Still resting in her chair sun bathing in the desert Kammella flinches in reaction to what she sees happen to Devlin through her farsight.
"Hmmm, He was a twisted little troll but he should have done better than that. Perhaps these heroes are just too strong...perhaps strong enough to make good allies instead of enemies." She says aloud.
She considers for a long moment.
"It's a risk, but perhaps it is time to tell them the truth."
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Ignoring for the moment the new interruption, the woman turns back to Alyssa "I am Knight Captain Reyla, of the Scarlet Fox mercenary company, and yes, we can most definitely help the people of the city, though we are not beholden to whomever is in charge around here."
Alyssa hesitates for a moment, considering. "Well," she begins, "seeing as a little help is better than no help, what can you do to get an effective evacuation going? If you guys start, that'll help get a jumpstart on things before I can find whoever's in charge here."
She eyes the lady. "I don't mean to order you around, but this is important. People are dying, here."
Saren is momentarily distracted by the battle in the sky.
"Hmmm, that guy looked kinda familiar." He says, scratching his chin.
"Oh well."
"Hey!" barks Zaidel. "Eyes on the fight were in right now, please! We're surrounded by undead devourer-er things!"
Looks worried at Alyssa words but says nothing instead taking in what is happening around her in this strange place.
"Hey!" barks Zaidel. "Eyes on the fight were in right now, please! We're surrounded by undead devourer-er things!"
"Right!" Saren says, hopping into a fighting stance and returning his attention to the Devourers.
Leaping forward and slamming his coupled hands down on the head of the nearest Devourer like a hammer, Saren forgoes his previous fear and strikes hard.
Its head deforms as it skulls breaks but the Undead is undaunted, grasping at Saren. It catches him by a leg, pulling him out of the air with it's giant paw.
In moments the Devourers dog pile him, intent on his glowing soul.
Saren disappears under the claws of the Devourers surrounding him but his voice calls out clearly in a distressed 'urking' noise.
"BACK OFF, F#<KERS!!" shouts Zaidel, as he wades into battle to get to the blonde lad.
Zaidel strikes the Devourer with the deformed skull in the back, tearing clean through it in double lines of glowing holy energy.
It seems to lose the force animating it to the holy power and crumbles to ash.
A pair of the Undead turn their heads from Saren to stare at Zaidel with hungry, soulless eyes.
The Vulture King manifests a divine javelin and throws it at one of the devourers.
Right after the former prince bites the dust, the trio of mages teleport back onto the battlefield.
One of them targets Kei with a powerful domination spell.
Another draws on potent necromantic energies and blasts Zaidel.
The last wizard currently holds his position, waiting to see how things go.
The Vulture King's javelin pierces one of the Devourers and sends it's body tumbling across the courtyard as it disintegrates to ash.
Kammella appears in a flash of teleportation above the Castle and it's courtyard. She utters something under her breath; a word? A phrase?
There is a crack like thunder and everything freezes in time except for Kammella and the heroes.
Saren lies under the surrounding bodies of towering Undead, struggling to free himself from their grasping claws in a static tableau. The look on his face is frozen somewhere between pain and annoyance.
The pair of Undead glaring at Zaidel remain in place, while Zaidel finds himself free to move as normal.
Kei sees that out into the city the Undead and citizens alike stand stock still, even open flames are perfectly stopped in brilliant, organic plums of red and orange.
"I have stopped time, so that we may speak." Kammella states, as her throne descends into the courtyard, and somehow even those within the keep can hear her voice.
"If you would grant me a moment of your...time, I would appreciate it."
The Vulture King summons up another spear of divine might and readies it before saying in a stern voice, "Who are you? Why have you come now, and not before? Do you serve the undead that attacked this city? Speak swiftly, so judgement may be cast."
Bewildered by the unbelievable perception of a timestop, Zaidel slowly makes his way toward the voice addressing them all at first, then travels quickly toward the probable cause of this unique phenomenon.
"I have nothing to do with this invasion, though the gunslinger and the old bastard with the shield you heroes killed were mine." The chubby blond woman answers, resting her chin on one fist.
"My name is Kammella, and I have met you before, though at the time I was indisposed, trapped within the demon Kamii. I come to you now because it seems the best way to handle the situation, I know things you need to know and I've decided telling you might be worth the risk."
Her golden throne settles about a foot off the ground as she converses.
As Ashley and Joseph exit the bar they notice the city has been devastated and Undead chase around innocent civilians.
"Eh, what did we miss?" Ashley slurs as she looks around, puzzled.
Before Joseph can answer there is a crack like thunder and Ashley and everything around the couple freezes, with the exception of Joseph.
A voice seems to emanate down the road from the towering main citadel and Jospeh can see a certain Vulture god circling in the air above it.
Something weird is going on here...and also over there.
"Looks like hell's froze ov-" Joseph manages in his sober, if disappointed tone before the time stop. Quickly taking in his surroundings, he snatches Ashley up and takes off towards The familiar circling vulture. "Can't even have a drink in this place!"
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Alyssa looks at Knight Captain Reyla as she suddenly freezes, mouth opening, as if to respond. She turns around again, and is glad to note Quillion is still moving, though that unfortunately does confirm her suspicions of who and what the futuristic girl represents.
She walks over to the guards, and pokes one. "Yep, she's not moving," she aloud.
::"Come, Quillion,":: she speaks to her new friend. ::"I unfortunately have a feeling this disruption of the time stream is caused by my allies. Which means I, as usual, need to be present."::
She takes off running, back out the way they came. ::"We'll have to figure out if we can use this disruption to move the citizens to safety, Quillion,":: she adds as they run. ::"It certainly seems rife with opportunities."::
The Vulture King raises his hand and the spear dissipates, the energy absorbed back into his form. He nods at her,"Then tell us. Truth is always more forgivable than deception. Besides, Kamii has seen fit to declare us enemies, so I suppose we have some common foe."
As time freezes for everyone but him and his companions, Liriiestil shifts back into his elven form. He isn't sure what stopped time, but then he heard a voice asking to speak with them.
He arches an eyebrow at Vulture King's statement "Easy on the judgemental stuff, yea? No need to hurl spears of energy at every person who shows their face. Let's hear the young lady out. If she's truly our enemy, *then* we can annihilate her."
Lucas turns back towards the newcomer, "If those two were yours, and they seemed to be working alongside these... creatures... Well, some of my friends here are not nearly as paranoid as I am. You didn't open with an attack, so I've returned the favor, but why should we trust you?"
Kei will say "Okay, miss, but I'm not giving you the key. Not without a much better reason than Kamuii had."
::"Come, Quillion,"::
Runs after the her new friend looking around.
::"If I can help in any way I will Alyssa, if you picture in your mind where you wish to go I can take us there"::
She sends
Kammella chuckles at the group's responses.
"I have no need for your trust, as I currently don't trust you either, and I want nothing from you, at least at this stage. We'll see what happens, perhaps we end up as allies, perhaps we go our own ways, perhaps I attempt to murder you for the sake of all. For the moment though, listen to what I have to say..."
Kammella shifts in her seat to get more comfortable and begins her tale;
"What we have here is an unfortunate crossing of grand powers, with you firmly caught in the middle. Merlin, that meddling old mage, has dragged you into his long standing battle with that age old evil known as the Wicked Man, as he has used his True Dweomers to bind a new seal limiting his foes power greatly with an ancient god forged seal that keeps the now omnipotent soul of the ancient Seer of the Apogee Society asleep. I'm not sure exactly why he dragged you guys into it, except that your souls seem to be originally from another existence, so that you are much more resistant to the Wicked Man's powers than any native of this omniverse and a good place in which to plant the Seal deep inside."
She ponders for a moment how to continue and explain the disparate situations that have been woven together to create the current circumstances. She shrugs after a bit.
"What would you like to hear about first; The Wicked Man, The Seer of the Apogee Society, or Merlin and his Seal malarkey?"
"I recall the Wicked Man, from my before time. The Seer, and Merlin at least this version, are new to me." Lirrestil replies. "I'm confused however. Is the Wicked Man the Seer? It sounds like Merlin would have bound him, but you said it's the Seer that he bound instead, unless they are one and the same"
"I recall the Wicked Man, from my before time. The Seer, and Merlin at least this version, are new to me." Lirrestil replies. "I'm confused however. Is the Wicked Man the Seer? It sounds like Merlin would have bound him, but you said it's the Seer that he bound instead, unless they are one and the same"
"To clarify; The Seal on the Seer is an ancient one, forged by the Dark Gods of old, Merlin created a new Seal limiting the Wicked Man's power and interwove it with the Seer's Seal, so that if one breaks then so does the other. I can't know his reasons for sure but should the Seer's Seal break and the Seer awaken, she will rewrite the entire omniverse into a blissful heaven of pleasure and harmony so pure and perfect that it can only be described as a universal happy ending. Of course, the Wicked Man and many of the Gods, though they would benefit from this as much as anyone, would far rather cling to power than release control, even if doing so would mean an eternity of immortality and happiness without the burdens of darkness."
Kammella takes a small candy from a depression in her throne's arm and unwraps it.
"By interweaving the Seals, Merlin has placed the Wicked Man in a catch twenty two, if he destroys them he can regain his power, but he will also trigger an Apocalypse that will wipe him away, at least in his current form, and change the omniverse into a place far more pleasant and equal than he desires."
"The Seal, for it is one in its double nature now, is bound to each of your life forces in such a way that if you perish your portion of the Seal will crack. If they all break the Seal will shatter. I was planning on killing you all for the sake of the world, especially considering that the Wicked Man will be out to capture you and try to tease his powers back, while undoubtedly torturing you and finding a way to ensure the Seer's Seal will never break, but I'm am no longer confident of my victory, and if I failed the likely outcome would be that you all would be simply weakened before the Wicked Man's inevitable onslaught."
Kammella popped the candy in her mouth.
"Questions so far?"
Zaidel shrugs, "Death is inevitable, right?" Scratching his head, the god-blooded continues "Most of us are mortal, right? Even if we live quiet lives of solitude, most of us have..what..60-70 more years until we die of natural causes. The Seal will break. It just depends of when."
"Speaking for myself, my old life on Earth sucked compared to my first day in this new life, despite the near-constant dying I kind of what to live it for as long as I can", shrugged Zaidel.
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::"If I can help in any way I will Alyssa, if you picture in your mind where you wish to go I can take us there"::
ALyssa takes Quillion's suggestion, and sends her an image of the courtyard where she just came from.
::"Does this image give you enough to work off of?":: she queries.
::"Quillion, you are cool. I like you.":: she sends.
She listens to Kammella speak, and grows more despondent by the moment. However, her hint of skepticism remains, and she questions the lady.
"You have told us you are once part of Kamii? Well, why should we trust you? Why should we trust any of this? He has told us he intends to kill us. That doesn't bode well for you."
Lucas follows along Kammella's explanation quietly, trying to think about the ramifications of this new information, but eventually just starts speaking out loud, half to himself and half to Kammella and the group, "So 'The Wicked Man' does not want to kill us, and indeed he will likely want to keep as many of us alive as long as possible so long as we are not a threat to his position of power in this reality. In the Grand Scheme of things, the single most Good-with-a-capital-G thing that we can do is to die and set the Seer free. Which would not ordinarily be a problem since, as one of my companions points out, most of us will dies at some point down the line anyway, it's just a matter of time. But that does present us with a problem here. As far as we know, he cannot die." Lucas points at Joseph as he arrives back onto the scene.
"So if we're assuming that the Wicked Man is the ultimate villain in this reality, and he's going to be kept in power as long as one of us is alive, then I would think that it would be in our best interest to find a way to kill him. Am I wrong in my understanding of the situation?"
Zaidel shrugs, "Death is inevitable, right?" Scratching his head, the god-blooded continues "Most of us are mortal, right? Even if we live quiet lives of solitude, most of us have..what..60-70 more years until we die of natural causes. The Seal will break. It just depends on when."
"Normally I'd agree, but if the Wicked Man gets his hands on you, you may discover he has ways of making you live forever, and you will wish for death more than you've ever wished for anything." Kammella states.
Joseph huffs under his breath as the subject of his death is brought about. He inches back towards the door he had just entered through, eyes darting from Lucas to the faces of the others in the group, trying to gauge their reactions. "Hold on now. How do we even know that this lady is on the up and up? For all we know she could be the wicked bastard. Besides, even if I could die I wouldn't want too, not just yet."
She listens to Kammella speak, and grows more despondent by the moment. However, her hint of skepticism remains, and she questions the lady.
"You have told us you are once part of Kamii? Well, why should we trust you? Why should we trust any of this? He has told us he intends to kill us. That doesn't bode well for you."
"He was more my jailer than a part of me, but ultimately I don't control what you believe and I am not trying to. You will make the decision you make and we will see how things play out." Kammella informs, rolling her candy about in her mouth.
"Besides, even if I could die I wouldn't want too, not just yet."
"Agreed. Which is actually why I used that as my main point to turn the focus on killing the other guy instead. I see three options. First, we all off ourselves in the hopes that this lady is telling the truth. Second, we walk away and let the dude keep what power he currently has and try not to get captured and tortured for eternity while he tries to get his power back without breaking the seal. Third, we take the fight to him and make our part as 'seals' moot anyway so far as he is concerned."
Lucas pauses here and pulls out a loose round of ammunition and starts twirling it through his fingers. "I'm all for option three. I won't stop any of you if you want to go through with option one, but don't expect me to join you. But all of that being said, you have stated that murdering us would be in the best interest of the omniverse, but you're also not willing to back that up with anything aside from your word. For all we know, it could be the exact opposite, and you're trying to convince us in some roundabout way to off ourselves in order to gain 'unlimited power' or some other bullshit.
"So before we go aligning ourselves with you or against you or just washing our hands of the whole situation, we're going to need irrefutable proof that what you say is the truth. Otherwise, we'll just have to go our own way and ensure that, when the time comes, we can defeat not only the other dude, but you as well if it becomes necessary."
Lucas follows along Kammella's explanation quietly, trying to think about the ramifications of this new information, but eventually just starts speaking out loud, half to himself and half to Kammella and the group, "So 'The Wicked Man' does not want to kill us, and indeed he will likely want to keep as many of us alive as long as possible so long as we are not a threat to his position of power in this reality. In the Grand Scheme of things, the single most Good-with-a-capital-G thing that we can do is to die and set the Seer free. Which would not ordinarily be a problem since, as one of my companions points out, most of us will dies at some point down the line anyway, it's just a matter of time. But that does present us with a problem here. As far as we know, he cannot die." Lucas points at Joseph as he arrives back onto the scene.
"So if we're assuming that the Wicked Man is the ultimate villain in this reality, and he's going to be kept in power as long as one of us is alive, then I would think that it would be in our best interest to find a way to kill him. Am I wrong in my understanding of the situation?"
"There are ways of unbinding the Seal without killing an individual, but they are costly, in limited cases though I'm willing to do it. Aside from that you are understanding things correctly, I'm hoping you have the strength to destroy him." She replies.
The Vulture King nods as Kamella is speaking before saying, ”So who exactly is this Wicked Man? If we are indeed to fight him then I should want to know what we are dealing with.”
"So before we go aligning ourselves with you or against you or just washing our hands of the whole situation, we're going to need irrefutable proof that what you say is the truth. Otherwise, we'll just have to go our own way and ensure that, when the time comes, we can defeat not only the other dude, but you as well if it becomes necessary."
"Very well, then tell me, what proof would you consider irrefutable? I'll provide it if I can." Kammella inquires.
"Playing Devil's Advocate for the moment, it sounds as if releasing the Seer, while wonderful and amazing, also apparently might rob people of their free will. If everything becomes good and pure and blissful, that usually means nobody has the ability to not be those things. I'm all for goodness and harmony, but not if that means people can't live their lives however they desire. After all, without darkness, there can be no light."
::"Does this image give you enough to work off of?":: she queries.
Qillion takes Alyssa arm and the world shifts, they where running down a hall now they are running across the court yard.
::"Quillion, you are cool. I like you.":: she sends.
::"Really your race must have hotter blood temperat..."::
Then she gets the meaning behind the words,
::"O! I see, really? cool"::
But she stops as Kammella speaks, she can feel the despondent grow in Alyssa as she talked to the odd woman on the thrown. The power level seeping from the woman was extreme. As the others Ask questions she lessons and takes note of all of them.
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The Vulture King nods as Kamella is speaking before saying, ”So who exactly is this Wicked Man? If we are indeed to fight him then I should want to know what we are dealing with.”
"Even I don't know his origins, incalculably ancient as he is but many cultures know of him in various ways, by numerous names and stories; The First Evil, The Father of Rovagug, The Source. Even on Earth he was known in some Ages; he murdered the Wizard Kings of Atlantis, tempted the Man-God for forty days and forty nights in the desert, and shot the Good Man in Memphis, framing a fool for the murder."
Kammella shrugs.
"Who, or what, he really is I don't know, nor do I know what motivates him but judging by his works he is both extremely strong and extremely rotten."
She then talks and asks one question
"Who where the Dark Gods of old?"
Projects into your mind.
::"Please do not fear I am the one who just asked the question about the dark gods of old. I did so, so you would know who I am. I can help you in seeking truth from this being. I can enter her mind and see of what she says is true. I know we have not meet before but I think it is key I find out what is going on here. Would you like me to ask to enter her mind"::
The Vulture King nods as Kamella is speaking before saying, ”So who exactly is this Wicked Man? If we are indeed to fight him then I should want to know what we are dealing with.”"Even I don't know his origins, incalculably ancient as he is but many cultures know of him in various ways, by numerous names and stories; The First Evil, The Father of Rovagug, The Source. Even on Earth he was known in some Ages; he murdered the Wizard Kings of Atlantis, tempted the Man-God for forty days and forty nights in the desert, and shot the Good Man in Memphis, framing a fool for the murder."
"Oh." Zaidel said nonplussed. "Well..that kinds puts things in perspective". The big warrior's glaze begins to drift off into realms of mindf#<kery.
"Playing Devil's Advocate for the moment, it sounds as if releasing the Seer, while wonderful and amazing, also apparently might rob people of their free will. If everything becomes good and pure and blissful, that usually means nobody has the ability to not be those things. I'm all for goodness and harmony, but not if that means people can't live their lives however they desire. After all, without darkness, there can be no light."
"Free Will is no more bound to cycles of Good and Evil than the sky is bound to the ground, you categorize them based on their seeming inseparable differences, but they can absolutely exist in independent states with a full range of independent choices. In the world to come Free Will is the same, it is just extremely difficult for us bound to the Wheel of Becoming to imagine such a state of free, endless good. Almost literally inconceivable in it's true state to us." Kammella replies.
"If there is 'free, endless good', then there is no room for evil. If there is room for evil, then how is it any different from what we have now? What changes? "
hears the womans words and starts to pick out ones that have a feel.
"Old gods, Wheel of Becoming"
Heightened Awareness 200mins
Kn(History)
Kn(Religion)