Post by Sardinal on Feb 4, 2013 20:40:31 GMT -5
Rise of the Duergar
Tamlin lifted his belt off the back of the chair on which it had been hanging and buckled it around his waist. After making a few adjustments to ensure the hilt of his longsword rested at his right hand, he bent and gave himself a once-over in the mirror on the dresser before him.
"Are you sure you don't want to go another round, love?" a sultry voice said behind him.
He turned, his eyes roving up the form of the beauty laying in the bed he had just recently risen from. "I have duty in fifteen minutes, Desaria. Don't tempt me." He strode over to the bed and sat on the edge. Reaching over her, he pulled the satin sheet across her nude body and leaned in for a lingering kiss. "I have to say, though, that my brother was right. This place is the best kept secret in Hilltop. Madam Sarleata runs an amazing establishment."
Desaria laughed, "And here I thought it was my charms that made this place."
"Oh, your...charms... are certainly the highlight." He reached into his pouch and retrieved a small coin purse. He stole one last kiss while folding her hand around the purse. "There's some extra in there for you. I'll definitely........"
His remark was cut short as the entire building began shaking, a sudden violent lurching back and forth. Desaria screamed as the dresser bucked off the floor and the mirror fell, shattering. The rumbling shake slowly tapered off, but moments later it began again, softer this time, as if it was centered further away.
Tamlin rose and ran to the door. "I'd better check in, I'll see you later.", he said, dashing out and down the stairs. A few minutes later he ran out the front door of Madam Sarleata's House of Dreams and turned left onto Third Rise. The sight that greeted him there was terrifying. The City of Hilltop was built on an enormous hill in concentric rings. Far above him, at the top of the hill he watched as the towers of the Everwell Cathedral, the city's largest temple of Sardinal, swayed and shook. The left tower, the Spire of the Oracle, cracked and toppled, sending massive stone debris smashing down on the roofs of the Manor Houses of the wealthy on Fifth Rise. All over the city, from where he was standing, he could see buildings collapsing. Thick clouds of black smoke billowed above the city, something on the other side of the city was burning.
"Captain!", a voice shouted behind him. Tamlin turned as Lt. Davram and Privates Cole and Blackwell ran out of the brothel behind him, Private Blackwell still trying to get his chain shirt over his head. "What's going on?", Davram asked, panting slightly as he caught up to his Captain.
'I dont know, but we should report in right now." Tamlin turned to lead his men back to the Guard Station on Third Rise when the shaking began again, this time accompanied by a terrible grinding sound. The stone roadway about a hundred yards ahead of them heaved upward as a massive monstrous form burst out of the ground. Interlocking purple plates ran the length of it, it was at least fifteen feet around and more than 30 feet of its length had emerged from the ground and more was coming.
'Purple Worm!" Tamlin shouted, drawing his longsword. He knew he and the three men with him were no match for the monster, but perhaps they could keep it busy until help arrived. The beast finally slid its entirety out of the ground, and lay on the roadway. It opened its enormous mouth and inhaled, inflating itself to almost twice its normal circumference. Tamlin stared in confusion.
Inside the creatures mouth, on each side, flaps of slimy flesh opened revealing what looked like a pair of tunnels that ran the length of the creatures body. Short and broad armored forms began emerging from those tunnels. At first Tamlin thought they were Dwarves, they had the same height and girth. But these things were hairless, their skin black or grey with redish eyes. Tamlin realized in horror that whatever these creatures were, they had used a Purple Worm or something like it as a troop transport.
Several of the creatures charged at him and his men. He slid forward a step, making himself the point of the wedge his men formed behind him. The lead creature swung a brutal hook-beaked axe at his chest, which he sidestepped. His counter thrust was parried on the haft of the axe and then his opponent vanished. Tamlin swore and turned, looking for the creature and checking on his men. He took a step back, his mouth opening to warn Private Cole of the creature behind him and was surprised when a fountain of blood erupted from his mouth instead of the words. He looked down to see that hook-beaked axe materialize, buried deeply in his torso. The creature wielding it appeared just as suddenly as it had vanished. It grabbed Tamlins face in its left hand and pulled him down so they were eye to eye.
"Humans die too easy", It growled to him in heavily accented Human. It pushed him off its axe and he fell to the ground. Tamlin caught one last view of the buildings on Second Rise burning below him, then an iron shod boot descending. Everything went black.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Daenara ran. She'd been running for what seemed like eternity, dashing through the huge, ancient trees and thick undergrowth of the Heartwood. Even running at full speed she kept a careful eye out for the assassin vines and garrote ivy so common in this part of the forest. Most other races couldn't fathom why a race as powerful and orderly as the Drow would allow such vast swaths of their homeland to remain so dangerously untamed, but they were fools. The enormous wood of the Drow Nation was their testing ground. It was the forge that tempered them, the whetstone that honed them. Now, however, it was also the predator that stalked her.
She ran lightly up a ramp formed from a fallen tree leaning precariously on its brethren, and then jumped off the other end and out over a small gorge. She whispered the simple words of a Featherfall spell and drifted slowly and silently down into the gorge, alighting on a boulder sticking out of the Darkblood River. She paused there, kneeling and straining her senses for any sign of pursuit. She almost screamed when a dark silhouette landed on the boulder next to her.
"Have you seen anyone else" Selvaric's fingers flashed through the signs of Drow Hand Cant.
"Jorin and Felucia both fell to the creature", she signed back, adding the slight tilt to her hand to signify anger.
"Relnath as well," he responded, "we have to keep moving. Seven other patrols have vanished in the last six months. We must bring word of these creatures to Heartwood itself."
Daenara nodded. She was almost out of spells and she could smell the blood leaking from Selvaric's side. They wouldn't find a safe place to rest here, and Heartwood was still days away. They had to press on for a while. She rose from her crouch and turned just as a large fur covered form burst out of the shadows and barreled into Selvaric. Selvaric fell backwards, tucked himself into a ball and rolled out from under the creature. He continued his roll until his feet were under him again, and then gracefully rose to his feet, sliding his short swords from their sheaths.
Daenara got her first good look at the creature that had been stalking them and had already killed three of her friends. It was some kind of large hunting cat, roughly the same size as a full grown tiger. It had a third pair of legs slightly closer to its forelimbs than its rear. Night black fur with dark purple striping rippled as its powerful musculature flexed in anticipation. Brilliant green eyes fixed on Selvaric, revealing a startling intelligence in its appraisal of him.
The creature pounced and Selvaric rolled forward under it. His right Short sword lunged upward and impaled one of the cats forepaws, while his left slid across and opened a large gash in the creature belly. The creatures middle limbs, however, wrapped around Selvarics waist and the two continued forward into a roll, carried by the creatures momentum. Daenara clearly heard the snapping of several bones as the two rolled over each other. She raised her hands and slid them through the gestures of her last Scorching Ray and twin beams of fiery red light lanced from her. The first burned a line down the great cats flank, the second bore a hole through its rear left leg. The smell of burnt fur filled the gorge.
The tumbling stopped with the creature standing over Selvaric, his head caught in its massive maw. Daenara felt her stomach drop as she heard Selvarics skull crushed between the cats jaws. It turned and began limping towards her. She belted out the words to the last spell in her mind, a Magic Missile, and four bolts of blue-white light burst from her fingers and slammed into the creature, one after another. The great cat-thing stumbled, struggled to rise, and then collapsed.
Daenara slid down the side of the boulder and slowly made her way over to Selvaric's body. She lifted his ruby studded teleskiira from around his neck and placed it in her pack. She was about to peel his pack from his shoulders when another deep-throat-ed growl sounded behind her. She turned. Another of the creatures stood not 20 feet away. Daenara fell backwards and ripped her own short sword from its sheath. The creature took a short running start and then pounced at her, but amazingly, it stopped in mid air. A startled groan escaped from the creature, as Daenara watched, whatever force was holding it in place also began squeezing it. There was a satisfying crunching sound as several of its ribs broke.
Daenara took a step to the side and to her amazement, there was a Dwarf standing behind the cat-thing. It was unlike any other Dwarf she had ever seen, however. Completely hairless and beardless, its skin was charcoal grey. It had ears pointed like an elf or a drow. It stood, one hand raised in a claw, with purple light leaking out of the corner of its eyes like violet smoke. A Psion of some kind, she thought to herself.
Another of the strange dwarves abruptly appeared, this one with black skin. It began walking in a semi-circle away from the first one, flanking the floating cat. It raised a strange looking crossbow in its hand and began firing. Three bolts in rapid succession sank into the cat-things side. Daenara had never seen a crossbow fired and reloaded so quickly.
A third of the Dwarves appeared as well, this one with light grey skin and wearing heavy plate mail. It stalked forward, lifting a large axe in both hands. With each step, the strange dwarf seemed to swell and grow, until finally it was almost ten feet tall. The first of the dwarves flicked his hand and launched the cat at the third, who neatly cleaved it in half.
The first dwarf looked over at Daenara. "You are welcome, Daenara Shassa-Telan. We are Duergar of the Warmasters Guild. We will escort you and the remains of these creatures to Heartwood."
_________________________________________________________________________________
Velvi'dar Doth'Dakar was having a bad day. He batted another elven arrow out of the air with his left short sword, dipped his head a centimeter under his cousin Vyrr'vic's blade as it passed over his head and then rammed his right short sword up under the chin of an elven warrior. His father, His Imperial Majesty Kas'ryn Doth'Dakar, High Seat of House Doth'Dakar, Emperor of Lark, was not going to be pleased. No one had counted on the Elves of Clearwater emerging from their centuries long seclusion. Certainly no one had thought they would do so with an army of this size and skill. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Vyrr'vic whip his hands through the arcane passes of a Burning Hands spell as three more elves charged them. Velvi'dar parried a longsword from a forth elf, then activated the rams head ring on his left hand. A glowing transparent rams head appeared behind the elf and slammed into his back. Vel and Vyrr both smiled at the sound of an elf spine snapping as the elf flew forward into the three charging and all went up in the fan of flames from Vyrr'vic's spell.
The elven army had forced the Doth'Dakar forces Vel and Vyrr were leading into a heavily forested area. The elves obviously knew the terrain well and were waging a chaotic running battle against the Drow army. The forces of Doth'Dakar were outnumbered, outflanked and trying to regroup in enemy territory and it wasn't going well.
Velvi'dar swiveled around Vyrr'vic, disemboweling an elven fencer while his cousin cross-parried a bastard sword and then vomited acid at both the elf wielding the bastard sword and several elves behind that one. Velvi'dar sheathed one of his swords and clasped the Holy Symbol around his neck, mouthing a prayer to Vyrr'vic's father, Cyian Doth'Dakar, God of Tyranny and Domination. Healing energy that felt like a steel-gloved fist squeezing the wounds right off his body washed up him. He wouldn't be able to do much more of that, he was running out of spells fast.
Neither of them could see any of their forces. The running battle through the forest had separated them, scattered them. They could hear more fighting and cursing in both drow and elven all around the forest, however.
Vyrr'vic suddenly stopped and knelt on the ground, panting slightly. A thin layer of sweat glistened on the God'Son's forehead. "I think we've got a few minutes," he whispered, peering around the small clearing. More than a dozen elven bodies littered the ground around them, but none were moving. "We've got to figure out how to salvage this before my Father descends from on high and gives me a Holy Thrashing."
Velvi'dar snorted and wiped the sweat from his own forehead away with his forearm. "I'll trade you, I'll take the Holy Thrashing and you can have my Father's Royal Punishment.", he said, offering his cousin a wry smile.
"Not a chance", Vyrr replied with a laugh. "I'm not convinced my Father's divinity can compete with the Imperial Temper. Seriously, though, what do you think?"
Velvi'dar sighed, "I think we need help. Serious help." He reached into his pack and pulled out a small statue. Made of ivory, it depicted a horned human figure holding a quill and rolled parchment in one hand and a handled case in the other. Vyrr pulled out a similar statue, this one of a man wearing a hat and holding a crystal blade that seemed to flow out of his right hand.
Now it was Vyrr'vics turn to sigh. "Are we sure about this? Pulling them here with no warning is sure to piss the whole family off."
"We don't have any more option....." Vel stopped in mid sentence as 20 or more elves stepped calmly into the clearing, each with a longbow, arrows nocked and pointed at them.
"Kalistrae!", Vyr spat, spewing the most vulgar curse in the drow language.
Suddenly, just as the elves were drawing back their bowstrings, the foliage around them whipped itself into a fury. Vine and ivy sprouted two inch thorns and wrapped itself around all the elves legs, squeezing tight and locking them in place. Three foot shards and spikes of stone burst from the ground impaling the elves through feet and legs and worse. A glowing spark shot between the cousins shoulders, raced to the center of the elven archers and detonated in a massive bubble of flames. When the flames vanished nothing but charred bones and burnt plants remained.
Turning, the cousins saw a towering humanoid shape made of stone striding towards them. The huge earth elemental's arms were crossed in front of its body, forming a seat upon which sat a dark grey skinned dwarf. The dwarf was completely hairless, wearing a somewhat shabby, unadorned grey robe, almost indistinguishable from his own skin.
"Uud?", Vyrr'vic exclaimed. "Uud, what in the name of Katdorals dark soul are you doing here?"
"Uud", Velvi'dar added, "This place is swarming with elves. If even one sees you and survives to tell, the secret we've been keeping for thousands of years will be..." He stopped as the dwarf named Uud raised his palm.
"Enough, God'Son. Enough, Imperial Highness." The Earth elemental lowered Uud to the ground. "The Command has been given, we no longer keep ourselves secret."
"Command? What Command, Uud?" Another large group of elves burst into the clearing. Uud shouted a violent prayer and slammed his fist into the ground. The young cousins watched as the ground split into an enormous chasm that elves, trees, and rock all fell into. Uud, Arcane Heirophant of Korik strode calmly up to the edge of the chasm. "The Command we have waited to hear ever since the Vengeful Son took up blood and stone, steel and darkness and forged the Duergar from them. The Dictate every one of my blood has prayed to the Dominant Darkness and his Dark Son that they would hear in their lifetime. The Order that means Korics firstborn sons and daughters no longer face the task of subjugating this world alone. The Command was "Arise". Uud, Vel, and Vyrr looked down into the chasm. Where large trees and rocks had wedged themselves between the walls, elves held on for dear life. Some attempted to climb, some just trying to hold. Uud held his open hand into the air, then clenched his fist suddenly. The chasm slammed shut, crushing the elves, sealing them in their earthen tomb forever.
"The Duergar have Risen.", he said softly.
Tamlin lifted his belt off the back of the chair on which it had been hanging and buckled it around his waist. After making a few adjustments to ensure the hilt of his longsword rested at his right hand, he bent and gave himself a once-over in the mirror on the dresser before him.
"Are you sure you don't want to go another round, love?" a sultry voice said behind him.
He turned, his eyes roving up the form of the beauty laying in the bed he had just recently risen from. "I have duty in fifteen minutes, Desaria. Don't tempt me." He strode over to the bed and sat on the edge. Reaching over her, he pulled the satin sheet across her nude body and leaned in for a lingering kiss. "I have to say, though, that my brother was right. This place is the best kept secret in Hilltop. Madam Sarleata runs an amazing establishment."
Desaria laughed, "And here I thought it was my charms that made this place."
"Oh, your...charms... are certainly the highlight." He reached into his pouch and retrieved a small coin purse. He stole one last kiss while folding her hand around the purse. "There's some extra in there for you. I'll definitely........"
His remark was cut short as the entire building began shaking, a sudden violent lurching back and forth. Desaria screamed as the dresser bucked off the floor and the mirror fell, shattering. The rumbling shake slowly tapered off, but moments later it began again, softer this time, as if it was centered further away.
Tamlin rose and ran to the door. "I'd better check in, I'll see you later.", he said, dashing out and down the stairs. A few minutes later he ran out the front door of Madam Sarleata's House of Dreams and turned left onto Third Rise. The sight that greeted him there was terrifying. The City of Hilltop was built on an enormous hill in concentric rings. Far above him, at the top of the hill he watched as the towers of the Everwell Cathedral, the city's largest temple of Sardinal, swayed and shook. The left tower, the Spire of the Oracle, cracked and toppled, sending massive stone debris smashing down on the roofs of the Manor Houses of the wealthy on Fifth Rise. All over the city, from where he was standing, he could see buildings collapsing. Thick clouds of black smoke billowed above the city, something on the other side of the city was burning.
"Captain!", a voice shouted behind him. Tamlin turned as Lt. Davram and Privates Cole and Blackwell ran out of the brothel behind him, Private Blackwell still trying to get his chain shirt over his head. "What's going on?", Davram asked, panting slightly as he caught up to his Captain.
'I dont know, but we should report in right now." Tamlin turned to lead his men back to the Guard Station on Third Rise when the shaking began again, this time accompanied by a terrible grinding sound. The stone roadway about a hundred yards ahead of them heaved upward as a massive monstrous form burst out of the ground. Interlocking purple plates ran the length of it, it was at least fifteen feet around and more than 30 feet of its length had emerged from the ground and more was coming.
'Purple Worm!" Tamlin shouted, drawing his longsword. He knew he and the three men with him were no match for the monster, but perhaps they could keep it busy until help arrived. The beast finally slid its entirety out of the ground, and lay on the roadway. It opened its enormous mouth and inhaled, inflating itself to almost twice its normal circumference. Tamlin stared in confusion.
Inside the creatures mouth, on each side, flaps of slimy flesh opened revealing what looked like a pair of tunnels that ran the length of the creatures body. Short and broad armored forms began emerging from those tunnels. At first Tamlin thought they were Dwarves, they had the same height and girth. But these things were hairless, their skin black or grey with redish eyes. Tamlin realized in horror that whatever these creatures were, they had used a Purple Worm or something like it as a troop transport.
Several of the creatures charged at him and his men. He slid forward a step, making himself the point of the wedge his men formed behind him. The lead creature swung a brutal hook-beaked axe at his chest, which he sidestepped. His counter thrust was parried on the haft of the axe and then his opponent vanished. Tamlin swore and turned, looking for the creature and checking on his men. He took a step back, his mouth opening to warn Private Cole of the creature behind him and was surprised when a fountain of blood erupted from his mouth instead of the words. He looked down to see that hook-beaked axe materialize, buried deeply in his torso. The creature wielding it appeared just as suddenly as it had vanished. It grabbed Tamlins face in its left hand and pulled him down so they were eye to eye.
"Humans die too easy", It growled to him in heavily accented Human. It pushed him off its axe and he fell to the ground. Tamlin caught one last view of the buildings on Second Rise burning below him, then an iron shod boot descending. Everything went black.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Daenara ran. She'd been running for what seemed like eternity, dashing through the huge, ancient trees and thick undergrowth of the Heartwood. Even running at full speed she kept a careful eye out for the assassin vines and garrote ivy so common in this part of the forest. Most other races couldn't fathom why a race as powerful and orderly as the Drow would allow such vast swaths of their homeland to remain so dangerously untamed, but they were fools. The enormous wood of the Drow Nation was their testing ground. It was the forge that tempered them, the whetstone that honed them. Now, however, it was also the predator that stalked her.
She ran lightly up a ramp formed from a fallen tree leaning precariously on its brethren, and then jumped off the other end and out over a small gorge. She whispered the simple words of a Featherfall spell and drifted slowly and silently down into the gorge, alighting on a boulder sticking out of the Darkblood River. She paused there, kneeling and straining her senses for any sign of pursuit. She almost screamed when a dark silhouette landed on the boulder next to her.
"Have you seen anyone else" Selvaric's fingers flashed through the signs of Drow Hand Cant.
"Jorin and Felucia both fell to the creature", she signed back, adding the slight tilt to her hand to signify anger.
"Relnath as well," he responded, "we have to keep moving. Seven other patrols have vanished in the last six months. We must bring word of these creatures to Heartwood itself."
Daenara nodded. She was almost out of spells and she could smell the blood leaking from Selvaric's side. They wouldn't find a safe place to rest here, and Heartwood was still days away. They had to press on for a while. She rose from her crouch and turned just as a large fur covered form burst out of the shadows and barreled into Selvaric. Selvaric fell backwards, tucked himself into a ball and rolled out from under the creature. He continued his roll until his feet were under him again, and then gracefully rose to his feet, sliding his short swords from their sheaths.
Daenara got her first good look at the creature that had been stalking them and had already killed three of her friends. It was some kind of large hunting cat, roughly the same size as a full grown tiger. It had a third pair of legs slightly closer to its forelimbs than its rear. Night black fur with dark purple striping rippled as its powerful musculature flexed in anticipation. Brilliant green eyes fixed on Selvaric, revealing a startling intelligence in its appraisal of him.
The creature pounced and Selvaric rolled forward under it. His right Short sword lunged upward and impaled one of the cats forepaws, while his left slid across and opened a large gash in the creature belly. The creatures middle limbs, however, wrapped around Selvarics waist and the two continued forward into a roll, carried by the creatures momentum. Daenara clearly heard the snapping of several bones as the two rolled over each other. She raised her hands and slid them through the gestures of her last Scorching Ray and twin beams of fiery red light lanced from her. The first burned a line down the great cats flank, the second bore a hole through its rear left leg. The smell of burnt fur filled the gorge.
The tumbling stopped with the creature standing over Selvaric, his head caught in its massive maw. Daenara felt her stomach drop as she heard Selvarics skull crushed between the cats jaws. It turned and began limping towards her. She belted out the words to the last spell in her mind, a Magic Missile, and four bolts of blue-white light burst from her fingers and slammed into the creature, one after another. The great cat-thing stumbled, struggled to rise, and then collapsed.
Daenara slid down the side of the boulder and slowly made her way over to Selvaric's body. She lifted his ruby studded teleskiira from around his neck and placed it in her pack. She was about to peel his pack from his shoulders when another deep-throat-ed growl sounded behind her. She turned. Another of the creatures stood not 20 feet away. Daenara fell backwards and ripped her own short sword from its sheath. The creature took a short running start and then pounced at her, but amazingly, it stopped in mid air. A startled groan escaped from the creature, as Daenara watched, whatever force was holding it in place also began squeezing it. There was a satisfying crunching sound as several of its ribs broke.
Daenara took a step to the side and to her amazement, there was a Dwarf standing behind the cat-thing. It was unlike any other Dwarf she had ever seen, however. Completely hairless and beardless, its skin was charcoal grey. It had ears pointed like an elf or a drow. It stood, one hand raised in a claw, with purple light leaking out of the corner of its eyes like violet smoke. A Psion of some kind, she thought to herself.
Another of the strange dwarves abruptly appeared, this one with black skin. It began walking in a semi-circle away from the first one, flanking the floating cat. It raised a strange looking crossbow in its hand and began firing. Three bolts in rapid succession sank into the cat-things side. Daenara had never seen a crossbow fired and reloaded so quickly.
A third of the Dwarves appeared as well, this one with light grey skin and wearing heavy plate mail. It stalked forward, lifting a large axe in both hands. With each step, the strange dwarf seemed to swell and grow, until finally it was almost ten feet tall. The first of the dwarves flicked his hand and launched the cat at the third, who neatly cleaved it in half.
The first dwarf looked over at Daenara. "You are welcome, Daenara Shassa-Telan. We are Duergar of the Warmasters Guild. We will escort you and the remains of these creatures to Heartwood."
_________________________________________________________________________________
Velvi'dar Doth'Dakar was having a bad day. He batted another elven arrow out of the air with his left short sword, dipped his head a centimeter under his cousin Vyrr'vic's blade as it passed over his head and then rammed his right short sword up under the chin of an elven warrior. His father, His Imperial Majesty Kas'ryn Doth'Dakar, High Seat of House Doth'Dakar, Emperor of Lark, was not going to be pleased. No one had counted on the Elves of Clearwater emerging from their centuries long seclusion. Certainly no one had thought they would do so with an army of this size and skill. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Vyrr'vic whip his hands through the arcane passes of a Burning Hands spell as three more elves charged them. Velvi'dar parried a longsword from a forth elf, then activated the rams head ring on his left hand. A glowing transparent rams head appeared behind the elf and slammed into his back. Vel and Vyrr both smiled at the sound of an elf spine snapping as the elf flew forward into the three charging and all went up in the fan of flames from Vyrr'vic's spell.
The elven army had forced the Doth'Dakar forces Vel and Vyrr were leading into a heavily forested area. The elves obviously knew the terrain well and were waging a chaotic running battle against the Drow army. The forces of Doth'Dakar were outnumbered, outflanked and trying to regroup in enemy territory and it wasn't going well.
Velvi'dar swiveled around Vyrr'vic, disemboweling an elven fencer while his cousin cross-parried a bastard sword and then vomited acid at both the elf wielding the bastard sword and several elves behind that one. Velvi'dar sheathed one of his swords and clasped the Holy Symbol around his neck, mouthing a prayer to Vyrr'vic's father, Cyian Doth'Dakar, God of Tyranny and Domination. Healing energy that felt like a steel-gloved fist squeezing the wounds right off his body washed up him. He wouldn't be able to do much more of that, he was running out of spells fast.
Neither of them could see any of their forces. The running battle through the forest had separated them, scattered them. They could hear more fighting and cursing in both drow and elven all around the forest, however.
Vyrr'vic suddenly stopped and knelt on the ground, panting slightly. A thin layer of sweat glistened on the God'Son's forehead. "I think we've got a few minutes," he whispered, peering around the small clearing. More than a dozen elven bodies littered the ground around them, but none were moving. "We've got to figure out how to salvage this before my Father descends from on high and gives me a Holy Thrashing."
Velvi'dar snorted and wiped the sweat from his own forehead away with his forearm. "I'll trade you, I'll take the Holy Thrashing and you can have my Father's Royal Punishment.", he said, offering his cousin a wry smile.
"Not a chance", Vyrr replied with a laugh. "I'm not convinced my Father's divinity can compete with the Imperial Temper. Seriously, though, what do you think?"
Velvi'dar sighed, "I think we need help. Serious help." He reached into his pack and pulled out a small statue. Made of ivory, it depicted a horned human figure holding a quill and rolled parchment in one hand and a handled case in the other. Vyrr pulled out a similar statue, this one of a man wearing a hat and holding a crystal blade that seemed to flow out of his right hand.
Now it was Vyrr'vics turn to sigh. "Are we sure about this? Pulling them here with no warning is sure to piss the whole family off."
"We don't have any more option....." Vel stopped in mid sentence as 20 or more elves stepped calmly into the clearing, each with a longbow, arrows nocked and pointed at them.
"Kalistrae!", Vyr spat, spewing the most vulgar curse in the drow language.
Suddenly, just as the elves were drawing back their bowstrings, the foliage around them whipped itself into a fury. Vine and ivy sprouted two inch thorns and wrapped itself around all the elves legs, squeezing tight and locking them in place. Three foot shards and spikes of stone burst from the ground impaling the elves through feet and legs and worse. A glowing spark shot between the cousins shoulders, raced to the center of the elven archers and detonated in a massive bubble of flames. When the flames vanished nothing but charred bones and burnt plants remained.
Turning, the cousins saw a towering humanoid shape made of stone striding towards them. The huge earth elemental's arms were crossed in front of its body, forming a seat upon which sat a dark grey skinned dwarf. The dwarf was completely hairless, wearing a somewhat shabby, unadorned grey robe, almost indistinguishable from his own skin.
"Uud?", Vyrr'vic exclaimed. "Uud, what in the name of Katdorals dark soul are you doing here?"
"Uud", Velvi'dar added, "This place is swarming with elves. If even one sees you and survives to tell, the secret we've been keeping for thousands of years will be..." He stopped as the dwarf named Uud raised his palm.
"Enough, God'Son. Enough, Imperial Highness." The Earth elemental lowered Uud to the ground. "The Command has been given, we no longer keep ourselves secret."
"Command? What Command, Uud?" Another large group of elves burst into the clearing. Uud shouted a violent prayer and slammed his fist into the ground. The young cousins watched as the ground split into an enormous chasm that elves, trees, and rock all fell into. Uud, Arcane Heirophant of Korik strode calmly up to the edge of the chasm. "The Command we have waited to hear ever since the Vengeful Son took up blood and stone, steel and darkness and forged the Duergar from them. The Dictate every one of my blood has prayed to the Dominant Darkness and his Dark Son that they would hear in their lifetime. The Order that means Korics firstborn sons and daughters no longer face the task of subjugating this world alone. The Command was "Arise". Uud, Vel, and Vyrr looked down into the chasm. Where large trees and rocks had wedged themselves between the walls, elves held on for dear life. Some attempted to climb, some just trying to hold. Uud held his open hand into the air, then clenched his fist suddenly. The chasm slammed shut, crushing the elves, sealing them in their earthen tomb forever.
"The Duergar have Risen.", he said softly.
