| Desert of Bones |
This is a story that Lady Lacewing and I have written. I think it is a good story. We worked hard on it, so I hope you all like it.
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/14/2007 8:11:23 PM) |
 |
 |
Sir Lorr sat in his pavilion, reading an old manuscript in the flickering light of an oil lamp. He turned the ancient pages tenderly, gazing at the text and staring at the exquisite pictures of old kings, dragons, demons, and all manners of other beasts.
His armor sat beside him, rusting and neglected. He was supposed to shine it every evening, but he used the time to read instead. He wore a sweat-stained undershirt and equally filthy cotton pants. His hair was greasy and coated with dust from riding drills. The young knight's sword rested against the central pole that supported the poorly-constructed pavilion, threatening to knock the whole structure over.
The knight read the old book until the last drops of oil in the lamp burnt up. He closed the volume in the dark and sighed, recalling the name on the book's front, 'Beasts and Demons of the Desert of Bones." He'd have to ask for more oil in the morning, after a questioning from the supply master on why he was using so much oil. Most knights couldn't read; it was not a necessity in their lives. But Sir Lorr considered himself as more of an adventurer...
It had been a few months since his last adventure with Sir Jonny. The two had traveled to the northern wastelands to seek and kill an evil banshee in a forgotten, underground palace defended by the million troops of the Army of the Dead. It had been a long journey, and a hard one, but now that he thought about it it had been all too short.
Now Sir Jonny was off into distant lands directing a military academy, accompanied by a woman they had freed from the banshee's halls. Lorr had returned to his division's camp alone. And now, several months since his return, he was ready for another adventure.
A new soldier would be arriving in the camp tomorrow morning, a relative to Gaius Septim II. He'd heard the story of how Hephaestus had fought the possessed Duke and narrowly escaped death many times. Sir Lorr anticipated meeting this new soldier and convincing him to begin a new quest to the Desert of Bones... |
| You (10/15/2007 7:35:31 AM) |
Lucias Septim II strided through the forest of Xerxios. Its trees were high and yet it shone with light as if it were bare. He continued walking, he would be meeting with a Sir Lorr, Lucias had heard stories about how he had killed a banshee with Sir Jonny. Lucias couldn't wait to meet the hero. Lucias continued walking.
A few hours later Lucias came upon the division camp of Sir Lorr. He went and sat upon a bench and waved a messenger over to him.
"Tell Sir Lorr I have arrived", said Lucias.
"Right away Sir", said the messenger as he ran off. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/15/2007 7:49:41 AM) |
|
|
Sir Lorr was practicing cutting drills with a large group of other knights when a messenger ran to him. "Sir Lorr, a Lucias Septim II has arrived to the camp and wishes to speak to you."
"Ah, thank you," Lorr said. He began to stride off the dusty field when he head the drillmaster's voice cut through the air.
"Where are you going?" the man shouted. "Get back into position!"
"Er... I have to meet someone! Right away! It's a matter of most urgency!" the knight shouted back.
"Wait until we're done, Lorr. You're doing that overhead cut like it's your first time! You should have learned those cuts years ago during apprenticeship, you know!"
Lorr silently obeyed. The matter was, he never had gone through an aprenticeship... oh, he'd tried. It was that most of the knights had rejected him for being too slow and clumbsy when he was younger, and never was really formally instructed in martial arts. Nearly everything he knew he'd learned by hanging around old veteran warriors, who drunkenly fought mock battles outside taverns. Of course, there was no need for anyone to know that now...
When drills were over, Lorr quickly ran to his pavilion and grabbed the manuscript he'd been reading every night for the past few months and looked for the young man known as Lucias. He spotted him by the supply master's storehouse and jogged eagerly toward him.
It wasn't a very heroic entrance. Lorr tripped and fell flat on his chest while jogging, just at Lucias's feet. But it was an entrance nonetheless. |
| You (10/15/2007 7:54:27 AM) |
Lucias looked upon the man.
"You must be Sir Lorr", he said, "I have heard a bit about you...I am Lucias Septim II, grandson of Gaius Septim II." |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/15/2007 7:59:10 AM) |
|
|
| "Pleased to meet you, Lucias," Lorr said, extending a hand. "I have heard a bit about you. And, er, a bit about your father too. From what I have heard, you are an adventurer... are you a knight too?" |
| You (10/15/2007 8:01:58 AM) |
| "I have recieved a Knight's training, but I am not a Knight. I move around too much", said Lucias, "And you have heard about my father Tiber? I don't believe he has done much, although his father was quite strange in his early years" |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/15/2007 8:24:20 AM) |
|
|
"Er..." Lorr recollected his memory bought found nothing. "Er... perhaps it was your grandfather? Anyway, I have been thinking about taking a small journey across the ocean to the east, to the Desert of Bones. There is an item of particular interest in it I am looking for there, in the lost ruins of an ancient, forgotten city.
"You must know that the desert lands and people are very... different from us here. There are many bloody wars going on there among the crumbling empire, invaders from the south, and clans fighting to regain their own independance. Therefore, it may be wise to bring a friend. To watch each others' backs, of course," Lorr spoke. "And, well, I was wondering if... er... you' like to come with me." |
| You (10/16/2007 3:16:09 PM) |
| "An adventure you say? Alright, I am always up for an adventure! When shall we leave?", asked Lucias. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/16/2007 9:47:06 PM) |
|
|
"Tomorrow morning at first light, not a moment later!"
******
The knights didn't actually leave. Lorr spent most of the morning trying to decide which books to bring with him; Lucius had to convince him not to bring a miniature library along. There was also the matter of trying to convince the quartermaster to allow Lorr to leave for a few months, and he never was given permission to leave.
But this didn't hold the knights back for long. Lorr and Lucias departed from the camp in secret.
Once a short distance away, Lorr drew a map from his sack and took a look at it.
"To the east!" he shouted eagerly, boldly stretching his arm out toward the sky.
"That's west."
"Er... so it is, so it is."
And the knights began their journey to the coast. |
| You (10/17/2007 9:26:27 PM) |
Lucias turned to Lorr while they were walking.
"So...where are you from? What weapons do you use?" |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/17/2007 11:03:55 PM) |
|
|
"Ah..." Lorr said. He suddenly stopped walking and gazed up at the sky. "It's a long story. Very long. Long indeed.
"I was born in the small village of Sandy Ravine, in the land reigned by Sir Hephaestus. My mother died before I was born... er... after I was born, so I was raised by my father and my uncle. I thought they were both my father, back when I was young... didn't find out which one was my real father until I was nine, and I didn't know I could only have one father when I saw fourteen. Er. We didn't talk much about... er... you know. Babies and the like...
"Anyway, I grew up with my father and uncle on our small tract of farmland. My father ws a farmer, my uncle more of a craftsman. Oh, and I had an older brother too, but he ran away to join the army when I saw two.
"Then one day a train of wagons passed by the village. I didn't know it at the time, but they were a traveling comedy group. There were the bards and the jesters, the sword-swallowers and the fire-breathers. But the one I remember best was the storyteller. He told me and the other village kids all this magnificent stories of kings and dragons and palaces and battes and tournaments and wizards and warlocks and castles and adventurers.
"They stayed only two nights, but every waking hour I spent listening, absolutely fascinated, to the storyteller's tales. And then when the man had to help pack up, I told the stories to my father and my uncle, nearly word for word. Well, the storyteller came by to see me one last time, and heard me reciting his stories. He was most surprised to learn I knew them all, and gave me the greatest gift of my childhood--a book of legends and tales.
"I didn't know how to read then. Nor did anyone else in the village. But I realized that each word spoken was a word on the page, and in several days I knew all the letters and their sounds, although in the storyteller's funny accent.
"Er... I shall continue my story at a later time," Lorr said. "As for my weapon, I bear this trusty sword here. It's been with me through a lot. Er... nevermind. I got this one last month from the armory. It was a replacement. My second in a month. Er."
The two adventurers had arrived at at a small town. A mob of peasants was gathered around a wooden manor, carrying torches and pitchforks, shouting threats up through the closed windows.
"Er... let's go see what this is all about, eh?" Lorr suggested, dismounting from his horse. |
| You (10/21/2007 10:11:40 PM) |
"Good idea...lets try not to get too involved though..."
Lucias and Lorr approached the crowd and one turned to Lorr with his pitchfork, the man stabbed his pitchfork at Lorr, but before it could stab him Lucias grabbed the pitchfork and elbowed the man in the ribs, making him fall upon the floor. Lucias threw the pitchfork aside and looked at the man.
"You would do well not to attack either of us again", said Lucias.
"Sorry, I thought you were the Mayor's men!", said the man as he got up.
"It is fine...what is going on here?", asked Lucias. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/21/2007 10:38:34 PM) |
|
|
"It is our lord," the man replied, wiping his mouth with his dirty sleeve. A few red spots stained it. "He is a madman! Every month he sends out for a dozen teenage girls to be brought to his palace. Supposedly they becomes his servants, but no one has ever seen them young girls again!"
"So... how do you know your lord is not telling the truth?" Lorr inquired.
"'Cos my friend did some 'rithmatic, and he says there ought to be over six hundred girls in there now! It's clear, he ain't sending the girls back! He's doin something in there, and he won't tell us. So we've had it. No more girls for 'em, we've had enough." The man spat on the ground violently.
Lorr stared ahead thoughtfully, scratching the few hairs upon his chin. "Do we help the villagers and free their daughters from the torment of their Lord or simply pass by, allowing justice to decide what comes to pass? Hm... what say you, Lucias?" |
| You (10/21/2007 10:50:27 PM) |
"I guess we must help them, when I recieved my Knight training I vowed to give out justice..."
Lucias placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, Firengard, and felt the polished mithril. He looked around and his eyes opened wide.
"I believe that we will be needing to fight...", said Lucias as he saw over a hundred men walking from the Lord's House. The men wore black steel armor and carried weapons ranging from oak bows to swords of steel. Lucias drew his sword.
"They carry their blades as a green soldier would, they are not well trained...we can win", said Lucias, he walked up to the front of the large group of peasants.
"They have a hundred men, they may look fearful at first! But do not be fulled, they are not trained well and can be beaten!", yelled Lucias. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/21/2007 11:06:36 PM) |
|
|
"Er... yes." Lorr, who seemed to notice the army of guards for the first time, now seemed a little less keen on the whole idea. Nonetheless, he followed Lucias forward.
"Who approaches?" called out one of the guards angirly. "What were you doing with those filthy peasants back there? Help our lord keep this angry mob back."
"Noble watchman," Lorr replied, "stand aside immediately!"
"Yeh, sure. I just need your names first," the guard said.
Lorr realized that the man must have thought that since the two men were dressed in armor, they must have been sent for my their lord. A slight grin formed in the corner of his mouth as a new plan began to form in his mind.
"We are here to assist your besieged lord," the knight spoke boldly. "Does he not wish our help anymore? Oh well, we have other tasks to attend."
"No, wait, wait! He seeks your help, knights as fine as you! I just need--"
"Then let us in, fool!" Lorr leaned forward and grabbed the neck of the guard's tunic.
"Right away, sir!" The guard gestured over to his peers by the building's gates, who opened the heavy wooden doors for the knights to pass through.
This recieved a mixed reaction from the crowd outside. Some cheered, others booed.
The two knight slipped into the building, the guards sealing the gates behind them with a loud creak. They stood in a seemingly empty hall. The torches on the walls were all burnt out.
"Er... let us go find the wicked lord and convince him to change his ways, shall we?" Lorr walked inside the darkness, hand resting upon the hilt of his sword. |
| You (10/21/2007 11:33:19 PM) |
"I guess we shall...", said Lucias as he looked upon the walls, now noticing that a small puddle of blood was on the floor next to a large tapestry, Lucias approached it and knocked his hand upon the tapestry.
"Aha...", said Lucias as he cut his sword into the tapestry, the tapestry fell and revealed a passage. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/22/2007 10:28:43 AM) |
|
|
"Ah ha, good thinking!" congratulated Lorr. "A secret tunnel! A sure sign of foul play and hidden secrets, of mischchief and wrongdoing! What darkness lurks beyond? Let us find out!"
Just as the knights were about to head down, they heard a voice from behind them. "Are you here to kill me?"
The two men spun around an saw a tired-looking man standing behind them, having slipped inside quietly. He wore old, scarlet robes that looked as though they hadn't been washed for years. "I am Lord Vasquis, ruler of this manor," the man said wearily.
"Er..." Lorr looked around for signs of guards, but found none. "Are you holding several hundred young girls down here? For, er... dark and unknown reasons?"
Lord Vasquis man sniffed, eyes teary. "Not I... it is my wife. She's gone crazy. She... she... it's the blood..."
Lorr looked at his partner and gave him a funny look, then turned back to the lord. "I'm afraid you're not making much sense."
The lord took a deep breath and continued. "She is making me send her a dozen virgins a month here. It used to only be one, or two. And she didn't use to kill them... she... she used to just cut them and watch them bleed and laugh. But then she began cutting them so much they began to die. And then she began to smear the blood on her skin, said it preserved her youth... and now she's drinking it! So many girls... dying... so much blood... she cuts their throats and hangs them over a cauldron to capture it all... you've got to stop her!"
"Um. Yeah. Okay," Lorr spoke slowly. "Er... she's downstairs?"
"Yes, that's where her torture chambers are. She hasn't come out sense this whole thing began. Go down and stop her. Kill her. Just... do something!" the lord pleaded. |
| You (10/22/2007 3:20:51 PM) |
"We will do what we can", said Lucias as he turned and walked down the passage, Lorr followed. They soon reached a room smelling of iron and saw a young woman drinking from a bloodstained cauldron. The woman turned.
"You do not look like my guards! Who are you?!", yelled the woman.
"We are here to end this disgusting ritual!", yelled Lucias as he drew his blade. The woman grabbed a nearby sword with startling speed.
"Do your worst!", she said. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/22/2007 6:35:38 PM) |
|
|
Lorr watched as Lucias ran forward and began attacking the woman. He tried to inch around the flurry of gleaming metal and flank the crazed woman from the back, but there wasn't enough room to perform the maneuver. Instead, he searched around the room for something he could do to help the battle, like a crossbow or bow, or even something sufficiently heavy to through. But as his eyes wandered about in search of a weapon, he grew distracted by the room's gross decor.
Shackles hung from the walls and ceiling. Most of them were smeared with blood and bit of hair, and some other gore Lorr wasn't keen on investigating further. He saw a few iron maidens along one side of the room. The red-crusted spikes made it apparent they weren't just for show.
But what truly caught his attention was a girl, no more than sixteen years old, being held inside a narrow crow's nest. Her hands had apparently been pierced by spikes, based on the injuries on the palms. At first she appeared dead, but to his horror he saw her eyes flicker open. She mouthed something silently and fell back into consciousness.
"My gods, she's still--"
"Duck!"
Lorr would have done well to have followed his companion's suggestion, but instead he merely turned around to see why. He never really had the chance to see why . The iron kettle was already an inch from his face, obscuring his vision.
The heavy utensil knocked the knight to the ground, eyes blurred. As his vision cleared he saw a woman standing over him. With a sword. Aimed down at his throat, and closing down fast. He gulped and closed his eyes, awaiting the tip to pierce his flesh.
But the pain never came. A sword came flying from just behind the woman and cleanly cut her head off. It rolled forward and fell down on Lorr's chest. Then, as the woman's body collapsed, he saw Lucias standing where she once had been.
"Well done," Lorr rasped. "Get our lord to call a doctor now, will you?" |
| You (10/23/2007 6:35:10 AM) |
"Good idea, you stay here and let them all free", said Lucias as he pointed to all of the cages around the room. Lucias ran off and returned with a field medic. The medic started healing the women and Lucias went to stand next to Lorr.
"This is sad, to think it could happen in this land is sad...", said Lucias. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/23/2007 8:09:11 AM) |
|
|
"Evil spreads its roots in all that is good," Lorr replied. "It is a weed that invades the flower bed, the vermin that sink the ship. It is... er... the..."
An awkward silence filled the air.
"Well, you get the idea," the knight continued.
Just then they heard a big crunch coming from upstairs. A guard came running down the stairs, and saw the late wife of the lord. He looked at the body, then up to the knights, then at the medic, and finally at the cages and torture instruments in the room. He stared blankly for a few moments, unsure whether to call for help to slay the murderous knights or to offer to assist them. Being the loyal guard he was, he decided to trust the two utter strangers. It also happened to be the safer of the options, coincidentally.
"The townsfolk have broke through the gate and are storming the palace!" the guard said. "They're chasing our lord to the highes tower as we speak! You must come and calm them down!"
Lorr pulled on Lucias's arm and ran up the stairs three at a time, each footfall a heavy clang against the stone. They stumbled back into the main hall, which was quickly filling with the peasant townsfolk. |
| You (10/23/2007 8:16:55 AM) |
The Guard tried to speak, to get their attention, but he could not. Lucias strode to the front of the peasants.
"STOP NOW!!!!!!! CEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", yelled Lucias with a voice as powerful and commanding as a thousand sirens. The people all turned their attention to Lucias.
"It was not the Lord that did this! It was his Lady!!! She drank the blood of your young, but rest assured, she is dead!!!", said Septim, "I killed her myself!"
The people talked amongst themselves for a few moments before Lucias said, "If you would like proof, go down into the passage at the front of the house, there you can find what you need!", said Lucias.
One man stood up, "What if it's a trap!"
"I give you my word as a Knight! It is not a trap!", yelled Lucias.
"Then I will go and check!", said the man, he left for about five minutes and returned with a face whiter than the snow of the north.
"What he says is...true...", said the man, "Let us all go down and retrieve the dead so that they may recieve a proper funeral...all but the Lady...", said the man.
Lucias walked over to Lorr.
"That was close...", said Lucias. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/23/2007 8:49:38 AM) |
|
|
Just then a guard came running up to the two knights, panting. "Good sirs... our lord is... in the... high tower. He's... about to jump off!"
Lorr quickly bolted for the stairs. He tripped on the first step, but quickly flew through the rest at a speed amazing for the amount of armor he was wearing.
At the top, the two knights opened a door. The tower appeared to have once been a bedroom; shelves and an unmade bed furnished the chamber. But everything was coated with dust, and the flower vases were dry and filled with blackened, dead flowers from years long ago. A single window let in a cool autumn breeze. The lord stood at the edge, weeping.
"My lord, why do you do this? This was through no fault of your own!" Lorr spoke.
The lord turned around slowly. His eyes were pink. "I am finished... I never stopped her, all these years. It all began... it began..."
"What?" Lorr inquired, perhaps a bit too excitedly for the situation.
"...with my daughter," the lord spoke. He sobbed a bit before continuing. "She... this was her bedroom. I should have saved her. I knew all the time. I should have saved her. But I didn't. I didn't... now my wife is dead too. There's nothing left for me. I am finished."
And with that, the lord let himself fall out the window.
The two knights dashed forward, trying to hold him back, but it was too late. They watched as the man tumbled through the air, plummeting to the ground below.
Ther was a silence as the knights looked at the aftermath of teh scene. Then Lorr spoke, "Er. Well. Lucky there was a fountain down there, eh?" |
| You (10/23/2007 4:23:28 PM) |
A resounding splash echoed from the fountain.
"I wonder why the guard couldn't have stopped him...", said Lucias as he ran through the door, they ran through a maze of tunnels before reaching the bottom, where the Lord was curled up in a ball at the bottom of the fountain, Lucias walked forward and grabbed the man by his collar before throwing him out of the fountain.
"No, you cannot die this day! There are many great things still to be done by you! You can redeem yourself for not saving your wife, you can save yourself!", yelled Lucias. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/23/2007 4:46:28 PM) |
|
|
The lord sat up, then shivered and nodded, gazing into thin air contemplatively. Lorr felt the eerie sensation that the man was looking through him.
Several guards came running, breathing heavily. They helped the lord onto a cart and rolled him away. One of the guards remained; based on his uniform he looked like a sergeant.
"You have done us a great service here today," the man said. "You stopped a riot, ended the surprising and horrible slaughtering of his wife, and saved the lord from death at his own hand. What reward do you ask?"
"Oh, we ask for no rewards," Lorr replied immediately. "Unless... er... do you have a copy of 'Creatures of the Deep: The Lone Survivor's Account of the Underworld,' would you? I've been trying to track down a copy for years now."
"Uh... I will send someone to look," the guard replied. "Our lord has a large library. It's mostly full of medical and alchemist works, but we may have a copy."
****
A few hours later the two adventurers were back out on the trail, Lorr cradling several new books under his arms. He held one out in front of him, reading as they rode on the dusty cobblestone road.
In a few more days of travel, they would be arriving at the port city of Salty Shore where they would take a boat across the vast ocean. |
| You (10/23/2007 5:09:34 PM) |
Lucias and Lorr soon reached Salty Shore, a small fishing town where several small boats sat in the water at the docks.
"Where are you planning to get a boat?", asked Lucias. |
|
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/23/2007 5:21:23 PM) |
|
|
"Er... well, I'd imagined this place to be more of a city than a fishing village..." Lorr looked around at the humble shacks and lines of fish drying in the sun to be preserved through the long winter. "Perhaps we can catch a galleon here?"
"Not usually, lad," a rough voice spoke. It belonged to a mid-aged fisherman with leathery hands and a wooden face, battered from years of salty winds. "But lucky for you, the time is about right. Some ships from the north sail down these coastal towns and buy our fish, then sell em back to the big cities."
"Ah... how soon could we take a ride upon on of this ships?" Lorr inquired.
"Depends on the year, lad. We usually get about three or four, a week from each other. Sometimes when the weather's rough they're delayed, or real bad, even sink. Then sometimes the pirates board em and take the ship, but that hasn't happened for decades now, ever since the Imperial Navy won the battle of Dreadth Bay, but when they stray too far out into sea they have encounters."
"Ah. Well then... I suppose we stay here and wait then, shall we? I don't suppose... you could show us how to fish, could you? I've read a great deal about it." |
| You (10/23/2007 9:51:19 PM) |
"I learned how to fish...you should have too...it is required survival training for a Knight", said Lucias, "I will teach him, go about your business."
Lucias and Lorr walked over to the shore and Lucias pulled a bag from his backpack, he unloaded a set of smooth wooden poles and put them together to form a fishing rod. Lucias pulled a coil of string from the bag and set it into the fishing rod. He then grabbed a small piece of meat from his bag and set it onto the end of the string before casting the string into the water. A long time went by and Lucias did not move, eventually the line vibrated and Lucias grabbed the pole, his hands moved in a blur of motion and a half a minute later a trout was in his hands.
"Ahhhh...now that was easy now wasn't it? Now you try while I skin and cook him", said Lucias as he grabbed a small tool from his bag and started to skin the fish. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/23/2007 10:23:01 PM) |
|
|
"Congratulations," Lorr spoke. "Rod fishing wasn't quite what I meant, though. I meant with a net on a boat. Or with lobster traps. Not hobby fishing with a pole."
"Eh, that's the spirit," the fisherman said. He sat nearby, mending a net. "Catch em by the dozen or don't catch 'em at all, hah!"
"Are you planning on setting out today?" Lorr inquired.
"Not I," the man replied. "But my son could use some help, I'm sure. He's in the house down by that boulder there, by the old tree."
****
A few days passed in the fishing village while the knights waited for the merchant ships to come by. Lorr learned quite a lot about fishing, and even made a few suggestions from books he'd read. Some were bad, but the villagers were surprised to find a bit of Lorr's advice useful. They were particularly impressed when he drew them a table predicting high and low tide.
In time, a merchant ship came by. It wasn't more than fifty feet long, a kind of single-sailed bireme, a rather old design.
Lorr bargained with the captian. In exchange for just a few gold coins, the captain agreed to let them stay on the ship until they reached a larger port city where they could jump aboard a ship heading overseas.
For the next couple weeks the knights rode aboard the ship, stopping off several fishing villages. Finally, when the cargo hold was full of dried fish, the vessel turned back north and sailed straight to the port of Lengolia.
Lengolia was a bustling city, especially in its ports. Ships constantly arrived and departed from the piers, created a near jam where anchored ships eagerly to sail in blocked the progress of those sailing out. The waters were full of all manners of ships--rafts, canoes, rowing boats, merchant ships, barges, biremes, triremes, and galleys. Twin dry docks housed two of the largest ships Lorr had ever seen, warships from the look of it.
|
| You (10/26/2007 11:55:15 AM) |
Lucias turned to Lorr.
"I will gather supplies, you study that map of yours and figure out where we need to go", said Lucias as he walked off. He went into a general store where he bought several loafs of bread and many other assorted objects. He brought them outside where be bought two small horses and some saddlebags. He placed all of the objects in the saddlebags and returned to Lorr. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/26/2007 1:06:04 PM) |
|
|
Lucias saw Lorr standing by a robed man, some kind of monk. The monk was talking loudly, his voice irritated. Lucias leaned in to hear what was being said.
"The Harman Empire fell in 867! Not a year later, not a year earlier, 867 itself!" the monk was saying. Several other men stood by him, dressed in slightly paler robes. They all wore the same crests on their backs.
"Er, you must be confusing it with the Stolat Empire," Lorr replied. "The Harmans did not fall until 923 after a short-lived era of continental supremacy, which fell to the barbarians from the north."
"It Harmans fell in 867! That you had better believe! I have studied the manuscripts all my life, never once have I erred--go away--when saying a date or name, or--I said bug off!--battle or--what is it already?"
One of the younger monks removed a book from his robe, flipped to a page, and showed it to the priest, whispering something in the man's ear.
Lorr then inquired, "Have I erred?"
"You haven't sir. Rather, our--" the monk with the book began to speak.
"Shh! Just walk away!" The priest hurried away without another word.
Lorr spotted Lucias. "Ah, there you are. I have talked with the captain of Lady Whiteskin, a galley heading to the eastern continent, and he will transport us for a few gold coins and the occasional odd job. We set sail tomorrow morning."
|
| You (10/28/2007 2:29:43 PM) |
| "That is good, I have gathered enough supplies for a long travel and have bought horses here, I tell you, cheapest horses in the whole Empire! Anyways, lead me to it!", said Lucias. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (10/31/2007 7:00:20 AM) |
|
|
Lorr took Lucias to the docks. There they saw a merchant galley tied to a pier, manned by a dozen crew. They were frantically loading on barrels and crates onto the ship for the voyage overseas.
That evening Lucias and Lorr enjoyed a few drinks in one of the city's many taverns. Lorr listened to the stories the sailors told among one another of monsters, storms, pirates, starvation, and other maritime adventures.
The following morning the knights returned to the docks and boarded the ship. Finally, the galley set sail on its long voyage to the eastern continent.
******
The days passed slowly. Lorr kept busy with his books and trying to fight seasickness, which was a very interesting combination.
But on the second week of the journey came a rather interesting event. One of the crew members spotted another ship in the distance. It was not a friendly ship... rather, it sailed black sails and was rowing toward them quickly. |
| You (11/5/2007 6:55:37 AM) |
Lucias pulled a scope from one of his many pockets and examined it.
"Hmmmm...Nassalian Pirates, they are weak, but are many. I would suggest flight if our ship was faster, but that is a very fast ship, we can take them", said Lucias, turning to the Captain.
"Aye Septim, I have met their kind before...", said the Captain as he turned to his men, "Get ready for combat!" |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/5/2007 9:24:04 AM) |
|
|
Lorr watched as a handful of the ship's crew retrieved swords and daggers from sheaths or from somewhere onboard. Although these men were officially crewmen for a merchant galleon, Lorr began to wonder if the Captain perhaps engaged in other activities...
The Nassalian vessel drew nearer. The two knights and crew listening to the distant shouts of the eager pirates, screaming threats between co*beep* laughing.
"No pirate's ever gotten the better of me before!" the captain of the merchant vessel shouted. "But that's not to say I've never gotten the better of 'em! You know the system, ten gold for every pirate head you bring back!" A cheer went up.
Suddenly, Lorr spotted a flame approaching. He squinted to see it better. It looked like a torch... flying in a smooth arc... "Ballista!"
A flaming bolt smashed into the galleon's side, splintering through the wood and setting the lower deck aflame. The captain ordered some men to put it out but kept his warriors on deck.
Several more bolts crashed through the deck and a sail as the pirate ship drew nearer. Finally, it was time for hand-to-hand combat. The pirate ship approached as if to broadside the vessel, but instead used a mechanical plank with a spike on one end to crash into the mechent ship. Immediately afterward, the Nassalian pirates, dressed in ragged clothing, stormed onto the deck. |
| You (11/5/2007 6:05:45 PM) |
| Lucias drew Firengard in the blink of an eye and slashed one man in half, he kicked another man back onto the plank and it knocked several others overboard. Lucias drew a dagger from his side and threw it at one enemy, hitting him in the throat, Septim slashed across a pirate's chest, crimson blood sprayed out. Lucias then jumped on the plank and ran across, he arrived on the other side and jumped into a group of pirates. Upon landing the soldiers all flew back. Septim stabbed about three before they could get up and blocked five blows. Lucias slashed at one and blocked four. One of the blows knocked Septim's blade from his hand, all seemed loss when fire erupted from the ground around him, engulfing all the pirates within five feet of Lucias. Firengard flew back to Lucias and he continued fighting. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/5/2007 6:27:40 PM) |
|
|
A man with a great long, white beard stood atop the mast of the pirate ship, watching his men fall before him. He looked annoyed and began winding a crossbow.
Although Lorr was doing a rather good job keeping the pirates on their own vessel, a few of them managed to leap onto the merchant ships deck, waving their rapiers and daggers wildly. One man jumped in front of Lorr and began to laugh maniacally, in a way only crazy outlaws seemed to. Lorr took a swing with his longsword, but was surprised to see how easily his opponent caught it and swung it away, thrusting his dagger at Lorr's chest.
Luckily, Lorr's armor protected him. Lorr brought his pommel down on the pirates head, stunning him for a moment. But it was a moment long enough for Lorr to kick him off the deck into the waters below.
He engaged another pirate. This time, he was able to kill him quickly and neatly with a swift swipe that ran straight through the man's throat. He spun around and parried another swordman's blow and used the strong of his sword to push his enemy's weapon to the side, immediately afterwards delivering a deadly thrust.
It was then that Lorr noticed the enemy captain, leveling a crossbow at the twirling blade of Firengard and the hero who bore it. Fearing his companion had not noticed, Lorr searched for a way to bring the crossbowman down. He searched across the deck for an arrow or throwing dagger, any ranged weapon. He didn't quite find his first weapon of choice, but he found something nonetheless...
The pirate captain and slowly and steadily. Soon the fierce warrior with the mystical blade would be lying on deck, an corssbow bolt pierced through his chest. His finger felt the wooden trigger... ready for the opportune moment... and NOW!
SCHLAP! The bolt flew harmlessly into the deck, aim reuined, and his position revealed. Confused, the pirate captain looked around to see what had just slapped the side of his head, and saw a fish wriggling beside him... |
| You (11/5/2007 8:34:37 PM) |
An arrow zoomed past Lucias's head, and Lucias saw that three archers were on the edge of the ship. Two more arrows flew at him and he dodged one and chopped the other one from the air. Septim shot three balls of flame at them, and each one found a mark. Two fell backwards and one screamed in agony before falling. Septim deflected two blows and another bolt flew past Septim and hit one of the pirates. Septim looked to see an enemy pirate.
"That was way too close!", yelled Septim, suddenly an idea came to mind. Septim ran forwards and rolled on the ground, picking up two daggers, he threw one at the man on the mast, he dodged it, but Septim swifty threw another, and it caught him in the leg. The Captain yelled and fell from the mast, landing one the deck below, Septim ran over to him, stabbing two pirates in the process, and stabbed the pirate captain in the heart.
"You picked the wrong ship today...", said Septim as the Captain's eyes shut. Septim turned and saw the remaining pirates slowly walk up the steps towards him, Septim aimed his mystical blade at them and suddenly they all fell to the deck in pain.
"Pirates you are, but I will spare you...if you change your ways...", said Septim loudly. The pirates said nothing and suddenly felt another wave of pain, one got up.
"I shall change! Please, spare us!", he yelled.
"I will, I sense that your ways are changed...", said Septim.
"I am Antonis Xarxes, at your service", said the ex-pirate, "And these men are Bartimaeus, Marcus, Aesius, and Conwell."
"Good, then may you make up for the deeds you have committed", said Septim as he turned to walk across the plank. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/5/2007 11:08:36 PM) |
|
|
The remaining pirates on the ship laid down their weapons. Lorr cleaned his sword off and sheathed it and approached his companion.
"Absolutely amazing!" he commented. "It feels as though I'm living in a legend right now, and you're some kind of great hero. And you absolutely must teach me your arcane spells; when I first met you I assumed you to be a knight or warrior, but apparently you are much more! Why--"
All of a sudden a tremor shook the pirate vessel and a blue flame began to lash through the splintered wooden deck. Lorr lost his balance and fell down, nearly falling through a newly-created hole. But he rolled aside in time, heaved himself back to his feet, and followed Lucias and the others back onto the mercant vessel.
"Get that plank out of my deck or your ship will take mine down with it!" the captain of the merchant ship yelled. Half a dozen men struggled to lift the spike out of the deck and pu*beep* away. They completed the action just in time; the pirate ship sank into the ocean. Apparently some artifact of dense magic had flared, causing an small explosion in the lower deck.
Panting, Lorr turned to the captain of the merchant vessel. "How many did we lose?"
The captain removed his hat and held it against his head. "We lost Juron, good chap, Bertlino, known him for years, Starcatsta, best navigator I've ever set sail with... and a good number of new chaps too. May their souls be at peace." |
| You (11/7/2007 9:50:05 PM) |
"I am sure they will find glory in the afterlife...", said Septim as he walked to the edge of the ship, they sailed off and Septim walked over to the surviving pirates.
"Well, you are now in my service, and my first order is to repair the damage you have done to this ship", said Septim.
"Aye aye, sir", said the pirates as they turned and walked off. Septim approached Lorr.
"Thank you for the fish throwing during the battle, I saw it, and might have been able to dodge, but 'might' is not good enough...so thank you", said Septim, "And yes, if you would wish I could teach you some of the arcane arts." |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/7/2007 11:29:18 PM) |
|
|
"Wonderful! Can we begin with the arcane method Sul'Nul'Twa? I read about it in a book. The Helkin Empire used to teach it to all its soldiers as standar arcane abilities, should their armies encounter mages."
"Hold on a moment there!" interrupted the merchant ship captain, pointing at the floating wood that was once a pirate ship. "You're not doing anything to damage this ship with your magicians' tricks. Wait until shore for that, then you're someone elses's problem."
*****
The ship passed through several violent storms and what seemed to be another pirate encounter, except the hostile vessel merely followed, never approached. Antonios Xarxes and the other former pirates made good additions to the crew; not only was their knowledge of anything nautical vast, but their tales of voyaging kept Lorr entertained as well.
Finally, the ship approach the eastern continent. Lucias and Lorr saw ships and barges sailing in the shallow blue water, the usual bustle of a sea port. Less than an hour later, the merchant ship was tied to the docks and its crew busy transferring cargo off.
But before Lorr and Lucias could continue on their journey, a giant, dark-skinned man approached. He towered over either warrior by two feet and wore two sheathed swords. His expression was tight and grim. "Tokens," he simply demanded.
"Er... not quite sure what you mean there," Lorr replied.
"Tokens. Your name on." It was clear the man spoke a different language, but Lorr now understand that he wanted some form of identification.
"Oh... right... er, we haven't actually got... Er..."
Just then the captain of the merchant ship approached and winked at the guard, tossing a small sack at him. Based on the metallic clink, it was filled with coins.
"Tokens good. Go. Have good day." The man let the two warriors pass off the docks and into the dusty roads of the city. |
| You (11/8/2007 4:23:34 PM) |
"Well Captain, it is here that we shall take our leave from you, farewell and may you always have good fortunes", said Lucias, he then turned and approached another ship, the ship was unloading many goods and two horses, Septim whispered in the Captain of that ship's ears and the Captain gave the two horses to Lucias. Septim walked back to Lorr.
"I bought these back in the western continent, had to put them on a trading ship", said Lucias as he passed the reigns to Lorr. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/8/2007 8:59:20 PM) |
|
|
"A wise move," Lorr spoke, "except that in many scenarios camels are preferrable in the desert. Still, these mounts shall serve us well."
The two warriors wandered through the city streets. The buildings were made out of a pale sandstone, decorated with arches and exquisite engravings. Clothes hung on lines draped several floors above the roads.
"Amazing place, isn't it?" Lorr stated. "To think not more than sixty years ago we were warring this nation, and now they treat us as any guest or trader. Old hatreds die fast!"
"Not quite," came a voice from behind them. It belonged to a man dressed in a red turban, his body covered except for eyes. It was hard to tell whether he was armed or not, but based on the way the crowd parted to, it seemed as though the stranger didn't have friendly intentions. Two other men stood behind him dressed in a similar fashion.
It took a moment for Lorr to recall the particular fashion. He grew a little uneasy when he remembered the turbans were the stye of the desert guard, elite imperial warriors with not only blades but also with magic. To harm them would be as good as a declaration of war, no matter what the guard intended to do to them. |
| You (11/8/2007 11:41:22 PM) |
"Greetings mister?", asked Lucias politely.
"I do not like your kind!", yelled the guard.
"Well I am sorry for that, although I have done nothing ill against you or your people", said Lucias.
"Yes, but I know who you are, Lucias, and your grandfather tortured many of our people!", yelled the guard.
"I am sorry for his actions, but he has changed, he is no longer an evil entity, but a benevolent one", said Lucias.
"Well I do not care what his alignment is! I want revenge!", yelled the guard as he drew his blade, Septim drew Firengard and aimed it at the guard, the guard's face contorted and he placed both of his hands on his head.
"We mean no harm! Now leave us be!", roared Lucias.
The guard fell to the ground and looked up at Lucias.
"I am sorry traveler! I shall be leaving now!", he said as he got up and ran off, the other guards ran too in fear of Lucias.
"I do not think they will take this lightly, we should go", said Lucias to Lorr, Lucias then realized that the crowd around him had grown a bit curious. Suddenly Antonis Xarxes ran through the crowd, his men followed.
"Sir! I have bought the supplies you requested and tried to find camels, but I could only find mules", said Antonis.
"They will have to do, saddle up and meet us outside the city in twenty minutes", said Lucias. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/9/2007 9:39:44 AM) |
|
|
"Make that ten minutes," Lorr interrupted. "Those guards will run straight to the emperor and be back with a division to hunt us down. I'm surprised those guards ran, though... you must have been using some kind of arcane trickey. The Desert Guard fight to the death."
Lorr looked around at the crowd of people, still staring at them. Then one man began to cheer, and the others joined in.
"Er... how odd..." Lorr murmured. Some of the peasants began to throw food an money at the two, in a giving sort of manner, not a hostile one. "Hm. I suppose... things might have changed here. It's almost as if--"
Suddenly, they heard a horn begin to blow from down the street. The cheering crowd quickly turned to panic and scattered. It took a while to see what they were fleeing from, and it was not a pleasant sight.
Four elephants were pounding down the street, each ridden by three men. The first man held a long lance while the other two held bows. Occasionally a mage sat in place of an archer. The few peasants left on the road were trampled, lanced, or shot down, the injured stabbed to death by a troop of red-turbaned infantry marching behind.
Lorr watched his companion ready himself for battle, but pulled him back. "We cannot always fight, you know. There is a time to fight and a time to flee. For all heroes, no matter how strong or brave. You have no idea how political this could become if we kill one of their leaders; they may be angered into a holy war against our entire continent. Trust me, now is a good time to flee!" |
| You (11/9/2007 3:24:30 PM) |
| "I understand, I do not want to be held responsible for a war", said Lucias as he turned, he ran down through the streets as if he knew them by heart, he soon escaped the city with Lorr and found Antonis and the other men waiting, Lucias jumped onto his horse and Lorr jumped onto his and they went forth into the desert. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/9/2007 4:20:14 PM) |
|
|
As they rode, Lorr pondered wy the crowd had been cheering at them earlier. The only obvious reason was that they were not very fond of the desert guard, or more likely of the emperor who commanded them. He sensed turmoil--civil war, perhaps--in the city. He just hoped the conflict hadn't spread too far.
****
The knight, warrior, and former pirates rode night after night through the desert. Lorr insisted they stay off the roads, as convenient as they were, because even in times of peace the empire patrolled armies along them to keep civil order.
"How far away is the Desert of Bones?" Antonis inquired gruffly.
"Er... three hundred miles? Four hundred? Er..."
"How will we know when we've arrived?"
"Er... I imagine there will be... bones scattered about," Lorr answered. "The books don't exactly say what it looks like. It says 'the visitor shall understande upon syte upon entering the desert.' Not very precise."
"Well, we're going to need more supplies," Antonis spoke. "We are running low."
"Ah..." Lorr hesitated a moment. "There is a city a few miles to our east. But it is not a very... er... safe place."
"Because?"
"It is a bandit stronghold."
|
| You (11/10/2007 8:15:34 AM) |
"Hmmmmm", said Lucias,"Bandits? I suppose we have no choice if we are to survive this unforgiving place...let us ride", said Lucias as he turned East and rode off, Antonis, Lorr, and the other pirates followed. After a three mile ride that seemed like an eternity they reached the bandit stronghold, two men wearing loose white clothing walked out.
"What are you doing here?! This is the Pyrijah bandit stronghold! Turn back now!", yelled one of the bandits.
"We are in search of food and drink, we will pay for it", said Lucias.
"Pay for it? Alright then", said the bandit as he turned and walked into the stronghold, he came back ten minutes flanked by several men, a big man that Lucias presumed to be their leader approached.
"We will not give food to you western scum!", yelled the leader, "As a matter of fact! Kill them!"
Lucias drew Firengard and aimed it at the leader, but suddenly Lucias's mind was full of streaming images.
"He's...a...Carian!", yelled Lucias to Lorr.
Lucias knew Lorr would understand, with all the reading Lorr did he would have to know that Carians were a type of weaker demons.
Lucias pulled his sword away.
"Alright Carian! I cannot allow you to live! You are a menace to the Eastern continent!", yelled Lucias.
The Carian drew a massive axe, "Alright human!", the bandits all attacked the others, Antonis and the other pirates drew their weapons and joined in the battle.
Lucias rolled under a swing from the giant's axe, "Carasei!", yelled Lucias as he swung his blade into the giant's leg, Firengard cleaved through the flesh and bone as if it were butter and the giant fell to the ground, Lucias cut off the giant's axe arm and then cut off his head, Lucias then remembered that Carian's could only die if their heart was pierced and stabbed his blade deep into the giant's chest. The giant roared and disappeared in black smoke. Lucias turned to see that the rest of the battle was over and the other bandits were dead.
"Gather what you need from the stronghold, we leave in fifteen minutes", said Lucias as he rode into the stronghold.
|
|
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/10/2007 3:29:43 PM) |
|
|
As the odd group of strangers wandered into the stronghold, the bandits inside watched them curiously. One of them approached.
"Who are you?" a bandit asked, dressed in a back turban. "Rebels? You sure don't look like the Emperor's men."
"Er... yes," Lorr answered.
"Ah. So what do you need here then? Need a village razed? Politician assassinated? Bodyguards? Weapons? Supplies?"
"Er... just the supplies, please. Food, water." Lorr looked around at the assortment of bandits handling weapons, counting money, or simply telling tales of their encounters.
"Very well. Bring them what they demand," the bandit ordered several others around him. When they were gone, he asked "So how'd you kill the Carian?"
"My companion here fought him very bravely and pierced the demon through the heart," Lorr replie tensly. "You're not angry, are you? Who here is in charge?"
The bandit laughed. "Fireeye got what he deserved. If you can't kill 'em you might as well be killed yerself. Been a pest here ever since he arrived. And to answer your question, no one here is 'in charge.' See, when you got someone in charge, you got an emporer, and we don't want the emporer."
"Ah." Lorr remained quiet for a few moments, observing his surroundings with a slight look of disdain."
"You aren't a rebel, are you?" the bandit finally inquired.
"Er... no. I take it there is civil conflict?"
"Good old bloody civil war is what I call it!" the bandit cackled. "You see, a lot of people here aren't too pleased at the emporer right now. Armies of people. Cities of em. Watch where you go, everywhere. And don't try looking for who is morally right. Both the imperial legins and the rebels will stop at nothing to gain power... and your fear." |
| You (11/14/2007 8:20:40 AM) |
"I wonder what can be done to stop this civil war, to save the people...", muttered Lucias, the men came up with the food.
"We must now take our leave, a long travel is before us", said Lucias as he took the supplies and walked to the steeds, he stuffed the food into the saddlebags and slung a canteen at his side, Antonis, Lorr, and the other ex-pirates jumped onto their horse, Lucias did the same, and they rode off into the desert. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/14/2007 8:34:43 PM) |
|
|
*****
The men rode for a couple weeks, passing further and further into the desert. The settlements they passed became more rare as they continued into the endless dunes of sand.
"Do you know where we're going?" Antonis inquired on several occasions.
"Er... fairly sure," Lorr replied. "The Desert of Bones is a large place."
They rode in silence for a while longer. Antonis broke the silence again with yet another question.
"What are you looking for?" the ex-pirate demanded.
"Ah, I'm glad you asked!" Lorr replied. "Though first let me tell you about the Desert of Bones.
"Two thousand years ago an empire sprawled across this entire continent. It as an empire built in just five years by a conquering king who declared war upon his neighbors and defeated them all. But he did not stop at his neighbors; he marched his troops to the edges of the continent and conquered every city, every kingdom, every empire he came across.
"Now how is this possible, you may ask. How can a young king rise to become emporer of the largest empire of the ancient world? His armies would have literally had to march thousands of miles over deserts. But if he had done this, surely his empire would have taken decades, if not centuries, to expand. But no, it took a mere five years.
"Not only that, but he would have needed millions of men in over a hundred armies just to meet the enemy cities, which had quite impresive armies of their own. So how could he have done it?
"According the stories, this particular emperor was gifted with an artifact of unimagineable value. He had inherited a family artifact from his father, a simple crystal orb. But it was no ordinary orb, of course. This orb was an arcane device meant for travel... travel in time.
"The orb was known as the orb of knowledge. Crafted by magicians centuries beforehand, it was meant as a way for scribes to record history better, not to take an active role in it. The emporer's father warned him never to abuse the orb's powers, but the ambitious man did not listen.
"The emporer called upon all his mages to strengthen the power of the orb. The emporer used the artifact to go back in time and bring himself back, thus replicating himself: all his ambition, all his cruelty, and all his militaristic skill. He repeated this many times, creating an entire council of... himself.
"Once he was satisfied he had enough copies of himself, he began to pull all the stronest men in history he had ever heard of multiple times until he had vast armies of the most powerful heroes in history, led by the finest generals on the continent, himself.
"An army marched straight for every city known on the continent, and within five ye*beep*very army had made it to its destination and conquered it. Thus the entire continent was conquered in a mere five years.
"But the emporer was never satisfied, and similarly, neither were his generals, for the emporer had never thought that his duplicates would all wish to rule the continent alone just as he did. So in a few yeas all of the emporer's duplicates began to march back on the original emporer who still possessed the orb.
"Due to their likeness of mind, they all met up in a single region of the desert were the original emporer was camping. Fearing each other, the duplicated generals turned on one aother. But because essentiall every army was perfectly matched, every single last man was slaughtered. Their bodies formed mountains of corpses.
"Supposedly the first man to fall in the mass battle was the original emporer himself, clutching the orb. His body became the center of the mountain's base, crushed deep into the sand under massive pressure. As the years passed the wind scattered the bones from the heaps, but the orb still remains in a deep pit of bones, sought but never found." |
| You (11/18/2007 4:32:30 PM) |
Lucias starts clapping.
"Very interesting, but now I wonder...what shall we do with the orb if we find it? My greed can be held well, and I know that I wouldn't use the orb for any purpose but to look back into time, and I also think that of you. But what if the orb fell into the wrong hands?", asked Lucias. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/18/2007 10:59:48 PM) |
|
|
"That was also a concern of mine," Lorr replied. "Under normal circumstances, I would have recommended we let the orb stay where it is. Except... we are not the only ones pursuing the artifact," Lorr answered solomnly.
"What do you mean?" Antonis inquired, holding his sword-sheath.
Lorr sighed. "I am not the only knight pursuing this artifact. Another band of sworn knights, known as the Brotherhood of the Light, wishes to find the orb and use it for... I don't know what, exactly, but I know they would seek to rewrite history.
"Personally, I would just like to use it to see history, past the inaccuracies of written word and exaggerations of legend... but I fear something. The emporer I spoke about, he was a great and wise ruler until he discovered the power of the orb. He was originally a meek man, content with what he had. By his death, there was nothing left of him but a warrior lusting for blood and conquest. So I dare not actually use the orb to my advantage... nor do I dare you would, Lucias, because a warrior as powerful as you being turned to corruption might a great evil upon the world.
"I hope you understand," he added after a moment. |
| You (11/19/2007 7:21:04 AM) |
"Of course, this world needs not more evil, for it has enough as it is", said Lucias.
Lucias noticed that one of the pirates, Bartimaeus, had a dark look in his eyes.
"Now Bartimaeus...I hope you aren't planning anything...tricky...", said Lucias.
"No sir, I was just thinking...couldn't we use the orb to become rich? Steal gold from the wealthiest Dwarven kings in history?", asked Bartimaeus.
"No...using the orb to your own advantage like that would make you just as bad as the Emperor who last wielded it", said Lucias.
"Yes sir", said Bartimaeus.
Lucias took out a strange object that looked like two metal tubes welded together, except they had mirrors inside and lenses on either side, Lucias called them binoculars.
"Lorr...take a look, I think I see something", said Lucias as he passed Lorr the binoculars. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/19/2007 7:27:18 AM) |
|
|
"Amazing contraption, these! I read about them. Science at work: these little glass-filled devices bounce around light and allow you to see details in close, or if such desired, in far. I believe these were invented around here some four hundred years ago by a man locked up by the emperor becuase--Er... look through them... right."
Lorr raised the binoculars and gazed at the horizon through them, squinting to keep the sun reflecting off the sand out of his eyes. "Oh my..." |
| You (11/19/2007 7:30:45 AM) |
| "What is it? What do you see?", asked Lucias as he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/19/2007 7:57:18 AM) |
|
|
"The gleam of sunlight upon armor..." Lorr lowered the binocul*beep*ither the imperial guards have caught up with us, or the Brotherhood of Light set out months earlier than planned."
"How do you know so much about this Brotherhood of Light?" Antonis demanded.
"Er..." Lorr sighed. "I trained there for a few months when I was young."
"Only a few months? Doesn't training take years for you knight types?" Antonis continued.
"Yes. Er. A few months into my training, the guildmaster in charge found out..."
"Yes?"
"That I have no noble blood whatsoever, and that I'd lied about who my parents were. I was beaten and thrown out. But when I was there I heard stories about gold vaults and artifacts the guildmaster wanted. Very methodically, he would send out bands of knights to quest for specific items, so I knew he would send knights out to find this orb at a certain date." |
| You (11/19/2007 8:03:37 AM) |
"Noble blood does not define noble spirit", said Septim, "Let me look"
Lucias grabbed the binoculars and looked again, he saw that they were Knights, and they were riding away.
"They havn't seen us, but we are travelling the same direction as them...I am guessing that we are close to the mountain of bones", said Lucias. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/19/2007 9:32:40 AM) |
|
|
"We must get there first!" Lorr cried. "Let us hope we will not need a team of excavators to find the orb."
He spurred his horse to a gallop. Well, more of a fast trot; horses do not run nearly as fast on sand than on hard earth. Lucias and the ex-pirates followed closely behind.
After a couple hours, small white rocks began to apper in the sand. Strangely, Lucias and Lorr began to hear crunching sounds under their horses' hooves. Rocks didn't crunch.
"Are these...?"
"Yes. We're getting closer. Lucias, can you still see the Brotherhood?" |
| You (11/19/2007 8:08:11 PM) |
Lucias pulled out his binoculars and looked into them.
"Barely, they are gaining ground, we must be swift!", yelled Lucias as he went off, the others followed. After riding several miles and gaining little ground, Lucias saw that the mountain of bones was only one mile away.
"I must leave you all, there is no time to be slow!", muttered Lucias as he jumped from his horse and started running, the soft sand seemed as if it were concrete, Lucias's feet moved like the wind. He passed the Knights so fast that they barely saw him. Lucias reached the mountain and turned around.
"Turn back now Knights, or face destruction!", roared Lucias. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/20/2007 7:19:37 AM) |
|
|
The knights chuckle. One of the knights, wearing the thickest plate armor with a tunic draped on top, approached the warrior.
"And who might you be, little man?" the man teased, lifting his visor to reveal white hair and an elderly face. He was sweating heavily. "There is nothing significant about thise little burial mound whatsoever. Why don't you go home and attend the crops; your father misses you ever so greatly!"
Lorr finally approached, his horse weary. He recognized the leader of the knights. It was the guildmaster.
"Oh, another farmer boy tagalong. Isn't... ah, I know you. You're that bloody peasant who tried to pose as a knight, aren't you?"
Lorr dismounted from his horse. His foot got caught in the saddle and he fell facefirst into the sand, but immediately stood back up and unsheathed his sword. "I know what you want, guildmaster. And we won't let you take it." |
| You (11/20/2007 7:28:17 AM) |
Lucias drew his sword as fast as lightning.
"No...we won't! Lorr, I'll take him, you and the others work on the other knights!", said Lucias as he swung his blade at the guildmaster, the guildmaster blocked and Lucias's blade flew back, the guildmaster stabbed at Lucias, but Lucias dodged and quickly sent his blade at the guildmaster.
"Arrrgh!", yelled the guildmaster as he brought his blade up just in time, "I guess I must use magic to defeat you!"
The guildmaster lifted his palm and sent a stream of fire at Lucias, Lucias raised his own hand and created a shield, the fire kept up for two minutes, but the guildmaster was old, and did not have the stamina to keep it up. The guildmaster's fire failed and he fell to the ground. The guildmaster looked up.
"It...is a shame....you would have made...a fine Knight', said the guildmaster.
"You are not Knights, Lorr is a Knight. Nobility is not defined by blood, but spirit, you should know that!", said Lucias as he stabbed his blade into the guildmaster's heart.
|
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/20/2007 7:39:17 AM) |
|
|
Lorr, who was busy fighting against a handful of the other knights, saw Lucias standing over the guildmaster, Firengard sunk into the man's chest.
"Wrong side of the body," Lorr called out. "His heart is on the right side of his chest!"
The guildmaster began to laugh and pulled the blade back out of his body. The amount of blood seeping from his wound grew less and less. Lucias even saw the skin begin to form back over the chest wound, the fatal wound healing back up in seconds.
"Very impressive," the guildmaster spoke, pushing himself to his feet. "You have the emperor's blood in you. I can feel it. in you... cousin." |
| You (11/20/2007 7:47:47 AM) |
"Cousin? What are you talking about?!", asked Lucias bewildered.
"You are one of the few remaining heirs of Emperor Versil Iellius, the man who conquered much of the world, only to be destroyed by his own armies", said the guildmaster.
"I will not knowingly strike one of my own blood...but I am sure Lorr would be happy to!", said Lucias as Lorr brought his blade down upon the Guildmaster from behind. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/20/2007 9:18:59 AM) |
|
|
But the guildmaster, in a move so swift it seemed impossible for his age, spun around and caught Lorr's blade against his own sword. He then heaved the knight back, sending Lorr flying backward into the sand.
"I imagine you heard the the whole story about how all the emporers came and killed each other, correct? Well, it is not true. When Versil Lellius used the orb to fetch copies of himself, he brought them all from the same point in time, when he had just inherited the throne. All except for one.
"One of the selves he brought from a different... alternative past. It is said history hinges upon the slightest actions, and it is true. This Versil Lellius from an alternate past never inherited the empire from his father, but rather chose to run away and marry one of his slave girls whom he loved. When he was pulled by the original emperor, he was so heartbroken that instead of capturing a city with his assigned army, he left the continent and made a new life on our home lands. He was the only body of Emperor Versil Lellius to survive.
"And now it is my--no, our--duty to reclaim this artifact. For millenium has our bloodline waited to use our rightful possession once again!"
"No," Lorr said. He had been listening to the story. "Don't you understand? It is the orb that corrupts! The only emperor to live was the one who never wanted to see the orb again! You have to get rid of it!"
"NEVER!" the guildmaster screamed, drawing a dagger and thrusting it toward Lorr at lightning speed. "I am an emperor AND a knight! I will rule both this entire continent and the one from which you live! I will become stronger than Versil Lellius ever could have dreamed! Who are you to deny me my birth right?"
Lorr was not fast enough to escape the path of the blade and it pierced through his armor and into his lower chest. The knight looked down in horror, but to the guildmaster's surprise he did not fall. He pulled out the dagger with his iron gauntlet and tossed it down on the sand and drew his sword.
"I challenge you to a duel in which the victor keeps his life, and the loser gains mere death," Lorr said calmly. "Lucias, go help out our pirate friends." |
| You (11/20/2007 3:29:39 PM) |
| "Are you sure? Well, it is not my place to violate the sanctity of the duel...", said Lucias as he turned and jumped into combat with three different Knights, they charged at Lucias and Lucias deflected one's blade into another Knight, the first Knight screamed in horror of stabbing his ally and did not react fast enough to stop Lucias's blade, Lucias deflected a blow from the third Knight and chopped the head off of the stabbed one. The third Knight charged again and Lucias parried, the Knight stumbled past Lucias and was stabbed in the back of the neck. Lucias readied himself for further combat. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/20/2007 5:53:22 PM) |
|
|
Lorr and the guildmaster circled each other in the sand slowly, their longswords drawn with the tips pointed at each others' faces. The guildmaster was the first to strike, leaping forward with a vicious lunge. Lorr quickly stepped to the side and slashed at the knight's side, but it did not penetrate the armor. He tried a second blow down at the guildmaster's helm, but all it succeeded in doing was sending out a shower of sparks.
The guildmaster laughed. "Some knight you are!" He took a quick swing at Lorr's throat, but Lorr parried it and swung back at the guildmaster's neck. But again, it did not penetrate the chainmail armor.
He knew he needed another approach. Lorr was still holding out aginst the pain in his chest where the guildmaster had stabbed him, but soon he would be too weak for anymore battle. The guildmaster's armor was simply too thicky...
So Lorr tried a technique he had read about in a book of battle technique. The book was not written for the common knight, but rather for the common, unarmored man. When the guildmaster took a swing, Lorr switched to halfsword and stepped in close. He dropped his own sword and manuevered behind the heavily-armored man, thrusting the sword out of his opponents hand in the process. A quick tug made the guildmaster tumble down to the sand, the weight and size of his armor now working against him.
Lorr retrieved his own sword and stood above the guildmaster, sword pointed at the man's throat. "Do you surrender?"
The guildmaster began to panic. He felt for his sword at his side, but his hands found nothing. "Yes... yes. The orb is yours. You are a fine knight indeed. I no longer care who your parents were, your are truly of noble essence!" he pleaded. "Please... spare my life!"
Lorr would have been content with this. Just as he was about to turn away to ask Lucias and the former pirates to tie the guildmaster up, he began to sense a disturbance, a small ripple in his vision. At first he thought it was just dizziness, but then he notice the disturbance seemed to come from the guildmaster's hands. At once he realized what his opponent was up to, and thrust his sword through the guildmaster's throat, piercing through the chainmail neckguard like paper.
The guildmaster lay still, unmoving, unbreathing. But Lorr wasn't finished yet. He rolled the body over and removed the thick breastplate and a layer of chainmail underneath, then plunged his sword through the guildmaster's irregularly-located heart.
Now it was over. |
| You (11/20/2007 6:11:10 PM) |
Lucias stabbed the last of the Knights and turned to face Lorr.
"I'll heal that wound for you...", said Lucias as he placed his hand on Lorr's chest, Lucias removed his hand two minutes later to reveal a fully healed body.
"Alright...now for the mountain...", said Lucias as he looked upon the bones, he grabbed at one, but the second he did a long gash appeared on his arm.
"AARRGGHHHH! Blasted thing!", roared Lucias. He drew his blade and stabbed it into the bones out of anger. Suddenly, the bones glowed, and then they all disappeared, revealing a glowing orb in the center. Bartimaeus yelped and ran over to it yelling, "It is mine!", but the minute he touched it his arms turned to dust, he tried to scream but all that left his mouth was a co*beep* cry, then he fell to the ground, dead.
"That...didn't look good", said Antonis.
Lucias walked over to the orb and examined the runes on it.
"Aha!", he yelled as he grabbed it, nothing happened, he placed it under his arms and walked back to the group.
"Only one of the Emperor's blood can lift this thing from its place", said Lucias happily. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/20/2007 6:48:40 PM) |
|
|
Lorr relaxed a little bit, though a little dissapointed that even if he did recover it, he wouldn't have been able to use it.
"Now you must destroy it," Lorr said, "before another tragedy occurs." |
| You (11/20/2007 7:51:46 PM) |
| "Of course I will...just tell me how", said Lucias, looking down upon the orb. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/22/2007 12:33:03 PM) |
|
|
| "Er... I don't suppose Firenguard will vaporize it or anything?" Lorr replied. |
| You (11/23/2007 11:31:31 AM) |
"Hang on..."
Lucias looked upon more of the runes on the orb and gasped.
"The orb does not control time. It is time! If we destroy it, then time itself will be destroyed", said Lucias, "This orb was not meant for mortal hands..." |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/25/2007 9:52:59 PM) |
|
|
| Lorr looked at the orb and sighed. "Alright then... where can we hide it where no one will find it again?" |
| You (11/26/2007 7:51:13 AM) |
| "All men are faliable, which rules out the possibility of having men guard it. We could just dig a big hole, put it in, and bury it, but that is too risky...what about dropping it in the ocean?", asked Lucias. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/26/2007 8:05:13 AM) |
|
|
"That sounds like a good idea. But first we must bury the fallen," Lorr answered. "Though the men we killed today were corrupt, they are still my knightly brethren and I am bound to pay my respects."
*****
Within a day the fallen were buried. Lucias, Lorr, the former pirates, and the remaining knights of the Brotherhood who had surrendered journeyed across the blazing sand, stopping along villages and towns to resupply.
But when they were a mere four miles from the ocean, Lorr sighted banners creeping over a sand dune with the imperial emblem upon them. Swordsmen, pikemen, archers, camel and elephant riders, and siege machinery came moving across the desert like a hoard of ants.
"Er... this isn't good," Lorr said.
But it was about to grow worse. Lucias spotted aother army marching from the opposite direction. Using the "binoculars," he reported that this was an army of peasant, slaves, citizens, bandits, and even soldiers wearing imperial armor, perhaps not as shiny or undented as their opponents' armor.
"Looks like we just got caught up in this war after all," Lorr spoke. |
| You (11/26/2007 8:08:21 AM) |
| "I suggest that we help the citizens, I do not want to help those Imperial guards", said Lucias, |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/26/2007 8:30:52 AM) |
|
|
"I am not so sure about that," Lorr said hesitantly.
He watched as a couple dozen rebel archers raised their bows and fired. Surely the imperial troops were still out of--
"Incoming arrows!" he shouted. Moments later, a cloud of arrows fell in the sand by their feet. One embedded itself into Lorr's plate armor. But another one of the knights was unlucky and the arrow, by some unlucky chance, pierced through Lorr's chainmail around his neck and into his throat. One of the pirates was struck in the chest and stumbled down onto the sand.
Lorr cut the arrow out with his dagger. When he looked back up, six rebel horsemen were charging at them, swords raised to strike. |
| You (11/26/2007 4:36:05 PM) |
"I am a friend! An enemy of the Imperial Guards! I wish to help you! I am a Knight of the West, and so is this man, Lorr, and these Knights. The others here are my faithful friends!", roared Lucias, not even having Firengard out.
"So you are enemies of the Imperials eh? We cannot allow you in without proof...I want the head of the Imperial General, Vas Qel-Yaman!", yelled the rebel.
Lucias thought for a minute, then realized that if he went to the Imperials, they would most likely kill them on sight.
"Alright, I will slay the General", said Lucias.
Lucias turned to see Conwell the pirate on the ground with an arrow in his stomach. Lucias knelt next to him and placed his hand lightly on the arrow, he pulled and the arrow slid easily out. Lucias placed his hands on the man's chest and chanted many words, the chest healed and Conwell looked up at Lucias.
"You will be fine", said Lucias as he got up.
"Who will accompany me to slay General Qel-Yaman?", asked Lucias.
"I will sir!", said Conwell. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/26/2007 10:16:46 PM) |
|
|
"How do you intend to do that?' Lorr asked. "Undoubtedly Vas Quel-Yaman will be protected by the imperial's finest lifeguards. Oh... nevermind."
Lorr began following Conwell and Lucias, panting as he pushed through the sand. The desert heat was nearly unbearable under his armor, so he took a risky move and threw off his helmet and breatplate, hoping he'd be able to find them again later. Now he merely wore chainmail armor.
The imperial army paused their march and formed ranks. The front line consisted mainly of spearmen in phalanx carrying poles some fifteen feet long. A swarm of arrows flew into the air, sailing over Lorr's head. A barrage of flaming boulders came shortly afterward. Sir Lorr turned around only for a moment as the descended upon the rebel army. Hundreds of troops fell from this first attack alone and the entire army stumbled to regroup.
The three arrived at the enemy front just as a second barrage was released. Lorr had no idea how he was going to get past the wall of spikes leveled at him, but an answer came quickly as an arcane shockwave caused the men in the formation to stumble and fall to their feet, giving the three just enough time to engaged the troops in hand-to-hand combat. |
| You (11/26/2007 11:18:26 PM) |
Lucias kicked a man and ran forward, he jumped and dropkicked another in the face, the soldier fell backwards into a few others, knocking them backwards. Lucias ran like hell, Conwell and Lorr ran behind him and they ran past the army's formation, Lucias's force had been so small that nobody had known what had happened. Lucias led Lorr and Conwell to the Imperial camp and they managed to sneak into a small storage tent where they knelt behind some boxes.
"Alright, here's the plan. Conwell is an able archer, so he will kill the General while Lorr watches his back...I will be doing something else while you are doing that...hehehe", said Lucias. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/27/2007 8:05:18 AM) |
|
|
"Er... right," Lorr replied.
Conwell found a crossbow in the supply tent and loaded in a bolt. He ran the wood along his fingers and gave it a light kiss as some kind of luck ritual.
"Vas Quel-Yaman will probably be just slipping into his armor. If we're to kill him, it should be then." Lorr picked up a grinding stone and began to sharpen his sword while Conwell winded the crossbow.
It wasn't long before Conwell was ready. The pirate and the knight crept outside and along the perimeter of the camp to find a good angle to fire from.
At last, the two spotted a man being attended to by nearly a dozen servants. But he wasn't wearing any armor, nor did it seem as though the servants were going to put any on.
Conwell leveled the crossbow. Lorr grew uneasy. Something felt wrong. He was about to express his concerns to Conwell, but the pirate fired a moment too soon.
In less than a second, the arrow flew across the camp, headed straight at the general. But the bolt never struck. It seemed to disintegrate in the air, turning into mere sand. Then the general turned to face the pirate, grinning. He then raised his arms and--
"Run!" Lorr shouted, lunging to he side as a huge ball of fire flew past his ear. Still, this was no ordinary spell. Once the fireball was past, both Lorr and Conwell were lifted off their feet and pulled backward where the fireball had flewn past. Crossbow and sword clattered harmessly out of their hands. |
| You (11/27/2007 8:15:37 AM) |
| Lucias hid behind a stack of boxes, two hundred siege machines sat in front of him. The siege machines were not going to be used until a big battle, but when they were, they would almost declare an instant victory. Lucias snuck up to one and grabbed a bottle from his pocket, he placed it down under a siege machine and loosened the cork, he then snuck to one five siege machines down and placed another bottle. Then he got up and snuck down to the another one and placed another bottle under it. He placed more and more bottles at intervals of five and when he was done he jumped behind the boxes as two men walked by. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (11/27/2007 9:36:00 AM) |
|
|
Lorr and the Conwell flew through the fabric and supports of the pavilion behind them before finally landing, dazed.
"That's not just a general," Lorr groaned. "That's an archmage!"
The two heard soldiers rushing to the downed pavilion, shouting urgently in a foreign language. In a moment Lorr saw five spears aimed at his face and a similar situation for Conwell. They were captured.
Several red-turbaned imperial guards pulled Lorr to his feet and began to drag him back to the archmage. Lorr struggled to turn his head to the side, but when he glanced over he saw that the guards were taking Conwell elsewhere.
The guards only released Lorr when he was directly in front of the archmage himself. He decided now wasn't a good time to try and run.
"Ah, a knight," the robed archmage spoke in a thick accent. "Come to fight for the rebellion, have you? Perhaps you dislike the emperor in your country? A mercenary? Another one of those pesky adventurers who come to cleanse us infidels?"
"Er... I was not aware of any sort of rebellion when I first arrived," Lorr answered truthfully.
"So then, pray tell, what is your business here?"
"Er... an archeological excavation."
"Stealing our fathers' gold I see?"
"No, er... it was strictly for information."
The archmage chuckled. "Indeed. The orb has no practical use to it at all, I understand. Thank you for clarifying that up."
Lorr sighed. How come everyone already seemed to know they were after the orb? |
| You (11/27/2007 6:40:25 PM) |
Lucias poisoned a large pot of stew in the kitchen of the mess hall and snuck out. He then went into the armory and grabbed another small bottle from his pocket, he loosened the cork and left the armory. Lucias then ran (hiding every time a soldier would come towards him) to the stables, he opened the stable doors and spooked the horses, they all ran off. Lucias then ran to the meeting place where he would hope to meet Lorr and Conwell, but found neither.
"Where the hell are they?", Lucias asked to himself.
"Don't move Western scum!", muttered a man behind him.
Lucias turned slowly and saw that three men were before him, aiming crossbows at him.
"We already caught your friends! Now surrender!", yelled the soldier.
If I surrender, who will rescue them?
Lucias drew his sword faster than ever and slit two of the soldiers' throats. The third man shot Lucias in the leg before being stabbed in the chest. Lucias pulled the man close.
"Where are my friends?", asked Lucias.
"The pirate...is in...the torture chamber...I know...no more!", yelled the soldier.
Lucias set the man down and pulled his sword lightly out, he then placed his hand on the soldier's wound and the flesh healed.
"Wow...thank you!", said the soldier.
Lucias jabbed his finger into the man's neck to knock him out.
"Don't mention it..."
Lucias grabs the bolt in his leg and pulls it out, it slides out easily and Lucias heals his wound, Lucias then grabs a crossbow and some bolts and runs back into the camp. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (12/1/2007 9:29:47 AM) |
|
|
"So... what is going to happen?" Lorr asked the archmage.
"I am going to let you and your friend go," the archmage answered. "But only under one condition."
"What?"
"You and your friend must hide the orb in a place no one will ever find it again. Perhaps you were unaware that the rebel army plans to use the orb the exact same way the legendary emperor did? To destroy what's left of this crumbling empire. If the empire falls, the desert clans will begin to war amongst themselves, city against city, village against village. There shall be no order, no peace. And with the orb to duplicate their finest warriors, there shall be no shortage of bloodshed.
"Perhaps you disdain the empire. I imagine you have reason to, hearing what the rebels may have told you. But if you must think about it, the empire is the lesser of two evils here. It is the last strand holding our unity together.
"Already invaders from the north creep down into our lands, taking advantage of the fact our armies must stay here to quell full rebellion. Pirates have all but destroyed our navy and raid our shipping lines with ease. With civil rebellion, we will not be able to stand much longer.
"So, I ask of you, reconsider your blind hatred and let fate run its course here. Take this cloth and tie it about your arm; my men shall recognize my crest and shall let you travel through the camp unharmed. Find your little pirate friend in the large red pavilion and request the guards to release him. Then find your bloodlusty friend and depart quickly and dicreetly with the orb."
With this, the archmage ordered the guards around Lorr to lower their weapons and let him walk free. |
| You (12/1/2007 1:03:59 PM) |
At that moment Lucias shot an arrow down at the archmage, the archmage lifted a shield in front of it and it bounced away harmlessly. Lucias jumped down from a balcony and ran at the archmage with Firengard drawn.
"Stop this now! I have already spoken with your friend, we have an agreement...", said the archmage.
"It is true", said Lorr. (Sorry, wanted to speed this up a bit...)
The archmage told Lucias what he had told Lorr, and Lucias stood surprised.
"Well, I am unsure what to believe, but your words sound true. I have set explosives in all of your siege weaponry and your armory, so if you don't mind, I would like to go disarm those...they will explode in about five minutes...", said Lucias.
"Go ahead, please", said the archmage, "But take this..."
The archmage handed Lucias a cloth that Lucias tied around his arm, Lucias then ran faster than he had ever ran before to the armory, where he picked up the bottle and put the cork in tight. Lucias then ran to the siege weaponry and gathered all of the bottles with only thirty seconds remaining, he ran to Conwell's cell and freed him. Lucias explained the news and handed him a cloth before going back to the archmage and Lorr.
"We will take the orb as far as possible...on one condition", said Lucias.
"What is that?", asked the archmage.
"You must give my pirate friends full pardon for their pirating against you", said Lucias.
"That is granted...", said the archmage.
"Good...goodbye", said Lucias as he walked out the door, Conwell and Lorr followed. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (12/3/2007 8:19:48 AM) |
|
|
As Lucias, Lorr, and Conwell stepped outside they saw that the battle had significantly progressed. The rebel army had broken through the imperial army's ranks of spearmen. Now the fighting was hand-to-hand, fought primarily with swords and daggers. Bodies littered the field every few yards, the sand underneath them stained red. Worse than the corpses, however, were the injured and dying being trampled under their own army's feet.
"Where are the rest of our men?" Lorr asked. "Last we left them, they were planning on fighting with the rebels!"
"Over there!" Conwell spoke, pointing across the battlfied where a handful of knights and pirates fought. They seemed to be fighting not only the imperial army, though, but also a mass or rebels.
As the three made their way across the battlefield, they heard one of the rebel sergeants shouting "Kill them! We need that orb!" |
| You (12/3/2007 8:32:41 AM) |
Lucias drew Firengard.
"Lorr, Conwell, go get some steeds and bring them here...I will help our men hold off the rebels and will stop the Imperials from doing any further battle with them. Now go!"
Lucias ran over to his allies and held up the cloth.
"I am an ally of the Imperial army! Do not attack us! Attack the rebels!", said Lucias.
"How did you get that cloth!?", yelled the commanding officer.
"Your leader, the Archmage, gave it to me!", said Lucias.
"If you carry the cloth, I cannot hurt you! Attack the rebels!", said the commanding officer.
Lucias held Firengard tighter and approached Antonis.
"When did they start attacking?", asked Lucias.
"A few hours after you left, they killed poor Marcus, Sir Caius and Sir Wellius are wounded badly", said Antonis.
"I will heal them, do not worry", said Lucias.
"You cannot heal them now, they have been captured by the Rebels", said Antonis.
"Well then, lets push the Rebels back, then we shall rescue them", said Lucias as he turned to the approaching Rebels. Lucias raised Firengard.
"Approach and be slain, for you are no match for the Knights of the Orb", said Lucias. Lucias thought deeply, that isn't what I wanted to say...
The Rebel commander laughed and drew his blade, "We are a match for the Imperial Army, so we are more than a match for a few adventurers! ATTACK!!!" |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (12/3/2007 8:48:48 AM) |
|
|
Lorr was almost too busy staring at Lucias to remember he was in combat. Knights of the Orb? But he reacted just in time to parry an attack by a rebel carrying a katana and fell the unarmored man with a quick cut to the throat.
The band of "adventurers" fought against the rebels, gaining ground slowly. Lorr felt exhausted. His muscles ached and his skin was badly sunburnt from the desert sun. But still he fought on.
When the commander's bodyguards fell, the man stared in disbelief and tried to run, but one of the pirates quickly planted a throwing dagger in his back.
"Over there!" Lorr pointed at two knights sitting on the sand, their arms bound together. The band quickly ran to the prisoners and killed the rebel guard stationed there, then cut away the binds. Unfortunately, Sir Wellius was already dead, but Lucias's healing power brought Sir Caius back into good health.
"We should leave this place immediately while the armies are still engaged in battle. It's about time we returned home, I'd say, and leave this land be." |
| You (12/3/2007 11:46:00 PM) |
| "I agree...but dropping it into the sea would be dangerous...too dangerous, but I have an idea that I will explain at a later date...let us go home", said Lucias as he jumped onto his horse, the others jumped onto their steeds and they rode swiftly to the harbor. |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (12/4/2007 9:48:48 AM) |
|
|
*******
Two days later Lucias, Lorr, and the surviving pirates and knights reached a small port town left alone by civil disorder. There were no galleys or galleons, biremes or triremes. Instead, Lorr bargained with a local merchant family with a small fleet of trading vessels for a voyage overseas.
"We would be honored to escort such heroes," the head of the family spoke. He was an old man, hair long and white with a bushy beard to match. "You have seen much of my homeland. Tell me, have conflicts settled down yet?"
"Err..." Lorr didn't feel like telling the old man they had just escaped from a massive, bloody battle, so he responded with "not yet, good man. Time has yet to run its course."
The old man sighed. "I pray to the gods every night this war ends and my sons return home to me. One of my sons joined the imperial army, the other ran off to fight with the rebels. I know not whether they breathe today."
"May fate be kind to them," Lorr remarked sadly. |
| You (12/4/2007 4:49:42 PM) |
| Quite a few days later Lucias, Lorr, and the others reached their home. Lucias decided that it was too dangerous casting it into the sea, as somebody could find it with the help of magic. So upon reaching his home he founded a fort called Orbguard and founded the Knights of the Orb. Antonis Xarxes became Sir Xarxes and 2nd in command of the Fort, and eventually Mayor of the town that grew around it. Janus Conwell achieved his lifelong dream of becoming a master smith, and forged weapons for the Knights. The last pirate, Aesius Xellanor, was the recruiter for the Knights of the Orb, and he was to judge who was trustworthy...his trust never failed him. And the former Knights of Light became the very first Knight Errants of the Knights of the Orb. Lucias created powerful enchantments around the orb that were powered by the orb itself, nobody would ever be able to use it again...and Lorr...he had plans of his own... |
| Lady Lacewing [Havoc] (12/4/2007 7:46:09 PM) |
|
|
Lorr returned, alone, to the Hephaestus's fort. After explaining to the general why he'd been gone the past few months, and why his armor was in such terrible condition, he returned to his pavilion. He opened his backsack and tossed out the book he'd been carrying with him, 'Beasts and Demons of the Desert of Bones.'"
He sighed. Another book read, another land visted, and another secret revealed. He wished he'd been able to spend more time on the eastern continent, and witness some of the legendary demons from the Desert of Bones, but those days were now gone.
Just then his eyes fell upon a wrapped bundle in the corner of the tent with a small paper on top. It read "Sir Lorr, I have found a copy of the document you requested. Here it is. I have no doubt you'll take good care of it and return it when you are finished."
He quickly snatched up the bundle and unwrapped the cloth around an old, thick volume. On its cover were the words "Enigma of the Dark: A Guide to the Underworld Beneath..."
*********************
The End
*********************
*********************
"The Desert of Bones"
By Lady Lacewing and Prince Lucias Septim II
Era of Asystole, 29
*********************
|
|
A round of applause for that
|
nice..........only i havent read it yet.
|
|
I did not read the whole of it, but what I read was very impressive.
A very well done RP.
|
|
Lord Ragnarr The Wolf
Report
12/7/2007 1:02:30 PM |
I did not read the whole of it, but what I read was very impressive.
A very well done RP. |
its a story, not an RP.
|
You just have to make a small deal large, don't you?
I think everybody here understood me that I liked the work they did, despite that I wrote RP instead of story.
|
it was a joke, dnt stress....
|
It actually is an RP story. Didn't earn us any title points... but who cares?
Oh, er... this is the former Lady Lacewing by the way. ^^
|
|
|
Septim... this is too far.
|
| [Top] Pages: 1 |
