Part 7>>>The Shadow of Love (an LoF adventure)

[Legolas]

Inquisitor Marcos of Snowdale - 94/98

The blast was still ringing in his ears, stunting his hearing, when something charged past and engaged the warlock who'd conjured it. With such threat and distraction, the priestess and himself had little to fear of the cleric for the moment.
Glancing around swiftly, he spotted a sight he liked not at all. It took no great leap of intuition to understand none of these black-hearted daemon-worshippers must channel the power of the emerald. Power which he, himself, had already experienced once before.
He left Anarrima's protection in the hands of the wolf-thing. Something like a swift inhalation of breath marked the return of his hearing, and he charged to intercept cleric 4. The inquisitor planned to have afouled magi beneath his hammer this day, and here he would begin.

[Larry_OHF]

Cleric #2 did not even acknowledge whether or not he knew of Yevaud approaching him. He was too busy screaming and holding his stomach, writhing in horrible pain, twitching with ceasure-like jerks every so often. It was a nasty spectacle to behold.

Cleric #4 was also not concerned or knew not of the charging Inquisitor at his back as he made the final steps towards the emerald and grabbed hold of it. A green aura engulfed him as he stood there.

Anarrima

She finally was released from the effects of the stun, and she sat up, rubbing her aching ears and tried to take stock of the situation. She saw Yevaud doing his job, Marcos doing his, Vincent standing nearby and Tao who stood within her blue aura. Cleric 3 lay dead nearby. Cleric 1 lay upon the ground moaning after being hit by Tao's attack. It appeared that they were to win this day with no casulties. She sat up and hobbled over to where Tao was, entering the blue aura herself.

Vincent Pathfinder

Vincent had wanted to fight with this cleric, but Yevaud seemed even moreso willing to spill blood...as well as very capable of doing so. Vincent shrugged his shoulders and decided that if the elf hated humans that much, more power to him.

He looked about to see if there was any immediate danger, but it appeared that everything was taken care of. Already, Yevaud had moved onward to kill another human, and Marcos was rushing to stop another cleric from doing something with the emerald. There was only one human cleric left and that was the one that Tao had knocked down. He decided to walk over there and see if the Cleric posed any threat. He wanted to try out this new sword that Silt had lost to him, check its edge and feel its worth. What a fine blade it was!

He approached the Cleric #1 and kicked him over to his back so that he could see his face.


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OOC>>>Marcos and Yevaud...make your attacks in your next move, but do not assume to kill them just yet.

[ 02-17-2006, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Elif Godson]

Vincent Pathfinder 9?/98

Rolling the prone cleric onto his back with his boot, he did a quick observation of the passed out man and then stomped on the clerics right hand crushing the bones in it. As the cleric momentaritly opened his eyes again in pain, Vincent dropped the butt of his dagger onto the temple of the anguished cleric sending him back to the land of slumber. Looking around he noticed Marcos about to connect with a cleric hugging the giant emerald, still feeling the effects of the scream from earlier he paused a moment to clear his head.

[ 02-19-2006, 01:10 PM: Message edited by: Elif Godson ]

[Larry_OHF]

Time to move this along:


Castle Team:

Cleric #4 screamed as the emerald he touched seared the skin off his hands, then crumbling the bone...leaving him nothing but charred nubs. However, he did not retreat from this threat...or maybe he could not. He stood there in quite obvious torment as a green aura grew in brightness around him. He stopped screaming, and was standing very still within the bright green light.

Cleric #2 also stopped his screaming, and fell quiet as a green aura engulfed him.

So too did Cleric #1 begin to glow as Vincent stood over him in his victorious manner. All three live clerics had this same glow of emerald green. Then it departed as soon as it had come. The green flashed out of existance and the room returned to the way it was. Except for the fact that now all four clerics were dead. Each that had been engulfed in green now appeared withered and drained. The emerald's magic had somehow killed them.

But that was not all. The emerald was brighter in its glow. It almost hurt to gaze upon its green glory.

Somewhere else in this castle under the swamps, a certain ghost of a traitor felt something that he had not felt in a long time. A pull of force. Something was taking him. He glowed green as he screamed but nobody heard him. What had failed to take the traiterous spirit in the past had found hold on him now, and demanded him obey. He dissapated from the castle, never to be seen again. In another part of this land, a certain drow had grabbed the skull of a certain dead paladin, who was the ancestor of Sir Marcos of Snowdale. That trapped spirit was now outside the location of where he'd been killed. He had been a part of the original lives that the emerald had killed, yet his spirit lingered in the Prime Material Plane for some reason. It was over now. The green glow came and went...and the spirit was taken in a sigh.

That's all that it took for the completion of the spell that the clerics had worked lifetimes on. They had planned it well enough in the past on how many souls were needed to bring about the success of their spell and had become indebted to that plan. When the plan was executed, not all of the conditions had been met, and the clerics had needed time to rework their efforts. In the end, the emerald itself grew tired of waiting for the clerics to figure out how to remedy the problem and took over, taking the lives of the clerics which gave it fuel enough to reach out and take the two unclaimed spirits of Mannessah and Snowdale.

Suddenly, the Portal came alive and swirled in power. Something shot from the portal in a great green flash and struck the large gem on the floor before it. The radiance of the emerald now seemed to be as bright as the sun at high noon in its intensity.

[ 02-20-2006, 06:26 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Morgeruat]

Yevaud 39/45

Yevaud looked around as the green faded from the priests and went back to the brightly glowing gem. Recalling how his earlier spell had been completely circumvented by the orb he doubted any effect he could summon at the moment would be sufficient to ward against the gemstone now. "We've got the human," he said the word like he was spitting a curse at something so vile that to acknowledge it was to debase oneself with it's taint, "These are consumed by their evil, and it would seem that this is beyond our capabilities to destroy, I suggest we withdraw to a safer distance to plan our next move." Yevaud silently put his blade back into it's sheath, kicked at the dessicated husk of the priest at his feet, and when nothing further happened, he grabbed it by a foot, and began dragging it towards the door out, making sure he did not turn his back to the gem, carefully avoiding directly looking at the bright emerald, it likely wouldn't make any difference, but he would stare his doom in the eyes if this were to be it.

[TAOWolf]

~this can't be a good thing~ she thinks to herself as the clerics die when the one touches the emerald.

She feels a wierd sensation all of a sudden, and the blue aura winks out of existence and she shifts back to human form at the same time.

She sits on the floor, head in hands, and rocks back and forth slowly, pain exploding in her mind as she hears a voice from a long distance laugh quietly at her.

Whispering into the room, "She is weakening me........." she slowly stands and turns around.

She notices Yevaud starting to drag one of the clerics towards the door, and yells "STOP!! Do not take him past the doorway!"

Trying to think through the pain, she motions to Animirra to help her....

[Elif Godson]

Vincent Pathfinder

Looking up and around Vincent couldnt help but say " Holy Hat, I hit him so hard I turned them all to dust ", bringing a touch of levity to the chaotic situation. Shielding his eye's a bit form the abhorant green glow he took in the room. Yevaud was spouting his comtempt for humanity and then dragging a corpse to the doorway when Tao yelled "STOP!! Do not take him past the doorway!" Taking a ready stance he steadied himself for what ever may come through or from the portal.

[Legolas]

Inquisitor Marcos of Snowdale - 94/98

What the inquisitor had been concerned over had come to pass. He had been too late to stop the warlock from reaching the emerald, and a reaction of sorcery foulest had ensued. He did not doubt that worse was soon to happen, or that the gemstone was vulnerable to currents of the arcane. Shattering it would be nigh impossible while its aura blazed so strongly.
But he had felt the emerald's power, knew it even as it proved to be much more. Marcos determined to try and end these ill developments here and now.

For the inquisitor was the answer to magic. A lifetime of training hardened the men of his order to its touch, taught them to know it, to dispel it. He did not wonder if he had learned enough. It had to suffice.

With an ancient wrong to right, with the remnants of Lesismoore to ward, and in service to the divine and the ideals of his order, the inquisitor Snowdale pressed two hands flatly against the emerald's surface, and sought to war with its energies.

[Larry_OHF]

Anarrima 60/67

Things were happening fast. Tao's blue aura faded away and she started on about "she" is weakening her...Anarrima did not have even the time to help her when Yevaud was yelled at for dragging a human corpse towards the door and then Marcos walked up to the emerald that was suddenly glowing brighter than ever. Then she felt it. Surely everyone else did too! After the death of the four clerics, the room had not lessened in its gloom, it had strengthened! What was that emerald? Its powers were so heavy as to cause her to feel a degree of seperation from her goddess! All she could do was fall to her knees and pray. She would need to be in close contact with her deity in order to counter this evil, but the distance she felt from her now was very discouraging. Still, she tried.



Marcos had reached out and touched the emerald, hoping that he had it in himself to work against this dark magic. Surprisingly, his hands were not seared off, but there was still tremendous heat. The Inquisitor was protected in part by his dicipline.

Then the emerald did a new trick. Its light fell to a dim shimmer that it once was, and seemed nearly lifeless.

That was just before the explosion.

Marcos was blown across the room and hit the wall. Anarrima and Tao were knocked down as was Vincent where he stood. Yevaud was the furthest away from the blast but the force of the blast caused him to stumble backwards a few steps. A green cloud of dust filled the room, but swirling in a lively manner at some focus point and began to be vacuumed inward towards that focus point.

OOC>>>Damage chart:

Marcos: 12hp
Anarrima: 5hp
Tao: 3hp
Vincent: 2hp


As the dust cloud of green was sucked away, the shape that began to appear where the emerald had been brought a grim realization to everyone as to what had emerged. The four souls in the room immediately recognized the tell-tale features of the creature and could name its race with ease…yet their knowledge told them that they were probably already dead so knowing the enemy would not matter. Death is death, in all its forms.

At first, one notices the beautiful shape of a humanistic female, her feminine features striking to behold if you can get past the eyes like embers and skin to make the darkest night pale in comparison. Yet, for all her slender, odd beauty, you just cannot get passed the fact that instead of legs, her lower torso converts into a shape not unlike a great serpent. And those arms! Six no more, no less. Six arms, ending in strong, clawed hands. Each hand held a long-sword, and she began spinning them, exercising her wrists after so long being imprisoned. Her smile did nothing to warm the blood of anyone who beheld it, rather it sent cold chills of dread down the spine.

A Marilith had emerged from the emerald and now stood in the room in all her fierce glory.
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Now…let’s take a break for a moment here and try to figure out just why this particular demon has come to be standing here today.
In order to do that, we’ll have to investigate the history of another great being whose name is already in this game and whose actions we all know.

Patience dear reader, and you will earn that story.

[ 06-24-2006, 04:33 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[TAOWolf]

So much happened within a short amount of time, which usually she could keep up with...

but her head was pounding, and her magic was failing, and all she could think of was her shadow, and it dawned on her why her power was failing....

trying to whisper to the rest, she is interuppted by the appearance of the female demon, and the first words that run through her mind are ~oh shit...~

She touches the amulet at her neck and touches one ungloved hand to the floor, urging the stones to rise up in a protective barrier between them and the demoness, but the spell goes awry...

The stones jut up BEHIND the demoness and actually slide her closer to them...

She shuts her eyes briefly in shock, then yells at the two men, "My power is waning, protect the girl and do not try any magic against the demon, she will prevail against you. Let us try to draw her away from the portal, and see what happens..."

With that statement, she looks to Yevaud, and reaches out with one hand, then faints dead away on the floor............