Trudging Through the Flames (Helios and two medium-low characters)

Helios is here

BiC: Helios sat on a sidewalk in Faerun. He asked two other people two come on an adventure with him as his apprentices. He just hoped they came.

OoC: That's all until I see your character

OoC: That's all? That's not much...and I'm supposed to be your apprentice? Seriously, you could've been a bit more detailed. As punishment, Blackshot will be skeptical! Yeah, I'm using him. He is an amateur at combat. Oh yeah, link in sig.

BiC: The young boy, eyes blazing, walked down the heavy road, following the directions on the card. On the paved, marble curb, sat a street urchin. Blackshot saw this man muttering to himself softly..."If only, if only," the man whispered.

"Uh..." Blackshot decided to make himself known. "Who are you?" the man asked. His eyes were small and beady. "Well...I'm Blackshot. I was supposed to meet Helios here, but..." The man's eyes lit up.

"Welcome, welcome. I am Helios." Blackshot looked at him skeptically. "You're my temporary Master? But...you're just..." Helios nodded sagely. "Looks...can be deceiving." And with a snap, he was a monumental figure of light. Blackshot stared upon him with wonder.

"Uh...Master, where exactly are we going?" Helios nodded, smiling. "I'll tell you when your partner comes." And, as if by magic, a silhouette appeared on the horizon.

OoC: Hope you don't mind if I enroll Blackshot.

Originally Posted by skullkid2410

Ooc: is it alright if I join, my character, Aristo isn't that strong,and could do with some training.

OoC: Aristo approved and Blackshot approved. Let's do this

BiC: Helios looked at the armor that garbed Blackshot.
"Sacred armor, huh..." he said. "That's going to be useless where we're going." and he looked back to the shadow of a figure on the horizon. Helios lifted his hands. From them flowed two serpents made of dense light energy. They spiraled inwards toward the shadowy figure.
"Are you mad?!" said Blackshot. One of them went out when the shadow did a backflip and kicked it with a burst of fire. Not only did it stop, but it took the shape of a blob of goo. The next serpent struck in but was stopped by the crack of a whip. It staggered backwards and he transformed it, like the other one, with a firey kick. Helios turned to Blackshot.
"Just a small test. He passed, of course." Helios said with a grin, making sure it was loud enough for Aristo to hear. He turned. Both of his apprentices were there.
"Ever been to hell?" Helios said.
"No," was both of their replies.
"Oblivion?"
"No."
"...A huge pit filled with demons??"
"No," they said again.
"Well what we're going to is like hell. The Fel city of Nef'tharr to stop a dark portal from hatching. May the goddess Tymora get us out safely."
"Who?" said Blackshot.
"...Tymora, goddess of luck...?"
"Who's that?" Blackshot said again. Helios let out a sigh.
"Let's just go." Helios said rather unsagely. They traveled for hours through the wilderness.
"We need to find a forest." Helios said, looking at a map.
"What's the forest called?" asked Blackshot.
"The Forest of Trees," said Helios.
"Why would they name it the Forest of Trees? All trees have forests."
"Forests have trees?" Helios corrected.
"Duh," said Aristo. Helios let out a sigh. This was going to be an especially long adventure.

OoC: Through the Forest of Trees to find the Catacombs of Undergroundity, through the catacombs to the ancient gates of Demonland (Nef'tharr) then through there to the Portal of Portality (the Dark Portal.) Picture hyrule field from OoT, that's where they're in, except about 600 times bigger and the forest is near the middle. They just left the southwest part of it (picture that as Hyrule). There are a bunch of monsters lurking around Sixhundredtimesbiggerthanhyrulefieldfromoot Land, so be careful. Aristo, you're up next, make us fight a huge thingymerbob.

I cannot be hit by fire...Well I can but I'd be transformed into a blue blob, so I don't like fire. I cannot be hit by any type of dark energy either or a paradox would end the world that i can't explain. Use eachother's strengths, weaknesses, personalities, and appearances to the best of your abilities. Helios will give you no special treatment and he doesn't go easy on apprentices, but he knows how to treat those of the lesser species (mortals)

oops, soz im going off for a while, got a new job, so might as well replace me. i will delete my post tomorrow

Fine, there is now a spot open for whoever else wants to join.

Ooc:hey im back and I don't have to work until next week! *hands round a box of cigars* So i can stay with this thread, since my boss is my brother and he lets me go on the computer to do anything I want!

Bic: Aristo walked silently next to his new master and co apprentice. They had hardly said much since they had entered the forest and Aristo didn’t mind if they kept it that way, since this gave him time to think his own thoughts. Suddenly a snap of a twig came from their left, which Aristo’s keen hearing picked up instantly and he turned to see a giant silhouette slowly following them, and amazingly it had been able to follow them for a while.

‘Hey, guys’ Aristo muttered to the other two.

‘We know, just keep walking there is a clearing up ahead, we will climb the trees before it comes and surprise it’ Helios muttered.

These people were good Aristo thought to himself. When they reached the clearing all three instantly climbed a tree, and hid in the dense leaves, waiting for the animal.

The closer the thing got, the more the trees swayed.
‘This thing is big’ Aristo muttered, looking at the other two, who were taking out their weapons, and Aristo did the same.
After another few minutes, the thing entered the clearing looking around for the men. It was huge. It was some type of four legged creature, with light yellow fur, and a crest of bones on its head. Aristo recognized it instantly, it was a giok, a type of cat, it used its teeth and fangs to kill, and also the bone crest on its head contained poisoned, so if it head butted you, it would kill you in less than 10 minutes. But these creatures could never grow to a size like the one he was looking at.

The giok was looking around for its prey, which it had lost due to its stupidness by standing on a twig. It had lost them in the clearing but it was sure they hadn’t moved since their scent still remained in the air.

With a nod form Helios, all three men jumped at the exact same time, bringing out their weapons.

OoC: I realize I'm late, but I have exams next week. I've been studying, which comes before ZU. Always.

With a nod from Helios, all three men jumped at the exact same time, bringing out their weapons. The giok roared and shoved its head at Blackshot, who ignorantly tightened his legs, bracing himself. "Get down!" his partner hissed, running and pushing him away. "What was that about?" Blackshot asked crossly, silenced by a hand movement from Aristo. "That is a giok. Its forehead is poisoned: to touch it means death." Blackshot winced at such a grim statement, but Aristo didn't notice.

The crossbowman let out a deep breath. "Alright, expert," he addressed the mercenary, "how do we kill this... goik?" Aristo shook his head. "Giok. They're called gioks." "Yes, yes, but how do we fight them?" The mercenary nodded. "Normally, gioks are vulnerable anywhere on their body. But as you can see, this one is covered from head-to-foot in armor... unusual, really."

Blackshot's eyes lit up in understanding. "So the parts of its body without armor are weakpoints." Aristo nodded. "But keep in mind," he warned, "to stay away from the head: they use their forehead and fangs to attack." Blackshot nodded, and ran away from the scene. Aristo, confused, stared back at his path. "Odd fellow," he muttered to himself, readying for combat.

Looking at Helios, Aristo noted that the man was watching and monitoring their progress. "Must be training," Aristo realized. Turning to the beast, he took his whip and charged, feet thundering with each step. His strikes bounced off the beast, ineffectively, until finally he heard a shout. "Hey! Over here!" It came from the brushes, and sounded vaguely familiar. The giok turned towards there, just in time for an arrow to sail through the air, flying right through its head. The giok fell, dead. Blackshot rushed from the bushes.

Aristo was impressed. "How..." Blackshot smiled. "Sacred Arrows. Can pass through any substance at all." Their conversation was interrupted by a moan: "I ain't done yet." Turning to look, they saw that where the giok body lay, there was a man in a hooded black cloak, wielding a scythe. "Enter the Grim Reaper..."

OoC: Confusing...lol.

BiC: Helios shifted in front of the cloaked humanoid figure and threw from his palms chains of light that constricted the said grim reaper. His scythe fell to the ground and his robe bwas being eaten by the chains of dense energy. Helios unraveled the chains and they sank back into his palms. He shifted back and shot two spiraling serpents at the rising figure. They rammed into his chest and he went flying back. Blackshot launched an arrow. The arrow went straight into his face, through it...But the figure still got up. He picked the scythe up and charged for Blackshot. Aristo came in and did a spinning back kick to the reaper's stomach. His foot was reflected back as he fell to the ground from the powerful kick. The man still charged, ignoring Aristo's hit. Helios shifted his upper limbs into twin swords and fought with him melee. Helios shifted from a horizontal swing and hit more. Blackshot launched arrows and Aristo charged his feet with flame, charging in. He jumped and chipped the hooded head of the man with hard. The robe he was wearing caught fire. He let it burn away, not he, IT. It was a skeleton!
"Swords work not against his armor of bone, nor do arrows," Helios laughed, shifting his upper limbs to two war hammers and charged in. The first mighty blow was to the waist, shattering the pelvis completely, the other to the back of the skull, destroying what was left of it. All that was left of it was the legs.
"Gee, I hope it doesn't revive or anything," said Helios.

Cough cough hint hint nudge nudge wink wink

The battle had been short and swift, and Aristo felt like he hadn’t had to do anything. They turned around to continue through the forest, when a sudden snapping sound broke through the air. Aristo turned round to see the supposed grim reaper was reforming himself.

‘Think it would be so easy’ he laughed, a hooded cloak appearing around him again. With a click, his scythe was back in his hand, and with another click, two much, much bigger giok’s appeared behind him. Aristo had an idea, he concentrated all of his mind power into a single thought and aimed it directly at one of the advancing giok’s. The other giok, kill it, then the man behind you. The animal shuddered as though it had been doused with cold water. It looked at Aristo suddenly, and with a nod from him, turned and jumped on the other giok. This had surprised it, and didn’t even try to defend itself from it’s attack. The giok stuck its fangs into the other, killing it instantly. The carcass was flung aside as the giok turned on it’s previous master. The reaper smiled, and as it jumped at him, he clicked his fingers, making both giok’s disappear.

‘Foolish attempt. I bore of this mild amusement, let us finish this’ the reaper said, jumping forward at lightning speed, going straight for Blackshot. He brought out his scythe, so if Blackshot didn’t defend in time, he would separate his head from his body. But before the scythe had any chance to do it, Aristo had jumped to the left, bringing his hand out as the reaper struck at Blackshot, grabbing the blade of the scythe. The reaper smiled, and pushed his scythe further, thinking that he could cut straight through Aristo’s hands. But suddenly a bolt of lightning went straight through the scythe, giving the reaper an immense shock. He jumped back, seeing that Aristo’s hands were coated with some kind of liquid metal that glowed with blue energy.

‘How did that hurt him?’ said Blackshot.

‘He is sustained by magic, the true grim reaper is an incarnate of the master he serves, and couldn’t be hurt by something like that’ Aristo replied smugly.

‘So, you figured me out huh, took you long enough’ the figure said, its voice changing as he did. The figure started to change shape, and suddenly was what looked like a normal man.

‘You will meet me again’ he said, and disappeared into the forest.

‘That was fun, let us continue on our journey through this accursed forest’ muttered Helios, and they started back on the journey through the forest.

OoC: Cool -_-

BiC:
"Fun!? I almost died!"
"But you didn't," Helios said back calmly.
"But I almost did..."
"But you didn't," Helios said again, smirking.
"That fool, I already knew he wasn't the real grim reaper. Trust me, I know the real grim reaper," Helios said after a few moments of wandering around the forest.
"Do you know which way to the catacombs?" asked Blackshot as they came to a three-way crossroads.
"No...I was following you, Aristo." Helios said.
"I was following Blackshot!" said Aristo.
"I was following the path..." said Blackshot
"You're the master, Helios, shouldn't you know where it is? You've been there before!" said Blackshot.
"I never said I've been there before...I just heard it from a dark elf back on the higher plane." Helios said.
"...So you heard it from a dark elf, the most untrusted race in all of this damned realm?" Aristo cut in.
"Yes, but I prayed to Tymora earlier that day."
"Forget it...Which way should we go, my sageliness?" said Blackshot.

3 4 Learn the reciprocal.
--- ---
4 3

OoC: Eh... my sageliness? Blackshot wouldn't say something like that. Anyway, sorry for the wait.

BiC:
"Forget it...Which way should we go, my sageliness?" said Blackshot. "To the north," Helios answered with a sigh. "The Great Gate of Khazad-Dun lies there. Through the gate is the path proper towards Nef'tharr. Come, let us hesitate not." And Helios walked off. "You know, he can be a bit dramatic," Blackshot mused. As Aristo brushed past him, the crossbowman ran to catch up with his comrades.

The three marched through the thick brush, all types of animals peeking at them. If they saw a far-off creature that might cause them trouble: TWANG! Blackshot shot it down. If they reached a Dimins Hawk nest (from past experience), Aristo would cut them down with his whip. These two apprentices worked in perfect unison under the guidance of the watchful Helios. And then...

Then they reached the gate. Blackshot stifled a gasp. "It's huge," he muttered. And huge it was. There must have been 50 soldiers standing atop it, and 50 more controlling the gate. It stood over 50 feet high, and was at least 300 wide. Blackshot's knees turned to jelly. "We can't do this." Aristo smiled valiantly. "Just watch." And with that, waving his whip, he cast his powerful body into the air, cutting at the soldiers.

Helios was gone next, using his powers of light to disable and defeat his opponents. Before Blackshot could blink, his two comrades were in the fray, fighting at the foot of the gate. 'I can't let them down,' he thought, and with that, he pulled a length of rope from his pocket. Tying it to his arrow and bow individually, he aimed at the top of the gate and let fly.

On top, the 20+ soldiers that weren't fighting Aristo and Helios laughed. Loudly. "Oho! HAHAHA!" They turned to look at Blackshot, and noticed just a moment late the length of rope. "Oh..." Then Blackshot was swinging in, and two of them had lost their heads. Literally. "Oh, kid, yer goin' down!" And Blackshot attacked the top of the gate, while his companions took the bottom.

But just when things seemed to be going in favor of these heroes, something totally unexpected happened: the gate swung open. And emerging from the opposite side were seven humongous, grotesque trolls.

“Crud” Aristo muttered to himself, finishing off the last solider near him and facing the trolls. They were much, much bigger than the gioks in the forest. Aristo jumped back for cover away from the troll, determined not to be one of the first squashed by them. There came a cracking sound, followed by a scream. One of the soldiers had been stepped on.

“Better him than me” Helios shouted, who had jumped back as well. There came another crack and scream as most of the fallen soldiers were stood on. Suddenly one of the trolls yelled, and fell over dead. Aristo looked at it. It had a gaping hole in the side of its head. He looked up to see Blackshot smiling, already loading his crossbow to shoot another. Aristo smiled. He wasn’t going to let him had all the fun. He ran to the nearest troll, and brought a flaming boot to it, dislocating it and making the troll fall over. As it landed, Aristo summoned a ball of lightning, and shot it straight into its eye, killing it. Aristo turned from his kill to see that Blackshot had dispatched another three, and Helios had… well, completely eradicated one. The last had seen what had happened to its comrades, and turned to flee.

“He’s mine” Aristo shouted to the other two, who nodded. Aristo pushed his hands together forming another ball of lightning, and then pushed it to his chest, where the lightning froze instantly. Aiming for the trolls head, Aristo let the ball fly. It was going for a direct hit, but as the ball passed under the gate, the ball exploded, making ripples in an invisible barrier.

“A barrier? Well can’t say I didn’t expect the gate to be guarded more than guards and trolls” Aristo mused to himself. Aristo and Helios walked to the gate, and Blackshot jumped down to the ground to inspect the barrier as well.

OoC: Very good ideas

BiC: Helios nodded, saying how he'd known the barrier was there.
"Enough about that, though, there is an amassing army on the other side that we must stop. Demons are still flying through the portal, we must stop all of them. At once." Helios said, shifting his limbs to twin swords.
"To break the barrier, we need to attack from both sides," said Helios, shifting his atoms through the barrier. There was a huge army waiting for him to reform, but suddenly one of the demons in the back went berserk. It started to thrash about and attack anything it saw. While all the demons were staring at him and trying to calm him down, Helios shifted both of his twin swords to a free limb and a hammer.
"Aristo, on the count of three, smash the portal where I smash it right when I do. If it works, It'll cause a scar in the portal, allowing you two to climb through. Put all your power into it. One.." Helios said and Aristo reared his foot up and back. "Two.....Three!" on three, they both smashed the portal as hard as they could in the exact same place. Aristo felt Helios's solid hammer-limb touch his foot, and he knew it worked. Aristo and Blackshot jumped through. The demon that freaked out lay dead on the ground in front of them, and they looked up.
"Oh yes, I didn't have time to think about how we'd survive the gigantic army of demons." Helios said. "What a pickle."