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Story Hour
Terrace and the rise of Evil
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<blockquote data-quote="akira1" data-source="post: 4589992" data-attributes="member: 64437"><p><strong>Battle with the Guardian of the Vale(1)</strong></p><p></p><p>"What do you mean its going to be a problem?" Ivanor asked. </p><p></p><p> "I am having problems seeing properly in this dazzling light. " Damien replied.</p><p> </p><p> "Lets find the Unicorn and get out of here. This place is slightly unsettling" Kalanaghar whispered. </p><p></p><p> Shielding their eyes against the glare, Kalanaghar and Damien, with Ivanor in tow moved out to search the valley. </p><p></p><p> From their point of entrance, they commanded a view of the entire valley. It was small a little over 3 miles across but it was filled with hills and valleys and with strange plant and animal life. A large stream seemed to cut directly through the center of this place. The misty borders of the fog could clearly be seen in the distance marking the terminus of the valley and the blue dome over head was filled with the light of a burning ball of fire. </p><p></p><p> A thunderous sound could be heard as the Tainted moved further into the valley. The ground trembled to the rhythm of many hooves and suddenly in the dale ahead of the them, a herd of unicorns burst into view. There were well over 200 of them ranging in size from colts to full grown. They ranged the gamut of colors from white to blue to black. As one it seemed they ran through the valley and vanished around another hill leaving a cloud of dust and swirled water as the only sign that they had even been here. </p><p></p><p> Ivanor was the first one to feel the sense of menace. 100 yards away, standing on a plateua overlooking the Tainted the evil creature stood. It was a unicorn and unlike the others they had just seen, it had a long tufted goatee hanging from its chin. The creature looked magnificent. As it stood defiantly in the glimmering light. Its white coat seemed to sparkle with gold shimmers and it stamped a large platinum colored hoof on the ground and tossed its proud head in defiance of the intruders. It's glorious mane, was white with a mixture of golden glinting hairs that shimmered as he stood. The creatures deep chest heaved as he raised his 4 foot long horn and calmly assessed the Tainted. </p><p></p><p> "This is the place where your evil will die." The Unicorn telepathically projected to the Tainted. </p><p></p><p> "What is this place?" Ivanor demanded of the Unicorn. </p><p></p><p> "This place will be your grave." The Unicorn declared as he leveled his lance like horn, which was white with gold inlays, at Ivanor and charged. </p><p></p><p> "Grant me the power Celestian, to defeat the enemies of life and peace." The Unicorn intoned as he charged Ivanor. The invocation worked and as he came careening at the startled Ivanor, the Unicorns horn burst into golden energy. </p><p></p><p> The impact of the Unicorn slamming into Ivanor would have normally knocked a lesser opponent flat but Ivanor instead was impaled on the horn of the Champion of the Valley. The unholy power of the Unicorns deity smote Ivanor in a concussive boom as the Unicorn struck him and with a mighty toss of his head, the Unicorn paladin freed his horn from Ivanors body. </p><p></p><p> Seizing the opportunity, Kalanaghar and Damien moved to out flank the Unicorn. Damien moved in with his dagger low squinting in the harsh light of this place and attempted to gut the proud stallion to no avail. Kalanaghar then moved in and delivered a series of swift cuts to the creatures flanks. Ivanor for his part delivered a massive blow to the unicorns shoulder. </p><p></p><p> The Unicorn at this point went wild and relying on its animalistic instincts lashed out with its hooves and bucked. It slammed its horn into Ivanor again nearly ruining his armor and delivered a couple of swift hoof strikes to Damien as well as shifting himself out of their encircling strategy. Again the Tainted came in at the Unicorn causing him considerable pain and the Unicorn then summoning its innate magical abilities teleported leaving the Tainted breathing heavily and slightly confused. </p><p></p><p> With a grim look on his blood splattered face Ivanor growled, " Where did he go!" </p><p></p><p> He got his answer a few seconds later as the unicorn came galloping in from behind and slammed his horn into Ivanors back. Kalanaghar jumped to the attack and delivered a severe cut to the Unicorns flanks. The Beast shook Ivanor free of its horn and then trampled him into the dust. Damein and Kalanaghar for their parts moved about attempting to outmaneuver the Unicorn to little avail. His flashing golden hooves kept Damien at bay and Kalanaghar was not fast enough to out flank the unicorn before he moved. </p><p></p><p>Rearing and turning, the Unicorn charged Ivanor again and slammed his horn into his side. Anticipating this the Tainted acted as one. Ivanor and Kalanaghar both delivered devastating attacks to the unicorn while it attempted to disengage its horn from Ivanors side. The Unicorn again trampled Ivanor and distanced himself from the Tainted and summoning his innate magical powers healed himself. </p><p></p><p> Standing 50 feet apart, the Tainted, and the Unicorn eyed each other warily and suddenly the Unicorn came hurtling back in on them. Damien had craftily positioned himself to be able to deliver a sneak attack and Ivanor and Kalanaghar simply waited. The horn struck Ivanor again and this time the Tainted pounced. The Unicorn, Paladin of Celestian and Defender of the Valley of the Unicorns, fell under the combined assault of the Tainted. </p><p> For an instant, silence hung heavily in the Valley and it seemed almost as if nature itself had paused to pay homage to its fallen defender. A slightly chill and discomforting breeze stirred through the valley. </p><p></p><p> Looking around slightly, turned and walked a little ways off into the valley to contemplate these events and the words the Unicorn used to describe he and his companions, evil. </p><p></p><p> Meanwhile, Kalanaghar and Damein set about retrieving the horn, their primary mission and then harvesting as much of the unicorn as possible from blood to internal organs. Kalanaghar attempted to skin the beast for its magnificent coat but was unable to remove the skin intact. After a few hours of this Ivanor returned to bury the body. </p><p></p><p>Drawing upon their knowledges of arcane matters and alchemy, the Tainted concluded that a unicorns horn was an agent against poisoning, had properties against undead and could be used in the creation of superior healing potions. </p><p></p><p> As he did this, Ivanor said a prayer to his deity and was granted a vision pertaining to the soul of the Unicorn. This past in an instant and by the time the Unicorn was buried, the wall of fog surrounding the valley had nearly completely dissipated and the sky had acquired a thin over hanging of the cloud cover typical of the rest of the Blood lands Region. </p><p></p><p> Over the next 9 days the Tainted journey back through the lands of the Ranaga and Angrymyre and found the irrepressible Sven waiting with the boat they had acquired at Orin. They sailed back into Rath and Sven promptly bribed the dock master and then sold the skiff. </p><p></p><p> The Tainted for their part, gave Sven some money after he had begged to stay on with them and then made haste to Brickface's office to deliver the Horn. They then sifted through the general street gossip and found that a couple of things were at the forefront of everyones minds. The Grim Riders had successfully returned from their razing of the Ruins of Castor and the Cold Rider, the Lich Kings Lieutenant was coming to pay a social call on the Scion at the beginning of the month of Kefolds. </p><p></p><p> Brickfaces office is a 2 story building of black stone and wood with no visible windows to it and a single entrance. Knocking on the door, caused a single large eye to appear and the high pitched tinny voice of Eddy 2 Wands came through, "Hey guys, come on up, the doors open." </p><p></p><p> Walking up the narrow landingless stairs, the Tainted approached another door that was opened at their arrival and found themselves in Eddy's office. Eddy's office was plain and functional. There was a desk for Eddy and depending on the day from 3 to 7 chairs for guests to sit and wait upon the pleasure of Brickface. Eddy himself was a human male with glowing sometimes green sometimes blue eyes and a square angular face that seemed more carved than anything else. He also had a solid build and wore a bandoleer of wands across his chest. He also always seemed to smile with his large white teeth. </p><p></p><p> "You guys are back a few days early." Eddy commented. </p><p></p><p> "Yeah. We thought it best to get this back in the alloted time." kalanaghar replied. </p><p></p><p> Eddy simply nodded and then said, Brickface will see you guys. </p><p></p><p> The door to Brickfaces office was large and painted red and stood cracked open. The inside of Brickface's office was a little more ornate than Eddy's but only moderately so. there were no wall hangings here and Brickfaces desk was a little larger and more ornate. There were three chairs in here which Brickface gestured were for the Tainted. </p><p></p><p>Sitting to Brickface's right was Amelia. His diviner and second in command and if street rumor were to be believed, his lover. She was a big rawboned human female with red hair and brilliant green eyes. She had a severe look to her and distrusted everyone except Brickface. She glared at the tainted as the filed in which drew a wink from Ivanor. </p><p></p><p> "So you have had a fruitful mission." Brickface intoned. </p><p></p><p> The tainted said nothing. They simply deposited the Unicorns horn on the desk in front of Brickface. </p><p></p><p> "Go get Mr Sleep." Brickface said to Amelia who immediately stood and withdrawing her wand of Dimension door vanished to retuirn a few minutes later with Mr Sleep in tow. </p><p></p><p> Mr. Sleep is a Drow female that customarily wears tight fitting leather armor and has a mohawk of white hair on her round head. Sleep took the horn and then said, " I do not know if you may know or not, but The Cold Rider will be arriving in the city in 9 days. Because of the success of your mission, we will have a front row seat by the investors for this expedition to get the horn. You all are invited to participate." With that Sleep turned and Amelia teleported them both away again. </p><p></p><p> The meeting with Brickface ended and the Tainted collected their their payment and spent time getting readjusted to the city of Rath and shopping. Sven also spent this time recruiting some muscle for the Tainted and suggested that they should get an official base of operations so to speak. </p><p></p><p> The first day of Kefolds came quite suddenly as the Tainted were enjoying a breakfast at the Devil's Cup. Mr Sleep walked in in her customary black leather flanked by a hulking Ogre Half Red Dragon that she Identified as Mr Fixit, Lolita's, the Crime Lord that ultimately employed them all, personal bodyguard and assassin. </p><p></p><p>As Mr Sleep led them to their appointed spot, they met several other Mr's. The met Mr Book, and Mr Dark as well as their retinues. The jostling crowds that lined the parade road that led to the Scions Compound in the center of the city was lined with people but the jostling crowd parted easily for them as they approached their spot and a file of the Scions priestesses formed up around them keeping the crowd from pressing in by sheer intimidation. </p><p></p><p> A loud trumpet sound announced the arrival of the Cold Rider and his retinue. At the head of the group came 5 men. They were exceedingly tall and thin and all had chalk white skin and black eyes, lips and fingernails. They were dressed in long flowing robes with high black belts and red half cloaks. They had pointed felt hats on their heads and they seemed to move with an almost alien intent. </p><p></p><p> "Sarn Mystics" Mr Sleep whispered as the 5 passed directly in front of where they were standing.</p><p> </p><p> Behind the Sarn Mystics came 20 females. They were all browned skinned, some were bald and others had their hair done up in elaborate braids. They all wore an abundance of jewelry, bracelets, necklaces, and had exotic looking nose and eyebrow piercings. The moved with a practiced grace almost like a hunting lioness. They were dressed in loose fitting multicolored robes. They had high cheekbones and broad noses. They exuded a sense of fierce sensuality and controlled lethality. </p><p></p><p> "The Wives if the Cold Rider, all are of the Shezurite Sisterhood." Mr Sleep filled in. </p><p></p><p> And finally the Cold Rider himself came riding in. He sat regally upon the back of a Nightmare which stamped its large sooty hooves and bursts or brimstone puffed up. The Nightmare was bigger and more fierce looking than normal members of his species. His eyes seemed to bear an intelligent malevolence that seemed directed at anyone that met its eyes. Sitting in the high pommeled saddle, the Cold Rider rode with his eyes locked on the rising temple complex of the Scions with a look of acute disapproval. He was dressed in black full plate with a pheonix, picked out in red gems on his chest. A long grey cloak flowed down his back and his black hair curled thickly with white wings at his temples. His face bore a cold aristocratic mien and his dark brown eyes dismissed most of the people in the crowd as he rode majestically in. </p><p></p><p> It was only a minor nearly imperceptible shift, but suddenly the Shezurite all seemed to be looking in all directions at once and the Sarn Mystics seemed on the verge of massive amounts of carnage. A single bone white shaft arced from somewhere above and behind the crowd and plunged towards the Cold Rider everything seemed to move in slow motion. </p><p></p><p> There was a scream from one of the Shezurite and with an annoyed look, the Cold Rider shifted his attention from its studied ignorance of the crowd to looking for what disturbed his entrance into the city. The arrow slammed into a field of brilliant red energy and for a split second it hung unmoving in the air and suddenly the red energy field exploded like broken glass and it as replaced by and orange, then yellow, then green, then blue, then indigo, and finally a violet energy field, all of which shattered as easily as the red field had. A look of shock crossed the Cold Riders face as the arrow cut through his defensive magics, and punctured his necrosteel armor to sink over half its length in his dead heart. The Vampire known as the Cold Rider lurched and then toppled over backwards from his nightmare mount dead...with an arrow made from bone and bearing hints of gold standing from his chest. </p><p></p><p> Motion came suddenly and chaos erupted. the Scions priestesses as one seemed to draw their maces and began beating the crowd back and quickly surrounding and hustling the Cold Riders retinue into the Scions Compound. Mr Sleep and company including the tainted were escorted to safety by their group but before they left it was noted by Damien that a figure wearing a red and black cloak was fleeing the scene on top of one of the buildings. </p><p></p><p>________________________________________________________________</p><p>(1) This is the actual beginning of the main campaign story arc. The previous adventures served to set the story up to this point as well as allow the characters to pursue their own interests and form their own connections with the NPC's within the campaign world. They were perhaps 7th level when they battled the Unicorn Paladin of Celestian in the Vale. </p><p></p><p>*****************Next An Interlude*************************</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="akira1, post: 4589992, member: 64437"] [b]Battle with the Guardian of the Vale(1)[/b] "What do you mean its going to be a problem?" Ivanor asked. "I am having problems seeing properly in this dazzling light. " Damien replied. "Lets find the Unicorn and get out of here. This place is slightly unsettling" Kalanaghar whispered. Shielding their eyes against the glare, Kalanaghar and Damien, with Ivanor in tow moved out to search the valley. From their point of entrance, they commanded a view of the entire valley. It was small a little over 3 miles across but it was filled with hills and valleys and with strange plant and animal life. A large stream seemed to cut directly through the center of this place. The misty borders of the fog could clearly be seen in the distance marking the terminus of the valley and the blue dome over head was filled with the light of a burning ball of fire. A thunderous sound could be heard as the Tainted moved further into the valley. The ground trembled to the rhythm of many hooves and suddenly in the dale ahead of the them, a herd of unicorns burst into view. There were well over 200 of them ranging in size from colts to full grown. They ranged the gamut of colors from white to blue to black. As one it seemed they ran through the valley and vanished around another hill leaving a cloud of dust and swirled water as the only sign that they had even been here. Ivanor was the first one to feel the sense of menace. 100 yards away, standing on a plateua overlooking the Tainted the evil creature stood. It was a unicorn and unlike the others they had just seen, it had a long tufted goatee hanging from its chin. The creature looked magnificent. As it stood defiantly in the glimmering light. Its white coat seemed to sparkle with gold shimmers and it stamped a large platinum colored hoof on the ground and tossed its proud head in defiance of the intruders. It's glorious mane, was white with a mixture of golden glinting hairs that shimmered as he stood. The creatures deep chest heaved as he raised his 4 foot long horn and calmly assessed the Tainted. "This is the place where your evil will die." The Unicorn telepathically projected to the Tainted. "What is this place?" Ivanor demanded of the Unicorn. "This place will be your grave." The Unicorn declared as he leveled his lance like horn, which was white with gold inlays, at Ivanor and charged. "Grant me the power Celestian, to defeat the enemies of life and peace." The Unicorn intoned as he charged Ivanor. The invocation worked and as he came careening at the startled Ivanor, the Unicorns horn burst into golden energy. The impact of the Unicorn slamming into Ivanor would have normally knocked a lesser opponent flat but Ivanor instead was impaled on the horn of the Champion of the Valley. The unholy power of the Unicorns deity smote Ivanor in a concussive boom as the Unicorn struck him and with a mighty toss of his head, the Unicorn paladin freed his horn from Ivanors body. Seizing the opportunity, Kalanaghar and Damien moved to out flank the Unicorn. Damien moved in with his dagger low squinting in the harsh light of this place and attempted to gut the proud stallion to no avail. Kalanaghar then moved in and delivered a series of swift cuts to the creatures flanks. Ivanor for his part delivered a massive blow to the unicorns shoulder. The Unicorn at this point went wild and relying on its animalistic instincts lashed out with its hooves and bucked. It slammed its horn into Ivanor again nearly ruining his armor and delivered a couple of swift hoof strikes to Damien as well as shifting himself out of their encircling strategy. Again the Tainted came in at the Unicorn causing him considerable pain and the Unicorn then summoning its innate magical abilities teleported leaving the Tainted breathing heavily and slightly confused. With a grim look on his blood splattered face Ivanor growled, " Where did he go!" He got his answer a few seconds later as the unicorn came galloping in from behind and slammed his horn into Ivanors back. Kalanaghar jumped to the attack and delivered a severe cut to the Unicorns flanks. The Beast shook Ivanor free of its horn and then trampled him into the dust. Damein and Kalanaghar for their parts moved about attempting to outmaneuver the Unicorn to little avail. His flashing golden hooves kept Damien at bay and Kalanaghar was not fast enough to out flank the unicorn before he moved. Rearing and turning, the Unicorn charged Ivanor again and slammed his horn into his side. Anticipating this the Tainted acted as one. Ivanor and Kalanaghar both delivered devastating attacks to the unicorn while it attempted to disengage its horn from Ivanors side. The Unicorn again trampled Ivanor and distanced himself from the Tainted and summoning his innate magical powers healed himself. Standing 50 feet apart, the Tainted, and the Unicorn eyed each other warily and suddenly the Unicorn came hurtling back in on them. Damien had craftily positioned himself to be able to deliver a sneak attack and Ivanor and Kalanaghar simply waited. The horn struck Ivanor again and this time the Tainted pounced. The Unicorn, Paladin of Celestian and Defender of the Valley of the Unicorns, fell under the combined assault of the Tainted. For an instant, silence hung heavily in the Valley and it seemed almost as if nature itself had paused to pay homage to its fallen defender. A slightly chill and discomforting breeze stirred through the valley. Looking around slightly, turned and walked a little ways off into the valley to contemplate these events and the words the Unicorn used to describe he and his companions, evil. Meanwhile, Kalanaghar and Damein set about retrieving the horn, their primary mission and then harvesting as much of the unicorn as possible from blood to internal organs. Kalanaghar attempted to skin the beast for its magnificent coat but was unable to remove the skin intact. After a few hours of this Ivanor returned to bury the body. Drawing upon their knowledges of arcane matters and alchemy, the Tainted concluded that a unicorns horn was an agent against poisoning, had properties against undead and could be used in the creation of superior healing potions. As he did this, Ivanor said a prayer to his deity and was granted a vision pertaining to the soul of the Unicorn. This past in an instant and by the time the Unicorn was buried, the wall of fog surrounding the valley had nearly completely dissipated and the sky had acquired a thin over hanging of the cloud cover typical of the rest of the Blood lands Region. Over the next 9 days the Tainted journey back through the lands of the Ranaga and Angrymyre and found the irrepressible Sven waiting with the boat they had acquired at Orin. They sailed back into Rath and Sven promptly bribed the dock master and then sold the skiff. The Tainted for their part, gave Sven some money after he had begged to stay on with them and then made haste to Brickface's office to deliver the Horn. They then sifted through the general street gossip and found that a couple of things were at the forefront of everyones minds. The Grim Riders had successfully returned from their razing of the Ruins of Castor and the Cold Rider, the Lich Kings Lieutenant was coming to pay a social call on the Scion at the beginning of the month of Kefolds. Brickfaces office is a 2 story building of black stone and wood with no visible windows to it and a single entrance. Knocking on the door, caused a single large eye to appear and the high pitched tinny voice of Eddy 2 Wands came through, "Hey guys, come on up, the doors open." Walking up the narrow landingless stairs, the Tainted approached another door that was opened at their arrival and found themselves in Eddy's office. Eddy's office was plain and functional. There was a desk for Eddy and depending on the day from 3 to 7 chairs for guests to sit and wait upon the pleasure of Brickface. Eddy himself was a human male with glowing sometimes green sometimes blue eyes and a square angular face that seemed more carved than anything else. He also had a solid build and wore a bandoleer of wands across his chest. He also always seemed to smile with his large white teeth. "You guys are back a few days early." Eddy commented. "Yeah. We thought it best to get this back in the alloted time." kalanaghar replied. Eddy simply nodded and then said, Brickface will see you guys. The door to Brickfaces office was large and painted red and stood cracked open. The inside of Brickface's office was a little more ornate than Eddy's but only moderately so. there were no wall hangings here and Brickfaces desk was a little larger and more ornate. There were three chairs in here which Brickface gestured were for the Tainted. Sitting to Brickface's right was Amelia. His diviner and second in command and if street rumor were to be believed, his lover. She was a big rawboned human female with red hair and brilliant green eyes. She had a severe look to her and distrusted everyone except Brickface. She glared at the tainted as the filed in which drew a wink from Ivanor. "So you have had a fruitful mission." Brickface intoned. The tainted said nothing. They simply deposited the Unicorns horn on the desk in front of Brickface. "Go get Mr Sleep." Brickface said to Amelia who immediately stood and withdrawing her wand of Dimension door vanished to retuirn a few minutes later with Mr Sleep in tow. Mr. Sleep is a Drow female that customarily wears tight fitting leather armor and has a mohawk of white hair on her round head. Sleep took the horn and then said, " I do not know if you may know or not, but The Cold Rider will be arriving in the city in 9 days. Because of the success of your mission, we will have a front row seat by the investors for this expedition to get the horn. You all are invited to participate." With that Sleep turned and Amelia teleported them both away again. The meeting with Brickface ended and the Tainted collected their their payment and spent time getting readjusted to the city of Rath and shopping. Sven also spent this time recruiting some muscle for the Tainted and suggested that they should get an official base of operations so to speak. The first day of Kefolds came quite suddenly as the Tainted were enjoying a breakfast at the Devil's Cup. Mr Sleep walked in in her customary black leather flanked by a hulking Ogre Half Red Dragon that she Identified as Mr Fixit, Lolita's, the Crime Lord that ultimately employed them all, personal bodyguard and assassin. As Mr Sleep led them to their appointed spot, they met several other Mr's. The met Mr Book, and Mr Dark as well as their retinues. The jostling crowds that lined the parade road that led to the Scions Compound in the center of the city was lined with people but the jostling crowd parted easily for them as they approached their spot and a file of the Scions priestesses formed up around them keeping the crowd from pressing in by sheer intimidation. A loud trumpet sound announced the arrival of the Cold Rider and his retinue. At the head of the group came 5 men. They were exceedingly tall and thin and all had chalk white skin and black eyes, lips and fingernails. They were dressed in long flowing robes with high black belts and red half cloaks. They had pointed felt hats on their heads and they seemed to move with an almost alien intent. "Sarn Mystics" Mr Sleep whispered as the 5 passed directly in front of where they were standing. Behind the Sarn Mystics came 20 females. They were all browned skinned, some were bald and others had their hair done up in elaborate braids. They all wore an abundance of jewelry, bracelets, necklaces, and had exotic looking nose and eyebrow piercings. The moved with a practiced grace almost like a hunting lioness. They were dressed in loose fitting multicolored robes. They had high cheekbones and broad noses. They exuded a sense of fierce sensuality and controlled lethality. "The Wives if the Cold Rider, all are of the Shezurite Sisterhood." Mr Sleep filled in. And finally the Cold Rider himself came riding in. He sat regally upon the back of a Nightmare which stamped its large sooty hooves and bursts or brimstone puffed up. The Nightmare was bigger and more fierce looking than normal members of his species. His eyes seemed to bear an intelligent malevolence that seemed directed at anyone that met its eyes. Sitting in the high pommeled saddle, the Cold Rider rode with his eyes locked on the rising temple complex of the Scions with a look of acute disapproval. He was dressed in black full plate with a pheonix, picked out in red gems on his chest. A long grey cloak flowed down his back and his black hair curled thickly with white wings at his temples. His face bore a cold aristocratic mien and his dark brown eyes dismissed most of the people in the crowd as he rode majestically in. It was only a minor nearly imperceptible shift, but suddenly the Shezurite all seemed to be looking in all directions at once and the Sarn Mystics seemed on the verge of massive amounts of carnage. A single bone white shaft arced from somewhere above and behind the crowd and plunged towards the Cold Rider everything seemed to move in slow motion. There was a scream from one of the Shezurite and with an annoyed look, the Cold Rider shifted his attention from its studied ignorance of the crowd to looking for what disturbed his entrance into the city. The arrow slammed into a field of brilliant red energy and for a split second it hung unmoving in the air and suddenly the red energy field exploded like broken glass and it as replaced by and orange, then yellow, then green, then blue, then indigo, and finally a violet energy field, all of which shattered as easily as the red field had. A look of shock crossed the Cold Riders face as the arrow cut through his defensive magics, and punctured his necrosteel armor to sink over half its length in his dead heart. The Vampire known as the Cold Rider lurched and then toppled over backwards from his nightmare mount dead...with an arrow made from bone and bearing hints of gold standing from his chest. Motion came suddenly and chaos erupted. the Scions priestesses as one seemed to draw their maces and began beating the crowd back and quickly surrounding and hustling the Cold Riders retinue into the Scions Compound. Mr Sleep and company including the tainted were escorted to safety by their group but before they left it was noted by Damien that a figure wearing a red and black cloak was fleeing the scene on top of one of the buildings. ________________________________________________________________ (1) This is the actual beginning of the main campaign story arc. The previous adventures served to set the story up to this point as well as allow the characters to pursue their own interests and form their own connections with the NPC's within the campaign world. They were perhaps 7th level when they battled the Unicorn Paladin of Celestian in the Vale. *****************Next An Interlude************************* [/QUOTE]
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