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Book 2 : The dissapearance of our homes

Paragraph 7: The great Hall

It was a warm evening. The noise of all the guests in the great hall of the Republic made conversation almost impossible. Duke Holywolf , characterised by the wearing of a wolf skin over his armour was talking to Duke Dragonking. And while nothing clear could be heard, the gesturing of his arms betrayed the hot topic he was discussing. In the far of the room Dannato and the guard sat silent and watched the frantic discussions on the floor without participating in it. At a long table Councillor Albertus was in conversation with Councillor Dennizon and both had a stern face. Slowly Albertus turned to the crowd and hit the table three times with a richly imbued hammer.
Slowly the noise died out and the assembled Immortals moved to their position in the great hall. Albertus waited for the crowd to be completely silent and then began to speak. “ Noble Immortals,
We are gathered here to discuss the current crisis befalling our republic. I will give the word to councillor Ghostkillah.” Ghostkillah rose from his position and spoke softy. ‘Friends, a week ago the first signs of the current crisis were reported to us by knights of Baron Slewey. They discovered the disappearance of several towns in their barony. The people were there but the buildings completely vanished. Later that week more and more buildings vanished and even the great duchal palace of Dragonking has partly disappeared.’ Ghostkillah stopped talking and looked up to the roof of the great hall. The roof was partly gone and through the missing parts stars were visible. He looked down and continued his speech. “I have tried to stop our buildings to disappear but this strange curse is so powerful that to date I am unable to stop its workings. I predict that at this rate our lands will be bereft of buildings at the end of this week” A great noise came from the shocked Immortals in the hall and some even stand up to address the council. “Silence, Silence I would beg you” Albertus spoke while hammering on the table and continued to speak ‘We will do everything on our power to unravel this evil spell. However Ghostkillah is right. We to this date have no clue why our buildings are disappearing. Fortunately the spell only effects buildings not people.’ The disturbance in the Hall slowly died out and Duke Dragonking stood up. “My fellow Immortals, this disease is something not heard of before in my homeland. I can only expect a higher evil behind this. Perhaps even Diablo himself.” Beside him Duke Holywolf stood up also and spoke ‘Yes, I sense this must also be true, however within a week we have to find shelter to our homeless people….I beg the council to find a solution before the end of this week’.
Councillor Dennizon stood up and replied. “My friends, we are busy battling this spell for days now. I can tell you this we will have our homes back eventually. In the mean time we are investigating the possibility of shelter. I can not tell you everything but we already discovered something that bestranges us but may well be the refuge we need.’ “Well then,” Albertus spoke ‘We will close this meeting. Please try to hold your calm and reassure the people. We will be here at exactly one week in the hope we have found a solution.’ Slowly the assembled Immortals left the partly vanished great Hall and travelled home in the hope that ‘home’ was still there.

Paragraph 8: The minions of Evil

Dakhanishi, silently approached the palisade of the small village. It was night and the village was only lit by the light of the partly clouded moon. Behind him followed 5 other warriors from his tribe and all carried a clay pot in their hands. For over a week now Dakhanishi travelled at night through the lands of Count Thundax. Visiting villages by night , opening the clay pots and speak the strange words that were given to his tribe leaders by a Dark Wanderer. He still remembered the fear the tribe leaders had in their eyes when the Dark Wanderer first came to the tribe cave. And he himself was filled with such a fear he dared not to look at the Wanderer directly. When the Wanderer ordered the tribe to do his bidding there was nothing the carvers could do but obey. However, after several days, the fear slowly vanished and in its place became proudness as the actions of his tribe somehow contributed to the complete chaos in the lands of their enemy and for the first time in months their clan could even walk in daylight without being hunted. Dakhanishi and his comrades slowly removed a part of the palisade and entered the town. In the far end of the town a dog barked but that was the only sound noticeable. The 6 carvers split up in silence and each went to a different part of the village. Dakhanishi, as nephew of the tribe shaman, had the more difficult task and had to go to the town centre in the centre of the village. The fear of the little carver was almost too much but he was also becoming accustomed to it as he already experienced this every night the last week. The town centre was empty and completely dark. Slowly , Dakhanishi opened the clay pot and put it beside the west wall of the building. A strange light came out of the pot and seemed almost to crawl up against the wall. “Se-ru pu’da, Se ru pa’da” Dakhanishi softly spoke the given words by the Wanderer. In silence the little carver left the town square but not without looking back. What he saw pleases him immensely as the western wall had already begun to disappear.

Paragraph 9: A shadow falls over the Republic

Rofellos rode hard. Looking over his shoulder as he spurred his horse to go even faster. His armour was filled with blood. The blood of his fallen enemies. The lonely Council Guard , send out to investigate the possible disappearance of the castle of Count Maximus, was ambushed by a tribe of carvers. He was almost too surprised as this attack took place in broad daylight but he managed to fight of the carvers. It was impossible for him to continue his journey as he saw that the road was completely filled with forces of Evil.
While still riding hard, Rofellos thought back at this morning when he was approached by Councillor Dennizon himself for this task and still remembered the words the councillor spoke to him. “Noble knight, our Republic is facing the greatest struggle since our refuge from our former homelands. I want you to ride to count Maximus’s castle to investigate if it still stands.”. Rofellos looked around him and Dennizon continued the conversation almost guessing what the noble council guard thought. “Yes, I know what you think. This secret building seems to be immune to the curse. Albertus does not understand it completely either but we think it has something to do with the fact we buried our fallen CG comrades in the crypt below.”. Rofellos looked at the councillor and replied. “Noble Lord, I will ride hard and fast to the castle of Maximus and report back as soon as possible to the current situation there.” The council guard left the library and rode southwest to the lands of Maximus. However this afternoon ,he was feeing northeast again towards the secret library were the council guards had their barracks.
Council Guard Neutie had the watch to protect the library and he already watched a lone rider in great speed travelling towards him for over half an hour. When the rider came closer he immediately recognised the colours of the guard and he jumped on his horse to ride towards his fellow knight. After a couple of minutes Neutie recognised Rofellos and when both came closer worried about the condition of his friend as the bloodstains on his suit clearly became visible. Rofellos also saw his fellow knight riding towards him and while he was almost exhausted began to shout towards his friend. “Neutie, quick ride to the library, warn Dennizon and Dannato…the lands are filled with the enemy.” Neutie had no wish to abandon his friend and continued to ride towards him. When the two meet on the road Neutie replied while helping Rofellos to remain in the saddle. “No, my friend. We will ride together I will not abandon a fellow comrade in need” As fast as possible both men rode towards the building skilfully camouflaged in the forest of dreams.

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