The History of Elkara

The dwarves are miners by nature and survivalists by calling. The most common clan on all the worlds is the ancient clan of Hammersmith. On some worlds, the Hammersmiths reign as overlords and on some worlds they vie for the top spot with rival clans. On Elkara, the Dwarves have no need of building huge mountain fasts, they reside in the open in full cities built of limestone and granite. 

"Anvil's Beacon" is one such city, known to the dwarves as Weinhistegeit. The High King of all dwarves on Elkara reigned from his 100 story and 20-mile long Palace, the size being more for show and vanity's sake than for any practical reason. His 2,000 member family lived in the Palace with him, consisting of the royal government. He was a Hammersmith of the Steelseptre branch. 

The very few wizards that had the great privilege to visit that world commented on the sheer size of Weinhistegeit, it had a population between 11-13 million dwarves with over 100,000 buildings. It was truly the power base of the dwarves on that world and some scholars speculated that the dwarves were actually born on that world in ages past from the giant body of Ysmir after Ysmir was slain by the gods for disobedience. The dwarves maintained a sizable temple at Tel-Natra (Neihesengeit to the dwarves) which, according to the dwarves, was the site of Ysmir's fall so it is probable that the dwarves had originated on this world before being scattered across the galaxy by groups of them wandering through the mage portals to other worlds. 

Some Frost Elves (about a million souls) also dwelt on that world but they remained in their snowy forests and avoided the dwarves except when invaders portalled in. It is speculated that the Frost Elves were an early group to leave the elven home world because their language was the closest to the original Sylvianian dialect, which is now only spoken by their druids and priests on the other worlds. 

It was in the year 2345 E.E. that the portals opened and the Orcs poured in with their siege machines and other instruments of war, 23 million Orcs to be exact, who were met with a long and bitter guerrilla war from the dwarves. After 34 years of bitter fighting, the 2 million remaining orcs surrendered and where allowed to build a city in the southern continent of Meerket. The Orc King swore fealty to the dwarven High King and agreed to send 500 orcs a year to the royal city as tribute. The dwarves educated them in the ways of engineering and civilization and then sent them back to Wrathmar, the Orcish city to make the Orcs more civilized. Weinhistegeit was put under siege 70 times during the war but it never fell because the dwarves had run an aquifer under the city to the mountains and an underground highway to the rich and protected farmland valleys to the east. 

When the portals opened again and the barbarian clans of humans came in, the dwarves welcomed them with a warning: do not settle anywhere near our farmlands. The humans saw that they were outnumbered and they settled in the warmer, wetter regions where their crops and cattle laid the foundation for Therholme, the only human Kingdom. Many human merchants bought second homes in Weinhistegeit, which they called Witgenstien. The first King of Therholme laid the foundations of Aufwitgenstien in a lovely valley protected by high mountains. The city consisted of a High Castle, a large temple/church, a University and a population of 1 million living in uncut stone buildings. Years passed and the King bought more land from the High King of the dwarves and soon the human Kingdom owned much of the west. The human mages caused a bit of a stir for the dwarves at first because the mages could turn base metals into gold and silver but that was prohibited by law and treaty and the two sides simmered down again. 

The portals opened again and 2 million trolls came into the world and began to settle randomly and everywhere, not bothering to farm or raise cattle, they preferred to raid and hunt, which made them a nuisance to all the races on the world. They were tolerated as long as they settled in the southern continent, which they did and the trolls united under Priest Mal'lark and built the step-temple city of Zorran. Eventually all the troll raiders moved to Zorran and began to build weapons of war and began to make plans with the Orcs, their natural allies. 

3,000 Frost Elves under Timanius went to the southern continent and established Tel-Maxxar, a Glass Temple City that was meant to counter the evil influence of the trolls. Timanius as High Priest tried to encourage the trolls to come worship the gods of light there but the trolls were demon worshipers at heart and they caused great trouble for the elves with their gross idols and bloody rituals. The Elves under Timanius allied with Therholme and also with the sympathetic dwarves. The Orc King Saargon IVX broke off the treaty with the dwarves and ordered his mages to open portals to worlds with orcs on them. They found one world with an embattled band of 3 million Orcs so the King invited them in and offered them weapons and aid. The leaderless Orcs accepted the proposal and marched in. Once they came in, they betrayed the Orc King and took over the city and renamed it "Wrathiar" (city of the marching army) and Juians I came to the throne as the Orc King and immediately marched his forces on Tel-Maxxar and destroyed it utterly and killed all the elves within. The allied Kingdoms responded and marched on the Orcish city and burnt it to the ground and leveled it and exiled the Orcs (all of them) back through the portal to a burning desert world; Al-karath "desert of the burning tears" The allies marched on the trolls next and defeated their army and leveled Zorran except for the temple pyramids, which they buried with dirt and left them as hills. The defeated trolls where then exiled to Al-karath. The brutal swiftness of the allied campaign was simple: They had imported white dragons as battle-mounts and the battle-dragons roasted the Orc and troll armies where they stood, the allied armies simply did the "mop up". 

After 300 years of peace, the Orcs, this time from an Orc homeworld (Asherath) invaded in force through many portals with 23 million Orcs and 11 million Ogres combined with 2 million black dragons destroyed Aufwitgenstien and destroyed Therholme, sending the humans running to the dwarves. The dwarves and humans fought back and after five years of indecisive battles, the war came to a draw and the Orcs and Ogres established Mar-Grothgar in the ruins of Therholme. The humans were given an unsettled province in the northeast and the human Kingdom of Therholme was rebuilt, with a brand new capital of Nueaufwitgenstien. Ossric I built huge walls, made them super thick and built the city in such a way where each district was walled off from each other to prevent from repeating the disaster that befell their original city. 

The Orcs and their allies the Ogres began to infight with each other as soon as peace came and thanks to some trickery by the White Mages, the two groups declared war on each other and reduced each other to 2 million souls on both sides, and their black dragon rookeries were destroyed by dwarven special forces. The remaining black dragons were cut down by the wild white dragons. The dwarves and humans again planned a war and struck when the Orc King died. The invasion and destruction of Mar-Grothgar was utter and complete, not a single Orc or Ogre was left alive. After the place was cleansed of the black magicks, the humans re-established their domain and rebuilt the city. Now there were two human Kingdoms with the brother of the King ruling the newly re-established Kingdom in it's former home. 

News came that a small clan of 300 Orcs had somehow escaped deportation and that they had holed themselves up in the mountains to the north in the icy caves. The humans sent riders to the Orc clan to ask them to swear fealty to either the human kingdoms or the dwarven kingdom but they promised to never make war and explained that they were all druids and only hunted and gathered roots and berries and didn't wield weapons and they worshiped the gods of nature. The human riders accepted their story and rode back to the King with the news. 

The King was not happy with the report but he had more pressing matters to attend to than a band of Orcs. The Orc druids established Tel-Talmat as their mother temple deep in an ancient and holy forest. The Frost Elves sent priests to Tel-Talmat and soon a small city of elves and Orc druids formed. A starving band of sixty trolls came to the temple and begged entry and were accepted and same with a band of fifteen wandering ogres who, like the trolls, missed the day of doom because they were somewhere else during the war. Then a race everyone thought was extinct came to them: The long vanished Forest Gnomes, the Gnomes had actually been hiding their homes in the tree tops when they heard the news of the wars. 

The small temple city had no wall and was protected from detection by a thick tangle of trees and plants surrounding the temple city. A band of 30 Frost Elves under Teldrian came to the city and built a resplendent glass temple of the light. The city slowly grew into a major city over time. In order to protect the city from a swift destruction, the priests and druids who ran the city consulted the white mages about the idea of "floating" the city into the sky. They agreed and the temple city was floated and a teleport pad was built on the replanted site so humanoids could freely enter and leave the city. 

The end, for now. 

The Mirrored Passage

Chapter One

Lyria the archer of the tribe of Keleth of the world of Daak'rmin

was resting at her campfire on the plains of Sileth when a man rode up on a rheiah, which is like a cross between a large cat and a bear. "Ul'mi, what do you want?" she asked the man, who was her mother's cousin. 

"We need your help against a sorcerer! He is lurning our men out of our camp and turning them into reptiles!" he said, in great panic. "Perhaps they are being eaten by wild rheiah's when they leave the camp to relieve themselves." she retorted, not wanting to believe such a story. "We would have seen the bodies and we have not even found a single bone, besides I saw the sorcerer shift one of our men into a reptile at a distance when I was hiding behind a holy spike. (a "holy spike" is a revered rock that juts out of the ground, the sharp spikes were due to a volcanic phenomena.) She looked up at the three moons and swore an oath to the goddess. "Fine, I shall investigate." she said evenly. He gave her a look of relief and rode off to a larger camp to the east. She suspected that the men were hallucinating from the poison plants that would be gathered for the rituals but at the same time she really wanted to see for herself what kind of man could wield such power. 

She put out the fire and gathered her few belongings and started across the plains to the now abandoned camp. When she got there, she saw nothing amiss except for the campfire was now simmering in the coals. She checked the D'lmid-hide tents and saw no bodies, not even a crying infant so she guessed that all the women and children fled. She looked for footprints and saw one set that did not match the others, she followed them out of the camp and out into the plains.

The slow and careful hunt, using a torch, lasted all night when she finally came to a set of mountains and cliffs. She knew of several caves there but had never deeply explored them because her people used the caves as tombs and even temples. The sacred temples were always guarded by shaven-headed priests of the goddess and they were known to fight with primitive magics and enchantments. "Perhaps a rogue priest was to blame for this." she said out loud to herself. She peered into one dangerous-looking cave and saw bones of men. 'This must be the killer!' she thought and she went about disguising her location by scrambling up a nearby hill and waited for the killer to return to his lair. She waited until daybreak and then she saw a priest painted entirely in white walk into the cave, and he was carrying a skull of a gar'inga. She silently slid off the rock to confront him but he ignored her and started his ritual. The gar'inga trans-morphed back into a man and just before he delivered the fatal blow, she stopped his hand. "Stop! What madness is this! This is blasphemy to the goddess!" she cried. The priest said nothing and he left. She went to follow him and he stopped by a tree and began a chant. She blessed herself by the goddess expecting that he was going to smite her but he simply ignored her. A man appeared out of thin air and then he changed his chant and it transformed into something else. He stopped and it vanished. "Did you change the men of my village into animals?" she asked the seemingly mute priest. He finally looked at her and pointed his finger to the west. "Laisoon the evil priest did this." he finally said. "Was that your cave?" she asked. "Laisoon's cave." he answered, still looking steadfastly to the west.  "Will you join me?" she asked. "You kill Laisoon? No, I cannot kill. Goddess prohibits me from murder but I will trap him instead and when he is trapped he will no longer torment you." he said. 

She gave him a confused look. "Can I come with you?" she asked. "I am priest, you are warrioress, you must protect villages and I must do what I do." he said. He gave her a smile and gestured with his old arms. "This way, the journey will not be long." he said. They then began to walk to the west and after some hours of walking past grass and gnarled trees they came to a very deep rock gully canyon where the water had been carving a narrow and winding cut in the land for centuries. She jumped over the gap and she turned to help her old companion over the gap and they both made it over. After walking upstream of the narrow gully canyon they came to a camp and saw an evil-looking man sitting around piles of skulls, both of men and beasts. "Laisoon!" cried the priest. "You are no more!" and the old priest opened a gourd-like flask and the evil priest screamed and a demon came out of the evil priest. The demon seemed to resist as the old priest chanted and threw white dust at the demon until the demon wearied and lost it's form and went into the flask. The priest immediately cast the flask into the fire and a long scream was heard. The "evil priest" got up, as if coming out of a long coma and blinked. "I am sorry grandfather!" he cried and fell at the feet of the old priest. "You are saved from the evil, now return with me and learn the right ways." said the old priest. The other priest got up and destroyed his abominable camp and joined the older priest and Lyria  and they came to a great tree. "Farewell." said the old priest simply to Lydia and both priests vanished into the night. "Amazing." she said under her breath. "Goddess" she said as she realized that the priest had left her a gift of two water flasks and some food. 

Chapter Two

The King of Mintec was an arrogant man who enjoyed seeing the defeat on the faces of his enemies and he enjoyed the glint of gold and silver even more. His entire city was built from stone, the surrounding wall was ten stories high, all built from square blocks of stone. The farms and fields surrounding the city all belonged to him. One million humanoids dwelt in his city and his men of science were his secret weapon, they worked on new inventions and new weapons, making his city the most advanced on the world. The King had respect for the goddess but he worshiped the other gods as well, although many claimed that the gods were simply outward expressions of the goddess. He had heard the tale of how Lyria of the Keleth tribe witnessed the banishing of an evil spirit and he wanted to speak with her further, he also had another purpose, he wanted to establish friendship with her tribe so he could open a trade route so his merchants could trade for goods with her tribe and in the long run her tribe would become his vassals. He was clever, he never used his army except in self-defense of the city, he used his priests and merchants to expand his realm. 

He spoke with his priests and they went out to the plains to seek her. Once they found her, they explained that their King wanted to see her and ask her about the exorcism. She cautiously agreed and went with them. During the journey they asked her about her skills as an archer but she said nothing. Then they pressed her about the goddess and she said alittle and they used that opening to brag about how wealthy and important their city was. "No. the goddess does not care about that. She cares about love and peace." she said, remembering what her mother taught her as a child. The priests were surprised at her retort but said nothing. They came to the city and she was escorted to the Royal Palace where the King and his many wives lived with his many children. The King received her with gladness and put a fancy robe on her back and clapped his hands so that the court musicians would play a light tune to lighten up the atmosphere. She marveled at the court and his power and was surprised to see that he was not like the chieftains and Grandmothers, all of them serious all the time. Her instinct was telling her to be careful around him and she heeded it. "So, you have come to the great city of Xiatong. My great-grandfather was the first King of this city. I am King Mintec." he proclaimed. "You wish to hear of the exorcism?" she asked. "Yes, I do." he said. She recounted every detail and left nothing out. He was fascinated with the story and he began to admit he admired the strength that she projected. 

"I am glad to hear that a demon that would have created much suffering for my city is gone." he said. "You have done everyone a great service. By my right as King, you are free to enter and exit the city at any time and I give you the right to own property within the city and you are to be known forevermore as a noble of this city." he said. She was quite surprised that this King was rewarding her for doing her job and she suspected he had a hidden motive. "You wish closer relations with my people O King? Speak with our grandmothers, they rule our tribe. I am merely a warrioress." she said. The King considered this. "Then be my mouth to them, I offer trade goods and medicines." he said. "And I offer many other trade goods besides." he said. "Go now, I shall call for you in the morning." he said, dismissing her. She walked out of the Royal Palace and a woman escorted her to a wealthy house and she was given a bed to sleep in as an honored guest. "Be careful of the King." warned a woman. "He marries all women that please him and the ones who refuse are expelled from the city." she said. "I am a protector of my tribe, I will not marry him." said Lyria simply. "What does the King do to people who murder?" asked Lyria. "They are fed to the Kith'gar. It is a terrible death but the families receive comfort that their tormentor is taken away from them." said the woman. "That is just. This is indeed a wise King." said Lyria. "Thieves are hit in the buttocks with a rod and same with those who create a public riot." said her husband. "The King takes very little in tribute from us and we thrive and grow because of his wisdom." said the man. "I am Gan" said the man. "I am Lasa" said the woman. "I sell fruits in the marketplace and I hire a man to collect the fruits for me from the nearby jungles." said Gan. "I am a scribe." said Lasa. "We have always had writing of some form but because of paper and pens we can now record transactions for the official records." said Lasa. "You work at the Palace?" asked Lyria. "Yes, I also teach the children in the city how to write and do math and keep records. The King has a vision of knowledge and not of war." said the woman, almost radiant with joy. "I am impressed, my people write on skins but we rarely have the chance to use that art because we are busy with survival." said Lyria. "Our city trades in skins, we often need skins for leather." said Lasa. "Then perhaps I can speak with the King about an agreeable trade, our children need medicines. They cough and die because of an unkown illness." she said. Lasa nodded her head in sympathy. "Perhaps our doctors can help, ask the King for such a trade and I know he will say yes." said Lasa. 

Lyria appeared the next day before the King and proposed the trade: One hundred skins a month in exchange for doctors and medicine. The King rubbed his chin and said; "Agreed!" and he dismissed her and she left the great city and returned home. When she got back to the main camp, which was arraigned like a giant wheel, she saw that some priests from the great city had arrived ahead of her. She spoke with the aged elders and they nodded at her request. "It is wise to have such a valued friend, although we shall not become his vassals" said the old women. The ruling was final and she spoke with the visiting priests who agreed to take the news back to the King. After that, Lyria took to hunting the predators that stalked the plains and sometimes took the old and weak from the camps. Within the month, a few tradesmen from the city came to the camp and set up their tents, which where better in size and structure and sold their goods from the tents for simple things like animal meat and gemstones. The priests from the great city came to the camp and set up their tents and installed their idols, asking only for food and water donations. Within the year, Lyria was trying to find any excuse to leave the growing camp because the extreme poor of the plains heard of the new prosperity of the camp and the camp was quickly becoming a real town with stone huts and merchant stalls and a real temple and even the grandmothers where built a real hall for government. 

Lyria began to wonder why she even met the King to begin with and worried about these sweeping changes that were happening to her tribe. One night, she had a dream, a night vision of the old priest taking her on a journey to a massive and strange city. It had towers and the towers had lights and the sight took her breath away. "This, my daughter is the future. Consider it wisely because we cannot stop it." he said. The dream ended and she went and told the grandmothers about the vision. They believed her, having no reason to doubt her. "The old priest speaks truly. Great change is coming. Our people must never forget who they are or they will lose themselves." said old Fanya, the chief elder of the grandmothers.

The End. (for now)

The Beginning of the Conflict between Orcs and everyone else

There was a star system with seven inhabitable planets. Each of the intelligent races of each planet did not know of each other until the Orcish Sorcerer lords began to open portals between all seven worlds to facilitate the invasion. The Orcs, led by their Sorcerer Emperor Kagan Kathar, marched on each planet looking for loot and magical artifacts. The great Orcish army had no intention of remaining on those worlds but as raiders, simply wanted to take what they could get their hands on and move on to other worlds. The two million orc army found itself immediately at war and entrenched on the planet of Ghissar, which later became their homeworld after the native elves fled for Talamaar. The Sorcerer Emperor was enraged when he discovered that his chieftains failed to capture the fabled "Staff of the Unlocking" which unlocked all ancient portals to all worlds in the galaxy. He had his 156 chieftains punished by throwing them to a giant sandworm on Maxaris. He assumed total control of all the clans and appointed Warlords from the ranks of the loyal soldiers. The great orcish army marched on the other worlds and still could not find the coveted staff but did find trillions of tons of gold and silver, all of which went into the treasury of the Emperor. The Warlords became the Governors of the seven worlds and became mini-emperors in their own right. Talamaar remained just out of their reach however and all 34 million elves had fled through the portals in a mass evacuation to Talamaar. The humans had not yet reached this part of the galaxy but the dwarves had and fought the orcs whenever they could, striking the orcs from their mountain fasts on all the planets. Eventually the orcs retreated to Ghissar and Maxaris once the portals opened and humans came in droves, barbarian clans of fierce warriors who relished the idea of a good fight against some being twice their size. 

The barbarian humans then quickly divided their newly won worlds into tribal Kingdoms and went to war with the dwarves, which they saw as being the guardians of infinite wealth. The cities of men sprang up and the elves began to come back in great numbers through the portals and fought the human clans and tribes for their ancient homelands. Soon an uneasy truce was established between the three races as word came that the Orcs under Kargath Kathar had invaded one of the seven worlds. The three races on all seven worlds agreed to an alliance, which was the start of a long and strained relationship between the usurper humans and the older races. 10 million orcs invaded each world, rolling over the alliance and smashing it aside until finally the war came to Alalkase. The free races fought the Orcish Empire in a massive battle of 8 million orcs versus 5 million allies, most of them mages and Paladins. The better equipped allied army defeated the orcish army and Emperor Kargath Kathar took his remaining legions back to Ghissar in retreat and utter humiliation. The human Kings consolidated their hold on their worlds and soon a human empire that ruled over the five worlds appeared headed by General Tiberius Noster, who was crowned Emperor Tiberius the First. An invasion from a distant orcish homeworld was beaten back after a portal appeared on Alalkase. The two Orcish Empires then learned of the existence of each other and made an alliance against the human Empire. Using a manufactured and highly unstable staff, the twin armies of orcs invaded Alalkase and destroyed the human Empire and proceeded to conquer and enslave the other five worlds as well. Many of the humans fled through a portal to the previously unsettled world of Kore, which was called by them Korrian. The humans shut the portal and destroyed the staff which they had captured from the orcs to prevent the orcs from getting a fix on their location. They established a thriving civilization divided among twenty-five Republics. The few humans who had remained on the Seven Worlds had done so because they had either been captured or were fighting as rebels. 

Korrian had not forgotten about the Seven Worlds and the republics built advanced military equipment and advanced enchanted military equipment to invade the former human homeworld and push out the orcs once and for all. After 500 years, the sorcerers opened the portal to Alalkase and the advanced military poured through. The settled and lazy orcs were taken by complete surprise and they all quickly retreated to the orc homeworld. Each of the five worlds were retaken and finally the portals were opened to the orc homeworlds and the modern army laid waste to the orcs and greatly reduced their numbers from 1 billion to 20 million in year of bloody fighting. The humans went back to the six worlds and sealed the portals and declared the campaign to be a total success. 

The end, for now.

A new birth of freedom

Kaladran was not unlike many human kingdoms except it was founded by a powerful sorcerer king, Kaladran, back in 304 C.F. his descendants (1056 of them at any given time) ruled the Kingdom as if it was their personal fiefdom. The House of Kaladran, headed by King Magus Kaladran, made sure that the subjects of their Kingdom never forgot who their rulers were. Statues of the Kaladrans were everywhere, almost on every street corner, the anthem only mentioned every Kaladran who had ever lived and the ground beneath the Kingdom contained hundreds of tombs containing the Kings and Princes of the Kaladran dynasty. The Kaladrans were deft at the arts of war and each King made sure that the Kingdom's some 2,000 stone castles were constantly ungraded for a potential conflict. Most people would have been happy with such an arraignment but the inhabitants of this Kingdom consisted of two cultures, both strongly independent and proud. The Kaladrans were neither Gelderlanders nor Jutlanders but were from Fromberge, and neither group liked the Fromberge. The founder of the Kingdom was wise enough to leave the merchants and farmers alone but the later Kings began to raise taxes and place the farmers under a complex web of tenantcies and sub-tenantcies which made them into slaves. The increasing load of taxes, fees and tithes from the official church caused the people to groan and complain.

Froan Donnersen, the blacksmith in the manor of Marchmount was hard at work at his forge when he saw the dreaded black-hooded tax collectors from the Exchequer ride up. One of them dismounted and leered at his daughter. "Pay up blacksmith or I'll have my fun." said the hooded thug. The blacksmith could not ignore this insult and he swung his hammer at the head of the hooded thug and smashed his skull. The other tax-collector looked at the blacksmith in horror before drawing his sword. The angry townsfolk gathered and demanded to know what had happened. The blacksmith pointed to the dead offender. "This leech tried to rape my daughter!" and the weary and overburdened townsfolk reacted at once and took the tax collector off his horse and slew him on the spot with the blacksmith's hammer. The local lord came out and demanded to know what had happened and the angry mob turned on him and beat him into a pulp. The angry townsfolk then tossed the bodies into a marl pit.

"This is a terrible thing, we shall all be executed for this!" cried the town elders. "Not if we can help it!" said the blacksmith. "We are the free folk of Marchmount and we shall defend our new found freedom." he said. Word got to the Baron, who himself was a Kaladran, and the Baron sent the sheriff to the manor to arrest the insurgents for murder but the townsfolk ran him off with their pitchforks and shovels and hammers. The sheriff returned with a band of mercenaries and demanded that the townsfolk turn over the blacksmith but the townsfolk resisted and they bravely fought the soldiers until the blacksmith could escape into the woods. 

The blacksmith ran to a cave under a cliff and hid there while his family sent him food. The men of Marchmount came to him on the second day and they came with swords made from iron. "Farmers, we need more men if we are to fight for our freedom. Send word to the other manors." said the blacksmith. Thus the Marchmount Revolt was born on that day. After several days, a large group of farmers and merchants joined the small band of fifteen men and increased the number to 134 men. The group talked among themselves and decided to make Darren Tilmont the General and the blacksmith the second-in-command. Darren had been a soldier at one point and had quit the military life after the last war. 

The group of rebels continued to receive new recruits daily and much to their surprise, a Prince of the Kaladran family offered to lead them into battle. Prince Eaumont explained that he had seen the decline of the Kingdom more clearly than most and realized that the only future that the Kingdom had was one of falling from within and being conquered from without. The leaders agreed that the Prince would be their leader and in turn the Prince declared the two main men of the revolt to be battlefield knights. The Prince then sent letters to unhappy Barons and was able to secure the help of Baron Plansfeld and Baron Vorrengen. The Barons brought their willing subjects into the fold of the rebels and the army consisted of 54,000 volunteers. Baron Vorrengen brought training and organization to the rebel army while the Prince made the speeches and outlined his vision for a Kingdom based on the rule of law and not on the rule of a King alone. 

Meanwhile the old King lay dying from intestinal disease and the Crown Prince was still away at the Royal University. The rebel army, with it's banners flying, made it's move and seized the city of Oldenbourgh. The Crown Prince was finally informed of the revolt and he rode swiftly back to his home Castle and threw down his banner. Not surprisingly, the Barons ignored his summons and several of their number joined the rebellion. Every day the ranks of the rebellion swelled and the reserve strength of the Kaladran family diminished. Each side brought in Red Mages to fight for them and even hired out dwarven thanes to the fight. The two armies met at Riversford-on-Dranmouth and fought a horribly mismatched battle where the rebels enjoyed superior numbers and put the demoralized royal army to flight. Most of the Kaladran family fell on that day, killed by waves of arrows and killed by their horses falling into spiked pits and being killed in magic attacks. The larger rebel army gave chase to the royal army and when the royal army fled to the royal city of Lenchester, the rebel army camped outside and sent carrier pigeons into the city, encourging the merchants to revolt and to behead the King and to deliver his head to the rebel Prince. The Guild Masters of the city met and considered the proposal. After a time of careful deliberation and some angry words, the city gates were opened and the rebel army marched in and captured the King and put him into chains in the Royal Tower.

The other Barons received news of the rebel victory and threw in their lot with the rebel Prince. They gathered their armies and defeated the two other royal armies that year. After the victory was complete, the rebel Prince was declared King at Lenchester. He was given a church coronation and he ordered the army to disband and return to their manors and towns. 
The original band of rebels returned to their manor and waited for the reforms such as rule of law and lower taxes but the new King was forced to counter an invasion from a greedy eastern Kingdom. The border war lasted two years while the soldiers again expected relief from the burdens and when the war was over and the enemy King had been captured, the new King announced that judges would be appointed for all the provinces and that lawyers would be trained and he sat down and wrote a legal code. The peasants were grateful for that reform but their taxes were still high and again the blacksmith, who was hailed as a hero by the masses still, gathered some friends and walked to Lenchester to ask the King for a slight reduction in taxes. The new King heard them and said that he would only be able to reduce taxes by 1% and he would look into the issue of removing some of the overlapping lordships. He was privately worried that he would undermine himself if he agreed to anything else and the blacksmith went away content that the King was doing all that he could. 

However in Branstide, a fiery young rebel named Samwell Kettering gathered a few men around him with is fiery speeches and denounced the new King as a "total fraud" and a "traitor prince" who forgot the very people whom he rose up to help. The famous blacksmith heard of this and was the first to fire off a letter defending the King. Fate was kind to the new King however, the rebel Samwell was kicked by a horse and died on the spot one day while he was trying to reshoe his horse. The men who followed him went back to their farms. The King then proceeded to fire the Exchequer and appointed a new man and organized a new system of tax collection through merchant/tax farmers. The tax farmers would dress in plain clothes and set up a table in each manor and collect the taxes for the year without a show of force. The new system worked and the peasants paid their share without a grumble. The Barons asked the King to call a Parliament, something that had not been done in centuries. The King quickly agreed and the Barons assembled in Lenchester. At the Parliament, the Barons called on the King to ensure the rights of the nobles. The King agreed and a document was drawn up, signed by the King, protecting the rights of the nobles and the merchants, both of which had been sticking points before the uprising. The old blacksmith was happy to hear the news of the charter and he sent off a letter to the King asking him to allow the manors and the cities to send their representatives to the Parliament to act as a "check" on the lords. The King considered it and spoke with the Barons and agreed to part of the proposal: The cities would send one Guild Master as a representative to a "House of the Commons" which was to communicate with the "House of the lords" when the Parliament was in session. The King ordered the construction of a Parliament House in the city and he appointed a Prime Minister and a Second Minister to oversee the new Government.

Meanwhile the imprisoned King, who was still awaiting his fate in the Royal Tower, bribed the guards and escaped to the Kingdom of Lorrance in disguise. The new King reacted swiftly and sent court officials to arrest the old King and bring him back in chains, which they did because the King of Lorrance was a friend of his. The old King was sentenced to exile to a cliff side monastery and he died there at an old age as a monk, never recanting his former harshness. The old blacksmith, who was now a Guild Master himself, died at a great old age of 102 and lived to see his son serve a term in the new Parliament. When the King heard of his passing, he ordered that a statue of the blacksmith be erected in Lenchester. By that time, all the old statues of the various Kaladrans had been pulled down and the House had renamed itself the House of Lenchester. Many of the castles had also been pulled down, except for the ones needed for defense. The nobles were now forbidden from using the castles as tools of tax and rent collection beyond what was lawful, that practice had been abolished with the revolution and the ban was codified in the new Parliament.

The End for now.

The Dwarf and the Faire part III

Vlarn arrived in the mountain-city of Arranius on a pale and rainy day, not exactly the best time to come and do business. All the merchants and trade lords were inside their homes by their fireplaces and the shops were shuttered. Vlarn saw a few humans moving about the streets but at second glance he noticed that they were either blind, crippled or maimed had had to beg for a living. He had compassion on them and gave them all a few coppers. "Aye Dwarf, thank yes kindly, want some advice? I was once a thriving merchant here but I made this mistake in not paying off the right people and so the hired thugs came and maimed me for life. There is more theft and crime in this miserable city than anywhere else in this land. Don't settle here. Leave, this city sucks the very soul out of you." said the crippled man. Vlarn merely shook his head and walked on, he had heard that story before in many places and so far no-one had ever dared to accost him or falsely accuse him.

He walked the stair-streets up to the highest level where the inns were and looked around to see if anyone had posted an ad for property for sale. Upon seeing nothing of interest, he walked into an inn and found it full of well-dress patrons, men playing dice, drinking and female elves playing their harps and singing in their extremely difficult-to-understand language. A fire roared in the fireplace while serving maids, humans, dwarves and gnomes, all scurried about either serving ales and food or clearing tables. The Innlord was a huge and burly man with no hair anywhere on his body with a fixed glaze of toughness that wasn't unfriendly. Vlarn came up to the counter and sat down at a chair. "Welcome to the "D'Argossa's Dragon's Bane Inn"" said the Innlord. "Keep your eyes open and your ears open and you might find a business opportunity." said the Innlord. "And, if you are interested, I am looking to sell this dump and start a new Inn somewhere else besides this mountaintop city." said the Innlord. "What is the matter?" asked the dwarf. "Dimroy the Hitter, he shakes down all the merchants. He has most of the criminals in the city working for him and every time the King tries to imprison him, he escapes. Say, since this useless King of ours won't do anything, why don't we think of something. You look strong enough." said the Innlord. "I didn't get this far by being a fool and a companion of fools." rumbled Vlarn. "You are right. I work for Dimroy the Hitter. Just testing you." said the Innlord. "Dimroy owns most of this city right now, if you were smart little dwarf, you would be wise to leave." said the Innlord. 

Vlarn left the city that day without paying the elvish King a visit. He was wiser than that. He was just wandering at this point. He would set up camp in the woods near rivers and fish for his food and began to enjoy the solitary life. He found some nice, hidden spots where he would camp for weeks at a time so he could avoid bandits. On one such day, he saw a man mounted on a horse come into his camp. "Hail dwarf! A certain King renders payment to you for services rendered." said the courier. He dropped a bag of gold at the feet of the dwarf. "The King also gives you the manor of Farstride and confers the status of noble upon you. Congratulations." said the messenger. Vlarn was shocked. "Tell his lordship that I am grateful." said Vlarn. The messenger turned and rode off while the dwarf made plans to find his new home.

He rode hard for several days and after asking dozens of merchants and peasants, he found the manor of Farstride and was greatly delighted to team up again with his old friend. The Fairie
offered his insight in exchange for a forever home and Vlarn agreed. 

"The whole village is a wreck, the manor itself is a shack and most of the peasants ran off. I need to get some peasants to come back here." said the Dwarf to no-one. He traveled to a nearby city that day and posted "labor wanted" posters all over in the hopes that men and women that were "down on their luck" would agree to come live and work at his manor. He traveled back to the village and rounded up the remaining peasants to tear down the ramshackle manor and build something nicer and warmer. Soon a flood of sixty new families arrived and swore fealty to him and he got them into tasks and assigned them plots of land to build their huts. He finished the manor and built a new barn all before the winter hit. 

Spring and Summer came after a long and unproductive winter and the Dwarf made sure that everyone was plowing and planting and the remainder were working the beehives and tending to the cattle. Vlarn received a messenger dwarf from his hold. The Thane was dead and his clan wished him to return and assume his place as the head of the clan but he shook his head and sent a message that he was happy here as a vassal of a certain human king but he did ask that his fiancee Moira come to him. They reunited and married that year at the manor temple. Life was good but fate would soon throw in a curve ball.

More to come.....

The Dark Nexsus: Part III

Years passed and Horaitio Lansyard was now the Abbot-General of the Imperial Paladins. News had arisen that a wealthy and mysterious traveler had entered the city and was holed up at the Imperial Hotel near the Palace. All the accounts of the traveler seemed to suggest that he had a "dark taint" about him, so Horaitio went to go see for himself. He took a carriage to the Imperial Hotel and entered the lobby of the Hotel, disguised as a merchant. He spied the target, who was laughing with some guests at a table. He saw it, the darkness seemed to flow from this man. He was stuck. He could not act without a warrant from the Emperor and Cleon I was not big on acting impulsively. He decided to question the man instead. He sat down and gave a false name and chatted with the stranger. The stranger seemed harmless and mostly talked about the flour mills that he owned in the bread basket regions of the Empire. Nothing he said or asked shook the stranger. As he left, he heard a voice in his mind, "I know who you are Paladin. It will be too late for you to do anything, my plans are in motion and I shall sit on the Imperial Throne." Horaitio looked at the stranger but the stranger did not look at him, rather the stranger was talking with the serving maid. Horaitio left the Hotel, determined to report his findings to the Emperor. 

He walked into the massive Imperial Palace and spoke with the Viceroy, lord Kaleas Grimund. "Oh yes, the wealthy merchant, he is an odd one. Reports have reached our ears that he is spreading some gossip." said the Viceroy. "Can you punish him?" asked the Abbot-General. "No, not without a specific charge laid against him. The people insist on their rights and the Emperor respects it." said the Viceroy. "Is the Emperor in? Can I see him?" asked Horaitio. "Cleon is busy at the moment. You can wait in the main room." said the Viceroy. "Or you can leave a message with me and I'll handle it myself." said the Viceroy. "I don't trust the stranger. Keep an eye on him." said Horaitio. "We'll see what we can do." said the Viceroy. Horaitio left the Imperial Palace and returned to the Monastery on the other side of the city, that was the headquarters of the Imperial Paladins. The next day, some soldiers came to the office of the Abbot-General and handed him a sealed letter. He opened it and read the message. "You are to see the Emperor at once." read Horaitio. "Odd, the Viceroy said that he would handle the matter." he said to himself. "I shall come at once." said Horaitio. He went posthaste to the Palace by carriage and walked into the massive throne room, which he had only seen once before, as a child. 

"There you are." said Cleon I, looking down on him from his throne, which was mounted on a large step platform. "Rumor has it that you desire my crown? Are you truly that insane?" asked Cleon I in an irritated manner. "No your majesty. I recently discovered a stranger that was spreading false gossip about your court my lord." said Horaitio. "Then why hasn't my secret police informed me about this plot? Very well. I shall order the tale-bearer to be arrested but at the same time, I want you to stay in the Green Room, as an honored guest, and so we can clear up this dilemma." said the Emperor. "As you command." he said with a bow. The Viceroy dismissed him and the Emperor turned to his sons to discuss the matter. Horaitio went to the Green Room and listened at a metal food-lift. He had discovered some years ago that sound travels best through metal. "Are you quite sure?" he heard the Emperor say. "Yes, I am sure, the Abbot speaks truly. The wealthy stranger might be a plotter of some sort." said Prince Menachem (who was named for the famous Elvish Tower) "Don't trust the Abbot. Remember General Riverford? He almost overthrew grandfather with an almost convincing tale that he was "off his head" and wasn't the best ruler." said Prince Donner. "I have no reason to distrust the Abbot." said the Emperor. "The wealthy stranger, lord Dumas, is here to see you my lord!" announced a page. "Bring him in." said the Viceroy. lord Dumas, the previously unknown "wealthy stranger" came in with his robe trailing and several servants, all of them carrying ornate wooden boxes. "My liege." said lord Dumas. "These are gifts for your Highness." he said. The servants opened the boxes and revealed gold, silver, diamonds, gems and even an automaton device. "This automaton device might interest you the most. Hold it in your hand and it gives you a crystal clear vision of the souls in your midst." said the crafty lord. "Bring me the automaton and Viceroy, take the chests to the treasury." said the Emperor. "Yes my liege." said the Viceroy. The Viceroy directed the servants to bring the chests downstairs while the Emperor tried out the new device. "Bring the Paladin to me." said the Emperor. He looked through the device at the lord and saw a bright light and when he saw the Abbot-General come into the room he saw darkness. "My lord, this abbot of yours has been spreading lies about you all over the Empire, he is demoralizing everyone and even my workers refuse to work because of him!" said the "lord" in an accusative burst. "Not even close to the truth my liege." said Horaitio. "I believe lord Dumas instead of you, this device makes me see your evil Horaitio!" said the Emperor. "Take him to the dungeon!" said the Emperor to the Captain of the Guard. "Hold him until tomorrow. Then we the Court shall sentence him to death." said the now-paranoid Emperor. "Wait! That device is a trap! The lens is flawed!" blurted out Horaitio but the Emperor was not convinced. 

Horaitio found himself bolted against a wall in a stone-walled cell where all the other prisoners where. The screams of the prisoners being tortured echoed through the corridors. "I have to get back to the Monastery and rally the troops to dispose of this obvious imposter." thought Horaitio. 
He remembered a teleportation spell that would take him directly to the Elvish capital at Menachem and he figured that he could use an ally at this point so he chanted the spell and within a second he was standing before the God-Emperor of the Elves. "My liege." he said in his best elvish, "I am come to ask for your aid in destroying an evil enemy of the Empire." he said. "Any enemy of the Empire is an enemy of ours." said the God-Emperor. "There is a detail, our Emperor thinks that the enemy is a friend and is being deceived by him." said Horaitio. "Then I shall come myself and clear up the deception." said the God-Emperor. The huge elf rose from his throne and chanted a spell and teleported both himself and Horaitio to the Imperial Throne Room of Cleon I. "Kelthas! This is a surprise!" said Cleon I, rising from his throne to greet an old friend. "Give me the device." said Kelthas. "Sure, why do you want to see it?" asked Cleon. The huge elf just picked the device up off the pillow and he began to pour pure light into it. The device exploded. Everyone in the throne room was knocked back. "That is why. It was a device of the darkness that could have only been crafted by a dark lord. I fear that Azzrius is back." said the God-Emperor. Cleon was shocked. He turned to the Abbot-General. "I almost slashed my own throat! I beg forgiveness my old friend." said the Emperor to Horaitio. "We need to track down and defeat this dark lord. How did he escape the dome trap?" asked Horaitio. "No idea, but we need to exile him to netherspace. This summoning will take three immensely powerful wizards and an immobilized dark lord." said the God-Emperor. "The sons of Haladir? They haven't spoken with anyone in many years. But I suppose we have no choice." said the Emperor. "Aren't they outlaws?" asked Horaitio. "Outlawed but not criminal. They are Red Mages. They dwell in the Western Lands and are outside of the protection of the Empire. We have never been able to claim the Western Lands because of certain magical force fields that our Battle Mages have never been able to take down." said the Emperor. Everyone in the room also knew that what he said was technically true but also misleading, the Western Lands were also claimed by the Sylvanian Dominion and the God-Emperor himself had the barriers put in place to keep the humans out of those lands. The Red Mages who controlled the Western Lands had a long-standing treaty with the God-Emperor to keep the Human Empire out of their lands. The huge Elven Emperor said nothing but he did frown slightly. "I shall talk to them." said Horaitio. "I shall teleport us then." said the God-Emperor. "The Blessings of the Gods of the Forest be upon your city and her Empire my dear friend." said the God-Emperor. "And the Blessings of the Gods of the Light be upon yours old friend" said Cleon I to the God-Emperor. The pair vanished and reappeared at Menachem. "Go quickly, I have arraigned for an eagle to take you to the sons of Haladir." said the God-Emperor.

Horaitio climbed on the back of a giant eagle and flew into the Western Lands. After a few minutes, the eagle landed and dropped him off at the Vermillion Tower. Horaitio knocked on the stone doors and a wizard opened the door. "What is your business?" he asked, peevishly. "The dark lord is back." said Horaitio. "I will send you upstairs." said the wizard. He was teleported upstairs to the main hall and the sons of Haladir were at the main resonating crystal. "The dark lord is back? That is grim news indeed." said Arch-Mage Gerry Haladir. "So you need us to send him to the Nether?" asked Second Arch-Mage Tirias Haladir. "We saw his return, in our crystal." said Master-Mage Donric Haladir. "Technically since we are neutral his return has to affect us in order to act but since dark lords have a nasty tendency to murder all the mages they get their tendrils on, we will gladly render our aid and assistance." said the Arch-Mage. The Mages gathered around the resonating crystal and looked deep into it. "He is traveling to the Artic regions. We must stop him before he builds a new Tower." said the Arch-Mage. "The Gnomes control that region, they would drive him out I hope?" asked Horaitio. "No chance, once he gets a grip on their minds, they are his to command!" cried Donric Haladir. 

The Red Mages hit on an idea. They sent a messenger eagle to the dark lord to set up a meeting at a fixed location. The mages began their portal to the nether while the dark lord, excited at the chance to get powerful followers, teleported over to the trap. Once he appeared, the mages hit the dark lord with a wind-bolt and pushed the dark lord into the portal and they quickly closed it before he could escape. "Done. He will remain in the twisting nether forever. He will never escape." said the Arch-Mage. "Thank you. I am in your debt." said Horaitio. "Send a friendly letter sometime, and tell your Emperor that we saved his Empire. Perhaps he will allow us to enter his borders sometime." said the Arch-Mage. "Consider it done." said Horaitio. The three teleported out and Horaitio was teleported back to his Monastery. Later that day he explained to the Emperor the events that transpired that led to the final exile of the dark lord. "Good, good. Tell the Red Mages that they are Heroes of the Empire and that they are welcome to visit at any time." said Cleon I.

End of Part III

 

The Dark Nexsus: Part II

Three centuries had passed and the realm of men had undergone some massive changes. Emperor Sargon IV ruled the entire world and his legions enforced the Pax Dominus. All of the mages and Paladins were members of the Legion and any mages or Paladins that operated outside of Imperial control were considered to be outlaw. The Great City of Laens, which contained a population of ten million humans and other humanoids, had a vast array of libraries and universities and was considered to be the center of civilization in the whole world. The Empire was in the mist of a Golden Age with scholars advancing technology and science with the magical arts. 

Azzrius was still bottled up in his trap. He had died of starvation on his onyx throne, completely powerless a century before. The plain that had been named for him was now a green province of the Empire, the dome was surrounded by farms and villages, since the evil magic had since passed from the area. Fewer and fewer mages knew of the story of the heroes who had defeated the dark lord and most historians considered the story to be "legendary at best" considering how fast the events had occurred. 

Ambition ruled the Imperial Mages College and the Imperial Mages Guilds. Arch-Mage Timorius spent more time at the Palace than at his desk at the Imperial College. It was no different at the Imperial Paladin Division/College The Abbot-General, Samon Venarius, was preening himself to become the adviser to the Emperor despite the fact that he had never seen combat.

The young Paladin-disciples, having entered the College in the year 1334 CV contained some promising talents. Horaitio the Fair was already at the top of his class and was the first Paladin tapped to handle the Oedemic Crisis. 

"Paladins, there is trouble. An order of black mages headed by Osrion Oedemica has taken up headquarters in the Cave of Blackwater." said Samon to the gathered Paladins. "I want all of you to mount up, take your best enchanted weapons and go and finish this cult-master and slay his disciples. We must not allow the rise of another dark-lord." he said, worried. The limestone courtyard was silent as the wind passed through the arches of the porticoes. "And I appoint Horaitio Lansyard to be the Captain." said the Abbot-General. The other Paladins grimaced, several of their number had seniority over Horaitio but Horaitio had a quick mind and a deep spirit, a good choice for a replacement leader. "Captain Lansyard, gather your men and march. I will provide you the map of the region and of the cave." said the Abbot-General. 

After awhile, the men where readied for the expedition. The Abbot-General called Horaitio aside and had a private conversation. "The eyes of the Emperor are upon you, the eyes of our Order are upon you. Your father was a bright man and your grandfather was also a genius. However try to follow the rules more closely. The Emperor is more impressed by those who obey the rules than anything." warned the Abbot-General. "And if I have to bend a few rules to get the job done?" asked Horaitio. "Do not bend the rules, even by a bit." warned the Abbot-General. "As you command sire." said Horaitio at last. "Good enough, just go in there and get the job done without disgracing us." said the Abbot-General. Captain Horaitio saluted and the two parted company.

The small Paladin Army of ten mounted men left the city early the next morning and traveled west to southern Wintrax. The grassy farmland and plain gave way to pine barrens and large rocks, said to be exploded remains of night trolls who foolishly remained in outside during the dawn. The Paladins commented on this and laughed as they rode past the noses and ears of the once mighty trolls. They came to the Cave of Blackwater after three days of riding. They dismounted and set up camp outside of the cave's mouth. The Captain looked down into the cave. "We're going to have to repel in. The cultists found a perfect hiding spot." said Captain Horaitio. The engineer in the group set the grappling hooks and ropes and the men descended into the cave in fives. The cave was pitch black and the Paladins struck their torches and saw that the cultists had been collecting bones and stacking them randomly as if to warn intruders. "Be aware of magic traps" said Horaitio as he saw one of his men try to move forward in the gloom of the cave. One tunnel descended sharply downward but had a ladder. The Paladins knew that the cultists must be nearby. Horaitio cast "find traps" with a wave of his hand, light shining from his fingers. Several nasty traps were discovered and the Paladins disabled the traps. Under Horaitio's careful leadership, the group moved forward in silence as Horaitio used hand signals to tell the men which direction to follow. He motioned a "stop" when he heard voices ahead. "What are they saying?" whispered one Paladin. "They are saying "Azzrius" said Captain Horaitio. "They are summoning!" he whispered to the group. He gave the signals. "Sneak up and dispatch by dagger" was the command. The Paladins silently came behind the group of eight cultists and slew them noiselessly. They saw the leader, the infamous Osrion Oedemica who was at the center of the occultic circle. 
He vanished before the Paladins could finish him off. "This is not good. I think that Osrion is trying to make himself the receptacle of Azzrius. A returned Azzrius would utterly destroy the Empire and all of mankind and our fellow races." The party continued to press into the cave to look for the cult leader and they ambushed him in an ante-chamber while sitting at his desk. They quickly slew the sleeping leader and took his head and stuffed it into a bag. They climbed out of the cave and returned to the city and the Abbot-General and showed him the severed head. "Good work, now get rid of the head or it might become an unholy artifact." said the Abbot-General. The Paladins burned the head to ashes in the burn pit and threw the ashes outside of the city. 

A short time later, the headless Osrion stood up on his feet and regrew his head. "I am back!" said the now dark lord Azzrius.

End of Part II

The Dark Nexsus

Part One

A portal opened on the forsaken plain of Azziariah, the portal sang it's black song to the vast nothingness. A creature stepped out of the portal. "It is good to finally be back." said the dark lord Azzrius. The portal slammed shut and the winds howled around the evil mage. "Cursed place!" he said through gritted teeth.

The monks of the light sensed something amiss that very day and they began to talk amongst each other. Even the Mages sensed that something was horribly wrong. "Something is blocking the light!" cried one monk, who could no longer heal since the light flowed through him weakly, the stronger monks also noticed a power reduction. 

The skies began to darken and the Kings of the East began to suspect that the Golden Age was at it's end. They all rode to Menachem, the great Elvish Hall and held a Meeting of the Crowns to discuss the sudden change. 

"Men, these dark skies can only mean one thing! It means that the dark lord has returned!" said King Ulias. The other Kings nodded and some disagreed; "No, rather this is a sign of some great sin." said King Tirias. "No my lords, King Ulias was right, the dark lord has returned from exile." said the Elvish God-Emperor, Kirthas. "I have seen his form, moving about in our lands in my dreams." said the God-Emperor. "We can't very well kill him and exile seems to be ineffective, what are we to do? If we wait any longer, he'll rise an army of the undead and night creatures and utterly destroy man kind!" exclaimed King Pentathiel.

"I know of a man, he was a great hero in the first attempt to exile him. He is a wizard of great reputation. I shall call upon him." said King Pentatheil. "Do not call upon him! His family claims my crown!" cried King Ulias. "Put aside your petty political fighting. If we are to keep everyone safe, then we need to work together." said King Hermon. "King Hermon is right, for if we remain united against this threat, the Kingdoms shall not fall." said the God-Emperor. "Everyone call on your best mages and Paladins and have them gather here." said King Firihas. A black storm glittered behind the eyes of King Firihas. "We shall send the Great Army of Light after the dark lord and exile him once more." he said, not of himself. The Kings nodded in assent and the God-Emperor dismissed the assembly. 

Azzrius, enthroned in his new Onyx Tower on the Plain of Azziariah, laughed as he watched the assembly through the eyes of his flesh-golem, King Firihas. He began a chant to resurrect all the fallen armies throughout history that fell in battle on the plain. The skeletons of the dead clawed their way through the hard-baked clay of the desert floor and reassembled. The flesh was then added but none of the undead soldiers possessed a soul. They were all flesh golems of Azzrius. The dark lord then rode out to the new army and chanted another spell and the million-undead army was clothed in black-enchantment armor. "Forward!" he cried and he mounted an undead, armored charger and led his army of darkness to the small Kingdom of Wintrax. 

The helpless subjects of Wintrax fled or fell before the undead army. Everything was utterly burned and leveled to the ground. Millions of refugees flooded into the Kingdom of Doneitz, all bringing stories of terror and woe. 

The Kings assembled their great Paladin Army at Menachem. Just as the Kings where about to give their speeches to the Great Army, the sky darkened and a shower of brimstone came out of the sky and destroyed the Great Army. All the Kings where slain, including the God-Emperor. Great booming laughter was heard all over the land as the skies became blacker than midnight. 

The Wizard Hadrimar, who had exiled the dark lord the first time, had been wise enough to stay away from Menachem because he knew the first move of his opponent. He had been studying the dark lord for years and had figured him out. The young Princes tried to keep their Kingdoms from dropping into total anarchy and had declared martial law. Hadrimar looked for supporters amongst some of the most reclusive sects of wizards and monks and found a few followers. Dorian the Blind was the first "hidden monk" to step forward and volunteer. Allan Magnus the Enchanter and finally Ragnoor the Besieger came to his aid. Ragnoor was a "mixed arts" Paladin who kept getting expelled from Paladin orders because of his refusal to stop dabbling in magic. Allan Magnus was a genius with an IQ of 310 and Dorian the Blind was a Seer who could see possible future paths within an hour of a major event. 

"So shall we pay our opponent a visit?" asked Hadrimar. "You can count on us!" said the men. They were given supplies by the Kings and as much potions as they could handle. The dark lord had already sent undead riders to the Kings with these terms: "Join me or die" and the new Kings all had refused this one-sided offer. 

The party set out, under the guise of invisibility, northward to the Onyx Tower. They reached the Tower within a week of travel while the armies of mankind vainly fought the million-undead army. "We need to hurry, more Kingdoms have probably fallen by now." said the Seer. "This dark lord has a weakness. He has a massive power drain after every battle. It lasts for ten hours and he hides himself in his tower during his recharge. If we can get into his tower, we can defeat him while he is weak." said Allan Magnus. "How do we get past his honor guard?" asked Hadrimar. "I think we can teleport into his main chamber without a problem. I sense no defenses." said the Seer. "Okay, we teleport in and distract him long enough so I can get a portal up and exile him." said Hadrimar. "Is he impossible to kill?" asked the Seer. The group looked at him in surprise. "No point, these dark lords have been known to self-resurrect from their very ashes!" said Hadrimar. "And yet there might come an opportunity. What destroys even ash?" asked the Seer. "Great heat, all mages know this." said Ragnoor. "Exile him to the nearest sun. He shall not be back." said the Seer. "We'll try it." said Hadrimar. The group pressed on and teleported to the main chamber during the "power-drain" period. The dark lord was lying down on a slab of black rock. "Quickly, push him off and open a portal to the sun!" said the Seer. The portal was opened and the wizards used their telepathic spells to draw the sleeping dark lord into the portal. The ruse worked and the dark lord was no-more. The portal was quickly closed and the heroes nodded. "Something is wrong. That was far too easy." said the Seer. 

"And you are right. That was a trap" said the dark lord. He appeared before them. "You merely exiled my shadow, which I have many of. Now to deal with all of you." and Azzrius cast the wizards into crystal globes. The wizards were more clever than that and cast a counter-spell and once again appeared in the main hall, their quarry had vanished. "Come on! I sense he fled to a hall of mirrors." said the Seer. Ragnoor was hit by a brilliant idea. "We could bottle him up into the Tower using an arcane dome spell." he said. "We'll try it because fighting him here is a time waster." said Hadrimar. The wizards teleported outside of the Tower and began to chant an arcane dome spell. After thirty minutes, a shiny, translucent, purple-color dome appeared over the Tower and the wizards tested their dome. They tried to get in using every spell they knew and it remained as firm as a rock. "He is bottled up in the Tower. He will not be able to leave short of opening a portal to another realm but I doubt that he'll escape since the drain of the arcane energy upon him will eventually render him mortal and powerless." said Allan Magnus. The skies began to lighten and the undead army, deep in a battle with the two-million man strong allied army, fell apart on the battleground, literally. The humans and elves cheered as the darkness rolled back with a great noise and daylight was restored. 

The heroes returned to their Kingdoms and received their honors and awards and after awhile, everything returned to normal for the wizards. The Golden Age was over though and soon the new Kings where fighting each other for the right to rule the entire land. The new Elvish God-Emperor was powerless to stop the feud and it seemed that the victory over Azzrius was a hollow one. The Elves quickly rebuilt the crystal Tower at Menachem and for good measure, they built a wall around the Tower to keep the humans out. 

End of Part I