Rebirth of Destruction Chapter 2: Carnage
 

Night came fast upon the imperial city, and, as the sun set behind the horizon, the three largest ogre tribes had combined their might already, along with two large orc tribes. They had an army of pure flesh numbering in the six to seven hundreds. Of course, if you asked any member of that army they'd most likely tell you that they had 30 ogres and 20 orcs thanks to their general inability to count past seven. They weren't done gathering members yet, however, but they WERE on the move.

To anyone who, somehow, managed to watch from the air above as the barbaric army began it's movement, the tribes would seem like a black wave moving across the country side toward the imperial capital. There were very few spots of light amongst the mass, as that the ogres could see well in the dark, and the moon was full so there was enough light for the orcs to see easily as well, but, despite the lack of light, the sheer mass of the movement, given the large size of the creatures involved, would be enough to make it quite visible from the sky.

As the night wore on, smaller threads of black, barely visible, would move into the growing mass. Other orc and ogre tribes bolstering the numbers of the vicious beasts, that humans normally refused to fight one on one. Luckily, they were still a few days travel from any villages or cities within their path, however. But, they also moved through the woods where only the stalkers would be likely to notice them before it was too late...

~~~~~~~

Following his meal, Narg had wandered off, knowing and not knowing where he was headed. Like a burning coal in his mind's eye, he found himself trudging southwards.

S...South? I go south?

Yes, dimwit, now shut up and do as I say.

Along the way, he encountered a bear. The bear was a female, and she was nursing her cubs when the troll suddenly burst through the trees and lumbered straight at the creature. In all likelihood, Narg wouldn't have cared, as what little hunger that was left after feeding had been erased by the magical compulsion of the amulet.

But they were in his way, and thus they had to die.

Narg was barely larger than the bear now, having shrunken visibly over the past few days, and his hands were barely enough to hold her paws off as the bear reared up on both legs and brought them down on him in a vicious smash. He felt no pain, only a nagging sense of injury as his arms fragmented under the massive strength of the ursine offensive. Almost immediately, his regeneration began working, and fragments of bone were drawn back to their natural position, fusing into place even as new tendrils of muscle covered the breaks.

You hurt Narg... Narg hurt you...

The bear growled again, then delivered an overhand swat at the troll's head. With an unnatural, ghastly speed, Narg deftly caught the paw within a clawed hand, and then, grinning at the bear, he crushed. There was a sickening series of crunches and snaps as the appendage was broken as easily as a child would have cracked an egg, and her cry of agony rent the night.

I tire of this, you filthy animal. Time to die.

Something blazed in Narg's eyes, and a sizzling ray of heat shot from them and struck the she-bear, consuming her in awful black fire. Narg quickly let go and skittered back - picking up the amulet had not cured his innate fear of the flame - then watched curiously as the burning remains of the bear thudded to he forest floor. The troll turned, and his gaze caught those of the frightened cubs.

You know what to do.

Then there was a stifled cry, and the wet sounds of pulping flesh. Narg left the clearing, dragging a small pile of blood and fur behind him, another, smaller mass left in the alcove where they had tried to hide.

He had not gone unnoticed, however, and a small form fled ahead of the troll, legs pounding in an effort to get back to the village quickly.

~~~~~~~

The atmosphere in the village was understandably tense. The ogre army had moved up recently, and every man and woman in the village knew exactly what the hordes were capable of, as did the refugees from the other towns.

So the reaction that had greeted little Eliot's breathless report of the "clawed ogre" that he had spotted nearby was not a dismissive spanking, but rather, a call to arms. If it was a scout, then allowing it to return would call down a hungry army upon their heads. In the courtyard, an older man was standing in front of a group of younger men and women, holding up their unstrung bows before him.

"Come on guys, check your weapons. Are the strings frayed? Any cracks or warping in the wood? Well?"

A chorus of "No, Captain" echoed down through the line.

"All right, then string up and let's go! Come on! If we don't take that scout down now we'll have more to deal with! Hazel, Pistachio, take them and meet me at the woodcutter's trail! I'm taking the hunters out with me."

So saying, the captain slung his bow over his shoulder and ran off, a small group of bowmen in their drab greens and browns following him.

~~~~~~

Narg's nose pricked up. He could smell woodsmoke, and through that, the smell of roasting boar. The thought made him hungry, and he shoved the dead cub into his maw and bit off a chunk of flesh.

Food... Nearby...

Will you stop thinking of your thrice-damned stomach for once, you worthless animal?

Food... not good?

Ohh... you idiotic waste of life... No. There is fire nearby... Not much... but as a symbol of my existence it could give me the power I need...

Narg obediently headed toward the village, and above the trees, the clouds started gathering.

~~~~~~~

Hidden above the ground in the branches, along with the rest of the hunters, the captain studied the forest closely. He couldn't make out anything yet, which was odd. Ogres were stupid, hulking creatures, and they tended to smash and break things in their way rather than going around them...

Then suddenly he saw it. Larger than a man, yet strangely small for an ogre, the creature pushed the branches aside and lumbered forward. The captain's hands flashed rapidly through a series of practiced gestures, then he reached for the string of his own weapon."

Ready bows.

The others did, slowly pulling back on the strings until a dozen feathered flights were in contact with a dozen leather shoulderpads.

"Steady..." he muttered, and in the silence of the gloomy afternoon, every man could hear him.

The "ogre" grew closer, and they could now smell the rank odor of the dead cub it had been eating. The captain heard a sharp intake of breath and forced swallowing as one of the archers behind him narrowly suppressed the urge to throw up from the smell.

"Steady..." the captain continued whispering.

Then it stopped and sniffed the air, and looked directly at the hidden archers.

"Fire."

Thirteen whistling shafts lanced out of the branches, the frog-crotched heads tearing flesh to bits as they impaled Narg through the chest and head with deaadly precision. The troll flew back in a shower of riven flesh, howling in agony.

Narg hurt! Humans hurt!

So kill them. It's what you're good at, right, you dimwit?

Narg kill! Narg KILL!

A piercing cry escaped the from Narg's rapidly regenerating maw, a razor-edged soundwave that slashed the trees to pieces and tore the air apart with its hideous keening. The captain didn;t even have time to clap his hands to his ears before the sonic blade carved him apart with ruthless precision, just as they had done to Narg.

Unlike Narg, however, they couldn't regenerate.

As the troll trudged on inexorably toward the village, it was not only cloven branches which fell to the bloody earth.

~~~~~~~

In the village, the sentry shivered. The air had grown suddenly cold as the sky had darkened, but that wasn't the reason for his reaction. Rather, it was that horrific cry they had all heard a few moments ago.

What truly terrified him was that after that, there had been no sign of the captain's hunting team. Hazel and Pistachio's archers had fanned out to either side of the captain's approaches, and their runners had reported nothing new.

But from the captain's team, there had been no word. It was as if the forest, now seeming like a malevolent being in the dimming light, had simply swallowed them up, with little more than that cry to show for it.

Then he had no more time to think, because Narg was sprinting out of the forest, toward the open village. His objective seemed to be the cooking fire near the village center.

"Ogres! Everyone! OGRES!" On edge, the defenders drew and fired. However, spooked by the recent events, they missed... and Narg continued unchecked towards the village.

As the arrows whistled around him, largely missing from the archers' anxiety and inexperience, but also because of Alucard's subtle manipulation of air currents, Narg wondered if this was a good idea, running straight into the midst of his enemies.

Narg not want do this... Narg no want get hurt like just now...

Narg going to die a long and horrible death if he stop now... Damn! I'm even talking like you, you filthy animal! Just run! Once you reach the fire we can end everything!

At the mention of fire, Narg almost stopped.

Narg no want fire! Fire bad for Narg! Narg no heal fast when fire touch Narg!

They'll kill you if you don't get to the fire! Only I can save you now, but I need to be in the presence of destruction to tap more of my element! I can do parlor tricks like the sonic sword and the deadly sight, but they won't nearly be enough for a whole village of bowmen!

Narg...

DO IT NOW.

Where persuasion had failed, brute force succeeded. The troll ran even faster, easily outrunning the arrows, which were already impeded by the interfering winds conjured up by Alucard. The troll pounded on mindlessly, drawn to the flame much like a moth, its long strides eating up the distance between the two.

Fifty meters. Forty-five meters. Forty meters.

An arrow finally managed to shear through Alucard's wind defense and catch Narg in the shoulder. The broadhead tip tore the meat open, but it knitted together again almost instantly.

Thirty-three meters. Twenty-six meters.

Ignoring the pain, knowing only the fire that it had to seek, Narg redoubled his pace, and the distance shrank even more.

Nineteen meters. Ten meters.

Narg pulled an arm back instinctively, guided by the will of Alucard. The fire provoked the Red Fear in him, but he was too far gone in his madness to care.

Five meters. One meter.

Almost at the flame, Narg stopped... then thrust the spindly, wiry arm into the bonfire. Narg howled from the pain as the greedy flames consumed his flesh like a wildfire... but in the howling, one could hear a mad laughter as well.

Yes! This is what it's like! This is how it should be!

The essence of destruction fueling his connection to the storm he had started, Alucard reached to the skies... and brought the wrath of heaven down upon the earth. Lightning began striking, over and over, the bolts falling faster than the raindrops of a summer storm. Where they hit, there was a flash of incandescent fire, and then, nothing but the memory of vaporized flesh and blasted wood. The villagers ran, only to be cut down in their twos and tens by the vengeful arrows of heaven. The wind howled like a mad thing, its freezing embrace bearing the screams of the dead and dying away as the world suddenly seemed more akin to Hell than any other plane of existence.

And when it was all over, when there was nothing left of the settlement but burning ruins and echoing wails of pain and sorrow, the thing that had once been Narg stood from the ashes. Now, it was almost humanoid, missing an arm where it had been burned. It would take time to heal that, he thought. And in the meantime, he would be severely disadvantaged.

Is that so?

I have only one arm left. What do you think?

Still as stupid as ever, eh? Don't forget... you are the avatar of the Lord of Destruction now.

At this, Narg grinned, and its ugly face split open to reveal a maw of half-rotted teeth, and above that vile maw, a pair of eyes glittering with a hateful intelligence.

The world had just changed in ways nobody could imagine.

~~~~~~~

Shortly after Narg had left the village, the ogres and orcs marched onward like a black wave of destruction through the wilderness, their numbers now matching that of the imperial city's guard force. Trees were pushed down and trampled by the powerful creatures, and wild life scattered. Nothing could deter them from their path or even slow them, and a village destroyed by a certain troll was no different.

They marched through it's streets, as well as through what remained of the buildings. Their massive feet stomped corpses, and their fists brought down the remaining walls and homes with mighty blows, allowing the army to march directly through the homes of the deceased, crushing and breaking any items that remained in one piece. Those who hungered fed upon the corpses. The few remaining villagers, whom numbered in the single digits, were raped, killed, and eaten. Not necessarily in that order.

By the time the entirety of the advancing army had stomped past the village no one would have guessed that anything but ogres and orcs had been there. No one but the ogres and orcs themselves, and they were too stupid to fully realize that there was something else on the move.

~~~~~~

As the not-quite troll, not-quite human Narg shambled away from the ruins of the village, his bestial origins still evident in its loose, shuffling gait, a single word burned through his mind.

Southwards.

Narg had to go southwards now.

The Master commanded it.

South and east, you idiot.

Yes, boss. But why?

The capital lies in that direction, you fool. There'll be more humans and ogres to kill, right?

Oh. Okay. I'm hung-

Will you stop thinking about your stomach? Even growing a brain hasn't helped you in that respect. what I wouldn't give for some xodar...

What's a xodar?

You're too stupid to know. Hopefully, we'll encounter some later, so I can show you what they are and how to destroy them at the same time.

Okay, boss.

Narg trekked on, scratching idly at his back. It seemed as though a pair of lumps had started growing there, and they were as itchy as hell. Fortunately, Narg's regeneration let him ignore the damage his sharp claws were doign to his flesh each time he tried to relieve the irritation.

What he didn't notice, however, was that as he flayed pieces of crusty green skin off, the flesh was no longer a pasty white... but a pale silver.

But of course, Narg was a troll, and he didn't notice the slivers of skin falling off his claws were a lighter shade than before.

~~~~~~~

It was early the next morning when the guards noticed the army coming toward the walls. The fighting men and women were roused, and soldiers scrambled to prepare defenses against an army of beasts that matched their own.

It wasn't long before the ocean of flesh smashed into the gates, the thick wood groaning in protest against their might, as the logs set up as braces began to crack.

(OOC: Archers/Mages are on the northern wall to fire down upon the advancing horde, except Kerick. He can be with Asid if he wants. It makes no difference to me. Asid's group is being ushered into position, and the phalanxes are being formed hastily.)

On the morning of the encounter …

Trey was awaked by a knock on the desk. He rubbed his eyes trying to get the dim out of his sight. He saw Kay out of her nightdress and into her regular wardrobe. A candle on the table caught his attention as it was the only light in the room, the only light in the entire apartment for that fact. Kay put her hair in a loose tail trailing, and then strapped her belt around her waist. “What’s going on?”

“I’m being moved.” Kay was in a bit of a rush. The morning would not dawn for a few hours still. “I was hoping I be out before you got up.” The kid sat on the floor without knowing how to respond. Kay had planed on leaving him behind.

“Come on Arson, you’ve had plenty of time; we need to go.” Jack sounded through the door.

“Where are you going? Can I go with?”
“Everyone’s setting up at the gate; we’ve got no more time to be playing around.” Kay didn’t look at the kid. “Just go back to sleep, when sun comes up just go back to the barracks.”

With out thinking, without looking at the kid, Kate went to the boy descended to her knees and hugged him. ”Go to sleep,” Her voice was cold. Kay turned around and went to the door. Don’t look back. You can never look back. Any more image burn and it will be that much harder. Candle in hand Kay opened the door in the hall the candle left a faint beam on the kid. Kate cut the beam short and then killed it closing the door. Trey was confused. The one thing he understood was that Kate had left her and it wasn’t likely that she be coming back any time soon. In his confusion he slept and had odd dreams fill his silence.

In the hall Jack carried a sack containing some supplies, bandages, food, and a draft to lift her spirits. “Will the kid be oh k?”
“I’ve put him in the back no guarantees but he’ll have an easy retreat.”

“Thank you.” Jack and Kay retreated down a staircase and out into the open. Jack now walking with an obvious limb. A few of the archers were packing up their gear and falling in line to march. “Jack I’ve been meaning to ask you, the fodder on the front, they’re all non-human aren’t they?”
Jack tracked himself not sure whether to comment on the rumor or not, in the end he couldn’t cheat his friend; he said it as bluntly as possible, “Yes it is.”

“If I wasn’t already on contract, I’d be with them just like you wanted wouldn’t I?” This was more of a rhetorical question but it bore worth asking. They walked with the bliss of the dead morning quiet and the trot of Jack’s new walking stick before people started moving about.

Jack in his green jacket feathered headband and leather trousers opened up “When I was a young man there was a bandit out break near our home town. My unit was sent to halt this action. In my unit I had a friend, he was a medic. When the bandits tried to raid the village our unit defeated a lot of them. My medic friend, Steve, having such a weak heart went after the bandits to help them. Our captain caught up and condemned him. Before his punishment was enacted, a violent sec of the bandits ambushed us. I saw my friend escaped through our enemy. When it was asked what happened to him I said he got knifed in the bush. None complained.” His friend was free.

“Thank you for trying so hard to get me killed.”
“Forget about it, it didn’t work.” It was about as close as he would let himself say you’re welcome. It was enough and Kay knew what he meant. Cold people can’t afford to be too attached to the walking dead. They were now crossing one of the common plots where some berries had been grown. Kay took a few of these in hand. She ate a few picking up one at a time.

“If things go bad what will happen to the non-human unit?”
“We are to consider them foreign collateral damage and fire at will.”

They arrived at the gate. On the right was the building in which arrows were to pebble the enemy. Jack showed Kay to the roof where a tent had been sent up. Anchored to the center of the roof a chain, little more than the diagonal of the roof, held a cuff at the end. “I’m sorry Kay.”

“I understand.” Jack clipped the cuff on her ankle, and left the roof. Out in the distance the sol was raising. Katharine sat on the edge of the roof and watched the sol rise, slow at first, with its many colours awakening the earth to life. Her heart fell, and her stomach ate away at her.

A flourish of profanity almost beautiful in its complexity escaped the mouth of Color Sergeant Jilex.

"Yes my friend, all that and more. The bastard sold us all out because of his fear, and he thinks to call himself a general! No, he will have his due recompense by the end of this, but for now we must consider the battle before us. Tell the men what I have told you, let them know of the situation and tell them they're welcome to request reassignment to another Wing, I won't take anyone into this fiasco who doesn't want to be there." Hashel instructed.

"Aye m'lord, but I'll tell ya what they'll all say 'fore I ask it."

Hashel smiled, he knew his men. He knew what they were made of. The Serpents would report to the field, to the man. His posturing was only a necessity of his pride.

"I await your reply, we shall muster before the great gate. The enemy approaches swiftly on inhuman legs, be quick about it sergeant!"

Jilex delivered a precise salute which was returned solemnly. Hashel turned to view the coming hordes from the battlements he stood upon, still black specs across the horizon of the newborn Sol. His mind fought to stay on task, to focus on the bloody melee soon to ensue, but her eyes kept creeping into the edges, like a fine wine may leave a man low after a long meal.

"I suppose there never was a Commander Johanna, heh. But what are names then, to us mortals? How much more precious is the true name, the soul's name? By comparison my own must seem cheap and tawdry, filthy with the tongues of untold multitudes, spoken by the wretched and unfit." Hashel mused, wanting only to see Asidhara once more before risking his life for a cause he'd never truly espoused.

Silence and solemn thought consumed Asidhara as she strode resplendant through the main street to the plaza before the beleagured great gate. Her long blue cape flowed elegantly behind what was a fleeting memory of a fictional human battlemage. Her visage must have impressed those nearby whom could see beyond the duty she was given. At least she still wore her fetching hat, for without Gem at her side, Asidhara's plan would certainly fail.

It would end here, really. Hashel's loyalty would be made or broken based on her success, and those she sought to save would live or die here. Her own fate too, lingered much more closely than she were accustomed to in her long life. It shocked her, how much all of this hung on a single plan, a storybook stroke of singular genius designed to protect them from the slings and iron arrows of outrageous fortune.

Her retinue was untested, and she was playing a stranger's role in a story not her own. Her armor, constructed from the mythical fear-engine of her queen's freehold, keened imperceptibly from beneath it's glamoured exterior. The addled rabble shuffled away from her without knowing why, seemingly as if moving aside out of respect.

Asidhara strode within meters of the now-rumbling gate, before turning to adress her assembled retinue.

"Soldiers not of Kalidan! Today, we stand here as a five-fold bulwark agaisnt the tide of inhuman monstrosities seeking to rend our flesh from our bones!" She cried, drawing her sword and raising it aloft, it's silver blade catching the rays of the new sun's chromatic splendour. Her voice then lowered so that her troops could hear her, but those beyond would not catch her carrying voice, "But our foundation is weak, and our calling unjust. We are placed here today to die for those not our own, compelled by forces not our own. We fight for what? Nothing, except our survival that will be denied us."

"BUT TAKE HEART, MY LEGION!" She cried again, thrusting the silver-seeming blade of gossamer hatred aloft, an octet of crimson runes carving sequentially across it's blade, reading in the old speech... ("By your fears, I absolve thee of all") "For today we will spit in the face of fate itself!"

Standing central of the gap closed by the "gate", Asidhara moved away from it, toward her troops, and turned about-face once she had reached the proper distance.

"Form my left!" She commanded, pointing her left hand toward the left side of the gate where it met the wall, "from the wall to myself! Let the beasts take our right flank, for we need it not! Let us be kind enough to allow our human allies the honor of their own defense in part!" The word allies was spat with some level of hatred, which might seem odd to those who still considered Johanna to be a human woman.

"Gem! When the gate is breached, you must listen to me, and carry out my orders quickly and without hesitation. Do you understand?" She whispered to her hat, heart racing in the heat of the moment, her previous melancholy replaced with the glorious, alluring rush of imminent combat, herself at the head of a grand army agaisnt a seemingly innumerable horde... Magnificent, and beautifully insane.

Finally the moment came Icarus was waiting for. The battle had reached them. He was not willing to wait for the walls to be breached. Leaping from the wall he firmly smashed his foot on one of their skulls. Softening his fall and crushing the creature's skull. After a small flip he stood upright. The ogres around him stared at him, unsure what had transpired. It was no matter to him. After all, soon many of them would be killed. This was hammered home to the creatures when Icarus infused his arm with the heat of flame. Stabbing it straight into another ones heart. The beast fell, bits of ash flaring up, the heat sealing its wounds.

Finally they realized they were under attack. One thrusted its arm forward. Icarus grabbing its arm, causing the wind to spiral and remove its balance. Using its momentum to flip and smash it down on another attacker. Quickly all those around him were charging. Just like in training he was parrying ones attack into another. Smashing bones, ripping flesh, and puncturing organs. Concentrated blasts of magic of all elements flaring. Quickly a circle of bodies forming around him. He was being conservative now. Blasts of wind and time to out manuever, strikes of ice and fire to effortlessly strike vital points. His knowledge of medicine might have been limited when it came to these beasts, but it was enough to know what they need to live and where it was.

The foolish creatures did not realize they were outclassed one-on-one and with his augments there simply weren't enough to get through. But advantage wasn't wholely his. Their foolishness is also their strength. Eventually he would slip up, eventually he would tire, and eventually his magic would be exhausted. However all of those would happen, long before their numbers would fade. Indeed it was also foolish for him to leap into danger. But he was not above the suicidal, shuned by all, he now lived merely to test his abilities, and never before has he been given such a chance to do just that.

The Serpents marched their way through the aisle of humanity loitering before the grand gate, state troops either trying to find something else to occupy their sight for the moments of their passing, or sneering in jealous enmity. Color Sergeant Jilex beat a somber tune on a leather drum as the keen eyes and keener blades of the mercenary unit arrived in silence.

Hashel walked down from the parapets to meet his men. In his all too short life he'd seen so many battles, little skirmishes compared to this. Yet always in war is death lurking. Death can brethe easy in such circumstances, old hoary doom might even crack a toothless smile at such odds.

The Prince of Blades can smile too, however.

Commander Thalas had heard Lady Asidhara's speech from his high vantage, had seen the melodious twisting of fates worked by her eloquence. He wanted to speak with her now, but knew the time for such conference would not come until many dire beast had been laid low. He savored the thought, a cool draught after long hours spent in arduous toil.

"Preeesssent! HARMS!" Jilex roared with a voice only a color sergeant could utter. The Serpents all saluted in unison, blades to the ready. Each one shedding an aura of palpable malice, these were no lambs to a slaughter. These were hawks before doves.

"Hoooorrder! HARMS!" All back to attention in a staccato rhythm of perfection.

Hashel smiled wrly at his men, his wolves. "I suspect those of you that walk away from this will be expecting a fair bit of drink for your troubles. Fear not! Your commander still holds the keys to the best ale halls for a thousand leagues! For those of you who won't make the preceedings, I apologize for your deaths in advance. But in war, life is a necessary sacrifice, and honestly my purse appreciates your selfelssness!"

At this crass joke the assembled men began to laugh uproariously. Only silenced after a long stare from Sergeant Jilex.

"Orvadio, you are with me. Help to funnel the enemy towards the right flank, as we've discussed. Evenstride, take your men along the left flank and bolster the defenses there, have the Deadeyes hold back until I give the call, the take out the largest target in range. Hopefully we can pile enough bodies to aid in our funneling attempts." Hashel ordered.

Hashel's officers saluted and returned to their men. The battle loomed heavy as lead over the day, and the tundering trample of beasts reverberated through the very stone.

"Today I live" thought Hashel. "Today, I am cataphractoi, today I am unstoppable..."

(I'll post this here and edit/delete depending on Krylo's answer. If it's a go then it's his call what happens.)

[Day Before]

General Astidus frowned at the sudden knock upon his doors. He stood up from his chair and gave a firm shout. "I'm busy so unless you have urgent business please leave at once." Just as Astidus talking, the doors to his office swung open to reveal a brown hair beauty. Long wavy brown hair, smooth tan skin, wearing a lovely red dress, and a silver circlet in her hair. The renowned General stared at her quizzically. Arching one brow he pushed his chair back and walked around his desk to get a better look at the woman.

"If you've come for the draft you're dressed in the wrong thing." The woman giggled and blushed a bright red. "No silly YOU are dressed in the wrong thing." Astidus still looked at her as if she was speaking another language. "State your business or else I'll have the guards remove you." The doors opened a little more to reveal two guards grinning like goofs and blushing beat red. "These two wonderful gentlemen thought you needed to relieve some stress so they called me in for a favor. So what would you like big boy?"

Astidus shook off her attempt to get his attention, a very stern look on his face. "I have no time for such things please leave at-" He was stopped immediately as the woman brushed her head against his neck. "C'mon, just a little fun. I need to relieve some stress and so do you. I promise it'll only take an hour", she whispered seductively into his ear. Astidus closed his eyes and gave an exhausted sigh. "Fine, but only one hour and I want you to leave afterwards."

"Okay", she giggled and turned around while Astidus placed his stragetic books and battle plans on a seperate table. While he was busy the young woman looked over at the open door where the two guards were still staring with goofy grins on their faces. "Will you two handsome gentlemen please shut the doors? I'll get to you later." She winked and blew a kiss to the guards who promptly saluted and shut the door hastily. Astidus turned around to look at the woman, the look on his face as serious as ever.

The woman turned around to find Astidus with the same look on his face as ever. She placed one hand on her hip and smiled at him. "We can't do anything with that clunky armor on you. C'mon take it off, I want to see how burly a man on your caliber looks like." He gave yet another sigh before promptly removing everything but his boxers. The woman blushed and looked down trying not to stare at the boxers. "Now please, lay on your stomach on the desk. I'll start with one of my relaxing messages."

Astidus did just as he was asked, not questioning the woman once. She began her 'relaxing' message. It felt so good to him it was almost not human. Astidus let out a loud yawn, it was apparent the message was working. "Tell me, what is your name?" He asked suddenly. The woman blushed almost forgetting. "Darleen", she answered suddenly and out of surprise. "Well Darleen it would be great to have you as a personal-" *SNORE*

The message had worked so well that Astidus had fallen asleep before he could finish his sentence. The young woman smiled deviously as she pulled a knife from under her dress. The woman soon transformed into a spitting image of the Astidus while he had his armor on. The doppleganger lifted the knife and drove it down towards the doomed Generals back.

Back in the past, which is another country, Gem had found himself unceremoniously deposited upon the head of a kender. It was demeaning - such a hat was clearly too large for a kender and so simply looked ridiculous.

Left with Asidhara's instructions to locate a friend of hers, Gem resigned himself to the deed of finding Asidhara's secretive 'friend'. The disguised unseelie faerie truely had terrible taste in friends. Himself excluded of course.

Guiding a kender to a loction was a difficult task at the best of times. One that was waxing poetic on his overwhelming joy about being trusted with guarding such a hat amongst hats proved more difficult. It had only gotten worse when Gem had deigned to speak to Frenny.

Of course, when hat and kender had reached their intended destination, Gem realised a kender, alone, was unlikely to be allowed in. Faced with this conundrum, he decided something must be done. Carried off into a back alley were prying eyes were absent, this most marvellous of hats was ceremoniously set upon the ground. There, it twitched, shifted and changed shape.

"Is that what you really look like?" the kender asked.

"No." Gem replied patiently in a raspy voice. He wore the guise of a mage, youngish and of frail appearance. To round out the act, he affected an occaisonal cough. The fae wondered if perhaps he should have worn red robes instead of the much more sinister black. It was a glamour he felt certain should ward off any untoward reactions.

Enquires showed Asidhara's mysteirousss friend he had already left. Tracking him down had been interesting times.

* * *

"Gem! When the gate is breached, you must listen to me, and carry out my orders quickly and without hesitation. Do you understand?" Asidhara whispered, already picturing death and glory. The ogres were at the gate and without Gem at her side, her plan was doomed to inglorious failure.

The words brought the faerie dragon back to the present. Briefly, he toyed with the novelty of a simple 'No'; an answer to thrust Asidhara upon the horns of a true dilemma. To transform such a thought to deed was a cruelty he found unflattering. Instead, he gave his own indirect reply.

"Do you wish me to be the god lowered from the highest heavens? In my wisdom I will dissolve this vast, insoluble dilemma? Or do I play the darkened star, her magical artistry to marvel and awe all her 'legion'? Not all can be kept hidden away, mysteries still secret and safe. Which veils to loose and which to keep?"

While, of course, manipulating a gate was easily within Gem's power, doing it subtly could be quite another matter. The question of what instead to pass it off as could prove be a most critical one.

OOC: And I need to check some details of gate wreckingness. I also left out specific kender reactions to talking hats and other such happenings seeing how kender are so very hard to predict. And I'm sure the events of those 'interesting times' are something that will be alluded for some time to come.

Freeny was bored.
He had lost the hat, which wasn't a hat, that could talk, and change shapes, and knew where to go all the time. It was a wonderful hat, but he had given it back after the Lady's friend had told him to. Of course people were always telling Freeny what to do and whatnot, but this time he'd done it.
Odd.

Looking for something to do, Freeny's gaze went out over the horde of large, very hungry looking creatures. "I wonder if they're hungry, I know what I look like when I'm hungry, and I look kind of like that, but with less drooling. They must be hungry, the food here is pretty good, I know that was why I came here." Freeny reached into a pouch and pulled out a baked chicken, "I wonder if I feed them, if they'll go away. I woudln't think there'd be any reason for them to stick around if they were fed properly. Then they'd leave and I'd be a hero!"

With that thought in mind Frenny emptied his pouches of food out over the ogres. The food was quickly snapped up and Frenny found himself looking down at a couple dozen even hungrier looking ogres.

Frenny tapped his chin speculatively, "Well this won't do, I'll need more chicken if I'm to feed them all."

Hopping down from his hiding spot in the wall, Frenny went to raven the market in his effort to save the city.

Vlad was in a building a fair distance behind the gate, but still within viewing sight. All of these buildings had been evacuated, but it's not hard to sneak into places when you control minds and light. He originally wanted a seat on the wall, but a hail of arrows was out of his control. And being near the actual battle put him to close to the collateral damage from the Ogres.

An early morning show was about to come into town, and he didn't want to miss it. Inferior creatures slaughtering each other in a gigantic battle for his amusement. Originally he feared that the humans may lose, thus leaving him in an overrun city, but then he realized that the attackers were mindless beasts. He could practically walk through the army and come out unharmed.

Upon glancing over the cast, Vlad noticed something odd. Near the gate there appeared to be a remarkable beauty leading the defense. How they could make such a fair creature fight was questionable, but placing her in the ranks of those clearly damned was unforgivable. However, the gate was about to be breached, and the soldiers were all in place. It was to late to retrieve her himself. Plus going out now puts him in unneeded danger. Instead, Vlad would remain in his spectators seat, and influence the battle as best he could from there.