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Into the Icy Darkness: The Great Demon War
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<blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1378663" data-attributes="member: 15043"><p>Second part of the adventure on Friday the Thirteenth:</p><p></p><p><strong>The Desert... and Xanadu sees Action in Battle</strong></p><p></p><p>It was several days later, and as the terrain around them shifted from wide forests to sparse plains, questions and confusion continued to rise in Siabrey's mind.</p><p></p><p><em>The desert,</em> Siabrey’s mind thought in a daze. <em>I might see one of those desert demons,</em> she thought, and her heart leapt slightly at the thought. A distant, unthought question hung in the dark recesses of her mind, however... a question she wasn’t sure if she wanted to answer.</p><p></p><p><em>Is my father out there?</em></p><p></p><p>Troubling her mind also was the continued fallout from Lucius’ half statement a few days ago... her mind had finally recognized that it was nothing less than a pseudo-proposal...</p><p></p><p><em>A handsome, smart, funny guy wants to marry ME?</em> was the thought that dominated her brain every time she reflected on it. Her instinctive first reaction was to assume she had been dreaming, until the smile directed at her from his face told her otherwise.</p><p></p><p><em>The desert, Lucius, an army behind us... what next?</em> her mind thought. To keep the chattering of her wandering mind down, she trotted up beside Xanadu, who was back in half-elf form, and decided to ask him some questions that had been bothering her.</p><p></p><p>“Xanadu?” she asked above the horses’ canter, “What’s in the desert? What kind of creatures?”</p><p></p><p>Xanadu broke his seeming blank stare towards the horizon, and gave her a smile. “Well, my dear,” he began in his best rendition of a tutor’s voice, “the desert is just like any other terrain, in many ways. It has its own flora and fauna... some are good, some are ambivalent, and some are bad.”</p><p></p><p>“Like?” Siabrey asked, pressing for more.</p><p></p><p>“Well, you have us dragons, for example. There are others like me in the desert... none as old, sadly,” he sighed, “but there are others. Most of us are good, some of us are unfortuantely bad. Then there’s the siabrie...”</p><p></p><p>“There’s siabrie in this desert!?” Siabrey asked hurriedly, grabbing Xanadu by his arm.</p><p></p><p>“Yes, yes, there are!” he says with a small huff, until he realizes why she reacted that way. “Oh... I... I understand now. Yes... your father is somewhere in that desert... your father was Kelir, right?”</p><p></p><p>“Y...yes,” Siabrey said rather shakily. <em>My father is there!?</em></p><p></p><p>“I met him... long long ago. I told you this already, correct?” Siabrey nodded uncertainly, while Xanadu smiled and continued. “With siabrie, it depends on which one you meet. Your father was a lordly and kind creature, one who was open to reason and discussion, capable of love and compassion, even if he preferred most of the time staying to himself in the deep desert. Some, like a younger one I know named Malthasar, are rampaging and destructive. Some, like one in this desert named Haran, are just... strange.”</p><p></p><p>“Then there are the bad things. Most of the desert peoples are like peoples everywhere... warm, compassionate, caring. But there are some that are intolerant, xenophobic, even evil...”</p><p></p><p><em>What the heck is xenophobic?</em> Siabrey’s mind asked. She hated when Xanadu used words that likely no one outside the Royal Academy of Magic knew or understood.</p><p></p><p>“...so in short, we might get help, but there’s forces out there, not affiliated with the Countess, that might be dangerous too?”</p><p></p><p>“Yes,” Xanadu said, suddenly gazing off into space, “yes... I am... Oh... sorry!” he suddenly snapped back from his distant gaze.</p><p></p><p><em>Something’s worrying him,</em> Siabrey thought. “What’s wrong, Xanny?” she asked, using her pet nickname for the dragon. He gave a distant, partial smile, before shaking his head slowly.</p><p></p><p><em>You’re lying, Xanny... but you’ll tell us when the time comes... I trust you...</em></p><p></p><p></p><p>A few hours later the party set up camp, and quickly the tired party members dozed off. Little of note happened on first and second watches, but on third watch, the story was different...</p><p></p><p>Siabrey had decided to take watch with Lucius that night, and the two had managed to keep their self control intact, and merely contented themselves with watching the woods, quietly whispering sweet nothings to each other even as their eyes scanned for danger. It was Siabrey that first noticed with her darkvision a figure off in the distance across the thinned landscape, above the scrub plants.</p><p></p><p>“Lucius... wake everyone up! What is that?” she asked, pointing at two hunched over figures that were approaching the party’s fire. As they came closer, she could make out roughly humanoid forms that were hunched close to the ground, with spines running down their backs. If it had been daylight, she would have seen that they were a mottled mix of grey, brown and purple in color, with hungry eyes. Even as she drew her bow to issue her challenge, they started to run.</p><p></p><p>The party by now was awake, and hurriedly armed. Grumki charged towards one of the creatures, but as the party watched in horror, the half orc suddenly stopped, hanging in the air like a thin breeze just after his warhammer connected. His mind had been smashed by a <em>mind blast</em> from the braxat to his front... a momentarily paralysis that would last only fifteen seconds... long enough he’d miss the rest of the battle.</p><p></p><p>The rest of the party launched a furious blast of fire and spell on the two creatures as Siabrey and Lucius both charged forward, swords drawn. Siabrey slashed into the 1st creature as Tess’ <em>songstrike</em> slashed into the second for a massive amount of damage. Both behemoths came nonetheless, like an unstoppable horde.</p><p></p><p>A bright flash from behind the party bathed them and the fierce creatures in an unearthly blue light, and as a shocked and somewhat blinded Pellaron ran forward, the moon and stars above illuminated the massive form of a now angry silver dragon silhoutted against the night sky. Xaandu stepped <em>over</em> Pellaron with ease, and with a bat of his massive claws, sent the fist braxat tumbling to the ground. Across the steppe then echoed an enormous thundering roar, sounding like ten thousand lions and ten thousand crocodiles rumbling as one.</p><p></p><p>Tess immediately launched another musical assault on the downed braxat, and the creature shuddered and then exploded into pieces... the gore only covering the massive dragon’s left foot. Xanadu’s enormous head then lowered, and with a soft (for a 200 foot long dragon) bite, he grabbed the second braxat and carried him skyward. Beyond the view of hte party int he night sky, the dragon shook his head viciously, and while one half of the hapless creature fell to the ground next to Siabrey, the other flew several hundred feet to the left.</p><p></p><p>As the party stood in shock, there was another blue flash, and suddenly, quite nude, their old friend Xanadu stood before them. Normally he would be desperately hiding himself and demanding a cloak, but now, something else occupied his mind, as he spat viciously on the ground, and started hacking and coughing.</p><p></p><p>“Those things taste <em>awful!</em>" he complained, as Tess finally reacted, handing him her canteen. Her thanked her wheezily, and gulped down some water which he swished about his mouth, and then spat on the ground. “Gah!” he complained, “I forgot the bad taste they leave in my mouth! What?” he looked around, finally realizes his show. </p><p></p><p><em>Hmm... not to bad for a 700 year old half elf,</em> Tess and Siabrey both thought appraisingly, as the men of the group covered their eyes. Hands hurriedly shifted position, and quickly Lucius handed the elf his cloak and clothing while staring the other direction.</p><p></p><p>“Sorry for the full... um.. display,” Xanadu hurriedly apologized.</p><p></p><p>“That’s no problem! Xanadu, you were amazing out there!” Siabrey said with pride, clapping her hand on his shoulder, “and as for your ‘show,’ I don’t think any of us ladies minded!” She gave a wink to him along with a smile, and noticed Elenya and Tess doing the same. <em>The old curmudgeon actually looked rather... young... aside from his face...</em></p><p></p><p>Scowls came burrowing down from Shaun and Lucius, which prompted Elenya, Siabrey and Tess to laugh as the night calmed back down to normal. Satisfied that their men had been annoyed, Siabrey and Elenya then set about planning the watch for the night...</p><p></p><p>“Hey Xanny, what were these things?”</p><p></p><p>Relieved to have something to focus on besides the fact that he had just flashed all of his friends (and they seemed to have liked it!), he furrowed his brow and frowned at the creatures.</p><p></p><p>“They are braxats... one of the bad creatures of the desert... I am not sure, however, why they are so far out from the deep desert....” His eyes grew unfocused as he stared off into space.</p><p></p><p><em>Oh great, he’s spacing out again. Why does he keep doing that?</em> “Xanny?” Siabrey waved her hand in front of the half-elf’s face. “Xanadu?” He blinked and gave Siabrey a sour look, which she let roll off her like butter off her katana.</p><p></p><p>“Alright Xanadu, what’s up. You’ve been going all weird on us all week.”</p><p></p><p>Xanadu gave a small sigh. “I cannot tell you, my friends. Suffice to say that I may have to leave you sometime later on.”</p><p></p><p>“Leave us!” Tess wasn’t the only one to shout in shock. Siabrey shook her head, as if denying the half-elf’s words.</p><p></p><p>“You can’t leave us, Xanny, we need you. We would have been chopped braxat tonight if you hadn’t gone all draconic.”</p><p></p><p>Xanadu smiled that soft half-smile he usually reserved for when one of them said something really witty. “You will be alright on your own. I have faith in you all.” He drew his cloak tighter around himself. “Now then, perhaps we had better return to our sleep? We reach Obash tomorrow.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emperor Valerian, post: 1378663, member: 15043"] Second part of the adventure on Friday the Thirteenth: [b]The Desert... and Xanadu sees Action in Battle[/b] It was several days later, and as the terrain around them shifted from wide forests to sparse plains, questions and confusion continued to rise in Siabrey's mind. [i]The desert,[/i] Siabrey’s mind thought in a daze. [i]I might see one of those desert demons,[/i] she thought, and her heart leapt slightly at the thought. A distant, unthought question hung in the dark recesses of her mind, however... a question she wasn’t sure if she wanted to answer. [i]Is my father out there?[/i] Troubling her mind also was the continued fallout from Lucius’ half statement a few days ago... her mind had finally recognized that it was nothing less than a pseudo-proposal... [i]A handsome, smart, funny guy wants to marry ME?[/i] was the thought that dominated her brain every time she reflected on it. Her instinctive first reaction was to assume she had been dreaming, until the smile directed at her from his face told her otherwise. [i]The desert, Lucius, an army behind us... what next?[/i] her mind thought. To keep the chattering of her wandering mind down, she trotted up beside Xanadu, who was back in half-elf form, and decided to ask him some questions that had been bothering her. “Xanadu?” she asked above the horses’ canter, “What’s in the desert? What kind of creatures?” Xanadu broke his seeming blank stare towards the horizon, and gave her a smile. “Well, my dear,” he began in his best rendition of a tutor’s voice, “the desert is just like any other terrain, in many ways. It has its own flora and fauna... some are good, some are ambivalent, and some are bad.” “Like?” Siabrey asked, pressing for more. “Well, you have us dragons, for example. There are others like me in the desert... none as old, sadly,” he sighed, “but there are others. Most of us are good, some of us are unfortuantely bad. Then there’s the siabrie...” “There’s siabrie in this desert!?” Siabrey asked hurriedly, grabbing Xanadu by his arm. “Yes, yes, there are!” he says with a small huff, until he realizes why she reacted that way. “Oh... I... I understand now. Yes... your father is somewhere in that desert... your father was Kelir, right?” “Y...yes,” Siabrey said rather shakily. [i]My father is there!?[/i] “I met him... long long ago. I told you this already, correct?” Siabrey nodded uncertainly, while Xanadu smiled and continued. “With siabrie, it depends on which one you meet. Your father was a lordly and kind creature, one who was open to reason and discussion, capable of love and compassion, even if he preferred most of the time staying to himself in the deep desert. Some, like a younger one I know named Malthasar, are rampaging and destructive. Some, like one in this desert named Haran, are just... strange.” “Then there are the bad things. Most of the desert peoples are like peoples everywhere... warm, compassionate, caring. But there are some that are intolerant, xenophobic, even evil...” [i]What the heck is xenophobic?[/i] Siabrey’s mind asked. She hated when Xanadu used words that likely no one outside the Royal Academy of Magic knew or understood. “...so in short, we might get help, but there’s forces out there, not affiliated with the Countess, that might be dangerous too?” “Yes,” Xanadu said, suddenly gazing off into space, “yes... I am... Oh... sorry!” he suddenly snapped back from his distant gaze. [i]Something’s worrying him,[/i] Siabrey thought. “What’s wrong, Xanny?” she asked, using her pet nickname for the dragon. He gave a distant, partial smile, before shaking his head slowly. [i]You’re lying, Xanny... but you’ll tell us when the time comes... I trust you...[/i] A few hours later the party set up camp, and quickly the tired party members dozed off. Little of note happened on first and second watches, but on third watch, the story was different... Siabrey had decided to take watch with Lucius that night, and the two had managed to keep their self control intact, and merely contented themselves with watching the woods, quietly whispering sweet nothings to each other even as their eyes scanned for danger. It was Siabrey that first noticed with her darkvision a figure off in the distance across the thinned landscape, above the scrub plants. “Lucius... wake everyone up! What is that?” she asked, pointing at two hunched over figures that were approaching the party’s fire. As they came closer, she could make out roughly humanoid forms that were hunched close to the ground, with spines running down their backs. If it had been daylight, she would have seen that they were a mottled mix of grey, brown and purple in color, with hungry eyes. Even as she drew her bow to issue her challenge, they started to run. The party by now was awake, and hurriedly armed. Grumki charged towards one of the creatures, but as the party watched in horror, the half orc suddenly stopped, hanging in the air like a thin breeze just after his warhammer connected. His mind had been smashed by a [i]mind blast[/i] from the braxat to his front... a momentarily paralysis that would last only fifteen seconds... long enough he’d miss the rest of the battle. The rest of the party launched a furious blast of fire and spell on the two creatures as Siabrey and Lucius both charged forward, swords drawn. Siabrey slashed into the 1st creature as Tess’ [i]songstrike[/i] slashed into the second for a massive amount of damage. Both behemoths came nonetheless, like an unstoppable horde. A bright flash from behind the party bathed them and the fierce creatures in an unearthly blue light, and as a shocked and somewhat blinded Pellaron ran forward, the moon and stars above illuminated the massive form of a now angry silver dragon silhoutted against the night sky. Xaandu stepped [i]over[/i] Pellaron with ease, and with a bat of his massive claws, sent the fist braxat tumbling to the ground. Across the steppe then echoed an enormous thundering roar, sounding like ten thousand lions and ten thousand crocodiles rumbling as one. Tess immediately launched another musical assault on the downed braxat, and the creature shuddered and then exploded into pieces... the gore only covering the massive dragon’s left foot. Xanadu’s enormous head then lowered, and with a soft (for a 200 foot long dragon) bite, he grabbed the second braxat and carried him skyward. Beyond the view of hte party int he night sky, the dragon shook his head viciously, and while one half of the hapless creature fell to the ground next to Siabrey, the other flew several hundred feet to the left. As the party stood in shock, there was another blue flash, and suddenly, quite nude, their old friend Xanadu stood before them. Normally he would be desperately hiding himself and demanding a cloak, but now, something else occupied his mind, as he spat viciously on the ground, and started hacking and coughing. “Those things taste [i]awful![/i]" he complained, as Tess finally reacted, handing him her canteen. Her thanked her wheezily, and gulped down some water which he swished about his mouth, and then spat on the ground. “Gah!” he complained, “I forgot the bad taste they leave in my mouth! What?” he looked around, finally realizes his show. [i]Hmm... not to bad for a 700 year old half elf,[/i] Tess and Siabrey both thought appraisingly, as the men of the group covered their eyes. Hands hurriedly shifted position, and quickly Lucius handed the elf his cloak and clothing while staring the other direction. “Sorry for the full... um.. display,” Xanadu hurriedly apologized. “That’s no problem! Xanadu, you were amazing out there!” Siabrey said with pride, clapping her hand on his shoulder, “and as for your ‘show,’ I don’t think any of us ladies minded!” She gave a wink to him along with a smile, and noticed Elenya and Tess doing the same. [i]The old curmudgeon actually looked rather... young... aside from his face...[/i] Scowls came burrowing down from Shaun and Lucius, which prompted Elenya, Siabrey and Tess to laugh as the night calmed back down to normal. Satisfied that their men had been annoyed, Siabrey and Elenya then set about planning the watch for the night... “Hey Xanny, what were these things?” Relieved to have something to focus on besides the fact that he had just flashed all of his friends (and they seemed to have liked it!), he furrowed his brow and frowned at the creatures. “They are braxats... one of the bad creatures of the desert... I am not sure, however, why they are so far out from the deep desert....” His eyes grew unfocused as he stared off into space. [I]Oh great, he’s spacing out again. Why does he keep doing that?[/I] “Xanny?” Siabrey waved her hand in front of the half-elf’s face. “Xanadu?” He blinked and gave Siabrey a sour look, which she let roll off her like butter off her katana. “Alright Xanadu, what’s up. You’ve been going all weird on us all week.” Xanadu gave a small sigh. “I cannot tell you, my friends. Suffice to say that I may have to leave you sometime later on.” “Leave us!” Tess wasn’t the only one to shout in shock. Siabrey shook her head, as if denying the half-elf’s words. “You can’t leave us, Xanny, we need you. We would have been chopped braxat tonight if you hadn’t gone all draconic.” Xanadu smiled that soft half-smile he usually reserved for when one of them said something really witty. “You will be alright on your own. I have faith in you all.” He drew his cloak tighter around himself. “Now then, perhaps we had better return to our sleep? We reach Obash tomorrow.” [/QUOTE]
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