A battle for souls (parts 1 thru 4 of many)

Crypto and Elektra had just gotten finished setting back the Yuan-Ti summoning in their temple when Heartwarder Morrigan wandered upon them. Perhaps by chance... perhaps to some greater purpose of the gods or undergods. Soon after Morrigan's arrival, the very ground shook and clove in two and horded of minions of the Abyss poured forth. The three fought valliantly, Elektra and Crypto, back to back. Morrigan was unfortunately separated and encircled early in the fight. Eventually the numbers proved too great for the trio and one by one, the two ladies fell. Furious and desperate, Crypto read an inscription and fled to the Ethereal plane... he watched over the bodies as the Demons seemed to begin to march back into the ground towards their layer... but alas, they already had what they wanted... Elektra and Morrigan were dragged into the Abyss slipping thru the clutches of Crypto's strong hands, ethereal and in vain.



Distraught and beside himself with regret, Crypto followed the sound of laughter as it twisted it's way into the very earth. He threw himself in after but found himself too bulky to press on after them easily. For perhaps half an hour he trudged and forced himself into crack and crevace following the feint light of a rift that was open in the Abyssal womb of the world. By the time he pushed his way through, exhausted and flopping on the ground like a side of beef... he looks up and see's the damage done. The infernal image of his love, pledging allegiance in marriage to a fiend of the Abyss, Atonius, and offering herself in place of her love of old, the Heartwarder. Confused and in shock, Crypto could only watch on paralyzed as they spoke. "How could he strike down even Demonkin, if the woman of his heart loved him?"



It was when minions of the Abyss charged and started tearing and cutting into his love when Crypto unloaded the fury of his blade into all before him. Nearly smote himself... he somehow managed to lay waste the Abyssal hordes and the ladies got him back safely to the prime material plane. He checked over the two angelic ladies with him... Morrigan more or less unscathed... Elektra as well save for a dark ring she bore on her wedding finger. Crypto's heart dropped and he would fall to his knees.

"So it's true... you have been wed?"

Elektra looks at it a bit dumbfounded and takes it off and tosses it into the ferns...

"Twas naught but demon lie's love... if you would, I will marry you right here on the spot!... Heartwarder... would you perform the ceremony?.... NOW?"

Crypto's heart which was shattered and in ruins in the pit of despair became elated and filled with new hope and promise of a joyous future at his lover's side until the end of his days... and if the gods would offer... beyond. The Heartwarder married them, both nude under the warm rains and vibrant moon.



They exchanged endeared and fond vows from the spirit and shared hearts even until the sun rose over their favorite outdoor meeting place, 'Lover's Point'. At times, tears streamed from each of their eyes. Crypto for his part fell to a knee and spoke of the oath of his love with the reverence and unbridled truth of the grave. Serenity and warmth bathed Crypto's heart.

"You may kiss the bride"



Upon getting Elektra back to the Honeymoon suite of the Homunculus. Elektra seems pale... eyes not able to focus... she passes out in his arms and warmly Crypto thinks to himself.

"Plenty of time for our honeymoon celebration after you have regained your strength from your recent ordeal"

He lays her comfortably in bed and getting ready to lay down beside her in a warm slumbering embrace, he kisses her forehead... and then her hand. His eyes bulge as he gasps... his heart cracks in two...

"What's this? This foul ring has returned even though I bore witness to you casting it aside and I was wed to you in the stead of this demonic dreg?!"

He tucks her in and makes straight away for the one friend he knows that may be of aid in this dark mystery. He heads to the Theatre despite the bad blood he and it's proprietors have had in the past. He sucks in his pride and seeks out the lore master and fond friend of his... Elvewyn.

///Thanks Kraneia for the wicked fun event and ensuing intrigue. Anyone part of this mini event or any of the ring event's feel free to glom onto this first post of mine. I have a little for part 2 and part 3 will be whatever befalls the troup in the RP tonight. Siked!

Iwean was on his rounds and noticed a large amount of foot traffic going to the new theater. Not having thing real pressing decides to stop in. No sooner does he arrive he's wisked away through with a group of people, some he knows and some he just meet. The next few hours are but a blur.....

(((let me leave a cordial reminder... if you were not part of this RP or didn't IG RP with someone that was, please don't meta. In the end, *spoiler* we defeated the evil and the curse was lifted... so... ya know... this is for richness and grooviness of the game and again I thank all the players and DM's involved... even the ones Crypto murdered in cold blood and kicked into the freehaven chasm =) sunshine and rainbows people! )))

As Crypto walked down the long hill riverside where the falls nestled the sparkling new and magnificient architecture of the Dancing Moon Theater, he gasped and sighed with mixed emotions. An old flame he once sang songs around the Freehaven community fire with mentioned once how she'd like to start her own little playhouse. A lovely and dark lady... long since passed... her memory, another chapter in his turmultuous life brought forth a stoic resolve. Not the first love to have met her untimely doom... but by all the gods and undergods... IT WILL BE THE LAST!... The irony and desperate purpose played games in his head as he walked quickly down to the riverfront and saw the bridge across the brook leading from the falls, over which the Theater stood looming. Almost with the recoil of a vampire, he was hesitant to cross. Would he meet a blade's end and his blood wash away with the sweet water of the river? Would tempers flare and all turn against him and his attempts at reconsiliation and resolution be futile? When hope faultered, a friendly voice calls to him from across the river.



"Aluve Crypto! A messenger said you were coming. Why all the guile and subterfuge friend? Please, come see our welcoming and joyous theater. Have drinks, enjoy song and merriment!"

Crypto's heart heals over the worry and confusion at the sight of his old friend Elvewyn. He smiles and offers a friendly palm up in greeting, but does not yet step foot upon the bridge... fore what trouble plagues him may bring shadows unannounced to this place of calm and enjoyment.

"So good to see you elf friend. I have been meaning to visit here for a long while, I know my love has been spending time here in your theater and I've heard many good things... but alas. I have had an outfalling with your proprietors in times long past and I've not been brave or humble enough to show face. I must tell you... it is you I seek for guidance under most important and troubling circumstances. I come in good faith, but I wish not to cause anyone any undue distress at my showing." He stands at the edge of the bridge as if it's a chasm over which to take a leap of faith.

"Nonsense Crypto, this rufuge of drama and delight is as much mine as anyone else's. Come, I will show you around and get you your favorite drink."

Crypto nods humbly and follows across taking a deep breath and passing up the hill close behind Elvewyn. They enter the daunting thick wooden doors and enter the fourier where an opposing looking guard and voluptuous weapon check girl meets them. Crypto quirks a soft brow to the weapon check woman and hands her his great sword with a warm smile.

"Hello pretty miss, they pay you good here?"

With a hidden dark dagger in the back of his belt and a thin wire cord, good for slicing throats in the night, coiled up in his pocket... as inconspicuous as a piece of candy, he notices Elvewyn getting ahead and follows. They walk into a barroom dance floor as big and as epic as any he has ever seen in the height of prominence and wealth in Ormath. There are people there drinking and speaking amongst themselves.

"Crypto, did your lady like the ring?"

His heart falls to the floor as if he found himself in a circle of fiends.

"What RING? What have you....?!? "

Crypto notices Elvewyns eyes go wide and him stepping back as if Crypto was a livid looney. Elvewyn speaks calmly.

"The ring you commissioned me to craft when you pledged your love for her" Elvewyn still looking at him funny.

"Ooooohhh... shite friend" He laughs flustered..." I thought um... " he scratches his soul patch in thought...

"Um yes, she liked it very much and wears it to this day. But I am here on the matter of another ring... please show me around, then I will get to my true business with you here today."

Kevros and Amy and some other folks are having some heated words, but Crypto is following Elvewyn who shows him about the premises for the next while... the bathes, the guest rooms, the stage, the basement... until Elvewyn's keen ears hear Amy beckon him from upstairs and Crypto follows him to see what it is about. As they come up nearer to the bar and dance hall... every 7th word or so is "ring".... "blah blah blah"..... "Ring!".... "gabba gabba gab".... "RING!". Crypto feels more uneasy with every step...

((to be continued... gabba gabba gab gab))

//Very well written so far! Can't wait to see the writing of how this played out. Hopefully you decide to leave a certain death scene of a certain wizard out of the screenshots. Considering I was the first to die and within maybe 2 minutes, I'd prefer if we could just sweep that under the rug.

roadtoday wrote:

//Very well written so far! Can't wait to see the writing of how this played out. Hopefully you decide to leave a certain death scene of a certain wizard out of the screenshots. Considering I was the first to die and within maybe 2 minutes, I'd prefer if we could just sweep that under the rug.

// Yes sorry for more ooc, but well written just like in the past.

Kevros and Amy and those gathered at the barroom of the Theater are speaking in intense tones. Crypto not always the sharpest match in the box, doesn't really get it until attention begins to focus on the ring Kevros bears. Elvewyn beckons to get a closer look, but Crypto pushes past and tries to grab at Kevros's hand to see if he is losing his mind or if indeed it is the very same ring Elektra was branded with on her trip to the Abyss. Tempers flare...

"And you!.... your devil woman attacked a helpless Adela as she was unarmed and locked up in a cage." Kevros steams at Crypto... at some point in the night hitting him with a mind whammy so potent, few gods could resist.

Crypto is blindsided by the information about Adela, but he begins to peice together the rumors that she also bore some recent demon curse. Arjay mentions the Demon Prince... Amy nods in agreement. It is said that the ring can be tossed aside but it will return in a matter of hours if not minutes. Crypto's eyes go like pale slabs of stone. Tonan enters and just when Crypto's thought he's found a bottom... he realizes he needs to tuck his pride even further away.

"What's all this then?!" Tonan asserts as he enters upon the scene. Crypto lets the folk there speak their mind before approaching Tonan. Arjay and Elvewyn get to heading up to Elvewyn's private chambers to scry the ring and look for answers. Crypto despirate and edgy is not allowed to accompany them. So instead he approaches Tonan with an offering of peace.

"Hey... Tonan... I wouldn't be here if this curse didn't befall my love. Can we go somewhere and talk?"



Elvewyn's success entirely out of his hands... Crypto follows Tonan's lead outside and down by the river front where Crypto pleads his plight, makes his apologies, and makes peace. Tonan will not share his drink, but his words "Follow the rules of the Theater and there int gonna be any trouble." was just fine enough. Crypto B'lines for the Homunculus, fore he know's Elektra's perdicament before she does and there is much work to be done to make this right.

As he turns the bend of the cobbled path to Freehaven center he spots a slave trader he's done light business with and barters for the sort of chains crafted to keep an ogre subdued. Upon acquiring these for a pretty sum of coin, he heads straight for the red light district to have the cuffs lined with fur to make the hard days ahead all the more bearable for his love Elektra.

He takes a deep breath approaching the Masters room at the Homunculus, no idea what to expect. He puts a keen ear to the door and hear pacing and murmuring coming from in the room. He enters slowly and finds Elektra alone and in a daze in her night gown. Eyes distant and cold, but she turns to him and embraces him warmly as if nothing is amiss.

"My love! Adela knows what happened to my baby!!!"

As if either of their hearts could bear any more... he remains soothingly calm and tries to lead her to the bed, sizing up the strength of the bedposts to hold her fast.

"Czar my sweety? Are you sure?" His eyes intent on her, she's pale... a bit livid. He gets her to sit on the bed.

"My Lady... I am going to need you to trust me here on out." He notices her idly twisting the demonic ring on her finger as she babbles half paranoid. He tells her about the Demon Prince curse... takes off her ring and stows it in a lock box just in case it may afford her a short time of peace. She actually seems more coherent from it's removal for a while, but alas 20 minutes later it returns.

"They tell me the ring replicates upon anyone it is gifted to. Also... it is going to take you over in a day or two. It pains me to do so... but m'love. I am going to have to lock you up for safe keeping until we can get to the bottom of this and destroy the force that has been blighted upon thee."

With only a fair amount of convincing, she agrees to be bound to the bed. He's prepared strong sedative tea for her, bed pans, wash cloths and linens, fruit, bread and dried meat to sustain her. She is in a daze and thinks it's another of their pet games.



He lays next to her, speaking softly fond rememberances of their time together... dreams of their keep overlooking a river and nestled in a vale among wild flowers and old forest... caressing...embracing... she falls asleep. He immediately puts his in depth training as a locksmith to use and fashions no less than 5 dead bolts wtih locks on the inside to the door and three more on the outside and checks and triple checks each one. He rests next to his bride for the remainder of the eve... a honeymoon of plight... until there is a soft knocking at the door. He gets up and notices all his armor and weapon splayed out on the floor, he beckons sharply...

"Who is it!?" he grabs a candleabra from the night stand and puts his ear to the door to try to count how many people are breathing out there.

"It's Ylia... I heard Elektra is in trouble. I thought I might be of some help."

*click, clank, thimk, shamk, cruck* five locks twist rapid and he parts the door only enough for a small framed woman to squeeze through.

"Oh thank gods... please come in. Now is when she needs friends most."

He tells her all that he knows... warns her about her paranoia... what would happen if the ring spreads.... how she may act in a matter of hours.

"Please keep watch over her... I despirately need to meet with some of my business associates, lest all our plans begin to fall through the cracks."

Ylia agree's and curls up in a chair with a book to read softly over a slumbering Elektra.

"Oh and if she stirs... give her some special tea from the pot."

*ShaZuck, Wrank, Clampk, Shutckt, Wronk!* five locks opened from the inside *Shimp, Shampkt, Clobkt!* and three from the outside lock tight as Crypto goes a bit down the hall and wanders to find his business partner.

"Ah Mister White... I am sorry for my delay. I have been a bit incapacitated of late. Please join me in my office." He leads Mr. White to the Wedding Suite where they deal in whispers about who knows what underground operations... trafficking, black magic, revolutions... only the maid saw them go in... and whatever rumors she will speak is anyone's guess.

After trading some odd scrolls for sordid purposes and setting up new avenues of trade with Mr. White, Crypto returns to the Master's chambers to an eerie calm. Not simply the calm of Elektra sleeping off the concoction of Passion Flower, Catnip, Red Clover, a touch of Tekkil milk, and a splash of Dreammist that he's been brewing all night and offering it to her as a sedative... no, Crypto's ears are tuned like that of a wolf's... the kind of calm where the crickets stop chirping... the mice stop pattering their tiny claws to the wood beams inside the walls... the kind of calm where one can hear their own heart beat.

He's not slept in over 28 hours, so regardless of his eerie unease, he tries to take the opportunity to lay next to his bride to get some rest before this all get much much worse. He thinks of a fine chateua carved into the side of a great bluff overlooking a brook running down falls into a lake... his wife dressing a sucking pig for dinner, Crypto chopping wood for the stove nearby, and a young blonde boy whos face he cannot recognize but he knows who it is and his heart lifts... playing with toads by the water's edge. He drifts off to sleep...

*tap.... tap.... tap... tap.... scccraaaaattttccch.....sccCCRRRAAaaaattccch* on the door.

"Oooogluung OoaaHGhlooong NoooonNahhnglooonGAhrannngloooon Ooo-ooohreegreeees!" from outside the door... some fiend was drawn right to their room as if called by unseen forces. It turns the handle and starts to rattle the door. Crypto's eyes take on the anger of a ticked off cave bear and flash iron filled blood red.

"Yer not getting in here and we're not coming out... so you'd best leave or say your last rites." Elektra awakens and stares straight up at the ceiling, eyes paralyzed, and glassey with a cold hue to them.

"NaAAAhhhnNaaaAAAhngAhhhhRoooooooohnnng OooooohnGleeeek Ooooooo-OoohKUuhltooos Ooo-OoohkoahrKheeees!" The fiend pulls hard rattling the door. Crypto tries to calm his wife, her back begins to arch and she starts to tug her ankles and wrists against the chains. Crypto tries to lay across her midsection to keep her down as she starts to wrench and flail her body underneath, lifting him off the bed two feet and and then some.

"By the hallowed justice of Kelemvor, LEAVE!"... it is no use. For 20 agonizing minutes, the scratching grows louder, the door rattling off it's hinges, Elektra growing more and more fevered by the minute... Crypto leaps off the bed and grabs a heavily enchanted scythe which was leaning on the wall and against his better judgement, unlatches all the dead bolts and flies into the hall like a vengeful spirit. What awaits him out there is more surprising than he could have imagined.

"YOU!?!" Crypto's eyes quirk in a pissed off panick as he recognizes the red eyes glowing out from under a black robe who's hood is held off his forehead by two smallish goat horns. " Mr. BLACK?! ... What in the F**! is the MATTER With... " The fiend tries to leap past Crypto to gain entry into the door cracked open behind him where Elektra is writhing and buckling and spitting fumes.

Crypto clamours the hilt of his scythe to the fiend skull so hard one of it's horns cracks in half and splinters... it falls to the floor, an unsavoury black mist rising from it's wound. Crypto drags it into the Wedding suite and binds it fast to the bed poles at the foot of the bed. Locks Elektra up and away where she begins to calm as the fiend is subdued. He knows this fiend... he knows it can speak rudimentary common. When it slowly comes to, he deals with it in the manner of an interogater flicking the pointed tip of the scythe with his thumb.

"Now then, Mr. Black... the VERY NEXT words out of your mouth, IN COMMON, are a goona be what you are doing here and WHO SENT YOU! Or I swear on the very THRONE, Ima gonna hack off your head and toss it into the chasm and your body into the incinerater!"

The fiend hisses a putrid green mist at him. "OOo-Oooh-Khreees Ooonglahhg NAHhNahnRooohnGAaahnNooohlgggk!"

Crytpo's eyes narrow visciously, he stabs the blade slowly into the fiend's left lung and twists the blade mercilessly to open it's chest. Black roaches and a few small black scorpions scurry out of the wound... Even Crypto's constitution was tested at such a foul sight.

"Ohhhh Shhhiiiiiite!" He hacks at the fiend and stamps at the vermin... hacking and stamping and clubbing until fiend twitches lifeless and passes and the vermin scurry off in all directions and fade into wretched shadow as the fiend's soul flees back to whatever foul pit it came from. Crypto rolls the carcass up into a rather expensive carpet and drags it down the stairs, out the back alley and to the edge of the chasm.



He unfurls the carcass out of the carpet into the chasm of Freehaven and spits as it falls. Breathing heavy and frazzled he makes back for Elektra and finds her sitting half up with a randy grin... eyes wild yet almost lifeless. He almost doesn't recognize her... she speaks with dripping sweetness.

"Dear Crypto... I would Soooo like to take a nice walk among the wild flowers and feel the sunshine on my face. Doesn't that sound lovely?"

They trade words... Elektra speaking warmly about talking a nice walk intermingled with hints at wishing to drag all those around her to the Abyss... Crypto tells her of his dream of their family at the Chateau on the side of the lake and forces her to drink the pot of sedative tea. When she's rather drugged up proper... he unshackles her to give her a well needed bath. Spit and froth and sweat cover them both and noone's getting any rest in this condition. Bath time turns to lovely dovey talk... talk turns to caresses... one thing leads to another and if Crypto has a chink in the armor of his will... his weakness is how easy the love for his wife can turn to sheer lust. He partakes of some of the narcotic tea as well and the next thing he knows... he's fallen asleep and awakens to find Elektra on top of him, pinning him to the bed... in her lucious infernal form... eyes of hell fire and black wings wrapped around his torso squeezing the air out of him.

"Betrayer of all ancient and that lay before me. . . traitor of the realm . . . despised of even the lowest. . . a fool before all . . . and a disgrace . . ." She licks his cheek with a spiteful serpentine tongue. Her words come from her mouth in self accusation, both fury and hate.

" Behold what I have BECOME ! . . . Worthless and foul . . . . I shall throw my worthless body into the Abyss . . . you and i. . . we shall not go alone !"

Crypto knows he's in VERY deep at this point. Why the lust weakness... WHY the narcotic tea. There is only one thing that can turn this situation around. One precious key to unlock the dark gate and let in the light. Their love... he must remind her. If she is in there ANYWHERE... she will hear... if it is true, they may be saved. If their love is not as strong as an Orcus curse... then perhaps his soul is better off in the Abyss with her.

"All have bear for you is love and desire my sweet dark princess" he holds her tighter in his arms even as she smothers him with her strength.

"You are stronger than this... more potent... than them.... fight! For your soul's fate... for our love"

His eyes glowing a divine hue, as he tries to muster strength for them both. Widened at the prospect of what may yet be unleashed. They speak back and forth... he can already tell SOMETHING inside her hears his words. His will and the love light in his heart, versus the black undeath and demon curse branded on her finger... perhaps one thing Antonius did not account for... He'd have to defeat TWO souls... not just one. He talks her down... she crumples to the floor in tears. Fraught with guilt, rage, delicate helplessness... he convinces her she needs to get back into the shackles and that this will all be over soon.



(((Disclaimers and credit where credit is due -- Thanks to White Rose for the exquisite "Erinyes in Chain's" portrait... Mr. Black and Mr. White for your inspiration of the storyline and yes, I took a bit of liberty with the story cause 1. My memory isn't what it used to be, and 2. to shorten it up and keep it thick and rich while not straying too far from what actually happened in RP over the past weeks. The very next installment is when we actually FIGHT the damn thing. Thanks for your patience, your audience, and your kind words! Butterflies and Buttercups people! Cheers)))

The moment of trial and truth

Elektra seemed to awaken from a nothingness and loss of time , only to see herself standing nd t to Morrigan, the Heartwarder who had surprisingly shown up just as hordes of demons attacked.
Elektra's ice blue eyes beheld the scene where they stood, instantly realizing... They had died ... And this place... Was the moment of truth... Here the God or Goddess whom each claims to have served in life, would either come for them , to take them to an everlasting place of that deity... Or .... Other , less desirable fates would come.
Elektra waited eagerly with Morrigan, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sune , the glorious and beautiful when She would come for Morrigan. Elektra was yet unsure of her own fate.
The entity that arose before them, was a massive dark figure , eyes beaming out from black shadow.
"Ya know, Morrigan, I really thought She would look different! I mean, THIS is not the Sune I was expecting !"
Morrigan grimaced at the figure and agreed."
It was then the Abyssal one called Antonious demanded that one lady take his ring in marriageand return to the lands of the living and the other ... Had to stay in the abyss forever.
Morrigan insisted that she was already wed to Bel.
Elektra , once having had deep affection for the Heartwarder, compared her own value and life to Morrigan's.
"Well, ya she is married , but then I used to lover her too, before she traded me off to some one like two farmers trading a cow..."
Morrigan scoffed , as she hated that analogy.
"ya and well how could I love you if I am already in love with the one she traded me too...so , hey , I will make a deal ,.... I will take your ring if you will let her go!" , Elektra pleaded.
No sooner than Antonious agreed, Elektra changed form before all their eyes... Where silken blond hair had been , shining black locks of the Erinyes appeared as dark divine feathered wings spread out before Antonious.
The powerful voice came forth from the lips of the winged temptress.
"you can never own me! I am proprty of far greater power than YOU!"
Antonious waved a hand at her words, saying,
"He may have your soul, but I now have your body !"
And with that , Crypto arrived, the struggle ensued, and they all "escaped" the way Crypto had come down.
Back in fresh air again, Elektra, threw the ring of abyssal filth away !

n her mind, she knew words , deals and agreements of the Abyss were lies, deceptions , and not worth a goblin's grunt. Once free of the stinking darkness below, she threw the ring as far as she could.
That is when it hit her... The Heartwarder of Sune was there with them... Dark forces had almost robbed Elektra of her life and freedom... Crypto had bravely and selflessly struggled with every sinew and muscle to save her... AGAIN... Yes, Everything was in place. . Yes, it was time... She turned to Crypto and proposed they marry ... Their engagement had been long enough.
As she spoke her vows from her heart , Crypto smiled as Morrigan raised an eye brow at every other phrase.
Maybe not typical vows , but honest ones.
Elektra spoke freely and openly of her love and their lives to come ... And Morrigan raised both eyebrows.
Yes it seemed that Crypto and Elektra were an excellent match ... Of twists , demented views, passion , faith , honor , respect and crassness , mixed with nobility and a touch of innocence... Tainted with wreckless fun.
Marriage was a new beginning ...
... Yet before yet another nIght that would make a Sharressian blush ... Odd thoughts began to creep into her mind ... And that Ring! It was back on her hand again!
Ideas , darker and blasphemous swirled through her mind ... Her eyes glinted around in suspicion of the many plots against her .., so so many !