...even though LMP will probably be disappointed he didn't get to do this himself...
Quote:
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Originally Posted by littlemanpoet
The wizards both reappeared in a flash.
Roa stared at everyone with a completely blank expression upon her face. She began to laugh: cold, empty of any joy or feeling, sending a shiver through the villagers. As it reached crescendo, Roa's expression turned to pure malice, and she grinned a poisonous grin at Gurthang. The villagers cowered behind their Good Wizard, now seeing the weaver for what she was.
"Yes, I am the Evil Wizard, and I challenge you, Gurthang, to a duel! We shall see whose power is greater, and who will reign supreme in MY village!"
With that Roa again brought forth a staff of white - not a white of purity, but of decay, like a dead tree in the middle of a vast wasteland. Darkness swirled around it, like a living shadow, and black energy crackled from the tip. Her long red hair flew back from the force of the power being released.
Gurthang glowered and threw back his cloak to reveal his swirling black cloak and a staff of ebony tipped in bronze. From it shone bright light that caused a gale to blow out in all directions from Gurthang and his staff.
"Fall back to the Watchers!" he cried to the villagers as he kept his gaze on Roa. The villagers hid their faces from the sudden blast, and they half ran, were half blown away to the Watcher rock.
The Watchers looked out to sea.
The blazing light from Gurthang met the black swirling energy of Roa half way between them.
"You have dared to much," Gurthang gritted.
"You don't know the half of it," Roa smirked.
"How did you get three curses in one night?"
"The Shadow gave them to me."
"But why?"
"To take vengeance of the Watchers' tricks of warning you early of me, and of enhancing your hunters."
"I should have known."
As they were talking, Roa's black swirl ate away at Gurthang's light. He gritted his teeth and concentrated the harder. Little by little the caconexus* of black and light returned to the middle.
"Who is your hunter?" Roa asked.
"I'll not tell you! Do you think me a fool?"
Roa smiled a hideous smile by way of reply, but added, "Are your seers dreaming?"
Gurthang scowled. The caconexus again began to forge its way toward Gurthang.
"Are your hunters finding werewolves without the kindness of my werewolves?"
"Kindness you call it," Gurthang retorted. "You do not know kindness!"
The caconexus moved back toe the center.
"Who were your first werewolves?" Gurthang asked.
"You will have to figure that out for yourself," Roa grinned.
"Very well," Gurthang glowered. "I do notice, however, that you have been more effective at killing off your werewolves than I."
With this revelation the caconexus suddenly pushed toward Roa. She frowned in surprise and redoubled her efforts. She did not understand what made the nexus eat toward her.
Gurthang smiled. "Whom did you curse the next few nights?"
"Figure it out for yourself!"
Back to the center crawled the point of power that would destroy anything in its way.
"Maybe that one is still alive," Gurthang commented.
"You'll not get anymore information from me," Roa retorted.
Both redoubled their efforts, trying to break the general stalemate. Then Gurthang had a new thought. The power of good was the willingness to lay down one's life for one's friends. It did not matter to him if he was killed, as long as Roa did not survive. He sensed that she had no such intention and was ruled by ambition to own Sealville, and more villages beyond. He narrowed his eyes and redirected the light from his staff, not to head off the blackness, but to climb along it and braid in, around, and through it. And so it began.
The caconexus turned into a knot of power, a swirling thread of light and dark - seemingly a mix of gray, but Gurthang knew that the light and the dark could be discerned one from the other. Slowly he threaded the light along the line of dark emanating from Roa's staff. Slowly the swirling darkness from Roa twined its way along the light from Gurthang's staff.
Roa's eyes betrayed fear.
"Do you wish to live, Roa?"
She said nothing. The fear left her eyes and was replaced by a determined will. "These fools need you," she said. "If you throw away your life they are doomed."
"You do wish to live," Gurthang smiled.
The light and the dark had braided three quarters of the way down the lines of power in both directions. The dry wind that blew from the both wizards and all the power between them was a gale that blew the dust of years into the air, and the sun was hidden from Sealville.
"If I die, you die," Roa snapped.
"With both of us dead, you can curse no more innocent villagers."
"Innocent you call them! Do you not know that I can curse them because they are not pure?"
Gurthang smiled a sad smile. "Good and ill cross lines in each villager here, and each must choose the light or the dark."
"Fool! I could curse every last one of them, so much darkness is in each of them!"
"My sacrifice will strengthen their resolve to resist your werewolves."
The thread of power was almost braided its full length. Roa's staff shook in her grip. She licked her lips. Gurthang held firm, knowing what the end was.
"They will need more that resolve. My werewolves will have to be fools to lose the advantage I have forged for them!"
"Be that as it may," Gurthang said, "You will not be alive to see it."
"Nor you, fool!"
With that, the braiding was complete. Suddenly, swirling blackness exploded Gurthang's staff. Simultaneously, light exploded Roa's. In the next instant, both wizards were consumed: Gurthang's body was twisted into contortions impossible to survive. Roa's body burned in a white fire, flames reaching high above her. In moments, Gurthang was a heap of mangled flesh, and Roa was a pile of ash. The powers of light and dark dissipated, the dust cloud slowly cleared, blown away on a north wind, and the villagers crept fearfully back into the middle of the village to observe the remains of the wizard battle.
At first, no one spoke. Then a word was uttered, an imprication was sounded, then a phrase was offered, then a point made, then a counterpoint posed, and soon the villagers were readying themselves for another lynching.
*caconexus: yes, I just coined the word; caco = demonic; nexus = central point.
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The Tally ~ (6)
Four werewolves
One seer
One hunter
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The Dead ~ (17)
Elempi, father of Diamond of the Battledore, killed on Night One
Loki the leech collector, lynched on Day One: innocent
The Saucepan Man the barkeep, killed on Night Two: innocent
Nogrod the retired jester, lynched on Day Two: werewolf
the phantom the loud, unpredictable, adventurer: hunter
Naria the servant who empties and cleans chamber pots: werewolf
Celuien the Healer and Cupper, lynched on Day Three: innocent
Lhunardawen the jeweler, committed suicide on Day Three: innocent
Cailín the match maker, mauled by werewolves on Night Four: innocent
Valier the gardener, planted and stoned in her garden on Day Four: werewolf
Firefoot the artist, frenziedly eaten on Night Five: innocent
Nilpaurion the ne'er do well hubby of Dancing Spawn, head almost ripped off by werewolves: innocent
Alcarillo the old retired sea captain, drowned on his boat on Day Five: werewolf
Lommy the little girl who steals other children's candy, broken and consumed on Night Six: innocent
Caranlondien the Sled-Team Driver, skewered and kabobed on Night Six: ranger
Roa Aoife the weaver: Evil Wizard
Gurthang the stable-hand: Good Wizard
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The Living ~ (14)
Diamond of the Battledore
Dancing Spawn of Ungoliant the Baker
Kath the minstrel
Glirdan with the giant crush on Kath
Sleepy Ranger the former wanderer
Kitanna the beloved of Eomer
Oddwen the filthy, insane street urchin who steals chickens
mormegil the retired mariner and current mayor
Feanor the shepherdess with a love of alliteration
Zali the seamstress and beloved of the phantom
Jenny Hallu the unmarried maiden & aunt
Lalaith the frivolous aunt and guardian of Oddwen
Eonwe the freeloading husband of Lhunardawen
Eomer the adventurer & lover of Kitanna
Just to be clear, the Wizards are now gone! There will be nothing more from them.