Group 20

Cananatra · Post by **Cananatra** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 8:59 pm

"Call me strange but I dont like the look of this." Cananatra said as he gazed at the two approaching armies. Wait a minute, this ghost seems terribly fond of sandesque games. Looking at the army of undead a sinking feeling crept over him. "Either the ghost we want is in that big army somewere, or we're so dead." Situation soon unfold, hardly a fair situation. Plunging his sword into the sand, cananatra stood watching the nearing armies.

"Any Ideas guys? I'm stumped. I'm good, but I'm no god.

Bubonicus · Post by **Bubonicus** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:31 pm

For one brief moment, Dai thought he was burning alive again. The stinging sand sweeping through his clothes, the rush of heat as if from a furnace; it was too much to bear. As a shameful scream of complete terror began to claw it's way out his throat, a small part of him reflected that one could go quite mad in this place. How long before his mind was as warped as his body?

The sand suddenly settled as the backdraft of heat lost it's power, and Dai's scream emerged as a tiny whimper as the shock of the heat faded, although the temperature remained the same. Normally, he would have been swift to reprimand his own cowardice. It's a blessing from Khaine that I'm not curled up on the floor weeping. Fire was the exception.

Cryptic bastard, he fumed, a snarl twisting his face under his veil. His hands tightened on his daggers. He felt personally slighted by that last sorcery. Good, one more test, and then we'll end this. Even undeath won't keep me from slicing you into bloody strips.

What now? he thought, but anything coherent was momentarily purged from his mind as pure white pierced through his eyes. And suddenly he was in the light of the blazing sun. He had previously had no idea it was possible to be this temperature and not spontaneously combust. His sodden body-wrappings and winter cloak were a choking prison. He tore the cloak and hood from his body, and only the stunning landscape before his eyes prevented him from clawing away his veil. Of all the gods...how is this possible? It's just like the painting...

As the two forces resolved themselves from the heat shimmer, the sight became even more unbelievable. All that had transpired since they had entered the mansion, Dai could have looked back on as sorcery, trickery, and perhaps the basis of an unbelievable tavern tale or two. But somehow, they had gone from the intimate confines of corridors and rooms, of being the spirit's personal playthings, to being nothing. This was epic. This was legend. He had to believe this was illusion. He forced himself to believe that what the spirit had said was a lie. It was either that or accept that he and his comrades had been flung through time and space within the blink of an eye. If that was the case, then this whole endeavour had been pointless; the being they were dealing with wasn't some paltry poltergeist. They were playthings for a god.

Right. Another illusion. Right. Yes. Yesyesyes. Dai tore his eyes away from the hulking constructs, took a deep breath, and reached down to pick up his discarded cloak. As he was crouched down, he drew his daggers, plunged them into the sand, and used the grit and the lining of his cloak to quickly clean them. The ritual helped focus his mind.

Dai looked up at Cananatra, and spoke while he continued to clean his weapons. "Those skeletons are adorned in gold similar to the warrior in the painting, and the illusion that sliced you in half. I think we have to choose whose side we're on; the spirit's, or this other army."

The buoyancy of water · Wed Apr 29, 2009 6:51 pm

OOC: Right, I'm going to leave this until weekend because I have an exam tomorrow, then I'll be posting. Cananatra and BuBonicuS, you may want to talk between yourselves until then and come up with a plan of action, since no one else is around...

Warning for everyone else: Just because the group is ending doesn't mean you can stop posting. I will kill off people who don't post!!

Finally, the worst of my work is over, so the group might not be ending as I thought!!

Cheers,
Dave

Bubonicus · Post by **Bubonicus** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 6:58 pm

Dai rose to his feet and sheathed his daggers. He had regained his calm demeanour, although his heart was still pounding in his covered ears, an accompaniment to the agonizing heat and the rumble of the approaching armies.
He looked pointedly at either army before turning to the warrior. "Look, this -god- spirit could have killed at us any time. There was no need for him, or it, to bring us to this ... faraway place to be done with us. I think its giving us an opportunity to side with it, rather than oppose it for a change. As detestable as it may be, I think we should march with the undead."

Cananatra · Post by **Cananatra** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 8:48 pm

"I agree, though for different reasons. This is his game, we cant beat him joining the others. However, we might get close enough to him to use the box if he's in there."

Tich · Post by **Tich** » Fri May 01, 2009 1:23 am

"I also agree that we side with the undead if that is at all possible, though I believe we should do it mostly because I dont like the idea of us having to fight those big guys, like they say if you can't beat em join em. Plus Dai makes a good point, but whatever we do, we shall have to do it fast."

OOC: I am sorry I have not posted lately, uni has been insane, 16 hours days the last few weeks but it looks like the work load has dropped a bit so.....

The buoyancy of water · Sat May 02, 2009 4:11 pm

OOC: No worries Demendred, I've been ging through the same recently. It looks like I might have to wait until Monday evening/Tuesday morning to post now as I have reports and assignments to be doing this weekend :cry:

If the others don't post by then we'll have to continue without them. It's not like they haven't had enough time or something...

Very, very sorry for the current posting speed. After the next post everything will be getting back to normal speed, provided all of you are also able? If not, let me know and I won't speed back up just yet.

Cheers,
Dve

Bubonicus · Post by **Bubonicus** » Thu May 07, 2009 11:21 am

OOC: Yeah, Uni's been pretty crazy for me as well. It's almost over, but I'll be out of the country from the 13th until the 18th, and then the 23rd to the 3rd of June.

IC: Dai nodded as the others spoke. I wonder if the spirit knows that we have a weapon to use against him? He turned to look at the creeping tide of bleached bone and shimmering gold making its way inexorably towards them. If they were wrong, they would be cut down in seconds. "Well comrades. Shall we?"

Once everyone is sure of their plan of action, Dai will fall into step with the undead army.

The buoyancy of water · Fri May 08, 2009 2:13 pm

Just as the group comes to a conclusion as to what to do under the baking hot sun of the desert a small band of horse riding men suddenly notice them. The horsemen are lightly armoured and dressed in dark furs and simple leather cloth. The small amount of armour they do wear is made of some form of dark beaten metal that doesn’t seem to reflect the dazzling sunlight. Their horses buck and snort as the riders pull on their reins and change direction, heading straight for the group. As they close they pull large flails from behind their backs. The flails appear heavy, and each as several chains that end in a mixture of barded hooks and steel balls. From the speed the horsemen approach it looks like they will ride straight through the group and try to drag victims away, caught on the vicious hooks. The group quickly reach for their weapons, trying to prepare for the attack. It seems like an impossible fight to win and everyone in the group can’t help but stare at the wicked hooks with apprehension.

Just as the horsemen get within firing range the ground beneath the group begins to rumble ominously. The very sand begins to shift almost directly under the group and a large hole begins to form. Most of the group manage to jump out of the way, but Rekok is not so lucky, and with a cry of terror he is sucked into the sands. As his shout dies away there is a quiet lull as everyone, including the horsemen, watch the hole for movement. Then, with an ear splitting roar, a gigantic scorpion erupts from under the ground. The beast seems to be made of bone, wood and stone, with a pair of claws bigger then a horse and a long tail that ends in a golden spike. During the chaos of its appearance the creature flails its claws from side to side. One of these hits Alidith with a sickening crunch, and he is flung over the heads of the rest of the group, landing in a heap some twenty feet away. Ignoring the elves, the scorpion scuttles straight towards the horsemen.

The two opponents collide with a bone-shattering crash. Flails bounce off the rock body of the scorpion and hooks wrap around its legs, but the creature ignores these completely as it stabs and snaps with its stinger and claws. Dust whirls up around the combatants and for a short moment the group looses sight of the duel. When the dust clears the scorpion still stands, though it appears to be struggling to remain upright. The horsemen all lie still around the scorpion. The creature nearly falls because of its wounds, but a powerful voice calls out from behind the group, speaking some form of spell. Parts of the scorpion that had been smashed or knocked completely off the creature knit back together and return to its main body. After a pause the scorpion charges off towards the human army. The source of the voice appears to be a frail, withered creature wielding a golden staff. It seems to be controlling a large portion of the troops around it, pointing towards the enemy and constantly shouting commands. Looking along the small gap between the two armies several more scorpions are spotted, now all scuttling towards the humans.

The group is now between two groups, one of skeleton warriors armed with a mixture of close combat weapons who are accompanied by the old priest, while the other group consists of a large unit of lightly armed humans who are currently engaged with the scorpion. Without it being healed again it looks like the scorpion will soon fall, though many men lie dead around it. Both groups are approximately ten feet away. It is time to choose sides…

Bubonicus · Post by **Bubonicus** » Wed May 13, 2009 1:35 am

The sand hasn't even settled from the scorpion's arrival and we've already lost two. And this battle is about to escalate a thousand fold thought Dai, drawing his crossbow. Have to survive this. The earth shook with the sheer size of the approaching armies, and as Dai sighted down the bolt, he tried to imagine the impossible roar of battle as these two sides met. Brawls on roads and in taverns was one thing, but this was a battle on a scale he had never conceived of.
As he obaerved his unintentional saviour do battle with the group of horsemen, Dai watched as the scorpion reassembled at the priest's commands. What if he's the linchpin that holds this army together? Suppose I put a bolt through his throat and all those skeletons around him just collapse? But this army is too vast to be controlled by just one...perhaps. Too many uncertainties. Knowing that all of their chances of survival were most likely at rock bottom no matter what they did, Dai exhaled, turned his crossbow to one of the flail-wielding humans, pulled the trigger, and prayed to Khaine that the others followed suit and that the necromancer noticed whose side they were on.

Cananatra · Post by **Cananatra** » Wed May 13, 2009 5:30 pm

Pulling his sword from the sand Cananatra readied himself to recieve a charge. I guess those two wont be bothering us again. Though their sword arms would have been useful. Putting the death of his comrades to the back of his mind Cananatra moved to the front of his group. "Well then let's do this. Maybe we can collect our pay soon. If we survive."

Cananatra will await until the men are almost upon him before leaping to the attack, useing his shield to deflect incomeing attacks.

Tich · Post by **Tich** » Fri May 15, 2009 3:37 am

Watching the scorpian run towards the humans Demendred was shocked, after all they had been through together in the last few days two of there number had been felled by an insect. Hardly a death to place them in the historys.

shaking off the fear that the deaths had brought on he noticed Dai preparing to shoot at the humans, we have to stand together hear and even then death is almsot a certanty he thought and following suit he raised his crossbow and fired into the approaching human hordes.

The buoyancy of water · Tue May 19, 2009 3:26 pm

Both Dai and Demendred turn and fire at almost the same time, both aiming for the humans fighting around the scorpion. Both manage to successfully hit different men, who begin to fall to the floor. Dai’s shot pierces the heart, killing the man before his body hit the floor. Demendred’s target was hit in the stomach and centre of the chest and didn’t die immediately, but instead fell to his knees. A strange, eerie noise echoes from behind Demendred and Cananatra, and they both turn to look at Dai. However he has gone, vanished completely with all trace he was ever there completely gone. Turning back, the human shot by Demendred gives out a final dying breath before falling into the sand. A moment later the same noise sounds and Demendred disappears completely.

With that Cananatra is left entirely alone, suddenly finding himself between two armies that are mere feet apart. The humans are close enough to smell their stench, almost making Cananatra retch. They shout and jeer wildly, many of them directing their obvious hatred towards Cananatra, though many more ignore him completely and remain focussed on the undead. In contrast, the skeletons make no noise except the occasional horn blast in the distance and the sounds of wind rattling through bones. Cananatra is left standing alone between the two huge forces, sword and shield at the ready.

OOC: Don’t worry Dai and Demendred, you are not dead! All will be revealed soon, but we just need to see what Cananatra is going to do first… No need for you guys to post just yet. Sorry fort he short mod post, the second one will be far longer and will hopefully explain a lot!!

Cananatra · Post by **Cananatra** » Tue May 19, 2009 6:42 pm

OOC: Your evil laying this all on my shoulders.

IC: They both disappeared after killing one of them. Does that mean I should or shouldn't? Ah to hell with this.

"I don't suppose you want to just, I dont know, show yourself ghost? Save me all the trouble of going and finding you. Fighting my way through an army or two, sure its fun and all, but It'll get boreing."

Looking back at the undead a slight plan begins to form. Either way I could make the wrong decision. Spinning on his heel Cananatra jogged towards the undead army.

Cananatra will walk into the undead ranks, assuming they let him, head to the priest, ask for directions to the army leader and head off looking for him. If the undead arent so friendly He'll turn and kill a human and follow his two companions wherever they happened to go.

The buoyancy of water · Sat May 23, 2009 1:44 pm

The undead quickly closed ranks around the priest as Cananatra approached, forming an impenetrable wall of bone between the two. Quickly seeing he wouldn't be able to reach the ancient human Cananatra tried shouting at him over the din of battle, asking where the army general is. The priest just stared back blankly, obviously not understanding what is being asked of him. With a slight shrug the priest turned back to the opposing army and began chanting. At the sound of his voice the skeleton unit marched forward as one once more. Reluctantly, Cananatra turned back to face the humans, and not a moment too soon as a barbarian jumped at him. Acting quickly Cananatra brung his shield up, smashing it into the humans chin with bone shattering force and killing him instantly. Another man swung a spiked flail at the lone elf, but before it hit home Cananatra was overcome with pain and doubled over, squeezing his eyes shut tightly.

As the air temperature suddenly changes and the pain subsides all three elves opened their eyes, finding themselves back in the corridor of the mansion. The bodies of both Alidith and Rekok lie on the floor. Alidith's body is broken and bloodly, his neck and one of his legs lying at impossible angles. A thin stream of blood trickles from his mouth. The body of Rekok is far more hideous, and no one can bear to look at him for more then a few seconds. His eyes and mouth are wide open, sand constantly pouring out of them as well as his nose and ears. Where the sand is coming from none can say or indeed wish to know. The creak of a door opening provides a blessed distraction for the diminished group and the three remaining elves turn to see the door into the nobles bedroom standing open.

The three elves enter carefully, weapons drawn. As soon as they are over the threshold the door closes slowly behind them once more, the creak of the hinges somehow amplified due to the silence of the rest of the house. The instant the door shuts there is a blinding flash of white light, and before the elves stands the imposing form of the bejeweled human that charged the group in the hall seemingly hours ago. His arms are folded across his chest and there is no sign of his sword. All three elves raise their weapons at the same moment, but the human raises a hand, signalling for them to stop. Warily the group pause, wishing to hear what he has to say.

"So, only three of you remain. Disappointing. My master hoped for many more." The man pauses as if listening to something. "My master knows of the item you carry and what you are here to do. That is why he sent me before you first to ensure you hear what must be heard. The battle you just witnessed is one of many that have been fought between my king and his enemy, Warlord Arinael, a devotee of the false god Slaanesh. He desires the crown worn by my king, King Akhmen-hotep. Thusfar King Akhmen-hotep has pushed back all attacks, but the god Thotep blessed him with a vision of his enemies plan, and action must be taken. Arinael has followers at work within this very city who strive tirelessly to recruit new, powerful allies to his cause, and he is building in power. If this continues he will soon be too strong to stop."

The champion pauses again, watching each elf carefully for a moment. "That is were you come in. My king has only enough power to remain in this building and so needs you to transport him to the most powerful of Arinaels recruits. Once there you are to open the box and release our spirits before you strike down the traitor yourselves. I can tell you who the recruit is, but once sealed within the artifact you carry will be no more help until you let us free. Release us at the wrong moment and all will be lost. What say you?"

Tich · Post by **Tich** » Mon May 25, 2009 12:31 am

Demendred grinned as his crossbow bolts struck home, this grin quickly faded however as he noticed Dai disapear. Then as his own target dropped to the ground a wave of pain washed over him and within the space of a moment he was back in the house with his fellows.

Looking around before frowning at the disfigured bodys of Rekok and Aldith he went forward into the room only to stop as the jewelled human stepped forward. Demendred listened carefully all through the humans speech before having to stop himself laughing at the human. Then with a quick look at Cananatra and Dai he addressed the human. "So, let me get this straight, we come into this house, you kill all but three of us, then expect us to all of a sudden join your war against some nutter slaanesh worshipper all becuase you asked us. I think I speak for all of us when I say this......The reward better be bloody huge." Demendred finished with a grin.

The champion frowns at your comments. "Only two, weak, warriors died. Surely you feel safer knowing you won't risk your lives by relying on them from now on? We may not know everything about your society, but we understand that you hate the followers of Slaanesh? Surely you should jump at the chance to end many of their lives?" He falls silent, again seemingly listening to something none of you can hear. With a curt nod, he turns back to you, a coy smile spread across his face. "The rewards will be great." He holds out his right hand, his palm full of golden trickets.

Cananatra · Post by **Cananatra** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 2:31 pm

"And this little of mission of yours. I get the feeling it wont exactly be easy now will it? If you know about them, surely they know about you. Following on from that they would know we will be carrying you."
Cananatra fell silent a moment and rested the tip of his sword on the ground. Though I dislike having to swap allegience on the fly this could give considerable reward. Not to mention it means fighting some slightly more....solid...enemies.
"Well if the others are up for it I say lets go for it. Mind, we'll have to get some more mercenaries, unless you expect us three to assault a growing chaos cult alone.

OOC: Thats just me asking if you intend to invite new people in?

The spirit stares at you thoughtfully as you question him. "You won't be alone, what do you think I am here for? We need as few people as possible to know about us, so no one else will be told. Understand?"

The buoyancy of water · Sat Jun 06, 2009 1:05 pm

OOC: OK all, a quick update. Although I thought I was going to be able to keep being a mod for sometime I now know I won't be able to keep going. I'm about to move to Houston and start a new job and so I don't think I'll have enough time to devote to this. I'm already slipping and all I'm doing just now is getting ready to leave! As such the group will be finishing at the end of the month, no matter what happens, as I will be flying off soon after that. That is why there has been the sudden storyline leap; we're missing out a big section of what I had planned so that we can get to the final fight before I leave.

I can also tell from the slow post rate that interest is currently lacking somewhat. If people would rather we stopped now so that you can start looking at getting into new groups that's fine by me. If not, I'll be posting on Monday. Sorry again :cry:

Cheers,
Dave

Cananatra · Post by **Cananatra** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 5:49 pm

OOC: Well if its nearly over theres no point in stopping now. Lets get it finished

The buoyancy of water · Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:11 pm

The champion clearly feels the three elves have asked enough questions. ”Enough! We must leave now, and strike down the corrupted, misguided fool. Use your trinket now, and I will be transported into the box. When we reach the lair of the enemy you must open the box once more, freeing me to strike down the traitor!” Once more, the champion pauses, seemingly listening to another voice that no one else can hear. After approximately a minute he nods and turns back to the small group. ”My king says we must go; we must make our way to the Lazari household, where the traitor resides. Now, the box.” The champion motions for you to open the box before leaving. Cananatra steps forward, pulling the box from a pocket. Without pause he lifts the ornate lid.

The room lights up with an unearthly flickering blue glow instantly, making it difficult to focus on anything for more then a split second. A howling wind rises around the room, gusting strongly and throwing many objects to the floor, shattering them. The magical storm intensifies, making it difficult for the elves to keep their footing. Then, just as it seems the elves will be blown from their feet, the storm begins to abate, gradually weakening. The light and wind is pulled into the box and as the last of it passes the champion he seems to merge with the light and is also pulled into the box. As the last of the light shrinks into the box it snaps shut in Cananatra’s hands.

The trio suddenly find themselves alone in the room. After the artificial storm the room is eerily dark and quiet. There is now on light in the room at all, and the elves rely on their night vision to see anything at all. Turning to face each other, the three have to decide what to do next…

Cananatra · Post by **Cananatra** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 8:31 pm

Holding the box gingerly, Cananatra raps his knuckles against it once. I’m half tempted to go and open this now. Just to annoy that irritating spirit. Mess up his plans. Staring at the box for a couple of more seconds, Cananatra tucked it away again. Looking around in the darkness he spotted the door and headed towards it.
“Well I don’t know about you lot, but I think we had best get this over and done with. With no ghost bothering us this house should be easy enough to get out of, so long as we mind were we walk. Nice to see you didn’t die in that accursed desert Demendred, our company is beginning to look very….thin.”
With a slight laugh to himself Cananatra pulled open the door and headed towards the stairs down. At least, what’s left of it.

Bubonicus · Post by **Bubonicus** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 11:08 pm

OOC: Huge apologies for the lack of posting recently guys. Back to regular now. Also, I'm going to do an illustration of our adventure. I'm thinking the fight with the carrion book-birds would be the coolest. I'll let you know when it's done.

BoW, could you tell me where I find the descriptions of everyone's appearance? And everyone else, anything specific you want depicted on your character?

IC: Oh, the relief. Despite the appearance of a massive, bejeweled, undead bodyguard announcing his intention to leap into a magic box held by one of his comrades, Dai could only thank Khaine for his return to the dark cool interior of the mansion.

As the spirit dove into the enchanted chest between Cananatra's hands, Dai raised his arm over his face. As the storm reached a crescendo, and the force of his cloak whipping around in a frenzy threatened to drag him to the floor, the wind and dazzling lights suddenly ceased. The old shade had to spend a few seconds blinking in the suddenly pitch-black room. He shook his head ruefully. The constant jarring transitions from battle to lull, the bombardment of sensory information, the sanity-cracking circumstance of it all, was taking its toll. His body and mind felt fatigued, and exhaustion was soon to follow.

At least, things were improving; they were leaving the mansion and the spirit seemed to have finished it's sport with them. The quiet in the room was one of genuine absence, rather than a stalking presence.

Dai looked pointedly at his two companions, and then down at the box when Cananatra knocked on it. "Well, I didn't think it was possible, but this job's gotten even more ludicrous," he muttered. "Let's finsh it before we lose our minds completely." He set off after Cananatra.

The buoyancy of water · Thu Jun 25, 2009 11:51 am

Hi all,

As you may have guessed from my lack of posting I have been very busy recently. I am going to remain busy for several months and as such I am going to have to end the group here. Though I was hoping to finish the group before I left, I will finish now. Due to the leap in storyline with having to finish early I haven't had a chance to work out a final encounter properly, and as you've noticed the story took a sudden leap which I wasn't happy with. Along with my lack of time I've decided it will be best to finish now so that you can all look at getting into new groups ASAP.

You can move your characters back intot he character pool and from there you can look at joining a new group. Very sorry I couldn't keep the group going. If everyone wants I will write up a short description of how events unfolded from here?

Cheers,
Dave

P.S. Dai, really looking forward to the picture!!

Cananatra · Post by **Cananatra** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 3:24 pm

Ye, go and tell us what would have happened.

Bubonicus · Post by **Bubonicus** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 9:25 am

OOC: Yes, please do.