The Adventures of Goraxe Meridian: Escape from Gallowghast
The Palace rocked the rebels where inside the inner walls
and the Palace guard where hard pressed to defend the place. Although they were
elite troops, veterans of a hundred campaigns they were few in number and the
enemy were greater than they had expected.
Goraxe new this was coming, his first minister without
portfolio Sir Rake Croworthy had been gathering information on the rebels for
some time, the Wizard Sublime who had been with Goraxe for many years now had
seen the portents and divinations and so planes had been made.
Prince Welfhelion was out of the way and the Princesses was
safe in the duchy of Essex, most of the Royal Guard and those of the Palace
Guard who could be spared without risking letting the enemy know the King was
on to them had been slowly sent south to other lands and other holdings on this
plane and others.
Golems, elementals and guardian spirits had been summoned
and bound ready for the attack. Alice the Kings personal scribe and Newt-Torac
the lizardman mercenary had seen to the packing of the high Kings equipment and
preparation of his adventuring gear personally whilst the King and sir Rake has
prepared a few surprises for those rebels who tried to make it to the kings
apartments.
The Guard Captains had been asked to hold the lower halls as
long as possible and then to use the secret tunnels to get their men out using
them. Each tunnel was rigged with explosive runes in order to collapse them as
they retreated.
This meant the upper levels of the Kings halls and tower
where largely deserted except for the animated guardians who waited silently to
deal death to the rebels.
* * * * * * * * * *
Just then the tower shook causing the kings party to all
stop and consider what it meant. The battle in the lower halls where over the
palace guard either dead or gone. So be it thought goraxe as he slipped on his
mithril shirt over his leather jerkin. Next he added his belt, sword belt and
tool belt. Next he put on his old adventuring bandolier and lastly his entropic
talisman a gift from Rengard the former head of the Rangers Guild and his
youngest sister Carla.
His equipment complete he went to check on Sublime who was
working his magic in the Kings spell casting chamber. Deep in concentration
swirls of colourful magic reflected of the sorcerers mirrored plate. No one in the palace had ever
seen the sorcerers face and none knew his race. Most feared him more than just
a little, his no nonsense approach to business and his cold logical view of the
world added to the fact he was 6 foot tall and build more impressively than
most warriors unversed people.
It did not help that when people looked at him rather than
meet his gaze all they saw was their own distorted face reflected back at them.
This did not in any way stop him from been one of the most skilled and
proficient spell casters in the kingdom. His knowledge of alchemy was just as
great as his spell casting ability and was also known to be a most powerful
conjurer and astrologist.
Goraxe decided to let him finish his spell and so went down
the stairs to where Alice and Newt where building a makeshift barricade in
front of the doors to the Kings personal chambers. They laid a number of
spears, daggers and cross bows along the barrier.
Just then the sound of screams and yells of pain could be
heard coming from the levels directly below the Kings Chambers. Oh dear the
rebels had just found his golems and shadow cats, these creatures where immune
to mundane damage and quite a few enchantments and spells. This meant that the
majority of the rebels rank and file troops would be totally ineffective
against the presents the king had left for them.
* * * * * * * * * *
True enough the traps on the lower chambers claimed had
already claimed the lives of some fifty rebels most caught unawares by the
swinging blades, concealed spikes and falling stone blocks. Once they had got
past the traps the next batch of would be usurpers found the very shadows in
which they tried to conceal themselves turned against them.
The shadow cats pounced and for each one of them they
claimed half a dozen enemy. Soon mages arrived and dark priests with blessed
and enchanted attacks which were put to good use by the enemy forces. Noble
Khuul and lessor formorians made up the bulk of the new forces arriving. They
eventually turned the tide on the cats and although it cost the lives of all
thirteen of the shadow cats a much greater number of villains lay dead.
Just as the new lords of Caladonia took in the sight of the
slaughter around them the next wave of surprises made themselves known.
Sections of floor and wall animated and formed into stone fists which punched
and tore and unsuspecting rebels. Again battle was joined and this time the
enemy was ill prepared to stand against the half dozen stone golems and soon
their numbers where fast diminishing.
This brought valuable time for those above, however then the
enemy champions and officers arrive. Vaul the dark templar a Noble Khuul who
had long wished to see the alliance between light and dark come crumbling down.
He stood tall in his black armour and shade wolf fur. A veteran of many wars he
had spent the last few years in exile fighting wars for the lords of Dhaine on
this and other worlds.
He returned to aid those lords brave enough to stand against
the High King and Queen. They brought with them experienced rogues, assassins
and mercenaries of a mixture of heritages and races. Most importantly he
brought with his the Soul Hunter Harkken Rhot and the Sorcerer Vhandevil of
Kees. Both skilled adventurers and slayers of the noble and good.
Seeing his men been slaughtered the Dark Templar decided to
take action, not out of pity for his men but because he knew in the upcoming
wars he would need all the men he could get. Taking up his dark steel blade he
pointed at the first of the golems and uttered its dark command word Voidantius
Kometh and with that a vortex appeared atop the first golem and sucked it out
into the void. With its departure the tempalars troops took heart and redoubled
their attacks.
“My turn” whispered Vhandevil. He stepped forward and
through up his arms his long thin palms facing the golems his talon like
fingers spread wide. “By my power and the power of the dark, by my power and
the power of Kurst, by my power and the power of the void – DUST!” with that a
wide grey beam of magical energy flowed forward and struck the midsection of
the next golem as the energy spread the stone lost its solid structure and
turned to dust as if the ages had taken their effect on the stone not over
centuries but in seconds.
It was Rhot who was next to show his skill and power.
Drawing his two blades he called upon their dark power. “Levi empower and Vhort
deliver” as he finished his words the two blades began to absorb the light from
around them as they became engulfed in entropic energy. Moving with lightning
speed the Soul Hunter moved between two of the lumbering stone giants as he
came within reach of them he swung his blades out wide and connected with each
of them.
As the blades touched the constructs the magic which
animated them began to leach away overcome by the power of the entropy. The
stone also aged and crumbled another effect of the blades. Slowly the two
golems stopped moving and fell forward unable to move once more simply carved
stone statues.
The three of them advanced upon the two remaining golems and
soon the last of the guardians where no more, now to rid this world of the so
called High King Goraxe Meridian.
* * * * * * * * * *
The High King and his three companions waited noting the
noise had ceased from the level below them. They knew what would come next,
suddenly the well-made and enscrolled doors of the Kings chamber suddenly
exploded and blew inwards.
The enemy poured in and Alice a double loaded cross bow in
each hand fired expertly and dropped the first four villains through the doors.
Although the 5 foot 5inch blond looked like she might find lifting a heavy book
let alone wield two very heavy crossbows he not only managed to do so but then
threw them to one side and soon replaced them with matching short swords.
Next to her Tork held a repeating crossbow, with one squeeze
of the trigger three bolts fired of each contained oil of impact and resulted
in three heavily armed knights of the black blade exploding in front of their
allies. This slowed the next wave down and made them hesitant to attack.
hen Rhot and Vhandevil appeared both stepped confidently
into the room along with another named Bokk a Half Ogre half Khuul warrior
skilled in breaking through enemy lines.
Bokk and Rhot moved to fight the High Kings servants, whilst
Vhandevil placed his hand on his masters shoulder who had now joined his
lieutenants and teleported the two of them to where he believed the High King
would be.
Rhot decided to engage the lizardman and the women in the
same way he had attacked the golems, whilst and effective warrior he was lazy
and preferred to use the same manoeuvres. This time he decided to draw upon his
ability to drain the souls of others he could only drain one soul at a time so
he decided to relieve the young women of hers.
The killer acted fast however he was not fast enough for
Torc who was able to parry the soul hunters blade with his own rune axe. Alice
was not so fast and the hunters blade buried itself deep within her abdomen.
Rhot hesitated as he noted two things one he felt no soul energy drain from the
women and secondly he noticed the girl was smiling.
“Hi I am Alice 13 and I am Goraxe Meridians scribe, I do not
feel pain and I do not bleed as you are noticing I am also non magical in
nature although I do appreciate magic despite its lack of logic. Also because I
have no soul and am largely a product of technology your entropic attack also
appears to have no effect on me, however I have scanned your anatomy and pin
pointed its weak spots please accept my blades as a way of ending your
existence.” With that the women drove both her short swords into the sides of
the Soul Hunter, cleaving the being completely in two. The Soul Hunter lost its
life with a look of complete shock and surprise on its face.
Sir Rake noted the lumbering hulk come bounding towards him,
normally Sir Rake was not a man given to fighting, and in fact he usually did
his best to avoid it. He was a fully trained Knight and had been sword fighting
and fencing since he was a child however he found that fighting often ended up
ruining his clothes and getting perfectly good shirts stained with blood.
Bokk spoke “ You die fancy man, I am going to crush you.”
“Oh you are, are you and what makes you think a badly
dressed ruffian like yourself think he can slay a well-dressed gentleman like
myself?
With that Bokk raised his two big hands and hurled himself
forward. Sir Rake took a pouch from his belt and emptied the contents out onto
the floor in front of the goliath. Suddenly the half giant lost his footing as
he encountered the marbles Sir Rake had poured upon the floor.
The Giant-kin landed upon the floor with a thud and Sir Rake
took out a second pouch casually empting it over the giant. All of a sudden the
itching powder took effect and the half ogre began itching and scratching
wherever the dust landed.
Next Sir Rake drew a small wand and aimed it at the fallen
halfbreed “Sleepius Znoozus” and with that the giant yawned and fell fast
asleep. He then joined Alice and Torc who were both heading to join their King.
* * * * * * * * * *
“Greetings gentlemen are you two the best that Bogmire and
the others could send to try and kill me?” A smile crossed the high king’s face
as he attempted not to laugh out loud.
The Dark Templar turned to his companion a sneer on his
face. “You go slay that ridicules mage and I will slay this peacock.”
“I like to think of myself more like a Merlin Hawk, I once
knew a dwarf who was linked to the vicious northern red penguin, but no I am
most certainly not a peacock how about you, oh let me guess a scary raven or
perhaps a two headed vulture or no wait for it a fearsome black dragon.” Goraxe
was now laughing out loud.
The Templar had had enough he was not going to allow this
simpering Mhainite to humiliate him in a battle of words when fate had decreed
he was the one destined to end this miserable worms existence.
Drawing his sword and invoking its void powers. This would
be over in seconds the sad little has been was not even trying to dodge he just
sat their laughing. The Warrior swung his sword the blow designed to take the
former High Kings head clean off. As it connected with the Mhainites head the
kings wobbled and the blade passed through him as he continued to laugh. The
Templar was confused until he heard the word “Illusion” whispered into his left
ear, about the same time as a blade bypassed his armour and pierced his heart.
The last words this would be champion of darkness would hear before he ceased to exist was “Infernous
Ingnatious”. The entire form of the darkling lord glowed red then white and
then was no more.
“We should get out more I have missed drinking the souls of
others” said Goraxe’s sword to its master.
“I know I know well maybe we will have more time to have fun
now I have been deposed and my Kingdom left in tatters.”
“Now that would be nice” exclaimed the sword sounding genuinely
happy.
Looking down at his sword as he picked up his box of
illusions he continued speaking “In any case the Queen can look after the kingdom
for a while, see how much the citizens like that.” Both the sword and mhainite
started to laugh afresh.
“What are you laughing at your Majesty” said the aloof voice
of Sir Rake Croworthy.
“Just call me Goraxe or if it makes you feel better Baron
from now on Rake, did Mordred have time to move my funds and hide the treasury
before he left?”
“Yes” Answered Alice. “I helped him myself all is safe and
secure?”
The Mhainite looked at his companions “Well lets go see if Sublime
has worked his magic.”
* * * * * * * * * *
Sublime was in full flow now, his runic staff orbiting him
lending him power, his words of conjuring sounding more like song than spell
formula. The arch mage was in the middle of conjuring a gate to take him and
his companions from far from here. He had to be careful though for the enemy
had put up a suppression field around the palace in order to stop Goraxe from
using magic to escape. Oh Bogmire thought Sublime you may well be powerful but
as always you should have studied more. Sublime has heard of Bogmire he had
been a student of one of sublimes former pupils, he appreciated the fact that
the demonologist was a mighty magic-user in his own right but he also knew Bogmires
many flaws and so he was finding it all rather too easy to get beyond the young
mages spell of containment. He chuckled to himself whilst simultaneously
continuing to spell cast.
Vhandevil approached the spell casting chamber he could hear
the so called arch mage spell casting, hmm a type of gate spell interwoven by
some kind of weakening magic to help bypass Bogmires magic. But how, no one can
stand up to Bogmires magic much less cast them aside. If Vhandevil could slay
this mage and take his spell books what power would he wield?
Calling a slaying spell to mind Vhandevil began to chant “By
my power and the power of the dark, by my power and the power of Kurst, by my
power and the power of the void – ANHILATE!” With that pure energy of the void
and the dark was unleashed designed to destroy matter and extinguish life the
so called arch mage was as good as dead.
The Arch mage however knew exactly what was going on around
him. Sublime has been born to magic it flowed through him and was part of him.
He could see ley lines and could feel the winds of magic on his skin, he could
even taste the different types of magic on his tongue.
He was aware of the lessor mage as soon as he had arrived on
the lower halls, what amazed him was the fact that the mage thought he could
actually defeat him. Sublime allowed part of his mind to separate itself from
the rest of his mind. It called into being a golden sphere around the mage and
the spell he was casting, as the death magic struck it, it was absorbed and
dispersed.
Vhandevil was in shock what had happened, how had the
conjurer resisted his most deadly spell, carried on casting his two spells and
if he was not mistaken started to laugh at Vhandevil himself. Never mind this
second attack would be more successful.He began to cast “By my power and the power of the dark, by my power and the power of Kurst, by my power and ….
The dark mage never finished his spell as a voice spoke inside his mind. “You have made a mistake young mage and now I am afraid you will pay for your stupidity”. Vhandevil was very much afraid, he had always considered himself strong willed but this mind which spoke to him k=now had bypassed his defences with ease.
Then it happened a bolt of pure amber energy struck the
night wizard. At first nothing happened but then the mage tried to scream as he
realised he was shrinking, no not just shrinking transforming he was becoming a
frog. Soon he was covered in his own former clothing.
Just then Goraxe and his friends arrived, a frog emerged
from beneath a pile of clothes. Goraxe looked at Subline and spoke “ A little stereotypical
wasn’t it?”The Mage did not speak instead he pointed to the Vortex he had opened.
Picking up their packs which they had left here earlier the
companions walked through the gateway Sublime had opened up. Newt went first to
secure the other side followed by Sir Rake and Alice, next came Goraxe who took
one last look around before heading on through. Lastly Sublime walked through
the portal closing behind him.
A little while later the whole Kings Tower exploded and it
would be told amongst those who survived that the High King had fallen.
The End for Now
