council-of-fools.com

[breye]

Topiltzin emerged from the temple. Dead littered the paths of Malebranche.

"M'lord, you have been severely damaged. You should not have been in the front of that combat."

Many of One replied without so much as a glance at the priestess. He points out a few of the blue cloaked bodies in the courtyard.

"My injuries are of no import. Begin cleaning up this mess, imprison that woman, and prepare these four for necromantic interrogation."

Topiltzin nods

"As you wish."

*****

Inside an alchemical lab, a hunched figure is creating mixtures of rare materials, occasionally pouring the contents upon the damaged areas of Many of One. Topiltzin enters to speak with him.

"The interrogations are complete. The prisoners are as you have asked. Is there any other security issues you need me to take care of? Preparations for their second wave offensive?"

[Mikill]

Many as One returns to the Garden, he makes his way to the spires. The one he was taken from, Maltorc stands outside the entry awaiting him.
"Report." He says as the copy of himself arrives.
"A band of the Blue Dragoons arrived as you suspected they would, ever since the woman escaped." Many replies.
"Are they all dead?" Maltorc says snarling.
"No, there is a survivor. One woman. A paladin." Many says. They both smile wickedly,"Reminds us of Mauria's mother."
"Keep her in the temple. Deprive her of food and water for a few days, perhaps she'll loosen her tongue then." Maltorc says looking away as though in deep thought.
"And when that doesnt work? You know how these types are." Many replies.
"Tell Quintus to use the mask. See how long her soul holds out." Maltorc rumbles.

[breye]

A fire elemental appeared earlier today, scorching the early morning air in Malebranche. For several minutes it wandered the paths of the village, igniting buildings, and assaulting the locals. Five were slain, and upwards of a dozen were wounded in collateral damage and battling the flames set by the beast. No further information is available at press time about the assumed attack.

[eightball]

Where is that city?

[Mikill]

Quintus emerged from the temple. Tovak the stone giant beside him. Solomon following closely behind them. Quintus turned to Topiltzin and Many as One, "The men say that the Blue Dragoons have returned. I shall meet them in town. We'll try and widdle their forces until you get ready. We'll retreat to the temple proper as a last restort and make our stand there if they prove too strong."
Topiltzin nods,"I will prepare the temple for attack. They will not defile our lords home!"
Many as One looks at Tovak, "The one I am taken from does not want to see you perish. So retreat if you must."
Tovak smiles,"I dont want to perish, so that puts us in agreement."
Tovak and Solomon fade from view, one from spell, the other potion.
"Solomon." Quintus says to the air,"Target their holy men."
"Understood." He replies.

The three leave the area and the doors to the temple close. On the way, Quintus collects the dead of the previous invading Blue Dragoons. "Their animated corpses shall act as a reminder of what happens to them if the fall."
Quintus moves through town, one spell to prepare is all he needs for now. The Shield of Law wraps around him. Tovak walks with grace, even though a stone giant, he is cat-like in his movements. Solomon moves with precision. His footfalls cannot be heard by the most observant of men. They see it. A mammoth elemental made from the earth. Its stature even dwarfs the stone giant. Behind it the Blue Dragoons walk. They have come in greater number. An erinyes above sees all from her vantage point and notices a half dozen foes invisible moving towards the temple. She telepathically recites this information to Quintus and in an instant is within the temple. Topiltzin being informed of this immediately moves to the doorway of the temple and blocks any form of teleportation or summonings. "If they come, they will come on foot." She says finishing her prayers.
Quintus sees the group of Blue Dragoons. There will be no words exchanged this time. The last time he gave them the choice to leave. This time they have retreat or death as options.
The Blue Dragoons charge, Tovak emerges from the air and in an instant a half dozen men fall like wheat before a scythe. His spiked chain covered in gore, he swings it with abandon filling the air with their cries. Startled by the persence of a giant, the Dragoons send the elemental to battle the other monstrous presence. The much slower elemental just barely keeping time with Tovak as they trade blows as the giant hedges it away from the others. The dozen zombies are destroyed by their priest, a look of pain and anguish on his face as he watches his former companions turn to powder. Quintus laughs as he does this,"Thanks for taking them off my hands. I wasnt sure what to do with them."
The bulk of them move to attack Quintus, amng them are the survivors from the last attack. They know his power is great and that he must fall. But a priest who has time to prepare is a formidable foe. He moves away from them and shrouds himself in mists. Solomon strikes at them from their most vulnerable positions. Tovak harried by the elemental manages to keep it at bay, but after many moments he is forced to withdraw. A quick potion and he is gone. Solomon fells one of their warriors. Her screams heard from the mists that Quintus created.
The Dragoons begin to crowd the two remaining men. Solomon is prepared to run. As the mists are dispersed Quintus sees that the six others that the erinyes had reported had come back to help their friends. Now he faced them all. This was a foolish fight now, and grabs Solomon and in a moment they are in the grey mists of the Ethereal.
"To the temple, we must make our stand on our sacred ground."
Solomon nods, his wounds are severe but he obeys for he knows what fate awaits if he runs. Tovak seeing the two men disappear knows where they are headed. He will make his way there as well. Albeit by foot.
Quintus and Solomon appear in the temple. Topiltzin and Many as One stand by the altar, "Second wave of attack should be here soon."
Topiltzin places her hands on Quintus and most of his wounds disappear.
The sounds of earth being shattered can be heard throughout the temple as the elemental rends the doors and pillars on its way through the temple. The moving mountain forces the Dragoons to split up and take the side passages to enter the main temple. They are delayed by the horrifying images of melting flesh and lemures claw at them. This is however a minor problem as they fell the horrors with every blow. Lemures however are there to do what they have done, hold them back for a moment while their commanders prepare.
As the Dragoons burst into the chambers, they find their foes. Topiltzin strides forth, she strikes at one of the men across the room as though punching him. She lets out a fierce cry as she does this. The man fells her fist in his chest as though she had punched him. He feels cold as the power she unleashes takes his life. He falls to the ground dead.
Many as One slams repeatedly into the elemental, it crumbles to stone and then sand as it falls. Quintus turns to see a rogue stabbing at Topiltzin, he reaches out his hand and with a few words of fell origin he rips her heart from her chest. He casually lets it hit the floor as she stares at it still beating. She know she will die in moments. She tries moving to the priest for aid, but falls before she can make it. Another moment, Quintus sees the sorcerer, he has been running from the barbed devil that was summoned. He makes a motion with his hand as though squeezing something in his hand. The sorcerer grabs his chest and feels his heart stop. He falls, foam coming from his lips.
The leader of the Dragoons shouts for his men to withdraw, but his cries are interrupted by Solomon who plunges a wicked looking sword made from the fear of his victim. The man staggers but does not fall. He slashes at the winged demonic Many as One and in a final blow the simulacrum melts away. The priest gasps as he sees this. He recognizes what this means. They have a formidable foe they have not yet seen. The remaining Dragoons grab who they can and in a word are gone.
Quintus surveys the dead and damaged. "The flesh golem lies destroyed as does one of our masters duplicates. However, the Dragoons lost five people and two captured." he says to Topiltzin. "I should go to him and tell him the costs." She says turning to go to sleep chamber.
"He already knows." Maltorc says walking into the chamber.

[breye]

The carpenters were busy. The main doors to the temple had been ripped from their hinges by an enormus elemental creature just the day before. Support pillars had been smashed, violent spells had been unleashed, and numerous other doors had been destroyed as well. Amid the sounds of the workmen talking, the hammering and the cutting of wood, the gentle click of the metallic humanoid's feat upon the courtyard pavers was unnoticed at first. The creature set down it's burden, obviously a humanoid figure itself. The burden was bound, and had a sack over it's head.

A gentle hum of rising pitch preceded the metallic creature's speach. The sounds of the workmen in the area slowed down as they, one by one, noticed the new arrivals.

"I have a simple message to convey. This fleshling has been taken the part of a spy. The fleshling is not wholy to blame in this instance, but is no longer welcome in its former home, and has been exiled to the courts of its spy master. Do with it as you will."

The metallic humanoid turned away from the temple, its red cloak twirlling behind it as it faded from view.

[breye]

For those following in the at home game, Malebranche is in the great marsh south of Draconia, upon Aarth. Really more of a settlement than a village, with few who actually work outside the direct area of the community, but the locals have been very active in modifying the area around the main settlement, and constructing safe paths through the marshland. Some local merchants have begun to put Malebranche upon their routes due to the availability of rare plant materials and hides.

[Mikill]

Maltorc undoes the bondage of the person deposited at his doorstep. The hood removed and the ropes undone reveals Melanie.
"Tanith." Maltorc snarls.

[breye]

Inside the royal manor on Vrondor, Tanith tends to the business of governing Draconia, but there are other things on her mind as well. With one hand she call the meeting to an end, while with the other she motions to a courtier, who she then whispers directions to.

*****

Shortly after the room empties, Delphine enters.

Tanith beckoned her closer.
"How did he react to the dismisal of his spy?"

"With distrust. It seems that he does not trust his spy either."

"Well then, what happened between them?"

"I cannot say with absolute certainty - though Melanie is not with him. She is now within Tor Ev'lon, a guest of the Queen."

Tanith sighs "Renna."
"How I wish Monique was still there. I knew where I stood with Monique. Renna has done nothing, and yet something tells me I should not trust her."

"I will do what I can to keep up with Melanie's actions in Tor Ev'lon, but the palace is well warded."

"Very well. Let me know as soon as you know something more solid, and send in the envoy who is waiting on your way out."

[breye]

In the city of Vendare, the House of the Midnight Horseman is a combat training hall and mercenary gathering locale used by the local merchants. Because of the nature of the place, town guards were slow to respond to word of combat inside. Witnesses report that a lone swordsman walked into the hall in utter silence, and began killing staff members and local mercenaries alike. The swordsman batted away the blades of the veteran mercenaries as one would the play fighting of a child, the hall was turned into an abattoir. Close to two dozen were slain in the heavily armored man's killing spree. The manager of the popular mercenary gathering place, Scot 'Red' Trume, went missing during the assault and is feared dead. He was last seen battling the stranger inside the hall.

At nearly the same time just outside the town of Cos, the Blue Dragoon's Griffon Arie was attacked, the defenders and their griffon slain to the last. In town, the Blue Dragoon's hall was also attacked by a group of fiends. Local bard, Veyla Kren was the sole survivor of the attack. She indicated that a particularly large red skinned fiend indicated that the attack was payback against the Blue Dragoons

[breye]

Kyle wallked through the halls of Silverhorn Manor, home of the Blue Dragoons. The blood had been cleaned from the main halls, but the stains left behind from the unholy magic were proving more difficult to remove.

"Daeric, we've revived the last of the men that we can."

Daeric looked up from his desk, a frown on his face. The desk itself was littered with reports, and a stack of letters notifying the families of the fallen of the fate of their family members.

"News from the field?"

"Reports from Marshall Brightblade and Father William continue to indicate no visable threats."

Daeric looked down and returned to his papers.

"That doesn't mean that they are not keeping an eye on them...or us."


********************


A raven settled down upon the branch of a tree next to one of its brothers.
None would suspect that these two were anything but two birds sitting in a tree.
However, these two were not simple birds, the two imps did not even need to use sounds to communicate, and sent their thoughts to each other.

"I've seen nothing new."

"I haven't seen anything interesting since that last group left with the wagon three days ago."

"This job is getting boring."

"Yess, but we're almost done with our contracted time. Look, when I followed that last group, they stopped at a roadside inn. I'd rather not start up too much trouble close to these knights, but that inn is probably far enough away that any we could cause all sorts of havoc before any of these paladins are notified. Care to join me for some fun?"

"Mmmm, that sounds like a good way to take the edge off after having to watch these humans."

"Then meet me back here when our time is done - I will lead you to the place. For now, we still have work to do."