Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 13:41:48 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [ffml] [MW] The Ancient Fortress From: Sky H Ainsworth As General Scotts led the heroes to the ancient fortress, he paced the deck of the corvette. "What am I to do with Bacca gone?" he asked himself. "I'm not used to dealing with super humans like these." He sighed and faced the fortress. In the middle of a large plain covered in forests, a giant wall arose. Flying overhead, Scotts and the heroe were able to look down in it. The fortress was composed of two walls and a huge pile of stone that once served as a keep. The outer wall was forty feet high, fifteen feet at the top and twenty at the bottom and filled with solid stone and earth. The second wall was a ways behind and fifty feet high. Like the outer wall, it was fifteen feet wide at the top, and twenty at the base. There were two entrances into the fortress through the outer wall, one to the keep on the inner wall. The airship landed and the heroes got out and explored. After a while, they gathered around the outside of the keep. "So what will we do?" asked Kaitlin. "We will rebuild this fortress," said Scotts. "First the outer wall, then the inner. When we are finished with the outer wall, I'll have the magic users enchant it and protect it with spells. "We'll also clear the forest of trees and lumber them. We'll make a very wide clearing all around so that the enemy cannot hide in the forest and quickly make an attack." "How long will it all take?" asked Schala. "As long as it takes until the enemy gets here," said Scotts. "Two, maybe more weeks. Hopefully Bacca will be back by that time." The heroes looked at each other. "Then what do we do in the meantime?" asked Kaitlin. "Rest," said Scotts. "Practice your skills, increase your powers, help us if you can. All we have to do is wait until the enemy arrives really." So the heroes would wait. The enemy would come to them. Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 13:44:24 -1000 Subject: [ffml] [MW] An eerie pressence at the fort. From: CHAOS28@aol.com OOC: This likely won't be as good as my first, but oh well. At least I know it was good. :) Stupid DLE laughed at me when I told him what'd happened. >:) IC: The day slowly turned into night as the heroes set up camp in the fortress. Ancient fortress. An odd feeling came about them off and on, but this kingdom had obviously been attacked, and the heroes shrugged it off as the restless dead. They'd handled that before, although it'd taken awhile to agree on how they were being made. Seph LaRoche lay in his bed, tired from the travelliing. His injuries will still many, from the fight with Bacca, his left arm still in a cast. His prime arm. He couldn't do much to help the clean up. "I need something to drink," he said, fishing through his bag for a bottle whisky. "Here you are. But not too much, gotta keep intact just in case we're attacked." He took two sips, then put it back in his bag. Suddenly, the same presence as before swept over him, and it had seemed to have multiplied from before. "Get out!!" a voice rang through his ears. Seph jumped up, and from habit, attempted to grab his sword with his left hand. "Damn!" he said, going for it with his right hand. Behind him, the door slammed shut suddenly. Seph swung around the saw nothing. "Who's there?!?" he yelled, bravely. Suddenly, a tremendous force impacted him from behind, sending him flying across the room into the termite-eaten door, with a force that would normally have knocked it off it's hinges. Luckily, he was able to turn to avoid his arm being slammed, but it was too late anyway. A dark nothingness rushed towards him. When it hit him, he dropped his sword, it hitting the ground with a loud crank, and he let out a blood-curdling scream that could be heard throughout the fortress and into the jungle nearby. His body dropped to the ground, eyes wide open, and he begun twitching immensly, then just stopped... almost not breathing. ********************************************************** "Argh!!" yelled the Druidess Kaitlin, frustrated, as she shot blast after blast of magic at Seph's door. "Open!!" "What happened?" yelled Chaos, running down the hall. "Damn!" Kaitlin said, turning to greet him. "I don't know. I was gonna check up and see how everyone was, when suddenly, he screamed. I tried to get the door open, but some magical force sealed it shut. I couldn't do a thing! My magic can get rid of the force, but as soon as I try something on the door to force it open, the barrier is back up again." "Damn," Chaos said. "Okay, on the count of three, you take off the barrier with your magic, and I'll ram the door." "Got it." "1, 2...3!" Kaitlin shot a blast of magic at the door, as Chaos simultaniously rammed it, sending it flying in, just barely missing Seph. "Oh my god!" Kaitlin said. Seph's body had stopped twitching, but now was almost pale white. Chaos put a hand to his neck. "He's still breathing. We ha-" "Look out!" Kaitlin yelled. Chaos looked up, to see the dark presence floating there. "Get out!!!!!" a voice rang through both of their heads. "Leave these ruins now! Take your army with you! Just go!" "What is it?" said Chaos. "I don't know,"answered Kaitlin. Suddenly, it rushed them, passing through Chaos, leaving a fealing of emptiness in him, but hitting Kaitlin hard, knocking her against the wall. "Nooo!" yelled Chaos. The same thing happened to her that'd happened to Seph. She began screaming. "Get away!" yelled Chaos. Suddenly, Kaitlin stopped, and fell unconsious. "Why did you harm them and not me?" Chaos said to the essence, demandingly. "Because I don't need too..." it simply answered, bolting off down the corridor. Chaos left the room, and the darkness was gone, nowhere too be seen. "Damn, where is everyone?" Chaos said to himself. "Hold on you two, I'll be right back. He slashed his sword through mid air, creating a sword of Gateway, and jumped in. ********************************************************** "Well, looks like he was in shock," said Schala to Chaos, looking at Seph. "But I've stopped him for now. I am not a complete master healer, but I know almost all attack and defense spells. I don't know the best healing magic. We'll have to wait for Lady and Sky to get back. As for Kaitlin, you seemed to have scared whatever it was off before it could do any real damage to her. Seph will be out for a while." "And is she awake yet?" Chaos asked. "Yes, she is," Schala answered. "She joined everyone else in the main hall." "Okay, I'm going hunting. If I'm not back in a day, forget about me." "Hunting? What do you mean?" "I am finding this pressence. It wouldn't hurt me, so I should be able to find out why it's here." "I'll come with you." "I'm afraid not." "Why not?" "Because it might hurt you too. I don't want anyone else getting hurt by it. Just join the others in the mess hall." "I see... you two Henricksons! Take Seph into the hall, and lay him down. Good luck, Chaos." "Yeah, Schala. You too. And you'd better set up some sort magic barrier around the hall. An alarm system, of sorts. I'll see you all later." "Yeah." She left as Chaos sliced a warp whole, and stepped through. OOC: Okay, I'll post the rest before I leave.