Part 21

Skybird Trill

The Ultimate in cute. A frown in Skybird Trill brings all the townspeople to the sufferer's door with gifts of love, fine cheer, and eternal friendship. A place where nothing can ever go wrong. Or so they fondly believe.

Ah, Skybird Trill, truely it was the final bastion of goodness. Before Kei arrived. You'll remember Kei, whom had allied in blood with Keeper Kalith, but whom had unfortunately been out fought, even with Kalith aiding her? Well, she returned this time. She had consulted with the Dark Gods, had many sacrifices, and her reward was to see our battles, and our strategy.

And to prepare. The thing she noted most, was the power of the undead, specifically, Vampires, in turning back enemies upon themselves, and how even in death, Vampires would return, only slightly the weaker of their injuries.

You will remember that she fled before us, faster than we could keep up. She sped through the lands we captured behind her, and straight for Skybird trill, she destroyed many of the Heroes who had stayed there, and turned them into Vampires. Many many Vampires.

A Coven of Vampires, a Nest of Vampires, a ... lot of Vampires. This realm alone was truly one where we almost lost, Kei had prepared, and she had prepared well.







With an infinite supply of gold, and plenty of room, we set to expansion quickly.

And to training.



We then expanded east, to check for any possible Hero converts and found.. nothing. It was at this point we suspected something was amiss, having found no Heroes in the land of Heroes, we where starting to get worried,



We headed North and we spied..



Demons, and Undead. Lots of both.



And so, combat began.









Kei had prepared well, bringing with her a maxed out Horned Reaper.







As both sides encountered each other, disease quickly began to spread through both sides at an alarming rate.















Casualties on both sides where.. massive, and in fact, we where forced back to our own Dungeon, as disease remained virulent, so what happened was a campaign of thunder strikes on both sides, of course, the strongest Minions on both sides survived, but with us being able to see so far into his Dungeon, and him not being able to see ours at all, we where able to destroy many of his weaker minions.

But enough chat, let us see how the fight came out.















The battle raged on for quite some time.



After several days of battle outside our own Dungeon, we headed North, slaying as we went, with Kei having few Experienced minions left, she still proved a challenge, keeping the plague going as we stayed in her Dungeon, healing her own minions, lightning striking our weaker minions.

In short, even losing, she was taking her toll. A truely worth foe, of unimaginable strength.





And as we continued to the North, our imps claimed the Ex-Hero fortress behind us.





Kei had set traps all over her damnded dungeon heart, but this time, there was no escape. And yet, even with no minions backing her, the sheer number of traps, lightning strikes, and plague took down many of our experienced troops.













And so Kei fell. The greatest keeper we would ever face, her strength, her tactics, her spell, her skill, her knowledge, all for naught. And truely, with her gone, the world seemed a lighter place for want of her evil. Though was it a good thing to kill her, considering how skilled she was? None shall know. And so, students, I ask you to tip your hat to a keeper, far more skilled than any of you shall ever have to face, hopefully.

But we had not ended here, as we still had one more foe to face off against.

The Avatar.





Truely more Demigod than man, the bastion of good, the chivalric knight, the walking tank, the one man army.. all of these can be used to describe the Avatar. We had no bridge to get to him, so we had to blow him from his island fortress so as to battle him...

And capture him.





One can only imagine the thoughts going through his head as he walked through the dungeon of Kei, seeing everywhere, the remnants of war, of the Keeper whom had captured him destroyed, and the growing horror of which he knew he would have to face alone..



And that which waited around the corner for him.

















So strong that he walked from his prison, through Keis dungeon further, through a pantheon of dark minions and straight into our Dungeon before he fell.



And so he fell, and we captured him, placing him directly into our Cells, and then..



But with his conversion to our cause, came news that a new Avatar had risen..







And so began, what has been sung, as the last stand of the Heroes. The most experienced of every race took up arms and began to fight back.













The Avatar, and a Lord together came, and the fight began.















Of course whilst the battle began in earnest, various other traps went off as the Heroes entered the for battle.



And so, the newly promoted Avatar alone stood against the Enemy.

Stood against us, and his Ex-Comrade in arms. It did not take too much longer for him to arrive to the same conclusions as his Excomrade.









With their leader fallen, the final Heroes came forth, embracing death, which would not come.













Donterror

The world of Skybird Trill is nothing more the charred wreck of a ruined nightmare. You've won a furious vital victory, and you are ruler supreme over the whole world! What next Master?



And thus did Skybird Trill fall, becoming Donterror. A land of shadow and pain.

But Children.. there are Deeper Dungeons still.. and this is where you come in..

Your final exam is to survive. For there will be only one surviving apprentice to become a Keeper. For you will become the Keeper who leads the way into these Deeper Dungeons.