OOC: 9 members for than us, 20K anw deficit to you guys. glhf lets rock!

"Insanity!"

The man who stood in front of her quivered with self possessed rage. One of the lesser commanders for the Order, one whom had gained rank swiftly, he had no right - none at all! - to judge what the Warlady had decided. "They outnumbers us greatly, Warlady, nearly two to one. We cannot win against such odds!"

For her part, the Warlady sat calmly at the great round table, somewhere deep within the tower. There were others gathered here - the Demoness, the Spymaster, the Sidhe. They sat around a table made for a much larger number of people. All of them looked at the center of the table where a large, liquid sphere of light balanced a foot over the surface, showing a relief map of the world in general. Everyone but the sidhe looked at it - she still drew on Power from the Valley. It was an intricate weave, maintaining their 'map', and their communication with the others whom weren't present, who were out directing armies in their manuevers. On the map, their positions were glowing points in one color, their objectives glowing points of deep purple, almost black.

The Warlady sat straighter, her battered breastplate and stained leathers creaking as she sat forward. HEr cold blue eyes gleamed with hidden intelligence; she was no woman to trifle with. The corners of her lips curled up in a rictus of a grin as she spoke. "It is not your place to judge whether I am sane or not." She said simply, dangerous undertones threatening the man. "If our eyes-and-ears have detected a trace of his taint in the Light, why should be not go and root it out? If you let a seed grow, it turns into a mighty weed that is twice as hard to kill." She steepled her hands in front of her, leaning over the table and fixing the man with a dead gaze while the others in the room continued about their preparations. The sidhe looked at her crosswise, finishing her weaves and having nothing left to do but maintain them. She did not speak, though their relationship in recent days had been strained. Apparently she did not appreciate being denied what she wanted; she wanted the power within the Valley and was not having it given to her. Pity for her.

Ignoring the man, and any further attempts to express what he thought of her plan of attack, she laid her hands on the tabletop, and grinned.

"Its time to begin. Let us test our mettle with the Light. If we do not succeed, whatever plots are afoot could well turn into nightmarish schemes. Best not to let them advance that far." The warlady grinned, a wry, somehow dirty thing on her face. Brushing hair turned so silver it was almost white from her face, she gestured to the Spymaster. "Begin it."

Exidus sat within his chamber, hidden from all the world. The extra-deminsional space he occupied was filled with objects of value from his past and was safe from the eyes of others. Even now he scrounged through his tomes, prepareing himself and his armies for the war to come. He sighed heavily looking around the room and thinking to himself. His gaze came to rest on the scrying device that lay on the table before him. It was through it that he had found them. A great and riseing nation seeking to dominate all that reamained of this world. Exidus was pleased to be a part of it, for he held no alliegence to the gods, only a taste for power and glory. He was sure his new path would reveal it to him in time.

His thoughts shifted to recent things again and he looked across the room at his genral Luramute, standing patiantly in the shadows. She was so perfect, he thought, and not because of her beauty or lean athletic features, but becasue he had created her. She was not his daughter in any mortal sense, and in fact had lived long before Exidus was born, but she was with him now, and would remain so forever, whether she remembered anything or not. She looked at him then, eyes shimering, and nodded slightly to assure him that she was ready. Though she was more magic than mortal, Exidus had found himself fixated on her, as if she was some addiction he could not refrain from indulging in.
He had worked hard to craft her magical armor and weapons, so that she could defend herself when he could not. He had gone so far as to detail everything that she wore, so to be pleasing to the eye when he looked upon her. Her brigandine suit was practically weightless, and was sculpted to mold to her body perfectly. Its metal died in a dark crimson hue to match her hair, with golden trim that mirrored her eyes.
It was an obsession he knew, but cared little, and feared what he would do without her

In the last few years serving the god known as Angelique, he had discovered a somewhat forbidden magic, known to manipulate life and death. Exidus had studied it for a long time, experimenting with its power until growing familiar with it's use. The vampires and living dead that he had dwelt with had helped him of course, teaching him to combine summons and spirits alike. And once he had acquired what was needed from them he quickly moved on. He found his knew home under the might of the god Barnabas and within the presence of another people, the Elves. They were not as strong in the art as some of the others of the land but their rules on spellcraft were very relaxed, allowing him to do as he pleased with his magic. They left him alone to his studies most of the time and were easily fooled to do his bidding. At least the majority did.

The door to the room suddenly opened revealing a humanoid form, it's body still ripe with the shifting energy caused from passing between planes.. The transfer complete, Shivendal the Elven high priest looked over his gear and then approached the old wizard.

"What is it now?", Exidus demanded, looking up from the maps on his desk.

"Forgive the intrusion sire, but there is something you must know."

Exidus focused his attention back to what he was doing, clearly annoyed. "Speak then..."

"Many of the priests have claimed that the gods do not agree with our new union to this empire or the wars that will follow.", explained Shivandal, trying to hide his nervous tone. "Worse still they have gone against my orders and taken their word to the street, persuading many of community to agree with them. They have become out of control, massing in the town square and shouting their discontent.
Something must be done."

"Go and see what you can do to calm their tongues. I will be there shortly.", mumbled Exidus without looking at the man.

"Thank you sire. I will do my best." Replied the cleric, seemingly more at ease.

Without another word he left the room and returned to the material plane. Exidus stood up and walked over to his beloved Luramute. He looked into her eyes thinking for a moment and then smiled.

"There is something you must do for me.", he told her. "I want you to go into the city's temple and dispose of the priests who dwell. Spare no one and return to me when you are finished. Do you understand?"

"Yes...", she promised, showing no sign of moral disagreement.

"Good, go now." Said the mage as he made his way back to his seat.

Lurmute approached the doorway to leave, her hand already at the hilt of her blade.

"Oh and something more...", added Exidus, "Start with Shivandal."

In an hour, Exidus would lead his armies to engage those of the empire of Light, as would all the rest of his new found allies. He could not leave these fools behind to spread lies and chaos throughout his realm while he was away. They would die instead, like so many others would this day...

[occ]

Belch

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[ooc] I'd do this in colors, but I don't know what background everyone uses! And I apologize for its brevity. Nice strike. [/ooc]

twitch

The insolent fools! How dare they, while his back was turned, even!

He had let his guard down for just a moment. And in just the span of thirty minutes, his best-laid plans had splintered like spears against shield as the filthy Heathens bearing the emblem of Ordo Draconis spilled across his borders, their armies pillaging what they could, claiming his land in the name of their own dishonorable god.

He frothed at the mouth, white spittle literally flecking the corners of his mouth as he screamed orders to robed Sidhe sorcerers and skittish faeries alike.

"Find the largest godforsaken heathen realm and torch his pagan temples to the ground!"

"Kill the peasants. Kill them, kill them all, kill every last doomed one of them."

twitch

He was angry. Very angry. The night will bring out the worst in him.

The Warlladies' face was deadpan, without a trace of emotion. Her blue eyes peered calmly into the sphere, a kind of map that the Sidhe Seska had said was used often in times long gone. It displayed the movements of the Order, troop disposition and direction of movement. It also marked those lands that were under attack.

Perhaps she should have been enraged by the way of their counter stroke. It certainly left little doubt in her mind that the Shadow was strong in the Divine Light. Perhaps it even touched the venerable Lord Calis, perhaps not. Irregardless, it would not be the last time the tainted Light would see the Order on their doorstep. The fervor of their attack was all the proof the needed.

She turned away, face still of etched stone; cold, hard eyes gleamed with a seemingly feral intelligence now. The reports had begun to come in almost immediately following the start of their offensive. Fires set with no apparent cause except sabotage, money intended for the reinforcement of their walls pilfered. Their forces had moved deeply into the Lights' holdings, killing relatively few as the vast majority had been sparsely defended. Not so others, ones that had to be cast down with lightning from the skies until their buildings crumbled, until their streets cracked and were smeared with the blood of those caught in the destruction.

The only thing that surprised her was the ferocity. The Light threw absolutely everything they had at the Order, where ever they had buckled down to defend. Her orders had been explicit, yet many had not followed them or had found themselves unable. But then, again, they had even dared hurl magic against the Valley itself, and while nothing got through the shield the Sidhe had woven to protect it - Aeyliea was still certain that Seska had done little, that the Valley itself would protect itself and all within - they had still wrecked havoc. The only consolation was that the Light could not do it again, not unless someone did for them what they had done for the Order.

"We achieve an objective while an ignorant puppet and his great men pat themselves on the back for a great victory of their own." She whispered to herself, barely aware that the words were spoken aloud. There was none to hear her, here in the heart of the Tower. Her leather armor creaked as she peered about the massive chamber, at the massive seemingly single piece stone table with its chairs all the same, no one bigger than the other and all ringing the table. The globe had gone. It required concentration to maintain it, and the human had let her mind wander. She briefly reached behind her back, and caressed the long hilt of her blade, almost lovingly.

She had not participated in this hunt herself. When they had set out, they had known many were doomed to perish. They had known the cost that would be paid, and all had accepted the price equally. The enemy thought they had won; in truth the enemy had done them a great favor. Certain things would begin to click into place now, and as the Order strengthened from this, others would learn fear anew.

She left the Great Chamber, her word for it. The others would need to be contacted, since communication had been severed with several during the darkest hour of the night. There was yet more work to mete out to the Light. Always more work, always more armies to train.

Always one more battle.

"Put torch to that kingdoms temples." I whisper from my perch overlooking the lands that offer me the best advantage to see all of Lights realms spread before me. "Slaughter all peasants in that realm, leave none alive, I mean to see their liegelord forced to find new lands or seek more peasants willing to live where the groud still bears the bloody stains of the previous ones." As my orders are given groups of men dressed in concealing clothing peel off to fill them with merciless efficency. I glance to the thousands waiting their orders and point out markets ripe for destruction and treasuries heavy with coin for the plundering.

To my rear are a great many priests in fine cut robes that hold no gold or silver thread to betray their presence. I nod to a man beside me and he raises the flag with the symbol of a flaming ball upon it. The sky lights from the sheer amount of magic cast only rovaled by the burning realms below seconds later. "There is word they have breeched your grounds and claimed lands for their own." My officer does not look pleased delivering this message, he knows my temper. "Is it of little consequence, land can be reclaimed. Strengthen the defenses on this realm and gather the shadow men from the other, have them put torch to temples and blades to throats."

I glance to the reports of the three guilds who had intruded in my lands while I fight. "A hand must be paid when we are not engaged." The reports thrust back to the officer. "I have dark work to be about this night and no time for retribution yet."

I'll get back to a real post later.. but first... damn you Seska for stealing shadow from me. You'll pay for that! Good luck heathen....