*WH Irvine ggets up and walks into the portal.*

*Davin stays behind a bit, picking up his weapons. Looking at the corpses.*

Davin *to flax* "Go on ahead. I'll be a minute or two."

----------

WH Irvine "What a bazzare dimension. If only there we're some time to study it." ((Diablo 2 eat your heart out :D))

Greco stepped through.

"Woah. Look out, we may find a dragon here." he said, jokingly.

*H'lena sniffs the air*

H'lena: From what I can smell, you might not be too far off.

Hammerhead: This place seems closer to what I know.

Deac: I can feel the evil seeping off of this place. Hey, Aeges! Any help?

[Your cue, Red]

*Nothing answers*

H'lena: This place seems to be blocked out from the outside world. Maybe even the Aeges can't enter here...

*Rwos, testingly, tries to put his hand through the portal. It stops against an invisible field*

Rwos: The portal's one-way only. We can't go back.

Che`: Then let's go the only way we've got left - up.

*The group advances up the mountain and into the castle. H'lena lights a magical torch, illuminating a vast, empty, magnificent hall*

H'lena: That's strange...I sense...

*She tries one of the gigantic doors in the hall. She cannot reach the latch, and when she tries to move it via telekinesis it doesn't move*

H'lena: Stuck.

*She pushes against the double doors, but they only creak. Rwos and the others join her, and finally the latch snaps and the doors slide open inward.

Inside is a gigantic room with a dust, bubbling cauldron. At the far end of the room, near a lightless window, is a cage bearing the dust of centuries. H'lena runs over to it*

H'lena: K'Warra?!

*A translucent figure opens its eyes and turns towards her*

K'Warra: Not quite. But close. *the apparation giggles madly* I fooled him. I tricked him, I outwitted him...

*H'lena touches the cage and is knocked backwards in a shower of magical sparks*

K'Warra: Don't bother. I've already gotten out. Just this sad little spectre left here to let the magic of this cage believe it still holds its occupant!

H'lena: What is this place?

K'Warra: The Castle of the Dragon Shunaria, self-styled Greatest of the Old Ones. *mad giggling again* He thought he could use me to gain immortality. Oh, he became immortal alright. Undying, forever and ever! *He, or it, dissolves into giggling again*

Rwos: This Shunaria...he is the creature that wants to destroy the other gods, and set himself up as the only god?

K'Warra: Yes, yeeeesssss indeed. He could swallow the spirits of anything, and he shall, hoping to gain back what he once was. But he will never outlive the curse he has put on himself! Never! We will stop him. A wraith, a wraith, a wraith doomed to consume and never be filled! He will eternally devour, and never be satisfied!! *An even longer bout of insane giggling* He will consume all...if he can...yes, all that he cannot rule, he will make part of himself...oops, small side effect to the lovely trick I played on him...no matter, soon the Devourer will be devoured himself...

[before the group advanced]

*Davin takes his steps towards the portal, inches away from entering it, he speaks into the corpses, knowing there still laid a living being.*

Davin "I know that trick you play now. But I'll let you live, for now. Tell your masters that I'll see them personally, with out the company that I now travel with."

*Davin walks through*

---------

[after]

Davin "How long where have you stayed here, ghost? Gone mad with time passing?"

[Look: K'Warra's become Gollum, precioussssssssss]

Deac: You look like.... *he looks at Rwos* I've...seen you before! I don't know where, but I know it!

Hammerhead: So. A dragon. Not seen in my world for ten thousand years. Now one seeks to consume the multiverse.

Greco: me and my big ****in mouth.

((Hee - a seven foot tall Gollum with wings and a tail? Interesting :D))


K'Warra: Never seen you before, nor any of your friends, no, except of course my dear sister...shouldn't you be long dead by now, H'lena? Never mind that, it doesn't matter...

H'lena: This dragon Shunaria wanted to become immortal. You said you played a trick on him. What did you do?

K'Warra: He wanted to bathe in the Cauldron of Life to live forever... *He gestures at the eerily still-bubbling enormous cauldron in the corner* He imprisoned me to take my stone skin...but I tricked him, yes, I imbued my skin with magic so that the potion would not work...couldn't take the chance that he could succeed in using the Cauldron...it didn't work exactly the way I intended, but it was much better...destroyed his body, but his spirit lives on, a consuming wraith...Consume the multiverse? I suppose he could...After all, he swallowed the spirit of the Phoenix to escape here... *The sprite points to a small object in the corner, next to the cauldron* Maybe only that could satisfy him now...

*H'lena picks the object up. It is made up of a rounded flat blue stone inside a gold matrice depicting a phoenix curled around it, forming the shield shape. It's the size of her palm*

H'lena: It...it can't be...the Phoenix Gate?

K'Warra: No, an empty trinket. Its spirit lives in Shunaria now...

((Just as long as he doesnt have conversations with himself, thinking he's talking to a completely different person))

Deac: I know...Starkiller saw it!

*Hammerhead spins*

Hammerhead: You bore the Avatar? You? Really? I...I once nearby took it....

Rwos: The Phoenix Gate? I always thought that was a legend...like the Time Matrix...

K'Warra: Everything's a legend for you people, isn't it? Avatars...yes, I remember now...the Starkiller...the Starkiller and his friends who abandoned me and Elizabeth to our fates when the dragon took me...all for the best, though, was it not?

Rwos: The Phoenix Gate was said to contain the very spirit of time itself. With the right incantation, one could use it to open the gates of time and travel through them, and go wherever one wanted. *to Deac* Remember the Time Matrix? The Gate is different. It cannot be used to alter the past. It was said that every time the Gate has been or will be used is already part of the history, or the future...

H'lena: I don't think we'll be getting the chance to test that theory. It's nothing better than a paperweight now. *She drops it* Not that it matters. None of us know the incantation.

K'Warra: I wouldn't worry about that anyway. Just as I made Shunaria what he is, so will I unmake him. Remember the poor, insignificant, alien girl that you deserted to her fate, Starkiller ...remember...remember?

Deac: You want to know what happened to Jiyle after he got the Avatar? He couldn't help you there, and then he got to chasing after various demons and had to follow the church. But it ate him alive, drove him insane! He had to have the Avatar exorcised from him and died in an asylum!

Hammerhead: Maybe that's why you're here now, Deac. Maybe you're here to make up for that man's mistake. I don't know much about planar travelling or history, but I know that sometimes we must follow in the footsteps of heroes, or be destroyed. And even when we aren't the hero that they thought we were, we can become one.

[Whoa! I just saw a parrel with Arcanum and Morrowind!]

((Deac: Read your PMs! :D))

K'Warra: Mistake, Starkiller? Oh no...happy chance...happy chance indeed...you see, she went to the vampires alone, trying to find me...

H'lena: Vampires?

K'Warra: Yes, vampires. They saw her potential...what she could become...and what they could make her...

*The sprite pauses and grins coldly*

K'Warra: You want to know what happened to Elizabeth after she joined the vampires, Starkiller? Would you like me to tell you?

WH Irvine "Vampires? There were quite a few on Coruscant ten years ago, extremely old ones.. I believe I over heard one of their names one time, Kay-wanna Clay or something like that."

Deac: I can tell it's not good. But what do you want from me? They were not my actions. I can't be held accountable for them. But I can rectify them.

K'Warra: "Rectify", Starkiller? What makes you think I want you to "rectify" anything?

H'lena: I'm sorry, K'Warra, but we don't have time for this. We need to stop Shunaria. You need to tell us where we can find him.

K'Warra: Haven't you been listening? That won't matter. Soon, in the world outside this place, Elizabeth will rule all Mrear. Why stop there? With my help, with the dragon's death, she can rule the multiverse. To think, before this...they almost had K'Warra convinced...of THEIR way... *He cackles maniacally* But no. Finally, Kejim's curse turns against him, and one of his precious Green bloodline has seized the power it was so clearly destined for. No more helping the weak, no more saving the unworthy...

*The wraith shoves its face against the bars and gives the impression of grasping them with hands that could clearly no longer grasp anything*

The Kings of Mrear are dead, Starkiller. Long live the Queen!

Flax: Hang on, I'm remembering something........ Yes! K'warra...... Elizabeth. Drago told me what happened. He said there was more to the story, but he never told it.

*The sprite vanishes*

H'lena: *after a moment* Still there. Ignoring us. Quite disturbed, if I may say...not sure how much of that we can believe.

*She sets to looking around the room*

H'lena: This dragon was a wizard. He would have had some kind of magical transportation system out of here, if only as an emergency measure. We only need to find it.

Rwos: How long ago is this, anyway?

H'lena: Oh, hard to say. Eons.

A'melie: Eons?! He called you his sister!

H'lena: We are both are very old...in a way. *quickly* That's all I can really tell you.

Deac: I don't have the avatar anymore. I have done my....Not Quite, Deac...not quite

Now. I think we've got a Queen to kill.

H'lena: Remember, Deac, he could have been completely leading us on...wouldn't put it past him...ah, found it.

*H'lena puts her hand on the middle of an enormous desk and chants a single word. A translucent map of Mrear's surface, landmasses, bodies of water and all, appears floating in front of them*

H'lena: *walking around it* If I'm not mistaken, here's how it works. We place our finger on the representation of the place we want to go to on the map, and we're transported to a magic marker that's been placed there. *She points to a series of stars on the map, without touching them* Those represent important places. Most of them are probably major cities. I expect this is our way out.

Deac...since none of us but your avatar has been here before...your guess is better than mine. Unless someone else recognizes these landmasses?

*Deac and Hammerhead look at the map*

Hammerhead: This looks a lot like my world...similar kind of shape, but...nothing here.

Deac: I think we need to go...

*Points to a city labelled "Dawnfire"*

Here...

Davin "So tell me, how do you suppose we get there, or will there be a portal to there that ironicaly we'll find it by luck?"

((OOS: Read my post, Scar XP))

H'lena: Like I said, if I'm right...

*She touches the representation of Dawnfire on the floating map. Instantly, she disappears*

Che`: This better not be a trap.

*She puts her hand on the same place. She disappears as well*

*Greco sighs and puts his hand on the map, dissapearing.*

Davin "Oh right..." 'I'm such a fool'

*Deac touches the marker and arrives not quite where he expected. Having only seen a picture once, he wasn't sure what it was meant to be like, but Alternate Dawnfire wasn't quite as good.
The tower had been ripped down, and a new tower of black iron built in its place. The mountains and grasslands burnt. Slaves were being marched up and down the streets be demonic guards.
Welcome to Deathfire. Queen Elizabeth the First [Anyone who makes British jokes will have an "accident" befall their character] now rules with a hand of burning steel, by wrath of Hell, Queen of Dawnfire.*

((You make it more tempting that way :D))

?????: God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen.

*The dark figure stops singing, under his hood he tilts his head. He is completely covered by a dark cloak.*

?????: Wait, thats not really appropriate, is it?

*Two gaurds move towards the figure, just as they are about to grab him the cloak comes off, the sword flashes and the demons fall to the ground in pieces.*

Drago: Don't you just love life? Oh, wait you're all dead already, aren't you? So who's next?

*After the group left, the Commander Demon stands up, his appearence looks to be injured quite a bit. He then closes his eyes and his appearence shifts back to his normal state.

He then opens a portal back to his home world.*

---------

*Earth, 25th century* ((Forgotten Universe))

*The commander demon walks out of the portal into a world not so unlike a world in the universe where he's just been in. Technology had been advenced, few of the ideas had increased quite a bit in the last fifteen to twenty years with the recent discovery in the ability to travel to another parallel universe.

Various types of half demons walked the streets, every now and then a human would be in the mix.

On this side of the planet, it was mainly dominated by the half Demons, while on the other mostly human. It was like this for a few hundred years, only it now just starting for both groups to forget some grudges and finally blend in together.*

*The commander demon goes to a lot, where he opens up a storage where a speeder was put during his time on Ulna Shardes.

He gets on the speeder and rides off towards his master.*

*Che` appears in the middle of a street. A troop of soldiers, demonic in appearance, in glittering, enchanted black armor march towards her. Che` starts forward from the slighlty-hidden place she had appeared in, but a hand comes from the shadows and stops her*

H'lena: Best we keep low for now. It looks like the marker the map was supposed to bring us to is buried, so we got plunked on the surface above it.

*The others appear. H'lena manages to get them into deeper cover before the soldiers pass by, chanting in alien tongues as they do so*

H'lena: *whispering* Whatever they are, they're beings of magic...they are not of natural races...my brother's work, I'll wager...I smell other magic here, too...

Trael: What is this place?

H'lena: Dawnfire, I believe...

*A voice peeps from the shadows, somewhat fearfully*

Boy: Dawnfire, honorable mages? No...no...this is Dawnfire no more...

*He points a grubby hand at the immense standard the demonic soldiers carry. It bears the insignia of a black gauntlet carrying a long sword, wreathed in green fire*

Boy: Her sign...the sign of the Queen who can be killed by no mortal's hand... This is Deathfire, now.

H'lena: That fire...gods, his charge has become corrupted...the wraith was telling the truth...

Rwos: Going to explain, H'lena?

Boy: No! It's not safe here. Come. You are no friends of the Death Queen.. The enemy of my enemy...*the boy is silent for a few moments. H'lena can sense his presence flowing among them, feeling out their intentions* I can lead you to the others. There are more of us than she expects, and we have a few surprises for the Death Queen yet...

*The boy moves some stacked furs and ducks into a tunnel inside the cliff surface*

Boy: Hurry! Let us go!

((OOS: Everyone who cares to - the boy is leading the group to the resistance gathering of this kingdom - feel free to incorporate all your characters as you see fit. :D))

Deac: I can almost....

Hammerhead: You feel it too, don't you? It's here, but it's imprisoned. Let's follow. Maybe we can free our mutual avatar friend.

*Davin enters the tunnel pulling out his shotgun a few meters in. He takes it and flips it with the reload lever near the trigger, cocking the gun.*

((Not a typical style shotgun, think Evil Dead/Army of Darkness ('The Boomstick' =D)))

*The demon gaurds advance, Drago cleaves one in two and impales another on his sword. He draws the dead demon's sword and continues the fight. In a couple of minutes all the nearby gaurds are dead. Drago unshakles the slaves.

Drago: Take their weapons and go! Go to the Church of the Wolf, you will be safe there.

Slave: I....... Thankyou. *The slaves run.*

*A new contingent of demons arrives, they are led by a girl of about 17.*

Girl: Hello, brother.

Drago: You have fallen and I have been sent to lead you back.

Girl: And what if I like this better.

Drago: Then I have been sent to end you, Michael.....

Girl: Yes, MICHEAL, the our great leader! Don't you understand? We are imortal, we could rule this world. We are the greatest of the god's creations!

Drago: We are the most cursed.

Girl: You would say that you were born human! *She spits at him.*

((Charater Bio:

Name: Michael Reffersan

Race: Imortal (Human)

Age: Bother to the first man that walked on Mrear. (So he says)

Back Story: When the gods created man they also created a second race, the Imortals. Imortals come to be through two ways, through birth or through dept to the Gods. The Council of the Undieing governs all Imortals and holds them acountable. (Since they are invulnerable human punishment is insuficiant.)

Micheal is the oldest Imortal, he heads the council. Micheal was reputedly one on the first humans on Mrear, his origans are lost in the mists of time. Whatever he may be, he is one of the most powerful beings on Mrear. His perfect memory has allowed him to acumulate an unmatched amount of knowlage.

The Imortals are now more active than at any time in history. A number have decided to side with the Death Queen. The council keeps a tight leash on all the faithful in the current war.

[BD: Leave creation mythology of Mrear to me, ok?]

*Deac follows. Inside he finds a room filled with several figures darting around, until they are noticed. Their leader then stands to great them*

Furion: I am Furion Ellism, priest of Furro. Travellers of the planes, why do you come to this place?

((must...resist....joking.....temptation.......... .................. not resisting...... welll.))
Greco: Queen Elizabeth the first..... Sounds familiar, oh well
*takes out a canteen full of bloody mary and drinks some*
Greco: Sounds like she won't have children, lest they get into scandals. Or fight for the throne.
((and the accident:))
*Slips on a bannana and is knocked out.*

((Taking off of what Deac said, I should note that anything not directly related to my characters in my Mrear posts is still (C) Deac (and muchly constructed or approved out of PMed information from him). ;) hehe.

And the Queen Elizabeth thing was uninentional. No, really, it was! I hate you you all :p ;)

Also, a note: I may or may not be posting sporadically or at least at odd times in upcoming weeks. Moving ^^))



Boy: Master Furion! *he bows* They appeared from nowhere on the street. They are no friends of the Queen. I could feel they have honorable intention, so I brought them to you.

A'melie: *whispering* Perhaps we shouldn't tell them everything about us until we're sure about---

H'lena: Why do we come? We've been sent, or rather...guided here by beings we call the Aeges. Your Furro god is one of them. We're supposed to stop a creature that wants to kill all the other gods and set itself up as the one and only dark god.

*A robed figure stands up from the shadows and walks over to Furion.* The others will be here soon. We should leave for the meeting place. These interdimensionals can tell us their business afterwards.

H'lena: *looking somewhat surprised* You're not from around here either, are you.

*The figure looks at H'lena. She was a gargoyle. Her facial features did not make her ancestry obvious - rather than H'lena's tall brow horns and mauve skin, she has only a slight ridge to her eyebrows and pale white skin - but the slight glow of her eyes in the darkness, and the tips of wings and tail from the bottom of her robes gave her away*

Figure: You bring plague with you. Just as the Death Queen and her Hand did...and as my own father did. But I am a child of Mear, and I will not let this world fall to your kind.

*Davin steps forward, him clearly bearing his demonic wings, and other demonic features about him.*

Davin "Do we really have time for this? We're here to prevent something bad, and some if not all of us getting shunned?"

Furion: I see. So you have come to offer us deliverence. Yes...

*He closes his eye as turns toward Deac*

Furion: You have the smell of a Starkiller. If you wish to help us, and to free this plane, to find what you seek, then free the avatar.

*The gargoyle woman clearly dislikes the idea*

Gargoyle: Master Furion... *She seems about to protest but gives up* I submit to your greater wisdom. *Looking sharply at H'lena and the others, she leaves the room into an adjoining tunnel*

Rwos: *to Furion* Free the avatar? Could you explain a little more?

Furion: The Avatar went to try to stop this madness from ever happening, to rectify what it had done, and now she has it imprisoned in her throne room. And it's dying... who knows what that could do?

Deac: I think I do...

*Deac notices that due to the change in time, he may have problems. He then reaches into his pocket, and draws something he has carried for a while.

The Starkiller Medallion. No longer needed, Deac had held onto it. And now, it is slowly fading away, and he may be next*

((Deac: Got carried away. Ammending now.

Backstory: Imortals

There are a race on Mrear who appear to be human. However they live forever. These "Imortals are born to human parents whoever something marks them as different.

There is no way to kill an Imortal, however if their head is seperated and burried away from their bodies they are paralised and live in eternal torment.

The Imortals are loosely goverened by a council. The council has taken it apon it'self to police the Imortals and punish those who attempt to gain power over the "lesser" races.

With the imergance of the Death Queen many disconted Imortals see a chance for themselves to grab power by joining her. This turn of events has sparked a war between the "Faithful" and the "Fallen". The Leader of the Faithful is a man known as Micheal.

Is that Ok?))

Rwos: This 'Death Queen'...we need to find more about her.

H'lena: Isn't it obvious? One of K'Warra's charges got corrupted when she got stranded here. When K'Warra got out of that "Shunaria"'s prison, well...willingly or unwillingly, he's helping her. Technically, after all, he is under his charges' power.

Rwos: But you said this is eons in the past.

H'lena: Shunaria devoured the spirit of the Phoenix. He can move through time at will. He cannot change whatever is fated happen here, but he can use whatever is happening to affect the present. He could get some kind of power from anywhere in time, and we would have no idea that he did, let alone what to do about it.

Che`: So this 'god' Shunaria is connected with all this.

H'lena: Of course. One way or another. Shunaria may not even have a plan. K'Warra's wraith wasn't very clear on that. He could have become some kind of mindless, incredibly powerful zombie. But even if he is - from what the wraith said, K'Warra and this Elizabeth have a plan to lure him her, or go to him. This is what we have to find out.

Rwos: First things first...the Starkiller.

*Davin sniffs the air for a moment*

Davin "Why do I smell the sent of death looming around?"

*In a far corner stood a figure dressed in black cloaks, having his face covered. Any visable clothing he wore emencefully old, yet in perfect condiction like it was almost new.*

*Davin jerks his head in that direction, he barely caught a glimce before it vanished.*

[Compromise: Journeyed from other plane, but been so long no-one really knows?]

Hammerhead: What bizarre contraption could imprison an Avatar?

Deac: The Soul Gem, right? The very thing it came here to protect. How ironic. Now how are we to go about freeing it

Furion: We hoped you could help us there.

((Deac: Yeah, OK. Lets say 30 odd Imortals were sent/arrived from a higher plane. Micheal is the only survivor of that group. Then lets say they bred with the locals and so every now and then "human" parrents through up an imortal?

Regardless, enter the hero! :D ))

*At this moment Drago enters, he carries a leather bag with him.*

Drago: Tell your followers one of the Death Queen's Captains is dead. You can even show them her head. *Drops the bag at Furion's feet.* Bury it twelve feet below the ground, face down. *He turns to go, then he sees Deac, he gives him a curious look and then turns to Furion.*

Drago: Starkiller?

*Flax leans over and wispers to Deac.*

Flax: That's Drago, he's an Imortal. If we're in the past this may be where he came from.

((P.S. The Imortals backstory doesn't effect Drago since he's cursed. However he still comes under the council.))

*Davin keeps shifting his eyes, lost track of the figure's movements. with out him knowing the figure was standing behind him.*

Figure *in a deep vocie* "Too bad it wasn't a higher rank. Drago, I think you mgiht be getting rusty."

*Davin spins around, pointing his gun at the figure.*

((OOS: For clarification...

Mrear is the long, long past of the Cantina-verse, yes? Or has that idea changed since it was invented?

[Either way, it's in the past compared to the Cantina-verse considering young K'Warra and Drago are here, but nice to know if it's in the same dimension or not ^_~]))


H'lena: You stink of death. Get out of here, wraith, or I'll send you back to the graves in which you so clearly belong.

*Che` unsheaths her glowing sword*

[Different Dimension]

Deac: I'm not an expert....

Hammerhead: Nor I.

Deac: But I would need to know about where she keeps it.

Furion: Look to the light atop the tower. That's where the soul gem is. That's where we have to get.

Figure "Wraith? Hardly." *Stomps hard on the ground.* "I'm clearly here in a physical sense. However I can tell you this, I had once a nice conversation with a little girl and her gargolye friend, K'Warra."