Punished Heart 8/12 High CoD, Dun's Death

Dun would calmly tug upon his pipe as a finger traced over the black veins that adorned his neck. The snuffing out of Hades and Valero's lifeforce was directly apparent to the Task, and each was a wound upon his already ravaged heart that he would not come back from.

Yet another extra bit of suffering to add with his dinner plate.

Valero, his frenetic chaos incarnate. Hades, his wit. His sons. His precious sons...

The last words of his sons, the twin snakes, wracked through him with visible agony, the blackened veins that adorned his body bulging idly with irritation.

Yet, he seemed to only stand quietly for a time as the two perished, Task blood staining the ground in a pool that left the scent of crimson ichor heavy in the air. His head felt woozy, swimming for a moment as he took a long, deep breathe before steeling his heart once more.

He could survive a bit longer. Just a bit.

"I already planned to long before any of this. But not as you expect, I suppose. The fight has left me, all that remains is a resolve to finish what I started."

The elder would nod slowly, coughing up a bit of black bile into his sleeve.

"You will have your corpse soon enough, I offer no contest to your claim Revan orn Task. Even now, after all this, I will still give my life for Theria's growth."

Dun appeared to sound cold, resolved. As if the light had left him at last, leaving only a ravaged man with the shadow of Azrael upon him.
(Dun Task)
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 Raeliana was silent, watching not only Valero's own life be extinguished in the quest to prove who was right and who wasn't... But Hades as well.

The High Priestess felt the ground under her two feet shift and move, and yet she did not collapse. Despite her words earlier to those who asked -- Who do you prefer to win? -- she had consistently answered that she did not care, for a Dragon did not concern itself with the lives of mortal men...

Yet this?

To watch it happen in front of her leaves her with a vile distaste at the back of her throat, bile rising before she shakes her head.

"There shall be no further death today." She said, eyes thinning to mere slits as her gaze settled upon Revan. "You have taken enough; it's as he says you shall have a body soon enough. Don't get greedy." She said, her form moving between Dun and Revan at last.

"That's my job."
(Raeliana)
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 Watching all this happen, Urist would finally let out a laugh, the bouncing tones deep and utterly without Mirth.

"I would ask yeh Revan, wha' exactly was Y'plan? Did Y'nae realize Y'father was dyin' Perhaps Y'havenae realized he's incredibly old?"

Those grey eyes boring into Revan. "Wha' was Y'goal N'all O'this? Wha' was Th'point?"
(Urist Silverbane)
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 It had only felt right to come see the outcome. Either way, it was the death of family. Or once family.

It wasn't shared blood she watched stain the ground, but nonetheless she watches the corpses of her family fall to the snow. One. After the other.

Artemis prided herself on poise, on bearing, on a carefully crafted surface that was kept refined and dignified. It has no footing here upon the icy shelf. It crumbles and breaks like the face of a melting glacier.

She might not have shared the same bond the Task brothers had for each other, but, damnit that was her family. They and the icy city of Theria were all she's known for so much of her life.

Vultures already go picking over corpses like carrion, the irony lost on the Hyene in this moment of shock and desperation. Her father's words only compound it.

"No...NO! You can't just roll over like this He just...He just murdered them!" she howls, still stepping forward across fresh snow.

"You're going to give in!? Just like that!?"
(Artemis Task)
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 Dun would merely shake his head to Artemis, hollowed.
(Dun Task)
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 Dun Task says, "It's done."
 Raeliana says, "... He's right, Artemis..."
Artemis Task asks, "...You too, Raeliana?"
 Artemis Task asks, "You too?"
 Raeliana says, ".... I -"

 Raeliana says, "A dragon does not concern itself with the lives of mortal men."
 Artemis Task says, "..."


 Artemis Task says, "Don't feed me that crock."
 Hades words would echo in his mind, always had Revan tried to advise some caution to his brother's pursuits. Yet still he would get swept away in it all and lose himself, and now he would share the same fate as Valero.

Though he had turned and challenged Dun, he truthfully wanted it to end, the carnage, the bloodshed, the killing. However, it couldn't truly end until the man that started it all was dead. Ever since birth, they were pit to compete against one another, everything was a test of strength meant to pit them against each other.

Well finally the bandaged boy that was often left beaten was the last one standing. Though his father would deny his challenge, there would be no fight if no fire was present in both fighters.

Though it was with earning his name back he would squint his eyes. He was exiled to Myllenoris under a new name, now that what was taken from him was given back, he suddenly didn't know how to feelabout it. Though Raeliana would step forward and insist that there had been enough killing, to which he would nod, agreeing. Though it was with Urist's question that he would find some life within him to speak.

"What I plan to do? I plan to lead Theria, the Fireblooded will continue to grow and flourish, and we will reopen the factory to begin production immediately. I have some other projects in mind, but I will need to speak to some people."

A sharp inhale would come from him as he would try to process everything that just happened. Boy there was a lot to do.
(Revan orn Apotychia)
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[22:35] Urist Just shakes his head.
(Urist Silverbane)
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[22:35] Dun would merely nod slowly, living ash at this point. Smouldering only out of resolve to finish his project.
(Dun Task)
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 Her jaw tightened, as Artemis voiced her displeasure. She wasn't that surprised by it and she should have expected it. Yet, the High Priestess does eventually turn to the youngest Task, eyeing her.

There's a sadness in her gaze that was typically lacking.

"They're already gone, Artemis. What would you have me do?" She asked, a clawed hand pointing to the solo brother left standing amongst their former trio. "Run against him myself and die for absolutely nothing?" She asked, her head tilting curiously.

"Or I could continue to live and ensure Theria is taken care of."

After all, someone had to - right? Her gaze drifted back to Revan now.

"And what of Barsburg? Do you welcome them with open arms, Revan, or will we fight?"
(Raeliana)
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 Dun would walk off into the snowdrift like a shambling corpse. He had a job to do.
(Dun Task)
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 {NARRATION} The final measures are ready for the Rift Gate to be completed, yet one final effort is needed.

Dun Task and his failing body must attune the gate to the lowest realm of them all, the eternal pit of suffering Helheim. To do this, they must rift directly into the battlegrounds of the damned to locate a gem containing the energies of this realm, allowing for teleportation back.

But one does not simply walk into Hel.

Armed with faith, determination, and strength, the gate is prepared to rift.

There is no telling if return is possible.

[This is a HIGH CoD. I'm going to fucking kill one of you. You get one elixer, and two lax to use. You can tank one injury.

-100 vit in temp nerfs = death.

3 perms = death.

Good fuck, fuckers.]


 The Dwarf merely stood before the gate, honing his axe upon a stone. The runically charged mithril blade held in one hand. His other a lump of stone.

"And as I said on M'Oath Stone." He would utter. If this didn't put to rest any claims that he didn't want to stick a blade in demons, then nothing would.
(Urist Silverbane)
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 Dun would nod with resolve as he slapped the side of the incomplete gate, the rift, a sense of heaviness in his stomach as the elder of the Fireblooded grimaced. Hades and Valero were dead, and Revan was overlord. He was resolved to finish things one last time.

Without a word or pause, the elder would pace forth grimly into the depths of the rift, taking a final drag from his corncob pipe as he prepared to traipse through the depths of Helheim itself for the final piece of the puzzle.

Theria would have its gate. Task would not die until it was so.

"We will not fall this day."

And then they were off.
(Dun Task)
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 The girl moved forward still as the with group and whoever they had left would move along with them.

A sad day for those who had fallen and so she brings herself into the skies as she follows Dun Task. His body was failing itself and she really honestly? Wasn't told anything about what was truly going on.

"I've heard little of what the plans were.. but I'm here anyways." She looks over at Dun.

"Whatever it is... lets hope we can get in and out in once piece."

She states as the sword was always at herside in the time of aid whenever things came along. Nothing but a feeling of disgust that lingered within her gut. The pain running through her mind still ever to this day with two fallen.
(Ynydis Queen)
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 Anlaufr had been surprised when he was recently invited on an expedition! One that he didn't even have so much details on, but the old man had said he would perform the ceremony for Bryn and Anlaufr, so he couldn't let this bearded old man die now! And so he had accepted to go.

The Fireblooded was ready for any eventualities, he had brought potions, Trauma kits and other little things to use! He learned from his mistakes on the last expeditions he was part of.

"Aight.. Let's go then, but please explain to me on the way more specifically what exactly we are doing here Dun, I still don't get it right ya see.." He commented with a shrug as the portal opened.

And as soon as he saw Dun enters the portal, he followed him into the rift! Without any fear, ready for whatever was there!
(Anlaufr)
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 Dun Task says, "Uh, put a mithril bandaid on my heart if you could Anlaufr. This is gonna get messy."
 {NARRATION} There is no time for explanation, for Dun does not have the lifespan to do so.

Rather, the fel energies take all for a great ride into Helheim, and where they end up?

It's horrible.

A singular plataeu with a grand black tower in the distance, pulsing with the same energies as this place. The land is desolate, the sky an acrid red and the mana incredibly oppresive.

But they have little time to ruminate, as the plateau begins to shake with the arrival of a massive titan.

It shines, even when in such a desolate and corruptive area. A Nethradin, basking in the sin of Gluttony. It's eyes searching their souls for Essence, and it's great hands moving to grasp what little standing room.

"Mortal intruders. Your essence shall be a wonderful feast for me."

There is no time for anything but combat!
 Dun Task says, "Uh.....hey look over there! NOW ANLAUF THE BANDAID"
 Anlaufr says, "Sadly, I forgot the Bandaid."
Ynydis Queen says, ".."
 Dun Task says, "USE WHAT YOU HAVE."

"Onolsedil, Etas Mes Alnis," The Dwarf would begin his age old chant. The words given to his forefathers by the lords of the mountain, the words that echoed in the hidden, stony court in Terraheim.

The Tarian War Chant, said with utmost reverence even as the stout Urist would pelt off towards the Nethradin, a cackle bursting from his throat before he continued the chant.

"Ïggal Tustzal-Num,

Rem Tustzal-Kashan..."
(Urist Silverbane)
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[23:08] Dun would pace forth with certainty and grim resolve, his heart ever burning with determination as he smelled the sent of Helheim once more. It did not surprise him in truth, he'd come here long ago as a young man to rob a demon smith, the place hadn't changed much in eighty years.

The plateau and the obsidian tower, the ever-present malevolence that permeated in the air. The clown prince of Theria had returned one last time to the depths of Hel to finish the job he started. Hades and Valero might very well already be here, but the old man had work to do.

He could die soon enough.

"Yes yes, essence this, devour that. We're on a time limit, let's get on with this."
(Dun Task)
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 "..."

There truly wasn't any time for anything but to fight. The destructive energies that spill from the place was definitely something that was moved to all of it was

Corrupt.

A feeling of slight fear that shivers down her spin. There was a tower in the distance but before they could even get near there?

A massive titian moving in the distance shines. And so her blade was drawn and quickly she rises up higher into the skies as her wings flap with such vigorous waves of wings leaving her form. It was time.

"We won't submit."

There was only a time to strike.
(Ynydis Queen)
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Well, without much time for explanations and there they were on the portal! Going straight to a place that Anlaufr couldn't quite say exactly where was. Great.

And when arriving at the destination.. An faced an unusual vision for him, something beyond this world! A desolate place, "Oh dear.. Where are we!?" He exclaimed, looking around.

But before they could answer the poor man, more things happen! For right in front of them, a giant, a titanic creature approaches! Not a friendly one at all.

He would leave the conversation to the rest of the group, just clenching his fists ready for any problems!
(Anlaufr)
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{NARRATION} By luck and combined might, the Sin-filled titan is pushed back long enough for the four to escape form it's clutches. However, Anlaufr is not spared it's gluttonous rage as one of it's hands crushes part of his right arm.

Sliding down the steep side of the Plateau, the four find themselves on a bone-paved road leading to this tower. Proto-nethradin wander all around them, as well as the sin-titans that they just fought. These malformed spirits are constantly fighting eachother, consuming bits and pieces and growing more malformed.

The most recently entered spirits wander with no sense of purpose with only some corruption, while those nearing full-nethradation mutate in horrible ways.

Dun might recognise some of these spirits, but none would know them, or even who they were.

Nevertheless, the road is open.

 "Ôm Tustzal-Arel," As he fought, Urist would speak, praying to his obscure mountain gods and decrying his foes. "Okab Tustzal-Zagash," Without his other hand, marksmanship was no longer within the stout miner's grasp and so he fought instead like a berserker, swinging the axe one handed with wild abandon. Speaking the ancient words as the earth, even the pale specter of it that stood here, rose up. " Unâl Tarmid Lish, Usur Ottan Lish."

And perhaps it's the chant, said properly. Perhaps it's the Onolsedil well and truly watching out for him, but the short man made it through.

"Sobr Akith Onolsedil, Nerrid Lish Vesh, Egen Lushôn."
(Urist Silverbane)
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 Luck indeed.

A sweaty and heated battle as she soars through the skies swinging starburn with all her might. The Astral waves that wave over into the skies, beams of cosmic shooting from her palm quickly with full on pulses that spread merging with Dun's beams of energies to take down the Nethradin.

They were in the clear for now to proceed.

"Forward we go right?"

Spirits that lied ahead. She never had a good feeling about any of this in the slightest. The power that blooms from the her own blade has a sudden reaction. Her winged spirit glows for a moment as if it was a warning for Ynydis.


(Ynydis Queen)
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 At first Anlaufr expected a more complicated fight.. However, given the combination of the strength of his companions and himself, they were able to deal with the creature!

Dun was giving a show, even though he was old, he was also a skilled fight. Deceiving the creature in moments, giving the opportunity for others to attack.

The dwarf was also skilled! A great warrior to be seen in battle.. Too bad An didn’t know him yet.. Maybe later, if they survive.

And finally the Drakanite! Another person that he did not know, but who showed great strength, using his attacks against the creature. Great companion.

However, even with all the capacity of the team, by a slip Anlaufr had been caught and had his arm crushed. He let out a short cry, grabbing his right arm and running for the team.

He patted himself on the face, regaining his focus, because now they were on their way to a new location. Full of creatures, "Ugh." He murmured through his teeth.
(Anlaufr)
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 Dun would engage in a brutal bout against the first great titan of sin. But his heart had become ash with his son's deaths, and all of his emotional capacity had been deafened by it. He had become ruthlessly precise in his death march, hyper focused and vigilant towards the task at hand.

Delivering a final kick to the side of the titan, the elder would proceed forth into the depths of the plains of torment, the scent of brimstone heavy upon his nostrils as he glanced through the shades.

His heart caught for a moment, beating slowly, painfully, agonizingly. A pain deeper then the harsh burns of Ifraheim upon his heart, a cold worse than the permafrost of Uraheim.

It was them. His sons. Passed, now, as he would be soon.

It hurt. Worse than any other wound he'd ever taken. It tore him apart at his seems.

Swallowing dryly, Task would resolve himself as he took a deep breathe, raising his fist as his hollow sockets ignited with etheric flame.

"I am sorry."
(Dun Task)
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{NARRATION} Heartbreak would not stop this group from continuing. Before long on this road do they approach the black spire. However, their path is barred.

A horrible monster of combined Nethradin was chained to the front, souls and mutated Proto-Nethradin formed into a singular chimeric form. All of the individual souls attempted to free itself from this torment, but they cannot.

They all stare at the approaching mortals, and attempt to crawl towards them. The chain does not break, and they prepare their weapons to consume and assimilate.

They would not get close to the source of power until this is defeated.
 Once more into the breach, having uttered his prayers the Miner spared no words for the monster ahead of them. Letting the rising tide of stone and soil do his speaking for him as he readied his axe, charging behind the vanguard of stone.
(Urist Silverbane)
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Something blocked in their way.

Another beast of a Nethradin more occultic energies that pulse from this one was very much so even more dangerous than the last one. A sigh leaving her lips as she looks up into the skies of the deep scarlett red.

Would they make it out?

Who would know however she wanted to see this out till the end. She looks over at Dun, she could see the pain on his face the feeling of those people that were dead, his sons.

".."

However she was looking at nothing but pain.

"So cruel.."

Sights she hasn't seen before in her life all that bared before her very eyes.. Her weapon pulled over her shoulders as Starburn was clenched within her two palms prepared once more.
(Ynydis Queen)
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 Anlaufr looked briefly at Dun, as he heard the old man apologize. He approached the old man, giving a friendly pat on his back. But not saying anything

But without delay, soon the group continues. Until they reached the entrance to the spiral and having their path blocked.. Again. This time for what seemed to be the junction of multiple creatures! And again, these were not friendly.

"And here we go again!" He exclaimed, clenching his fists, somewhat with difficulty given to his injured arm.

Before starting another fight, he pulled a bottle from his backpack and drank! It was time to fight and he was going to go with everything.
(Anlaufr)
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 Dun would take a long, deep breathe as he staired down the haunting chimera of nethradin, the elder statesman grimacing as he clasped his chest before steeling his resolve, his body igniting in a shroud of brilliant energy as he pushed himself yet again.

He was a dying man, but he got to chose the why and how of it. His remaining fist was raised, blackened by a condensed layer of pulsating mana as he grit his teeth with determination. This was the way of things, then.

Nodding to the party and their sentiments, he'd prepare to engage the chimeric nethradin and bring it rest the only way he knew how.

With his fists.
(Dun Task)
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  {NARRATION} Such is the strength of unity verses numbers.

The Chimerical abomination is unrelenting, throwing every magic under the sun at this source of food. But this group had a task.

They had a Dun Task.

Not only does he face the beast head on, but he takes a blow for Anlaufr that utterly frys his skin. A wave of fire that sears him to the bone, leaving his flesh crackling.

It is traded with an all-piercing Energy Beam, so perfect in it's craft that it cuts through the abomination, and the gate to the tower.

The rest are injuried from the battle, but have a small moment before they enter.

Potentially, the last.
[00:16] ** Clumped Failures has inflicted an injury upon Dun Task. ("Sacrificial Endure", "Dun takes a wave of fire that would have reduced Anlaufr to ash, destroying his skin and broiling him inside. He barely lives. He must survive to see this through.", "Permanent", "Severity: MODERATE (-10 Vit)") **
[00:21] Given the potion Anlaufr had taken, he was almost unconscious. Fighting fiercely against the creature, delivering blow after blow.

He was acting carelessly, so much so that he was caught by an attack. He briefly saw the flames coming towards him, but then a being came in front of him and saved him, this being Dun. Thanks to the old man's courage, Anlaufr was saved. But at what cost?

"DUN!" He shouted in a loud tone, running towards the old man.

He was totally burned.. Really burned, "You old fool! WHY YA DID IT!?

There was no need! Ugh. Independent. Thank you very much.. Ye saved me.." He said, keeping a hand on his forehead.
(Anlaufr)
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 Dun was in his element. He could forget about his sorrow and suffering as he forged through with determination, his searing energy ushered forth fearlessly in a directed wave assault that steadily wore down the great beast.

In battle, that was his home. It had always been that case, since he was a young man.

And yet, as Anlaufr was nearly caught in an incinerating wave, the eldest Fireblooded would lunge forth without a thought, throwing the man to the side as he was engulfed in a great torrent of flame, scorching him to the bone as his skin was turned ashen, deadened.

Yet, an energy magi was at their most dangerous when close to death, and Task was a dead man walking. With an audible sound of crackling, a sphere of etheric blue energy would gather in his palm before, with a great release of power, a massive wave of raw mana was sent forth at the Chimera, rending it and the path ahead asunder with the strength of a charging elephant.

Falling to one knee as smoke rose from his form, Dun would cough up a glob of black, boiling blood upon the ground before straightening his back, forging on with determination into the tower.

He had not come this far to die now.
(Dun Task)
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 Pain and suffering. She's never been through such depths of pain but yet compared to Dun's? It was nothing. He was taking it all in easily like a monster like a robot. He was barely living.

With the final effort of her blade extending it with a single arm as Astral waves brush over her arm stabbing into the beast and unleashing a wave of energies from the stars above to push it away. Dun dealt he final blow to it.

A massive wave of pure and condensed energies pi the beast that opened up a path for them to go into.

"..."

Bolts that surged throughout her body. The scars were left along her arms in so much pain but she didn't budge.. she didn't do much but clench her teeth.

"Dun..."

She looked over to him his skin boiling. Would he keep going? Though it didn't seem they were stopping now.

They had to keep moving.
(Ynydis Queen)
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 Perhaps it was an ill mood from witnessing the carnage that had undertaken his oldest friends family. Perhaps it was the oath he had swore on the mountainside a year ago, beneath the watchful gaze of the peaks.

Whatever the case may be, he hurls himself into the fray with a wild abandon. Leaping from stones as they rose up he would hurl not just stones at the monstrous creature but himself. The solid miner hacking at the beast with a great booming laugh, fell and terrible.

This unfortunately meant that as it fell he slid into the depths of the tainted water, oldest and most sure enemy of the stony gods he had sworn his soul to.

Nearly drowning there, the miner would claw his way back to the surface, hacking coughs to empty his lungs of the foul fluid.... but even that was likely not enough given the curses in the water.
(Urist Silverbane)
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 {NARRATION} Within the chambers of the black spire is but a single Nethradin, giant in size and holding onto a great wealth of essence. A creature beyond their understanding of Helheim who held onto a singular gemstone.

A purple spinel, the source of their siren energy call and the reason for their trip. Within Dun does a new feeling spurn.

Maybe it is a feeling of the end, coming upon him.

Maybe it is a new beginning for Theria, at the gate's completion.

Or maybe, a sense of nostalgia for something he does not yet understand.

Before them stands Tzaloc Zyl, Marquess of Helheim.

He will not give his gem up so easily.
[00:34] Dun would pace forth into the depths of the black spire, a structure not unlike the first he'd walked under long ago in his prime, in the age of demons and the first apocalypse. There was a sense of nostalgia in truth, a reminder of the distant spark that had begun to truly free the land from the chains of order.

And yet, he sensed it. The pulsating gem, the foul energy it possessed, the one in a million sort of which he bore three of similar likeness. Even sensing it caused his pockets to feel heavier, somehow colder and hotter at the same time. Uraheim, Ifraheim, Ifraheim.

And now Helheim once more. Dun's last ride.


Taking a cigarette from his pocket, the old man would place it in his teeth before snapping his fingers, a blue flame lighting it as the old man took a long drag from the smoke.

Before cracking his back, raising his remaining fist, and igniting in etheric flame once more.

"That thing, your dark stone, give it to me."
(Dun Task)
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 Was there an end?

She didn't know but she felt it. This one was something not to be easily messed with. The power brewing from this beast of an abomination makes her skin crawl and shudder. Heavily breathing from the bolts coursing throughout her skin. It ached as she never truly sustained a injury in battle.

She always came out clean even when fighting among the demons. A sad fate she couldn't avoid any today. Perhaps her luck was running out but she was more worried for Dun. The state he was in.

The power felt pulsing from it. She assumes that's what Dun needed. She could only assume this was going to be yet another bloody battle. Would this be the last? She never really knew but still.

And when Dun spoke? He wanted it she was right. It's what he wanted the stone to complete his desires.

She'd keep moving to find the light. And defeat this one to attain to stone. They had to do it together.


(Ynydis Queen)
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 Anlaufr, still somewhat enraged and impressed by Dun's bravery and idiocy, would help him in any way possible to continue. That old man was tough and apparently he was holding up, but An couldn't let him die here! Not until the wedding.

It was clear now where they were for Anlaufr, but he still didn't believe it.. Even after facing those creatures and walking around the place. Where only the group's courage kept them going.

Arriving at the destination, they came across another disgusting creature. A huge one that apparently had something that others wanted. Interesting.

"Stay behind me, Old Man. Ye defended me once, this time I will defend ya!" He gave a thumbs up, already clenching his fists.

He already knew how things worked here. Where apparently talking will never work. And well, better in this way.

Anlaufr opened his backpack, removing a gem from there, which shone brightly like fire. He gripped it firmly, whereupon his aura rose even higher, "Let's do it."
(Anlaufr)
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 Fully within the grips of that fell mood, even being half drowned did little more than get Urist's hackles up. Letting out the occasional wet cough and spitting up more of the purplish fluid, he would glare at the being in front of them.

The thing that would see them all dead before it gave them what they came for, the final piece to Dun's great work.

As a boy, Task had offered to let Urist help build a bridge. And so it had come to pass, little could the young miner have known that the bridge was not to cross a river, but to cross the realms of the world tree.

And that the quest to construct it would see them here, fighting past demons, monsters, and more ephemereal obstacles.... They had arrived.
(Urist Silverbane)
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The gigantic marquess of Helheim spreads its growing tentacles left and right. Nightmares seem to erupt from their visage, the very punishing winds of Helheim coming to the Nethradin's rescue. Hollow eyes underneath seem to struggle to make a form, but they focus on no one specifically.

Broken, whatever lied of the spirit that once made the Nethradin was now long gone. "GET OUT!" The only few words that it was able to say, filling the very air around them with raw, sheer dread.

"GET OUT!"

"GET OUT!"

A roar erupted from under its throat, with a glob of black tar erupting from under their mouth. "YOU WILL NOT GET IT! YOU WILL NOT GET IT!"

Certainly, they'd soon notice how this creature fought. They weren't going to attack them directly, no- Instead... It was a fight that they needed to fight inside their own heads.
(Tzaloc Zyl)
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 Eventually, the creature just stops. It is pummeled left and right, thrown around nearly like a ragdoll, and even then? Still capable of inflicting wounds on each one of them.

The sounds build up. Every single one of them slowly take form amidst the tempest sounds of Helheim, until they erupt from such disorganized cacophony. From that, it turns into...

A beautiful melody.

A baritone voice emerges from underneath, mixing with the monstrous voice. "YOU!" The colossus of shadows collapses on itself, coating the very ground underneath them with a black tar, a loud scream causing it to combust- And the tentacles push every single one of them away.

Locked into the walls, any movement causes pain. Pain, to the point where it is overwhelming - Pain, to the point where it seems like their entire body is struggling against a puppet's strings, ones that aimed to hold them back against the walls.

"I REMEMBER YOU, TASK!"

The voice underneath started to take shape, as a figure emerged from the shadows.

"YOU TOOK MY VERY IMAGE, AND DISTORTED IT!"

"YOU TOOK MY DAUGHTER'S JOY- YOU TOOK MY GRANDSON'S LIFE- YOU CREATED A MONSTER AND CAST IT INTO THE DEPTHS OF HELL!"

The final shape?

It wasn't familiar to most there- Perhaps only one part of it would be easily recognizable.

The mask.
(Tzaloc Zyl)
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{NARRATION} Everyone but Dun Task must move to the side to observe this fight.

It is time for his final duel.
[01:04] Dun would click his teeth together with thoughtful contemplation as he glanced over the mask of his lost visage for a time. His hollow eyesockets would stare across his old foe with a sense of finality, as if it was a homecoming after a long journey.

Today had been torturous to the old man. Compared to that, this was just par for course. A death match against his old foe in the depths of Helheim? CQC?

How nostalgic.

Raising his remaing fist, he'd nod firmly as he prepared to engage his old foe in a final duel, the last duel of his life regardless of whether or not he survived it.

No fear.

"Yes, I did all of those things. I also claimed your mantle and taught your grandson to spread chaos in your name. All things considered, I didn't do you much of a bad turn bar the brain splattering. As if you weren't committing suicide already."

Dun would light a cigarette, taking a thoughtful drag.

"You did love theater."
(Dun Task)
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 Dun would find himself ruthlessly beaten back by Crowley's assault. It was clear that he was worn in heart, mind, and body from the trials of not only his life, but this day with the death of his sons. Helheim offered no punishment that he had not already been forced to endure in his life.

Death was the least of his concerns.

Being beaten and bloodied by the deafness of the dark, pushed into a corner by the relentless gales of wind, Task could only push on with sheer determination as he swung his fists once more with violence.

Pushing Crowley back with what fight he had left.

"You know the saying, I'm getting too old for this shit? I think I've been too old for this shit for seventy years."
(Dun Task)
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 Crowley fought just the same way that he always did. "You ruined my entire family, Dun Task. You did everything in your power to ruin my legacy. You wore the mask of my character." His masterpiece. Yet, this was all secondary.

The illusions continued to coalesce; He pointed towards the rest of his expedition. "They will watch. Just like you made Aria watch." It was all boiling down to vengeance. "But, you know what?"

Hands covered his face once again. The mask continued on. "Even too old for that."

"You're pretty good."
(Crowley)
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 {NARRATION} Both of their bodies were failing.

Dun Task's body of a hundred and twenty years died during this fight, he could feel it.

His time ticked down to nothing.

Crowley had burned away every part of his Nethradin body to fight on even ground, and so too did his vitality drop to near zero.

The scythe of the end hung over both their necks, and their movements slowed to a crawl.

Whoever threw the last punch would not live long after.

 Crowley says, "This is it, Dun Task. The grand finale we all waited for."
 Dun would grit his teeth with determination, preparing to engage in the likely last fight of his life with nothing held back. The Crowley of the depths of Hel was the same one that had haunted his nightmares with post-traumatic stress, and yet...

This is what he had needed all along, wasn't it?

A last fight with Crowley's doppleganger. The last fight with himself.

Slamming his fist into Crowley's jaw to push him back once more, another gust of wind would blast Task off his feet as he fell to his knees, smoke rising from his form as the punished old man would look up at the ceiling for a time.

His hands would begin to writh as he seemed to suddenly be filled with boundless rage.

"GRRRRRRRRRRAH! CROWLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!"
(Dun Task)
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The last fight was certainly the grand finale that was asked for. Cracking the mask, it'd reveal the form of Crowley's face; Bertrand's, underneath the mask. Still young, just like the day that he died- With the same hole of a bullet across the head.

Yet, no punch went unanswered. He pushed back, every single part of his act thrown into this last piece of performance- Obviously, Crowley was tired. Their very form shattered and struggled to keep itself together... But it would, regardless.

He needed these last few moments. To finally enact the righteous vengeance he had promised that very day, even if his final thoughts were indeed answered.

Thanks to Dun, he kept true to his word.

He wasn't going to die to a Knight of the First Light.

"GRYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! TAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASK!"
(Crowley)
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 {NARRATION} It is a battle of twin deaths.

The Nethradin Marquess Crowley burned more than what he was capable of using to live in this battle, even as he delivers the final strike. They traded blows back and forth without remorse. Blow after blow, not a single inch yielded to the other.

Dun's heart stopped halfway through that fight, and his body didn't even bother to recognise that it had died until the final two punches landed. A cross counter that is the end of Bertrand and Task, their mana finally burnt out from that hit.

They collapse together, the Nethradin's body falling into ash, and Dun slowly realizing the situation he's in.

He can no longer press forward. His toil is complete. He is already home.

He belongs in such a chaotic realm, as Helheim.

Here lay the ill-fated Task Bloodline, ending at it's elder.

For Dun Task is no more.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKlNdzpICW0)

 Falling down on the ground, the nethradin filled with hatred finally started to unmake his very own form. This wasn't Bertrand- This was just a memory of a memory, distorted from the eons passed in the underworld, suffering for what had never happened.

Surviving only for this last moment. Only so that Dun Task would know death through his very hands. Down on the ground, the jester collapses, lying on his back. A cough causes black tar to erupt from his throat, coating a bit of the ground...

Until consciousness finally wanes. His own body continues, yes- But it is only a husk in just a few moment's notice. Gone with the very winds that were summoned, slowly dying down, only leaving the raw malice that the very depths of Helheim summoned.

There was no laughter.

No joy.

No sadness.

It was just emptiness- The ultimate spectacle.
(Crowley)
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 Urist had never seen Crowley before today. But he had seen the mans mask. It seems the days duels were not yet done.... Still, while the younger tasks had faced a vengeful brother. It seems the Elder had the honor of going out in a grudge match a century in the making with the shade of his old nemesis.

An honor duel was an honor duel. Even here in Helheim the tradition held it seemed.

And yet... That didn't stop the stout miner from tearing the floor asunder as he leapt towards the fallen Elder. Stone shoved backwards as he hurled himself forwards at speed to try and grab the fallen man.

He would not leave Dun's body here to be fed upon by Nethradin. It was returning to Theria, where it could be entombed in honor.
(Urist Silverbane)
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 The last round of the fight between the two old men was brutal. Ancient jaws cracking, flesh steaming, muscles aching, each agonizing moment of pain pushing the old man further and further as he just...

Let it all go, and enjoyed the fight.

In that moment, he was Commander Task of the Royal Osronan Constabulary, stalwart determinator of justice that fought for the little guy no matter what happened. There, Crowley, the clown, his arch nemesis, his ancient foe.

The man he'd killed, but never beaten.

Yet, as the two withered warriors beat the life out of each other bit by bit, Task didn't even realize until about halfway through that his heart hadn't made a peep.

But that didn't matter now. What mattered was this fight.

Slamming his shoulder into Crowley's form as he grit his teeth with fury, the grand old man of Theria would slam his fist into the clown's visage as his own head was smashed, collapsing back upon the black stone with a burst of black bile from his blackened veins.

Laying on his back, heart stopped, a wheeze of exhaustion that summarized almost a hundred years of suffering would exit the old man's mouth, a spatter of blood before, as his hollow sockets fell upon Crowley blow away with the winds, almost as if from instinct.

He'd begin to laugh. A real laugh, a belly laugh, the kind of chuckle only a man that had had his day made could make. As it began to go dark, he'd point a finger gun at the wisps of the fallen Crowley, flashing his trade mark, ear to ear grin one last time.

"You know, Crowley?.....That was pretty funny."

With a heavy, concussive thud against the black stone, the old man's eyelids shut as his features relaxed, a final, earnest grin upon his visage as the timeless jester finally had the time of his life.

Dun Task had left the building.
(Dun Task)
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Another one. Another battle to the death as she watches she couldn't do a thing but slowly she felt the tentacles begin to lighten up and lose power as they fought throughout the match.

She frees herself cleaves through what was left with the bare hands of her own claws ripping it into shreds and slowly making her way toward the two. Nothing but the sounds of fist trading blows in the night of Hel.

They both fell with the last blow that was dealt. Eyes would widen.. who died? Who won this bout of a deadly battle between the two. Tears slowly forming down her own visage uncontrollably. She wanted him to win very much so but...

It didn't cut out

Nothing but sadness.

The air filled with silence within these given moments.

The mission was a failure.

One of the worst days of her life with nothing but death all around. The pain pulsing and felt throughout her heart another loved one of hers lost just like that. He died ain a great battle and that was a fact.

Such like an honor duel even inside Helhiem he died the Therian way. Like all the Task did. A wild display before all their eyes. So many thoughts and things ringing throughout her head. Almost unbelievable to her very own eyes.

She had to accept the hard truth.
(Ynydis Queen)
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 Trapped against the wall by tentacles from that hellish place, unable to do anything but look. Watch while his friend, Dun, fought a masked being that had emerged from Nethradin. A fight to death this was.

Anlaufr was a young man, a very fool and who thought that this would be just another adventure, one that in the end they would get what they came for and get back home.. But no, all they got out of it was just pain and sadness.

The young Fireblooded saw the fierce clash between the two until the end. His single eye remained glazed at that moment, it was a spectacle however for real, one that would probably be marked in his mind, the rest of his life. That is, if he was going to get out of that fucking place alive.

In the end, the elder fell too. And with that, a tear flowed from Anlaufr's eye, as he saw that scene, "DUUUUUNNN!!" He shouted with all his might, a sad and clearly downcast voice.

He launched himself at the man, he couldn't leave him there. He wouldn't.

Dun Task was dead. A friend was gone..
(Anlaufr)
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 {NARRATION} Clink! Clink! Clink!

From the dissolving corpse of the Nethradin is the final piece of this puzzle. The Helheim Spinel, the gem they had searched for.

The one that Dun gave his life to.

With this, the survivors could re-enter the rift made from the Gate, and return to the realm of the living.

His death was not in vain, for it bore the fruit of his work.

The three could leave with Task's body, and the gem that would complete the Rift Gate.

All at the cost of one man.

[EVENT COMPLETE]