TVC - Chapter 41 - The Point of No Return

[TMS]

-"The woman you just adressed is, as Master Todd said, Mistress Lesa and the earlier mentioned Milosh is her beloved husband."

The faint, misty shape of Helena appeared next to Zaak. Her essences drained from the earlier attacks, she would barely have been recognizable if it weren't for her almost glowingly yellow eyes which still retained their strong appearance.

-"Milosh was earlier captured by the minions of Nagash and our attempts at rescuing him from the very dungeons of Nagashhizzar itself failed... and now we find that he's essentially been brainwashed to join the enemy, along with the entire Von Carstein bloodline."

As she caught sight of her mistress, Ashlotte fell to her knees in adoration, overcome with relief to see her alive and well. Helena responded to her with a faint smile, though she already knew that Ashlotte would never bear any resentment towards her,
-"My dear Ashlotte, I am sorry for putting you through such an ordeal. I hope that you can forgive me for it."

She now adressed Zaak and Jason as she looked up at them,
-"My name is Helena and Ashlotte is mine. I watched the complex surgery that you two performed on her and she seems to be in a better shape than ever before. You have my thanks."

 

[Mr Nightwere]

Jason bowed slightly to the apparition before him; the slight smile upon his face was not quite hidden, behind the veil of his dark hood as his eyes locked onto hers. He saw she was weak and in need of some assistance, taking her ethereal hand he gently kissed it as energy leaped into the sprit, rejuvenating her with spiritual energy.

As he turned to the rest of the council before him he bowed gracefully towards them, may I suggest we move to a more secure location than the worlds Edge Mountains? Through I’m sure it will be difficult to defeat us here I'm sure our allies or enemies else were, would prove to be too much for the current Von Carstien army to handle.

 

[Lord of Ravens]

Peter shook his head.

"We must make our stand here Jason," he said, before adressing the rest of the Council, "We are alone in the world my friends. Nagash and his forces wil never stop hounding us. Partly through my actions, the Empire has been alerted to the Council's existance, so we can no longer hide there. We must defend this place foras long as we can, and if possible kill the Necrach. And if not, we will have to make our peace with Morr."

Peter was not used to makinggrand speechs. He was not sure if the rest of the Council, many of whom he did not know, would except his opinion.

 

[Gree]

''Then it is obvious to me what the plan of attack should be'' Mircea said. ''Two assualts, one throught the wider pass, and another through the smaller one'' he stated, visualsing the locations.

''We will be unable to attack then with our full strength, so we sould not try and fill the pass with as much troops as possible, if we did that we whould be unable to manuver, therefore I suggest deploying in a series of line'' he said.

''I shall deploy the troops for our plan of attack'' Mircea continued. He glanced at Milosh. ''Unless of course you have any objections?''

 

[Zaak the Uncanny]

Zaak noted each name briefly, but chances are they would slip through his mind sooner or later anyway. He did note that their number was unfortunately few. He listened to their varied accounts, and made a brief bow to Helena. His head, normally clear albeit distorted, now swam with details, memories of recent events, and the connections between the two. He brushed a lock of his hair away from his face, the muscles in his chest bunching and relaxing as he did so. He heard their various opinions, formulated a few of his own, and then spoke.

"So, let me get this straight. We've all been betrayed by the lover of Lesa, who's magical power is probably unsurpassed. Then, we're betrayed by the von Carsteins because of that spell which made them join the enemy. Now, we're cornered in this cute little valley and the forces of Nagash and who knows what else are closing in on us. I've got that about right?"

Briefly pausing but not waiting for a response he strove on. "Let's say, for the moment at least, that Nagash has a pretty good hold over these von Carsteins. Now, we could try to free them, certainly. However, I personally think that it is closer to our interests to save our own hides, hm? Let's not forget that even if we do manage to break the spell, another one could be cast. Or perhaps they just kill the von Carsteins and be done with it. Or maybe, just maybe, they're still a touch cranky at us for trying to kill them, which we will no doubt do in the following few days.

"Let's consider another scenario. We leave to von Carsteins in Nagash's hands. We fortify this little valley of ours and indeed, manage to fend off this legion. Fantastic. But remember, there are always more where that came from! Nagash sends another legion, and another, and we hold them off. We manage to bunker down, fending off wave after wave. Woohoo, whipee for us! Until, of course, Nagash wakes up again, has his hangover cure and gets on with whatever he was doing anyway. Oh, yes, that's right, he was hell-bent on World Domination! Of course! Ha ha. Ah well. So much for our little valley here.

"And, just for a moment, let's entertain another theory. We scarper! We pick up this great heap of scrap metal and fly away to some far off land. Maybe Cathay will take us! Perhaps, perhaps they're a little more inviting in Lustria. But oh, what was that? The von Carsteins are coming? Oh, and Nagash is too. How lovely. They chase us to the ends of the earth and burn us at the stake. Ah well! We had a lovely holiday though!"

Briefly pausing from his insane ramblings, Zaak fell into contemplation. "Now, this may not have been the most objective spate of reasoning, but can you see where I'm going? No matter what we do, we're screwed. Forces far bigger than us are moving far faster than us and are going to be far angrier than us pretty soon. So, does anyone have a better suggestion?" He paused briefly, then mimed leaning over and listening to empty space.

"Now there's a thought. Hows about we take the offensive! We're a lovely little A-Team here aren't we! We have an ultimate mage, no doubt some serious combat masters, and me, who can probably churn out half a dozen magical swords in an hour. I say we let them think they're going to attack and destroy the Patisserie while we wait for them. We can build an army or two to distract them, but what we need is to get to the heart of the problem and kill this V'azrin guy. And how do we do that? Well, with all of us here, I recon we have a reasonable shot at that. We can tinker about trying to free the von Carsteins from their enslavement as we go, but I think an ambush is our best bet. Who's with me on this one?"

Zaak paused for breath, but as he was dead he took none. He looked around the group making eye contact with each one as he went, and waited to see how they would react.

 

[Simon von Carstein]

"I am with you." said a voice behind Zaak. The other vampires looked up as a figure shrouded in black emerged from the shadows. It was Simon's servant Nar-Zuul. The wraith looked at the demoralised council "It is most important that my master return to the fold as soon as possible." he said "He is not himself and he is not acting rationally. Nagash has somehow used the anger that my master bottled up inside as a means of controlling him." Looking over to Lesa he said "The spell must be broken and soon. Morrslieb will soon be in the right position for the divine plan. I cannot perform the necessary rituals alone only my master can do that and if is not done soon we'll have to wait another year for the right conditions. It is unlikely that we will survive another year."

 

[Trevy the Great]

"As if the Legions of the dark lord himself were not enough, the armies of the Carsteins too are too much for us to handle, especially since we ourselselves counted their armies among ours. While I hate to advocate such a plan to the esteemed council, flight seems to be the only choice."
The Council's heads turned to yet another new figure in the corner of the council room, where Requarah stood, leaning against the wall, absently twirling a curl in her dark hair.
"Oh, don't mind me, I'm not really part of the Council yet, am I?" She grinned, seeing Lesa for the first time, "Hello, mum."

 

[Count Erick]

Müller's wolf packs pounced upon the Ghouls and the battle was joined. It was a battle of animal furry, the claws and fangs of Wolf and Ghoul tearing into each other, working the combatants into a feeding frenzy.
The wolves hunger was equaled by that of the ghouls, and at certain points the fight would be entirely forgotten as the fighters quit their struggle to feed on the corpses of their fallen comrades and enemies.
Müller normally carried a pair of pistols in his greatcoat, his favorite weapons. They where loaded with silver shot in the shape of Twin Tailed comets. Normally he would reach for these weapons, but he hadn't bothered to bring them on this scouting mission.

Müller began to walk calmly towards the Strigoi Vampire, withdrawing his hands from his pockets.
It was early night, and the two moons where just breaking over the pine trees, one glowing with the reflection of the sun and the other glowing from a much more malevolent cause...
Müller seemed to almost glow under the gaze of Morrslieb, the cold mountain wind blowing over him. His fangs flashed through the collar of the greatcoat.

A Ghoul suddenly pounced on Müller, slashing with its claws as the newcomer approached the battle. The Ghoul seemed to explode in blood, its arms violently torn from its body. The inhuman wretch was dead before it fell to the ground. Müller dropped one of the Ghouls arms, but brought the other up to his lips. He sniffed it once, before biting a chunk of bloody flesh from the arm. He immediately spat the tainted meat out.
"I hope your better fair than this Strigoi!"


Müller began to move again at the Stigoi, picking up speed with each stride.
With each step his body changed, his form shifting and rippling. Bones reshaped themselves, muscles expanded and hair grew.
The first changes where to his extremities. The teeth, sharp pointed mockeries of real fangs grew with his quickly elongating snout. His nails pointed and thickened into claws.
The next shift came as the muscles of his arms and back expanded to incredible size, a hump of pure muscle with torque strength of steel cables soon arched over his back.
The heel of his foot elongated and shifted backwards even as his feet ripped through his boots.
His clothes ripped and tore as his perhaps the most dramatic shift of all spread, the dramatic growth of his entire body. The sleeves of his greatcoat, oversize as it was, ripped to shreds as the arms grew in all directions. The hair of Müller's body grew at the same astounding rate as the rest of his proportions until it ceased to be hair and became a thick coat of fur.

Burkhard Müller now galloped faster than any mortal horse on all fours, not even attempting to maintain the charade of humankind.
And yet still his body grew as the speed of his passing increased. His greatcoat was torn from his shoulders and would have reveled his full and terrifying proportions had not the extreme speed of his gait blurred the image into one of a massive brown streak.

Müller did not slow as his enemy approached, and indeed seemed to move all the faster, tongue lulling out from his befanged jaws. His mass and speed would have made him an unavoidable object for even the most lithe of beings.
The beast slammed into Graveclaw with the force of a stampeding bull elephant, smashing his massive shoulders into the equally large Strigoi.

Müller raised up on his back, recurve legs. He easily stood at least 9 feet tall and weighed five hundred pounds with a shorter and wider head than a wolf.
His back rippled, the hump of muscle behind his neck arching back as he lifted his head and roared into the night air, framed by the two moons.

 

[Kaladas Harkon]

Lustria. Lustria, you fools! The Slann are the only ones who can stem this tide!

Quezalat fumed at the Council's idiocy; couldn't they see that they would be overwhelmed? Disgusted, he stormed out of the meeting place, Larekoth at his heels.

Hearing an almighty crash and thump nearby, he instructed Larekoth to hunt. The giant Cold One sniffed across the ground, and bounded towards the noise. Quezalat saw two giant figures tussling in the night, wolves and ghouls surrounding them; having seen one beast in the Council chambers, he ordered Larekoth to attack.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

As Lesa saw her get there was an emotion rippled across her face, disappearing in a second. The combined shock of the last day had numbed her and she doubted whether she could have mustered any surprise if the Chaos gods themselves has materialised in front of her.

“So you finally show then?” The question was cold. Looking at mother and daughter, the other vampires could see that Lesa’s blood flowed through Requarah’s veins. Whilst perhaps not as stunning as her sire Requarah was still beautiful and held herself with the confidence of the Lahmian line.

“I have sent messages out for you since this whole fiasco started and I know you received them. But as usual you only give a damn about yourself,” Lesa suddenly shouted, “ did you know your father was captured and tortured?!!” The anger subsided as fast as it had appeared, leaving a stunned silence, “I….apologise, these last few days have not been the easiest. It is good to see you Requarah….”

“Family squabbles aside,” the Duke interjected, “Zaaks reasoning, whilst unusual seems sound. There seems no where we can retreat to, especially not Sylvania if all the Carsteins are controlled, as no doubt Simon left a holding force there. We can run, but if we do so then what? If Nagash wins there will be nowhere we can hide…….”

“You are forgetting one thing,” Lesa said, “did you forget V’azrin’s words, whilst he may only have control over the Carsteins at the moment he will not stop there. He plans to control all of us…………..”

 

[Trevy the Great]

"Oh I tried, mother, but I was delayed, and closer to the Duke's little castle anyway. You know that I can't send messages as well as you." Requarah smiled at her mother.
"Then we must exterminate him, try to isolate him from the remainder of the traitorous Carstein troops and annihilate the coward!" Victarias stood painfully, her wounds beginning to heal of their own accord. She looked with distaste at Requarah.
"That way we can break his control over our allies and stop his mechanization in the future. She turned to the Necromancer behind her, "Zosz..."
Zosz was gone.

 

[Ghouly]

Graveclaw was dazed from the blow and struggled to all fours, broken ribs grinding about inside his torso.
Muller pressed home the advantage, the Strigori was down "Go for the throat" his instincts screamed, with a feral snarl the werebeast lunged towards its fallen prey foam forming on its mouth. With a roar of defiance Graveclaw lashed out blindly his iron-hard talons ripped viciously across Mullers snout "Come on Mutt ssow Graveclaw your fury!" he roared.
Muller snarled in pain reddened saliva ran from his mouth.

Graveclaw bellowed and charged forwards, Muller responding in the same fashion as the two behemoths collided with bone shattering force. Muller's claws raked bloody furrows across Graveclaw's chest and face, before Graveclaw landed a hammer blow to Muller's face. The power was enough to break the wolf's jaw, causing Muller to break away with a yelp.

Graveclaw roared in bestial rage, landing three more mighty blows before Muller managed to land a return strike. Razor sharp claws tearing a bloody gash across Graveclaws neck, causing blood to spew outwards. With a gurgle roar the Strigois backed off before he bull rushed forwards, smashing into Mullers legs he lifted the Werewolf into the air causing him to land face-first into the dirt behind Graveclaw. In an instant the wolfman was back on his feet and raked his talons viciously across the back of Graveclaws knees, hamstringing the vampire.

Graveclaw's bellow of pain easily reached the ears of the council as he dropped down, his legs no longer responding. The werewolf growled as it circled around to the front, before he suddenly grabbed Graveclaws head in one talon hand, forcing Graveclaw's head to one side and baring his throat. Roaring in outrage Gravlcaw clamped his fists together and smashed them into Mullers left leg with all his might, snapping the femur.

 

[Count Erick]

Müller backed away from Graveclaw with all the grace he could muster, which consisted of falling over and scrambling away.
There werewolf glared at Graveclaw, admiration in his eyes. The scratches and lacerations on his body where already scabbing over, the regenerative constitution passed along to all his kin healing his wounds with superhuman quickness.
The broken leg was another matter. It would take around a day for the bone to fully heal, and Müller didn't have a day. His master was expecting his return and he was sure something had heard their struggle. He needed head back as quickly as he could with this injury.

The wolfish face opened its maw and uncouth sounds reverberated from the massive chest, barely recognisable as words.
"Well met, Ghoul-Prince. I have never not finished before, and if powers greater than us two where not set in motion I would relish the continuation of our struggle, but it is not so. My master beckons me, and so I must relent and retreat, tail between my legs. But, if the powers that command us are still set in opposition when next we meet, there shall be no Hand of Týr or Gleipnir to stay my onslaught."

With that Müller turned, and in wolf form bounded away into the darkness of night, the remainder of his wolf packs trailing behind.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

"We either destroy V'azrin or..........." the Duke's voice faltered off before he abruptly turned to Nar-Zuul, "you. You know of the Carstein line, of their heritage. What if the nexus was removed.....if Milosh was removed?"

At this comment Lesa's head snapped sharply up , but before she coould comment they heard the roar of Larekoth from outside, swiftly followed by a higher pitched roar that they recognised as Graveclaw.........

******************************

I see your plan as failing Mircea," Milosh replied, "to funnel our troops in thin lines against what will no doubt be a strong defence will only whittle away our troops. They are not stupid. They will ensure as many are fully destroyed as possible so they cannot be raised again. No. They have created a jail for themselves, I suggest we make it a permanent arrangement. We have gunpowder. Charges set high in the mountainside at either entrance block the passes. They only then have two choices. Stay and rot or come out where we will be waiting. What do you think Simon, Karl?"

 

[Kaladas Harkon]

His master's commands binding him fully, Larekoth bounded off after Muller, the giant Cold One's strides taking him four metres ahead with every step. Unlike the werewolf, the mount didn't have to dodge between trees or over logs, they were simply smashed to splinters. Larekoth's keen sense of smell led him single-mindedly over Muller's trail.

 

[Simon von Carstein]

"I like the idea." said Simon "Why go in when we can just wait them out." Karl simply nodded in agreement.

"Removing Lord Cromwell would work at freeing the von Carstein's from Nagash's influence however he is required by my master Lord Simon. Destroying him is out of the question." said Nar-Zuul "V'azrin is the one who must be dealt with. My master must return and soon. The night of Geheimisnacht is approaching."

 

[Gree]

''Milosh do you forget the nature of our opponets? They are immortal'' Mircea shot back. ''They have all the time in the world to wait', skeletons and wights require netheir food nor water. And blood can easily be obtained for a half-dozen or so vampires.' he commented.

''If I where commanding the enemy troops I would see absolutely no reason to attack.''

''And besides, we could only block the movements of the armies, I have no doubt that a half-dozen people could easily escape from any blocking of the pass. If the Council escapes then they will simply raise another army of the dead''

 

[Count Erick]

Müller turned and looked behind him at the sound of crashing trees and saw the massive scaled monstrosity smashing its way towards him.
Rather than trying to outrun the beast, difficult to do with his broken leg, the werewolf instead stopped and turned. Wincing as he was forced to put weight on his broken leg, Müller reared up.

The werewolf took a deep breath, his barrel chest expanding, and then unleashed it in an unearthly barrage of sound. The noise was catastrophic in intensity, volume and length. The trees of the forest shook to their roots as the vibrations smashed into them.
The Cold One halted instantly and cowered down before the awesome might displayed before it, the werewolf commanding its way into its primeval mind. The message was clear.
"Before this, you are prey."
Even the wolves that had gathered around their master cringed before the terrible beast they where bound to as its anger and pain was unleashed in a near physical force.

Finally, the sound ceased, but echoed still in the mountains and ears.
The werewolf pointed its claw at the stunned Cold One, and wolves pounced, leaping onto the reptiles flanks and back, biting and clawing.

With the wolves providing a distraction, Müller again turned and ran.

 

[Trevy the Great]

"No, I think not, wolf." A deep voice spoke loudly, halting Muller's retreat. The werewolf looked up to spy a massive figure blocking his path, an enormous kopesh clutched in its gauntleted hand. Vekarin stepped forward.
"Will you face me, Wolf? Or will I be forced to tear you apart without your consent?"

 

[Count Erick]

Müller stopped and again stood up, his anger washing over him as again his retreat was impeded.
He walked slowly towards the knight, his voice growling. He eyed the kopesh as he approached.
"Who is this that waylays me? Begone Nehekharan, or grave-robber more like, before I revenge the Jackal-God for your trespass!"

 

[Trevy the Great]

"Hah, the Jackal-god is weak. There are far more powerful deities that would weep at my passing, as if the sniveling dog before me could ever hope to fell me. I am Vekarin Banespike, wielder of the Dark Blade, and I am your doom, Wolf!"

 

[Count Erick]

"My doom?"
The wolf-creature laughed bitterly.
"Nay, you are not my doom, not one such as you. For am I not as Hati of Fenrisulfr? Am I not the first offspring of the first Werewolf in the world? Am I not the eldest of my lineage?"
Müller looked across at Vekarin.
"Can you, Vekarin Banespike make such a boast? Are you the get of Abhorash? If not, stand aside. There shall be no dishonor in quitting a fight already lost. There is no honor in suicide, only vanity."

 

[Trevy the Great]

"I shudder to think of the day when one such as you would defeat me in combat. I am a son of the fool Abhorash, now face me!"

 

[Mr Nightwere]

Jason had to admit Lesa was right, there would be no escape only time, time enough for the Von Carstines and Nagash to March on the world itself, time enough for V’azrin to perfect his puppet Milosh to control all vampires in existence. He sighed softly “You are right of course, we must make our stand here, there will be little we can do other than run only to be taken down later. Very well I doubt that any of us are going to be able to stop V’azrin he is too power for any of us, any but Lesa of course."

He looked to Lesa, he could tell she was still not quite there, a little more of her had dyed like she was being eaten away from within, he could see it in her eyes. He wondered for a moment if she would falter against V’azrin should Milosh be involved. He scowled and quickly spat the idea aside, he had known her long enough to never dough her will power she was like cold shining steel beautiful and strong and instead began to calculate the situation carefully, as his mind turned to the Wright who had appeared behind Zaak. It did puzzle him about what exactly this, 'Divine plan' was and what it might mean for his own agenda and for the rest of the council such and event such as Geheimisnacht was only for the most foul and evil of rituals to be preformed on the power in the air that night could stir the dead from there graves which made him wonder what they intended on the fateful night.
from there graves which made him wonder what they intended on the faiful night.

 

[Lord of Ravens]

"Well, if we are to strike at the Necrach, what are we waiting for?" asked Peter.

"The longer we wait, the longer the enemy has to form a plan of their own".

Peter was eager to bathe Soul Eater in the blood of his enemies again. Even though these enemies were once some of his closest friends.