Archive Posted January 30, 2003 Report Posted January 30, 2003 Stratus Viewer (1/30/02 2:20:36 pm) Reply When World Collide: The Finale to the Joat Saga -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What has happened: The first 8 pages A quick recap: Joat long time friend to all is missing. Ever so quickly friends find themselves in hunt for this mage, only to find themselves transported to another land. In this other land they take on a great force of creatures, until they transverse the dark underground network that is populated by the drow. It is after this trek that they realize a grave error; they are no longer in their own dimension. Mages already weakened by the saving of their own Terra (See Gyrfalcon the Mad) must now face off against their fully powered counterparts led by the mysterious Ugartes and Bob. Dismissed as “not a threat” the mages renew their efforts to find their companion. But in the destruction of a pair of the doubles they discover that they can absorb their counterparts and renew themselves and stumble into their counterpart’s plans to take over their own Terra. Their only course of action is to attack, so the mages lay siege to the fortress housing the doubles’ ultimate weapon, a weapon to breach realities. As they make their way to the weapon they are wind up dueling against their enemies and even though weakened they prove victorious only to find the weapon activated and Bob revealing his true nature, that of a Tarrasque. They fail in stopping the machine, or Bob, and the barrier between realities is broken, one going to the Between and another to Terra Prime. The sky was no longer the sky but a doorway home for the mages, the only problem was that was standing between them was Bob. Knight the newly made Seraph and berserker, Tamaranis vampric lord and ally to the creatures of the Between, Gyrfalcon former conqueror of Terra and hated throughout the land, Arawn the Mad King, Xeros once friend of Racouol and man shrouded in mystery, Big Pointy Stick newcomer intent on proving his worth and limits of his power, Racouol friend to Joat and leader of the expedition, Wyvern self-centered greedy dragon spawn, and Murdock long time companion to Racouol and familiar to Knight. Together by chance and faced with extreme situations they have become one, and together they face this new threat. And now the conclusion to the Search for Joat: The whole in the sky grew wider and the Terra that the mages saw through the portal drew ever so closer. “Was this Bob’s plan all along, to gain entrance to Terra Prime?” Racoul shouts over the sounds of battle the words fall on deaf ears. If any had heard, they fail to respond, their attention is on Bob alone. Knight launches another volley of holy bolts, most glances off the large creature’s hide, and those that strike scorch Bob’s skin. Tamaranis still focuses his Danikii magic, the gambit of sacrificing all their powers for a moment of weakness in Bob weighing through his mind. Will stopping Bob for one minute be enough time? he thinks But what will we do then? With expelling so much power to hold him for a moment how will we finish him? He stops his pondering long enough to avoid a stray bolt from Knight. Gyrfalcon rises and brings his restored powers to bear a short chant brings forth a hail of ice strikes Bob, temporary blinding him. Hyde, a shape changer wearing the form of a Tarrasque, uses that time to slash at Bob with his Blood Cursed claws, the wounds from the attack aren’t as affective but the healing process is slow enough to let the others dig at the wound. Xeros attacks Bob’s left arm, jumping and dodging ahead of the swings, and avoiding the tail as it sweeps at him. After his dodge he leaps high and funnels his power into his blade and cleaves the creature’s hand, even as the hand starts to restore itself, a large bolt of pure energy engulfs both stump hand and arm, Bob howl in pain. Xeros lands next to Racouol, hands still posed after the spell casting, they look at one another and grin, “Just like old times.” Xeros says and launches himself anew, the arm has grown back but the monster lost ground. “Push it back.” He mutters to his old friend. Tamaranis lashes out with his shadow letting it move like a snake, it whips around Bob’s neck and snaps his head back holding his about the neck. The other mages take this time to launch attacks, Racouol shot another blast of energy at Bob’s chest, Xeros slashes low at the creature’s legs, Gyrfalcon follows in suit his own blade now covered in blood, Hyde assists Tamaranis by grabbing hold on the flailing arms, taking the scratches in stride. High above Knight allows his wings to fold send himself into a death dive to the ground only to unfolding them at the last minute and sweeping back up inches from the shadow holds the beast, with practiced motion Knight thrusts deep into the beast’s throat, then channels his holy energy hoping to fill the creature and destroy it from within. Given time he might have succeed, the beast’s great muscles tense and takes the force holding to pull him backwards completely, his legs leave the ground as he catapults back Knight’s sword is pulled free by the jolt, Tamaranis and Hyde aren’t so lucky, the great beast has them by surprise Hyde loses his grip, Bob performs his flip and lands with a loud THUD. Tamaranis, nay, everyone now sits in from of the dreaded Tarrasque, it mighty maw opens as it breathes it’s magical breath upon them, they are blinded by the brilliance. The light clears and the mages are still standing, a large barrier radiates in front of them, everyone stops even Bob, to stare, standing there is Ugartes! He grins, and the mages are dumbfounded along with Bob. The creature growls in utter rage “But, why are you…” Racouol stammers, “Helping you?” Ugartes finishes “I brought you here for a reason, to save the world, why not?” “YOU brought us here!? You tried to kill us.” Knight advances with his sword held high, Gyrfalcon holds him back with the help of Xeros “I tried? If I wanted you dead you would be dead, can we talk about this later? The job’s not done yet.” Ugartes grunts and the barrier they saw expands and an all too familiar feeling washes over them, their magic has been cut off! “You traitor!” This time it’s Gyrfalcon’s turn to advance with Xeros in tow, but Knight is the on to hold them. “Look!” They turn as one to watch as Bob stares at them his mouth hangs open, and his breathing labored. “He can’t use his breath” Xeros observed, “Yes,” Knight says “But look at that!” Knight points now to the cut on the creature’s neck that bleeds freely “Okay he’s normal again, but we have no powers!” Ugartes only grins, but this time it’s strained, he’s still concentrating on the antimagic field. “Yeah, but you guys have been doing it longer.” The mages share a look, then as one they charge. Racouol smartly stays behind those more adept in mortal combat now engage the large beast, behind him he hears some sound and spins in place. The area that they stand once was a mighty fortress now its just piles of rubble, in a large field. One large pile of rubble explodes and Racouol sees a familiar face, it’s Wyvern, Murdock supporting two figures between them, Racouol rushes over and helps free them of the rocks. The trio is battered and bloodied, the figures they held was that of Arawn and Amber, in pretty much the same shape. The battle with the weaken Bob, looked easy enough, but he still had size over the mages, but he was more defensive realizing that he would not regrow his appendages, a fact Knight instilled in him by off the tip of his tail. Hyde had kept his large size and tackled Bob to the ground for the mages to better reach, the hacked away as Bob struggled to free itself. “I CAN’T DO THIS FOREVER!!” Ugartes suddenly shouts, temporary breaking everyone’s concentration Bob broke free and took several steps back, it had heard and understood, it only had to survive a bit longer something else was giving so much mirth it started to laugh it pointed up. As they look they gapped in horror, the sky was now filled by Terra Prime, the clouds of the current Terra parted as did the others’ “They planets were about to meet and Bob would be on Prime!” Racouol shouted, then thought Wait! How is he going to be on Terra Prime if they collide? He felt he was on to something, “Push him back.” He muttered to himself remembering, then like a ton of mortar it hit him. “The world’s won’t collide they’ll merge like we did!” No one heard him again; they had advanced on Bob again. Racouol made himself think faster as Murdock, in dragon form, joined in. Push him back were? He saw the strain on Ugartes, through clinched teeth he sputtered “Not back….how...about…off?” “Off this Terra to the other? Why? Either way he’ll wind up here…” Racouol grinned, so that was it? Could the solution be something so simple? It was dark now Terra Prime a few hundred feet of more from contact. “Let it come.” Racouol muttered, and tapped Ugartes on the shoulder, “Get ready to stop.” Bob was avoiding the attacks of the mages now even with the help of Murdock and Knight’s aerial superiority they were literally chasing him. Then the worlds touched, and Racouol screamed, “STOP!” Everything was bright for a few moments and everyone, even Bob, felt as the worlds merged. People, houses, animals, rocks, everything stopped as they were joined by there counterparts, and were changes, some were granted abilities from there alternates, others lost something, never to be the wiser as memories told them they had always been that way. A city in one place and were there wasn’t came into existence, some terrain changed some didn’t. And then it was done. Ugartes collapsed to the ground, and magic flooded back over everyone in the area, including Bob. The beast started to laugh again as it’s cuts healed rapidly and tail grew back. Then the laughing stopped, the beast started to tremble and rise, but from the look on its face it was not it’s own doing. Everyone turned to see Racouol standing with his hands before him a visible aura of energy surrounding him; Bob rose higher. It tried to struggle but he powerful archmage held him firm and his feet left the ground for it to hover several. “GET OFF MY PLANET!” As the words are spoken Bob takes off like a rocket into the sky, he catches ablaze as he exits the gravity of Terra, just as quickly heals, to the dark coldness of space straight into the sun. Everyone is silent as Racouol collapses only to be caught by Ugartes, “Well done, my friends.” Several hours later and many heal spells. “And that’s it” Ugartes finishes. That mages are thankful that Ugartes was indeed working with them rather than against them. “So you Bob had convinced the mages to build such a contraption?” Racouol asked. “No, that Arawn did, Bob merely enlightened them.” Arawn was quiet. Xeros stood, and stretched, it was such a trying day even though they were home they hadn’t bothered to take their party elsewhere. They had sat at the point of great Serenity and demanded questions of Ugartes and now satisfied, they were almost reluctant to go their separate ways. “WAIT!!” Wyvern screamed, “Where is Joat? That’s why we did all of this if you played a part, you surely know what happed right?” Ugartes is silent for a moment “No, I’m sorry that I don’t.” He starts, “I had looked for Joat to begin with, that would he had been slain by Gyrfalcon.” Some cast eyes at Gyrfalcon “ who was possessed at the time.” Ugartes quickly adds. “When I came to this world he was already gone, but I knew those that came looking for him would be the very same that were the blame.” “Did you?” muttered Knight “Yes, you had all been friends even that world, so I thought the same here, and my spies showed as much.” Ugartes rises too and stretches. “Maybe he’s still out there somewhere, but given his power I’m sure he could come back at any time.” The mages faces don’t hold much hope. Was it all for nothing? Ugartes dusts himself and walks away from the campfire “That’s it? You’re leaving?” Racouol ask. Ugartes smiles. “Where are you going to go? What are you going to do?” Ugartes smiles “I don’t really know, I’ll find something.” “You would be a welcome addition to our ranks.” Gyrfalcon says, “Land, gold, your own little kingdom if you so desire.” Ugartes already shakes his head “Nah, I think I deserve a vacation.” He smiles again, “It’s not everyday that you save two worlds.” With that Ugartes walks away. Tamaranis drifts in from the shadows as the rest of the mages sit in silence, some with smiles on their faces other look of determination. “It time to part ways.” Is all he says then returns to the shadows whence he came, he dared not tell them of his alliance with the Between and wishes not to give them time to ask. “Indeed.” Knight spoke, his arm around Amber, “Although I am still concerned for Joat I feel that he would be more than able to free himself from whatever has befell him. My heart is with him, but more matters need tending to.” He stands, “May the blessings of the All Father with you all, and I will not forget any of you.” He opens his wings and a halo of light circles him and Amber joins him, then both disappear. Gyrfalcon stands “I too feel for Joat, but I shall not stop looking for him, even as other hunt for me.” He turns his head only to find that Arawn is gone. “I wish you all well.” With his newly restored power he easily teleports away. Wyvern had already slithered away to the darkness, if the mages would have noticed their purses were a bit lighter. Somewhere far away Big Point Stick smiled. Racouol and Murdock sat by the fire, “Well old friend where to?” Murdock raises his head, in human form, and smiles. “More battles, more quests?” Racouol smiles, “More adventures.” In the distance Ugartes grins, he had been walking a long time the fire a dim light in the distance. He pulls from his pocket a stone figurine, and whispers a word “Bob.” A cloud of smoke engulf the statue and in second Bob, in human form stands before him. The smoke stays as Bob towers over Ugartes, Bob grunts, “I know it’s hot, but everything went according to plan.” Ugartes continue walking, and Bob grunts his arms over his chest, his body still smoking. “It was necessary. The master wanted something from that world here remember, we couldn’t take it apart so we brought it here the hard way.” Bob grunts, and Ugartes sighs, “Well we had to make them think you out of the picture.” Bob growls, “Well, if it makes you feel better I’ll go into the Sun the next time.” Bob smiles, and Ugartes cringes. “Anyway, let’s get going we have much do and so much time.” Bob grunted. The End ------------------ ------------------ The call has been made, stand and be heard. I think sex is better than logic, but I can't prove it.
Archive Posted January 30, 2003 Author Report Posted January 30, 2003 Gyrfalcon25 Bard Posts: 219 (1/30/02 10:47:33 pm) Reply Re: Heh -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for finally ending the tale, Stratus. *grin*
Recommended Posts