Dark Age Legends

[ElderScrollinIt]

Ko'ji back-flipped upwards and landed acurately on top of the wall, next to the Velken, Helix. She yawned lightly. "Looks like this could take a while. I made this silver sword in a forgery with my father a long time ago. I guess I messed up, because the sword didn't hold together. It kind of curved, but my mistake actually boosted the efficiency of the weapon. It's pure silver, by the way. It's a long story actually... Well, I actually used to be a battle mage until I found out I could use a blade. My skills as a mage were quite well, but they lacked in power. I could enchant weapons though, top in my class." Ko'ji took out a glowing blue magical dagger from her belt and held it out, showing it to Helix.

"I made this one with my father, too. It's actually supposed to be steel, but I enchanted it with a pure magic spell. The purity of the magic then made the weapon's destructive effect to be random... I don't really remember why I enchanted it to do random things... probably because I couldn't choose just one area of focus." Ko'ji sheathed the dagger back on her belt.

"I can only use it thirty times, then it needs to be recharged with a pure magic rune... You don't see many of those now a days..." The young Velken yawned again and looked down. She seemed to be very tired. Just then, she reached in her blue vest and pulled out two small viels, about three inches tall.

"Here, take one of these. I'm sure you can remember how good the ale tasted back home." She handed Helix a viel, poped open hers, and drank it all.

[Drannic_Lord01]

Both Valiko and Dori turned invisible, and followed closely behind Ven, along with Jacobie, Justin, Tiberius and Dranniconias. They treaded slowly behind the trees and bushed of the surrounding fields, checking around if anyone could spot them.

[Dude Man]

"Lagart." Belle whispered. "You probably won't be able to fool everyone. Maybe you could try and steal a uniform from another officer."

Lagart grunted and nodded in acknowledgement. "Follow." He started walking through the streets, with the others following him (hopefully Ben as well) trying to avoid being spotted by any of the more intelligent lizard men.

The area was getting quite flooded with lizard men, and people were going inside, to be away for the lizard men.

"This is terrible." Rink stated. "That Virmir is going to pay for this." He sneered.

"Uh yeah..." Duilin mumbled.

"What?" Rink asked, sounding curious. "Didn't you want to kill Virmir and his group?"

"We'll talk later." Duilin replied.

From inside a house the group heard the sounds of a panic.

A woman's voice came from inside. "We aren't resisting! Leave alone!"

"Shut it!" Retorted a deep voiced lizard man.

"Lagart." Duilin said, to the lizard man. "Do something."

Lagart opened the door to the house and entered.

"Stop!" Lagart growled, and the imperial lizard man turned around and spotted Lagart.

"What are you doing out of uniform?" The lizard officer hissed. "I didn't see you coming down with the others."

Lagart stomped towards the lizard officer.

"Yeah, you're one of them traitors!" The lizard officer drew his blade and swung it down at Lagart, yet the burly Lagart grabbed the officer's wrist before the blade could reach him and with his other hand he punched on in the side of the head, knocking his back with his tongue hanging out. Lagart let the lizard man go, and the officer fell unconscious to the ground.

The rest of the group came in and the woman started to look less scared as she saw the national heroes, Duilin and Rink.

"You're the ones who saved us from that plague. Come in, come in." The woman said to the group, as they sat outside.

"Yeah, sorry if we're just barging in." Belle said, to the woman. "We need a place to stay. Oh yeah, and don't worry about our lizard man friend here, he's cool."

The woman nodded. "I caught on, when he knocked the other one out."

"I need to change into uniform." Lagart said.

"Oh yeah, go ahead." The woman replied, she then looked at the others. "Well yes come in. I assume you've been avoiding conflict with the empire."

"For the most part." Rink said.

"Well, I'll get you all some water, it's all I have." The woman said as she went into the kitchen."

"So, Duilin is there something you want to talk about?" Rink asked.

"Yeah, I'm kind of worried to say too much. But Ben is already aware for the most part of this." Duilin sat down and began to speak lower. "You see, these fox men, Velkens...Well they've been forced into the empire. There world is being held together from be destroyed, by the emperor."

"I see." Rink sat down on the table with his legs crossed.

"Apparently there is a portal at North Point. I think if we can get there, we might be able to save these guys. If we save the Velkens, Virmir won't have any use to serve the empire and Tjed will be saved."

Rink nodded. "But with the energy shield up, how can we to get out?"

"Well, first we need to decide whose going. I think it would be best if just me and Ben go, while the rest of you stay here. Besides, now that Lagart has a uniform, he can guard the house. If you want to come, Rink, you can."

"I'll stay. I can trust you'll be able to take care of yourself without me for awhile."

"Okay then." Duilin smiled. "But, now we need to think of a way out. The front gate is no good, since it's too heavily guarded, and fighting our way though will bring too much attention to what we're trying to do, and we need be very sneaky with this."

"I noticed Tjed has a sewage system, make you could sneak through that." Rink suggested.

"Good idea." Duilin replied, he then looked to Bjendell. "Ben, I want you to come with me, because from what I can tell, you're a pretty powerful guy. But I can also tell you have a few overly aggressive traits, pretty uncommon for an angel, but I think I might need your help on this one. Just try to remember we need to do this unnoticed, so don't draw too much attention. I also noticed earlier, in the banquet hall, you had some sort of scroll with you, which I recall you were saying that it could help free Welken. But, if you don't want to come then that's fine. But I could probably use an extra hand. So what do you say?"

--- ---

"Me? Fine." Firstman replied.

Suddenly a pair of wyverns swooped by the castle.

"Was that Marshall, on one of them?"

[Drannic_Lord01]

"Of course I'll go, Duilin. I can't let you take all of the glory for your self, can I?" Ben smiled lightly, then looked back at Lagart. He pulled out two silver viels from his robes and handed him two orange looking potions.

"These are endurance potions. I knew an herbal scientest by the name of Thand a while back and he taught me a bit about the trade. Drink them whenever you feel exhausted. They'll make your fatigue disappear immediately with just a sip, although for a lizardman, I reckon two or three should do." He reached in his robes once again and pulled out another two for Rink.

"I've only got three more left, and these are for myself and Duilin. I hope nothing bad happens while we're away. So then, what's the plan, Duilin?"

[Dude Man]

"You seem to have a potion for just about every little thing." Rink stated with a smirk as he took the potions.

"I used to be like that." Duilin laughed. "Okay, well a plan for rescuing the Velkens? Well, the thing is, I don't fully have a plan just yet. Retan has a strong connection to Welken, and if he notices that we've broken in, then the Velken home world is gone. I don't know what will happen to Virmir, Renard and the rest of them, but we will need their help if we want to ultimately defeat the empire."

Lagart was suited up, and then went outside the guard the house.

"Do you still have that scroll?" Duilin asked Bjendell. "Maybe it might help."

--- ---

The Death Wyvern did barrel rolls and swung side to side, to try and get the stalker off of his back, but he had his weapons dug really tightly into him. Gorus continued to speed his flying; he then came close to a building and then flew to his side, intending to bash Hypnos of his back by smashing him into the building. However the quick stalker jumped off of the wyvern’s back and grabbed the creature’s ankles, and only the weapons were knocked out of his back. Gorus then started to swing his legs and smashed Hypnos onto the building, but he wouldn’t let go.

Finally Gorus got annoyed and then surrounded himself in a light green glow as he transformed back into his more agile self and landed roughly on the ground, causing the stalker to loose his grip at last. Gorus somersaulted after times, as he landed, but regained his balance and climbed back on his two feet.

Hypnos was already standing up he had his obsidian hatchet out, ready to make his move. Gorus simply crossed his arms and laughed.

“You pathetic human, think you’re a match for me?” Gorus taunted. “Despite whatever heavy training you’ve gone through I doubt you’ll be able to beat me.” He then cracked his knuckles. “That little fly around I just had, woke me up. So that would make you the first guy today to feel a true Van’deln styled ass kicking.”

The two fighters sized each other, just waiting for the other to make their first move…

//But I'm too tired to continue this, so I try to squeeze in more next post.\

[Drannic_Lord01]

"Yes, I have the scroll." Ben took the scroll out from his robes and showed it to Duilin. Amazingly, it was repaired; intact to the fullest. Even the runes fixed themselves.

"We wont be ablt to use the scroll unless we have ten willing Velkens. The portal will then last ten hours... but if we had just one, and lots of mages, it might work... but it would only last a measly hour." Ben then pocketed the scroll back in his robes.

[Coriko]

“Three mages down and three more to go. This is quiet an intense game of cat and mouse but,” Druid looked back at the sky. The spiral had almost completely ascended. “I need to summon my island.” Druid walked towards two of the mages. He put his hands on their head and sent a pulse of shadow energy through their body. Their limp bodies fell to the ground.

[Charging: 1425]

---

"Damnit, I think it is!" Coriko watched the Wyverin pass. "We need to follow him in case he needs help. Alright who is up for a run?"

[Xorlak]

"Do I ever!"

Helix accepted the vial of liquid with a big smile on his face, and he drank it a bit more slowly than his partner, as if savoring the taste.

"You two aren't drinking, are you?"  Anslem stood behind them with his arms folded.

"Well... we're consuming liquids..." Helix retorted. "You're too uptight, Ans."

"Don't let your guard down, we're not here to have a good time."  If anyone, Anslem resembled a Virmir Jr., always stiffly following the rules.  He even had the cold stare down, although his wasn't quite as piercing as the master's.

Helix waved him off and turned back to the lovely female sitting next to him.  He was obviously enthralled by her.  "Wow, a Battle Mage turned Blade Knight.  That's pretty amazing!  I'll bet you'll make squad leader in a few years."


Renard was off by himself with his arms folded and leaning against the guard house wall, looking outside the city rather than in like the others.  His eyes trailed upwards and fixed themselves on the clouds above, which looked green from underneath the shield that capped the city.

"The same goes for you."

He jumped at the sound of Anslem's voice behind him.  "Oh, sorry..."  He turned to look at the larger squad member, but his eyes fell to the ground.

"There's something bothering you, isn't there?"

"N-no... not at all."  Renard shook his head violently. "Just... thinking about home, I guess..."  His eyes trailed upward again.

"We all are..."  Anslem leaned on the wall next to him.  "Just be careful.  And be alert.  We are in a war zone here, despite how peacefully the city has surrendered."

"Yeah, sorry..."  Renard scratched behind his right ear, thinking back to the time he was blasted off of the airship by Draven's fireball...  He still had a few bandages on his arm hidden under his robes, though the burns didn't hurt any more.  Ever since then Virmir made it clear that no one was allowed to do anything by himself, even deep within Dark Empire territory.

"Looks like Helix made a new friend."  Anslem changed the subject and his voice lightened, seeing Renard's troubled face.

Renard smirked as he looked at the two Velkens' backs as they sat on the wall's edge talking.  "Yeah, she seems nice."

----

Ven peeked out of the bushes.  "That's it..."  he whispered back to the others.  "Come on..."

It took them a while to inch all the way around the city, but they apparently hadn't been seen.  Some distance away from the northern walls with the gleaming white castle in the background, a long ditch-like ravine split the relatively flat land around in two.  At the end of that ravine a large brick pipe protruded from the rock.

It stunk.

Luckily the ravine was deep enough so the group could stand upright without fearing being seen from the castle walls in the distance, which was a good thing since most of the bushes had given way to merely tall strands of  grass.  But the odor protruding from the tube as they approached was not pleasant.

The pipe was large enough for a man to walk upright in, though they'd have to walk single file.  Normally a thick metal grating would cover the entrance to ward off would be invaders, but apparently the Dark Empire had come so quickly the castle guard did not have time to bother with it.

Ven looked in for a moment before pulling his head back and wafting the smell away.

"Well... if anyone has any better ideas, I'm all ears..."

[Drannic_Lord01]

"Heh... I can hold my breath for hours... I'll be good." Justin followed Ven to the disgusting brick pipe. He wondered why there was no metal grating, but paid it no mind, as the smell distracted him.

"Well... let's... go, I guess..."

[ElderScrollinIt]

"Heh... Squad leader? I doubt it..." Ko'ji leaned back against the wall and clasped her hands together, putting them on her lap. She sat down, foldin her legs in a crossed possition. A somewhat small trickle of electric energy could be seen swirling around her hands. She then opened her eyes.

"There are other ways to charge an elemental weapon, even if it doesn't have a specific element." She took out her dagger, and it floated in the electric energy she'd created. Soon, the dagger's color changed to yellow as it absorbed the energy around it. She grabbed the dagger and sheathed it on her belt.

"This dagger has another special ability. I can select a specific element and embue that element's energy into the dagger. It takes the energy and stores it as the main element. I could do this with all six elements, and the dagger's effect would be randomized, but I have to use an even amount of energy with each element. This is how I keep training my magic power... That and meditation."

Ko'ji stood back up and looked at Anslem. "So, when do you think this will stop? Will we be able to leave sooner or later, or will we be stuck guarding this rock for another few days? Oh, forget it, I'll just... what...?"

Ko'ji looked out in the open fields, her ears twitching a few times. "I thought I heard something... Tell me one of you heard that, right? It sounded like... a group of people... outside the walls..."

[TK Game Boy]

The floor must've increased in head for his shoes were starting to melt. Now for the first time since he entered the cave, or ever in his life for that matter, he was starting to sweat from extreme heat. The heat was too much for anything to even live in and yet Quadrientennial proceeded with no problem. He reached an opening and gazed in it. He saw it. He finally found it. A bright red falcon stood before him, with bones all around it, chared in black ashes, probably from its victims. The bones were huge so this monster must have been at least 100 meters tall. It was a giant living deep within the bowels of a mountain with heat hot enough to melt the moon. "Now how am I to kill you?" He took out his green blade and proceeded with caution. He took slow steps as he looked up at the brilliantly lit bird who was sleeping. He was injured from some battle. He thought this might be an opportune time to remove this beast and get back to town to figure out what the heck he did this all for anyways. The question was still in the air of how to defeat him. He didn't had a clue how he was suppose to get near a bird that had flames all about him. If he was enlightened during his sleep, surely being awoken would arise even more flames that are hotter than it is right now. Quadricentennial was close enough to feel it's heat. Very hot indeed. "What now?"

[Coriko]

Druid walked towards the final mage. He was sweating and looked very nervous. The ritual was slowed so he could have fun.

“You sure you want to continue? You saw wat happened to your friends. Five other mages were killed in a matter of moments. Before them the five mages who attacked me. Speak of the devil.” As Druid was talking one of the surviving attacking mages crawled towards Druid and clutched his leg. As soon as the contact was made the mage screamed and dissolved into the air. “Now think, do you want to end up like him, or will you stop and help me?”

[Charging: 1525]

[D. Ein]

-"I see."

He must want them for a purpose. Well, I'll get to that later.

-"You have yourself a deal, Draven. I'll collect the weapons, and we'll rid of Retan together."

What I decided not to mention is that anything after that will be fair game."

[Trent]

"Excellent. When do we start?" Anti brought his fist to his palm, anxious to start. His bloodlust was rising by the second. He wanted to destroy so badly. Well, he couldn't destroy. He'd have to settle for kill, though that would be enough for him.

--- --- ---

Upon arriving in the laboratory he was guided to, Drake gave a low whistle. "Oh, this will do nicely." He immediately started to work...

//Drake will be inactive for a while, to work on his new weapon. I'm thinking 10-20 posts for now, though this can change depending on how long 20 posts actually ends up taking.

[Xorlak]

Anslem's ears were perked as well, and he turned around. "Indeed, there's someone out there."

"Our orders are to guard the gate.  They can walk around out there as long as they want, so long as they don't try to come in," Renard reminded the others.

"Still, we should inform Lord Virmir."

"I'll go."  Renard said as he stretched.

"No, we're not allowed to separate.  We'll flag down one of the lizards."

"It'll only take a minute.  He's just right up there."  Renard pointed to the massive black ship hovering above.  Anslem simply shook his head 'no'.  Renard shrugged.  "Okay, then."  He hopped up next to Helix and Riuki and looked down the street.  There were a few Lizard Men congregated near an inn.

Renard's eyes moved up as he noted four black specs falling from the airship and moving towards their location.  "... Although looks like we've got company headed our way."

In but a moment the Blade Knight Bryce and three other Velkens landed on the wall in front of Anslem.

"Good afternoon, Anslem."  He nodded to the others. "Renard, Helix, Riuki.  I take it things are going smoothly?"

"If by smoothly, you mean bored-ly, then yes, we're fantastic," Helix shouted over his shoulder.  He then waved his hands in the air.  "Bring on the epic nothingness!"  He finished with a smirk flashed at Ko'ji.

Renard shook his head.  "I prefer it this way..." he mumbled, though no one would likely pick it up.

"But we can plainly detect footfalls from outside the walls," Anslem finished.

Bryce nodded.  He was a tad shorter than Anslem, but a bit more burly.  Which isn't saying much for a Velken. The silver fur on the top of his head was pointed.  "Yeah, there's a lot of people wondering around outside, and our Lord thinks it's a bit too much for a city that's supposed to be sealed.  He's thinking there are leaks, possibly underground."

Anslem nodded.  Bryce continued, "Our orders have changed.  There's a group of Lizard Men that are coming over here to guard the gate.  Our two teams are to split up and see what we can find.  My guess is a sewage or drainage system."

Helix groaned.

Anslem nodded.  "Right.  We'll scout around and seal off any passages we find.  Meet back at the ship in say... two hours?"

"Sounds good," Bryce replied.  With that, he and the other three Velkens darted off into the sky.  Anslem leapt clear off the wall and landed in front of the sealed gate.  Renard floated after.

"Just great," Helix groaned as he flew down to the cobblestone street.  He landed behind the other two. "Now we get to wade around in sewers."  His fluffy tail hooked upwards, and he grabbed it with his left hand as if to make sure it didn't touch the ground. "If I get human crap on my tail I'm gonna be really p--"

"Shut up, Helix," Renard said through clenched teeth as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Anslem levitated a foot above the ground and began to fly down the street and deeper into the city, the others following suit. "We should be on the lookout for any openings underground..."

----

Ven paused at the drainage pipe entrance and took a look behind him.  They only would be able to move single file, and things were going to get cramped real quick.

"Hold on a sec..."

He rubbed a gauntlet over his chin.  "Maybe some of us should stay out here?  A party of three or four could move more quickly.  Right now our priority is getting to the king and getting him out, along with a few others.  A huge group is much more noticeable.  Also, if we get captured, then the party that waits outside can come in and look for us... Make sense?"

He adjusted the straps of his gauntlet. "I will go in of course, since I know the way.  But only two of you should come with me.  The rest should hide in the bushes and wait just in case things get nasty...  Which of you thinks you'd be able to hold your own in tight spaces best?"

----

"Excellent," Draven said over steepled fingers, "then we will head south and begin killing some fodder to add to your undead legions.  Hopefully by tomorrow we will be able to put this plan in motion.  Do you have a spare communications orb?  I think it best we stay in touch... Also, when you do find the weapons, keep them as separate as possible until the time is right.  Their aura magnifies in proximity of each other."

He pulled the dagger from the table and slid it behind his back before standing.  He turned to Anti.

"We'll get started right now..."