Difference between revisions of "Old Rancaguan RPT Library/The Staff of Girn"

Latest revision as of 23:58, 13 September 2006

Participants

in alphabetical order:

Aleister
Antan
Artimus
Gertrude
Grimm
Johnny
Morton
Palandro
Rats
Shady
Shina
Valinor

Gamemaster: Antan

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Introduction

Roleplay from Antan

Antan hurriedly walks along a street in Kazakh. He always dread coming to this place, a place only needed in times of great necessity. He paces down the weary back alleys the pungent odor of garbage and human filth bringing back painful memories of his past to Antan's head. He makes a quick turn, making sure no one is following him, then ducks into a small tent.

He casts a nod to the shopkeeper, who quickly recites a riddle. Antan quickly answers, having answered many times before. With this, the shopkeeper moves a large crate and nods to Antan grimly, pointing to the revealed trapdoor. Antan thanks the man and quickly descends the ladder to the room below.

It is a dank place, with a smoky haze all around the room. The room is roughly in the shape of a large circle, with many tapestries of the past glory of Old Rancagua hanging upon the walls. Antan smiles as he looks around this room and turns to face a door with two torches on either side of it, dimly lighting the place.

-A deep, booming voice from above: "Antan, why have you come here. What do you seek"

-Antan: "I come to you in a time of our need. A great noble has disappeared, Lord High Guard. I know you have heard of him. I fear the Kwarkm have taken him, thinking that he holds some knowledge to the Staff of Girn. You know the legends well."

-Voice: "Yes I have heard them, I have heard many things in my life. Many secrets that not even you have known. So you wish to seek the Staff of Girn? With only one in your company?"

-Antan: "No, I have sent a letter out to all in the kingdom, asking for noble knights of the realm to help me in this quest. You know of the power the Staff holds. How the Citadel of Oroya and the Tower of Ashforth are held by its magic. You know of the secrets contained within these places."

-Voice: "Yes, it has been spoken that Girn was the most powerful sorcerer of his day. There are few now of his line with us. We still carry on some of the old ways however. We both know that the Citadel of Oroya has not fallen for an age because of the magic of the Staff. And now it has been said that the Tower of Ashforth has received the same blessing. Though I know not by whom. You fear the Kwarkm are nearing this prize?

That would be disastrous indeed. The Blood Ring has long fought against them and their evil ways. The Ring and its fellows will help you in this quest Antan. You and your knigths are now charged with the preservation of these two monuments of Old Rancagua. Let the Staff fall into the wrong hands, and we are all at risk."

-Antan: "Of course, the knights should be arriving at any time, provided they deem themselves worthy. I am sure they will have no problem getting past your silly word games."

-Voice: "Ah but this is but the first test. While the first may be foolish, there will be more to come. You will need to do everything in your power with these knights to defeat the Kwarkm. You know the dangers, let us hope that your knights old more courage than has been seen in the past decade and the decade before."

-Antan: "I have no doubts to their victory. None whatsoever."

-Voice: "We shall see"

With that, the room grows quiet again. Antan thinks on how his messages are being received and how many knights will be able to join him in this quest of utmost importance. Shrugging, Antan turns to a tapesty and investigates the Battle for Oroya once more.

_{Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua}

Letter from Antan

A messenger rides up to you and hands you this message:

"Greetings Noble of old Rancagua,

You are desperately needed for a duty in Kazakh. I will need all of the volunteers that can possibly be assembled. Those who possess wit, courage, and bravery are implored to come.

I am in Kazakh right now, in a little fruit stand on Thoer Street. It is easy to miss but you will see a red and white striped tent. Go into there. Nod to the shopkeeper and he will ask you this riddle. Many people scoff at him, but he hold a dark secret.

Underneath his stand is the ancient meeting hall of the Blood Ring. This is a secret meeting of Sages, Magicians, and those with Psionic talents in Old Rancagua. These members are trained at an early age to make sure that all the magical entities in Old Rancagua are kept safe. Yes, there are more than you think.

The object in wuestion right now is the Staff of Girn. Girn was a legendary sorcerer in his day. It is said that he singlehandedly constructed the Citadel in Oroya and the Tower in Ashforth. His magic watches over their stones, if the magic is undone, so are the defenses. This is why our plight is dire right now.

Come to this shop and more will be revealed to you. Oh yes, the riddle the man will ask you is as follows:

"A hound is tied to a fifteen foot leash. How can the hound reach a deer bone that is 20 feet away?"

I cannot tell you the answer, but if you come in groups, one that is quick qitted will allow for all to enter and join me there.

_{Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua}

The Gathering

Roleplay from Rats

Rats reads the message from Antan, and writes one of his own, in reply to Antan and to all who will join the quest. It reads:

To those who wish to join the quest, I believe I have the answer to the riddle. Meet me at the appropriate location, and once gathered, we will go forth together. I will wait until sundown, and then proceed with whoever wishes to join. - Rats

After sending the letter, he dons his cloak and follows Antan's instructions. He spots the red and white striped, and waits nearby, looking for others who might join.

_{Rats (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Johnny

As Johnny nears the tent, the one with the white and red stripes, he begins to think about the strange dissapearance of High Guard. His gut, of course, tells him that High Guard is still alive, and he will not conceed the thought that he is dead.

He approaches the tent, and sees a man, old and haggard, standing behind a table. There doesn't seem to be much going on in this area, and the surrounding streets are pretty quiet.

Johnny thinks to himself "A hound.. on a 15 foot leash.. But he needs to make it 20 feet to a deer bone.." He has a thought, and leans in and whispers something quietly to the man in the tent.

The man looks at him for a second, and then smiles. "A good answer to the riddle.. Let me think about that. For now, just wait for more of your people to arrive."

Johnny, feeling a little shot down, but not hopeless, waits by the tent, walking around the street. Who would come next? He thinks.. And how long will we keep Antan waiting?

Just then a figure emerges around the corner, walking towards the tent briskly. He can't quite make out who it is, but from a distance they say "Hello, Johnny, nice to see you here"...

_{Johnny, High Marshal of Old Rancagua, Duke of Kazakh, Marshal of the army of Kazakh}

Roleplay from Morton

The trickle of peasants on Thoer Street parted. None of the lower class would dare to get in the way of a noble of the realm... or his horse. A couple of the civilians even had to leap out of the way as Morton rode up to the tent at a speed that probably wasn’t advisable in such a small street, not that he cared. However, going far too fast to stop, he was almost past the tent by the time he saw it. Instantly he pulled a reckless maneuver, dismounting himself from the horse while still at a decent gallop. He did succeed at dismounting, but the landing left much to be desired. A couple of rolls across the ground and the assistance of the next wall was required to stop him fully.

The horse now gone, Morton groaned, got up, and dusted himself. He looked around to see if anyone had born witness to that smooth maneuver of his. A few passing by peasants respectfully and fearfully looked away and went along with their day as soon as Morton’s gaze fell upon them, but then he saw a few people staring at him from near the tent. He sighed and walked over to join the congregation of nobles.

_{Morton (Knight of Salta)}

Roleplay from Shina

After Shina was through her messages, she was worried. The letter from Antan, talking about this mysterious Staff of Girn ... she had to see with her own eyes what's going on. It will be a hard ride to Kazakh until dusk, so she was in a hurry. Shina left her tent, which stood in the middle of the camp of all the nobles, and began to gather all around her. She spoke with a strong voice and only those that know her very well could recognise the slight tremor in her voice:

"Nobles, you all got this letter from Antan. I have decided to visit this tent in Kazakh, and now I am looking for accompaniment. All those that want to come with me, have half an hour to instruct your troops and meet me at the east of our camp. Then we will start ahead towards Kazakh with all haste."

As she spoke the last word, she turned around and hurried back to her men. Shina had to order her men to do police work in Poitiers until she returns. After that was done, she took care of her personal duties, packed her things and left for the meeting point.

_{Shina, Royal Treasurer of Old Rancagua, Baroness of Caqueta}

Roleplay from Artimus

"Master Artimus. " Uriel bows slightly as he enters Artimus’s tent. "A messenger from Lord Antan has delivered this message Sir"

"New orders?" Artimus mutters as he reaches out for the message.

"I does not look like an order Sir." Uriel replied as he hands the message to Artimus.

"What is it about Sir?" Uriel inquired curiously as soon as Artimus finish reading the message,

"It is about you commanding the Rangers for a while my friend." Artimus replied. "I need to be elsewhere for sometime. I trust that you shall continue our work here in Poitiers in my absence."

After delegating his duties to Uriel, his old friend and his second in command, Artimus left the encampment and headed for Kazakh.

_{Artimus (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Aleister

After the battle in poitiers, Aleisters man where happy. They had there first battle since they left Kazakh and the laughter and splurging seemed to raise his mans morale so he let them suceed. man died today, but he had to think about the living. when he reached his tent, he saw lady shina riding out of the encampment followed by a few other nobles he had no time yet to talk to. would be necessary and he made a thoughtmemo to do it soon. entering his tent a messanger from Atan, the Arch Priest of Old Rancangua stood up from a small stool: "Aleister Stormcrow, I guess?"

Aleister noded

"This is an urgent message I was ordered to bring to you personally"

after he gave the messanger a goldcoin and ordered to bring him to the fieldkitchen he opened the letter and read carefully.

"GARGAL!"

His old seargant entered the tent:"yes, master?"

"I have to go to kazakh, i want you to keep up working on the infrastructure till I am back or send you new orders"

"but, master the man will be very unhappy that you leave, they expect you to drink with them tonight to celebrate the victory"

"i know that and i leave it in your skillfull hands to keep up morale till i am back. i cant explain this to you at the moment, but i will tell you when i am back."

the old seargant sighed out:"like always, master, like always"

"i know my man in good hands, keep up working and use my personal stock of wine to keep up morale",and with a impish smile he added: "would be nice to find some of this chateau burligne when i am back anyway. your orders are clear, i am off in 15 minutes, dismissed"

After giving thanks to his man for there bravery in the battle he saddled his horse "shadowmare" and rid of in the dusk. there where no appreciable interuptions till he reached kazakh. the city was pulsing with life and he had no problems to find the street and the tent. and there stood a group of nobles already. as he approached he recognized his duke ...

"m´lord, its an honor to meet you", and looking to the others,"all of you as i might add. we did not meet before, may i introduce myself, Aleister Stormcrow"

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Rats

Rats talked with Johnny through the day, and slowly with the others as they arrived. He watched the sun walk across the sky, and finally rest for the evening. He waited a short time longer, for any other noble who wished to arrive, before proceeding to the tent. Once all was inside, he nodded to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper smiled and asked, "A hound is tied to a fifteen foot leash. How can the hound reach a deer bone that is 20 feet away?"

"The leash isn't tied to anything, so the dog can simply walk up and take the bone, of course." Rats eyed the shopkeeper, waiting for the reply.

_{Rats (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Antan as the shopkeeper

The shopkeeper smiles as Rats stands up before him.

"Very wise Master Rats, you all may proceed. Go down the ladder and you will find Antan there. He will inform you upon the current situation."

With that the man pushes a large crate aside and hurries the gathered nobles into the large meeting hall.

_{Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua}

Roleplay from Shina

Once she arrived in Kazakh, wet and exhausted, she watched out for the described tent. But the crowd of well-known nobles attracted her attention. Shina slowed down her horse and took a quick glance at this scene. Duke Johnny was there, Sir Rats, Morton who had some dust on his back, the diligent Artimus and a new noble, she had seen at the camp in Potiers. After she nodded towards them, she got off her horse full of verve and elegance, making sure that she had all attention on her side.

"Am I the last one?"

_{Shina, Royal Treasurer of Old Rancagua, Baroness of Caqueta}

Roleplay from Palandro

As the words left Shina's mouth a panting noble sprinted down the busy streets, breathing in ragged gasps. His robes and breeches we're travel soiled and there was little difference between him and the commoners he was leaving in his wake.

Loud curses and muttering followed him as he knocked over several shopkeeper's stalls, but he was oblivious to that, eyes darting and looking for a strange tent.

He found it, virtually collapsing on the side of a horse, which snorted, and took two steps forward. Lord Palandro promptly found himself eating road dust and getting very well acquainted with the open sewers along the side of the street.

And so, with dust and something more sinister attached to his clothing, Palandro staggered up to Shina in a drunken haze of exhaustion, barely getting out a "May I join you" before fainting on the spot.

The last thing he saw was Shina peering over him, a mirthful expression on her lovely face.

_{Palandro (Knight of Obando)}

Roleplay from Gertrude

Rain poured down on Gertrude's long blonde hair. Thunder rolled over the seas. She could see Kazahk's mighty walls in the distance. She wasn't entirely sure if she should go to the fruitstand with the others. Then she thought,"If I want to be a true hero of Old Rancagua I must do this. I must throw away doubts and battle my fear's."

With that she rode off, to the little fruitstand in Kazahk.

_{Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Rats

"Shina, it is good to have you with us." Rats says, peering at Palandro. Then he stops a little kid on the street, and gives him a few coins to fetch a bucket of water from the nearest well. After a couple of minutes, the kid comes running back with the water, and leaves with a couple more coins.

Then Rats gives a smile to Shina, before dumping the bucket of ice cold water on Palandro.

"And good to have you too, Palandro."

_{Rats (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Valinor

Valinor stood on the wall of Kazakh, looking out over the distant waters where he would soon be fighting against the armies of the Kalmar Islands. He was by himself, as his unit was scattered all across the city enjoying themselves, and his loyal friend and comrade, Skorim, was off repairing the crossbows. Valinor watched and waited in the cool darkness, for he could not get any sleep. Something was troubling him, but he could not figure out what it was. While he pondered this thought, he smelled a foul stench of dirt and muck. He turned around to the streets and saw a noble whom he believed to be Shina being followed by a man covered in dirt. At this sight, Valinor said to himself...

"That is odd. If I am not mistaken, it seems to me that the dirty man is Palandro. It is getting cold up here, perhaps I should try to get some sleep..."

As Valinor began to walk to the staircase, he heard a shout and turned sharply to see Palandro fall into the dirt yet again and get back up...

"On the other hand, he is in quite a hurry at this hour. Maybe I will just keep an eye on them from a distance. I don't see how it could hurt..."

Having finally made up his mind, Valinor sped down the stairs and darted into the darkness of the alleyways. After a while, he found himself watching Shina and Palandro walk into a small fruitstand. The shopkeeper casted a curtain over the entrance, blocking Valinor's view. After thinking to himself for a moment, he crossed the road and stood outside the rear of the tent. He put his ear up close and heard something about a dog, a deer and a leash. At once, Valinor thought of an old tavern joke he heard as a child. Then he heard loud noises coming from within, then silence. Curious at this, Valinor walked to the front of the tent where he found the curtain drawn back. He proceeded to enter when someone grabbed his shoulder. Valinor turned around and saw his comrade, Skorim, staring back at him...

"My lord, I am terribly sorry. I was told to give you a scroll from Lord Antan. I heard that it was a request for any available Knights of Old Rancagua to meet him at a small tent..."

Now Valinor knew that he had stumbled across something important. Without thinking, he ordered Skorim to give the men the night off. Valinor stepped into the tent and walked up to the shopkeeper, who asked him a riddle. This caught Valinor off guard as his thoughts raced to think of the answer. Then he remembered the joke. As he recited it, it came to him at once...

"The dog would get the deer leg whenever he wanted, since the leash was not attached to anything!"

Now that he thought about it, Valinor remembered that the joke was not funny. He watched the shopkeeper in suspicion as he moved a crate, revealing a trap door. He opened it and looked back at Valinor. Not knowing what to expect, he walked into the dark...

_{Valinor (Knight of Kazakh)}

The Blood Ring

Roleplay from Antan

Antan smiles as he sees a good sized grouo of nobles coming down the ladder. He bows to each one of them in turn. Once the procession is over, he yells to the man upstairs to close the trapdoor.

-Antan: "Well it is good to see you all here. You obviously passed the guardian's riddle. It was good that you didn't turn away like most people do when they come here. I don't think this fruit stand has made a single penny in its entire existence. But it keeps the less wanted types away. I will have to admit that.

Now I am sure many of you are wondering what exactly is going on here. I cannot explain all of this, but I will try my best to tell you what I know. You have entered the ancient meeting place of the Blood Ring. These men and a few women strive to protect Old Rancagua from all the evil magic and sorcery in the realm. They are an extremely secretive group. If anyone goes about revealing who they are or any secrets about the Ring, they quickly and quietly dissappear.

Now you may all be thinking, magic? Yes I will confess there are many magical items hidden here in Old Rancagua. The Blood Ring has taken it upon itself to not allow the common people to find out however. IF they did, any peasant that has half a brain could wield enormous power. That is why our straights are so dire right now.

The item in question is the Staff of Girn. Now Girn was the most powerful wizard of the past age. However, he has been dead or out of existence for nearly a decade now. It is rumored that he gained all of his power from an ancient tome he carried with him at all times and a enchanted stave. Our aim is to find this stave and turn it over to the Blood Ring.

The question probably is now...why is this staff so important? Well I believe that the disappearance of High Guard and the rumored rise of the Kwarkm are of no coincidence. They must be related in some way. We all know that High Guard has spent a long time in this realm and has heard many tales in his time as a trader.

Not only to solve the mystery of High Guards disappearance, but we must find the Staff for another reason. The Citadel of Oroya has not fallen for over an age. The sorcerer Girn is said to have created the Citadel by his own might and weaved a powerful set of speels around the stones. It would take an immensely strong sorcerer to break these spells and that is what I fear."

Antan takes a moment to pause as he looks over those congregated there. It brings a slight smile to his face to see those that are willing to help Old Rancagua in a time of need. No Old Rancagua is not dead yet, no matter what others say.

"Now the Karkm are a group of black enchanters and witch doctors. They are the rivals to the Blood Ring. These two groups know of eachother and many a night has been spent between these two groups in fighting. We have lost many a good man to this organization. Have you all heard of the recent Groundhog Rebellion? I believe the groundhogs were enchanted by this group in an effort to take a noble of the realm, though I do not know who.

Knowing this, are you willing to come with me? DO you have the bravery and the faith to follow until this journey ends? I can guaruntee this quest will not be without hardship. I will give you each a half hour to decide for yourselves. Those that wish to accompany me may walk through these doors."

With that, Antan bows and turns to the dimly lit set of oaken doors. He pauses for a moment, resting his hand on the gnarled wood. He bites his lip and straightens his back before entering into the next room, pushing the door aside with a creaking moan that close with a booming silence. This leaves the nobles alone to their thoughts.

_{Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua}

Roleplay from Gertrude

Gertrude was angry. Her horse died a mile away from Kazahk. "No way, no way am I going to miss out on this!Scribe take my armor, I'm running the rest of the way."

"Madam, It's raining and dark out!"

"That doen't matter, this is the kind of thing I live for."

With that she began to run.

_{Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Aleister

Aleister stood still in the room thinking a few seconds. the future of Kazakh and probably the whole realm of Old Rancagua where at stack if he understood the old priest right. it was unthinkable to stay back if this was right and he didn´t doubt one second. the only thing that hold him back to step into the door at once was the presence of so many famous heros. damn, half of the council stood in the small room, how could he step forward and take the lead. his celtic blood burned through is veins and called impatiently for action. he looked from face to face to read the minds of the nobles around him but most of them where just to experienced to show there feelings. when he meet lady shinas eyes he thought for a moment she was noding nearly unrecognizably but then the expression was gone like it came. anyway ... time for action, he straighted his back and touched the handle of the door ...

"i will follow the old man" he said with a gentle voice that belied his impatience

the door opend and he stepped in the darkness behind ... hoping he insulted no-one

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Gertrude

Gertrude quickly climbed down the ladder hoping she wasn't late. She jumped down and yelled into the darkness,"Am I late?"

A voice that sounded familiar said, "Hurry up we're leaving."

She ran forward and thought to herself,"I knew it was a good idea to do this. Danger, sorcering, conspiracies, this is what I live for,"as she ran into the darkness before her.

Gertrude entered the darkness and came into the light. She saw familiar faces the first one she reconigzed was her liege Shina. Shina smiled at Gertrude impishly. Gertrude sheepishly said,"So, what'd I miss?"

_{Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Morton

Morton stood silently as Anton spoke, and for awhile after. Thoughts and emotions and questions stirred through his mind. Finally it all snapped together, and he quickly stomped off into the room that Antan had gone into.

"Now just wait a minute!" Morton shouted at Antan, "I may just have a few things to say about that little story of yours back there. Oh where to begin, where to begin!" Morton's arms flew up in an over exaggerated shrug. He turned back away from Antan for a second, took two slow steps away. He turned back towards Antan. Walking up towards him and talking in a hurried manner, Morton posed several questions and statements towards Antan, "First off, if this bloody ring of yours is so good at protecting the realm from evils, how did they fail to even notice the spirit that possessed Folite for who knows how long? And about that staff... don't get me started on staffs. I happen to remember one rather... mystical one. They're no good, I tell you."

Morton stopped his approach and interrogation there. After pausing for a second, he continued in a more sedate, controlled voice, "And may I just add that the 'groundhog rebellion' you mentioned, I have reason to believe, was nothing more then the mass paranoid delusions of a large number of suggestible people put under the spell of some enchanted cookies."

Morton took a breath at that and watched Antan for a response.

_{Morton (Knight of Salta)}

Roleplay from Shina

"You have only missed what Antan told us Gertrude. Maybe he is willed to tell you again, because I am not sure if I completely understood what he said. He went through this door ... ", Shina pointed towards this mysterious looking oaken door, " ... and we should follow him if we decide to find out what's going on."

Shina took Gertrudes hand and walked towards the door: "Furthermore I have to straighten something out. Morton!", Shina yelled into the room behind the door, which she pushed open with her free hand, "I hope you are not speaking of my cookies! I don't curse mine!"

Shina looked back at Gertrude to see if she was ready to enter with her ...

_{Shina, Royal Treasurer of Old Rancagua, Baroness of Caqueta}

Roleplay from Rats

Rats rolled his eyes when Antan started speaking of the groundhogs.

"Giant cuddly groundhogs, ah, how I enjoyed that story," Rats said following Shina. In reply to Shina's question, "I believe Morton confused your cookies with an enormous quantity of alcohol. It seems he and his men looted a tavern earlier that day and then decided to concoct a story of groundhogs while in their drunken stupor."

_{Rats (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Johnny

Johnny, now inside the chamber, wathces Antan walk through the thick oaken doors. With a gust and a slight hush, he disappears from sight. Thinking nothing of it, Johnny walks through the doors, right behind the Arch priest.

He enters an even darker room, and cannot see a foot in front of him. Reaching out, he feels some stone walls, the work of a very primitave mason. With that, he turns and speaks into the darkness, hoping Antan is close enough to hear him..

"Sir Antan, are you here? Let's get this quest underway.. It is quite dark in here, and i'm having trouble even controlling my thoughts, let alone my eyesight.'

He waits, but hears nothing.

Johnny again whispers "Antan, say something. I'll stand alone in this dark chamber and wait for the others, but at least let me know if you're here.. or if you've gone ahead of us all, looking for some truth in this mystery of the blood ring and the disappearnce of Lord High Guard.. Any noise of response would suffice.."

And with that, Johnny waited for more to enter the chamber, and a response from Antan.

_{Johnny, High Marshal of Old Rancagua, Duke of Kazakh, Marshal of the army of Kazakh}

Roleplay from Grimm

Since day's Grimm and his man were on the march to Kazakh. It's a long way, and because of the problems in Ashfort, they are still without scouts. Fields and forst was all they saw since this morning. The sun was burning down early and it promised to become a hot day. The last village was miles back and so was the last rest. But from travelling messangers they heard about a fight in Pedrera and rumors of a big nobility, that gatherd last evening in a tent..

"this realy are strange days we live in..." Grimm thought by himself while he called for the troopleader of his Forestwolfs. Samuel, a big man wearing the colours of the Greywolffamiliy on his cuirass, stepped out of the row and came to the side of the horse, Grimm was riding. "Sire?!" he said with a voice that could easily drown a full tavern. "Make sure, the man are in Kazakh by dawn next day. I will try to find a faster way. Honor and Glory." "Sire, we will be there! A good and safe way, Honor and Glory!" with this words Samuel stepped back into the row and Grimm Greywolf hurried on.

_{Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Gertrude

Gertrude looks at Shina and says,"I'm ready for a new adventure, lets walk through the door and find out what's going on."

_{Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Artimus

"Magic? Evil Sorcerers? Blood Ring? The walking stick of Girn..." Artimus thought to himself as the Arch Priest finishes his tale.

"Is Lord Antan trying to tell us that evil sorcerers are real and there is a secret cult is Oroyo. Well... cults are not uncommon and they *could* be responsible for Sir HighGuards's mysterious disappearance, maybe over an artifact known as the staff of Girn... but magic? Lord Antan speaks as if they are real..."

Artimus did not know what to make of Antan's words - he stood there silently, trying to answer his question using his own *logic* but he was soon interrupted by a loud noise - a shout - Morton shouting at the Arch Priest as he vanishes behind the door. Some nobals paused slighty before following the Arch Priest into the next chamber.

"Just another search an rescue mission, creepier than others but still just a search and rescue mission." Artimus mutters to himself as he follows the Arch Priest into the next chamber.

_{Artimus (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Shady

While sitting in his room, Shady is tring to figure out how everything will work out. There are many unsolved questions that needed answers. While in deep thought, Shady's scribe, Michael, comes up to his door and knocks, then enters

Michael My lord...we have received word that a message from Sirion is coming to the pigeon tower for you. It should be here soon, there is word it's important.

Shady Thank you, I shall go now. I will be back soon.

Shady then leaves his room, and goes to the pigeon tower. Here he meets the guard of the tower

Guard How may I help you this late at night sir?

Shady There should be a message waiting for me, or a message that will be here soon for me. I must go up and get it myself. Would there be a problem with that?

Guard No sir, I don't see a problem with that at all. Just please be quick about it, this is supposed to be closed tonight.

Shady Ah yes, thank you very much. I shall be quick about it.

Shady travels up the tower, and waits for the pigeon to arrive. After a few minutes, a pigeon arrives and drops the message right into Shady's hands. Then, Shady travels back down the tower, thanks the guard and heads back to his room in Kazakh.

Shady Ah yes...this is very interesting news. Ok I must go check this out for myself. I know the orders are to train but I have no money for anything anyway. So I believe I will be more helpful scouting Stora right now....and I can get some more answers now.

Shady then gathers his troops and starts heading to Kazan to scout Stora and find some answers.

_{Shady (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Valinor

In the darkness of the corner of the room stood Valinor, eating an apple from the fruitstand above. He did not have much time to decide whether or not to join. He had heard of Karkm and the evil surrounding them. He watched as he saw several nobles walk through the door. Valinor did not want to get involved, but something was drawing him to the door. He then looked towards the ladder and walked to it. When he was set to climb out, he stopped and thought to himself...

"I know nothing of this Staff of Girn. My place is on Kazakh's walls, defending her from the Kalmarians. It's where I belong. Besides, I must get back to my men. But the thought of the Karkm wandering the land of Old Rancagua is too much to bear..."

Valinor stepped away from the ladder, and with a half-eaten apple in one hand and a bow in the other, he walked up to the door, kicked it open, and proceeded into the darkness, not knowing what awaited him.

_{Valinor (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Gertrude

Gertrude sat in the darkroom. Nobody near her. She thought to herself about as a little girl how she used to play pretend with her sister. They would vanquish the evil dragons and battle the wicked sorcerers and things like that. "This is just like that," Gertrude thought to herself," except this is real. I could die. Is this worth it? What, if we fail? Is this whole thing even real at all?"

Then she remembered her father always saying,"You can be great child, you can be the one that makes something of herself. You and Harriet are my shining stars, but you're the one I wish upon."

Nobody may have seen, but Gertrude shed a little tear as she remembered her long dead father. She realized this is the right hing to do.

_{Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)}

Where is a trap?

Roleplay from Antan

As Antan steps into the next room, he pauses for a moment. Looking around he finds the room to be a perfect circle. There are torches evenly spaced out among the wall, dimly illuminating from the room. In the center of the room, bearing a flickering torch, stands a man wearing a long cloak with the hood pulled up to shroud his face.

-Man: "Greetings to you all, knights of Old Rancagua. It is an honor to have you hear upon this quest. I have no doubts that you all are valiant, this can be shown by you just being here. But we shall see how your wits hold up against you. How do you fare under pressure when both action and thought are required? There will be only one test before you embark upon your mission, how will you handle this?"

-Antan: "We do not fear any test you might bring against us. Let it come!"

-Man: "And so it shall..."

With that, the man suddenly disappears and Antan realizes that the room the knights were standing in has lowered down a level to a completely seperate room. Startled by this fact, Antan looks around the faces of his knights quickly, looking for any idea what is going on.

Slowly, the light in the room starts to grow. It eventually reaches a blinding pulse of light before going into a hazy blackness once again. Antan rubs his eyes for a moment, blinded by the flash and then the sudden darkness. The room stays dimly lit for around five minutes before another blinding flash of light comes into the room. This time however, a long, piercing shriek accompanies the bright flash. Antan raises his hands to his ears just to get the sound out of his head.

-Voice: "Now, you must all work your way down to the end of this corridor. There are many traps and snares along the way, from simple deer traps, to triggered crossbows, to moving walls. You must show you can work together to prove you are worthy of this quest. And might I mention that the end of the corridor is an elevator that will completely seal you in this room in around half an hour? Oh and look out for some of my trainees in the arts of warfare that have orders to try and halt your advance...Have fun."

Another pulse of light and a blinding flash wreck havoc into Antan's mind. He pulls out his great axe and bellows a challenge before stepping forward. A small click can be heard. Immediately, he is clubbed down by a long pole swinging down from the ceiling, bowling him over, dazed and confused.

_{Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua}

Roleplay from Rats

Rats pulls Antan closer to the group, looking out upon the mess of traps. He looks over Antan, and tries to help him regain his wits.

"Traps? What type of challenge is this? See which one of us makes the best pin cushion?"

Looking down the corridor, he can spot a few obvious traps, but he has a feeling those are just a way to distract him from the real traps.

"We didn't happen to bring any Kalmar prisoners with us, did we?" Rats looked around, his tone completely serious.

_{Rats (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Shina

"Don't look at me Rats!", Shina said, trying in vain to fight the panic creeping up inside her. A second later she started to look for something in her bag, hoping to distract herself enough to win her personal fight ... or at least to find something useful.

_{Shina, Royal Treasurer of Old Rancagua, Baroness of Caqueta}

Roleplay from Valinor

Valinor looked on at the traps that were visible. He, as well as most of the others, knew that they were simple distractions. Valinor took out the apple, took a bite from it, and tossed it down the corridor. Almost instantly, crossbow bolts shot from the walls, and spikes came up from the floor. Now Valinor was somewhat unsure. He would follow along with the others, but maybe towards the back. He was also hungry, as that was his last apple.

_{Valinor (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Grimm

After splitting from his man, Grimm could move faster by horse than he expected. The morning when he was riding down the mountainroad that led to Kazagh, his man managed with some delay to reach Salta.

With the first glace of the sun, the gates of the enormous city opend and the watchmen stepped out. He stopped his hourse inches in front of the first watchman, and old but hard looking guy. "I'm Grimm Greywolf, let me pass." Stunned by the confidence and calmness in Grimm's voice, the men stepped out of his way without a world and he rode into the city. First he had no eyes for the great beautiful buildings, that gathered behind those walls. He was searching for a tent...

After he reached the center of the city, he has seen more troops running around then ever bevor. nearly everywhere are men standing, guards on patrol and he also saw some siege equipment slowly moved through the narrow streets. Then he got to the spot, the messangers had described, where the nobility had vanished and haven't been seen again till now.

So he left his hourse next to some others, with big and mighty emblems of noble families, and stepped into the tent.

First he was alone. No person and no fruits around, but then he heard a voice behind him... "Good Morning Sire, pardon me, but it isn't very common to have visitors this early in the morning." Grimm tourned around and saw the face of the shopkeeper: "Blessed morning good man, it may sound strange, but you haven't seen some Ladys and Lords in here in the evening?" The shopkeeper smiled and moved into the middle of the room. With his back to Grimm he muttered: "A hound is tied to a fifteen foot leash. How can the hound reach a deer bone that is 20 feet away?" Grimm totaly suprised by this question, let his mouth do the work. This came very close to the kind of games his father played with him. Verbal games, where he had to be on the watch for questions and tricky puzzles every minute a day. So it came, that his mouth began nearly automatic: "You never said, that the leash is tied to something else, and even if it is tied to something, this point can be 5 foot away of the bone, so the hound can get what he wants..." The shopkeeper has raised his hand, and because Grimm's mouth wasn't stopping, the man pulled a rope. Shortly after Grimm saw the first time a trapdoor in the floor of a tent, right unter his feets..

_{Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Antan

Antan thanks Rats as he stands back up, rubbing his head. He gazes around at his companions, looking to them for ideas.

-Antan: "Well, I told you these folks were serious. They have become very good at their job over the years. Oh and Morton, I cannot tell you how the Blood Ring did not stop Folite's evil spirit. It was probably an extremely powerful and malacious spirit. But I am sure none know better than you do concerning that."

Antan looks for the places where he had stepped before. He feels along the ground until he finds a small lever. He stands up and looks towards the ceiling. The club has cleverly disappearing into the ceiling again, but Antan has an idea where it came from. He reaches out his leg and touches the lever, taking a quick step back.

With a whistling sound, the pole drops down once more. But this time Antan is ready. He makes a powerful, sweeping cut with his axe, slicing the swinging club in two. Antan smiles as the broken off club falls harmlessly to the ground.

-Antan: "Well that is that trap. Anyone have any ideas? This passage is slowly closing, you all heard it. We need a way to get to the end fast, and with all our limbs. Are there any oddly colored stones or a better worn path somewhere? Is there anyway we can get up and over? I really have never been to this room before, so ideas are welcome!"

_{Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua}

Roleplay from Shina

Seemingly Shina has found something in her bag, right before she was interrupted from a sequence of loud noises. Valior had impressively demonstrated that the traps in this corridor were very real.

"Cookies anyone?"

The words even spoken, Shina passed out, adhering stubbornly to a cookie.

_{Shina, Royal Treasurer of Old Rancagua, Baroness of Caqueta}

Roleplay from Gertrude

"Mmmmmmm, cookies. Thanks Shina."

She ate her cookie silently as she walked near the front of the group. Constantly she was moving her eyes, looking for anything that was out of place. A brick too far out, an missing floor tile, anything at all. She had only walked for a little bit when she fell into the first trap.

"Ahhhhhhh!" she screamed in pain. A few people came to help her, she didn't recognize them at the time. An arrow had shot her through the leg.Blood came down her leg and tears came down her eyes. Someone ripped it for her and bandeged.

She kept on walking. Soon it became a run. The walls twisted and turned and decieved her. Yet she had played this game a million times with her sister and always won. She would not lose this tme. With that, she kept on running.

Gertrude thought to herself,"I could use another cookie right about now."

She turned and realized,"Oh no, I ran ahead of the group didn't I."

She ran through the same traps, tricks, and lies all over again and finally found the group.

She looked at them seriously and,"Shina, I need another cookie."

She smiled as she ate the raisin filled cookie and walked forward with the group.

_{Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Aleister

Aleister was leaning against the wall, watching the other nobles trying out the trapped corridor.

"Cookies?",

he makes a step in the direction of Lady Shina and gets of his black leathergloves,

" ... would be nice, i think better when i get some sugar in my body ... crunch ... mmmh, taste like cinnamon ... thank you m´lady"

... out of the tail of his eye he saw Gertrude wiping away a tear ... he had recognized her beauty when she came in and wondered why she was crying silently but then his mind wandered back to the problem infront of him ... out of nothing an idea came to his mind ... he went to the wall and took some of the torches that hang around, with a few smashes to his flintstone he lit them, passing them on to other nobles, when he gave one to gertrude he said with a smile on his face:

... "may i bring some light to your darkness?"

... looking in her eyes for a few seconds, before he turned around and went to the trap, Atan already smashed. he laid down on the floor, pressing his face to the floor and peeking just along the floor ... he could see the small lever standing up just a little bit and a few feet away the next a little more to the left ... a few feet was not enough ... they would be not fast enough ... standing up again and sharing his new knowledge with the others he suddenly realized the bow in Valinors hand

... "sire, I dont know your name yet, mine is Aleister Stromcrow, you may have heard from my family, i guess you have good eyes, when using a bow, perhaps you see more than me, wonna give it a try?"

... waiting for Valinors answer he couldn´t resist to take another look, at Gertrude, she seemed so fragile to him, so beautyfull and he decided to have an eye on her security. with his seventeen years he never feeled like that before and was slightly confused about it. than his red albinoeyes turned back to Valinor

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Gertrude

When Aliester said said to Gertrude,'May I bring a light into your darkness?' Gertrude looked at him and said softly,"Thank you Aliester. I appriciate your kindness." She took the torch and smiled at him gratefully as they moved forward into the darkness.

_{Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Valinor

Valinor listened intently to Aleister, staring straight into the corridor. When he finished talking, Valinor looked back at him and replied...

"Well, Aleister Stormcrow, you may call me Valinor. And you were right to guess that I have keen eyesight. However, it is much to dark to see the end, even for myself..."

Then Valinor took the torch that Aleister had handed him and tossed it down the corridor. One crossbow bolt shot across from the wall, but the flame was still lit, which is what he intended. Now the beginning of the corridor was lit, and it was plain to everyone that there were levers scattered here and there throughout the corridor. Valinor took a closer look and said...

"As we can all see, there are levers that run up and down the corridor, most of them probably traps, perhaps a few may be fakes. Well, that is strange. There seems to be a string running across from one wall to the other..."

Then Valinor ate the rest of his cookie, took out an arrow from his quiver, and shot it at the string. With a loud snap, the string broke, causing several wooden spikes to shoot up from the ground. Slowly, they receded back into the floor as Valinor thought about this. Then he turned to the others and spoke...

"As far as I can tell, most of these traps are triggered by the levers. They are probably there to distract us from the few things that we may not see, like the string. There are a few things here like that, that are the only real dangers. I think that we should proceed soon, if not now. I will leave it up to you all how we get through this, either carefully and cautiously, or run straight through and hope that we make it..."

Valinor looked down the corridor once more, then at Gertrude's leg. Then he turned to Shina and asked for another cookie.

_{Valinor (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Johnny

As Johnny watched this all take place, he was taking mental note of everything he could see.

The corridor was about 15 feet wide, straight for the most part, with a few little side passages and pillars emerging from the ground. The stone was damp to the touch, yet strangely warm.. They were above some other chamber, he could confirm this by the warmth of the stone and the ground shaking ever so slightly each couple of minutes. The ceiling was only about 12 feet high, and was slightly domed, but he could be sure of this due to the torch light flickering and casting shadows all around.

He looked harder for some more traps, and found a few..

A little lever attached to a swinging pole that had nearly beheaded Antan. A small protruding stick in the floor that when stepped upon shot and arrow through the leg of Gertrude.. Thank god it did not hit her higher up, else the damage might have been more severe. She seemed to be recovering well, though.

He looked closer and he could see one of the small stones in the floor would wiggle ever so slightly with the tremor of the building.. Johnny guessed that this stone was loose, and when stepped upon, it would trigger something. Searching, in the torch light, he saw a bucket of scalding oil, nicely tucked into the ceiling, attached to a pole that would allow it to dump its contents if the stone was stepped upon.

Looking further in, he could see a small clearing ahead, seeimgly devoid of traps.. like a midway point through this tunnel of hell.

With that, he stepped forward, avioding the swinging pole. Taking care not to trigger the crossbow again, he nagivated around the stick in the floor that Gertrude had stepped on.. Now the wobbly stone. It wasn't a large stone, but it was placed between two pillars, making it virtually unavoidable. Not thinking twice, Johnny decided to run and jump over the stone. Big mistake.

He sprinted for about two steps, left the ground, and cleared the stone with ease. He landed on another stone, which fell out completely from underneath him! Luckily the stone fell slowly and slid onto some sort of track and began to slide away. Johnny grabbed the edge of the next slab and started clawing his way up the fallen stone. He wasn't making much ground, and he was sure to be sucked into the void, when a hand grabbed the back of his robes, and pulled him out. He turned to thank his rescuer, but at that time a figure lunged at him from a crevice in the wall! Wielding two daggers, the black painted figure swung at the general, definitely going for blood. He would have none, as Johnny easily ducked the first dagger blow, and stopped the figures other arm in mid-air. Johnny made eye contact with the creature for a quick second, and to his amazement, the eye sockets were hollow! Holding back the urge to vomit, Johnny bent the caught arm backwards, breaking it, and slit the creatures throat quickly, and threw him down the hole after the stone slab..

He turned to the others "Come this way, and meet me here.. Take care of the obstacles that we already know about, and step lightly.."

_{Johnny, High Marshal of Old Rancagua, Duke of Kazakh, Marshal of the army of Kazakh}

Roleplay from Aleister

... thinking about Valinors words he took down the black silk bandana he weared to tame his long white hair and passed it to gertrude with a gentle smile ..."her, stop the bleeding and bandage your wound, we can clean it later" ... and turning around to Valinor ... "I am not so experienced but i think just running through should be our last option, perhaps we can slowly, but as fast as possible, work our way thru like you shoot the strip ... by the way, impressive shoot, Valinor. what do you think?"

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Valinor

Valinor, looking once more at Gertrude's injury, then at the figure who attacked Johnny, and lastly at the club that Antan had cut down, he thought about the two options and said...

"I agree Aleister. This corridor is even trickier than I thought. We all must be cautious. That was the third time that someone has gotten injured in some way while we have been down here. We must find the right path and follow it swiftly..."

When he said this, Valinor stepped forward carefully, arrow drawn, and proceeded to move forward towards Johnny.

_{Valinor (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Gertrude

Gertrude heard Johnny's words and followed him.. She felt foolish. She was the first thay got hurt. She had been impulsive and unpatient. Her leg still hurt. She could walk on it but it limped slightly. She refused to show weakness. This a test, and the weak fail.

_{Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Aleister

getting on his gloves again and taking the black longsword, knowen as the "needle of the Stormcrow" from his backharness, Aleister followed Valinor and his liege carefully, trying to avoid levers and triggers. What by all knowen gods where they stumbled over her?

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Artimus

Artimus looked at Johnny he estimates to be about 30 feet away from the main group, urging them to move forward.

"The traps, they are rather obvious are they not? It almost seems that those who laid them did not bother to conceal them. Distractions maybe? Where did that dark figure that attacked Lord Johnny came from? It appeared out of nowhere. How much time do we have left? 20, 25 minutes?" Artimus mutters softly not addressing anyone is particular.

Artimus removes his cape and wrapped it around his left arm. "This should at least provide some sort of protection from bludgeoning attacks." He thought to himself.

Artimus gripped the hilt of his sword firmly with his right arm starts to follow Aleister and Valinor towards Johnny but quickly paused and turned to the others behind him.

"Am I the only one who is under the impression that the corridor is getting more narrow?"

_{Artimus (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Aleister

Hearing Artimus last words, Aleister balked while he started to make a stiffer jump, that was enough to make him lose balance, landing on a different tile than he has planned. To prevent him to crash as a whole on several traps he intercepted his fall with his hand, touching the tile he would have landed without the distraction of Artimus. he heard the sound of stone moving on stone and the tile was gone, make him fall on the floor and sticking with his arm in the whole that appeared. A loud metallic ... click ... and a cuff was mounted around his wrist. slowly and carefully he stood up pulling his arm out off the whole by trying to make his hand as small as possible. "This was no problem at all, I guess they where thought for feet ... foolsluck!"

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Out-of-Character from Shina (to make it easier to you, dear reader, to follow the plot change)

Ahm, I guess (and hope) you just missed that, but Shina is still lying unconsciousness on the floor, while you are eating her cookies.

The words even spoken, Shina passed out, adhering stubbornly to a cookie.

Roleplay from Johnny

Johnny calls back to the others..

"Ladies and gentlemen, our Banker and the Lordess of Caqueta, the beautiful lady Shina, seems to be laying unconscious behind you all.. I don't know if it was the amazing flavor of her cookies, or if you are just all preoccupied with looking for more traps, but it is a fact, someone must help her up!"

The men and women just looked at Johnny, not really paying attention, and little in shock by the last fall into the hole by both Johnny and another, and they did not respond nor move.

At this, Johnny turned around, jumped over the gap, and navigated his way through the traps that he knew about, and walked to the group..

"Unbelieveable" he muttered...

He knelt over to the lady Shina, and cradled her hear in his hands. "Shina" he whispered. "Wake up, dear woman, it seems you have lost consciousness.."

She begins to stir a bit, and Johnny places her in the care of Gertrude and Antan for the moment, and walks back to the clearing where the man with no eyes last attacked. He waits for the others to return, and for Lady Shina to wake back up fully and join him..

_{Johnny, High Marshal of Old Rancagua, Duke of Kazakh, Marshal of the army of Kazakh}

Roleplay from Morton

Morton had been quietly following the others, but seeing an easy path, but saw what he thought was a safe path to get up to Johnny. Morton, taking a few leaps of courage, jumped across these places he had deemed safe as quick as he could. Alas, he was only mostly correct on the lack of traps in these locations, and upon reaching an apparently trapless area towards Johnny he heard a few twangs of crossbow bolts.

Luckily they had just missed him, catching some clothing on his back and throwing off Morton's leap. He crashed to the ground at Johnny's feet, luckily failing to trigger anything else. He groaned before getting up and dusting himself off.

Morton looked around again. The corridor did seem to be closing slowly, and there seemed to be quite a trap laden area ahead of him. Suddenly his vision idly landed upon an odd square hole in the ceiling , about as wide as his shoulders, roughly a sword's length in front of him. Looking down, he also noticed a slightly discolored stone sticking out from the floor below it. Morton drew his sword, which more resembled a short lance, and carefully prodded the trigger, standing as far back as he could. Without warning a large block came down from the ceiling, snapping the lance out of Morton's hand and to the ground.

The block appeared to be a perfect cube, with a rod protruding from the top going all the way up into the ceiling. After laying on the ground for a moment, some unseen power began to bring the block back up into the ceiling. Morton picked up his lance, now slightly flattened, and took a torch from the wall nearby. Morton stopped at that, and stood in shock that the torch didn't activate any trap. Gathering his courage, he spoke one last time before venturing into the unknown, "Well guys, I'm going to see what can be done about this all... If I scream for help, activate that thing again." With that, he crouched down, leaned out his mini-lance, and tapped the trigger, quickly pulling his lance back before the stone struck it. Morton then nimbly leaped upon the block and let it raise him into the unknown above....

_{Morton (Knight of Salta)}

Roleplay from Palandro

Palandro had watched the chaos with the traps from the rear of the group. He was silent partially because of the fact he had been so humbled by the dousing earlier in the day. The other reason was more intelligent...

He had wanted to leave triggering most of the traps to the other nobles. While everyone was concentrating on disabling the traps, Palandro was concentrating on staying safe, one step behind the group.

He put his hand upon a metal bar, and suddenly felt searing pain jet across his body. He convulsed and yelled like a dying animal, before dropping unconscious to the floor.

The last thing he saw before his vision contracted was lightning searing across his eyes...

_{Palandro (Knight of Obando)}

Roleplay from Gertrude

Gertrude listen to Johnny in shock. She didn't even notice that Shina was unconsious. She turned around and lo and behold there was Shina. "Interesting, I didn't even notice.Huh."

_{Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Antan

About to take a step forward and seeing that Shina has come to, Antan hears Palandro yell. Antan rushes over to him and looks around, seeing that the othere nobles have gone ahead already. He looks at the smoking bar, shaking his head.

Noticing the other nobles have gone ahead and Palandro is out cold, Antan hefts Paladro across his shoulders. "I ain't leaving you here Palandro, you have been to good a knight and a friend to me. You aren't being left in here." With that, Antan groans as he settles Palandro's weight across his shoulders. He takes a few stiff steps forward, giving a mighty yell as he picks up speed.

Rushing off towards the rest of the group, Antan smiles as the other nobles have been sucessful in dismantling the other traps. He is a few steps away before he utters a curse as the pulsing light breaks again, making him stop dead in his tracks. He reels a step back, swearing foully as he hears a loud sound of stone grating against stone.

He tosses Palandro forward to the solid area as a chain whips along the ground. Antan falls backawards as the chain, infused with shards of metal and glass, whips around and encirlces his ankles. Antan falls forward just as the chain starts to slowly recoil. He finds it odd for a moment that his is being drawn upwards. Casting a glance over to Morton, Antan absentmindedly waves as they appear to be going up at the same speed...

_{Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua}

Roleplay from Rats

Rats' eyes follow the chain carrying Antan, and he spots a wheel pulling the chain up. He picks up a stone, and tosses it up to catch into the wheel, but misses. "Bloody hell." He picks the stone back up, and grabs onto Antan, causing the shards of metal to dig into the ankles more. "My apologies, Antan," Rats says as he climbs up Antan, and then up the chain. Once at the top, he jams the rock into the wheel, stopping it from moving.

What he doesn't see is the figure waiting near the top to stab the person at the other end of the chain. Instead, the figure stabs Rats in the side with a short sword. Rats lets go of the chain and smashes hard on the ground, still conscious, but in shock. He looks up just as the figure jumps down from the small nook, but the figure landed on an "obvious" lever, resulting in his decapitation. The body lands softly, and the sword scatters off to the side.

Rats looks down at his wound, blood pouring out in a steady stream. "Oh. This is bad." He stands up, barely, using the wall to hold him up. "Antan..." Rats whispers, before seeing Antan freeing himself. Rats picks up the short sword, and hands it to Antan, before moving down the hallway.

Antan and Rats manage to get Palandro and the three drag each other down the hallway, a trail of blood marking their path.

_{Rats (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Shina

"Where am I?", Shina sat up, looking into Gertrude's face. Then she remembered. Her face turned even whiter again. "Where are all the others?" Gertrude pointed into the gloomy corridor, while Shina stood up. She tried hard to perceive anything, when a bright pulse of light hit her eyes again. "OUUCHHH!!", she yelled and tumbled a bit from that stinging pain in her eyes.

It took some time until Gertrude and Shina could see anything again. But even that both of them knew that they had not much time left, they needed to see very clearly to manoeuvre around all the traps. Luckily Gertrude has gathered a bit more knowledge about the levers, triggers and the better-to-be-avoided-stones in the meantime, so she could guide them safely to the others.

"Friends, we need to get on faster. It is becoming a bit narrow in here." And indeed, soon it would be impossible to move besides each other. Then Shina wondered: "Where is Morton?"

_{Shina, Royal Treasurer of Old Rancagua, Baroness of Caqueta}

Roleplay from Artimus

Artimus hurl the headless body of the dark figure that just attacked Rats over his shoulder and carefully made his way to the others down the hallway.

Upon reaching the group, Artimus notice that Rat has suffered a rather nasty wound, Palandro unconscious and others have suffered minor injuries.

"M'Lords and Ladies, I believe we could use some organization and leadership if we were to scale these hallways." Artimus said as he lays the headless body on the ground carefully making sure that he will not trigger another trap.

"Maybe he could help us with the traps." Artimus said - pointing at the lifeless body he just laid down.

"Lord Antan is knowledgeable and Lord Johnny is an accomplished general, maybe one of them could come up with a plan. We need to move as a group but not individuals"

Artimus looks at Antan and Johnny then to the others waiting for a response.

_{Artimus (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Grimm

Suddenly there was a loud noise a few feet behind the first noble. While they managed their way through the narrow stone corridor, the sound grew louder. In the small space between the walls, strange noises echoed and it wasn't easy to say where they are coming from...

_{Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Palandro

Palandro wakes up groggily, feeling like his head weighs more than the rest of his body. He somehow manages to stand up, and puts his hand on a wall-tile. This sends a stray crossbow bolt at him from the end of the hall, which misses him only because of his awkward pose.

"Wow, this place really is a death trap, we need someone to come up with something or we will all die."

_{Palandro (Knight of Obando)}

Roleplay from Aleister

"what by the gods of chaos is this sound coming from" ...Aleister watches the ceiling and walls to find a hint, but only the sound grows louder. with a growing expression of alarm he looks to jonny in front of him, pressing his back against the wall "this corridor is contumacious, we should ..." but he was not able to finish the sentence ...

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Grimm

Aleister was still staring at the wall, as the sounds reached their maximum and the echos distorted all, it seemed like a deamon was ready to come through. From one moment to the other, in the stonewall with all the hidden traps, a big stonelid swung open. Feets first, a young man rushed through, and bevor anybody could act, the lid closed and seemed as solid as bevor.

The young man landed not exactly soft on the ground of the corridor, some people where jumping out of his way. Surely it was his kind of luck, that when he landed, a blade swung out of a slit in the wall, but it was also his kind of luck, that he was sitting on the floor and so it swung inches abouve his head. After the blade has gone he looked around...

_{Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)}

Journey of Anxieties

Roleplay from Antan

Antan makes sure that everyone has made it to the solid ground a aways down the passage. He glances around the situation quickly. He bites his lip as he realizes that the observation that the room is getting narrower is correct, they are being slowly squeezed in. How long has it been 20? 25 minutes? IN any way, they surely didn't have enough time.

-Antan: "Alright folks, we need to take a risk. Valinor, you are our bowman, let us see if there are any smoothed out stones that seem to be forming a path."

Antan watches Valinor investigate the floor in front of them before pointing out a series of barely noticably smoothened stones. Antan thinks, "They must be smoothed out because of wear over all these years. It is a chance we have to take I guess."

-Antan: "Alrigght folks, swords out, eyes open. Follow Valinor's lead here, he seems to have wonderful eyes for this sort of thing."

Carefully, the group picks its way, hopping from stone to stone. There are numberous grunts and groans from the party and Antan shakes his head. Thinking, "So many wounded and the quest has barely begun. That Blood Ring had better have something good for us at the end of this tunnel." Antan yells for a halt when a burst of light is heard, making sure no one stumbles. "Crap, that is the fifth burst of light. Five minutes folkS! We need to move. I am sorry, I know we all have injuries, but to stay -alive-, we need to move!"

With that, Valinor begins to furiously go from rock to rock, nearing the end. HE pauses about six feet from the end however, looking about rapidly. "What Valinor?" But Antan sees the answer before Valinor responds. A gaping hole extends infinently downward in front of them. "Alright folks, line up here. We help eachother get across."

Everyone eventually makes the crossing, aided by everyone else. Antan casts one final glance backwards before leaping. "Where the heck is Morton? If he is sitting in the next room, calmly sitting there. Bah, I will..." With that everyone hurriedly scrambles into the now tightening elevator that is almost drwan all the way up into the passage. With a sigh of relief, Antan smiles around to his companions, congradulating them all on their bravery and courage.

The "elevator" eventually reaches a halt. A slight turning can be felt before another room is revealed to everyone. This room is immensely long, one cannot see the end of it. There are rows and rows of ancient tomes, books, and parchements. A old sage stands fro a rick wooden chair and greets the travlers.

-Man: "Welcome to my humble halls! I am overjoyed you all have made it here. I have been informed that I am to give you some food and some insight to where to begin your quest. Come to the table."

Antan, shrugging begins to carefully walk over to the table, motioning for his companions. he takes a seat and then lifts up the tankard before him to his lips. Noticing that is it filled with his favorite type of moonshine, Antan thirstily drinks it down. He nods as he cuts off a few pieces of meat from a duck before him, it seems that everyone's favotire meals have been prepared for them. Antan pauses chewing, finding this a bid disturbing, but ah well.

-Sage: "Now you all are seeking the Staff of Girn are you not?" The old man scurries off into the rows of books, coming back with an ancient blue tome. "Well, as you can see on page 416, yes I have memorized the book. No that isn't strange. The last disappearance of Girn's staff was with a battle with the Kwarkm many years ago. The Kwakm ambushed him just as he laid the final stone for the Citadel of Oroya. A great white stone, smooth as glass and perfectly square. It is said that an apprentice to Girn saw the man whisper something to the stone before putting it into place. Then the staff burst into a brilliant flame and disappeared."

The old man sits down and takes a long drink of a fine wine, passing the tome around carefully. Antan looks intently at the picture on page 416, a drawing of a large smooth stone. He shrugs as he passes it onto Lady Shina.

-Sage: "If you wish to know more about the staffs final resting place, I would suggest going to Oroya. Find this stone, it may take you a few days, but that will lead you onwards."

Just then a young boy comes sprinting into the room. "Sir, the Kwarkm have been spotted in the Citadel of Oroya. They have over twenty agents there! We need to hurry!" With that the young boy nods to the company and hurries away.

-Sage: "It appears that our situation is dire, I do not want to have to do this to you, but you must follow me along."

_{Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua}

Roleplay from Antan

The sage leads the group down a long corridor, shaking his head and muttering to himself. He walks to a door, turning to the group there.

-Sage: "Well, your straights appear to be dire. That is why I bring you here. In times of great need the Blood Ring has set up places of powerful magic where one might jump between. This passage will bring you to Oroya, in the very heart of the Citadel, you will need all speed to reach it."

"Now I do not know what will await you in the next room, I have only been told that is a way to seperate those who do not have the inner toughness to be worthy to use such great magic. Those who enter do not even experience the same things, but I have been told it is a horrible experience. Might you all succeed."

Antan, never the one to wait for long, shoves the door open and looks about. The room is black for a bit before he sees a faint image. Antan quints his eyes and suddenly he sees all of Oroya up in flames, the white tree smouldering in a ferociuos blaze. Taken aback by this Antan call for his companions. He falls on the floor, burying his head in his hands, crying.

This is too much to bear, the former capital of Old Rancagua up in smoke. Chaos everythwere. Antan can see burning bodies and children crying for their mothers. Antan weeps. "We are too late, we cannot make it in time, we have failed in our quest. The Kwakm have beaten us, all is for nothing."

Then a voice comes into his head. "Everyone will -see- something different. You must overcome."

Then Antan realizes the messenger said that the Kawkm were -in- Oroya not destroying it. This thought brings some hope to Antan, and the image starts to grow fainter. "Ah so I see, this passage presnts you with your worst fear. But it is only an image. I must realize this isn't real."

With this thought Antan suddenly feels a strong wind, he looks and sees no one else's hair is whipping in the wind. Looking around, Antan then realizes he is in the bottom of Oroy'a main tower. HE gasps at this sudden revelation, then sits on a bench and waits for the rest of the companions.

_{Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua}

Roleplay from Aleister

in an eyeblink aleisters sword was on the throat of the just appeared figure when he realized the emblem on the breast ... a forest with an wolfseye ... was that possible? ... "Grimm? Grimm Greywolf!"

with laughter he gave his old friend from childrens days a hand to stand up "the first good news since i entered this cursed installation! but we have to hurry ... things are getting worse, we can celebrate our meeting when we reach secure territory" in a hurry and following the marked path they reached the room with the meal and the books where the other just listened to the sage. Aleister just grabbed some of the offered fruit, a turkey and a pouch of mead, stuffing everything into his bag. following the others he said to grimm "old friend, how you appeared out of nothing"

but before Grimm was able to answer, Aleister disappeared. finding himself in a room with some benches and Atan sitting on of it he shakes his head to get rid of the strange feeling in his head ... "what the f..." then he realized the Arch Priest of all Old Rancagua would probably not amused to hear him cursing and he bit his tongue.

"m´lord, where are we, i just meet an old friend and now he and everybody else is gone again ... this makes me sick!" ... suddenly a lesson from his father came back to his mind ... when he teached him in the way of the druids ... astral travel ... that was the explanation!

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Valinor

Valinor sat in a corner of the room eating his favorite meal, steak and a bottle of rum. He stared at the door, wondering what would await him on the other side. As he watched Antan go in, and then Aleister, he knew that he would soon have to go in as well. Valinor stood up, poured the rest of his rum into a silver flask and walked up to the door. He gripped the handle, sweat running down his hands, and pushed the door open...

He walked into the darkness and waited. It was chilly and there was a strong wind blowing. While he was trying to figure this all out, the room began to slowly brighten. Then a sudden flash of lightning and the crack of the thunder blinded and deafened Valinor. When he regained his vision and his hearing, he saw that it was nighttime. He also saw that he was no longer in the room, but standing on the wall of Kazakh as he was before. Only this time he could hear a steady chant. He turned towards Kazan and saw an army of 5000 Kalmarians. Valinor looked towards his left and right and saw that he was alone. He then looked back upon the opposing army. He slowly drew out an arrow, lit it aflame, and with a final shout Valinor shot it straight at Lalakis...

Then another bolt of lightning struck, blinding Valinor once again. When he regained his sight, he found himself standing at the base of a great tower. He did not recognize it. A guard walked by and Valinor asked him...

"Good day to you sir. May I ask as to where I am?"

The guard have Valinor a strange look and said...

"Are you feeling okay? You're at the main tower of Oroya..."

Then the guard saw the bow in Valinor's hand, and then realized who he was...

"Ah, so you are the one they call Valinor, I take it? Lord Antan mentioned that he had some companions that would soon be with him here. He's inside one of the rooms. Just walk in and it's the second door to your right..."

Valinor now remembered all that the sage said. The battle at Kazakh had been his horrible experience. But he wasn't afraid of the Kalmarian army. He then realized that Kazakh in the hands of Kalmar would be his fear. Well, Valinor would never let that happen. He walked into the tower and went into the first door on the right. He looked up in confusion as he didn't see either Antan or Aleister at first. Instead, he saw a sight that he would never forget. It was a storehouse full of barrels. He walked up to one and could tell by the smell that it was his dream come true, a room full of rum! Valinor quickly drank his flask, and refilled it yet again. Then someone behind him said...

"I see that you have found the guards' storage. Come along, Valinor, we are in the next room down."

Valinor turned around to see Antan standing in the doorway. With a wide grin on his face, he followed Antan out and walked into the other room.

_{Valinor (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Morton

Meanwhile, back among the books and tomes, an old man nearly falls to his death when the rug below him unexplainably rises. Men and Women gather around as a figure emerges from the ground below him. Finally a sage, the same one who had led the others on, grabs the giant rug and pulls it off of the figure, revealing a beaten up, dust covered Morton.

"I think I broke your trap-room," he spoke rather absently to the group. See, there were these gears... and... machines... and... well..." Morton raised one arm which held a twisted, bent, and otherwise disfigured piece of metal.

Morton was about to continue with something when the sage stopped him with a simple, "Come this way..." Morton followed without protest, and proceeded to nod while being told the same thing the others have, and when they reached the door, Morton paused for a second and turned back to the sage, "What, I didn't quite get that... can you repeat it?" he said, obviously still a little out of it...

(OOC: sure, move the plot on without me... Grrrr...)

_{Morton (Knight of Salta)}

Roleplay from Grimm

In a tunnel beyond a tent, in the old city of Kazakh, he was standing right next to his long time no see childhoodfriend. But he doesn't even had a chance to answer. The space was filled with nobels, high and mighty, running and hopping carefully from stone to stone. Nobody had time for explainations, not even Aleister. So Grimm hurried to keep up with them, until they met sarge, this strange man.

During the meal, Grimm was watching the scene. As he saw his liege Lady Shina, Baroness of Caqueta sitting next to Sire Johnny, Duke of Kazakh and Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua, he was sure, this will be a day, he will never forget. He went over to Lady Shina, to greet her and to get some answers what was happening here. "My liege Baroness Shina, I'm glad to see you, even when the circumstances aren't the best. When I heard that so many nobles had disapeared, I was worried. So I'm glad to see that you are as charming as ever..."

After the sarge has finished, he walked alongside Aleister down to the 'next room'. He was nearly the last one in the row that stepped through the door, but behind it, he couldn't see one single person...

Suddenly light, a feeling that his boddy was moving, and he stepped into the dinninghall of his families castle. But it has changed. The table and chairs where tossed across the room, the stair had burning marks and the biggest change was a big hole in backwall. As he followed the way his heart led him, he climbed through the hole and walked into the garden behind it. There he saw the nearly twenty new graves. As he walked through them he realized, that his complete family was lying under his feets. This was too much... it can't be. How? Why?

He spun around, behind him a wolf was howling. Grimm stared into the eyes of a huge grey wolf at least as big as a horse. But no threat was going out of the animal. It seemed to him more that this wolf was here to help him, to guide him... into his mind a picture formed. He had the strong feeling, that his family was still alive, this hasn't happend yet, and if he will solve all taskes asigned to him, this will never happen! With this new spirit within him, he stepped forward, out of this illusion into a room, with banches in it. Some nobles where allready sitting there, Antan, Valinor and Aleister, the others are missing.

So Grimm went over to Aleister, who also had arrived: "Greetings my friend! What in the name of light is going on here? On my way to Kazakh I heard a strange rumour, that there is a tent in the town, that 'eats' nobles. So I hurried to see it my self. I only met one men there, who gave me only a puzzle instead of answers, few secounds later, I'm landing in a stonecorridor with the highest ranks in OR to hear stories about a Staff that has the power to safe, or destroy us all."

_{Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Aleister

Alesiter explained in few words what had happened before Grimm crashed in the corridor. Then he added:

"but the worst was what happened between the door and my arriving her. I entered the door, suddenly standing at a river. a ferryman with a black cloak asked for a silvercoin and i gave it to him. crossing the river i saw my father, he has died 2 years ago, when i left the ferry smiling at my father he started accusing me to have wasted the name of the Stormcrow family, that i am unworthy, that i have destroyed the trust between the Stormcrows and the dukes of Kazakh. it was an endless pain to hear all this ... then i realized that my father would never talk to me like this, especially cause his accusitions where untrue ... then it goes poof and i stood in this room, can you imagine ... astral travel!" then the door opened and Atan followed by Valinor entered the room. "seems like at least we found together again, Valinor. By the way, anybody saw Lady Gertrude?", then he flushed up with shame,"aeh, ... i mean ...", moving around his arms in an helpless gesture," ... she still has my bandana" he added, obviously glad to find an explanation for his obvious interest on the noble, young lady.

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Grimm

After hearing the story from Aleister, he got the first chance to introduce him personally to Antan and Valinor, and when he heard Aleister's words about Gertrude, he smiled at him like he did in the old days. He know how Aleister was feeling and was glad for him... and interrested in seening Gertrude.

While they was waiting for the others Grimm tried to work out what will come next. He tried to prepare himself for the task to come. His family counts on him.

_{Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Artimus

Artimus notice that some of his companions were gone - but how? The last thing he could remember is their hand on the doorknob.

Artimus walks up the door and swings it open - and behind the door was a solid wall.

"What the…." Artimus turns around and finds himself alone in the long corridor, his companions nowhere to be seen - well not exactly alone - he soon notice that the Sage was still there - grinning at him.

"I will have no more of your trickery sage, old man or whatever you are!" Artimus barks at the Sage - sword drawn and ready to strike. "What have you done with the others?"

"Me? I have done nothing." The Sage answered calmly.

"Now boy, what do you plan to do to me?" The Sage asked; his eyes fixed on Artimus's sword. "Are you going to strike me down? To slay and unarmed elderly man in cold blood?" The Sage walked towards Artimus with a sly look on his face.

"Come no closer Sage, just tell me where are my companions and no one will get hurt!" Artimus tighten his grip on his sword raising it to a striking position.

"How many? How many sons have you slain in the name of duty?" The Sage took another step towards Artimus.

-Artimus- "Another step old man, another step and I swear I will cut you down!"

-Sage- "With what? With that sausage?"

Artimus glance at his "sword" instinctively but there was no sword, he was indeed "wielding" a juicy sausage and before he could say another word, he felt something piercing through his chest, something cold. Artimus drops to his knees and found a shard of ice piercing through his chest - the demonic laughter of the Sage echoes the hallway.

-Sage- "Yes youngling, it is magic. Magic is real. Magic is powerful. You are going to die now. You are going to die by something you believe not to exist. Consider yourself lucky for you are one of the few privileged enough to witness such power before you die."

Artimus struggles up, his bloody eyes glaring at the Sage who is now levitating 2 feet above ground level and laughing. He feels his life force bleeding away.

-Artimus- "Hey abomination! Thank you for showing me such a neat trick. Here let me repay you by showing you one of my own…"

Artimus summons every last ounce of strength he could find within his broken body and throws himself at the Sage, bear hugging the Sage as he forces the shard of ice poking out of his body through the Sage. A satisfying smile crosses his face and everything went dark……..

. . . "Am I dead? Is this how it feels to be dead?" Artimus thought. . . .

"GET OFF OF ME!" Someone shouted!

Artimus opened his eyes just in time to finds himself hugging an enraged Arch Priest of Old Rancagua who is now swinging his elbow at him.

Everything went dark again... ... ...

_{Artimus (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Gertrude

Gertrude heard Aliester say'Anybody seen Gertrude?' "Don't worry Aliester, I was just helping Shina get up here." "Can anybody tell me where we are exactly. I kind of got confused back there."

_{Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Morton

Morton stepped through the door, vaguely understanding that the door would send him someplace else where he was needed.

Suddenly Morton fell to the ground as what was below him fell further. Rain and wind pelt upon him as a storm raged in the midnight sky above. A crashing wave broke ontop the ship, forcing Morton to realize where he was. Instantly he knew, but in the daze from fighting off the machine earlier he could still do little and comprehend less. The ship was tossed by another way, angling steeply to port. Mens shouts could be heard as the crew tried to keep her afloat. Morton lost his ground and rolled across the deck helplessly, and barely caught a railing at the end, the only thing saving him from ending up in the ocean.

"Morton!" shouted a worried voice through the raging storm. A man could be heard rushing over, and he grabbed Morton's arm and pulled him back to the relative safety of the deck. "I told you to stay inside!" he shouted in Morton's face.

Morton stopped moving for a full second. No, this couldn't be... what the hell was going on?

Another wave, a powerful one, hit the ship. "Man overboard!" someone shouted. Morton looked over the edge and saw the man who had just saved him being tossed by the waves of the ocean. He was stunned, terrified to an absolute extreme.

But then something happened. A powerful forced welled up inside of Morton. He jumped overboard to the man, to help him in any way he could. But then it was over, everything was gone.

"It didn't happen that way," A voice in his own head spoke to him. "You didn't jump to save him, you did nothing. You watched him die- and you were the only reason he was over there to be thrown into the ocean to begin with."

Morton then appeared with a flash in the tower in Oroya, seeing Antan and some of the others, but it was not a happy arrival. He quietly made his way to a bench, and buried his face in his hands.

_{Morton (Knight of Salta)}

Roleplay from Aleister

realizing that even Gertrude herself heard, and for sure recognized his words he blushed even more, what looked somewhat surrealistic on his pale skin ... to get rid of the feeling he truned to Morton: "Master Morton, her drink some" ...with this words he took out the pouch of mead and offered it to the upset noble.

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Rats

Blood continues to seep from the wound. Rats takes off his shirt and bandages it, while listening to the sage. Then, embracing the wall, he slowly stands as others start marching through the door. The world spins and his stomach churns, but he stays standing. He takes a gulp of his water, before moving through the door.

The room is dark. Dekion, Shina, Johnny, and Antan are talking off in a corner, and Rats is tied to a table. He feels as if all the blood had been drained from him. Trying to move his hands, he realizes his fingers are broken. Where was he? He couldn't think straight, but he sees his torturer looking down on him, starting to cut on him again. Rats' eyes grow wide as he recognizes the face.

Prometheus.

Prometheus stabs into his stomach, and Rats screams in pain. Prometheus twists the blade and whispers to Rats, "Betrayed again." Rats spits in Prometheus' face, and the scene disappears to darkness.

A shaking body collapses in front of the tower. He stands, still shaking, gaining his strength, and his wound just a pain in the back of his mind. He follows the guard into the tower.

_{Rats (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Johnny

Watching Antan and Morton seemingly disappear, Johnny takes a step back and assess the situation. He knows in his heart that they are alive, and it is either just a trick of magic or an optical illusion.

Mustering up a bit of courage, Johnny steps forward onto a stone slab, a perfect circle. He kneels down, and touches the ground, sensing the presence of Antan and Morton nearby, yet very far away. The slab is warm to the touch, and seems to emitting some intense energy. Johnny is busy looking down at the ground, and doesn't notice things changing all around him..

He looks up and almost jumps out of his skin. He is now in a deep wood, and it is dark all around. The crickets are chirping loudly, and he is standing once more. The leaves are all off the trees, and it seems winter is approaching. Hearing a crunch on the ground behind him, Johnny spins around, drawing his sword quickly, and puts it at the persons throat.

At that, Johnny drops his sword to the ground, and throws his arms around his sister, Flo. They hug for a minute, and then he comes to his senses and starts to wonder where the hell he is. "Flo.. it's great to see you, I haven't in almost 6 years now, but if I could bother to ask you a simple question.. WHERE THE HELL AM I?"

"Well, brother, this is the South East Island. You're in a region called Figobar, in the realm of Sandalak."

"What!? Not 25 seconds ago I was on my knees in an underground room in the city of Kazakh, on the East Continent!"

Flo looks at him with a funny grin, and says to him.."Have you seen mom and dad over in Pucullpa? I haven't been there in so long.."

"Quiet, little sister! Don't you understand, I don't know how I got here! I'm thousands of miles away from where I was just one minute ago!"

A little concerned for her brother, Flo looked down at the ground.. Johnny spun around on his heel, and began to walk away, trying to find a way back to where he came from.. From behind him, he heard a hiss and snap, and then the most horrilbe scream he had ever heard in his life.

Johnny turns around to a sight that would make the blood of ever the most daring man boil. Firstly, she was on fire. She wasn't on the ground though, she was just standing there, burning, but her face was showing through the fire.. Johnny, horrified, approached her, not able to do much but just stare.

In a spitting hiss of a voice, Flo began to speak, enchanted by some force or spirit. "Johnny..sssomething terrible iss afoot. You sseek the staff, the one that ssealed the wallss of Oroya.. There are horrible things to come, and they have infiltrated the highest levels of OR."

"Who are they?" he asked loudly.

"They are the Kwarkm...they ssseek it tooo, and they are closer than you are, good friend of old. Sstick by your friendss and your soldierss, trust only those you are sure you can trussst, or you will ssurely die on thiss quest."

With that, there was a burst of blinding light, much like the ones in the temple under Kazakh.. He looked away, and then back at Flo, and this his surprise she was not on fire any more, and not even burned, but laying unconscious in the dirt and leaves. He bent down and shook her, looking into her eyes, not knowing if she was dead or alive. He began to weep, and it turned into a heavy sob. He could not lose his sister, he just could not. during their childhood she was always his best friend, and they did everything together.. he was weeping heavily now, and he heard someone approaching. He turned to look, and he almost screamed. A man.. maybe a man, or a mix of man and beast, walked from the woods towards them. Johnny, doing the only thing he knew how, drew his sword, and swung it at him. The creature, some 8 feet tall, reached out, and grabbed the sword in mid air by the blade with his bare hands! He threw it to the ground next to Johnny, and Johnny fell down to his knees. He watched as the creature bent to the ground, picked up Flo like she was weightless, and stood up to his full height. He leaned his ear down to her breast very carefully and then smiled. He spoke:

"Brother of pretty lady Flo, you not be scared, me Little Ogre. I take care of woman, she mean much to me. I will make her better again with special soup. Ikkie parts, heal wound good and fast. You go now, I take her home."

Johnny, having no idea what the guy just said to him, just stared. The creature, calling himself little ogre, walked away into the darkness, leaving Johnny kneeling there. Johnny picked his sword up, sheathed it, and then just stared at the ground blankly..He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but he heard a very familiar voice behind him. Johnny stood up, and to his amazement, was looking Antan straight in the eyes. "Hello Johhny" said Antan.. "Welcome to Oroya.."

"You won't believe what just happened to me, Antan.."

"Believe me,

(OOC: That RP was a little treat for anyone that has characters in Sandalak on SEI. :) I Couldn't figure out how to end it, and I figured we'd throw little ogre into the mix and see how it went.. worked for me!)

_{Johnny, High Marshal of Old Rancagua, Duke of Kazakh, Marshal of the army of Kazakh}

Roleplay from Shina

Shina thought she was prepared as she reached for the doorknob. She imagined a battlefield, covered with dead and moaning wounded. An image that could raise right from hell. She took a deep breath, opened the door and entered.

... nothing happend ...

She turned around a few times to watch out for anything strange or for another door where she could pass. The only thing she found was an empty shelf and a few torches on the walls. And there was a big rug in the middle of the room. "Hmmmm ...", she mumbled silently and reached down to lift one corner of the rug, when she heard a noise. It was nearly not noticeable, but it was definitively there. It sounded like a continuous rumbling - and it grew louder. It seemed that the origin was far away, nevertheless it was frightening.

Suddenly it began to shake. Everything was hit by a strong tremor. It was so intense, that the shelf fell over and Shina could escape with a leap to the side, not a second too early. Then it stopped again. The noise was still there, but the tremble was gone. Something was different ... Again, Shina looked around to spot the difference, but only the position of the shelf had changed. Then she realized it: it was the light. The torches were still lit, but it was dimmer now. Casually, Shina peeled off a fuzz that landed on her shoulder, and another one on her knee. A third one conquered her boot and a fourth .... "Wait", she thought. The Baroness looked up again and froze. It was raining ASH! Her thoughts were rushing, as she remembered too well what happened not to long ago. Without hesitation she turned around and ran to the door she came from. Without stopping she pushed it open ...

... and stood at a street in Kazakh.

Confusion. She had to concentrate! What was the last she remembered? "I was in Poitiers when a letter from Antan arrived. It said that he needs our help and that we should meet him in a tent in Kazakh. Too bad I didn't found that mysterious tent. In the meantime the army has left towards Stora and I want..." Shina was not able to finish her thought. Another, a stronger quake interrupted her. She lost balance and fell down on her hands and knees. "What the hell ...?", she sank about a half foot into a coat of ash.

Shina closed her eyes and waited for the tremble to stop. Even if she tried hard to fight her retrospections, her fear was equal like then. Luckily the quake had stopped, and the woman opened her eyes again. She immediately regretted it.

It was dark. The sky was black. A dense rain of ash was falling down from the unnatural clouds. She was alone. All life was gone. Normally the streets of Kazakh are full of people, of horses, pigs, chickens, rats and birds, all together producing the sound of a city. But noting. Not a single creature was trackable. Shina stood up, shaken by her fear and feeling endlessly lonely. Don't knowing what she could do, she started to walk, faster and faster until she was running. And she was sure now ...

The gray figure was racing towards Kazan through the ash rain. It was difficult to breath and the cover on the ground didn't make the situation easier. Even if this lonely woman needed all concentration to set one foot in front of the other, she had time to think about her situation. Obviously the volcano was erupting again and she needs to warn the army. Shina dared not to think what would happen when the army travels directly into their doom. "Who would be left to rule this realm? Or WHO is left to be ruled?".

Seemingly after hours she reached the last hill in Kazan where the sight to the sea will be free. Shina slowed down her pace, not only because she couldn't get breath any more. Her legs burnt like fire and she was plagued from stitches in the side since half an hour. But only a few steps part her from the knowledge of her fate. Slowly she was walking to the top of the hill and she could see the sea. It was very rough and foam, gray from the ash, adorned every wave. Then the port appeared at the foot of the hill. Normally complete fleets, many cutters and a few smaller boats where waiting at the port of Kazan to get loaded or discharged. But the fleets were gone. Only the cutters got pressed against the pier from the intense waves.

Shina sighed. How could she alone rescue the complete army of Old Rancagua? What would now happen to her? She was ready to give up, to just lie down in the ash and wait for her end. Even if she could reach the Kalmar Islands, her fear to enter this land, which was created by the strongest power she ever learned to know, was too overwhelming. At this moment, as if the gods had heard her thoughts, another earthquake hit the ground. Shina jumped up in terror, but she couldn't escape. Trembling she waited until the earth calmed down again.

And then she saw it. Behind the dense curtain of ash she saw the fire. Yes, stories were told and pictures were drawn. But all that had nothing in common with the real thing. It seemed that the whole volcano stood in flames, continuously catapulting burning rocks and heavy ash into the black sky. While Shina watched the enduring eruption, she tried to calm herself down. In front of her was the new land, cursed, harboring the volcano, forming even newer land and somewhere, in middle of the chaos, traveled the army of Old Rancagua, including all the people she loved. And behind her was just endless loneliness.

Slowly she started to move. It wasn't easy to get down this hill with all the slag covering the earth. The little quakes all the time didn't make it easier. But finally, after half an hour Shina, reached the pier. She looked at the forlornly boats waiting for passengers or freight. It was an easy decision. When she was a little girl, her father's friend often took her and her brother with him to the sea and taught them how to sail. It was some time ago, but some things will never get unlearned.

The sails were quickly hoisted and the Baroness left the port of Kazan to navigate towards Kazan. She permanently told herself that in front of her was "only" the volcano and her friends, and nothing she has to fear.

Shina has barely left the mole, as she spotted the ships. "Yeahhh! Here they are!", she yelled, and tried to sail faster than the wind. The size of the fleets, or at least those that could be already seen, was impressive. There were more than thousand ships, each one able to pick up hundreds of soldiers. Shina couldn't remember that they had so many ships, neither such a big army. This discovery irritated her so much, that she didn't notice the missing White Tree of Old Rancagua on the flags. Even worse, those ships had no flags at all.

As Shina recognized the direction in which the ships are sailing, it was too late. She grew stiff once again, and stopped breathing. Her biggest fear turned out to be true right at this moment. From the ships were not waving the nobles of OR towards her. As she saw the hordes of undead on the ships, just staring with an empty gaze towards her, she screamed as loud as she could. Right before she had chance to loose consciousness, a "Great wave" hit her boat. At the last moment she grabbed for the railing, as the sailing boat started to roll around it's own axis a few times. Unfortunately it stopped with the upside down, leaving Shina beneath the boat. Already with water in her lungs and no chance to escape from her wet grave, she finally lost her consciousness while her body sank deeper into the sea.

.....

Shina barely noticed someone jouncing her shoulder and called her name. She was too exhausted to realize the changed situation and rather felt into a deep sleep.

The little group in Oroya was perplexed. It wasn't only impossible to wake the Baroness, she was also completely wet from top to toe and a smell of the sea and sulfur filled the air.

_{Shina, Royal Treasurer of Old Rancagua, Baroness of Caqueta}

Roleplay from Grimm

As Grimm saw his liege Lady Shina in her condition, he took off his cape. Fast he cleaned it from the dust he collected in the trapcorridor, and laied it over the shoulders of the Baroness.

With a glace at the scene, he saw a lot of nobels out of the "dinning" room again, but some of them have changed dramatically. The changes were not big, but he was sure that a lot of old scars where liven up.

Slowly he walked with Lady Shina over to the branches to give her a rest...

_{Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)}

In Oroya

Roleplay from Antan

Seeing that the last noble has just been through the passage and not wanting to be attacked by any more jumping people (you know who you are), Antan stands up. Checking over all those with wounds, he offers a few supportive words of courage and to those still shaken by thier experience. However, it is time to move onwards.

-Antan: "Alright folks, we have to get moving now. I know, it is a pain for everyone, everyone wants some time to rest, it has been a bad ordeal thus far, but we shall carry on. You heard the Sage, the Kwakm are in this very Citadel as we speak. The guards report a large group of people checking over the upper battlements, but this is not a rare occurence. I would still like to check it out however."

"Now we are faced with a choice, though it pains me to do, we should break apart to further our search. You all saw the picture of that smooth, glistening white stone in the Sage's tome. We all know there will be some form of riddle upon it. Now what the riddle contains..."

A messenger hurriedly appears, looking quite nervous. He hands a message to Antan quickly and then bolts away in fear, running out of the Citadel. Antan opend the scroll and reads aloud.

-Antan: "Greetings travlers! Now there are none of you left back here, so I assume you all made it out alright. At least I hope it brought you to the correct place. I have been reported to some damage to our meeting hall and would like a word with whoever broke our testing facility after this is all done."

Antan casts a smirk over to Morton and chuckles. He continues on:

-Antan: "Now I have investigated the apprentice's account in more depth and it appears that he had the words the Grin spoke revelaed to him in a dream. I told you all how Girn felt that word riddles were a good way to judge the character of a person, so I suppose this will break the magic covering the stone. The message was as follows:

"Time was when I was weapon and warrior; Now the young hero hoods me with gold, and twisted silver. At times men kiss me. At times I speak and summon to battle loyal companions. At times a courser, Bears me o'er marchland. At times a ship bears me o'er the billows, brightly adorned. At times a fair maiden fills me with breath; At times hard and headless I lie on the board, Bereft of beauty. At times I hang winsome on wall, richly embellished, Where revelers drink. At times a warrior bears me on a horse, a battle adornment, And I swallow, bright-shining, the breath from his bosom. At times with my strains I summon the heroes, Proudly to wine. At times I win back spoil from the spoiler, with sounding voice, Put foemen to flight. Now ask what I'm called."

_{Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua}

Roleplay from Antan

Antan furrows his brow for a moment, looking over the riddle. He shrugs as he rolls the scroll back up and passes it around to anyone who wants to read it.

-Antan: "Well my companions. We have a variety of areas to search. There are four main places we need to cover. The battlements, the keep, the foundation, and the throne room. We need at least two people to each place, maybe more."

"Now you all know the Kwarkm are here. If it is possible avoid them, we do not need them knowing we are here yet. There will be time for a final reckoning I am sure. If it become necessary for a fight, do it as swiftly as possible. I myself am going the to the battlements. If one wishes to follow me speak up."

"If you find something, send a guard to find the others. We need to investigate every little detail in this Citadel before the Kwarkm can figure it out. Good luck to you all. And beware, this place has many secret passages, it is rumored that not all have been found. It is even said Girn's final resting place is in this castle, so beware."

With that, Antan turns on a heel and starts climbing the winding staircase to the outer battlments.

_{Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua}

Letter from Aleister

taking the note from Atan, Alesiter reads it again quickly and passes it on to gertrude

"would you like to accompany me to the throne room, lady gertrude", he trembles a little bit while handing the paper,"would be my pleasure to have you around."

Did he really just said that!? With a look to Grimm who stood behind Gertrude he realized his old friend smirking from one ear to the other. Blushing he added:

"aeh ... I ...aeh, excuse me my perkiness, m´lady, i am probably not in the position to talk to you like that."

before he could turn away, red like an apple in autum, gertrude said:

"...

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Valinor

Valinor reads over the riddle. Not making any sense out of it, he passes it on and thinks about his next choice, where will he go? He did not feel like going to the foundation, and he had the feeling that the Throne Room was already called for. Valinor took out his flask of rum, took a swig, and placed it back at his side. He turned to the others and said...

"I will go up to the keep. In case anyone else wants to go with me, I'll wait here."

_{Valinor (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Gertrude

Gertrude is thinking about the that Antan recited when Aliester boldly asks if she would like his company."Aliester, I would very muck like your company, thank you for asking." They walk forward looking throughout the throneroom hoping to find something new. After awhile of looking they find nothing.Gertrude slams her fist against the wall in frustration. Suddenly she falls through the floor into a dark chamber."Aliester are you there?Is anybody there?"

Nothing replies except the cold endless darkness.

_{Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Shady

Shady continues to read in his room, when suddenly he hears a loud noise from the next room and quickly puts out the light.

Hmmm...someone is here....

Shady gets up and heads over to the door, and hears someone talking. He then opens the door and sees it is Gertrude

....how did you manage to find this place?

_{Shady (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Aleister

Seeing Gertrude falling thru the floor, Aleisters heart wanted to break ... with a jump that would made a hero envioushe tried to grab her hand, but she was gone.

"you idiot, having an eye on her security, you promised to yourself!" he mumbled to himself

sliding over the floor his face stopped just in front of the hole ... slowly the tile moved back that has given way to the room where Gertrude has to be ... far away he heard Gertrudes voice calling for him, without further consideration he rolled in the hole, falling down a steep, worn out stair ... landing in total darkness on a rough stonefloor. quickly he took out his flintstone litting up the torch he was able to spare from the narrow trapcorridor. when it lit he could see the room he landed in and Gertrude ... thanks to all gods she seemed uninjured.

"wow, seems you found a hidden passage, i am proud of your company, you are full of surprises", he smiled but the smile became a grimace of horror when he further put the room in light

... just one doorframe leading out of it. and in the doorframe a black creature with a huge spiked wooden mace 2 and a half meters high, covered in filthy furs and red glowing eyes made it a monster jumped out of a nightmare.

approachless the creature attacked Gertrude and would probably killed her with one strike from behind. Aleister was barely able to put the torch in its face before this could happen and with a loud shriek the beast turned in his direction, obviously thinking he is the greater problem.

while holding the torch he couldnt do much about it but trying to avoid to get hit. it was his luck that the room was big enough to give some room to act ... throwing the torch in the middle of the room, hoping it will keep burning he rolled back to get some distance between him and the ugly creature to get enough time drawing his sword ...

"try to stabb it from behind",he shouted to Gertrude ...

... with a few lightningquick hits he was able to bind the creature in melee and hit it a few times but this damn thing just got furious about it and slashed back even harder and quicker ... with a hard crush to his shoulder the monster wiped him away like a puppet, smashing him to one off the walls ... to fast steps in his direction and it stood over him striking out widely ... the world seemed to slow down and he realized, that would be the end of his journey ... and his last thoughts where filled with the people his heart belonged to, his sister Caitlin, his brother and mother, Grimm, Gargal, his friend and second in command and ... Gertrude ...

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Gertrude

She saw Aliester fall in terror. No, nobody will die she thought to herself. She drew her blade to battle this vile creature. It's mace crashed against her blade. Blood poured forth from the beast as they fought. Finally it fell. She ran to Aliester. He felt for any signs of life. Finally she found a pulse. "Wake up, wake up damn you!I won't let you die!" She did everything she could think of. Finally he woke up. "You're alive!"Gertrude screamed in joy. Then she heard Shady's voice saying' what are you doing here?'

_{Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Grimm

Grimm had carefully read the last passage. again and again, till he realized, that a few others where waiting for it too. so he passed it on, but the words echoed in his head.

"a puzzle, again. they must be crazy about it"

And as group spitted up, and he realized, that Aleister and Gertrude had left the room together, he decided to go down to the foundation. There was the point where it began, where first stones of tower were laying. So if something was hidden for long, it was a good point to look for it.

"hear you when you find something..." he said while leaving the room, heading downstairs.

_{Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Aleister

Aleister awoke in an ashfield, in any direction till the horizont ... ashes, ashes, ashes ... the whole land breathed out the foul odor of hopelesness, sucking on aleisters will. slowly he turned around finaly making a few steps in a direction.

He felt his left arm hanging down usless like something that issntt part of his body any more but there was no pain, when a cold voice started to wisper in his head:

"why, should you move? ... its hopeless. this ashdesert is everywhere, you cant go anywhere ... you are already there"

"no, that cant be ... Staff of Grin ... ... i have to find, Gertrude ... the Kalmarians attack ... we ...", a groaning with pain ended his mumbling, when he fell over and landed in the thick carpet of ash the land was covered with. while listening again to the cold voice that preached the end of hope his last resources of willpower slipped away leaving him in an endless loop of agony ... after aeons of timelesness somebody turned him around and dropped some water in his mouth ... when opened his eyes in pain he looked at an ancient warrior, with red hair, pale skin and huge tatoos everywhere on his body ... his face covered with blue color.

"Hey, Aleister ... come back ... time to go", another sip of water flushed thru his mouth, "hey, its time to go back ... you dont know where you are, right?"

Aleister noded no

"Forget about your questions for a second, cause we have no time to waste. follow me we will talk while walking", the warrior said, helping up Aleister back on his feet.

"I will explain everthing to you.My name is Aeducnos, what means in your tongue, the one who is born in the fire ... i was sent to rescue you by the Thing ... you ... i have a request ...", Aeducnos stopped walking and turned around to Aleister,"the familysword of yours, the Needle of the Stormcrow",

pointing at the sword in Aleisters backharness... "can i ... can i touch it? ... just touch it?"

Aeducnos noded and his companion touched the sword for a couple of seconds, with a gentle smile he turned back to Aleister: "thank you ... this a great honor ... in your realm this sword is already more than 1500 years old ... but in this realm the sword is legendary and far older than 5000 years ... what you see around you is a future that will take place when you die."

Aleister stopped walking: "what are you talking about", he said with a scratchy voice

"when you die now, leaving behind your responsibilities against, the duke of kazakh, Old Rancagua and Gertrude, the sword will be lost, swallowed by the war that will flush over Old Rancagua ... then you will not pass it to your daughter, cause you will never get married ... and at the end of some minor actions it will not fight in the battle at Mount McClarence what will end in the total destruction of the world. you are just a small string in the fabric of time, but you can change things even when it takes about 3500 years till the total impact can be realized. lets take this wisdom with you when you are back: A single man can make a difference, never forget this"

... with the echo off this last words in his head he faded out again.

Aleister woke up by Gertrude trying her best to reanimate him. When he opened his eyes his heart cheered in happiness to see Gertrudes face ,the pain in his shoulder crushed in his brain but he was able to control it at the moment ... then a unknowen voice said:"What are you doing here? ... how did you manage to find this place?"

he reached to his sword, the legend as he realized in the second ... finding it half a meter away, laying on the floor ... when he tried to grab it he fell over, moaning in pain when he crashed on his left shoulder again.

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Rats

Rats decided to take a break. While everyone split off into separate parties, he needed a bit of rest, as much as it pained him to admit. It would be a few days before he could see his healer, but he would manage. Battle wounds are nothing new to any noble of Old Rancagua.

"I think I'll head to the battlements, with Antan," he said to those remaining. In truth, he wanted some fresh air, and to be away from the others. Exhausted and weak, he left.

_{Rats (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Grimm

When Grimm wanted to close the door behind him, someone hold it open. But he didn't take notice. Still worried about this mystic riddle, they have to solve, he searched for a way down to the base of the Tower of Oroya.

The corridor he was standing in, was huge. He couldn't think of a better word to describe it. Of course someone could have mentiont the fine carpets, hanging on the walls, showing the emblems of the oldest families in whole OR, or the portraits that seem so realistic, that someone would never feel alone while waking through this hallway. But first of all, it was huge..

..Now the young hero hoods me with gold, and twisted silver. he was mumbling while he searched for a passage downstairs. What would a young hero cover with gold and silver?

When he found the stairs he took a glance back, and saw many of the nobles leaving the room, heading for different directions. No sign of the intruders this far, but to take no risk he got his sword ready. Silverfang, the sword of his father, that had been within the family as long as he knew. It wasn't straight like most of the swords you see now a days, it had a little curve and the shaft was red. If you every looked into the mouth of a wolf that was ready to attack, you will get the same feeling from this sword. Like a perfect sharp tooth it rested in the hand of Grimm. When drawn you could only hear a soft smack as you hear it when a wolf has choosen his prey and was going for it. Armed and ready, he continued his way. Back in his head, he still heard the passages of the riddle. When he came to a crossing he waited for the other(s) to catch up with him...

_{Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Johnny

Johnny, familiar with the city of Oroya, walked away from the others to search for a man he only knew as Grey. He was a magic man, not known by many, but he had been introduced to him when he was a child growing up in Pucullpa. The man administered a glowing herb concoction to a fatal wound his father received in a fight with a rogue monster, and the next day, his father was in perfect health and only a small scar remained.

Johnny climbed to the highest levels of the city, to where he stood and looked around for a door. He looked for almost an hour, when he finally saw it. Between two large stone columns, with barely enough room to squeeze through, was a door. Johnny went to the door, and entered it. Inside, it was grim and dark, smelling of herbs and weeds. He called out to no one in particular "hello?"

No answer.

He took a few steps forward and stopped, hearing a creak in the floor behind him. He felt the sword point being held against his back, and he slowly turned around, hands in the air. When Grey and him made eye contact, the sword fell to the floor, and Grey threw his arms around him in embrace. "My lord Johnny, how are you!? It has been far too long, young friend!" "Too long, old man, it has been too long."

"Well what can I do for you young man?"

"Here is the reason I came. There are strange things afoot right now old man Grey. Have you ever heard of the Kwarkm?"

"Why yes I have, dear boy.. I count 23 of them in this city alone right now. They are not easy to spot, but with a trained eye, you can pick them out..Why do you ask?"

"..Well, they seek something. Something you have probably never heard of. It is called the staff of Girn.

The old man coughed hard at that, and shielded his face for a minute, and then looked up and said "No.. no I've never heard of it.. trailing off into silence..

"Right then.. well, my main question to you is about a stone.. the last stone placed to build the Citadel of Oroya.. with strange markings on it.. Could you help me on my quest?" said Johnny.

"Ah.. I know if this stone.. I cannot tell you where it is, but I can aid you in finding it my friend.. I'll be right back. Sit, you'll need your strength."

Johnny sat, and the old man busied himself in a cupboard for about 5 minutes, and then came back holding a single red leaf in his hands. He handed it to Johnny. "Eat this. It will guide you on your way. That is all I can offer you, young friend.."

Looking down at the leaf, Johnny noticed it was covered in some strange shiny film, and it almost seemed to shimmer. Out of options, he put the leaf in his mouth, chewed a few times and swallowed…

His whole world began to swirl and rotate. Colors melted into eachother. He looked at the old man and he began to sway back and forth, like he was made out of some sort of clay. His features seemed to be melted off of his body… He rose, and began to stumble around the small house. He felt a shove at his back, and was thrust out the door, onto the damp stone.. Johnny rose, shouted something completely incoherent, and then started to stumble away.

Everything was vibrating now. It felt to him as if an earthquake was trembling the city of Oroya.. He stumbled towards the edge of the parapet, and looked out on the city.. He saw blue flame engulfing everything. The sky was pink, and seemed to dripping and melting into the city, combining to form one picture. Johnny lost his balance watching this, and fell forward off the stone wall, and fell.

He fell for what seemed like an eternity. With a loud splash, he landed in a mote, some 100 feet below. This sobered him up, just a bit, and when he finally broke the surface, he managed to grab onto a rock shelf and pull himself out of the water. He crawled on his hands and knees into a small back archway in the out walls of the city, and immediately started sliding down this long slippery slope. He slid for only half a minute, and was tossed onto a wooden floor, with a rope running up the middle of it to a location out of sight above.

The wooden floor then shuddered for a minute, and then began to rise, being pulled by the rope. It rose slowly at first, and then began to rise faster a faster, until it finally banged to a stop and Johnny was throw in the air, landing on his back on a new stone floor, this one dry.

The cavern he was now in was dimly lit by candles, and flames just seemed to be laughing at him, and playing tricks on his eyes. A few times he drew his sword because he thought something was stalking him, but eventually he wrote it off as the drugs and put his sword away, clipping it into his sheathe. He walked around the room a few times, realizing it was a complete circle, with seemingly now way out.

In a final act of desperation to escape, he began kicking the stone walls, kicking every stone he could find. When his toes were bleeding inside of his boots, he was about to stop, when he kicked one last stone, and then collapsed on the ground. When he landed, he fell in some sort of broken clay shards.. He then looked up at the wall, and saw that he had chipped away a piece of clay when he was kicking. He reached out and grabbed at the corner of one of the pieces, and started pulling away.. When he was done, he marveled in amazement at a white piece of stone, a perfect square, embedded into the wall. It was covered in strange markings that he could not make out, possibly due to the drugs (which were starting to wear off) or because he just couldn't read the language.

When he finished looking over the words, and tracing them with his fingers, he felt a strong wave of nausea come over him. Rolling over he wretched on the ground next to him. Sitting up, feeling horrible, Johnny remembered Antan telling them about the stone, and the riddle.. He thought over the riddle again, and could not figure it out for the life of him..

Starting to feel dizzy again, Johnny grabbed onto the floor and held on. A noise grew and grew in his head, louder and louder, like some kind of siren or horn blowing in the distance. It grew so loud that he almost went mad.. He didn't think he could take much more of this, when all of a sudden it hit him.. A horn! It is a horn!

He saw the riddle again in his head, and he had the answer. He screamed out for the others "I know it, I know it... ...". and then he began to lose consciousness, not really knowing if anyone had heard him.

He knew there was an easier way into this chamber, most likely from above, and probably using the elevator.. but that was of no concern to him right now. His eyesight began to fail him, and slipped into unconsciousness. His last thought was "I hope they get here soon.. for I know the answer to the riddle.." and he was asleep.

_{Johnny, High Marshal of Old Rancagua, Duke of Kazakh, Marshal of the army of Kazakh}

Roleplay from Aleister

Aleister, reached out further to the sword, moaning in pain. Finaly he could reach it with his fingertips and manouver it in his direction. Seconds later he lent against the wall, the sword in his lap. taking out the pouch of mead and drinking a huge gulp he answered, feeling hes lifespirits coming back:

"Master Aleister is the name, Aleister Stromcrow ... and you might be?"

Well aware of the fact that his shoulder makes him useless in battle at the moment he tries to be friendly even when the situation would suggest otherwise ...

"some mead?"

and speaking to gertrude:

"you of course to, if you want ...", mumbling," ... guess you saved my life ... i owe you one ..."

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Shady

Shady walks over the monster, who is badly wounded and starts trying to save it's life. While working, Shady looks up at the two people, still not sure who they are, and what they are doing here as it remains dark.

I suggest you either both explain very quickly what your doing here...or leave now. I have very important work to attend to here, and now have to try and save this monsters life that you so brutally hurt.

Shady goes back to trying to save the monster's life, while continuing to watch the two people, waiting for either and answer of them to leave.

_{Shady (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Morton

Morton had continued to sit quietly as the new details had come in and many had left to search for the stone. His thoughts were dark, dreary, and persistent. He had wanted to forget about that time, that night, and there was awhile in which he had. But it was all back now. The events of that night played themselves back in his head over and over. Finally he realized the current happening, and shaking his head, stood up from the bench in the bottom of the guard tower. "I can't do this, I just can't deal with this right now," Morton spoke, not even looking to see if anyone was still there. He left the guard tower, walking oblivious to the world. He walked out, through the city of Oroya, oblivious to most everything until he suddenly bumped into someone on the outskirts. "Excuse me..." Morton said in a melancholy voice before looking up and seeing...

_{Morton (Knight of Salta)}

Roleplay from Aleister

... loosing his temper and using his precious sword as a walking stick Aleister stands up ...

"brutaly hurt? ... this ... this ... thing first wanted to kill Gertrude, than it tried to kill me, what it nearly was able to manage as i might add, it ruined my shoulder and now come her complaining about you are loosing time by this? ... isnt it obvious to you that there is something going totally wrong in this picture",

gulping down another flush of mead he continues,

"... we are her on behalf of Atan, the archpriest if you wonna know more you better answer a few questions yourself... and you better tell me at least your name, or shall i adress you as father beast in the future? ... first of all do you know of some Kwarkm lurking around in the area .... cause if the answer is yes you probably need a few more monsters right now!" ...

putting the pouch on his lips again he awaits an answer ...

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Antan

Antan walks around the battlements at a brisk pace. He looks around for oddly colored rocks and stones. Shrugging, he turns back to the main tower. He thinks, "Well that was a waste. Maybe the others have been more successful. We can only hope so."

Antan descends down to the main tower, sighing as no one seems to be there. He looks around and hears some strange groaning noises. Taking his great axe from his backstrap, he begins to follow the noise. He puts his ear to the wall and braces his hand against a stone for support. Suddenly, he falls forward, dumped into a small tunnel.

Dusting himself off, he looks around. There is a singel ladder going a long ways upwards, towards the noise. Antan sheates his axe once more and begins to climb up, up, up. Finally reaching the top, Antan takes out his long hunting knife, gripping it in his teeth. He pushes upwards, forcing the above trapdoor open.

Underneath the rug that was covering the door, Antan snakes out of the trapdoor. He hopes that someone was ignorant enough not to niotice he arrival. The noise begins again, Antan scratches his beard for a moemnt. "Aleister? And Shady? What in the world is Shady doing here?" Antan begins to stand up quickly to investigate...too late to realize the rug was under a tremendously heavy oaken table. Antan looks around for a moment before he fades off to a quiet sleep...

_{Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua}

Roleplay from Shady

While working, and watching the two, he finally hears on speak.

Antan you say? He sent you looking for something about the Kwarkm? No they are not here...are you saying they are loose?...

Antan walks in

Many people are coming here today. This is either a sign of people being very nosy, or things are not right outside these walls. Is all you seek is information about the Kwarkm? Also, if you don't mind, I could use some help healing my monster here.

_{Shady (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Grimm

Standing there in the basements of the tower, he heard stepps coming from a corridor and closing in. But it seemed to him, that this wasn't the direction, the nobles should came from. To make sure not to run into troubles too early this day, he stepped behind one of the huge carpets, and waited for the steps to pass by. While he waited, he made sure to have a view over the crossing, without being seen to easy. Few secounds later, a person covered in a black robe strode past him, heading down. He couldn't see the persons face, because it was hidden under the hood of the robe, and he hadn't seen any emblems or other sign of membership, because the person didn't wear any signs...

Grimm waited till the steps moved around the next corner, then he followed. Always sneaking and taking care not to move, when the person stops, they both went down to the foundation of the tower.

Shortly before Grimm reached the end of the stairs, a conversation between two men started. It was a foreign language and Grimm couldn't understand what they talked about. But it seemed to him, that they got upset over something. He risked a glaze at the scene, and now he saw two robes, standing at a wall in the room, where the first stone of the castle was lying in the middle. On it the pillar rested, that bears most of the weight of the tower. On the wall behind the two men he saw two big statues. They symbolised the founders, and in the middle of them on a flat marmor tablet, was something written.

Grimm couldn't wait until they will discover him, or they decided to leave the room. So he sneaked into to room, trying to use the big pillar as cover. Suddenly both men went silent, and Grimm wasn't sure, have they heard him or were they just thinking over something. So the silence was broken by smacking noise and he rushed around the pillar. He got the first one in the back, so he was easy prey. But the other one saw him cutting his comrade down and draw a bloody dagger. Grimm tried to doge, but he couldn't get his leg away from the dagger, and so he received a long cut. The pain that was rising from his leg to his brain was transformed into anger and with this boost he jumped into the dagger swinging robe. ..by the powers of Light.. The strike was good and when he came to a halt, he pinned the robe to the nearest wall. But that was all he got, the robe. The person within was gone. When he turned around, so was the other one. Two empty robes, two bloody daggers and a piece of paper were all that remained. He looked at the wall, where he has pinned the second one and the blood told him, that he has at least caused him a serious wound.

Grimm tried to calm down. After cleaning Silverfang he put it back into the sheath and then he looked after his wounded leg. Then he noticed the paper the intruders lost. He gave it a try, but all he could tell was that the writer had a nice handwriting. So he put it into his pocket and studied the wall with the mamor and the statues.

While reading the passage written on it, Grimm had to remember the stories he had heard about the foundation. He wasn't sure, but something in the text seemed wrong to him. He read the text again and a third time. Then he was sure. One of the battles described didn't take place in summer, it couldn't be, because it was won because of the frozen lake used as trap. when he touched the letters of summer on the big marmor plate, a cracking went through the room. Then one of the statues pointed with a finger to the other wall, where a small passage, big enough to let a child pass without problems, opened. Grimm smiled. Even when the two intruders had discovered the narrow gap, they were to big to get through. For him it was at least possible. When he looked into it, there was a corridor behind. The way behind was bigger then the gap and so he crawled through and stood on the other side. There Grimm saw an other marmor plate. When he pushed it, the door closed. Now the remaining intruders will have their problems.

After following the corridor for a few minutes he reached a small room with a rope that was tangling in the air. One end of the rope disappeared between the stones of the floor. The room was high, so damn high that Grimm couldn't see the ceiling, and there for he couldn't see the other end of the rope. After short consideration he decided to climb up.

Even with his hurt leg, it went quite good until he was about 20 feet in the air. Suddenly the rope started to move. First slowly, than it accelerated. Up and up it goes. He passed by an other entrance, where water was flowing and light was falling in. Shortly after the rope has reached his maximum speed, then all out of a sudden the rope stopped. Grimm, who slicked to the rope with all his power, was shortly levitating, then gravity remembered him and he was sucked down. Now the rope has changed its mind and was moving downward.

guess it wouldn't look nice if i hit the ground at this speed.. Grimm thought by himself and then remembered the other entrance he had passed. He prepared himself to jump. Only one change and he will take it. He saw the light, coming closer,.. not now.. not now.. NOW.. He jumped and landed in the water of this entrance. When he looked up, he saw..

_{Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)}

Roleplay from Aleister

Somehow paralyzed Aleister looked at shady, not relly believing that somebody could be acting like this in such a situation. while he looks from Atan to Shady, to Gertrude and back he looses one of the leatherbelts from his armor and starts to firmly book his left arm to his breast.

"this will work out for a while, guess i need a healer soon", and in the direction of Atan, ignoring Shady for the moment,

"hope you had more luck, arch priest ... heard anything from Duke Jonny or Valinor?"

_{Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)}

Roleplay from Shina

Slowly, Shina woke up. It was a long and deep sleep, so it took a while until she realized her surrounding. She was in a room she had never seen before. There where benches along the walls, and on one of them she was lying. But noone else was there. "Where am I?", she asked herself. Then she remembered: the volcano, the undead, the water ... "Am I dead?" A tremble rushed through her body. Shina looked down at her and saw a cape wrapped around her. Beneath that she wore her own cloathes, still wet. "What is happening here?", insecurity preoccupied her. The last she remembered was her drowning in the sea.

Confused she stood up. "Atchoo! .... Atchooo!". Shina had to smile a bit. Dead men don't sneeze. She decided to find the hero who rescued her and brought her to Kazakh. The Baroness left the room and immediately balked. "Oroya ??? I am in Oroya?". Without doubt, she stood right below the main tower of the citadel. Happily she noticed that the city was full of life. Shina sighed. "Atchoo!" - "Slainte!", yelled a smiling peasant. It was not common to see the Banker wet and sneezing in the middle of Oroya. Shina turned slightly red, dragged on the hood of the cape and pulled it down into her face. She had to fine someone who knows whats going on or who knows who's cape this is. So she walked down the street, watching out for someone she knew.

_{Shina, Royal Treasurer of Old Rancagua, Baroness of Caqueta}

The End (not written yet)

Roleplay from Antan

Antan comes to in Shady's room. He looks around for a moment, taking in his surroundings. He stands up stiffly before putting his hand on his temple. He groans in pain as he staggers backwards. When he opens his eyes he has a wild look in them. "We must hurry. Johnny is in trouble. The Staff is almost lost."

Antan tears off outside, yelling for all the knights of Old Rancagua still nearby. "Hurry! Hurry! We need to gather! We need to speak the answer to the riddle to the stone!" After all the knights have been rounded up, Antan hears a faint noise. It is the sound of someone calling from inside the tower. Antan rushes off at a frantic pace, following every corridor he has learned in his time in Old Rancagua.

When they burst into the room where Johnny is, there is a massive congregation there already. Antan staggers back as he shuts his eyes. A cold, gravelly voice sweeps across his mind in an unspoken word: "You are not to come here. You have failed. The Staff is ours, fear our power!!!"

A hulking man in a black cloak lowers his hand as Antan opens his eyes once more. He grits his teeth in determination yelling to his companions, "To arms! To arms! Drive of the infidels! Purge them from our lands!" Antan bellows out a challenge as he leaps into the center of the large congregation of cloaked figures who have begun to unsheate all varieties of horrid instruments of destruction. Swinging his axe about violently, Antan begins to make his way to where Johnny is located. Valiently defending the long sought after stone of lore.

_{Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua}

Roleplay from Rats

The healer said it was infection from the wound. Rats, sweating and burning with a fever, lay in a bed. His side had been burning earlier, but they put some herbal concoction on it to soothe the pain. They couldn't do anything about the infection, it would heal on its own, or he would die.

It wasn't just an infection. Something else had forced it to progress too quickly. The healer assumed that there was poison on the blade, which had significantly weakened Rats' immune system and had fed the infection.

He woke with a start, the last fragments of a bad dream played in his mind. Someone was standing over him, looking at him.

"Sir, I'd appreciate it if you didn't die," Mira said sitting in a chair near him. "The men don't take too kindly to taking orders from me."

"I guess they'll have to get used to it," Rats said, rolling his head to peer at her. "The staff? Did they find it yet?"

"Staff, sir? You won't be needing a cane, will you? I'd hate to see try to fight the Avamarians with a cane."

"Ha." Rats smiled weakly. "You would enjoy that too much."

"Who are you talking to, sir?" The healer inquired as she walked in with a bowl of soup. Rats looked at her, then looked over at where Mira was sitting. No one was there.

"No one," Rats said with a sigh. "I just need some more sleep." And with that, he drifted off...

_{Rats (Knight of Kazakh)}

... to be (hopefully) continued ...

Difference between revisions of "Old Rancaguan RPT Library/The Staff of Girn"

Latest revision as of 23:58, 13 September 2006

Contents

Participants

Introduction

The Gathering

The Blood Ring

Where is a trap?

Journey of Anxieties

In Oroya

The End (not written yet)

Navigation menu

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 __TOC__
 == Participants ==
 in alphabetical order:
@@ Line 7: / Line 8: @@
 * Artimus
 * Gertrude
+* Grimm
 * Johnny
 * Morton
 * Palandro
 * Rats
+* Shady
 * Shina
 * Valinor
+Gamemaster: Antan
 ''If you want to link to your family page, please do it here.''
@@ Line 262: / Line 269: @@
 ----
 <sub>Valinor (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+== The Blood Ring ==
+''' Roleplay from Antan '''
+Antan smiles as he sees a good sized grouo of nobles coming down the ladder. He bows to each one of them in turn. Once the procession is over, he yells to the man upstairs to close the trapdoor.
+-Antan: "Well it is good to see you all here. You obviously passed the guardian's riddle. It was good that you didn't turn away like most people do when they come here. I don't think this fruit stand has made a single penny in its entire existence. But it keeps the less wanted types away. I will have to admit that.
+Now I am sure many of you are wondering what exactly is going on here. I cannot explain all of this, but I will try my best to tell you what I know. You have entered the ancient meeting place of the Blood Ring. These men and a few women strive to protect Old Rancagua from all the evil magic and sorcery in the realm. They are an extremely secretive group. If anyone goes about revealing who they are or any secrets about the Ring, they quickly and quietly dissappear.
+Now you may all be thinking, magic? Yes I will confess there are many magical items hidden here in Old Rancagua. The Blood Ring has taken it upon itself to not allow the common people to find out however. IF they did, any peasant that has half a brain could wield enormous power. That is why our straights are so dire right now.
+The item in question is the Staff of Girn. Now Girn was the most powerful wizard of the past age. However, he has been dead or out of existence for nearly a decade now. It is rumored that he gained all of his power from an ancient tome he carried with him at all times and a enchanted stave. Our aim is to find this stave and turn it over to the Blood Ring.
+The question probably is now...why is this staff so important? Well I believe that the disappearance of High Guard and the rumored rise of the Kwarkm are of no coincidence. They must be related in some way. We all know that High Guard has spent a long time in this realm and has heard many tales in his time as a trader.
+Not only to solve the mystery of High Guards disappearance, but we must find the Staff for another reason. The Citadel of Oroya has not fallen for over an age. The sorcerer Girn is said to have created the Citadel by his own might and weaved a powerful set of speels around the stones. It would take an immensely strong sorcerer to break these spells and that is what I fear."
+Antan takes a moment to pause as he looks over those congregated there. It brings a slight smile to his face to see those that are willing to help Old Rancagua in a time of need. No Old Rancagua is not dead yet, no matter what others say.
+"Now the Karkm are a group of black enchanters and witch doctors. They are the rivals to the Blood Ring. These two groups know of eachother and many a night has been spent between these two groups in fighting. We have lost many a good man to this organization. Have you all heard of the recent Groundhog Rebellion? I believe the groundhogs were enchanted by this group in an effort to take a noble of the realm, though I do not know who.
+Knowing this, are you willing to come with me? DO you have the bravery and the faith to follow until this journey ends? I can guaruntee this quest will not be without hardship. I will give you each a half hour to decide for yourselves. Those that wish to accompany me may walk through these doors."
+With that, Antan bows and turns to the dimly lit set of oaken doors. He pauses for a moment, resting his hand on the gnarled wood. He bites his lip and straightens his back before entering into the next room, pushing the door aside with a creaking moan that close with a booming silence. This leaves the nobles alone to their thoughts.
+----
+<sub>Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Gertrude '''
+Gertrude was angry. Her horse died a mile away from Kazahk. "No way, no way am I going to miss out on this!Scribe take my armor, I'm running the rest of the way."
+"Madam, It's raining and dark out!"
+"That doen't matter, this is the kind of thing I live for."
+With that she began to run.
+----
+<sub>Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Aleister '''
+Aleister stood still in the room thinking a few seconds. the future of Kazakh and probably the whole realm of Old Rancagua where at stack if he understood the old priest right. it was unthinkable to stay back if this was right and he didn´t doubt one second. the only thing that hold him back to step into the door at once was the presence of so many famous heros. damn, half of the council stood in the small room, how could he step forward and take the lead. his celtic blood burned through is veins and called impatiently for action. he looked from face to face to read the minds of the nobles around him but most of them where just to experienced to show there feelings. when he meet lady shinas eyes he thought for a moment she was noding nearly unrecognizably but then the expression was gone like it came. anyway ... time for action, he straighted his back and touched the handle of the door ...
+"i will follow the old man" he said with a gentle voice that belied his impatience
+the door opend and he stepped in the darkness behind ... hoping he insulted no-one
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Gertrude '''
+Gertrude quickly climbed down the ladder hoping she wasn't late. She jumped down and yelled into the darkness,"Am I late?"
+A voice that sounded familiar said, "Hurry up we're leaving."
+She ran forward and thought to herself,"I knew it was a good idea to do this. Danger, sorcering, conspiracies, this is what I live for,"as she ran into the darkness before her.
+Gertrude entered the darkness and came into the light. She saw familiar faces the first one she reconigzed was her liege Shina. Shina smiled at Gertrude impishly. Gertrude sheepishly said,"So, what'd I miss?"
+----
+<sub>Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Morton '''
+Morton stood silently as Anton spoke, and for awhile after. Thoughts and emotions and questions stirred through his mind. Finally it all snapped together, and he quickly stomped off into the room that Antan had gone into.
+"Now just wait a minute!" Morton shouted at Antan, "I may just have a few things to say about that little story of yours back there. Oh where to begin, where to begin!" Morton's arms flew up in an over exaggerated shrug. He turned back away from Antan for a second, took two slow steps away. He turned back towards Antan. Walking up towards him and talking in a hurried manner, Morton posed several questions and statements towards Antan, "First off, if this bloody ring of yours is so good at protecting the realm from evils, how did they fail to even notice the spirit that possessed Folite for who knows how long? And about that staff... don't get me started on staffs. I happen to remember one rather... mystical one. They're no good, I tell you."
+Morton stopped his approach and interrogation there. After pausing for a second, he continued in a more sedate, controlled voice, "And may I just add that the 'groundhog rebellion' you mentioned, I have reason to believe, was nothing more then the mass paranoid delusions of a large number of suggestible people put under the spell of some enchanted cookies."
+Morton took a breath at that and watched Antan for a response.
+----
+<sub>Morton (Knight of Salta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Shina '''
+"You have only missed what Antan told us Gertrude. Maybe he is willed to tell you again, because I am not sure if I completely understood what he said. He went through this door ... ", Shina pointed towards this mysterious looking oaken door, " ... and we should follow him if we decide to find out what's going on."
+Shina took Gertrudes hand and walked towards the door: "Furthermore I have to straighten something out. Morton!", Shina yelled into the room behind the door, which she pushed open with her free hand, "I hope you are not speaking of my cookies! I don't curse mine!"
+Shina looked back at Gertrude to see if she was ready to enter with her ...
+----
+<sub>Shina, Royal Treasurer of Old Rancagua, Baroness of Caqueta</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Rats '''
+Rats rolled his eyes when Antan started speaking of the groundhogs.
+"Giant cuddly groundhogs, ah, how I enjoyed that story," Rats said following Shina. In reply to Shina's question, "I believe Morton confused your cookies with an enormous quantity of alcohol. It seems he and his men looted a tavern earlier that day and then decided to concoct a story of groundhogs while in their drunken stupor."
+----
+<sub>Rats (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Johnny '''
+Johnny, now inside the chamber, wathces Antan walk through the thick oaken doors. With a gust and a slight hush, he disappears from sight. Thinking nothing of it, Johnny walks through the doors, right behind the Arch priest.
+He enters an even darker room, and cannot see a foot in front of him. Reaching out, he feels some stone walls, the work of a very primitave mason. With that, he turns and speaks into the darkness, hoping Antan is close enough to hear him..
+"Sir Antan, are you here? Let's get this quest underway.. It is quite dark in here, and i'm having trouble even controlling my thoughts, let alone my eyesight.'
+He waits, but hears nothing.
+Johnny again whispers "Antan, say something. I'll stand alone in this dark chamber and wait for the others, but at least let me know if you're here.. or if you've gone ahead of us all, looking for some truth in this mystery of the blood ring and the disappearnce of Lord High Guard.. Any noise of response would suffice.."
+And with that, Johnny waited for more to enter the chamber, and a response from Antan.
+----
+<sub>Johnny, High Marshal of Old Rancagua, Duke of Kazakh, Marshal of the army of Kazakh</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Grimm '''
+Since day's Grimm and his man were on the march to Kazakh. It's a long way, and because of the problems in Ashfort, they are still without scouts. Fields and forst was all they saw since this morning. The sun was burning down early and it promised to become a hot day. The last village was miles back and so was the last rest. But from travelling messangers they heard about a fight in Pedrera and rumors of a big nobility, that gatherd last evening in a tent..
+"this realy are strange days we live in..." Grimm thought by himself while he called for the troopleader of his Forestwolfs. Samuel, a big man wearing the colours of the Greywolffamiliy on his cuirass, stepped out of the row and came to the side of the horse, Grimm was riding.
+"Sire?!" he said with a voice that could easily drown a full tavern.
+"Make sure, the man are in Kazakh by dawn next day. I will try to find a faster way. Honor and Glory."
+"Sire, we will be there! A good and safe way, Honor and Glory!" with this words Samuel stepped back into the row and Grimm Greywolf hurried on.
+----
+<sub>Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Gertrude '''
+Gertrude looks at Shina and says,"I'm ready for a new adventure, lets walk through the door and find out what's going on."
+----
+<sub>Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Artimus '''
+"Magic? Evil Sorcerers? Blood Ring? The walking stick of Girn..." Artimus thought to himself as the Arch Priest finishes his tale.
+"Is Lord Antan trying to tell us that evil sorcerers are real and there is a secret cult is Oroyo. Well... cults are not uncommon and they '''*could*''' be responsible for Sir HighGuards's mysterious disappearance, maybe over an artifact known as the staff of Girn... but magic? Lord Antan speaks as if they are real..."
+Artimus did not know what to make of Antan's words - he stood there silently, trying to answer his question using his own '''*logic*''' but he was soon interrupted by a loud noise - a shout - Morton shouting at the Arch Priest as he vanishes behind the door. Some nobals paused slighty before following the Arch Priest into the next chamber.
+"Just another search an rescue mission, creepier than others but still just a search and rescue mission." Artimus mutters to himself as he follows the Arch Priest into the next chamber.
+----
+<sub>Artimus (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Shady '''
+''While sitting in his room, Shady is tring to figure out how everything will work out. There are many unsolved questions that needed answers. While in deep thought, Shady's scribe, Michael, comes up to his door and knocks, then enters''
+'''Michael''' My lord...we have received word that a message from Sirion is coming to the pigeon tower for you. It should be here soon, there is word it's important.
+'''Shady''' Thank you, I shall go now. I will be back soon.
+''Shady then leaves his room, and goes to the pigeon tower. Here he meets the guard of the tower''
+'''Guard''' How may I help you this late at night sir?
+'''Shady''' There should be a message waiting for me, or a message that will be here soon for me. I must go up and get it myself. Would there be a problem with that?
+'''Guard''' No sir, I don't see a problem with that at all. Just please be quick about it, this is supposed to be closed tonight.
+'''Shady''' Ah yes, thank you very much. I shall be quick about it.
+''Shady travels up the tower, and waits for the pigeon to arrive. After a few minutes, a pigeon arrives and drops the message right into Shady's hands. Then, Shady travels back down the tower, thanks the guard and heads back to his room in Kazakh.''
+'''Shady''' Ah yes...this is very interesting news. Ok I must go check this out for myself. I know the orders are to train but I have no money for anything anyway. So I believe I will be more helpful scouting Stora right now....and I can get some more answers now.
+''Shady then gathers his troops and starts heading to Kazan to scout Stora and find some answers.''
+----
+<sub>Shady (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Valinor '''
+In the darkness of the corner of the room stood Valinor, eating an apple from the fruitstand above. He did not have much time to decide whether or not to join. He had heard of Karkm and the evil surrounding them. He watched as he saw several nobles walk through the door. Valinor did not want to get involved, but something was drawing him to the door. He then looked towards the ladder and walked to it. When he was set to climb out, he stopped and thought to himself...
+"I know nothing of this Staff of Girn. My place is on Kazakh's walls, defending her from the Kalmarians. It's where I belong. Besides, I must get back to my men. But the thought of the Karkm wandering the land of Old Rancagua is too much to bear..."
+Valinor stepped away from the ladder, and with a half-eaten apple in one hand and a bow in the other, he walked up to the door, kicked it open, and proceeded into the darkness, not knowing what awaited him.
+----
+<sub>Valinor (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Gertrude '''
+Gertrude sat in the darkroom. Nobody near her. She thought to herself about as a little girl how she used to play pretend with her sister. They would vanquish the evil dragons and battle the wicked sorcerers and things like that. "This is just like that," Gertrude thought to herself," except this is real. I could die. Is this worth it? What, if we fail? Is this whole thing even real at all?"
+Then she remembered her father always saying,"You can be great child, you can be the one that makes something of herself. You and Harriet are my shining stars, but you're the one I wish upon."
+Nobody may have seen, but Gertrude shed a little tear as she remembered her long dead father. She realized this is the right hing to do.
+----
+<sub>Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+== Where is a trap? ==
+''' Roleplay from Antan '''
+As Antan steps into the next room, he pauses for a moment. Looking around he finds the room to be a perfect circle. There are torches evenly spaced out among the wall, dimly illuminating from the room. In the center of the room, bearing a flickering torch, stands a man wearing a long cloak with the hood pulled up to shroud his face.
+-Man: "Greetings to you all, knights of Old Rancagua. It is an honor to have you hear upon this quest. I have no doubts that you all are valiant, this can be shown by you just being here. But we shall see how your wits hold up against you. How do you fare under pressure when both action and thought are required? There will be only one test before you embark upon your mission, how will you handle this?"
+-Antan: "We do not fear any test you might bring against us. Let it come!"
+-Man: "And so it shall..."
+With that, the man suddenly disappears and Antan realizes that the room the knights were standing in has lowered down a level to a completely seperate room. Startled by this fact, Antan looks around the faces of his knights quickly, looking for any idea what is going on.
+Slowly, the light in the room starts to grow. It eventually reaches a blinding pulse of light before going into a hazy blackness once again. Antan rubs his eyes for a moment, blinded by the flash and then the sudden darkness. The room stays dimly lit for around five minutes before another blinding flash of light comes into the room. This time however, a long, piercing shriek accompanies the bright flash. Antan raises his hands to his ears just to get the sound out of his head.
+-Voice: "Now, you must all work your way down to the end of this corridor. There are many traps and snares along the way, from simple deer traps, to triggered crossbows, to moving walls. You must show you can work together to prove you are worthy of this quest. And might I mention that the end of the corridor is an elevator that will completely seal you in this room in around half an hour? Oh and look out for some of my trainees in the arts of warfare that have orders to try and halt your advance...Have fun."
+Another pulse of light and a blinding flash wreck havoc into Antan's mind. He pulls out his great axe and bellows a challenge before stepping forward. A small click can be heard. Immediately, he is clubbed down by a long pole swinging down from the ceiling, bowling him over, dazed and confused.
+----
+<sub>Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Rats '''
+Rats pulls Antan closer to the group, looking out upon the mess of traps. He looks over Antan, and tries to help him regain his wits.
+"Traps? What type of challenge is this? See which one of us makes the best pin cushion?"
+Looking down the corridor, he can spot a few obvious traps, but he has a feeling those are just a way to distract him from the real traps.
+"We didn't happen to bring any Kalmar prisoners with us, did we?" Rats looked around, his tone completely serious.
+----
+<sub>Rats (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Shina '''
+"Don't look at me Rats!", Shina said, trying in vain to fight the panic creeping up inside her. A second later she started to look for something in her bag, hoping to distract herself enough to win her personal fight ... or at least to find something useful.
+----
+<sub>Shina, Royal Treasurer of Old Rancagua, Baroness of Caqueta</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Valinor '''
+Valinor looked on at the traps that were visible. He, as well as most of the others, knew that they were simple distractions. Valinor took out the apple, took a bite from it, and tossed it down the corridor. Almost instantly, crossbow bolts shot from the walls, and spikes came up from the floor. Now Valinor was somewhat unsure. He would follow along with the others, but maybe towards the back. He was also hungry, as that was his last apple.
+----
+<sub>Valinor (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Grimm '''
+After splitting from his man, Grimm could move faster by horse than he expected. The morning when he was riding down the mountainroad that led to Kazagh, his man managed with some delay to reach Salta.
+With the first glace of the sun, the gates of the enormous city opend and the watchmen stepped out. He stopped his hourse inches in front of the first watchman, and old but hard looking guy.
+"I'm Grimm Greywolf, let me pass."
+Stunned by the confidence and calmness in Grimm's voice, the men stepped out of his way without a world and he rode into the city. First he had no eyes for the great beautiful buildings, that gathered behind those walls. He was searching for a tent...
+After he reached the center of the city, he has seen more troops running around then ever bevor. nearly everywhere are men standing, guards on patrol and he also saw some siege equipment slowly moved through the narrow streets. Then he got to the spot, the messangers had described, where the nobility had vanished and haven't been seen again till now.
+So he left his hourse next to some others, with big and mighty emblems of noble families, and stepped into the tent.
+First he was alone. No person and no fruits around, but then he heard a voice behind him...
+"Good Morning Sire, pardon me, but it isn't very common to have visitors this early in the morning."
+Grimm tourned around and saw the face of the shopkeeper: "Blessed morning good man, it may sound strange, but you haven't seen some Ladys and Lords in here in the evening?"
+The shopkeeper smiled and moved into the middle of the room. With his back to Grimm he muttered:
+"A hound is tied to a fifteen foot leash. How can the hound reach a deer bone that is 20 feet away?"
+Grimm totaly suprised by this question, let his mouth do the work. This came very close to the kind of games his father played with him. Verbal games, where he had to be on the watch for questions and tricky puzzles every minute a day. So it came, that his mouth began nearly automatic: "You never said, that the leash is tied to something else, and even if it is tied to something, this point can be 5 foot away of the bone, so the hound can get what he wants..."
+The shopkeeper has raised his hand, and because Grimm's mouth wasn't stopping, the man pulled a rope. Shortly after Grimm saw the first time a trapdoor in the floor of a tent, right unter his feets..
+----
+<sub>Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Antan '''
+Antan thanks Rats as he stands back up, rubbing his head. He gazes around at his companions, looking to them for ideas.
+-Antan: "Well, I told you these folks were serious. They have become very good at their job over the years. Oh and Morton, I cannot tell you how the Blood Ring did not stop Folite's evil spirit. It was probably an extremely powerful and malacious spirit. But I am sure none know better than you do concerning that."
+Antan looks for the places where he had stepped before. He feels along the ground until he finds a small lever. He stands up and looks towards the ceiling. The club has cleverly disappearing into the ceiling again, but Antan has an idea where it came from. He reaches out his leg and touches the lever, taking a quick step back.
+With a whistling sound, the pole drops down once more. But this time Antan is ready. He makes a powerful, sweeping cut with his axe, slicing the swinging club in two. Antan smiles as the broken off club falls harmlessly to the ground.
+-Antan: "Well that is that trap. Anyone have any ideas? This passage is slowly closing, you all heard it. We need a way to get to the end fast, and with all our limbs. Are there any oddly colored stones or a better worn path somewhere? Is there anyway we can get up and over? I really have never been to this room before, so ideas are welcome!"
+----
+<sub>Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Shina '''
+Seemingly Shina has found something in her bag, right before she was interrupted from a sequence of loud noises. Valior had impressively demonstrated that the traps in this corridor were very real.
+"Cookies anyone?"
+The words even spoken, Shina passed out, adhering stubbornly to a cookie.
+----
+<sub>Shina, Royal Treasurer of Old Rancagua, Baroness of Caqueta</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Gertrude '''
+"Mmmmmmm, cookies. Thanks Shina."
+She ate her cookie silently as she walked near the front of the group. Constantly she was moving her eyes, looking for anything that was out of place. A brick too far out, an missing floor tile, anything at all. She had only walked for a little bit when she fell into the first trap.
+"Ahhhhhhh!" she screamed in pain. A few people came to help her, she didn't recognize them at the time. An arrow had shot her through the leg.Blood came down her leg and tears came down her eyes. Someone ripped it for her and bandeged.
+She kept on walking. Soon it became a run. The walls twisted and turned and decieved her. Yet she had played this game a million times with her sister and always won. She would not lose this tme. With that, she kept on running.
+Gertrude thought to herself,"I could use another cookie right about now."
+She turned and realized,"Oh no, I ran ahead of the group didn't I."
+She ran through the same traps, tricks, and lies all over again and finally found the group.
+She looked at them seriously and,"Shina, I need another cookie."
+She smiled as she ate the raisin filled cookie and walked forward with the group.
+----
+<sub>Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Aleister '''
+Aleister was leaning against the wall, watching the other nobles trying out the trapped corridor.
+"Cookies?",
+he makes a step in the direction of Lady Shina and gets of his black leathergloves,
+" ... would be nice, i think better when i get some sugar in my body ... crunch ... mmmh, taste like cinnamon ... thank you m´lady"
+... out of the tail of his eye he saw Gertrude wiping away a tear ... he had recognized her beauty when she came in and wondered why she was crying silently but then his mind wandered back to the problem infront of him ... out of nothing an idea came to his mind ... he went to the wall and took some of the torches that hang around, with a few smashes to his flintstone he lit them, passing them on to other nobles, when he gave one to gertrude he said with a smile on his face:
+... "may i bring some light to your darkness?"
+... looking in her eyes for a few seconds, before he turned around and went to the trap, Atan already smashed. he laid down on the floor, pressing his face to the floor and peeking just along the floor ... he could see the small lever standing up just a little bit and a few feet away the next a little more to the left ... a few feet was not enough ... they would be not fast enough ... standing up again and sharing his new knowledge with the others he suddenly realized the bow in Valinors hand
+... "sire, I dont know your name yet, mine is Aleister Stromcrow, you may have heard from my family, i guess you have good eyes, when using a bow, perhaps you see more than me, wonna give it a try?"
+... waiting for Valinors answer he couldn´t resist to take another look, at Gertrude, she seemed so fragile to him, so beautyfull and he decided to have an eye on her security. with his seventeen years he never feeled like that before and was slightly confused about it.
+than his red albinoeyes turned back to Valinor
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Gertrude '''
+When Aliester said said to Gertrude,'May I bring a light into your darkness?' Gertrude looked at him and said softly,"Thank you Aliester. I appriciate your kindness." She took the torch and smiled at him gratefully as they moved forward into the darkness.
+----
+<sub>Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Valinor '''
+Valinor listened intently to Aleister, staring straight into the corridor. When he finished talking, Valinor looked back at him and replied...
+"Well, Aleister Stormcrow, you may call me Valinor. And you were right to guess that I have keen eyesight. However, it is much to dark to see the end, even for myself..."
+Then Valinor took the torch that Aleister had handed him and tossed it down the corridor. One crossbow bolt shot across from the wall, but the flame was still lit, which is what he intended. Now the beginning of the corridor was lit, and it was plain to everyone that there were levers scattered here and there throughout the corridor. Valinor took a closer look and said...
+"As we can all see, there are levers that run up and down the corridor, most of them probably traps, perhaps a few may be fakes. Well, that is strange. There seems to be a string running across from one wall to the other..."
+Then Valinor ate the rest of his cookie, took out an arrow from his quiver, and shot it at the string. With a loud snap, the string broke, causing several wooden spikes to shoot up from the ground. Slowly, they receded back into the floor as Valinor thought about this. Then he turned to the others and spoke...
+"As far as I can tell, most of these traps are triggered by the levers. They are probably there to distract us from the few things that we may not see, like the string. There are a few things here like that, that are the only real dangers. I think that we should proceed soon, if not now. I will leave it up to you all how we get through this, either carefully and cautiously, or run straight through and hope that we make it..."
+Valinor looked down the corridor once more, then at Gertrude's leg. Then he turned to Shina and asked for another cookie.
+----
+<sub>Valinor (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Johnny '''
+As Johnny watched this all take place, he was taking mental note of everything he could see.
+The corridor was about 15 feet wide, straight for the most part, with a few little side passages and pillars emerging from the ground. The stone was damp to the touch, yet strangely warm.. They were above some other chamber, he could confirm this by the warmth of the stone and the ground shaking ever so slightly each couple of minutes. The ceiling was only about 12 feet high, and was slightly domed, but he could be sure of this due to the torch light flickering and casting shadows all around.
+He looked harder for some more traps, and found a few..
+A little lever attached to a swinging pole that had nearly beheaded Antan. A small protruding stick in the floor that when stepped upon shot and arrow through the leg of Gertrude.. Thank god it did not hit her higher up, else the damage might have been more severe. She seemed to be recovering well, though.
+He looked closer and he could see one of the small stones in the floor would wiggle ever so slightly with the tremor of the building.. Johnny guessed that this stone was loose, and when stepped upon, it would trigger something. Searching, in the torch light, he saw a bucket of scalding oil, nicely tucked into the ceiling, attached to a pole that would allow it to dump its contents if the stone was stepped upon.
+Looking further in, he could see a small clearing ahead, seeimgly devoid of traps.. like a midway point through this tunnel of hell.
+With that, he stepped forward, avioding the swinging pole. Taking care not to trigger the crossbow again, he nagivated around the stick in the floor that Gertrude had stepped on.. Now the wobbly stone. It wasn't a large stone, but it was placed between two pillars, making it virtually unavoidable. Not thinking twice, Johnny decided to run and jump over the stone. Big mistake.
+He sprinted for about two steps, left the ground, and cleared the stone with ease. He landed on another stone, which fell out completely from underneath him! Luckily the stone fell slowly and slid onto some sort of track and began to slide away. Johnny grabbed the edge of the next slab and started clawing his way up the fallen stone. He wasn't making much ground, and he was sure to be sucked into the void, when a hand grabbed the back of his robes, and pulled him out. He turned to thank his rescuer, but at that time a figure lunged at him from a crevice in the wall! Wielding two daggers, the black painted figure swung at the general, definitely going for blood. He would have none, as Johnny easily ducked the first dagger blow, and stopped the figures other arm in mid-air. Johnny made eye contact with the creature for a quick second, and to his amazement, the eye sockets were hollow! Holding back the urge to vomit, Johnny bent the caught arm backwards, breaking it, and slit the creatures throat quickly, and threw him down the hole after the stone slab..
+He turned to the others ''"Come this way, and meet me here.. Take care of the obstacles that we already know about, and step lightly.."''
+----
+<sub>Johnny, High Marshal of Old Rancagua, Duke of Kazakh, Marshal of the army of Kazakh</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Aleister '''
+... thinking about Valinors words he took down the black silk bandana he weared to tame his long white hair and passed it to gertrude with a gentle smile
+..."her, stop the bleeding and bandage your wound, we can clean it later"
+... and turning around to Valinor
+... "I am not so experienced but i think just running through should be our last option, perhaps we can slowly, but as fast as possible, work our way thru like you shoot the strip ... by the way, impressive shoot, Valinor. what do you think?"
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Valinor '''
+Valinor, looking once more at Gertrude's injury, then at the figure who attacked Johnny, and lastly at the club that Antan had cut down, he thought about the two options and said...
+"I agree Aleister. This corridor is even trickier than I thought. We all must be cautious. That was the third time that someone has gotten injured in some way while we have been down here. We must find the right path and follow it swiftly..."
+When he said this, Valinor stepped forward carefully, arrow drawn, and proceeded to move forward towards Johnny.
+----
+<sub>Valinor (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Gertrude '''
+Gertrude heard Johnny's words and followed him.. She felt foolish. She was the first thay got hurt. She had been impulsive and unpatient. Her leg still hurt. She could walk on it but it limped slightly. She refused to show weakness. This a test, and the weak fail.
+----
+<sub>Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Aleister '''
+getting on his gloves again and taking the black longsword, knowen as the "needle of the Stormcrow" from his backharness, Aleister followed Valinor and his liege carefully, trying to avoid levers and triggers. What by all knowen gods where they stumbled over her?
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Artimus '''
+Artimus looked at Johnny he estimates to be about 30 feet away from the main group, urging them to move forward.
+"The traps, they are rather obvious are they not? It almost seems that those who laid them did not bother to conceal them. Distractions maybe? Where did that dark figure that attacked Lord Johnny came from? It appeared out of nowhere. How much time do we have left? 20, 25 minutes?" Artimus mutters softly not addressing anyone is particular.
+Artimus removes his cape and wrapped it around his left arm. "This should at least provide some sort of protection from bludgeoning attacks." He thought to himself.
+Artimus gripped the hilt of his sword firmly with his right arm starts to follow Aleister and Valinor towards Johnny but quickly paused and turned to the others behind him.
+"Am I the only one who is under the impression that the corridor is getting more narrow?"
+----
+<sub>Artimus (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Aleister '''
+Hearing Artimus last words, Aleister balked while he started to make a stiffer jump, that was enough to make him lose balance, landing on a different tile than he has planned.
+To prevent him to crash as a whole on several traps he intercepted his fall with his hand, touching the tile he would have landed without the distraction of Artimus.
+he heard the sound of stone moving on stone and the tile was gone, make him fall on the floor and sticking with his arm in the whole that appeared.
+A loud metallic ... click ... and a cuff was mounted around his wrist.
+slowly and carefully he stood up pulling his arm out off the whole by trying to make his hand as small as possible.
+"This was no problem at all, I guess they where thought for feet ... foolsluck!"
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Out-of-Character from Shina ''' ''(to make it easier to you, dear reader, to follow the plot change)''
+Ahm, I guess (and hope) you just missed that, but Shina is still lying unconsciousness on the floor, while you are eating her cookies.
+''The words even spoken, Shina passed out, adhering stubbornly to a cookie.''
+----
+''' Roleplay from Johnny '''
+Johnny calls back to the others..
+''"Ladies and gentlemen, our Banker and the Lordess of Caqueta, the beautiful lady Shina, seems to be laying unconscious behind you all.. I don't know if it was the amazing flavor of her cookies, or if you are just all preoccupied with looking for more traps, but it is a fact, someone must help her up!"''
+The men and women just looked at Johnny, not really paying attention, and little in shock by the last fall into the hole by both Johnny and another, and they did not respond nor move.
+At this, Johnny turned around, jumped over the gap, and navigated his way through the traps that he knew about, and walked to the group..
+''"Unbelieveable"'' he muttered...
+He knelt over to the lady Shina, and cradled her hear in his hands. ''"Shina"'' he whispered. ''"Wake up, dear woman, it seems you have lost consciousness.."''
+She begins to stir a bit, and Johnny places her in the care of Gertrude and Antan for the moment, and walks back to the clearing where the man with no eyes last attacked. He waits for the others to return, and for Lady Shina to wake back up fully and join him..
+----
+<sub>Johnny, High Marshal of Old Rancagua, Duke of Kazakh, Marshal of the army of Kazakh</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Morton '''
+Morton had been quietly following the others, but seeing an easy path, but saw what he thought was a safe path to get up to Johnny. Morton, taking a few leaps of courage, jumped across these places he had deemed safe as quick as he could. Alas, he was only mostly correct on the lack of traps in these locations, and upon reaching an apparently trapless area towards Johnny he heard a few twangs of crossbow bolts.
+Luckily they had just missed him, catching some clothing on his back and throwing off Morton's leap. He crashed to the ground at Johnny's feet, luckily failing to trigger anything else. He groaned before getting up and dusting himself off.
+Morton looked around again. The corridor did seem to be closing slowly, and there seemed to be quite a trap laden area ahead of him. Suddenly his vision idly landed upon an odd square hole in the ceiling , about as wide as his shoulders, roughly a sword's length in front of him. Looking down, he also noticed a slightly discolored stone sticking out from the floor below it. Morton drew his sword, which more resembled a short lance, and carefully prodded the trigger, standing as far back as he could. Without warning a large block came down from the ceiling, snapping the lance out of Morton's hand and to the ground.
+The block appeared to be a perfect cube, with a rod protruding from the top going all the way up into the ceiling. After laying on the ground for a moment, some unseen power began to bring the block back up into the ceiling. Morton picked up his lance, now slightly flattened, and took a torch from the wall nearby. Morton stopped at that, and stood in shock that the torch didn't activate any trap. Gathering his courage, he spoke one last time before venturing into the unknown, "Well guys, I'm going to see what can be done about this all... If I scream for help, activate that thing again." With that, he crouched down, leaned out his mini-lance, and tapped the trigger, quickly pulling his lance back before the stone struck it. Morton then nimbly leaped upon the block and let it raise him into the unknown above....
+----
+<sub>Morton (Knight of Salta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Palandro '''
+Palandro had watched the chaos with the traps from the rear of the group. He was silent partially because of the fact he had been so humbled by the dousing earlier in the day. The other reason was more intelligent...
+He had wanted to leave triggering most of the traps to the other nobles. While everyone was concentrating on disabling the traps, Palandro was concentrating on staying safe, one step behind the group.
+He put his hand upon a metal bar, and suddenly felt searing pain jet across his body. He convulsed and yelled like a dying animal, before dropping unconscious to the floor.
+The last thing he saw before his vision contracted was lightning searing across his eyes...
+----
+<sub>Palandro (Knight of Obando)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Gertrude '''
+Gertrude listen to Johnny in shock. She didn't even notice that Shina was unconsious. She turned around and lo and behold there was Shina. "Interesting, I didn't even notice.Huh."
+----
+<sub>Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Antan '''
+About to take a step forward and seeing that Shina has come to, Antan hears Palandro yell. Antan rushes over to him and looks around, seeing that the othere nobles have gone ahead already. He looks at the smoking bar, shaking his head.
+Noticing the other nobles have gone ahead and Palandro is out cold, Antan hefts Paladro across his shoulders. "I ain't leaving you here Palandro, you have been to good a knight and a friend to me. You aren't being left in here." With that, Antan groans as he settles Palandro's weight across his shoulders. He takes a few stiff steps forward, giving a mighty yell as he picks up speed.
+Rushing off towards the rest of the group, Antan smiles as the other nobles have been sucessful in dismantling the other traps. He is a few steps away before he utters a curse as the pulsing light breaks again, making him stop dead in his tracks. He reels a step back, swearing foully as he hears a loud sound of stone grating against stone.
+He tosses Palandro forward to the solid area as a chain whips along the ground. Antan falls backawards as the chain, infused with shards of metal and glass, whips around and encirlces his ankles. Antan falls forward just as the chain starts to slowly recoil. He finds it odd for a moment that his is being drawn upwards. Casting a glance over to Morton, Antan absentmindedly waves as they appear to be going up at the same speed...
+----
+<sub>Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Rats '''
+Rats' eyes follow the chain carrying Antan, and he spots a wheel pulling the chain up. He picks up a stone, and tosses it up to catch into the wheel, but misses. "Bloody hell." He picks the stone back up, and grabs onto Antan, causing the shards of metal to dig into the ankles more. "My apologies, Antan," Rats says as he climbs up Antan, and then up the chain. Once at the top, he jams the rock into the wheel, stopping it from moving.
+What he doesn't see is the figure waiting near the top to stab the person at the other end of the chain. Instead, the figure stabs Rats in the side with a short sword. Rats lets go of the chain and smashes hard on the ground, still conscious, but in shock. He looks up just as the figure jumps down from the small nook, but the figure landed on an "obvious" lever, resulting in his decapitation. The body lands softly, and the sword scatters off to the side.
+Rats looks down at his wound, blood pouring out in a steady stream. "Oh. This is bad." He stands up, barely, using the wall to hold him up. "Antan..." Rats whispers, before seeing Antan freeing himself. Rats picks up the short sword, and hands it to Antan, before moving down the hallway.
+Antan and Rats manage to get Palandro and the three drag each other down the hallway, a trail of blood marking their path.
+----
+<sub>Rats (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Shina '''
+"Where am I?", Shina sat up, looking into Gertrude's face. Then she remembered. Her face turned even whiter again. "Where are all the others?"
+Gertrude pointed into the gloomy corridor, while Shina stood up. She tried hard to perceive anything, when a bright pulse of light hit her eyes again. "OUUCHHH!!", she yelled and tumbled a bit from that stinging pain in her eyes.
+It took some time until Gertrude and Shina could see anything again. But even that both of them knew that they had not much time left, they needed to see very clearly to manoeuvre around all the traps. Luckily Gertrude has gathered a bit more knowledge about the levers, triggers and the better-to-be-avoided-stones in the meantime, so she could guide them safely to the others.
+"Friends, we need to get on faster. It is becoming a bit narrow in here." And indeed, soon it would be impossible to move besides each other. Then Shina wondered: "Where is Morton?"
+----
+<sub>Shina, Royal Treasurer of Old Rancagua, Baroness of Caqueta</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Artimus '''
+Artimus hurl the headless body of the dark figure that just attacked Rats over his shoulder and carefully made his way to the others down the hallway.
+Upon reaching the group, Artimus notice that Rat has suffered a rather nasty wound, Palandro unconscious and others have suffered minor injuries.
+"M'Lords and Ladies, I believe we could use some organization and leadership if we were to scale these hallways." Artimus said as he lays the headless body on the ground carefully making sure that he will not trigger another trap.
+"Maybe he could help us with the traps." Artimus said - pointing at the lifeless body he just laid down.
+"Lord Antan is knowledgeable and Lord Johnny is an accomplished general, maybe one of them could come up with a plan. We need to move as a group but not individuals"
+Artimus looks at Antan and Johnny then to the others waiting for a response.
+----
+<sub>Artimus (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Grimm '''
+Suddenly there was a loud noise a few feet behind the first noble. While they managed their way through the narrow stone corridor, the sound grew louder. In the small space between the walls, strange noises echoed and it wasn't easy to say where they are coming from...
+----
+<sub>Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Palandro '''
+Palandro wakes up groggily, feeling like his head weighs more than the rest of his body. He somehow manages to stand up, and puts his hand on a wall-tile. This sends a stray crossbow bolt at him from the end of the hall, which misses him only because of his awkward pose.
+"Wow, this place really is a death trap, we need someone to come up with something or we will all die."
+----
+<sub>Palandro (Knight of Obando)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Aleister '''
+"what by the gods of chaos is this sound coming from"
+...Aleister watches the ceiling and walls to find a hint, but only the sound grows louder.
+with a growing expression of alarm he looks to jonny in front of him, pressing his back against the wall
+"this corridor is contumacious, we should ..."
+but he was not able to finish the sentence ...
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Grimm '''
+Aleister was still staring at the wall, as the sounds reached their maximum and the echos distorted all, it seemed like a deamon was ready to come through. From one moment to the other, in the stonewall with all the hidden traps, a big stonelid swung open. Feets first, a young man rushed through, and bevor anybody could act, the lid closed and seemed as solid as bevor.
+The young man landed not exactly soft on the ground of the corridor, some people where jumping out of his way. Surely it was his kind of luck, that when he landed, a blade swung out of a slit in the wall, but it was also his kind of luck, that he was sitting on the floor and so it swung inches abouve his head. After the blade has gone he looked around...
+----
+<sub>Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+== Journey of Anxieties ==
+''' Roleplay from Antan '''
+Antan makes sure that everyone has made it to the solid ground a aways down the passage. He glances around the situation quickly. He bites his lip as he realizes that the observation that the room is getting narrower is correct, they are being slowly squeezed in. How long has it been 20? 25 minutes? IN any way, they surely didn't have enough time.
+-Antan: "Alright folks, we need to take a risk. Valinor, you are our bowman, let us see if there are any smoothed out stones that seem to be forming a path."
+Antan watches Valinor investigate the floor in front of them before pointing out a series of barely noticably smoothened stones. Antan thinks, "They must be smoothed out because of wear over all these years. It is a chance we have to take I guess."
+-Antan: "Alrigght folks, swords out, eyes open. Follow Valinor's lead here, he seems to have wonderful eyes for this sort of thing."
+Carefully, the group picks its way, hopping from stone to stone. There are numberous grunts and groans from the party and Antan shakes his head. Thinking, "So many wounded and the quest has barely begun. That Blood Ring had better have something good for us at the end of this tunnel." Antan yells for a halt when a burst of light is heard, making sure no one stumbles. "Crap, that is the fifth burst of light. Five minutes folkS! We need to move. I am sorry, I know we all have injuries, but to stay -alive-, we need to move!"
+With that, Valinor begins to furiously go from rock to rock, nearing the end. HE pauses about six feet from the end however, looking about rapidly. "What Valinor?" But Antan sees the answer before Valinor responds. A gaping hole extends infinently downward in front of them. "Alright folks, line up here. We help eachother get across."
+Everyone eventually makes the crossing, aided by everyone else. Antan casts one final glance backwards before leaping. "Where the heck is Morton? If he is sitting in the next room, calmly sitting there. Bah, I will..." With that everyone hurriedly scrambles into the now tightening elevator that is almost drwan all the way up into the passage. With a sigh of relief, Antan smiles around to his companions, congradulating them all on their bravery and courage.
+The "elevator" eventually reaches a halt. A slight turning can be felt before another room is revealed to everyone. This room is immensely long, one cannot see the end of it. There are rows and rows of ancient tomes, books, and parchements. A old sage stands fro a rick wooden chair and greets the travlers.
+-Man: "Welcome to my humble halls! I am overjoyed you all have made it here. I have been informed that I am to give you some food and some insight to where to begin your quest. Come to the table."
+Antan, shrugging begins to carefully walk over to the table, motioning for his companions. he takes a seat and then lifts up the tankard before him to his lips. Noticing that is it filled with his favorite type of moonshine, Antan thirstily drinks it down. He nods as he cuts off a few pieces of meat from a duck before him, it seems that everyone's favotire meals have been prepared for them. Antan pauses chewing, finding this a bid disturbing, but ah well.
+-Sage: "Now you all are seeking the Staff of Girn are you not?" The old man scurries off into the rows of books, coming back with an ancient blue tome. "Well, as you can see on page 416, yes I have memorized the book. No that isn't strange. The last disappearance of Girn's staff was with a battle with the Kwarkm many years ago. The Kwakm ambushed him just as he laid the final stone for the Citadel of Oroya. A great white stone, smooth as glass and perfectly square. It is said that an apprentice to Girn saw the man whisper something to the stone before putting it into place. Then the staff burst into a brilliant flame and disappeared."
+The old man sits down and takes a long drink of a fine wine, passing the tome around carefully. Antan looks intently at the picture on page 416, a drawing of a large smooth stone. He shrugs as he passes it onto Lady Shina.
+-Sage: "If you wish to know more about the staffs final resting place, I would suggest going to Oroya. Find this stone, it may take you a few days, but that will lead you onwards."
+Just then a young boy comes sprinting into the room. "Sir, the Kwarkm have been spotted in the Citadel of Oroya. They have over twenty agents there! We need to hurry!" With that the young boy nods to the company and hurries away.
+-Sage: "It appears that our situation is dire, I do not want to have to do this to you, but you must follow me along."
+----
+<sub>Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Antan '''
+The sage leads the group down a long corridor, shaking his head and muttering to himself. He walks to a door, turning to the group there.
+-Sage: "Well, your straights appear to be dire. That is why I bring you here. In times of great need the Blood Ring has set up places of powerful magic where one might jump between. This passage will bring you to Oroya, in the very heart of the Citadel, you will need all speed to reach it."
+"Now I do not know what will await you in the next room, I have only been told that is a way to seperate those who do not have the inner toughness to be worthy to use such great magic. Those who enter do not even experience the same things, but I have been told it is a horrible experience. Might you all succeed."
+Antan, never the one to wait for long, shoves the door open and looks about. The room is black for a bit before he sees a faint image. Antan quints his eyes and suddenly he sees all of Oroya up in flames, the white tree smouldering in a ferociuos blaze. Taken aback by this Antan call for his companions. He falls on the floor, burying his head in his hands, crying.
+This is too much to bear, the former capital of Old Rancagua up in smoke. Chaos everythwere. Antan can see burning bodies and children crying for their mothers. Antan weeps. "We are too late, we cannot make it in time, we have failed in our quest. The Kwakm have beaten us, all is for nothing."
+Then a voice comes into his head. "Everyone will -see- something different. You must overcome."
+Then Antan realizes the messenger said that the Kawkm were -in- Oroya not destroying it. This thought brings some hope to Antan, and the image starts to grow fainter. "Ah so I see, this passage presnts you with your worst fear. But it is only an image. I must realize this isn't real."
+With this thought Antan suddenly feels a strong wind, he looks and sees no one else's hair is whipping in the wind. Looking around, Antan then realizes he is in the bottom of Oroy'a main tower. HE gasps at this sudden revelation, then sits on a bench and waits for the rest of the companions.
+----
+<sub>Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Aleister '''
+in an eyeblink aleisters sword was on the throat of the just appeared figure when he realized the emblem on the breast ... a forest with an wolfseye ... was that possible? ...
+"Grimm? Grimm Greywolf!"
+with laughter he gave his old friend from childrens days a hand to stand up
+"the first good news since i entered this cursed installation! but we have to hurry ... things are getting worse, we can celebrate our meeting when we reach secure territory" in a hurry and following the marked path they reached the room with the meal and the books where the other just listened to the sage. Aleister just grabbed some of the offered fruit, a turkey and a pouch of mead, stuffing everything into his bag. following the others he said to grimm
+"old friend, how you appeared out of nothing"
+but before Grimm was able to answer, Aleister disappeared.
+finding himself in a room with some benches and Atan sitting on of it he shakes his head to get rid of the strange feeling in his head ...
+"what the f..."
+then he realized the Arch Priest of all Old Rancagua would probably not amused to hear him cursing and he bit his tongue.
+"m´lord, where are we, i just meet an old friend and now he and everybody else is gone again ... this makes me sick!"
+... suddenly a lesson from his father came back to his mind ... when he teached him in the way of the druids ... astral travel ... that was the explanation!
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Valinor '''
+Valinor sat in a corner of the room eating his favorite meal, steak and a bottle of rum. He stared at the door, wondering what would await him on the other side. As he watched Antan go in, and then Aleister, he knew that he would soon have to go in as well. Valinor stood up, poured the rest of his rum into a silver flask and walked up to the door. He gripped the handle, sweat running down his hands, and pushed the door open...
+He walked into the darkness and waited. It was chilly and there was a strong wind blowing. While he was trying to figure this all out, the room began to slowly brighten. Then a sudden flash of lightning and the crack of the thunder blinded and deafened Valinor. When he regained his vision and his hearing, he saw that it was nighttime. He also saw that he was no longer in the room, but standing on the wall of Kazakh as he was before. Only this time he could hear a steady chant. He turned towards Kazan and saw an army of 5000 Kalmarians. Valinor looked towards his left and right and saw that he was alone. He then looked back upon the opposing army. He slowly drew out an arrow, lit it aflame, and with a final shout Valinor shot it straight at Lalakis...
+Then another bolt of lightning struck, blinding Valinor once again. When he regained his sight, he found himself standing at the base of a great tower. He did not recognize it. A guard walked by and Valinor asked him...
+"Good day to you sir. May I ask as to where I am?"
+The guard have Valinor a strange look and said...
+"Are you feeling okay? You're at the main tower of Oroya..."
+Then the guard saw the bow in Valinor's hand, and then realized who he was...
+"Ah, so you are the one they call Valinor, I take it? Lord Antan mentioned that he had some companions that would soon be with him here. He's inside one of the rooms. Just walk in and it's the second door to your right..."
+Valinor now remembered all that the sage said. The battle at Kazakh had been his horrible experience. But he wasn't afraid of the Kalmarian army. He then realized that Kazakh in the hands of Kalmar would be his fear. Well, Valinor would never let that happen. He walked into the tower and went into the first door on the right. He looked up in confusion as he didn't see either Antan or Aleister at first. Instead, he saw a sight that he would never forget. It was a storehouse full of barrels. He walked up to one and could tell by the smell that it was his dream come true, a room full of rum! Valinor quickly drank his flask, and refilled it yet again. Then someone behind him said...
+"I see that you have found the guards' storage. Come along, Valinor, we are in the next room down."
+Valinor turned around to see Antan standing in the doorway. With a wide grin on his face, he followed Antan out and walked into the other room.
+----
+<sub>Valinor (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Morton '''
+Meanwhile, back among the books and tomes, an old man nearly falls to his death when the rug below him unexplainably rises. Men and Women gather around as a figure emerges from the ground below him. Finally a sage, the same one who had led the others on, grabs the giant rug and pulls it off of the figure, revealing a beaten up, dust covered Morton.
+"I think I broke your trap-room," he spoke rather absently to the group. See, there were these gears... and... machines... and... well..." Morton raised one arm which held a twisted, bent, and otherwise disfigured piece of metal.
+Morton was about to continue with something when the sage stopped him with a simple, "Come this way..." Morton followed without protest, and proceeded to nod while being told the same thing the others have, and when they reached the door, Morton paused for a second and turned back to the sage, "What, I didn't quite get that... can you repeat it?" he said, obviously still a little out of it...
+(OOC: sure, move the plot on without me... Grrrr...)
+----
+<sub>Morton (Knight of Salta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Grimm '''
+In a tunnel beyond a tent, in the old city of Kazakh, he was standing right next to his long time no see childhoodfriend. But he doesn't even had a chance to answer. The space was filled with nobels, high and mighty, running and hopping carefully from stone to stone. Nobody had time for explainations, not even Aleister. So Grimm hurried to keep up with them, until they met sarge, this strange man.
+During the meal, Grimm was watching the scene. As he saw his liege Lady Shina, Baroness of Caqueta sitting next to Sire Johnny, Duke of Kazakh and Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua, he was sure, this will be a day, he will never forget. He went over to Lady Shina, to greet her and to get some answers what was happening here.
+"My liege Baroness Shina, I'm glad to see you, even when the circumstances aren't the best. When I heard that so many nobles had disapeared, I was worried. So I'm glad to see that you are as charming as ever..."
+After the sarge has finished, he walked alongside Aleister down to the 'next room'. He was nearly the last one in the row that stepped through the door, but behind it, he couldn't see one single person...
+Suddenly light, a feeling that his boddy was moving, and he stepped into the dinninghall of his families castle. But it has changed. The table and chairs where tossed across the room, the stair had burning marks and the biggest change was a big hole in backwall. As he followed the way his heart led him, he climbed through the hole and walked into the garden behind it. There he saw the nearly twenty new graves. As he walked through them he realized, that his complete family was lying under his feets. This was too much... it can't be. How? Why?
+He spun around, behind him a wolf was howling. Grimm stared into the eyes of a huge grey wolf at least as big as a horse. But no threat was going out of the animal. It seemed to him more that this wolf was here to help him, to guide him... into his mind a picture formed. He had the strong feeling, that his family was still alive, this hasn't happend yet, and if he will solve all taskes asigned to him, this will never happen! With this new spirit within him, he stepped forward, out of this illusion into a room, with banches in it. Some nobles where allready sitting there, Antan, Valinor and Aleister, the others are missing.
+So Grimm went over to Aleister, who also had arrived: "Greetings my friend! What in the name of light is going on here? On my way to Kazakh I heard a strange rumour, that there is a tent in the town, that 'eats' nobles. So I hurried to see it my self. I only met one men there, who gave me only a puzzle instead of answers, few secounds later, I'm landing in a stonecorridor with the highest ranks in OR to hear stories about a Staff that has the power to safe, or destroy us all."
+----
+<sub>Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Aleister '''
+Alesiter explained in few words what had happened before Grimm crashed in the corridor. Then he added:
+"but the worst was what happened between the door and my arriving her. I entered the door, suddenly standing at a river. a ferryman with a black cloak asked for a silvercoin and i gave it to him. crossing the river i saw my father, he has died 2 years ago, when i left the ferry smiling at my father he started accusing me to have wasted the name of the Stormcrow family, that i am unworthy, that i have destroyed the trust between the Stormcrows and the dukes of Kazakh. it was an endless pain to hear all this ... then i realized that my father would never talk to me like this, especially cause his accusitions where untrue ... then it goes poof and i stood in this room, can you imagine ... astral travel!"
+then the door opened and Atan followed by Valinor entered the room.
+"seems like at least we found together again, Valinor. By the way, anybody saw Lady Gertrude?", then he flushed up with shame,"aeh, ... i mean ...", moving around his arms in an helpless gesture," ... she still has my bandana" he added, obviously glad to find an explanation for his obvious interest on the noble, young lady.
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Grimm '''
+After hearing the story from Aleister, he got the first chance to introduce him personally to Antan and Valinor, and when he heard Aleister's words about Gertrude, he smiled at him like he did in the old days. He know how Aleister was feeling and was glad for him... and interrested in seening Gertrude.
+While they was waiting for the others Grimm tried to work out what will come next. He tried to prepare himself for the task to come. His family counts on him.
+----
+<sub>Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Artimus '''
+Artimus notice that some of his companions were gone - but how? The last thing he could remember is their hand on the doorknob.
+Artimus walks up the door and swings it open - and behind the door was a solid wall.
+"What the…." Artimus turns around and finds himself alone in the long corridor, his companions nowhere to be seen - well not exactly alone - he soon notice that the Sage was still there - grinning at him.
+"I will have no more of your trickery sage, old man or whatever you are!" Artimus barks at the Sage - sword drawn and ready to strike. "What have you done with the others?"
+"Me? I have done nothing." The Sage answered calmly.
+"Now boy, what do you plan to do to me?" The Sage asked; his eyes fixed on Artimus's sword. "Are you going to strike me down? To slay and unarmed elderly man in cold blood?" The Sage walked towards Artimus with a sly look on his face.
+"Come no closer Sage, just tell me where are my companions and no one will get hurt!" Artimus tighten his grip on his sword raising it to a striking position.
+"How many? How many sons have you slain in the name of duty?" The Sage took another step towards Artimus.
+-Artimus- "Another step old man, another step and I swear I will cut you down!"
+-Sage- "With what? With that sausage?"
+Artimus glance at his "sword" instinctively but there was no sword, he was indeed "wielding" a juicy sausage and before he could say another word, he felt something piercing through his chest, something cold. Artimus drops to his knees and found a shard of ice piercing through his chest - the demonic laughter of the Sage echoes the hallway.
+-Sage- "Yes youngling, it is magic. Magic is real. Magic is powerful. You are going to die now. You are going to die by something you believe not to exist. Consider yourself lucky for you are one of the few privileged enough to witness such power before you die."
+Artimus struggles up, his bloody eyes glaring at the Sage who is now levitating 2 feet above ground level and laughing. He feels his life force bleeding away.
+-Artimus- "Hey abomination! Thank you for showing me such a neat trick. Here let me repay you by showing you one of my own…"
+Artimus summons every last ounce of strength he could find within his broken body and throws himself at the Sage, bear hugging the Sage as he forces the shard of ice poking out of his body through the Sage. A satisfying smile crosses his face and everything went dark……..
+.
+.
+.
+"Am I dead? Is this how it feels to be dead?" Artimus thought.
+.
+.
+.
+"GET OFF OF ME!" Someone shouted!
+Artimus opened his eyes just in time to finds himself hugging an enraged Arch Priest of Old Rancagua who is now swinging his elbow at him.
+Everything went dark again... ... ...
+----
+<sub>Artimus (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Gertrude '''
+Gertrude heard Aliester say'Anybody seen Gertrude?' "Don't worry Aliester, I was just helping Shina get up here."
+"Can anybody tell me where we are exactly. I kind of got confused back there."
+----
+<sub>Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Morton '''
+Morton stepped through the door, vaguely understanding that the door would send him someplace else where he was needed.
+Suddenly Morton fell to the ground as what was below him fell further. Rain and wind pelt upon him as a storm raged in the midnight sky above. A crashing wave broke ontop the ship, forcing Morton to realize where he was. Instantly he knew, but in the daze from fighting off the machine earlier he could still do little and comprehend less. The ship was tossed by another way, angling steeply to port. Mens shouts could be heard as the crew tried to keep her afloat. Morton lost his ground and rolled across the deck helplessly, and barely caught a railing at the end, the only thing saving him from ending up in the ocean.
+"Morton!" shouted a worried voice through the raging storm. A man could be heard rushing over, and he grabbed Morton's arm and pulled him back to the relative safety of the deck. "I told you to stay inside!" he shouted in Morton's face.
+Morton stopped moving for a full second. No, this couldn't be... what the hell was going on?
+Another wave, a powerful one, hit the ship. "Man overboard!" someone shouted. Morton looked over the edge and saw the man who had just saved him being tossed by the waves of the ocean. He was stunned, terrified to an absolute extreme.
+But then something happened. A powerful forced welled up inside of Morton. He jumped overboard to the man, to help him in any way he could. But then it was over, everything was gone.
+"It didn't happen that way," A voice in his own head spoke to him. "You didn't jump to save him, you did nothing. You watched him die- and you were the only reason he was over there to be thrown into the ocean to begin with."
+Morton then appeared with a flash in the tower in Oroya, seeing Antan and some of the others, but it was not a happy arrival. He quietly made his way to a bench, and buried his face in his hands.
+----
+<sub>Morton (Knight of Salta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Aleister '''
+realizing that even Gertrude herself heard, and for sure recognized his words he blushed even more, what looked somewhat surrealistic on his pale skin ... to get rid of the feeling he truned to Morton:
+"Master Morton, her drink some"
+...with this words he took out the pouch of mead and offered it to the upset noble.
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Rats '''
+Blood continues to seep from the wound. Rats takes off his shirt and bandages it, while listening to the sage. Then, embracing the wall, he slowly stands as others start marching through the door. The world spins and his stomach churns, but he stays standing. He takes a gulp of his water, before moving through the door.
+The room is dark. Dekion, Shina, Johnny, and Antan are talking off in a corner, and Rats is tied to a table. He feels as if all the blood had been drained from him. Trying to move his hands, he realizes his fingers are broken. Where was he? He couldn't think straight, but he sees his torturer looking down on him, starting to cut on him again. Rats' eyes grow wide as he recognizes the face.
+Prometheus.
+Prometheus stabs into his stomach, and Rats screams in pain. Prometheus twists the blade and whispers to Rats, "Betrayed again." Rats spits in Prometheus' face, and the scene disappears to darkness.
+A shaking body collapses in front of the tower. He stands, still shaking, gaining his strength, and his wound just a pain in the back of his mind. He follows the guard into the tower.
+----
+<sub>Rats (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Johnny '''
+Watching Antan and Morton seemingly disappear, Johnny takes a step back and assess the situation. He knows in his heart that they are alive, and it is either just a trick of magic or an optical illusion.
+Mustering up a bit of courage, Johnny steps forward onto a stone slab, a perfect circle. He kneels down, and touches the ground, sensing the presence of Antan and Morton nearby, yet very far away. The slab is warm to the touch, and seems to emitting some intense energy. Johnny is busy looking down at the ground, and doesn't notice things changing all around him..
+He looks up and almost jumps out of his skin. He is now in a deep wood, and it is dark all around. The crickets are chirping loudly, and he is standing once more. The leaves are all off the trees, and it seems winter is approaching. Hearing a crunch on the ground behind him, Johnny spins around, drawing his sword quickly, and puts it at the persons throat.
+At that, Johnny drops his sword to the ground, and throws his arms around his sister, Flo. They hug for a minute, and then he comes to his senses and starts to wonder where the hell he is. "Flo.. it's great to see you, I haven't in almost 6 years now, but if I could bother to ask you a simple question.. WHERE THE HELL AM I?"
+"Well, brother, this is the South East Island. You're in a region called Figobar, in the realm of Sandalak."
+"What!? Not 25 seconds ago I was on my knees in an underground room in the city of Kazakh, on the East Continent!"
+Flo looks at him with a funny grin, and says to him.."Have you seen mom and dad over in Pucullpa? I haven't been there in so long.."
+"Quiet, little sister! Don't you understand, I don't know how I got here! I'm thousands of miles away from where I was just one minute ago!"
+A little concerned for her brother, Flo looked down at the ground.. Johnny spun around on his heel, and began to walk away, trying to find a way back to where he came from.. From behind him, he heard a hiss and snap, and then the most horrilbe scream he had ever heard in his life.
+Johnny turns around to a sight that would make the blood of ever the most daring man boil. Firstly, she was on fire. She wasn't on the ground though, she was just standing there, burning, but her face was showing through the fire.. Johnny, horrified, approached her, not able to do much but just stare.
+In a spitting hiss of a voice, Flo began to speak, enchanted by some force or spirit. "Johnny..sssomething terrible iss afoot. You sseek the staff, the one that ssealed the wallss of Oroya.. There are horrible things to come, and they have infiltrated the highest levels of OR."
+"Who are they?" he asked loudly.
+"They are the Kwarkm...they ssseek it tooo, and they are closer than you are, good friend of old. Sstick by your friendss and your soldierss, trust only those you are sure you can trussst, or you will ssurely die on thiss quest."
+With that, there was a burst of blinding light, much like the ones in the temple under Kazakh.. He looked away, and then back at Flo, and this his surprise she was not on fire any more, and not even burned, but laying unconscious in the dirt and leaves. He bent down and shook her, looking into her eyes, not knowing if she was dead or alive. He began to weep, and it turned into a heavy sob. He could not lose his sister, he just could not. during their childhood she was always his best friend, and they did everything together.. he was weeping heavily now, and he heard someone approaching. He turned to look, and he almost screamed. A man.. maybe a man, or a mix of man and beast, walked from the woods towards them. Johnny, doing the only thing he knew how, drew his sword, and swung it at him. The creature, some 8 feet tall, reached out, and grabbed the sword in mid air by the blade with his bare hands! He threw it to the ground next to Johnny, and Johnny fell down to his knees. He watched as the creature bent to the ground, picked up Flo like she was weightless, and stood up to his full height. He leaned his ear down to her breast very carefully and then smiled. He spoke:
+"Brother of pretty lady Flo, you not be scared, me Little Ogre. I take care of woman, she mean much to me. I will make her better again with special soup. Ikkie parts, heal wound good and fast. You go now, I take her home."
+Johnny, having no idea what the guy just said to him, just stared. The creature, calling himself little ogre, walked away into the darkness, leaving Johnny kneeling there. Johnny picked his sword up, sheathed it, and then just stared at the ground blankly..He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but he heard a very familiar voice behind him. Johnny stood up, and to his amazement, was looking Antan straight in the eyes. "Hello Johhny" said Antan.. "Welcome to Oroya.."
+"You won't believe what just happened to me, Antan.."
+"Believe me,
+(OOC: That RP was a little treat for anyone that has characters in Sandalak on SEI. :)
+I Couldn't figure out how to end it, and I figured we'd throw little ogre into the mix and see how it went.. worked for me!)
+----
+<sub>Johnny, High Marshal of Old Rancagua, Duke of Kazakh, Marshal of the army of Kazakh</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Shina '''
+Shina thought she was prepared as she reached for the doorknob. She imagined a battlefield, covered with dead and moaning wounded. An image that could raise right from hell. She took a deep breath, opened the door and entered.
+... nothing happend ...
+She turned around a few times to watch out for anything strange or for another door where she could pass. The only thing she found was an empty shelf and a few torches on the walls. And there was a big rug in the middle of the room. "Hmmmm ...", she mumbled silently and reached down to lift one corner of the rug, when she heard a noise. It was nearly not noticeable, but it was definitively there. It sounded like a continuous rumbling - and it grew louder. It seemed that the origin was far away, nevertheless it was frightening.
+Suddenly it began to shake. Everything was hit by a strong tremor. It was so intense, that the shelf fell over and Shina could escape with a leap to the side, not a second too early. Then it stopped again. The noise was still there, but the tremble was gone. Something was different ... Again, Shina looked around to spot the difference, but only the position of the shelf had changed. Then she realized it: it was the light. The torches were still lit, but it was dimmer now. Casually, Shina peeled off a fuzz that landed on her shoulder, and another one on her knee. A third one conquered her boot and a fourth .... "Wait", she thought. The Baroness looked up again and froze. It was raining ASH! Her thoughts were rushing, as she remembered too well what happened not to long ago. Without hesitation she turned around and ran to the door she came from. Without stopping she pushed it open ...
+... and stood at a street in Kazakh.
+Confusion. She had to concentrate! What was the last she remembered?
+"I was in Poitiers when a letter from Antan arrived. It said that he needs our help and that we should meet him in a tent in Kazakh. Too bad I didn't found that mysterious tent. In the meantime the army has left towards Stora and I want..." Shina was not able to finish her thought. Another, a stronger quake interrupted her. She lost balance and fell down on her hands and knees. "What the hell ...?", she sank about a half foot into a coat of ash.
+Shina closed her eyes and waited for the tremble to stop. Even if she tried hard to fight her retrospections, her fear was equal like then. Luckily the quake had stopped, and the woman opened her eyes again. She immediately regretted it.
+It was dark. The sky was black. A dense rain of ash was falling down from the unnatural clouds. She was alone. All life was gone. Normally the streets of Kazakh are full of people, of horses, pigs, chickens, rats and birds, all together producing the sound of a city. But noting. Not a single creature was trackable.
+Shina stood up, shaken by her fear and feeling endlessly lonely. Don't knowing what she could do, she started to walk, faster and faster until she was running. And she was sure now ...
+The gray figure was racing towards Kazan through the ash rain. It was difficult to breath and the cover on the ground didn't make the situation easier. Even if this lonely woman needed all concentration to set one foot in front of the other, she had time to think about her situation. Obviously the volcano was erupting again and she needs to warn the army. Shina dared not to think what would happen when the army travels directly into their doom. "Who would be left to rule this realm? Or WHO is left to be ruled?".
+Seemingly after hours she reached the last hill in Kazan where the sight to the sea will be free. Shina slowed down her pace, not only because she couldn't get breath any more. Her legs burnt like fire and she was plagued from stitches in the side since half an hour. But only a few steps part her from the knowledge of her fate. Slowly she was walking to the top of the hill and she could see the sea. It was very rough and foam, gray from the ash, adorned every wave. Then the port appeared at the foot of the hill.
+Normally complete fleets, many cutters and a few smaller boats where waiting at the port of Kazan to get loaded or discharged. But the fleets were gone. Only the cutters got pressed against the pier from the intense waves.
+Shina sighed. How could she alone rescue the complete army of Old Rancagua? What would now happen to her? She was ready to give up, to just lie down in the ash and wait for her end. Even if she could reach the Kalmar Islands, her fear to enter this land, which was created by the strongest power she ever learned to know, was too overwhelming. At this moment, as if the gods had heard her thoughts, another earthquake hit the ground. Shina jumped up in terror, but she couldn't escape. Trembling she waited until the earth calmed down again.
+And then she saw it. Behind the dense curtain of ash she saw the fire. Yes, stories were told and pictures were drawn. But all that had nothing in common with the real thing. It seemed that the whole volcano stood in flames, continuously catapulting burning rocks and heavy ash into the black sky.
+While Shina watched the enduring eruption, she tried to calm herself down. In front of her was the new land, cursed, harboring the volcano, forming even newer land and somewhere, in middle of the chaos, traveled the army of Old Rancagua, including all the people she loved. And behind her was just endless loneliness.
+Slowly she started to move. It wasn't easy to get down this hill with all the slag covering the earth. The little quakes all the time didn't make it easier. But finally, after half an hour Shina, reached the pier. She looked at the forlornly boats waiting for passengers or freight. It was an easy decision. When she was a little girl, her father's friend often took her and her brother with him to the sea and taught them how to sail. It was some time ago, but some things will never get unlearned.
+The sails were quickly hoisted and the Baroness left the port of Kazan to navigate towards Kazan. She permanently told herself that in front of her was "only" the volcano and her friends, and nothing she has to fear.
+Shina has barely left the mole, as she spotted the ships. "Yeahhh! Here they are!", she yelled, and tried to sail faster than the wind. The size of the fleets, or at least those that could be already seen, was impressive. There were more than thousand ships, each one able to pick up hundreds of soldiers. Shina couldn't remember that they had so many ships, neither such a big army. This discovery irritated her so much, that she didn't notice the missing White Tree of Old Rancagua on the flags. Even worse, those ships had no flags at all.
+As Shina recognized the direction in which the ships are sailing, it was too late. She grew stiff once again, and stopped breathing. Her biggest fear turned out to be true right at this moment. From the ships were not waving the nobles of OR towards her.
+As she saw the hordes of undead on the ships, just staring with an empty gaze towards her, she screamed as loud as she could. Right before she had chance to loose consciousness, a "Great wave" hit her boat. At the last moment she grabbed for the railing, as the sailing boat started to roll around it's own axis a few times. Unfortunately it stopped with the upside down, leaving Shina beneath the boat. Already with water in her lungs and no chance to escape from her wet grave, she finally lost her consciousness while her body sank deeper into the sea.
+.....
+Shina barely noticed someone jouncing her shoulder and called her name. She was too exhausted to realize the changed situation and rather felt into a deep sleep.
+The little group in Oroya was perplexed. It wasn't only impossible to wake the Baroness, she was also completely wet from top to toe and a smell of the sea and sulfur filled the air.
+----
+<sub>Shina, Royal Treasurer of Old Rancagua, Baroness of Caqueta</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Grimm '''
+As Grimm saw his liege Lady Shina in her condition, he took off his cape. Fast he cleaned it from the dust he collected in the trapcorridor, and laied it over the shoulders of the Baroness.
+With a glace at the scene, he saw a lot of nobels out of the "dinning" room again, but some of them have changed dramatically. The changes were not big, but he was sure that a lot of old scars where liven up.
+Slowly he walked with Lady Shina over to the branches to give her a rest...
+----
+<sub>Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+== In Oroya ==
+''' Roleplay from Antan '''
+Seeing that the last noble has just been through the passage and not wanting to be attacked by any more jumping people (you know who you are), Antan stands up. Checking over all those with wounds, he offers a few supportive words of courage and to those still shaken by thier experience. However, it is time to move onwards.
+-Antan: "Alright folks, we have to get moving now. I know, it is a pain for everyone, everyone wants some time to rest, it has been a bad ordeal thus far, but we shall carry on. You heard the Sage, the Kwakm are in this very Citadel as we speak. The guards report a large group of people checking over the upper battlements, but this is not a rare occurence. I would still like to check it out however."
+"Now we are faced with a choice, though it pains me to do, we should break apart to further our search. You all saw the picture of that smooth, glistening white stone in the Sage's tome. We all know there will be some form of riddle upon it. Now what the riddle contains..."
+A messenger hurriedly appears, looking quite nervous. He hands a message to Antan quickly and then bolts away in fear, running out of the Citadel. Antan opend the scroll and reads aloud.
+-Antan: "Greetings travlers! Now there are none of you left back here, so I assume you all made it out alright. At least I hope it brought you to the correct place. I have been reported to some damage to our meeting hall and would like a word with whoever broke our testing facility after this is all done."
+Antan casts a smirk over to Morton and chuckles. He continues on:
+-Antan: "Now I have investigated the apprentice's account in more depth and it appears that he had the words the Grin spoke revelaed to him in a dream. I told you all how Girn felt that word riddles were a good way to judge the character of a person, so I suppose this will break the magic covering the stone. The message was as follows:
+"Time was when I was weapon and warrior; Now the young hero hoods me with gold,
+and twisted silver.
+At times men kiss me.
+At times I speak and summon to battle loyal companions.
+At times a courser, Bears me o'er marchland.
+At times a ship bears me o'er the billows, brightly adorned.
+At times a fair maiden fills me with breath;
+At times hard and headless I lie on the board, Bereft of beauty.
+At times I hang winsome on wall, richly embellished, Where revelers drink.
+At times a warrior bears me on a horse, a battle adornment, And I swallow, bright-shining, the breath from his bosom.
+At times with my strains I summon the heroes, Proudly to wine.
+At times I win back spoil from the spoiler, with sounding voice, Put foemen to flight.
+Now ask what I'm called."
+----
+<sub>Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Antan '''
+Antan furrows his brow for a moment, looking over the riddle. He shrugs as he rolls the scroll back up and passes it around to anyone who wants to read it.
+-Antan: "Well my companions. We have a variety of areas to search. There are four main places we need to cover. The battlements, the keep, the foundation, and the throne room. We need at least two people to each place, maybe more."
+"Now you all know the Kwarkm are here. If it is possible avoid them, we do not need them knowing we are here yet. There will be time for a final reckoning I am sure. If it become necessary for a fight, do it as swiftly as possible. I myself am going the to the battlements. If one wishes to follow me speak up."
+"If you find something, send a guard to find the others. We need to investigate every little detail in this Citadel before the Kwarkm can figure it out. Good luck to you all. And beware, this place has many secret passages, it is rumored that not all have been found. It is even said Girn's final resting place is in this castle, so beware."
+With that, Antan turns on a heel and starts climbing the winding staircase to the outer battlments.
+----
+<sub>Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua</sub>
+''' Letter from Aleister '''
+taking the note from Atan, Alesiter reads it again quickly and passes it on to gertrude
+"would you like to accompany me to the throne room, lady gertrude", he trembles a little bit while handing the paper,"would be my pleasure to have you around."
+Did he really just said that!? With a look to Grimm who stood behind Gertrude he realized his old friend smirking from one ear to the other. Blushing he added:
+"aeh ... I ...aeh, excuse me my perkiness, m´lady, i am probably not in the position to talk to you like that."
+before he could turn away, red like an apple in autum, gertrude said:
+"...
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Valinor '''
+Valinor reads over the riddle. Not making any sense out of it, he passes it on and thinks about his next choice, where will he go? He did not feel like going to the foundation, and he had the feeling that the Throne Room was already called for. Valinor took out his flask of rum, took a swig, and placed it back at his side. He turned to the others and said...
+"I will go up to the keep. In case anyone else wants to go with me, I'll wait here."
+----
+<sub>Valinor (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Gertrude '''
+Gertrude is thinking about the that Antan recited when Aliester boldly asks if she would like his company."Aliester, I would very muck like your company, thank you for asking."
+They walk forward looking throughout the throneroom hoping to find something new. After awhile of looking they find nothing.Gertrude slams her fist against the wall in frustration. Suddenly she falls through the floor into a dark chamber."Aliester are you there?Is anybody there?"
+Nothing replies except the cold endless darkness.
+----
+<sub>Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Shady '''
+''Shady continues to read in his room, when suddenly he hears a loud noise from the next room and quickly puts out the light.''
+Hmmm...someone is here....
+''Shady gets up and heads over to the door, and hears someone talking. He then opens the door and sees it is Gertrude''
+....how did you manage to find this place?
+----
+<sub>Shady (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Aleister '''
+Seeing Gertrude falling thru the floor, Aleisters heart wanted to break ... with a jump that would made a hero envioushe tried to grab her hand, but she was gone.
+"you idiot, having an eye on her security, you promised to yourself!" he mumbled to himself
+sliding over the floor his face stopped just in front of the hole ... slowly the tile moved back that has given way to the room where Gertrude has to be ... far away he heard Gertrudes voice calling for him, without further consideration he rolled in the hole, falling down a steep, worn out stair ... landing in total darkness on a rough stonefloor. quickly he took out his flintstone litting up the torch he was able to spare from the narrow trapcorridor. when it lit he could see the room he landed in and Gertrude ... thanks to all gods she seemed uninjured.
+"wow, seems you found a hidden passage, i am proud of your company, you are full of surprises", he smiled but the smile became a grimace of horror when he further put the room in light
+... just one doorframe leading out of it. and in the doorframe a black creature with a huge spiked wooden mace 2 and a half meters high, covered in filthy furs and red glowing eyes made it a monster jumped out of a nightmare.
+approachless the creature attacked Gertrude and would probably killed her with one strike from behind. Aleister was barely able to put the torch in its face before this could happen and with a loud shriek the beast turned in his direction, obviously thinking he is the greater problem.
+while holding the torch he couldnt do much about it but trying to avoid to get hit. it was his luck that the room was big enough to give some room to act ... throwing the torch in the middle of the room, hoping it will keep burning he rolled back to get some distance between him and the ugly creature to get enough time drawing his sword ...
+"try to stabb it from behind",he shouted to Gertrude ...
+... with a few lightningquick hits he was able to bind the creature in melee and hit it a few times but this damn thing just got furious about it and slashed back even harder and quicker ... with a hard crush to his shoulder the monster wiped him away like a puppet, smashing him to one off the walls ... to fast steps in his direction and it stood over him striking out widely ... the world seemed to slow down and he realized, that would be the end of his journey ... and his last thoughts where filled with the people his heart belonged to, his sister Caitlin, his brother and mother, Grimm, Gargal, his friend and second in command and ... Gertrude ...
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Gertrude '''
+She saw Aliester fall in terror. No, nobody will die she thought to herself. She drew her blade to battle this vile creature. It's mace crashed against her blade. Blood poured forth from the beast as they fought. Finally it fell. She ran to Aliester. He felt for any signs of life. Finally she found a pulse. "Wake up, wake up damn you!I won't let you die!"
+She did everything she could think of. Finally he woke up. "You're alive!"Gertrude screamed in joy. Then she heard Shady's voice saying' what are you doing here?'
+----
+<sub>Gertrude (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Grimm '''
+Grimm had carefully read the last passage. again and again, till he realized, that a few others where waiting for it too. so he passed it on, but the words echoed in his head.
+''"a puzzle, again. they must be crazy about it"''
+And as group spitted up, and he realized, that Aleister and Gertrude had left the room together, he decided to go down to the foundation. There was the point where it began, where first stones of tower were laying. So if something was hidden for long, it was a good point to look for it.
+''"hear you when you find something..." he said while leaving the room, heading downstairs.''
+----
+<sub>Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Aleister '''
+Aleister awoke in an ashfield, in any direction till the horizont ... ashes, ashes, ashes ... the whole land breathed out the foul odor of hopelesness, sucking on aleisters will. slowly he turned around finaly making a few steps in a direction.
+He felt his left arm hanging down usless like something that issntt part of his body any more but there was no pain, when a cold voice started to wisper in his head:
+"why, should you move? ... its hopeless. this ashdesert is everywhere, you cant go anywhere ... you are already there"
+"no, that cant be ... Staff of Grin ... ... i have to find, Gertrude ... the Kalmarians attack ... we ...", a groaning with pain ended his mumbling, when he fell over and landed in the thick carpet of ash the land was covered with. while listening again to the cold voice that preached the end of hope his last resources of willpower slipped away leaving him in an endless loop of agony ... after aeons of timelesness somebody turned him around and dropped some water in his mouth ... when opened his eyes in pain he looked at an ancient warrior, with red hair, pale skin and huge tatoos everywhere on his body ... his face covered with blue color.
+"Hey, Aleister ... come back ... time to go", another sip of water flushed thru his mouth, "hey, its time to go back ... you dont know where you are, right?"
+Aleister noded no
+"Forget about your questions for a second, cause we have no time to waste. follow me we will talk while walking", the warrior said, helping up Aleister back on his feet.
+"I will explain everthing to you.My name is Aeducnos, what means in your tongue, the one who is born in the fire ... i was sent to rescue you by the Thing ... you ... i have a request ...", Aeducnos stopped walking and turned around to Aleister,"the familysword of yours, the Needle of the Stormcrow",
+pointing at the sword in Aleisters backharness... "can i ... can i touch it? ... just touch it?"
+Aeducnos noded and his companion touched the sword for a couple of seconds, with a gentle smile he turned back to Aleister:
+"thank you ... this a great honor ... in your realm this sword is already more than 1500 years old ... but in this realm the sword is legendary and far older than 5000 years ... what you see around you is a future that will take place when you die."
+Aleister stopped walking:
+"what are you talking about", he said with a scratchy voice
+"when you die now, leaving behind your responsibilities against, the duke of kazakh, Old Rancagua and Gertrude, the sword will be lost, swallowed by the war that will flush over Old Rancagua ... then you will not pass it to your daughter, cause you will never get married ... and at the end of some minor actions it will not fight in the battle at Mount McClarence what will end in the total destruction of the world. you are just a small string in the fabric of time, but you can change things even when it takes about 3500 years till the total impact can be realized. lets take this wisdom with you when you are back: A single man can make a difference, never forget this"
+... with the echo off this last words in his head he faded out again.
+Aleister woke up by Gertrude trying her best to reanimate him. When he opened his eyes his heart cheered in happiness to see Gertrudes face ,the pain in his shoulder crushed in his brain but he was able to control it at the moment ... then a unknowen voice said:"What are you doing here? ... how did you manage to find this place?"
+he reached to his sword, the legend as he realized in the second ... finding it half a meter away, laying on the floor ... when he tried to grab it he fell over, moaning in pain when he crashed on his left shoulder again.
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Rats '''
+Rats decided to take a break. While everyone split off into separate parties, he needed a bit of rest, as much as it pained him to admit. It would be a few days before he could see his healer, but he would manage. Battle wounds are nothing new to any noble of Old Rancagua.
+"I think I'll head to the battlements, with Antan," he said to those remaining. In truth, he wanted some fresh air, and to be away from the others. Exhausted and weak, he left.
+----
+<sub>Rats (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Grimm '''
+When Grimm wanted to close the door behind him, someone hold it open. But he didn't take notice. Still worried about this mystic riddle, they have to solve, he searched for a way down to the base of the Tower of Oroya.
+The corridor he was standing in, was huge. He couldn't think of a better word to describe it. Of course someone could have mentiont the fine carpets, hanging on the walls, showing the emblems of the oldest families in whole OR, or the portraits that seem so realistic, that someone would never feel alone while waking through this hallway. But first of all, it was huge..
+''..Now the young hero hoods me with gold, and twisted silver.''
+he was mumbling while he searched for a passage downstairs.
+''What would a young hero cover with gold and silver?''
+When he found the stairs he took a glance back, and saw many of the nobles leaving the room, heading for different directions. No sign of the intruders this far, but to take no risk he got his sword ready. Silverfang, the sword of his father, that had been within the family as long as he knew. It wasn't straight like most of the swords you see now a days, it had a little curve and the shaft was red. If you every looked into the mouth of a wolf that was ready to attack, you will get the same feeling from this sword. Like a perfect sharp tooth it rested in the hand of Grimm. When drawn you could only hear a soft smack as you hear it when a wolf has choosen his prey and was going for it.
+Armed and ready, he continued his way. Back in his head, he still heard the passages of the riddle.
+When he came to a crossing he waited for the other(s) to catch up with him...
+----
+<sub>Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Johnny '''
+Johnny, familiar with the city of Oroya, walked away from the others to search for a man he only knew as Grey. He was a magic man, not known by many, but he had been introduced to him when he was a child growing up in Pucullpa. The man administered a glowing herb concoction to a fatal wound his father received in a fight with a rogue monster, and the next day, his father was in perfect health and only a small scar remained.
+Johnny climbed to the highest levels of the city, to where he stood and looked around for a door. He looked for almost an hour, when he finally saw it. Between two large stone columns, with barely enough room to squeeze through, was a door. Johnny went to the door, and entered it. Inside, it was grim and dark, smelling of herbs and weeds. He called out to no one in particular ''"hello?"''
+No answer.
+He took a few steps forward and stopped, hearing a creak in the floor behind him. He felt the sword point being held against his back, and he slowly turned around, hands in the air. When Grey and him made eye contact, the sword fell to the floor, and Grey threw his arms around him in embrace. ''"My lord Johnny, how are you!? It has been far too long, young friend!" "Too long, old man, it has been too long."''
+''"Well what can I do for you young man?"''
+''"Here is the reason I came. There are strange things afoot right now old man Grey. Have you ever heard of the Kwarkm?"''
+''"Why yes I have, dear boy.. I count 23 of them in this city alone right now. They are not easy to spot, but with a trained eye, you can pick them out..Why do you ask?"''
+''"..Well, they seek something. Something you have probably never heard of. It is called the staff of Girn.''
+The old man coughed hard at that, and shielded his face for a minute, and then looked up and said ''"No.. no I've never heard of it.. trailing off into silence..''
+''"Right then.. well, my main question to you is about a stone.. the last stone placed to build the Citadel of Oroya.. with strange markings on it.. Could you help me on my quest?"'' said Johnny.
+''"Ah.. I know if this stone.. I cannot tell you where it is, but I can aid you in finding it my friend.. I'll be right back. Sit, you'll need your strength."''
+Johnny sat, and the old man busied himself in a cupboard for about 5 minutes, and then came back holding a single red leaf in his hands. He handed it to Johnny. ''"Eat this. It will guide you on your way. That is all I can offer you, young friend.."''
+Looking down at the leaf, Johnny noticed it was covered in some strange shiny film, and it almost seemed to shimmer. Out of options, he put the leaf in his mouth, chewed a few times and swallowed…
+His whole world began to swirl and rotate. Colors melted into eachother. He looked at the old man and he began to sway back and forth, like he was made out of some sort of clay. His features seemed to be melted off of his body… He rose, and began to stumble around the small house. He felt a shove at his back, and was thrust out the door, onto the damp stone.. Johnny rose, shouted something completely incoherent, and then started to stumble away.
+Everything was vibrating now. It felt to him as if an earthquake was trembling the city of Oroya.. He stumbled towards the edge of the parapet, and looked out on the city.. He saw blue flame engulfing everything. The sky was pink, and seemed to dripping and melting into the city, combining to form one picture. Johnny lost his balance watching this, and fell forward off the stone wall, and fell.
+He fell for what seemed like an eternity. With a loud splash, he landed in a mote, some 100 feet below. This sobered him up, just a bit, and when he finally broke the surface, he managed to grab onto a rock shelf and pull himself out of the water. He crawled on his hands and knees into a small back archway in the out walls of the city, and immediately started sliding down this long slippery slope. He slid for only half a minute, and was tossed onto a wooden floor, with a rope running up the middle of it to a location out of sight above.
+The wooden floor then shuddered for a minute, and then began to rise, being pulled by the rope. It rose slowly at first, and then began to rise faster a faster, until it finally banged to a stop and Johnny was throw in the air, landing on his back on a new stone floor, this one dry.
+The cavern he was now in was dimly lit by candles, and flames just seemed to be laughing at him, and playing tricks on his eyes. A few times he drew his sword because he thought something was stalking him, but eventually he wrote it off as the drugs and put his sword away, clipping it into his sheathe. He walked around the room a few times, realizing it was a complete circle, with seemingly now way out.
+In a final act of desperation to escape, he began kicking the stone walls, kicking every stone he could find. When his toes were bleeding inside of his boots, he was about to stop, when he kicked one last stone, and then collapsed on the ground. When he landed, he fell in some sort of broken clay shards.. He then looked up at the wall, and saw that he had chipped away a piece of clay when he was kicking. He reached out and grabbed at the corner of one of the pieces, and started pulling away.. When he was done, he marveled in amazement at a white piece of stone, a perfect square, embedded into the wall. It was covered in strange markings that he could not make out, possibly due to the drugs (which were starting to wear off) or because he just couldn't read the language.
+When he finished looking over the words, and tracing them with his fingers, he felt a strong wave of nausea come over him. Rolling over he wretched on the ground next to him. Sitting up, feeling horrible, Johnny remembered Antan telling them about the stone, and the riddle.. He thought over the riddle again, and could not figure it out for the life of him..
+Starting to feel dizzy again, Johnny grabbed onto the floor and held on. A noise grew and grew in his head, louder and louder, like some kind of siren or horn blowing in the distance. It grew so loud that he almost went mad.. He didn't think he could take much more of this, when all of a sudden it hit him.. A horn! It is a horn!
+He saw the riddle again in his head, and he had the answer. He screamed out for the others ''"I know it, I know it... ..."''. and then he began to lose consciousness, not really knowing if anyone had heard him.
+He knew there was an easier way into this chamber, most likely from above, and probably using the elevator.. but that was of no concern to him right now. His eyesight began to fail him, and slipped into unconsciousness. His last thought was ''"I hope they get here soon.. for I know the answer to the riddle.."'' and he was asleep.
+----
+<sub>Johnny, High Marshal of Old Rancagua, Duke of Kazakh, Marshal of the army of Kazakh</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Aleister '''
+Aleister, reached out further to the sword, moaning in pain. Finaly he could reach it with his fingertips and manouver it in his direction. Seconds later he lent against the wall, the sword in his lap. taking out the pouch of mead and drinking a huge gulp he answered, feeling hes lifespirits coming back:
+"Master Aleister is the name, Aleister Stromcrow ... and you might be?"
+Well aware of the fact that his shoulder makes him useless in battle at the moment he tries to be friendly even when the situation would suggest otherwise ...
+"some mead?"
+and speaking to gertrude:
+"you of course to, if you want ...", mumbling," ... guess you saved my life ... i owe you one ..."
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Shady '''
+''Shady walks over the monster, who is badly wounded and starts trying to save it's life. While working, Shady looks up at the two people, still not sure who they are, and what they are doing here as it remains dark.''
+I suggest you either both explain very quickly what your doing here...or leave now. I have very important work to attend to here, and now have to try and save this monsters life that you so brutally hurt.
+''Shady goes back to trying to save the monster's life, while continuing to watch the two people, waiting for either and answer of them to leave.''
+----
+<sub>Shady (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Morton '''
+Morton had continued to sit quietly as the new details had come in and many had left to search for the stone. His thoughts were dark, dreary, and persistent. He had wanted to forget about that time, that night, and there was awhile in which he had. But it was all back now. The events of that night played themselves back in his head over and over. Finally he realized the current happening, and shaking his head, stood up from the bench in the bottom of the guard tower. "I can't do this, I just can't deal with this right now," Morton spoke, not even looking to see if anyone was still there. He left the guard tower, walking oblivious to the world. He walked out, through the city of Oroya, oblivious to most everything until he suddenly bumped into someone on the outskirts. "Excuse me..." Morton said in a melancholy voice before looking up and seeing...
+----
+<sub>Morton (Knight of Salta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Aleister '''
+... loosing his temper and using his precious sword as a walking stick Aleister stands up ...
+"brutaly hurt? ... this ... this ... thing first wanted to kill Gertrude, than it tried to kill me, what it nearly was able to manage as i might add, it ruined my shoulder and now come her complaining about you are loosing time by this? ... isnt it obvious to you that there is something going totally wrong in this picture",
+gulping down another flush of mead he continues,
+"... we are her on behalf of Atan, the archpriest if you wonna know more you better answer a few questions yourself... and you better tell me at least your name, or shall i adress you as father beast in the future? ... first of all do you know of some ''Kwarkm'' lurking around in the area .... cause if the answer is yes you probably need a few more monsters right now!" ...
+putting the pouch on his lips again he awaits an answer ...
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Antan '''
+Antan walks around the battlements at a brisk pace. He looks around for oddly colored rocks and stones. Shrugging, he turns back to the main tower. He thinks, "Well that was a waste. Maybe the others have been more successful. We can only hope so."
+Antan descends down to the main tower, sighing as no one seems to be there. He looks around and hears some strange groaning noises. Taking his great axe from his backstrap, he begins to follow the noise. He puts his ear to the wall and braces his hand against a stone for support. Suddenly, he falls forward, dumped into a small tunnel.
+Dusting himself off, he looks around. There is a singel ladder going a long ways upwards, towards the noise. Antan sheates his axe once more and begins to climb up, up, up. Finally reaching the top, Antan takes out his long hunting knife, gripping it in his teeth. He pushes upwards, forcing the above trapdoor open.
+Underneath the rug that was covering the door, Antan snakes out of the trapdoor. He hopes that someone was ignorant enough not to niotice he arrival. The noise begins again, Antan scratches his beard for a moemnt. "Aleister? And Shady? What in the world is Shady doing here?" Antan begins to stand up quickly to investigate...too late to realize the rug was under a tremendously heavy oaken table. Antan looks around for a moment before he fades off to a quiet sleep...
+----
+<sub>Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Shady '''
+''While working, and watching the two, he finally hears on speak.''
+Antan you say? He sent you looking for something about the Kwarkm? No they are not here...are you saying they are loose?...
+''Antan walks in''
+Many people are coming here today. This is either a sign of people being very nosy, or things are not right outside these walls. Is all you seek is information about the Kwarkm? Also, if you don't mind, I could use some help healing my monster here.
+----
+<sub>Shady (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Grimm '''
+Standing there in the basements of the tower, he heard stepps coming from a corridor and closing in. But it seemed to him, that this wasn't the direction, the nobles should came from. To make sure not to run into troubles too early this day, he stepped behind one of the huge carpets, and waited for the steps to pass by. While he waited, he made sure to have a view over the crossing, without being seen to easy. Few secounds later, a person covered in a black robe strode past him, heading down. He couldn't see the persons face, because it was hidden under the hood of the robe, and he hadn't seen any emblems or other sign of membership, because the person didn't wear any signs...
+Grimm waited till the steps moved around the next corner, then he followed. Always sneaking and taking care not to move, when the person stops, they both went down to the foundation of the tower.
+Shortly before Grimm reached the end of the stairs, a conversation between two men started. It was a foreign language and Grimm couldn't understand what they talked about. But it seemed to him, that they got upset over something. He risked a glaze at the scene, and now he saw two robes, standing at a wall in the room, where the first stone of the castle was lying in the middle. On it the pillar rested, that bears most of the weight of the tower. On the wall behind the two men he saw two big statues. They symbolised the founders, and in the middle of them on a flat marmor tablet, was something written.
+Grimm couldn't wait until they will discover him, or they decided to leave the room. So he sneaked into to room, trying to use the big pillar as cover. Suddenly both men went silent, and Grimm wasn't sure, have they heard him or were they just thinking over something. So the silence was broken by smacking noise and he rushed around the pillar. He got the first one in the back, so he was easy prey. But the other one saw him cutting his comrade down and draw a bloody dagger. Grimm tried to doge, but he couldn't get his leg away from the dagger, and so he received a long cut. The pain that was rising from his leg to his brain was transformed into anger and with this boost he jumped into the dagger swinging robe.
+''..by the powers of Light..''
+The strike was good and when he came to a halt, he pinned the robe to the nearest wall. But that was all he got, the robe. The person within was gone. When he turned around, so was the other one. Two empty robes, two bloody daggers and a piece of paper were all that remained. He looked at the wall, where he has pinned the second one and the blood told him, that he has at least caused him a serious wound.
+Grimm tried to calm down. After cleaning Silverfang he put it back into the sheath and then he looked after his wounded leg. Then he noticed the paper the intruders lost. He gave it a try, but all he could tell was that the writer had a nice handwriting. So he put it into his pocket and studied the wall with the mamor and the statues.
+While reading the passage written on it, Grimm had to remember the stories he had heard about the foundation. He wasn't sure, but something in the text seemed wrong to him. He read the text again and a third time. Then he was sure. One of the battles described didn't take place in summer, it couldn't be, because it was won because of the frozen lake used as trap. when he touched the letters of ''summer'' on the big marmor plate, a cracking went through the room. Then one of the statues pointed with a finger to the other wall, where a small passage, big enough to let a child pass without problems, opened. Grimm smiled. Even when the two intruders had discovered the narrow gap, they were to big to get through. For him it was at least possible. When he looked into it, there was a corridor behind. The way behind was bigger then the gap and so he crawled through and stood on the other side. There Grimm saw an other marmor plate. When he pushed it, the door closed. Now the remaining intruders will have their problems.
+After following the corridor for a few minutes he reached a small room with a rope that was tangling in the air. One end of the rope disappeared between the stones of the floor. The room was high, so damn high that Grimm couldn't see the ceiling, and there for he couldn't see the other end of the rope. After short consideration he decided to climb up.
+Even with his hurt leg, it went quite good until he was about 20 feet in the air. Suddenly the rope started to move. First slowly, than it accelerated. Up and up it goes. He passed by an other entrance, where water was flowing and light was falling in. Shortly after the rope has reached his maximum speed, then all out of a sudden the rope stopped. Grimm, who slicked to the rope with all his power, was shortly levitating, then gravity remembered him and he was sucked down. Now the rope has changed its mind and was moving downward.
+''guess it wouldn't look nice if i hit the ground at this speed..'' Grimm thought by himself and then remembered the other entrance he had passed. He prepared himself to jump. Only one change and he will take it. He saw the light, coming closer,.. not now.. not now.. NOW..
+He jumped and landed in the water of this entrance. When he looked up, he saw..
+----
+<sub>Grimm (Knight of Caqueta)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Aleister '''
+Somehow paralyzed Aleister looked at shady, not relly believing that somebody could be acting like this in such a situation. while he looks from Atan to Shady, to Gertrude and back he looses one of the leatherbelts from his armor and starts to firmly book his left arm to his breast.
+"this will work out for a while, guess i need a healer soon", and in the direction of Atan, ignoring Shady for the moment,
+"hope you had more luck, arch priest ... heard anything from Duke Jonny or Valinor?"
+----
+<sub>Aleister (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Shina '''
+Slowly, Shina woke up. It was a long and deep sleep, so it took a while until she realized her surrounding. She was in a room she had never seen before. There where benches along the walls, and on one of them she was lying. But noone else was there. "Where am I?", she asked herself. Then she remembered: the volcano, the undead, the water ... "Am I dead?" A tremble rushed through her body. Shina looked down at her and saw a cape wrapped around her. Beneath that she wore her own cloathes, still wet. "What is happening here?", insecurity preoccupied her. The last she remembered was her drowning in the sea.
+Confused she stood up. "Atchoo! .... Atchooo!". Shina had to smile a bit. Dead men don't sneeze. She decided to find the hero who rescued her and brought her to Kazakh.
+The Baroness left the room and immediately balked. "Oroya ??? I am in Oroya?". Without doubt, she stood right below the main tower of the citadel. Happily she noticed that the city was full of life. Shina sighed. "Atchoo!" - "Slainte!", yelled a smiling peasant. It was not common to see the Banker wet and sneezing in the middle of Oroya. Shina turned slightly red, dragged on the hood of the cape and pulled it down into her face. She had to fine someone who knows whats going on or who knows who's cape this is. So she walked down the street, watching out for someone she knew.
+----
+<sub>Shina, Royal Treasurer of Old Rancagua, Baroness of Caqueta</sub>
+== The End (not written yet) ==
+''' Roleplay from Antan '''
+Antan comes to in Shady's room. He looks around for a moment, taking in his surroundings. He stands up stiffly before putting his hand on his temple. He groans in pain as he staggers backwards. When he opens his eyes he has a wild look in them. "We must hurry. Johnny is in trouble. The Staff is almost lost."
+Antan tears off outside, yelling for all the knights of Old Rancagua still nearby. "Hurry! Hurry! We need to gather! We need to speak the answer to the riddle to the stone!" After all the knights have been rounded up, Antan hears a faint noise. It is the sound of someone calling from inside the tower. Antan rushes off at a frantic pace, following every corridor he has learned in his time in Old Rancagua.
+When they burst into the room where Johnny is, there is a massive congregation there already. Antan staggers back as he shuts his eyes. A cold, gravelly voice sweeps across his mind in an unspoken word: "You are not to come here. You have failed. The Staff is ours, fear our power!!!"
+A hulking man in a black cloak lowers his hand as Antan opens his eyes once more. He grits his teeth in determination yelling to his companions, "To arms! To arms! Drive of the infidels! Purge them from our lands!" Antan bellows out a challenge as he leaps into the center of the large congregation of cloaked figures who have begun to unsheate all varieties of horrid instruments of destruction. Swinging his axe about violently, Antan begins to make his way to where Johnny is located. Valiently defending the long sought after stone of lore.
+----
+<sub>Antan, Arch Priest of Old Rancagua</sub>
+''' Roleplay from Rats '''
+The healer said it was infection from the wound. Rats, sweating and burning with a fever, lay in a bed. His side had been burning earlier, but they put some herbal concoction on it to soothe the pain. They couldn't do anything about the infection, it would heal on its own, or he would die.
+It wasn't just an infection. Something else had forced it to progress too quickly. The healer assumed that there was poison on the blade, which had significantly weakened Rats' immune system and had fed the infection.
+He woke with a start, the last fragments of a bad dream played in his mind. Someone was standing over him, looking at him.
+"Sir, I'd appreciate it if you didn't die," Mira said sitting in a chair near him. "The men don't take too kindly to taking orders from me."
+"I guess they'll have to get used to it," Rats said, rolling his head to peer at her. "The staff? Did they find it yet?"
+"Staff, sir? You won't be needing a cane, will you? I'd hate to see try to fight the Avamarians with a cane."
+"Ha." Rats smiled weakly. "You would enjoy that too much."
+"Who are you talking to, sir?" The healer inquired as she walked in with a bowl of soup. Rats looked at her, then looked over at where Mira was sitting. No one was there.
+"No one," Rats said with a sigh. "I just need some more sleep." And with that, he drifted off...
+----
+<sub>Rats (Knight of Kazakh)</sub>
+''' ... to be (hopefully) continued ... '''