Ancient Legacy

Back at the camp, Luna and Reoma are sitting by the campfire. Reoma's brothers are still unconcious, and Sal examines them.

Sal: "Not good, tough boy. Your pals here have been injected with some serious poison."

Sal points at Kyoshiro's neck. A small scratch can be seen there, as if from a needle or a surgical knife.

Sal: "It turned out just like I predicted. This might sound a bit blunt, but your brothers almost became ritual sacrifices. It's an old Slithersnake ritual that involves poisoning the victims with a liquid called Primal Ichor. It knocks the victim out for a few days, then the chemical breakdown of the intelligence brain centra start. When victims wake up later, they are as smart as a rock. Your mates will be living zombies."

Sal chuckles. He takes out a suspicious dark red herb from his pouch.

Sal: "Guess what? I have a Primal Herb here. The poison only works when an exact amount in in the victim's blood, otherwise it's harmless. So if we make another portion of the poison and inject your bros with it, they'll be up and running in no time."

Sal: "Problem is, this herb really likes precision. for the beverage to be poisonus, you have to boil the herb for exactly 33 hours, 33 minutes and three seconds... one second too much or too little, and everything's ruined. It's no proble for the slithersnakes, because all large lairs have a special boiling room with an automatic off-switch. But we don't have that, so you two are gonna be sitting here and COUNTING every second of those 33 and a half hours. You'll have to do it in two shifts because people don't count good when they're sleepy, and like I said, one second wrong and your mates are screwed."

Sal puts a kettle of water on the campfire.

Sal: "When the water vaporises down to half, refill it. The refill water must be just above freezing level. Luckily there's a cold spring nearby so you can get the that from there."

Sal: "Meanwhile, I'll go get your weapons back. Without them you'll be soon dead anyway and all my hard work will be wasted, I don't want that. So, what do you say, cool boy? It's either this or your chums get zombified. Lass here will probably be happy to help you count. Heh."

Reoma looked at his brother's faces and nodded. "I'll do whatever it takes to save my brothers. Even if i have to go around the world to do so. I'll take on the entire slither snake army if I have to as well. Nobody will get in my way with saving their lives. They're family, and they have saved my life as well. Family doesn't leave family behind to die. So I'll do whatever you say if it means saving my brothers," said Reoma as he gripped his legs so hard that his hand turned white.

"And friends don't let friends down. I will help as well. Even though we have to count 120,783 seconds." says Lunar. She was tired from the fighting but didn't show it. She had snuffed the fire that made her look like a harpie and now looked normal again.

Sal: "Good. Start counting... three... two... one... now!"

Sal throws the herb into the boiling kettle.

Sal: "Girl, go get some water from the spring and then go to sleep. You'll need to be fresh by the time your pal here falls asleep. Now, I'll go get back your sticks and stones, big man."

Sal waves at Reoma and Luna, and cruises off back into the woods.

((ON HOLD, DON'T POST!))

((Transfer from "Alone as normal"))

Sal slithers along the narrow path wtih Kazuki and Moon behind him.

Sal thinks: "I hope that switch worked. According to the old scripture I stole from some fool last month, that keep is a former Tempelhof outpost. and just like the scripture said, the part of the keep that's above ground is just the tip of the iceberg. The real outpost lies underneath. When I went in to get those two poor lads, I went looking for a switch with a code lock. The Slitherguard Captain probably knows what it's for, but he doesn't know the code. That's why he guards this rock so jeaolously. According to the scripture, I entered the code backwards... if it really does what this sheet of paper says, oh boy. It's gonna be ugly."

The trio arrives at the keep. The picture they see is unexpected. The keep and the area around it is a battleground! The Slitherguards are fiercely fighting heavily armored skeletons, who seem to be coming soemwhere from deep inside the keep.

Sal: "Daamn! We have to pick sides now, people! We can't afford to have everybody against us. These undead aren't mindless wretches, they're sentient and at the very least as agreeable as the Slitherguards. ...atleast, that's what the paper here says."

Which side do you want to join?

Slitherguard


Tempelhof





(No goddamn loopholes. I spent too much time on fidnign the pics. Sheesh.)

"Hmm... Sal. You're a Slither Snake. And you seem to know alot about things. Can you tell us why they are fighting? Would the Slither Snake's be useful to join? Or the other side? I don't want us making a wrong move. I really just want to slip on past them without fighting," said Kazuki as he sat on the ground, in a meditative position, focusing on all the presences in the area within a 100 foot radius.

"I'm going with the undead Templehof. Harpie attack the snakes." says Moon drawing her bow. Dark Harpie takes off and swoops down trying to slash on of the snake's necks. Moon draws her bow and lets loose a arrow towards another snake's back.

Sal: "Well, I hold no allegiance with these punks. Do all humans like eachother or what?"

Sal snorts.

Sal: "The leat I can say is that we slithersnakes are generally very racist. Talking to a human like an equal is a great shame in our society. I'm an exception because I've never actually lived in a slithersnake city, and know better than to get race differences to get in the way of business. The Guards of the other hand, are probably least cooperative Slithers of all. On the upside, they aren't very politically agressive, which can't be said about the undead and their notorious horde invasions. So we'll probably get away with helping them without too much global consequence."

Sal: "The skeletons are more interesting in my opinion. As written in a scripture I.. err.. got my hands, on, they belong to the Tempelhof Legion, an army of a lost city-state inhabitants of which were kept walking by necromancy and spirit magic long after the state went under."

Sal gives Kazuki a quick glance.

Sal: "It would seem taht these guys aren't actually undead. The soul never left the body even after all the vital functions ceased and the flesh withered. Meaning that they're technically still alive, and have a sentience that can be negotiated with. Don't know any more about them, but I think they have more interesting things to offer us for our help. And more magical atrifacts."

Sal gives Moon a quick glance the other way.

Kazuki's face was now nothing but pure anger. His fists were clenched so hard that his knuckles were white. "Damn necromancers.... Why can't they let the souls rest.... I can see their pain... They fight unwillingly... The least I can do is give them freedom... DAMNIT. I doubt them necromancers would want to share their magical treasure. They look out for themselves. They are nothing but a band of dark mages who want to control others. Sure, the Slither Snakes seem bad. But they are still alive. The skeletons are dead. Why torture the dead just to create more dead? I'm sorry Moon, but you're on your own. I can't stand by and let others die. I have to release the dead and grant them freedom, and there is only one way to do that.... And that is to take out who's controlling them," said Kazuki as he opened his eyes and looked at the Slither Snake. They are attacking your kinds fortress. Surely you can't just let your own kind be killed like this. Surely you can't just stand by and let these poor souls be tortured. You know about this place better than I do. With your knowledge and my eyes, we can come out as winners," said Kazuki. "But first. I want you to take me to the Slither Snake Captain. We need to withdraw and form a plan." Kazuki's face was determined and thinking. He seemed different than the kid Sal had met before. Kazuki was serious, and his spiritual energy seemed to eminate from him, making him a little distorted.

Zane Hataro slowly started to walk toward the area where the keep was located and noticed a group of fighters in combat, as well as a miscellanious group of others. He slowly reached his hand behind his back and wraped his fingers around the hilt of his sword. Zane pulled the blade out from it's sheath and pulled it infront of him. The steel it self was roughly six feet long, but very thin for a sword. Next he moved the sword so teh blade was right over his arm.Zane cutt into his flesh just deep enough for blood to spill, but not deep enough to cause any major damage to himself.

Zane moved the sword to his side where it hit the dirt because of it's immense length and turned his arm downward. Small drops of blood fell to the ground making a one inch long puddle of his blood. Zane moved his arm over a few inchs so more blood would form a second collection of it. Once this was done, he turned his arm back up so no more blood would fall down to the floor.

Zane Hataro then walked backwords five paces and waited for the abilities of his type of necromancy to take affect. The blood began to look as if it was boiling and small bubbles formed in it. When the bubbles poped, black smoke came out of them and with-in moments the smoke covered a large area the size of two humans.

Once the smoke cleared two demonic figures were shown infriont of Zane. They had a sickish-tan colored skin, the bones in their body had bones conjoined around the arm and feet. The skin was also tight around the bone so their arms were in the shape of blades and their feet were pointed to an etent that could cutt if a direct hit with the point. The rets of their body also had a odd arrangement of bones. The rib-cage and inside the chest area were visible to the human-eye. Also, the demonioc entity's heads looked mutated as if their skulls had been crushed to nothing and then remade from the remains.

Zane waited with his two demons standing around him and watched the area carefully. He wanted to find out data on the peole in the area before he went blindly in trying to obtain his objective. He remained silent through all of this and was taking mental notes of the combat currently taking place.

Spoiler:

Sal: "Like I said, they're no more my own kind than a human bandit or marauder is yours. And besides, if you look at the odds, the Guards number around two hundred, while there are already more skeletons on the field and they still keep coming."

Sal watches Moon and her harpy join the battle on Templehof's side.

Sal: "Looks like she made her choise. But you are driven more by noble intent rather than reason... not wise."

"If you noticed there are more undead Templehro than snakes. If the they win do you think they will forgive you for attacking. I don't think so." says Moon running forward so she would be closer and it would be easier to aim at the snakes. Moon fires mores arrows at the snakes unprotected backs. Dark Harpie keeps swooping down trying to slash at the snakes from above.
((are any of them getting hit))

Kazuki's eyes lit up. "I have an idea. But Moon, I'll need your bow, and Sal, I'll need your cunningness. And your harpie as a destraction. I think together, we can win this thing. But first, we have to wait for the true side decision. It all depends on how many necromancers are on their side. We need to find someone to take us to their leader."

Zane kept watching the events unfold before him as he kept note of the statistics of the battle. After three minutes he made his decision to fight for the necromancy army as he himself used the art of necromancy and he might be able to get some valuable data from the leader.

Zane Hataro sent telepathic messages to his two creatures telling them all about his plans and what he intended them to do. The two followed orders and one of them began to walk over to the battle-feild where the fight was taking place. The second stayed by Zane as a defencive measure.

The necromorph sent to do offencive work was headed for the snake army with it's claws ready to slice some heads. It waited in preperation for the order to begin a full scale assault by it self amoungst the snake armie's flanks. Death didn't really matter to it because it knew about how Zane's necromancy worked and thus had no trouble in following every order it was givin regardless of the death rate.

Sal: "There are probably no necromancers present here. They don't walk around in the open. And the soldiers can pretty damn well think for themselves, especially when led by the knights. No point for a necromancer to show up."

Sal: "They don't look like they're very tormented. You're alive, but you feel no pain, no fatigue and no fear. As for your body being bones... I think I'd get used to it. The necromancers are actually seen a benefactors who sustain life in the others. To think tht there's a whole city living like this..."

Moon's arrows hit some Guards in the back, but their armow was too thick to be piecred with a bow. Moon would been a crossbow or an arbalest to do that.

The harpy's claws rake a Guard. The harpy seems strong enough to rip through the Guard's chainmail, he is wounded and drops to the ground.

The Slitherguard Captain shouts orders left and right. The guard's ranks tightena nd they form a shield wall, trying to repel the steadily increasing number of skeletons.

Moon puts her bow away. "I might not be strong but at least a sword can do some damage." she says to herself drawing her black sword. She sneaks up to the snake closest to her and she swings her sword at his head.
Dark Harpie swooped down and slashed at another snake.

"I don't like this choice, but if it's the only way to survive, I guess we have to go for it. But try and incapacitate them rather than kill them," said Kazuki as he held out his hand, got on one knee and measured the distance between himself and archers. THe air in front of his hand began to distort and then he said, "Spriti Bomb!" A sphere of energy shot from his hand, heading straight for the archers. He didn't wait to see if that one hit, he was already preparing his next one. "Sal, can you protect me while I cast my magic? I have no skill in physical combat as of yet.

Zane continued to stay in his location as the battle continued on and more corpses filled the area. He sent another te;epathic message to his necromorph on the offencive about how to execute it's assault upon the enemy lines. The idea he had was quite suicidal, but he knew his pet could accomplisdh it fairly easily.

The necromorph near the snake's army got the message from it's master and [ressed it's blade-like feet against the ground. In a moment, it jumped up high into the air over a fraction of the snake army and came diving down into the exact center of the forces. As he came down, the Necromorph aimed it's blade like arms directly at the necks of two snake soldiers in a attempt for a quick double kill to start things off.

Moon's sword slips on the Guard's helmet and crashed down on his pauldron, staggering him.

Dark Harpie slashes another Guard with its claws, but the shield wall was already in place. Harpie still managed to rip the Guard's sword from his hand. At the same time, a guard crossbowman fired a bolt at Harpie out of a tower window. A second later he screamed and fell out of it, with a broken pike in his back. Templehof's forces were now in control of the keep, with only a remnant Guard formation still fighting outside.

Sal to Kazuki:" Sure, sure. Just keep that sorcery comin', little
man! This is a good opportunity for live target practice, heh. They
can't reach you over here anyway."

The Necromorph slams down on the Guard shield wall. The blades are blocked by the shields, but the force of impact knocks down some of the Guards and disrupts their formation.

This is a vital opportunity for the Templehof skeletons, who push through the breach and divide the defending Guardsmen in two small formations instead of one big one. Slitherguard defeat seems imminent.

Moon quickly pulls back her sword then jabs it foward trying to stab the stunned snake before he could attack


Dark Harpie dodged the arrow by folding her wings and dropping before it could hit. She opened them at the last second slashing at the nearest snake before flying up again.

"Moon! Get your harpie to attack the ones I hit! It will provide an opening!" yelled Kazuki as he fired another Spirit Blast at a group of Slither Snakes coming up behind the skeletons in a close formation.

The Necromorph in enemy lines continue to follow orders and quickly got back to normal combat position. It looked at another snake soldier infront of it and attempted to move it's blade like arms around the soldiers body. if this was successful, the necromorph would use all it's strength to pull the sharp side of it's arm against the soldiers neck and try to cutt tghrough the throat and wind-pipe. All this was done in a matter of seconds due to the creatures enchanced speed capabilities.

Meanwhile back at Zane's positioned more and more snake soldiers began to fall and it was clear that he had made the correct decision in choosing sides. He started to walk a lsight bit closer to the snake army with his necromorph beside him, but didn't do any attacks yet.

Moon's sword pierces the Guard's chainmail but only causes a shallow cut. The Guard recovers from the stun and retaliates with a wide sweep of his billsword.

Harpie mistimed her slash, and her claw grazed only air. A Guard saw the Harpie losing its balance and tried to impale it mid-flight with his pike.

The Slitherguards have poor sorcery resistance, and their formation is disrupted by Spirit Blast. Their ambush momentum is lost and the skeletons quickly surround them.

The Guard has still not recovered from the initial impact. Necromorph's blades cut deep into his neck. He makes a gargling sound, drops his sword, and falls down.

Meanwhile, Slitherguard Captain swung his claymore and cleanly cut a Templehof footman in two, together with his armor and shield.

Slitherguard Captain: "Sal! You traitorous dog! I'll kill you with my own hands before this is over! I won't let you get away with stealing first my scripture, then my prisoners, and now my men! I... I trusted you!"

Sal: "Heh heh heh. 'tis your own fault for letting it happen, old bean. We never had any sort of deal set up. You were a fool to think I'd let you have this keep's real treasure. Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer, they say, eh?"

Slitherguard Captain: "AAARRRGH!!"

Slitherguard Captain charges Sal with his claymore raised.

Moon jumped to one side barley dodging the sword. She runs 10 feet away before turning and stopping. She sees and hears her harpie screech and turn back into a feather when the spike stabbed it through what would be it's heart.
Moon quickly grabs another harpie feather from around her neck and surrounds it with dark energy. "Dark Harpie of the night wind, Rise forth, I call you to fly again." Moon chants and the feather absorbs the magic and turns into another Dark Harpie. "Attack the stunned snakes over there!" says Moon pointing to a group of snakes that had been hit with the mage boy's magic. The new Dark Harpie takes of and slashs at one of the stunned snakes and Moon swings her sword at one of the snake's neck.

Kazuki listened as Sal and the Captain talked. He sighed and held out his hand. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that!" yelled Kazuki as he ran out in front of Sal, holding up his hand with the Sphere of Spirit energy distorting the air in front of it. But now it started to turn a bluish color and energy began radiating from Kazuki as his face hardened and he took in a deep breath. "SPIRIT!" he said as he pulled back his hand. He then released his held breath and thrusted his hand forward when the Captain was just around ten feet away. "BLAST!" he yelled as the Spirit Blast was charged to its maximum and shot toward the Captain at such a close range. A shockwave of energy was left in the wake of the blast. The entire area around Kazuki becam distorted and a thick line of distortion followed in the Spirit Blasts wake. After doing this, Kazuki fell to his knees, having used up so much energy from training and then fighting and then this, it took his stamina down. He would need to rest for a bit and drink and eat something.