[Neraphym]

Neraphym ignores it for the time being. His greater concerns are his fallen companions. Since he didn't find any resurrection potions on the sage's person, he'll have to find another way to bring them back to life. He takes Eledhwen's new staff and tries poking her with it. Lohengrin limps over to the fountain, having .0001 hp left. He takes a few drinks and seems to be back in normal spirits. He grabs the hilt and flies it over to Neraphym.

[Darkness]

She twitches. Nothing else of interest occurs...

[Neraphym]

Neraphym decides to use a tried and true method. He carries Eledhwen on his back and drops her in the fountain... gently, of course. While waiting for her to revive, Neraphym takes the sword hilt from Lohengrin. He examines it carefully, then lets his spirit flow through his arms and into the hilt.

[Darkness]

She lives! They disembark. On their way out of the room, they find a small piece of paper. It is, oddly, written in their normal tongue...

"Faith. That is the power behind the sword. Believe, and it will live!"

[Neraphym]

Neraphym reads the paper and advances up the stairway.

[Darkness]

The inscription reads, “Vok kto Tiwp ab kto Gijjyij voip uo bajkt.”

[Neraphym]

"A Warrior? Saelel, place your paw upon that glyph there..."

[MA-53]

Saelel steps carefully to the glyph, and gingerly sets a paw on it...

[Neraphym]

Neraphym attempts again to bring his sword to life. He lets more of his power flow to the sword, but nothing happens. He thinks...

Inner Monologue!: "Hm, I am not using the correct key. Perhaps I'd have a clue if I let some of the sword's energy flow into me. It could tell me how the sword works."

Neraphym tries to bring the energy of the sword into his arm. It burns! He drops the hilt.

"Ouch! Hmm, I saw it... only for a split second, but the image of the blade is burned into my mind. I believe it looks something like this!"

Neraphym picks up the hilt and imagines the fiery blade upon it...

[Darkness]

You are in a sort of hall, though it is wider and taller. The corridor is about three or four meters high, and the ceiling extends up into blackness. About ten meters away, you see the end of the corridor. It apparently opens directly into a large room, but you can't make out anything about it from here. It's odd; you don't see and torches, and candles. There doesn't seem to be any sort of light. Yet you can see quite well, as one would see in a dim light, but the light that you see by is strangely ethereal... and dark... Yet you see by it still, even though it seems to make the world darker at the same time.

... Nothing seems to happen with the sword hilt.

[Neraphym]

"Hm, I half-expedited that to fail... maybe that is the problem. Faith in the blade... only if I believe in the power of the sword will I see it."

Neraphym concentrates hard on the image of the blade. He feels the power inside the hilt growing. He chants to himself, trying to convince his mind that the sword is real...

[Neraphym]

OOC: You can reply any year now...

[Darkness]

For a few moments, nothing happens. Within Neraphym's mind, a fiery blade appears... He realizes that it is the blade he had seen before with his earlier attempt, but now it hardly seems something that could be conjured by one's imagination. It seems real... No, it seems even more real than real, more alive than something that could be found in this plane of existance. Full of power such that could be hardly understood by any short of a God. But yet the hilt in his hands remains still.

And then it flickers... For less than a moment, that fiery blade appears in reality, sprouting from the center of the hilt. And even while in reality, it seems in turn dimmed by reality. It is not how it existed in Neraphym's mind. Dim, weaker. But then the blade is gone, proclaimed by a low hissing noise and tens of fiery particles that shoot off from where it was but fade before they are very far.

Undetered, Neraphym does not let his faith in the blade falter. Now having a clearer view of the sword's true nature, he imagines that otherworldly blade inside his mind. Within his hands, the blade begins to vibrate. Its brightness in his imagination grows brighter and brighter, until its glory exceeded even that of the sun. A flash of blinding light, accompanied by a loud 'boom!' and what feels like a fast moving solid wall fly from the hilt. The hilt is wrenched from Neraphym's hands as the wall hits him, and he and all his companions are pushed away and thrown against walls. The light and boom fill their ears and eyes, and for a moment it seems that they are all that exist. The wall had seemed to pass right through them once it hit them, and the boom had lasted a mere moment, but the light dimmed gradually, eventually allowing them to see before it became once again the light that had existed previously, that strangely dark and ethereal light. But lying on the floor where Neraphym had been standing was the hilt of the sword, and from it came that fiery blade that had flashed for a moment before.

It is not as grand as he had seen it in his mind, and Neraphym is sure that that blade in his imagination had in fact been the blade's true appearance. He wonders if it was some failing of his that had caused it to be so much dimmer. He decides, though, without a doubt, that it was its passing into this realm that caused it, and that this reality cannot contain the sword's true power.


Vurinde's Flame (DP + 250; Weapon Slot; Soldiers Only): Essentially an sinisterly twisting sword hilt, when great faith is invested in the weapon, its true from, comprised of the sword hilt and a fiery blade made of dark metal, appears. It is a combination of magic and technology, technology being used to create the sword and magic being used to channel faith as energy to power it. The sword contains the corrupt darkness that once tainted the Sage of Fire, Vurinde Flamekeeper.
- Special Ability: Aura of Light (1000); Persistent Effect = Lights the current location.
- Special Ability: Prominence (4000); EC = 1000; Effect = Target loses their next turn: An illusionary prominence flares out from the sword and wraps itself around the target, making it seem as if they are burning.
- Special Ability: Nova (6000); EC = 2000; DP = Standard + 200; Effect = Burns the target for a further 100 DP for the next three turns (Immunity 20): When this ability is used, fire from the blade will gather into a ball (about two feet in diameter) and shoot towards the target.
- Special Ability: Solar Fury (9500); EC = 3000; Effect = Berserk for 5 turns, Adrenaline boost of 2000 HP for 5 turns. The fury of the Flame God is unleashed through the Soldier, who temporarily gains god-like powers.

[Neraphym]

Neraphym grasps the blade firmly and continues down the hall into the larger room.

[jordan23]

You can either go left again or straight.