Editing Announcements - 2012/04 - Retributions (section)

== Release Fiction ==
{{Turbine 2008
 |  Link = http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=708-april-2012-release-fiction&catid=86-2012&Itemid=68
 | Title = Release Fiction
 |  Text = The day started much as any other, in the accursed halls of Castle Mhoire.  Much of the population had not yet been freed of the ancient curse on the House, so those mages and alchemists who had been working to unravel the curse had to move in secrecy, avoiding their ancient kin.  There had been a lull in the near-constant siege of adventurers that usually plagued the palace, so it was once again the best time to work freeing those that could be captured and then hopefully survive the treatments to make them into one of the ‘Reawakened’.


The ancient Magus had just successfully awakened another Mhoire undead to her new life when the castle fell eerily silent.  He turned to two of the castle’s sorcerers and said, “Something has changed.  Get this newly freed child to the Isparian’s town.  I must see what is going on.”


As the sorcerers opened a portal to Holtburg and escorted the reawakened undead to the Academy, the Magus cast a spell to attune to the castle’s ancient magics, which would allow him to get a sense of what was going on throughout the castle itself, as well as the graveyard and oubliette below.  What he saw filled him with awe and dread.


All of the flows of power through the castle and as far as the magics could sense outside of it had stopped entirely.  The magics of the world paused in their ceaseless movement.  “Such a thing should not be possible!” uttered the Magus, with fear echoing in his voice, “What in Auberean could cause this?”


As he watched, all of the flows of power suddenly redirected to a single point at the peak of a nearby mountainside.  As the magic gathered, the Magus recognized his enemy... “Geraine.  So you finally show yourself at last.” At the last of the magics in the area flowed into Geraine’s spell, the Magus called on his own power to summon all of the sorcerers of the castle to him.  Even those still bound by the curse answered the ancient call, so powerful was the summons.


“We must defend the castle! Gather your strength, mighty sorcerers! An attack the likes of which we have not yet faced comes for us!”


Almost instantly, dozens of magical defenses were poured into the castle by the assembled sorcerers, all being directed by the Magus himself.  Unsure of what to defend against specifically, he pooled the majority of the power into a holding pattern, to be applied where it would be needed most, while the rest he fed into the castle’s existing defensive barriers.


What Geraine did next, surprised them all.  Instead of attacking the castle or any of its inhabitants with the massive amount of power he had drawn in, he simply gave one final magical tug, and all of the spells on the castle unraveled, from the barriers that they had just empowered to the spells that held the castle aloft for millennia.


Sounds of panic and chaos echoed through the castle as the whole thing listed to one side and the exterior of the castle began to disintegrate under the stress.  The Magus quickly turned the pool of magics he had into a shield to protect and hold together the heart of the castle.  He didn’t have the strength to keep the castle afloat, not with all of the ambient energies gone, but he hoped he could at least keep as much of the castle intact as possible.


A moment later, the whole castle crashed into the rocky hills below it, just barely missing the most inhabited areas of the Graveyard.  The impact was so great that the hillside itself washed over the castle as it sank into the earth.


Many sorcerers perished pouring their very essences into the defensive shield, and their sacrifice kept most of the inner halls intact.  The Magus himself was nearly destroyed, as he stood as the focal point of their combined magics.  His ability to see what was going on outside the castle ended with the dispelling of the castle’s enchantments, so he did not know if his attempt was successful, or if there was another attack coming.  All they could do was keep pouring power into the magical barrier and hope everything settled into place before the magics failed.


After a time, all grew silent once more.  Many of the reawakened undead who worked with the Magus had ceased to be, pouring all they had into defending their ancient home.  All of the cursed sorcerers who had answered the ancient summons had been consumed in their mindless determination to fulfill the protection of the castle they were bound to.


The Magus laid on the floor, utterly spent. As the dust settled, he called out to those who survived. “We’ve done it.  We’ve saved all we could.  Send word to the Isparian Queen, and gather forces to release and inform the Lord and Lady.  Geraine has shown himself.  Our time to strike has come.”



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++



Lord Kresovous stood on the ramparts of Linvak Tukal, looking over the assembled Lugians of his clan.


“The time has come for us to more formally join with our allies.  You are the youngest of us, and I have gathered you here because you are also the most adaptable of us.  Tradition runs strong in our people.  Our clan sits ever in our hearts, lending us the strength of all our clansmen.  I am asking each and every one of you to be even stronger, even greater, than that bond.”


“To you goes the most difficult task of any of our people.  I am sending you all to join directly to the free peoples of Dereth.  To make all who stand in that alliance part of our clan, and to share in their lives and turmoils.  Long have we stood beside our allies, but remained separate.  No more!  Now, my brothers and sisters, we join with them in truth!”


Fear and excitement flowed through the assembled crowd.  For good or ill, the Lugians will spread into the world at large.



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++



Borelean sat for a long time in the veritable library of books he had assembled from those taken from Geraine’s rituals.  “How could there be so many copies of the same tome?” he wondered to himself. “How could all of these be that damned, evil book, yet none of them be the Book I need?”


As he sat there, heart filling with despair, one book in the pile began to pulse with a faint, red glow.  An eerie voice filled his mind with whispers, too quiet for him to understand.  A female voice rose out of the whispers and said into his mind, “You have called to me, by despair and blood, and I have come.  If you will pay my price and learn my secrets, that which you seek can be returned to you.  But, with all your soul, you must desire this above all else, and you must be willing to do all that must be done.  The road is long, but all things are achievable.”


Borelean slowly stood, fear and awe etched into his features. “I could get her back?  Bring her back to life?” he whispered, too fearful to speak aloud, lest this all be a dream.
“That and more, my love.” answered the Book, “That and much, much more.”
}}

[[Category:Event Announcements]]