Sol Invictus - Book 02 - I Haven't Died Yet

Zee and Cerin cross the border of what's rumored to be a Shadowland, as the sun hits its zenith. Zee is dressed to kill, in a stunning crimson gown. They'd heard in that same rumor, that creatures of darkness lived here, and from the sound of the 'one that radiates darkness like a candle gives off light' their prey lurks here too.

Zee picks her way delicately across the rock-strewn ground, keeping an eye out for anything nasty that might have crawled out from under one.
Cerin walks by her side, the crimson of the silks his armour comprises of matching the crimson of her dress. "The rumour was right, Zee, I can see the death flows around here"
Zee nods, smiling tightly. "Good. Hopefully this one will burn quicker than that moon-child. She was so... annoyingly peace-loving."
Cerin smiles "I doubt that will be a problem with one of the death touched"
Birds-of-Trinity is dressed to complement her companions, in fiery orange and white. Jade dust mixed into their garments flickers eldritchly in the half-dead light. "Our very presence is a taunt, Zahara. He will come to us!" #SolInvictus Cannot send to channel Ambiance/NPC messages require channel op status
Zee rubs her hands together gleefully, "Let's hope so. Now remember, don't kill it too quickly."

<{{Cerin|TheWolf}}> In the distance, all three hear the wracking howls of hungry ghosts

Birds-of-Trinity pouts. "I'll try not to overDO it."
Zahara chuckles and pats her shoulder lightly, "Don't worry, you can slaughter all of the other creepy crawlies we find here too."

<{{Cerin|TheWolf}}> "I'm sure the place is swarming with lesser ghosts"

<{{Cerin|TheWolf}}> Over the next hill, in the valley below, The 3 can now see a small village as was described to them by the rather disturbed man they extracted the rumour from

Zahara is followed by her five floating weapons, just sort of hanging out in the air near her. "It might be interesting to see theirs as well, Cerin. Not for the same purpose," she says, keeping her subject deliberately vague, just in case there are those listening, "But for other uses."

<{{Cerin|TheWolf}}> The village itself consists of several small houses, and a small temple to the elemental dragons, probably desecrated long ago

Cerin nods "Well if you can try not to destroy them all until I have sketched the deathknights flows properly..."

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "Remember, don't give our purpose to the winds."

Cerin looks apologetic within his helmet
Zahara prods him with the pommel of the sword in her hand, chidingly. "We seem to have arrived. And if the deathknight does not live below, well, perhaps something else in the temple will be of use."
- Deathknight* is perched on top of the temple, dressed in flowing grey clothing and wearing a players mask. He bears no arms, though he does seem to have a slightly ghostlike appearance to him, beyond his abalaster pallor
Zahara smiles slowly, "Or perhaps both will come to pass."
Zahara looks to Cerin, "Ready?"
Cerin nods showing his sketchpad "Be careful, Zee" he settles down to sketch

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "I haven't died yet!" she replies cheerfully. "Ready, Birds?"

<Deathknight> "I am the Ivory Orchid Ghost. Why do you creatures of the day trespass here?" he speaks in a low voice that travels well in the still underworld air

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "An old man came to us, screaming still in terror, saying you killed all he loved."

<Ivory`Orchid`Ghost> "He must have been mistaken, for I would never be so careless as to let someone escape"

Zahara chuckles, "Care to test that theory?"
Zahara raises her sword high, and her armory flocks around the upheld sword like seagulls spying stale bread.

<Ivory`Orchid`Ghost> "If you wish too, though your companions to do not seem to be quite ready to help you..."

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "Ahh, see I told them I wanted to meet you alone. They came to make sure there is no interference."

Birds-of-Trinity grunts supportively.
Zahara curtsies deeply, flourishing her sword. "Shall we dance?" she offers.

<Ivory`Orchid`Ghost> "I am not much for dancing myself, so I'm afriad you will have to do the dance for both of us" and with that he leaps up

Zahara chuckles and approaches, letting him strike first
Ivory`Orchid`Ghost spins in mid air, flicking two tiny needles of bone with his hand as he does down toward Zahara, staying well back from the halo of her orbiting blades
Zahara 's chain leaps forward to trap the spine between two of its links, and snap it in half before it passes, while the staff spins slightly behind it, forming a shield of pure motion.
Zahara flicks her sword into the air twice, guided by lines of Essence, as the two spines, weakened but not stopped by the airborne weapons, are neatly deflected into the ground. The flamberge and ice hammer, then leap to the offense, driving in from opposite sites of the deathknight.
Ivory`Orchid`Ghost nods his appreciation "Well done, crimson-clad lady, you move well". As he says this, the doors of the temple open and a horde of hungry ghosts pour out, mis-shapen monstrocies twice the size of mortal men, their handlers visible beind them.
Ivory`Orchid`Ghost laughs as the orbiting weapons slice cut far short of him

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "I take it you don't appreciate one-on-one battles? Perhaps you are too weak on your own?"

<Ivory`Orchid`Ghost> "You shall not bait me with words like that, Lady in a red dress, I feel no need to cripple myself for a 'fair' fight, that way is for fools"

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "Then I shall bait you with this instead," she says, moving towards him languidly as she opens her palm facing him, and Essence gathers from her fingers with a crackle, and shoots a beam of sunlight at Ivory

Ivory`Orchid`Ghost flickers like the shadows cast from a lone candle in the wind.
Cerin looks up from his sketching as the ghosts appear. He tilts his head to regard them briefly, then essence twists and blurs about him, making it hurt the eyes slightly to percieve him
Zahara flings another of the bolts at the Abyssal, keeping him on his toes. "Ivory Orchid Ghost, know before you die, that my name is Zahara Zhan."
Ivory`Orchid`Ghost flickers again, the bolt flying past

<{{Markuran|TheBear}}> ::A familiar sound fills the shadowland, a bellow in a silent tomb. Dust rises from the ground as Markuran's bull roar thunders through the air. "PROTECT THE DREAMBREAKER! DESTORY THE UNDEAD! FOR THE GLORY OF THE SUN AND THE TRIBES!"

Zahara 's weapons cluster around her, fending off the attacks of the giant 11-foot clawed monster ghost things, except for the Bell, which peals loudly, driving them back, causing them to explode from sheer sonic power.
Markuran charges from the dark forest surrounding the temple at the head of a group of twenty barbarian warriors decked in salted leather and perfumed chain. The whorls and curves of the Leaf Walker tribe cover their exposed skin as they barge into battle armed with their wickedly serrated knives. Mark himself simply grabs the first ghost and tears its form to shreds, tossing the remains up toward the Abyssal.

<{{Cerin|TheWolf}}> For 10 yards around the red-clad eclipse, the ghosts dissolve into dust under the waves of sound

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "The playing field levels, as I walk forward, Ivory Orchid Ghost," she says calmly, moving toward the temple.

Markuran laughs, shaking his head in amusement as the first ghost comes apart like dry leaves under his grasp. Grasping for another two the huge barbarian slams them together and flings them, their not-dead forms splattering against the temple walls at the Abyssal's feet. "Cower before the might of the Sun-Chosen, dark one! You have reaped enough souls from the living!"
Ghosts surge forward, clawing all everyone
Zahara smiles over her shoulder at Markuran, "You're so sweet to come defend me."
The Ghosts are driven back by Zahara's whirling blade
Zahara 's sword flickers as she speaks, seeming to move of its own volition to drive the five remaining hungry ghosts within reach.
Markuran bats away the ghosts without even thinking, keeping an eye on his tribesmen as they too battle the dead raging in the temple courtyard.
Ghosts cannot reach marukan, and they do not seem to be able to find the mindtwisting blur that is Cerin
Ivory`Orchid`Ghost nods "Thank you for your name, Zahara Zhan, I will carve it on your bones" and with that he runs forward leaping and twisting in the air, flickering chakra of ghostly soulsteel flickering out towards Zahara and Marku
Zahara twists her wrist, sending the flamberge, chain and staff spinning to intercept the chakrams, and laughs, "They are already inscribed with my name and my deeds. Soon your name shall join the others."
Ivory`Orchid`Ghost catches the weapon as it returns to him
Markuran bats away the ghost-attacks, laughing again. "Your own bones will make a fine trophy. You could not even bring yourself to fight fairly against a lone Solar, so I can not honor you. But still, your bones will be useful for something."

<{{Cerin|TheWolf}}> Amongst the tribes men and the ghosts, the ghosts seem to be winnning.

Zahara rises into the air as each footstep keeps her level while the ground falls away beneath her. The bell peals, and the bolt streams. The chain and staff deflect, while the flamberge and icehammer strike. Her sword spins.

<{{Markuran|TheBear}}> "Zahara, help the Leafwalkers, we can kill this fool ourselves."

Ivory`Orchid`Ghost flickers desperately aside from the bolt, as the Warbell reduces another circle of Ghosts to dust, to the private relief of the tribesmen fighting them
Ivory`Orchid`Ghost doesnt quiet evade the bolt, and is forced to raise his hand in an attempt to parry

<{{Cerin|TheWolf}}> He snarls as the bolt burns his palm

<{{Cerin|TheWolf}}> The blur that is cerin continues to sketch the twisting abyssal

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "You can do better than that, can't you?"

Markuran snarls at the ghosts around his tribesmen. "Flee, or you will be destroyed. Return to the underworld and depart into lethe, your vengence will not be saited on these men." Moving forward as he speaks, the big Solar uses one of the hungary ghosts as a stepping stone, crushing it under foot casually as he leaps toward the Abyssal, his fists exploding into starflares of burning light

<{{Cerin|TheWolf}}> As Marku's flare batters at them, the ghosts do not flee, though they press forward toward the Leafwalkers far less eagerly

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "Marku! No!"

Markuran hesistates for just a second before smashing his fist across the Abyssal's face. The blow blurs, appearing to strike the deathknight several times instead of just once. The man flies backwards, skidding across the temple.
Ivory`Orchid`Ghost collapses and does not raise.

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "Marku! You killed him! Now we'll have to find another!" she says indignantly, hurrying through the air toward the top of the temple

<{{Markuran|TheBear}}> "He's alive. For the moment. Help the Leafwalkers, damn you."

<{{Cerin|TheWolf}}> "MARKU! For Suns sake..."

Markuran ignores their cries of protest and rushes to help his beligured followers
Cerin leaps up atop the temple, walking over to the abyssal, the mindtwisting essence unravelling from him as he does "Hmmm."

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "It was nice of you to defend me and all, but you completely RUINED our experiment," she sulks, prodding the limp body. She sighs, and hefts it over her shoulder while the Bell strikes, clearing another circle of Ghosts. "Your enthusiasm is often misguided."

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "You SAW the note, didn't you? I left it on your door."

<{{Cerin|TheWolf}}> "He isnt actually dead, Zee"

Birds-of-Trinity is now known as willows

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "I know, but he won't be doing anything interesting for a while... hmmm.. actually..."

Markuran ignores the two as he cleans up the last of the remaining Hungry Ghosts.

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "I could heal him. Or we could keep him."

<{{Cerin|TheWolf}}> The hungry ghosts are ground to dust below his fists

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "he's kind of cute, really" she turns his unresisting head this way and that, getting a better view.

<{{Markuran|TheBear}}> "You can test your collar before I snap his neck, Zahara. I will not permit such an abomination to survive."

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "You have no jurisdiction over my toys, Markuran."

Ivory`Orchid`Ghost* is indeed rather 'cute' in a kind of looking on the verge of death way

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "Besides, survival is a much more fitting punishment. Would you rather his Spark finds a new victim?"

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "I wonder... do you think they Exalt like we do?" she says, on second thought, "Or passed through the blood, like Dragonspawn?"

<{{Cerin|TheWolf}}> "He would be a rather dangerous toy, Zahara, even with a collar on him"

<{{Markuran|TheBear}}> "He is not a toy. He is a deathknight, a murderer and a sin against all that is right. He may not walk free upon this land. Keep him in a cage forever or I will kill him and use his blood to shine my sword."

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "A collar and cage will suffice."

<{{Cerin|TheWolf}}> "They Exalt like we do. They are like us. Very like us."

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "But we should see if we can build the collar from what little we got, so we can be prepared for when he wakes up."

Cerin shows her the sketches. They are of nessesity rather poor, and obviously show almost no detail of the flare

<{{Zahara|Zhan}}> "Perhaps a mixture of the Solar flows and what we've seen today. We can always refine it."

Restore

Page last modified on February 03, 2009, at 02:08 AM