Dark Age Legends

[Xorlak]

Ven's eyes widened in terror as he saw the explosion from afar.  Though he was not inclined to detecting magical auras, he knew something went wrong...

He ran closer to the spot.  Apparently a few citizens got caught in the blast as well and had simply dematerialized... Though it was strange, since there was no additional structural damage to the surrounding buildings.  Worst of all, there was no trace of Duilin at all...

"BLAST IT!!"

Ven jammed his blade into the cobblestone street, forcing the sword some six inches into the ground and falling to his hands and knees...

"ARGH!"

----

The shrouded man in the roofless tavern swirled his wine glass amusedly.

"Heh..."


----

"We won't know for a day or so," the white mage replied.  "He needs his rest..."

Vincent was moved to small stone room with a single bed in it, and guards posted on the outside.

[Dippy]

Shaak, Kraig and the rest of the OMG make their way into the city of Jovil, The capitol of Kandarin.
"Man in need some booze..." Kraig pants as they enter downtown.
"Well we have four choices: The pub, the tavern, the inn, and the bar." Shaak replies.
"Let's go with... The tavern."
They enter along with a dozen other orcs (the rest go to the inn, the pub or the bar.)
"Get me two pints of ale!" Kraig shouts at the bar tender.(or the tavern tender, I guess)
"Then get me two gold pieces!" The Tavern tender shouts back.
"Put it on Kronoses' tab! We work directly for him." He inform him.
"Kronos does not have a tab, Kronos rules all, Kronos drinks for free." The tavern tender begins a speech that sounds well rehearsed.
"shut up and gimmie my drink!" He grabs the ale and chugs it down.
The orcs begin making a awful mess smashing everything: stools, glasses, tables, guests.
"Hey Shaak, I've never liked you or yer two fading identical twinz!" A drunken orc says as he swings a punch at Shaak as he falls to the floor.
A messenger of Kronos flies into the tavern to see what all the commotion is.
"Hey ugly dude! I wanna speak with Kronos!" Shaak orders.
"Sir, do you have an appointment?" He calmly asks.
"No, Jackass! We don't but we need our payment or we'll take this tavern."
"We'll i'm sorry but if you don't have and appointment-" He begins but is cut off by Kraig throwing an empty glass at his head. The messenger lies KOed on the ground.
"Now Shaak, We wait and drink!" Kraig raises his glass.

[D. Ein]

The messenger's head rolled away through the doors. The bartender was visibly impressed.
-"Wow... You'd better be someone important, or else Kronos is gonna hand your ass in a bag to you for this. Besides, he is in the middle of--"
-"Relax, Calahan." A ghastly figure appeared from the floor. It was Kronos, but visibly changed. He no longer had his armour on. Instead, there were loose robes on him, but they were not moving like they were supposed to. They were not quivering in the wind... it looked more like they were under water. In that, they moved very slowly.
Just as he completely phased through the floor, Kronos' figure became more opaque as it solidified. A new feature could be seen - judging by his face, he either got really thin, or he aged a lot. His robes were moving normally now.
-"Ah, yes. Our unexpected friends... But as I understood it, your friendship was for sale, and I am yet to pay the price."
He slowly turned around in the air. The slightly torn robes completely concealed his legs and hands. Without looking back at the Orcs, he quietly whispered:
-"It would seem as though you've made some... redecoration for me while I was gone. I can't say I really like your taste."
He turned towards Shaak, piercing him with a cold stare.
-"Now then, gentlemen, if you would be so kind as to follow me... The royal treasury has been getting quite crammed lately. I don't suppose you could help me with that?"
He looked at Kraig, rewarding him with a wide grin, and slowly drifting out of the tavern.

--- --- ---

Steorra looked at the wounded general, then at the healer mage.
-"Geez, nobody even bothered to ask me if I can do any healing magic", she quietly muttered under her breath. "Now to pass time..."
She went outside, and dispelled her wings. After looking around, she began wandering around searching for Darak.

--- --- ---

The walls around Marshal trembled, as the zombie occupants roamed the halls looking for him. There were occasional curses and comments about each others' mothers heard through the walls.
-"Hey! Watch where you're going!"
-"How can I, dumbass? My eyes were burnt out by that stupid dragon!"
-"Arg, no matter. Get moving!!!"
-"...asshole..."
-"WHAT?!"
A hollow clunk suggested a skull hitting the floor.
-"Hey, someone check in that corridor!"
Meanwhile, something right next to Marshal... moved?
-"H-hey... are you... um... a zombie?"
The man seems to be a survivor of the attack...

[Zeros']

Zeros' hmm'd to himself and looked at Haraldur's grin.

"I don't think allying with eachother would be the best... idea. I think more of a... cease fire would be better. A cease fire between us until we can get rid of other problems," he said, looking at Haraldur.

He then searched for Duilin's signature as well. He sent a message out towards it, hoping it would reach him... Wherever he was... Duilin... If you must know, the ONLY reason I was talking to Haraldur is so he wouldn't of vaporized the whole town. If it was my choice, I'd of attacked him already.

[Dude Man]

Rink got up. "He's still alive...They both are...all of them."

-----

Marshal pointed his gun at the moving figure. He heard it speak, it sounded human. He lowered his gun.

"No...are you?"

-----

Darak lowered his eyebrows. "Very well, Calavous. I'll just give you gist of it. I was involved in a slave-collecting mission back when we were called the Dark Empire. However, it was mostly just a pointless slaughter on a village. I'm not proud of doing it; it's one of the only things I've done that I was ashamed of. But when it goes right down to it, I'm doing all this Empire mumbo jumbo just for protection and money."

He then noticed that Steorra was looking for him. "Now if you excuse me, I must go. Nice talking to you Calavous."

He then walked over towards Steorra and nodded at her in greeting...

-----

Where am I? Did I die?

It's so dark in here. It feels like I'm lying on stone...

I ache, so I guess I'm not in heaven.

And I'm pretty cold so I'm certainly not in hell...

Suddenly a large series of torches light the room. He seems to be in a large, empty prison cell, about the size of a house, behind the bars was a hallway going across it, and in the middle was a creepy looking stair case. Duilin could here the cries of people all around him.

Valos was sitting on the floor in the corner of the room. "That didn't turn out right..."

"What happened?" Said Duilin as he slowly got up. He looked at Valos, and waited a few seconds "Valos! What the hell just happened!?"

"I used a teleportation blast. It got some of the people of Tjed. Don't worry they should be okay." Valos gets up. "We are in Abodahon's dungeon of Bandervil. We are currently fifty feet below ground. These cages are made of demonic metal, it's pretty strong stuff, don't try breaking out."

"Valos! Get me out of here right now!" He yelled. "Zeros' will honestly rip you apart! You are going to regret this so much!"

"Zeros' is going to rip you apart!" Valos says in a squeaky mocking tone. He steps towards Duilin, and points his finger at him. "Zeros' does NOT frighten me! You got that!"

"Well...he should...in fact. I could probably take you right now."

"Heh." Valos lowered his hand. "Listen Duilin...I don't really want to kill you, I knew that this was the only way to get you here. My master really wants to talk to you."

"Who the hell is your master anyways?" Duilin asked sounding annoyed. "It's that huge ass demon, I assume, but who is he?"

Large footsteps could be heard, and the clanging of stone like metal on the ground. A large figured appeared walking down the staircase. The figure walked towards the bars of the cell.

"Go to him...talk. He won't hurt you." Valos said softly, he then turned around and rested his arm on the wall.

Duilin stepped towards the figure. The torchlight revealed it as a massively sized humanoid demon.

"Who...are you?" Duilin asked.

"Don't you remember me Duilin?"

Duilin looked at its face...it looked so familiar. He hadn't seen this face for about fifteen years, but he remembered it.

"Father..."

"Yes...It's me Duilin. I'm sorry about what you've been put through."

"You're sorry!!?" Duilin yelled. "My life has been hell! You've ordered your goons to kill me! What is your fucking problem!?" Duilin sounded terribly upset.

"I've never wanted you to die Duilin. You are my son." Abodahon said.

"What about my brothers and sister? Didn't you care about them."

"I did Duilin, but I could only allow one of you to live, Duilin. I chose you."

"Why...Why did anyone have to die? Ever since you disappeared and there was that raid on my house..."

"I never wanted it to happen Duilin. I was weak back then, but they said I could live and I could choose one other person to live. So I chose you."

"..."

"This is the truth Duilin."

"What do you want with me?"

"I want you to join me, and the Grey Empire."

"Why should I join you?"

"Because, we are the salvation of Gaian. Haraldur and his cult of the Aspyes, will bring chaos to the world with there new ways and Zeros' and Rink.... well they are not what you think..."

[Trent]

Zion looked back and forth between Zeros' and Haraldur. He then turned around and headed the other way.

"Hey, what are you doing?"
"We've nothing do do here. Let's go."
"You seem pissy all of a sudden."
"I don't know what's going on. I'm going to look for Tsu. It's your choice if you want to join me."
"Hey, Zeros'! Zion's all pissy, so tell him what's going on!"

[Xorlak]

(Dude Man gets 10 awesomeness points.  Heh...)

Ven approached the little imp, walking slowly.  He sheathed his sword on his back as he spoke.

"Alive?  Are you sure?  How do you know?"

----

"Arise, my children."

The three lizard men rose to their feet at Emperor Retan's command.

"I take it everything has been kept in order during my absence?" the Dark Emperor inquired.

The robed one flicked his tail.

"Yess, my lord.  We've also made much... progresss..."

The three creatures turned and lead the way in the opposite direction, the Dark Emperor and his son following...

[D. Ein]

//<a href='http://www.darkagegames.net/dalpedia/index.php/Kronos' target='_blank'>Uploaded new Kronos image, this time hand-drawn by me! Sorry for the crappy artwork, this is like the 2nd drawing i've done in my life...</a>\\

The man next to Marshal looked around, then back at Marshal.
-"W-when the attack began, I was just minding my business. Then I heard the temple tremble... I ran for the nearest hole I found. It happened to be this one. Why, who are you? I thought no one else survived."

---

Ein, who was wandering around pointlessly in his cell, suddenly got an idea.
-"Hey... I got an idea!"
He dropped on the floor, and wrapped himself into the cocoon. Seconds later, he emerged in his moth form, overloading the cell with pressure and ripping it to shreds. However, the ward was not so easily dispersed... Ein was stuck in an awkward (sp) position inside a softly-glowing red sphere, without the possibility of turning back into a human - there was not enough space.

[Burton_projects]

Nick reached Bandervil. He went up to his brother. " Im back."

"Good you didn't die." calavous said in unmeaningful way.

[Dude Man]

"What do you mean?" Duilin asked "They're not what I think?"

"Well, let's start with the fact that they are holding you back." Abodahon began

"Holding me back?"

"They are afraid of how powerful you can become. Because of such an empower balance between humans and demons, your demonic energy can become quite powerful, maybe even more so then Zeros'."

"Well, why Rink?"

"Rink is just a agent for Gaia, Zeros' mother, he'd probably do anything for Zeros'."

"Well, they are holding me back, because my power is dangerous, I'd loose control."

"Pfft...I have complete control over myself. That story is just hogwash. Zeros' is afraid of you, because he knows that someday you will be stronger then him, your power is growing faster then his has been. He's jealous; Valos has even said that he would kill you if you went fully demonic."

Duilin turned and looked at Valos, still leaning against the wall, half covered in the shadows. He nods at Duilin. "He doesn't trust you Duilin."

Duilin shakes his head and looks at his father. "No, that's a lie!"

"I'm sorry Zeros', but it's true. I know I can't prove he said that, in fact Valos can't either, but Valos is honest to his word, at least to me, and I give you my word it's the truth. Despite my demonic heritage, I do not lie. Have I ever lied to you before?"

"Well...not really, I guess...." He said, depressed.

"That's not the only reason you shouldn't trust him, I'm surprised you haven't noticed this, but he has been an enemy from the start."

"How so?"

"Think of it? He collected several weapons, which held the power to destroy the world. He stopped the world from fixing it's self, by claiming it was falling apart and then asking his friends to help stop it. Also he allied with Draven, the ruler of the Crimson Empire. I have a strong connection with you, I can sense your hate for that man right now...it seems a bit weaker then your hate for Valos however. Heheh."

Valos rolled his eyes. But then stepped forward. "And another thing, he's just allied with Haraldur! The all mighty Bitter one. You can smell from here that guy's stench of insanity." He then looked at Abodahon. "Oh by the way he's coming."


"Good for him." Abodahon muttered, he then looked back at Duilin. "You see? How can you trust a man like this?"

"Well...how can I trust YOU." Duilin hissed.

"Heh, well, let's start. I am your father. My goal is to gain the throne as ruler of Hell, and bring the source of all evil to better more fair ways."

"Really? I thought you wanted me to do that?" Duilin asked

"Well, perhaps, but I need somebody to take my place in our new Grey Empire. Perhaps you would be happier ruling here, on Gaian?"

//I'd like to state that Duilin didn't receive any of the telepathic messages, he was unconscious for a bit, after he was teleported.\\

[Haraldur]

Reconstruction work on Bandervil was nearing completion.

_________________________________________________________________________

Looking for the aura of his target, that he knew now from the ingested blood, Makhno found it a few floors below him. He took off onto a side passage, and, when noone else was looking, he slipped out of a window and scaled down the inside walls in an alcove between a corner of a wall and a tower, and so he was unseen.

He could now sense that to his left was Vincent's room, and he knew he would have to be quick lest he be seen. Waiting for the right moment, he then quickly went across and in through the window, in absolute silence. He then jumped quickly off the window sill very high and was directly above the prone Vincent. A dagger appeared in each of his two hands as he fell, and he stabbed downwards as he fell, in order to put the full force of his fall into the body of his enemy, in his heart.

_________________________________________________________________________

"As you will," said Haraldur, "though such a cease-fire was already effectively in existance. I will leave you now."

Hmmmm... I should find out where Marshall and Ein have got to...

He diverted his course and went towards where he could sense their aural signatures, and sent them each this message: Marshall, Ein, where are you?

[Xorlak]

Ven appeared behind Zeros', the black cloak neatly wrapped around his armor once again.  He heard the tail end of the conversation with Haraldur and sighed inwardly of relief.  Ever since their last meeting, Ven had no respect for this so called "revolutionary".  The words Haraldur spoke to the King of Tjed, direct threats in Ven's mind, still burned in his ears, and his emotions ebbed on rage even now.

But he chose to say nothing.  Haraldur was leaving now.  Instead, he just offered a cold stare from behind Zeros', waiting for the man to leave.

----

Vincent opened his eyes just slightly.

It was far too late.

The blur above fell upon him.  A tremendous weight was now upon his body as Makhno was now on top of him.  He felt the bed frame collapse and the mattress slam to the floor.  An instant before the knives touched his flesh, he grabbed Makhno's left arm with both hands...

The knives pierced straight through.  One through his heart, the other through his left lower lung...

Blood splattered into Makhno's face and chest, and his hands were covered.

With a dying grip on his enemy's arm, Vincent's eyes were open widely, his pupils tiny, and a sinister grin on his face...  He sputtered his last words in a whisper as blood dribbled from his mouth...

"You're coming with me..."

The alchemist's hands were already glowing bright blue...  As he died, Vincent casted his final transmutation with an instinctual prowess far greater than any he had casted before...

The cloth sleeve of Nestor's coat turned into solid lead in the dead man's hands, and began to rapidly spread up his clothing.  In but an instant it would begin to affect his skin and inner organs, and without a reversal, he would be a complete lead statue in mere seconds...

[Dude Man]

Marshal got Haraldur's message. I hope Ein can reply to that. I'm not to skilled in that sort of thing.

He looked back at the man. "I'm Marshal Royle, I was banished a few days before the attack happened. Roland was zombiefied, but it didn't show, he lead me back here. I was able to loose him. But I fear he's going to find me." Marshal replied to the man.

"Marshal? Oh yeah, I heard you were banished because you gave out our location to the Crimson Empire and some Rebellious cult." The man replied.

"I didn't give out our location, it's a bit more complicated then that. But the rebellious cult is actually a group dedicated to bringing the world to peace."

"Really?"

"Yes, you see the world is mostly just run by Empires, enslaving the world, not giving anyone any freedom. We, the Aspyes, plan to rid the world of all empires, and live in freedom, an anarchy as it is called."

"Pfftt..." The man rolls his eyes. "Well, I guess we'll see how far you get with that. Listen the world ain't gonna be free anytime soon."

"You should see what we've done already."

"Yeah, if we ever get out of here that is."

Suddenly the sound of a shifting tile can be heard.

"Maarsshall..." the voice of Roland called.

"Uh oh..." Marshal whispered, as he turned to the direction of the sound. He then turned his head to the man. "Run...I'll take care of him. Try and find another exit to this tunnel system."

The man nods and then runs off.

Marshal steps forward. "I'm over here Roland. Come and get me." He was going to end this little problem for good this time.

The shine of Roland's staff appeared in the darkness, and the zombified man emerged. "Well, well Marshal. It's a wonder you've lasted this long." He then took a few steps closer. "I could crush you so easily. I could summon up a dragon right now."

"Yeah, but could it fit in this little tunnel system?"

"Heh, good point Marshal. Then I suppose I'll have to summon something smaller. Shall the winning creature kill the opposed summoner?"

"Agreed. But I wouldn?t say you'd be killed. You've died a little wile ago."

The crystal in Marshal's amulet and on Roland's staff begin to glow a shining blue...two spectres are blasted out, one in the shape of a large burly creature and the other a smaller more gelatinous creature.

Marshal's took the shape of a green Ooze (See DAX in the Cave Of Evil). Roland's took the shape of a burly white ogre...it looked quite mad (Also see DAX in the Cave Of Evil).

//I just saw those two creatures in DAX yesterday and I just had to put them in.\\

(Oh, D.Ein, you may control the Mad Ogre)

-----

"I just know Ven. I can feel it." Rink then turned around and then stepped next to Zeros'. "You can sense he's still alive, can't you Zeros'?"

-----

Duilin, turned around and then leaned against the bars. "Whoa...I don't know. Just a few minutes ago I was along side with Zeros' and my friends defending Tjed. Now...I don't know what to think." He rubbed his temples and then turned back at Abodahon. "Father...So far you haven't been able to keep my trust. I'm sorry."

"Well, my son. I can't have you going around free; you'd be too much of a threat. I can help you properly control your power, Duilin." Abodahon said, leaning his face closer. "You, can help the Grey Empire bring peace and order to the world of Gaian. Zeros' and his group will solve nothing, if they destroy us, then it will leave the world open to the Aspyes taking over. Haraldar's new way of living will bring the world to chaos, you know this. Zeros' is just...a bringer of death."

Duilin hesitated...

Abodahon saw that his son needed more convincing, so he thought he'd just turn it up a notch. "He is going to kill you Duilin! You can't avoid your demonic blood, some day when your power is finally complete he'll just kill you and your other friends won't do anything to stop it! Not your mercenary friends and not even Rink! They will let you die. Zeros' is just keeping you under with watch so he can keep his title as the holier then thou' oh mighty power smiting saviour of the world!"

Duilin shook his head, and turned around. Many of the Tjed citizens who were in the cell with him began to get frightened. Valos grinned.

"Oh my god..." Duilin cried. "You're right. I should have seen it..." He then turned around and looked at his father. "Let me out of this cage, when Zeros' and his friends get here...I'm gonna give them something to be afraid of!"

Abodahon ginned, and then a group of bars lowered into the ground, allowing for Duilin to step out. Valos followed, but the bars closed.

"Hey! What the hell!?" Valos snapped. "Let me out!"

"I need you to keep an eye on the people in here. We don't want them to get hurt now, do we?" Abodahon grinned. He then led his son, upstairs.

"Hey!" Valos stomped. He then swung his sword at the bars, but didn't even chip the metal. "Let me out! Maybe I'll just teleport out."

Abodahon turned around. "You can't. The basement is filled with mana draining gas, I use this place to hold mages as well." He smirked. "Don't worry Valos, I'll let you out soon."

[Dippy]

The Orcs follow him to the treasury.
"So, Skeletor. Me and Kraig were thinkin' and we have decided that we will need 10, 000 Gold pieces for that last battle." Shaak explains. "You know for loss of troops and equipment."
"And for if you chose to hire us full time we will need... 5, 000 G's a day plus 10 for every casualty. But judging by the shitty firepower these Ass-pies have, I'm sure we won't have very many" Kraig offers. "Also if you need more skeleton warriors we'll be more than willing to... Clean the bones off for you." He adds.
"So, what do you say?"

[D. Ein]

They made their way to the palace. Kronos, who kept silent, turned around to Shaak. He chuckled.
-"Loss of troops? You mean these troops?"
A small crowd of orcs carrying large brown bags with the Kandarinian symbol on it exited the palace. Some bags had holes in them - shiny gold coins with a silver core were spilling out on the street. The orcs had large scars and stitches on them.
-"As for your proposal, I think I will accept. As you can undoubtedly see, it is a win-win situation. I get troops to fight for me, you get gold and excersise for your men - excersise, no more than that. I can easily repair slain bodies. It is what I do."

--- --- ---

Roland hoarsely chuckled.
-"So, it had to end this way. You think that little green blob can stop this ogre?"
The ogre swung at Marshal's creature.

--- --- ---

Steorra saw Darak, and ran towards him.
-"Hey, what do you figure we could do? I think--"
Suddenly, she sensed Vincent's aura fade, and a massive outburst of magic energy. Her tone quickly changed from apathetic to adamant.
-"Follow me. Now."
She ran inside the fortress.