Chapter 18
From DALpedia
Posted by: Xorlak on Saturday June 14th, 2008
- Rivertown -
"Sir counselor! Stand back; we can handle this!"
Ven's two bodyguards, lanky knights with emblems of Tjed and drawn swords rushed to either of the silver knight's sides.
"I'm not quite retired from battle yet," Ven retorted, griping his white glowing blade with both hands.
Draven seemed unamused as he rolled his eyes. With an outstretched hand, a ball of brilliant flame materialized before him. "Knights are so passé..."
Ven's eyes widened. Before he could react, the burning sphere slammed into his chest and he was sent hurdling in reverse. "Gaaahhh!!!!" The orb exploded in fiery fury as the sliver knight slammed into the nearest building, the hollowed remains collapsing upon him.
"Sir counselor!" The two knights abandoned the battle and rushed to his aid. lifting heavy stones from the pile.
Ven crawled from the wreckage, his head spinning. Suddenly he remembered why he rarely fought anymore... "Yeah... make that retired..."
Posted by: Dude Man on Sunday June 15th, 2008
- Rivertown -
"Alright." Marshall had his MagiPistols drawn. He had them both loaded with blue gems. "It's been a long time Draven. How have you been?" He asked rhetorically.
"I'd recommend that you to leave. The High General here is very strict on criminals. And I'm sure he'd be especially strict on you." Marshall warned.
---
- Klawvorn -
Duilin had his group all round up. He let his wife Bell know he'll be okay. However he was still puzzled where Marshall and Ein where. Perhaps they were still at Rivertown, he heard they had been drinking at the pub a little too much once they got back.
"Let's just go. I'm sick and tired of waiting!" Valos snarled, waiting in the carriage.
"Yeah, yeah. Calm down. We were just gonna go anyways. I'm sure they're at Rivertown anyways, which is where our ship is."
Valos sighed. "Finally. Who were we waiting for anyways."
"Marshall, and his friends. You remember him, don't you?"
"Marshall...oh yeah that blond guy in the robe. He looked silly in that thing."
"Yeah, he doesn't wear robes anymore. He's got some 'bad-ass' look going on now."
"Does he pull it off?"
"He looks good. But he still talks like a pompous jerk, it's actually hilarious."
The two exchanged a laugh, showing they somewhat were getting along. The rest of the team got loaded up in the carriage and then headed off to Rivertown.
Posted by: Xorlak on Monday June 16th, 2008
- Rivertown -
Draven raised a brow. "Criminal? You think I'm some two-bit hooligan who read a spellbook, huh?" He clenched his fist. Some of the approaching ships upon the horizon opened fire on a trio of fishing vessels in the way, obliterating them. "Well then, we'll just have to adjust your attitude..." With that, he pointed two fingers at the rather bad-dude-looking man, sending tiny plumes of flame directly towards the barrels of his weapons.
(Ah... zero effort, no planning, insult-trading posts typed directly into the reply box... how I've missed thee!)
Posted by: Dude Man on Monday June 16th, 2008
- Rivertown -
"Well maybe you shouldn't be acting like a two-bit hooligan then." Marshall retorted. He didn't seem that scared, which was surprising for him, considering whom he was confronting.
He fired his magipistols right before the fireballs hit the barrels of his guns, shooting two ice blasts which cancelled out the plumes. He grinned, and then held down the triggers to his guns, and they produced a sort of humming sound. Once he released the triggers he fired two large magic hyrdo blasts (like the attack in DA2) which gushed towards the crimson emperor.
Posted by: D. Ein on Monday June 16th, 2008
- Rivertown -
Ein looked quizzically at Draven. Crimson emperor? So that's him? He readied his arbalest, but took no action - he decided to wait and see what Marshall does before taking any action of his own.
- Gros Morne Fortress, unknown location -
"...and forth shall spill the rotted minions of Kronos, spreading his wicked will onward to the rest of the world, for all to serve! Feared shall his name be once again, the very mention of which will make the weak cringe and the children cry! As the god of time he had taken his name from, forever shall his reign keep Gaian in its cold grasp!
The quill seemed to have a life of its own in my hand, writing what I presume to be a prayer to my glorious self... or maybe an anthem? The Sovereign's Will... quite profound, that. Few kingdoms have an anthem written by their own ruler, if any. Will do miracles for morale, methinks.
Just as I was beginning the final paragraph, the portal opposite of my throne shimmered, belching out my annoying sister.
-"Ah, yes, Gwen." My voice took on a venomous tone, without my noticing it. "How nice of you to interrupt my writings. I trust you have a good reason for doing so?"
-"Would I come here without a reason, Sovereign?"
-"I suppose not. Now, out with it. I have an anthem to write."
-"Yes, of course." Unlike mine, her tone was consistently ... hmm, lacking... "There are increased reports of demonic forces entering this realm, likely from Hell."
-"I see." I returned to my papers, only paying half attention to Gwen now. "Tell me, this concerns me... how? I keep you here for a simple reason - to do the things I don't feel like doing. If you come to me every time for advice, what is the point?"
Without looking up, I heard her knuckles crack a little bit. Must've struck a nerve. Oh, well - that woman needs to learn her place. We've been over this, I'm not going to go easy on her because she's my sister. I didn't want her near me back then, and I don't want her near me now. The only thing that blind bat is good for is her skill with blade, as well as tactical ability - and I am not so sure about the latter. Flora Goethe seems to be an aspiring contestant for the title of best tactician.
-"Believe it or not, Sovereign, I do not make a habit of lying right to your face when you ask me a direct question." Now I noticed a hint of strain in her voice... good, that's going to do a good job of melting that cold, calculating heart of hers. "I did not come here without a reason."
I paused for her to continue.
-"Our best summoners have also noticed a slight difference in demons as of late. The differences are subtle, but definitely there. While this was believed to be an isolated incident, the phenomenon appears to be occurring in every type of demonic summons attempted. It is, therefore, believed that there is a new devil residing on the throne of Hell.
"As you may or may not know, the previous lord of Hell, Iban, was somewhat less than cooperative in our attempts to recruit an additional demonic army for our disposal. We have yet to try it with this one."
Attempts to recruit...? And here I was thinking she did not take initiative. This, however, is stepping over the line... just a little bit...
-"Gwen," I began, with an overly exaggerated tone of feigned sincerity. "I understand that sometimes, there is need for overkill. However, please do take caution of consulting me before undertaking a task which involves summoning a mass of otherworldly creatures with the potential of overpowering the entire Sovereignty."
-"That is what I am doing now. So shall we proceed?"
-"Do it."
Posted by: Dude Man on Tuesday June 17th, 2008
- Regiment 7 Fortress -
Nex was standing on top of the building in the centre of the fortress, where he could see all over the fortress and into the horizon beyond. The wind fluttered his robes and he stood there in silence.
He could sense that his plans were beginning the unravel, but he still had some personal matters to attend to. Duilin was still out there, and he wanted him dead. Abodahon's youngest child had caused him much grief and he was looking forward to causing him pain, much pain.
And Valos, Abodahon's eldest song was also out there, whom is a filthy traitor and must be punished. If it wasn't for Retan he likely would have killed him when he had the chance, but after the Sovereign's Hammer was fired, it's been impossible for him to use his long range sensing abilities to find him.
Posted by: D. Ein on Wednesday June 18th, 2008
"That's it, you die
Your corpse is mine.
Your flesh, your soul
In my control.
Those who think that poetry is for the weak should be flayed and have their skin used for a poetry book cover. There is nothing better to build one's inner vein of power than by composing poetry. I picked up the piece of paper, inspecting the words written on it. Unfortunately, the paper had to share the same fate as the discarded Sovereign's Will. It just doesn't seem to come out right, I think.
But in either case, what Gwen told me was quite interesting. A new lord of Hell? And, quite possibly, a cooperative one? Perhaps... perhaps there is someone who might know more. I remembered that in the KAF, I possess a captain of the demonic kin. Being closer to the demons of hell, he could offer me some insight.
I quickly wrote down a few words on a piece of paper, rolled it up into a scroll, and sealed it with my signet ring. The throne room servant immediately realized what was expected of him, and came to pick up the scroll. I simply said:
-"Nex, captain of the Seventh Regiment."
- Regiment 7 Fortress -
-"Captain Nex! Captain Nex! I have an urgent message from the Sovereign himself!"
The carrier was clearly out of breath. He had several scrolls sticking out of his belt pouch, one of which was made of thicker, higher quality paper, and had the immediately recognizable seal of the Sovereign.
-"Here you go."
The carrier handed Nex the scroll.
Slave!
I require your presence in my throne chamber. Make your way up there as soon as possible, or else you shall know pain beyond pain! Hmm, then again, you'd like that. Or else you shall not know pain beyond pain!
I await.
Posted by: Dude Man on Wednesday June 18th, 2008
- Regiment 7 Fortress -
Nex turned his head as the carrier made it towards him.
"How'd you get up on the roof?"
"Climbed sir."
"Quite a determined one, aren't you?" He said as he took the note from the carrier.
"It's what I'm paid for sir. Have a good day Captain Nex." He said, he held his hat on his head as he jumped off the building.
Nex ignoring the plebeian's stunt proceeded to read the note.
"Ooo..." Nex rolled up the note and tossed it aside. "This should be good..." He then jumped off the building and flew off towards Gros Morne...
Posted by: Xorlak on Wednesday June 18th, 2008
- Rivertown -
Draven's form blurred and he rocketed forward. He weaved a figure-8 around the two blasts of hydrocity, spiraling up into the air before plummeting towards Marshall with a burning fist. He punched the ground, tearing apart the cobblestone street as the earth quaked, a burning shockwave blasting apart the windows of the surrounding buildings.
Posted by: Dude Man on Thursday June 19th, 2008
- Rivertown -
Marshall attempted to fully avoid the attack but as the mage's fist smashed into the ground he was pushed back and crashed on the ground and tumbled on the ground.
Dang, he couldn't take this guy on his own and he didn't have enough time to summon a useful monster to help him fight. He'd have to hope Ein or Ven would help him out.
Marshall slowly got back up and fired two more hydro blast shots at Draven.
Posted by: D. Ein on Friday June 20th, 2008
- Gros Morne Fortress, undisclosed location -
"Whenever I paint, it seems, I go into a bit of a trance - it's not explainable by normal terms, but I completely phase out from what I am thinking, and the resulting work often scares me. Such is this time: a strange apparition sat on the easel before me, reminiscent of a yellow pine cone with a large green tree on top, appearing on a table with some sort of an interior in the background. I took off the slanted hat residing on my head - a trophy from a distant kingdom, I believe - a beret, it is called. I wiped the sweat off my forehead with it, and put away the palette.
Just in time, the portal behind me disturbed itself again. I looked over, seeing nought but a dark cloud of mist, and some sort of a towel? rushing out of it. The word came to my mind almost immediately: Nex.
-"Hello there, Captain of the Seventh. I trust you had an uneventful trip?"
-"Quite."
We stared at each other blankly for a few moments.
-"So I don't see any of the whips..." Nex was the first to break silence.
-"No. No, you don't."
Another pause. I eyed Nex for a few more awkward moments, then finally uttered:
-"You are a demon, are you not?"
-"Indeedee-doo."
-"Good. You know of the new ruler in Hell, am I not correct?"
-"Yes........?"
I sighed, and, for a few short moments, said nothing again. Then I continued:
-"Is it possible to make contact with him?"
-"It would require me opening a Hellgate, although after the Sovereign's Hammer was fired, it is no longer that simple."
I did not want this type of opportunity to slip away, no matter the cost.
-"I see. Start the preparations, then."
//checked this over with DM\\
- Rivertown -
Ein had to admit to himself that things did not seem to be going right down there at all. He took aim at Draven's blurred form, stabilized his weapon, and shot a spear right at the Emperor's torso.
Immediately afterward, he dashed behind the inn he was near. If he was smart, Draven would be able to tell where Ein was anyway, judging by the angle of impact of the spear. If Ein was lucky, however, Draven would not be in condition to judge at all. Deciding to take no chances, he took out another spear, and with it, started charting sigils in the sand by his feet. The symbol characteristically flashed, imbuing Ein's next spear with a small, but concentrated barrier spell. Even if this one hit anywhere close to Draven, whatever of him would be caught in the resulting barrier would be trapped for as long as the barrier was active.
Posted by: Xorlak on Friday June 20th, 2008
- Rivertown -
Draven saw an object rush towards him out of the corner of his eye just as he lifted his fist from the ground. He spun and snatched the spear by its shaft as flames from his explosion fizzled all around, a burning aura remaining around him. A quick glance determined the object to have come from one of the surrounding buildings, but he had no time to find the perpetrator as he was once again under attack. Continuing the spin, two more blasts of water weaved dangerously past him. He felt the blasts pierce his aura of flame on either side, not striking him but leaving momentary holes in his defense before they dissipated into steam and the aura grew back. He looked up at Marshall and sneered.
"Squirt guns, huh? Nice...."
With that he heaved his arm back and threw the spear forward like a javelin. Once it left his hand, the weapon ignited in a brilliant crimson glow, the radiant white tip surging at Marshall's heart. The attack certainly had enough force to pierce him completely, then enter the building behind him and come out the other end a few times over...
At that moment, one of the landing boats from the dark ships upon the horizon crashed into the pier. "Charge!"
Posted by: D. Ein on Saturday June 21st, 2008
- Rivertown -
Ein peeked back down, seeing Draven unharmed by the spear. For a human, this guy was tough - being able to catch an object moving at enough speed to pierce metal, but that is what has been said about him. Though often false, rumours often carry at least a grain of truth within them.
Or perhaps Ein's aim was off.
He pulled himself up on top of the small inn, and laid low on the other side of the roof, priming his weapon and loading it with the enchanted spear. Using the mounted scope on the arbalest, Ein aimed at the Emperor's feet this time, and pulled the trigger, while almost simultaneously pulling out another spear from behind his back with his free right hand. Considering the projectile's speed, it should reach the ground below Draven fairly quickly, trapping him in the barrier field. Again, considering the Crimson Emperor's famed power, it will likely hold him for less than three seconds - just enough time for Ein to fire off another spear, this time without fail.
Meanwhile, the spear that Draven hurled at Marshall underwent a strange transformation. Its tip, made of lead, was not designed for temperatures any higher than normal ones encountered during high-speed flight through the air. The sharp arrowhead-shaped point suddenly turned into a withering blob of murky silver liquid, chunks of it dripping off in flight. The tip was no more by the time the spear was halfway to Marshall. However, it also turned out that the tip was not solidly melted to the shaft, but more of a diamond-shaped inset. Unable to withstand the immense pressure from Draven's throw, the shaft ripped into four rods, blooming like a flower right in Marshall's face //think hollow-point bullet\\. Continuing their curved flight path, two of the rods struck the ground right in front of Marshall, while the other two flew high up into the air. If this had happened a millisecond later, Marshall would have been ripped into four distinct pieces himself...
- Gros Morne Citadel -
"Leaving Nex to his own devices, hopefully in preparation for the demonic communion, I approached the chamber portal opposite of my throne. Quickly whispering the destination into the shimmering mirror, I took a step forward.
A cool breeze immediately filled my lungs, a welcome change from the heavy, stuffy air of the unventilated Citadel. I looked at the horizon, which was shining golden colours at me. Before I could begin to enjoy the natural spectacle, the beams of the distant sun became marred with the dark dots of undead wyverns heeding my call all too quickly. The creatures circled around the looming Citadel for a minute before landing in front of me, their riders quick to dismount the rotting things.
Normally, I would never come up to greet a generic patrol unit, but this time was different. The previous watch reported sightings of black ships around Helternia. Most curious, and perhaps dangerous, too - the Dark Emperor has an affinity with showing up whenever one assumes him to be feeding maggots six feet under. Naturally, I'd like to be informed about such happenings.
-"So," I decided to start off the conversation with the approaching captain. "Did you find anything, Vasburg?"
-"No, Sovereign. The ships hadnst landed when we arrived. I believe thems to be on the shore now." She was about to stop, but I guess she saw my evil glare. "...but you told us to come back as soon as we saw the ships."
-"Do I need to spell it out for you, Eris? Get back on the damn wyvern and bring me some solid intelligence. Feel free to stay as long as you need, but know that if you arrive with no information, I will... ah... drown you in blood."
-"Yes, Sovereign."
When the well of originality starts running dry, I get some really weird ideas for death threats."
Posted by: Dude Man on Sunday June 22nd, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"Whoa..."
Marshall stood there in awe, it wasn't the first near-death experience but it was more than enough to give him a rush through his body after shaking it off.
"Al right, now let's get this started!" Marshall shouted.
Simultaneously he changed the settings on each of his guns by crossing his hands and still holding each gun. He then fired a projectile of freezing energy from one of his guns at his foe and then made a roll to his left and fired a second shot as he was near the ground, angled towards Draven's lower body.
// Aspye style! (attacking twice in one post)\\
--- ---
- Helternia, Outside Rivertown -
Duilin and his group began to make their way closer towards Rivertown. Valos looking rather bored decided to start a conversation with Duilin.
"So, Duilin. I see you are still good friends with that little imp of yours, Rink, right?"
"Heheh, yeah. He's a great guy, best friend I ever had." Duilin replied.
"What about the other flyboy, Zeros'?"
"Him...well, he kinda disappeared. I was never sure what happened to him, but I'm sure he knew I could handle things now. I guess he kind of passed the torch to me or something."
"Oh, so he's out of the picture now?"
"Yes, sadly. I mean, I know I only spent a few days in total with him, but he was a great mentor towards him. He made me a great fighter and really motivated me."
"Yeah, so it seems." Valos rolled his eyes, regretting he ever started this conversation.
"But hey, I've got more loved ones now." Duilin continued.
Valos seemed mildly interested. "Oh, really? Perhaps one of the female variety?" He asked.
"Remember that servant girl, Bell who used to work in the Crimson Capital?"
"Yes, yes I do. What about her?"
"I married her."
"Haha!" Valos laughed. "We'll, I'll be damned, the ole' pretty boy finally settled down with somebody?"
"Yeah, yeah." Duilin had a boyish smirk on his face. "But yeah, I love her. She's just great. She means the world to me."
"The whole damn world eh?"
"You bet." Duilin continued smiling as they kept moving.
Valos nodded. "Well...that's...um...very sweet."
The carriage began to arrive at the outside of Rivertown. Duilin could hear sounds coming from inside the town.
"Something's not right." Duilin said.
"Oh great, more commotion." Valos groaned. "What do you suppose it is?"
"I don't know..." Duilin said, trying to hear what was going on deep inside the town. "Pull up the pace!" He called towards the carriage driver.
Posted by: Mikado on Monday June 23rd, 2008
~~ Helternia, Outside Rivertown ~~
Repins was sitting in one of the carriages. He was preparing his old fashioned fire weapon, a slim looking sniper. It was black and seemed pretty old having some scratches here and there, but Repins shared some "nice" memories with it. Two more already prepared guns war hanging on his back. This wasn't all that he had, thick knives were hidden under his coat. These were maybe even closer to short swords, but short swords don't exist, there are only long daggers. These knives however were special since were made of a metal that moved upon minimal temperature change and it would give an effect close to a miniature chain saw. It wasn't even close to it in reality, but it was the best description that he could think off.
He hid his third gun on his back and wondered about this mission. He was sent with Duilin as a support soldier, but he felt special. He was one of the strongest soldiers in the military, always top scores and ratings. But he was just a human and had no special powers unlike the people above him. Repins was told that Duilin was planning on killing Nex. Nex... that sounded familiar. Yes! It was that demonish grim reaper. Repins never saw him, but did hear stories about him. He was rumored to be very strong and even more malice. Maybe Repins should try to take him? He wasn't any weakling after all...
What! What was he thinking? He was only a human unlike Duilin or some other people that were around him. He wouldn't be able to even make a scratch! Well maybe he would make a scratch, but he'd die afterwards.
Repins sighed. But he had to be of some use... maybe he could be supporting Duilin from a distance? He probably even didn't want his help.
The carriage halted. Someone yelled something. Repins jumped out quickly, prepared for any sort of conflict.
- "What happened?"
Posted by: Xorlak on Monday June 23rd, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Something struck near Draven's boot and he suddenly found himself surrounded by a barrier. (Assuming this is what you meant, Ein.)
"What?!" He sneered as the translucent glow surrounded him. It was the constrictive type-- he'd shattered many before. Throwing both hands to his sides he thrust flame against the half dome until it burst into pieces.
During this distraction however he failed to notice the incoming blasts of ice. A quick leap and twist avoided the first, but the second peirced his aura and grazed his left arm, freezing it solid. He hissed as he clutched it, the heat from his other hand melting the solid encasement. "You've asked for it now..."
A flurry of soldiers ran from the boat and onto the pier, marching in two orderly groups of about a dozen each. Most resembled normal humans dressed in the armor of the Crimson Empire of old. A few were dressed in black robes with long golden staffs. The mages began hand motions over the soldiers as they passed, and a great light erupted from the men. The first group began burning with crimson energy, their fierce eyes glowing a deep red as they snarled. The second group shone bright yellow, their eyes a rich gold. Glowing swords, axes, and spears brandished, they charged headlong into Rivertown's innards.
Meanwhile, two more boats crashed on either side of the first...
Posted by: D. Ein on Monday June 23rd, 2008
//Sort of - it wasn't that big of a barrier, it would just hold his foot, not encircle him completely. But what you got there is fine, Xorlak\\
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Cursing himself for his belated reaction, Ein ducked back behind the roof and rolled off, hopping down on the ground. He didn't have enough time to aim properly at Draven, rendering his attack completely wasted.
He noticed the ships coming ashore a while ago, but now that they have landed, the situation decidedly worsened. The spear currently loaded in his arbalest was his last one, and Ein had no other weapons he could use against the advancing hordes. Even if he did, "horribly outnumbered" would be laughable by comparison to what Ein would have to face. He had only one option left...
Safely disarming his metallic contraption of a weapon, he took up his spear and began carving symbols in the side of the inn.
Posted by: Dude Man on Monday June 23rd, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"Something is going on inside the town." Duilin called back to Repins.
The carrage arrived inside the town, and the soliders jumped off, Vaughn and Zimmerman were two among them.
"I think the city might be under attack, sir." Vaughn stated.
"Yeah probably." Duilin replied, hopping out of the carriage. "Okay, me and Valos will look in the market place. You and Zimmerman go check the docks. Take Scooter, Edd and Ryan with you."
"Yes sir." Replied Zimmerman and Vaughn.
Duilin turned to the gunman. "Repins, I'll let you choose who you want to go with, or you can just stay here and guard the carriage with the others."
"Let's go, bro." Valos said unsheathing his sword and then heading toward the town sqaure.
"How do you know where you're going?" Duilin asked catching up with him.
"It's not the first time I've been in Rivertown, plus I wandered around here before I went to your fort." Valos answered as he continued moving.
---
Zimmerman, Vaughn and the others arrived near the port area, where they witnessed the flurry of soldiers running into the town. The group of crimson glowing warriors came towards them.
"Crap, looks like we have some tough looking invaders here." Vaughn said. "But I'm tougher. You chumps probably won't need to fight, I'm sure I'm more then good enough to take this squad all by myself."
He gave off a sporty pose as he unsheathed his sword. "Time..." He ran towards to squad lifting his sword in the air. "For..." He then leaped in the air and glided towards the group of Crimson warriors. "Act...." his sword then began to glow a bright white. "shee-ooon!!!" He then smashed his sword into the ground in the middle of the group sending a shockwave through the ground, knocking down the group of warriors.
He then flailed his sword around and then looked around at the squad. "Come on!"
Posted by: Mikado on Tuesday June 24th, 2008
~~ Helternia, Rivertown ~~
Repins didn't hesitate. He always admired sir Duilin, and would follow him into anything.
He quickly saluted.
- "Yes, sir! I shall follow you sir!"
He walked behind the two men. He took out one of his snipers and his sharp look moved around ready to see anything that was about to attack him.
He purposely walked behind the two, trying not to get in their way. Was he a burden or a soldier that was worth taking?
Posted by: Dude Man on Tuesday June 24th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Marshall glared back at Draven.
"Good. You're listening now." Marshall taunted. "Now fill out my next request." He put his guns together and held down the triggers and the guns began to glow an icy blue and hum slightly. "Masticate on this following projectile."
He then fired a basketball sized ball of freezing energy that zoomed towards the enraged Draven...
---
"Good choice, kid." Valos said to Repins. "Those other guys looked too incompetent for you to waste your time with."
Duilin started to lead the way. The group arrived in the market place.
"Hmm...nobody here. Maybe we should check the tavern area, I think Marshall and his friends were over there." Duilin suggested. "Come on, let's go."
Posted by: Xorlak on Wednesday June 25th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Draven raised a brow, followed by his right hand. The ball of freezing energy exploded mid-way to its target, shaking the ground as the two opposing elements neutralized each other. He floated a few feet above the ground as his cape billowed in his burning aura. "Yeah... you may want to put a bit more effort into the taunts, gun-boy..." He smirked, another crimson flare appearing in his now unfrozen hand. "Or at least put some effort into the facial expression."
He held the pose for a moment as the fireball surged, but then without looking suddenly flung it to the side, where it rocketed straight for the building the two spear projectiles came from...
All of the soldiers hit by Vaughn's attack were blasted back and fell to the ground. But soon a chuckling emerged from the group and every single one stood back up, dusting themselves off and grinning. "He he he..." the robed mage cackled, "Get them, elementals! Get them!!" The red burning soldiers engaged the group head-on, swords and pikes flaring.
Meanwhile, more groups landed, and more mages recited incantations over the soldiers. Entire groups burned blue and green. More came that were red. More came that were yellow...
Posted by: D. Ein on Thursday June 26th, 2008
- Rivertown -
Ein continued charting, circle after circle, line after line... The sigil had to be perfect in all of its complexity, as the last time he messed it up, the results were not exactly pleasant. The brooding nothingness of the Borderworld immediately popped into his mind. Without rushing, he carefully retraced the lines on the wall. The process was very demanding of him, so when a breeze of air from behind the inn came about to Ein, he was very much relieved.
But not for long.
The breeze suddenly turned into roaring flames, which manifested into an enormous explosion as the main part of the fireball hit the inn. Ein was thrown back, his hands burnt by the searing heat. He landed a few meters back from the inn, into some sort of a ditch dug around it. His consciousness floated in and out for a few seconds, before finally the blue sky above Ein slowly darkened into a black abyss.
---
Faintly distinguishable dots began appearing in the distance. As the little things closed in, silhouettes of massive beating wings began to take form. When there are wyverns, however, their cries can often be heard from far away - especially from a force that large. Oddly enough, the only sound the approaching mass brought with it was that of wind whooshing through hollow bone...
Posted by: Dude Man on Thursday June 26th, 2008
//Sorry if I won't be able to post tomorrow, I'm having a fairly busy week\\
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Duilin and Valos (and Repins) stumbled across a squad of green glowing warriors razing through the town.
Duilin drew the Iduran. "Get out of my continent!" Duilin taunted as he dashed towards the group. He lifted his sword up and enchanted it with his fire elemental magic and then slashed it through a warrior as he ran by him. The warrior was cut in half from the waist, and each halves began to burn off.
Valos shot a lightning bolt at one of the warriors, resulting in minimal damage...
---
Marshall took a deep breath. "No sense in arguing with an idiot." He muttered. He noticed that Draven chose to attack the building where Ein was, instead. He thought that now might be a good idea to start summoning something. He held his amulet and it began to glow...
Posted by: Mikado on Friday June 27th, 2008
~~ Helternia, Rivertown ~~
What were these? Anyway, they were the enemy of his country, he had to erase them!
As Duillin dashed at them Repins quickly drew his sniper gun. Jumping on his knees to gain better precision he aimed at the head of a enemy that was planning to attack his commander.
- "Foolishly foolish fool fooling its fooling foolishness!"
Headshot. The pieces of the head flew into the air leaving a bloody mess around the soldier. He ran towards an another one dashing and evading any possibles attacks that way. Having his legs under his crotch he moved them upwards, and stood on his hands making a back jump. The enemy flew in the air and Repins stood again quickly shooting five times in to the air. These bullets were heavier, and and his foe got torn apart.
He turned towards the others, and fired at those who were endangering anyone of their small group.
Posted by: Xorlak on Saturday June 28th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Draven lowered his hand as the building went up in a crimson plume. He heard commotion from the port area after the din from the explosion subsided. Blast. He wanted to see if he could take the town by himself before his troops even arrived. Oh well, the elementals needed to be tested anyway. He chucked to himself, having created an army of soldiers each immune to all forms of attack but one. Even if their one weakness was obvious, their increase in strength was well worth it. To him at least. They didn't need to know about the shortened lifespan or stupifcation of their minds...
Gun-boy over there seemed to be charging some kind of spell. This one was almost a nuisance... Draven clenched his fist and yelled, then flew back to street level and slammed it into the stone. The ground splintered at once, a crack with spewing lava opening up and tearing towards the summoner's position...
Posted by: Dude Man on Sunday June 29th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Duilin shot a fireball at another green glowing warrior. The warrior didn't even flinch.
"What the hell?!" Duilin shouted. He fired another fireball, but it did nothing. The warrior dashed towards him and slashed his sword down at him, but he blocked the sword with 'The Iduran', and then pushed him back.
"Odd..." Duilin thought to himself.
---
Marshall then pointed his hand at the cracked lava spewing ground, and a blue ghostly mist shot from his hand and blocked the lava, and the mist formed into a shelled creature.
The lava had no effect on the shell, and as the lava seized then a squid like creature emerged from the shell, and began creeping towards Draven. The squid extended one of it's tentacles and then whipped it at the fire mage.
Marshall stepped back, but he put his hand back on his amulet and it began to glow again.
Posted by: Ted Der on Sunday June 29th, 2008
//I'll keep out of the main event for now\\
- Unknown -
Day 2
The Darkness is coming. I can feel it. It chokes the air I breath, swallowing it up until there's nothing left. I am cold. I am all alone. I spend my time drifting in and out of a restless slumber while I lay naked on this rough prison floor.
When I sleep, I dream only nightmares. I see fire burning villages and wasting away the land turning the once green fields into black hellish rocks. It is coming. The end of everything. We have brought this upon ourselves. All of our wars and bloodshed have corrupted the soil and it will burn... I am sure of it.
I am dying. Soon, everything will cease to exist for me. Everything that I have known; everything that I will know will be as if it never happened. I feel death watching me. Waiting. Waiting until I shut my eyes so he can drain me of my life and suck away my soul. And I welcome it.
Death is the only escape from the nightmare that is approaching. It seems as if I have never have had a life. All that was me is now in these pages and once they burn there will be nothing left. Is there even life before death?
Posted by: Xorlak on Monday June 30th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Draven raised a brow. "Eww..."
As a slimy tentacle raced his way, he flipped backwards, stones from the near-miss' impact with the ground flying into the air. He leapt back a couple more times until he landed on the roof of a house. Two tentacles chased after him and tore through the roof as he flew over the monster's head, landing on the other side.
Well blast... He didn't have any lightning or flora spells obviously, though slimy things did tend to die when they dried out... Smirking, he placed his hands on the ground as a large ring of flame shot up from the streets in a perfect circle, surrounding the two. The temperature began to rise...
Meanwhile, the summoner was left unchecked.
The elemental soldiers increased in density as they poured in on landing boats from the ships in the distance...
Posted by: Dude Man on Monday June 30th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
The shellsquid began to noticeably weaken, as it began to give off a dry squeal. However it still seemed to have enough strength to continue fighting for a little longer.
It slowly moved forward, but seemed to stop before it seemed to want to. It then whipped three of it's drying tentacles.
As that was going on Marshall pointed his hand at the ground and a large amount of ghostly blue mist shot from his palm and began to take form of something large...
---
"Okay, I don't think fire magic is going to work. Neither does lightning." Duilin announced. "Valos, try some of the other elements. I'm just going to do this the old fashioned way."
Duilin swung his sword aggressively several at the elemental warrior attacking him. He blocked a couple of the hits, but Duilin was too strong for him to hold off, and he lost grip of his sword and Duilin slashed across his head, lobbing his head off.
Another began running towards him at his left. Duilin faced his attacker's direction and threw his sword at him, impaling him through the chest. He then flew towards the dead warrior and grabbed the sword and pulled it out. Just in time to block the sword of a third warrior.
He kicked that one in the chest and then slashed his sword downwards at him, cutting him through the stomach.
Meanwhile Valos continued to go through every elemental attack, but out of chance it seemed he was skipping the earth element.
"Nothing is working Duilin." He called over.
"Hey, did you try the earth element?"
"Um...no." Valos replied. He then lifted his hands above his head and summoned a boulder in his hands. He then threw it at a warrior running at him. The boulder smashed into him and both the rock and the fighter were shattered. "Owch...Well, looks like that worked..."
//I hope I got that right. Did I?\\
Posted by: Mikado on Tuesday July 1st, 2008
~~-Helternia, Rivertown ~~
Oh great. Magic. Elemental magic. Repins was a common soldier, he knew no magic.. what was worse, after being shot at, the enemy soldiers came closer and closer. Repins fired a few more times but the when the bullets seemed to splatter his enemies apart... they just disappeared. Then he saw Duilin and Valos talking. Valos managed to kill someone with a rock! But it was a magic rock presumably, and even if Repins would throw one, it wouldn't work.
One of the soldiers jumped at Repins. He quickly rotated his rifle and used it as a stick to put in between the monster and him. The powerful teeth of the beast bit into the metal. However these blades weren't made from iron nor bronze. Repins himself didn't knew where they came from, but he knew they weren't destroyed easily. Or at all.
He fired into the nothingness, giving the gun a massive push breaking the jaw of the beast and slashing it furiously off. The beast fell on the ground and rotated a few times before it stood up unharmed. Yet it seemed that these guns had quite some firepower. Only Repins was able to withstand their firing power.
More of these creatures neared him, and Repins had no choice. He opened his his sniper gun, making the upper and the rifle open forwards, were a bullet pack was lying. With a swift and smooth motion he took out the bullet pack and hid it, while instead a brought out a bigger one. Putting it in he pulled one bullet out. It had the length of a hand and the thickness of a baby fist. He got these once from a black market magic dealer... but those were old memories. Three of these monsters jumped at him, this time they were looking to kill Repins for sure. He pushed the bullet into his rifle, closed it and made a backwards jump. The beast landed on the place where he just was and were about to jump, as they were smaller than him they were faster and their next motion would probably kill Repins for sure...
But Repins still in his jump looked at them and fired his rifle. Everything seemed to happen slowly for him. The huge bullet neared the awful creatures which had no time to notice it and smiled malicefully. Their eyes widened and their pupils became thin. Then the bullet flew next to their heads. Their smile faded and looked down. But they never got to see what the bullet really was. The bullet hit the ground and pierced into it. Doing so it immediately exploded. A blue flame and wave of energy spread itself quickly destroying everything it its path. But that wasn't the point of the attack. The tremendous amount of magic in the bullet got released and entered whatever was near. The bullet being into the ground ripped it apart firing hundreds of huge boulders full of this blue aura around. Together with the blue fire it seemed to be an explosion of rocks, which grew even wider and wider, not only killing the three beasts near Repins, but also many others not far from them. The earth that wasn't thrown around shaken and a bright flash entered the memory of anyone who was near. Repins himself jumped on one of these rocks, the magic didn't hurt people with pure intentions and he hoped the Duilin and well... maybe his friend too, were unharmed.
As the rock was blown of Repins jumped of it to see what the results were.
- "Generel Duilin! Are you alright!?"
He couldn't see him because of the thick layer of smoke.
Posted by: Dude Man on Tuesday July 1st, 2008
-- Helternia, Rivertown ---
Duilin appeared walking throw the smoke, dusting himself off. He looked around and gave Repins a smile. "Glad you're on our side."
"Agreed." Valos said also walking through the smoke shortly after Duilin. He looked at Repins and smirked. "So, shall we continue hunting down these things?"
"Yeah, but I have a feeling that there might be more than these guys around." Duilin replied. "Let's go Repins. But next time warn me if you're going to use another one of those things."
The two fighters went off, hopefully with their gunner friend with them.
Posted by: Mikado on Tuesday July 1st, 2008
~~ Helternia, Rivertown ~~
Repins smiled.
- "Ahah, yes sir!"
He saluted quickly and re armed his gun. Now he was determined to finish everything off that would stood in his and his generals path.
He followed both preparing himself for the unpreparable.
- "Don't worry sir, that attack wouldn't be able to hurt you. It only damages people with impure intentions!"
Even Repins himself didn't know whether that was really to safe himself, or to test his fellows.
Posted by: D. Ein on Tuesday July 1st, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
The fleet of undead wyverns closed in with surprising swiftness. The abominations rained on the battlefield, shattering as they hit the earth. About 40 soldiers dropped on the ground from the disassembled wyverns.
Knowing that her arrival was no secret, Eris yelled to her soldiers:
-"Engage the enemy on sight! Stalkers, circle around them, sabotage the ships by the shore! Go! Go! Go!"
The troops rushed forward, save for the five fleeting shadows which appeared to have taken a route around the battle. Eris herself took off her modified protection amulet, and felt its back with her nimble fingers. There - a small latch clicked, releasing the purple jewel from its hold in the amulet. After eyeing the area for a few seconds, she threw the gem off to the side into a nearby ditch. Seemingly satisfied with the gem's location, she placed the amulet back on her sternum, the ornament's three gold claws digging into her skin right away. She barely even felt the pain anymore, having done this procedure many times before. With a confident look on her face, she strode forward to the heart of the battle, her gauntlet crossbow on the ready.
Posted by: Xorlak on Wednesday July 2nd, 2008
(He he he, works for me, DM.
I intended for the elemental warriors to be human, Mikado, but don't see why we can't throw some monsters into the mix as well.)
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Draven dodged the tentacles with a series of elaborate jumps, landing with a flourish. Something flew overhead and he was momentarily distracted. "The stench of death... So the Kandarinians join the fray. Interesting..."
Snapping his attention back to the shelled creature, he whipped his right palm above his head. A blaze a crimson swirled about, condensing into a fiery disc with jagged edges. Arching his arm back, he threw the spinning blade right at the creature's head, tearing through the air like a buzzsaw.
Posted by: D. Ein on Wednesday July 2nd, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
It wasn't long before the Kandarinians realized how utterly useless their attacks were against the green Elementals. Driven half by fear and half by desperation, most of them fled from the battle and regrouped behind a hill. Having seen this, Eris just spat on the ground.
-"Damn warriors... They calls themselves Kandarinians... Wusses is what they are! I'd kill them myself..."
Her bloated arrogance was soon humbled by a dull *clunk* that her crossbow bolts produced when they came in contact with the Elemental's skin. The green humanoid turned around, and charged at Eris with a sinister scowl. That only served to double Eris' amazement - being invulnerable is one thing, but proper battle tactics should come above all else. The Elemental did appear to have eyes, so couldn't it see that Eris had the tactical advantage? How thick can this thing be?
As soon as the enchanted warrior was just in sword-swinging range of Eris, the latter leaped into the air, landing on the Elemental's shoulder. Giving it no time to realize what's going on, she drove her boot's heel at a high speed right into the back of the warrior's head. The Kandarinian captain somewhat relaxed, hearing a definite crack, and lightly hopped back down on the ground. Damn, those things were difficult! At least this one was dead.
But the Elemental didn't share that thought.
Before Eris could walk away, the humanoid was already up on its feet and charging at the captain's back. Eris made a move to turn around, but tripped: the metal heel on her boot was broken. Seconds later, she felt the coldness of the ground slam into her back. She was quick to get up and compensate for the circumstances, only to be checked by a devastating body blow from the Elemental. Her thin figure was thrown several meters forward, and the force of the attack was enough to dislocate several joints. Just before breaking her neck on a quickly approaching rock, a string of thoughts crossed her mind: it's time for a strategic retreat.
A dark purple cloud was all that remained of Eris after she quickly incited the recall spell. Her body turned into a blob of pulsating energy, rushing as if along a thin string right back to the little gem she discarded moments earlier.
After rematerialization, the first thing Eris tried to do was to breathe - a sad mistake on her part, as it turned out. Two broken ribs immediately let themselves be known, sending a wave of white pain across the captain's chest. Being an agile fighter more than a brute head-on one, she wasn't used to the agony of several broken bones, letting out something of a pained wheeze. She quickly reminded herself of the situation, and set her thoughts in order, taking short, shallow breaths. It was only then that she noticed that it wasn't just her in the ditch.
-"...Einherjar?"
Posted by: Dude Man on Thursday July 3rd, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"Oh?" Valos replied, to the comment that the explosion would only harm 'evil' people. "Heh...well, I guess there ya go Duilin." He smiled at his brother.
Duilin thought. "Hmmm, well, we will see about that." Suddenly he turned around and noticed more attackers. "Kandarinians!?" Duilin exclaimed in frustration. "What they hell are they doing here? Okay NOW I'm pissed off." Duilin dashed off towards the docks, leaving Valos and Repins behind.
The general had the Iduran out, glowing with fire magic. "I've had it with you people!!" He shouted.
--
Meanwhile the shellsquid Marshall summoned was spilt in half by Draven's fire blade, and the two sides dried up, leaving only a dried up pile of goo and a broken shell.
Marshall finally finished summoning his large beast. The large creature was yet, his big burly Minotaur.
"I warned you Draven. You're gonna pay now." Marshall stated.
The minotaur swung it's hammer through the air, and then roared at Draven. After the beast finished it's angry war call he then smashed his hammer down at the fire mage.
--
Duilin noticed the large minotaur from where he was, and thought he heard Marshall's voice. He then went over to investigate, slashing away at several enemy soldiers as he made his way through.
Posted by: Xorlak on Saturday July 5th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"Oh dear..." Draven smirked as the hammer surged toward him. He folded his arms behind his back and leapt backwards, evading the shock wave resulting from the mighty impact with the ground. "... such a clumsy weapon. Tell me, gun-boy, do you not have any strengths of your own? Or do you rely entirely on weapons and minions?"
Draven evaded again as he brought a clenched fist forward. Pausing a moment in mid-air, he thrust it straight down, the impact with the ground resulting in a gushing spike of flame erupting from under the beast's hooves.
Posted by: Dude Man on Sunday July 6th, 2008
"I've heard that before." Marshall retorted. "To be honest, no not really and I don't care."
The minotaur's hooves were burnt, by the flame spike, but it didn't seem to even notice. It simply stepped forward through the fire and then smashed it's hammer on the ground, projecting a shock wave that flew towards Draven, lifting up parts of the ground with it.
"And frankly it won't matter once your dead."
Meanwhile Duilin appeared not too far away from the scene.
"Draven...so he's behind this."
He noticed Marshall was fighting him. "Think I'll see how he handles him, this might be interesting."
Posted by: Xorlak on Monday July 7th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"Charming..."
Draven danced out of the way of the impending shockwave, flipping backwards and kicking off a wall before it crumbled to dust. He landed deftly upon the hammer's shaft, and proceeded to run up the handle and the creature's arm. Rearing his foot back as it burst into flame, he aimed a fearsome kick right at the minotaur's temple...
Posted by: Dude Man on Monday July 7th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
The minotaur was struck, it's head flung back and the mighty beast fell to the ground. The minotaur was breathing deeply. Marshall had a worried look on his face. However the minotaur slowly got back, looking like it was totally dizzy and unaware of what was happening, when all of the sudden it thrusted its hammer at his attacker...
Posted by: Mikado on Monday July 7th, 2008
~~ Helternia, Rivertown ~~
Repins dashed after Duilin. The general was kinda on a rage here, but that would endanger him greatly. He would cover his attacks from behind! He swiftly pulled out a hand gun and pointed it at Draven. He looked at his General as he seemed to halt and watch the battle.
- "General Duilin sir! I'm sorry to intrude but shouldn't we also fight, sir?"
He still was pointing his gun at Draven, but he probably didn't notice it, for it was a small gun.
Posted by: D. Ein on Tuesday July 8th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Sometime between being crushed by the Elemental and unblinkingly watching the unconscious Ein, Eris noticed that her ribs were not hurting anymore. Of course - the high recovery serum that Vandrin commissioned for all individuals lieutenant- and captain-level was taking effect.
Ein, however, did not have such an advantage. The skin on his charred hands had deep cracks, showing bits of dark red flesh. It would be sad to die in the middle of nowhere, especially for one who is, by definition, a Kandarinian Stalker - even then, how much damage could Ein possibly deal in this battle, against five other Stalkers and one captain? Thinking back to the old days at the Stalker Academy, Eris smiled and pulled out one of her crossbow bolts. She used it to prick a point on her wrist, and watched the thin streak of blood turn into crimson droplets as they disappeared in Ein's blackening wounds.
---
Ein awoke some time later, only to find that his injuries completely vanished. There was not even a trace of burns anywhere on his body. The fleeting thought that the fireball was just an unpleasant nightmare was quickly cast off as Ein noticed that his clothing was, indeed, riddled with holes with a dark outline: he definitely was burnt, but somehow recovered. But fate did not leave Ein wandering for long, as he found his fist clenching a very short bolt with an obsidian tip. The kind of bolt that would fit in a small, gauntlet-mounted crossbow.
---
Wiser with experience, Eris definitely did not want to charge into the battle head-first. This time, she watched the band off to the side, seemingly lead by some freak with wings (probably an indecisive angel) fight the Elementals. For some reason, they did not have half a problem killing the warriors. No... this won't do.
After another quick scan of the area, the captain dashed through the battle commotion. The Elementals noticed her, but were too slow, and gave up chasing her after it became clear that they would not be able to catch her. She arrived behind another building, and silently watched the fight between the earthen warriors and their opponents from a much closer distance.
Posted by: Xorlak on Wednesday July 9th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Draven sneered and raised his fist upwards to meet the hammer with a resounding crack. The ground shook at the flash of crimson from his hand, and the hammer head feel to either of his sides, split in half. "Such a low-leveled beast," he yawned. "I've enough of this trifle."
His form blurred and he appeared at the side of the monster's head opposite to what he kicked, his palm extended just inches away and a menacing smirk upon his face. Crimson flame cumulated around his palm and the minotaur's noggin, his aim obviously to summon a burst of flame inside the monster's head and blow it clean off...
Posted by: D. Ein on Wednesday July 9th, 2008
//Xorlak: how many green guys are there?\\
-=Helternia, Rivertown=-
It wasn't very long until Eris figured out what all attacks against the Elementals had in common: they all had the distinctive appearance of earth magic conjurations. Naturally, this posed a bit of a problem: as a Stalker-based captain, Eris knew a million ways to kill a man with steel, but she had absolutely no talent in any sort of magic. Her squad did have a few mages, but they were Cryomancers. In the extremely unlikely event that they would know earth magic, the power of their earthen spells would be laughable, at best. Perhaps it is time for another strategic retreat?
---
Recovered from his daze, Ein took time to reflect on what had happened. The sort of power that he was blasted away by was immense. There is no way that he could stand up to it with either his now-missing arbalest, or even much of his Astral glyph magic. Draven's current musings with the already nearly dead minotaur only further drove Ein to the brink of collapsing and just waiting for the end. But of course, there is always something to be done.
With a definite look on his face, Ein dropped to the bottom of the trench and began charting a medium-sized pentagram in the earth.
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Thursday July 10th, 2008
- Helternia, Outside of Rivertown -
And at the very edge of the town, an angelic figure appeared as if from nowhere, though his ship on the coast seemed to say otherwise. He folded his arms as his aura glowed a majestic light blue, almost cerulian, as if wave after wave from the sea splashed around him. He folded his arms and extended his angelic wings violently, loose feathers flying in all directions, Merely observing the nearby town. He grinned with an utmost disturbing malice, but seemingly playful, and sincere.
With a flutter of his wings, he burst into the firmamental sky, flying down and landing just before Duilin... Ben smiled.
"Guess who's back!"
//Hope that post makes up for my absence. It'll be just Aaron for a while til I get my head straight...
Posted by: Dude Man on Friday July 11th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
The minotaur's head exploded in a ball of fire, chunks of charred meat splattered all over the place and the mighty beast's headless corpse fell to the ground like a tree. As it smashed into the ground the earth around it shook.
Marshall stood there with a shocked and scared look on his face.
"Uh...oh..."
Meanwhile Duilin smiled and nodded at Ben. "Glad you could make it. I've got somebody I need to scare off."
Duilin then started to walk towards Draven. "Long time no see." He called over towards him. "I'd like to ask you something Lars." He then shot a cold glare at him. "What the hell are you doing here!?"
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Friday July 11th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Ben looked confused. 'Lars' he says? He thought Draven was dead, and had long since been dead, but it appeared not as the crimson figure showed his face in Rivertown. Ben's wings extended in a slight shock, but they fluttered a few times, and off he went, into the sky. He summoned all the power he could in one possible quick moment and prepared a large, white orb with it, nearly a foot in diameter. He then slashed at the orb with his hand and it followed the length of it as it drifted downwards. Before the energy could escape, he grabbed a hold of it, forming a claymore of energy.
"This ought to scare him off nice... blasted firemage."
Ben then grabbed the claymore with his second, free hand and gripped it tightly, ready to attack when the order was given.
Posted by: Xorlak on Friday July 11th, 2008
(About two dozen each of green, red, yellow, and blue-aura-ed guys.)
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Draven flicked a piece of meat off his arm. "Well well well, what do we have here? It's fly-boy Jr. and..." he regarded the much too white glowing figure in the sky creating some sort of sword. "Uh, I forgot..."
He snapped his attention back towards Duilin. "Anyway, this hamlet just so happened to be in strategically useful position... and I was bored... Oh, and key components of my army needed testing." He smirked.
Posted by: Dude Man on Friday July 11th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"Wow. You know I don't even know why I keep hoping you might change." Duilin replied lightly shaking his head. "But seriously, this just crosses the line. This place is just full of innocent people..." He clenched his fist, and kept his cold glare at Draven.
"Screw this, you're not worth giving a speech to." Duilin snarled. "I'll just have to pound it into you."
Duilin then gave a mighty uppercut into the fire mage's stomach, hoping to send him flying over the houses and into the water...
Posted by: D. Ein on Saturday July 12th, 2008
//That's a lot... and, they can't be damaged by anything other than their element? Like, nothing? Hmm...\\
-=Rivertown=-
Suddenly, an idea hit Eris. She dashed behind the inn where she was hiding, and retreated to her also-retreating army. It's so simple...
Having sighted her, the soldiers turned their heads down in shame, but Eris was so overcome by her idea that she did not even remember wanting to kill them a second ago. Finally, she stopped near one of her mages.
-"Hey, you... err..."
-"Clavonce, captain."
-"C... Cryomancer," Eris corrected herself. "Give me your M-Grid orb."
-"Yes, of course. Here you go."
As the mage reached for the communications orb, Eris jerked it out of his hand, and quickly whispered a destination into it. After several seconds, she whispered some more directions, and finally handed it back to the Cryomancer.
-"Pack your things, troops," she said with a light tone. "We're leaving."
---
The pentagram on the ditch floor continued to grow in complexity, with some curved lines and circles. Ein was too busy to even notice the arrival of another fighter to the battlefield...
Posted by: Dude Man on Sunday July 13th, 2008
-- Helternia, Rivertown --
Draven flew off into the distance and crashed into the water. Duilin rubbed his fist.
"Welcome to Helternia, asshole." Duilin sneered.
He looked back at Bjendell. "Alright, we got a problem here. These glowing guys are immune to magic, I think they might only be vulnerable to the element coordinating with their glow colour. There are a lot of them, and I want them all gone. Help would be appreciated."
Meanwhile Marshall thought he'd summon some more monsters, likely magic using ones to fight the elementals. Duilin flew over towards Marshall.
"Where have you been soldier? You were supposed to be in Klawvorn over an hour ago." Duilin glared at the summoner, staring deep into his eyes.
"Sorry, sir. I got caught up in things." Marshall started to feel a rush of fear run through him as he weakly looked back at his general. For some reason he was more afraid of him then Draven. Duilin was always terrifying when he was angry. "Sorry, really, sorry." He added.
"You better be. Now start summoning some shit and get these damned glowing guys out of here!"
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Sunday July 13th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"Right... Damn, I only know holy magic. Wouldn't hurt to try my fist!"
So Ben flapped his wings a few times then blasted upwards back into the sky, winding up a punch as he flew after an earth elemental. Just before he made it to the elemental, he threw his punch, aiming it directly at his face. The punch sent him flipping back several feet into the air.
"Looks like that'll do it for now..."
Posted by: Xorlak on Sunday July 20th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
The water boiled violently, an orange glow bubbling from the depths. With a plume of water, Draven exploded from the ocean, flying skyward as flame wrapped his body. "Blast it!!" he bellowed with clenched fists, "how dare you!!"
He stopped some two hundred feet in the sky, glaring over the port town. With a flourish, he spread his palms wide on either side. "For that, your town dies!" Orbs of crimson light radiated from his hands and he began a relentless, continuous barrage of fireballs in Duilin's direction. Though some careened toward the general, others flow in wild erratic paths, likely to cause much damage to the residents dwelling in the random houses they were about to strike...
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Sunday July 20th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"I don't think so..."
As if from no where, a savage-looking lizard man with a dorsal fin crossing down his back and up his head made slashes Across several of the crimson orbs, cutting their power down. He had a fire-enchanted katana and was slashing wildly across the orbs, missing a few but still hitting a good amount, nearly cutting one half of the damages to the city off. When the bombardment was over, he slashed his katana down to his side. It was Jacobie, which meant that Karma had to be someplace nearby... or perhapse he kept her safe, some place elsewhere for the moment. "Lars Draven, I presume... what on Gaia are you doing alive?"
Ben flew down to the ground, taking a knee and slamming his right fist into his open-palm left hand. A sort of shield began to form arouns the houses of the area. It was considerably weak, but grew as time passed. "Keep that maniac destracted for me, guys!"
(House Shielded at 10%)
Posted by: Xorlak on Monday July 21st, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Draven threw his head back in billowing laughter. "How sweet, protecting innocents like that... Real touching. Yeah." He clenched his fists at his sides as his aura doubled in size.
"Let's make a game out of it, then," he spoke through his smirk. His hands burned red once more and he let loose another barrage, burning spheres snaking through the skies, separating and deliberately gliding towards the village dwellings...
Posted by: Dude Man on Monday July 21st, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"God damnit!" Duilin roared as he saw Draven emerged from the water. He then gave a very enraged look as he began shooting fireballs at the town below. With furry, he surrounded himself in a golden aura of fire and lightning and flew towards the crimson emperor in the sky.
"I thought I made it clear..." Duilin charged up lightning in his hands. "I wanted you too..." Lightning then began to crackle in his hands. "PISS OFF!!" He then shot a single, but very strong lightning bolt that made a blinding flash throughout the air and made a thundering that echoed throughout the area...
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Monday July 21st, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"Very well. Let's play." Two Drannivolkan elite appeared on the scene and zipped around through the city, slashing orbs in half left and right, rendering their destructive power upon the city useless. Jacobie then rushed off with them and slashed up the orbs around himself, along with a few others near by.
"John, Marrik, glad you guys made it... Where's Aaron?" And behind Jacobie, a large man put a hand on his scalene shoulder, then took a few more steps forwards and unsheated a crystal blade. It was Aaron, and he didn't look to happy. He appeared to be in a half-wolf status, His back slightly haunched over and fur all about him.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!!" The half-wolf then made a great leap into the air and made a powerful push of raw, nearly fully transparent energy at Draven. The energy zapped towards the fire mage and crackled with energy.
"Great... this could take a while." Ben continued to charge up his shield and pulsated with energy, a white aura taking hold of him and slowly pulsing.
(House Shield at 25%)
Posted by: Xorlak on Wednesday July 23rd, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Draven crossed his arms in front of his body as both Duilin and the wolf-man's blast struck him at the same time, a translucent red dome appearing around him as he was pushed backwards through the sky. He clenched his teeth and shook his right hand, as if something in the attack he blocked hurt more than expected.
He had let the assault drag on for too long,as more and more reinforcements kept arriving. He pointed in the general direction of the angelic figure and the feline warriors. "Kill them! KILL THEM!!"
The mob of elemental-specific soldiers ceased their random pillaging and began a focused effort on the new arrivals... He had lost some, but estimated a good 75 to be left in fighting condition. Their immunity to physical attacks, and all elements save their opposite color was tremendously useful. He was ready to call the operation a complete success.
After he leveled the town, of course.
Floating some 100 feet above a ruined wreck of a building, Draven turned to Duilin and sneered. "It isn't too late, you know. You could always join me against the Kandarinians. I could always use a good right hand..."
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Wednesday July 23rd, 2008
Helternia, Rivertown
"Wow, you really are a fool. Duilin, let's take this whelp down!" With a wranching motion of his neck and a snarl, Aaron leapt back into the air at a tremendous rate, but alas, wasn't high enough. His blade, however, just reached Draven's lower torso and he slashed horizontally after him.
"Blast! Jacobie, John, Marrik, hold them off! I'm getting closer..." They did as the angelic warrior told and used their main elements against elementals of opposite elements, hoping to use their elemental weakness to their advantage. Little did they know that they actually HAD to do so...
(House Shield at 35%)
Posted by: D. Ein on Thursday July 24th, 2008
-=Rivertown=-
//I suppose 11 days is enough for them to get here... heh\\
Once again did the sky become disturbed with wyverns - and once again did no sound come from them at all. This time, however, there were only eight of them. Seven normal ones, and one much, much bigger one (or was it even a wyvern?). Considering the group's small size, they were quick to arrive to the battlefield. Worthy of note was their unorthodox landing, or, more precisely, the lack thereof. Seven of the smaller wyverns bore no riders at all, but held what looked from a distance like silver statues in their decaying claws. At their arrival, the wyverns dropped the statues down to the ground behind a hill, and flew off into the horizon. Or, at least, the seven of them did.
---
"So she told me she needed a couple Augments, and she got them! Why does everyone absolutely HAVE to throw a tantrum when I decide to leave the Citadel? It's a good thing I've personally decapitated anyone who dared to say that I cannot take care of myself, else I would still be fighting off my advisers like hounds off freshly downed dear.
Landing my glorious signature Winged Messenger, I took a second to observe the sad excuse for a battle that has occurred on this land that is, by all technicalities, mine. Pathetic, not even a single Necromancer to break up the boredom! It is an opportune time for me to arrive, then.
Before making myself known, I decided to take note of the combatants in the proverbial arena. There, over by the hamlet, stood some dolt in a white robe made of silk and, apparently, "linnen", holding a protective aura about the buildings. Almost brings a tear to my eye to see my enemies shield my own people.
Then, of course, there was Draven - that twisted mutilation of nature who would be of far more use inside my furnaces - fighting off some half-dog...thing... and another chap with wings whom I'd never seen before. Speaking of dogs, there were some furry beasts running back and forth between the main army of... what are those?
Those are not human, either? I assume them to be those Elementals that Eris roared about for a good half an hour with foam at her mouth, promising Augments to be the perfect defence. Well, I suppose we'll have to see about that.
The rest seemed to be too minor to worry about. With those thoughts in mind, I finally decided to let myself be known."
---
The earth itself shook as the lumbering wyvern-like creature thundered forward into the battle. The seven silver statues came to life, and used whatever means they had available to follow the undead beast toward the carnage, some shambling, some crouching, some pulling themselves across the ground with their long arms. But this was not the whole force.
Behind the frontline, a single phantom ambled casually in Draven's general direction, holding his hands behind his back. While there was absolutely nothing threatening about the way he moved, all life seemed to dim around him - the trees stopped swaying, the grass below his feet was quickly overcome with blight, and the ground boiled with insects trying to get out of his path - but falling dead in mid-air. Several Elementals noticed him, and charged at the ghostly man, wearing vicious grins and brandishing their weapons. They quickly learned their mistake as they stumbled over each other's feet, falling right through him, who appeared to be completely unaware of their presence.
He finally reached Draven, and smiled at him:
-"My, what do we have here? Draven, it is not good manners to get new toys and hog them without letting the other kids know. Luckily for you, I have some new toys here of my own..."
Posted by: Dude Man on Friday July 25th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"Arg! Why the hell is everyone here in first place." Duilin groaned under his breath. He shook his head at Draven. "Listen flameboy, you can't just come waltzing in here like you own the place. So don't go shooting offers at me after you smashed up part of the continent I'm currently in charge of."
Duilin drew the Iduran and pointed it at him. He thought to himself where Valos was for a second but then shook it off.
"So enough taunts and fireball/lighting-bolt charging/blocking/dodging/surviving. I can deal with the Kandies myself. Just leave..." He then lowered his facial expression even more so "Now."
//Sorry if I missed anything, I'm like uber tired right now but feel the need to post now.\\
Posted by: Xorlak on Friday July 25th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Just before the wolf's attack connected with Draven, an elemental shot upward and in Aaron's way, taking the brunt of the slash. The human's yellow aura faded slightly has he plummeted back towards the ground and crashed, but then it restored as he stood in a rage, dashing through the air with a lightning charged sword at the ready...
Draven threw his head back in laughter. "Ha! It seems we have a bit of a three-way here." He grinned at Duilin. "Leave so early? But I have one more test to preform..." Turning towards the apparition, he said, "Yes... I'd like to see exactly what your 'toys' can do..."
He shouted at a mixed group of twenty elemental humans upon the ground, "Go!" He pointed. "Find out what those flying lizards dropped behind that hill and kill it!"
With flaming, frosting, crackling and rock...like weapons over their heads, the group charged out of the town with a thunderous roar.
Posted by: D. Ein on Saturday July 26th, 2008
-=Rivertown=-
As per Draven's command, Kronos' Winged Messenger immediately came under attack by two dozen Elementals. It made little effort to defend itself, however, due to its very close proximity to the Lich himself - any damage was healed almost instantly. Instead of attempting to shield itself from the stings of enchanted weapons, the horned skeletal dragon began smashing the magical army left and right. While these blows did not actually hurt the Elementals, they did make it a lot harder for them to regroup: after only a few minutes, the larger portion of the army was strewn all about the battlefield. That is where the Augments came in.
Two Elementals, a Fire one and a Water one, dashed for the nearest Augment - a disemboweled human torso with thin, polished metal sheets neatly nailed into it. The constantly wheezing creature only noticed the Elementals when the latter were a couple meters away. With a sudden, harsh gasp, it raised its head to face the attackers - right toward the Water Elemental's flying claymore.
The blade never reached its target, however. It vanished in a black portal inches away from the Augment's metal-plated head, and reappeared in front of the Fire Elemental's chest. The clashing elements cancelled each other out, and both the Fire Elemental and the Water Elemental's sword crumbled into grey dust. The Augment, making a disgusting, satisfied groan, guided its hand through the portal to close it.
The same was happening across the whole battlefield: the badly outnumbered Augments used the advantage of multiple attacking enemies to easily dispatch the Elementals one by one, while the Winged Messenger kept the army broken up into smaller, manageable groups. Those left without weapons resorted to using their fists to try and bash the Augments' heads in - but not even the fists were safe from the dark fissures appearing after the silver undeads' clawed hands slicing the air. The grey dust evenly covered the entire battlefield, and Draven's army was steadily diminishing in size.
---
-"Hmph, looks like your toys aren't living up to the expectations, eh, Draven?", I mused. "You spend all this time away in hiding, and when you come back, you do so only to disappoint me. Then again, I'm sure that you had not counted on the arrival of the Sovereign himself."
Needless to say, my very bones were shaking in fear around Draven, as he was the only one here who could potentially seriously hurt me - but I was careful not to let any sign of weakness slip by. I have, I have to put him into my own position... Damn fire mage. Fire should be banned from war practise. Fire is the arbalest to my creatures - a weapon that even a green novice could use to slay a hardened, veteran knight. But that's alright.
It is, really.
He still doesn't know about them.
And when he finds out, will he be in for a surprise..."
Posted by: Xorlak on Saturday July 26th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Draven's jaw dropped. "You... morons!! Stop it! Stop using your powers!" He clutched the sides of his head in rage. "No!!!"
Below where he floated stood one of the cloaked mages. Draven flew downward and grabbed him by the collar. "Cancel it! Cancel the spell!"
"B-but my lord... Once we cancel the effect, then--"
"Do it!! NOW!!"
The mage gulped and nodded, then removed an orb from his cloak, speaking into it. "Cancel the elementals! Cancel!"
The mage made some hand motions in the air, as did several others that were mixed in the city. The auras of the soldiers vanished, and they fell to their knees, very ordinary soldiers once more. However, they seemed sickly. Many unable to even move, they simply fell where they where and groaned.
Draven's jaw dropped again. Then it closed, becoming a scathing snarl. His head slowly turned towards the mage, who threw his body to the ground in a grovel. "My lord! I'm so sorry!! Please! I beg of you!!"
The irate Crimson Emperor whipped forward his right hand. Immediately the mage flew into the air, pulled by some unseen force. "Noooooo--!!!" His scream was cut off as his head exploded, his mangled body collapsing in a lifeless wreck.
Draven's gaze turned skyward, towards the translucent apparition. He clenched his fists at his sides as white-hot pulsing flame surged from his body. "HOW. DARE. YOOOOOU!!!" The scream of rage was lost in the thunderous roar from the fire that engulfed his body. His hair-tie came undone, and the strands poked upwards in spikes. His eyes lost their pupils, becoming bright white. His muscles bulged as the ground shook. Chunks of rock and debris rose from the ground and shattered into dust.
Then with a thunderous explosion, he blasted into the air. The force of his takeoff was great enough to shatter the three nearest buildings (and their respective barriers) and leave a crater fifteen feet in diameter. Wrapped in surging fire, he brought his right fist back and thrust it at the ghost-like sovereign's face.
Posted by: D. Ein on Saturday July 26th, 2008
-=Rivertown=-
//Xorlak: Kronos is standing on the ground at the moment. He can't really levitate that much anymore (that's why he arrived on an undead mount).\\
"Now, using common logic, it is easy to deduct that the one thing that would encourage Draven the most at this point would be moving out of his attack's way. Therefore, I would have to "bite the arrow", as they say - so I stood still.
There would not be a problem whatsoever if all Draven did was simply charge at me like there is no tomorrow, and, like the primeval-headed brute he is, attempt to bash me to oblivion. But that cursed magic... The unnatural magical flames swirling about his entire body were the problem. To nature, my phase-shift state is just a shadow of my real self in a dimension elsewhere, but magic works in mysterious ways to circumvent this defence. If I stood in a fire, nothing would happen - but Draven's flames, those wicked magic-induced flames... Curse him!
But, alas, Fate has given me little more time to contemplate the fine details of my existence. Draven's fist passed through my body, and the rest of him followed - and, in those agonizing moments, I bathed in the searing pain flowing through me. It burnt yellow.
Burnt red.
Burnt white.
It felt like my whole life was nothing but flames in that time. All my organs felt burnt and scarred beyond recognition. For those few moments, a pained grimace slipped on my face, but thankfully, Draven could not see it as he was behind me. I quickly regained my original, half-caring expression on my face, and slowly turned around. I'm sure that the slow movement made me look majestic and important, but in truth, I simply hurt too much to move any faster.
-"I don't think you quite understand, Draven," I began. "You can not kill me. You can not even hurt me. In fact, if I were you, I would just surrender! Look at this place, and pay attention: there are half-dead people all around me, and my Winged Messenger would be more than glad to take them to a more... useful condition. At that point, once I have a sufficient amount of corpses, you might as well give up. Bones may oft be more versatile than fire, you know..."
Hoping that my speech was demoralizing enough, I silently prayed for Draven to take the bait and not use attacks with more magical force than physical... Although I made a bit of a lie when I said he cannot hurt me, the prior part of that statement was very true. Regardless, I still wouldn't want to go through that experience again."
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Saturday July 26th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Aaron evaded the lightning sword attack and fell to the ground, landing nd crouching, bracing himself with his free hand. He then got up and flipped into the air like a mad man, slashing wildly after the elemental that had just attacked him.
Meanwhile, Ben's house shield charge began to speed up as he increased his power with everything he had in him. He pulsated with a blue aura of energy as he poured all of it into the shielding of the Rivertown homes. "Just a... bit more..."
(House Shield at 60%)
Posted by: Xorlak on Sunday July 27th, 2008
(Ah! Was confused since Draven was in the air previously.)
- Helternia, Rivertown -
The elemental's power faded right before Aaron's slash connected, so the puny human was torn to ribbons and landed in a mangled heap.
Draven's dashing punch continued on for a hundred feet before he skidded to a halt. The shock wave from his attack continued onward for a few hundred more feet, tearing up the cobblestone street and sending several unoccupied merchant booths into oblivion, the burning timber clattering off the barriers that surrounded the nearby buildings.
Draven turned, still literally burning with rage. "You half-wit cretin!! Reveal yourself and fight!!" He clenched both fists and fumed, but straightened his posture as he realized screaming at his opponent would get him nowhere. "Very well! I shall kill every last one of your slaves until you do!"
The burning madman turned to the side, extending an open palm. A brilliant crimson sphere manifested before it, swelling to two feet in diameter as it pulsed with energy. His intense aura faded slightly, signifying the energy transfered into the orb. With a maniacal grin, he blasted the orb directly at the undead Winged Messanger...
Posted by: D. Ein on Sunday July 27th, 2008
-=Rivertown=-
"The feeling I was experiencing now could best be described as having one's soul released from a terrible burden, as I saw Draven switch his target from me to my Messenger. Good, it looks like we're halfway there. Now I just need to continue my mental assault, and he will break. Sooner or later, he will either run out of power, or just break. Or... Yes, that could be a solution also...
In an exaggerated, theatrical gesture, I smacked my face with my palm in exasperation.
-"Come on, Draven. You go for my undead servant and you call me a half-wit cretin? Are you simple, boy?"
I calmly watched as Draven's fireball turned my 15-foot-tall Winged Messenger into flaming chunks of airborne flesh and bone. A hint of sadness slipped by at the sight of my favourite creature being blown to smithereens, but that feeling vanished immediately as I reassured myself that I will make a new one as soon as I get back.
It felt incredibly difficult to levitate after all those years of shunning that ability, but I did manage to get myself about 10 feet in the air.
-"Watch, Crimson Emperor, and do not blink. Do not take your eyes off my power, so it may show you how truly weak and insignificant you are to me."
With a bit of effort, I mustered a fairly powerful arc of electricity between my hands. I slowly drove them apart, rising them further above the battlefield as I went. After waiting for another moment to pour as much energy as I could into the attack, I threw my hands downward, releasing several branches of lightning. The energy flowing from my fingertips hit the half-dead soldiers underneath, finishing them off, and arcing across the dust-covered earth to every other ex-Elemental moaning on the ground.
The moaning stopped, if only to be replaced a second later by the shuffling of the now-undead troops to their feet, gathering their fallen weapons, and all charging at Draven.
Naturally, I knew that the fire mage still had fight left in him - and enough fight to slap off this attack as nothing more than a bothersome gnat. I also knew that the enraged Draven would be very unlikely to see silvery silhouettes skulking between the rows of undead through the aura of flame around him..."
Posted by: Dude Man on Monday July 28th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Duilin kept the Iduran held in his hand but lowered it and lightly flapped his wings as he hovered in the air not too far away from the Sovereign who was above the Crimson Emperor.
He watched them for a little while, and was rather shocked with Kronos electric attack. Although not generally afraid of it, but he was the Sovereign, so he didn't want to assume too little of him.
"Sovereign, maybe you could talk some sense into our young friend here." Duilin said in a calm tone towards Kronos, referring to Draven. "I'd really prefer it if he left, and your conflict here seems to be more-so with him then my little village here. Perhaps you could move your fight elsewhere?"
Keeping his calm expressions he enchanted the Iduran with flame, yet didn't lift his sword. He knew the Sovereign wouldn't take his suggestion seriously, if it looked like he was asking for a friendly favour.
"Although if you have a different plan, I'd be more than happy to give you my input."
---
Meanwhile Valos had been fighting off the pawns, but realized that the battle seemed to be dying down. He thought that he'd go check on Duilin and the others so he slid his sword into the sheath on his back and started to make his way towards them.
Posted by: Xorlak on Monday July 28th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Draven rolled his eyes. "This? This is your power? Finishing off a few worthless failures and reanimating them?" He clenched his right fist, a brilliant crimson flash emanating from it, then leaving it bathed in a dull glow.
"You are nothing! Nothing to me!!" With that, he slammed his fist into the ground, creating a violent tremor and a surging shock wave that obliterated any objects that were not protected by the translucent shields. Deep cracks bore through the earth and guyers of lava spewed forth, bathing the zombies in burning orange. The lava rose like a tidal wave, spreading outwards and threatening to cover the town's buildings that surrounded the battle...
Draven slowly rose off the ground, cape and hair billowing wildly in the cyclone of fire that wrapped around him. "I shall tear your sovereignty to shreds myself!!"
Posted by: D. Ein on Monday July 28th, 2008
-=Rivertown=-
"The only thing I could find the mind, will, and wish to do at that point was to smirk. Draven keeps following my directions like a marionette.
-"Tear my Sovereignty to shreds? How paradoxically cold of you, Draven. I've worked so long to build it... Then again, the thought of you taking on my entire armies alone is quite hilarious. Unfortunately for you, however, my patience has worn thin, and I do not feel like laughing."
Most of the zombies, if not all of them, were burnt to crisp. One of my Augments - the legless one - was too slow to dodge the blast, too. Oh, well. Seeing their cover completely blown, the remaining six Augments skittered with incredible speed, surprising even myself, to Draven. Within the blink of an eye, six clawed fingers soared up into the air around Draven.
Although I did not want to admit it, not to Draven, not to myself, this is my last measure of desperation. If this doesn't work, then only one thing will. But for the moment, this is my last resort.
Six ripping noises later, Draven was surrounded completely by a black orb, which was actually a series of portals put closely together. I lowered myself back down on the ground, and approached the sphere of blackness. If this fails, he might as well burn me down, too.
-"Say, Draven," I said, chuckling. "Must be a pretty sight in there, eh? Probably making you a little queasy at the stomach right about now."
Then again, who wouldn't fell queasy with six portals opened inside of him? What Draven was witnessing at the moment were projections - no, not projections - what Draven was seeing were his own organs, beating, throbbing and pulsing inside his body, visible through the exit portals all around him.
-"Come on," I said, but almost without me noticing, my voice filled with victorious rage. "Come ON, DRAVEN! DO IT! USE YOUR CUTE LITTLE FIRE BLAST NOW AND BURN YOURSELF FROM INSIDE!!!
"Then again, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you burnt yourself so much already that your own organs have become living chunks of asbestos. Regardless, I'm sure even you can see my Augments' fingers at the ready to claw your heart from your body and feed it to your dead corpse. Trust me - they don't look it, but they can move faster than you can blink. If you as much as think suspicious thoughts, they will turn your body into an empty husk worth only of standing as a stuffed trophy in my throne room. So," I changed my tone to that of soothing false sincerity. "Why don't you cooperate?"
Taking a momentary break from Draven, I turned to that winged fellow who was now shouting something at me.
Wait....
I know this clown. He's a High General from the Gaian Federation, Duilin!
-"I see two problems with your request, Federation lackey," I shouted back. "One: you'd have to be abnormally thick not to understand that I'm going nowhere until I subdue this ........ how you say? This cretin, so don't even bother asking! And second, what do you mean: your little village? My dear errand-boy, this land has been mine since a year ago. Who are you to tell me to get off my own land? In fact, if I were you, I'd leave right about now. The clean-up crews are going to be arriving here in... about ten minutes. So unless you don't understand the concept of a "clean-up crew", I would like yourself removed from my property as fast as your legs can take you. And if this village doesn't give you peace of mind, you have my word that no harm will come to it!"
Who am I to destroy valuable real estate?"
Posted by: Dude Man on Monday July 28th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Duilin's calm expression lowered back to his annoyed glare. "I'll take that as a no." He then twirled the Iduran around, leaving a streak of flame as he moved the blade. "Guess Duilin's is going to have to burn things now."
He then dashed in the air, as if he were on ground, towards the necromancer and slashed his fiery blade right around his foe's waist...
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Wednesday July 30th, 2008
(Gah! No time to post. Well, now I've got time I suppose...)
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"Damn, hit him when it didn't hurt..." Aaron swiftly jumped out of the field of battle just before Draven's attack against the undead that roamed around, as he was in their midst. He landed serenely upon the ground near Ben. Sheathing his sword, he turned to face the angel, who was busy creating the shields that protected the city... or rather attempted to protect it.
"How d'you figure we kill these guys? There in a calibur beyond our own."
"True enough, even gods have weakness and faults. You're going to want a paladin to fight the necro. As for the flamer up there, you'll want an ice mage, or a weapon of that persuasion."
"Riiiight... So what you're saying is that we're screwd right now?"
"Basically. Well, the shield is almost up. I'm still working on it though."
(House Shield at 85%)
---
A loud buzzing noise could be heard in the distance of Rivertown. It sounded odd... and soon enough, the source of that noise was found as four small airships landed in the outskirts of the city. Lone behold, there were two ice dragons and an army of Paladins under Doriana's command. The two ice dragons? Justin and Tiberius. The army all stampeded for the city and got through the gates, to find that there were but two major enemies left...
Doriana grabbed her enchanted silver broadsword and held it in front of her, at the ready. Duilin would no doubt be glad for the reinforcements. The paladins weren't quite strong enough to take down a 'necromancer' but anything he could conjure up would be history. They all held silver weapons and knew a few select light spells. They wore the Dranniville Crusader armor; Heavy silver chainmail and an overlay of Silver plating with the double star insignia etched into the armor.
Justin and Tiberius flew up high into the air, flapping a good 50 feet or so away from Draven. They awaited Duilin's command... The army of paladins prepared their armor and weapons for an attack upon Kronos, the necromancer, as well as anything else that might get in the way.
(hope that makes up for a few days)
Posted by: Xorlak on Wednesday July 30th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
No response came from the black orb. Instead, it collapsed.
With the force of an avalanche, the black sphere collapsed to the size of a grain of dust. Winds gailed around as air sucked into the void, followed by stones and boulders of debris. A tree uprooted and twisted in the air, before squeezing into the tiny space. The billowing winds grew and grew. Hungrily, the black hole drank all matter it could grasp...
Posted by: D. Ein on Wednesday July 30th, 2008
-=Rivertown=-
//Was the attack too cheap, Xorlak?\\
"I blinked several times before... before still having no idea what has happened. This kind of procedure was preformed successfully many times prior to this, but nothing like this... has ever occurred. The physical pull of the vortex did not phase me, of course, but at that time, I couldn't see Duilin rushing up behind me. I only realized that something was wrong when a burning streak slashed through my ethereal self, drowning me in another ocean of pain. I felt my body send my arms flying in surprise, and finally, the screaming agony threw me out of my perplexed state.
Scowling, I hobbled around to face my foe... until realizing that it was too late. The amount of magic I absorbed now, combined with Draven's charge, was too much for me to sustain. Flashing memories of books read in what seemed like distant past whispered to me of mighty heroes defying their mortal wounds to complete the deciding task, but one look at my hands confirmed my fears. My extremities began covering in what seemed to be a silver web, its strands rending my skin and turning my flesh to dust. My feet... they were disintegrating, too. I fell to my knees, for the first time in thirty-five years.
-"Bitch," I hoarsely groaned, mustering all the strength I had left. "I refuse to accept this..."
And with those worlds, I felt myself being pulled from this world.
Note to self: next time you go hunting for an overpowered psychopath, bring at least two fully armed Regiments with you."
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Thursday July 31st, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"That can't be good..." Aaron said as he saw the black hole take in all it could. He braced himself upon the stone walls of a nearby building, sheathing his sword and using two hands to grab hold of it. Hopefully, the foundation of the building would be strong enough to last... at least long enough for him to think of a plan.
"Done!" Ben exclaimed as the house shield was finished. Nothing hostile could possibly penetrate through those barriers now. But that was another matter now, for a new problem arose... they would be sucked into the black hole if he didn't think of something, and quick. He flew into the air and began to ponder, rushing to think of something to do.
"I've got a plan, and it just might work..." The angel brought both his hands together and aimed them at the black hole that engulfed everything in its wake. He began to charge energy in his hands, aiming for the black hole.
(charging, post 1 of 4)
Posted by: Dude Man on Thursday July 31st, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
Duilin chuckled.
"Wow, now I know how Draven felt when he first met me." He thought to himself.
"Wow, this is funny. I could finish you off right now. The mighty sovereign down on his knees. I hope for your sake that was I lucky strike I made." Duilin stated, still smiling.
He re-enchanted the fire in the Iduran, scorching a patch of the ground below it, leaving a vaguely diamond shaped burn mark.
"Now you're probably expecting the hero to go through one of those moral dilemmas on whether or not he should finish off the helpless villain, but the thing is I'm not that kind of guy. If I have to chance to remove an error of the world like you I take it."
He lifted up the Iduran, but then the force of the black hole began to pull him and a voice inside of him was shouting at him to seal the black hole right away before it sucked in the entire town. There wasn't going to be enough time for Bjendell to do it himself.
"Damnit..." He sheathed the Iduran, extinguishing the flame on the blade, and pointed his hands at the black hole charging energy.
(charging, post 2 of 4)
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Thursday July 31st, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"Leave that choice to me, Duilin," General Doriana said after pointing the tip of her broadsword at Kronos. Her cape fluttered up behind her as she felt the pull of the black hole, but was far enough away from it not to be sucked in. "Time to finish this, once and for all!" She charged up a holy light spell in her blade and threw the sword directly at Kronos, flying through the air at break-neck speed, aimed right for his heart.
"Thanks, Duilin." Ben said as he continued to charge energy in his hands. It glowed a powerful shade of blue, pulsing in rythum with his heartbeat. He was exhausting himself to his dire limits as he charged up a shield to protect the city, and now this... but he would keep going, no matter what.
Aaron looked up at the two in the sky. He couldn't fly, but he offered what little help he could by charging up energy of his own and aiming it at the black hole, some 30 feet beneath Duilin and Ben. "I'm not done yet..."
Justin and Tiberius both shot blasts of ice energy into the black hole, changing the temperature around them dramatically. It was a great beam of ice that combined and shot into the hole, perhapse delaying the matter absorption, or rather consumption.
(charging, post 3 of 4)
Posted by: D. Ein on Thursday July 31st, 2008
//Screw you, Drannic. I had an enormous post written with Kronos running off from Duilin, I go to post it, and then I see your post. Great, now Kronos dies and I have to re-write the post. <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt="Razz" title="Razz" />\\
-=Rivertown=-
"At this point, I had stopped feeling pain completely. This allowed me to perform a range of activities, as my mind was functioning a lot better without the useless feeling of pain clogging it up. First off, that gal's head was probably used as an anvil in her home town, what with that thickness of the skull and all. I suppose she was not paying attention to the multitude of physical attacks that had no effect on me. The fact that she enchanted her attack with holy word before striking almost saves the day, but I guess she missed the little detail that only fire magic - the unnatural fire magic - had any effect on me. So what do I do?
Why, I help her, of course.
I swiftly re-attuned back to this dimension, letting the sword strike my flesh instead of empty air. The holy magic resonated with my Lich nature, and I felt the web of disintegration explode within me, upon me, and around me. In only a few seconds, there was nothing left of my body, and all I saw was blackness.
I now see the error of my ways.
Yes, it has become very clear to me...
You see, dear reader, I have a bad habit of assuming that people who attack me are, in their nature, quite stupid. What I now understand is that all of them are really, sadly quite stupid. The question that defies all logic is how anyone could have missed the minor detail that I, a man with a continent-sized empire, even thought of going out into the field alone and by myself. So alright - fine - this particular group I was engaging was born with a gift of ignorance. But how, on this earth, could even THEY miss the fact that I lowered myself right next to Draven, and despite the obvious danger of being close to someone like that, I stayed there up until the very end?
I pondered these questions while arising from my long-decayed human corpse, hidden in my own dimension. Perhaps those fools could be forgiven for their apparent stupidity... After all, I am the very first Lich they have ever fought, and likely to be the very last one they will ever fight. There is only one way to kill me, and to my knowledge, I am the only one who knows this way.
My inner sanctum - the Carcer Necris - looked exactly the way it did when it popped into existence as soon as I became a Lich. A stone altar slab with my skeleton lying on it, adorned by the armour I wore in life. The metal plates of the armour were dimly lit by two ever-burning black candles on either side of the altar. The whole thing was located in a fairly simple room made entirely of stone, the walls covered in black pentagrams. Upon approaching one of these, a dark portal manifested in the stone. A gateway back to Gaian..."
Posted by: Dude Man on Thursday July 31st, 2008
-- Helternia, Rivertown --
With enough energy charged, Duilin blasted a beam of golden energy from his hands into the black hole, which then began to move in the opposite direction, pushing things away from it. Duilin pushed himself forward and continued pouring his energy into it, until the force was stopped and there was peace in the atmosphere once again.
"Phheww..." Duilin regained his breath. He then looked at the others. "I wouldn't be rejoicing just yet. I've got a one of those feelings."
He scanned the area and saw Valos was about to arrive. "Ahh...finally."
Posted by: D. Ein on Friday August 1st, 2008
-=Rivertown=-
Kronos' "clean-up crew" - a rather large horde of Undead creatures arriving by way of wyverns - was already arriving at the horizon when the Lich was struck down. As soon as the tyrant's corpse disintegrated into dust, however, the entire Undead force fell to the earth and broke apart. The failure of the crew served as a confirmation to the Gaian Federation forces on the battlefield that Kronos was now gone - and, as such, Duilin's comment caught the attention of one of Doriana's paladins.
-"Sorry, sir," the paladin yelled amidst the cheers of Federation fighters, "but I really think that the Kandie leader is dead. As paladins, we study all various forms of Undead, including Liches. That silver web effect you've seen is the disintegration of his ether body: the very essence of a Lich. He's gone for good, sir."
Another paladin appeared to take Duilin's side.
-"You miss a fairly important fact, Francis," he spoke to the other paladin, "that before Kronos only one Lich has ever been in existance, and, while being fairly similar to Kronos in scope of power, he could not perform phase-shift."
-"I don't see how it matters," Francis retorted, "as if you've been paying attention, you would notice that his phase-shift ran out just prior to General Doriana's sword striking him. Then it's simply a matter of principle and magnitude: an Undead creature Kronos' size of any power and any kind can not withstand a direct Holy Word-imbued assault. Kronos is dead, it's over."
-"So you really do earn your pay here, Francis," the other paladin chuckled.
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Friday August 1st, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
//My bad. You don't have to get mad, though... <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt="Razz" title="Razz" />
"I don't think that's the last we'll be seeing of him... A lich isn't as easy to kill as you'd think. He may come back; there's a strong possibility. But we've delayed him for now, at least." Doriana turned and walked towards Duilin. "What now, high general?"
Posted by: Xorlak on Friday August 1st, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
The black hole blipped out of existence with a sucking sound as the golden energy struck it. The cyclone of debris ceased and it rained stones and wood for a moment as the skies cleared.... the crimson skies...
All seemed peaceful at last amongst the tattered town. The burning sun shone brightly above. And it was hot.
Very hot.
Posted by: Dude Man on Saturday August 2nd, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"Well, I'm sure he's dead." Duilin replied to the Paladin. "What I mean, I got a feeling that an army of million pissed off zombies is gonna run in here and start smashing up the place."
He then noticed the clean-up crew.
"See look I was...." He then noticed that they were in fact falling into the ocean below. "Well, how about that." Duilin stated. "Shame I didn't take the chance to get glory."
He turned to Doriana. "Thanks for the help. We were about to head out on a mission, but then all the commotion happened. I'm still worried there might be a second attack, perhaps you could leave your paladins here to guard, they seem pretty skilled and plentiful. Not that my troops are weak, they're actually really tough, I just don't have a lot of them."
Valos arrived. "Sorry I missed most of the action. I noticed Kronos was here, and another mage? Who was he?"
"It was a demonic mage." Duilin replied. "Think he was one of Nex's agents or something, although he was fighting Kronos and if Nex is allied with him, he might have been a rouge, but he's gone now."
Duilin sent a telepathic message to the rest of the group. 'Don't mention Draven was here to Valos. He might turn on us if he knows his old boss is still alive.'
"Demon mage? Shit..." Valos exclaimed. "I should have helped you then. You're only half human, therefor you'd need the assistance of more pure human such as much to help your foolish demon tactics." He paused and then added. "If you could call them tactics."
Duilin stared blankly at Valos and rolled his eyes. "Anyways. Kronos was just killed, but I'm sure the rest of the Kandarins are going to be pissed off. He's trained other necromancers so I'm sure our zombie problems aren't over."
"Alright, but we still have Nex to deal with. He may not have the power that Kronos does, but he has far superior combat abilities then him, so don't get too cocky." Valos stated. "So, who do we have?" He looks around. "That sniper seems to have run off so we're going to have to do this without him. I don't feel like waiting around for him?"
"You, me, Doriana, Ben and a few others." Duilin replied. "I think I saw Marshall and his friend Ein around. Maybe they should come along. I do want some people to stay here in case we attacked again though."
Posted by: D. Ein on Saturday August 2nd, 2008
-=Gros Morne Citadel=-
"Another important realization dawned upon me as soon as I returned to my Citadel through the portal in Carcer Necris. My death was clearly visible to dozens of Federation soldiers, including two higher-ranking individuals. Perhaps the news of my demise could be exploited to my needs...
Naturally, this required a degree of stealth from my side. While I am convinced of the perfection of my 10 Regiments in their respective functions, I will not be so blind as to ignore the possibility of a spy, even within the Citadel itself. Thus I stayed within my chambers without letting my presence known to anyone. Of course, in order to orchestrate any kind of plan, I still needed a puppet in my place. Being the apex of all perfection that I am, I, of course, already had a person in mind.
It took Gwen some time to realize that I was waiting for her in her room. She only became aware of me as I was about to sneeze - a good ten minutes later after she entered. Sadly, I failed to produce the startling effect I usually have on her in these sorts of situations, probably because I had done this too much already.
-"Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
-"Aww, how nice of you, General," I purred. "Or, should I say, Sovereign?"
-"...Sovereign? Ah... I understand."
-"Yes, good. I will be contacting you through an undead servant."
Considering that I had enough foresight to create a very much publicized Necromantic energy storage device at the base of the Citadel, still-functioning undead creatures without me will not rouse any suspicion. As I retreated back to my chambers, I felt the non-existent hair on my back stand up from the sheer greatness of my plan. It will require some sacrifice... but the end will truly justify the means. The Gaian Federation will fall to its knees before my might, it is merely a matter of time."
Posted by: Xorlak on Saturday August 2nd, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
The heat seemed to dissipate with the breeze, moving outward and away from the town like an idle cloud on a lazy afternoon. Soon it was gone without a trace, and the natural temperature returned.
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Sunday August 3rd, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"It was a pleasure," Doriana said, taking a bow and removing her helm, placing it at her side. Her paladin's cloak fluttered in the breeze as she stood, ordering several paladin officers around. They were to be on guard of this city, so she instructed them to set up a sort of base camp outside the city walls... at least until repairs were done and more houses and inns were made to accomodate the larger amount of people.
"They'll be here on guard. Perhapse they could even help with repairs...? Ah well, they can get to that themselves if they want to. In any case, I will follow you if you wish a better... 'escort' so to speak."
"Count us in, too!" Jacobie ran up to the group, along with John and Merrik. He sheathed his flame katana and took out a potion, drinking it and feeling refreshed. Two figures in the sky slowly made their way back down to the ground, a white flash illuminating the field. Justin and Tiberius stood where the large figures once were.
"We'll stay here with Ben and guard this place while you guys are out, if you're going any time soon... seems like a sound plan, eh?"
Posted by: Dude Man on Sunday August 3rd, 2008
- Rivertown, Helternia -
"Sounds like a plan." Duilin nodded. "Let's get ready to leave now. Just board my ship. 'The Bell', parked at the docks." Duilin stated, pointing south.
Marshall emerged from a pile of rubble pushing some away from him, he dusted himself off and cleared his throat and then started to limp towards the group. "I'm okay, just a little bashed up, but I can still join you guys." He informed them, nearly running out of breath at the end of his sentences.
Duilin grinned and nodded. "Adda boy, Marshall. "Where's your friend Ein? I'd like him to come with too, since we're missing our sniper now."
The summoner looked around. "I can't see him anywhere. Where did he go?" He asked. "Ein?!" He called out loudly.
--- ---
- Kainengrad the City of the Seventh Regiment of the KAF, Terian -
Two KAF speargunners where in one of the guard towers in the walls surrounding the city where doing their regular duties, however their attention was drawn to the main gate opening up for the return of a patrol unit consisting of demon soldiers and a few Steam demons.
"Hey bud, don't you think those demons are a little creepy?" One of the speargunners asked the other.
"Not compared to our new captain. Have you met him in person, before?"
"I saw him around, but never really met him."
The trooper shook his head and exhaled. "He is one disturbed guy. I mean, yeah like I know we've got a lot of creepy people in the KAF, but this guy takes the cake. I'm talking like eating dead people, animals."
"Yuck." The other man grimaced.
"And that laugh, like he's seems to be enjoying himself all the time, but like in a creepy sort of way man. Like I was on a patrol with him leading it once, and he was fighting this HUGE lizard guy, and like occasionally Nex would stop moving and the guy would him and then he'd start laughing like he enjoyed it."
"Maybe, he knows some like magic spell where he like gets hit and is healed from it."
"No man, like he got stabbed through the chest once man, there was blood and I could tell that he was dieing."
"How'd he survive that?"
"He just pulled the sword out and then piked it right into the guys skull. He was bleeding like hell, but he just started eating the guy, and eventually he stopped bleeding. I actually, threw up more than once upon witnessing that battle."
"I think I'm gonna throw up."
Posted by: D. Ein on Monday August 4th, 2008
-=The Kandarinian Sovereignty=-
The word of Kronos' demise spread like wildfire. Few lamented his passing, but many were worried. Much of the Kandarinian strength came from his Necromantic powers, so what will happen to the Sovereignty now?
Officials from the very top gave long speeches in every major outpost of the vast Kandarin-controlled space, enticing people not to worry, as the General has taken the feathered crown of Kandarin as the new Sovereign. Despite their attempts, people refused to settle. Protests and full-blown riots began popping up pretty much everywhere, as people felt themselves liberated from the Lich's oppressive rule and invigorated by the possibility of a successful revolution.
-=Rivertown=-
-"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
Marshall's yell woke Ein up, who must've either passed out from his still not completely healed battle injuries while charting the pentagram in the sand beneath him. His hand was white from clutching the crossbow bolt.
-"Coming!"
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Monday August 4th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"Right... we'll follow your lead, general Duilin." Doriana said, taking a bow. She then reached for her broadsword, but remembered that she threw it at the Lich. Knowing that she didn't have a weapon, she resorted to something she didn't really want to, but would have to for the time being. Inside her armor was a katar with three sharp pointed claw-like knives. She strapped the katar over her right hand and cracked her knuckles, signaling that it was in place.
"I haven't held one of these in three years..."
Posted by: Dude Man on Monday August 4th, 2008
- Helternia, Rivertown -
"Good, you're hear." Duilin said to Ein. "Okay, get aboard the ship, we're heading out."
The group rallied together and made their way towards the docks, while Ben and the others, along with the paladins stood at the town to guard. When the group arrived at the river town docks they boarded Duilin's ship and within a few minutes it set sail. It was a very fast ship, so it wouldn't take too long to get there...
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Tuesday August 5th, 2008
- Open Ocean, "The Bell" -
"Hopefully, this wont take too long," Doriana said, sitting on the rail of the Bell, looking out at the water, her right hand resting on the rail as she braced her self for better balance. She certainly has changed the past three years but that was just a deal of maturity; nothing too special, or rather anything 'dramatic' so to say. She did look quite beautiful as well... for a Drow, in any case.
Jacobie paced the deck of the Bell, walking back and forth. He didn't change much; still quite articulate for a lizardman, still knowing that his place was within the battle field, where ever it took him... He cracked his neck a few times to relieve tension and strain upon it, and let a hand rest on the hilt of his fire katana. At that moment, he thought of Karmandalla, his wife. She was in Ariosis, with his son. He would survive this and come back to them, and he hoped that he would be able to be there for his children in the coming days.
John and Marrik stood at opposite sides of the ship, on lookout. Their Drannivolkan eyes were always watching everything, and they were good at spotting things in the distance. So they figured if they were at opposite sides of the ship, they'd spot anything coming their way; wheather it was hostile or not would be another matter, however.
Posted by: Dude Man on Wednesday August 6th, 2008
- Open Ocean, The Bell -
Due to the upgrades Ein made with his runes onto the ship, it was moving much faster then Duilin expected. He was actually quite relieved when he remembered the increased speed, because they were behind schedule.
It wouldn't be too long before they got to the Dark Continent...
Posted by: Dude Man on Friday August 8th, 2008
//Boo! Nobody else is posting.\\
- Terian Shoreline, The Bell -
It wasn't long until the ship arrived at the dark continent. The trip was long enough for Duilin to get a good handle on the new increased speed of the ship.
"Alright, ladies we're here." The general shouted, to his squad of mostly male warriors.
The docking plank lowered from the door and a few people hopped off.
"We're going to have to walk the rest of the way. We'll leave a few commandos to guard the ship." Duilin stated. "Okay, so is everyone ready? We are going into a Kandarin fortress, there are going to be a lot of soldiers all over the place."
Valos stepped forward. "Our main objectives are to distract the guards, get inside the fortress, kill Nex and destroy the key operation buildings such as the barracks and the command post, which is were Nex is likely going to be."
Duilin continued the rest of the briefing. "We need a few brave warriors to divert the attention of the guard towers, likely in two or three groups, and we need a sniper of two, since our previous one disappeared. Perhaps somebody with a good crossbow or a gun. Maybe Marshall and Ein would like to do that. Me, Valos and maybe one more person need to sneak inside the fortress, being covered by the snipers."
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Saturday August 9th, 2008
- Terian Shoreline, "The Bell" -
"If you need an extra hand in stealth, You'll have two. I'm an illusion expert if you can recall... though it's been three years." Doriana got a better grip in her katar, and with a snap of her fingers, the blades, and even the weapon itself, disappeared. She then stabbed it into the rail of the ship, proving that the blades were still there, but merely invisible. "Have I proven my... 'point' for you?"
Jacobie stepped forth with both John and Merrik at either of his sides. He folded his arms and nodded to Duilin. "Being an A-class Lizardman with two Drannivolkan Elite, I think we can manage a distraction, sir." John and Marrik bowed and both nodded in agreement. "That should settle it. Tell us when, and we'll storm in first. That way you guys can follow up a few minutes after and take the same route after the guards leave."
After finishing his sentence, Jacobie made for a quick stretch and his grip tightened on the hilt of his fire-enchanted katana. He smiled a bit devilishly, and shrugged. "Sound good to you, High-General?"
Posted by: D. Ein on Saturday August 9th, 2008
-=Terian Shoreline=-
Ein shrugged.
-"I haven't seen my arbalest since after I was hit by Draven. One of his thugs must've stolen it. This leaves me with my glyphs to deal direct damage, and anything I may be able to improvise upon on the battlefield."
Posted by: Xorlak on Saturday August 9th, 2008
- Kainengrad, the City of the KAF's Seventh Regiment, Terian -
Smoke rose from the airship as the ramp lowered, revealing two figures marching down the incline.
"Sir, if you are upset about your zombie butler's sudden death, then I'm sure we--"
"Silence, Mikail." Vincent cut the blue-robed alchemist adept off with a wave of the hand. "I am irritated, not upset. Zombies make the best servants after all. Unlike moronic adepts."
Mikail blinked at that. "Erm, yes... anyway... about that... There are whispers among the higher ranks that our Sovereign has--"
"I know, Mikail. I am a Captain. They keep me informed about things that matter."
A few Seventh Regiment solders saluted the Fourth Regiment Captain as the duo walked from the airship docks into the heart of the city-like complex. "It has minimal impact upon our operations. Once the first Halberd Airship is complete..."
"Yes, of course sir... I know that we have come to Kainengrad to secure mineral ores for use in our grand project, but why was it necessary for you to come yourself? Surely I or one of the other adepts could have handled this task for you."
"Because Mikail, my dense alchemist-in-training, absolutely nothing goes right unless you do it yourself. Who is in charge of the Seventh Regiment, anyway?"
"Some fellow by the name of Nex, I believe. A demon of sorts."
Vincent rubbed his chin, the name sounding vaguely familiar, though he couldn't place it. "I see. We probably won't even have to see him anyway. Onward. Let's see if we can find the mines and talk to whoever is in charge there. This regiment is entirely militant. I'm sure its Captain has little interest in supply details."
Posted by: Dude Man on Sunday August 10th, 2008
-- Terian, Route toward Kainengrad --
The group made their way towards the fortress. Valos told them that it was close to the former location of Bandervil, which wasn't too far away from where they were. Likely it would be visible once they cross the next hill or two...
"You lost your bow?" Duilin groaned. "Great...Just great, we need a sniper though. What do we do now?"
"Ein, perhaps you could draw some glyphs on my magi pistols, to make them more sniper-esque?"
"If you could it'd make things a lot easier, Marshall would probably better better off in the back lines anyways. Never been much of a close-combat guy, like myself."
Marshall shrugged.
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Monday August 11th, 2008
- Terian (1.75 miles from Kainengrad) -
"Hmm... we're definately getting closer." Jacobie could catch a familiar scent rising up inside him; unlife. However, he paid it no heed, as Terian was almost always like this, even before the Kandarinians enhabited the place after the Dark Empire. But it was a bit more powerful here, almost unnerving. Sure his senses have failed, as did everyone's, but it was horribly strange that he could feel this sort of presence, and of that magnitude. Still he made no sign of it bothering him, but kept a more cautious eye out.
Meanwhile, John and Marrik took up the front of the group, standing on either side of Jacobie. Their blades were drawn and ready. Their long, thin tails swayed from left to right slowly, protruding from a small hole in the back of their thick silver chain-linked ringmail. "You could say that again."
"Well, let's not waste any time. Let us know when you want us to create the distraction, general. We're at the ready, right mates?" The two Drannivolka responded with a resounding "Yes sir."
Doriana stood in the rear of the group. Her exquisit Paladin armor had shown dimly in the light. Her arms were folded, and she stretched and yawned, signaling that she was tired... or perhapse bored. "Shouldn't be too long. Better not be too long, my katar hasn't been sated with blood in three years. But whatever..."
Posted by: D. Ein on Monday August 11th, 2008
-=Shore of Terian=-
-"Yeah, I can do that," Ein said. "Enchantments are my strongest suit, after all - the arbalest was merely a delivery method. My ability with it was somewhat limited, too - I had to enchant the spears in such a way that they were recoverable. But oh, the things I could do with a simple rock - something I don't need to worry about picking off the enemy's torn flesh in a million pieces..."
---
-=Kainengrad=-
A Stalker emerged from a dark valley as Vincent was passing by. The Stalker's insignia revealed him to be one of the few First Regiment Stalkers. He lightly tapped Vincent on his shoulder, causing the latter to turn around.
-"For you, Captain."
The strange courier surrendered a sealed scroll to Eldridge, and, with a light salute, vanished back into the darkness of the alley.
To Vincent Eldridge, Captain of the Fourth Regiment:
As you know, the Sovereign has been slain. His death has spurred, as expected, a series of violent rebellions across the vast Kandarinian expanse. While they appear to be coordinated, thereby signifying a leader, we do not know the whereabouts of this individual. At the same time, the protests can not be allowed to go on unchecked any longer. You are to devise a machine to end the rebellions.
Although I realize that I am giving you a carte blanche with this request, I will remind you that Kandarin still has in its possession three Nightshade Gravity Orbs. I need not remind you how powerful of a weapon a single NGO can be, three of which were used in the creation of the Hammer itself... perhaps too powerful for a goal as minor as rebel control. However, you are fully authorized in the utilization of the remaining NGOs.
Which brings me to your next most important task: Research. I want you to research the NGO itself, so that we may produce more. It is too powerful, too precious of a device to leave unresearched. I await results.
Signed, Gwenivere - Sovereign of the Kandarinian Sovereignty
Posted by: Dude Man on Tuesday August 12th, 2008
-- Terian (1 mile from Kainengrad) --
"Excellent, Marshall can be our sniper then." Duilin said.
"What about something to increase my sight range? Like a scope or something? My pistols don't have them..." Marshall said with slight concern.
"Hmm...haven't thought of that." Duilin rubbed his chin. "Ein, do you think you can make one?" He asked. "I mean you used to hang out with Haraldur and he could turn wooden spoons into plasma rifles."
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Wednesday August 13th, 2008
- Terian (0.25 miles from Kainengrad) -
"We're awful close now... something doesn't feel right." Jacobie kept both his hands on his katana, which was now unsheathed and at his front. He marched in a slow, steady pace, his eyes watching out, still cautious from what he'd sensed before. Something in his gut just didn't feel well at all. Nonetheless, he marched forwards, in step with his traveling companions at his rear and his two elites to his sides... or rather the elites that were assigned to him by Aaron.
"We should stop here and wait to initiate the plan. We're ready when you are." At that, Jacobie twirled his katana around to his right side and held it with his right hand, stretching it out to signal a stop.
Doriana caught a better grip on her katar and held it more firmly in her hand. She folded her arms and let the blades of the katar rest on her left arm. "I'm all set. Shall I cast a spell?"
Posted by: Xorlak on Wednesday August 13th, 2008
- Kainengrad, City Streets -
"Hmmm, interesting..."
"What does it say?"
Vincent replaced the scroll in its case. "I've just been given the keys to ultimate power."
"Wha... what?" Mikail hobbled after as Vincent nonchalantly walked down the street.
"You shall see, my dear apprentice. You shall see."
Posted by: Dude Man on Wednesday August 13th, 2008
-- Terain, Outside Kainengrad --
Duilin scanned the fortress, he could get that 'demonic presence' feeling in his gut. It's been awhile since he's dealt with his father's old gang but here they are, aiding the Kandarins now.
Valos simply stood with a cold glare at the place, with his arms cross and his long white hair blowing in the wind. "I'm ready to sneak in when you are Duilin." He stated.
"Alright..." Duilin rubbed his chin, still scanning the area. "It's going to be difficult, but if we co-operate well enough we can do this without any problems." He looked at the group. "Alright, we need the people who're going to distract them head in, if you know magic start shooting at the guard towers. Make yourself look as dangerous as possible, use big attacks and bring a lot of attention to yourself, but don't make it too obvious you're trying to distract them. The Kandies aren't as dumb as most grunts in the other legions were." He paused and took a breath. "I know it's going to be dangerous, but those guard towers seem to have a really good watch over the place so we can't get in unless their distracted."
"Marshall if you're going to be the sniper, we need you to take out the guards in the towers, to further prevent us from being noticed when we go in."
Marshall nodded. "Yes I can do that, but I am still in need a scope." He paused for a second as if remembering something
"Oh wait...how foolish of me I forgot that I brought my riffle." He took off his back pack and opened it up and took out several parts of a rifle and put them together, rather quickly. "I do hope I brought a scope." He dug through his backpack a little more and pulled out a scope "Ah ha. Excellent I do have one." He attached it onto his rifle, which surprisingly took almost as much time to put together his rifle as he seemed to have a little trouble fitting it on, but eventually it came into place.
Duilin chuckled. "Alright, that's good. Hmm, it might be a little loud." He looked at Ein. "Hey you think you know a spell that might silence his weapon or something? It's no biggie but it might help."
"Oh yeah, and Ein if you're gonna go with Duilin and Valos to fight Nex, do you want to borrow one or both of my pistols? Or are you staying here or gonna distract?" He asked his friend.
Posted by: D. Ein on Thursday August 14th, 2008
-=Terian, Shore=-
The boat arrived at Terian, finally, into an elongated bay. The beach consisted of nothing but jagged rocks, sticking out of the ground at a slanted angle. The shore was almost at the same level as water, letting shallow puddles form in between the rocks. Far ahead, a crest of mountains protrouded in great self-importance - but they were not the only ones there. Atop the largest, flattest mountain, the fortress-city of Kainengrad held its place.
The city lazily slouched on the horizon like an enormous ugly beast. Its architecture was nowhere near the shining crystal cities of Ariosis, nor the grandiose Tower of Heaven's Bane, nor even the strictly geometrical Gros Morne Citadel. The dark gray walls and looming watchtowers of Kainengrad screamed functionality, with two black Kandarinian banners as the only decoration.
The sky was an endless expanse of gray clouds, entirely homogeneous, with only a bleak white spot to signify Sol's location. Right in the mood with the clouds, a gust of chilling wind greeted the landing party.
-"Cheery," Ein commented. "Fits the place well, don't you think?"
He took Marshall's MagiPistols, inspected them for a few seconds, and shot one at a nearby protrouding rock. The tip of the rock unwillingly melted and rolled down into an adjacent puddle.
-"Eeeh... Seems a bit weak to shoot through Vanguard armour... which Kainengrad Vanguards are probably going to have a lot of."
After flipping the pistols around a few times, Ein handedthem back to Marshall.
-"If they were ordinary pistols, I'd take them, for the sake of enchanting them," he said. "But the pistol's projectile is already magic. Little I can do to that. As for your rifle... Hmm... let me see it."
Ein looked at the gun for a few seconds, rubbing his chin.
-"I can't get rid of the noise, but I can do something even better. I can amplify it."
He quickly scratched a glyph into the gun chassis, which spawned a white web-like pattern on the weapon's barrel.
-"Watch."
Ein picked up the gun and shot it into the air. At first, contrary to his words, no sound came out - but after about a second, a loud gunshot was heard from about three miles to the west.
-"This glyph redirects and amplifies the sound, making it come from a place completely different from where you are yourself. The sound placement is far, but random - so if you fire quickly enough, it will seem like there are several people shooting from different directions. Nothing better than that to draw the guards out for you to take down one by one."
Posted by: Dude Man on Thursday August 14th, 2008
-- Terian, Outside Kainengrad --
"Excellent, this will do very well." Marshall said to Ein.
"Alright, good luck everyone." Duilin said. "Marshall you stay here. Alright, let's get started. Distracters whenever you're ready raise a little hell, Marshall start shooting and the then the rest of us will sneak in. Me, Valos, Doriana and who else are going to be sneaking in?"
Posted by: Xorlak on Friday August 15th, 2008
- Kainengrad, Supply Storehouse -
"There. All the minerals you ordered, Cap'n."
"Excellent." Vincent rubbed his chin. "Move them to my airship. And one more thing. Inform your Captain that I will be taking Kainengrad's NGO."
"I... beg your pardon?" The supply officer gave Vincent a blank look.
"It is a code word you needn't concern yourself with. Your Captain will know what it means and where it is located. I have authorization."
"Yes, Cap'n."
Mikail waited for the armored supply officer to leave down the hall before turning to Vincent. "NGO? Isn't that...?"
"Yes. That was what the letter was about. I now have full research and utilization authorization over all three that remain. It was no coincidence that the message was delivered here. One of the three is under heavy guard beneath this city."
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Saturday August 16th, 2008
-Terian, Kainengrad -
"Right mates... let's go!" With that, Jacobie raced out in front of the fortress, digging his katana through the hardened earth as he went across it. A sort of fissure opened up and followed the katana, closing from the back and opening in the front. He then slashed up as the fisure burst up a giant blast of rock and earth, flying towards the fortress, nearly as powerful as ship cannons.
The two Drannivolka both combined power and cast the sky apart with an air spell. It seemed as if a sort of blight in the sky took across an already blighted land. The sky darkened and almost purely pitch black clouds started to pour rain from above. As it rained, an occasional bolt of lightning hit the ground within the fortress every 2-3 seconds or so.
Doriana cast an illusion spell that hid herself from visibility, along with Duilin and Valos. The three could see eachother, however. "That will work for about half an hour. We'll want to get in there as quick as possible..."
Posted by: D. Ein on Saturday August 16th, 2008
-=Kainengrad - Outer Premises=-
The rocks flung by Jacobie struck the grim walls, creating shallow cracks here and there. At best, the rocks served to weaken the stone defences - it would take at least four other attacks like that to make a breach in the wall. The thunderstorm's lightnings were attracted to the tall guard towers of the city, but the towers showed no sign of damage from the electrical blasts.
-"That's some fancy skill there," Ein remarked. "Those clouds should be useful for covering our entrance."
He picked up several rocks from the ground, stashing them in a fold in his cape. Feeling his belt, his hand comfortably wrapped around a metal dagger that he acquired from a stash in the boat. That'll do for creating glyphs. With thoughts of glorious battles, he made his way to the distant gates.
-=Kainengrad - East Gate=-
Two sentries were relaxing inside one of the guard towers. One was idly toying with his bow, and the other one, a stout bearded one, was reading a book.
-"Say, Vance," one of them spoke. "What are we watching for? This is the capital of the 7th Regiment. Only an idiot would attack us, considering that we have an army of 3,000 backing us..."
-"Hurmh", the other grunted. "That idiot'd better have a big army."
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck the top of the tower, filling the guard room with thunderous noise. Both of the guards jerked to their feet, only to be knocked back down by the walls rumbling to enormous boulders striking them.
-"Sun-of-a-gun," the bearded Vance murmured. "Speak of the devil..."
Dropping his book, he dashed to a mouthpiece in one of the windows of the tower. The mouthpiece was connected to a brass horn curving downwards in a spiral, snail-like fashion, and ending in a large opening curved outward. After gathering as much air as his mighty lungs could hold, he blew into the mouthpiece.
A three-note roar as loud as a dragon penetrated the city, heard clearly even on the opposite end of Kainengrad. Guards on duty recognized the note of the east gate towers, and rushed to offer their assistance. The rest of the City Guard began to mobilize as well.
Posted by: Dude Man on Sunday August 17th, 2008
-Terian, Kainengrad outside -
"Only half an hour?" Duilin said. "Hope that's enough. Let's move quickly."
Duilin and Valos then dashed their way towards the gates.
"We'll have to fly over the walls probably. That won't interfere with the invisibility, will it Doriana?"
---
-Terian, Kainengrad Command Centre -
"Cap'n Nex, sorry to disturb you but..." The supply officer came into Nex's room, where he was sitting at his desk, which was cleared off and he was cleaning it with what looked like a dark red cloth. "Umm...Cap'n Vincent was 'ere and he wanted me to tell you he's taking the NGO."
"What?" Nex looked at him and tossed the cloth into the wastebasket next to his desk.
"Is a code word I needn't concern myself with. My Cap'n will know what it means and where it's located. Vincent 'as authorization." The supply officer replied.
"I know what it is idiot. But it's my NGO, and I need more than his word that he has authorization. I've heard that Vincent is always up to betrayal and shit." Nex remembered that he actually served his now deceased masters, Abodahon and Melkoth, in the Grey Empire after betraying Draven. And Vincent would likely know all about the NGOs and judging by his past actions he needed to make sure he had authorization.
"Well, that's all 'e said."
Nex stormed through the doorway pushing the officer aside. "Get out of my way, I'm going to talk to him. Close the door behind you and make sure it doesn't hit your ass when you do, I just cleaned it."
---
- Kainengrad, Supply Storehouse -
Suddenly out of nowhere a large gust of wind rushed through the storehouse, startling half of the people inside. Leaves and twigs blew inside and the door swung open, following the light debris was a large black tattered rag that flew inside. The wind then started to circle around in a whirlwind in front of Vincent, with the black rag spinning around, until after a few seconds it died and the rag unfolded in a larger pile of rags, with a tall man-shaped being under them.
Nex looked down at Vincent. "Greetings Captain. I am Nex, Captain of this regiment, one of my supply officers says you have authorization to have access to my NGO. I'd like to see it, and then we can talk about giving it to you."
Nex pressed his fingers together and pushed them lightly and then clenched his hands.
"You see, I can't just simply hand over the key which unlocks the storage which contains one of the most deadly weapons know to Gaian to any captain with a naughty past that asks for it."
Posted by: Xorlak on Monday August 18th, 2008
- Kainengrad, Supply Storehouse -
Vincent raised a brow slightly, but seemed generally unconcerned at the slight remark. "Of course." He flipped his trench coat open, revealing a long cylindrical tube-like weapon of shiny material. He reached into the pocket next to it and removed a scroll-case, handing it to the demon. "From the Sovereign herself." He gave Nex the separate authorization form Gwenivere included, rather than the personal letter addressed to him.
At that moment, an odd three-note horn resonated from the outside. "What was that?" Vincent demanded, looking to the distant window high above. Storm clouds had rolled in, and the clamor of thunder could be heard.
"Is that... the attack siren?" Mikail ventured, trembling and standing close to Vincent. The alchemist gave him a cold glare and he backed up a step, regaining his composure.
Soldiers began to quickly move through the storehouse, running outside. "What is going on?" Vincent demanded of Nex, looking up at him over the rims of his rectangular glasses.
Posted by: D. Ein on Monday August 18th, 2008
-=Kainengrad - Inner Courtyard=-
The lightnings, while seemingly not growing worse, began to spread outward from where the storm was originally summoned. Suddenly, a split lightning strike hit Vincent's airship, igniting its wooden masts. Its crew was quick to abandon the burning husk - but the ship began to descend as the fires reached its flotation crystals. Finally, it struck the ground, perishing in a blazing inferno. The rain from the thunderclouds was quick to douse the flames, preventing the fire from consuming the rest of the city.
The many guards set up even more sentries around the East Gate, specifically, but a lighter security patrol was established throughout the rest of the city, as well. Many guards, mixed with actual soldiers of the Seventh Regiment, continued to arrive from beneath the city.
-=Kainengrad - Outer Premises=-
Ein accelerated as he saw the storm crawling forward. Scaling the walls with lightnings a mere ten feet away did not seem like a good idea, so it would be best to get there before the dark clouds enveloped the city entirely.
Although the bulk of the storm was confined to where the Drannivolkans spawned it to, the rest of the sky grew black as well. The tightly localized weather disturbance caused a much larger chain reaction in the atmospheric systems, it seemed - now it was impossible to fully get rid of the storm the way it was made.
-=Kainengrad - Supply Storehouse=-
Nex and Vincent were too busy in conversation to notice a familiar (to Vincent, anyway) shadow emerge from the human turbulence of soldiers running past. The half-masked Stalker, this time without saying anything, stuck a bulky, well-protected looking scroll into Nex's hands. The signet seal atop the scroll was Gwenivere's. Without giving the demon time to reply, the Stalker merged with the crowd and vanished as swiftly as he appeared.
To Nex, Captain of the Seventh Regiment - CONFIDENTIAL, EYES ONLY
Nex - I need you to come into contact with Gros Morne immediately. Be alone, mention this to no one, do not be seen, heard, or followed.
The Sovereign
Note: My scribe put the glyph below to immolate this message within 10 seconds of air exposure.
//Note: Since the city of Gros Morne is gone, that title now refers to the fortress. Also, the message does not mean Nex has opened it yet - he can just walk away with the scroll and open it later.\\
Posted by: Dude Man on Monday August 18th, 2008
- Kainengrad, Supply Storehouse -
Nex examined the scroll and read it. "Looks legitimate. However there is one problem with getting the NGO you s--"
Suddenly the siren went off and he tilted his head. He looked back at Vincent. "My, my, it seems this fortress is under attack. It's likely another group of angry lizard men from Lizaberg, we've been teasing them a lot, hehehe."
Nex leaned in closer.
"If you'd like to help out it would be appreciated, but I know your sel-- erm, busy man so I'll let you get the NGO first and choose to help out later. Although I like to keep somebody close to me around to get the NGO."
He lifted his right hand and snapped his fingers and a bulky man, only a little shorter than the tall Nex came forward, as if he was in the room the entire time. He wasn't any regular man however. He was clearly a humanoid-demon. His skin was a dull red and he was bare chested, but was tattooed with pentagrams all over his body and had what appeared to be a series of nails sticking out of his shoulder, as if they were nailed in. He had curled goat horns and leather chaps, which had a rather disturbingly fleshy colour to them.
"This my lieutenant, Heric Dephiler." Nex said. "He has the means of unlocking where we store our NGO."
Lieutenant Dephiler nodded to Vincent and spoke with a deep but calm and quiet voice. "Follow me Captain." He then headed his way into the next room.
"As for me, I'm going to deal with our little problem here." He then left the storehouse, but noticed that a note had been planted on him. "Oh my, a love letter." He said with boyish enthusiasm. He unravelled the note, and read it. "Sounds juicy." The note then disappeared. He felt a rush of excitement. "Oh my, my! Get out of my way everyone!" He shouted and then dashed back towards the command centre, after a few steps he jumped into the air and transformed into the familiar large black rag and was carried away by the speedy gust of wind..
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Tuesday August 19th, 2008
- Terian, Kainengrad -
"No. Flying won't interfere with the invisibility, as far as I know... but how?" Doriana crossed her arms as she ran close behind Duilin and Valos. As she ran, her katar was outstretched to her weapon side and angled down, her body angled forwards. It was a sort of force of habit.
Meanwhile, Jacobie impaled his sword into the ground again and brought it across, running towards the city walls again. As he was just in front of the walls, he let his katana fly up and create yet another fissure, blasting up large boulders and chunks of rock flying towards the wall and smashing into it with more force than the last blow. Maybe if he repeated this two more times, he could breach a large section in the wall, or so he figured.
John and Marrick continued to support the lightning spell as the clouds above them densly thickened and more lightning blasts fell from the sky inside the fortress of Kainengrad. The spell's effectiveness was starting to get a slight bit better and the radius of effect was increasing, moving from the towers and into the fortress' main buildings.
Posted by: Dude Man on Tuesday August 19th, 2008
- Terian, Kainengrad -
"Excellent." Duilin then jumped in the air and spread open his wings and flew into the air, flapping his wings.
Valos followed by surrounding himself in a glowing purple aura, which was still invisible to everyone, luckily.
The two flew over the walls of the fortress and landed on the ground.
"Alright, we should probably find a place to hide so we can move around more stealthy, perhaps from building to building and such." Duilin suggested, whispering to the others, just in case the spell didn't muffle any sounds.
---
Meanwhile, the Kandarinian guards in the towers were getting pecked off from what appeared to be by snipers hiding all around the place. Yet it was simply Marshall hiding in a gathering of boulders in the hills...
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Tuesday August 19th, 2008
- Terian, Kainengrad -
Jacobie repeated his fissure technique again, digging his blade into the crusted earth, then slashing up and generating a fissure that spewed giant debris of earth and boulders at the walls again. He flipped his katana around to his side once again and ran back from the wall to repeat the technique one more time.
Meanwhile, Doriana had silently leapt up the wall using her assassin jumping skills. She landed on the other side softly and quietly, sneaking up on Duilin and Valos. They most likely were suprised by her as she spoke. "The spell has about 20 minutes left... but I say we should just stick to the walls of the buildings and the fortress. That would probably be our best bet to avoid contact with hostiles."
Posted by: D. Ein on Wednesday August 20th, 2008
//Wait a second - Doriana is an assassin, right? How did she use a holy attack on Kronos earlier?\\
-=Kainengrad - East Gate=-
The pounding of the boulders at the stone walls had an almost shell-shock like effect on the soldiers waiting behind the east gate. Gaven's subdivision was the only one there at the moment, consisting of some 30 soldiers. The environment did little to ease the tension of the fighters, who were not used to fighting in the rain; rain in this location was very rare. Gaven knew that his men would give it their best, but he could not help but doubt whether their best would be enough against this kind of foe. There were no cannons sighted outside the fortress-city, but something was striking the walls with enough force to the point of nearly crumbling.
And that was not even all. Gaven flinched, remembering a scene he will not forget soon: guards falling off the walls with holes in their heads, one by one. All but the last one fell without knowing what hit them - the final guard managed to yell "The - the hills! They're in the hills!" before falling dead, blood trickling from his forehead.
Gaven knew - the Kandarinian spyglasses were powerful. Despite this, no matter how hard his scouts looked through the hidden, protected openings in the walls, they could not see the mysterious gunmen anywhere in the hills. All they saw was a cloaked human and a large lizard man. As long as they had cover, Gaven decided against sending any men outside the walls.
His train of thought was interrupted by a splash behind him. Gaven's men were told to stay put - it could not have been them... and yet, there was nothing behind him. No... no, there was something... it's hard to see, but definitely there...
-"GUARDS!"
The word shot through the soldiers' ears, jerking them out of their oblivious state. 30 spear guns clicked into ready positions, all aimed at the disturbance in the rain behind the gates.
-=Kainengrad - Rooftops=-
The lightnings sliced the sky like jagged slashes from a serrated dagger, and struck the tallest Kainengrad buildings like stealthed arrows, thundering only after the contact with the victim. Apophis watched the spectacle from a roof, having completed his job of delivering both scrolls to their recipients. He was not in a rush to get back to Gros Morne - aside the occasional riot, everything was quiet in the Kandarinian territories. This was so much more fun...
The Stalker nearly fell off his roof when he saw three "invisible" people plop down behind the gate. What kind of mage did they have that cast invisibility spells during rain? They may be bending light around themselves, but they remain solid - and the curtain of falling water easily gave away their position as silhouettes of emptiness where raindrops were supposed to fall.
For now, he decided not to interfere. It would be good to scale the attackers' battle prowess before engaging combat... picking prey larger than he could handle was never Apophis' style.
-=Kainengrad - Outer Premises=-
-"Lu lu lu," Ein mumbled to himself. "La la la. Kandie walls be falling down. I think your method is a bit too brute there, bud. Look - the walls shattered. The only thing keeping them up still is their weight. What you're doing right now is trying to knock over a pile of sand; kind of difficult, no? Let me help out."
With those words, Ein took out a stone that he picked up earlier, and using his dagger, started etching a series of lines on the rock.
Posted by: Xorlak on Wednesday August 20th, 2008
- Kainengrad, Supply Storehouse -
Vincent followed the lumbering demon at a distance, Mikail close by him. "I don't like this..." Vincent said under his breath. The explosions were getting more intense. And that was clearly no natural storm brewing outside.
"Me neither," Mikail whispered. He was nearly hugging Vincent again before a glare from the alchemist made him jump back a pace. "I mean, it's an awful coincidence this attack occurs when we arrive."
"Indeed... they may somehow know about the NGO and wish to take it before us... We'll leave as soon as we get it. Before the main attack force arrives. My ship can outrun any paltry toys the Federation is capable of throwing at us."
Posted by: Dude Man on Wednesday August 20th, 2008
- Kainengrad, Supply Storehouse -
Along his belt, Dephiler had a series of keys, connected to chains, a lot of them looked very similar and many of them were in fact useless, he had this to throw people off, if anyone tried to steal his keys. He took one of the keys and attempted to open a steel door buried in the back of one of the storage rooms he lead the other too, he fidgeted with it, but realized he took out the wrong key. He over-security fooled even him sometimes. He grabbed a different key, which was the correct one and opened the door, leading too a short dimly lit hallway with a staircase at the end.
"It's a little dark down here for a little while, and really messy." The demon said, softly. "Just follow me exactly, and you won't trip over anything. Okay?"
---
- Kainengrad, East Gate -
"You know..." Valos said, not bothering to hide his voice, looking at the several spear guns pointed at them. "I think they might see us."
"Let's not give up yet." Duilin ordered.
"Well, what the **** do we do now!?" Valos snarled. "They got us! Leave it up to some witch you barely know to make us invisible."
"Calm down." Duilin demanded, but not raising his voice. "They can only see us because of the rain, we're just nearly invisible right now...Hmm. Maybe if we find cover or move quickly enough we can avoid getting attacked, then we'll find a spot to hide."
"Fine, let's just run." Valos then began to make a quick dash through the area, Duilin rolled his eyes and then followed. They figured if they were going to shoot at them, they would still be extremely hard to hit because a) the rain makes it harder for them to see, b) they're nearly invisible and c) they're running really fast...
Posted by: D. Ein on Thursday August 21st, 2008
-=Kainengrad - East Gate=-
It took Gaven a second to realize that the shadows in the rain began moving. Without losing another precious moment, he yelled the order to his men:
-"Fire at will! Shoot them down, impale them!"
The air became rife with the distinct buzzing noises of spears zooming through the air. Unfortunately, the massive amounts of water made it very difficult for the Kainengrad soldiers to see, and the hoods they draped over themselves to manage the rain did not exactly help the problem of visibility. The spears struck houses, stone walls, the ground - in other words, everything but the intended targets. Gaven cursed loudly, spat on the ground, and grunted in a resigned tone:
-"Stand down. We lost them."
Now comes the next fun part: reporting the failure to his superior.
Meanwhile, the city kept pumping soldiers from its underground Regiment 7 headquarters. Heavily armed Vanguards were now occasionally seen, sporting their enormous magic mortars as well as the recently introduced gargantuan Vanguard Claymores...
-=Kainengrad - Rooftops=-
So they take the coward's way out, and instead of standing their ground, they run. Not exactly an honourable decision, but very logical: being skewered by 30 obsidian-tipped spears is not something Apophis would care to describe as "fun". But regardless, the city guard (and even those clowns from the Seventh) were too incompetent to capture invisible foes, and the Stalker knew that. The next logical decision came right away: it's about time a Stalker actually performed the job they are named after.
It didn't take long for Apophis to sight his prey. Their clothes were still dripping wet, betraying the wearers with droplets of water seemingly from nowhere. The Stalker kept to the roofs, creeping close to the edge - allowing him to stay hidden behind the facades and decorations while having a good vantage point to spy the intruders from. They were running in a tight street below, covered from rain by a roof-formed canopy. Guards were running right past them, unable to spot the fine details of dripping clothes through their visored helmets; however, Apophis saw. And knew.
-=Kainengrad - Outer Premises=-
At last, Ein was finished with his stone-inscribed glyph.
-"Watch," he said, turning to Jacobie. "Fun little glyph I made up while in the Stalker academy. Don't ask."
He applied the glowing stone to the largest brick in the wall that was close to him. The stone immediately fell to the ground, almost hurting Ein's hand in the process. Unaffected, Ein proceeded to wrap his arms around the brick... and pulled it out. Moreover, he even balanced the large brick on one finger, as the damaged walls behind him finally gave in due to the disappearance of a major part of the foundation. The size of the brick easily suggested that it was at least 10 tonnes in weight, yet Ein was holding it like it was a feather.
-"Hehe, it's a weight transfer glyph," Ein giggled victoriously. "Now that tiny little rock there is as heavy as this brick used to be. Conversely, the brick became as light as a pebble."
Tossing the hulking brick aside, Ein made his way through the defeated walls.
...
Several clicks later, he made his way back out as fast as he could, chased by buzzing spears.
-"Crap..."
Posted by: Xorlak on Friday August 22nd, 2008
- Kainengrad, Supply Storehouse -
Vincent rolled his eyes as he followed the demon. The darkness engulfed them quickly, and it was difficult to see one's hand before one's face as they descended into the depths. He expected a more elaborate display than this... It seemed more like they were retrieving some minor trinket from the back than a rare and poorly understood tool of mass destruction. He certainly would take better care of it than this. In fact, he had the perfect containment chamber in mind back at the Factory of Dark Science.
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Friday August 22nd, 2008
//Doriana was trained in the holy arts before the Gaian federation Chapter. There being a 3-year break, I thought that would be enough time... If it's God-modding, I can make some adjustments... I don't wanna pull another Haraldur.
- Terian, Kainengrad Inner Workings -
"Shit!" Doriana said as she made a break for it behind Duilin and Valos; where the spearguns were shot almost every shot was a near miss and flew right past her, while the rest were clean misses... save one. One that hit her, just barely, right in the calf of her right leg.
"GAH!!! Damn it, they hit me!" She grabbed the spear that was impaled in her leg and ripped it out, a fair amount of blood leaking from her calf. She took the spear and launched it back at a Kandarin Speargunner, stabbing right through his weapon and anihilating it completely. It rendered him useless, but that was only one of many soldiers... Afterwards, she limped after Duilin and Valos, holding on by sheer power of will.
- Terian, Kainengrad East Gate (outside) -
"One more should do it... HYAA!!!" Jacobie impaled his katana into the earth again and small bits of rubble flew up around it. He was a fair 50 feet away from the gates and the walls. Slowly he dragged the sword towards the walls, speeding up faster and faster as he went. And finally, just before he readhed the wall, he leapt into the air and backflipped, slashing his katana upwards. Gargantuous sized boulders flew up as his final fissure move blasted through the gate and its walls, now nearly crumbling them to dust. It would be a plenty bit easier, although his attack may have seemed redundant.
"More lightning, guys, and fast! I see Vanguards... lots of Vanguards..." John and Marrick complied by throwing more bolts of lightning from the sky as it began to pour rain. Each drop was nearly 1.5 centimeters in diameter, which was quite a bit of rain per drop... but the Drannivolka were getting exhausted, and fast. They still made more accurate blasts of lightning, however, according to Jacobie's will. Each bolt that managed to stray from the buildings either hit a guard, or came fairly close to one as it discharged down to the earth. Some even discharged up and zapped a guard from the ground up to the air, but most just hit the buildings as they were the quicker access point for the lightning.
Posted by: Dude Man on Friday August 22nd, 2008
- Kainengrad, Supply Storehouse -
After a few moments of walking, Heric stopped at the end of the room. There was the sound of keys jangling and after a few seconds he opened another door.
He stepped into the next room. "Hold on a minute while I light up the room." He snapped his fingers summoning a small plume of flame in his hand and then lit the torch next to him. The torches were all connected, via a gas line. The demon turned a small crank and the rest of the torches began to light up, eventually making the room quite clear to see.
It was a tall circular room, with a metal staircase coiling up to the top. Along the walls were individual safes built in, made of thick black iron. In the middle of the room, was a large crank which one would have to push. This mechanized the staircase to rotate around the room, allowing one to reach the specific locker they wished to open. Also in the middle was a filing cabinet, which was left open. The cabinet was clearly labelled 'STORAGE RECORDS'.
"There's at least a couple hundred lockers in this room. One of them has the NGO stored in it. However I'm not sure which one. You'll have to look through the records. Unfortunately, I can't help you with that, seeing how I only recently arrived in Gaian and I'm not familiar with human scripture. I only recently learned how to speak your language actually."
The demon gave a slight smirk and smiled. "It was likely recently stored in here, and I think the newest records are kept in the top shelf, which would narrow it down. Although Nex has had a lot of items stored in here. I think the absolute newest ones are actually written in Thanatian, but the NGO's record is likely in Terianian."
--- ---
- Kainengrad, Streets -
"Whoa, looks like they got a lucky shot." Duilin said, looking at Doriana. "Are you okay?"
"How the hell did you manage to get hit?!" Valos snarled. "Just leave the witch behind Duilin, she'll only slow us down now."
"Shut up, Valos!" Duilin went over to the drow and helped her move. "We should probably find a place to hide, then maybe get a healing potion for her if she needs it."
"But we don't have time for this!" Valos roared. "Seriously, we have to get the hell moving. Nex doesn't know we specifically are here, if he knows we are here before we confront him, we'll loose our element of surprise and blow our chance at defeating him!"
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Saturday August 23rd, 2008
- Terian, Kainengrad Inner Workings -
"I'll be right behind... ugh, what's the point, I need rest." Doriana then let herself slide down the wall of a building as she sat down on the wet ground, bleeding slowly from her wound in her calf muscle. She kept bandages in her pouch to her side, so she pulled a large one out and wrapped her lower leg up with it. She tied it off and tossed the ruined shin guard from her armor aside, letting her underarmor cover the wound.
"Damn guards... Well, hopefully that will do it for a while. Does anybody know a good healing spell or just so happen to have a scroll?"
- Terian, Kainengrad Outter Workings -
Jacobie brought his katana up to his front and took a stance backwards. Lucky for him he didn't have to protect the Drannivolka too much, for they were excellent at evading, and hopefully would be able to evade the attacks of the Kandarinians that were pissed about rain and lightning. Though perhapse they would be more afraid than pissed off at the moment. He smirked at that idea and held his katana at the ready... He definately had to say something that would set the Kandarin Fortress off like a match to a campfire... but what?
"Now that I'm finished with your wall... I think I'll go for you next... Heh heh heh..." He then pointed the tip of his katana at the fortress and it began to glow red with its enchantment. It was a beacon of light in all of the darkness that surrounded the fortress, with the exception of the lightning that lit the sky. He brought the katana back to his side and held out his arm, palm up, beckoning to the guards.
"Well then, let us dance, worms."
Posted by: D. Ein on Saturday August 23rd, 2008
-=Kainengrad - Streets=-
The infiltrators' loud words alerted several guards running past - but those ones, apparently, did not know that they were dealing with invisible foes at the moment. So they just shrugged off, and continued running to wherever it was that they were assigned to. A couple of Vanguards lumbered past, their large helmets not allowing them to hear anything anyway.
-=Kainengrad - Rooftops=-
The intruders continued to surprise Apophis more and more. At this point, he stopped blaming the mage who originally put the invisibility spell on the group for being an amateur - instead, it seemed to him, none of the people there knew how to behave while stealthed. Not noticing water dripping from their wet clothes is one thing, but speaking - especially speaking that loud? The Stalker was beginning to sincerely doubt whether his abilities were really needed to capture this group. Regardless, he continued tracking them - if not for a practical purpose, then just for sport.
-=Kainengrad - East Gate ruins=-
The Lizardman was greeted by a semi-circle of about 60 Kainengrad spear gunners, and five Vanguards with their magic mortars fully deployed. All weapons aimed at Jacobie, and the troopers still felt unsure with themselves against this large a foe. The only ones who seemed completely unfazed by the sight of the humanoid reptile were the Vanguards and a chubby, short, commanding-looking chap standing behind the lines. Indeed, the apparent leader bore a Kandarinian Battle Suit with the unmistakable winged lightning of the First Regiment. As the dust from the walls cleared, he pronounced in a highly annoying, squeaky voice:
-"ALL RIGHT, 'WORMS!' You've heard the boss; dance for him! Better yet, make HIM dance! FIRE AT WILL!"
60 obsidian-tipped spears buzzed right at Jacobie, closely followed by five glowing cylinder-shaped projectiles fired out of the Vanguards' magic mortars, each a foot long.
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Saturday August 23rd, 2008
- Terian, Kainengrad Outter Workings -
At that very moment, the lizard backflipped over the speargunners' attack. 60 spears didn't quite phase him as much as the magic mortars did, however, as he just barely evaded the strike. He landed on his left leg and cartwheeled out of the way of the magical shots fired by to voracious Vanguard. He would have no problem with petty speargunners, but the Vanguard were another matter...
"Woah, shit!" He said after another near miss with a mortar shot. The lizard then gave a quick bow and smirked to the offenders. "Am I the only one keeping the stage? The crowd begs for something different... now... DANCE!!!"
With that, he held the tip of his katana out and fired a quick, small, but continuous beam of pure heat energy. It melted at least 20 speargunner's helmets so that the armor seeped into their eyes, burning them into oblivion. They would go mad with pain before they died...
Meanwhile, John and Merrick let up on the lightning, but it still poured water from the heavens. The two Drannivolkan elites jumped to either side of Jacobie from where they were (which was far back) and brandished two ornate longswords. They both, however, didn't use them, but instead combined forces and cast a gale wind spell that forced the armies back a slight bit. The rain also helped by leveling with the gale wind and pushed them back more. It would be one hell of a battle to win with wind and rain hitting your face and pushing you back. Their mission was only to delay however, not attack and hold possition.
Posted by: Xorlak on Sunday August 24th, 2008
- Kainengrad, Supply Storehouse, Safe Room -
Vincent smacked his forehead. "So we have to look it up then..." he said through clenched teeth. "Very well. Thank you for your time..." he tried to say it politely, but his annoyance likely dripped through.
Mikail meanwhile stood in awe of the tall safes twisting around over head. He craned his neck back and blinked.
Vincent opened the top shelf and began to rummage through the papers. The odd mess of unintelligible symbols must have been the Thanatian language the demon spoke off. Shuffling those off, he dug through to find something legible.
Posted by: Dude Man on Sunday August 24th, 2008
- Kainengrad, Supply Storehouse, Safe Room -
"Sorry I can't be anymore help." Dephiler replied. "I'll be here by the doorway if you need anything." The demon crossed his arms and leaned on the wall next to the door way. He closed his eyes, looking like the most relaxed and care-free person in the world.
--- ---
- Kainengrad, Streets -
"Sorry, I don't know any healing spells. Well I do, but I can't use them unless I change form." Duilin replied. "But it's complicated why I can't."
Valos rolled his eyes, and dug into his pockets and mumbled a few things. He took out a tiny vial and handed it to the drow. "Take ONE sip of this. Your wound will heal then we can go."
Duilin sighed, but then stopped moving for a second and then looked around. He then lowered his voice. "You know we should probably keep our voices down. I just noticed we, or rather Valos, have been shouting during a stealth mission."
Valos glared and clenched his teeth at his half brother but then shook it off. "Yeah, fine. Let's get moving now. We don't have much time." Valos whispered, but still kept his harsh angry tone.
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Wednesday August 27th, 2008
- Terian, Kainengrad Inner Workings -
"Right," Doriana said quietly, "thanks..." She grabbed the vial and took a slight sip. It tasted rather disgusting, but nonetheless, she swallowed and her wound began to numb. Soon enough, it was healed to the point where she could put weight on it without too much pain. She handed the vial back to Valos. "Okay... where do we go from here?"
Posted by: D. Ein on Wednesday August 27th, 2008
//Drannic - Kandarinian soldiers generally do not wear helmets, they prefer using standard-issue Kandarinian Protection Amulets (they do have facemasks, though). However, most of the guys fighting Jacobie are guards, and those can be wearing helmets - and Vanguards have vizored helmets, too.\\
-=Kainengrad - East Gate ruins=-
While the commander from the First Regiment was squealing commands at the guards, most of the latter ran as soon as they saw their jittering comrades flail their arms at the molten metal running down their skin. The Vanguards grunted indifferently, and, obeying the commanding officer's orders, fired another volley at Jacobie. Rain didn't bother them that much - a full skin of 3-cm armour protected them from just about anything, and a slitted visor let very little water inside.
Meanwhile, Ein carefully peeked into the courtyard, previously filled with soldiers, and was moderately surprised to find only five Vanguards remaining. Looks like this Jacobie lizard can pull off a trick or two, after all. But those Vanguards...
They were definitely different than the last time. Even back then, they were quite a sight, but even more so now. Their armour, still pitch-black, became even thicker than it used to be. Their helmet stayed the same, mostly, except for the addition of a V-shaped, slitted vizor to protect their faces. They seemed to enjoy the addition - each had several markings on the visor (kills?). Ein shivered when he saw the warriors' claymores - swords that were easily taller than Ein himself, with vicious fang-shaped protrusions coming out of the blade. One hit by that, and they aren't even going to bother picking up your pieces.
Posted by: Dude Man on Wednesday August 27th, 2008
- Kainengrad, Streets -
"Let's just get to the command centre." Valos replied. He pointed at the large temple like building in the middle of the town. "Now let's go."
He then ran through the town towards the command centre and Duilin followed.
Posted by: Xorlak on Wednesday August 27th, 2008
- Kainengrad, Supply Storehouse, Safe Room -
Had the demon left them to rummage through the papers alone, Vincent would have considered taking more than just the NGO. This was the main storehouse of the entire complex after all... But the blasted demon was annoying enough to sit there and wait after essentially telling them to find it themselves.
Things would be different if Vincent were in charge.
Hmmm...
After a great deal of shuffling, Mikail cried out when he found the correct file documenting the location of the NGO. A few turns of the crank shifted the movable stairs to the correct safe high above, and Vincent removed a metallic box shaped much like a briefcase. With his apprentice following, Vincent walked towards the doorway carrying the box in his right hand, trench coat swaying and boots echoing down the corridor.
"We have what we've come for. I bid you good day, sir."
Posted by: Dude Man on Wednesday August 27th, 2008
- Kainengrad, Supply Storehouse, Safe Room -
Dephiler's eyes shifted at Vincent and he walked out of the room. He straightened himself off, from leaning against the wall.
Nex sent a telepathic message to him earlier saying that Vincent's motives for wanting the NGO may be questionable, despite him having authorization.
As he exited the room he turned the small wall crank, turning off the torches in the room, and he followed Vincent.
"Watch your step." He warned the captain as he followed him out. "It's dark in the next room, remember?"
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Thursday August 28th, 2008
//Thanks for the FYI. I'll be sure to check next time.
- Terian, Kainengrad Command Center -
"Right." Doriana followed the two over to the command center, her katar ready for battle at her side. She looked around, and then looked back at her self. "5 more minutes, guys. Then we'll be clear as day."
- Terian, Kainengrad East Gate (outside) -
Jacobie evaded the barrage from the Vanguard by making a barrel roll underneath the attack, then jumping swiftly away as it exploded behind him. He then leapt back to where he was before, now a smoldering miniature crater from the Vanguard attack. The lizardman smirked with intent.
"Is that the best you can do!?" As that was said, Jacobie made a great leap into the air, pointing his sword at the Vanguards and attempted the same move he pulled off on the guards, blasting a beam of pure heat at the Vanguards' thick helmets, melting the visor, seeping down and covering their visual from their helmet quite well.
Posted by: D. Ein on Thursday August 28th, 2008
//What kind of beam does that katana shoot? Can it melt 5 Vanguards' visors at once? I'm going to assume no for now, as there's a bit of distance between each one.\\
-=Kainengrad - East Gate ruins=-
The afflicted Vanguard grunted, and tore off his softening face shield. Thankfully for him, the iron gauntlet on his hand protected him from the molten metal, and his face was too far from the visor to be affected. He gave the disappearing hunk of metal a quick glance, then threw it aside. Him, and the four other Vanguards left their mortars in place, unsheathing their man-sized claymores instead. They did not wait for the commanding officer's orders, preferring to charge at Jacobie all at once.
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Friday August 29th, 2008
//It's a pure beam of heat, and seeing as how there's distance between each Vanguard, I'm going to guess that no, it can't melt their helmets all at once.
- Terian, Kainengrad East Gate (outside) -
Jacobie didn't flinch as the Vanguards charged him. Instead, he shifted his footing back and sheathed his katana, leaping a fair distance back and prepared a small orb of dark energy within his left palm. The orb was black and glowed with purple lightning that surrounded it, growing to nearly one foot in diameter. He pointed his palm out towards the Vanguard without a helm and blasted the orb straight for his head.
Posted by: Xorlak on Saturday August 30th, 2008
- Kainengrad, Supply Storehouse, Basement Corridor -
"We are quite capable of navigating dark passages, I assure you." Vincent waved as he disapeared into the darkness, the blue-robed adept following close behind. The thunderclaps had nearly ceased and it had grown quieter outside. This this only could mean the battle was over-- unlikely-- or that the initial distraction borne from the storm spell was over and the attackers were ready to move in full force. Vincent had no intention to stick around and find out. It was time to leave. Assuming they weren't totally surrounded now, at least...
Posted by: D. Ein on Saturday August 30th, 2008
-=Kainengrad - East Gate ruins=-
Ironically, the visor-less Vanguard was the last to notice the orb. The one that was running next to him saw the approaching projectile, and tripped his comrade. The charge zoomed over the tripped Vanguard, who got back up, completely unharmed, and continued sprinting toward Jacobie.
Meanwhile, the four other Vanguards reached the Lizard Man, and swung their claymores at the scaly chest.
-=Somewhere in South-Eastern Gaian - Gros Morne Citadel=-
The dark inverse pyramid, for the first time in many months, was not travelling anywhere. It wasn't even floating - for the first time in almost 6 years, the pyramid rested on the ground. In fact, only its very top was visible. The rest was buried in the soil, as if the enormous structure plummeted to the earth and stuck there. Dark clouds were gathering about the Citadel...
Posted by: Dude Man on Saturday August 30th, 2008
- Kainengrad, Command Centre Courtyard -
The courtyard of the command centre was quiet, and absent of any other people. There were several spots which seemed to have been gardens, but everything has died. There were several demonic statues in the garden areas, which seemed to be recently placed in. As the three walked through the courtyard Duilin coldly glanced at the statues as he walked by them.
The statues were of the deceased leader of the Talonscar cult and father of Duilin, Abodahon. It's been several years since he's seen his father. Duilin eventually had to walk with his head down, due to the emotions he felt from his very image. Duilin looked up to his father when he was younger, and always wanted him to be his hero. But when he was finally shown the truth that his father was pure evil, he just felt betrayed.
Valos merely rolled his eyes and sighed. "I see Nex is still worshipping his dead god." He commented. "If we had the time, I'd smash every statue in this courtyard."
They then arrived in the doorway, which was surprisingly open. Inside it was also empty of any people, they could see two wide curling stairways at the end of the hallway.
"Alright this is it." Valos stated. "We get in, find Nex and kill him, then the threat of Talonscar should be over. You ready?"
Duilin still looking at the ground finally chose to look up inside the building, suddenly it was as if his very soul was ripped from his body, and was being pulled into the building by an invisible man. At what seemed to him like light speed he was dragged through the building upstairs, while he was screaming his lungs out. Finally the movement stopped, but only for a split second until he was thrown into a tunnel of flame and fell through it for miles and miles. Then it stopped, everything stopped and time seemed to go back to normal. Duilin torn and bruised was floating in the air, with the heat to strong for even him. Then somebody came up towards him, he couldn't see him, but he knew he was there and could make out every detail in him perfectly, but he couldn't see him. He then spoke. "Hope you still remember what I taught you, boy..."
Then he was back, he gasped for air as if he'd been holding his breath for an extended period of time.
"Duilin? I said, are you ready?" Valos asked again.
Duilin wiped the sweat off his forehead and started breathing more deeply.
"What?! You're getting scared?" Valos growled.
"Oh no...I'm ready. Let's go..." Duilin replied and then started walking into the command centre. "I lead the way from here."
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Monday September 1st, 2008
- Terian, Kainengrad East Gate (outside) -
The Lizardman gulped as four giant claymores headed down for him to smash him into pieces. At that moment, everything around him slowed down as he sent a telepathic message to Doriana. ~Please, tell Karma I couldn't make it...~ After this, he sent one to both the elites that held the storm up. ~Return... your mission is done...~
At this, time around Jacobie sped up again and he was ripped limb from scalley limb, torn to shreads and killed without mercy by the savage Vanguard brutes. His head, still intact, was miraculously able to utter one more thing before he faded on. "That... all you got...?" The two elites nodded, and raced back to the shore, taking flight back to Ariosis by use of their air magic.
The lizardman was true to his firends and his cause until the very end. His name was engraved into history, and would live on forever...
- Terian, Kainengrad Command Centre -
At that moment, the group was visible once more, and Doriana recieved the message as it was thrown into her mind. "Jacobie..." She murmured. "Guys, Jacobie is dead. Let's hurry up and make this quick."
As the group entered the command centre, Doriana looked back for a quick moment. ~Goodbye, old fool... you'll be missed...~ With that last thought, she raced forward to catch up to Duilin and Valos, steadying her pace when she caught up.
Posted by: Dude Man on Wednesday September 3rd, 2008
- Terian, Kainengrad Command Centre -
"Damnit." Duilin cursed. "I was hoping we could do this without loosing anyone. Guess I was wrong." He stopped for a moment. "It is the way of the solider. We'll have to mourn him latter because now we must continue our mission." He continued running up the staircase to the top of the building.
Valos was half expecting Duilin to sit down and start crying or do something lame and melo-dramatic like that, so he was rather pleased when he heard him say 'mourn him later'. He smirked and continued moving, along with Duilin.
Posted by: Xorlak on Wednesday September 3rd, 2008
(Forgot if it was still raining or not.)
- Kainengrad, Airship Dock -
"HOW did this happen?"
The soldier shrunk back. "L-lightning! From the sky!"
Vincent pushed him away to look at the wreck. The charred remains had crushed a building, and Kadarinian soldiers were milling around, trying to salvage survivors. Somehow a single bolt of lightning had taken down and burned his ship. If the flight crystal were intact, he'd likely be able to transmute it into something flyable. But it had EXPLODED.
This was no accident.
He clenched the metal briefcase tightly and the rain poured around. At least it was letting up. "What now, sir?" Mikail asked.
"It's personal now." Vincent unfastened the top button of his cloak and removed a small orb.
"Calling for another ship?"
"No. A fleet. Including my latest Halberd prototype. We are carpet bombing the attacking army to oblivion."
The communications orb merely fizzed, snowy clouds visible within.
"Blast. This storm is interfering. We will have to move to a higher point." Vincent looked around, then pointed. "There. The Kainengrad Command Center. That should work."
With that, the two alchemists darted through the rain towards the temple-like building.
Posted by: Dude Man on Thursday September 4th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Centre, Staircase -
Continuing to head up the large spiralling staircase, Duilin could get the feeling of pure evil in his stomach. Nex was at the top of this building, not even knowing that he was about to attacked. Or what if he did? What if he was simply allowing them to make their way towards them simply to toy with them? It seems like something a demon like Nex would do...
-- --
- Kainengrad Command Centre, Courtyard -
Heric Dephiler was calmly walking through the courtyard infront of the main doorway of the command centre. He wasn't particularly going anywhere, just simple wandering through it. He was given orders from his captain not to disturb him until "the thing" happens. In the meantime Dephiler strolled through the courtyard, occasionally stopping to admire the fine statues of his saviour-esque lord, Abodahon.
Oddly enough, he never met Abodahon, but was indeed a member of the Talonscar. He was one of the guards of Iban, but despised his master, much like Abodahon was with Qor. When Nex approached him and offered him to join the Talonscar, he agreed. However fearing the wrath of Iban he went to Gaian in the first demonic division that arrived when the Talonscar joined the Sovereignty. He heard a lot about Abodahon and wished he could have met him. He prays some day he might. He's read about him in the Talonscar's scriptures and followed his ways as closely as possible.
Posted by: Xorlak on Sunday September 7th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Centre, Courtyard -
"Good day, lieutenant," Vincent said as he shuffled past the bulky demon. He was in no mood to talk, let alone explain his situation, so he hurried past and slid into the doors, displaying his own Captain badge to the posted guards so they would not hassle him. Mikail followed closely behind.
Posted by: Dude Man on Sunday September 7th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Centre, Staircase -
Duilin could hear the tormenting, mocking and horrific laugh of Nex echoing in his memory each step he took up the staircase. His heart skipped a beat every few steps he took and every time the top of that staircase got closer he knew it would be sooner he'd have to fight Nex. It's been so long since he's seen him, and apparently he's gotten even stronger now.
But he wasn't even thinking of backing away, the option of him just turning around and running away and hide under a rock and rot to death to avoid having to face this horrific demon didn't even cross his mind. But he was still scared.
But the fear can be good, it just gives him a rush.
---
- Kainengrad Command Centre, Courtyard -
Dephiler saw Vincent rush by him and head straight into the command centre. 'Was that allowed?' He thought. He didn't want to follow him, but he thought he'd keep an eye open and watch the building very closely for any barely noticeable occurrences from the outside.
---
- Kainengrad Command Centre, Captain's Room -
He kicked the door down, and drew his sword from the sheath on his back. Valos was ready to fight and kill. He looked around the room, Duilin was behind him, as Valos rushed ahead of him.
The robed demon stood in the middle of the room, with a large mounted M-Grid orb. A phantom image just disappeared as they laid eyes upon it. He slowly turned around.
"What? How did you get in here?" Nex sneered.
"We walked inside, how else?" Duilin retorted. He stepped toward him and unsheathed the Iduran. "We were in town and thought we'd stop by and say hi. So, hi."
The two then ran towards him with their weapons ready, together they both slashed their swords at the robed demon. Nex simply laughed, and in a split second he drew two machetes and blocked the swords.
"How cute is this, the Talonscar brothers joining up together. I have to say this is perfect timing for your arrival, my children."
Nex did a jumping split kick hitting both of them, square in the chest and sent them flying in the air and crashing into the wall.
"Let's play for a little while." Nex laughed. "I'm in such a mood to play a game." the blades on his machetes then grew double their length, he then slowly walked towards the two fighters, scratching the floor with the tips of his blades as he moved closer...
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Monday September 8th, 2008
- Terian, Kainengrad Command Centre; Captain's Room -
"Play time's over." From the shadows of the doorway, Doriana leapt to the ground and slashed out her second katar that hid underneath her cloak. She then backed her footing up into a fighting stance, pointing both katars forwards toward Nex. She backed up a slight bit more, then launched forward, pointing both katars in the air after him. Just as she got up to him, she suddenly vanished. A loud 'poof' noise could be heard from behind the demon as she suddenly reappeared above and just behind him, slashing her watars downward upon his back.
Posted by: Dude Man on Thursday September 11th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Centre, Captain's Room -
The blades of the katars dug into the demon's back, he squawked in pain but then started laughing. For a fraction of a second it seemed like he was laying back into the blades, but he pulled himself forward, and blood splashed out of the wounds and splattered on the floor, and toward Doriana. The blood that hit the ground steamed up the floor, and noticeably burnt the floor on the ground, likely the blood splattering on Doriana would burn.
"Ooo, that felt tingly. Okay your turn now." Nex then spun around and slashed his scythe at the new foe.
Meanwhile Duilin and Valos got back up, both of them charged energy into their swords, The Iduran, in Duilin's hands, began to spark with an orange and golden coloured lightning, while Valos' blade had black and violet lightning shooting around it...
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Thursday September 11th, 2008
- Terian, Kainengrad Command Centre; Captain's Room -
Doriana winced as the blood spilled lightly upon her arms burned, but she paid that little mind as she tried to parry the next attack aimed towards her. She grabbed the scythe by using a pincer-like motion with her metal katars, flipping her wrist just slightly, but more than enough to throw off Nex as the demon was pushed past her. After the successful parry, she placed both her arms upon either one and swiftly tore off the long, yellow sleeves of her assassin jumpsuit, tearing them to shreads. The burns looked quite minor, but that didn't stop the pain. She backed up into a defensive stance, awaiting the next attack.
Posted by: Xorlak on Saturday September 13th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Center, Captain's Room -
Suddenly the heavy oaken doors burst open, revealing Vincent and Mikail, who immediately froze and dropped their jaws.
Before them sprawled an epic battle between Nex and what only could be assumed the vile assassins orchestrating the attack on Kainengrad. "Hmmmm... I believe we've taken a wrong turn..."
"Yikes!" Mikail jumped and hid behind Vincent's trench coat as a plume of flame drew near. Stray blasts of lightning tore splinters from the ceiling which rained all around. "I-isn't that the stair to the roof?" he pointed with a trembling finger to the half open door an the exact opposite side of the raging battle. The only clear way to it lay right through the middle of the fight.
Vincent nodded, then flipped open his coat. "Go... hide in a box or something."
"Y-yes, Captain!" Mikail took off in the opposite direction down the hallway they came, stumbling on the way.
Vincent removed a long metallic tube from his coat, then deftly plugged a cartridge of some sort into the slot above the holster. "Out of the way!!" he screamed as he charged head-first into the raging battle. With a pull of the trigger, liquid fire spewed forth from the flamethrower, which he waved back and forth manically in an attempt to clear a path.
Posted by: Dude Man on Sunday September 14th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Center, Captain's Room -
"Hey what the hell are you doing!?" Valos shouted at the newcommer, backing out of the way of the spewing flames.
"Bah!!" Duilin yelped, but then backed out of the way, allowing Vincent to make his way to the stairs.
Valos took a double take on the passerby "Wait...Vincent?!"
Nex laughed manically and twirled his scythe around before disappearing it, freeing his hands. He then jumped up performing a back flip and landed onto a shelf mounted on the wall, of the fortunately tall room.
"You my friends are about to have the ride of your lifetime. If a girl-drow and two middle-aged generals won't even be able to take me down then..." He laughed again and then shot a series of red lightning bolts, at his foes, scorching the floor and various things around in the room.
With their lightning enchanted weapons, Valos and Duilin, the "middle-aged generals" blocked as many of the lightning bolts as possible that struck them. However Valos was hit right in the chest by one of them, sending a surge of electricity running through his body. As he was temporaly paralysed from the shock several more bolts were able to hit him. He shuddered harshly and then fell down onto the ground, passed out from the shock...
Posted by: Drannic_Lord01 on Tuesday September 16th, 2008
- Terian, Kainengrad Command Centre; Captain's Room -
Doriana leapt quickly out of Vincent's way as he passed on by in the midst of the fight, then looked up at Nex as he attempted to destroy the room and everybody in it, or so it seemed. She jumped in front of Valos and knelt down, picking him up and jumping out of the way just before a bolt of lightning came crashing right behind them. She took him out of the way of battle and patched him up with a quick spell that restored his fatigued body. He'd be up and about in moments. At this, she jumped back into the room and deflected a few bolts of lightning that came just before her, landing softly and serenely upon the ground near Duilin.
"If you think I'm unequipped to fight you because I'm a woman, you're in for a rude awakening." After she spoke, Doriana held her palm out and forced a large amount of pure energy from her hand. It was transparent, looking like a ripple in the air, and it ignored the bolts of red lightning that cruised on by it. It was aimed for Nex.
Posted by: Dude Man on Wednesday September 17th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Center, Captain's Room -
Nex straightened his right hand and then slapped away the projectile of translucant pure energy.
"You're going to have to do better than that." Nex sneered. He then finished shooting lightning in the air and summoned a demonic fireball in each hand which began to increase in size slowly. He jumped off the shelf and then landed on the floor.
"You know, I think my room needs some redecorating anyways. It's far too formal for my tastes." Nex commented.
With that the demon tossed the fireballs at each side of the room and began to set the room itself on fire. Due to the superior Kandarinian architecture, the building itself would not collapse from the fire, but simply the interior of the room would be burnt.
"Ho hum. Let's see how long you can last in a burning room." Nex said devilishly to his foes.
Posted by: Xorlak on Wednesday September 17th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Center, near Captain's Room -
Vincent ducked into the doorway and proceeded up the stairs just as the room behind was set ablaze. Huh... that was easier than he expected. Nearing the upper reaches of the complex, he removed the orb from he coat pocket to see if he could get a signal...
Posted by: D. Ein on Wednesday September 24th, 2008
-=Unknown location=-
The dark clouds flowering above the grounded Citadel were twisting into an infernal maelstrom to an orchestra of eerie sounds filling the air. The sun was nowhere to be found now - the land around the Gros Morne fortress was illuminated by the occasional flash of lightning discharging from the spiralling vortex, and strange floating lights orbiting it. Gusts of chilling wind sent blighted leaves flying from dead trees, and the unnatural darkness was driving wildlife mad to the point of cannibalization.
The maelstrom seemed to be speeding up in its rotation, and tightening, focusing on top of the Citadel. The "will-o'-the-wisp"-like lights stabilized in their flights, becoming more orderly, patterned, but at the same time rotating faster.
Before long, the storm tightened to the point of becoming a vertical pillar with wavering lines of the wisp lights, which, unlike the vortex, continued getting closer to form a shining orb. Picking up the last of the ghostly lights, the orb descended into the Citadel.
For a second, everything went silent - the lightnings ceased, the clouds vanished, though the darkness remained. Everything was calm for just one second...
As if from its heart, a massive shockwave of blackness-streaked blue light erupted from the Citadel. Chunks of the fortress flew everywhere, each engulfed in a strange cerulean fire. Trees, rocks, anything above the ground simply ceased to be, while the ground itself boiled and cooled, in a matter of seconds, into a mirror-like blueish surface. Where the Citadel used to be, naught remained... but a lone silhouette.
The outline of a humanoid creature, towering at about 8 feet tall, turned its head up to the sky, as if measuring the place it had appeared in. Spreading its massive wings, it heavily ascended into the air and soared somewhere into the distance.
Posted by: Dude Man on Wednesday September 24th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Center, Captain's Room -
Valos' eyes slowly opened and get got back up. "Blasted demonic lightning--waaa!" He looked around the room to quickly realize that the room had been set on fire. "****in' demons."
'Valos, Doriana! Get up onto the roof quickly before you guys burn.' Duilin commanded, through a telepathic message. 'I'm half demon so I can handle the heat a lot longer then you guys can. I can handle him on my own for a little while. But I'll try and lure him out of the room.'
Valos growled, he didn't want to leave the room. Then he started to feel his skin burning, as the flames began to reach closer toward him.
Nex gave out another menacing cackling laugh, and his hands began to glow a dark red.
Duilin recognized the spell he was casting from when Abodahon was teaching him demonic magic. It was the infamous 'mind affection' spell, but Duilin was never able to fully master it. He then tried his best to brace his mind as much as possible. However as the evil demon seemed to throw the glow into the air shooting a barely visible wave through the room, Duilin could feel a shudder of fear run through his body, yet he tried to fight it as much as possible. He wasn't going anywhere.
Valos on the other hand wasn't prepared and already had trauma from being in Hell. Seeing as he was in a burning room with a laughing robed demon in the room, Valos had to clench his mouth from screaming. He through the room, towards the staircase Vincent took to get upstairs, repeatedly shouting the word 'shit' as he went.
Duilin was able to fight it all off. "Nice try." Duilin chuckled and he charged more energy into The Iduran.
Duilin slashed it down at his foe, who instantly summoned his scythe and blocked it. Nex then lifted up his right foot to swing a kick at Duilin as their weapons were locked, yet Duilin expected that move and swung his foot and kicked Nex's left leg before his could make contact and tripped him onto the ground. Not wasting a fraction of the half demon stabbed his sword down right into Nex's chest.
The robed demon roared in pain, but continued his trademark laugh. "Ohhh my...You have gotten better." With that in the blink of eye he simply teleported up onto his feet and punched Duilin square into the stomach.
"Ooofff---" Duilin's stomach nearly caved in on itself, shooting a shockwave through him that dented the wall on the opposite side. He was propelled in the air for a second before sent flying through the room (keeping a tight grip on the Iduran) and crashing into the wall, which was surprisingly still stable despite being on fire. The flames started to burn him, catching his shirt on fire. Duilin howled in pain, but got back up onto his feet and ripped his shirt off and threw it aside. The now bare-chested Duilin twirled the Iduran around and glared at Nex across the room.
"Alright...Now you got me pissed."
- Kainengrad Command Center, Roof -
Valos panted and caught his breath as he reached the roof. He wasn't sure what came over him but he still had an extreme fear of going back down. He looked around the roof and saw the familiar looking man who rushed through the room earlier.
"Vincent? General Vincent?" Valos asked stepping towards him. "Didn't you get your ass killed back in the Aspye-Grey Empire war? What are you doing alive? I thought Draven would have hunted you down and chopped you into tiny pieces and cooked you up for betraying him, by now."
Posted by: Xorlak on Friday September 26th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Center, Roof -
His back to Valos, Vincent turned slightly, his hand covering the orb as he put it away. It was evident he had just finished using it. His coat whipped around in the turbulent wind. Though the rain had stopped, the murky clouds above still cast the city in shadow.
"Hmmm... you look vaguely familiar, but I can't place a name..." In a heartbeat, he flipped his coat open and removed the long shotgun, pointing it at the man with a single hand as his coat flapped in the breeze. In his left hand, he still held the metallic case that concealed the NGO. "Though I don't consider myself much of a traitor. I just tend to stay on the winning side... and you, my friend, are on the wrong one."
He grinned widely, his rectangular glasses gleaming once from an unseen light. As he squeezed the trigger, the gun exploded forth a single blast of light, which careened for Valos' chest...
Posted by: D. Ein on Friday September 26th, 2008
-=The Skies=-
The dark figure cut the sky like the point of a black knife. Tattered robes fluttered in the wind as massive wings kept the creature airborne, ascending and soaring downward to achieve incredible speeds. It seemed to be drifting to the right a little, weighted down by a large iron gauntlet on its right arm.
Posted by: Dude Man on Saturday October 4th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Center, Roof -
Quickly realizing he was being attacked Valos emited a glob of dark energy in his hand and used it to block the beam of light heading towards him.
"Well, that was very polite now was it?"
Valos pointed his finger like a gun at Vincent, with the dark energy still flowing through his hands.
"Then again who am I to criticize people for being impolite, when I'm not such a well mannered person myself?"
With that, he shot a powerful bolt of dark lightning from his hand, directed at Vincent...
- Kainengrad Command Center, Captain's Room -
The demon and the half demon clashed their weapons violently as they stormed around the burning room. Duilin's increased skill over the years was really starting to show as Nex seemed to be well matched against his foe.
"I say Duilin, you have got your father's spunk." Nex said, trying to provoke his rage even further.
Rather than loose it though, Duilin simply smirked. "Abodahon wouldn't have shit on me now, so neither do you, scum."
Duilin then gave a mighty violent slash smashing Nex's weapon from his hands. He pointed the Iduran at Nex and used it to fire a single shot of a white coloured sacred fire at his chest, knocking him to the ground on his back. With his freed left hand, he casted a ball of yellow energy which shot over Nex, creating a shield tightly around him.
Nex attempted to get up but found himself unable to move, due to the shield around him. The demon growled and began to push the shield away by increasing his aura. Duilin kept shooting energy into the shield to hold him in place, and with his right hand holding the Iduran he began to charge it with his energy at the same time.
Nex was amazed at Duilin's raw power. "This...is...making me...extremely...FRUSTRATION!!!"
Posted by: Xorlak on Sunday October 5th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Center, Roof -
The blast of shadow energy caught Vincent completely off guard. It swiveled around his weapon and exploded, blowing his right arm clean off. Clutching the metallic briefcase to his chest with his remaining appendage, he teetered backwards several feet as he hissed. After he regained his balance, his head slowly rose, his rectangular glasses flashing.
"Heh heh heh... nice try. But I'm afraid you're late. Far too late..." As he chuckled a shiny metalic ooze pulsed from the wound of his missing arm, forming itself into a somewhat arm-like shape. His eyes widened and he began cackling with all the fervor of a mad scientist, clutching the box more tightly to his chest. "You can't have it! It's mine! MINE!!!"
With that he leaned forward and thrust his metallic arm into the ground, an ensemble of metallic spikes surging upwards in a row towards Valos. At the same time the deep rumbling of engines resonated in the distance, a shadow piercing the horizon's clouds...
Posted by: Dude Man on Wednesday October 8th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Center, Roof -
"Bahh!!" Valos jumped to the side high into the air and levitated himself with his magic and hovered in the air to avoid the spikes. "Gah, I'd rather not drag this out, as I need to go back downstairs soon." He mumbled.
Valos pointed his sword and Vincent and began to charge shadow energy into the blade, causing it to glow a dark violet with an eerie black shadow around it...
Posted by: D. Ein on Friday October 10th, 2008
-=Kainengrad - Command Center=-
The entire building shook as if from a boulder smashing into the roof. Clouds of noxious dust swallowed everything as the shockwaves from the impact threw both Duilin and Nex sideways. There, beside the spire adorning the Command Center's roof... there, past the shattering shield, past the rising silver spikes, past the broken chunks of the building...
The outline of something huge was clearly visible even through the thick layers of airborne dust. It appeared to be a humanoid silhouette keeling over. As the dust settled, more details began to come through - a massive iron gauntlet on the right hand, a downward-horned helmet, a scarlet robe laced with bone, and a pair of enormous bat-like wings...
Bones cracked as the figure straightened out, stretched its arms, blowing the dust away, revealing a withered man's face - strangely familiar - behind the iron guards of the helmet. Almost with great effort, the man filled his lungs with air, and bellowed:
-"We am become ABODOS! The destroyer of LIFE, the bringer of DEATH!"
Posted by: Xorlak on Saturday October 11th, 2008
(Did this thing crash onto the roof, or though it a level or two (leaving a hole) to where Nex and Duilin are fighting?)
- Kainengrad Command Center, Roof -
Vincent's mad cackling was interrupted by an explosion of such force he was thrown off his feet and slammed into a crumbling brick wall. He clutched the briefcase to his chest as he fell, absorbing much of the impact himself. His writhing metallic right "arm" jittered around frantically until, gritting his teeth, he reshaped it into something human, complete with jacket sleeve.
His calm demeanor immediately returned. He looked at his reformed hand and flexed the fingers. Blast... he thought he had more control over himself when that happened... he would need to concentrate harder next time.
Standing, he peered through the miasmic dust... it appeared to be one of those undead conglomerations like Kronos used to make. Who made this one he did not know, but it was about blasted time.
"You there!" he shouted, trying to waft away the dust with his free hand. It was still too thick to see clearly. "That one! That is your target. Kill him now!" He commanded, pointing to Valos on the other side.
Posted by: Dude Man on Saturday October 11th, 2008
(It's not on the roof, it's in the room with Duilin and Nex)
- Kainengrad Command Center, Captain's Room -
Duilin was blown to the wall of the room, loosing his focus on the shield he was holding Nex into, allowing him to break free but only to be blown to the opposite side of the room.
Nex started laughing as he slowly recovered himself and looked at the abomination which entered the room.
Duilin got himself up onto his feet and quickly noticed what caused him to be thrown back he looked at the giant figure in the room, he could feel a cold shiver through his veins as he looked at it. He could recognize parts of it, some of the parts were disturbingly familiar. That gauntlet, it was exactly the same as his father's, exactly the same.
"What are you!?" Duilin shouted out to the beast.
Posted by: D. Ein on Sunday October 12th, 2008
-=Kainengrad - Command Center - Captain's room=-
The monster calling himself Abodos seemed rather unappreciative of commands - after a rage-filled roar, he smashed the wall right above Vincent with the gauntlet-protected arm. The two-metre-thick wall section broke off like a piece of flicked wafer and flew a good fifty meters before utterly demolishing a vacant tavern below. Having calmed himself thusly, Abodos swooped Vincent off his feet and brought the captain closer for inspection. The face behind the helmet appeared to be.... Kronos himself!
That being said, his face was now even paler than ever, his skin covered with scars and various pentagrams, his eyes turned to white, pupil-less orbs, and his short hair changed to long, white locks appearing from under the helmet. But the facial features, though slightly warped, definitely belonged to Kronos. Abodos proceeded to put Vincent back down, and, without turning back, mumbled:
-"Vanish, Vincent."
With that matter out of the way, Abodos turned to Duilin.
-"You.... you seem strangely familiar.... nay, it must be the --"
Suddenly, Abodos grasped his head, falling on his knees and smashing his forehead into the floor. His head jerked upwards, and he swung his left, unprotected arm, in a semicircle around him, shattering a wooden desk to pieces. Without even fully standing up, he charged at Duilin, drawing back his right arm in preparation for a devastating punch.
---
"Surprisingly, just when it happened, it wasn't as confusing as it got a few minutes later. Even now, writing so long after the first fusion, I still remember vividly the fleeting moments of clarity when, in error, I believed Abodos' body to still be fully under my control. It got me to Kainengrad fairly quick - I couldn't afford to lose Nex after seeing barbarians charge into his quarters. The landing, however... I think that's what jerked the demon's consciousness for the first time...
I recognized Vincent's voice immediately, but after landing, my thoughts no longer directly went from my head to my limbs. There was darkness between - a blanket of black cotton, letting me do only so much without interference. As such, I tried stopping the instinctive action of smashing the source of sound, but could not.
At that point... well, at that point, Abodahon's part of Abodos finally kicked in. Yes, Abodahon - he who became the King of Hell after the fall of Iban. I suppose it must get really boring down there, though - upon contacting him for a purpose as trifle as sparing a legion of demons or two, I was greeted by an offer that, literally, surprised me half to death. The mad chap wanted to fuse his physical being with mine; his excuse was that, as a demon of unfathomable power, he cannot simply pass over to the above world. Ruling Hell for eternity seemed like a dull hobby to him, so he wanted power on Gaian, too. The only way to transfer his power up here was to set up a conduit for it - which is where I came in. Using my phase-shift abilities and Nex's invocations, I successfully grafted the demon king into my own body."
Posted by: Dude Man on Sunday October 12th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Center, Captain's Room -
Valos fell through the hole, which the beast made in the building, and lost control of his charging attack, and released prematurely and off target, blasting his dark lightning bolt into the air, shortly after loosing his grip on his sword allowing it fall on the floor in the room below. Shortly after his sword hit the ground, Valos himself followed falling on his back, a bit more than arms reach from the weapon.
Duilin stared at the creature with shocked wide eyes, yet not in fear of the oncoming attack, but still simply by it's presence. He didn't move a muscle as he stared at it.
It couldn't be who he thinks it is? He thought this too himself, as he watched the beast bring back his fist.The way he brought back his fist was exactly like how Abodahon did. And that name he called himself, 'Abodos' could this be his new form? He remembered how dismembered he was before he died, perhaps this could be a new being simply with old parts of his. He was different, defiantly different, but still disturbingly too similar to his regular self. It must be him though.
"So, just like that? You're gonna hit me? Is that anyway to greet your son, you sick bastard?" Duilin said sternly.
Abodos lowered his fist down and gave a smirk recognizable to Abodahon's. "Ahh...yes...now we are remember you. Son of Abodahon...." He then stood up, revealing his massive height. "Failure of son." He laughed evily pointing at Duilin.
Duilin clenched his fists and teeth, all those feelings of betrayal came back to him, the massive humiliation he went through by allowing himself to be controlled by him. By believing his lies. And the fact that he abandoned him the day before the rest of his family was killed right in front of him, the fact that he got a bunch of men to do it for him.
Duilin then stared at Abodos in the eyes and his aura began to burn around him, he shot a huge gust of air from his aura with blew what was left of the fire in the room out. He started to float in the air, as golden electricity began to shoot around him. The colour of his lightning aura slowly shifted to orange and then to red as he floated slightly away from Abodos.
Abodos simply continued to laugh. "FAILURE! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL-URE!!"
"Shut up!" Duilin shouted as flames started to shoot from his aura.
Abodos ignored him and continued laughing.
"I said...Shut....the ****....UP!!!" Duilin screamed as his aura exploded, his skin seemed like it started to burn his body because of the intensity of his aura, his skin tanned to golden colour and his hair started to grey. His nails grew and pentagrams started to glow a burning orange on his body and then the glow died down leaving perfect brands on him.
"FAIL...Huh??" Abodos seemed surprised by his son's transformation.
The demonized Duilin gave an ominous roar. Although his sized increased fairly he was stilled towered over by the massive Abodos, yet Duilin didn't seem to care. He dived at the beast preparing to dig his claws into his chest...
Posted by: Xorlak on Monday October 13th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Center, Captain's Room -
Vincent tumbled out of the beast's grasp and sprawled upon the floor, wide-eyed. "S... sovereign...?" He scuttled to his feet, grabbing the briefcase and running over piles of rubble.
"C-captain?" Mikail poked his head from under a pile of rocks. Vincent grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him along.
"Our ride should be here any minute. We're leaving. Now."
(Chapter ends this Saturday. Will be copying the forums to the new server then.)
Posted by: Dude Man on Wednesday October 15th, 2008
- Kainengrad Command Center, Captain's Room -
"Ha!" Abodos grunted as Duilin dived at him. With his gauntlet hand he back handed him as he dove at him and sent him flying back to the ground. "Try better."
Duilin made a beastly growl at the demon/lich as he jumped back up on his feet. He clenched his fists as he raised them infront of him, and began to charge his energy, sending a shockwave around the room.
Valos who was on the ground was rolled over and then woken up. "What the..." He weakly got back up and then his jaw dropped as he saw Duilin in his demon form along with Abodos. "Okay, I didn't expect this."
"You see THIS father?!" Duilin roared. "This is what you've been trying to turn me into for the past four decades." His teeth clenched for a few seconds. "But...I can control myself, not even pure evil consuming my entire can make me follow your ways."
Abodos started to step towards him and smirked.
"Go ahead, pat yourself on the back. We don't need you anymore. Now, you're just another piece of mortal scum." He then began to laugh more. "SCUM!!"
Posted by: Xorlak on Saturday October 18th, 2008
- Above Kainengrad -
Standing on the airship deck, Vincent watched the command center shrink as he made his retreat. Originally he planned on striking back as a test of his prototype ship, but after the appearance of that... thing that resembled the sovereign... former sovereign, he thought it best to leave the destruction of the cursed federation scum to him.
He patted the metal briefcase at his side. He had all he needed anyway... "Mikail, instruct the crew to set course for The Factory of Dark Science."
To be continued...