Shadow War campaign In-Game: Chapter 74- Where It All Began

[Navarre]

The Anti-Seraphim finds himself falling apart, quite literally. Limbs become so much errant refuse as your Raez-Zhir sever arms and legs alike. The Angel cries out, his life force draining from him, before falling to the ground below.

But it is not the fallen Angel that is of concern but the falling castle that drops unimpeded toward the ground.

Knox struggles to get to his feet but can do nothing to save himself. Rachel angles her glider to hover just next to the castle's outer wall, matching its rate of descent, but can only look helplessly at the leviathan that now threatens to crush West Wellington.

Rachel moves S, S, S, S, S (25ft) to AL56


{Liv, your turn. And, in case you need to ask, you can move 90' and act or 180' and do nothing.}

[Navarre]

Rachel, still on the move with her glider, drops herself from it and runs into the castle.

"Och! T'ere 'as to be a way to make t'is beastie float ag'in!"

She disappears within, a few seconds before Liv reacts.

Rachel moves S (5 foot step) to AL57


{Liv, still your turn.}

[chrysalis]

I fly to the cloud, pondering all the while of all the angel things I have tried, wondering if I can do something to stop the cloud. I get as close as I can, then I focus all of my energy on the cloud trying to push it away from the souls on the ground.

Liv moves S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S (90ft) to G51

[Navarre]

The cloud continues to hurtle toward the ground without stopping. The shadow of it engulfs the city of West Wellington.

Below you, you see the people now, gathering outside shops and homes. A thousand humans; farmers, merchants, laborers, mothers and their children, all stand stunned and aghast as they see the heavens falling on their heads as the bodies of dead Angels litter the streets.

You focus all of your spiritual energy on the cloud, willing it to stop with all your strength. As Nephros said not so long ago, you must decide your own purpose. If it is Protection then you will live up to that moniker today.

But the castle does not respond. Fear begins to overtake you as you search for anything that can save so many innocents.

Then you feel something within the castle. It is the source of the fortress's power; the hub of wishes and flight.

It is then you realize that the castle's magic is derived from the same place all magic is derived: The Weaving. You remember the words of those such as the Einshar, Uma, that the Weaving and the World Spirit and all things are connected.

It is all one and the same, an ebb and flow of life and power that must be balanced. The castle's magic has been dispelled by the Angels of Light but it can be rekindled.

It requires the power contained in the World Spirit to set a spark in the Weaving. It requires Life.

The castle requires a sacrifice.

[Navarre]

{You still have a standard or a move action open, Liv.}

[Navarre]

Liv, you quickly and desperately work to understand your abilities. You may be the only hope of saving the cloud's passengers and all who stand in the city below.

You recall a much earlier conversation that Angels were designed to transport souls into the afterlife. Perhaps, like the Deadwakers, you can also transfer souls.

You have no doubt you are willing to sacrifice your own. Part of you, a powerful part, longs to be with Donovan again.

But it is your soul that fuels and sustains the transfer. You cannot use your own soul to perform this task but must instead use another's soul.

You make a spiritual scan of the area. You can detect all souls within sixty feet with clarity.

{Still your turn, Liv.}

[chrysalis]

Can I sense if I can remove one soul easier than another?

[Navarre]

{All souls are equal to the World Spirit. But if the soul is not willing to leave its body then it gets a Will save...and you may only have one shot at this.}

[chrysalis]

I make quick decision to take Knox, knowing from his past life that he would sacrifice himself to save so many and hoping he would understand why I was doing this to him.

[Navarre]

As you reach forward with your soul, Tom Knox's eyes come to rest on your own. He seems every inch the man you knew from your life in Forest Falls.

You have known the man your entire life, even if he does not remember you now. You have heard him remark many times of how he had dreamed of being a Knight. A hero. Making a difference.

In his kind smile you see he has found that dream realized. The quiet bitterness you once saw in his countenance is gone, replaced by a measure of purpose fulfilled.

Somehow, he seems to know what you are about to attempt. He smiles at you, nodding once in respect and acceptance.

Thomas Knox breathes his last breath before slumping to the cloud. The power of his soul burns within you as you take it in like it was air.

Sweat beads on your soft brow as you struggle to contain the energy of two souls inside of you at once. You look now to the cloud island, so close to colliding with the earth below.

Gritting your teeth, you push with your own soul, transferring Knox's spiritual energy from you and toward the castle. It drinks it in like a sponge taking on water.

Around you, all eyes watch as the cloud castle's descent slows...then stops altogether. Now hovering only some one-hundred feet over the ground, it blankets West Wellington like an omen of death; but a death averted.

The cloud slowly floats upward toward its former altitude, carrying your allies with it. Over a thousand people have just been saved by your efforts alone...and the selfless sacrifice of Tom Knox.

[Navarre]

Vinnrog turns slowly back to the remaining Angel of Light. Without a word he slashes at the Anti-Seraphim.

{Flanking Rage Attack 1 vs A-S, AC32: 1d20+16+5+3+2+2=44. Hit.}
{Flanking Rage Attack 1 vs A-S, AC32: 1d20+11+5+3+2+2=24. Critical Miss.}
{Damage: 1d12+4+2+3=17}

The Angel of Light lets loose one last cry of pain before he falls as Vinnrog's great axe embeds itself in his skull. Unfortunately, as the Anti-Seraphim falls, the axe is ripped from the barbarian's hands, plunging to the earth with the half-orc's fallen foe.

"HEY!!" yells Vinnrog angrily and with an expression of dismay.

Aphra looks around.

"Not done yet. There's still the two who thought it'd be fun to drop a castle on their own city."

"Let's see if they keep smiling when I get finished with them."

Aphra moves SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, E, E, E, SE, SE, SE, E, SE, SE, SE, SE, S (165ft) to AI45


{Bedlor, your turn.}

[Gaumer]

{Hold action}

[Navarre]

Coby's team reconvenes.

Azure moves SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, SE, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, S (165ft) to Z43
Coby moves E, E, E, E, E, E, E, E, E, E, E, E, E, E, E, E (80ft) to AB38


Coby looks to Aldina as Azure wings her way to her. The young sorceress's face is streaming with tears; droplets falling like rain from the sky.

Coby shakes his head.

"Thomas. Jackson. Valor."

"Such a senseless waste."

{Tren, your turn. Chaser's too if Bedlor wants her to do something.}

[Strifeter]

Tren looks down at West Wellington and the people looking to the sky. As the last tear falls from his eye the memories of hell and the loneliness flood into him.

I remember now. Why traveling alone never hurt. You never lost. You never had to mourn. You never cried. All these feelings, yes they can cause incredible power but ultimately make you weak.

No more will this weakness plague my decisions. No longer.......

Tren jumps out of Live arms realing slightly from the fresh battering he had just performed. Tren had been prepared to die and perhaps still was.

Activating his flight ring he rushes towards the fallen Angel pieces in the town of West Wellington. As he plumes he casts a spell altering his appearance while placing a mask he had taken from the now stable castle over his face. I would to have Tren land over a prominent piece of angel still left around the most number of people. Tren creates an image over himself with his newly obtained spell and shapes it look a more human version of himself with dark black hair. The magical disguise stands taller slightly and broader than Tren is which cause his many, many scabbards to protrude out a little farther and more menacing. The mask is bone white and oval shaped with two dark slots for eyes and a red splash of red paint to look like darkens blood over part of the mask.

I have more but I want to know if I can land in this turn or not. Your call faithful DM.

[Navarre]

In West Wellington, the citizens gather as all eyes turn toward the heavens. You hear the lamentations of the women, and some men, proclaiming it to be the End Times.

Surely it would appear so. The broken and bloody bodies of Illumian's Angels litter the streets, many with severed limbs.

Not so far away, young Jackson Forge lies near the body of a great white pegasus. The winged steed shows the stab wound through its heart while Jackson's body is mutilated from his fall.

You land near two bodies of prominence. One is an Angel of Light who is missing its head. That now-useless addition is lying where it fell (and rolled) some dozen feet away after being severed by T'Ning's shuriken.

The body upon which you now stand though is that of the leader of Illumian's Host, the mighty Tandranara; she who was called "The Tormentor" by her enemies.

Her skull flattened to the point she is only barely recognizable, you see the looks on the people's faces make it evident they know who she was. A palpable fear seeps from the masses as you straddle the body of Illumian's greatest warrior.

Where once the worshipers of the Lord of Light held Tandranara's name quietly on their tongues, now they await your decree; he who vanquished the Tormentor.