The sun peeked over the battlements of the fortress of Kahn. The soldiers stared up at the sun as it crossed the horizon with a glint of hope in their eyes. The day had come... As the sun reached higher into the morning sky more and more of the battle field where these men would meet their fate was revealed. They were all shivering, some from cold, some from fear, and some from anticipation of the battle. The silence before the battle. Then a sound was heard. Like elephants stomping over the ground. Then the sun rised up a little higher and the enemy was revealed. They all knew the war had started when their first man fell to an arrow...

g

Lord Beaux of Durmstrang Keep sat atop his griffin as his hordes rushed across the field to the fortress of Kahn the Warlord Terrible. "Come on, men!" he shouted, and twenty mighty griffins bearing soldiers rose into the air as one. They swooped down onto Kahn's fortress, wielding their mounted crossbows with deadly efficacy.

Kahn, known as the Warlord Terrible, was a servant of the Dark Queen Nuitara, the goddess of evil. A year ago, Kahn, leading an army of a hundred thousand men, had swooped down over the Southern Realm, swiftly conquering all in his path. Now, the dozens of lords of the northern, eastern, and western realms had banded together to reclaim the Southern Realm from Kahn. That war was only the beginning of what history would call the Never-Ending War. . .

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An optimist is someone who stomps on the floor and calls it tap dancing.

Khan was worried, when he saw that the attacking army was swooping down out of the sky, but he used his magic to start a thunderstorm, and managed to keep the majority of enemy troops from making it into the castle walls. However, the troops that did manage to get inside quickly began battling...

Lord Beaux had sent his griffin-riding general into the castle. He remained outside, picking enemy archers off the walls. Suddenly a mysterious thunderstorm came up. Winds buffeted him, and lightning crackled, barely missing him. He had to get off his griffin!

Landing on the castle walls, he ran inside. He would find Kahn himself, if need be.

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

Kahn frowned. His magical vision told him of an attack within the castle. He had only a few dedicated defenders with him, as the rest of his hundred thousand strong army was scattered about the Southern Realm.

He prepared his spells, donned his armor (made out of blackened bones, woven by magic), and put on his skull helmet, rushing out of his chamber.

------------------
The metaphysical nature of this energy field commonly known as "the Force" is such that it is galactically pervasive, with the potential of becoming omnipervasive, or even modopotent.

Lord Beaux had found himself lost in the narrow passages of the fortress. He had his invisibility bracelet on and was swiftly and easily moving through the guards. Suddenly he heard a large bang, and the guards in the castle ran out the way he came. Now the lord had a decision to make. Left or right? As he was pondering on the idea Kahn passed right by him in his full armor and skull helmet.

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

Kahn was running as fast as he could. "This may be my last war," he thought. Still, Kahn wound his way through the narrow passageways and staircases until he came upon what seemed to be a solid wall. He tapped the bottom-left of it and ran inside. Before him stood his loyal, majestic green dragon. It's scales glistening in the light of the moon from the hole in the ceiling. Kahn grabbed his reins and headed towards the dragon.

confusion, kahn tapped the bottom left of the wall and it swerved sideways and opened up =)

Meanwhile, Lord Beaux was searching the castle for Khan. As time went on, Lord Beaux began to get tired from staying invisible so long. "I've got to find a hiding place where I can rest," he said to himself. He turned back the way he had come, and so a blank wall at the end of a hallway. His trained eye automatically saw the magic switch at the bottom-left corner of the wall, and he pressed it.
**********
Khan was harnessing his dragon, preparing to take flight and attack the main army of Beaux, when the door suddenly burst open. Lord Beaux materialized out of nowhere, as his magic wore off, and fell to the ground. Khan went to kill him while he slept, but just then there was a loud crash and a shutter, followed by the cries of battle from inside the castle. Then, there were voices outside.
"Hmm, this hallway is strange. It just ends suddenly."
"Looks like there could be a secret passage behind here."
"Stand back I'll give it a good whack with my club."

Kahn raced back to his dragon, climbed on and took flight, just as the secret door caved in, and troops began pouring in. b When they saw their leader asleep like a baby, they stopped their charge.
"How'd he get in here?" one of the soldiers remarked.

The soldiers slapped Lord Beaux out of his stupor. "Wha- Where am I?" he asked groggily.

"Sir, we're in the Warlord Terrible's fortress!"

"Oh, yes, of course, I knew that," Beaux responded.

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

Flying up high in the sky, far above his stronghold, Kahn steadied his dragon in mid-air. It was a shame that his dedicated castle guard would be destroyed, but sacrifices were necessary in the pursuit of survival - particularly HIS survival.

There was a weak point in Kahn's stronghold, a weak cornerstone in a protected alcove that only Kahn knew about. If an assault of sufficient power were launched against it, the cornerstone would be destroyed and the entire castle would collapse.

Kahn let loose a magic missile that homed unerringly towards its target. There was an unearthly silence as the Warlord Terrible held his breath.

Then his beautiful bastion fell in a thunderous crash that momentarily deafened even Kahn, as high in the sky as he was.

------------------
The metaphysical nature of this energy field commonly known as "the Force" is such that it is galactically pervasive, with the potential of becoming omnipervasive, or even modopotent.

Lord Beaux was a survivor. Before every battle he would think of every possible outcome and have a trick for avoiding dangerous obstacles.

He didn't expect the fortress to come crumbling down around him.

"Mi'Lord, looks like we've won!"
"Don't get your hopes up, I think this is Kahn's doing."

Lord Beaux face was scrunched up in frustration. How would he get out of here? Out of desperation he called for his men to follow him, and ran blindly down the corridors. He came upon what looked like the wine cellar of the fortress.

"In here!" he shouted.

All the soldiers hurried as fast as they could.

"What about you mi'lord,"
"I'll go in afterwards now HURRY!"

There were 10 more soldiers to go, when suddenly the foundations collapsed and the castle fell down around Lord Beaux and his soldiers.
*******************

A dwarf soldier of Lord Beaux parried with his war hammer away as the drow (dark elf) warrior of Kahn striked with a finely edged sword. The dwarf was slow and clumsy the dark elf mused, I will toy with him. The drow took the other sword out of his sheath using the ancient two-hand fighting style of the dark elves, the dwarf stared into his eyes. They were dark voids, not a glimmer of emotion the dwarf noted. Every time the dwarf tryed to strike, which he rarely got to he was always on the defensive, the dark elf would do a deft parry at the last possible moment. "Enough of this" the drow said. His swords weaving in and out, the dark kin of the elven sliced from both sides, the dwarf parried one, and the other finely edged enchanted blade slided through the dwarfs neck like a hot knife through butter. As the drow turned around he saw the magnificent spectacle of Kahn, Lord of darkness, land on his green dragon.

(keep in mind, not all of Kahn's soldiers are dark elves and not all of Beaux's soldiers are dwarves)

"Ah, good!" Kahn said to himself as he landed his green dragon. "One of my Praetorite Guard has survived the crash."

To the drow he ordered, "Find the other survivors and tell them to retreat! We'll regroup in the Calak Mountains - my cousin Yorick is there with twelve thousand of my men in the Rankok Castle!"

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

When Lord Beaux and his men had been excavated out of the ruins of Kahn's formerly glorious stronghold, they were told that Kahn had fled, yet his surviving warriors had formed an orderly retreat south - heading for the Calak Mountains.

"Well, then, saddle up the griffins and horses and hurry to catch them! Kahn has a castle in those mountains. Reinforcements are sure to be there. We must intercept him before he reaches it!"

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

The straggling survivors of Kahn's now-decimated Praetorite Guard were mercilessly ordered to keep marching towards Rankok Castle by the drow, as Kahn led the way on the back of his green dragon, gliding through the sky.

Suddenly- "Halt!" the drow snapped. His sharp elven ears had picked up a sound. He listened-

They were just over the foothills of the Calaks. All of a sudden, thousands of hoofbeats could be heard as Lord Beaux's army charged over the hill.

The drow and all of his men looked to Kahn, at a loss as to what to do. "Surrender," Kahn ordered grimly. "That alone can keep you alive and ready for me to rescue later."

And with that, Kahn spurred his dragon far ahead of Beaux's forces, heading towards Rankok Castle.

Behind him, his men threw down their weapons and raised their hands. . .

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

Kahn landed his green dragon on the battlements of Rankok castle, still clad in his black skeleton armor. "You!" he shouted to the nearest guard, "Go get your master Yorick! Tell him that his cousin is here!"

No simple soldier would have dared to disobey the Warlord Terrible, so he rushed off.

Ten minutes later, a light brown-haired man with black eyes in armor as slickly red as fresh blood came out: Yorick.

"Yorick," Kahn started to say. Then he stopped. Maybe it was the glint in his cousin's eye, or the slight shift of his hips, but Kahn drew his sword just in time to block a heavy blow from Yorick's warmace.

"Yorick, what are you doing?"

"Why, my cousin, I am simply doing as I am entitled to do. I have been your lackey for too long. Now I shall be master of the Southern Realm!" And with that, Yorick smashed Kahn's head into smithereens. . .

------------------
The metaphysical nature of this energy field commonly known as "the Force" is such that it is galactically pervasive, with the potential of becoming omnipervasive, or even modopotent.

"It seems the tables have turned," mused Lord Beaux," I never expected drow, of the famous and reputed best fighters in the land,Praetorite Guard to surrender to such a pitiful enemy such as I"

"Spare me your small talk human," and the drow who had killed the dwarf, Kalavar spit in the human's face.

"Guards take this drow and his companions back to our castle, he will experience torture unlike anything he's ever experienced.

"HA! You think your crude devices are torture? They merely tickle. I have been through the torture devices of my homeland, in fact it is a test for manhood, and your machines are childs toys compared to the drow."

"We will see..."

"You know what another test for manhood is in my homeland? Our skills in magic."

With that Kalavar tossed some sand into the air and casted a spell which made 10 copies of himself, and they all ran in different directions out of the area. The swift, cunning drow weaved in and out of the guards, unnoticed as the copies of himself confused the humans. Kalavar sneaked around the large crowd to where a horse stood, unmanned, quickly untied the knot connecting it to its owner, and walked the horse into a big line of shrubs.

"Let him go," he heard Lord Beaux say, "One won't make a difference."

After minutes of waiting, the coast was clear and Kalavar headed in the direction of the mountain fortress.

Yorick smiled. Now, he was ruler of the Southern Realm, master of a twelve-thousand-man army, and avenger of Korsta.

He smiled bitterly. Korsta, his sister, had been killed by Kahn when she betrayed the location of his secret fortress to Lord Beaux. Yorick served the Dark Goddess Nuitara, just as Kahn had, but he loved his sister.

--------------

Kalavar had been traveling for days, but he finally reached Rankok Castle. "Open up!" he yelled, pounding on the gates, "I am the only member of Master Kahn's Praetorite Guard to escape!"

After an interminable silence, the gates creaked open. Kalavar stepped inside - and froze.

Standing before him were Yorick and a dozen armed men. None of whom seemed particularly welcoming.

As they started forward, Kalavar ran back out of the castle. Yorick had betrayed and murdered Kahn. The Warlord Terrible was dead. What could Kalavar do?

He would betray the location of Rankok Castle to Lord Beaux. . .

------------------
The metaphysical nature of this energy field commonly known as "the Force" is such that it is galactically pervasive, with the potential of becoming omnipervasive, or even modopotent.

Kalavar raced away from the castle as fast as his legs would carry him, using his magic to deflect the stream of arrows coming from the top of the castle. However he was growing tired. Just as his magic was about to wear off, the green dragon of Khan flew down between him and the castle. Arrows bounced harmlessly off of the dragons scales, while Kalavar climbed on to it. A few arrows managed to penetrate the great beast, but he simply ripped them out with his massive claws. They took flight and Kalavar, who, because he was a drow, had the ability to talk with dragons, thanked the dragon and asked exactly how the current situation had come to be. They flew onward towards Lord Beaux's camp while the dragon explained how his master had died.
***************
Soon, they reached the camp. The dragon landed, and Kalavar climbed off the beast as men from the enemy army ran for their weapons. Kalavar called out, "Wait! I have some information that would be most valuable to your leader. Besides, if you attempt to kill me, my dragon will reduce this camp to a smoldering pile of rubble."

Lord Beaux was summoned, and a conference was set up in his personal quarters. Each man entered the tent unarmed.

"Well, what is this 'valuable information?'" Beaux asked.
"To begin with Khan has been betrayed by his cousin, Yorick. Alas all that remains of him is a bloody corpse. Yorick has named himself ruler of the Sothern Realm. He is currently at his castle with a good 12,000 men preparing to attack. I alone know the location of this castle."
"Tell me whare it is, you slimy runt!" Beaux demanded.
"I will," Kalavar replied, "if you return to me my men."

The lord sat sullen-faced for a few minutes as he thought it over. "Very well, I will agree to that, but you must promise me that you will stay out of this territory for the next season, that I will have no interference whilst I prepare for my attack."
The drow agreed, and soon left Lord Beaux with his army, already making plans on how to double-cross the warlord.

Kalavar and what remained of Kahn's once-proud Praetorite Guard returned to the ruins of their fallen master's fortress.

Kalavar, having been the leader of the Praetorite Guard, knew that Kahn had had a plan to secure his immortality and his throne. He was going to find out what ultimate power was and then find some way to get it.

In the ruins of the castle, Kalavar found a scroll in what remained of Kahn's chambers. One cryptic sentence was on it.

It said, "I, Kahn, have discovered what ultimate power is; ultimate power is-"

----------------

Yorick had decided not to send any parties out to capture the rogue drow, figuring that a single dark elf could scarcely do any harm.

Of course, that was before he had heard the sounds of Lord Beaux's twenty thousand-strong army marching through the mountains. . .

[What will Yorick do? Will he flee Rankok Castle? Will he defend it to the death? What about Kalavar? What does the rest of the sentence say? What is ultimate power?]

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An optimist is someone who stomps on the floor and calls it tap dancing.

We are pleased to announce the avilability of a new dental insurance program. This program is scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2001, providing that the minimum membership participation requirement is met. Enclosed you will find an outline of the benefits and an enrollment form.

Um. . . excuse me, but is anyone going to post?

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An optimist is someone who stomps on the floor and calls it tap dancing.

[This message has been edited by Dark Lancer (edited December 07, 2000).]

Then, since lordvader's post made no sense it was ignored...

Meanwhile, Kalavar was back at the castle ruins, trying to read the last few words of the scroll. It was difficult, however, because the end of the scroll was scorched, and the last few words could not be seen. There were three words left on the scroll, that Kalavar could see easily. However, he couldn't make out what the rest of it said. He called his newly appointed second in command Haryn. Together they managed to read the first two scarred words. The scroll now read: "I, Kahn, have discovered what ultimate power is; ultimate power is found in-" The two drows worked on the rest of the scroll for hours, yet were unable to decifer the rest of the sentence. Time was running out, so Kalavar gathered together the rest of his hoard.
"Men, we march to the castle of Yorick. There will be a battle. When we approach, we stay under cover. Those of you who are not drows will be given 1 magic stone to make you silent. Don not lose the stone. Once the battle is over between Yorick and Lord Beaux, we will attack the victorious army. They will be in dis-array, so although we have fewer numbers, we should be able to win. Not to mention that a quarter of you are drows, and we fight as good as 10 men. Once we defeat that army, there will be nothing in our way. We will claim the castle, and I will make you all rich! Let's move out!"

Back at Yorick's castle things weren't going well. Lord Beaux's army had thrown grappeling hooks over the wall, and with all the archers firing at them, the Yorick's army was hard-pressed to cut them all down. He stood on the grounds safely out of range of the archers and called on his men to stop the advance.

Lord Beaux smiled to himself. Things were going perfectly. Although very few of his men were making over the wall, the battering ram was almost ready. He would simply sneak it up to the west gate while his other men provided the diversion. He should be in charge of the castle by nightfall...

Then the neverending war, seemed to end abruptly...