was standing. I was just out of their line of sight, and so could not hear all that was said, but the words "halfsie" and "dark skinned hellion" reached my ears well enough. Deciding I would rather not have an even bigger price on my head due to having to kill some of Lucan's guards in the middle of the street, I sank back and headed towards the almost completely cloud-obscured setting sun, knowing that I would rather brave the warrens known as "The Sprawl". I managed to make my way to the gate that led to The Sprawl, but here I was faced with a dilemma. There were guards there as well. Granted, there were only two, but it would take every ounce of skill I had to make it past those guards without having to kill them, or even hurt them too badly. But, then it hit me. Why should I have to even let them know I was there? I didn't, so I sat there in the shadows of a dilapidated warehouse and schemed for a moment, knowing I couldn't take too long to come to my decision or the four guards on my tail would be upon me, forcing me to use lethal measures to insure my safety. When the idea finally came to me, I nearly wanted to pat myself on the back, but I held off on my self-congratulations for a bit, I had to see whether what I had in mind would work or not. I glanced back down the street to make absolutely sure I remembered the layout of my surroundings. Two warehouses on this side of the street, the one I stood at around fifty paces from the gate and wall, and another that nearly butted up against the wall. Across the street, much the same layout, but the warehouse closer to the wall was only a one story building that fell a good fifteen feet below the edge of the wall, whereas the one on my side was a two-story affair, the top of the roof only five or six feet below the top of the wall and maybe ten or so feet away from the wall. This side will have to work then, I thought to myself. I went down the alley behind me, looking for the right place, and then I found it. A stack of crates had been abandoned and were nearly rotten with neglect beside the wall of the building closest to the city wall. The top of that stack of crates was only about seven feet below the edge of the roof, and looked stable enough that my light frame wouldn't break the whole stack to bits in the short time it would take me to scale them. I commenced to climbing up the stack of crates, taking my time and testing where I was going to put each foot, each hand, making sure I wasn't on a particularly weak spot before moving upwards. My heart leapt into my throat as I heard one of the crates near the bottom of the pile start cracking, and I slowly shifted my weight to one side until it stopped. Now moving up the pile from where I had adjusted my weight, I soon found myself at the top, standing up and stretching for the edge of the roof, which stuck out past the walls a good three feet. Standing at my full height and reaching, I was a good foot and a half short of being able to reach the edge. Bah, I hate being short. I can understand my father not being large of stature, being a Tier'Dal, but he could have at least chosen a taller woman from the human stock he had his pick of. But, nooo, he went and found one even shorter than himself. Good thing my mother's family wasn't all as short as her, or I would be nearly a dwarf in height. My mind went off track for a moment and I started cursing to myself more about the downfalls of being short. Suddenly, I heard loud voices coming from the gate area, one I recognized as the loudmouth militia captain from the dock. Clearing my mind, I decided to take the only chance I had at getting out of this situation. Gathering myself and finding the least rotted pieces of wood to stand on, I got my balance, crouched, then sprung out and twisted my body as I went into the air. I felt the crates tumble below me, cracking, breaking, and in some cases, crumbling apart, and in the split second I had to catch hold of the eave of the roof I knew this was my only chance. That thought gave me the strength I needed to keep my fingers dug into the gutter and not fall as I swung freely by my fingertips, now facing the wall. I held on with all my strength and waited until my body had finished swinging out over the alley then back in before I began to pull myself up. I pulled up, swung myself sideways and kicked my right leg upwards to catch my heel in the gutter, but missed the first time and half the fingers of my right hand came free of the gutter edge. I could feel the slick slime blocking the gutter starting to make my other fingers slip too, so I threw all my weight into swinging myself up the second time and nearly cried out in relief when my boot heel hung on the gutter. I finished pulling myself up and crouched on the edge of the roof, feeling around and stepping lightly to check the integrity of the structure. Surprisingly, the roof seemed sound enough. Suppose they had to re-roof this building the last half-century. I stayed as low as I could and snuck as quietly as I could across the roof towards the wall, trying to remember every little bit of advice my old rogue friend Mattias had told me in the years I knew him . . . the years before I witnessed him hanging in the gallows. I drifted back to my memories for a moment… I remember growing up in the streets of Freeport, well before The Shattering and the huge surge of refugees poured in from all the shipwrecks and destroyed islands in the seas close to island I had heard called "The Isle of Refuge”. Things were a little more peaceful then, before so many different races were all crammed into such close quarters, even under Lucan's rule it had only been a place of moderate danger. Now with all the racial tensions hanging in the air, even the fact that most races were effectively quarantined from each other in these city subsections couldn't keep the fighting to a controllable level. Let Lucan pretend all he wanted that he controlled this city completely, but unless he wanted the different races here at each other's throats constantly to keep them weak, he had no more control over them than he would have over a pack of rabid dogs. Either way, when the refugees started pouring in, after the effects of Luclin's exploding died down a bit, it was a true calamity. For nearly two weeks, it seemed as many people died from riots and such inside the city walls as people outside the walls died of hunger and exposure. I think I was in more danger during those times due to my heritage than ever before in my life. My story was a common enough one in certain circles, and that only served to give people more reasons to kill me. As a matter of fact, had it not been for my tutelage under someone who helped me out during similar dire straights, I may very well have not survived those times. I miss my teacher, my confidante. It was maybe five years before The Shattering that I met Mattias. I was cornered in an alley by a group much like the one that attacked me earlier, except that gang was all humans and held hatred, deservedly held hatred, I will admit, for everything that even resembled a Tier'Dal. Well, I had come through their territory unknowingly, and they had beaten me for a bit until I ran away. I ran until I came to a dead end alley and they caught me. I can still remember the exact smells, sights and sounds of that moment, seemingly frozen in my mind so perfectly to remind me of the danger of being naive. The walls were much like the ones everywhere around here, dank, gray stone and some few buildings made of rotting wood not whitewashed in most likely decades. The smells were the same smells of urine, vomit, alcohol, defecation, blood, sweat, mud, and death prevalent in all the darkest places around Freeport, but there was an underlying scent of jasmine in that alley that day, and I remember how it struck me as odd that I was going to die with such a pure, clean smell in my nose. The sounds of someone moaning in insanity came from only a few doors back up the alley, in a ramshackle apartment building, and random shouts and curses filtered in from all around me. The gang had started moving in when the man in the back of their ranks suddenly crumpled without a sound. No one noticed but me, until the next closest man to the back of the group also fell without a sound onto the heels of the man in front of him. I saw a small tuft of black on the back of the man's neck, which I later discovered to be down feathers attached to a small dart used in a weapon called a blowgun: something from another part of the world that was like a hollow tube that these darts were blown through by mouth for upwards of thirty paces with unerring accuracy by someone trained in their use. When the second man fell onto his fellow gang member, the man stopped and looked around quickly and got just enough of a yell out to warn the rest of his compatriots before one of the tufts of black appeared in the center of his neck. He fell over without another sound nearly instantaneously. The remaining six gang members pulled out their rusty, chipped edged short swords and daggers and spread out and ducked behind crates and barrels and in one case jumping through a window to get out of the line of sight of the alley. This seemingly did them no good, as moments later I heard the first strangled cry of terror coming from the building the man had dove through the window into. One of the men in the alley shouted what I presume was the man's name and got no reply. I could see the men were nearly scared senseless by this point, the only thing keeping them from moving being the fact that they didn't know where death was striking them from. A moment later, one of them found out, the hard way. He was crouched at the side of a wooden building that was in much need of repairs, a building which had many cracks in the walls nearly large enough to stick your hand through. With a sickening crunch, I saw a blade tear through a hole in the building right beside his neck and go straight through his neck bones and out the front of his throat in a spray of blood. The blade disappeared in the wink of an eye, and the man slid from a crouch to a sitting position with his head facing down at his lap, eyes unseeing. One of the now four remaining men looked over at the man and didn't realize what had happened until the blood started pooling below the dead man's feet in an ever widening circle. The man's eyes widened to the point that I thought they would pop out and he lost all nerve and made a break for the end of the alley. He made it maybe ten stumbling, terror-filled steps before the tiny dart hit him in the side of the neck. He crumpled to the ground without a sound. The final three men were unsure of what to do at this point; they could see their fellows dying one-by-one and knew their own deaths were inevitable at this point. One stood up and gathered his courage, then screamed out "Come out you coward! You seem to do well from the shadows, but let's see how you do in a real man's fight!" I heard a low chuckle from so close to my side I nearly lost control of my bladder, and turned to look directly into the emerald green eyes of a weathered-faced human maybe thirty some-odd years old. He was wearing a dark, nearly black cloak over multi-toned gray and black leather armor. He patted me softly on the cheek and stood and walked down the alley toward the men. So smooth and quiet were his movements that the men didn't seem to notice him until he was halfway to the closest one. When he was finally noticed, the man nearly tripped over his own feet in his haste to get to the other two men. He got their attention and they all turned and looked at the man standing there. As one the men started slowly down the alley and I watched the man stand there, waiting on them. The one who had spoken earlier growled a curse under his breath then raised his voice to address the man. "Were you the one who killed my men?" The stranger responded with a small nod, not saying a word. "Then you will die!" the man shouted as he and his friends rushed the man, careful not to crowd one another and block each other's way. Their tactics were to no avail, as when the first man reached the dark-cloaked stranger, the stranger burst into fluid motion, unsheathing a long curved blade and darting toward the man. He lanced out with the blade faster than my eyes could follow, and then stepped to the side to let the man run past him as he met the other two. The man he had passed started to turn, but his upper body didn't turn as his legs did, and I closed my eyes in horror as his upper half started to slide away from his legs at the hip, entrails and blood pouring out as he fell. His body hit the ground in two distinct, meaty thuds, just as I heard a scream of rage and terror from one of the two remaining men. I heard one sharp ring of metal and opened my eyes to see the blade of the next man split in two. The stranger followed his slash by spinning in a complete circle and raising his blade high as he pulled the hilt close to his shoulder, and the blade whirled to flash past the now-unarmed man's shoulder. I thought the blade had missed its mark for a moment, and then I found myself clenching my eyes yet again as a small line of red appeared across the man's throat. An instant later, blood poured forth freely as his head started separating from his torso. He fell with a boneless smack and I found myself trying very hard to keep the contents of my small morning meal in my stomach. I didn't want to open my eyes, but I simply could not take my eyes away from the hauntingly beautiful dance of the stranger as he dealt death. The last man lost all control, so great was his fear, knowing that there was no escape from this deadly stranger, and threw himself into the fray with abandon, slashing and flailing faster than I had ever seen a human move. He would have been better off kneeling on the ground and taking his death with bravery, because the stranger just seemed to flicker easily out of the man's range, his sword held loosely at his side, not even bothering to parry. The last man of the group that had planned to kill me was in mid-swing when it seemed the stranger tired of playing with the man and slashed out repeatedly in a blur of motion. I know no better way to describe what happened to that last man other than to say he simply fell apart. I DID lose the contents of my stomach then, and soon blacked out… A shout from below me broke my train of memories, and I found myself staring at the edge of the warehouse. I was about twice the length of my body from the city wall, and the top of the wall itself was about eye level with me. I glanced at the wall and saw the top edge was imbedded with fragments of rusty spikes and glass. I took a couple of steps back, tore off my tunic, whipped out a small knife from my side, and cut the tunic high enough on the bottom edge that it would barely cover my breasts when I put it back on, then cut that piece of leather in half. Thanks to any god who might still be alive and listening that Mattias always made me keep my knives sharp, otherwise I'd never be able to slice this leather so easily. I put the much smaller tunic back on, let myself grin a bit at the sight I must make now with my stomach showing and what Mattias would have said, then wrapped the two pieces of leather around my hands and forearms. I stepped within five feet of the edge of the roof and then gave two running steps and threw myself out over the street below. I felt my hands land on the top of the wall and even through the tough leather I felt a couple of the dull spikes pierce my skin. An instant later I slammed into the wall. As I impacted I remembered yet another tidbit of advice from Mattias and flung my head backward so I wouldn't slam face first into the wall and knock myself out. The thud of hitting chest-first was nearly bad enough to do it anyways, and I found myself fighting for breath and concentrating on not letting go of the top of the wall, even though I could feel one of the spikes digging pretty deeply into my left forearm. Managing to hold on, I fought my way over the top of the wall just as two crossbow bolts slammed into the wall below me, knocking chunks out of the wall which flew up to sting my now-unprotected lower back. I looked down at the ground below the wall, nearly sighed in relief that it was all dirt and mud, and dropped off the wall to the ground below. I heard the grinding of the rusty hinges on the gate as the guards pulled it open as swiftly as they could, and sprinted off into the rocky clefts and abandoned buildings of The Sprawl just as the sun dropped out of my line of sight, shedding darkness on Freeport. Edit: Wow...left out a whole section I had in my mind. Don't know how I managed to completely overlook that. (The part where she's remembering the coming of the refugees after The Shattering needed more, if you wonder which part I'm referring to and want to see what I added to make it tie in more completely. Haha, also forgot to put the part of her getting her payment for the job. Can't have that crap <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Well, she got paid now too. Happy Hunting!)Final Edit (hopefully /sigh I hate edits <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />)Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 11:24 AM

Zah

11-18-2005, 03:10 PM

Great story so far, please keep writting, i like the idea of the dual classing, awaiting the next installment

Ferunnia

11-18-2005, 04:01 PM

I'm bored, but I don't have it in me to drag out Chapter 4 tonight <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> so I'll give a little more on my story-telling background. Like I said before, I derive a lot from DnD (Dungeons and Dragons, a pencil and paper roleplaying game, the ruleset of which has been used for a ton of computer and consule games, for anyone who doesn't know, or in the case of some of the younger people, have never heard of it). I read everything fantasy, from Forgotten realms to Dragonlance, and from gothic fantasy like Warhammer, to modern fantasy. Tolkien, Jordan, Salvatore, I admire these people and then some. When I was a lot younger I read a few Shadowrun novels (another pencil and paper rpg, I think it's a lot less mainstream than DnD, but still mucho fun nonetheless), a series set in the near future where magic has come back to the real world of Earth, and where cybernetics and super advanced computer systems are common. If any of you have read any Shadowrun novels, I'm sure you can see the influence of the whole "Doing jobs in the shadows" theme that also makes an appearance in my writing. I also try to keep up somewhat with the EQ lore so I don't have to make too much stuff up on the spot. Umm, let's see. Been writing on and off since I was like 10, mostly poetry, but I did do a good sized novella based on a vampire when I was really into Anne Rice. Was one of the top English students in the country when I was in high school, and that helps with the grammar and such. (This comp I'm writing from at the moment doesn't even have microsoft word haha. I don't have a spellcheck or anything for this stuff, so if you see mispellings, that's why <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />) Anyways, enough of my boring you guys with crap about me you probably could care less about <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I'm off to troll the boards <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Send me a message through the messenger service if you have any suggestions for my story or notice problems with wording and such. Happy Hunting. (Is it bad that I edit things 5 minutes after I post them? I find that until I reread things I've posted, I don't see all the typos and such that I would normally catch while writing the story itself heh.)Message Edited by Ferunnia on 11-18-2005 03:15 AM

Ferunnia

11-18-2005, 08:34 PM

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>Chapter 4: Escape The darkness was my ally, as I tend to blend in much better at night due to the color of my skin, which is nearly dark enough to be ebony, but not quite, due in part to my mother's blood. I have had a hood on every tunic I've ever owned so that I can cover my shock of silver/white hair and blend into the shadows even better. Tonight was no different than any other night in that respect and I pulled my hood up as I ran away from the gate deeper into the small craggy plateaus of The Sprawl. Scattered here and there amidst the small stands of rock were dilapidated clusters of buildings housing everything from diminutive Ratonga to hulking ogres. The areas between house clusters were filled with all kinds of fun beasts to contend with now that the sun was down, ranging from snakes so poisonous a single bite could spell doom if you didn't have a ready supply of antivenin or a healer quick at hand to large ranging packs of dangerous wild dogs, some of which stood nearly shoulder height to me. That night, I was intent on avoiding all those threats, yet taking my path of escape close enough to those places and creatures to hopefully slow the guards that I could still hear clattering and cursing behind me, intent on catching their quarry. I slipped into my infravision sight and looked out for any heat signatures, glad that this area was nearly completely devoid of undead creatures. Unfortunately, undead look no different to infravision than the stone walls I found myself slipping between to avoid large dens of vipers out on the prowl for any creature they could kill and devour, or the craggy cliff-faces I found myself climbing sometimes to skirt particularly large groupings of buildings, knowing that certain powerful gangs made their homes there. More than a few times, I felt a prickling on the back of my neck and threw myself flat into a tiny crevice in the side of a rock wall to stay out of line of sight and help prevent my scent from reaching some particularly large groups of the wild dogs. I had no fear of the beasts, as they would fall even more easily than the gang I had taken down so easily earlier in the day, but I wanted to make it as hard as possible for the guards to track me, and a trail of dead dogs to follow would be the same as sitting down and waiting for the guards with my hands held out waiting to be chained. I heard some footsteps coming from around the side of a cleft that I had just slipped into, and looked around quickly for a place to fade from sight. Just as the first light from the gang's torches came around the corner I pulled myself up onto a small ledge maybe eight feet off the ground and got settled in and stilled my breathing. Soon I could hear gang-speak that seemed to be the code speech of one of the most violent gangs that made residence in The Sprawl: The Giantslayers. I was already on bad terms with the gang due to a small incident a few months back that involved me and nearly a dozen dead Giantslayers. I could not afford to give myself away and have to kill the group, as I would surely lose so much time fighting them that the guards would be breathing down my neck as the last body fell to the ground. A small red and green striated rock in front of my nose flashed in the fitful light of the moon and I lost myself for a moment in studying its complexities, the way the stripes wove around and around each other. I looked up and saw that the torchlight was fading into the night behind me. Hesitating, and not really knowing why, I picked up the stone and tucked it into my belt pouch before I lightly dropped to the ground below the ledge. I started walking slowly to the end of the crevasse, pooling my mana stores as I went. As I got close to the corner, I tossed out my life-sensing web and waited momentarily to see if anything out of my line of sight registered as sentient enough to give me away as I crossed this, the last major clearing before the outer Freeport city walls. For nearly fifty paces in every direction I sensed nothing more than a trio of pit vipers heading swiftly away from me. I moved smoothly away from the rock crevasse and soon saw a haze of brightness that nearly blinded my heat-sensing eyes. I slipped back into the normal vision of the elven people, which was still a good three times greater than what a human might see at night, and headed for the large group of torches and braziers burning near the outer gate I had been steadily making my way toward the whole time. I counted four guards at the gate, two on each side of the gate, and three others doing a small patrol about thirty paces out of the firelight, obviously on the alert for anyone trying to make their way out of those gates. I looked up and down the wall and saw no easily accessible ways over such as the building in Big Bend had provided. The outer walls of Freeport are a good sight taller than the inner ones, and every rock formation within twenty feet of that wall on the inside of the wall had been blasted apart by magic to most likely prevent escapes such as the one I needed to make. At this point I had to admit I might not get away from there without a few heads rolling, but I stopped myself as I started to head out and deal death to the hapless guards. Even if I killed all the guards, I wouldn't be able to move the massive gates enough to make good my escape. There were always two pairs of ogres at each gate such as this simply to move the blasted things. I stepped back and thought for a moment, knowing there had to be a way out of this predicament. Suddenly a memory floated up out of the recesses of my mind, a nearly forgotten flash of memory that brought me back to this place, nearly half a decade before. I was standing close to this exact place, but my mentor was standing at my side. Mattias grinned at me and beckoned me to follow him. I dutifully slunk from shadow to shadow on a night much like the one I stood in at the moment I was having this recollection, following my sensei as he showed me yet another secret of the night. We walked maybe two hundred paces and then, hidden under a cover of shrubs and bushes so skillfully I would have never noticed it had Mattias not pointed directly at it, I saw the outline of a sewer grate. He said nothing, and we moved on to finish the job we had been given that night, killing one of the major organizers of the Guttersnipe gang. Amidst the slaying of nearly thirty members of the gang who stood in our way, I had nearly forgotten the grate before the end of the night. Now, I thanked my Tier'Dal blood for the inborn powers of recalling exact memories all of the races members posses, even myself, though to a lesser degree. I closed my eyes and remembered those bushes, and where they were in relation to where I stood at that exact moment, then got my bearings by the stars and headed unerringly towards the hidden sewer entrance. * * * Maybe a quarter glass later, I stood before the exact same bushes, admiring the work my master had done in concealing the entrance, knowing that for it to be this undisturbed, he had done the same to the exit on the sewer side. It made me a little sad knowing that once I used this entrance, there would not be time to conceal the entrances again, due to the fact that I had to move quickly. Shaking off the depressing thoughts, I moved over to the entrance and moved the burlap underneath a thin layer of dirt that lay behind the shrubbery and looked for the catch on the grate. Soon finding it, I flipped the catch to one side then tried lifting the grate a little. Unsurprisingly, I couldn't budge it, but I was already working on the solution to that problem. I quickly connected the two halves of my staff, attached a small metal pry to one end of the staff, and stuck one it into the grate between the outer casing and where the door’s hinged cover swung up then pulled down with all my body weight. With a loud snap and a rusty squeal, the hinged cover came up a finger length above the outer casing, and I kept pressure on the staff and stretched out a foot to put my steel-capped boot in between the cover and casing, then bent over at the waist to grab the grate and pull it up enough to slide my small frame into. I dropped my staff, then listened to see how long it took to hit, and was pleased when it hit bottom nearly instantly, knowing I wouldn't have to worry about twisting an ankle from my fall down. I pulled the burlap back to the edge of the grate to provide as much cover as it could, knowing that to night-blind humans, the burlap's color would blend perfectly with the ground. Then I slipped into the sewer entrance and twisted as I fell for half a second to make sure I hit feet first. I stood up and felt around quickly and figured out I was in a tiny chamber not even two paces to the side. I switched into my infravision again, even though it was pitch black and I wouldn't be able to make out much unless I saw something alive. I saw the quickly fading heat signature of my hands on the staff and picked it up, then broke it down into its respective halves, knowing the two short weapons would be of much more use in the cramped quarters of the sewers if I had to fight anything. I had made sure to note my direction as I fell, so I had a rough idea of which way I needed to go to get to another hidden entrance I'm sure only I knew about. I stepped over to a blank wall and felt my around blindly until I felt the smallest of hairline cracks, then traced it out until I knew how large the door was. I stopped at a tiny depression as I felt my way around the edge of the door a second time. Allowing myself a small grin, and glad I knew how my mentor had rigged doors like these, I pulled a small wooden block out of my belt pouch and held it in front of the depression, then pushed on a second depression just below the first. A nearly silent whoosh and I was rewarded with my caution by feeling a small thump on the wooden block, and one of Mattias' poisonous darts imbedded itself in the wood. I pulled out a small scrap of leather I had saved from my make-shift gauntlets earlier and wrapped the dart in it and put it in my belt-pouch, knowing the poison would still be lethal after who knew how many years and that it would kill painlessly and nearly instantly. I then reached out and pressed on the depression the dart had sprung from and was rewarded with a small click, and I felt the door give on well-oiled hinges. I listened for a moment through the crack, then sent out my life-sensing mana web, and detected nothing alive anywhere nearby, then cracked open the door and looked out into the sewer as the rancid smell of the place rushed into the otherwise sealed room and assaulted my senses. Pushing down my bile, as well as ignoring the stench, I pushed the door further open and looked down each branch of the sewer. Seeing nothing, I moved out into the tunnel and pushed the door back closed behind me, then retriggered the lock, sans dart. Remembering the vague map Mattias had once shown me of the extensive network of sewers below Freeport and its outlying areas, I had a good sense of where to head, and did so. * * * Maybe two hours later, dripping filthy water and no telling what else from a spill I took while killing an annoying, eight-foot-long lizard, I stepped up to a blank stone wall that looked nearly exactly the same as every other stone wall I had walked past, but for one thing. There was the smallest of heat signatures coming from a tiny spot near the ceiling. There was no doubt that it came from a magical source, most likely attuned to Mattias and anyone else he designated, and I felt my throat tighten as I realized that my master had saved my life yet again. I stepped calmly up to the wall and put my hand against it. A small surge of energy flared, centered on the small dot of heat on the ceiling, and a small hinged door with ladder rungs built into it swung down just beside me, then locked in place. I climbed up into the small cubbyhole below yet another grate and then unlocked the door and closed it back, satisfied to hear it automatically click as the lock re-engaged. I could see the tiniest traces of light spilling through tiny holes in the burlap covering this grate, and decided the moon had completely risen. Confident that I would be safe in the small space until near dawn, I curled up and took a short nap. I woke just as the gray light of false dawn faded back to the darkest part of night, the hour before true dawn actually started. I suppressed a sigh at the smell now permeating the room, having been blissfully asleep, I hadn't been aware of it, but now it hit me again full force and I shook my head in disgust at how stiff my clothes were and then stood up to push the grate open, knowing Mattias would have chosen a spot well out of sight of anyone standing more than five feet away. The grate swung open with a small squeal of protest, I immediately slipped out of the hidden entrance, covered it, and meticulously re-covered the entrance. That finished, I stood up and contemplated my next move, but now that I was safe, I was at a complete loss of what to do. Suddenly, I felt a small vibration coming from my belt pouch, and opened it to see the striated stone I had picked up the night before pulsing with a gentle glow. I picked it up and looked at it for a moment, then moved to look at it in more direct moonlight, but the glow faded nearly to nothing as I turned. How odd, I thought to myself, and turned back the way I had been facing before. The glow got steadily brighter as I faced back to the west, and when I was facing directly west, the stone stopped pulsing and started glowing steadily. Interesting, could this be a clue as to where I should head next? I thought on it a moment. Sure, why not, it isn't as if I have any other plans at the moment as things stand, so let's see where this stone leads me. But first, I thought ruefully to myself, a bath. And I walked west as the sun rose behind me, seemingly lighting my path ahead.(I didn't think I would get this part out so quickly, but I find I'm enjoying myself so much due to this foray back into the world of writing that it's actually hard to stop writing. I have no honest clue as to when the next part will be coming out, but be sure it will be within the week. As always, if you see any problems, feel free to give me feedback. Enjoy the read and Happy Hunting)Final Edit (/sigh, the things I do....)Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 11:25 AM

Eriol

11-18-2005, 11:08 PM

I really want to know what's going to occur. As I've said before, your style is great, and engaging.If you can pump out this quality of story this quickly, by all means do so!

Ferunnia

11-19-2005, 02:11 PM

<div></div><div></div>Chapter 5: Journey I set into an easy jog, trying to put as much space between myself and Freeport as possible. I had Mattias to thank for my ease in this, as his training had also involved the most agonizing endurance training I felt I could live through. I soon saw heaps of bones and jagged fence posts of wrought iron rising out of the ground around a large cluster of mausoleums. This, Turmoil Cemetery, one of the two major burial grounds around Freeport back before The Age of Turmoil, was a place ripe with undead and necromancers out practicing their skills at controlling the dead bodies and tormented souls roaming around the area. I took a wide circuit around the place on the south side of it, not being in the mood to slay the acolytes practicing their arts. I made my way without incident around the place, careful to also stay far enough north to keep from encountering the orc parties that made regular forays into the area south of the graveyard from a sizable encampment near Bloodskull valley far to the southwest. When the graveyard was barely a speck on the horizon behind me to the east, I angled my run in a more northwesterly direction, heading for a good-sized body of water I knew of named Dog Pond nearly directly west of Freeport. Careful to keep my eyes out for any Militia that may have patrolled out into this area in the hopes of catching me unawares, and constantly probing out with my life-sensing web extended out as far as I could without draining myself, I managed to circumvent the few adventurers out and about, sure if any recognized me, they would be trying to collect on the bounty on me head. From what I remembered, the last notice I saw posted listed me as worth nearly fifty pieces of gold dead, and closer to one hundred alive. Not a small amount, I would have been hard pressed not to collect on it myself had I been the hunter and not the hunted. The hours passed, the sun rose nearly directly overhead, and the few clouds left over from the short rain the night before fled before the heat of high noon. Not long after midday, I saw the pool of water I had been heading for appear on the horizon, easily recognizable due to the large wandering packs of wild dogs much like the ones in The Sprawl, only a great deal nastier. They nearly always attacked any lone travelers on sight, and seeing groups did not deter them too terribly much for that matter. I knew I would probably have to slay a few of them before the rest got the message and left me alone, but I wasn't overly worried about it. After all, the worst that could happen is I would get some dog blood on me, which I could wash off in the lake named after the ranging hounds. As I approached within a few hundred paces of the lake, the first few wild dogs noticed my presence, and let out a howl at the thought of fresh meat, then launched themselves into the pursuit of their supposed prey. I don't know if the beasts were used to adventurers and travelers running from them on sight or not, but I do know the fact that I let out a loud howl of my own and picked up my pace, nearly sprinting now to meet the beasts, seemed to confuse a few of the beasts in the pack of around fifteen of the beasts. These few, most likely wiser, dogs turned off the path and headed off to the side to observe the ensuing fight. As I closed within ten paces of the lead dog, I pulled the staff sections strapped to my back free and triggered the mechanisms controlling their blades. At five paces, I drew up to a near stop and threw one of the two pieces like a small javelin, and the perfectly balanced staff section speared unerringly into the throat of the lead hound. At this, two more of the dogs seemed to decide they were better off not joining the fray and wheeled off the same way their compatriots had earlier, to watch from the sidelines. I reached the body of the large lead hound moments before three more of the pack reached me. As I ran past the corpse, I never slowed my run, simply reached out and jerked the staff section out of the beast's throat and met the charge of the three dogs as they attacked in concert. As they closed to within a few long running steps of me, I set my feet and launched myself as high as I could into the air, spinning in the air to tumble over them, stabbing down twice as I passed and severing two of the dogs' spines at the base of their necks. The one survivor tucked its tail between its legs and never stopped running after it looked over its shoulder and saw what had happened to its pack mates. Like the earlier dogs, this one seemed to realize it was in the midst of a much greater predator than itself, and ran a good distance away before finally stopping to watch the remaining members spread out to try circling me. Eight of the beasts remained. I ran straight through the circle they were trying to form, my blades flashing out, and then there were six. Now maddened to bloodlust, the remaining members didn't try to run; rather, they wanted, in some primordial part of their brains, to kill this creature that had so hurt their pack. So the pack turned back toward me as I passed through their ranks, the final six dogs howling and barking at me as they came at me at a full sprint. I stopped and turned, waiting for them to reach me, and as they did, I fell back on some of the more advanced techniques Mattias had taught me, knowing that with that many claws and teeth assailing me from every side I couldn't let any of them knock me off balance or even I might fall. I let out a raging battle cry and spun in a technique that had me spinning in complete circles, blades flashing out both high and low, preventing the dogs from reaching me. As some fell back from my assault, I would suddenly stop my spin and rush in to stab out or slash with my bladed staff ends, and a dog would fall. As I fell back into my training it nearly seemed that my enemies started moving slower, but I knew this was merely the fact that while concentrating my abilities in the way Mattias had taught me, I was moving much faster than I normally would, though never in this lifetime would I come close to the perfection of movement that had been Mattias while in battle. Moments later, as the dust kicked up by my movements and the dogs death-throes settled, all six dogs were lying dead in a circle centered on my position. I looked around for a moment to see if any of the remaining pack members that had watched from a safe distance had any intentions of making any moves, but they all slunk away at my glances, tails between their legs, excepting the largest remaining dog, who padded up to me with his head down and his legs between his legs. Most likely this one was now the pack leader, as all the larger hounds were laying dead at my feet. The large male dog came up to me and lay down at my feet, in supplication. I looked down at him a moment, then reached down, rubbed my hand roughly across the scruff of his neck and walked on to the pond. The dog rose behind me and padded softly along behind me, most likely an honor guard of sorts, acknowledging my dominance. I looked around as I walked through the many packs lazing in the shade of the trees around the pond, and became aware the thunderous steps of a large herd of elephants which I just saw cresting a hill to the west. The dogs made no attempts to attack this group of elephants, as the half-dozen males in the front of the herd had tusks longer than the length of my body protruding from the sides of their mouths. That and the obvious fact that the elephants could simply stomp around randomly and devastate the dogs without ever making an overt attempt to attack if the dogs were stupid enough to engage them. I stayed on the side of the pond that the dogs were clustered around, knowing that, at least temporarily, I had been accepted into quite a large pack. I started stripping as soon as I stepped into the cool shade underneath the surprisingly lush trees around the pond. Soon thereafter, I was standing waist-deep in the cool clear water of the pond, scrubbing at my garments to remove the grime and filth of the last day and a half's adventures. Once I was finished thoroughly cleaning my thin leather armor and undergarments, I commenced to cleaning myself, using one of the large cattail weeds near the bank as an improvised back scrubber. I kept my leather gear in the water with me, knowing that if they dried in the sun they would shrink to an uncomfortable size. Once I was clean, I checked my body for any wounds taken since I left my room the day before, and found that the only wounds I had sustained were a few deep gouges on my forearms and one hand which were already well on the way to healing. Deciding I had no need to bind any of the already scabbed over cuts or punctures, I put my clothes back on before I left the water. I wore my leather garments while wet to make sure they simply shrank back to their normal snug fitting size, as well as for the added coolness they would provide for a while as the water evaporated out of them in the sun. Finally finished in the water, I gathered the gear I had left lying near the leader of the pack I had subdued, and continued my journey. I headed back toward the west, on the lookout for the tower in the middle of these rolling hills that would mark The Crossroads, a major trading area a good ways west of Freeport. Not an hour after I left the pond, I saw the top of the tower in the haze on the horizon and skirted the area well to the south, making my way down one of the little used roads that crossed through hostile orc territory. I was nearly directly south of The Crossroads when I heard the roar of the Enlightenment River. I had passed by this area on a few jobs in the past, mainly contracts to bring back certain undead parts off some of the tougher specimens around the Enlightenment Graveyard. So I knew of a little-used bridge near here, a good ways south of The Crossroads, where hopefully I wouldn't have to kill any guards to make my crossing. About thirty minutes of steady walking later, I stood at the east end of the bridge, glad no one was near, and prepared to cross over to the other side, when I heard an agonized scream from a little ways to the south over a hill. Knowing I shouldn't get involved, but having nothing better to do, I sprinted off in that direction. I topped the hill just in time to see a nomad woman take a spear in the back as she tried to protect a young child. Not ten paces from where she died a man lay there dead, a nasty cut splitting his belly and spilling his guts on the ground beside him. The group of maybe five orcs that had killed the pair were moving in the presumably kill the child, when I howled a war cry from the top of the hill. I had a flash of memory of being a small child, defenseless much as the one that cowered under its mother's body. I was chained face-down to a blood-stained table in the abode of a Tier'Dal priestess, a priestess I killed a number of years ago in revenge, I might add, and she was using a barbed whip to flail me across the back and legs. I remember then my promise to myself never to become as decadent as the Tier'Dal, and I have managed even to this day to avoid sinking that low. She only stopped beating me when I was nearly dead, then she would heal me with spells that hurt nearly as much as the torture, and commence to beating me more. I don't know how to this day I kept my sanity in that room, and maybe I didn't completely, but I used the pain and anger to fuel my drive to become better than my hateful paternal ancestors. Falling back into the real world, I drew on that memory and threw myself into the battle with the orcs over the child with reckless abandon. I had also promised myself long ago that no child within my sight or knowledge would ever suffer as I did . . . yeah, I know, not exactly a common sentiment from a Freeporter, but still, the same, I would lay down my life for even a child I had never known until the moment I saw him or her in distress. And this child was in mortal danger. The fury that fueled me at seeing this child, and knowing it would grow up parentless left me with no mercy for my foes. Where normally, even the orcs would only be left in pain or unconscious at my hand, I knew this time I would give no quarter. I flung both staff sections into the cluster of orcs, taking two separate orcs down with a blade in each one's throat. Then I rushed in barehanded and snapped off brutal hand-to-hand techniques Mattias had drilled me in until they were instinctual. Moments later, two more orcs were down, one with a broken neck, the other having been relieved of his own weapon, a flail I then used to bash in its former owner's head. Leaving the spiked ball stuck in the creature's skull, I rushed the other two as they turned to flee. The one closest to me I took down simply by jumping into the air as I closed within a few feet of him and brought my knee up to connect with a loud crack just below his shoulder blades on his spine. He fell in a boneless heap, screaming in agony. I reached down and plucked a small knife from his belt, then stabbed him through one eye with it, silencing his screams, then spun and threw the knife nearly ten paces to pierce the last orc through the right kidney. He fell to the ground, bleeding to death, and unlike my normal self, I didn't give him a clean ending, as he was the one I saw pulling back after having thrown the spear into the woman's back. I let him writhe there in agony as his lifeblood poured out onto the dry grass below him, staining the brown stalks a bright red. By the time I had walked over to the two dead orcs that had received death compliments of my staff sections' blades, removed the sections from the bodies and cleaned them off, the orc had died. I looked around to make sure nothing else was near, and sent out my life-sensing web again, finding no sentient beings other than myself and the small child, a girl of maybe three seasons, from what I had seen in passing close to chase down the last two orcs. I walked slowly over to the child, my empty hands held out loosely away from my sides, showing her I meant her no harm. The girl finally recovered from her shock enough to start crying just as I reached her, and I gently moved her mother's body off of her and picked her up in my arms and held her until she fell asleep. I laid her gently down close to the river so that the sound of the water rushing by would help her sleep, then commenced to burying the nomads, not having any way to cremate them, as I'm sure they would have preferred. There was nothing but dry grass and weeds as far as I could see, other than a couple of living trees a bit down the bank of the river, and I knew I would never get the green wood to burn well enough to free their bodies to wind, so that they could continue their travels for time unending as most nomads preferred to do. I found a small leather and cloth contraption lying near where the man had died, and figured out it had been used to strap the small child to the man's back on their travels. I wish I had known what was so important about coming this way rather than through the well-guarded roads leading to The Crossroads, that the two had risked, and given their lives for. Either way, I intended to see that their progeny did not suffer the same fate as they had, and I went over to the small girl and strapped her into the carrier, shouldered the straps after removing my backpack to carry slung on one shoulder, and walked on towards the now setting sun.(Yes, I know, I'm a machine <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> This whole story so far in less than a week. Heh, well you guys should see me grind <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Makes my story writing marathon seem like a vacation lol... well, I doubt there will be another update for the next couple of days, gonna be doing some pre-Thanksgiving traveling for a bit, then I'll have my own rig back and Ill have (woot) spell-check. I'm tired of going to Dictionary.com...though I would recommend the site to anyone needing synonyms to make their reading more enjoyable or correct spellings and such. Later guys, enjoy the read, and the soft side of the main character <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Happy Hunting!Final Edit.Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 11:34 AM

Ferunnia

09-01-2006, 11:13 PM

Took a Looooong break from eq2 <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> From computers period as a matter of fact. Ya don't get much choice when your house floods and ya lose your comp <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Well, I gave this whole a story a full edit and clarified a few things here and there. I'll most likely write some more this weekend or in the week to come. hope you guys enjoy what I have so far.<div></div>

Ferunnia

10-27-2006, 03:13 AM

Whelp, just finished writing an outline for a very sizable chunk of this story. I don't know if I'll manage to get a chapter out tonight but it is sure to be within a couple of days. If anyone likes what I'm writing feel free to give me feedback, also, if you see any blaring inconsistencies that make the story harder to read let me know and I'll work on it. Happy Hunting.<div></div>

Ferunnia

10-27-2006, 09:48 PM

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>Chapter 6: Shadows of the Past I made it to the nearest nomad camp nearly an eight hour walk later. I can’t say I wouldn’t have reacted the same way their leader did; that is, I would have also demanded that a visitor in the middle of the night be brought in at spear point and interrogated as well. I answered their questions, and when they were satisfied with my answers and reasons for being there, asked my own. They knew not of the people I spoke. Obviously the couple traveling with their child was not of this clan, as all members of a clan know all others within their clan almost better than they know themselves. Unsatisfied with what I learned, yet knowing there was nothing to be done for it, I conceded to my body’s demands for sleep. I woke just after the break of dawn that morning. The nomads, always happy to have another child, thanked me for bringing her to them, then fed me and sent me on my way re-provisioned for a long trip. I continued my way across the Commonlands, bearing slightly north on my trek west. I spent the next three days traveling, and only had to fight once, when a small herd of rampaging elephants tried to trample me. I dissuaded them of that notion by spearing the lead male in the side of its mouth, flipping myself up using my staff as a handhold, then breaking the staff down and using the other end to stab down into the top of its skull, killing it instantly. Later that same day I finally arrived at my destination, the decrepit looking enormous black iron gate leading into NektulosForest. The stone in my belt pouch started pulsing against my waist as I approached the entrance, and I then shoved against the doors until I could slip myself through the gap. My first sight of Nektulos forest in fifteen years impressed me just as much as the very first time. A massive iron suspended bridge crossed the raging river at the southern end of Nektulos Forest where travelers from Freeport could join a collective campground of bedraggled travelers of all backgrounds. The eastern end of the bridge let into a small clearing in which the beginnings of a village were taking shape. I had stopped here twice before; on the way into Nektulos Forest, and on the way out of the wood a decade and a half previous. My first task was to size up any pursuit that may have been waiting in the village on the off case that I would be passing through. Checking around from the outskirts of the village I could not find any Freeport Militia other than the two that were always posted at the bridge. Seeing no one there that seemed an obvious bounty hunter I walked into the little town like I owned it. I provisioned for the long trip through Nektulos and started making plans in the back of my mind about what to do with myself now that I seemed to be permanently unable to act in Freeport. I knew there were reasons for me to go back to Qeynos, but I was nervous about the final outcome of any trip I might make there. For the time being, I decided to just follow the stone’s directions as I had been to this point, since I had nothing better to do. The next morning I awoke to a dim fog shrouded morning and snoring coming from the common room of the small inn I stayed the night at. I gathered my things and headed downstairs, to be greeted by the slightly smoky, sour smelling common room, which seemed to be the communal place for vagrants to sleep. Easing my way through the mess of sleeping drunks, I quietly opened the door and headed out into the pre-dawn grayness of early morning. I traveled slowly, in no big rush, in a northward direction, following the slow pulses of the stone at my side. I passed trees that looked like twisted parodies of healthy life; saw no grass that was not brown and dying, yet somehow tenuously holding onto life. I saw mushrooms the size of small horses, and filtering through the weak sunlight shining through the constantly overcast sky, I saw motes of dust which seemed to flicker malevolently just out of the corner of the eye. Sometimes, at a distance, ghostly flickering plants could be seen fading in and out of existence, a silent reminder of the haunted quality of the forest around me. I passed through areas where the grass and plants itself tried to attack me, but I prevailed over these weak challenges, and continued north. At one point, the areas between trees were covered in a sheen of enormous spider webs so thick I could barely see the outlines of trees only fifteen paces away. Shortly after I passed into this area, a spider the size of a large melon swung down from the trees on a web strand nearly the thickness of my smallest finger, and I eviscerated the spider as its motion brought it into striking range of my bladed staff. I killed another handful of the beastly things as I passed through that section of the forest and was glad to be rid of the web slinging creatures when I passed out of their stretch of the woods. My trek led me north up the river on its eastern bank, and as I passed above the places that were slightly more cleared out from constant travelers passing through, I got into tangles of forest which seemed to press in on me from all sides, even though I was still on a beaten path. The forest around me got even quieter than usual, and even the few scattered bird calls and bat screeches I had been hearing ceased. The only sound was a faint rushing of water coming from the river nearly one hundred paces to my left. My innate senses made me unsheathe my weapons moments before I heard a loud rustling in the dark woods off to my right. An enormous creature that looked like a cross between an owl and a brown bear lumbered out of the woods, and two more like it were bursting from the woods behind it. I dodged nimbly backwards as its first crashing swipe nearly knocked over a sapling that had the bad fortune to be in the path of the blow. The other two creatures rushed past the leader and tried to bowl me over, but I somersaulted over the first one and kicked off of the second one as I started to land to avoid their lumbering charge. As I landed on my feet the lead creature again swiped at me and I was knocked head over heels after absorbing most of the blow with the staff I managed to hold up in front of my torso two-handed. Feeling like my ribs were almost broken from my own hand being crushed against my side, I decided I could not afford to fight a defensive battle against creatures large enough to smash me to a pulp. I gained my feet then tricked one of the two smaller creatures into charging me yet again by tossing a small stick at it I found at my feet. When it charged in I dodged left early then as it turned to meet me, dove right and struck out with one section of my bladed staff, which I had broken down into two pieces as it ran at me. As the beast passed by me, I neatly hamstring its back left leg and heard it crash to the ground behind me. I spun to my right to meet the charge of the remaining small beast and dove straight underneath it as it charged me. I rolled onto my back and caught its shaggy fur then hung there for a moment before disemboweling it then dropping off to let it lumber a few more faltering steps. It lay over on its side with one final cry of agony and then was still. The leader, seeing its cohorts defeated, decided that fleeing would ensure it living another day to fight again and the last I saw of it was its feather covered tail tucked down as it ran off. I stopped after this to rest up a bit, and checked to make sure I had taken no injuries I may have missed noticing in the heat of battle. Seeing nothing untoward, and feeling a good bit more rested after perhaps an hour of sitting on an old stump beside the road, I again headed north. I traveled the rest of the day, and part of the night before resting at a small encampment just south of the first of two major bridges crossing the river on its northern end. My stone still pointed me unerringly to the north and I decided to continue following it after some rest. The next morning, I headed out after a small breakfast of cold ham and trail bread, washed down with tepid water from a small stream that eventually emptied into the river. I heard little activity from the animals in the forest as I continued down the road, but in the distance I did hear what sounded like metal clashing on metal. Thinking that a fight with humanoid opponents could be something interesting to bring me out of my bored funk since leaving Freeport, I dashed towards the sounds of battle. “Bloody creatures! Can ye not just lie down and stay dead!” I heard this raw throated shout the a bellow of pain from the same person as I came into sight of the bridge close to where I camped the night before. My first sight of the bridge was not awe-inspiring to say the least. Rusted iron beams haphazardly patch worked together with half-rotten boards to form a rickety passage over a fiercely roaring river is not my idea of safe construction. Regardless of how I felt about the structure I could tell I was needed up on the bridge. A well built human in chain mail was valiantly trying his best to stay off nearly a dozen skeletons bearing old clubs and half broken swords with only his bow to assist him. As I observed during my sprint to the bridge, a skeleton caught him a blow to his back, crushing his quiver and most likely ruining all of his arrows. The man promptly kicked the skeleton in the head and disarmed it of its club, then laid about himself in a circle trying to keep his undead attackers at bay. I arrived just as a skeleton managed to get through the archer’s defenses and stab him in the side with a shattered, rusty short sword. I saw him almost fall then, but make an heroic effort to stay on his feet. He seemed unaware of me until my staff swept two of the skeletons into the river under our feet. “Dun worry about me lass, save yerself,” came his labored shouts as he parried a blow from on of the remaining undead. “This should be over with quickly, just try to stay alive till I’m finished,” I responded firmly as I started spinning my staff rapidly, striking skeletons in their weakest spots, shattering wrists, destroying knees, and in some cases getting in lucky blows and crushing their skulls. Once the skeletons were all stumbling around on their knees, the ones I hadn’t destroyed that is, we set about caving in the rest of their skulls so they couldn’t try dragging us down to their levels and biting or head butting us to death. I had just finished killing the last one when I looked up at the human, who was smiling down at me as I rose from a crouch. I opened my mouth to introduce myself just as his eyes rolled back in his head and he tumbled off the bridge, unconscious. Without thinking, I dropped my backpack and staff and dove smoothly into the water a second after he hit it. I swam deeper and deeper, barely tracking his chain mail glinting dully in the feeble light shining through the murky water. I managed to get my hand on his collar and start dragging him back to the surface as I started to lose my breath. Struggling mightily with the weight of his armor as well as his own not inconsiderable size, I somehow managed to get him back to the bank of the river, some fifty paces from where the bridge was located. I noticed he wasn’t breathing and commenced to try pumping water from his lungs in a manner taught to me by an old woman I lived with many years before, in my childhood. He would not cough up the water, so I opened his mouth, reached in with a finger to make sure no debris from the river was blocking his throat then blew deeply into his mouth while holding his nose. I had to repeat this two more times before he choked and coughed and then vomited up what seemed like a gallon of river water. This problem averted, I commenced to stripping him of his armor so I could check out his wounds. I used my life detecting web to see if he was dying, and too my horror realized he was close to dying in my hands already. As I shucked the last of his armor, I found a deep jagged wound in his lower back, and could see that he was barely bleeding from it any longer. As I rolled him over, I half noticed something shiny hanging from the thin silver necklace he was wearing, then let out a small gasp as I realized this man possessed a ring exactly like the one I wore on a leather thong around my neck. A ring that I received from Matthias on our wedding day. I knew then that I did not want to let this man die, that he could perhaps help me with something I planned to do in Qeynos, and that he might be able to tell me more about Matthias’ past. He may have also been a friend of my late husband, and I could not let him die if that was the case. I owed too much to Matthias to let any of his friends die, especially after I was unable to save him. I tried patching up the wound, but he was still dying. I was shaking from the cold of the river, and from the fear of failing Matthias again, when something rose within my chest. I felt calmness come over me, and warmth flooded my body. I had a sudden urge to look the man over with my lifeweb again, and discovered that my sight showed me much more than I was accustomed to seeing. I could see the way his veins ran through his body, and even deeper, to the organs that powered his daily life. I could see now where one of his kidneys had been shattered by the dull broken blade stabbed into his back, and suddenly felt the need to lay my hand on his lower back. I rolled him back onto his stomach and placed my hand gently onto his lower back. Then I sat there a moment and wondered what would happen next. I was rocked to the core of my being as a surge of energy poured from me and into his body. I felt power rise slowly from the ground and seep from the desiccated plants around me to replace what I was using. Uncomprehending of what was happening I started to feel fear and jumped away from his body, only a split second after I laid a hand on his back. I looked at him, and saw that the wound was gone, not even a scar remained. Amazed at this I looked closer, then jumped back when he rolled onto his back of his own accord, looked up at me and then passed out into a light slumber. “I suppose I should be thanking you at this point,” the sound of his voice jerked me out of a light doze. “No thanks are necessary, especially since I saw the ring you have on your necklace,” I replied. He looked at me quizzically, then asked, “How d’you know what this ring means? I doubt there’s more’n a dozen people on the face of Norrath who’ve ever seen it.” He finally seemed to realize just what race I belonged to at this point. He stumbled to his feet and backed away from me, searching his waist for weapons that weren’t there. “Where’s me sword ye dark skinned demon? Did you save me just to have yerself ano’er slave? Well, did ya?” I sighed in frustration, then glared and him and replied, “No, I don’t want you as a blasted slave, it’s not like I can afford to feed you anyways. How I know what that ring stands for is none of your business, suffice to say that I was personally acquainted with one of your former members and hold your society in high regards. I bothered to save your sorry self knowing you would probably resent the sight of my dark skin and you want to sit here tossing insults at me? I didn’t choose my heritage, it was chosen for me, so shut it before I finish what the skeletons started.” He seemed taken aback by my outburst, then sat down heavily and hung his head in shame, it seemed. “I’d like to apologize to ye. Ye’d think by now that with Antonia acceptin’ anyone into Qeynos that her cit’zens would be more acceptin’ of the darker races. Seems I’m as big a fool as ever, and ya don’t deserve me distrust after tossin yerself into danger to rescue my sorry hide. The name’s Magolem Nightbow, me friends call me Maggie, yer more than welcome to call me the same,” He stated as he held his hand out to me. I looked at his hand a moment then took it with my much smaller one and shook hands as I replied, “Elhonna, my name is Elhonna Kaer’lisk.”<div></div>Final Edit.Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 11:40 AM

Ekuthh

10-27-2006, 09:53 PM

Very well done!

Ferunnia

10-27-2006, 09:58 PM

Thanks, Ekuth <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> A compliment from you makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the outside. Got like 4 or 5 more chapters outlines, so ill prolly start tossing em out more regularly than i have in the past <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Like I said before, reading some of the stories in this forum, especially including yours, inspired me to pick up my old one and try to give it another go <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> More soon.<div></div>

Ferunnia

10-28-2006, 05:05 AM

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>Chapter 7: Flight We set off about ten minutes later, after Maggie told me that he had been fighting the undead so that the rest of his adventuring party could continue on to a place called the Gul’Thex Citadel in the northern reaches of NektulosForest. Maggie foolishly underestimated his foes, and was disarmed of his sword early in the fight. “So, these friends of yours, are they all a part of your order as well?” I asked as we continued north after crossing the bridge to the west side of the river. “Nay, they’re just friends o’ mine; I was asked to come along and help ‘em scout out the area ‘round tha Citadel while they search for some ancient artifact that’s been empowering the undead around here. Hope they’ve not gotten in trouble wi’out me there.” With this statement, we picked up our pace. Maggie's fleetness of foot surprised me, as it seemed he must have had some training in the same art of combat as Matthias. I remember when I was only eighteen years old, a year after Matthias had started training me in hand-to-hand combat, how he took me out to the vast rolling plains of the Commonlands. He turned to me and said, “Elhonna, ‘tis vital you train your body for more than just skill in fighting. One day, I may not be able to come to your aid, and if you are unable to fight your way out of the situation, you at least need to know that you can outrun almost any living humanoid.” After that, we moved into a small hut on the outskirts of Freeport, where Matthias trained me in many more martial skills, but maybe just as importantly, subjected me to extremely harsh endurance training. I went from barely being able to run a dozen city blocks at the age of seventeen to being able to sprint for five times that distance and run for hours on end at a comfortable lope. He also trained me in acrobatics and showed me exercises to increase my strength far beyond what my slight frame should have allowed. It was most likely the hardest two years of my life up to that point, but well worth it in the end, as that fitness has saved my life nearly countless times. I picked up my pace after dwelling on the fact that Matthias may have helped train people before he came to know me, as a matter of fact I was almost positive this ranger (as I found out he was during our earlier introductions) had been trained by Matthias. He kept up easily and soon we were making much better time on our way to hopefully keep the rest of his party safe. About half an hour later, we saw the four towers around the Citadel peeking over the treetops from within a shallow bowl in the ground about a mile ahead. At this point we slowed down a little bit so we’d have our wind when we arrived. As we approached to within a quarter mile of the place, we could hear the clashing of metal on wood, metal on metal, and irregularly, what sounded like explosions. We sprinted that last quarter mile, and what we saw when we reached Gul’Thex was not good. His friends, four in all, were surrounded by an ever-growing ring of undead pouring out of the old fortress, and they had all taken numerous wounds. A light of gold flashed around one of the party members and a few skeletons fell back, stunned, then the platemail-encased human fighter turned and chanted a word while he lay his hand on one of his comrades, who was kneeling on the ground in a daze. The leather-wearing female elf then rose back to both feet from her knees and started laying about her with her hands and feet. All the while, a massive barbarian wielding a gigantic warhammer had been laying waste to rank after rank of the undead attackers. The last member of their group, a fierce looking gnomish female, had her hands over her head and then thrust them forward, sending a blazing ball of fire racing into the ranks of the undead warriors. The ball exploded on contact, and immolated at least five of the creatures. It seemed their heroic efforts were coming to naught, though, as they were steadily taking wounds as the undead crowded in. I saw the little gnome picked up and tossed into the middle of a large group of claymore wielding skeletons. Before they could reduce her to a bloody corpse I dashed in laying about with my staff, creating an ever-widening circle around the small female. Maggie crashed into the skeleton host from their south side, swinging a large mace we had recovered from the creatures at the bridge. As soon as the Gnome could stand on her own I shouted to her over the din of battle, “Stay with me! We’re going to try and push these things back enough to get your friends into the clear. Keep them off my back!” “Will do,” she cried back, and I heard her chanting furiously behind me, followed seconds later by a resounding concussion as one of her spells hit home. Assured that she could cover my back, I moved in on the skeletons, snapping their spines and crushing their skulls from behind as long as I could before they noticed me, which didn’t take long. I saw one enormous skeleton, presumably a leader, wave his sword over the heads of his cohorts in my direction, and a half score of them headed away from the main pack in my direction. I slipped into the battle trance Matthias had drilled into me countless times, and time seemed to slow around me. I could almost see where they were going to be a second before they moved, so well did I predict movements in this state. Even then, though, against enemies who can lose limbs and keep fighting, and feel no pain, I took injuries. I had a cut on my left thigh by the time the seventh one was down, and a deep gash on my right shoulder by the time I finished with the ones sent for me. The moment the last of mine were down, I swept into the main melee from the east after circling around a bit, and worked in conjunction with the elf female to destroy that side of their line, while Maggie helped the healer in the group with the southern side of the ring. The enormous barbarian continued to decimate foes, even more readily now that Maggie and myself had lessened the pressure a bit. We quickly thinned their ranks even though we were all pretty injured at this point, with the healer barely able to keep any of us from falling. I stayed out of his healing range, as I knew my wounds wouldn’t hinder me overly compared to the beating the central three were taking. I was happily finishing bashing in the skull of one of the few skeletons there using a shield, as it seemed able to heal its mates, when I heard a whistling from behind my head. I tossed myself into the skeleton I was fighting without hesitation, cracking both sections of my staff into opposite sides of its skull as it bashed me in my ribs, where they had been swiped by the owlbear a day and a half before, with its shield. I felt a gut wrenching snap as one of my ribs snapped, but I managed to crush its skull and turn as it fell under me to see what had been trying to kill me. I saw a madly grinning skeleton nearly twice my height pulling a sword around from its missed swing take a step closer to me and grate a single word out, which caused flickering red energies to course up and down its massive two handed sword. Thinking it would be a bad idea to even take a nick from the malignant blade, I quickly slipped my toe under the buckler the skeleton had been wearing, then flipped it up into the face of the skeleton in front of me. As it sliced downward, cutting the shield in two, I, ignoring the blazing pain in my side, pushed off and rolled slightly to the side, passing right under the blade, then kicked out hard enough with my steel-toed boot to shatter the creature’s right thigh. It let out an unearthly scream and then slashed out with its blade, and I barely crossed my weapons in front of my in time to absorb the blow. The sword sheared through the first section of my staff, iron core and all, then halfway into the second section before losing its momentum. My feet were buried nearly ankle deep in the soft soil from my standing my ground and absorbing the blow. I snatched as hard as I could on my remaining staff section and managed to disarm the skeleton, losing my weapon in the process. Stepping forward, I snapped off three quick kicks in succession, first denting, then fracturing, and finally, caving in the massive skeleton’s skull. When their leader was sent back to the grave, the fight seemed to go out of the score or so remaining skeletons, and we made quick work of them. We sat there for a while, surrounded by the remains of the battle, all of us bleeding from numerous wounds, before we even had the strength to make introductions. “My name’s Elhonna Kaer’lisk, bounty hunter, warrior for hire, caravan guard, and a half a dozen other things I don’t feel like listing,” I said by way of introduction. The platemail-clad cleric was the first to respond, “Since Maggie’s with ya, I’m assuming you must be alright, regardless of yer skin-tone,” he held out a hand at this point, which I shook as he continued. “The name’s Noris Lightbringer,” I nodded, then turned to the similarly-clad barbarian as he spoke. “Kelthis Falconfeather,” He said, simply, yet warmly, in a very rich baritone. After introducing himself, he moved to pull some arrows from the quiver on his back and pass them to Maggie. The elf looked at me distantly, but not quite coldly, as she bowed and introduced herself. “Sierla Dovewing, at your service.” I bowed painfully in return, then felt a small tug on my tunic. I turned around, then looked down into the smiling face of the gnome female. “Fiona Gearturner, I am. Thanks for the save back there, that was so awesome, I mean, I thought I was dead, then, BAM, in you come, flailing about with that ingenious staff of yours and BOOM they weren’t trying to impale me any more and can I see that staff of yours?” she said all of this so quickly I almost lost track of her words a few times. I was flabbergasted, but went over to where the skeleton’s sword was still glowing and painfully bent over to gather up the pieces, saddened by the weapon’s loss, but knowing I could always replace it. I handed them over to the gnome who marveled at the craftsmanship of the weapon. “I thought surely this would be magical, as well as it stood up to the sword blow, but it’s not. You must be very skilled, where did you receive your training? I’ve not seen anyone move like that before, that I haven’t.” The whole time she was speaking, her hands were making small gestures over my weapon, and slowly, but surely, a magical glow enveloped the weapon and soon the pieces melded back into their former whole state. “Here you go, it’s the least I could do, that it was, would you like me to maybe enchant this for you later on? I wouldn’t mind since I think simply fixing it is nowhere near enough repayment for you risking your life to save me.” I nodded dumbly as I spoke, “Sure, that would be great if you could do that later on, but for now, maybe I should hold onto it in case we run into more trouble.” She seemed cheered at the thought of being able to do something for me and then went around using the same magic to repair rents in the other party members’ armor. “So now what?” I asked. “Maggie told me of your quest. What say we finish what you guys started so the next bunch won’t be so tough to beat down?” “Sounds good,” Noris stated, “Let’s move into the Citadel proper. We should have a little time before the gem summons more of the blasted things. In the meantime, while we walk, I’ll do what I can for everyone’s wounds.” He commenced to healing us as we walked. There was a singular lack of undead inside the Citadel, due to us having killed off most of them outside the gate and across the small bridge that led into the imposing structure. The Citadel itself was composed of four massive towers rising nearly twenty paces in height, and set about one hundred paces apart, with two-foot-thick walls running between the towers, forming a massive square structure. There was a sturdy keep inside the walls, and we made our way into it, constantly on the watch for any movement signaling that the undead were returning. We passed through corridor after corridor and headed underground as the floor we were on turned into a slightly sloping ramp. We passed empty room after empty room, none filled with anything more interesting than cobwebs and crumbled, unidentifiable furniture. We finally came to a large, barred steel band encased solid oak door, nearly five paces in height, deep under the keep. I signaled the others to stand back a moment as I slowly approached the door, crouched down a good bit less painfully since my ribs were no longer cracked after being healed. While healing me, Noris told me in an amazed tone of voice, “I’m surprised you could even move, much less do martial arts in that state as you fought the skeleton leader. “ I replied that I had been trained to ignore pain, and left it at that. Regardless, I was now employing some of the skills Matthias had trained me in to see if the door was in any way trapped before opening it. When I could find no traps, I checked to see if it was locked, but luckily it wasn’t, as my lockpicking skills were never really above working with basic locks. I spent much more time on combat training with Matthias. I turned to the rest of the party and said, “There are no traps that I can see, door’s not locked either. Should be safe, or as safe as anything in this place is liable to be.” Kelthis stepped forward, and motioned me to the side, then pushed into the door with his not inconsiderable strength. The door slowly budged, then swung open with a squeal that nearly deafened me, as close as I was to the source of sound. The door opened to a sight that was horrifying. Skeletons hung from the ceiling with hooks speared into their skulls, and chains bound their arms behind their backs. Others were impaled on large spears imbedded in the ground. All the skeletons bore slightly elongated skulls and none would have been shorter than six feet tall if alive. These were all obviously elves, and my thoughts were verified at a strangled cry of anger from Sierla behind me. “I had heard that the entire Soarsong family was imprisoned here, but had hoped they might have escaped. Obviously that wasn’t the case. I shall have to report this to the elven council in Qeynos, their deaths will not be forgotten.” Her eyes traveled over to a small cage filled with wolf carcasses and what seemed to be a few bones from some elven youths. “Blasted Tier’Dal!” she thundered, then fell silent, looking pensively at me, an obvious Tier’Dal descendant who had just saved her from certain death. "Tis alright, I agree with your opinion of them. I hold no court with my ancestors on that side of my family. My own father sold me into slavery after my human mother died in the Food Tax Riots almost thirty-five years ago. I wasn’t worth the money to raise, he said.” The rest of the party fell silent at that admission, and they seemed to soften toward me somewhat. “Regardless, should we try getting them out of their spots?” I asked, knowing that if we did, we might be accosted again by the undead, but also considering Sierla’s thoughts on the matter. “I wish we could, but they’ve sat here for over half a millennium, it won’t matter if they sit there a few more months while I get together a larger group to make sure I can consecrate their bodies properly. Let’s get on about our quest.” She moved farther into the room and we saw, sitting on a pedestal that fairly glowed with evil energy, a deep violet gem that pulsed regularly with energy so malignant I expected the gem to come to life and strike us down. Noris looked at the gem and shivered visibly before saying, “I didn’t expect it to resonate so strongly” Kelthis loosened the bunched muscles in his back, then asked quietly, “Noris, will you be able to carry it out?” “I’m not sure,” came Noris’ reply. Maggie opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted as a massive throne on one of the side walls grated against the floor and slid to one side, revealing a dark pit out of which climbed a creature from nightmares. It stood nearly twelve feet tall, had hide the color of blood, large, batlike wings, a body so muscular it made Kelthis seem a scrawny child. and massive horns that curled to the side then down to the front of its face. “Nightblood,” came Fiona’s shaking voice. “I saw them summoned by warlocks at the mage schools during my apprenticeship. Fire won’t hurt it very well, but ice should damage it much more than normal.” This was all delivered in the slowest speed I’d heard Fiona speak to this point. Its voice sounded like stones grating together and crushing a tortured soul together between them. “Very good, little mageling. Would you like to be the first to die by my claws? I’ve been locked in that infernal hole for nearly six hundred years, told when this place was evacuated that I could only come out if something good were to enter here. “ “Silence, filth!” Maggie’s voice was punctuated with a glimmering arrow that shot across the room, trailing glittering crystals, in the time I could blink. The arrow thudded home in the demonic creature’s chest, and a small circle of blue appeared around the point where the arrow entered its skin. The beast roared in pain and anger and ripped the arrow from its flesh then charged us. It’s weight shook flakes of stone from the ceiling, but we didn’t cower as I’m sure it expected, we all rushed to engage it in concert. The beast received a blow from Kelthis’ massive warhammer in its abdomen; a resounding crack echoed in the room as Noris’ heavy mace smashed into one of its knees; a small ball of ice flew over our heads and struck the creature in the face as an arrow simultaneously embedded itself in the nightbloods chest inches from where the first struck, as Sierla sprung into the air and planted a kick in the creature’s chest. Her foot crashed into the partly iced over places on its chest and it howled in pain as her foot sunk ankle deep into its flesh. She kicked off it and landed a good dozen feet away. At this point, I rushed in from its side and, staff spinning in a blur, I parried one, then two lumbering swipes from its massive, taloned hands, swept my staff in a circle over my head, then swung and connected with the back of its good knee. Its legs nearly gave out at that point, but it managed to keep its feet. It lashed out again in a wide semicircle, trying to hit any of us, but we were working together to well to fall into its ploy. As its hand swung into Kelthis’ range, he swung his warhammer mightily and caught the creature’s hand in mid-swing with the full weight of his blow. The was a resounding crack as his hand broke, and the monster howled in pain. As it pulled its now broken hand to its chest to protect it from further injury, Noris held his mace over his head, shouted one word, and then pointed the mace at the creature. A blazing light poured forth from the mace and struck the creature full in the chest, leaving a smoking hole in its wake. As the beast turned wildly in Noris’ direction, Maggie unleashed another of his enchanted arrows into the creature’s side, and I swept in, extended one of my blades, and plunged it into the ice-glazed spot forming around the fresh arrow. The nightblood jerked its head back and screamed soundlessly before dropping to his knees, then falling flat on its face. It hit the floor with a thud that knocked poor Fiona from her feet and shook the rest of us other than Kelthis, who promptly stepped forward and brought the heavy head of his warhammer singing through the air to smash the nightblood’s half frozen head to pulp. The creature gave one last shudder, then was still. “Good job, everyone,” Came Noris’ voice from my side. Fiona stood and said, “I have an idea, if it is a bit gruesome. What if we use the nightblood’s skin to transport the gem back to Qeynos, the high priest there can surely dispel the magic on it. The skin’s magical properties would also shield the gem from giving off it’s pulses to awaken undead as we travel.” “Sounds like a good idea, Fiona. Let’s set about skinning a sizable enough piece to wrap around it, distasteful as the task may be. I’ll handle it,” this came from Maggie. We waited patiently as Maggie cut away a large swath of skin from the creature’s back. When he finished, we moved with him as he walked over to the gem and tossed the skin over it. The area was bathed in darkness for a moment until Fiona quietly chanted something. The room lit up as a small gem nestled in her hair glowed brightly. We bundled the gem up, tied the top of the makeshift bag, then headed back the way we came from. We made it the rest of the way out of the dungeon without incident. As we finally stepped into the weak late afternoon light of the forest, I heard a hiss from behind me, then Sierla dashed in from of Noris. She snapped her hand up in from of his face and snagged an arrow from the air inches before it thudded into his eye. Faster than even Sierla could move, a half dozen other shafts came flying from the woods, two caught Sierla in the chest and leg, on hit Kelthis in his massive right shoulder, I heard a small cry as Fiona fell to the ground to avoid being hit in the head and Maggie and Noris both received superficial wounds. Seeing the danger instantly, I dropped my mentalty into my combat trance and sprinted forward almost faster than the others could follow with their eyes, shouting the whole way, “Run! Move, I’ll catch up to you shortly! Get Sierla out of here! Maggie cover their backs” I dodged at least a dozen shafts before I felt a dull thud from my abdomen area, but I didn’t stop. I whipped out my weapons as I located them, then put on another burst of speed as I crashed into their ranks. I slit the first person to meet me across the throat and stabbed another in the eye before passing through the remaining half dozen archers, shouting taunts and obscenities back to them. I looked back for a half second and saw an arrow burst through the center of one of the archer’s skulls and then my friends were out of sight. I dashed off just slow enough for the remainder of the ambush party to keep me in sight and not give up pursuit to chase my wounded friends. Keep going, don’t stop, their lives depend on you. I said to myself, not understanding why it was so important that those people live, considering I’d only known them hours. Even when the second, then the third arrows thudded into my back, lucky shots I thought at the time, I kept leading my pursuers away from Maggie’s party. My vision narrowed to a tunnel and I gave a small cry of anger and defiance as I finally lost my footing and fell over a root I’d not seen coming. The last thing I noticed before losing consciousness was a glimmer of light on what looked like a mirror, and a bellowed war cry in what sounded like…Dwarven?Figured I'd jump back into the writing scene with a big chapter. Hope you guys enjoy. Maybe another tomorrow.<div></div>I changed the nightblood fight sequence a bit, at the request of Ereviz <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> He's my little muse, helps me to not suck so much sometimes. Enjoy the edit (hopefully <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> )Final Edit.Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 11:53 AM

Ferunnia

10-28-2006, 09:56 PM

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div align="center">Book 2: The Adventures of Elhonna and Ereviz</div>Chapter 8: A Pact The dwarf muttered to himself as he went about the task of brushing down his war pony before settling down for a nap. It had been a hard day’s ride, but he had nearly finished the trip through Nektulos Forest in one day, not a mean feat considering he started the journey near Bone Lake in the far northern reaches of the forest. He had just laid his head down on his pallet when he heard an anguished scream then hooting and hollering from other throats. He immediately rolled to his feet, untied the pony, then jumped on its back and charged toward the sound, having never been a person of indecision. As he arrived on the scene, the dwarf noticed that four mangy looking humans were slowly approaching a humanoid form he couldn’t quite make out. The figure he spotted on the ground seemed to have at least three shafts imbedded in it. A stray beam of the setting sun struck the small figure on the face and he saw what appeared to be a female half-elf of very dark coloring. Uncertain for a moment of his next action, he sent out a tentative web of life sensing energy and saw a surprising burst of positive energy emanating from the person on the ground. Well, that settles it. Can’t let the good ‘uns die. Nothing to do now but… “To the pits of the underworld with ye, evil scum! I’ll strike ye down without even breaking a sweat!” His entire warcry was shouted in Dwarven and made all of the humans look up at the crazy warhammer-wielding dwarf riding down upon them on the back of a fierce looking pony. “It’s a berserker!” One of them shouted just before he was tossed aside like a rag doll by the massive one handed warhammer the dwarf swung into his face. “Shut yer hole, I’m no berserker! Why, I’m a holy warrior consecrated to the name of Brell. Get it right, idiot!” This tirade delivered while he first, deflectd three arrows at once, charged across the small clearing, and then crashed into his foes in a fashion much reminiscent of a berserker. As the word ‘idiot’ passes his lips the last of his foes have fallen, unable to get past the dwarf’s large kite shield or his thick plate armor. “Well, that’s done with. Let me see here…” He moved to the female lying on the ground and shook his head in sadness. “Too bad, girlie, you almost made it. By the bones of Brell!” He exclaimed as the figure on the ground shifted ever so slightly. “Tough, aren’t ye. Well, if you’re alive I should be able to patch ye back up.” At this, he moved closer to her, then jumped off his pony. As he moved closer, he started drawing on the holy energies contained in his body, then chanted a slow healing song as he laid his hands on her head. “This is gonna hurt a bit, you can bet. But you’ll live…I think.” As her strength seemed to return to her and her skin seemed less ashen, he set his teeth against the scream he knew would be coming then reached down to her abdomen and snatched the first arrow out by twisting it slightly to bring it back out of the entrance the same way it went in. It pulled free with a small chunk of flesh and her scream ripped through his consciousness. “Aye, I know, it hurts. Only twice more, then ill fix ye up like it never happened.” Her slight frame was still shuddering as he rolled her over onto her stomach then planted a booted foot on her lower back. His own battle wounds twinged a little thinking about how what he was doing felt, then he snatched out the two arrows buried in her back, his action accompanied by her anguished screams. He awkwardly patted her on the head then laid his hand over each wound in succession and called upon his healing energies. Minutes later, she was resting peacefully, and he slung her over the hindquarters of his pony, mounted up, and rode back to his camp.* * * The next morning he was awakened by rustling somewhere close to his bedroll, and snapped wide awake, weapon already in hand, spun, and saw the half-elf squatted over a low campfire, stirring something she had stewing in his cook pot. “Morning,” he said. “Good morning to you, too. I was a bit hungry and rummaged around a little,” she said, before turning back to her food. "Hope you don't mind." “Not a bit. What ya have cooking there?” He asked as he rolled out of his bedroll and stood up, his ornate silvered platemail gleaming in the early morning light barely filtering through the ever-present cloud cover and thick foliage overhead. “Actually managed to find a non-polluted rabbit wandering close to the camp and took him down with my belt knife,” she said matter-of-factly. “There should be enough for both of us,” she nodded at a small stump near where she was crouched. “Glad to see you’re doing well. You looked like a porcupine when I found you last night.” She gave a small chuckle, then said, “I’ll have to thank you for your assistance. I doubt I would have made it through the night if you hadn’t helped. I’m assuming you healed me.” He nodded. “Right, I owe you for that. Also, what happened to the people who were chasing me?” “I tossed 'em in a small pond a little ways downstream. They should wash out of it and down into the river in a day or two. Regardless, they won’t be botherin ye anymore.” “I’m glad to hear that. I hope my friends are alright. I was leading those archers off so my wounded friends could escape. I wonder if they made it?” she asked no one in particular. “So, what are you doing in this stretch of the woods?” “Oh, I’m just passing through,” he rumbled in his gravelly voice. “Heard you scream, and rode over to check it out. Couldn’t have that kind of ruckus when I’m trying to rest me noggin. Found those men standing over you about to stab you to death, then noticed you weren’t evil like most dark elves I’ve known. You give off a right strong good aura, were you aware of that?” She shook her head, and continued listening. “Anyways, after I finished those weaklings off, I yanked the arrows outta yer hide and healed ya up. That’s about the gist of it. I’m gonna be headin out soon, where ya heading now that your pursuers are gone?” She thought a moment before replying, “Well, where are you going next? I’m sure my party met up on the Nektulos shipping dock by now. If they made it, I’ll find out when I get there, and then let them go their own way. They don’t need a bounty head traveling with them. I’m not sure how you feel about that either. I’m sure those guys were after the five platinum reward on my head, and my friends were just in the way.” “Well, that doesn’t really change anything. I’m assuming yer bounty is out o' Freeport?” She nodded. “Then it’s settled. If ye managed to do something that would annoy Lucan enough to put that kinda price on your head, then ye must not be half bad. I’m headin to Thunderin Steppes once I reach the dock. Got a bit of a quest to finish. Been tracking a family heirloom that got stolen from a dwarven caravan a few months back. I owe the thieves a blood reckoning, as me brother was riding as a guard on that trip. Wanna join me?” “Sounds as good as anything I’d do. I can’t go back to Freeport and keep trying to destroy it from the inside for a while. There’s a bit too much activity towards catching me at the moment.” She stops suddenly, looks around pensively and then grabs her staff from beside her on the ground. “We have company. Something in the air.” The dwarf picked up his warhammer and shield from beside the stump then stood beside her and rumbled, “Back to back?” “Sounds good,” she moved to him and they stood back to back, each scanning the sky and the area between the trees in case the air attackers were accompanied by ground support. “I see em,” he said. “Bats, goodly sized ones, coming in fast.” “Aye, more from this side coming in now. This should be fun.” The half-elf at his back replied. Moments after she spoke, a shrill screeching could be heard from the bats all around, and the two combatants dropped into battle crouches and prepared for the onslaught. Just as they prepared themselves, a large shadow fell over them from directly above, and the half-elf stabbed up with her bladed staff and impaled a bat without even glancing up. She flung it to the side and then launched an attack on the first bat to fly into her range. The dwarf behind her crushed the skull of the first bat to fly within his range, held up his shield and let another one bounce off it, and then swatted it aside before it could hit the ground. The battle’s pace picked up as at least another fifteen bats with wingspans as wide as a man's height joined the melee. The dwarf and half-elf stayed at each other’s backs, spinning and attacking, guarding each other’s backs like they had fought together countless times. They fell into a rhythm and almost didn’t notice when the last bat had finally screeched its last. “You fight well for being weighed down by all that armor and having those stubby legs,” she said with a grin as she pulled a rag from her backpack and commenced to wiping down her blades. “And ye fight alright for being a skinny daisy-eating elf-kin. Now if ye’d just stop running circles around everything ye fight ye might be able to actually kill something,” he said with a large smile in return. He slammed his warhammer into the ground and then almost knocked a small tree over as he knocked the congealed dirt, blood, and brain matter off the head of his warhammer. “Elhonna Kaer’lisk, thanks for de-quilling the porcupine you found in the woods last night.” “The name’s Ereviz. Nice to meet ye and no problem with healing ye. Want to head out before we have half the forest chasing our heels?” “Yeah, sounds good, I’ll get my bag together, but first, some soup!”* * * After eating breakfast and breaking camp, they headed northwest toward the dock area. The had been traveling in companionable silence for a while, Elhonna easily keeping pace with the pony, when Ereviz looked to his side and asked her, “So, what did you do exactly to get a bounty on your head twice the size of any I’ve ever seen excepting the amount Lucan would pay for Antonia’s head? Elhonna kept on in silence for a few dozen paces, then slowly started talking. “I guess, it was about oh, seventeen or so, when I met the man who became my husband. He saved me from some thugs who had me cornered in an alley in Freeport, and then took me under his wing and trained me in fighting arts and life in general. I told him once when I was about eighteen that I loved him, but he thought it simply a girlish crush. He gently broke it to me that he didn’t want to have relations in that manner, so I pushed aside my own feelings and put all my frustrations into getting better at my training. I quickly mastered my hand to hand, staff and bladed weapons training. “When I turned twenty-two and had experienced more of life I posed my question to Matthias again. At this point, he was about twelve years my senior, even though he looked a bit more weathered than that. He admitted to having developed his own feelings for me as I developed into a woman. We got married less than a month later, and our life was great. That was about three months before the Shattering. “Nearly half a year after the Shattering, Matthias was betrayed to the Freeport Militia by someone, and they arrested him in his sleep as an agent of Qeynos. It still puts a smile on my face to think about that fact that it took them nearly thirty men to capture him, as he held them off for me to escape. Five of their men made it out, and Matthias had no weapons to fight with other than his hands. “Three days later I had to watch as they hung him in the Execution Square in Freeport. I had to travel to Qeynos to leave Matthias’ final effects with some friends there, and then I headed back to Freeport to embark on a quest of revenge. I spent nearly two years retraining myself and getting to peak condition and beyond, I perfected myself physically and gave myself time to get over my emotions so I could execute my plans without mental interference. “Once I was sure of my abilities to do what needed to be done, I started working on tracking down what had happened leading up to my husband being hung before my eyes. Almost a year after my quest started, I discovered the identity of my husband’s traitor. He was a high ranking member of the Seafury Buccaneers. You know who they are?” At his nod, she continued. “Well, I worked my way into their organization, and was almost able to make my move when they found me out. I was chased from one of their ships, but in my rage at being thwarted, I unlocked part of the latent magic I seem to carry inside me. "The massive bolt of lightning I unleashed in my anger turned the night sky bright as mid-day, then lanced across the surface of the water, jumping from ship to ship, blowing man-sized holes in each. I remember my vision blurring as the power poured forth from my body, and felt my very existence stretching as I drew dangerously close to channeling more energy than I could handle in my untrained state. "Finally, my body spent and my mind in tatters, I managed to cut the flow of energy flowing through me. For a moment there was silence, and the the creaking of timbers could be heard as the ships slowly started to tilt over. I will never forget the screams of the men on the crow's nests of those ships as they tried diving for safety while their ships rolled and bucked beneath them. Almost two of every ten members of the whole organization died in those moments. "My heart sickened by what I had just done, I turned and wearily walked down a back alley before anyone realized that the arc of lightning had originated from where I was just standing. As darkness once again took over in South Freeport, I made my way to a sewer entrance, pried the grate up, then slid down and pulled the grate back into place just as the first guard's shouts could be heard echoing down the alley. So, of course, the Seafury scum being as close to the Overlord as they are, a massive price was put out on my head. I had many close calls in the ensuing months. “I finally got the slime that had my husband killed cornered one night and eviscerated him. After that I took many actions to bring down both the Seafury’s organization and make strikes against the Freeport government in an attempt to avenge my loss. I spent a few years running from the Militia and the Seafuries, but was eventually cornered and had to kill five of the Militia guards, so the price on my head doubled. Since then I’ve been hiding in the underworld of Freeport, acting from the shadows, trying to make everyone involved in my pain as miserable as I was in the days following Matthias’ death. “A week ago I killed one of the Seafuries’ assassins, and made my escape from Freeport, and am now on the run. Now you know why I’m here and what my purpose is. Still want me with you?” “Yer durn skippy I do. You sound like ye’ll be a lot of fun to be around. Now let’s get busy on getting back me heirloom,” he said with a huge grin.” They continued on and when we were almost to the dock Elhonna stopped and turned to Ereviz, then seemed to consider something for a moment. She then stated simply, “I pledge my life to your cause, and would like to enter a pact with you. If you should fall I would like to continue your mission, but only if you’ll do the same for me.” “Agreed,” he replied, after only a moments thought, and they continued on their way. After passing through a narrow, winding canyon, they came to a large beach area. There were a few places where the beach was large enough that the wind blew up some small sand dunes. Just at the entrance of the beach from the canyon, an enormous boulder had fallen and eventually been covered in sand, making it like a large sandy ball. Just on the other side of that large mound, the dock spread out before them. “Ready to start the next leg of the journey?” Ereviz asked Elhonna as they arrived at the dock. “Yes. Yes I am,” was her reply.Edited the scene where Elhonna destroys the ships in South Freeport. Thanks again to my muse, Ereviz.Final Edit.Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 12:01 PM

Ferunnia

10-29-2006, 08:18 AM

<DIV>Feedback! I'm curious as to who is actually reading and liking what I'm writing, if anyone. Someone shooting me down for sucking would be better than the silence <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Do hope you guys are enjoying my little endeavour into writing. Peace out. Now, to see a Renaissance Festival!</DIV>

Ferunnia

10-31-2006, 01:31 AM

<div></div><div></div>Chapter 9: The Sea This dwarf intrigues me, was the foremost thing in my mind while we stood together at the handrail on the bow of the ship taking us to the Thundering Steppes. Not only does he save an absolute stranger, but a stranger who closely resembles a Tier’Dal. Yet, there is something, a quality to him, that tells me there are no underlying motives to his help. No hidden plots, no dagger in the dark, nothing. He seems calm and sure of himself, yet saddened by events as of late. Losing any family member in a dwarven family usually constitutes a multitude of mourning, and when it’s because of something like what befell his brother I’m willing to bet he’s even worse off. “What will you be doing once you’ve had your revenge?” I asked him. “I don’t rightly know. Ye see, I’ve spent all the time since me brother was killed trackin’ down the filth what killed him and the rest o’ his crew. I’ve not given much thought to what comes next. I suppose I’ll finish me trainin’, for one.” I looked quizzically at him. “Me and me brother, we joined the Order of the Crusaders of Brell. ‘Tis ‘bout his only chapter o’ dedicated holy knights. “Anyways, I’ve made it to the rank o’ journeyman, so not much more is required o’ me as far as combat arts are concerned. The rest o’ me trainin’ is o’ the spiritual type. Me heart will get closer to the ideals of Brell and me abilities will grow.” He fell silent after this for a period, then turned to ask me, “What’ll it take ye to finish the quest ye’ve set yerself upon? “I’m not sure,” I replied. “I would like to eventually see Lucan’s head on a pike, but I don’t know if any one person alone could possibly accomplish that. I suppose I’ll just go on hindering any Seafury operations I come across until I’m either too old to keep going, or find something else that gives me a sense of fulfillment. If I were a more capable assassin, I would have probably already killed every major leader in their organization, but alas, sneaking about in high security places has never been something I was good at. I tend to just snap someone’s neck rather than try to avoid them, and am eventually noticed from lack of people checking in on time. “As a matter of fact, that’s why I had to kill those Militia members a few months ago. I got a good lead on a time when one of the Seafuries’ captains would be without much protection for almost three hours and decided to make a quick strike on his home and take him out. Unfortunately, one of the two guards he had left was some kind of magic user. Before I managed to kill the guard, he sent a magical message to the local guard’s barracks, and they sent five of their best on-duty Militiamen out to arrest me. They burst in just as I was finishing the second guard and almost caught me unawares. The only choice I had to avoid arrest was to do unto them as they would have done unto me after my ‘trial’. “The slime of a Seafury escaped my wrath and I had to go into hiding. Changed my name and paid a mage from the Freeport underground to cast a magic-cloaking spell on me. As long as I didn’t cast a spell I would not show any traces of magical aura, as that is how they had tracked me down time and time again. I had to use a spell to kill the assassin that attacked me in my room a ten-day ago, and the Militia caught on to the fact that I was still operating in Freeport. At least ten guards on were on my trail when I escaped Freeport through a secret tunnel no one but Matthias and I knew of.” Ereviz looked thoughtful for a moment, then asked, “What abilities do ye have? I like to know the abilities o’ anyone I travel with. Let’s me know how they can back me up.” I had to consider for a moment. After making mental notes and running over the many fights I had been through, I started telling him what my known capabilities were. “Well, I know for a fact that I can toss a mean lightning bolt if I have to, but that spell takes it out of me. I can sense the life-force of anything around me that is actually alive out to a range of about one hundred paces. I have a bit of healing ability that I recently discovered, so I’m not sure how much I can use it before tiring myself, as I’ve had no chance to experiment. That’s about it as far as I know when it comes to magical abilities that I have to focus to use. “My combat abilities are far superior, as far as I am concerned. I can throw almost any weapon with unerring accuracy, am very good at dodging blows, can fight very well unarmed, as well as with a wide variety of melee weapons, and can enter a sort of trance that allows me to move faster and take punishment that would normally incapacitate me. “What about you? Other than seeing you use that hammer and shield very well, and knowing you can heal quite well, I know nothing of your abilities,” I asked in return. After a slight hesitation, Ereviz started speaking. “Well, me healing and melee abilities are ‘bout my best qualities. I can also take a heck o’ a beatin’. I do have a few other tricks, like a spell that absorbs blows that land on ye, a spell to deflect damage off people who stay close to me, and a spell that’ll make me allies tougher to kill.” We sat in companionable silence for a while after that, watching the rise and fall of the waves around us. We were probably about a day and a half out of our destination at this point, and the water was perfectly blue in every direction. Off the starboard bow, I saw a dolphin slice through the water, dive down then jump nearly two paces out of the water with a fish in its mouth. I felt a serene peace watching that scene, and from being at sea. Every since my first trip to Qeynos those many years ago, I noticed that I have a deep respect, and maybe love, for the sea. I never experienced sea-sickness, and my dark skin tone never burned, so I could run about without having to wear clothing that covered every inch of my skin. I felt, and to this day feel, a freedom while at sea that I feel nowhere else. I looked over at my companion, with his large feet widely set, riding the motion of the boat easily, and felt as if I were standing next to a kindred spirit. “Hey, want to go below-decks and toss down a few pints?” I asked him. His eyes lit up and he grinned as he responded, “Ye bet I do, I was hopin’ ye’d ask.” At the end of his sentence he was halfway to the door leading downstairs, and he turned and said, “What’re ye waitin’ for? If ye don’t hurry, ye’ll be sitting there wishin’ ye had some ale, as it’ll all be in me belly!”<div align="center">* * *</div> We made it to port with no attacks from pirate ships or sea goblins or anything. I was very surprised, as it seemed a day didn’t go by when I didn’t get attacked or have to save someone else from getting attacked. I was also very pleased, as the three days I spent on that ship were some of the most relaxing I had enjoyed in quite some time. I felt as if the world was mine for the taking, and nothing was impossible. After departing the ship and waving good-bye to a few sailors we had played at dice with, Ereviz and I traveled up and down the dock. I stopped and asked what we were looking for, but the only response I received was ‘I’ll let ye know when I find it.’ Deciding to let the dwarf go about his search in peace, as I’m the kind to badger someone until they break and tell me what I want to know or throw something at me in frustration, I told him I was going to go sit down in a small pub on the dock we had just passed. “Alright, I’ll come back for ye when I’ve found what I’m lookin’ for,” he said as he continued on. I walked into the establishment, and almost stabbed someone as they ran up and wrapped me up in a hug; then I recognized her. “Fiona!” “Hey there, Elhonna! I’m glad you made it out okay. I thought you were dead because I saw those men shoot you as you ran in to distract them, but I didn’t say anything to rest of the group because I didn’t want them charging in and getting themselves killed and making your sacrifice worth nothing. But you’re alive and you’re here and boy am I glad to see you and can I see your staff now?” All of this was, of course, delivered in Fiona’s nearly indecipherable, insanely fast normal speaking tone. “Why, I suppose so,” I said as I started to remove my staff from my back. “By the way, where is everyone else?” I asked as I handed it over. “Oh, they all went with Noris to Qeynos to have that nasty gem cleansed. I stayed here to do some research on a type of aquatic fish whose bones are supposed to be so hard you can make a pick-axe from them and break diamonds. I’m not sure if it’s fact or not, but I’ve nothing to do after the last quest and wanted to spend some time to myself catching up on my multitudes of research. So, what would you like me to enchant into this weapon? I can do any number of things, including doing a small amount of fire or ice damage, making it swing a little faster, and making it much harder to break at the same time as making it lighter.” I pondered the question and the options for a few moments before asking, “Can you make it harder and make it magically sharp? As in, sharp enough to cut metal and never need to be sharpened?” She thought for a second then said, “Yes, it’s just a twisting of the fire magic, like so, to make the metal constantly reforge itself, and using my magical sight, I can re-unify the dowhigs that actually compose the metal. And the hardness thing is achieved by increasing the attractiveness the dowhigs actually have for each other, so the energy field between them compresses and leaves room for the reforging process to cram more dowhigs into the same space. Sound good?” I nodded confoundedly, and she continued. “It’s quite simple really, you just take a small amount of fire magic to heat everything constantly, and some ice compressed within it to cool it down instantly, and it stays the same temperature. All of this with an aura of air defining the outline and constantly compressing the metal to act as the weaponsmith in the resharpening process. And…I’m done!” She beamed up at me. “You like it?” I tested the edge with my fingertip and had to stick my finger in my mouth to suck the blood that was coming out of the hair-thin cut I had just given myself with the slightest pressure. I silently picked up the two sections of staff, walked outside, then speared one piece into a piling near the pub grabbed a maul that was sitting nearby, slammed it into the end, of the staff section-nearly burying the whole blade in the piling- and lastly, jumped up and landed on the spear. I stood there for a minute, then jumped up and down on the handle, trying to snap or even bend the blade. Neither occurred, and my jumping made enough of a space in the wood around the blade that when I hopped down, I was easily able to whip my staff’s blade out of the piling. “Very nice work, indeed, Fiona,” I said. “Very nice work indeed. This will do quite well.” I then stored the pieces in their cases on my back. “You should have been a weaponsmith yourself, Fiona. People would pay a fortune for craftsmanship such as this. I’m sure you could turn almost any decently forged weapon into a work of art.” Her face fairly shone at all of my compliments, and I continued. “One day I might have to commission you to make some other special weapons for me, but for now this weapon is quite serviceable.” “I’m glad you like it. Most people don’t trust me to work with their weapons because I am so excitable. But how can I help it, when I know that I can do these things and make these items so much better at fulfilling their tasks?” she looked slightly sad as she said these things, but then perked up. “I know, maybe you could help spread the word about how good my work is, and my reputation will grow, and I’ll make a bunch of money, and I’ll share it with you for helping me get started!” I smiled and said, “If anyone will believe the words of a half-Tier’Dal, I will do all I can to make sure everyone knows of your abilities. One last thing, how long does this enchantment last?” She looked confused for a moment then clarity passed over her face. “Ah, yes. The enchantments are permanent. I wrapped a small spell around all of the magic to both cloak the fact that it is magical, and renew the spell every waking moment until either a more powerful weapon manages to destroy it, or the world ends. Whichever comes first. The metal will never rust now either, by the way. The reforging process remakes the weapon constantly, so it will never lose its shape or sharpness. Any other questions?” “Yes, one more. What do they serve to eat at this pub, I’m famished!”<div align="center">* * *</div> Ereviz arrived halfway through our meal, looking excited. I told him to take a seat, then signaled a waitress, who immediately went into the back room then returned carrying a heaping pile of roasted beef, a platter of fish, vegetables and fresh baked bread, and two large flagons of ale. Ereviz’s eyes lit up even more at this point, and he set into the meal in true dwarven fashion, eating the meal so quickly I almost thought he had simply breathed it in. He sat back with a belch well before Fiona and I were finished eating, and complimented the chef loudly. Then he turned to me and said, “Are ye about ready? I’ve found what I was lookin’ for, and I’d like to show ye. Also, who’s yer friend? I introduced him to Fiona and told him the quick version of our adventure, then said good-bye to Fiona and left the tavern with Ereviz. “I’m assuming I will have to wait until we get to whatever it is you were looking for before I get to find out what it is?” I asked as we hurried down the dock. “Aye, and ye’ll be happily surprised too, I’m betting. Now, come ye on, we don’t have forever.” We walked on for another fifteen minutes or so before coming to a small ramp that led down off the main pier. He headed down this ramp without missing a step, and I fell in behind him. Moored to the end of the small pier at the bottom of the ramp was a small sailboat. “This is what we’ll be takin’ to get to Pirate’s Cove, which is where I tracked me brother’s killer to. ‘Twas me brother’s ship. Now it’s mine. It only takes two people to pilot the craft, and since I’ve sailed it since I could barely walk, I’m sure I could teach ye enough to make a passable sailor. I smiled widely before saying, “Learning to sail sounds like fun. Let’s get gone, unless you have something else holding you at this port.” “Nope, already had ‘er stocked, and we’re ready to ship out. Toss that line off that piling, now, pull that rope a little until the mainsail is at about halfmast, we don’t wanna take off too fast and ram ‘er into somethin’. Good, now, off we go!Final Edit.<div></div>Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 12:07 PM

Ferunnia

10-31-2006, 06:48 PM

Come on guys. I'm having a hard time of it. Can you lurkers toss me some inspiration? My imagination is at a low. /requesthelpbreakingwritersblock<div></div>

Ferunnia

11-01-2006, 01:09 AM

<div></div><div></div>Chapter 10: A First Adventure In a tavern in Longshadow Alley, a subdivision of Freeport, dire plans are made that will send Elhonna down an unforeseen path. “I don’t care what you have to do, I want that child. I need her, and if I have to burn the skin from your bones and send your skeleton to do the job, so be it,” said the dark cowled man sitting before Rathan Lightscourge, a shadownight of Cazic-Thule. Rathan replied, “I promise you, my liege, the child will be at your feet within a *fortnight. “If she isn’t, consider your head to be already adorning a pike,” was the response as the cowled figure slid back into darkness then seemingly disappeared. A light of malice entered the shadownight’s eyes when the other figure was departed. If it does please thee, ‘My liege’, I will adorn a pike with your head the first time you ever turn your back on me. Then he stopped talking in his head and said to himself quietly out loud, “So, a trip to Qeynos. I suppose I’ll have to pay someone to cast a cloaking spell on me so I can sneak in. Heh, my orders didn’t include leaving anyone at the residence alive besides the girl, so I might yet get some enjoyment out of working with that slime.” After this statement, the half-insane human walked off, still muttering to himself.* * * “I think I could come to enjoy being a sailor,” I said to Ereviz after two days of learning everything that he could teach me about the art of sailing as we headed due south of the Thundering Steppes a few miles off the coast. “Aye, ye seem to take to it well, ye do. I can well remember when I was in your place, running about under the orders of me brother. I miss him quite a bit. I don’t think I’d be able to sail alone on this ship, too many memories.” He stood there at the wheel silently for a bit. “Besides, I can’t be givin’ up a natural born sailor, now can I? When we get to that small island ahead, I want ye to drop anchor, and after the sun goes down, we’ll take the rowboat in and see if that island is the one I was told about,” he said, his smile fading a bit as the realization that the end of his quest might be soon at hand. My natural curiosity made me finally speak on something that had been bothering me, “I’ve got a question, Ereviz. If by some chance you should fall and be unable to guide me, I will have no idea what the heirloom you are seeking looks like. What is it exactly, and why is it so important to you?” “I wondered when ye’d ask; almost thought it had slipped yer mind at this point. Well, since we do have our pact, and ye seem one to keep your word, I’ll let ye in on a little family secret. The soul of our first ancestor is tied to a grimy, rusty old shield. When in the hands of a true direct descendant of our family, the shield lends wisdom and strength to the dwarf holdin’ it. It also protects against a goodly bit o’ damage the wielder receives and encases ‘im in an aura that promotes healing and shields ‘im against the effects of fire. ‘Tis much the same size as the shield you’ve seen me using. Me brother, as the eldest of me siblings, was to inherit the shield at a ceremony when ‘e arrived in Qeynos with the rest of the caravan. “Alas, they never made it, and were attacked at least three days out from the landing at Thundering Steppes. They managed to get one magical message out saying they were being attacked, and we lost contact with ‘em. A magical scrying showed that all the people on the two ships were killed and their souls arrived safely in the afterlife. “All in all the shield’s important ‘cause ‘twill not only make the head o’ the family stronger physically, but ‘twill help ‘im lead everyone wisely.” “So, I’m looking for a shield the size of yours that looks worthless? What happens if the bandits themselves are carrying shields much the same or are actually using yours?” I asked. “Well, the shield’ll react to me like ‘twill to no one else. Ye’ll know you’ve found the right one if when you touch it, it flashes an image in the back o’ yer skull.” “How will it know me from anyone else?” I replied. “’Cause I’m gonna place a spell on ye when we actually find the place that’ll make the shield think yer a member o’ me family. Any more questions?” he queried. “Nope, that about covers what I was curious about. We’re almost within rowing distance of the island, I’m going to go prepare the rowboat.” * * * About three hours later we stowed our rowboat under a large bush near the beach. The small strip of beach we landed on was covered in a fine mist, as the moisture from the day rose out of the sand. The sun had set half an hour before and the fitful light from exploded Luclin slightly illuminated the area, giving the beach a strangely ethereal feel, as if we were walking along in a dream world. I could hear muted insect calls coming from the dense forest and see intermittent lightning strikes in the distance as a sea storm rolled in from the southeast. The storm had been steadily brewing during the entirety of our trip and it seemed Fate was on our side, as it was going to break over the island just as we arrived. We checked the island from a high vantage point and found, near the center of the league-wide patch of green in the middle of the island, a large camp. A small bay ran right up to the edge of the camp, and we could just barely make out a black flag on one of the ships’ masts sticking up through the dense fog by the light the now constant lightning provided. I told Ereviz to give me an hour to scout out the camp, as he was anything but quiet in his full body platemail. He grumbled about not just charging in and laying waste to the place, but I eventually managed to convince him that it would be in our best interests to know the basic layout of the place at least. Ten minutes later, I was scouting around the perimeter of the camp, and could see at least three buildings that seemed to be capable of housing higher placed members of this bandit group. At least a dozen smaller establishments encircled those three buildings and a large warehouse near the beaten dock sticking out into the bay. Checking on the movements of the guards patrolling the area, I saw that they had absolutely no discipline, and incapacitating one or more guards would be quite easy, if I could manage to get Ereviz to shuck some of his armor for a bit. Before heading back, I snuck up to where two guards were standing together, talking in half-drunken voices, and heard one of them slur to the other, “I think thish ish a grand idea! We can findally make enough loot to sit on our duffs for a while!” “Aye! De captains ideas are failproof, dey are! No *hic* body’ll notice if we sink one stoooopid *hic* merchant ship full of ill…ille…unlawful stuff!” I went back to the hill where we had our first sight of the village with at least five minutes to spare, and laid out my plans to Ereviz. We would knock out at least two guards, then meet back up at a small house in the village that I could tell was abandoned. There were at least sixty people running around the village, more than we could handle without any help, and we had no ready source of help. So we would have to cause as little attention as possible for as long as possible, then make our strikes on certain areas and keep moving, to make it look as though we had more than two people. It was Ereviz who suggested we sink the three ships in the bay, and I agreed that we should try, as I wouldn’t want even a crooked merchant to fall prey to these scum. Besides, the merchant may have been a lawful person, and their ‘captain’ lying to them. Regardless, Ereviz and I made our way to the edge of the pirate village and managed to subdue our respective guards then meet up in the abandoned house. “Part one of the plan, finished,” I said quietly. “Aye, now to get my revenge and find me shield!” he whispered with a mad gleam in his eyes. “Let’s get about it then, the first of the buildings is over this way…” * Fortnight is two weeks. Also, for anyone who has been wondering, I tend to use very dated measuring systems, and only use feet and such to avoid confusion, but the measuring system I would use in all my writing if everyone who reads this knew it would be thus: Hand span or span= 9 inches or approx. 23 centimeters; pace being about 5 feet; Furlong is equal to about 1/8th of a mile; a mile being about 1000 paces or 5000 feet; and the league about 3 miles. And yes, I noticed I’ve messed up and tossed those around a few times, so that’s another reason for the clarification. * Final Edit.<div></div>Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 12:12 PM

SpritRaja

11-01-2006, 05:01 AM

Read upto chapter 4 so far and thought I would post some comments about what I have read so far. You have a good discriptive style of writing and I quite like it. The main char is missing something that pulls the reader into looking through his eyes though. Maybe it is because he hasn't shown a more human side(so far) such as emotions etc. He also tends to pull through most trials rather easily without much effort in my eyes. When a hero is surprised, astonished or even beaten the reader sometimes comes to emphasize with him more. I have only read upto chapter 4 so far. I will continue reading when I have the time and will post my feedback about the rest of the story.

Ekuthh

11-01-2006, 09:44 AM

Despair not, you're doing very well. Writer's block is tough to work through- I know, believe me. Set the story aside, mull it over. Re-read what you've written, try to think as the reader thinks- what flows naturally for the next part? Try writing in smaller sections- trying to pound out a long chapter can be tiring. Halfway through you can lose your momentum and then it drags. Part of the reason I write one a week is to give myself time. The only pressure you're under is that which you create yourself. SpritRaja has some good points- make your hero suffer some; it draws the reader in. Think of all the terrible things I've done to Ambrosious- and all the terrible things he's done. But because you know his history, you like him in spite of what he does (or maybe because...). We can all empathize with the person who suffers, who is like us- while we admire the hero who always miraculously pulls through, we dont really connect with him. You have a good grasp of grammar (very important) and a good writing style. Writing is not as easy as people think, so give yourself some credit- you have talent!

Ferunnia

11-01-2006, 09:56 AM

I flesh her out much more in later chapters, and i hope you'll be pleasantly surprised at her more vulnerable side <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> thanks for the comment and enjoy my ongoing story <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> (She's basically like a level 30ish character fighting low teens or less mobs in game terms in the early chapters. her opponents get much more challenging in the trials to come <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> )<div></div>

SpritRaja

11-02-2006, 04:31 AM

Read upto chapter nine. It definately gets much better than your first few chapters. For some reason I didn't even pick up that the main character was female from the first chapters I read. Love the story so far.

Ferunnia

11-03-2006, 12:30 AM

Edited chapter 7 and 8. The parts I edited are described in the corresponding chapters. Enjoy. I'm going to have another chapter out soon.<div></div>

Ferunnia

11-20-2006, 02:10 AM

<div></div><div></div><div></div>Chapter 11: The Pirate’s Cove Lightning broke overhead as we moved into the village. A few intermittent raindrops fell in quick bursts, and I could tell a harsh storm was about to batter the island. The thunder from the constant lightning was covering the occasional clunk of Ereviz’s platemail. We moved as quietly as possible between buildings, with my scouting ahead a bit to make sure no roving patrols walked into our laps. We had a few close calls on the way to the first of the three larger buildings. In one case, we had to incapacitate a drunken guard before he could sound an alert with the battered bronze horn on his side. Ereviz looked on me with new respect after barely being able to watch my flickering progress as I dashed close to the guard, punched him in the throat, then drop kicked him in the face, caught him before he made a lot of noise falling, and dragged the smelly human into the shadows of a nearby building. We used his own clothing to bind him, and then gagged him as well. We found an empty rain barrel, stuffed him into it feet first, then put the nearby cover back on. As an afterthought, I punched a hole in the barrel, near the bottom. I didn’t want to drown the hapless pirate while he was trapped. I scouted forward again, and found we were only a few dozen paces from our first objective. As I got back into the shadows of the building Ereviz was standing beside I whispered, “We are close. Watch my back while I check for a hidden way into the building. We’ll be caught for sure if we have to go in the front. If everything goes wrong, and we can’t get out, let’s take as many with us as physically possible.” I delivered this last statement with a tight grin. “Nay, girlie. We can’t fail at this point. ‘Tis not an option. If it all goes bad, we’ll be the last ones standing, and then we’ll walk out o’ ‘ere whistling a happy tune. I refuse to let me brother ‘ave died in vain.” A fierce light had entered his eyes as he spoke, and now I could see the power of his faith flickering through his aura. “Cast the spell on me that’ll let your shield respond to me, then we’ll move in.” “Aye, will do,” he responded as I felt his aura expand outwards a bit. I felt my bones become heavier, and my muscles felt much denser, but as the effect built, I felt I could leap over a building. It was a strange feeling, though he had explained just what would happen. I felt much stronger than my usual self, and could see now what made him such a fierce fighter. “Is this how you feel all the time?” I asked. “Almost always, unless I’m at me guild chapter’s house in Qeynos. Never hurts to be ready to cause grievous injury to evil and chaotic creatures any time o' the day.” I could see his tight-lipped grin through his thick beard. “Ye adjusted to it now?” “Yeah, I’m ready. Let’s move.” So we did. The wind had started to pick up at this point, and a light rain was starting to fall. I was slightly in front of him, scanning every dark nook and cranny along the way, while his dark piercing eyes scanned for any heat signatures. We came up to the side of the building without incident; it seemed the pirates were lax from lack of invaders over the years and their stronghold being so well-hidden. Ereviz and I looked around for a minute or so before he boosted me up on his shoulders and I looked through a grimy window to spy upon the building’s contents. I beheld a goodly number of unwashed men and women bedded down for the night and figured this must be a main barracks. There were no shields in sight that matched the description Ereviz had given me, plus I could spy nothing with a dwarven aura in the area. I dropped to ground to converse with Ereviz while keeping a constant lookout for anyone who might stumble down the little throughway we stood in. “I don’t see any shields in here,” I whispered. “There are at least three other rooms in this building, though.” “Aye, well, let’s get to searchin’, then,” was his response. We systematically went from window to window, with me peering in and trying to sense a magical aura, but to no avail. We managed to sneak to another building without being discovered, then we started searching the windows there, too. The last window we checked on the building had dimly flickering candle light showing through the filthy window panes. I checked that one slowly. As I peered over the edge of the window seal, I nearly fell from Ereviz’s shoulders in startlement as a knife thunked home in the wall beside the window on the inside of the room at the same time as fierce thunder rolled through the area. Thinking we had been seen, I started to get to the ground, but then heard a rough voice from inside the room. “That blasted Jermaine! Sorriest excuse for a pirate captain this side of the Sea of Tears! I’d gladly slit his throat, if it weren’t for that blasted cloak!” A female’s low purring voice could be heard replying, “Yes, Fjord, I understand completely. Even I was unable to do the deed. Oh, I shiver to think of the time I spent in that beast’s bedchambers, trying to find a weakness. Only to be sent out days before I planned to kill him!” The longer she talked the higher and rougher pitched her voice became. “Well, Gerta, had you reported back to us more regularly, we may have noticed something you didn’t. As it is, we don’t even know that he’s ever vulnerable.” The pirate stopped for a second as thunder clashed through the village. “Even when he is bathing he has that cloak on and if by some chance he stops to have his way with a wench, he bars the door and ties her up before doing anything. Mistrustfulness has kept him alive for a long time. A lot longer than he deserves! Always taking the lion’s share of loot, the best women, and anyone who goes against what he says can expect to be whipped till their flesh falls from the bones!” Fjord continued his rant, “To add insult to injury, the scum took the only magical items we had off that damned merchant ship we raided last. Even I, his first mate, didn’t get a share! I want that rapier he got off their fat captain. Even that blasted dwarven shield that no one can figure out how to use. I could sell that for a pretty penny and get something worth keeping! Something, anything! Bah! I can’t think on this any more tonight; I’m going to bed, Gerta. Would you like to join me?” “Of course, Fjord, it’s what you pay me for isn’t it?” she replied in a scathing tone of voice. “Why yes, it is, Gerta. Into the room with ye!” he replied cynically. At this point, I hopped from Ereviz’s shoulders and related the conversation that had passed between the two pirates. He was ready to storm the captain’s quarters immediately, stating “I’ll cut ‘is ‘ead from ‘is shoulders and toss into the bay. The time’s finally come for a reckonin’. ‘Tis time for me brother’s revenge an’ I’ll not be kept from it!” This last was said in a fierce whisper. “Aye, there’s only one problem. I didn’t hear them say where the Captain’s quarters lie. Could be on one of the ships or the other building we haven’t checked. We don’t have much time left before people start waking up. We have to get the place right the first time.” “Aye, let’s try to see if we can figure that out,” Ereviz replied. “I’ve an idea, let’s head back to that rain barrel.” We made our way back to the dark-shadowed alleyway we had left the pirate in, and slowly opened the rain barrel. Muffled cursing could be heard from inside. I told Ereviz to stand watch at the end of the alley, then as he walked off, turned to the man in the barrel and pulled out my belt knife. I leaned very close to him to whisper almost inaudibly, “I don’t have time to play games, and I will gutshank you and leave you to die here over the next few days if you don’t tell me what I want to know.” His eyes were nearly bulging out as he caught by the tone of my voice that I was deadly serious. I continued whispering to him. “I’m going to lower your rag for a moment and you’re going to answer me this - where does the Captain stay. Are you going to try yelling when I lower your gag?” He gave a vehement shake of his head. “Good, then I’ll let you live.” He sagged visibly at this and looked up at me waiting for me to lower the gag. I reached down and lowered it just enough for him to speak, and in a whisper I could barely hear, due to me having nearly caved in his throat earlier, said, “T-the middle s-ship. W-with the m-mermaid w-with the a-arrow t-through her t-throat.” I nodded then moved his gag back over his mouth and whispered, “I’m not going to seal this, but I’m sure you can understand that I’m about to knock you back unconscious. Unlike most of your brethren, at least you’ll live the night through for sure.” He nodded tightly just before my hand thudded quietly against the side of his head. His eyes rolled back and he didn’t stir. I joined Ereviz at the end of the alley, then said quietly, “The middle ship, the one with the mermaid on the bow.” “Aye, let’s get over there then,” was all he had to say.<div></div>Final Edit.Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 12:16 PM

Ferunnia

11-20-2006, 02:11 AM

<div></div><div></div><div></div>Chapter 12: Boarding The Ship In the midst of the slowly thickening rain that was falling as the storm brewed to its full might, we moved quickly to a small pier close to where the Captain’s ship was docked. Standing in the shadows of a large stack of crates, I could feel water trickling down my back from the rain, and salt spray was washing up and over me as the storm blew up nearly man-sized whitecaps in the small bay. Ereviz and I shared a look, then a quick nod, and we both headed towards the gangway leading to the deck of the ship. Out of nowhere, as we were within three of four paces of the rope and wood ramp, a large bearded pirate appeared seemingly from nowhere. Quick on his heels, two more charged us. A fourth pirate dashed up the ramp, his cries lost in the fury of the storm and the crashing of waves, luckily for us. I threw my belt knife across the quickly widening distance and made one of the luckiest hits in my life. The pirate stumbled for a moment, then tumbled head over heels off the gangway into the bay below as my knife struck him in one of his kidneys, just beside his spine. Ereviz met the wide swoop of the first pirate with his heavy kite shield, and brushed the man’s run towards me by deflecting his blow in my direction. I had already extended my blades and broke my staff down, having started the moment my dagger left my hand. We met with a crashing of steel on steel, and I was amazed and nearly thrown off balance for a moment as my first blade passed through his weapon with barely a tug of resistance. As I stumbled to one side of the bearded man, I dropped to one knee and slashed in a wide semicircle behind my back with my other weapon. I spun on that one knee and let my momentum carry me in a circle. I connected with the man’s thigh and a red line drew across seemingly in slow motion. A second later, as his weight switched from the other leg to the cut one, I saw the wound open widely, as a red grinning mouth, revealing muscle tissue and bone white, then the leg collapsed, nearly cut in half. The man screamed as blood gushed from the wound. At the same time, Ereviz was wildly parrying first one, then the other pirate and kicking, elbowing, and head butting each of them in turn. I saw one pirate fall back with his nose mashed across his face, and Ereviz turned sideways from the man to block a blow from the other pirate on his shield. A moment later, Ereviz, without even looking, caved in the first man’s skull with a backhanded blow, then shield rushed the second, still standing pirate. A moment later the fight was over, as the pirate tripped over the bearded one who was bleeding his life away and Ereviz crushed his chest with a mighty blow from his warhammer. Seconds later, the mewling from the pirate whose leg I had nearly removed ended as he passed out from loss of blood. Both Ereviz and I looked around to see if we had been observed, but neither his heat sensing nor my dark piercing eyes could see anything or anyone. We made our way hurriedly up the gangway and looked around. There was no one on the top deck, not even a scout in the crow’s nest. Then again, with the wind starting to make the ship buck like a wild horse, it didn’t seem a good idea for Ereviz and me to be above decks either. Slipping on the slick deck as foamy waves splashed over the starboard side of the ship due to the ship leaning that direction in the wind, Ereviz and I made it to the door leading into the poop cabin, hopefully where the captain was. We stood there, looking at each other, then nodded to each other. He stood back half a step and kicked the door in. I rolled in behind the kick and wound up in a crouch in the middle of the small room. There were five men sitting in the small room, which itself had three doors leading to other parts of the cabin. Cutlasses and daggers were drawn, and I met the group of pirates in the middle of the three paces square room. I dove under the table and then stood up with it, ripping nails out of the floor as I did so, thanks to the extra strength Ereviz had given me. I felt a small tug on my perception coming from the center room and yelled behind me, “The middle one!” as I parried attacks in a blur. Ereviz charged past us all, not even stopping as he snapped a blow off that put on of the sailors on the floor, his spine crushed at about the level of his hips. Erevz’s hammer smashed into the door once, then twice, and the door burst off its hinges. I was nearly in awe of his strength as he burst through the door and disappeared into the room beyond. I had my own problems to worry about though, and set to about me keeping the officers from gutting me. I noticed my blade would not shear any of their weapons apart, so I assumed every one of the officers carried a magical weapon. A blow came sliding in towards my face as two others aimed for my back. The fourth blow was aimed at my ankles. I hopped up and came down on the low blade at the same time as I spun in place on the steel weapon to sweep the two blades to my rear to one side. I slashed out behind me with my other staff section and was pleased to hear a curse as the pirate had to dodge backwards or lose his head. Using the momentary break in action to my best advantage, I kicked one of the two pirates in front of me in the face then spun and dashed forward to get behind the pirate whose blade I had stepped on. Pulling a close grip towards the blade on one section, I stabbed the pirate in the temple, then pushed backwards off him as he died. The other three stepped around the dead man’s body warily, and readied their weapons. Now that they weren't surprised, I knew I was going to have a hard fight on my hands.<div></div>Final Edit.Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 12:17 PM

Ferunnia

11-20-2006, 02:11 AM

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>Chapter 13: Ereviz’s Confrontation As Ereviz crashed through the door, a tall, sinister looking man stood up from his desk and pulled a long, wicked-edged rapier from the sheathe at his hip. His oily voice carried easily across the room, “Who are you, stunted filth, that you think you can invade my sanctuary and live?” “I am Ereviz, paladin of Brell, and I am here to avenge my brother’s death!” The dwarf charged across the room and swung madly at the pirate. “Know then, that Jermaine, black scourge of the Sea of Tears, will be your end this night,” the pirate said calmly as he dodged the blow easily then lanced back in with blurring speed. Ereviz barely got his shield up in time to block the blow, and his eyes widened as the slim weapon put a deep crease in this thick metal and wood shield. With a smirk at the look on Ereviz’s face, Jermaine went on the attack again, with Ereviz barely able to block his blows at times, and sometimes getting rents in his platemail armor when the rapier snaked its way past his guard. Occasionally, the pirate would stop attacking, and Ereviz would swing blows that most people would have died from before they saw them coming, but somehow the pirate anticipated his every move, and was back on the attack almost before Ereviz could set his guard. Somehow, the tough dwarf held the pirate at bay, wondering how he was possibly going to get his revenge if he couldn’t even touch the slippery man. Out of the corner of his eye, a glimmering caught his attention almost too long, and he had to parry wildly to avoid being chopped down by the now slightly red-glowing rapier. A massive bolt of lightning came down only a hundred feet from the ships and shed a bright light over the whole room, illuminating a large, blood splattered kite shield hanging behind the desk Jermaine had been sitting at when Ereviz entered the room. My brother’s blood. Ereviz thought, and with that one fleeting moment of insight, Ereviz let loose a barrage of blows that even seemed to worry Jermaine. The pirate captain, did a backflip onto his desk then dove aside as Ereviz’s warhammer crashed down a moment later. The solid oak piece of furniture almost seemed to disintegrate under the force of the blow, and the shock of the warhammer hitting the floor actually shook the whole room. What is this creature? The pirate found himself wondering. Most would have died within a few moments of crossing blades with me, but this one only seems to grow stronger the longer the fight goes on. I must end this soon. Jermaine reversed the momentum from his dive and rushed back in, quicker than an eyeblink. His rapier flashed three times in a moment’s time, and in midswing, Ereviz’s warhammer was deflected aside, his shield knocked wide to leave an opening, and the pirate’s weapon found a home in the right pectoral area of the dwarf’s chest. As the weapon hit home, Ereviz released a battle shout and his warhammer whirled through the air to smash into the pirate’s side. The impact drove the pirate captain across the room and into a wall. But instead of slumping down, broken, he hopped to his feet with a small laugh. Ereviz, not knowing what was going on, but sure it wasn’t good, dashed the few feet to the wall where the shield hung, then snatched it down and turned to meet Jermaine. The pirate looked confused for a second as the magic from the shield flared to life and surrounded Ereviz with a flickering blue aura. Ereviz himself snapped off a few words of a chant and blood stopped running from the deep wound in his chest. He still looked like something from a nightmare though, as his once shiny armor was now covered in a light sheen of blood and other things, and rents in his armor around the legs and arms showed still open wounds slowly oozing blood. A wild gleam in his eyes as he crouched into a battle stance brought the whole image together, and he looked like some primordial being intent on slaying whatever stood in his way. Jermaine chanced a glance around the room to see if he could get past the dwarf to the room beyond, but he had moved between the pirate and the doorway and was preparing to attack. “Ye know, if you’d only let them live this wouldn’t be happening. Why?” Ereviz grated through clenched teeth, “Why did you kill everyone on the ship you got this from?” He brandished the shield. A slow smile spread across the sly man’s face, and he taunted the dwarf by saying, “Ha! Is that what this is about? A few stunted degenerate sub-human creatures? I killed them because they deserved it! Simply for living and breathing in my presence. I hate you stubby misbegotten creatures. I’d still be happy as a smuggler if a dwarven ship hadn’t captured me and turned me into the port authorities. “I spent ten years of my life fighting to live amongst the most wretched excuses for living creatures on the face of Norrath. I dug latrines, had to work the wheel at granaries, and did more backbreaking menial labor than any man should ever have to do. So yes, I hate dwarves, you included!” As the last word left his mouth, he charged, blade a blur. Ereviz easily parried the blow, then his warhammer crashed into the side of the man’s head. Yet again, the impact drove Jermaine to the ground, but it was like Ereviz had hit a brick wall, the weapon made not a single dent on the pirate’s head. “Fool, you can’t touch me with any weapon made of man. No one can. I can’t be killed!” Again the pirate charged in and Ereviz set himself for defense as he tried to puzzle the man’s secret out. Behind him, through the door, he could hear Elhonna’s warcries and curses over the crashing of weapons and the fury of the storm blowing the ship around. An anguished death scream, followed by another let Ereviz know she was handling her part of the fight well. A door in the other room crashed open at the same time as Jermaine attacked again, and he heard multiple footsteps from the other room as he met the pirate blow for blow, the shield helping deflect blows that got past his defense, and its regenerative qualities healing him slowly even when he got hurt. Ereviz rained blow after blow on the pirate, his own natural quickness and strength augmented by the combat wisdom and extra strength the shield imparted. Blow after blow connected, and none of them did any good. The pirate simply took the blow, bounced off the wall or floor or assorted piece of furniture, then went back on the attack. As Jermaine seemed to lose some of his anger at the dwarven race in favor of thinking about battle, the fight became evenly matched again. They exchanged slashes and crushing blows in a continuing stalemate, their fight accompanied by the sounds of death coming from the other room. In a moment between lightning flashes, and when Ereviz was between Jermaine and the only light in the room, Ereviz connected with a blow and noticed a small flash from around the man’s neck as he absorbed the blow. He had almost forgotten what Elhonna had related to him about the man always wearing the cloak, even to bathe. Maybe if… With a roar, Ereviz threw his hammer, head over handle, and it glanced off the man’s skull. Following the path of the weapon, Ereviz crashed bodily into the pirate, taking a slash on the side in the process. However, he managed to do what he was trying to accomplish, and crashed to the ground with the neck-clasp and cloak wrapped around his arm. Jermaine lost color in his face and rage clouded his eyes as he screamed, “No! Give it back! Give me my cloak!” and slashed madly at Ereviz’s throat. Ereviz grinned grimly and took the blow on his shield, then shoved the pirate back as he dropped the cloak then stomped on the gem in the center of the clasp. “Nooooooo!” Jermaine screamed as the foot came down. The gem shattered, and as Ereviz watch the pirate, he fell down and screamed as his bones shattered, cuts opened, and flesh fell away. It seemed all the wounds he should have taken over the years came down on him all at once. At the last, the man simply fell to pieces, then dust, as if the cloak had been holding off the pirate’s death for many, many years. Ereviz picked up his warhammer and stomped quickly back into the other room. Elhonna stood leaning on her bladed staff, streaming blood from a dozen wounds, looking as though she was out on her feet. Around her, piled waist high, were the bodies of more pirates than she had wounds. She smiled slightly, then her eyes rolled back in her head as she slumped to her knees, unconscious, yet still holding her weapon. <div align="left"> Ereviz rushed to her side and channeled all of his healing power into her wounded body. A few minutes later, her eyes blinked and she slowly stood, almost falling over, and using her staff and Ereviz’s shoulder to keep her propped up, they moved out of the cabin’s front door into the storm lashing the decks of the ships. Their forms were silhouetted in the doorway for a moment then they were gone.</div> * * * Observers from the village at the edge of the bay ran out of their homes as three blinding strokes of lightning lanced through the windy, rainy night, followed by a massive concussion accompanied by a large wave that washed over the homes nearest the water. A couple of the survivors later related tales of two fleeing figures running across the main mast of the Captain’s ship as it listed over onto its side before sinking slowly under the lapping waves of the bay. Soon after the lead ship sank, the two other ships sank as well. Divers later reported burn holes in the bows of all the ships, and in the Captain’s ship, a massive hole that went straight through the center of the ship from the maindeck out of the bottom of the ship.<div></div>Final Edit.Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 12:18 PM

Ferunnia

11-20-2006, 02:12 AM

This started as one massive chapter, but I thought it flowed better in pieces. Enjoy the new additions.<div></div>

niko_teen

11-20-2006, 03:09 AM

Glade to see you got over your writters block there. As a helpful hint, lately when i've had trouble comming up with something new i reread Mysida or Ekuth's stories to get a clear head. The next part may be akin to just me but i go chain smoke 1/4 of a packj of cigarettes drink a pot of coffee and start to sip away at a 2lt bottle of Mt dew. not that i'd recomend anyone picked up smoking or anything but the nearly 2 months i went without writting was during that time i quit. Just can't get the brain to keep pace otherwise.

DarrkElf

11-22-2006, 06:51 AM

Excellent writing - look forward to seeing what happens next <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Asp728

11-22-2006, 07:04 PM

Nice story. Please, keep it up <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

valkry

12-16-2006, 01:53 AM

<DIV>Hello?!?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>*listens for the echo.*</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Please tell us you are still writting, just taking a bit of a break to plot out your ideas.</DIV>

Ferunnia

12-20-2006, 04:09 AM

Truth be told, I've been moving, and while able, grinding the rest of the way to 70 (finally). I'll be writing something here in the next week or so, so be on the lookout <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

valkry

12-20-2006, 11:08 PM

/happy dance I've been stuck putting in major hours at work, and I check every break for new posts...even got bored enough to post my own line, but all my fav writters seem to be on a RL uber-raid at once, so no story fix. Hop the move went well & you having missplaced too much stuff & gratz on 70.

Ferunnia

12-26-2006, 09:57 PM

<div></div><div></div><div></div>Chapter 14: Revelations *Another chapter perhaps not for those with weak constitutions.* A storm blew heartily through the Thundering Steppes, the many peals of thunder showing where the place once known as the Storm Plains got its name. Through jagged mountain crevices and down gently sloping grassy valleys, past winding rivers now nearly overflowing their banks and streams already flowing freely above theirs the storm blew. Leagues and leagues of rolling plains gave way again to a towering mountain range, and through a small pass in this range the storm continued as the bulk of it slowly moved over the tops of the mountains that sheltered the small town of Thundermist. The storm blew over the top of the small circle of mountains that normally shielded the town and released its fury in the form of battering winds and sheets of cascading rain. The small dirt paths in the town turned to muddy slush within minutes, and everyone with a roof over their head thanked the gods for that small saving grace. Those few poor souls trapped in the deluge cursed the skies then tried to make themselves comfortable or busied themselves searching for some shelter from the rain. Through the sheets of rain, if one were to wander into the middle of the town, one would hear, between the rumbling peals of thunder, raucous laughter amidst cheerful music coming from at least half a dozen instruments. Walking up to the building one would see a sign depicting a centaur stumbling about with a stein of ale in his hand, naming the place the Drunken Centaur. It being the only inn in the whole small town, and with the storm blowing about shaking the building and rattling the shutters, it was no surprise to see the place packed to the rafters, with many traveling bards and minstrels playing music to keep the mood light in the overcrowded place where at a moment’s notice a knife fight would begin and moments later diffuse as a dozen of the combatants’ viewers would all at once pull the fighters apart. It was in this place that a certain dwarf and half-elf had made their way after certain incidents involving pirates and the such, and it was here that they spent the night telling of those deeds.From one side of the dim, smoke filled room, a large hulk of a man watched the fine-[Removed for Content] half-blood and her dwarven companion chug down ale after ale as they roared jokes and nearly collapsed in laughter at each witticism. A large crowd had surrounded them and was merrily asking the duo to regale them with stories from their adventures. The man watched as the oddly familiar half-blood woman stumbled to her feet then sat on the edge of her table, blearily looking about a moment before launching into a tale so improbable that if it were to be believed, she would seem to have at the same time danced the swords with a master of the blade while drinking a fine glass of wine and never spilling a drop. The man knew of the swordmaster, and that someone should claim to have embarrassed him so made him simmer with even more anger than normal. Though the fact did remain that the swordmaster the woman spoke of had not been heard of by the order for years now did almost make the large man break out in a cold sweat. His mark, if she was telling the truth, was a swordswoman so deadly as to be almost invincible. Lorthim, as this man was called, silently contemplated his task. He knew that no one was as good a fighter after a gallon or so of liquor...Barring her being a drunken master of the Silent Fist clan. Of course she wasn’t one of that order though, or she’d have never been caught dead with a weapon strapped to her back or any armor covering her supple body. Lorthim had been told that if he could capture the woman alive, he’d be allowed to have his way with her until his employers needed to use the dark-skinned creature in their experiments. That would have been incentive enough for a serial killer and [Removed for Content] such as Lorthim, but there was also a hefty bounty on her head, to be paid in full by Lucan if she were delivered to the hands of Lorthim’s employers. Thoughts of torturing the trim figure weaving gracefully, though half drunk, through the tables as she shouted out tales of her past made the man’s dark eyes gleam with fervor. She fit his profile perfectly, small and slightly thin, yet full of breast and flank, dark skinned and light haired, but with a predator’s bearing, she was as close to feminine perfection as Lorthim had ever imagined. His lower abdomen tightened in anticipation as he stared at her and licked his lips slowly. Shaking his head to momentarily clear his thoughts, Lorthim glanced about the room then noticed a prickling at the back of his neck, as though he were being watched. He turned slowly to see the dwarf, now separated from his companion, looking very clearly in his direction, his eyes not seeming as bleary as they had moments before. The dwarf slowly shook his head, almost as if in sadness, then turned back to his drink. Wondering for a moment if perhaps he had given himself away by looking at the woman so longingly, Lorthim swiveled back around on his stool, and nearly bowled over backwards in startlement as he looked into the half-elf’s eyes from only feet away at the same time as a strike of lightning highlighted her features from the side facing the room. Somehow, she had walked right up, somehow gotten behind him, and sat on the other side of his corner table without him noticing it. Considering he was thought one of the best assassins and bodyguards in the lower wards of Freeport, that she had come upon him without his knowledge gave him his first hint that she wasn’t all that she seemed. Her voice broke his inward turmoil, “What do you want, lecher? Yes, don’t look at me like that,” she said as his eyes widened, due to her saying outright what most called him from the shadows, “I know who you are and what you do. Now, why are you looking at me like you’re a man dying of thirst in the middle of Ro, and I’m the only water within a hundred leagues?” He blinked at her, astounded that he had been so easily found out, when she surprised him more by leaning over and whispering, “I’m the Black Rose, in case they didn’t tell you that.” His eyes bulged in sudden fear, and he knew then that he was dead, had been dead since he walked into the room. The black rose was two things. One, once a rose started dying it gave off a cloying scent, and when a rose was at its blackest, the scent was the strongest. The creature in front of him, from whom he could now smell the slightest lingering scent of rose perfume, was the other black rose, called that due to the euphemism of being able to smell death coming with the smell of dying roses. Her other nickname was Maiden of Death, as to this day her successful kill number was unmatched among the known assassins of Freeport’s underground. She was once a leader of the largest group of underground spies and assassins in all of Freeport, but was thought dead in the massive raid that destroyed the organization she was with. Lorthim had hoped she was dead, considering she had personally told someone she was going to rip his throat out and disembowel him before he could die of blood loss. After all, the rumor had finally gotten back to her that she was the one he fantasized about when he was [Removed for Content] women. That’s why she had looked so familiar as he stared at her from across the hazy room, but the smoke and the fact that her once waist-length hair had been shorn short - less than shoulder length - had blinded him to her identity. He started begging her with his eyes moments before words started streaming from his lips. “Please, Maiden, don’t kill me, I didn’t know it was you. I’d have never come here if I had,” he sputtered in a low, panicked voice. She held up a hand and his words cut off abruptly, as if she had torn the voice from him with that one small gesture. “Do not speak that name here, or ever again, do you understand me?” She continued only after he had nodded his head, “I want to know why you’re here before I decide what I’m going to do with you.” Lightning brightened the room and thunder followed nearly immediately, as if to bring home the ominous words she spoke. After the peal of thunder rolled through the building and the music could be heard again, the half-elf looked into the man’s eyes and calmly asked, “Besides either kidnapping me or killing me, what was it you were hired to do?” Lorthim paused to collect his thoughts then told her everything, except their offer of the woman’s body. He told her they were planning to use her in some magical experiment and that the whole thing was being paid for by Lucan and the Academy of Arcane Sciences. Then, after going into detail about the other facets of his job, from where he was supposed to drop her off to how the people who hired him had been magically following her when possible, he stopped and nervously looked at her before going on. His next statement made her face darken in rage and he nearly lost control of his bladder at the look that went over her face. “They told me to tell you that they have Loriana, whoever that is, if by some chance you should overcome me or such and no doubt refuse to hand yourself over to their gentle mercies. Obviously you don’t like whatever I just said,” he quickly added, “but whoever that is, please believe me when I say I had nothing to do with their abduction. “The fact that I know you can’t be lying is the only thing keeping you from becoming worm food,” she snapped angrily. She continued in a low voice full of the promise of pain for whoever had this Loriana, “If you know where she is, it would be in your best interest to let me know now, before I torture you to death to find it out.” "I don’t know, I heard nothing about where she might be held, only that I was to take you to Fallen Gate and keep you there ‘till they came for you,” he said quickly. She seemed to believe him, and that was good, because he was, for once in his life, telling the utter truth in the face of her wrath, which he definitely didn’t want to be the target of. He had time to start a hopeful smile as she stood up and started to turn, then her foot came out of nowhere as she continued to turn and he didn’t even have time to cry out before her heel crashed into his temple with what felt the power of a charging bull, sending him into the depths of unconsciousness. * * * Ereviz walked up, staggering only slightly, which was a surprise considering the quantity of ale he had recently imbibed. He slurred only slightly as he asked, “What was that about girlie?” She turned to him and he took a step back at the look of pain and rage on her tear-streaked face. “What’s wrong, El?” he asked as he walked closer, sobering up very quickly, as nothing he had seen, not battle wounds nor any other thing they had experienced, had affected her this way. “They have her…” she whispered. “Who? Who do they have?” he asked. “My daughter,” she whispered. “Lucan’s men have my daughter.”<div></div>Final Edit.Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 12:18 PM

Asp728

12-26-2006, 11:20 PM

Nice addition!

Ekuthh

12-28-2006, 02:42 AM

Excellently done. I'm still reading, just had a dry spell where I couldn't get anything done. Work, Holidays.... And then you people expect me to write on top of it all! Sheesh! Seriously though, DO keep writing. You have good narrative flow and nice descriptions. Your character development is coming along nicely as well.

Ferunnia

12-28-2006, 11:21 PM

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>Chapter 15: Resolution Soft rustlings were the first she knew of consciousness. After what seemed an eternity, or perhaps moments stretched out seemingly forever in darkness, she could feel her body. Fleeting memories came to her, first in bits and pieces, then in a rush that left her cold and gasping in a pool of her own sweat. She was Loriana, half-elf and sorceress in training. Youngest student to ever grace the walls of the Mage’s Training Academy in Qeynos. And now? She wasn’t sure. She had dim recollection of walking towards her quarters at the Guildhall of the Justice Bringers. Part way there, she was accosted and before she could use some of her newly learned magic to defend herself, a large fist came from nowhere and slammed into the side of her head. Flickering memories showed her trussed up and riding, gagged in the back of a wagon that made her pounding head feel as if it were going to split open with each pothole sunk into and each ridge ridden over. At this point she remembered trying to summon up energy to escape back to Qeynos with the first spell she had been taught, a teleport home spell, but for some reason her energy kept fizzling out and she thought for a moment she must have been drugged before she passed out again. It seemed weeks had passed in that state, with her occasionally being given food and water when she was awake. Now she was confused, as she had woken up in a cool dry room, smaller than the room she stayed in at the guildhall, to the light of a candle. The walls were gray and plain, the floor stone. A iron-bound wooden door stood in one wall, and after a few futile tugs and pushes she realized it was locked. No windows or other openings offered any other means of escape. Tears started to flow down her young face and she almost broke down like any other child would in the same situation. She wasn’t the youngest mage trainee in hundreds of years for no reason, though. In a moment of clarity she tried what she had been unsuccessful at on the trip here, and gleefully felt her energies gather as she cast the spell to whisk her back to Qeynos, back to safety. Moments after the spell triggered she slammed into one of the walls of her small prison at nearly bone-breaking speed. Mewling in pain and frustration, she slammed her hands down on the floor again and again until blood ran freely from her battered knuckles. A voice interrupted her angry fit, “Now, now, you can’t be damaging yourself. That is for us to do.” A thinly-built man stepped from the door that had opened silently while she ranted and smiled evilly at her. “As a matter of fact, since you’re so full of energy, now would be a good time to start.” * * * Ereviz was worried. Elhonna didn’t seem to have slept in the past four days. He was thankful that his spiritually summoned steed did not tire, as they hadn’t stopped but for moments since leaving the bar in the middle of the night with a storm whipping about their heads. Cold pelting rain had run down their cloaks and some, as is always the case with rain, had made it inside their clothes to chill them to the bone. On this, the fourth day of their journey back to the docks far southeast of Thundermist, the sky had calmed and now a crisp wind cut across the prairie Ereviz and Elhonna traversed. The sky was a leaden solid gray over their heads. The weather was no gloomier than the two adventurer's thoughts. Elhonna had ridden two horses to death and once she had discovered that she couldn’t find another one to steal or buy, had moved on foot towards her destination. She had been running on foot for close on a day and a half at a pace that would have killed a third horse, had she found one. I feel pity for anyone stupid enough to try stopping her at this point, Ereviz thought. All I can do is try to watch her back and hope we make it through this alive. It’s obviously a trap, but she either doesn’t see that through her anger or doesn’t care. “El, can you hear me?” Ereviz asked. His only reply was her breathing, a steady in-out that had nearly lulled him to sleep a few times already. Thinking she was still caught up in her own inner thoughts, her turned his head back to the fore and was nearly startled off his horse when she answered. Her voice was harsh, and she had to snap out words between deep breaths. “Yes, Ere, I can hear you. I’m just trying to think of why they took her, and what she could possibly give them that they would risk me coming back to Lucan’s lands to kill them all. I don’t know enough about what’s going on, and it’s driving me insane. I haven’t talked to the people who were taking care of her in over five years. I didn’t want to risk Lucan finding them out and using them to get to me, but it seems my efforts were for naught.” She lapsed back into silence after sharing those thoughts and Ereviz was left with questions of his own. After her revelation of having a daughter had nearly rocked him to his core, she had shocked him more by relating the circumstances leading up to the girl being in Qeynos. She had not elaborated much on parts of her story, but had filled in some gaps from what had occurred earlier in her life, over and above what she had related back in Nektulos Forest the first day they had met. After a few years of training at her mentor Matthias’ hands she had eventually fallen in love with him and he came to finally feel the same way. They were married only a few months before the Shattering, and she conceived their child perhaps a month before the moon Luclin exploded and rained hell down on the surface of Norrath. Soon after the planet calmed down, somehow Lucan found out who Matthias was and spent a fortune tracking him down and finally Elhonna and Matthias were woken one night by Lucan’s Militiamen bashing in their door. Matthias jumped to the attack while Elhonna crashed out the back window, Loriana in hand. Thinking of only the baby’s safety, both parents were willing to die that night to save the child. Elhonna, still holding the little girl-child had killed five of the guards in an alley behind the house when she heard cheering from the large crowd of guards pouring into her house. She later found out that Matthias, armed only with his hands, had killed twenty-seven of the three dozen men sent into the home that night. His sacrifice of keeping their attention was what allowed her to escape. Three days later she had to watch him smile sadly at her before hanging to death in the Execution Square of Freeport. She departed Freeport then to take Loriana to Qeynos and to leave Matthias’ final effects with his guild chapter there. Once at the Qeynos gates, Elhonna snuck into the city and left Loriana with the Justice Bringers and said her goodbyes to the child, knowing she might never be able to see her again. She later traveled out to the wilderness and perfected her fighting techniques, then her story remained much the same as she had earlier related. The sadness in her eyes as she spoke of Matthias let Ereviz know just how much those few short months of happiness had meant to her. Shifting his bunched, aching shoulders, he felt the shield strapped to his back shift a little. He still hadn’t cleaned the blood of his brother from it, and probably never would. He could understand fully the feelings Elhonna was experiencing now. He also owed her his life a dozen times over and a much greater moral debt for her helping him have his revenge on his brother’s murderer. Thoughts of both him and his brother, always working side by side, smithing weapons and armor at their father’s side made Ereviz smile sadly, much as Elhonna did when speaking of Matthias. They learned the finer arts of etching and tailoring the undergarments for their armor from their mother. They both wore armor crafted by the other brother. They made many trips to the Thundering Steppes to learn sailing and horsemanship from some of their parents’ human friends many times during their childhood. They joined the order of Brell’s Guardians at the same time to commence their training down the path of paladin-hood. It seemed they were nearly the same person, and Ereviz could recall the feeling going through his breast when he felt his brother die. He knew his brother was gone long before the correspondence came from the merchants his brother’s ship never met. His greatest shame was not being on that ship with his brother, to either die by his side or maybe, just maybe have made a difference and neither of them die. Considering how great of friends he and El had become, he’d gladly give his life to keep her from having to feel that a second time. He grimly held onto his reins and settled in for the rest of the ride to the docks on the coast of the Thundering Steppes. * * * Elhonna was trapped in a hell in her own mind. Guilt and anger crashed through her mind like waves in the ocean. Her body was burning all over and pain lanced through her joints from the long run she was making, but she was beyond feeling those things. Her greatest question was ‘why’. What made them take Loriana? Was it just to get to her? Somehow, Elhonna did not believe this to be the case. Lucan and his lackeys never did anything for less than half a dozen reasons. Guilt that she did not even know enough about her daughter to know why she might be special threatened to eat Elhonna from the inside out. She ‘should’ have been there, not off fighting her personal crusade against Lucan and the many factions involved in Matthias’ death. She knew all this, but also knew herself well enough to know that she was fooling herself. She couldn’t have lived a happy life knowing the cause of Matthias’ death wasn’t fully experiencing the same pain Matthias had felt watching his family watch him die. She also knew Freeport was no place to raise a child, especially when the only parent the child had was living as an assassin and gang leader among other things. Elhonna wasn’t proud of some of the things she had done to advance her personal crusade, but she could at least say she’d never lost sight of her final objective: Lucan’s death. Her only flaw was a small bit of trust she had for certain members in her gang. Her whole dream of watching Lucan die in agony was dashed when a snitch in her officer’s organization ratted her out to the Militia. He died for his part in her downfall, but she knew then that she’d never be able to realize her revenge, and could only get in Lucan’s way when possible, and had almost lost herself in destroying Lucan’s plans as often as possible. Only after nearly being assassinated herself did she see the light and realize she needed to be with her daughter. Now that seemed to be beyond her reach too, as she was too late to prevent her only tie to an honest life from being kidnapped. However, her anger wasn’t that something she wanted was missing, her anger came from something she never realized she would be able to feel, a mother’s righteous anger. Her CHILD was possibly being tortured by some scum in a hellhole totally unlike the bright and cheery place in Qeynos she had spent her whole life. She could be in pain, scared, and confused, and her mother was coming to make whoever was at fault pay for it.<div></div>Final Edit.Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 12:19 PM

Ferunnia

12-28-2006, 11:30 PM

<div></div><div></div>Thanks for all the kind comments. I'm glad to see my story has gained some measure of popularity (though I think I need to make a visit to Ekuth one dark night to find out how he can get his story in the Treasure Chest with one post <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />) Enjoy the story guys, hope you like the depth I've started putting into character development, and for those of you who like action, worry not. I like fighting too much to be like some people who start with good action then put too much into learning about the character and not having the character do anything <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>P.S. Edited chapters 1 and 4....couldn't figure out where to go with the itching thing, and it got on my nerve. So I changed it a little. If you guys notice anything that's out of synch or deoesn't flow right let me know and I'll see what I can do. happy hunting and enjoy the read.Message Edited by Ferunnia on 12-28-2006 12:43 PM

valkry

12-29-2006, 02:40 AM

<blockquote><hr>Ferunnia wrote:<div></div><div></div>Thanks for all the kind comments. I'm glad to see my story has gained some measure of popularity Its a wonderful tale. I only wish I could manage to convey the atmosphere of the scenes the way you do. I'm so jealous. (though I think I need to make a visit to Ekuth one dark night to find out how he can get his story in the Treasure Chest with one post <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />) I'm personally betting it involves a healthy bribe, but it might be some ancient magical spell...you know the whole sell your soul to SoE in a twisted publishing deal. <hr></blockquote><div></div>

Ekuthh

12-29-2006, 06:55 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> (though I think I need to make a visit to Ekuth one dark night to find out how he can get his story in the Treasure Chest with one post <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />) I'm personally betting it involves a healthy bribe, but it might be some ancient magical spell...you know the whole sell your soul to SoE in a twisted publishing deal. <HR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> I'm afraid it's neither. Other writers and I have speculated for some time that it appears that the mods, sadly, do not actually read our tales or select them for artistic merit, but rather simply by whichever post happens to be the newest at the time that they chose the Treasure Chest. If you backtrack this, you'll see it's a theory that bears out- also read the comments that are posted about the story under the Treasure Chest feature. You can easily see that they are using boilerplate descriptions that actually say nothing of substance about the story itself. Now what I would like to see is that the threads that are long running or really excellent (Tarvos, Mysidia, Astal and others) get stickied to the top of the forums to make it easier for new readers to the board to find the real quality stuff that folks post here. I'm sure that the Traveler's Tales section has a mod assigned, but how active they are???? Is another matter. :smileysad:

Ferunnia

12-29-2006, 09:34 AM

That does make a certain amount of sense. Seems to coincide well, too. Nothing against any of the writers in the Treasure Chest but when people with stories that I think rock don't make it after months on the forums and much time and work but people with one paragraph/entry can make it on a regular basis it makes me a bit sad that SOE isn't appreciating how its players feel...But I am used to that <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Been playing SOE games since EQOA...(PS2 EQ if you don't know what I'm talking about.) Thanks again for the support and encouragement Ekuth, and anyone else who has stuck with me through my sometimes long absences.<div></div>

valkry

12-29-2006, 09:58 AM

/hug. SoE may not be paying attention, but we read, and we appriciate. Some times we lurk, sometimes we jabber on (that would be me), but we come back day after day, sometimes hour after hour, to check the site, in hopes of finding a new chapter. <div></div>

Elfendragon

12-29-2006, 09:26 PM

Only read up to chapter 9 so far. A Pact is Made--you start to write in the 3rd person rather than 1st person. Saying "she replies", "she said", "she does this and that" instead of using I. Maybe edit so it goes back to the story being told from 1st person. So far, this is an amazing story. You tie in the elements within EQ2 and your individual character so well I can imagine myself logging in and doing it myself ^.^ I have no other criticisms to give you. I just request that you continue on with this story, no matter how many chapters it goes on for. Now I am going to start on Chapter 10! :smileyhappy:

Ferunnia

12-30-2006, 05:10 AM

<div></div>First let me say thank you for your comments. I try to bring my readers into the story as well as possible, and with nearly everyone saying I do that well, I feel a true sense of accomplishment.Now, onto answering your question about my change of style.The decision to change from 1st to 3rd was one i agonized over for a while. Mainly, I decided to change the POV because I was adding another character into the story who was just as important to me (in RL) as my own. Ereviz was my duoing buddy from 25th level through 50. We also played some together in DoF. Then we raided every day together for many months and even though he's moved onto WoW, we still stay in touch constantly. I felt his character deserved a good bit of attention and I just couldn't do that well telling it from Elhonna's perspective. I jump through perspectives quite often the further I get into the story, so I hope it doesn't make an otherwise good story not as much fun for you. Thank you for your view on things though, and I'll take your words into consideration as I go further along.P.S. New chapter in 1-3 days.<div></div>Message Edited by Ferunnia on 12-29-2006 10:35 PM

Ferunnia

12-30-2006, 06:58 PM

<div></div><div></div>Chapter 16: Awakenings “The crysssstal isss working assss planned, ssssire,” a reptilian voice hissed from one side of a massive ancient oaken table standing amidst a pool of sickly green light in a small stone-encased room far below ground. “Then the child is proving a fit catalyst?” a nondescript voice spoke from the other side of the table. “Gazzze into the cryssstal, ssssire, and look at the magical interlacccings. Ssssee them grow with each passssing ssssecond. The girl-child isss proving to be more fit for her role then we had ever expected. Two figures stepped into the source of the sickly green light, a massive distorted gem, which seemed to pulse and writhe every moment. A hulking figure with reptilian features tapped a long curved talon gently on the side of the massive, rough-cut emerald, and spoke to the humanoid, cowled figure which stepped up to the other side of the table. “Our masssster will be freed ssssoon if the child can keep thissss up,” the lizardman said excitedly. “Yes, but you must make sure she stays alive long enough to feed the gem to completion. I heard that her mother is also on her way. The girl’s power is massive and for the most part untrained, but it pales in comparison to the raw energy her mother can release. Without the safeguards in place we put on her as a baby, she would possibly destroy us all. After all, how do you think she became such a good fighter? It’s just her power bleeding over and shedding from her skin like sweat that makes her so ungodly strong and fast. The person seemed to have to think a moment, “She will be here within a week, if she sleeps little and can still move like she did when Matthias was with her. That man interfered too much for his own good. Surely he knew training her as he did would only let her control her latent powers. If she ever manages to unbind herself the world may die screaming. Well, we stopped him before he could teach her the final techniques of his art, thankfully.” A moment passed in silence then. “I want the child moved to Cazic. Our priests there will finish what you have successfully started. We can’t risk the mother interfering and stopping us from awakening the Avatar.” “Of courssse, ssssire. Conssssider it done, the lizardman replied, then walked out of the solid bronze door that constituted the only means in and out of the room. The figure stood there for a moment in silence, then reached up and pulled its cowl down to its shoulders, revealing a face from nightmares. No ears, a gash in its face where a nose should be, no lips, giving the creature a permanent smile reminiscent of a bare skull and eyes missing their eyelids, all surrounded by blacked, pus-weeping flesh that seemed to have been burned nearly to a crisp made up a face that would send most screaming from the room or make them lose their lunch on the spot. The figure seemed to have once been a man, but most normal people would have died from the extent of the wounds on the person’s face and what could be seen of the neck, where more of the blackened skin continued down towards the chest. A maniacal light entered the once-man’s eyes as he spoke lightly to himself and to no one at all, “How long, my Lord. How long must I wait to see you again? It has been centuries, my liege, how much longer must I wait?” New cracks showed in the man’s skin from speaking and fresh pus dripped down inside the robe. A wave of agony seemed to overcome him for a minute and he stood, head thrown back and mouth gasping silently for air that wouldn’t come then the pain seemed to pass and he shuddered then reached up to pull the cowl back into place. His voice now seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once as he spoke to himself again. “And when you get here, I will only ask of you one boon, that I may find where the one who caused me this pain and be able to do unto them what I have received. * * * It wasn’t until the sixth day they had been traveling that Elhonna and Ereviz arrived back at the dock, pre-dawn lighting the sky in front of them and revealing yet more clouds on the horizon.. A gentle rain had broken and the duo was once again soaked to the bone. Ereviz’s spirit horse, sensing his exhaustion, adjusted its walk to keep its rider from falling out of the saddle. Elhonna looked around blearily, almost in a daze, and then walked up to the traveling registration office on the dock. She stepped back outside perhaps five minutes later, time enough for Ereviz to fall asleep and almost fall from his horse twice. He was just recovering when she looked up at him and spoke. “Thank you for coming,” she said, then walked down the dock to one of the many cargo ships about to ply its trade across the ocean. Ereviz followed her and stepped down from his horse as they approached the ship’s gangplank. After gathering up their saddlebags from his horse, Ereviz then dismissed the magical being with a thought. While he had done this Elhonna had obviously spoken with the ship’s captain as he was nodding and talking rapidly to her, no doubt telling her where to bunk down. Papers exchanged hands, and then Elhonna came to him and took her share of the saddlebags. They walked up the gangplank then to the main cabin aft of the ship. They passed through the weather-beaten door and then made their way to a small room two levels down. Moments after they stowed their gear, both were dead-asleep.(P.S. Did an edit on a lot of the story. You'll notice I broke this down into a prelude and a main story now, as that's how I've seen it all along. Also, I clarified a conversation or two, but for my old readers, it isn't something that makes a huge difference, so I'm not going to list them. Feel free to read through it all, but I only changed what was said to more fit the situations, nothing at all changed, just maybe the way it was said, and a couple of words here and there that made more sense to me. Enjoy the chapter, I'm working on another as I type this message.)(P.S.S. You'll notice I make the world seem a heck of a lot larger that it is in game terms. I think it's inherent in any game that the world not be prohibitively large (though I would like to see how a game with a world that's truely "massive" would work. You know, a full day to cross a continent on horse or more, something a little more realistic, but I digress. I make Norrath seem the way I feel it should be. A world, not a bunch of continents the size of Rhode Island. Hope it doesn't throw anyone, as I try to write in such a way as to make the world I envision viable. Enjoy the read and happy hunting.)<div></div>Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 11:17 AM

Ferunnia

12-30-2006, 08:18 PM

<div></div><div></div><div></div>Chapter 17: Boarding Screams brought the pair out of bed with their weapons readied. They looked at each other then moved to the door in tandem. Elhonna whispered to Ereviz, “The hall ends at our door. The door opens in. I’ll jerk the door open, you go out and I’ll cover you, so I can attack over your shoulder.” Ereviz nodded his agreement and they opened the door. As Ereviz stepped into the hall, the temperature dropped suddenly and frost filled the air, then a blinding wind blew down the corridor and shards of ice deflected off the shield Ereviz was crouched behind. More and more ice blasted him to the point Elhonna thought he might be frozen solid, but he suddenly broke free of its hold and charged, sliding and slipping, down the hallway. As Elhonna stepped into the hall and followed him, he met a robed figure with a meaty thud and they went down in a tangle. Sprinting as fast as she could on the slick floor, Elhonna made her way to where Ereviz had just finished cracking the man on the floor over the head with his warhammer. “Not good,” Ereviz said. “We ‘ave spell-tossers on board. Means they’re serious. We gotta get up on deck and see what we can do.” “Aye, let’s hurry up there. I am not going to die here, not with Loriana needing me gods know where,” Elhonna replied. The pair moved to the stairs leading up the next deck and then moved up a deck without being attacked again. Screams and yells, along with the ringing clash of weapon on weapon could still be heard above-decks. Ereviz and Elhonna rushed to the stairs on the other end of the hallway they were standing in, then made their way up another level. Three doors down from where they came up, the hallway ended at a shattered door looking out on a scene of carnage and chaos. At least twice as many raiders had boarded the ship as there were crewmembers. As the duo dashed into the bright light of a clear, cool day, they both noticed a ship alongside theirs, many boarding grapples running from the invading ship to the one they stood on. Elhonna tapped the dwarf on the shoulder and pointed off the starboard bow, opposite of where the raiders’ ship was. He looked and saw about half a league in the distance another ship marked like the one that had boarded them. He spat then thudded his weapon down on the deck. The mystical energy coursing through it caused a small shockwave to spread out from his location, and many were the faces that turned in his direction. They only saw the dwarf though, as Elhonna was already on the move. As at least a dozen of the well armed and armored invaders charged the dwarf, Elhonna made her way to the largest knot of combatants still fighting on the deck of the ship. Most of the remaining crew were there, along with almost three times their number of opponents. Elhonna dove into the melee with wild abandon, almost as if she were venting her frustrations over her daughter’s kidnapping on the invaders. Her wrath was terrible to behold, as even though she took wounds, with every blow it seemed another of the men and women from the large, unmarked ship died. From behind her Ereviz could be heard singing battle songs and working on bringing down the small army that had attacked him. The battle’s tide seemed to be turning when a ball of fire streaked across the deck and exploded into the ranks of the crew and then washed over Elhonna. She was tossed, looking like a shooting star, trailing streamers of fire, over the railing of the ship. Ereviz gave an anguished cry then brought his warhammer over his head and swung it in one full circle before bringing it crashing into the deck. A dull thump exuded from the contact and all of the men still standing around Ereviz were tossed from their feet by a massive concussion of energy. Looking almost berserk, Ereviz whirled through the fallen men, smashing skulls and caving in chests. Moments later none were alive, and Ereviz moved to the rail to see if he could spot Elhonna’s body. A thunk in the rail near him made him glance away from the water, and moments later he saw a black-shrouded figure sprinting across the distance separating his ship from the newcomers, who had closed the distance swiftly. The figure ran on the rope attached to the grappling hook like it was a foot wide instead of a finger-width, then sprung into the air before Ereviz could even think about knocking the grappling hook loose. Dozens of lines followed that first one moments later, and strong-bodied men and women started pulling the ships together. Ereviz knew the situation was bleak: Elhonna missing or dead, half his ship’s crew wounded or dead, and himself half worn out from his previous show of power. He prepared himself to attack then threw himself at the figure that had alighted on the deck not three paces away. The person he attacked moved with a flowing grace and his glowing black and red sword flickered as he parried and riposted Ereviz’s attacks one after another. Where with the pirate Jermaine, Ereviz had felt that he was close to on equal footing, this black clothed person made him feel almost inferior, and he knew that couldn’t be normal. Regardless of how outmatched he may have been in the past he never let anyone make him feel outmatched. It had to be some kind of aura emanating from the man, and as soon as he realized that, Ereviz felt a weight come off his shoulders. He was able to move like his normal self again, and the stranger didn’t seem quite as unbeatable. A deep voice spoke from the figure’s cowl in a man’s voice, “Very good Sir Dwarf, not many can overcome my aura of despair. “A shadowknight,” Ereviz spat. “I shoulda known just by feeling yer sick presence.” In a single motion the man ripped the cloak and cowl from his body, revealing close-fitting enameled black armor decorated with a spiked skull motif. “And you, Sir Dwarf, are a paladin. From the markings on your breastplate, a son of Brell. How fitting that you should meet your end at the blade of a servant of Cazic-Thule. My name is Rathan Lightscourge, and I shall be your end!” As he spoke, Rathan sprinted forward, his massive two-handed sword coming down in an eye blink towards Ereviz’s unprotected head. Ereviz’s ancient shield seemed to raise upwards of its own accord and stop the blow. The impact put the smaller humanoid down on one knee, but the sword didn’t harm him at all. At this, Rathan backed up and seemed to prepare himself for a more serious fight. “I’m sorry, Sir Dwarf, I seem to have underestimated you. Now, en guarde!” “My name isn’t Sir Dwarf!” Ereviz shouted as he charged the man. Their weapons met in a clash of metal and Ereviz said to the man from a bare foot away, “Me name is Ereviz, so that ye know what name to curse when yer rottin’ in ‘ell!” * * * She was floating. Her body felt lighter than air, but she knew this was just a deception. She felt water pour into her lungs, and they felt like they were burning from the inside out. A flickering green light showed out of the corner of her eye, but wasn’t there when she slowly turned her head to see what it was. She felt herself rising, though, and turned to look upwards. She could see the surface of the water she floated in rapidly approaching. Moments later, her head broke water and as she came out of the daze that had followed her short unconsciousness, Elhonna realized what had happened, though not exactly how. As she had felt the molten fire start to pour over her, an aura of energy had risen from her breast and surrounded her moments before she would have burned to a crisp. It didn’t stop her from being burned, though, and she could feel raw spots in her skin where the cold water of the ocean made her tingle with pain. Ignoring the burns for now, Elhonna turned back toward the ships and saw the second of the invader’s ship as the first line was tossed to her ship, then watched the figure run across the rope and engage in combat with Ereviz. Archers on her ship responded as dozens of other boarding lines were tossed, raining arrows into the newcomers’ tightly packed ranks. Elhonna swam over to the new addition to the fight and climbed up its hull to the railing. No one seemed to notice her, and she vaulted up and over the edge of the ship. As she stood upright, she looked around at the stunned faces of half a dozen of the crew of this new ship. Before any of them could move, she attacked without thinking. A moment later, she had a weapon in her hand, replacing the one she had lost when tossed overboard, courtesy of a man with a broken neck. A handful of moments later, the other handful of men were down. Looking around the deck, Elhonna noticed that her small fight had drawn only minimal attention; another few men peeled away from the rail closest to her imperiled ship and charged her. She worried not at all about them, but looked instead to the dark-skinned, bald-headed, robed man standing on the poop deck beside a man who seemed to be the captain of the ship. As she watched, the dark-skinned man held up a hand in Ereviz’s direction and Elhonna watched mystical chains whip across the separating distance and bind her friend at the feet of the black-armored foe he was engaged with. With a wild yell, Elhonna tossed her borrowed sword end over end towards the Erudite. A loud clang sounded and the Erudite was startled enough to fall onto his posterior. It seemed the mage had enacted a spell of protection, which kept him from being impaled, but the distraction was all Ereviz needed to break free of his chains and smash his warhammer into his opponent’s side, interrupting the killing blow the armored man had been aiming his way. Satisfied that her friend would be ok, Elhonna dashed towards the poop deck, pulling a decently made falchion from the arrow-riddled body of one of the invaders. Quickly cutting down five men and women who stood between her and her quarry, Elhonna made her way to the stairs and up them to stand within five paces of the mage, who turned to her and started an incantation. A small fireball whizzed past her as she tossed herself desperately to one side and rolled. She heard it fizz out as it impacted the ocean some twenty paces from the ship, but before it made that sound, she had closed the distance between her and the mage to only a few feet. An aura of flame flickered into existence around the mage as she drew close, but ignoring the burning she experienced, she brought her sword to bear in three swift, chopping blows. The first clanged dully as the mage tried to bring another spell to bear, the second, half a heartbeat later, beat through his magical shield and drew a thin line of blood across the man’s cheek. The third blow took his head from his shoulders an instant after he spoke the last word of his incantation. As he died a small spark jumped from his fingertips and expanded rapidly, encasing Elhonna in a shell of fire then exploding. Most of the poop deck disappeared in that blinding flash, and the ship listed and started to sink as water poured through the massive crater the blast caused in the rear of the ship. * * * Ereviz realized Elhonna was still alive when he saw her toss a sword at the mage binding him magically. A moment before Rathan’s blade would have ended his life, the sword scared the mage enough to break his concentration, and Ereviz broke through the magical chains and brought his warhammer in a gleaming arc crashing into Rathan’s side. The blow took the shadowknight from his feet and sent him careening into the main mast of the ship. Ereviz caved in one side of the man’s evil-looking helmet, then tossed the broken figure over the side of the ship. He was happily going about helping the crew clean the decks and thinking of rejoining Elhonna on the other ship to finish the fight when a flash brighter than the sun encased the back of the enemy ship. When he was able to see again, there was no sign of the half-elf woman, and he felt his heart lurch. Anger overcame him and he crashed into the ranks of the enemy. Minutes later, as the last of the enemy surrendered in the face of his frightening onslaught, Ereviz slumped to the deck in defeat. He couldn’t feel her aura, which usually shone as bright as the sun to his magical sight. There was no sign of her body in the second enemy ship’s wreckage. It was like she had disintegrated in the blast.* * * Two days later, feeling twice his age, Ereviz ordered the now captain-less crew of the ship he was on to continue sailing after having spent the intervening time since the battle repairing the ship, binding wounds and searching for his friend. He swore to himself that he would finish her quest and save her daughter. That was the least he could do.Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 11:18 AM

Ferunnia

01-03-2007, 01:10 AM

Working on an edit to the whole story. I'm seeing things I don't like as my writing skill awakens after nearly a decade of domancy. Some things aren't flowing properly and other things simply need to be omitted or changed. I'm typing away at the story, as always enjoy my work and feel free to comment on things you like or do not like.<div></div>

Aktad

01-04-2007, 02:39 AM

drum fingers on deskcheck forumgasp, sigh, heavier sigh<wonders if muffins would work><wonders if sweet tea would work>drums fingers again....<wonders if he's making too much noise for writers to work well...>sigh, heavy sigh...Ferunnia, I'm just hanging on the edge of my seat here!?!??! I realize it's been less than 24 hours but.... sighI really like the story, please give us more <hangs head humbly and looks beseechingly>Aktad<div></div>

Ferunnia

01-04-2007, 03:05 AM

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>Jack and Coke plus a carton of Camel Turkish Jades would prolly get me more motivated <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Took a day to go bowling and just have some fun. Still working on that edit though, and as always, very appreciative to hear from any fans my story may have garnered.Also, I am going to use this post to list which chapters I've managed to finish editing. I'll give the updates on this post, so keep an eye out <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Chapter 1- Finished. Chapter 8- Finished. Chapter 15- Finished.Chapter 2- Finished. Chapter 9- Finished. Chapter 16- Finished.Chapter 3- Finished. Chapter 10- Finished. Chapter 17- Finished.Chapter 4- Finished. Chapter 11- Finished. All chapters after 17 I'm doing final edits before I post, unlike some of the older ones where I rushed them out.Chapter 5- Finished. Chapter 12- Finished.Chapter 6- Finished. Chapter 13- Finished.Chapter 7- Finished Chapter 14- Finished.<div></div>Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 12:22 PM

Ferunnia

01-05-2007, 01:25 AM

<div></div><div></div>Book 3: Fateful Encounters, and Solo AdventuresChapter 18: Confusion A dark-skinned half-elven woman wakes in a hazy forest glade. She looks about, and sees massive trees of seemingly every type she’s ever seen, and many she hasn’t. Soft green grass covers the ground beneath her back, soft as a down mattress. Streamers of sunlight filter through the canopy of the trees, sending patches of ground intermittently into shadow and light, making the forest floor look like the dappled back of a fine horse. She looks around in wonderment, and having never seen such a picture of perfection, wonders how she knows that to be true and realizes something: she doesn’t remember who she is, or how she came to be where she sits. Crystal blue eyes frown in considerable confusion, and she leans up on one elbow from her prone position. Why can’t I remember? And how can I even be thinking that if I don’t remember anything? Or that thought. Logic still resides, but no memories. Why? Fast on the heels of that thought, a consciousness rolls through the woman’s awareness, touching her in nearly intimate ways, brushing against things never meant to be touched by a hand. It seemed years of worry and pain rose from her like a casually tossed aside mantle. Muscles in her back that had been unknowingly bunched loosened, worry lines disappeared from her forehead, and a look of utter contentment passed over her face. “Who are you?” The woman asks thin air, and is only barely startled to receive an answer, and only then because the answer reverberated inside her skull rather than entering through her ears. 'I cannot tell you that, dear one. Just know this, you are safe for the time being. Now, sleep. Rest. Much will be made clear to you in the time to come.' She finds herself lying back down, almost against her will, but so at peace that she finds not the energy to resist the sensation of falling into a peaceful sleep for the first time, she feels, in many, many years.* * * Panic brought her back into consciousness. At some point during her slumber, which seemed to last for years, or only instants, she remembered that she was supposed to be doing something very important, but could not remember what that thing was. She only knew that to not do this thing would be her end, and she didn’t know why she felt that way, which only made it worse. Nothing made sense, and she could only sit there silently, tears running down her face as she felt fear and guilt crash back down upon her. Moments after she broke down, one of the many puffy white clouds in the sky above the forest canopy moved, sending a bright beam of sunlight into the woman’s eyes, blinding her for a moment. When she could see again, she noticed something out of place. Where she had been lying on her side, head cradled on a small grassy rise, cool to the touch and soft as down, she now felt warmth, and a firmer softness, and looked down and realized her head was resting on a green dress so finely woven that the sheer craftsmanship it held caught her attention and held her gaze for a few heartbeats of time. In that time, it seemed the filigree running between the threads was constantly moving, almost like a river, while the many shades of green constantly shifted, creating a dapple effect much like that the light and shadows caused on the forest floor. She heard slow, steady breathing, and looked up from her point of vantage into the greenest eyes she had ever seen; eyes the color of the finest emerald, framed by hair the color of strands of gold, all tied together by a face so beautiful tears started flowing freely down her cheeks without her realizing it. The woman’s face she looked upon was the utter pinnacle of perfection, the mold it seemed that all women’s faces must have been cast from. The agelessness to the beautiful woman’s face spoke of wisdom from many eons of experience. “Who are you?” The enraptured woman managed to breathe, finally. The woman whose lap she lay in looked down at her and gave a slight smile. Speaking commenced in the half-elf’s mind again, 'Who I am is unimportant. Who you are, on the other hand…A thoughtful look passed over her beautiful features, Before I go any further, know this as absolute truth. The things that guilt you will not come to pass. You know not what makes you feel this way, but I can tell it still bothers you.' The unearthly woman herself seemed to withdraw inwards a bit at this point, and the half-elf in her lap looked at her in consternation. “Why do you look worried?” Another of those easy smiles that seemed to make the day brighter passed across the angelic features of the woman. 'Worry not about me, child. Let us just say I am surprised for the first time in many years. For now, just worry about yourself. You’ve spent too long worrying about others, now for just a little while, spend some time healing, not worrying. This small respite is all I can give you before I needs be show you things you may one day hate me for.' The last of these thoughts were delivered with a feeling of sadness so profound the half-elf curled into the woman’s lap and cried like a child recently freed from the womb. 'Look up at me child, and I shall let you know some things. Some newer, only of importance to you, some old, so old, yet of import to all. The dusky skinned half-elf looked up, tears still in her eyes, to listen intently to any words the woman had to impart. 'The first thing you must know is this: You are neither alive nor dead. You are caught between, held in this place by two powers. One power is mine, and is controlled so that you can keep your original form, able to communicate, and learn. The other power, dear one, is yours, and it is a terrible thing. You were killed by being purified in flames, and this awakened in you something never meant to be seen in your world. Once your spirit was free of its earthly bounds, it tried to cast a spell which would have consumed all of your world. 'For you must know, an essence comparable to that of the gods of the world you currently reside in has been resting inside of you. You are not of this time, or this place. You come from far away, if you like, an alternate vision of the universe we exist in. I know not how you came to be here, but your spirit seems to know this isn’t its home, and would bring about the end of Norrath to empower a spell powerful enough to bend time and put you back in your proper place. A handful of gods have kept track of your soul as it died, over and over in the past thousands of years. 'Not once have any of them been able to communicate with it, only with the earthly incarnation it has chosen. Now your spirit rages, and it is because of this: you have a daughter. A child who holds barely a candle against the burning sun of your power, but one who is powerful enough in her own rights to bring about the rebirth of a god, if used properly. Right now your spirit can feel her essence being drained, used up in a foul spell-casting. 'You have been brought here to try and learn how to control your spirit. Time will cease to flow for you as you are brought more fully into control of your powers. Your daughter will still be whole, protected for the most part by her own innate powers, and I wish we could do anything to find her. However great our powers of reckoning though, when one is shielded from seeing by the foremost servants of a powerful god, one has little choice but to relay what information one can deduce. 'And finally, Know this, of old, Know this, which was once better thought left unknown. Your name is, and always has been Elhonna, because you would not tolerate any other title. You are one of the embodiments of pure energy from where you come. Here, in this alternate reality, your power is much reduced, but still are you a force to be reckoned with, and you will be trained in this place to overcome your own self-placed limitations and be able to save your daughter.'<div></div>Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 11:19 AM

Ferunnia

01-05-2007, 07:27 AM

Just curious as to whether the deafening silence stems from this chapter sucking or people having lives <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> If the chapter throws everyone for a loop I'll think of doing something about it. Just an experiment really. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

Ekuthh

01-05-2007, 12:31 PM

Having lives, of course. Now be quiet and let me get caught up. :smileytongue:Message Edited by Ekuth on 01-04-2007 11:32 PM

Ferunnia

01-05-2007, 12:36 PM

<div></div>Lol. Caught up, eh? Never! Muhahaha, you'll always be lagging behind toiling in the pits, pushing that pole, grinding that wheat...umm, who am I again? Yegads! Why am I holding a bloody whip? Ohhh, looking at it gives me tingles, I feel my thoughts slipping again...<div></div>Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-05-2007 01:36 AM

Elfendragon

01-05-2007, 07:21 PM

Wowie wee wow :smileysurprised: Just keeps getting better and better! *sits contently in front of the screen, waiting for another chapter to pop up* :smileyhappy:

Ferunnia

01-06-2007, 12:25 AM

Finally made a sig. I don't think it's too fancy but hey, homegrown first piece, so I'm proud of it. Props to all the people who put guides on the Signatures thread.<div></div>

valkry

01-06-2007, 01:14 AM

<DIV>I'm here too, enjoying every word, as always. Sorry I didn't post earlier....must give writers feedback or they get discourage. :smileywink: I won't let myself go Ekuth ('lurker') for so long in the future, I promise.</DIV>

Ferunnia

01-08-2007, 09:29 PM

Writer's block, oh how I didn't miss thee. Well, I'm gonna post as soon as I can think straight about the story again. Had dreams for two days that led up to the last chapter. Now that I'm not being plagued by the story I'm taking a little break and collecting my thoughts. Should be back on the story within a week or so. Happy hunting, and anyone who happens to read this who hasn't already, hope you like what I have up so far.<div></div>

Ferunnia

01-08-2007, 10:07 PM

Woot, broke 100 posts. I waas getting tired of being a journeyman. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

Asp728

01-09-2007, 06:33 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Ferunnia wrote: Woot, broke 100 posts. I waas getting tired of being a journeyman. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> Grats. Post more story entries and it'll go higher faster <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Ferunnia

01-15-2007, 06:15 AM

Working on a new chapter or 5. The ball has started rolling, albeit slowly.<div></div>

valkry

01-15-2007, 06:46 AM

/Hands Aktad a muffin. At least if impaitent...he will have his mouth full so he can't disturb you as we wait for next chapter. <div></div>

niko_teen

01-15-2007, 07:33 AM

Niko nabed a mufin for himself as he paces back and forth rahter impatiently."Mummfh memmm memmmm," he mumbles with a mouth full of food. Finding it rahter pointless to try and talk with a mouthful of baked goods he looked around for a glass of milk. A short smile spread across his face as he spied a pitched and an empty glass that still held the white film from the milk that has previously occupied the glass."Mhmmm mehhh," Niko said still grinning in triumph as he hefted the pitcher. Finding the pitch empty his once triumphant face clounded over with a look of horror. "Mhnooooooommm,"<div></div>

dano

01-15-2007, 05:04 PM

An absolutly first class tale :smileyhappy: I am really enjoying this. I'm very interested in the direction you are taking in chapter 18 :smileywink:

Ferunnia

01-15-2007, 05:38 PM

I'm glad to hear that. Hope you enjoy the one I'm about to post then. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

Ferunnia

01-15-2007, 05:43 PM

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>Chapter 19: The Change After her first meeting with the strange, beautiful woman, Elhonna’s life seemed to just ease by slowly, sleepless days passing without her realizing while she explored the wonderfully massive forest. Often she would find herself lost in contemplation while staring at a new breed of flower or tree she had known nothing of moments before, yet somehow the words to describe said plant would just be in her mind suddenly. From giant mushrooms to trees so large they seemed to take dozens of steps to circumvent, Elhonna was now exposed to a forest so primeval that the very age of the place seemed to overwhelm her senses. She saw by sunlight beautiful flowers bloom to reach for the sky, delicate seeming from a distance, yet larger around than she was tall when approached. By night, all manner of fungi seemed to race over the ground to replace what had grown during the day, at a pace that seemed impossible, only to whither and be replaced by new, and different flowers the next day. For a long period of time, Elhonna felt she was alone in the forest, other than occasional visits from the nameless woman she had awoken in the arms of. The advice she imparted on Elhonna the first night before leaving was thus: Walk the paths of this forest and learn to know it as a living being. Learn its names and meanings, and one day, its thoughts. When you can speak to the forest we can begin your true lessons. However, one evening, days, or years, after she had started wandering through the forest, Elhonna heard light padding footsteps in the distance. This interrupted something that had been nagging at the back of her mind the whole day. She had been hearing the most minute of whispers coming from every direction, and was sure this was her finally being able to hear the forest speaking to her. When she had walked over the next grassy rise, though, her annoyance at the interruption dissipated like dust in the wind. At the bottom of the next hill, tongues wagging, panting, and being purely playful, a pack of wolves sat, laid, and frolicked about, seemingly without a care in the world. A large group of pups was to one side, being watched over by some of the eldest members of the pack. As she topped the rise and looked down though, the whole pack looked up at her and she felt vaguely uncomfortable as the target of their gazes. All play stopped, and all the wolves came to their feet to look in her direction. The largest male in the pack walked slowly toward Elhonna and came to a stop about five paces away, in a patch of intermittent sun and shadow, which gave the animal an almost ethereal countenance. Its eyes were in shadow, but shone a dim yellow, while other parts of its slate gray fur body were almost painfully bright. A look of serene intelligence passed through the animal’s eyes, then, surprisingly, it spoke, directly into her mind. 'Hello, sister of the forests.' She nodded, and spoke back, albeit out-loud. “Hello to you to, Brother Wolf.” 'Your studies, they seem to be going well.' “What do you know of what I am doing here?” 'All within the forest who can speak its language know of all doings within its shadowy reaches. Not a moment goes by that the forest doesn’t tell those who can understand it the secrets of everything happening within it.' At this, her eyes lit up. “Can you teach me more of the language of nature?” The alpha male smiled a wolfish smile, fangs flashing in the sunlight as he turned his head to and fro, passing through streamers of sun. 'None can be ’taught’ to speak to the forest, they can simply learn. If you would like to join the pack for a time, you may well learn what you seek, though none of us can teach you.' “By join you, you mean walk amongst you in this form?” 'No. I mean be one with the pack, walk with us on four legs, as wolves have for time beyond reckoning, and hunt with us, partake in our kills, and become one of us for a time in all ways.' “I know not how to do what you speak of. I am willing, but lack knowledge. How do I become a wolf?” 'Now, that, 'O sister of the forest, can be taught.' * * * Minutes later, the wolf and the half-elven woman sit across from each other. The wolf looks at her with his large yellow eyes, and she stares back with her crystal blue ones. Having followed the wolf’s advice, she has stripped to nothing, and is now sitting covered only by her hair, which cascades down her shoulders and pools at her waist and on the ground. The wolf closes its eyes and lies down on the ground in front of her, then begins to speak in her head once more. You must look at me. And feel the air around me with your senses. I am male though, and you must not forget that. Search my mind, which I now open to you, and see what the differences are. Once you are ready, and know what you will be, the change is easy. Simply imagine changing, then let it flow over your body, and push this image through your skin with your power, and the change will come of its own accord. So it was told to me by elder druids many ages ago, and still it holds true to this day. I am the elder, and I ask of you to join my pack. Elhonna sat there, hair moving slightly in the warm breeze that seemed to always blow through the forest, staring at the wolf. Minutes, or days, passed, and with each passing moment, she learned more of what it would be to be a wolf. She wouldn’t simply change into a wolf in form, she would become a wolf. At this realization, a slow smile spread across her face and she reached down inside of herself into the glowing well that was her pool of power in this place, and pushed the energy through her skin and down her body. One observing from a distance would have seen the air shimmer about her, and watched her hair seem to blend into her body as it elongated. Her hands became smaller, then grew sharp claws, and her arms and legs slowly moved to different locations as a tail sprouted from over her buttocks. Hair flowed swiftly, and grew out to an almost shimmering, blinding, silver-white. Moments later, the shift was finished, and a large female wolf stood on all fours where once a woman had sat, its bright blue eyes and silver-white fur the only clues as to its true identity. When the wolf opened her eyes, she saw the world from a different perspective, and nearly leapt for joy at how much more aware of the world she seemed simply through her sense of smell. Her hearing was much more acute and even her sense of touch seemed heightened. She felt the need to stretch her new legs, and bounded off in a blur, the large ancient male wolf right beside her, sharing in her exultation in being a wolf. <div></div>Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-17-2007 11:18 AM

Ferunnia

01-15-2007, 08:00 PM

Hmm, 10 views and no comment...does this mean it's bad or you're speechless? Hoping for the latter. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

valkry

01-15-2007, 08:41 PM

<DIV>Hmm, 10 views and no comment...does this mean it's bad or you're speechless?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Means I was waiting for these to come out of the oven....../leave a large plate of pork muffins (author rewards) near the wolves path.</DIV>

Ferunnia

01-16-2007, 10:15 AM

Couple o' chapters in the morn perhaps. At least one. Now I needs be to bed, I'm freaking tired.<div></div>

dano

01-16-2007, 06:29 PM

get some sleep :smileywink: i like the direction in the last chapter :smileyhappy:

Ferunnia

01-17-2007, 12:18 AM

<div></div><div></div><div></div>Chapter 20: Understanding Light flashed off silver fur and glistening white teeth as the wolf padded swiftly down the forest trail. A panorama of sights greeted the creature as it took in its surroundings. To one side, a bubbling stream washed swiftly past time-worn pebbles and over small falls to eventually meet up with a larger body of water some hundred paces to the wolf’s rear. A small rise to the other side peaked to a modest-sized plateau which was home to a large stand of deciduous trees. Ahead, the path split into many paths, one which led to the creek, another around the edge of the plateau and yet another major branch that continued straight ahead. The wolf stopped for a moment in the midst of its chase to perk ears into the slight breeze and feel the pulse of the forest around it. Far into the stand of ancient trees, it could hear something thrashing about. Turning its head once more and scenting the air, the wolf decided to head in the direction the sounds were coming from; no blood could be smelled from the direction of the wind, and since that direction was toward the intersection of the many paths it seemed a good choice to head over to the hillock. Moments later, the wind shifted slightly, blowing from the direction of the setting sun, which was beyond the trees in the wolf’s line of sight. Almost letting out a howl of pleasure, the wolf dashed up the side of the hill, its powerful muscles propelling its headlong flight. At the top of the hill, its efforts were born to fruition as it spied a large antlered form struggling to keep moving, even though its hind legs had both been hamstrung - by what was evidenced by the red glistening on the mouth of the wolf. With a predator’s calm, the wolf sat silently and waited for the buck’s thrashing to subside somewhat, then stalked silently closer to the massive deer-like creature. The wolf was about to pounce and lock iron-jaws down on the buck’s throat when the animal started thrashing again, having smelled its own blood and the wolf’s scent mingled on an errant gust of wind. Unfortunately for the wolf, it was in range of the massive antlers and was nearly gored through the eye as the powerful neck of the creature swung the horns at the wolf’s face. A large furrow just below the eye showed how close the horns had come, and the dull, blunt impact of the blow left the wolf stunned for a moment. The buck raised up to the knees of its nerveless back legs and propelled itself using its front legs into a headlong charge at the wolf, determined to make a final stand. Just as the heavy body would have barreled into the wolf, crushing the life from it, a thickly muscled gray form shot from the woods at the buck’s side and crashed into it. Jaws clamped onto the charging animal’s throat and stayed lodged there until the mightily antlered head finally lay down and the creature breathed its last. Coming up, his jaws covered in blood from the massive deer’s jugular vein, the scarred, elder wolf looked at the silver-white female for a moment, then spoke into her mind. ‘Do not ever underestimate nature’s resiliency, Sister of the Forests. Just when you think it has breathed its last, it shows you that perhaps one last, deadly, breath remains. Ever remember the lesson you have learned here today. It brings you one step closer to understanding the world around you, and may one day be your salvation.’ The silver-white wolf, at once shamed at her failure, yet jubilant at almost bringing her first kill down alone, looked directly into the Elder’s eyes and mind spoke back to him. ‘Always will I remember every lesson you have taught me. I have become closer to nature with each passing day with your pack. I have learned to almost feel a creature’s heartbeat from a distance, and today, I almost heard the forest speak!’ ‘This is great, though sad news indeed, ‘O Sister, for it means your time here is almost at an end. When you finally hear the wind whisper its secrets, and the boughs of the trees creak to you in their multitudes of voices, your understanding will be as perfect as ever it can be. Then it will only remain for you to use the wisdom of ages that each forest can impart, and revel in your teachings. The wildness of the wind, the calmness of the earth, the ferocity of flames, and the peace of water will teach you the final things you need to know on this journey, then you shall have to return to your home.’ The old wolf continued on, ‘Let us go now, and bring to here the pack. They need not know you failed in your quest, and you didn’t you merely received help when you needed it, and that is the final lesson of the pack. Within nature the most powerful thing to have is unity. That is why the wolf pack will always prevail over the massive, powerful bear, or the wily rabbits, or the speed of the horned ones. We draw upon each other’s strengths, and in this, become a more powerful whole.’ The two loped to the edge of the plateau, then raised their voices together in a howl that soon brought the other members of the hunting party to bear. Soon thereafter, the massive deer was brought back to the den in chunks, both to feed the cubs and sustain their keepers, who did not hunt when so many other able members could range about. Later, after the sun went down, the silver haired wolf laid her head on paws and half-dozed, looking out over a green meadow shaded gray by the deep, starry night. Her thoughts were many, but one stood out amongst all: she would miss this pack when she left, but indeed knew she must soon. The same guilt that had almost overcame her when she first came to this place was now rising again, like the ever-changing tides of the ocean. This time, when the peak of her emotions rose, though, she would be able to respond and fulfill that which hurt her so deeply inside, though she knew not what it was. * * * A week later she finally heard it. All at once, the sounds came crashing down on her, almost drowning out her thoughts. The trees spoke of many things, from the dirt beneath their roots to the many insects making their homes in the bark surrounding their trunks. The wind spoke whispers of all places, all things it passed. The ground itself seemed to be calm, until it slowly woke, as if from a slumber, to recognize a new addition to the chain of life that could understand all of nature. She was at once overwhelmed and happy. Glad to have finally been given the gift to speak to the world around her, and understand it when it spoke back. Soon, the voices subsided a bit as she exerted her will and blocked some of the sounds out. Moments later, the old wolf walked up to her, a sad look in his eye, and spoke to her once more. ‘It is time, Sister. You must go back to your other life, but never forget us, or the things you have learned. The Mother of Us All waits for you. She will finish what was started here, and you will finally come into your own. There is much you must accomplish in your life, and your path only begins here. Farewell, ‘O Sister. With large tears brimming in her crystal blue wolf’s eyes, she looked upon her teacher once more, then focused deep inside, drawing upon her power for the first time in many moons. She mind spoke one last time before letting transformation overcome her. Goodbye, my friend. And then she started to shift slowly back into her human form. When finally the shift was done, she stood up on two legs, now Elhonna once again. She wandered down the path towards the grove she had first arrived at upon being brought back to life, ready to begin her final trials.<div></div>Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-16-2007 03:32 PM

Ferunnia

01-17-2007, 12:42 AM

Oh, yay. Page 4. Got more stuff in the works, and hope you guys enjoy what's happening so far.<div></div>

valkry

01-17-2007, 01:05 AM

<DIV>Gratz on page four, nice posting. (Helped me feel not quite so bad about the fact that I managed to mis-save and obliterated my chapter for today). I love the Zen-wolf-master.</DIV>

Ferunnia

01-17-2007, 02:34 AM

<div></div>Considering I envision him to be like the primordial father of all wolves, I think he turned out ok. <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> For you action lovers out there, worry not. You'll have more than you can poke a stick at not too long from now. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Anyone else? Feel free to reply with praise (which gives at least this author reason to write) or crticism (which helps this author not suck <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ).<div></div>

Ferunnia

01-17-2007, 07:21 PM

The boards have been dead...can't believe it. Though I do guess a lot of you guys write from work. I'm working on another chapter also. maybe a couple...or a few. <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

dano

01-17-2007, 09:02 PM

<DIV>We aint all dead :smileywink: I loved your new addition and am intrigued on where it will head next. keep it the good work as you have a talent :smileyhappy:</DIV>

Ferunnia

01-17-2007, 09:23 PM

New chapter soon...also, I'm using the bigger font because I personally have an easier time reading it. If anyone dislikes it, and there's a huge number that don't like the size or such I'll change it to a smaller one.<div></div>

dano

01-17-2007, 09:56 PM

Yeah I noticed the biger font .. not too sure on it yet. I am used to reading everything small but thats just me... I am sure that there are lots of people whom prefer it bigger. Once again you and I stalk eachother :smileywink:

dano

01-17-2007, 09:57 PM

YAY I am no longer a Journeyman rank on the forums :smileywink:

Ferunnia

01-17-2007, 10:16 PM

<div></div>Grats on Master...Journeyman made me sick <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> To commemorate your change in title, a new chapter. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Chapter 21: Remembrance The rest of his trip having passing uneventfully, Ereviz arrived at the Nektulos dock for the first time in a month. Considering the high spirits he had left the place in when last he was there, the painful loss of his companion seemed even more poignant. The fact that the weather was dreary and it was well after dark in a place that was perpetually dark didn’t help much at all. He wearily set his bags down when he arrived at the dockside tavern and paid for a room for the remainder of the night. While sitting at a table in the tavern, an untouched platter of food and an almost empty mug of ale sitting in front of him, he stared into the flickering, crackling fire in the main hearth of the common room. His mind wandered, and many scenes flashed through his mind of all the adventures he and Elhonna had shared in their relatively short time traveling together. He still remembered the fierce grin as she stood in the midst of seemingly impossible odds, fighting with only her staff or even bare hands and feet, overcoming opponents twice her size or strength. Or the contentment on her face when she stood there in the cabin of the pirate captain Jermaine after helping him recover his brother’s shield - her slight smile just before she collapsed of a dozen wounds taken defending his back. He remembered panicking and channeling his every heal into her and the happiness he felt when she opened her eyes. Or the grim satisfaction on her face when she held her arms up the sky and called lightning in a blinding stroke, sinking the ships and burning through the bodies of all the men who helped kill his brother and his crew. The gloomy thoughts showed well on his face, creasing his forehead and making his mouth turn downwards in a frown. This was the condition he was in when a small, rapidly speaking voice from around the level of his elbow made him look around slowly, almost like a badly aged old man. “Why the long face? Did something happen? Where’s Elhonna? You are the one she was with that the Thundering Steppes dock aren’t you?” At his nod, the female gnome continued in her almost non-stop speech, barely taking the time to take breaths between sentences, “Well, where is she? We need to talk to her. We were going to ask for her help, we need a good fighter, and she’s about as good a one as we’ve ever seen, considering our regular one is in a hospice half dead.” “She’s dead.” The words came out almost in a croak, as Ereviz’s voice broke just speaking the words. “I’m headin’ off to finish ‘er last quest. Gonna keep my vow.” At this, he looked away from the gnome back into the fire. He barely noticed when the gnome plucked at his sleeve, trying to ask him more about what he had just revealed. The words he spoke, explaining the attack on the ship, and the subsequent death of his friend sounded like they came from another person, far in the distance. Somewhere in the back of his head, Ereviz heard the gnome talking about the loss of a good two-thirds of her guild members to an attack by assassins. She went on to tell him that she and one of the only other healthy members of the guild, a healer by the name of Noris, were on a mission of vengeance. Their friend Maggie would be rejoining them soon, after a foray into the forests around Qeynos, in an effort to track down the assassins. After yet another question from the gnome, asking if he’d like to take El’s place, Ereviz turned and growled into her face, “I don’t give a rat’s a** about your guild. I’m gonna go get El’s kid, then I’ma take ‘er back to Qeynos, give ‘er back to the people she grew up with, and go back to my life the way it used ta be.” He turned away from the gnome, ready to spend the rest of the night ignoring her, when she said something that made him change his mind. Fiona’s eyes grew wide, then she asked quickly, “What’s the child’s name? It isn’t Loriana is it? Is it?” With this question Ereviz’s head snapped back around to stare at the gnome. At this moment, a human man of medium build stepped up, his body encased in blued steel plate, a shield strapped to his back, a heavy mace hanging at his side, and the emblem of the healing college of Qeynos on his breastplate. The man spoke without hesitation, “You recognize the name. That look on your face says it all. The girl is almost as dark skinned as Elhonna, but not quite as much. It’s also easy for one to see the similarities in their faces and body structures when one has spent the last thirteen years raising the girl as one would a niece who had lost her parents. I was the one who the child was given to. I couldn’t see the woman who handed me the child and note that cloudy, windy night, but I did get a glimpse of long silver-white hair inside her cowl. When I saw Elhonna for the first time, she seemed uncannily familiar, but I couldn’t place it until on my trip back to Qeynos. "I always wondered why someone would give up their child, but when I figured it out, then connected the way she fought as being a mixture between the art of assassins and the way the brawlers I’ve fought from Freeport, I figured out a bit more. It also made me think better of her, not wanting her child to grow up in no telling what kind of conditions. “It saddens me to know that she died trying to save the child she never got to know. I’d like to join you, Ereviz, was it?” The dwarf nodded, and the man continued, “Our goals coincide; we want both to rescue Lori if possible and also to make the men who slew our guild members pay a blood debt. What say you?” “I’ll join ya. ‘Twill be easier for three to succeed in this quest than one. Now, let us get some rest. We leave in the morn.” Fiona spoke up, “What about Maggie?” Ereviz looked at her then said, “We can’t afford to wait. If I didn’t ‘ave to rest enough to not fall out of me saddle I’d be riding out now. The child is in Fallen Gate, we ‘ave no time to waste.” Fiona nodded, then she and Noris went to the bar to get rooms for the night. Ereviz finished his meal, chugged it down with the last of his ale, then trudged upstairs to rest up for the next day. * * * The misty, shadowy dawn found the three well on their way away from the inn, each wrapped in their own gloomy thoughts. Leagues passed without incident, and the three made their way swiftly through the forest, finally stopping after about a twelve hour ride only because they didn’t want to wear the horses out. Dusk was nearly upon them, and they all knew it was only a matter of time before something attacked them if they didn’t keep moving. After about four hours of sleep, with one of them always awake and keeping watch, they stowed their sleeping gear and continued the trip on their already tired mounts. By the third day, having prevailed over a few minor attacks, most of which occurred during their infrequent stops for rest, the three arrived at the massive bridge leading across the rushing waters of the murky Torrent River. They stopped off in the small nameless village at the foot of the bridge and re-provisioned for the long trip across the Commonlands. An hour’s time found them through the massive black-iron gate leading into Lucan’s lands and headed steadily south along a massive wall of mountains that separated Nektulos from the rest of the continent. Dodging roaming prides of mountain lions, wandering groups of Dervish bandits and the occasional left-over stone golem, the trio managed to find themselves staring at the overwhelmingly large gates leading into Fallen Gate. Tethering their horses just outside the dungeon, and in Ereviz’s case, simply dismissing his spirit steed, the trio managed to open one of the gates just wide enough to squeeze through, and then make their way cautiously into the dank, musty tunnel leading into the dungeon proper. A flickering torch held in one mail-encased hand, Noris turned and spoke quietly to Ereviz before they ventured further. “From what Fiona and I know of this place, there’s Thexians down here making a living off the relics of lost Neriak that are scattered through the Foreigner’s Area that actually comprises this place. So we’ll have to be careful around them, they might be working for the scum who took Lori as well. One other thing is this place is rife with undead, but between my own holy spells,” he also nodded at the dwarf at this point, “and yours along with Fiona’s fire spells we should have no issues with them. Anything else need to be said before we go further?” Ereviz shook his head and briskly headed down the constantly curving tunnel, not even looking back to make sure the others were following. They were there, of course, but both quite worried about the seeming half-insanity of the dwarf. Both were saddened by the loss of Elhonna, but neither had been as close as the dwarf, either. As they came around one bend of the tunnel, a flight of bats alighted in front of them and the trio made quick work of the filthy creatures. After perhaps ten more minutes, they finally arrived at the place where the tunnel widened out into a massive cave, in the center of which stood a small keep, guarding the path further into the place. Dark skinned elves almost swarmed over the structure, some working on restoring it, others keeping a constant look out for any attacking undead or other creatures, as well as a full contingent watching the path leading out into the Commonlands. The trio debated on how to best approach the place for a moment, with Noris trying to figure out an alternative and Ereviz advising going in and crunching the skull of anyone stupid enough to stand in their way. Fiona finally glared at the both of them and spoke a few words of a chant, then almost laughed when she heard the now invisible Noris almost trip over a rock out-cropping. “Go, Noris, and find a safe spot to hide when my invisibility wears off. You have fifteen minutes, and try not to make too much noise or trip over anyone, it doesn’t make you silent, you know.” The cleric headed off swiftly, his steps not making much noise, as he had removed his boots soon after realizing Fiona had turned him invisible. He felt sweat drip down his back as he held his weapon and shield closely to his sides to keep them from clanking around and alerting the nervous, watchful guards in the keep. He was surrounded by stonework and artwork that turned the stomach for someone from Qeynos to contemplate. From scenes of children being butchered so dark elves could bathe in their blood, to screaming live victims subjected to various tortures, from impalement to being eaten alive by rats in glass jars being placed open end down on the victim’s stomach, the gory scenes only got worse. He was glad to pass out of the other side of the evil keep. Ten minutes later, he crouched down into a crevice, shuddering from the sights of dark elven debauchery he had just witnessed, and waited for the invisibility to lose its effect. A little less than fifteen minutes later, he jumped a bit as Ereviz whispered in his ear, “Ye need to move, there’s a patrol coming up behind me, and they’ll see ye for sure. There’s a small ledge up the tunnel a bit that’ll hide us above their eye level. We’ll tap lightly on the stone when Fiona should be close so she won’t miss us.” The gnome found them fifteen minutes later by following the sound she and Ereviz had decided on when Noris was sneaking off. Rejoined thus, and behind the Thexian patrols, the trio continued into the dungeon. At a hiss, Ereviz whirled and smashed down with his hammer, nearly scaring Fiona half to death and missing her feet by only inches. Smashed flat under his warhammer was a vile looking snake. She nodded her thanks to the dwarf then the group continued further in. <div></div>

valkry

01-17-2007, 11:27 PM

Ooo OOOooo OOOO! I definately love the 'enlarge world' aspect, it just feels right for your tale. (I might have to steal if, if I ever get my charcters outside the city walls). <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> danous wrote: Yeah I noticed the biger font .. not too sure on it yet. I am used to reading everything small but thats just me... I am sure that there are lots of people whom prefer it bigger. Once again you and I stalk eachother :smileywink: <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> So if you two are just stalking either, make the leap and write a tie-in to each other's threads. Then we can play the Traveler's Tales version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Niko's story had a cameo role by Mysidia.... who's wonderful ale.... was enjoyed by Darius in Ekuth's Kinslayer....which was where the walk-on characters of The Sisters started...in the same version of Freeport (Runnyeye Server) that Danos's Orge 'escaped' from.... See we are almost there, just need one more link to make six :smileywink:

Ferunnia

01-17-2007, 11:31 PM

Finished editing (finally) This link shows the post where I listed the edits. http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=tales_lore&message.id=4896#M4896. Won't see much unless you've memorized my story or got it copied to word or something. Some chapters just got a font edit. (wish there were more than three to pick from <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> )<div></div>

Ferunnia

01-17-2007, 11:33 PM

<hr size="2" width="100%">valkry18 wrote:Ooo OOOooo OOOO! I definately love the 'enlarge world' aspect, it just feels right for your tale. (I might have to steal if, if I ever get my charcters outside the city walls).<hr size="2" width="100%">Glad to see my idea of a massive world isn't unbelievable, and maybe preferable to some of my audience. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

Jnom

01-18-2007, 10:41 AM

<DIV>Hi hi,</DIV> <DIV>Just finished all the chapters. The story is definitely getting more engaging.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Some comments as requested (I know the feeling of the deafening silence. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ) </DIV> <DIV>1) This point is moot now really, but I really thought the story began to drastically improve in the mid-teen chapters. Partly because I thought the story was a bit too action-heavy in the beginning. Your action sequences are well done, but I felt there was just too much fighting and not enough story at first. Then, it seemed like you suddenly changed directions, and I really got more into the story after that. I started to get a feel of the story's direction. Now, when you do your action sequences, their quality shines even more being part of your main story instead being the overriding element in it.</DIV> <DIV>2) I definitely think your decision to go 3rd person was the right one. Again, I thought your style really started to shine after you made the switch, as if 1st person was holding you back a bit. Now you're describing people and places in much more detail than back in October/November. </DIV> <DIV>3) I like the pace of your story now. It was a bit too fast for me at first, but I think you have it under good control now.</DIV> <DIV>4) Just altogether a great story. I am excited to see that you seem to be taking your Book 3 in a slightly different direction, and your writing just seems to be getting better and better by the chapter. I am impressed!</DIV> <DIV>5) P.S. I'm not as big of a fan of the big font...but that's my own personal bias...it's a bit harder to read for me for some reason. I find my eyeballs moving around too much... <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Jnom</DIV>Message Edited by Jnom on 01-17-2007 09:42 PM

Ferunnia

01-18-2007, 10:47 AM

<div></div>'Tis my darn widescreen at high reso that makes the small font painful for me. Thanks for all your input and yeah, I think the story's doing well now too, but as a huge fan of Conanesque writing, you'll not see me go without some sort of action for long. The pace tends to vary wildly because it's my intention to sort of bring the reader along for the ride at the same hectic pace that action in a world like this can happen. Regardless, I'm glad you put a lot into your analysis of my little pet hobby of a story. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />p.s. I also saw the stark violence of Elhonna's life up this point as a mood setter that would make her later, less physical trials more important. I established that she lived this one life, and now it's a time of change. Some lessons cannot be forgotten, but she is also coming into her own and it's getting more clear that without finding herself she won't be able to save her daughter.<div></div>Message Edited by Ferunnia on 01-18-2007 12:34 AM

dano

01-18-2007, 03:47 PM

<DIV>Great chapter, nice content and it really fills out all the loopholes of the story.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The stalking continues.... :smileywink:</DIV>

Ferunnia

01-29-2007, 02:20 AM

To anyone disappointed when they look at this and it's not a new chapter, I apologize. Just thought I'd give a quick update...since it's been well over a week since I last posted. Got a new job, which is a true pain in the [Removed for Content]...only because I am up by 3 am every morning, leave by 4 am and get home at around 4:45pm...then the woman is home shortly thereafter and I don't put any of my writing or gaming before my relationship, so I don't have much time at all to do anything EQ2 based. Sundays will be about the only time I'm not exhausted, since I work Monday through Saturday, sometimes Sundays. Hopefully I'll be able to adjust to my new schedule soon and be able to write during the week again. Either way, I'll talk to you guys later, I'm off to do laundry from the week heh...<div></div>

valkry

01-29-2007, 02:37 AM

Write when you can, we understand....RL is a total PKer. Hope new job goes well and keep managing the 'spouse-agro.' <div></div>

Jnom

01-29-2007, 04:39 AM

<DIV>Wow, that is pretty brutal. Hope the job is something you enjoy though. I have a few of those months coming up myself, but am trying not to think about it yet.</DIV> <DIV>Have a happy Sunday!</DIV>

dano

01-29-2007, 07:42 PM

No worries :smileywink: RL always comes first... there are many things much more important in life than a game:smileywink:

Elfendragon

02-21-2007, 06:49 PM

Awesome. I really like the wolf pack! And I can't wait to read more about Noris/Ereviz/Fiona. You're always so descriptive, yet simple enough for people to use their imagination. /patiently awaits the next chapter <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Ferunnia

02-23-2007, 09:22 PM

<div align="left"><div align="center"> Chapter 22 Desperate Search <div align="justify">Following the winding paths in the dank, undead infested underground city known as Fallen Gate is not an easy task. Ereviz realized this in a very short amount of time, after no less than three wrong turns tossed the small party into the waiting arms of the flesh-eating denizens of the place. After finding a half finished city layout drawing in a dilapidated home, Ereviz, Noris and Fiona swiftly made their way to the deepest reaches of the sprawling dungeon. The resistance they encountered grew greater it seemed with each step taken forward, to the point that they had to start taking short breaks between fights to stay on their feet. They had reached a place where the walls were slick with moisture when Fiona stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide in horror. She opened her mouth to talk but for a moment nothing would come out. What she eventually said made her companions’ hearts lurch within their chests. “Lori is in pain. Oh, it hurts me so much. I can feel the stresses they are putting on the girl from here. Her life force, her soul, they are being wrenched from her in an outpouring that no person should be able to endure. Where is it all coming from? Her energy, it has never been so strong, but it’s like a fire burning brightly just before it extinguishes. The things they are doing to her are scratching at the back of my eyes like fingernails on a blackboard. Her body is ravaged, torn. Her cries of pain are silent, yet so loud in the ethereal plane that they are nearly deafening. “We can’t leave her this way, we can’t!” Fiona’s eyes had steadily filled with tears and now the salty water from her eyes made dirty rivulets down her cheeks. “We’re close, so close. It’s like we’ve passed a barrier that blocked all of this from me, because I should have been able to feel this from a hundred leagues away, considering my ties to the girl as her teacher of things arcane.” Fiona stopped for a moment to gather herself, then looked at the man and the dwarf with her, open anger in her eyes. “They’ll all die, if I need be die doin’ it,” Ereviz grated between clenched teeth. He could feel all that the gnome had described, and more, indescribable tortures and the uncomprehending mind of a child wondering why these things were being done to her. “This must end, I can’t stand for it any more!” Ereviz started moving slowly toward the source of the evilness being done. Noris simply seemed to harden, his lips compressed in a tight line, his anger and pain rode the air like a static charge as he started gathering his holy energies about him and shared them with Fiona and Ereviz. The three continued on, minds focused on only one thing: rescuing the child. * * * A clawed hand reached around the corner Ereviz approached, nearly tearing his throat out before he could catch the offending limp in his iron grip. Swinging mightily and taking a step back, Ereviz jerked the stitched together and reanimated mixture of dead human and wolf around and slammed it into the wall of the corridor he stood in. Gelatinous matter splattered the bodies of Noris and Fiona, who stood a mere pace behind the dwarf. Letting the pulped body slump to the floor, Ereviz released a battle cry and charged around the corner into a mass of flailing undead bodies. Hammer swinging to and fro, he decimated the ranks of undead as holy energy poured into his weapon directly from his soul. Augmented by Noris’ own holy reinforcements, Ereviz tore through the creatures as a raging wolf through parchment. Summoning his powers over and over, he released concussive waves of holy energy that would pour over the undead in a circle around him half a dozen paces in radius, shearing through their bodies and then reducing them to dust. Wave after wave of enemy fell to his might. Behind him, Noris plowed into the enemies that made their way past the rampaging dwarf. His mace flickered out again and again, and bones crushed, mangled, rotted faces disappeared, all while he continuously channeled healing energies into Ereviz, who bore the brunt of the creature’s attacks. Behind Noris, protected for the moment by the two larger males, Fiona unleashed fireball after fireball into the back ranks of the approaching undead. Flaming bits of putrefied flesh rained over the party as her spells hit home in a large arc ten paces in front of Ereviz. How long the assault lasted, none of them knew, It seemed like hours but could have been mere minutes. Time was forgotten in the ritual of lift weapon, crush the bodies around them, send magic in every direction to maim, scorch, and destroy, channel energies amongst themselves to heal and maintain their fighting prowess, and just survive. Ereviz took many, many wounds that would have killed him if not for Noris, who never once faltered in his offering of healing energies. When things seemed most bleak, though, and undead were surrounding them on all sides, pushing Ereviz back and encroaching on the tiny gnome’s position behind Noris, much needed help arrived in the form of a hail of arrows that wiped out the front ranks of the slavering mob. From his perch high atop a rock outcrop down the high corridor behind Fiona, Maggie, streaming thin runnels of blood, released arrow after arrow into the horde. Arrows of ice followed by normal arrows froze then shattered heads and limbs, arrows of flame turned many enemies into standing torches, sometimes catching nearby ghouls and zombies into pyres as well. With this added help, the tide was stemmed and as abruptly as it started, the monsters stopped coming out of the crevices leading from the massive room the party looked upon. Bodies were piled waist high around Ereviz and lay in clumps about the room where Maggie’s enchanted arrows had kept them at bay. “I got ‘ere as fast as I could,” the ranger stated simply. Ereviz nodded his thanks and started making his way across the room in the direction of Elhonna’s child, knowing there was no time to waste. The others swiftly followed suit. As they made it to the other side of the room, the group all felt a massive outpouring of energy from Lori, then nothing. All four stopped dead in their tracks, afraid to contemplate what had happened, then Fiona piped up, almost happily, “She’s not dead. I feel her life signature, faint but it’s there. But, it’s so far from here. Far to the south. The air stinks of a sacrificial teleportation spell. I think someone just died so they could take Lori away from us yet again.” The others nodded grimly and they made their way to the room Lori had obviously just occupied, which was punctuated by the smells of excrement and death. A small child lay in the middle of the room, on a small, bloodstained altar. Daggers had been driven through each of his limbs into the wood. Much of his skin had been peeled off and his naked musculature shone in the light of the torches set into sconces in the walls. His eyes had been removed whole and sat on his chest, just above the gaping hole where his heart had been removed. A charred chunk of meat lying in a chalked circle on the stone floor showed where that part of his anatomy had wound up. Obviously all his suffering had powered a traveling spell in a time when such spells were thought to be unusable. Many bloody footsteps had walked into the chalked circle and never stepped out. Shaking his head in sadness, Ereviz looked at Fiona and said, “Burn the child, dun let ‘im be brought back as a monster. ‘Tis all we can do for ‘im now. Fiona numbly obeyed, and as the child’s body joined his heart as a pile of cinders, the group walked from the room to continue their search for Loriana. * * * Elsewhere, a woman with waist-length silver hair stands atop a stony cliff on the side of a mountain which rises into clouded obscurity thousands of paces above her. Her hands are raised to the skies as in supplication, and the once dead-calm air where she stands begins to take motion. Minutes later, massive cloudbanks pour in from all directions, blotting out the sun. As a downpour starts in the valley below her, Elhonna lowers her hands to her sides. One hand slowly rises back to stop at arm length from her face, palm turned upward. Energy from the storm pours into her outstretched hand, blindingly bright to anyone with arcane sight. Her hair stands on end and the earth around her rumbles as she clenches her hand closed around the power she has called. Turning slowly, she walks to the precipice of the cliff to look out across the valley through the blowing wind and pounding rain. Lit by intermittent lightning strokes, a small mountain stands just at the edge of her sight. She raises her other hand in the direction of the mountain and opens it, palm towards the top of the rocky outcrop in the distance. At a moments thought, she prepares to release the pent up power. Tendrils of energy slowly rise and flicker into being around the outstretched hand. Her other hand raises skyward, still closed around the ball of pure nature’s fury. Her eyes flash, and she simply lets go. As she opens her clenched hand, the energy lances through her, turning her into a shining star in the dark sky for a long moment as the lightnings she holds arc down her arm, down her head and shoulders, then along her forward facing arm. The power gathers in a blinding flash then arcs across the many miles in an instant. A deafening ripping of sound accompanies the lightning on its course. Multitudes of chain lightning envelop and impact the distant mountain. Moments later, the top half of the mile high mountain disappears, turned to dust by the fury of her blast. As the sounds die away, Elhonna raises her face skyward just as the clouds roll up the mountain and unleash their cleansing waters over the cliff she stands on. In the drenching downpour, Elhonna’s eyes flash once more, and her thoughts turn from her quest for power. She speaks aloud for a moment. "I am finished here. I must return to Norrath, and my daughter’s captors will die.’ She turns and heads towards the path that will take her to her benefactor’s cabin in the far distant woods.</div></div></div>

Ferunnia

02-23-2007, 09:43 PM

For future reference I hate the new editor...It took me forever to get my story decently formatted...still not happy, but oh well. Enjoy the chapter. Can't write often, later guys. p.s. what the **** is wrong with these stupid forums? I can't get that random code out of me darn story. Any help from anyone?

valkry

02-23-2007, 11:37 PM

The code stinks. It is much worse if you try to edit pre-forum swap posts, the new posts aren't quite so bad, but still ugly. I've found if I edit message 2-4 times, I can usually get it all cleaned up. It's tough when you need to separated different parts of the story, but if you can limit your font/color changes, the messy code doesn't get so bad....and yeah, the 'remove messy code' button is a total psych. Glad to see the post, I was missing your story.

Ferunnia

02-24-2007, 12:55 AM

Yay, after the umpteenth time the code seems to be gone...I love story breaks. The fact that this coding makes that a pain to do pi**** me off to no end heh. Glad you liked my entry. Anyone else feel free to comment <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Ferunnia

02-24-2007, 02:20 AM

200 posts yay...Also breaking my own 100 post mark in this forum <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. P.S. when did we all become loremasters? Is it based on you starting a story in this board or do you have to have a popular one going on or?

valkry

02-24-2007, 11:54 AM

We became "Loremasters" when SoE finally fixed the bug that had us all showing as "Forum Users." <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=347066" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">New ranking system</a> Grimwell explained they changed the system w/ new forums, now based off account age vs post count. While there were issues with people playing lots of games to inflate their post count (Done it, but I was sooo tired of the yucky green title color I had right before forum-flop...I just wanted the pretty blue color).... Well now "Loremaster" doesn't show how active we are on the board, just that we have been playing the game probably wayyyyy too long <img src="/smilies/499fd50bc713bfcdf2ab5a23c00c2d62.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.

Ferunnia

02-25-2007, 01:29 AM

Chapter 23: Preparation Screams of the dying and tortured echoed down the lichen covered walls of the temple complex. Outside, the sun shone down on a place at once majestic in its wasteful splendor, but also a center for evil unknown to the world. Soaring towers and massive ziggurats dominated the skyline of the place known as Cazic Thule. Vines, trees and other greenery occupied the places within the temple complex not often trod upon. To one side of the main entry through the massive wall surrounding the place, a pristine waterfall tumbled its way down the side of the terraced square that rose a dozen paces above the earth, and which all the other buildings were built on. A gigantic ramp led from the ground level at the main gate to the top of the main square of the complex. To the side of the ramp opposite the waterfall, a tall, rectangular portal had been cut into the earth that composed the raised square of the place. It was to this entrance that the heavily laden group of lizardman cultists headed, carrying at once their materials, research papers, and the body of a small, dark-skinned girl. Their teleport signature still making the air near the main gate shimmer as in high summer, the group hastily marched through the entrance and into the rough-carved tunnels under the more visible part of the complex. However, it was in these musty, smoky, sparingly lit passageways that their true work was to be done. The massive lizardman who had met the mysterious mage under Fallen Gate turned back to his companions and hissed out a long string of commands, which the minions scrambled to obey. Two, carrying the girl and a large amount of magical research material in their large, powerful scaly hands, followed the leader as he made his way further into the tunnels. They walked through passage after passage bustling with many cowled magic-using lizardmen who were usually accompanied by plate-encased warriors bristling with many different sorts of weapons. Many turns and twists later, the small party arrived at a pair of heavy, bronze-encased doors carved with the visage of Cazic-Thule surrounded by prostrate servants who were being tortured and then fed, still living, to many of the dark beasts comprising the border of the door frame. In the fitful light of the torches along the passage, it seemed the pitiful souls depicted on the mural were writhing in agony and wailing silently, mouths wide open. After laying a hand on the door for a moment, the lizardman stepped back as the door swung silently open in response to his magical signature. Signaling the two guards accompanying him to wait close to the door, the lizardman stepped through a small archway into a square room about five paces to a side. A motif of death and suffering covered the walls, but they were nothing to the pure fear emanating from the small statue on a pitch black altar in the middle of the room. A formless face with many eyes down its elongated head, apishly proportioned arms and shoulders, along with heavily muscled legs and a thick tail represented the Avatar of fear, Cazic’s main servant on the mortal plane. For many years now, the statue had lain dormant, but the long process the magician now bowing before the statue had undertaken was coming to fruition, and the god-servant would awaken again. A shivering ran through the lizardman’s bones as he recalled his bloody rise to the top echelons of the hierarchy of the temple. Only five stood above him now, and none were mightier in the arts of dark healing he partook. In his mind he contemplated the deaths of those five, especially the man he had met weeks earlier at the secondary altar of Cazic located in Fallen Gate. That man, High Servant Me’ilthal, was present leader of the legions of worshippers Cazic could claim, even in his prolonged absence. His insistence that all under him grovel in his presence made it an even more sublime fantasy. The thought of eating the man’s entrails while he screamed his last made the lizardman’s hands clench and unclench in ecstasy. After paying homage to the image of his god’s favored servant, and the god himself, Ssiithius, as this lizardman was known, stepped out of the room and motioned for the two guards to follow him with both the magical items and the broken body of the girl in tow. The three stepped into a room far beneath the earth, a room which seemed to rise impossibly high and stretched the length of a small town. In this cavernous area, the main underground city that comprised the center of Cazic’s worship housed the multitudes of priests and warriors pledged to the god’s causes. A large building to one side of the area was the center for magical research, and it was there that the girl was taken, then subsequently handed over to the many magicians eagerly awaiting their chance to exploit the girl’s power. After seeing that she was hooked up to the magical bindings that would also serve as the conduits to steal her essence, Ssiithius made his way back to his own quarters, to contemplate what he would do since the girl was no longer his responsibility. Arriving at his permanent lodgings, the shaman settled down to a meal brought to him by ever-waiting magical servants and decided on what he would do now. A thought occurred to him and a wicked grin passed his fanged, scaled countenance as he stood up suddenly, a malicious intent gleaming in his eyes. Walking to a large cabinet, he rifled through the disorganized contents until he found what he was looking for, a large mirror inlaid with humanoid teeth around the edge. Calling upon his divinatory powers, Ssiithius commanded the crystal to show him the beings he had caught a glimpse of while escaping Fallen Gate. Almost instantly, he was shown a picture of the mighty dwarf who had almost single-handedly slain over one hundred of his many necromantic accomplices’ creations in a single ferocious encounter only hours earlier. The backlash from all the deaths of their creations had driven two competent mages insane and outright killed two of them, when their brains exploded from internal pressure caused by magical buildup as their pets’ animating forces returned to them en masse. Accompanying the dwarf on the ship crossing the ocean in the direction of the Feerrot were his powerful companions who had helped in the battle, a high cleric of Marr, a gnomish female who seemed to be a quite competent magess and a ranger who the shaman had watched rain down a shower of death from his powerful enchanted bow. Mighty heroes all, he thought to himself. Let’s see how they fare against my personal shock troops. Summoning one of his many magical servants, Ssiithius sent a message to the captain of his own personal army of about two score* handpicked, battle toughened veterans and battle healers. * * * Two weeks after setting out from Fallen Gate, and once again passing through Nektulos Forest, Ereviz and his trio of companions arrived at the shores of the Feerrot. Partway through their oversea travel, the group of adventurers defended their ship against an incursion by sea goblins. Other than that, the trip was an uneventful one, and quiet, as each of the party was locked in their own minds, thinking back on the circumstances that had brought them together. Ereviz spent the whole trip remembering the time he and Elhonna had made a trip much like this, as the only two people on the small sailing ship his brother left to him in his will. Her love of the sea had been apparent, and he was saddened greatly to remember the look of bliss on her face when the ship was dancing on the tops of waves in stormy weather, or just skimming along at full speed on clear days. If somehow he managed to survive saving the girl, he swore to teach her much as he would have her mother, if only to give the child something to remember her mother, who never having known her, still sacrificed everything to keep her child safe. Lost in his miserable thoughts, Ereviz was uncommunicative most of the trip. In the odd times the other three spoke to one another, they shared stories of the girl their guild had raised from an infant, from the time she somehow ended up hanging by her shirt tail from a windmill’s blade to when she learned her first magic spell. They made sure Ereviz was included in those rare conversations, and he would share his knowledge of Elhonna. They all knew unconsciously that some of them might not make it through the upcoming fights and so they made sure anyone who survived could still relate to the girl and teach her well, since it was never assumed she wouldn’t be rescued. All knew that either she would be rescued or the entire group would be dead. As the ship finished docking, the four grabbed their packs and readied their weapons, then stepped onto the dock. Looking back for a moment, all of them observed the sun setting far out at the edge of the ocean, the faint clouds in the sky tinged pink purple and gold as the dying sun’s final rays tried to stave of the coming night. Turning from the sight of the setting sun, the group looked about and observed the beach surrounding them for a moment. For many miles in either direction one could see nothing but unbroken yellow sands along the coast of the great continent. Roughly a hundred paces down the massive dock, which ran on stilts the entire length three paces above the beach, the beach ended abruptly at a sheer cliff that surrounded much of the forested continent. Where the dock met the wall, a large rough-cut hole had been shorn through the solid rock, giving the travelers from the sea access to the forest beyond. For a long moment none spoke, then Ereviz broke the silence. “This’s it I suppose. Me hammer aches to be buried betwixt the eyes of the scum what took El’s life and her daughter. Let’s finish this, I tire of the chase.” Seeing no need to respond in spoken words, the other three nodded their agreement and they all headed through the tunnel in the massive sea wall that led into the forest proper. *Score is 20

valkry

02-25-2007, 10:45 AM

I loved the description of the necromancers' mana feedback. I had never quite thought of the mana return to the creator (never played a summoner-class), but your image was wonderful.

Ferunnia

02-25-2007, 01:55 PM

Glad you liked it. Can't remember where I got that idea from or if I made it up a long time ago in my DnD heydays. Either way, it isn't the first time I've written about mana feedback. I think it was DnD because you can counter spell other mages by casting the same spell and it cancels theirs. So it kind of means there will be a mana backlash because the unspent energy needs somewhere to go. Also, epic spells in that game tend to have side effects which include casting devastating spells that can cause destruction and ruin for hundreds of miles but cause instant backlash that in some cases nearly kills the user. Imagine this as an example: A spell caster waves a hand and with a single word the area around him becomes a roiling mass of flames that burn even the bedrock itself. For a hundred paces all things are incinerated, yet the massive strain required to control this mighty power pushes the mage to his limits, and his eyes bleed and his skin crawls as he barely contains the potent energies he has summoned forth. That's a typical DnD epic spell description. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Ekuthh

02-26-2007, 11:52 PM

Excellent, as always. I may not always post, but I do read regularly.And fear not, you have a fan base. For each lurker out there who says something, there's like 10 more who never do. I found that out firsthand with Kinslayer's. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

niko_teen

02-27-2007, 01:25 AM

Yeah I'm pretty poor about profiving feedback myself. I had your story favorited (still haven't figured out how to witht he new forums) on teh old forums and check it. I'm not as nice as valkry to read every post on here. Well i do, sorta jsut not int eh timely mannor. But yes I've been reading all along. You're story Really picks up about halfway through and it's had me hooked since then.

Ferunnia

02-28-2007, 12:05 AM

Tis nice to have fans, but it's a bit more meaningful when some of them are also some of my favorite writers on these forums. Thanks for the kind words guys, and fear not, sometime during the weekend I might have time to toss out another chapter or three <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

dano

03-05-2007, 01:47 PM

Keep it up... loving it so far... i am back from a long time away.. nice to have a good read <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Ferunnia

04-16-2007, 11:01 PM

<div align="center">Chapter 24: Departure <div align="justify"> “I must leave. I can feel the pull of my daughter’s suffering even across the planes. Surely you understand?” Of course I do. I am a mother myself, and if I hear my children cry out it takes all I have not to whisk myself to their side and set right whatever it is that causes them distress. Alas, though, I am held by oaths even more powerful than the death that keeps you here. Death can be reversed, oaths to gods, however, are much harder to overcome. Elhonna looked at the exquisite beauty standing before her in mortal form and hesitated a moment before asking a question she had asked many decades earlier, as time was reckoned in this place. “Who are you? It seems you are much more than meets the eye. Who are you that could drag me across the planes and save me from death, and know the things about me you know? The same sad smile passed across the woman’s face as had occurred when first asked this question. I have no doubt that once you’ve set things right on Norrath, and have time to look into things, you would eventually figure out almost without a doubt who I am. Rather than leave you with that shadow of a doubt, I will let you know who I am, who it is that has assisted you in your time of need. My name as you mortals know it is Tunare. I helped you for many reasons, but first among them is this: Many millennia ago, Innoruk, the progenitor of the dark elven race, stole from my arms the pinnacle of my creations, the king and queen of the elven race. He spent centuries torturing them, twisting them, until one day they were to reappear on Norrath as the mother and father of the whole Tier’Dal race; the strain of elves your unlamented father hailed from. I watch patiently, waiting for the few rare instances I can bring the people of that race back into my fold, because regardless of the evil many do, I’ve not lost my love for my creations. So when I saw you, a small half-Tier’Dal girl, cast aside by your father, I bestowed my powers onto you, long before your latent, otherworldy powers showed themselves. I’ve watched over you, sending emissaries from my many followers when I could. I sent Matthias to help you along your way, never knowing the pain that choice would cause. Tears in her eyes at the remembered pain, Elhonna interrupted to speak a moment, “I forgive you for that, Mother Tunare. The pain I feel every day at his loss is only selfish longing. I know that he’s in a much happier place than Norrath, and I will one day meet up with him again, at least, between reincarnations. The happiness I felt for those few years have sustained me, and made me stronger than I would have otherwise been. Your choice made me who I am today, and gave me a beautiful child. One I hope to rejoin soon and love until the day she or I pass from the world. Don’t be sad for me, beautiful lady. It means much to hear you say those words. It lifts a bit of the burden I carry over the eons. Tunare paused for a moment, then continued, To continue my story, I’ll now relate one last tale. When you were flickering, about to pass into the oblivion of death once again, I reached out and shielded you. That was the green light you saw for a moment before waking up drowning in the sea. I had to wait for you to rout the enemies before you before I could bring you into my embrace here in the Plane of Growth. I cannot directly interfere much in the events of everyday Norrath, but when I saw Cazic’Thule starting to move back into Norrath I decided it was time for me to once again get an upper hand in the eternal battle of the gods. Such was my purpose for rescuing you. I need strong mortal champions once again, and you shall be my first, for as long as you want, until you die once again. All the while, I shall see what I can do to restore you to your former existence as a fellow nature goddess, albeit in another, parallel universe. Now, I shall do what I think I should have done to begin with. I shall ask of you, will you be such a champion for me? Many things ran through Elhonna’s mind in a few fleeting moments, but she came to one conclusion doubt-free. “Yes, I will do this for you and for the world my daughter, and hopefully, one day, her progeny, will live in. I think, though, that it is time for me to be going. Even though each moment that passes on Norrath comprises many days, even weeks here, slowly but surely, I’ve felt my daughter become weaker and weaker as the priests of Cazic perform their evil deeds upon her. “Now I need to go, before it’s too late, for once she’s in Cazic’s grasp, not even your powers will be enough to save her.” Of course, my daughter. I will send you there, fully geared and knowing all that you’ve learned here. Remember, however, that on Norrath there isn’t as much pure nature energy to draw on, and you shan’t be able to do some of the feats you’ve performed here under my tutelage. Elhonna nodded, and raised her hand in farewell then closed her eyes against a sudden flare of light surrounding the goddess. When she opened her eyes, a frightful sight befell her. Ereviz, along with three of her former companions: Maggie, Fiona, and Noris, was fighting a brutal battle against an onslaught of man-sized lizards armored in black spiked mail and carrying evilly glowing weapons. Drawing energy to her, and drawing the pair of exquisite glowing-green scimitars hanging at her hips, Elhonna rushed to join the fray. <div align="center"><div align="justify"><div align="center">* * * <div align="justify"> </div></div> After more than two weeks of trekking through the hot, humid, rot smelling forest that comprised the majority of the continent of The Feerrot, Ereviz and his companions were exhausted. Most of their waking hours were spent looking out for and then fighting masses of giant spiders, swarms of over-sized insects, groups of lion-bodied and headed creatures with bat wings and goat legs, and bands of scrawny-looking man-shaped lizards a little taller than a dwarf. Ereviz gazed blearily at his friends. Fiona looked nearly ready to fall over, her small countenance etched with weariness from the many times she had called upon her magic, yet still ready to back the group with her spell arsenal at an instant’s notice. Maggie’s fingers had been bleeding for days, his much callused, toughened fingertips unable to take the repeated strain of unleashing arrow after arrow into their many foes. Maggie spent much of his free time, while at rest and not sleeping, making arrows. Noris’ once gleaming armor had been battered and scuffed by clubs, dented by warhammers and stones cast by the lizardmen who accosted them on a regular basis, and even had rents from oftimes broken swords wielded by the same creatures. Holes showed where more than once he had been stung by the barbed tails of the lion/goat/bat creatures Fiona had identified as manticores. Manticore poison had nearly killed everyone in the party more than once, and Noris had spent much magical energy purifying the group members’ bodies. Ereviz himself had taken more damage, and been healed of it, than all of the other party members combined three times over. He was at the forefront of every fight, blocking the enemies with his body to keep his party safe. His powerful arms were tired with the strain of swinging his heavy hammer times beyond counting. A gaunt look had come over his face as he sweat and worked away any leftover weight he had carried from his sometimes easy years of living in Qeynos and working as a guard on dwarven ships. The group as a whole, though, had persevered. Prevailing over their many foes had strengthened their resolve, and served to bind the group even closer together than they had been in their common cause. This day found the group almost all the way to the nearly lost temple-city of Cazic’Thule, the center of the evil worshippers of the same god. They traveled along a small, high banked stream, using the natural cover the high banks provided to effectively sneak through the tangle of forest that led up to a sheer mountain blocking the way only a half day’s walk to the south. According to a map bought at the dock of the Thundering Steppes, this stream would wind its way into a cave that led through the otherwise impassable mountain. Coming around a small bend in the stream, the group was temporarily taken aback by the sight that met their eyes. After having suspected that the small lizardmen they had been fighting to this point were runts of their race, their suspicions were confirmed by the cluster of lizardmen greeting their sight in a clearing not twenty paces away. Standing nearly two paces tall each, the group of at least two score lizardmen towered head and shoulders over even Noris, the tallest of the group of adventurers. Grimacing, Ereviz turned the three people who had held firm through all the trials the dreary jungle had offered and spoke what he thought might be his last words. “We may nae make it, but they’ll know we were there, by the gods. I say we take the fight to ‘em, not let ‘em get the ‘nitiative. I’ll do me best to bury me hammer betwixt the eyes of yon ugly helmeted one. Mebbe wit’ the leader gone, they’ll nae fight as ‘ard. If’n ye see one ‘ealin’, direct me to ‘em. I’d as soon nae kill ‘em all thrice. Noris spoke shortly, “Till my blood lies in a cold pool on the ground I’ll be at your side, noble dwarf.” The cleric slapped his weapon on his palm and stood firmly at Ereviz’s side. Maggie piped in as well, “I’ve a quiver o’ arrows waitin’ for a new place to rest. You point and I’ll put an arrow in its eye, Ereviz.” The ranger moved to one side and started drawing an arrow even as the enemy noticed them and moved in their direction, shouting battle cries that would have chilled the blood of lesser heroes. As she gathered arcane energy into a ball of flames in the palm of her hand, Fiona spoke briskly with a wan smile, “I feel her still, Ere, she hurts. And I’ll take out my anger on these lizard freaks!” She ended the last word at the same time as she flung her hand outwards, sending the first of many fireballs into the ranks of the oncoming enemy. Ereviz streaked along right behind the path of the fireball, and moments after it impacted the front rank of the enemy, immolating two hapless lizardmen, he burst through the blazing sheet of flame to emerge, flame coursing down his body, beard throwing off sparks, in the midst of the next rank of ememies, his hammer flickering faster than the blink of an eye. With these first blows, and as arrows flew close over the top of his head to strike down more enemies, the fight was joined. </div></div> </div></div>

Ekuthh

04-16-2007, 11:17 PM

HA HA!Made you post! <img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Excellent, as always. Now write some more.

Ferunnia

04-16-2007, 11:57 PM

Your reply made me lol. Of course reading you made me write. You inspired me to start up again in the first place. Keep up Ambrosious' tale. (I like the evil surety more than the unsure goodness of Ekuth <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ). I like this chapter I just wrote myself for some reason. Dunno if it's the image of a final battle (don't believe it <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ) or getting Elhonna back into the main picture, but I kinda see this as a turning point.

Amethest

04-17-2007, 05:48 PM

read it all in one sitting , and loved it....good stuff will be adding you to my list of stories to lurk and stalk daily <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> twitch .....

Skivley101

04-17-2007, 07:23 PM

Great story,characters,and rich detail..... I luv being able to track the story from my knoweldge of Norrath...Is there really a dungeon inside of Gultex Citadel ? ...When will Elhonna start to weild her druidly powers more? she must be from the Fury side of the powers of nature.I like the duel classing ... Im gona go searching for that secret entrance out of the sewers ...but maybe you hid it to well?But alas ... I must put the proverbial book mark here ...chapter 12 page 3 ...Am looking forward to reading more later. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Ferunnia

04-18-2007, 04:07 AM

Nope, no dungeon, but I always felt there should be more to Gul'Thex. And as far as that hidden entrance to the sewers...well, there is one in game, but not in the way I described. And yep, Elhonna is a fury in game. See my sig <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. And thanks to both of you new fans for putting a smile on my face and letting me know that people still read this drivel I call a story <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> edit: p.s. you'll see El's powers soon. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Amethest

04-18-2007, 02:12 PM

twitch twitch...I just need a little fix.....shakes just to hold me over for a little while..please lol hugs and waiting patiently see? <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

niko_teen

04-18-2007, 02:59 PM

here is a little trade (addic) secret that I learned. Just jump back a few pages to an old post that is 3 - 4 months old. it's generally old enough to be familer but still fun to read. Oh yeah if it is not just go out and get a concussion or two. Kill off a bunch of them brain cells there and it'll be that much better to reread.>>Shut the %^&* up Productions would like to offer the following legal disclaimer: Do not take anything that Niko says seriously. he is jsut screwy int he mind and says things liek the above statement because he things that it make him sound cool. Futher more.... *Three loud wacks followed silence and eventually Niko's voice.* <Censor> you, you <Censor><Censor>. where the <Censor> do you think that you get off <Censor> saying <Censor> like that.<<

Amethest

04-18-2007, 03:52 PM

look here tea get your butt back to your story .less lurking and more writing......revs up ekuths weed wacker....tea yoo hoo tea I have a present for you ;p muwhahahahaha

Seraphias

04-18-2007, 07:06 PM

I am enjoyng this story completely. I can't wait to find out what happens. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

SilverclawII

05-15-2007, 09:34 PM

Ah, thank you for sharing this marvelous story. I've read up to Chapter 11 (or is it 12?) and have so far enjoyed reading.I feel that some sentences are missing some commas or have too many. But who am I to say? This little rule has been a bane to my own writing since I could type. I still get the picture and I am kept entertained and not thrown off by the "squeamish" chapters, but I still appreciate the warnings.Things that do throw me off stories are love scenes that are described in disgusting detail, topics that border on the taboo (especially those of sexuall nature), and descriptive and prolonged torture scenes.So far, so good. Even the description about the Freeport assassin and alleged [Removed for Content] didn't throw me off. Got the sense he was perveted, but I'm glad you didn't take me any deeper into his thoughts.Seen a couple of the usuall typos such as "on on" (missing e for "one" somewhere I think) in the previous chapters, but these are nothing I think that need fretting about unless you'd really like me to.Hoping to finish all twenty-four chapters soon and reading any future chapters and giving some more feedback.IMO, this story truly belongs in the RECOMMENDED READING of the forums.

valkry

05-15-2007, 10:04 PM

Not to hijack the thread, but I've tried to find the threads that have generated the most buzz (roughly 50ish replies), stories that have strong followings but are completed before the arbitary 50 posts, or stories that have gone "epic" either completed or unfinished. I know this leaves out some early promising efforts, but I wanted to highlight the more 'addictive stories' on our thread.

Ferunnia

05-16-2007, 11:31 PM

Well, I'm scheming most of the rest of this story as I type. Dunno when I'll have a brain fart big enough to make me write, but be assured that when I do, I'll be slamming out the majority of the rest of this tale. . . Hoping to get to that point within the next 5-10 chapters, rounding out this story at about 300+ pages in book form. Like I said, dunno when it'll be, but I've been doing some brain storming and chatting it up with my fav. dorf (Ereviz) and getting inspiration from strange sources. Peace, people. p.s. Thinking of re-writing the first few chapters to flow with the style I've implemented as the story's gone on. Dunno yet though. And as far as typos, I don't have the time to check all through the stuff I wrote when my writing skills were still rusty, but as I've gotten more into it i think you'll find fewer mistakes unless you're one of those editor-types who fret over needless stuff <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Thanks for the encouragement and if you DO run across any typos or story-flow elements that make parts of the story unreadable let me know so I can correct things as needed.

SilverclawII

05-17-2007, 11:38 AM

Once again, thank you for the story. I enjoyed all twenty-four chapters of the story and looking forward to see what happens when Elhonna joins the fray before Cazic-Thule. Fried lizardman tail anyone?I don't see any trouble with her being a great fighter since the first chapter. My opinion, Freeport is the kind of place if you don't know how to fight, then the chances are you won't survive. Divine and latent talent can always be awakened later.Thank you for keeping your writing standards high and suitable for most readers. You even starred the dwarf's explicative whereas I don't think that the moderators would have even bothered to "ninja" it had it been written in its whole. Even though I, and undoubtably many others who have read this, know what word was used, I appreciate your thoughtfulness for younger audiences. Perhaps the ones reading from the mom or dad's lap...you never know.The only down side I see is the use of a familiar character and name from the D&D world. When I first read her name I thought, "Is this really a unique character with just a similiar name, or is it going to be another knockoff?" If it was up to me as a dev or GM, I'd root and boot out every variation of a certain dark elf ranger and his relations with a vengeance. There's just way too many out there, and most are insults to the characters we enjoy reading about. Plus the whole "parallel universe" borders too close to the sci-fi genre, in my opinion.Planes of Power? Sure, the gods got to live somewhere right?Inhabited moons? Why not? Just as long as magic portals are the method of travel and there aren't any UFO landing sights and the like on it.Parallel universes? Eh...well if I got to strictly roleplay with one it might go like this. "Who are you? You look really familiar?...Oh, really? I've seen several others with the same story and profession. I guess the only real difference between you all is the variation of your names."My point being: your Ellohanna isn't going to be the only Elf, or Elf realation, on Norrath claiming she's a nature goddess from a parallel universe. At least yours has a fantastic story to back her claim up.Parallel goddess or not, I'm still interested in reading what's to come. Keep writing, and I'll be happy to keep reading.~Silverclaw of the Six Swords...the Fourth"Always glad to be of service."

Ferunnia

05-17-2007, 09:13 PM

Aye, aye, you got me. But here's the kicker. El's been around a lot longer than EQ2 has been <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. As far as parallel universes, I always look at that as fantasy personally...since all the gods in EQ and DnD seem to simply be really powerful and not all powerful, I figure they don't really have the means to control ALL the planes of existence, or even all the planets in one universe. So where do all those other people's gods live or exist? I don't know, but I have always liked tie-ins to an extent. Also, for background, she's not the true Ehlonna from DnD, simply a descendant of her escapades on the material plane who in my world, eventually was raised to godhood, and took over a portion of Ehlonna's portfolio. I also don't see parallel universes as the are written in Robert Jordan's books, where each parallel is caused by events that could have happened in the main existence (if there is a MAIN one). I see it more as completely different and alternate realities that have nothing to do with each other. Just take it as an adventure of a fallen goddess who was banished to a random plane of existence....which just happens to be the EQ universe. <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Ferunnia

06-21-2007, 07:20 PM

For anyone wondering, I've not abandoned my story, I've just not had any inspiration for finishing out the rest of it. I'll come out with something not too long from now, I'm getting that writing itch more and more. Later people, Ferunnia

niko_teen

06-22-2007, 09:49 AM

The ending always is the roughest part isn't it? I've gone like 2 weeks now myself without a post as i wrap my mind around how i want to end the part that I'm on.

SilverclawII

06-22-2007, 11:15 AM

Glad to hear that you're still thinking about it. It took a year and a good reason for me to stop playing for sometime before I got back to my story. Boy, did it change! Anyway, thanks for letting us your still breathing.

Ferunnia

07-08-2007, 12:20 AM

<div align="center">Chapter 25: Reunion </div> A momentary widening of his eyes and a leap of his heart was all Ereviz was allowed, because between one glance at Elhonna’s streaking form cutting a swathe through the lizardmen and his look back at his hulking, scaled opponent, he almost lost his head to the massive sword the creature swung down with enough speed to whistle. Throwing himself backwards, he still took a graze along one thigh as the lizardman’s sword swept down and buried itself in the bloodied, muddy soil beneath their feet. Righteous rage swept over his face and his counter-attack took the creature from its feet and left its chest a bloody ruin as his magically imbued warhammer connected with a dull thump, releasing its power. Swinging his hammer in a tight figure-eight, he parried the blows of at least three more of the creatures, dashed in and shield-bashed one of the towering beings in the knees, breaking both of them with a stomach-wrenching sound. Swinging his warhammer down, he crushed the mewling creature’s skull in and spun to catch one of the remaining one’s blows on his shield. Too late, he started raising his hammer over his head to catch the blow he knew was coming from the other, his battle-wearied limbs failing to respond with enough alacrity. His eyes widened at a light flicker of green sweeping over his head from the side, and the blow he had been sure would split his skull was beat back with a high pitched clang of steel on steel. Beating back the one enemy remaining in his immediate area, he finished it with a quick three blow combination of swings and turned back to see what had saved his life. His breath left him as he was overcome with awe. Elhonna had once described the movements Matthias used in combat, but he had doubted at the time the possibility of a human moving with such speed, attributing her story to youth and lack of battle knowledge. The display he witnessed took all doubts from his mind. For the first time ever, he witnessed her in full battle rage. As he watched her silver hair stream nearly straight out behind her due to the speed at which she moved, he almost lost track time after time of her weapons blurring, then meeting with weapons or flesh. She seemed to not have taken a wound cutting through at least a half-dozen enemies in the time he had fought briefly with his three. Then he noticed one of the many enemies surrounding her finally get a blow in, but her wound re-knit itself in moments before his eyes, as a green radiance surrounded her briefly. A sudden flash of light burst from her palm in his direction as she cast a spell on him without ever looking his way. Vitality washed over him in an almost overwhelming stream, and he felt himself almost lifted from his feet with the fierceness of the empowering spell. Time felt as if it had slowed, and he could follow her movements more easily. As the spell left him, he noticed the energy stream out to the rest of his companions. Wounds healed themselves as the healing qualities of the spell rushed through him and he felt better than he had in days. He rushed into the fight with his friend, and slaughter ensued. Near the end of the battle, clouds that had threatened all morning finally released a torrent of rain. As they stood there in the rain, half-elf and dwarf faced each other for what seemed the first time in ages. For Elhonna, it had been nearly sixty dream-like years since she saw the blunt-faced features of perhaps her only friend in the world. For Ereviz it had been only little over a month, though the time had felt much longer. Tears shone in the eyes of each, many unspoken words passing between the friends. After a few minutes of this, with the other companions wondering what the exchange meant, Elhonna and Ereviz stepped together. She dropped to one knee in front of him, putting her at eye level, then she slowly bowed her head until their foreheads met. “Thank you, my friend. I never doubted for a moment that you wouldn’t keep your oath. I’ll never be able to repay you,” Elhonna said quietly. She closed her eyes to enjoy a few more seconds of feeling his touch, his breath on her face, and reveling in the feel of being alive and at his side again. “’Tis the least I could do, El. I couldn’t save you…” His words trailed off as she placed a hand over his mouth. Tears still glimmered in his eyes, but as he met her eyes, he felt them evaporate without having fallen. She seemed calmer, more sure of herself than he had ever seen her. A slight smile touched her lips, as she said, “I should have known, though, that you would need help taking care of yourself. You always get in over your head.” A merry twinkle entered her eyes at that. “Phaw, we had em, El,” Ereviz stated firmly as she stepped back and straightened up. “Few more minutes and they’d a been wishin’ they were back in their eggs.” “It’s your story…” she trailed off at the look of indignation that swept over his face, then burst out laughing at the same time he did. “Bah, stuff it, elf,” he said as they walked back to Maggie, Fiona, and Noris. Back clapping, and tear-filled eyes were abound as the old companions reunited. As they gathered up hastily tossed aside backpacks, the group related what they had found of Loriana’s captors, followers of Cazic’Thule who planned to use her to bring the god’s avatar back to this plane. El’s eyes flashed with fury for a long time after they related the facts they had gathered, but she eventually gathered control over her emotions to give a fairly detailed description of her time in the Plane of Growth. A small frown was on Fiona’s face as she listened and Elhonna asked what bothered her. “From what you say, if I’m any judge of the amount of time it takes to master some of the spells you describe…how long were you in that place?” The gnome asked, in perhaps the slowest paced voice any of the group had ever heard. “I’d have to guess over half a century, somewhere in the range of sixty years,” came El’s reply. “Truly!?” Fiona gasped. “I need to note this! Do you know how you got there and back? How about how to twist time while you’re there? Do you think Tunare would be willing to accept gnomes in her land? Think of the research I could do…” She spouted words in her usual stream of never-ending meandering that scarcely left time for breath. Elhonna tried answering questions during the few times the gnome stopped talking, and the group continued south, eventually meeting up with the stream Ereviz told her led to the section of forest the city of Cazic’Thule was located in. The other members were asleep when Ereviz walked away from the small camp fire they had built from wood Fiona dried using minor fire spells. Elhonna sat on a small boulder in the middle of the creek, staring at the intermittently cloud-covered moon and stars, lost in thought. The dwarf, finally taking a break from wearing his much in need of repair plate armor, walked quietly up to her and sat down on the opposite side of the rock, laying his head back and closing his eyes. His voice grated quietly over the sound of the stream rushing past the rock on either side, “I remember bein’ a boy, back b’fore tha Rendin’, near enough a cent’ry n’ a ‘alf ago, and sitting in me ‘ome in Kaladim, listenin’ to the sounds of an underwater river rushin’ past the rock only a few paces from me. Made me feel small, it did, but I still remember that sound, ‘twas all the peace I remember as a lil’ ‘un. You e’er wish ya were a kid agin?” She was silent for so long he thought she hadn’t heard, but just as he opened his mouth to perhaps change the subject she answered. “I don’t know. It’s been a long time since I could afford to think on things like that. From the time I was seventeen I’ve fought and fought until it seems that’s all there was to life…other than my short time with Matthias. I missed out on the pleasure of motherhood getting revenge…I feel as though I was cheated. Though it’s no one’s fault but mine.” She stopped a moment then continued on. “I came to terms finally, as far as my feelings over him. Sixty years is a lot of time to heal, especially when you have a human’s world-view, if not their short lifetimes. I’m happy for the time I had, and would do it all again. I guess now that I think about it, it would have been nice to have had a normal childhood, with friends and laughter all around. Hard to imagine my life like that though,” she added with a soft laugh. “What brought on that question, if I may ask, Ere?” she spoke over her shoulder, having laid back like him, so that their heads nearly touched at the top of the rock. “I’m jus’ thinkin’ bout what livin’ in the middle of a world-encompassin’ war was like. You think yer girl’s gon’ be ok?” The temperature around them dropped enough that it startled the dwarf into jumping over the rock to El’s side, ready to protect her if some wizard was attacking. What he found was her sitting there, arms around her knees, tears slowly falling down her cheeks, then freezing in lines as the otherworldly druid powers she had gained flared with her emotions. Eyes the color of a cold winter sky, laced with lightings enough for all the storms in the world looked at him as she bleakly responded. “If she is, then I will kill them quickly. If she’s not, or if they kill her, I will rip their living souls out and use them to undo the hurts they have given.”

Amethest

07-08-2007, 02:55 PM

yea!!!! was good to see a new entry thanks <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Ferunnia

07-09-2007, 08:06 PM

I miss the days when there was a "click counter" so I'd know if anyone was actually reading what I type <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Seriously though, any comments? Gripes, likes? Been a long time since I wrote, 'tis nice to know if I made your eyes bleed or something <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Edit: Amethest, thankee for the response, nice to know at least one person checks on this story from time to time <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Ekuthh

07-09-2007, 11:49 PM

I check, and read.YOU, however need to write more often. <img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Amethest

07-10-2007, 03:31 PM

lol I am a travelers tale junkie, I check daily and you are on my list of fav authors to check <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> huggsss I love your work so keep it coming <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Ferunnia

07-26-2007, 08:21 PM

Brainstorming up some stuff, been slow going with my imagination at a low...guess I been feeding it too much with other works. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Re-read the Wheel of Time series...Finished the Potter books (awesome, and I'm not giving any spoilers), bunch of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth books, and others...Need to stop reading I suppose, lol. It makes me less interested in my own works and I become immersed in theirs. Any new readers I hope you enjoy, old fans I've been considering re-writing the early chapters to follow the styles of the latter half because it seemed more liked the way post-chapter 12 stuff was written, so give me some feedback.

lynxst

08-12-2007, 01:15 AM

A Druid's Story is the first "Traveler's Tale" I've read on these forums and I must say it made me actually want to go and read some more!Great work on this =) I can just picture what I'm reading in my head while I'm reading it since this is so nicely done!Keep up the great work and I'll definitely be coming back to read more as it continues!

Ferunnia

08-13-2007, 10:16 AM

It's always nice to get new fans =D I'm glad you like what I've posted thus far. I'd have to recommend the kinslayer stories (one is stickied at the top, the first one, the other is in the works usually close to the top of the board).

Ekuthh

08-13-2007, 08:02 PM

Dammit, I thought you'd posted there.Thanks, however, for the shout-out, Ferrunia. You sweet thing, you. <img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Ferunnia

08-14-2007, 03:35 PM

<div align="center">Chapter 26: Push to the City</div> The party woke to a light drizzle and weak sunlight filtering through the canopy. As they packed up their camp gear and tossed dirt on the ashes of their fire from the night previous, the rain slackened, and then stopped. They turned to the trail Maggie had scouted out while on watch and continued on their way to Cazic'Thule. As the sun approached its zenith, the party arrived at a large pond fed by the stream they had been following. Standing there in the shade of the tangle of massive trees the comprise the Feerrot, the party was still dripping sweat in the midday heat of the jungle, made worse by the slackening of rain and following humidity. A haze rose from the small pond, making details hard to make out on the mountain wall on the other side, which, according to their map held the cave leading to the section of jungle housing the evil god's city. Ereviz spoke quietly, "We'll take a bit o' a break here. Accordin' to the map, we got another day an' a ‘alf to the city. Methinks it'd be a good idea to travel all through today and most o' the night, restin' up and getting' there ‘bout midday o' tomorrow. Everyone acquiesced to the idea, and the party made rest. <div align="center"> * * *</div> "So, is it really her? "Seems like it, can't see them being able to fake her aura for this long. "This changes the plans slightly. "Of course, I never thought she'd be back this soon. We need more time to prepare. "How long? We can't hold her back forever. "Give me four days, the girl should be biddable by then. We can't have her here before she can be used properly. "That may be stretching it. Scouts report them as less than two days out. "Then send the Dreadnoughts. I don't care. Nothing must interrupt the ceremonies. The portal is almost open. "I shall inform the squad leaders. Who should lead them, though? "Why, yourself of course, I did say it was of the utmost importance did I not? "As you say, High Priest." <div align="center"> * * *</div> Bloody priests, the black-armored figure thought to himself as he stomped down the eye-twisting hall leading from the priest's abode. His mind ran through a number of scenes, none pleasant for the sickeningly powerful half-dead man that was his leader. How after who knows how many centuries the man still lived with his ghastly wounds, no one could remember. Longer than living memory he had been thus, burned and scarred beyond any hope of recognition. So he expects me to put my neck out on the line again, fighting a being of near god-like power, who is accompanied by companions who would be heroes in any story written about them. How lovely. I guess I missed that part of the contract when I signed on. Continuing his glum thoughts, the man took a right and walked down a five pace-wide hall decorated in a skull and blood motif; the skulls being polished white after their previous owners gave them up, no doubt with great complaint, and the blood running in the furrows between the skulls glistened wetly in the torchlight. The source of said blood was most likely being butchered and fed to the mutated lizardmen who served as mounts for the squads living in this section of the city. Barely noticing the lively decorations, due to having partook in much less palatable decorating himself, the man walked up to a pair of massive, metal-shod doors at the end of the seemingly endless hallway. Eight lizardmen the size of overgrown ogres stood guard there, two on each side of the doors and four more in alcoves off each side of the hallway. They stood a little straighter as he stopped and looked them over. He snapped off a few words in their native tongue, "Report, is the Major-Lieutenant in?" One of the door guards replied, "Yes, Commander, he is with the beast-trainers, most likely. There is supposed to be a rider shift-change today. He prefers to be there to stop any stampedes if need be." "Of course, I gave him those commands myself. When I took over command you were losing three or four trainers and riders each shift change. It was no wonder you were the smallest group of warriors in the complex, even if you are the toughest. Well, carry on, soldiers. And you there," he said, pointing out one of the alcove guards, "go to the animators and tell them to prepare a Vaz'Gok grade golem with accompanying support golems." The lizard man swept a stiff bow and stood to his full height of near two and a half paces and sprinted down the hallway, his massive weight making flakes of stone fall to the ground from the ceiling five paces overhead. The commander walked up to one of the huge doors and casually laid a hand on it. Shoving hard, he easily forced open one of the doors it usually took two of the door guards to open. He looked out over the vast room beyond the doors, taking in the scene of frenzied activity taking place in the midst of a shift change. He hated the fact that he had to keep up this chaotic practice, but if he didn't the mounts would become too attached to their riders and their purpose would be defeated. The creatures were designed well by their creators. As long as they had a good supply of fresh humanoid meat, they never tired, could run substantially faster than a horse, and could carry the massive members of the Dreadnought squads easily. But even considering their formidable stamina, a Dreadnought could only ride for perhaps two days before they were exhausted, so unlike normal cavalries, who tend to keep remounts, this elite cavalry had to have more riders than mounts. In times of war, massive carts pulled by a few of the squads' mounts carried dozens of the riders each through the paths the squads had cleared. Each two days, the current riders would un-mount for a relief from the carts. All of this was necessary because the mounts were nothing more than lizardmen magically mutated into huge, almost horse-like forms, albeit with lizard skin and features. If given the same rider for training for more than two weeks running, they would not let anyone else ride them. They were most likely designed this way on purpose to keep their riders tough, and to keep them from being bored during long times of inaction. The section these lizardmen and their mounts lived in let into a nearly mile-wide pen, sectioned off, that was open to the sky, a massive natural depression in the ground that had been used well when planning the city. Stepping from the dank, smoky, ill-lit hallway, the commander had to shield his eyes for a moment. Spying a large group of lizardmen through squinted eyes he headed in their direction, passing numerous buildings used to house the members of the squad, as well as huge cages in which partly sentient offshoots of many of the races of the world lived, kept like animals as fodder for the mounts. A lizardman who stood nearly head and shoulders taller than any of his companions was wrestling a mount into a shackle-and-rope system that held it in place while a new rider mounted up and sat there for about an hour while the beast calmed down and got used to a new rider. Once the beast stopped heaving about in its restraints, one of the trainers, well used to reading the beasts movements and knowing when it was faking or not, would let the beast go and it would run off with its new rider. It seemed the beast currently being held was misjudged, though, because as soon as its tethers were released, it bucked off its rider, stomped down on the lizardman's helmet, crushing the unfortunate's head into pulp, then sprung toward the commander. Screaming lizardmen tried to stop it as they saw who it was about to charge into, but to no avail. Fifteen paces from the man, the beast lowered its head, and sharply-pointed, metal-shod horns on its head shone in the midday sunlight as it charged at the only thing impeding its forward progress. At five paces, observers saw the man reach up to his shoulder, and as the beast closed to within two paces, the man swept a sword over his shoulder in a motion too quick to follow, while at the same time stepping to the side in a blurring motion. For one endless moment, all the light in the area seemed to be sucked into that blade, which pulsed evil in a way that made most of the lizardmen in the area weak in the knees. A moment later, that over-bearing pressure let up and time seemed to resume its normal pace. A gout of green blood poured from the mount as its face separated from its head from the chin up, and a large slab of its shoulder meat slid to the ground. The commander swept his sword in a tight circle, ridding it of the acidic blood of the creature, and then swept it back over his shoulder to sheathe it. Moments later a flock of trainers and riders, accompanied by the Major-Lieutenant ran up to the commander to make sure he was ok. Annoyed at having to kill one of the precious mounts, the man snapped out a punch into the face of the trainer who had released it, killing the lizardman as its face and neck crushed under the blow. Without even taking the time to wipe his gauntlet off on the now dead trainer's robes, he looked up at the huge squad leader and spoke. "I have a mission for you." The lizardman's red eyes gleamed in the bright light and its mouth opened into a wide-toothy grin. <div align="center"> * * *</div> "I hate manticores, El. Can't ya use yer newfound power fer something asides healin' an such? Like ta keep these blasted things from attackin' us e'ery five minutes?" Ereviz growled as he stomped on the tail attached to the stinger that had pierced through his shield and was almost in his arm on the other side of said shield. His warhammer swept down near the haunches of the creature and he squinted against the shriek the creature let out as his blow ripped the tail off and crushed must of its hindquarters. "No, Ere, I can't I already told you," she replied as her glowing green swords swept out smoothly to either side of her, incapacitating two more of the creatures, "I have to try keeping my mana usage down so we're harder to track. Maggie's already killed probably ten of their scouts. If I used magic we'd stand out like we had a beacon shining on us from the heavens. I draw power from the land around me, and any magic user can feel that from a considerable distance. You notice Fiona's only using spells that directly target the enemies while using small amounts of power, and Noris is only healing us singly. "All to keep us hidden as well as possible, though it doesn't seem to help too much, the jungle's swarming with lizardmen this close to their city. At least they can't concentrate on us any more, you know how tough that was." Ereviz grunted sourly, but agreed. Less than a day out, they had had Elhonna use a large spell to root down a number of manticores that attacked them by moonlight. Within minutes of finishing off the beasts they were beset by dozens of lizardmen. Only by using Maggie's knowledge of their back-trails and smaller spells cast by Elhonna to enhance their speed had they escaped. They had been finding signs of scouts the whole time they traveled, and had been killing them steadily. Their planned one-and-a-half days had turned to three already, and they were finally within sight of the aboveground complex over the massive underground city. As they finished off the last of the small pack of manticores, the group stopped a moment to catch their breath, and as the last beast stopped thrashing and the tangle of woods around them quieted down, they all heard a dull thud, followed by another. As they prepared their weapons for another battle, the sound of the thuds became more audible, and now they could feel the concussion of each beneath their feet. Off to their side, towards a massive lake Maggie had spied after climbing a tall tree to do some long-distance scouting, trees started tumbling over, each seemingly ripped from its place and tossed aside. A long sigh from Ereviz was followed by "Oh hell," was heard as a six or seven pace tall form pushed through some more trees into the large clearing the group had fought in with the manticores. *Measurement breakdown is given at the end of Chapter 10, by the way.

Ekuthh

08-14-2007, 05:56 PM

Very nice. I always did hate the Feerrot.

Ferunnia

08-19-2007, 10:09 PM

Ekuth if it wasn't for you, I'd think no one read my story anymore. /sigh. Any feed back from other old fans? Or are any left on the board? New chapter not too long from now, also.

niko_teen

08-20-2007, 10:54 AM

Well I am still stuck on chapter 16 so I have a LOT of catching up to do but you're story is still being read. And trust me the feeling is mutual. I remember a time when I'd have 7, 8 , 9 peeps all posting on the thread and now I'm lucky to see 1 or 2.I'm jsut not sure whether it is summer drawing to an end or people are jsut not posting. But int he end know that I feel your pains as well. And as to Ekuthh.... well if he didn't write the best damned story on the boards (That is a fact not an oppinion hehehe) Then I'd have to hate him. Because he still has the most posters of anyone.

Lenanu

08-20-2007, 02:53 PM

Loving the story so far, can't wait to read more.

Ekuthh

08-20-2007, 04:49 PM

I always read yours, Ferrunia. And niko's, lest he feel left out.Actually, I read almost everything here eventually.And as to the feedback I get, keep in mind that as far as I know, I'm the oldest continous poster on the forum. (With perhaps the exception of Eriol and Kassaba... I remember them from way back as well.) Besides, as we all know, there are far more lurkers than posters out there. I'm sure that both of you get way more viewers than you think you do. One thing that annoyed me about the forum migrations, was that we lost the "views" counter on the posts...

valkry

08-20-2007, 06:20 PM

<cite>Ekuthh wrote:</cite><blockquote>I always read yours, Ferrunia. And niko's, lest he feel left out.Actually, I read almost everything here eventually.One thing that annoyed me about the forum migrations, was that we lost the "views" counter on the posts... Ditto, In lurk mode myself & feel like I only have time to post a quick joke so people know I'm alive, but I still read (Just kinda hoping that if I don't post, others might feel more vocal...vain hope, I guess.). </blockquote>

Ferunnia

08-21-2007, 07:32 AM

Yeah, I understand all of ya...barely have any time to read myself. Sent in some stuff on children's writing yesterday, hoping I get decent reviews, might not be what I really would like to do, but I wouldn't mind breaking out into writing professionally in one way or another. p.s. I hate not having the view counter...

Ferunnia

08-21-2007, 06:48 PM

And yeah, I remember the old timers from these forums too. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Been on here longer than you actually Ekuth <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Eriol was one of the only ones to post on my story back in the day. Can't remember the name of any of the other few without looking back through the chapters back in '05. Thanks for the comment also, Gryph.

Ekuthh

08-21-2007, 07:24 PM

See, there you have it. Now where's the next chapter, dammit?

Ferunnia

08-24-2007, 09:47 AM

<div align="center">Chapter 27: Vaz'Gok</div> Swift on the tail of the first gargantuan, stone-formed figure, two more, smaller, but still huge figures stepped out of the heavy foliage. The massive golem in the lead gazed across the clearing, then its rough features formed an evil grin and it stepped ponderously in their direction before breaking into an earth shaking run, followed by its smaller brethren. Impeding shrubbery was smashed under foot and as the lead creature reached the party it reached out and tore a tree from the ground whole, brandishing it like an overgrown club. As the first blow swept across and through where the party stood, Elhonna and Ereviz charge forward, under the tree, and the remainder of the party scattered in whatever possible direction kept them from being in the path of the three pace-long club. Noris grabbed Fiona and sprinted to the right while Maggie dove to the left away from the creature. Maggie wound up facing one of the smaller, companion creatures, while Noris and Fiona on the other side of the main creature had their own smaller version to contend with. Riding on Noris' shoulder, Fiona started spitting out the words to her most powerful spells, knowing any subterfuge would only get them killed at this point, while Maggie sent arcane power racing into his quiver, then pulled arrows four at a time from it to fire into the stone being, shooting lightning streaming arrows into the golem, which impacted and left small dents, but not much more. As Fiona snapped off her final words and released a stream of magical might, her opponent was surrounded by a torrent of fire that hurt the eyes to look on directly. Stone started to crack in small rivulets down the frame of the creature, but her power ran its course and she slumped onto Noris' shoulder, spent momentarily, and the creature didn't go down. As this all happened, Ereviz and Elhonna confronted the main golem. When they passed under the tree in the joining moment of battle, Ereviz charged at the massive being's left leg and unleashed a mighty blow on its lower calf, since that was about as high as he could reach a small crack started from the impact and ran up and down the creature's leg, and widened a bit when spinning, he brought his shield around to slam into the same spot, using his brother's magically imbued heirloom to do as much damage as possible. He used the rebounding force to roll away from the golem's feet, which it had stomped down trying to crush him. The temperature in the vicinity of the main golem rose substantially and Ereviz looked back to see Elhonna rolling and flipping over and around, and at one point, standing on the tree as it rose from another blow powered by the thing's unnatural might. Her eyes started to glow red and embers rose from her shoulders. Her hair turned white hot and as she rose from the ground she reached down through the small tree's branches and touched the trunk, seemingly transferring all the built up heat, because the temperature dropped and she stopped glowing. She back-flipped off the tree and looked at Ereviz only a moment as she shouted, "Run!" before leaping away at a full sprint. Not even taking a moment to wonder what she had done, Ereviz sprinted the opposite direction away from the creature, behind it. A strong breeze blew through the area as Elhonna glowed dimly blue for a moment and Ereviz felt a power course through his veins, muscles in his legs loosened then compacted to much greater strength and he ran nearly as fast as a horse, powered by the speed-enhancing spell. Noris ran beside him, carrying Fiona, and Maggie was running with Elhonna to the front of the trio of golems. A thump from the clearing shook leaves off trees for half a league, and left rents in the ground for dozens of paces. A ball of fire taller than the main golem filled the fifty pace wide clearing then flashed into the surrounding trees, flattening many of the smaller ones. The concussion of the blast lifted Ereviz and Noris their feet, though each took the force in a different way. Noris was sent rolling, and he cradled Fiona to his stomach as he rolled away from the blast, bouncing over small rocks and stumps, but keeping his head tucked to minimize damage. Ereviz bounced along like a stone skipped over a pond until his forward progress was abruptly halted, by a tree nearly wider than him, which his bulk crashing into split and caused to lean over, severely damaged. He stood up, groggily shaking his head, then looked back at the clearing, amazed by what he saw. "By Brell's bones, El, don't try an' kill us too," then he chuckled to himself as he headed back to the clearing to see what remained of their opponents, followed by a limping Noris and Fiona, who had concern etched on her small face. "Don't worry, Fiona, they'll be fine. El's been through worse than that li'l blast. I'm sure she kept Maggie outta harm's way too," Ereviz spoke over his shoulder to reassure the gnome, then glanced at Noris, who nodded. <div align="center"> * * *</div> As it happened, Elhonna and Maggie got off a lot easier than the others. As she felt the blast about to commence, she reached out and grabbed Maggie by the hand, then pulled him into a small depression in the ground and pushed him face-first into the ground before laying beside him in the same position. The thud of the release of pent-up energy almost lifted them from the ground, but they were low enough to escape being hit by any of the limbs and rocks sent in every direction by the blast, and rose to their feet moments later. "Learned some useful stuff when ya were dead, eh?" was all Maggie had to say. She grinned then turned and headed back to the blast site. They walked through a ring of flattened trees and shrubs, into a scene from hell. Trees and ground alike were burnt to ash. A dark haze hung in the air from the heat and floating particles from the flash fire. In the center of the clearing stood the remains of the trio of golems. Two large heaps showed where the smaller golems had melted and crumbled away completely, but the largest figure stood there looking like a demon, with molten stone running down its body and dripping off its one remaining arm to sizzle as it hit the scorched ground. Its formerly rough-featured face was a smashed ruin, but in the pits of its carved eyes, red dots shone brightly as the power inside it raged, fighting against the mighty blow it had been dealt. It looked down and saw two separate groups coming into the clearing at about the same time and raised one massive foot into the air then stomped down. The force of the many tons of stone hitting the ground with such force raised furrows of earth around the golem while the impact took all the adventurers but Elhonna from their feet. She only kept her footing by rooting herself to the ground using her druidic powers. Working quickly, she cast a web of power into the sky around which clouds slowly began to form. The party jumped to their feet and surrounded the monstrous golem. Thunder rolled overhead as the battle was joined again. Maggie kept to the perimeter of the fight, shooting arrow after empowered arrow into the red-glowing golem, slowly widening cracks that had formed under the extreme heat in the middle of the fireball. Fiona repeatedly cast spells of arcane binding, keeping the creature from raising its legs back up in the air for another stomp, and Noris worked on healing the party from their earlier and present fight. Even as he cast a restorative spell to close some of his own wounds from his tumbling along in the wake of Elhonna's blast, he saw Ereviz take a kick on his shield that sent him flying back a dozen paces, trailing small pieces of stone that glowed like sparks in the quickly darkening day. He stood up, arm hanging crookedly, then howled and reached over to snap it back into place before looking at Noris, who cast a spell in his direction to re-knit the bone. As the golem's foot drew back from the kick that had launched Ereviz, Elhonna dashed towards it. She sidestepped as a massive hand crashed into the ground, then snapped both her blades from their sheathes as the creature withdrew its hand. As the molten stone-covered hand passed her head, she stabbed both magically imbued blades into the stone wrist like it was made of paper. She rose towards the creature's face as the golem started to sling its arm backwards over its shoulder, in hopes of slinging the druid into some trees probably a hundred paces away. She disavowed the creature of that idea, and jerked both blades free and pushed off the arm as it went over the creature's shoulder. Maggie and Fiona focused their attacks at the creature's midsection and legs as Elhonna alighted on the golem's shoulder, with a flash of lightning back-lighting her presence, standing beside a head as tall as her, and much more massive. Smoke rose from her boots from the heat of the creature. The whole party looked on as she stabbed a sword into the golem's temple then spun to land on top of the smoky rubble that had once been an ornate crown carved from stone. She pulled her sword from the creature's temple and brought both swords flashing down to stab deep into the golem's eye sockets. The creature brought its hand down on its head in an effort to remove her, but she had already dove off, damage done. She was in a headfirst dive to the ground when she stabbed both swords into the creature's midsection and brought herself to an abrupt halt. She pushed off and sheathed her weapons before hitting the ground three paces below and rolling to absorb the fall. The golem staggered blindly for a moment, then a grating howl rose deafeningly from its chest and erupted from its gaping broken mouth, as the tortured spirit used to animate it screamed in anger at its loss of sight. All the while, Fiona and Maggie kept up their assault, only stopping when Elhonna made her way to the ground, and commenced when she was out of the way. Ereviz rushed back in and went to work on the same leg he had damaged at the beginning of the fight, while dodging about to avoid the blinded golem's kicks and swipes of its arm. Cracks formed eventually in the massive chest and tree trunk-thick leg, but not enough to take it down. Building his power, Ereviz smashed one more mighty blow into the calf of the animated being, and the ankle started to come apart. At this point, the evil powers used to animate the being came into play, and a sickly green glow surrounded the golem as it started to reform itself. However, after a seemingly interminable wait, Elhonna's first action finally came to fruition. First a few drops, then a steady downpour fell as Elhonna pushed more and more energy into the rainstorm she had called. The creature stopped healing as the cool rain caused stone to sizzle and crack again. Elhonna looked in Fiona's direction, and the gnome, understanding, gathered her energy to her once more. Stabbing her small staff into the ground to stand before her, she put her hands together and her hair rose and blew about her face as a chilly wind surrounded her. She unclasped her hands and held them out towards the creature while planting her feet firmly and leaning into the spell as she finished chanting the words that would bring it out of the ether and into the material world. Drops of rain froze as they fell close to the gnome as in a flash, the temperature in a small dome around her dropped to below freezing. She closed her eyes and shouted the last word of the spell and a huge ball of ice formed in the air before her, then launched at the creature at blinding speed. The gnome was tossed onto her rear as the spell pushed away and the whole party watched as it impacted the rain-soaked golem. With a sound like ice breaking away from a glacier the ice ball crashed into the creature and flash froze all the water that had poured into its many cracks. As the water expanded, the creature shook a moment, then blew apart under the pressure, its magically imbued stone no more resistant to that force than stone in nature. The party stood there a moment, wondering if it was truly over, and for some reason, were unsurprised to hear a clear, deep voice ring out over the clearing. "Well done, indeed. But here is where your little foray into our land will stop." The man accompanying the voice rode out into the far end of the clearing as he spoke, on a well-armored, coal colored horse with flaming red eyes. As the last words left his mouth, a line of massive lizardmen mounted on what looked to be a weird mish-mash of horse and lizard formed up on either side of him, a score across and two lines deep.

Ferunnia

08-24-2007, 09:47 AM

There's the next chapter, dammit. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" />Hi there Ekuth, since you'll prolly be the first one to reply. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" />I promise it isn't all going to be fight scenes from here on out...just a necessary part atm. Enjoy the read people who still read this stuff.

Ekuthh

08-24-2007, 07:08 PM

See, I get a little lippy and I get what I want. <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />And what's wrong with fight scenes? You write them well.

niko_teen

08-24-2007, 07:25 PM

Mwahahaha like I'd say being lippy is a bad thing but..../wacks Ekuthh ont he knuckles with a rulerLet the man write some stuff that is not all fighting and killing. There is a lot more to a story then the fighting. He;s developing as a writter/pats ferunnia on the headsee doesn't even bit anymore hehehehehe

Ferunnia

08-24-2007, 08:08 PM

/turn into wolf and lop niko's hand off/wolf form off*pick up hand*"Would you like this back? I'll even heal it. Won't hurt...much...<img src="/smilies/908627bbe5e9f6a080977db8c365caff.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

Jakimo

08-26-2007, 02:32 PM

Well, I just caught up with the last chapter. I've read them from the first chapter to the last post, I couldn't stop reading. And after all that you've left me hungry for more. With a story this good, never worry that you have no readers, you'll always have at least one from here on.

niko_teen

09-01-2007, 01:47 PM

/Niko scrolls through his harassment list. With a fresh post from Ekuthh and Valk out of comission Niko turns his attention to Ferunnia.You do realise that it has been over a week since we had a chapter? Furthermore had your story not caught my intrest you would not be recieving encouragement in this form.SO. Since you decided to write well and draw my attention you must continue to supply me with new material. Else I may be forced to unleash Video Abuse (the movies i make) on your or maybe evenenlist Valk to do some Photoshope abuse. DOn't think that I wont.

Ferunnia

09-10-2007, 08:04 PM

I'm about to move this Friday just so you guys know why I haven't been writing, stuff's been kinda hectic. Peace, love, and chikin grease.*disclaimer: I take no responsibility for any hopes that may have been raised and then crushed on the jagged rocks of reality*

Ekuthh

09-10-2007, 10:04 PM

Do I want to know how Chicken Grease applies? <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/smilies/0320a00cb4bb5629ab9fc2bc1fcc4e9e.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

Ferunnia

09-10-2007, 10:47 PM

It's a line from a movie called "The Pest". John Leguizamo is the star, it's an adventure in pure silliness. Chicken grease=happiness I suppose, if you like fried chicken. <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

niko_teen

09-11-2007, 11:24 AM

Best of luck on your move. Just remember when you get to your new pace to unpack the computer first so that you can get back to writting =)

SilverclawII

09-14-2007, 02:06 PM

Finally came back to this story and glad I did. I am looking forward to more. Good luck in your move and don't lose anything.

Ferunnia

10-10-2007, 05:16 PM

Whelp, move went well, but it took a bit to get the internet back up and running. Dunno when the next chapter will be written, this weekend I'm attending my cousin's basic graduation (He's USAF). Anyways, Just letting ya know I'm alive.

Amethest

10-10-2007, 07:50 PM

I am still here and caught back up and um when ya gonna post another chapter? twitch

Ferunnia

10-19-2007, 09:07 PM

New chapter in the works. Started writing it finally...usually after that it's done fairly quickly....I want to wind this story up and move to another one maybe.

Ferunnia

10-20-2007, 04:30 AM

just wanted to say the chapter looks good I do read some times XOXOXO SASHA

Ferunnia

10-20-2007, 08:55 AM

The woman hijacked me. <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Sneaksy womanses.

Amethest

10-20-2007, 12:53 PM

lol too funny

Ferunnia

11-04-2007, 02:55 AM

<div align="center">Chapter 28: Power Unleashed</div> "You're in my way," Elhonna said to the heavily armored human man who had spoken. "Yes, and unfortunately, it's my job to remain in your way - at least, until your daughter is dead," said the man in reply. He waved his sword overhead and across the line of lizardmen, leather creaked and armor and weapons rattled as they prepared to charge. "What is your name?" she asked the man. "I am Drathan Dalore, Commander of the militant forces here at the temple." "I assume you know all our names, so I'll not bother introducing us. Besides, it won't matter if you don't know our names." "Oh, and why is that?" "You're all going to die," she said, in a voice that would have turned most men's bowels to water. "Aye, perhaps, but my task will be finished before you can follow through on that promise. Enough talk, show me the power of a fallen goddess!" the man shouted, then heeled his horse hard enough to make it rear and scream wildly. As the beast's front hooves hit the ground it burst into a gallop and darted straight towards the party of heroes. Before the stallion had taken three steps, an arrow flashed past Elhonna's ear and flashed toward the charging warrior's face. An instant before the arrow would have planted itself in the man's eye, he swept his sword over his shoulder into the path of the arrow, shattering and deflecting it. As the obsidian blade swung back across the man to stand straight out in a one-handed grip, its light-sucking quality turned the cloudy day's evening light to twilight. A flickering red phosphorescence swept down the blade's length and the pace-long sword seemed to grow lighter in the man's grasp. Ereviz quickly summoned his mystical steed and mounted up in a flash, while Noris put Fiona down to the ground and summoned a wave of preventative magical healing he then let wash over the group. Maggie darted back into the trees and started letting loose arrow after arrow into the ranks of the huge lizardmen riders. Through it all, Elhonna stood there calmly, watching the oncoming riders with impassive eyes. Only Ereviz, who stood at her side, heard her speak under her breath. ‘You want to see my power? Fine, on your head be it.' <div align="center"> * * *</div> Drathan had spent nearly his whole existence in the presence of powerful mages. From the age of ten, when he began his training in the service of Cazic'Thule, after being sold to their priesthood by needy parents who had no need of a child holding them down, he had been able to see the auras that surrounded any person with magical power. From his first sight of the party of heroes, he had known he'd be up against mightily powerful magic, in the form of the holy energies of both the dwarf and the mail-clad human mail. The gnomish female also contained a large fount of power. Even the ranger had his share of power, in the form of his ability to imbue arrows with different energies. The one he had been told was the mother of the child they were trying to use to summon the Avatar, however, had barely a spark of energy showing. While watching her fight from a distance against the golems he had sent as a strike force, he had seen short bursts of power from her, and had put her somewhere on the level of the tiny mage in the group. She radiated a deadliness that had nothing to do with magic, and he was not about to underestimate her martial prowess, but wondered if perhaps his superiors had made a mistake in calling her a fallen goddess. Moments before his charging group of howling lizardmen clashed with the group of heroes, he was thoroughly disillusioned of those notions. To his aura-sensing sight, it was as if she erupted into a small sun, emitting enough power to completely overwhelm his sense of the others in her party. He watched, awestruck as the pure power of nature rolled through her in a torrent, and knew something he thought he had mastered over a century before - he felt terror. <div align="center"> * * *</div> Ereviz was nearly as scared as the shadowknight, but not for the same reasons. It seemed impossible that anyone could channel the amount of raw energy Elhonna had coursing through her, but to his astonishment, the flow didn't steady off at the already insane level she was controlling, it kept building. For the life of him, he couldn't imagine what she was going to do with it, and just hoped she was in control of herself, then heeled his horse forward to meet the charge of the black clad man on the huge warhorse barreling down on Elhonna. His shield met the blow of the man's greatsword, though his arm went numb from the shoulder down from the force in the man's swing. Ignoring that arm, he swept his mighty warhammer across his saddle and thought he had a clear shot at the center of the human's chest, but in an eye-blurring motion, the sword swept back up to block his swing. Summoning his healing energies, he warded his whole body against any incoming blows and healed his arm of his numbness. Their fight soon became a series of clashing blocks and parries, with neither combatant showing a clear upper hand. Off to one side of the clearing, Fiona sent ball after ball of flame into the ranks of the lizardmen surrounding Elhonna and Ereviz. Between her arcane attacks and Maggie's stream of arrows, they kept the riders away from their two surrounded companions. Fiona's problem was that she could barely concentrate on her own spells. The amount of control and power Elhonna was showing was awing, and the fluctuations in the energy in the area was making it hard to bind her elemental spells into usable forms. She was resorting to sometimes casting simple binding and slowing spells to keep the mob of riders at bay, and hoping Elhonna would do whatever it was she had in mind, and in a hurry. Noris, who like Ereviz, drew his powers directly from his beliefs in his god, had no such trouble casting spells. The sheer power of the spell Elhonna was preparing frightened him, but he had no problem keeping his magic flowing into Ereviz, who was now bearing the attacks of half a dozen of the riders, along with their leader. Elhonna felt the power peaking out where she needed it, and prepared to finish her spell. At the precise moment she had the amount of power flowing through her she judged she would require, she slammed her hands palm-down onto the ground and unleashed a torrent of power that made the air vaporize around her. Green tendrils of energy swept out in every direction. As each tendril contacted a plant, that plant moved as if in a stiff breeze, but no wind blew through the Feerrot this day. As the final bit of power was absorbed into the plants around her, Elhonna raised her hands to the sky and commanded nature to come to her call. All around the clearing they fought in, trees and shrubs tore themselves from the ground. The ground churned as grass grew feet taller in an instant and snared the legs of the Dreadnoughts' mounts. The lizardmen's mounts screamed in terror and agony as thorny vines sprung from foliage to wrap around them and saw through limbs and necks. Some trees split up the middle starting from the ground and seemed to form rudimentary legs, which they used to stomp on the lizardmen and grind them into the ground. Others started sweeping down large boughs to club more from their mounts, which the shrubbery surrounded and smothered or choked to death. Within moments, only two of the largest lizardmen and their human leader still stood. Back to back the three fought off the advancing plants. For a long moment, the rest of Elhonna's party watched, horror struck as the last of the other lizardmen and their mounts were ground into chunks and absorbed by the churning ground underfoot. Maggie and Fiona both launched ranged attacks which blew the two remaining lizardmen from their feet, and the moving growth finished them moments later. The magical armor the human shadowknight wore deflected their next wave of attacks, and he turned to one side and swept his blade out, contacting with Ereviz's shield, blasting him from his saddle and slinging the dwarf into one of the moving trees, which instantly responding to a reflexive thought from Elhonna, caught her friend and lowered him to the ground near Noris. As she saw the cleric bend to tend to the brave dwarf, she mentally called off the plants she had summoned and faced the bleeding and battered commander of the lizardmen. "As I said, you're all going to die. You're all that's left, and I promise you that I'm going to take pleasure in seeing one who would see my daughter tortured die by hands." "Come then, if you think you're up to the task. I'll throw your brain into the Cauldron of Fear myself," Drathan said. A crooked sneer crept across his face, and he said, "But first, I'll let you watch the priests finish taking the girl apart, maybe you'll enjoy seeing our Lord brought back into the world." Coldness swept across Elhonna's countenance, and before the man could blink she was feet away, both swords flashing towards his face. Reflexively the mighty warrior brought his sword down to block, and he was surprised to feel his hands both nearly go numb from the twin blows. I'm going to die, he thought to himself. Then he had no more time for self-contemplation, as every ounce of skill and strength he contained went into trying to defend the silver-haired half-elf's attacks. Moments went by and all the rest of the party could see were the flashes of light where Elhonna's blades were deflected by the merest of margins. Her moving form was a blur to the party as they watched her fight in her full battle rage. The man seemed to be losing strength as the fight wore on, while Elhonna only seemed to be getting faster and faster. In a last ditch effort, the man swept his blade in a flashing semi-circle in front of him, hoping to catch the elusive half-elf only one time and cut her in twain. As the blow swept around, Elhonna pivoted to the opposite side of where the swing started and was actually moving fast enough to be in front of the blade as it cut its way through the space she had occupied a moment before. She wound up behind the man as he blinked, wondering where she had went. He died with that astonished look on his face, because when he started to pull his sword back up into a blocking position, two dull crunches brought his attention down to his chest, where two green glowing sword-tips stuck through the front of his breastplate. He didn't even get a chance to scream in agony, as Elhonna brought both swords up and across through his flesh and armor like it was made of paper. Drathan Delore fell to ground a long moment later, or at least, his body did, with a perfect "v" cut out of his body from sternum to both collarbones. Before his still-living head head could hit the ground, Elhonna caught him by the hair and spoke to him. ‘I know you can hear me. I'm coming for you, too, whoever you are.' A moment later, life fled from the man's eyes, and his screaming soul was swept into the waiting arms of Cazic'Thule. The God of Fear dislikes failure in his worshippers. <div align="center"> * * *</div> "She frightens me." "That is an emotion you're supposed to elicit from others, not feel yourself. We are priests of the God of Fear, after all." "That notwithstanding, I don't believe we're much longer for this world, unless we can bring the Avatar back to this world." Both High Priest and his frightened second in line turned away from the scrying globe that had shown them Drathan's last moments from the man's perspective to look at an iron-bound form on a pitch black altar on the other side of the room. The figure was barely recognizable as a humanoid. A thin mewling was the only sound the stripped-of-skin creature could make now, its tongue had been removed long ago. Only stumps showed where once there had been arms and legs. "I believe her soul is almost broken, her teachers did well at showing her how to bind part of her essence away, but her shields, though nearly divine in strength, are unpracticed. We shall be through them within hours, and then her soul will be open to only Fear."

niko_teen

11-04-2007, 04:06 PM

sweet

Amethest

11-06-2007, 02:11 PM

that post was awesome !!!! greedily I want more lol

Ekuthh

11-06-2007, 08:28 PM

Mmmmmm.... nice grisly touch at the end there...I must be rubbing off on these forums. <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/smilies/908627bbe5e9f6a080977db8c365caff.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

Ferunnia

11-07-2007, 12:51 AM

Well, I've had that bit of messiness in mind for a long long time...just now finally got around to the right part to add it. Scary that it's almost reminiscent of Meliana's torture (think that's the proper spelling, I forget). I got my own bit of morbid ways, I just chose not to go into em too much in this story. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Up to now anyways.Well, Enjoy the read for those of you who never post. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Ekuthh

11-07-2007, 02:11 AM

Melanilana, but that's okay. Half the time I have to backtrack my own copy to keep the spellings straight... <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />Looking forward to the next installment.

dano

11-07-2007, 08:48 AM

Brilliant <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Kaleath

11-15-2007, 10:47 AM

Absolutely OUSTANDING story!!!!!!!!!! more more more!!! lol alright so when's it coming out in novel form and where can I buy it from?? <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> keep up the excellent work!!

Ferunnia

11-16-2007, 10:35 AM

<cite>Khaz wrote:</cite><blockquote>Absolutely OUSTANDING story!!!!!!!!!! more more more!!! lol alright so when's it coming out in novel form and where can I buy it from?? <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" />" keep up the excellent work!! </blockquote>This put a huge smile on my face. When someone's first post on the forums in umm...(had to open a new forum thingy to check) over 2 and a half years is to tell you they think your story is great, there's no way to describe how that feels. Thank you Khaz, for that, I'll need to knock out the next chapter in a more timely fashion than I have been lately. Enjoy the story guys. I'll have more up soon.

Kaleath

12-04-2007, 02:02 PM

hey Ferunnia... you still writing? I can't wait for the continuation of your story!!hope you are still writing this aweome story.

Ferunnia

12-05-2007, 10:13 AM

Aye, I'm just stuck on exactly what order things are happening in the upcoming chapters.Ain't forgot about the story trust me.

Jakimo

12-05-2007, 05:07 PM

Wow, that is one of the best action sequences I've ever read. My pulse and respiration went sky high and I found myself reading faster and faster. The real world disappeared for me while I saw and heard the combat. More, please.

Ferunnia

12-18-2007, 01:34 PM

<div align="center">Book 4: Of Death and Renewal</div><div align="center">Chapter 29: Limits</div> We don't have much time, El," said Ereviz. "I know. We're close enough now that I can feel her power ebbing," Elhonna said. Ereviz looked around, taking in the sight of the small forest that was keeping pace with the party. From where they were, on top of a small rise in the land, he could see, little over a mile away, evil-looking towers rose over the forest top, their tops nearly obscured by low cloud-cover. A pall of death and fear came over him as he beheld the city dedicated to the god of fear, but his stout heart held true, and he gritted his teeth and shook off the feeling, before looking back down at Elhonna, who easily ran beside his warpony. "What is the plan when we come to the walls? I doubt they are going to just throw wide the gates and let us rescue the girl without a struggle. "Of course not. I plan on going through the walls; ‘tis why I've not released my animating power from these plants. I want to bring the whole city down around their heads once I have Loriana in my arms. They will pay in blood for the torturing of my daughter. "Are you sure these plants will be enough? Do we need to stop to let you gather more? She looked up at him sadly before replying, "I can't Ere, it's taking all I have to keep these sentient. If we get into a fight with something stronger than we can handle without my powers, I'll have to release them and hope we don't get overrun from behind. There's not enough nature energy in this forest not tainted with evil for me to do more." A sudden surge of energy emanated from the direction of the city. All the party sucked in their breath, unsure of whether that meant the girl was dead, but the power simply continued to slowly rise. "El, Ere, they're beginning the final ritual I think," said Fiona from the boughs of a tree off the pair's right. "Aye, ‘tis what it feels like to me as well," Elhonna said in reply. "Let me see if I can move these plants along any faster." She mentally commanded the plants to speed their movements, though the extra bit of power she drew to do so nearly left her staggering in her run. Some of the smaller plants were crushed under the churning roots of the large trees, and others fell behind, but she knew they would catch up eventually. A small amount of holy power seeped into her from Ereviz; she breathed just a bit easier, and then smiled up at her friend in thanks. A moment later, her gaze turned grim and she stubbornly pushed her body harder to continue the run to the city. <div align="center">* * *</div> Inside the ten pace high walls surrounding Cazic'Thule, down wide avenues and up many steps to the main entrance of the largest temple in the city energy flowed. The energy then flowed through the corridors of that building down into the bowels of the building, past massive lizardmen guarding an enormous pair of bronze doors inlaid with friezes of unspeakable acts and frightened people of all races. Through cracks around the doors this energy continued, until it joined with the nearly immeasurable energy that had already arrived, drawn through the body of the girl Loriana and into a massive diamond stabbed directly into her chest. Little remained of the girl's own life force. She fought an epic battle of wills from inside her tortured and ravaged body, but could feel herself losing what little sentience she still had. She was slowly being replaced with a corporeal fear and suffering. As this living and breathing fear resonated through the room and into the unholy altar her body had been laid on, the air above her small form began to shift and change. At first a translucent image of her body appeared. Then, where her own arms and legs had been cut away long ago, and her features of race and sex shorn from her like so much detritus, another's features began to show through. First, knobby, leathery, scaled skin swept over the ghostly body, hiding all the gaping wounds left from her ordeal. A large featureless face began to protrude forward from a thick neck as the shoulders contorted and became wider. Long, heavily muscled arms began to sprout from the stumps where Loriana's arms had once been. Spines shot out of the back of the skull and down the spine, nearly a pace long at the top, and shorter the further down they went. The legs began to form anew as well, thick as a tree trunk and with claws nearly a hand long protruding from the three stumpy toes. As those claws sprouted so did more from the thing's fingertips, at least as large. As it had formed, the ghostly apparition had been curled into a fetal position, but now it uncurled itself and stood to its full height of nearly three paces tall. Such was its stature that its head nearly touched the ceiling of the grandly sized room the ritual was taking place in. An evilly glowing sword began to take shape on its back, and the whole room shook as it slung wide its arms and bellowed, gathering even more energy from the star-bright gem planted in the girl's chest. A crescendo of power began flowing into the Avatar taking form and as it drew more and more power it became ever more solid. Sadly, the small girl inside the deepest recesses of the being once known as Loriana shrugged her shoulders and began to walk into a long hallway that appeared from where she knew not. With each step she took, less life remained in the body, and more traveled to the Avatar. Not long now, she thought. I'd have liked to have met my mom at least. I can feel her coming, but I can't hold on any more. Goodbye.

Ekuthh

12-18-2007, 07:37 PM

Too much, too little, too late?We shall see... <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

Kaleath

12-22-2007, 12:10 PM

As per usual awesome work Ferunnia!! I'll have to say WOW!! <img src="/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /><img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />Thank you for the continuation, but could we have more now? lol what can I say I'm addicted but m'afraid that's entirely your own fault! <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

Ferunnia

12-22-2007, 05:42 PM

<div align="center">Chapter 30: The Siege</div> Lizardmen dashed across the battlements on top of the walls surrounding Cazic'Thule. Flaming arrows flew into the foliage of the living trees approaching the walls. At Elhonna's mental commands, the moving forest formed itself into a rough arrowhead-shaped formation, and picked up more speed in its headlong rush towards Cazic'Thule. "Be ready! We will only have on chance to sneak through the hole I'm going to punch in the walls!" Elhonna shouted to her companions as they rode and ran along under the cover of the trees. Noris had summoned a spirit steed much like the one Ereviz commanded, and Fiona rode sitting on a special seat where normally a saddle horn would protrude. Elhonna and Maggie both ran along on foot, their speed enhanced by Maggie's power. To the fore of the party, Ereviz rode his pony at full gallop, his visor down and shield raised, ready to block any enemy counterattacks. Time seemed to stop for the group moments before the trees made contact. Every sound seemed loud enough to deafen. The deep basal thumps as each tree's rudimentary feet hit the ground left shudders running through their spines. The creaking of boughs being raised instants before they would be brought down on the walls sounded like a thousand bones breaking. Their pulses beat a drumline in their ears, then time speeded back up as the trees crashed into the wall with a sound like a tidal wave breaking over an island. The ancient walls of Cazic'Thule had held armies out for centuries. Many a army had cut their teeth there on the walls and failed to gain meaningful entry. The ogres of the Rallosian Empire had failed to take over the temple city. Armies of men had tried and failed as well. Occasional adventurers had penetrated the city, but most were tossed out in pieces, and their bones surrounded the city now: some piles stood nearly waist high. The walls crumbled under the concentrated assault of the small forest Elhonna had animated. A stretch of wall at least ten paces long was battered to nothing but rubble and broken lizardmen within moments of the first few trees hitting the walls with the force of siege engines. Those first few trees continued their way through the gap, leaving it open for more trees to pour in and spread out a bit before attacking the nearest lizardmen and building structures. Under the large distraction provided by a mass of trees tearing through the city, the party of heroes managed to make their way inside the walls. Lizardmen by the score attacked the party from every direction. Arrows plunged into their midst for a moment before their melee attackers closed in for the kill. Unbeknownst to the lizardmen archers, Ereviz had warded the party against such an attack as they burst through the shattered section of city wall. The arrows that weren't outright avoided or deflected off shields simply hit skin and shattered as though connecting with a stone wall. Moments later, half a score of lizardmen lay on the ground, their death rattles still shaking their bodies. The first had died to Ereviz's hammer striking it between the eyes; its life fleeing its body as its feet fled the ground. The stout dwarf deflected another foe's slashing sword with an angled shield block, taking its weapon to the ground. His mail-plated foot stomped down on the blade a moment later as he jumped off his pony, shattering it as his hammer smashed in the back of the creature's head. Maggie's arrows fell among the oncoming enemies like a hailstorm, each one killing a lizardman on contact. Fiona unleashed a fireball that exploded among the oncoming ranks of lizardmen, sending body parts, armor, and weapons flying in every direction, deadly shrapnel that found homes in other lizardmen not directly hit by the blast. Noris had also dismounted and sent his horse back to its existence on another plane. He waded into the melee as well, keeping foes from attacking the gnome directly while he sent waves of healing energy washing over Ereviz. Elhonna strode through the enemy ranks like the god of war, Rallos himself. Every blow swept the head or limbs off an attacker near her. She was covered head to toe in blood moments after the carnage ensued, like a butcher who hadn't bathed in a month. Blood dripped from her long red-streaked silver locks, leaving a dripping trail as testament to her melee prowess as she advanced on the main avenue leading to the center of the city. Another squad of lizardmen saw the party as they came around the corner of a large white building and charged toward their position. Letting the life flee one of her mighty tree allies while it was in midstep, Elhonna drew energy to herself then unleashed it in a wave of frost that turned the first rank of the charging lizardmen to solid ice. The three lines of lizardmen behind that first rank, some blinded from the frost solidifying the lenses of their eyes, charged through their now unmoving comrades, bowling them over. Most shattered on impacting the ground, sending bloody, icy viscera spreading across the ground like a sheet of glass. The second rank made it through only somewhat slowed, but the third and fourth lines slipped and skidded on the frozen guts of their companions. The unfortunates who fell never rose, as another blast of ice swept over the area, again summoned up by Elhonna. Ereviz met the first attackers head on, and on either side of him the remaining lizardmen fell to Maggie's arrows and fist-sized balls of fire being fired from Fiona's palms in an unending stream. Only a few heartbeats after joining in this new combat, the party broke free, leaving the shattered remains of a once-powerful well trained fighting squad to melt and draw flies. The party remounted and hurried up the main avenue as a third of the forest peeled away from the main destruction to travel in the group's wake as support. <div align="center"> * * *</div> "We have to wake the Avatar!" the second in command of the temple screamed at the head priest. "I'll not have my head mounted on a pike because we were foolish enough to toy with a goddess!" "Silence, fool!" the head priest retorted. "I know quite well what will happen if she should arrive too soon, but fear not, we are but moments away from his awakening. You see? Even now he wakes!" A maniacal gleam entered his eyes as the Avatar of Fear opened its eyes and coldly surveyed its surroundings before closing them to once again stand as rigid as a statue, its hands settled on the pommel of its massive sword, which was now nearly completely solid and grounded tip first into the paving blocks that comprised the floor of the room. "Take the guards out to face them, they approach even now. And I want you to lead them in the fight against the intruders, maybe you'll find less fear in doing something than sitting here shouting in my ear!" the high priest snarled at his subordinate. "Of course, holiness, I forgot myself. Surely I will be of more use here than out there, though?" The frightened acolyte wanted nothing more than to be on the opposite side of Norrath as that frightening half elf was standing. The head priest's eyes lost their fervor for a moment and became deadly calm, promising things worse than death. "I said, go. So go, before I melt you into a living puddle of goo to serve as glue for a pair of sandals for the Avatar." The acolyte scurried from the room without another word, then shouted at the guards as he passed through the huge bronze doors leading from the place. "I know you're still there, little girl. Are you scared yet?" He chuckled to himself, then giggled a bit. "I am now going to do you the rare honor of killing you mercifully, because even though the ritual isn't quite over, I'm out of time. What a pleasure it'll be, I'm sure, telling your mother you didn't get to pass on, and now the Avatar will be using your soul as its power source until I have your mother locked up as I now have you to finish the ritual." The man laughed manically as he brought a dagger out from beneath his robes and started chanting, His first words were accompanied by the screams of his last line of defense falling to the party of adventurers. <div align="center"> * * *</div> Slaying everything that came between them and the massive ziggurat containing the main temple, the party of heroes arrived in quite a timely manner at the front steps of the hundred pace tall structure. The group ascended the steps as a barrage of arrows and spears rained down on them, which were deflected by another of Ereviz's holy wards. At each small landing, they tossed lizardmen off the pyramid to their deaths or just killed them where they stood. The party took many small wounds in their approach, but nothing that Noris couldn't handle. Far below, Elhonna's animated forest rampaged through the city, ravaging buildings and lizardmen alike. The party burst into the main entrance of the temple halfway up the face of the mountain-like structure and made short work of the first guards they encountered. They dashed down the main hallway towards the depths of the structure. A few score paces in, the group found a stairwell leading down, guarded by fiercer looking lizardmen who charged them on sight, followed by a much smaller, robed lizardman who stood back from the melee, seemingly frightened out of its wits. A quick flurry of blows later, the party again stood victorious and stood over the lizardman, who cowered in a corner. "Where is my daughter?" Elhonna asked the lizardman. Her emotionless tone left the lizardman with no doubts as to what would happen if he didn't answer swiftly. "I will lead you," the lizardman responded.

Kaleath

12-23-2007, 12:56 PM

WOW! thank you!! so all I had to do is ask and a few hours later the story was there? <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />that was awesome once again! loved the fight scene really good details I thought I was there.Well thank you again and I hope you have a really good Christmas!!

Ferunnia

01-02-2008, 11:12 AM

I've got more of the story outlined, just got back from the holidays and such, I'll be writing more soon.

aianye

03-09-2008, 07:40 PM

Okay, I am totally hooked on this amazing story... where's the rest though? I can't be left hanging like this lol. Seriously though, you are an absolutely amazing writer. You should turn this into a book and publish it. Hope to see more soon <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Zeltaria

03-11-2008, 11:52 AM

I know, this is great! I want to read the rest of the story <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Ferunnia

03-11-2008, 12:10 PM

<div align="center">Chapter 31: Death</div> Their guide, his steps prodded onwards by Elhonna's scimitar lying against the base of its skull, quickly led them to a massive set of bronze doors inlaid with friezes depicting the Cazic'Thule at his worst. The party experienced a wave of fear that rushed through them at their first sight of the door, but none were weak-willed enough to give into their fear. "Open it, now," Elhonna commanded the fearful lizardman. When the lizardman saw the deathly look in her eyes, he began to gibber and plead, "I cannot. Normally it takes the four guards you just killed to move the doors. They just weigh too much. Please, don't kill me; I've led you here, isn't that enough? Can't I just go-" the lizardman's quivering tirade ended with a sharp thunk as Elhonna's sword cleaved it from forehead to breastbone. "Well, that's one less I have to kill when we leave," she said to the other party members, who simply nodded then turned as she did to look at the door. "Stand back," Ereviz said to the others, "I've an idea that may work." As the others retreated a few paces up the stairs a shuddering energy burst from the room on the other side of the door, followed by an eerie silence. Ereviz, howling in anger, brought his warhammer streaking into the middle of one of the doors, and an instant before impact, imbued it with as much of his holy energy as he possibly could. The god-blessed weapon impacted the evil, magically imbued door with a blinding flash of energy as the two powers fought to cancel one another. Through it all, Ereviz continued his howl, forcing all his energy into the weapon, and his stout dwarven heart, fueled by his belief in Brell and his need to pass the portal, helped the holy weapon win the contest. With a screaming as of lost souls being released from millennia of torment, the door simply shattered, then the shards turned to dust before hitting the floor. Ereviz slumped to the side, spent, and Noris ran to his side to assist him as Elhonna, Maggie and Fiona stepped into a room of horrors. "Nooooo!" Fiona screamed, wailing, as she beheld the fully formed Avatar standing over the wretched remains of Loriana. The blood-drenched, robed form of the lizardmen's High Priest stood over the body, holding up its decapitated head, howling gleefully and madly as he pointed his crimson dagger at the approaching heroes. "Now, your foray into my city ends! Behold, the power of fear given flesh, the Avatar of Cazic'Thule, here to tear you asunder and take your screaming souls to the abyss of the Plane of Fear!" "Is that so," Elhonna replied. Her voice sounded like a distant version of itself, void of all emotion. "I am going to rip your heart from your still-living body and crush it before your eyes. But before I do that, I must attend to this puppet you've summoned." She made a small hand gesture, and behind her, Maggie nocked and let fly an arrow in less time than it took the priest's eyes to widen in disbelief at the lack of fear in her voice. As the first arrow impacted the priest's right shoulder, another was streaking towards him. The first impact took him from his feet, and the second impact, in his left shoulder, blasted him backwards. Four more arrows streaked across the room in an instant, and nailed him to the wall behind the altar he had been standing in front of seconds before by his hands and feet. "Kill her!" the priest screeched, and as the massive statue began to move, Elhonna streaked past it and before the second syllable passed the priests scaly snout, her hand darted into its mouth and ripped its tongue from its mouth. Lightning traced its way across her eyes as she glared at the figure from inches away, and slowly rising power made her hair begin to stand up away from her body. "Shut up." She said, then turned to face the awakening Avatar of Fear. "I hope you realize what you've done before I'm finished with you," she said, turning her head slightly to speak over her shoulder. "I would have thought your seeing the last moments of your army commander might have given you a bit of insight into what the differences are between my fully awakened power, and what tiny trickle you managed to steal from my sleeping daughter. Watch, and learn your folly." A mad hissing from the priest made her turn her head, and as she glanced back, she could see the priest shuddering in what seemed to be laughter. A small frown creased her forehead, then her eyes widened slightly as she felt the Avatar do something she had not been expecting. The massive creature, now baring its multiple rows of teeth in an atrocious parody of a grin, turned its face toward her then threw its arms wide. All light in the room dimmed to almost nothing, and a heaviness swept over the room, pinning Elhonna in place as its body acted like a much greater conduit of the energy that Drathan's sword had channeled. Pure evil made material gathered in the beast's hand and it shoved this energy directly at Elhonna. "I'm paying my debt," A calm man's voice said in the instant it took for the energy to travel across the room and in a dark flash of energy, Elhonna saw a man's form intercede between her and the torrent pouring from the Avatar. A second later, the energy let up and a charred husk fell to the ground and burst apart in a wave of ash in front of her. She glanced wildly about the room, and found her fears confirmed at the howling of Fiona, who even now gathered energy with her rage, and the obvious absence of Maggie. Her own sight went red as rage washed over her; time seemed to stop as her mind flashed through all of her memories of Maggie. How he grinned even on their sad path to the city they now stood in the bowels of, when looking on the few splashes of color in the evil jungle surrounding the place. She had felt a connection with him then, but not taken the time to communicate her feelings then, and now felt a deep sadness that she'd not taken the time to do so. She remembered the fierceness with which he had fought by her side through their every ordeal, never faltering, and always backing her every move, protecting her from afar with his arrows. A single tear rolled down her cheek, then vaporized as waves of electricity streamed around her body. As Fiona's super-concentrated shard of ice impacted the Avatar's back, Elhonna unleashed a wave of lightning that burst against its chest. The creature went down to one knee, head bowed, then looked up and grinned its evil smile again. It punched the ground and the room rocked, throwing the gnome from her feet, and taking Elhonna to her hands and knees. As it pulled its hand up, the other hand swept over its shoulder and ripped the huge sword strapped there from its sheath. Spinning on that one knee with a speed belied by its size, it swept the huge sword in an arc toward the fallen gnome, obviously meaning to split her asunder. The blade was nearly upon her when Ereviz alighted above Fiona, standing firm with his feet on each side of her prone body, his brother's shield held firmly in front of his body. The impact of the two mighty artifacts sounded like a gong inside the huge temple, and waves of energy shook plaster from ceilings and hangings from walls throughout the structure. The dwarf was pushed backwards, his mail encased feet cracked the stone below his feet and dug into it, churning up a pile behind him as he absorbed the blow. Waves of debilitating energy poured into the Avatar from Noris, who was casting spells with all his fury, trying to rob the mighty being of some portion of its strength. At the same time, he pumped magical strength into Ereviz and Elhonna, hoping against all odds to enable them to send the Avatar back to its home plane. As Noris' energy was pouring into her, Elhonna was sprinting across the room, both swords brought to bear as she attacked the Avatar on its left flank. Seeming to sense her, the Avatar brought his left arm down and blocked her blows with the huge plates of chitin-looking armor covering the arm. She turned with her deflected blows, then jumped to the side as the hand came down where she had been standing. Running beneath the arm, she stabbed upwards into the creature's ribcage. An earsplitting howl shook the room as the blades bit home, and the beast started thrashing about madly, finally letting up it's pressure from the sword blow directed at Fiona as it turned towards Elhonna. Bluish-green blood oozed slowly from the pair of wounds, and smoke still rose from its chest where the lightning had contacted it. Large patches of the scales on its back had frozen solid and some were flaking away, leaving raw pink flesh behind. It turned its malignant gaze on the half-elf, then again spread its arms wide, gathering to itself the unholy energy allowing it to obliterate its foes. Elhonna smiled defiantly, and stood her ground. Her aura of nature came into existence around her, flicking dim green. As the creature brought its hand down to point at her, the deep rumbles from outside the temple stopped for a moment, then there was a loud thud as every animated tree fell over lifeless at once. Her energy shield flashed blinding emerald at the same moment as the dark wave of energy poured over her. For a moment lasting an eternity, the titanic energies clashed, then they dissipated as one, leaving Elhonna standing in a cloud of steam. The remainder of the party fearing the worst, were shocked to see her walk from the mist. She seemed to be bleeding from every pore, and her dark skin gleamed dark crimson in the fitful light of the room. Her face still held her mad grin, so her teeth looked like a stark slash of white across her red face. Her eyes opened as she took another step, and it seemed all the storms in the world flashed inside them for a moment. She turned her head slightly and looked at the party. "Get out, hurry, I can't hold it much longer, and when I let go, if you are in here with me, you will die." Ereviz, Fiona and Noris looked at each other for a moment, and then Ereviz shouted to gain the creature's attention as Noris sprinted over to the altar to gather the girl's broken body and severed head. Elhonna crashed into the side of the Avatar, blades cutting bloody ruts in its hide, as Ereviz danced with death in front of the beast, dodging its ponderous but lightning swift blows and swinging his mighty warhammer to connect with its sword arm. His powerful blows cracked bones and blew chunks of meat away from the mighty arm, and a moment later, the huge sword crashed to the ground, cracking the paving stones that made up the floor of the room. Its free hand swept around and knocked the dwarf backwards toward the doorway, then the Avatar turned its attention to the lightning swift form of the half-elf turning its back and sides to ribbons. Ereviz rolled with the blow and dashed from the room moments after Noris and Fiona passed through the shattered portal. Behind him he heard Elhonna scream in anger as she again threw herself into the fight with the Avatar. She can do it, I believe in her, he thought to himself as he ran through the door. He knew in his heart that the party's presence at this point would only be a hindrance, and so he led the group back to the door leading into the temple to hold the enemies at bay while Elhonna did her part.

Ferunnia

03-11-2008, 12:11 PM

How's that? Saw that message and it made me wanna pump out another chapter. <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" />" Enjoy the read.Edit: Heh, and another comment while I was writing the chapter. I appreciate it guys.

niko_teen

03-11-2008, 12:20 PM

sweet thanks for the new post. It's good to see that you and Ekuthh are still hammering away and keeping the lurkers posting.

Ferunnia

03-11-2008, 12:28 PM

Aye, I'm trying. Just hard to post here lately. Been playing in game a lot, so not much time for story writing <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Kaleath

03-12-2008, 04:54 PM

Yet again an absolutely awesome chapter, I'm sad her daughter had to die tho I saw it coming and she needed it, me thinks, to release her full power. this is the type of story one never wants t o see end <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Jakimo

03-16-2008, 01:43 PM

Another great post, I am truly enjoying this story, thanks <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

Rhak

07-12-2008, 09:57 PM

Consider this one heck of a bump (assuming you're still around).I just finished reading the story from its impressive start to its fantastic near finish, hoping that this story was one of those that was actually finished. I was sad to see that it wasn't.Any chance you'll finish this awesome tale of yours? Or have you gone onto things like writing professionally? Either way, this is an excellent story that everybody should read.

Latexzombie

11-07-2008, 11:00 AM

Ferunnia, 1 word....... Publish.

Nebbeny

12-12-2008, 02:47 AM

Just read the story from start to finish, Simply amazing! Been ages since i visited the traveler's tales forum, caught my eye because it having druid in the title <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> which just so happens to be my favourite type of character. Very enjoyable read, it's a shame to see it's not ended, though it seems to only need 1 or 2 more chapters! Hope your still out there writing, and possibly thinking about finishing this fantastic piece of art.

Ferunnia

03-12-2009, 08:37 PM

Finally got mah dang internet and got mah account back. Been a while. I do have one chapter almost done, which I'll probably post tonight. Chapter Posted. Enjoy.

Ferunnia

03-12-2009, 08:44 PM

Chapter 32: A Moment In Time Blood thundered in her ears as Elhonna sidestepped an arcing swing by the Avatar. As its fist pulverized the flagstone floor where she had been standing, she spun around behind the creature and dropped low, dodging the blow that came from nowhere to shatter the air above her head. Both of her swords flashed up as she cart-wheeled back the way she had come from. She drew blood along its arm that dripped smoking to the floor, and its outline wavered ever so slightly, as it struggled to maintain its form through her unrelenting barrage. The Avatar released an earsplitting roar and thrust one hand into the air, summoning pure evil from the city around it. A shrieking wind tore through the room, nearly knocking Elhonna over, then the air thickened and turned pitch black from one moment to the next. "I can see you, little druid," the Avatar said. It let out a blood-chilling chuckle and she heard its feet shift as it swung its arm at her. She crossed her blades in front of her as she felt the disturbances in the air denoting the origin of the Avatar's swing. Half a heartbeat later, her swords took a blow that would have stopped a charging elephant in its tracks. The ground buckled beneath her as she took the blow, and she thrust both her blades upward, redirecting the punch. She rolled to her right as the Avatar's other fist barreled in to crush her. As she tumbled then rolled to her feet, one of the Avatar's legs caught her in the midsection, blasting the breath from her body and launching her across the room. She braced herself, fully expecting to be smashed into a wall, and was surprised when she hit something soft. Dual crunches sounded to her ears - her shoulder dislocating and the snapping of the High Priest's bones as her body shattered every bone in his torso. Something warm and lumpy rained down over her, and she realized dully that it was the High Priests insides being pushed from his mouth. She staggered to her feet, and mentally dulled herself to the pain. A brief flicker limned the darkess surrounding her as she unconsciously sent a healing spell racing through her body. As her shoulder bones slid back into place and her muscles re-knit themselves, she gestured and sent lightning arcing through the room. The deep darkness receded for a moment and she saw the Avatar sprinting towards her, a mad gleam in its cruel eyes and its sword grasped in its freshly healed hand. Letting a berserker rage overcome her, Elhonna shoved away from the ruined carcass of the High Priest and met the Avatar in the middle of the room. Sparks like small fireballs flew as their weapons met, time and again. She fueled her rage steadily, pushing her body to new heights, by thinking of Maggie and her daughter, along with all the innocents killed to resurrect the vile creature before her. As her anger built, fires spontaneously started around her, from the dead body of the priest, from hangings on the wall, anything that could burn, did. She received small gashes when her blade barely stopped the monstrous blade from bisecting her or shearing off limbs, and as her blood dripped to the ground, small flashes of lightning erupted, until, as the minutes passed and their raging fight continued, the floor seemed to be a carpet of electricity. With each drop of her blood, the darkness the Avatar had summoned was pushed back to the corners of the room. Elhonna veritably glowed green, now, as her regeneration abilities coursed through her veins, replacing the blood she lost and closing up wounds as fast as she received them. In a seconds-long lull in the fight, mighty druid and personification of Fear faced each other from as far away as the room's walls would allow. The Avatar was a patchwork of deep cuts and stab wounds. One arm seemed to be hanging on only by the skin, but even as she watched, the skin that had disappeared suddenly reappeared, faster than an eye blink. The magic coursed up and down its body, leaving it seemingly untouched in only a couple of seconds. The Avatar flicked out its serpent-like tongue and licked blood off its scaly lips, then smiled jaggedly. Elhonna looked at it coldly and flicked drops of blood off her blades that sizzled and sank into the stone floor where they hit. She sent her consciousness racing away from the ziggurat for a moment, searching for Ereviz and the rest of the party, and saw them fighting their way through a horde of huge lizardmen. Scaled heads turned to jelly in the face of Ereviz's assault, one per blow, and Fiona, her face a mask of fury, wiped out lizardmen by the dozen as she lanced out freely with her mighty spells of fire and ice. Elhonna could see that it wasn't going to be enough, though, and brought her consciousness souring back into her body. "You see the futility now, do you not, little druid?" the Avatar rasped out with a touch of humor in its voice, having obviously sent out its own awareness to see what she was looking at. "Nothing is futile, so long as will exists," she replied, then grinned madly. The Avatar only had time to give her a slightly puzzled expression before she raised her swords overhead and summoned a column of fire that radiated from her body and shot straight upwards as it widened. The room became a hell of fire and the Avatar, its skin melting and running like wax, screamed before crashing through a wall and fleeing for the moment. The flames shot up and shattered the ceiling, then smashed into the floor above that, melting rock like ice thrown into a lava flow. The top of the ziggurat blasted apart a moment later, raining down magma and flaming chunks of rock on the masses of lizardmen even then swarming towards the central temple. Thousands died in a moment, and Elhonna smiled. For long moments her sanity hung in the balance as she adjusted her body to handling the sheer amount of power coursing through her. A second later, once more in control, she summoned gale force winds beneath her feet and leaped straight up. She nearly flew, her already preternaturally powerful jump augmented by the winds beneath her feet. Every lizardman not killed in the first blast saw her alight on the edge of the broken peak of the temple, then. Moments later, as one, the tens and hundreds of thousands of evil beings rushed the building. She held her swords out to either side momentarily, then slashed down towards the approaching beings. The small disturbances her blades cut through the rising sulfur-smelling smoke around the building arced out and grew by uncountable magnitudes, and a split second before the massive blade of wind descended on the first ranks of lizardmen, she laced fire through it. The first dozen ranks of lizardmen fell, then, sheared like a farmer sowing so much wheat, wounds cauterized in an instant, some not even realizing they were in pieces before the light went out of their eyes. Half a legion of some of the toughest creatures on the face of Norrath, brushed aside like dust on a cloak. This gave the rest pause for a moment, then they turned as one and sprinted away from her as fast as they could, finally given fear by something besides their own god. "You!" the Avatar howled from behind her. She turned to see the creature, once again healed of its wounds, striding around the broken crown of the temple in her direction. "You go too far! None may touch my followers in this way! Their fear is mine, mine you hear me? See now, why they fear me!" So saying, the Avatar stopped, a dozen paces from her, and held its arms in the air, and the hundreds of thousands of lizardmen hit their knees or fell on their faces, howling, as the Avatar sent its power coursing through them, showing each their worst fear, which for most was confronting their own god. Every screaming, gibbering lizardman fed the Avatar, their fear giving it power. Turning to face her again, Avatar bellowed then slashed in her direction from a dozen paces away and its power blasted her from the building to land, after tumbling down the many steps, in a broken heap at the foot of the temple. Stunned from the power of the blow she had been dealt, it took her a few minutes to summon up her healing powers, and when she stood back up, the sight she beheld broke her mind, her sanity fled, and the barriers in her mind keeping her powers in check for the safety of the world shattered like glass before a battering ram. * * * Tunare stumbled as the blocks she had placed on Elhonna without her knowing shredded and snapped back to her. No. What has happened? She sent her sight across the planes to behold Norrath and what she beheld brought tears to her eyes and made her knees buckle in fear. Her physical body on the Plane of Growth dissipated in the wind as she teleported straight to Cazic'Thule, precepts be damned. * * * Moments before, Ereviz and Fiona had been cutting through their enemies, with Noris carrying Loriana's remains and keeping them all healed as much as possible, trying to make clear of the city so Elhonna could finish off the Avatar. They were less than a hundred paces from the city wall when hundreds of lizardmen fell on their position and pressed them from every side. Fiona unleashed a wall of fire that swept their enemies back twenty paces, but they soon were approaching again, and the party had only covered a quarter of the distance to the wall. They fought their way through the horde of lizardmen, slowly making their way through to the city wall, but they were becoming bogged down and losing hope. Just then they felt a deep thump then looked back and upwards to see the top of the central ziggurat disappear in a torrent of flame. Most of the lizardmen fighting them turned to look as well and they all witnessed the first wave of lizardmen being bifurcated. Many of the remaining lizardmen in their way ran as well, and they were almost to the wall when they saw the lizardmen in every direction fall down, screaming. They looked back again and saw the Avatar swell with evil energy, and the three of them cried out in horror as Elhonna was blasted from the top of the temple. They were still staring, horrorstruck, when the Avatar alighted in front of them, laughing insanely, the air vibrating around it from the teleportation spell that had moved it instantly from the top of the ziggurat to their location. * * * Her eyes were glued to the wall of the city a good three hundred paces away. With the power of nature coursing through her, the sight came to her as if it stood at nose length. Ereviz, Noris, and Fiona; hanging from ropes attached to something at the top of the wall. Their eyes hung on by the optic nerves, and their skin was peeled away to reveal their musculature. Her daughter's body was still in Noris' arms, literally nailed to him by knives. She heard the Avatar faintly speaking to her, seemingly from a great distance, though she knew he was standing only feet away. Mocking words, asking her how she liked their new wall hangings or some such. She had passed beyond comprehension of human thoughts, and death filled her mind. For the first time since being reborn, she could feel currents of nature energy coursing through the very matter around her, and she drew as much as she could from every direction, uncaring of the evil taint on most of it. * * * Across the face of Norrath, druids of every ilk, from the newest initiate to the mightiest masters of the power of nature, stopped and stood still. Whether in the midst of a raging melee or meditating on mountaintops, one and all turned to face Cazic'Thule. Whether they shook in fear or tilted their heads in confusion, cried in awe or sneered in jealousy, every druid on the face of the planet knew that they were witnessing the possible end of the world. * * * For over a hundred miles in every direction from the city, the jungle crumbled to ash. Across the planet, silence reigned, as if everything and everyone, druid or not, realized that something calamitous was about to happen. A few seconds later, as minor earthquakes shook every corner of Norrath and a deep rumble shook through the planet's core, it seemed that an apocalypse had begun. * * * From deep within her litany of overwhelming rage, she felt millions of creatures and plants snuffed out of existence in an eye blink as she drew all they had to give and more. Her eyes raged with storms enough to ravage the world, and the air around her vaporized as she centered all the energy. The blood covering her body boiled away as electricity arced its way down her body to trail streamers across the floor. Her skin shone an unearthly blue as she looked over at the Avatar, who reeled back in uncertainty. Time seemed to stop as her natural speed was boosted beyond comprehension by her influx of power. She pulled her swords down to her side, and then lashed out, eviscerating the Avatar's midsection. She knew it would not be enough, though, and as her blades passed one final time through its flesh, she simply released her hold on the power raging through her. Her lips parted as she uttered one word, "Die." The Avatar's eyes didn't even have time to widen before a thousand lightning bolts tore through its body at once. Fist-sized chunks of meat blew away with each blast, and the Avatar was reduced to a bloody mist in an instant. Elhonna swirled the lightning about her body, fully in control of her staggering power. Her feet rose from the ground and she hovered there, surrounded by an ever widening sphere of pure destruction that tore apart everything in its path. Within seconds the sphere had annihilated the central ziggurat, leaving a crater hundreds of paces in depth. She felt the evil citizens of the city dying by the thousands, and felt nothing. She drew the power back into her one last time, compressing it until it could not sustain its form and it exploded, ripping through the city as an earthquake that shook half the continent. Buildings crumbled to dust, crushing those inside and grinding them to a pulp. She released her power for a full ten seconds before cutting off the stream of power and slowly hovering to the ground. She staggered as her feet came to rest on the broken earth. Blood leaked slowly from her pores, once again staining her dark skin crimson. Sanity slowly returned as pain filled her awareness. During her rage, a thought had come to her, almost as from outside her mind, and it had brought calm. Calm enough not to destroy the world, anyways. She looked down, and thought wryly, I guess mortal bodies aren't meant to channel that much energy. Most of what she saw seemed a blur, except for that on the edge of her vision. She shook her head to clear her vision, and the resulting pain that lanced through her head made her check her movement. Then, she fell flat onto her face and passed out there, on the blasted landscape of what was once one of the most powerful bastions of evil in the world of Norrath.

niko_teen

03-16-2009, 07:11 PM

/happy danceyea yea yea.. but i forgot what was going on already..... AHHH i have to re-read.... or is that a yea because i get to read everything all over again as a new story? hmmmmmmReguardless I'm happy to see a new post <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" />

Ferunnia

03-27-2009, 07:12 PM

So, are none of my old readers still out there? Just curious, since I normally get more than one reply <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

niko_teen

03-28-2009, 01:08 PM

it has been over a year since ekuth has been to the forums and even though Val is around but does make a whole lot of comments that I have seen. I still keep in contact with Shado, Arienh, Keera, Yams and a few others from time to time but a lot of the old lurkers still don't make it around as much.

Ferunnia

06-13-2009, 12:02 PM

Well, I've thought about finishing this, but am unsure of interest, you guys lemme know if you want me to or not.

Kith

07-02-2009, 12:09 AM

<cite>Ferunnia wrote:</cite><blockquote>Well, I've thought about finishing this, but am unsure of interest, you guys lemme know if you want me to or not.</blockquote> I've only recently started reading and got up to chapter 18 so far, but i'm well and truely hooked and from what i've seen so far i'd hate to not find out how everything ends up once I catch up to the current end chapter. So definite interest from me :>

Lillirose

07-06-2009, 09:54 AM

Simply breathtaking, outstanding, magical!! I'm not a native speaker but even with words in it I didn't know (and didn't want to interrupt the magic of your story with looking them up) your story came to live, I saw the places, the battles, I felt with your characters . . . if writing is like painting a picture you are truly a Da Vinci amongst the writers. Please do not stop and close the circle for us. Thank you so much.

Ferunnia

07-06-2009, 07:01 PM

I'm started on the next chapter, but it's going slow as heck. Dunno when it'll come out, but I'll get it to ya eventually. Thanks for the comments guys. I don't know how to express how seeing someone appreciate what you do makes you feel. Thats the stuff that keeps me going on this long after i normally would have just lost all interest.Edit: Bout a quarter of the way through the chapter. Just working on it when I get ideas. My brain feels dead lately.

Khiara

09-11-2009, 11:12 PM

Can I just say...OH MY GAWD!!! That was...and she was...and then they.....MORE!!!!!! /faint

Ferunnia

09-12-2009, 01:04 AM

For my people on Blackburrow (if any of you still read this story)...Let me know through mail/in-game and I'll put my story on books for your home free of charge (You supply the books). (Two-Three books per chapter, btw)

Ferunnia

09-12-2009, 01:57 AM

Chapter 33: Sacrifices Sound came back slowly. Next, a lightening of the darkness around her crept over her consciousness. She felt the pain of dozens of small cuts and some larger ones. Ger body felt battered and more than a few bones felt broken, especially over her chest, where her healing powers hadn't had time to fully take effect. Her thoughts were naught but a jumbled mess, random flashes of horror and blood.As dawn slowly slid over the land, her vision began to return. At first she saw only a blur, then came the full return of her sight, hindered only by a slight fuzziness around the edges. The tumbled ruins of a blasted cityscape and a desolate wasteland surrounded her for as far as she could see.With sight came awareness, followed by a sense of loss so deep she thought she would drown in it. Her memories rushed back in a torrent of misery. Her daughter, a defiled hunk of meat, had been incinerated in the fires of her rage. Her friends' torn and broken bodies had been consumed in the same manner. Her sanity was holding on by a thread even now.One fleeting memory was all that had stopped her rage, and possibly saved the world. Tunare's loving words of wisdom and insight had showed her a way she could perhaps change the final outcomes of those she cared so much for. For a moment, nothing came to her other than the memory of Tunare standing before her in spiritual form, beseeching with her voice and eyes, to put a stop to the madness.A second passed while Elhonna glared at the goddess, the fires of a thousand pyres flaring in her eyes, warning her without words not to stand in her way. Then a wave of pure and unconditional love flowed to her from Tunare, calming her.She saw visions then of the things within her power, and she felt hope flare in her heart. She released the last of her power then, into the earth, dissipating it rather than unleashing the raging typhoon that she had been about to scour the area to the bedrock with.Moments later, she floated slowly to the ground and slumped over, exhausted to the point of unconsciousness.She sat there, her memories playing through her mind, for an indeterminable amount of time. It might have been minutes, or hours, or even days. A pallor had fallen over the area where once Cazic'Thule had stood. Ash and dust thrown up by her magical assault blocked the sky for many miles around. Her mind flitted about randomly, picking out memories of Ereviz, and her daughter. The determination on his face when defending his brother's honor what seemed like a lifetime ago. The light catching the blue flecks in the brown of her daughter's eyes the day she left her on the steps of The Lightbringers' hall in Qeynos.So slowly it was as if she were dreaming, Elhonna stood and glanced about at the wreckage of the city. She saw flickers of power at the edge of her vision where the land struggled to reabsorb the energy she had ripped from its bosom.She closed her eyes and centered herself. Her heartbeat slowed to match the rhythm of the world's. Scents became clearer, and her hearing extended out, far beyond a normal living creature's listening range. As she became more attuned with the living world around her, she also started seeing flickers on the edge of her vision, a breaking down of veils between the living world and the spirit world.All around her, momentary glimpses of ghostly figures could be seen. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw what she had been looking for. A tiny spirit was wandering around, her ghostly blue robes floating a foot off the ground as she hovered aimlessly about. The spirit appeared half-elven and her large, pale eyes looked about in confusion. The spirit drifted across Elhonna's line of sight. Following closely behind the little girl's spirit was a group of four ghostly beings who seemed to be following the girl cautiously, as if afraid she might spook. Even in death they stick together...I shall make sure Loriana gets to become that close to someone...She sent her power out, the smallest tendrils of energy, to blanket the area around the five souls. They all started, as if goosed, but apparently they could not part the veils of the spirit world to look out on her living body.Elhonna sent more of her power through the tiny tracery of power surrounding her friends' and daughter's spirits. Faster and faster, her life energy pulsed across that cord, penetrating the mists of death, and slowly but surely draining her life in return. As the people within her sphere of power grew more substantial, she faded, her mighty powers traded for their rebirths.At the last moment, she lanced out with a streamer of fire, etching a message in a large stone lying nearby on its side, and imbued a small amount of her remaining power into the stone to make it glow to those able to see magical auras.A small smile on her face, she gave herself to her power and her body exploded. Before the gore could stain the ground red, her component matter turned to dust and blew away on the wind.Moments later, a small whirlwind caught up that dust and swirled it around the stone she had written on. A blinding dust storm rose for a moment, then dispersed, leaving five piles of loose soil sitting in front of the stone. A second later, a hand thrust out of the surface of one of the piles, clutching a massive warhammer...(Note: I'm not sure if I will be adding more to this chapter or not...Might just start a new one to keep going) - Elhonna Kaer'lisk 90th Druid of Blackburrow

DukeOccam

12-30-2009, 03:13 PM

I'm pretty late to the game, but I've been working on reading this story, and it's very entertaining so far. I couldn't help but skip to the end to see if it was completed. It looks like it's been a while since it was updated, but there have been longer breaks in this story. Got any more up your sleeve?

Ferunnia

01-01-2010, 07:11 PM

Yeah there's more to it, just haven't had any reason to write since no one's responded to the last chaper til now. Am unsure if anyone likes the direction the story is taking, but I don't feel like going back and changing things that much.I thought up a bit of story arc for a couple of other characters for eq2, but not sure if I want to dedicate the time to writing if things are going to stay as dead as they have been on these boards lately.

DukeOccam

01-01-2010, 08:05 PM

Yeah it's kind of sad; it seems like everything was done around 2007, then just petered out. As I've been going back and trying to find the best stuff to read, too many times I've gotten into a story only to have it abruptly stop, then I check the date and it's from like 2005.It seems like everyone was in awe of this Kinslayers story by Ekuth, but it looks like it got deleted after what appears to be some kind of forum drama. Bah. Bah I say!Anyway, it's up to you of course if you want to continue. I haven't made it all the way to the end of what's been written so far, but what I have read has been really good. A lot of the stories I've read here have been really inspiring me to work on my own.

Doowy

02-27-2010, 02:42 AM

I'm also a little late to this story but WOW! Awesome story! Even if you ended it here it would be FANTASTIC! I'll have to keep checking the boards to see if it ever goes on!!

Ferunnia

09-05-2010, 12:48 PM

Finally got a start on a new chapter after all this [Removed for Content] time...Don't know if anyone still keeps up with this story, but I've also been working on editing the first however many chapters are in 1st person. Gonna eventually make em all 3rd person, like the second half of the story, which I feel was much better written.Edit: BTW I am Ferunnia, lol

Exelance

10-07-2010, 09:38 PM

Its sad to see how dead these forums have become. I my self haven't even looked at them in months. used to be a regular reader on here. but over time, many of the great storys that inspired people to write have been deleted by user, Abruptly ended or just givin up on.Makes me happy to see even one writer left still. I think with all the drama that happened in the last couple years. not many want to even bother writing about characters they are unsure they will be playing in a few months time.i'm afraid the great days of the Round Robins, Epic Chronicals and forum fun are gone from the land of Norrath.Haven't read much of your story. but i will. i need a good jolt of the old days of story telling.

Ferunnia

10-08-2010, 02:14 AM

Yeah. We had quite a little community back in tha day. I came back and now just raid 4 nights a week...I go out and get trashed the other three, and work 6 days a week. In case anyone has been wondering what the hell happened to me finishing this [Removed for Content] book.

Ferunnia

01-16-2011, 05:42 PM

Book 5: Recollections of a Broken Past Prologue The tavern was quiet long after the story-teller finished her tale. Outside, the rain-slicked streets were drenched by yet another downpour. The plains of Karana still kept to their stormy ways. Thundermist Village, nestled between two small chains of mountains, was buffered by storms on a regular basis, especially now, during the rainy season. Lightning flashed, fully illuminating the candle-lit room. Travelers and locals rubbed elbows, the place was packed to capacity and beyond, as word of the power of this stranger's tale raced through the town, drawing dozens of people to the inn to have a listen. On many tables, drinks sat untouched. For once, the barkeep didn't mind, as he had been drawn in by the long tale as well. His mind still flashed with images given near-life by the stranger's eloquence in relating the tale. He could nearly smell the ashes of the jungle, taste the despair, then joy of the last few moments of Elhonna's life. Looking around, he saw that most of the people in the tavern were caught up in the same kinds of thoughts. There were tears on the cheeks of many, their hearts nearly broken by the loss, the irony of a goddess dying for her child that she would never get to meet. After a couple of minutes, the crowd seemed to come out of its reverie. Drinks were ordered, quietly. None wanted to be the one to break that fragile peace, none wanted to disrespect the power of the tale. “I find myself curious, then, to the fate of those involved,”one man sitting near the stage asked after a while. The cloaked stranger stirred in her seat, rearranged her long, pale-colored hair about her heart shaped face, and spoke again to the crowd so raptly staring at her after the long tale. “The stone read, 'Fate Shall One Day Reunite Us. Until Then, Protect That Which I Hold Dear.' As far as I know, Elhonna has never been seen again. These events happened over a decade ago. Ereviz is a High-Captain in the Knights of Bristlebane. Maggie, Noris, and Fiona returned to Qeynos with their charge, and finished raising the girl.” “And what of Loriana?” the same man asked. “She spent years recovering from her ordeal. She could not remember most of what transpired, but occasionally, images, fleeting moments of her torture, would flash through her mind, bringing her screaming out of her sleep, or dropping her to her knees when awake, leaving her cringing in fear. The rest of her childhood never came. She was forever changed by what happened to her. She became withdrawn, cold and distant to those around her. “The little girl that died there in Cazic-Thule was not reborn. What came back was a shell. No one who knew her before recognized her, other than the way she looked. Her mannerisms changed, completely. She was stronger, in many ways, but broken, as a whole. She spent the rest of her adolescence hiding from the things that had happened to her, forever looking over her shoulder, expecting at any moment to feel a scaly hand on her shoulder, or to have a bag drawn over her head, before someone dragged her into a dark place to do it to her all over again.” She stopped to take a drink at this point. “Did she ever recover?” The same man asked again. “That is a tale that could be long in the telling, sir,” She responded. Shouts of 'More!', and 'Finish the tale!' rang out as the crowd sensed her hesitance to continue. She sat quietly for a moment, obviously deciding whether or not to continue. As she looked out over the crowd, she met the eyes of a man sitting quietly in one corner. Brown eyes stared across the room and met her blue ones, and she felt her pulse calm, her nervousness pushed into submission. He nodded at her, peaceful, caring eyes supporting her silently, and she turned to gaze back out at the crowd. “Listen closely, then, to the tale of one girl's fight against the darkness inside of her soul, listen to her pain, her failures, her triumphs.

Ferunnia

01-16-2011, 06:38 PM

Chapter 34: A Step Back in Time Red flashes of memory, blood splattering the walls around her. Tortured faces caught in a rictus of pain screamed silently in her head. Claws scrabbled in the dark, scraping across the floor. She tried to crowd herself into a corner, but the room was round. There was no escape, and as she frantically searched for a way out, a wide-grinning mouth appeared out of the darkness baring rows of blood-covered, needle-sharp teeth at her. The face moved suddenly at her, maw opening wide, as if it meant to bite her head from her shoulders. She screamed, and abruptly grunted, as she rolled, thrashing, off the bed and face first onto the floor. She lay there, curled up on her side, blood dripping from her nose, a massive headache building behind her eyes. The marble floor cooled her body rapidly, and she came to her hands and knees, bruised and shivering. She looked over her shoulder, past the small bed and out the window. It was still pitch black outside. She'd managed less than a few hours of sleep, and felt the lack. Standing wearily, she brushed her nightgown off, though her room here was kept spotless, and there would be no dust to wipe away. She stepped to her wash stand and grabbed a small rag to hold to her nose as she tilted her head back, waiting for the nosebleed to stop. Tears of fear still ran down her cheeks, but these soon became tears of anger, as cold rage ran through her. She was frustrated, it had been years. She was so tired of waking up every other damned night to these nightmares. She looked down, moved the rag, and the blood had stopped. She met her gaze in the mirror. Eyes the color of richest sapphire gazed back, and pain showed around them, both from falling on her face, and from living in constant fear. She was almost seventeen years old, nearly ready to begin her mastery studies as a mage, and she still woke up screaming like that twelve year old that had sat there in the dark in Cazic-Thule, getting mutililated. She looked away from the mirror, disgusted, and lay back down. Outside, a peaceful quiet permeated the city of Qeynos, it was a city at sleep, for the most part. Crickets chirped and frogs croaked from the banks of the small lake surrounding the Mage Tower. In the distance, she could hear the steady clop-clopping and smooth bumping of a horse-drawn carriage driving along the cobblestone road a ways distant from the tower. She lay there for a long while, staring up at the ceiling, listening the the peaceful sounds of the night, trying to calm her still-racing heart. She looked to her left, out the window. The moon was full, and she sat up, staring at the way it reflected on the water below. With most of the torches along the roads damped for the night, and being far enough away from any taverns to not have the night hazed out by light, she could look up and see the endless number of stars, and the shattered remains of Luclin spread out across the sky. She lost herself in the serenity of the moment, her tiredness forgotten for a while. She emptied her mind as her masters had taught her over the years, and didn't so much reach out as she just stopped holding back her will to keep the flows of mana around her out. She could see the thousands of weaves of magic permeating the stones of the tower, and where Earth mages had used their powers ages ago to help lay the stones and foundations of the city itself. She could see currents of Air, weavings that permanently moved the air around the city away and moved new air in, keeping the city smelling as fresh as possible, keeping disease vapors from settling over the populace in times of sickness or plague. Water controlled as it came into the various aqueducts feeding prodigious amounts of water to the city's populace. The power used at the far distant sources to call the life-giving fluid to the surface still showed to someone with enough skill to read old tell-tale signs of magic. Fire was used to heat homes, guild halls, public buildings, and to provide light for night travel and to cook food. All around her, power swirled, and she let her mind free to float upon the currents of power, reveling in not being attached to her fleshly body, not being weighed down by her broken past. She gleefully soared across the city, drifting from element to element, when something made her stop. On the currents of air she was riding, she could sense a child weeping. She shifted her concentration in increments, zeroing in on the source of the sound, jumping from air current to wall to fireplace to candle light, until she found the child. A small boy huddled in a corner, behind the dead body of an adult male human. The mage jumped a final time out of the candle into the very air of the room, her awareness taking in all that was happening at once. A dark elf female, short and clothed entirely in black leather, was drawing a knife from the man's body and turning to a woman that had just came running down the stairs, a wood axe in hand and blood and intenstines falling from her vivisected stomach,. The assassin contemptuously flicked a hand in the woman's direction, and a dagger sprouted from her eye. The assassin turned back to the child, smiling evilly, and Loriana plane-shifted her body to the room. She arrived in the midst of a violently buffeting wind that threw the assassin back on her heels, directly between the dark elf and the screaming, weeping child. She turned cold eyes on the assassin, and threw a hand up as she detected the slightest movement from the dark elf. The air between them solidified, and halfway to her throat was a small crossbow bolt. Before she could do anything else, the dark elf had turned and sprinted back up the stairs the woman had came charging down. “Are you the only other person in the house?” Loriana screamed at the child. “Yes,” came the watery reply. “Good,” she said, and raised a hand toward the stairs. A sheet of flame raced out to immolate the stairway, and the stones in the house screamed their death agonies in her elemental-attuned hearing as the heat melted the rock of the stairwell. She charged behind the wall of fire, protected from her own work, but cursed loudly when she realized the assassin had teleported a short distance away as soon as she turned the corner. A few hundred yards away, she felt a teleportation spell build to its peak, then vanish. The assassin had escaped. She ran back down the stairs to see what could be done to help the man, but when she turned him over, his sightless eyes stared up at the ceiling, and she knew he was gone. The child she left huddled in the corner during this, not knowing what to do for him regardless. When she was sure the two adults were done, she turned to the child and asked him quietly, “Do you have someone you can stay with? Other family in Qeynos?” He nodded his head. “Okay. Come with me then, we can't stay here, she might come back for you,” she said coldly. The child walked to her, tears running down his face, and she grabbed his hand and teleported them to the nearest City-Guard outpost.