Library: A beheading, frog legs, and the end of the world.

Long ago, in days almost forgotten, the world was a much different place. Ordinary beings could attain great power through artifacts and other means. Most of these would become merely a superior version of their race, while a lesser few gained the power of gods. In these days, knowledge was spread more freely and allowed individuals to gain insight and abilities across many disciplines. Warriors, if they were intelligent enough, could gain the ability to cast magic. Priests not only could conquer death, but could also be fierce warriors. In these days, four intrepid adventurers also began rising to power. However, the adventurers were merely super human, rather than god-like. Even so, as a group, they were powerful enough to challenge god-like beings. These adventurers chose to spend their days ridding the land of evil. The first of these adventurers was a fighter armed with some of the most powerful weapons and armours in existence. Armed with these artifacts, he could withstand massive amounts of damage and come out the victor in many fights. The next adventurer of this group was a master of not only psionic power, but also a very capable fighter. The third adventurer was a necomancer capable of controlling some of the most evil and powerful corpses of the realm. The last member of the group was a powerful cleric with the power to heal the most dreadful wounds and even revive his fallen comrades. Rumours began to circulate about a powerful being gathering influence and spreading darkness across the land. He made his home in a tower in the land of Tralpecktor. Even his name, Narcuul Deathcut, struck fear in the hearts of many local lords and kings around the realm. The reputation of his power was so great that there were no heroes in the land willing to challenge him. The lords of the land were so fearful that Narcuul would take over their realm, that they pooled their money together to put up a bounty to kill him. For weeks, none would take them up on the bounty. Finally, these four adventurers stepped up to accept the challenge. Now these adventurers were not greedy, they just asked the lords for supplies and some coin to allow them to rest at inns when they could. They just had a strong desire to rid the world of evil whenever they had the chance. So after, some preparation and finding as much information as they could about Narcuul Deathcut, they headed off towards the Tower of Tralpector in hopes of defeating this fearsome foe. After about a weeks travel, sneaking through the land of Tralpecktor, the company arrived at the Tower of Tralpecktor. It was a huge imposing tower, much bigger than expected. After searching for a bit, they finally found a way into the tower. Once inside, they realized that, as big as the outside of the tower was, the inside was much, much larger. Some corridors stretched on, as if to infinity. Down many of these corridors were a myriad of nasty creatures. Not surprising for a being of Narcuuls power. These were insignificant pests to him, squashed at a mere thought, if he wished. As such, they were also no challenge for our heroes. They only served to slow the company down, and weaken them by a thousand insignificant wounds. After travelling down many corridors, with many wrong turns, the company finally started finding ways to the highest levels of the tower. This, they were sure, was where their foe awaited. And so, after many hours, they finally reached the place where Narcuul Deathcut resided. His main room resembled more of a throne room than a living quarters. As the company entered, Narcuul Deathcut turned toward his intruders. A malevolent aura emitted from his being. He wore a visor that covered his eyes, but nothing else. It emitted a brilliant blue light, enough to illuminate the room. In his hand, he wielded a sword that resembled a very fancy saw. The edges, covered with nasty saw like projections, actually moved with rapid speed, giving off an eerie hum with each swing of the sword. This sword was the infamous French Saw, capable of dismembering beings with a gentle swing. An angry scowl formed on his face and he shouted "How DARE you enter my tower! How DARE you seek me out in my own home!" As he finished his last sentence, the warrior stepped forward and cried "Narcuul Deathcut we are here to end your reign of terror! The realm shall soon be rid of your treachery! Prepare to die...". The other members of the company arrayed themselves behind the warrior, giving themselves angles of attack against Narcuul. The warrior swung his mighty sword at Narcuul, and Narcuul easily parried the blow, entering into a fighting stance and preparing to defeat these unwelcome intruders. As the warrior and Narcuul engaged one another, the cleric kept a distance, ready to cast any healing that the party needed. The psionicist began casting spells that would reduce mere mortals minds to mush. Narcuul was no mere mortal. And so, when the psionic force struck him, it seemed to be little more than a nuisance to Narcuul. The necromancer summoned an undead horde from seemingly nowhere and sent them charging at Narcuul. As the battle raged, Narcuul cut down the undead with frightening ease, and kept the warrior at bay using fearsome sword craft. All of a sudden, Narcuul shouted "Deathcut!" as he effortlessly swung his sword, severing the warriors head cleanly from his body. Time seemed to stand still for a short period of time, as the company, shocked, realized what Narcuul had just done, and the warriors head rolled across the room. Fear rippled through the company as they turned and fled for their lives. In all of their travels, they had never encountered any power great enough to so easily defeat them. On the way out, the cleric scooped up the warriors head and ran for safety. Narcuuls cackling laughter followed them as they ran down corridors and floors trying to find a place he couldnt find them. After finding a room far away from Narcuuls throne room, the company came to grips with what had happened. The psionicist exlaimed "Now what do we do?" The necromancer suggested that they let him reanimate the warriors corpse into a new undead for him to control. The cleric refused, saying "I can resurrect him, even if I just have his head". He cleared an area in the room, set the head in the middle of the clearing, and began chanting over it. After a period of time, wisps of a foggy mist began to form near the head. The mist began to enlarge and started elongating, shaping itself into the form of a body. After a while, the body began to solidify, slowly becoming more and more real. Eventually, the form of the warriors body was complete. The cleric began his final chanting, causing violent twitching of the warriors body. A sharp gasp erupted from the warriors lips as he reentered the world of the living. "Erk, ugagh bleh deg", said the warrior. The necromancer responded, "Great, you made him even more stupid than he was before." The cleric just narrowed his eyes at the necromancer and continued chanting. The warriors "words" started to become more understandable, but still garbled. Still the cleric kept chanting, and in the end, the warrior was finally understandable as the cleric ceased his chanting. "What happened?", exclaimed the warrior. "Narcuul wiped the floor with you! What are we to do now?", answered the cleric. "We have to go back and finish him. I think I saw something he did right before the world went black." replied the warrior. "Stay behind me, and give me room to maneuver." After spending a short time discussing tactics, and regrouping, the company set off again to engage Narcuul Deathcut. As they entered his throne room again, Narcuul became enraged and charged at the warrior. "You punks didnt flee with your tails between your legs after all? Regardless, I thought you would return after I saw your body disappeared warrior! You must have powerful friends to come back from the dead, especially after a grievous wound as I gave you!". Again, he shouted "Deathcut!", but the warrior was ready and evaded the swing of Narcuuls sword. The psionicist, necromancer, and cleric continued casting spells at Narcuul, who could not disengage from the warrior. Eventually, the spells started landing, doing more and more damage. Narcuul began to slow and was showing wounds from the warriors deft strikes and the accumulated damage caused by the various types of spells. With each shout of "Deathcut!", the warrior deftly avoided Narcuuls strikes and countered causing Narcuul to become more and more enraged. As he got more enraged, he got more careless, which allowed the fighter to begin inflicting more and more damage to him. Spells began to land more easily, harming Narcuul more and more. After what seemed like an eternity, the warrior finally struck his final blow. He parried a final "Deathdcut!" strike, and shoved his sword straight through Narcuuls chest. Narcuul gasped and fell backwards, sliding off the warriors blade and exhaling his last breath. Elated, the company cheered with excitement, then retrieved Narcuuls most prize possession from his body. They took some time to catch their breaths, but were eager to get out of the horrid tower and continue on their way. Once they found their way down and out of the tower, they decided to put some distance between themselves and the infamous tower. And so they travelled a few hours, before making camp to rest for the night. "What do we do now?", asked the cleric. "There is a swamp a few weeks travel from here, where they say resides a frog god of all things. How about we go see if this god is real?", said the necromancer. The company agreed, and after enough rest, started out towards the frog gods swamp. As they neared the swamp, the company encountered random beings, farmers and other peasants, really. They inquired about the frog god from any that they could speak with. Eventually, they had gathered enough information to discover the whereabouts of the frog gods temple in the nearby swamps. As they ventured into the swamp, they encountered a various creatures. Lizard-like humanoid creatures, balls of glowing mist, and of course frogs and other creatures often seen in swamps and bogs. Wandering through the swamp and dispatching the creatures gave the company no satisfaction, as they were here for bigger prey. Eventually, they found the temple that they sought. It was a huge ziggaraut, covered in moss and vines, with only apparently the top third of the temple showing above the swamps surface. The entrance to the temple was a few levels of the temple above the swamps surface and appeared unguarded, as if inviting someone to come in of their own free will. A chill passed through the company as they entered the temple, but no guards or wardings prevented them from entering. However, the temple was far from unguarded. As the company progressed deeper into the temple, they encountered more lizard-like humanoids. These lizardmen were larger and more intelligent than the ones outside the swamp. They possessed studded leather armour and grisly weapons crudely crafted from what wood and bones could be found. However crude these weapons were, they seemed quite sharp and dangerous. But they were no match for this group of powerful heroes. At an intersection with a staircase leading down, stood an even more impressive lizardman. His armour was not cheap leather, but a vibrant black breastplate that shone in the torch light of the corridor. In his right hand, he wielded a white sword that emitted an ominous aura. He stepped forward and hissed, "Prepare to DIE intruders! Unbelievers are not allowed in the sacred temple!" The warrior rushed to engage the lizardman, while the rest of the party began casting spells and concentrating on enchantments. A fierce battle ensued, with minor wounds inflicted to the warrior. The combined might of the company was too much for the lizardman, who died hissing, "I will be avenged by our lord Burglefloogah!" "Who is a Burglefloogah?", asked the cleric. "It seems that he is this supposed frog god that we heard of", responded the necromancer. "We must be close." "Time to prepare", answered the warrior. "Cast your most protective spells on me, this will be the toughest fight we have ever encountered, if the rumours are true." "Tougher than getting your head chopped off by a maniac?", quipped the cleric. The warrior scowled at the cleric, but said nothing. After magically protecting the warrior, and other incantations cast on the party members, they advanced down the staircase. The corridor below was straight, leading to a dimly lit room the size of which could not be determined. The shadows obscured how far away the walls were. In the center sat an enormous frog-like being, so large that he could not fit through the doors of the room. He must have been much, much smaller when he first entered this room. Judging from the size of him, he must have been well kept by the lizardmen that kept up the temple. They seem to revere him greatly. The frog god emitted what sounded like a series of burps, and other beings leapt up from the bogs in the room. These beings appeared to be frogs in human form and charged the party, trying to swarm over them. "Great, he commands slaads!", exclaimed the necromancer. "Shut up and fight!", cursed the psionicist. While the frog god continued his burping noises, more and more slaads appeared and swarmed the company. The warrior fended off the swarm with rapid and fluid twirling of his sword, cutting down slaads as they got too close to him with as efficient movements. "Blast the damn frog, you idiots!", shouted the warrior. "I cant keep these things off forever!" At his words, the spellcasters focused on Burglefloogah. No matter what spells they cast, harming, psionic, or even the necromancer sending his horde against the frog god, nothing seemed to harm him. Minutes passed and the battle was growing furious, with more slaads joining the fight. "I cant hold them any longer, we need to retreat!", shouted the warrior. "Fall back to the corridor!" As the group pulled back into the corridor, the warrior ceded his ground as slowly as possible in order to allow the spellcasters to eliminate as many of the slaads as possible. The corridor atleast allowed the slaads to only come at them from one direction. No help seemed to be coming from behind the company to attack from the rear. "We need to push in farther. I need to be able to get within fighting distance to the frog!", the warrior commanded. As the group of slaads fell, the company pushed back into the frog gods room. Burglefloogah began burping again and more slaads erupted from the bog. The company, knowing what was coming, pushed farther and faster into the room, slaying slaads along the way, eventually reaching the frog god. Try as he might, though, none of the warriors strikes seems to inflict any damage on Burglefloogah. This time, the battle turned faster than expected and the company was forced to retreat to corridor again, laying waste to any slaads on their retreat. They attempted this tactic several more times, with no avail. Just piles of slaad bodies piling up around the swampy room. "This isnt going as planned", exclaimed the warrior. "Nothing we do seems to harm him. Im getting tired. I only have one more push in me. Lets make it count!" Gathering themselves, the party braced for one more push. They rushed forward and were met again with a swarm of Burglefloogahs slaads. As they were being overwhelmed by slaads, the warrior pulled back his sword arm and unleashed vicious strike at the frog god. But the swarm of slaads was too great for him to see it land, he just felt a jolt as it did. The party pulled back again, killing slaads by the dozens as they sought the safety of the corridor. Still fighting valiantly, the company eliminated slaads as quickly as possible. Eventually, there were none remaining and all was silent. "Listen", exclaimed the cleric. "Silence, no more burping noises. Is it a trick?" "We have to go back and check", said the necromancer. "Im too tired", sighed the warrior. The cleric laid his hands on the warrior and chanted an incantation. Visibly more energized, the warrior nodded thanks to the cleric. "I can go for a short while longer now", said the warrior. The group readied themselves for another push. They entered the room, but nothing greeted them. No enemies, no sound. Slowly they advanced towards the frog god, prodding slaad bodies along the way to make sure they were harmless. When they reached the platform that Burglefloogah sat upon, they realized that the warriors strike had rung true. A gashed hole was obvious in the center of the frog gods body. Whatever protections kept him from taking damage had finally failed, and the warriors blow was a fatal one. "He's dead! We did it!", cried the psionicist. "You mean I did it!", exclaimed the warrior, feeling full of himself. "We all did it, you putz!", retorted the necromancer. "Look at his legs.", exclaimed the warrior. "I bet those would be delicious with the right spices!" The cleric smacked the warrior upside the head and said, "Theyre poisonous you idiot!" The warrior grimaced and nodded agreement. "Enough, lets gather whatever we can find and get out of here", said the cleric. "His followers are going to be pissed and want our heads for supper! Literally." While searching for valuables, the warrior noticed that his backpack was significantly lighter. He searched through it only to discover that he was missing items. "What happened to the French Saw and the visor from Narcuul?", asked the warrior. "They arent in my backpack anymore." "I knew something didnt feel right about how that Narcuul guy died. It feels like we didnt finish the job", said the cleric. "Maybe we need to go make sure", said the psionicist. After a little heated discussion, the company came to the decision that they needed to make sure that they had indeed rid the world of the evil of Narcuul Deathcut. So they headed back to the land of Tralpecktor. Arriving at the tower after a long journey, they entered and climbed quickly to where they knew Narcuul had made his home. Sure enough, there he stood in his resplendent glory, just as if he had never been vanquished. "Ah, you have returned, my unwanted pests.", snarled Narcuul. Outside a thunderous noise was heard, followed by a loud announcement. Anyone hearing this, would hear it in their own language and fully understood what was meant. "The end of your world is here. Prepare yourselves. The destruction of this realm begins in 15 minutes. Pray to whatever deity you believe in!" "What the hell is that?", exclaimed the psionicist. "That, you ignorant fool, is Armageddon. A being of such immense power that we are all insects compared to him. He is the destroyer of reality, and now he's here to destroy ours!", snarled Narcuul. "Not before we destroy you, Narcuul Deathcut!", exclaimed the warrior. "But the world is ending, why do you care if you destroy me or Armageddon takes us all?", asked Narcuul. "Because," raged the warrior, "I want you to know that it was us that destroyed you and not some otherworldly presence with the power to destroy the world. I want you to know that you were defeated by mere mortals." The warrior rushed forward to engage Narcuul for the final time, regardless of what happened. The rest of the company began attacking him with vicious spells, and surprisingly, Narcuul took immense damage in the first onslaught. With a startled look of real panic, Narcuul fell as the spells and the warriors blade found their marks again and again. Just to make sure this time, the warrior severed Narcuuls head and ended Narcuuls reign of terror for good. Feeling invincible, the company gathered on a balcony connected to Narcuuls living quarters. From there, they could see the sun beginning to set. Or was it really the sun setting? Armageddon shouted again, "Times up, your world dies now!". At the far distance, the land began to crumble. Instead of falling, it rose and began to disintegrate into fine powder. Like a wave, cresting along the ocean, the crumbling continued towards the tower of Tralpector, as if that were its true destination. It was not, just one of many destinations, as it travelled across the world. "Well, damn", sighed the warrior, as nothingness took them.

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Library: A beheading, frog legs, and the end of the world.