More then Meets the Eye (Plotline)

[Joey Lanai]

More than Meets the Eye
How well do you know Arc...


Arc sat in the Tavern with a few other Guardsmen, he sipped his
drink as he looked over some reports for the day, suddenly his
ear twitched, he heard a faint voice upon the wind.

"Arcatera.. Arcatera.."

The voice chanted softly, he quickly dropped what he was doing
and left the Tavern and stood in the woodland, hoping to find
where the voice was coming from, an image of an ancient Elven
lord flashed before his eyes, "ARCATERA!" The voice screamed at
him, he nearly fell to the floor as he leapt back, startled by the vision.

"It is time, follower of Ny'shall, i await you.."

Arc clenched his fists and pulled himself together, he knew what he
had to do, this was his lifelong quest, he should defeat this enemy
and put an end to years of torment.

After speaking some words to someone close to him, he left behind
one of his most valuable possesions in a chance he may not return,
and then set off in search of his most hated enemy.

Firstly Arc set off to his old masters chapel, to utter a prayer to his
lord, hopefully to grant him strength in the coming battle.


Arc Prays for his Life

He continued onto the next location, the dungeon of his enemy,
through the darkened tunnels of the underground until he was met
with two enforced metal doors, he threw a spell at them, but as his
attempts before, the doors werent effected.

Suddenly the doors opened on their own, as if offering him in, he had
no choice, he knew it was a trap but this could be his only chance to
enter the dungeon.

He was met with an empty cave, he entered warily, his spellbook
clenched tightly in his hand, nothing and no-one was here.


Arc Taunts his Foe

Before he knew it, a harsh brease blew through the cavern, Arcs hair
blew back in the gale but he stood firm.

"I'm nay afraid of you beast, show yourself !"

But before he knew it, his book was taken from him, his only weapon
against the enemy.



Arc then heard an echo of a voice in the room, where this voice came
from he couldn't tell.

"You are weak, Follower of Ny'shall, In all these years you still havent learned."

Arc Fidgeted on the spot, raising his hands into the air.

"I'll fight you hand to hand if i have to!"

But before Arc could get any other words out, the room around him began to spin, and then, Darkness fell...

(OOC: This is here for your knowledge of the plotline OOC, in game no-one will have known what has happened to him, that is what you'll have to find out   )

[Joey Lanai]

Later that evening Arc stumbled into the tavern and passed out on the floor,
a few guards ran to his aid along the the Mayoress, together they managed
to get Arc to the healers and lie him upon the bed, Ysabelle the Mayoress
examined him, there were no visible wounds as such, though he seemed weak
and in pain, it didnt take her lnog to realise it was a cursed poison and was
quick in acting to remove the curse.

Calico sat at his bed side as Ysabelle did all she could to make sure Arc survived,
Veldrin, Arc's right hand in the Arcane Company looked on with a smirk.

Eventually he regained conciousness, but it appeared he couldn't understand
where he was or who the people around him were, he scuffled around in a
blind panic and looked at them with great fear, this wasnt the Arc they all knew.

Ysabelle and Calico managed to calm him down enough to have a conversation,
it appears he had been reverted to the human equivilant of 20 years old, all
memories since then erased, What caused this? no-one knows...

Many hours passed, Ysabelle had tried many attempts to reach inside the mind
of the confused Sergeant. She had tried a Hypnosis technique that seemed to
plunge him into some kind of daze where he was speaking as two people, the
other entity that held the Sergeant had lashed out at Ysabelle, injuring her severely.

Later the Eve' the Commander had noticed something was happening at the
Healers, and somehow came up with the conclusion that the Mayor was raped,
then storming into the healers and almost beating the confused Arc to death and
throwing him in the cells, despite the objections from Calico and the Mayoress herself.

After spending hours in the cell, fighting for his life, Eason managed to piece together
the story and released everyone from their cells, Arc was then brought to the church
where he rests now, awaiting treatment from the clergymen..

Will he recover? Only time will tell...

[Gregor Eason]

Commander's Log: 29/07/05
Early, early morn

Avatar damn! Nay knew what happened here this eve. Finding Mayoress Ysabelle bleeding to death, with Sergeant Arc, Regular Kate, and Junior Ni'harel looking on, entirely incapcitated themselves!
On taking the Mayoress to the Healers, I managed to hear the words from her.. "Magical... rape... Arc...", and naturally the first thing I thought was that that old bastard Sergeant of a whore had raped the poor Mayoress, using all sorts of evil wytchery and spellcraft. So... naturally.... the bugger was beaten...

Eason gives Arc a right kicking, with Kate protesting.

But alas, seems the plot was nay that simple. The Sergeant was acting awfully strange this night, even after being released from the Cells with all charges lifted. Kate and Ni'harel were rambling on about some sort of daemon. Heh, sounds like a lot of codswallop to me...
But nevertheless, the Sergeant awaits in the Church sick quarter for the other clergymen.

What... by the wisdom of the Avatar... IS going on??

[Izzy]

The next day all was quiet.  Arc was sleeping in the Church, and calico and Veldrin were nowhere to be seen.  Izzy however, was hard at work.  Although the wound and bloodloss of the prievious night was still draining her greatly, not to mention the energy loss at trying to keep Arc from trying to destroy himself, let alone everyone in the vacinity, she still felt that she'd have failed in her duties as a healer if she didn't do 'somehing' to help him recover.
And so, there she was, meditating on the cold floor of the old brewery, the smell of oak caskets and stale ale pearmeating the air as she tried to focus her thoughts and find this mysterious 'Altar' Arc had mentioned, knowing nothing but that it was somewhere near a castle, and behind a green door.

Hours passed, and nothing came to her, just the sounds of people running past the building and that of her own, ragged breathing.  With a sigh, she stood, giving up on the idea that she might be able to find insight with her mind alone.  Something was obviously keeping the information from her, hidden and just out of reach as though taunting her inability to reach out and pluck it from the ether. 

"This is getting me nowhere, the truth is obviously veiled, I must seek it out myself." She muttered to herself, grabbing her crook and hat in haste.  Climbing the old stone steps of the Brewery, she let herself out the half gate, and through the door into the world outside. 
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The morning air was crisp, cool but not cold, and did her the world of good.  Setting her hat firmly into place Ysabelle walked out into the woods and away from the prying eyes of the church, not desiring a repeat performance of the hunt the day before, let alone endangering Arc who was already effectively in their clutches.
Once she'd put a significantly safe distance between herself and the town, Ysabelle stopped to think;
"Now, where do I know that might hold the altar to an old elven mage..." She mused to herself... "I know! Wind!" And with that, she centred herself, picturing the place in her minds eye and marshalling the small energy reserve she'd managed to garner for herself since the prievious evening, thrust herself through the Ether, and within moments was standing at the door to town of Wind.

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Wandering the streets of the magical city proved to be an arduous and fruitless tast.  Although she asked all that she saw if they'd seen an altar, with a green door leading to it, no one had, and most just completely disregarded her in her dishevelled state.  Feeling somewhat disheartened, but no less determined, Ysabelle decided that she'd tried the wrong place, and that the altar must be somewhere else. 

Izzy wracked her brains, trying to decide which place was next on her list, knowing that time was precious and that with any instant Arc might loose control again and perhaps even attack a church member.  And so, still trying to decide if that would be such a terrible thing or not, Izzy picked her next place, Hyloth.  With another effort of will and a quick prayer to the Father for his guidence, she moved through the Ether once again, reaching the gates of the dungeon.

**To be continued!***

[Veldrin]

Using a staff to help maintain her balance, Veldrin staggered to the Arcane Tower. She had not regained her power by the time she had woken up the next day, as she had vainly hoped. She knew this had to do with Veldrin's recent surrender to the goddess Ny'shall. It was all Arc's fault. He was the one who made her convert. But something strange had a hold of him now. She had heard it speak through him in the church, where Eason had tried, and failed, to exorcise whatever demon had possessed him. It had called him "Follower of Ny'shall." Obviously Arc had done something to anger some other god. Halfling fool.

And Kate! Oh, how Veldrin would enjoy strangling the life out of her. This was all her fault. She had done something to the shrine, Arc's shrine of Ny'shall. What was the name Ysabelle had said... Lej'in? The name of the god that had its claws in the sergeant? Oh... how Arc had seemed so fearful at the hospital. Veldrin had always been afraid of the powerful mage, and at times, she feared for her very life in his presence. Not that she would ever let him know that. But to see Arc scared and vulnerable... she had drawn too much pleasure from it. It had incriminated her to the point where Kate accused her of being responsible for whatever had happened to the half-elf. As much as it would tickle Veldrin's fancy to have made Arc this way, she was indeed innocent. Regardless, she was thrown into the cells.

Then pain shot through Veldrin's spine, and suddenly the strength was sapped from her body. Surprised and shocked, she crumpled the ground. Her mind felt suddenly numb - the arcane spark that was usually there, the mental strength that fueled her spells was inexplicably lost. Though Kate had taken her bag of reagents, she knew that her magic casting power had been crippled. More and more, her strength slipped away from her body. Something was happening. The fear of death was immediately very real. She could not stay in that cell. Somehow managing to pick the lock, she had crawled her way up the steps to find Eason. After some persuasion, he quickly moved to help her, and see what was wrong with Arc.

After that, everything had gone even more pear-shaped. The very memory of it made Veldrin's head sting as she clambered up the steps to the Arcane Tower. There was a runestone marked for Arc's shrine for Ny'shall. She knew she didn't have the magical energy to cast a spell, but she didn't care. She wanted the rune... There! A book marked with arcane symbols sat upon Arc's desk. on one of the pages was a rune for the shrine... and the book still had enough magical energy on it own to cast the spell!

"Kal... ort... por..."

She enjoyd the brief surge of magic that momentarily filled an empty place in her soul. Putting all of her weight once again on the staff, she moved towards the shrine again. Arc. It was all Arc's fault. It would have been so easy to kill him like this. Even if he regained his power, would he have enough sense to use it? No, no... mustn't dwell on thoughts like that. Veldrin was not going to kill Arc. At least not yet. She stood nothing to gain from his death at this point. And if he ever did die at her hands, he would be afraid of her, and not senseless and stricken by amnesia.

"By the gods..." Veldrin's breath fled her lungs as she saw the damage to the shrine. The sword that Kate had used to desicrate it was still nearby... "I have... much vork to do..." Reluctantly she staggered forward, mustering all the strength she could to begin rebuilding...

[Izzy]

The sight that greeted her was less than welcoming, but even so, with a firming of her grip on the old crook, Ysabelle crossed the threshold to the dungeon and stepped inside...

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Inside the old stone walls were covered in darkness, and even for her forest trained eyes the lack of light was somoething of a hindrance.  Unwilling to draw attention to  herself, Izzy placed one hand on the wall, feeling forward in the darkness with her crook, she made her way slowly down the corridoor untill finally her way was barred with a solid metal door;



Unable to pick the lock, having no skill of her own, and unwilling to use precious magical energy to force it open, Ysabelle admitted defeat on this particular avenue of exploration and instead thought on the next course of action.

"If it's power that the thing draws on, perhaps Destard is the way forward!?" she mused to herself.  While lost in thought however, she was startled by the beying of an unearthly wolf.  Shocked Ysabelle looked at the metal door; "Hell Hounds!" she gasped, and without thought pushed herself into the Ether arriving outside the forbidding cave of Destard.



Despite several bad memories of the place, she knew full well she'd never seen the full depths of the place, and that this here, could be exactly where she needed to be.  Without pausing her feet and crook, an instrument in ever more need as her strength ebbed with all the walking, not to mention yet again using her limited reserves of magic took her into the dungeon.

Carefully, the woman moved further into the dungeon, only to be greeted by the giant corpse of a dragon, and a young lady on horseback looking very proud of herself.
"Hail good lady, would you happen to know if there is an altar behind a green door in this cursed cave?" Ysabelle called at the young warrioress.
"I'm sorry, but I really don't know." Was her only reply before galloping off into the darkness beyong.
"I guess I'll have to look then..." Izzy smiled to herself, less out of humour than the grim tricks that fate could play finally seeming ironic to her.  After all, she was helping a man regain the use of magic who's methods she didn't fully agree with, but after all, he was a friend, in his own way, and she wouldn't see him like he was now, not without a fight.



And so, moving deliberately and with care for the razor sharp rock formations, Ysabelle ventured deeper into the dragons den.  The first few moments went well enough, it seemed that the warrioress had done a good job decimating the dragons numbers.

The illusion of safety was shattered seconds later however, when the booming roar of a drake echoed round the cavern.  There, gathered around the passage down, and blocking Ysabelles way were no less than four drakes and wyverns, all turning to start at the brightly coloured female.
"By the Gods!" Izzy exclaimed, and in a blind rush of panic and adrenaline, sprinted for a small rock formation near the way down not yet covered by the beasts.  However, the dragonkin had no intention of letting their imprompu dinner escape, and spreading their wings, moved to block the entrance to the lower level.
Knowing she had no other way of getting down, and being too drained to fight them with either bow or magic, Izzy instead trusted to her Deities and sprinted headlong for the closing gap between a wyvern and a drake who seemed to be moving a bit slower than the rest.
As she got closer, a third drake landed dead in front of her and she was forced to drop onto her back and slide over the dusty cave floor, her hat flying off and crook barely being held onto.
The drake, slightly supprised at this manuver shifted it's claw down, catching her shoulder and arm, sending her sprinning side over side down the hole into the next level.  After the dust settles and the dragonkin start to mill around, her bloodied hand slips up over the top of the hole, grabs her hat and pulls it down.

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Coughing, Izzy needed to hide, the wound was bleeding and she couldn't afford the extra bloodloss, not after last nights events.  So, calling on the strength within her, she offered a small prayer and weaved around her a spell of invisibility while she bandaged up her wounds.



After a few moments rest, she moved further into the cave, and sighed a prayer of gratitude apon seeing nothing on this level between her and the way down barely a hundred yards ahead of her.  With a less than energetic stride, Ysabelle made her way over to the entrance to the lowest level and descended into the darkness beneath.

Down here however, something was waiting for her, lurking in the darkness a wyvern reared it's ugly head, hissing and launching the moment she stepped foot into the lower cave.  With a gasp of supprise, Izzy ducked back further into the cave, furiously thinking what she could do to search and not have to use magic... after a few seconds she gave up on that idea and called on the Father to aid her:
"Corp Por! Kal Vas Flam! Corp Por!" Her hands moved wildly, sending searing energy and flames to strike at the beast, dropping it's smoking carcass at her feet.  Then of course, the cost hits her, and she staggers, the crook the only thing still keeping her upright...
"I need to find that altar... and soon..."



**To Be Concluded!**

[Izzy]

Resting for a moment, Ysabelle leant on the stone wall of the cave, the moisture from the slime coating the granite soaking through her thin dress and making her feel even colder than she already was.  Slowly at first, and then more noticably a hissing and growling pulled her eyes open and her attention up...

There on the ceiling was another wyvern, and Izzy no longer had the spiritual strength to defend herself.  Just as she thought it was going to jump and devour her, the creature turned in supprise with a howl of agony.  There, standing behind it, was another warrior riding a very strange animal, looking like a giant bird.  The warrior struck again and again, slashing and piercing te beast until it lay lifeless on the floor.
"Thank you miss, I thought I was finished then!" Izzy gasped in relief, the woman on the bird nodded and smiled.
"Not a problem ma'am." The woman was about to turn and leave when Ysabelle burst out with;
"Please miss, do you happen to know where there is an altar, behind a green door?" Ysabelle was getting desperate, her strength was flagging, and she didn't want to have to return empty handed.




"Hmm, I think I know where you're talking about..." The woman replied.  "Come." And with that, she ripped open a portal through space and jumped into it.  Without thinking, Ysabelle threw herself through, feeling the energy of the ether flex at the passage and then spit her out somewhere completely different... Empath Abbey!



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They soon left the abbey, Izzy's legs stumbling to keep up with the stranger on their amazing animal.  They turned north west, plumeting through the dense forest and skirting the Swamps of Yew to head up towards a huge castle, and then it came back to her, near a castle, this must be the way! 
After a short walk, along the eastern edge of the caslte.  The stranger led Ysabelle to an island, seperated by the sea.  But apon closer inspction, a small series of rocks made a path out towards it.  In her weakened state, Ysabelle had trouble keeping her footing on the slimey, salt encrusted stone, but though the wind pushed and the waves pulled at her toes, she somehow managed to make the crossing.



After leading her across this small island, the stranger, still without a word, pointed to what looked like a small tuft of crass on the floor.  With trepidation, Ysabelle looked closer, to find it was a hole, wide enough for a man with a horse to pass through, amazingly hidden from sight!  Quickly, she slid down the dirt, breathing in damp, the sickly sweet smell of plant decay and... something else.  Her feet finally touched solid groud, looking back she realised at some point, she must have passed through the ether, because behind her, was a glowing red portal, and in front, an old, dirty corridoor that stank of evil.



Travelling on, she was amazed to see trees! A strange, palm like apparition that grew without the benefit of the sun.  Added to this was moss and lichen, all of different hues and textures.  Ysabelle however, wasn't looking, because after a short walk, she came to a large, green door, pouring out some thick, green gas that appeared to be what was staining the door it's fetid colour.



"A green door! Like he said!" She exclaimed, knowing now that she was on the right track, her feet became lighter, a new well of energy and strength opening up with her hope at finally being able to help her friend.

Barely had she walked through the door, when her feet stopped.  Ysabelle's face drained white as the sheer pressure of evil intensified tenfold.  She had to steady herself for a moment, concentrating on breathing in and out as she mentally balanced herself agianst this new force. 



Finally, after a strange look from her uncomprehending friend, she continued on, step after step, she managed to push against this new threat until finally reaching the obvious source of the evil.

A green throne, the source of the gas, sat in the middle of a fetid patch of swamp, contained in a white stone wall.  The walls bricks seemed to be emenating a protective aura of their charge, and Ysabelle realised this wasn't going to be as simple as walking up to the altar and destroying it.  After the barest instant of consideration, she looked at the traveller that accompanied her.
"Thank you miss, I'll need to prepare for this, you'd better stand back."  The stranger nodded, and moved away, back toward the door they'd just come from.  Ysabelle however much she wanted to just turn and run, had no choice in her heart but to get on with the task at hand.



Slowly, she pulled the hat from her head, letting it drop to the floor beside her.  As if in a daze, the fingers holding her crook relaxed enough for it to fall from her grasp, allowing her to slide to her knees, her eyes dropping closed as if the force of the drop pulled them down.



Her mind settled, and reaching in, she found the wellspring of her power.  Even here, nature called to her, in the trees and moss, and the scrubby ferns that lined the walls.  The spiders and even a bat in the distance answered her summons for aid.  The earth itself opening to her cause and filling her with the power she requested.  The air around the woman started to crack as the bound energies immediately tried to escape her grasp, but with the ease born of practice, she forced them into a pattern inside herself, ever beating off each other, ever under her control... for now at least.



Standing, Ysabelle stepped forward, her eyes glazed from the concentration of holding natures fury in check.  Her toes felt the first cold white stone, as her bare feet padded towards her goal.


 
All of a sudden, her progress was stopped by a barrier, raising her hands, she felt a flat force, almost like a wall of glass barring her way forward.  The evil grew even stronger with every step towards the altar, and she was finding it hard to breath.  Inside her, nature roared, and flew forward in a short lapse of control breaking on the barrier and arcing out from the point of contact.  Gritting her teeth, Ysabelle wrestled the raging energy uder control again.  It had however, given her an idea.



Using her finger as a focal point, she drew the fury in, forcing it into a sharp spike of power that she stabbed into the field, creating a small hole.  The barrier once pierced, prooved easy to force magic through, and then expanding the matrix of the spell to create a narrow doorway just big enough to step through.  Which she did, just before the spell lost it's focus and shattered just after she passed the wall.



Once through, the emenations of evil were even stronger, almost forcing her to her knees with the opression.  Her breathing was coming in short, shallow gasps, all she could manage to get into her lungs before the force pushed them empty again.  Walking was like trying to swim through treacle, dragging at her limbs and makng her muscles burn with the exertion.  Still, her mind set, and teeth strill gritted against the odds, she managed to get one foot onto the dais of the altar... and 'screamed'!



"Auurrgh! It burns!!" Was all she managed to get out as the pain seared up her legs, the sole of her foot, apon touching the rock, had begun to burn and blister.  Using a technique taught to her what seemed like eons ago now, she thrust the portion of her mind that sensed the physical away from her concious.  Leaving it to scream in agony somewhere else.  All the same, the effort, and the shock had drained her all the more, and little was left of the raging storm that had been her magic when she'd first started the encounter.  Slowly, still having to fight the tide of evil coming from the altar, she stepped forward to the grand chair centralling the dais.



Slipping her hand into her dress, Ysabelle produced a dagger she had prepared preiviously and had collected after last night having to make a sword of the same kind for Calico.  Her eyes rested briefly on the blade that held the power of the elements with it.  The steel shone blue whenever it caught the light, and the pommel was of granite.  Something that the spell used to create it did to the blade and it fair hummed with energy.



Not taking any time to think, she raised it high above her head, forcing what was left of natures wrath in her to flow along her arm and aid it in it's flight towards the altar.
"I Banish Thee!" She screamed out loud.  The words were unneccessary, but helped her concentrate on the spell forming in the blade.



As it struck the altar the world seemed to explode.  Shards of the altar chair went flying in all directions as it shattered into a thousand fragments, leading to several cuts over her face and arms.  The overall force of the impact lifted Izzy off her feet, hurling her back, through the now dissipated field and back down the corridoor.  As she hit the ground, she bounced before skidding to a halt even further still.



Coughing and aching all over, she manages to blink enough of the dust from her eyes to look out at the scene in front of her.  Dust filled the room, but it was obvious that the altar was no more, and for that, she was thankful.
Slowly, she got to her feet, wincing as some of the blisters popped under the weight.  Fumbling around, her hand finally closes around first her crook, and then her hat, and, sliding one on her head, and the other into the grip of her hand, she moved away. 



Following the stranger, who mysteriously reappeared after the explosion, she was shown the way out, another portal, another shift through the ether leaving her in the middle of Britain.



Rather shocked at this event, she nevertheless managed to thank the lady,



Before turning and stumbling home.



** THE END! - HOPE YOU ENJOYED!! **