Epic Tales of Clashing Empires

[Jonas]

Nods. "Sounds like a plan"

He sticks his head into the hole. "Hey, mister wasp-man! We've got a rope! You can come out now! Also, who are you anyway!"

[Geary]

"I know, I could hear you from in here." The korg emerged from the hole, roughly five feet deep and wide enough for somebody to easily jump down. "My name is Ril'Trag, I come from Dirt Island where my hive resides. I'd prefer not to explain why I'm not with them anymore."

[Digital Vulpine]

-Pavestone-

The door splinters as the bandits break through.  There's a twang of a bow and an arrow zips overhead, lodging itself in the wall with a thunk.  Simon flattens his ears and yells,

"I don't think it really matters, yah!"

His horse takes off through the back door, galloping toward the road.  As he leaves, the innkeeper pulls a pitchfork out of a nearby stack of hay and walks toward the door.

"Now why did ye have ta go an' do that.  Yer gonna pay fer that door ya bastards..."

[TheTai]

--Road slightly northeast of Obsidian City. Approx. two hours before arrival.--

As Rudriger continues traveling to his next stop, The Obsidian City, he glances at his surrounding. To his left he spots a fairly calm lake not too far off in the distance. As he continues on he sees to his right, a large Ash tree which seems to be home to a gathering of crows. As he takes a minute to marvel at this, just about all the crows residing in the tree almost simultaneously fly off ahead of him. When he looks ahead to their direction, he can see his next stop off on the horizon. He then continues onward.

[Yllavyer]

-In a tree outside of Obsidian City-

 Legiah muttered with a scowl at what she had just created. She crumpled the paper and tossed it down, for she wouldn't do anything with the story in it if she dared. It affected her all too well, and was too influencing in her mind. She'd be thinking of it day and night, what might had become of it.
Instead, she gave it a fate she knew, and one she wasn't ashamed of.
 With a sigh, Legiah made her way down. Why am I in a tree anyway? Legiah asked herself. She tried to think of more pressing matters to do, but instead her mind went blank. With a roll of her eyes, Legiah continued on toward Obsidian City, assuming that whatever she was thinking of earlier would return at some point in time.

[Jonas]

Sennel nodded and waited patiently while Vandme created the vine rope. Now that they were on the cusp of attacking the castle, Sennel became very aware of what he was actually fighting for. He was about to assist in the toppling of an empire just so he could ask a few questions. Not the most impressive of motivations. The Lupe shifted awkwardly on the spot as Vandme finished the rope, suddenly feeling more out of place than his size or fur could muster.

[EmperorDJ]

-Leaving Pavestone-

Looks like it's time to go! Giddie-up!

*Joshua kicks the horses side, the horse whines and takes off. Catching up with Simon who is a few feet away* 

Well this is sure gonna be fun as hell! Escaping from crazy brigands on horse back; not something I would recommend but the idea just tickles me! *Joshua laughs*

[William Swiftfoot]

Touching the tumpet vine, Vandme slowly forms a coil of vine growing from the top of the plant, until he has enough to form 3 stands 5 feet long. Once he does, he snaps off the end of the vine, and then with a shut of the eye and a slow hum, sets the vine back in its place, as if it had never been touched.

The Vine retruned to its place, he starts to quickly weave the three strands into a single strong strand of rope. "Well even if you don't need it, we shall have it for later. I only hope that these actions will not just cause the cycle to continue."

[Stormkit]

El stepped forward, volunteering. "I'll anchor it to something either at the top or the other side." He looked up at the wall and frowned. "On second thought... Al can you get one of those windows open? I'll do something about the guards."

The two closed their eyes and started weaving their spells. Al finished first, focusing his intent on what appeared to be a glowing ball to those who could see magic. Hurling it at a nearby window, he waiting while El continued poking his spell matrix. He was modifying a spell that he frequently used to divert attention from himself into something that would divert attention coming from a certain direction in regards to anything related to the attempt to break in.

As El finished his matrix, the spell components (again visible as glowing symbols and modifiers in orbit around the core spell he was modifying to those with eyes to see it) started to spin around each other as he raised it into the air and it lifted to cover an arc above them. Just then the window Al had spelled opened up and a maid's voice could be heard drifting down, "...don't care if there are a THOUSAND people out there, it smells bad enough in here that we'd die faster if we didn't open this window! Besides... who'd want to come in through something smelling like..." The voice trailed off as the maid wandered out of the room with whoever she had been speaking to.

El took the rope and launched into the air, wings flapping to reach the window sill where he hung on for a moment, grimacing about the smell and stepped inside. A moment later a handkerchief shot out the window and fluttered down. Al grinned and said, "That's the signal! See you at the top and hope your sense of smell isn't too good!" before flying up to join his brother to wait for the others to climb.

[Jonas]

Sennel tugs at the vine cautiously to make sure it can hold his weight. The plant appears surprisingly durable and he quickly clambers up and slips in through the window.

"Gack!" He gags. "Oh...oh lord *cough* what IS that? *cough* did one of the rebels catapult a stink bomb?"

The Lupe stumbles and slumps against a wall. With one hand-paw covering his nose, the other marks a mark in the air. Sennel's eyes unfix as the air around his muzzle begins to shimmer.

"Aaaah...." he breathes happily. "MUCH better! Less nasty more sparkly." He blinks and looks around curiously. "Such a nice place! How big do you think it is, Elby?"

[William Swiftfoot]

Vandme waited for the others to climb the rope, prefering to be one of the lasts to climb. As he waited, he drew a small amount of soft earth from his pouch and layed it around the youngling that Sennel had unearthed.

[Jonas]

Without waiting for a response, Sennel pokes his head out of the door and looks around. The hallways is empty and he decides to investigate. Sennel hums as he wanders along the long passage, stopping on occasion to sniff at one of the many portraits of grahim that line the wall. If one were to draw a conclusion from the portraits, ornate lamps, and the voices of maids and servants in the distance, one could assume to be inside the part of the castle reserved for residential rooms and liesure. The Lupe makes no such conclusions, however. He is too distracted enjoying the nice feel of carpet through his paws.

[Jenia]

- Alleyway of Obsidian Castle -

Kigar nodded in approval. These people were strangers to the struggle, but were showing some merit.
"I won't fit through there with my armor." he told the druid "I'm going to the front gate - will wait for one of you to get it open. I will storm with the rest of the rebels."

With that, he turned around, and proceeded to walk off towards the main gate, muttering a silent prayer to the fated.

[William Swiftfoot]

Vandme looked to Ril'Trag. "Planning to take the ground way, or are you to join the others" he asked, awaiting an answer before planning to climb himself.

[Digital Vulpine]

-The Great Road-

Pavestone is nothing more than a distant, orange glow on the horizon as Simon gallops alongside the Great Road, once the stone artery carrying the lifeblood of a thriving empire, now the conduit for the forces of its destruction.  All three moons are in the sky tonight in a rare alignment, illuminating the scene in a bright, but pale luminescence.   He is not the only rider on the road this night; messengers dart past each other carrying news of conquest and news of retreat, of victory and defeat, of gain and loss as the conflict spreads like wildfire, every side struggling to improve its lot against the others.  They ignore each other, their own duties to important to worry about what agenda the passing silhouettes of the others may have.  Simon rides through this chaos unchallenged, one desperate rider among many. 

Small bands of fighters can be heard assailing each other along the way; the Road is  too valuable a target to concede control to the other side, neither side will give it up, and for now neither side will have it.  They too avoid shooting the messengers, as the pale light, while bright by nighttime standards, still denies a reliable distinction between friend and foe.  It's a narrow window of opportunity, and one which Simon was fortunate to stumble upon.  He may never fully comprehend just how much blind circumstance has protected him this day.

Or Fate...