HeroesofChaosChapterOneContinued

Here are the facts that they had to work with. This information was a combination of what Mya had been told by Rofel and what Jasala and Chahailis knew about their fellow Dynastics.

• • The Treasurer coming was one Cynis Vakar, one of Bal Keraz' loyal retainers. He wasn't as corrupt as the rest of his house, but would negotiate extremely hard. He was due by sea in approximately 2 days. He happened to be a second cousin of Chahailis'.

• • Mnemon Rofel would come, and would mean SERIOUS trouble. Rofel was Mnemon's favorite grandson. Raised from birth with a superiority complex that put the rest of the Dynasty to shame, and the latent power to actually fulfill that superiority, he was going to be a serious threat to the town. Deeply religious, and an attendant of the Cloister of Wisdom, he was one of the few who had mastered one of the Fivefold Glorious Dragon Paths. It was Earth no less. Still, Rofel was no monk. He was a hardened general and a veteran of both the Imperial and Mnemon legions. Put shortly, quite probably one of the most dangerous badasses from an island full of badasses. Other than that the characters knew nothing, although they could speculate. It was without a doubt Rofel would make a move on the jade mine. But when and where remained unknown.

When the group put those two facts together it became obvious what they needed. They needed Vakar to arrive in VERY short order and to make a deal with him before Rofel and whatever nastiness he would bring arrived and made the world a very unhappy place. Still, there wasn't much that the group could do except bide it's time and watch for signs of Rofel's approach by land or sea.

And so, with the proverbial clock ticking over their heads, the players went to work. Chahailis and Jasala gave Mya a quick schooling in Dynastic negotiation tactics while Mako and Kaiju combed the land and sea for signs of either Vakar or Rofel. Two days passed, and things were growing EXTEMELY tense. In fact, the night before the scheduled arrival, as Mako, Jasala, and Chahailis paced the floor back and forth in Eyrie, Kaiju discovered something. Something bad. Something REAL bad. Traces of an armies' passage through the nearby forest. From the disrupted trail and the faded smell of armor oil, it became obvious to Kaiju that at least a dragon's strength of heavy infantry was moving through the woods, and it seemed they had a very accomplished guide, judging by the measures taken to throw off trackers. In fact, Cynis Vakar had already arrived in town before Kaiju came upon the army...

Vakar's ship sailed into the tiny harbor, and as it was moored, the gaudy procession began to take place that heralded the arrival of nobility in a backwater town. A scale's strength of Imperial troops accompanied the slave-carried palanquin which in turn carried Vakar, sipping idly on some expensive brandy. Remember that Vakar was one of the LESS debauched of his house. As he arrived in front of Brumagim Manor, Mya met him at the gates and the negotiations began. Began but never finished. As the haggling over mining rights and such took a decidedly heated bent, the thunderous sounds of armored footsteps rocked the streets. Row after row of hardened Mnemon house troops, no doubt the finest soldiers in that house's possession, made their way to where Vakar and Mya were. At the forefront were 3 Dragon-blooded and young Sen.

Ah Sen. Good old Sen. Ever since Mako's arrival, he had harbored a distrust/dislike of the group. Although they didn't find out until later, after Vudra and Mya made the deal, Sen was also a Brumagim, Mya's younger brother. He was also even more impetuous than his sister. When Vudra and Mya agreed to marry, he had secretly fled during the celebrations. He was convinced that Mako and his chums were Anathema who had bewitched his sister. He just happened to run into Rofel's dragon during his blind flight. It didn't take long for Rofel to talk Sen into guiding him into Eyrie, convincing the poor boy that Rofel was with the Wyld Hunt and had come to save his town. Gullible.

At the forefront loomed Rofel, clad in nothing more than expensive robes. Flanking him on either side were his two lackeys, Mnemon Bindu, a sorceror of some repute, and Mnemon Zusa, a skilled Five-Dragon stylist.

All the while, Chahailis was in the mountains near the mine, convinced Rofel would strike there first. Jasala was in town watching events unfold hidden in a nearby alley. Mako, also in town, watched events from the seond storey window of a local shop. Finally, Kaiju was on foot, loping towards the town, hot on Sen's scent.

The event unfolded something like this:

Rofel: My Lord Vakar!

Vakar: Lord Rofel?! What is the meaning of this?

Rofel: My Lord Vakar I come bearing urgent news from the Blessed Isle!

Vakar: What!? What's going on!?

As for the urgent news, Vakar discovered all too well what that was. Rofel placed one massive hand on each should and literally tore Cynis Vakar in half, splattering nearby Mya with blood and causing a short-lived panic among Vakar's soldiers and the townfolk. However, with the overwhelming odds Rofel had brought with him, the soldiers once under Vakar wisely decided to surrender, and the townfolk were helpless to resist. It would take some heroes to stand their ground against Rofel. And the heroes were on their way.

By this time, Chahailis had been alerted to the trouble and had arrived, and now all of the player circle was ready for action. However, when they tried to attack Rofel and company, Rofel snatched Sen up with one hand and help his neck taut, ready to snap. Mya screamed, pleading for the characters not to attack, to spare her brother. However, the group was REALLY angry at Sen for his betrayal and knew he was dead anyway. Still, they didn't dare risk attack, heroes that they (reluctantly) were. Then the impossible happened. Chahailis leapt into the fray, grabbed hold of Rofel's massive outstretched arm, pried Sen loose, and tossed him to the oncoming Kaiju, who retrieved the flying village boy with a tackle. It was a beautiful stunt, and one which left even the implacable, unstoppable, all-around badass Rofel himself gape-jawed in amazement. And then the fight started.

In the end, the soldiers were made short work of. Most of the soldiers in the square were dispatched and those outside who had begun looting and pillaging were in a panic. In the fray, both Bindu and Zusa were made short work of, and in the thick of it Rofel wisely slipped out. While Mako, Chahailis, and Jasala scattered the enemy soldiers and began helping the wounded townfolk out, Kaiju tracked Rofel to the docks, where he was attempting to steal Mako's ship (naturally). The two spoke for a few tense moments, and then Rofel smirked and the battle began. It was a furious one, to say the least. A master path Earth Immaculate versus a mighty Lunar in Deadly Beastman. Both sides shrugged off heinous blows. Neither side could make significant progress.

After a bit, Rofel paused and tried to buy Kaiju's loyalty. That REALLY pissed Kaiju off. They fought some more and finally Kaiju's darkest hour arrived. Rofel caught him in the DEADLY Avalanche Assault. He had him trapped, locked inbetween the planks of the ship. Rofel smirked and raised his titanic fist to deliver the coup-de-grace. Little did he know...

Kaiju and Mako are sworn brothers. They can sense each others' fears and desires. They can sense when the other is in grave danger. And so Mako, who was in the process of lifting a burning roof out of his way, looked down toward the dock, and with his keen vision saw Kaiju's dangerous state. It was now or never. All or nothing. One shot to save his brother's life. In a feat of Herculean strength, a feet of not legend but INCREDIBLE legend, he hurled the flaming roof down the hill, like a big flaming discus towards his boat and the man who stood poised to kill his brother. That's right folks, he threw a damn roof. A burning roof no less. And he made the HELLACIOUS amount of successes needed to actually succeed. It wasn't easy on Mako though, he was sacrificing his beloved ship to save his beloved brother. It was a moment of considerable gravity for us all. It worked though. Rofel LITERALLY didn't see it coming. Although the roof shattered harmlessly against his impervious skin, it served as JUST the distraction needed for Kaiju to free himself and fight on.

The fight went on and on, with Mako actually forced to join the fray and fight side by side with his brother. Although Rofel was gradually taking tiny bits of damage, he was showing no signs of slowing down, and his ruthlessness made him as inexorable as the tide, or better yet, an earthquake. In fact, the fighting on the ship had actually caused the vessel to crack in half and begin to sink into the shallow harbor from the backlash of heavy blows. And then Rofel tricked the brothers. Feigning dead, he collapsed backward into the cold, dark water. Not buying it, Mako and Kaiju dove in after him, and right into his trap. In contact with the earth now, he caught them both and held them down, while the Hungry Earth began to devour them. Now both brothers were trapped, helpless in the Earth, Mako by the Hungry Earth, Kaiju by the Avalanche Assault. Once more Rofel stood poised to eliminate. Once more the blow would not fall. A strange, claw-like device pierced the water, gained purchase in Rofel's back, and jerked him out to the surface. Suddenly freed from his imprisonment, Kaiju burst out of the water while Mako struggled to escape his own earthen tomb. Kaiju was shocked as he broached ths surface. He saw Rofel, on the docks, on his back, with a strange blue-haired man holding a knife to his throat. The blue-haired man, another Dynastic of some sort, let out an expletive in High Realm (which Kaiju didn't know) and then fled the scene, leaving a dazed Rofel behind. Kaiju held him in place, and a then-free, VERY angry Mako lifted up his ex-ships anchor and crushed Rofel's face in. Brutal.

After this (Two and a Half hour real time) battle, Kaiju and Mako, dazed and wounded, made their way back into the town proper, where they discovered some sad news.

Mya had been killed in the fighting, saving her brother Sen from one of the Mnemon soldiers. Her last words were to Chahailis, who found her.

"Please, teach him... Show him the... way..."

After that, Chahailis, pissed but calm, grabbed the shocked and in shock Sen and dragged him around, forcing him to see for himself the carnage he had help to create. Forcing him to witness firsthand the folly of his deeds.

Meanwhile, Vudra swooped in, also tired from the fighting. He asked to take Mya's inert body. Kaiju allowed it, saying that it was the way of things. Vudra scooped up Mya's tiny, lifeless form and then took off into the sky, followed by his host. It was fairly clear that Vudra and his gods would not be back. Ever.

And yet, the players had won. Mya had died and the town of Eyrie suffered serious damage, but the Realm had been beaten back. Blood and carnage had arrived in a once virgin land, and yet the land stood still free of Realm influence. It was tragic, but nonetheless, at the end of the day, Mako, Kaiju, Chahailis, and Jasala had won. Now the REAL work would have to begin...

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