The Prophecy of Destruction

As Blade was fighting off the goblins with Varus he noticed Varus getting angry then yell at the goblins. Blade could sense that there was an energy projectile heading towards them he jumped beside Arashi about to defend himself from it he niticed it only took out the goblins "That was strange i wonder who sent that out." he thought to himself. He tried to focus to see where the energy came from.

After the swarm of rats disappeared, and the goblins were slain, a bright lighting flashed through the walls, blinding Zantar for a moment. "What's Going on?!" Zantar kept his guard up, waiting for whats gonna happen next

Shady awoke strapped to a chair. He struggled to get free and started to relax himself. He forced his eyes open and standing before him was an average sized human man. He wore long purple mage robes and his clothing was adorned with skulls and other bones. He looked as Shady started to struggle.

Well, well, well. It looks like our guest is finally awake.

What... what do you want? Why are you hurting the village?

Shady knew he wasn't as good at magic as most people but he saw a wizard perform this spell before. He prayed it worked and cast a spell to transmit his hearing to his comrades downstairs.

RPGBOT: IT WORKS

My name is Kalarel. I am a high priest of the Cult of Orcus. And why do I hurt those people? What do I want? It's a simple matter really. It's fun. And it gives me more power and weakens them. Soon I will open a rift into the ShadowFell. The namesake of this Keep. I will unleash the undead hordes upon the village, claim this land as my own. Then the country. Then... the world. And soon you and your friends will be gone. In particular, your blood, will be the key to opening the ShadowFell... Demigod. Now let's begin the ritual...

Shady cries out in fear and the magic disappears. He hoped it worked and that his new comrades managed to save him in time. His cries fades echoes against the walls and fades out as he slips into Kalarel's spellwrought unconsciousness.

RPGBOT: Shady will not be posting as he is locked up and part of the ritual. During the ritual he is unconscious and we aren't going to be watching his dreams with him. Sorry for getting your hopes up.

As the lightning flashed and killed the rest of the goblins, blowing out the walls and leaving the staircase. Varus jumped back. "What was that?!!!"

Varus to his personalities "I got a bad feeling." "So do we.."
"We should investigate with this group, i will ask them." "Agreed"

"We should go up those stairs, we need to find out whats going on here, and where that lighting came from."

Dresden:
Dresden's hit and run tactic works flawlessly. He manages to take out all of the commanders. The Kobolds having not wanted to be there anyway and having no leadership left, scattered into the mountains. From the dying commanders he learned that the person behind the assaults was a priest of Orcus, and that he wanted to rule the world by opening a gate to another realm.

Arashi, Blade, Zantar, Varus
Another bolt of lightning strikes all around the group destroying the ground and dropping them into a small cave system beneath the Keep.
(See bottom for map of first room)

Zeek
Douvan Stahl: Thanks for staying. I find the path spooky. Oh and I just remembered, the person behind it is a High Priest of the Cult of Orcus. He intends to open a gate to the Shadowfell. I don't know too much about it except that it's bad Juju. Valthrun should know more.



Adventures land in this part of the area. The number 10 marks a pit in the floor. The walls are riddled with tunnels. The only light source in the room is the small glow of Arashi's sheathed blade.

D&D Grid:

Dresden was relieved that the Kobold scattered instead of attacking he didn't think he had enough to take on an army by himself. He was tired but forced himself to get back up. He used his arcane transport to get back to the village of WinterHaven. Overall, his journey of what should of been 2 hours was only one. He had beat Zeek back to the village and passed out. Valthrun saw him and had Lord Padraig, the town's Kind Baron, let Dresden rest in his manor until he awoke.

WinterHaven Map, Original Post:

*Second lightning strike hits the staircase that everybody is currently on* 

Arashi lost his footing and fell down into the whole that the lightning created. The fall was rather small, so when Arashi landed on the ground he was uninjured. Covered in rubble, he pushed the rubble off of him and stood up and wiped himself off. Arashi took a look around the area, but it was really dark so he couldn't really see much, but could still see that it was a cave of some sort that he had fallen into. He looked at everybody else, because they had fallen down with him, and helped get any rubble off of them and helped them up.

"Hey, are you guys alright?", Arashi whispered.

He looked up to find that the hole that brought them down to the cave was plugged up by a bunch of rubble and seemed impossible to try to smash through to get back up. 

He noticed just then that Hinotama was emitting a dark light. His eye's widened and he quickly drew his sword, which in turn lit up the cave enough to be able to see around him and his comrades and he put up his guard.

Zeek and Douvan starting walking back to the town. after hearing what Douvan says
"It's no problem, Douvan. i just got this weird feeling you know.. i always trust my gut instincts cause more often then not, its generally right haha.. What is the name of the High Priest, and what is Shadowfell.. I want to know what you know. we got plenty of time during this walk. and take me to Valthrun, i have to get more information and get it to Dresden fast.

Blade feel when the ground under him collapsed. He quickly noticed and created an small energy platform below him and which slowed down the fall  but sadly some of the potions he was carrying broke as he hit the ground. "Well thoughs would of been useful" he says as he gets up. More rubble was still falling he jumped out of the way. "Now there was definitely no getting the potions back" he says annoyed. He heard Arashi whisper to everyone if they were all right. He looked around and it was almost pitch black all but Arashis blade he could see Arashi. He called over to Arashi "Now did you really think i was dead? Thanks for checking on me though." and nodded at him. even with Blades powerful eyesight in the dark he could only see about a foot in front in him there was very little light for his eyes to absorb. So he took his energy platform he had and made it into a light ball, he then made several for every one. He could sense that the others were still alive... more or less. he was a tired after using his own energy for a light source. He decided to absorb energy from the ground. he felt the ground it was the earth and dirt he pulled energy from it. it didn't take long. Luckily there was dirt there, he thought, i cant absorb energy from concrete. He got up and noticed Arashi still standing there ready for anything.  Suddenly a horrible nasty odor hit his nose it was horrible. He told Arashi that he smelt something horrible from the distance and that he would scan the area to see where we are. He used his aura abilitys to scan for any other life to see if there was anything down there and if there was a way out.

The ground crumbled under Zantar's feet, and everyone started to fall, in a panic, Zantar cast a spell that softened the stone debris into soft clay, under him so he had a softer landing.
To himself. "Damn it. that still hurt,,"
Zantar started to get up slowly, feeling a bit sore from the fall. As he was getting up the thought he could pick up something. It was a clicking sound, and it was fast. He thought he recognized that sound, but couldn't quite make sure what it was.
Then all of a sudden a black shadow, jumped down, tackling him back to the ground in the soft clay. It was Midnight.
"i was worried about you Zantar, I heard the fighting, and then there was this loud sound and got a sense that something happened to you. . I'm sorry i didn't stay, but i wanted make sure you were ok. "Its alright Midnight, We are gonna need you help down hear anyway. I'm glad you came.
Zantar embraced Midnight in a hug, and pet her on the head.

"Well this is a surprise. Good to see you Blade, and Arashi are alright. My apologies for not being able to soften the debris for you guys, but i only had time to do it for the stone/concrete, that was under me."

OC: The conversation between midnight, and Zantar is telepathic.

Another flash hit, and the floor gave out. Varus cried out in anger, and shock. Varus hid kind of hard, but luckily nothing was broken, just a bit sore.
"That was unfortunate. I wanted to end those goblins... RAHHHH WHY!!!" Then all of a sudden he calmed down, Varus was able to take back control, after the fall. He finally managed to force his anger back, but his emotions became sporadic for a bit, but finally came too.
After getting up something hit his nose, it was foul. "Guys, there is a snake like musk in the chamber ahead. I got a bad feeling, and i don't like this darkness..." With that, Varus started to use flame cyclone, but instead of fully casting it, he turned his blade into a torch to help lighten up the room.

"Zantar, Do you have a spell that can help make this flame burn brighter? If i add more power to this, it would fully cast my spell. I am limiting it the best i can."
Zantar: thinks it over, for a but, not sure in fully trusting him, but decided with the darkness, it would be best, and cast: Call of the Spirits. and since Varus' sword was like a makeshift torch, it worked and helped illuminating the area better.

Dresden & Zeek
When Dresden wakes up an situation is explained to him. The same situation is confronting Zeek and Douvan when he reaches the city gates.

Douvan: I don't know much. You'll have to wait till we get to the village.

THE SITUATION
Lord Padraig asks Zeek and Valthrun asks Dresden. "Several villagers have disappeared and the dead in the graveyard has risen. We fear the dead will besiege the city to drag all of us away. Please help us, you could be our only hope."

Everyone else
With the room newly lit from a variety of sources, a 10x10 foot nest can be seen with rubble covering it. Broken egg shells and a green liquid can be seen spreading from the nest. A piercing scream echoes through the small wholes as a horde of creatures come out. several creatures cluster around a small pile of loose coins and other objects. Many are small, but one is the size of a human. All resemble six-limbed reptiles with insectlike traits. Silvery chitinous plates cover their bodies and short tails, and each has four limbs that end in scythelike claws. The creatures have two smaller limbs, which have finer digits close to the body. The head is vaguely reptilian, and the lower jaw is a toothed plate flanked by serrated mandibles.

Spoiler:

One of the creatures comes from the only path that larger creatures can come from and it swerves back and forth causing it to be a hard target to hit.

Spoiler:

Dresden wakes up from his short rest feeling completely fine. His dreams were haunted by images of scaly insect-like reptiles. He ignored it and decided to focus on where he was. It looked like a small manor. Valthrun came in and he realized he was Winterhaven. After Valthrun's explanation Dresden stares at the bed he was lying in till just a moment ago. These were good people who just let a stranger into their home.

Count me in... where is the graveyard?

Arashi heard blade answer back and he also said he smelt something foul just now. Hearing what Zantar said, arashi replied,

 "It's fine, it didn't hurt anyways."

Arashi tells everybody in the cave,

 "Try not to go overboard guys, I have a feeling this is the least of our worries right now."

Arashi channels 10% of his energy he has collected into his sword and his feet to give his sword a boost and make himself 2x faster then he already was, then lunges toward the medium sized creature swerving back and forth to his left, and tries to slice it in half, and then afterwards he side steps toward the smaller creature and attempts to slice it in half as well. All while doing this, keeps aware that there is a large human sized creature close to him. 

As Zeek and Douvan reach the gates they are greeted by Lord Padraig, who asked to speak to Zeek in private. A short distance away, from Douvan, Lord Padraig had informed Zeek about a new and urgent situation, People were coming up missing and the dead was rising.
Zeek asks a few questions to Lord Padraig "When did this start happening? Where could I find the graveyard? Also, have you gotten any word of my friend Dresden, I left him a while back, but not sure if he returned before i did.

He sensed there were a several creatures. as soon as he heard Arashi one dashed their way he saw Arashi head after it . He kept focusing and found several.. a nest even. He kept going noticed near by a life force depleting. "oh.. no." he whisperd to himself. He yelled out " i think there mad because we." he was cut off as he was tackled by a small one of the creatures that came out of a whole. He kicked it off and held it down. "guys the rubble destroyed their eggs and they think we did it." he said while dodging bites from  the small creature. More showed up to gang up on him. He the ran over to Arashi. "I dont wanna hurt them but it doesn't look like we have a choice"  the smalls ones ran after him. "Oh great what am i suppose to do now"he says. "i have an idea" "no im not listening to you... you got us in this mess" "trust me i am the narrorator after all" "fine... what is it"" *mumbling* "you have a good idea for once" He didnt want to hurt them so he ran at them going to drain their energy to make them sleep.

After, helping Varus brighten his sword, he heard the scream. Quite a few creatures came into the area. One was the size of a human, and the others were pretty small, but decent size.
Upon looking at the creatures closely, he thought he recognized them. He had to think a bit where he saw them before. and it finally came together. It was from a book he studied a while back, unfortunately he didn't remember the information, about it, but the drawings he did remember.
"Guys, I know what these creatures are... They are called Kruthik. I've seen them from a book i read a long time ago, but the information slips my mind... I'm sorry i couldn't be much help from that,, I got a bad bad feeling about this."

With that Zantar morphed into his wolf form, hes armor and weapon changing with his body. Telepathically to midnight. "We are gonna have to use are unison fighting. With me in wolf form, i will be quicker. We will have to be careful, as they appear to be, dangerous with those limbs of theirs. But for the time being we will watch and play defensively, watch their movements, and how they attack. This way we can know the best way to attack."

Finally having more light in the room, Varus heard a loud scream. He shuddered, not knowing what it came from but it spooked him. Then he seen the creatures come into the room, one the size of humans, the rest smaller. He then heard Zantar say that they were Kruthik's, All of a sudden his emotions ran wild as he started to panic, people would easily notice from the way his body began moving around.
Personalities talking inside his mind.
"Those cant be it, i only heard of them in legends and stories."
"Why now... This is gonna be hopeless, they are so strong. We cant win...
"Quit your crying, we can do this. but we will have to be cautions...
"THEY WILL BURN WHEN IM DONE WITH THEM!"
"Oh stop it, you will get us killed. I don't want do die to such ugly things. I rather die to a pack of wolves, wait, Did Zantar just change into a wolf. Oh my, thats interesting."
And the conversation carried on for a few more moments. All the while, playing defensive, and dodging attacks that came at him and finally he regained control.
"Guys, I have some bad news, and Arashi, you better get away from them NOW. I heard many stories of these creatures. and standing next to them, is very very dangerous. From a legend i heard during my travels, an old man who's family fought some, had told me. Needless, to say, they all died while he lived. We need to be careful and stay away from them. I am not exactly sure how dangerous it is to stay close to them, but i do know, i have a horrible feeling about it."

Anger started taking control, but was forced back, Determination had taken control instead. His attacks would be calculated, and quick. Varus started to use flame charge. His blade lit up even more and fired one shot at the human sized, Kruthik close to Arashi to draw its attention away from him, hoping to lead it towards him. Then fired another shot at another one that was trying to get close to himself (Varus). Varus had a sense there was something odd of the human sized one, but dismissed it for now, He was determined to help these people get out of this mess.

Zeek and Dresden
Lord Padraig: Actually, we found him at the edge of the village barely standing not too long ago. Lord Padraig glances at the sound of footsteps not too far away. Actually, here he is now. Padraig waits for Dresden and Valthrun to approach. Hello, gentleman. I take it you decided to help us Dresden? We truly appreciate it. The graveyard is short walk in that direction. Follow the road and take the first right. Good Luck!

Everyone else
Arashi's attacks on the two creatures both execute flawlessly dismembering both of the creatures before they can respond. However, the large creature next to Arashi becomes a frenzied blur, slashing madly. Unable to defend yourself from this sudden, brutal attack, he is knocked back a step which causes him to activate a trap. Arashi falls into a ten-foot deep hole and one of the smaller creatures lunge down into the hole at him. The creature then turns its attention toward Varus who was charging a spell. He charges at Varus only to be hit by Varus's spell. The creature suffers heavy burn damage but still stands and is even angrier at Varus. Blade's idea works on the four small Kruthiks following them and they fall onto their sides, however, medium sized ones prove to have too much of an energy source to drain as efficiently and the plan won't work on them.

Spoiler:

Indeed, I did. And it is no problem. It would leave a sour taste in my mouth to not help you after all you've done for us. Leave this to me... or us if Zeek decides to come.

With that Dresden starts to walk down a path. Once he gets about 15 feet away he turns back to await Zeek's response before walking the rest of the way down the path.

Arashi slices the two creatures with ease, and then lost focus on the larger creature for a moment and the creature attacked Arashi, pushing him back into a trap, which he then fell into a 10 foot hole. He saw a creature at the top of the hole and it lunged into the hole. He didn't have too much time to react but he tried using his extension ability regardless. Arashi points at the lunging creature with his katana and yells,

 "EXTENSION!"


Arashi channeled some of his dark energy into his katana to extend the length of it and trys to skewer the creature. 

I have to agree with Dresden on this one. You have helped us out a lot. So i shall join Dresden. Oh, real quick, Valthrun.. after this business with the rising dead is done, i would like to speak with you. Since its not important at this time, it can wait.

Before Valthrun could reply, Zeek starts heading towards Dresden who is waiting on him. Once Zeek gets up to Dresden, they both start heading towards the graveyard.. after walking for a bit Zeek needed to get something off his mind.
You know Dresden, it takes a lot for people to gain my trust. Not saying i don't trust this group of people, because i do trust them. But you, have earned a lot of trust and respect from me.. You haven't shown any signs that would lead me to think otherwise. You are a trustworthy fellow. I like fighting along side you. I think we are good battle partners. So with that, i would like to say, Dresden, you are now one of my most trusted friends, and battle partners... I know its kind of cheesy but hey, its the best way i could think of saying it. haha, But i think we should work together once we are at the graveyard.

After seeing Arashi activate a trap he yelled to the others to watch for traps, and that we are on the creatures home turf. He ran over to tackle the large ones with his speed his blades formed together as a sheild, while trying to nimbly avoid the traps. Once he got close enough he would go in for a speedy attack.

Watching Arashi fall into a trap hole, Zantar and Midnight became more cautious for their surroundings. There was a flash of light as Varus' spell went off and hit the human sized creature.
Telepathically to Midnight "we should go help Varus, he decided to draw the attention of the bigger creature away from the bull headed Arashi.. He could of been doomed if he didnt fall into that trap hole and had the big brute go in after him. " "I agree lets go help Varus take down the bigger creature."

With Zantar and Midnight in unison they charged after the human sized creature, dodging left and right, hitting smaller creatures in their path. With them to the big creatures back, they both lunged together aiming for the creatures neck to sink their teeth into, along with whatever their claws could get.

Varus watched as his attack hit and burned the creature, and seen how it pissed it off. "Whats the matter ugly? You look better with that black burn spot, maybe i should add a few more." Varus put his hand on his mouth trying to figure out where that came from, It seemed to possibly only anger the creature even more. seems one of his personalities kind of slipped in for a taunt. Maybe it was a good thing when he noticed Zantar, and a wolf come charging in from behind the creature.

Varus pooled more power into his blade, setting it ablaze with a green flame, He was determined to save these people, and charged forward, and leaped off a chunk of rock that had fallen with them, aimed his sword at the creatures face to drive his sword deep. He willed the power for the Greenflame Blade. Not being religious but something sparked in him to say, something he heard his father say maybe once before "For all that is pure, and good. I will send you evil creature to your final resting place, where you will no longer taint this land!"