Chapter 4: And so it Begins...

[Muargath]

Muargath saw a flash of fire from above as the blade descended.  Gashnum was suddenly gone then, having rolled out of the way of the blade's path to end up closer in to the evil menace.  The burning sword's tip barely missed him but it also came very close to hitting her, too, since she'd been right behind him!  

Now down in front, Gashnum skewered the demon with his longspear- driving it all the way at an upward angle through the the beast's chest- before collapsing to the ground.  The deep gray blood flooded out and splashed all over.  It pooled around the demon's hooves as if it were an oily, liquid ash, reflecting the sickly, flickering, orange light.  Gashnum was covered in it.  The hell-beast peered at Gashnum with its glowing red eyes, focusing on the human who'd wounded it so.  

Muargath took advantage of Gashnum's offensive to move- she slipped around behind the demon to retrieved her dagger.  Crouched on the ground, she glanced up and caught Gashnum's eyes and the look of defeat she saw there nearly broke her heart.  The demon swayed above them, but it did not fall... was it dead on its feet or just catching its breath?  Whatever it was doing, the beast still had its flaming blade gripped firmly in its clawed fist and that made it a threat.

With a last determined look at her friend Muargath stood, backed up a couple of steps, then ran full tilt at the demon , leaping upward at the last second!  She got enough lift to reach the mid-back.  Grasping a thick spine with her left hand, dagger in right, she dug the silvered blade into the demon's thick hide.  The creature bellowed and spun around, forgetting Gashnum.  She hung on, bracing her feet as well as she could!  Muargath traded for another spine higher up, then pulled out the dagger and plunged it in even higher and thus she climbed onto the tall beast's shoulders.  The demon circled around, unable to reach this deadly annoyance centered on its back!  It screached and howled in anger, until finally bringing it's own flaming blade overhead to kill the elusive backstabber!  Muargath saw it coming.  She jumped away as the demon plunged its own sword into its back- too crazed from the pain to realize its mistake.  Muargath landed hard on the ground, misjudged due to the darkness, and her wrist bent awkwardly.  She yelped at the sharp pain.  But there was no time to nurse a wound!   Muargath rolled out of the way as the hell-beast fell, nearly crushing her under its dead weight... the abyssil fire extinguished within the body of that which had called it forth.

Darkness reined again, but Muargath could still hear the distant fighting in the woods.  She sat in the dirt like a toddler.  Cradling her wrist close to her chest, still gripping the dagger in her right hand, Muargath waited a few moments in the blackness, straining to hear it move,  just to be sure the creature was truly dead.  She could hear breathing and guessed it was Gashnum.

A few moments later Muargath ventured to speak, although she kept her voice to an urgent whisper.  She was afraid to attract more of the beasts, "Gashnum?  Are you hurt?"  She peered around in the darkness willing herself to see, but it was no use.

"There is serenity in Chaos.
Seek ye the Eye of the Hurricane."
- so says the Principia Discordia

Edited by: Muargath   at: 7/26/03 9:47

[Gashnum Invraldi]

Gashnum could just see the demon's outline in the dark. Its sword was a long streak of flame, poised over his head. Suddenly the demon let out a shriek and spun around swatting at its back. Gashnum had to scramble on his hands an knees to avoid being smashed beneath the demonic hooves. He stopped a short distance later and watched the demon. It was then that he realized that Muargath had attached herself to the demon's back. Gashnum's stomach nearly leapt into his throat. Either she was the bravest woman he had ever meat, or the most insane. With another moment of thought Gashnum settled on the first.

With a strange twist of fate the demon impaled itself on its own sword, staggered for a moment then fell to the ground in a pool of its own blood. Gashnum's spear protruded from its chest, Gashnum could see the steel point glinting in the starlight. He lay still in the dark, listening to the sounds of battle from the forest, he hoped his companions were winning that battle.

From out of the night a slightly shaken, but very alive voice, drifted from the darkness.
"Gashnum? Are you hurt?"

It took him a moment to realize that he wasn't going to die. He fervently thanked whatever gods had watched over him for this turn of fate. He breathed out heavily and sat up.
"Muargath? Yes I'll be fine. It didn't get you did it?"

Gashnum looked in the direction his friends voice came from, but he was hardly sure it was the right direction. He couldn't see anything in the dark.

The warrior who acts out of honour cannot fail. His duty is hounour itself. Even his death - if it is honourable - is a reward and can be no failure, for it has come through duty. Seek honour as you act, therefore, and you will know no fear.
-From the 183rd Ritual of Devotion

[Muargath]

"No, it didn't."  She found herself shaking her head in the darkness, not that he could see her.  "I hurt my wrist when I hit the ground though."  Muargath paused and listened to the fighting in the woods... it seemed to be dying down.  Dying down, she thought, good choice of words, there.

She took a deep breath and stood, still favoring her pained wrist.  "We should get the horse... and go!  If the other's are only holding them off... we might not have enough time!"

"We need light..." But light will only draw more attention to us!

"There is serenity in Chaos.
Seek ye the Eye of the Hurricane."
- so says the Principia Discordia

[Sinen Darkchild]

Dodging one sword to block another Sinen manages to kill two more demons. Sinen barely even notices the demon that takes off torwards camp and he spins to behead a third demon. Meanwhile Alia gets three more with her favored weapon, the spikes of ground. The sounds of more demons float to Sinen's ears from off behind Alia, but they aren't moving torwards them. In fact, Sinen notices all the demons seem to forget about him and Alia and rush straight for the camp. Spinning to follow the demons he yells...

"Alia, they're heading for camp."

Chasing after the horde of demons which are far less than they were when Sinen had found them he swears. There may be few remaining in this group but many more were heading from other spots in the woods...he could hear them. He glances down at his glowing sword.

Why couldn't they be orcs. This would have been so much easier.

Suddenly the demons burst through the treeline into the open and in plain view of the camp. off to the left and right a group of 10 demons each appear. The remainder of the group Sinen had chased counted at 5.

Damn, 25 demons still. How in the hell do we escape that?

Suddenly a demon near him stops staring straight at Muargath. Almost as suddenly it charges straight at her. Unknowing whether Muargath was even aware of the demon headed for her, Sinen draws a small dagger with his right hand and throws it, landing it in theback of the demon's head. About 7 demons turn suddenly on Sinen at once. He parries one flaming sword, and then another. Blocking blow after blow, he looks almost as if he's locked in some kind of crazy dance.

Alia moves rather quickly to working her magic again as she nears Muargath at those that were left at camp. With her same strange hand motions she erects a quite large barrier of Rock and Earth around them. She then looks to Gashnum and says, "We need to get everything ready to leave at once. A wall of dirt can only stand but so long, and it won't last long at all."

 Fools rush into battle blindly, but who is really the fool? The fool or the fool who follows him.

[Gashnum Invraldi]

The scene of carnage at the campsite was complete. The corpse of a prize hunting hound lay near a ruined campfire, its skull bashed in. Its tounge lolled out in a sick parody of its recent death. The corpse of a massive demon lay with a spear punched completly through its chest. And two humans lay injured and afraid in the darkness....


****
Gashnum rose shakily to his feet, approached the dead demon and carefully gripped his spear's haft. Setting one foot on the beasts chest for leverage he pulled with all of his might. After a few moments of tugging the bloodied weapon came lose with a sickening sucking noise and a small fountain of blood. Gashnum wiped sweat from his brow and hurried over to Muargath, he was limping worse than before.

As Gashnum knelt at the woman's side the moon escaped from the confines of the nights clouds. It cast its bright glow, revealing the destruction to Gashnum's old eyes.  He grasped Muargath's forearm and pulled her to her feet. He noticed that she was cradling her left wrist. Gashnum pulled her to his side and threw his arm around her shoulder. The pain in his leg was returning, jumping about fighting a demon was not what his old body needed. Using his spear as a crutch in his other hand the two hobbled over to gather their backpacks.

"Muargath, we must flee before we are discovered again." Gashnum listened as the sounds of the battle in the trees grew closer to the ruined campsite. He cocked his head sadly
"I fear that our companions are bested, we must head for Elsreth, and seek solice there"

Gashnum looked to his right, and noticed a shape laying upon the bloodied ground. He squinted for a moment, and his eyes finaly picked out the shape of Duster. The man lowered his head reverently. He knelt down next to the corpse of the beast and laid a weathered hand on its side. What if that swing had hit him, or Muargath? He was deeply saddened by this loss, he would mourn the loss later, for now he had to worry about his own life. These demons were mighty beasts indeed.

He turned to beg Muargath to hurry when a crashing of branches sounded from the edge of the campsite and a demon barreled into the scene. Followed closely by Sinen. Once again the camp was filled with the sound of ringing swords and frantic yelling.He nodded once to Alia. Gashnum stood and grabbed Muargath's arm.

"Come! quickly! We must find the horse."

The warrior who acts out of honour cannot fail. His duty is hounour itself. Even his death - if it is honourable - is a reward and can be no failure, for it has come through duty. Seek honour as you act, therefore, and you will know no fear.
-From the 183rd Ritual of Devotion

Edited by: Gashnum Invraldi at: 7/31/03 4:55

[Muargath]

The moonlight finally came to reveal the destruction of the small camp along with the two, wounded survivors and the battered remains of Duster.  Gashnum helped Muargath to her feet, saying that all was lost and they must run.  She felt light in the head, like everything around her was flat and unreal…or hollow like a dream.  All sound muffled in her ears as she slowly turned to take in the devastation.  She needed to see it, to verify once again that it was the large, dead creature nearby that had caused it all.  She heard and felt her heartbeat, it was slow and steady… how odd she wasn’t frightened by it all.

She snapped to when she felt Gashnum tug on her arm again.  He was calling to her, "Come! Quickly! We must find the horse."  Flaming, snarling chaos surrounded them, engulfed them in a new wave.  And could it be… that Sinen and Alia were among them?  Amazing they were still alive!  Alia moved closer.  The ground rumbled and shook as the elven woman called the very earth up to shield them from the attacking monsters, forming a large, concave wall shot through with ragged stone.  

Alia said, "We need to get everything ready to leave at once. A wall of dirt can only stand but so long, and it won't last long at all."  She turned her attention back to the wall, fighting to keep it strong.

Gashnum had let loose her arm.  Muargath looked out and away from the center of the fight.  She saw the packhorse over by the road and made a mad dash to get there.  All she could think was, We need this animal and we need it alive!

She did not see the large demon that broke away and bounded after her.  It caught her in two strides and knocked her down.  She felt her ribs snap.  Muargath couldn’t believe the unbearable weight that pinned her to the roadway.  The beast grasped her and roughly flipped her onto her back.  With a satisfied grunt, the demon plunged the tip of its sword into her shoulder, immobilizing her.  

Muargath screamed as the flames seared her flesh and set her clothing on fire.  The pain was near intolerable and even as she heard herself screaming, she watched with morbid curiosity as the clawed hand plunged in slow motion toward her chest.  Still, she wasn’t afraid.

And the demon, relishing its prize, brought Muargath's still beating heart to its maw…  

"There is serenity in Chaos.
Seek ye the Eye of the Hurricane."
- so says the Principia Discordia

Edited by: Muargath   at: 8/1/03 6:06

[Sinen Darkchild]

From the corner of Alia's eye she caught the demon ontop of Muargath, with a slight movement of her right wrist the demon's flesh springs into a bought of searing white flame. It flails around forgetting its victim and scowls at Alia as it's charred body collapses and dies. Alia returns her full attention to the earth wall.

Sinen manages to take out a couple of the demons attacking him, but mainly concerns himself with defending himself instead of offense.

 Fools rush into battle blindly, but who is really the fool? The fool or the fool who follows him.

[Dray Ducroix]

*Dray swings his swords in an arc and cuts down hie 4th demon. He then falls to his knees breathing heavily. Energy drained after 4 demons and almost being killed. He looks around, but cannot see anything or anybody. He hears the clanging of weapons and then one pain filled scream that slices through the night time air.*

That came from back towards the camp!

*Dray is off in an instant racing towards the camp hoping he is not too late....*

[Sinen Darkchild]

Alas, Alia felt the first of the consequences for such a raw and reckless use of her magic. Her entire body feeling weak, her legs collapse from under her. As she falls to the ground every muscle in her body seems to contract and then she falls limp, unconcious. The Earth wall collapses back into the ground from which it came.

Sinen leaps over a flaming blade and then ducks a second. He parries a third then drives his sword into the stomache of a demon. He spins left hacking off another demon's head. As he drops to a crouch he sees the earth wall collapse and Alia lieing unconcious on the ground. Still with three demons attacking him what could he do...Worse still, several more were now moving torwards Gashnum. Sinen lunges from his crouch driving his sword through a demon's skull, ripping the sword from the head of the demon he dashes for Alia, the other two demons following close behind. Damn Alia, you should have known better than to push your magic like that. I don't what you did behind that stone wall but obviously it was too much.

 Fools rush into battle blindly, but who is really the fool? The fool or the fool who follows him.

[Dray Ducroix]

*All Dray sees once he enters the camp area is demons and Sinen trying his best to defend a fallen Alia and Gashum who is covered in demon blood and obviously limping. The female human lay on the ground with a demon over her and Dray has a sickening feeling that she was the one he heard screaming and that it will be the final sound she ever makes. The demons not noticing Dray allows him to prepare. He takes precious seconds to gather his focus and prepare a spell. Dray utters a few words and raises his hands above his head and claps them together and instantly lightning bolts fall from the sky and strike a couple of demons. Dray then picks up his blades and lets out a war cry that echo's through the forest and ignites his blades with an errie glow.*

"Alright you foul beasts time to go back to the depths where you belong!"

*The first demon to reach Dray was one that had been struck by the lightning. It never had a chance to strike as Dray's blades move faster than the eye can follow and off rolls the demons right arm and head. The next demon falls with a huge X mark across its chest and 2 thurst wounds in the center of the X. Dray's swords continue to move too fast for any one to see where they are falling its as though the wind itself is pushing the swords along with how fast they are moving*

[Sieg Caosetic]

Sieg's foot planted on the grass just like before. The soft ground under him gave a little, and then he lifted his right foot to take the next step.  As it hit the ground, he heard the clash of steel, and the battle cries of a few people.  Someone was in trouble, and his help was needed.

He pushed off the ground with his right foot, throwing him into a quick burst of speed.  He pushed again with his left, then right, coming to a medium pace, about as fast as he himself could go.  

He thought of his actions as he came upon the battlefield.  It lingered with the stench of decaying bodies of both human and non-human scent.  He looked and saw a few battle weary people that came from this realm, and about 15 that just looked hideouse.  

He kept his pace, reaching into his pouch and pulling out 2 moon stars, one in each hand.  He came closer, about 20 yards from the battle field, and let both fly as he yelled out to the warriors, "Im here to help."

The 2 stars planted into the throats of 2 demons, one in each.  The slowly fell to the ground and revealed another humanly figure.  3 of his fellows lunged at Sieg, there tactics not to great, they had all lined up in a row, running for him, claws prepared to strike.  

The first one swung high, Sieg moved over a little, to dodge the deamons body, and did a little dive roll under the deamons claws while drawing his blade and slicing the back of its leg.  The second quickly came low, and from the momentum of his last move, he pushed off, over the demon and did a flip, bringing the blade under him splitting the second ones skull.

He quickly came to a stop, and the 3rd demon rushed on.  The beast brought its hand down, aiming for Sieg's face.  Sieg stuck his blade straight up, and the beasts hand went right into the sharp end, slicing it in 2.   Sieg pulled his blade out and quickly stepped back, the beast grabbed its whole arm in pain and let out a horrific scream.  Sieg spun around and held his blade out.  The demons body fell off its legs, which then quickly fell over too.

Sieg saw out of the corner of his eye that the 1st demon started to get up, he pushed himself into the air and came down on top of the beast's shoulders, crunching it down and snapping its spine.  He flipped his sword up, so it quickly became under hand, and snatched it with both hands.  He thrust it downwards and it smashed right through the beasts skull.

[Elende]

Elende let a triunphant cry the demon surrendered to its wounds.
 Legends say that the Eophyrhim's supernatural strength, agility and speed comes from a demon that lives inside them. If there is any truth in this tale, Elende would be the living proof of such a claim now.

  He felt a primordial force arising inside him. Probably anger and fury or a desperate desire to survive or maybe hate. Whatever it was, now it was a time for action and not contemplation.

 He tighten the grip on his blades and waited for the next demon. He didn't have to wait too long. This one was running at full speed towards him, it had no weapons save his vicious claws and teeth. Elende side stepped as the demon approached and easily avoided the beast.

  The demon looked surprised to have missed its target by so far. It turned around to p[repare to charge again but Elende was within sight. The demon felt the half-drow's presence when he sword landed at the back of the demon's head. The infernal beast screaming in agony turbed around to look at its nemesis. Their eyes met and then the flash of Elende's second blade put an end to it.

 The elf felt stronger with every kill, as if he was absorbing energy from every dead demon. Suddenly he noticed that the demon where moving away, but from where they returned....they where moving towards the camp! Without thinking Elende began to run towards the camp.
 

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