Werewolf XIII: Halloween '04

[Gnarlitch]

"Aye, now. I be the first ta admit thet I not be knowin' much. But there is summat here thet I do know. Vahktang was our protector, and was revealed as such mere minutes ago. I have known since we entered this accursed place thet he was protecting us, as he told me about it. He also told me that he had protected me and was now protecting Merelas, for some reason he wouldn't say. Now I know why.

 

Merlas, you and I have had differing opinions in the past, yet I trust you in this. Gwaihir, you and I have never before spoken more than in passing. However, the pranks that have been happening do not fit into your normal nature. As such, I make you this offer. Surrender yourself and we will see that you get whatever treatment you need, be it medical, magical, or an exorcism. But, if ye choose to fight, there will be no quarter given. We will destroy you if we must in order to destroy the thing that possesses you. Either way, know this. It ends here and now!"

 

OOC: Gwaihir, of course

[Ayshela]

Ayshela nods as Merelas comes and takes Gwaihir into the dining hall. It is long since time that all this madness came to an end, and only by stopping those affected by this place can whatever is behind it be discovered.

Enough.

She moves forward to stand by Merelas, adding her support.

 

 

OOC: an accusation for Gwaihir

[Tanuchan]

Surrounded by his friends, although in his mind he does not recognize them as friends at all, Gwaihir narrows his eyes and an uncharacteristic gleam appears. Ayshela has her knives in hands in a flash, and both she and Gnarlitch spread somewhat at Merelas' both sides, giving themselves maneuvering space. Celes, behind Gnarlitch and despite her weakened condition, gestures and gather energies for a spell if that's needed.

 

Tanny, having been alerted by Merelas' light mindtouch some moments ago, arrives with whoever she could find in her way back to the hall -- Gryphon and Katzaniel following close behind her.

 

Gwaihir laughs - not his normal, good-natured laugh, but one plenty of mischief and tainted with malice. "Do you think you can stop Us? We have got hold of his house long ago, and no one has been here to amuse us for a long time... "

 

Merelas points the flaming Brillemire at him, as Celes casts a protection spell over them. To her surprise, however, the feels the spell twist and weaken, barely holding.

 

Twisted energies... there's an awful amount of twisted energy here... Frowning, Tanny kneels to touch physically the ground with her hands, bending her mind into it. Ignoring the twisted, tainted threads she can feel, she grabs at last a strand of pure earth energy. Weaving it quickly, she shapes a shielding around Gwaihir.

 

::Mer, don't hurt him! He's not himself... there's something in control, remember Cryp!:: Her mind-voice is urgent, strong, boosted by the energy flowing into her. ::Can you help?::

 

 

~~~~~~

OOC

Congratulations! Gwaihir was the last prankster/wolf.

Please check the OOC thread, as I'm inviting you to help me wrap the story

Edited November 8, 2004 by Tanuchan

[Lady Celes Crusader]

Celes kneels on the ground, trying to spare what little energy she have left over to her protective magic. She glances at Tanny.

 

- It's no use to spread our energy around this twisted mess.

 

Tanuchan nods at Celes.

 

- Agreed. The sooner we free Gwaihir, the quicker we can go through this. Can you channel your magic powers over to someone else.

 

- I surely can, tell me to whom when you're ready.

[cryptomancer]

A small shadow enters the tunnel, the shape vaguely resembling a hooded wraith, the shadow becomes a drifting mist as it enters the room where the others are held, cornering one of their own friends, trapped by the curse of the evil contained in the book.

 

Drifting to the edge of the group the mist begins to spiral in a small twisting vortex, speading to form a parrallel set of rings that surround the group before slowly closing in, the wisps of dark mist chill those they touch as they pass through them, closing to encircle Gwaihir and whatever curses his form. The rings stop and an etherial voice that few have ever heard speaks,"'Release this one, He is of no further use to you." the voice seems to echo in the emptiness of the room.

 

The cursed nature of Gwaihir extends one of his hands, a red mist beginning to flow from the palm, moving to touch the twin rings of black that swirl around its traped form. "You think you can withstand me?" a second etherial voice echoes, its malice evident as it seeks to test the strength of the barrier around it. As it touches five runes begin to form between the circles of dark mist, each one identical, each one glowing silver. The first voice raises to the bait, "I have before, I shall again, but I want vengence for this night too, and the pain you reminded me of, you shall not overrun my mind again."

Gwaihir reaches his hand out, the power of the curse enveloping his arm as a spell ripples in the twisted power of the room, building as Gwihir's hand reaches the black circle barring his way, the five runes suddenly turn black as Gwaihir's hand makes contact.

 

The first voice suddenly echoes around the room, "Grab him, pull him through, quickly!" those closest to the place where Gwaihir touched the rings see that his hand has passed through, and a tide of red is rippling against the shield created by the runes. Gnarlitch, Meralas, and Gryphon respond instantly, the triple hold on Gwaihirs arm pulling him through with little resistance, and the three managing to take his weight as he collapses into their arms. The red mist emclosed in the rings of black now spreads forming a halo, probing, trying to get through the sphere of power spun but the magic circle preventing its escape. Its voice screams to the room, "You think tricks will hold me?" as it says this the runes begin to glow red, the mist entwining the rings of black slowly tightening and warping them, finally the first voice echoes, "I cannot hold this thing, attack it, NOW!" as the words are spoken the runes one by one turn red and begin to fade, the black mist dissapaiting as they do, fading as the red takes its place, forming into a hooded figure standing , laughing at those that surround it.

 

 

[Gryphon]

Does anyone here practice combat magic? Gryphon wondered to himself as he reached for power from an airborne ley-line outside and above Salinye's mansion...

 

and reached...

and reached...

 

How far underground are we anyway?!?

 

Just as the worried thought crossed his mind he felt it, a pure rush of power that highlighted the corrupt nature of the haunted house. Shuddering he focussed his mind on the incoming flow, shaping it, molding it into a series of shields, set to repel magic and physical threats - including those from non-corporeal creatures.

 

Quickly looking around he checks to see that others are prepairing their own defenses or attacks against this vengeful spirit he finishes putting up his shields and prepairs a magical attack of his own hoping that he'll be able to have some kind of effect on this thing.

 

"Please tell me someone here knows something about evil spirits".

[Tanuchan]

Tanny reacts quickly to the changing situation, altering her weaving pattern to enclose the hooded shadow while shooting a worried glance at Gwaihir. Merelas, using Chrissiania's Jewel, bends over his almost unconcious form.

 

Feeling Gryphon's channeling to form a shield, Tanny looks at Celes, nodding, and feels the mage feeding her with a flow of energy that she quickly adds to hers. Her shield overlaps with Gryphon's, and she answers to his surprised glance, "Can you surrender just the shield to me... and still use your magic?"

 

Her voice is urgent, strained with the effort to control different flows and merge them instead of having them crashing into each other and dissipating themselves. "I don't know right now how to fight this thing... but I can shield it for a while...."

 

Merelas, still with Chrissiania's Jewel on his hand, notices Tanuchan paling and offers, "Add whatever I can give... if you can draw from me."

 

Not arguing, Tanny reaches gently for her friend's energy, struggling for a while with fire's elusive and strange strands until she can make them the center of a thread made with her familiar earth energy. Forcing herself to concentrate just on the layers of shields over shields she's manipulating, she sends in mindspeech, :I won't drain you, and you're also free to withdraw when you need, Mer... *if* possible, just give me a second's warning. Tell the same to Gryph and Celes.:

[Gryphon]

Trying to build a spell to attack an unknown spirit form is tricky at the best of times... these are not the best of times.

 

Prepairing a lance of mage energy Gryphon hesitates watching the spirit of the curse lash out at Tanny's barrier, causing the magic to flare and flicker... and hold! He glances at Tanny seeing the strain of holding a shield clearly on her face, along with the determination and strength of her spirit.

 

Stepping back and quickly dropping his own sheilds Gryphon decided it was time to call in some reinforcements. Moving slightly back to an open area of floor he starts to use power to sketch a rough portrait in the air, lines of power flow out and slowly, somehow, despite the crudity of the picture somehow it gives the impression of being a perfect rendition of Vahktang.

 

Once the 'image' is complete Gryphon pumps power into it, drawn from the clean energy source he linked to earlier. In moments the image is replaced by Vahktang himself, suspended in the air with sparkles of power dripping off him and looking fairly surprised as moments ago he was sitting back at the Halloween party.

 

"I can't remember who, but said you know something about stopping things like that", Gryphon indicates where Tanny is holding the Spirit of the Curse in a tight shield. "Can you help her stop that thing? And if you know anyone else that might be able to help, let me know. I can try to bring in one or two more"

Edited November 11, 2004 by Gryphon

[cryptomancer]

In the library a small shadowed form drifts from shelf to shelf, searching for the souce of power that it can feel throbing in its bodyless mind. Scanning each alcove as it moves around, starting from the place the book was found, and searching in a grid, narrowing in on a set of shelves. Each drift bringing it closer to the book.

 

finding the right shelf, the shadowed form stops, slowly begining to grow and change becoming the very hunched form of Cryptomancer.

 

He draws a small bag from beneath his robe, holds it open and begins to chant, his voice a harsh, weak rasp, barely discernable as his own. runes begin to shimmer around the bag's fabric as his chant grows, the whole surface covered in interlocking circles filled with sets of five runes each. the patterning is so tight that the whole bags seems woven in silver threads.

 

Cryptomancer stops his chant, his breath ragged and harsh, the bag remains suspended in the air in front of him as he releases it, a staff appearing in his hand as he does so, taking his weight. Slowly he extends a hand and with a deep weezing breath begins a new one, a small rune begins to glow on the shelf holding the book. the shelf lifts and begins to move, slowly shaping itself into a small pedestal, its sloping top holding the book, moving it slowly to the height of the hovering bag. As it reaches the height of the bag it begins to reshape again, the column of the pedestal tilting forward, holding the book steady at the height needed. Tendrils of wood from the base start to anchor it to avoid over balance of the whole thing, and the book is slowly moved to the bag allowing the top to dip, and slide the book neatly into its opening. As Cryptomancer draws a breath, the chant stops, the bag snaps shut, a silver binding fastening its opening, as Cryptomancer takes hold of the bag, the levitation spell drops.

 

Slowly the hunched figure of the Runemage fades, retaking the form of the shadow, and slowly drifting to rejoin the others.

 

 

[Vahktang]

"I can't remember who, but said you know something about stopping things like that", Gryphon indicates where Tanny is holding the Spirit of the Curse in a tight shield. "Can you help her stop that thing? And if you know anyone else that might be able to help, let me know. I can try to bring in one or two more"

"You got it big guy."

Vahktang takes the amulet from underneath the vest in his suit. It is not small, much like a large cameo. He opens it up, looks at the held figure, taps in some letters on the amulet, closes it, then appoaches Gwaihir.

"The Idea is that if this thing protected me from it, if I put it on a person possessed it should protect them from it. And if I worded the protection correctly, contain it in the amulet. It's very powerful."

He inhales, mentally girds his loins, then steps next to the entranced figure.

"Step back, I don't know exactly what will happen."

In clumsy motions, Vahktang lifts the amulet, kisses it, removes it from his self, then drops it around Gwaihir's neck.

He then stands back and waits.

[Gnarlitch]

The stinky dwarf stands back and watches the mages do their thing, knowing that it's best for him to stay out of the way while magic is in use. While watching he begins pulling various items out of his pack, items that are impossibly large to fit into such a small pack, especially the ornately engraved breastplate. Once all the parts of his armor are out, he takes his time donning the it, still keeping an eye on the magical proceedings. When finished he steps casually up next to Tanny, thumbs hooked casually into his belt, waiting. He is resplendant in deep green and charcoal grey laquered full plate mail. Across his chest is a dragon in black and silver, and his helmet bears bronze dragons wings. Also, strangely enough, he talks into his left wrist as if he's some sort of secret service agent.

[Tanuchan]

Part of Tanny's mind registers Gnarlitch's presence at her side, and it triggers a line of thought.

 

Physical combat with incorporeal beings... just if they're brought into the material plane. I'm keeping it confined in his plane... can I invert the shield?

 

While still straining to hold the shielding, that part of her mind analyses critically the way she's weaving the mixed energy flows.

 

Earth... tainted. Fire, elusive... contained by earth. Air... a separate thread, as Celes'. All three woven in a rigged net. Invert the flows...?

 

Still analysing the flows, she sends to Merelas, ::I'll need to draw quite a bit for some moments... can you bear it?:: As he agrees, she whispers to Gnarlitch, urgent, "I'll try to trap it in the material plane, but I'm not sure how much I can block of his magical skills. Gryph!"

 

Gryphon turns to her, intent on her words.

 

"Gryph, it will be tricky... attack the Spirit with magic as soon as Mer signs you. Vahk, use your amulet... try to hit the Spirit with it. I want to bait him into the material plane."

 

There's a small hesitation on them as they both nod. Gryph checks with Merelas, who explains briefly, "She mindspeaks to me. She has a plan to force him to go into hand-to-hand combat."

 

Tanny ignores the shouts of her friends as they get prepared, focusing completely on what she intends to do. Can't really control mana... hope it will hold.

 

Thinning the barriers, she feels the Spirit grinning at her apparently weakness. ::Now!::

 

As Gryph attacks, Tanny lets go part of the shielding. The Spirit, in his confidence, lunges to possess the mage in front of him when Vahks hurls the Amulet towards him. To the surprise of many, a bright white glow involves the Amulet briefly when it makes contact with the Spirit and actually hits him. Screaming in pain and rage, the Spirit materializes completely, flinging the Amulet away.

 

At that instant, Tanny reforms the shielding in a subtle way, forming a net of mixed flows that cuts the Spirit from his plane, each thread helping to block a different part of the complex energy of the Spirit.

 

"I don't know how long I can hold... attack!" And hopefully his magic won't be as strong with my shielding interfering.

[Gryphon]

Even warned as he was Gryphon is caught (briefly) by suprise at the sudden shift in the battle... then a plan takes form in his mind.

 

Surprise it, slow it down, maybe disable it's nervous system... does it have a nervous system?... never mind, if it doesn't I can at least cause it pain, lots of pain.

 

The spirit gathers its self to leap one again at the mages arrayed in front of it, and springs... into a lightning storm. Small bolts of lightning cascade from Gryphon over the Spirit's body as it shudders and twitches before falling back on the ground where it lies twitching as the first attack ceases.

 

Gryphon readies a second strike just in case, but holds it for fear of hitting one of the Mighty Pen's warriors.

 

"Now, attack it now while it's incapacitated..." Gryphon starts to yell, even as the enemy starts to stir and draw it's self back to its feet with evil murder in it's eyes.

[Vahktang]

"Vahk, use your amulet... try to hit the Spirit with it. I want to bait him into the material plane."

"Hit it with my hand???

"Big, ugly, dangerous, possessing spirit thing you want me to hit it?

"Isn't that like 'go into the light', generally bad advice if you want to stay on this side?"

 

At Tanny's serious look, he turns back, and does what she wants.

 

Screaming in pain and rage, the Spirit materializes completely, flinging the Amulet away.

Vahktang jumps after it, his only hope for protection, or a chance to participate.

 

"Your turn, Gnarlitch. Take it down."

Edited November 13, 2004 by Vahktang

[Yui-chan]

Like the happily-battle-ready dwarf he is, Gnarlitch is ready and waiting for Vahktang's signal. He crouches to launch himself forward and draws breath to let out an exhuberant warcry, his beady eyes sparkling with impending destruction.

 

However, just before the dwarf would have lept into the fray, a pale hand descends from the darkness to rest on the hilt of his weapon, and a whispered voice tickles the hair by his ear. Surprised, he glances to his right to find the a familiar figure knelt by his side, her eyes closed in concentration. Whatever she's saying is beyond his ken, but as her alien words fill the air around them, his weapon warms and begins to glow with a soft, silver light.

 

"'Tis about time ye got yerself back in tha game, lass!" he exclaims with a grin, feeling strength and righteous power infuse itself into his muscles and his hammer. With the power of the Sword of Light blessing, he's suddenly quite confident that the Undead prankster that has harmed and harassed his friends and colleagues will very soon be languishing where it belongs - in Hell.

 

With the spell complete, Yui opens her eyes and smirks at the stinky dwarf, giving him a condescending pat on the head. "Who am I to steal all the fun?" she teases, backing out of his way. "Get moving, shorty. We're missing a Halloween party because of this guy."

 

{Editted to reflect the fact that the stinky dwarf uses a hammer instead of a good, old-fashioned axe. Bad Yui! You didn't do your research.}

Edited November 14, 2004 by Yui-chan

[Gnarlitch]

The dwarf thinks to himself..."Sword of Light? But it's a war hammer, no edges...*shrugs* let's see what it can do."

 

"YAAAAAARRRGH!"

 

And with that odd battle cry the dwarf charges in, throwing his magical hammer before him, aiming at the spirit's head. The hammer hits and sparks fly, while the dwarf dodges and rolls sideways to avoid the counter attack, a dwarf-sized hole burned in the floor where he had just been. As soon as the hammer returns to his hand he throws again, and again, striking with almost every throw with spectacular results but uncertain effects, as the spirit seems just as strong as before.

 

The mages also add to the battle, between shielding the thing so it can't escape, and raining fire and lightning down upon it. Vahktang even finds a pair of wands stuffed into his pocket with instructions for each, and participates by firing magic missiles at the thing. Somehow the evil entity not only survives this onslaught, but also seems undiminished.

 

Sweat pours off the dwarf inside his armor, running into his eyes and making all his underclothes uncomfortably moist. His breath is becoming labored and his legs seem to be moving slower. The spirit senses this and readies itself to finish him off, puny mortal that he is. The dwarf seems to stumble and at just that moment the spirit unleashes a gout of pent up fury and rage in a single deadly blast of nether-worldly fire....which is reflected back at it by the polished inside of the dwarf's shield.

 

KA-BLAMO!

 

All are temporarily blinded by the pyrotechnic display, and many are knocked backwards from the blast.

 

"NOW VAHKTANG!"

 

Those sufficiently recovered see Vahktang step forward once more, weilding the second wand, blasting the already reeling spirit with a jet of icy cold, freezing it solid where it stands. The tip of a flaming sword appears through the thing's chest and with a horrible keening shriek, it explodes into thousands of tiny shards of ice which pepper all within range. Behind where the spirit once stood stands Merelas, holding the still burning Brillemire although his eyes seem a bit glazed as he topples over backwards, unconscious and smoking like dry ice.

[Tanuchan]

As the battle goes on and on, Tanny feels more and more strands of energy escaping from her control, and she tries vainly to grasp them. Knowing she won't be able to hold the flows, she just releases her draw on Merelas. ::I can't hold. Help them as you can...:: Her mental voice dies in a strained whisper, her attention already fully back to the weakening shields.

 

The Spirit senses the diminishing power that holds him trapped in the material plane, and his next probing attack against the shields make them flicker and almost vanish for a fraction of a second before holding him.

 

Grinning in mirth, the Spirit blasts his nether-worldly fire against both Gnarlitch and the shields, confident on his power.

 

Tanny cries in pain as the shields vanish, the energy backlash involving her as the blast reflects on the dwarf's shield. She makes still a feeble attempt to grasp the flow of earth as Vahktang uses his second wand, and sees both Ayshela and Merelas using their weapons. The last thing her mind registers as darkness claim her is Merelas slumping on the floor.

[Gryphon]

The blinding flash of reflected nether-worldly fire and the flare as Tanny's shielding gives out causes Gryphon to cry out and cover his eyes in pain as he staggers back from the twin blasts.

 

Out of the darkness beyond his blinded eyes comes a spray of icy shards, striking and causing more pain, and hopefully not too much physical damage. Gasping with shock Gryphon drops to the ground and makes as small a target of himself as he can, while reflexively trying to throw up some minor shielding until the assult ceases.

 

Once the shockwave has gone Gryphon gets up again, blinking furiously trying to clear the tears and sparks from his eyes, looking around at the darkness he calls up a trio of small glowing lights that dance around the room to give light to all.

 

"Did we get it?"

 

When no-one answers at first Gryphon moves to find out who's still alive (hopefully everyone), who needs help (alas too many people), and who should be first to be transported back to the healers at the Mansion.

[Pillow]

From deep within the house, a low rummbling can be heard and felt. It begins to get louder and louder until it's right outside the room that the spirit was fought in. With a loud crash, a 'dooker tank', roughly as tall as a man and wide as a bull, crashes through a wall. The main septic cannon lowers at the group. Before anyone could react to this intrusion, a hatch opens and Pilocanci the Unholy hoists himself up into view. Looking around the room, he shakes his head. In Sharpein he asks ,"I'm too late?"

[Vahktang]

"Did we get it?"

Vahktang lifts the cold wand and blows over the tip, eliciting a 'smoke' effect that looks way kewl.

"Yep," he drawls, "looks like we got the varmint."

 

He looks towards the tunnel certain that it is now just a tunnel, not a long, dark, terribly scary thing.

 

He stops and looks around.

 

"Anybody see what happened to the amulet?"

Edited November 15, 2004 by Vahktang

[Gryphon]

"Anybody see what happened to the amulet?"

Gryphon takes a moment from his checking of the survivors...

 

"I think the Cursed Spirit threw it over that way", he says gesturing in the appropriate direction, "I don't know what happened to it after that."

 

Turning back to what he was doing Gryphon continues to (gently) assemble all those who didn't come through the final confrontation consious together, getting those more skilled in healing than himself to check them over for anything serious or life threatening.

 

Yui-chan chants a healing spell and the cuts and other minor injuries from the ice explosion heal up for the group while Ayshela speaks in earnest to an amulet that Merelas is wearing, imploring it to heal him so that he can help the others.

 

Turning to Pilocanci and the shadow of Cryptomancer Gryphon speaks, "If you have any method of locating those of the Mighty Pen who are still down here and letting them know that most of us are heading back up to the mansion, please do so. If not we'll just have to come back down for them later."

 

Gryphon then turns begins and begins laying the foundations for a transport spell to move everyone in the room back up to Salinye's mansion.

[Gnarlitch]

*gasp*

 

medic?

 

 

[Lady Celes Crusader]

Celes sees the shield blasted away and decides that perhaps she'll probably need more brute force to aid them in the fight. She conjures 50 Archangels and instruct them to defend the weakened group from the evil spirit magic.

 

- This will buy us time. They'll last long enough so that I can recover enough.

 

Tanny looks over the Archangels.

 

- How many things can you summon, Celes?

 

- A lot... It'll be a pleasure to chat about my magic but I think we must keep our mind focus on the fight. I'll try one of my most powerful but draining spell soon, but I'll need some mana potions.

 

Yui quickly throws some at Celes.

 

- Thanks Yui, that'll be enough.

 

While Celes drinks them, Tanny wonders.

 

- We need time right. I'll slow it down for at least 15 minutes.

 

Yui looks at Celes.

 

- Isn't that spell draining for a Phantasm mage?

 

- It is, Yui, it is... Crypto is looking for the book. The more I'll slow the time here, the more time I'll give him.

 

Celes starts to cast Temporal Stasis and the twisted environnement and the battle is distorted into a very slow time frame. Everything within the battle scene is on slow motion. Meanwhile Cryptomancer is still looking for the book.

[Vahktang]

She conjures 50 Archangels and instruct them to defend the weakened group from the evil spirit magic.

Didn't know there even _were_ 50 archangels.

[cryptomancer]

The group see to each other's needs quickly, the magical and spiritual protections in place shield them as the assess the damage to their number. Most came through with the minor damage of the fight and the weary happyness of the victorious. Gryphon sees to the evacuation of those that need attention in a hurry, his strength proving itself once again as he offers aid in healing and transporting the injured back to safety. Tanny and Celes both are able to draw some strength from the new ley-line that Gryphon tapped into. Soon the group have themsleves moving in the direction of home. All the missing had been found, some of them finding others as the looked for the way home. Many with magical talent had homed in on the energy surge created by the battle, and like a becon the pure untained energy had drawn them together again. The party for Halloween still called, the final dances and drinks would feel well earned after the long night in the twisted energy of this place.

 

The last of the number was being helped from the tunnel, its darkness a reminder of the evil nature of the place at its end. "So How do we seal it? Just in case?" Gryphon asked as the last of the group stood dusting themselves off. A piece of the darkness broke off, the small figure of Cryptomancer formed from it, and leaning heavy on a staff of blackened oak, he spoke, his voice harsh and weezing his breath catching on every word, "I know ways to mould stone and earth, working charms of binding into it as I do, I could seal the tunnel." Before comment can be made to the contary, the hunched figure of the Runemage melts to shadow again, a small dark patch in the tunnel fading from view. The others turn and watch the entrance before slowly moving back to the main halls and the rest in the company of friends. Gryphon stays a moment longer, placing a shield against all save his friend, before he too moves off, rejoining the group, and the last of the festivities.

 

 

At the far end of the tunnel a shadowed figure stood waiting, it felt the magic cast at the other end of the tunnel, felt the ward being placed, the precautions of a friend. Cryptomancer held still to the least used of his forms, the only one that seemed to function unhindered in his weakened state. The shadow smiled, the twisted energy of this place seemed natural in some ways, and easy enough to use. Reaching for the darkness around him the shadow began to grow, wings spreading as it touched the mists that had begun to swirl around his figure. the walls of the room softly began to grow darker, the pealing paint and decayed wood blackening in the shadowing mist. Softly at first runes began to appear, each one alone, unattatched from the rest, yet each seemed joined by some means to the others, each danced with the same glowing light that flickered from the core of the others.

 

In the dark mist of the shadowcasting, the Cryptomancer stood, his humman shape once more dominant, his face drawn and strained, the swirl of the mist held him on his feet, the black staff lay on the floor at his side. the eyes of his body glowed deep blue, the light radiating from them, reflecting in the circles beginning to form in the walls of the tunnel, each one enclosing a set of five runes. The red glow of Cryptomancer's sixth chakra shone from his forehead, the vivid shape of the spiritual eye following the shifting powers of the room.

 

The room glows through the black mist, each thread of the circles and runes vividly lit upon the walls and floor, the roof full of interlocking patterns, each one joining, overlaying the others, layers and layers of intricate symbols. Smiling Cryptomancer holds his hand out, the staff raizing to meet it, he turns and begins the long walk back to the Manor, each step his form fades, the shadow again forming to aid him, his form shifting fully afer a few steps. In the entrance of the tunnel the ward opens to his presence, the shield allowing him to pass through unhindered. Behind him the doors between worlds and planes begin to close, each one timed to seal fully, unhindered by the others. The shadow turns to watch the closing of the gate. He smiled, the months of work had been a success, the doors again sealed completely, too many to open again with any ease, to many to be discovered. The wall reforms out of the darkness that fills the tunnel, runes of power glowing over its surface as the rock once more replaces mist and shade.

 

Cryptomancer turns toward home, the bag of protection in whcih the book now resides safe under his cloak, protected by his incorporial form, he drifts toward the party, the only stop before entrusting the treasure to the Pen's library.

 

Edited November 18, 2004 by cryptomancer