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The city of Townsville.... no wait... hold on. The city of Kenabres. Travellers come from all around Mendev to partake in the festival of Armasse each year. Plenty of games and wonders to behold in this city on the edge of the corrupted lands.
Each of you has picked out a lovely seat in the stadium and are awaiting an announcement from Lord Hulrun, to kick off this celebration.
While Armasse officially began at noon, those in attendance were hushed, waiting for the proclaimation and blessing of the festival by Lord Hulrun himself, ruler of Kenabres. The crowd gathered in Clydwell Plaza eagerly watched as the aged inquisitor took the stage, clad in shining, resplendent armor. He cleared his throat, but just as he was about to speak, a bright light shone from the west, as if the sun were rising from the wrong direction. Hulrun’s shadow fell huge and distorted across the cathedral’s facade. Seconds later, the sound of a thunderous explosion ripped through the air and earth, along with a violent tremor. To the west, the fortress known as the Kite—the location of Kenabres’s wardstone—had vanished. In its place, a brilliant plume of red fire, lightning, and smoke erupted into the heavens.
A moment later, a powerful roar accompanied a welcome sight rising from the crowd—Kenabres’s greatest guardian, the ancient silver dragon Terendelev, who had until that moment been attending the opening ceremony disguised as a human. Above, another form appeared, as nightmarish as the dragon was breathtaking. A humanoid shape three times the size of any man, with skin coated in fire and lightning, gripped a flaming sword and whip. The creature’s identity was immediately obvious: Khorramzadeh, the Storm King of the Worldwound, had come to Kenabres!
Men and women from the crowd grabbed up their weapons and readied to fight, all while the ground continued to shake and disgorge demons into the streets, the dragon and the balor lord clashed above. The fight was over in a few harrowing moments, as the balor cut deep into Terendelev’s body, swooping down to strike the dragon and arresting her charge. A few more blows, and the titanic duo spiraled downward toward the crowd.
The sight of the dragon smashing into the facade of the Cathedral of St. Clydwell is one no witness would ever forget. At that moment, a titanic demon erupted at the far end of the plaza, reducing several buildings to ruins as it smashed into this world. The rift it created shot across the plaza, and there was no time to escape—it opened below your feet, angling away into darkness.
Even as you fell, the dragon noticed your plight. Though she saw death standing over her, she seized this final chance to save a few more souls. After she uttered a few arcane words and stretched out a bleeding talon, you felt her magic take hold of you, slowing your plummet into the darkness as if you were feathers falling into a pit. Yet the fall remained as inexorable, and as you drifted downward into the depths, the last thing you saw was the Storm King standing before the ancient silver dragon, his sword lashing out and cleaving full through her neck. As her severed head fell, the rift above you slammed shut, and the light of the world above was gone.
Drifting down, you each land on solid ground in the darkness. Rocks and dirt pelt down on you all, causing cuts and scrapes, and then all is still. The sounds of the battle above can still be heard, but it is muted and distant. And so begins Armasse.
Hey a little help bruddha, its kinda dark in here eh? as Darius says this a halo will appear above his head illuminating as the spell light. whew that was a doozy of a fall eh? Man you said comin to dis festival would be good thinkin but did you know dat was gonna happen? Darius will look around to check on others and check surroundings.
Salvatore will stand up and immediately check to see if his spellbook is still on his side, with a sigh of relief he will start to dust himself off. Then with a flick of his write 4 spheres of light appear above his head. Hello is anyone there?
oh hey der bruddha, you okay?
Yes, I am fine but I am not sure how. I can not believe this is happening, Terendelev is dead...What in the hells are we going to do now?!?
dat is a good question. Demon scourge during the festival is bold even for dem. First let's check on da oddahs
Cannetaken gets up and brushes himself off. He looks around on the dusty floor for his hat, and you notice he has more feathers than hair on top of his head. Picking up his hat, he dusts it off before setting it firmly on his crown of feathers. His eyes have a wide and distinct avian appearance and his nose is longer and sharper than the average person, almost beak-like. Other than that he appears human.
He removes an object from a holster. A metal tube affixed to a wooden frame, and inspects it. With a nod of satisfaction, he holds it at the ready, and surveys the area.
"What in the nine hells just happened?
I can't believe the Storm King killed Terendelev. This is bad, very bad. You see a man walk up with dark brown almost black hair, wearing glasses, robes and you can see what appears to be a book attached to his hip.
With the halo and dancing lights offering some illumination to the area, you can see that you are in a large, natural cavern under the city. Chunks of rock have fallen from above, with dust still trickling down here and there. It appears that not everyone that fell was so fortunate though, here and there, you find grim reminders that life is fleeting.
To the south a female voice calls out from the darkness.
"You there, in the light, I appear to be stuck."
As her voice beckons, another deeper voice rumbles to the southeast.
"Fah, helluva way to start a festival. These damned demons running amok up there. That wardstone was supposed to protect the city. I told them time and again that after the last battle, they needed to replace it. I knew that crack was going to lead to disaster, and turns out I was right. As usual."
hold on der cher! We comin to help. darius will make a motion to the others to come help him
As Dsrius moves closer, he spots a human with her leg trapped under a sizable stone. Her fingers scratching at the dirt trying to find purchase to lift the heavy object to no avail.
Nearby, the deeper voice speaks up again, and you hear footsteps approach from the darkness. Moments later, an older human steps into the light.
"Just keep yer pointy bits tucked away and we'll get along just fine. Name is Horgus."
Cannetaken nods at Horgus, "You can call me Tak. Let's give our bright friend a hand with the lady, whatcha say?" he says and moves to assist Darius.
okay on da count of tree! One....two...tree! darius will dig down deep and attempt to lift the boulder
With the combined effort, the group gets a solid grip on the stone and are able to lift it. The woman lets out a gasp of surprise and pain as the stone rises, but she slides herself out from under the large it. Once free, she clutches at her leg, and beads of sweat form on her forehead.
don't move now cher. Let's take a look at that leg eh?
Hello all, my name is Salvatore, pleasure to make your acquaintance. Salvatore being not the greatest with heavy lifting, will take his dancing lights around the area looking for survivors and people to help.
As WalMir and Darius look over the injured woman, it becomes very obvious that her leg is broken. Some magical healing could help, but it will need time to mend properly.
Salvatore moves through the area and spots an elf that appears to be alive, but unconscious.
Feeling the healing energies flow through the room, the woman looks up and smiles, feeling some relief form the pain.
"Well, thank you for that. Name is Anevia. This is a mess. We were just looking to enjoy our day at the festival...." Her words trail off and worry seems to replace that momentary smile.
Hey there is someone else injured over here, looks to be unconscious but alive. Salvatore will make sure they know where the elf is and he will keep looking for survivors using Dancing Lights.
The unconscious elf appears to have suffered from massive burns on his face, which is still raw and tender.
As Salvatore continues to look about the cave, he notices a disturbing
shape looming. Nearly the size of a horse, what appears to be an immense black spider crouches silent and still on the ground.
Salvatore tries not to freak out and puts up his hands and a blast of vivid color sprays forth.
Hey Gentlemen, We have company.
Darius will pull out his scythe and be at the ready for a fight dont worry mon amie, darius here won't let nothin happen to ya, right friend at the end of the sentence Darius's eyes turn solid white and his demeanor changes from friendly laid back to battle ready and serious.
As the light show ends, the spider continues to just sit there.
what is it that you see, Salvatore. Is there a enemy around
Confused for a moment about the demeanor change. The spider that is right there, lurking.
Please fall back Salvatore, I will take the frontline while you support from the back and investigate if this is a foe or just a scared creature.
"Tak" readies his pistol, picks up a rock, and tosses it in the direction of the spider, not to hurt it, but to see if there is a reaction.
As the rock clatters near the spider, it does not seem to react to the sound or motion.
peculiar indeed. I say we move around the spider and leave it alone to save the injured from danger. It may only strike if we move to close to it
Sorry everyone, that fall got me a bit jumpy. Yeah if it's not hurting us there is no need to kill it. Did anyone find anyone else?
Salvatore will finish looking around then if no one else start to help get everyone together to start trying to get out of this place.
Horgus steps up. "We need someone to take charge down here. I vote me. Twitchy, you keep moving those lights around and see if anyone else survived. Halo man, go poke that thing and make sure it doesn't sneak up on us. Priest, figure out how to get that one on her feet again. He points to Avenia "And you with the pistol, go help the halo man."
He crosses his arms with a look of determination in his eyes.
you are not in charge of me boy! We will take our time and prioritize safety! Darius will get a very irritated look on his face and then will scan the group starting with Horgus using detect evil
The gray haired man scowls at Darius.
”Apparently all that metal on you is just for show then? You could prioritize safety by making sure that thing over there doesn’t start chewing on people.”
Scanning each person, Darius detects no evil.
Darius eyes go back to a normal brown color and his demeanor shifts back to be more relaxed sorry bout dat bruddah when he get in a tizzy der be no stoppin him. If dat lil fella get to movin ill get to cuttin dont you worry he he! Darius looks at all the people Hey how bout we get dez people yo safety eh? darius will start to help the woman with a broke leg up to her feet.
"Hey you with the Grey hair and wrinkles, 'you with the pistol' introduced himself, has a name, and has a proven track record of responding well to people who use it when addressing him."
Tak makes no move to follow any orders given to him.
Having a puzzled look on his face at Darius but realizing it's something that can be talked about later. What was your name was it...oh yes Horgus. How about you stop bossing people around and get to work yourself. Oh yes also the name is Salvatore Vasili, remember it this time. Salvatore will turn away from the man and look at the others. What do you think about getting these people to safety. If someone wants to lead the way I will provide light along the way.
I can lead de way and provide da light darius taps his halo keep our sides and backs lite up like June bugs on a dark night eh
As Darius pulls Anevia to her feet, she stifles a cry of pain, and has to put all of her weight on the paladin.
Horgus shrugs at the various comments thrown his way. ”Suit yourselves. But I think you’ll find my instructions were sound. As for you Tak, I apologize there. Fell into some old habits when giving commands. No hard feelings I hope.”
Darius grunts as he helps her to her feet hey now how come take be gettin all da love and ain't none coming dis way. We all friends here right? Come on now, let's get
"Alright Horgus, alright."
Tak approaches the spider and gives it a poke with the toe of his boot.
From out of the darkness stagger an unruly, dirt covered Half Orc. F+@!, f#@%, f&$+, F&*#, F!~$! WHY DOES THIS S$+# KEEP HAPPENING TO... as his tirade is interrupted from him noticing others here. Uh....hello? he utters, confusion readily apparent on his face.
The spider, upon closer inspection has its legs curled up and is stiff to the tapping of Tak’s boot. An odd sound however, issues from the spider, as two wriggling creatures burst from its carcass.
Round 1
17 Blue
16 Salvatore 6/6
15 WalMir 9/9
07 Tak 10/10
05 Yellow
03 Grizst 8/8?
02 Darius 12/12
Blue twists towards Tak and spews the contents of it's stomach in his direction.