The Gathering

[Zuka Zamamee]

*There was a great awakening and activity at Zuka's lair, one that was unnatural and unusual. For many months his armies had remained dormant since the battle and fall of Syl'arboreth. Now, en masse, the Hordes of Irenicus and Telemnar reawakened. And now, after weeks of seclusion, Zuka, too, reawakened. Taking charge of Gorothal, Mimmukarr, Kaz'kulga, and Ceris, the necromancer, his armies, and the captured elves moved outside of the lair and stood to where they could see it, ignoring the torrential rainfall that flooded the lands. With the Necromancy Index by his side and the books from his vast libraries safely taken elsewhere, Zuka muttered an arcane chant that lasted for minutes and simaltaneously watched the effect take place*

*A great storm brewed above his lair, blotching out the dark storms that already existed, and watched as dark fires lashed outwards. A portal formed, its destination known only to him and his generals. Slowly, the Temple of Death, the Shrine of the Dead, and the Well of Souls were lifted from the ground and swallowed whole by the portal. The rest of the lair, however, was destroyed in a matter of minutes by the falling dark fireballs. Zuka watched impassively as the lair was reduced to ashes and rubble and the concussive waves from the explosions washed over him and his army*

*After the destruction of his lair was complete, Zuka dismissed the portal and watched as it slowly faded away. Chanting again, he reformed another portal, this time one that would allow his armies passage into the realm he had sent his prized possessions. Gorothal and Mimmukarr formed up the Irenicus Horde into their parade formation and marched forth, followed by the elves. Kaz'kulga and Ceris simaltaneously formed up the Telemnar Horde in parade formation and followed behind the elves. Minutes passed as the formations continued to march through the portal. From the other side of the portal it would seem as if the army would continue on for all of eternity, but this, despite how much Zuka wished, was not true*

*Half an hour had passed, and the armies were almost completely through marching into the other realm. Pulling the Necromancy Index closer to himself, Zuka followed behind his armies and entered the portal at last, disspelling it after he had exited through the other side*

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*The realm of P'leik was just as harsh, desolate, and unforgiving as the soul of the necromancer himself. The lands were nothing more than complete badlands. The ground was broken rocks scattered with ruins, mines, and decaying fortresses. The sky was sable both day and night, and only a single red light burned in the sky acting as a light source. The visibility might've been considered poor by some, but it presented no problems for Zuka. Feeling a melancholy mood washing over him, Zuka was reminded that P'leik was a chaotically evil negative energy realm. Those that were good or lawfully aligned often found themselves being rapidly drained of their powers before dying and becoming a wraith. However, Zuka and his minions were unaffected by the harsh conditions of P'leik, and they embraced its harshness with a cheerfulness not easily explained*

*Here, at the realm of P'leik, waited his Temple of Death, Shrine of the Dead, and Well of Souls. And now, with the help of the subjugated elves and other races that had been captured, a great building would begin. Within months, the P'leik Fortress was rebuilt with the Temple of Death and Shrine of the Dead in its courtyards, and the Well of Souls as its very foundation. As a safeguard, Zuka placed a magical barrier over the Well that prevented all but himself from tapping its powers. However, in the course of these months less than a week had passed in the Material Plane. The time difference would allow Zuka to easily rebuild his armies whilst the enemies barely had time to recuperate from the relentless assaults*

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*At the end of the construction of his new Fortress, Zuka turned his eyes to the realm of Cha'arduun, the very realm that the great paladin Akunosh Inarus II hailed from, and the home of the warlike Dothraki. With arcane words and gestures, the necromancer formed yet another portal, and ordered a portion of his Hordes to attack. The Dothraki fought gallantly, but were unprepared to take on the might of the Telemnar and Irenicus Hordes. In days, the entirity of the Dothraki clans and tribes fell before the might of Zuka's minions, and, after each passing victory, more and more Dothraki pledged allegiance to the necromancer. However, some of the Dothraki tribes had proven difficult to hunt down, and Zuka was not about to waste his time with such a menial task. Withdrawing the rest of his armies and the new Dothraki prisoners, Zuka sealed the portal between his realm and Cha'arduun*

*The Dothraki tribes would be tortured, beaten, brainwashed, and finally corrupted to the core by Zuka's very magics. In time, the Dothraki willingly pledged themselves to the Horde, willing to fight and die for their master. Every glimmer of intelligence was wiped from their minds, and they became single-minded machines that were all too willing to die for Zuka. Only the most dedicated, loyal, and brave of the Dothraki were awarded any intelligence*

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*More time would pass by as Zuka continued the subjugation of other races. The Geiz'nahül and Geiz'nahül-Ilth, the Azaseh and Baelmus, the Razeoul and other races suffered the same fate as the Dothraki, and in time, they too willingly pledged themselves to Zuka and his cause. After the subjugation of these races, Zuka turned his attention back to El'th'norann. Silently, brooding in the P'leik Fortress on his throne, he plotted, planned, and waited for the time of war to come*

*Zuka Telemnar Zamamee, the Destroyer, would soon descend upon El'th'norann like a plague of locusts on a field of crops. This time, however, none would stand in his geneocidal path of chaos, death, and destruction*

[Ominous]

It was one of my bad feelings that led me to wander out into the middle of nowhere. A great portal opened a few kilometers ahead of me, and it was big enough so that it still towered over me.

I decided that whatever it was that would take so long to go through this thing must be bad, and it must be too difficult for me to handle alone. I couldn't even best my friend Zuka in a duel, so a giant monster or an army or whatever would be much more difficult.

I jumped off the smooth rock I'd been resting on downhill from the portal, and began to walk back home. It was a bit too far to teleport, and if I showed my magic signature I could lead whatever it was directly into a town.

I wondered...could this be that giant army Zuka bragged about? I'd always thought that he was crazy, or exaggerating, or trying to impress me. But, maybe those violent tendencies of his were more than a bit of sadism towards villains and goons. Maybe the slaugbhter of North Mafia members I'd witnessed was only a taste of what was to come.

Destroying the world, though? That was silly. He had acquaintances, cohorts, friends. Destroying the world meant destroying people like me, people who had helped him, who he had helped. Could his demeanor have been a facade? Was I meaningless to him? Did friendship mean anything anymore?

Regardless, this was only if Zuka was actually doing this. It was likely it was just another everyday coup by an evil army that a few ragtag adventurers could take care of alone. Honestly, I didn't wanna be one of those adventurers this time. Maybe, I thought, I'd become a wanderer and watch this unfold from afar. Maybe I'd only do something with this if the fate of the world asked me to.

There were enough heroes those days, anyway.

[Zuka Zamamee]

*Seated on the Throne of Darkness in P'leik, Zuka would be found brooding and planning for the downfall of his homerealm for a number of days. It mattered not, however, since this amounted to an hour or so in the Material Plane where El'th'norann was situated. Kaz'kulga, Ceris, Gorothal, and Mimmukarr had, in the meantime, taken command over the vast Telemnar and Irenicus Hordes, preparing for any word of when the war would commence. The assembled hosts were fiercesome and effective, for Zuka chose his troops well. If war did come, as he had hoped it would, then the Elves of El'th'norann were in for a surprise that they would not expect*

*But now, Zuka would rise out of his Throne and make his way into the vast libraries of his Fortress. Though he didn't particularly enjoy the destruction of his lair, the Fortress was everything that he had dreamed of and more, including a library the size of most keeps. Walking up and down the vast isles of tomes and scrolls, the necromancer picked a few tomes and brought them back to an empty desk. Flipping through the pages, the necromancer read about various stories, finding nothing of particular importance. Again, he did this for days on end, trying to find something to tame the boredom that crawled into his mind. Despite the possibility of war, the lack of bloodshed was taking its toll*

*Finally, a leather-bound tome thicker than anything else in his libraries eventually caught his attention. The necromancer flipped open the cover and saw that the entire book was written in runes that were vaguely familiar. But from where? And why? He attempted to scry it with magic, to discern its nature, but these were not magical runes. Sighing, he studied them closely and recognized something about them. These runes were similar to Elvish, specifically Arthanian Elvish. It had been some time since he had last read in Arthanian, and these runes seemed to be an archaic form of it. Finally, it clicked. This tome was written in Altmeri, an archaic form of an archaic Elvish language. Grinning in satisfaction, the necromancer found an inkwell, ink pen, and dozens of blank scrolls and decoded the book, beginning an exstensive amount of research*

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*From this book, Zuka had learned quite a bit. The Altmer, the forerunners to the Arthanian Elves who were in turn forerunners to the High Elves in the Arthanian Empire, were masters of alchemy, science, magic, architecture, mathematics, and were even manipulaters of life and death. The Altmer in general were a physically frail race, forced to rely off of their creations to protect them. These creations included mechanical and biological beings, most being a failure. Most startling, however, was that it mentioned the Dothraki. So, the rumors of them breeding with other races was false. Figured as much. Created by scientific methods by mixing the genes of various races together, the Dothraki were meant to be the ultimate protectors of the Altmer and their secrets. However, a certain Dothraki, named Jrakk Drogo, was given intelligence in an attempt to make the Dothraki people into a more...well-rounded race, capable of casting arcane spells*

*In these attempts, however, the Altmer failed dramatically (in the most ironic way possible), and Jrakk Drogo realized how his people were used as pawns. Enraged, he led a rebellion and destroyed the Altmer and Altmeri labs, equipment, and cities. However, the rebel leader was mortally wounded at the battle of the Altmeri capital, Juhng-Ik Ji, and he died soon afterwards. This was a major blow to the Dothraki, and they were defeated swiftly. Without a strong leader to lead them, they were dispersed all across the lands of...Cha'arduun? Was the necromancer reading this right? Gods...what was it with that place? Everything seemed to boil down to this very realm*

*Zuka shook his head slowly, hardly comprehending this. If the Altmer were truly masters of creation, why weren't there anymore references of them? Where were their ruins? Why did they disappear after the Dothraki were defeated? Where did they go? So many questions, yet so little time. Returning back to the thick tome, Zuka read more*

*Few Altmer ruins remained in existance, and those that do exist are almost completely destroyed by weather, time, and bandits. However, Juhng-Ik Ji was rumored to remain in perfect condition, untouched by time and raiders. How this was possible was beyond Zuka, and he contemplated over this for some time. Sighing, Zuka continued his study. The Altmer were ruled by powerful Archmages, far more powerful than almost any others. In their quest for power and knowledge, many of Altmer Archmages became Liches, trading their very souls for eternal life and untold powers. Liches...? Was it possible? Perhaps Zuka was not wasting his time on reading this tome. If there were Altmer Liches and Archmages of untold power, then there would be more tomes, artifacts, and ruins worth seeking. And where these all could be found, there was no doubt that more was nearby*

*The necromancer placed the string pageholder carefully on the page he left off, then gently closed the tome and held it to his chest as he stood up. Then, he placed his notes into a hidden pocket within his cloak where he would find it later on if necessary. If Juhng-Ik Ji truly remained in one piece, as the tome had suggested, then Zuka would travel there and find it. There, perhaps, he would find what he was searching for: a way to bring ruin and annihilation to El'th'norann*

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*The necromancer commanded his four generals to wait for him in his throne room. When he arrived, they were patiently waiting for him, watching for any signs that might indicate when the war would begin. Zuka, however, motioned for them to listen carefully to the words he spoke*

"I will be leaving shortly on another personal quest. I travel to the lands of Cha'arduun to find an Altmeri city named Juhng-Ik Ji. Perhaps there I will find some answers to my numerous questions about the Altmer. If my searches are successful, there is a chance I will find many tomes and artifacts that will be well worth my time. Wait here for my return, and keep our armies on full alert. If it is necessary to launch a premature assault on El'th'norann, I wish for our forces to be ready. I shall return soon."

*With that, Zuka left his throne and stood on the battlements of the P'leik Fortress, watching over his vast Hordes as they continually prepared for the upcoming war. Now was the time to leave, and, speaking a few arcane words, the necromancer formed a portal to Titan and entered it. There was something that he wished to have taken care of before he left*

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*The portal that he had created placed him directly in his High Councillor's office. It was ironic, really, that such an evil character could hold such a prized position within a powerful clan. Another of life's mysteries, he supposed. Zuka headed out of the door and made his way towards the Golden Griffin. If the necromancer was to find any allies before he left on his journey, it would be here. Perhaps Carzal or TBeck would join. Or, if they were unavailable, someone else*

[Carzal]

"Zuka again, eh?"
Carzal leaned against a tree.
"I don't know what to do. I've knows Zuka for a long time... from before he was like this. But if he keeps on destroying and taking over planes of existance... he'll have to be stopped. I just don't want to do it myself."
Carzal looked off into the distance, troubled.
"How 'bout you?"

[Xartamal]

[Xartamal was walking around the palace those times..there weren't much people around..at a split moment, Xartamal quickly turned his attention to the direction of the Tavern..there was an instant change of flow of energy in the air..the normal atmosphere turned into cold and haunting experience..]

[Xartamal walked fast to the Tavern and open the door..he saw Zuka and knew instantly what were his intentions...it was quiet obvious..Xartamal smiled and laughed..]

"i could use a little exercise.."
**while watching Zuka into the eye**