Fantasy The Dark Lords of Araen IC

[Kingly K Duel]

The red light, once illuminating the chamber, is extinguished. The magma and flames sank and went out, casting the titanic chamber in darkness. The monstrous Throne is cracked and twisted as if struck by lightning, a withered ruin. The walls are black, and jagged, with a bizarre pattern across them. An inspection of the labyrinthine halls yields a few exotic artifacts, specifically a jade ring, a staff of raw blue crystal, and an obsidian sword. They’re of Holy manufacture, and seem to be full of power. It will take experimentation to discover their purpose.

Noxsin squeals with glee at the spoils, taking all the loot, and deciding to keep the jade ring for himself. With this in mind, the Dark Lord returns to the castle, as his minions reported success on their end. Summoning Uhman from his studies, he hands the sword and the staff of raw blue crystal for reasearch and study. Of course, he hands the jade ring over to him, however he states that it was his to wear once the results came in, so Uhman treated it with care.

Other than that, Noxsin sent out his scout crows once more to find his next objective to accomplish.

[Pretty much artifact reasearch and scouting, the outside of text sparing og his servants, and...I think that's it.]

 

[Dest]

Acheron smiles easily, looking upon the town from a fair distance. Looking down at the bow in his hand he smiles even wider, remembering how much fun the weapon was to use.

"Well then old Rothal, its time your spirit was once more used by this weapon. And perhaps this time you will finally show a little respect, I do treat you oh so well you know," Acheron sighs as he feels the weapon shake in something akin to anger as he says this, "Oh come on, I just stole you from that useless angel after your spirit was imprisoned, I didn't do it myself you know."

Watching his lord argue with his weapon Aenzen sighs and looks at Vex, shrugging, before turning back to the horde containing near two hundred zombies and thirty odd golems.

"Are you ready to stop any fire that comes our way Vex? That would be about the only way that I could see this horde being overwhelmed before we can take the town," the lich grins a bit at the thought, remembering how hard it can be to stop a true horde like the one standing behind him.

"But of course! Its oh so fun to send this fire back at them as well. Remember though, our lord wants to try having living servants this time so we can't even start fighting them yet," even as he speaks the fiend pouts, knowing that if the dark lord had his way he wouldn't be having any fun today.

"You two! Get ready! I'm about to start this siege right!" Acheron grins and knocks an arrow, its head gleaming in the mid day sun as he aims at the tower that is arcing magic through the air, before shouting much louder than would be expected to come from him, "SURRENDER PEACEFULLY OR BE SLAUGHTERED IN THE NAME OF LORD ACHERON, THE NIGHT ELDER."

As soon as his shouting has ended Acheron lets loose his arrow at the tower, using a fair amount of the power contained within his weapon, in an effort to completely destroy the top of it.

[Acheron begins the siege by shooting an explosive arrow imbued with the power of his Weapon of Rapture at the tower within the walls of Islian.]

 

[Puppernickel]

Deep inside Castle Eintracht, an old elf sat alone in a well furnished room, drinking from a cup as he read a book in relative peace. This peace was abruptly interrupted, however, by a peculiar knocking at the door. The elf was familiar with the individual knocking, for he knew only one who did so in that manner. Shaking his head in amusement the elf grunted, placing a bookmark in his book before standing up and stretching slowly.

"I'm coming, hold your horses." He grumbled to the air as he elegantly oozed towards the door, opening it and smiling at the fellow standing on the other side. "Ah, Mr. Farbrook, what a pleasant surprise! Come in come in, please, make yourself comfortable."

Darlok nodded cordially to the older elf, smiling brightly as he entered the room. "So good to see you're still as chipper as ever, Mr. Dross." Darlok hummed, glancing around the lavish furnishings of the room in amusement. "I see you're still taking advantage of our hospitality, as always."

"Bah, it was part of the deal between Dementia and I and you know it." Dross shot back, a broad grin appearing on his face as he went to a cabinet and pulled out a chilled bottle and two glasses, serving himself and Darlok some of the contents of said glass as he lifted an eyebrow expectantly. "So, what is it you need of me?"

Darlok snorted loudly, putting on a cross expression as he glared at Dross. "What makes you assume that I want anything? Mayhap I simply desire to speak with a like minded individual rather then the simpletons who parade around the place."

Dross merely raised an eyebrow and stared at Darlok, who stared right back. This continued for a solid minute, until both grinned and threw back the glasses, each savoring the taste of well aged whiskey on their lips. "Ah, only the good stuff." Darlok sighed deeply, shaking his head. "Alright then yes, pleasantries aside I have a few questions to ask of you."

"Oh?" Dross hummed idly, pulling out a chess board and setting it up as he listened to Darlok. "Couldn't just ask good ole Demy for assistance this time?"

Darlok sat down opposite Dross, debating how to approach his question, and finally descideing that blunt was best. "It involves the Holy Legions. Specifically, what happened to the Thirteenth Legion." Darlok said slowly, watching Dross for any reaction the old elf might give. The ancient elf was an excellent actor, Darlok had to give him that, but Darlok noticed an ever so slight change of expression from Dross that disappeared as soon as it arrived. "The Thirteenth Legion, eh?" Dross hummed, his face impassive as he set up the board - him as black, Darlok as white. "And, pray tell, why do you want to know about the Paladin Legions? Thought you already knew everything you needed for your 'world conquest'."

Darlok decided not to rise to Dross's bait, and instead laid some of his own. "Because one of them is marching to a nearby kingdom as we speak." Darlok said plainly, seeing the clear surprise on Dross's face this time. "What, really? Who in the name of the Holy gods above did Dementia anger this time?" Dross asked in curiosity, finishing the set up and gesturing for Darlok to make a move. "Takes quite a bit to get an entire Legion into gear."

"Hmm, well, that would be telling, wouldn't it?" Darlok smiled coldly as he moved his first piece. "Of course, we can always do the usual...." "But of course, but of course, fact for fact. Well then, let's see how much you actually have of worth to me." Dross waved a hand in dismissal as he moved his own piece, and from then on the two acted as sharks seeking blood. Many facts were traded in that room, many secrets from both sides. Precisely what was taken away from the game, however, was soon to be discovered....

--------------------

Meanwhile, Harvy and Sable worked around the clock, both receiving little sleep for several days as they worked to manipulate the situation to their favor. Letters were sent, orders were given, and rumors whispered in the right ears.

Harvy was much more vocal, becoming a figurehead for his loyalists in Florian, speaking up in favor of Bernard's nephew and doing his best to secure a legitimate goverment, one that the Legion couldn't legally contest against. Public relations were his task, and he milked his role for every ounce of reward he could obtain, turning as many people to his side as possible. In addition to this, Harvy also did his best to convince other nobles to support him, promising a better life under the leadership of the new king of Florian.

Sable, on the other hand, was busy with two tasks of his own. The first task was using the Rascals to find any and all information he could on the Paladin Legion coming towards Florian. Specifically, anything they could possibly use against the leaders of the Legion. It was a long shot, but any blackmail Sable could aquire would be well worth the cost, and would be very useful against the Paladins.

Sable's second task, on the other hand....

"I want at least 20 spies inside of Bernard's court yesterday." Sable barked at his assistants, calmly reading reports about the strife plaguing Florian. "I want to know everything that man does. When he eats, what he eats, when he sleeps, how well he sleeps, how often he goes into a blind rage, how often he visits the chamber pot, everything about that man! If we're going to assassinate him, or even simply overthrow him, we need to know how he thinks and how he acts, and I want that list as of last week!"

Men and women scrambled to obey, carrying their orders out with the efficiency of all members of Rascals League. They would find out every last thing they could about their targets, whether it was a high ranking Paladin or some tyrant king. They cared not, for they had their orders. Soon they would know how many breaths King Bernard took every hour, for nothing the king did would be secret anymore.

[Action Summery: Darlok conducts his search on the Paladins and other holy matters, starting by asking Dross about the Thirteenth Legion. Harvy further consolidates Florian in his favor, taking away as much of Bernard's support as possible. Meanwhile, Sable does his very best to spy on Bernard and find any dirt he can use on the Twelfth Paladin Legion.]

 

[Skylord Nexus]

Cassius raised an eyebrow as the guards invited him in, it seemed like a pretty obvious trap, however, he also considered the possibility that they were genuinely that stupid, but decided to see their better, more cunning side in them "Wonderful! Truth be told we were hoping to avoid spilling blood if possible... of course I'm not stupid enough to walk in, so if you're being honest I'm sure your leader or representative will have no issue with coming out here to discuss terms with me. Oh! and you're now down to twenty-five minutes." The elf then proceeded to shoot the towns guards death glares, implying he wouldn't be walking into the town any time soon.

---

"Good God this is boring!" Vexark was currently sat with Alexander watching the events play out through his orb "The hell kind of fight is this? They aren't even exchanging witty banter. They're just standing there having minimal conversations." The Dark Lord then stood up with a huff as dark energy began to coalesce around him "I'm heading out they and getting things kick-started myself!"

Unfortunately for Vex, he wouldn't be making it anywhere as his advisor grabbed him by the collar of his outfit and yanked him back, causing the energy to dissipate "No you're not. This is your militaries first proper outing, and you need to show them that you won't be there to help them. Also if they can't even take a town like this we're pretty screwed in the future." Vexark could help but nod along to the angles observation. "Still, I do have some good news. We've been able to attract a decent number tradesman, they all seem to be reasonably qualified over a wide range of specialisations. I've told out people on the inside to continue recruiting."

Vex sank back into his seat, a small sigh escaping his mouth "That's good at least I suppose. The sooner we can reconstruct Ebonthorne the better. Though I'm still bored, maybe I should go back to collecting."

Alexander raised an eyebrow in surprise "Well that's certainly interesting, I never took you for a person who had such a... novel pastime, I was imagining something more along the lines of murder and death and trapping people in mazes of there own worse nightmares to watch them run around like headless chickens."

The dark lord began to laugh in his chair as the image his advisor brought to his head "That would be hilarious, in fact, I think I actually did that once, though stuff like that was always more Demi's thing, no I collect magical artefacts and use them to research how magic works so I can once again shape the world to my hearts' delight... also they normally look really cool and make awesome decorations for the halls of the palace."

The angle sighed and rolled his eyes "I should have expected as much. Well if it keeps you happy I'll have some people look into some rumours."

This seemed to brighten Vex's mood as a big, excited smile spread across his face "You know you're too good to me Alexander."

A slight smirk crossed Alexanders face as he chuckled lightly "Oh I know."


[Cassius refuses to enter the town telling the guards that if they are serious about surrendering then they can send their leader out to discuss terms of surrender. Alexander sends some people out to look for/into rumours of magical artefacts. Vexark's agents continue to recruit people from Florian.]