You see a green field, full of children.  They all have rabbit ears on and play peacefully.  Then, you see a child, bigger than the rest, with wolf ears.  All of the sudden, the scene changes as they all pull out revolvers and bullets start to fly.

Then, you wake up, and feel your things to your right.  Underneath you is grass, and a clear sky above.

But the peaceful scene is ended for you when you hear the hollaring of a man, and the shrieking of women.  The shrieks don't seem weak to you, but full of malice.  The man's voice is shouting for help, and it seems more powerful than the normal voice.

I get up and look in the direction of the screaming..

Man, I've really gotta figure out what those dreams mean.  I've had soo many, ahh well, its time to see what this world is like... I wonder what is in it..

I grab my gear and casually start to wander towards the yelling, with both my hands on my swords I see what's going on.

As you get up and look over, you see a group of what seem to be rabid women next to a river with a man.  He seems larger than normal, but you can't tell from your distance and his position.  The women are pulling on his limbs in different directions on all sides.

You count that there are at least 12 women there attacking the man.

I casually walk over towards the women not really caring about the guy and get ready to attack them if they are hostile towards me.  If they charge at me I proceed to charge right back and kill them all, using fire and swords and such and all my skills nessecary.  If things start to look bad I enter a fury and continue to kill them all..

Now that you're closer, you can see that there's twenty of them there, some pulling on him and others shouting at him.  You recognize that they're speaking greek.

One of the women, shouting, turns to you in shock.  "You!  YOU MUST BE HERE FOR HIM!  Well, he's ours!"  She pulls a knife out of her poorly made blue dress, and she charges at you.  You easily draw your ordinary ninja-to against her and use your battoujutsu to cut her apart from beneath her right arm to the left side of her neck.  Both parts of her fall to the ground after that single strike, dead.

The others drop the large man and turn to you.  They all shriek and begin to charge.  They are all coming from your front, and they don't appear to be armed.

Me? Come for him? HAH! Kill if you want, hell, I'll kill him for causing me trouble, after I kill you.  C'mon, after killing Achillies, something like you girls is going to be a snap.  Bring it on!

I stand still and shoot fire at all of them as they charge me, then I put my sword away and charge and kill them all.

In your position, the fire shoots out flawlessly at the approaching women.  They all put their arms up to shield themselves in vain.  Once the first few catch on fire, they disperse in the direction opposite you, screaming in fear now.

The large man, who you see now is about 7 feet tall, gets up through the pain of some deep cuts that you see on him.  He stumbles over to your right and picks up a lyre.  It's decorated and seems valuable.  He says, "Thank you, but I can't play you any joyous tunes in return.  I apologize."  He is facing the ground and seems deeply sad.

Who are you? Why were they trying to kill you? And where exactly am I?

I ask in a questioning tone ambivalent of his sadness...

"My name is Orpheus.  The women were going to kill me, because I wouldn't sing happy songs for them.  All I have left is mourning.  You're in an area called the Cicones, in Thrace."

He struggles to get up, and holds a hand over one of his deeper wounds.  With his other hand, he points forewards.  "Over there is the Hebrus river.  You can follow it south to its mouth at the Aegean Sea, or you can follow it north to the capital.  Where are you headed?"

Most likely to the capital, I just arrived here, but needless to say... you all speak greek here... Who rules over these lands?  Also, what are you, and what were those women?

I continue to look around my current area when I finish speaking, and I also put my weapons away.

Orpheus looks out solemnly, and sits down from exhaustion.  "King Eumolpus is the ruler.  He was established after the last king died.  There are, of course, tribes throughout Thrace, but he is the King if there is one.  I am a simple minstrel, taught how to play by my father, a long time ago.  Those women who tried to kill me were driven mad with lust, probably by Dionysus."

The large man spits on the ground, blood.  "The god probably drove them mad, because I disgraced one of his parties with sad music."

Ok, first things first, who was the previous leader?  Who is Dionysus? and what can I expect to find at the Capital.. Also where in the world is Thrace? besides where we are right now? What's around it? 

"The last king was Tegyrius, but there aren't any rumors about how Eumolpus came to power, if that's what you're wondering."  He rolls his eyes.  "Dionysus is the god of wine and parties, things of those matters.  Friend, you sure do have a lot of questions that you ought to already know."

He points out north, south, east, and west to you.  "South of us is the Aegean Sea and Trojan lands are to our southeast.  To the west is the Rhodope Mountains, and greek lands past there.  To the north is the Danube river, and the Sauromatians and Scythians.  Finally, to the east is the Black Sea.  Wherever you're going, do you mind if I travel with you?  I have no direction to go, and I don't like to fight."</yellow>

How far of a walk do you think it is to the Trojan Lands?  There are some people I need to see, I'm wondering if they are still alive... provided I am where I think I am.

Fine you can come along, however, hold on, this is going to hurt, but it will stop the bleeding on some of your major wounds.  Atleast until we get to a place where you can be healed.

I go over to one of his more serious wounds and I burn it, by way of lighting a small fire, the bleeding should stop, and if he doesn't pass out from the pain, we continue on.

"Well, I figure that to get to Troy, we'll have to Bistones and take a ferry to Troad, where Troy is.  I'd say it will take us five days if we go by foot to Bistones, but if we can find a boat to board in a coastal village south of here, we will be able to get there by sea in one.  Then  It will only take two to finally reach Troad."

You take your fire to his wounds, and they cauterize nicely.  He has limited movement without opening his wounds, but it should hold if the two of you just walk.  He adds on, "It should be nice going to Troy.  I've never been there before.  If you're ready to go, I am."

Ok then, lets go.

We travel..

The two of you head southeast until you finally see the river, which Orpheus tells you is the Hebrus River, and that you two have to follow it to a bridge to cross.

After another half an hour of walking, in which time Orpheus never plays his lyre, you see the bridge in the distance.  When you're approaching it, and only a few yards from it, all of a sudden two figures are there.

At first, you think that they are vultures of some sort, perching on the bridge, but as you approach, you can make out human characteristics.  They are women, but not normal.  They have bird-like talons and wings on their arms.  Also, one opens its mouth when it notices you and shrieks, revealing its fangs.

They take to the air, and sweep towards you and Orpheus.  You feel Orpheus leave your side and back up some.

I aim and shoot fire at the bird things as they get closer, and get ready to attack with my swords if needed and I slice and dice them..

Your fire is poorly aimed, because the sun is in your eyes.  It shoots just below one and next to the other.  Plus, they are moving through the air, so they are hard targets.

Then, they are too close for magic, and you draw your swords against them, using the ninja to with battoujutsu on the closer of the two.  It cuts her small structure diagnaly, and she falls to the ground.  You can tell that one of her 'arms' is now unusable.

The other stops mid-air, out of range, and looks down to the other creature.  She slowly descends to the other monster, and looks up at you.  "Soon enough, fool, you'll learn not to meddle with fate."  She looks from you, to Orpheus, and then grabs the other creature and flies away too quickly to follow.

Not meddle with fate? hell I die and ome back to life in other worlds.. what fate?

Whatever, lets continue.

We continue onwards.

You walk for the rest of the day and find a fishing village on the coast.  It took longer than Orpheus had anticipated and it's already nightfall.

When the two of you enter the village, they say that there's a boat bound for the south, that will go by the Trojan shore on its route.  The fee for getting on board is pricy and that you'll have to head towards the ship to find out how much.

You can see the ship, which is medium size.  It's smaller than the ship you used when you had been in Troy before.  Still, at least it floats.

On the way over to the Boat, I ask Orpheus if he has any cash, and tell him that I haven't got any.

We go and see how much a boat ride would cost, and see if there is anyway to reduce to cost, or get a ride for free.

Orpheus replies, "I haven't any money on me.  I simply travel and take charity to do so.  Sometimes people pay me for my songs, but all of that money is back home, which is far away from here."

When you approach the captain with Orpheus, he says, "It will cost you ten silver pieces or something of higher value that I can sell.  Also, I can't guarantee safe passage.  The seas can be dangerous."  You think that he seems shifty, but when you consult Orpheus, he says that all sailors are worried about being taken for granted.

How about this then, you give us free passage, and I will offer my services and combat anything that happens to come our way enroute to my stop.  Does this seem agreeable?  I protect you and your cargo up till my stop, and you just give us passage there.  Besides thing should go smoothly..and if they don't I'll be here to protect us, I am quite skilled, I've survived many wars.  So how about it?

He puts his hand to his chin for a moment, then smirks.  "Okay, you have a deal.  If no one on the boat gets hurt on our way to Troy, you and your friend get to ride for free.  You can even stay on the boat overnight if you want."  He holds his hand out to you to shake.  "You're free to stay on the boat, but I'm sure there's more interesting things to do tonight in the village than just sleep, which is all there is to do here."

Could you tell me who is the current king of Troy?

I shake his hand as I speak.

"Well, for now it's Priam.  Still, his health isn't as good as it used to be.  Once he dies, there's no telling who the new king will be.  His sons are feuding over such a matter.  All I know is that one of the leading contenders for the throne after Priam is Hector.  I'm not sure of much else, but there's a good chance that the country could be ripped apart."

Excellent, so they are still alive... thats good news... I wonder how many years have passed since I last saw them... Oh well it will be nice to see them again.. 

Once we are done speaking I head inside and I go to sleep, telling them I've had a long day and to wake me up when we set sail.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:54, Sun 06 May 2007.

You wake up the next day due to yelling above you.  You're sleeping below deck, and you can hear hollaring above.  You feel rejuvinated, so you can only assume that it's daytime and that you have had a full night's sleep.

I wake myself fully and head upstairs to see whats going on, if there is a battle about then I cast fire on the first enemy I see.

When you get up and above, you find that there's shouting between a couple people on board.  They are standing up holding sheathed swords, and you can see dice at their feet.

You can see that many people came on this trip, even though the village seemed to be small.  There are about thirty people around the place, sitting around or leaning over the edge of the boat, wasting time until their arrival.  You see Orpheus sitting patiently by the edge with his lyre, his only possession that you know of, in hand.

The captain calls at you when he sees you, "Hey, our deal was that the people on this ship are safe!  Take care of that fight over there!"  He's pointing at the two men about to fight over their game of dice.

I use hand motions, mental though and words and I use levitation to pull the two people apart from eachother.  Then I walk over to them.

Both of you shut your mouths and calm down.  I could care less as to what you are fighting over but settle it off the boat, or with words.  Cause any more trouble and I will have to kill you myself.  I don't feel like killing you all here so zip it.

I get in between them, and grab them both by the front of their shirts.

I mean it, if you would like to see the light of day again stop argueing with eachother and talk it out...

Your inital attempt is a failure, but then the two fly apart a yard each.

Your threats easily silence them, and they seperate to opposite sides of the boat.  They don't even look at one another, but glance at you a couple times, nervous.

The captain's eyes are agape, as well as everyone else on board.  Even Orpheus cranes his head to the right curiously.  He puts his hand out and gestures for you to come and sit down with him.

I walk over to him...

Yes...? They were arguing and they needed to be quiet, while there were better ways I'm sure, it achieved its purpose.

What do you want?

Orpheus looks down, and then at you.  You can tell that he's serious.  "I need your help.  My wife, long ago, died from stepping on a poisonous snake.  I went to Hades and begged for her back, through my music.  It was enough to melt Hades and his wife's cold hearts, and I almost retrieved her..."

He stops for a moment, his head hanging low.  You see two tears streaming down his face, but he shakes his head.  He wipes his face and his tears are gone.  "After whatever you're doing in Troy, will you help me get her back?"

Hmm, we'll see, if I'm still here I'll help you.  But last time I was here... well I suppose I'll tell you about my last time here, with priam and hector... and Ares...

Last time I was here, not sure how many years its been, but quite a while I'm sure, back when Troy was about to be under attack.  I was there.  Ares, yeah the god, he came to me and asked for my help to save Troy from defeat.  So I agreed, and he picked me and my friend up from an island, and threw us through the air, and we were traveling for 10 minutes or so, and we passed right over this ocean, only to land just outside Troy's gates.  It was an interesting experience, but I ended up killing Achilles, and saving troy, so Ares thanked me and such.  So it was pretty good, but a while after, after I had been promoted and given my own island with troops to train and such, I had been killed in battle.  Now I'm back, and well I've got some business to talk to Priam and hector about.  So after that, if I'm still here and alive, I'll help you.  But I do need to train a bit before I go anywhere, its been a while since I've had to levitate people apart like that.

Anyway... I'm going to make sure everything is alright with those two.

I walk over to each of the two that were arguing, and whisper ish talk to both of them seperately.

Are you alright now, and will you quit your complaining and settle things quietly if there is discontent between you and another passenger?  Or do I need to personally make sure that you will be quiet from now on?

I snap my fingers and produce a small flame to each of them, and promise them it can be bigger, and I can burn their toungues out or their eyes, or other appendages if they feel the need to cause a ruckus again.

Then I go over to the captain and apologize for the ruckus that was caused.

Orpheus smiles, and his mind seems to travel somewhere else in thought.  "Thank you."  Then, you see him pick up his lyre for once in his hands, and play.

The sound that leaves it is so beautiful that you can't help but stop yourself from going to threaten the two men.  Everyone on the deck look at him and their faces relax.

You approach the captian to apologize, and he smiles and says, "Don't worry about it.  It's good to have someone on board who can help handle the people."

You feel deeply drawn to the mystical sound that Orpheus produces, and you feel that the boat is moving quicker than before.  It's as if the wind has joined in to listen to his music.  You can even hear splashing of fish next to the boat.

I sit and enjoy the music..

This sword that I got back at the academy is quite interesting.  I don't know much about it, but it does have some unique properties... hmm what was it that the kid said... *thinks*  ahh yes, it was that is father imbued it with dark magic...  Well then I think there should be more that it couldo do other than just inflict really bad wounds, that don't heal...  and when I fought earlier I felt like I was pulled to attack more, perhaps its slightly sentient..

I start to talk mentally to the sword, and if there is no response, then I just find a place to sit down and meditate, and while I meditate I concentrate on the dark sword and see if I can potentially discover more of its potential properties...

As all this occurs I enjoy the music.

You take the sword out of its sheathe and think towards it.

You start to feel a sick sort of joy from the sword, and you even think that you feel laughter coming out of it.  The laughter isn't normal, though, and you can feel malice in the sound.

It doesn't answer any of your questions, and you only hear the quiet, but powerful laughter.  The voice sounds familiar to you.  The voice is that of a young man.

Interesting, laughter eh? Well sword, I believe I've heard that laughter before...  Perhaps its the voice of the kid I killed to retrieve you?  Whichever, this will be interesting, if you can talk, and if you have any other abilities, besides the damage that doesn't heal, like what happened to Jess, I'd like to know of them.  I fight and kill alot, and surely if I can kill people quicker and causing more torture and pain on there part, I'm sure that will be enjoyable to the both of us.  So, what say you sword? Anything you could tell me?  From the sound of your voice, its evident you enjoy killing, so surely we'll get along quite well.  What else can you do?

You feel a deep malice building up from the sword that almost blocks the good feeling that comes from Orpheus' playing.  Hahaha!  You're such a fool!  I have nothing to say to you until you prove yourself to me!  Kill more of them, let me destroy this ship and everyone on it, starting with that blasted bard, and his hopeful music!

I'm the fool!? HAH! Sure, you can keep on thinking that, you'll get your share later.  I've killed enough people to satiate a sword's hunger for many many years, and there will be more I promise you.  However, not now, besides, we need the Bard.  He is going to be leading us to a place where we can kill, many, many people.  After I take care of my own business.  Besides, I'm thinking about killing the king of the place where we are going, he's pissed me off in the past, and well, it'll be nice to kill him.  Trust me sword, its not often I'm sure that you travel from world to world.  How man weilders would have fun in killing others?  Not many I assure you, can it, or I can promise you, I'll have keep you hungry for bloodshed for quite a while.  Don't get me wrong, I intend to kill many people using you, tell me now, what more can you do?

You can almost feel the sword smirking.  My thirst for battle can't be quenched.  I don't think that I'll tell you anything of my power, but I'm willing to show you some.  Channel some of your magic into me, and I'll show you something that I can do.  At the moment, I don't have enough magic.  That woman's gash wasn't enough engery to pull it off.

It can't be quenched, eh? Good, everywhere I go, I end up fighting, so it looks like you'll be getting many wonderful meals while you are with me.

I get up and walk away from the people towards an edge of the ship, and I channel some magical energy into it. (Fire energy if I had to choose an element)

Ah...yes...  Yes!  You hear the sword shout with excitement.

Then, while you can hear it laughing, you hear the sound of wailing on the other side of the boat, near Orpheus.  He's stopped playing, looking around at the others.

Everyone but Orpheus is on the floor, screaming in pain.  They are pressed down against the ship, and you can see the wooden floor denting from their weight.  And there'll be more where that comes from if you find me more blood...  They are still screaming in agony, and the sword is laughing.

Very nice,  you will have more blood soon, I have a habit of finding targets, so there will be more.  This is going to be interesting, having you with me...

I walk over towards Orpheus.

Any idea what is going on?  Are we under attack?

I speak calmly and look around for any potential victims as I speak.

Orpheus looks around curiously.  "I don't understand it.  They were all fine, listening to me play.  They were smiling and hopeful, then suddenly they fell to the ground as if they weighed tons.  I wonder if this is the keres after us again?  Still, this seems too powerful for their level."

Remember, Avahur, you promised me blood, and I expect you to give me it soon.  I've placed everyone here before you for easy kills, just as a favor.  Now kill them for me!  The weapon's voice gets louder in your mind with the command.

Orpheus, there are some things, that well, I'm a war vet, every now and then, you need to do things to stay safe.  I heard them talking as you started to play.  Some of them intended to slaughter everyone on board, you, me, the captain.  However, I can't be sure which ones were talking, but there was definitely quite a few.  So the only way to keep us safe, is by killing them all.  Now, I'm sure they will go to a better place, but eh, thats what happens when ya mess around with me.

I put the dark sword away...

Remove it from them, have them get up, it'll be easier for me to kill them.

Once they get up, I proceed to kill them all.  If the sword doesn't let them get up, then I periodically go and kill them all with the dark blade...

Oh, and by the way, would you happen to have a name?

The sword releases the others from the gravity, and you go towards them, drawing it again to kill the exhausted people.

You cut down the first seven people, the only armed ones on board, quickly.  The other eight include three children, two unarmed men, and three women.  The women are each holding a child and the two men get between you and the women and children.

You see the captain draw his sword out of the corner of your eye.  It's some sort of scimitar.  "What are you doing, boy?  I'm letting you pass for protecting this ship, not killing everyone on it."

The incessant voice of the sword comes back on, Kill them, Avahur!  Kill them!  Destroy the rest, other than our friend Orpheus, and I will tell you my name!

Hey Captain, guess what, remember a while back when, and I'm sure you heard about it, Troy was in trouble and being attacked, while Achilles was leading an army against him, yeah I killed Achilles in my last stop here.  And I met the god Ares, personally... fun times, truly...  But alas, after fighting alongside hector, and having his younger brother as a subordinate, I had to leave, and I'm back.. Truly fun times, have fun in the after life..

I continue to kill everyone but Orpheus, I aim for the males first, then the women and children, then turn around and kill the captain, parrying his sword with my ninja-to as I draw it when I get close, then slash him down with the dark balde.

Once everything is done..

Some things need to be done Orpheus...  This is one of those things, I met Ares, and he asked me to do one of 2 things, be his agent for 10 years, or save troy, I chose to save troy.  Well,  people die in war, there are wars going on subtley and whether you know or not, I was told they had to be killed by another being higher than yourself.  Not exactly the way I would've done it, but it works.  So I'll clean up this mess and then drive the boat, unless you'd like to direct as I clean up?

Enjoy that?  Now what is your name?

You quickly dispatch of all of the unarmed passengers.  None of them managed to put up anything of a fight.

Then, the captain is charging at you when you see him.  You draw your ninja-to to block him, but you miss and leave your left side open, which he quickly takes advantage of.  He slashes down the left side of your chest.

Still in pain, you bring the dark blade and stab him in the chest.

The sword laughs crazily with excitement.  Ahahahahaha!  Avahur, finally!  It's been so long since I've had a decent meal!  I'll keep my word, Avahur.  His voice gets more calm.  You may remember me.  I'm Ajax.

Orpheus is sitting there in awe, looking at your blood-covered body.  You see the sword and notice something-it doesn't have any blood on it, after all of that combat.  You, however, are filthy with their blood and your own.

I stab him a couple more times for good measure, then focus on my wound and concentrate some energy into it to heal it.  Multiple times if needed to be healed.

Ahh, Ajax, so this is you, I thought as much, the voice sounded familiar...  So what happened at the academy, did I kill a shadow body of you, or what happened with that?  After I killed you that is... Also, is it possible for you to heal me during battle for when we kill many people? Like if during a long battle and we kill a lot of people, but I get injured a bit, can you do anything to heal me? Or is that beyond your capabilities?   I can always heal myself, but if you could do something like that, it'd be quite nice.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:15, Fri 11 May 2007.

The captain of the ship is definately dead now.

While you converse with Ajax, Orpheus starts to play again.  You can almost hear death echo in his notes.  Wow, that guy really can play.  When he's in the right mood, he can play pretty well, too.  Then, he responds to you, I'm not so good at healing at the moment.  Destruction's always been my strong suit.  Nothing, however, is beyond my capabilities.  If I have the right power, I can do a lot, so I've found.

You heal your wounds with minimal difficulty, even though you're a little tired.  Orpheus has a strange gaze into the sky as he plays.  The music reminds you of the deepest pain you've ever felt.

So, what else can ya do?

I head up towards the front of the boat and keep it heading forward, after I search the corpses for anything and everything, currency, weapons, valuables, etc. anything to bargain with really, and then I dump the corpses overboard...
This message was last edited by the player at 01:34, Fri 11 May 2007.

On the corpses, you get seven swords, plus the scimitar that the captain had, and their sheathes.  The captain has a pouch with 150 pieces of silver inside, and off of the others, you get a total of 5 pieces of silver and 15 pieces of bronze.

You keep the boat on course, and Ajax talks to you while you do this.  I'm still investigating that.  It seems like I can do a lot now, and after those last executions, I can do a bit more without you.  Still, it feels like I have to be unsheathed to do anything.  But, other than gravity, I feel like I can do some fire, water, wind, and earth abilities.  I'm not sure what else, though.  Those abilities, and gravity, are all sketchy to me for some reason.

Hmm, cus I can do Fire, water, earth and wind, is there a way for me to learn Gravity from you? If only a little bit? Likewise, I've been thinking of trying to cast spells from my sword, like casting the spellduring my draw so that the spell casts when I hit someone at pointblack range, or using the sword as a direction for the spell, to catch others by surprise.  It'd allow me to attack those behind me as well as in front.  I've also been thinking of combining the elements for attacks.  When I get a chance to train, I plan on practicing all of it, as well as working with you to see what else you can do.

I continue to steer the boat.

You just keep on killing.

At the end of the day, you find that you're approaching land, a very small fishing village.  You can clearly see that it isn't Troy, but you're not exactly sure where you're headed at the moment, because you've never sailed on the Aegean Sea before.

Of course..

When we get to land, I put the anchor down in port and ask where Troy is, and how I would get there by boat.

The people on the shore say that they are a village of both Thracians and Trojans.

They direct you to go west until you reach the shore, and then follow it south until you finally see Troy.  They recommend that you pay to stay the night in the village, because it is getting pretty late and it will take another day to reach Troy.

By now, Orpheus has stopped playing music, but he hasn't said a word.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:17, Fri 11 May 2007.

We stay the night and head out the next morning for Troy, I ask Orpheus if he is well that night, and during the stay I also sell 6 of the 7 swords I got and keep the captains rapier with me.

Only a couple people in the village are interested in buying the swords, and they are relatively poor.  They're only able to pay ten bronze pieces for each sword.

When you talk to Orpheus, he says, "What came over you on the boat?  Those people were enthralled by my playing.  I haven't played like that since before Eurydice left this world.  Everyone there would have gotten off of the boat and achieved great things."

Yeah, it wasn't my way of doing things, rather it was Ajax, this sword's way of doing it.  It was hungry, and thirsty for blood rather.  Now, I travel from world to world when I die.  I've killed many many people, and well, I need strong weapons and skills, in the name of learning and gaining a strong ally, it was only a few people.  Orpheus, I live my life fighting, everyone and everything.  I enjoy the fighting, actually, as much as I enjoy what I did at my job back home.  I love doing both and I wouldn't give up either of em.  I get to relax and I get to fight, its really enjoyable... I suppose I'm just one of those types of people that enjoys to fight and kill.  But alas, I could tell you many stories, not many of which are happy, so I'll spare ya from having to listening to them.  If you would like to know some of what I've been through, just ask and I'll tell ya, but I won't hold anything back from the stories. Alas...

Some things are just meant to happen, as the saying goes, if you're walking through hell, why turn around when you're half way there, just keep on walking.  There is a fate for everyone... mine is unique.  Oh well though, you'll find out more at Troy.

After you talk, Orpheus nods some, and cries some at the end of what you say.

He doesn't tell you anything, but just goes to sleep.

When you wake up in the morning, the villagers charge you the money that you made off of selling the swords for staying the night and using their shore for your boat.

After that, you're on your stolen boat on your way to Troy.

On the way to Troy I mainly just steer and talk to Ajax about life at the academy, and where he origninated from, and how he got his powers and such.

Ajax doesn't say anything about his life at the Academy.  He just says that he was sent there by his father to learn, just as he said when you met him at the Academy.

The furthest you get to learning about his origin is that it isn't normal.

Finally, Ajax says that he has no idea about the powers, only that he gets them from the sword.

At last, you make it to Troy.  There are people spread out on the shore fishing and you see others higher from the shore farming.  There is a road in the middle, and you see a sizable port further down past where the people are fishing.

I head over to the port and set anchor, I pay the fee should I have enough, and if I don't I do some persuasion..Avy style... >_>

Then I start headig to Priam's place after getting directions there, as it has been a while..

When you reach the port, a man in Trojan armor approaches you and almost makes you pay.  Then, his eyes squint some and he says, "Ah, you're the man!  You're that man that helped us fight off the Greeks!  You don't need to pay for anchorage here.  Military can be here for free.  I actually had heard that you died."

When you ask him where Priam's palace is, he gives you some sketchy directions, but you find your way there with Orpheus anyways.  The palace is quite noticable, it being the biggest building in the city, which is much more active than you remember.  There are active vendors on the street.

When you finally reach the palace, you arrive just as Hector is leaving with a group of men.  He doesn't seem to notice you.

Hector!  Its been a while.  I heard there has been some arguements up here, how have you been?  Surely you can't forget me, Avahur, could you?

I walk over to him as I speak.

At first, a couple of his entourage get in your way, but then Hector grabs their shoulders.  "Avahur, I thought you'd died.  What happened to you over the years?"

He clasps you on the shoulder and offers you his right hand to shake.  "It's like you dropped off the face of the planet."

I had to go off and train for a while, is my friend, Brian, still around?  Now, saying I died is.. well, yes it is true, I did die, but do I look dead?  Hector, I've died like 15 times maybe more, I think its around 17 now. I don't worry about death, so I died, no big deal.  But I did get some training, how goes that spell that I tought you a while back?  Alas, would it be possible for me and my traveling partner to head inside?  I ran into him back in Thrace, and well I kinda saved his life. So, what say you?

He looks amongst his group, and he nods some.  "Brian's alive.  You'll probably see him soon enough if you go into the palace.  He's a good friend of Paris now."  You can hear in his voice a sound of disrespect when he talks about Brian.

Then, he takes on a different tone and comes closer with a wisper.  "We need to see you some time.  You could really help us out.  Meet me here, at the entrance of the palace, at dark.  Don't bring your friend."  He clasps you on your shoulder and says a hearty goodbye, then his group quickly walks away.

The guards at the entrance part, allowing you to pass.

I head into the Palace and take a look around. I look for Brian and anyone else that I might recognize.  Should I find Priam, I request a room for Orpheus and another seperate room for myself.

In the palace, things seem to be going along quickly, but peacefully.  Everyone seems busy and no one knows where Brian is.

One servant woman says that he is currently on assignment.

Then, you finally find your way to the throne room, where Priam is.  There are seven guards in front of a big set of double doors.  One man in the middle approaches you, and you can tell he's higher ranking than the rest.  "Is the King expecting you?"

Not at all, but I need to speak to Priam immediately.  We have some business to discuss, some of which involves what happened since I was last here, during the time I killed Achilles.  I've done a lot here, and so I need to catch up with a few things.  Surely he has some time to speak with me.

He looks at you suspiciously, up and down.  He puts his hand on his sword, but makes no attempt to draw it.  "Sir, I don't think that Priam is well to see anyone right now.  You should go through the proper channels to arrange to meet him."

That'll take too long, I really need to see him.  Now, true I am covered in blood, so it's probably not looking good for me to enter, but also, would you really want to draw your sword at someone who has obviously fought a lot and survived?  I'm just stating facts here, so don't take it as a threat.  How many wars have you fought in?  I was given my own island here, where I trained many soldiers, along with my friend Brian, and Hector's brother Deiphobus.  That was after of course my promotions after I was named Achillephon, after I killed Achilles and saved this place.  Then later led a charge with his armor on against our enemy, and this place was saved.  I've fought alongside hector years ago, and Brian and I helped save this place.  After of course Ares visited us in person and sent us here, but that's not really that important. What do you know of the person that killed Achilles in the past?  My name is Avahur.  Sure, I can't quite do what my friend did the last time we were here and light my body aflame as a sign of Ares sending us, and still walking away unharmed, but I can do a few other things if you really don't believe that I am who I say I am.

I snap my fingers and produce a flame.

Then I gradually increase the flame's size to be double what it originally was.

Something small like this is nothing.  You could attack me, but neither I, nor the others in this castle would like it.  You would be burned quite badly, and you wouldn't want that.  Sure I don't mind, but I'm just here to talk to Priam, nothing much, I have no intention of harming him.  If I did, would I stand here peacefully and try to go see him?

So please, send someone is and ask if he knows an Avahur, I'm sure he'll let me in, if you won't let me in now.

They jump some when you create a flame in your hand, and again when it increases in size.  The man glares at you slightly, but then nods to one of the men behind him.  He doesn't take his hand off of his sword.

Avahur, when are you going to kill them?  It's been sooo long since the ship...  Let me kill them!

After a few moments, the soldier comes back out of the room and nods to his superior.

The man then finally takes his hand off of his sword.

Finally, you're in the king's hall and he's at the end of the room on his throne in a royal purple and blue robe.  A woman sitting next to him in another throne, but lower, is in a white and red dress.  Priam squints his eyes at you and says, "I can't remember your face.  It's been too long, but I remember your hair.  Where have you been for these years?  Troy could have used you."

Don't worry ajax, I plan to kill a lot later, you'll get a lot then, I'm just making sure that you're quite hungry, so that you can enjoy it more later.

Well Priam, I died, quite simply enough.  But I'm back for a bit, with a traveling companion, just like the last time I was here.  Its been quite a while, hasn't it.  Would it be possible to get a couple of rooms, one each for my companion and I?  I would've helped troy, if I was still in this world, but when I died, I left it, went to a different world, died there, went to a different world, died there, and then I came back.  Wish I could control where I go when I die, that'd be pretty good.  But alas, I can't, Also, i've heard that Brian is still around, do you know where he is? I've been meaning to see him.  What's been happening since I left?  I've heard there were problems here at the palace.

The queen looks at you as if you're crazy, but Priam smiles.  "Okay, Avahur.  Death is an acceptable excuse, I suppose, and we can certainly accomodate you here.  Brian...Brian..."  He looks up, thinking, and then seems as if he suddenly remembers.

He doesn't have a look of happiness about Brian, but more of an unsure one.  "He stays here in the palace, near the same place as my son, Paris.  That group seems to conspire much lately.  Paris, Deiphobus, Brian...  My own sons are conspiring about something and it seems that at my death, this whole country will be ripped apart in war!  Even Hector is getting allies among the Trojans, but I feel that he just wants Troy to stay strong.  The only arguement that occurred was a month ago when my lineage was brought up.  Paris and Hector are disputing over power in the country."

Heh, this is great, Ajax, it looks like we'll have 3 good allies... Brian was at the Academy also, he taught me magic, he wore a balck tunic, he was very good at combat magic, and ninjutsu.  So he taught me all my combat magic, likewise I taught him some conventional magic.  He has probably grown very much in power since I last saw him.  This is going to be wonderful...

Perhaps I can see what's going on and settle this.  Where will I be able to find them?  Since I haven't been around I don't know much of what's going on, so surely a 3rd party in this could be good...  I'll see what I can do to settle things...

Also would someone be able to guide my companion here to a room? He is quite skilled with his songs, and can make many people happy.  Although we've been through a lot and I'm thinking he needs some rest, or atleast a place that he can rest in.  Priam, I'll try to get things settles, and see if I can put an end to things between both sides.

Orpheus nods when you mention that he needs rest, but he still remains silent with a far-out stare.

"If you think that it will do any good, Avahur, go ahead and try.  Have one of the men outside lead you to our eastern guest rooms.  That's where Paris and the others are staying in the palace; however, we don't have space in the east wing for you, only in the west.  You can have another man lead your bard to his room."

He signals his hand towards the door, dismissing you.

Don't worry about me, I'll probably end up sleeping outside, that way I can train up late and not disturb everyone else's sleep.  But you never know, so I'll worry about a room later.

I head out of the room.  Then I ask the guards to lead Orpheus to his room and lead me to the Eastern Guest Rooms.

You make your way to the eastern wing with one of the smaller soldiers that had been guarding the door, and he finally shows you Brian's room.

When you knock on the door, no one answers, but you think that you hear his voice, and others, accross the hall from his room.  The door on that side is closed.

I knock on the door.

Brian, Deiphobus, it is me, Avahur.  I need to speak with you.

Before you can say anything, the door flings open right after you open it and you're knocked to the ground.

On top of you, you see Brian in his same black outfit, but it's different.  The sleeves are ripped off and it seems ragged, and even gashed in some places.  Still, he is wearing something black underneath.  He has a dagger to your throat and is holding your right arm to the ground with his other hand.

He speaks to you in english.  "I thought I felt a vector around here.  I thought you'd died!  Why are you here now?"  He seems short tempered and arrogant to you.

You hear Ajax shouting at you, I could have avoided that...  You should have been paying more attention, Avahur.  Now, kill him and everyone else in the room!  You said he was strong, right?  Let's kill him!

"Why am I here? How the hell should I know?  Brian, you and I both know, that we can't decide where we get versed to, for all I know when I die I'll go to the academy, I really don't know how I got here, other than I died in my last world.  Yes, Brian, I did die, and I versed out of here, you look like you've been through a lot.  What has happened in my absence?  Also, what's with your atitude? You've changed quite a bit, but thats not surprising, so whichever.  Could you remove the dagger from my throat?  I've got a sword that is itching to kill everyone in sight, and that feeds off of the blood of its victims.  So its a bit annoying when it constantly speaks to you about killing, hell its more malicious than I am.  But alas, I'd like to speak to you, surely you can put some time aside to speak to an old friend? How long has it been? And what new abilities have you gained, judging by your appearence, you go througha  rigorous training, or have been in many battles, and what are you wearing beneath your shirt?"

He raises up slowly, but still looks at you.  "I can't talk to you right now.  I'm busy with some friends.  Some important stuff happened while you're gone, and we have some plans for Troy and Hector..."  He says Hector's name as if it's a curse.

"It's been three years since you've been here, and the Trojan lands have been growing quite a bit.  We've been in a lot of wars with smaller nations around us, and the islands.  I managed to conquer Lemnos fairly easily even without you.  I convinced the enemy to retreat.  Now, I have governors loyal to me on three islands.  Where do your loyalties lie, anyways, Avahur?"

You hear someone inside call out, "Hey, Brian, what's taking so long?  Was it an assassin or not?  And what kind language is that?"

"Brian you should know this already...  The only side I'm on is my own.  I may have alliances with people, but we are versers, in the end, the only person we can truly side with, is ourselves.  Surely you know that.  I'm with you guys of course, Brian, when was I not with the stronger side?  I had to convince Priam of course that I would try to settle things, but really, Priam is old, and even 3 years ago, he annoyed me, it still hasn't changed.  I would love to personally kill him, and I can quite easily, which of course can create an opening to you guys to do whichever you intend to do.  Since you 3 are obviously seen as enemies, but no one is going to do anything about it for now.  Since I am not seen as an enemy, but as an ally, I can create the opening by killing, Hector, Priam, or whoever.  My skills have increased over time, even thoughts its only been just over a year for me, its been 3 years here, eh?  Interesting.  I guess time is different after all, depending on the world.  No matter."

Can it in there, I'm trying to speak to Brian here. Bloody hell you guys are annoying, Deiphobus, you in there?

"Anyway Brian, I'll be with you guys for now, since the other side is obviously going to lose, and you've become a lot stronger.  Think you could teach me some new things?  I've learned how to teleport, surely that could be helpful even now.  I'm not that good at it, but with training, and as versers, we have an unlimited time to train, I can master it in time, and surely can you, if you'd like to know how.. unless of course you already know how to teleport, in which case it'd be interesting."

He puts out his hand to help you to your feet.  "If we wanted to kill Priam, we would have by now.  Honestly, we don't have enough force to fight a war against Hector right now.  Now, killing Hector is completely different.  He's not just some old king, but a young prince and commands all of the Trojan forces, other than those truly loyal to us."

Someone from inside calls out, "Who is it?"  Then, you see Deiphobus come out of the room towards you, and offers his hand to shake.  "It's been a long time, sir.  Why don't you come in here with us, so that we can discuss some things?"

"Not enough of a force? I can help ya with that, but I'll need to know what's going on in full, before I can help ya."

I grab Brian's hand and get up, then I shake Deiphobus's hand.

Yes, it has been a long time, I've been training, and I've got a new ally with me here...

As I finish the last line I motion towards Ajax...

We will not be killing these 3, they intend to fight a war, and a war means a wonderful meal for you, so you needn't worry, you'll get a wonderful meal eventually.

I head inside so long as no one prevents me from doing so.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:40, Sat 12 May 2007.

When you go into the room with the others, you find two people sitting at a table togeather.  In the middle of the table, there is a map, which they quickly roll up and put away when they see you.

Both of them are wearing nice clothing, which you can tell is very comfortable.  One is wearing a long purple cloak while the other is wearing a blue one.

The man in the purple, who seems your age or a little older, smiles slightly, but glares at Brian.  "Who are you?  What are you doing in here?  This is supposed to be a private meeting."

Brian steps up and says, "Paris, don't worry.  He's on our side for now, and he could be very influential among the troops."  He goes right next to Paris and wispers something in his ear.

Paris nods some and says, "Fine, then.  You can come in here with us.  Before we begin, what do you expect from joining us?"

Paris... Does it matter what I expect?  Simply put, Priam has always annoyed me, even since my last time here, and Hector... well Hector is an interesting sort.  Now, there is going to be a war, there is obviously no doubt to that, and my sword here... He enjoys wars, as he feeds on the blood of my victims.  So, I'd rather be on the side with people that I know, rather than people that have annoyed me previously.

No problems with that now, is there?

Also, for a private meeting you guys are quite brash about things.

"Brian, if I came to this room first, and you did what you did, the soldier that accompanied me would have seen, and that wouldn't look good.  If he ran to inform someone like Hector, things could've gone down hill rather quickly.  I understand wanting to keep it private, but save the violence for after you find out who it is, not before.  And if you are going to kill someone, do it quickly and without others around.  But we need to talk later, so I'll save my greetings till then.  I'm sure we have quite a few things to catch up on."

Anyway, I don't expect much, except a war, be it big or small, I expect fighting, and it is obvious that will occur.  So I expect whats going to come, not much more than that, and if there is more, its nothing you should concern yourself with.  Mada Mada Dane, Paris.

After you're done speaking, Paris just stands there peculiarly and repeats as a question, "Mana Mana Dane...?"  Other than that, he seems accepting of your participation in the group.

Brian pulls you aside and says to you in english, "Avahur, I'm just worried that some verser might crash the party.  It's very important to look out for them.  The last one I saw tried to kill me after transforming into my appearance.  He was going to take my place here."

Then, he continues in greek, "Okay, well let's finish it up for today with just some introductions and an assignment to show good faith.  You already know Paris, Deiphobus, and myself; however, this is Polites.  He's an older brother of Paris, but younger than Hector."  He moves over to the man in the blue cloak and puts his hand on his back.  "He supports our cause against Hector, but he's one of the only enemies of Hector in the family, so he can't really do anything without people knowing it's him.

That's where you come in.  We need you to meet with Hector.  We need to know what his forces are exactly, and how ready they are if a civil war would break out."  He just looks at your sword for a second, clearly pondering something.

Ajax thinks to you.  Please, Avahur!  Let me kill them here and now!  That one that keeps talking to you in the black-he's powerful!  Let me cut him down!

"Brian, you are going to have to explain whats happened since I've been gone, everything, including meetings with versers.  In the world I went to after my alst time here, I saw like 10 or so versers gathered in one place.  We were gathered and sent to fight a war.  It was pretty cool, but bad.  I learned to teleport there and well, it is quite useful, I could teach you what I know.  Hell, if you excel at it more than I can.  It will be quite useful. Also, I'm gonna let you know this now, try not to piss me off.  This sword here has a mind of its own, and its screaming at me to kill you, cus it knows you are strong.  I'm not going to of my own will, its just a warning, so when around me, be careful, for your sake and for mine.

It just said.. 'Please, Avahur!  Let me kill them here and now!  That one that keeps talking to you in the black-he's powerful!  Let me cut him down!'  soo... yeah, this sword rocks though."


I'll go speak to Hector and see what I can find out.  However, can ya let me know something that won't be useful to them, that they don't already know?  Just in case he doesn't believe me.  I can get on his side alright, but I have my own way of doing it.  Don't worry, despite what it may sound like, trust in the fact that I won't betray you.  Besides, the best way to defeat your enemy is to break them, and use their own knowledge against them.  Its exactly what I plan to do to Hector, I just need to make sure he thinks that I am on his side.

I start to leave, then turn around.. Oh, Mada mada dane, Paris.  Seriously, you still have lots to work on.  I'll be back.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:22, Sun 13 May 2007.

They say, "You can tell Hector that Polites is with us, and go ahead and tell him that we've given up on Helenus' loyalty.  It's clear that he's with Hector now."

Brian doesn't reply to you about the sword, but nods that the two of you will have some talking to do later on.

I nod and back out of the room, then head off to find Hector.

Hmmm, I suppose I'll ask Priam first, then just ask around in general if he doesn't know.  I should probably ask those that were under him the last time I was here...provided they are still alive...If they aren't then I'll just have to ask whoever I find...
This message was last edited by the player at 16:54, Sun 13 May 2007.

You find the Priam doesn't know where he is, but in the hallway, you meet up with one of his old subordinates.

He tells you that he's been going to a camp on the outside of the city often these days, and he heard that Hector was going there today.

I thank him and head off to find this camp, that Hector is supposedly in...

On your way to the back of Troy, where the camp is just on the outside of, you end up walking through an area full of poverty.  There are dozens of people on the street with hopeless eyes, and other coughing painfully.  Many of them are sleeping, while some have useless objects that they try to draw your attention towards to purchase.

Ajax pesters you farther.  Avahur!  These people are poor, useless.  They will die within the next year from this state!  Just let me kill them, let me rid them of their pain.  Let me kill them now!  The thoughts feel more demanding now, rather than simply requests.

Can you do it in a manner, without me having to kill them by the sword?  I still need to gain trust before we fight the war, hold off for now, unless you can be do it without me slaying them personally...

This time, however, it is thought in a demanding-ish type of voice.

I continue to go to Hector's camp.

When you're outside the city walls, no one is around.  You know that the camp is past a patch of trees straight down a road from the city, but your eye is caught by five figures flying low towards you from the right.

You recognize them as the same creatures that attacked you and Orpheus on your trip.  They're only moments away from you, and are headed straight for you.

Ajax, lets see what you can do with some magic...  we've got some targets to kill, ready?

I give him some magic, about 1.5 times what I gave him on the boat.  Then I get ready to slice and dice them, if he doesn't do much, otherwise I slice and dice if its gravity or if he unleashes some form of magic, I attack with fire from a distance, once they get within range, then proceed to slice em up.

I'm always ready!  The sword feels excited and you open your flow of magic into it.  When you're about to cut the flow off, you can hear Ajax again, No, Avahur!  I want more!  You feel the flow not cut, and you get on your knee from being drained.

The sword takes five times as much as you had planned to give before you could cut off the flow.  You doubt that you can perform magic normally now.  You hear Ajax laughing crazily as the creatures approach.

As they're still approaching, the sword starts glowing and fire encircles it all around.  Avahur, use me against them and I'll destroy them!

If you ever take more than I give you again, I will refuse to use you for a while, we'll see how much you enjoy it then... (Threatening)

I get up still drained, I concentrate and gather up my energy, then charge the creatures.  The first creature I'll draw/slash through, then continue slashing at an angle alternating between going up and down at an angle as I go through them, and I'll occasional slice horizontally at a stop and shoudl I get the chance, I'll hit each of them 2 or 3 times.  After going through them once to injure them and make them easier prey to give Ajax a fill, after of course seeing what he can do with magic.

You charge into them and cut the first one down with ease.  Right when you draw your sword through it, the creature catches a blue fire and burns to ashes in its two halves.

Then, you proceed with the same fashion on the other one directly in front of you in a downward motion.  The creature is cut cleanly down the middle, and burns up on both sides.  Then, as the two on both sides charge into you, you jump back with a horizontal slash, killing one while scraping the other.

The one that was scraped grabs its wound and shouts, "Gahhh!  It burns!"  You feel the sword tug towards the creature and stab it in the chest.  Once stabbed, the monster explodes into ashes.

The sword glows red, and then the fires around it disappear.  Oh, Avahur, that was perfect!  What were those things?  They were soooo good, with so much life in them!

I'm not sure what they were, but I do know that they are annoying... and easy to kill, after things get settled, I might find out if they have a home and we can go hunting...

I continue to go towards Hector's camp.

You head towards the forest.

When you're in the middle, Ajax thinks to you uneasily.  Avahur...What is that?  What's that feeling around here...  I want to leave!

Then, you feel uneasy yourself, and all of a sudden someone is in front of you.  The figure is hooded, and he's carrying a scythe.  He raises his head and you can see his thin, pale face.  He has a long neck for a normal man and is at least 7 and a half feet tall.  His face is emotionless.  "You died three years ago, and you're coming with me now, whether you want to or not, boy!"

He starts walking towards you.

I've died like 17 times, I think I'll pass, thanks for the offer though.

I start to back up...

Ajax, if you can use some gravity here, it'd be really nice...

I continue to back up.

Anyway, we could strike up a deal? I've got people to see, a war to fight, and thousands to kill, I'm not really in the mood for coming with you.  So how about, we make a deal.  I come back later, and kill many people, in place of me already having died here...

I continue to back up then turn around and run like crazy.

But he's so scary!  Get him away from me!

All of a sudden, as you back away, he's only a yard from you.  He's bringing up his scythe upwards to strike you.  "That isn't how things work!  You're coming with me!"

Coward.  You shouldn't have taken more magic than I was going to give you.  Now, I am drained, and we are in a bad position.  I've survived and died doing my own thing, you will do as I say, or I can easily ignore you, keep you in your sheathe, and use my other swords to fight.

I draw both my swords and parry the scythe, then kick him back with my left foot, then proceed to attack with both my weapons.

Using battoujutsu with both swords, you strike the incoming scythe.  Both of the swords' forces are barely enough to stop the scythe's movement, and you still move back some from his force.

You bring your leg up and kick him in the gut with the opening, but he doesn't move at all from the force.

Coward...  COWARD?!  Ajax shouts in your mind and hollars, raising his power.  The dark sword glows red around it, but it's more sharp and focused than when he exploded the winged women.  Just get me past his scythe, Avahur, and I'll take care of him.  I'll put my all into the attack if you can get me in, but watch out for that scythe.  I felt some of its power when I collided with it.  It has some property that I don't recognize.

I stab in with the ninja-to (At an angle), and when it gets deflected I charge in with Ajax. Then I attack trying to create an opening to get ajax behind his scythe and into its body.

When you go to stab with your ninja-to, the man easily brings his scythe around it and knocks it out of your hand.  Then, you charge with Ajax to attack his side, which is pushed aside by his scythe.

Finally, you bring your ninja-to up to stab him in the stomache.  Right when the sword goes into him, you feel something pierce your back, and you feel immobile, then you get the sensation of being pulled downwards.

You feel yourself hit the ground, hard, and you hear screaming near your head, and where you're still holding Ajax in your hand.  The screaming voice is that of the man with the scythe.  Then, the voice vanishes.

Ajax thinks to you, No matter how tough he is, he won't get over that any time soon, but because of the disorientation, I couldn't kill him.  I could feel us being pulled somewhere, though, as if it's dimensional magic, like we were going to teleport.  We should get out of here before he returns.

You feel your back and find that there is no damage there, but you feel exhausted.

Soo... what exactly did you do?

I start running, as fast as my body will let me, out of there towards hector's camp, knowing I can find reprieve there...

I think we just fought off death itself... who else would carry a scythe?

Heh, I experimented...  Turns out that I can become a source of gravity myself, and I drew his insides towards me.

You can feel exhaustion coming from Ajax, but the two of you make it to Hector's camp soon enough, unable to run or even walk upright anymore.  A guard at the entrance comes up to you and helps you up.  "What's wrong?  Are you a runner from Troy?"

Not exactly, I came from troy, and I did run here...so, I suppose I am a runner from troy, but not in the way you might be thinking.  I did come here after of course killing some bird type woman that attacked me, and fending off some guy, presumably death itself, considering he was carrying a scythe, on my way here.  I need to speak with Hector.  I have some information for him, concerning pressing matters.

"Right, I'll help you to his tent."  He calls another soldier and commands him to stand guard at his post for him.

He helps you walk to the tent so that you don't use up so much energy.  You finally make it to a large tent and he says, before you go inside, "Do you want me to bring you some water while you're inside?  It won't be cool, but it's the best we can do out here."

No need, I'll be fine.

I head inside the tent and take a look around, after making sure both my swords are sheathed.

When you walk inside, Hector is standing in the middle of three couches, speaking inspiringly to them.  "That's not the point, Helenus!  Just because he has Brian doesn't mean that he'll defeat us.  We're Trojans, and that's what counts.  If we combine our force, we can defend our country, even from our own brothers, even if Brian has joined them!"  On the couches, there are three people laying down, one on each.  Two of them look young, about your age, but there's also an aged muscular man.  They're all in fancy clothing.

Now, now Hector, what have these men been taught?  You are right, just because they have Brian, it doesn't mean they will win.  That is why you need more allies.  If you know you are going to fight someone stronger than you, you need a few things.  First you need to have the desire to win, the heart to support your choice, and the determination to survive, and win regardless of what happens.  Second, you need allies, strong ones, or weak ones, both if possible.  Allies that can support you and your cause so that when you fight you are backed up by a force that is threatening to the enemy.  This way they feel threatened, and they lose heart when fighting.  Thirdly, you need to be prepared, and have solid courses of action for when you fight. And lastly, you need to improve yourself so that you and conquer anyone that stands against you, so that when you fight, everyone knows that you fight, and win.

Its been a bit Hector.

He turns around with a wide smile.  "I expected to see you later on today, but this is good enough."  He looks to the others, "This is Avahur.  He and Brian helped us defeat the Greeks quickly during the invasion, and he's absolutely right."

He points out the others, laying down, to you.  "These two men are my brothers, Helenus and Troilus.  The elderly man is Laocoon, and has promised that if there is a war, he will remain loyal to Troy as our seer."

Laocoon is examining you strangely, and then says, "Why are you so exhausted, Avahur?"

Well, assuming the guy I just met was Death... I used up a lot of energy.  I left Troy, on my way here, I got attacked by some woman with wings on their arms... no big deal, I killed the 5 of them quite easily.  Then after going through the forest I ran into Death I think.  He knew about me dying 3 years ago, and asked me to come with him.   I told him no and I fended him off then ran here, but I used up an extreme amount of energy.  So running here, I was exhausted and barely have any energy left.  Hector, do you still know the water spell?

The others look shocked and turn to Hector.

Then, he laughs under his breath and looks at you.  "I haven't done it publicly in a long time, and I've tried to keep it secret, but I've gotten pretty good.  Aqua!"  He holds his hand and a ball of water, keeping its shape, appears in his hand.

Then, Laocoon interrupts the scenario.  "Wait one moment, now.  This man is unreliable.  Those women were the keres, servents of death.  And that dark man you ran into, it was probably Thanatos!  You have the darkest people in the underworld searching for you!  How are you even still standing, and how could you fight off Thanatos himself?"

Very good, Hector, its nifty, you might, for whats going to occur, want to know fire as well, its more destructive of course, but its useful.

Anyway..if they were servants of death, well they are pretty horrible servants if they die as easily as they do... oh well.  I'm a veteran of many wars, I've fought off enemies of every nature, hell the last time I was here, when Brian and I helped defend Troy, it was because Ares gave us a choice, after visiting us in person.  Defend troy, and be his servant for 10 years,   You can obviously see what our choice was, it was to defend Troy.  But alas, I've been near some pretty...different sorts.   From Ares, to fending off Thanatos, to killing...7 maybe 8 keres, and could probably kill off about 20 more quite easily.  They don't wear armor and I can slice through them as easier than slicing through a human is.  They are pretty bad servants of death...

Anyway, Flamma Hector, same type of thing, except snap your fingers, its easier.

I snap my fingers and produce a flame.

Same basic concept, with practice, and if you show that you're quite good at it, I know of a spell thats quite useful.  Aqua and Flamma are the lowest level spells of Water and Fire respectively, I also know wind and a little bit of earth.  Brian taught me all 4 of them.  However, my my fighting skills, and strategies are purely mine, some of which I've taught brian.  As well as the soldiers that were under me 3 years ago. We taught them various forms of magic.  But of course I can, when I recover my energy do more like levitate objects.  There is a lot I can do.

Anyway, I intend to help you Hector, just like I did when I was last here, but to do so I must know who our allies are, so that I can go and speak with them, to see what we have available, and then from there go about strengthening our ranks.

"We have the loyalty of every Trojan man and woman, other than those that Paris has turned against us, including your old friend Brian.  The members of our House that we have are in this room right now-me, Helenus, and Troilus.  I'm thinking that we might be able to get Polydorus to join us, but he seems to be undecided."

Hmm, besides, Paris, Brian, and Deiphobus, they also have Polites.  So, other than what they have, you have the confirmed allegiance of everyone else?

In that case, no doubt they are trying to get others from your side to theirs, so I intend to go visit places of supposed loyalty and confirm where it is.  TO make sure that their loyalty is on the right side.

Alas I need some rest, might I be able to stay here for a bit and recover?

If he agrees then I stay for a while and recover my energies. making sure I can still do everything after being drained a bit.  Then I see if I could get an escort back to the castle, since I am being chased by the Keres and Thanatos himself.  I tell them that I can protect them on the way there, its just that a few extra swords to make sure nothing goes wrong should something happen.  Then I depart if he lends me a couple soldiers.

Hector agrees with all of your requests.  It takes you the rest of the day to recover your energy, and you sleep through most of it.

You and two soldiers make your way back to the palace through the woods.  While you're looking around, you feel like you're being watched; however, you're not sure why you feel that way.

As we walk through the forest, I grab ajax, and quickly draw him into a slice through the neck area of one guy, then kick him down. While I kick him down, I shoot water in the face of the other guy, then take ajax and thoroughly pierce and kill the other soldier.

I burn both corpses a bit, not fully, but a bit, and then dart off towards the palace, and inform the closest soldier me and the other two were attacked by Thanatos himself and I barely got away.  If he questions me about how I was the only one to survive, that it would otherwise be impossible, I ask him in greek, "Do you doubt the abilities of the man that killed Achilles 3 years ago when we were invaded? Who came here at the request of Ares himself to save this place?  Hurry and get help, else I'll make sure you never forget my name, Avahur."

You swing, but the soldier sees your overconfident movements, and he jumps back before being sliced.

The two soldiers step back from you and both draw their swords, putting up their shields.  You hear some rustling behind you, and you see Helenus there.  He pulls out a longsword, but has no shield.  He's also wearing armor now, holding a helmet in the arm that doesn't have a longsword.  "I didn't like the feel of you in there.  So, you are with the others, then?  Or are you just a sadistic killer out for satisfaction?"

Hahaha!  Look at all of them, Avahur!  Let's kill them, not like we have a choice anymore, right?

Ajax, don't take more magic than I give you, I didn't have to start this fight, but I consider it a thanks for helping me back there with Thanatos.  Besides, this will be a good test to see what we can do, eh?


The only side I'm on is my own.  This is war, believe it or not, and while this is war, certain actions need to be taken to assure one victor, and not both sides killing eachother.

I give ajax about a third of what he took when he drained  me, and then I proceed to attack Helenus, then the other two.

Yeah, yeah, whatever.  You pour your magic into him, and he doesn't take any more than you give this time.

The other two Trojans step aside when you charge Helenus, and you slash towards him.  His sword pulls his sword towards the front, but you still slash him accross his chest, piercing his armor.  You notice that the sword had taken a sharp red glow to it again, and easily cut through Helenus' armor.

He grabs at his chest in pain, and he falls to his knees.  He spits out, "H-how?"  Then, he falls over.  Hurry up, Avahur!  And leave me in this dead one right here a little longer after you're through with the others.

I turn around and charge the closest one.  If Either of them start to run away I charge after them and shoot fire at them, the kill them quickly, or injure them enough so they can't move, then I go back over to Helenus and stick Ajax into him.

You make easy contact with the closest one, slashing through his neck.  He falls to the ground grasping it, and the other starts to run away.

Immediately you shoot your fire at him, and you barely glance him on his back.  Still, it knocks him to the ground.  When you approach him, you see him pulling out his sword and looks at you with purpose.  He rises before you reach him and is holding his sword carefully, waiting.

Do you think you really have a chance against me?

I put both my swords away, and grab the hilt of Ajax.

You will not survive this encounter.

I shoot fire at him, then charge him and pull out Ajax, and slice into the soldier, through his neck also.  If something goes wrong then I just chase after him and shoot fire at him and proceed to kill him.  If the fire doesn't work then I try again, and continue till he is deceased.  Then I stick Ajax into Helenus.

You shoot a strong fireball at him, but he swings his shield around to block it.  He's knocked back, and left wide open for you next attack, which is an easy success, but you have fresh blood on your face again from the killing blow.

Then, you stab the sword into Helenus and Ajax speaks to you mentally, I'm getting stronger and stronger, Avahur.  I'm not sure whether or not I should be thanking you for defeating me back at the Academy.  If it weren't for that, I would never have had this much power.  It turns out that this man doesn't have any specific skills, though.  At least nothing magical.

I wouldn't think so, the only ones here with magical ability that I know of are Brian, Myself, Hector, and all the troops that were under Brian and me, as we taught them magic last time we were here.  Before I died I intended on crushing this place and conquering this world, but a lucky arrow pierced through my armor and got me in the neck.  So I died, but alas, this time around things will be different.  We are continuing onwards to the castle.

I create some water and wash my face and such from the blood, so it doesn't look like I just killed some people.  I leave the bodies as they are.  I head back to the Castle and go over to see Brian and the others.

You splash your face off and find that most of the blood comes off easily.

Then, in no time, you're back at the castle and you make your way back to the same room.  However, now, only Brian and Polites are sitting in there talking.  They welcome you inside and Brian says, suprisingly, "You're back pretty early.  What happened?"

A lot actually, first off, Helenus was on Hector's side, however, Helenus is currently dead in the forest, so that is one down, and so you know, I didn't intend on killing Helenus, he interrupted me when I was doing my own work, and since he got in the way and would threaten my plans, I had to kill him... the armor... is it the same quality as it always has been? I cut through it rather easily...lets just say his face was quite surprised when that happened... Anyway, I met up with Hector.  Hector had Helenus, and has Troilus.  Polydorus is still undecided so it would be good to get him if possible.

Also, on my way there I was attacked by Thanatos, I managed to fend him off along with about 5 keres, which were easily no match for me, seeing as I've killed tougher opponents they were just a nuisance.  The only problem I see, is when Hector finds the bodies of Helenus and the two soldiers that were accompanying me.  I didn't have the time to take care of them, after fending off Thanatos once, I am in no condition to do it again so I had to leave fairly quickly.

"Brian, we definitley need to talk sometime soon, when would be a good time?  Better sooner than later."

When you say that you killed Helenus, Polites puts his hand on the hilt of his sword and starts to draw it, but Brian buts a hand in front of him.  He stops immediatley and lets you continue.

After you finish, Brian tells Polites to leave so that the two of you are alone.  When he does, Brian says, "I don't understand.  You've been fighting off the servants of death, and even Death himself?  Thanatos is no easy opponent...  How did you manage to stop him?"

"My sword is a bit sentient, and annoying, so anyone trying to take it would get rid of it soon as it can piss the hell outa people, and anyone with magic capabilities...well it can absorb their magic leaving them drained, but its powerful, and it and I have a mutual understanding so its all good between us.  It used gravity magic, and became a source of gravity itself.  After I got past Death's scythe, Ajax here, became a source of gravity and pulled all of its insides towards him.  THAT has to be painful regardless of who you are, so he went off for a bit.  But that was hard, and it requires a bit of magic to do so.  Do you know gravity magic?

Anyway, tell me exactly what has happened in these 3 years, tell me about Lemnos, the other verser, everything, and how much your skills have imprived as it is clear that they have, learn anything new? And what the hell made you so battle hardened? Were the wars here really that bad?"

Brian replies, "I don't know any gravity magic.  I spent all my time on elemental, which is complicated enough.  Gravity is just too hard for me to learn."

"The last three years, huh?  Well, after I conquered Lemnos for Troy, I was sent to a few other islands to secure and I established some old captains in our force as governors of them."  When you address the other verser, he shakes his head some.  "I'm just not sure who that was.  I don't even know who he was.  Right when I sensed his presence, he was already attacking me.  I barely was able to fight him off.  The thing is, which is why I stayed on you so long, is that he looked a lot like you.  I thought that you were him.  My skills have improved some, but mostly just my mundane combat skills.  I was in a lot of battles, and most of them were hard, because the unit that I trained was one of the two best."

"Looked a lot like me, eh?  That is definitely interesting... reminds me of the first world I went to...second world actually.  It was a world where it was ninja vs samurai, all of the ninja looked exactly like me.  That was weird, its possible that one of them was also a verser and learned a lot of skills.  When I was there, I learned a few things, how to throw shurikens to be a bit decent at it, and to walk silently, so I can walk silently over dry leaves and such... its hard but I can do it if I move slowly, everyone there could run top speed over them with no problem.  They also had other skills, that could explain why you were being attacked as soon as you detected them, and why they looked like me.  Its one of the few worlds I've wanted to go back to if I could to wreak some havoc.  Since really, no one was ever that skilled, we could breeze through them quite easily I think...  Anyway... I'm glad you are well... What are you really planning here? Why go through all this, what is you grand plan for all of this?"

"He wasn't exactly like you.  He was shorter, but his eyes looked a lot like yours.  He was strong, too.  But we probably won't be seeing him again."

He continues, "My goal?  I'm going to conquer Troy.  Of course, after that's through, I believe that things should be easier after that.  My final goal is to gain some power in this world, which I think will help when I become King.  What are your goals?"

"They are the same from the last time I was here.  Conquer Troy, then the world. Then the underworld and so on and so forth. It looks like we have similar goals, things will definitely be interesting....

What now?"

"Well, I'm not going to give up Troy for some other verser running around the place.  I can't let you get in my way, Avahur.  Will you be a problem, or will I have to kill you?"

You see him move his hand towards a kunai holster on his arm, and you notice that he is fully armed, as well as a sword on his back and even a small bit of armor on his legs, torso, and forearms.

"I won't get in your way... besides, if you want to be king, go for it, need an assassin, and/or a military advisor, I can cover both. Also, I didn't intend on killing Helenus, he interfered with what I was doing and thus I had to kill him.  Those who get in the way will be killed, and the strong will always prevail over the weak.  All of those that were under us at Lemnos and under you after I left.  They are with us? If a war is going to break out we should surely get them.

However, if you leave here it would be a perfect oppourtunity for our enemies, so it looks like I should do it.  I just need to know where they've been and how to reach them.  Surely the ones that were under us are with us.  I also think that, since trouble tends to follow me, and go where I go, we should get them here soon.  I've got a feeling a war will break out soon.  Personally I think we should strike the first blow and then go at our own pace rather than falling prey to the pace of our enemie's."

"About the soldiers, don't worry.  I've slowly been moving our stronger troops closer to Troy, and they're camped nearby.  Soldiers loyal to Hector are stuck on duty on those islands that my friends govern.  No word will get to them when trouble springs up."

"Now, I have a plan to actually start conflict soon.  I want you to do a job for me, Avahur.  I need you to kill a prostigious Prince of Troy, a son of Priam himself.  Before I say who, I want you to name your price."

"Skills, I'd like to learn a bit more magic.  I use skills wherever I go, magic being the primary one along with my sword fighting skills.  If possible I would like to learn more, my price is learning more skills, anything new compared to what I've currently got.  Currency as we know is of no use since we are versers, and I got here by offering my skills to protect a boat, that is my way of currency... of course that boat is now mine considering I killed the crew and the Captain.  Not like I really had much choice in the matter, the captain pulled his sword on me and so when it comes down to that I fight.  There is this bard of sorts though that came with me here, he is quite annoying and if we could get rid of him that'd be nice, I'd prefer not to do it myself though. It'd be annoying.

All in all, a price, skills and taking care of Orpheus for me, a simple matter taking care of Orpheus, and as for skills, well that depends on what you know compared to what I know."

"I don't know anything else that I haven't already taught you how to do, Avahur.  I've taught you all the magic that I know, even if I can do it better than you.  As per killing Orpheus, it would be simple if he is indeed a bard; however, what's that catch?  It won't change his encounter with death, but why do you want him dead, and why can't you do it yourself?"

"Well... actually, he's just in the way rather.  Granted he can play very well and his songs can make you feel quite good inside, his songs that are good natured also sound very bad and annoying to my sword, seeing as it is a very evil and malicious sword.  I don't know, he doesn't agree with what we do.  On the chance that he goes off to Hector's side, I wouldn't want his music inspiring Hector's soldiers incurring more losses on our side, decreasing our chance of winning.  You should know how well an inspired army does against an uninspired one.

Basically, get rid of him for me, and as for anything other than that.. well we can worry about that later.  I think I know why I returned here anyway.. When we left the Academy it was because I died.  Now, I died here went to a few worlds and came back.  So perhaps because we are linked in some way I came back and when one of us dies we may end up leaving together again.  So don't die on me, and I won't go getting myself killed intentionally..."

Brian smiles and nods slightly to you.  He reaches in a nearby pouch and grabs a handful of gold coins.  "Here, for any tools it might take to kill Paris.  Remember, don't let anyone know who was behind this.  And we shouldn't meet for some time, until things start going astray.  Meet with Deiphobus and we can talk through him, okay?  If that's all, go on your way."

"Killing Paris, eh? This will be interesting.  Meeting through Deiphobus? No problem.  I've got a perfect plan to deal with Paris too.  You will know when he's dead, of course.  Well, looks like I've got some business to take care of.  Later."

I head off to go train outside the palace, by the forest near the beach where the greeks invaded last time.

OoC: When I train, I will be working on my moving silently skills, I can do it by taking baby steps, but I want to improve it to atleast normal walking pace, so that is what I will be practicing.

You go outside to your forested area where there are plenty of leaves and train your silent movement.

It's getting dark now, and you have a bad feeling again around you, like when Thanatos was around.  However, this time it's stronger.

Avahur, do you feel that?  What do you think could be giving that off, I meean other than me?

Something powerful, similar to when we ran into Thanatos, I'm running back, no good can come of this aura.

I stop my training and run back to the palace, looking around for Paris, but not asking anyone where he is.

In front of you, as you turn to flee, you see the same hooded man from before.  He's laughing hystarically and he has a wide smile when he cranes his neck, looking at you.  "You're very interesting indeed, and so is that weapon of yours!  Ah, I just had to invite some friends."

Around you, you see three others.  One of them is wearing elegant black clothes with a long beard.  He has two medium-sized gourds attached to him.  Also, a very beautiful woman is leaning on him, wispering to him on occasion while keeping her eyes on you.  To her left is a large, muscular man with a large gray beard.  He doesn't seem aged, though; moreover, he has water dripping off of him, as if he just got out of the water.

Thanatos smiles even wider at you.  "Don't worry, Avahur.  They're only here to watch.  It isn't every day that I find someone worthy of fighting twice.  Even Scamander came."  He nods towards the wet man.  "I'll let you start the fight, if you wish."  He motions for you to come, and the others back away.

In that acse I will start, give me a couple minutes, I need to concentrate... this is going to be interesting after all.

A quick question before we begin though, since you have spectators, would it be alright if I also have a spectator?  And since they are spectators, regardless of the outcome, they won't interfere... right?

"Fine.  You can have two minutes before I'll take you with me.  Hurry up with it, though."  He looks around when you mention the spectator.  "We can track you easily now, since I've gotten so close to you twice now.  Don't think about running, but it is fine if you want someone to witness your demise."

Ok, I am going to get a spectator,  and when I get back  and everything is set we can begin.

Don't worry, I won't be running, you've found me twice already, what good would it do to run again, you'll just end up finding me.


I start off towards the castle and once getting in there, despite what brian said, I head off towards his room, if anyone should witness this, it should be him.

Thanatos nods, and he gets out of your way.

You make it inside of the palace and to Brian's room, he confronts you.  "Avahur, what are you doing?  I just told you not to come here anymore.  What's going on?"  Then, he speaks in english.  "Did you already kill Paris or something?  Polites and Deiphobus are in the back talking."

"Not quite, more like Thanatos himself is after me again, and challeneged me to a fight, if he wins, he takes me off into the underworld, and he brought some friends along... Some person named Scamander, another of them is wearing elegant black clothes with a long beard, he has two medium-sized gourds attached to him.  The last one is a very beautiful woman who was leaning on him.  Interesting folk, those are his spectators for the match, so I was allowed to also have a spectator or two.

Its not every day something like this occurs, I'm sure your meeting is important, but I also think you should, with the others perhaps come see me fight Thanatos.  It will be interesting if anything, plus you get to see some mighty powerful people when they aren't after you but after a friend.  So how about it? Want to come spectate this match?"

Brian cocks an eyebrow at you.  "Alright, I'll bring the others along.  Just give me a second to explain it to them."

He exits the room to go where some noise is coming from.  All of a sudden, they're silent and after a little bit of convincing, they exit the room and all three are ready to follow you to the location.  Brian asks, "I assume that you don't want us to help you out unless they interfere first?"

If they interfere, then you do also.  Other than that, you get to watch a duel between Thanatos and I.  If I win, then it looks like Thanatos will be leaving me alone, if I lose, then you'll know and I may not be around for quite a while.  Atleast this way if I'm not around you won't be clueless as to why.  However I intend to win and I will win regardless of what may occur, I just figured this would be interesting and that you all should see it.

I lead them out of the palace towards Thanatos and the others.

When you arrive, they've cleared out the debri on the ground and made a decent sized clearing for the two of you to fight in.  Scamander and the other two are standing on the outside of the clearing, and Thanatos is in the center waiting for you.

"I'll still let you have the first attack, if you wish.  Now hurry up.  I usually don't take this much time to retrieve a soul."  Thanatos is still smiling insanely.

Ajax speaks to you mentally.  Avahur, promise me that we'll kill the others after we're through with him!  Oh, also, what do you want me to do against this guy?  It seems like he's tough to kill and I can't think of anything that might work.

Ajax, I do this as I see fit, you'll get a meal eventually.  For this guy I was thinking of doing what we did last time.  I get you into him, and you become a source of gravity and pull all of its insides towards you, once they all get around the point of impact, which can be done several times, I can shoot fire at his wound and burn them, or after his insides are close to one spot, you can go back in and unleashe some fire to them, that would do quite nicely.

Now as we fight, don't try to teleport me away or anything, kill me first...if you can that is, based on what happened last time, well we'll see.  I don't die easily, especially when I know my life is on the line, compared to fighting common soldiers when I know I can kill them easily.  This will be interesting...

Once I'm across from him in the clearing, I put the same amount of magic as I did into him last time we fought Thanatos,

(( Consider this amount the standard amount as I will refer to it as such.))

and I charge him and draw both swords to attack, trying to create an opening with my ninja-to to allow Ajax in, and likewise tryi ng to create an opening with Ajax to get my ninja-to in, going back and forth so he sees the pattern, and then working soley on getting ajax into him.  Meanwhile I'll be careful to dodge, move, duck, and parry as necessary so that I don't get hit.  If he attacks I use my ninja-to to block and move it out of the way of me as I move so that I don't block it entirely, nor do I parry it entirely, I just block it enought to get it away from me, and use that opening to get Ajax into Thanatos.

I'll try, Avahur!  You charge him, drawing your swords to attack.  Your first strike with your ninja-to draws his scythe's attention, and he knocks it out of your hand like before.

When you come at him with Ajax, he grabs your hand that's holding him and pulls it behind your back.  "Avahur, we all have our jobs to do.  Mind is to take you back with me for proper punishment.  You've been escaping your death for three years now, and you're not going to do so again.  My scythe can't kill."  You feel it pierce your back once more and you feel all of your energy drained.

Then, you feel pulled towards the ground sketchily.  It feels harsh, with a ripping sensation.  Then, you black out.

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When you feel something again, you can feel Ajax in your hand and a bad headache.  When you open your eyes, you can't see anything.  You can hear Ajax.  Avahur!  What happened?  All of a sudden I feel strange.  This whole place feels strange.  What is going on?  I feel disoriented.  I poured some magic into you to wake you up.

I get up with Ajax, and put him back in his sheathe, then I snap my fingers and produce a flame, and use it to see what is around me, and where I am.

When you rise and try to use magic, you feel suddenly dillusional and you can't manage to summon the magic to create even the small flame.

But then torches light around the room, revealing your things, including your ninja-to, on the stone floor that you're standing on.  You're in the middle of a circle.  Around you, there are three thrones with people in them, all of them raised above you on top of the surrounding circular wall.

They are all men and they're looking down on you.  "You died here three years ago, Avahur.  How do you explain escaping our sights for so long?"

Before you can answer, another shouts, "We haven't been able to find your origin, either.  We don't have any record of you before three years ago.  How is this?"  The final one stays silent, his finger playing with his beard, and he waits for you to reply.

Well, here is the short and sweet version.  I came to this world 3 years ago, along with Brian, we aren't from this area.  You see, Brian and I, we are what is known as versers.  We verse around.  When we die, we travel to a new world, in a different galaxy, different laws of physics, different things a possible there.  In some worlds we can use magic, and learn how to use it.  In some its very Hi-tech, so magic isn't around but technology is. Then there are worlds like this one, where magic is capable of being used, but its not that technologically advanced so everyone uses torches and such, and still fights with swords.  This world is like... I'm not sure, probably over 2000 years before I was born, so I'm not quite familiar except for what I learned in school.  But of course I didn't live a normal life, when I turned 26 I died after being electrocuted and woke up in a new world.. That was scary at first, but I got over it, since I've been through worse.  I found out that I was a verser and found out what happens to us.  When we die we go to a new world and continue to do so for eternity.  We do not age, and we have infinite potential from what I've heard and we travel around forever gaining new abilities, skills, and items.  I've died 17 times I think I havent counted the amount of worlds I've been to so I assume its 17 till I find the need to.  I obviously haven't died yet, just transported... wonderful...

You have no record before 3 years ago thats because 3 years ago Brian and I showed up.  Then I died and went traveling around to different worlds, to me, its only been just over a year, but in this world its been 3 years, since different worlds have different ways of keeping track of time.  Hence for 3 years you couldn't find me.  Then I ended up back here and you found me.  I can't choose which world I go to, I just happen to end up on them.  If I could choose which world to come to, it wouldn't have been back here, atleast not yet, it would have been to the Academy, the place I was on a different world, the world I was in before this world.  Brian was also there, but I died and we both ended up transporting here, to this world.  Then Ares came down and personally visited me, he enlisted in Brian and my services to save Troy, we did, and then he said that was all he wanted.  So Priam gave me an island to control a city on, Lemnos, and I lived there with Brian for a bit.  I eventually died and went away, then I came back here and voila, you should have somewhat of an idea whats happened since then.  Also, why send the keres after me? They may be good servants, but not when facing me, as you've seen that I am quite strong...

So, what now?

The man that has been silent stands up and nods.  "Avahur, for your escape from death, you've lost all privillage to Elysian Fields and you will suffer with the rest in the depths of Tartarus."  He seems to have not listened to a word of what you've said.

He looks towards a large set of double doors that is an exit.  From there come two keres, as well as Thanatos.  Thanatos smiles and says, "I thought that I'd escort you myself.  It's rare to meet someone with such talents as you have."

You hear Ajax's voice.  Avahur, I have no intention of letting them take us to suffer to death.  Do you have any plans?

This will give me a chance to perfect my teleportation skills Ajax, after all, I know how to teleport.  Lets see, this will be interesting indeed.

If I have such talent, why punish me? Why not instead, since there are others I'm sure that you need to collect, how about rather than punish me, I serve under you for a while?  That in itself is punishment, after all, I'd hate to serve under anyone, however its better than what waits where ever you intend on sending me.  Obviously I couldn't escape because you just track me dow-- well I could escape by leaving this world entirely and just die as I said earlier, but I won't be trying that, as I have plans here.  Surely we could work something out, right?

He stops his movement for a moment and glares at you.

When the two of you reach large double-doors with a sickly green gas leaking from it, he opens them and pushes you inside.  You feel instantly repulsed by the place, but he throws you two loaves of bread before the doors close.  "I will talk with the judges and I will return in a week, if you keep your sanity."

The doors close in your face, and you see everyone around you slouched over in a trance-like state.  The misty place is still disturbing you, and you start to burn all over in pain.  You can hardly stand, the pain is so immense.  You can feel Ajax vibrating.  Avahur, what is this?

OOC: If you'd like, you can just tell me how you plan on staying sane through this kind of pain for a week, and I'll do a time jump.

I don't know, but I've got an idea.

If I keep sane he says.. well Ajax here is what I will do, I will train and meditate.  Training can keep my mind occupied and meditating can, when in deep enough a meditation, keep my mind off the pain, I did it after I got some runes.  This should work..  Well lets start.


I put my bread away and start to train with my swords, drawing and attacking an invisible enemy, always trying to improve my skills.  Then, when I'm done, I continue, and I continue till I become tired.  Then I go over to a place and meditate and keep my mind off of everything.  I just focus and concentrate, thinking about the academy, and what I'll do when I get outa here.  How things have been on my other worlds, and what I would've done different in previous worlds.  Then I will probably reminisce, and think not much about anything after that.  When I've rgeained my strength, I would work on magic and till I get tired, meditate and such, then again with swords, lather rinse and repeat for a week.  I'll eat only when necessary.

You find after the first few days that you can't keep up your magical workout in your training, because of your lack of sustinance.

After the week is finally done, Thanatos enters and looks you straight in the eyes.  "Good work, you survived the week and you can still move around.  Either come with me now, and abide by my arrangement, or you can stay here and rot."  He starts to walk away from you, and the large doors start to slowly close.  You have plenty of time to exit the area.

Skill Increases
Endure Pain: 3@0
2 Sword Combat: 4@0
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:02, Tue 22 May 2007.

I immediately leave and follow him out of there.

Right when you exit, the burning pain stops and you can even hear Ajax breathe a sigh of relief.

Without talking, Thanatos leads you to a completely black river.  Accross the way, you see hundreds of people.  All of them look pale, and some horribly wounded.  Thanatos takes a cup from his robes, as well as a right-hand glove with small claws on the knuckles.  It seems to be cast-iron with leather on the inside.

He instructs you, after filling the cup with the river's water.  "Put this glove on, and before you drink this, swear loyalty to me, Thanatos, for ten years.  You are swearing on the River Styx, and breaking the oath will end harshly for you."

I put the glove on and take the cup.

I swear loyalty to Thanatos for 10 years.

I then proceed to drink the liquid.

You feel a searing pain after you drink the liquid, and you fall to your knees, holding your gloved hand.

"That glove will pull the soul out of someone meant to die.  The closer you get to someone meant to die at that moment, the glove will give you a tingling sensation and even start to glow.  Once you pull a soul out, you will automatically teleport back to that room that I brought you to.  If there's a special assignment that I am going to give you, you'll know about it, but for now, go back to Troy and prepare for a lot of work.  You must have at least one soul a day, or the glove will burn until you compensate for your debt."

He glares at you suddenly.  "Remember, I do not condone you murdering someone so that you have a soul to collect.  If you want to go back to Troy, I suggest you forget about any contacts, because that gauntlet will be recognized by some.  Do you want to go to Troy, or do you have another place in mind?"

Lemnos, if possible, please send me to Lemnos.  I used to rule there, Brian and I rules there, I died, Brian continued on and took over the island, many people still remember me I'm sure.  Now, I won't intentionally murder someone just to collect a soul, I'll do everything as you say, however, if I get attacked, then I'm not going to run away, but I will still try to get a soul legitly that day.  Also, does that mean that so long as I get a soul for that day I can do as I please, or is there also some rule that I can't challenge someone in a duel to the death, or some equivalent type thing, after I collect a soul for the day.  What basically can and can't I do on a regular day.  Do I have to have the glove on my at all times? Or if I do, is there a left handed one?

"You may do as you please, but there are some exceptions.  If you ever feel that tingling feeling, you must collect souls until it goes away, even if you've gotten one for that day.  If you challenge someone to a duel and they accept, you may kill them and collect their soul.  If someone challenges you, you must accept their challenge and collect their soul."

He looks at your glove.  "The glove will stay on your right hand so that you'll always remember your oath; however, I don't believe it will get in the way of your fighting.  It is sealed on you until your ten years are through.  Are you ready to go to Lemnos?"

I'm ready, send me there.

Thanatos grabs your shoulder, and you're suddenly in the forest.

Before you can say anything to him, he nods to you.  "You're on Lemnos."  Then, he vanishes again.

The woods around you are thick, and you think you recognize the area, but you can't quite remember where it was exactly.  It just feels like you've been there before.

I start to walk forward and draw and slash my swords a bit to see if my movements are impeded by the glove, and if so by how much.  I look for any place that I recognize that would lead my to a town.

As you experiment with the glove, you find that it doesn't impede your hand's movements at all.  You can't even feel its weight on you.

Then, you look around and reckognize the place.  It's the site of the area you died in, maybe the exact location.  You can remember there being a road nearby to where the Trojan colony on the island was.

I start heading back to the colony, wondering what it will be like after 3 years, and if anyone will remember me.  When I get there I head to the barracks/academy I had set up, provided its still around.  If it is in ruin, well that's alright, I might as well see what happens when I get there.

On your way, you're on a trail near the former colony and you see a group of women discussing something.  They all look at you nervously, about ten of them, and then hurry as if acting normal towards the colony like you are.

They walk on the opposite side of the road that you do.  Nothing happens, then you finally reach the colony.

There, you find that the barracks is a full-fledged fort now just outside of what is now a port city.  When you enter the populated area, everyone looks at your gloved hand and instantly turn away from you, attending to something else.  Some people run indoors.

Getting a bit frustrated...

Oh, Come on now!  Can't ya give a little respect to the person that expanded this colony!? Who cares if I've got a glove on my hand, you can atleast show some respect where its needed.  Honestly!

After his yelling, he heads on inside the fort, towards his old quarters...where they would have been anyway.

When you head into the fort, no guards are at the entrance.

You finally reach the quarters for the commander, every soldier looking at you awkwardly.  None of them seem to be doing any training or real work.  There are women inside of the camp with the men, even those clearly on duty.

In the commander's quarters, there's already a ranking individual sitting down.  He looks at your glove and you see fear on his face.  "W-W-What is your business here?"

My business is whatever I feel like making it.  This place has really deteriorated.  Are you familiar with the people that founded this fort?

"Yes, I am.  Brian appointed me here to look after the military forces.  He was the one who founded and conquered this island for the glory of Troy.  Who are you to mock this place by saying it has deteriorated-coming in off the street and mocking us?"

He seems to gain some nerve and stands while speaking, looking you straight in the eyes.  Still, you see a bead of sweat go down his right cheek.

He's not the only one that founded it.  I was the other. My name is Avahur, does it ring a bell now?

After I killed Achilles, I chose to come here, and Brian and Deiphobus came with me.  We brought people here, and we built up this place.  I can see Brian expanded it a bit more, since I have been gone for 3 years now.  This place isn't nearly as good, condition wise, as it was when Brian and I were here.  I guess that happens, if ya want something done right, you need to do it yourself.  I just came to see who was in charge.

You recognize this glove right?  Please, if you recognize it so well, tell me what you thik it means?

He says that he doesn't reckognize your name at all, but he thought he heard rumors about the man who killed Achilles coming to Lemnos, but not being a leader.

When you ask him about the glove, he says, "That's one of the worst things that someone can see.  It means that something bad is going to happen here.  That's the only reason that someone with that glove would show up in a city.  What it means is that I need to prepare for an outbreak of plague or an uprising in the city, or even island.  Why are you here?"

I'm here because I felt like it.  I was talking to Thanatos and he asked me where I wanted to go.  I said Lemnos, because it was the place Brian and I came to, and the place of where I died 3 years ago. So I figured it would be nice to see this place again.  Little did I know I'd come to a fort with an idiot commander.

I just saw Brian not that long ago... then again I also killed Helenus not that long ago... oh well.  Anyway, a war is going to break out back in troy, between Brian and Hector..well they are the big opponents on both sides.

Oh and this glove means you need to prepare for an angry achillephon.. or rather thats what I was called... but alas, it means you need to prepare for an angry person coming into your office.

What do you know...that already happened.  Looks like you didn't prepare well enough.

"You are a complete idiot."

Anyway, now that that has been said, I'll forget about your incompetance.  Send a messanger to Brian, with a note saying Avahur is on Lemnos.  Do that and I'll be leaving, but should I find out that my message never reached Brian.. you sure as hell better prepare for a plague...or worse, maybe you'd like to visit the afterlife, I can grant you a one way ticket there.  I'm leaving.  good bye.

I use magic to open the door behind me, and then use magic again to close it when I leave.

He stays stunned with his mouth opened the entire time with no response to anything that you say.

Even when you walk outside, you see him still standing up agape at you.

When you're outside, you see all of the men still relaxing, and on your way out of the fort, you see other women with angry expressions on their faces looking at the fort and talking to eachother seriously.  When you come out, they scatter, but not from fear.  It's very controlled.

I walk over to one of the fleeing bystanders.  Using magic to hold them in place a bit if needed, and ask them what is wrong and why they are fleeing and see if they remember someone by the name of Avahur.

OoC: I use levitation magic and pull them in the opposite direction that they run, more or less I pull them towards me... unless the run towards me... of course..

You don't have to use magic, as two of them try to walk straight past you.

You grab onto their arms as they pass by.  Both of them look at you, seeing your glove, in fear and continuously tell you to let go.  They constantly plea that they have nothing to be afraid of.  The one being grabbed by your gloved hand falls to the ground and says, "Please, please!  I'm so young, why does it have to be me now?  Please, spare me!"

I'm not here to take you, relax, I just want to talk for a moment, I've got a few questions.

Do you remember a man by the name of Avahur?

The woman still standing jerks herself away from your grip and pulls her friend away from you too.  "Fine, what do you want?  We haven't heard of Avahur for years.  He died in battle back in the beginning of the colony.  Now, what do you want with us?  We have nothing to hide!"

At the last line, her friend looks up at her, but the woman still looks straight at you.

Thats true, glad to know people know of my death.  Anyway, I'm Avahur, while I did die 3 years ago, I'm back for a bit.  I just visited Brian back at Troy, and so things are going to be interesting.  You can go along now.

I start to walk away, towards an inn or a tavern, or a pub, some sort of an equivalent for the time period.

In no time, you're able to find a tavern.  You can hear little rowdiness inside.

There isn't really anything worth mentioning about the place.  It's medium-sized and there are three attendants at the bar.  The bar seems half-full.  Most of the men seem to be average, though a few are Trojan soldiers.

I enter and find a wall, then proceed to do a wallsit.  From there I relax in the rowdiness of the tavern.  I think about where to go next, and contemplate all the places to go after here.  If I can't think of anything good, I head back to the fort and go to the soldier's area and see if my glove reacts to anyone.  If not, I leave and browse through the town, seing if it reacts.  If still it doesn't, I leave and go to another town after stopping back and finding directions. I head to whichever town is cloesest to the North, and if none, then the south.  Whichever is closer and easiet to get to.

It starts to get late as you walk around.  Right when it's turning dark and you're about to leave to look for death elsewhere, the glove begins reacting, and reacts stronger as you move it towards the fort.

You don't hear anything happening.

I head straight for the fort and when I get inside I move my hand left and right, and go to whatever way is getting the stronger reaction, knowing I have to get a soul each day, things weren't looking good till now.  SO I try to find whoever is causing the glove to react.

When you enter the fort, you see both guards inside leaning against the wall out of sight.  Neither of them are moving.  Their eyes are open and one of their mouths is gaping.

They seem to be in relaxed positions, though.

Get in my way and I'll send you on a one way trip to the afterlife, you can speak with Thanatos himself.  I've got business to do, and you do not want to become my business.

I bring up my glowing gloved hand.

See what I mean? You don't want to be my business, so keep guarding the door, I've got someone to see.

I continue through going towards whatever causes the glove to react more.

They don't respond, and then you look at them closer to see blood leaking from behind them.

They were both stabbed in the middle of their backs, and then in various other places, all on their backs.  As your glove goes near them, it glows brighter.

Hmm could be the residue of the person that killed them, however these guys seem certainly dead and will go to the other realm soon enough...But I should atleast touch them with the glove and see if anything happens...

I take the gloved hand and touch the seemingly dead guy, if nothing happens I continue on, if something happens like me being transported elsewhere...well I'll deal with that if it happens.

When you touch the man, the glove glows brightly.  Then, you see yourself in the same room that you had been taken to by Thanatos.

You have your gloved hand around the man's arm, but now he seems alive and is moving some.  Still, you notice that he's actually slightly transparent.  You're in front of the judges with the man, but the highest one says to you.  "Avahur, we need you on Lemnos.  There's going to be a massacre and we need you to send us all of the dead.  You won't come here during this massacre, so don't be suprised.  To go back where you just were, touch your glove with your other hand."

Will do, get ready for an influx of bodies, as I am ready for some action, after all, what better than to face a strong opponent.

I touch the glove with my other hand, and proceed to touch the other guard in the room.  From there I find the source of the killing, touching any dead bodies I come across of, regardless of who it may be.

You continue throughout the camp, getting body after body and sending them to Hades with your glove.

It seems as if all of the people in the fort are dead, then you hear struggling on the wall.  When you go to see, you see one of the women over a man, a dagger in her hand.  She's trying to stab it into his throat, and he was holding her above her, keeping her knife away by grabbing her hand.

He sees you and hollars, "Get her off me!"

Hmm, I could kill them both... eh it'd be interesting, but the girl first, I need to find out whats going on here.

I charged at the man hold the girl, and when I got close I put my hand forward, aimed at the woman's face and shot fire straight at her.  Then if the man dropped her, I would Coup de grace the body and grab it with my glove.  Then...

What's going on here?

You easily knock her off of him with the fireball, then kill her with Ajax, who complains that she's too weak.

When you touch her corpse with the glove, her skin is paler and she's cold to the touch.

The soldier responds.  "I don't know.  The women have just gone wild!  They're killing everyone.  They've already gotten most of our soldiers, maybe all of the other men, in the first few moments of the attack, up close."  He walks over to her and takes the dagger from her hand.  "I have to get off of Lemnos.  It's not safe here."

The soldier starts to walk towards the ladder to get off of the wall.

All of the women have gone insane...?  Interesting.  I wonder if its like this back in troy...If it is I'm sure my good friend Brian is doing a good job.  Oh well, you might want to stay.  You are probably safer in here than out there, and I 'm not here to kill you... if I was we wouldn't be speaking.  Consider yourself...fortunate.  I'm finding the source of these killings, after all I do have a job to do.

I continue through the base touching the bodies and see who is still alive..if anyone.

You go through the camp in to the seperate barracks and find every man dead, the women nowhere to be found inside the base.

Even the captain is dead in his chambers.

You start to smell smoke, and you see that the fort's been closed from the outside.  Then, you see torch after torch thrown over the walls.

After sending all those bodies to Hades, I levitate myself upwards to see who is throwing the torches over the walls.  Should I fail to levitate myself, I procced to go the torches and pour water over them and stop the fire.

You quickly are able to run through the camp, touching all of the dead soldiers' bodies.  After that, the fires seem to be growing very large, and you attempt to levitate.

When you levitate, you shoot high into the air, losing control.  You feel suddenly exhausted of all of your energy, and you fall to the ground back inside of the burning fort.  The smoke fills your lungs, and your leg sends pain through your body.  Looking down, you can tell that it's severely broken (bone sticking out broken).

I touch myself with my glove and see if it brings me back, if it does I ask Thanatos if he could heal my leg.  If it doesn't bring me back then I imagine myself outside the fort, back in the area where Thanatos teleported me to.  Concentrating as much as possible having my body and its organs how they should be there.  If I fail teleporting there, assuming I didn't teleport to thanatos, then I continue frantically trying to teleport anywere out of the builing.

Touching yourself with the glove does nothing.

Then, you try to focus outside the fort, where you had teleported in.  Still, you can't find the concentration that you need, mostly due to the pain and the smoke around you.

You try to teleport time after time.

Finally, you manage to teleport towards the gate, but it's still inside of the fort.  You hear women's hollars from outside the gate.  They seem very angry, yelling obscenities about men and their disloyalty.

I do what I can to ignore the pain and concentrate on applying as much pressure as I can on my leg, trying to make it numb, then from there I take time to concentrate and teleport my way away from the base.

You try to numb your leg, but it simple multiplies the pain 100 fold.  You can't help but shout out in pain as the fires build around you, and you're surrounded now.  The smoke fills your lungs, and you can feel the lack of oxygen taking effect.

Then, the burning proceeds.  The pain is too much for any focused action, and you burn to death.

OOC:  Too bad...  I need to ask PT some things before the next world.