Written By Gwynn ap Nudd, Lord of the Sidhe

It was a time of lore, a time long past, when four fast friends and powerful   
companions came out of the hills to free the land of the greatest evil it had
ever known.  The leader of this band was a mighty ranger.  It was he who
recognized the evil that had to be overcome to allow the land to live in
peace.  It was he who recruited the master monk to his cause.  This monk had
turned his hands into weapons superior to all but the most magical known in
the land.  The monk recommended that to combat evil, you must have one who is
pure of heart and noble in faith to protect the band from the all-powerful
mystic forces of the netherrealms.  To this end they recruited a powerful
guardian of the day, one who had defeated many a demon to keep his land at
peace.  Thus, they were three, noble and brave of heart, ready to clense the
land, or die trying.  They were not fools, however.  They knew that to enter
the realm of their nemesis blindly was to invite death.

Thus they searched for a legendary fighter, who had entered the realm before,
and returned to tell about it.  They knew that only he could bypass the traps
that lay in their path, and only he could show how to outwit the guardians of
the creature.  After a long and exhautive search, they found him in the
balrog's lair, locked into a mortal battle with a representative of this evil.
The three came to his aid, and thus they became four.  Four who were fated
from time immemorial to achieve the greatest of victories, for these were the
four who would overcome Death itself.                          

They spent much time gathering the equipment necessary to achieve their quest.
Long they spent defeating the minions of the black castle for the necessary
cloaks of protection and rings of dimension traveling, for as another guardian
had found out, to enter the netherrealms without them was to die a sure and
painful death.

They then had to defeat the four lords of the black castle, all master mages.
First they came against the red mage, who called the elemental power of pure
fire down on them, but to no avail, for the heroes quickly defeated this least
powerful of the lords.  From his charred and bloody corpse the ranger
retrieved the essence of fire, and fasioned it into a great and powerful
weapon.  They next moved onto the lord of earth, the brown mage.  Against them
was arrayed the power of the land itself.  Undaunted the heroes overcame this
perverter of nature, and from his corpse the dwarf retrieved a holy relic of
his people, a hammer forged from a single piece of star iron, called mithral.
The heroes were weried by these fights, and yet they knew that the worst was
still to come, for in their way stood the air mage, the grey mage, who was
surounded by armor made from the air itself.  The heroes fought, but were
repeatedly picked up by the wind and dashed against the walls of the castle.
The battle seemed lost, for the heroes could not approach this mighty lord
of the air.  But then the ranger struck upon an idea, and hurled his fire
at the mage, burning him.  Thus did the mage lose control over the air for
one brief, fatal moment.  In that brief lapse, the dwarf put all of his vast
strength into one mightly throw of his hammer, and smote the mage in
a mightly thunderclap.                   

From the former shell of this lord the monk did retrieve the essence of air,
and did fashion for himself an armor of wind, which would protect him in the
struggle to come.  The greatest lord was still to come, however, for they knew
that they faced the water mage, the three who were one.  The monk did enter
their lair, and his armor of air was all that protected him as the mages
launched three great torrents taken from a fierce sea storm at him.  But the
monk was able to withstand these blasts, and the heroes pressed on behind him,
reaching their enemies and crushing them underfoot, for in the face of bravery
and steel, all magic falls.

Searching the ruins of chamber, the guardian did find the crown of his lord,
Arthur, king of the realm.  The guardian did hasten across the valley to the
castle of his lord, and upon returning the crown was made pendragon, champion
of the realm, and was given the sword and armor of the pendragon to help him
in his quest.  Thus the four were equiped with the mightiest weapons of the
land and the path to the netherrealms was open before them.  With one last
look at a land which they might never see again, and one brief prayer to the
gods which protected them, they did step through the portal into hell itself.

They found a realm which was made of fire and ice.  A vast wasteland in which
they surely would have perished if not protected by items they wore was their
new world.  They found denziens of hell waiting for them, and they prepared
for a great final battle that would incribe their names throughout history
as the finest of heroes.  The dwarf however knew that these minions would
not attack those coming to do battle with their master, for their master
enjoyed toying with such foolish mortals, and by proclaiming their intentions,
did make the army around them retreat from their path.  They confidently
walked the path that the dwarf showed, knowing that none dared attack them
here.  They thus arrived at the palace of Death, and found three redcaps,
horrible creatures made from living stone, there to greet them, and to test
their mettle.  They did quickly dispatch these creatures, and threw open the
gates of the palace, and went to meet their fate.                

So did our heroes stroll into the hall of Death.  There to greet them
was Death herself.  He was arrayed in his cloak of night, a skeletal form,
and she was wielding a scythe whose very touch was death.  He looked upon
our heroes and laughed, for she was confindent that no mortals could come
upon Death and live.  Our heroes looked upon the majesty and horror that
was Death, and as one raised their weapons in salute before advancing to
attack.  Upon realizing that our heroes were somehow protected from the
worst his magics, she summoned his lesser minions to protect her, the wraiths
and spectres of every child's nightmare.  Our heroes realized that these
were creatures meant to scare them, and quickly pushed throught their ranks,
keeping their attention firmly on Death.  It was a long and glorious battle,
in which mighty blows were traded on both sides.  The ranger stood before
Death and fought with a ferocity not seen since.  The monk and the dwarf
fought at his side while the guardian used his holy weapons to cleave
through the ranks of of the spirits and protected their backs.  The battle
took hours, for the heroes had long since mastered the art of healing
themselves, and Death drew upon the powers of the unliving to sustain
himself.  The ranger faltered after a while, and the monk stepped in to
take the brunt of Death's assault, being protected by the winds around him.
Even these could not stop Death's blows, and he to faltered before the
assault and the dwarf stood alone before Death while his companions recovered
from their wounds.  But all this battle had drained the strength from Death,
and she looked weak.  The dwarf took this as a sign to double his strength
and Death finally fell before this new onslaught.  With the fall of Death,
the guardian was able to finish off the spirits which had plagued them,
and thus the land was secured from the danger of Death walking on it
directly.  Much praise and treasure was heaped upon our heroes upon their
return, but they wanted none of it, and wandered back to their homes in
the hills.

Where are these legendary heroes now, you ask?  Well, the ranger still walks
among us lending his strength to the struggle against evil in the land.
The monk has since disappeared into the wilderness, but occasionally shows
up in times of great need to defend the land.  The guardian grew disenchanted
by corruption that had begun to spred in his guild as evil brought down the
guardians from within, and has retired to his home in the hills to contemplate
his role in life.  As to the mysterious dwarf, well rumor has it that you can
still catch him around town occasionally, and if you're lucky, he might even
tell you some long-forgotten lore which might save your life some day.   







Note: story explanation (Gwynn):

wrote this up a couple of years ago - its a description of the fight against
death (an old monster in totoro's old area).  The people mentioned are -
monk = macros, guardian = toby, ranger = stephus, dwarf fighter = me.
I should also mention that whitehawk helped on the early fights, but chickened
out when we went into hell itself.

hell had a nice piece of armor - spiked boots which allowed one to kick for
a small amount of damage in combat (killed the bunny rabbit in 1 kick).