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<blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 5589096" data-attributes="member: 9546"><p>Selena was right. As the companions travelled the paths of Thousandbreaths, they lost all concept of time. The paths they walked varied from narrow and overgrown with thorns, to wreathed with strange flowers that seemed to writhe and moved on their own, and exuded a poisonous gas that brought on hallucinations if inhaled for too long. Yet another narrow trail was littered with bloated animal carcasses, while a wide, grassy path was lined with statues of curious creatures that were at once human and animal. The trees had an unsettlingly fleshy look, with parts of people woven or grafted into them, some of which spoke nonsense to the companions as they passed. They did, at one point, try and fly above the tree line, only to find that it always seem to extend just above them no matter how high they flew. When they would finally have to stop and rest, their dreams were troubled with nightmares, all overshadowed by the great black bird. With Selena’s advice on how to drive the rook off, however, none of the dreams followed them back into the waking world.</p><p></p><p>Periodically, the group would come upon another glade, and much like the first they’d encountered, each seemed to mirror one of the blooms that had manifested in Kardashia. In one they found a frozen, oversized graveyard with tombstones over ten-feet tall. There they battled a massive, four-limbed frost giant armed with a quartet of razor-sharp axes. Though enraged and fearsome to behold, his threat was greatly lessened once Velox simultaneously disarmed him of all his weapons. Another glade was a foul-smelling marsh, over a mile across, and infested by the gargantuan, blood-red mire worms that the heroes had encountered in the bloom in Hooktongue Slough. Still the companions trudged onward through the seemingly endless First World forest.</p><p>_____________________________________________________</p><p></p><p>A mile-wide clearing in the vast forest opened under the twilight sky to make way for a field of jagged hills and thorny plains. A single stone spire rose like a needle nearly a mile skyward…and perched atop it was what appeared to be an immense but motionless crow.</p><p>“That’s it…,” Selena whispered to her friends. “The Nightmare Rook.”</p><p>As if it heard her speak, the great bird turned its head towards them and spread its mighty wings.</p><p>“It’s now or never,” Velox intoned, his eyes glazing over. </p><p>The oracle placed a hand on both Davrim’s and Stevhan’s shoulders. His golden helm flashed brilliantly, and the trio vanished. The others stood dumbstruck. All they could see was the rook. If their friends were atop the spire with it, they were much too far to be viewed. The crow’s wings remained spread, but it did not take flight. Instead it moved with frantic jerks, darting its head downward in violent thrusts. Suddenly, an eerie cry, almost human in its misery, echoed across the glade. There was a blinding flash from the spire’s peak, and then the mighty rook, as if in slow motion, tumbled from the peak, seeming to fall for an eternity before it finally crashed to the ground, unmoving. A moment later the three warriors reappeared, battered and bleeding. Stevhan gripped Briar tightly, and the sword pulsed with power.</p><p>“I think we’ll be sleeping a bit more peacefully from now on,” the ranger said.</p><p>_______________________________________________________</p><p></p><p>A day later (or so it seemed), the forest opened into a narrow clearing surrounded by bent, extremely broad trees. At the center of the clearing rose a strange sight…what appeared to be two dozen different houses tangled together in a semi-organized mess, forming a conglomerate building where right angles seemed unwelcome. The smoke that rose from a few of the house’s chimneys indicated that the strange structure was not abandoned. A tangled yard filled with bristly vines and thorns surrounded the cottage. An ebony-skinned hag sat rocking in a large chair on the sagging front porch of the structure, watching the approaching companions through hooded eyes.</p><p></p><p>“Don’t get many visitors these days,” the old crone cackled in greeting.</p><p>“Who are you?” Velox asked cautiously. “Are you an ally of Nyrissa?”</p><p>“So forward!” the witch laughed. “As for who I am, well that’s a long story, but you can call me the Knurly Witch. As for Nyrissa, yes, I suppose you could say we’re allies.”</p><p>“Then you are our enemy!” the oracle cried, drawing his sword as he started forward.</p><p>“Now, now,” the hag said as she rose to her feet. As she did so, her true stature was made evident. She stood well over ten-feet tall, and her nails were as long as claws. Her filed teeth glinted like steel. </p><p>“Let’s not be hasty. Do you think I’d still be alive and living here if I were Nyrissa’s enemy? It’s not like she gave me much of a choice…death, or join her cause. The decision seemed obvious at the time. Why don’t you come inside and have tea with me? We can talk more, and after, if you still feel like killing me, well then I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”</p><p>Without waiting for a response, the Knurly Witch turned and went into the house. Velox turned to Mox and raised his eyebrow questioningly.</p><p>“Go ahead,” the Queen nodded. “I’ll stay out here with Reggie. Scream if you need us.”</p><p>“I’ll be waitin’ out here to,” Tungdill folded his arms. “I ain’t one to be trustin’ witches…present company excepted.” He nodded at Selena.</p><p></p><p>Velox, Davrim, Stevhan and Selena made their way up the rickety steps and walked into the house. The interior was just as disorienting as the outside. </p><p>“In here, dearies!” the witch called from the kitchen.</p><p>They cautiously stepped in, only to find cups set out for them filled with a vile-smelling, semi-solid concoction. </p><p>“Now then,” the witch said as she sipped at her own cup. “What brings you folk so far from home?”</p><p>“We’re here to kill Nyrissa,” Velox said flatly. “Will you tell us where to find her?”</p><p>“She lives in the House at the Edge of Time,” the witch shrugged. “Shouldn’t be hard to find, but tell me, what is your grievance with the Queen?”</p><p>“She’s invaded our country,” Velox replied. “Her motives are unknown to us, but that’s beside the point. She has declared war against us, and we are answering in kind.”</p><p>“Fascinating,” the hag said distractedly. </p><p>“You don’t seem concerned that we’re going to kill your queen,” Davrim said angrily.</p><p>“Do you think you’re the first to come hunting Nyrissa?” the hag asked. “Do you think yours is the first land she’s invaded? No, and it certainly won’t be the last. You’re throwing your lives away. Why not go back to your world and then find a new country to live in? Believe me, it would be much easier.”</p><p>“That’s not going to happen,” Stevhan growled. </p><p>“If you’re not going to help us,” Velox added, “then you’re wasting our time.”</p><p>The witch waved her hand dismissively. “What can I tell you that you don’t already know? That she’s a fierce warrior who wields a scythe like a dervish? That before you ever reach her home you’ll have to face Ilthuliak, one of the most feared of the legendary great wyrms? You mortals are tiresome and tedious. You’re right, you’d probably best be on your way, but before you go, there’s something I’d like to show you.”</p><p>She turned to a cauldron bubbling over the hearth and began mumbling to herself.</p><p>“I warn you, witch,” Velox snapped, “if you are conjuring any of your foul magic, I will kill you where you stand!”</p><p>The hag ignored him and continued her incantation. The smoke from the cauldron began to swirl and coalesce into two massive shapes, and an instant later, two coal-black, hulking behemoths stood behind the companions. Velox whirled instinctively towards them, but as he turned, the witch laid one hand upon his shoulder. In that instant, his whole body was wracked by agony as ebony energy coursed through him. </p><p>“If you can’t even face me, boy,” the hag sneered, “what hope have you against the Queen?”</p><p>As his muscles began to feel like liquid, one of the conjured elementals slammed into Velox, sending him smashing through a flimsy wall. Unfortunately for the Knurly Witch, this left an opening through which Davrim and Stevhan plunged. The inquisitor’s blade was blinding in its speed. The witch was struck multiple times before she could react. She was spun completely around, and as her hands flew up to ward off further blows, Davrim lopped off three of her fingers. She screamed, black blood fountaining from the severed stumps, and as she reeled backwards, Stevhan drove Briar through her shriveled heart. She collapsed into her own cauldron, and her elementals vanished in puffs of acrid black smoke.</p><p></p><p>“What happened in there?” Mox asked as her companions carried Velox back out of the Knurly House.</p><p>“She wasn’t very forthcoming,” Davrim shrugged.</p><p>“And she made lousy tea,” Stevhan added.</p><p>___________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p></p><p>If the Knurly Witch was to be believed, then all roads through Thousandbreaths led to the House at the Edge of time. This left the companions little choice but to push on as they had been for the past several days. Three more glades they passed through, each with a new and deadlier threat. The first was a smallish clearing lit by ghastly yellow-green light that emanated from dozens of female human heads that hung by their hair from spikes on the edge of a towering beehive-shaped structure. The glow came from their empty eye sockets and gaping mouths, some of which seemed to be twitching and writhing as if in pain. Before the heroes had a chance to fully register the horror of what they were seeing, they were set upon by a half-dozen of the black-pelted smilodons they had encountered at Oleg’s post where they’d faced the barbarous troll. The companions managed to beat back the big cats with little problem, but the shock of the tableau that was the hive only served to impress upon them how fortunate they had been to rescue the young noble girl from the troll when they had.</p><p></p><p>The second glade was actually somewhat beautiful. A waterfall cascaded between two immense stone hands carved from the peak of a stony cliff, tumbling into a large pool. The pool was crystal clear, its shores thick with reeds and water-flowers of dazzling hue. A number of great trees hung over the water as though trying to protect it from something above. Several large leaves the size of small boats floated near the pool’s shore. Yet, like everything else they’d encountered in the woods, it was a façade that concealed only death. No sooner had they stepped into the clearing, than a pair of the largest owlbears they’d ever seen came flying at them out of the trees. Yes…flying! The gargantuan creatures had feathered wings sprouting from their backs, and they, like the rest of the creatures, were coal black. Yet, for all their size and ferocity, Davrim and Stevhan managed to take one of them down solely with their bows, while Reggie, at Mox’s command, flew into the air to meet the second. The two beasts grappled in the sky for several savage moments before plummeting into the pool. Only Reggie emerged.</p><p></p><p>The third glade consisted of a thirty-foot high brick wall that encircled a large clearing. Within, the riot of growth continued, but as a tangle of mushrooms and fungus rather than actual leafy plants. Bulbs of brightly colored fruits the size of a man’s head hung from or grew on the trunks of many of the mushrooms, many of which twitched and pulsed as if something within were attempting to escape. The thing that immediately caught the attention of the companions, however, was the hideous, infantile mewling that filled the glade. They immediately thought of the savage mandragoras swarms they had encountered in the bloom in Kardashia. They weren’t disappointed. Hundreds upon hundreds of the horrid little creatures came out of the undergrowth, but instead of attacking, they began climbing over each other, quickly building their mass up and spreading their malleable bodies apart and together until they’d formed a single, forty-foot-tall mandragora! It took the combined magic of Selena, Mox and Velox to bring the hulking thing down, but the heroes were forced to flee the glade as thousands more of the mandragoras closed in on them from the fungi forest.</p><p> __________________________________________________________</p><p> </p><p></p><p>The final glade that the companions came to (though they did not know it was the last) consisted of a grassy field in which thousands of stone statues lay crumbled. At the center of the clearing rose a low but strangely round hill, atop which rose a three-hundred-foot high tower of white stone with a peak consisting of three conical rooftops. An immense archway gaped at the base of the tower, wide and tall enough for a pair of elephants to walk through side by side. The hill and structure stood before a single path that led out of the glade into the forest once more, almost like a gatehouse of some sort. Even before the heroes lifted their eyes towards the top of the spire, they knew what they would see there, for they had seen the same vision when the First World army had attacked Veritas. And there she was…Ilthuliak, the great black wyrm, already winging her way towards them.</p><p></p><p>As the dragon drew near, a cloud of mist began to form around the companions. Within seconds, it had grown to a large fog blank which completely enveloped them, and constricted around them, almost as if it were semi-solid. Worse, as the misty tendrils touched their skin, it began to burn like acid. </p><p>“Everyone scatter!” Mox shouted into the mist. “Don’t stay bunched together! We’re sitting ducks!”</p><p>Her allies didn’t need to be told twice. They all remembered when Reggie had still been alive, and had trapped them in the middle of a small, acid lake. One after another they emerged from the fog, only to see the wyrm hovering above them, her wings beating like a cyclone. Selena raised her hands above her head and a column of white fire roared into the sky, but Ilthuliak moved like a coiled serpent, wheeling away from the flames without so much as a singe. Mox sent a barrage of arcane bolts towards her, but they bounced harmlessly off her ebony scales. Cursing, she turned to Reggie and commanded him into the air. The undead dragon flapped his wings clumsily and rose towards Ilthuliak, yet though he was equal in size to the female wyrm, he was no longer the dragon he used to be. His rotting teeth bit down upon her neck, but broke off as if he’d bitten iron. Ilthuliak snorted in disgust and batted the zombie away from her like a bothersome insect. </p><p></p><p>From the ground below, Velox saw the futility of their attacks. As long as Ilthuliak stayed aloft, they would be easy prey. He had to take the attack to her. He closed his eyes and felt Iomedae’s power fill him. A pair of feathered white wings sprouted from his back and his golden helmet flashed. An instant later, he was beside the great wyrm, eye to eye. She roared, and her hot, fetid breath filled his nostrils. Her teeth snapped down on his thigh, holding him in place, and her clawed fingers moved as if she were casting a spell. A moment later, three scorching tendrils of flame struck his chest, setting his tunic ablaze. Her other claw came slashing across him, sending him tumbling away, but not before her tail slapped at him like a mighty tentacle. The oracle’s wings extended and he managed to right himself, but not Ilthuliak sent another blast of magic at him, causing him to feel his muscles weaken and his strength ebb. Still, not for nothing had Velox been chosen by Iomedae as her divine vessel. He took a moment to gather himself, and the dove towards the wyrm, his sword blazing with holy fire. The dragon struck at him, but the oracle seemed to move in a blur of speed. His blade swept across her foreleg, opening a deep gash. She drew away, but before she could get clear, Velox struck again…and again! He nearly severed one of her wings with one strike, and with the next, the sheer force of his blow sent Ilthuliak tumbling away from him. She shrieked in pain and fear as Velox drove at her again and buried his sword in her throat. She spun almost lazily to the ground as she died, and just like that, the way to the House at the Edge of Time lay open.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JollyDoc, post: 5589096, member: 9546"] Selena was right. As the companions travelled the paths of Thousandbreaths, they lost all concept of time. The paths they walked varied from narrow and overgrown with thorns, to wreathed with strange flowers that seemed to writhe and moved on their own, and exuded a poisonous gas that brought on hallucinations if inhaled for too long. Yet another narrow trail was littered with bloated animal carcasses, while a wide, grassy path was lined with statues of curious creatures that were at once human and animal. The trees had an unsettlingly fleshy look, with parts of people woven or grafted into them, some of which spoke nonsense to the companions as they passed. They did, at one point, try and fly above the tree line, only to find that it always seem to extend just above them no matter how high they flew. When they would finally have to stop and rest, their dreams were troubled with nightmares, all overshadowed by the great black bird. With Selena’s advice on how to drive the rook off, however, none of the dreams followed them back into the waking world. Periodically, the group would come upon another glade, and much like the first they’d encountered, each seemed to mirror one of the blooms that had manifested in Kardashia. In one they found a frozen, oversized graveyard with tombstones over ten-feet tall. There they battled a massive, four-limbed frost giant armed with a quartet of razor-sharp axes. Though enraged and fearsome to behold, his threat was greatly lessened once Velox simultaneously disarmed him of all his weapons. Another glade was a foul-smelling marsh, over a mile across, and infested by the gargantuan, blood-red mire worms that the heroes had encountered in the bloom in Hooktongue Slough. Still the companions trudged onward through the seemingly endless First World forest. _____________________________________________________ A mile-wide clearing in the vast forest opened under the twilight sky to make way for a field of jagged hills and thorny plains. A single stone spire rose like a needle nearly a mile skyward…and perched atop it was what appeared to be an immense but motionless crow. “That’s it…,” Selena whispered to her friends. “The Nightmare Rook.” As if it heard her speak, the great bird turned its head towards them and spread its mighty wings. “It’s now or never,” Velox intoned, his eyes glazing over. The oracle placed a hand on both Davrim’s and Stevhan’s shoulders. His golden helm flashed brilliantly, and the trio vanished. The others stood dumbstruck. All they could see was the rook. If their friends were atop the spire with it, they were much too far to be viewed. The crow’s wings remained spread, but it did not take flight. Instead it moved with frantic jerks, darting its head downward in violent thrusts. Suddenly, an eerie cry, almost human in its misery, echoed across the glade. There was a blinding flash from the spire’s peak, and then the mighty rook, as if in slow motion, tumbled from the peak, seeming to fall for an eternity before it finally crashed to the ground, unmoving. A moment later the three warriors reappeared, battered and bleeding. Stevhan gripped Briar tightly, and the sword pulsed with power. “I think we’ll be sleeping a bit more peacefully from now on,” the ranger said. _______________________________________________________ A day later (or so it seemed), the forest opened into a narrow clearing surrounded by bent, extremely broad trees. At the center of the clearing rose a strange sight…what appeared to be two dozen different houses tangled together in a semi-organized mess, forming a conglomerate building where right angles seemed unwelcome. The smoke that rose from a few of the house’s chimneys indicated that the strange structure was not abandoned. A tangled yard filled with bristly vines and thorns surrounded the cottage. An ebony-skinned hag sat rocking in a large chair on the sagging front porch of the structure, watching the approaching companions through hooded eyes. “Don’t get many visitors these days,” the old crone cackled in greeting. “Who are you?” Velox asked cautiously. “Are you an ally of Nyrissa?” “So forward!” the witch laughed. “As for who I am, well that’s a long story, but you can call me the Knurly Witch. As for Nyrissa, yes, I suppose you could say we’re allies.” “Then you are our enemy!” the oracle cried, drawing his sword as he started forward. “Now, now,” the hag said as she rose to her feet. As she did so, her true stature was made evident. She stood well over ten-feet tall, and her nails were as long as claws. Her filed teeth glinted like steel. “Let’s not be hasty. Do you think I’d still be alive and living here if I were Nyrissa’s enemy? It’s not like she gave me much of a choice…death, or join her cause. The decision seemed obvious at the time. Why don’t you come inside and have tea with me? We can talk more, and after, if you still feel like killing me, well then I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Without waiting for a response, the Knurly Witch turned and went into the house. Velox turned to Mox and raised his eyebrow questioningly. “Go ahead,” the Queen nodded. “I’ll stay out here with Reggie. Scream if you need us.” “I’ll be waitin’ out here to,” Tungdill folded his arms. “I ain’t one to be trustin’ witches…present company excepted.” He nodded at Selena. Velox, Davrim, Stevhan and Selena made their way up the rickety steps and walked into the house. The interior was just as disorienting as the outside. “In here, dearies!” the witch called from the kitchen. They cautiously stepped in, only to find cups set out for them filled with a vile-smelling, semi-solid concoction. “Now then,” the witch said as she sipped at her own cup. “What brings you folk so far from home?” “We’re here to kill Nyrissa,” Velox said flatly. “Will you tell us where to find her?” “She lives in the House at the Edge of Time,” the witch shrugged. “Shouldn’t be hard to find, but tell me, what is your grievance with the Queen?” “She’s invaded our country,” Velox replied. “Her motives are unknown to us, but that’s beside the point. She has declared war against us, and we are answering in kind.” “Fascinating,” the hag said distractedly. “You don’t seem concerned that we’re going to kill your queen,” Davrim said angrily. “Do you think you’re the first to come hunting Nyrissa?” the hag asked. “Do you think yours is the first land she’s invaded? No, and it certainly won’t be the last. You’re throwing your lives away. Why not go back to your world and then find a new country to live in? Believe me, it would be much easier.” “That’s not going to happen,” Stevhan growled. “If you’re not going to help us,” Velox added, “then you’re wasting our time.” The witch waved her hand dismissively. “What can I tell you that you don’t already know? That she’s a fierce warrior who wields a scythe like a dervish? That before you ever reach her home you’ll have to face Ilthuliak, one of the most feared of the legendary great wyrms? You mortals are tiresome and tedious. You’re right, you’d probably best be on your way, but before you go, there’s something I’d like to show you.” She turned to a cauldron bubbling over the hearth and began mumbling to herself. “I warn you, witch,” Velox snapped, “if you are conjuring any of your foul magic, I will kill you where you stand!” The hag ignored him and continued her incantation. The smoke from the cauldron began to swirl and coalesce into two massive shapes, and an instant later, two coal-black, hulking behemoths stood behind the companions. Velox whirled instinctively towards them, but as he turned, the witch laid one hand upon his shoulder. In that instant, his whole body was wracked by agony as ebony energy coursed through him. “If you can’t even face me, boy,” the hag sneered, “what hope have you against the Queen?” As his muscles began to feel like liquid, one of the conjured elementals slammed into Velox, sending him smashing through a flimsy wall. Unfortunately for the Knurly Witch, this left an opening through which Davrim and Stevhan plunged. The inquisitor’s blade was blinding in its speed. The witch was struck multiple times before she could react. She was spun completely around, and as her hands flew up to ward off further blows, Davrim lopped off three of her fingers. She screamed, black blood fountaining from the severed stumps, and as she reeled backwards, Stevhan drove Briar through her shriveled heart. She collapsed into her own cauldron, and her elementals vanished in puffs of acrid black smoke. “What happened in there?” Mox asked as her companions carried Velox back out of the Knurly House. “She wasn’t very forthcoming,” Davrim shrugged. “And she made lousy tea,” Stevhan added. ___________________________________________________________ If the Knurly Witch was to be believed, then all roads through Thousandbreaths led to the House at the Edge of time. This left the companions little choice but to push on as they had been for the past several days. Three more glades they passed through, each with a new and deadlier threat. The first was a smallish clearing lit by ghastly yellow-green light that emanated from dozens of female human heads that hung by their hair from spikes on the edge of a towering beehive-shaped structure. The glow came from their empty eye sockets and gaping mouths, some of which seemed to be twitching and writhing as if in pain. Before the heroes had a chance to fully register the horror of what they were seeing, they were set upon by a half-dozen of the black-pelted smilodons they had encountered at Oleg’s post where they’d faced the barbarous troll. The companions managed to beat back the big cats with little problem, but the shock of the tableau that was the hive only served to impress upon them how fortunate they had been to rescue the young noble girl from the troll when they had. The second glade was actually somewhat beautiful. A waterfall cascaded between two immense stone hands carved from the peak of a stony cliff, tumbling into a large pool. The pool was crystal clear, its shores thick with reeds and water-flowers of dazzling hue. A number of great trees hung over the water as though trying to protect it from something above. Several large leaves the size of small boats floated near the pool’s shore. Yet, like everything else they’d encountered in the woods, it was a façade that concealed only death. No sooner had they stepped into the clearing, than a pair of the largest owlbears they’d ever seen came flying at them out of the trees. Yes…flying! The gargantuan creatures had feathered wings sprouting from their backs, and they, like the rest of the creatures, were coal black. Yet, for all their size and ferocity, Davrim and Stevhan managed to take one of them down solely with their bows, while Reggie, at Mox’s command, flew into the air to meet the second. The two beasts grappled in the sky for several savage moments before plummeting into the pool. Only Reggie emerged. The third glade consisted of a thirty-foot high brick wall that encircled a large clearing. Within, the riot of growth continued, but as a tangle of mushrooms and fungus rather than actual leafy plants. Bulbs of brightly colored fruits the size of a man’s head hung from or grew on the trunks of many of the mushrooms, many of which twitched and pulsed as if something within were attempting to escape. The thing that immediately caught the attention of the companions, however, was the hideous, infantile mewling that filled the glade. They immediately thought of the savage mandragoras swarms they had encountered in the bloom in Kardashia. They weren’t disappointed. Hundreds upon hundreds of the horrid little creatures came out of the undergrowth, but instead of attacking, they began climbing over each other, quickly building their mass up and spreading their malleable bodies apart and together until they’d formed a single, forty-foot-tall mandragora! It took the combined magic of Selena, Mox and Velox to bring the hulking thing down, but the heroes were forced to flee the glade as thousands more of the mandragoras closed in on them from the fungi forest. __________________________________________________________ The final glade that the companions came to (though they did not know it was the last) consisted of a grassy field in which thousands of stone statues lay crumbled. At the center of the clearing rose a low but strangely round hill, atop which rose a three-hundred-foot high tower of white stone with a peak consisting of three conical rooftops. An immense archway gaped at the base of the tower, wide and tall enough for a pair of elephants to walk through side by side. The hill and structure stood before a single path that led out of the glade into the forest once more, almost like a gatehouse of some sort. Even before the heroes lifted their eyes towards the top of the spire, they knew what they would see there, for they had seen the same vision when the First World army had attacked Veritas. And there she was…Ilthuliak, the great black wyrm, already winging her way towards them. As the dragon drew near, a cloud of mist began to form around the companions. Within seconds, it had grown to a large fog blank which completely enveloped them, and constricted around them, almost as if it were semi-solid. Worse, as the misty tendrils touched their skin, it began to burn like acid. “Everyone scatter!” Mox shouted into the mist. “Don’t stay bunched together! We’re sitting ducks!” Her allies didn’t need to be told twice. They all remembered when Reggie had still been alive, and had trapped them in the middle of a small, acid lake. One after another they emerged from the fog, only to see the wyrm hovering above them, her wings beating like a cyclone. Selena raised her hands above her head and a column of white fire roared into the sky, but Ilthuliak moved like a coiled serpent, wheeling away from the flames without so much as a singe. Mox sent a barrage of arcane bolts towards her, but they bounced harmlessly off her ebony scales. Cursing, she turned to Reggie and commanded him into the air. The undead dragon flapped his wings clumsily and rose towards Ilthuliak, yet though he was equal in size to the female wyrm, he was no longer the dragon he used to be. His rotting teeth bit down upon her neck, but broke off as if he’d bitten iron. Ilthuliak snorted in disgust and batted the zombie away from her like a bothersome insect. From the ground below, Velox saw the futility of their attacks. As long as Ilthuliak stayed aloft, they would be easy prey. He had to take the attack to her. He closed his eyes and felt Iomedae’s power fill him. A pair of feathered white wings sprouted from his back and his golden helmet flashed. An instant later, he was beside the great wyrm, eye to eye. She roared, and her hot, fetid breath filled his nostrils. Her teeth snapped down on his thigh, holding him in place, and her clawed fingers moved as if she were casting a spell. A moment later, three scorching tendrils of flame struck his chest, setting his tunic ablaze. Her other claw came slashing across him, sending him tumbling away, but not before her tail slapped at him like a mighty tentacle. The oracle’s wings extended and he managed to right himself, but not Ilthuliak sent another blast of magic at him, causing him to feel his muscles weaken and his strength ebb. Still, not for nothing had Velox been chosen by Iomedae as her divine vessel. He took a moment to gather himself, and the dove towards the wyrm, his sword blazing with holy fire. The dragon struck at him, but the oracle seemed to move in a blur of speed. His blade swept across her foreleg, opening a deep gash. She drew away, but before she could get clear, Velox struck again…and again! He nearly severed one of her wings with one strike, and with the next, the sheer force of his blow sent Ilthuliak tumbling away from him. She shrieked in pain and fear as Velox drove at her again and buried his sword in her throat. She spun almost lazily to the ground as she died, and just like that, the way to the House at the Edge of Time lay open. [/QUOTE]
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JollyDoc's Kingmaker-Updated 7/4/2011
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