The Final Stand

Luna and Ky looked up to see a huge column of smoke. They looked at each other and nodded. Ky turned into a doll and Luna dashed off, carrying her in her arms. Many questions went through her mind as she ran, but only one was extremely important. Is everyone ok?

She reached the column's source and looked at the wreckage. Across the way, she saw a few people. Running to greet them, she called out. "Hey! Who are you?" Kylo spoke to her with telelpathy. Be careful, you scoundrel. Luna ignored her. She looked at the group and tilted her head.

-Turgwon-
The sun was setting as Nicole and Kisen entered the gates of Turgwon, wearing cloaks that Kisen procured from the guild supply room. Once in the gate, the two bought a room at the inn, with Nicole sleeping on the bed, and Kisen, on the floor at the door, just in case any unwanted visitors decided to barge in. Luckily, noone recognized them, so there were no surprise attacks that night. The next day, Nicole stayed in the room, while the former thief went to the weaponsmith, seeking to repair his old stiletto. From there, he walked into the local tavern striking up a conversation with the bartender.
"Hey, do you know a thief by the name of Jeremiah?" he asked casually.
"Yeah. He's our newly instated magistrate." the bartender replied.
"What? When was he instated?" Kisen asked, horrified.
"Just a few days ago. Why are you so curious?"
"Oh, I'm just surprised, that's all. Can you give me directions to the residence?"
The bartender gave him clear directions to get to the magistrate residence. Kisen thanked him, and swiftly departed the tavern.
-A few minutes later-
The knight stood at the gate to the magistrate building, garbed in his cloak and, under it, his armor, and carrying what appeared to be a rucksack. Two guards positioned at either side of the gates walked up to him, barring entry.
"What is your buisiness being here, stranger?" they asked.
"I have an appointment with the magistrate," came Kisen's reply.
"You do, now? Well then, you can show us the official letter of request for the appointment, then,"
"Oh, right. let's see now," the man pretended to rummage through his sack, looking for the letter. "Ah, here we are," he said, just before plunging his reforged stiletto into the first guard's exposed neck. Before the other guard could react, Kisen took the dead guard's spear and gored him through the head with it. Wiping the blood off of his stiletto, the knight placed it in its' hidden foot sheath, and proceeded to open the gate. He continued on until he reached the front door. Kisen knocked three times, drawing his sword and shield after he did so. When a man opened the door, he was greeted by the tip of a sword to his neck.
"Remember me, traitor?" Kisen asked.

Leaving, with the emo soldier and the servant carrying him, behind, Faustus began to crave death and pain. As soon as they were out of veiw of Volverein and his guards, the Doctor turned on the servant, slicing a long slice along his spine. Creeping in a dark corridor, he pealed the skin from the corpse, as much in one piece as possible, stitching up the rest. He was glad the servant was a few clothes sizes larger than himself, as squeezing in the skin-suit was a hot and sweaty ordeal. He stitched the skinless corpse to a tapestry in the hall, leaving him for Volverein to find.

Stepping out to where he left the emo soldier, he looked like a boy in his daddy's disheveled baggy skin-suit. At seeing the emo soldier's reaction, he commented, "What, do I have something on my face?" pointing at his sagging skin hanging from his face. The soldier was still tied up, so he couldn't respond, but he seemed to have a sence of disgust. Walking over to a window, The doctor looked at his reflection. The Skin suit sagged, and it would fool no one. Opening a medicine kit, he injected a serum into the fleshy tissue of the suit, shriving it to fit better over his skin. It wouldn't fool anyone in daylight, but if they kept to the shadows, he'd be able to pass as an ugly, battle-scarred bodyguard. Breaking his captive's wrappings, enough for him to walk, to the extent the injured soldier could walk. "Come on! We've got to move!" Faustus commanded, dragging the soldier behind, as they began to make their escape.

LucaTheLucario wrote:

Luna and Ky looked up to see a huge column of smoke. They looked at each other and nodded. Ky turned into a doll and Luna dashed off, carrying her in her arms. Many questions went through her mind as she ran, but only one was extremely important. Is everyone ok?

She reached the column's source and looked at the wreckage. Across the way, she saw a few people. Running to greet them, she called out. "Hey! Who are you?" Kylo spoke to her with telelpathy. Be careful, you scoundrel. Luna ignored her. She looked at the group and tilted her head.

Shira looked up and saw a girl running their way. He turned and walked up to greet her. When she arrived, she asked, "Are you guys okay? Looks like you got into some wreck..." Shira answered, "Yeah. Well, mostly. The girl on the Giant Wolf's back was injured or something; she's with the blonde-haired guy." Shira hesitated, but casually slipped an arm around the girl's shoulders. "I'm Shira. My wolf friend there's Okami. Kusa, the silver-haired one, Keith, the blonde-haired one, and Trinity, the girl. Cute girls like you shouldn't be out here by themselves--" Shira was interrupted by Okami howling, panting and scratching his side with his hind leg. Everyone busted out laughing, even a very flustered Shira, who put his head down to hide his face. Once she caught her breath, the girl responded, "I'm Luna." She walked over to the Giant Wolf, stroking the ruff of his neck, and looking at Trinity's motionless figure curiously. "Will she be alright?" "She'll be just fine; she's not critically injured. Probably just took a hard smack from the impact," was Kusa's diagnosis. "Well, shall we return to Serinside? Perhaps we can have further discussion at an inn or tavern...

"Damn," Lyle cursed, when he hit nothing. "I forgot he could do that. Melissa?"
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Use that fireball spell to burn that part of the woods," he gestured vaugely to an area to their right," while I burn the other part. Also, if you can amplify your power, now might be a good idea. We're about to smoke out a hostile man, you see."
"Ok," she said. "I'll get right to it."
Lyle got up, while Melissa ignited her staff, so it could be used as a weapon.
"Okay," the sniper said," On three. One... two... Three!"
Melissa conjured up a fireball, and sent it hurtling through the forest, while Lyle pointed to a tree at the center of his part of the forest. A spear of flame came out of nowhere and smote the tree. It subsequently exploded, lighting the nearby trees on fire. As the forest fire spread, smoke began to rise through the air.
"Now what?' the mage asked.
"Now we wait," Lyle replied.

Luna and smiled and nodded. "That'd be a good idea. Kylo here is my doll partner." Kylo returned to a human and looked at everyone. She scanned each carefully. "Shira, you're crushing on Luna, Okami, you're a good pup, Kusa, you're smary, Trinity, needs help, anyone else, I don't care."
"Ky, stop being so rediculous." She whispered. "You're embarrassing me." Ky turned to her.
"And you're crushing on Shira."
"DID I ASK YOU!?"
"No, but you don't have to."
"Ky, you egotistical, over-thinking, evil, little freak. I hate you."
"You always say that."
"I mean it this time."
"You say that a lot too."
"Shut up."
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Good."
"Good."
Luna turned to the group. "I'm sorry you had to see that." The group just stood their with their eyes twitching and a WTF face on each, including Okami. "What? We fight all the time. Let's just go." Luna waved the group off and began walking.

"Ok... a few new healing items... some spare equipment, aaand... oh yes... THAT. Technology Hacking Amplified Transmitter. that will increase my hacking skills by 2x."
can you wait until i'm done with Lvl 3? Because, being able to contact people with technology would be nice... besides- if i lose the connection when you upload that, we would need to re-hack everything.
"True... when you finish Lvl 3, create backdoors into each lvl so we can resume the hack."
This might take a while...
"Reroute all available power to hacking. We need to hack this lvl soon, or they might start tracing us."
Re-routing... all peripheral data processing units will be shut down... do you wish to proceed?
"Yes."
1010111010011010111011101110001011001110011101001011001101010101100011111010101010101001010101010
Lvl 3 hacked. Creating backdoor...
*BLAMMO*
"Dammit... they found us. Contact Minby and get him near me NOW!"
Contacting...
just then, a squad of soldiers marched down the street.
HEY! THERE'S THE SOURCE OF THE SIGNAL!!! GET HIM!!!
"Oh shit..."
The sound of ringing steel sounded across the street as TD drew his blade.
"WHO WANTS SOME?!?"
A shockwave of earth shot out form TD, knocking the soldiers off of their feet. He rushed at them, firing his laser at their stunned forms.
Come on... Minby... Where are you? There's another group in the next street- they'll hear the commotion and i can't deal with 2 squads by myself...

Okami shook himself off and turned around, back the way they'd came. Kusa turned to Keith, nodded and said, "Very well, you have kept your end of the bargain. And so we shall honor our side as well. As promised, Trinity is entrusted to your care." Keith acknowledged with a dip of his head, and picking Trinity off Okami's back, cradling her in his arms. Shira slipped his arm around Luna's waist and said, "You ever meet a Giant Wolf before?" Luna's eyes turned adoring as she stared at Okami and said, "No. I love wolves, though. Anything canine." Shira smiled softly and said, "Alright. Go see if he trusts you. You'll know if he does." Luna trotted to Okami's side and stroked his shoulder, cooing "Hi there, big guy. How are ya?" She scratched Okami's ears, which was responded by a wagging tail and a lick across the face. Luna smiles, kissed his cheek and slid up onto his back, straddling him. Shira walked by Okami's side. Kusa whispered in Shira's ear, "God, I've heard about love at first sight, but... Damn, you sure did start pouring on the sweetness fast. You're almost making me sick, I swear..." Shira snarled quietly at him and kept his eyes ahead as the group of now-seven returned to Serinside, which was nearly a day away.

I can't believe the wolf-tamer dude didn't introduce me. Thought James as he smoothly hovered toward Luna.

"And I am James Beckham. It is nice to make you and your...umm...doll's...acquaintance," he said with a bow.

Wow she is so love-stricken I think she doesn't even notice anyone else. I mean come on. We have a knocked out woman, a spaceship traveller, and ME! She of coarse noticed the man's dog though...

Luna stroked Okami's fur as she rode on his back. She leaned forward and burried her face in his fur. "Mmm... Warm and soft..." Ky eyed her and walked on the opposite side of Okami as Shira. She then looked at Shira. "Watch yourself, wolf tamer." Luna reached a hand out and whacked Ky's stomach. "Shut up. Leave him be." She sang softly to Okami as they walked.

Mi corazon esta abierto
Lo tengo que cerrar
Me importas tanto
Esa es mi debilidad

Mis heridas me recuerdan
Que el pasado es real
Mi corazon esta abierto
Para poder sentir.

Estoy borracho y me siento mal
Yo quiero estar solo
Me duele por que estas aqui
Solo dejame en paz

Por que guardas tu dolor?
Y no hay nada que yo pueda hacer
Me estas volviendo loco
Y yo te digo

Mi corazon esta abierto
Lo tengo que cerrar
Me importas tanto
Esa es mi debilidad

Mis heridas me recuerdan
Que el pasado es real
Mi corazon esta abierto
Para poder sentir.

Yo trate de ayudarte
Cuando no querias serlo
Te estas haciendo daño
Y no lo puedes ver

Que te ahogas en el agua
Y mi mano te ofreci
Compasion, eso me sobra
Pero esta noche no habra mas

Mi corazon esta abierto
Lo tengo que cerrar
Me importas tanto
Esa es mi debilidad

Mis heridas me recuerdan
Que el pasado es real
Mi corazon esta abierto
Para poder sentir.

Estoy borracho y me siento mal
Y yo quiero estar solo
No tienes por que estar aqui
Solo dejame en paz

Que te ahogas en el agua
Y mi mano te ofreci
Mi corazon esta abierto
Y no lo puedes entender
Y no lo puedes entender

Tienes! Que! Cambiar!!

No puedo hacerte cambiar
Pero esta vez yo trate
Lo siento por que tengo que seguir con mi vida

No puedo hacerte cambiar
Pero esta vez yo trate
Lo siento por que tengo que seguir con mi vida

Mi corazon esta abierto
Lo tengo que cerrar
Me importas tanto
Esa es mi debilidad

Mis heridas me recuerdan
Que el pasado es real
Mi corazon esta abierto
Para poder sentir.

Luna started crying as the song ended and Ky handed her a doll. "There. There. No more singing that song. It always makes you cry."
"I know... It's just such a good song..."
"There. There."
Luna closed her eyes and just rested against Okami as they walked along. Memories raced through her head, and she slowly drifted into a soft sleep against Okami.

"Looks like you could use a hand" Said Minby as he burst in impaling the leader of the squad with his blade.
He launched a bolt of energy from the blade, knocking off the leader, and killing many soldiers.
"No chance of killing them all in here..."
Minby grabbed TD's arm, and ran at breakneck speeds through the wall until they reached a clearing.
"Ugh, I hate fighting indoors. Say, you got any beer in there or something?"
"You know you can't have alcohol." Came a voice from inside Minby's head.
TD:"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?!?"
"That's my 'gaurdian angel' of sorts. when I was originally alive he was an alternate personality. When I died we split, and when I was revived, we were still connected. He has some amazing powers, but he prefers to stay inside of me and let me do all the work."

Scourge was fighting back a few squads in the street near by the tech-geek and the adventurer. After striking down a few of the first squad, he came to two humbling realizations. The first: he needed to rely on the doctor a lot more than he thought, which lead to the second realization: That he had gotten weak, a side effect of his curse, most likely. He had now come to a third realization: he was surrounded. Looking around frantically, he frantically mumbled "Dark Mist, don't fail me now." A gaseous cloud engulfed him, allowing him to take a swipe with his scythe, dropping them in pain, before fleeing through the opening created by the fallen soldiers. Jumping back to the other two, he took cover from their sights. "We got company!" he notified them.

Did that doctor just...skin that guy...Oh god oh god oh god. How did this man end up being my savior.

And so the bizzare two went on their journey to who-knows-where. They went out in the dark of the night. They were heading northwestern as far as Lenny could tell. He had no idea where the doc was taking him, and he was too scared of the man to speak to him. By the end of the night, Lenny was well enough he could actually focus while they walked. The doc looked paranoid, as if he expected someone to show up any second. But sometimes the look over his shoulder seemed like he was expecting someone he knew, and would look back in dissappointment of no one being there.

Shira looked at Luna softly while she slept. He reached up and stroked her hair gently, keeping it out of her face. Kylo glared at Shira, but didn't yell at him for fear of waking Luna. Everyone else had already gotten used to Shira's flirting and Kylo's anger, and just kept walking as the sun slipped below the horizon, blazing brilliantly with golden crimson, and finally dimmed down to a dull indigo, then a deep blue, then a cold black, revealing the stars in their slow-moving celestial dance in the night sky. Eventually, the fatigued group was ecstatic to see the lights of Serinside, and hurried eagerly to the city gates, ready to collapse onto beds at the inn. The guards let them through passively, recognizing them as having been in the city earlier.

The next morning, Shira woke up, surrounded by Okami curled up tightly around him. Shira rubbed the Wolf's massive head and squirmed. The Wolf lazily uncurled just enough for Shira to squeeze out. Shira walked out of the inn's barn and into the main building, where everyone else was already eating a breakfast of cooked eggs and sliced bacon. Shira asked the innkeeper for a plate. The innkeeper grunted in acknowledgement and handed him one. Shira found an open chair and sat down, helping himself to a good amount of food. He poured himself some milk and listened to the conversation. They mainly talked about where to go next. James had heard of Kusa's ability to communicate with Kitsune and was nearly begging to see Kusa summon one. "Well, I can only summon One-Tails as of now, but my clan built temples across the continent that only the ones chosen by the Kitsune themselves can gain power from. Often the first one we went to was one in the northern Areyu Forest, due to its convenient location. The shrine of the Two-Tailed Kitsune is there. Perhaps we should stop by? Having more help from the Spirit World would be heavily beneficial, considering the unstable status of this region... Marauders roam about like they own the place, and the Imperials often don't trust people. We're lucky due to being unknown travelers, and relatively young at that. I think we should leave somewhere though; apparently Okami isn't well-liked..."
Shira suddenly became cross. "What, so they can't tolerate a big wolf? Do they think he's gonna huff, puff and blow a pig's house down or eat a grandma and wait for a girl with a red hood? Gah..." Kusa noted Shira's anger and spoke his next words carefully, "Not everyone's grown up with a Giant Wolf, Shira. Many people just don't know any better. Those that do are just worried about a town scare. Either way, we've got places to go, things to do, people to meet. Spending the rest of our lives in one town hardly seems likely for a bunch of people who all met on the road, hm?"
Shira relaxed. James spoke next. "So... That temple?" Kusa turned his attention back to him and said, "If everyone's fine with it, sure." Keith said, "Well, it depends: How far is it from the capital of this empire?" Luca said, "It's actually pretty close... It's only a tiny bit out of the way. Why?" "Because, as an interstellar traveler, when you crash, it's good common sense to seek refuge with the dominant political force of that planet," was Keith's explanation. Shira looked at everyone, and clarified, "So... The forest Kitsune shrine, then the Capital City? Sounds like a plan."

"Now, why don't you invite me in, Lord Jeremiah," Kisen said mockingly. Jeremiah, evidently nervous, nodded and opened the door wider, allowing the knight to enter the facility, keeping the blade on the magistrate's throat. The man led Kisen into what appeared to be a sitting room, with two leather chairs sitting opposite
"Have a seat, Kisen," Jeremiah said, before collapsing on to one of the other two chairs. Kisen complied, not lifting the tip off of his throat for even an instant.
"Enough with the pleasantries," Kisen said. "Before I kill you, though, I want a few answers. Why are the imperials chasing Nicole? How did you become magistrate? And why, why Jeremiah, did you betray the guild. "
"Volverein was vague about the wench, though he DID say that she, along with another man, blew up a prototype of the imperial tech brigade.
"I became magistrate because I told him the whereabouts of a certain outlaw guild, and tipped him off that the girl was under their protection.
"As for your last question, Kisen, I betrayed the guild because Volverein gave me power, and I can do things.. Like this!" Jeremiah snapped his fingers, and was replaced by purple-tinged flames. The knight whirled around to find him, clad in demonic armor, pointing a flame-enchanted sword at him.
"Did you honestly think I didn't expect you to come after me? Fool." he said.
"It matters not. Today, you will die for what you have done!" Kisen shouted, lunging at the magistrate. Jeremiah sidestepped him with inhuman agility, and slammed the flat of his blade on the knight's helmet. Kisen staggered back, stunned. Using this opening, the traitor rushed at Kisen and tore his shield away, simultaneously slicing that arm with his fiery sword. Kisen howled in pain, and rushed forward. He swung, but Jeremiah parried with Kisen's own shield. Subsequently, the magistrate stabbed one of the knights' legs, causing Kisen to fall onto his stomach and drop his blade, which, strangely, removed his armor, leaving only his thief clothing. He tried to reach it, but his foe kicked Baragnus away.
"Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I would kill you, but it seems his Highness has an interest in you." Jeremiah said, kicking the fallen knight. Kisen's vision blurred, and his hearing began to fade. A voice said, "... Search the town for a girl with green hair. She may be cloaked. As for this scumbag, have a cleric heal him, and then lock him up in the dungeon. I've had enough of his ugly mug for one day. Make sure he has no weapons, and keep that sword under lock and key." Then, there was darkness.

"I know that. Oh shit... how are we going to get past these?"
Well, lvl 3 is hacked, and there is a back door into it... if you activate THAT, you might be able to get into lvl 4.
*snaps fingers*
"That's IT! lvl 4 has a basic laser that we can use! Raiden- activate THAT and devote full power. And you... emo kid."
S:"Scourge."
"Whatever. You have a gun... help me snipe these guys until the hacking is finished. got it?"
M: "What should I do?"
"Do you have any ranged attacks?"
M:"Yeah..."
"Use them. we have to keep the computer intact until LVL 4 is hacked."
S:"How long will that take, lord of the geeks?"
"About 5 minutes. Try to go unnoticed, but if they see us, shoot them before they can alert the others."
M:"But won't they just trace the signal again?"
"THAT will shield the signal. though, i can only use it for short bursts. It's an old model, so it overheats a lot. OK... GO!"

"Why do I always go three times in the middle of the night? Why can't I go in the day like a normal person?" complains Questor, returning from the outhouse. Just as he enters the Royal Guard command tent, he sees shadowy figures approaching. "Again? Come on, you failed miserably the last time. Wasn't even worth getting up for..." He pauses as he sees the number of shadowy figures increase. "Oh." He rushes into the tent, wakes up Lamahl, and begins strapping on his weapons.
"What is it Questor? It's the middle of the night." he grumbles, not happy about being woken up. "Weapons... I see." He then grabs his spear and shield, then wakes Djaq, Luke, Tristan, and Par up.
"Djaq, go look outside. See how close they are and how many of them there are. Luke, get ready to send the signal. Tristan, Lamahl, Par, get ready to rush out with me." Djaq goes outside, then immediately comes back in.
"They're almost at the tent." he whispers.
"Crap. Everyone ready? The signal, now." Luke sends the signal, a sophisticated vibrating signal developed by Luke himself that is attached to every bed in the camp. Questor readies his bow as they wait a couple minutes for the Royal Guard to wake up and get ready. All of a sudden, Tukana rushes out of his tent, armor on, axe swinging. Questor sighs as he leaves the tent, arrows flying. Lamahl charges right into the thick of things, followed closely by Tristan, wielding his dual maces with expertise. But there are many more assassins than expected. Hundreds of them rush out from the shadows, as if they expected this quick of a response. The Royal Guard quickly turns to meet this new threat and it becomes a very pitched fight. Luke finds himself surrounded by about four assassins.
"Wonderful... Always going for the defenseless engineer." he complains as his tomahawk inserts itself into the chest of one assailant.
"Defenseless engineer my a-" laughs one assailant, cut short by an axe slash to the neck. Another falls to an axe to the head.
"One left... This shouldn't be to ba- Oh dear." He immediately backpedals as the remaining assailant reveals himself to be Snike, the Blazing Flash. "Crap, crap, crap." he says, trying to reach help.
"That was rather impressive for an engineer, taking out three of my assassins. However, this is the end." Snike's sword becomes a blur as it slashes towards Luke. He can do nothing as he is cut up by Snike's sword.

Meanwhile, Tristan and Lamahl have gone back to back, separated from everyone else. Spear abandoned, Lamahl now fights with his shield, spike deployed. One of the assailants jumps at Lamahl, and is immediately speared on the spike.
"Ha! That was too eas- Oh." "Oh." is all he has time to say before being whacked upside the head by a club, knocking him unconscious.
"Hey, Lamahl, a little hel- Son of a gun. He's been knocked out." Tristan then steps over Lamahl, defending him with his life.
BONG! BONG!
"Two more down. Not sure if I can keep this up alone." His maces then crush an unfortunate assassin's head. He spins to bash another assassin's head in, then lashes out at the closest assassin, but before hitting him, a sword appears through his chest. The assassin falls, revealing Djaq.
"Djaq? I thought you used a staff?"
"I decided a sword was necassary for this one." he says grimly. They then go back to back, defending Lamahl's fallen body. One of the assassins manages to cut one of Tristan's arms, limiting him to one mace. With only one mace, Tristan is quickly overrun and knocked unconscious. Djaq spins around, preventing Tristan from being slain. After what seems like an hour, Djaq is surrounded by bodies of slain assassins. Then, the Royal Guard finally manages to break through, giving him a bit of a rest. This also allows Lamahl and Tristan to be moved outside the line of battle.

"I've run out of arrows and they just keep coming. This is gonna be tough..." Questor then turns, only to see Luke getting cut up by Snike. "No. No. NO!" Questor charges at Snike, not knowing it is Snike until his Quick Draw is blocked.
"Fancy seeing you so early into the fight, Morgan."
"The name is Questor. Morgan Jax no longer exists."
"The great assassin cutting away his greatness? What a shame... To think, I once called you friend. Now, giving me that secret to long life The Overlord gave you was a mistake for you."
"No, it was never a mistake. You will see reason. You do understand what Vode is trying to do, right?"
"Of course I do. Why else would I help him?"
"Hmph." Questor then feints left, turns right, jabs middle, but is blocked. Snike immediately starts a flurry of slashes to the left, then fluidly moves to the right, while charging up a Dhaos Laser. Questor, however, strikes out with his bow, surprising Snike. With Snike's sword blocking the bow, Questor has an opening and cuts Snike's non-sword arm, ruining the Dhaos Laser. The bow is then discarded and swords become locked together for a second. They pull away for a second, long enough for Questor to Quick Draw his second sword, cleanly cutting Snike's stomach.
"You... had a second sword?" asks Snike, staring at the blood coming out of his midsection.
"Yes I did. Comes in handy sometimes. Wouldn't you agree?"
"I... suppose so." Snike grunts as he slowly backs up towards waiting assassins, who begin to move in towards Questor.
"Wonderful, letting your minions finish what you couldn't. How clever..." Questor easily dispatches the first five assassins, but ten more quickly come in to take their places. "Wonderful... I kill one, two more come..." Swords slashing and stabbing, the bodies of assassins pile up around Questor. Questor, however is getting visibly tired and one assassin manages to take advantage of this. He manages to disarm Questor, and then raises his sword to finish him off.

-Part of the above event-
"Enough. We've accomplished what we aimed for. Fall back." Snike commanded, as he walked right in front of Questor. There was nothing about his appearance to suggest that he'd just had his stomach sliced open. The assassins stopped attacking and retreated upon Snike's order.
"Now then, Morgan, I'd suggest you take care of your men. That one in particular looks to be in bad condition," he said, vaguely gesturing at Luke. Snike turned around, and began to walk away.
"Oh, and don't even try to follow us," he said while he departed. Angered, Questor, picked up his blade, and rushed at the Lord. The Blazing Flash snapped his fingers, causing a wall of flame to appear behind him, just before Questor attempted to stab him. Instead of hitting Snike, the wall of fire deflected the sword thrust, and burned Questor's sword arm.
"I warned you," he remarked, as Questor fell to his knees, clutching his arm. With that said, Snike disappeared into the darkness.

*BLAMMO* *BLAM* *BOOM*
S:"pitiful."
M:"TAKE THIS!!!"
*BOOM* *BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM*
S:"WTF was that?"
M:"You don't wanna know. let's just say fire spells and burritos don't mix."
Lvl 4... urg... completed...
"Raiden! RAIDEN!!! What's wrong?"
Spent.. too much energy... i'm gonna have to take a break.
"Ok... No matter. We can take them..."
Td260 jumped up from behind the wall he was crouching behind and began to type.
"Coordinates set... GUYS!!! GET BACK!!!"
S&M jump back as a giant blue laser crashes into the enemies.

"Lets get out of here!!!"
S:"Good plan, genius."
M:"Lets GO! I would teleport us, but i don't want to end up all over the place again..."
"Just outside the town will be fine... I'm not too temporally distorted anymore... but more than that and we could lose someone. On second thought..."
Don't be a dick...
"Fine..."
*Grumble grumble mutter grumble*

Questor wakes with a start. He lifts his head to see Lamahl staring at him.
"You been dreaming again?"
"Yep... This one was when we got severely injured on the night of the assasination attempt on Tukana."
"Ah. Rather unpleasant experience, wasn't it?"
"Yes. I think... I'll go back to sleep now..." He drifts into a deep sleep, his dreams somehow picking up where he left off.


"My arm! Hmph. Bastard..."
"Questor, you all right?"
"Yeah Par, I'm fine."
"You know, you woulda been better off if they hadn't left; that assassin was about to get a knife through his heart, if he had one. Or one through his neck. I hadn't decided yet."
"Haha, you're funny." Questor grimaces. "And I see you've managed to stay unharmed. How many knives you unleash on those unfortunate assassins?"
"Quite a few, but then I saw you dueling Snike, so I hid in the shadows in case you needed help. That assassin is lucky Snike decided to pull out."
"You said that."
"Did I? Oh well..." Par looks around, seeing the carnage the battle caused. "Dang. We killed a lot of them and they killed just a few of us."

About fifteen minutes later...

The scene in Tukana's tent is rather gruesome. Tukana's armor is covered in blood, most of it not his own, and his axe and shield lay at his feet, also covered in blood. Luke is laying on a cot, wearing nearly nothing but bandages. Tristan's arm is in a splint and his head has a large bruise. Lamahl's head is bandaged and Questor has a bandage covering his arm. Par is the only one who looks like he didn't fight. But on closer inspection, one would notice nineteen empty spaces where knives should be.
"Hey Tukana, if you don't mind, I'm gonna go find my knives."
"Go ahead."
"Thanks." Par turns and leaves, off to inspect the dead assassins. Tukana then turns to Questor.
"Good work. You've picked up how many attempts now? Ten?"
"Tukana, you give me too much credit. It's always been Luke's signal that has saved us all."
"No... too much... credit... for... Gah!" Luke falls back on his bed, not able to find much energy to even talk. A Royal Guardsman walks in, battle report in hand.
"Sir, we lost 63 men to death, another 78 injured. They lost 207 dead. No prisoners."
"Thank you. You are dismissed." The messenger leaves, leaving Tukana, Questor, Lamahl, Luke, Djaq, and Tristan. "I've been thinking, since Luke is severely injured, bandages everywhere, I was thinking of sending him back to Gee Faks. Questor, Lamahl, you will accompany him there, then return when he is fit again."
"WHAT?!?!?"
"Yeah, what Questor said."
"You two are rather injured as well. It would be best if you made sure Luke made it to Gee Faks, and then got fixed up yourselves."
"Hmph. I don't like leaving, but I will do as you say." Questor then turns and leaves to his tent. The rest follow him. When they reach the tent, Questor begins instructing them on what to do while he's gone. "Tristan, you're in charge until I get back. I want the guard around Tukana's tent doubled, maybe even tripled. In the event an assassination attempt succeeds, I want Djaq to immediately come find me.Tristan, you and Par are to keep the Royal Guard intact, recover from any injuries the Guard sustained during the attempt, then seek me out. Understood?"
"Yes sir. The Royal Guard will remain, whether or not there is someone to guard." replies Tristan.
"Good." Questor and Lamahl then make preparations to leave. The next day, they leave for Gee Faks.

"You know, Par and Tristan were supposed to come find us if Tukana got assassinated. Where do you think they are?" asked Questor, the dream still fresh in his mind.
"They said they'd leave about three weeks after I left to find you. Its been, what? Three months since I found you?" said Djaq, also wondering why the remnants of the Royal Guard hadn't showed up yet.



Meanwhile, about 20 miles north of their camp...


"I can't believe... that Questor was right."
"Somehow, I think Tukana knew it was coming, Par."
"Yeah... that's why he sent Questor away."
"He said to find him if it happened, and the Royal Guard is finally ready to move out. Let's go." The remaining 300 Royal Guard move north, thinking Questor may be in Turgwon. After a few hours of steady marching, the Royal Guard arrives in Turgwon, only to see Imperial Forces everywhere.
"Tristan, let me go in alone. I look the least suspicious."
"Okay. Come out if you encounter trouble."
Par heads in and immediately goes to the local tavern. He asks around to find out that Questor is being hunted by Vaisey of the Four Lords and is heading north. He leaves the tavern, only to bump into an Imperial soldier.
"Sorry, my bad." apologizes Par.
"No probl- Hey! I know you! You're Par, of Tukana's Royal Guard, aren't you?"
"No, you must have me confused with someone else."
"No, I'm convinced you're him. See, Questor had me go undercover in the Imperial Army a long time ago."
"Really? If that's the case, I suppose I am Par." Immediately, the "undercover" Royal Guardsman blows his horn, summoning a number of Imperial soldiers.
"Ha! You believed me, didn't you? Fool..."
"Clever..." says Par, throwing one of his many concealed knives through the soldier's throat. He immediately heads back for where the Royal Guard set up camp. About fifty Imperial shock troops give chase, only to be met by Tristan and Par leading seventy-five Royal Guardsmen. None of the Imperial shock troops survive, while the Royal Guard suffers only two casualties, both to injuries.
"I heard in the tavern that Questor is heading north. I say we stop in Quaft en route to Dwentor. There is also a high profile prisoner held in the dungeons. Should we rescue him?"
"Hmmmmm... A team should be sent. Par, you and five others will go in. A quick in and out. Then, we head for Quaft."

"well if thats decided then i'm going to go see if Trinity has woken up yet" Keith told them as he walked up the stairs. Reaching the top he opened the door to his room and looked inside.
Trinity was sitting up in her bed looking at him
"well is seems someone decided to wake up" Keith said
"what happened, Keith" Trinity asked him
"when we crashed it seems you got knocked unconsios and Shira and his Giant Wolf saved you." Keith tld her
"umm who?" Trinity look a little confused
"c'mon downstairs and i'll introduce you to everyone" Keith walked out the door and waited for her, then they walked down the steps.

"Nearly midnight. Ready to go yet?" The five men with Par nod. "Excellent. Let's go rescue this prisoner." The six men silently approach the Turgwon dungeons, relying on stealth and speed to rescue this "high-profile" prisoner. They reach the dungeons no problem, but a couple Imperial guards prevent them from walking in.
"I'll handle these guys." says one of the men, drawing his repeating crossbow. He aims, and fires, killing both of them in under two seconds.
"Kyle, I believe that's a new record for you."
"Ha, thanks, but you're better with those knives of yours. Still, Luke did a good job with this crossbow. I'll have to thank him next time I see him." The six enter the dungeons. They are surprised to find the dungeons empty, except for one cell.
"Hey you!" The prisoner looks up. "Yeah, you. Who are you?" asks Par.