DKDragons/SessionEighteen

17:27 [ST] Leaving Talek and the other troops at the walls, Keshin bears west, deeper into the beleaugered city, where flashes of flame indicate battles between the sappers set by Striking Sparks and some new set of invaders. A few minutes earlier, a column of green pyreflame announced the breach of some place deep in the city's innards, and now the battle is joined within.

17:29 [ST] It's a night blacker and fouler than any other. Gore continues to lash down out of the sky viciously as Keshin makes his way across the warrior's quarter. Pools of offal and blood have gathered in low lying areas, moving ever down toward the walls as the foul downpour follows the slope of the city. Burning torches have been extinguished; only covered lanterns still give out pools of

17:29 [ST] light on the blood-slick streets, and these are crimson from the gore staining their surface.

17:32 [ST] The wall that separates the warrior's quarter from the Citizen's Quarter looms up before him, nearly forty feet high and made of imperishable First Age Materials. A backup line of ex-slave soldiers and Grandidi's citizen army, the Black Lions, man the wall. The gates are tightly sealed.

17:32 [ST] Blood runs down the smooth stone of the wall, trickling down the slight incline of the street in crimson rivulets.

17:34 [ST] "Fighting in the city!" the aged Grandidi shouts down from the wall, as if that's necessary. His impressive mustache and beard drip red. If he lives through this, he'll probably shave them off to be free of the smell.

17:34 [ST] "What should we do?"

17:38 [ST] "There's blood everywhere, sir," Quiet Sapphire announces. She's badly burned and barely able to stand, but insisted upon manning this wall. "Feet deep, it's puddling at the base of the wall. It'll be this way all through the city."

17:39 Split between servers Gryphon.MagicStar.net and Galaxy.MagicStar.net

17:39 Split: Talek

17:43 [Keshin] "Is it shallow enough for you to open the gate?" he yells up. "If I don't have to waste time climbing over the wall, I don't want to."

17:45 [Keshin] Not waiting for them to answer, Keshin leaps at the wall and quickly climbs to the top, waving his troops to wait at the gate from there. "Hows it look. Can you see where the enemy are advancing through the city?" It would be invaluable information, and he needed to wait for his men to get through the gates anyway.

17:46 [ST] Grandidi shouts something unintelligible. The nearest wooden gate creaks and opens forcefully, realeasing a foul tide of clotting blood. The corpses of stray cats, dogs, and rats, killed outright by the vile rain, bob through the slurry. A severed human arm briefly appears as the worst of the sudden rush moves past, traveling in a wave a foot or two high down the inclined boulevard toward

17:46 [ST] the walls.

17:46 [ST] After a moment, the water drops to an inch or so, more than enough to move forward.

17:49 [ST] "I don't want to leave this open too long," Grandidi muses. "They may break through at the front wall."

17:50 [Keshin] "Yeah, close it behind us. I don't want to swamp the front lines in blood either, and the next wall is probably the same. Do you think you can hold with me taking some of your men?"

17:51 [ST] The old man hesitates a moment, wiping his face compulsively. "Yes, but don't take too many, we may need to mount a defense in a hurry, and you'll find more further within the city."

17:54 [Keshin] He nods. "Give me who you can. They should catch the tail end of my formation. Hold strong." He turns away, jumping down to rejoin his unit, just now marching through the gate.

17:55 [Keshin] No speech needed, he takes them further into the city, rushing to get to the enemy as fast as possible. Sparks' men couldn't hold them for long, if at all.

17:56 [ST] Here in the Citizen's Quarter, some too stubborn or too thick to take shelter elsewhere peer through thick shutters as Keshin and his forces rush through. Everywhere throughout the troops following Keshin comes the sound of retching and gagging. Blood scabs over in rooftop gutters and streams from drainage pipes. If this city survives, it might be better to just abandon it.

17:57 [ST] From time to time, plumes of flame can be seen rising in the distance as the battle continues, growing ever more fierce. As Keshin and his troops draw near the boundary between the Citizen's Quarter and the Merchant's quarter, the sounds of battle grow louder.

17:59 [ST] By this point, the defensive line becomes sparse indeed, clumps of a few fangs of men holding key points on the wall that separates the quarter. This barrier is more decorative than anything - scarcely ten feet high, its Second Age stone worked in a pattern of ivy that was probably passably artful once and has since been heavily abraded.

18:02 [ST] Keshin and his forces see a battle as they draw near the low wall. Tongues of flame from Firedust weapons spring up, along with the poisonous green of pyreflame grenades. There is shouting and the sound of weapons clashing, and a splashing sound, like the water fights Keshin used to have with his cousins, multiplied many times.

18:02 [ST] A few figures are visible atop the wall through the driving rain, but their backs are turned - they're desperately fighting an enemy that has come up behind them.

18:04 [Keshin] Keshin roars, waving his men onward with his off hand. He doesn't bother to slow down, instead leaping to the top of the wall between two of the beleagered defenders, and assessing the situation from there.

18:08 [ST] Keshin does a quick head count - it's difficult to see in this mess, chaotic, and violent, but he's been well-trained. He estimates about 40-50 defenders still standing, all of them former slaves in hastily constructed armor, bearing spear, short sword, and shield. Most are clustered atop a tiny stair leading up to the wall, trying to stop an onrushing group of mortal soldiers in thick metal armor, wearing the crest of the Vermin.

18:09 [ST] Blood stands almost thigh deep against the wall, and the Vermin must advance through it, which slows them. Unfortunately, they have gained the wall further to the north and are also sweeping south, forcing the Kushan defenders to fight them in two directions at once. They also have far more archers, and arrows are falling thickly amongst the defenders, taking a heavy toll.

18:09 [ST] There appear to be at least 200 Vermin here.

18:13 [ST] As Keshin lands, a defender bends low to thrust past his waist, taking an advancing Vermin with a scar running down his face in the belly. The man spits blood, virtually unnoticable in this deluge, and tumbles away to splash in the water below, pulling the spear with him.

18:13 [ST] The ex-slave who felled him grins tightly and draws a slashing sword. "Glad you're here, sir, these bastards are coming out of the woodwork. More deeper in the city, too!"

18:16 [Keshin] Keshin nods, then orders his men up to the wall, to reinforce the slave's position against the Vermin at the bottom of the wall. Then he turns to deal with the flank threat himself, advancing along the backside of the wall. The line of defenders wasn't anywhere near thick enough to occupy its whole width. One man wouldn't make so much difference holding the length of a wall, but at the concentrated baddle on its width,

18:17 [Keshin] he could turn the tide.

18:21 [ST] As Keshin advances up the wall, an explosion of Firedust blossoms ahead - someone has tossed a Firedust grenade. A half dozen Kushanians reel back, screaming, blood sizzling as it falls on their burning flesh, and tumble from the wall. An onslaught of Vermin follow. They're strangely equipped, no two bearing the same arms. Hammers and daggers alongside spears alongside swords. The attack clumsy and rag-tag, but it still bends and threatens to cripple the line of Kushanians before it.

18:22 [ST] The commander of the enemy forces seems to be a woman. She is tall, willowy, attractive and strangely delicate, her features seemingly gentle, but a deranged fire burns in her eyes and her blond hair is slicked against her scalp with blood. She carries a flame piece prominently, giving swift but quiet orders as she slips through the ranks.

18:28 [Keshin] As soon as he sees the line falling apart in front of him Keshin speeds up, charging through the gap created by as a slave who had died in the initial explosion, between those just running. He reaches the front of their line before she does, and tears into them, attacking with broad sweeps of his Daiklave. Most of their weapons didn't have the reach of his, so he could attack with impunity for the moment.

18:29 [Keshin] He uses his attacks to crowd the enemy towards her, trying to delay her advance to the front. He needed to give his men as long as possible to recover from the grenade.

18:33 [ST] Keshin's attack spreads utter mayhem, his daiklave tearing massive, ragged chunks out of the enemy formation. Bodies, missing limbs, severed in half, tumble to either side of the wall, splashing in the muck pooling on the near side. There's a rousing cheer from behind as the defending troops rally.

18:34 [ST] The Vermin regroup, trying to swarm over the Dragonblood and bring him down with sheer numbers. He sees a blur of pale, maddened faces - light and dark, men, women, children, the beautiful and the hideous. The Vermin, all the dregs of the devastated East, trying to pull him down.

18:36 [ST] Aside from a small scratch along the small of his back, the attacks fail to harm the stalwart Dragon-Blood. He bursts from the throng, sending Vermin flying left and right.

18:37 [ST] Lamprey's eyes are cold, dead, and calculating as she levels her weapon at Keshin. She has always feared and hated the Dragonblooded, moreso now that they have killed her friends, her family. She shouts no warning to the troops around him. He would kill them anyway. They would understand.

18:37 [ST] A serpent of flame bolts from the end of her weapon, snapping and hissing in the vile downpour.

18:42 [Keshin] Keshin had kept track of her movements through the Vermin's rush, and drops as low as he can when she aims her weapon, bringing his daiklave up vertically and hunching behind it to redirect as much of the blast above him as he can.

18:43 [ST] As the blast disperses itself harmlessly, the troops behind Keshin rally, surging forward in a counterattack along the slick wall, spears lowered for a charge.

18:47 [ST] The Vermin, scattered though they are, are simply the better soldiers, hardened killers all, and they throw the assault back on its heels easily.

19:03 [ST] The Vermin were not Keshin's main focus; it's possible in his haste that he did not even notice the damage he has done to them. As Lamprey falls to her knees, she sees a trail of shattered bodies in Keshin's wake - dozens at the least. The rallying Kushan defenders swarm over the survivors, stabbing and hacking clumsily yet effectively. Below, at the sight of the carnage and their fallen leader, the Vermin begin to retreat.

19:04 [ST] "B-bastard," Lamprey hisses through clenched teeth. Blood coats her face, but it's impossible to tell who it belongs to. She presses one hand against her belly, as if to hold her guts in.

19:08 [ST] But as her fingers tighten around a round pottery shell, Keshin realizes too late that she's not trying to prolong her life at all, but merely to hasten her death.

19:09 [ST] Lamprey slams the firedust grenade into the ground at her feet and is swallowed in a conflagaration. Before Keshin can begin to register this suicide, the other seven on her belt cook off in the heat and he is swallowed in a storm of flame.

19:17 [Keshin] He had been stabbing for her hand, hoping to cut through the wrist with the width of his blade and continue into her already wounded abdomen. At the last moment he saw the grenade come out, and tilted his hand slightly, driving the weapon weakly to just below the grenade and ducking his head just below the diaklaves guard, hunching to minimize the surface he presented to the blast. The first barely caugth him, scratchinng at his hands but not enough to cut through his stony skin. By the time the other grenades chained, he was able to turn more, taking the blast and shrapnel hitting armor rather than skin.

19:20 [ST] Lamprey's corpse smolders in the downpour. The last of the attacking Vermin flee, slipping away into the shadows, and a ragged cheer rises through the ranks.

19:20 [ST] -and then there is a burst of golden light further within the city, anguished cries of "Anathema!"

19:22 [Keshin] He stayed there, hunched and twisted around, for a moment, before straightening, bits of the wall still plinking down around him. He ignored them, and the cries of the wounded slaves, staring at the new intrusion into the city. Damn. He would have taken another with him if he had known the enemy had sent Anathema through with their sapping assault.

19:24 [ST] "What should we do, sir?" A subordinate in Ledaal livery asks. One of Mara's household troops. "The Vermin are still assaulting this length of the wall and fighting within the city - they're trying to cut us off from our forces in the Prince's Quarter!"

19:28 [Keshin] "Take over the fight along this length of the wall. (Shouting now) Merchant Wall defenders, let the reingforcements relieve you. Reinforce the defenses on the west side of this wall." He nods to his subordinate, presumably the commander of the section of the reserves he had taken with him. "We are going to hold the Vermin as the slaves redeploy, then when we can dress our line, we will push them off the wall, and try to reconnect with the Prince's Quarter."

19:35 [Keshin] Keshin grabs a slave running behind him. Good, he had no rank, so he wouldn't be missed. You, run a message south, pulling any unengaged men back here. They can't have attacked over the entire wall's length."

19:41 [ST] The Vermin attack seems to have melted away here - the runner returns a few minutes later reporting all the length of this wall clear. Another attack was repulsed at the center, and the Vermin have pulled back, occupying parts of the city between the wall here and the Prince's Quarter.

19:42 [ST] In the distance, the battle between Striking Sparks' forces and the Anathema continues, columns of flaring light forming on the horizon.

19:46 [ST] ...and in the Prince's Quarter, the Urchin scrambles atop a pile of barrels with several other children as the blood begins to rise within its walls. With the battles going on in the city around them, Silken Whisper has ordered the gates to remain closed. He stands on the battlements looking over the flooding city, an expression of purest agony on his face.

19:46 [ST] Meanwhile...

19:49 [Keshin] There wasn't enough time. The Vermin had to be driven out if they were to keep the Prince's Quarter as a line of defense, but he was needed against the Anathema immediately. He turns to the commander standing beside him. He was Ledaal trained, hopefully that would be good enough "Take command and drive the vermin North if you can."

19:51 [Keshin] He leaves the man there, jumping into the lake of blood at the base of the wall and wading quickly through it, moving straight towards the Anathema's flame in the distance, at least until he hit the first block and had to stick to the streets.

19:56 [ST] The incline of the landscape is steeper here. Keshin has to walk through the blood for longer than he might wish, and he cannot fail to notice, as he advances through gore up to his crotch, that little mother-of-pearl streamlets of pus wind through the larger mass. He emerges at last, winding his way closer to the fiercest of the battles. Flame and light dance against the night sky.

19:57 [ST] Keshin realizes as he draws near that the battle has been moving for some time - he finds dead Vermin but far more dead Tigers, their bodies heavily traumatized; one lies cut in half, another dangles impaled from the spire of a building. Firewands have been snapped in half, bones pulped. The sounds of battle grow louder.

20:02 [Keshin] He feels himself flagging slightly, the initial edge of adrenaline leaving him during this pause. He draws strength from the dying city to replace it. It had been good, and its stone streets still had charadcter, resolve. It was not its fault that it had been ruled by such useless men.

20:04 [ST] The trail leads to a tall, octagonal building several stories tall. The Untouched Lotus. Many years ago, the Scarlet Empress had kept seven notable mortal concubines whom she had never bedded. This produced something of a brief fad, and the Untouched Lotus was created to create perfectly skilled - and perfectly virginal - companions. In the decades since, the fad has waned, but the owners had stubbornly kept it running despite an overabundance of 40 year old virgins.

20:05 [ST] The battle has gone within; Keshin finds a tunnel carved through one wall and follows it to a central courtyard. Flowers and trees dot the area, which is dominated in the center by a wide, shallow pond crossed by a thin footbridge. The walls of the building rise on all sides.

20:06 [ST] The falling blood has wilted the flowers and stained the lake an ugly black. Scorch marks and corpses indicate the recent battle.

20:06 [ST] Striking Sparks and a handful of her forces wait with their backs pressed against the far wall. And on the bridge stands Iron Spider.

20:07 [ST] He wears a suit of dark soulsteel armor, and a massive Soulsteel Grand Daiklave rests on his shoulder. His anima rages gloriously about him, throwing out illumination like a second sun.

20:07 [ST] He advances slowly, almost casually toward the defenders, but he does not smile. His face is bleak, mournful.

20:16 [Keshin] Keshin continues forward, not wanting to alter his stride, incase the change in the rythm of his armor creaking would alert the Anathema of his presence earlier. The fool was stalking forward slowly, probably wallowing in the fear he was creating instead of finishing things while he had the chance. Hopefully it would be enough time . . if he could just reach the base of the footbridge and drop it from under him.

20:19 [ST] "You could have stood aside," Iron Spider says. "That is all I asked." The eyes of the troops are wild with fear. Striking Sparks tries very hard not to stare at Keshin as he advances

20:25 [Keshin] Brave of her, given that he was moving somewhat slowly as well, but the element of suprise was worth that. He reached one end of the bridge in time, with Iron Spider still a good ways on the span. A blow there with all his strength, trying to break the bridge and throw the anathema into the pool, and then he leaps forward to attack the Solar directly while he hadn't regained his balance.

21:04 [ST] Keshin's first attack makes a crack as sharp as the shattering of a mountain. The elegantly wrought bridge does not break - it disintegrates, spilling Iron Spider into the blood-choked pond.

21:05 [ST] As he lands ungracefully in the shadows, rising in water as high as his knees, Keshin sails into him from behind, smashing his Daiklave down on the small of the Solar's back.

21:08 [ST] The blade bites deep, sending Iron Spider staggering headlong into a tangle of poisoned and dying water-lilies.

21:12 [Keshin] This was his chance. An even fight, just him and an Anathema, would be impossible to win. He needed to destroy him utterly while he had this advantage. Hoping Iron Spider would be blinded temporarily by the bloody water he had fallen into Keshin dashes in, raining blows on his opponant as he tries to stand, pouring essence through his arms to increase his speed desperately.

21:19 [ST] Iron Spider falls back as Keshin's assault falls upon him, his anima flaring in a distinctive combo. His Soulsteel weapon screams loudly, howling at the living thing that dares to assault its master, flickering wildly, counterattacking. The force of both combatants swings is violence itself. A narrow crater is blasted in the lake, water rising above the combatants on every side as they rain blows upon each other.

21:23 [Keshin] Keshin sees it at the last moment, but does not draw back. He jsut adds a slight weave to his motions, hopin it was enough. He had to kill the anathema, even if he must sacrifice himself to do so. Now was his chance, and he wasn't going to give it up.

21:39 [ST] As the last blow falls, a moment of silence fills the garden. The water seems to hang frozen around the pair for a moment before crashing back down loudly. Iron Spider takes one grueling step forward, slumping against Keshin's breastplate.

21:39 [ST] "Scorpion... Emerald..." he slurs, choking. "Sor...ry."

21:40 [ST] His sword slips from nerveless fingers. A moment later, he slips down, sinking beneath the shallow water.

21:43 [ST] "Wow." Sparks breathes. From the look on her face, Keshin's previous refusal is forgiven.

21:48 [Keshin] Last, Keshin nudges the body up with his foot, lining the armpit of his armor upwards and stabbing down, slipping his diaklave in, and just under the shoulderblade, driving the anathema's heart into the ground. A surety. "Its done."

21:49 [ST] And then, there is a crash loud enough to consume the world as the Shatterspear falls, shearing a massive hole in the defensive fortifications. The cannon mounted atop it fires once more then explores, sending a spire of light hundreds of yards high into the night sky.

21:52 [Keshin] It destroyed the serenity, the sanctity of the moment. Keshins eyes jerked away from Sparks as he turned to see the Shatterspear fall. "Shit! Go, reorganize the immolation of Kushan, I have to go clear the route of retreat from the walls!"

21:54 [ST] "I don't think we can get it to burn... not in this..." She shakes her head. "But I'll try. Be... careful."

21:54 [ST] She looks at him for a brief moment before racing away.

---

18:55 [ST] Behind Talek, in the shattered courtyard of what was once the Shatterspear, the dust is beginning to settle. The wind lashes fiercely as Damaskenos scents the air, trilling a warning to Octavian that his brother hides within the massive corpse frame.

18:57 [ST] The demon raises a fist black and dripping with tar to point at the device, a rearing conglomeration of soulsteel and twitching zombies, and speaks a guttural command in Malfean. Damaskenos' wings flatten, and wasp and rider shoot like a spear across the courtyard, slamming directly into the twitching nest of corpses.

18:58 [ST] Octavian's first attack rocks the war machine back a step, cracking supports deep within the frame and drawing the full attention of the skilled Nemissary piloting it. The ghostly warrior focuses, extending his thoughts down into his thousands of bodies, his tens of thousands of limbs.

19:00 [ST] A hundred dead arms reach out, ensnaring Octavian. The demon is strong, but not that strong, and he is pulled within the mass, kicking and laying about himself with his black iron staff. Yet neither can dead flesh and hardened fingernails pierce the iron skin of the demon. Trapped in a world of harmlessly clutching flesh, he fights.

19:01 [ST] The corpse frame slows and staggers, falling to a crouch as the Nemissary bends all his efforts within, trying to seize the demon lord and tear him apart. Octavian retaliates by smashing limbs, torsos, heads, and burrowing deeper, ever deeper. Almost he has forgotten Talek in his mad desire to slay this new foe. This would be a long, bitter struggle.

19:04 [ST] As Talek races east, another group races west.

19:05 [ST] Zip, in humanoid form, his flaming wings swept back close to his body, tears through the night. Clenched under one arm is Kalan, and beneath the other the nearly unconscious forms of Vash and another soldier, the only survivors of Kalan's attack wave.

19:08 [Kalan] "There!" Kalan says, pointing. The Kri should be waiting to open the cliff. If it hadn't betrayed them.

19:13 [ST] Zip obligingly swoops low, panning past the place the Kri is waiting. A slight deformation in the cliff wall betrays the spot.

19:17 [Kalan] He lands, sinking deep into the crimson mud, and knocks, hollering for the elemental to open the door. He leans against the cliff, grateful for the small shelter of a stone outcropping. As he waits, he sees something small..darting against the bloody sky. He squints and tries to wipe the blood from his eyes, but of course its useless; he succeeds only in smeering his face red.

19:17 [Kalan] It had looked almost like...Talek.

19:21 [ST] The wall slips aside, opening like a pupil, and Broken Granite shoves his three-horned head through the gap.

19:22 [ST] "Your forces are... depleted." He observes.

19:22 [Kalan] "So they are," Kalan agrees, stonefaced.

19:25 [ST] In the distance, the remaining corpse frame, the crippled one battled by Talek and Kalan only weeks ago, shambles about the ditch, attempting to construct another bridge. It's messily tearing apart war machines for this task, rippng free great slabs of Soulsteel, bone, and iron.

19:27 [ST] "The city has been breached," the Kri observes, stepping aside so that the group may enter. "Fortunately, my followers are safe. I have sequestered them in the basement of my citadel. I believe you have spent time there, and can attest to its sturdiness."

19:27 [Kalan] He pushes Vash and the other through the gap. "I expect these to be undevoured when I return- Broken Granite." He only remembers the creature's name at the last moment.

19:28 [Kalan] His eyes narrow, but he nods. He could remind the kri of their deal later.

19:28 [ST] Nearly a mile away, in the Screamhouse, dozens of fists beat uselessly on the block of granite that bars the stairway as the blood, creeping down through a series of tubes that until recently held water, begins to rise to waist-height in the dark.

19:29 [Kalan] "....is the city flooding?"

19:30 [ST] "I have not observed. You troubled me."

19:31 [Kalan] "Perhaps you should check on them." He looks at his soldiers. He had done what he can for them. "I will return by another route."

19:31 [Kalan] "Leave a handspan gap when you close the door again, will you?"

19:32 [ST] "Very well," the Kri rumbles. "They are more useful to me than you, after all."

19:32 [ST] He tosses his head, looking for a moment very much like a real stag, and the door seals organically in front of Kalan's face.

19:33 [Kalan] "Zip," Kalan says to the fire elemental hovering anxiously behind him. "Zip. We need to destroy the last corpseframe. Fast. They're in the city already." Something flickers in his hard eyes, and he sounds almost tenative as he adds, "I...need your help."

19:34 [ST] Zip cannot have an expression, but he visibly hesitates for a moment. "What should we do, Father?"

19:36 [Kalan] "We'll attack the corspeframe from above, from surprise. If I can't drop it in a couple hits, we'll retreat back to the city and rejoin the defense there."

19:38 [ST] He nods, the gesture looking stiff and unpracticed. "Very well. I will take us up."

19:40 [ST] He seizes Kalan carefully under the arms, his great wings unfurling, and the pair arrow into the sky, looping over the army below.

19:44 [Kalan] Visibility is so impaired that from above, Kalan scarcely sees the giant corspeframe below. Red blood runs down it in rivulets, creating a deceptively smooth appearance . Small waterfalls are made when it moves its arms. Only when they swoop close can Kalan see the gaping mouths of zombies opening and closing, stirred into hunger by the blood but without any meat to satiate it.

19:44 [Kalan] They are blinded by blood.

19:44 [ST] The trench is sodden and half-collapsed, carpeted with the walls of the dead. The ghosts, maddened and invigorated by the rain, throw themselves at the trench and rise on the far side many minutes later, their porcelain faces shrieking with delight. War machines, heavily depleted but still far more numerous than Kalan likes, have been pushed into service to pull a siege bridge being hastily lashed together by a mixed force of mortals and support ghosts.

19:46 [Kalan] Zip drops him directly above the corspeframe onto its head, and he fights to keep his footing. He looks down at the swarm of activity, and growls. They had overreached.They would learn it. His direlance ignites into fire, a torch unseen.

19:48 [Kalan] He pulls the lightning box into his hand, and little arcs of blue energy play over his hand, the essence aching to be released. He plants the tip of direlance downward, shoving it into an zombie's open mouth as it squawks a shrill warning to its brother.

19:52 [Kalan] He raises his direlance, and it turns into a column of red fire. As he slams it back down, arcs of blue lightning shoot hundreds of feet outwards from the hit, turning the sky briefly radient purple.

19:53 [Kalan] Zombies fall from the corspe frame as Kalan pounds his fiery direlance down again and again, using it as a drill to seperate huge chunks of the corspeframe, sending them flying out across the army.

19:56 [Kalan] The massive, clubbed arm seperates at the shoulder entirely, ripping away from the corpseframe with a horrible slopping sound to reveal a pale, sludgelike interior. The shogunate-era general shouts at his troops, spurring them faster, scowls as all his troops slow their work.

19:57 [Kalan] A Contagion-era ghost, his loyal assistant for five centuries, drops a heavy load on her foot and doesn't notice. She stands there, mouth gaping, and slowly points to the sky.

19:59 [Kalan] The Shogunate general looks up to see a giant hand reaching out to grab. He leaps back at the last moment with a disgusted curse, and the earth shakesas it lands an inch away from him, pulling assistant, war machine, and a hundred soldiers into the trench.

19:59 [Kalan] He stands at the new edge of the cliff, and can only fume.

20:09 [ST] The corpse frame staggers back, its cloven foot completely obliterating a delicate bone war machine, smashing it into splinters. It flails clumsily at itself, raising a massive shoveled claw to bat at Kalan.

20:17 [Kalan] Kalan runs this way and that above atop the corpse's head. The zombies snap uselessly at his boots, but as the shoveled claw comes alarmingly close, he jumps off the corpseframe entirely, waving Zip away as the worried elemental attempts to catch him.

20:21 [Kalan] Kalan attacks frentically as he falls, trusting Zip to catch him before the ground.

20:21 [Kalan] Fire races up and down the corpseframe from his initial attack, and the steel braces begin to buckle. The air fills with the stench of roasting zombie- its porkish quality was almost pleasant against the stink of the blood rain.

20:22 [Kalan] He attacks it horizontally, filleting the corpseframe, swooshing this way and that through the corpseframe. His direlance slashes wholly through it, jade cutting almost contemptuously through the weakened steel.

20:22 [Kalan] He segments it neatly into stacked layers, and at last, as an bundle of stacked stakes looms alarmingly close, and Zip dives for him, he gives the creature a good solid kick. Massive zombie steaks fly through the air, rather more grotesquely than frisbees.

21:34 [ST] Zip grabs Kalan as he falls, but the spirit has exhausted himself; catching the Dragonblood in such a jolting fashion, it's all he can do to slow their descent. The pair crash to the ground with a wet, disgusting squelching noise, sinking into the gory mud.

21:35 [ST] Behind them, the Corpse Frame takes a step forward, then another, then... shudders.

21:37 [ST] Structurally, it still appears sound - the fury of Kalan's attack has carved vast chunks from its flesh, but its soulsteel frame is intact, and the nemissary reports over 60% of the bodies on its frame still intact in some way.

21:37 [ST] But Kalan struck decisively, selectively, and key portions of the frame's structure are gone. The Nemissary cannot both keep it steady and repair them at once, and so the whole structure falls to the ground with a deafening crash.

21:38 [ST] Zombies begin to twitch, peeling themselves from the frame, pouring from its downed form by the hundreds. The thousands.

21:39 [Kalan] "Dragons damn it all....." Kalan curses, watching expressionlessly. He puts his direlance in front of him, glancing at Zip. He wondered if they would accept a surrender.

21:41 [ST] Then, just as suddenly, the advancing dead stop, arrested.

21:41 [ST] "Do you think you have won a victory here?" a voice asks from behind Kalan. Raven.

21:43 [Kalan] Kalan understands the shape of these things. He was already whirling when he saw the zombies stop. "Your monster fell down," Kalan observes for her, gesturing with the direlance. "Birds pluck out your eyes?"

21:44 [Kalan] It was lame gesture, nearly as pathetic as Kalan himself, trapped half a mile behind enemy lines, his bastard son spent and muddy.

21:44 [ST] "Even now, our troops are in the city. Iron Spider battles your companions. Your defenses are broken. Destroying one corpse frame will not change that, you know."

21:45 [Kalan] "Well, I have accomplished something, then," Kalan shrugs. He bares his teeth at her. "And I have destroyed �two�."

21:47 [ST] "Is that what you think is important here? These forgotten relics of the Craven's? The crazed people of Kushan you have mowed down? The spectres?" She smiles, cracking whiplike ribbon-sword at her side. The soulsteel snarls as it scribes patterns in the air.

21:47 [ST] "You see before you only theatre. Fatal, for you and your companions, but theatre nonetheless."

21:52 [Kalan] Kalan cocks his head at her. He is covered in blood and gore and mud, dizzy from exhaustion. "What do you know? You've so-carefully remained an audience " �Coward�, his sneer says. His voice is light and mocking. "It's almost as if you're afraid to face us. What is the moral of this little play, then? Hide behind the meat?"

21:54 [ST] "The moral?" She places a finger to her chin. The nail, long and unpainted, seems more claw than anything else. "Don't judge by appearances, perhaps."

21:55 [ST] She steps back, and something luminous rises from the ground, bearing her up.

21:57 [ST] It's vaguely disc-shaped, with many branching arms like a starfish. Mouths open up beneath Raven's booted feet, studding the top surface of the device.

21:57 [ST] Then, with the sound of a thousand intermingled screams, mouths on the bottom of the device open. The force of their shout propels the sky eater upward, bearing the Abyssal up into the air.

21:57 [Kalan] "Running away again? �Damned if you will!"

21:58 [ST] "I have urgent business at Sajet's palace," Raven laughs. "Perhaps I'll see you there!"

21:58 [ST] The Sky Eater streaks away, zooming towards the distant city.

22:00 [Kalan] Kalan runs after it as it streaks away, hopping over a wagon and up onto a startled Igrash's back, and levers back his direlance, and thrusts it deep into mad monster's belly.

22:01 [Kalan] A hundred mouths shriek, and glowing green gore speckles Kalan's face and mixes with the red, but instead of pulling it down, as he intended, he is levered up, carried high and away.

22:01 [Kalan] �Zip�, he has enough presence of mind to whisper to the wind. �Run.

22:08 [ST] Kalan has to cling tightly as Raven puts the Sky Eater through a chilling series of rolls and dives.

22:09 [ST] Below lies devastated Kushan - Raven flies low, twisting, and slams Kalan into the yards-deep lakes of gore that now fill its blocked streets, laughing maniacally as she tries to shake him loose.

22:14 [Kalan] Kalan twists desperately this way and that. A couple times she slams him off, and he has to chase her desperately over rooftops and dive for the direlance again. He grows to loath Kushan's aesthetic love of merlins and gargoyles- blasphemous, he realizes now. He sees the chaos of the streets below; and twice lets loose a gout of flame to cover a retreat below.

22:16 [Kalan] That was when Raven slammed him into - and through- the ivory statue of Sajet.

22:17 [Kalan] Nursing his bruised lip and cut-up cheek, Kalan made a resolution. Dignity be damned, when this city was rebuilt he'd personally see to it a austure decorating scheme was put in place.

---

22:00 [ST] The retreat is as orderly as a disaster could be, for whatever that's worth.

22:01 [ST] The Corpse Frame that breached the wall and overturned the Shatterspear has gone strangely immobile, as if struggling with itself internally somehow. The retreating forces left it at the wall - scattered as they were, any attempt to destroy it was likely to fail anyway.

22:03 [ST] Leaving some Defenders to cover the retreat, the forces of Kushan flee back and up through bleeding streets. At one point Keshin spots the Kri, Broken Granite, now nothing but a piece of stone, draped in the corpses of many Vermin.

22:04 [ST] Many of Grandidi's Citizen forces and a number of green troops are lost on the disastrous march back to the Prince's Quarter, and when the forces that have survived pack themselves in, they find things dire indeed.

22:06 [ST] The hill has a slight depression at its center, something like a volcano's caldera, and blood is standing deeply in this area, swamping houses in gore. Civilians have scrambled atop the roofs of palaces and homes, and blood even laps around the scorched Palace Sublime of the Honored Prince.

22:07 [ST] The walls, the tallest part of the quarter, stand dry and mostly clear, but difficulties below make moving atop them difficult. Silken Whisper sits stony-faced, looking over the devastated city.

22:07 [ST] At one corner of the wall, every Ghanite who is not an infant or infirm stands, chanting.

22:08 [ST] "The End Times," Leen intones as Keshin makes his way by her. "The Opening of the Souls in the Maw of Death. It is Prophecied. It comes."

22:11 [ST] Smoke rises from some parts of the city, and the flames there are hampering the advance, as did Kalan's destruction of the siege equipment. But there are still thousands of enemies out there, marked by bobbing lanterns or their own ghostly glow. More have begun to arrive from miles around, called by the blood monsoon- the Hungry Ghosts of bandits and brigands form a glowworm up the road to Ghan. From shipwrecked hulks on the seafloor climb waterlogged, coral-encrusted ghosts, hauling their dripping bodies over the quays.

22:12 [Keshin] Mildly curious, he asks "The end of the Ghanites or all?" It was possible, maybe, if they'd missed something.

22:13 [ST] "Both," Leen says grimly. Quiet Sapphire lays a hand on her shoulder, but her eyes betray her fear. Everyone there is terrified, from Citizen to lowliest slave.

22:13 [ST] Everyone with the exception of the Defenders, who stand stoic and unmoving, looking dispassionately at the armies that approach.

22:14 [ST] They can know no fear. That, perhaps, is a stronger asset than their immense size and strength. It was enough for the Kushanians to butcher a people and waken a blasphemy. Perhaps it is good enough to hold here.

22:16 [Keshin] "If they want to destroy the world, they'll have to destroy us first." Those that held anyway. Hopefully they would see that it was better to die fighting than running.

22:17 [ST] That is when the glowing dot appears high in the sky, racing quickly towards Keshin's position.

22:18 [ST] As it grows closer and closer, Keshin can make out the glowing form of the strange conveyance, the dark figure atop it, and clinging below at the end of a spear... Kalan?

22:19 [Kalan] The smaller, glowing red dot dangling from the monster roars. "Archers! Loose arrows! Aim up!"

22:24 [ST] A few try, quickly drawing and launching, but Raven, laughing, swoops low, and the arrows sail over her head. As the Urchin, sitting awkwardly atop a bronze cupola, shouts in recognition for Kalan, the Sky Eater zooms by, racing towards Sajet's palace. With a roar of triumph, Raven gives the creature a kick, springing from its back to land on the palace roof as it crashes into the great bronze dome there, dematerializing and throwing Kalan painfully on his face.

22:24 [ST] "Dragon-Blooded!" she snaps "Do you have the courage to face me? Will you make your last hours worthwhile?"

22:26 [ST] She holds out a hand, smiling... and the torrential downpour of blood finally ceases.

22:26 [Kalan] Kalan rolls painfully to his feet, coated in mud. "We have not been the ones hiding ourselves this whole morning," he shouts, scathing. "Come down and fight, if you've the courage, you sneaking wretch!"

22:29 [ST] Raven snaps her ribbon-sword, lashing the air above Kalan's head. She drops back, essence welling about her, into some kind of martial arts stance that he's never seen before.

22:32 [ST] A black dot surrounded by a black circle appears on her brow, cracking open and sending a finger of blood down her forehead and over the bridge of her nose. She licks at it, idly.

22:32 [ST] There's a rush of air, and two figures land on either side of Keshin silently. Matara, her arm still bound to her body. Mara, limping visibly. Both of them as ready as they are going to get.

22:34 [Keshin] "Hold the walls!" The mortals would be useless in this fight, and the attack was still going on without. This was theirs to do. He runs across the cleared area just inside the walls, and into the streets, switching to the rooftops when necessary. He would get there soon enough. Kalan liked to talk, and Raven seemed to enjoy taunting him.

22:36 [ST] As Keshin arrives, Mara raises her hand, her palm crackling with Essence. Sweat runs down her face as she focuses; earlier, she had been too exhausted to manage this charm.

22:37 [ST] There's the soft touch of wind in each of the Dragonbloods' minds, and the world seems suddenly different, a place of connections. Kalan can detect every aspect of Keshin's approach, the tactical plans going through his head. Keshin knows that Matara plans to feint left, then gut the Abyssal if she can. Matara knows that Mara will be using her Essence Bolt spells, and they are all perfectly aware of where each other are located. They will act, and fight, as one.

22:39 [Kalan] She grows strong from pain. She'll only get stronger before she falls. She loves to inflict it. Pain can make you vulnerable. Kalan is cold, focused, analytical.

22:42 [ST] "Fools..." Raven says, loping sideways. Her eyes flicker from opponent to opponent. "What are you fighting for?"

22:43 [Kalan] "Kushan." He laughs at the thought; it was ludicrous. "Well, and my daughter's wedding. These fools seem to be fighting for the Realm."

22:44 [Keshin] "Of course. There is nothing else of worth here. Kushan is destroyed."

22:45 [ST] "The Realm...." She chuckles. "You fools. The Realm has given you into my master's hands. The Realm wants this city to fall."

22:46 [Kalan] "The wethand in chief told you himself, did he?" asks Kalan, circling restlessly around, though it did little to improve his position.

22:47 [ST] "He cannot rule. The Realm wants strength. The Realm remembers well the story of Hesiesh, who sacrified a part of himself forever. They've chosen you to be the sacrifice."

22:48 [ST] She laughs. "Did you never wonder why you were so under-staffed? So under-equipped? Attacked by demons at every turn, burdened by setbacks, assembled from the dregs of your society?"

22:48 [ST] Matara's eyes burn silently.

22:48 [Keshin] "You say it yourself. Our sacrifice will make the realm stronger. That is enough."

22:49 [ST] Raven snaps her whip. "You were meant to fail. To die." To Keshin: "Would you embrace the one who drives a dagger into your back? Then you're a bigger fool than I thought. But it won't matter. Soon, you'll be dead."

22:49 [Kalan] "Mad," Kalan says, to Keshin and Raven both. "Who is your ally then? Who betrayed us?"

22:50 [Keshin] This was it. All his training focused for this, killing Abyssals, their threat. That Solar had been tarted up as one, but he was nothing compared to this.

22:51 [ST] She turns to Kalan next, predatory smile never failing. "Mnemon, and her witless grandson. When Kushan dies, Mnemon will have the symbol she needs to unite your Realm. To become the next Empress. Beautiful in its simplicity, is it not?" Her eyes narrow as she gazes into Kalan's.

22:51 [ST] "I killed her, you know. I drove my hand through her chest and pulled out her still beating heart, and I left her to rot beneath Higara. I killed the old man too. Ragara Garm, useless."

22:51 [ST] "I was doing them a favor; I've always been a generous person."

22:54 [Kalan] For a moment, Kalan is fool enough to be shocked. "The Maiden?" Kalan fights to keep his face still, and then finds it easy. "A passing passion, I assure you..." Mnemon herself. He laughs, loud and genuine. "Perfect!" he exults. "Bloody perfect. I suppose her flea-bitten grandson fled the battle."

22:54 [Keshin] So it had been true then. The traitor.

22:55 [ST] "I expected to kill him with you." Raven shrugs. "In the end, he refused to betray you completely. Mnemon will deal with him in the end. Perhaps he's more coward than traitor... tell me, Kalan... which are you?"

22:55 [ST] She springs away lightly, landing atop a nearby spire.

22:55 [ST] "Maybe I'll find out while I'm sorting through your guts."

22:56 [Kalan] Kalan tilts his head back. "Ah. For a moment, I thought that was an offer. It's four on one, and we've slain Anathema before. I don't like your odds."

22:57 [Kalan] He smiles coldy. "We'll bury Mnemon next to you," he promises.

22:59 [Kalan] It made the future easier, almost, having it confirmed. The Realm was hollow; the paper dragon of the stories. He had no more regrets.

22:59 [ST] "I think not. A pair of traitors. The woman foolish enough to love one. The Cynis foolish enough to follow in her footsteps..." Her eyes settle on Keshin. "And the one foolish enough to fight for the world that made it all possible. I doubt Creation will mourn you."

23:02 [Kalan] Kalan twitches. He can't stop himself from glancing at them, and grinds his teeth. What did the Anathema know of love?

23:04 [Keshin] The others feel it, his mind. It doesn't change through the taunting, just determination and nervousness. This was it!

23:06 [ST] The hush that falls around the group is complete and sudden, piercing.

23:06 [ST] "Down there," Matara breathes, pointing.

23:07 [Kalan] Kalan looks.

23:08 [Keshin] Keshin sees with them, through their minds, so he keeps his concentration up. It would be stupid for them all to look away.

23:09 [ST] Someone is walking through the city's gate, clearly visible from this height and vantage point. He is a man, or was, once. Now, he stands over twelve feet tall, glowing brightly in his luminescent ghost-armor. His skin is a pale violet and his eyes burn orange, so piercing they are visible even from this distance. Long silvery hair streams out behind him, along with a screaming cape made of the faces of his greatest enemies. At his side lopes a six-headed Barghest, and gripped in his hand his an axe whose haft is almost twice as tall as he is, whose blade could cut through a rank of Yeddim. Pinpricks of pyreflame flicker in and out around him. His footprints leave a seeping trail of blood. Every intact piece of glass shatters when he draws near.

23:10 [ST] Terror comes before him and after him and within him. He is terrible. He is glorious.

23:10 [ST] "Master," Raven whispers huskily. "The Walker in Darkness. He comes. He comes."

23:12 [Kalan] Kalan's eyes widen, and the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Even from this distance, he could feel him like a bad egg in the morning.

23:12 [Kalan] "The city is lost," he says, admitting it for the first time. His gaze flickers to the others. "We kill her, then evacuate as many as we can."

23:13 [Kalan] It was what he should have done when he knew the size of the army. He curses. Too late now. His eyes focus murderously on the Anathema.

23:13 [ST] "I'm afraid that cannot be permitted," Raven says. "Kushan must die. The Realm must have its symbol, and the Mask must be its scapegoat."

23:14 [ST] "Do things become clear, now? I would not have you die without knowing its ultimate futility."

23:16 [Kalan] "Enough talk," says Kalan, and sprints forward, raising his direlance. Time was no longer on their side.

23:16 [Keshin] "The Realm will still be better for your death." Even if it was true, that they had been conspiring with the Abyssals, regrettably believable, they would regret it in time. So let the city fall, and one more abyssal with it.

23:20 [Kalan] Kalan jumps, kicking off the inevitable gargoyles to gain height, and falls on her from above, landing behind her. The golden roof tiles slide under his feet as he darts this way and that, direlance testing her defenses.

23:21 [Kalan] Her back was to the others now. He smiles, as he sees this thought runs through all their minds.

23:27 [ST] As Kalan sails in to attack, Raven laughs, hopping backwards. There's a burst of dark essence, and as Kalan moves to strike, he suddenly realizes that Raven is no longer there. His follow-up strikes go wide as she materializes above and behind him, chuckling. Of all the opponents they have faced, even Anathema, none has dodged so perfectly.

23:33 [Keshin] Traitor that he may be, Kalan is fighting with us. Its in his mind, the man will not betray us now. So, together then, for now. Keshin dashes forward, angling to the side. She had invited attack, and from Kalan he saw that she invited pain, but still she was dodging their blows. Well, that made a flurry no good. It would be one blow then, strong, for positioning. Make her dodge the thing, burn more essence, and conserve your own. This was not a battle that would end quickly.

23:35 [Keshin] She was above Kalan and falling to his back, so Keshin's blade flies up, attacking from under her. She would have to give up her position to dodge it. That or accept the blow.

23:39 [ST] Keshin's blow sails in, slamming smoothly into Raven's side. There is the audible sound of snapping bone, and the impact sends her skidding along the rooftop, leaving a trail of blood in her wake from her shattered side.

23:40 [ST] But as the slide ends, Raven kicks suddenly, springing up and landing on her feet before Mara and Matara, her eyes alight with deranged excitement. Her cheeks are flushed, and she breathes heavily with more than exhaustion.

23:40 [Kalan] Kalan tenses.

23:40 [ST] "Thank...you..." She breathes, smiling at Keshin. "Kill you last... if you're lucky." Her movements seem somehow more intense, more vital, as if the blow has strengthened rather than weakening her.

23:42 [ST] She rises, her hands scribing strange motions in the air, and then she seems to... multiply. Kalan has seen the charm before, wielded by demons. Now, Raven blurs and seems to break into four, darting in to lash savagely at Mara with her ribbon-sword.

23:49 [Keshin] Hes suprised, for a moment, that his blow had landed, but in the time she took to make her speech he had recovered, and stuck to her as she dashed across the roof. Mara feels him, and he feels Mara and Kalan. Just as Raven intersects with herself, Keshin's blade licks in to deflect two of the blows.

23:51 [Kalan] "Fool," Kalan grunts to no one in particular as he jumps clean over the Abyssal and knocks into Keshin from the side, sending them both sliding across the tiles.

23:52 [Kalan] "Remember you're to be married," he gasps, darting away again as the Raven's furious blows chase him, sending a line of yellow tiles flying in the air in his wake.

23:56 [ST] One of the attacks is a little too fast - the sword/whip comes darting in, weaving almost like a living thing, and slides between the plates of Kalan's armor to prick his underarm.

23:57 [ST] Matara shouts, racing forward over the tiles, her Reaper Daiklave singing, her short hair streaming past her face. At the last moment she springs high, descending towards Raven with a vicious downward swing.

23:59 [ST] The blow comes in past Raven's guard, impaling her in the shoulder before bursting out her back in a spray of gore. She slumps forward, eyes opening widely - and kisses Matara deeply on the lips, leaving a vast smear of blood across her face. As Matara recoils, Raven springs away in a spray of blood, looking more limber and spry than ever.

00:01 [ST] Mara extends her arm, concentrating, and essence coalesces around her fist in glowing dots like fireflies. For a moment it gathers there, growing, before it springs forward in a bolt of crackling lightning

00:02 [ST] Raven dodges it seemingly without difficulty.

00:02 [ST] She springs high, landing astride the dome, laughing wildly as blood leaks from her wounds. "This is fun!"

00:04 [ST] In the ruined courtyard of the Shatterspear, Octavian tears his way free from the Corpse Frame at last, leaving behind a tattered mountain of corpses the size of a small hillock. He emerges from the pile and calls staff to hand just in time to see Walker in Darkness's axe flying at his head, wreathed with essence.

00:04 [ST] There's a sound like cloth tearing, amplified many times. Octavian staggers back, bleeding dark Essence from an ugly gash in his chest, and then he seems to collapse inward, dissolving into mere motes of essence.

00:09 [Talek] A stormwind of leaves and petals lands gently on a pillar. Talek steps out of the pile of flowers, naked, skinny, and scarred.

00:10 [Talek] He steps out onto the head of a gargoyle, lookiing down at the combtants from some distance above.

00:11 [Talek] A few flowers trickle past the head of the monsterous effigy. Arrows follow, fired from a bow dripping with blood.

00:14 [ST] As the arrows come winging in, Raven springs out of the way, disappearing into a flickering dot of fog. She reappears atop the great bronze dome of the palace, chuckling heartily

00:19 [Kalan] Kalan follows her up relentlessly. He struggles on the bronze dome, sliding back until he think to jam his direlance into the cracks of the welded plates, pole-jumping beside her.

00:20 [Kalan] "You'll not escape," he tells her, jabbing at her with the butt of his direlance and forcing her back against the slick curve of the dome. He whips the speartip around as she slides and sending it seeking her throat.

00:21 [Kalan] "I have the high ground," he tells Raven, one folly echoing another as the bronze metal heats and blackens under his feet.

00:25 [ST] "Keep it," Raven taunts, sliding sideways across the dome. A font of black essence flares around her, and her anima takes form. The dark outline of a child rears up behind her, opening its mouth to scream, and a murder of red-eyed crows spills from its mouth. Kalan's blow strikes home, driving Raven down off the dome in bloody ruin. She hits the roof and explodes in a fountain of gore... that slowly reforms, taking shape before Keshin.

00:27 [ST] "Tell me if you've seen this one before," she snarls, lashing about her head with her whip. It glows a baleful red, shot through with streaks of black, snapping and hissing like a living thing. She whirls, the whip-sword curling around her, and then lashes out. The whip screams shrilly; mortal eardrums burst a hundred feet away.

00:27 [ST] The tip of the sword burrows hungrily at Keshin's breastplate

00:31 [Kalan] Kalan grimaces. Couldn't the fool stay out of trouble? Damn him for investing in an idiot. �Talek�, traitor though he was, at least had the sense to stay at range.

00:31 [ST] Talek finds himself remembering the dead body of Ragara Garm, the perfect hole drilled in his back...

00:32 [Kalan] Fast as a flash of fire, Kalan is there again, elbowing him roughly out of the way of danger, bringing his direlance up in a desperate attempt to knock the blow aside.

00:34 [Kalan] The haft of his spear whistles as he whacks it vengefully against the Raven's stomach.

00:34 [ST] Raven gives an angry snarl as the attack comes up short, the first indication that she is not pleased by the outcome of the battle.

00:35 [ST] As Kalan's counterstrike comes in, she once more flickers out of his path, trailing streamers of dark essence.

00:36 [ST] Matara is there, lashing out furiously with her Reaper Daiklave, hounding Raven back to the edge of the roof.

00:41 [Keshin] Keshin had felt him coming, had put his faith into him in this at least, and so he never tried to defend himself, instead gathering to attack. Kalan nudged him aside, but he was already on the edge of moving, exploding sideways with his blade following, a horizontal slash to Raven's body as she committed to her attack.

00:45 [ST] Keshin's attack is absolutely brutal, completely accurate - and ultimately ineffective. As his blade strikes Raven's body, it liquifies and turns to gore beneath his strike. As Raven bounces back, laughing, the Daiklave slides free.

00:46 [ST] "Fool," she hisses, whipping her weapon around. "I'll eat your hear-"

00:47 [ST] The tip of a Reaper Daiklave bursts through her chest, and she falls to her knees, clutcing at the blade. Behind her stands Cynis Matara, eyes burning fiercely.

00:48 [ST] "You lose," Matara says softly, as the Abyssal slumps forward, dead.

00:48 [Kalan] Kalan laughs. "Well done!" he congraulates her, saluting her with his direlance. �Not ineffective after all�.

00:50 [ST] The Walker in Darkness is advancing through the Merchant's Quarter, heedless of the blood that coats the ground, when a figure rises up to give him battle, her golden skin blazing in the darkness, tears streaming down her face. In her hand is a mace with a head the size of one of the city's smaller cupolas. She advances to protect her people, advances almost gladly, because she remembers how the Deathlord destroyed the demon.

00:51 [ST] Walker's first strike severs her mace arm and sends it spinning down a broad street to shatter against a dry goods store. His second takes both legs out from under her, dropping her to the ground in an ungainly fashion. Even at this distance, the defenders in the Prince's Quarters can hear the goddess sobbing.

00:52 [ST] "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank-"

00:53 [ST] -but Walker only steps over her, leaving her broken in the slurry of gore and blood. "Take this thing away," he snarls in a voice both refined and hideously mad. The goddess begins to shriek anew as a cadre of war ghosts moves forth to take her mutilated form into their care.

00:53 [ST] Walker advances.

00:54 [ST] A keening sound on the wind, a glowing speck in the sky. Another Sky Eater is descending towards the palace, although this one seems to be slightly different in style, its arms more elongated, thin.

00:56 [Kalan] "Open the eastern gates!" Kalan is bellowing, gesturing at the guards. "Begin evacuating civilians. Retreat along the beaches...."

00:56 [ST] The strange conveyance lands amidst the Dragonblooded, and a figure steps off. Slim, lithe, dressed in a dark red kimono. Her white hair falls past her shoulders. Dark circles rim her eyes.

00:56 [ST] Kalan and Matara would recognize her anywhere.

00:57 [ST] "This is the End of Times," Leen chants atop the wall. "This is the End of All. This is the Opening of the Souls in the Maw of Death."

00:58 [ST] As they watch the Walker approach, each reaches up, almost in unison, to peel the mask from their faces. They drop in a clatter atop the wall.

00:58 [Kalan] "No," Kalan chokes out, whitening. "No..." He sees her face, and his heart seems to sieze in his chest. It's as if she'd never gone away. He didn't care for her. Had been relieved when he thought she'd died. And now she was back, and he thinks he might almost die from the rush of relief and escatsy.

00:58 [ST] "Reports of my demise have been exaggerated," she says warmly, nodding. "Kalan. Matara."

00:58 [ST] The Cynis looks at her skittishly, for all the ferocity she just displayed in slaying Raven.

00:59 [ST] "I'm glad to see you disposed of this... thing." She kicks the fallen Abyssal

00:59 [Kalan] "Maiden," Kalan whispers, heat rising in his cheeks. He takes a step towards her. He hadn't meant to.

01:00 [ST] She smiles thinly. "And Talek, though a little... underdressed." She holds up a hand to stop Kalan's advance.

01:00 [ST] "There is little time. I must speak with you now."

01:00 [Keshin] Keshin almost mirrors the movement, before he realizes the adoration he feels in his mind isn't his, just projected from the others he is with. This must be the Maiden. Sickening!

01:01 [Talek] Talek just looks dazed

01:01 [Kalan] A dark, possessive lust echoes under it. Kalan shoots Keshin a glare, and the horror echoing in his heart is feeble thing next to it.

01:02 [ST] "You will die here," she says softly. "The Walker in Darkness himself is among you. I cannot stop him alone. I doubt a hundred of your Dragon-Blooded host could, and no mortal army would do so. There is little hope for escape. Not for you, not for these people."

01:02 [Kalan] "You've taken your sweet time," he growls at last, fighting for composure. "What? We should be organizing the retreat."

01:03 [ST] Refugees and soldiers stare, at the strange group behind them, at the certain death advancing before.

01:04 [ST] "I have been authorized to grant you safe passage," the Maiden says simply. "The Mask remembers those who aid him, and those who hinder him. Walker has made great enemies of you here, as has your Realm. You can have your revenge, your lives, your safety." She smiles, gesturing to the Sky Eater with her hand.

01:04 [ST] "You have only to come with me."

01:04 [Kalan] "Our soldiers."

01:05 [Kalan] His heart beat races, and he can feel the others' disgust.

01:05 [ST] She shakes her head. "I understand. But there is no room. No time. This Sky Eater can hold perhaps a dozen, no more."

01:06 [ST] Walker has reached the walls of the Prince's Quarter. At his approach, the oldest and frailest of the soldiers simply fall dead. Grandidi weeps blood as the Deathlord nears, staggering to his knees, collapsing with a burst heart. Quiet Sapphire, seeing something of herself in his burning eyes, draws a dagger to clumsily slash her wrists. And then, the Defenders begin to scream, a low, gooselike sound that barely seems human.

01:07 [ST] They begin to rout, turning and running through the troops behind them, running blindly and destructively, their mass and weight destroying their own ranks.

01:07 [Kalan] Kalan remembers his hope of the morning, as he stands there, numbed by despair. They had never had a chance, he understood that now.

01:07 [ST] "Leave with me, and fight another day," the Maiden says. "Or stay, and die with your soldiers. I can give you no other choice."

01:08 [ST] "You." A voice behind Keshin says quietly. Matara. "The Realm has given me nothing. It has betrayed my trust. I will come with you."

01:08 [Kalan] Against the armies of the dead, against the Raven, against the dozens of freakish machines...but not against this. He lifts his head and fixes Keshin with a stare.

01:08 [Talek] Talek leaps down, to stand next to Keshin and Kalan

01:09 [ST] As the troops rout before him, Walker swings his axe, seemingly at nothing at all. The air itself seems to ripple, running in front of the blade, and four ranks of fleeing troops fall, cut to ribbons.

01:10 [ST] As Matara moves to stand beside her, the Maiden places a hand on her shoulder. "I will be good to you," she says simply, and Matara does not shudder. Much.

01:10 [Talek] "I have a longstanding invitation with one of the Princes of Madness, an admirer of my work." he whispers.

01:11 [Talek] "It may end in slavery, but not so soon."

01:12 [Kalan] An anger touches Kalan somewhere, distant and buried. Matara had come so far to be reduced to- this? He wants them. He wants them both.

01:12 [Keshin] No shame. There was no shame in dying before a Deathlord. But this. He could live, could make a difference still. But that was the trap, the temptation. Even by implication, he would be commiting himself to The Mask. And somehow they would trap him . It was what they did. Better to die.

01:13 [ST] "I will die here," Mara says. She does not look at Kalan. "I remember all too well the lot of traitors."

01:13 [Kalan] Did he want them enough?

01:15 [ST] "You are already branded a traitor, Kalan," the Maiden says softly. "They do not love you. They never will. They have used you. They will keep using you, as a monster, as an example."

01:16 [Kalan] But Kalan turns his head an inch to look at his wife. He .. needed. Something more than base lust. "Mara. Is it true? Did you ever love me?"

01:17 [ST] "I did, husband. But I could not forgive what you did to our families. To your daughter. To the Realm." She laughs bitterly. "I suppose she cannot be more tainted than she is now. Nor loathe you more."

01:18 [ST] The Maiden looks at Keshin, shaking her head softly. "Do you think to return to the Realm? Do you think you will be welcomed, or even tolerated?"

01:18 [ST] "Mnemon rules as empress now in all but name, and that will come soon. She has always been vindictive, and now the tools of the Realm are at her disposal. She will not risk your flapping tongues. She will destroy you."

01:20 [Keshin] He hesitantly takes a step back, then another, the decision made. He couldn't follow that, get in that thing. But he couldn't attack either. It was hopeless. Running was all that was left. The panic in the other minds was mirrored in his.

01:20 [Kalan] He hated her then. Poor deluded Matara had loved an illusion, but still he had- hoped- she can feel it through the link. They both can. Venemous as a serpent.

01:21 [Kalan] "�No,�" he snarls. "I will seek the downfall of the Realm through other means. Not as your puppet. Or your �slave�." His eyes fix on Matara, and his lips stretch out in an ugly grin.

01:22 [Talek] Talek kneels and touches his hand to the ground.

01:22 [Kalan] "What say you, Matara? Will you join the Maiden as her bedslave, or at least fight to be something a little more?"

01:23 [Talek] A magic circle forms, all geometry and runes at first, sharpe angle and ancient tongues. Light springs from it, and then vines

01:24 [ST] "As if you've ever valued me as anything else," Matara snaps. "I have not forgotten the way you treated me. You were not the first. You were not the last. Garm... Avaku... even the Slug. All the good ones die, but you? You live on. I want no part of that."

01:25 [ST] She turns away from him, stepping up onto the Sky Eater.

01:25 [ST] "I guess you have taught me some things." She says tightly.

01:25 [Keshin] And there it comes. A suprise. A way out of the hopelessness reverberating through their minds. He hadn't seen it, but of course, Talek was not among them. He jumps at the chance, all of him.

01:27 [Kalan] "I valued you as a student," Kalan acknowledges. He shrugs. "Not everyone rises above their origins, I suppose," he says, as cruelly as he can to disguise the hurt. He laughs. "Barely even Dragonblooded, to go slinking off to �such� a safety."

01:28 [Kalan] "Run then." His scornful eyes take in all of them, even as he feels a heat beside him, invisible to the others. "I won't abandon my men." He smiles tightly. "...a second time today."

01:29 [ST] "If you are Dragonblooded," Matara hisses, spitting. "I don't want to be one."

01:29 [ST] "I'm disappointed, Kalan," the Maiden says, smiling. She touches his arm. "I had looked forward to more discussion with you. It seems you would prefer to die."

01:30 [Kalan] He laughs. "Trull of the dead," he rejoins. Her touch fills him with a wild elation. "Kiss me?"

01:33 [ST] "And leave you here to die?" She shakes her head. Vapors like sweet funerary incense rise from her. Her lips are pale and bloodless and all the more beautiful for it. "I would not wish to compound your suffering with a taste of what you have refused."

01:35 [Kalan] His face flushes red. "It would be a kindness," he whispers.

01:38 [ST] She reaches up to cup his face. "No," she says. "Killing you would be a kindness, rather than letting Walker have you. But I am not so kind as I appear. And I have no wish to join you in death. If I cannot convince you..." Her eyes pan over the Dragonbloods. "Any of you, then I must depart."

01:40 [Kalan] "You have convinced Matara, it sees." He draws back to the Maiden, to approach his onetime lover.

01:40 [Kalan] "Matara. Do you remember when we first spoke of the Maiden. You begged me to promise to kill you if you succumbed again. I called you a fool."

01:41 [ST] "I remember," she says quietly. She cannot meet his eyes.

01:41 [Kalan] He reaches out to caress her face, and as she flinches back, he turns his spear around, and buries it in her heart. She gasps, mouth opening, blood pouring from the wound.

01:43 [Kalan] Its a measure of the coldness with which he plans that she never sees his intentions through the link. "I'm sorry," he tells her, and kisses her one last time. "I was wrong." He yanks his direlance out with a sickening noise, and bits of her heart decorate the tip.

01:45 [Kalan] She falls to the ground with a thud. His eyes are very hard and alert. "The rest of you. Go. I will attempt to organize the stampede...slow the Walker down long enough to give our men a chance to escape."

01:45 [ST] The Maiden does not flinch. A drop of blood beads on her cheek. "Jealous, Kalan? I shall have her anyway, you know. The kingdom of the dead has a thousand doors, and I hold the keys." Her smile is cruel, hard. "Should I find you there, you should not expect the same welcome she will receive."

01:47 [ST] The Sky Eater begins to howl, rising into the air. "Farewell, little Dragons," the Maiden calls down. "Perhaps your hearts are bigger than your heads. A fatal flaw, in these times."

01:47 [Kalan] The surge of lust that runs through him at her words no longer surprises him. He looked forward to it.

01:49 [Talek] Talek's spell surges forth, and he rises into the air. He looks down at his two companions. "Well?"

01:51 [ST] Mara shakes her head. "I am a practical woman. We will have our revenge. Dying here will serve no purpose." She pauses for a moment. "Kalan. Come with us. We need everyone we can get."

01:52 [Keshin] Keshin stands next to him, there from almost the beginning of the summoning, looking down at the otehr two as they make their choices.

01:53 [Kalan] The anger still beats hot in him. There's an instant of hesitation, then...".....no." He smiles at her almost vengefully. "This is, after all, what you wanted. Our whole purpose in coming here. See to it that Keshin keepes his promise, and is a good husband to her."

01:53 [Kalan] He turns to the madness and the chaos. "Farewell, wife."

01:56 [ST] "Farewell, Husband." She shakes her head. "I hope you find what you are looking for."

01:58 [Kalan] He strides into the crowds and bellows at them, his voice rising above the chaos with a century's practice at bullying soldiers into charging fierce enemies with sharp sticks. "East gate is open! March damn you all, form ranks! To the beaches! Full retreat!"

02:01 [ST] The blood is still deep below; people splash through it willy-nilly, absolutely terrified. Husbands abandon their families, women their children. It is nothing but a mad rush, and it's doubtful that anyone hears Kalan's orders.

02:02 [ST] A lump forms out of the crowd and barrels into him, latching on to his leg. It's the Urchin, the blood so high it's lapping at her chin.

02:02 [ST] "We're gonna die," she moans.

02:03 [Kalan] Damn it all. He'd trained them. They knew his voice. He walks among them, shouting. As a mob they had no chance of escape at all. If they formed ranks, they'd at least fit through the damned gate.

02:03 [Kalan] He looks up a the Stormwind hopping away.

02:04 [Kalan] "Only if we're stupid," he snarls. "As these fools are stupid. Be brave, keep your head." He ruffles its- her head. Always a mistake.

02:04 [ST] Soldiers still manning the wall scream in fear and anguish as they see the Stormwind rider fleeing, extending their hands to reach after it, crying after the men abandoning them.

02:05 [ST] Silken Whisper stands atop the wall, looking out over the shattered plain where Tansy died, watching the fleeing Stormwind, and feels his faith shatter. He tears the prayer cord from his neck, casting the tablets away into the sea of gore.

02:05 [ST] "Bastards," he hisses, tears of rage sliding down his face.

02:06 [Kalan] He flicks the roach away from his hand absently. He calls a gout of fire to his hand, and sends it streaking across the sky to the east gate. Striking Sparks had kept a reserve there, and sure enough, there's a �KABOOM�.

02:06 [Kalan] Pieces of the wall shatter, widening the eastern gap. The explosion creates a momentary silence, which Kalan takes ruthless advantage of.

02:08 [Kalan] The walls fill with flickering firey forms, crowding around the mob, silent warriors with swords in their hands. "�FORM RANKS.� You're running like chickens with heads off. You know the marching orders," Kalan's voice lashes out, but now a phantom hoarde echoes him,pointing people where Kalan wanted to go silently with flaming fingers.

02:08 [Kalan] "DO THIS RIGHT, WE'LL LIVE!"

02:09 [Talek] Talek bobs by Silken Whispers and lifts the doomed monk up in the Stormwind

02:10 [Talek] He bops him around a little, seething

02:11 [Talek] "You're right, little weasel, you're right." the Sorcerer says, cavorting impotently around the doomed city, with the monk tossedaround by the stormwind

02:13 [ST] "ENOUGH!" the monk roars. "Just let me die! I don't exist to be toyed with by you!"

02:15 [ST] Kalan doesn't get all of them - some are beyond earshot, or beyond hearing, having scattered to the winds or shut down entirely. But those forces he does reach form themselves hastily into ranks. The act almost seems to reassure them. With the noncombatants and children nestling in the center, they prepare to move out.

02:15 [Talek] "No." Talek pulls the monk, battered and bruised, into the zone of peace at the center of the stormwind

02:15 [ST] Atop the wall, the unmasked Ghanites charge at Walker, screaming fierce war cries. The Deathlord's gaze falls upon them. He does not strike. He does not move. They fall, dead.

02:16 [Kalan] "Forward!" Kalan shouts. "You know the route. I'll cover your escape. Jakir- Tamana- you're in charge." They were from his first twenty-five.

02:16 [Talek] "You too are part of the realm. The honorable Dragon Blooded, and sinful warrior, the self serving madman, and the obedient mortal. Oh, we will be quite a group."

02:17 [ST] "There's ghosts all over the docks, sir!" Jakir protests. "They came out after the blood. What if the ships're all busted?"

02:17 [ST] "What're you gonna do?" the Urchin asks. "You can't fight that thing!"

02:18 [Kalan] He licks his lips, and suddenly smiles. "There's another way out. Through the amythest goddess's garden. A long tunnel. The vermin will largely have left it behind- you'll outnumber the rest.

02:19 [ST] "We'll... We'll try," Tamana manages. What else is there to do?

02:19 [Kalan] He pats her shoulder gingerly, and because she's seen him drunk, weeping, bullying his soldiers and hurtling taunts at Mara, he adds quietly. "I have a plan."

02:19 [ST] "You'll come after us, right?" the Urchin asks, looking up uncertainly at him.

02:20 [Kalan] He hoped they survived. This was useless otherwise. "Yes." He had a use for soldiers, always.

02:21 [ST] "All right, people," Jarik shouts. "Let's move! Don't stop to engage! Don't stop for anything! We're driving towards Tumbletown and we're going to get out of here!"

02:21 [ST] There are shouts of agreement, and the column begins to move off. The Urchin stares at Kalan wordlessly for a moment before racing off to join them.

02:22 [ST] The Stormwind Rider exits the city, landing on the sodden plains and accelerating away.

02:23 [Kalan] Kalan pumps essence through his anima and goes to meet the Walker in the city. It is burning...and so is he.

02:24 [Talek] The Stormwind Rider crests the tower walls. "Damned fool" he says, watching the firey anima move towards the towering death lord

02:24 [ST] The Walker in Darkness waits at the end of a long, shattered boulevard. A woman stands before him, her red hair crisped from her head, dry firing an empty flame piece.

02:25 [ST] "Keshin, you son of a bitch," Striking Sparks snarls, and then the Walker's blow takes her head from her shoulders.

02:25 [Kalan] "Why?" Kalan asks, though he could not pretend he did not feel a spark of satisfaction, as her head rolls to his feet.

02:27 [ST] "Why not?" Walker asks laconically, strolling forward. "Because it was there. Because I sought revenge. Because the Mask must be stopped. Because I want to rule the East. There are many answers to your question. All satisfactory. All incomplete. I suspect you don't want one at all."

02:27 [ST] "My Deathknights would often find that they would rather remain ignorant."

02:29 [Kalan] "An empty ambition," Kalan says, as the city burns.

02:30 [Kalan] He smiles. "Do you know...mine has always been for my family."

02:30 [ST] "It is all empty. Or have you not heard? We exist on the razor edge between nonexistence and Oblivion. Pained. Hurting. Suffering. I only want to end that," He steps forward, trampling a child's corpse. "My Deathknights and I... offer Creations most perfect and most final gift. If most are unwilling to receive it... we must try all the harder."

02:33 [Kalan] He's burning brighter, too bright, putting every spark he has into it. He skin becomes incandescent, and begins to peel away. It was possible for a Fire Aspect to destroy themselves, along with everything else around them. It was why the Cathak and the Sesus relied heavily on whips and chains in bringing up their children, to beat discipline into those found lacking.

02:34 [Kalan] "You are as much a fool as Matara," Kalan says, his hair turning to yellow fire, his eyes glowing red, even his red armor begins to be devoured.

02:35 [Kalan] �Zip� he calls to the warm presence beside him, invisible, as the blade crashes down. �Take me away.

02:35 [ST] Walker advances curiously, almost cautiously. "You're braver than most, Dragon. But I have seen my share of brave deathknights, and most were merely... unimaginative."

---

02:39 [ST] The docks of the Imperial City buzz with activity. The treasured ships of House Pelep and the Wood fleet lie moored just off the docks, laden with men and supplies. A pair of airships drift overhead, laden with supplies and weapons, and massive Warstriders lumber towards the special ships that will take them across the Inland Sea. Armors of the Air Dragon flit across the sky, and the patricians and plebians packed into hastily constructed stands cheer as the shadows pass across them.

Easily a hundred thousand have come out to watch, the largest crowd for anything since the Empresses' disappearance. The Dragonblooded move throughout the massed forces. Socialites make connection, hardline Legionaires marshal their forces, and young Dragonbloods ready to depart on their grand tour seek passage on one ship or another. They plan to fight the mask not in formation as legions, but as solitary heroes out of the sagas of old. Many will die, and their deaths will harden the Realm against the Mask, and Mnemon has planned for this.

A pair of young sorceresses recently graduated from the Heptagram, Tepet Anona and Tepet Epheri, watch the proceedings with interest. "There she is!" Anona says suddenly, pointing, and sure enough, Mnemon appears a moment later, stepping out of an elegant carriage and moving between ranks of Legionaires at attention. The crowd roars with delight at the spectacle. Yesterday, she was hated, feared. Now, she is their savior. Such is the way of the world.

"Maybe things will be easier on sorcerors from now on," Epheri remarks laconically, and then Mnemon steps atop a dais. She holds a globe of crystal before her. When she speaks into it, it amplifies her pleasant voice, sending it over the crowd.

"Today marks a grand occasion in the history of our fine Realm," she begins. "For too long, we have fled before danger. We have been content to simply preserve and protect the world. No longer! The Realm is not only Creation's guardian, but also its shepard. We must be firm and forthright. We must strike back at those dark forces that have so recently attacked us. With the righteousness of the Dragons we shall smite them. With the endurance of Pasiap, with the forthrightness of Mela, the passion of Hesiesh, the gentle spirit of Sextis Jylis, the unbending and unceasing fury of Daana'd. We will destroy the Mask of Winters. We will avenge the fallen cities of Kushan and Ghan. The White Fleet shall carry the justice and vengeance of the Realm to the Threshold and all of Creation!"

The crowd's roars are typical at first:

"FOR THE REALM!"

"THE REALM!"

"THE DRAGONS AND THE REALM!"

And then, the carefully placed and paid figures in the stands, all of whom will be dead tonight from the poisoned coins they have handled, begin to shout.

It begins in the lower portions of the crowd, among the masses, and then spreads to the patricians. And then the Dragonblooded of House Mnemon take up the call, and House Cynis, and then others because it would be imprudent to be seen holding back at a time like this, and others because everyone around them is doing it, and others because they are carried away by the moment itself, by the woman in the white armor and the white ships before them and the promise of the old order restored. The promise of safety, and prosperity, and a world in which everything is in its proper place.

"FOR EMPRESS MNEMON!"

"ALL HAIL EMPRESS MNEMON!"

"THE ALABASTER EMPRESS!"

"EMPRESS MNEMON!"

02:42 [ST] And the Scarlet Empress's oldest daughter, Mnemon, the Alabaster Empress, smiles beatifically as she thinks of victory, and a small windowless room deep beneath Creation's surface, and the Dragonbloods that will soon fill it.