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<blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 5601651" data-attributes="member: 9546"><p>QUEEN OF THE NIGHTTIME WORLD</p><p></p><p>“Is it over?” a small voice squeaked from behind the throne.</p><p>“You have one chance to show yourself,” Mox snarled, “before I melt that chair to slag and you with it!”</p><p>Cautiously, a small figure emerged from the shadows. It had thin, leathery wings, small horns, and seemed to be made of solidified water. </p><p>“What in the Hells are you supposed to be?” Tungdill growled.</p><p>“It’s a mephit,” Selena explained. “A water mephit, to be exact.”</p><p>“Who are you?” Mox demanded.</p><p>“Pludock,” the mephit chirped. </p><p>“Do you serve Nyrissa?” Mox asked.</p><p>Pludock looked around nervously.</p><p>“Shhhh!” he shushed. “She can hear us!”</p><p>“Where…is…she!?” Mox all but screamed.</p><p>Pludock gulped. “The Fable,” he whispered.</p><p>“And where would that be?” Mox pressed.</p><p>“I’d better not say,” the mephit gulped. Apparently he saw death waiting in Mox’s eyes, for he started babbling a moment later. “It’s a chamber high above that allows her to control everything in the House, and watch over every room! Oops!” </p><p>Pludock clamped his hands over his mouth, and his eyes grew wide. An instant later, he simply exploded.</p><p>“Guess he was tellin’ the truth,” Tungdill shrugged. </p><p>“Come on,” Mox snapped. “Let’s keep moving. He said she’s above. We’ll keep going up.”</p><p></p><p>________________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p>The companions made their way up the huge spiral staircase, and emerged into a huge and ornate chamber that had fallen into terrible decay. The ceiling was vaulted, with supports carved to resemble serpentine dragons holding great beams aloft. Seven statues of a beautiful woman holding a sword or posing in a seductive way stood against the walls, along with several chairs and tables. Two long tables with benches sat in the middle of the room astride a large marble statue of a snakelike dragon. No sooner had the group set foot in the room, however, than they were set upon by a pair of enormous two-legged dragons. They were wyverns, but their tongues were long and barbed. Their initial glee at seeing new prey literally walk into their lair was quickly replaced by panic when Mox assumed the form of a great red dragon. The battle didn’t last long once Stevhan added his bow, and Davrim and Velox flew into the air to engage the wyverns face-to-face.</p><p>___________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p>After that, Mox decided it was best if they split up to cover more territory. There were two exits from the great hall. Velox and Tungdill took one, while Davrim and Stevhan took the other. Selena and Mox stayed in the hall, to better assist whomever would inevitably get into trouble first. The oracle and the druid only found a series of empty guestrooms. The ranger and the inquisitor, however, found more than they bargained for. The door they chose gave onto a walkway overlooking the throne room below. A second door on the far side led to a suite of what seemed like private chambers. A beautiful woman stood with her back to the first door they opened. At first, Davrim thought they’d somehow stumbled directly into Nyrissa herself, but then the woman turned around. Her beauty was horribly marred by the fact that there were two gaping holes where her eyes should have been. Then, all of the other doors in the suite opened simultaneously, and seven more of the defaced women strode out into the hall. Nyrissa once counted these nymphs, for that was what they were, as her sisters and friends. Their beauty rivaled her own, but when Nyrissa suffered at the hands of the eldest, those eight did as well. Nyrissa had the Nightmare Rook pluck out their eyes. </p><p> </p><p>Despite that fact, the beauty of the nymphs was still such that those who gazed upon them ran the risk of being struck blind. Add to that the devastating magic the fey had at their command, and Nyrissa had chosen her personal bodyguards well. Before Davrim and Stevhan knew what was happening, the nymphs unleashed blast after blast of unholy fire. The warriors were driven back onto the bridge under the power of the onslaught, but then the draconic head of Mox drove through the far door and unleashed her own fiery apocalypse. Within moments, Selena, Velox and Tungdill had reunited with their allies, and the battle was joined in full. However, when Selena, Stevhan and Tungdill were all blinded by the nymphs’ beauty, all seemed lost. Tungdill quickly managed to heal his own affliction, and Velox blanketed the area in a fog cloud so that no one else would be afflicted, while Selena and Stevhan retreated to safety. Then Davrim and Velox went to work. The fey were not equal to the inquisitor and the oracle hand-to-hand, and in short order, several of them lay dead or dying. The rest fell to the combined power of Mox and Selena, once Tungdill had healed her as well, and a barrage of fire and lightning.</p><p>__________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p>After Tungdill dealt with Stevhan’s blindness, the companions set about exploring the suite of rooms the nymphs had been guarding. After all, if Nyrissa had left the chambers that well protected, there must be something there she didn’t want found. Tungdill and Selena walked from room to room searching for magical auras, only to be nearly overwhelmed by the power radiating from, of all things, a simple looking bed. </p><p>“This is some powerful conjuration,” Tungdill muttered. “Strongest I’ve ever seen. I think it’s a portal of some kind, or the link to one. Seems like…,” he bent to examine the bed more closely, “…ya have to picture…something…in yer head in order to activate it.”</p><p>“Picture what?” Mox asked.</p><p>“Umm…,” the dwarf actually blushed. “Ya know…doin’ somethin’ that ya would normally do…in a bed…with somebody else…ya know?”</p><p>“Yes, I think we get it,” Mox said. “Everyone gather around. Now focus the image in your minds…,”</p><p></p><p>A dizzying moment later, the companions found themselves somewhere else. It was another bedchamber, well appointed, and lit by ever burning torches. There was no way out.</p><p>“Where are we?” Davrim asked.</p><p>“Somewhere else,” Selena replied. “If I had to guess, I’d say we’re in some sort of pocket dimension. The mephit said that Nyrissa was ‘above.’ Perhaps this Fable he spoke of is not literally above, in an upper layer of the house, but figuratively.” </p><p>“Then where is Nyrissa?” Mox asked, exasperated.</p><p>The witch shrugged. “Not here, obviously, but pocket dimensions don’t work like normal space. This may be but one part of it. There may be others. I sense that we can return back to the original bedchamber by merely picturing it. I recommend we do so, and continue our search. Perhaps we can find another port key.”</p><p>_____________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p>The companions returned to the private suite, and from there, continued deeper into the house. They found another stairwell which led to a third floor. The series of rooms they discovered there, however, were a tangle of rubble, stones and thick, creeping vines and plants that had grown riotously throughout. A large number of damaged or destroyed statues of all manner of creatures lay strewn about the place as well.</p><p></p><p>As they began making their way through the shambles, a figure suddenly appeared at the far end of one hallway. It looked to be a woman in form, but her skin was gray and scaled like that of a reptile, and a nest of snakes grew from her head where her hair should have been. Two particularly large serpents hung down from either side of her skull like a pair of tentacles. This was Phomandala, once a medusa who was a former ally of Nyrissa’s. When the great tane, the Jabberwock, came for Nyrissa, she miraculously survived the attack, and also managed to collect some of the creature’s blood. She ultimately used that blood to create a lesser version of the creature, the self-same that she sent to attack Veritas, but her first attempts at creation were less than successful. All but one of her experiments died…Phomandala. Now the tane-infused medusa had become a powerful sorceress in her own right, and had been tasked by her mistress to defend this run with her life if necessary. </p><p></p><p>It seemed, however, that Nyrissa had failed to warn her minion just who, exactly, she was dealing with. No sooner had Phomandala stepped from cover, than Velox appeared in a flash of light behind her, his helm glowing like a small sun. The medusa was nothing if not resourceful, however. She spun, serpent-quick, and hurled scorching blasts of fire at the oracle. She then turned and filled the hallway where the rest of the companions were advancing, with a blast of arctic cold. A moment later, she darted through a door into a side chamber. Mox rushed after her, and just as the medusa was about to flee through a second door, the sorceress fired an emerald beam into her back. In an instant, Phomandala was reduced to a pile of ash.</p><p>___________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p>It soon became obvious just what Phomandala was protecting, when the companions found a well-lit room beyond the ruined chambers that was something between a laboratory and a library. Numerous large tomes sat upon sagging shelves along the walls, and several tables were covered with notes and strange schematics. Scattered among the papers were several fragmentary notes which seemed to have been written by Nyrissa herself. The truths revealed therein shocked the heroes to their core. When Nyrissa survived the attack by the Jabberwock, she did not escape the wrath of the Eldest. Instead, she fell right into their hands. Their judgment was swift. They tore from her mind and spirit her capacity to love, coalesced these powerful and deadly emotions into physical reality in the shape of the blade now known as Briar, and then cast the sword into the Material Plane where the nature of reality would hide it forever beyond Nyrissa’s sight. As the ages past, Nyrissa became more and more obsessed wither her loss of love, or perhaps it was this loss that caused her to become more violent and obsessed. In her early attempts to discover Briar’s location, she received visions and prophecies that Briar would be returned to her, but only as an instrument of her own death, wielded in the hands of a mortal hero. </p><p>Subsequently, Nyrissa began the long task of shaping Thousandbreaths and wearing down the boundaries between it and the Material Plane, so that someday the boundary between realities would crack, and the region known as the Stolen Lands would bloom with life as it and Thousandbreaths merged. The war between Pitax and Kardashia was but one step towards this goal. By weakening the kingdoms that occupied the land she wished to claim, she weakened the opposition to her goal. With both kingdoms reeling in the aftermath of the war, Nyrissa would be able to draw the Stolen Lands into her realm and bottle it, leaving a wasteland on the Material Plane, and giving her the perfect gift to present to the Eldest and repair the damage done to her reputation in their eyes.</p><p>One final piece of information the heroes found confirmed their suspicions about the Fable. There were indeed other port keys, including the throne in the throne room. According to the notes, this would take them to the chamber within the Fable from which Nyrissa could see and hear everything that transpired in her home. </p><p></p><p>All of this Nyrissa witnessed and heard. She knew that the prophecies were drawing nigh, and that if her former glory was to be reclaimed, she would have to alter the very fates themselves. She sent out her thoughts to all her remaining minions, calling them to the throne room. Yes, the hour was upon her, and she would show the Eldest that she was truly worthy of being numbered among their order.</p><p>__________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p>When the companions reached the throne room again, they found that they were expected. A dozen more of the ghostly elven guards they’d encountered at the gatehouse stood around the perimeter of the chamber. Then, four enormous shadows seemingly detached themselves from the walls. Cloaked by wings of darkness, the horrific, skeletal aliens appeared to be burning from within, a flaming glow shining through their emaciated chests. Among the gaunt beings’ most prominent features were shimmering black wings, sharp talons, and yellow eyes that radiated a lambent malice. These were the ankou, the torturers and executioners of the most powerful nobles of the First World. In a place where death was often a mere inconvenience, the ankous’ duty was not merely to kill…it was to terrify and torture, to wring every iota of suffering out of their target in a pageant of cruelty before the final act, the bloody murder itself. Mox knew this the moment she recognized the creatures…and she didn’t care. She raised her hands above her head, and as she did so, a large cauldron erupted out of the floor of the throne room. From it burst a geyser of flesh-eating acid. One of the ankous was caught in the brunt of the blast, and was reduced to bones within a matter of seconds. Then, Velox conjured a roaring fire wall that ran the length of the room. A second ankou, one that had already been badly burned by the caustic eruption, was immediately consumed in the blaze. The remaining two horrors suddenly lit up like rainbows, as prismatic sprays of light emanated from their bodies. Where the light beams struck the companions, they were burned by acid or fire, charred by electricity, or simply momentarily confused by the dizzying display. Davrim was one of the latter, but fortunately, his muddled mind perceived the source of the blast as the target of his wrath. He rushed the ankou, and his devastating swordsmanship carved the fiend to pieces. He turned towards the final one, his senses returning, but before he could attack, Stevhan filled the ankou full of arrows, and if folded in on itself. As for the ghosts, Tungdill unleashed a massive firestorm upon the throne room, and Selena followed it up with a barrage of storm bolts. These, combined with Mox’s still-spewing acidic cauldron spelled a quick demise for the uneasy spirits. The way cleared, the heroes slowly approached the throne. The picture that came into their minds was one of holding court before thousands. Mox smiled to herself as reality faded.</p><p>_____________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p>The chamber they found themselves in was a plain, circular room with stone walls, floor and ceiling, lit by several dancing lights that floated near the ceiling. A statue of Nyrissa stood in the center of the room, one arm held out as if in greeting. At the base of the statue stood Nyrissa herself. She was a creature of unearthly beauty and grace, yet she was obviously far from human. Her body bore numerous thorns and ridges, as if aspects of the natural world were trying to form out of her flesh. As Mox and her companions gazed upon her, they saw only madness in her eyes. There would be no rational conversation, no hope of diplomacy. There would be only death.</p><p></p><p>Nyrissa’s eyes immediately locked upon Stevhan and the glowing blade Briar which he held in his hand. She smiled insanely, waved one delicate hand, and the ranger simply vanished. The nymph queen had imprisoned him inside a maze of his own mind. It was only temporary, she was certain. A mortal of his power and resolve should be able to free himself of the maze within a matter of moments, but Nyrissa was certain it would be plenty of time to destroy his allies, and then she would kill the bearer of Briar himself.</p><p>“Noooo!” Tungdill cried, misunderstanding what had happened to his friend. The dwarf pointed one finger at the nymph, and a bolt of black energy stabbed out at her chest. Nyrissa flinched, but nothing more. Tungdill was dumbfounded. She should have been struck dead! Instead she began weaving her own spell. Mox sensed what was coming. It was going to be a prismatic spray, much like the one the ankous used, only much more powerful. She had to stop the nymph from completing it. She quickly countered with her own magic, attempting to suffocate the breath right out of her. Nyrissa reeled backwards from the force of the spell, but she still breathed, and she still spoke the words to her spell. The light exploded among the companions in a torrent of elemental energy. Both Selena and Tungdill were struck blind by the brilliant beams. In the space of seconds, Nyrissa had neutralized half of her foes.</p><p></p><p>Davrim saw his chance with Nyrissa momentarily staggered by Mox’s counterattack. He rushed forward, and with one powerful swipe of his blade, opened the nymph queen’s abdomen. Her eyes went wide as she took a step backwards, one hand dropping down to keep her bowels inside her belly. Then, if possible, her eyes grew wider still when Stevhan abruptly reappeared. She managed to hurl another prismatic blast just as Davrim and Stevhan, now joined by Velox, charged her en masse. Though acid and lightning raced across their skin, the three warriors struck in unison, and as Briar tasted the flesh of its former mistress, Nyrissa howled in agony, the sword draining her of her very vitality. Mox knew that it was now or never. She spoke a single Word of power, and the resulting surge hurled the nymph into the wall, where she slid to the floor, stunned. Stevhan stood over her, Briar gripped in both hands. He raised it above Nyrissa, and then solemnly drove it through her heart.</p><p>_____________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p>The moment of Nyrissa’s death triggered a strange and violent transformation that rippled through the First World. The whole of Thousandbreaths was instantly uprooted and cast into the Material Plane. The House at the Edge of Time immediately crumbled and suffered thousands of years of erosion at once as if inflicted by constricting vegetation, rainfall, lightning strikes, and subsidence…effectively transforming it into the ruins of the Castle of Knives. The six companions floated gently to the ground in the midst of the devastation, as Nyrissa’s body rose up on a pyre of black lightning. A terrible gale ripped through all of Thousandbreaths with the Queen’s body acting as the center of this maelstrom. Within moments, it vanished in a black pall of madness. Just like that, it was over…</p><p></p><p></p><p>INTERLUDE</p><p></p><p>As she lunged forward sitting up in bed, Mox emitted a nightmarish scream. Her body glistening with sweat and her nails elongated into razor-edged claws, she slowly regained her composure. She brushed her long, curling black hair out of her face as she turned to embrace Stevhan, the Duke of Pitax.</p><p> "Another nightmare, my darling?" asked the Duke. </p><p>Curling herself around the muscular ranger, Mox replied, "This was more than just a dream... I know it was a glimpse of the future." </p><p>A grim frown spreading over his face, Stevhan said, "Perhaps... What did you see?" </p><p>As the Queen ran her hand over her husband’s chest, she began to describe her dream... </p><p></p><p>"It wasn't like the others, Stevhan. In the previous dreams, I felt a deep dread... an impending doom, but the source was vague and unknown to me. I could feel that someone wanted to take my crown and rule Kardashia for themselves. This time everything was much more clear to me. A fierce human mistress confronted me, wielding a grand sword and a resplendent shield. She was clad in magnificent, full battle armor and she hunted me endlessly."</p><p></p><p>"Why? What did she want?" asked Stevhan.</p><p></p><p>"She hunts my crown and she sends her agents to take what she wants," Mox continued.</p><p></p><p>"Her agents?" Stevhan asked again.</p><p></p><p>"Yes. She is Iomedae. I have seen it clearly and I am quite certain," Mox stated.</p><p></p><p>Shaking his head, the Duke replied, "I feel certain your wrong, Mox. I think it's just another bad dream, my sweet."</p><p></p><p>"Promise me, Stevhan... Promise me that you'll protect me and the children from whatever is coming. Will you protect me, my Duke?" Mox asked.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JollyDoc, post: 5601651, member: 9546"] QUEEN OF THE NIGHTTIME WORLD “Is it over?” a small voice squeaked from behind the throne. “You have one chance to show yourself,” Mox snarled, “before I melt that chair to slag and you with it!” Cautiously, a small figure emerged from the shadows. It had thin, leathery wings, small horns, and seemed to be made of solidified water. “What in the Hells are you supposed to be?” Tungdill growled. “It’s a mephit,” Selena explained. “A water mephit, to be exact.” “Who are you?” Mox demanded. “Pludock,” the mephit chirped. “Do you serve Nyrissa?” Mox asked. Pludock looked around nervously. “Shhhh!” he shushed. “She can hear us!” “Where…is…she!?” Mox all but screamed. Pludock gulped. “The Fable,” he whispered. “And where would that be?” Mox pressed. “I’d better not say,” the mephit gulped. Apparently he saw death waiting in Mox’s eyes, for he started babbling a moment later. “It’s a chamber high above that allows her to control everything in the House, and watch over every room! Oops!” Pludock clamped his hands over his mouth, and his eyes grew wide. An instant later, he simply exploded. “Guess he was tellin’ the truth,” Tungdill shrugged. “Come on,” Mox snapped. “Let’s keep moving. He said she’s above. We’ll keep going up.” ________________________________________________________________ The companions made their way up the huge spiral staircase, and emerged into a huge and ornate chamber that had fallen into terrible decay. The ceiling was vaulted, with supports carved to resemble serpentine dragons holding great beams aloft. Seven statues of a beautiful woman holding a sword or posing in a seductive way stood against the walls, along with several chairs and tables. Two long tables with benches sat in the middle of the room astride a large marble statue of a snakelike dragon. No sooner had the group set foot in the room, however, than they were set upon by a pair of enormous two-legged dragons. They were wyverns, but their tongues were long and barbed. Their initial glee at seeing new prey literally walk into their lair was quickly replaced by panic when Mox assumed the form of a great red dragon. The battle didn’t last long once Stevhan added his bow, and Davrim and Velox flew into the air to engage the wyverns face-to-face. ___________________________________________________________ After that, Mox decided it was best if they split up to cover more territory. There were two exits from the great hall. Velox and Tungdill took one, while Davrim and Stevhan took the other. Selena and Mox stayed in the hall, to better assist whomever would inevitably get into trouble first. The oracle and the druid only found a series of empty guestrooms. The ranger and the inquisitor, however, found more than they bargained for. The door they chose gave onto a walkway overlooking the throne room below. A second door on the far side led to a suite of what seemed like private chambers. A beautiful woman stood with her back to the first door they opened. At first, Davrim thought they’d somehow stumbled directly into Nyrissa herself, but then the woman turned around. Her beauty was horribly marred by the fact that there were two gaping holes where her eyes should have been. Then, all of the other doors in the suite opened simultaneously, and seven more of the defaced women strode out into the hall. Nyrissa once counted these nymphs, for that was what they were, as her sisters and friends. Their beauty rivaled her own, but when Nyrissa suffered at the hands of the eldest, those eight did as well. Nyrissa had the Nightmare Rook pluck out their eyes. Despite that fact, the beauty of the nymphs was still such that those who gazed upon them ran the risk of being struck blind. Add to that the devastating magic the fey had at their command, and Nyrissa had chosen her personal bodyguards well. Before Davrim and Stevhan knew what was happening, the nymphs unleashed blast after blast of unholy fire. The warriors were driven back onto the bridge under the power of the onslaught, but then the draconic head of Mox drove through the far door and unleashed her own fiery apocalypse. Within moments, Selena, Velox and Tungdill had reunited with their allies, and the battle was joined in full. However, when Selena, Stevhan and Tungdill were all blinded by the nymphs’ beauty, all seemed lost. Tungdill quickly managed to heal his own affliction, and Velox blanketed the area in a fog cloud so that no one else would be afflicted, while Selena and Stevhan retreated to safety. Then Davrim and Velox went to work. The fey were not equal to the inquisitor and the oracle hand-to-hand, and in short order, several of them lay dead or dying. The rest fell to the combined power of Mox and Selena, once Tungdill had healed her as well, and a barrage of fire and lightning. __________________________________________________________ After Tungdill dealt with Stevhan’s blindness, the companions set about exploring the suite of rooms the nymphs had been guarding. After all, if Nyrissa had left the chambers that well protected, there must be something there she didn’t want found. Tungdill and Selena walked from room to room searching for magical auras, only to be nearly overwhelmed by the power radiating from, of all things, a simple looking bed. “This is some powerful conjuration,” Tungdill muttered. “Strongest I’ve ever seen. I think it’s a portal of some kind, or the link to one. Seems like…,” he bent to examine the bed more closely, “…ya have to picture…something…in yer head in order to activate it.” “Picture what?” Mox asked. “Umm…,” the dwarf actually blushed. “Ya know…doin’ somethin’ that ya would normally do…in a bed…with somebody else…ya know?” “Yes, I think we get it,” Mox said. “Everyone gather around. Now focus the image in your minds…,” A dizzying moment later, the companions found themselves somewhere else. It was another bedchamber, well appointed, and lit by ever burning torches. There was no way out. “Where are we?” Davrim asked. “Somewhere else,” Selena replied. “If I had to guess, I’d say we’re in some sort of pocket dimension. The mephit said that Nyrissa was ‘above.’ Perhaps this Fable he spoke of is not literally above, in an upper layer of the house, but figuratively.” “Then where is Nyrissa?” Mox asked, exasperated. The witch shrugged. “Not here, obviously, but pocket dimensions don’t work like normal space. This may be but one part of it. There may be others. I sense that we can return back to the original bedchamber by merely picturing it. I recommend we do so, and continue our search. Perhaps we can find another port key.” _____________________________________________________________ The companions returned to the private suite, and from there, continued deeper into the house. They found another stairwell which led to a third floor. The series of rooms they discovered there, however, were a tangle of rubble, stones and thick, creeping vines and plants that had grown riotously throughout. A large number of damaged or destroyed statues of all manner of creatures lay strewn about the place as well. As they began making their way through the shambles, a figure suddenly appeared at the far end of one hallway. It looked to be a woman in form, but her skin was gray and scaled like that of a reptile, and a nest of snakes grew from her head where her hair should have been. Two particularly large serpents hung down from either side of her skull like a pair of tentacles. This was Phomandala, once a medusa who was a former ally of Nyrissa’s. When the great tane, the Jabberwock, came for Nyrissa, she miraculously survived the attack, and also managed to collect some of the creature’s blood. She ultimately used that blood to create a lesser version of the creature, the self-same that she sent to attack Veritas, but her first attempts at creation were less than successful. All but one of her experiments died…Phomandala. Now the tane-infused medusa had become a powerful sorceress in her own right, and had been tasked by her mistress to defend this run with her life if necessary. It seemed, however, that Nyrissa had failed to warn her minion just who, exactly, she was dealing with. No sooner had Phomandala stepped from cover, than Velox appeared in a flash of light behind her, his helm glowing like a small sun. The medusa was nothing if not resourceful, however. She spun, serpent-quick, and hurled scorching blasts of fire at the oracle. She then turned and filled the hallway where the rest of the companions were advancing, with a blast of arctic cold. A moment later, she darted through a door into a side chamber. Mox rushed after her, and just as the medusa was about to flee through a second door, the sorceress fired an emerald beam into her back. In an instant, Phomandala was reduced to a pile of ash. ___________________________________________________________ It soon became obvious just what Phomandala was protecting, when the companions found a well-lit room beyond the ruined chambers that was something between a laboratory and a library. Numerous large tomes sat upon sagging shelves along the walls, and several tables were covered with notes and strange schematics. Scattered among the papers were several fragmentary notes which seemed to have been written by Nyrissa herself. The truths revealed therein shocked the heroes to their core. When Nyrissa survived the attack by the Jabberwock, she did not escape the wrath of the Eldest. Instead, she fell right into their hands. Their judgment was swift. They tore from her mind and spirit her capacity to love, coalesced these powerful and deadly emotions into physical reality in the shape of the blade now known as Briar, and then cast the sword into the Material Plane where the nature of reality would hide it forever beyond Nyrissa’s sight. As the ages past, Nyrissa became more and more obsessed wither her loss of love, or perhaps it was this loss that caused her to become more violent and obsessed. In her early attempts to discover Briar’s location, she received visions and prophecies that Briar would be returned to her, but only as an instrument of her own death, wielded in the hands of a mortal hero. Subsequently, Nyrissa began the long task of shaping Thousandbreaths and wearing down the boundaries between it and the Material Plane, so that someday the boundary between realities would crack, and the region known as the Stolen Lands would bloom with life as it and Thousandbreaths merged. The war between Pitax and Kardashia was but one step towards this goal. By weakening the kingdoms that occupied the land she wished to claim, she weakened the opposition to her goal. With both kingdoms reeling in the aftermath of the war, Nyrissa would be able to draw the Stolen Lands into her realm and bottle it, leaving a wasteland on the Material Plane, and giving her the perfect gift to present to the Eldest and repair the damage done to her reputation in their eyes. One final piece of information the heroes found confirmed their suspicions about the Fable. There were indeed other port keys, including the throne in the throne room. According to the notes, this would take them to the chamber within the Fable from which Nyrissa could see and hear everything that transpired in her home. All of this Nyrissa witnessed and heard. She knew that the prophecies were drawing nigh, and that if her former glory was to be reclaimed, she would have to alter the very fates themselves. She sent out her thoughts to all her remaining minions, calling them to the throne room. Yes, the hour was upon her, and she would show the Eldest that she was truly worthy of being numbered among their order. __________________________________________________________ When the companions reached the throne room again, they found that they were expected. A dozen more of the ghostly elven guards they’d encountered at the gatehouse stood around the perimeter of the chamber. Then, four enormous shadows seemingly detached themselves from the walls. Cloaked by wings of darkness, the horrific, skeletal aliens appeared to be burning from within, a flaming glow shining through their emaciated chests. Among the gaunt beings’ most prominent features were shimmering black wings, sharp talons, and yellow eyes that radiated a lambent malice. These were the ankou, the torturers and executioners of the most powerful nobles of the First World. In a place where death was often a mere inconvenience, the ankous’ duty was not merely to kill…it was to terrify and torture, to wring every iota of suffering out of their target in a pageant of cruelty before the final act, the bloody murder itself. Mox knew this the moment she recognized the creatures…and she didn’t care. She raised her hands above her head, and as she did so, a large cauldron erupted out of the floor of the throne room. From it burst a geyser of flesh-eating acid. One of the ankous was caught in the brunt of the blast, and was reduced to bones within a matter of seconds. Then, Velox conjured a roaring fire wall that ran the length of the room. A second ankou, one that had already been badly burned by the caustic eruption, was immediately consumed in the blaze. The remaining two horrors suddenly lit up like rainbows, as prismatic sprays of light emanated from their bodies. Where the light beams struck the companions, they were burned by acid or fire, charred by electricity, or simply momentarily confused by the dizzying display. Davrim was one of the latter, but fortunately, his muddled mind perceived the source of the blast as the target of his wrath. He rushed the ankou, and his devastating swordsmanship carved the fiend to pieces. He turned towards the final one, his senses returning, but before he could attack, Stevhan filled the ankou full of arrows, and if folded in on itself. As for the ghosts, Tungdill unleashed a massive firestorm upon the throne room, and Selena followed it up with a barrage of storm bolts. These, combined with Mox’s still-spewing acidic cauldron spelled a quick demise for the uneasy spirits. The way cleared, the heroes slowly approached the throne. The picture that came into their minds was one of holding court before thousands. Mox smiled to herself as reality faded. _____________________________________________________________ The chamber they found themselves in was a plain, circular room with stone walls, floor and ceiling, lit by several dancing lights that floated near the ceiling. A statue of Nyrissa stood in the center of the room, one arm held out as if in greeting. At the base of the statue stood Nyrissa herself. She was a creature of unearthly beauty and grace, yet she was obviously far from human. Her body bore numerous thorns and ridges, as if aspects of the natural world were trying to form out of her flesh. As Mox and her companions gazed upon her, they saw only madness in her eyes. There would be no rational conversation, no hope of diplomacy. There would be only death. Nyrissa’s eyes immediately locked upon Stevhan and the glowing blade Briar which he held in his hand. She smiled insanely, waved one delicate hand, and the ranger simply vanished. The nymph queen had imprisoned him inside a maze of his own mind. It was only temporary, she was certain. A mortal of his power and resolve should be able to free himself of the maze within a matter of moments, but Nyrissa was certain it would be plenty of time to destroy his allies, and then she would kill the bearer of Briar himself. “Noooo!” Tungdill cried, misunderstanding what had happened to his friend. The dwarf pointed one finger at the nymph, and a bolt of black energy stabbed out at her chest. Nyrissa flinched, but nothing more. Tungdill was dumbfounded. She should have been struck dead! Instead she began weaving her own spell. Mox sensed what was coming. It was going to be a prismatic spray, much like the one the ankous used, only much more powerful. She had to stop the nymph from completing it. She quickly countered with her own magic, attempting to suffocate the breath right out of her. Nyrissa reeled backwards from the force of the spell, but she still breathed, and she still spoke the words to her spell. The light exploded among the companions in a torrent of elemental energy. Both Selena and Tungdill were struck blind by the brilliant beams. In the space of seconds, Nyrissa had neutralized half of her foes. Davrim saw his chance with Nyrissa momentarily staggered by Mox’s counterattack. He rushed forward, and with one powerful swipe of his blade, opened the nymph queen’s abdomen. Her eyes went wide as she took a step backwards, one hand dropping down to keep her bowels inside her belly. Then, if possible, her eyes grew wider still when Stevhan abruptly reappeared. She managed to hurl another prismatic blast just as Davrim and Stevhan, now joined by Velox, charged her en masse. Though acid and lightning raced across their skin, the three warriors struck in unison, and as Briar tasted the flesh of its former mistress, Nyrissa howled in agony, the sword draining her of her very vitality. Mox knew that it was now or never. She spoke a single Word of power, and the resulting surge hurled the nymph into the wall, where she slid to the floor, stunned. Stevhan stood over her, Briar gripped in both hands. He raised it above Nyrissa, and then solemnly drove it through her heart. _____________________________________________________________ The moment of Nyrissa’s death triggered a strange and violent transformation that rippled through the First World. The whole of Thousandbreaths was instantly uprooted and cast into the Material Plane. The House at the Edge of Time immediately crumbled and suffered thousands of years of erosion at once as if inflicted by constricting vegetation, rainfall, lightning strikes, and subsidence…effectively transforming it into the ruins of the Castle of Knives. The six companions floated gently to the ground in the midst of the devastation, as Nyrissa’s body rose up on a pyre of black lightning. A terrible gale ripped through all of Thousandbreaths with the Queen’s body acting as the center of this maelstrom. Within moments, it vanished in a black pall of madness. Just like that, it was over… INTERLUDE As she lunged forward sitting up in bed, Mox emitted a nightmarish scream. Her body glistening with sweat and her nails elongated into razor-edged claws, she slowly regained her composure. She brushed her long, curling black hair out of her face as she turned to embrace Stevhan, the Duke of Pitax. "Another nightmare, my darling?" asked the Duke. Curling herself around the muscular ranger, Mox replied, "This was more than just a dream... I know it was a glimpse of the future." A grim frown spreading over his face, Stevhan said, "Perhaps... What did you see?" As the Queen ran her hand over her husband’s chest, she began to describe her dream... "It wasn't like the others, Stevhan. In the previous dreams, I felt a deep dread... an impending doom, but the source was vague and unknown to me. I could feel that someone wanted to take my crown and rule Kardashia for themselves. This time everything was much more clear to me. A fierce human mistress confronted me, wielding a grand sword and a resplendent shield. She was clad in magnificent, full battle armor and she hunted me endlessly." "Why? What did she want?" asked Stevhan. "She hunts my crown and she sends her agents to take what she wants," Mox continued. "Her agents?" Stevhan asked again. "Yes. She is Iomedae. I have seen it clearly and I am quite certain," Mox stated. Shaking his head, the Duke replied, "I feel certain your wrong, Mox. I think it's just another bad dream, my sweet." "Promise me, Stevhan... Promise me that you'll protect me and the children from whatever is coming. Will you protect me, my Duke?" Mox asked. [/QUOTE]
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JollyDoc's Kingmaker-Updated 7/4/2011
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