Act1: Conclusion

     The Mage muttered quietly "forgive me... if I'm wrong...". Born on by the fury of the arcane magic around her she stretched her arm out just a little further and let the skull roll out of her hand and into the basin. The skull fell, almost in slow motion, as the group lept forward, weapons first, to attack the Mage.

     As they battled, sword against magic, the room shook, dust falling from the ceiling. Dark magics could be seen and felt pulsating from the basin at the top of the pedestal, distant tormented screams could be heard, carried upon the wind. A far off, persistent roar could be heard, slowly gaining in volume as the battle raged on.

     The group fought hard, buffeted by fire and spell, they nearly brought her down only for her to teleport away and revert herself to an unharmed state. Roaring with brutal savagery Roth charged the Mage, kicking away any debris that lay between the mage and himself. he brought his axe down twice hacking away at her like a slab of meat on the butchers block, there was a flurry of activity from the group following the charge, all of which was silenced by a single arrow loosed from Ranvier's bow.

     The Arrow pierced her heart, and a shriek echoed across the room. With the fatal blow stuck the Mage crumpled to the ground, her carefully maintained illusions falling to pieces and fading away, just as her life force faded. She fell, all lies, half truths, and magic striped away. The group stared in disbelief at the crumpled figure, slowly turning to look at the group mage, Leyla, who stood near the back.

     Slowly, with trepidation, Leyla stepped forward towards the body only to find herself staring at a near identical copy of herself, maybe a few years older than she is now. Slowly she knelt, reaching out hesitantly, she touched the body ever so gently. She pulled her hand back, noticing that the spot on her fingers where she had made contact with the body was slightly glowing, as if she had rubbed them into some slightly photofluorescent substance.

     As she knelt there she felt something rolling down her cheek and when she reached up, her hand came away wet with tears. A barely audible sob escaped her lips as she reached out and pulled the body of the mage towards herself, cradling the dead mage's head in her lap.

     With this contact there was a bright flash, the ground trembled slightly. There was a faint tearing sound to be heard as the edges of the Mages frame and Leyla's began to get slightly fuzzy, and there was a bright light spilling out from every spot the two bodies touched.

     Leyla gasped, "I see now, I understand... so much... so many terrible things... but i did what I had to do... yet still I fail" she sobbed out. "Look, look and see what I see" she said in a shout as she touched her eyes.

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     The group was small, really just a handful of people. There was Mik, a rather aloof Bard, someone who seems to more have fallen into the position through lack of direction; Altus, a Ranger of no small skill, and his sister Mori, a Hunter with a tender personality - both hailing from one of the Elven communities near Kanaan; And finally Bartholomew, an aged Knight, and the solemn leader of the group.

     The group originally met up in Kanaan, where Altus and Mori had a small reputation for being local hunters of man and meat. Mik had been following an old Knight, hoping that one day it would lead him to an easy payday at the table of a lord. Until then, however, he followed the knight. Occasionally helping him, more often disappearing to get drunk on what meager earnings he got from his performances.

     As unlikely a grouping as it was they joined together to travel. The Knight had been in need of people whom he could hire to help him live off the land, and the Elven duo had run short of customers and money in the recent years. They had many adventures together, and had accumulated a wealth of money and gear, before winding up in the city of Sworn. They had heard stories on the road that a new Temple had risen up near sworn and it was effectively fighting against the established national Church That meant one thing, where there was dissent, there was money.

     They had taken a job with the Church to join in on an assault against this new Temple, once the fighting was done, anything that you could carry out you got to keep, it was a pretty sweet deal. The onslaught had been difficult and they had found that deep within the temple there was a complex larger than any of them had expected. It was filled with horrors incomprehensible to the common man, and yet the group pressed on. Even as their fellow mercenaries fell one by one, the group had pressed on. The job had become something new, it was no longer about money and wealth, but now it was for salvation. The evils hidden deep within the temple had changed them all.

     As they pushed deeper and deeper into the complex, things got harder and harder, the party grew ragged. Eventually they came across something unspeakable. They tried to fight it off, but failed. it pursued them doggedly through the complex, there had been no way to escape, they knew that this being would find them, kill them, and then escape. Once it had escaped it would have destroyed everything, it was the Unmaker of Worlds.

     Eventually the being caught up with them, with no more energy to run the group turned to face the Unmaker. Altus and Mori split up to attack the being from the sides, knowing full well their efforts were useless. Bartholomew charged the giant embodiment of pure evil, only to be picked up and ripped in half before being tossed to the side, like a piece of offal.

     Mori and Altus joined together on the far side of the being while Mik frantically searched through his gear while half-assing a song he had learned in his distant past. The creature lunged for Mori, but Altus threw himself in the way to protect his sister. Like a ragdoll the being grabbed ahold of Altus and slammed him repeatedly into the ground until he was naught more than Elven jelly.

     Mori hadn't run at the sight of her brother being killed before her eyes, she had just stood there screaming. She kept screaming and the being picked her up and shoved her whole into it's mouth. the muffled screams were replaced by the popping of bones and the beast chewed slowly.

     Mik, frantically trying to do something, pulled out a trinket the group had previously found, a mechanical finger. The detect magic spells Mik had cast on it previously had given off signs of intense power, but they had never been able to figure out how to use it. Now he brandished it like a sword and yelled, drawing the attention of the creature. The being turned towards him and let out a mind numbingly loud roar. Mik fell back, holding the finger out in front of him, and watched as the creature leapt straight for him. Just as the being was about to land on him, snuffing his life out eternally, Mik closed his eyes and started crying. Death never came. What did come was silence, followed shortly by a dull distant roar that got louder and louder until eventually it resolved itself into the sound of a large population of people walking by and talking. Mik opened his eyes and looked around. He was laying down on the side of the street, clutching the finger and whimpering, near him there were a few copper coins that someone had obviously thrown down for him, assuming he was a beggar.

     Not understanding what happened Mik wandered the city aimlessly, trying to find out information. Had the beast escaped and destroyed the world? obviously not. Was he now responsible for organizing a fighting force to combat against the forces of evil? what was he supposed to do?

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     Time had gone by, a lot of time. Mik had found out that he was back in Alaspar. Not only had the finger teleported him back to Alaspar, but it had transported him through time. he was now living in a period of time where he would have originally been just 4 years old.

     Mik spent most of his time drinking and performing, performing and drinking. He had been tossed out of nearly every establishment for making up stories and terrorizing people. He had been questioned on multiple occasions by the Church because of the stories about this new Temple.

     Years went by and Mik had never been able to get anyone to listen to what he had to say, with anything approaching gravity. He was miserable, alone, broke, and drunk. But not so drunk that he didn't notice an old Knight amble into the one tavern Mik hadn't been kicked out of, one late lonely night.

     Mik made his way over to the Knight, ready to greet his old friend Bartholomew and tell him what happened, but he stopped short, realizing that nobody ever believed him. Why would this other Bart be any different? After careful deliberation Mik bought dinner and beer with the last of his money and went to sit next to his old Friend.

     Politely sitting down, Mik gave Bart the food and beer knowing the old Knight was probably just inside the tavern to keep out of the cold, because he never had money to spend on the food or bed and usually only ate the cheap supply store rations. Mik told the Knight that he looked well traveled and that he wanted to hear some old stories (Story-telling was one of Bart's favorite past-times) in exchange for the meal. Bart happily obliged. They spent most of the evening talking in that tavern. As twilight approached Mik finally broached the subject.

     Mik gave Bart the Mechanical finger, told him it was useful, though he couldn't tell him how it worked. Mik told Bart that a day would come when all hope may be lost, when that day came, this item would save the world. Bart gave Mik a slightly crazy look at first but his gazed softened as he saw the sincerity on Mik's face. Bart thanked him and put the item away in his pack, vowing to hold onto it until that day came.

     With the deed done, and the torch passed on Mik got up intending to leave, hit the road and never come back, but his steps faltered and he turned back to Bart.

     "Sir Knight, on the morrow's dawn I know you plan on leaving the city... when you get outside the city gates you will come upon a young lad, recently run away from home. Do me a favor, as I have done for you... take him with you, teach him, encourage him to be... more. I know he will never leave your side." said Mik. "Eventually your path will lead you to Kanaan, there you will find two Elves, brother and sister, they will join you also. But please don't be content with just them. You must listen to me when I say what lies in your future the four of you cannot defeat alone."

     Silently the Knight mulled over the words. "Mik, if the event's you describe play out the way you tell them, I promise you I will heed your words."

     With that Mik nodded his head and walked out of the tavern.

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     To Bart's surprise things played out more or less exactly as Mik had explained it. Bart did find the run-away boy, he brought him on as a Squire, training him in the ways of combat. Later in Kanaan the two of them crossed paths with Altus and Mori, heeding Mik's last request he brought the two of them into the group, paying them for their trapping and hunting abilities. While preparing to leave the group came across two young Roguelings, named Zahara and Aura, who were out to find adventure and brought them into the team as well.

     Time went by, the group had many adventures, and eventually made their way to Sworn hearing about a Temple that had be built, a religion or cult had been established, and the Church was actively looking to rid the lands of their evil presence. Where there was a conflict, there was money.

     They had taken a job with the Church to join in on an assault against this new Temple, once the fighting was done, anything that you could carry out you got to keep, it was a pretty sweet deal. The night before the offensive Bart took Mori aside and told her about his fateful meeting with Mik, and his suspicions about Mik's knowledge of events to come, and his warning. He told Mori that he felt that somehow their Mik, but from a different time, had used the device he had given Bart to travel back in time after they had failed before. He gave Mori the relic and told her, "Should we fail, I need you to come back and try again, Mik tried but he didn't have the discipline to act sooner. If we fail, you need to do better. I just... I don't have the strength to do so myself." with that She took the relic, even though neither knew how to operate it, and vowed to do what was needed if the time came.

     The onslaught had been difficult and they had found that deep within the temple there was a complex larger than any of them had expected. It was filled with horrors incomprehensible to the common man, but the group pressed on. Even as their fellow mercenaries fell one by one, the group had pressed on. The job had become something new, it was no longer about money and wealth, but now it was for salvation. The evils hidden deep within the temple had changed them all.

     As they pushed deeper and deeper into the complex, things got harder and harder, the party grew ragged. Eventually they came across something unspeakable. They tried to fight it off, but failed. it pursued them doggedly through the complex, there had been no way to escape, they knew that this being would find them, kill them, and then escape. Once it had escaped it would have destroyed everything, it was the Unmaker of Worlds.

     Eventually the beast caught up with them, with no more energy to run the group turned to face the Unmaker. One by one they fell, Bart backhanded into a wall cracking his skull. Zahara was snatched up and smashed into the ceiling. Arua took a face full of hell fire, her screams fading into a sizzle as her body was charred whole. Finally Altus circled around, trying to draw the attention away from Mori. He peppered the creature with arrows, hoping to give her a moment to get away

     "Mori, RUN!" altus shouted, just before the creature picked him up by one leg and gripping the other ripping him in half vertically.

     Mori stood there with tears streaming down her face at the death of her brother and drew the relic holding it aloft. She screamed at the beast, damning it to hell. Mori kept her eyes open, staring the beast in the face as it came for her. They both gave a mighty roar as the they came together, there was a intensely bright flash of light, after which Mori never saw again. The intense light of the Temporal Prime, the plane of existence in which Time exists is blinding to untrained mortal eyes.

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     Mori spent a good deal of time adapting to her new disability and preparing for the inevitable future. She told everyone the truth, starting with her younger self, and brother. She recruited a young mage named Leyla, two rogues named Zahara and Aura, though they ended up leaving the group and reunited with their parents in Hawksburg. She eventually picked up an old Knight name Bartholomew and a young Bard named Mik. She recruited every person who would listen, any warrior, and man or woman, even boys who were not quite adults. She told them all from the beginning about the great evil, and about the relic, which she kept upon herself, intent on using it again if need be. Soon they had a small army of people, and made their way straight to Sworn, where she knew the threat would be.

     They didn't wait for the church, they didn't wait for the contract, they drove forward like a spear straight towards the heart of the complex. At great cost they finally came upon the being, most of her party had died on the way, for these people had neither training nor experience. In her Rush, and due to her nature, she wasn't able to give them the time to suffer, grow and learn, and in doing so she had condemned all of her followers to death. One after another they fell, killed, maimed, slaughtered. They were no challenge for this god like being.

     There were only a few of them left, Mori and Leyla were hanging near the back. Mori turned to Leyla, "It is time, I have failed." she said as she drew forth the relic. Leyla nodded and watched as Mori stepped forward holding aloft the relic. Mori screamed in rage at the beast, behind her a slight chanting could be heard, suddenly Mori's scream of rage turned into a blood curdling scream of pain and anguish.

     Mori fell to the ground, back scorched from the fire magics wielded by Leyla. She lay on the ground still holding the relic, twitching. Leyla stepped forward, and knelt next to Mori.

     "You were too soft, too weak, too inexperienced. You didn't have the guts to do what needed to be done to ensure that we were victorious. You failed, why would you think that you get another chance at this?"" Leyla said as she gently took the relic from her. Mori watched, trembling, unable to move, except for her eye darting about, as Leyla stood and walked forward, activating the relic and disappearing from sight.

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     Leyla, being magically inclined, was able to understand the relic, and she used it to dart about the timeline, changing what she believed needed to be changed in order to succeed. He methods were deliberate and impartial, at times her heart suffered greatly from the things she forced herself to do, but what are the lives of a few worth when compared to those of the entire world?

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     Leyla stayed a distance outside of the village waiting for Altus and Mori to leave with their Grandfather. She watched them depart, so carefree and innocent, there was a twinge of regret about what she was going to do. But she needed to get these two to start training faster and sooner, there was a lot of work to do.

     The mage walked into the village, hardly anybody paid attention to the cloaked figure until she set to work. she quickly walked up to Altu's and Mori's home and with a short word and gesture - magical fire sprung forth from her hands, immediately consuming the Elves home. The screams of The Elven Duo's parents filled the air, but were soon silenced by the intensity of the flames.

     Upon making the change she watched, with her mind's eye, as the timeline altered slightly, and she saw that it would not be enough. Reaching out through the Temporal Prime she plucked up a new critical moment in their timeline, hoping it would be enough, she pulled, and disappeared from the Elven village.

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     Leyla walked into the guild commons, her magical illusion disguising her as a well off Elven lady. She glanced around until she caught the eye of the Guild leader. Sauntering over she dropped a small bag of coins on the table. An action that was met by a raised eyebrow from the guild leader.

     "Five years ago a Black Robed Mage attacked my village and killed some of the townsfolk there, she was just sighted leaving Alaspar and heading back to that village." She said "I believe you employ two young hunters who are from that village as well, I believe that they would willingly take this contract. The money in the pouch is yours if you give them the contract".

     The guild leader casually looked into the open bag of coins, noticed the dark silvery color of the platinum coins and nodded. "Who should I tell them calls?" he asked as she turned to leave.

     She looked at him over her shoulder, "An anonymous benefactor will be sufficient." she stated flatly before leaving the guild house, there was no need to spend more time there than necessary.

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     The Mage arrived at the village to find it in ruin, as she had foreseen. Only a few hours prior a wandering horde of the undead had made it's way through the village, nearly every member of the village had perished in the chaos. Leyla set about setting the scene, she needed Altus' judgement clouded and his rage ignited like the flames of her spells in order for this to work. Soon she had the entire village in flames and all of the bodies strewn about crackling with fire their flesh popping and crisping in the heat. At the sound of the approaching hoofbeats she turned towards the forest and walked away, knowing that the hunters would see her and give pursuit.

     Leyla had just enough time to prepare for the meeting. A Suspended Silence spell was needed to silence Mori's call to attack and a Crystal of Arrow Deflection activated and flying around to deflect Mori's arrow. She had just finished casting her prepared Baleful Transportation Spell when she heard the little blue sapphire dart out and knock Mori's arrow just enough out of the way so that it embedded itself into the tree behind her rather then her chest. The timing was critical, in order for this change to have the effect needed it had to be done in just the right way, because from this point there were so many possible futures. She made eye contact with Mori, finishing the spell, black smoke seemed to pour from all around the mage as the Astral plane opened to engulf her. From the corner of her eye she could see Altus' look over toward Mori, startled by the lack of signal, she watched as his fingers loosened on the arrow notched on his drawstring and the arrow jumped forward, racking itself across the bow and Altus' hand as it sped forth to meet the bright flash of purple light that engulfed the mage.

     "Altus, Stop!" Shouted the voice, but it was too late. The spell had completed, Leyla was now standing several meters off to the side. She turned to see Mori fall to her knees, just as Altus came bounding over the last few feet between them. He caught her before she fell to the ground.

     Leyla engaged the relic, and once again turned her Mind's eye to the Temporal Prime. She could see the new timeline falling into place, and while she could not see the ultimate outcome, as her vision was cut off at the Temple, she could see that the death of his sister had made Altus stronger. She had taken from him the softness of her love, but given to him the hard determination of his rage. While it is unfortunate that they won't have Mori, the overall gain is greater this way, Leyla can alway replace Mori with someone stronger. This may well just work.

     The Mage once again reached into the Temporal Prime, this time finding Mik's timeline. She took hold of the line... and pulled, leaving the two elves huddled together on the forest floor.

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     Leyla walked through the city of Alaspar, making her way towards the cordoned off Human Complex that was built into a corner of the city's residential districts. She didn't bother with a disguise, as she was a full blooded human she would not have an issue with gaining admittance into the complex.

     As she approached the house she took note of Mik's absence, the boy should be what? 7 now? about the time he started slacking off and pursuing that long road toward being the Vagabond Bard he was. Leyla strode up to Mik's house, she could see his Mother and Father standing out front they were having a discussion, talking adamantly outside of the house.

     Looking into the Temporal Prime, Leyla saw what she intended to do, she saw briefly the man it would turn Mik into. "Perfect" she said to herself, under her breath, as she reached forward flames licking at her fingers.

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     The city was screaming, people running, people pointing, non of it mattered as Leyla peered inward, viewing the timeline. She watched as Mik grew older, joined the Church, she saw him training, becoming strong, she saw him leave the church because of his differences. She saw him take up the herald of Knighthood, there was one problem, the changes she had made ensured that he would never meet up with Altus and the rest of the party members. She would have to figure out how to fix this, but first, she had some other issues to attend to.

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     Leya found the poverty stricken village easily enough, though it was hard to remember that far back. It look familiar to her as she walked through the small roads, familiar yet unfamiliar, until she came to the hut she was looking for. She ducked inside the doorway and was met with a heart wrenching sight. in the corner of the hut was a hobbled together crib, with a howling infant in it, the poor thing was half starved. In a bed on the other side lay a passed out woman and man. The mother, a whore, and the man, a customer were naked and strung out on some of the more serious drugs available in the region.

     The sight made Leyla choke, half a scream upon her throat, but she didn't. She walked over to the infant, cast a sleep spell on the child and wrapped it in the cleanest blanket she could find. Upon walking out of the hut the Mage turned, tears streaming down her face. She cast a spell and the hut went up in flames, the occupants inside were so drugged up they never even noticed.

     Soon the fire was out of control, people were running from their ramshackle huts,trying to escape the flames. Leyla pushed forward clutching the sleeping baby to her chest, the town had become a nightmare of fire and flame. Her robes got scorched, her belt got ripped, and her magical bag of holding, lost somewhere in the ashes of the village.

     Eventually she made her way out, collapsing in a cave not too far away from the village.

     "I think, young one... I think we shall stay here for awhile" she said softly to the baby girl, who was just starting to stir....

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     As the child grew Leyla taught her the arts of her craft, all while telling her a fabricated story about how she found her after her village had been destroyed. The child called her Estarra and grew to love her like a mother, She called the child Leyla.

     Leyla had heard many times how she had been rescued from the burning village that was her place of birth. Estarra had taken her into her care, introducing her to the life of the wandering sorceress and teaching her how to control her magic so that the world could never discover what she truly was. Leyla was frustrated, though. She had heard the tale of her rescue since as far back as she can remember, but there were always holes in the tale. What was Estarra doing there to begin with? How was it that no one else survived the fire? What started the fire in the first place? Whenever she would ask her guardian these questions, Estarra would always find a way to either change the subject or dismiss the questions.

     As Leyla grew, so too did her power. She could control it completely now and had several simple spells in her repertoire. Living in a system of caves just outside the city of Alspar, she frequently encountered undead that had risen from the corpse of fallen travelers. She honed her ability to inflict damage to these creatures from a distance, rending their flesh and destroying the magical energies that kept them bound together and animated. She also learned to copy one of her mentor’s favorite spells, mastering her ability to call forth a cone of fire from the palms of her hands.

     Finally, when Leyla reached adulthood, her mentor started to let her explore and travel on her own, often sending her to the city for certain needed supplies. She was admonished to always keep her magic hidden and never let others know what she was capable of. She was told that revealing such a secret would result in her death. As she was traveling back from a supply run to Alspar, she came across the beginning of a small back that had started to be reclaimed by the wilderness around her. Her curiosity fought with her caution, and eventually won out.

     The journey down the path was slow and tedious. Frequently, she had to stop to clear the path before she could proceed. It was clear this path had not been used in years, perhaps decades. Finally, as she rounded one last bend, she came upon what appeared to be a wilderness ruin. The forest had started to reclaim this clearing, but the debris and remains from what looked like several dozen small huts could clearly be seen among the trees.

     Leyla’s exploration of the village revealed a small satchel that looked as though it had just been placed there yesterday. She could sense right away that there was magic to this bag and picked it up to examine it closer. As she turned it over in her hands, she saw something she recognized. The rune on the bag – a hand surrounded by fire with an eye in the palm – was the same rune that was used to mark the possessions of Estarra, her mentor. Understanding hit her, then. This was the village she was born in!

     She kept on exploring the village, using her magic as she’d been taught to try and gain a sense of what life was like in the village. As soon as she let her magic free, she felt the overwhelming power of another mage. She could feel, even after all these years, the clear traces of magical fire. This fire wasn’t caused by a storm as she’d always been taught. Magic had set this village ablaze! Why didn’t Estarra tell her this? How could she keep such a thing secret from her?

     Questions raced fiercely through Leyla’s mind. Her mentor had lied to her all these years. Magical fire had destroyed her childhood home. As she dwelt longer on the possibilities, a theory formed in her mind, one that filled her with rage. Estarra’s preferred magic was fire. She frequently used spells that called upon the destructive forces of fire for both defense and mundane tasks. Her mentor had clearly been here when the village was destroyed, had she done it on purpose?

     She could no longer think straight as the rage filled her mind and body. She found herself departing the burned village and racing straight to the caves where her mentor would be waiting for her. She didn’t know how, but she knew Estarra was responsible for this disaster. She would kill her and have her revenge.

     Estarra smiled as she saw Leyla making her way up the path to the cave. The smile, though, faded quickly as she saw a beam of energy fly from Leyla’s finger’s in her direction. She dodged easily enough, but stood confused. “Leyla, what are you doing?” The young sorceress didn’t respond, but instead started summoning yet another spell. Her fingers glowed with the familiar light of fire forming at the tips.

     “You did it! You killed my family!” Fire shot from her fingers as she continued her advance on Estarra. The older mage once again ducked out of the way, but felt the fire catch her on the side of the face, scalding her.

     “Leyla, stop this! You will regret this if you continue.” She slowly started working a spell of her own as she stepped backwards away from the advancing Leyla. Another blast of energy from Leyla’s fingers flew past her head, just missing her. “I will hurt you, Leyla.” Her spell had nearly completed.

     Leyla could hear Estarra’s cries of protest, but the words didn’t register in her mind. She was filled with rage and the only clear path ahead was the death of her mentor. She screamed as she prepared to once again summon a cone of fire. She knew she had her mentor trapped and she smiled as the spell neared completion.

     A ball of fire ignited from Estarra’s hands and she sent it flying towards Leyla. The spell landed squarely in the younger woman’s chest, igniting with explosive force that sent her flying backwards. Estarra’s eyes were wet with tears as she approached the burning body of the woman she had raised as her own. Then her expression hardened. She knew the young child would eventually lead to trouble. She headed deeper into the system of caves, leaving the smoking body there at the cave’s opening.

     Leyla, Estarra now, consulted the relic, on the timeline of her younger self. The magic the elder mage had used did not kill the younger mage, if she left now, the younger Leyla would recover on her own, and travel to Alaspar. There her timeline split in many different ways, it was now up to Estarra to  bring them all together.

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     Estarra consulted the timelines, she watched them intently from the temporal prime. How long had she been here? Minutes, Hours, Years? The power of the relic prevented her from aging a single day beyond the day she took it.

     She scanned the timelines, with all of the changes they were chaotic, like tossing a medicine ball into a field of marbles, it was hard to predict where everything would end up. Though... there did appear to be one point in common. A man... named Tyson, Tyson Harcord. Only one thing was needed for that piece to fall into place.

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     Estarra was waiting for them in the sewer, casually leaning up against the wall as Garron, Arredondo, Desina, and Gwyneth came around the corner, approaching the tunnel that led to a Gelatinous Cube and an old crypt further in that was inhabited by some Troglodytes.

     The Mage stepped forward, blocking the path "You don't want to go down there" she said flatly.

     "Get out of the way whore!" cursed Garron as he stepped forward, hand's on the daggers in his sheaths.

     "Wait, Garron! Why? Why don't we want to go down there?" asked Desina.

     "Because I'm going to pay you not too, in fact i'm going to pay you to stop working for Tyson, and work for me instead." said the Mage.

     "Yer full of shit... How much are you going to 'pay' us" asked Garron, throwing up some quotation marks.

     Estarra took several bags out of her pouch, tossing one to each of them. Garron opened his bag which appeared to contain about 500 platinum pieces. "Ma'am, for this amount I'd help you hunt down and skin my own mother!"

     "Good to know, that's not out of the realm of possibility." said the mage with a smirk.

     From the entrance of the tunnel there was the heavy sound of a bag of coins crashing to the ground. Standing there with her back to the tunnel was one very miffed looking Paladin. "Have you all forgotten that we have a contract with Tyson? have you forgotten your honor? and YOU Garron, You're a felon on Work Release, You can't quit, otherwise they're going to ship you off to the mines for the rest of your life!" exclaimed Gwyneth as she threw down her backpack.

     "Oh fuck that, lady, did you even see how much she's giving us? besides, who's going to know we didn't die in this fucking sewer!?" shouted Garron.

     "I don't care how much it is Garron, and they'll know because I'll tell them!" Gwyneth shouted back.

     Garrion squinted at her, squinted through her, something in the tunnel behind her catching his eye. turning to the Mage he asked "If I kill her can I have her share?"

     "Sure" stated Estarra.

     With that Garron lifted his heavily booted foot and heel kicked the Paladin into the tunnel. The kick was strong enough that it sent her flying backward right into the gentle grasp of the Gelatinous Cube, which happily engulfed the poor Paladin whole.

     Garron stooped down and picked up the Paladins bag of Platinum coins with a smile. "I have a request, since I'm not working for that rat bastard Tyson anymore, can I kill him?"

     "I'm sure we can work something out" stated the Mage as she cast a spell opening a portal, she gestured for the others to step through.

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     Estarra had been working with these people for a bit, taking them here and there to do things she felt needed to be done. Eventually Garron wanted her to make good on his request. Garron had it out for Tyson, he hated the Dwarf. He hated how the dwarf lorded about, he hated how he took nearly half of their income and didn't do anything to earn it. Garron wanted Tyson dead, and he had so for some time now, it was time for the Dwarf to feel Garron's reckoning.

     Consulting the Relic Estarra saw the events as they unfolded, knowing what would happen she agreed to let him take his revenge.

     After the fight took place Desina and Arredondo were not very please. They didn't like Garron but he was a member of their party, and what the mage had done was... disturbing.

     Leyla knew that Garron would fail, but she had hoped to at least be able to resurrect the fallen Garron as enthralled undead being, thus being able to continue to utilize his skills without having to deal with his chaotic anger all of the time. She had misjudge how crazy that rogue was, because even as an enthralled undead he resisted her will and attacked the party once more. after he went down again the group tried to regroup and pull back, before ultimately fleeing. The hit to moral was significant, perhaps Estarra had been mistaken to acquiesce to the foolhardy rogue's demands.

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     The Mage stepped out of the Temporal Prime and into the streets of Hawksburg. She looked around, the night was young and it didn't take long for her to find the house. Estarra waited outside, sitting with her back against a nearby house, posing as a beggar. Eventually the sounds from inside the house died down, the door opened and out stepped three figures, two girls and a man.

     "Thank you for having us Dad, we had fun tonight" said one of the girls.

     "Anytime honey, anytime" said the man.

     "We'll see you tomorrow Zef... er... Dad" said the other girl. They all hugged and then the two girls turned and walked down the alley, passing within feet of Leyla. The man stood outside and watched until the girls were out of sight. He turned as if to go back into his house, but stopped, and glanced over his shoulder back down the alley. Had there been someone sitter against that wall? He asked himself. Whatever it was, it wasn't there anymore. Shaking off the cold, Zef went back into the house, only to see a cloaked mage sitting at his table.

     "What the hell!?" Exclaimed Zef.

     Outside the house several neighbors awoke to the sounds of yelling and screaming, and by the time anyone got a chance to look Zef's house was a raging inferno...

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     With the Rouglings taken care of, their new timelines showing them leaving Hawksburg and going back to join their team in Alaspar. The mage had one more thing to do.

     She needed to retrieve the Darkening Skull before the Cult of Tharizdun got to it. They were surely operating inside the City of Alaspar now, as they were attempting to charge the Skull by placing it in the warehouse district community homes.

     She pulled out the relic, and reached into it, looking for the place she needed so she could retrieve the skull. She saw the point, reached in, grabbed it and pulled.

     Suddenly she was standing in a room, not the room she had wanted to go. Confusion took hold as she studied her surroundings... cotton wheels, weaving looms, all running unattended... no... not unattended, there were women at the looms, but they were hazy, she couldn't focus on them. Suddenly there was a point of focus, standing next to one of the looms was a small old lady.

     "That's enough mucking about young lady! do you know the trouble you've been causing?" Said the old lady.

     "I know what i've been doing, I'm trying to save the world, not that it's any of your business. How did you interfere, where am I!" stated Estarra sharply.

     "You are where I want you to be." stated the old lady simply.

     "You know not with what you meddle old hag" stated Estarra with a hiss "I'm leaving now" she said as she held out the Relic.

     "Ah, that's how you are doing what you are doing, it's unfortunate, because although I'm aware of your goals, you are going about it the wrong way, you cannot cheat your way through life young lady. Now in order for you to use the power of that Relic your timeline has to be connected here" said the old lady as she pointed to the loom "on the tapestry. I see that you are connected via your alternative self miss Estarra. unfortunately for you..." she reached out and with a snip of her nails cut a thread feeding the Loom that was building the Tapestry. "I've just terminated her fate."

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     Estarra woke up in her bed at one of the Inns they had been staying at, she felt odd, disconnected, like she was a square block being jammed into a star shaped hole. Shaking her head she pulled out the Relic, concentrating on it to glimpse at the timelines. Nothing happened. She shook her head and tried again... nothing. She cast a detect magic spell on the Relic, and it was just as powerful as ever, but for some reason she couldn't get it to work for her anymore.

     With a curse on her lips she put away the relic, I guess it's time to do things the old fashioned way she thought as she sought out Desina and Arredondo.

     She later found Arredondo alone in a tavern, spending his money on drink and game. The Tinker Gnome told her that Desina had left last night, something about not trusting the mage, and not willing to work for her anymore. Arredondo had stayed, but only because he didn't have anything better to do.

     She sent Arredondo out to retrieve the Darkskull for her, but endeavored to get rid of the Tinker Gnome because at this point he would be more of a liability.

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     It had taken her some time, but eventually, through the use of a lot of money to hire airships, wagons, horse etc, she had managed to get to the Temple. Upon arriving she found a large number of goblins and Hobgoblin corpses strewn about the front of the temple.

     Upon entering she found a man, performing some sort of ritual on another man who was laying down on an alter. She recognized the ritual as a sacrifice type, but it appeared that the man performing the ritual was having difficulty due to some magical augmentations the man on the table had.

     Edging closer she must have made a noise, because the man turned towards her, and attempted to cast a spell at her. Though she was prepared, she quickly released one of the Dispelling Knots on her Greater Rope of Dispelling, thwarting the other casters spell, while reaching forward channeling a Lightning bolt directly into the chest of the attacker.

     The spell was more then the attacker could withstand and he collapsed onto the altar dead. the mage went to the alter to check the attacker, but found nothing of interest on him, the other man was a curiosity though. She cast the Rope Trick Spell and shoved the body of the augmented man into the portal it created next to the alter, his modifications may come in handy later.

     The Mage, Estarra, Leyla, Time traveler, and meddler of fates, walked up the steps to the back of the temple. there waiting for her was an ancient altar, that if the proper ritual was performed, would summon the Temple of all consumption into the physical plane. She knew that if she made some specific adjustments to the summoning ritual, and performed it earlier then the Cult had originally planned, it may put them at just enough of a disadvantage. There was no reason to let the enemy get to their full power if she could do something about it.

     She looked out at the old desolate temple one more time before shutting the double doors to at the top of the stairs and beginning the ritual.

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     Leya's eyes, which had been brightly burning with the bright white light grew brighter. She looked up, a single tear rolled down her cheek as her body and that of Estarra were consumed by the blinding white light.

     Slowly the white light faded, laying on the ground was a small collection of clothes and items that had belonged to the two mages, yet there bodies were gone, even memories of them were fading, like a candle light dissipating into oblivion.