Part 4>>>The Shadow of Love (an LoF adventure)

[Larry_OHF]

Guard 3: Indeed, he had gained his grounding and had picked up a crossbow to aim it at the shape that was shimmering and seeming to look at the owl flying away...but when the owl left, the shimmering man turned to him and noticed he had arisen. Fiery missles of magical force came rocketing forward even as the shimmering man disappeared.

Then he died, so he knew no more of this drama.

[Larry_OHF]

Larry 13/13


The guards shoved them along this trail that had appeared to be a broom closet for this floor, but had actually been an illusion. The steps here were moldy and wet. It was not a well-traveled route...but only to be used in times such as touble. Larry wondered what trouble? Andrion had been removed from his cell. Had he escaped? How good was this mage at the employ of the Mage of Shadow? And what did that tiger-woman have to do with this? Was she helping Andrion escape?

Suddenly, Larry tripped.

"On yer feet, lad!"

One of the guards hefted him up by the shirt and nearly dragged him up the remaining stairs.

The Elite Guard was overlooking Larry while the other three had their weapons drawn on the large man that had tried to help Larry escape.

=================================================

Nanashi strolled through the open door, shoving the body of the second guard away as she did. She stepped out into the corridor and took in the scents, trying to find Larry's trail. He'd not escape her.

A funny thing came to her attention. That of a drow close by, and also an owl? Was it one of those creatures that the Windbringer was fabled for keeping on hand? Was he here?

Well...even he could not stop her once she was on the job. Nothing had ever stopped her from getting at the target.

Not seeing any reason to waste time on anything else but her target, she proceeded to the fourth door at the back of the corridor that appeared to be a closet, but it did not smell like one. She walked through the illusion, and found herself at the bottom of a tight-winding and moldy stairwell.

She began to run, knowing she was so close to her target. It was dark in here, which played to her advantage. Larry would not even see the attack coming until she had him.

================================================== =============================

It just so happened that one of the three guards walking Morgie out towards the gardens was a half-elf. His better than average hearing told him to look down the dark stairwell that they had ascended from.

"Sir Gregory...I believe somebody is following us up the stairwell. Do you want me to check it out?"

[ 01-15-2005, 11:11 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Morgeruat]

Morguerat


Looking around Morguerat was startled by the rough treatment of the one he'd been sent to, his clumsiness reminded him of someone, a bumbler, who grew to great power, but the shadows of time and threadcrossing concealed the name, or any details of the one he was trying to think about. "I wish I could write this down," he mused aloud, for in writing a tale, bits and pieces became more coherent, and collected together recalling more things to be written. Perhaps that was what kept the sage from eternal rest, the quest to put all the interconnected pieces of the universe together into a coherent whole.

At hearing the guard Morguerat turned towards him and said "if you go one by one, you'll all be dead before you can get him," he nodded in Larry's direction, "to a safe place. You've no reason to trust me, but I swear by Helm if you entrust me with this man's life, he will not only live to see whatever justice is due, but he will also fulfill whatever reparations are due from him. This I swear by my blood, my soul, and the mailed hand of Helm. He waited on the one called Sir Gregory, apparently the sergeant of this group, and took note that the man's build would be intimidating to most, for he was nearly the same size as Morguerat himself.

[ 01-15-2005, 11:50 PM: Message edited by: Morgeruat ]

[dplax]

Andrion Wilgor 60/60

The guard fell to the floor, presumably dead. With a quick glance Andrion checked that no other was rising. He had no time to check whether all were really dead, and he did not care. Larry was more important now. Andrion walked down the stairs and then turned and made his way towards the holding area, only the sound of his footsteps and his smell betraying his movements.

[dplax]

Plaxica 16/70

The desire to learn more of the new consciousness he had discovered within was great, but now was not the time, Plaxica told himself as he started descending the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs he spotted a cell with its door open and three guards in there. All three dead. Yet their weapons were next to their bodies. And one of them was a sword, his preferred weapon. Yet before mindlessly moving to pick up a weapon, Plaxica heeded the warning of his inner spirit and shifted into owl form. His senses were again overwhelmed by the multitude of smells and small noises he could hear. Andrion was moving towards the staircase on the level above them. Larry's scent was coming from behind the closet, as was Nanashi's and the other-threadly smell. And Plaxica could also smell something else. A drow. In a cell just a few feet away from him. The smell, he had missed just a few seconds ago, yet here it was strong.

"Must be a prisoner of the Inquisitor. You know how evil drow can be...Leave him!" - his inner spirit communicated to him.

Shifting to his human form Plaxica walked over to the closet and after only a few seconds of examining he found out about the illusion. He turned and went to pick up the sword. Then he went through the fake closet door.

[Larry_OHF]

Sir Gregory

They came through the door of the secret entrance which led into the gardens of the castle. Gregory stopped everyone and looked back behind him where they had just ascended from...wondering if he wanted to send one of his men down that hole to investigate.

He eyed the man that claimed to be a paladin of Helm. Why had this man tried to recover the prisoner, if he were a paladin? Was there really more to this story? Sir Gregory thought about it, wondering as well what it was that was climbing the stairs. The tiger that had been warned about? One of the two guards that were left behind? Whoever had been killing guards on the upper level? Gregory had no answers, but he was usually a good judge of character. His feelings told him to trust this man, at least for now.

"Okay this is what we will do. Jesmar, give this stranger your sword. Then you and Parlon go over to those bushes and wait for my signal. If there is something following us, we'll depend on you two to bring it down. Kenden...you stay with our paladin and his new charge, Mr. Silverfall. Get to the Inquisitor. You know the way. I will stand here in the open and lure this person or whatever through the door. If he or she gets past the crossbowmen, they won't get passed me."

He turns to the Paladin.

"Listen stranger. I am holding you to your word by the God whom you profess to serve. Don't fail my trust in you. If for some reason it comes down to needing it, I have extra armor that should fit you in my room. That is on the upstairs floor of this wing. Now go!"

OOC>>>Two crossbowman and the Sergent Elite Guard await whoever is coming up the stairs, feeling that it is not an invited person. The sergent knows that his men should not be tailing behind them. He suspects trouble, therefore, and has set this ambush.

Morgie, Larry, and Kenden are to continue through the gardens and make their way back into the castle to get to Marcos.

[ 01-16-2005, 05:53 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Larry_OHF]

For Marcos, Silt, and Vincent

Two guards come rushing in, carrying another man that did not look to have any visible wounds, but appeared to be in bad health anyway.

Vincent recognized the man as one of the ones that had gone to find out what was happening in the Right Wing of the castle.

Guard: "Sir! This man says that his team of five were slain by an invisible mage with just one spell! Sir, what are your orders?"

[dplax]

Andrion Wilgor 60/60

Andrion ran towards the end of the corridor and then swiftly descended the steps. He cautiously walked over to the cell in which he and Larry had been kept, but to his surprise all he found were three dead bodies. Guards all of them. Had Nanashi already captured Larry? Or was it the bumbling ranger who had done this? Annoyed Andrion stepped out of the cell and looked around. Apart from the other two cells, he could see no other exit. Could there be a secret door in one of the cells? - he thought to himself. He went over to the second door and to his suprise he spotted a prisoner in there. A drow. The drow could not see him, yet had surely already heard him. Andrion knew that the creatures had a good sense of hearing.

"A prisoner of the Inquisitor I see. It must hurt your dark-elven soul to not be able to see the caverns were you were born. Yet I am not here to gloat over you. I shall make you an offer. There was a ranger in the cell next to yours. If you tell me where he has gone I might release you from your cell."

[dplax]

Plaxica 16/70

The fact that his smell had become more sophisticated even in human form did not surprise him anymore. It was much weaker than in owl-form, but still sufficient to smell the tiger, moving fast ahead of him. Plaxica hoped that when the time came to face the tiger, he would not be alone. He owed nothing to Larry, yet he felt that a lot depended on whether the ranger survived or not, so he made the decision to help the man. He took the steps two by two running after the tiger. Above him he could hear a door opening. Larry's group must have reached the top. Plaxica paused for a second until he ascertained that he was not too close to the tiger, then he went on.

[Larry_OHF]

The Shadow Mage

The mage followed the events that were taking place in that castle over the mountains due to his link with his top two minions. They were close to Larry. If one failed, the other was sure to kill him this day. It did not matter how many soldiers this Marcos had on-hand...Larry would die.

This meant to the Mage that he would gain even more power in this game, and his worry that this Silverfall character might actually be the key to his downfall would be eliminated. He sat back and relaxed for a moment. It was not a complete relaxation, however, since he had another consciousness of himself stuck somewhere in the voids between threads where the Windbringer had taken him to watch the battle between he and Terrakis. That would be a fun thing to watch. The man of Storms finally being crushed by the heavy hand of a Shadow Giant.

Elsewhere in this thread roamed the darling Tao. He had taken her shadow, which had been an enormously humorous event. Now she lagged out there somewhere, doing some sort of dirty work for Cyril. Maybe it was time to ensure that her little scheming led to nothing of importance. Maybe it was time to send her a nice greeting of well-wishes and all that. Afterall...she had been so nice to come to his home and stir up the pot. She deserved a favor in kind.

"Make it so", he spoke aloud.

[ 01-16-2005, 08:39 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]