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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2008 23:07:17 GMT -5
KAT: « Result #1 on Aug 15, 2008, 11:20pm »
It had been a hundred and seventy-four pages - in short, a long, long time - since Kat last sat atop her favorite hillock, which was exactly the same distance from Castle Kestrel, Mage Manor, and the pier where the pirate ship was usually docked when it wasn't roaming around. Clad in purple robes that were in much better condition now, she sighed. In one hand she clutched her trusty staff; in the other, a gilded scroll from Damson.
Lady Kalianne,
I do hope this this letter finds you safe and well. It was spelled to home in on your aura, so whether you're on the high seas, riding with fellow knights, or sitting in a library, you get it whether you want it or not. I forgot how adventurous you really are, and I can't see how you can juggle your duties as a first mate, a mage and a lady knight. You do deserve props for it though.
Stellia and Smithy are great apprentices. They are doing very well - not to brag, as of course, they are doing well under my wing. After all, they didn't elect me leader of our mage guild for nothing. Stellia, in particular, is slowly getting over her old master's death, and instead has made a promise to be as great as he is one day. I assure you, she will no longer bother you. In fact, she's just too busy to bother you, if ever she still wants to. One time, I found her fast asleep in the library, with an encyclopedia over her face.
The ice wyrm? Oh, I've given my crew permission to finally give it a mate. It was getting lonely - remember when he started crying icy tears that froze all over its face when we had to leave?
I've been seeing Rane and Kienne too. The happy couple is happy. Need I say more? Rane has dropped by my mansion a few times with his friends - and his wife, of course. Queen Kienne has offered me a spot in her council, which will help the mage-knight relations even more, and I accepted - on only one condition, that I would be given time to train my apprentices. It has been so many years since I had apprentices, have I ever told you that?
Well then, till next time. I believe as a member of three guilds, you have a lot of things to do. I would like to know how things are on your side of the world.
Yours truly,
High Archmagus Charles Gilbert "Damson" Maurice V
P.S. Smithy - and Stellia - say hi.
P.P.S. Yes, I'm still thinking of a better nickname. Charlie? Gil? Mau? Then again, Damson has grown on me these past several days...
She made a mental note to write back, and also to send a message to Hunty as well.
Kat grinned. She had indeed been busy, but not now. With the captain's permission, she requested to be left behind in order to continue helping the mages who were not with the 'Fleeters, and the knights who still had to rebuild Castle Kestrel - again. But now, she had some time to herself before reorganizing the library over at the castle, and she took this time to revisit the same spot where she had heard the farmer find the mysterious gem.
It seemed like years ago, and at the same time, only seconds ago. All this trouble over a lousy gem?
Then again, it turned out to be a lot less lousy than she thought.
"Hey, someone, come look at this!"
Before Kat could do some more thinking, she stood up, stuffing the scroll into a pocket of her robes. Turning around, she saw a farmer in the nearby field waving at someone else - a group of someones, that is.
"She's the one! Lady - Lunara, is it? You helped me with that thing I found in my field!" He sprinted toward her, still clutching his rake and looking almost like a misplaced part of an angry mob. But the eager smile on his face befitted no angry mob. When he reached her, breathing hard and leading the rest of his comrades along, he took a deep breath and said, "So...what'd you mages do with that fancy magic little trinket, eh? Is it gone now?"
"Yeah. It's gone," said Kat, shrugging. "Dunno exactly where it went, but it won't be bothering anyone anymore."
For now, at least.
For now, all was well on the NTWF, and for Kalianne Triss Lunara, Purple Knight, First Mate and certified mage.
SURF: « Result #2 on Mar 2, 2008, 3:57pm »
((Just outside Castle Kestrel))
"I think I can find something," replied Surf. "I'll be right back, okay?" Without waiting for a response, the mage ran to one of the many houses scattered outside the castle. She grabbed a bucket of water from a bewildered farmer, and a rag from his equally-nonplussed wife. She quickly gave a brief explanation that her friend was injured, and handed a few gold coins to the farmer, as reimbursement.
With her supplies, Surf ran back to Kat, and handed her the bucket of water and the rag. "Here. Let's get that wound washed off, and then we can bind it to stop the bleeding."
IKKIN: « Result #3 on Mar 2, 2008, 3:55am »
Ikkin growled in annoyance as the commander just stopped the ball of stone in midair and then broke it apart in such a way that the fire inside wouldn't affect him. And he laughed. Oh, how she hated opponents who laughed at her.
Clearly, he'd seen what she'd done, despite her effort to the contrary - but he hadn't even given her what she really wanted - an opportunity to pit her own magic directly against his.
To make matters worse, he threatened to tear down the whole castle - something Ikkin didn't really think he could do, at least not without taking a good deal of time. He certainly did seem to be trying, though, taking more and more stone from the edges of the whole in the ceiling.
The rocks from this went to her opponent, forming a stone ball-and-chain at the end of his arm, which he swung in circles, gaining momentum. Finally, he thrusted his arm forwards and sent the whole thing towards Ikkin.
Ikkin flipped over it without much effort, then sent a blast of shredding wind at the weak point of the whole setup - the stone "chain" that was holding the spinning stones. She landed on the side of the hole in the second floor, where there was still stone, and shielded herself from the explosion of broken stone that resulted from the disk of stone hitting the opposite side. She prepared a few pressure darts to throw down at her opponent, but just then, the blarf decided to scratch the wall, resulting in an awful screeching noise that pierced right through Ikkin's extra-sensitive kitsune ears.
She blocked her ears in pain and closed her eyes to try to block it out, and fell through the floor as the stones crumbled underneath her, not able to think about the disappearing floor due to the awful sound.
She came to her senses right as the sound stopped - just in time to keep herself from hitting right into the burning carpet.
Reflexively, she took control of the fire and sent it all directly at her opponent, allowing herself to land not-very-nimbly on the burnt - but no longer on fire - carpet.
***
Even for a phoenix, seeking out all those who had died violently in the last day and reviving them at a distance was a whole ton of work.
Of course, it wasn't nearly as straightforward as reviving someone nearby. For one thing, when he revived someone nearby, he didn't really have to worry about the body all too much. He just set it on fire and used the same flames to force the person's soul to make a new one.
This didn't work at a distance, for obvious reasons.
Fortunately, Kit and Shade's bodies had already been dealt with, but, even so, there was the problem of reviving a soul that was far away. Which probably wouldn't have been quite so much of a problem if Sev didn't need to seek out other people simultaneously. After all, there was poison in Castle Kestrel, and he didn't want to ignore the fact that people could have died from that, too. And other people who had died on the battlefield created around Kit.
And since Sev's powers were spread out over so much of an area already, it also picked up several other people along the way, such as a rather silly farmer who had decided to make a flying machine out of those twirly seeds that fall from trees, thinking that twirling was in the nature of the seeds themselves.
As one could imagine, this added up very quickly, which took Sev out of the action for quite some time. He even failed to notice the lasers firing.
Fortunately, however, he managed to complete his task before the sun rose completely. While people revived in this way wouldn't wake immediately, they would at least be able to remain alive once they did wake up.
Sev immediately noticed that things weren't right upon waking from his trance-like state, however, and called out to Hunty. "Well, Ikkin's not around, but... I'd rather not have the ship explode around me. So, what do you want me to do?"
***
"Curiously, this accusation seems to fit with what I heard earlier about the origins of the gem," Huntress said coldly. "Someone had to forge it, and someone had to trap all those guilds in it, and a demon alchemist would fit that picture as well as any other."
Leraye was very glad that he made it a practice to smile all the time; otherwise, he might just have given himself away, there. But one advantage to showing no emotions except those that are forced was that you couldn't be surprised into showing something you regretted.
This, of course, made Leraye an amazing poker player, which he had taken advantage of on many occasions. But that's another story completely.
Going back to our own story, Leraye quickly realized that he was in much less of a pickle than he had feared that he was. While the captain was suspicious, she didn't seem likely to act on those suspicions.
"On the other hand," she said, "I'm a lot more likely to listen to a member of my crew who's done nothing but help me tonight, than some violent ghost who's possessing the body of another crewmember and threatening to tear it apart. You're not giving a good impression there, whoever-you-are."
Leraye was very glad for common sense.
At this point, the captain tossed the pirate girl's amulet back to her, calling for an exorcism. Leraye's attention wandered off.
It came back rather quickly when several lasers fired at the ship. Now this was more like it.
Well, at least it was until Huntress called him out. "Scratch that. We need a shield of sorts. Or to bring down that bloody vessel, preferably both. Leraye, here's your chance to prove your loyalty." she said.
Oh, bother. Leraye so hated to fight. He much preferred to watch someone else do it for him. "I'd be rather useless in a battle, I'm afraid," he said with a smile. "I do think you could find a better use for this in a fight than I could, though," he added, tossing the gem to Huntress. "I'm sure you could come up with some way to use that to stop the lasers, right?"
HUNTRESS: « Result #4 on Feb 26, 2008, 1:12pm »
Hunty gave Surf a sideways glance.
"I know I am not one of the pirates, but I am loyal to Ikkin, and as long as her loyalties lie with you, so do mine."
Indirect loyalties. She'd never liked those, and for a reason: while she had complete trust in her boatswain, she couldn't place trust in the same people her boatswain placed trust in. It was like an explosion - the farther you get from the epicentre, the weaker the effect.
But she was well aware that she wouldn't have any authority over the mage, and keeping her on the ship didn't make much sense to her either, they weren't an inn or anything.
"You're free to go wherever you want," she said. "If you wish to side with us, then welcome aboard. You can count on full protection of everyone in the group as long as you don't work against us - you hear that, boy? Not food."
"Blarf," said the blarf, who was looking in over the railing, the first pair of front paws leaned against the hull.
"But if you choose to turn against us," the captain continued, "you're food. Hear that too, boy?"
"Blaaarf." There was a distant sound similar to multiple catapults being released one after another. The blarf was wagging his tail.
"Nice. Do get going then." Hunty looked at Surf again. "Nothing personal there, but y'see, we're pirates. If we trusted everyone without precautionary measures, we'd be dead pirates, and we don't like that."
Bloody Mary looked up from his thick fuzzy nest. "And what're you planning to do on your lovely safe ship while we're out there risking our heads?"
Hunty went over to Leraye's couch and popped down. "I'm planning to have a nap before I fall over. Good luck, gentlemen, and try not to get killed."
The meepit snorted and prodded his spiky steed's ear: "Move it then. Up and away, to those gates there."
'Those gates' were firmly shut, but they were shut against a ship-sized monster with three rows of shark-fangs. Bloody Mary watched with a scowl as the beast wrestled with the door.
"Come on now, just grab that big ring and pull... no, pull...! Or just, youknow, do what humans do and stick a claw in it, then pull. Don't bite the ring, it won't help. Or the knocker...! Or, well... aw man, not like that, it's good oak, have some respect, you don't see woodwork like that any more these days... eh, guess that works as well as anything else."
The doors, covered with saliva and fangmarks, slid open. The beast slid in.
***
Her name was Delinda. She'd grown up in a small picturesque village not far from the castle, and she'd spent many a clear night sitting on her window looking at the castle and dreaming that she was really a princess who'd been kidnapped at an early age, and one day heralds would come to take her back to the castle to a life where she'd never have to milk cows again.
Then she grew up, and came to the castle. Unfortunately, while a maid's life didn't involve much cow-milking, it did involve quite a bit of dust, spiders, greasy dishes, and dirty undewear. Not that she complained. It was a nice, steady job, and she got a new dress every Christmas.
A maid's life didn't usually involve getting blown out of bed due to a distant explosion that shook the entire wing she slept in, though, so while the other servants were clustering on doorsteps, whispering nervously and arguing whether or not they should go outside to see, Delinda was sneaking downstairs in the meantime, armed with a poker. She'd recently read a book titled 'The Amazing Adventures of a Young Farmboy Who Becomes a Mighty Hero'* and had become really attached to the idea of a self-confident female warrior. Not to mention the explosion had really shaken her, pun not intended, and she knew that the castle's pantry still had some chocolate cake left. And nothing like some chocolate cake to calm your poor nerves, right?
She turned around the corner, and ran pretty much straight into the blarf whose big figure occupied the whole hallway.
Despite popular belief - stemmed from the fact that the blarf had tiny eyes hidden under thick fur - the creature had excellent night vision (stemmed from the fact that his species had lived in an underground temple for centuries). He perked his ears, focusing his glance on the petrified maid, then lowered his head to sniff her.
"Oh, a maid?" asked a low, coarse, surprisingly small-sounding voice somewhere around the blarf's head. "Hey, how do you keep this castle anyway? It's pitch-black in here, really, I thought a big castle would have torches flaming inside day and night and all that jazz."
"I-I don't..." stammered Delinda, too scared to run or at least try that fancy jump-swirl-kick with the poker that'd been described so thoroughly in the book.
"Not that I care, it'd probably just set the blarf's fur in fire," the voice continued, "and you don't wanna see him attempt a stop-drop-roll in here, trust me, but still, I thought this place would be a little more, yanno, lively and all."
"Blarp," said another voice, this time from the creature's mouth. Big, smelly, fang-ridden mouth.
Delinda dropped the poker, turned around, and ran, screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Maids these days," said Bloody Mary. "Now where's the rest of that gang?"
* The people of Dunburrow, while rather liking that whole idea of belletrism and high-class literature, also liked the idea of leaving that to scholars and dusty libraries. The average commoner, being a simple and straightforward farmer, much preferred simple and straightforward books you could read without having to strain too many braincells and use as toilet paper later if you didn't like it. And here you wondered why people like Paolini do so well.
Which also goes to show that letting Hunty devour Pratchett's books in one sitting instead of doing homework is generally a bad idea, but that's how the universe tends to work in these parts of the world :]
AMNEIGER: « Result #5 on Jan 17, 2008, 9:06pm »
((Forest, near Farmer Bob's field.))
"I've been trying to measure the lightning and wind speed, and have some samples of storm water. For the most part I've been hiding in this forest," Amneiger replied to Keng. "When I arrived there were several peple in the middle of a corn field. I got some of their descriptions, so maybe we can talk to them later. At a first glance the wind and lightning readings are stronger than usual. I'll bring the equipment back up to the station; I'm getting more and more uncomfortable here." He looked around the field; the Zafara had left and there was nobody else in sight, so he gathered up his equipment and headed back to the ship.
"Everything all right in here?"
The pilot rubbed his eyes. He looked dazed and disoriented. "Yeah. I, uh..." he gestured towards the radio, where reports of the message were coming in.
"Let's not worry about that now. Head back to the station."
AMNEIGER: « Result #6 on Jan 17, 2008, 5:08am »
((Forest: Outside Farmer Bob's field))[/green]
Amneiger had head both Drakhé's barking and weapons fire coming from the forest. The first one he had dismissed as an ordinary dog; the second had him flinging himself around a tree and glancing about frantically until he figured out which direction it was coming from. He'd tried to see what was going on, but there were just too many trees in the way. So instead he'd continued with his report.
As of now, the light green Zafara is still
A strange voice he didn't know suddenly interrupted Amneiger's train of thought.
Demons? How do demons deserve not to be, um, disliked? I thought that demons - and their powers - were supposed to be personifications of chaos and evil. Either that or they were made from wicked souls who are being made to serve penance for their sins, which isn't much better. What good would it do to have them here? And this promise of power. Spacefleet isn't supposed to take over the planet. And what would we do with the NTWF if we conquered it?
"To all who are willing to listen." Does that mean this message is being sent to other people as well? Who else is getting it? Who is sending it? I remember that one of the Knights has studied demons; maybe he can tell us what's going on. But first... Amneiger used the computer to send a message to the members of Spacefleet he was working with.
This is Professor Amneiger. This may sound strange, but did anybody else suddenly hear a voice in their head talking about demons and conquering the planet?
DRAGON: « Result #7 on Jan 16, 2008, 8:00pm »
Nobody was answering the door and Dragon was quickly becoming annoyed. She turned around to see the smoke high. The smell was beginning to reach her. Now that she thought of it, where was her pirate crew. She had passed Farmer Bob's cornfield without seeing anyone.
"Ugh, time to back track." Dragon sighed, turning into a bird she reached the field fast. And then into a bear. A whole new array of senses caught onto her. She followed the pirates tracks to the beginning of the forest where she turned back into an elf. Luckily enough the crew trampled past - and even over- her to reach their beloved ship. "Pirates."
((The White Weewoo))
"Captain... "Dragon didn't know where to begin. She had witnessed what? The smoke billowing out of the ship and the pyromaniac diving into the safety of the ocean. She couldn't do anything. Long ago she had traded her elemental powers in for the return of her shapeshifting powers. "What about Blarf?"
RIKKU: « Result #8 on Jan 16, 2008, 1:31am »
((In Farmer Bob's field, a long, long time ago, there was a young necromancer who - *brick'd*))
The thing about fields is that they’re remarkably lacking in chairs. And benches, for that matter. And conveniently placed rocks. And everything that could conceivably be used to sit on, when it came to it. So Rikku, after casting around a little, muttered something that shouldn’t be repeated and sat gingerly on the bare earth.
Surf had run off to the Manor. There wasn’t much point in following her. Rikku and Nature were alone in this burnt field – even that ‘Spacefleet’ person and the obnoxious vampire had gone.
“So, Nature,” Rikku said, drawing her knees up and resting her head on her arms. “I wonder what kind of situation we have here.” She looked up at the sky. It was dark, dismal, lit up only by those unnatural flashes of light. She looked down again, and studied the singed earth. “Frankly, I’m worried. I don’t want, or need, war. Death is all very well, but not when it’s dished out to all of your friends.” She paused and chewed her lip. “I just want everyone to be safe … well, no, I guess that’s not entirely true. I couldn’t care less about the people I don’t know. Does that make me evil? Well, guess it doesn’t matter. I’m a necromancer; I practice the dark arts. Evil is in the job description. If anyone ever wanted to apply to be a necromancer, that is. Which is pretty unlikely. Even if they had anyone to apply to.” She coughed. “Anyway …” Something occurred to. “Oh, Anubis. I really hope that if anyone dies, they won’t come running to me. Erm … I mean … I hope they’re not brought to me. Yeah.” She scratched the back of her head. “It just feels … like the storm’s holding back. There’s so much tension in the air. And I want to be under shelter when the storm breaks.”
She kicked at the ground. She would never be saying all this (or rambling this much)were the freezemancer actually awake.
Everyone seemed to have left. Rikku was bored … frankly, very bored. To climax it, a dog started barking not far from there. Loudly.
Rikku waited for it to stop, and then gritted her teeth and stuck her hands over her ears. The last thing she wanted was to act impulsively again, and have even MORE people thinking she was some kind of deranged idiot.
“Oh, blow it all.” Rikku got stiffly to her feet, paused, and placed her water bottle by Nature’s head. “Thanks for listening, pal.”
She looked over at the castle, but decided that going closer to the thing probably wasn’t a good idea, and instead walked into the forest, deciding to search for the dog.
Its barking certainly didn’t sound like any dog she’d ever head. It almost had more of a … lupine sound to it. Rikku pulled out her frying pan. It felt solid and reassuring in her hand.
She went a little more cautiously than usual, which meant that she was concentrating too hard on not making a sound that she probably walked straight past several suspicious things that she’d normally investigate. However, even she couldn’t miss the impressive (and shiny) ship, and the people clustered around it.
She quirked an eyebrow and leaned against a tree near it. Hopefully nobody would notice her …
At that point there was the sound of … something. Maybe a weapon? Rikku dived to the ground on reflex, but got to her feet again, brushing off bits of rot and dead leaves, when she saw whatever-it-was hadn’t been aimed at her. She sighed, wanting to ask someone what was going on, but decided to just observe for the moment. Hopefully the people clustered around the ship would be so distracted by the shot they wouldn’t notice the suspicious green-haired Mage standing so close to them.
Rikku’s eyes widened as she glanced up. The storm, which had seemed to be receding earlier, had now greatly intensified. Along with it came a piercing headache that made the necromancer wince.
“Something might have happened to the jewel …” She spoke out loud, forgetting her surroundings, and then groaned and put her face in the hands. “Um, by the way, that suspicious shot before was definitely not me.” She glanced at the shiny thing. “It looked like it came from there, but …” She trailed off and cleared her throat. “Not me. Nope.” There was still a slight chance that everybody was too busy to notice her. A very slight chance.
AMNEIGER: « Result #9 on Jan 16, 2008, 1:10am »
((This is what I get for going off for a day...I should probably hurry Amneiger a bit.))
"I'm not sure," Amneiger said in response to Ethan's request. "I've just been told to go to the planet to make some observations, though. Maybe that has something to do with it. Anyway, I'd better hurry."
Amneiger walked into the Spacefleet docking bay with a hovercart carrying two duffel bags and followed by a minitank. He looked around, and tapped one of the mechanics on the shoulder. "Um, hello? I just got some orders from the Commander," he said, holding up a small chip. "I need a ship for one trip to the surface and back. And I'm going to need a pilot."
Ten minutes later the ship was approaching the outskirts of the storm. "Where to?" asked the pilot.
"That clearing in the forest, over there."
As the ship landed, Amneiger stood up. "Once I'm gone, lock the door. Program the keypad with the code 66243708. Close all the windows and try to stay quiet; remember that nobody is supposed to know about us yet." Amneiger grabbed the handle of the hovercart as he turned to the minitank. "Stay in here for now."
"Got it," replied the pilot. He yawned and stretched. "Maybe I'll get some rest."
The mintank, which lacked a speech unit, instead flashed a green LED light three times.
((Forest: near Farmer Bob's field))
Amneiger stepped outside, propped up an umbrella between the bags, and made his way to the edge of the forest, pulling the cart along behind him. He was going to get a look at the cornfield first before doing anything. There was a small knot of people standing in the middle of it; at this distance they weren't much more than a group of black shapes. Amneiger pulled a pair of binoculars from the bag and looked at them. Mages and knights from the look of them, but nobody he recognized. Most of them appeared to be walking away. Where was Zari and the other officer? Amneiger stepped back under the trees and pulled a portable computer from one of the bags.
Zari, this is Amneiger. The Commander sent me to the planet to study the storm and I've just reached the cornfield. Where are you?
Which reminded Amneiger to send another message to Strife.
Commander, I'm on the planet now. I currently do not see either Zari or another other members of Spacefleet and have sent a message to Zari. In the meantime I will start setting up the equipment.
Normally Amneiger would have waited for a response before proceeding further, but the storm seemed to be slowly losing power; if he wanted to take measurements, he'd better do them now.
First he took out the wind speed meter, put it down under the umbrella, and attached it to the computer. He pressed the power button and then the record button. On the screen, the words "Wind speed meter online. Recording session started," appeared and the meter twitched towards the direction of the wind.
Next was the jars for the water. Amneiger pulled out a jar and a knee-height wooden stool and carefully made his way out from under the trees, keeping as low as possible to avoid detection. Once he was sufficiently away from the branches he put the stool on the ground and set the jar on top of it. He did this two more times.
Finally, Amneiger stepped back slightly further into the forest and placed the stand for the lightning rod where it wouldn't be obstructed by the branches. He pressed a button on the bottom and rod telescoped up until it reached a point just above the trees. This rod had been colored a nonreflective black and Amneiger was hoping that anybody who saw it would dismiss it as just a shadow.
When each of these had been connected to the computer and their recording sessions started, Amneiger started up a word processer and began typing.
Entry time - 12:30:15. Arrived at storm site, coordinates (238, 781). At 12:25 observed small group of people near center of storm. Many of them appeared to be leaving the site. Descriptions as follows: one female, black hair, purple band
The radio crackling stopped Amneiger from finishing writing the word "bandanna." Hades! What's he...
...
...Well. Um.
Amneiger almost reached for the radio, but stopped. It would be easier to keep his presence here a secret if he didn't transmit but only listened. Instead he continued typing up his observations.
((Edit: Forgot to contact Strife like I was supposed to. >>))
SURF: « Result #10 on Jan 15, 2008, 9:51pm »
((Farmer Bob's field - cluster of people))
Fraze shrugged in response to Surf's question. "Whatever it is," he replied, "it thinks for itself. It somehow made its way into my bag. I wouldn't be surprised if it made me drop the bag on top of it. I think it has some agenda. Call me paranoid, but from what little experience I've had with magical objects, I've learned that magical things are often much more than they seem to be."
Jasor, who had been pretty quiet the entire time, added, “I think it's a key or dimensional gate of some sort. Though that's just going on pure speculation. I'm not exactly sure what it is though. It is certainly magical, although I could do without it doing all the strange things it's doing."
Celestial also chimed in. "It is the object that is causing the storm. I feel it in the air, that thing is disrupting the weathers, not allowing us to fly properly."
“So we’ve got an intelligent object. It has plans, and something tell me it’s not planning to bake us cookies. And if it’s a portal, Jasor, the question is, what is it a portal to? And the object is also-” She was interrupted by a puff of purple smoke, as Kat teleported away with the orb in tow. “-not here anymore. Great.” Surf sighed.
'Drat. And I had the Stasis box too,' said Zari. She turned to Fraze, and continued, 'We'd better go back to base, so the commander can flay our sorry hides and we can speculate on what that thing is. You Mages, Pirates, whatever you are, please don't tell anyone. We'd rather remain under cover for a while yet. Sorry to bother you.' She added, 'It was messing with my teleportation too. I truly do wonder.'
“Well, then, bye. Good luck with your Commander or whatever-it-is.” Surf smiled. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with us.” Surf waved to the two as they walked away. Surf turned back to the other mages, or mage, to be exact, because Celestial had apparently flown off. “Rikku, we should head back to the manor and tell the others about the magical thing.” She turned and ran towards the manor as she finished this statement, not bothering to see if Rikku was following her. I've got to tell the others about this orb.
-----
((Mage Manor))
About ten minutes later, Surf bolted through the doors of the manor, skidding to a halt in the kitchen, where she found Leoness, Aerisa, and a cute little kitten. "Guys, guys, you've gotta hear about this!" She paused to pant for breath, then continued to tell the other mages about the orb and the whole ordeal concerning it, leaving out a few details about the identity of Fraze and Professor Ailden. "And I think we should look at it. I mean, we're more experienced with magic, and we'd do a better job of it. And also, while the strangers were nice, they seemed to think that the higher ranked people where they come from are cruel, so we need to stop these evil people."
RIKKU: « Result #11 on Jan 15, 2008, 7:22pm »
((Farmer Bob's Field - Cluster of people))
Everybody talked for a while. Rikku didn't see much point in responding to anything, since none of it was directed at her. Kat, who was carrying the jewel-thing, teleported off - to Dunburrow, she said. Rikku stiffened, then relaxed. Kat was a fellow Mage and a friend; she could be trusted with it. And Rikku immediately felt better at not being so close to the thing. Her muscles loosened in relief. She felt like she hadn't breathed properly in days.
Kat had said something about taking care of Nature. Rikku nodded and walked over to the unconscious Zafara. She seemed mostly unhurt. Rikku pulled out the water she'd brought in preparation for when her friend woke up. She crouched down and looked around at everyone.
Celestial said, "It is the object that is causing the storm. I feel it in the air, that thing is disrupting the weathers, not allowing us to fly properly." Rikku raised her eyebrows. Flying? Oh, whatever. But the girl - or whatever she was - was right; the thing was definitely making the storm. Which didn't seem to be getting any better. Rikku pulled her cloak closer to her in an effort to keep out the cold.
After talking a bit more, Celestial turned into a dragon and flew off towards a castle in the near distance. Rikku raised her eyebrows higher. That explained a lot. Rikku wondered whether she should follow her ... but there was plenty going on here, and the last time she'd followed her curiosity, look where she'd ended up.
HUNTY: « Result #12 on Jan 15, 2008, 5:33pm »
((Farmer Bob's Field: near the forest))
Bloody Mary skidded through the grass, brain processing frantically. He was but a small meepit, what could he possibly...?
He gave himself a mental whack for thinking that. It all came down to creativity. At this point the creativity included shards of a bottle or something of the sort, glistening on the ground. He stopped a fair distance from the cluster of people still arguing over something. Whatever it was, it didn't concern him at that point. He held up the shard, letting it twinkle, and edged closer. One or two weasels were bound to notice.
And they did. Bloody Mary snorted contentedly and slid through the grass, meeting with the weasels a couple dozen yards away from the humans.
"You," he hissed quietly, twirling the shard in one paw. "The big shiny. Can you take me to the big shiny and the purple lady who took it? Or tell where they went?"
***
((Forest: Fraze's spaceship))
"Supervisors? What the heck are they supervising?"
Huntress stared at her ex-captain. The day was just getting more and more interesting.
"Peace," she then said. "You know. Order. Oh-great-knights-my-neighbor-and-I-are-arguing-over-this-patch-of-land. Not that it matters. They don't concern us, thank heavens."
She turned back to look at the spaceship.
"Ooooh. Spiffy. Can we commandeer that?"
"I'd love to, if we could. But it probably wouldn't be easy, and extra attention is the last thing we need." She scowled, listening to the quiet 'Please provide identity verification' inside. "We'd have to find the owner of this thingy first, and command them to help us, and with something like this at their command, I wouldn't know what else to expect from them."
ZYLAA: « Result #13 on Jan 15, 2008, 4:30pm »
((Farmer Bob's Field: Cluster of People))
Inadvertently, Fraze had brought this problem upon himself. When he grabbed the bag from the field, even the two-hundred weasels who were following orders had no choice but to follow him. And a metal-man out in the open is worth two shiny things you can't see... or something like that.
But as the skinsuit receded from Fraze, the weasels one by one lost interest, settling back down onto the ground. Now that the distraction of a visible shiny was gone, even the youngest of the lot could feel the magic radiating from the inside of the bag. Heads swivelled. Silence reigned among the weasels as the people discussed what the weasels classified as "politics"- anything complicated done not in the pursuit of shinies.
"Shiny?" one murmured. But no human noticed- and then Kat vanished.
"Shiny!" several of the weasels cried, leaping up after the purple sparks that vanished as they grabbed frantically. The weasel general and a few others paused, frowning at the smoke. The purple lady had gone- and with it, the magical shiny. They were told to get the magical shiny. And no silly disappearing lady would stop them, the general decided. He signaled to the commanders, and with a few quick paw movements, they had a new plan. Six weasels, including the general, disappeared.
((Knight's Castle: Wherever Kat is))
With faint poofing noises, the weasels appeared and landed on the tiles. Scanning the room, they realized there was nowhere to hide, so they clustered together behind Kat, ears pricked and tails twitching.
**********
((Forest: Approaching Fraze's Spaceship))
"Alright," Zylaa said. "No problem. You ran away from a bunch of unfamiliar people, trying to get a treasure, and got lost in the woods. No problem at all."
She stopped talking. Nothing answered back. No luck, then. She kept walking through the woods, glad at least that the trees offered shelter from the threatening clouds. The storm seemed milder away from the field, she thought. Maybe just because the trees obscured the sky.
After a minute of walking, she heard voices, and veered course enough to witness Rider's spectacular entrance.
Ow, the former captain said as she fell out of a tree. "Supervisors? What the heck are they supervising?"
"Why look, a tree sprite," Zylaa said. Rolling her eyes, she walked up until she could see the rest of the crew- and the spaceship. "Ooooh. Spiffy. Can we commandeer that?"
PYRO: « Result #14 on Jan 14, 2008, 7:24pm »
I don't think he's here," Ikkin said. "I was just going to tell him about a magical artifact that was unearthed by a farmer when this happened. I think the artifact might be the cause..."
'King Wolf? Oh, Pyro. Did you see that Lightning? It...made my empathy go haywire. Thought you should know, that's not ordinary lightning.'
Do you have any idea what caused that storm? Even I can tell that it’s magical. And it gave me a headache.”
She hesitated a moment before adding “And it’s energies – they didn’t seem normal. It seemed like light and darkness mixed together, but not in the normal way. Normally, that combination would make shadow, and the storm’s energy certainly wasn’t that.” Only then did Shade actually look at the others. Zari was on edge, though Shade couldn’t tell why. Probably the storm. The other two didn’t seem to be affected by the storm at all, which was probably a good thing, judging by her and Zari’s reactions.
"I was just going to tell him about a magical artifact that was unearthed by a farmer when this happened. I think the artifact might be the cause..."
Pyro looked around in surprise at the empty throne room, but in another second she caught sight of Ikkin and listened intently to the other knight’s news.
“A…magical artifact? Do you know what—” Pyro was cut off as Zari burst into the room, much in the same manner as the Black Knight had entered. It was only common sense to assume that the strange storm had sent the Crimson Knight racing to the throne room.
'King Wolf? Oh, Pyro. Did you see that Lightning? It...made my empathy go haywire. Thought you should know, that's not ordinary lightning.'
Pyro raised an eyebrow at Zari’s comment, wrapping her fingers around the hilt of her sword again. The metal shivered under her touch and only stilled after a long moment. In her mind’s eye, Pyro saw the bizarre lightning rip across the sky again, and she felt like shivering too.
“I saw it all right. It’s not just your empathy that’s affected. My sword is acting strange again, and that only happens when magic’s in the air. Do any of you know where Lord Wolf is—or, Ikkin, do you know anything about this magical artifact…?”
“Do you have any idea what caused that storm? Even I can tell that it’s magical. And it gave me a headache…and it’s energies – they didn’t seem normal. It seemed like light and darkness mixed together, but not in the normal way. Normally, that combination would make shadow, and the storm’s energy certainly wasn’t that.”
“Light…and darkness? That’s certainly…strange. And disturbing. Gods know I’m no magic user; I’m not even physically affected by this storm, as you can see. But even I can guess that something that draws off both light and darkness, and mixes them together to feed its power…is very powerful indeed.” Pyro didn’t like this at all. The way the flameblade was twisting in her hand spelt danger of the kind she feared most—the unknown, magical kind. “We have to get a message to Lord Wolf, or to some of the Knights that may be in the area. Does anyone know where the rest of us are?”
DRAGON: « Result #15 on Jan 14, 2008, 2:55am »
That poor poor ninja. The minute he had let her speak she had flipped out a hidden dagger, stabbing him in the leg.
"Listen to me and listen closely. Something's coming. Something great, something indescribably... something the NTWF hasn't seen in centuries. Prepare yourself... I'm not sure for what. Take this as a threat or a warning. I don't care. You're only ninjas. Be that as it may... good luck, for whatever comes our way." Dragon said, sliding the dagger out of the leg, quickly cleaning it off on the wall and placing it back into it's hidden spot.
She eyed another ninja coming towards the door. She best be on the move. Without another word she transformed into a hawk and flew toward's Farmer Bob's cornfield.
I'm not even sure what that was all about...
IKKIN: « Result #16 on Jan 13, 2008, 10:24pm »
Ikkin somehow didn't notice that no one seemed to be in the throne room until after she'd called out her information. She shook her head, trying to clear it. She normally noticed the lack of any magical signatures before she made a fool of herself; she supposed it was because she was preoccupied with the thoughts of the odd something[/i[ that was in the bag.
In any case, she needed to go find someone to tell. She concentrated on the magical signatures nearby... and was blasted with the enormous force of the storm outside. She reeled backwards from the sudden explosion of magical energy. That was unexpected.
After she calmed herself down a bit, she felt out towards the source of the energy. She never really had a great sense of direction, but, if she was correct, it was coming from the same place where she had seen the bag with the odd-feeling object.
She decided to tell that to whoever she met as she went about the castle.
It was much harder to find the relatively-small magical signatures of the knights with so much power elsewhere, so it took her some time to find which direction she wanted to take - and by then, she'd realized that Pyro (whose magical signature was a bit stronger than average) was already running for the throne room herself, so all she needed to do was go to the door and wait for her.
“King Wolf! The sky outside…something terrible is going on," Pyro called. "Something magical…dark magic.”
"I don't think he's here," Ikkin said. "I was just going to tell him about a magical artifact that was unearthed by a farmer when this happened. I think the artifact might be the cause..."
***
((Sorry, Aeri... I'll just retcon everything that happened so Sev appeared outside. Sev still called Scar a quad, though, since he couldn't tell Scar could walk on his hind legs since you were both all over each other in the fountain. ;) ))
"If you're decent in your plumage, Sev," Aeri started, rolling around the floor, "I'll darn well be decent in scales and fur. I'm a Dragonbunny," she proclamed proudly. "Not some kind of luxury PET."
"You sure act like a pet around ME!" Scar said with a smug look. Aerisa tripped him with her tail, chuckling evilly. Sev just raised a wing to his head, as if he'd suddenly gotten a really bad headache from all of the sillyness.
"Anyway, we were thinking about leaving soon," Aeri said, "but you can leave your message to us, Sev." She brought herself face to face with the phoenix before continuing. "We'll be sure to spread it around, Scar's mouth never shut anyway, we might as well give him something useful to say."
"HEY!" Scar said. Sev had to hold back a laugh at the offended look on the kitten's face.
"Or if you'd rather tell everyone yourself, usually most of the mages are in the kitchen, follow me!" Aeri finished, flying away towards the kitchen.
Sev paused for a moment to search for the magical signatures of various mages to see if Aeri was right about them being in the kitchen, only to get hit by the enormous energy of the magical storm.
He quickly decided that he might as well follow Aeri, who had flown ahead of him while he wasted time. He caught up right outside of the entrance to the kitchen.
"Something's wrong... there's a huge amount of magical energy coming from Dunburrow, and it doesn't feel like it's the good kind. Now I see why Ikkin wanted backup..."
HUNTY: « Result #17 on Jan 13, 2008, 7:19pm »
The pirates made their way through the forest and finally reached the other side of it, which brought them to the edge of Farmer Bob's cornfield and the little scene that was currently taking place there.
"Buwah," Huntress muttered. "That thing's shiny, alright." She strained her eyes. The people, as well as the artifact, were pretty far away, on the other side of the field. "Is that... Kat?"
"That complicates things," snarled Bloody Mary, lowering himself on the shoulder.
"How so? We'd need to take her along anyway. She's a good mage, and none of us would probably be able to tell much about that shiny."
"Precisely." The meepit turned, his beady eyes narrowing. "Can you count on her? Will she come? Or will she betray us? Wouldn't cost much to her, but we'd all go down." He focused on the scene again. "Another person, wounded... and a third one, wouldya look at that, is that one of Zylaa's weasels?"
"Looks too big for a weasel to me," said Bob Squeaky, wiggling to a better position to see more clearly.
"The guy he's clinging to, dunce. Look, all silvery."
"Another mage?"
"No clue. But there's a shield around all three of them, see? With any luck, the weasels would get off before they have a chance to take it down."
"That'd leave that one weasel inside the shield behind, though," Hunty interjected. "And we don't want to leave hostages. Hrm. Then again, they could sortof... teleport, right?"
"I think so," Bloody Mary agreed hesitantly.
"That's settled then. Now or never, while the shield still stands. Get 'em weasels, and get that shiny, and tell them to take a slightly different route to the ship. And then... prepare to run fast and far, people. Justice, you go ahead, or rather back, and tell them to heave the anchors."
KAT: « Result #18 on Jan 13, 2008, 6:18am »
"Well, I hope that the next time we meet will be under less dangerous circumstances."
"And the same to you," said Kat, as Fraze walked away with his gun. She turned to Nature and the farmer. "Looks like that's the end of it..."
But she paused. Her foul magic senses, which were quiescent a moment ago, were now tingling like mad. Drawing her wand again, she looked around, and saw the farmer pointing up at the sky and screaming, "What's going on? What's that?"
"I didn't do anything - " Kat glanced up, and shrank back when she saw the sky turn purple and black. Suddenly, lightning struck, hitting the artifact that Fraze had just taken away. But before she could call back to him, she heard a thump beside her, and saw Nature collapse on the ground before her.
"Get out of here! Lock your doors and windows! Warn everyone else!" screeched the Purple Knight, shoving the farmer away. While he fled, Kat swooped down and helped Nature up, letting the unconscious mage lean on her. She could feel the dark magic coursing within Nature and knew that she had to get help - fast. Gripping one of her hands, Kat tried to delve into Nature's system, attempting to filter the bad sorcery out.
"Get rid of the gun thing!" Kat shouted, wondering which was closer - Dunburrow Castle or Mage Manor, or even the pirate ship.
Her wand grew once again into a staff, and she blasted a shimmering jet of violet light at the gun. Besides leaping out of Fraze's hand, the magic did nothing. Once the gun was on the ground, the Purple Knight made an arc with her staff and created a shield around herself, Nature and Fraze.
KAT: « Result #19 on Jan 12, 2008, 8:16pm »
"What's going on?"
"Hi, Nature," said Kat, waving to her fellow mage. "This farmer needs our help...he found something in his field..." She turned to him and said, "Don't worry; I'll see what I can do."
But when she stepped towards him and peered into the sack, she gasped. The Purple Knight froze, and for a second, it was as if her mind had suddenly gone blank for a moment. Kat continued to stare at the artifact, and began to shiver and sway, but willed herself to stand. I'm not going to faint...I'm not...
SURF: « Result #20 on Jan 12, 2008, 3:44pm »
Surf yelled out in frustruation. She's been looking at this magic puzzle box for hours, and she wasn't even close to solving it. She sat down on the tree branch, and leaned against the trunk, examining her surroundings. She noticed an apple tree, and her rumbling stomach reminded her that she had forgotten to get lunch. She jumped down and ran to the tree, nimbly pulling herself up.
She had just taken a bite when she heard a cry. She couldn't quite make out what it said, but it didn't sound good. She hurriedly rode the wind currents to the source of the noise: a startled-looking farmer, staring at the sack in his hands. And Kat and Nature were there as well. She landed in a fighting stance, but relaxed when she realized that no one else, besides the two mages and the farmer, was there. "What's wrong?" she asked, and took another bite of the apple.
STRIFE: « Result #21 on Jan 12, 2008, 1:22pm »
"I'm here! What's wrong, sir?" called out the Purple Knight.
"I... I found something in my field!" said the farmer, holding up the cloth sack. For a moment he was tempted to keep the artifact to himself, but he figured that being open would yield a greater reward. "I don't know what it is, but it looks like it belongs in the castle."
Just then, he spotted another mage walking towards him who was carrying some kind of sitar. The mage jumped in surprise when she realized that Kat was already here as well. "What's going on?" she asked her.
((From this point forward, feel free to control the farmer, since he is a minor NPC to me.))
IKKIN: « Result #22 on Jan 12, 2008, 12:07pm »
((Ikkin's firs post?)
While the events leading up to the war between the guilds had been largely put aside to foster the peace that had come after the defeat of the General Barak and his shadowy minions, one of the war's veterans still found it very hard to put it out of her mind, even with time to heal things somewhat. Ikkin flew over the farmlands of Dunburrow, lost in the memories of the things she had done, still trying to find atonement for her betrayal of the Knights and what she had led the Mages to do.
She was a far different kitsune than the one who had led the Mages against the Knights. She no longer spent so much of her time as the de facto leader of the Mage Guild; rather, she floated along, spending little time with any of the guilds, avoiding places that she associated with the strife and doing little things for people when she came across someone to help.
Perhaps that was why she felt such a personal responsibility in something that really was, in its essence, a minor mishap. One of the Mages - whom she'd once commanded, though she had not done so in some time - had accidentally set a Dunburrow farmer's fields aflame, and he had lost most of his crops before the flames could be put out. Almost everyone considered the situation resolved - it had caused little tension between the Mages and the Knights, and it was largely assumed that there was little that could be done - but to Ikkin, the situation felt like a chance for atonement, a way for her to apologize, as a Mage, for the things she had done to the Knights.
Of course, she didn't actually know any spells that would help; her particular brand of magic tended towards combat and sailing far more than growing crops. But, she had been able to collect some magical scrolls that could reverse at least some of the damage from an outside wizard at a fairly steep cost, and was flying off to give them to the farmer to complete the task.
Perhaps that was why she was nearly there when the farmer called out for somebody to come and take a look at something in a sack that he seemed to have pulled from the ground. She couldn't tell what it was from her position in the air, but she could certainly feel something from inside the sack - something powerful, and possibly dangerous.
Whatever it was, it would probably be best for the Knights to come and take a look, she thought. So, for the first time in quite a while, she flew off to the castle to tell the others about what she had seen, without even noticing Kat and Nature had arrived to look as well.
Just as the castle came in sight, she was greeted by Sev, who she had been using to keep her up-to-date on what was happening in the different guilds. He was really supposed to be in the court, listening for any news of interest, but the bored look on his face made it clear that he hadn't heard anything particularly interesting.
"So, it looks like you've finally decided to come back," Sev said. "Finally get over your pathetic guilt-complex? Or do I have to keep being your little spy until the next war?"
"Oh, shut it, Sev," Ikkin said. "You know as well as I do why I don't like being here if I don't have to. I just came to report a potentially dangerous magical artifact in the hands of a farmer, which I thought the Knights should know about. And if you really want something else to do, go tell the Mages about this, so I can have some backup if something goes wrong with whatever-this-is."
"Oh, goody, now I get to be the messenger boy." With that, Sev flew off towards Mage Manor with the news, while Ikkin made her way into the castle.
"King Wolf," she said, bowing on one knee as she entered the throne room. "A farmer appears to have found some kind of magical artifact in Dunburrow. I didn't see what it was, and the magical signature was unfamiliar, but it felt very powerful. I fear this object could be dangerous, and suggest that the Knights investigate this. I have sent Sev to the Mages to ask for assistance, if you feel that is wise."
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2008 23:16:44 GMT -5
STRIFE: « Result #23 on Jan 12, 2008, 12:17am »
((A few people have expressed concern in the GW2 planning thread that there's too much extra planning and built-up hype. The first Guild Wars didn't even have a planning thread to my knowledge and was started pretty much on a spontaneous idea.
Therefore, i've taken it upon myself to spontaneously begin Guilds' War 2. If this is a bad time to begin the RP for you, then you can simply jump in at a later date when you do have time. It's better to start this thing as early as possible so that we at least get it off the ground, and if you have trouble finding a place in the RP once the action starts kicking in, we'll help you. ^_^ Just don't feel disgruntled that we didn't wait until March or until next summer or whenever to start this. The new year has just kicked in, so now is a better time than any to start a fresh Guilds' War.
No more excess planning of future events. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, let's get this thing on the road, shall we? ^_~
Just like the first RP, feel free to join in from your guild at any time you choose. Here's hoping this turns out well!))
The darkness of the hallway surrounded the nervous soldier on all sides. He could see nothing but a red light at the far end. If he had a choice, he would have turned around and walked back the moment he came in here. But he couldn't. He was under orders, and nobody who refused The Commander's direct orders returned with all of their body parts intact.
Slowly, he marched towards the red light, the sound of his footsteps echoing across the lifeless walls. As he walked, he noticed small openings in the walls where he could see the stars outside. The openings were much too small for the view to be enjoyable, though. He continued walking.
Eventually, the soldier reached the end of the hallway, where he stood in front of a metallic door. He could see himself in the reflection of the door's surface. The Commander's symbol was pasted in the center of the door, and its outline glowed with a deep red light. The soldier forced himself to stop shaking. It's okay, he thought to himself. He can't possibly know the whole story.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the red light on the door turned into a blue light. There was a clicking noise, and the door slid open. The soldier took a deep breath and walked into The Commander's office.
The office was average in size, but the ceiling was high. There was a large pill-shaped window at the far end where he could see a beautiful blanket of stars. He could also see a large, dark circle where the planet of NTWF resided, but since the sun was on the back side, he couldn't see the clouds or landforms. In the center of the room was The Commander's desk, and his oversized chair had been pushed to the side.
The Commander himself was standing next to the window. His arms were folded behind him, and he was staring out the window towards the planet. The soldier could only see the back of his head, the shimmering shoulder pads of his armor, and his flowing black cape.
He's not sitting in his chair... That's a bad sign, thought the soldier. He stepped forward, and the door behind him immediately slammed shut. He stiffened up, and there was a long period of silence. Eventually, the deep slithering voice of The Commander broke the silence.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" said The Commander, referring to the planet outside his window. He did not move a single muscle, continuing to look at it.
The soldier remained behind the desk and cleared his throat. "Yes, Sir... It is."
"It's quite fascinating how a giant rock can possess so much capacity for life... How it can lead to the creation of civilization itself..." The Commander raised his hand and gently slid it down the window, as though he was trying to pet the planet like a soft kitten. "This planet has been good to me, and I must return the favor."
The soldier said nothing. He didn't want to risk anything.
"Tell me, Subcommander #12... What is Spacefleet's primary mission?"
"You doubt my knowledge, Sir?" asked the soldier.
"What is our primary mission?" shouted The Commmander. He suddenly turned around and glared at the soldier with a pair of blood red eyes, his cape twirling in the air momentarily.
"To ensure the safety and security of Terrestrial Entity #53, codenamed NTWF," the soldier replied swiftly.
"Exactly..."
The Commander walked forward and stood directly behind his desk. The soldier grew more nervous and angry at the same time.
"It is in our best interest," continued The Commander, "to protect the planet from any force that threatens to damage or destroy it."
"What about the conflict that took place on the planet no more than a few months ago, Sir?"
"Hah! I would hardly consider that to be a threatening force. It is perfectly normal for a civilization to undergo periods of war and conflict."
"Sir, you speak as though the inhabitants of this planet are nothing but cavemen. They're human beings, Sir, like you and me."
"Enough!" barked The Commander, slamming his fist on the desk. "I didn't give you permission to speak freely, Subcommander."
The soldier's anger grew intensely, but he restrained himself and took another deep breath. "I apologize, Sir."
"Good." The Commander's voice calmed. "Now... explain to me the definition of Jurisdiction 2-I of Spacefleet Protocol."
A shiver crawled up the soldier's spine. He had a gut feeling where The Commander was heading with this question.
"Answer me, Subcommander."
The soldier reluctantly began to recite it. "Under Spacefleet Protocol's Jurisdiction 2-I... any Spacefleet personnel who..." the soldier swallowed, then continued, "act in a manner inconsistent with the primary objective-"
Without warning, The Commander leaned over his desk, clutched the soldier's neck collar, and violently pulled him forward while staring furiously into his eyes.
"-will be persecuted for insubordination!" he shouted into the soldier's face, finishing the sentence for him. "Don't think for one second that I don't know what you've been up to, traitor!"
The soldier was shocked, and his mind started swimming with fear. How did he get caught? There was nothing he could do now. There was no turning back.
His fear of The Commander suddenly grew into hatred... a hatred so intense that he could no longer contain himself. He quickly pulled a small blaster out of his pocket and fired it at The Commander's chest. There was a flash of light, and The Commander was forced to release his grip as he flew backwards.
Both men fell on the ground and quickly rose to their feet. The Commander's chest glowed red where he had been hit, but his armor has absorbed the blaster's energy and did not seem to harm him.
"I'm not going against the primary objective, YOU ARE!" shouted the soldier, his face turning red. "All you've ever wanted is complete control of Spacefleet and the world. You're insane!"
The soldier fired his blaster once more, but The Commander effortlessly dashed out of the way.
"There's a fine line between insanity and genious, traitor. You're insane for even challenging my authority!"
The Commander pulled out his Leech gun and aimed it at the soldier's blaster. Both the blaster and the Leech immediately pulsed a green color. The soldier looked at his blaster with surprise, but he was even more surprised when The Commander shot the blaster out of his hand. It soared into the air, shattering into dozens of pieces.
The soldier would have charged at The Commander to attack him with his bare fists, but the door to the office suddenly opened and two Spacefleet officers rushed inside, grabbing him by the arms.
"You coward!" he yelled. "Fight me yourself!"
"Oh, you'll have that chance, traitor," said The Commander. He put his Leech away, marched forward and glared at the soldier while smiling devilishly. "When you recieve your death sentence for attempted assassination, I will be your personal executioner."
The Commander gave the soldier an uppercut to the chin. He fell backwards a little, but the officers holding him pulled him back up.
"Take him away!"
The Commander turned around and walked back to his desk. The two officers dragged the soldier out of the room.
After the door slammed shut and the symbol on its surface glowed red once again, The Commander leaned over his desk, lowered his head and clutched his chest with his left hand. That blaster shot was very painful, but he didn't reveal that to the traitorous soldier or the officers. Revealing weakness was a bad idea in his position.
It wasn't the first time he was shot, though. Two other soldiers tried to kill him this week, and after taking them down he quickly discovered who the third was. All three of them had the exact same motive and had been giving him problems over the past few months. It didn't matter now, however, since they would all be disposed of soon.
Once the pain of the blaster wound had recided, The Commander returned to the window of his office and stared again at the planet. He was obsessed with it. Like a zombie has a constant craving for human brains, The Commander had a constant craving to expand his glove of power. The best part of it all was that nobody, not even his highest-ranked officers, knew exactly what his true intentions were. All he needed to do was wait for the perfect opportunity.
He smiled, his teeth glowing in the starlight like white flames.
"Soon enough... the world will be mine..."
* * *
Amidst the ominous events that took place beyond the sky, the world of NTWF kept spinning. The sun kept shining. The birds kept chirping. Most importantly, the various factions of the land went about their daily routines, undisturbed and joyful of the peace they had rightfully earned since the fall of the evil Barak and the end of what they called the Guilds' War. Despite the price that was paid in blood and death, the peace that came in its aftermath made it seem as though it had not happened in a thousand years. Someday it would fade into the tunnels of legend, where children would gather around old folk to listen to tales of heroism and bravery that they themselves would pass down to their own grandchildren. But until that time comes to pass, the war remains a recurring memory in the minds of those involved.
It was a bright autumn day in the fair kingdom of Dunburrow. The harvest season was coming to a close, and everyone was looking forward to a month of feasting and celebration. Many farmers were excited this year, as their harvest of crops were much larger than they anticipated.
However, not everyone's luck turned out well. One farmer in particular lost most of his corn harvest when a stray lightning spell set his field on fire. By the time a mage was summoned to cast water spells upon it, more than half the field had been roasted into ashes. The farmer recieved sympathy and boxes of chocolates from his neighbors, and the mage who started the blaze had received a sound fishslapping, but the poor farmer still felt bad inside. Afterall, most of the work he had done all year plowing the fields had literally gone up in flames overnight.
The following morning, the farmer walked across his field, staring at the large empty space in the center of it. He couldn't see any of the damage the previous night because of the smoke and darkness, but he could now see it clearly. Tiny black stumps dotted the field where hearty cornstalks once stood.
The farmer would have started crying, but he spotted something that caught his eye. He rushed to the center of the field, where he saw a lump of dirt sticking out of the ground as though something was buried underneath it. The lump seemed to be glowing with some sort of light.
"What's this?" the farmer asked himself. He pulled a hand shovel out of his pocket and started digging. Eventually, the shovel struck a hard surface.
The farmer kept digging, and he eventually saw that the object was inside a thick cloth sack. He pulled the sack out of the hole, set it on the ground in front of him, and opened it. His jaw dropped.
"Oh my goodness..."
The farmer was in awe. How did something like this end up in the middle of his cornfield? Whatever it was, it looked like something very important. He stood up and began to call for assistance.
"Somebody! Come quick! Look at this!" P.S. I have saved these as a .txt, but I figured I'd post them here for the collectors to gather them now. P.P.S. Searching "Strife" brings up everything posts from Aug 16 to the beginning, as well as a bunch of non-GWIIRP posts (even just searching Memory Lane), so I do not have the time to gather them, not now and not likely tomorrow or the day after, either, so if anyone can search for him, be sure to. :) P.P.P.S. Also try "Zylaa," "weasel(s)," "Dragon," and "Speck." :) P.P.P.P.S. And "Zari," "Surf," "Pyro," and...that's all I can think of. ^.^" P.P.P.P.P.S. If we're all in different time zones, putting these back together may be difficult to do unless the time tags are converted accordingly to one time zone (my time is set to "GMT-5 Eastern," if that helps). Also, accounting for daylight savings time might cause some issues, too.... P.P.P.P.P.P.S. And "lemon bomb."
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Post by Omni on Aug 24, 2008 13:47:13 GMT -5
 I found my very first post!  … But that's the only post of mine that I can find. Everything else went poof. T_T « By Nature on Jan 16, 2008, 5:09am »
Darkness. A swirling, unending darkness which no one could see through. Nature rubbed her eyes and squinted, but she couldn't see anything through the fog. It was too dismal, too dark . . . too dark for the Freezemancer to handle. She started coughing madly, her face turning livid. She looked around and realized what was going on.
The fumes were choking her.
Suddenly, from the fogs, a silhouette came out. Nature squinted. It looked like some sort of astronaut, only in fancier clothing. In its helmet, two evil, red eyes glared at the Freezemancer. Nature, with all her strength, got up and, with determination shining in her jet-black eyes, summoned her most trusty weapon of all.
Her sitar.
The astronaut looked at the musical instrument. He grinned an evil grin. Nature strummed her sitar for attack. But just at that moment, he pulled out some sort of gun and zapped it at the Zafara. Nature screamed as the blast hit her arm, forcing her to let go of her sitar. Nature was sent flying through the air and landed with a thud on her tail. Her expression of anger was then transformed into one of utter horror as the astronaut went to her sitar and grabbed it. He grinned evilly at her once again, and left.
"No! NOOOOOOOOOOO! Please don't take it! *choke gasp choke* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO . . ."Nature suddenly opened her eyes and sat up. The dark clouds were still there, but she wasn't in that scary, foreboding dimension she was in earlier. She looked around. Farms, trees, roads - she was still in Dunburrow. Gasping wildly, the Zafara looked at her side and sighed a breath of relief. Her sitar was still there, safe and untouched. She picked it up and strummed it a little. Still in perfect condition. Good. The Zafara breathed heavily, her eyes still wide with fear. That dream was a wee bit too real . . . why did she get it? She pondered this while keeping a tight grip on her sitar, just in case someone was really going to get it. She hoped no one got it, or her arnis, or Seline, or -- Nature gasped, a panicked expression appearing on her face as quickly as the lightning bolt that struck her. "Where is Seline?!" ~~~~~~*~~~~~~ Seline ran through the large halls of the Manor, hoping to find the fire-furred Zafara Nature trained under. Her owner probably needed some help, especially at a dark time like this. The Elvish Dragon looked up at the nearest window. The dark clouds were getting stronger. Quiclky, she ran on, looking for Omni.
She panicked as she ran down the halls, going wherever the heck her feet told her to go. Where was Lady Omni's office?! Seline sighed and frowned. "That's it, Seline," she muttered to herself. "Next time, try to at least navigate your way throught this stupid--"
Her thoughts were stopped short as she bumped into something. Something burning. Seline landed on her tail, a large burn mark appearing on her arm. She looked up and saw a familiar-looking fire-bird flying up over her, looking at her in surprise.
Seline growled at the phoenix hovering above her.
"Sev."---------- « By Nature on Jan 17, 2008, 5:26am » And I offer you knowledge.Nature scratched her head confusedly once she heard the message ring in her mind. Knowledge?! Why the heck would I want to know more? I know almost all my sitar-attacks, I know my way around the place, I know almost everyone in my guild . . . heck, I even know my math problems. What more do I want to know? Nature shook her head. I don't think so. This is a demon's promise. I don't fall for those.With that in mind, Nature got up and went off to find Seline, clutching her sitar tightly. She didn't want to risk her nightmare happening for real. ~~~~~~*~~~~~~
"Hey, uh… dragon…Sabine? What are you doing here? Is Nature still out there?!"
Seline rolled her eyes in utter annoyance. "It's Seline, not Sabine! Great. Just great. Man, these mages are so--"
A doorbell interrupted her thoughts. Seline groaned as the cat Omni was talking with went to open the door and - possibly - get Nature. The elvish dragon faced Omni again. "My owner appears to be okay, but some dark magic entered her. Is that a bad thing?"
All of a sudden, however, a dark, demonic thought entered Seline's mind like a fast, scary song that suddenly played just as you were feeling happy.
And I offer you knowledge.---------- « By Nature on Jan 18, 2008, 5:14am » Nature walked on and on, tired already of going around Dunburrow. She just walked, like two miles? She was already to beat to even shake her head. But she needed to find Seline. She just had to. Things got a lot worse. The sky turned darker than before. Nature cringed and wrapped her cloak around herself. The wind blew too strongly, almost making the Zafara drop her sitar. Luckily, she didn't. Wrapping her cloak tighter, Nature went on, worried about the dark magic storm. She was just about to plop down to the nearest tree when suddenly, she heard a rustle. No correction, rustles. Nature froze and looked around. Nothing there. The Freezemancer gulped. Things aren't going well anymore . . ., she thought to herself. Maybe I should hum something to myself - a nice, watery tune, maybe. Yes. A nice, relaxing watery tune would do her good. Discreetly, she took a deep breath and started to hum. It was nothing but a small, slow melody that she listened to every time she needed to calm down. it wasn't really much, but the watery sounds of the song gave her peace and a small sense of bravery. She immediately thought of the sea. A large, blue sea filled with Technicolor corals, a vast array of rare sea creatures, mermaids singing their hymns of comfort to the ocean depths . . . Another image filled her mind. A snowy mountaintop, covered comepletly with a blanket of soft white. Echos of familiar people coming from the other mountains, yelling their hellos, goodbyes and yodele-he-hoos. Nature sighed in contentment. She felt relaxed. Nature kept humming to herself and painting images in her mind, when suddenly, she realized she wasn't in Dunburrow anymore. She looked up. There was a majestic castle of marble, surrounded by several pines, oaks, maples and other trees. Nature smiled at the sight of this. Mage Manor was considered her home, and she was feeling very tired, anyway. Nature walked in. Without knocking. AGAIN. She was just about to inquire if anyone was around when suddenly, she saw Omni, Seline, a little black-and-white(?) kitten and a smaller dragon-bunny. Nature was ecstatic to see them. "Hi guys!" ---------- « By Nature on Jan 20, 2008, 7:25am »
"The sitar . . . give it to me . . ."
"No . . . never. Never in a million years."
"You dare defy me?"
"You're a demon. I am a a good and sensible person. Of course, I would defy you."
"I am not."
"'Demon's rights activist.' Whatever."
"I can give you anything you want . . ."
"I'm happy with all that I have, thanks."
"Well then, so be it."
A million shadow-like creatures surrounded the Freezemancer. Nature, seeing that she was surrounded, strummed her sitar. Things aren't going to get pretty.
"Since you won't join us, it looks more fitting to get the weapon by force. Shadows of the Dark - ATTACK!"
"Not if I can help it!" Quickly, Nature strummed her sitar like a wannabe-rock star showing off her moves. The shadows went closer, but she dared not let them touch her.
"Dance, snowflakes, dance!"
A tidal wave of snow attacked the shadows. Nature grinned. It looked like things were on her side. Unfortunately, the demon's rights activist suddenly appeared in front of her, and knocked her out.
Nature fell on the floor, her eyes wide. The stranger went near her and menacingly snarled.
"Give your weapon now . . ." ~~~~~~*~~~~~~ "No, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Nature then jolted up, almost knocking Omni and Seline down. The Zafara was shaking madly, cold beads of sweat trickling down her forehead. "The sitar . . . they want it . . ." ---------- « by Nature on Feb 15, 2008, 7:34am » "Nadure? Are you ogay?"Nature almost jumped at the sound of Omni's voice. Flashbacks of her horrible dream came back to her. And her mentor was involved. "I-it's horrible . . ." Nature stammered, cold sweat flowing down her light-green fur. "T-there was a war . . . lots of swords and magic and guns and stuff . . . blood . . . deaths . . . K-Kit killed Ikkin, Seline was burned down, Omni's head was chopped off, Hunty's hand was mutilated, the sun stopped shining, there was a blood-spattered moon . . . the NTWF! It was pure bloodshed . . ." She gulped. "No hope, no hope . . ." All of a sudden, to her great embarrassment, just in front of Omni and Surf, she broke down sobbing. ~~~~~~*~~~~~~ All that was left of the egg were little fragments of metallic-blue shell. The Elvish Dragon had hatched. ---------- « By Nature on Mar 10, 2008, 8:46am » "Nature, I brought cookies!"Nature blinked after hearing the voice of her mentor and something about cookies. Just earlier, she was staring blankly into space, traumatized by her nightmare. She shook her head in fear. Were those premonitions real . . . or not?She suddenly remembered Omni. The Zafara looked at the plate of cookies her mentor was holding. All of a sudden, her fears melted away. Nature's eyes grew wide and, euphorically, she grabbed three cookies and stuffed one in her mouth. Sooooooooooo good! She stuffed another one in her mouth. I wonder who made these . . . She was about to eat the third cookie . . . All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a sound was heard.
ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!Nature froze at the sound. What the heck was that?! Nature looked around. There was nothing there that caused the sound. "Weird," Nature mumbled. "It sounded like . . . lightning . . ."
SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!This time, Nature got up and looked out the door. What was that?! First lightning, now water? Nature's eyes darted at the corridors. Nothing there . . . She suddenly saw a shadow in a corner. It was sort of familiar . . . "Seline?" Nature went to the area where she saw the shadow. Once there, she got the biggest surprise of her life. It was an Elvish Dragon. But it wasn't Seline. It looked so small . . . was it a newborn? It's skin was metallic blue with little lightningbolts and ocean waves patterned on it, kind of like Seline's white clouds. It's small eyes were half-open, revealing sparkly silver irises, kind of like the silver lining on storm clouds after the rain. Around its neck was a small charm -- a raincloud. It was sitting in a corner, lost, lonely . . . Nature's heart filled with sympathy for the little Dragon. Slowly, she went near it. The little Dragon cowered in a corner, afraid of the approaching figure. Nature went closer and more slowly, aware of the fear pounding in the little creature's heart. She knelt before it and outstretched her hands, as if saying, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you."The Dragon was afraid. But seeing the Zafara's jet-black eyes -- soft and friendly, like snow itself -- the little reptile inched closer and closer, until she found in the Zafara's arms. Nature looked closely at the Dragon and then she realized, it was special. For it controlled two elements -- lightning and water. Elements of a thunderstorm. Nature looked fondly at the little dragon in her arms. "Hi there," she whispered. The Dragon cawed a bit. Nature smiled. She saw that it was a girl Dragon. Now, what to name it . . .Nature's eyes suddenly lit up. She smiled at the dragon. "I know what I'll call you," she confined to the Dragon, just as the same way when she found Seline, "Snow Princess". 'I'll call you 'Demene'."
Child of Lightning and Water.---------- « By Nature on Mar 16, 2008, 6:58am » "When you say 'species', don't you mean 'race'? It's just that 'species' is like dog vs. horse vs. cat, while race is like Asian and African. Is there any particular significance to this? I mean, I haven't heard of dragons particularly being racist. Also, have you ever heard of elvish dragons with three or more elements?"Seline shot a look towards Omni. "Well, I'm not really sure. It's just that there's a strict law between the Dragons that Elvish dragons of different elemental powers aren't allowed to breed. And yes, there are rare cases in that Elvish dragons can have two elements." She looked at Demene. "Like this one."---------- « By Nature on Aug 17, 2008, 11:03am » (Guess what? It's not over. >  ) ===*=== A few days have past. Nature was now allowed to get out of clinic leave and walk around the Manor, though her condition was far from perfect. Her head was still wrapped in a bandage and she got dizzy at times. Sometimes, nightmares about someone wanting to take her sitar again would come back. But she was recovering from the war fast. That was good at least. Sitar clutched in hand (for fear that those nightmares might actually come true), Nature wandered around the Manor. It was still the same Manor the freezemancer had entered in a few years ago, but it had a few remainders of war here and there - most notably the snow-marks (which Nature didn't really consider bad at all). It wasn't just the place, however - it was also the people. Most of the mages have changed completely - scarred and traumatized by the war that had happened. One even bursts random war cries and tantalizing memories, muttering things like, "I didn't mean to . . .", and "He made me do it, that filthy-" and so on. Nature shuddered at those words of guilt and horror. She hoped that that mage would recover soon. The Zafara, while walking, hummed a little tune - a tune of hope, happiness and thankfulness that it was all over. Yes, she was thankful that it was over. And she was more thankful that she was alive. If all went wrong, her macabre dream . . . Nature shook her head and erased all the thoughts about the nightmare that foretold doom. The moon would never be blood-red -- it's comforting white glow will always be present, no matter what. Nature had passed by an big, old, somewhat familiar-looking door that piqued her interest. She examined it a bit. It looked like it wasn't opened in a long time. With all her strength, Nature pulled at the door which looked very heavy until at last, it swung open. Her eyes twinkled at the sight. It was the Manor Library! How she missed that room. The smell of old pages and fossilized Weewoo feathers filled the air as the Zafara went in. All the bookcases filled with their holders of knowledge stood there, in all their glory. Desks littered the place. The flowers on the vases were wilted, but somehow, the sunlight coming from the slightly damaged stained-glass-windows made even the dead flowers beautiful. Nature inhaled the musty air emitted from the old books. How she missed the place! Then, she saw it. On a small, wooden table just across her was a somewhat thick, dark-colored book. Nature went near the desk, saw the book's title and grinned widely. Guild Wars: Rising Shadows She remembered that she was reading the book (for leisure) just before she had decided to go to Dunburrow and practice her sitar-playing under the old tree. The book was in the exact same spot where the Zafara had left it. Excitedly, Nature picked up the book and flipped through its pages. All the stories, legends of the past war which she had once dismissed as fake were true. And now it has happened again, the war. Will our story ever be immortalized in a book?, she wondered as she skimmed the pages of this classic tale. Then suddenly, Nature slapped her forehead. Darn it, my training's not over yet! "Gotta go find Lady Omni," Nature mumbled, taking the book with her. With one hand holding her sitar and the other wrapping the book near her, Nature ran off to find her mentor, thoughts on the fire-furred Zafara's whereabouts in her head. ===*===
Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream,
It is not dying, it is not dying
Lay down al thoughts, surrender to the void,
It is shining, it is shining.
Yet you may see the meaning of within
It is being, it is being
Love is all and love is everyone
It is knowing, it is knowing
And ignorance and hate mourn the dead
It is believing, it is believing
But listen to the colour of your dreams
It is not leaving, it is not leaving
So play the game "Existence" to the end
Of the beginning, of the beginning . . .
~ Tomorrow Never Knows, the Beatles
===*=== [/center][/spoiler] By the way, the time I'm using is an hour behind Forum time, but an hour ahead of Neopian time. |
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I found my very first post! 
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