Northyros: March of the Death-Mammoths

[Monika]

"Aaaand done." After what felt like months of writing, Sarina had finally finished documenting everything noticeable about Magnus' home. She pulled an interesting device from her pocket; it looked rather like a smartphone, with a wide slit in the top and the Awesome Land insignia engraved on the back. She tore the pages of information she had written from her notepad and shoved them into the phone's opening. "Send to Emperor," she said, and with a sound similar to that of a fax machine, the papers disappeared. She absently gave the official Awesome Land Imperial Army salute, even though the only other people there were Zelmon and Hioma.

Zelmon gave her a perplexed look. "Excuse me, Ms...Sarina, was it? May I ask what you are doing?"

"Providing information for Lord Veralice. I'm on perpetual espionage duty. The salute is mandatory."

"I see. You realize that Leon is no longer the Emperor, correct? That's what Lady Hioma says, anyway. Now he's a game show host and restaurant proprietor, among other activities."

Sarina shrugged. "I was given a longstanding assignment. I can't just give it up because my boss quit or was fired or whatever. Purpose, loyalty, and obligation are three of the most important things any soldier can have. Fortunately, I haven't lost mine yet." Sarina pointed at the air in front of her, conjuring a swirling nexus of green, gold, and black energies. "I'm about to go visit the rest of our group. Are you coming?"

Zelmon shook his head. "That last battle really took a toll on Lady Hioma. I'm starting to get a bit worried. I'll continue to stay here and watch over her until her status improves."

Sarina nodded. "Looks like you haven't lost yours either. When she wakes up, tell her I said thanks. For bringing me here." With a slight wave, Sarina disappeared into the mass of chaos energy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She reappeared next to Jeff, staring at a smiling Magnus. Not having been with the group long enough, she wasn't fully aware of what that smile actually meant. "What's he so happy about?" she asked.

[Myrdraxxis]

Magnus tended to believe that he was a very easy-going guy. He had to be. Otherwise he might lose his cool and unleash some horrible, ancient blood magic ritual on the world and that would be a mess to clean up.

Oh, and it would also be wrong, he supposed.

But never in his life had anyone touched his Book. Nor had anyone followed that up by calling him 'Mags'. "Magister Valentine." He said slowly. "I think you need reminding about who exactly you're dealing with here."

"Now boss..." Leske said nervously. "I don't think that's necessary-"

"Cause up till now," Magnus continued, "I've been content to let a lot of things go." Sparks started crackling along his fingertips as he spoke. The ground started shaking from the build-up of magical energy. "But I'll be damned if-"

"Oh stop being so dramatic, Magnus." a voice suddenly spoke. A rather feminine voice. The mooketeers all looked around for the source. Septimus just stared at the Tome of Magnus.

Magnus himself looked down at the book in surprise "Codex? That you?"

"Nope! It's the other voice in your book. Of course it's me you dummy."

"Is Magnus' book talking?" Desmond whispered to Leske. The other mookprentice just nodded slowly, staring at the book.

Magnus frowned down at the talking book. "You weren't supposed to wake up again for another few years at least."

"Yeah, well I got woken up because SOMEBODY let me get stolen~" The voice in the Tome, Codex from what Magnus said, sing-songed. The mage sighed and rubbed his temples with his free hand.

"Sorry." He muttered.

"Sorry, huh? Do you have any idea what that creepy bread-guy was gonna do to me?"

"Very sorry?"

If books could pout, this one did. "You'd better make it up to me! I want some new spell data in here. Do you know how many times I've gone over the archival records of transdimensional surfing and Kell's theorems on Blood Magical Applications?"

"I'll see what I can do." At this point Magnus had to fight to keep from chuckling. THe anger was clearly abated. Sensing her task was done, Codex chuckled triumphantly.

"So uh...you gonna introduce us?" Desmond asked after a moment. Magnus blinked, as if just remembering that everyone else was there.

"Oh. Right." He cleared his throat. "Er, well. My Tome is very powerful, and it has a very long list of spells, records and other sensitive information in it. SO I instilled it with a system that both catalog's all of it while also providing security so that only I can access it. That system is Codex."

"Hiya!~" Codex said cheerfully.

"She-er, It tends to fall dormant every couple of years to focus on processing new information. Which was why Breadiac was able to get a hold of it so easily." Magnus explained.

"...so you have a talking book?" Septimus deadpanned.

"Basically." Magnus shrugged. "Well regardless, I guess we should get back to...whatever the hell we were doing before this." He snapped his fingers and the portal re-opened.

A single person as waiting for them on the other side.

"So what's all this ruckus going on down here?" The Archmage asked.

[Calefrun]

Seeing Magnus calm down, Zento sheathed his sword. Dorrei noticed this, and couldn't help but wonder when he had drawn it in the first place.

Unfazed by the talking book, she quickly responded to the Archmage, "Talking bread, talking book; you've got some weird stuff in this tower of yours." She thought about Magnus' statement, then turned to face the rest of the group. "What exactly were we doing before this? This whole thing couldn't have taken more than half an hour, but it feels like it's been months."

"Adventurers always seem to make everything seem painfully drawn out," Zento muttered. "Hell, there was this one time Cale went on a quest with some people; that shit felt like it took years!"

The former Illusive Squid ignored him and continued, "Weren't we all just kinda... sitting around at Magnus' place? Oh, and that guy," she indicated Jeff, "was pouting."

[Sariel of Tevet]

The Dayman valiantly jumped through the portal and pulled open his codpiece, allowing the rest of The Magnus Royalty Procurement Brigade Squad Team come flowing out. They all formed a line in front of Magnus and faced the Archemage. The Dayman stepped forward and presented the mage with a royal accusation filled finger.

"You who do you think you are! Accusing Magnus of ruckus. Give us one reason why we should let you speak to him!"

He crossed his arms, entirely fulfilled with his outburst.

"Oh and uh...seriously. Who are you? That would help."

[Mizagium]

Samantha pouted, momentarily disappointed that she was going to magic-fight Magnus. If Mags isn’t enough to get him going, then what is? Also, what’s with that talking book?

Vi’irinox coughed loudly at her as the portal opened. “Madam…”

“What?” she snapped. “What’s so important that…oh…” And she saw him. The Archmage. She straightened up and removed her hands from her pockets, despite herself. “Archmage,” she said cooly, trying to show neither nervousness, nor flippery.

Jeff, who had been attempting to fade into the background when Magnus seemed to be getting angry, now took notice of the man who set his sister on edge. Something about him…resonated with him. “What in the world,” he muttered. This Archmage, there was something about his very being that seemed so familiar to Jeff. He didn’t think the man could make barriers like he could, but…

He seemed like the same kind of being as the Keeper of the Keys.

And he felt sure, that the Archmage knew exactly what Jeff was, too.

[Myrdraxxis]

And the Archmage did know. He stopped and stared at Jeff for a long moment. Then he chuckled. "Interesting. Very interesting indeed. Tell me, has that geriatric Gallen actually told you what you are?"

"Archmage." Magnus interrupted "This is an unexpected visit."

The archmage looked momentarily irritated at being interrupted, but recovered quickly. "Magnus! The prodigal son returns home!" He opened his arms as if to embrace the man. Magnus didn't move. "No? Fine." The archmage sighed. "I detected a great deal of magical disturbance coming from down here. Most of the magisters are away invading the other lands right now, so I figured I'd investigate myself."

"Well I resolved the situation." Magnus said shortly.

"Apparently. But tell me Magnus...why did you come back here?"

Magnus stared at the man for a moment. He really didn't want to tell this man anything. Ever since Magnus had met the Archmage he'd been uneasy around the man. And that didn't happen often. It was as if his senses were screaming that he was int he presence of some higher power.

"Just to get some of my old things." Magnus answered.

The archmange stared at him, then his eyes drifted downward towards Magnus' tome. Uh oh...

"I can see that. Tell me is-"

"Look out!" Some random magister screamed. Everyone looked around in confusion. Nothing happened.

"Wha-"

Which was when a familiar tusked face rammed itself through the wall of the tower, baleful red eyes glaring hatefully at everything around it. The Death-Mammoth let out a terifying call for blood and began to force itself throught he wall of the tower.

"...oh"

[Calefrun]

Within a second of the Death-Mammoth breaking into the tower, Zento had drawn his blade and prepared to charge. While he waited for the former Illusive Squid to give a command, he cast an amused look at the archemage. "This sort of thing happen often? Or is this just one of those days?" He then glanced at the mammoth, sizing it up as it continued to force its way into the structure. "Gonna need a bigger sword..." His weapon gleamed, then grew to anime proportions.

Dorrei drew her crossbow and took aim at the mammoth, but didn't fire. "It's your call, mage- should we fight it or try to lure it away? While I have no qualms about attacking one of the creatures that are regarded by the people of this country as avatars of death, a tower full of volatile magic might not make the best battleground. If that thing is here, that means it's looking for someone, right? Evacuation might by our best option right now."

[Sariel of Tevet]

"Calls? CALLS?! This is no time for calls and mage advice! We have to protect Magnus to ensure that he gets his royal prowess back! The Magnus Royalty Procurement Brigade Squad Team will handle this!"

The Dayman jumped on top of the Death Mammoth, grabbed a tuft of fur on the nape of its monstrous neck, and held on for his dear royal life. The Death Mammoth began to buck and heave wildly, destroying walls and pillars as it twirled. The Dayman's royal body began to grind and writhe atop the back of the wild beast...which caused an uproar in the loins of Prince Elton.

"What I wouldn't give to be that Death Mammoth right....now....wait."

Prince Elton floated up into the air above the battle scene and began to calculate his odds.

"Perhaps if it can be stilled just...enough. Quick! Everyone! We have to get the Death Mammoth to stop moving!"

He then took a nose dive and disappeared into the Death Mammoth in order to attempt to possess it.

The Dayman pulled a cowboy had from his infinity belt with his free hand and called out to the rest of the group.

"Yall dun heard the boy. Let's saddle us a mammoth! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw!"

Diane lept onto the Death Mammoth behind her husband and began to ride a royal side saddle style, and pulsed as much Grace through her hands as possible into the creature to try to give it composure.

Both Hobotron and Lady Hobotron jumped into action and grabbed a hold of a leg of the beast and attempted to hold him in place.

[Mizagium]

"Yeeehaw!" Samantha answered in her best impression of a Texan. Her brother and apprentice both shot her worried sideways looks, but she ignored them, activating her MANHANDS and OCD; the TUCAN began to hum gently. She had the code she wanted quicksaved to Slot 4: Rodeo Mode, just under Beach Episode, and just above Adults Only. Once selected, the air around her shimmered and distorted, pixelating and rearranging. Staring at that too long might make your head hurt, so avert you eyes.

The distortions ceased once the World Code was applied. Instead of her too-casual attire, now she stood in full Cowgirl clothes, albeit showing considerably more midriff and leg than was strictly necessary. She tipped her hat and unwound the rope slung over he shoulder.

"Let's wrangle us a monster."

She dashed around to the front, spurs clinking, and stopped when she was staring the Mammoth square in the face. Sam spun that rope - that lasso - and caught the Mammoth around the neck and pulled it tight. "Giggy-up!"

Jeff frowned. "Is this normal?" He muttered to Vi'ir.

"For her." The boy studied him curiously. "Shouldn't you be used to this sort of thing by now?"

"I really should," Jeff sighed. "I really should."

[Myrdraxxis]

"Well this is a nice distraction." Magnus muttered. Indeed the Archmage had turned his attention to the Death Mammoth and Magnus'...well he didn't want to call them friends. Comrades? He grudgingly supposed so.

"This feels really nostalgic." The Archmage said to himself as the Dayman's group and Magister Valentine attempted to wrangle the beast.

And Magnus didn't even want to know what THAT meant.

"Septimus, you think you can..." Magnus started. His former apprentice was already in the middle of acting, muttering an incantation. Spirit chains sprung up out of the ground and lashed the Mammoth in place.

"I don't know how long that will hold it." The magister said through gritted teeth.

"We should get out of here." Magnus said and turned to make for the door.

But the Archmage was in his way. Apparently that distraction wasn't long enough.

"Not so easy to escape my interest, Magnus." The Archmage sounded amused.

"Get out of our way. We're leaving." Magnus replied with a scowl.

"No. I think not." The Archmage sighed. "Not with that book at any rate." Magnus opened his mouth to respond but suddenly the Archmage had closed the distance between them and lodged his fist in Magnus' gut. Magnus felt the air leave his luings...and then slammed into the far wall as the force behind the punch finally connected.

[Monika]

Sarina looked on at the scene with mild interest as what was once a tower with an some adventurers, some wizards, and an over-sized elephant quickly devolved into a battle worthy of her homeland. It looked like the Death-Mammoth was under control by the rest of her party (as much control as such a beast could be under, anyway), so she instead set her sights on Magnus, who had just been punched into a wall. It didn't take a genius to deduce that his opponent, the Archmage, was beyond the power of everyone else in that room. But that didn't matter to Sarina. Magnus had been gracious enough to let them rest at his mansion, and for the time being, at least, it seemed like he was the leader of their group. So, outmatched or not, Sarina decided to offer her assistance.

Without a word, Sarina pointed at the Archmage. Green and black light danced across her fingertips before flying toward the mage in a wave of Chaos energy. Rather than waiting to see if the attack connected, she immediately teleported into the air above the Archmage, preparing to crash down upon him with her sword.

[Calefrun]

Zento gave Dorrei a look that resembled that of a hound anxious to be commanded to chase down its prey.

The former Illusive Squid sighed and gave a wave of her hand. "Well, you heard the others. Besides, I'm not actually in charge anymore. You don't have to wait for me to tell you what to do."

He grinned and launched himself into the air, raising his massive weapon over his head before bringing it down towards the mammoth. Despite the boy's speed, the beast turned its head and blocked the attack with an enormous tusk. The force of the impact caused a schockwave that shook the tower to its foundations, and sent Zento crashing into the wall not far from Magnus.

After pulling himself from the teenager-sized crater in the wall, he dusted himself off. "It's held down by two robots, magically chained to the floor, has three people on top of it, and it can still fight back... guess they've earned the name 'Death Mammoths'"

Zento removed something from a jacket pocket and threw it into his mouth. Half a second later, he appeared below the head of the mammoth and thrust his blade upward. The beast roared in pain from the impact, but the tip of the sword didn't pierce its skin. Instead, the floor beneath the boy gave way, and he fell down to the level below. And then the one before that. And before that. As the squidsassin continued to decend, he couldn't help but wonder how the mammoth had stuck its head through the wall when they were apparently so high up.

Dorrei closed her eyes and shook her head. She took aim again and fired a harpoon with an attached rope. The projectile sailed through the air, bounced off of the mammoth's left eye, then swung around a tusk, wrapping the rope around the giant tooth.

"Yeah, okay." She grabbed the other end of the rope and ran at the mammoth, dove under the beast's chin, then leapt onto its neck. Without stopping, she slid off the other side and ducked underneath it. She continued this until the mammoth's head was thoroughly restrained, then climbed back on top of it, taking a place standing next to the Dayman.

"Squidsteel," she explained. "314.16 times stronger than normal steel. If it breaks through that... I don't know what else could hold it, save for some very powerful magic." She crossed her arms and looked at Prince Elton. "If you're going to do something, I think this is about as still as this thing is going to get."

[Mizagium]

Jeffrey Valentine frowned at the people holding down the Death-Mammoth then at the whole Archmage/Magnus incident. He sighed, crossed his arms and started weighing his options. Vi'ir gave a disapproving look but said nothing. On the one hand, the Death-Mammoth was apparently some kind of avatar of, well, death, and probably needed to be taken out of the tower before it hurt someone. On the other hand, Magnus was the first person he'd met in Centros, and technically the only one he considered sane enough to be a friend.

"I'm going to regret this," he muttered and layered Order barriers on himself. Vi'ir started to shout in protest, but Jeff had already charged at the Archmage. Sarina was attacking as well by that time, so he decided to give her an edge by wrapping barrier layers around the Archmage's arms, binding them to this side. He considered attacking, but realized that would leave Sarina unguarded, so he layers a bunch of barriers around her, as well, but not enough where it should hinder her movement.

Finally, he rushed over to where Magnus had been thrown into the wall. "Alright, dumb question, bu are you alright? What's going on?"

[Myrdraxxis]

"We might be fucked, that's what's happening." Magnus groaned, peeling himself from the wall. The Archmage raised a wall of...something to block Sarina's attacks. It looked like a wall of...well pure darkness. That was strange. Then as Sarina appeared overhead he leaned sideways and reached up, actually grabbing her sword by the blade and using the momentum to slam her towards the ground.

"I don't...I don't think this is someone we can beat, Jeff." Magnus actually sounded serious. There were very few people who Magnus could say that about. This guy....

"We have to get out of here!" Leske decided it was time to step in and conjured a rifle, opening up on the Archmage before Magnus could stop him.

Ash was instantly behind the new enemy, lunging forward with his knife. He met nothing as the Archmage somehow twist around and grabbed Ash by the throat, hoisting him up. Leske's bullets 'ping'ed harmlessly off another barrier of darkness that the man created without so much as looking in the gun mage's direction.

"Students now, Magnus?" The Archmage said. "How amusing." And then the strange darkness began bubbling out of the hand clasped around Ash's throat and onto the mooketeer's skin...and then into it. Ash started screaming.

[Sariel of Tevet]

The Death Mammoth was now as incapacitated as it could possibly be, and Prince Elton began to phase inside of the beast and take control. His progress could be marked as dark rainbows began to form spirals around the tusks of the mammoth, and his right ear spontaneously became pierced with a phoenix feather. His eyelashes became elongated and as it hurled its trunk back and trumpeted a battle cry, a slight lisp could be heard. The beast relaxed and it became apparent that Prince Elton had assumed control, The Dayman and his gang relinquished control.

The Dayman hopped up on top of Prince Elton in mammoth form and clicked his heels together, pulling a cowboy outfit from his belt.

"Hi ho silver! Away!"

The Death Mammoth went into action and stampeded straight into the Archmage to separate him and Magnus.

"Sorry about this Mags, but we can't let him snag that book. We have a lot of ground to cover."

Prince Elton picked up Magnus (and the book) with his trunk and broke a hole into the side of the tower and lept out onto the snow to run as far and fast as they could.

Diane, now in charge, snapped her graceful fingers and brought the Hoboduo into action.

"Well, you heard your prince. Let's allow them some distance."

The two robots tore into the fray and attempted to grab the Archmage and pin him down.

[Mizagium]

Heroes Refuge

A portal opened up and dumped out five of the Immortals. Vespi sniffed and crossed her arms. “This places stinks. And I was in Random World for a while.”

Gallen Kah frowned at her. “There was a large battle here not terribly long ago.” The Immortal of Order started tallying up on his fingers. “Well. Like three stories ago or something.”

“What?”

“Nothing. The important bits of information are: Welcome to the ruins of Heroes’ Refuge. Bunch of mismatched jerks with powers fought a robot army here. Then a big robot. They destroyed the town because…well…what’s what happens. Now the Archmage has established a foothold this far south of the Skytear Mountains.” He gestured to the mountainous wall of stone just to the north. “Beyond that is Northyros.”

“Wait wait wait.” Vespi shook her head. “I thought we were dealing with Zais.”

“We are. He’s apparently providing the Archmage with Darkness, making him a proxy imperialist in this world.”

“Wonderful.” Vespi sighed and unwound her flame whip. “Let’s get this started.”

Bill Nye cleared his throat. “Perhaps Artemis had a point. Maybe we should try to speak with whoever is in charge of this…operation. They’re bound to be more reasonable than Zais himself.”

The Immortal of Order fixed a hard glare on the Immortal of Knowledge, but Bill did not relent. “Very well.” Gallen marched up to the soldiers standing guard at the edge of town and said, “Take me to your leader.”

-

Jeff caught Ash in a barrier and pulled him closer while the Hoboduo assaulted the Archmage. Unsure of what to do next, he watched Rainbow Mammoth Elton make off with Magnus.

“Come on,” Vi’ir tugged on his shirt. “Let’s follow them.”

“But…”

“Your sister can handle this.”

Sure enough, Samantha was moving to join Diane and the Hoboduo, having shifted back into regular clothes.

“Swearing, Jeff scooped up the young magus and jumped out the hole in the tower, after the rest of the escaping party.

-

Samantha watched the Hoboduo with mild amusement, then gave an approving nod to Diane. “You know,” she said to the Archmage. “I never liked you.” Her TUCAN whirred and a host of menus appeared in her OCD. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.” Using her MANHANDS, Samantha queued up a number of options she had organized a long time ago under the title “Down with the Archmage,” first of which was “Brilliant Lancer Overdrive.”

The space around the Archmage lit up like freaking Christmas with a thousand spears of white hot light. They lingered for a second before striking the Archmage all at once.

-

Meanwhile, in another part of Northyros, a mysterious man in a longcoat rode into town on a bitchin’ motorcycle that seemed to whinny like a horse. It was a typical Northyric town: snowy, rundown, and currently being assaulted by a Death-Mammoth. It was currently stomping through the remains of a wooden home while a young man was doing his best to sneak away. Everyone else in town was probably hiding.

With a “Hmph” the man known only as Twisted Gambit dismounted and wandered casually over to the frightened man. “Go on, get out of here,” he told the man in a gruff voice. “I’ll handle the Mammoth.” He didn’t look back to see if the man ran or not.

The Mammoth, finally realizing its prey had escaped, wheeled on the closest visible target: Twisted Gambit. With a mighty trumpeting howl, it charged.

Twisted Gambit reached at his belt and drew one of his Spirit Cards: Exaggeration.

He grinned. At the Mammoth got closer, Twisted Gambit…Yawned. But, empowered by the Spirit Card, his yawn became a great, earthshattering sonic attack that stopped the Mammoth in its tracks. Still powered up, Twisted Gambit sauntered on over to the Mammoth and…sneezed. Like the yawn, the sneezed became insanely powerful, and sent the Mammoth hurtling into the distance.

“Back to hell, you hairy mother.”

[Monika]

Sarina landed on the ground with a rather soft thud, noting that being slammed down at full force like that would have hurt a lot more without her protective barrier coating. She was just about to thank Jeff when her body instinctively rolled to the side, moments before thousands of light spears came crashing down. With a final "Be careful" to Samantha, she ran after the rest of the party to avoid being caught up in any more crossfire.

---

It was common knowledge across Esteros - and indeed throughout most of Cardinalos - that a young girl, Hioma, had won the 193^rd bi-monthly D.W.A.R.F. Tournament. What was not widely known, however, was that she and all of her friends were still being tracked, courtesy of Leon Veralice and his friends at the Ring Federation. Though that information went unpublicized, it was possible to figure out with a little...effort.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An indeterminate amount of time ago...

"Oi, it's you again!" Bruce, the soon-to-be Shark Lord, grimaced as a tall, crimson-haired girl came into view near the outside of what had once been a D.W.A.R.F. wrestling arena. "I already told you, lass, you can't enter the tournament. Besides, it's already over. Some superpowered teenage brat won and made off with the two rings already." Bruce had gone through a bit of trouble with this woman before and was hoping his curtness would be enough to shoo her away.

"Shut it, Bruce," the woman answered, just as curtly. "I'm aware that the tournament is over. I want to know where the victor and her friends have run off to."

"And just how the fiz would I know that?" Bruce asked, doing the shark equivalent of raising an eyebrow. "You think I keep track of every little person who wins the tournament? In case you've forgotten, there have been one hundred and ninety-three of these things. I've got better things to do than-"

The woman moved in a little closer, stopping at about five feet away from the shark. "You may not know, but I have no doubt that your superiors are aware of their location. Call them up, ask them, and then tell me. Now." During their last encounter, the woman had been significantly kinder - charming, even - but that approach hadn't yielded the desired results. Now she was trying a more aggressive method.

But Bruce didn't take the bait, instead crossing his overly muscular arm fins and shooting the woman a menacing scowl. "Even if I did know, I wouldn't be at liberty to disclose that information. Especially not to a gal like you."

Before he knew what hit him, he was pressed against the wall, the woman uncomfortably close to his ear.

"Bruce," she whispered, "have you ever been roundhouse kicked by a girl in platinum shoes? Credible sources have told me that it's a very painful experience."

The almost Shark Lord gulped. Looking down, he could see the woman's silver footwear gleaming in the dim light of the cave. Not many people around those parts wore shoes made of metal, and he grew suspicious of who the person in front of him was. After a long while, he relented. If this girl was who he thought she was, then he'd much rather suffer the punishment of the Ring Federation for revealing the information than the punishment of the girl and her family for refusing.

"Northyros," he growled. "The higher ups' surveillance says they were portaled off to Northyros immediately after a wedding ceremony."

"Thank you for your cooperation." The woman stepped away, lifted her right arm, and clenched her fist. A single card shot out from under her trenchcoat and landed gracefully in her other hand. She looked over the card and gave an approving nod. It had a picture of a man triumphantly standing outside a set of metal bars and was captioned, 'For making a great escape. Power is greatest upon first release.'

"Activate," she said. At her command, the card glowed a bright white, bathing the area in its glorious light. When the light faded, two enormous wings were attached to her back. They were otherworldly and sparkled with all the colors of the cosmos, chilling the room each time they flapped.

Bruce's suspicions were confirmed. The Chest family did quite well at staying out of the public eye, but their reputation in the criminal underworld was legendary. This girl was Community Chest, the newest heir, and her powers were not to be taken lightly.

"Farewell, Bruce," Community said, wishing she were capable of real laughter so she could snicker at the incredulous look on the shark's face. Rather than waste time lamenting over it, she decided to take her leave. In a brilliant explosion of violet light, she was gone...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

And so it was that Community appeared in Northyros. She had been soaring around for some time in search of the victor of the previous tournament. Her wings were dimmer now; the teleportation was a one-off effect, so she would have to wait a while for the card to recharge before she could use it again. There in the Northyrosian skies, she was just barely able to dodge as a Death-Mammoth came flying toward her.

[Myrdraxxis]

The Hoboduo managed to grab the Archmage and wrestle him down. For a moment at least. Then the man's robed form dissipated into smoke and reassembled next to them. He reached out and grabbed each of them with one hand.

"How annoying."

And then suddenly Samantha's attack struck. Just at the last second a shell of Darkness sprung up around the Archmage, denting inward at the barrage of light attacks. But it held. The Arch mage glared at Samantha. "Magister Valentine. I am rather disappointed in you." The Archmage clenched his hands into fists, crushing the Hoboduo's heads in doing so.

"That attack was certainly impressive though. Allow me to return the favor."

The Archmage sumoned dozens of orbs of darkness that hovered in the air around him for a moment, before firing at Samantha like missiles. Of darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Let. Me. Go." Magnus growled as he was carried away from the fight. Not actually waiting for Elton to comply, Magnus wrenched himself out of the possessed mammoth's grasp and swung up onto the back. They were near the edge of the city now.

"Pull over." he ordered. "We can get out of here faster if I portal us out."

"Boss!" Leske's cry caught his attention. Septimus, Leske and Desmond had rushed after their fleeing companions....and somehow managed to keep up. Magnus made a mental note to ask them about that later. For the moment his attention was drawn to Jeff, and the writhing form of Ash that he was carrying.

'What's wrong with him?" Desmond asked. They had seperated Ash from the Archmage, but his screaming hadn't stopped.

"Find a building and pull over now." Magnus snapped at the Dayman.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Felix was having a rather good day all things considered. Sure they were having to ration the food severely while the troops were out campaigning in the rest of the land, and there was STILL a giant hole in the middle of the town from that fight between the sewer gator and the giant snake. Or was it the giant robot versus the lumberjack? Felix had no idea and he still didn't believe half of the stories that the vanguard had told about what went down here.

Regardless, he hadn't been blown up, electrocuted or used in a magical experiment yet today. Why, the magister overseeing his unit hadn't even chewed them out once. Such was the life of a mundane man in a mageocracy. Felix counted his blessings where he could find them.

Of course, then a group of rather strange people appeared at the edge of town.

"Take me to your leader." one demanded.

Felix stared at him.

Did he mean...Magister Septimus? That guy had disappeared like, a week ago. In fact, now that Felix thought about it....

"Err....I don't think anyone is in charge right now actually." he answered hesitantly.

That certainly would explain why it had taken five hours for sergeant Alexi to give them their assignments yesterday.

[Sariel of Tevet]

Diane ballet leapt in front of Samantha to shield everyone from the darkness missiles. The sexy force of Grace is obviously the natural enemy of darkness. She struck the most beautifully graceful pose she could manage and deflected the missiles away. Spying the now damaged hoboduo, she glided over and pressed buttons on their back, and they both folded up into pocket sized boxes that she placed in her uh...pockets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Aye aye, Captain!" The Dayman saluted Magnus in an annoying fashion and grabbed a tuft of Prince Elton's mammoth hair to speed their escape...causing an....undesirable result for the rest of the crew, all but Prince Elton of course. But with wobbling knees he managed to get to cover and allowing the mooketeers to catch up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Uno Momento came riding into down on a casino print donkey, oh what a card he was. He saw a man standing in the middle of a half abandoned town, having flung a wild mammoth off into the distance. He parked his noble steed at a reasonable distance from the man and dismounted. He sauntered for a few bowlegged steps and stood a dozen or so yards away from the figure.

"Sure looks like you know how to have fun, essay. How about a quick draw?"

Uno placed a hand on the first card in his bandolier and shouted.

"Three....two...one..."

[Calefrun]

Dorrei climbed down from the mammoth, and moved to help Jeff with Ash. She grimaced at the sight of the poor man, then turned to Magnus. "Who- or what- the hell is that Archmage? And what did he do to your friend? Actually, ignore those questions for now. I hope you know some way to reverse whatever's wrong with him." As she helped carry the injured man into the shelter the Dayman had chosen, she couldn't help but feel like she had forgotten something back at the tower. Or someone, perhaps?

---

Several of the missiles were reflected off of Diane's shield, while several others split in half and exploded before they even got close. Zento appeared beside Diane and Samantha, shaking his blade to get rid of the residual darkness.

Grinning, he commented, "Dude looks tough. Think we can take him?" He spat. "Actually, it doesn't matter. This should be fun." In the blink of an eye he appeared behind the Archemage, and immediately let loose a flurry of hundreds stab attacks directed at the man's back.

---

"Three....two...one..."

"LET'S JAM!" Another man popped out of a nearby snow mound, and jogged over to Twisted Gambit and Uno Momento. With a confident smile, Jack O. Spades withdrew a deck of cards from a belt pouch. "You guys play too? How about we go a few hands?" He drew the card on top of the deck, but didn't look at it or reveal it to the other two men. "What do ya say?"