[IC] Book of Aeos (V1)

[Lord Orgasmo]

Ysran Stormreach

Ysran watched as the the kobold stomped off into the forest, as he saw her do her best to be threatening. A normal man might have been a little intimidated, but Ysran could only let out a nearly inaudible chuckle."Well, good luck! Have fun!"Ysran shouted after her.

Ysran remembered the little bow the Kobold had. He was guessing she knew how to use it. It was time to take some precautions. Ysran waved his hand in front of him, as a dark swirl went around his arm. Then the other. Then the rest of his body. Ysran put his hands behind his back and looked down, letting his hair cover his face.

"Well, so much for that. What about you, Caractacus? You want to go with? Look around some more?" Ysran put his gripped his chin, revealing his hand, which was covered in thick silver scales. Quickly realizing this, he put his hand back behind his back. "Although, you'd have to do something with your little horde here. I doubt the cart has room for all of them, not to mention, the driver probably doesn't want zombies on board."

[The Late Rose]

@Lich

Belladonna smiled at the Lich King, laughing softly as he recounted the last time they had spoken. "Yes, I suppose you did use this same trick, didn't you?" She listened intently to his words, taking a small sigh of relief when he said that their kingdoms would fight together should the Dark Lord attack either of them. That certainly put her mind at ease.

The Witch Mother sat up straight and pushed a strand of her fair blonde hair behind her ear. "I'm glad your land is faring so well. Those goblins must have been nasty to deal with at first. I remember several centuries back when the little buggers invaded the Black Forest. Killed a good number of my people before we drove them out." She looked out of the carriage window, seeing nothing but the screen of white fog she had summoned. "Things in the North are well. We've had successful crops, healthy babes being born, and the Forest itself is stronger than ever." Belladonna's hand went to her crown, which connected her to her land. She could feel the pulse of every creature, the growth of every plant, and the vibrations of the magic within it's borders.

"Oh yes," Belladonna began. "Tensions are high between my subjects and your elves, but nothing extremely out of hand has happened. A couple of scuffles here and there along the border, but they're usually quick and there's been no casualties." The Witch Queen chuckled. "Some of them have discovered that hags may appear like fragile flowers at first, but we're forces to be reckoned with." She toyed with the gold chain around her neck as she looked to the Lich King.

"It gives me great relief that my kingdom is still not alone in the shadow of the Dark Lord's army. Our numbers are growing, but we're still not strong enough to stand a chance against a force such as his by ourselves." Belladonna's hand went to her bosom, right over her heart. "As a ruler, I hope you can understand my concern. It's comforting to have an ally like the Navitas." She glanced coolly into Anvarwel's eyes. "The Black Forest will support any decision you make." She paused, thinking about the piece of 'juicy information' that he had. "I'm curious, old friend, what is this knowledge you possess?" She leaned forward. "Perhaps we can make an exchange of knowledge? I've caught wind of a certain item that the Lord is looking for. Well, not exactly an item and more of a person, but I digress."

[Lich]

Anvarwel

The Lich had remained in the same casual position whilst he and Belladonna were speaking. Now he leaned back a bit, the talk of Goblins was bringing back enjoyable memories, he had not fought a true war in decades and the Goblin conquests were little more than pest control after the first few months. That was after he was able to get past their fortifications of course. The Goblin invasions were however an interesting time for both of the Eastern Realms.

He leaned forwards slightly as his fellow monarch discussed the goings on in her own realm, he had no concern for the lives of newborns, after all the deeper on dug the more skeletons they were likely to find, and who has time to wait to train a soldier when you can simply raise one? It took a second for him to remember that not every magic wielder was a powerful necromancer such as he. The talk of scuffles however intrigued him. "I personally think Elves have always found something... Unsettling about Hags, then again I have yet to see an Elf not of use to me. Until that day I think we can stand a little racial tension, it always keeps things fresh when there has been no wars." He would however make a note of that bit of information, for one he would have to add some knights to the northern patrols to keep things in check, or maybe he would let the Azure Knight deal with them.

He had to agree with Belladonna that they could not stand alone here. No doubt that the two nations standing together would draw others to them, maybe even powerful allies. He had almost fazed out when he realized Belladonna was still talking. "The Black Forest will support any decision you make." He bowed his head slightly "An alliance as old and powerful as ours, well now. We cannot allow a simply difference of opinion to tear us apart, neither of us wishes to loose power here. Immortality is rather dull without something like politics to pass the time I find."

If Anvarwel had possessed any flesh it would be now that he would have grinned, the posse sing and sometimes sharing of information was something of a joy of his, particularly when that piece of information was thousands of years old. "Some time ago I came across a legend, well several legends with one major connection actually. You do not want to know how I found them nor how long it took me to get them. Tell me, have you ever heard the of the God of Undeath?" He paused for a moment to let the title sink in. "It is said many millennia ago an ancient Lich discovered, through dark magic, a way of becoming a creature of dark power. To do this it searched for decades, eventually discovering the last piece of the puzzle, a black Dragon. It was here were the lines between fiction and legend begin to become harder to define, the most realistic source I could find was this God of Undeath began to rule a mighty empire. A common theme that seems to repeat on a cycle, but I'm distracting myself. This so called god was eventually defeated after nearly 1000 years ruling by an unnamed savior, who seemed to simply vanish into time itself. Of course, the likelihood of this tale being true is small, but stranger things have happened even in the last 100 years and the rewards... Well I think you get the picture." He stopped for a moment to look out of the window, he considered whether this Dark Lord would listen or simply think he was being mocked, at least he could come up with a secondary bargain, he turned back to Belladonna. "I believe that holding an edge over this Dark Lord when I go to meet him may work in our favor. If I am aware of secret knowledge it may unnerve him into making a foolish decision. So tell me, what does the man who has everything but us seek?"

[dereken]

Caractacus

Caractacus flinched away from the kobold again as she snapped at Ysran. She stomped off, back into the forest to continue her hunt of the orc warlord. Caractacus looked from Ysran to the rapidly shrinking Eahara, and then back again. He was supposed to be opposing the dark lord and his armies, and yet the prospect of just riding away to be rid of the whole affair seemed promising. Then, Ysran added one more thing. "Although, you'd have to do something with your little horde here. I doubt the cart has room for all of them, not to mention, the driver probably doesn't want zombies on board."

Caractacus hardly noticed the mild deformation of Ysran's hand. Leave his undead behind? He'd be defenseless! Caractacus shook his head. "N-no, I have to-to follow. It's...I need to fight. Yes, I have an obligation!" Nodding fervently, as though to reassure himself more than Ysran, Caractacus swung his hand over his horde, gesturing for them to follow. He started off, then froze. "Wait, not enough, need a few more...

Caractacus slammed his staff into the ground, murmuring words of magic. Dark energy flowed from him, into the ground, though it did not have far to go, as it found a trio of perfect recipients half buried in the mud of the main road. Three dead members of local soldiery, no-doubt cut down in the raid, reanimated and clawed their way to their feet. Caractacus laughed harshly. "Never a shortage. Follow me."

[Lord Orgasmo]

Ysran Stormreach

Ysran stood still, awaiting a potential arrow from the Kobold. But nothing came. Relaxing, Ysran walked next to Caractacus, putting his hands back to his side and looking back up, revealing that his hands and face were now covered in thick silver scales. "Alright then, lead the way! Oh, but, we should probably tell the driver about what happened. I told him I'd be back in a bit. Oh and don't mind the, uh, Scales. Thought I might've gotten shot by an arrow. They'll go away in a bit"

[AtomicNut]

It was a good day to go on an adventure. Birds were singing, the forest canopy was refreshing. There were raised corpses, and death all over. Well, okay it wasn't that much of a good day, but Thiara had to be optimistic from the onset. What with being her first adventure and all. She hurried the pace, moving between the trees and bushes in the road. Steadily closing to her foe.

Skeletons.

Might've the remnants of some dark lordling craft. Well, at least the road was transited and there were other people who had partaken in the battle. That was good. She wasn't alone in the whole heroing thing. The young apprentice waved her cane, thinking how to proceed. "Okay, Thiara, keep it cool and zap those undead."

She needed a plan. Which of course involved skeletons.

"Die!...Again! You rotting things!" Thiara said dramatically, aiming the staff at Caractacus' craft, evidentely confusing it for enemies. She chanted the words, and...

Nothing happened.

"Oh come, don't do this to me!" Thiara added, shaking her staff, and then eventually looking at the gem. She did it right, it was charged with energy so why it didn't...

She took the lightning bolt blast right into her face. "Ack!" She exclaimed as she fell flat on her butt, her face smoked and her hair frazzled. It was then when she noticed the necromancer and its cohort. "What, no! Get away you freaks! I am not done with you yet!"

[Lord Orgasmo]

Ysran Stormreach

Ysran let out another chuckle as the woman fell back. She clearly was a beginner. "Did you have not have the components or somethin'? Also, rude. These scales are only temporary." he said gesturing towards his scaled hands and face. "Also, we mean no harm. Probably should've said that first huh? My name is Ysran. Ysran Stormreach. And this is Caractacus. Don't worry about all the undead. They won't hurt you, see? He pointed at his newfound conpanion, and then walked up to one of the three new undead and stuck his hand in its face. There was no reaction. See? Harmless. If you're having trouble casting magic, I might be able to help. Although I'm not to educated on arcane arts, I might be able to offer some help. Ysran walked past the undead and walked towards the girl, extending his scaled hand. "Need some help up? A bolt like that had to have hurt."

[Lich]

Sakem Ba

Sakem hummed a copyrighted tune as he walked down the path his travels have taken him. For about a month, Sakem has been attempting to catch up to the warlord known as "The Blood Hound," or as Sakem likes to call him in attempts to irritate him, "Uncle Salak." Anyway, back on topic of why he has been attempting to catch up with him. The reason why he has been doing this for a month? Absolutely nothing important! He's been attempting to catch up with him just to ask an irrelevant question that he forgot two weeks ago!

Sakem placed his left hand at his throat, touching his newly made collar. The lunar deity, and Goddess of Fate, Ita shined her holy moonlight on him two days ago and granted him a sacrifice that was not quite worth it. He met a lone traveler who was on his way to Doriath. He put up an absolutely awful amazing fight before Sakem ended it all.

Sakem stopped humming when he saw the smoke in the distance. Had he really been this close the whole time? He couldn't help but chortle at how idiotic he was, thinking he was at least a couple days away from Tharac. He started running towards the town, stopping only when he noticed the undead. He couldn't help but mentally facepalm at his own stupidity. He had hoped to not encounter any undead until he reached the areas surrounding Castle Miraz.

He quietly stalked forward into town, avoiding as much contact with the undead as he could. The undead seemed... passive, surprisingly. The undead he had come to know were violent, tearing down each other and entire walls just for being in the way. After a bit of wandering around the ruins, he stopped once he saw the robed man, his companions, and someone on the ground, possibly wounded. He quietly sighed before cupping his hands around his mouth, stepping out and yelling. "Hi, Billy Mays here are any of you friendly?" Not his smartest move, but definitely not his dumbest either.

[dereken]

Caractacus

Caractacus took in Ysran's sudden change in dermatological disposition, before nodding slowly. "I'm no st-stranger to er, strange things. J-just go talk to the coach man and we can be off." He turned back to the road out of town, eager to be on the move. However, he stopped once more as he heard shouting. He swung about, looking for the source.

"Die!...Again! You rotting things!" It looked like a normal human. She was waving a staff at his newly spawned minions, evidently intent on destroying them. Caractacus wanted to speak up when she failed to cast, but could only watch dumbfounded as she struggled with her catalyst in an attempt to make it obey her. He was afraid she was going to kill or seriously injure herself. She was like some bumbling apprentice.

CRACKOOM! Caractacus nearly jumped out of his robe as the newcomer blasted herself with her own spell, leaving her on her rear in the muddy street. Staring in shocked disbelief, Caractacus wasn't sure what to do, even as Ysran approached to speak with her. "What, no! Get away you freaks! I am not done with you yet!" Caractacus was pleasantly surprised, the newcomer used the plural, referring to him and Ysran. It felt good to not be the sole focus of scorn from a living being.

Caractacus quickly lost the novelty, however, and decided to ignore the living things again. They were distraction enough, and he was tired of having to talk. He began gathering up his undead once again to follow him. Just as he was prepared to leave, again, he was interrupted by yet another stranger come into town. Caractacus could not believe it. It was as though he attracted a swarm of flesh and blood things. He shook his head in frustration. "No! N-no! I have no time. I am sorry, but I-I must keep moving. You may speak to them!" Caractacus waved him back toward Ysran and the woman.

He kept walking, his undead trailing behind, finally leaving the sacked town to take up the new hunt for Tharac. Caractacus went into the woods, trying to follow where Eahara had ran into the woods. After a few minutes of travel, trying and failing to find any indicators of where the kobold had gone, Caractacus was thoroughly turned around, and well and truly lost. At least he still had his zombies.

[Carlyle]

_@Kenaron

Alberich

With their goal and path solidified, Alberich walked along the forest trail with Rothar. The trail, for the most part, was silent except the obvious chatter from the knight and the lumberjack. Both of them had walked different paths in life, but they had the same destiny - avenging the countless suffering that the Dark Lord had brought upon the world. It was a change of pace for Alberich, for he thought he was to walk this path alone until his quest of revenge was ended by a dagger in his spleen. The thought of death hardly scared Alberich, whereas it scared the rest of the world. After all, his wife and daughter were waiting for Alberich to return to them in the heavens above, yet something kept driving Alberich to keep living. Perhaps it was to sow as much destruction against the Dark Lord's approach, or maybe it was to slay the Dark Lord himself. Whatever it is, Alberich kept it locked away deep inside his heart from everyone else.

"-you see, Rothar, an axe may be unwieldy, but it has many uses. Just like how you can use a dagger for to pry something loose." Alberich replied. The two of them spoke about their weapons, and eventually their conversation had turned into a friendly debate. He opened his mouth to continue his point when Alberich held out a hand, signalling for Rothar to stop. "There. Do you see the smoke?" The lumberjack pointed to the large smoke cloud in the sky, doubtlessly caused by the barn fire that Tharac started. Being the brave warriors that they were, the duo made their way to the ruined village. The leftover destruction and death caused Alberich to shudder upon first glance, but his disturbed thoughts eventually turned to infuriating rage. "If only we were here earlier..." The lumberjack muttered as he kicked a charred piece of a roof.

However, something was off about the entire scene. There was puddles of blood, without a doubt spilled by the guards that tried to defend the denizens of the village, but most of the corpses were gone. A trail of stirred dust remained where each corpse was supposed to be, as if they stood back up. A necromancer? Why must the Dark Lord be so cruel not to grace the fallen with a peaceful death? Damned users of such foul magic go against the very laws of nature. Alberich thought as he approached Rothar. "Rothar. Take a glimpse at the ground. Most, if not all of the corpses are missing from where they should be. Whoever did this had the help of a wicked necromancer in their ranks. If you're up to the task, I think we could track the necromancer from the shambling trails left behind. We don't have the ability nor time to bury the remaining dead, but at least we still have the chance to give their brethen the peaceful death they deserve."

[Kenaron]

_@Aquanthe

Rothar

Rothar looked in disbelief as the town came into view. He had heard that there was an orc warband on the loose, but the thought that they had chosen such a tiny village was a reminder of the cruel war the Dark Lord waged on them all.

He didn't notice the trails in the puddles of blood before Alberich called his attention to them, but when he did he immediately shifted gears to a more methodical and thought out approach, trying to think of anything that they could use to follow the trail left by this necromancer. He didn't have any bright idea, so he just nodded towards Alberich, unsheathing his sword. We'll have to follow him, for the sake of this poor town. Let's head on, yeah? I'll lead, you keep an eye out for anything behind us. They strode right through the town, wihout another word, and followed the trails until hearing faint voices a little ways out of the town. Rothar tapped lightly on Alberich's shoulder and on his ear when he turned around, followed by pointing towards the sounds. He approached silently towards it, hoping to not be noticed. He heard a thunderous boom right besides them, like a lightning had fallen from the sky.

He soon saw the owner of the voices. He saw a couple of men and a woman. The left man was facing forward, so Rothar could only see his black robe and staff as he walked away. The man on the right was offering help to the woman, who was sitting in the floor, looking frazzled. He could also see the skeletons around the little group, he couldn't count them, but he would have guessed around five. He turned to Alberich and whispered Here's the Necromancer, but he's got a lot o' company. We'll have to catch them by surprise if we want to live to tell this tale. He steeled himself and started walkin again towards the group, trying to sidestep the field of vision of he man or the woman, but it might as well be imposible. He prepared to make a dash for the Necromancer, but kept his cool until literally anyone turned to face them. It would be quite ugly if he had to make a run for it, but he'd give his best.

[Carlyle]

_@Kenaron

Alberich

Alberich nodded at Rothar, and drew his battleaxe should the two men run into any danger as they began their investigation. He followed Rothar, his gaze darting throughout the forest like a cat chasing a laser pointer. They had no knowledge on how big this war band was, nor did they know where the orcs were. Despite the unknowns, the paladin and the lumberjack had known one peculiar detail: the orcs were certainly ferocious. Certainly, the two would've been in a fight for their lives if the orcish war band had spotted them before they had spotted the orcs. That reason alone caused Alberich to tense as he gripped the long hilt of his battleaxe, but it also solidified his resolve. He had wanted to sow as much death against the Dark Lord's forces, and a chance to do so was provided to the lumberjack.

Crouching behind a few bushes and various sections of foilage, Alberich, alongside Rothar, watched the group with caution. There was something off-putting about the group, for they didn't seem to be in coalition with the Dark Lord, yet despite this, they were with the necromancer. A rogue group? Third party? The man had thought to himself as they analyzed their situation. "They won't be company for much longer. The peaceful death they deserve shall come." Alberich whispered back to the knight as he began to circle the opposite side in a flanking maneuver. The necromancer appeared fragile enough to Alberich that they could make quick work of him and his minions in the case one of them got caught, but the mages looked to be a more difficult problem. With a prayer to the gods, Alberich hoped that the group would too busy conversing and storming off to notice him and Rothar as they prepared for battle.

[Lord Orgasmo]

The lady looked at Ysran without moving, at least five akward seconds passed before hearing: "Hi, are any of you friendly?""Hold up little lady, got another stranger." Spinning on his heels, Ysran turned around towards the voice. A man was standing on the roadside."Yeah I'm- out of the corner of his eye he say another figure, this one much larger, hiding in the treeline. That's also when he noticed Caractacus and his horde were nowhere to be seen!"What the hell? I turn around for thirty seconds and everything's different. Yes, I'm friendly, you, in the tree line, don't try anything funny, we're all good friends here, my new friend just dissappeared, and just... what?, he put his arms up across from each other."Can we all just gather 'round for a quick sec and try to figure out what's going on? I don't even know where I'm at."

[Shoe Thief]

Kathryn

The shallow river was dark despite the bright sunlight that gleaned over it. Filled with blood of many different species and their respective corpses it could be argued that this river was made purely of these corpses and their blood, other then the fact that not too far up river it was as clean and clear as if it was never touched by the outside world. The only one still standing was a woman who's armor was dented in multiple places, helmet missing, and spots of blood across her and her armor. She took in her surroundings to see if anyone else was still standing. She was alone on the river's edge. "Anyone still standing?" She said in hopes someone from her party was still alive. Herself and a small party went to confront a patrol for the Darklord, only to find out that the numbers advantage they thought they had was not true.

Just barely inside the shallow river the last Orc tried to get up, too weak and injured to do much he fell back in the riverbed, face barely above the water. Kathryn grabbed her blade which after combat needed a nice sharpening, but it would still do the job. Then she stopped just at the base of the river, her feet only inches from the dark waters. She knew she could stand in it, but she still wasn't able to go in. What if there was a hole in the water she couldn't see? What if the Orc pulled her down? What if she got stuck and sunk? She looked around for another option, she wasn't going to let this Orc survive this after it had helped kill her allies.

On one of the bodies at the edge of the river was a cheap wooden bow, the body also having a quiver with a few arrows remaining. She walked over to the body, human. The bow was still in decent condition, its user not so much, she didn't recognize him. Though he wasn't apart of the Darklord's army from what she could tell. She sighed and took the bow, only to walk to the river's edge and take aim at the Orc, who was closer to standing this time, only to stop when he noticed the Human warrior taking aim. "Grab a damn blade, we'll settle this like a real sold-" He didn't get time to finish before the arrow went through his skull, killing him before his head landed face down in the riverbed like so many others here. "Soldiers just sort of kill each other. No rules, just do what you can to win." Speaking as if he was still alive. Out of the ten or so people who came to fight off the patrol, she was all that remained. By now though, the nearby town should have been evacuated. Everyone here knew that there was little chance of any of them making it out alive, more troops would show up soon. All she could do no was move on and help who ever was next.

She grabbed her scattered gear and replacements for the broken parts and moved on, carrying with her her armor, weapons, and a small backpack holding enough supplies for a single person for a day or so. She would need to stop for more water later when she found another clean source. It didn't take her long to find the remains of another town that had been ransacked and burned down. No way this was from the same patrol, they didn't have the supplies of a ransacked town, and they came from a different direction. No, this was something else. Something that could have been much worse. She was tired, sore, still bruised up, but if this raiding party was still moving then so was she. She proceeded to follow the trails left behind.

[AtomicNut]

So the necromancer isn't a part of the retinue of the dark lord? What a weirdo.Thiara mumbled in her thoughts, as she examined her face and hands in a pool, checking that everything was in place. That bolt had certainly stung. Oh well, at least it seemed everything in her face was in place, as well just a minor case of singed hair.

"Uh...Yeah. I'm fine... I'm fine. Name's Thiara by the way." The young woman answered, before looking at the other magician. You call those scales? Pff, I've seen newborns much more armored than that. She added mentally to the wizard's comments about the magic. She patted her clothes and stood up, her sight now turning to another voice surge coming from the woods.

A necromancer, a fish wizard, some woodsman yeller. Chances are this group of weirdos is a hero party. I've struck gold! Thiara thought to herself smugly as the elf wizard answered the voice... and before she knew, the necromancer was gone. Too bad, those dark arts of him seemed useful. But he didn't seem the more stable guy to begin with. And then more presences appeared in the treeline. Could this be an ambush?

She certainly thought so. Things seemed to go fine. The first bandit ambush! The witch appeared so excited as she stuck her staff out once again. "They're bandits, Ysran! Cool! Let's have a go at them!" She preemtively judged as she began charging her magical energy once more. Another lightning bolt. The young witch smirked, as she let it rip. This time worked! It was going directly at her desired target.

Except she had somehow messed up the output of the lightning bolt, accidentally overcasting and making it several if not dozens of times powerful than any witch apprentice had any right to be. The resultant projectile, resembling a high tiered spell like the Sky Spear of the Archwizard or somesuch, completely turned a swathe of the treeline into actual cinders, although hopefully sparing the three people that were there. The projectile wasn't very accurate.

"Oops." Thiara said, looking at the destruction her own clumsiness wrought. Also some trees had caught fire. If she were human, the mana drain of the spell would've incapacitated her, but she could bear it for now only looking somewhat winded.

[Lord Orgasmo]

Banditos, eh? I don't think so. He would've attacked when my back was turned. He might be with the other guy." Ysran pondered for a second on the situation, when an ear-shattering CRACK! flew by his ear. Flinching, he turned to see that most of the treeline to his left had turned to ash and fire."Wow. Maybe you need to reach me a few things. Let's, uh... put down the staff for a moment. See if we can't talk things out. Thought we might have a bit of a hard time seeing a you just tried to murder that guy. Speaking of which," Turning to the treeline, or at least, what was left of it, he took a few steps towards where the man was."Hey! You ok? Sorry about that. We can all talk this over."

[Carlyle]

_@Kenaron

Alberich

Everything seemed to be going well for Alberich and Rothar. Without much interference from each other, the two were able to quickly come to terms on a plan to defeat the supposed Dark Lord's soldiers. Splitting off, the two began circling around the party on the road like a wolf pack, stalking their prey like the predators they were. Of course, that was before the forest was set on fire behind Alberich. "Bloody hell! Are you trying to singe my hair or fight, peon!?" The lumberjack shouted as his cover was blown by a loud cracking sound zoomed past his head, and burned a few threads of his unkempt blonde hair that had fell to the ground to a crisp. He took a quick glance behind him, noticing the unnatural lightning that crackled and shot off from falling, burning trees. "Magic..." Alberich muttered through gritted teeth. He thought magic users to be irresponsible, and the flame-engulfed forest behind was enough proof of his opinion.

In any case, hostilities had commenced between the two misinformed parties. One had thought the other to be bandits while the second party had thought their foes to be with the Dark Lord. Perhaps a case of friendly fire, but such a thought didn't come to Alberich. The lightning magic had only strengthened his resolve that these magic users were peons of the Dark Lord, and the lumberjack was determined to end them. Heaving his large battleaxe in his hand, Alberich had to abandon the plan to cut down the necromancer first. After all, why would Alberich willing turn his back to the magic users after that powerful display of such power? Rothar was still there to back him up, and the lumberjack hoped the paladin catch the necromancer before he turned around and aided the mages. "First you kill my family and friends, then you murder a village of innocent townsfolk... Gods begone with you, soldiers of the Dark Lord!" With a mighty war cry, Alberich charged the mages, and the muscular lumberjack swung the battleaxe towards his foes with enough force to chop down even the mightiest oak tree.

[Lord Orgasmo]

Hearing shouting from behind, Ysran did his best not to absolutely lose it. Turning around, a new man had appeared, charging towards the woman he had just met. He could let her die. Right here. Right now. But what fun would that be. Extending his hand forwards, Ysran spoke in an Occult tounge:"Vis... Massale!". On command, a black orb flew out of Ysran's hand like a bat out of hell. Heading straight for this new figure, it landed right at his ankles, knocking him face-first to the ground. Don't get up. If you're going to attack again, I will not let you off so easy. We are not with this Dark Lord guy. I don't even know who he is. We can all be friends here."

[Lich]

Sakem Ba

Sakem couldn't help but groan. He was honestly glad that Fathom wasn't here. Gods know what that dimension-bending mad(wo)man would do, especially since there was no doubt that he would be annoyed. Quietly, Sakem backed out of sight, leaving the parties to their fight. His plan was to wait and see how this would go before revealing himself again.

Once he was sure that no one could see him, he started the painful transition from a humanoid into the majestic avian creature known as flamingos Goldcrest. Once that process was done, he flew up, just enough to watch the two parties and their folly.

[dereken]

Caractacus

"Gah! Damn it!" Caractacus stumbled as the forest was suddenly engulfed in an earsplitting crack of thunder. Caractacus regained his footing, and spun about to the source. Already there was a fire growing through the tree. "If it was that witch again, I swear..." He started back toward what he assumed was the town, his half-dozen zombies following loyally. He didn't really want to be back with them again, but it would hopefully be better than alone and turned about in the woods.

Caractacus took his time to navigate himself and his zombies around the fire, his rotting minions were especially weak to fire, and the now roaring blaze would leave them charred, if not ash. He finally arrived at the clearing before the ruined town. Caractacus took a moment to observe the situation. Things had clearly escalated. Ysran and the witch seemed to be in conflict with a pair of warriors. One, a knight in full plate, the other a lighter armed warrior, wielding a wicked looking ax. They almost looked like heroes, but they were attacking Ysran and the witch, and they at least, he knew to be at least friendly with him. Caractacus sighed. He was going to have to get involved.

Taking a deep breath, the necromancer readied his staff, planting on the ground. He muttered emboldening words, and energy started to flow from him to his zombies. The undead were bolstered, seeming to grow, and a malevolent gleam shone in their dead eyes. Caractacus steadied himself after casting his empowering spell, before raising a hand. "Defend Ysran and the witch." The zombies, with renewed agility, charged from the treeline.