The Frozen King Awakens (Phoenix City Chronicles)

Nurse looked down at the city, a wild grin on her face as she gripped the railing tightly, the only part of her giving away the fear she felt in the pit of her stomach. "Looks like we're in for one hell of a ride!" she called into the raging wind of the blizzard.

Down below deck, Cellus kept her place beside Tal. Upon hearing the sailor's call, she instinctively reached for her fellow grasslander's hand, "C-can we do this?" she asked quietly, fear evident in her voice.

Reaching up to gently clasp her hand, Tal's eyes snapped open, and he turned to smile warmly at her, "A wonderful story for our children, this will be."



Meanwhile on deck, Knuckles rushed out of the hull with an anxious look, "Guys, we got problems!"



"What else could go wrong?," Brother Light blinked incredulously.

"Kaylea's not waking up," Knuckles' voice jumped an octave, "It's like she's having a bad dream and I can't snap her out of it!"



"Didn't she have that prophetic vision before?," Burk reminded him, "Perfect timing for another one though..."



"It's now or never guys," Zeaken shook his head sadly, "If we don't attack before his cannons spot us, we're as good as a flying target."

Looking back to the rest of the crew and his firends that started to make their way to the top deck,

"Well i guess we shall have to go in and hope that she will wake up in time for us to move out. If anything else we will have to just hope for the best."

Looking off to the horizon the castles and cannons glinting from the suns rays,
'All we can look forward to is getting in there unnoticed.'

Nurse peered down at the fortress, "The question is, how exactly do we go about gettin' in there? Its not like they're gonna have valet parking for us," she called to the others.

"Our children..." Cellus murmured, smiling weakly at Tal. She was silent for a moment, before a determined look spread across her face. She stood, still holding her lover's hand "Well, we'll just have to make the best story they'll ever hear, now won't we?"

"Well spoken," Tal grinned, following her out onto the deck, "How goes the siege?"



"We're a warrior down and soon to be spotted by the cannons if we don't act quickly," Brother Light informed him.



"Then let's act quickly," Knuckles took a fighting stance, clearly ready to literally jump into action, but Zeaken placed a hand on the feisty youth's shoulder.



"This may require a bit more finesse," Zeaken grinned, "Where is that Fox anyway? Has anybody seen her?"

Looking to the people as they all were wondering where the newcomer is at, he shakes his head,

"Well i was down under the ships hull and when i came up here i didnt see her so i have no idea where she would be at."

As the ship started to lurch forward,
"Well i guess we should be on our way to the grounds, else we will be spotted here, and none of us will know what we will do."

Nurse looked around, "I think I saw here go into her room, I'll go get her," she said, dashing off to find the missing girl.

Cellus shivered in the cold wind, "I think it would be easier to get in if we didn't have such a large vessel," her eye's lit up as she turned to Cerys, "How far do you think you can shadow jump?" she asked.

As Cellus asked the question, he thought for a minute,

"Well i havent actually tried to measure it, but i know roughly that where i can see i can most times get to it in a jump. Are you thinking that i should jump everyone to where we are wanting to go."

Glancing over to Zeaken,
"Well i guess if we did this we can save him some repairs to your ship."

'This is goin to be interesting... first time ive tried to jump more than one or two people at a time.'

Zeaken breathed a genuine sigh of relief, which caused Burk to smirk, causing the khamele in turn to get defensive, "She's a sensitive girl! Not meant for all that banging about..."

Cellus nodded, "You wouldn't be doing it alone, both me and Nurse would ba assisting you. But we'll need to know exactly where to go. This is no time to get seperated," she said, looking around to gage the other's feelings.



At that Nurse came running out of the hull, "We got a problem, I looked everywhere, but Miss Foxy Lady is MIA."

Standing up straight and tall, Zeaken addressed the crew, "Alright guys, it looks like Gerdheim's under standard martial law, which is bad for all of us. Each of the whopping three gates into this city is protected by over a dozen armed men, all in a berserker rage at best, and if we get past them, we contend with one of several possible ugly beasts designed to keep out intruders by way of, well, ingestion. If by some miracle we bypass that, we're looking at a series of trap doors I'll have to wrack my brain to remember the combination to, and in all likelihood Feusang has changed them. It's grim, but with our combined skills, and a lot of luck, we might just pull this off."

Glancing to Zeaken as he let out the most optimistic speech hes heard him say,
"Well i guess then we should head for one of the gates, any idea on which one we should check out first."

"And as for taking out the opponents at the gates i guess we should have the upperhand if they are all looking, we should be able to suprize them."

"So which one we gonna start at? We can't flip a coin for this one," Nurse said, flashing a wry smile at the others before going back to looking at the fortress.

"Nurse is right, I think we should go for the least guarded, less we're seen the better," Cellus added.

"Another way, perhaps there is," Tal rubbed his chin in thought, "Disable by myself, a small army I could, where Mason could do the same, and surely fall the other gate would at the hands of the others."



"Tch, quit callin' me that," Knuckles grumbled.

"As saying I was," Tal shook his head, "Once secured the gates were, possible it would be to seal them off, sealing Feusang in. Force him to come out of hiding and into the open for an easier battle, this would."



"It's brilliant," Brother Light laughed, "Suicidal, but brilliant."



"We might be majorly underestimating this guy," Burk countered, "I mean, look what he did to Knuckles and Tal already."



"Knuckles and Tal were weaker then," Zeaken noted, "We've all buffed up, and like I said, it's now or never."

"Well i guess we can try to seal them off without having to fight them, why not shadow jump past their defenses and then seal them on the outside and us inside with Feusang. He wouldnt have any of the reinforcements to call upon, and all of us to do with him."

"However there are only a few of us that can get past them somewhat efficently, but we all need to be there in force to seal the gates."

Tal looked to Cerys, "If into the lion's den you walk, by his rules you must play."



"We weren't exactly in his backyard before either," Knuckles pointed out, "This guy's gonna be a monster wherever we fight him."

"All the more reason to draw him out into the open, this is," Tal retorted.



"Guys!," Burk interrupted, "This is getting us nowh-!"

At that moment, the ship was rocked by cannonfire.



"Safe to say Plan A is out the window," Brother Light quipped.



"My ship!!," Zeaken fumed, manning a cannon and returning fire, "Take this, you icelandic assholes!"

When the smoke cleared, there was a clear entrance in a wall that hadn't been there before.

"How's that for a way in?," the khamele grinned sharply.

~~~~~~~
Gerdheim Cannon attacks Sunset Arrow
~ 3 + 5 Attack + 10 Cannon = 18 total (-8 hp)

Sunset Arrow attacks Gerdheim with Fire Attack Cannon
~ 13 + 10 Magic + 10 Fire Attack Cannon = 33 total (blows a hole in the wall of the castle)
~~~~~~~

The member 'Narrator' has done the following action : Roll Dice:

'd20' : 3, 13

Nurse shrugged, "No time like the present!" she called, grabbing Burk by the hand and dissappearing with him into the shadows.

Cellus looked around and took a deep breath, "Well, we can't just leave them," she said with a small smile, taking Tal's hand and putting her other hand on Knuckle's shoulder, dissappearing into the shadows as well.

~~~~~~~~
Cellus/Nurse use Shadow Jump
Location: Inside the fortress

Watching as each one went ot the shadows,
"Well Brother Light, i guess you and Zeaken are the last ones."

Looking to Zeakens direction,
"Well i guess its time we all departed for the castle."

Placing a hand on Lights shoulder awaiting for the response from Zeaken,
"We must leave in haste to get there, everyone else has gone."


~~~~~~
Cerys Executes Shadow Jump
Destination: Inside Fortress with group

As Cellus, Knuckles, and Tal arrived at one end of a strange jungle room, Tal began looking around, a faint glow to his eyes, "Nearby, our allies have materialized, but also something evil."



"Hey Burk! You there man?!," Knuckles shouted across the room, giving away any chance at stealth.



"Yo!," Burk shouted from the other side, where he and Nurse had appeared.

Cellus tried to clap a hand over Knuckle's mouth as she saw him about to speak, but was too late. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh, instinctually scooting closer to Tal as she felt the same presense he did.



"Idiot!" Nurse hissed, smacking Burk on the shoulder, "Shut it! Can't you tell we're not the only ones in here?" she whispered, looking around warily.

The jungle room was vast, tangled, and eerily familiar. Even without the ominous presences that hung somewhere in the distance, the room itself seemed to have the taint of evil to it.

Of course, as Cellus scooted closer to Tal, she saw something that clearly became someone tangled in the nearby vines with a twisted root staked through his heart.



The corpse which had once been Vincent hung still, drained of all blood. Of all life. It would seem that, with Jacen clearly working for Feusang, the demon had finally gotten his grisly revenge on the man he hated most.

Cellus let out a choked gasp, clapping both hands over her own mouth in a desperate attempt to keep herself from screaming at the top of her lungs. Her eyes wider than one would think they could get, she shook violently, making small gurgling noises in the back of her throat. Plants were supposed to bring life, who dared to use tham to bring such a horrible death?

Seeing Cellus overwhelmed with fear, Knuckles and Tal turned with a start to see what the trouble was.



"Jacen," Tal whispered with a sad, yet definite, tone.



"That bastard's gonna pay," Knuckles whispered his concurrence, clearly disturbed by the fate of the wavering vampire that had once been such a loyal friend.

Meanwhile, as Burk flashed Nurse a sheepish smile, she suddenly heard a voice in her head that seemed so convincing...

"He's going to kill somebody with that sword at the rate he's going, and it might not be your enemy. Maybe you better take it off his hands..."

~~~~~~~
Enemy uses Suggestion on Nurse
~ 13 + Magic 30 = 43 total (must match/beat or do as suggested)
~~~~~~~

The member 'Narrator' has done the following action : Roll Dice:

'd20' : 13