Sophia's Choice...

[Ysne58 236]

I don't actually go into real multiplayer. I set up a lan game and just have the character setting it up go in. I've not thoroughly tested this but I think it will work.

I love the new chapter.

[wolfie2kX 528]

Hmm.. Maybe I'll try a little "necromancy" of my own.. I got a dead level 70 something Dragon Mage file that kicks the game to the curb every time.

[Aegis 256]

Y'know, in spite of the fact that it means more roast boar and gravy for me, I can't help but shed a tear for Mort. No one told me this story was gonna be a tragedy. ;_;

[wolfie2kX 528]

Oy.. This IS the world of Ancaria.. This sort of thing isn't all THAT unexpected. Maybe the scale of things is a bit bigger than most...

 

But all in all, this tragedy is nothing with regards to that which is yet to come. Brace yourself cause there are things that are afoot that will make this seem trivial.

 

But don't cry for Mort... He will come out of it all in good shape - well. Relatively good shape.

Edited June 23, 2013 by wolfie2kX

[Aegis 256]

So long as it doesn't involve cursing Ancaria to living off of nothing but vegetables for all eternity, I'm cool. ;p

[wolfie2kX 528]

Good heaven's no! That'd be FAR too cruel.

 

But if you've been paying attention, you'll have a heads up on what's to come. And trust me... It will be a doozy...

[wolfie2kX 528]

Today, we have a new installment... And we meet the two Ancarians who are responsible for the portal system. Those who have read the in-game books will remember them - the Dwarven stone smith and Elven scientist - Fergorn and Liebo. And of course they've got bad news...

 

(Fear not, this isn't the cataclysm I was talking about.. That's still a ways off.)

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Visitors from out of the Blue

“Queen Sophia!” the guard said as she left the portal.

“Greetings! How goes the watch?” she replied.

“The watch goes well. All’s quiet on the home front!” the guard responded. “But you have a pair of visitors.”

“Visitors?” Sophia asked.

“Yes, A Dwarf and an Elf arrived by portal a few hours ago. They’ve been escorted up to the tower.”

“Did you get their names?”

“No, my Queen. It happened on the previous watch,” the guard replied.

“I see. Very well, I guess I’ll have to go deal with them.” Sophia said, a tad irked.

“Karem – please go back to Artamark’s Gate and grab our friends. If I know them, they’re still likely stuffing themselves at the tavern.”

“On my way.” Karem said as she started heading back to the portal – just as it became active and Loromir, Orphas and Torik emerged.

“Never mind...” Sophia said.

“Greetings!” Loromir said with a slight slur in his speech.

“Greetings! How was the tavern?” Sophia asked.

“Very good, thank you.” he slurred. “Though I think we need a bit of a nap.”

“Listen, we’ve got visitors up at the tower – a Dwarf and an Elf.” Sophia said.

“Auntie Sophia, I can help.” Torik interrupted.

“Orphas, how are you doing?”

“Jus fine...” Orphas slurred. “Thank you...”

“Auntie Sophia...” Torik said, with a bit more insistence that he be heard.

“Yes, Torik... What did you want to say?” Sophia said with growing frustration.

“I can help. Loromir has been teaching me how to read auras.”

“You can? Good. You can come with me then. Karem, you and Smitty get these two to the cave and settled in. They’ll need to sleep it off. We’ll grab something to eat after I’m done with our visitors.”

“Right! We’re on it. Let’s go guys.” Karem said to the Dragons.

“Now then, Torik, Loromir and I have a little system. If the person’s aura is clean, you smile. If it’s not, you frown. Got it?”

“Yes, Auntie.”

“Let’s go then.

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Sophia and Torik arrived at the tower just as an Elf and Dwarf were preparing to leave.

“Greetings!” Sophia said. “How may I help you?”

“Greetings,” the Elf replied. “I’m not sure you can. We’ve been waiting for half a day now for an audience with the new Queen.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve been otherwise occupied.” Sophia said with a brief glance at a grinning Torik. “So what can I do for you?”

“So you’re Sophia, the new Queen?” the Dwarf asked, with a hint of disapproval in his voice.

“My apologies for my partner’s gruffness. I am Liebo and he is Fergorn and we need your help,” the Elf interjected.

“Fergorn and Liebo – THE Fergorn and Liebo?” Sophia asked.

“As if there were any others roaming Ancaria by that name,’ Fergorn replied.

“Have you two had dinner yet?” Sophia asked.

“Well, um... I can’t say we have.” Liebo replied.

“Good, then, please join me for dinner. I’m famished. Torik, you get some meals to go and take them back with you.” Sophia said.

“Yes Auntie.” Torik replied and went off to the kitchens.

“I find people are more agreeable if their attention isn’t on an empty belly.” Sophia said.

“Very well...” Fergorn grumbled.

Sophia led them to the mess hall and went to the serving area. “Dinner for three, please.”

“Yes, mum!” the serving wench behind the counter said as she got out the necessary plates and began heaping food onto them.

“So, how can I help you? Sophia repeated.

“As you know, we invented and built the portal system on Ancaria. And I’m fairly certain that you are familiar with the portal accident a decade ago that’s caused us so much grief. We’ve spent the last nine years doing our best to fix the problem of that rogue portal.”

“Yes, I’m familiar with your work; the portals are simply brilliant work. So what news do you have of that rogue portal?”

The serving wench passed the three of them their plates and utensils. “Thank you,” Sophia said to the girl behind the counter and the group moved to a table.

“Well, there’s good news and bad news.” Liebo continued.

“Good and bad news? That doesn’t sound good.” Sophia replied between bites.

“Indeed it isn’t.” Fergorn said. “Ancaria is in danger.”

“Please elaborate.” Sophia said.

“Well, the good news is, we think we’ve got the means to close the portal.” Liebo said.

“And the bad news?” Sophia said, waiting for the other proverbial shoe to drop.

“The rift is expanding and if we don’t stop it – and I mean stop it soon – the entire world will be sucked through it.” Fergorn said.

“Why do I get the feeling that is a really, really bad thing?” Sophia asked.

“Mainly because it is.” Liebo replied, “I’m sure you’re familiar with the concept of gravity. It’s the force that keeps us firmly on the surface of our world. We detected some gravity coming from the portal. That would mean there’s something – another world – on the other side of the portal.”

“But we already knew that. We have visitors from that other world – the Dragons, those big headed demons, and the fish demons.”

“True enough. But as the rift expands, it will magnify the gravity coming from the portal and that will rip our world to shreds as its being sucked through the portal. The world on the other side of the rift won’t survive either. All in all, there will not be any survivors.”

“OK.” Sophia swallowed deeply, “you mentioned that you had a means to stop this - so what can I do to help you stop this rift?”

“We compiled a list.” Liebo said as he put his fork aside and reached into his pocket to retrieve a sheet of paper.

Sophia took the paper and looked at its contents.

“I’m familiar with many of the items on this list – but why are you coming to me? Can you not get them through your normal channels?” Sophia asked.

“There’s the rub. Many of these items come from the Dwarven territories and have recently become unavailable.” Liebo answered.

“And you think the Seraphim have a hoard of these items?”

“Actually, no, but we do think that you might be able to exert some pressure on those that do.” Fergorn replied.

“So who has these items?” Sophia asked.

“We’re not entirely certain. But we do know the one person who would know is the Master Blacksmith himself.” Liebo replied. “Unfortunately, he seems to be quite, er... unavailable.”

“In what way?”

“He’s locked himself up in his academy in Ciria Delith. He doesn’t see anyone except some of his inner circle. We’ve petitioned to see him and have spent weeks waiting to see him without any sort of hint we could have an audience. Nor have any of the few minions he does see given us any help either.”

“How long do we have?” Sophia asked.

Fergorn and Liebo looked at each other briefly. “Not long. We’re not entirely certain but we do know its coming and it will come any time between three and six weeks.” Fergorn said, grimly.

Sophia swallowed hard. “Three and six weeks?”

“If we can slow the rupture’s progress, we may be able to stretch that into eight weeks.”

“Personally, I’d like it better if you could close the rupture entirely.”

“Yes, well, I think we would all like that as well.” Fergorn said.

“Does the Master Blacksmith know why you want to see him? You did stress the importance of that?”

“Indeed, we did.”

“If you had the materials on this list today, right now, how long would it take to build your device that will close the rupture?” Sophia asked.

“About a week. Give or take a day.” Liebo replied, looking at Fergorn for confirmation. “It largely depends on the help we will have.” Fergorn merely nodded in agreement.

“Very well. I will deal with this myself.” Sophia said. She looked down at her plate and suddenly, she wasn’t quite all that hungry any more. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go make arrangements. Feel free to finish your meals, gentlemen.”

“Of course.” Liebo said as Sophia stood up from the table. After bussing her tray, she made her way to the main hall.

Edited June 25, 2013 by wolfie2kX

[Ysne58 236]

You do keep throwing in interesting new developments.

[wolfie2kX 528]

You ain't seen nuthin' yet..

 

The next few chapters will be dealing with a concept I got from another post right here on FDM... But first, we need to welcome Lurinda back into action. The second chapter today also brings us past the 300 page mark..!

 

From there, we meet some new characters who will be paying a certain someone a visit.

Since the first chapter today is so insanely short, I held off posting until I got the next one ready to go. So here goes...

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

A Full Recovery

 

Sophia looked around the main hall; there weren’t any runners in evidence. She turned around and almost fell over from the surprise. Lurinda was standing there.

 

“By the Creator!” Sophia said, “How are you?”

 

“Much better, I think.” Lurinda said. “Still a bit weak from being confined to bed all this time, but at least I remember who I am.”

 

“That’s a relief! And not a moment too soon.” Sophia said.

 

“Let me guess. Ancaria is in danger, all hope is lost, and we need to do something about it.” Lurinda posited.

 

‘”You know this world all too well.” Sophia replied.

 

“So what is it this time? More invaders?”

 

“No, Fergorn and Liebo – the two who invented the portals – they are here in the mess hall. It seems that portal created by that accident in Nor Plat is growing and threatening to swallow Ancaria and grind the entire world to dust as it sucks our world through to the other side.”

 

Lurinda frowned. “I take it that’s the bad news.”

 

“Pretty much. The good news – they think they can do something about it, but need materials to build something or other that will close the rupture. I’m not entirely certain what they want to build, but they’re having problems getting the materials needed to make it.”

 

“And why is it they can’t get what they need?”

 

“Our ‘friend’, the Master Blacksmith has, it seems, been controlling the market in some of the items needed and has created a shortage in those materials. He won’t even give them an audience to discuss the matter.”

 

“How bad is it?” Lurinda asked.

 

“We’ve got maybe a month – give or take a week or two.” Sophia said.

 

“I see. That’s certainly bad.” Lurinda said grimly. “Have you summoned the Stealth Force?”

 

“Er... Stealth Force?” Sophia said, mystified.

 

“Yes, the Stealth Force. They’re a group of Seraphim who have special skills for penetrating fortresses and extracting whatever needs to be extracted – materials, people, whatever. They studied with Elven mages many centuries ago and learned some of their more unique skills. I take it by that confused look on your face; you haven’t done so because you didn’t know they existed.”

 

“You got me there.”

 

“Don’t blame yourself. Blame whoever stuck me with that blasted dart. There are many things I haven’t had a chance to tell you about.”

 

“True enough. I think it’s obvious who did it though. It was the Archmage’s human minions. They stayed behind after the rest of the Archmage’s party left, then took over the prison and held you and the guard who was in charge of the prison hostage. Our friends, Loromir and Orphas took them down, but you two were already poisoned with the Millennium Weed.”

 

“So what all have I missed since then?” Lurinda asked.

 

“Lots! First off, did you know there’s a holographic interface with my helmet right here in this room?”

 

“Actually, yes, but it’s been so long since anyone thought to use it, I must have forgotten all about it. I’m amazed that it still works.” Lurinda replied.

 

“Oh...” Sophia said a bit dejected, but continued, “We’ve rescued one more Dragon – Bethusela. She’s of the Frost clan. Did you know there were four types of Dragon? Frost, Fire, Magic and Poison. And we’ve just finished capturing Mer-Kil, the leader of the Fire Dragon clan...”

 

“Sounds like you’ve been quite busy.”

 

“Indeed. The Archmage sent some more of his undead puppets to the library. It seems some of those puppets can spontaneously combust. We managed to barely avert that crisis. We also managed to save an entire forest from a beetle infestation using alcohol. Bethusela is now stationed as guardian of the library.

 

“Orphas, by the way, found that Dragons can reincarnate into other races. He found his old master’s soul living in a small Elf boy named Torik. Torik was partly under the Carnach’s thrall – but we fixed that. Not before he planted a curse in my mind. Orphas managed to exorcise that from my mind.”

 

“Yup. Business as usual.” Lurinda said. “But now, we need to think about the future. You can tell me all about our exploits after we’ve saved the world.”

 

“Right. Sorry, I guess I got a bit excited to see you up and about again. But there is one more piece of good news – Smitty is close to perfecting a new weapon to liberate the Dragons. He calls it a blood gun – or the bleeder.”

 

“Indeed. That will be quite useful. But...”

 

“...I know. But first things first.” Sophia grinned. “So who do we contact about this Stealth Force?”

 

“Leave that to me.” Lurinda said with a smile.

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Back in the Saddle Again

Sala was bored. She was stationed in Hesheth, among the lizardmen. This was, from her point of view, probably the most boring place on Ancaria where any Seraphim could possibly be posted. This was mainly because the region where the Lizardmen lived seemed to be almost immune to the troubles plaguing the rest of Ancaria these days. The invaders didn’t bother invading here – most likely because the lizardmen were the most docile of all of Ancaria’s races. They went out of their way to be nice to everyone. They welcomed everyone regardless of race or creed.

In short, for a warrior, bred for battle, it was torture.

From a strategic point of view, it made sense that the invaders didn’t bother with this territory. It would be a waste of resources to conquer a bunch of sheep. It would mean having to devote forces to occupy the territory – even if the invaders were welcome. No, the lizardmen could wait to be the last territory for conquest after all of the more belligerent races were dealt with first.

This, of course, meant having nothing to do for the Seraphim stationed there. Sala understood why she was posted here but she really didn’t feel like she had to like it.

There was a knock at her door. She grumpily got up to answer it. It was probably Zool, wanting to challenge her to some target practice. Zool was a reasonably good archer – for his race – but by no means could he stack up to Sala. She kept telling him that he would be as good at archery when he got to be her age. He never did quite comprehend how she could be anywhere as old as she claimed. It was true. Sala didn’t look all that old – she didn’t really look a day over twenty-one in Human or Elf terms. But then again, she wasn’t Human, nor Elf.

She opened the door and started, “Look, Zool, I’m not...” She cut herself short when she recognized the face on the other side of the door. It was Mara.

“MARA! Greetings sister! How are you?” Sala said with much enthusiasm.

“Greetings sister! It’s been a while. I am fine – and you?”

“Bored out of my skull! Nothing exciting ever happens here.” Sala replied. “So what brings you here to the land of boredom?”

“I’m getting the band back together!” Mara said.

“You mean?” Sala said as her jaw dropped and her eyes opened wide.

“Yup. Got orders from the top! We’ve got a mission!”

“Do tell!”

“I can’t. I don’t know what the mission is – just that we’re being summoned to the big house.”

“Finally! I was thinking I was going to sit out the entire war.” Sala said.

“I know the feeling. I was stationed down in Gazath. There hasn’t been much of anything happening there either – except the occasional smuggler trying to get through the tunnel with some contraband.”

“You’re lucky, that’s more than has happened here in the past decade. About the only action I’ve seen is Zool challenging me to target practice.”

“Zool? Isn’t he the heir apparent from the Grakk clan?”

“Yup - the very one. I actually thought he was coming to challenge me again.”

“That would explain everything.” Mara grinned.

“So when do we leave?”

“Immediately – just as soon as your temporary replacement arrives.

“So who else is going to join us?”

“Good question. Out of the original five members, I’ve found we’re down to three.”

“Oh no! Who’s missing?”

“Well, As we all expected, our Elf liaison is long dead. Trell died a long time ago of old age. And that leaves Illeia who disappeared some time ago. No one seems to know what happened to her. So that means we will need to find Nyssa. From what I’ve been told, she’s way up in the northern part of Hissil’Ta.”

“Great! So how are we going to get there?”

“Well... We could portal there but it’s a really nice day – I thought we’d take a ride on horses.”

“Great idea!”

Just then another knock came at the door. Sala got up again and answered it. Another Seraphim was at the door.

“Greetings sisters. I am Priscilla. I’m here to relieve you from your post!”

“Greetings sister! Welcome to the Ancarian capital for boredom. Nothing much happens here. Ever. The heir apparent, Zool of the family Grakk likes archery. He likes to challenge me to the occasional impromptu tournament. He hasn’t been able to beat me – yet. That’s about all of the excitement to be had in Hesheth.”

“Sounds wonderful! After all of the chaos, death and destruction I’ve seen in the last decade, I really can use a break from all of that.”

Sala found herself without much of anything to say after that.

“Um... Right. So anyhow, Sala, we should get going. Lurinda will be waiting for us.”

“I’m sorry if I offended you, sister, I meant no offense.” Sala finally said.

“It’s OK. No offense was taken. I used to feel the same way about combat as you do now. It’s just that a decade of it without any real breaks – it gets old very quickly.” Pricilla said. “Even older than we Seraphim are.”

“I guess I never really looked at it that way. Well, have a good vacation!” Sala said.

“Thanks! I’ll make the most of it!” Pricilla replied.

“Let’s get moving!” Sala said to Mara.

“Right!”

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Sala and Mara were riding across the plains of Hissil’Ta, heading north. They had passed the portal in the north central part of the region. The sun was shining on the fields of wheat the lizardmen grew for export. With the burgeoning population of Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Orcs, additional food supplies were always in need. And of course, the Seraphim, who had no arable land of their own, needed supplies for their defense of Ancaria.

It should also be mentioned that the Volunteer Squad, with their ravenous appetites also needed to be kept fed. Some people expressed curiosity as to why there were only six of them created. The answer was rather obvious to anyone who watched any one of them eat. It wasn’t so much they had bad manners – it was the amounts they consumed. Testa, being the genius he was, ran the numbers and found that while it would indeed be nice to have additional Volunteers, simple logistics would have made the situation unsustainable in the long run. Adding just two more Volunteers would have meant wide spread famine within four years – even if every plantable square inch of land was planted twice a year.

Sala and Mara’s mounts easily trotted up to the castle and both got off of their horses.

“I wonder where Nyssa is hiding herself.” Mara said.

“Really, you’d think she’d be even more bored out of her mind stuck all the way up here than we have been.”

“True, though I was thinking more along the lines of she should have seen us coming.” Mara countered.

“Maybe she’s off having a meal?” Sala said.

“Let’s find out.” Mara said as she started towards the door.

“Do you think she would still be holding a grudge?” Sala said as she followed Mara up the path leading to the front door.

“I’d like to think she got over it. It has been five thousand years.”

“Try Five thousand twenty-two,” said a voice behind them.

Sala and Mara spun around quickly to find Nyssa standing there, with a BeeEffGee pointed in their general direction.

“Um... Greetings, sister.” Sala said.

“Greetings, sisters.” Nyssa replied. “What brings you to the northern reaches?”

“We’ve been recalled to Seraphim Island.” Mara said. “We’ve got a new mission.”

“Do we now? And who are we supposed to assassinate this time?” Nyssa asked.

“I have no idea what the mission is this time.” Mara replied. “We haven’t been briefed on it yet. The only thing we know is to report to the island and talk to Lurinda and the new Queen.”

The portal glowed and a Seraphim arrived.

“Greetings!” the new arrival said. “My name is Dia – and I’m here to relieve you.” - just as she noticed the weapon.

“Is there something I should know about?

“Greetings, Dia! I’m Mara, this is Sala and this is Nyssa and no, there’s no problem.”

“Good. I could use a bit of downtime. I feel like I haven’t had a moment’s peace in the last decade.”

Nyssa released the weapon and sent it back to its berth in the satellite above. “Let’s get going and get this over and done with.”

Mara set the portal’s coordinates to Seraphim Island and the trio stepped through.

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Sophia and Lurinda were in the great hall of the tower when the trio arrived. An Elf was already waiting with them when Sala, Mara and Nyssa arrived.

“Greetings sisters!” Lurinda began.

“Greetings,” the trio replied nearly in unison.

“You seem to be a least one member short.” Lurinda said.

“We are, I was unable to find any information on Illeia.” Mara replied. “She seems to have vanished from Ancaria about a thousand years ago.”

“I see.” Lurinda said. “No matter. We have a mission for the three of you. We need you to extract someone from their lair.”

“So we’re going to kidnap someone from their home?” Nyssa said.

“Hardly. He will be allowed to return home once we’re satisfied he has the best interests of Ancaria at heart.” Lurinda replied. “And this time, trust me; Ancaria’s future IS at stake. What I’m about to tell you is for your ears only and I’m only telling you this to lend gravity to the situation and why it needs to be expedited with due haste.

As you probably know, the invasion of Ancaria started a little over ten years ago when some Orc scientists decided they could build portals for their lands – and unfortunately, their misguided attempt at doing so opened a rift to another dimension where the Demons and Dragons came from. What you don’t know mainly because it hasn’t been made public knowledge as yet, that rift crashed on Ancaria is expanding and in a few months will be strong enough and wide enough to pull the whole of Ancaria through it, utterly destroying our world – and theirs – in the process.”

The trio gasped.

“Fergorn and Liebo – the scientists who put the portal network together think they have the means to stop this from happening. There’s one problem. They need materials but the person who controls these materials is holding back.” Lurinda continued.

“Does he know what will happen if he doesn’t cooperate?” Sala asked.

“We don’t know. No one outside of his enclave has seen him. This is why we are calling you in. We need to find out what’s happened or is happening to him. And if he’s alive, we need you to extract him, bring him here to the Island so we can convince him of the folly of his ways.”

“And what if he’s dead?” asked Mara.

“Well, now, that would be a problem. I think it would be best to extract his corpse in that case and bring him here.”

“So who is it we need to snatch?” Nyssa asked.

“The Master Blacksmith of Ancaria.” Lurinda replied. “And since you’re shorthanded, I’ve asked Tefina to join you. She can brush you up on your skills which I’m sure, have become rusty over the past few millennia. She is the great-granddaughter of Trell, five times removed, who mentored you when your squad was formed.”

“So when are we supposed to go?” Sala asked, brimming with enthusiasm.

“Soon enough. I need to make sure you can still do the tasks required first. You’ll spend the next day training with Tefina, then and only then will you be going.” Lurinda said as she motioned to Tefina to take over.

“Right. Today we’re going to review the skills my ancestor taught you. Most important of which will be the Shadow Step. Since this operation is top secret, we will be doing our training here on the island. So let’s get to it. If there isn’t anything else, you’ll excuse us... OK troops! Move out!”

Sophia who had been standing by quietly walked up to Lurinda as Tefina and her charges filed out of the hall. “She’s quite the drill instructor.”

“Indeed. She is the spitting image of her ancestor – Trell.”

“I see. So what exactly was the stealth force created for?” Sophia asked.

“It was a long time ago, but in a nutshell, there was a crisis.” Lurinda began.

Sophia smirked, “When isn’t it a crisis?”

“Sadly, that’s true enough. But in this case, it was almost as bad as the one we’re facing now. There was a scientist a little over five thousand years ago – an Elf – he created a weapon that was truly terrifying. It was a bomb that, had it gone off, would have blown at least half of the planet up.”

“Only half?”

“At least, half. There’s a distinction. Had the explosion ignited the right pockets of T-Energy in strategic locations, the other half would have been blown up as well.”

“Oh...”

“We had to find a way into his lair. Unfortunately, he and his bomb were situated on an island in the middle of Bluestone Lake. A direct assault would have been impossible. So Maria and I enlisted some volunteers and an Elvish Mage who trained the group in the art of Elven Magic. Out of the ten volunteers, only five showed any mastery of the techniques in the time allotted for training.”

“And the three who were here were part of that group.”

“Right. We lost one of them about a millennia ago in a battle and it was decided that the remaining members were to be given duties that would keep them relatively safe. The troubling part is we seem to be missing one. Can you ask your helmet if it has any information on Illeia?”

“Sure. Give me a moment.” Sophia replied.

Sophia communed with her helmet and thought about the name Illeia.

The helmet responded, “Accessing...” Moments later, “No current data on the whereabouts of Seraphim Illeia. Last known location: Assigned to patrol central Bengaresh nine hundred, ninety-three years ago.”

“She’s been missing for almost a thousand years. She was assigned to the central Bengaresh region – just like you said – a gravy run.”

“Apparently not, she did, after all, vanish into thin air.”

“Too true. So what happened? How did the mission work out?”

“Well enough in one regard, not so well in others. The team made it onto the island without incident. What we didn’t know is the scientist had hostages. He took a few women from Sonnenwind hostage. They were there for a long time – long enough for him to have an effect on the women’s minds. They shot and killed the scientist and were about to defuse the bomb when they found one of his hostages trying to trigger the device. They had no choice. Illeia and Nyssa both had to kill the hostage to prevent the bomb from being set off.”

 

“Ah... Sonnenwind Syndrome.”

“Indeed. Nyssa and Illeia were quite troubled by the incident for many years. They felt there should have been another way. Apparently Nyssa is still upset over the situation.”

“So do you think sending her on this mission might cause problems?”

“We don’t have any choice. We need to send them on their way as soon as possible. There just isn’t time to train replacements.”

Edited July 4, 2013 by wolfie2kX

[Ysne58 236]

I enjoyed reading this. Very well done.

[Aegis 256]

You just combined two of the greatest things ever imagined. Ninjas, sexy seraphim. All we need is ice cream.

[wolfie2kX 528]

Thanks...

 

Ice cream..? We already did ice cream - waay back in the chapter called Inoculate... Honey flavored even..

 

I wouldn't quite classify them as true 'ninjas' in the strictest sense of the word. More like Seal Team 6 or Delta Force - with the powers of the High Elves and the Seraphim. Oh.. and swords instead of assault rifles.

 

I did get the idea from a mod someone uploaded a picture of... A bleeping post I can't find right now to save my life. GRR! But at least, the last time I did manage to find it, I grabbed the pic. The guy did a mod of the Seraphim's face - made it more human in appearance than it maybe should be. So I've been tweaking the image back to what it should look like.

 

 

 

[Aegis 256]

Yes we had ice cream, but not with NINJA seraphim... or on a seraphim for that matter.

 

Hmm... SEAL seraphim also sound hot, almost as much as ninja seraphim and pirate seraphim.

 

As far as that pic goes, I know that mod, and I kinda figured that was where you got your inspiration from. Never mind black, she's actually clothed and not wearing a space suit.

[wolfie2kX 528]

Er.. Well. Um.. True. We didn't have ice cream served ON a Seraphim and it's not likely gonna happen.. not in this story anyhow. We did - kinda sorta - have Seraphim served ON the ice cream tho... Seraphim blood, actually. Twice even - once to young Torik and then to everybody else.

 

About the closest we can come to "pirate" Seraphim - that would be Sophia commandeering Testa's ship a few chapters back to send Mer-Kil into exile. Pirates are bad guys. Seraphim are all about being good.

 

I figured you might know about the mod in question. I figure it was Wardust's work - I did manage to find another of his mods - all in chain mail that had the same face. The armor tho, well, it just wasn't right at least for this part of the story. Tho, most Seraphim armor isn't about wearing a space suit - the only one that is guilty of that is Endijian's Artifacts - the rest are quite um.. barely there.

[wolfie2kX 528]

OK Folks.. Sorry for the extreme delay. Things have been hectic of late and finding free time to write has been sparse. But I've got another installment ready to go - FINALLY. This is one of those chapters I had to wrestle with but I finally got it hammered out.

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Tune-Up

 

Testa arrived on Seraphim Island not too long after Sophia, Lurinda met with the Stealth Force. The guard at the portal was a bit surprised – not because Testa was a large, blue, glow in the dark Elf, but that he arrived alone – without any of the other volunteers. The Volunteers rarely went anywhere alone. They were usually in full force, or in groups of two or three.

Testa made his way up the path and arrived at the tower just as Sophia and Lurinda were about to leave.

“Greetings!” Testa said. “Did I come at a bad time?”

“Greetings, Testa! Actually, you arrived in good time.” Lurinda said. “Whatever made you ask?”

“Ah Lurinda! Good to see you’re back on your feet. And it was the look of utter seriousness on your faces that gave you away. So... What’s going on?”

“The rift – the one that started this mess a decade ago is growing in size and Fergorn and Liebo need materials to build some contraption to close it. If they can’t get the materials, our world will be sucked through the rift destroying it and the world on the other end – where the Dragons and the Demons came from. Other than that, nothing much.” Sophia answered.

“How long do we have?” Testa said.

“They estimate four to eight weeks and it will take them a week to build it.” Sophia added.

“And what exactly is the hold up on getting the materials?”

“Three guesses and the first two don’t count.” Sophia replied.

“Ah.. The Master Blacksmith and his guild...”

“Exactly right on the first try.”

“Do you have a list of what they need?” Testa asked.

“Of course. Here.” Sophia said as she handed Fergorn and Liebo’s shopping list to him.

“That’s it? These materials should be easy to come by. In fact, I should have half of them at the castle.”

“Well... That’s a start. But what about the other half?” Lurinda threw into the converstation.

“Yes, well, that might be a challenge, but not one that can’t be overcome. In the meantime, what have you been doing about the problem?”

“We have a special unit training to go in and extract the Master Blacksmith from his lair so we can have a chat with him.”

“Going straight for the juggular, I see. Good plan. That man’s been a thorn in too many backsides for far too long.”

“You’ve had problems with him as well?”

“Not really. He knows better than to mess with the Volunteers. But... I hear things from many sources. I’m sure you’ve heard Smitty’s sad tale.”

“Yes, we have. And that is part of what needs to be dealt with. But his problems will be quite moot if the world gets sucked through that rift.” Sophia said. “Speaking of Smitty, I take it you came by to help him out with his new invention.”

“Of course.” If nothing else, I came by to help calibrate the device I have a feeling he’s already built since the last time I saw him.”

“That would be our Smitty.” Sophia agreed.

“By the way, have you told him about the Stealth Force going after his father?” Testa asked.

“Not as yet. I haven’t had a chance to do so yet. But, I am somewhat worried about it being an uneeded distraction for him right now.” Sophia replied.

“I would tend to agree with you about that. I’d hold off on telling him until after he’s finished with this project.”

“I would tend to agree as well. Our time is limited and we must make the most of what time we’ve got left.” Lurinda added.

“Exactly, let’s go find out how he’s doing.”

The group left the great hall and took a walk to Smitty’s lair.

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

When they arrived, they found Smitty and Karem hard at work on the workbench. A rather odd looking weapon was mounted in a vise. It was mostly bare metal with only a few pieces of wood that were, at this point, still roughly hewn into a shape similar to what a Dwarven Rifle would have. There was a metal shaft mounted behind the trigger which was where, presumably the forward grip would be mounted eventually. In front of the muzzle of the weapon at a distance of about ten yards was a melon sitting on a stand. Beyond the stand, there was a bit of a mess.

“Greetings!” Sophia said, “I take it you two didn’t get much in the way of rest last night.”

“Och, of course we did. I just got up at the crack of dawn to get this project moving.” Smitty replied.

“And I woke up to the sounds of hammering and sawing not long after.” Karem replied groggily.

“I’m amazed you’ve gotten as far as you have.” Testa said. “Does it work?”

“Aye, well, that would be a matter of interpretation. At the moment, it can take blood – or in this case plain water, and it will freeze it to varying degrees of cold, and it will shoot the ice pellet but at the moment, we’re having a bit of a problem dialing it in so that the target isn’t blown to smithereens on impact. I’ve got it as low as it will go and the blasted melons are still going boom.”

“May I have a look at the design specifications?” Testa asked.

"Aye, I’m getting quite frustrated, it should work properly and yet, it’s as if I’ve got at least ten times the power being put behind the projectile and I haven’t a clue where the problem lies.”

“Hmm. Can we see it in action?” Testa asked.

“Aye, Ye might want to step back a bit. This will be quite messy.”

Smitty checked the aim of the new weapon to make sure it was still squarely on target and then retreated to a spot well behind the bench. He motioned to everyone else to get behind him. When everyone was out of harm’s way, he pulled a string tied to the trigger on the weapon. A faint hum came from the weapon followed by a rather loud “pthhh” sound as the frozen projectile left the barrel and flew rapidly toward the melon – which exploded on impact. Juice and rind flew in all directions.

Testa poured over the drawing, absorbing and calculating along the way.

“Odd... The calculations are correct.” Testa said finally. “Mind if I take a look?”

“Och, no, go ahead. I’m at a loss myself.” Smitty replied.

Testa set to work taking the gun apart. As he examined the power regulator, a faint smile came across his face.

“Ah... I think I see the problem. Take a look here.” Testa called Smitty over. “See here, this power regulator is the wrong one. It’s half the size of what it should be.”

Smitty slapped his forehead. “Och... I should have known.”

“Wait a moment. This one over here is twice the size of what it should be.” Testa continued his examination. “Ah... I see now, you accidentally put the wrong parts in the wrong place. Swap them out and I think it will work.”

“Aye.. Give me a few moments and I’ll have it fixed.”

Smitty set to work on swapping the two parts out.

Testa looked around and noticed the Dragons were not in evidence. “So where’s Loromir and Orphas?”

“They went out early this morning to go find something to eat. They should be at the mess hall.” Karem replied. “They are, after all, now responsible for a growing boy.”

“True enough.”

“That should do it,” Smitty interrupted, “I got the two switched. Karem, if ye could set up another melon on the stand, please.”

“Coming right up!” Karem replied and set another melon in front of the weapon.

“Good, now everybody step back – just in case.” Smitty said as he shooed everyone back away from the weapon.

When everyone was well back from the weapon, Smitty checked the aim and picked up the string he used to trigger it. When he was well back from the stand, he gave the string another tug and the weapon fired with a much gentler “phhtt”. This time the melon suddenly developed a small hole and spun slightly, but didn’t explode like it’s predecessors.

Testa and Smitty moved to inspect the melon in an instant.

“I think the velocity is still a bit high.” Testa said as he looked at the small hole in the melon’s side.

“Aye...” Smitty replied ruefully as he grabbed a knife from his workbench and sliced into the rind of the fruit, just above the hole.

They found the rapidly melting sphere roughly in the center of the melon.

“I did say there will be a need for some fine tuning,” Testa consoled, “You’ll need to drill a very small hole here on the top of the barrel.” He grabbed a small grease pen and made a mark on the barrel, near the front end of the tube.

“How big should it be?” Smitty asked.

“Show me the smallest drill bit you’ve got.”

Smitty went to his work bench and looked around. He grabbed a block of wood with a number of bits stuck into it. He handed the block to Testa.

“Hmm. I was hoping you might have some smaller ones. The hole needs to be about half the size of the smallest one you’ve got. Fortunately, I thought ahead. I brought my set of small bits.” Testa said as he reached into his bag and pulled out a small block with an even smaller set of drill bits.

Smitty’s eyes grew with amazement and a tad bit of jealousy. He’d heard of such tools but never had the money or really, the need for such things. Only the finest jewelers of Ancaria who had a real need for such tools had them. As such, they were only quite expensive.

“Now then, let’s start with this one first.” Testa said as he pulled one of the tiny drill bits from the block. “Remember, we can always make he hole bigger, but we won’t be able to make it smaller.”

“Aye!” Smitty replied, as he moved the rig holding the weapon to his drill press. He put the tiny bit into the chuck and turned the machine on. It began to wobble a bit too much for Testa’s taste.

“Stop! This machine is too unsteady and will likely break any of these bits.”

“Aye,” Smitty said disappointed.

“I’ll be back in a moment.” Testa said. He touched an odd looking bracelet on his wrist and a portal appeared out of nowhere. He quickly stepped through and vanished.

Those assembled in Smitty’s quarters were amazed.

A few moments later, Testa emerged again from the portal bearing a small drilling rig. Sophia and the others just stood there, their jaws hanging open as the mini portal vanished as mysteriously as it appeared.

Testa set the drill down on the workbench. “Smitty, bring the weapon here.” Testa said.

Smitty just stood there, Testa looked up and finally noticed everyone staring at him. “What is everyone staring at? Haven’t you seen a portal before?”

“Aye, we have, but usualy with a large stone arch around it,” Smitty replied.

“Oh... That. It’s a small invention of mine. I came up with it some time ago. I found that some materials can be made to resonate with a given portal. I found I could tap into the portal system’s energies and create a micro portal at my location. I found it to be most useful when a quick escape was needed or when I needed to fetch something from the castle.” Testa said as he looked at his bracelet.

“Amazing and quite useful!” Sophia said.

“Yes, Very much so. I have only been able to make a limited number of these thus far.”

“So how does it work?” Sophia asked.

“First, I have to link the bracelet to a given portal. This one is currently linked to the one at the Castle. I merely press this button here to activate it and a portal appears somewhere near me. I can then step through and I’m at the portal I’ve linked the bracelet to. I can then close it by pressing the button again after everyone is through.”

“How long can a such a portal stay open?”

“Not very long. About the time it took me to open the portal, step through, retrieve the drill rig from my workshop and come back.” Testa replied. “Long enough to get my team thorough safely.”

“I have a need for five them by tonight.” Sophia said.

“I only have one ready. But I will have some more made soon. Remember, the materials are hard to come by. In the mean time, let’s get this weapon working properly.” Testa said as he put the smallest bit into the chuck of the drilling rig.

Smitty was already lugging the blood gun rig under the drilling rig and was carefully centering the drill on the barrel. Testa then stepped forward and moved a belt on the rig, He flipped a switch and the drill started spinning at very high speed. Testa pulled the lever on the side of the drilling rig and the drill began boring a small hole in the barrel of the weapon. When the bit broke through into the bore of the barrel, Testa pulled the bit from the gun and switched the power off.

“Smitty, we will need to clean up the bore slightly. We don’t want burrs to rip our projectiles apart before the leave the barrel.” Testa said.

“Aye. I’ve already got a reamer ready to go.” Smitty replied as he put the tool into the barrel and began removing the ragged bits left by Testa’s drill.

“This may take a while,” Testa said. “We may need to enlarge the hole a few more times before we’re done.”

[Ysne58 236]

I do enjoy reading your work.

[wolfie2kX 528]

Yes folks, it's THAT time again... Between edits on the Wiki, and the myriad of other things I've had to deal with, I've managed to squeeze out yet another chapter of the ongoing saga that this is becoming...

 

Today we learn the origin of a small town in the bottom of Tyr Lysia...

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Poisoned Minds

Sala found her threshold for boredom was at an all time low. The endless drills using Shadow Step, throwing fireballs, ice shards and such were getting old.

None of them had forgotten the lessons they once learned under Trell. It’s not like they had much of a chance to use these skills since their last mission together, but Trell had done her job very, very well. She drilled the five of the original team to within the proverbial inch of their lives.

From the look on Mara’s face, she was likewise bored silly. Nyssa... Her expression was still one of anger.

 

“Everyone stop.” Tefina ordered. “Sala, you and Mara – take a break. Nyssa, I need to talk with you for a moment.”

 

Sala and Mara made themselves scarce, presumably to talk about the good old days and catch up. Tefina didn’t care all that much. Nyssa, on the other hand, did.

“So... What is it you want to talk about?” Nyssa said.

“I’m curious. The incident in question happened a very, very long time ago. Why is it this still haunts you so?”

“Shouldn’t it?” Nyssa snapped back.

“Enlighten me. I wasn’t there.” Tefina replied, calmly.

“What do you want to know? We went in, we took care of the henchmen, we took out the madman who tried to blow up the world and then one of that fool’s hostages tried to trigger the bomb. We... I had to kill her as well.”

“Yes, and what would have happened if you didn’t kill her?” Tefina prompted.

“She would have triggered the bomb and blown up all of Ancaria.” Nyssa replied.

“And where would you have wound up if you didn’t kill her?”

“Dead, like everyone and everything on Ancaria.” Nyssa replied.

“So what you’re saying is that had you not killed that one woman, the million or so Elves, Humans, Orcs, Dwarves, Lizardmen, Seraphim and all of the other beings on Ancaria would all be dead and the world we all live on would be nothing more than a cloud of dust.”

“That about sums it up.” Nyssa replied.

“Doesn’t the Seraphim code teach that it’s best to sacrifice one being for the sake of the greater good of Ancaria?”

“Yes... It does say that.”

“Then why are you so upset about this?”

“You just don’t get it.” Nyssa replied.

“You’re right – I don’t get it. Enlighten me.” Tefina urged calmly.

 

“It was the day after the incident. We arrived in Sonnenwind with the rest of the hostages and the body of the woman I killed so her family could put her to rest.” Nyssa said, on the verge of tears.

“Go on...” Tefina said quietly.

“I had to look into the eyes of her husband and her three children and I had to explain to them why I had to kill her. He was somewhat understanding. Her youngest two children cried their eyes out. The eldest child, on the other hand, he just glared at me with pure hatred.”

“I see. How old were the children?”

“The two youngest were like three and seven. The eldest was fifteen.”

“I see. I can understand where they would be coming from. They didn’t understand Sonnenwind Syndrome in those days. In fact, isn’t that incident where the name “Sonnenwind Syndrome” comes from?”

“Yes, it does, for all the good it did. It would have been OK if that was all there was to it.”

“There’s more?” Tefina inquired.

“Of course there is. The man moved what was left of his family a bit further south of Sonnenwind. The man died young. His heart was broken as he lost the love of his life. His three children grew up without parents. They wound up expanding their homestead into a new town – Teardrop Hamlet. All three of them swore vengeance. The eldest child, still full of hatred, attacked me about ten years afterwards. I wound up having to defend myself and wound up killing him as well.” Nyssa said as she finally broke down and cried.

“Ah... I see. It all makes sense now.” Tefina said.

“Does it? Please tell me how it makes sense? I only did what I did to save everyone’s life – including his!” “

 

Yes, but, he didn’t see it that way. All he knew was that you took his mother’s life. And by extension, his father’s as well. His siblings no doubt looked at you as being out to destroy their entire family after you killed their older brother.”

“True enough.” Nyssa sobbed. “But there’s more.”

“More?”

Nyssa took a deep breath before she continued, “The eldest brother swore to me that he and his family would get their revenge on me and the other members of the Stealth Force even if it took a thousand generations to do so.”

“I see... And where was Illeia supposed to be when she disappeared?” Tefina asked.

“The central part of the Bengaresh region.”

“I wonder...” Tefina said, pensively.

“You’re thinking they did something to her?”

“I would not be surprised.” Tefina replied, “I am, after all, an Elf and I am familiar with the sort of intrigue and chicanery my people are capable of. Though, in all truth, I have never heard of a blood feud lasting more than a generation or two. To have a blood feud last for as long as this one has and have someone actually make a kill four thousand years from the time it started is pretty much unheard of. Still, we will need to take this into account.”

“Why?” Nyssa asked.

“Because the plan was to portal from Seraphim Island to Sonnenwind/Teardrop Hamlet and hike into Ciria Delith by the cover of darkness. If there is anything to this, the last place we will want to start from is a place that will give us trouble or get us killed before we can get anything done. Our mission is too important.”

“True enough.” Nyssa replied. “They never bother calling us in to get anything done unless it’s life or death.”

 

“Right then, we need to tell Sophia and Lurinda.”

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Sophia left Smitty, Karem and Testa to work on fine tuning the blood gun. The simple truth of it all, watching them work was dull business – at least, for her. Sophia had little affinity for that sort of thing. She could make use of weapons just fine – but she wasn’t the type to sit down and make one. Karem was quite the opposite. She loved making stuff and was quite the blacksmith in her own right.

Sophia thought about that for a moment as she walked back to the tower and realized that although Seraphim were essentially copies of each other, there was plenty of diversity. Lurinda was brilliant at organization, Manda was highly adept at putting Seraphim and other beings back together after battle. The Stealth Force were adept at using Elvish magic techniques that weren’t skills the Seraphim were supposed to be able to use. The librarian was good at
maintaining TARA’s ancient technologies.

“Queen Sophia, if I may have a word...” Tefina said as she approached.

“Greetings, Tefina, certainly. What’s on your mind?” Sophia replied.

“I am concerned about the mission. There may be unforeseen problems that we will have to face.”

“Such as?” Sophia prompted.

“While we were training, I noticed Nyssa wasn’t focusing her full attention on the exercises so I called for a break and we had a little talk. She told me about the mission the Stealth Force went on five thousand years ago. She also told me about the consequences of what happened after the mission. Did you know that the children of the woman they killed blamed her for killing their mother?”

“Actually, no, I did not. I haven’t reviewed all of Maria’s information on the incident – yet. It is the next item on my things to do list.”

“Let me save you a bit of time. In a nutshell, the husband of the woman died young leaving three children behind who blamed Nyssa, Illeia and the rest of the Stealth Force. They moved south from Sonnenwind and founded Teardrop Hamlet. They also swore out a blood feud against the five of them – but especially against Nyssa and Illeia as they both attacked the woman...”

“I see. And that happened almost five thousand years ago. How does that connect to what’s going on currently?”

“To be honest, I don’t know if it does exactly. I’m going off intuition at the moment. You see, Illeia was sent to Central Bengaresh – and disappeared without a trace – and Teardrop Hamlet is located just on the other side of the mountain pass.”

True... Though, Illeia disappeared four thousand years after the original incident.”

“Nyssa told me that the eldest child confronted her years after the incident and attacked her. He swore that he and his family would have revenge on them even if it took a thousand generations to do it.

“A thousand generations? Wow. That is some serious hatred. I’ll look into this. In the meantime, how is the training going so far?” Sophia asked.

“It’s going well enough – though Nyssa needs to be more focused on what we’re doing and not on the past.”

“Indeed. Is there anything else?” Sophia asked.

“Yes, if my suspicions are correct, I don’t think it would be wise to portal to the Sonnenwind/Teardrop Hamlet region.” Tefina said.

“Good point, but what options do we have? If this family has, in fact, spread throughout the Bengaresh region, I don’t see any alternative.” Sophia pointed out. “Arriving in Ciria Delith would likely tip our hand. The whole purpose of going to Teardrop Hamlet in the first place was to hide your arrival in the area.”

“I was thinking – what if we arrived in Thylysia? It’s a small town on the Tyr Lysia coast, just north of Bengaresh. There’s a naval port there, The commander of that port got sick and tired of waiting for food shipments so he had a tunnel dug that goes south, through the mountain and has an exit in Bengaresh.” Tefina suggested.

“Hmm. The only problem I have with that, you still have to cross Bengaresh, in fact, you’ll have to pass through even more of it. And that’s just it – we suspect this family has multiplied and spread all over the region. Having to pass through more of Bengaresh means that much more opportunity to be seen or captured – even worse – killed.”

“True, however, they won’t be expecting us to be going the long way around. They will be expecting us to go the shortest way possible.”

“Maybe so. I will do some thinking on this and see what I can come up with. In the mean time, I would like you to continue training them for the time being.” Sophia concluded.

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Sophia left Tefina and headed back to the tower. She had a lot to think about given what she had just learned.

As she was pondering these things, she came across Loromir, Orphas and Torik who were making their way back to their lair after what seems to have been quite a feast.

“Greetings! I presume you three have had a good breakfast...”

“Greetings, Sophia, and yes, we most certainly did!” Loromir replied.

“Good. I will need your help – especially that of young master Torik.”

“What has he done now?” Orphas said, assuming the worst.

“Nothing. Except he’s from Bengaresh and as such, he might be able to clarify a mystery that just landed in my lap.” Sophia replied. “Come with me.”

The group made their way back to the tower’s main hall where Lurinda was waiting.

“Greetings again, Lurinda, now that I’ve got everyone here, I’ve been given a theory about the disappearance of Illeia, our missing Stealth Force member.”

“Indeed...” Lurinda replied. “What sort of theory?”

“It seems there’s more to the story of the Stealth Force’s previous mission. After they got back to Sonnenwind, the children of the woman they killed hated them for killing their mother. The woman’s husband died young, and the children grew up bent on vengeance against Nyssa and the rest of the Stealth Force and presumably all Seraphim as well. They were responsible for the founding of Teardrop Hamlet as well. Tefina thinks they’ve since multiplied and spread out into Bengaresh – and that is why Illeia went missing.”

“That does sound like a logical conclusion.” Lurinda replied.

“My thoughts exactly – which is why I wanted to talk to Torik since he is from that area.”

“What did you want to know Auntie?”

“Have you heard of anyone in Bengaresh who hates the Seraphim?” Sophia asked.

“No, auntie, but then again, I wasn’t allowed to have much to do with the workers or their families.” Torik replied.

“Surely, you must have had at least one or two friends among them...” Lurinda replied. “Don’t worry about it. No one here is going to get you into trouble.”

“Well... I kinda had one friend. Timok... He’s a foreman on my father’s sugar beet plantation. He used to tell me all kinds of stories about Ancarian heroes and such. But he never mentioned anything about Seraphim.”

“I see...” Sophia said. “I think I need to do a bit of research. Hopefully, I’ll have the information here... Be back in a moment.”

Sophia sat down on her chair in the main hall and relaxed, preparing to commune with the helmet. She thought of the phrase “Stealth Force missions” and was rewarded by the voice in her head saying “Accessing...”

Moments later, the helmet replied, “The Stealth Force was created by Maria in order to solve problems that could not be solved otherwise by brute force, where finesse was more appropriate. Out of fifty candidates, only five were found to have the ability to learn and make use of Elven magical techniques with the proper degree of finesse.

“The Stealth Force, to date, has only been assigned to one mission. In the year Thirty-two Ninety-four of the Forty-first Glorious Elven Empire, an Elven scientist by the name of Kuoung built an explosive device and placed the device in a hole near a large volume of T-Energy under Bluestone Lake. He threatened to destroy the whole of Ancaria with this device. Had the bomb been triggered, other scientists theorized that the resulting explosion would have ignited the entire volume of T-Energy in a catastrophic explosion that would have, at the lowest estimates, vaporized half of Ancaria in an instant causing enough damage to make life on Ancaria impossible. The worst case scenario would have resulted in the obliteration of the entire planet.”

“Wow.” Sophia thought. “This guy was nuts! Why did he do this?”

The helmet resumed, “Kuoung’s manifesto made little sense. The only demand that he made that made any sense was that he wanted to be with a young Elven woman by the name of Kandoria. Unfortunately, Kandoria was married to Thadorian Hickseed. They had three children, Aldor, Beate and Sal. Kuoung managed to kidnap Kandoria Hickseed and took her to his island. He kept her on that island for one-hundred twenty-five days.”

“Describe what happened.” Sophia prompted.

“The Stealth Force deployed by way of a small boat from Sonnenwind’s docks. They arrived and used Shadow Step to arrive on the island. From there, the Stealth Force slipped into the one structure on the building and found it deserted. They found a hidden entrance to a basement under the building and found Kuoung having dinner with Kandoria. As they were trying to apprehend Kuoung, he slipped and fell and landed on a knife, killing him as he bled out. Kandoria, seeing her captor lying dead on the floor, got up and went to a switch in the wall, attempting to trigger the device. Seraphim Nyssa and Seraphim Illeia both shot at Kandoria once they realized what she was trying to do. Seraphim Illeia’s fireball merely scorched Kandoria’s clothing while Seraphim Nyssa’s ice shards had hit home, severing her jugular vein and caused her near instant death. The device was, obviously, not triggered.”

“A righteous kill then.” Sophia concluded, “What happened next?”

The Helmet continued, “The Stealth Force secured the device and dismantled it so it could never be used again. They then removed the bodies of Kuoung and Kandoria and returned them to Sonnenwind. Thadorian Hickseed and his children were grief stricken by the loss of Kandoria. The Hickseed family moved south from Sonnenwind to a clearing closer to the border with Bengaresh. Over time, their homestead became known as Teardrop Hamlet.”

“So that’s where the name came from.” Sophia mused. “So what happened to the Hickseed family after that?”

“Unknown. The last male named Hickseed in the area died approximately ten years after the death of Kandoria. Thadorian Hickseed died in the winter following the death of his wife. Aldor Hickseed, died at the hands of Seraphim Nyssa on the tenth anniversary of the incident that took his mother’s life.”

“What about the other two children?” Sophia asked.

“Unknown. All records for them ceased at the time of Aldor Hickseed’s demise,” the helmet finished.

“Hmm...” Sophia thought as she mulled over what she just learned when she had an idea. “How many Seraphim have gone missing in and around the Teardrop Hamlet area in the past five thousand years?”

“Accessing... None.”

“What about in Bengaresh?”

“Accessing... Twenty-five.”

“What about other parts of Tyr Lysia and Ciria Delith?”

“Accessing... None.”

“And there rest of Ancaria?”

“Accessing... One. Seraphim Soliele went missing on a ship that sank on a trip from Seraphim Island to Bulutuz in the Nor Plat region. All hands were lost.”

“What about close calls reported in all areas of Ancaria – except Bengaresh?”

“Accessing... Four thousand nine hundred eighty eight incidents reported. Most of which have happened in the past decade.”

“And in Bengaresh? How many close calls there?”

“Accessing... Including your encounter with the bandits the day after you became the queen and the incident involving the Sakkara Demon the day you met Torik, there have been three thousand, two hundred fifty two incidents.”

“Limit the search to just those involving Elves. Let’s leave the invaders out!” Sophia thought.

“Accessing... That reduces the number of incidents to three thousand one hundred forty nine incidents. Removing the incidents from the rest of Ancaria that involved the invaders reduces the number of incidents everywhere else to one hundred and thirty six.”

Sophia opened her eyes. “Lurinda, we’ve got a problem!”

“What sort of problem?”

“I just asked the helmet to give me the number of incidents involving Seraphim disappearing in Bengaresh since the Stealth Force incident. There have been twenty five Seraphim that have vanished in that time period in Bengaresh alone.”

“OK... And that should impress me why?” Lurinda asked.

“Because outside of one Seraphim who was presumed lost at sea, there have been no Seraphim that have gone missing inexplicably during that time period on all of Ancaria. NONE!”

Lurinda’s face blanched slightly as she realized the implications and that she probably shouldn’t have been as snippy. “None?”

“Not a one! I also did some thinking so I asked the helmet about the number of close calls that were reported that didn’t involve the invaders. The number of incidents reported everywhere else was one hundred thirty six. But in Bengaresh alone, there were three thousand one hundred forty nine ‘close calls’. That, by the way, is including the one I had when I rescued Loromir.”

“By the Creator!” Lurinda said. “How did we miss it?”

“We missed it because no one was looking. No one took the problem seriously. We assumed that they would just get over it over time. We never considered that mere Elves could hold a grudge that would span generations and have it last. But apparently, we were wrong.”

“Sophia, you can’t blame yourself for this. You have only been queen for a very short time. This problem has been festering for almost five thousand years. It’s not your fault.”

“No, It isn’t a problem I blame myself for creating – but it is a problem I will put an end to!”

[Ysne58 236]

Wow! I love the way you bring it all to life.

[wenchkin 1]

Wow, I have spent all day reading this amazing story. Truely Sir I take my hat off to you and your astounding ability to craft words and tantalize my mind and imagination at your own whim.

I look forward to more as it come to you.

[Ysne58 236]

The whole story is really, really good.

[AngelShade 53]

For the past week I've been reading this? When is this going to continue

[wolfie2kX 528]

I'm working on it..

 

Got myself into a bind writing the story and decided to take a bit of a break. Mostly got the kinks worked out. Now have to get back in there and pound out the rest of this tale..

[Ysne58 236]

It has to be close to novel size by now.

[wolfie2kX 528]

Novel size? It's over 317 pages now, single spaced. 12 point Carolinga (The font from Sacred 2) font. In Arial, it's 322 pages long. 129,395 words... And this doesn't include things like table of contents, the 5 diaries and other stuff.

 

And I'm nowhere near being done.

 

I kinda wonder if this isn't going to turn into another Battlefield: Earth (1000 pages in paperback)

Edited December 6, 2013 by wolfie2kX

[AngelShade 53]

Would be a great ideea to put a pdf instead of plain text , also you could publish if this turns out to be a book . I haven't been reading books or anything thats 10 pages long in for over 12 - 15 years , and regardless I started reading your story, wich drove me back to become a bookworm I was ).