Please Note: This thread is directly associated with <this topic> and you need to read it first! Also, Ornell is still the Avatar of the Goddess of Flames through out the entire quest... though it will not effect the way I play her. It's simply for sanity sake and to keep my time line (and how this quest related to the main plot of the site).

On Posting: I will be posting either once a week, or every 3-5 posts depending on how fast or slow this topic is moving. Any person can post ONCE between every time I post! If you don't post and you wanted to be there, you can pretend you were in the area before hand. AKA you can be there without being there! In D&D it's called Purple Mist! ^_^

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The City of Istan was buzzing with the news. There was an adventure brewing and treasure to be had in the Dragonspine mountains. The only thing that the gathering adventures were waiting for was the Caravan that was hired to carry enough supplies for twice the amount of people suspected to cross the Istan Desert to the Dragonspine mountains. Plans had been made where needed for most of the group and those that hadn't been made quite yet would have to wait.

Now, there was a shout rising through the city. “The Caravan is under attack!” How are they supposed to ever make it across the desert without their supplies! Without hesitation the loosely associated band of adventurers rushed out of the city to see if they would in fact be able to save their supplies or if the journey across the desert would prove much more dangerous then they had first thought. The gates opened wide as the first of the adventurers rushed out. In the air was at least one of the great dragons. They would be needed when they reached the Dragonspines the rumors said. The rumors also said that the one leading them was upon one of those dragons.

People gathered along the streets on the path out, as if they were watching a parade of the brave adventurers who where going on this quest. They cheered them on, wishing them the best. It had been a long time since this dusty little city had had so much excitement. Will you be among those who linger behind or do you dare venture forth to aid the Caravan? Do you dare venture with them beyond that, to the Dragonspine Mountains? Do you dare to take the risk for treasure and glory? Those who return with the fantastic tale will be heroes in the eyes of these desert people and perhaps the story will spread like wildfire from there...

An insistant knocking sounded on the door to Melmoth's room at one of the few Inns of Istan. He reached for his sword and rose from the hard little bed he had been resting on. He hadn't slept well in the sweltering head of the desert city, and being interupted in the middle of a nap angered him almost to the point of killing.

He belted Fate around his waist as he made his way to the door. He turned the knob and cracked the door open only enough to assure the frightened boy outside he was listening to his tale. "The caravan is under attack! Didn't you say you were leaving with it? Nobody knows wh-" Melmoth closed the door on the boy's tale. He could still hear his muffled words outside, but they had lost all meaning.

If the caravan was truely under attack then any chance of him getting ahold of some of the treasure that was rumored to be at the end of this foolish quest was in danger. Against his instincts, he'd have to leave the inn, get to the caravans, and kill whatever endangered his supplies.

"It had better be there."

~ ~ ~

He had left the inn a short time ago, and made way with all haste to the city gates. Fate was on his hip, his cloak surrounded and protected him from the ever present sand, and his usual floppy hat was discarded in favor of a long rag-like thing that wrapped around his head and neck, allowing only his eyes exposure. The natives hadn't told him the name of the thing, and he really didn't want to know. It was hot, itchy, and smelled like the hind end of a camel.

Someone was going to die today.

Erin sat on her own right outside of town, her eyes was closed and she was thinking of something she did not know what it was...much like a dream state but she was still awake. She woke up from her thought when the sudden shout was heard around the village. The caravan was under attack?
The storm kindler quickly jumped up from the ground and the wind around her body created a sudden miniature sandstorm, it made Erin to cough for a few seconds. "Okey, be sure not to do that again" she said to herself and quickly walked after some of the others to the caravans. She brushed the sand of her dress as she walked.

She started to think about what kind of people that might join this adventure? Could be nice people...Erin had not been on very many adventures, but the sound of a treasure was nice...who knew if she would find something interesting. Her mind quickly returned back to the present. She had to help save the caravan or there would be no adventure at all. She did see Melmoth when he made his way towards the gates, but she did not know him and ignored him for now...

Fara're leaned back on the ledge she was pertched on. Her tail drapped off the edge and swished back an forth. It had taken her the better part of an hour to climb to the roof of this high building but it had been worth it. She was out of sight of the people going about thier day and she was able to lay in the warm sun. In her prefered tiger form no less.

Her eyes were closed and she was taking a refreshing 'cat nap'. Her ears twitched as shout float up to her.Slow she opened her eyes and looked down. Some sort of caravan was down there. Something about it interested her.

She stood to her full height and steached. With a mighty leap she dove off of the roof. Her hands caught a ledge on the next building. She hung there for a second before springing off again. She jumped from ledge to ledge, diving and flipping as she went with grace only a feline could have.

At last she landed in a back alley away from the eyes of the town. She glance around just to double check that there was no one then transformed into her elven form before walking out into the town.

The sound of tape ripping free from its binding roll echoed through the room as the man proceeded to wrap it around his hand, taking grave care to apply it in a manner that would cover across his knuckles and engulf everything from that point on to the midpoint of his forearm. When both of his hands were wrapped in the bright white tape, Xavion would rise up from his perch at the side of the bed to move over to Xarcarr residing on the chair not but a couple of feet away. Before scooping it up, he would take the belt up in hand that rested alongside the blade and proceeded to fasten it around his waist snugly. Finally taking the blade up in hand, he would place it at his waist and fasten it to his belt through the means of a thick leather strap.

It was at that point when a knock came at the door, which seemed quite abnormal given the time of the day. Deciding to check it out, there would be a man at the door, “You told me to let you know when trouble hit. Marauders of some sort seemed to have attacked a caravan not too far out from here.” That was all he needed to hear, because in a rush of movement he would take up the cloak hanging off the knob of the door and begin his way down the stairs. Bursting through the Inn door, he found himself out on the streets only to see a couple others making their way in the same direction. Using them as a guide, Xavion would take off in their wake, intent upon catching up to them and lending a hand at least.

Lilith sat outside the town, only by a few feet, but just enough to get away from the noise and pollution. She had snatched an apple before she left and it was widdled away to the core. She cut a final piece off with her dagger and placed it delicately in her mouth. Even with no one around to see her, the perfection of her every move was measured.

Suddenly the ruckus was brought to her.

People rushed over to her and pulled her up from her place on the ground. There were so many that it was hard to understand just what was going on. They were all yelling and making frantic, spasmodic, movements. She was pulled along with them and from what she understood a caravan for adventures was under attack. The adventures, or what she thought were the adventures, perhaps they were just helpful people, needed as much help as they could get. Lilith also understood that the adventurers were looking for treasure. That was all she needed.

Lilith ran towards the caravan.

Takrii was in the large cathedral, spinning his spear in ritualistic speed and direction. Then, he was tapped on the back, and a voice, belonging to one of the priest's aide's, that the Caravan was being raided. Anger flashed in him, and he ran out the door, loosening the straps on his spell book. Outside, the street was in pandemonium. He was shocked, that in these hallowed grounds, there existed such Chaos. He raised his spear, and shouted.
"SILENCE!" The entire pavilion stopped, all facing to look at him. He continued in his loud voice. "Stop this chaos. Take the women and children to their houses. Men, grab anything that could use to fight, and defend the walls. If you want to fight to protect to caravan, get a good, tough weapon." He lowered his spear, and started to run down the steps.

The crowd parted before him, and he raced through, a few brave men following him, picking up lying swords and axes. He raced to the outskirts, and saw the huge caravan, men teeming, all fighting against men wearing the same as them. He whistled to a bird, flying high in the sky, and gestured to the caravan. He continued running out to the Caravan, praying he could save some good men.

((OOC: *blinks at Takrii Tolarnii's post* um... I'm the equivalent of the GM here... I'm playing the bad guys and other random NPCs... so I have no idea what your character just saw... *decides to ignore it and continues with the quest*))

Ornell had not been expecting to leave until after noon so her reaction was slightly slowed. She didn't have her armor on when the news reached her about the caravan being under attack. While others left ahead of her she rushed to get her armor on. Valen helped her get ready and left out the window to shift from his human form to his dragon one. Ornell locked up behind him, both the window and the door, and with a bag tossed over her shoulder ran outside. Valen was ready for her and swooped down to land for a moment in the street. Ornell threw her leg over his neck with a practiced ease and the pair took to the air.

They stayed just high enough for the full sized steel dragon to be able to maneuver but low enough that his shadow passed over nearly all below them, causing the crowd to turn their gaze upward. The caravan itself was within sight of the city's walls. Why had it been attacked so close? Ornell shifted her weight forward ant Valen responded by gaining some height as they passed over the wall. She saw the attack as she approached.

At first glance it was hard to tell who the attackers were and who the defenders were. Both sides were dressed in gray, tan or white of varying degrees. Some were on camels and others on horseback. Some of the camels had been struck down, their loads scattered across the sands. Then, as she and the others far below came closer she realized what was attacking the caravan. Undead... mummies and others who lost their lives to the desert. One who had something golden draped about his neck rose a staff and a swarm of insects came into existence. Ornell reached in her bag and pulled out a stone. It lifted off her hand to circle around her. The others had to move first. She would get her targets once more were engaged. Unfortunately these undead didn't seem as mindless as zombies normally were.

Erin quickly arrived to the scene and saw the battle, at first she did not see things very well but as she came closer she could see the mummies and creatures from the desert attacking the caravan. The storm kindler stopped and placed one hand in front of her mouth, she could never have dreamed about something like this when she heard that it was an attack. But she quickly gathered her thought, she had to help. She did not see Ornell since the lady was flying behind her high into the air.

Erin raised her hands slightly and she she did wind began to flow around her body, making her hair and clothes float. She closed her eyes as she focused her mind, when she opened her eyes again lightnings was moving inside of them when she began to take control of the air around herself. "Power of air come to my side" she whispered and then she raised both arms in front of herself. The wind moved to a small spot in front of her open palms, focusing into an attack, Erin was not a person that liked violence but she could not stand aside when people was attacked.
When she activated the spell the focused air left her hands with a howling sound, moving quickly crossed the desert sand towards the battle, but Erin made sure she would not attack her own people and she had prepared how the wind was going to go, it went straight for some of the mummies closest to the city throwing them to the ground as it they was hit by a powerful punch, destroying much of there bandages reveling there undead flesh.

Erin took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second, she was good with air but she still did not like to kill, but she did what she had to.

He ran, seeing the falcon claw at the eyes of one of the attacking barbarians. To him, it seemed its claws gripped, but found no purchase. He whistled to it, calling it back, and it flew away. He frowned, wondering what demons he could be fighting. As he drew closer, he noticed that they all were dressed in the same garb. In fact, the only thing defining the defenders from attackers was the fear in their eyes. The attackers, on the other hand, had no eyes which he could see.

As he drew yet closer, he saw that the attackers moaned. A sure sign of the undead's presence. He strode to the nearest one, and attacked with the spear, slashing through the neck. He beat his wings all the more harder, blowing wind into the undead. Then, suddenly, he rose into the air. He beat strongly, and flew high above the invading undead.

From his vantage point, he could see around him for leagues. There was no dust storm, so there was no sand clogging his vision. Seeing a man with a golden sash, who seemed to be orchestrating this, he dived, spear first.

Fara're ran forward as she saw the battle. The smell of the foes told her that she was about to fight with the rotting corpses of the undead. She hated the undead. The dead should be allowed to rest. Plus they stank.

She lept into the air as she ran and delivered a powerful flying side kick to the head of one of the mummies. The creature stumbled back a few feet but did not fall. The monster then shambled forward perpared to attack the elf.

Foretuently as powerful as these monsters were...they were slow. Fara're with her superior speed easily dodged the attacks. WHen there was an opening she threw a punch with much more strength than seem natural for an elf her size. A crack sounded from the undead creature as something broke inside. Without wasting any time she spun and delivered a kick to its head.

She then regretted her move. It had caused her other foot to sink into the soft sand and get stuck causing her to fall. She looked to the creature fearing an attack. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as the monster fell down into a true and final death.

She pulled her foot lose from the sand and made her way to her next target. Next time she needed to be more careful about her moves. She got lucky that time.

((Ugg Writer's Block))

Lilith ran into the mummies along with the rest of the group. It was an odd type of chaos. People seemed to have no idea what to do yet they automatically split off and engaged in the melee. She followed their lead and picked a target, surrounded by others this one had managed to get through the ranks. As she moved towards the attacker it appeared to be a man lurching his way through the crowd dressed in a drab gray color.

As she closed in Lilith realized that they were mummies. Undead. Lilith grabbed for the hilt of her air blade and pulled it from its sheath on her back, placed neatly between her wings. It slid out of its resting place with a metallic whoosh and Lilith swung it in a downward motion slicing through the mummy. Smiling to herself she pushed forward looking for the next one.

She twirled her blade in her hand slashing the enemy clean through. One thing about mummies, or so Lilith thought, was that they were already rotting and easier to slice and dice.

Melmoth drew his blade as he neared the caravan and slowed to a walk. The attackers appeared to be mummies of various ages and stages of decay. The desert sun, sand, and wind had conspired to damage a few almost to the point of destruction. An easy enough battle.

He grinned as two seperated from the main group and made for him. The blasted remains of an earlier life held none of the the skills they might have had, rushing him with abandon. Two swift swipes and both fell with horrible head wounds, only to rise again seconds later in thirst for blood. He finished them for the second time by removing their spindly arms.

Around him the melee raged, some having an easy time of it, others fought for their lives. A dragon circled overhead, its rider apparently unwilling to bring it to ground and fight. Perhaps the caravan would have been in danger from the dragon's breath, or the dragon would have been swarmed. Help wasn't coming from the skies.

If there was to be anything to eat on the journey, the caravan would have to be defended from the mummies, not the other way around.

Sword at the ready, he launched himself at the nearest group of undead as a swarm of insects flew up from another corner of the field.

Gibbon stood in a marketplace viewing the fruits and vegetables. Not much of a selection. It was a desert so he knew it would be scarce. A man then ran from the city walls. He was yelling about a caravan under attack. Gibbon knew that he had to see what happened.

As he started running toward the walls, he saw a woman on a dragon fly above. He faintly recognized the woman. "Was that Ornell?" he shook off the thought and drew his sword and ran onward. Upon arriving he saw a terrifying sight.

Undead! He halted in his tracks at where the caravan was. Mummies and many undead where attacking the caravan. Many people were already in combat with them.

Gibbon backed up to try and escape the insanity. But as he stepped back he tripped on a stone and fell back. Two of the living dead were closing in on him. He jumped up and conjured a fire elemental to fight the one. By the time the fire elemental was summoned the one was within arms length. Gibbon swung his sword in defense. The mummy was lying on the ground in two now and trying to crawl toward him.

Gibbon sent the elemental after the other mummy and focused on the split mummy. He shot a fire ball at the mummy's torso and ran back toward the walls.

"I hate undead!" he hid behind a stone pillar sword still drawn.

Ornell watched as the focus of the undead became scattered among the new arrivals. Unfortunately, Valen's breath weapon would do nothing against undead. They had no need to breath. She leaned forward and called out to Valen. “We need to get the camels away from here before they bring another one down! Drop down so I can clear a path for them out of the middle. I’ll need you to urge the creatures the right direction. I don’t think most of them have riders at the moment.”

Valen glanced back at her and then nodded. He turned sideways in the air as he dove down and did a flip so Ornell could drop to the ground on the farthest side from the city. She dropped a good distance as Valen righted himself and rose back into the air. Ornell didn’t bother trying to land on her feet. In the sand she would only manage to fall. She rolled instead and managed to right herself not gar from where she had wanted to land.

“Heads up!” She called, needing to warn those still living. The dead wouldn’t take heed after all. She took a step back to align herself along the caravan and set out a kick. A wall of fire came into existence between the camels and most of the attackers. She ran a few feet, drawing a blade to remove one of the mummies from her path and repeated the call and wall. The result was a pair of parallel lines leading from Ornell towards the town with the caravan itself between. She saw Valen circling back, ready to start the animals in a full run down the path she had created. Ornell started to run between the path shouting, “Clear the way!” as she started to do just that herself by removing the undead she could see and getting the living people out of the way. Then Valen was there once more, where he had dropped off Ornell. As soon as he reached that point he flared out his wings as if he were about to land, in the process making himself look much bigger, and he let out a huge roar that boomed like thunder. The camels’ eyes went big and they ran right down the path Ornell had made, afraid to get too close to the flames and terrified of the dragon.

“Clear the way! Look out!” Ornell called once more as the camels cleared the end of her makeshift path for them while behind her Valen shifted to his half-dragon form and took after them to make sure they didn’t scatter and become easy pray for anything else.

Meanwhile, out of Ornell’s sight now, the undead with the gold about his neck noticed a shadow overhead and looked up to see some winged thing attacking him! How dare such a creature think it could best him! With another waves of his staff smaller black insects came into existence, a swarm of mosquitoes this time, meant to drain away the foes strength. These ones he set on the winged one as his gaze then looked about for the one whose wind scattered his last little troop of insects. Where was the little magic user? One with no armor...

Eliel walked through the streets, taking a deep bite into an apple. The sweet fruit was imported, as nothing like this could grow in the deserts. He was on his way to the dragon spines again, having missed them since his last visit. The last trip he had taken to them was long ago, with a group of drow on a scouting party.

This time, he was alone, save for his panther, Gwen. The large cat could protect him fairly well. Truth be told, he did not need her protection as much as he used to, but he found it best to keep this information to himself. He took another crunching bite, then flicked away the core. The single claw that had impaled the fruit retracted back into the gauntlet, seeming to melt into it.

Eliel jerked to attention when he heard cries of distress. Something about a caravan and raiders. The drow frowned and quickened his pace, exiting the city quickly. Fortunately, the caravan he heard of wasn't too far off.

As he reached the caravan at a dead run, he spotted several people handling the bandits quite well, along with a dragon. Eliel paused in his tracks for a moment as he watched one of them cut a 'bandit' open.

Nothing came out.

Eliel cursed. “Undead, then.” He started for the main group, but was delayed slightly by a mummy with a blade. On instinct, his hand shot up, bending him backwards to allow enough time and space to grab the blade. Eliel grimaced as he thought about that blade slicing through his side, covered in gods know how many diseases.

Eliel squeezed the blade and held his grip, right hand diving under his cloak to seize a dagger. Eliel flicked the small blade around and pulled it across the mummy's front. Old cloth tore and nothing fell out, save for the unholy stench of rotten, cooking flesh.

Holding down a gag, he threw the mummy to the side. Slipping the small blade away, he drew his scimitar, gleaming in the sunlight. The same mummy came back after him, the cut that would have downed any mortal enemy giving the thing a bit more flexibility. Eliel muttered while he parried and thrusted. “That's. Just. Great!”

Eliel finished off the torn cloth-laden zombie and turned to face two more.

Takrii fell to the ground, narrowly missing tackling the gold-sashed necromancer. He swung his leg out, and hit the necromancer in the leg. He jumped back up, and pulled his spear out of the sand. He raised his hand, lifted it to the air, and brought it down quickly, making the sign of the evil eye, with fore and small fingers spread out. The clouds thundered, and a huge bolt of lightning came down, and hit a particularly large undead, causing it to stumble, and lose a leg.

He raised his hand again, a grinned. "That looked like it hurt!" He shouted, to no one in particular. He snapped his fingers, and a tiny comet-like burst of energy shot out, and hit the necromancer's staff out of his hands, causing it to fall to the sand by him. "That's what you get when you don't hang onto it tightly!" He was enjoying himself. With adrenaline pumping, you could shoot of a couple spells, and not feel too tired.

He looked at his hand, and pondered on what spell to use next. Then, he thought of one, and a devilish grin appeared on his face. He raised both hand, sticking the spear into the sand, "Cover your ears!" He shouted, and clapped his hands. Flashburst. The shock wave traveled out, and stunned all whose eyes were not shut, and made a loud ringing sound in the ears of those whose were not covered.

As both of his hands were preoccupied with the spell, although his eyes were shut, he still got that ringing in his ears. He fell to the ground, hands to his ears, and grinding his teeth. He can't believe he had forgotten to cover his ears. That was a pain he would never forget.

Lilith moved like a blur. As soon as she had cut down one undead she was onto the neck, slashing and hacking at whatever was nearest her. At one point in time she had bumped into another defender, and after a shared smile they moved like water around each other clearing a circle with their blades. After another smile they had parted ways and moved in opposite directions to kill those undead they had missed.

She seemed to be lost in the endless sea of mummies that had somehow descended upon the caravan. In a way she was glad for the attack since it got her closer to joining in on the adventure and the chance at riches. Lilith was a girl who would never turn down riches.

Just as Lilith was performing an uppercut a line of fire formed in front of her, cutting through the mummy she had been working on. Lilith took and step back and turned around to be faced with another wall of fire. Only then did she hear the call ‘Look out!’. Lilith jumped in the air, snapping her wings open and carrying herself over the fire to land safely on the other side.

More mummies moved towards her and she put on a wicked smile as she cut into the first one. It was as far as she got.

The next moment she watched the mummy crumple to the ground and as she was turning around her ears started to ring and her eyes burn. Lilith dropped her sword and clasped both hands over her ears and shut her eyes tight. A mummy grabbed at her clothing and she forced her eyes open and reached for her sword, battling through the pain to survive. Sadly the only thought on Lilith’s mind was the treasure she’d get as a reward.

It was chaos on the sand. The footing was bad on the slippery dune he had claimed for his stand, and mummies closed in from all directions. The dragon was flying everywhere and doing it's thing, walls of flame lept up in the distance, and some explosion off to his side had left him half-deaf. As soon as the undead were dealt with, he'd find out who had done that and cut his ears off. As if the wounds the mummies inflicted weren't bad enough, friendly fire.

Melmoth snarled and didn't hear himself. His hearing faded in and out, and he took it out on the nearest mummy, cutting through an arm and lodging his blade in its torso. The damned thing just wouldn't die. Like all the others, it moved according to the will of its master, and stopped trying to kill you only when it was in pieces too small to be of much danger.

He was only too happy to send it rolling down the dune in more pieces than when it came up.

He looked up from his kill, and noticed that the mummies around him had stopped advancing on him, and were instead surrounding him in a ring. As soon as they had enough mummies, they'd close in and bring him down by sheer weight of numbers.

He held Fate in both hands at the ready, and slowly turned in a circle, trying to watch everywhere at one. "You and me, Fate," he said to his blade, "untill the end." Melmoth could almost feel his sword's anger and frustration at their impending doom. The sword that was more an extension of his arm than a piece of metal, however finely crafted, hated it all.

At least they didn't have to wait long.



[OOC - Perfect opportunity for someone to save me. If nobody's up for it, I'll just cut my way out, but character interaction beats slicing mummies any day. Also, Takrii, why oh why did you use flashburst on undead?]

Erin was watching the battle but she was still in range combat with the enemy. She quickly hide her face when she heard the shout flashburst. So she was not blinded but she lost her hearing for a moment. She quickly looked back at the battle and after a few seconds she noticed that someone was surrounded by the undead mummies. "I have to help him" she said to herself and then she quickly began to run towards the place where Melmoth was, as she ran she began to gather the wind around her to create another burst of wind.

She raised her hand and fired of another bolt of air towards the group around the stranger, this wind forced the mummies away and threw some of them into the others, those where quickly finished by the other warriors before they had the time to stand up.
Erin arrived to Melmoth and quickly looked around, "Please don´t use flashburst....undeads can´t be blinded and they don´t need to hear anything" she said with a loud voice out into the group. Then she focused back to the remain mummies close to her, she calmly moved some hair from her face, some of them was on there way to attack her now. She moved her hands in a circle as she took control of the wind again and she quickly fired of another bolt of wind, not as strong as before but enough to throw the mummies away, they where dried and not very heavy.

When they all reached the Caravan it would seem that it was over run with nothing more than undead. The thought bothered him that he would need to touch those things, no less smell them with the heat that was resonating forth from the scolding sand bellow. Deciding not to plunge in like the rest of them he simply sat out at the outskirts biding his time to keep out of the conflict since it seemed that the majority of them had it under control. That was until someone shouted something inaudible to his ears over the groans and moans of the undead and then there was silence and blackness. Blinking a couple times, both of his hands lifted to his face to rub his eyes only to notice nothing different from the action. The heck did the guy do…? Was he seriously blind now…? This was just great…

Frustration began to well up within him while he continued to rub his eyes hoping that the effect would aid in ridding himself of this nuisance. With no avail, Xavion began to take a couple steps backwards to create further distance between him and the caravan where the undead were, only to notice that he bumped into something. Swallowing roughly, a hand moved out towards his backside to grope around at the object behind him, only to feel his hand slip through some sort of fabric and grab onto something hard….Immediately retracting his hand, a look of disgust washed across his face as he spun on the balls of his feet to face the creature. It wouldn’t do much good with his current state of sight, but it was worth an effort at least. Steadily a hand trailed down to his waist and grabbing onto the hilt of his sword before plucking it out of its sheath. Each hand joined in unison to the hilt as the blade settled just at the center of his torso, trying what he can to appear threatening in the process.

Slowly and steadily his vision came back into focus, only to reveal that it wasn’t one of the undead legions, but instead some sort of stick with a cloth tied to it. Probably something a kid put out here or it was more the less used as some sort of marker. Having felt incredibly stupid, Xavion turned slowly back towards the mass of people a hand moving up to lightly rub at the back of his head. Well…That was dumb, getting scared by a stick…A freaking stick of all things, not anything else, not a legion horde, nothing…Just a plain old ordinary stick…

Heaving a wayward sigh, all of his attention would quickly shift to that of an approaching undead. Great…Now they had to come to him. Not that he really wanted to fight one blind, but at least he wouldn’t have looked so lame. Shrugging it off the blade would swing to settle in front of him as he prepared for the undeads swing, which was quickly parried and followed up by a boot that planted itself into the rib cage of the undead, sending it into a backwards tumble down the slightly inclined sand drift he was upon. His attention would shift again, this time to Ornell, curious to see what she was trying to do.

Ornell heard the warning and covered her ears, but that didn't stop her from being parly blinded by the light. Nor did it do anything to help her keep the camel caravan going toward the city. In fact, they scattered in all directions after the Flashburst went off, the uncontrolled beasts no seeing what they were doing or being able to hear any. She was unable to help as she heard people screaming and the camels making strange sounds from all directions. A loud crash landed not far from her as her sight started to clear and she saw another camel had fallen, after running tight into her wall of fire that is had not see after being blinded. It was still on fire too, the pack it had been carrying scattered all over the sand and most of it was on fire. All except for the water... that was being quickly soaked up by the sand. The smell filled the air and Ornell cussed softly under her breath as she sent out the small golden orb, her fire stone, to absorb the fire to put it out. The next thing she did was turn to find out who in the world thought it was a good idea to use a spell like Flashburst around caravan beasts who were the ones they were trying not to get killed. The undead didn't need them to help destroy the caravan!

The mummy with the gold about his neck looked to the staff where it had fallen and is dissolved into the sand itself only to rise up in his hand once more. His bony hand closed around the staff and his sightless eyes turned to the blinded fool before him. He rose his staff above his head and the sand beneath this so called warrior began to sink in a spiral of quicksand. With that man out of his way he tried once more to see the one magic user. Unable to see the little mage he simply dropped his staff back to the ground and let out a horrifying screech that worked much like the spell fear. You could feel the sound causing terror to build. The fear would only grow more as the living who had fallen, including the two fallen camels, rose as undead to aid the mummy's cause.

Eliel fought the mummies, an expert dancer compared to the undead. His blade twirled and stabbed, weaving intricate patterns around and periodically inside the mummies. He had a time of it, playing with them like the life-sized dolls at the academy. A couple fell before him, dead minds unable to cope with the dizzying dance of his curved blade.

When the current group was beaten, Eliel took a second to look around, just in time to catch the burst of light. He covered his eyes at first spotting it, but the damage was done. His eyes burned, darkness enveloping him vision. With a curse, he turned his ear, trying to listen for the next assailant.

One hand wielded his scimitar, the other rubbing at his eyes. He cursed as his vision would not return. He heard a mummy approach and cursed out loud. The drow could feel the mummy take a swing and was lucky enough to block it, but a second swing hit him in the chest.

He reeled and the mummy moved in for the kill, but was somewhat stopped by a hurled mass of two and a half hundred pounds of tooth, muscle, and claw. Gwen rammed into it and snarled, tearing into it's flesh savagely. Once it had died, she bounded over to him and Eliel put a hand on the scruff of her neck, using her to guide himself. After a couple minutes, his vision began clearing up. Things were still blurry, but he could make out what things were.

Eliel let go of Gwen, letting her loose to wreak havoc on the undead force. He smiled, proud of her. She was growing larger, too large for a panther. He was wondering what it was she could possibly be. His kindly thoughts were interrupted by an invitation to rejoin the fight in the form of a charging mummy. Eliel ducked to the side, sweeping his blade in and up the mummy, slicing him open vertically as if by reflex.

Takrii gritted his teeth as he heard the loud shriek. God, how he hated that noise. he was so consumed with that, he did not notice the sand giving way beneath his feet. He growled at the man, who had actually been a mummy, not a human as he had thought. With a mighty thrust, he unfurled his wings, and flapped wildly out of the sand.

Lying on the ground, he furled his wings once again, and stood up, one hand on his spear. He flung it as hard as he could at a zombie, and it sank deep into its skull, making it fall. He ran forward, and took out his katana, which he used to remove the zombies head. He lifted it above him, and plunged it as deep as he could into the chest of the zombie.

He tried in vain to remove it from the cavity of the zombie, but it was caught by bone. He tried once more in vain to pull it out, and was attacked by a zombie. As he felt hands on him, he felt strangely cold, like all the warmth had been sucked out of him. he shuddered, and wrestled the cold enveloping him to place his hand on the face of the zombie. He drew it away, and he felt pieces of rotting skin fall on his hands.

It must have startled the thing, as he felt the cold ebb away. He swung the sword around, beheading the awful thing.

Fara're felt a wave of fear run through her body as she heard the screek from the mummy. She had to fight the urge to run. But a tiger did not run from danger.

She let out an annoyed sigh as she saw some of the fallen dead rise to fight. "Great..." she muttered.

It looked like she would have to do more fighting. But the sand was slowing her down in her elven from. She decided that it would be best to fight the way she was most comfortable.

She closed her eyes as she concentrated. Orange and black fur began to sprout from her body and her cloths melded into her. Her elven ears shaped into that of a tigers and a long tail began to grow from her back end. Her feet widened and grew into paws. Much better for balancing and running through the uneven sand. A few moments later it was done.

Fara're the were-tiger stood to her full hight and studied the battle. The camel might be a good choice. She was use to taking down animals it's size. Well living animals anyways. With a roar and ran forward on all fours and sprang upon the back of one of the undead animals.

Saved. The blast of air from the unknown mage blew away enough mummies to even out the odds on the dune. He laughed, ended another mummy, and moved towards the mage as she fired off another shot of air. She'd helped him, and he decided he owed her.

"Thanks for the help. I'll keep them off you." He turned away from her, determined to protect her back while she took down mummies with her magic. The mummies that had been blasted down hill by her last shot were rising from the sand and joining the crowd coming up the sandy slope. He turned his head and called back over his shoulder "Do you have anything more deadly than air? They're just shrugging it off..."

A shriek came from down in the mass of undead around the caravan. It sent shivers up his spine, but he kept up his fight. Fear would kill as surely as any blade, and was far more dangerous than the mummies. He thought it was some kind of spell. Mummies were more of a nuisance than something he feared, and that otherworldly scream...Even thinking about it was bad. Definitely a spell.

Down below him, a camel, undead apparently, was being attacked by a were-tiger. He'd have to find out who that was. People who were more than they seemed were that much more dangerous. It was slightly funny, considering how much he had to hide. His aura was supressed, his form hidden, and none of the group was on to him yet. If things went well, they never would find out. He could get to the treasure without revealing himself.

Erin smiled at Melmoth. "It was nothing at all dear" she said with a friendly voice and blasted of another mummy with her wind. She thought about his question for a moment and then she shook her head. "Sorry mister, but to control the wind is the only thing I can do at the moment. But don´t think air is so not deadly." she placed her arm in frong of herself and began to gather more air to do another blast.

Then she fired of another bolt of wind and attacked a group of insects that was flying around in the air, they did not look very friendly and was about to attack some of the others. "When I said I wanted an adventure I never thought it would be something like this so soon." she laughed and shook her head. Then her eyes moved around the area as she watched the battle, she could see the one that was in control, but he was on the other side and she could not use her wind to attack him since to much on her own side was in the way. She sighed when she noticed the undead camels...poor creatures.

((OOC: sorry for the long break in this topic. I hope to be able to finish this rather quickly. Anyone want to give a hand?))

The sand even seemed to vibrate with the sound coming from a mummy just outside of the fighting. Ornell cast her gaze around to look for a good few that might be able to give her a hand. Undead first, then who ever it was who messed up with that foolish spell. She spotted a pair fighting off to the side, one looking like a capable fighter and the other... wait... A camel and what looked like a tiger crossed between her and those she was looking at. For a split second she thought the caravan was now being attacked by another creature. Then, she realized it was one of the undead camels. She bent her knees and started off through the mass to the pair. As she approached she recognized Erin. She felt a smile pull at the corner of her mouth as she aimed a strike at the undead between her and them. It caught fire as it fell to the sand at her feet.

"You two seem capable. Want to lend me a hand? I have a little gift in mind for our little conductor over there." She pointed to the mummy with the gold about its neck. It was crouching down to retrieve its staff and thousands of small insects rose into the air. The small black insects didn’t really go anywhere yet, but spiraled up into the air as they grew in number while the mummy inside the insect swarm raised his hands, staff in hand, above his head. A buzzing sound slowly started to fill the air as the number of insects grew.

Meanwhile, showing a bit more intelligence then it should have, the second of the undead camels came charging the tiger attacking the first one. The other camels were proving to be much less intelligent as Valen tried desperately, still in his faster half dragon form, to get the caravan camels at least heading towards the city. “I could use a little help here!” He shouted down in hopes that Ornell or someone else would hear him.

Erin was surprised when Ornell suddenly arrived. But she quickly gathered herself, this was serious matter. "Sure I will help in what way I can...Ornell was it?" she said and nodded as she talked, the moved her gaze to Melmoth for a moment and gave the stranger a slight smile.

Then she looked towards the mummy with the gold. She frowned slightly and thought for a slight second, then she noticed the staff on the ground and quickly stretched out he hand, there was a strong wind and the staff suddenly flew up into the air and was thrown right into the young Storm kindlers arms. "I don´t know much about magic things, but I guess that this is very important" she said with a bright girlish smiled and held the staff with both her hands.

Her eyes was focused on the mummy on the sand and she wanted to see how he was going to react to this. It was just a guess from her side but it was something she would have to try....the staff seemed very important by the way he was trying to reach. it.

(ooc - not supposed to steal the big villan's staff. :P)

Melmoth was getting tired of this. Just standing around, swinging at undead. All his skill really was useless since cutting the throat of something already dead did nothing. Against a human, you could kill them a thousand ways and stop their ability to fight a thousand more, but it came down to brute strength on the sands of Istan.

So when this Ornell person offered what sounded like a way to end it all, Melmoth was more than willing to listen. "If it ends with these things dead for good, and maybe a nap, then I'm your man." He was disgusted at having to keep up his charade even in the midst of a fight, but what demonic infused swordmaster would willingly ask for a nap in front of strangers? Only the exceedingly cunning ones, and he was glad to count himself among those few.

He took a moment to scan the battle between mummies, and sighed at the chaos it had all become. Zombie camels, tiger things, hordes of insects... Luck had been kind enough to keep that particular problem off his back so far. Fighting while getting stung by a swarm of insects would be next to impossible. Putting mention of wasps on his tombstone would've been embarassing indeed.

Eliel reveled in the feeling of his scimitar sinking into rotten flesh. It came so much more easily than if he were fighting the living. Gwen, however, did not have her usual edge. Her collar was dim. It was activated, yes, but it fed on the life of the victims. Unfortunately, these mummies were not exactly full of life.

Even still, the great cat was a fearsome fighter, doing as much damage as any other here. Eliel chuckled as he fought, keeping the mummies off Gwen's back and vice versa. The two were quite a force together. Eliel landed a solid punch with his gauntleted left hand, slamming into the chest of one mummy and knocking it back.

Eliel saw no mummies in his immediate area, but it appeared the various others were causing trouble, more mummies, camels and such. Eliel's eyes were drawn to one mummy in particular, who seemed to be the cause of the trouble. But from the looks of it, the situation was being handled.

Eliel patted Gwen's flank and jumped on her back, laying low against the fully grown Umbra. He approached one of the camels, coming at it head-on. It was running at him in turn, one or the other would be taken down. Fortunately for the duo, Gwen held a certain feline grace and agility Eliel did not possess, and swung to the side just in time to allow Eliel to take a swing at the camel's knees.

With a sickening pop, the blow, power increased threefold by the velocity of both moving parties and the weight of the blade, shattered the front right kneecap of the camel, carried through the flesh, and smashed against the back leg.

The camel fell into the sand with a puff of sandy cloud. Eliel sheathed the blade, letting it bounce against his left leg while he reached to his waist. His thumb quickly unbuckled the upside-down sword sheath there, releasing the blade. He pulled it down and out, a gleaming blade. Lan de Yue Jia was aimed at the mummy lord and Eliel spoke the release command. A small ball of starry light rocketed out, moving to expand and encase the thing.

With a sharp yank of the undead camles neck the beast went down and moved no more. It had returned to death once more. Fara're scanned the battle with her golden eyes seeking her next target. She snarled as the next enemy found her.

A mummy stumbled its way towards the were-tiger and swept a fist at her. She dodged it with ease, as the undead creature could not even hope to match her speed. After ducking the creatures attack she lept forward bearing the thing down to the ground.

She raked her sharp claws into the undead beast and tore its already tattered flesh to shred. She nose went up in a snarl. Due to both her anger in battle, and the stench that came from the rotting corspe. These things smell about as bad as demons to her.

And undead hand grabbed her arm and flung her to the side. The beast she had pined was not as helpless as she had hoped. She flipped as she flew through the air and landed on all fours skidding back in the sand. The cloud of sand that rose around her from her landing blinded her for a few moments.

She shook her head to free herself from the blinding sand and prepared herself for the mummies next attack.

The mummy with gold about his neck had been in the middle of casting a spell when he was interrupted by his staff leaving his hands. The many small insects all turned into sand and fell about him and threw the air a bit at the command of the wind. He smiled as he saw what he had been looking for revealed herself. Good little wind mage... he thought. Now you die... As the thought crossed his mind, he raised his had toward Erin. The staff split in half, so that each half was in each hand, then in half once more, this time the long way. So instead of a staff held in both hands, she now held on to four vipers, two in each hand.

The still living camels were being herded toward the city now, but not all of them, and the two zombie camels had fallen once more back to the sand. The other undead were starting to look a little thing and a few of those who had been injured but not killed were being helped away from the fighting.

Ornell nodded to Erin when she had asked about her name. But instead of taking the moment to listen to Ornell's idea, she acted on her own. Ornell wasn't sure if that had helped or not, but it could have.

She looked of Melmoth and said. "I need someone to follow my attack with a killing blow. Removing his head would work well. So would any other thing that severs his spine. I would..." She saw the snakes then and without thinking about it, threw fire at the snakes. Weather or not they had time to strike first was unknown to her. She reached out then, planing on grabbing Erin's arm and dragging the girl behind her and out of the mummy's line of sight. "I would leave the girl alone if I were you..." She started to say only to be interrupted by the mummy himself.

"If you were to end this, you would do so before I have even more to come and fight. They are on their way. This little caravan was just some sport." His voice hissed like a viper and grated like sand. Then once more, he held out his hand and his staff returned to him via a pillar of sand.

"As you wish." Ornell said and took a step forward. She felt the sand shift and realized it was a trap. She modified her plan a bit and lept up into the air. As she went into the air, her feet caught aflame and she landed with a kick in the mummy's directing. The sand melted slightly from the power she put into it, giving Melmoth a not quite smooth path across the sand for his attack. Her fire was true and straight, but she had her doubts it would strike as true as she wanted it too.

Erin watched the mummy, she took a steep backwards and was very surprised when the staff suddenly split in pieces and was turned into snakes. Her eyes widened and she was just about to drop them when Ornell used her fire to turn them into dust. The young storm kindler placed one hand on her chest and took a deep breath, she did not like snakes....they where so...creepy.
Erin looked at Ornell and tried to smile weakly at her, then she looked back at the mummy again. She felt the other womans hand against her shoulder as she was dragged out of the sight from the creepy undead leader.

The young air genasi shivered slightly by the sound of his voice, it sounded like something from a nightmare or something...she did not like it, oh why could se not be more useful? Like Ornell, she was powerful and brave, she had magic that could really do damage to the enemies....but what did Erin have? Some wind and nothing more. She had thought it was a great ide to take the mummy's staff away from him, but now she wondered if she did not make things even worse then before. He got the staff back and she had wasted useful magic on nothing at all, she knew that she could not keep this much magic running and her powers had been drained greatly as it was.

Erin moved one hand though her hair as she was thinking about something useful to do, she had heard Ornells ide, but she could not be of much use, that other guy looked like he could take care of things much better then what she ever could. The storm kindler sighed deeply and moved her gaze to look at the fight again. She really was useless in battle...she had to train more, but who would ever want to train her?

He was losing track of everything in the battle. It was calming down in a way, as the undead were lessening in numbers, but he seemed to have wandered into the thick of it. The air mage had trouble with snakes, and the woman who offered a way to end the fight was off pulling flaming martial arts on the main mummy. She hadn't done a bad job either. A glassy path had been burned across the shifting sands straight towards the two, and he had every intention to take advantage of it.

Without hesitation, he bounded from the safety of his position, and hit the blackened glass bridge. He'd abandoned the air mage to her own devices, but if she had the sense to get out on the bridge like he had, she'd be relatively safe, if she could stand the smoking footing burning at her feet. Running full speed, he nearly took a nosedive into the swirling sands halfway across as the weak support cracked an buckeled beneath him. He recovered and leapt to a more stable point in the bridge, trying not to listen to the crack of breaking glass as hiss as the very ground he had stood on was sucked under the sand.

He made it across without further incident, and hacked at the mummy at the same time the woman delivered another kick. It stumbled under the impact of the kick and his swing missed the neck and instead took off an upraised hand. The mummy roared a sound like the desert wind and Melmoth swung at it again.

"There's an attack on the caravan!" yelled a town crier who came running into one of the many of Istan City's inn's. The call at first did nothing as the room was quiet, not anybody making a sound or moving.Then there was an explosion of noise as people began to get up, shooting of questions and shouting. One crier had disturbed the peace of the tavern with one cry. He had indeed done his job.

In the corner of the tavern, there was a dwarf who sat at a table. With his beard that was red like it was on fire, his chainmail armor, and his axe and shield, it was none other then Wargrymm Wildaxe. The dwarf was in a quite interesting conversation with some men of Istan, talking about the many travels that both him and the men had been on. When the cry went out, Wargrymm gave a great roar and hopped off his seat. The caravan is under attack he said. Sounds to me like they'll be needing the help of a dwarven berserker named Wargrymm Wildaxe."

Wargrymm got his axe and shield, said a quick goodbye to the men, then charged out the door between the many men, tackling some of them down. He burst through the door and into the street, where there were people quick in worry about the situation. Wargrymm ran off to the gate, but there was one problem: which gate? Wargrymm realized his predicament and let out a long sentence full of swearing and curses in dwarvish. He finally ran to a stall where an Istan woman was selling fruit. Do you know which gate the attack is happening at" Wargrymm asked.
"The gate is not being attacked" the woman said.
"I know the gate isn't being attacked. I need to get to the gate to get to the attack."
"Which gate do you want to go to?"
"The one the attack is at!"
"There isn't an attack at the gate. It's at the caravan."
"Where the hell is the caravan?!"
"Outside the gate."

Wargrymm was about o blow, then he saw an adventurer run by down the street. Wargrymm ran as fast as he could behind him, trying his best to keep up with his heavy armor and squat legs. They went through streets and alleys, Wargrymm almost getting left behind. Then they were through the front gates. Mummies were all around causing mayhem and destruction. One mummy began to hobble over to Wargrymm, smelling of dried flesh. Wargrymm let out a great cry and charged forward. His axe cleaved through the mummy's leg, dropping the mummy to the ground. Then it went still when Wargrymm's axe removed the head.

Erin watched Melmoth as he was attacking the mummy, the wind was growing pretty much...almost into a sandstorm like, and it was going to be one pretty soon. But the storm kindler had a very weird feeling because of her connection to the air and the wind with her genasi heritage. Her gaze quickly moved around and then she was sure.....someone or something was taking control of the air around them...forcing it to move into a storm. She did not have to sense anything to understand who did it, her eyes moved to the mummy that Melmoth was attacking, but it could not be him....he was to busy, but it could not be any of them since all of them was fighting to quickly and to do something like this one needed to know what they where doing. There was someone else here....they had to deal with this mummy quickly but how could one kill a mummy? Just cutting something off would not help much, her gaze moved to Ornell and then to her own hands.

Yes of course, fire that suddenly was given to much compressed air could create an explosion and that would most likely kill of the mummy completely, Ornell would not be damaged since it was famous she was resistant to fire....but she was not about Melmoth, she would have to force him away first. "Ornell, Melmoth I have an idea! Please work with me!" she shouted out and raised her hands the air began to move quickly and she used all her concentration, she made a movement with her hands and created a blast of wind to throw Melmoth backward away from the mummy, then she moved her hand up and down and the wind began to fly quickly around the mummy, trapping it inside of a bubble of wind, the concentration of wind thickened quickly and Erin had a hard time keeping the magic steady. "Ornell, attack him with fire. We will blow him up! I´m sure you know what happenes when you mix fire with air to quickly!" she shouted out at the other lady. "Quickly now, I wont be able to hold him much longer then I am" they could see that Erin was close to her limit, it was hard to do something like this even harder with someone else controlling the air to.

Eliel broke away from his fight, slipping Lan De Yue Jia into his belt pouch, letting it fall in with zero resistance until it hit bottom. Reaching underneath his cloak, he pulled out Luriel. The blade seemed furious. These mummies were perversions of nature, and in turn evil. Luriel nearly glowed with holy anger at them.

Eliel made his way towards the group of adventurers fighting the mummy. He slashed through mummies. Luriel cut through them like butter with very little resistance. He watched the wounds disintegrate between the wounding enchantment, holy power, and the blade draining the little life the mummies were held together with.

Eliel ran as quickly as possible. Sand blew behind him in small clouds. Gwen ran beside him, leaning a little. Taking the offer, Eliel slung a leg over her side and rode along, her padded feet catching a foothold much easier than Eliel's boots.

Eliel made a beeline for them, dodging zombies all over the desert area. Eliel smiled as he rushed, unable to resist the urge to take a swing at a mummy. His gauntlet slammed into its head, creating a very nicely sized dent in the front of its head.

Erin's idea was a nice one, but Ornell wasn't sure if it would work like the girl wanted to. Thankfully, Erin was not the only one with some ability to control air. With a bubble of air around the gold shrouded mummy already, Ornell cast forth fire into it. Then instead of any defensive maneuver, she added her own magic to Erin's, keeping the air flowing with the fire. If she could give the fire enough heat the mummy would be gone, no matter what it was capable of. At first the Mummy screeched like a siren and the fire licked around the bubble of air like a cats-eye marble. Then it burned hotter, like a blast furnace. The sand storm off in the distance fell into nothing and the once mummy was surely gone. She felt Erin's magic fall away and took her own away also. The fire, with the huge lack of fuel, snuffed itself. In the air, suspended for a moment, was a dull black orb nearly as large as a man's fist. The object dropped to the sand.

Ornell took a moment to assess the damage. Their leader gone, the rest of the undead lost their ability to work as a team. They lost all focus and started wandering about. Some even crumbled completely, no longer able to function without the one who rose them from their sandy graves. Ornell walked across to the black orb and picked it up. It was covered in a fine layer of ash. Surprisingly it was only warm to the touch. Ornell smiled and tossed the orb to Erin. "Good job!" Should Erin look at the object she would see a glass orb with flecks of melted gold in it, and in the very center a scarab in metallic blue-green, sealed away forever in glass. The Avatar of the Goddess of Fire then went over to Melmoth to see if he was alright. She would then offer him a hand up if he needed it.

Erin took a deep breath when it looked like this was over, she smiled a weak smile when Ornell called out and threw the orb to her. She looked at the orb she had in her hands for a moment...she frowned slightly. "We did it" she said to herself as if she did not think it was true. "We really did it..." then she suddenly lost all energy in the legs and had to sit down on the ground.

After a few moment to make sure she was alright she returned to examine the orb again, it was beautiful in a way but the scarab in the middle was a little scary...it looked like it was alive or something. But it had to be something magical about it since it was the only thing left from the mummy. But what could it be? She frowned again and turned around the artifact in her hand, examining it from all sides. She looked after the avatar of the goddess of fire as she was standing over at Melmoth, but the young storm kindler did not say anything since it looked she was busy.