Curse

Minus Sign · Mar 27, 2006, 09:26 PM // 21:26

Writers Note: These posts stay here at GWGurus discretion and Anet and NCSofts mercy but
Guild Wars guru makes no claims of ownership for materials posted in the user agreement of this sight save their right to move, remove or edit, nor requirements that you relinquish copyright of any story posted. That means I have the right to retain ownership of intellectual property posted herein. I choose to use that right: this story and its characters are the property of me and/or Anet and NCSoft; any attempt to duplicate what’s mine for personal gain or to post it on another site without my permission (particularly a paid to view sight) will meet with litigation. Translation: Reading about Faith and her friends is free and it’s going to stay that way. Don’t steal Faith and try to make money off it or turn her into some trumped up hussy in your own story or I’ll sue you into the ground..

back when my necro was a N/Mo, I thought this little bit of backstory up. Hope you like it. Fair warning, it gets a little dark around halfway in.

Tyria itself seemed to shake under the guttural chant that echoed through the wind. Already Duke Barradin was slipping the baldric of his sword over his head

“‘What of the horse!” he roared again and the scribe was upon him from behind.

“M’Lord,” the young man wheezed, “Apologies. The horses; they will not move.”

“Damnable Char,” Duke Barradin rumbled with a scowl. The scribe shied away under the heat of the duke’s gaze. But his ire was not aimed at the stableboy now. He glared at the mesmer standing on the other side of his walkway who lurched, panting slightly from an unseen effort.

“Well?” the duke commanded and the mesmer’s eyes opened, slightly glazed. He looked at his duke cross-eyed, shaking his head in frustration. Another attempt and the mesmer’s mana was almost a palatable thing, the slight tinge of ozone tickling Duke Barradin’s nostrils. “We won’t get there in time to do much with no horse Dominous.”

The mesmer lurched under the weight of an unseen burden, falling to a knee. One of the monks apprentice was at his side in an instant, soothing his weariness with a soft touch of healing. He shook his head again. “Apologies M’Lord,” his weary voice echoed the stable boys frustration. “They are too far away. These magicks are too scattered. I could not Divert them.” He shook his head. “Its like they’re” and Duke Barradin saw a rare sight: a mesmer, mouth agape, at a loss for words. “It’s like they’re…everywhere. And the horses sense it.”

The Duke nodded moodily, arms crossing his barrel chest as his head lowered in a quiet prayer to Balthazar. Horses were, of course, useless when fighting Char. The animals struck became so paralyzed with fear that no amount of prodding could move them. Worse; they sometimes bolted entirely, refusing the commands of the most skilled rider.

But something was up with the Char today. The mindless chant that had begun only recently had an edge of finality in it. The sound boded things the Duke did not like.

All this passed through his mind as Duke Barradin finished the prayer with a quick nod. He turned to the large cluster of men and women around him. The horses had been a gamble anyway. One he had lost. “If the horses have failed us we’ll have to trust to our feet. Warriors with me and the rest follow as you can.” He turned to the iron grille leading out of his manor but something caught his eye.

The two apprentice monks that Brother Menhlo had sent him had risen with the group. The taller of the two was staring at each warrior in turn. His eyes touched Barridin’s and the duke felt of small rush of strength course through him as the mending enchantment took hold. The young woman with the healing touch had called over the merchant, accepting a pathetic price for the heavier items she did not want to lose but could not afford to carry.

The boy would exhaust himself before they even reached The Wall. The girl…he could smell it all over her. There was grit in her, but too much fear. Too green, the both of them.

“Where are you two going?” Barradin asked.

The young girl answered. “We go with you M’Lord. You’ve a shortage of healers among you. You’ll need us, apprentice or no.” And there it was again: the war between grit and fear. One would win out in the end…but Barridin had no way of knowing which. The guttural chant crescendoed slightly. This was not the battle to find out.

“No,” he said with a quick shake of his head. “You two stay here. Help Dominous recover and guard the homestead.”

“But,” the girl rose to her feet in protest but Barradin was already turning away.

“Faith,” the other monk called to her and she turned back to the still panting Dominion mesmer. “Help me please. I need your touch.”

The young monk sighed with a nod, glancing as Barradin and the other warrior’s broke into a sprint.

As men ran into death.

Minus Sign · Mar 27, 2006, 09:29 PM // 21:29

“Let it go Karim. It was foolish to even try mending so many people.”

The young man squinted with a smile, his own voice distant as he said “They’re still close enough. I can keep them up a little bit longer.”

Faith gripped her lovers arm and spoke with a tone that would broke no more nonsense. “You’ll be no good to me if you drop on your face the same as Dominous,” she rebuked. “We did what we could. Now let’s see to the rest.”

Karim scowled slightly up at her, but nodded nonetheless. Faith felt the shiver of power returning to her friend and Karim’s soft blue eyes opened to look at her. She saw regret. “I could have kept up with them,” he mumbled ruefully. “I know I could have. Warmaster Grast showed me that gait they use to run so fast so long. I could have kept up with them.”

Faith squeezed his shoulder again, the touch turning to a soft back rub. They both knew the truth. Apprentice monks were always relegated to groups of two because they hadn’t yet mastered the art of grouping. Healing more than just themselves and others proved too much for them time and again. Strict rules had been set on all groups leaving Ascelon City to protect the young monks from burning themselves out.

If Karim had gone with that group, he would have fallen on his face before they left the grounds of Barridin estate. Just trying to feel the spirit of so many Warriors, Eles, Necros, Rangers and Mesmers had been a strain on him. To then turn that strain into the focus of healing!

The slight headshake she gave him said it all. They would have been more in the way than an actual help. And they both knew it.

“You two are certainly a pair,” a soft voice chided from her side. Dominous smiled sheepishly as she turned to look at him, the bravado masking the deep boned weariness she felt inside the man as she touched his spirit with hers. “Faith, wasn’t it? An aptly named woman if ever there was. The slightest look from those soft eyes restores me.”

Karim stiffened defensively at the obvious come-on, but Faith just smiled sweetly. “Don’t you even try sir. My mother warned me well about mesmers.”

Dominous sat back on the grass, slightly abashed. “And what did your dear mother say to slander me so?”

Faith kept the matter-of-fact tone in her voice “That you’re as lecherous as a Warrior but as subtle as a Ranger’s footfall. You’ll sweep me away with soft words and gentle song, but leave me the harsh reality nine months later.”

“Yes. Well…” Dominous smiled back teasingly. Then his expression turned serious and he perked up, looking to the north. “Do you hear that?”

Faith’s smile turned into a smirk for the mesmer’s obvious change of subject. She spread an arm toward the east, pointing to the Wall and the near maddening chant coming across form it. “Who can’t hear that?”

“No,” Dominous stood slowly. “Someone’s coming.”

All three were on their feet, turning toward the rushing footsteps they could all hear. A runner from the group Duke Barradin was out of the question. Who would be coming here? And why now?

The flailing shape of see-through robes spun into view at the iron gate and all three stepped back in surprise as an elementalist sprinted into their midst. Faith and karim were at her side in the instant, catching her as she almost fell on the smooth cobblestone.

“Prince Rurik," the elementalist panted between gasps of air. "Message. Asks the Good Duke to come.” Karim exhaled softly. A warm breeze floated through the wind and the ele took another breath, slightly refreshed. She nodded to Karim. “Thank you. I’ve a message from Prince Rurik. He asks the Good Duke Barridin to meet him at the east gate to the Wall as quickly as possible. It’s a matter of utmost importance.”

Dominous nodded. “Then the Prince will be pleasantly surprised. Duke Barridin took his men with him not long ago and is headed there now.”

“Why send you then?” Faith blanched at the poor girl’s condition. Eles were not known for their stmina and it irked her that the Prince would send such a soft body on such a hard run. “If it was important, why not send a real runner instead of just an Ele?”

The Elementalists’ eyebrows drew into a line. “I’ll beg your pardon mum, but it’s Elementalist/Warrior. Every horse from here to the Shiverpeeks seems spooked from that damn chant. That makes any woman with a touch of sprint training worth her weight in gold!”

“Alright,” Faith conceded. “But you’re half dead on your feet. Come over into the shade and have a rest before you head back.” Faith laid hand on the young ele and felt a whisp of energy pass through. The young girl stiffened slightly at the healing touch, feeling the strength of the long run slowly returned.

“Thanks all the same,” the ele said, “but I’ve got to be getting back. Prince Rurik will need to know Barradin’s on the move.”

“Nonsense,” Faith almost snapped and she grabbed the other girl’s arm. “You’re burnt out. You need to rest a minute.”

“Do you mind?” the Ele pulled her arm away. “Sheesh; I know you monks are around to keep us all healthy, but sometimes you people really take the cake! I don’t need some apprentice not even chosen her alternate to be telling me what to do, thank you.”

“I don’t have to take that from you. I’ll have you know I was going to see Master Aidan about taking up with the Rangers today before this mess started.”

“Like that matters anyway.”

Faith’s mouth dropped open and she set herself to give this nuke-brained halfwit the tongue-lashing she deserved when Dominous called out again. “Wait,” he said. “Do you hear that?”

“I don’t hear anything,” Faith said, still scowling hard at the ele.

“Exactly,” Dominous stepped away, turning toward the Wall. The tone of his voice made her want to cringe and Faith turned to look at him.

“The chants stopped.”

“No,” Karim shook his head, disbelief thick in his voice. Faith nodded instinctively at his words. It was impossible. The magick of the Char incantation was still thick in the air; almost tangible now.

“It’s just dropped out a little,” she surmised. “You can’t keep this much magic in the air with no chant.”

“No,” Dominous shook his head. “No. It’s stopped. They’ve stopped.”

“No,” the ele shook her head agreeing with the two monks as they all turned toward the unseen Wall far away. “They’re right. That’s not possible…Sweet Gods of Light and Dark!”

They all saw it as one. A shimmering speck crossing the sun overhead, gathering the light into itself like a murderous prism. It passed them over, sweeping the sky in a direct line toward Ashford Abbey.

“Meteor Shower?” Karim whispered in disbelief.

“That’s no Meteor,” the Ele stated firmly as she used her spirit to probe the passing projectile for its element. “That’s,” she swallowed hard, disbelief in her voice. “That’s the chant.”

“It’s headed for Ashford Abbey,” Faith said, swallowing as well. Far in the distance they could hear a loud boom. The ground shuddered slightly and Faith with it. The missile had struck.

“The catacombs,” Dominous whispered.

“What?”

“That explains it.” All four turned back to the sky as another missile whistled overhead. “There were reports of Char in the catacombs, but we couldn’t figure out why. They weren’t trying to break through, just scouting out our towns locations and…”

“There are catacombs near here,” Faith finished for him as Dominous turned to the Ele.

“We need a ward girl and we need it now!”

The ele jerked at the command, poleaxed by the sudden change of focus. “Now!” Dominous roared and the ele moved into action, swinging her rod in a small circle around her. The air shimmered as the anit-magics began to take root. The very air crackled with the power of the ward.

And it died.

“What are you doing?” Karim balked. “Keep it up!”

“I-its not me!” the ele shook her head. “Something’s been wreaking havoc with my spells all day today. It just…died.”

“Do it again girl.” Dominous ordered and the earth rod swept another slow circle. “Try to keep it up…oh no.”

“I see it!” Karim screamed just a little too loud for the closely huddled group. The ward shimmered again and the Elementalist closed her eyes in concentration, biting her tongue from an unseen strain. Karim turned to Faith “Mend her” he called and Faith nodded, turning her own mana inward and out, giving some of her regeneration to the ele. Karim laid a hand on Dominous, his own spirit stretching across the two men as his own healing prayers were answered.

“It won’t be enough,” Faith said as she turned her attention to the sky. Two murderous prisms twinkled slightly in the sun, their arc stopping high above her head. “it won’t be enough.”

“It has to be” the Ele pleaded. “It’s the strongest ward I have!”

“It won’t be enough,” faith said, the fear sweeping thorough her in waves until she dropped to her knees, huddling with the ele to preserve her strength in the shared Mending.

“Dwayna Protect us!” she cried as the first missile tore through the ward like it was made of parchment.

Minus Sign · Mar 27, 2006, 10:56 PM // 22:56

Faith moaned softly, rolling onto her side. The Protective Spirit flickered weakly and receded back into her. The sudden loss made her gasp.

Another moan off to her right and faith crawled on her elbows toward the Elementalist. ‘What was that,” the other young woman asked, touching her forehead with trembling fingers. They came away bloody.

“Prot Bond,” Faith answered around a dry mouth. “I didn’t know I could do that.”

“Well,” the Ele said, sitting up stiffly. “All the same I’m glad you could.” Faith nodded, wanting for all to just lay there for a moment. The Ele stood. “Names Kali.”

“Faith.”

“Well, Faith, I think we better get out of here. They’ll have us targeted for another spike if those two shots at Asheford were any clue.”

Faith nodded and accepted the hand kali offered. They hugged each other for a moment, needing the support for balance. When she could faith turned her head and looked at the Barradin Estate.

It was gone. Where the large white manor house had stood, only a deep crater of ashen dust remained. Bits of stonework toppled into the crater that surrounded the giant prism-like crystal in its center.

The missile had survived its fall intact. Little else had.

“Karim?” Faith called. “Dominous?”

No reply.

“You don’t think,” Kali started.

“No,” Faith snapped, releasing the elementalist to stumble towards the crystal. “Karim!”

“Faith,” Kali called, and the young monk turned to look where her new friend pointed. Asmall piece of the prism had managed to break free of the core and reaching out from the crater where the splinter had landed Faith saw Dominous’ hand, bits of torn Enchanter’s Tunic ripped down from his wrist.

“Dear Gods he’s,” Kali swallowed.

“Karim!” Faith roared with a raw voice. “Where are you!”

A peeping moan from the other side of the crystal and Faith broke into a run. Her legs refused and she fell to her knees, crawling around the crystal to her friend and lover. “Karim.”

“I don’t feel too good,” was all he said, eyes closed in pain. The crystal had splintered on impact, bits of it cutting into the monk despite his healing prayers. Faith laid hands to him sending all the mana she could in a healing touch. The bleeding eased, but ti did not stop. She sent a second flow. A third. Each time the wounds seemed on the verge of closing, but each time they remained, stubborn and mocking.

Kali had made her way more slowly around the other side of the crystal, taking a route that avoided Dominous. She gasped at the sight of Karim, turning away and coughing violently. Faith ignored her. She sent more mana into Karim, almost forcing the flow of magick into his body. He gasped, unconscious now and she with him in empathic resonance. Never before had her touch failed to heal.

“Why won’t it work now?”

Kali was first to recover her wits. “We need to get him to Brother Grazden. He’ll know what to do and he’s not too far off. Last I saw him he was over by—“

“The resurrection shrine!” Faith finished for her. “If all else fails, its magick can clean his wounds.” She grabbed Karim’s arm, tugging him out of the pulverized sand. The monk moaned in protest but did not wake. “Help me get him up.”

Kali grabbed the other and they stumbled toward the iron gate.

Neither spoke as they made their way from the Barradin Estate. The only sounds were an occasional grunt of their exertion and the scrapping of their feet along the grass. The animals around had grown silent under the guttural Char chant; now they kept that quiet, as though fearful what might be coming next.

Behind them, in the distance they had left Barradin Estate, Faith heard another low whistle. “They’ve started again,” she managed and the ground shook from a second impact that sent women and burden tumbling back to the ground.

“Gods,” Kali exclaimed as she turned back to stare at the dust cloud from the impact. “How did we ever survive that?”

Faith ignored her, concentrating on getting Karim back up off the ground. He seemed even heavier than before, Faith’s screaming muscles warringfor rest and her mind begging for sleep. Kali reached out, taking hold of Karim and the three set off again.

“Faith,” kali spoke into the silence of their effort. “You’re going to kill yourself if you don’t stop that. My head is already healed; what are you doing?”

“It’s not for you,” Faith answered weakly from the exertion of her healing prayers and carrying Karim. “I have to keep him alive until we get to the shrine. I don’t know why but I can’t control my touch. I can’t focus as I should.”

“Well we’re almost there,” kali tried to sound reassuring. “Want me to run ahead and get Brother Grazden?”

“Something is wrong,” Faith whispered as they neared the copse of trees blocking the shrine from view.

“What isn’t today?” kali replied.

“I can’t feel the shrine,” Faith answered and kali almost stopped to gawk at the young monk. Any healer could feel a rez shrine from this distance. Anyone could. Even kali. Except.

“Neither can I.”

“Brother Grazden!” Faith called out, desperately pulling Karim forward. “Please! Brother Grazden!”

A distinct baying “humrph” answered and both women jerked. No human made that noise, nor animal.

A pair of Grawl crept from the copse, one with bow in hand.

“Of all the times for them to show their muzzles,” Kali sagged to the ground, nearly exhausted herself.

“Are they going to fight?” Faith asked fearfully.

Kali’s eyes went white in answer. The dust of the air coalesced in front of her, forming into a pair of thin earthen spears “I’m not going to wait to find out!” and at the last word the two spears flew toward the Grawl bowman. Both struck home and kept flying, carrying the Grawl with them into the trees.

“Roo wha bah!” the second grawl cursed, swinging a rod at Kali. Kali gritted under the strain as another pair of stone spears began to form before her, too late. A shimmering waft of mana sped form the rod, striking Kali in the shoulder. The Emementalist screamed and spun from the impact, falling to the ground.

Faith’s eyes followed the mana strike to kali, all her effort focused on keeping karim off the ground. The Grawl Shaman humrphed again, training the rod onto her.

“Brother Grazden,” she called weakly toward the trees. “Help.”

...More to come.

Storm Crow · Mar 28, 2006, 03:10 AM // 03:10

I have not the patience to read this in succession, however, after a breif scan of the materials you've laid out so far, I am greatly enthralled with the storyline. I do hope I can find the time to read this in one sitting. Keep up the good work.

arcanemacabre · Mar 28, 2006, 07:50 AM // 07:50

Color me impressed! You kept me enthralled the entire time. Eagerly awaiting more... oh and I'm definately looking forward to the 'minion mistress' you speak of.

Minus Sign · Mar 28, 2006, 01:54 PM // 13:54

A shimmering waft of mana sped form the rod, but to Faith it all seemed to happen in slow motion. Muscles that had begged her to fall to the ground now refused to move, locking her in place. The mind that had begged for rest was suddenly a flurry of activity, calculating the time to impact, the amount of damage that her weakened body (and Karim, a unfortunate shield between her and the rod!) would receive.

The mana struck…and bent. The impact was still enough to send her and Karim to the ground, but the force of the grawls strike was much less than what had hit Kali.

“Filthy creatures are worse than c0ckroaches,” a far away voice snapped.

“Roowha!” the grawl snapped, turning to confront something out of sight, to her right.

“Yes, it was I Enfeebled you,” the voice said, “and it’s I that will do much worse before we’re done!”

The rod turned to its confronter but before the grawl could even raise it to swing, a black mist formed around its body, shimmering with mana.

“Roo wha [i]Bahhhh![i]” it roared as the mist entered its body and the grawl stumbled to its knees in front of Faith. She watched in horror as the life was siphoned from the grawl despite its own desperate attempts at healing. The grawl collapsed, grunting weakly and stopped.

Soft footsteps as her savior came to her side, helping her with the burden of Karim “Now,” the voice demanded, “what’s happened to you three?”

“Kasha Blackblood,” Faith proclaimed as the necromancer came into view before her. The dark red—almost black—lips blossomed in a smile.

“You’re pale as my father’s ghost child,” the necro chided, turning some of her attention to the grawl shaman‘s corpse not that far away. Faith saw the green shimmer of a well form around the grawl and the body crumbled even further into decay. “Come; this well will renew the blood.”

“No,” Faith protested as she pushed onward into and through the Well of Blood, “I have to get to the shrine. He’s going; only the shrine will work now.”

“What happened to him,” Kasha asked, seeing Karim’s wounds for what they were now.

“The chant,” was all Faith could muster. “I have to get to the shrine.”

A soft moan from her left and Faith remembered Kali. The Elementalist was sitting back up, a yellow deep bruise forming all over her right shoulder where the rod had struck her. Faith took a moment to blow a soft breeze of healing toward kali and continued stubbornly through the trees.

Faith stopped steps away from her goal, falling with Karim into a heap on the ground. “No.”

Kasha Blackblood had taken hold of kali, helping her into the shade. Both came running when they saw faith fall. “What manner of witch magick is this?” she whispered.

Both turned from Faith to the shrine, its long spire reaching upward, darkly hollow without the shimmer of regenerating mana.

Hysterical now, tears streaming down Faith’s face. “He’s not attuned the shrine! Brother Grazden hasn’t attuned the shrine! It won’t heal anyone if it’s not attuned; why didn’t he attune the shrine!”

Kasha Blackblood shook her head. “No; he did. Before we left Brother Grazden attuned it in case anyone came by. I saw it; he did!”

“It’s not attuned now! It’s dead!”

“It’s the chant, Faith.” Kali offered, rubbing the shoulder where the bruise had been. “It’s gotta be. It’s disrupting any magic that isn’t part of it. That’s why my ward failed. Why your mends are failing. It’s got to be. The Char found a magic that blocks ours."

Kasha saw the heart of the matter now. With the shrine not attuned, anyone who came here for resurrection or healing would die of their wounds. And Karim hadn’t much left in him now. “Faith, can you—“

“I can’t attune a shrine!” Faith screamed. “I’m only an app—I can’t attune it!”

Kasha grabbed the young man’s arm, starting to haul him up in a fireman’s carry. “Then we need to get to Asheford Abbey and Menhlo. There’s a shrine there and he’ll be sure to have stayed near; it will be attuned for sure.”

“No!” Faith shook her head. “If we move him anymore he’ll die. We can’t! He’s—I can heal him! I know I can. I know I can! I can heal him—sweet Dwayna hear me please!

Faith you couldn’t heal him before and you’re in even worse a state now,” kali protested, but the monk pushed her off. Faith gripped Karim’s face in her hands, squeezing his cheeks with her fingers. She felt the grouping, the connection of souls and touched him more deeply than she had ever touched a person before.

She felt the death inside. The wounds had killed the body where they were, spreading like a disease into the rest of him now. “Help me!” she screamed as Kasha set Karim back down.

“Faith; what can we do?” Kasha asked.

“Help me!” Faith pleaded, desperate now. The life was fading out, changing into the pure magick of mana. It fueled her heals, but gave less hope. Life that turned mana had given up on being life. Karim was dying in her hands. “Help me!”

“How?” Kali asked, hovering over the sight with wringing hands.

“Help me!”

“I don’t know how! Tell us how Faith!”

Kasha laid a hand on Kali’s shoulder, pulling her back for the two monks. The necromancer shook her head, speaking softly. “She’s not talking to you anymore child. She’s calling to Them.”

“Help me”

Kasha came to kneel at Karim’s head, touching his spirit with her own. She leaned back on her hands, shaking her head. “Stop this.” Faith ignored her. “Faith; stop this. He’s gone.

“No! I can heal him.” Another shaft of mana streamed from Karim and Faith sent the flow straight back. The flesh she focused on healed slightly, returning to a baby pink. It was working; she could feel it!

Kasha tugged her away slightly. “You can’t. He’s too dead now.”

“No. I can if someone will just help me!” More mana from Karim and faith fed it through him; her touch returning what he lost. If she could just keep doing this…

“Yes!” Karim’s body, still for so long, twitched slightly as she fed the healing flow into it.

Kasha spoke sternly now. “Faith, you won’t want this.”

“Yes!” another twitch, the muscles of Karim’s body began to spasm slightly.

“He wouldn’t want this. Stop Faith, else…Dark One preserve us.”

“Yes!” Karim began to rise, the healing touch becoming somehow a resurrection. Faith felt the touch of a spirit inside. She could feel the body’s will, its mana and its flow…

“No…”

“You prayed to Dwayna,” Kasha intoned the words as if some ancient right. “But its Grenth hath answered.”

The spirit Faith felt was part of her own. Only Karim’s mana remained in the form that came to stand before her. The flesh fell away, revealing the bone minion inside.

Kasha spoke softly as all three women stared in horror at the sight before them. “Rise Minion Master…and May the Gods have mercy on us all.”

Raxus · Mar 28, 2006, 06:52 PM // 18:52

Ahh the path of the healer is not always what it seems. It appears Faith has found her alternate calling.

Minus Sign · Mar 28, 2006, 09:07 PM // 21:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Storm Crow

I have not the patience to read this in succession, however, after a breif scan of the materials you've laid out so far, I am greatly enthralled with the storyline. I do hope I can find the time to read this in one sitting. Keep up the good work.

Sorry; I've never posted a story on a forum before so I don't know the pace you folks are used to. I'll slow it down to a post a day.

Storm Crow · Mar 29, 2006, 03:54 AM // 03:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minus Sign

Sorry; I've never posted a story on a forum before so I don't know the pace you folks are used to. I'll slow it down to a post a day.

no, no your pace is fine, it's just that I found this thread a bit late in the game, and I really don't have the attentiopn span to read all of it on one sitting. please, continue with your writing!

arcanemacabre · Mar 29, 2006, 05:47 AM // 05:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minus Sign

Sorry; I've never posted a story on a forum before so I don't know the pace you folks are used to. I'll slow it down to a post a day.

Please, do it at your pace, not anyone else's. This is so great, I would love ten posts a day, but I'm sure that's asking too much. Do what you feel comfortable doing, cause this is some brilliant piece of work.

Ahh the taint of healing. Soon everyone will see that there's a little Grenth in everything we do

Minus Sign · Mar 29, 2006, 12:45 PM // 12:45

Faith fell backwards onto the ground. Kali rushed to her side.

“Faith?” the Elementalist called, shaking her companion. “Faith!”

“Let her rest,” Kasha said, taking a seat on a nearby stone. “Grenth knows she’s earned it.”

Kali whirled on the necro. “Why did you do that?” she demanded, her hand sweeping to Karim’s bone minion. “What were you thinking?”

“That is not my minion young nuker.” Kasha replied, unfazed by Kali’s tone. “That is your friends work.”

“No,” Kali shook her head, “she’s a monk. And she didn’t even choose her alternate! She can’t do something as hard as making a bone minion. I know! I tried once!”

“Your friend is not a monk anymore,” Kasha stated firmly. “She is a necromancer. Get used to it.”

“That’s not possible,” Kali replied. The bone minion gurgled in answer.

Kasha Blackblood sighed. “Sit child, and I will try to explain.”

Kali remained standing, her thoughts turning to Kasha, the minion and Faith, totally confused.

“I said sit down novice!”

The command jerked Kali and she dropped to the ground where she stood.

Kasha sighed again, more deeply than before, watching Faith in her repose. “It’s the reason why we train the young in two professions,” she said at last, turning a hard stare to Kali. “And not something we speak of often.

“In the early days, when the Bloodstones were first among us, there were many wars among men. But worst of all was the war within the self; the constant shifting between the core professions we all know today. Mana draws spirit. Some spirits are more in tune with one type or another.”

“Like me and Elemntalist?”

“And me and the necromancer mana,” Kasha confirmed. “But some spirits—too many of our best and brightest—they can summon many different types of mana. For them, a core profession is not so much a calling as it is a choice.

“Your friend appears to be one of those types of people.

“Before the training we have today only a few of these rare individuals could withstand these changes within themselves, adapt to the different manas that their bodies absorbed.

“Most couldn’t. Many died before they even reached the level we now call apprentice. Our ancestors found ways to control the shifting that was tearing them apart. The easiest way was to assume a core profession and take up an alternate; transferring between the two to reduce the chance that one might find their manas shifting again.

“It’s a defense. We train you in two types of mana so that a third will not overwhelm you.”

“She hadn’t begun training in an alternate yet,” Kali offered and Kasha nodded sadly. “Are you saying that she’s chosen necro?

“Instinctively, yes. It’s rare for a person to summon their alternate without training, but it does happen.”

“And that because she wasn’t trained how to control it the necro mana became her core.”

Kasha nodded again. “The mana she imprinted on consumed her; it has taken over a part of her. Even today, with all the training and rules we impart, there are ways a young apprentice can change her core. It is not an easy process, and the change twists them into some…one else.”

“But she was using healing prayers,” Kali protested, turning again to look at Faith. The former monk didn’t move, lying still and pale on the ground where she had fallen. “I could feel it.”

“Healing Prayers, yes. But that was not the mana she was using. She was using her friend’s mana: a dead man’s mana to try to heal death. There are certain rules you cannot break, and Grenth is greedy with those that are his.”

Kali considered that for a time. Then she said “You were going to say something weren’t you?” Kasha hesitated, then nodded. “Will Faith be alright?”

“Your friend Faith is gone young nuke. Accept that quickly. Only the hate and hunger that changed her remains; a new person is building on those emotions even as she sleeps. the mana she has accepted is...as different from Dwayna as Day is different from night. Coming to know Grenth can be a wonderful experience. But terrible all the same.”

“But I can still feel her. Even now she is healing the area.”

Kasha nodded sagely. “She would have been a very powerful healer. Still could be, but only as a Blood necro. No; the healing in the area you feel is less than she was making before. Her monk skills have been reduced to the level of an alternate profession. Her Necro side is growing; I can sense it.”

Kasha leaned forward, her tone insistent. “And so can you.”

Kali made to protest but stopped. She could taste the healing that was coming from Faith in waves. It was different from the healing a monk would impart. It was still sweet, but sickly so, like sugar in water that had been drawn from a swamp. Not the sweet purity of a healing spring that a monk would give.

It was a health dipped in death; more like a well of blood than a healing breeze. The thought made Kali’s skin crawl.

“She wakes,” Kasha intoned, rising from her perch on the rock. Kali turned to see the young monk—the young necromancer—stir.

“Did you rest well in your communion with Him young necromancer?” Kasha asked as Faith turned her eyes to them.

Faith’s glazed gaze turned to a glare at Kasha. “Don’t call me that,” she commanded.

“Why not?” the other necromancer asked, nonplussed. “It’s what you are.”

Faith started to say something, and then turned away from both of them. Turned to look at Karim’s minion. There was none of Kali’s confusion in her voice as she said “I know.

“Why isn’t that dead?” she asking into the silence that followed. “I thought those things died if you didn’t maintain them.”

“You have been maintaining it sister,” Kasha explained. “Can’t you feel it? You’re sending off healing in waves right now. And it’s at the edge of my well too, so your minion is in fettle form.”

“All I feel is numb.” Faith replied. Then “Where’s Brother Grazden?”

“Nowhere you need to be right now Faith.”

“Where’s the damn monk?” Faith snapped, a command colder than winter frost.

Kasha was answering before she realized it. Today’s troubles had shaken even her a little. “Duke Barradin sent a runner for us on his way to the east gate. We followed his men across the wall to try and find out the Char are up to.” She turned to look at Karim’s minion, at his used up corpse beside it. “I think we all know now.”

“And why aren’t you still with him then?”

“Barradin suspects that the Char were using the catacombs to call targets on our cities. He sent me and three warriors to go back to Asheford Abbey and rally a defense in case they tried to flank us while he’s busy across the wall.”

“Where are the warriors?” Kali asked.

“I,” and Kasha lowered her head only slightly. Not in shame, but mourning. “I needed the wells.”

“Did you kill them all?” Faith asked and Kali blanched at the question. It was a harsh realization for her to hear a monk shrug off the deaths of three warriors for the knowledge of dead Char. Kasha was right; the monk Faith was gone.

“No,” Kasha answered, and there was a touch of shame in her voice now, “One escaped.”

“Then you’ve led them here,” Faith stated, turning her focus to the grawl Kali had impaled a lifetime ago.

“I doubt that,” Kasha replied. “He’s well on his way back to their camp to lick his wounds.”

Faith shook her head as she answered. “I’ve felt your power sister. Any group of Char strong enough to kill three warrior’s in your charge and still get away with a warning is no simple patrol. They know any warning from Barradin will need to be intercepted and killed before they’re finished.

“There are warrior Char sprinting to us as we speak.”

“Then they run to their death,” Kasha replied and Kali felt a sliver of pity for the Char as the two necros shared a look.

“Yes,” Faith agreed. The grawl corpse trembled as something fought its way out and a second bone minion gurgled a birth cry, “they do.”

Minus Sign · Mar 29, 2006, 12:48 PM // 12:48

Faith turned to Karim's minion. The bone horror twitched at her sudden inspection, waiting command. We’ll kill them, she wanted to say. We will take our revenge on them all.

“Show me those skills you used to kill the grawl,” Faith said instead, turning her attention back to Kasha.

“I can go you one better,” Kasha replied, coming to stand behind Faith. She placed her hands on the sides of Faith’s head; middle fingers touching temples. “Focus your mana on those two grasshoppers over there,” Kasha instructed, pointing with her chin. Faith couldn’t see the gesture, but felt the direction. She sensed where her teacher wanted her to focus, and then saw the two insects in the long grass.

A stream of mana flowed from Faith, coursing gently around the two grasshoppers. Kasha’s own mana flowed into Faith’s, twisting the raw magick into the spell of her choosing. Linked as they were, Faith could feel the way Kasha shaped the spell; knew instantly how to do it on her own next time.

It was not a light mist that formed around the grasshoppers, but a swarm of blackness. As though a myriad tiny flies had come into existence around them, the grasshoppers jumped away. Too late; the swarm of mana slammed into both of them, ripping the two grasshoppers apart.

“We call that Deadly Swarm,” Kasha intoned.

“Apt,” Faith replied. “More,” she demanded.

Kasha nodded, resetting her fingers in place. “This will help your minions, but is a little harder. Focus your flow inward now, and try to send only a small amount to each.”

Faith did as instructed, feeling Kasha twist the raw mana again. Faith lurched, a sudden weariness coming to her as the mana drew a price of her own health into the spell.

“We call that Blood of the Master.”

“It hurt me,” Faith replied, feeling suddenly more weary.

“Keep that in mind when you use it,” Kasha cautioned. “But touch your minions now.”

Faith sent a flow of mana into the two bone horrors. They felt stronger now; some of their own weariness abated. “Useful,” Faith sneered.

“Very,” Kasha agreed, releasing Faith from the Grasp of Tutelage. “And not a moment too soon,” she said, stepping away from the young minion master to form a wall.

Both minions gurgled angrily in sympathy to Faith’s feeling, turning toward the trees. The bark that answered was decidedly Char. Kali’s eyes went white as she stepped into a combat position between the two necros and the shimmer of another ward graced the area around the resurrection shrine.

Six Char burst through the treeline to land before the three women. The wide barrel chests and wickedly curved swords named them Warrior’s.

“They thought me alone but they send only six,” Kasha mused grimly. “I feel insulted.” Kasha focused on two of the six. One doubled over slightly, the life siphoning spell gripping him to the core. Another dropped his shield to hold his sword in two hands, the enfeebling spell she cast gripping his arms savagely.

Kali focused again and two more earthen daggers began to form before her. But Faith was in her own world.

Never before had she felt mana this way before. It was ravenous and angry; hateful but merciful. It screamed to be used against the spirits of the Char before her, not partitioned and doled out among those that she called friends. It hungered for conflict, begged to be used. It wanted to die.

And part of it wanted to kill her too. And she knew it would if she didn’t use it…and use it now!

She focused on one of the center Char, sending a flow of mana several hundred times stronger than what she had sent into the grasshoppers. The swarm formed slower than the first time, building on the mana until it was ready. The three Char saw what was happening and started to retreat. The enfeebled one moved too slowly and the center Char was in the swarm too deep.

Just as with the grasshoppers, the swarm formed and struck. The mana bugs tore into fur, through flesh, ignoring the hardness of bone. Again she felt the expulsion of life; the return of spirit to pure mana wracking her like a pair of invisible explosions as the two Char died. It felt rejuvenating and horrible at the same time. Soul Reaping a voice in the back of her mind realized.

The third Char had made it safely out, but Kali’s stone daggers sent him flying back into the trees whence he came. Faith wasn’t worried about it.

She stared at the Char corpses before her, forcing their expending mana to her will. One of the bodies convulsed, shuddering loose a third bone minion. She turned her attention to the second.

“No!” Faith screamed with feral hunger as the corpse disintegrated before her eyes. The shimmer of Kali’s ward was distorted with a green afterglow as a Well of Blood grew from the corpse.
The remaining Char rushed as one into the three women. But before they could get there, a wall of bone stepped into their way. Char snarls met minion gurgles and the fight was on. Spiny bone arms struck steel blades in a crunching flail of blows. The minions swung with reckless abandon, never a thought to their own “lives” as they hammered the Char back; their actions echoed only Faith’s need to kill these creatures. Self preservation was not the part of the spirit they drew from her.

Faith focused inward again, sending a second flow into the three minions. They showed no sign of it, but Faith could feel their strength restored by her sacrifice of her blood. Chips of bone were replaced with new protrusions and one of the Char fell to Karim’s minion. It turned to the next Char which was quickly overwhelmed.

The last Char retreated, still staggering under Kasha’s Life Siphon. Another blood gurgle sounded and it jerked to see yet a fourth bone minion step from one of its companions.

The Char raised its sword high, willing a Signet of Healing to aide its already weakened body. It never even noticed the second swarm Faith drew down on its head.

Minus Sign · Mar 29, 2006, 04:45 PM // 16:45

Faith turned to glare at Kasha, the flowing waves of Soul Reaping making her eyes glaze despite her anger. “You stole my corpse,” she accused.

Kasha quirked one eyebrow up at the tone in Faith’s voice but otherwise ignored the slant. It only fuelled Faith’s rage.

Kali had lowered herself in the meantime to brace her hands on her knees, panting. The anti-melee ward shimmered and died. Maintaining it had taken much out of her. The sickly sweet healing coming from Faith helped restore her and the Elementalist/Warrior sighed deeply, standing upright again.

Neither necro had moved. Faith’s angry glare had turned into a murderous scowl and Kali feared what might come next. She’d heard that some Minion Masters grew dangerous to group with, preferring their “babies” to the living companions of a party and often happy to let their groups die for corpse fodder.

Faith had the look of a woman eyeing her next meal as she stared down Kasha.

Kasha must have sensed this as she said “You’ve still enough monk in you to know better than to say something like that Faith. We don’t know how this chant works. It may only dampen heals and spells directed against it. But I doubt that, and choose to err on the side that it weakens them all.

“We need to worry about our health as much as your minions, at least until we’re near enough to a working shrine that we can be resurrected if the worst should happen.”

“Don’t do it again,” Faith replied, threat thick in her voice. She turned from the elder necro, focused briefly on the last Char’s corpse and nodded at the satisfying shiver she saw. The minions burst forth faster after each cast. Summoning them was growing easy.

“When we get to Ashford Abbey,” Kasha snapped, her patience ended, “with a proper monk,” and Faith flinched as if struck, “I shouldn’t have to.”

Faith sighed slightly, still fuming. She looked at Kali, then back to Kasha. She never moved but the four minions she had summoned lurched and strode into the center of the well Kasha had made. Kali sighed, visibly relieved. She knew this was the closest the minion master would ever come to an apology. Kasha nodded, silently accepting it.

“Come on then,” faith said at last, “We’re wasting time here.”

Kali balked. “Faith,” she called, almost whining in her plea, “after all we’ve been through already—and now a fight with Char? We need to rest—I need to rest—before we continue on.”

“If you need rest, then rest Kali. Sit in the shade here and wait for another Char patrol to come and snap you up,” Faith turned east along the road to Ashford Abbey, waiting for neither of them. The minions twitched as one, then turned to follow. “Kasha and I have business elsewhere.”

“It’s not that far Kali,” Kasha gestured the Elementalist to follow, “we can rest there with some safety.”

Yeah, Kali thought, that is if the Char don’t decide to bomb it again.

“Come on.”

Every now and again the three could hear the low whistle of another crystal in flight. After each boom Faith mumbled softly to herself. Kali stepped closer to the young necro, eavesdropping.

Boom. “Fort Ranik.” Boom “Foibles Fair. Boom “Ascelon City—again.”

“Gods,” Kali intoned when she heard another missile strike behind them, back where the ruin of Barradin Estate was. “When will they stop?”

She had meant it to be a private thought, but Faith must have heard it, replying “Once we've killed them all. Of course.”

“Why aren’t they hitting Ashford anymore?”

“Because Duke Barradin was probably right,” Kasha said and Faith nodded. “If they have troops moving around us through the catacombs they wouldn’t want to hit their own spawn once they've emerged.”

“I think they did enough damage as it is,” Faith said and Kali turned to where she was looking.

They had seen the dust plumes long before, but the sight of Ashford Abbey and the surrounding town was fearful to behold. Like Barradin Estate, the attacks had been precise and thorough, right down to the pig farmer’s fence.

If it had stood yesterday, it was fallen now. Just outside the spike zone Servants of Dwayna rushed too and fro, carrying bandages and litters. Walking wounded strode into Faith’s path, oblivious as they bounced off her minions. One man noticed the group of undead and screamed running back into the ruined town.

“Maybe you should let the minions die Faith,” Kali suggested.

“We’ll have need of them soon,” was her reply. She grabbed an apprentice as he streaked past and the young man dropped the bundle of linens he was carrying “You. Where is Brother Mhenlo?”

Wha?’ the monk asked, flustered. He stared at Faith’s robes, then the minions visibly following. She felt him group with her, felt him touch her mana. If anything he grew more confused, feeling the death mana deep within at war with the tattered monk robes she wore. “What? The… He’s….”

Faith gripped him by both arms, shaking him. “Where—is—Brother—Mehn—lo?”

“The statue,” the monk managed at last, “The statue of Dwayna. He’s over there, by the…the catacombs. They came through and…he’s by the combs.”

“Thank you,” Faith said, trying to keep her voice soft. It came out hoarse and she staggered as she released him.

The monk grunted, stepping back away from her. He looked her up and down again, gawking at the minions behind her. Faith quirked an eyebrow slightly annoyed. The monk gulped, said “I have to…have to get the linens to the…to the tents. Excuse me.”

He turned and run away.

“Wait!” Kali lurched forward, bending to grab the bundle he had been carrying. “You forgot your…blankets,” she called but he was gone.

Faith moaned softly, staggering forward toward the abbey. Kali moved to support her, but saw kasha was in a similar state. “What’s wrong with you two?” the Elementalist asked.

“Soul Reaping,” was all Kasha said, walking as if in a trance.

“Here?” Kali asked, feeling suddenly ill again.

“Everywhere,” Faith replied as she started up the hill to Ashford Abbey.

Raxus · Mar 29, 2006, 08:24 PM // 20:24

Very Good. Keep up the pace.

Minus Sign · Mar 29, 2006, 08:55 PM // 20:55

If the Lakeside town outside Ashford Abbey was a bustle of chaos, the abbey itself was Grenth’s bedchamber. A small part of Faith, something suppressed by the billowing waves of mana sweeping through her Soul Reaping powers, wanted desperately to reach out to these people. To help them. The healing Area around her reached further, expanding past her minions and party, soothing slightly as she passed the carnage that was barely contained.

The necro mana wanted to help them too. Grenth was merciful to those in pain and the Soul Reaping power of her new core profession promised they were going to another place; to be reused.

And if it lied, she knew their mana would bring their vengeance. She would see to that.

“There he is,” Kasha said, strolling around the ruin of the small abbey toward a bald man in Wanderers Vestments similar to Faith’s. She’d need a change of clothes soon; she was drawing stares.

“Ho! Brother Mhenlo. I bring news from the battle and Duke Barradin,” Kasha called and the monk stood from the man he was tending, stretching tiredly.

“The battle is here good necromancer,” Mhenlo replied, turning to grip her forearm, “I suggest you go back and tell him that. We need more fighters than we have here now if they should try to strike us again. And the one’s we do have are in no shape for another battle.”

“What’s happened?”

“Your sister Munne came running out of the catacombs just seconds ahead of them. Char.” Mhenlo looked ready to fall over. He took a cleansing breath instead and continued. “They came up after the second spike; tore their way through the defense she and I rallied and made a line for the wounded. We managed to stop them and Munne led a group of twenty down into the catacombs to keep them at bay while we moved the triage area further away from the entrance.

“Where is she now?”

Mhenlo pointed with his chin to a row of moaning bodies on litters waiting transport back to lakeside’s tents. One of them, as pale as Faith and still clutching the remnants of a shattered necromancer staff was lifted from the group by a pair of warrior’s apprentice and run out through a hole in the shattered wrought iron fence.

“Will she live?” Kali asked.

“Aye,” Mhenlo nodded. “And many others thanks to her. We think it was just a probe but once the Char saw us all here, huddled and confused and wounded, there was no stopping them. She was…” Mhenlo stopped, taking in Faith now that she had made her way closer. She felt the monk’s probing spirit, the surprise and shock at what he found inside her now, “amazing,” he finished in a soft whisper.

“Brother Mhenlo,” Faith said with a soft voice. “It’s good to see you alive again.”

“Tis good to see you as well Sister,” Mhenlo checked himself. No more was Faith a monk and Servant of Dwayna. “It’s good to see you…alive Faith.

“I suppose there is an explanation for your,” and he stuttered again, “Your change?”

“Karim is dead,” she answered as if it were all the explanation anyone would ever need. Mhenlo took it so.

“Where is Denova?” Kali asked. “Why didn’t she help you?”

“Last I heard, Denova had been summoned back to Ascalon City by Prince Rurik,” Mhenlo answered with no touch of ire present. He looked the elementalist up and down. “Novice…Kali, right?” and Kali nodded. “She mentioned you once; said you had the heart of a warrior in you.”

Kali smiled slightly. That was high praise from Denova.

“but you managed to repel them,” Faith pressed, not interested in praise or happy memories at this moment.

“The first wave, yes,” Mhenlo replied. “But when Munne followed them back into the catacombs she was beset by several groups of Char. We think there may be hundreds down there, preparing to come up.”

“What are they waiting for?” Faith wondered.

“News from the front,” Mhenlo said with some certainty. “The entrance to the catacombs is already crumbling; I don’t foresee them trying to send another spike at us.

“Then we’ve no time to lose,” Faith said, turning to look around her. She grabbed a necro staff from one of the wounded lying on a nearby stretcher. Kali hesitated and scrounged a short sword.

“You don’t mean to go down there do you?” Mhenlo protested.

“Do you prefer that we wait for them to come to us?”

“I prefer to wait for the nukes I summoned. I sent word to Ascalon that we need to seal the catacombs. We should have some elementalists here soon. Enough to bring down that stonework and seal them on the other side.”

“That’s even if the king decides to send them,” Faith countered. “With Ascalon under attack too I wouldn’t expect much help from the king. He needs those nukes to keep the main force on the other side of the Wall. He can’t spare them.”

“She’s right Mhenlo,” Kasha replied. “You know how the king feels about Ascalon. The rest of the kingdom could fall into ruin, but as long as that city stands he will defend it with everything he has.”

“You shouldn’t speak so about the king,” Mhenlo scolded. No one replied. “But it has been a while since I sent those runners.

Kasha nodded. He was with them “Mhenlo, can you handle an eight man party?”

Mhenlo sighed, shaking his head. “These magicks they are using are strong, even down there. I wouldn’t trust myself with six; but I know I could keep four of us alive.”

“Then we need supplements,” Kasha continued. “Novice monks in two man groups—“

“We’ve only got apprentice monks here,” Menhlo stated, shutting Kasha down. “With this chant I wouldn’t trust half of them to heal themselves; forget about grouping.”

“Four is enough,” Faith stated matter-of-factly.

“Faith,” Menhlo began, “I know you’ve been through a lot today, but—“

“One if I have to,” Faith cut him off and Menhlo blanched.

“She’s right brother Menhlo,” Kali injected, “If it’s as bad down there as you say, we can’t afford to wait. And the apprentices will only get in the way.”

Mhenlo turned from the three woman, folding his arms across his chest. He did not look at them as he said. “Alright. We’ll go down and have a look. Give me a few minutes to get my apprentices in order; if the elementalists don’t get here in time, we’ll have to get the wounded somewhere safely away from Ashford Abbey.”

Faith nodded solemnly but the four minions flanking her gurgled her enthusiasm.

Minus Sign · Mar 30, 2006, 04:24 PM // 16:24

Kali took three steps into the catacombs, turned and vomited. Faith drew the smell in like a warm spring air, her Soul Reaping core reveling in the taste. It promised power, sustenance.

But it lied. Faith scanned the ground around them, noting the ashen husks of Char and men; the scattered bone fragments of dead minions. Munne may not have won, but she had been very busy down here.

“There must be over a hundred dead Char here alone,” Kasha noted. Faith smirked at the gurgling sound of a minion birth cry. Maybe her mana hadn’t lied after all.

Mhenlo nodded. “This is where they first broke through,” he pointed to a hastily made, and totally ruined barricade. “That’s where Munne made her last stand,” and he pointed to the bottom of the stairs where another huddle of exploited corpses and minions were amassed.

Faith sent out a flow of mana, searching for any Munne had missed. There were several.

“Gurgle,” and a minion came to the group from her right. “Gurgle,” and one rose from the pile of Munne’s last stand. “Gurgle,” and yet one more came trotting up the stairs from out of sight.

“Faith,” Mhenlo called, “can you control this many minions?”

“Control?” Faith pondered, summoning another still. “Yes. Maintain?” the minion reached the edge of her healing area and Faith sent a flow of mana inward. Blood from their Master rejuvenated some of the unlife her minions had lost as she summoned more…but not all of it. “No.”

Mhenlo stepped close to her, spreading a flow of his own mana atop hers. Sweet health flowed into her from the monk, and she could feel the lost health of her summons return.

“Thank you,” she said, nodding slightly and set about looting more Char.

“Come over with me while I attune that shrine,” Mhenlo pointed to a dead resurrection shrine in the corner of the landing where Munne had fought. “That should help too.”

“Ugh,” Kali groaned. Another corpse shivered free a bone minion. “Faith,” Kali called pleadingly, holding her stomach, “can you,” yet another squishy gurgle, “can you stop doing that? Just for a minute? It’s…it’s kinda gross.”

Faith looked back at the elementalist, considering.

“Gurgle,” came a call form the dark beyond the rez shrine and one more bone horror came to stand with its mistress.

“No,” Faith said, turning back toward the stairs and starting down.

Mhenlo dropped to his knees before the shrine, raising both hands above his head. Head tipped back, he began a murmuring prayer to Dwayna and a small ball of white light grew in the air before the shrine.

He rose, eyes glazed slightly from the communion. “How many do you have now Faith?”

“Fifteen,” Faith said with certainty, still scanning the chaos before them.

“Gurgle!”

“Sixteen.”

“Ugh,” Kali held her nose, shying away from the sheer wall of bone horrors that had come to stand before them. “And they smell too.”

“Come on then,” Kasha ordered, stepping into the lead. “Remember this place in case we get separated. Or if…” she stopped. No one needed reminding why else they might lose a group member.

They went down the stairs and turned right, past a group of stalactites massed across a giant chasm that the underground river had carved through the catacombs over the centuries.

Crossing the chasm was an ancient bridge and here they found more Char and most of Munne’s attack force. There was light coming from a large room beyond, flickering firelight from a bonfire at its center. They could hear grunts from beyond the bridge’s hump, sounds of several Char conversing, arguing…laughing. Faith’s snarl was a rictus of powerless rage.

“Quiet,” Mhenlo hissed, creeping slowly toward the peak of the domed bridge on hands and knees. He peeked his head over top, ducked down with a gasp, then peeked again.

He crawled back and came to stand before the three women. Faith didn’t look at him, intent instead on the aftermath on the bridge.

“Twenty,” Mhenlo said in a whisper and kali stifled a groan, “that I could see. I think I heard more but I’m not sure with the echoes of that room.” He sighed. “I wish we had Aidan here.”

“We should head back,” he continued and started to creep back the way they had came.

“Gurgle!” and a bone minion exploded from a corpse at the apex of the bridge. The sounds of Char silenced in the echoing birth cry of Faith’s minion.

“Faith!” Kali screamed. Snarled orders from Char officers answered her and they could hear a scrambling of bodies moving to intercept.

“We’re not going back,” Faith snapped and the minions rushed forward at her will.

“We’ve gotta run!” Kali screamed.

“We can’t now,” Mhenlo roared, his eyes turning white with a silent prayer. Faith felt an Aegis surround her.

Faith crossed the ridge of the bridge a second ahead of kasha, stopping to take in the sight before her.

Mhenlo had grossly underestimated the number of Char in the large room. Not twenty, but closer to forty snarling bodies pressed into the bottleneck of a door her minions had reached.

Kali, trembling with fear came to stand between the two necros, her own eyes white with the ward she was casting,

No, Faith amended to herself as she sent a flow of mana into the mass of Char bodies pressing her minion wall back, not a ward.

The ground at the Char’s feet trembled and shook, mana heated rock turned lava in an eruption that sent the Char screaming to the ground.

A deadly swarm raged down on the cluster of Char from above, ripping down into the lava of Kali’s spell. The explosion of mana from the chaos of those two spells sent Faith and Kasha reeling. But there was no time to revel in the power she felt; Faith focused on a nearby corpse, and from the Char body emerged another bone minion deep inside their own group. She looked to another body and set about her new task.

Building an army.

“I’m about to be very busy Mhenlo,” Faith screamed, minions gurgling to replace those the Char felled.

“I know,” he screamed back, stepping close to the bone wall of Faith’s horde. His Aegis died around her and faith could feel the wealth of healing that sprang from the monk. Massive wracks of healing light shone from his white eyes as he kept the horde alive while she helped it grow.

More Char fell and Kasha’s mana struck out, bodies exploding in a poisonous cloud deep within the Char’s ranks. Faith scowled as Kasha said “you can’t have all the fun.”
But Faith didn’t complain. The explosion had given her more corpses to exploit, and Faith set to it with a will.

Char counter orders could be heard above the battle now and the Char fell back into the wide open room. Now longer a packed mass for Kasha and Kali’s spells, it came to Faith’s minions to chase them down. One stubborn group of Char rallied by their bonfire and Faith left them mostly alone. Concentrating instead on the smaller groups that tried to flee.

She took no prisoners. There were no wounded. Each dead Char added to the army she summoned, each turned back found a bone skewer waiting to strike. Those the minions missed fell to Kali’s stone daggers and Kasha’s life draining magic. Mhenlo called to Faith, but she could not hear over the roar of Soul Reaping and the pandemonium of her battle rage. He dropped to one knee, the strain of focusing on so many separate clusters of minions too much even for him and minions began to fall again.

But not as many as they killed. For each Char there was now four bone horrors, and the Char could not win. There was no group left save the one at the bonfire now, and Faith’s horde fell to it with a will of its own. The Char fought back, but the minions ignored damage. Pain was not a part of their unlife, and they did not fear the striking blows that wracked them.

The Char had no weapon against this foe. It was like trying to fight a beehive with a sword. Or a deadly swarm with much larger bugs!

“Wait!” Mhenlo roared and Faith called the minions to halt. Of the bonfire Char—the only stubborn group—one giant dog faced monster remained. “We need him,” Mhenlo said, Faith c0cking her head to one side at the odd statement.

The Char looked back, perplexed by the sudden halt. It tipped its head back, a mocking roar at the minions that surrounded it. Faith’s eye squinted in anger and she singled out one of her horde. Karim’s minion swung in, bone skewer slamming into furred flesh and the roar silenced.

“Shut up,” Faith snapped, a birth cry gurgling from the giant Char before he’d even fallen to the ground.

“Faith!” Mhenlo and Kasha screamed as one. “That was an officer,” Kasha rebuked. “We needed him to tell us what the Char are planning,” said Mhenlo.

“We know what the Char are planning,” Faith replied. “They want the catacombs open for their army. They intend to storm through here, through Ashford, and tear all of Ascalon asunder from the inside out.

“This group proves it. And we have to stop them.”

Faith turned from the two enders to inspect her horde. “If we can,” she finished. Karim’s minion shuffled through the horde at her call, coming to stand before her.

“Faith,” Mhenlo pleaded, looking at the army she had made. “I don’t think I can keep this many minions alive.”

She didn’t look at him. Instead Faith focused her mana inward, sending out a shock of her own life into the horde she had created. The power it took to maintain them rocked her and she called out to Karim’s minion. The bone horror stepped forward, a silent crutch as she recovered from the unnatural healing.

“Then just keep me alive,” she pleaded. Just for a little longer.

Raxus · Mar 30, 2006, 05:53 PM // 17:53

More, we want more Minions! This is a great fic. You've got a helluva story going on here. Keep the pace friend.

Minus Sign · Mar 30, 2006, 08:08 PM // 20:08

Kali began picking bits of Char off her sword.

“Aren’t you going to rebuke me?” Faith asked despite herself. “A novice; quarreling with her elders and endangering us all?”

Kasha shook her head. “No novice can control this many minions Faith. Four or five maybe but,” she swept her gaze across Faith’s horde, “I’ve never heard of a Minion Master holding more than twenty alive. And that is rare.”

“Which way now?” was all Faith said.

Kasha turned, inspecting the room they were in. Two paths split from one of the walls, one man made, the other by nature. “That ways a dead end,” she said, pointing to the man made path. “I remember from when Munne and I used to play here as children.”

“Then we take the other,” Faith replied and the minion horde turned to follow.

Down into the deepest parts they walked, the minion horde a shield before them. When they reached a crossroads, Kasha would point the way. In no time they had left the works of man behind and strode into wide tunnels formed by the underwater streams that burst to flooding in early spring. It was eerie; quiet. The only sounds were the sounds of their own footsteps and occasional minion gurgles echoing the halls.

“How can we be sure we’re going the right way?” kali asked as asha pointed them down another narrow tunnel. “We started south a while back and I’m sure we stayed that course for longer than we’ve headed north. What would the Cahr be doing this far back if they intend to strike the Abbey?”

“No Devourers. No spiders. No creatures of any kind; not even the restless dead stir in these halls,” Kasha turned back as she said to Kali “The Char spare nothing; this is the right way.”

“Wait.” Mhenlo called, turning toward a small light as they passed another crossroads. “What is that?”

“A rez shire?” Kasha asked, perplexed herself.

Mhenlo shook his head. “Wrong color. And too bright. Quiet now everyone; we don’t know what’s around that bend.”

They crept as quietly as four humans and close to forty minions could, turning around a large boulder and into—

“Daylight,” Mhenlo said, his tone more ominous than ever.

“It’s a cave mouth,” Kasha marveled stepping out into a warm summer day. “This wasn’t here when Munne and I shared the combs. It’s new.”

“Char tracks,” Mhenlo said, pointing to the ground. “Old and new.”

“This is Wizzard’s Folly,” Kali stated, shaking her head. “We must be near Foible’s Fair.”

“And Fort Ranik,” Faith agreed.

“Kali,” Mhenlo turned to the Elementalist of the group. “I didn’t ask this in Ashford, but I have to ask now.

“Can you perform an earthquake?”

“I…I don’t know. That type of skill requires mastery in earth. Even if I managed to start one, I couldn’t control it. Why would you want to? What about the elder Elementalists coming to Ashford?

“Even if we did manage to seal the Ashford opening,” Mhenlo explained, “the Char can still get through from here. They’ve planning this for years.”

“And I don’t think it would matter if we closed this hole,” Faith added. “There may be others we haven’t found.”

Kali’s eyes opened in sudden understanding. “You mean to start an earthquake in the catacombs?” she balked. “But…there’s no way I could control it in there!”

“We’re not talking about control,” Mhenlo explained. “There’s one tunnel the Char have dug that leads from the wall into Ascalon. We have to find it and plug it.”

“How can you be sure there’s only one?” Kasha asked.

“Because if there’s more than one then we’re already dead.”

“But I can’t control it, even if it works!” Kali pleaded. “We’ll die!”

Mhenlo looked at her. Looked through her as he said “Our four lives today for a chance of Ascalon tomorrow. I call that more than a bargain.”

He turned back to the catacombs, back toward the mouth of hell. “You can run, and hope to hide. But they will find you. There’s no chance another group will make it this far; no hope if we give up now.

“Make your choice, but I’m going.”

Kasha nodded slowly “To the End of us All.”

“What are we standing around here for?” Faith sniped, turning her minions back toward the catacombs.

Kali remained silent, shivering in the warm summer air. The three turned back to her, neither accusation nor expectation on their faces. They’d made their choices. Her choice was hers.

Kali sighed, even her breath coming out in a trembling quake. “I can’t,” she said at last, defeat soft in her voice. “I can’t…hope…that you three can do this alone.”

Kali drew her short sword one last time. “Lead the way. And keep that army of yours downwind Faith.”

Faith smiled and followed her friend back into the catacombs.

Raxus · Mar 30, 2006, 08:18 PM // 20:18

Write on my young friend, write on. It's the only thing keeping me going during the long hours of paper work.

Although I can't stand the whinning and crying Kali is doing, I understand you have to have some part in the story that is not all RARR (lack of better word).

Minus Sign · Mar 30, 2006, 09:53 PM // 21:53

As they re-entered the catacombs, Kasha turned them north and west, further away from Ashford. Across an underwater lake, they stopped that she could get her bearings.

“Do we continue northwest?” Mhenlo asked, blowing softly on Faith as he did. The healing Breeze was well received and she poured more mana into the Blood is master Spell to keep her minions alive. One minion in particular felt her touch more than all. Karim’s minion stood at her side, a personal bodyguard singled out from the horde.

“I think so,” Kasha replied. That’s probably where they breached the catacombs; up closer to Barradin than down here. They’d not have wanted to spend too much of their time digging.”

“That’s several hours walking ahead of us,” kali considered. The other three turned to her, questioning. She noticed, shaking her head. “I’m here and I’m not going to become a grouch over it. I’m just pointing out that we’ve a long road and I’m worried the damage the Char could do if we don’t get to that bottleneck before their army does.”

“Wait,” Faith said as kasha stood and they turned to leave. “Gargoyle’s.”

“Where?” Kasha asked, turning around. Gargoyle’s were rare in this part of the catacombs.

“Near Barradin’s Estate and the Green Hill’s exit,” Faith answered. “There’s been a recurring effort to clean the catacombs of them in the past, and even more people coming in from there with the bounty placed on their heads.”

“What’s your point Faith?” Mhenlo pressed.

“The Char were patient enough to sneak all the way this far south to make an exit into Wizard’s Folly. They wouldn’t want people knowing they were in the catacombs until they were ready, so they wouldn’t have placed the exit to their tunnel where other humans and gargoyle hunters might stumble across it.”

Mhenlo made to protest but Kasha stopped him. “No. She’s right. There are people coming in here from the Green hill’s exit all the time. It’s not good strategy for the Char to tip their hands out of sheer laziness.”

“Then their tunnel would be…” Mhenlo asked, one hand waving in the air.

“Closer to here,” Faith replied. “And hidden from prying eyes. No one comes down here; even Kasha didn’t know about this exit and I bet Munne would say the same. It’s too far south for anyone to worry about; even Char wouldn’t be so cold thinking to dig a tunnel through half of Ascalon to get to us.”

“Alright,” Mhenlo nodded at last, “I’m sold. Spread out from here and search the walls. Look for rocks that don’t look natural; vegetation that shouldn’t be down here. Anything that looks a little off and is big enough to hide a tunnel.”

They spread out. Fatih sent her minions along the wall closest to her, probing with bone skewers across its every inch. It was a long time before kali sprinted back down the northwest tunnel she and Mhenlo had gone down, hissing a gusty “We’ve found it!” before she ran off back the way she came.

Faith called Kasha and the two followed. They found Mhenlo squatting next to a strange bundle of vines and treelimbs. As they approached he lifted the cover, exposing a tunnel large enough for three men to walk side to side.

“Alright,” Faith nodded. “Lets go.”

“Minions to the rear this time,” Mhenlo ordered and Faith blanched. “They make too much noise.”

Faith nodded, waiting for the other three to enter first.

The tunnel sloped downward for a long stretch, evening out into yet an even wider tunnel. Stiff wooden beams had been erected on each side and heavy bracers prevented cave-ins. It looked old, as ancient as much of the catacombs in some places.

Mhenlo had been wrong. The Char hadn’t been planning this for a few years. A tunnel like this would take centuries to build, since the Great Wall was first erected.

All four jerked like rabbits when they heard the first Char bark. Another echoed it as they crept slowly upward along the slope of the tunnel. The tunnel opened into a wide expanse; a cylinder leading high into blackness. Several waterfalls wreathed the cylinders sides and in the center could be seen a large group of Char laying down boxes of food supplies, weapons, everything an army would need.

The steep slope of the tunnel obscured them from view as the four crept up on their stomachs to survey what lay before them.

“Where are we Kasha, do you think?” Kali whispered.

“We’re right under the old sewer runoff. See those falls leading into the stream on the other side: Look how they’re spaced. Those are the gargoyle statues old king Humphrey had placed in aught three to keep the catacombs from flooding.

“I see rope ladders too,” Mhenlo said, pointing to a hidden hemp rope ladder behind the nearest waterfall.

“And another tunnel,” Kali pointed to their northeast. “Looks like it leads—“

“Straight to Ascalon City,” Faith grinned grimly.

“And that means you,” Mhenlo pointed again to third tunnel on the western side, Char moving through at a slow trickle, “lead across the Wall.”

“It’s all the way on the other side,” Kasha noted. “There must be hundreds of them between us and it. And no place to hide either.”

“Alright Kali,” Mhenlo said, turning to the elementalist, “bring it down.”

Kali shook her head. “I’m sorry Mhenlo,” she replied, “if this place had a ceiling I could see,” she pointed up toward the black expanse overhead, “I might be able to do it. But I know can’t from here. I could end up only bringing our own tunnel down, and then we wouldn’t have done any good.”

“Then we fight our way over there,” Faith replied.

“Faith!” Mhenlo rebuked. “I don’t mind dying for this, but I’m not about to waste my life! That many Char would overwhelm us before we made it three paces in.

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Yes,” he countered, “we make our way back up to the gargoyles and use their rope ladders to come down on that side.”

“I can’t,” Faith hissed.

“Why not,” Mhenlo hissed back.

“Because my minions are dying,” she almost snapped and Kasha shushed her softly.