Hell's Campground | Near New Haven

Bones and Battle. | The Battle within the swamp

Amongst the ambience, the nature of the swamp and the backchat of power, Curiio had screamed. His voice pained as numerous bones within his arm shattered at the mere force of Krobon the beasts grip. The pain was immense, he could not bare it! The pained scream died down, along with his senses.

What little colour of the pale bruised truan was left faded quickly and left Poor Curiio more corpselike than ever, rigid in the beasts grasp. As he was held panting in an aweful attempt at silencing his agony, Curiio was flung away with ease by the beast, landing into the mud several feet away from the scene. His form maimed and concussed as he tried to focus whilst laying on his back. The hazey day to come from the suns and jungle ambience did not help Curiio's vision. The confusion of what was real and what was agony forced him to close his deepset blue eyes, left to lie still amongst the carnage in the swamp. The swirls of red's, purple, green's and black clouded his closed eyes, all but dulling out to a pitch black. Along with the rest of his sense, though in what seemed like a conscious distance the highly harmed Truan could hear that same threatening voice,

"I gave you a warning, next time I will kill either of you." said the beast Krobon. Curiio could make out who was who, but not who was where. The lifeless Truan could not hear the fate of Kal, he could not hear her at all. Squarks, and squeaks from the familiar Shard was heard in Curiio's head. The creatures noises peirced Curiio's senses, illuminating his hearing and sight, returning to the hazey swirl of colour under his closed lids. Flashes of blue and darkness, more concentrated that the swirls of mindless colour crosses his dull vision. Orbs, energy and Magick was raining over the scene, shooting over in what seemed like a battle to Curiio's ears. Hisses and gonging sounds of unearthy energy were being thrown about, but at who or from who was unknown to the lifeless body in the mud.


“Krobon, stay out of this… Take Kal and Curiio away from here, they need not suffer harm from this battle.” Riel had ordered. "It was Riel that was fighting.. If not us or the beast, then who? The robed one?" He thought, the swirls of colour in his blind sight were forming a vague shape of a robed being holding a staff which was emitting all sorts of power. This vision faded to nothing more but colour once again. Curiio's nostrils flared, he could smell burning... Smoke even, he was sure of it.. The pain, then came the pain... His arm throbbing so much that he felt little else. It was hard for the Truan man to focus- yet he tried. He "looked" at the swirling red, concentrating through all other colour and matter from the visual world. That red became intensely bright. Brighter and brighter, it's tone becoming orangish.... Yellow... Gold. The gold he sought in his mind clouded over all of his black & blind peripheral vision and the pain of his injury subsided, he felt knumb... Calm and still. Curiio did try to move his arm but nothing happened. His whole form was still, yet he was "conscious".



"..Wake up Curiio..." whispered a womans voice, familiar to him, yet no vision of colour to match familiarity. All was dark.
"Wake up.. Breathe in. Breathe out. Sense all devout. All dies- but not yet my darling boy.."

Curiio's eyes flickered, splits of hazey light filling the darkness, as he gingerly opened his tender lids, all white filled the baseless black and what he saw was full of beauty and full of epiphany. "Amongst the Chaos, all but light. To truely see you have to be" The voices trailed away from his ears, behind him into the mud. Yet still all Curiio could see was a Chaotic white, the more he focused the less dense it became, revealing the skyline of Targon, through the white, through the haze and the peircing twin suns, Curiio could see an entire truth. People, races, stars and the group in the swamp. Even his own "sleeping" body within the mud. He could hear many voices, voices beyond the current battle. Beyond the jeering and insults, orders and threats.

"Good boy..." and with that same familiar female voice, Curiio focused upon his own muddy body and in the quickest swirls of colour, he awoke, laying on the ground and barely moving, though his eyes took in the reality and he smiled.

Riel and Galadus were locked in a battle of magical delicacy and destruction, something that could quite possibly reshape the surrounding area. Galadus smiled as his dark energy ball stuck Riel it was then that his confidence took over.

he chuckled "I expected more from you, yet you seem weak and pathetic" Galadus was suddenly interrupted by a flash of blue light as 4 blue energy balls were flung straight at him. Galadus quickly attempted a shield absorbing the blast but the impact sent Galadus flying backwards into the ground with a rather large thud.

Galadus was slightly taken off guard but quickly recovered sending a constant dark beam towards Riel from his staff. Riel countered it with a beam of his own and the two were locked in a power struggle, the two beams clashed with a loud defening impact and a huge ball formed where the two rays met. They were locked in a stalemate each trying their best to overcome the others power yet they remained locked. The ball growing larger with each moment until eventualy it imploded with a large amount of energy blinding everyone with the bright light and sending both Riel and Galadus flying and leaving a huge crater in the ground.

Galadus led motionless for a while and his robes were torn to shreds. Galadus slowly stood to his feet with the help of his staff and ripped his robe off leaving just his long pants but his thin smooth chest exposed to the elements. A Scar from a sword cut was visable diagnally across his chest. It was time for Galadus to step it up a notch as Riel had managed to match him in power up to now.

Galadus seeing the distance between himself and Riel decided to use a rather risky spell by summoning two shadowlords, the very lords that come when one uses shadow magic too much and required to pay there debts. shadowlords are quite the threat carrying huge scythes, Galadus is able to summon them because he is the owner of the staff, he and the leaders before him were the only ones who knew that and should Galadus die that knowledge would be lost forever.

Galadus planned to prepare a most devestating spell but it would take time and galadus had hoped that the shadowlords would give galadus that time. The shadowlords would be no easy task for Riel but Galadus knew that Riel should cope and eventualy overcome them.

Kal lifted her head slightly as she heard Riel shout to Krobon. "Take Kal and Curiio away from here, they need not suffer harm from this battle." Suffer harm? Hadn't they already suffered? Hadn't Riel and Krobon taken Kal and Curiio hostage? Krobon had already broken Curiio's arm and had perhaps killed him. Kal was quite confused at the statement the Magisto had made. He suddenly cared about the well-being of those that he had captured? What had changed? Just as Kal was pondering Riel's statement she was thrown into chaos. An arcane ball of energy hit the back of the rock that she was sitting on, exploding in a mass of dark energy, catapulting Kal several feet from the rock, face down in the mud, stunning her.

Meanwhile Krobon had heard Riel's order and had slogged through the mud and grabbed Curiio by the back of his coat and lifted him out of the muck. Carrying him in this fashion, with Curiio's belly towards the ground and Krobon's massive claws wrappedaround the back of his coat, Krobon made his way towards Kal. Though he was less endearing with the Lukka. Ducking as a spell was hurled over his head, Krobon emitted a gutteral growl and plunged his claw into the mud latching onto Kal's leg and beginning to drag her unceremoniously away from the arcane battle.

The blast had sent Kal into a state of confusion, her world was muddy and spinning. She had barely noticed that Krobon had grabbed her leg and was dragging her away. Somehow she had expected the beast to exert more of a pressure on her leg, but he was being surprisingly easy in his hold, despite the fact that he was dragging her. Kal tried to turn her head, her vision was fuzzy, but she could make out the massive form of Krobon, and the smaller frail form of what she had guessed to be Curiio. He wasn't moving, and Kal's mind was too rattled for her to think clearly or come to any conclusions as to Curiio's condition. Krobon's gargantuan strength and strides were taking them from the battle scene, as the sounds were getting dimmer and dimmer. Kal's head hit a log and she lost consciousness.

Kal's first sensation was an acute paint to the back of her head where she had hit the log. She could hear nothing but the faint sounds of the swamp. Her eyes began to flutter open, the suns were sinking low in the sky alerting Kal to the fact that night was approaching. She ran her hands over the ground, feeling that it was firmer than that of the swamp. She could not know how long they had traveled for or even in what direction. She tried to pull herself up in a sitting position, but the pain in her head and her back ultimately halted her attempt. She lay on the ground, trying to focus her eyes. After several long moments, she had concluded that being on firmer ground, that they must have traveled eastward toward the city, rather than deeper into the swamp toward the jungle. Her eyes open, she moved them around the small rocky copse where they were camped. Krobon was hunched over, facing towards the suns sinking into the horizon. Curiio was propped up against a fallen log, the golden potion in his hands. Kal was somewhat relieved that he was alive. Her next priority was Shard.

She shifted her eyes around slowly, but she could not see the knapsack anywhere. Starting to panic she noticed a slight warmth at her stomach. Looking down she saw the small Kazur'ha curled up like a cat next to her stomach. He was covered in mud, but otherwise unharmed and was fast asleep. Kal closed her eyes for a long moment before reopening them to look at the hulking beast resting several metres from her.