To all...<br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">First off, sorry for the extreme delay with this post. Working in two new characters, figuring out how to salvage a battle that suddenly is MUCH tougher two people who poofed on me, and a very, very busy couple of workweeks have sapped much the desire I had to work on this. <br/><br/>That being said, now that I've got everything worked out, got our two new character's sheets and backstories, and have figured out a decent enough way to bring them in...it's time to get this thing back under way! Thanks for the patience.</div></div></div><br/><br/>To Jermayan/Akiada...<br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">I wanted to give you two a little bit more of an intro, but unfortunantly, given the delays this game has already come under, it wasn't really possible. My apologies for not allowing you a few posts to kinda work out personality kinks and give a little interaction - It wasn't an option at this point.  You'll be given the opportunity soon enough...</div></div></div><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold"> As the battle rages on, elsewhere others are stuck in the endless cycle of the pocket-dimension maze, walking the same pathways over and over... </span><br/><br/>It was difficult to tell how long Asulf and Teran had been wandering the same passageway, but one thing was for certain - a change of scenery would be welcome by now.  Minutes stretched into what felt like hours - Hell, it might have BEEN hours by this point - but there was no progress, no sense of change, no way to gauge the time in this un-natural series of corridors that just repeated over and over. Attempts to devise some sort of strategy , figure out some sort of pattern in the endless hallways, always met with failure. Markings made on the walls vanished. Attempts to backtrack met with frustration, as changes made to rooms, such as tumping over barrels or changing the layout of things, simply ceased to exist the moment the duo passed beyond another doorway.<br/><br/>It was frustrating to say the very least, and worst of all - it was unsure how long they'd be trapped in here. How far did these endless hallways, endless rooms, stretch?<br/><br/>Much like the rest of the Brightblades sent in to end the strange ritual taking place, Asulf and Teran's party ended up scattered, each corridor whittling numbers down as the predominant thought of 'One of these passageways will eventually be right' split the small squad thinner and thinner. There was no telling HOW many other squads had met with the same fate, but at least for the moment, Asulf and Teran were sticking together, as per the orders of their group leader, who'd split off with a small band of others some twenty minutes ago. Or had it been an hour? Two? Who knew, anymore.<br/><br/>One thing was for sure - this sucked.<br/><br/>Corridor after corridor, room after room, the duo kept on, seemingly stuck in an endless spiral that kept working them deeper and deeper to an unsure fate in the maze of pocket dimensions...<br/><br/>...When, simply out of the blue, the scenery changed. One more corridor, one more doorway that should have led to another corridor that looked the exact same as all the rest...but no, this was different.<br/><br/>Immediently, the musky scent of age-old decay assaulted the duo's senses, like old rotted wood mixed with the scent of a tomb that had been sealed for ages. Still, it was something different - a welcome change after being caught in the endless cycle of corridors.<br/><br/>The interior of the room was littered with tiny alcoves and nooks, just large enough for an average-sized person to squeeze into if they really wanted...and in more than a few of those nooks, lay ancient bones, undisturbed for years upon years. That, at least, indicated what that musky smell was....<br/><br/>Unfortunantly, the two were only able to examine the room for a few brief moments, as the moment one of them moved forwards even the slightest bit....the entire floor gave way beneath them, sending them both plunging downwards into darkness that the ever-burning torches of the room above did very little to illuminate. What they DID illuminate, however....was a shifting, black mass at the bottom of the sixty-foot drop, and upwards-pointed wooden spikes that seemed pock-marked, and eaten away by time...or perhaps that thick, black ooze at the bottom of the pit. There was little time to think on it, as the two plunged downwards to their doom...<br/><br/>*SlrrrrrrpPOP*<br/><br/>After a brief twenty-foot drop, Asulf and Teran feel a sudden slickness spread across their faces, like stepping - or falling - into fetid, slimy swamp water. The sensation was brief, but with it came a sudden sense of vertigo as their downwards momentum was changed to a more sideways momentum....and the spikes below seemed to dematerialize right before their eyes, as did the rest of their surroundings....<br/><br/>Bright light suddenly fills their eyes as they are thrown bodily into a torch-lined room,  and fall some fifteen feet from the ceiling...<br/><br/>Into a pile of mats, thankfully cushioning what could have been a much more painful fall.<br/><br/>Asulf and Teran lie in a pile of snake-body, fur, and armor, tangled up amidst their decent, but thankfully alive - and unimpaled. Their new surroundings were thankfully brighter than previous - a large room with everyburning torches that lined the walls, and more than a few of these strange mats placed out on the floor, all pointed towards a statue of a half-human half-wolf girl holding a sword and shield aloft. The old, moth-eaten mats hinted at just how old they were - and how long they'd seen any amount of use.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">*RAAAAAAAWR!!!* </span><br/><br/>"FIRE! SHOOT HIM!"<br/><br/>*Twing, twang, thunk....*<br/><br/><br/>"RAAAARH!"<br/><br/><br/>The sounds of battle echo from the nearby passageway - it sounded like a damn warzone! Grunts and cries, and the sound of one very angry bear, reverberated down the hallway...<br/><br/>There was no telling WHO it was fighting, but at least it was somebody....maybe they'd been lucky enough to find their way to the ritual? Hopefully, with allies ahead, instead of foes....<br/><br/><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">Teran and Asulf entered the room that Brady, Cragsplitter, and Sunete just left, on the same round the three of them took off down the corridor. This will assume two rounds for Teran and Asulf to join the fight if they so desire (They can potentially get there with this post, if that is what you prefer to do....and next round, you can act). More or less, you can take 3 rounds worth of actions - running to join the fight will be three of them, or you can spend a round casting spelling, or...not even join the fight at all, and simply investigate. You have no idea who is fighting, and will not until you can see them...</div></div></div><br/><br/><br/>To everyone....<br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">You have seen each other 'around'...you might not KNOW each other, but you've seen each other in the Bright-blade's holdings before. There is very little chance of mistaking them for an enemy on sight, despite the number of mercs in the company, and diversity of races. How you actually play it all out is up to each of you individually.</div></div></div><br/><br/><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold"> Part 1 of 2.... </span>