Eragon, Where Dragons dare

[Cracklord]

Percy
Unlike Feinstar, their is a line stretching back, farmers with wagons of produce, merchants and refugee's all waiting outside the gate for admittance, and all giving you a wide berth. Making your way to the gate, you are greeted by cold dead eyes of an enormous man, in full-plate and a featureless steel mask.
"Name and business?" Says a guard beside him, leaning boredly on his pike.

[darkblade]

Black Knight

"I am the Black Knight of Camelot. I come on a diplomatic mission from the recently apeared island nation of Camelot and to warn you of an oncoming assault from the Varden." Percy explains.

***

Leonidas

"I am not familliar with this Ankh-Morpork. Where is it?" Leonidas asks casually stabbing a guard that was trying to sneak up on him in the face.

[Cracklord]

The Guard strightens, but the knight moves forwad, soundlessly (shouldn't his armor clank at the very least?) And fixes you a probing look. At last, he waves you past, pointing at the citadel.

[doliest]

Lord Soth
Soth turns back to the men, "Men, what you're dealing with is a force far larger in number, and containing likely several men who are capable of holding my attention in a fight; so we're going to have a simple strategy defensive strategy of holding several defensive lines, slowly falling back; the purpose of this is to cause as many enemy casualties as possible, in particular among their siege engines. To this end, we'll be digging three 'trenches' that you may hide in while rapidly firing your ranged weapons, when they get withen a certain range, you fall back to the next trench, until we reach the castle. From there, it becomes a siege, hopefully one were they lack engines in large numbers."

[industrious]

Lu-Tze

"Of course you haven't. It doesn't exist anymore(has never will exist). The Trousers of Time have many pockets, and more than three holes in them."

Raistlin

During Soth's briefing, 'Arya' moves closer to Eragon. "Before the battle, meet me with Saphira on the wall of the keep. There is something I must show you." 'She' gives the young Rider a shy, unsure smile as 'she' speaks.

[Cracklord]

Raistlin
Eragon smiles. "I'll be there." He says, clearly already counting down the seconds. The poor boy doesn't even realize how obvious he is.

Lord Soth
The men begin preparing. Taking it in shifts they begin erecting the defense. Most of them view it as hopeless, based on what you hear. Nuasda oversees them, occasionally even handling a shovel herself. The dwarves, however, work faster then everyone else put together, the priest you noticed before doing it with magic.

[darkblade]

Leonidas

"From what I can tell you fight well. Would you be interested in teaching this "Way" of your's to my warriors to intergrate it into their Spartan training? After this battle is won of course." Leonidas asks.

((All they have to do now is take the Keep correct?))

***

Black Knight

Percy rides towards the Citital as fast as he can.

[doliest]

Lord Soth
Soth digs the trenches with them, in between digging he orders his small force of undead and banshees to be prepared to defend the Keep when they fall back to it; while digging he continues finalizing the plan to make sure they understand; the signal for fallback is his creating a wall of fire to cover their movement. Any hail of arrows is to be covered by mass raising of shields. Finally, he seeks out 'Eragon' to ensure the boy understands his place in the battle.

[Cracklord]

Leonidas

((That is correct))

Lord Soth
Eragon is not deigning to get his hands dirty, watching the others prepare while he strokes his dragon and fantasizes about Arya.

[doliest]

Lord Soth
"I'm going to kill that Elf Maiden myself. Slowly." Soth says, loudly, taking a guess as to what Eragon was fantasizing about. He wasn't going to kill her, obviously. He was, however, fantasizing about killing The Master of Past and Present for putting such an important tool in such a useless state.

[Prime32]

???
As "Arya" climbs to the wall of the keep she finds a man already there waiting for her.
"Ah, Mr. Majere. Right on time." he says with a cheerful smile.

[industrious]

Raistlin

"Who in the name of Her Dark Majesty are you?"

[Prime32]

???

"Oh, just a traveller. You can call me Xellos, the Mysterious Priest." He continues to beam at the wizard.

"Now then, I have a proposition for you. Would you care to hear it?"

[industrious]

"I'm listening, though I do not have much time."

[Prime32]

He clasps his hands together.
"Wonderful! The boy, Eragon, should be carrying a small object resembling a piece of amber. I would like you to find it. Then, please bring it to me."

[industrious]

"And if I do? What do I receive in return?"

[Prime32]

One of the man's eyes, which he had kept closed throughout the meeting, opens in a narrow slit. Raistlin suddenly realises that there is something extremely ominous about this man.

"What is it that you most desire, 'Master'? An endless supply of gold, spells known to no mortal, an eternal body which never loses strength, any of these things can be provided. My patron can be most grateful."

He returns to his previous cheerful mood. "Unless you prefer the body you have now." he says, reaching out and squeezing one of Arya's breasts.

[industrious]

'Arya' slaps the priest's hand away. "Hardly. I want a favor, to be repaid at a later date. You will owe me for this, Xellos; after this, I will need to but call your name and my desire, and you will grant it. In return, I will give you the dragon's heart of hearts." The wizard's voice remains at a low whisper. "Do we have a bargain?"

[Prime32]

Xellos sits back on the battlements and crosses his arms, his cloak dangling over the edge. "Oh my, that certainly is steep."


The cloak drawing their gaze, anyone with the Varden might now have noticed that Arya was talking to a strange man with purple hair.

"Alright, I accept. Shall we shake on it?"

[industrious]

Raistlin

"We shall." Holding out his hand, the magus seals the bargain. "You should go quickly, our you might be spotted. My plan requires that I stay in character until the last minute."

[Prime32]

"Oh, but of course, my lady." Xellos says with a faux-curtsy. "I promise you, this partnership shall prove most rewarding." He then turns and walks past the back of one of the keep's towers. He does not appear at the other side.

Lina
They find nothing, the two of you long gone. As you wind your way around the coast, you find an old smugglers trail, leading through the mountains that nestle around Terim.

{Which direction does it lead?}

[The Tygre]

Elric
Elric puzzles over the strange barrier. He considers sending the sprite to touch it, but decides against it. He still needs a source of light. Looking around, Elric finds a small rock from the tunnel walls. He picks it up, and throws it at the mercurial shield.

Dilvish
Dilvish, comforted and reassured by Black (who is still miffed at having to spend the night with 'common steeds'), returns to the hall. He grabs a tankard of ale, sits next to Bilbo, and says, "It appears my common sense has left me. I am accompanying you. We ride on the morrow."

[doliest]

Bilbo
"Indeed, tomorrow we ride to...do you know where the capital is or what it's named? I've been traveling the road and letting it take me where it will." Bilbo says, smiling at his compatriot.

[The Tygre]

"It has taken us both this far. Perhaps it can carry us the rest of the way. However, I assume our gracious host knows a thing or two."

[doliest]

Bilbo
"Hope so, he seems like a trustworthy sort. Better than the goblins who tried to eat me, or the elves who imprisoned me, anyway. Still, I do wonder how he intended to do this if we hadn't shown up." Bilbo says, his smirk lowering for a moment.

[darkblade]

Leonidas

Leonidas leads the remaining Spartans to take the citadel.

***

Black Knight

Percy rides up to the citadel of the castle and waits for a guard to let him in.

[Cracklord]

Bilbo/Divlish
((Of course, you both got here before anyone else...))
Theodric is making merry, but not merry enough to miss that. Gesturing vaguely to the left, you see a map , hidden in an alcove.
It is a proper bandit's map, Imperial garrisons marked in red, towns with people they can trust in blue, elves marked out in green, and the Varden in pink.
As far as you can tell, there is less then a weeks ride to the capital.

Leonidas
The citadel has a moat, among other things, and all the windows have been barred. Archers, taking careful aim through arrow slits, are making a good name for themselves.

Elric
The stone passes through, undisturbed. Of course, that tells you nothing. The substance is oddly reflective, painting a distorted picture of you back at you.

Lina Inverse
The path winds East, then South, then East again, zigzaging through the mountains endlessly. Your arty doesn't know it, but it is that path that led to Terim's founding in the first place.

Black Knight
Two more of those silent knights lower a drawbridge, letting you across. A big man, his jerkin tight across his barrel of a chest, his arms crossed to reveal the boulders of his biceps, was waiting for you. At nearly fifty, he still maintained the heavily muscled build that had served him well in the dozen brutal professions that he had followed through the Empire.
His face bore testament to this. It was battered and misshapen, distorted by the scars of years of hard living and hundreds of fights. He was missing roughly a third of his teeth, and at some point he’d lost an eye, which was now covered by a black silk patch. It was the face of a man who had spent the majority of his life inflicting or receiving pain. It should have looked brutal, but somehow the easy relaxed smile and laughter lines creasing his mouth prevented that, and instead it simply looked battered.
"I am Duncan, Galbatorix's manservant and chamberlain. The King is away, a minor diplomatic issue" The man's tone indicated that this issue involved fire and blood, "But should return in a few days. What is the nature of your visit?"

Raistlin
Twenty minutes later, Eragon climbs up. He is wearing the clothes the elves gave him, that make him look soft more then handsome, but maybe he's trying to say something else. It is close to midnight already. He smiles when he see's you, taking his hand of the pommel of his sword. "What is on your mind älfa-kona?" Eragon inquired curiously.

[doliest]

Bilbo
"We'd better get going soon." Bilbo says, stretching his legs and packing some of the better food into his bag, "We're going to need to move quickly to get that egg."

[industrious]

'Arya'

The wizard smiles, and tilts Arya's head. "Where is Saphira, Eragon? I was hoping to tell you the news together; it would be rude of me to exclude her physically." Deliberately, 'Arya' is still wearing Eragon's shirt, and nothing more. It is so easy to manipulate the Rider; he didn't have the discipline to resist the allure of the body.

[The Tygre]

Dilvish
"Agreed. We should move soon, come morning if we can help it. I do not wish to try these passes at night. If you will pack us some provisions, I will scribe down the map for us. Agreed?"

Elric
Annoyed at the reaction the rock gave him, Elric decides to try a bolder move. Motioning to the will o' wisp floating around him, he orders the demonling to touch the portal.