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</div><br/><b>Name:</b>Maleficent<br/><b>Location:</b>Black Keep, Unknown<br/><b>Tagging:</b>None, heading for Pochahontas<br/><hr class="bbc-hr bbc-hr--3"/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#6b8e23">Great stone pillars supported the weight of the vaulted ceiling, which soared above the circular room. The stone is clearly ancient, worn smooth by time itself and dark with age. There is only one door leading into the room, and no windows to provide light except for the wide balcony opposite the door. The doors themselves are imposing enough, ten feet high and arched at the top. The doors are made of dark ebony wood, so old they almost appear to be carved of stone. The images carved upon the doors seem innocent enough, until you begin to inspect them further.<br/>
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The bottoms of the doors are decorated with rolling hills and forests, meadows of flowers and gently flowing brooks and streams. Until you begin to truly stare at the scenery.  Mixed among the seemingly picturesque nature images, are bodies, twisted and screaming in agony. They are so expertly carved into the natural landscape that it takes a good deal of looking to immediately spot them. Anyone who approaches the door will inevitably raise their gaze higher, only to be greeted with more and more gruesome scenes.<br/>
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Beyond the hills and forests rests a great maze of thorns and vines.  The maze serves as a magically fueled shield to protect what lies at the top of the image. Any who wander into the maze, rarely venture out again. The blood thirsty flora, reach out to entangle any poor soul brave enough to try. Even in the carved image, the bodies of unwary souls could be seen, impaled upon the massive spiked plants.<br/>
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Above the maze, nestled into the highest peak of the doors, sits an elaborate and sinister castle. It is of course, the very castle in which the circular room resides. The twisting spires and spiked parapets give the castle an air of foreboding, only heightened by the sinuous form snaked around the base of the building. A massive black dragon, curled protectively around the base of the castle. The beasts eyes were set with glittering chips of Citrine, the artist had shaped them in such away they almost seemed to follow any who approached.  <br/>
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The doors serve as a reminder to all who approach, that the mistress of this place is not to be trifled with. The doors can be an intimidating warning to guests, to really question why they have come to this place to face the woman on the other side. If the image upon the door is any indication, the castle that it depicts is a truly menacing sight to behold.<br/>
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The Black Keep is rumoured to exist entirely on a plane of its own. The keep appears, seemingly at random, always in the distance of some small town or village. Throughout the decades it has been seen in various parts of Europe, most recently appearing in the mountains outside a small French town. It has shadowed the town for the better part of two decades, though the townsfolk swear it has always been here, which is exactly what the owner wants. The Keep and the surrounding lands are protected by potent magic that causes fear to become almost unbearable in any but the very brave, or the very stupid. It effectively prevents the average human from approaching the Keep.<br/>
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Those that do make it past the first barrier of magic, rarely make it past the grasping thorns. On the very, very unlikely chance a determined warrior makes it past all the magical defenses, a very nasty surprise is waiting for them at the castle.<br/>
<br/>
The one resident of the dark castle is almost as ancient as her home. Centuries old, and possibly more menacing than her foreboding home, Maleficent is clearly not human. Inside the circular room, at the centre of the Keep and near the top of the tallest tower, she sits upon a throne carved to look like twisted and mangled forms of those she has manipulated and destroyed. She is a tall, lean woman with pale green skin, inhuman in appearance and an unnatural perfection. Most of her form is hidden under swirling black and purple robes, including a rather intricate looking cowl that frames her narrow face. Two horns protrude from the cloth, looking at first as if they are part of the design, but are in fact a part of the woman. Her eyes are a deep golden color, similar to that of the dragon upon the door. The fingers, steepled beneath her chin seemed oddly elongated, each digit boasting an extra joint.<br/>
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Her entire visage is made even more eerie and inhuman by the flickering green light shining up from the floor below her. Her cat like eyes, travel across the circular stone floor, her pensive frown slowly curling into a malevolent smile. The smoky image of an enormous chess board covers most of the floor. It is clearly a creation of magic, the lines seeming insubstantial and ghostly. The green light appears to be coming from the entire creation.<br/>
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Instead of the usual chess pieces found on a board, these pieces seem oddly detailed and intricate. Every single one depicted a different person or creature. One of the pieces was a young woman, swathed in a robe and carrying a basket, beside her was the hulking form of an enormous wolf. A few places away from them, a woman was doubled over partly changed into some sort of beast. Near her two men, one with a bow and another with a wolf at his both seemed to be following her. In a far corner of the board were a man and a woman, exotic looking, wearing clothing more suitable to a desert. There were dozens of unique pieces, clearly symbolizing a player in whatever game Maleficent had planned. The piece that Maleficent had her frightening gaze pinned to, was a young Native American woman with a lost expression. This piece slid a few spots, indicating something that seemed to please the woman watching the game.<br/>
<br/>
Maleficent rose fluidly to her feet, her robes swirling unnaturally around her narrow frame. The material clung to her body, slowly dissolving to a mist that completely encompassed her form. After a moment the mist swirled away from her, and in place of her once tall and lean human form stood a small black fox. The little creature had the same golden eyes and soft black fur with a silver tipped tail. It watched the board with a decidedly gleeful expression before flicking its tail slightly.<br/>
<br/>
A gaping black opening twisted into existence beside the fox. Casting one final look over the board and the players that danced upon it, the fox trotted through opening without hesitation. The portal snapped shut behind the small form of the fox, the room immediately plunging into darkness. The game faded away without its mistress’ power to maintain it, leaving nothing but the ghostly after image of her unsuspecting victims.</span>