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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 6834243" data-attributes="member: 9546">All Good Things18 Desnus, 4716 - All Good Things"So it's to be war, then," Teikoku Sokai snarled as the scions advanced on him."No!" Boris protested. "Wait dead shogun-man! Boris talk to friends! Everything be ok!""I think it's too late for that," Sokai replied. "Your so-called friends seem to have already made up their mind about me. Pity. We could have done great things together."As Boris stared in disbelief, the shogun's form began to shift and change. He grew taller, broader and more...porcine? Where a handsome man had stood just moments before, there now loomed a towering, corpulent beast with the hideous head of a boar, and arms ending in fatty, four-fingered hands. "Come my minions!" Sokai bellowed. "The time is now!"From an archway on the far side of the chamber, a sour-smelling mist began to flow. It pooled around the edges of the room, and then started to rise along the walls, coalescing into vaguely humanoid shapes. A moment later they solidified, revealing a trio of demons whose armored flesh was scaly and moist, with large, toothy mouths gaping beneath hungry, reptilian eyes. Sandru had seen enough. He lunged towards the demonic shogun, who was now surrounded by a dark nimbus of light. He struck the brute with three quick, wicked slashes, but when he did so, the black light flared out at him, and he felt himself grow weak, his muscles struggling to hold up his sword. From behind him, Lucian fired his bow, putting three arrows into the shogun's chest. Sokai barely seemed to acknowledge the pain. Instead, he drew the dark nimbus in tight around him, and then unleashed it in an ebony explosion. It struck Haroldo, Boris and Sandru, filling their minds with visions of madness, leaving them momentarily dazed and confused. At that moment, the shogun's demonic, frog-like minions began an obscene croaking. As it built to a crescendo, a miasma of greasy, black energy enveloped the scions, leaving their exposed flesh numbed and frozen, and causing Sandru to double over and vomit in revulsion. Lucian drew his bow string back to his ear and prepared to fire, even though he was no more than a few feet away from Sokai. The shogun raised one mighty fist to hammer him, but as the blow descended, it struck some unseen obstacle in mid-air. "You're welcome!" Akiro grinned at the oracleLucian shook his head, not sure whether to be grateful for the force wall, or annoyed. Instead, he turned and put his arrows to use on the nearest frog-demon. "Clever," Sokai growled from the other side of wall, but then he abruptly vanished only to reappear among his servants. "But not clever enough."The demons began croaking again, but then Akiro lobbed a fireball into their midst. It detonated with ferocious force, ripping all three of the demons to shreds. Sokai reeled from the blast, and that's when Lucian put an arrow right through his throat. Gurgling and sputtering, he toppled to the floor. No sooner had he fallen than the throne room transformed. Gone were all the trappings of royalty, leaving nothing behind save bare stone. As the others regained their composure, Boris scrabbled quickly across the floor to Sokai's side. His small hands moved deftly through the dead shogun's pockets and closed on something smooth and hard. When he drew it out, Boris saw that it was a small statuette of a horse, seemingly carved from obsidian. He quietly tucked it into his own pocket. _____________________________________________"Boris still not know why you not listen to shogun-man," the goblin grumbled as the scions made their way up the tunnel that led off the small beach in the flooded cavern. "He say make deal. He help us fight Jade Regent and tell us about other bad rulers.""He was a demon," Ameiko sighed. "Can't you see that he was just trying to use us to get free of this place?"Boris shrugged. "So? He help us fight enemies.""Just so he can rule Minkai in the Jade Regent's place," Ameiko explained. "Trust me, Boris, we don't need his kind of help."Boris shrugged again, but kept silent. High rock shelves lined the narrow passageway they found themselves in, marred by a forest of stalactites and stalagmites that resembled nothing less than the narrow bars of a cage in the ebbing glow of the luminescent lichen growing upon them. Abruptly, Akiro halted, holding up one hand."What is it?" Ameiko asked quietly."I've magically enhanced my senses like those of a bat," the mage whispered back. "I can 'see' sounds as they bounce off of objects. Up ahead, there is something...humanoid...near the ceiling. Make ready."He began a spell, conjuring a small orb of fire between his hands. When the spell was complete, he hurled the fireball towards the spot where he'd sensed the lurker. It exploded, and in its aftermath, a figure became visible, floating gently to the floor. It appeared female, though a featureless porcelain mask concealed her features. Long, twisting horns grew from her head, and a hairless rat's tail poked out from beneath the skirts of the blood-stained kimono she wore. In one hand she held a wickedly curved naginata. As her robe touched the floor, she suddenly erupted in a nimbus of fire, burning but obviously unharmed by the flames. She extended her free hand and cast her own spell, sending waves of power washing over the scions, leaving them fatigued in their wake. Haroldo rushed towards her sluggishly, but as he drew near, she lashed out with her polearm, stopping him in his tracks. Piercing shrieks filled the air of the tunnel. In the air behind the fiendish woman, a flock of a half-dozen black-winged females appeared, fiery bows gripped in their hands. As one, they unleashed six blasts of unholy magic. The blight struck Haroldo, Sandru and Boris like a shock wave. The battle-rager and the caravan master were rocked back on their heels, but Boris looked unscathed. Akiro quickly hurled a ferocious salvo of magic force missiles towards the immolated woman. She recoiled, but then gripped her naginata in both hands and rammed it straight through Haroldo's belly. The magic of the winged fiends struck again, catching Lucian in its effect as well. This time, however, in the wake of the bombardment, both Sandru and Haroldo were left unmoving on the floor. Boris, again, seemed untouched."We have to go!" Lucian cried shakily.He reached down and seized his fallen companions, then cast a teleportation spell. The three of them vanished. "I agree, my Lady," Akiro said as he took Ameiko by the arm. "This is not a fight we can win this day."With Boris and Miyaro gathered near, the mage cast his own spell and whisked the four of them to safety...__________________________________________________"That sounds like Shiori Heikkaki," Amatatsu Onoko said, "Amatatsu Maemi's handmaiden.""Handmaiden??" Lucian gasped. "That wasn't the empress herself?""I'm afraid not," the archon shook her head sadly.She gazed down upon the bodies of Haroldo and Lucian where they lay on the floor of her mausoleum. "I am sorry for your loss, but when you return to the Well of Demons there is an enchantment I can give you that will protect you from the unholy blight of Heikkaki's erinyes servants.""Go back??" Boris snapped. "Why go back? No one want to listen to Boris when he say shogun-man want to help, and now two friends dead! Boris no go back!"Lucian whirled on the goblin, anger and suspicion burning in his eyes."You were in the middle of the blight just like the rest of us," the oracle accused, "yet you were not so much as sickened by it. Why is that?"Boris glared back at him."Boris not know about devil magic," he said. "Not know why stoopid elves and humans get dead and him not. Maybe because he goblin, and goblins strong!""Or maybe," Lucian said, his eyes narrowing, "it has something to do with that coin around your neck."Boris reached up and gripped the coin reflexively."You give coin to Boris fair and square!" he barked. "You no have it back!""Onoko," Lucian turned back to the angel, "as an archon, can you not detect the presence of evil?""I can," she nodded."Then I ask you to assess our friend here," Lucian pointed at Boris. "Ever since he came into possession of that coin, a coin taken from the body of an assassin I might add, he has not been acting himself.""You no look at Boris, bird-lady!" Boris said, standing defiantly before the archon.Onoko focused her gaze upon him, studying him intently. Her brow furrowed, and her expression darkened."There is great evil here!" she hissed. "Why have you brought this to my holy place??""We did not know," Ameiko protested. "It's the coin. It has done something to Boris.""Which is why it is past time we got rid of it!" Lucian said. Boris's eyes went black as coal, and he bared his pointed teeth in a wicked snarl."Never!" he spat. "You never have it!"He gripped the coin more tightly, and before anyone could react, he simply faded away, like a shadow in the sunlight.____________________________________________________________Boris saw the truth now. He could not trust anyone, nor anything other than himself. Even those he was closest to, his so-called friends, wanted to take what was his. Well, that time was past. From now on, he would do whatever it took to make sure no one ever underestimated him again. He moved through the shadow plane like a wraith, descending back into the Well of Demons. It was too bad about the shogun-man. Boris could have used his help, but he knew there were others. The shogun-man had told him. He went down the tunnel where his former companions had been defeated by the bird women, and he saw the horned lady in the mask standing silent watch there again. She cocked her head as he passed, almost as if she sensed him. Beyond her was a mammoth courtyard. Huge, basalt columns held up its ceiling, while a balcony and two elevated platforms looked down upon its ivory-tiled floor. Imperial tapestries of green and gold hung from their edges, and on the far side of the chamber, a decorative overlook provided a breathtaking view of a waterfall as it poured into the misty depths. Perched on the various platforms were the bird women. Boris ignored them. He was in search of someone more important. Past the courtyard, Boris found a small cavern. Delicate silk curtains hung from a forest of stalactites on the ceiling, and plush carpets covered the floor. A huge bed draped in satin sheets and a multitude of pillows occupied the rear of the chamber, behind a regal throne carved of jade. Seated upon the throne was a beautiful, ageless Tian-Min woman dressed in Minkai imperial regalia, though the two tentacles that sprouted from her head, writhing about her elaborate coiffure somewhat spoiled the image. Beside her, two more of the winged woman stood, attentive to her every need. Boris braced himself, and then pulled out the small statuette he'd taken from Sokai, spoke a word then returned from the shadow plane to the real world.Amatatsu Maemi's eyes went wide when the black stallion with eyes and hooves of flame suddenly materialized out of thin air, though what truly caught her off guard was the large-eared goblin perched on its back."Empress tentacle-lady," Boris sketched a bow from his seat. "Me Boris, and Boris have important things to tell you."The erinyes devils beside the throne tensed, drawing back the strings of their fiery bows."You may tell me why I should not slay you immediately," Maemi hissed."Because Boris and friends sent her to kill you by pretty lady with horn in cemetery," the goblin replied, "and friends come back soon to kill you big time!"Maemi's mouth gaped for half a second."Amatatsu Onoko," she whispered. "Is that who you speak of? That heretical bitch??""Yeah, that her name," Boris nodded. "She tell us kill you so Ameiko can get blessing to become big chief of this land.""Ameiko?" Maemi asked. "That is a woman's name. Could it be? Is there truly a surviving female scion?""Yep," Boris nodded again. "She come long way to take throne from Jade Regent. She have fancy seal and everything. But she have problem. She too worried about what right and what wrong. She not able to do what she need to take what hers. She get bad advice from friends.""I see," Maemi narrowed her eyes. "So what is it that you ask of me?""Boris think Ameiko need advice from ancestors. Tell her right way to kill Jade Regent and take what hers. Boris want to help you help Ameiko, but her friends won't let Boris.""Then they should be removed from the equation," Maemi smiled."Boris think so too," the goblin said, "but friends very powerful, and they have lady with horn helping now. Boris think need more powerful friends to beat them. Boris hear there other ancestors trapped in well. Maybe they help too."Maemi was silent for a long moment. "Perhaps," she said finally, "for the right price, they will."______________________________________________________________Amatatsu Maemi and her retinue of erinyes, plus her handmaiden Shiori Heikkaki, left her domain for the first time in decades. She took Boris deeper into the Well of Demons, into the dominions of her sworn enemies under a flag of truce. She introduced him first to Emperor Sugimatu Nobinoru, a horned skeletal figure who wore a dark kimono and carried an ornate staff. He was accompanied by a creature that resembled a cross between a lobster, an octopus and a human. Nobinoru at first had no interest in deposing the Jade Regent. He had no yearnings for his former life, as Maemi did. However, when he learned that Boris had actually been invested as a scion by the Amatatsu Seal, he was intrigued. He agreed to lend his assistance in exchange for a small fee...a piece of Boris's soul. Next, Maemi brought Boris before Emperor Shojinawa Ito, a once powerful necromancer who had transformed himself into a lich, but now only existed as dread ghost, bound for all eternity to the Imperial Shrine. It was he who stood guard over the remains of Emperor Shigure, hoping to find a way to possess the corpse so that he might walk the world of the living again. He was more than willing to assist Boris in his endeavors, but the only way he would be able to lend his aid was if he could possess an imperial scion. He gave his vow that it would only be temporary, just long enough for him to escape the island. Boris offered up Ameiko as a host. ________________________________________________________________When they emerged from the Well of Demons, they were a truly horrifying sight to behold. Empress Amatatsu Maemi was accompanied by her handmaiden and her aerie of erinyes, while Emperor Sugimatu Nobinoru brought with him a half-dozen hydrodaemons, as well as his piscodaemon major domo, Ikku. Last was Emperor Shojinawa Ito, who rode atop a monstrous nightwing, followed by his loyal vassal, a graveknight named Akatsuka Katsumoto. Amatatsu Onoko sensed them first and warned the scions. There was no question that they were overmatched and could not stand against the united Imperials, but there was another problem: Ameiko could not teleport nor dimensionally travel with the Amatatsu Seal. She had left it in Onoko's care while she was in the Well of Demons, but now it was in her possession once more. Akiro volunteered to stay with her, and Onoko vowed to stand by her, but Ameiko commanded Lucian to leave with Miyaro. When he protested, she told him that he must warn their allies. He had to reach Koya, Shalelu and Spivey again. Hirabashi Jiro had to know that they had failed so that he might not throw his mens' lives away needlessly. Lucian could not argue her logic, but when he spoke the words to his teleportation spell and whisked himself and Miyaro away, it ripped out his heart to do so. ______________________________________________________________Akiro and Onoko were fearless and truly a sight to behold as they fought to drive back the devils and daemons. Ultimately, however, the outcome was inevitable, and when Emperor Ito forcibly took possession of Ameiko, Akiro lost heart. He fell, leaving only the archon to fight on. She new she could not win, and Ameiko was beyond her ability to save. Before she could be overwhelmed, she transported herself to safety. It was her duty to report back to her mistress, Shizuru, what had transpired.Above the battle, Boris circled astride his nightmare steed. He could not bring himself to enter the fray and cause direct harm to his former comrades. Something held him back. There was even a part of him that was gladdened to see Lucian escape. He cared nothing for Miyaro nor Akiro, and he had Ito's word that Ameiko would be set free in time. It was for her own good, Boris kept telling himself. This was the only way she would ever win back the Jade Throne._____________________________________________________________Things progressed very quickly after that. Lucian and Miyaro were able to warn Asachi Isao and his underground rebels in the hope they would be able to evacuate. The pair then fled the city and joined up with Jiro's army, where they reunited with Koya, Shalelu and Spivey. Jiro could not be convinced to retreat. This was their only chance as he saw it. His forces met the Jade Regent's Typhoon Guard on the plains before Kasai. The rumor among the citizens of the capital was still that a rightful Amatatsu heir had come to claim the Jade Throne...and they were not wrong.While the two armies clashed outside the city walls, Boris, along with the Empress Amatatsu Maemi, Emperor Sugimatu Nobinoru, and Ameiko, possessed by Emperor Shojinawa Ito, descended on the Imperial Palace. What resistance they met from the remaining Typhoon Guard was quickly overwhelmed until, at last, they stood in the throne room before the Jade Throne. There they faced Soto Takahiro, the Jade Regent himself, as well as his grandfather Anamurumon, the leader of the Five Storms, his lover and closest advisor, the oracle Renshii Meida, his master of assassins, the tengu ninja Giras Notori, the Raven Prince, and his newest acquisition, the thunder-caller turned vampire, Zula Breaks-the-Wind. Their battle was epic in scale, with Empress Maemi falling before the storm giant oni, Anamurumon, before he himself was slain by Ameiko wielding Suishen. The Jade Regent and the graveknight Akatsuka Katsumoto battled to almost a standstill, but in the end the undead warrior got the upper hand. Boris himself slew the Raven Prince, the power of his coin along with his unholy mount quickly overwhelming the ninja, and Emperor Nobinoru took great pleasure in ripping Renshii Meida's soul from her body and devouring it. That left just Zula who, after Anamurumon's death, found herself free-willed. Having no loyalty to the Jade Regent nor the Five Storms, she pledged her fealty to the necromancer-possessed Ameiko.____________________________________________________________In the end, Ameiko ascended the Jade Throne, and the people were at first elated. Jiro's samurai and peasant warriors handily defeated the Typhoon Guard, especially after the oni learned of their master's death. Still, they did not enter the city, as Lucian was uncertain of what to make of Ameiko's victory, especially when last he'd seen her, she was facing certain death. As for Ameiko, it wasn't long before Boris understood that Emperor Ito had no intention of relinquishing his new vessel. Emperor Nobinoru, having no interest in the affairs of the living, returned to the Imperial Shrine and the Well of Demons to pursue his own dark agenda. With Maemi dead, that left no one to oppose Ito. He began issuing decrees as Ameiko, immediately instituting martial law throughout Kasai. To enforce his commands, he resorted to his necromancy to reanimate the soldiers fallen in battle, both samurai and Typhoon Guard, as loyal undead minions. The people were horrified and terrified, and Jiro's peasant soldiers' will broke before the shambling corpses of their former comrades. They fled back to their farmlands to the north. A new dark age had come to MinkaiLucian, Miyaro, Koya, Shalelu and Spivey fled as well. There was nothing more they could do. Ultimately, Miyaro returned to her forest and the kami. The oni had been defeated, but a new evil had arisen. The forest spirits would do as they had always done...protect their charges and wait out the storm. The others returned across the Crown of the World, and eventually back to Varisia and Sandpoint. They never spoke to their friends and family about what they had experienced, nor what had befallen those they had set with on that long ago day with Sandru's caravan. __________________________________________________________As for Boris, he was angry and saddened over Ito's betrayal, but there was little he could do without endangering Ameiko's life. The new Emperor/Empress didn't seem to mind his presence in the palace, but Boris knew it would only be a matter of time before he'd worn out his welcome. Eventually, he slipped away unnoticed and unseen, traveling the shadow dimension north, back to the Crown of the World and that small town where he and his friends had rested once upon a time. There, he walked out onto the ice-covered lake and sat and waited. Before long, she came to him, as he knew she would. His bride had been expecting his return, and she embraced him and welcomed him home. She took him beneath the ice and into the perpetual darkness of the lake to meet his children...</blockquote>

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