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The worlds of sosaria have always been a little funny as halloween approached. Usually a larger group of undead roamed the crypts and a few more trolls came out from under the bridges.

But this year seems different......we feel something big is going to happen.

As we took a trip down to delucia in trammel, we were startled by the sound of frightened children. They ran up yelling nonsense about "something by the city of the dead". Being known for undead creatures, we figured they were referring to rotting corpses or skeletons, which is not out of the ordinary. We decided to investigate anyways.

As we walked towards the city of the dead, we were surprised to see that not a single undead creature was walking around. It seemed pretty deserted, which is rather unusual, especially for the time of year.

As we approached one of the center crypts, we witnessed an odd sight.
Black smoke and rifts in the ground took hold of the center of the crypt. The rifts danced with an unholy black glow. Some kind of dark magic was at play here, but we have no idea who caused it.

As we stepped towards the rift in the ground, we suddenly felt very weak, as though death were holding us by the soul. We felt as though we were caught in the worst snowstorm ever, all our organs freezing and withering away. We were able to break away from the rift and come to our senses. I can honestly say I have never felt anything such as that.

Then we saw something jump out of the shadows: a gooey black pool of slime. It dismounted my friend off his mount and proceeded to rip through his armor. We were able to destroy the creature before it could kill anyone. More of them kept coming though, and we had to make a break for it and gallop back to the safety of delucia.

We warned everyone not to go to the city of the dead till we can figure out what's going on.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:1430, old post ID:8964

After a few days of these strange slime creatures, we knew something was not right. These creatures were unlike anything else. Such power inside such a small mass of ooze.

We decided to return to the city of the dead today with Duravan the Ancient Alchemist of Moonglow. Surely he could get a sample of the ooze and find out where they came from.

As we marched towards the city of the dead, we were instantly attacked by one of the strange slimes. A quick consecrated blade dispatched of the slime, leaving a black, mucky ooze corpse. Duravan captured the ooze in a bottle and said "Won't take too long to figure out what these are, maybe a few days at the latest".

That's when disaster struck. We heard strange moans humming from around us. There was nothing to be seen, but we could feel its presence all around us. Unseen feet dragged across the dirt and out of the shadows, skinny creatures with small, batlike wings jumped out, barring teeth. One of them knocked Duravan unconscious with a heavy blow to the head. 5 of us tried to slay the beasts but they just kept coming.

Worrying that Duravan would quickly be ripped apart by these creatures, we galloped back to Delucia, hoping they did not follow.

The slimes had grown. They were no longer the small pools of slime we had known earlier. Now they had become strange shadow daemons. They did possess magical capabilities but perhaps they had not yet developped the ability to use it efficiently.

We are afraid. We do not know if these creatures, now having the ability to walk with two legs, will escape the city of the dead and start making their way to the towns of Sosaria. Also, if they've grown and changed into these new creatures, there's no telling if they have the ability to change into something a lot more powerful.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:1430, old post ID:9037

This sounds good.

-Hrnac

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:1430, old post ID:9039

For all players wishing to see what this is all about, there's an orange moongate in luna that will take you to the city of the dead. The creatures there don't give much loot but it's a good idea to go around there and make some observations. Jump into the storyline as I'll be periodically updating it until the conclusion on October 31st.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:1430, old post ID:9040

Duravan is doing alright, although he has been sleeping a lot. He won't be able to analyze the slime for a few days. We took quite a risk taking him there. We should have collected the slime ourselves and brought it back, and we would have, had he not insisted he'd check things out for himself.

Luckily, we did retrieve a vial of the strange ooze. I stared at the mucky black goo inside that vial and tried hard to think where it could have come from. Perhaps a mutated life form from Hopper's Bog? I've heard some nasty mutants have come from there in the past.

We have been hearing strange howls in the night, likely coming from the strange creatures. It's as though they were....calling to something. We keep Delucia well guarded these days, especially in the night. No telling if they will strike us as we sleep.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:1430, old post ID:9062

Duravan is up and walking again. We gave him some soup with a bit of moonfire brew and he was all better. He set off to work almost instantly and we've seen him mixing specimens with potions all day.

We would often hear explosions and sizzling coming from the room. Green, red and blueish smoke emanating throughout the corridors. We can only hope he's been making some progress. Everytime somebody asks if he's made any progress he closes his eyes, puts his finger to his lips and says "Shhhh not quite yet. You must let the master work".

We took a stroll around the City of the Dead but dared not venture inside. We were not attacked but we saw many black figures walking around aimlessly inside the crypts. Question is, why won't they leave the City of the Dead? They had 2 feet now, but they never left that area. Perhaps they are waiting for somebody or something to arrive or give them orders?

There were tons of them, we are sure that some of them noticed us. However, being outside the city, none of them made a move. They all just stared at us for awhile and walked away, to join another group of their kind. Perhaps they are plotting something big.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:1430, old post ID:9120

Some players may be lucky to find special "Halloween" items on the corpses of the strange creatures. See how many you can find!

About 1 in 25 chance of finding something per corpse.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:1430, old post ID:9158

I was in the City of the Dead. Normally peaceful except for a few zombies, but today, it was far from peaceful. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of warriors wealding their sharpest blades and wearing their best armor. Tamers had brought their most powerful allies and mages were running around, trying to heal everyone.

Suddenly, massive creatures broke out from the black rift in the city. Half behemoth, half dragon and all power and death. Pets quickly fell to these beasts and the best weapons were no match for them. I can still see the glowing white scales, impervious to all damage. Death was everywhere. As the ghosts ran around, a figure, hooded in green appeared in an unholy black gate.

The gate spun wildy and black wisps of smoke surrounded us all, blocking out our only light. This was no ordinary veil...they had voices, and human faces and their very presence filled you with dread and despair. From under the cloak, a bony, human like hand reached to the sky. Her dark blue skin mixed with the night and we all knew she was nothing but evil.

As she extended her bony fingers to the sky, her voice hissed and croaked out to the skies:

"At last the bonds have severed on the darkest of all nights. I shall collect the souls that are rightfully mine. There will be no more second chances in Sosaria, they will all bow down to me now."

As the battle raged on in the background, I ran up towards the vile woman, my blade of the righteous gleaming, expelling the only light left in the area. But I was forced to stop dead in my tracks and watch as the woman removed her own arm bone and manifested it into a dark green scythe. She did not feel pain or look stunned at what she had done. I was suddenly gripped with fear, and felt her burning eyes centering me out.

Your soul.......I want it.

She pointed her bone blue finger at me and wisps of dark smoke swarmed around her palm. The smoke crackled and pop and suddenly, a large, furious dog was at her side.

My dog is hungry......and you'll make a lovely meal for him

Last I remember, the dog had lunged at me but before he could kill me, I had woken up in my bed, scared to dread at what I had just dreamt.

Thankfully it was a dream, but I am still worried. Is this a dream, or a premonition? Did I envision the future? I have never been able to see into the future before, but then again, I never tried before.

I decided to put the nightmare behind me for now. Maybe Duravan could give me some good news today that would cheer me up. With that, I grabbed my cloak and set off to speak with Duravan.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:1430, old post ID:9296

As I ran to Duravan's door, it burst wide open. Duravan, holding a flask of a strange black and blue smoking liquid outstretched his arms and yelled:

"I'VE GOT IT!".

He quickly ran outside, screaming about his discoveries as the citizens of Delucia stared at him, wondering if he had gone mad.

I chased after him, trying to figure out just exactly what he had discovered. "Duravan! Duravan! For goodness sakes man quit running!". I trodged through some wet mud with my thigh boots, trying to catch up with him but he kept running about, jumping with glee.

Finally, he stopped and noticed me.

"Oh OH! Glorious news sir, I have figured it all out! Please, come inside, I will show you"

I followed Duravan back to the door of the old Delucia inn. Before we could reach the building, I felt a sudden chill. The air seemed to have changed suddenly....it had started to snow.

We walked inside and up to Duravan's room. He still wore the bandage around his head from when he was hit by the strange creature. From his recent episode of running about the town, I wondered if that hit knocked a few beans out of his noggin.

Sprawled around his desk were numerous flasks, tubes, mortars and pestles. A quill with wet ink lay upon his desk over a stack of parchment which led me to believe he was up all night.

"Look" Duravan said holding up a flask of black/blue liquid. The area reaked of sulphurous ash. Black pearl juice was sprayed all over Duravan's cloak.

"Look at this" Duravan said again, waving the flask in front of my face with a smile on.

"What? I don't see. I'm not a bloody alchemist here Duravan" I said, a bit disappointed that he hadn't yet told me what I wanted to hear.

"You don't have to be......just hold it in your hands" he said as he passed the flask of putrid liquid into my palms. It was cold to the touch, as though the flask were carved from an iceberg. The white trails of smoke emanating from the flask were cold as ice, and left a trail of frost on my hand as it passed through it.

"The creatures are cold. Their blood is cold. It seems as though they were made from cold" Duravan continued as I stared at the contents of the flask.

"Yes, but what does this mean? I know they are cold, but where did they come from?".

"I don't know that part yet, but this is a good start" said Duravan as he reached for the flask. I passed it back to him, a bit disappointed at his response.

"I will work some more on this" he said as he hurried me out of his room.

I walked outside of the inn and headed for the bank when I noticed the mud on my boots had frozen. It was still snowing out. Rather unusual for this time of year. In fact, it was about a month too early for it to be snowing.

Suddenly, I heard a cry coming from the outside of the city. Somebody was calling for the guards. I rushed back to the inn where I had tied up my horse. As I galloped outside with several guards, we came to a spot on the trail and saw a woman, dressed in a robe an apron, running from a strange, blackish figure. Before she could make it to us, the figure shot a fireball at her back and she toppled over and fell face first in the mud....lifeless.

The creature stood over its kill and the most eerie thing occured. As the creature placed both its hands on the corpse of the poor woman, she began to turn to bones. A glowing white wisp jumped out of her and the creature quickly grabbed and ate it. It had taken her soul.

The guards raised their bows and I pulled my righteous blade out from the sheath. Arrows sailed through the air at the creature. As we galloped towards it, we were hit with a blast of putrid toxins. The blast was so powerful I had fallen off my horse, onto the ground.

My sword flew in the air and landed out of reach. I quickly got up and ran to my sword as the guards fought the creature. Just as I reached for my blade, I felt cold and weak, as though I were dying. I stared up before me and there was another one of these magelike creatures staring at me.

It raised its hands to the sky and I could tell it was trying to cast something on me, but I didn't give it the chance. I grabbed my righteous blade and ripped through it. After a few minutes, it was dead.

I was greeted by the guards, who had killed the other creature and had come to my aid.

"What kind of creature is this?" Said a guard with a puzzled look on his face.

"Nothing I've ever seen before" said another.

I reached towards the black creature to examine it. As I touched its blueish/black skin, my fingers stung from the cold. I quickly pulled away out of pain.

"Here, use these" said one of the guards, extending his hand towards me and offering me his pair of platemail gloves.

I quickly put them on and reached for the corpse again. This time, the cold did not disturb me. The creature looked a lot like an ancient lich, but the color of its skin made it look a lot more gruesome. There was no doubting that these came from the same strange creatures in the City of The Dead.

Further examining the creature, I noticed a glowing blue bone was exposed in its arm. Using my boot to anchor the corpse down, I gripped onto the bone and yanked it out with a sickening "CRACK" noise.

Even though the gloves protected my hands from the cold, I could still feel the frosty aura of the bone on my skin.

The creatures were serious now. They were no longer staying in the City of The Dead. I'm sure more of them will continue growing but there's no telling how many of these "Soul Collector" creatures have escaped the city of the dead, or are in other facets.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:1430, old post ID:9381

The nights are darker these days and I fear going to sleep, not knowing if something sinister or evil will burst through the doors and steal my soul. Sleeping hasn't been easy either, with the horrible visions and dreams.

I have talked to others and sought the input of sages to see why I was the only one to dream these things. One wise sage told me: "For every omen of disaster, there exists one person who can overcome it, prevent and stop it from occuring. Visions are sent by the gods and the hopes of man to that hero". I almost believed him until he said "Or, you can simply be having these visions because you somehow feel responsible".

Maybe I was responsible. Maybe this happened because I thought it would. I somehow knew something big was occuring...maybe it was my thoughts that started it.

As I lay asleep, another dream came to me. I was not myself in this dream though. I was a woman, dressed in a green shroud. I had unnatural blueish black skin and I held a green scythe in my hands. I was walking amongst people, in a dark and misty realm. Suddenly, I came upon a dark black lake and I kneeled before it. My long, bony fingers stroked the surface of the water and ripples formed.

"Soon. Soon I will be free from this place. Then you and I, brother, will control the land and seas of Sosaria".

I awoke, much to my displeasure. Although the dreams were horrible, they gave me an insight of the future and left me clues of what to come.
Who was that woman talking to and was it the same woman from the last dream?

Instead of going back to sleep, I found myself wide awake. Knowing that I would not be able to fall asleep again, I got up and started writing down my thoughts on some parchment.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:1430, old post ID:9563

I find myself walking along the ground. It's cold....very cold. The ice dungeon is a furnace compared to this place. It's dark and spooky, full of gloom.

I don't know how I got here. Last I remember I was writing my thoughts on parchment. Perhaps I was summoned here by a greater force.

I continue walking. All the trees here are dead and there are bones everywhere. The area is filled with a strange white mist that freezes the legs. There's not much around here it seems.

In the distance, I see a human figure. Should I go to them? Is it safe?

I decide to walk towards the figure. He looks at me with a long face. He is dressed in a pale robe, his skin white as a sheet. He looks cold....and I search about my belongings to see if I have anything to give him. All I find are the pair of platemail gloves I borrowed from the guard earlier and I go to offer them to him.

"Thank you kindly sir......but she would never allow it". He pulls the scrabs of his robe up to cover his face. He breathes out into the cold air, but you cannot see his breath. Finding this particularly odd, I decide to do the same, however, my breath leaves a trail of white steam.

"Are you alright sir?" I ask.....but I already know the answer.

"...nobody is alright here. We're all prisoners. Can't leave here. Fortunately, she can't either." He kicks about the ground. I only notice then that he also has no shoes.

"Why don't you have any clothing to keep you warm here?" I ask.

"In death, you take nothing with you but your soul." He says, looking disappointed.

"Wait a second, where am I? and how did I get here anyways? I'm not dead, am I?" I say, a little afraid.

"You are not dead....that I am sure. If you were dead, you wouldn't be wearing those boots. You're here in a different form....illusion maybe. Not quite sure why you came here though. Your mind is probably looking for answers...dreaming maybe."

Dreaming again.......likely it. Just like before. Why am I the one dreaming of these things? I decide that while I'm here, I might as well get some answers.

"Hey, you said that she cannot leave this place right?" I suddenly recall his speech from earlier.

"That's right....she's bound to this place, rules it. Not by choice though. The bonds of the world keep her here....but the bonds are weakest on this darkest month. She tries every year around this time to escape. I'm afraid this time she's ready...and she might succeed. The rift has already begun and she has sent her minions to break the binds."

He starts walking away, towards a tree. "Shhh, be quiet.....they're around" He says.

I slowly walk towards the tree and catch a glimpse of white in the distance. I hear some grunts in the distance and massive feet dragging along the ground. Whatever it is, it must be large.

"Stay still, don't move or make noise" he says, and I quickly freeze in place. After a short while, the noise stops and I no longer see the white scales I saw before.

"What was that?" I ask.

"Guardians of this place. Making sure nothing foreign enters. Second something doesn't smell right, they kill it. They don't bother those who are dead, but I was afraid they could sense you. Luckily they didn't".

"How did you get here? How did you die?" I decided to ask. Not sure why, but I felt I needed to know why such a good person ended up in such a dismal place.

"An evil man caused my death. Always up to his wickedness and trickery, he found a way to kill me. I never saw it coming, never dreamed that a simple plant could kill me when I felt invulnerable. I ended up here, where she cruely holds my soul in the palm of her hands. I am her prisoner now."

After hearing of the poor man's story, I felt bad for him. I'm sure in life he was a great man. I suddenly realized at this point that I had not yet asked the most important question:

"Who rules this land?" I asked finally, but before he could answer, a dark black cloud appeared in the sky and out popped a human like figure holding a dark green scythe and wearing a dark, hooded shroud.

It was the same mysterious woman as last time, although she did not seem as hostile as before. Her hood was down this time and I could see her face. For such an evil person, she was rather beautiful. Her hair was wild and her skin was a dark blueish black. However, her legs were putrid and decaying.

"You, keep quiet" She said as she sent her dog upon the poor man. The dog did not attack, but threatened the poor man. I'm sure if he would have continued talking, the dog would have made him regret it.

She waved her hands to the sky and her scythe vanished. She took notice of my presence and slowly approached me, a smile on her face. She knew I was in her world now.

"Yes, I see you human. You're lucky you're an illusion or your soul would be mine by now. You've come here for answers I take it? Why would I give you answers..so you could stop me? I don't think so"

She walked towards me, pointing her bony fingers at me in disgust. "You people disgust me, healers everywhere. I loathe your kind who learnt how to resurrect souls. Your souls are supposed to be mine. I am stuck in this realm to rule over the dead. Who am I to rule over when no souls make it here? Your kind had to be difficult, I used to wait patiently for your souls to come to me. Soon, however, that will change and everyone you know will die....and all your souls will be mine."

She walked right up to me and stared me in the face.

"And you....oh I'll remember you when the day comes. I'm sure your soul will make an excellent addition to my collection."

She reached out her hand and grabbed my chest.

The burning cold caused me to wake up in a fright. I was no longer there, but back in my room, surrounded by familiar wooden walls.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:1430, old post ID:9655

The next day, we went out to search for more creatures. We found a few soul collectors around the area and launched all our magic and arrows at it till they fell, one by one. There were a few deaths on our side, but luckily nobody's soul was taken and we had a few spellweavers around to bless with the gift of life.

We found ourselves in front of the entrance to the Ice Dungeon when we saw a soul eater collecting the spirit of its latest kill, a young healer. I ripped through the soul collector, slicing its arms off and just as I was about the decapitate the vile creature, it gave a horrifying laugh. We were surprised to discover that these creatures could talk.

"Try all you might humans, more of us will follow. You can keep killing us in your realm, but we'll just head back to ours, regroup and pop back up here. The seal between Sosaria and our realm has severed, our queen will soon be free."

Before taking its last breath, it muttered a curse on me, infecting me with putrid toxins. I struggled to breathe but thankfully a paladin ally of mine managed to remove the foul creature's curse.

Duravan was also with us, and as I lay to the side, trying to catch my breath, he walked up to the creature and ripped out the glowing blue bone. He rubbed some sulphur over the bone and noxous black smoke flew into the sky.

"It's the stench of decay. The creatures are odd to us because they are from a different realm. That you know of course. But the realm they've come from is the underworld."

Duravan suddenly looked pale as a ghost, but I was even paler. I hadn't told anyone of my latest dream, and all the pieces of the puzzle were coming together. The place I saw in my dream was the underworld. I knew her plans, I knew where she came from and I knew the rift in the City of the Dead was the seal where she would soon surface.

We rushed from ice dungeon and made our way back to the City of the Dead by sundown. As we peered inside, few of the strange creatures were lurking around. I broke passed the group and looked at the rift in the ground. It was larger and portals began surfacing from the outsides.

My horse tossed its hoofs in the air out of fear. I quickly rode back to the others without stopping yelling "GET BACK TO DELUCIA, WE NEED TO WARN THE OTHERS, WE NEED MORE FIGHTERS. SOMETHING BIG IS COMING!"

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:1430, old post ID:9745

We gathered as many fighters as we could. Mages, tamers, warriors and archers from every town came to aid us. There were paladins from luna, necromancers from umbra and all kinds of warriors from skara brae, britain, and even the heartwood. Torches lit the sky and faces glowed in the town, where all the women and children had sought refuge in their houses.

The cold winds blew through the town sending trails of snowflakes with it. She was on her way, she was coming.

I found it difficult to stay awake, as though some strange force wanted me to sleep. I fought for words, trying to say "No, please. I don't want to sleep. I don't want to see anymore", but the force was too strong and I fell into a deep slumber.

"The time has come my brother. I will rise in 2 days time, on the eve of Halloween." A low, hissing voice said.

It was her again. She was looking into the same pool of water as last time in her cold, dead realm. I did not see who she was talking to before, but this time, I glanced into the dark black pool of water and was horrified at what I saw:

I was in the throne room of the Submersia Palace Ruins. A large, viscious red sea serpent was circling back and forth. He turned towards the pool of water and let out some hisses and growls to her, a smile seemed to form on his horrific, beastlike face.

I knew this sea serpent. The soldier of submersia told us the story, but I was at a loss to remember his name.

Brother? This was her brother? How could a sea serpent and this evil woman be related?

"You will have dominion over the seas of sosaria and I will dominate the lands. When we have that, we can work on freeing the others from their binds. We will all be reunited again. I will exit to the city of the dead and collect all their souls, wait for my arrival at the docks of papua. I will not be long"

The image of the red sea serpent vanished and she got up off of her feet. She grabbed her green scythe and walked away from the black pool of water.

She walked into a circle of rocks and muttered the words "come". There were sudden flashes of dark and several of the large, white dragon beasts I had seen in my other dreams, instantly appeared where she was.

"The binds are severed enough to let you pass. I will not be able to go with you until a few days. Kill as many as you can, I will collect their souls later."

I could now see a portal overhead. From the inside of the portal, I noticed the walls of the crypt in the City of the Dead. The dragons flapped their monstrous wings and vanished through the portal.


I awoke to a hand shaking my arm. "My lord, my lord wake up". It was Duravan.

"Everyone gather your numbers and your best weapons, we must fight the City of the Dead and close the seal".

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:1430, old post ID:9890

The battle was fierce at the City of the Dead. Hel Dragons reduced our numbers but luckily they could not steal our souls like the Soul Collectors could. We breathed a sigh of relief as we tore through the last hel dragon that had appeared.

But our relief was short lived....

A great hel dragon, the leader of them all, had appeared. Great frosty whirlwinds zoomed around it and sliced up everything in their paths. Whirling cold winds flew through the air, slicing our skin and spilling large amounts of blood. The great hel dragon drooled a cold thick mucus over the bodies of its kills in appreciation that it had done Hel's duties.

Hel, that's who was behind all this. Hel from the underworld, angered by the lack of souls she was receiving, had taken matters into her own hands and broke the binds of the seal that kept her in Helheim. She would surface soon, we all knew it.

A final arrow soared through the great hel dragon's skull, sending the heavy mass plummeting to the ground with a massive thud that caused several bricks to fall from nearby crypts. Before we could carve up our kill, a woman's voice laughed from out of the darkness.

"Finally, I am free from Helheim and all of Sosaria will be under my control. All of your souls will be mine!"

Hel rose up from jet black gates and Garm materialized by her side, dripping thick red blood from his massive jaws. A fireball sailed through his mouth and struck a warrior, dead off his horse. The battle had just taken a deadly turn.

Garm leapt through the air with a loudening crack noise and landed on all fours in front of our group, threatening everyone around with a generous set of razor sharp chompers. He was even bold enough to snack on the head of his kill before swiping at us with his massive paw.

Hel stood on top of the crypt roof, laughing at her companion, amused by what she was seeing. At that moment, she pulled out her large green scythe and descended from the roof. She raised her hands up from the ground and 3 glowing orbs materialized before her. They formed human shapes, just like the ones I saw in my dream. Dead people, souls she has been collecting for years. She forced them to do her work, against their consent, using them as ragdolls. The dangerous chanelling of dead souls made us weak, as though we were dead ourselves, but we fought hard to avoid its power.

Time seemed to last forever during this battle but we were given a smiggen of hope when we slayed through Garm. Garm jumped through the air at a mage but before he could tear his throat, he was flamestriked back to Helheim. Garm's body disappeared in a veil of white smoke and within seconds, we could no longer hear his threatening growl.

Back in the crypt, we noticed the portals vanish. Garm's death had caused the binds to regain their strength. The seals were closing.

Hel's eyes burned red and she let out a horrific scream of anger.

You'll all pay for that. Although Garm may no longer help in the fight, Jormungand will slither onto the lands and help me with this battle. You are no match for our power.

Hel sent out more ghosts but we were able to confuse them into attacking each other, buying us precious time to battle with Hel. We sliced through Hel, sending pools of a strange blackish blue ooze on the ground. She was strong, very strong. No human could possess as much strength, power and anger as her and we wondered if we could defeat her and save Sosaria. Our numbers became lower as warriors, mages and tamers ran in fear at her rage, running to Delucia for safety.

But we weren't safe. If we backed off now, we would surely die at her hand. We had to try. Hope gleamed in the eyes of the remaining fighters, and that was all we needed. Hel soon became overwealmed at our persistance. She was perhaps, surprised that we were lasting longer than she had anticipated. Jormungand was nowhere in sight. Was she bluffing? Was her sea serpent brother actually going to help her?

As I tore through her with my holy sword, I recalled the final vision I had. She had told Jormungand to wait for her arrival at the papua docks. Seems she overlooked her ability to get to the docks through the ambush of fighters. She was surrounded by hills, trees and a group of enraged Sosarians, fighting for their world. She staggered to the ground, weakened, but she kept fighting. As she reached towards the sky to summon more ghosts, she was catapulted by a ground of spells and arrows. She flew through the air and bounced off the back of a rock mountain, landing face first in the wet mud, her scythe sailing through the air and shattering into a million bright blue pieces of ice.

She turned to us, who had stopped fighting her. We knew we had won. Her eyes burned at us, and blueish black blood flowed through a cut on her once, beautiful, but deceptive, face.

You think you're strong? I highly doubt it. I underestimated you this time, but even if I'm sent back to Helheim, I will return once again, just you wait. Next year, the seal will break and I will escape once more. There's no stopping me

I had heard enough. With a consecrated blade I lunged at Hel and pierced my blade straight through her throat, the point exiting through the other end. She let out a monstrous yell of pain, amplified by her torment of defeat. Wispy black clouds formed around her, and she vanished in a bright white flame, back to Helheim. Nothing was left of her, not even a trace of blood.

We walked back to the seal, which had vanished completely. The battle was over. Warriors, mages and tamers expelled a hearty cheer. We were victorious. I was greated by Duravan who was carrying with him a purple explosion flask in one hand and a glowing blaze colored flask in the other. He still stank of sulphurous ash, but it was all for a good cause this time.

"We've done it! We've sent her back to Helheim. We must all celebrate!"

We galloped back to Delucia, but along the way, I stopped to think for a second. Nobody else had noticed that I stopped dead on the trail, suddenly remembering Hel's threat about Jormungand.

I took a shortcut to papua. Papua was empty in the night. People were still hidden in their houses, fearing Hel. Little did they know that it was all over. I galloped onto the docks, the black water shining in the moonlight. In the distance, I could see him:

The large, red sea serpent stared at me, but did not move. He did not need to be told, for he knew that my presence at the dock instead of his sister meant that everything hadn't gone according to plan.

The serpent slowly sank under the waves, hissing softly at me through the night before vanishing completely.

Archived topic from AOV, old topic ID:1430, old post ID:9961