Project# 1049: Magekiller

[Destrudo]

This is now closed to all but those already posted. All bunnying will have been approved via IM or PM.
The day itself was an auspicious one at best, and a suspicious one at worst.
There were clouds scattered here and there, the wind was good and strong, coming out of the east as it toyed with his long red hair, and the tide was the highest it had been all month. His leather boots crunched on the sidewalk, small pebbles stuck in then underneath. Red energy glowed all around him, and many thought him an oddity, but this was his natural condition. His red eyes took in the locals, some children hid behind boxes, scared of this strange man.

All in all, a good day for sailing, but considering his destination, anything was possible.

He was walking towards one of the less favorable taverns in town, a place that was a mainstay for pirates of all sorts, and merchants who didn't want to trouble customs with certain aspects of their cargo.

It was called The Buccaneer's Den, it's wood was warped and faded, it's chairs and stools creaked and groaned, and their beds made the floor seem like a more appeasing prospect for sleep. Destrudo walked in, The Bartender was a grizzled old man, who had both been a proud naval captain, and a fearsome pirate. He lost his left eye in a fight and opened The Buccaneer's Den afterwards. He was polishing a glass, looked at it, found a dirty spot, spat on it, and continued polishing.

Destrudo smiled inwardly, he knew now not to get anything to drink from this place.

"What do you want?" the bartender snarled noticing Destrudo's prolonged gaze in his direction.

"I want a ride, to the land of everlasting night." Destrudo said quietly, calmly, as though it were just around the corner.

"HA! No one in their right mind would sail towards that gods forsaken land. Nevermind the land itself, the waters are filled with sea monsters of the most terrible sorts. Leviathan itself is said to swim in those waters sometimes. And then approaching the land is near impossible, what with reefs all over the place. No lad, go look elsewhere for your ride." the bartender said, the patrons all agreed loudly.

Destrudo thought of his father, he needed answers, he wanted to know who he was, what he was.

"It's tricky, but not if it's approached between Night and Day, when our powers are both neutral, otherwise they are our constant shield, are most stalwart protectors, keeping the world outside, out of our business." Destrudo said outloud as he remembered overhearing a snippit of a conversation between himself and a woman who glowed with the light of day. He didn't remember who she was, but she seemed to be an awfully important person.

"Sorry, reminisicing. It is true though, they simply don't exist at that time, and surely no one here is so cowardly as to fear a few sea monsters." Destrudo said.

The patrons grumbled menacingly at that comment.

"Perhaps, but what's in it for us?" asked one particular Patron, a younger Pirate who hadn't yet learned to listen to the old legends and rumors, and so didn't particularly fear the destination, provided he could get there without too much difficulty.

"A princely sum. My father does rule this land I seek to go to. It is called Noctum. Why, if three or four of your biggest, bravest pirates were to go ashore with me, they could carry out a big chest brimming with such gold and jewels as you could only dream of. Maybe weapons are your interest, I could through in that chest of jewels a sword that strengthens with the power of night, and though made of common steel, at the peak of night, it cuts with the power of shadow, cleaving through armor and bone with ease.
Maybe your an armor fancier. I can fetch you a Mythril Chain mail shirt that will let you slip between the shadows. Imagine being able to teleport via the nearest shadow. It's limits are untested, but one can go at least a hundred feet with it. The treasures are limitless, I just need to get to my Father's castle, I have an old debt to settle with him." Destrudo said. It was difficult to tell if he was lying or not, primarily because while the treasures did indeed exist, he had no intentions of actually giving anything away.

The young captain, still a bit inexperienced in life, sat there with eyes glazed over in fanciful delight at the thought of what he could get.

"Indeed, I think I can get you there, when do you want to leave?" he asked salivating at the thought of getting rich so easily.

"As soon as possible, I just hope your not afraid of the dark." Destrudo said with a smile.

[Destrudo]

"Hold on there matey, Me and the crew need a little time to prepare the ship. We sail in an hour and a half." The captain said.

Truth was, most of his crew had gotten drunk, not expecting to set sail for three or four days.

As the captain hurried out, the older more experienced ones could be heard muttering things like "Idiot" "Moron" "He's headed for the bottom alright" and other such warm sentiments of hope and good cheer for the journey ahead.

Destrudo noticed that most of these pirates had their pictures on the wall, upon closer inspection he noticed they were all wanted, by various authorities on all sorts of nautical crimes. It was no wonder then that they thought it futile, one doesn't become very old and famous at the same time without some measure of actual skill.

Outside rumors had already started to spread of the journey about to be taken, of the treasures ripe for the taking.

Many unwashed bums crept up to Destrudo with offers of servitude in exchange for some treasure, others merely offered their hand as a bodyguard for his trip. Destrudo waved them off one after another, each being unfit to accompany him. If someone were to accompany him, it had to be someone with promise, not some common beggar.

Destrudo watched as the crew stumbled and returned to the ship, not in the best of sailing conditions. One tried his level best for five minutes to get the wheel of the ship to go out with him before passing out.

Destrudo felt confident though, for though the crew was drunk, there were plenty of willing replacements on hand, willing to set their hopes on the captain at least letting them sail.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

These days, Lorenor found himself hating the situation in Radasanth. His Power Group, the Gol'Bron was declared an enemy of the state by the current...government...in Corone. Indeed, the situation was less than favorable for men who followed the will of the All-Thayne. His fellows were a religious order that deeply dedicated themselves to the following and worship of the Thaynehood. All the Thaynes. Not a single one was favored over the other, and within the folds of the township in their possession, members of the Power Group could worship the old gods in peace. Or practice any religious belief for that matter. Lorenor's Power Group was the Gol'Bron, or, Cult of the Thayne.

With the recent adventure of the Conquest Trials behind him, Lorenor knew that all the eyes of Althanas watched that tournament with great interest. Holding their breaths. Each of the few remaining Power Groups across the land were forced to come out of the shadows in order to compete in a grand event sponsored by an unknown host. For all sakes and purposes the tournament was a huge failure. Members of power groups had their partners leaving on them, Power Groups didn't show up all together, and many preferred to remain anonymous than to adhere to the will of some shadowy benefactor.

The dangerous times around the world made it an ample opportunity for naughty men to make a profit. A good profit. A solid profit.

Word spread quickly in the tavern that work was available. Lorenor resided within the town for months now trying to book a passage out of Corone, anywhere. Nowhere. Lorenor was running but he didn't know what he was running from. Was it himself? The mutant had no idea. So when the golden opportunity arrived to get the hell out of dodge, Lorenor thought that the red-haired man had to be a Saint of one of the Thaynes. It didn't matter, the red-haired man offered passage out of Radasanth. Where once the city was a promising land of heroes and opportunity, the land had become a desolate affront to everything that Lorenor held dear. With the Inquisition at the right hand of Corone's Empire, Lorenor was no longer safe to follow the teachings of his Goddess.

He meant to speak to the red-haired man, but a handsome younger pirate beat him to the punch. So. There's a land called Noctum somewhere huh? And I thought I'd been most everywhere worth going. Lorenor, one of the patrons of the tavern, eyed Destrudo calmly and waited for the transaction between the pirate and the crew to take place.

He watched as Destrudo spoke with the Captain. The man gave off a mysterious red energy field that seemed somewhat familiar to Lorenor. He had long flowing red hair, and was dressed rather commonly as far as adventurers went these days. Lorenor noticed these aspects of the warrior, he also noticed the sheer size and physique that the warrior possessed. The man was a powerhouse and had an interesting potential about him. The dangers are great. Lorenor thought to himself as he took a drink from the goblet that he himself prepared. A lord drank from a lord's cup after all and not a cup licked by swine.

Following members of the ship's crew was an easy matter. Their pictures were on various wanted posters all over the town. Only two of the individuals interested the mutant at all. They were Destrudo himself, and the captain of the pirate ship. The Salvarn Lord was approached by the same array of beggars and homeless folk that bothered Destrudo. Lorenor made it a habit of swatting at the flies, or placing a well timed kick to the gut of any of the dregs that wandered much too close to Lorenor. These people were all beneath the ghoul.

Having made a single purchase in the town's shops, the ghoul picked himself up a mask made of out steel, masterwork in quality, to both hide his face and protect his head at the same time. It was a simple mask with Salvarn markings that were the only hint as his origin. Or possible origin thereof. The purchase was a few days earlier. He'd spent months in that seedy town.

Finally approaching Destrudo wandering about the wharf, the ghoul only now noticed how tall the warrior was. With his face hidden by the steel mask, and a hood that was drawn up around his head, the ghoul could operate in complete secrecy.

A deep, raspy voice flowed into the air from the mouth of the man before Destrudo. The man stood at a height of about five feet, weighed approximately one hundred and fifty pounds and was well dressed. He wore the elaborate clothing of a Lord. Vlince adorned his person and was completely black with golden embroideries here and there. Markings were on his cloak that revealed his loyalty to the Power Group known as the Gol'Bron. A red fist holding a dagger. His cloak flowed in the wind. The small lord was apparently well armed as well. Three swords were visible upon his person as well as various packs of differing quality and make. The ghoul was a strange individual indeed and gave off a tremendous dark power from within. One of the devices in his possession gave off a dark aura.

As he approached Destrudo, the nobleman nodded deeply. He spoke lavishly in the common tongue assuming that the warrior could speak it.

"I hear you have made work available. I am looking for passage out of this land. I don't care where to. Do you have room on your vessel for one more passenger? I am interested in seeing this land that you call Noctum. I have never heard of it before." When Lorenor was done talking, he bowed deeply. "I am Lorenor. Lord Lorenor V'halkulus. At your service."

[Vornwin]

“Bastard, who does he think he is turning down my blade?!” Stumbling from the tavern, like a fledgling bird attempting to take flight for the first time, the bum burst violently into a coughing fit. It wasn’t just one that exited the establishment, but soon others burst forth in the same type of tantrum. None passing by could ignore the vile miscreants, cursing and brawling about the sloven pigsty area. This scene caught the attention of many, among those, was Vornwin.

The demon strode through the mob much like a protruding stone breaks a river current, effortlessly. Swinging the door open, Vornwin entered the room, the thud of his boots being cloaked by the shouts outside, muffled rapidly as the door slammed shut. It was immediately obvious who was behind all this, for a disorderly line lead to a man cloaked with an illuminating red aura that seemed to beam off him, or perhaps it was his red eye’s.

Either way it didn’t matter, Vornwin took his place among the other occupants of the crowd. Eventually as the crowd dispersed more from either rejections or other interests, he watched a creature with what first seemed to be a masterpiece of art about his face, later to realize if was made of steel, and had odd engravings placed about it. Such a character would be hard to miss, but his brute force placed upon the bums in the vicinity made it all the more subtle.

Void of the arrival, this strangers actions had cleared out those once around Destrudo. Taking advantage of the timidness of the crowd, Vornwin positioned himself behind Lorenor. Muscular arms crossed about his chest, his stance leaning to the right, blades lying subtlety by his side; Vornwin patiently waited with his eyes closed to state his services to Destrudo.

[Destrudo]

Destrudo watched as a well dressed masked stranger approached him. In this stranger's footsteps he heard the same horrible voice that had spoken to him once before, that had sent him to Scara Brae to regain his memories. He despised that journey. because he suffered the whole way, but the light, the light was the worst. Only the insane could crave such a blindingly bright and painful light.

When the stranger spoke, his raspy voice filling the air around him, it confirmed his suspicions, this man needed to go with him, though why Destrudo wasn't sure.

Destrudo smiled a thin uncaring mocking smile.

"Heh, I hope your not afraid of the dark." Destrudo said.

At that moment, the captain signaled that it was time to board.
"Well, then if your going, come on." Destrudo said.

He walked off to the boat, and after boarding, turned on the captain.
"I almost forgot, I like to know the name of my, traveling companions. I'm certain Lord V'halkulus enjoys a certain amount of similar knowledge of those he travels with as well.
"I could care less about the names of the crew, but I want to know yours, so I know who to kill if you don't get to Noctum in a respectable amount of time." Destrudo said. There was something in his voice that removed any thoughts that he was in some manner jesting.

"Captain Sorgei, uhh, sir, at your service." He seemed extrordinarily nervous, not just because of Destrudo's threat. He had heard of Lord V'halkulus, and was somewhat intimidated at being in the presence of a state enemy. Destrudo seemed to notice this, especially since Sorgei kept glancing over at Lorenor.

"Surely a man who would sit in a tavern filled with some of the worlds most renowned pirates isn't afraid of a single man, after all, it is for treasure, so much treasure, you'll have to buy another boat, the start of your own fleet, right, Admiral Sorgei?" Destrudo asked. His words seemed to calm sorgei down, and refocus the greedy young man back on gold.

"Right, of course. If he's going, that must be some treasure." Captain Sorgei said.
"But, you'll respect my friend's right to his privacy, won't you? Otherwise, well, I would hate to mistake you for a stowaway in the middle of the night." Destrudo said, with a slight sneer.

Captain Sorgei's eyes grew wide. Who had he thrown his lot in with.
"Right, right." Sorgei said, moving on.
as he glanced once more at both of them, it was clear by the look in his eyes he was too terrified of either of them to say anything to anyone.

He moved past them.

"Alright men, lets set sail, on towards treasure!" Captain Sorgei said.

"Are you sure the reef simply disappears at sunset and sunrise?" asked a crew member from the crow's nest.
"Witnessed it myself on occasion." Destrudo said.

As they set sail, he turned to Lorenor.
"You seem like a knowledgeable worldly man. I hear the terrible disembodied voice of some powerful woman beckoning me to come to her. I know I can find her in my homeland of Noctum. My father, a powerful man who rules the darkness itself once said he was working on a project with a powerful woman named N'jal. Could this voice and that woman be the same? Even still, who is N'jal? I've searched local libraries, but their all devoid of information, save for a few vague refences to spiders, and no one seems to want to tell me." Destrudo said, irritated by a fruitless quest to find someone who didn't seem to be popular with anybody.


Destrudo turned to notice another good prospect that had followed behind Lorenor.
His silver hair seemed more like a patch of weeds, for all the care that was given to it, and his crimson eyes seemed to match his own. Destrudo noticed this man's impressive muscle mass even more because it was clearly visible despite the loose clothing.

"I assume your not Lord V'halkulus's lackey. I can see potential within you, not like the unwashed bums, a gold piece a dozen in any city, around here who seem to think their a blessing from the gods. Come on then, if your not afraid of the dark, you should get on board before it's too late." Destrudo said.

As the man joined them on board, Destrudo stopped him.
"I like to know who I'm traveling with though. My name is Destrudo."

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Night was Lorenor's favorite time period anyway. Clouds were overhead as the vessel began to disembark from the port. Lorenor took one last long look at Corone and sighed. The country that had been his home for many years now was now going to be lost to him. Questions were lobbed at him from Destrudo.

Most importantly, there was a specific line of questions that disturbed the ghoul greatly. He knows of N'Jal. Yet he does not bare the markings of a Spider Magi. Lorenor pondered this and decided that for the time being, there were too many unsavory ears to speak of the Dark Goddess. "Piece of advice Destrudo. Don't be so quick to speak the Dark One's name in front of a crowd of the uninitiated. It could lead to bad things. Meet me in the cargo area later tonight. There I shall answer your questions." With that, Lorenor bowed and moved towards the side of the vessel. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the railing of the ship. Looking at the depths of the ocean beneath the ship, he memorized the important names of the journey ahead. Captain Sorgei, and Destrudo. If they wanted a ride the hell out of Noctum, they needed the young Captain. Lorenor noticed a crew member staring at him uncomfortably and turned towards the lad for a moment.

"May I help you with something?" Lorenor asked.

The pirate was a man that wasn't well dressed. He stood at a height of about six feet and had an unsavory look about him. He had long, unruly hair and kept a steel rapier at his side. The man wore a white shirt, long sleeved, black pants, and a matching black boots. He wore thick gloves. The man smelled like the sea. Lorenor looked at him for a moment and saw the amulet he wore around his neck.

"You two were talking about N'Jal earlier. You and the red-haired man." The ghoul listened to the man's comments and took a quick look away from the man, then back towards him. "Perhaps." Lorenor replied. "Don't give me that. I heard you plain as day. Destrudo mentioned N'Jal's name by title and verse. I heard it plain as stars." A second individual joined the strange conversation. The second lad was dressed similarly to the first. "Better not argue with him Lorenor. Man has the hearing of a freaking dragon. He can hear a pin drop in an earthquake. It's been proven." Lorenor audibly sighed at that and folded his arms across his chest. "We were speaking about N'Jal. What of it?" The man seemed at a genuine loss. "Take a look around you Lord Lorenor. This whole crew. There are followers of N'Jal within our ranks. We accept people within our crew despite their religious beliefs or backgrounds. We believe in accepting only the best." And the man grinned widely, proudly. This still made Lorenor uncomfortable. Though there were members of the Cult of N'Jal within the ship's crew, the ghoul didn't hear the Voice telling him anything about the matter.

He was being tested. They could be lying but the endless aren't telling me such a matter. I don't know what to do.

"We're practically brothers in arms!" The man laughed and that feeling of discomfort touched Lorenor's belly again. Lorenor quickly stole a glance towards Destrudo's position who was talking with the silver-haired man. The ghoul suddenly found himself with no allies except his own wits. "Y-yeah brothers. What do you want?"

"Well its a long story Lorenor. Do you have some time to talk?"

"I'm not going anyplace."

"Good come to my cabin. Number 10. We'll talk there, it's more secure. Bring your friends Destrudo and the other fellow. I want to show you something."

Lorenor nodded. He walked over to Destrudo. "Hey, Destrudo? The ship mates want to talk with us. We should probably hear them out. What do you think?" And he waited for Destrudo's response. Cabin Number 10 huh?

[Vornwin]

The mention of being a “lackey” brought a twisted portrait to Vornwin’s face, both hands swaying back and forth. “No, I’m my own master until payment states otherwise from a potential employer…” Gesturing with his thumb pointed towards Destrudo, he gave an affirming nod. “Which would be you…” As he strode up the gangplank, he halted abruptly as Destrudo stopped him. “Destrudo...My name is Vornwin and all you need to know of me is that I’m expensive.” Sinisterly smirking, Vornwin rolled his broad shoulders. “Not to fear though, from what I’ve overheard you’re bound for vast wealth so not to fear…right?”

The demon had never been one for conversation, turning on his heel he gracefully went around Destrudo, “We’ll talk about details later.” Striding towards the port side of the ship, his large hands gripped hold of the stained railing. Stretching his legs out, he lowered his torso down and rested on his arms for a minute, he’d forgotten how much he hated sea travel. It wasn’t due to sickness, but the inability to properly maneuver correctly. Pacing along the railing, his mind began to calculate how long it’d take to adjust to this new environment.

Making his way to the rear of the ship, his eye’s scanning the ships structure, trying to imagine how she’d fair against a possible pirate barrage, the countless hazards of the sea or other unimaginable freak occurrence. Still, void of the danger, the pay would fill his coffers and open possible cliental offers in the future. No, the only downfall to this voyage would be the unknown. Over the multitude of centuries Vornwin had on this earth, he knew little of this destination, and in the unknown, any scrap of information improved his chance for success.

A loud belch interrupted Vornwin’s thought process, snarling the demon looked up from the floor to glare at the drunken wheelman. If by sight alone, once the drunk realized the agitated demon was glaring upon him, the wheelman’s eye’s narrowed on the sea before him, and issued a clearly audible gulp. “Would be a true shame to ruin this voyage before it had yet to begin…worse would be imagining how many screams would have to hail from your mouth to pay my bill.”

Steadily making his way now to the front of the vessel, eye’s looking overboard at the darkness of the water reflecting the shade of the sky above. His feet ceased as already he had reached his destination, this was to be his home for as long as it took. Surrounded by a crew that would drown themselves in liquor before water ever reached them an unknown client and foreign accompanier, he could only assume another mercenary. Yet, this brought to mind an interesting matter, the details of his contract. Demons were born with a dire need for details in all contracts ever forged for obvious reasons; lack of such knowledge would have to come soon from his employer. Until such time arose, he’d assume the typical wants of any employer, protection.

Propping his foot upon the hoisted anchor, the demon stared out at the expanse of blackness before him, the colors so dark it was almost impossible to tell where the water met the horizon, both were churning maliciously.

[Destrudo]

As the ship set sail Destrudo stood at the prow, watching the ship set sail.
A drunken crew, two mercenaries, one after gold, one after an escape from what could only be a bad situation. Fools, all of them. Perhaps I am too. Father, I'm coming for you.

The words passed through his mind such that he hardly noticed the setting of the sun.

Suddenly Lorenor joined Destrudo.

"They want to speak to us, do they? I would imagine one or two of them overheard us earlier. Might be like you said, could lead to bad things." Destrudo said.
"Still, three have better chances than two do. It's not that I doubt your abilities, or my own, it's just common knowledge. If they think their going to ambush us, hold two of us hostage, their going to have a fight on their hands, gold or no gold." Destrudo said moments later, walking over to Vornwin. He stumbled about only slightly. He had just come off the Scare Brae ferry just that day.

"First things first, those traveling together should know each other somewhat. Lorenor, this is Vornwin, Vornwin, this is Lord Lorenor V'halkulus. Introductions done, The crew desires a chat with Lorenor and I, and three have better chances in an ambush or some other such scuffle than two. I'd like you to accompany us. I don't quite trust these drunks yet." Destrudo said.

He turned to Lorenor.
"Lead the way, but be on your toes. I don't want them thinking they can have their way with us." Destrudo said, cracking his knuckles. Despite the dagger he had in his belt, it was obvious he fought with his hands most often.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Ready? Lorenor wanted to respond to Destrudo's comment, but he decided to let it slide. If they were planning an ambush, Lorenor would be more than ready having fought off hordes of...things before. With that thought in mind, his hands moved to his sword instinctively and grabbed the hilt of one of the weapons at his hip. Lorenor had three damascus swords to choose from so he had a fairly decent arsenal at his disposal. Plus, a few nasty tricks in case anything got really ugly.

Looking at the pirate, do your worst swine, Lorenor prepared himself for the possibility of walking the group off into a trap. The pirate nodded once he saw that Destrudo and Vornwin were ready. Moving towards the ship's lower decks, and ultimately, the cabin areas of the fairly good sized vessel, the quartet moved across the deck. Lorenor took the point of the group because he was used to being the leader. His various leadership responsibilities trained him for just such an occasion when people's lives could be on the line other than this own. Moving with a purpose, the ghoul's eyes were alert for any sort of trap or ambush that might be sprung at any moment. Lorenor wouldn't allow himself, or his new companions to fall to some filthy pirate's blade.

The trip through the intertwining hallway of the cabin floors lasted but a few minutes. Cabin no. 10 was one of the few rooms on that floor, the first floor, and it was located towards the back of the ship. Lorenor noticed a simple door keeping the room's contents safe from outside view. A simple door that allowed the ghoul to extend his senses beyond the walls. The ghoul concentrated so he could check for traps and other contraptions that might be hidden in the walls. He found nothing. Though admittedly, his own level of perception still required much polish. The pirate opened the door into the room and walked in. Lorenor already had a good visual of the room and decided it was safe to enter. Keeping his hand on his sword, the ghoul walked in and kept a few paces between himself and the pirate. There wasn't a crowd of other pirates waiting for them.

But Lorenor did sense something extremely unusual.

For the first time in this journey, the endless were whispering to him in a quiet hush. It was an excited tone of voice that the ghoul hadn't heard in many years.

Lorenor stole a glance to Destrudo and was grateful that the mask hid whatever emotions his distorted face could reveal.

The pirate moved towards one of the corners of the room. It was a simple structure that contained four walls, a roof, and a ceiling. The room's ceiling was high enough that even someone as tall as Destrudo could walk around with comfort. Lorenor noticed the height of the ceiling and it was clear that the vessel was built to be extremely sturdy and reliable thing for the needs of the crew in mind. The room was approximately thirty feet by thirty feet. A single window looking out was a round addition to the wall opposite the door.
There were some posters and scrolls hanging on the walls of the room. A single, well formed hammock was the pirate's bed. Lorenor noticed a pillow and a comforter upon the hammock. It was fairly thick and probably made out of wool or cotton. The color of the comforter was brown. It was on the right side of the room connected to the two of the corners of the room in a perfect angle. Various barrels, chests and crates lurked within the room. It was lit by a single swinging lantern that was hanging on a hook. Lorenor spotted the lantern and saw that there were runes etched upon them probably used to make the lantern extremely sturdy.

When Lorenor stepped into the room, the mysterious energy he felt began to grow somewhat stronger. The pirate had a grin on his face, and moved over to one side of the room that had a bunch of crates and chests. The pirate pulled one out and placed at the top of a nearby crate. It had a simple locking mechanism that only required a key. He pulled the key out and opened the chest in one motion. He kept the grin on his face. Once the pirate opened the door he smiled even wider. "Ah here we are." He said calmly, and a powerful energy emanated from the chest.

When the energy flowed into the room unhinged, Lorenor screamed loudly and fell to his knees in tremendous physical pain. Emotional pain coursed his skull as well, cascading like a living entity. Lorenor heard the endless singing loudly at the top of their perpetual lungs, creating a choir of dark music that only the ghoul could hear. Lorenor scratched at the floor with his sharp claws and the pirate continued to grin as he removed the object from the chest.

It was a figurine. An exact replica of the spider queen, N'Jal. The thing gave off a tremendous dark energy that took on a physical manifestation of purple and black waves flowing from the core of the figurine. The area of the woman's face that contained the eyes glowed brightly in a similar fashion that Lorenor's eyes own eyes glowed. The figuring came to life on its own and began dancing in place.

"It's used by the Inquisition to detect Spider Magi potentials. It's a nifty little artifact. In the right hands it can create new Spider Magi. In the wrong hands, it can destroy them all together. Fortunately, we're all practically brothers here. Tonight we will be using the figurine to unlock this Spider Magi's full potential. And we're all good!" The pirate tapped the figurine around the statue's thorax area and whispered a few words to her. The thing kept dancing and Lorenor kept screaming in agony as thoughts and suggestions from the figurine quickly traveled to the spiderling's head.

Pain wasn't the word to describe. Lorenor was in hell. The endless burst through his skin quickly acting on its own receiving its own orders from its master, N'Jal. Poking through the skin, the creature morphed in billions of tiny metallic spiders that flowed like a liquid upon his body and traveled into the ghoul's mouth, drowning out his screams of agony. It managed to find the holes of his mask and moved around it to reach his mouth. Once they all traveled into his mouth, Lorenor was silent and passed out from the agony of what was happening to him. The figure kept on dancing.

Looking at Destrudo, the Pirate had a wicked grin. "They all go through it when they are maturing. He'll thank us later. I have something for you Destrudo." He reached into the box and pulled out a series of scrolls. "This is for you and your partner there. Make sure Lorenor reads it as well." The big, burly pirate, lifted Lorenor up off the floor easily and placed him on the hammock so he could rest. "He will be fine. Don't worry about your friend there." Placing the figurine alongside the ghoul, the statuette kept on dancing its eerie little dance. "He's going through a maturing process. It will take a bit of time before he awakens. The scrolls talk quite a bit about N'Jal and Spider Magi. Consider them introductory pamphlets."

[Vornwin]

Obviously Vornwin expected trouble, the hushed whispers uttered by rogues was never reassuring. Following in suit behind the pair before him, the demon memorized the path they traveled, always rotating his head in a robotic fashion to scan the surrounding area for a quick escape. Dozens of sailors lumbered about as they swept by, Vornwin vainly trying to perform quick studies on who was faithful and those who were mutinous. Many would laugh at such a notion, but centuries in assuming the wants and desires of humanity, one grows accustomed to reading his target.

Pausing at the doorway, he allowed the party to enter before him, giving him time to perform one last scan of the area before ducking into the room, shutting the door swiftly behind him. Surprise first sprang to Vornwin’s mind, the occupants should typically dwarf the size of a normal crewman’s dorm, but the size of this room was stunning, clearly this ship was far bigger than first appearance. Focusing his eyes around, he saw the cult symbols lining the wall, graffitiing the oaken boards in incantations of dark spells.

No, the demon had never been one for ritualistic aid or prayer. After all, he was typically the one to answer prayers to those who prayed to his former master. Stalking in the shadows in the far corner of the room, Vornwin crept the vicinity, observing various occupants stored in a wicker basket. His rotations ceased as the pirate had submerged his hands into a particular crate, instinctively causing the demon to grasp the hilt of his blades, positioning his stance to immediately strike if whatever was retracted was not to his liking.

Unsurprisingly, an idol was produced from the container. Ghastly by just the shape alone, it always came complete with a demonic style stance that repeated. Clearly, this figurine was of N’jal, the goddess’s name everyone kept murmuring under their pained breaths. No, the only place this idol belonged was being crushed under Vornwin’s foot. Faith to him was overrated, for he knew the gods existed, relaying messages, carrying out tasks, sacrifices, all in the name of this mockery of worship, it sickened him.

All these low some thoughts had carried his mind away from matters on hand, and what was now taking place upon Lorenor. The tearing of claws upon the wooden floor awakened Vornwin back to his conscious self, the ghoul was toppled onto the floor, the face of the pirate holding the idol resembled that of mockery. If the man hadn’t spoken then to state that his intention was to indeed help Lorenor in some ritualistic fashion, Vornwin would have ended his life just as abruptly as he had caused Lorenor to crumple over, perhaps even toss the damned pagan item overboard.

As Vornwin began to make his way over to Destructo, he spotted a wave of small insects darting across the floor. His eye’s followed the swarm as they attached to Lorenor’s body, invading through the gaps about his mask to assault his face. A sigh escaped his lips as he saw the body of the ghoul go limp having lost conscious. Watching the sailor approach Destrudo, Vornwin stood between the two, snatching the scrolls from his hand. “I’ll decide what gets handed to him, as for you…”

Despite the size of the pirate, Vornwin gripped the back of his neck much like that of a mother wolf picking up a cub by the scruff of the neck. Dragging the ritual leader, the demon slung him out of the room, snarling between his teeth. “Next time you see fit to surprise us with unknown results to your abominations of religion; inform me, or I’ll perform some rituals of my own whilst you sleep.” Calmly shutting the door, Vornwin parted the scrolls and scanned them briefly, easing them closely to his face to sniff in the odor. Licking the back of his thumb, he ran the saliva covered appendage across the top of the page, observing the color. Moments later, Vornwin rolled them back up and presented them to Destrudo.

With a rough tone, his dark voice boomed through the confides of the room. “They are clear of any physical poison or hallucinogenic, as for the words themselves, they carry a poison and false illusion all of their own potency.” Walking away, the demon dragged a stool beside the closed door and perched himself upon it, leaning forward, both hands upon the hilts of his swords, his eyes fixated upon the sealed door.

[Destrudo]

Destrudo walked in the middle, behind Lorenor, before Vornwin. He ignored the pirate sailors going about their business. The captain could be seen in his quaters pouring over a map and marking their course.

The room was much larger than he expected. Part of him was relieved there was no ambush, part of him regretted there was no one to kill.

Destrudo watched unimpassioned as the pirate got into the chest, however, when Lorenor screamed in pain, Destrudo clenched his fists, and brought them up ready to strike down the pirate. Then of all things, the idol began dancing.

Destrudo's eyes went wide, as he stumbled back against the wall.

He was six years old, in his room. The walls were of black granite, a gold chandelier hung from the ceiling. Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with such child friendly titles like "Investigative Torture: Volume one", and "Demons and why they like to eat little boys in their sleep.".

Destrudo hated going to sleep, he hated being alone, he was always so afraid. Afraid he's wake up in another one of his father's mind games.

He walked over silently to the bookcase. It pulled away from him as he went, growing larger as he moved, so that he seemed even smaller and younger than he really was.
He just barely reached the bottom shelf. He moved aside a book with large letters in a fancy script entitled "Common poisons and how to effectivly use them." and pulled out the one thing he managed to keep, that made him feel safe. A small dancing idol of a dancing woman that was somehow also a spider. It danced for him, and for as long as it danced, it cast off an energy that kept him safe. It was the one object he cared for.

Destrudo shook himself out of his memories, as Vornwin handed him some scrolls.
He didn't hear what Vornwin said, as he opened the scrolls himself. At the top was a drawing of N'jal, and it matched the dancing figurine, both the one dancing now for Lorenor, and the one he remembered. Beneath it was her name, N'jal, The Spider Queen.

"She kept me safe all those years, all those times. I never thought N'jal was a goddess, I only thought she was my mother's spirit." Destrudo said, but if one didn't know his memories, it was easy to be confused by them.

Suddenly the scroll glowed red with energy.

Come to me
The words were whispered by the drawing, and filled the air in the cabin, the same horrific voice that spoke to him before on Corone.

"I'm coming, I'm coming home." Destrudo said to the image that spoke to him.
Not fast enough

"Well I don't know how I can make us go any faster." Destrudo snapped at the image.

The image wavered and disappeared.

Outside, the wind picked up considerably, and the ocean currents changed their course temporarily. The ship's speed picked up considerably. Eaverything suddenly seemed smaller, even though it wasn't.

Within minutes the captain and his first mate could be heard talking.
"I don't understand it, it's like we skipped the island entirely. The wind be going faster and the currents are pushing us almost. It's like someone, or something wants us to go to Noctum." The first mate said. Their voices moved down the hall out of reach.

What they didn't know was, space itself had been compressed, so that for the ship, every league physically travelled, was actually ten leagues traveled, while only taking the same amount of time it took to sail one.

Destrudo smiled as he read the scroll. They were going to get there sooner than they thought.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

What are you running from little soul?

The Empire.

You have allies within the Empire. What is it that you are really running from?

I don't know.

Look within yourself for the answer.

Why is it so important that I know?

Your loyalty to me will be tested. Remember that. Face the trials that you will face without fear, and all will be revealed to you soon.

Lorenor gasped as he sat up in the bed.

The hammock moved from side to side creating a soft creaking sounds where the nails protested to Lorenor's weight. Lorenor detected a duo of presences in the room. Scents slowly traveled across his sensory array a moment later, filling him in on the fact that he was with allies. The ghoul's eyes slowly opened and a glow was emitted from the sockets. This all happened in a matter of moments. Where once the ghoul perceived darkness, color, shapes and form set into the normal thriving world of Althanas. Lorenor found himself in the waking world after he'd been under for a long time. In the realm of sleep, darkness, and decay.

Gasping for air, the ghoul almost pondered removing his mask. The thought stayed in his head for exactly a few seconds, but he allowed it to quickly pass through his personal wishes. Removing the mask would defeat the purpose of why he'd gotten it in the first place. It was an added weight to his head, but the ghoul thought it was necessary to keep his visual identity a secret. He was operating under an assumed identity, but not an assumed name...that would come later.

Lorenor looked at the dancing statue of the figurine before him. It was the first thing that he immediately noticed. Then came the presences in the room, Vornwin and Destrudo.

Had they been there the whole time?

Speaking of time, Lorenor wondered how much time had passed. He stretched in the hammock for a moment and forced himself to stand. "How long was I out?" Was the question that he managed to ask them. He yawned instinctively and felt the soreness in his muscles. Something was different, he wasn't sure entirely what it was though. A feeling of change passed through the ghoul's heart. Only he didn't consider himself a ghoul anymore.

He considered himself a Spider Magi now...what had changed? The Spider Magi slid out of the hammock and checked himself to be sure that all of his equipment was intact, it was. He looked at Vornwin and Destrudo, nodding to them. Then he looked out the window, a storm was rapidly approaching their position. The waters were already stirring, but it was a ways away. The storm clouds had already hit their position though.

"A storm is coming. Take a look at that." Lorenor said and pointed out the window.

[Vornwin]

A roar erupted within the silence of the room; it grumbled from within Vornwin, hunger. Standing to his feet, bones cracked to attention, muscles stretching for the first time in hours. Arms stretched back behind him, his blades bent forward, yearning to feast upon their hungers as well. While heading towards the door, the sun setting through the portcullises behind him to illuminate his back but cover his face. “I advise we take shifts if that is alright with you…I’ll return for you in the morning to relieve you.” It was obvious both had no desire to leave Lorenor unguarded, yet both of them need not watch him.

Exiting the room, the demon traversed the dozens of halls that honeycombed throughout the vessel. In his personal opinion, the design was horribly flawed, but demons had never been seafarers. Snarling as again he somehow wound up back at the ship’s head, he gave in and began following two slouched over sailors before him, several seconds later they mysteriously lead him to the kitchen. Dozens of crudely carved slabs lay secured against the walls with heavy iron linked chains. What first seemed like a steady leek of water seeping in onto the oaken floor was actually rum that was flowing freely from the brims of countless tankards slamming together and explaining pieces of broken clay dotting the floor.

Traversing through the drunkards, he grappled hold of a counter, the makings of a chef covered in lard from cooking lay spread out behind it. Kicking the robust excuse of a culinary artist from his slumber, the drunk merely released a large snore as his face smashed onto the ground. “Oi! I need two points o’ rum and anutha slab ah pork!” Obviously ignoring the remarks, the demon went about searching for a pair of clean mugs instead, seconds later a small fist planted itself into his built chest. The punch caused Vornwin to grunt slightly, but it seemed to affect the blonde female human before him more, who was rapidly shaking her fist. “Yur as dense as a damned rock, hard’o hearin and built like it too, damned deaf dolt.”

“What do you want human?” Again another fist plowed into Vornwin’s chest from the robust woman. “I want my orders! You going to stand there like an ol’ codger or actually do sumthin bout it?!” Crossing his flexed arms, his eye’s glared at the young scantily clad woman, if it weren’t for the mischievous glare she cast in return, everything would have been different. That glare unofficially made Vornwin the chef of the night crew. No, his art of cooking wasn’t excellent, but it was far better than the drunken lard who sweat into everything; besides, the annoying vixen was growing on him. Thus was Vornwin’s schedule, every morning before sunrise, he’d report back to Destrudo to stand guard over Lorenor and everynight return back to Sieka.

The galley lay still, a soft glowing golden light fading from the dying brimstone coals in the fire pit. Scattered about the floor lay several drunken pirates, and within the pantry were Vornwin and Sieka. “We’ll kill Destrudo tonight, the boys un I are ready.” Running his index finger along the curves of his bristled chin, the finger soon followed the contortions of a grin. “And you were the one to think of this plan?” Nodding rapidly, the woman slid her arms about his chest. “Aye luv, I thought of everything, we can do this and be together.” Nodding slowly, the demons words remained their calmed cold composure. “And your crew consisted of the three runners on cannon twenty-nine.” Murmuring as she closed her eyes, she nodded once more. “I thought so…just making sure, come with me.” Grabbing her hand, he jerked her behind him, the roughness only increasing her lustful thoughts.

Arriving on the deck, he lead her behind several large cargo nets, they were entirely secluded. She walked in front of him, her back against his chest. “We’ll be able to do wut we want with the money off’em.” Vornwin ran his hands softly against her neck, relaxing it as she softly spoke. “We’ll be free…” Kissing the back of her neck, Vornwin whispered into her ear. “There is only one problem my dear…About your crew, they are the same as you.” Opening her eye’s slowly, she turned her head. “Wuts that?” With his larges hands clamped onto her delicate neck, the effortless snap immediately ended her life.

Sieka’s body fell gracefully overboard, thunder rolling violently in the background. “Dead…” Observing the darkened clouds rapidly approaching, Vornwin returned under deck to relieve Destrudo.

[Destrudo]

Usage of Vornwin and Lorenor approved via IM
Destrudo nodded as Vornwin left. It was obvious Lorenor was going to be out for awhile.

He paced the cabin all through the night, and when day came, made his way to the galley, and after getting himself a bite, usually stood at the prow.

So went his days, standing there, silently brooding, watching the sea go by. More than once the crew whispered that he had black magic, which was clearly why he glowed, and why the ship was going so fast to all appearences.

It was the captain who first confirmed the ships unnatural speed to be true.

"Lookey here, we're a week ahead of where we're supposed to be. There's several island ports we stop in along the way to stop and resupply, we've passed most of them. Noctum normally takes a month to get to, but at this rate, I reckon we'll get there before the weeks out. How are you doin it?" At this Destrudo simply smiled and walked off, further adding to the mystery.

the sixth day of this continued routine found Destrudo locked in the captains private quaters. The captain leveled his sword at Destrudo.
"Now you tell me what's going on here, this voyage has been all kinds of unnatural, and all the gold in the world isn't going to silence my curiosity. If I can harness this method of rapid sea travel, I'll be the richest man alive. Your going to tell me, or your journey ends here." the captain said. There was a note in his voice that Destrudo caught, that let him know this time the captain was dead serious.

"Alright, I'll tell you, but you've got to promise to keep it secret, okay?" Destrudo said.
"Oh, I promise you that." the captain said.
"Then lower your sword, I can't remember properly when there's a sword pointed at me." Destrudo said.

the captain foolishly lowered his blade, and destrudo rushed in before he could get it back up. Destrudo picked him up, and slammed him head first into the ground, then got him into a figure four leg lock.

"Ahh, Ahh, I give, I give." the captain said.
"Are you still curious about how this is happening?" Destrudo asked.
"No sir, I swear, I don't wanna know. Let me go it hurts!" the captain said, tears standing in his eyes.
Destrudo released the captain.

"IF you make the rest of this trip pleasant, I'll include how it happened in aq scroll your men will bring back with the treasure. Otherwise, your screwed." Destrudo said.

Suddenly, the rest of his trip was pretty peaceful.

So the end of the sixth day of their journey came to an end, and Destrudo went back down to watch Lorenor.

Finally, he began to stir, and right as Vornwin came in to relieve him on the morning of the seventh day, Lorenor awoke, and asked how long he was out.

"About six days, Vorn and I made sure to not leave you alone, lest something unwarrented happen in our abscence." Destrudo said.

At that point Lorenor mentioned the clouds, right as Destrudo got up and went to the window.

"Oh shit." was all destrudo said.

"Batton down the hatches, we got a Hurricane a coming!" the captain yelled out in fear as he ran by down the hall.

"Worse." Destrudo said as he closed the door, and up ended a table.

He motioned for Vornwin and Lorneor to join him as he ducked down behind it.

"That's not a hurricane, that's my father. I advise you join me, unless you want to die." Destrudo said.

The two joined him, and were about to ask him a few questions on the subject, when the entire outer wall of their cabin burst inward towards the door, causing all three to duck for cover.

They stood, and both Lorenor and Vornwin realised they were face to face with something far more powerful than either of them.

Destrudo simply stood there glaring at what was before them, for before them was a cloud of complete darkness, blotting out the entirety of the day.

Two white eyes, like the slits which are a cat's pupils in brightest day looked at them.

The voice which came from the darkness seemed to come from no part of it in particular, and echoed inside their minds.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the prodigal son, returned home to dear old dad." The voice of Destrudo's father was the stuff of horror legends, and inspired one to imagine just what he looked like, non of which would be particularly comforting, and the more one imagined what his father looked like, the more one realised that was the shape you saw emerging from the shadows, your worst nightmare creatures, come to life.

"You owe me an explaination, of who I am, of what I am." Destrudo said snarling at the shadows before him. He had learned long ago, not to imagine anything before his father, so he saw nothing but shadow.

"Enough time for such, unsavory, business later. I see you've brought some friends home with you. Alas, like has drawn to like, both are as weak and pathetic as you are I can see. You should do the right thing, and introduce me to my two new victims, my new playthings." Shadowlord said with a sigh of lamentation.

"I wouldn't doubt their strength, if I were you." Destrudo said.

"Oh, now I've gone and made the children angry, it's a good thing I've brought you all a gift. How about a brush with death?" Shadowlord asked, as though it were the nicest gift anyone ever gave.

He closed his eyes, and the presence of Shadowlord was gone from the room, though the darkness remained, the wind picked up to great speeds, were it possible to have it measured on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, it would be a Category Five Hurricane, however such things weren't possible at the moment. Destrudo didn't even bother trying to talk, as great as the wind was, it would carry his words away before anyone could even hear him.

The wind and the massive tidal waves ripped the ship to pieces like a child opening a gift. wreckage and people went flying around in circles in the great wind.

Destrudo, Vornwin, and Lorenor in particular were seperated. It became impossible to tell time, or direction, or even distance. The wind seemed to strike at them, even as lightning sizzled dangerously close to them. Occasionally they were dropped in the water and held under for a time, only to be whisked back up into the sky before death occured, not that it mattered, for the rain was so great, they were almost drowning in the sky.

All three struggled to make for the shore, they could see it in the distance, and slowly they seemed to make progress. the palm trees and shrubs on the shoreline where ripped up by the hurricane and tossed about.

Finally just before all three were killed, they were dropped into the water and dragged by the wind to shore. It felt as though two great hands pulled each one to shore.

Destrudo hacked and coughed the oceanwater out of his lungs.

"Bastard, why didn't you just kill us?" Destrudo shouted with a hoarse voice at the retreating darkness that held Shadowlord's presence.

"What, and rob myself of the pleasure of torturing you to death in my castle? I'm not just any monster, I am The lord of Shadows, known to all the land as Shadowlord, Chief Servant of N'jal." Shadowlord said as he retreated into a cave and disappeared.

All around them the dead bodies of the crew dropped to the ground as the storm abated.

"Well, that was my father. Looks like we're stranded. Might as well go on and face the psycho. two words of wisdom, against him, your mind is your greatest weapon, and weakness. Physcal strength comes second. Also, try not to imagine anything, he knows your own mind better than you do, and he will use it against you." Destrudo said his voice still hoarse from the ocean water.

He took off walking down the beach as Lorenor and Vornwin recovered their breath, joining them in hacking up the occasional bit of ocean water.

He lead them to a cave, and entered it. It was straight, almost unnaturally so, at one point it divided into three paths. Off to the left was the light of day, the middle path was caved in and inaccessible, and the right showed nothing but darkness.

It was the right path he took, and lead them out into the night. But wait, the night, it was still day, about afternoon.

Sensing the rising questions in his companions, Destrudo cleared his throat and spoke, almost back to normal, but not quite.

"This is Noctum, the land of everlasting night. Don't look for the light of day, it won't come, ever. In a land twisted by constant darkness, some things have come to evolve differently, so always be on your guard, one hand always on a drawn weapon ready to strike, or you will be killed and possibly eaten by the next thing you approach. Case in point, that bare white forest of trees in the distance." Destrudo said pointing at a large forest of trees that were completly white, like frost. They had no leaves, only bare white wood. Interestingly, the trees resembled insects, having only eight branches, six that resembled legs and two thin ones at the top that could be feelers.

"Their called Insect trees, and whatever you do, do not attack them, or touch them. There is a reason why you see utterly no evidence of loggers." he said, he called a sudden halt. Up ahead, the tree started to move, yet was not made to do so by any breeze, infact, there was none, the night was perfectly still. It's six branches that looked like legs started wiggling like an overturned insect. The tree began swaying, and it fell over, but did not crash into the ground, it's leg branches supported it. It started to crawl around. Like this, one could see why why it was called an insect tree, for it looked like nothing more than a giant insect of some sort. The feeler branches were connected to two stumpy growths that could be mandibles, and it's roots were a big ball that could be an abdomine.

It crawled around, and soon the entire forest had awakened and followed suit, crawling over each other.

In the distance, three dwarven loggers were visable. They approached a lone tree, and swung their axe. It let out a loud keening cry, and the entire forest rected to it, swarming over the loggers. They screamed for help, realising their error, but Destrudo made no move to help, and restrained Lorenor and Vornwin from doing so.

All the insect trees began attacking the loggers with their front legs and their mandibles, and it wasn't more than a minute before the loggers were dead, their parts scattered over a small area. the forest sensing the dead enemies turned and ran off to a distant hill full of another insect forest, this one grey, and full of large beautiful pink flowers.

"And that's why you never attack an Insect Tree. The white ones are males, the grey ones are females. The female trees flower, and the flowers when, pollenated, by the males, turns into large eggs, about the size of those you'd find from dragons. Plant them, and in a month, a small insect tree will crawl out of the ground. They were liviol trees, thousands of years ago, but time and constant darkness caused them to evolve into what you now see." Destrudo said.

He lead them along the road.

"Well, I'm certain by now you must have a question or two, feel free to ask." Destrudo said

[Mutant_Lorenor]

With his body tremendously sore from the punishment he just finished taking, Lorenor walked in silence. He'd managed somehow not to loose any of his valuable pieces of equipment knowing full well that he would be the key offensive player in their journey. Lorenor checked himself as they walked just to be certain that the harsh, cold ocean waters hadn't claimed any of his precious belongings.

Lorenor was walking on legs that felt like rubber. They responded to his command, but his body felt like it had been hit by a freight train. Miraculously, nothing had broken. Bodies washed ashore and the ghoul felt extremely sorry for the lost crew. He wondered just how many heads perished thanks to the huge category five storm?

From time to time, he coughed up salt water in the same that the others were doing. Salt water mixed with black blood. He could feel his body regenerating from whatever injuries it had sustained during the rough trip to the shoreline.

Limping casually, the mutant barely managed to listen to Destrudo as the warrior talked about the trees. Okay. Don't fuck with the trees. Gotcha. Lorenor thought to himself as he limped himself along. He was gaining his energy rapidly, but knew that he would have to feed soon. Seeing the Dwarves getting eaten by the trees amused the ghoul much more than terrified him. He was a denizen of Concordia Forest after all and knew the threat of the predatory trees that lurked deep within it's bowels. These large insect-like plants weren't much different from those monsters.

Sensing a presence all around him, he could feel N'Jal's form peaking in this island. Somehow, a lay line connected this land of Noctum to the celestial prison of N'Jal, thedark goddess. Lorenor could feel the saturation of evil in this place. He felt right at home. Drawing one of his swords, the ghoul kept the tip pointed to the ground and prepared to charge his various artifacts to ensure that they were prepared at all times. Lorenor had several charges with either of his main pieces of equipment. He pondered summoning up a zombie from one of the dead sailors on the beach, but decided against it.

Time was moving against them.

There is no Corone Empire here. No Inquisition to hide from, only fellow creatures of the night. This should be an interesting sort of place to explore and spend time in. Thanks to his training, the mutant was on guard at all times. He searched around the sensory array constantly for anything that could possibly be a threat. Hidden or no. Lorenor took up the middle position of the group and moved in a loose fighting stance with an even center of gravity.

One thing was certain.

They weren't in Radasanth anymore.

[Vornwin]

There was only one thing worse to Vornwin then traveling at sea, and that…was being wet. Despite the fact that he’d just been slung around several hundred times or survived a lethal dose of water in his lungs, which was now being vomited back into the ocean, the mere point of him being wet peeked his furiousity. Bending forwards, the demon placed his hands upon his obtuse knees, breathing in the carnage that lay about him. Gurgles were coming from before him, tilting his head up, he saw Destrudo’s lips moving, but his words were muffled by something, perhaps the atmosphere had changed, had they crossed another dimension? As he gave in contemplating it and following the two before him, it struck him just as his water filled boots began squishing beneath him, water was in his ears.

Taking advantage of the pause from their journey, Vornwin removed both of his boots to empty each of of their watery cargo. Water came cascading from each, despite the downpour, it was considered just a mere trickle paralleled to the curses spitting out of the demon’s mouth. With his apparel back upon his feet, attention turned to Destrudo and his gesture towards what appeared to be trees in the distance, trees that were feasting upon the flesh of a small lumbering party. Staring fiercely at Destrudo’s lips, Vornwin was able to under the basics of what he was trying to get across from reading them.

Agitated from the absence of one of his main senses, the demon grabbed hold of his nose and puffed up his chest full of air. Creating a fist with his right hand, Vornwin slammed it into his stomach, sending the top of his body forwards and the bottom half backwards. The odd maneuver had forced air through his body to exit out his ears and force out the water that had been causing his hearing loss. Rotating his jaw, the enraged face of the demon spat vigorously onto the ground.

When Destrudo asked for questions, a stretching sound coming from the fists of Vornwin upon the grips of his blades announced his malicious voice. “Only the one; where do we find this fool? So that instead of basking in sea water, I may bath in his blood.”

[Destrudo]

"In castle formidilosus, beyond the capital of Necropolis, just beyond this hill." Destrudo said.

As they crested the hill, the capital was spread out before them, there wasn't much that was terribly remarkable about the city, it had it's peasant houses, some government buildings, shops, inns, taverns, restaurants, perhaps one of the only two unusual things about it was the structure barely seen at the center of town. It was impossible to tell what it was made of, but it was shaped like a pyramid, having the sloped sides of a desert pyramid, and the steps of a Jungle pyramid. It seemed as a temple, but it was at the center of a great castle, like a fortress. It was easy to think this was Shadowlord's castle, but it was not. The power of N'jal could be felt flowing from that temple. It flowed throughout the city, and out into the countryside. even from where they were they could feel some small portion of her power.

The other interesting thing was that the city was shaped like a giant spider. They were heading towards what would be it's front. The gates in particvular were it's mandibles. It made one feel like one was being eaten alive by a spider.

Destrudo made his way down and entered the gates. Townspeople and guardsmen alike were giving him strange glances. He headed for a small inn, called The Drunken Lout.
He walked in, and up to the innkeep, a jolly fatman praying to a small wooden statue of N'jal.
"I demand three rooms, on the royal tab." Destrudo said.
"Milord, a pleasure to see you on these shores again. I apologise but all I can offer are three small rooms. Surely you would be more comfortable at the castlt?" the innkeep asked.
"I'm too travel worn to continue on. Just give me the rooms so my companions and I can rest." Destrudo snapped wearily.

The innkeep forked over three keys, Destrudo kept the one marked with a single star, gave one marked with two small stars to Lorenor, and one with three even smaller stars to Vornwin. It remained unseed, but the two young women in the corner waited to keep someone company for the night.

The rooms were just down the hall and to the left, on the first floor.
"Like I said, I'm too beat to continue My legs feel like a hundred hot pokers are sticking in them, ny arms feel like dead leaden weights, and I can barely keep my eyes open. Let us rest for the next eight or so hours, and continue on then." Destrudo said. He entered his room and locked it behind him. The rooms were small eight by ten cells, with naught but a bed. Destrudo layed upon it, and was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

The night would pass without incident, and in the morning, Destrudo would wait for them at the bar, sipping on some hot tea. The reminants of what had been breakfast for him were being carried off by the innkeep.

"I feel refreshed, are you all refreshed?" Destrudo asked.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

No rest came for the wicked. Lorenor was different from them with the exception of the demon. Blood trickled down his mouth and he kept wiping at it, trying not to draw attention to himself. Feeling the energy flow from this distinctive place, Lorenor felt the lay lines pulsing across the ground. The energy flowed tremendously and served to rejuvenate the mutant. Every possible step filled the mutant with renewed strength. He was in N'Jal country, he was home. His goddess was with him and lent Lorenor her strength as he moved through the city. Eyes were upon him as they entered the city, curious eyes. Lorenor moved quietly as they made their ways to the inn. "You two go ahead. I'll rest later."

The mutant needed a drink. Not just any drink, but he needed blood. Lorenor knew there were townsfolk constantly about the place, but these were kin. They were servants of N'Jal and thusly they were off limits to the ghoul. Lorenor knew that he could not feed upon them and personally would not. He preferred to feed off the bodies of monsters, and thusly, would have to hold his own until they came across some. But the energy in the air felt good to the ghoul. He walked to the middle of the town and stood there, feeling the breeze flowing about, feeling the crackling power of this central place of darkness. This was a town built for worship of the darkness. The mutant didn't think that such a place existed anywhere on Althanas. He was wrong.

Such a place did exist. Lorenor hissed in the air as he pondered the losses of all of the followers of N'Jal at the hands of those bastards in the Inquisition, the Knights of Dawn. His hated enemy, their hated enemy. Lorenor clenched his fists as he felt the energy of N'Jal pouring through him, leading him towards a center of worship.

People began to gather all around him. Lorenor saw people of every age group dressed in black, followers of N'Jal the good majority of them. Some were High Priests that headed out of the temple nearest to the Inn, one of them staring directly at Lorenor. All eyes were upon the Spider Magi. "Take off your mask Lorenor. You're home." Came a command from a decree whispered by a High Priest. Tears were flowing down Lorenor's eyes. The ghoul did as he was commanded. Removing the mask, it fell slowly to the ground. There were hushed whispers from the gathered crowd, some had never seen a fully fledged Spider Magi before. Others were vets, and had seen them face to face. Tears were streaming down the ghoul's face. "All the things you have seen. All of your training for this moment. How does it feel Lord Lorenor?" The mutant turned to look at the High Priest and fell down to his knees. Tears flowed down his face as he looked up at the High Priest, a fellow follower of N'Jal. Lorenor wiped the tears from his face looking at the High Priest for a long moment, not saying anything for a long time.

"N'Jal spoke of your arrival, Spider Magi. Here. You will be treated as a King. Here you will complete your education as a Spider Magi. Here you will return to N'Jal a fully fledged warrior of the darkness. The warriors you bring with you are champions of the darkness. You will strive for this goal and this goal alone."

Lorenor looked upon the High Priest for a moment. "I am but a humble servant of N'Jal. If it is the wishes of the High Priest, so too, will I follow his orders to the best of my capacity." Lorenor pledged knowing the will of N'Jal was spoken through the High Priest. He clapped gallantly with both hands holding them before his chest. "Well spoken young one. You see this people! This man who has come from the lands of the heathen folk comes with proper education and proper respect. Listen to the words this humble warrior speaks before you all!" The crowd looked upon Lorenor and began to touch the ghoul with many hands. The ghoul felt discomfort at such attention but said nothing and merely endured it.

"Forgive them Lorenor. For many in this generation have never seen a Spider Magi in their days. Some have, but few haven't. To us, the Spider Magi are like the knights of old." Lorenor nodded as they walked to the cathedral. It was a small temple, but it was a humble one nonetheless. The statues of N'Jal were complete, not a single had their face torn off by the Inquisition. Lorenor felt pride in his chest swelling as he walked in the temple. Hushed whispers were filling the crowd that gathered as they followed to the sermon. The High Priest moved to the alter, a large statue of N'Jal was behind the alter, undefiled by the Inquisition. Lorenor walked towards the alter and fell to his knees in prayer. There he would remain until morning.

The High Priest raised both of his open hands and the crowd rose as they saw Lorenor kneel before the alter.

[Vornwin]

Sanctuary of refuge for the followers of N’jal, cesspit of the blasphemous for the followers of the light. Vornwin no longer limited his perspective on holy and unholy, just or unjust, all sides had a point of view and their opposers were always the unholy, the unjust, the violators of their beliefs. Servitude to extreme factions over time, the puppet begins to see the strings directing its limbs, and resent the puppeteer. It is for this purpose alone, that Vornwin operated in the grayed out areas of where traitors and spies make their home. In short, he desired balance.

Lack of balance leads to an entire destruction of a belief or race, these N’jal were losing the tug of war with the world, such a loss only would result in one thing, the purification of the world from their religious belief. Essentially, the extermination of those who believed in N’jal. However, critical assassinations could detour the inevitable or eventually turn the tide in the N’jal religions favor, to which end, Vornwin would then be fighting against it, trying to attain that perfect balance.

As Lorenor went his separate way from Destrudo and Vornwin, the demon took the keys offered him by his employer, as well as Lorenor’s. With a well placed hand on the lower backs of the two women waiting patiently at the bottom of the stairs, the demon lead them up. Upon reaching the top and confirming no eyes were upon him, he rapidly knocked the two women out. Tossing one over his shoulder, he carried the more slender one into his room, quietly planting her into his bed and tossing the sheets over her head. Creeping down the hall, he stealthily placed the other in Lorenor’s bed, again sliding the sheets up past her head.

Vanishing from the room, the demon approached double pained stained glass window, depicting various acts done by the goddess of the region. One portion in particular shone brilliantly from the others, as the moons twilight illuminated through it, dazzlingly highlighting the hand of N’jal touching atop a lone survivor. It truly was remarkable, until Vornwin smashed his fist through it to unlock the glass and climb through the window. On the ledge he shut the window behind him, gracefully leaping to grasp hold of the roof.

Limberly jaunting on the roof, he measured the area of which Destrudo’s room was located, and silently punctured a miniscule hole through it. Several feet behind that one, he scratched another that revealed the hallway leading to Destrudo’s room, from the demon’s perched position in the middle; he was able to monitor all movement around his employer.

Some may call this stalking, but Vornwin preferred to call it being thorough.

[Destrudo]

Destrudo waited impatiently when he awoke and sat at the bar. Finally he simply stood and just walked off.

He walked outside and yelled into the night "Vorn, get on over here, we're leaving."

He walked over and disturbed Lorenor.
"Lore, it's time we got a move on." he said.

He waited for both men to join him.

"It's time, steel your soul, gird your thoughts." he said. He lead them on through the city.

"Necropolis is a very old city. It's really a miracle it still stands, what with the diests continually warring with the Noctists. We happened to arrive in a lull in the war appearently, unless a peace treaty has been drawn up, but that seems unlikely. The Diests come from Diem. Like Noctum sees nothing but night, and is primarily comprised of evil, so is Diem. It sees nothing but day, and is comprised of nothing but good. History and legends both record that once the two were one in the same nation, Chronus, we boasted the finest Dimensional mages in the world, controlling both space and time with unparalelled ease. It's not certain how we became so divided, but it is said that once twin princes were born. The elder was a kind and caring soul. As the crown prince, it was thought he was going to lead the empire of Chronus into a golden age. However the younger brother in his jealousy turned to dark and evil powers that promised him the throne, for a price. Beyond those few details, the rest of history is sketchy at best, and outright false at worst. Even the tales of the old folks disafree on just about every point. Only one thing is absolutely certain, their war for the empire continues to this day." Destrudo said, letting them into a bit of history as they went along.

He was intending to go straight to his father's castle, resolving at long last to know the truth, but his steps took him to a different place.

He stopped, and stared, for he was before the main temple of darkness.

Before them were gates made out of bones, as were the walls, and they were shut. If one were to try to break them, one would find an energy shield preventing attack.
In the courtyard was a most curious item, an artifact, valuble beyond measure.

It was an exact lifesize replica of N'jal, carved from solid gold, and adorned with silver, and precious jewels, gems, and minerals of all sorts. Every detail was lovingly and exactly reproduced without any faults of anykind whatsoever. It's power was great, as though the goddess herself had stood in that very spot and willed herself to become the statue. No one knew what it's power and ability was, but it was certain to be great indeed if anyone ever figured out how to make it function.

It was housed inside the main hallway. Certainly it was fascinating, and possibly disturbing, but it wasn't the most noticable detail of the temple.

The entire temple was cobbled together from the entrails, flesh, and bones of every victim that had ever been sacrificed in it, transmuted to stone, yet given the look and feel of what it once was. Disturbingly, the temple seemed to breath, and indeed it was, as the many stone lungs and gills on the ountside walls continued to expand and contract, breathing in freash air, and breathing out the old stale air. Blood visably pumped to each organ, giving it life, and giving it fuction. Listening carefully, one could hear faint voices, as though the temple itself were speaking, and it was whispering blandishments to those beyond it's walls to enter and fill their hearts with darkness. Destrudo stared hard at the walls, taking in the details, and discovered a multitude of eyes staring back at him.

As unnerved as he was by the sight of a living temple such as this, he longed to enter it, but alas, it was sealed.

"Eventually, I will enter you and ferret out your secrets." Destrudo promised the temple.
He turned and walked off.

He walked out of the city, and into the hills beyond.

The landscape was made of white grass. If one were to take a full color photograph of the landscape, one would swear it was only a black and white photograph, but it was not. Devoid of light, the flora and fauna became devoid of color.

He turned into a cave, and walked through it.

Spider-magi lived in these caves, for they lead to Diem. Sensing intruders to their caves they emerged. Sensing kindred spirits they held back.

One however moved out to block their path.

"Welcome home prince destrudo. Remember to always keep to the left. I warn you though, Diem has been setting up ambushes in these caves. We took one apart just minutes ago." The spider-magi said. In the dim torchlight left for the benefit of those going to shadowlord's castle, one could see this Spider-magi was very old, and no longer in a prime fighting condition. He was the leader though, and remained such because though his physical qualities waned with age, his mind remained sharp, and he had garnered much wisdom and knowledge in his life.

"I sense another of my tribe with you. Though not of my clan, definatly of my tribe. The dark mother whispers to me, Lorenor. I am Alberekek, Leader of the Spider Magi of Chronus. Welcome home Lorenor, here among your brethren, you are safest. I can sense you are under-trained. Come, when you are finished with your business with the prince, whatever it is, you must return, we will teach you as we would any of our kind, even if you do come from lands far off. I give my word, that we will do our best to answer any questions about yourself, your powers, or your abilities that you might have." the venerable spider-magi said.

He moved off to the side.
"It shouldn't take too long, I'll personally escort him back." Destrudo promised.
He continued on.

He exited into a valley. The entirety of the sky was blotted out by a great black column of energy, the ley line that connected N'jal to her followers. Because of the energy, it was completly black, one was onable to see due to the complete lack of light unless one had, other, methods of sight.

Destrudo walked into the cave, and grabbed a torch. He continued on to the castle, though one could not see it in the darkness, only a path.

It lead to a small lake of black liquid. Destrudo called a halt, and backed up from it considerably.

"Watch this."He said. In the torch light one could see a grin of anticipation.

He threw the torch into the lake of black liquid, and it erupted into fire.
If one understood what it was, one knew it was a lake of crude oil. The fire burned up the sides of what was appearently an invisible castle. It's size was beyond the lake's boundries. Slowly a black castle took vague hazy shape, uncertain in the darkness and the oily smoke.

"Come, before the fire burns out and the way is again inaccessible." Destrudo said.

So saying, he walked through the fire, and entered the castle.

The main entry way was entirely black and white, and crafted in such a manner, as to be impossible to discern anything, even depth.
"Think, Imagine the entry way to a castle, any castle. Think of it in rich detail. Imagine the very first room you enter after entering the front gates like we did. The valley wall is the outer walls of the castle, the protective walls surrounding the walls itself. The valley floor the courtyard, this is the actuall physical castle itself. Imagine it's first room." Destrudo commanded.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

For a moment, Lorenor found Destrudo's request to be disheartening.

He'd longed to be back with the Spider Magi in the tunnels, his fellows. They could train him and teach him things about himself he wouldn't have otherwise obtained.

Pondering the request for a moment, Lorenor thought about the situation and for a long time said nothing. The castle was obviously a creature of chaos, Lorenor realized that immediately. It had form, but didn't have form. The forms adapted to the guests that traveled through it.

For a long moment, Lorenor just stared incredulously at Destrudo. "You want me to create the first entryway from my imagination?" It seemed incredible, it seemed impossible, it seemed highly improbable. After all, Lorenor was not the most sane person on Althanas. He didn't think that he qualified for such a task. So in reaction to the strange request, Lorenor closed his eyes and tried to visualize something from the darkness in his skull.

He concentrated and concentrated, pulling up nothing but blank thoughts.

After a few moments, he considered giving up on the task and handing it to Vorn as a responsibility. He was coming up short. His imagination was geared at the combat arts, and other matters, not at artistic value. And just when his frustration of failure was about to peak, Lorenor thought of something interesting. It started off as a spark at first but rapidly grew into a fully fledged idea almost with the force of a 9.0 magnitude earthquake. When the idea took a life of its own, Lorenor fell to his knees in concentration for a moment, shaking from the pure seizure-like activities. The castle, a living entity, was reading Lorenor's thoughts and thusly moving to interpret the idea that coursed in his head. Adapting to Lorenor, the castle reacted to its new host entity and forged a suitable entryway worthy of Lorenor's darkest and twisted imaginings. A blinding flash of psychadelic light, complete with disco fever kaleidoscope ball effect, burst out from Lorenor's skull. He screamed in agony at the sudden burst of power. On his knees, and upon the ground, the burst of light began to postulate the way that the entryway would appear, and thusly lay a foundation for the rest of the castle.

The walls took shape and mass, color being applied a moment or two later within the passage of an instant in time. The first thing to manifest was the happy colored flowers. Pinks, purples, and other shiny and bright colors were visible. The flowers literally danced in the breeze and wore happy smiling faces upon them. There was a music in the air and it was a happy sort of music as if a bunch of bards had gotten too drunk on moon shine and were simply playing songs that made no logical sense. There was grass too, but it was colored blue. Trees had twisted barks and multicolored leaves that formed intricate canopies. It almost seemed as if the trees and plants were edible! Bricks on walls located on either side of the courtyard's foyer came next. These were colored pink in nature and psychadelic graffiti was painted on the walls. Symbols of strange runes were etched on the walls that meant things like love and peace. Arches were visible, also colored pink and having various symbols on them of the same sorts of native althanian runes and glyphs. Animals were also present.

Pink furred bunnies hopped along the glade and cobblestone walkway that signaled the entryway of the castle. Lorenor saw all of this unfolding and turned to look at Destrudo. "Shit! I messed up. Can I have a do over or something?" Lorenor had a perplexed expression on his face as he stared at the object of his own creation. Details were still unfolding. Taking a quick glance at the sky, a noticeable detail on the clouds would be that they had smiling faces on them and were looking down at the adventuring party. There was laughter in the breeze. Over all it was a thing of innocence and beauty, Lorenor hated it.

This was hell to him. There were bright colors and powerful scents everywhere that Lorenor looked. Had this really come from his repressed thoughts?

[Vornwin]

Bounding gleefully into the air, the pink cotton tail leapt repeatedly skyward, it’s grace almost magical. Without effort, the rabbit was able to glide masterfully through the air, and diligently always reunite it’s tiny paws to the ground, to return to it’s heavenly trajectory…until a one ton force crushed it into the ground, immediately severing it’s head from the majority of what remained of it’s body. Wiping his boot off in the flower garden, Vornwin glared at everything surrounding him, the greens, the purples, the pinks, too many exuberant colors for one demonic creature to consume.

Thunderstruck, he slowly rotated to face Lorenor, the crunching of tulips muffling the grinding of his teeth. “What…the hell…were you thinking?!” Raising both arms, the demon stood there glaring at him. “Are we to fight this lord of evil in this…this…place?!” Perhaps this was the magic of the palace taking effect, the psychotic madness already taking hold of his mental prowess, no, this could not continue. “I’ll correct this…” Squinting his eyes due to the brightness of such a place in contrast to the former surroundings, he made his way towards a gazebo.

Slapping a nun off the bench, the muscular being ripped apart one of the supportive struts of the structure and slammed it into the remaining pylons, sending it tumbling to the ground. Tossing the wooden beam to his other hand, he hurled it at a group of blue birds singing merrily just like a javelin, destroying several of their nests in the process. Positioning himself midway between the destruction, his mind was now able to concentrate with comfortable settings about him. Eyes closed, the destruction easing his peculiar feelings of being in this hellish zone.

Mind now void of anything, darkness before him, his imagination began constructing a palace. Clearing it must be unthreatening, Lorenor was correct in positioning us in a pure environment. I shall follow suit, the less power given to this creature, the better. The ground began to form, stacking immediately upon it was a rectangular rock and mortar foundation, marble polished steps covering the front entrance. The first floor began taking shape, gold pillars supported the floor, connected by satin silk drapes. Polished marble covered the entire area under the elaborate carvings of mortals giving into their lustious desires, all leading to a large wooden crate, containing grapes, alcohol, and women fighting within it.

The floors towered upwards, eventually ending at the tenth, the structure resembled much of that of a pagoda. The roof height peaked in the center, and arched down to connect to the four corners, succubae gargoyles guarding each corner. Long rolls of dark satin danced in the wind against the building, rose petals twirling within the wind around the facility. No, by no means was it a palace, but it was named the Pleasure Palace. What place could be safer then one Vornwin owned himself?

[Destrudo]

Destrudo looked at the sweetness, the cuteness of Lorenor's imaginings. He almost got sick.

He turned to Vornwin after seeing the sickening cutseyness of Lorenor's mind.
"Do me a favor Vornwin," he said," next time I ask Lorenor to imagine something, please bludgeon me to death." Destrudo said. He felt relieved as Vornwin set about doing some remodeling.

He looked around at Vornwin's imaginings.
"What is, much more agreeable." Destrudo said.

Everything went black.

"Welcome home, son." Shadowlord's voice said, this time completly normal sounding.

The light returned, the floors were of Vornwin's polished marble, colored black, a blood red carbet ran across it, and further into the castle. Gargoyles stood in the coners watching the three newcomes as women dressed in pink lingerie designed to vaguely resemble bunnies, complete with ears and a cottony tail wrestled in a pit of grapes. Rainbows and flowers drifted lazily through the air, and overhead a brightly colored mural of the sky depicted clouds smiling down at the group. Blood was splattered all over the walls. A sourceless light lit everything up with the force of the noontide sun.

Shadowlord, presently in human form in an everything-colored-black-except-for-his-pale-white-skin-color-scheme, stood infront of wrought iron doors that lead inwards.

"It was amusing seeing what you might create, but I bthink I'll control it from here, no don't bother trying to wrest control from me, I am a God, and this is my realm, it is impossible to take control from me. Escape is impossible as well, every door and window will only lead you to another room. I do hope you enjoy your stay, now that you've checked in, there is no checking out." Shadowlord said, tipping a black tophat he was wearing in their direction. He turned on his heel and shot down the hallway in a flash of darkness, gone from their presence.

"Bleh." was all destrudo said as he entered the castle.

He walked down the hall, and paused at a wooden door. The hall was of the same decor as the entryway. The servants were all in the same outfit as the two wrestling in the grapes, only these ones were not wrestling, they were going about carious household tasks. A flower drifted right into destrudo's face causing him to splutter.

He ripped the offending flower to shreds and then glared at Lorenor. Turning his attention back to the door he opened it, and then turned and continued down the hallway.

Inside was the mother of all treasure hoards, mountains of gold, silver and jewels. Weapons and armor of every type and description, enchanted items to cause any effect one could think of. Best of all there were sacks in there enchanted to hold as much as one wanted.

"Take as much as you want, I'm going to my room." Destrudo said.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Still shocked as anybody by what his mind had created, Lorenor could only rub the back of his head. He felt strange as the creature of chaos had read his thoughts and basically pulled the image from the deepest portions of his tortured brain. Lorenor felt violated somehow. The castle had pulled an image from his thoughts, a powerful image, and laid his deepest imaginations for them all to view. He felt like the thing wasn't a bad image, but in his present company, they couldn't appreciate the deeper humor like he could. Seeing Destrudo and Vorn's hateful eyes, the mutant could only sigh. He wasn't as hateful as they were, and actually, was very level headed compared to the other two. Experience taught him that.

Lorenor looked at the various call girls and a few of them were staring at him strangely. A mixed combination of lust and fear towards the Spider Magi was visible on their faces. Lorenor walked through the halls, following Destrudo and Vorn. He pretty much ignored Shadowlord's commentary being that he was a follower of N'Jal and Shadowlord had no power over him. Or at least that's the way Lorenor thought of the situation anyway.

Destrudo started to walk again and Lorenor followed, respectfully a few paces behind the prince. He kept his expression calm and held his mask in his inventory having reacquired it from one of the locals a time earlier. The mutant hadn't bothered placing it back on his face because the creature of chaos could read his thoughts and see what he was truly like anyway.

So there was no point in hiding his monstrous nature.

And then Destrudo lead them to a vault hidden within the castle's walls. This was a matter that Lorenor was not expecting because he thought Destrudo was initially lying about the castle's wealth. But upon seeing the vault, in person, Lorenor's glowing eyes went wide for a moment and his greed, left unchecked, went to work. Wild fancies of the various plans Lorenor had in his agenda passed through his mind quickly. Lorenor would have licked his lips if he had a tongue to do it with. His hands were clasped as if he was in a prayer position and the mutant saw this little slice of heaven. He looked at Destrudo and nodded as the warrior prince gave off his last command before vanishing off into another hallway. Lorenor looked a Vorn.

"Let's load up then."

Grabbing one of the nearby sacks, Lorenor moved so that he held it over his shoulders. He had his own packs to fill up as well, but the mutant knew how the powers that be worked in this land. He could try to get things and be denied them by other powers so instead, he knew he had to exhibit some sort of self control. Walking into the vast vault, the mutant felt a tremendous power lurking across his sensory grid. There was an external stimuli present in the room that was interfering with his ability to concentrate.

"I can sense you! What's out there!?"

Lorenor clenched his fists tightly and called out to the presence within the vault itself. A few seconds later a powerful presence manifested within the central part of the room, some sort of security system. It gathered energy tremendously into one central point and formed a solid mass. A moment later, a humanoid outline appeared quickly gathering matter and energy together to create one entity. It was an elemental spirit. Lorenor had heard of these sorts of creatures from his studies with the Monks. The creature floated approximately ten feet off of the treasure covered floor and floating of its own talent. Lorenor saw a copper skinned individual with wild hair, horns, and an approximate height of roughly six feet tall. He was in extremely good shape, wearing an open short that revealed his vast chest and abdomanilis muscle was well defined. Nipples were pierced with intricate jewelry and he wore baggy pants as well as matching intricate shoes that were pointy. The thing had golden bracelets and an interesting amulet about his neck. He radiated heat and fire, pulsing with elemental fire energy.

The spirit looked down upon the duo and prepared to issue out demands and defend the vault, as was its purpose.

"Even with Lord Destrudo's permission, you must be tested. Only the worthy may possess Shadowlord's treasure. The name is Inferno. And I shall be sending you to the lands known as The Pyre. Your spirits will burn for all eternity."

"That's talk that I've heard before! You wanna try to end us, do your best you goon!" Lorenor yelled, amping himself for battle. Lorenor drew two of his swords, and tossed one in Vorn's general direction. "Take one of my weapons for the time being. Your steel equipment will do no good." The mutant said attempting to aide his friend. Battle was more up his alley and not worrying about making cute things. Drawing another one of his swords, Lorenor had a collection of three damascus swords, all masterwork in nature. The mutant prepared himself to fight against the obviously powerful spirit. Without Destrudo's help, they would be hard pressed to take this creature out on their own.

Inferno took the initiative and launched a sphere made of pure magical fire right at Lorenor's person.

[Vornwin]

Observing the twisted manifestation of both his and Lorenor’s thoughts as he followed Destrudo into the area was indeed, impressive. Who could have thought rabbits and women blended together so well? During the Shadow Lords appearance, Vornwin’s eyes were upon those of his former employee’s then his current nemesis. Shortly after, again he followed Destrudo down the hallway, his reflection staring back at him through the polished marble.

Entering into the treasury, at first the demon thought this some form of trickery, immediately he turned about, checking the adjacent hallways. The room glowed heavenly with the gold reflecting the flames coming from the fireplace. Kneeling before the horde, Vornwin scooped his hands through a miniature chest filled to the brim with rubies and diamonds. Listening to Destrudo’s steps down the dimly lit hallways, Vornwin turned towards Lorenor. “Odd that he wouldn’t want any of this wealth.”

Just as his words had finished escaping his mouth, Lorenor spoke out against some unknown entity in the room. Standing to his feet, both blades unsheathed, he saw the creature begin to materialize before them, taking the shape of some imprisoned genie he’d heard from fables as a child. As Lorenor tossed him the Damascus blade, Vornwin rushed backwards, sheathing each of his swords and snatching the one Lorenor sent. Using the momentum he had built up, Vornwin twisted around, facing a quickly approaching wall. Jumping up, the demon ran against the wall, his muddied foot prints trailing behind, he propelled himself off the wall with a muscular kick.

In mid-air, both hands on the hilt of the weapon heaved behind his back, the demon slammed the sword into the right shoulder of the elemental. Twisting the blade viciously into the creature, Vornwin pummeled the side of the creature’s neck with his foot, snarling ravenously between his teeth. The elemental shook hastily, attempting to dislodge the blade and loosen the demon’s hold upon him. Flattening the palm of his left hand, the elemental rolled his body, while his hand swayed through the air, energy rushed towards it, collecting at first in a small orb of white light.

By the time the hand was before Vornwin, a full-fledged fireball was shuttling out, slamming directly into the chest of the demon, blasting him off the creature, and into a vast pile of golden trinkets, the Damascus blade spiraled through the air, eventually wedging into the treasure trove pile that Vornwin had landed.

[Destrudo]

Destrudo had not gone down a hall, though it may have seemed like it. In truth he was just standing around the corner. Money didn't impress him, and worthless objects designed to do things one couldn't do under one's own power were only signs of weakness.

Let those who were impressed by the desires and dreams of fools have foolish things.

He heard the roaring of a fire. He had forgotten to disarm the vault guardian.
He turned and entered the room.

"You break my promises, this is not acceptable. We both know that all things herein are naught but illusions, designed to impress fools and morons, those who desire that which they do not deserve to have. Let them have all the trinkets they desire, in the light of day it will be revealed to be the childish dreams they really are. I must admit though, Father did quite a nice job when he brought you out of some sniviling scholar's dreams." Destrudo spoke quietly, showing his temper.

Destrudo got behind Inferno as he blasted Vornwin and roundhouse kicked him towards the strongest of the three, Lorenor.
"Time to give Death it's due." he whispered, his eyes full of bloodlust, totally oblivious to the fact that his foot was on fire.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

But Inferno was much too powerful for that. One of Shadowlord's servants, the creature took the straight kick to his person quite well with some deep breathing exercises and impact muscle memory. The creature turned towards Destrudo with a cold expression on his face to match the devil within either of the three companions. Destrudo's goals were essentially undone by the skill of the elemental warrior. Turning his attention towards Destrudo now, the creature floated to cover some distance between himself and the trio. He was now floating approximately six paces away from the nearest of the adventurers which was Destrudo. Lorenor was standing at approximately a fifty degree angle away from Inferno, about seven paces away from him. Lorenor stole a quick glance towards Vorn's position and then returned his gaze towards the incoming fireball. Evading it by stepping to the side, Lorenor noticed that the gathered mass of the blast made it move somewhat slower. It hit some nearby piles of golden trinkets and other jewel encrusted objects. Lorenor saw steam floating up from the impact point and prepared his own counter maneuver falling back on his swordplay skill.

Lorenor just barely managed to pull an evasion on the fireball at the last possible moment.

Gathering his wits about himself, the mutant prepared to form strategies against the newly acquired opponent. It was preparing a new attack against the trio. Lorenor cursed in silence and readied the two weapons at his command. He could dual-wield and he suspected that Vorn could as well. With two warriors dual wielding, he had a hunch that they could take this new menace at will. After a moment of thoughtful introspection, the mutant realized that the odds of victory were slim. He turned to look at Destrudo quickly and hoped that the other warrior had a plan of attack that was more sensible than the opening salvo. Lorenor finally came up with a reasonable attack strategy that didn't put him too close to the beast of living fires. Pointing his swords directly at the infernal warrior, Lorenor lunged directly at the creature keeping his long swords directly in front of him. Damascus was a powerful material that was well forged and capable of conducting magical energies well. So it would not cook so easily under the pressure of the elemental before them.

Lorenor felt the tremendous heat that the beast gave off as he got closer to him. Feeling his skin beginning to overheat, the mutant concentrated the best that he could against the warrior. And in a moment, the creature had gathered the necessary power to release its next attack. Lorenor swung his mighty weapons towards Inferno at the same time, dual wielding in an arch towards the creature's midsection. Since Inferno was floating, Lorenor had to leap a few paces out. Swinging the blades in mid-air, Lorenor started his attack by sending his left arm in a glorious arch towards the Inferno, and then spinning around when the attack hit the apex of movement. Lorenor swung back around with his other weapon, making it a double edged attack that left a trail of damascus colored light. The mutant spun himself in mid-air and then prepared to see the results of his devastation. He was hoping he'd gotten a piece of Inferno. Stuck in mid movement, the mutant would be hard pressed to evade any incoming attack that Inferno might release in a matter of seconds.

He was hoping to distract the creature long enough to get him to cancel out his movements.

Meanwhile, Inferno prepared the maneuver and sent out a large wave of raw magical fire towards the trio. The blast traveled quickly through the air and was comprised of devastating heat. It was clearly a high level spell. The blast flowed in a downward direction with Lorenor being the closest of the three targets. He would almost assuredly be hit by the attack. Since Inferno was releasing the spell, he had no time to evade the incoming attacks and could only take them dead on. Lorenor's swords slashed across the body of the creature causing some damage to the beast but nothing lethal. A moment later, Lorenor screamed as the furnace blast passed across his person, setting him on fire. Lorenor was thrown a few feet back and was thankful that the room was large. Blistering magical fires coursed across his physical shell as he bounced across the floor, hitting piles of gold in the process. He bounced a good twenty feet before finally slamming into a huge pile of gold. A small trail of flames burst upwards into the air from where Lorenor hit the ground rolling.

The large chamber around them had plenty of room to fight in. It was a chamber that was roughly ten thousand, by ten thousand square feet all around, in every direction. Approximately several hundred feet high, the ceiling was very high. In every direction there were piles of treasure that were miles high in some cases. Trinkets of ever sort made out of every valuable material lurked within the vault. There were paintings on the walls of tremendous value made by the most highly skilled artists in all of Althanas. Doors in various portions of the vault lead to many antechambers that contained even greater treasures, many doors to each side further expanding the depths of the vault. The floor was comprised of cobblestone blocks made entirely of precious metals like gold and silver. Columns of pure marble held the ceiling up and these were spaced evenly across from one another in a seemingly random pattern. Lit by the many piles of gold, the chamber had excellent lighting. Lorenor could only now appreciate the vastness of that place when he'd found himself on fire.

Standing up from his position in the pile, the mutant checked to make sure that the fire no longer crackled on his person. Though wizard's fire in nature, the substance finally passed from his person. He needed something other than what he was using. Turning a quick glance to the area around him, he tried to get a feel for the area around him. Amidst the treasure, there was also weaponry and armor of every sort. Sheathing his twin damascus blades, Lorenor found a set of swords nearby to his position that seemed to be much more powerful than his current weapons were. He needed an edge against creatures that were more powerful than he was able to handle. The mutant saw that the set of swords had powerful blue colored blades and resembled mythril, but weren't quite mythril. Prevalida! The mutant suddenly realized and rushed towards the two swords. Taking the two weapons and their scabbards, the mutant placed these alongside his back and noticed that the swords were surprisingly light. The weapons were broadswords in nature and not the long swords that he was used to handling.

Deciding to take them and put them to good use, Lorenor turned his attention to Inferno once more. The damage from the fire wave maneuver was still being tallied by the ghoul as he realized he had several burn markings on his person. His body was in agony from almost being cooked to dust, but the mutant was a tough little bastard. He took his newly acquired swords and prepared for battle. They were both masterwork in nature. Lorenor ran towards his enemy and prepared to engage him in battle once again.

[Vornwin]

Golden valuables trickled down the pile that Vornwin had landed in. Crawling out from underneath it, both arms taking their turn of going in front of the other to drag him forward; instead of going to retrieve his weapon, he crept towards the doors. Fatiguely pushing off the floor, his right leg snapped violently as he placed his weight upon it, undoubtedly from jarring it back into place. Clearing his throat, he paused to talk for a moment, but failing to catch his breath, just waved his hand and exited.

Teetering back and forth, limping on one leg whilst dragging the other behind, the demon rounded the corner that lead into the main entrance that contained the vat which the women were fighting amongst the grapes was located. Hobbling up to the side, the demon stooped over to taste the liquid, his legs giving in and dropping his entire front torso into the substance. Submerged for a moment till a passing waitress rushed to his aid and pulled him out, his eye’s failed to burn from the substance. Grape juice flying off his face, his large hand whipping the majority away, he licked his lips, pure, non-alcoholic grape juice.

“Get your friends, have them gather as many buckets and pails as they can on their way here.” Over time, Vornwin began instructing all the women to form an assembly line, filling up various large and small containers of the grape juice for the washer women to haul to the other end of the room. Motioning one of the larger female ogres to come over, Vornwin used her as a crutch as they went down the hall that lead into the treasure trove.

“Alright ladies, we’re going to play a game, there’s a floating man in that room that’s on fire, we’re going to put him out.” Flashbacks of his days where he once command the 11th Demonic Squadron mirrored before his eyes as he instructed the women to carry the containers to various locations of the room, repeatedly informing them to stay low to the ground and remain absolutely quiet, of course this just made them giggle louder.

Limping to the top of a pile of gold, Vornwin looked down upon the scenario. Forming a lopsided circle, the women encompassed the fire elemental, all laying crouched behind the various hordes of gold, their containers close by. Raising his arm swiftly into the air, releasing a tumultuous beastial roar, the majority of the women partnered up and ran towards the elemental, countless containers splashing wine towards the creature; while others just laid there toying with their newly found earrings.

Despite his causalities to the wealth, there were enough to have tossed their payload so that the elemental would find it a true challenge to dodge all of it; hopefully, this would give Lorenor and Destrudo their chance to strike the fatal blow.

[Destrudo]

Destrudo smiled, grinning wide, because he knew secrets the others did not, and failed at supressing his mirth. he began to laugh, with pure manical glee.
"Illusions, shadows, all of it. Trickery and puppetery. Fine, if you wish to present to me child's play then let us play as children. The truth will be known soon enough, as the shadows fall and light dawns." He said after his laughter died. He walked to the wall where weapons hung at the ready.

He picked up a solid white battle axe seemingly made of Mythril. It was poorly made, but was possesed of the power of a great blizzard. He picked it up holding it low, not strong enough to hold it any higher.

As he turned toward the demon, the floor became cold and the temperature of the air dropped to well below water's freezing point. He hefted the axe as high as he could, straining to raise the axe to it's zenith, he took a step toward the fire demon, and the axe came crashing as a meteor from the sky, and as it swung, it's full power activated, unleashing the fury of a blizzard all around it. Even if the swing missed, the floor became completly frozen over, and icicles came to hang from the ceiling.

However the power of the fire demon was as great as that of the blizzard, and all around it, the ice began to melt. But it wasn't Destrudo's intent to actually kill the thing, he merely intended to throw it off balance for Lorenor to use his new previlida swords to their fullest effect.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Coming in contact with the air, the mythril equipment's power amplified the ice storm one hundred fold. Traveling quickly, the blast of sheer elemental cold flowed instantly to its target. Having frozen the ground for a good radius and caused some stalactites to manifest above them the storm was released to good effect. Falling from the ceiling, super sharp stalactites, charged with elemental energies, and sharp as steel. There were six of these and they came crashing through the oblivion downwards towards the elemental. Having an interesting effect on the air, the air rapidly cooled at the touch of the elemental ice. It was cooling at a much faster rate than the fire elemental could produce heat, even at his advanced level. The ice attack had come in too suddenly and much too quickly for Inferno to react. And so, ice froze the air at a particularly fast rate. Inferno noticed that the air froze particularly rapidly around his legs, encasing it in a thick layer of ice that hardened rapidly. It was cooling the air much too rapidly for the elemental's tastes. Inferno looked upon the warriors gathered around him, and just when he was about to make a last ditched effort to free himself from the prison, something else happened.

The women attacked! A giant splash of liquid grape juice came through the air and caught the elemental completely off guard. He was so focused on Destrudo and Lorenor's actions that he hadn't noticed the group of women coming in. A splash of liquid purple doused the elemental with its substance and he screamed in agony. Steam flowed from the creature at his weakened state. The sweet grape nectar having its desired effect of crushing Inferno's offensive tactics. He was weakened and caught in place. The creature was now vulnerable to attack and that's all that Lorenor needed in order to finish it off.

Seeing the opportunity, the plan panned out as quickly as everything else was happening. Lorenor ran towards the elemental even as the grape juice was spilled upon his person. Covering a great deal of distance, the mutant arrived just as the stalactites came crashing down. A few shattered against the ground but several struck the elemental dead on, injuring the creature further. Lorenor wore a grin on his face when he saw that. One of the stalactites stabbed the floor directly in front of the mutant warrior. Lorenor extended his front leg forward and used the stalactite as a stepping stone, pushing his weight on his leg. His other leg was used to quickly propel himself forward and he found himself airborne a moment later. The elemental was locked in place a few paces away and a few feet in the air, Lorenor was ready with his newly acquired prevalida swords. The mutant swordsman traveled through the wind and felt the world slow down. Once he was within striking distance, Lorenor prepared his dual weapons and stabbed downward at the trapped elemental even as he was landing towards his general direction.

Again, Lorenor felt the intense heat that the elemental gave off. This was hampered by the severe cold that the blizzard spell had given off as well causing an elemental paradox to occur of heat and cold. Energy traveled through the wind quickly and at a enhanced rate of speed. Lorenor found himself in the middle of that chaotic vortex of energy, freezing at the same time as he was getting hot. Burn marks were appearing on his flesh where the endless could not protect him from the tremendous heat. It was time to end this. One of his swords was aimed to the heart of the elemental, and Lorenor took a quick swipe at the with the other weapon towards the neck of the creature. It was meant as a dual attack to end it. A moment later, the creature screamed in agony and was destroyed in a tremendous burst of energy. Lorenor was momentarily blinded by a brilliant explosion of light that hurt the mutant as well. For a moment, things got so intense that Lorenor thought he was about to die from the heat and light. But fortunately, the explosion passed quickly and it was all over a moment later.

Only the elemental's jewels were left for the party to exploit. Lorenor fell to his knees gasping in agony. He held his newly found swords to the ground, sheathing them a moment later. "We did it." The mutant said to nobody in particular. He looked over to Destrudo's general position. "Are you two all right? I could use some medical attention." Lorenor said noting the burn injuries on his person. Some would heal, but many would scar up.

[Vornwin]

Blocking the burst of blinding light with the shadow cast from his arm, Vornwin snarled as he toppled down a pile of treasure from whence he was perched. Tumbling down the hill, upon his landing, before him lay several sparkling stone; a diamond like serrated edge with a fire blazing forth from within them. The images danced on Vornwin’s eyes, displaying his own fire of greed. Steam plumed from each of the jewels, a hot red ring was all that was left on the ground when Vornwin snatched one from the marble floor. Extreme heat failed to harshly affect the demon, but even he had to roll it around in his titanic hand to keep from burning himself.

At the call of Lorenor’s voice for aid, Vornwin placed the stone back onto the polished floor, and snapped his fingers. Nothing happened. Clapping his hands, the demon looked hastily around as if expecting something to occur. Finally, a petite gnome approached him, her smile pushing back her hair to reveal two golden earrings that dangled from her ears. Merely grunting, Vornwin protruded his finger out towards Lorenor. “He’ll need some salve for those wounds, as well as some lodging.” After bowing gracefully, the gnome vanished behind a mound of gold several feet high.

Coins rained from the hill of loot behind him, overflowing past his shoulders and down his chest. Though all this was but mere illusion, the reality was amazing. A bronze tinted container fumbled its way down the horde, sliding into the side of Vornwin’s leg. Curiously, the demon lifted the ornate lid, discovering several small rolled cigars carefully placed in small holders within. Raising the entire container upwards, the demon sniffed the epervesence of the precious cargo, a smile racing across his lips.

Rapidly tossing all the scolding jewels discarded by the guardian into the container, Vornwin shook the closed box rapidly, observing several escaping plumes puffing out from the sides. Briefly swinging the lid open, and then shut, the fumes filtered up into Vornwin’s nasal way, immediately filling his eyes with tears. Coughing violently, the demon shook his head, his eyelids blinking to clear his vision.

With the container now on the floor, Vornwin slid it towards Lorenor, smirking as his voice croaked out. “It’ll cure what ails you…”

[Destrudo]

Destrudo's own hands were burnt from punching the demon. He dropped the axe and it shattered like glass on the spot.

"Appearently it was a very poorly made axe." He said.

He sighed and looked around him. He really had no use for any of this rubbish.
"Stand still, stand, perfectly still." He commanded. He then appeared to freeze on the spot.

A fog began to rise from the floor, and as it did so, a strong wind began to blow all around them. All the treasures, all the gold not in anyone's immediate possession turned to more fog and disappeared, even if it was an item they came in with.
When it cleared, they were surrounded!

Ten men in black robes looked at them sternly. These were the real castle servents. Seconds earlier they had appeared as women in pink bunny outfits.
"My hands are burned from father's imagination. Fix them. My allies are also injured. Fix them." He said offhandedly.
One man grabbed Destrudo, and Destrudo disappeared momentarily in a column of darkness, then reappeared.
"You are fixed, anything else you require?" the man asked.
"What Layout index are we at?" Destrudo asked.
"The castle is presently layed out in pattern 3609382, and still changes according to the pattern you are used to." The evil monk said.
"Good. Then that means where we need is accross the hall." Destrudo said.
"Your rooms?" The monk asked.
"It's not your business, but yes, my rooms." Destrudo said.

He left, and opened the door from what was now the servant's quaters. The fog and wind had transported them there from the other servant's quaters where the illusion of treasure had been placed.

"And now you two know why I was so free with the treasure, it doesn't actually exist, though I am surprised that that which is in your hands did not also disappear." Desttrudo said.

He opened a door made of Mythril, inlayed with gold, silver, and many gems. Inscribed in the door in blood was two things. First was Destrudo's name, written in his own impecible hand, and the other, was the curious symbol of a vortex. Destrudo opened the door. A woman with a collar around her nect rushed to the doorway. Atached to that collar was a chain, only long enough to allow her free movement throughout Destrudo's rooms. She was a real woman, not an illusionary woman like that over the black robed monks earlier.
"Master!" she cried breathlessly.
"Ailee, you are permitted to dress yourself, we have visitors." Destrudo said.
The reasoning behind his words was abundantly clear, for Ailee, the chained woman enslaved to Destrudo was completly lacking in clothes.
"You will retain your clothes, for as the only person in the world whose well-being I care for, I am taking you with me to the new lands I have visited." Destrudo said.
"Is it your wish that I dress?" she asked. Ailee was completly enslaved to Destrudo's will, a birthday gift to Destrudo when he was sixteen years old.
Destrudo only nodded as he burshed past her. She picked up her chain and retreated to an inner room.

Destrudo's rooms were expansive. First were Destrudo's closets. It was commonly joked, if not true that princesses had large closets, larger than many thought neccessary. Destrudo's walk in closets were large enough to completly house fifteen families with room to spare, they wrapped around the entirety of his private suite of rooms. They were first, because there was a doorway to them right from the main entryway to the suite. Next came his sitting room, where he gestured for the other two to sit. It was well furnished with chairs, couches, divians, and a fireplace layed with a roaring crackling fire. In the very center of the floor sat Ailee's chain, pegged to the ground. Destrudo sat on a small throne. It was wooden, but very comfortably padded.

Through a doorway one could see Ailee's room, obscured by a thick black cloth. Next to it was Destrudo's bedchamber, and it held a large four poster bed. Through yet another door, one could see Destrudo's library, and beside that, the restroom. The black robed monks had indoor plumbing installed, having brought the technology from their mysterious city where they truely hailed from.

Ailee, dressed now in a green dress and green shoes, came in and removed her chain from the floor, coiled it up, and forced it into Destrudo's hands, leaving only enough to kneel before him. She had blue eyes, and black hair, though it also looked like it might have been a very dark blue. She had tanned skin which the green dress set off nicely.
"Pleasing?" she asked.
"For now, but before we leave to find father, you will change to the traveling outfit." Destrudo said.

"So, here in my own rooms, I have complete control, which is why we're here, to demonstrate the twisted rules of this castle." Destrudo said.
"First, any questions, before I start, because once we go off to find Shadowlord, that's it, we're at his mercy." Destrudo said as he put a hand on Ailee's head.

However, it appeared Questions would have to wait, for Lorenor and Vornwin would discover they were the only two color beings looking at a black and white world. In truth, being back had stirred up Destrudo's memories, and the rooms showed them.

Destrudo was sixteen, seeting on his throne, considerably smaller.
"All of sixteen years old. Tell me boy, are you a man yet? No, I know your not, your just a coward, a weakling. What woman would ever want you?" Shadowlord asked. He was in the form of a man, a tall, well muscled man.
Destrudo leaped to his feet.
"You take that back!" young Destrudo shouted at his father.
"Shouts, words, these are meaningless tools of fools. Coward, make me take them back, stop being weak. I read you like an open book, I bend you to my will and break you, stop being a pawn like everyone else who enters this castle. Give me a reason to care." Shadowlord said insultingly.
Destrudo clenched his fist.
"Sit down, and unclench your fist. Admit your my little slave." Shadowlord said commandingly.
Destrudo struggled against Shadowlord's great will.
"SIT DOWN!" Shadowlord bellowed. Destrudo was visably straining as sweat rolled down his shaking body to retain his own free-will. Weakly he punched his father. It did no damage, but it surprised and shocked Shadowlord.
"Well, it's about time you began showing promise." Shadowlord said grinning.
Then he punched Destrudo and knocked him out. Everything went black, and then came back some time later. Ailee was now in the room, chained to the floor.
"A gift, since you've improved. Completly enslaved to your will, only a real man owns a slave. May she make you a real man." Shadowlord said, and disappeared.

Color came back, and Destrudo's image resumed it's normal fully developed form, but that wouldn't be the last memory.
"You've been my constant friend." Destrudo said softly as he dropped Ailee's chain.
She picked it up and put it back in his hand.
Destrudo dropped it again, and took her collar off, but she put it on again and put the chain back in his hand.
"You won't even let me free you." he said sadly, shaking his head.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

At one hundred percent thanks to the healing mojo of the men in black, Lorenor rotated his arm in a controlled motion. The movement felt extremely good, but he had markings on his body now thanks to the explosion of the light. The only thing that had saved him was the endless and his UASU artifact. Much of the U/V light was absorbed by the device and spared Lorenor an untimely death. The mutant was grateful to his friends, the Golems. A race of sentient machines hailing from a city known as Dressed Fish Town, the Golems were light years ahead of the Alerarians in terms of raw technological prowess. The Golems were connected to Lorenor and the two races shared a binary fate. The UASU was a piece of fabric worn on the body that had the same level of toughness as steel.

Its primary function was to allow the mutant to go out in the daylight hours so that he could perform functions that were otherwise off limits to him. The Golems devised that technology and grafted it upon the mutant. The steel alloy was capable of upgrading itself at the molecular level. Lorenor folded his arms across his chest as if hugging himself. More appropriately, he was hugging the suit that the Golems gave him.

One of the men in black managed to tell Lorenor that some of the injuries received from the fires of judgment would create permanent marks. This was despite their best efforts to heal him. Lorenor missed that about the Monks of Ai'Bron. Lorenor realized now that he was far away from his native homeland in Corone and Salvar. They were foreigners in a foreign land that housed its own set of geo-political struggles. Lorenor knew that the Empire and the Knight's of Dawn could not find him here. He was safe, at long last without having to flee to the lands of the North. The mutant had finally found himself a place to call home. Salvar was one place, but was it really home? There, Lorenor had lordship and his own estate. Here, Lorenor had the rest of the Spider Magi community and an entire city devoted to the worship and following of N'Jal. A city where he could walk outside without having to hide himself like a troll underneath a bridge. Lorenor thought about the Spider Magi that they'd come across. He wanted to go back to those tunnels and initiate his training with the Spider Magi.

He wanted to learn more about what he was.

So when they entered the massive estate that covered Destrudo's portion of the castle, the mutant would have whistled if he could. Instead though, he simply eyed the advanced architectural design of the chambers and noticed how high the ceiling walls. Decorations and vases of raw materials were placed lavishly in the apartment complex. Lorenor kept his handles on his newly acquired weapons. He was terrified of another elemental creature attacking them in defense of the castle's property. Lorenor tried to swallow his fear when he saw the pretty young girl before him. His face went wide with surprise for a moment, and then he nodded towards Destrudo. There was obviously some sort of connection between Destrudo and this girl Ailee. The memories swelled before the mutant, and he could see into Destrudo's very heart and soul. Lorenor wondered if they could read him in such a fashion. The thought sent chills up and down his spine. Lorenor said nothing during the entire time of the flashback. He simply observed and learned everything he could about what the castle was willing to show them about Destrudo.

Lorenor looked at Destrudo calmly now.

"So what's next boss?"

[Vornwin]

Wounds being healed by the magic flowing through the room resonating from the strangely cloaked men, the demon grumbled, checking himself just to make certain his cuts were healed. Leaving the area, he closely followed Destrudo into his room, observing the lavishness of it. This was nothing compared to the gallantries of his prior existence living out of a sack by a meditarinien coast, but, it brought to light more information on Destrudo. More startling was the creature chained to the room, certainly though she looked human, she was a creature. What made her a sentient being was stripped from her, she acted more like a dog direly craving attention from ones master then an actual female woman.

Walking around the room, Vornwin fell into a mahogany carved chair with leather upholstery bristling alongside it. Slumping his back forward, his worn face fell into the comfort of his scared palms, sighing heavily. With eyes closed it was the first time he realized how exhausted he was from all this trek. Sleep never came easy in chaotic circumstances, more so when he was personally in charge of security. But this land was foreign to him and unnatural, draining his once abnormal endurance.

As thoughts rattled through his subconscious, so did sleep drift across his eyes. Through decades of being on a warfront, he was a light sleeper so if anything arose, he’d be capable of acting upon it. But for all those who had doubt of his condition, a snore that was partially muffled against his palm escaped into the air, followed shortly after by another. With so much on ones mind, it’d be impossible to dream, besides, dreams typically never visited the mind of demons, more so those trained to avoid them all together as they were thought to be misconceptions of higher beings.

However, just this once a dream did visit Vornwin’s mind. It wasn’t some distance horizon holding lustful thoughts, acquiring the wealth of kings or storming a great castle, no, it was of a cock-eyed wooden shack with a poorly constructed thatch roof, and acres upon acres of golden toned wheat bending in the breeze behind it.

[Destrudo]

Destrudo continued to sit there after Lorenor asked what happened next.
------------------

"What do we do next?" young destrudo asked the elderly priest in black robes standing next to him.
"The best part, the main attraction, in a way. For you see, Every new moon, our powers are at their greatest, when the world is cast in complete darkness, we sacrifice willing participants to our dark lord's power.
---------------
Destrudo looked at Lorenor and Vornwin, he stood up.

Tonight was the new moon. He smiled, a knowing smile, for he could see something they could not.

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

We call our lord, we've lost our way.
So far from home, with our souls we've payed.
Trapped in the light, please hear our plight.

As the congregation sang hymns from The Book of Darkness, Destrudo fidgeted. Tehy made him feel strange, almost as though the group were singing to him sometimes, or about him.

He looked up in the rafters, and saw a man made of pure darkness up there. His eyes could be felt penetrating Destrudo. Destrudo felt no fear, only joy and happiness, as though he were complete.
-----------------------
"What do we do now? We sing the hymns of darkness as we sacrifice the blood of countless innocents. We wash clean this land in the blood of those that choose to live a wretched existence, refusing to open their eyes and listen with their ears, their hearts, of a new way, a better way. With our fists we pull down the sun itself from it's throne in the sky and extinguish it's light forever, and we start with the greatest obstical to the New order of the ages, HIM!" Destrudo shouted pointing at Vornwin.

Before anyone could react Destrudo punched the air in Vornwin's direction, and out of it came Shadowlord.
Shadowlord waved his hands and encased them all in a block of solid ice.

"So, you found me. But then I shouldn't be surprised, this is the only place I can't hide from your eyes." Shadowlord said.

He became fire, and removed himself from the ice block, and melted their heads.

"Quite the plan you have layed out. Such a change from the weak little boy who kept crying for daddy to come save him from the scary monsters under his bed. Gone is the weakling who can't stand on his own two feet, grasping at empty powers and idle threats. Finally you've realised I'm the greatest monster you'll ever face. I didn't even want children in the first place. It's a shame for a man to have children. You shame me by existing. Your a worthless piece of trash, you'll never amount to anything. Look at you struggling to break a simple ice block. You can't even do that. It's no wonder you couldn't deal with the pet woman I gave you properly. You weren't supposed to care for her and keep her. She deserved to be used and tossed aside, nothing more. Now what's this, you have friends! Your a disapointment. I wanted a ruthless killer. Not some pansy ass capable of caring for someone. Your not even psychopathic your only pathetic. I oughta give you the mercy of a swift death, right here and now. But no, I'm going to torture the fuck out of you, and these two twits you brought with you from the normal lands accross the ocean. I'm going to mind rape all three of you, and bring from your depths your greatest fears, your strongest hatreds. I'm going to use parts of your psyche against you that you didn't even know existed. Finally, at long last, when your a broken pet like your woman, I'll kill you, slowly, painfully, making even the sweet release of death bitter and cruel." Shadowlord said.

"Heh, only a coward would say that to a helpless man." Destrudo sneered.

Shadowlord caused the light to disappear completly, and when it re-emerged, each was in a completly seperate wing of the manor, far, far away from anyone else. Gone were the servents, gone were the safe havens. Now there were only monsters of their own design, traps of their own making, in a place designed by their own worst aspects, twisted, and used against them. Shadowlord himself became the exact replica of the greatest enemy each had ever faced.

For Destrudo this meant very little. This castle made up the majority of all his memories, so it was as it always was, and Shadowlord was as he always was. However, remembering the entryway, he couldn't help but wonder what would happen to Vornwin and Lorenor, trapped in a place of their own design.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor’s senses blanked out several times during that series of actions. In a fell moment, they had entered Destrudo’s main living quarters and encountered the mysterious entity calling itself Shadowlord. Lorenor was curious as what the being was, and when he heard the long monolog that the creature uttered to Deestrudo, the mutant was completely disappointed. N’Jal would never speak such absurdities to her servants, especially her most respected servants. Lorenor looked at the slave girl for a moment wondering what her blood tasted like. She didn’t seem to be a human at all. Perhaps she was a meta-human of some sort?

The mutant prepared himself to leave the room and go back to the vault when all of the sudden, he was encased in ice. Destrudo released them from the prison a few moments later, which was a positive turn of events. Lorenor had been unable to move. With his body freed from the ice, Lorenor shook himself off. Particles of ice fell to the floor and he felt cold moisture in his clothing. Shivers went up and down his spine. Seeing that Shadowlord only partially mentioned the two of them (Vornwin and himself) once during his long winded speech, the mutant went back to his original plans of leaving the castle to return to the Spider Magi in that town.

And then it happened.

Lorenor blanked out and found himself within a completely different location. A location that was bright and shiny and happy. The mutant was reminded of that construct that was forged when he was first asked to use his imagination. He didn’t understand how repressed memories worked. He didn’t know about innocence. Trees had smiling faces on them, just like the clouds and flowers did. The mutant shivered once again with cold even as he felt the penetrating warmth in this place. Singing traveled through the air reaching his sensory grid. All types of external stimulation crossed his senses as he looked around and saw children playing in the grass. Only these weren’t normal humanoid children. They weren’t even native Althanians.

Nay. They were children from a sort of plant-like race that talked with mysterious clicks and clacks. As individual sounds, the song-like spoken verse itself wasn’t all that unpleasant to listen to. The mutant found himself almost enjoying himself as he took in the environment created by his tormented mind. Looking around much more carefully, the mutant walked on a pathway made up of the purest gold. The mutant looked back and saw that the passageway lead back towards the castle proper. He was in some garden area that was located on the property. Taking a glance up at the brightly colored sky, pastel blues and whites, the mutant saw a sun with sharp spikes sticking out of it like a crown, rotating around its central structure. The sun seemed to be directly looking upon it. Lorenor remembered hearing Shadowlord’s taunt that he would mind-fuck all of them. Was this then part of his game?

Lorenor wasn’t very sure at all. If Shadowlord was one of the many members of the Thaynehood, then the entity had its own agenda. Destrudo and the trio were merely a small part of the entities’ agenda. The mutant tried to think like how the deities thought with their mass manipulation and their playing of the game of chess. In a few small moments, he’d given himself a migraine headache and decided that it was better for him not to concern himself with these matters…at this point..

Shadowlords’ words kept echoing in his thoughts like a hymn. Lorenor had finally found a place that he could exist as himself without the worry of persecution from hated enemies. When all of the sudden, this event had occurred. Shadowlord was a clearly hostile entity that commanded a huge degree of influence and power. Lorenor felt threatened by the creature and wondered at the thing’s motivations. He let his thoughts become calm, when a tremendous feeling of danger washed through the very core of his being. Lorenor felt presences surrounding him that weren’t the plant children playing in the grass. Those fellows turned to look at the scene unfolding before them, and the mutant noticed that he had an audience now.

“There he is!” Someone yelled in the mutant’s general direction. Lorenor stopped what he was doing, and turned around to see sight that was horrifying to him. It was a full platoon of fully armed warriors belonging to the Knights of Dawn. They were Paladins of the All-Thayne. They were the direct antithesis to the cultists of N’Jal. There were ten members of the platoon in general and one of them who was clearly the leader. And the mutant guessed that they were not here for tea. Drawing his two prevalida swords, the spider magi prepared to fight his way out of this situation if need be. He stared at the leader of the Knights of Dawn as the man grinned widely. They all wore full plate mail suits made of shining, glowing mythril. Symbols of a white dragon were etched onto the mighty breastplate as well as the rank and file markings of their legions. Lorenor’s sword shone brightly in the sunlight. The mutant stared at his would-be opponents carefully thinking that this would be Shadowlord’s manifestation.

“You’re Lorenor right?” The leader stepped forward and saluted the mutant. “There is a price on your head, but we’re not here to collect it today. We followed you all the way from Corone. We will chase you straight back to Haidia and to the ends of time if need be to prevent you from fulfilling the prophecy.” The leader of the Knights of Dawn was a handsome middle aged man. He had blond eyebrows, a chiseled face, a broad nose, and deep blue eyes. Lorenor couldn’t see the man’s hair since it was underneath the helmet that the man wore. After a moment, the human removed his well crafted helmet and placed it underneath his arm. The man’s hair was deep brown. “My name is Luke. Luke Stormrider.” The man said calmly. Lorenor noticed that the individuals didn’t give off an intensely burning aura of light like high ranking members of the Knights of Dawn usually do. “Please hear me out.”

“Say what you have to say and then be gone from my sight.” Lorenor said harshly keeping his guard up.

“Very well Lorenor.” Luke began. “I had a dream about you.” Lorenor studied the men for a moment and could tell that they were real people, not hallucinations. They gave off the distinctive heat patterns that living organisms gave off and he could detect with his sensory array. He still kept his hands tightly gripped around his newly acquired prevalida swords. The swords felt good in his hands, he knew that he could easily tear through the mythril armor. “So what. That doesn’t mean anything. Get to the point.” Lorenor was now talking to his hated enemy. But these individuals weren’t acting like the Knights of Dawn normally would. Back in Corone, the mutant had a price on his head and scavengers like the Knights of Dawn often collected on such lucrative bounties. “I do apologize for the hostility that our outfit shows to your people but understand one thing. The Knights of Dawn follow the All-Thayne, and a new, far more liberal outfit has emerged within its traditionally conservative fellowship. We believe in the equality of all the Thaynehood, unlike our past predecessors. In light of recent times. Some of us want to use the Knights of Dawn to spawn a new age of freedom to the citizenry of Corone. This includes the followers of N’Jal.”

Lorenor couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was this part of the Shadowlord’s game as well? I can’t believe this. They would follow me all the way to this hell-hole, for what? Maybe something else is going on here. “You expect me to just believe this nonsense? You’ve hunted my people for generations, declared war on N’Jal, desecrated her statues and temples, and expect to just believe it when some snot-nosed upstart shows up begging for forgiveness for past crimes? Do you think I give one flaming pyre that you lot follow the All-Thayne? Is that supposed to make everything all right? You’ve all got some nerve to follow me all the way here, when I was simply trying to get away from your garbage. You label the Cult of N’Jal as the criminals when it is you oppressing us! Say what it is you have to say and be gone from my sight!” Lorenor was completely stunned by the audacity of this man Luke.

The mutant suddenly felt a tugging at his pants leg and that surprised him. He turned to look at the source of the tugging and saw one of the tiny plant folk tugging at him with many vines. “S-sir Lorenor. We have something to say to you as well. The bad man is here.”

“The bad man huh? If you’ll excuse me, Luke. I have some business to take care of.”

“I don’t think so. We’re not done yet.” Luke said.

“Yes we are, unless you have some other business with me.”

“I do. The business of the dream. I still haven’t told you why I need to talk to you!”

“Then damn you man! Spill it already, I don’t have time to waste right now!”

“I have a letter I’m supposed to give to you. It contains information pertinent to one of the viceroys in Corone. You must use this information to lead your revolution against the Empire of Corone. Right now we need warriors like you. Warriors willing to stand up to the system. The Empire is an affront to everything that the Knights of Dawn believe in and there of those of us fighting to attempt to restore a balance.” Luke took out a container and tossed it in Lorenor’s general direction. The plant-child kept close by to the mutant’s general position. Lorenor caught the container in mid air. “Look at that letter when you have the time to. When you can, find us in Lumos. We have business there as well.” Lorenor shrugged. “We shall see.” The mutant turned around, placed the container in his packs and began to walk forward. He didn’t bother to see the general direction that the Knights of Dawn left at. He would inspect the package later.

As he moved is when he felt the powerful presence. A presence of light, a holy presence.

It was a High Priest of Ithica, a small island nation near Corone. The Priesthood followed a series of deities calling themselves the Kraum and naturally hated the Thaynehood. A religious war existed between the followers of the All-Thayne and the followers of Kraum. Lorenor knew that the head of the Priesthood followed a deity calling itself Dhakim Azure. As a representation of the light, Dhakim and Spider Magi were naturally enemies of one another.

Followers of Dhakim wore fancy white robes embroidered with royal blue hemming on various positions of the robes. The robes had many symbols upon them etched by the priesthood and the royal magi. Lorenor could see the brilliant light that the man radiated and cursed in silence. The mutant could not directly wage battle against this newly acquired individual. He approached the mutant with long, flowing robes, equally flowing hair, colored brown, and an intense gaze. His eyes were amber colored. He was armed with a sword and staff, no armor was present. But Lorenor did see several rings, a gauntlet, and an amulet. The man wore simple boots. He walked with a grace that Lorenor had not seen in a long time. The mutant almost admired the holy man. “Ah. There, at last.” Came the projected voice of his foe. “A Spider Magi of old. One who bears the markings of darkness. I have come to smite thee.” The man said calmly, projecting his voice out a great distance. He covered a tremendous amount of space from his former position to his current position in front of Lorenor. The mutant naturally receded backwards as he saw the brilliant light that the man gave off. There was something strange about the High Priest.

Lorenor gripped the sword handle of his weapon tightly, prepared for anything. He didn’t know what he could do against a wielder of the light. But he prepared himself for the worst. The man and the mutant stared at one another coldly. “If you are here to claim me then have at you!” Lorenor yelled angrily. He was already having one hell of a day and wasn’t in the best of moods. He took a glance at the scene around him, and several hundred of the plant like creatures had gathered to watch the battle. Even the trees, flowers, and clouds were staring at him accusingly. The mutant sighed at this turn of events. His enemy placed his staff along the ground and it began to float of its own accord. Then, the High Priest drew his mythril broadsword. It glowed with a strange hue of light. The mutant did not like that at all. He held both of his prevalida swords with firm grips. “Do I have the honor of knowing your name for this dance?”

“You have no such honor. I am here to kill you.”

“You have come a long way just to be disappointed Priest of Ithica. Prepare to meet your destiny!” And the battle began.