The Lord of the Forums >>> Return of the Nightmare

[Cyril Darkcloud]

For Ana and TAOWolf

Even as the banewolves tense before springing forward to attack a sharp call, the voice of the woman, is raised. One more distraction in a series of distractions. A pause of a moment and yet that moment was sufficient to allow the completion of a desperate prayer. Light, painful in its brilliant intensity shoots outward from the upraised symbol of life and strikes the first of the wolves. Already wounded, it is weakened further by this new attack. Still it has drawn close and the numbing power of its presence overwhelms the protection around the priestess and one by one her senses begin to numb.

The second wolf breaks off its attack completely upon the sound of the woman’s cry and bounds forward in reckless attack seeking the life of the druid. The wolf, however, is not alone in seeking after this prey for the reach of the Hunger impinges now upon the edges of her life.....

Ana Your attack has weakened and hurt the Banewolf. You, however, have very little time before its presence robs you of the ability to function.

TAO Your move on the banewolf. You do not have much time, however, as the Hunger is beginning to assert itself.

[TAOWolf]

She brings the sword in front of her at shoulder level, watching the banewolf rush her, and at the last minute she drops to her knees, stabbing upward as the wolf leaps........

The sword glows with an evil black light and starts absorbing the banewolf into the blade...

She howls, holding on to the sword hilt, her hands blazing in white light to keep the swords power from attacking her also......

[Larry_OHF]

Ana sees the blast attack the predator as she begins to feel the freeze of the grave suddenly enter when the shield collapsed. She falls to her knees, unable to concentrate on another prayer. This may be the end of her and Ruby.

However, Brendon had recovered and had the arrow notched. He fired in desperation at the wolf that Ana had hit but not felled, when he saw that it was still going for her and Ruby. The other one broke away and gave a clearer shot.

Brendon gave his all into that one last shot that could mean the life or death of his friends that he was supposed to be protecting.


OOC>>>DM calls the shot.

[ 03-14-2004, 04:38 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Larry_OHF]

OOC>>>Here it goes! I will play this as I think Mistral would like. I found a post that claimed Rhianneth as level 16 Sorcerer. Let's see what I can do.

Rhianneth ??/??

Rhianneth had been trying to figure out why everyone was in apparent pain and sick although she was not. She had begun to wonder if it had anything to do with the howls of those wolves afar off, when suddenly Brendon darted away and then Ruby and Anarrima darted off. Just before Ruby left, she had mentioned that the giants were following them, and getting closer. When that was said she was then contacted by Echo, the strange being she had met in the Underforums.

"Rhianneth! It is I...I...I...You must hurry and stop these wolves before the giants gain ground over you..over you...over you! You must be ready!...be ready...be ready...Go and save the others and I shall keep you safe as long as possible from their attacks!...their attacks...their attacks...

The echo inside her mind dazed her for a bit but she quickly recovered upon concentrating on the urgency of everything. She ran, trying to catch up to the others for she had been standing still too long and losing time that could mean the end of her own life. This echo guy knew something that he was not telling, and she seemed to be pretty important to the scheme of things. If he ended up betraying her trust and leading her into a trap, she would find a way to deal with his treachery.

Pushing all that aside, she came upon the scene of a gruesome battle that had alredy begun maybe two or three moves prior to her arrival. Brendon had just aimed an arrow to fly into the undead carcase of a terribly ugly wolf-beast, while another druid-looking lady was standing off against two other wolves. More wolves were about, looking for something to attack. She tried to survey the situation as quickly as possible, and it appeared that the arrow that was heading toward one of the wolves was the direction of importance, mostly due to the look on Brendon's face as he let it fly. The wolf was within one move of Ruby, Wyrd and Anarrima, all of whom were seemingly being subjected to some type of unseen attack and were paralyzed. The wolf was bearing down upon them as the arrow of Brendon's made it's trek toward the beast. It was all as if in slow-motion. Knowing that there was no time at all to prepare a stronger spell to affect the area, she instead came upon the instant incantation she had added to her quick-spell list for times such as this. She let the spell fly.



Rhianneth casts: Flame Arrow
(1 arrow per four levels = 4 arrows)

OOC>>>DM calls the shot

[Cyril Darkcloud]

For Ana, Rhianneth and Brendon

Even the Echo’s power was beginning to fail as she approached the Banewolves, for their terror is more than a howl. The sight of them numbs the eye and the scent of the grave lies heavy about them and turns the air within the nose damp and rotten. And even their calls are things no mere dampening of air movement can stop at such small distance. It begins to seize her, the numbness which spreads from the remote margins of the senses inward to the beating of the heart. She is fortunate, however, for even as the priestess falls and the numbness makes her own spellcasting power, innate though it is, grow weak and clumsy, the ranger’s desperate anger grants him movement and freedom for a few brief moments. These brief moments are enough for him to strike home with an arrow both well-placed and well-timed. There is a grunt of pain from the creature and it turns. The sorceress too, then, finds a brief space of relief and clarity within which to strike and the burning arrows strike home. This is a banewolf, however, a creature that emerged unharmed from dragonfire and the flaming strike is ineffective. The dragon, however, finally shakes free of his own lethargy. His movement is slow and clumsy, but it is a movement of great physical power. Awkward though it is the blow is effective in a simple and brutal way and the wounded beast soon falls limply to the ground, its form crumbling into dust.

ooc: I’ve posted on Arcades’ behalf here as I haven’t heard from him. This numbness the characters are feeling will not be an easy thing to shake off

[Cyril Darkcloud]

For TAOWolf

Long has it been, this game with its years of individual posts, without the sword being used. This post, of all posts, however, is different for the sword has been allowed to strike and reach and seize. Spiritsword it is called and confined within it are the spirits of the slain. It is a weapon of great power and today that power is not merely unsheathed but put to use. With a smooth and practiced ease the woman strikes the creature with the blade and with an intensity of power the blade begins to reach into the banewolf and draw its essence.

What the result of this would have been in any other place on any other day is difficult to say for the banewolf has no soul - only death within it. Still the blade bites deeply and its furious power cuts at the seems of the creature’s body, splitting them open. Perhaps this single strike would destroy even so mighty an opponent as this but mighty though the sword may be there is an appetite for life and power active here that is far beyond the strength of a blade. Even the ground of this place shakes for a single furious moment as another grip claims the banewolf, seizing it from the sword. But the Hunger which reaches forward so violently is hardly satisfied with the destruction of such a creature when the might of such a blade lies fresh for the taking. Into the blade it reaches with such force that it nearly flies from the woman’s hands. Screams erupt in the air about the blade as souls long trapped begin to lose what little self they yet possess to a cold an unrelenting emptiness.

The blade shakes in her hands and seems suddenly fragile and the hell within the sword seems suddenly about to break loose.

[Morgeruat]

Reaper

The time was right, chaos was dominant, the Hunger was about and the owls that had once feasted upon it were flying to the hills, suspiciously near to where the Hunger had been freed from the Hound. A mount would be needed to get to where the owls had flown, but his dark patron would have to grant him that, a horse of darkest night, breathing flames, and striking fires with every step would be his choice, one of the infernal mounts from the lower planes, but he doubted that he had the time to prove his devotion to the dark powers to earn that sort of mount.

Walking towards the flocking birds whose movement was as quiet as death's whisper, The fallen one fingered the amulet he carried about his neck, the vile darkness still pulsating through it, although it's creator was fallen, and a plan began to form in the dark hidden recesses of his mind. The distant baying of preternatural wolves echoed through the forums, from this distance the effect was only to send a slight through his mind, but closer... he would need some sort of ward against it.

"Hag, I have a proposition for you, I need you to... persuade my former sword to be more compliant, do this and when my time in these forumms ends, you may keep it as a prize"

[Cyril Darkcloud]

Zhydo’rah

Laughter sounds in the heavy air around the Fallen, a harsh sound of spiteful glee. “A sword of my very own if I but cow it into submission for a time?” The blade itself screams in protest at the idea only to be silenced with a sneering rebuke. “You have no say in these matters, you who are nothing but a toy in the hands of your betters. Your precious Helm has no power here and even less respect in a game which treats the Forgotten Realms and its legion of pretend divinities with such indifference.” The bitter and mocking notes of her laughter overwhelm the voice of the sword. She then addresses this Fallen One who has made her so unusual an offer. “Tell me, O knight, is it merely an obedient blade you desire, or a weapon to be used with impunity? If it be the latter, then place both of your blades before you on these stones, the blade of bleeding over top of the blade of goodness.”

[Morgeruat]

Reaper

"What I desire is a blade that I can use as my tool, a cowed blade would resist my attempts at dominating it, and when it passes to you, it would be very nearly worthless to you, as it is to me now," As he dropped the scabbard with Crysomer contained within, and drew the bleeding blade, he also gripped the amulet with the arrowhead, drawing blood once more, and letting it cover the arrow, feeling his own darkness enter the trinket, subtly altering the already powerful evil bound within, his will was strong and the arrow, though it resisted an outright change, was altered, as was the knight by the darkness within the arrowhead. A time would come for him to call upon it's power, and he wanted it to answer his own blackened soul, not the memory of a fallen godling. Part of the essence Larry had imparted to him was gone, twisted as it had been by him, it had been critical to alter the subtle enchantment of the arrow, a piece of itself, changed and returned. Like a virus, it would be undetectable by the native dark magics, until it was ready to serve the dark knight.

Both blades were placed on the ground while this happened, the inner struggle of wills, which the Reaper had kept within himself, if the witch observed his mind she would find nothing except greed for the power he was going to receive, and the price was too low for her to refuse him aid. He smiled silently as he thought of what his sword might do if granted the power he craved, and how well it might serve him.

OOC Reaper's sorceror levels have been transferred to the arrowhead, returning the dark power he was given to alter the magics within (if you like you can have him drop a level or two of his anti-paladinhood as well to compensate for the change in the dark magics)

[TAOWolf]

She feels the shift of power in the sword, and she howls again, holding tight to the hilt as the Hunger invades the blade, changing the souls within......

The moonstone set upon the bracer around her neck flashes brightly blinding anyone within a 10 yard radius momentarially.......

She sends a whisper upon the wind to the wings in the ravine, and she breaks the cloud clasp in her teeth, swallowing the halfs as she braces herself calling upon the runes on her body and the mighty oak behind her as she gently bends around and grasps the single blade of grass from the seed in her mouth..........