Chapter 21, in which the
Adventurers are thrown all over the world, and make some new acquaintances
Roku
Yarit
Roku Yarit
hit the water hard, the brilliant light of the rift closing behind him as he
did his best to keep himself afloat.
"Where in the blue hell are those
Mensch!" he thought to himself as the waves tossed him around.
Apparently even the mighty Chelestran was too stupid to realize not to drop
himself into the middle of a big ass storm.
The days, or weeks, or years beforehand were a pretty much a blur. One minute
he is on the ship in Ab'Dendriel, the next he’s in a cave, the next his in a
cottage with that damned senile old fool and his dragon, and now he is
struggling to keep himself above the waves. It never occurred to him why he
wanted to find Un and help him, but it was better than getting talked to death
by the old man who could barely remember his own name. He would let himself be
carried off by the current, he wouldn’t die...at least he was hoping that he
didn’t. It would be easy enough to track down either the drunk dwarf or the
smart dwarf once we was on solid ground.
Tujex
Tujex tried
his best to hold on to the railing of the ship. "Why'd it have to end like
this..." he asked himself as he was swept off the ship into he sky...
He awoke laying on a sandy beach. The tidewater filled his boots and soaking
his pants leg. He turned to the water and stared out at the sea. No sign of the
boat nor Vega could be seen. Tujex rubbed his head. "What happened..."
he asked himself trying to remember what happened. His head was throbbing, so
he lay back down in the sand and tried to go back sleep, hoping to soothe the
pain in his head. He quickly drifted off to sleep when someone came and poked
him in his nose with a stick. He jumped up unsheathing his sword, which
luckily, stayed with him. The child instantly dropped the stick and dashed
across the beach. "Well if he's here then there must be some kind of
civilization around here..." he said as he stumbled along the beach
following the kids footsteps.
Vodok
Another
dwarf burst in.
"Never mind the choppin'. 'Eres a floor board fer you
to burn up." Vodok said.
"ABANDON SHIP!! WE WONT MAKE IT!! GET
THE LIFE BOAT!!" The dwarf yelled and ran out again. Rimah, the dwarf
who was beaten up by the other dwarfs because of Vodok and Vodivir walked in
just when Vodok and Vodivir were going to leave.
"Oh hello. You're
needed at the top of the ship because... Er... Because the captain says so. And
in times of storms EVERYONE knows it’s important to do exactly what the
captains says..." Rimah lied with an innocent face. Of course they
weren’t needed at the top of the ship and of course there was no such thing
that you always ought to obey the captain in times of storm. But Vodok and
Vodivir walked up on deck, dodged a falling object and started climbing to the
top of the ship. They didn't come far in half a minutes struggle, but
eventually they came there, clinging for their very life. Suddenly a giant gust
of wind swept over the two dwarfs. They were forced to let go and the wind flew
them away.
Meanwhile...
"He's doing good... I think I saw the leader of 'em all fly away from
the ship!" one of the robed figures whispered to another. A sharp
command from the figure controlling the northern sea.
"There goes two
more!" the other one whispered, staring into the orb.
Kalistra
The sudden
storm caused the ship to move about violently, upsetting Kalistra's already
fragile stomach. She ran up on deck after the other dwarves and heaved over the
side of the ship. Unfortunately, a big wave came and heaved her over the side
of the ship as well.
Luckily the assassin managed to grab onto a floating barrel, and held on for
dear life.
Red Un
Red Un
became conscious because of the smells all around him. He opened his eyes. But
he didn't see anything. The lack of air was also apparent.
He realised that he was laying face-down in a swamp. Then he realised that he
ought to do something about it. He did.
After he had finished coughing he took out some twigs from his hair, swept some
mud from his armour and looked around. There was swamp everywhere. But in one
direction, he saw a familiar sight.
"Well, I'll be darned...Venore!"
This must mean I've been swept around the world by that storm, he thought.
Then he began walking through the swamp towards the city.
Roku
Yarit
Roku Yarit
groggily opened his eyes. His head hurt, his feet hurt, his arms hurt, his legs
hurt, even his toes hurt. Not to mention he was soaked head to toe. Swearing under
his breath he rubbed his sore eyes and looked around, seeing nothing but
desert. "This is &%$#ing spectacular..." he groaned as he sat up.
The thought occurred to the Guardian as he got to his feet that a storm way
over there, sent him way the hell over here. And he was still soaked from
it...in the desert. Trying to make sense of this added to the pain in his skull
but this was definitely not a natural occurrence.
Since he had no clue where he was, or where anyone else was, the Chelestran
just picked and direction and started walking...and walking...and walking...
Vodok
The two
dwarfs flew around, Vodok clinging to Vodivir so they wouldn’t separate. They
were blowing southeast.
"THEM PEOPLE DON’T WANT US CLOSE TO VEGA SO
THAT’S WHY THEY’RE SENDING US TO... UMM... SOUTH EAST!" Vodivir yelled
over the storm. Vodok tried to nod but the winds held back his face. Suddenly
they started falling. The winds still held them steadily flying but now they
were falling too. Suddenly they landed. They saw mountains around them. But
they weren't near Kazordoon as far as Vodok could see.
"FFSCH!!" they
heard. Crack! And a bit of the mountain fell down.
"It's the Kazordoon
dragon." Vodivir whispered as silently as possible. Vodok turned around
to see a great, green lizard. It shot out a jet of fire, very nearly hitting
the two dwarfs who ducked.
They ran as quickly as they could with the fire of the dragon behind them.
Suddenly Vodok was hit. He stumbled. Then the dragon caught up with Vodok and
hit a powerful blow with his claw. Vodivir turned around. The dragon shot a
great ball of fire against the defenceless dwarf who was lying there. Vodivir
drew an object from his belt that Vodok could not see. Vodok heard a loud
crack. Surprised to see that it was not his skull he looked up at the dragon.
Now Vodivir was in a tight spot.
"Exura vita... Utani Gran
Hur." Vodok muttered.
He flew up, pushed Vodivir with all his swiftness and his strength so Vodivir
flew aside. Then Vodok grabbed Vodivir and Vodivir got up. With his bleeding
leg he didn’t get far. Vodok, in pure panic kicked Vodivir forward. It was
surprisingly effective with Vodoks swift legs, since he had the Great Haste
spell on. Vodok gave one last push and pushed Vodivir down the hole to
safeness. Then he followed himself.
The dragon couldn’t get down, but it shot a jet of fire down the hole, hitting
both Vodok and Vodivir. They both lay wounded in the cave, but Vodok managed to
push away Vodivir and roll away himself. The last thing he did was to take a
cloth from a corpse nearby and stopped Vodivirs bleeding. Then he passed out.
Red Un
Red Un
arrived under one of the many walkways that Venore consisted of. He took out
his trusty rope and climbed up, onto the walkway. Nobody seemed to take notice.
Let's see now, thought Red Un. I've been swept around the world by a magical
storm, I don't know where the others are, my feet are hurting and I'm damn
tired. What should I do now?
Then he saw that he was standing right outside the Hard Rock Tavern.
It didn't take long before he was inside.
Vodok
After about
ten minutes Vodivir woke up by a spider nibbling his ear. A drop of blood went
out and Vodivir mashed the spider. Vodok had blacked out, apparently.
"Vodok...
Wake up... Me legs broken..." Vodivir said calmly. He hesitated a
moment. Then he spat Vodok in the face, Vodok woke up.
"Wha'?
Hm?!" Vodok muttered. He got up and saw Vodivir.
"Me legs
broken." he repeated. Vodok automatically dived down in his backpack and
drew out an ultimate healing. He used it on his brother’s leg. Vodivir tried to
get up. Ultimate healing runes aren't very good at getting bones fixed, but his
leg would at least support him. They climbed up another hole,
( "Oof...
I've never been a rope climber" ) And they saw the
familiar dwarven bridge.
"To Kazordoon!" Vodok yelled. Vodivir
shook his head. Vodok gave him a look as if he had gone insane.
"Venore's
got a giant bar." And the two dwarfs walked/limped on towards Venores
giant pub.
Chain'dog
Inside the tavern sits a man at a chair.
He has long dark blond hair, a brown leather jacket, a thin white shirt, a huge
belt, bandage wrapped around his hands, making his fingers free, almost like a
kick boxer!
Black pants and some huge dark brown leather boots.
And at last, on his back, a sleeve containing his two handed sword.
He also wore an eye patch over his right eye.
His left eye focused on the door as the dwarf walked inside.
He sat there whit his cigarette in his mouth, watching.
“HM! His been true hell” he said to himself quietly.
As Red Un walked up the counter of the people full pub, a group of laughing
came from the counter.
He turned to see what was going on.
There were two men dressed in armour, drunk from beer, who were pushing the
dwarf back and front.
Before you knew the word of it, like lighting from the clear sky, that one mans
hand that was resting on the counter suddenly flew through the air with a
scream of pain following.
Then you saw it, a huge sword that hade been hit in the counter, cutting of the
mans hand.
“My…my arm….” The man screamed as he walked back.
“You like my weapons result? Dwarfs build it….” he said with a vicious smile to
the man.
“Uggh…no…get away…” he yelled as he ran out with the stump that was left from his
hand under his other hand.
The other one just backed off.
He put the sword back in his sleeve.
“You…took his hand?” Red Un asked the man.
“I can’t stand assholes…” He laughed as he walked back to his table.
“But…sir…won’t the guards take you now as you did that?”
“If they want…they can have a piece of…The One Eye Mercenary…”
The whole room went silent.
Everybody whispered, pointing at the two.
“The One Eye Mercenary, eh?… Well… Never heard of him!”
Everybody in the room fell to the ground.
“You.. never heard of me?…” he asked as he climbed up from the floor with the
help from his chair.
“Should I?” Red Un asked.
“Well, never mind that…” he said as he picked up his cigarette.
Tujex
Tujex
followed the kid’s steps down the beach and through a thicket of trees. He soon
found himself standing in Carlin. "Carlin!" he exclaimed as he
started through the streets of the city. "What's going on? I've been to
Carlin plenty of times, and I have never seen a beach over there!" A
townsperson came over to him and placed their hand on his shoulder. He turned
with his hand gripping his sword hilt when he noticed the girl behind him.
"Shizeru, what are you doing here?" He stepped back, taking his hand
from his sword as he stared into the beautiful elven girls green eyes. A weak
smile came on to his face. "I figured I'd stop by Carlin's new
beach..." she said with a friendly grin. "Well I'm going to the depot
now then I'm heading for Ab'Dendriel, wanna come," Tujex tried to deny the
offer, but couldn't make himself say no to her, so he just followed her to the
Carlin depot.
Roku
Yarit
Roku soared
low over the hot sand dunes, his hair and the occasional sheet of sand wiping
his face. His brains must still be a bit rattled from the trip if he didn’t
think of using his magic in the first place.
It did not take long for him to come to the end of the desert, his feet
touching the ground softly as he dispelled the magic into the air around him.
Getting used to the weight of his arms and legs again, he walked out into the
centre of the road before him, looking both ways with a frown on his face. To
the right, Venore. To the left, Kazordoon. Behind him, Thais. Now to think like
a Dwarf. A Dwarf would want a beer after being thrown halfway across the
continent by a storm, and Kazordoon would be the obvious choice for that, so
his decision was set.
The Guardian closed his eyes and called forth his magic, the warm tingle
rushing through his body. His mind reached out into the worth. Over the road,
over the bridge, over the mountain and into the depths of the Dwarven
Stronghold. His thoughts reached out to touch the air before the entrance to
the great city, once he felt it catch grip his eyes opened and his hands
forcibly tore open the fabric of reality before him. The brightly lit rift opened
itself before him, another was also torn open at his destination. The Dwarves
must be found and the more he lingered the less chance he would find them.
The Chelestran smirked as he stepped through the rift, emerging on the stone
steps leading to the entrance to Kazordoon. He stumbled a bit, feeling dazed
and disoriented before his vision cleared. Roku saw he was where he desired,
how he only had to wait...
Vodok
The two
dwarfs had finally without any major troubles reached the staircases at Venore.
It had taken almost half a day because Vodivir couldn't walk very fast with his
legs.
"We'll 'ave ta go to the 'ealer in Venore... After we've 'ad some
beer, o' course." Vodok told Vodivir. Vodivir nodded.
Red Un
"Hrmmh...thanks
for helpin' me out. I need an ale now..."
He ordered in a big pint and was very silent for a while...
After he had finished the pint, he looked around.
"Say, ya know anyone who would like to take me to Vega?"
Old Captain Fearless, famed all over Tibia, laughed.
"Vega?! Well, you'd have to search far and wide to find anyone crazy
enough to go there these days. First there was all them ghosts and undead and
stuff, then the big orc army on Folda, and now I recon there's a pretty big
storm goin' around there...No sane captain would sail for Vega, I tell ya that.
Why, you'd have to fly to get over that storm!"
Red Un raised an eyebrow.
"Oh really...?"
Chain'dog
"Well..
If you wanna go to Vega...You might need my help. well..hey! I am skilled
swordsman..." the warrior said as he drank up the last drops left of his
beer.
"Well... since you are a Mercenary I think you got a price for helping me
out..."
"Well… If you pay for my drink I can help you on your way!" the
mercenary said as he lighted himself another cigarette.
"So..what’s your name.. one eyed swordsman?"
He looked at the half dwarf, then he opened his mouth.
"My name....well, You don’t need to know that, but I am
called...Chain'dog.."
"So… why do you wanna help me out on my way to Vega? And just for the
price of a beer? If you are suppose to be famous... shouldn’t you have a higher
price??"
The warrior looked around in the room and then he bended over the table,
getting close to the half dwarf`s ear.
"Don’t say this loud… but lately I have not gotten many jobs... And I am
broke, so when my bill comes... I am in big problems... Besides, isn’t that
city guards there outside the window??" he asked as he pointed out the
window on two city guards following the hurt drunk from before.
Tujex
Tujex found
a bench near the entrance to the Carlin depot and sat upon it. He slid his hand
through his long white hair and sighed. He rested his head on the back of the
bench, staring into the sky above. "Seems really clear for us to have
just..." he started before his memory returned to him. "The
BOAT!!" he exclaimed as he jumped up from the bench. Some of the
townspeople turned and stared at him, so he slowly walked into the depot hoping
it would draw their eyes away from him. "I have a feeling those Black Robe
guys have something to do with this..." he muttered as he slid into
Shizeru's booth.
Vodok
The two
dwarfs had just entered Venore, slightly depressed now.
"I guess the
adventure ends for us here..." Vodivir said.
"Yeah... We din't
even ge' to avenge our mother... Or reveal the truth 'bout Tibia's
destiny..." Vodok answered sadly.
"Ah well... Let's go drown
our sorrows in beer and hopefully a fight." Vodivir said as he entered
the bar.
Roku
Yarit
Roku knew
dwarves with their short legs took a long time go get anywhere but this was
ridiculous, he had sat in the shade of one of the two towers for what seemed
like an eternity. They couldn't have died in the storm could they? If he
survived, surely they did. He could not use his magic while unconscious and his
body would fail longer before the dwarves' would. But he found this spot
comforting and tranquil, no need to go search until later. If they came here
they would see him and most likely hit him in the head with a rock for leaving
them on their own, not that they could not handle themselves.
Red Un
Red Un
looked out the window.
"Hrmm...it seems like the city guards alright...I wonder what they
want..."
Then he noticed that two dwarves had walked into the bar.
"VODOK! VODIVIR! What the heck are YOU doing here?!"
But before the dwarves could reply, the guards entered as well. They were
followed by a man in a black hood. The hooded man pointed at Red Un and
whispered something to the guards. The guards nodded and started to walk
towards Red Un, with their hands on their swords.
"I think this place is gettin' a bit too crowded for my likin'"
muttered Red Un and started to make his way towards the stairs that led deeper
into the Hard Rock...
Vodok
The two
dwarfs suddenly stopped their We-have-no-chance-of-getting-back-into-our-adventure-talk
and quickly pushed away the guards and ran/limped towards Red Un. Vodok grabbed
someone’s beer on the way, drinking half of it, and giving the rest to Vodivir.
Vodok got a little fed up with Vodivirs slow limping.
"Talk 'bout wastin'
runes..." Vodok said as he fired another ultimate healing towards
Vodivirs legs, letting him walk normally now. The two dwarfs flew into Red Un
in top speed. (Which wasn't really very fast).
"How the heck did you
get here?" Vodivir asked.
Red Un
"I haven't
got time to explain. We've gotta get away from those guards!"
Red Un climbed down the stairs, to the fighting arena that lies beneath the
bar...
Chain'dog
The one
eyed Mercenary saw the 3 dwarfs ran out back and down to the fighting arena
under the bar, followed by the guards, that completely ignored him.
"What the…? Are they not after me at all here?"
"THERE IS THE GUY WHO DID THIS TO ME!!!" he heard someone yell in the
door.
He turned to see the drunk pointing at the Mercenary.
One of the guards turned and came against him.
The guard swung his sword, hitting Chain'dog`s table, cutting it in half,
resulting him to fall out of his chair.
But quick as something really fast, he got back on his feet, his right hand
grabbed the handle on the sword that was on his back, and he pulled the sword
out.
"This is not going to be pretty…" he said to himself.
And as the guard came in with another strike, the one eyed Mercenary blocked
the hit in a superior way and with his handle he hit the guard in his face, resulting
him to fall to the ground, fainted.
"Time to check on the Dwarfs..."
Red Un
Red Un came
down to the fighting arenas. The old minotaur, Asrak, owner of the fighting
pits, eyed him suspiciously.
"Kaplar! What do you want, half-dwarf?"
"Just to get the heck away from those guards up there..."
"Hrrrrmrrph...you dwarves always get into trouble..."
Red Un looked angrily at Arsak. That comment pretty much summed up all the
skirmishes, battles and wars that dwarves and minotaurs had fought for so long.
"Well, you minos always start 'em!"
Vodok
Vodivir
looked at the angry minotaur.
"Uh... Maybe we ought to just get the
heck outta here?" Vodivir said as one of the guards jumped down.
"HALT!"
he yelled.
Chain'dog
The guard
pulled a sword of the sleeve in his belt.
"You are coming whit me dwarfs... there is no room for escape this
time..." But before the guard could finish his line, he was smacked into
the floor.
Behind him stood the one eyed mercenary with his sword in his hand.
"I could have killed him, but slicing guards will not look good on my
record..."
Asrak looked on all of them.
"Breaking the laws eh? The time of oath awaits you outlaws..." the
minotaur said as he took up a big battle axe.
Vodok
"Ummm...
No it doesn't." Vodok
replied cooly.
"Utani Gran Hur." he said as he grabbed Red Un
and Vodivir and ran like a maniac up a flight of stairs.
Chain'dog
The
minotaur Asrak started to run after the dwarfs in a what might be a good speed
for a minotaur, but as he was on his way to the stairs, the one eyed Mercenary
jumped in front of his path.
"Forgotten about me...dwarf lover?" he said to the minotaur in a
sarcastic and humorous way.
"Out of my way human.." Asrak replied as he lifted his huge battleaxe
over his head and with all his strength he stoke it against Chain'dog.
The sound of steel meeting steel filed the room as the one eyed Mercenary
blocked the hit with his two handed sword.
With both hands on the swords handle, he was trying to push back the minotaur
that had his axe against the Mercenary`s sword.
As he looked into the creatures eyes, he smiled and spit his cigarette in its
face.
"Arrgghh.." it said as he walked backwards, cleaning of the ashes
that hade gotten into his eyes.
With a great slice, Chain'dog cut the axe off its handle, and in the same time
hitting the minotaur over its body, throwing him back into the wall.
And as it hit the wall, the minotaur fainted.
The one eyed Mercenary stood and looked at the beast as he saw he hade made a
wound over his torso, seeing some blood coming out of the wound.
He put the sword back into the sleeve on his back and climbed up to look after
Red Un and two other dwarfs that he hade saved.
"Hmm..if that dwarf… or maybe he is half dwarf... he did not remind of a
full blooded dwarf tho, well, If he is in such need to get to Vega, maybe there
must something there that is in great value, something I can get use
for...hehe.." he thought to himself as he climbed up.
Roku Yarit
Roku had,
of course, fallen asleep. His dreams were that of snow and wind. A crouched
figure covered in snow dragged himself through the blizzard that raged around
him. There were four fallen figures, covered in shadow, before him. The line
they had made by trudging fearlessly through the snow for miles reached past the
horizon.
"
You are almost as hopeless as the Old Man, Guardian."
Roku opened his eyes to see the large green-scaled head of Palinthalasa.
Strange, he didn’t hear him coming...
"What are you rambling about Dragon?"
His head rose up into the sky as he snorted in mock laughter, green fumes
expelling from his nostrils. "
They are in Venore, and if you stay here
you may miss them."
"And why should I trust you?" Roku asked, as sceptical as always of
the over-grown toad.
"
Oh shut up, Yarit. Do not make me simply throw you in the right
direction." With that, Palin reached down his clawed hand and picked
up the Chelestran Sorcerer. His leathery wings began to beat as his large green
bulk lifted off the ground, and moved propelled him over the mountains and swiftly
towards the swamp-surrounded city of Venore.
Red Un
The guards
stumbled as Vodok zipped past them at incredible speed. The robed man sighed.
"Don't just stand there, fools, get them!"
The guards chased after Vodok. Meanwhile, the robed man faced Chain'Dog.
"This is none of your business, mercenary. If you leave now, you won't be
hurt..."
He revealed a long, slender sword under his robes.
Chain'dog
The
mercenary stepped back and put his right hand on the handle of the sword on his
back.
He stood there looking into the eyes of the robed man.
As they stood there, the bar, still open, let in a huge amount of wind, making
Chain'dog`s long dark blond hair fly in the air and as the same time the wind
grabbed the robe to robed man, almost ripping off.
"As you see… friend... These dwarfs are under my protection now… they paid
the prize..."
"Hmm.. The one eyed Mercenary...as the rumours say… you must be this man
who wields a huge sword, got one eye and accept any job at all..."
"...Trying to insult me or something...? I don’t care who you are or what
you do...but as from now I am their personal swordsman.. and if you wanna touch
them you must go through me..."
The robed man pulled his sword.
Vodok
"Righ'..."
Vodok started, now zooming
around Venore with two dwarfs in his arms.
"I reckon we try ta regroup
a' Vega." he said, still pointlessly running around in Venore.
Swordslasher
Jon
"Mind
if I join in on this?" calls a voice behind Chain'dog. "I saw a
poster back in Thais, my hometown, and I wanted to go on a little adventure,
but since you had already left, I had to "bribe" Frodo into telling
me where you where. I went into the desert and saw dead dragon lords. After
seeing this I realized that this may be more dangerous than I thought. So I
went back to Thais to buy Ultra healing runes and I teleported to Venore to
find information about you and here I find a noble swordsman about to
attack." Jon searches his leather bags around his waist for a blank rune.
"Adori Gran Flam" says the young sorcerer. "I know I'm weak, but
I may be able to help."
Red Un
Red Un was
tired of having Vodok run around with him, so he put his feet down hard on the
ground, abruptly halting the whole gang.
"Listen, if we're gonna get to Vega, we'll need to get past that storm.
And there's no ship capable of that. What we need..."
He made a dramatic pause...
"Is a flying carpet!"
Meanwhile...
The robed man swung his sword at Jon, and suddenly drew another sword with his
left hand which he swung at Chain'dog.
"None of you shall aid the half-dwarf!"
Vodok
The short
dwarf put down Vodivir too.
"I've 'eard rumors o' a flyin' carpet on
Femur hills..." the short dwarf said, panting from all the running
around.
Swordslasher
Jon
"Adori
vita vis, adori vita vis, adori vita vis”, says Jon as he blasts one of the
guards slashing away at him with an exori mort. Jon looks down in his left hand
and sees the new sudden deaths he created. "Should I use these?", he
asks as he turns toward Chain'dog and shows him the three sudden deaths in his
left hand and shows the fire bomb in his right.
Roku
Yarit
A dark
shadow was cast over a portion of Venore, and its darkness crept across the
streets and buildings as Palinthalasa held himself steady over the City,
leathery wings beating in rhythm.
Roku peeked his head over the side and watched the people like little ants
scurrying around. Okay they were large ants because the Dragon was not that
high over the city but still ants. Not being able to tell one mensch from the
others down there, he cupped his hands over his mouth and began yelling down
below. "HAS ANYONE SEEN TWO DWARFS RUNNING AROUND?! ONE TALKS FUNNY AND
DRINKS TOO MUCH AND THE OTHER GETS PISSED IF YOU DON’T CALL IM A
HALF
DWARF!! ANYONE? NO, DON’T RUN AWAY! God damnit..."
Tujex
Tujex had
accompanied Shizeru to Ab'Dendriel, but soon remembered that he had to some way
find Red Un and the others. He summoned his dragon, Araciel and started his
journey towards the first city he could think of...
Tujex reached Venore in less than an hour. He started off through the streets
of Venore. His dragon assistant rested quietly near the entrance, hidden from
view. Tujex strolled through the town and noticed a robed figure readying to
attack a young mage. Tujex unsheathed his blade and rushed into the room. The
robed figure was bringing his sword down upon the mage when Tujex reached him.
He managed to get his sword in the way, stopping the blade inches from the
mage's face causing sparks to fly everywhere. "Why pick on these little
kids?" Tujex said with a smug grin as he pushed the mage behind him.
Chain'dog
The one
eyed Mercenary looked on the runes the new coming swordsman showed him.
"...Be my guest..." he said with a smile, but right after being able
to say these words he turned fast enough to block the incoming sword attack
from the robed man.
His strength pushed the one eyed Mercenary back a few meters.
"Damn...this guy got some skills..." he said as he leaped up in the
air and was ready from a falling strike. But what he hit was nothing more the
wood boards from the floor.
Pieces flew through the air…
"What the hell? Where the heck did he go??"
Before he knew the word of it, he was hit in the back causing him to fly
through the air and land on a table.
His sword landed some meters away from him.
Though to the pain from his back, he forced himself up and saw the robed man
standing there with his handle up in the air, making Chain'dog understand the
facts that he hade been hit in the back with the handle, but still what a hit!
A hit strong enough to send a full grown man through the air!
"..Damn..my sword is missing!!.." he said as he noticed he was not
longer holding his sword.
Red Un
Red Un had
noticed that people had started to look up at the sky. Then he heard a familiar
voice.
"HAS ANYONE SEEN TWO DWARFS RUNNING AROUND?! ONE TALKS FUNNY AND DRINKS
TOO MUCH AND THE OTHER GETS PISSED IF YOU DON’T CALL HIM A
HALF DWARF!!
ANYONE? NO, DON’T RUN AWAY!"
People had started to panic and run for their houses when they saw the huge
dragon in the sky. But Red Un yelled back at it angrily.
"OF COURSE I GET PISSED IF THEY DON'T CALL ME HALF-DWARF! THAT'S WHAT I AM
AFTER ALL! NOW GET DOWN HERE, CHELESTRAN!"
Dargon
The Second
Dargon had been
drifting through the sea. However he had held on his staff, which floats (yay)
and eventually had come to shore where he came back from dreamland several
hours later. He got up and started walking around. He was on a small beach,
surrounded by forest. He stuck to the water and started walking along it,
trying to remember what in the world happened to him…
Roku Yarit
Roku
couldn’t help but grin as he threw one leg over the other and dropped off the
Dragons back and began falling down towards the streets of Venore. His hair
flailed and whipped his face as he brought his magic about him, the warm bliss
filling his entire body. In a single exertion of his strength, the stone under
his feet compacted and sunk and he hit the ground. The recoil of the drop only
caused a slight jerk in his posture as he stood up straight and looked down on
Red Un. "Long time no see, Mensch. I take it you have been busy looking
for the Library?" He looked to Vodok and rolled his eyes while eyeing the
other dwarf beside him. "Who’s that?"
Vodok
"Neat
trick. Who’s the dragon guy?" Vodivir said, totally ignoring Roku's question.
"'Tis Vodivir, me brother. 'At's Roku... Um... Y-somethin'. Anyway... I
reckon we make way ter femur 'ills... Wha' d'ya say?" Vodok said,
ignoring Vodivirs confused expression.
Red Un
Red Un grinned.
"Roku! Whatever happened
to you, you 'ol Chelestran?"
Then he suddenly remembered something. His face grew stern.
"And what happened to Iridal? Last time I saw her, she was fighting that
sea-demon..."
Roku Yarit
Roku's eyes
shuddered with a twinge of pain momentarily before being swallowed up for his
natural malcontent. "I see your beer drinking is starting to affect your
memory, Vodok. It’s Palin, remember? I summoned him in to fight that demon and
we travelled over the desert on his back." the Guardian nodded in silence
to Vodivir, suddenly feeling pity for every relative of Vodok's.
"Iridal? I was under the impression she was with you. I’m not sure how
much time has passed, my memory is blurry. Where was this sea-demon? I would
like to investigate this at a later date."
Overhead Palinthalasa rolled his eyes at the screaming humans and came around,
flying off towards the north to prevent the citizens of Venore from getting too
spooked.
Red Un
"We
haven't got time to discuss this right now. I think we have to get back to the
Hard Rock Tavern and have some be... I mean, help that mercenary. He said he
wanted to 'elp us, and any help we can get is good..."
Vodok
"WHAT!?!
I jus' spent the last minutes gettin' us OUTTA there now yeh wan' us back in
there?!" Vodok
said, not showing the slightest sign of sadness since Iridal disappeared. He
grunted, turned around and started walking.
"Why do we walk if we can
ride on the dragon?" Vodivir said coolly.
Roku
Yarit
"Tell
you what Vodok, if you can convince Palin to stick around for a bit longer,
then you can ride him all you want. But until then, lead the way to this
mercenary."
Red Un
"Righto,
let's go then" said Red Un and started to walk back to the Hard Rock.
Meanwhile, in the aforementioned Hard Rock...
The robed man kept throwing powerful blows at the mercenary and the other man
with his twin swords.
"Fools! Give up now, and your deaths shall be quick and painless!"
Tujex
Tujex
ducked under a hard blow that the robed man threw at him. The stone wall behind
him was shattered like glass. Tujex gasped as he rolled backwards, readying his
Noish's Promise. The robed man fought with the mercenary now, who didn't seem
to be doing very well either. Tujex watched as the mercenary fought valiantly
against the robed man who obviously wasn't even trying. The way he fought
showed all sorts of signs of carelessness. Tujex sat, waiting for the right
time to attack, he soon found an opening and rushed in. He swung his sword, but
slashed nothing but air as the robed man kicked him in his back sending him
flying into a wall. Tujex hit the wall hard, knocking a few bricks loose. He
slid to the ground holding his head, wondering who this guy was and what he
wanted.
Vodok
Vodok walked
muttering towards Hard Rock with Vodivir behind him, who threw a burnt fish to
Vodok. Vodok took a sip of beer, and threw the bottle to Vodivir, since Vodivir
gave him the fish.
Swordslasher
Jon
"Damn!"
"What the hell is this guy on?" Jon uses the newly made sudden deaths
on the robed man. "Nothing seems to fade this guy!" The robed man
turns his attack towards Jon. He throws a few extremely fast punches to Jon's
ribs. Jon was able to block and dodge the first three, but then he knees Jon in
the side. Jon slides across the floor and also hits the wall. "You're
starting to piss me off!" Swordslasher Jon's eyes go a blackish red. Small
dark wings slide out of two slits in the back of his leather robe and his teeth
sharpen. "Yes, if any of you were wondering. I am a third vampire, and
half human, and I've lost what has happened to the rest of my blood heritage.
My people were used as experiments in Carlin. Forced to inbreed. So here I am,
an escaped experiment of those who fought with my people for thousands of
years. They promised us they would protect us as long as we gave them a small
supply of potions. A boy from Thais took our last four shipments from us.
Carlin thought we took back on our word and right after they protected us from
a war with the inhabitants of Venore. When they sent a message to us warning us
that we had better give them triple the amount from now on because of the delay
of receiving the potions. (Jon says as he jumps up onto the roof.) We got into
an argument over all this crap and they burned our village, forced our
sorcerers to fight vampires and capture their bodies. Once doing so they had
the knights fight minotaurs and orcs, also capturing them and using their DNA
on us. Last and finally they took the paladins and forced them to capture demon
skeletons. They fused their bones with ours. They also used the druids as
"doctors" to heal us. (Jon flips over behind the robed man and bites
his arm. The robed man begins to bleed a strange liquid.) Now over 50 years of
experimenting on us, they decided that there were too many breakouts and that
us "experiments" were almost invincible. That only a certain warrior
with a legendary hammer could kill us. We have created peace among the
villages, but these actions will never be forgotten." Jon backs up to show
the others what the strange man really is. "Do you see now?" "Do
you see what he really is?"
Red Un
Red Un
stormed into the bar. He saw the robed man bleeding a strange liquid.
"What the... Dark Stars are weird, but not THAT weird! Who the heck is
this guy?"
The robed man turned around and charged at him.
"You'll never find out, half-dwarf!"
Chain'dog
As the
robed man was in the air on a straight line towards the half-dwarf, the one
eyed Mercenary ran from the table he hade been lying on, grabbed his two-handed
sword that hade been standing right up and down in the tavern floor!
With his blade in his hand he leaped into the air, tightening his every muscle,
charging a powerful sword strike at the robed man!
His strange blood flew through the room!
But as the robed man fell to the ground, separated from his waist and down,
though to all the pain the Mercenary hade been given under the fight, he was
not able to do a perfect landing and fell on the floor himself.
But the robed man was not yet dead though he had been cut in half!
Still breathing he looked up and smiled vicious at the half-dwarf.
Tujex
Tujex
watched in awe as the robed man, though cut in half, forced himself up.
Standing on his hands. The bottom half of the man then stood, and allowed the
top half to climb on top of it. There was a bright flash, and the man was once
again whole. "You people... You people are so weak," the man grunted
as he held out one of his hands. There was a flash of lightning, and in the man’s
hand rested a black blade. Every part of the sword was black, and no matter
what light it was put in, it never shined. The man smiled evilly as he readied
his sword to finish what he had started with the half dwarf. The man was just
about to bring his sword down upon Red Un when a strong gust of wind blew
throughout the room. The man stopped and looked towards the sky. He grunted and
vanished within a puff of smoke. Tujex slumped back to the ground rubbing his
sore back. "Who the heck was that guy?" he asked as he cracked his
knuckles and approached Red Un.
Vodok
The short
dwarf walked up to where the robed man used to be for a few seconds ago. He
walked up to the bar owner. He flipped a little gold over to the owner, who
threw him a beer.
Red Un
Red Un put
his sword back.
"Well, it sure wasn't a Dark Star-guy. I need a beer..."
He ordered one from the startled bartender.
Swordslasher
Jon
Jon sits
down on the nearest chair, and pulls out a strange potion. He begins to drink a
bit and puts the bottle away. "Don't have many of those left. Gonna save
‘em and I'll have to go on another journey for the ingredients. Not many
potions left." His wings begin to contract, teeth dullen, and his eyes go
back to his original grey. Jon crosses his arms and leans forward. Shuts his
eyes and waits for some kind of plan to unfold. "Meanwhile, I'll just have
some slee..." Jon falls asleep and a strange bright fairy appears from
outside and sits on his shoulder and stares at Red Un curiously. For a moment
it just stares. The fairy speaks in a surprised tone, "I remember
you!"
Red Un
Red Un
hadn't noticed that Jon had wings and fangs in the general chaos. But he sure
as heck noticed when a fairy appeared and told him that she remembered him. He
looked at the mug.
Hmmh...only one beer, he thought. I'd need a lot more of these before I started
seein' things. I could of course be asleep and have that annoying Master throw
around dreams in my head, but those things are usually nasty and stupid, not
just weird. That means that I've either eaten something that I shouldn't have
eaten, or that this thing is real.
The fairy was still looking at him.
What the heck, he thought.
"Ermm...really? I can't seem to remember you."
The bar guests was starting to crawl back to their places slowly...
Vodok
Vodok,
totally unaware of anything fairy-like in his presence, started to talk before
he got too drunk.
"Tha' guy werent no Dark Star. I reckon they're
'irin' mercanies, again." Vodok said, remembering the assassin that
had tried to kill him before.
"Hrm... Uh oh... Yeh don'' think 'at Chain'dog is against us...?" Vodok said, being paranoid as the
average dwarf.
Tujex
"How
can you guys be so calm, after we were just attack by some abnormal freak of
nature!?" Tujex exclaimed to the dwarves who didn't seem to be paying him
any attention. He sighed and walked up to the bar and ordered the strongest
drink he could think of. Maybe getting a hangover could take his mind off of
all the stuff that had happened over the past few days.
Chain'dog
The one
eyed mercenary had placed his sword back in the sleeve on his back and hade
gotten him self up on a table.
He just sat there looking on the funny looking fairy.
But as he heard the words of Vodok he just looked away.
“Hmrph…dwarfs..”
Vodok
Vodok was
getting drunk now and was now insulting random people. Vodivir on the other
hand was just sitting on a chair, trying to not fall off.
Red Un
Red Un kept
looking at the fairy who was still staring at him. He decided to try again.
"So...what's a nice fairy like you got to do in a place like
this...?"
Tujex
Tujex
watched as the two dwarves made fools of themselves. "I'll never
understand 'em," Tujex chuckled as he gulped down the last of his ale and
turned around in his chair. He stared at all the people in the bar, who were
still talking about the attack by the strange man, who even after being cut in
half, insisted on killing the warriors. Fingers pointed, and eyes shifted at
the warriors sitting at the bar. The mercenary, the elf, the sorcerer, the
dwarves, and the half- dwarf. He sighed when he noticed a cute human girl
approaching him. Resting her hand on his shoulder. "You must be really
strong," she said with a grin. Tujex blushed and smiled back. "Not really,
just skilled." They both laughed as Tujex and the girl continued to flirt
with each other.
Vodok
Vodivir was
swaying around on the chair, inches to fall of. Suddenly Vodivir fell off the
chair. And at the same time Vodok fell from his legs.
Red Un
Red Un
realised that the fairy didn't want to answer him.
"Hrmmh...I think we ought to get goin' now. Somebody wake up Jon (or just
carry him with us). We'll go to Femur Hills!"
Tujex
Tujex said
goodbye to the girl and slung Jon over his shoulder. "Where's Femur
Hills?" he asked as he followed the dwarves from the tavern.
Red Un
Red Un went
out of the bar and started to walk for the gates...
Vodok
Vodok said
an especially insulting insult to a human. The human didn't know what to do. He
didn't know if he should draw his sword or a dwarven ring to stop his
drunkeneness. He decided to draw a dwarven ring, but to put it on his finger as
brutally as possible. He did.
"Ow me finger!" Vodok yelled out
when he became cured from his drunkeness.
"HEY! REDDY! WAI'!" Vodok
yelled. He ran towards Red Un. Suddenly he stopped and ran to Vodivir and
dragged him with him.
"What the? 'O the heck are you?" he said
slowly. Vodok dragged him after Red Un.
Swordslasher
Jon
Jon starts
to awaken as he is slung over Tujex's shoulder, but is still a bit woozy and
being the lazy person he is, he just allowed him to continue carrying him. Jon
fell back asleep.
Red Un
Red Un kept
walking for the gates. The sun was starting to settle at the horizon and made
the sea glitter beautifully.
Shukirogen
Suddenly
from out of nowhere a big shadow appeared.
But this was no normal shadow. This shadow was getting smaller and smaller and
yelling
"Hey! Get out of tha way!"
Most of the people that were underneath the shadow moved aside immediately. And
those who didn’t soon learned that it was a good idea to move aside when a big
shadow from above told you to.
With an ear-cracking sound a large man, probably 3 meters tall and 2 meters in
breadth fell down on the ground. With a smaller man on top of him.
The larger man stood up.
He had dark blue hair.
A scared and honest looking face.
He looked like... Well he looked like he had gotten to many hits in the head.
And tried to shake that feeling when the body goes one way and the mind
Runs
the other way off.
In a desperate attempt to get his head clear he started banging it against a
wall and saying
"BREAK TIME! BREAK TIME! BREAK TIME! BREAK TIME!"
Since this seemed to just make the whole thing worse he decided to stop it.
He turned against the small crowd that started to build up around him and his
friend.
"Hey everybody! Sorry for disturbing you with falling down from the
sky! I’m Mondrious Blubb the kniggitthh! And Advnetyuy... Advnentgrrrtffs hmm
no that’s noit right...ADVbNENTzzz... Trasure hunter!! I mean!"
The smaller man (Shukirogen) finally stood up.
"Mondrious, before you start telling people your whole life story
....
Dark greetings Red Un, nice to meet you again.
And Thanks once again for saving my life.
I’m sorry that I left you at Folda, but I had an important mission to take care
off, which I can not talk about in public, do you know a place where we can
talk in peace between four eyes?"
Vodok (postid 2109221)
Vodok, who
still was dragging Vodivir, who had given up all hope of trying to run away
decided to start mumbling angrily instead. Vodok heard what the smaller man had
said. He stuck his head between the smaller man and Red Un.
"'Course
'ere is. If yeh follow me..." he said and looked at Red Un as if he
had just disturbed a highly important meeting.
Red Un
Red Un
looked a little confused. Of course, he had seen people falling out of the
skies before (heck, he had done it himself a couple of times), but Vodoks
sudden interruption was a little confusing.
"Ahem...let's get goin'. We can talk while we walk, Shukirogen..."
Shukirogen
”Excuse me for falling down from the sky like that, but Mondrious had this
stupid idea of filling a balloon with hot air and flying... and well it didn’t
work that well.
Ok, bad news first.
There are 5 of the top assassins sent to kill you and your crew and me to of
course, as a revenge from the Dark lord at Folda... It could be anyone. So be
careful.
And well the good news is that I’m not one of them hehehe.
That’s why I didn’t want to talk about this in public. They got spies
everywhere as you might know.
I will help you out in whatever way I can, Since you saved my life I will do my
best to save yours.”
Red Un
Red Un
shrugged his shoulders.
"I've been hunted by assassins before...but not five at the same time, I
must admit."
Vodok
"They
won'' come atta same time. We were jus' attack by un' o' 'em. So 'eres 'un down
'n' four te go. 'N' yeh won'' min' carryin' Vodivir for me abi'?" Vodok said as he continued to drag
Vodivir with him.
Red Un
Red Un
looked at Vodivir.
"Actually, I do. Besides, that guy we met in the bar didn't seem very dead
when he left. If he was an assassin, that is..."
Tujex
Tujex
nodded in agreement, "he looked very much alive to me," He then
looked at the young boy who was slung over his shoulder. "Just wish this
guy would wake up."
Kalistra
Suddenly
the group was startled by a soundless thunderclap and a suntanned figure
dressed in pink flowers, a grass skirt and 2 halves of a coconut appeared,
dropping on the ground right in front of Vodok. Soon it was apparent the
creature was a girl, holding a backpack in one hand and a coconut in the other.
"Ow, Lords above! It actually -Hicks!- worked! You have no idea how much
I've missed your company Red Un! I was stuck on a tiny little tropical island
for ages and ages and eternity! -Hicks!- The only thing that got me through the
boredom was drinking fermented coco -Hicks!- nuts and those sheep."
The woman looked up blearily and saw Vodok standing in front of her. "The
cute dwarf is here as well! It must be my -Hicks!- lucky day!"
She tried to stand up and after several tries she actually succeeded. Then
promptly collapsed again.
"There seems to be a slight problem with my legs. Gimme a sec -Hicks!- to
get them to listen to me."
At their incredulous stares, she gave them a weak-but-game smile. "My
name's Kalistra by the way, for those that don't know me. I'll need some time
to become sober -Hicks!-, no fresh water on that island you know, only
coconuts. So, what you been up to? Still looking for that Library thingy?"
Vodok
Vodok, who
was used to having people dropping out of the sky by now didn't react the
slightest to Kalistra's sudden and slightly weird appearance.
Vodok suddenly got a great idea. He wouldn't be dragging Vodivir along, AND it would
appear to look as a good deed!
"Ahem... Kalistra. I'll give ya me ring.
But 'course I wouln't be able ta walk... But anyway..." Vodok grabbed
Kaslitras hand and connected their fingers. Then he pushed the ring off his
finger, suddenly getting drunk and it slid onto Kalistra's finger.
Red Un
Red Un
rolled his eyes.
"Great...now we've got TWO drunken dwarves and an unconscious swordmaster
to carry around. Some team o' heroes we are..."
Kalistra
Kalistra
suddenly felt very very weird. She could actually think. She could see. She
could talk. She could... Move! She realised she was sober again.
Looking down at the ring on her hand she groaned: "Why?"
Then getting up to her feet, she said: "Hi Red Un. Sorry for dropping down
so unexpectedly." Glancing at down at herself, she winced. "I think
I'll go put some proper clothes on."
The assassin grabbed her bag and walked into some nearby bushes and popped out
a few minutes later wearing her usual boots, black calfskin trousers and black
cloak, her long brown hair tied up in a plait.
"So, lets get moving. I'll take cute Vodok with me, and you can fill me in
on what exactly you are running from. And the others can introduce themselves
to me." Smiling brightly, Kalistra grabbed Vodok by the back of his shirt
and started dragging him along.
Red Un
Red Un
sighed.
"Well, my day began with waking up with my face in a swamp and continued
by attacked by some weird zombie-assassin-thingy. I hope it gets better soon.
Right now we're lookin' for a flyin' carpet that can take us to Vega so that we
can, eventually find the frikkin' Library 'O Legends..."
Kalistra
"Well
what are you lazy oafs waiting for? Let’s get to Vega!"
Tujex
"I'm
ready when you are!" Tujex exclaimed as he tossed Jon up into the air,
catching him right before he hit the ground. "Wake up sleepy head!"
he screamed as he repeatedly threw the boy into the air as he started walking
over to Kalistra.
Jon woke up screaming. "Stop playing around!" he screamed as he
landed again in Tujex's arms. Tujex put the boy on his feet, laughing as Jon
stumbled around trying to regain his balance. Tujex almost fell to the ground
laughing at the sight of this.
Red Un
"I
must agree with Jon in this matter" said Red Un. "Stop playing around
an' let's get goin'!"
Thus, he marched out of the gates, trying not to grab the attention of any
guards...