The Gamemaster's Story

Satori begins delving into the First Floor of the Tower.

Within a few minutes of wandering the halls, he finds a chest; inside, he finds 7 gold pieces and a Scroll of Blink. The scroll, when activated, would whisk Satori away from his current location, and instantly place him somewhere else on the floor he stands on.

After looking around the floor for more things, he is faced with a Corrupt Guard; a soulless human created to patrol the insides of the Tower. The guard does not notice him immediately, giving Satori the opportunity to strike first, or just go around him.

Elyzabeth stood with fists around the pommels of her swords, regarding the tower with annoyance. "Of all the fucking..." she grumbled, cursing Elsir and fate and the damn rain and the stupid tower and Simon and anyone else she could think of. "All day I praise and suppliate and worship and sacrifice, and my reward is this giant, ugly, stupid rock tower full of... murderpiles and death. You're a right selfish bitch, Elsir." Thunder cracked. Elyzabeth smiled. "And over-sensitive."
It wasn't good practice to question gods. Elyzabeth tempted fate often enough; she decided it would be better not to anger her patron further before entering what she expected (and perhaps even hoped) to be her death. It was huge, expansive, impossibly tall and full of impossible things. She was going to kill a lot of those things.

Elyzabeth entered without any additional fanfare. Her face returned to its usual grimace of disapproval. Someone had been kind of enough to provide lit torches. "So what's going to try to kill me, first?" She hesitantly removed a lantern from her belt. It creaked and clanged against her armor while she tried to maneuver it close enough to a torch without touching one. It was a great cast-iron bullseye lantern, with a shutter to narrow the beam and a long enough wick to last her at least a few hours. Hopefully, someone was nice enough to provide more torches later. She set off, lantern in front of her, one hand around the handle of a sword. She had no patience for pretending her presence was unknown to the inhabitants of the labyrinthine structure. "If you want to fight, let's do it now," she called into the darkness, marching right in without any fear. She didn't know if there were other challengers; anyone with a weapon approaching her without identification would be attacked before questioned.

Satori's strike filled the floor with light for a brief instant, alerting all presences on the floor.

With his one strike, he nearly cuts straight through the Guard, shattering his shoulder and leaving the blade stuck halfway into the entity's torso. He deftly pulls his weapon out, and lets his opponent collapse to the floor. Upon inspection, Satori found nothing of use on the body.

Satori continues searching the halls, and quickly finds himself faced with a Kobold, armed with nothing much more than a spear made of stone. The Kobold makes a move before he can, and lunges at him violently; thankfully, Satori is heavily armored, and the spear makes no harm to his body.

Sanul was walking amongst the halls when he was suddenly blinded momentarily by an immense flash.

"What the-" he yelled out suddenly, the bright light stinging not just his eyes, but his whole body. The flash quickly dissipated however, and he regained his composure rapidly. Dusting off his robes as if they were dirtied by the light, he picked up the pace; going towards the origin of the flash.

Elyzabeth began her journey into the darkness of the spire.

A few minutes after she starts looking around, she is met with... a pack of wolves. All but one of the wolves in the pack were asleep; the black dog keeping watch clearly the alpha. Within the center of the sleeping herd lied a chest, made from stainless steel; still stainless, however long it has been there.

Elyzabeth is not immediately noticed by the alpha, giving her time to react and decide what to do.

Elyzabeth didn't like animals. But Elsir did. No matter how much she disagreed, they deserved some level of reverence.
Somehow, the wolves hadn't seen, heard, or smelled her. Maybe they had, and just wanted to be left alone. Regardless of their desires, they were in her way.
"Go away." Elyzabeth set her lamp on the ground. As expected, the sentry wolf stood, growled, and alerted his pack to her presence. "I said go away." Its hair stood up and it lowered its head, bearing its teeth. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and freed both of her swords. "I don't want to tell you again."
Not that she expected any different, the animals refused to back down. They were all awake, and ready to attack. She sighed, stepped in front of her lamp, and waited for the awful to charge her. The corridor was narrow enough they couldn't flank her. Wolves, adapted to win through superior numbers, weren't prepared to fight as individuals, and knocked each other over trying to edge around and bite. It was almost sad, leaning forward and swiping occasionally, one of her swords digging through the fur and flesh of backs, heads, or legs. Blood sprayed over the walls or floors which each swipe, followed by yelps of pain. She worked quickly and impassionately, crushing bones underfoot. Only her head and neck were exposed, and at risk of injury; she was careful to prevent any of the animals from trying to knock her down.
When they were all dead (Elyzabeth did not believe in surrender, and refused to let any slink away) she wiped her swords clean in the alpha's fur. She regarded the steel chest with the same indifference she had the animals. Rather than risk an arm, she kicked its lock and forced the top open by foot.

Elyzabeth skillfully took care of the pack with little effort. Once done, she kicked the chest and opened it with her foot, hoping for the worst. Inside she finds... a small, green pouch, full of chemicals and salts that stung her nose and eyes. Inside was a tiny gunpowder charge; if this were to be thrown, it should blind an opponent on the spot, causing them to flail and panic. Beside the pouch was also a black rune; not knowing what it did, she shrugged and pocketed it anyways.

Once she was done with the wolf pack, she resumed her search of the Tower. At the end of the next hallway she'd walk by, was a flight of stairs. Great; she found the way up. She could go up... or stay around here a bit and see what she could find.

Satori slays the Kobold, and gains from it a set of Chainmail Gloves (+1 Attack, +1 Faith).

Once he finishes looting the Kobold, he continues looking about the Tower. Soon enough, he finds a chest formed from obsidian, lined in golden clasps and shimmering jewels. It radiated with a strong aura; an artifact of great power lies inside. However, it is currently locked shut, protected by a very potent magical seal. It requires a Black Rune, an Attack stat of 25, or an Intellect stat of 20 to force open.

Since Satori filled none of the requirements, he took a mental note of where the chest lay and continued.

After looking hard enough, he found the stairs to the next floor, and was met by Elyzabeth. Sanul also came behind him at a distance, looking to avoid detection. "2 of them, eh?" he muttered to himself. Paladins; the bane of his kind and his practices. He remembered it like it was yesterday; about a month ago, a group of them had raided the Mage Academy where he lived. No one was killed, but they destroyed a few statues and stole a few relics anyways.

With a strong hatred to all Believers, he decided to give them both a surprise. He drew a Summoning Scroll from his backpack, and read at the top of his lungs "Come forth, titan of the Creator! Lay waste to those before me!"

Immediately, a Chaos Elemental formed from thin air in front of him. With a terrifying roar, the magic mercenary ran to them, his massive girth removing any chance to go around him in the corridor the two paladins stood in.

Elyzabeth, naturally, pocketed (well, pouched) everything she could, including the rune-covered obsidian. She didn't know what it did (if anything), but its assumed value and lack of exploding (or worse) on contact justified taking it. Otherwise she was disinterested in the rest of the chest's contents, though not too proud not take the blasting powder. The odorous green pouch could stay.

Satogi did not enter the corridor unheard. Even had she not been an elf, the echo was enough for his steps and mumbling to take her attention. She turned, fists around sword hilts, and regarded him. The lack of monstrous abnormalities, threats, or posed weapons were of some comfort. "Are you the bastard lightin' the whole damnable buildin' with'er light'n?!" She demanded to know, referring to the repeated and obnoxious flashes of his sword. It was likely she'd receive an answer, though, when another stranger angled himself behind Satogi too far away to make out distinct details. She would have called out to the second stranger, likely with more insults and abruptness, but very suddenly a very large thing, much larger than wolves, was charging down the hall. "What in the Hells..." Fortunately Satogi was between her and it, and she assumed any two denizens of the tower fighting wasn't worth intervening yet. Of course she didn't know that Satogi wasn't just another creepy crawly, and wouldn't help until she did. Instead, she slowly (and then quickly) backpedaled.

Satogi approached the corridor cautiously as he spotted the she-elf up ahead. He sheathed his sword as he had no quarrel with this fellow adventurer. When she asked about his light he was surprised that it could have traveled so far down the tunnels. Still, he felt rather proud about it too and drew his blade calmly to show her the glow of his sword as he explained. "Holy Light is one of the few weapons that can destroy dark magic." As he stated this he felt some dark magic nearby, and from the way the elf was backpedaling he guessed it was right behind him.

Charging his sword to a bright light-bearing sword of dawn he turned with his thrust and sent a blade of light straight down the hallway, more than likely skewering whatever was coming at him and illuminating the entire hall with blinding light. When it hits the wall at the end it explodes with great yet silent force. Satogi himself is leaning on his blade, panting from the high amount of energy that attack took from him. As he caught his breath he stood back up and looked back at the she-elf. "That is the power of Light under faith." He puts on his widest boyish smile and leans his sword on his shoulder as if congratulation himself on a job well done.

Satogi's Light Blade struck the elemental with great effect, but it barely injured the apparition; it did, however stop him in its tracks, keeping him from charging Satogi.

The Chaos Elemental bellowed again, his deafening roar rattling the very bones within Satogi (-3 Attack for his next attack.) With little effort, he cast a blast of fiery ice in the paladin's direction, covering the hallway in frosted flames; and coating his target in icicles (-7 Speed, Minor DOT).

With his first target neutralized for now, he turned to Elyzabeth, refusing to let her escape. With a rough grunt, the Elemental teleported in her direction, placing itself in her path. With her escape blocked, he then casted a Mirror Image; a temporary double to surround her.

Elyzabeth didn't really expect to be able to escape unmolested, but it would have been nice. She drew both her swords with disappointment, and turned to face the monster that decided to block her escape. There was a second behind her, which she decided to ignore; she did not know it was an illusion but she did know it wasn't blocking the staircase, and therefor did not concern her. "Stand aside," she ordered. That never worked. She always tried, but offering quarter never, ever worked. Not even smart enemies liked to surrender. Her lantern was still at her feet, so she could clearly see what blocked the hallway. It was going to take creative footwork to fight around all the dead wolves, though. She didn't care about killing whatever it was; she would have gladly slipped around it and left, if she could do so without losing her lantern.

Satogi was bound to the floor by the ice that encased his legs, the burning cold making it hard to concentrate on anything else. Luckily enough for him the dark creature was more preoccupied with the elf now after it left him. Satogi grit his teeth and charged his blade again, stabbing at the ice to break it away and partially melt it with the light of his blade. It would take him too long to break free to help the elf but he could help her in a different way. Casting a bright sigil into his palm he marked the elf's back with it, and an invigorating sensation would spread from the marking. (Added Effect: Life-Link 50%)

Satogi turned back to freeing himself and kept hacking at the ice to save his now numb legs. One of the strikes of his sword sends another flash of light out into the hallways and he spots the original caster of the dark monster, but he could not tell if his remaining stamina would allow him to reach that far a distance with his attacks. He made no stop in his efforts to break the ice, finally cracking the frost and prying his leg out of it's prison. The second leg would take even more time, and by the end of it he felt drained of strength and needed to rest. Hopefully the fight between the elf and her adversary would be finished by this time, and so Satogi leaned against the wall with his legs and arms barely able to hold his weight off the ground.

Sanul snickered at the results of his actions, now approaching the tired paladin that held himself against the wall. Adjusting his grip on his scepter as he approached Satogi, he stood in front of him, a few feet out of the Believer's range. "Perfect," he muttered to himself.

Waving his scepter around in a subtle pattern, he spoke to his adversary in a soothing, womanly voice, "Oh, you poor thing. You seem a bit out of it, no?" Sanul's eyes began glowing a hot pink, as he used his influence to attempt to take over Satogi. "Let me help you up," Sanul continued, bolstering his enemy with a few sparks of his mana essence (Debuffs Removed). With a slightly sensual gesture, he then waved his specter around a bit more, as he saw Satogi's eyes become a glowing pink as well (Weakly Charmed).

"Perfect; he was tough to crack, but he's too feeble-minded to resist my mind games." Sanul gestured towards the elf Elyzabeth, and said "Get her." Quickly afterwards, Sanul ran up the stairs to the 2nd floor, hoping his little helper would stall long enough so they'd lose track of him.

Satogi, now under the temporary control of Sanul, joins the Elementals in the fight against the elf. Any amount of injury would snap him back into self-control.

Satogi Orokawru

---

Satogi felt something in his head as a figure approached, it felt wild and dark in his mind but a voice calmed him down and brought his exhaustion to a halt. He stood up straight and slowly tried to make out who was in front of him. "What?" He felt groggy and light headed but the voice made no danger apparent to him. The elf on the other hand suddenly seemed like a valid danger, and he was ordered to attack. In the back of his mind he fought the urge to lash out, he couldn't attack a stranger. Then again, he was warned about the false gods of other races and to be wary around them.

Lifting his sword shakily in the elf's direction he saw that he had no choice, he had to take her out now while she was distracted. Lunging at the elf with his blade, he was still rather sluggish but with each attack he made he got faster and faster. His eye's flashed pink as he made a battle-cry to fuel his attack with rage, cleaving the air where the elf would with a bright arc of pink light. This would normally confuse the paladin but right now all his attention was on the elf.

Satogi's strike, however rendering him unconscious, did put an end to the Chaos Elemental; with a final screech, the beast fell over, and with a soft poofing sound, disintegrated into nothingness.

Elyzabeth turned with Satogi's lunge, expecting it to be targeted at her chest or stomach. She tried to bring one of her blades through his neck, but the swipe went over his head because he suddenly keeled over.
"What in the hells...?" She pointed one sword tip at his back, the other at the chaos elemental until it had entirely dissipated. "I didn't know it was possible to be this annoyed." She snaked the tip of her sword between Satogi's body and the strings of his coin purse, severing it and whatever else looked like it may hold valuables. She kicked them experimentally away, then slowly approached them, like they might turn into snakes or Satogi would recover from his exhaustion very suddenly. "If you attack me again, I will kill you," she warned what she didn't expect to be able to hear her anyway before pocketing her ill-gotten gains. She returned her swords to their scabbards and took a moment to catch her breath. Her left hand did throb, just below and behind the knuckle of her middle finger. She was content to leave Satogi at that, hiding her stolen valuables until she finally reached the staircase.
"And what the gods-be-damned nonsense is this?"

Satogi easily defeated the zombie; it did not drop anything of use.

As the paladin left the room, he found himself in front of dozens of undead beasts, running amok the floor mindlessly. A small horde of them noticed him and began an assault on the paladin. Normally, these monsters would be no match; for even if they got a hit in, the paladin's armor would sustain their meek hits. However, after clearing a handful of them, he was stopped abruptly by a skeleton archer; with a single shot, the sniper's arrow flew into the teen's hand, shattering his gauntlets and leaving a wooden shaft stuck firmly into the paladin's palm (Gauntlets have been broken). The sudden and unexpected hit causes Satogi to drop his blade as well, allowing a nearby goblin to grab it. The tables have turned on the young warrior, as the horde now has him surrounded.