The Mask's page

"Stop flailing about, Candle Lighter. He'll die no matter what." The Mask rolls its eyes. "Right now, we'd better get moving before that creature brings a dozen mages on our heads." He casts a spell, and the two begin rising towards the ceiling, incorporeal.
"We've accomplished our goal for today. The rest is gravy."
And I'm done talking to myself for now. Yes, Kobold Cleaver is staying dead this time. I killed him because he had clearly fallen out of favour with everybody. Besides which, The Board Servants were slowing down the plot. It was a necessity that they fall.

"Doesn't matter. You're not coming back." The Mask speaks a spell, and Kobold Cleaver's incorporeal form vanishes into the Cleaver.

"True. But that doesn't mean it isn't a nasty weapon." The ghostly figure tosses the Ghost Touch weapon to Candle Lighter.

"Fine. You know, I did try, but your mind is old and unable to comprehend the truth. You really have this coming." The Mask holds up a familiar item. The Cleaver. "Joek is dead. I'd think the Servants' wards would detect that. Or did you not have a Deathwatch spell active? Odd, you people are usually so paranoid. Doesn't matter. The kobold put up a bit of a fight, but he was hopelessly outmatched."

"ARG!" the Mask explodes. "You are so obnoxious, I don't know how you survived this long! You tried to kidnap Lynora's spawn! And don't give me any of that crap about orders. You're an enemy. Your old friends hate you, your enemies hate you, and even Joek and the others hate you! You know this, so get out of your damn denial so I can kill you with closure!"

"You knew I was going to betray you, you idiotic self-absorbed little lizard. But your mind was too busy debating with itself to actually do anything about it, besides shrug and act apologetic. I doubt anybody will mourn your passing."

A ghostly creature appears, blocking the magic missiles.
"No," it hisses.

Meanwhile, a raven lies on the ground, all but dead.
:This is enough. You aimed to kill:
"It is the only way to create a Seer Lich."
:Count me out then. Get out:
"My dear young friend, do you think that that is an option? However, I agree. This body is not big enough for both of us. Your spirit takes up too much energy. With you gone, I will be able to leave before to do-gooders get here."
:Mask?:
"Here, I'll tie you to this place so that yo can tell your friends all about this. I believe that they will be used to that. They will appreciate it, too, it will give them an indefinite time to punish you."
:MASK!!!:
"Goodbye, Frogskin."
There is a popping sound and the entire Place turns black.

The raven speaks, and Azurith feels his connection to this plane fading, pulled away by a mighty--and familiar--force.

A spectral arrow flies through the air, at the girl. There is a shout, and it vanishes. A raven flies overhead, and it is the one that spoke.

The Mask reappears. It now must only find the Place. It flies off toward its goal.

The Mask hesitates. It knows that it is done something unheard of among its ilk. Never has it done something of the sort before.
There is a sigh as the shadow vanishes.

A dark shadow appears. It knows that it has nothing to fear from this place. The owner tolerates him, and owes him a few favors. All he needs is a single spirit. It flies around, trying to decide on the next one. Finally, it selects one, and laughs at the spirit's screams as it is destroyed.
What it does not know is that that was one of the Ch'acks. It has gotten much more than it bargained on.

The Mask decides to look for an effective power source. All he needs is enough power to banish the grandfather. The daughter herself is no threat. Once he has the daughter, he can--but, ehm, that isn't important.
That's it! The Spirit Realm!
The Mask speaks a word, and vanishes.
DUN DUN DUHN!

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

Where is Arielle, at present?

With her grandfather at the Place of the Winds. LJ put some extra protections on her after receiving several warnings about the Mask. And, umm, Arielle's practicing weather magic. For the next week. So, you know expect lots of wind, hail, rain, cyclones, and lightning strikes. :)

Oh crud. This ain't gonna go well. Well, at least she can't attack him. Oh, wait, she can.

"Now, we must find Arielle..." The creature whispers to itself. "And make sure that that meddling elemental isn't around. I best part is, none will be able to intervene without being expelled from the place!"

"I..."
The Mask thrusts itself back into control.
"Do not worry, Frogskin. I will be quite careful."
Frogskin is silent.

:It could bring Esmerelda and Meepo back as well.:

:Do not worry: The Mask coos. :I know enough magic, it will be quite simple. Think, Mask. An Eternal Seer could help us! It could help us defeat the Servants, find us the right rituals to banish the spirits...it could get Kobold Cleaver back:

:Frogskin, think.: The voice is calm, and almost sounds disappointed. :The Servants are growing in numbers. There are foul spirits in the air. This won't hurt the girl, and it is repairable. We have no choice!:

The Mask breathes heavily, out of habit. It has not fought against a competent opponent in a while, and the battle has shook it. However, it must press on...it now has little time for the ritual.
Suddenly, it feels a presence...Frogskin is fighting.

The Mask shouts a spell and, just in time, the ice remelts and evaporates into burning steam, which blows back at the dragon. As Frost screams, the Mask fires its main assault, and the air around Frost begins to heat up...

Meanwhile, the raven flies up to the Sanctuary, to see Frost sleeping peacefully. It prepares a spell smugly...

The raven listens, hearing the dragon's voice. "Oh dear..." It mutters. "This could prove troublesome."

Great Erl wrote:

The spirit of the Great Erl enfolds LJ. She finds her connections strengthening geometrically

Trust yourself Star Song. Trust the power of Life.

She strengthens her Song as she reaches out for Jack Hammer, and with the Great Erl's help is able to reach his mind.

"There is danger, my love. The jester, the one who slew me, is about to escape his bonds. Beware. He is possessed by something worse than mere evil."

A raven appears.

Shadow Pelt wrote:

"Oh, I don't think you'll be leaving Devlyn, since I plan to kill you!" Snarling, the huge cat leaps again, claws extended and teeth gleaming, aiming for Devlyn's throat.

"Who to the what now!?" he shouts as he Shadow Jumps behind where he just leaped from, narrowly avoiding all the sharp pointy things aiming for him.

"What are you, some disgruntled familiar whose wizard I killed or something!?"

I know I'm nowhere near as witty, but Devlyn's banter is supposed to be reminiscent of the kind of sarcastic talk that Spiderman often uses whenever he's fighting one of the bad guys. Now back to our regularly scheduled battle... :)

"It is Shadow Pelt, creature of darkness, born to be your killer." The raven speaks up.

The Shadow wrote:

Oroth manages to stagger through the omniportal, but the wounds he suffers from cause him to enter the wrong area. He goes alone, without anyone to heal him.

If you want to follow and kill him, go a for it. I have a interesting twist to implement.

The Jack of Tears sees the wounded child stagger out of the omniportal. "This could be fun," he says to himself. He walks over to Oroth and casts a spell. Suddenly Oroth's wounds heal and he feels revived. "I have healed you because it amuses me to boy," Mormus says. "Always remember that I could have just as easily killed you and trapped you soul in this place forever. Now go."

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

A raven watches angrily.

"Oh, please. Like I can't be patient. There'll be another great force for evil in the next century or so. Besides, what makes you think I care in the slightest about order? Ow!" She jumped in pain as soon as the words had left her lips. "Just buzz off," she said crankily, heading for her tent with a couple of scrolls clutched in her hand. "Demons have all the fun," she mumbled as she walked away.

The raven stares angrily after her..

Prince Azran wrote:

The male elf busies himself rummaging in a satchel his consort carries, extracting a couple of scrolls written on devil-vellum.

A couple of 'arguments for mayhem' written by one of the more intellectual scholars of the church, he presents them to Ashaundra. For your perusal.

Now if you'll excuse us, but she needs to go and sleep this off somewhere, and preferably somewhere else, just in case anyone upset about this comes looking for us.
We may be back at some other time, if you have any questions.

"Okay. Well, it was nice of you to visit. And don't worry too much about the carnage. I was left in charge for the most part, so unless the boss-man suddenly comes back and decides he actually cares you're free and clear on that one."

The raven appears. He is frowning.

The Mask wrote:

Great Erl wrote:

The Eighth Runelord wrote:

... I would that things were otherwise.

The trees rustle. There is a sense of quiet sadness

Spring Sapling was important to all of us, Runelord. She was a herald to us here, a speaker for those who cannot speak in far off councils. She gave her incarnation to pull another back into the Green. It was her fate, though it came through darkly until the Spear of Life appeared in the Tree Emperor's hands.

The Harlequin is a herald of chaos. His actions are hard to predict. His slaying of Starsong dismayed us all, but we will go on. Lynora-Jill still travels within the web of the Green. Nothing is ever lost. Even Spring Sapling will appear again some day when her current tasks are finished.

A raven appears, carrying a small limp frog.

"The Harlequin shouldn't bother you all. I froze him, and trapped him in the cave of two friends of mine. One is a white dragon, the other is Candle Lighter. I assure you, though I am indeed of the Black, I have no wish for fighting. I am a creature of law, and I do not intend on letting Chaos win this.
"Candle Lighter is cowed by the defeat of the forces of Black, and I daresay he is reluctant to pick a fight. There are some who still think that this is winnable. I do not, and I shall continue to look for stars to restore the Goddess."

Meepo walks in, chuckling.

"What he means to say is, he's really, really scared and wants to get on our good side."

The raven glares at Meepo and speaks irritably.

The Eighth Runelord wrote:

... I would that things were otherwise.

The trees rustle. There is a sense of quiet sadness

Spring Sapling was important to all of us, Runelord. She was a herald to us here, a speaker for those who cannot speak in far off councils. She gave her incarnation to pull another back into the Green. It was her fate, though it came through darkly until the Spear of Life appeared in the Tree Emperor's hands.

The Harlequin is a herald of chaos. His actions are hard to predict. His slaying of Starsong dismayed us all, but we will go on. Lynora-Jill still travels within the web of the Green. Nothing is ever lost. Even Spring Sapling will appear again some day when her current tasks are finished.

A raven appears, carrying a small limp frog.

Part of me weeps for the inability of our forces to turn their destruction on the forces of good and life, but at the same time any destruction is fun destruction.

Play on, fools!

"AT least they were beaten."

The hulking form of the Steel Tsar emerges in a burst of green light, carrying the crying form of Margarinefrog. The assmebled Army of the Damned and the Army of the Freaks watch as he chains the small amphibian to the ancient blood-stained altar of the Elder Elemental Eye.

Innocent Blood advances to the altar, a large ritual dagger clenched in her small fist. She addresses the assembled armies

MY FAITHFUL LEGIONS! TODAY WE BRING DEATH TO THE GREEN! TODAY WE BREAK THE CYCLE AND BRING FORTH THE NEW AGE OF THE KALIYOG! TODAY IS THE DAY ...

WE TRIUMPH!!

The assembled armies roar and bang weapons on their armor.

Innocent Blood advances to the crying frog

INNOCENT BLOOD SHED IN THE NAME OF INNOCENT BLOOD! FOR THE KALIYOG!

The assembled horde screams and hisses:

FOR THE KALIYOG!!

The dagger falls and a small frog cries his last. As he dies a huge green portal opens, revealing the Fields of Roleplay

The Steel Tsar unsheathes his Greatsword and roars

FORWARD TO VICTORY!!

The two armies roar and advance through the portal

A raven flies in to view the wreckage. He regards the remains of the small frog.

A raven flies through, carrying the remains of the Giggler.
"It wasn't supposed to go like this...dammit, dammit, dammit!"
He disappears.

A group of animals approach the frozen form of the Giggler. When they get close waves of cold frost their fur

The raven, unnoticed by others, spits.

Jack Hammer wrote:

The squirrel allows LJ to take the dagger. No one else.

As the squirrel allows LJ to grab the dagger it suddenly shoots up on a column of water. The Giggler reforms and plunges the dagger into Lynora-Jill.

And so the prophecy comes true
That I become the end of you ...

"Not you, you fool!" A raven appears and sends a blast of incredible cold into the Giggler. Any attempts to 'melt' will end in a frozen puddle.

"Brave Madame Serefina ran away, bravely ran away, away...." The raven murmurs.

The raven flies back in.
"Heh, heh. I would be cautious. That dragon will come back to bite you."

The dragon spares The Mask the briefest of glances:

Since you feign the ignorance of needing it spelled out for you - I doubt that you can be as genuinely stupid as you pretend to be - at present, I and my allies are not at war with the lady here.

"I had never made any pretension that you were. I have to go."

The dragon addresses Innocent Blood.

You seem to be charging in with very little strategy beyond attack and kill.
You don't appear to have any goals other than just 'kill everything and raise undead' which relies on brute strength and little finesse.
And sooner or later, you will exhaust your strength, and then what enemies you have left will turn on you.
If your allies don't betray you first and turn on you for their own purposes, that is.
At present you and your army offer me interesting possibilities. I am offering you the opportunity to surrender to me now and become my vassal.
You can settle down here in the swamp, make occasional raids against your enemies, and pay a tithe in return for my protection.

"Hmm. I was significantly nearby to the actual reality of the egomaniac dragon's original intentions.

Smagnavast the Black wrote:

The shadow of a black dragon circling casts itself over the company; with triple protections in place, Smagnavast dives down to hover with skillful flicks of his wings near the vampire leader of this army. He addreses her:

I gather that you're in charge here?

Innocent Blood looks up and smiles

I suppose I am. What do you require dragon?

"I am inclined to believe that the nearby dragon, whose name I have heard but am currently incapable of recalling due to certain circumstances which render me significantly disoriented, is planning on ascertaining your collaboration in regards to certain matters which you are, with very little doubt, fully aware."

The shadow of a black dragon circling casts itself over the company; with triple protections in place, Smagnavast dives down to hover with skillful flicks of his wings near the vampire leader of this army. He addreses her:

I gather that you're in charge here?

"Pff. Ony because there is nobody else with the accurate level of strength at this current instance."

The wolf seems to chuckle.
"And one by one, they--"

The Mask's servant chuckles and settles down.
"A shame that the Jack was away on more important business. I wonder how long it will be before the real powers crash?"

The raven has not moved the whole time. He has not even tried to avoid the blows, which bounce off him.
"Bored now."
The raven's eyes glow red. Suddenly, 100 gun-wielding undead of various power appear and fire at the heroes.
"Fools."
His eyes glow red again. Wherever a bullet misses, the ground it touches turns into lava, which spreads. Soon, the entire area will be completely full of magma.
I'm baaack!
...aaand I'm gone, sorry. Just assume that the raven vanishes and the undead keep shooting.

As the little deception play organizes, there is a sudden commotion at the entrance to the throne room. The ancient stone doors explode outward, peppering the crowd of undead with shards of rock.

A female form emerges from the dust cloud, dressed in a chainmail bikini. A large whip snaps and pops in her hand. Her eyes are a solid black color.

As she advances swarms of undead mob her. She screeches and the undead vaporize into dust.

The woman stands alone, a swirling gout of corpse dust settling about her. She turns to the Mask.

YOU

The raven doesn't seem afraid in the least. Rather, he laughs.

The Mask wrote:

"It could cause suspicion, though. I believe that the Emperor is probably too risky, he has been around for a long time, and the trees are wise."

Death has been around longer.

The voice sounds exactly like E7, and continues...

'Begone foul trickster', HT mimes. He summons 4 trees, which begin
to move towards the Mask. Chuckling, he dismisses them.

The Mask shrugs.

"It could cause suspicion, though. I believe that the Emperor is probably too risky, he has been around for a long time, and the trees are wise."

"And I am trying to track this thing. It has preserved the flower, and so it shall die."

The shadowed figure sighs

Thus ever evil splits its strength and lessens itself. Arrogance is always our Achilles' Heel.

The dark phantom settles back on his calcitic throne.

I see no reason to add my minions to the pyre. Innocent Blood has claimed her independence. So be it. In the end, Death conquers all ..

The raven nods.