The Purging of the Realms

[DragonOfChaos]

Ian stepped forward to the remains of the nest. Reaching down, he lifted out the axe. Immediately, the power of the weapon coursed through him. It rebelled against him, seeming to fight for control over his very body. Ian fought back, forcing the weapon's sentience back. It ceased it's struggles, seeming somehow pleased. It left the distinct feeling that it would allow Ian to use it, but when it's true wielder came along, he would have to surrender the axe. "I do believe this will be helpful in our quest." Ian said. He swung the axe over his shoulder, bringing it to a rest about an inch from his back. A moment's concentration formed a sheath of ice around the weapon, which crept around Ian's right shoulder and left hip, connecting over his chest. He now wore the battle axe in a sheat of ice. I can shatter it at will if...when I need to. "Where is our next stop?"

 

[Vadriel]

J'kar looked at the far end of the Queen's chamber, where another passage wound down. "I think we should follow that. Maybe we can find where they came from, and seal it off. I don't relish the prospect of going to their homeworld, but we may have to in order to make sure they don't come back." He walked over to the passage entry and paused, waiting to see if the others were willing to go with him.

 

[DragonOfChaos]

"Lead on, J'kar. I will follow." Ian felt the prescence of the weapon in his mind, and had an idea. "J'kar. Is it possible that the weapons will react when they are near each other?"

 

[Vadriel]

He thinks for a second. "I don't know. It's possible they may emit a more intense signal when they near each other. In any case, we need to get on the move, before more Aliens come through wherever they did."

He leads the team through the passageway, and they walk for quite some time until they come to a vast, empty room with an arcane-looking gate made of stone in the center. The interior of the circular gate is swirling with a black vortex, through which can be seen caves encrusted with Alien secretion. Apparently wherever this gate leads is infested with Aliens. Peering at a control spire beside the gate, J'kar noticed that there were nine stone buttons, each engraved with a different symbol representing one of the elements imbued within the weapons they were searching for. The only one missing was the one for Stone. Snapping his fingers, J'kar laughed triumphantly. "This gate...it leads to the different Realms that house the elemental weapons! The Stone button is missing because this realm houses the weapon of Stone. If I am correct, there will be a gate on each realm, and we can pass from realm to realm and search for the weapon in each one. Excellent!" He reached out and pressed the button labeled Fire, and the vortex shifted to display a barren lava wasteland. He looked at the others with anticipation, and gave them an expectant look. "Are you guys ready?"

 

[DragonOfChaos]

Ian looked into the gate. "Wonderful. Fire. The one plane I'd be weakest in. Let's get this over with." He walked behind J'kar. "We should probably walk through together. I don't trust this thing."

 

[Vadriel]

"Ok, then. Shall we?" The whole group plunges through the portal and finds themselves coming out of another portal in the lava wasteland. Behind them the portal buzzes and deactivates. The portal sinks into the lava and is gone. J'kar looks at Ian, who has a grimly smug look on his face. "I guess it's a good thing we DID go through together."

They look around at their new surroundings. To the West there rises a large range of mountains, from the looks of them, mostly volcanoes. Some appear to be active. To the East, the plains stretch for an almost indeterminable distance. To the North and South, the plains end in a charred forest of skeletal trees that is so thick as to render much visual probing impossible...

J'kar looks at the others and shrugs. "Which way you wanna go? I think the mountains look to be the most inviting...but they're volcanoes..."

((By the way...I have decided that I will post a basic summary of the weapons as we come to them. Here's the first one:

Sh'brakt Axe of War- Elemental Weapon of Stone
Gives the user mastery over the element of Stone. Such includes levitation of masses made of stone, the petrification of living tissue, the shattering of stone to create gorges and the like, and the ability to pull stone from space to fall down in meteor showers. Most of the more powerful abilities are very physically draining to the user, but Sh'brakt makes up for it by increasing the toughness of the user's skin to that of stone, rendering the user nearly impervious to physical attack.))

 

[-Azrael666-]

Azrael looks around slowly, scanning the horizon. "'Inviting' doesn't describe a single aspect of this hellish place. I would prefer we make haste and finish our business here as soon as possible. If your gut says the mountains, let's go and be quick about it."

Finishing his scan, Azrael gets an odd look on his face. "Interesting. Throughout this entire realm, there isn't the slightest hint of death whatsoever, which infers a lack of life. It would seem we have nothing to worry about as far as encountering other beings. Perhaps foreboding scenery is all that awaits us in this barren world."

 

[Vadriel]

As soon as Azrael stops speaking, the forests to the North and South come alive, as if to prove him wrong. From the treelines stalk forth an endless line of skeletal beasts that give off an unhallowed flame that gives those who look upon it slight nausea. J'kar gasps. "No way! It can't be...the Burning Legion?

The Burning Legions
The Burning Legion is a vast army of human skeletons possessed by demon spirits. The possession has caused the skeletons to become deformed, sprouting blades from many different areas, including the elbows, shoulders, hips, back, and knees. Two massive horns jut from their skulls, and the entire body is covered in ever-burning flame that instills withing viewers an unexplainable repulsion. The skeletons are not truly alive, and therefore are very deadly, as they cannot be killed, only dismembered to the point where fighting is impossible. It is rumored that only by separating every single bone from its neighbors can you put an end to them, and then the demon controlling it jumps to another corpse.

J'kar gulps. "Umm...guys? I think it might be best to run. We are definitely not prepared for this." At his lead, they take off towards the mountains, the Burning Legion following at a slow, but relentless pace.

 

[DragonOfChaos]

"Why, oh why, are we always being attacked by strange creatures? Why can't we be attacked by some bandits or something? I'd welcome odds of over 100 to one if it were only bandits!" Regardless of his sarcastic complaints, he continued running, following J'kar towards the mountains.

 

[Vadriel]

J'kar agrees with Ian's griping, and grunts with unhappiness. He had chosen the realm of fire in haste, thinking about how much power he would have here, but he hadn't thought of one thing. Here, everything already burns. What more can he do here? Everything is fire in nature, his powers are useless against them...sure he can control flame itself, but creatures are another matter. He curses himself for his foolishness and thanks the powers that be that Ian is amongst them. He may actually prove to be their greatest asset, as his power counters fire the best of all of them. Plus he has the...

"Hey, Ian! Surely you can use your new axe here? Try summoning a wall of stone once we reach the mountains, to cut off their pursuit."

 

[DragonOfChaos]

Ian grinned. "I have a better idea than a simple wall." He stopped running and turned to face the Legion. He grasped the axe handle, and shattered his ice sheath. The shards practically evaporated in the dry, hot air. Whirling the axe above his head, he brought it to the earth with a battle cry. When the axe struck the ground, the world shook. A crack shot forward, then began to branch, each crack widening with no apparent end. Ian kept the axe to the earth, focusing its power. The cracks spread out around the front of the legion, then closed in from behind. With a final cry, Ian focused a final blast of power, which shattered the earth beneath the legion, sending them into the depths of the earth. Ian fell to his knees. "These weapons are powerful, but they sure take a lot out of you." He gazed out over the chasm he had created. "They're undead. They won't be stopped by that, but by all the hells and heavens, they'll be slowed. Let's keep moving." He stood and recreated his sheath for the axe.

 

[-Azrael666-]

A concerned expression has formed on Azrael's face. "These aren't even undead. I've encountered the undead before, and they are easy for me to detect, manipulate, and destroy, as they possess souls which are still partially in the spectral realm. These beings, however, I can do nothing to, as they are something far worse than undead, something which never truly lived, completely soulless. We need to get out of this abysmal place as quickly as we possibly can."

 

[Kitty]

Kender sighed. The realm was getting on her nerves, too. Beside her, Leo was shifting uneasily from paw to paw. She knew how he felt.

"I agree with Az, they didn't feel like the undead. The undead are often just souls full of pain who have been plucked back from the Netherealms against their will. These things are...evil." She looked back across the deep chasm.

"One teeny question though, the portal's back that was and it's sunk, so how are we going to get to the next realm? Is there another portal, or is somebody going to help us with that?"

 

[-Azrael666-]

Azrael thinks about this a moment. "Well, seeing as the last one was within close proximity of the weapon we sought, another one could be near this weapon too. If there isn't.."

He pauses for a second, and resumes in a deathly serious tone.

"..let's just hope that there is."

 

[Vadriel]

J'kar pitches in, resuming his role as the party's "leader."

"Don't worry, guys. I'm almost positive there will be another gate. For now...let's see about finding the weapon."

As they are about to turn to leave, burning skeletal hands erupt over the edge of the pit and grasp the edge. Their owners pull themselves up, and the team finds themselves about to face five of the Burning Legion. Of the five evil demons, one holds a pair of swords, one has a large axe, two hold a sword and shield combo, and one has a spiked mace.

((Well...fight!! This should be fairly difficult, but not overwhelming. There's one for each of us, plus an extra that maybe I'll take care of. Have fun...choose whichever you want, but make sure it's clear.))

 

[-Azrael666-]

Azrael dashes forward with no hesitation. Unsheathing his daggers, a blue aura surges from his hands to the blades, giving them an icy hue. He continues his sprint directly at the skeleton wielding dual swords, and as the demon slashes forward, Azrael slides under the blade's edge and brings his daggers up into the skeleton's elbow. Twisting the icy blades violently, the skeleton's left arm is dismembered and its sword drops loudly to the ground. The demon groans, turning to slash with the other sword. Azrael deftly parries the blow, and the creature attempts to launch its bladed knee into his side. He rolls to avoid it, then brings his daggers up to stop the skeletal sword in mid-swing. Knocking it to the side, he lunges forward, bringing both daggers into the demon's skull. Vaulting upside down over the demon, Azrael keeps a firm hold on his daggers' hilts, and upon his foot making contact with the ground, the demon's skull is ripped from its body by the sheer force and momentum of Azrael's action. Looking down at his daggers, the blades still deep within the skull, he smirks.

"Not quite as fierce as they look. It seems.." He brings his daggers to the side of his face, where he blocks a sword strike from behind him directed at his head. The sword breaks apart the skull on the daggers, and turning, Azrael finds himself confronted by the demon which he took it from. Lacking a head and an arm, it was still coming forward, slashing at him with the same level of accuracy as before, as if able to see. Azrael dodges to the outside of one of the strikes and uses his daggers again to remove the demon's other arm. Now weaponless as well, the skeletal legs charge at him, which he plants his foot on the top of, knocking them over. He sets his weight upon the squirming torso and makes quick work of the legs, removing both of them.

Looking down, he sees the bones of the skeleton awkwardly attempting to move. "Err, riiight. We really need to get out of here."

 

[Vadriel]

As the severed arms try to crawl towards Azrael, J'kar steps in and hacks the hands to pieces with his tailblade. He turns to one of the Legionnaires with a sword/shield combo and charges, windmilling his scythe with all the fury of the Fire God G'yakarus. The undeadlike creature lifts its shield to ward off the blow, but J'kar turns midcharge, anticipating the move, and snakes his tail under the circular shield to lop off the hand holding it at the wrist. The shield, hand attached, falls to the ground, and the skeletal creature slashes with his sword, apparently remorseless for the loss of his hand. J'kar steps inside the slash, catching it in his tail blades and jerking it out of the creature's hand, while aiming a close-quarters blow with the handle of the scythe at the skeleton's ribcage. The handle shatters through twisted bone, and sticks in the beast's chest. J'kar tries to jerk it out, but recieves a right hook to the jaw from the disarmed skeleton. As he staggers back, the skeleton takes hold of J'kar's scythe and rips it out, tossing it to the ground like a piece of trash. J'kar's eyes narrowed.

"I don't care who you are...you do not disrespect my weapon!"

With a hot fury, he thrusts his hands forward, open with palms to the creature. He draws all of the fire that surrounds the creature into himself and releases it once more in a massive blast that tears toward the monster, slamming into its chest and turning every bone in its midsection to crumpled, charred ash. The bodiless limbs fall to the ground, and J'kar steps in to rip each apart, then takes hold of the skull and hurtles it towards the Legionnaire with the axe. It smacks into its shoulder and throws it off balance.

 

[DragonOfChaos]

Ian once again brought the war axe into play. He knew he wouldn't be able to do much with it since he had drained himself making the chasm, but it was still a weapon capable of causing extreme damage. He charged the other skeleton with a sword and shield, roaring a battlecry. The demonic creature raised its shield in defence. Ian brought the axe down upon the shield, shattering it and the arm attached to it. While Ian recovered from the massive blow he had dealt, the skeleton brought its sword in low, scraping at his leg scales. Ian grimaced in pain, but his scales prevented the sword from cutting into him. Releasing his two-handed hold on the axe for a moment, Ian backhanded the creature in the head, spinning its head around to face backwards. Despite its apparently hampered vision, it came on with its sword, attacking with great fury. After a particularly clumsy slash, Ian grabbed the remaining arm and covered it in ice, extinguishing the flames. He brought the hilt of the axe down on the shoulder of the arm, breaking it from the main body. When it hit the ground, the arm shattered into thousands of quickly melting shards of ice. Leaping into the air, Ian brought the axe down onto the head of the creature, cleaving it in two. In disgust, he stomped down on the ribcage, shattering it. "I don't care if they aren't undead. They seem more demonic, though. I hate dem..." He threw a glance at J'kar. "Well, I hate most demons."

 

[Vadriel]

J'kar gave him a look. "I'm only a quarter demon, so relax. My dad was the full demon, and we aren't exactly on speaking terms, so...I don't take offense at the comment."

J'kar turned to the pieces of skeleton on the ground trying to get up and fight. "Don't these guys ever die?" He set to work smashing the pieces as the others grappled with the two remaining Legionnaires.

 

[DragonOfChaos]

"They're clumsy, too." Ian sidestepped a blow and grabbed the skeleton by the spine. He snapped the vertabrae near the hip and threw the two pieces at the remaining, standing skeleton. He conjured up a blast of ice and froze the two together. With a backhand, he shattered them into pieces. "Let's go, before more make it out of that hole." He stopped, his hands on his knees. That was much more taxing than it should have been. I must be more careful when using the axe.