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Tales of the Legacy - Concluded
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<blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 4121480" data-attributes="member: 5203"><p>They emerged one the gentle slope of a grassy dell, a slight breeze causing the long grass to ripple. A few trees dotted the landscape, their branches swaying. Despite the idyllic environment, they all felt immediately uneasy, sensing something about their surroundings just wasn’t right.</p><p></p><p> It was Osborn who first noticed the problem. “Ugh,” he said, suddenly taking a step back while looking at the ground he’d just been standing on. The others moved over to see what he’d reacted to.</p><p></p><p> Osborn had been standing atop a round, pinkish-colored rock, jutting just a few inches out of the ground. At first, the problem wasn’t apparent, until a bit of wind blew past, and the all saw the rock shiver slightly, and tiny bumps emerge on the surface.</p><p></p><p> A closer look at their surrounding revealed its true nature. Everything surrounding them that would normally be living, organic matter – the trees, grass, and other plants – were in fact made of materials like stone and metal. Conversely, everything they could see that should have been inert was actually comprised of living tissue. The dark soil surrounding the flesh-rock was made of millions of tiny, crawling insects.</p><p></p><p> “This is one of those times in my life that I wish I could fly,” Yuri said.</p><p></p><p> A short distance away, they heard a slight commotion. At the bottom of the dell, they saw a group of eight figures of varying sizes. Four were humanoid, dressed in ornately decorated furs and hides, and the other four were large tyrannosaurs, standing in a protective circle around the humanoids.</p><p></p><p> “Who are they?” Autumn asked, peering down.</p><p></p><p> “They’re the Elder Druids of Tlaxan,” Kyle said, “Four out of the five, anyway.” Kyle had worked with the Elders in the recent past.</p><p></p><p> “Why are they here?”</p><p></p><p> The answer came from the Elders, who were shouting at the Legacy. “Defilers!” they shouted in fury, “Despoilers of nature! You will pay for what you have done!”</p><p></p><p> Arrie sighed. “They think we’re responsible for all this, don’t they?”</p><p></p><p> “Yes,” replied Kyle.</p><p></p><p> “They’re going to attack us, aren’t they?”</p><p></p><p> “Yes.”</p><p></p><p> “It’s worse than you think,” Tolly said. “Look closely at them.”</p><p></p><p> They all looked, and could now see that each of the Elders had small protuberances emerging from their bodies, the beginnings of new tentacles.</p><p></p><p> “They’ve been infected by the Dream Realm,” Tolly said. “We need to destroy them.”</p><p></p><p> Magic erupted as the two sides came together. Yuri leapt ahead to cut off the advance of the tyrannosaurs, while others started to circle around to get to the druids. As Autumn took to the air on her gold-flecked wings, Osborn turned invisible and began moving around the periphery. Arrie, opting for a more direct approach, was bolstered by a spell from Kyle, growing to about ten feet in height.</p><p></p><p> A cascade of white-hot flames enveloped the party, and moments later a mass of translucent dinosaurs appeared on the flank and crashed into Lajila and Nidru, stomping them with massive feet made of pure spell energy. Lajila held aloft a seashell inscribed with the image of a dolphin, and with a few words disrupted the druidic spell and caused the stampede to vanish. The favor was returned moments later, however, when Tolly attempted to strike all of their enemies with an <em>earthquake</em>, but it was countered by one of the druids with an almost dismissive wave.</p><p></p><p> A tremendous blast of electricity erupted in the midst of the druids, and when everyone’s eyes cleared from the sudden bright flash, they saw that one of the druids had been eradicated, leaving only a smoking spot in the unnatural grass. Arrie ran into the midst of the druids a second later, only to be pushed back by druidic magic. But clearing Arrie out of the way left them vulnerable to a pair of <em>flame strikes</em> from Lajila and Nidru. The other two druids chose to heal themselves.</p><p></p><p> The battle shifted to melee as the Legacy began to converge on the Elders. One of the tyrannosaurs managed to run up and snatch Kyle in its massive jaws, but Kyle vanished and reappeared a moment later. Yuri had also been caught up in the jaws of a dinosaur, and was actually swallowed by the massive beast. Arrie broke off from the druids to try and rescue her, but then a second later the dragoon appeared in the open, covered in tyrannosaur saliva. The magical cloak around her shoulders gave off a brief glow as Yuri stood there getting her bearings.</p><p></p><p> As the party began to close in again, the druids began to shift. One assumed the form of a huge water elemental, although the water looked green and foul. A second became a grossly misshapen earth elemental, oozing a black fluid from several cracks. The third erupted into flames as he assumed his elemental form, but this elemental produced a thick, noxious cloud of black smoke that smelled like burning flesh.</p><p></p><p> The druids began to battle the Legacy physically, even as their tyrannosaur companions turned to rejoin their masters. But a <em>blade barrier</em> from Nidru cut off two of them, and a spear attack from Yuri finished one of the beasts off. Inside the ring of blades, Osborn suddenly reappeared, hurling a dozen daggers at the fire elemental, who collapsed and quickly reverted back to his normal form. The party closed in on the two remaining druids and their cohorts, even as Kyle regrouped with the princesses and Yuri turned to face the third tyrannosaur, the Sargian putting three large holes in its scaly hide. Tolly, who had come to assist her when she’d been swallowed earlier, moved in with his own weapon and landed the fatal blow.</p><p></p><p> A short distance away, Lajila, Nidru and Kyle stood in a circle, focusing their collective will on the other two tyrannosaurs. A column of divine flame crashed down on them, magnified not only by the cooperative efforts of the two sisters but by Kyle’s deep understanding of magical forces. The<em> flame strike</em> was powerful enough to incinerate both of the beasts. The three of them began focusing on another spell, but their concentration was broken when the Elder Druid who had transformed into a water elemental gestured, and summoned a huge tornado right on top of them. Kyle managed to hold his ground, but the Archipeligan princesses were flung skywards, and even Yuri was pulled toward the vortex.</p><p></p><p> On the other side of the field of battle, Osborn, Autumn and Arrie continued to harass the Earth Elder and Water Elder. Arrie, who had transformed her weapon into a greatspear, had impaled the water elemental, and left him vulnerable to another barrage of daggers from Osborn. The druid collapsed like a barrel of water dropped off a cliff, slowly coalescing back into his natural body as he died. Meanwhile, Autumn landed a vicious blow against the earth elemental, causing great gouts of black fluid to gush from an abdominal wound.</p><p></p><p> The Earth Elder looked around, and saw that his enemies were closing in, and his tornado had been dispelled by the Krüshi priestesses. With a strange cry, the druid suddenly melted into the ground.</p><p></p><p> Everyone stood still for a moment, weapons ready, expecting an attack. Autumn looked as though she wanted to strike the ground where the druid had vanished, but she knew it would do no good. Slowly, they became aware of a low, steady rumbling in the ground.</p><p></p><p> “Earthquake?” Autumn asked Tolly.</p><p></p><p> He shook his head. “Not the spell. But not a natural tremor, either.”</p><p></p><p> The winds started to pick up a bit, fanning the flames that were still burning in the long grasses from the multiple firestorms and flame strikes. Clouds overhead rumbled. Osborn used his ring to turn invisible again, and Kyle and the twins tended to the injuries they’d suffered in the tornado.</p><p></p><p> The rumbling in the ground grew more intense, and rain began to fall. But the wind had also picked up to the point that the fires continued to burn, and in fact were starting to get pushed toward a central point, a natural vortex being formed by the trees around them.</p><p></p><p> “We need to get out of here,” Tolly said suddenly. He turned, and began focusing on creating a pathway out of the dell and toward the Crystal Citadel.</p><p></p><p> “What’s going on?” Autumn asked him.</p><p></p><p> “We need to go now,” Tolly said, “before something comes along that we can’t handle.”</p><p></p><p> Autumn opened her mouth to question his statement, but then noticed what everyone else was starting to see. The wind, rain, and fire were now starting to swirl and coalesce around a single point, and now the tremors were strong enough to send chunks of dirt and rock flying into the air, where they were also absorbed by the growing mass. The cloud of elemental fury grew in sixe until it towered over them, and it began to sprout tendrils which looked very much like the beginnings of arms and legs.</p><p></p><p> “I think we agree with you, Tolly,” Kyle said. “Let’s go.”</p><p></p><p> The Ardaran shook his head in frustration. “I can’t seem to focus on the destination,” he said.</p><p></p><p> “Let me try,” Arrie said, and focused her own will. She guessed that the Dream Realm might respond more readily to someone with psionic training, and so drew upon her own inner strength as she focused on an image of crystal spires.</p><p></p><p> There was a sudden wavering in the air before Arrie, and then they all sensed that a path was open for them. “Does it go to the Citadel?” Tolly shouted over the wind.</p><p></p><p> “Does it matter?” Yuri yelled back, looking over her shoulder at the monstrosity behind them.</p><p></p><p> With that, they all surged forward, moving swiftly away from the growing fury.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> They emerged from what felt like a long tunnel into what looked like another forested area, but this time the ‘trees’ were comprised entirely of enormous shards of crystal which jutted out of the ground. Crystals of all shapes, sizes and colors surrounded them, and they saw their own distorted images being reflected back at them a few dozen times.</p><p></p><p> “This is not the Citadel,” Tolly said.</p><p></p><p> “No, but it’s likely closer to it than we were before,” Arrie replied. “And besides which, it’s safer than where we were.”</p><p></p><p> A strange sensation passed over all of them – more of a vibration than a sound. All around them, the crystal shards started to vibrate slightly in resonance with some unseen stimulus, filling the air with soft, dissonant tones.</p><p></p><p> “We hope,” Kyle said quietly.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Delemental, post: 4121480, member: 5203"] They emerged one the gentle slope of a grassy dell, a slight breeze causing the long grass to ripple. A few trees dotted the landscape, their branches swaying. Despite the idyllic environment, they all felt immediately uneasy, sensing something about their surroundings just wasn’t right. It was Osborn who first noticed the problem. “Ugh,” he said, suddenly taking a step back while looking at the ground he’d just been standing on. The others moved over to see what he’d reacted to. Osborn had been standing atop a round, pinkish-colored rock, jutting just a few inches out of the ground. At first, the problem wasn’t apparent, until a bit of wind blew past, and the all saw the rock shiver slightly, and tiny bumps emerge on the surface. A closer look at their surrounding revealed its true nature. Everything surrounding them that would normally be living, organic matter – the trees, grass, and other plants – were in fact made of materials like stone and metal. Conversely, everything they could see that should have been inert was actually comprised of living tissue. The dark soil surrounding the flesh-rock was made of millions of tiny, crawling insects. “This is one of those times in my life that I wish I could fly,” Yuri said. A short distance away, they heard a slight commotion. At the bottom of the dell, they saw a group of eight figures of varying sizes. Four were humanoid, dressed in ornately decorated furs and hides, and the other four were large tyrannosaurs, standing in a protective circle around the humanoids. “Who are they?” Autumn asked, peering down. “They’re the Elder Druids of Tlaxan,” Kyle said, “Four out of the five, anyway.” Kyle had worked with the Elders in the recent past. “Why are they here?” The answer came from the Elders, who were shouting at the Legacy. “Defilers!” they shouted in fury, “Despoilers of nature! You will pay for what you have done!” Arrie sighed. “They think we’re responsible for all this, don’t they?” “Yes,” replied Kyle. “They’re going to attack us, aren’t they?” “Yes.” “It’s worse than you think,” Tolly said. “Look closely at them.” They all looked, and could now see that each of the Elders had small protuberances emerging from their bodies, the beginnings of new tentacles. “They’ve been infected by the Dream Realm,” Tolly said. “We need to destroy them.” Magic erupted as the two sides came together. Yuri leapt ahead to cut off the advance of the tyrannosaurs, while others started to circle around to get to the druids. As Autumn took to the air on her gold-flecked wings, Osborn turned invisible and began moving around the periphery. Arrie, opting for a more direct approach, was bolstered by a spell from Kyle, growing to about ten feet in height. A cascade of white-hot flames enveloped the party, and moments later a mass of translucent dinosaurs appeared on the flank and crashed into Lajila and Nidru, stomping them with massive feet made of pure spell energy. Lajila held aloft a seashell inscribed with the image of a dolphin, and with a few words disrupted the druidic spell and caused the stampede to vanish. The favor was returned moments later, however, when Tolly attempted to strike all of their enemies with an [i]earthquake[/i], but it was countered by one of the druids with an almost dismissive wave. A tremendous blast of electricity erupted in the midst of the druids, and when everyone’s eyes cleared from the sudden bright flash, they saw that one of the druids had been eradicated, leaving only a smoking spot in the unnatural grass. Arrie ran into the midst of the druids a second later, only to be pushed back by druidic magic. But clearing Arrie out of the way left them vulnerable to a pair of [i]flame strikes[/i] from Lajila and Nidru. The other two druids chose to heal themselves. The battle shifted to melee as the Legacy began to converge on the Elders. One of the tyrannosaurs managed to run up and snatch Kyle in its massive jaws, but Kyle vanished and reappeared a moment later. Yuri had also been caught up in the jaws of a dinosaur, and was actually swallowed by the massive beast. Arrie broke off from the druids to try and rescue her, but then a second later the dragoon appeared in the open, covered in tyrannosaur saliva. The magical cloak around her shoulders gave off a brief glow as Yuri stood there getting her bearings. As the party began to close in again, the druids began to shift. One assumed the form of a huge water elemental, although the water looked green and foul. A second became a grossly misshapen earth elemental, oozing a black fluid from several cracks. The third erupted into flames as he assumed his elemental form, but this elemental produced a thick, noxious cloud of black smoke that smelled like burning flesh. The druids began to battle the Legacy physically, even as their tyrannosaur companions turned to rejoin their masters. But a [i]blade barrier[/i] from Nidru cut off two of them, and a spear attack from Yuri finished one of the beasts off. Inside the ring of blades, Osborn suddenly reappeared, hurling a dozen daggers at the fire elemental, who collapsed and quickly reverted back to his normal form. The party closed in on the two remaining druids and their cohorts, even as Kyle regrouped with the princesses and Yuri turned to face the third tyrannosaur, the Sargian putting three large holes in its scaly hide. Tolly, who had come to assist her when she’d been swallowed earlier, moved in with his own weapon and landed the fatal blow. A short distance away, Lajila, Nidru and Kyle stood in a circle, focusing their collective will on the other two tyrannosaurs. A column of divine flame crashed down on them, magnified not only by the cooperative efforts of the two sisters but by Kyle’s deep understanding of magical forces. The[i] flame strike[/i] was powerful enough to incinerate both of the beasts. The three of them began focusing on another spell, but their concentration was broken when the Elder Druid who had transformed into a water elemental gestured, and summoned a huge tornado right on top of them. Kyle managed to hold his ground, but the Archipeligan princesses were flung skywards, and even Yuri was pulled toward the vortex. On the other side of the field of battle, Osborn, Autumn and Arrie continued to harass the Earth Elder and Water Elder. Arrie, who had transformed her weapon into a greatspear, had impaled the water elemental, and left him vulnerable to another barrage of daggers from Osborn. The druid collapsed like a barrel of water dropped off a cliff, slowly coalescing back into his natural body as he died. Meanwhile, Autumn landed a vicious blow against the earth elemental, causing great gouts of black fluid to gush from an abdominal wound. The Earth Elder looked around, and saw that his enemies were closing in, and his tornado had been dispelled by the Krüshi priestesses. With a strange cry, the druid suddenly melted into the ground. Everyone stood still for a moment, weapons ready, expecting an attack. Autumn looked as though she wanted to strike the ground where the druid had vanished, but she knew it would do no good. Slowly, they became aware of a low, steady rumbling in the ground. “Earthquake?” Autumn asked Tolly. He shook his head. “Not the spell. But not a natural tremor, either.” The winds started to pick up a bit, fanning the flames that were still burning in the long grasses from the multiple firestorms and flame strikes. Clouds overhead rumbled. Osborn used his ring to turn invisible again, and Kyle and the twins tended to the injuries they’d suffered in the tornado. The rumbling in the ground grew more intense, and rain began to fall. But the wind had also picked up to the point that the fires continued to burn, and in fact were starting to get pushed toward a central point, a natural vortex being formed by the trees around them. “We need to get out of here,” Tolly said suddenly. He turned, and began focusing on creating a pathway out of the dell and toward the Crystal Citadel. “What’s going on?” Autumn asked him. “We need to go now,” Tolly said, “before something comes along that we can’t handle.” Autumn opened her mouth to question his statement, but then noticed what everyone else was starting to see. The wind, rain, and fire were now starting to swirl and coalesce around a single point, and now the tremors were strong enough to send chunks of dirt and rock flying into the air, where they were also absorbed by the growing mass. The cloud of elemental fury grew in sixe until it towered over them, and it began to sprout tendrils which looked very much like the beginnings of arms and legs. “I think we agree with you, Tolly,” Kyle said. “Let’s go.” The Ardaran shook his head in frustration. “I can’t seem to focus on the destination,” he said. “Let me try,” Arrie said, and focused her own will. She guessed that the Dream Realm might respond more readily to someone with psionic training, and so drew upon her own inner strength as she focused on an image of crystal spires. There was a sudden wavering in the air before Arrie, and then they all sensed that a path was open for them. “Does it go to the Citadel?” Tolly shouted over the wind. “Does it matter?” Yuri yelled back, looking over her shoulder at the monstrosity behind them. With that, they all surged forward, moving swiftly away from the growing fury. [center]* * *[/center] They emerged from what felt like a long tunnel into what looked like another forested area, but this time the ‘trees’ were comprised entirely of enormous shards of crystal which jutted out of the ground. Crystals of all shapes, sizes and colors surrounded them, and they saw their own distorted images being reflected back at them a few dozen times. “This is not the Citadel,” Tolly said. “No, but it’s likely closer to it than we were before,” Arrie replied. “And besides which, it’s safer than where we were.” A strange sensation passed over all of them – more of a vibration than a sound. All around them, the crystal shards started to vibrate slightly in resonance with some unseen stimulus, filling the air with soft, dissonant tones. “We hope,” Kyle said quietly. [/QUOTE]
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