Thread: Armeira

"I do wish to become an Origin." said Relic. "But you see, I am a Doran on the eve of my evolution to adult. My time as an assassin may be short but I wish to make a name for myself." he explained. "That is my desire."

"You will have no special treatment," the voice said. "But the way to present yourself is by stealth; there is a way through the sewers into the Guild Hall. That is your best bet."

---

From the front door of the Guild, a spike shot out, slow enough to dodge if the knocker had much potential as an Assassin at all.

The Doran nodded. "I understand, we will see how things go." he said, then, expecting the assassin assumed he'd make a steathly get away, used his fire breath to raise a wall of flames between them, when it lowered, he was gone.

Morden, having a fair amount of reflexes, did a backflip to avoid the projectile, which harmlessly flew right below him. He looked at the seemingly harmless door, his breathing heavy, wondering who in their right mind would booby-trap that door.

Abbas stood atop the balcony of his main guild house in this land-it was an elegant structure, and throughly alien to many of the locals, as it was built to architectural specifications of his homeland. It was crafted of pure white stone and atop it, three gold domes sat-proclaiming the guilds wealth for all who passed by the land.

This city, this Tuseid had proven to be a most profitable endeavor for the Merchants Guild and the it's only holding in the land showed this quite well-the gold domes were made of the real mineral and underneath that, the ceiling that compromised the lower part of the dome were made of silver and engraved with various poems and tales from his home land.

It was an obscene show of wealth and one that had set him back by more then a pretty penny. But it was important to...seem important, even when one was not. Abbas of course, considered himself quite important-and his wealth, though not as plentiful as the building would lead one to believe, was nothing to sneeze at. If he so wished it, he could probably purchase half of the city.

As it stood, he owned most of the buildings around the guild-house-they made for handy-lookouts and having archers positioned atop all of the buildings certainly made defense easier. It had been a solid investment-a very solid investment.

Abbas paused to stretch for a moment, before turning his attention to the two guards that stood flanking the rounded entrance back into the building-they were dressed in the heaviest armor his people crafted. A combination of chain-mail and half-plate, the warriors dressed in chain mail and then put on several metal segments to go atop it and provide heavier protection.

This armor was not as heavy as most in this land, but it provided a very high amount of flexibility-and in merchants guild, flexibility was important. In more then one area as it stood...

"Blast!" one guard said, throwing his knife onto the floor. "Back to the Guild, everyone. One training dummy isn't worth it."

"Nightfall's going to be angry," another guard warned.

"That's not my problem," the first guard said, and everyone began marching back to the guild.

Meanwhile, Nightfall had tracked down the owner of the other training dummy, and kicked open the door, stepping inside.

Dusk looked to the door, stopping his archery practice for a minute. He was surprised to find a Darkya warrior step in, knife bones out.

"Where is the training dummy you stole?" Nightfall asked harshly, then realized he was looking at a young Darkya. Darkyas were known to be honest enough not to steal.

"Who are you?" Dusk asked, mimicing the voice of Nightfall. "And who do you think you are, barging into my home uninvited?

"I am the Warriors Guildmaster," Nightfall said, retracting his knife bones. "You stole a training dummy from one of my guilds."

"Only to practice fighting," Dusk said, realizing who he was talking to. "I meant no disrespect."

"Then show me your skills," Nightfall said, and the two engaged in battle.

Dusk quickly jumped back, notching an arrow and pointing it at Nightfall's neck.

"Never start with a bow," Nightfall said, using a knife bone to slash the bow clean in half. "It is a long range weapon."

Dusk couldn't come up with a response for this, so he simply slashed with both knife bones at Nightfall's neck. The Guildmaster threw Dusk aside with ease.

Dusk was getting annoyed with the Guildmaster. He quickly made a slash at the air in front of Nightfall, and the warrior slipped up. Nightfall jumped forwards to block the slash, and Dusk brought his knife bone down on Nightfall's head.

Nightfall jumped backwards, eyeing Dusk with curiosity.

"You are not a warrior," he concluded. "Would you like to be? I could use some fearless and strong warriors."

"M-me?" Dusk asked, surprised. "But I didn't even manage to make a scratch on you!"

"But I am one of the strongest warriors in Armeira," Nightfall said. "If you can make me slip up in a fight, you can take anyone on. And with the assassins and Koleiros Cult members, we need as many of you as possible."

"I'll do it!" Dusk said, still completely surprised that this was happening.

"Oh, and by the way," Nightfall said, a trace of a smile appearing on his lips. "I see you murdered the training dummy."

Dusk looked back and saw the mangled up corpse of the training dummy, and smiled. "I suppose so," he said.

BOSS ENCOUNTER - Substantial Experience Available

Suddenly, in the Port of Tuseid, the waters began to churn violently, the earth groaning as the figure of a massive, three-headed Sea-Serpent burst forth from beneath the waves, towering ten-stories above the surrounding ships as its crimson and emerald green-scaled body thrashed about, crushing two ships, sending them beneath the waves. The creature, Tharylepta, Denizen of the Deep, let out an ear-shattering screech, baring two rows of massive fangs beneath its bright orange eyes on its central head as it plunged downward, sinking its jaws into a third ship.

Morden abandoned the Assassin's Guild for now, and turned his attention towards the hulking sea serpent that had just risen from the depths. He notched an arrow, hoping to get a clear shot at one of the behemoth's six eyes, and fired, and then notched another arrow, waiting for the projectile to reach its mark, just in case this strategy proved to be ineffective.

Relic, despite his quest to be an assassin, looked up at the serpent, unable to allow it to rampage unopposed. He summoned a fireball into his hand and hurled it, aiming at its eye.

Abbas stumbled-he could see the creature quite clearly from his perch on the balcony. Soon after however, his expression of surprise turned to one of boiling anger. That creature was near his docks. His docks! This simply would not do. The sorcerer clenched his fist and whirled about. The two guards, taking their cue followed him inside the building.

The trio moved quickly through the elegant halls of the guild house before coming too an open area underneath the third dome-a barracks, where the various guards were preparing for battle (the alarm had been raised by the lookouts quite quickly). Abbas, still dressed in the flowing robes and head-wraps of a merchant, looked over his forces and nodded. Today, they would defend what was theirs.

At the same, time outside the opulent guild house, the buildings surrounding it seemed alive with life. Archers (well-equipped and well-paid ones no less) rushed from their hidden barracks and rooms within the buildings and took positions on the roofs. The air soon became thick with shouted commands to fire and then, it became thick with yet another object, though this one was more tangible and much more deadly-arrows namely.

Dusk and Nightfall were walking towards the guild, when the earth began to rumble. It wasn't strong, and it didn't last long, so Dusk wasn't worried. Nightfall, however, had gone pale with worry.

"What is it?" Dusk asked. He wasn't worried at all. He knew what earthquakes were, and he'd been in much worse ones by far.

"We must hurry," Nightfall said. "Not many mosters could be powerful enough to create a shock wave that powerful when it awakened."

"So what monster is it?" Dusk said persistently.

"Tharylepta," Nightfall said. "The Denizin of the Deep. I never would've imagined that it would awaken any time near now."

"Where is it?" Dusk asked. "Can we go fight it?"

"It is in the south," Nightfall said. "And we won't be able to defeat it alone. I will go back to the guild and gather up as many warriors as possible. You, go to the Mages Guild in Arlok. Tell then that it is an emergency, and hopefully the wizards will listen."

"Yes, sir," Dusk said. He ran down the street until he found a stable, and jumped on the strongest-looking horse he could find. Dusk placed several golden coins on the ground to pay for the horse, and raced off to the south.

Tharylepta thrashed about furiously, sinking two more ships with its tail as it was struck by a barrage of arrow-fire - the majority of which bounced off its scales harmlessly. Morden's arrow struck the creature in the jaw of its first head, sinking in about an inch. The fireball then struck Tharylepta, though the enemy had been fairly far off when he fired it, so the creature had seen it coming and managed to weather the blow, directing it to its side. Tharylepta's third head then plunged beneath the surface of the water, coming up moments later with a mouth full of now boiling hot water which it spewed with great force toward the archers at the Merchants Guildhall.

Seeing the monster direct its attention at the Merchants, Relic managed to close the gap and unleash a stream of fire at its eye, an assassin always aims for the weakpoints.

Morden used the opportunity to fire another arrow, aimed for the jaw of Tharylepta's second head, noting that striking them in that particular area seemed to disable the head.

Dusk, riding on the fast horse, managed to get across the foothills of the Avemeir Mountains relatively quickly. He finally arrived in Arlok. Here he abandoned his horse, and raced down towards the Mages Guild.

Dusk knocked several times on the door of the guild, waiting impatiently for a wizard to answer the door.