Twilight of the World [IC]

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

Hammerforge looks about ready to be sick at the sight of such a brutal murder. "What was that for?! He was out-cold and of no threat to us! I will be glad to part from your company once we have finished this little skirmish!" Whispered Hammerforge angrily.

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus Astamir

"He was an enemy, and enemies should be treated as ruthlessly as any orc. Surely the dwarves know of mercilessness in warfare. And this is exactly that. A war. A street war perhaps, but a war nonetheless. This one was of no use to us, he was neither one of the leaders, or a man that would change his way. He is, was, a thug, and this..."

He sheathes his sword.

"... is merely justice."

With that, he doesn't utter another word.

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

"Justice?! You call this justice? Killing a man in cold blood?! I would of accepted killing him while he still had the chance to defend himself! We dwarves, at least most of us, fight with honour and courage! You are no better than a murderer!" Growled Hammerforge, trying hard to keep his voice down, but stress his point over.

[Silverkiss]

As the discussion goes on, Arkturus starts opening a few crates, being as silent as he can. The crate opens with a loud crack, but fortunately it seems it was only loud because the room is in total silence. No one seems to have heard anything.

As soon as the crate is opened, you look inside, curious, but all you can see is a thin, colorless dust. It doesn't seem to have anything in special, and all the crates you open contain it.

A little dissapointed, you let go of the wooden boxes, and go further through the room, aproaching the door. Silently, Tellan opens the door, and in front of him is a large hallway shrouded in darkness, but in the distance his elven eyes can make out a door, and you all hear low voices from afar.

[nothingclever]

Uther Ulridge

Uther decides to move forward quietly down the hallway rather than add anything to the discussion of the dead man remembering that their mission is to strike quickly as well as stealthily. He inches his way to to the side of the closest wall and then moves forward from there.

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

Hammerforge covers the rear of the group, offering up a silent dwarven prayer for the dead man. "May the fires of heaven greet you with warmth." He whispered.

[Silverkiss]

Uther strides down the hallway, seeing little in the darkness, his only light source being the candle on the room he just left and the light coming from the distant door. As Uther walks down the corridor, he sees many doors in it's sides, probably leading to storage rooms like the one from which you entered the warehouse. No one seems to be inside of them, so Uther ignores then. He continues through the hallway until he is only a few feet away from the door. He can hear the voices coming from inside, especially since they are shouting.

???: "Quickly, you fools ! Can't you hear the sounds of battle ?!? Grab your weapons and secure the ways upstairs ! It doesn't matter if everyone is slaughtered, but the bastards cannot put their hands on what we have here !"

[nothingclever]

Uther Ulridge

Uther thought it sounded like their team downstairs was winning or was at least making enough progress to scare the people above them into holding up like Donal said they would. Rather than say anything he decided to be silent just in case the men on the other side heard anything that could ruin their surprise entrance. Uther lunged towards the door, kicked it open and immediately punched whoever was closest to him.

[Silverkiss]

As Uther kicks in the room, the group, left behind, sees him dissapear into the door, and is left with the choice of helping him or not.

Spoiler

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Waiting for the reactions of the other 3 before updating.

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

"Hold on Ulbridge! I'm coming lad!" Cried Hammerforge as he raised his warhammer above his head and charged into the darkness that was the other room.

[Dorizzit]

Tellan Etara

Tellan draws his sword and darts after Uther. When Uther enters the room and starts fighting, Tellan stands back to back with him and starts fighting, aiming to disarm or knock unconscious his opponents so that they can be interrogated later.

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus Astamir

As the others move forward, Arkturus stays in the other room, diving his hand in the dust to see whether there'd be any fragile items in there. If not, he simply frowns slightly, taking a small pouch at his side and sampling two fistful of the powder, just in case. His eyes gaze towards the group, and in particular the dwarf, wondering what was next when suddenly Uther bolts the door open and darts forward. The High Elf only curses silently at his boldness, unsheathing his own sword once more and darting after the others.

[Silverkiss]

Arkturus checks the box for something besides the strange dust, but finds nothings. A little unhappy, he gathers a little of the powder and follows the others in the attack against the leaders of the guild.

The attack was a complete surprise for the men inside the room. Catched completely off-guard, they fall one by one unconscious by Uther's, Darus' and Tellan's attacks, or dead by Arkturus' mighty blows.

It is only after more than half of the guild's members are down that they finally manage to get hold of their weapons and form a cohesive stance to fight. An unspoken break comes, and everyone has time to analyze their opponents and the room clearly.

The room is big, with two doors leading outside besides the one you just came in. It is lighted by candles and lamps on strategic places, and there is enough light that hiding in a corner is impossible. There are still four men standing, swords in hand, protecting a fifth man behind them; a bald, tall man with a cross-shaped scar on his left eye. The man doesn't seem to be happy.

[nothingclever]

Uther Ulridge

Uther jumps back away from the men and towards a light source. He grabs a lamp and throws it at the men as hard as he can hoping to startle them and start a fire once it falls to the floor. He then moves towards another light and throws it as well aiming for the face of the scarred man.

"You thieves won't be holding up in here even if you could get past us! This whole building will go down with you and your treachery!" Uther shouted.

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

Hammerforge studied his opponents, knowing it was best for them to come to him to feel the mighty blow of his warhammer. Hammerforge thought the fire was a bit excessive, but at least it presented an air of urgancy to the criminals.

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus Astamir

As Uther again takes the initiative, Arkturus simply scowls before remembering to keep a straight face in front of their enemies. He didn't like the idea of the fire, as it implied burning down anything the place might have had as valuables, and who knows, maybe the dust was an explosive of some kind. Violet eyes gaze on the four men in front of him.

"Surrender and you will be put to trial. If you don't, you can burn in here for all I care: Hand over your leader or this'll have to get rough."

The High elven eyes light up suddenly, and Arkturus' hand takes a bit of the powder he found in the crates and throws it at the fire upstart Uther caused as an experiment.

[Silverkiss]

The criminals remained silent and motionless, protecting their leader; or maybe waiting for orders. Even as the fire started around them, they remained in guard. Either their will was enormous, or they were being held in place by an outside force, maybe fear from their leader. Even as Arkturus and Uther threatened them, they remained unnaturaly calm and motionless.

As Arkturus threw the thin dust into the flames, however, they changed. Their eyes widened in surprise and fear, and their hands loosened the grip on their weapons, letting them fall to the ground. The criminal's leader shouted in fury at Arkturus; but it was too late.

Leader: "No, you fo..."

Too late.

Too late to stop.

Too late to avoid the disaster.

Just too late.

As the handful of powder touched the flames, they grew in size and power, bursting all around the room with incredible explosions of power. That was not natural fire anymore, all could see that. The area of the fire close to where the powder hit had turned greenish in color, and quickly expanded, common red fire bursting from it and setting the whole room aflame. Two of the criminals were already caught in the green fire, and were litteraly being eaten away, increasing the fire's power.

Leader: "Fool ! You doomed us all ! Soon the fire will reach the other crates, and it will be the end ! But before this ends, I will have the pleasure of taking your lives, scum !"

With unnatural speed, the man jumps forward through the fire, unsheating his black scimitar and falling upon Arkturus with ungodly speed and strenght. Attacking with fierce blows, the man pushes Arkturus back, giving him not even the slighest chance of counter-attack. Tellan comes in from behind, trying to slice the man's arm, but he somehow forsees the attack and blocks it by doing a quick turn, holding his scimitar high to meet Tellan's blade. The man quickly dissapears, crounching to his knees, and comes back up with a fierce punch directly into Tellan's chin that makes him fly backwards a few feet and fall prone into the ground.

The green flames flicker, expanding minute by minute, devouring everything on their path.

And heading right towards Tellan.

The leader of the criminal guild turns his attention back to Arkturus, a wide grin on his face.

Leader: "Now die, weakling."

Arkturus feels a huge wave of bloodlust coming from the man as he shortens the gap between them, his black scimitar held steady in his raised hand. Working solely on instinct, Arkturus dodges with a roll to the left the exact moment the blade comes sweeping down to the floor. Seizing the opportunity, Uther steps on the scimitar's hilt, forcing it to the ground, and jabs the man in the face with a direct punch, making him step away from his blade. Darus quickly connects, pounding his massive warhammer directly into the man's stomach, making him fly many feet and hit the wall across the room. Coughing up blood, the man forces himself to stand on his feet.

The green flames have now completely consumed the four criminals, and are dangerously close to Tellan.

Leader: "Ugh... It seems I... underestimated.... you. So... be it. We.... shall meet.... again."

The man sighs, and closes his eyes. Then he raises his head, and opens only his right eye, his good eye.

Each of you feel your heart skip a beat.

The man's eye is unnatural. It radiates a strong energy, even you can feel that, and as you look into it you feel an enormous pressure around you. You start to despair, and wish only to turn and flee from the room.

However, the man takes this as his chance, and quickly turns around and jumps through the window. As soon as he is gone, the pressure is relieved, but you still feel the urgency of the situation. You must make haste, or not only you, but everyone on the building would be in risk of dying.

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

As loud as possible, Hammerforge yelled: "FIRE! FIRE! EVERYONE NOT WISHING TO BURN TO DEATH OR BE CRUSHED BY FALLING TIMBER, FLEE! FLEE!" He then began quickly searching for any available exit, ready to make one with his mighty warhammer if needbe.

[nothingclever]

Uther Ulridge

Uther quickly noticed Tellan was in danger and dashed over to his side to help him up and out of the room but not before grabbing the scimitar the man had left behind. Propping Tellan up on his shoulder Uther moved out as fast as he could to the nearest set of stairs as he yelled for everyone to evacuate.

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus Astamir

As the sudden vibrance of the fire and the sparks and following explosions showed, he had been right. And somehow, he had not anticipated the amount of explosive to be that potent. The High Elf analyzes calmly, showing weakness or fear in those situations could prove fatal. The leader seemed infuriated and a black blade shines out of its scabbard, dashing towards the high elf as two of his men are already caught in the fire.

The eyes of the elven slaver narrow as he parries the brutal attack, waiting for an opening to show up in the man's style. When he sees none, and the attacks simply double in intensity, the high elf looks about to be cornered, evading or parrying the only things he can do against the onslaught.

When finally help comes, he simply sidesteps the fight to catch his breath. But as soon as he tries to figure out what to do in this situation, the man is on him again, and the bloodlust overwhelms the high elven, paralyzing him briefly as he contemplates the possibility of death. The scimitar slashes down, but he somehow evades the blow, and his team manages dispatching the foe.

As the man manages an escape, Ark' briefly shouts to the others, sheathing his sword back into its scabbard:

"EVERYONE OUT!"

He then runs in the room where they had made the insertion, grabs a bit of cloth, takes a sample of powder for the captain and then using his whip, grabs a branch of the tree and jumps out of the building from the way they came in.

[Dorizzit]

Tellan Etara

Tellan freezes in fear as the man opens his supernatural eye. He tries to move, tries to act, tries to even think, but the eye seems to mesmerize him. Tai'Maquilloc chuckles. "That's certainly interesting. Never thought I'd see another of those. You might want to start running, now." The man looks away and flees. The fire once again attracts Tellan's attention. He curses loudly, and bolts for the exit, leaping for the window after Arkturus.

[Silverkiss]

Uther helps Tellan get up, and the whole group starts to run back the way they came, shouting to warn the others of the danger. As the flaming building crumbles around them, the four warriors manage to reach the powder's room safely, and Arkturus collects yet another sample of the mystical dust. Then, as the flames begin to invade the room and reach for the crates, the group jumps off the window. And just in time.

As soon as each lands in the soft grass, the whole second floor of the building explodes, and huge green flames appear, like arms, embracing the first floor. Without time, the group starts to run, dodging the falling debris, circling the warehouse and heading for the other side, where the soldiers should escape from.

The scene is terrible.

Lots of wounded guards fleeing from the eerie green flames, the unfortunate ones falling and being consumed by them. Most guards are already outside the building, treating the more serious wounds of the ones near death, but many are still inside, including the Captain, fighting with the remnant of the criminals, or just making sure that everyone gets out safely.

Then it happens.

The green flames flicker, already consuming the whole building, and then join to form a giant, humanoid figure. The flaming being clearly radiates strong magical energy, and reaches for the remaining guards, killing them with it's burning touch. The Captain comes running through the door, carrying a wounded guard on his shoulder. He shows an amazing feat of strenght by tossing the uncounscious guard to the nearest able men, and then he shouts:

Donal Lugh: "RUN, YOU FOOLS ! FLEE FOR YOUR LIFES !"

With that, the Captain looks right upon you four. He smiles for a second, before turning his back on you and jumping back into the building, sword in hand. A yell can be heard, and then the building starts to crumble for good, and everyone runs away, without looking back, following the Captain's last order.

When you are at a safe distance already, you look back at the warehouse. It is nothing but crumbled remains now, the darkened wood still burning. But the green flame is no more, and all that there is to be seen is normal red fire. You hear a sigh, and a older guard aproaches you.

???: "What happened is a shame, but we must press on and follow the Captain's last wish. He should have known something like this would happen. He gave me very detailed orders on what to do if the mission failed... Come, let us return to the city. You are to rest for today, and I will talk with you tomorrow."

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

Hammerforge wiped a layer of ash off his face and said, in a puffing voice: "I've been near flames all my life and I've never seen such an awesome and brutal display of the element! What in the Great Forge was it?"

[nothingclever]

Uther Ulridge

"I have no idea but at least we were able to get out alive and kill some of those thieves." Uther walked over to Arkturus and handed him the scimitar the scarred man dropped, "I have no use for this but you might find it helpful. Perhaps it contains some magic like that strange man seemed to have coming from his eyes." Uther turned to face the old guard and said, "I want to see this through to the end so I'm willing to participate in whatever plan the captain left behind."

[Dorizzit]

Tellan Etara

Tellan bows his head in a moment of silence for the captain. "I, too, wish to see this through to the end."

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

Hammerforge sighed and silently recited another Dwarven prayer for the dead. "To honour the brave and noble Captain, I too will see this through to the end." He said. Suddenly it hit Hammerforge like a blacksmith's hammer to hot metal shard: Where were his Dwarven companions? "Has anybody seen Bentsword, Mithrilaxe or Oresmith?!" Hammerforge looked back at the warehouse in desperation. "My companions! My friends! You shall be avenged!" He roared.

[Silverkiss]

The old guard is visibly unconfortable with Darus' realization, and he waits for a minute until the dwarf calms himself before speaking again.

Old Guard: "I am sorry, but your comrades are missing. I can not say if they are alive or dead, but they did not return with us. I believe they rushed to the second floor just before the explosion to help you out."

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus Astamir

The Elf remains strangely silent, his violet eyes staring at the fire. The scale of the destruction had far surpassed his intentions, and he somehow felt like he had been wrong and pushed the investigation too far. Now, dozens were dead, dozens were injured. His mouth opens slightly, as if to say something, but he closes his lips together, the man wasn't one to share his emotions. He looks at Uther as he hands him the scimitar, looks at it for a second before nodding.

"Thank you. I will look into it. It might provide clues to his origins."

He pauses as Darus' realises his companions are missing, probably consumed by the fire. The High Elven's face remains expressionless, but his grip tightens around the scimitar, he looks at the old guard.

"This unnatural fire was caused by a magical sort of powder that produces green flames. It is extremely potent and there was several crates full of it upstairs. If this is what the guild was involved with, then you have a lot of work to do."

He pauses, looking at Darus, he closes his eyes, takes in a deep breath and speaks once more.

"Our agreement concerned only this attack. But... Many suffered grievous loss here. I know this pain. I will also see through this to the very end. I swear it on my high elven blood."

[Silverkiss]

Old Guard: "Very well then. Let's head back. You'll stay at the Crawling Dragon Inn for tonight. The owner is an old veteran, and he always helps us, he agreed to leave a room for you. Your friend is already waiting there, mister Astamir."

With these words, the guard leads you back into the city through the same underground tunnels, but this time you leave not at the guardhouse, but at some kind of dark alley in the middle of the city. The guard says that you are close to the Inn, and continues on his way through the tunnels.

Surely, the alley is only a few feet away from the Crawling Dragon's entrance. You go into the inn's room for the second time this night, but now there is no one drinking or eating in the empty tables. The innkeeper awaits for you, asleep behind the balcony. The sounds of your footsteps awaken him, and he greets you still half-asleep. He takes a key from under the balcony and steps up the stairs, urging you to follow him.

He leads you through the stairs into the second, and then the third floor. As you go up, you pay close attention to your surroundings, your senses still keen from the battle that just ended. The second floor has a huge hall with many doors leading to rooms, and nothing much of interesting in it. The third floor, however, has an equally large hall but with just a small number of doors, implying the rooms are bigger. The hall is full of decorations, like paintings in the walls and fancy tapestries. The innkeeper leads you to a door, saying:

Marcus, Innkeeper: "Now, you will all stay in the same room, as you'll be staying for free. Don't worry, though, the room is large enough for all of you, including your friend." - He quickly opens the door, and continues - "I think your friend is already asleep. She has the main key to the room, and I will keep this one. Good night."

As Marcus goes down the stairs, you enter the room. The room is huge compared to a normal inn room; there are six beds, three in each side of the room, two large tables, a huge cupboard and curtains covering what seems to be a big window. The room is lit by a single candle on top of one of the tables, and you can see the girl, Faëra, laying on one of the beds. You think that she is asleep, but as soon as you enter the room she jumps out, and motions to run towards Arkturus, but then stops herself. What comes next is an awkward silence.

[Dorizzit]

Tellan Etara

Tellan looks at Faera with mild annoyance before walking over to one of the two far corner beds. He takes off his sword, cloak, and other assorted objects. He takes off his shirt and shoes before sliding into his bed and turning around to face the wall. Wordlessly, he tries to fall asleep.