The Whirlwind

[Imperial Overlord]

Tis awesome!

Denian raised his hands. "We mean you know harm."

"I doubt that's true," said Nalifan. "I imagine that you mean us a great deal of harm. You just realize that you're out of your league. 'Please don't hurt us' would be far more honest."

Rofl

Glad you liked it.

[Xon]

Glad you liked it.

There are only a few of your fics which I havent read (mostly cos I'm not interested in that fandom). But that vast majority are great fics, and more importantly, consistantly good thought out the fic.

It really helps you do not subscript to the terminally incompetent protagonists(in a serious setting not intended to be humorous no less!) who come out of an advanture knowing less and being considerably lessened as interested characters than they started ala X-Files. Dana Scully is actually an anti-science personality despite being toted as the 'science' type, disbelieving the facts which are reaching out and hitting you in the face does not make for a rational mind.

[Imperial Overlord]

Thanks to Nitram for the Malkamar of Shade quote.

I have to confess a certain sympathy for the Netherese. What destroyed their empire? A moron with enough magical ability to devise a spell that would channel an enormous amount of magic to him but not enough intelligence to consider the possible consequences and a god so stupid that the only way to disrupt the seizure of the core of his domain was suicide, a cataclysmic disruption of the Weave, and rebirth. The depredations phaerimm were survivable, the bungling of two powerful idiots supposedly on their side was not.

-Nalifan D'Azurentien

The one thing more shameful than Karsus' Folly is that it took a Drow to articulate the full reality of it.

- Malkamar of Shade

Poison Fester flew towards the walls of Neridian. The demon was invisible to mortal eyes and confident in his abilities to slip through their puny defences. He would stalk and slaughter the rulers of this city, these petty psi lords, and feast on their blood and souls. By the time that the Lesser Ward fell completely, their would be no opposition to the emergence of a demonic army of conquest.

A pair of wyvern riders were perched on the city wall. The dragon kin had good senses so Poison Fester changed course, flying away from them and closer to the city gate. One of the men on the top of the gatehouse looked up, eyes wide. He had been spotted.

A silver lance was raised at him and white-hot lightning blazed towards him. Poison Fester bellowed with laughter as the lightning splintered off his form. The wyverns turned toward him. The lance wielder leveled his weapon again. More silver lightning bounced off him.

He pointed at the lancer and and reached out with the primal power of chaos. Flesh twisted and warped reducing the man to a squirming slug. More lightning flashed from the wyvern riders. Poison Fester bellowed in delight as it struck him harmlessly.

The demon flew towards the closest rider. He slapped the lance aside and decapitated the wyvern with a single blow from his axe. Blood sprayed all over him as the beast fell. The rider kicked free from his saddle and drew a sword with a cyan crystal blade. Poison Fester grinned at him. This one was no coward.

He shattered the mortal fool's blade with his axe. His viper head struck, biting through the gorget to fill the mortal's veins with poison. The mind knight thrashed and kicked. Poison Fester slapped him away and turned towards the other wyvern rider. He turned in time to take the lance in his chest.

The demon howled in rage and buried his axe in the mind knight's chest. The human jerked and spasmed in death. Poison Fester ripped the blade out and blocked the wyvern's jaws with his left arm. The fangs opened shallow wounds on his arm. Poison Fester severed its spine and pulled the silver lance out of the corpse's hands before once again rising into the sky.

More lightning struck him. He laughed his contempt. His wounds were healing. Already his chest wound had slowed to a trickle. Lightning would not bite him. He raised his trophy and blasted another rider out of the sky in a silver flash. Let them come. He would kill them all.

----------------------------------------------------------

To spy on the overmasters without their knowledge required more than just power and skill, it required cunning as well. Arinyaniquis had spent days considering the problem and had come up with a solution that was both elegant and effective. In his lodgings he began the construction of a an array of enchanted mirrors. Each mirror was a piece of magically altered ice, conjured and preserved by Arinyaniquis's ice magic.

Light was bent and redirected by the ice-mirror array, allowing him to witness what was going on inside the Overmasters' citadel as if he was spying at their windows. Too bad it didn't carry sound, but he was a skilled lip reader and all he was really looking for was a moment of low occupancy when a surprise attack would allow him to inflict severe casualties and escape before reinforcements arrived.

He was in the middle of enchanting another ice mirror to enhance his array when thunder disturbed him. The sky was clear. He poked his head out the window, looking for the source of the sound. A monster was flying above the south gate and every wyvern rider in the city was coming towards him. Lightning flashed again and again and more men fell from the sky.

The elf mage wasn't sure what was going on, but he did know an opportunity when he saw one. That thing, whatever it was, was engaging the city's defenders and doing so fairly successfully. This was a golden opportunity to pick off a few overmasters and he wasn't going to waste it.

Arinyaniquis wrapped himself in spells of stealth and warding as the demon slaughtered its way towards the overmasters' citadel. Arinyaniquis closed his left hand around the Heart of Winter and felt the chill power flood through his body. He was ready to fight and even if he fell, he would leave a disaster for the overmasters in his wake.

He rose into the air, leaving behind the rooms in the expensive inn. Ahead of him the overmasters' citadel beckoned. He hoped that Endire knew what he was doing. A cold wind began to blow. Winter was coming.

[LadyTevar]

Teh OverMasters are just so fucked. Nalifan and Co can take their leave at any time now, and the shit they stirred up will kill off the planet.

[Imperial Overlord]

The problem with incompetent fools meddling with powers beyond their control is not that those forces will inevitably turn on them and kill them. The problem is that the forces they unleash are rarely courteous enough to merely to kill the fools.

-Nalifan D'Azurentien

The road east to Neridian was almost completely deserted. Behind the adventurers a few faint columns of smoke rose into the sky as they passed fields and gentle rolling hills. "So," said Trizkel, "what exactly do we have left to do? We got the lore, killed a bunch of overmasters, and even freed a few elves. We even have some very nice new weapons. Is there anything else we really need to do?"

"A good question," said Nalifan. "I personally want to finish mortally wounding their little empire and kill the protogod they sent to kill us. But I'm a vicious, spiteful drow so the rest of you might disagree."

"Nothing of theirs deserves to live," said Mikos.

"I'm not drow, but blood feud has been the Vaasan way for as long as our history remembers. And the Dalesman is right. They don't deserve to live."

Nalifan shrugged. "Triz?"

"Find anything in that book to help us kill that thing?"

"Not really," said Nalifan. "Kill all the bodies and it dies. It can make new ones only by feeding. Lose the last bodies and its just as dead as a mortal. I just confirmed my suspicions."

"So we have to kill multiple semi-divine bodies," said Trizkel. "Fighting it again is a big risk. I don't think its worth it. However, I seem to be in a minority and my bride to be is charmingly bloodthirsty on the subject." he smiled.

"Why thank you, future husband." She said smiling back.

The smile vanished from Trizkel's face. "Company." He turned his head and inclined it towards the clouds. "Demons."

"I don't see them," said Mikos.

"Other side of the clouds," said Trizkel.

Nalifan snickered and uttered the words to a warding spell. "So much for the element of surprise."

"They're out of reach up there," said Mikos. "Unless you want to fly at them in which case we give away surprise."

"How conventional of you," said Nalifan. "I have an alternative in mind."

Trizkel grinned. "I love it when you fight dirty. What are you going to unleash?"

"Watch," said Nalifan. He shouted words of power. For a moment nothing happened. Then the clouds began to stir as if moved by a strong wind. They began to move faster and faster. Dark shapes spilled out of the clouds as a dozen vrocks swooped towards them. Among their midst were two mighty balors and the klurichir demon Gutweaver. Behind them the clouds swirled like a whirlpool. Body parts fell from the clouds, striking the ground with a grotesque rain.

"The balor on the left," said Nalifan calmly as he joined the Dalesman in dismounting. Sylvetria and Mikos already had bows in hands. Shafts flew up, striking the demon in the hip, shoulder, and chest. An eye searing beam of white light shot from Nalifan's finger, playing along the balor's chest, flaying away skin and muscle in a mist of dark blood.

Mikos drew back another arrow, hesitated for a moment, and then loosed. The shaft pierced the demon's flayed chest and pierced its heart. A blinding flash filled the sky as the balor perished. The vulture-demon's tumbled through the air with smoking wings, all but one of them successfully arresting their descent before they crashed into the ground. Pieces of the unlucky vrock bounced once after the impact.

Smoke streaming from his wings, Gutweaver threw a blast of dark fire at Nalifan as it descended. The dark magic seethed around the drow, but did not touch him, fading away to nothingness in a few moments. Trizkel vomited a gout of acid over Gutweaver's torso and wings and the klurichir screamed again and headed for the ground.

The surviving balor touched the ground about three hundred feet away, his massive form wreathed in flames. With a bellow he ordered the surrounding vrocks into battle as Gutweaver breached the barriers between the worlds to bring yet more demons into battle. Thunder sounded and a frame of burning bones marked the edge of a gate to the Abyss. A pair of midnight blue glaberzus stepped upon the world, their violet eyes glowing from atop their fifteen foot frames and their outer pincher tipped arms snapping with blood lust. They roared and charged.

Ten vrocks had touched ground. Eight joined in the charge, the other two having fallen with multiple arrows embedded in their bodies. Nalifan shouted a spell. A keening dirge cut through the air and the demons threw back their heads and screamed. Blue light poured out of their mouths and eyes. The balor vanished in an explosive burst of light.

The ground was torn up and charred in a wide circle around where the balor had once stood. The corpses of the slain demons had been ravaged by the force of the balor's detonation and a pair of trees and been cracked open and uprooted. Smoke rose from the ravaged earth.

"They must have known that they could not-" Mikos began.

"The protogod!" Trizkel shouted as he spun around. A terrible bat thing swooped down upon the psychic warrior as the rest of Zahaneth's bodies charged down a hill and towards the adventurers. Not a bad distraction, Trizkel thought as he drew his blades and ebony talons plunged towards his throat.

[LadyTevar]

Nalifan shouted a spell. A keening dirge cut through the air and the demons threw back their heads and screamed. Blue light poured out of their mouths and eyes. The balor vanished in an explosive burst of light.

Sonic. The one elemental attack NO ONE has resistance to.

[Brain_Caster]

Nalifan shouted a spell. A keening dirge cut through the air and the demons threw back their heads and screamed. Blue light poured out of their mouths and eyes. The balor vanished in an explosive burst of light.

Sonic. The one elemental attack NO ONE has resistance to.

Sounds more like Wail of the Banshee to me. Really useful, that little spell.

Still, something tells me Nalifan and Co are in trouble.

[Imperial Overlord]

Sounds more like Wail of the Banshee to me. Really useful, that little spell.

*Gives Brain_Caster a gold sticker*

[LadyTevar]

Sounds more like Wail of the Banshee to me. Really useful, that little spell.

*Gives Brain_Caster a gold sticker*

Bah. I never get a gold sticker.

[Imperial Overlord]

Bah. I never get a gold sticker.

The Queen of the Black Mages does not receive gold stickers. She gives them out.

[Imperial Overlord]

The timing of when to attack a powerful foe is an important thing. In my opinion, there is no time better than when he is busy fighting a deadly foe. It's completely unfair, but so are most of the best things in life.

-Nalifan D'Azurentien


Arinyaniquis watched as the Poison Fester flew up to assault the crystal dome atop the Overmaster's Citadel. The mighty demon had left a terrible swath of destruction in his wake, blasting wyverns from the sky and crushing men on the ground with telekinetically hurled debris. A dozen fires were burning in Neridian and they would all soon spread.

The elf wizard circled the Citadel, maintaining his spells of flight and invisibility. The air around the demon rippled as waves of psionic force broke against him like waves against a cliff. The demon raised his axe and struck.

The crystal dome was a foot thick and reinforced with binding of arcane power from another age. The first blow sent cracks running from the impact point. The psi lords on the inside flinched. The second blow broke through, sending shards of crystal flying and the cracks creeping further along the dome. The third blow shattered a demon sized hole and sent chunks of crystal calving off the dome to smash into the Citadel below.

Five overmasters, two men and three women, stood ready to fight the demon. The air around them was radiant and distorted by the defences they had wrapped around themselves. Mental assault and telekinetic disruption had failed, Poison Fester had been too resistant to their powers. Brute force would now serve in subtlety's place.

Edelent the Gray, a dour brown haired man, struck first with a lance of incandescent light that burned into the demon's chest. Poison Fester's bellow of pain threatened to bring what was left of the dome down upon them.

Sinaya was next. The concussion blast she unleashed staggered Poison Fester and blew out the rest of the dome behind him. Crystal shards fell like a rain of daggers in the streets half a mile away. Blood drooled from between the teeth of Poison Festers' wolf jaws.

Then Edelent fell writhing as the serpent head pumped venom into him so toxic that it could slay fiends and angels alike. Sinaya's head bounced on the floor, jets of blood shooting up from her decapitated body which swayed and then fell. Blades of psionic force carved wounds into the demon's immortal flesh, but Poison Fester was not deterred by them. He wolf jaws closed on the skull of a red headed woman and his axe opened the belly of a fat man. His own black blood hissed and bubbled as it mixed with the human blood on the floor. Only one last overmaster remained to face him.

Arinyaniquis's mind was racing as he watched the bloody confrontation. The overmasters were the enemy of his people, but if the Lesser Ward had failed and there were still demons alive within, that would be a disaster. If they existed in numbers, the threat they represented was far greater than that of the overmaster. He had to know.

Reluctance made the words bitter on his lips, but he spoke them anyway. Icy mist gusted from his mouth and the interior of the dome turned to ice, Poison Fester immobilized just as he was advancing on the lone overmaster. The demon would take a while to die in that icy prison and when it did so it would leave intact corpse from which secrets could be pulled. Now all he had to do was secure his prize and escape from the city.

A psychic lance was thrust into the elf's brain. Arinyaniquis's world became a seething sea of red pain as he writhed in mid air. Wind rushed around him and he found himself writhing on hard cobbles. Pain filled his world. Pain was his world.

Then the pain faded away. His limbs were locked rigid and unresponsive. His eyes would not obey him and neither did his lips or tongue. "It is over elf," said a weary voice. Invisible hands jerked Arinyaniquis up. He was near the Citadel gate, floating before a dark haired man with streaks of grey in his hair. "There is nothing you can do. Your body obeys my will."

Arinyaniquis attempted to thrash against the forces holding him, but it was futile. Nothing happened. His body would not obey his will. He could not lift a finger or utter a spell. He was helpless. Or maybe not.

There was one thing that was bound to his will. He reached out to the Heart of Winter. Icy power, contained, now spilled forth with dreadful eagerness.

Rexess had a moment in which to realize something was not right. Then frost formed on the cobbles and on his clothes. The cold crept into his flesh and burrowed in deep. A bitterly cold gust of wind raced through the streets, the vanguard of a the icy gale that followed close behind. Snowflakes began to fall and Rexess the Reality Shaper's icy body fell to the streets.

Arinyaniquis fell lightly to his feet. The elf flexed his fingers and was satisfied that they behaved accordingly. His body was his again.

Cyan light exploded around him as a spell ate away at his wardings. The elf dodged around a corner and a nearby alley as the sorcery rent and tore at his spells, sending pieces of fading magic trailing behind him in the form of trailing sparks and half formed runes. Was it the dhaerow who attacked him?

Evidently not, as he saw a dark robed human descend from the Citadel walls, sheathed in psionic and sorcerous defences. Power gathered around the overmaster. Arinyaniquis struck first.

Ice would be too obvious and too likely to be countered. The concussion blast that Arinyaniquis unleashed was a sorcery Endire had derived from psionic telekinetic attacks. A boom of thunder split the air and Vargo was smashed into the Citadel's wall. The overmaster slid slowly down toward the ground. Endire had added a few refinements useful for smashing threw wards to the spell.

"Hello," said a little blond girl. "Do you want to play?" Arinyaniquis's eyes went wide as he saw the shell of power encasing Typhu. The elf uttered a curse.

The brick walls of the surrounding buildings cracked and crumbled. Rats were instantly frozen stiff. Every insect within half a mile died instantly. Glass shattered and boiling water turned to ice. The ice magic ripped through Typhu's power shell and turned her blood to slush.

Now, now, said a voice in Arinyaniquis's head. That wasn't very nice. Now I'm going to have to get a new body. You really should have listened when the elders told you to work on your discipline. Its hard to puppeteer your body, but I can still do it. If you worked harder at your exercises, you might have been able to stop me. Now how do you turn off the ice thing in your hand.

Arinyaniquis couldn't grin, but he could form the thought. You can't. There are no words. Only a mastery of ice magic. The heartland of your empire is going to be buried in ice while all your provinces are going to go to Baator and there is nothing you can do about it.

[LadyTevar]

Typo Patrol:

he is buy fighting

blasting wyvern's from the sky

Other than that... wow. Arinyaniquis might be about to die (or worse) but he's definately taking the Overmasters with him.

[Imperial Overlord]

Everything dies.

-Nalifan D'Azurentien


Trizkel took a step back as the bat-thing dived at him, his blades filling his hands. The protogod shrieked and tried to retreat at the last moment, but its forward momentum was too great. It impaled its chest on the lance that had appeared in Sylvetria's hands. Trizkel leapt, blades flashing.

Mind Eater spilled the bat-thing's guts, Ruinbringer severing the left arm claw. Trizkel parried a claw rake and stabbed it in the chest. The next blows went to the right shoulder and then through the maw and into the brain. His foot pinned the dying creature to the ground as Sylvetria brutally jerked the lance out.

Mikos's bowstring hummed as the archer fired as fast as he could. Shafts struck the elephant monster, barely penetrating its hide or bouncing off. "Beshaba's brats," the Dalesman hissed.

The elephant beast lumbered behind five other swift moving bodies. The blood red tiger, scaled lizard-wolf, two ton tusked hexapedal wolverine, mammoth sized black bear, and gigantic flayed bull tore up the ground as they charged. They would be on the adventurers in moments. Streamers of pastel light stretched out from his hands to lash at the adventurers.

One of the streamers touched Nalifan's left arm and corroded its way through wards to dissolve skin and layers of muscle. Sylvetria shuddered as two streamers brushed her and fell to her knees. Trizkel and Mikos managed to avoid the deadly magical ribbons, but the adventurers' horses weren't so lucky. They ate their way down to bloody bones where they touched the poor animals. The horses screamed and fell, dying in agony.

Mikos rolled to his feet firing. He drove three arrows deep into flank of the flayed bull and then dove away as the tiger leapt at him. Nalifan shouted a spell. The tiger, bear, and lizard-wolf smashed head long into an invisible wall. The tusked wolverine hurried around the side, moving around the wall, only to receive Sylvetria's lance through its ribs. The protogod roared and shook her off.

Trizkel exhaled a gout of acid that splashed over the wolverine beast's head and shoulders. The black fluid ate away at the protogod's muscle and hide. It howled in pain as the rest of its bodies circled around the curve of the invisible wall. Mikos let fly with a single shaft.

The wolverine-beast's vitals were armoured by hide, muscle and bone. Mikos's arrow flew straight and true. The hide and much of the muscle of the wolverine's skull had been eaten away. The shaft penetrated his skull and into the brain.

The tiger was the first around the bend, but Nalifan was ready, deadly magics on the tip of his tongue. Fireballs flew from his hand and hammered the tiger back as they detonated in plumes of blue-white flame. The arch-necromancer uttered a single syllable and unleashed a devastating blast of fire that washed over the tiger, bull, lizard-wolf, and bear. The drow rose into the air, laughing cruelly.

The elephant beast finished the spell it was working on and the invisible wall fell. Sylvetria lunged at the tiger, which was still staggered from the multiple hits. Her lance dipped and pierced the creature's breast. She slammed the but into the ground, pinning the ravaged beast in place as it died on the end of her steel.

Trizkel rushed forward, a psionically propelled blur of motion. The charge carried him into the bear beast's side. His swords stabbed in between the bear's ribs, ripping into the protogod's insides. The bear bellowed and reared as the drow opened new wounds in its flesh. The bear lashed out with its claws. Trizkel dodged, sidestepped, and leapt over its blows. The fourth sent the drow tumbling through the air.

Rearing exposed its throat to Mikos who shot two arrows into the bear. Blood pouring from a dozen wounds, it lumbered towards the archer with murderous intent. Meanwhile Sylvetria had pulled out her great hammer and swung it at the dying tiger. The hammer's spike penetrated the creature's skull. She pulled the weapon free and spun as the enraged bear charged past her, intent on tearing Mikos apart. She swung the weapon in a horizontal arc that ended with the bear's kneecap. It shattered and the protogod's charge turned into a sprawl.

The elephant's magic tore down Nalifan's wall, exposing all of his comrades to its deadly magic. Black lightning flashed from the arch-necromancer's hand, smashing into the elephant and rending its mind and spirit. The elephantine monster trumpeted in fury and prepared to unleash fresh sorcery, although its strength was diminished by Nalifan's strike.

Beneath Nalifan the flayed bull raised its head and exhaled a gout of crimson fire. The drow was protected by formidable layers of wards and enchantments. They weren't enough. Nalifan screamed in agony as his flesh burned.

The lizard-wolf charged Sylvetria, bowling her over and clawing at her enchanted plate armour. Mikos fired off a trio of arrows, one of which bounced off the protogod's armoured hide and the other two causing merely shallow wounds. Trizkel ran over the back of the dying bear, leaping away in enough time to avoid a clumsy blow, and slammed into the wolf-lizard's side with enough force to knock down. The drow's blades drew blood, but could not bite deeply through the protogod's armour.

Sylvetria rolled away from the downed beast and regained her feet. A blow from the lizard-wolf knocked Trizkel away as the creature sprouted another pair of arrows. She raised her hammer. Nalifan shouted a spell.

The lizard-wolf's shoulder shattered under her blow. It bellowed. Trizkel's swords flashed. Mind Eater plunged deep into the protogod's chest. Ruinbringer was thrust into its throat, stopping only when it hit spine.

The flayed bull was surrounded by an emerald flash. Bloody flesh became translucent glass. Eye searing brilliance engulfed Nalifan, but when it cleared the drow had suffered no further injuries. "Finish them," he said.

The elephant launched another spell, but Nalifan tore it asunder with his own magics. Trizkel plunged Mind Eater into the dying lizard-wolf's eye and Mikos's sword was rammed point first through the bear's skull with a two handed thrust. Sylvetria's hammer came down and the glass bull shattered in a thousand pieces.

The drow shouted out one last spell. Bloody runes materialized around the elephant creature's body, the last receptacle of Zahaneth's soul. He was one now, not many, with only the strength of a single battered body. The protogod's body could not withstand The End of All Flesh and collapsed into bloody chunks. "In the end," Nalifan whispered, "even the gods die."

[The Nomad]

Well, that was quite a beating.

Hopefully they'll get some ice to put on their bruises

[LadyTevar]

Well, that was quite a beating.

Hopefully they'll get some ice to put on their bruises

*WHAP*
That was just a horrible, terrible pun!

[Imperial Overlord]

One of the advantages of starting a fight in a strange land is that they don't know you or what you are capable of. Another is that you aren't burden down with ties to things the locals can use against you.

Unfortunately, it also means you might not know all the players and some asshole can jump out of nowhere and try to cut your head off.

-Nalifan D'Azurentien


Refugees clogged the road, streaming away from the storm over Neridian and the surrounding lands. Icy winds lashed the travellers as snow fell from the sky. The roads were covered in slush as endless lines of feet trampled the snow into mush.

A few days ago it had been summer. Now crops wilted in the fields and livestock lay frozen. The refugees wore multiple layers of clothes as they attempted to protect themselves from a blizzard fiercer than anything this part of the world had experienced before. Upon their backs they bore heavy packs as they trudged away from their homes.

"So," said Sylvetria, looking up at the stormclouds above Neridian, "are we still going to burn the city?" The adventurers had halted on the side of the road, several miles from the outskirts of the city. Mist streamed from the Vaasan's lips. "Because it looks like someone beat us to it. Figuratively."

"Ice magic," mused Nalifan. "Who do we know that could possibly be responsible?"

"I wonder," said Mikos.

"The question stands," said Sylvetria. "We killed their god-thing, decimated their army, and slaughtered a whole slew of overmasters."

"And you wonder if that isn't enough?" asked Nalifan. "Never do an enemy a small injury. What's left may still be strong enough to track us home and ambush us. Let's make sure they don't crash the wedding."

"Good enough for me," said Trizkel.

"Me too," said Sylvetria. "Let's finish pushing these bastards into the grave."

"It won't be that hard," said Nalifan. "We ripped up the west and bloodied their army. Their pet had to have slaughtered hundreds or thousands and the east is on fire. Now their capital is sitting under a blizzard during high summer. We could vanish into smoke and their empire will still be fucked. Getting enough to eat is going to be tough this year."

"But you said-" Sylvetria began.

"Psilords," said Nalifan. "Their empire can go belly up and they can still be a threat to us."

"Right," she said. "Got a plan on how to get into the city without attracting too much attention and everyone heading for the hills?"

"A couple of plans actually," replied Nalifan.

"How about plans that don't involve slaughtering a lot of innocent people?"

"Not so many of those. Better watch out brother, she's looking a bit like a kill joy."

Trizkel smiled. "Then you don't know everything. Let's do this thing. What's the plan?"

"The usual," said Nalifan. "We go inside and kill them all."

[LadyTevar]

YAY! WHIRLWIND!!!

[Imperial Overlord]

Chaos and confusion are useful tools in war. Keeping the enemy off balance and hitting her hard usually worked well. Of course, some people get squeemish over the amount of damage one has to do to generate that chaos and confusion. Humans are strange.

-Nalifan D'Azurentien


"Well Vargo?" Typhu asked in her little girl voice. The overmasters stood in the remnants of the council dome.

"It's definitely the shard in his hand," Vargo replied. Arinyaniquis's body stood before them, still frozen into immobility by the psionicist's power.

"A blind man could tell me that," replied Typhu testily. "We need to stop the damn storm."

"You could always pick it up."

"And have my flesh turn to ice? No thanks. Can't you do anything about it? You're the magician? Oh don't bother trying to deny it. We're beyond that now."

"It's not just that. It's some kind of magic that I've never seen before, one without precident in my studies. The elves obviously developed it after they fled north."

"Brilliant. I could have never thought of that myself."

"We are going to have to do something about those elves," said Vargo.

"Yes," said Typhu. "Besides, killing off some of the soldiers will help with the food problem. And we can pick new overmasters from the most competent of the survivors."

"We aren't the only surviving overmasters," pointed out Vargo.

"We are the only ones who matter," said Typhu. "We're the strongest and the hardest to kill. We can do anything we want. The rest will have to fall into line. I've recalled the survivors here."

"To a freezing city?"

"A problem for mundanes, not us," said Typhu. "Maybe someone will come up with a solution to our ice shard problem."

"We could just telekinetically move it somewhere else without directly touching it," Vargo mused.

"Possibly," said Typhu, "but where to drop it . . . ."

----------------------------------------

Entering the city turned out to be easy. As the sun set and the temperature dropped even further, the flow of refugees thinned out and then disappeared. It was better to spend the freezing night inside the city where there was shelter than exposed to the elements on the road.

"See?" said Nalifan. "I didn't even have to kill anyone." He grinned, showing perfect white teeth.

"Wonderful," said Mikos. The snow in the main roadways had been trampled into slush, but there was about three inches of snow everywhere else. "It does look like they're short guards."

"I imagine they're busy guarding things that the overmasters consider important," said Nalifan. "The ones that the elves didn't kill."

"I'm surprised they weren't waiting for us," said Sylvetria.

"They probably don't have things straightened out yet," said Nalifan. "All the snow's fresh so the elves hit here recently. Look at the tops of those towers. Blasting spells as well as ice magics. The overmasters probably don't have very many good troops left."

"And they need them to guard their citadel and personal quarters," said Trizkel. "However many of them survived and didn't desert."

"The haven't done clean up," said Mikos as he pointed to smashed building. The body of a wyvern and its rider were sprawled half in, half out of the ruin.

"Probably having too much problem dealing with the fleeing populace," said Nalifan. "Lets find some place to hole up so we can recon the citadel and plan our attack."

"Sounds like a plan," said Trizkel. "You'll ward it?" he asked Nalifan.

"Of course," said Nalifan. "Shall we proceed?"

[Imperial Overlord]

Some people plot elaborate and cruel revenges. I can't say that I'm not sympathetic, but its not to my taste. Hiring torturers and orchestrating elaborate and cumbersome scenarios that create suffering and torment but still leave the victim alive take a lot of effort and resources. It's also riskier than simply destroying your enemy.

There's a reason cats play with mice, but not with poisonous snakes. Just crushing your enemy and disposing of them in some painful way is simpler, easier, and cheaper. It also one to spend time in much more enjoyable pursuits, which reminds me I have to pick up a couple of new concubines.

-Nalifan D'Azurentien


A blonde woman wearing a heavy fur robe and a lean, tanned man wearing jewel studded black leathers dropped through the roof of the shattered dome atop the citadel. Vargo nodded in acknowledgement of the new arrivals. "Merin, Hanur."

The other two overmasters nodded in response. Typhu did nothing. "The army will be here shortly," said Hanur. "Maybe two days."

"Good," said Vargo. "Between the demon, the elf, and the blizzard we've lost too many people to keep order and the city's social fabric has been torn apart."

Merin eyed Arinyaniquis's paralyzed body. "So this is the elf?" she asked.

"Not one of the outworlders," said Vargo. "Looks like some of them escaped north."

"Not enough to do much," said Typhu.

"Have you looked around you?" said Hanur sarcastically. "It seems they've done something."

Typhu glared at him. Hanur took a step back. "Without the offworlders they would still be cowering in whatever hole they crawled into. They wounded us and showed the northerners that we could be hurt. Beaten. We kill them and then we dig the elves out of the ice and kill them all."

"And if there are more like him?" Vargo asked, pointing at Arinyaniquis.

"We can bury them in bodies if necessary," said Vargo. "Numbers tell."

"So," said Hanur, changing the subject, "what about the demon?"

"Not the elf's work," said Vargo. "It was very powerful. We think the outworlders brought it through."

"Think or hope?" asked Merin.

"Think," said Vargo. "The Lesser Ward is still intact."

"But it could have been momentarily disrupted," Merin pressed.

"It's not impossible," said Vargo, "but very, very, unlikely. After we kill them, we need to work on repairing the damage to the Wards."

"Agreed," said Hanur. The others, with the exception of Vargo, nodded in agreement.

"So," said Merin, "the outworlders were last seen out east if the trail of damage is any kind of indication."

"The will come here," said Typhu. "We have forseen it."

"We?"

Vargo cleared his throat. "I've confirmed it with divinings of my own. They're likely to come here. To finish us."

Hanur nodded. "Makes sense. And thats why you recalled the army and everyone who could be spared."

"It's time to finish this," said Vargo.

------------------------------------------------------

Snow covered rubble choaked the streets of Neridian. Fire gutted buildings lined the streets while others were broken open. Gangs of feral men roamed the streets with clubs, axes, and hammers.

The adventurers road slowly through the streets, their hands on the hilts of their weapons. The marauders sized them up, but did not attack. "Nice," said Sylvetria. "This must be one of the benefits of that 'civilization' thing everyone tells me about."

"Do enough damage to the public order and it will collapse," said Nalifan. "Which is one of the reasons order is overrated. It starts with looting the abandoned houses and then escalates from there."

"So," said Trizkel, "find a place to hole up and recon?"

"Sounds good," said Sylvetria. "Nal?"

"Right. We find a nice house, break in, and settle in."

Sylveteria raised an eyebrow. "So we add to the chaos?"

"Who would notice?"

[Imperial Overlord]

Know this, your life is worth less than that of the least of my sons.

-Dread Queen Sheharith, ordering the execution of a defeated rival.


The mighty and terrible beast feigned sleep. She sprawled in a comfortable posture, her mighty limbs tipped with rending claws curled about her. Her maw full of killing fangs was closed and her eyes were closed to mere slits. She was ready to spring up should it be required.

Nalifan stroked the cat's cheek and smiled at the captives sitting around the fire with him. "She's an adorable creature, isn't she?" There was no response. The drow arch-necromancer leaned back in the generously stuffed chair. He smiled at the humans. "Relax. You're lucky it was us that broke into your house. We'll be gone soon and we haven't done anything worse than raid your pantry. Plus, if something nasty comes along it has to deal with us."

"As you say sir," said Marukal Draghan. He was in his late forties and had learned long ago that those with power could take anything from anyone if they so desired. Fighting just made things worse. When he was twelve his neighbor had tried to resist losing his daughter. In short order he lost his money, his freedom, his wife, his son, and his life.

Sylvetria walked into the living room. The residents were unbound, but not unsupervised. They sat on chairs and couches around a small table, enjoying the heat of the fire and putting up with the three stray cats Nalifan had insisted be taken in. The Vaasan placed a plater of sliced meet, cheese, and bread on the table. In her other hand she held a flagonof warmed milk for the children. She refilled their glasses. "There you go," she said kindly.

The children, a girl of about seven and a boy of about nine took the glasses. They shared their mother's blonde hair. The boy loaded up a piece of bread with slices of pork and cheese before returning to the blanket beside his mother and the maid. Trizkel peered out the window and said, "Mikos is coming."

The door opened and Mikos stepped in, another stray cat held in his arms. "It's snowing like Loviatar is in town," he said. "And I got another stray."

"Good," said Nalifan. "How did the recon go?"

"The army's on its way," said the Dalesmen as he warily looked at their captives. "It's a few hours away, but settled in for the night. A small sea worth of campfires." Mikos and Sylvetria both disapproved of Nalifan's housebreaking, but had reluctantly gone along with it. The ranger dropped the black cat on the carpet where it darted away into a corner. "The overmasters are holding some kind of meeting at the top of the tower dome-thing. Though the dome is mostly toast. They have that ice elf there."

"Alive?"

"I think so. He looks paralyzed."

Nalifan piled some meat and cheese onto a slice fo bread and then covered it in spiced oil. He took a bite. The cat on his lap stirred. The drow offered his fingers to the cat, who licked up the oil with her raspy tongue. "Looking like it's time to strike," said the drow. "We've had a day to rest up and taking another will just make things more trouble."

"Army's still close."

"They're not a problem."

"Care to share your solution to them?" asked Sylvetria. "And why you insist on us saving every single cat we find? Besides the fact that you like them?"

"That I like them is enough, but they are actually related to your first question."

"We're going to bury them under a horde of kittens?"

"Not quite," said Nalifan. "But I believe we have overstayed our welcome. We have overmasters to kill." He turned to their captives. "Thank you for your cooperation. We'll leave the keys on our way out. If you value your lives, keep the cats safe and happy." He smiled broadly in a way that was not at all reassuring. "Trust me on this."

[Imperial Overlord]

Despite my general dislike of weather, there are a few good things I have to say about snow. One is that snowball fight are a simple but surprisingly good pleasure. Second is that it is easy to track somene through snow. Third, it records the occurence of slaughter and massacre so beautifully.

-Nalifan D'Azurentien

"Well Vargo ?" asked Typhu in a breathy voice. The cerebramancer straightened and looked down at the perverted overmaster's stolen body.

"I can handle it," said Vargo. "The talisman can be controlled and neutralized." More correctly, he could control it. His magical talents allowed him to utilize the Heart of Winter and his psionic training strengthened his will so he could master the device. It would give him a crucial edge in the power struggle that would inevitably follow their victory.

"Then do so," said Merin irritatibly. The overmasters had replaced the crystal dome with a psionic forcefield. It kept the weather out as well as serving to repell attackers. It did retain the heat, but did nothing to help with the overmaster's temper. "It's the middle of summer and I'm damned tired of the snow."

Hanur nodded in agreement. "This is an embarassment. It will take us a generation to regain the control we once had, even if we exterminate the elves. Too many will remember overmasters dying at the hands of outsiders. Some of them killed with fucking arrows, for the Power's sake."

"So nothing weird is going to happen if we kill the elf?" asked Merin.

"No," said Vargo.

"Good," she said. "Now let's slit the bastard's-"

A crack of thunder interrupted the psionicist. The dome of telekinetic force on top of the citadel shattered under the impact of Nalifan's spell. Merin stepped forward and fell to her knees, an arrow protruding from her back and other sprouting from her throat. Blood gushed from the terrible wounds. No one moved to help her. The overmasters scrambled to preserve their own skins.

Trizkel touched down on citadel floor, the drow a murderous blur of speed as he charged the overmasters. Hanur unleashed a telekinetic blast struck him with enough force to turn an ordinary human to a bloody pulp. The blast smashed him over the edge of the floor and into the air.

Typhu telekinetically ripped the floor from the top of the tower as he the overmasters piled into the stairway. Arinyaniquis slipped off the stone and fell through the air as the over master threw the mass of stone at the attackers hovering invisibly above them. Silver lightning and a brilliant azure flash collided with the mass of stone in mid air, blowing it apart. Chunks of stone pelted both sides, but sorcery and psionics protected most of them.

Arinyaniquis's body fell as Trizkel flew back up. The drow was trailing blood from his nose and ears and in more than a little pain. He darted to the side and grabbed the elf's body as he fell past him. Trizkel grunted as he caught him.

Vargo sent a powerful telepathic transmission to the army. Come. Now. Bring everyone. He uttered a spell which would wrap him in a protective mantle.

Hanur was the slowest, taking up the rear. Silver fire danced over his body and snow flashed into vapor where it came into contact with him. Sylvetria dropped on him like a hawk, her warhammer held in her hands.

A blast of white fire struck her. Sylvetria fell through the fire, her armour surrounded by a haze of heat. She brought the hammer down. Hanur's skull exploded in a spray of bloody brains and bone fragments.

Typhu blasted her up and over the side with a telekinetic blast. He turned towards Vargo and hesitated. Nalifan was behind the overmaster, his hands striking like a serpent and closing around the overmaster's chin and the back of his head. Nalifan twisted.

There was a barely audible crack and the overmaster's body went limp. Nalifan had passed through the wall to dispatch the overmaster from behind. He opened his mouth, not to issue taunts, but to unleash killing sorcery.

Typhu's defences were formidable, but there are limits to all things. Crimson runes appeared around his body as Nalifan uttered a short, terrible phrase. The flesh exploded of the child's body, splattering gore all over the stairwell. The denuded skeleton, covered only by a few strands of wet muscle, tottered and fell.

Sylvetria and Mikos hovered in the air above the drow as Nalifan raised a perfect black stone and began to intone a spell. He raised another black opal and repeated the spell. Trizkel appeared, flying up above the walls of the citadel. "Dead?" he asked.

"Dead and gone," said Nalifan with a smile.

"Good, because there is a small army including a lot of psionicists miling around down there like a stirred up anthill and a big army coming right for us."

Mikos turned and looked up and then down. A score of wyverns were winging their way towards the adventurers and twice as many flying men and women were sliding through the air next to them. The Dalesman could see more soldiers mustering on the tops and windows of nearby towers. "Yeah. Trouble."

[Imperial Overlord]

Some decisions and strategies depend upon the skills and powers on possesses. Which spells to prepare, what weapons to take, and so on and so forth. Others are more universal. Two in particular is that whenever possible one should have a contingency for when a situation becomes otherwise untennable and that whenever possible one should choose one's allies carefully.

-Nalifan D'Azurentien

"Nal," said Trizkel slowly, "that's not as many as last time, but this time the mindknights and psilords are with them in force." The psychic warrior still held Arinyaniquis. The ice mage was stirring and returning to consciousness.

"And we don't hold the wall," added Sylvetria. "Or even the citadel. Anything I've missed?"

"I prepared spells with hiding us, protecting us from the overmaster's powers, killing them, and keeping them dead as my focus," said Nalifan. "Not killing an army. Oh I have some spells that will help, but not enough against those numbers."

Sylvetria banished her warhammer and conjured a silver lance. "Alright," she said. "So what's our next move?"

"Let's ask Arinyaniquis," said Nalifan. He turned to the pale elf. "Are you up to killing an army?"

Arinyaniquis shook his head. "I expended much of my magic against the demon and the psilords. The Heart of Winter has been leaking its power, creating this blizzard. It has nothing left for battle, not against that many."

"That narrows our options down to flight, which is unlikely to be successful, and calling upon an ally. I believe the time for the latter has arrived." The drow descended towards the base of the citadel. The others followed.

Several arrows and bolts zipped passed them or bounced of armour and wards. Mikos raised his bow and fired back. Three archers fell back onto rooftops with shafts driven through their bodies and another slumped in a narrow window. The arrows ceased.

Nalifan's feet touched the snow outside the citadel as he began chanting. The air quivered as power flooded from the drow. There was a faint humming and then a loud crack. Peals of thunder rolled across the sky as a thin tear opened in the air. Murky green light poured out and then a man stepped through.

He was tall, closer to seven feet than six. His skin was light brown and his hair was black. He wore it straight and bound in a short braid down his back. He had golden eyes and a short, neat beard. A gold earing with a large ruby hung from his right ear. He wore a black robe with orange diagonal stripes of the finest silk. Beneath it he wore a suit of black mail over dark under robes. A pair of long, slim curved blades were sheathed on his back.

Trizkel flinched back from the raw power rolling off the man. Nalifan bowed. "Mighty Khan, I ask for your aid as a friend to your people and those of your liege-lord. We are threatened by an army, the army of a nation that has nearly driven your people to extinction on this world. I ask that you unleash your fury upon them."

The Khan of All Tigers said nothing for a moment. Then he spoke. "I will do as you ask. My liege may request a favor from you in the future."

Nalifan bowed again. "As your liege wishes," said the drow arch-necromancer. The Khan of All Tigers inclinded his head slightly and then drew his blades. The swords were as black as the void and their curved blades were four feet long. There was a blur through the air and he was gone. Screams came from the direction he had gone.

"A beastlord?" Arinyaniquis asked softly.

"Yes," said Nalifan. "They tend to remember their friends and not indulge in tedious moral diatribes."

"And pack the punch of a demonlord," said Trizkel.

"That would be another important point," said Nalifan, "along with the kind of favors they ask for in return."

"Don't kill the tigers," Sylvetria muttered.

"Yes," said Nal, "and don't forget their smaller relatives. The King of All Cats does care about all of his people."

Another peal of thunder rolled over them. Branching trees of blood red lightning clawed over the sky. A louder boom echoed after it. "What in Hades?" Sylvetria shouted.

Trizkel looked up at the sky. "The Wards just broke. Something broke them open in the wake of the damage caused by Nal's spell."

"Oops," said the arch-necromancer.

[General Trelane (Retired)]

"Oops," said the arch-necromancer.

Oops indeed!

Can't wait to see this play out!

[Imperial Overlord]

Can't wait to see this play out!

More violence.

Wait, that wasn't much a revelation was it?

[LadyTevar]

Well, if both Wards are broken, that means the Gods can come back ..

I don't think Corellian is going to be very happy with the PsiLords for killing off all his children. I believe I mentioned before that Nalifan would be pissed to find himself used by the Elven Gods just to take down that Ward....