The Fated War

[Andreas the Wise]

Let the StoryWar begin. (I'd post as the reflections now but I've run out of time. They'll be attacking Taonas and the Etruri, anyway, so people can start by trying to get to Taonas).

Team Goal (Expedition Force): Get to Taonas and fight your way through the Labyrinth and hordes of reflections, only to find you've arrived just too late as the commander of the Reflections mocks you then dissapears, with the Items, through a reflective surface.

Obviously, don't complete that all in one post - we want a good story!

And some general goals for the war, which anyone, good or evil, can try to achieve.

General Goal: Set up a trap for the Reflections involving mirrors.
General Goal: Make reference to established history.
General Goal: Win a fight using only bananas.
General Goal: Pull off a Manuel's Piracy Competition style theft from the opposition (whoever that is for you) that they agree you got away with.
General Goal: Work in a humorous sequence in the middle of a dramatic confrontation.


Eventual I will allocate points to goals based upon how difficult they are to achieve ... but not at the moment. Perhaps only at the end of the war.

For those who weren't paying attention to the expedition that started this, it's available here.

[Andreas the Wise]

OOC: Can everyone fighting the Reflections remember to read them up on the wiki.

They had waited long for this moment. Since those arrogant mortals had tried to enslave them with the first Magic Mirror, they had stored up enmity against them. If reflections had hearts, the enmity would have been stored there; but they only reflected the surface - inside, they were nothing but glass.

They had had chances to repay the mortals. They tricked them into building a second pair of magic mirrors; from which the reflective armies poured forth to wreak their terrible revenge; but the mortals had foiled them by turning everyone - reflections and Axilroth - into glass. Then, in the dying days of the Axilroth, when the Etruri had already been driven far away, they had been able to destroy the remains of the Great Tree; striding forth from the city of Illumo Corealis - what a joke, what the mortals had thought their stronghold was actually their greatest weakness. But they had been foiled - the Etruri were already gone, and those they revenged themselves upon were practically human again.

Now, finally, the time had come to fully repay the ignominy of slavery. The reflections would pour forth and destroy the last of the mortals - the Etruri and their pet Axilroth. There would be no Tekruah to foil them this time. Their would be slavers thought they could only enter this world if Magic Mirrors were constructed. Fools. Their mistress had re-entered the world, freed from her prison; and her power could bring them in.

And so from every mirror, every window, every tile, every single reflective surface the reflections of the Axilroth and the Etruri poured forth onto the final Sky City of the Axilroth. Their numbers were so great that for a moment the city tipped under the weight; but the magical songs that kept it hovering reasserted themselves and the city remained aloft. But there were so many reflections there that the sun reflected off them, and it shone so brightly in the sky that it could be seen from all over Magna Novatainia. It seemed only a matter of time before the terrible revenge was concluded, and the Eye of Fate held by the Etruri in the hand of the Reflections, and their mistress, Atropos.

Human students were less common at Taonas than at the other Academies, where they were the norm, rather than the exception - but there were still human students about, and one of them was walking down a corridor. The building was an odd shape here; and though there were rooms on either side, at the corner, where the corridor turned, a window opened onto the outside. As the student turned the corner, he saw something moving out of the corner of his eye. He was a mage, so saying "Who's there?" was out of the question; he merely moved the focus of his scrying, normally on himself, to look behind him and around the corner. But there was no one in the corridor. He looked ahead of him - on both planes, no one. Finally, he looked out the window - but there was nobody out there. Deciding it must have been a trick of the light, he continued to walk down the corridor.

But, being slightly suspicious, he kept a watch behind him, and so was amazed to see what looked like himself stepping out of the window and beginning to walk the other direction. Now he turned around and demanded, "What are you?"
For a moment, the mouth on the other figure of him seemed to move in the same way, mimicking his words, but then it firmed and turned into a grin. "Merely reflecting your glory," the other him said, in the same voice. The student became unnaturally afraid at this proclamation, and raised his hand to summon a fireball - but before he could, the other him had pulled out an other dagger, and stabbed him in the heart. His last thought, as the dagger went in, was that it didn't feel like metal. It felt like cold glass ...

The reflection, for of course that was what it was, took the body of the student and hid it in an empty room. Then it went to the window. While the rest of the corridor was lightly reflected in the window, it was not. It nodded, and then a number of other figures appeared in the reflections, and strode forth into the room.
"Any trouble?" one asked.
The reflection who had first entered indicated the bloody hole that had appeared where the heart would be in a real person. "My host is dead; but with luck the body will not be destroyed before we are finished."
"The plan was to enter unseen."
"We are unseen now. They have no idea we are coming. The light of our blades shall descend upon them before they begin to expect it."
"You're always so melodramatic. Let's just get the Items and try not to get into trouble."

[Nargoth]

The ruins outside Damev had been quiet for many a year. No young mages had come seeking knowledge, infact the last beings to walk these grounds had been Montags driven by hunger to search this place at the edge of the dead wastes. Tonight the portal to Salente stood deathly quiet just as it had for many months, then the silence was broken by a drop of water and then another, the storm came up from nowhere and vanished in a moment. But as the rain drops ceased to fall the reflections began to rise...

well now theres an army outside the gate. i will be doing most of the scene laying on major parts of the taonas side but feel free to still join in. by the time we get there the gate would be active and reflections moving into the tunnels.

another tibbit teleportation is impossible to taonas and within its dimension. Due to how it was created one cannot go between micras and taonas directly on their own they need a portal and to not get stuck in Salente a ward stone.

anyway have fun with those outside and by the time we get into the maze i should have a post done for the defenders.

[Demon of Fides]

"Tinia! Uni! Turan!" Mivana was outraged, "We must be ready, do you have your legions?"
The Nine assembled Etruri glanced at each other.
Apula spoke up, "We are ready, are you?"
"Uh, yes, of course..."
As one, the Etruri stood and teleported to adress thier forces.

Well, I'm supposed to put an Orbat in, so assume that each Etruri has about 300 Axilroth, with a mode average of rank 10.

[Andreas the Wise]

OOC: Added my academy attack post. The way I view reflections, they don't teleport in any conventional way; and so conventional wards (or indeed any wards constructed after the Reflection Wars) don't stop them entering through any reflective surface.

Fides, for this war specific armies aren't essential - we'll add units as needed. But for your role, that's a good number to stick to.

[Nargoth]

OOC: My whole taonas teleport thing is due to it being an artificial world, my thought is the mirror teleporting works within the world as normal but cannot go directly from Micras to Taonas (for future posts) also I'm treating your attack force there as a covert group while my post describes those making the frontal assault maybe as a distraction.

Just being sure were on the same page.

one other thing im currently in a week long Uni orientation so if everyone doesnt mind can we keep the advancement of taonas side events moving at a slow pace. i would greatly appreciate it as i really want to participate but I also need to attend to whats going on in my life at the moment. thanks for the understanding.

hoping to do a response post to the academy attack in the next day or two depending on if i can find any spare time.

[Bayen]

I've been away, but now I'm back. Quickly, I'm going to introduce a character for this:

As powerful forces moved through the world and the players took their places for the great battle to come, the people of Gralus went about their lives, largely ignorant of the imminent struggle over everything they knew. The car salesmen and accountants were selling cars and calculating taxes, all as if there was nothing wrong. That was almost everyone. A very, very few felt for reasons they didn't understand that something was going to happen. Felix was not one of that few.

In fact, right now, Felix was absolutely sure that he would be on the cleaning staff of Disctrict 17-B in the city of Rapture for the rest of his life, performing tedious labor with no hope of change. He was fourteen years old and already his life seemed to be over. It really was depressing, he thought to himself as he carried Old (Ro)man Maghston's garbage bag up to the waste disposal chute. Rapture, as an isolated community, had to be careful about its trash, otherwise it would pile up and drive everyone out. That's why there were disposal chutes. Unfortuantly, Mr. Maghston lived about a mile away from the closest chute, and it was Felix's job to lug all the trash through the tunnels and toss it away. Once he finished this job, he would have an hour or so break, and he could finally get some rest.

He was almost there; just a few more turns through the windy paths of Rapture District 17-B. He stepped around the corner, saw three older boys walking towards him, and quickly turned around. It was too late, though; they had seen him.

"Hey, Felix!" shouted one of the boys, a tunnel repair apprentice named Brent. "Come back here for a second!"

Felix sighed and turned back. It was no use running---he had this big garbage bag weighing him down. "What do you want?" he asked dully.

"We just want to see what's in the bag," drawled Brent, grinning lopsidedly. "Whatcha carryin' so far up here?"

"Really?" said Felix, raising his eyebrows. The bag was clearly marked as trash, and Brent wasn't stupid.

"Yeah, we're curious to see what we're going to make you eat this time."

Not that Felix was surprised. Rapture was built around violence, and the streets weren't the best place to walk around alone. Montags and Romans pushed around humans like Brent, and so Brent picked on littler people like Felix. It was just the way things worked.

Brent walked up and took the trash bag from Felix, dumping it all over the ground. "What have we here. Ooh, that's interes---"

He was cut off by a bright flash of white light and a loud crack. As the brightness faded, another boy was standing between Felix and Brent. This new kid was dressed strangely, though---blue robes with an insignia that looked foreign, or at least non-Tokian. "Hey, uh, I'm Timothy," said the boy. "Which one of you is Felix?"

"Why do you need to know?" asked Brent, curling his lip.

"Er, Lord Andreas wants to see him," said Timothy. "I'm a student at MANA. You've got something to do with Bayen, I think."

"Bayen... ronToketi?" said Brent incredulously.

"And you said Andreas... the King of Novatainia?" added Felix.

"Yes, yes, that's right," said Timothy. "Are you Felix?"

"Well, that's my name."

Timothy turned to Brent. "Could you, er, get out of here, please?" he asked. "This is private business."

Brent threw Felix a disgusted look and stalked off.

"So, you were really Bayen's favorite student?" asked Timothy. "What was it like?"

"Timothly, wait a minute," said Felix, "I think you have the wrong person. I've never even seen Bayen ronToketi, much less studied with him. Rapture has been my home ever since I was born. And I don't know any magic."

"Are you sure? Your Astral aura indicates some potential."

"I don't want to learn magic, either." Everyone in Rapture knew that magic-users were cheats and untrustworthy. Felix didn't want to be like that.

"Well, if you say so. I'd best keep looking, otherwise Andreas will be disappointed. Thanks for bearing with me." With that, Timothy spun on the spot and vanished.

"Mages," muttered Felix under his breath as he started picking up the trash that Brent has strewn across the street.

* * * * * *

Timothy contacted Andreas mentally.

"What is it? Did you find him?" asked Andreas.

"Not yet," replied Timothy. "I got close; there was a kid named Felix in Rapture---some minor magical talent, unharnessed---but he's not Bayen's student. I checked the Skoitomashu records and there's no account of there ever being a Felix there, either."

"Strange. I remember Bayen talking to me about someone named Felix being his heir. I never actually met the boy... in fact, I don't think Bayen ever actually used the word 'student.' It's possible Felix didn't even know that Bayen had chosen him."

"So maybe that was the right Felix..."

"It doesn't matter now. If he's never met Bayen and you only sensed minor magic on him, he doesn't have what I'm looking for. Come back to MANA now and help with our preparation. War is brewing."

* * * * * *

As Felix weeded through the garbage, putting it back into the bag, something shiny in the muck caught his eye. He picked it up---it was a silver ring, and a nice one. He went to put it into the trash bag, but something stopped him. It was going to be thrown out anyways... what the heck. He slipped it onto his finger instead.

[Andreas the Wise]

OOC: Bayen's back, yay!
@Nargoth - that's fine, we'll work with what we've got. On that note, it seems somebody needs to get the adventurers moving.
@Fides - can you write for the Etruri a little more to give me something to respond to?

"Away then, we've got a world to save!" Andreas cried, as the messenger to Taonas slumped in front of him.
"But how exactly do you propose to get to Taonas?" Nargoth asked.
"If the reflections have attacked the moving portal ..." Andreas began, and glanced at the messenger, who nodded, "then we can always use the other portal at Damev, and avoid fighting them. We can try and get to Taonas before they get through the portal's defences."
"The portal at Damev has not been used for some time," Nargoth cautioned.
"What other choice do we have? If we try to teleport directly, we end up in the maze, and that will take too long to traverse, surely," Andreas said. Nargoth considered this. "To Damev, then," he said, and himself created a gate for the adventurers to walk through.

The ruins outside Damev had been quiet for many a year. No young mages had come seeking knowledge, infact the last beings to walk these grounds had been Montags driven by hunger to search this place at the edge of the dead wastes. Tonight the portal to Salente stood deathly quiet just as it had for many months, then the silence was broken by a drop of water and then another, the storm came up from nowhere and vanished in a moment. But as the rain drops ceased to fall the reflections began to rise, from the puddles of water that now reflected the sky. As the adventurers passed through the gate, they found several dozen reflections already there.

Andreas saw the water at once. "Triple Animate Triple Water!" he cried, and whirled the water off the ground and into a swirling vortex, which he directed at the reflections. But they merely laughed - the water glanced off their hard glass bodies, but did not shake them. "Is that the best you can do, mortal?" they cried.
Andreas grew angry, and just a little worried. The reflections could not be allowed to succeed in recovering the Items of Fate. But how could they be attacked easily. He flung the water away, but was sure to check it did not land in pools, so more reflections could not enter from it.

Leaving the continuation open to you guys and particularly to Nargoth for any portal defences (wasn't sure if the storm was meant to be one or not)

[Nargoth]

OOC: storm was the entrance point for the refelctions. the ruins had no glass or such otherwise.

Reflections walked through the seemingly silent halls of the academy. As the lead reflection turned a corner it ran straight into a tall scaled creature.

The draconian felt the creature with its glass body hit him, he began to cast a spell but already a blade of glass was lodged in his chest. The draconian stumbled for a moment then a strange smile came over its face. The explosion rocked area, its sound echoing through the halls.

Nalec jerked upright, an attack already?

A messanger came running in "Sir reflections are in the academy." It took only moments before the mage soldiers of Taonas were prepared to fight.

"Hit them hard and fast, shatter their bodies" Nalec shouted to the defenders.

Soon spells were arching everywhere, fire followed quickly by water, levitated rocks and even spikes of earth shot up from the ground. lightning bolts struck and blades kept those who got close at bay, for the time being.

The group of adventurers engaged the reflections.

Andreas turned to Nargoth Activate the portals defenses if this keeps up we'll need all the help we can get.

Nargoth glanced to Andreas, and Andreas knew there were no defenses Salente is the first defense within the tunnels my academy begins to fight back.

OOC: The damev portal leads to Salente for those without a ward stone, however being Lord i can have us by pass that even those without stones...which is most of you...

[Demon of Fides]

Turms was the first to speak, " We have to act now! The vote was unanimous!"
The other Etruri sat in silence.
"A quick and decisive victory is the only way."
There was still no response.
"We have the eye of fate!"
There was a very uncomfortable and awkward lack of response.
"Who will join me?"
The Etruri stood one by one.

Bind by air and sea and foam,
bind by ice and fire and snow.
Bind by the land, the light, the dark,
by the beasts, the mind, the spark.

By all things in world anon,
bind our magic in this song.

And so it was that the Etruri sang themselves into war with a magic power unlike any other, and began the fall of the living and the rise of the shadows... The flying cities fell, and the Etruri entered into the war.

Oooh! Ominous!

[Andreas the Wise]

Look. Look there, beyond the lake, glittering gold in the shimmering light of the rising sun. Look there, beyond the towers, tall and mighty, shining crystal, standing like guardians over the grassy green hills and the shimmering golden lakes. Look up, up in the sky, above the lakes and the towers, above the clouds, look up there. What is that, shining there in the sky? Its glistening and glinting - light is streaming off it like from a second sun. What is that, up there? Look, can you see it?

Could that be the city up there? There, up above the clouds, the last sky city of the Axilroth, home of the Etruri, once the mightiest mages ever to walk Gralus. Why is it shining? Why is it glistening? What mighty spell are the Etruri weaving? What spell are they singing into being? Can't you hear it? Can't you feel it? They're binding mighty power to themselves. They're calling to themselves all the power they can. Are they what is shining?

Look. Look there, beyond the lake, above the towers. Look there, the last sky city of the Axilroth, where the Etruri are signing something mighty into being. Why is it falling? Why is the city, the last sky city of the Axilroth, passing through the clouds? Why is it plummeting to the mortal earth below? Did the spell go wrong? Is the shining from something else? Why is it heading for the lake? Why are all the lakes starting to bubble and writhe, their surfaces dancing, and the glittering gold of the sunlight no more? Why did the Eturi break their eight millennia stint in the sky? Is this the dawn of a new age ... or the dusk of another?

---

The Reflection's attack had caught the sky city off guard. Alone of the guardians of the Items of Fate, they had not been sent a warning of the meeting with The Whisperer; and so they alone were not expecting an attack. But it was not true to say they weren't expecting possible attacks ... that was how they had lived the last two millenia, in constant, albeit resigned, alertness. And so when the Reflections broke forth and began to attack, it did not take long for the Etruri to ready themselves, and the Axilroth to begin their counterattack.

The sky city had, wisely, been constructed so that never did two mirrors reflect one another. Only mirrors were reflective enough to set up the infinite regress which was the ultimate source of Reflection armies. Though the reflections could enter through any reflective surface - a window, a puddle, an icicle - only mirrors could show infinity. Without the infinite regress, reflections could only enter this world when they had an unreflected host nearby, who would then no longer reflect in a mirror, while their reflection was in this world. Whatever affected one would affect the other - the Reflections greatest strength, and major weakness. If one were stabbed, so would the other be. If one had their head chopped off, so would the other (even if a sword that couldn't pierce glass was used to lop the head off a human, the reflection would lose their head, all the same). A fireball against one would burn the other; a wall of ice would make both freezing cold. This made reflections very hard to fight - hurt them, and you risked hurting your own friends more. But if the host was stabbed, for example, and died of blood loss - well, reflections had no internal organs, only the outside image of a person. They could stab away with impunity, and as long as no limb was permanently severed; nor the body mutilated or destroyed after death; the reflections would be fine.

And so the reflections who streamed forth immediately began to attack. Some pulled out weapons, reflected from their hosts, and hard as glass. They made short work of the first few Axilroth they encountered. Those whose hosts did not bear weapons found other weapons themselves. One punched a wall, its glass first going straight through and shattering the brick into sharp slivers, which it handed around to its compatriots. Another couple took weapons from the bodies of the Axilroth that had first been slain. All over the city, similar collections of reflections (no more than a dozen at a time) were streaming forth and attacking the Axilroth they could find.

And then the singing began. The Etruri's song could be heard all over the city, and the reflections sensed its power and purpose quickly. The Etruri were trying to bind all the surrounding magic to them, to give them power for this fight. This could not be allowed to occur. A reflection commander nodded at those around him, sending them towards the singing, to stop the Etruri; while he turned to a window in front of him. Though he did not appear reflected in it, there was another there. "They are singing their defence," the reflection commander began. "Send Echoes ..."

Suddenly, the window shattered. The noise was magnified a thousand times over as every reflective surface in the city shattered. Was this the Etruri's spell? No, they were still singing - it was the work of the Axilroth, experienced in fighting reflections. Angrily, the reflection commander picked up a single shard, through which he could see only the eye of the one he had been talking to. "Echoes," he said again.
"They're on their way," the other said, and then disappeared from view. The reflection commander dropped the shard, and hoped the echoes would arrive soon. They could, hopefully, echo the music of the Etruri and gain the effects of the spell to their side as well as their foes. But then, without warning, the city dropped a hundred meters.

There was a shudder as the city stabilised, and the commander wondered what had happened. But then the city began to descend again - slower, in a controlled manner, but descending nonetheless. Why was the sky city going down? Unless ... unless the Etruri weren't sure they could win. In which case, descending to the Long Lakes would put the city in a region where many mages lived, who would be able to support the Etruri and Axilroth against the reflections. "Fools," the commander muttered, "we shall merely reflect them from the lakes ..." But at that moment, the lakes began to bubble and boil; whether it was the Axilroth or Etruri enchanting them, the commander could not tell; but the surfaces had been rendered useless for reflections.

Now there was the prospect of extra help, the commander was not as sure of victory. Now was the time to focus on the mission, and not on revenge. He issued a high, piercing whistle; all the reflections who heard it finished what fight they were in, and began to move towards the Etruri. It was the signal to forget revenge and go for the Eye. As long as all the Items of Fate were assembled, there would be time enough to return and finish the Axilroth and Etruri later ...

Summary: I took "The flying cities fell" in your post literally, Fides; so while the Etruri are singing to increase their own power, the Axilroth have shattered the reflective surfaces (as you do) and started the city plunging towards the ground, where there is extra magical support. So the reflections are refocussing on getting the Eye.

For all: A good paragraph talking through reflections and how they are related to what they reflect for everyone to read.

You know ... if you start trying to write from the perspectives of individuals, its so much easier to write more ...
Now, Taonas ...

The mages at Taonas quickly readied their defence against the reflections, focussing on spells that would shatter glass. One summoned boiling flame around a reflection; then her partner formed a wall of ice, and, inside, the reflection shattered. At the same time, another made the floor rise as spikes, making the earth so dense it could pierce the glass body of the reflections. But elsewhere in the academy, a mage suddenly screamed as his body became covered with violent burns. A healer reached to tend to him and found his body suddenly icey cold. Another near him began to bleed profusely as his lower body suddenly became full of holes, as if he'd fallen on invisible spikes. Though a healer was able to quickly transform his skin to cover the wounds, others were not so lucky. The mages had now discovered just how hard fighting their own reflections would be. Still, the reflections were wary of these now alert defenders. Losing one of your own to kill the enemy was hardly a good option.

Meanwhile, a squad of reflections who had not yet been engaged were searching the academy. One them ripped a wooden door right off its handles, while the rest trooped into the room, pulling books off shelves and smashing through desks. The Items of Fate could not be destroyed; so there was no danger in this approach. After a short time, the leader cried out, "Next room - not here either," and the squad rose to move on. One of the reflections, feeling particuarly strong, ran at the wall and smashed through it into the next room; though a thin layer of cracks now covered its front. This room was turned apart too - the bed smashed straight through, and the basin ripped off the wall, so that the water which had magically been piped in spewed forth. But there were no Items of Fate.

"Where can they be?" one cried, angrily.
"They must be here - our mistress spied upon them, heard their plans. It was not to be in MANA, but here."
"But where here - where?"
"The Eye she used was apprehended before she could discover. But no loss - we will recover it soon enough.
"Only if we can find the Items."
"Patience," the commander said. "We'll just keep searching."
"But while we search," one said ominously, "these mages continue to fight ... and it cannot be long before they work out a way to damage us that does not kill their own ..."

Summary: Reflections continue fighting and searching. I just put the summary in so Nargoth knows what I'm aiming towards and how to respond.

I'll leave someone else to write of the fight with the reflections at the Damev portal to try and get to Taonas.

[Demon of Fides]

The spell of all elements bloomed forth, surrounding reflections. With an almighty cry; the Etruri decimated the remaining reflections. The Axilroth cried out in joy, before the reflections re-assembled themselves.
"Echo!"
More and more reflections returned.
"ECHO!"
The reflections glowed with the energy of the spell.

The Etruri panicked and threw thier thunderbolts at them, twelve great striking bolts hit the reflections and seemed to wipe them out, only to have the cry raise again; "ECHO!"

The Echos stood on the hill and looked at the city, soon to fall. The eye would soon be theirs...

[Bayen]

After Felix dumped off the rest of the trash on his run, he sat down to look at that silver ring he had found. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, exquisitely crafted with a symbol from a deck of playing cards---he wasn't sure what the symbol was actually called, since he'd never really gambled. The ring itself was a little sticky, probably since it had been in the trash for such a long time, but that would be easy to fix. He got up and headed to the restroom to wash it.

As he stood by the sink rinsing off the ring, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror. When he made eye contact with himself, the mirror-him winked. Felix took a step back and tripped over his own feet, falling to the ground at the exact same moment his reflection lunged out of the mirror at him. The mirror-Felix missed him by an inch, flying straight over his head.

The real-Felix scrambled to his feet and took off at a dead run. His reflection stood slowly and walked after him, grinning.

[Nicholas the Mad]

The expeditioners stood at the Damev portal looking out at the storm.
"What are you waiting for!" shouted Longbow to North over the sound of the storm. "Take us to wherever you hid the artifacts so we can protect them!"
"NO!" shouted Andreas, and then continued telepathically: Nargoth, do you trust your mages to hold off this threat, or should we enter and help them?
We can't just lead them to the Items of Fate, said North. We have to eliminate the threat here, then move to the other locations being besieged by Fortuna's forces.
Well then, said Nicholas, let's go!

Nargoth summoned them into the academy of Taonas.
"Now be careful," said Andreas. "Whatever we do to these reflections will hurt their hosts too, so be careful, and always be ready to heal."
They kept walking, breaking reflections as they saw them, but attempting to do it in a way that wouldn't hurt the host, which was proving difficult.
They arrived in the main room of Taonas.
"Odd..." said Z. "Why aren't the reflections here yet?"
"Fools!" screamed a voice like the keening of glass. "Did you not expect a trap?"
A reflection dropped in front of them from the roof, while more approached from all sides.
"Give in now, unless you want your men to die, Nargoth," said the leader.
North looked down, unable to bear the thought of what he was about to do. He raised his hands, but Nicholas was too fast. He threw himself forward at inhuman speed and headbutted the chest of the chief reflection. A shining crack appeared, and the reflection was thrown backwards. He looked up in triumph, only to see Nargoth thrown backwards as well, blood shining through his clothes.

[Nargoth]

Nalec moved through the halls swiftly. Now and then he heard his fellows dieing a distant explosion or crack of lightning. But this is what had been expected was it not? 'If we face a foe which can reach the academy they will be strong indeed' that was what Nargoth had said, that was why the majority of those who defended the academy were the ancient ones the first of the draconians, the last of the Malrek, those who were cursed. As they died bodies exploding or turning to bolts of lightning, the spirits of the defenders were once more denied the peace of death. Those who defended the academy were those who in a desprite fear of death had willingly been cursed, cursed to the same torment of existence as the academy's current lord. The draconian defenders fell and their wraiths began to rise.

------------------------------------------

Long ago when the lands of taonas were young and the malrek who lived there began to grow old they feared the end of life. They clung to life and did all they could as not to let it go, they begged for the wraiths curse, at first Drathir had refused but soon the cries began to wear on him and soon he gave in giving to those who sought it the unending existence of wraiths.

Later these wraiths used the seed of aegis to return to a physical existence but the wraiths curse is one which is written on your soul one which you cannot escape no matter how you change.

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As the reflections cut down defender after defender they realized a problem with there tactics, as they slew their victims bodies would cease to exist be it turning to stone, a pool of acid, or exploding in the killers face. They were losing the powers of their hosts and the collateral damage being caused was slowly destroying the surfaces from which more reflections could rise.

Now that he was near the fighting Nalec began to move more cautiously, peering around a corner he saw as a reflection suddenly lost its draconian appearance, the next moment a wraith descended upon it. Soon only broken glass remained, Nalec took the time to get through the room before more enemies appeared, its not that he was a coward but he was born a draconian and it had been agreed he must survive. Besides he could sense great powers now within the academy if it was those who had been sent to the altar perhaps they could help him shake off the assault.

OOC: hope that makes sense...

[Andreas the Wise]

OOC: It does indeed Nargoth - good solution to killing reflections (it wasn't the one I thought of though )
Once again, I'll respond to several things in turn, starting with Damev.

The storm which had allowed the reflections entrance had passed as quickly as it had arrived - and Andreas had dispelled the pools of water through which they had entered, so no more could come. But before the reflections could engage the adventurers, they had fled, through the very portal the reflections had been seeking to enter. The commander of this squad looked at the portal, suspiciously.
"Fan out," he said, "and check for any traps." The reflections did so, but a quick search indicated no obvious magical traps.
"Do we hold our position?" one asked.
"That is what our mistress commanded - to hold the exit, so none may escape," another said.
The commander considered this. "No, let us continue through the portal. We can hold it just as easily at the other end." So the reflections marched through.

They found themselves in Salenate: the Labyrinth. This strange maze was the arrival point of all who entered Taonas uninvited, and had the curious property of reversing all magic cast within it (though this was not widely known). If they made their way through Salenate, they would have to walk along the Long Path, with palantirs at all points, making their approach seen to the academy ... if there was anyone left in the academy to watch it. But the reflections knew nothing of this. All they knew, as soon as they entered, was that they sensed the very Items their friends were to be seeking somewhere nearby.

"The Items - they are here, I know it!" the commander said.
"But they are meant to be in the Academy ..." another reflection began.
"Perhaps we have been tricked," a third suggested.
"We should report this to Her," a fourth said. The commander nodded, and sought for a mirror, or some reflective surface. But there was nothing. They were just in a very dark stone area, with a few torches on the walls. "Come," he said, taking down a torch, and leading the way through one of the many passages branching off. They continued for a little way, finding nothing ... until they emerged back in a room with many passages and several torches burning, though there was a spot for another to hang ...

"By all that is Real!" cursed one. At that moment, a wind whistled through the tunnels, causing the torches to flicker ... and then a wave of water rushed through from one tunnel! It was one of the many defences of the Labyrinth. But the reflections weren't phased by water, and merely stood their ground until it passed. Only one torch remained alight now; and by its light, the commander stared into the pools left on the ground by the passing wave. Then he gasped, in horror.

In the pool, he saw, reflected, himself. The torch he was holding was not there; nor the tunnel around him; but just him. He was a reflection. He could not reflect within a mirror (unless two were placed side by side and even then only a host could be reflected multiple times) - he came from that world. So what fell magic was this, that he could be caught within this pool? He shudderred and kicked the water until he could see himself no more.

"We cannot contact Her," he concluded, shuddering again. "We shall have to get the Items on our own. Come, we can sense them, and this maze cannot hide them forever ..."

Summary: Reflections go into Salenate, sense the Items, and start looking for them. However, their reflective connections are useless here.

The attack on Taonas was not going as planned. The bond between Reflection and Host was a powerful one - it lasted beyond death, but not beyond the destruction of the body. Many reflections shattered unexpectedly in the middle of combat; those that remained found themselves fighting magical spirits they could barely see, and not reflect; but who seemed to retain all the potency of the slain defenders. And the Items of Fate had not been found.

The attack continued, for those Reflections involved in battle, but they were more cautious now - focussing their assaults on the humans, and not these strange Draconians who exploded upon death. As another human fell, one of the commanders slipped away back into one of the few remaining windows, to call for reinforcements. But he knew they would be hard pressed to come - the only reflections that could enter this world were those of living beings, and their recently deceased bodies; and there were few of those whose reflections had not entered.

Meanwhile, in the entrance hall, the reflections who had been waiting for the adventurers to enter grinned, in particular the one of Nargoth, who was now bleeding. No one else in the party appeared to be reflections - the other reflections were Draconians or other human students, many already with holes indicating their hosts had bled to death, and they had continued on. "You cannot hope to defeat us," the Nargoth reflection taunted, "we who have held demigods at bay, and serve She Who Will Never Die. You shall not succeed - and while we fight you, your friends die." But on the inside, the reflections were worried. The Nargoth one had just entered, only able to appear when Nargoth arrived in the academy; he had not yet seen the carnage to their army. The others had not expected the adventurers to return - the signal had not yet been given that they had found the Items - and they now had to distract these mighty ones while their compatriots continued to search. Would they to join the ranks of shattered reflections?

Finally, there were still two groups searching who had found nothing. "They are not here," one reflection concluded.
"They must be! She saw!" the commander said, patriotically.
"I'll tell her then," the first volunteered, and before his commander could stop him, he stood before a mirror.
"This had better be good ..." came the voice of Atropos. Suddenly, contacting her didn't seem such a good idea.
"Your majesty, the Items are not here. We have searched the Academy from head to toe," the reflection quivered.
"They surely were being hidden by the Cursed One," Atropos replied. "This is his academy ... unless ... there is more to this world than the academy. Search outside. They must be elsewhere."
"You are ever full of answers, your majesty," the reflection said, bowing, and turned back to the others.
"Well," the commander said, finally. "Let us be away." And he punched through the window (they had reached an outer room), and each of the reflections stepped through, to make their way beyond the walls and outside the academy, to continue the search.

Summary: Fight continues, albeit focussed on humans.
Search moves to outside the Academy, at least for seven or eight reflections.
Those engaging the adventurers try to delay them.

[Demon of Fides]

BUMP-Andreas; I've edited my post.

[Andreas the Wise]

Atropos sat on her throne, surveying her forces, arrayed across Gralus. She was still in the mirror world, for now; her presence, beyond emergencies (such as that of Bynar) would be too easily detectable, and so she avoided entering the 'real' world. But that did not mean she was not keeping intimately aware of everything that was going on. She had waited so long - and now the day was almost upon her.

Half a dozen millennia of scheming had culminated in the creation of all thirteen Items of Fate. The meddling of those Gralan mages and The Temptress had, quite against both their plans, freed her from the prison in which she had lain these past two and a half millennia. They did not know for sure she had returned, and she intended to keep it that way, until the last moment. But finally, circumstances were such that she could make the final grab for the Items. And once again, she had those mages and The Temptress to thank.

The two Eyes of Fate that The Whisperer had recently recovered had been lost from even her searching and spying. She had not dared release the Reflections until she was ready, and spying by shadows or echoes was limited. The Whisperer had played into her hand in recovering them; but the mages had played into her hand even more by going and rescuing all the Items from The Whisperer. If she did not believe in fate, she would not have believed her own luck! The Whisperer was all too aware of her - she suspected he had discovered or guessed most of her plan - and there had not been any mirrors or other reflective surfaces in any of his bases; making spying or attacking hard. But then the mages had done it for her!

Strike while they were tired, that was the plan. The appearance of Bynar had been a wild card which had thrown her, and everyone else; but it had not been an insurmountable one - indeed, she had managed to obtain the Eye from him with great ease. She had lost it again, spying on the mages, but it had been worth it, for she knew then that the rest of the Items would be taken to Taonas. Now, she could take them all in one fell swoop, before they had any chance to hide them again. They had even taken the Hand there. The only Items left to acquire, apart from those in Taonas, where the Eye held by the Etruri; and the Ring of Fate, which not even the mages knew where it lay. She was sure it would turn up, though. It was fated to be so.

And so the Reflections had not only attacked the Academy of Taonas, and the sky city of the Axilroth; they had been spying in every mirror they could find to try and find a whiff of where the late Bayen had hidden his ring. And so the reflection of Felix (Felix-R) could not believe his luck when he saw his own host pulling out a ring which seemed to fit the description. And so he lunged forward. Though Felix evaded him and ran off, Felix-R couldn't help but smile. He had felt the power, as soon as he had entered the real world. This was, undoubtedly, the Ring of Fate. Felix could not evade for long now. All the reflections in the world would soon be upon him.

But there were many places to hide in this city, Felix-R realised. Could he afford to report back now, and risk losing his host? He decided to trust to his luck, and began to run after Felix, his glass feet clumping loudly on the ground, without telling anyone else where he was going ...

Summary: The Reflection that noticed Felix follows him, having sensed the Ring. By luck, the Reflection decides to follow him and not report back yet.

The Etruri's plan had been reasonable, given the time they had to prepare - rarely did one suddenly find their city full of an unslayable foe. Ultimately, however, it was somewhat dissapointing, especially considering they had fought reflections in the past, and you would have thought they'd have come up with something properly workable by now. As it was, their solution was novelly tolerable; but ultimately fruitless.

They had tried to sing a song to bind all the magic around them to themselves; and in particular, to bind the Axilroth to themselves, and by that, sever the bond between Axilroth and reflection (rendering the reflections killable). In essence, they'd hoped that if they threw enough magic at the reflections, they'd be able to destroy them without at the same time destroying the Axilroth. Perhaps, with the right, carefully crafted words, such a thing would be possible - but not with a hurried chant. They had succeeded in drawing great power from their surroundings; but their words had been, by their standard, very haphazard. Words of Power were a delicate and exact art - a misplaced clause could render a fatal loophole in an otherwise impeccable enchantment. The Etruri knew this, so, I must conclude, they were merely too rushed to think clearly at this case. They unleashed their spell having barely eloquated the clase to sever the bond of reflection and host; and they had left it open ... and opening the echoes happily used, to draw on the very same power for their own control. With two groups of binders using the power at the same time, in opposite ways (the Echoes, of course, the protect the Reflections and reverse the Etruris' spell), the spell effectively cancelled itself out, and nothing happened. Then, in a bout of frustration, the Etruri hurled their great and terrible lightning bolts at the Reflections; forgetting that the the Echoes still had the bound power to reflect; and those bolts, so great at shattering demons, were ably blocked by the Etruris' own magic, and the magic of those around them.

In short, too little thought and too little time was the Etruris' downfall in this fight.
~
Analaysis by Andreas the Wise, after the event.

---

The Echoes had arrived just in time to echo the Words of the Etruri and send their own spell back at them. As the lightning bolts cleared, and the Reflections remained relatively unharmed, the Etruri slumped, drained from their own spell - but they had the sense to release it. The Echoes could no longer echo it, and their power to protect was gone. But the Etruri were too weak and disorientated from their own efforts to notice this; the Axilroth, too surprised that the Etruri had failed; and so the Reflections took this chance to reclaim the Eye before their opponents could start thinking straight again, and began to run toward the Etruri just as the sky city hit the ground.

It hit it hard, the attention of those lowering it having been elsewhere at those crucial last moments, and everyone was shaken by the impact. A number of reflections and Axilroth fell over; but more reflections poured forward, all heading for the Etruri. This time, they did not joke; they did not smile as they wreaked revenge; this time, they were focussed on getting the Eye before the Etruri could do something that could really damage them. They had been worried by the Lightning Bolts - had the Echoes not been there, both many Reflections and the last of the Axilroth would have perished that day. Besides, the signal had been given, just before the Etruri launched their near-fatal attack. Every reflection was to go for the Eye; and they all wanted to get it and get out before the spell casters who lived near the Long Lakes could come and aid their foes.

And so it was that the Etruri were somewhat dazed as Reflections rushed up to them, and though the Etruri pulled out weapons to defend themselves, the Reflections ignored it, and instead, all piled on Tinia, who had, around his neck, hanging the Eye of Fate. For a moment, he was overwhelmed by them, before he threw them off with a roar; but it had been long enough. One Reflection proudly clutched the Eye of Fate in his hand, and his comrades carried him away before the Etruri could stop them; while the other reflections continued to distract the Etruri. The physical pain had roused Tinia like nothing had for millennia, and he hurled the reflections around him up and away from him with a gust of wind, but it was too late. Even as the other Etruri recovered and Maris began to smash reflections with his bare (but magically reinforced) fists, the Eye was already disappearing out of the city, towards the lakes which had now ceased their bubbling (with all the commotion) and were the perfect, reflective portal for the Reflections to return, victorious, to their Mistress ...

Summary: An explanation of the Etruris' spell and why it failed. It drained their strength and shocked them so much a mad rush of Reflections were able to reach them and grab the Eye and are even now carrying it away, hoping to get it back to the mirror world.

OOC: I've taken great liberties of interpretation with your post, Fides, I know, but I hope you grant that they're dramatically and conceptually exciting liberties. If you make it a bit clearer exactly what you're planning in your post, or explain it in a brief Summary, I promise I won't take such great liberties in the future. Remember, this isn't an expedition - you don't need to leave 'suddenly's for your opponent to fill in ...

[Demon of Fides]

@Andreas; Well, I was supposed to loose, and I thought Reflections needed to take on hosts for their magic to work.

[Andreas the Wise]

OOC: Well, this way they aren't all dead and you have a chance to use them later in the future. You can also respond to the fleeing Reflections if you want - I deliberately left that open.