The Order of the Dark Flame: Book 5. (story, no spam)

[Obsidian]

Struggling back to the keep, Farscape was hurting. He was bleeding heavily from several points where the dragons claws rent great holes in his armour early in the battle. The beutiful Plate Mail gifted to him from Keldorn was horribly beaten and holed, slick with blood of man and beast alike. He had not been carrying a full array of gear when this whole thing started, leaving him short on healing potions, in fact having none. Making his way back took less time than on the way there, probably because he was taking a straight path instead dodging in and out of a dragons attack. He came into out of woods and into the fire it seems. The grounds of the keep were full of violence. Most terrifying of all was the form of the draco lich walking dantily amidst Farscapes friends and allies.
He started running, pushing he battered body beyond what was possible, striving desperetly to get their in time, as the dracolich healed itself. Not to bad he thought, gasping for more air. But things got worse as it headed towards Mysteria.
Unsheathing Retribution, he hurled the axe with whatever strength he could muster, the little axe flew true, careening of the beasts skull before returning to Farscapes grasp, causing little damage, but distracting.
"Not again" Farscape gasped again. "Hey, Draco! Over here" he shouted, barely, and threw the axe again, weaker than before, then staggered off back to the keep, away from his frozen compatriots.
He kept doing this, throwing the axe again and again, distracting the beast until it sent a wave of summoned beasts after him. Even in his weakend state, Farscape dispatched of them without to much difficulty, leaving a half dozen ogres and kobolds dead.
He threw the axe again, luring the dragon out of the sphere of frozen time. By now the gravely injured paladin was far to tired to do anything about it but stand before the great beast, unflinching as a mighty claw threw him into the wall of the keep. Bleeding badly now, he watched helplessly as the dragon returned to finish his friends. For Farscape however, the battle was over, and he left his lifeless body on the field amidst all the chaos.

[Mysteria]

Mysteria stumbled as the time unfroze, then rolled on the ground as a dark bolt struck, sucking at her life force. For a moment, the whole world was spinning, then swam back into focus.

Boiling rage now fired up in her, enhanced even more by the vivid pain she was feeling. That Dracolich was going to die, NOW!

Where was it? She scampered to the edge of the rampart - what was that horse doing there? - there was the Dracolich.

Dark dots swiming in front of her eyes, she completely lost control as she saw Farscape falling to the ground ... NO! He couldn't be...

Suddenly, she had the cat-creatures black blade in her hand and hurled it at the Dracolich and was startled to see it actually hit the dragon at that long distance and bury itself deep in the creatures body. The dragon screamed in pain, somehow, she had the feeling that the dagger would eventually find it's way to what served as heart to this dark creature...

At the same time, she felt her magic run wild once more, swelling to a storm, she must not unleash it ... must not... The magic raging through her was too much and she fell unconscious onto the ground...

[Yshania]

Yshania continued to run around like a woman possessed...thankfully - she would find out later - she only looked a little flustered, and she didn't scream once ( )

By the remains of the Eastern rampart, Pridwen grazed, seemingly oblivious to the chaos that raged around her. But then the familiar thundering of hooves caused her to lift a questioning head. She was slightly irritated by the distraction from this green stuff that seemed to be stubbornly presenting itself to her through the frosted ground...it and her waistline were talking poetry to one another...

Midnight Spirit bolted past her. Feeling first bewildered, and then scorned, she had realised the subject of his attention was some sylphlike underfed spindly weakling of an example who was strutting her stuff on the Southern rampart. Despite the fact that there was little he could do but stand below and bellow like a folorn Romeo, Pridwen would not be publically shamed. Snorting and shaking herself down, she set off in a determined canter after the errant stallion...

[dragon wench]

Midnight Spirit let up a mournful nicker as he gazed longingly upwards at his object of desire.
"She is so frisky," he thought to himself, as visions of the coming Spring danced across the fertile pastures of his equine mind.

The mare, meanwhile looked on in alarm, and tried to avoid noticing the stallion's obvious, growing interest in her comely form.

[Yshania]

Pridwen laboured to catch up, more convinced than ever that she should concentrate on the greener food...she pulled to a stop beside Midnight Spirit...He did not even acknowledge her bumping rudely into him, and her potential audience to a tantrum were too distracted by some big birdy things leaping around the tower and the rampart. Trying desperately to catch his eye, she came to realise why equine eyes do not face forwards...as a potential victim, you had to permanently watch your back...if horses could sag, she did so heavily then. Midnight Spirit continued to woo his fancy, Pridwen silently boiled. She had tried pulling up her belly and dancing on her toes, but she was in no way a match for this model of grace and femininity that pranced around above their heads...

Then she had an idea. Forcing her head around her growing flank, she lifted Yshania's bag down off the pommel of the saddle and dropped it to the ground, then with gentle, but determined nods of her head, she searched the bag to discover her quarry. With a burst of excitement and inspiration she rolled a withered apple out of the pack and onto the ground by her stallion's pawing hooves. Midnight Spirit stopped...a familiar scent filled this nostrils, which flared to draw it all in...the apples!!! Snatching hungrily, he downed the fruit without chewing....

Moments later he was bellowing and bolting through the keep and up the stairs to the rampart, leaving a bewildered Pridwen staring after him....

[Vivien]

It was such chaos, that Viv could do no more but lean against the tree, watching her simulacrum walk towards the large creature towering above them all. The image of herself waited through time stop, was almost run over by a large horse, and was pushed down by a frantic Yshania. (Luckily this time Yshania was too busy getting away to spend time ripping up her Sim’s clothing)

Through these obstacles, the figure resolutely continued on, to stand directly at the ugly (and Viv could only assume smelly) feet of the creature.

With utmost calm, her simulcrum cast lower resistance twice and began breach while Viv scanned to see if she could aid her friends in any way. It was hard to see what exactly was happening from her position, but there appeared to be several summoned creatures, hard to know whose creatures they were, and Dragonwench appeared to be doing something with a horse? But she appeared safe for all that. Yshania was doing a frantic pace, maybe a druid thing to draw ants and other bugs forth from the very earth to attack the dragon?

Those druids and they’re funny ways. She thought this wryly until her eyes found a figure standing under the shadow of the great beast. It was Mysteria plunging a weapon deep into the scaly hide, which caused the dragon to send shock waves of pain forth. Viv quickly changed her Sim’s spell from another breach to a spell trigger of magic missiles, hoping that they would turn the tide of his anger away from the woman beneath him. The shining balls surrounding the dragon, but only one actually seemed to have any impact at all. That one bit of pain was enough to turn the dragon from his intended target to loom over the mage below him, dark hatred contorting his features.

With a roar the dread creature snapped up Viv’s figure and making a sickening ‘slurp’ sound, swallowed her whole. Viv stood still for just a second, eyes wide with anger until the atrocity breached her senses. Then her hands began frantically searched at her waist for a weapon. Finding none, she bent to grab a handful of dirt and flung it towards the dragon crying out in anger. The dirt flew like a dark comet, hitting summoned creatures and Yshania alike as it arced toward the dark beast.

As the dirt left her hand, Viv realized something was very, very wrong…Something was happening to the figure of Mysteria and her eyes widened as she watched in amazement…

[Ned Flanders]

Flanders sprinted up, up, towards the surface; the voice of Uther taunting and chiding him within his mind as he ran.

He knew he was beaten and this was the only recourse. The last rays of daylights were not far ahead. Uther had called the bluff and she had been wrong. Cries of protest rang within Flanders head creating pain and confusion.

The prize lay just ahead; the few remaining moments of daylight. It was difficult to divert his focus on the torment he was about to receive. The wounds he received earlier from the sunlight were already throbbing in pain. With a final cry, he picked up his pace and made for the beacon of light. His call was matched was one of Uther's as she retreated back to the negative material plane.

It worked. He had caught her off guard and it worked. He paused to consider his actions and realized he wasn't in control of his own body. He was thankful his instincts still remained with his true self, which was a difficult thought in itself for him to comprehend.

Flanders could hear the sounds of heavy battle in the distance. He pulled up a globe of deep night and wandered up to the surface. He began to mentally project himself forward seeking a host whose eyes he could 'borrow'. Shortly, he found himself watching the battle through the eyes of a squirrel. Dragons! Whatever was standing in defiance of these rituals was certainly powerful. Dangerous foes, indeed. Knowing he had much to prepare for, Flanders headed back to his latest haven to once again prepare for the night to come. It would not be uneventful.

[Obsidian]

*Twitch*


OOC - Sorry, couldnt resist

[Mysteria]

Blissfull darkness enveloped Mysteria, only to be torn to shreds seconds after. She found herself floating in the air feeling strangely detached, watching the battly scene from above, noticing her own figure among the people under her. Somehow, she had the impression that she was dreaming and everything was happening in slow motion.

The silence was interrupted by two voices, seemingly fighting over something.

"She has to be closer to the dragon..."

"No, the dragon has to be closer to her..."

Still feeling oddly unconcerned, Mysteria felt more than saw space fold around her and the Dracolich, distorting the very matter around them. Idly, she asked herself where that huge amount of magic came from, she'd never wielded so much so it was probably the voices doing.

"The dagger, she has to use the dagger..."

"Yes, kill him..."

Focusing back on the battle, she squinted trying to get a clear picture of the distorted space and finally determined that her body was now just in front of the dragon. So, that's why the dagger hit, she mused, as her body plunged the dark blade into the dragon's body. But then, she wasn't dreaming was she? Strangely enough, she did not feel very concerned by it.

"Now he's going to die, say goodbye to your little pet..."

"Oh, no, you haven't understood a thing, watch and learn..."

Still looking on, Mysteria noted how surprised everybody looked when her body began to sprout large, leathery wings and sharp talons beginning to resemble... a dragon?

"My pet will have a new body soon..."

"Oh no, it won't ... The Dark Flames are too much a nuisance to you for me to let them die..."

As the two voices began to angrily shout at each other, trying to take control of her body while more and more magic raced through it, Mysteria suddenly became aware of one more presence.

Mysteria... Mysteria you have to push them back, reclaim your body...

She looked around and saw Thantor, standing on the tower top, or was it the ground? Everything was still distorted, but she clearly saw that he was looking straight at her, not her body, but herself.

Why? , she asked him.

They've cut you off from your feelings, you have to trust me that if you still had them, that's what you would do. Please, you have to push them away or you'll surely die...

Die? Mysteria did not see why Thantor seemed so concerned about that, but it couldn't hurt to do what he said, could it? So she, gave herself a push and floated towards her body, now half human, half dragon.

"Excuse me, this is my body..."

The voices stopped bickering for a moment and Mysteria stepped inside her body and was hit with screaming magic and a madhouse of violent feelings. For a moment though, her odd coolness lingered, long enough for her to feel how she was linked to the dagger, and through the dagger to the Dracolich's unholy lifeforce. Suddenly, all the horror of their intentions became clear to her, the first voice had tried to reincarnate the dragon in herself!

NO!, she mentally screamed and pushed hard at the dagger, burying it deep in the Darcolich's lifeforce. As the great creature screamed in rage in its deaththroes, she felt the link to it being severed. Stumbling back, she felt her body shrink back to normal while an overflow of magic harmlessly grounded itself in the still twitching body of the Dracolich and space straightened itself out, randomly placing people, monsters and horses either on the tower top or on the ground.

"No! She has killed my pet! She will suffer for this..."

"Well, I'll just go 'play' with your other 'abominable' pet then..." *snicker*

One of the voices vanished, leaving the other screaming after it while leaving too, "Oh no, you won't touch that one!"

Then, her body lying motionless on the ground, not far from Farscape's, Mysteria's consciouness faded back into darkness once more... but wait, there was a little light down... down that tunnel? The soft light seemed to beckon to her, promising rest.... she slowly started to walk towards it ....

[Gwalchmai]

When the dragons had first appeared, Gwalchmai stood immobile amid a cacophony of conflicting thoughts and instincts. Somehow, he was able to duck behind the altar just before the Dracolich breathed its lung-searing gas onto the tower. Gwalchmai stayed hidden behind the altar, his eyes wide as the Dracolich leapt over his head and landed amid his friends on the tower. The stones of the roof sagged and popped under the weight of the massive, ancient dragon, but somehow did not buckle.

Despite reaping the benefit of a Resist Fear spell, Gwalchmai tried with all his might to will himself to move, to stand, to do something, but to no avail. He watched horrified as magical lightening leapt from person to person, finally striking him in his hidden position. The shock had been painful enough to allow his thoughts to fall back into place. A calmness took over. He looked to examine the damage to his body caused by the lightning, and almost panicked again when he found he couldn’t see his body. Then he remembered that he was invisible. Heartened, he stood to begin the ritual.

The Tenets of Amauntor

Gwalchmai was aware of bits and pieces of the action taking place around him. Nippy, absurdly, was throwing rocks at the dragons. Aegis seemed to be firing spears from his bow. Dragon Wench was casting spells, while Yshania moved around healing and protecting the others.

The law is the law

Yshania was sent sprawling, but a blurry Dragon Wench ran to help. The Dracolich roared and pounded the roof of the keep, sending chips of stone flying. Another jet of gas engulfed Dragon Wench. Meanwhile, Bloodstalker was attacking ..... the rear-end of a flying dragon? With a dagger? “That man has spent too much time by himself, it seems.”

T’lainya cleared away some of the lingering gas with a Zone of Sweet Air spell, then offered some additional protections to Gwalchmai. This was fortunate, because the whipping tail of the Dracolich was coming dangerously close. A sudden, mid-air explosion caught one of the Shadow Dragons, sending it fluttering painfully to the ground. T’lainya could be heard to chuckle menacingly. Gwalchmai, for his part, was glad the beast was out of his sight.

Learn the law and live it;

Another Dragon was hurtling toward the tower, only to have Farscape appear seemingly from out of nowhere to leap and meet the dragon in mid-air. He shouted something trite as he forced the dragon to fall to the ground beyond the tower. Trees and branches could be heard to snap as the dragon apparently ran into the forest.

obey it’s every letter and clause, for in knowledge of the intricacies of law lies freedom to act with righteous impunity.

Nippy and Bloodstalker ran from the tower to engage a dragon on the ground, but Gwalchmai worried that there would be fewer defenders against the Dracolich on the tower. Yshania was carrying Dragon Wench around like a sack of potatoes, which was unusual to say the least. Normally it would be the other way around.

A loud noise seemed to indicate that a dragon was dead. Somehow, too, the Dracolich went to ground beyond the roof of the tower, leaving Gwalchmai unmolested before the altar.

Keep track of the decisions of your superiors so that the

Then, everything froze and the world turned to shades of gray during a Time Stop spell. A small voice in Gwalchmai’s head seemed to say, “See? I told ya. Now look out for the demons!”

body of precedent continues to grow and the unity of purpose of the rulings of Amauntor is made manifest to all.

Absurdly, Nippy and Bloodstalker could be heard to yell “Yee haw!” Then, as if in response, Aegis neighed…. “I’m going nuts” thought Gwalchmai.

Serve your superiors faithfully and they will reward you faithfully; shirk your duty and find the harsh hand of reproof.

The Tenets of Faith read, Gwalchmai looked to the second part of the ritual.

[Bloodstalker]

BS continued his climb, wondering why it was that paladins had a serious deficiency in the humor dept. Anyone could have seen that his joke was a classic. Perhaps he would have to explain it in detail to Nippy later, maybe his mind was just slow.

reaching the base of the dragons neck, BS pulled striker and thrust the blade in where the neck joined the shoulder. The blade slid smoothly into the beast, bringing a roar of rage and pain as the dragon suddenly tilted it's body upward, nearly causing BS to lose his grip.

Feeling the first real feelings of concern, he looked at Nippy.

"Uh,..what do we do if we kill this thing before it lands?"

Nippy stared back, evidentely considering this for the first time as well. Then shrugged his shoulders as he stabbed down at the creatures neck.

"I guess we land somewhere."

BS shook his head at the paladin. Too late to do anything about it now.

[Nippy]

Nippy repeatedly slammed his blade into the beasts neck but the numerous cuts were only shallow, although they were causing damage, it was not enough to fell the giant beast.

"I think it's time to end this Bloodstalker. I've had enough riding time, besides that, my backside is sore." Nippy grinned but Bloodstalker slapped his palm on his forehead. "What? That was funny damnit!" Nippy laughed again.

The beast began swinging around, trying to fling the burden off of it's back. Suddenly, an idea struck Nippy.

"Bloodstalker, see if you can slide off the beasts back, I've got an idea and you'll be hurt if you stay on. I'll... umm... distract it somehow." Blood nodded, trusting the nutcase Paladin with whatever his crazy plan was.

Nippy slammed the blade in again and was rewarded with a roar of anguish. It stopped moving and tried to snatch at Nippy. Bloodstalker slid down and landed atop the ramparts, running clear of the backlash.

Nippy drew both his katana, he smiled and kissed the blades.

"Well done my friends, you have served me well..." He smiled and slammed the first blade into the 'collar' bone of the beast. He shimmied across and slammed the other blade into the other side. He called on his old Monk powers, things he had forgotten about but now relied upon.

He cracked his palm out and snapped off the end of the first blade, it began shaking uncontrollably, he did the same to the other and waited a short while, waiting for the right moment.

The blades began to keening, a loud noise, the metal reverberating many times a second, he waited and breathed out. It was like time itself had stopped. Everything went into slow motion, his palm took an eternity to reach the neck of the beast and as suddenly as it stopped it sped up.

A massive crack shook the clearing. The beasts neck was broken and it's wings stopped flapping, it span in the air and Nippy fell off of it's back, he was flung off and caught his arm and head on the side of the building and he tumbled down, head over heel, landing awkwardly.

The beast's fall was just as dramatic, it landed, completely still and it made an awful screech, it was completely crippled...

[Gwalchmai]

A dark woman moved unseen in the shadows near the keep. The stranger seemed translucent gray, with dark hair that crested her head like a mane, and dark reptilian skin. She approached Farscape’s dead form and deftly sliced his throat with a taloned finger – just to be sure that he could not further bother him. Stripping the pretty but damaged armor from the Paladin, she bundled it up along with his magical weapons. These, at least, would make an adequate addition to the lair.

She had been astonished when this powerful biped had destroyed her simulacrum so easily. Now she was even angrier than before. These humans deserved to die! They were inept and uncoordinated, yet still they had defeated her simulacrum and had her mate on the run! Even the Dracolich seemed doomed.

Even as she thought this, a female biped managed to force a dagger into the dried husk of a heart that served the Dracolich. Her polymorphed draconic eyes widened, as the female seemed to partially transform into a dragon herself – but the transformation was suddenly halted and the female’s form snapped back to its disgusting humanity. Inside her mind, she beheld the spirit form of the Dracolich screaming in anger, “You promised me a new body!”

“There is another,” came the response, ”By the wall. In the Shadows.”

The spirit of the Dracolich turned its gaze on Zaraxia. Her sudden fear allowed him entry, and she found her body polymorphed back to her original form, her mind pushed aside like so much dust swept under a carpet.

[T'lainya]

T’lainya heard Gwally start to recite the Tenets of Amauntor. She bit back a small exclamation of distaste. The tenets were the essence of lawfulness, while she preferred chaos. She supposed it pleased some people although she found the strictures galling. While her mind raced with these thoughts, she was taking in the battle, as it ended. She saw the burns on Aegis and judged that he would be in need of healing, but was able to fight. She risked a look at the ground and saw that Yshania was running around in a spell induced panic.

“Tend to Aegis.” She called to Thantor. “I’ll go down the stairs and see who else needs healing.” She hoped she could cast the remove fear spell on Ysh, without chasing her around the grounds. T’lainya was amazed to see Midnight Spirit apparently intent on climbing the stairs to the ramparts.

[Gwalchmai]

Gwalchmai paused to watch a Shadow Dragon circle the tower, rising and falling from view as Bloodstalker and Nippy rode it’s back, periodically yelling, “Woo Hoo!” and “Whoa, Nellie!” With a sigh, he turned to the second part of the ritual.

Hold high thy children that they may longer see the Sun before it slips beyond this realm. The Sun shall give them courage against the fears of the Night.

He looked around. As he knew, there were no children waiting to be held up to the setting sun. He wondered if he could lift Thantor. Perhaps Jennabard would be considered more child-like? With another sigh, he despaired, “I have no children. How can I complete the ritual?”


“You do have a child,” came a voice inside his mind, “Look inside.”

Unbidden, memories surged into his thoughts. “No!” he screamed.

“No!” he had screamed, reaching out for her. “Daddy!” she had cried and cried from her mother’s arms. Her mother had a grim look on her face: the look of regret when a loved one must be hurt. That was the last he had seen of the two of them. It had taken years to get over the pain, but now it was back, in full force.

“How old would she be now?”

“About nine years,” he said automatically, the age and date forever engraved in his heart. Tears streamed down his face.

“She would love to see this pretty sunset, don’t you think? Perhaps she is watching it even now.”

“Maybe. Its possible.” Gwalchmai tried to think of his daughter watching this sunset, the same sunset he was watching. A connection might be formed. A connection where he might be able to show her how much he still loved her. Maybe give her the courage he could have taught her if he had been there as her father all these years. He sobbed.

“Lift her up in your heart, Gwalchmai. She need not fear the darkness.”