RP- The Shroud descends

Ella swooped down into Temor, riding atop Marvel. "Good girl." She said, patting the Pegasus and hopping down.
On the ride over she had remembered a spell she learnt long ago. It was to send out a signal from your location to whatever creature you desired. Ella could use this in the future to call Marvel back.
"Off you go then." Ella said, confident she would return. The Pegasus neighed and flew up above her, yet didn't seem to keen on going far anyway.
Time to find Lark then. She wandered around Temor, yet saw no sign of anyone. Well all she could do was wait. She leaned against a tall tree and let the time tick by.

 

Ugos finally arrived at the first trial, and read the stone plaque- the Eye of Night.
An ominous cavern loomed ahead, and, not having actually experienced the trials before, he hesitated. What was in there?
The Orcish shamans loved conjuring monsters, crafting devious traps and generally being sadists. He cursed his race's love of war as he walked inside.
First off, it was pitch black. Not surprising, seeing as it was a cave. Secondly, there was another presence in here... Ugos felt a shiver run down his spine.
As his eyes wandered in a futile effort to see, something opened. Or rather, an eye, as expected. It was a luminous, gigantic excuse for an eye, but it was definitely attached to something...
It's pupil saw Ugos and a deep rumbling filled the dusty air.
'Grrrrrggghhhhhhmmmmmmmmm...'
Suddenly a crash sounded and a burst of light appeared from a new hole in the ceiling. At last Ugos could see his foe; he wished he couldn't. It was a huge insect, made of solid granite!
//cue epic music
-Subterranean Insectoid 'Terrant'-
Ugos drew back his arm as a pincer came swiping at him. While it hovered briefly in front of him, he released his sword arm to wound the pincer, drawing an unearthly shriek from above. A leg appeared on the floor; then another. And another. Oh yes, another one. You guessed it, there's another leg! What's this? ANOTHER LEG?! Finally the earthen monstrosity heaved it's torso down, and glared like a demented pet of a cyclops at Ugos. Drawing a hidden knife from his boot, he threw it at the eye. His aim was true, but at the last second the creature lifted a stone claw to deflect it, right back at Ugos! It flipped into the clay beside his shoe, and without missing a beat, he recovered it. They circled each other, Orc vs. Giantic Wierd Insect Thingo, until a multitude of pincers came flashing down towards Ugos' head. He raised his sword defensively, but one of the onces managed to cut a chunk of his shoulder out. He gasped in pain, but continued fighting. Next, he tried to do a feint; he reached towards a leg and went to cut it, but at the last moment he flung his knife at the eye again. This time, off guard, the beast was struck in it's single eye, and it reeled back. In a fury, it stomped the ground around the cavern, disturbing and drawing out hordes of disgusting, blind, earth dwelling bugs that slithered around the room in a rage.

Dancing around the room like some mad tiki drummer, Ugos managed to dodge the insects, but the big kahuna (or cocoona, ehe) was still focused on murdering this infiltrator. It heaved it's body forwards in a body slam, crushing it's beastly children and almost flattening Ugos himself. While it's body as in the floor, he lifted his arm as green light pulsed through it, unearthing a stalagmite beneath its abdomen, pinning the monster to the ground. It used a great deal of energy to cast it, and Ugos sagged a little as he made his (careful) way towards the furious stone bug. A mandible clashed as he sidestepped it's mouth, but Ugos managed to dodge it at the last second. Then a pincer came arcing down and clipped his left hand, drawing blood. Ugos wiped his hand and grunted, before clambering onto the beasts bloated body, raising his sword, and impaling the eye, causing a great shower of green bug-juice to paint the earthen arena.
A rumbling noise came from the floor, and a hole opened, with a ladder in it. Ugos climbed down the ladder to get to the second trial.

 

"No, we're equal anyway." Lark walked off to Temor to find Raven, Ella and Aspathe.

 

Raven finally arrives at Temor after a few minutes of walking slowly.

 

"Hello Raven," Lark whispered out of nowhere, "What news do you bring?"

 

"Well, Fort Reave's joined us now, what about you?" Raven asked.

 

"Nothing much, the Saurians have accepted. Apart from that I got kidnapped and I was going to be executed but Light saved me, just another day right?"

 

"Heh, yeah." Raven said.

 

"Where are Ella and Aspathe?"

 

"I have no idea, maybe they're on their way back?" Raven said as he shrugged his shoulders.

 

"Well, I'm going to wait until they arrive here."

 

Ella noticed Lark and Raven had finally arrived. She wandered over to them from her spot by the tree, Marvel flew down to walk beside her. "Hey you two." She said. "We have the help of the Elves. How did you get on?"

// you don't actually have to say :3

 

"I got kidnapped and nearly executed, how about you? We have the help of the Saurians and humans."

 

Light leans back on his shack and thinks. *Everyones getting stronger.. I gave up my humanity..What else can i do..* Light steps up and runs at a tree and kicks it cutting half way through it but it breaks his leg. Light screams in agony and snaps his leg back so he can at least walk. Light limps over to his anvil and furnace outside of his shack. Light sees a gauntlet he's been working on and continues to hammer away at it while sitting on a rock with scorn by his side.

 

Lark walks over to see Light's limp, "boy, stop trying to make yourself more powerful by fighting. It doesn't come from the outside, it comes from with in, look I don't really have much of a soul either, but your heart still beats," Lark started to vwalk away.

 

//Didnt lark go away? Temor is a good distance away Lawlawlawlawlawlawl... o-o
Light stares at the back of Larks head and grips his fist till it bleeds.

 

"The offer's alwys open," Lark said. "It's your choice."

 

"...Just get Ugos over here sometime soon.." Light said while going back to his workshop.

 

"He should be back soon" Lark said before hopping on Grimclaw and flying away.

 

As Ugos descended into the murky depths, a rank smell pierced his nasal cavities...
He shuddered at the thought of what it was. Finally, his feet touched a slimy surface. A dim glow radiated throughout the cavern and he could just see a sign in front of him; "Tr al t o - t e h de p th"
The sign was coated in a gooey substance that seemed to omit the repugnant odour. As he walked around, he began to notice small potholes in the ground that emanated a green light. One time, he almost fell in one and he saw a suspiciously skull-like object inside.
Shuddering, Ugos continued.
Then he came across a ravine. He could faintly see the other side, but the gap was huge. He tried to conjure a bridge, but for some reason it exhausted him and nothing happened. Some kind of trickery was going on here.
He tried throwing a slimy stone in. It didn't fall immediately. It sunk in mid air slightly before plummeting to the acidic death that would surely await below.
Next he threw a larger stone at the same spot. It sunk slightly faster but still went down. He realised now what the sign had read - the Hidden Path. There was an invisible path here, but it was made of some kind of quicksand. It was a long drop and a wide gap... could he make it? Realising there was no point returning, he decided to risk it. He jumped straight for the slimy pathway and prayed. It worked. He had a somewhat slimy footing. But he was sinking. With effort, he sluggishly moved along towards the other side. He had a few steps to go when disaster struck. A long tendril came down from the ceiling and knocked him down, so he was half above the path, a quarter in and a quarter out the bottom. Panicking, he looked woozily below, where green lava stuff was swirling around like sharks below a cliff. He instinctively grabbed the tendril, which had many thorns, and painfully pulled himself up. With bleeding hands and legs, he released his grip when he was about above the ledge. He fell and as he was about to make it, the tendril returned to knock him back!

He flew back a good 5 feet, before he realised he was going to perish. With the remainder of his energy, he took out his sword and pierced its molten blade into the side of the cliff. He was about 10 metres from the top. How would he do this?

His answer came as his sword began to shine bright blue and red simultaneously. a part of the rock melted and was sliding down when it was frozen, creating a handhold. This was going to be a dangerous game of rock climbing, Ugos though grimly.

Eventually though, Ugos was up, bleeding, exhausted, slimy and sweating.
But the trials were far from done.