Elder Kardal Steelheart's Story

Riak followed along the path Torggrim had pointed towards, careful with his footing, as he ran across the mountain trails. Glancing towards the leader of the dwarven troop Riak spoke up "Aye, even thirteen thousand years back the dragons were never that big." p Pulling the flintlock pistol sized for him; more like a small handheld cannon, and began to prep it for use, though he'd not load in any ammo else it would all spill out from the barrel, dropping the pistol back into its leather holster, his attention turned back towards the risen ships as they moved forth.

this filled Riak with dread, sure he was a warrior, but a battle with dragons was for all intents and purposes suicide, though, the Builder, Riak, wasn't even aware of the extent of the industrial power of the dwarven realms. "each landing that dragon makes, is an earthquake to contend with" he shook his head and sighed "lets hope it doesn't decide to do it again"
____________________________________________

"you say the dragons slaughter your people?" Kardal gave a calm yet serious expression and leaned onto the staff "we are creators, not destroyers, balance in all things, My son is that balance to our people's creation, he is a destroyer one may say" he pushed off the staff and looked to the mountains in the distance "but I must agree, its presence endangers your people greatly and posses a danger to my few people also" Kardal stepped forward finally stepping out beyond the doorway and onto the path leading up to the gateway.

Malad looked backward toward the other dwarves gesturing to one with a small bundle. The dwarf hurried up to deliver the arm-sized package to Malad. Set upon the floor plain leather unwrapped to reveal four small tripods, a smaller receptacle, and a set of bone-dust conduits wrapped in cloth tipped in silver clips. He removed and pressed a clasp to flip out the legs of each of the four small tripods where at their top, inside runed lead-antimony metal triple helix, glows a soft green feldspar crystal.

Malad set the receptacle at the center of the square then clipped the tripods to each other. The feldspars flickered for a moment then pulsed in time with their four counterparts back in his lab. He tossed his journal in the volume which took a place hovering above the receptacle. He stood up taking a small bag up with him. Digging out a few small ceramic stones he flicks them into orbit.

He offered the small bag of divination stones to Jorn gesturing to a few small white crystal keys inside and took one for himself. A key needed to see where the orbiting stones shone small illusory terrain of their mountain inside the volume. There were even small moving red flows where lava followed tunnels that the totems crawled awareness through the stone's skin.

He gestured to the volume, "Danger indeed. My network of totems doesn't extend too far from the mountain. At least above ground. I trust you know what kind of knowledge each rune seeks to shape the divination. Ceramic totems under lava should still work for a few days until they finally melt."

He bent down to look under the mountain where red lines flow upward until cut off abruptly, "Deep reach quarters already off awareness. Probably melted already. Looks like the new melt-triggered bulkheads slammed shut. That's the right locations for it. Or somebody read my safety manuals for once and triggered them before the lava got there."

"Dragons..." Came a disgusted voice.

The Winglies hated dragons due to a war with them many, many years ago. A war few would even remember.

Lenu huffed letting the enchantment fade from her voice as she turned back to her men. Pointing to one she said, " you head to Kadessa tell the high council we need more Airships and Virages.... Also tell them we need the Dragon Busters and Block Staffs"

The man nodded and headed to the teleporter as Lenu continued. "The rest of you battle stations I'm going to see if I can a face to face with our new dwarf friends...."

Lenu again amplified her voice calling over to the Dwarf ships "I request permission to teleport aboard your flagship I wish to speak with your commander face to face to discuss the coming battle."

The dwarven captain knew far to well that the Draconic threat needed to be dealt with. The mages aboard the arcane airships had received their orders and sent several Snapdragon Fireworks up high into the sky allowing the multifaceted magical firework to explode into several facsimile dragons which snapped into several flares.

Whenever Lenu would transport over she would be greeted by a fiery haired dwarf in stony armor and a Urgrosh in hand. "Welcome aboard! You're in my peoples empire now so I'll ignore the fact that those ships arrived without any notice. We have larger problems at hand."

Upon the ground bellow Jorn took up a few of the divining crystals only to toss them once he gave them an ample charge. Several of the runes found their place just fine whilst other fell upon the board with little to no charge.

"Several of the holding chambers are gone. The lost life is astonishing...."

As gravity continued to take hold on the Ryoko-Maru, her Captain tried his best to maintain control of the situation, but the ship was in total freefall, and breaking up as the atmosphere tore it asunder.

To those on the ground this would appear as a brilliant streak of light in the sky, breaking up into multiple smaller streaks of light.

A deafening boom rang all throughout the exalted mountains, and the ship broke up into even smaller pieces, the intense heat cooking off munitions, which culminated into smaller explosions.

Debris rained down in a hundred mile streak of nanosteel, ship pieces, and metal fragments, the Taiyou cruiser had completely broken up.

A rumbling sound, accompanied by howls of wind and rushing air, preluded a sudden quake that rippled through the earth and shuddered the dwarven city.

Then, like a curious child peering down into a teeming anthill, Highlord Dorant Magthulia craned his neck and peered down among the mountains at the Dwarves and their gathered forces. He blinked twice, and then said "My word, how interesting. I did not think this place was inhabited, and yet there are thousands of you down here."

He sniffed the air, the inhalations bringing a sudden vortex that snapped anything lighter than a dwarf and not nailed down into the air, before his exhalation brought a hot and humid breath down with the pressure of a waterfall upon their heads.

Kardel’s attention was pulled skyward with the falling ships, he watched as the wreckage fell into the atmosphere and burnt up, raising his staff, a golden bubble of energy would form around the entryway of the Realm forger’s peak, encompassing it entirely, the barrier sturdy enough to defend against any and all the falling debris that may cascade into the mountain home.

“I am sorry, I am not powerful enough to shelter your kingdom from the falling ships also” his attention solely on keeping the barrier upheld, the gate guardians within the mountain reaching out each a hand and from, the palm similar golden beams of energy would extend forth and connect with the barrier, strengthening it further.


_________________________________________

Riak braced and knelt down to keep his footing as the mountains themselves were ripped asunder by the great dragon’s magic, he pushed back to his feet and kept moving, helping any dwarf that needed the quick pull up to their feet. “Their magic has grown.”

This thought troubled him greatly, though the past was the past, Riak slowed his pace to watch the falling ship, keeping an eye skyward to ensure it didn’t come crashing down upon the small force arrayed on the path with him.

Jorn watched as Elder Kardel took up the defensive and activated a strange magical barrier in order to protect them and his kin from the falling ship. However this did not deter Jorn from examining the spellwork that the Elder and the golems provided nor would it prevent him from looking down at the divinatory board that Malad had provided.

"No I understand. However, fear not for my kin, my peoples city is deep within the rock and dirt and metal and stone hold most of it safely within the arms of this world." Jorn gripped the head of his cane tightly as he began to think of Torggrim and what danger his ranger would face. "Malad we will need to call the council in order to deal with the damages once this is all over." Jorn looked back out towards the massive dragon only to feel shocked suddenly as the massive dragon in the background of his mountain suddenly seemed to vanish from sight.

Torggrim on the other hand took cover near a cave entrance which would have a tunnel leading to the city bellow along with the rest of his men only to wave the giant Riak over frantically. "Come on!" The dwarf shouted as he gritted his teeth and watched as a thing began to plummet from the sky and a massive dragon which could only be counted as the end of all things. "We need too take cover deep within the tunnels!"

As for the Dwarven Airships the captain aboard the primary vessel watched as horror as something fell from the sky above and the massive dragon seemed to shrink down to almost nothing before his very eyes. The dwarves would face trails far beyond most within the realms of men or elf alike.

To all who had witnessed it, the massive ancient dragon Dorant Magthulia would have seemed to vanish instantly in a brilliant flare of light.

This however was not the case. Far above their heads, where the dragons own had once been, there fell from the sky a small and frail appearing humanoid form.

For most, falling from such a great and terrible height would be a terrifying experience, but should any have been able to hear his words, they would think the man insane.

"Most curious... I would have thought the transformation would be slow, perhaps even painfully so, but no. Furthermore it appears that all the energy of my being has indeed remained within my grasp, although not within my body. My mass is no longer the same as it was, leading me to believe it has been converted to an energy state, which makes sense. Perhaps the most perplexing is, surprisingly, the lack of my tail. So strange to think something I live my whole life with, to the point of forgetting it's presence, is no longer there. Walking will be rather difficult I think, I'll have to compensate for the lack of counter balance that it provided. Flight will be a bit more laborious now I think, having no wings. I'll have to rely on magical conveyance for that now I suppose. Hmmmm I wonder how I change back."

This is only a sample of the ramblings of the old man who fell from the sky down upon the gates of the dwarven city, teeming with their forces as it was.

It was a long way up the mountain, and the path was rather dusty, and it was the perfect temperature and temperament of wind for a nap. The black cat stretched, ambling towards a rock half shaded by one of the many grand trees about. He flopped himself comfortable. Yes, a perfect time for a nap.

Up the path came a whistle; soon followed by a short man. He carried on his back a pack and a guitar. The tune wasn't somber, but it wasn't anything happy either. Perhaps he, too, had noted how dusty the path had grown. A small cloud puffed out with each step. He came to stop near the rock, the shadow of his head eclipsing just beyond the snoozing cat.

The cat, if he did take any notice to the looming shadow and man, didn't budge from his slumber.

After a few moments breath, right when the presence of man had begun to be familiar to the great forest, he opened his mouth and remarked upon the weather. When had it last rained, too thought the trees?

“It's been a while,” Purred the cat, rolling onto his back into another glorious stretch. There was a great rumble in the distant mountains, as if to accentuate the words of the cat.

There was a scuffle as the man balked, scrambling behind the nearest tree for cover. Had the cat just said something, as in used words, as in talked ?

“Too long for the trees to be happy,” Continued the cat; the trees bristled agreement. The man's heart raced. It had taken him this long to notice everything around him was not only alive, but truly living. A breeze rushed over the area, steady, haunting. Something in the air caught Brishen's eye, and he knew at this point he might be losing his mind; a man was falling from the sky. The figure was too distant to make out other than that yes, it was human.

On that note, Brishen fainted. Sireth the cat blinked thrice, stretched, and decided to keep watch over the human until it came to.

Aetheria awoke and stretched with a laziness well practiced. The sun washed over her like a comforting blanket of warmth, which caused her to stir with a sleepy yawn. Up in a tree, Aetheria had slept on the thickest branch and had not regretted her decision. While the birds chirped to greet the sun, she stretched her muscle and checked her weapons, along with potions, gadgets and anything else she had brought with her on her journey. She covered her mouth with a slender hand and yawned once more, then used her momentum to spin off the branch, using her hands to swing in motion. Birds fluttered from the disturbance by the young elf and twittered with nervous anticipation. Always nimble, the blonde elf landed with a steady footing and watched a little blue bird flutter near her.

She reassured the bird and allowed it to rest on her index finger. It puffed up its chest and ruffled its feathers in agitation, but forgave the exuberant elf. Aetheria giggled and watched him fly off to tend to his nest. She then realized she had rested near the birds family, which would make anyone agitated. The bird chirped back toward her in a friendlier tone, but she waved her goodbye's and headed off on her own.

Trees crested the edge of the path, which comforted the wood elf. All her life, she had grown up amongst the trees, wildlife and rarely experienced the political side of her mother. Aetheria watched the wildlife scurry across the worn path and munched on a handful of berries from a pouch. Her stomach grumbled for something more substantial, but hunger would have to wait. Perhaps a town was just up ahead and she could rest at an Inn, or grab something to eat at a tavern.

In the pathway, Aetheria squinted against the blinding light of the sun and thought she saw a cat. She loved cats! Aetheria shoved the remaining berry into her mouth and picked up pace to investigate the odd creature. It appeared to be by a sleeping being, so she approached with caution. She didn't want to startle the cat and lose her chance to converse with them.

Aetheria tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her pointed right ear and gazed at the cat. She ignored the growl of her stomach and eyed the still form of the man.

"You poor thing! Is this your owner? What happened?" She said in a soft tone and went to investigate the still being for any wounds. "Are you hungry?" Aetheria asked the cat, even though she understood how stubborn cats could be. While she hadn't spoken to a cat yet in all her life, perhaps it could be persuaded with a bit of food. She reached into her other pack and produced beef jerky and laid it on the ground.

The offering was small, but sometimes it was the gesture that gained a creatures trust.

The rain continued, the dark skies seeming to have no end. Every now and again a clap of thunder, a flash of lighting, but the purpose of the rain was not to bring the doom and gloom - though it did help. All throughout Gaia, ages ago, seeds had been planted. Seeds which would wait for the great waters to return before they would bud unto this realm. Eras flexed his glory.

A great rumble grew from beneath the Exalted Mountains. Here, though still so subtle the humans were less to notice, it permeated most strong. Some of the bridges, sturdy as they were, vibrated from the rumbling. It seemed the floating rocks themselves as well had taken on a new life.

Eras looked down on the Kingdom of Skyfall, confident he had within his grasp the pitiful humans and their worldly toils. Half of them didn't even believe in dragons! He turned his attention elsewhere as rains poured into the lesser valleys of the Exalted Mountains. Sooner than later , places would begin to flood.

The edges of the clouds began to visibly pinken. Eras grew stronger, absorbing more of Gaia.

Thunder rolled as Eras laughed. There was a quake in the mountains as something deep below shifted. The trees screamed warning.

Eras felt a tingle as a sliver of Gaia's strength was ripped back. Yet the being was far preoccupied with his eye close on a bay in a land far away to realize the strength of the Champion here in the Exalted Mountains. Gaia had chosen well. A being not only able to resist the great dark forces of the realms, but have command of them. The Oblivion Blade shimmered as Gaia blessed Bjorg, a Champion of Gaia.

The sound of stone scraping stone echoed through the mountains as the Colossi turned head, lifted shoulder, and officially began to rise. The mountains almost seemed to vibrate as slowly the head of the Colossi rose to the horizon. Obsidian eyes caught the pink light of the clouds, surveying the mountains as still the Colossi upwards did rise. Long arms extended to support the Colossi as for the first time in Ages he stood up. His hands were still firmly planted beneath the earth. Where they were, the ground rippled and cracked. The Colossi tested out his fingers as the top of his head breached the pinked clouds, which sat on his brow above those dark eyes.

The Skyfall Crypts rattled far below, the bones of the ancients coming to life to whisper about the end of times coming again, about all the Champions through the ages rising to meet Eras and do battle for the future of Gaia. Eras glanced his attention over to Siv'en, where his greatest Colossi continued as expected, and turned his attention back to Iskjerne Bay, across the seas and half a world away.

The Last Forge

Home of the Realm Forgers, referred to simply as The Forge. The entrance is a giant door guard by Gollums deeply hidden and expertly carved. Please knock.

From the start of the very earth's trembling; the few remaining Realm Forgers had begun their last motions in a plan long in the making, the ancient people built this last forge after the forming of these mountains all those millennia ago. Kardel ushered the last of the Forge masters deep into the underground, away from the body of the colossi.

Riak watched as his father and his people abandoned the last forge, his goal elsewhere, he would do battle as the previous Thane had done, the 14ft tall giantlike being bounded through the tunnels and veins that wormed throughout the Colossi, carrying a bundle of Pitons a foot long and at least 4inches thick. he would use these magic imbued pitons to destroy a leg at least, once embedded in the rock with a whispered command phrase the Pitons would explode with the power of a megatonne bomb.

the Thane would breach the surface at the waist, standing on a ledge that had eroded into the body of the giant monster in its slumber.

"Never did we think this day would come... and for that, we were ill-prepared." unhooking a pair of gauntlets and a pair of metal frames to be worn over his boots, the spiked items would allow him some manner of safety as he began the climb towards the heart.

Eras focused the entirety of his concentration for the moment onto Ni'thorne. Though the great beast of earth seemed to be alive, it was not. Though to the beings on Gaia the Colossi had awoken, it had only done so half-wise. Being such, Ni'thorne moved at a pace unusual to that of his past.

This is not to say the pace seemed any slower. A great creature made of mountain growing skywards at any rate at all could be considered rapid, as these things simply didn't used to happen. But Ni'thorne was brought to turmoil. To rise in such an embarrassing fashion, pathetic. Far away in the center of a lake, in a room in a tower, a stone buzzed like a nest of hornets.

Because of the disconnect from mind and body, because of the pure effort and output of mana it took Eras to control Ni'thorne, Riak went entirely unnoticed by both Destroyers. Neither the growing star in the sky nor the angered Colossus on Gaia took note of the parasitic Realm Forger. The Realm Forgers had been there for so long, they had truly become a part of Ni'thorne. The same sparkle which had danced up the Oblivion Blade came round to Riak as well. It spiraled up his leg to his crown- the blessing of Gaia. Another Champion had been chosen.

Eras (through Ni'thorne) saw Bjorn, a prick of a heat signature in the distance. The Colossus oh so slowly focused his black eyes on the nord. They were like dead stars themselves set in a squared stone skull. A disturbed group of griffons circled ahead. Black lines faded into the horizon as all the birds fled the Exalted Mountains.

Sheodin appeared in a flash of light and crack of thunder. He floated on ethereal winds high above the landscape, and he was clad in a suit of plate that glowed like moonlight. Arcs of electricity danced between the adamantine plates as raw arcane energy flowed from the archmage in waves. His eyes shone like twin stars burning with eldritch power, and his unflinching gaze narrowed upon the titan before him.

He clenched Stormquake in his gauntlet, and the sky growled in anticipation. Dark clouds materialized like vultures, forming a semicircle around him and the Colossus’s head. Lightning flashed, and one could almost see the silhouettes of great eagles dancing amidst the tempest - echoes of long forgotten spirits of storm and wind.

Then the archmage Spoke, lacing his words with magic and authority, and the storm mimicked his voice with a symphony thunder, rain, and wind.

“You will not pass, titan of earth. Name thyself, and state thy discourse.”

Though his head was in a storm, Ni'thorne was little impacted. It upset the Colossus to not be able to take a swat at the glowing mosquito dancing about his head, or to try to wave away the darkened clouds.

Instead the great hand of Ni'Thorne reached to puncture the clouds, up towards the atmosphere, up towards something looming too far to reach.

Eras grew angrier as he realized Ni'Thorne would be unable to reach the Soja, and so he pulled at the ship all the mightier, blocking communicative channels and causing other minor malfunctions.

Ni'Thorne's great arm extended still into the skies, which had brightened where a shadow was not being cast across the mountains. Ni'Thorne was not happy as he was being asked to grasp a figure enveloped in celestial flames high in the atmosphere. Despite being made of mountain, he was not fully invincible.

Ni'Thorne almost wavered in his allegiance towards Eras. Floating mountains and boulders began to glide though the peaks. They joined up with Ni'Thorne, adding to his bulk and strength. One great piece crushed a part of the town on his shoulder - those within earshot could hear as some of those unlucky enough to survive the foundation of their lives being thrust into the atmosphere, plunged and perished.

So. He wasn't just a tool, and if he was, he could consider himself taken care of to some degree. Still Ni'thorne had upset. He chose instead to focus on his given task at hand- grabbing for the flamed one.