Stories from RhyDin & The Rings

"Of course you realize that Dimitri's troops will run into that platoon of Death Knights that left the Orphanage." said Lianna from her perch on the back of Dinah's horse.

"I thought you said the Pheonix Guard hadn't been involved in the fighting yet!" exclaimed Dinah.

"They haven't. A cat on the roof saw the troops approach, led by some crazy man. They stood there, but didn't attack."

"It were a warnin'..." answered Karen. "Plain as day, they're sayin' they'll attack th' Orphanage ifin th' Pheonix Guards git involved."

There was a sudden blue glow behind them to the northeast as they turned at the crossroad. "What was that?" asked Dinah, more nervous than ever.

"Thet's o'er by th' Temple o' Divine Light..." Karen said, glancing back for a moment. "Let's pray it's a good sign."

The first wave of the elven army was moving south at a quick pace. They had easily killed anyone who had gotten in their way. Dimitri looked around as the army turned a corner they ran into trouble. Jono and the platoon of Deathknights the two had finally met each other on the battlefield.

Morganwulf grew wroth when he saw a small force of soldiers give chase to a pair of figures. What were they thinking departing from their assigned mission? Had one of Morganwulf's units broken away like that, he would have immediately inflicted a Word of Pain upon them. Instead, he watched as the force was led away. Morganwulf guessed there were spells involved. As the chase continued, the still-living among them grew confused and appeared to lose sight of their target. The living soldiers mostly began to fall away, while the undead among them continued to give chase.

Using the scrying capabilities of his helm to chart their course, Morganwulf saw the Temple of Divine Light intersect with their path. Curious. Was that their objective? To lure the forces of Myr'Khul near to the temple? What game did they play? Hidden forces were in motion. A gambit was being put forward.

There was a flash of fire near the entrance of the temple and the two figures disappeared. It was not clear what had transpired. Morganwulf slowed as he watched the scene play out. His fingers drummed along the hilt of his new sword. He could feel its hunger even sheathed as it was at the moment.

The unit of Myr'Khul soldiers came into view, and just as they did Morganwulf could see their commander taking action. The black enameled armor that protected them was engulfed in dark energy. The soldiers writhed in pain and agony, their run brought to an abrupt halt. Then they fell dead, still several yards from the steps of the Temple of Divine Light.

An interesting gambit. Played by whose hand, he wondered? More importantly, why? Was it a ploy to trick the temple into action? To give them an excuse to join the conflict?

Morganwulf slowed his horse, a massive and powerful beast of midnight coloration and angry eyes. He pulled it with stern control into a turn and spoke to his second. "Remind the men that the compact is not to be broken. Any man who dares to strike at the Temple of Divine Light, or those under its protection, will suffer the tender mercies of Myr'Khul."

A week had passed. The conflict flowed back and forth like the tides.

During the day, forces of opposition moved through the streets engaging the forces of Myr'Khul. Wyverns cruised the skies, diving down to snatch and grab, then retreat back into the skies away from deadly Myr'Khul blades. Those wyverns that were too slow, that lingered on the ground, were carved to pieces by blades that drank the life from them. Upon one occasion, a diving wyvern had even engaged Morganwulf's unit. The powerful wraithblade that had been entrusted to him, one of several greater blades, proved to have a mighty hunger indeed. A single blow was enough to cripple the wyvern, its life force nearly sucked away, whereupon his followers used their own blades to finish the job.

The wyvern-riders were learning. They were careful to stay off the ground where the swords could destroy them. They grabbed soldiers up, took them into the sky and dropped them, allowing gravity to do their work. At night, when the vampires were free to roam, the wyverns stayed clear of the skies. A wyvern, tough as they were, were no match for clusters of frenzied vampires that could change to mist to hover in the sky, lurking nearly invisible until a wyvern passed too close.

The wyvern-riders were learning, but their numbers had been reduced.

A similar ebb and flow took place on the ground. During the day, the forces of the Templars, reinforced by the elven cavalry-turned-infantry, pushed back the forces of Myr'Khul. During the night, when the vampires and other creatures of the night could take part, the forces of Myr'Khul had the advantage. While the allies of the Templars grew, the forces of Myr'Khul were being attrited away. The wraithblades had made a huge difference. The hungry blades made nearly any touch deadly. Where the numbers were even, the forces of Myr'Khul, armed with the thirsty weapons, won out. It took units two and three times their size to contest them.

Still, attrition was threatening to turn the tide a final time. Without reinforcements, the forces of Myr'Khul were on the tipping point.

"Well guess I've been ousted. Guess I've saved what I can for one evening"

I just looked at the four vampires infront of me and only frowned. two were Masters. This could get interesting, and more than likely in a bad way. I held the staff lighlty in my hand and looked from vampire to vampire. Things are definitely about to get interesting.

The fledgling that rushed first had me wanting to laugh. Didn't they know any better. Catching it in a web of telekinesis I had a split second to send it careening in the general direction I saw the first Master move. In that split second I felt the second Master form behind me, the diversion worked. For them.

( OOC Note: I think it's time to divide this thread. Continuing here will be events from the first night. This includes the confrontation between Dimitri and Jono, the initial discussions between the Templars and the Phoenix Guard & KW's first forays against the Myr'Khul forces. A separate thread here will be concerned with events that take place about a week after the first night. )

Karen's forces arrived at the Chapterhouse with little incident... forces of the Myr'Khul melted away, rather than confronting them.

"Good to see you, Commander." said the Baron Febdash, stepping up to steady Karen's horse. "You've come late to the party, it seems."

"Nae doubt Vanion planned it thet way." Karen replied. "What news?"

"We've lost a few men, but we've brought in a number of refugees." he replied, stepping around to help her down. "It seems like the only victims have been Catholics and the like. The Temple of Divine Light is taking in refugees, but that's as far as I've dared let our men range."

Lianna lept down from Dinah's horse, walking over to join the conversation. "Your men have reached the South Gate, you'll want to send someone to inform them of the elvish reinforcements."

"And you are...?" asked Baron Febdash.

"She's one o' me specialists... th' Cardinal approves." said Karen, forstalling any explinations that might put Lianna in danger.

"Very good, I'll send a squad to Division-Commander Fredricks. I suspect he'll be glad to know he'll be able to go on the attack soon." said Febdash with a nod.

"I suspect you are right, my son." came an unexpected voice. The three turned to see Cardinal Shoc, dressed in the same ornate plate armour he'd worn during the seige of Constantinople. Karen and Febdash quickly dropped to one knee, each kissing the Cardinal's ring in turn.

"Rise, my children." he said, giving each a gentle benediction.

"Yer Grace, what are yer orders?" asked Karen as Baron Febdash helped her rise.

"You were there with Us at Constantinople, and it was your work that delivered Us from that siege." the Cardinal replied. "The Baron will command the defences here, and Commander Fredericks will continue to command the soldiers with him." He stepped forward and put his hand upon Karen's shoulder. "To you, We give overall command of Our forces for the duration of this siege."

"I am honored, yer Grace." replied Karen, bowing her head.

"Thou art Our Strong Left Arm, Lady Karen." the Cardinal said. "We hath seen The Lord walks with thee, and His Love will guide us all from this Darkness. Amen"

"Amen."

"Amen."

((This post falls under the category of better late than never. Now I can take one more thing off the 3720 on my list. ))

The conflict continued, about as well as he expected in some regards. The Temple forces held their positions, and the Myr'Khul army continued to skirmish with the Templars whenever possible. And yet, for a moment, he felt something that just didn't belong. He felt the pull of magics being used, and it wasn't his. This got his attention as he shifted the majority of his focus to the Temple.

"Hmmmmm....they're getting desperate if they're resorting to this."

He walked out to the front of the temple, turing to face the troops there. "Brothers! Continue to hold your positions. There are those nearby who wish to see us foolishly engage the forces out there. Keep your resolve, and follow the word of the White Lady."

Looking out at the gathering undead, he thought he saw one of the commanders issue an order not to attack. Most of the undead hesitated at the order, keeping their bloodlust in check. But a few continued forth towards the temple. He gestured out at them, shifting them back away from the temple to the back ranks of their troop. Raising his voice so that all in the area could hear it, he spoke. "I hope that you all recognize the mercy of those who serve the White Lady. I could've crushed you on the spot, but have decided to simply remove you from the area. Now, keep your conflict limited to the Templars and sully not this hallowed ground."

With the message said, he turned his attentions to those who started this whole mess. He walked out from the Temple, stopping every so often to check the trail, behaving as a bloodhound does when it's following prey. Eventually, he came to the source, face to face with Lucian and Caladyn. "You two put on a good show. But your touch with magics needs a little work. It was downright sloppy, in my opinion. Fortunately for you, I'm in a merciful mood. Go home now. Tell the Commander that if she tries to get us involved again, I will make it my personal mission to kill every Catholic on Rhydin, every troop that she has, and every trace of the Templars. And I'll save her for last."

Teleporting himself back to the Temple, he sought out Brother Zed, telling him of the Templar's attempts at deceit and trickery. "We got lucky this time. This could've easily gotten out of control. Just to make sure nothing like this happens again, I'm pulling in most of my outside surveilance and keeping my attentions limited to Temple grounds as much as possible. If they show up again, I'll know immediately."

Caladyn watched as Vincent dealt with his trap... feeling the snap as first his illusion, then the rage spells, were dispelled. "Some 'Mercy'...", he muttered.

Lucien kept his silence, watching the events transpire with a clinical eye. When Vincent came into the alley where they stood, he merely looked at the man with open contempt. He wondered if Vincent would recognize him as the boy noble who had opened the negotiations for the Templars only a few months previous.

"You two put on a good show. But your touch with magics needs a little work. It was downright sloppy, in my opinion. Fortunately for you, I'm in a merciful mood. Go home now. Tell the Commander that if she tries to get us involved again, I will make it my personal mission to kill every Catholic on Rhydin, every troop that she has, and every trace of the Templars. And I'll save her for last." Vincent told them, then teleported away without waiting for a reply.

"Sloppy?!?" growled Caladyn quietly/ "That fool casts like a bull in a china shop, yet deigns to call my work sloppy?"

Lucien grabbed the mage's sleeve and pulled him toward one of the enterances to the Underground. "It doesn't matter... What's more important is we inform the Commander that he has broken the treaty."

"We got lucky this time. This could've easily gotten out of control. Just to make sure nothing like this happens again, I'm pulling in most of my outside surveilance and keeping my attentions limited to Temple grounds as much as possible. If they show up again, I'll know immediately."

Zed listened intently to the report from Brother Vincent. He pondered for a moment and then agreed with Vincent's plan. "Yes, please do focus your attentions upon the Temple. The high priestess and the temple must be protected."

Brother Vincent was never one to dally and was soon off to attend to other matters, leaving Brother Zed to contemplate the situation. "An interesting development..." He stood staring into the great fireplace in his office chambers for some time before calling for Sister Naomi. "It is good that Brother Vincent has not yet taken any retributive action against them, thus keeping the terms of his treaty intact."

When she had arrived, he turned away from the fire and returned to his desk. As he settled himself, he took up his cup of tea and sipped at it before speaking. "It would seem a hand has been played that may work to our advantage." Zed held his cup poised above his desk while he mused. "They would rather dupe us into action than actually ask for our help."

Zed set down the cup of tea and focused upon his aide. "Have word leaked to the press, the local cryer, whomever might be following these events...let them know about the ploy that was enacted here, and about our shock and outrage that a church of such noble motives might be involved in such a duplicitous action.

"Further, when asked for a direct statement on the events, give this answer...The Temple of Divine Light is shocked and saddened by the ongoing conflict that leaves innocent blood upon our city streets. We will continue to offer safe haven to any and all who reject the senseless violence taking place. Most especially, we will continue to embrace the lost and frightened children of the Catholic church who need comfort and protection in this dark time. Any who come to us seeking protection, and who renounce the schemings and dark intentions of those who would conspire to enlarge the conflict, shall find it here."

Zed paused for a moment, causing Sister Naomi to look up from her tablet. "With regard to the incident here at the very steps of our sacred temple, we are relieved and comforted that through the vigilance of our Phoenix Guard and Brother Vincent we have thus far avoided any blood being spilled on our temple grounds. Brother Vincent was shocked and saddened, as are we all, to discover a ploy which appears to implicate the Templars and/or the Catholic church in a plan to trick the Temple of Divine Light into conflict with the Temple of Myr'Khul. We would hope that these allegations will prove to be false upon investigation, and that our sister church would not engage in so nefarious a plan. We hope that those conspirators who would seek to enlarge the conflict and increase the bloodshed will be turned over to the proper authorities that justice might be sought.

"In the meantime, the Temple of Divine Light will continue to remain neutral in this matter. We will continue to offer haven to any and all that choose to reject violence except in self defense. And it is our fondest hope that our sister church will be proven innocent of the terrible allegations that they have sought to orchestrate further violence. We are sure that if any in our sister church are complicit in this terrible conspiracy, the Catholic church will be quick to condemn and disavow them and purge them from their ranks to face justice."

Zed nodded to Naomi. "Also, please have the security tapes that recorded the event made available to the press to show Brother Vincent's shock and surprise at the near incident. Hopefully, the record of the revealed persons on the tapes will aid in the perpetrators of this ploy being brought to swift justice once the hostilities on the streets have run their course."

Cross-posted in the Streets

The elvish cavalry turned infantry charged into Jono's deathknight platoon many of the elves fell against the wraith blades. Their souls being devoured, Dimitri swung the elvish blades into one deathknight it's head falling to the ground. Dimitri turned around cutting down another man. The elves were not ready to combat this new weaponry and fell by the many.

The elvish platoon was easily slaughtered. Dimitri sliced down deathknights as many as he could. Suddenly the deathknights stopped attackng Dimitri, Jono walked up to Dimitri smiled raised his wraithblade and prepared to swing. But was stopped as suddenly Deathknights were slammed to the side as the second wave of elvish knights came crashing into them on their horses.

The deathknights turned and ran Jono was no where to be seen. Dimitri looked around bewildered looking for Jono. He turned looking at the elven captain "Are the Reinforcements here yet?" The captain nodded "What do you wish them to do sir?" Dimitri looked behind him "Tell them to move south killing any crazed man they see! Get Elrohir over to Commander Wilder keep the Wyverns in the air snatch and grab tactics. The Infantry will move first the cavalry will patrol if anything gets in their way run them over." The captain nodded and rode his horse in the other direction.

Dimitri turned around and headed down the alley after telling the cavalry to continue down the road. He headed for the Temple of Divine Light.

A long year had passed...

between the last moment of this story of the Myr'Khuls' Genocide and now. This is the moment of the story-telling itself.

A young catholic boy lay sleeping in his bed in the Old Temple District, suffering from a nightmare. This nightmare had been occuring nearly every night for a long year, the result of eyes too young being forced to watch the horrible violence that took place during the war between Myr'Khul and the Catholic Templars.

Tonight, however, was different. While he slept, a monstrously large figure loomed in the shadows of the small bedroom. The figure's deep bass was soft at this time of night, and the visitor whispered the story of the Genocide in the Old Temple District with incredible passion, accuracy, and articulation. The boy lay unmoving, as though under his visitor's spell, lost in a deep sleep somewhere between Nightmare and Peace.

The visitor had taken several minutes to catch his breath, breaking from the story told thus far suddenly. When he spoke again, his tone was different - more factual and generalized than the intent story-telling he had been doing for several hours already this night.



Vanion Knightwood softly continued his story...

"Chaos surely ensued after these events. Blood was spilled - some innocent and some not-so-innocent. It was at this point in the story of the Temple of Myr'Khul and its genocide in the Old Temple District that the cultists, the vampires, the dark mages; they all simply vanished. The other armies that had converged into the District were wary of trickery at this sign.

However, before the Dawn rose again, the Temple of Myr'Khul was sucked beneath the earth in what felt to those few who witnessed it to be an unnaturally focused earthquake. Its followers were, largely, not seen ever again.

Vanion Shadowcast himself is still rumoured to be seen from time-to-time, though he has yet to come forth with an explanation or any future threats against the Catholics.

The bloody loss of life and destruction of the District was a sting that would be felt by many, for a long time - but Rhy'Din proved, as always, to have the uncanny ability to rebound from turmoil and darkness.



The massive figure in the darkness shifted then...

allowing himself a polite chuckle as his mind created what may have been the little boy's response, had he been awake.


"'What?!', you would ask me. You wish to know the rest of the story? Where Vanion went, what the cultists' plans were? The fate of Karen Wilder? You want to know the truth about the Temple of Divine Light? And if the Myr'Khulians still slumber there, below the earth of Old Temple, waiting to crawl out of the dirt and drag young children and men of faith down to their dark Hell?

I will say only this, child. I have told you this story as I know it, as I lived it. And if you were to wake and gaze into these aged eyes, you would now know that I am He who bathed in the blood of the Catholics. The war was my doing, my machination.

But do not fear. I will not hurt you. I am merely an old man now, and my... plans have changed. And the story of how that came to be is my last closely guarded secret. The simple folk of the Old Temple District may whisper my name for generations, a boogie-man to scare their dull children into obedience. And well they should.

But you look like a bright young prospect. Nothing in this world is as it seems, lad. Nothing.

As for the rest of the story of my ironic fate - that I will take with me to my grave, so that only Heaven and the Hells may judge me. I have learned not to trust the loose-working tongues of men and beasts.

Goodnight, young man. You will not remember this come morning, but not all stories were meant to be remembered. Just as not all nightmares are figments of your imagination. Be free from what you have seen; may you never fear the Darkness again."



What appeared to be a hand covered in thick red, orange, and grey hairs weaved a silent spell, and the beastial, furry figure in the darkness vanished without a trace or sound, leaving the young Catholic child to sleep, lost in a peaceful spell.