THE LUMBER JACK COMETH --- 3rd Story ---

As Prince Rayle sat upon the stern of the floating Reaver he grinned ever so slightly as he saw the first glimpse of his prey. The poor poor wood elves and tree folk, or bark eater's as they were commonly called by member's of the House of Ados were milling about the shore line, fresh off what looked like a long pillage across the sea. Little did they know that the Prince is coming, the Prince is going to draw first blood. To the wood elves, it seemed a storm was moving fast to their east off the sea, harsh waves crashing, lightening streaking the sky and thunder booming, this was not a natural storm, it was something... different. Then in what seemed slow motion the dark ominous clouds started to part. Out of the darkness a floating Reaver appeared. The wood folk confused by the sudden sight of their hated cousins stirred chaos and uncertainty. As the Reaver crashed into the shore line the front opened and dark elves began to pour out.

The dark elves of the House of Ados were adept fighters and masters of their trade, quickly and efficiently formed into their battle lines. The most prominent procession to exit the reaver was the Grail Guard of Lord Nadan led by Prince Rayle himself. Prince Rayle and the Grail Guard marched to the front of the battle lines with his Dark Riders covering both his right and left flanks. As the Dark Riders were covering the flanks the regiment of the Cold One Knights quickly advanced beside the Grail Guard and the Prince. As the forces of Ados crossed the shoreline to advance into the treekin and wood elves a small regiment of almost ghost like wood elves rained a volley of arrows upon the corsairs that were not moving as fast as the rest of the Ados advancement. The corsairs deftly twisted and turned using their magical sea dragon cloaks to help deflect the incoming arrows, alas not all the corsairs twisted as deftly as others and three were lost to arrows to the head. As quickly as the corsairs twisted and turned to deflect the arrows they also in a motion following the deflection raised their own hand bows unleashing an equally dark rain of arrows in the direction of the ghost like wood elves. Not knowing what damage the corsairs had done to the wood elf ghosties they turned their attention back to the oncoming forest of Treekin rapidly approaching the corsairs flank. The lead corsair once again ordering his troops to raise their hand bows. Without flinching he gave the order to stand their ground and open fire. This time though, the treekin bark prooved more resiliant to the small arms fire of the corsairs hand bow, the treekin losing only 1 of their kin to a hand bolt to the eye. As the treekin smashed into the ranks of the corsairs another rather elegant woodelf on a horse simultaneously smashed into the flank of the corsairs causing mass casualties to the regiment and killing the champion, resulting in a break of rank and a mad dash back to the massive Reaver.

On the other side of the shoreline the Prince and Grail Guard beside the regiment of Cold One's quickly marched up field. As the dark riders covered the flanks of their prince they noticed more treekin blending into the treeline that skirted the shore. As the dark riders on the east side of the shore began to reach a full gallop they were pelted with arrow shots from another treeline, reducing the unit size by half. The Prince and the Grail Guard would not falter and continued to press the battle line by recklessly advancing. Then in one swift move the treeline seemed to come alive and charge the Prince and the Grail Guard, at that exact moment another set of mysterious wood elves began to do a quick chant and exotic dance then they too charged the Grail Guard and Prince from the flank. With an explosion of bark and steel the Grail Guard whipped and whirled the massive crimson headed halberds as they had done to countless foes before. With a sudden realization of impending death the mystical dancing wood elves, what was left of them, broke the engagement and scattered back into the treeline, the treekin were not as fortunate and with a blood lust and zeal rarely seen the Prince and the Grail Guard reduced their foes into splinters. In the after math of this fight the Prince turned his gaze to the rest of the shoreline to find the Cold Ones being helped by the other unit of Dark Riders, overrunning the last of the treekin on the battle field. A bright start for the dark elf known as Prince Rayle.

ANTICIPATION --- 2nd Story

The time had come, all the planning all the organizing, waiting until it was his time, the time spent honeing his skills as a startigist and warrior, now was the time, the time for Prince Rayle to creat his own epic adventures, to earn his place in the city of Sojef. He had made a pact within the walls of his own war room that he alone would elevate the House of Ados to number one, no matter the cost, no matter who he had to sacrifice. The time had come, to pool his resources, to meld the Grail Guard of Lord Nadan with his own forces, it was time for Prince Rayle to hold in his grasp the one thing that would put him in the only place of power that would ever quench his thirst for total dominance, a dark elf holy grail as it were, the sword of Silent Screams.

As Prince Rayle sat in his war room he pondered what would be his best move, who should he unleash his fury and wrath on, who would be the Prince's first conquest. This war room like so many other dark elves of privilage and power, was a large stone room, filled with parchments of tactics, battle plans on shelves and even a flask of Ire, the Prince's elixir of battle. The massive marble table was placed at the center of the room ,inset with gems glowing the same bluish hugh that was found in the Pitch, right before fathers room, the Scourge. Eight finely detailed oak chairs with the backrest carved with the family crest, the crest, three circles connected to each other ending in a swirl, meaning, life - death - all eternity surrounded the head chair. The ninth chair, also finely detailed with the head of the back rest carved with the family crest but this chair was made of the blackest steel, the legs coming down to the floor being met by gargoyle's claws. Only to be outdone by the inset eye's at the end of each armrest, those eye's seemingly glowing an eerie red, staring, staring at the occupants at the table as if staring into each elf's soul, looking for ill intentions, searching. The head chair, the chair many has longed for, this chair belonged to Prince Rayle who sat defiantly, who sat awaiting the word of his scouting party. Once the determination could be made of the soft spot in the defenses of the inferior wood elves, a raiding party led by the Prince himself would set sail to start the asencion of Prince Rayle and the House of Ados.

Puzzle Pieces --- 1st Story

As Prince Rayle slowly crossed the massive room he was reminded of his place in the world. This room was enormous, solid pillars of black granite lined the walls with intricate engravings of past conquests of great nations, fallen kings, and epic sea battles. The floor set in the same slick black granite of the pillars was every bit as impressive in its enormity and the seemingly endless depths of black. With only the soft glow of bluish light set off by magically enchanted gems perfectly mounted between the pillars, this room, the room that seemed to suspend one in space was the final room before entering his room. This room, with all its grandeur and legendary craftsmanship was lost, lost to introspection, lost to deep thought, lost because many elves, leaders and warriors alike have lost their life entering the next room unprepared. As Prince Rayle closed on the last few steps before entering the threshold of the unknown, he was overcome with both excitement at the prospects of his plan and terror at the thoughts of his failure. With one final deep breath in, slow exhale out, with confidence and a sense of purpose Prince Rayle stepped boldly into the room known as The Scourge.

As I stood at attention waiting to be acknowledged by him I went over and over the plan in my head, working and reassuring myself that my plan was flawless, that it would bring glory and fortune to our family. As Lord Nadan sat in his throne, it was hard not to admire his accomplishments. The accomplishment that lost his eye was nothing short of legendary in and of itself. Not only had Lord Nadan single handedly defeated his arch nemesis Dwarf Lord Gravline in an epic battle of strength, fortitude and force of will, but had thrown the entire country of Warshoreshire into chaos. The only reason to put myself in this position was the dire need of my fathers retinue. Lord Nadan had made his personal retinue the Grail Guard world infamous. The Grail Guard of the House of Ados are world renown warriors for their brutality and the unrelenting onslaught of their attack and a seemingly immunity to pain and refusal to retreat or back down. Never mistaken, the Grail Guard proudly, brazenly wields crimson headed halberds. The last needed piece to Prince Rayle’s puzzle. He needed the Grail Guard, they would be the cornerstone for his plan, the rock for which his own troops to mold themselves after, the elite vanguard they had become known for. Abruptly broken from his trail of thoughts Lord Nadan snapped at Prince Rayle "what business?" As was usual with the Lord, he was not one to mix words or practice in small talk. Using the small pause to steady himself Prince Rayle looked Lord Nadan in his good eye and stated clearly and with purpose "the Grail Guard are needed, I have a plan to bring the House of Ados great glory and wealth!" The white haired Lord seemed taken back just a bit, seemed to ponder for a second then leaned back in his throne. With one hand on his chin Lord Nadan smiled slightly then stated clearly, "bring me glory; for failure will bring your death, the Grail Guard is at your discretion." With that the Lord leaned forward getting back to what he had been doing. With a slow gracious bow Prince Rayle spoke with reverence, "I will not fail you father." With a quick turn and swirl of his cloak Prince Rayle was through the threshold and once again crossing the room of blackest granite without noticing the legendary craftsmanship, this time though, lost in thoughts of heroic adventures and the conquering of nations.