Journey back to hell.

[Elvin Motricé]

Elvin just got out from the mage's abode in Brie and looked around, smiling half-heartily at the festivities going on as he knew that he needed to travel back to World's Mouth where his arrogant teachers would be waiting for him to explain what had happened. Not for the first time he wondered if he did a good thing to join the Ghaeran College in World's Mouth. He was been stupid enough to sign a contract so there was no escaping. He sighed, he had to think of something for he was sure by now that the College was not his home. He only joined because he was tired of the travelling. He wanted a place to learn and, at that point, it had seemed perfect to him. But now...

He was no longer the naive Elf that joined the College two months ago.
Has it really been only two months? It seems like a longer period to me.
The battle and the murder of the mage had changed something deep inside of him, he felt more secure of his own potential and more world-wise. The account had hardened him in a way the death of his wife did not do. When he lay there under the trampling feet of the Orcs he had wanted to live. He had discovered a new reason to live. This war was far from over. He had heard rumours all over the little halfling town about what came to pass and got a general idea of the situation yet there were still too many gaps. He wanted them to be sorted out and was determined to.

He leaned heavily onto his staff when the wounds the received in the battle ached and some of them began to bleed again. Slowly advancing towards the stable where Mellon, his pony, was waiting. He smiled, he had a whole journey how to learn to ride on his companion. It would be embarrassing for the pony if he only used him to carry his backpack. He still didn't know what came over him when he bought the animal from the farmer four months back when he was travelling to World's Mouth. All thoughts of the past where put aside when the aching and throbbing of his wounds brought him back to the present...

[Maeve]

The journey out of Brie was slow. Much had been destroyed by the battle. Only a few trees remained standing and the grass had been turned into mud. It was a mess. It would take months for some semblance of natural order to return.

Elvin turned another crossroad when suddenly his eyes caught a glimmering of something in the distance.

[Elvin Motricé]

Elvin grabbed his staff as he nearly tripped over a rock when he was looking at the glimmering in the distance and muttered a curse under his breath looking at his mud-stained robes and sighed. "It'll only get worse before it gets better.," the silver-haired Elf thought when he tried to spot the distant shimmer again, "I wonder if that will make it worse." Tired from his trial with the supposed to be mage-of-Brie the only thing he could think of at that moment was to cling to his staff watching and waiting. Thoughts swam through his head as he tried to focus and the throbbing of an on-setting headache began. He sighed, he seemed to be getting a lot of those lately.

[Maeve]

The glimmering came closer and closer. It felt like one powerful magick indeed. It send out waves of energy, hitting Elvin softly, brushing his senses, alerting him.

Finally he came to a clearing. In the middle stood a large doorway, pulsating in green light. It was the oddest thing in the middle of the woods, in between all the destruction.

[Elvin Motricé]

Elvin looked at the doorway and raised a brow: What in the name of the Father might this be?

Not sure about what to do he tied Mellon to one of the remaining threestumps nearby and sat down next to the doorway, he grimaced when he felt that one of his wounds started to bleed again and sighed, shutting out the small pain. Closing his eyes and trying to stretch out his magical senses to the door, to observe it from another point of view.

[Maeve]

The doorway was teeming with energy. There was something beyond it. What is more he could 'see' a line of energy run to another doorway, that unvisible to the naked eye was located at the other end of the clearing. That other doorway had a powerful glamour cast over it that hid it carefully.

[Elvin Motricé]

Elvin opened his eyes and frowned. There was definatly something strange going on here. One doorway that stood in plain sight and another one that was hidden. He wondered what it could be and what this was all about. Closing his eyes again he let his senses spread out over the energies surrounding him. He caressed the glamour surrounding the other doorway, examined its structure to see if he could lift it.

[Maeve]

The glamour was already frayed and now that he examined everything so closely he noticed the remains of the glamour that had hidden the other doorway as well.

As Elvin swept the last of the glamours away he revealed something impressive in its dreadfulness.. a full arch of green light from doorway to doorway, almost creating one large doorway in between them. The shimmering suggesting some kind of shield or the fabric of reality that was altered there.

[Elvin Motricé]

Elvin shielded his eyes when he saw the greenlight springing into view, so great was his surprise.

This is getting weirder with every passing moment. First one doorway, now two. What else? He had briefly studied transportation spells and the like before he received the Call. He knew little about how they worked and wished that he had Nevelle with him, she had studied the subject better then he had.

Walking around the structure he tried to get an impression of how it looked and, more importantly, what sort of energies where woven to make such a... thing.

[Maeve]

The giant "doorway of doorways" was large enough to let through a large group of people at the same time. It didn't contain the usual runes and protections that was usally so carefully crafted into permanent protals. In a way this was hastily made, even if anchored to two stone doorways.

[Elvin Motricé]

Magic always had a powerful attraction on the young Elf and this doorway into nothingness had aroused his curiousity. His hand stretched out to the doorway, wondering what would happen...

[Maeve]

His hand disappeared through the forcefield of green light. Unlike the warm weather in the forest beyond the forcefield it seemed damp.

[Elvin Motricé]

Elvin looked at his pony and sighed, he couldn't expose the animal to such risk. Perhaps he could go back to Brie and sell it...

Yes, that was what he would do! It wouldn't be easy to sell his friend but was no other option. Perhaps that he could buy him back later.

He led Mellon back to Brie and managed to sell him, urging to new owner to take good care for his friend. He went bakc to the doorways and sighed, looking one last time at the devastated land around him and stepped through the doorway...

[Maeve]

The strange glowing doorway stood there just like he had left it. When Elvin stepped through it he felt a moment of total disorientation in the pit of his stomach like falling down a canyon.

He felt the ground again, and he started sinking, till his boots where halfway the mud. A mist twirled around in the dismal environment, where everthing was either a muddy green and black, or slowly withering and dying. An aweful smell of rotting things rose from the swamp that Elvin found himself in the middle of.

[Elvin Motricé]

Elvin shuddered, his stomach revolting against the scents. He had never seen a place like this before that reeked so much to death and destruction. His Elven nature hated the place immediatly. It was natural and yet... unnatural at the same time.

Why did that portal from Brie lead me here? I wonder why it was constructed, Elvin pondered. There was something about this place he felt he knew but he couldn't figure out what it was. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the pressure of the mud against his boots, and let his senses spread on the energies. Each living thing formed its own flux of energy inside the greater pattern. He never tried this before but he should be able to get some information on the creatures that were around him...

[Maeve]

Undeniable the whole place, including its rather dismal dark energies, reeked of Orc. The dark arts were practised here and it gave off a most unsettling tingle.

[Elvin Motricé]

Elvin's eyes flung open when he touched the unsettling dark energies that seemed to swhirl through the place.

The presence of Orcs wasn't so surprising. Now he knew what it was about this place that looked familiar. He had heard of the swamps of Le Bois Noire where the Orcs roamed.

Looking at the portal he frowned again, but what was this portal doing here? Did the Orcs used it to get to Brie? There were so many questions.

He focussed on the gate, on the internal structure behind it. He might even learn something from studying this thing. Perhaps he could even recreate such a thing or get some information on the creator...

[Maeve]

To Elvin's mage sense it appeared as if fire energy had been used primarily in its use. The entire construction bore the mark of one sorcerer (sorcery or was it something else? Disturbing overtones of blood magic) due to the consistancy of the design. It was a improvisation, not build to last, made in haste. That it had persisted until now was a small wonder and perhaps not its goal.

One of the two building gates was more than permanent, much older than this construction.

[Elvin Motricé]

Elvin's attention was drawn to the older structure, he sensed something strange about it. As a precaution he first let his senses spread over the newer structure to find a place were the weaving was the weakest and wich he could use to destroy it without using too much force himself.

[Maeve]

The older structure was far more intricate and build to last. Its age was difficult to determine. Old, no doubt. It had been carved with runes to perserve the energy.

Elvins trance allowed him to see a little rip in the connection between the old portal and the added construction.

[Elvin Motricé]

Elvin was fascinated by the older structure. The subject of runic magic had been touch lightly in one of his lessons. His teacher telling him that it was an old and forgotten magic that was rumoured to be still practiced by the Elves of Tel’Aranae Quessir. He found it fascinating to see magic that lay much more closer to his Elven heritage, a heritage he desperately tried to connect to again after the death of his wife. Suddenly, as had happened more frequently lately, he got the impulsive idea to investigate this older structure and see if he could manipulate the energy that was bound to the structure by the runes.

He realized that it was unwise to begin his research without some means of warning him of somebody approached. He thought a while on this problem and found a solution. He sank into a trance and grasped a few strands of air and ice energy and weaved them together in a fragile shield that would break when someone touched it and connected it to his mind, linking him directly to the weaving, to his improvised alarm. He cast out the shield in a 50 foot radius around his present location and focussed his attention on the gate, probing it with different kinds of magic and weavings. He was so consumed by his magical research that he didn’t feel the passing of time and when he opened his eyes again and the foul stench of the swamp hit his conscious mind again the last rays of the sun touched the small dry perch he had been able to find close to the gate. Standing up brought a whole new horror to the silver-haired Elf. He had never been in a trance so long and his entire body was cramped. His attempt to remain on his feet failed as he fell down, falling face down into the stinking mud of the swamp. Choking he scrambled up again and did a few stretching exercises that his master in the martial arts thought him. A few moments later he tried to find a comfortable position on the ground to sleep but the more he shifted around to find some comfort the more discomfort he felt. Finally exhaustion brought a black and dreamless sleep to him.

Days went by in a haze, only stopping to find something to eat which mostly resulted into stomach cramps although there were a few plants he recognized as edible and he tried to stick to those. Studying the gate began to become an addiction to the young Elf as sometimes whole days passed without he even noticed as he lost himself in the complex weavings of the gate. The more he tried, the handier he got, he never had used his magic for such long periods and began to learn how to see things on another way to save him energy that he desperately needed to sustain his stay in the harsh environment. At least he thought himself ready to try and manipulate the energy inside the old portal but he hesitated. To activate the older structure he had to destroy the newer portal and if he failed to manipulate the energy of the older portal he wouldn’t have a way to return to a safer environment. It took him a whole day in his exhausted condition to find a solution. He weaved a barb of energy through the rift and connected it to the energies in the gate. As soon as the older structure would be activated the newer structure would dissolve… Or at least he hoped. Eight days had passed since he had first laid eyes upon the gate and now he thought himself finally ready to try to manipulate this gate's energies. He acted on a pure instinct, not knowing where he would end up, just wanting to activate it. Nothing else mattered. Physical needs came second, which was becoming noticeable. Leaves and small twigs were tangled up in his long silver hairs, his clothes were stained with mud and other substances and he had lost a considerable amount of weight, weakening him even more. That last day he stood in front of the gates, trembling, and closed his eyes and began to weave his magic…

[Maeve]

The portal, made of the purest rock was ancient; its magic difficult to grab. After marks, tides, even days of studying it Elvin realized only the basics. Energy itself was captured in the structure, held into place by the runes. Each combination, interwoven by touching it with little strands of energies by just lightly brushing ones hand over it, provided a different feeling the structure, as if calling upon a different path over the etherial plane. For one thing was certain, beyond the shimmering forcefield was a short space of that all elusive place that mages of old used to bring themselves in trance and view things magical, that place were gods and spirits resided. Somehow the Aether itself had been captured in the portal.

More draining than the constant trance to upkeep his magesight, was the continual pull of his shield. Each time he had to rest and eat the physical shock was enormous. A few times his shield was broken, but each time it proved to be animals, albeit predators and other nasty creatures.

Finally Elvin changed to work the ancient magic of the portal. He could feel it come to life as he brushed past the runes. The effects were faster than he had anticipated. The sorcerer felt something pull him in suddenly and throw him over a long distance. He landed face first in the grass. There was a touch of salt in the air, and the awful orcish stench had left for a soft breeze.

"Oi!" a tine voice next to him said "who be you then to be usin' our portals."

[Elvin Motricé]

For the first time in days Elvin became aware of his surroundings and his condition again. Complete exhaustion overwhelmed him as he struggled to formulate an answer but everything that he was able to say sounded like gibberish, a melodical pattern of sounds rather then words. The world spinned around him and lights exploded behind his eyes as he fell into a deep darkness...

[Maeve]

OOC: well done. You are now in the Fields of the Citadel in Farathorns thread