~~~~After an eternity away from you all, Ja- er twelthdoctor is back.  Blame college and Atlantica Online for my spotty period of activity.  love that f2p MMO, better than WoW in my opinion, but if I keep going it will turn into advertising, and I'm not sure that's a idea . . . If you want to bug me at my other online home, it's player Gallifrey on Thebes server.~~~~

   Margaret was a bit surprised at the "helpless monk" she was to escort.  Sister Hannah looked like she could uproot a tree and decapitate a small troll with it.  Hannah must have been accustomed to seeing such thoughts in the stares of others, as she was quick to comment that her vow of pacifism was the only thing restraining her from the local geniuses who laughingly referred to her as "the hammer".  Margaret declined to comment on her charge's girth, insted inquiring about the details of the escort.  It was apparently not going to be a difficult task, as the trip was simply to be following Hannah around as she filled a large vessel with sacred water.  As they stepped into the cave, Margaret found that lighting a torch was unnecessary, a bright light was emanating from the chamber ahead  "wonder what that is", she asked Hannah casually  "Dunno, never been in these caves before, no one has in quite a while- no one I know of anyway . . ." the latter replied, a hint of wondering in her voice.  As they made their way into the widened passage, Margaret and Hannah both fell silent.  The ceiling was practically glowing with white starlike objects or creatures, some slowly circling around the cave's upper reaches.  The sight was beautiful, but there was something unsettling about the ethereal things that seemed to have a life of their own.  

   They passed through the chamber of lights in silence, not speaking until they entered a smaller passageway leading away from the large and somehow sinister chamber. 

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Has the world ended already? Oh dear, I must have missed it. . .

I'ma firin ma laser!!!1

post

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Being nice is strange, I can see a lot up here on morale highground

Its finally back!!!!!!!!! Great post.

I commented first, love me more

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Being nice is strange, I can see a lot up here on morale highground

   It was silent in the ruins of the Chamber of Fate, until a hooded figure touched the small device in her hand.  "This doesn't seem so bad . . . I thought it would be a bit more dangerous if an escort was needed."  Another voice emerged from the Guild Seal, sounding slightly farther away. "yeah, aside from the long drop, it seems pretty safe, doesn't it?"  Theresa smiled almost wryly.  Perhaps for now, but not for long, not with you there . . . Margaret would soon learn her true power, the power of a Hero of the Archon's line.  Her ability with the Will was nowhere near that of Maze, but she had the potential to excel, she just needed the right pressures at the right moments to unlock the power within.  Her ability with both the sword and gun were to be tested as well.  She is not there yet, however . . . the wizard may still be useful. Pity.  It was ironic that Maze had helped to unlock Margaret's abilities with the training in the Gypsy Camp, feeding the spark of hidden power and allowing Theresa to see the girl's ancient bloodline, and through it, the power to influence Albion like few others ever would.  In helping her, Maze had foreshadowed the end of his own usefulness.  Eventually, he would become . . . no longer necessary.  With that thought in mind, Theresa turned her attention back to the present, to the cave in Oakfield.  The first test had begun.

   The large and rather unweildly jug in Sister Hannah's possesion cought the last drips of water from the first font.  As she lugged it towards the passage to the central chamber, the air grew slightly chill.  One of the uncanny whisps of light dove from the ceiling into the ground ahead.  A moan emerged from the earth, quickly followed by a rotted hand.  A walking corpse extricated itself from the ground and began to lope towards Margaret and Hannah, a rusty sickle in hand.  "I don't think it's come up for tea and a smoke, d'you?" Hannah called, sounding slightly panicky.  "Doubt it" Margaret replied, drawing a bead on the hollow man's head with her pistol.  One pull of the trigger and a puff of smoke later, the hollow man's head was sent careening over the edge of the path into the abyss below.  "That wasn't too difficult" she commented.  As more whisps appeared and dove into the ground, the moans of a dozen angry dead made her regret the offhand remark.  "Hmm, this could get messy . . ." she said lightly, controlling the nagging feeling of worry in her gut.  "Yeah, might be . . .fun . . ." replied Hannah, equally unconvinced that this was a place to be.

 

   

 

 

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Has the world ended already? Oh dear, I must have missed it. . .

wait a minute! did you edit that? because when I first saw it there was only one paragraph, but then when I came back to comment there were two! oh well, the story is really getting interesting, even though your only like an hour into the game's storyline.

Oh and by the way it's to see you writing again, you were gone a while...

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1 year on the forums and counting! Get it? Counting? Oh never mind...

I love the story. Should have told me you were writing again.   It might be ... fun... Very human touch. Will be watching for the next chapter.

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I almost made a statement on Orakius' thread, but decided not to spam it.  Nice to hear from you though.

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Has the world ended already? Oh dear, I must have missed it. . .

Another great addition. Great job

   Crack. Margaret's blade glimmered in the light from above as it clove through a hollow man's neck.  Swinging around, she caught three more in a circular stroke that shattered their brittle midsections.  They aren't exactly hard to kill, but you've got to give them credit for sheer numbers . . They were popping out of the ground everywhere, and she felt as though she was wading through a sea of enemies as she cut a path through for Sister Hannah to follow.  The cumbersome jug slowing the large monk's progress didn't help things much.  "How many of these things are there, anyhow?" called Hannah, straining to pull the jug, despite her impressive girth.  "I dunno, but this cave seems pretty ancient; there could be hundreds of them by now.  Let's just do our best not to join them, shall we?" Margaret shouted back over the moans of the walking dead that were trying to kill them, feeling slightly annoyed.  There was a time and place for conversation, and this was not it.  The sword swings were becoming harder, and didn't seem to cut as easily as they had before.  Damn it, the blade's gone dull from cutting through all these undead creeps.  I won't be able to keep it up much longer wuth a blunt sword . . .  It was time for a change of tack. 

    "Stand back a bit, Sister Hannah, you don't want to get caught in this".  Hannah looked a bit confused but nodded and held back.  Summoning a surge of energy and concentrating it into heat that formed in her hand, Margaret thrust her palm to the ground, forcing a ring of flames to radiate outward from her, incinerating the hollow men even as they rushed towards her.  "They're popping like dry twigs in the hearth!" Hannah exclaimed.   More importantly, the spell had opened up a gap in the ranks, though which the two made their way as quickly as possible, stopping only upon reaching the central chamber once again.  "That wasn't so bad"  Margaret remarked, feigning nonchalance.  "Yeah, and there are only two rooms more to go" Hannah replied, propping the jug up with one arm as she rested.  Two more . . . there had better be a explanation for why I'm doing this . . .  Margaret thought.

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Has the world ended already? Oh dear, I must have missed it. . .

Margaret is a little hesitant, isn't she.

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I love this story. Keep up the great work.

moonfever:

Margaret is a little hesitant, isn't she.

I kind of have no empathy for a character with no hesitation or fear.  It ruins their humanity for me.  Anyone who goes into a fight without any thought of the situation is at best a fool. 

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Has the world ended already? Oh dear, I must have missed it. . .

twelthdoctor:

moonfever:

Margaret is a little hesitant, isn't she.

I kind of have no empathy for a character with no hesitation or fear.  It ruins their humanity for me.  Anyone who goes into a fight without any thought of the situation is at best a fool. 

To go into a fight blindly would indeed be foolish. There has to be a plan, that's well thought out.

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I found this out first hand lol. Though lesson.

Crunch time has been approaching for classes, posts will resume soonish, after final examinations...

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Has the world ended already? Oh dear, I must have missed it. . .

   The morning air was crisp and clean, with a whiff of wet soil form the night before.  Maze stretched out his muscles and rolled off the admittedly stiff bed.  Groaning a bit in discomfort, he somehow felt awake and alert, the result of a decent night's sleep.  Rummaging around in a storage nook. he found a rather stale loaf of bread and a bottle of cheap beer. Breakfast.  Normally not a drinker of alcohol, Maze made an exception as he took a small swig between bites of bread to soften it up and improve the flavor, which was nothing to celebrate about.  After that, it was back to  business.  Touching his Guild Seal, he attempted to contact Theresa, but got no response.  It seemed that Maze would be receiving no help or information from the seeress.  There seemed to be one thing left to do; Oakfield was barred shut and the bridge was out.  Getting rid of the local Bandit infestation was the only way to make progress on either front.  Stowing some jerkey in his coat, strapping on his sword and pistol, and double checking his supply of shot and powder, Maze headed out in seach of the Bandit camp that was likely to be in the vicinity. 

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Has the world ended already? Oh dear, I must have missed it. . .

I really am looking forward to the rest of the story. zkeep up the work.

Err....things seem a bit off, I can't italicize....that's something I do a lot, but the options seem to be gone, and the emoticons must be typed in manually... this is annoying...

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Has the world ended already? Oh dear, I must have missed it. . .

Ok...anything beyond simple text seems to be missing for me... I'll try to continue, but I'd like to be able to use the post options... meh, I'll post later

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Has the world ended already? Oh dear, I must have missed it. . .

~~~~Still no italics, I'll have to settle for *asterisks*, annoying as it is. Well, I've delayed long enough...~~~~ The mud was still fresh from the previous rain, and puddle formed fom the prints of passserby; a gaggle of hobbe prints meandered aimlessly about before trailing off into the mountains, bird prints trekked across the path, ending in small pools of water they ad bathed in before taking flight. A boot print caught Maze's attention, and bits of brown glass from a discarded bottle seemed to support Maze's suspicions. The bandit appeared to have made a small fire nearby, where ashes and a ring of blackened stones marked a lookout site on the side of the dirt road. From there, Maze could see the remains of an old mining operation in the distance. A single plume of smoke rose to the sky in a serpentine fashion, signalling that the area was inhabited, ir very recently left; Tthe fire had to have been started *after* the rain had ceased the night before. Creeping steadily from off the beaten path, Maze hoped to avoid any sentries the bandits may have posted along the way.

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Has the world ended already? Oh dear, I must have missed it. . .

well, tried to paste from Word, just gave me an error message. does anyone else have issues with italics, underlines, or colors?

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Has the world ended already? Oh dear, I must have missed it. . .

I haven't experienced any troubles recently, you might just have to stick to it without italics....

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1 year on the forums and counting! Get it? Counting? Oh never mind...

~~~~ okay... my paragraphs don't show up, still can't do colors/fonts/ italics, so bear with me on the clumpy blandness..~~~~ The last time Maze had purposefully snuck into a bandit camp, it had been to gather information on the Asassins' Guild's plans with Weaver, and that was about 500 years ago. Maze almost laughed at the thought, but held his tongue as he crouched behind a long-disused mine cart for cover. Given that it was early morning, most of the bandits were sleeping, having spent the better part of the night enjoying the spoils of the previous day. One bandit "stood watch" at the fire, or rather, kept himself awake while the others slept. Considering the beer bottles that littered the ground around his feet, his consciousness was an achievement in itself. Maze considered just shooting him, but it seemed likely that this would wake the others (not that most of them would put up much of a fight with pounding headaches from the hangovers and the disorientation of being woken up too early, to boot). Instead, Maze decided to use a little trick he had learned a while back. Drawing his sword as quietly as possible, Maze waited for the watchman to scrounge through a crate for a fress bottle of beer. When the bandit turned his back to the crate, Maze came out of hiding and came up from behind, stabbing the outlaw while running a charge of lightning through the blade. Laying the body down silently, he prepared to deal with the rest in a manner that was more suited to his tastes. With no sentry to give him away, Maze stood in the center of the camp at the fireplace, with the bandits arranged in bedrolls around him. Concentrating with his Will, Maze cast arcs of lightning in all directions from his body, each latching on to a different bandit and electrocuting them within seconds. The bandit camp was now a graveyard. "Oi! What the hell have ya done to me lads? You're gonna pay for that, fairy man!"

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Has the world ended already? Oh dear, I must have missed it. . .

With a speed exceeding that of any natural means, the bandit leader who had stood at least eight meters away suddenly became close enough to smell the alcohol on his breath (not a pleasant smell). Maze instinctively brought his blade to a blocking position behind him, narrowly avoiding a painful death by skewering upon a rusty cutlass. With no time to charge up a Will spell, he whipped out his pistol and spun around, but the bandit was now a six meters away in a different direction. "Ha ha ha! They call me dash 'cause I'm the fastest bandit in Albion. I'm the leader round here cause anyone stupid enough to cross me gets a sword in the gut before they draw a weapon. Impressed the lads so much they made meChief Bandit in Roookridge.You can't touch me, so ha!" Maze fired a shot from his pistol in response, but Dash moved out of the way as though the bullet were a lazy butterfly. *Slow Time* Maze guessed, though the bandidt didn't seem the type to study magic at any length. The first spell seemed to be a variant of the Assassin Rush spell, but it seemed almost instinctive for Dash. In that case, he probably wouldn't do well against counter measures to the spell. Now reloaded, Maze fired at Dash and quickly cast a time slowing spell. Dash, apparently unaware of the spell, was running towards Maze at what now seemed a normal speed. This gave him plenty of time to launch a fireball at the unsuspecting bandit. As the slowing spell wore off, Maze had just enough time to see Dash's body fly past him like a meteor, then disintegrate into ashes on the wind. All that remained was to notify the gate guards in Oakfield that the pass was clear to start repairing the bridge on the path to Bowerstone.

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Has the world ended already? Oh dear, I must have missed it. . .