VG Rumble II

Balaes

Kai and Adrian both drew their swords and parried the attacks of a pair of skamps that lunged at them, Adrian seeming to wince a little as he extended his arm. Ivellios grabbed his spear and moved in support of Adrian, the three warriors holding the two creatures in check as they darted about.

It seemed to Balaes that, like him, they were strengthened, or at least quickened, by their proximity to the threads of darkness from which they had originally evolved.

He skirted the fight, seeing that the final skamp was still attacking Salvian's soldier. It was going at him tooth and claw, with apparently no heed for its own safety. Salvian's man was beating a hasty retreat, staggering backwards as his sword slashed back at the demon, trying to hold it back. Blood seeped through many cuts in his armour, but the cause of the stumbling was one particularly harsh gash in his leg.

The soldier tripped just as Balaes finished edging around the warriors and their own targets, drawing his wand out of his sleeve again in much the same manner that his old mentor on the streets would have drawn a knife. His eyes were narrow with determination, it would take all his focus to stop himself from succumbing to the poisonous lure of the dark magic manifest in this realm.

Salvian's man hit the ground, his sword clattering away as the skamp hopped onto his chest with a cackle. It raised its already bloodstained claws to deliver the death-blow, its teeth bared.

Balaes released a tight stream of darkness from his wand, concentrating more on his own mind than on killing the skamp. Hence, all he managed to do was blast the demon off the soldier's chest. It screamed in mingled pain and anger, chattering wildly. The small, but deadly skamp beat at its fur, with smouldered with tendrils of black magic.

Balaes felt a wild surge of power through him, his eyes widening slightly and his pupils dilating. He licked his lips, Such power...such unrestrained power! I could rule the world with this kind of magic! He mentally slapped himself awake. No! I will not give in!

The skamp was charging again, this time towards him. Balaes took a step backwards, shocked. He had nothing, no real weapon to defend himself with. He grabbed a pair of rocks in his free hand, shifting his wand to his left before throwing both rocks, one after the other. The first missed, sailing well-clear of the skamp. A moment before the second missed as well, Balaes sent another carefully controlled bolt to the side of the rock. Unlike simply throwing something at the demon, he could aim his magic to perfection, and struck the rock just right.

It gave off a dark glow, spinning off its original trajectory to slam into the skamp's side, sending it sprawling again. Balaes gasped in pain. The augmented side-effects of the use of dark magic in this place were starting to set in. He had to conserve himself.

(The fight with Group B is meant to be a quick fight, so I'll finish it off with this post.)

Group A

Ilum and Captain Matius charged up to the two Skamps in their bewilderment. The creatures heard them coming and got back to their feet. One of them managed to move out of the way in time, but the other had its arm cut off by Ilum's blade. It let out a shrill cry as blood poured out of the stump that was its shoulder. Ilum finished it off by stabbing it through the stomach.

Ilum got down on one knee beside his daughter. "Enya, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine." She was looking at her hands. What had she done? Was that barrier really her doing? Did this mean she could use magic?

Captain Matius was chasing after the other Skamp. Edgar was still wrestling with the Deadroth, and Reon was exchanging magical attacks with the Flame Atronach from behind a nearby rock he was using for cover. The battle seemed to be going in their favour.

But the tide changed when the Deadroth managed to grab Edgar by the tail. The beast swung the shapeshifter's body into the side of a large rock before tossing him across the field. When Edgar got back to his feet he found himself standing at the edge of a small cliff off to the side of the battlefield. The Deadroth was already closing in. There was no place for Edgar to run, and the others wouldn't be able to get to him in time.

(This is kitty15's chance to bring in her character.)
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Group B

Balaes' legs suddenly became weak. He had to go down on one knee just to keep from collapsing all together. The Skamp he had been attacking was coming back for more, all the while it took Balaes everything he had just to catch his breath. The Skamp lunged forward, only to have its body slammed out of the way by Adrian's shield. The boy stood between Balaes and the creature, determined to keep it away from him.

"Thanks, Adrian," Balaes said with what little breath he had.

"Don't give up on us now, Balaes," Adrian said. "We're all getting out of this in one piece." Adrian let out a battle cry as he rushed toward the Skamp. The creature didn't waver, instead began running forward as well. The Skamp was the first to strike, aiming to jump at Adrian with all its body weight and drive its elbow into his body. His father's arduous training came into play when Adrian sidestepped, blocked the attack, and pushed the creature's elbow off to the side effectively redirecting its path straight into the ground. He didn't give it a chance to get back up. He shifted his grip on his sword and finished it off with a swift downward stab between the Skamp's shoulder blades.

Kai and Ivellios had just finished off the other two Skamps. They took a moment to clean most of the blood off their weapons before regrouping.

The man who the Skamps had originally targeted came up to Adrian. "Thank the Nine. I never thought I would see another friendly face."

"You're one of the guards from Kvatch, aren't you?" Adrian asked.

The soldier nodded. "Yes. My name is Raynold."

"What happened to the rest of your squad?" Kai asked, knowing the Captain had sent more than one soldier into the gate in the first place.

He shook his head. "The others...taken...They were taken to the tower!"

"Start from the beginning," Adrian told him. "Tell us what happened."

Raynold took a deep breath first, then said, "Captain Matius sent us in to try and close the gate. We were ambushed, trapped, picked off. I managed to escape, but the others were strewn across the bridge. They took Menien off to the big tower!"

"Who's Menien?"

"He's the commanding officer of the group that went through the gate. You've got to save him!" Raynold shook his head again before saying, "I'm getting out of this hellish place."

(Choice time! Whoever posts next for Group B, you can either tell Raynold to go back through the gate and help Captain Matius hold the barricade, or convince him to come along and help find a way to close the gate.)

Group B:

--Victory!--

Experience gained: 40 exp.

Balaes advances to Level 5!
Adrian advances to Level 5!

Cathy

There wasn't any uncertainty in Cathy's mind. She'd been granted her abilities for the protection of the land and this group were like her: protectors. The dark magic had invaded and it worried Cathy but now here was a group who were fighting it, who probably knew more than her and needed to borrow her strength. She moved.

A burst of fire erupted in front of the Deadroth and it howled in pain as its reaching, scaly hands began to frazzle. The shapeshifter stared at the flames in surprise and then looked to the mage who was clearly still occupied. His eyes finally fell on Cathy and she gave him a nod. The Deadroth withdrew with a snarl, it hit the ground with its scaly tail and then lumbered around. Cathy went into a crouch, her brow furrowed in concentration.

With a deadly silence, dark clouds gathered in the sky as the fire went out, only the mark on the ground and the creature's hands proof that it had been there at all. The Deadroth got closer and then the thunder struck. Cathy pulled it from the sky and brought it hurtling at the Deadroth, hitting him from above. The creature snarled in pain and fury, still moving forward, coming closer.

Cathy took a step back. She could feel the sweat beading on her head. The magic was still new to her and keeping control was difficult, particularly with the thunder. She didn't want to show any weakness but was very relieved when the shapeshifter pounced forward and took the creature's head off with his claws.

(Reon has a staff by the way.)

Reon peeked around the rock once again to see the Flame Atronach standing a some distance away. It seemed these demons weren't just mindless creatures, because the Atronach understood that if it got too close Reon could get a good shot to hit it. It also kept flinging fireball after fireball at the the rock the mage was using for cover, effectively pinning him behind it. He couldn't attack without risking being hit by one of the fireballs, so he had to time his attacks carefully. But every time he attacked with an ice spell the monster changed its spot, making it harder to hit. Reon could feel his fatigue starting to drain the power from his attacks. If he didn't get a clear shot in soon, he would become a sitting duck.

The dark skinned newcomer saw the mage fighting the Flame Atronach. It seemed he needed help as well. She called upon the reserves of her magic to create one more bolt of lightning. It wouldn't kill the creature, but it would at least give the boy a chance to launch a more effective ice spell. It would also be the last spell she would be able to cast for a while, as the previous two had spent most of her strength fending off the Deadroth. Black clouds started to form over the battlefield once again as she called down a light bolt of electricity to strike the demon.

The Flame Atronach seemed to yelp in pain from the attack. The bolt had hit the creature in the leg, which brought it to its knees. Reon saw his chance and took it. Using the last of his strength he focused everything he had into one icy elemental attack. He stepped out from around the rock and pointed his staff at the creature. A large icicle about twice the size of Reon's head formed at the tip of his staff, floating in mid air. He flung the large crystal and let it fly toward his opponent. The ice skewered the Flame Atronach right through the stomach. The flames surrounding its body died out as it flopped onto the ground and turned into a pile of ash.

Captain Matius had finished off the last Skamp before rejoining everyone else. Edgar and the newcomer approached the rest of the group together. The shapeshifter transformed back to his human form before turning to the dark skinned woman and saying, "Thanks for the assistance."

The newcomer merely nodded.

Salvian came up to the woman and, with a stern voice, said, "I believe introductions are in order."

Group A:

--Victory!--

Experience gained: 75 exp.

Enya advances to Level 6!
Reon advances to Level 6!
Adam advances to Level 3!
Edgar advances to Level 5!
Cathy advances to Level 5!

(I know Adam didn't fight in this battle, but I'm giving him experience points anyway since he was in the battlefield anyway. Technically, watching a fight can be classified as a type of experience as you are observing the fighting styles of other combatants. Besides, we can't have him falling behind can we?)

(Don't forget to spend your skill points on new skills. By my count, everyone in group A has enough points to purchase at least one new skill, except Reon but that doesn't really matter for you guys since I'm the one controling him now. I noticed that all the elemental spells said plainly which ones they are in their name, eg. Fire = Lv. 1 Fire, Dark = Lv. 1 Dark. But that's not the case for Light. I'd like to point out that the spell that inflicts Light damage in this storybook is named Holy, just in case there was any confusion. I just edited that in the spells section by putting Holy in brackets next to Light under the elemental spells catagory. If anyone finds something they find confusing on the site, let me know and I'll fix it by providing better information.)

Cathy is going to save hers up but can you let me know what bio does? Also, Adam would like flirt please and don't worry about him being behind, he's more the fun character anyway XD

Adam

It wasn't that he'd never seen a girl fight before but well, he'd never seen any female so in command of her strength. It radiated from the woman, it poured from here in wet, slick waves of sweat as she eyed the group. She looked wild, all dark and curvy like she'd sprouted from the ground and while she wasn't the ideal woman, Adam was starting to think that his prospects were looking up. She wasn't wife material but hey... who needed committment?

"Cathy," the woman said simply as if that was all there was to know. Adam quickly stepped forward, grimacing in pain.

"Our humble thanks to you dear lady for saving our lives," he said with a sculptured smile. He thought of taking her hand to place a kiss upon the calloused fingers and then decided against that and instead tried to match her own simplicity: "My name is Adam." The woman did not seem to be impressed. She turned to the next person expectantly and showed little sign of emotion as each gave their names.

"Did you come from the city?" Ilum asked, hoping for news of his wife. The woman shook her head, no.

"I prefer the woods," she said. There was a lull in conversation and Cathy seemed to decide that everything necessary had been said. She walked a short way to a nearby tree and settled her back against it, watching; alert. She untied a small pouch from her belt and took from it a handful of little, red berries which she began to eat.

(Bio is a magic attack that produces an poisonous acid that damages enemies and inflicts the poison status effect.)

**Balaes will take Eerie Lullaby, I'm pretty sure he's got enough points for it.**

Balaes

"I'm getting out of this hellish place!" Raynold said, shaking his head. His eyes were wide with fear, and it was easy to see that he wouldn't be much use on this side of the gate. He was shaking in his boots, and Balaes knew that after nearly being ripped to shreds by a trio of skamps, he might not even be able to fight on the other side of the gate.

Ivellios moved to stop Raynold, but Balaes looked quickly to him from where he was catching his breath. Ivellios paused, seeing Balaes shake his head. Don't stop him. Ivellios nodded back.

"Raynold, wait!" Kai shouted after the man. Raynold stopped in his tracks, half-turned. The gate burned about ten paces from him. "Is there a door this way?" Kai asked.

The soldier nodded once, twirling his fingers around in the air, "Just keep following that track, it leads to some kind of strange back entrance! You've got to save Menien!"

As if hearing the shouting down below, a roar issued out from the tower. It tore through the stifling air of the barren island the tower stood on. Raynold's eyes shot up to the top of the tower, and he gulped, whispering, "May the Nine help us..." Then he turned, and dashed back through the gate.

Group B

"We should get going, too, before more of those beasts show up," Adrian said. The others agreed and followed him down the winding path. As they walked, he looked over his shoulder at Balaes and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"During battle it looked like your spells were draining most of your strength. They were also stronger than they normally are."

Balaes explained, "It must have something to do with this place. The dark energies of Oblivion make my attacks stronger, but at a price."

"Will you be able to press on?" Adrian asked, worried.

"I'll be fine. I'm not going to let this new power get to my head, I know better than that."

Adrian nodded.


They walked for a few more minutes, being extra careful not to run into any more demons along the way. Soon they arrived at the large tower in the center of the island. The large front door seemed unguarded, but they all knew better than to assume. Just because no one was guarding the front didn't mean there wasn't a small army of demons on the other side.

Adrian noticed a small path off to the side that was lightly hidden by a few bushes of Blood Grass, the black grass with red veins they saw when they first came through the gate. Adrian signalled for the others to follow him. As they approached the bushes, the tower's front door began to open.

They all managed to hurry through the grass before another wave of demons exited the tower and began their march toward the Oblivion Gate. This time there was six enemies. This time there were two Skamps and four Atronachs. Two of them were Flame Atronachs, and the other two were a Frost and Storm Atronach.

"I hope the others will be able to handle this next wave," Kai said.

"They'll be fine," Adrian said. "Now, let's find that entrance Raynold mentioned."
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Group A

As Cathy ate her lunch her gaze kept going back to the shapeshifter. He leaned against a nearby rock with his arms crossed, standing attentive for anything else that may come through the infernal gate. There was something about him that reminded her of the forest. It almost felt as though nature itself was radiating from his body. He was by far the most interesting of all the people here.

Although Edgar looked attentive, his mind was elsewhere. Ever since that last wave he felt something stir inside him, like a power waiting to be awakened. It is said that when a shapeshifter has experienced enough of the world and its creatures he will be granted the power to control nature. The elements of nature were water, wind, and earth. When one has learned to control each element, his path to become a Geomancer would begin. However, it takes most people decades to realize this power. Even Edgar's father, who started his training at the age of nine, didn't learn how to use this magic until his thirties.

Even so, curiosity got the better of Edgar. He kneeled down and placed both his hands to the ground. His eyes went wide the moment his fingers touched the cold dirt. He could feel a pulse running through the ground. It was like he could feel the planet's heart beat.

Before he could think on what it meant, something emerged from the gate. Edgar sprung to his feet and prepared for another battle. What came out of the portal, however, was no demon. It was a human who wore the same armor as Salvian's men.

The Captain rushed over to the soldier. "Raynold, you're alive!"

"Captain Matius? I had no idea you were still holding the barricade. I feared the demons had bested you."

"What happened to the others?" Captain Matius asked.

"Those creatures slew most of them and took the others prisoner. I only made it back because four young men showed up and helped me."

Enya perked up. "Adrian and the others are okay?"

***Sorry I've been gone. Prom drained all my energy, but it was well worth it! ***


Group B

Kai tried to move as quiet as possible, staying on Adrian's heels. If there was anyone he trusted, it was him. They had grown up together, anyway; they were best friends.

The group continued to cut around the perimeter, following the small trail through the blackened grasses and rocks. There had to be another entrance somewhere! A side door, unguarded, easy to reach...

***All I've got for now; I have some makeup work to do for Precalculus...***

(No problem, I know the feeling all too well. I'm pretty drained right now, but I've still got an animation to create that's due tomorrow, and I'm only half-way done at best. I've also got a character monologue to finish writing and preform in class the day after. Then the NEXT day I have to have the rough draft of a matte painting of a fantasy style landscape. I barely have enough time to play my precious video games now that the end of the semester is starting to close in. But, whenever I have time during homework breaks I always try to post here when it's my turn. I'm the one who created this storybook, the whole thing would fall apart if I wasn't here, right? )

Group B

The group kept moving through the brush, staying as close to the wall as possible. Soon they came to a small hole in the wall. It looked like something had blasted the wall from the inside, as the edges were cracked and ruined. It may have been small, but it wasn't too small that all four of them couldn't crawl through.

"This must be the side entrance Raynold mentioned," Ivellios pointed out.

Adrian nodded. "I'll go first. I'll let you know if the coast is clear." He got onto all fours and began to crawl through the hole. The air seemed to get hotter and hotter the further he went. He emerged from the other side in a dark hallway. There was a sealed door at one end, and an archway at the other.

A bright orange glow came from the other side of the archway. Adrian crept closer to the archway, making as little noise as he could. He placed his back against the wall and peeked around the archway to see what was on the other side.

The next room was massive. It must have been the center of the tower itself. It was round with the same dark and foreboding architecture they had seen from the outside. In the center was a giant pool of lava, and generated from the lava was a bright fiery beam of pure energy shooting straight up. Adrian followed the beam with his eyes, noticing many catwalks of the floors above. At the very top was what looked like a ceiling of red glass, and the beam entered through a hole in the center. Was this energy the source of power that kept the Oblivion Gate open? If so, whatever was used to control the portal must be on the tower's uppermost level.

Adrian snapped back to his senses when he heard the unmistakable sound of platemail boots. Pacing on the other side of the pool was a soldier in black and red armor. At first glance, and from this distance, Adrian almost mistook it for being human. But after studying its features a little more he concluded that it was not at all human.

The creature's skin was a mixture of black and red, like someone had smeared blood across obsidian rock. Its hair was jet black, and horns poked out of its head. Lastly, its eyes were as red as the sea of magma that surrounded the island. Adrian didn't know what kind of demon it was, but considering the armor and sword it was sporting it would be best not to engage.

Adrian went back over to the hole and ushered the others inside. When all four boys were together, Adrian explained his thoughts and findings on the situation.

"So what you're saying is whatever is keeping the Oblivion Gate open is at the top of this tower?" Kai asked.

"I'm not certain, but that's what it seems."

"How are we going to get up there?" Ivellios asked, turning to face the sealed door. "The next room is guarded by that black skinned demon you described, and it doesn't look like there's any way to open this door. There aren't even any handles."

"Wait," Balaes said as he approached the door.

"What is it?" Adrian asked.

"I detect a small amount of magic coming from this door." Balaes placed a hand on the surface of the door, as if to examine it. As soon as his skin brushed the cold stone, the door rumbled and slid open.

(If anyone is interested in seeing how my animation that's due tomorrow is coming along, I posted it in the Arts and Photography forum. It's a work in progress, so I'm posting my work as I go. I'm already posting it on another forum site dedicated for my college program and everyone in it for critiques, so I posted it in YWS mainly to show people who might be interested in my field of study what it takes to create a professional level animation, even if it is only 2 seconds long.)

Group A

--Incoming Battle!--

Fighters:

- Enya
- Adam
- Reon
- Edgar
- Cathy
- Ilum (Guest)
- Captain Matius (Guest)
- Raynold (Guest)


Enemies:

- Skamp x2
- Flame Atronach x2
- Frost Atronach x1
- Storm Atronach x1

Balaes

His hand pressed against the cool, smooth stone of the featureless door. To his great surprise, it slid open under his touch, reacting to some unknown key. Beyond it lay a thin staircase, revolving around a wide shaft. An orange glow seemed to fill the bottom of it, almost as if it were a well plunging down to the firey core of Oblivion.

"How did you do that?" Kai asked, astonished.

"I don't know." Said Balaes, shaking his head a little as he looked down the shaft. Their apparent height, when they had only just been at ground level, made his head spin. "I think it must react to dark magic somehow. Probably a precaution on the demons' part - they leave the main way up guarded by their soldiers, and have the back way only accessible by themselves or dark mages, who are usually welcome in places like this."

"Sounds to me like they're just leaving the door open for a possible invader." Adrian said.

Balaes shook his head, smiling sadly. The other boy, despite his mother being the most powerful mage in Arcadia, was far too trusting of his fellow humans. "Not really. They wouldn't expect a dark mage to stand against them any more than they'd expect one of their own kind to stand against them. It's true that dark magic can be used for good, but it has long been corrupted by demons, and so nearly every dark mage alive with any real power is somehow allied with demons." He sighed, "Our reputation is not ungrounded."

He turned his gaze from the burning pit before him to the distant top of the stairs. "But they won't have left the top floor unguarded. There'll be some kind of watcher there, controlling the Oblivion Gate. We'll have to kill it if we want to close it." He felt a shiver go through him, "And then we might not be able to get out the same way we came in, we might have to find another portal in order to get back."

**Sorry if I messed anything up, Dynamo. I wasn't sure about whether the Gate would just shut straight off, and whether or not the other side of the door was guarded or not.**

(It's okay. Although some of what you wrote isn't exactly what I had in mind, I've learned from a previous storybook to let others have the chance to make things up. Although, I do have a solid idea of how I want the Oblivion Gate to be closed. First they have to find Menien, who's being held captive in a cage in the next tower, which is only accessible by a bridge from the main tower further up to the top. They won't be able to go any further up the main tower anyway, since the door will be locked, so they have to go across the bridge in hopes of finding some kind of key to let them pass. After killing the demon guarding Menien's cage, the soldier tells them how they're controlling the gate and how to shut it off. At the top floor is something called a Sigil Stone, which is what the beam of fiery energy is shooting into. It's this stone that keeps the gate open, and the only way to close the gate is to remove it. As soon as they do, the energy from the bottom floor shoots up and breaks through the ceiling. The whole place starts to catch on fire as the tower begins to crumble. But before our characters are caught in the fire they're teleported back into their own world automatically.)