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Loner had been sitting apart from the group, absorbed in her own thoughts. She felt that Kramor was in danger, and an instant later heard him shouting for assistance. She grabbed the Katana and ran to him.

Seeing the Loner and Georgi charge off Nippy joined them and ran into the battle with carrion crawlers.

Halfway there Loner realized she was still wearing the blindfold. This was too late to prevent her from crashing her shoulder into a wall. "Damnit!!" she cried as she stood up again, removed the blindfold, and charged ahead.

As Kramor, worked his way into a corner. To protect his back, one of the crawlers, attacked him from above. Knocking him down, taking his dagger. He stabbed the crawler, as he pushed it off of him, Three more fell on him.

Loner saw what had happened, and something akin to a berserker rage came over her. She screamed a mighty kiai and charged with lightning speed into the mass of crawlers that had fallen on Kramor. The Katana blazed with a kind of black fire, and whatever it touched was instantly destroyed. Not merely sliced in half, but blown to pieces. When they were gone and the echo of their screams was still resonating, Loner stood by Kramor, wielding the Katana and looking about for more monsters.

Kramor grabbed Loner's collar, pulling her away from another dropping crawler. Winking at her, "what took you so long?" He asked smiling.

Loner sliced the other crawler and turned back to Kramor. It looked as if the coast was clear, at least for the moment. She was astounded at the way he had spoken to her, like nothing had changed. Impulsively, she threw her arms around him and held him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder.

Kramor was surprised, giving Loner a squeeze.
"Come on, we need to help Georgi and Nippy. Hopefully the others will be here soon, after we find Jenna, we will talk."
The two waded their way into the battle, to help the others.

Nippy was holding off 3 crawlers when Kramor came into the battle and took one out. Slowly they were removing the crawlers presence.

Having cast Defensive Harmony at the start of combat, Thantor had moved beside Nippy, guarding his flank, as they waded into the Crawlers. His twin maces of Mielikki were as a blur, a song of death.

Georgi had broken off from the group, fighting her way through to a pocket of Crawlers close to Vivien's position. Focused on three overgrown maggots in front of her, she failed to see the two Crawlers advancing from above. As they fell on top of her, she felt her body go rigid and she fell to the ground, unable to move. Looking up into the maw of the whitish Crawler, she internally screamed a last battle cry of defiance, only to see its head explode in a shower of carnage. Thantor was standing over her, forcing the Crawlers back. From were she was lying, it felt as though Thantor was sucking up energy from the Earth, directing it toward the monsters with a terrible fury. He is like a force of nature, she thought in amazement. Once the Crawlers had fallen back, Thantor grabbed Georgi under the shoulders while Vivien stepped forward to finish off the last of the monsters. Getting her to a safe distance, he quickly cast a Remove Paralysis spell.

[ 07-09-2001: Message edited by: thantor3 ]

Realising that a battle was underway ahead, Dragon Wench tried to shut out the emotions threatening to overwhelm her. She instead began to focus on a new spell. While sifting through the ancient papers scattered around the ruins she had come across a spell scroll and memorized it several times the night before. It was Called "Dragon's Breath."

She summoned the head of a red dragon which breathed fire with the force of an adult beast. The head spewed force an enormous (20 D 10) fireball which obliterated the few remaining carrion crawlers, happily, without harming her friends.

[ 07-09-2001: Message edited by: dragon wench ]

Vivien automatically continued casting magic missile after missile until she realized she was beating the heck out of a rock. Some sort of fire had cleansed the area, leaving only her friends around her.

"Thanks." She said with a grin at Dragonwench, as she finally realized what had happened.

She looked around at the others, still feeling the excitement of battle running through her veins. If Georgi hadn't come when she had, or if Thantor hadn't helped her...

She glanced over at Darkpoet who was still looking around alertly, with weapon in hand. With a small smile she poked him in the back and said 'Boo!', but he didn't jump in fright, merely looked at her with concern. She sighed to herself and turned her attention back to the group.

Kramor could feel Jenna. "It must be the armour." He moved closer to the cavern entrance, but Kramor was knocked back a step by a fireball. The fireball was deflected, away from the group. He stood there stunned, looking at the entrance. A cloaked figure walked out...................

[ 07-09-2001: Message edited by: KramoR ]

they don't stand a chance if the shadow master join in the fight. he stood there watching her, waiting for her to help her friends.

jennabard gather what energy she could and left the sactuary of the pool. she immediatly became the pheonix and started to throw what magic she could at him. the master in turn, became the black pheonix and cast shadowfire.
jenna nearly fell from the onslaught, she screamed out in pain.

the dark flames felt something was wrong, but didn't hear a thing.

vivien gasped,"quickly, give me torch, we have to hurry."

gwalchwai took a torch out of his bag and lit it and handed it to vivien.
meanwhile darkpoet looked inside the temple,"the pool, we have to get to the pool."

the two phoenixes, one bright, one dark were tearing at each other. but the bight bird is slowly growing fainter as if dying.

from the deepest shadows, a dragon watched. waiting for the happy meal that was suppose to come. hoping that it would have the last toy to finish his dark flame action figure collection.

[ 07-09-2001: Message edited by: jennabard ]

Feeling a painful tug from somewhere deep inside Dragon Wench looked up to see the twisted features of her nemisis. A rage of a magnitude she had never yet experienced possessed her. Eyes ablaze, she screamed, and lunged at the hideously contorted visage of the laughing Master of Shadows.


OOC, my partner needs the computer (Grrr), so please do as you will with my avatar. Thanks.

Nippy went into the cavern with the rest of the group. He hoped to use Sunfire but Dragon Wench had run off. He grabbed at her to bring her into the circle. He also shouted for the light phoenix to come within 5 feet.

Nippy began to mediate shortly, when Sunfire was needed he would unleash it and help stop the shadow master. He only needed time...

"Jenna..?" Vivien glanced inside and finally looked up. The shadow and the light at odds swirled in front of her eyes. Almost as if they weren't there at all...


Her eyes narrowed at the shadowy figure, and she felt it's wrongness radiating around it, through it, and almost through her.

Pushing up her sleeves she flexed her fingers in readiness, barely aware of Darkpoet's almost casual stroll into a protective position in front of her. She cast lower resistance and breach in quick succession, before digging through her minds spells for the perfect aggressive one.

Rushing sounds around her told her that the others...Dragonwench, Georgi, Loner, Gwalchmai, Kramor, Thantor and Nippy were in movement. A sort of circle began to form, and she could not help but feel "We are the light to raid this darkness, there is no bar to our passage."

Ooc: Hi Nippy Changed mine in case you needed me to.

[ 07-09-2001: Message edited by: Vivien ]

The Shadow Master’s attention was divided, but his plan was working well. He concentrated on manipulating the Dark Phoenix in its struggle with Jenna-Phoenix and was able to best her at every turn. The energies of the Dark Phoenix, secondarily gathered during the binding ritual and now put to good use, were too much for the young bard to fight. She began to lose vitality, to rot from within. At the same time, his own body managed to cast the occasional spell at Jenna’s would-be saviors, conjuring animals and shades to defend him.

His Shadow Imps laid the trap for Nippy perfectly. They blocked and confused his perception just enough, and took on the visages of his friends. At Nippy’s behest, his ‘friends’ gathered in a tight circle around him, even the form of Jenna. Nippy prepared to unleash his ancient sun power, little knowing that only shadows were within the sphere of protection, while the Dark Flames were in line of fire.

Nippy had gathered his friends (sooner than he expected), had gathered the power, and was now ready to obliterate the Shadow Master and his fiends once and for all. He could feel the build-up of power, more than he had ever felt before. He spread his arms, and began to channel the energy outward. But just in that moment before the power was unleashed, he heard Jerran’s voice cry out, “Nippy, No!”

Time seemed to freeze. Nippy’s vision cleared. He could see the Shadow Imps gathered by his side in the places where his friends once stood. Across the room, he saw Thantor, stopped in the act of cleaving a skeleton warrior in two; Dragon Wench tossing aside zombies while trying to get to the Shadow Master; Loner and Kramor, back-to-back, blades covered in pale blood; Georgi savagely hacking at the carapace of an Umber Hulk while Vivien shot minute meteors from her finger tips; Gwalchmai’s club crushing the skull of a skeleton; and lastly, he saw Jenna-Phoenix near a golden pool, dying under the onslaught of a Dark Phoenix. In that instant, Nippy realized he had been fooled, that none of his friends had made it to the circle of protection and that they would take the brunt of the ancient magic.

Desperate, Nippy did the only thing he could. His fingers caught the sun-power, and he drew it in, wild energies leaping and twisting. He could feel the energy, slippery like silk, as he shoved it back into himself. The void created caused an ear-splitting shriek, as the powerful suction tore at the Shadow Imps. Nippy’s own power lashed and whipped at him, as he sought to absorb it. A whirlpool of colored lights and wind whipped the cavern, centered on Nippy. Skeletons burst apart, and zombies crumbled to dust. The Dark Phoenix, whose resistance had been lowered, roared in pain as it was torn to ribbons by the swirling lights. Then, as suddenly as it began, the noise ended, and Nippy lay on the ground, barely breathing.

Thantor, Vivien, Loner, and Kramor ran to his side. The others busied themselves with the remaining summoned creatures. Dragon Wench bellowed at the Shadow Master, her sword blazing in fury. Dazed, weakened, and sorely hurt, the Shadow Master saw his plans dissipate. As a final act before slipping into the shadows, he cast Dolorous Decay at Dragon Wench, but Gwalchmai leaped in front, taking the force of the spell squarely, but blocking Dragon Wench’s own charge. Gwalchmai could feel the rotting, sapping his strength, and could only watch as the Shadow Master got away. But just as the evil cleric entered the shade realm, Gwalchmai saw his true face revealed for an instant. He saw a dark tattoo, reaching from the bridge of the Shadow Master’s nose and across his forehead. Gwalchmai’s eyes widened in recognition, “Tetanus?”

[OOC: As usual, I may have overstepped my bounds with this addition, and, as usual, I will be more than happy to change this or any other post should any of you desire it. In my opinion, this statement is implicit in everything I add.]

Nippy's vision was lucid. He could not focus on anything and he felt like his chest was crushed. He could see the shadow about to cast a spell and he tried to get up but couldn't. He could see most people around him and then he went into unconciousness...

Nippy came to Jerren again.

"Thank you for stopping that Jerren, I would have killed them all."

"Do not worry about it. I have something to tell you, the shadow master has gone to Kara-Tur, he is searching for Hitomi and Loromo, yours and Loner's sword master. He plans to attack you with them. You must stop him!"

Nippy was thrust back into conciousness. He opened his eyes for a second and was again unconcious.

With Gwalchmai down, the Shadow Master again cast doloderous decay at Dragon Wench Already seriously wounded from her struggles with the undead, she slumped forward:

Dragon Wench felt herself plunging downwards into darkness. As she was beginning to think that her descent was never-ending, a strong, familiar pair of arms reached out and caught her.

Raising her head, she saw deep, brown eyes gazing down at her.

"Jerren !" she gasped.

All at once Dragon Wench understood the full implications of what had happened. With a sob she buried her head into the warmth of his shoulder. The ache that she had carried with her for ten years began to dissolve and she felt peace flood through the essence she had become. Gently, Jerren set her down and tilted her head upwards.

"I've missed you more than words can express, not being with you is the worst thing about this imprisonment. But, you can't stay."

"What do you mean? Things have become a bit better recently, but still, most days my life ressembles an abyss. I'd rather remain with you in this one."

"It's not time, you still have many joys to live, many battles to fight. And....I need somebody to help guide my brother."

Dragon Wench said nothing. But, Jerren knew her well enough to see the irritation hovering in her expression. He smiled again.

"He's young and impetuous, eager to prove himself worthy of the Dark Flames. He is a fine warrior; I'm proud of him, and I regret that I did not know him in life."

Jerren moved aside the hair partially veiling her eyes. "Your body is not as grieviously wounded as was mine, with a skilled healer, there is time unite it with your spirit."

"No !" she choked.

"Know that I'll always love you, no matter your actions. But now the moment has come for you to let go."

Dragon Wench stared mutely at him. "And if I'm not restored?"

"You will be," he said simply.

Dragon Wench stepped forward and lightly pulled an unresisting Jerren towards her. Drinking in his scent, the contours of his "body," she whispered huskily, "first, let us say farewell."

The silver mists encircling them seemed to move closer together. Cocoon-like, they gathered, weaving gossamer strands against prying eyes.