The Insurgence and The Ringmaster

## The Insurgence and The Ringmaster (RP)

Present Day

- THE INSURGENCE -

The castle in the swamp had fallen apart in The Prophet’s absence. The village surrounding the college was empty. The great hall that once resounded with music and laughter was now silent. Eternia has grown weary and fallen under the whip of their enslaver. All seems lost in a land that once teemed with hope.

It has been months since Merlin challenged Alric. The people of Eternia, Pandemonia, and the other realms have been forced to rebel only in darkness and under guise. The fear of the unknown has forced many into submission and the great power of the evil that dominates their world has placed the vice grip about their neck. It is The Ringmaster that is sovereign now.

Attempts to dismantle him have been met with great punishment. Each life brave enough to stand against him has been sent into Oblivion or narrowly escaped. Many have fled to the land of Mysteria, or beyond, to escape the malevolent rule of the Spirit of Chaos.

Even now, deep beneath the College of Everplane, a band of rebels meet to plan their next attempt to rid themselves of The Ringmaster. They meet in the deepest, darkest caverns beneath the surface, where few ears can reach to hear their plans for their new lord. The earth here is damp. From the ceiling, roots hang that feed the beautiful forest high above them. There are crystals glowing from corners here and there, and rich deposits of iron and obsidian. But the most prominent feature of this cavern is the Evergate.

Glowing with an ominous light, it gives a dull radiance that shows the outline of the cavern walls. Surrounding the Evergate is luscious plant life and a pool of water. Merlin built this Evergate after Pandora fell to the Queen of Darkness many years ago. Since then, the Darkness has once against returned to it’s home in the depths. But the compromise of these lands, and the lack of discipline from The Keeper over the evils of their world led Merlin to reconstruct a new tether to the Everplane in Eternia.

In the glow of the Evergate, a small resistance seeks light in the darkest of places.

- THE RINGMASTER -

In the Skull Cavern of Pandemonia, The Ringmaster paces the halls of his dungeon as he does so often. His long corridors of cells now house many souls ripe for the harvest. He dances along as he sings wretched songs to himself, each of which are about his triumph and how his dreams have come true at long last. Without the Wizards to bother him or the other Spirits to prattle on about balancing the world,

he could very happily ruin the lives of any and all that he wished. His worlds devoted to torment would now have their appetite satisfied as his Shivaree led new souls through to their demise.

The world now rested in his hands, and the only force powerful enough to trouble him was his own boredom. Now with so much done, there was so little to do. The Ringmaster has spent much of his time over the last few hundred millennia seeking ways to disrupt all natural order and cause as much chaos as possible. But now the entire world was chaos and there were few stones left unturned.

But The Ringmaster was not a fool. He knew very well the importance of saving up for rainy days. Still among Eternia, Pandemonia and Mysteria, his new stock cursed his name. There were even some so brave to plot against him, as if that would do them any good. They hardly sustain the power to travel to the other worlds, how would they challenge the almighty? The Ringmaster began to think of his favorite adversaries. Even now, so frail and hopeless they still have the spirit to take aim at he who holds the whip? He began to wonder if perhaps it would be the time to remind them that he holds their lives in his hand. To The Ringmaster, they were merely livestock. They were the remnant left only to bring more life for him to consume.

After all, he has slain gods by his own will. He is no mortal that could be contested by man or beast. This thought made The Ringmaster cackle, and as he grazed each iron bar of every cell with his talon-like nails, he envisioned in his mind what the little deviants might do next. Merlin and Alric are gone, distracted by their petty feud that he stoked between them. The Keeper cowers even now in a cell among his cattle. Avarian and her insurgence had fled to Mysteria. Archon has taken many of the mightiest warriors of the dimensions, and the other Wizards of Everplane are dead or hiding. Yet as their hope for freedom spark and they rise to fight him, as does The Ringmaster’s hope rise, for another game to play at the end of the world.

- By Kevin Banberger