[D&D 3.5] Dark Storms Gather

[Haizu]

Nodding, Eddie somberly went about the grisly task, a silent rage building in his heart at the sight of the massacre before him.

[Cynical Cat]

"Catch," said Saidin as he tossed his orb to the paladin. The sorcerer turned his horse away. "They can burn in Baator's Hells for all I care." He spurred his horse into a gallop and rode away.

[Rogue 9]

Gror reached out and caught the flying sphere with his free hand and watched the sorcerer ride away. "Coward," he growled under his breath. Raising his voice, he addressed the group. "So what now, then? We kin bury 'em if we stay fer weeks, but where from here? Whoe'er did this kin kill th' lot o' us if'n they kin overwhelm th' city." He set to work anyway, setting about the grisly work of laying the bodies in repose.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"My thoughts exactly" Volansa said in regard to the sorcerer being a might cowardly. "Well, our large and scaly friend will be back momentarily I think. We can probably get some information from him on where to go next, provided we dont make an ass our of ourselves" he said pointedly, not to the Dwarf, but glaring directly at the elf.

[rhoenix]

Looking to the orb, time suddenly seemed to slow for Gror. Though he was able to see what had happened, he felt that what had happened was still too fast for him to react.

Suddenly, the dark grey, smoky sphere that Gror had caught from the departing Saidin was snatched out of his open hand by a man wearing a long black cloak, and a featureless onyx mask. The man seemed to hold motionless in midair, regarding the travelers - low, malicious chuckling seemed to echo from behind the mask for a moment before he spoke, like oil running over silk and sandpaper both at once. "This was far too easy - I thought it would take months of planning and preparation. Know this, fools - you cannot complete your worthless quest without it, and I only need one to make...necessary preparations. The fact that this World Sphere in particular is the one for Darkness...oh, how perfect. Fare well, fools!"

With that, a shimmering doorway appeared next to the man in midair. He seemed to float through it, his chuckling still echoing from the other side of the portal before it closed completely.

In the distance, the departing figure of Saidin seemed to scream, before being yanked upward into the air, disappearing as well.

And then, all was silence. It was then that the travelers realized they could hear an argument in Draconic in the distance, from the same direction that the large bronze dragon had gone.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Volans seemed paralyzed in time. He did not need to know anything about what the components of the spell were, there was only one thing that could do this. Time Stop. Which meant that whoever this was, was not only beyond them, but beyond the wrath of even mighty armies.

"Gods above please let him be content to monologue, and not demonstrate competence and foresight by wiping us off the face of the earth with a gesture." he prayed silently

The black cloak and mask he recognized. They belong to the FOloowers of Tiamat. An organization of wizards and sorcerers devoted to destroying or hitting the reset button on the world. Not a pleasant group.

The second spell was a Dimension Door spell, only barely beyond his reach, save for the fact that it was cast instantly and without verbal components. This is a spell he probably cast twice. Once to get there, once to leave. It wouldnt take him more than a few hundred meters but that could be in any direction and he had no method of tracking them.

They were screwed....

When it was all over

he said as much

"Well the situation is now worse than we could have imagined..."

[Jason_Firewalker]

In Draconic Sylvandor mumbled to himself, "On this day all this has to happen? And it all started out so well..."

[Rogue 9]

Gror snatched the hammer from his belt with his right hand and held up the hammersphere in his left as soon as he was free, casting about for any sign of the stranger. But he was gone, gone without a trace.

"Wha' in the NINE HELLS," he shouted in frustration. The hammer came down in a broad arc and smashed into the cobblestone street, cracking the stone it landed on. He quickly regained his composure and stood straight, but kept the hammer in his hand. "Wha' was THA'?"

[Comrade Tortoise]

"A wizard powerful enough to be immune from armies, bent on destroying the world." the wizard replied.

"We have our work cut out for us. And I do hope the Kayla over there has luck in convincing the Steward to assist us..."

[rhoenix]

Without need of any sort of grand entrance, the large bronze dragon simply seemed to fall from the sky, to land with a heavy impact a short distance away from the travelers. He looked different than he had a few minutes ago, perhaps less lethargic, and more purposeful. The great dragon looked as if he were about to speak when he took in the appearance of the travelers, and the conspicuous loss of one of them.

The dragon seemed to gaze levelly at the travelers for a moment before speaking. "What happened, and why is one of your mages missing?"

[Rogue 9]

"'E tossed 'is sphere a' me an' bailed," Gror said, lowering his weapon. "Now 'e's missin', an' I presume 'e's dead. Some blasted wizard 'ported in an' took it, an' him, almost afore we could move." There was no point lying to the dragon now. He'd find out pretty quick either way.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"To be more precise, a Wizard from the Order of Tiamat used a dimension door to come in, time stop to act with impunity, gloated about his evil plan to bring about the end of the world, then took Saiden and his World Sphere with him. He escaped using a silenced and quickened dimension door spell"

Volans was not happy. Not one bit. He did not like being completely outclassed.

"I imagine he will be doing something terrible to Saiden's soul. I also imagine the phrase "we'ere screwed" also applies my Lord"

[rhoenix]

The large bronze dragon didn't reply immediately, but instead seemed to continue looking at the travelers, as if trying to intimidate additional facts into revealing themselves.

Kalya landed lightly upon the ground next to him, shaking her head as she did. Finally, the bronze dragon sighed, looking as if he were about to speak when Kalya suddenly stared directly at Volens.

She...appeared different now than she did back at the castle. Tangible shadows seemed to cover her bones as translucent skin, the edges of which, including her talons and wings, were a glowing silver color. The glowing blue sparks in the eye sockets of her skull that normally served as eyes were blazing with light now, making her look...not undead, but not alive either; like something else.

"Followers of Tiamat, hmm..." she spoke somewhat absently. Her voice sounded different up-close now, as well - her voice had an odd echoing quality to it, almost like she were speaking in two different voices at once.

The bronze dragon next to her spoke up, after a brief glare at Kalya. "They're all just a bunch of self-righteous pompous windbags in need of a good savage beating. If those idiots are the ones who're trying to set themselves up as your enemies, then they're volunteering to be targets for your weapons and spells, as far as I'm concerned."

Staring at him for a moment with what almost seemed like a tolerant look, Kalya added her thoughts. "That may be so, but they now have one of the World Spheres, and the Darkness one in particular, unless I'm missing my guess. This could make the next little while...tricky - don't you think, Anethor?"

The bronze dragon snorted his disgust before speaking. "Fine, fine. In that case, it's high time you...five were on your way to make those sniveling idiots cry."

Chuckling (which sounded very odd, given the echo in her voice), Kalya addressed the group. "Despite the events of the day, we did finally find the Holders of the World Spheres. Though it happened on the same day that Impetrus' rot finally killed it," at this point she was interrupted by another snort from the bronze dragon Anethor, though she continued as if uninterrupted, "Anethor and I are grateful nonetheless. You may name your reward, within reason, one at a time. Once the rewards are finished, I'll have you sent to the next land in need of your talents."

"Oh," added the bronze dragon Anethor, "give me those chalices back while you're at it. The lady and I use them to have drinks together."

This prompted an amused look from Kalya, but she said nothing.

[Jason_Firewalker]

Slipping his chalice out of his backpack he kneeled infront of the dragons, "I wish for the twilight to enchant my armor and thus allow me to cast spells without worrying for the stomatic components." Sylvandor spoke in Elven.

[rhoenix]

The two dragons looked at one another for a moment, before Anethor spoke up for both of them, in Elvish. "Kalya and I can do this deed for you, to add the Twilight capability to your armor, but it would require that you leave that armor with us while you and your companions attend to more important things. We have a set of twilight leather armor to last you in the meantime."

[Jason_Firewalker]

"I will leave my armor with you then, great dragons." Quickly removing his chainshirt Sylvandor gently placed the family heirloom on the ground infront of him and bowed before the great dragons.

[Comrade Tortoise]

If he had eyebrows, Volans would have raised them. What was the Elf playing at? If he had a spellbook somewhere that Volans did not detect he would be unpleasantly shocked for all of wizard kind, as this elf is living testament to the reason why people did not like his kind, and thought wizards haughty and pretentious.

Still, he presented the chalice.

"Kayla, my Lord" he said speaking to each dragon in turn.

"Seeing as we are faced with fighting wizards who are often beyond my abilities to bring down, anything that will increase my ability to weave and comprehend magic, I would appreciate it greatly"

[rhoenix]

The mithril chainmail shirt seemed to leap off the ground, high up into the air, and into what appeared to be a hole in Kalya's palm, into which the armor promptly disappeared. At the same time, the large bronze dragon Anethor tossed a set of leather armor that seemed to be made of a dark sort of leather, landing at Sylvandor's feet.

"Next?" asked Anethor.

[Haizu]

Thinking for a moment, Eddie stepped forward and presented the chalice. "Lord and Lady, we halfings are scouts by nature and fight best from the shadows. I am no exception to this calling. Something to keep me light on my feet and hidden from my foes would be much appreciated."

[Rogue 9]

"We're goin' after a wizards' cabal," Gror said. "Anythin' t' shield me from their magic would be th' most use."

[Academia Nut]

Doran thought for a time before he replied humbly, "I seek the wisdom of nature, but if perhaps a bit of magical enhancement were possible I would not turn it down. Barring that, sharper and keener weapons of the type I have trained with would be appreciated."

[rhoenix]

The travelers had accompanied Kalya and the former Steward (still in what was evidently his natural form, and showed no desire to change it) back to what was the first former Castle Impetrus, now Kalya's abode and castle/lair.

"Having Castle Impetrus as a ruin," the Steward decided on the walk back, "would be a useful fiction for a while. We will also be responsible for maintaining this place in secret, but that's not exactly difficult."

The sound a dragon makes when chuckling is a somewhat intimidating sound. However, it sounded...more hollow and echoing and eerie when a dracolich did so. Even an archdracolich such as Kalya. She did not, however, appear to notice or care if she did notice.

The two dragons seemed to be together often now, and Kalya was now found looking like what must have been her old self, while she was still fully alive - that of a large silver dragon.

As the two cleaned up the island, the travelers got their share of the spoils as well. A week later, as the last of the constructs were filing back into Kalya's castle, the announcement was made - the cleanup had been completed. Now, even the place that two weeks ago had been the Castle Impetrus was nothing more than cleared earth.

"So," Kalya said as she and the Steward approached. It was impossible not to note that she still looked like a silver dragon when with him, which was almost all the time. "I imagine you lot want to be on your way. There are one or two minor ...errands I could ask of you before you go, but you are quite welcome to leave for the next stage of your journey now, if you wish. Time is the essence, after all.

Two large constructs walked purposefully into the room, carrying two large pillows each. Both of the dragons took one, and placed them beneath their chests as they crouched, looking more comfortable as they awaited the travelers' answer.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Well Kayla that would depend. What are the errands?" Volans asked. "If they could be done relatively quickly it may not matter a whole lot in the broad scheme of things."

[rhoenix]

"Well," Kalya said, nestling down comfortably on her chest-pillow, "there is a contingent of goblins on this island that once was inspired to serve as part of Impetrus' Long Patrols. Though I'm leaving all the details of that military hobnobbery to the good Steward, he and I did agree that having...this particular resource untapped showed poor foresight, at best. So, we'd appreciate your assistance in speaking with them, and if possible, making negotiations or talks possible. It would be relatively easy for either myself or the good Steward to assume the form of a goblin instead, for expediency's sake, but we'd prefer the groundwork to be laid first, if possible, as it would make things easier."

"Of course," the Steward spoke, still sitting in a crouch, not having laid down on his chest-pillow as Kalya did, "there is one other problem we have that needs looking at. A cave appeared a short time ago, with a seal at the back of the cave that resembles a door. Kalya nearly drove herself mad trying to open it..."

"I did not!" Kalya explained indignantly. "I merely had better uses for my time!"

"...Of course," said the Steward diplomatically. "At any rate, if you could spot something she missed, I'm sure she'd be grateful."

Though Kalya glared at him, and an irritated dragon glaring is not an insignificant thing, the Steward appeared to not be bothered overmuch. Indeed, a smile began to appear on his face. "Sometimes she needs reminding that she's not omnipotent."

The glare from Kalya actually seemed to be heating the air between she and the Steward now, though she did add to what he said without turning her head toward the travelers. She spoke in frosty tones. "I would politely remind the former Steward of the former city of Impetrus in return that he is not invincible."

The next exchange was very quick, and all in Draconic.

"Scaly bony-assed bitch."
"Stubborn old lizard-mule."
"Scaly bony-assed bitch."
"You and I will have WORDS later!"
"Fine by me. Scaly bitch."

There was a moment of tense silence between the two, but from the small smiles that appeared on their faces about the same time, this would appear to be an old game between them. They turned to the travelers at the same time, expectant.