It is Begun... (Episode 0, 'Pilot')

"Have it your way then," Radu says with a smirk. He turns to return to his entourage.

With each step the portal dims a little bit more and the view through the portal begins to get cloudy.

Champions Eternal, Radu recalls from the dream, What was that? Some sort of power, offered upon him? Something, perhaps to destroy the demon bound to his sword once and for all, to be cleansed of it? He sighs and turns back. Approaching the portal he looks it over more closely. "Creature, are you still there? I have companions following behind me. If I relent to succumb to these tests, will you allow them passage as well?"

The glow about the gate brightens as Radu draws closer to it again and the sight through it returns.


"Passage is granted to companions as well. Enter and they will be drawn through."

Radu nods once. "Fine," he says and steps forward, passing through the gate.

Radu experiences an odd sensation he has previously never felt before, as he is pulled from the planar realm he is in and into another. It is very briefly disorienting.

Unseen by their master, those within the carriage and the rest of his retinue appear to warp and stretch, as they too are pulled through the portal at the same moment Radu crosses over.

On the other side, the orientation of the portal lies flat in a large circular platform. Radu stands on a blue crystalline surface, that glows not unlike the emanation produced by activating the skull key upon the arisen pedestal. His conveyances and companions have unexpectedly joined him. Beyond the landing zone the platform continues of a dark stone roughly in the shape of an oblong octagon, or a stylized eye.

At the focal points of each of the eight corners stands a hooded medium-sized statue facing inward toward the center of the portal. Each of these statues appear virtually identical and very lifelike in their crafting. The hoods seem empty, but give off the vibe that they are ever watching the gate.

Several low flowing steps around the octagon platform lead down to a grey cobblestone plaza. Wood and stone buildings surround the plaza, but all are dark. In the distance, torchlight and other forms of illumination can be seen scattered throughout the dark city surrounding.

The sound of moving waters alerts them to the docks just south of the arcane gate and the tops of masts and sails rise up behind some of the buildings in that direction. The sky is filled with dark clouds in an inky black sky. The visibility wall of the cloud cover is perhaps a couple hundred feet at most.

Movement coming from the northeastern end of the plaza finds a lone bipedal figure approaching with a lantern filled with a curious light of a purplish hue...

Radu looks around at his retinue, nodding to his queens, before stepping forward to meet the approaching figure. "Greetings," he says, "I find myself invited to this place. My invitation mentioned a City on the Edge of Forever - have I come to that place? I am Radu, and you are...?"

The lone figure is a tall man in a hooded robe. What at first looked like a lantern from a distance, looks like some type of strange one foot diameter orb of metal and resembling a eye. The purplish glow is emanating from the iris of the eye.

He looks over Radu and his company, as he approaches and stands at the bottom of the platform.

"It is indeed called that by some. By others, it is the City of T'Lorn." He answers the black-haired Dhampir. "We have been expecting your arrival. You may call me Chamberlin. The Lord has prepared accommodations for your stay within the Octagon Tower of the palace. Please follow me..."

Radu nods and begins to follow, motioning for his retinue to do the same. "You were expecting me? I trust then your Lord is the one who summoned me? What is their name, Chamberlin? Who has drawn me here?"

"Orb is Lord of this realm out of time and has been thus for as long as any may remember. Possibly, since the formation of this age. He may have once had another name, but none remembers it or are willing to speak it." Chamberlin answers. "It is he who summoned you. No other in this realm has the power to do so."

"I look forward to meeting your Lord," Radu says, "And to see these accommodations you mention. Are there many that live here in this city? While the buildings are plentiful, I wonder - where are the people?"

"There are a fair number who dwell in the city. Now that we have guests arriving, the denizens will soon awaken. By morrow, these streets will again be filled with those who exist in the shadows of the Lord's palace."

"What a wonderful thing, for the citizens to melt away like summer snow when their lord thus wishes them. Every few years, a handful of my people get it into their heads to take mine own. I do not care for having to make reminders of them. It is a waste of time. Would that I could learn this city's tricks."

"T'Lorn has many a secret to insure its survival, Lord Hove." Chamberlin replies. "Stay long enough and some of them may be revealed..in time."

Lucian Falken

The acidic emerald sphere explodes capturing the tentacled monstrosity in its blast. The infuriated menace races toward the sorcerer's latest location and...

......it suddenly hardens like stone from within and explodes!

The surprising blast sends pieces and shards in all directions, as Lucian watches from a safe distance.

"Well, that's a new one." He watches to make sure nothing else is going to explode or come out at him before moving closer to investigate.

At the center of the blast zone Lucian spots something blue and covered with grey stone dust. Its hard tell from his current location exactly what it is.

It takes a moment of internal debate, but he cautiously heads over. He's curious but doesn't want that thing to explode as well - not if he's in range. But it hasn't yet, at least.

The object at first appears to be spherical and made of some type of blue crystalline substance, but as Lucian looks closer he realizes it is about the size of a human..wait—that is exactly the size and shape as a Human skull.

Lucian mutters to himself as he looks at the skull, a habit picked up from long times alone with only Useless and Marengo around. "Well, that's a tad creepy." Not that he hasn't seen creepy things, he's more intrigued than anything. "Hmm now I wish I had paid more attention to skeletons. Does any race have blue stone bones? Better yet, why is it here?" And should he care? He wouldn't except for the weird dream. He looks around, hoping to find something to poke it with. If not, he'll just have to poke it with his staff.