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river let out a giggle when Griffin struck a pose "even if you are that strong there is no telling how many soldiers there will be to fight, i can call upon my snakes and they'll help" she said as she looked up at skenith.

Illismere knelt before Griffin and said in a low, gentle tone, "You did not know, therefore you cannot be blamed. You did only what was in your nature... but now and from here on out is the time to battle those inborn instincts that control us from the shadows of our consciences. Your great might and the power to rend flesh from sinew and bone, if wielded with wisdom and judgment, can be of great use to us all. I am glad to hear that you will aid in our task, even if for your own goals- sometimes the best way to help others is to take action in the name of our own goals."

Illismere stood and turned to River and Skenith giving them both looks of weighty burden. "An army must indeed be raised, but our first priority is to get River's father's amulet. Even with a mighty army, Lady River doesn't possess the knowledge forged by her father that is necessary for victory. Besides, he was on the quest to raise aid against Kajhe Purgis, so perhaps finding the amulet will give us a clue as to where we might find this vast army. For now, though, this realm is no longer safe... the associates of the Neitsche are everywhere in this land, and it is very difficult to know them before they know you. If you all trust me, then I offer you my home to stay in while we form a plan. It would mean that I have to take the three of you with me across the veil into the Summerland, but there are scying pools, scholars, and many ancient tomes that can aid us with this enormous task."

Something doesn't feel right... that bird that just took off seemed far too purposeful. And upon the hill, the energies feel malignant and hungry. Oh please, let us hurry!! Her face a mask of calm to belie the rising fear within her.

Griffin stopped posing and got close to the gorgon, he whispered a question in her ear asking "And what will your snakes do when faced with skilled warrior hmm? can their fangs pierce armor? are their coils strong enough to squeeze the life from men with suits of steel and iron? from what I can see Skenith is the only one who might be formidable enough to pose a threat in a great battle, and tell me honestly... what would he be able to do if someone pinned him to the ground by the head? although your minions might be dangerous in an ambush what harm can they really do?" he backed away from River and said to the group "We cannot rely on snakes alone, and truth be told even with my great strength the forces that are against us won't underestimate our power. there will be hundreds if not thousands of the opposition, strapped to the teeth with armor, and weapons. There is no guarantee that we will all survive this war prophecy or not a destiny can be altered if one doesn't focus on their task."

He turned his sight to the Elf "So be it, if this amulet holds the key to an army then it is our priority. Let us go to your home land."

A messenger bird. Ahhhhhhhh, this must mean the little gorgon bitch has been found... Kajhe Purgis thought to himself as he took the small scroll from the bird's leg. It indeed bore the symbol of a viper and he could feel Nekroth's energy upon it. "So the Sabre has his eye on her!" he exclaimed feeling the time of reckoning growing ever closer. But somebody has angered him; that would be dealt with. He looked at the bird with indifference and grabbed it by the neck squeezing harder and harder as it flapped and raked at the air uselessly. He took his time- he enjoyed the suffering. Standing up from his heavy, ebony high backed throne that was carved with twisted symbols are likenesses of death masks, he made his way to a stone table that ran the length of his Hall of Judgments. He slammed the poor bird down upon the table, and using one sharp claw, cut the head of the bird from its body. Warm, metallic blood pooled upon the table and Kajhe used the same claw to draw out symbols upon stone that was yet untouched by the animal's life force.

"You have summoned me, my lord?" hesitated a cowering red robed sorcerer, shuffling his feet nervously.
"Did you carry out your task?" inquired the Demon Lord.
"The first part of the plan was successful- the forest has been burnt, but not by magic of the Neitsche, so no other wizard will be able to read our print on that event. The snake girl must surely be out of the forest and I was searching for her when you called me," the wiry man stammered sounding more like a school boy than member of the Dark Lord's forces.
"Actually, you have failed. Nekroth has located the Gorgon and watches her even now," Kajhe answered, turning his back on the sorcerer and sauntering to his high backed throne he continued, "Failure disgusts me. Your stammering disgusts me. Your pitiful mortality disgusts me. But you can reconcile your short comings." He sat down and drummed his fingers on one of the strangely warm ebony chair arms.
"H-h-how, my lord?" the man squeaked.
"By delivering a message."

A slightly charred body with strange symbols carved into the still seeping flesh, the face twisted in screams of silent agony, materialized in front of Nekroth. The battered robes still clinging to the corpse smelled metallic with a tinge of sulphur. It was clear this message had come from the Demon Lord himself.

Turning to River and Skenith, Illismere awaited waited for their consent even as she began gathering power into the center of herself. She held her breath as she waited...

River looked at griffin and stated, "m snakes can not bit through armor , but they can get inside and one bite from some of my more venomous friends and any man would drop like a sack of rocks" she then turned her attention away from griffin and to illismere " I'm in, if all you say is true I'm the only ne who can kill this demon lord , right? I really have no choice"

Nekroth jumped as a body lay in front of him basically incinerated. He knew what this to be a sign from his master.

Failure... Would not be an option, Moving quickly he jumped from rock to rock sticking to the shadows. now in the wild flowers he crept upon the group, his stealth reflecting his saber cat blood. He waited within ear shot of the group, waiting for the right moment to ambush them.

Nekroth plotting in his head the strategy he would take.

Which one goes down first? would he strike against the Lowen? to gain his personal trophy? or maybe the Gorgon first, to please his master? Possibly the elf? seemingly the easiest kill, no he thought this was no longer a hunt, This was a bounty mission.

then an idea came to Nekroth's mind. Instead of bringing his master a dead gorgon... He might gain a larger reward for a living one!

Poised to strike he lay in wait his eyes shifting from each of them one by one, listening to every sound and smelling every scent.

Illismere whispered the words, "Dahlaen duri gfaotil Silarksith," and the air around the three of them began to shimmer lightly and then more rapidly spinning the area into an amorphous turbulence that resembled molten aluminum. As suddenly as it all began it stopped and the group found themselves in an ancient, dense overgrowth of forest. The trees were as big around as entire village squares and reached higher than the eye could follow. Green light dappled the soft earthen bed below their feet and the scents of wildberries and blossoms filled the air. The merry calls of birds and the chatter of squirrels pervaded. "Welcome to the Hearthwood," she said gesturing around delicately. "This is my home. Take what you need and I ask only that you show the highest respect to all life great ad small while you are here. We won't be long- only for the duration that it takes us to rest a bit, gather information, and form a plan." Illismere walked over to a particularly gargantuan chestnut tree revealing a simple door decorated with a sun and a moon carving hidden in the trunk behind vines of ivy. "You may go in to rest and eat, come with me to the scrying pools and library, or roam about as you please. I myself must go look into some matters which I found troubling," she addressed the group.

Fury.
Not the brightly burning sort that brought Kajhe to swift action, but the cold simmering sort that crystalized like ice in his mind. The gorgon and her three damned companions left the realm. The Summerland was the realm of Akash and he was forbidden from entering or interfering in the greater god's domain. He would have to wait, and the Demon Lord did not like to wait. But no matter; his plans were not concrete and he was a master of shifting shapes and destinies, so surely he could shift what he would do next. And he had the most perfectly devious plan to put himself directly into the path of the Gorgon heir. Kajhe called a wormwood courier to him, and a shadowy visceral creature that left a wilting path of plague behind itself came before him. It appeared to be a boar, but the legs were prominently absent. Its shadow-stuff slithered across the ground as primal silver orbs of arcane fire glowed out of the wormwood courier's eyes.
"Go to the one called Nekroth and tell him I demand his presence. Then, give him this talisman and tell him that only a drop of his blood is required to bring him to me," the Dark One instructed the creature, handing him a poppet made with dried sinews of humans unlucky enough to have been involved in 'craft time.' The shadow creature bellowed an ethereal and grating squeal before turning and plowing off into the direction that the sabre cat lay in wait for the group.

Nekroth saw his chance he lunged from the bushes intent on attacking the Lowen, but a flash of light and the group disappeared.

Nekroth looked back and saw they were gone.

"Damn that elf and her magic!"

Nekroth smelled the air and the smell had changed, no longer burning wood the smell had been replaced with the stench of sickness as a horrendous creature plowed through the wild flowers leaving them all wilted in its path.

Nekroth pulled his scimitar and roared at the beast which abruptly stopped in its path and dropped an amulet at his feet.

The beast squealed and vanished in a cloud of smog.

Nekroth picked the talisman up and realized it was a summons... A blood summons.
The saber cat with scimitar in hand sliced his off hand a let his blood drip into the talisman.

A whirlwind of flame swirled around him, transporting Nekroth too the chamber of his master.

He kneeled before The great demon "You summoned me master?" He asked with a slight tone of fear in his voice.

Kajhe gazed intently at the sabre who stood before him, taking his measure. He was pleased by the appropriate fear that did not radiate out of the creature with sickening waves of feral stench like it did with others of his servants. This one, though fearful, was not incapacitated by it and still held his sense of self. Good- this one will do. All of my other servants have grown weak and stuttering over these past one hundred years. How quickly they expire and become useless...

"Nekroth, as you are called- you have not yet failed me. I feel inclined to be angry with the escape of the one I seek, but I am not blind and I am unwilling at this point to sacrifice your assistance. Do not disappoint me in the future, and what I am about to bestow upon you will bring glory and immense wealth to your name. Fail in your tasks, and that which I gift to you will consume you and leave your soul enslaved to me for all of eternity," the Demon Lord said with measured indifference as his simmering crimson eyes looked past through sabre's eyes and straight into his being. "What I mantle you with is this: the power of an aura of silence. You will be undetectable either by physical or magical means, unless you so choose. Also, your aura of silence will be able to expand to encapsulate others, so that they will not be able to use magic or be seen or heard by those outside this shroud. This will make you able to use your warrior abilities to the fullest, so make excellent use of it. I must have the Gorgon alive- for she is the last of her race and the only key I have left to unlock her powerful (and in my opinion misappropriated) venom. Your prizes will be the rest of her group, as well as a position of General in my vast army of hell spawn that shall arise from my realm to overtake the pitiful human world!"

He raises his head with a malicious smile, Nekroth chuckles and replies "Yes my Lord, I will not disappoint."

Kajhe gave Nekroth what might be construed as a smile, but coming from a demon it looked more like he'd just spotted lunch. "Excellent. Take this pendent and go do as you will. So long as this gem is around your neck, I shall be able to view whatever is in your line of sight- that will save me the time of summoning you. However, if you need to come before me, just draw this symbol with the blood of a fresh kill made by your own paws onto the pendant's face. The more agonizing your victim's death was, the more likely you'll end up here in the Hall of Judgments rather than in some void in between," his eyes flashed sinisterly. The Demon Lord turned his back to the cat and walked over to a bowl with flames licking mysteriously over its rim; whatever he saw in there appeared to be very absorbing because he seemed to no longer notice Nekroth's presence at all.

The term used by the Demon lord was somewhat irritating to Nekroth, being a hybrid he did not have paws, but not having the audacity to correct him Nekroth accepted the pendant.

Nekroth about to make his exit stopped and asked his master.

"My lord... how do I find them?"

another thought occurred in his Feline mind, about his personal bounty

"And how should I go about dealing with the elf? Or the Giant snake?"

The Elven magic was unfamiliar to him and he had never fought a drake such as the snake before. Not wanting to blindly go into battle he asked for some guidance from the demon lord.

Nekroth did not care about if his master wanted the Lowen destroyed in a certain manner, The lion would be Nekroth's prize and he wanted the glory of that battle more than anything.
Even if it meant risking his ethereal soul to achieve it.

"So... this is your home." Griffin said under his breath, it was similar to his forest but the magical properties here could be felt instantly, this forest was a place of sanctuary.

"Why are we here if we are searching for this hidden army? and how do we know they will still be here? Or if they are still alive? I don't mean to offend... but what army waits to be discovered?" Griffin was not sure if any of the things the rest of his party spoke of was true. All he knew was that he is with them in this strange place that Illismere called "The Hearthwood"

"The army of snakes has withered." Skenith said, "I have no idea how to find a new army in ten weeks?" The serpent shifted its coils so as to make a comfortable seat for his princess, just behind her. "And even if we did know of an army how could we fight this demon and his force of the undead? They'll destroy the land!" He paused for a moment thinking, "We will have to face him in the depth of Hades. Kill him where he feels safest so that he never sees the light of day."

"My army is one you seek my friends." A giant Polar Bearon appeared from behond the trees, "I am Icias, leader of the Bearon Army." Bearons were like bears but smarter, and whole a lot bigger too. They had further evolved using the magical presence in the different lands, Polar Bearons lived in the north, Grizzly Bearons in the east, Black Bearons in the south, and Panda Bearons in the west.

"Only a few of my army stand waiting here, in this realm." Icias explained, “most are back in the Castle Lands, that's what our people call the origin world." His golden armor was studded with sapphires that matched his eyes. “Once your team is rested we will all head home,” He shifted his attention to Illismere, “My bearon’s don’t want to die in a fools war. I only have a hundred or so at my rally, we will need more to kill Purgis.”

Griffin stepped up to the polar bearon, the ice bear towered over the Lowen. But a Lowen never stepped from a challenge, Griffin asked Icias "You accuse us of leading a fools war?" Griffin saw the words of the polar bearon as cowardice. "If your men die fighting alongside a monster drake, The last of the gorgons, and this elf of immense magical prowess. They would die with honor." Griffin told the bearon and stepped back from the beast, he then smirk and told him "Besides No creature can compete with a Lowen in combat." His hopes were to fire up Icias and coax him and his soldiers into this battle.

The Bearon's laugh echoed through the forest, "my friend, your words would have moved me if I hadn't just used the same ones toward my people." Icias got down on one knee, "I will not force my people to fight if they do not wish, but I will fight, even if it is only me. I will stand by those who are born of honor and who bleed courage, I will fight for them any day."

The polar bearon stood once more, "Now introduce me to your little team of heroes so I know who's name to tell the bards to sing about." His teeth showed a little, this was his way of smiling. Icias was a bit in awe of the basilisk creature, he hadn't seen many beings taller than he, but he would welcome any noble warrior into his ranks. As long as their heart was true and they were only beastly on the outside, as he was.

River sat comfortably on skenith as sh looked around in awe of the magnificent forest. she ignored griffin's words to illismere and took in the deep a deep breath of the magical air. the only thing that knocked her out of her tranquility was Icias coming throught the woods and griffin nearly challenging him to a fight. she watched as the large polar bearon kneeled before them and asked their names. River now back to her normal self quickly said to Icias " my name is River.. im apparently the last of the gorgons" she said with a shrug of her shoulders as she jumped down from skenith and walked up beside Icias " theres no need to kneel" she said grabbing his big fury arm and trying to pull him to his feet.