The Approaching Shadow: The Altar (11th Entry)

[+Veritas]

Stelios slowly moved his hand to his face to flick a bug off his cheek. Scouting in the woods north of Felucca Britain had become more dangerous during the past few months, and certainly more uncomfortable. He missed the days when scouting from horseback was a viable option that didn’t lead to chase and certain death. He moved his eyes and noticed another group of dark riders trotting northeast up the dirt road. Stelios grabbed the thickest tree branch in front of him and leaned toward them as they came closer…

The lead rider pulled back on the reins and held up his hand to signal his escort to stop. “Where are you, Ximestis!” he yelled. After a few seconds a ghastly robed figure walked out from behind a tree. Stelios began to wonder, 'How long has he been there? Did he see me climb this tree?'

“There you are, you worthless fortune teller!” barked the rider, “Where is the altar of Legion?”

Leaning on his staff the figure hissed, “First of all, I don’t read fortunes. I see futures.” He then took his weight off the staff and smirked, “Yours isn’t a long read.”

After a brief moment of both men staring each other down, the robed figure said, “The altar is south of the gate, where the army of Bael’Nefario will be deployed to northern Britain.” Outstretching his pale and dead-looking hand, Ximestis asked, “Did you bring me the heads that Legion collected?”

While untying the sack from his saddle, the rider replied, “I have them here. Pain, Hate, and Daysli of the Excelsior Army…”

Smiling, Ximestis said, “They will make a nice warning decoration for Legion’s altar. I’m sure there will be more to come.” After grabbing the sack from the rider’s hand, he started walking back into the woods.

Ximestis had taken only a few steps when the rider yelled, “My future isn’t a long read? What exactly does that mean?”

Ximestis then turned his head to his shoulder and replied, “You are about to be redeployed to the frontline of the Umbris Camp, between where the Excelsior Army surges and our master’s archers fire…” With a look of disbelief and a new cloud of doubt covering his mind, the rider flicked his fingers forward and rode off with his escort.

When the riders were out of earshot, Ximestis stopped walking and slowly turned to meet eyes with Stelios. “No sense staying up there young man…come down.” Stunned, Stelios stayed still and didn’t react. “There will be no more dispatches or scouts for a while now…come down and walk with me. We need to talk.” After cautiously looking around his position Stelios jumped down from the tree, rewrapped the camouflage cloak around himself and walked toward the old man.

“If this is a trap, I will cut your throat before I flee.” muttered Stelios.

Smiling at Stelios’ threat, Ximestis continued walking and said, “Boy, your people have enough traps laid before them. It’s unlikely they need another. You're walking with me now because I enjoy a good sporting chance more than a pure slaughter.”

“What do you mean by that?” Stelios asked, his eyes moving around his location.

“What I mean is that your people don’t stand a chance against the Umbris invasion force; let alone the archlich Legion.” Ximestis stopped walking and turned to Stelios. “But, perhaps a chance at both would be of interest to you?”

Confused and still scanning the foliage for a possible ambush, Stelios asked, “Why? Are you saying you would help us fight Legion?”

Ximestis shook his head. “I have no interest in helping you or your cause; but Legion is swine and unworthy of such a position as supreme commander of the Umbris Army. Consider this a sporting chance for you, and for me... the possible death of a backstabbing brother that I would very much enjoy seeing.”

Taking his focus off his surroundings, Stelios stared at Ximestis. “Your brother…? Go on...”

Ximestis gripped his staff and began to murmur. “Legion's altar is not just a platform for him to show off his glory; it is also a communication and tracking point he uses for his generals. He recently dispatched them to scout for locations to create forts and camps in more remote areas. He did this without the use of my lord’s army because he wanted to keep troop movement down, making it difficult for your men to track... Looks like it worked well. Legion also wants all of his troops to continue organizing for the coming assault on Britain, which will be soon.”

Ximestis then took Stelios’ arm and pulled him close to whisper, “Legion has no desire to be a part of this assault, so he will use his generals as his field officers. However, if he were to no longer have officers he can trust…he would have no choice but to oversee the attack while on the battlefield. Bael’Nefario has waited too long already; to make him wait further while Legion finds more generals would mean his execution.”

Letting go of Stelios’ arm, Ximestis began walking backward into the forest. As he started to disappear into the landscape, Stelios could hear the old man's cryptic words. “Go to the altar…speak with the oracles…find and kill the generals…and you will have your battle with Bael’Nefario’s second in command…”

[AbadDREAm]

haha great

[Johnny Warren]

Your skill in necromancy has increased by +0.1

Veritas posted that over 6 months ago on Sun Jun 26, 2011.

You posted now on Feb 01, 2012 for what reason?

Whats with all the pointless necromancy going on on the forums these days?

[mshrmhd]

i assume it's because he brought the post back from the dead.. ?

[brhanson2]

Did you ever think perhaps we have new members and one way they catch up with the happenings of the shard is to go back and read older posts? There isnt much activity on this board really so anyone who wants to catch up reads older posts. Most of the posts I get when I select active posts is someone bumping for the 10th time their item for sale post.

He liked the story and commented on it, i dont see what they did wrong.

[Pockethell]

necromancy

[Agony]

AbadDREAm stated- haha great

Hmm.. 1 positive reply to The Coming Shadow...
Then 4 replies to "Haha, Great".. (well 5 now). Who are the necro's here? We all are.

IMO, the coming shadow is like that good movie you pull out of the collection to watch every now and then. You cannot resurrect it because it never actually died. This thread simply reminds me that there are great upcoming things in this campaign that are in development.

*edit* Lets keep this thread unscathed from bugger picking please.. for the love of god.. Every thread that's been brought up lately has been littered with us players picking at each others imperfections with complete disregard for the subject of the thread and the quality of these forums overall.