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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 1071974" data-attributes="member: 1674">Back into Hell- part 2His teacher had told Niklas about Glivid Autel, and he knew that the story of this place couldn't be told without the story of another place: Hollowfaust. Originally, there had been a gleaming and busy city at the place where Hollowfaust, the city of necromancers, had originally been founded. Then, at some point before the Titanswar, it had been devastated when it had been covered with the lava and ashes of the volcano that towered over it. However, the same force that had been the city’s doom had also preserved the buildings and corpses under a protective layer of ashes.Hollowfaust remained a dead place until shortly after the Titanswar a group of Necromancers arrived. These masters of the arcane arts animated the skeletal remnants of the former inhabitants of the place to dig out parts of the city again. While doing so, however, war-refugees and others who were made homeless in the war or it's turbulent aftermath arrived, and soon Hollowfaust turned into a real city again, with citizens both dead and undead and Necromancers as its rulers.However, for some of these new rulers, that power was not enough. They wanted more and they did not want to be hampered by the laws the strict but fair masters of death had established for themselves. When it came to describing what exactly had happened then, Brother William had to confess that he didn't know exactly- something that rarely happened with a man who easily fell victim to the sin of pride when it came to his encompassing knowledge. But a number of selfish and evil necromancers were expelled from Hollowfaust after some acts which their former companions wanted to punish but stay secret nonetheless.These Necromancers in turn founded a city themselves. There, in the western part of the Hornsaw, on top of another ruined city, they built a place where they had to follow no rules and could commit whatever vile acts and morbid experiments their cold and evil minds could think of. And this was where the Redleaves had been taken."Does this mean that they are dead?" Trepat asked the two Butterflies.For the first time, the male elf spoke, his voice deep and grating and resonating with hatred: " No, not necessarily. The wizards of Glivid Autel crave power, and in order to feel powerful, they entertain a people of slaves. For this, they catch free people, break them and turn them into slaves. Those who get killed, die of the harsh circumstances or who can't be broken, those are turned into undead servants."But this means that some of the Red Leaves may still be alive. Probably they are close to starvation and wasting away in some dark hole in the rock on which their city was erected. If you want to go there, we will lead you to the Broadreach River, from where it will be merely a dozen miles to Glivid Autel."Trepat translated the elf's offer, wondering just how he had gotten those detailed informations, and once he was sure that all of his friends were ready to come along, he gratefully accepted."Good then," the woman said. "You better get some sleep now so that we can get going first thing in the morning."Three days later, they had reached the eastern shore of the Broadreach River. By then, the friends had come to know their guides a little better. The woman was called Zona, the man Redoran and they were rangers of the Butterfly clan. When he had been younger, Redoran had been captured by the necromancers of Glivid Autel, but with luck and ingenuity, he had escaped from there, learning one important lesson in the process: The divine races where just as likely to be cruel and evil as any Titanspawn."This is as far as we can take you", Zona said as they looked over to the forest on the other side of the Broadreach River. "Our territory ends here. But here, the river is shallow enough for you to cross it safely, and we will be here with more members of our tribe when you return, in case you are being followed. May Madriel have mercy with you"The companions said goodbye and waded through the river. On the other side, it was obvious that they were still in the Hornsaw-forest, and it looked even worse here than on the eastern shore. Looking back once more and waving to their guides, they stepped forward, soon being surrounded by lush and twisted vegetation once again.After a while, they strongly felt the absence of their guides. They were able to move in the right direction, mostly thanks to Trepat's raven who gave them directions by looking down at the forest from high above, but still they felt uneasy.Torn felt as if unseen and hostile eyes were watching them, and as if the entire forest wanted to see them dead. The trees seemed to be reaching out to claw into their clothes and flesh at every opportunity and the shadows seemed to be moving. But, hey, now that Torn was looking again: really- the shadows were moving; at least the one of Niklas seemed to have developed a life of his own.For a few moments Torn kept watching. This shadow here was definitely alive and acting on a will of it's own, even though it was connected to Niklas’ shape, just like a real shadow would be, but there were no indications of a slarecian shadow- no long neck and no spined ridge on the forehead. Silently, he pulled out his magical spiked chain, and then, as he slashed down at the living shadow, he cried out a warning.His chain hit nothing but the murky ground, but right away, Niklas felt an immense force pulling his limbs, like a puppeteer pulling his strings- while was the puppet. He struggled and fought back, as he and the shadow were caught in a battle for control of his body.As Niklas resisted the strange shadow, four three-dimensional shadows stepped forward, separating themselves from the general darkness amidst the trees. These too attacked the companions.</blockquote>

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