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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 6896102" data-attributes="member: 9546">1 Calistril, 4717 - 22 Calistril, 4717 - The Banner VerdantWEEK 16Tardaesha had warned the others that Knick-Knack was predicting an eminent attack within the next three days, and Kelvin had ordered everyone to barricade themselves in the upper level mediation hall for safety in numbers. This arrangement began to chafe at Dakota before the first day was out, and she complained bitterly and non-stop. The only ones who were not included in the extended sleep-over were Artephius, Knick-Knack and Carnetheria Rex. Dorian posted the golem in the lower level throne room, and the nightmare agreed to wait with the construct at Roger's request, while the little cacodaemon took up a position near the ceiling where he could keep an eye on things and report telepathically to his mistress.Shortly after midnight on the second night of the vigil, a vision manifested in the lower temple. An angelic being with wings of glowing fire appeared out of nowhere, a sword of light gripped in its golden hands. Caritheria Rex's eyes went wide in terror as the celestial being stalked towards him. He reared on his back legs, pawing at the air furiously with his flaming hooves. It availed him not. The angel drew back its blade and then drove it straight through the nightmare's chest and heart. He fell to the floor in a heap, drew one last hitching breath, and expired.  Knick-Knack bobbed unseen in the rafters, confused by what he'd just witnessed. He saw no angel. All had been quiet and peaceful until the nightmare had suddenly reared up and attacked thin air, then simply fallen down and died. He was still pondering this when he saw a shadow move within the deeper shadows of the temple.'Mistress!' Knick-Knack's panicked voice pounded into Tardaesha's skull. 'Dark stallion is dead! Shadow of ashes here now! Come quick!'Tardaesha shook her head in confusion."Something's wrong in the lower temple," she said to the others. "Knick-Knack says that Carnitheria Rex is down and there is something there with them."Roger's eyes went wide with fear and anger. He didn't wait for orders, but ran for the teleportation circle and spoke the command word for the first-floor throne room. "We'd better get after him," Tardaesha said. "Dakota, you're with me. Oddball?"The dev nodded, and then gripped the sisters by their shoulders. His fanged eyeball glowed, and then all three of them vanished. The throne room was in chaos as Tardaesha's vision cleared. Artephius stood in the center hurling bombs of electricity at something that looked like a whirling cloud of charred, screaming corpses. "It's incorporeal!" Dakota shouted. "Those bombs won't stop it!"She drew a pair of specially prepared arrows, salted with an alchemical mixture, from her quiver and fired them both at the ashen nightmare. The arrows struck true, impaling the horror as if it were flesh and blood, and it wailed inhumanly. A wave of black energy surged from it, and as it washed over the defenders, they all felt somnolence and fatigue momentarily overcome them before quickly passing...all except for Oddball. Tardaesha looked towards the dev when she heard snoring coming from behind her. Oddball lay crumpled on the floor, gurgling snorts coming from somewhere within his cowl as he slept. She turned back just as the cloud surged towards them. One of the corpses within its mass swiped a clawed hand at the anti-paladin, and where it touched her flesh, she began to burn with black fire. She screamed in agony, clutching her hands to her face as she sank to her knees. Above her, Knick-Knack hissed in fury, and sent a barrage of arcane missiles into the roiling cloud, which seemed to affect it just fine. It wailed again, and turned away from Tardaesha. Dakota was waiting. She put two more ghost-salted arrows in the creature, and with a final howl of damnation, it dissipated away into nothingness.__________________________________________________________"What...what was that??" Roger asked.He was still in shock as he stared down at Carnetheria Rex, a single tear trickling down his cheek."Dorian spoke with Ezra about it," Kelvin replied. "The wraith told him that during the Victor's assault on the Horn, a dozen cultists were killed simultaneously in a fireball explosion. They were burned to ashes and fused into a charred mass. They were not interred. Every year since then, their spirits arise as that...thing, and rampage through the Horn for a single night, seeking to destroy anything living. It has never been much of an issue since the mountain has remained largely unpopulated...until now.""And he never thought to warn us about this!?" Roger raged."He didn't think it was important, since the nightmare had never troubled him," Kelvin sighed. Roger's face flushed, but he said nothing further. He turned and left the temple. Later that night, he had several boggards drag the nightmare outside, where he'd erected a funeral pyre. He cremated the stallion in a solemn ceremony attended by none but himself._____________________________________________________________WEEK 17Two reports came in from Farholde that week. The first was from Timeon. He had begun his duties at Hamarhall, and was settling in nicely. He'd been watching the Lord Commander closely, as he'd been ordered to by Dakota, and he was pleased to inform her that Sir Darian was growing increasingly restless with the rumors surrounding the Horn. He was virtually champing at the bit to go investigate himself. The second missive, this one from the White Ravens, informed the Ninth that a low-level gang war had erupted between the toughs of the Vandermir Orphanage and a Drownington-based crime ring calling themselves Thatcher's Crew. Bergill Mott, headmaster of the orphanage, had requested assistance. Kelvin's decision was fast and ruthless...wipe them out! The Ninth elected to handle this task in person, and in a brutal midnight raid, executed every last member of Thatcher's Crew. Their minions were duly impressed.___________________________________________________________Roger sat near the opening of the Horn's second level, absently scratching Scar between the ears. The big tiger purred contentedly, but Roger could sense a tenseness to the beast. "What's wrong, old boy?" he asked, not expecting an answer.Scar turned his one good eye to his master and growled low, and in the cadence of that rumble, Roger thought he could make out a single word...revenge..._______________________________________________________WEEK 18"Knick-Knack says that we're going to be attacked this week," Tardaesha reported to the others. "It will come from the caves.""Then that's where we'll position ourselves for the week," Kelvin said."Again??" Dakota whined. "We have to just hang around in the same place again? It's boring!!""You'll have the boggards to entertain you," Tardaesha smiled, "and Roger will be there as well."Dakota actually blushed. As it turned out, Kelvin sent all the boggards, along with Zikomo, to the upper levels for their own safety. The Ninth, along with Grumblejack, Knick-Knack, Oddball and Lemmy's three hounds, took up residence in the empty village...and waited.____________________________________________________________Fineas Greenhold held up one hand for quiet while he closed his eyes and focused. After a moment, the little gnome nodded and smiled. "Right where he said it would be," he whispered and pointed towards the jagged maw that marked the opening of the caverns beneath the Horn. "An alarm spell has been strung across the entrance.""Bah!" Angus Madthorn snarled. "Let'em know we're comin'! I'd welcome a straight-up brawl to all this skulkin' around!"Fineas ignored the dwarf. He was used to the barbarian's bluster."Just wait a moment," he said, "and I'll have it disabled in a jiffy."He focused again and saw the strands of magic that held the spell together in his mind's eye. Weaving his own counter-spell, he carefully untied them."There now," he said, dusting off his hands dramatically, "all clear."He, Angus and the other members of the Banner Verdant made their way cautiously into the caves. Their source had informed them that there might be a couple of dozen boggards waiting for them, as well as the dread masters of the Horn themselves. Fineas shivered a little at the thought of that, especially when he recalled what their newest member had told them of the last time she'd faced the villains. He glanced over at the dark-skinned woman."Beautiful!" he sighed to himself."Mind your business," Vethia Dora said sharply. "This is no time for childish games. Besides, I still don't trust that one."This again. Fineas knew that the elven ranger still did not believe that Calliaste Shanda was not a drow, a dark elf, even though the lillend had revealed her true form to them when she'd come to them offering her assistance upon learning of their planned journey to the Horn. Fineas ignored Vethia's xenophobia. Instead he pointed towards the southeastern wall of the otherwise bare cavern the group now stood in. "The old priest said that's where we'd find the secret door," he said. He moved to examine the featureless stone, and after a moment, he dug his fingers into a tiny, almost invisible crack. He turned to his friends, grinning broadly, and indicated the spiral staircase that now stood revealed behind the hidden portal._____________________________________________________________'Intruders!' Hexor's mental shout blasted into the heads of each member of the Ninth."What?" Kelvin asked aloud and mentally. "Where? How?"'They came up the staircase from the caverns!' Hexor bellowed. 'They are trying to reach the sanctum!'"Stop them, even if it costs your your lives!" Kelvin shrieked. "We're on our way!"Without hesitating, the wizard grabbed Lemmy, who was the closest, opened a dimensional door and pulled them both through. A moment later, they appeared in the spiral stair, about a dozen paces from the top. They could hear the sounds of combat coming from above, as well as the deafening roar of some great beast. Cautiously, Lemmy crept to the top.What the dwarf saw when he peered over the lip of the stairwell left him uncharacteristically speechless. Hexor was besieged on all sides. Lemmy could see a ridiculous looking gnome tossing spells at the daemon while an angry-looking dwarf took swipes at him with a greataxe. On the far side of the room an elf woman with a bow was putting arrows into his back. All of this paled in comparison, however, to what had immediately gotten Lemmy's attention. Towering above Hexor was a dinosaur! Lemmy had seen pictures of them before, but nothing compared to real life! He thought this particular one was called a gigantasaurus rex or some such. Whatever its name, Hexor seemed to be having a tough time with it. Suddenly a light flashed in the room, and Vexor appeared.'That ought to even the odds,' Lemmy thought to himself. But that was when he noticed the snake-tailed woman on the opposite side of the dinosaur.Brunhild Sturmdottir reveled in the animalistic abandon of the form she currently wore. The druidess didn't often get the opportunity to set her wild side free, but at least this day, she did not have to hold back. The demonic creature raked at her with its claws, but her thick, reptilian hide barely felt the blow. She let loose an ear-splitting roar and prepared to charge the brute, but then a flash of motion caught her eye. A figure had crept out of the stairwell from which she and her companions had ascended. It was a dwarf. Curious. Before she could determine if he was friend or foe, however, one of his hands turned into a metallic lance, which he promptly ran thru both Vethia and Caliaste. Another flash of light appeared in the center of the room as Oddball stepped thru anothe portal with Tardaesha, Dakota and Knick-Knack close behind. Caliaste saw them immediately, and her eyes flashed with hatred as she began to sing. Though her voice was beautiful, her song was deadly. A burst of pure sound washed over the foursome, buffeting them with its force, and leaving Knick-Knack stunned on the floor. Dakota reeled, but she still saw Angus Madthorn charging towards her, his axe raised high. Unable to bring her bow to bear, she thrust a hand palm out at the dwarf and spoke a swift prayer. Immediately, Madthorn froze in his tracks, held in place by some invisible force. Hexor and Vexor stood back-to-back in the center of the chamber, trying to keep an eye on all of the combatants scrambling about. As several of their assailants regrouped to coordinate a charge, Hexor saw his chance. Opening his ape-like maw, he spewed electricity down upon Angus, Vethia and Caliaste. The energy washed over the lillend like bath water, but it left deep burns in the flesh of the ranger and the dwarf. Angus roared in anger and agony as he shook free of Dakota's spell. Vethia, her hair still smoking, pivoted on one foot just as Roger rushed towards the towering Brunhild, and put an arrow right between his shoulder blades. She smiled when she saw him stumble, and that's when she saw the wizard emerge from the stairwell. Too late, as it turned out.Kelvin threw out both of his hands and loosed a small seed that quickly blossomed into a powerful blast of caustic acid. The spray caught all of the intruders within its radius, and left the elf woman a smoking corpse on the floor in its aftermath. Even the damnable lillend's skin boiled, but only for a moment. In the next instant, Lemmy literally flayed the flesh from her bones with a withering blast of metallic shards that ripped through her body like razor blades. "Stop it!" Fineas Greenhold abruptly shouted, and to both his amazement and Lemmy's, the dwarf did just that."Cease your attacks on us, friend," the gnome said, panting with exertion. "We are not your enemies.""Not my enemies," Lemmy nodded. Even as he spoke these words, Brunhild loomed over Tardaesha and clamped her jaws down completely over the anti-paladin, then lifted her into the air, shaking her back and forth like a rag doll. As the dinosaur threw back her head to swallow her prey whole, Vexor unleashed his own breath weapon and roasted Brunhild alive. Tardaesha dropped heavily to the floor, bleeding profusely, but she was not out of it yet. She had landed right behind the talkative little gnome, and with the last of her strength, she drove her sword through his back, ceasing his prattling once and for all. "Proud of yerself, are ya, bitch?" a voice growled from behind her. "That were my friend ya just kilt, so it's only fittin' that you join him!"Angus Madthorn swung his axe in a broad arc, and buried its head in Tardaesha's spine. She slumped forward with a groan and a sigh, and didn't move again."And that were my friend!" Lemmy shouted.Angus whirled towards him, just in time to catch a face full of metal blast._________________________________________________________From the journal of Fineas Greenhold:"What an interesting development today. We were approached by a so-called holy man full of talk about visions and angels and so forth. He claimed these spirits had driven him to stop the wickedness going on in the Horn, and to rally us to our 'destiny.' Mentioned us almost by name, the angels did! I'm flattered.""He delivered us his pitch and then gave to us an immense pile of information, including maps, names and so much more. Really, he did everything but give the keys to the front door.""Of course I don't accept such gifts without a fair degree of skepticism. I had Vethia trail the 'holy man,' and our fears turned out to be justified. She saw this angel-speaker slip into a side alley and transform back into a dark-haired and much younger human.""My tracker followed the human through the streets of Farholde, and saw the young man rendezvous with a strange, white-haired woman with a white raven on her shoulder. He called her 'Z.'""They didn't say much to each other. All he said was, 'It is done. The Ninth is finished.' I am unsure exactly what that means, but clearly we are being used in some sort of double-cross between various factions of the cult that occupies the Horn. Ah, evil-doers. They never change.""So, they want us to be their assassins, eh? Well, it's a job we don't mind doing. We'll be cautious about this information, obviously, but I think it's likely to pan out. They wouldn't want their dupes to fail after all, would they? Of course, when we're done, I think we'll pay the 'holy man' a little visit as well. Vethia is pretty sure the woman in white must be staying in the nearby inn, The Auld Briarhall in Auld'Irey.""What a piece of work is my elven tracker! She tracked a shapechanger through almost a half mile of city, managed to eavesdrop on a private, guarded conversation, and reported back without even a ripple of trouble. Hah! Remind me to give that girl an almost even share of the treasure!""Tomorrow we attack the Horn with our new friend, Calliaste. She has also confirmed much of the information that we have, and is anxious for some payback. I can feel it in my bones. This is the big one! After this, I just know that our wee little band will never be the same."________________________________________________________________'What are your orders, Master?' Dorian's message to Thorn ended. There was no immediate response. Instead, moments later there was a flash of fire and brimstone. Standing on the ledge in front of Dorian were a pair beautiful, winged women. They would have looked almost angelic if not for the dark stains on their wings, and the bows of flame they gripped in their hands."We are Tisaera and Melinoe," the pair spoke in unison. "We are the furies of Thorn. The Knot Hibernal is declared broken. In accordance with the Pact of Thorns, the traitors are released. They are no longer bound in service nor do they enjoy protection. Make them suffer for their treachery and then return to the work at hand. Bring to the Master the daemon's gift!"</blockquote>

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