Forums / Roleplaying / Descent

((Due to the fact that I am up far too late, I am going to begin my third attempt at this story.  The first try ended because I went inactive from all of VU.  The second try ended along the same lines, but it was more because I moved away from the place where I had the first many chapters saved.  As of now, I don't plan on going inactive again and I have all the current chapters with me.  So....here you go, Chapter 1 of Descent.  I'm not sure how often I'll post the chapters...but...yeah.

Apparently I posted the same thread name as this post from late 2007 and it dragged this thread to the top instead of posting a new one.  Well, here is the first chapter anyway!

Edit:  And...now there's two threads....great.))

Chapter 1: Uprising

King Arzun sat in his throne room, scowling at the corpse of his former advisor.

He made a shooing motion at it with his hand, then addressed his guards, "Get this body out of my sight."

For years Arzun had tried to rule his realms fairly, but the longer he ruled the more separated he became from the common man. Eventually he began to see their plight as simple whining. If only they would work harder, they could obviously fix whatever was wrong with them.

As the divide grew, Arzun himself grew more ruthless, eventually becoming a tyrant. As he saw it, everything he did was for the good of the kingdom. Dissenting mayors and governors naturally had to be assassinated, for disunity could destroy a kingdom from within. Adding to his paranoia, more and more scouts from the desert kingdoms in the south had been spotted along the border, and the western portion of his kingdom that still practiced the old religion was becoming more unruly as the fish within their sea became more scarce.

All of these factors has culminated in Arzun having the noble prince, Rhade, of the northern tundra assassinated. In response a few of the northern governors and mayors banded together and declared independence, in a full-out revolt. These days Arzun had trouble keeping advisors, for whenever news had to be delivered of a failure or new uprising, the bearer was often executed by Arzun himself, as was the case with the body currently being dragged out of the room.

The king stood and looked out a window, taking in the size and glory of his armies. Arzun had had his generals begin to prepare the armies as soon as the revolt was discovered, and it had taken weeks. To show any other parts of the kingdom who might consider joining the revolt that any resistance was futile, the entire strength of the army was now amassed and ready to march against the north. Against many of his advisors' warnings, only a small detachment had been left to guard the southern borders against Alyra, should the foolish Queen Scian strike.

Arzun's thoughts were interrupted as Senturu and Scientist burst into the room, arguing about something.

Scientist was shouting, "We can't take on an experiment of this scale! We've barely had success with the smaller experiments, this is simply too fast!"

With his hand on his sword, Senturu replied, "We need all the magic we can muster, and you've had good results in the past, yes? Then figure out a way to do it with hundreds, thousands of participants! Our jails are full to the brim, surely in death they would serve us better."

Arzun stopped their quarrel with a wave of his hand. "What is this about? I will not have two of my generals fighting in front of my soldiers."

Scientist and Senturu kneeled, then Scientist spoke. "My liege, as you know I have been conducting experiments with our prisoners, finding ways to tap into vast magic reservoirs. I enhance some of the inmates using magic, creating such creatures as werewolves and vampires, and then give those that remain weapons and other abilities. We then instruct them that the only way to survive is to be the last group standing, and take advantage of the malice, hate and death that ensues. Powerful magic is created, but up until now we have only experimented with a few people at a time, maybe twenty at the most! Senturu is trying to order an experiment with thousands!"

Senturu glared at him, then raised his head and spoke. "Perhaps Scientist does not understand the kind of magic we will need for these battles. If we are to provide an example for all other would-be rebels, our power must be extreme. Understand that these people would be well contained, and pose absolutely no risk to our empire! What could be the harm in tapping into larger reserves of magic!?"

Scientist attempted to speak out again, but Arzun cut him off. "I see no reason not to try it. Scientist, you will oversee the experiment with the aid of our mages. Senturu, I want you to lead our armies north. We will ravage the lands on a warpath to Paladin's castle, for he is the governor that leads this revolt. These peasants follow him blindly, believing their plight to be so horrible. They will know true anguish when we descend. Off with both of you!"

Scientist lingered as Senturu left, and was about to say something before deciding better. With one last baleful glare back, Arzun was again alone.

(Yes indeed.  It gets worse.  And feel free to comment, criticize, point out typoes and errors and anywhere a character becomes incoherent to the character they've been set up to be.  This is very much still a work in progress.)

Chapter 2: Unity

Seated at the head of a great table, Paladin rose and looked over those seated before him. At the other end of the table sat the only woman in the room, an ambassador from Alyra. While she and her kingdom unofficially supported their bid for independence, they could not officially pledge any support--yet. Seated next to her was a cleric from the western regions of the kingdom. Those still worshipping the ancient gods and goddesses had been left out of the new government, which left the region unruly as well. The western region and Alyra had longed shared good relations, and it was well expected that if one pledged support the other would follow.

On each side of the table were seated various mayors and governors that were either supporting the rebellion, or were wavering in their support for the king.

“You all know why we are here. For years Arzun ruled this country well, all people were treated fairly and injustice was rare. However, as the years passed corruption within the government grew. Arzun now only listens to those with the money to influence him. The lower classes, produced from the Enlightening, have been neglected and are disgruntled. Scian's kingdom, Alyra, has been persecuted and bullied into submission time and time again. The western parts of the kingdom that cling to the old religions are effectively excommunicated from the government, and we in the north were given very little say. It is obvious that the East controls this kingdom, from the shorelines that the original missionaries landed. Arzun feared disunity, and in his paranoia closed his mind to the rest of the kingdom.

“We decided long ago that something had to be done, but it was only recently that our beloved Prince was murdered. Rhade will be sorely missed, but in his absence we must remain strong. We now know that Arzun has begun raising soldiers against us, though we do not yet know the size or strength of these troops. We had originally hoped that there would be no real need for violence, but it appears that if we want to return our kingdom to its former glory, or at least to a time when it was ruled fairly, we must fight.”

Paladin glanced around the room, then settled on the ambassador from Alyra. “What does the queen have to say?”

The ambassador stood, the eyes of most of the men in the room following her. She was lean and beautiful, muscular like most of the women from the southern kingdom. She was also scantily clad, in the dress of her homeland, regardless of the much cooler temperatures of the north.

“Queen Scian would like for me to inform you that she supports your bid for independence--unofficially, of course. We cannot, however, risk an attack from Arzun's armies, and until the north can prove that you can handle yourself in battle against Arzun we can't give you any kind of support.”

As the ambassador seated herself, Paladin nodded and turned to the cleric. “That is what we expected, and I thank you for coming. What does the west have to say?”

The elderly cleric gripped his cane and pulled himself to his feet. “We agree with Queen Scian. We have been granted a good deal of autonomy by the King, and we cannot risk that to follow you yet, no matter how noble your cause. Until you can show us that you have some chance, we cannot even consider aiding you.”

There were some murmurs of agreement from around the table, and a governor stood. “They've got good points. If we join this rebellion with no chance, it will simply be suicide. What makes you think you've got any chance of winning? There's a good chance Arzun would annihilate us simply for coming to this meeting!”

Paladin slumped back into his chair. “So this is how it's going to be, then? You all pledged your loyalty to Rhade over and over. He's been gone for nearly two weeks, yet already you waiver against his plans. Simply because Arzun executed him, does not mean we cannot fulfill his vision.”

Once again there were murmurs of agreement, this time from different leaders. These leaders nodded, and one named Vertencio spoke, “We pledged our troops to Rhade, and with his death we have even more reason to fight. Arzun knew nothing of his plans, and even though his paranoia was founded he had no idea it was. He killed Rhade simply because the people loved him. And not just here in the North. We still support the rights of the old religions to practice, and the people supported him for that. The people of the East agreed that the class system needs to be abolished, and supported him in that. The people of Alyra agreed with his cause, which is now ours.”

Paladin nodded, “It is my hope that those of you who still waiver will change your minds, but until then we must prepare. Those of you that have pledged troops, we have recently received intelligence that they are going to march directly to my castle. We will stage our resistance from there, so prepare your armies and begin the march. We will be outnumbered, but Arzun's armies have never fought in the north, and it will be hard to find food for the numbers he intends to bring.” Paladin looked about the room, focusing on those who had refused to help. “Even if we fail, we have at least died trying, with honor.”

Chapter 3: Games

It had been a few days since Arzun had set Senturu and his army out for the northern reaches of his kingdom, and for all that time Scientist had wrestled with how to undertake the massive task at hand. There were no moral objections, only ponderings on how to achieve the goal of delivering a huge magic reservoir to Senturu and his army very quickly without killing the entire city. He had finally just decided to go ahead with the experiment and let the events fall as they might. Some of the mages, however, had a problem with that.

“Sir! This isn't safe at all, and you know it! Why do you insist we use so many subjects!?”

Scientist backhanded the mage, Alexander, then turned away. “These orders are from above me, and I can't change them. Now we're just going to have to do everything we can to keep anything from going wrong, aren't we? If we screw this up, it will mean both of our deaths.”

He looked out over the large courtyard, once used for royal ceremonies and holy rituals. Now it was to be the site of Scientist's next experiment, one exponentially larger than any he had attempted before. Prisoners were led across the courtyard in front of him, then separated into four different lines. One line would be infected with a lycanthrope virus, only recently discovered. This would create werewolves, from which Scientist could harvest the power of hunger and lust for flesh into magic.

Another line was led into a dark dungeon where, one by one, each inmate was bitten by an imprisoned vampire. From these undead could be harvested the powerful emotion of hate, the hate of all living creatures. The last two lines would stay unaltered, however. The first would receive weapons and the offer of piles upon piles of gold to be one of the last standing at the end of the contest. Magic manifested itself in these people in the form of greed and malice. The last line would simply be led into a dark hallway, and then released again once all the other prisoners had received their “treatment”. From these ignorant people, magic could be harvested in the form of fear.

It had taken years for Scientist to develop a system such as this, where so many different emotions could be converted into magic at the same time. All it required was a few mages in constant meditation to collect the powerful forces that would grow to surround the combatants. More mages would have to be brought in eventually, of course, to harvest the kinds of magic the amount of death that was about to occur would leave behind. He had considered dragging out this experiment, as he sometimes did, to collect the less powerful forces little by little, but had instead decided on a battle royale, to move straight on to harvesting the death energy. The field of energy that was created would then slowly and carefully be siphoned off into precious gemstones, mined and cut specifically for this purpose. This was the only way to effectively transfer magic of this magnitude, and the only way to control it.

Alexander, still rubbing his stinging cheek, finally found the nerve to talk again. “There is a reason, Scientist, that we mages do not attempt to hold in these kinds of energies during real battle. Once erected, the fields that we use to contain the magic are self-sufficient, and we cannot tear them down, only direct the power from within them into something else. The forces created by a war-like situation would be nearly impossible to contain, and if they were, they would most likely destroy everything inside of them. What you are doing here, now, is creating your own battle. We are putting this entire city at risk! If even one mage slips up and the fields fluctuate, the kind of power that would escape could decimate these lands if uncontrolled. I hav--”

Scientist had been growing more and more impatient with every word his assistant spoke, and had finally had enough. He punched his stomach, then shoved him against a wall. Scientist grabbed his arms and pinned him, then brought his face inches from Alexander's.

“Is that all, Alex?”

Afraid, but still worried, he started to address Scientist.

Instead of allowing him to talk, Scientist harshly twisted his arm. “I asked you, is...that...all!?”

Alexander dropped his gaze and muttered a “yes, sir”, and Scientist responded by releasing him. “Now, set your mages up around the courtyard, we need everything to go perfectly.”

As his assistant left, another mage came in. “Scientist, sir, the subjects are ready to be released.”

“Good, I will signal you on when to release them. Now leave me.”

Alone again Scientist slumped into his chair. Burying his face in his hands he contemplated exactly what his life had turned into. When he had first joined Arzun's monarchy, he had sworn never to use science or magic to harm others. As Arzun's focus turned, however, from equality to preservation of his power, he had requested more and more that Scientist do things which fell into a moral grey area. At some point he had just given up his ethical beliefs and gone along with anything his King asked him to do. And now, here he was, leading thousands of people to their own deaths, just so he could use their sacrifice to give Senturu greater ability to kill others.

Scientist sat wrapped in his thoughts for nearly an hour, before Alexander returned and informed him that the mages were fully prepared. He nodded and told his assistant to go inform the guards to release the prisoners into the courtyard, then walked out onto the balcony overlooking the scene.

As the first prisoners exited to dark hallways where they had been confined, Scientist began to speak.

“All of you are here for a reason. You are the scum of our kingdom, and only in this way can any of you really serve a true purpose. To whoever is the last group standing, we offer freedom and riches that you could not comprehend. To those of you that fall, all we can offer is hell. You have no choice in this matter. Fight, or die.”

The prisoners were still filtering out, werewolves, vampires and humans all. When they reached the middle of the courtyard and came into each other's sight, each stopped to take in their opponents. That was, at least, until a scream broke out. A vampire had come across an undefended human trying to sneak around the edge of the wall, and had simply done what instinct told him. He drank his blood.

At that point all hell broke loose. Man and beast charged, met, and attacked. The vampires struck and retreated, the wolves were in an all out bloodlust, and the humans were simply caught in the middle. Eventually the humans that remained pulled into a tight circle, guarding themselves in all directions with weapons they had either been given, or pulled off of their fallen. This lead the beasts to attack each other, who offered less organized defense. While vampires were the more agile and could act more covertly, that alone did not allow them to overcome the werewolves' speed and strength. As the wolves picked off the vampires, an odd human or two would reach out and strike the unwary wolf, who would then retaliate.

The numbers were dwindling, but the rapid death and emotion was having an unforeseen effect. The energy within the field could now be felt by the combatants, and the mages were starting to strain a little to contain the power. As the battle dragged on, more energy manifested, empowering the fighters to new levels. With new strength, the hatred and number of dying increased, which again increased energy. Soon the energy became too much for the humans within the field to bear, and many began simply dropping dead. The wolves and vampires would have lasted, had the extra energy from the dying humans not also taken its place. Within seconds every brawler was destroyed, which, while efficient, put an incredible strain on the mages.

Bolts of energy, manifesting in different forms of fire, lightning and plasma, cracked out from weaker spots in the field. Mages began fainting from their effort, and while reinforcements were there to take their place, noone was ready for the sudden burst from the massive ball of energy. For a split second, Scientist could see the mages being tossed about, right before he himself was thrown back into a wall, blacking out.

Hours passed before any of those struck by the wave began to awaken. By this time it was already dawn, and the sphere of energy shone with its own light. Scientist turned to Alexander, who was also just waking up. “Go get the gems, we need to get this power into them soon.  I don't want to find out what else could happen.”

[[Good]]

Better mage my ass...you haven't done anything productive these past few eras around the area of magic :)

Are you going to mention me as a hobo or drunk? :-)  Or at least have  me killed sometime along the plot line?

((Okay, so I've officially failed so far.  I am, however, home for the summer now and will have a lot of time between shifts of work to get back to work on this and other parts of roleplaying here.  All that said, here is chapter 4))

Chapter 4: Prisoner

Caesar awoke suddenly to something sniffing at his chin, and immediately leapt out of bed. The rat that had been so rudely displaced squeaked, then ran out between the bars.

Caesar shook his head and kicked the bars. “Lucky bastard. You get out and I don't even know what I'm in here for.”

It had been nearly a week now, since Caesar woke up in this dark, cursed place. No idea where he was, where he had come from, or even who he was. Slowly things had come into the light. He was a prisoner in the kingdom of some King Arzun, apparently somewhat of a paranoid ruler. There was also some sort of rebellion going on in the northern parts of the kingdom. He had only managed to figure that much out by talking to the captain of the jail. They had ended up having on Caesar's first day in the jail, when he randomly showed up occupying a cell.

At first the captain had been rather hostile, thinking the man was simply a bum. After realizing that he had lost his memory, however, the captain sat with the man and talked. At one point in the conversation the captain had mentioned that he reminded him of an old friend, Caesar. Hell of a fighter, the captain said, but never much cared about what else was going on. Since then the name had just stuck.

A nearby cell door slamming broke Caesar from his thoughts, and soon the captain was opening his cell door.

“Ello old boy. What are you doing up at this time of night?”

Caesar laughed. “What are you doing in my cell at this time of night?”

The captain grinned in response. “Fair enough, I guess. That general of Arzun's is making us run exams on our inmates, make sure you're all healthy and whatnot. So, let's get this over with. Strip yourself down.”

Caesar hesitated, then started to comply. “I don't remember anything that I used to do, but I'm sure that getting naked for other men isn't usually the norm.”

As he finished, the captain scribbled down a few notes and nodded. “Alright get your clothes back on. I'll see you in the morning.”

“Captain, mind if I ask what this was all about?” Caesar asked as he began to dress himself again.

“Now you know I like you, boy, but I couldn't tell you even if I knew.”

As the captain left Caesar shrugged, and slumped back into his bed. He drifted back and forth on the threshold of sleep for awhile, until a strange breeze started blowing through his cell, followed by a barely audible clink on his cell floor. He got out of bed, annoyed, and wrapped his sheets around him. At that point he heard what sounded like muffled voices talking somewhere out in the hallway, and slowly crept over to his cell door to see what he could hear.

“Hello.”

Caesar, scared half to death, uttered a curse and twisted around, ready to fight. Before him was some sort of an apparition, transparent and tinted blue. It wore a cloak and was wrapped up to his or her nose, and spoke with a raspy, deep voice.

“You're probably wondering why you're here, who you are, and most importantly, what's going to happen. All I can tell you right now is that it's been necessary, everything that I've done has been necessary. You know that a few thousand prisoners disappeared a few days ago. They were all taken to be used in an experiment by Scientist, one of Arzun's generals. Through their deaths he obtained a lot of powerful magic, but what he is doing goes against everything we believe in. Now, there is a group forming against both he and Arzun, and we have helped to facilitate the rebellion. You may know me as Axel, and in time I hope that I may allow you to know both me, and yourself, better.

“Before this can happen, however, I will need your help. We chose you because you were a born leader, naturally charismatic. Only someone like you could convince the horde of combatants that will be gathered to work together, and save their lives. The experiment consists of using fighting, emotion, and death to create magic, which will then be used in battles against the rebels. Understand, of course, that you may refuse what I ask of you. In that case, though, nothing will change, and everyone entering that courtyard will die, just as they would have before.

“You may be the only chance for this kingdom, and if you fail we will be lost. We need you to succeed, to convince the thousands of bloodthirsty fighters to lay down their aggression and fight together to survive. It's your choice, but if you don't try you will die anyway.”

With that the apparition began to dissipate into a simple mist, and Caesar reacted.

“Where are you going!?”

He leapt into the mist, swinging wildly. “You can't leave like that, without telling me anything of my past, or who you are!”

Caesar slammed his fist into the wall, bloodying it, then slowly shuffled back towards his bed, knowing he wouldn't sleep tonight. As he did, however, something clinked against his feet. He reached down and felt on the floor, then closed his fingers around something cold and hard. He held it up towards the light from the hallway, and found it was a small, blue sapphire. He had heard some of the other prisoners talking about magic before, and how it was stored and released using gemstones. Knowing it might be helpful for the future, Caesar slipped it into his pocket, then rolled into bed, deep in thought.

Chapter 5: Collision

Paladin looked over the four men on their knees in front of him, bound. They were messengers from Senturu, asking for his unconditional surrender. This, of course, would have entailed the execution, most likely public, of Paladin and nearly every other rebel soldier. Paladin had decided that, if they were to die either way, they would go out in a blaze of glory.

“We are messengers, not spies! You must release us, there are rules!” As the man finished speaking one of Paladin's generals kicked his back, forcing him to the floor.

Paladin waved the man off, “That's quite enough Garl, they are messengers, as they say. However, they also have knowledge of our internal defenses. Do with them as you see fit, I wash my hands of this.”

With those last words Paladin stepped out of the building and returned to his plans. Garl nodded at his captain and motioned to the messengers.

“All right, you heard him Carth, let's execute our prisoners.”

Instead of complying instantly, as Garl was used to from his inferiors, Carth hesitated.

“Sir, they are only messengers. Would it not be wiser to simply let them live until the battle is over? Then their knowledge cannot harm anyone.”

Garl's face tightened, and he leapt towards Carth, pushing him against a wall.

“I did not become a general to have my captains give me their opinion.” Garl pulled Carth's sword from its sheath. “It's easy to do, watch.”

The general approached one of the prisoners and pulled him upright by his hair. He then stepped back and swung the sword in a wide arc, beheading the messenger. Garl smiled, inspected his work, then returned to Carth and handed him his sword, motioning for him to repeat the procedure. Carth, however, still hesitated.

“Sir, I--”

“Choose your next words carefully, captain, or else I'll kill you, and then behead them. Either way, they die.”

At that Carth hung his head, and, knowing he had no other choice, took back his sword. “I'll do it, sir.”

Garl grinned widely, “I knew you'd come around. I'll be back in a few minutes, I have to check on our defenses. I expect four heads and four bodies, separated, when I return.”

As Garl left, Carth leaned out the window and watched him go. As soon as he rounded the corner a few buildings down, the captain returned to the three remaining prisoners. He lined himself up behind on of the messengers, and brought the sword above his head. The messenger braced himself for the final blow, but as the sword struck, it simply whirred by his head and struck the ground.

It took a few seconds, but eventually the prisoner realized that his bonds had been cut loose. He looked to his right just in time to see the captain cutting loose one of his comrades, then move to the final prisoner and release him as well.

“Alright, let's go. We don't have much time.”

The soldiers had no real idea what was going on, but if it meant getting out alive, they weren't going to complain. Luckily for the four sneaking through the castle, mostly every soldier was too consumed by some other task relating to the upcoming battle to notice. They passed the gate, Carth telling the watchmen that they were simply returning a message from Paladin. After passing out of the view of the gate guardsmen, the men started to relax.

A few moments later, however, they heard a whistle. Carth looked back and scanned the castle, then noticed that archers were arranged along the rim of the castle. For a moment Carth's eyes met with Garl's, and then all four men broke into a dead run. Arrows embedded themselves in the ground all around them as they sought whatever shelter they could find.

Senturu watched as the grunts unloaded the bags of gemstones, surprised. It was the most he had ever seen in one place, meaning that he had an incredible amount of magic at his disposal.

“All of these from one of Scientist's new experiments? At least that man is useful for something.”

Senturu looked out over the field towards Paladin's castle. The full might of King Arzun's army was with him, and that was something that no rebel could stand against. So far, their scouts had estimated rebel numbers at around nine thousand. In opposition stood Arzun's Royal Army of fifty-five thousand warriors.

Senturu and his army had been sieging Paladin's castle for a couple of days already, and now with Scientist's magic at their disposal it was time to strike. Before him were the mages that Scientist had sent with the gemstones.

One stepped forward, “General Senturu, my name is Alexander, I am Scientist's first sage. We have devised a plan that should allow you to take the castle with minimal casualties for either side.”

Senturu nodded, “Alright, let's hear it.”

Alexander grinned and brought forward a couple of bags of emerald gemstones. “Very good, sir. First, we will need to know how many archers are at your disposal....”

In the middle of preparing his archers and the other soldiers for the upcoming assault, one of Senturu's assistants called him over.

“Senturu, our messengers have returned, and they would like to see you.”

Nodding, the general followed his assistant to the tent where his messengers were waiting. Upon entering, however, the sight was not what he had expected. One of his men was lying facedown on a table, an arrow sticking halfway halfway out of his calf. Two of the other messengers were seated, bloody and looking beaten, while another man was tied to a pole in the center of the tent, one whom Senturu did not recognize.

“Would anyone mind telling me what the hell is going on here?”

When the two seated messengers saw Senturu, they leapt to their feet, then kneeled. One spoke.

“Sir, after we delivered your offer of submission to Paladin, he had us detained and bound. Eventually he came to see us again, but left us to his general who decided to execute us. This man here,” motioning to Carth, “was ordered to kill us but refused. He released us instead. Once we were free, however, the general alerted the archers to our escape and they began to fire on us. That was when he was struck,” said the messenger, motioning to the man lying on the table. “Carth then carried him the rest of the way to our camp.”

Senturu looked Carth up and down, then stepped back. “This all seems a little too convenient for my taste...perhaps this is all a scheme by Paladin? If not then we may still release you after the battle, but for now you must remain our prisoner, do you understand?”

Carth nodded, never taking his eyes off the ground. He had just betrayed his fellow soldiers and comrades, and even though he had saved three lives, and in the long run, probably his as well, he couldn't have felt more guilty.

At this point another of Senturu's servants arrived at the tent.

“Sir, Alexander wishes to inform you that the archers are ready, and have been equipped with the gems. The infantry and calvary have also moved into place. We only await your word.”

Nodding, Senturu turned back to the men in the tent. “I will return after we have defeated the rebels, and I will wish to speak with each of you at length.”

Not wishing to delay the end of the rebellion any longer, Senturu marched straight to the divisions of his archers.

Looking around, Senturu verified that all of his archers were ready, and that his soldiers were ready to storm the castle.

“Alright men, the time has come to crush the rebels. There is no room for failure, nor is there any chance of it. ARCHERS, FIRE!!!”

Immediately, thousands of arrows took flight, ripping through the sky. Naturally, the soldiers within the castle walls shielded themselves, leaving the arrows to cause only minimal damage.

Garl, from atop the castle walls, laughed. “What do they hope to accomplish with these arrows, they've hit maybe fifty men. I don't see-”

Garl's confidence faded quickly as he turned around, listening to the shouts of his men. From all over the castle the emerald gemstones were sprouting vines, crawling all over the ground, the buildings, and the soldiers. Every man that was not immediately entangled began to search for higher ground, though most of the higher ground was compromised as well.

Senturu grinned as he listened to the sounds of confusion coming from within the castle. He raised his arm, signaling for the second round of arrows to be strung and lit. Keeping his eyes on the vine at his feet, he watched as it slowly stopped growing and began to fade to a light brown, drying out. “NOW!”

Another volley of arrows took flight, the flames searing the air. As they began to land around his castle Paladin understood, and realized that all was lost. Flames began to spring up all around, igniting the vines which had just begun to dry. His men were burning and his castle was becoming a living inferno.

Paladin waved to the men standing around him, and they moved to a rope leading into the ceiling. As they began to pull it a bell began ringing across the castle. That was the signal to open the gates and run like hell.

As the men crowded the gates and waited for them to open, however, they were greeted by another surprise. Arzun's armies charged through the opening gates, trapping Paladin's men between the fires and very skilled warriors.

The battle itself only took a few minutes and, by the end, less than three hundred of the original 9,000 rebels were left. It was assumed that Paladin and his generals had died along with the rest of his men.

:o

[Back!  Muahahaha.  Uhm.  Anyway.  Here's more.  If you haven't read the rest of the story yet, I suggest you do so before reading this.  I realise it's been forever, and I don't care.  Enjoy!]