Knight's Intro Role-play

[zarikrahia]

Zari walked toward Tamia and took the scroll. The reason you can't read it, Kat, is that if a creature of magic found this scroll, the scroll would hide it's nature. So, a non-mage, one who knows little or no magic would be able to read this. And to further that spell, only the person who can understand the runes can read it. So you should try every non-magic using knight on the scroll, including yourself.

[KitClairvoyance]

Kit clutched his injured arm, his breathing coming heavily. He wondered if the ceremony had started already; if it had, the chances of help coming down were slim. He watched his enemy, both sides waiting for the other to move. He let go of his arm and drew another card, an elemental card, the Queen of Earth. He frowned, he was hoping a water card would have been drawn, but still, he guessed he could make some use of the card.

Holding the card in his left hand and his sword in his right he made an attack at his enemy, feinting to the left before pulling back his sword as the enemy's spear came to parry his strike, catching her off-balance. Seizing the opportunity he planted the card at the enemy's feet, causing the ground to burst forth with all manner of vines and entrapping her within a wall of plant growth.

Or so it should have.

The vines never made it past her waist, their growth being suppressed by the sheer demonic force that she commanded. Kit couldn't do anything as she brought her spear down upon him, hard. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, his shoulder painfully shattered. He lost his hold in his blade as the enemy grabbed him by the collar, forcing him up.

For a moment, Kit could only think of how similar this was to the time she picked him up from the floor of her house, all those years ago.

He looked down into her eyes, the cold teal of her irises as uncaring as ever. He remembered how he had chased after the level of perfection she had achieved, yet he still couldn't measure up to her. He felt inadequate, as if he had failed her. Perhaps all this was punishment for his failure.

"Sorry." After all these years, the only thing he could say to her was an apology.

Perhaps it wasn't her, perhaps it was. He couldn't tell.





Maya felt a dark feeling sweep through her as she fought her way through the smoke and into the main hall. She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the feeling. "He'll be all right.." she told herself. Her eyes searched the room frantically before settling on Tamia's cat. Perhaps the little feline would prove to be of some use.

[Deleted]

I should slip away and join the others, Wolf thought as he stood before his bowed people. I can assist them, help defend my country...

No. Wolf looked to his side; his companion wolf was there. This one came often alone; his second wolf guided him only on chance occasions. Questions may be asked later, it said, peering into his eyes, for now, I must warn you from joining the others in the depths of the castle. The battles they are fighting in... are personal.

Wolf clenched his hands into fists, tightening his jaw. Then how am I supposed to protect my people? Am I supposed to leave my companions to die?

You must have hope that they may rise against their foes, for you cannot assist them in this battle of theirs. Other evil... other evils still run rampant through the castle. Track that evil and fight it. Before it could say anything more, the wolf vanished as easily as it had appeared.

"Sir Kabe," the Green Knight said, turning upon him and watching as he rose to his feet, "keep watch over the people; I am needed elsewhere."

"Where? What for?" Sir Kabe protested in shock.

"I honestly do not know yet," Wolf answered, "but for reasons that are best left not said here."

Sir Kabe hesitated, but sensing and seeing the urgency in Lord Wolf, he said nothing and stepped back. "Go, of you must, but do return."

"For all our sakes," Wolf said, "I hope that I do." Before Sir Kabe could say anything else, he was already behind the curtain, standing before Sir Shino. "Shino, my friend, my Twin," Wolf said, looking calmly into his eyes, "there is evil I must fight. Do not join, for I feel this battle is one I must fight alone. Join the Knights in the hall, assist where it is needed." Wolf nodded, stepping away, and then quickly ran off.

[Shadaras]

The anticipated blow came, just as hard and fast as the first. This time, when Shade dodged, it hit her, scratching a line on the left side of her face. From the floor, where she had fallen, Shade closed her eyes and transported to the shadowlands. Opening her eyes again, she stood and waited for the next blow.

It never came. Looking in the real world, Shade could see the… Demon. She was sure of it now, even though it didn’t follow her. It looked like it was waiting for her. Moving around so that she was behind it, Shade re-appeared and struck, hard and fast, trying to hurt it. Her dagger sunk in, and the demon reacted as a human might, but one who did not feel pain.

Her dagger was ripped out of her hand as the demons turned, swinging his sword. She ducked and rolled around behind him. When she saw the dagger, there was no blood coming out of the wound. Shocked, she couldn’t react in time, and this time, when her opponent swung his blade, he hit, but with the flat of the blade, as if he didn’t want to hurt her too much.

It still hurt, though. A lot. The blow hit her leg, snapping the bones in it. Shade crumpled to the ground, dropping her dagger. She looked up at the demon who looked so like her father, seeing the point of his sword poised above her.

“Please,” she whispered. “Please.” It was all she could say.

[Tam]

((Kit, if you need to godmode my cat a bit to fit the story, feel free. I think I trust you not to kill him off or anything xD))

Tamia stared at Zari as she finished speaking. For one thing, she was amazed at the speed of the Crimson Knight's recovery, but most of what shocked her now was that for once, her own lack of magical ability might come in handy. Cautiously, as if the entire scroll might erupt into flames at any moment, she unfurled the parchment and examined the writing within.

Apprehensively scanning the text, she began to grow dimly aware of a buzzing headache creeping up on her. Irritated, she conceded that she should stop by her quarters to get some mint tea to help, if she had time.

The longer she gazed at the steady scrawl of words on the page, the more she dejectedly realized that she couldn't understand a single word written in the entire scroll.

If you can't read it, give it to someone who can, came Oran's thought, and Tamia glanced away to see the cat perched on the edge of a nearby table, studiously watching passersby.

The knight looked steadily at the parchment for a moment more, taking in the curious runes, before she shook her head with a sigh. "I'm sorry," she said to Zari and Kat. "I can't read it." She tried to hide her disappointment as she added, "I'll try to find someone else."

Not looking back, Tamia moved off, slipping between members of the crowd in an effort to find other knights of the court. "And where exactly have you been?" she mumbled between gritted teeth.

Around, the cat replied evasively, expertly twisting around the feet of the mingling audience and trying not to get stepped on. And the demons have been around as well, if what I observed is any clue. That one, the one from the courtyard, is especially close, he finished with distaste.

Beginning to realize that what Oran had been chasing after all day were actually invisible demons in the castle, Tamia looked at him incredulously. "You know, most of the other knights have a remarkably different view on demons than the one you seem to have," she pointed out, frowning as a tall woman in a lavish pink dress knocked roughly into her. "My impression is that 'demon' is a broad enough term to indicate that they can't all be evil."

You have much to learn, he said sharply, ducking around a heavy boot.

"Maybe you do too," she countered. Oran did not reply.

On the other side of the Main Hall, she caught sight of Sir Kabe, the leading knight, who looked more than slightly troubled. Why not, she thought, heading in his direction. Zari did tell me to try everyone I could find.

As the Orange Knight approached, Sir Kabe turned anxiously to face her. "What can I do for you, my lady?" he inquired when she was near, worry still flickering in his eyes.

Slightly annoyed that he obviously didn't remember her name, Tamia started, "I need to ask something of you, m'lord. Are you a mage, or magically-inclined at all?"

Curiosity replacing the worry on his features, he replied carefully, "Unfortunately not. I've always had to train my other skills especially hard because of it." He eyed her. "Why?"

"Perhaps you can make sense of this, Sir Kabe," she said, extending her arm to reluctantly relenquish her possession of the scroll. "It's something that might..." the knight trailed off.

"My lady?" Sir Kabe prompted.

What exactly are you doing? Oran's thought prodded into her mind when she did not answer.

Slowly, she lowered her hand, still clutching the scroll. Words were suddenly taking shape in her mind, twisting up from the memory of the runes on the parchment and entwining each other like rapidly growing vines, gradually building sentences and paragraphs from the alien brushstrokes. "I can read it," she said in soft wonderment.

What? Oran's thought was harsh, even disbelieving.

She looked up, eyes dancing. "Sorry for taking your time, Sir Kabe," she said. "But I think we have it under control now."

The leading knight frowned, scratching his head. Finally he shrugged, intoning, "As you wish," and strolled off in the direction of the Hall's front tables, looking just as anxious as before.

Glaring at the parchment that was still rolled up in her hand, Oran asked dubiously, Would you mind explaining what that was all about?

Tamia shook her head in amazement. "I can read it."

But you have neither knowledge of runes nor of other languages, he protested. Not to mention you didn't even have the scroll open when you realized that you could read it.

"I know." She absorbed the words determinedly as they formed in her head, as easily as if she were looking at the pages of a book.

That's interesting, Oran mused, glancing away. Very interesting.

((Zari, do you have anything particular in mind for the scroll to contain, or am I alright to continue?))

[Dice]

Pyro hurried through the passageways of the castle, one hand on her sword as she reached the ceremony and stood behind the other knights. She felt relief rush through her as Lord Wolf was crowned king, and grinned. However, her smile faded to a dark expression as the newly crowned king rushed off. There was definite trouble in the castle and with all these people here, there was bound to be chaos. Pyro drew her dagger and went to stand at one of the doorways.

[zarikrahia]

((Tamia, It's a spell to summon elemental spirits of earth, fire, water, and air. It required 3 mages (One for air, one for water, one for fire- I could be the fire mage) and a human to represent earth. One mage can represent two elements))

Zari rubbed her temples and laughed inwardly. Zaha, a demon? Preposterous! Zaha could speak human languages because when they had first met they had traded languages, so now Zari could speak Felistonan, Language of the Felis.
After all, it wasn't healthy to have a demon familiar when you yourself were a KrahiaDemon.

[KitClairvoyance]

Kit shut his eyes tightly as he was thrown against the wall, the impact nearly knocking him out. Again he staggered to his feet, his vision beginning to blur as he tried to look at his enemy. Already he was feeling disoriented and tired, but he knew he couldn't give up just yet. No, the other knights wouldn't forgive him would they? His left arm hung limply by his side, he couldn't feel it, much less move it. At least he couldn't feel any pain from it either. He looked around him, Shade wasn't faring any better than he was. Still, he knew that the both of them were far from done.

He reached for his tarot deck when he noticed that a card had fallen out, onto the ground. It was the 20th Major Arcana - Judgement.

A grim smile spread across Kit's face. The Major Arcana cards were among the most meaningful and most powerful cards in a tarot deck. There were 22 Major Arcana cards in total, each card carrying a powerful enchantment. This card in particular carried the embodiment of Marbas of the Ars Goetia, a lion-demon.

For a second that seemed too long, Kit hesitated from using the card. Marbas was easily one of the more powerful demons, and summoning such power would not come without a price. The sound of his enemy's spear scraping against the ground as she readied herself for another, perhaps final, strike banished all doubt from his mind. He reached into a pocket and took out a small white flower, a Hellebore, and dipped it in the blood from his wound before placing it on the card.

The moment the flower petals touched the card they wilted before an immensely strong demonic aura filled the place, so strong that even his enemy stopped in her tracks. Kit prayed that he had done the right thing as the air above the card began to warp, the demonic aura concentrating around it.

Slowly, the demon began to take shape. A mangled paw. A scarred chest. A broken tail. A charred mane. A bleeding eye. Kit involuntarily took a step backwards as the final features took on their physical form. The aura was so strong that he wouldn't be surprised if even the non-magical folk could sense it.

"Marbas, knower of secrets and that which is hidden, root of affliction and medication, teacher of the moving unlife, bonded to me by blood, brought here by Tarot and Demonology-" Kit was cut off by a single snarl from the demon. Marbas shot Kit a single blooded glance before turning to face his enemy.

Kit watched as Marbas and his enemy stared each other down, his enemy bringing her spear up, pointing it towards Marbas.

"Human," Marbas snarled, "you may have strong blood, strong enough to suppress my urge to kill you, but you will have a lot to answer for. And pay. For now, I will keep you alive, if only to squeeze the last drops of your blood for myself later."


Maya made her way over to the gathering of Knights in the Main hall, already she could feel a sharp increase in the demonic presence in the castle. She just hoped that he would stay alive. It didn't take her long to find Tamia's cat. They were looking at a scroll, it looked somewhat familiar to Maya.. but that wasn't her utmost concern. She bent down behind it, "Feline!" She whispered loudly into the cat's ears, "I don't like you, and you don't like me.. but listen. Kit and Shade have bitten off more than they can chew, you have to tell the others."

[Shadaras]

The sword lowered, slowly, so slowly. Shade couldn’t tell if it was her imagination or not, as the pain of her leg almost overwhelmed her. The shadows… Did she dare? Shadowstrikes were dangerous at the best of times, and this was most definitely not the best. Do I have another choice? The sword kept coming down, and she had no way to stop it.

As she prepared to summon the shadows, she was overwhelmed by a demonic aura. Her vision blacked out for a second, and when it returned, the sword that had been falling on to her had stopped. Turning her head, Shade looked towards the source of the aura. When she saw the demon, she started swearing. And when Kit tried to bind it, she said, quite calmly and clearly, “Just how stupid can you get, Kit?”

Looking around her, where she knew her dagger had fallen, she saw it, just out of reach. “Figures,” she muttered. Gritting her teeth against the pain, Shade reached out a hand for the dagger.

[Tam]

Oran turned and glared nonchalantly at the demon, unseen by the knights who stood nearby. I don't suppose you would be satisfied with an innocent meow, would you? He sent the thought to the demon in an only slightly different form than he would to an ordinary human, and paused for hardly a moment to hold her gaze before he replied, I will tell them. But not for you, Demon. For Lady Tamia, and the knights she seems to care about. He sniffed. Despite how they always seem to so foolishly walk into the most obvious of dangers.

He padded over to Tamia, where she was still examining the scroll, no doubt still trying to memorize every letter on the page.

Wait for us; we'll need a guide, he called back. But don't you worry. We'll find them.

***

The Orange Knight's absorbtion of the document was put on hold by a somewhat agitated thought from Oran.

I hate to interrupt your fascinating read, he said, as peevishly as usual, but this time tinged with urgency, but it looks like our friends Shade and Kit have run into some trouble in the dungeons.

She nodded in comprehension, a surge of adrenaline rushing through her veins. Letting the parchment roll shut, she jammed the scroll into the only safe place available: in her scabbard, tightly held behind her sword. Wasting no time, she spotted Zari, Kit, and Pyro not far away, and started to maneouver through the crowd as fast as she could without knocking any of the noblemen over. She was finally going to have to take a stand alongside her fellow knights; she only hoped that they were still breathing by the time they made it through the entire castle.

Just out of curiosity, what exactly is that old paper telling you that you find so interesting? Oran asked as he bounded along.

"I... well, I don't know, exactly," she said. "It starts out saying something about 'The Four of power, undivided/Stand together, might united', and then it goes on about all sorts of things... flame in the night, a deadly whirlpool... I don't know, it wouldn't make any sense...."

'Wouldn't'?

She nodded pensively. "It wouldn't make any sense, except for the last lines... they sound like the words for a spell."

The cat didn't answer, except to shoot her a glance, his expression unreadable.

Seconds later, she had arrived, for what seemed like the billionth time, at the frontal part of the Hall, where the other knights stood. She addressed all three of the knights in front of her. "Lady Zari... Lady Kat... and Lady Pyro," she said in a rush. "Our knights in the dungeons are in need of our assistance." Oran yowled urgently from beside her. Their time could very well be running out. "Our immediate assistance," she added imploringly.


((I don't know why this amuses me so much, but I had to edit this post to change "Lazy Tamia" in the first paragraph to "Lady Tamia". ))

[zarikrahia]

'Well, where are they?' asked Zari. 'No- don't answer that that, I need to do something.' She held up a hand, showing two scars crossed like an X. 'Shed the disguise of 200 years, wask it away with fires tears, step from the shadow to the the light, trust in others will bring old wrongs right.' Nothing appeared to happen for a few seconds, and Zari sighed 'So much for tha- WHOA!' The air around the knight shimmered. 'My wing itches...Wait a second...there.' she looked around at the other three knights. 'I guess I have some explaining to do. You see,' she paused 'I'm not human. I'm a Fae. There, I can finish explaining later, lets GO!'

[Dice]

Pyro straightened as Lady Tamia came rushing towards her, Lady Zari, and Lady Kat. She nodded, immediately switching out her dagger for her flame blade.

"Lead the way, Lady Tamia," she said, trying to remain calm. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lady Zari's transformation, but decided they could deal with that later. Right now they had to focus on aiding Kit and Shade. As she locked out the rest of the events, Pyro felt adrenaline spill slowly through her veins as the thought of a battle occurred to her. She tightened her hold on her sword, both physically and mentally, and hurried after Tamia.

[Kat]

"I could represent Air for that scroll," Kat commented, shrugging. "I'm good with air magic almost as much as fire and light." She yawned, glancing at her fingernails, which she merely buffed but didn't bother to color. Before she could say anything, she turned to Lady Zari and watched her transform from human to Fae.

"Fae..." Archmage Meridian once loved a Fae, thought the Purple Knight, a bit sadly as she was reminded of her dear master. He told me about how he and Iris loved each other, but the Fae had been killed in a battle just three months before their wedding...

But her thoughts were interrupted by Lady Tamia calling her, Lady Zari and Lady Pyro.

With a flourish, Kat drew her staff. "Let's use the passageway again," she said. "Should I send up a signal to Lord - erm, King Wolf?"

[zarikrahia]

'You should, Kat.' said Zari, extending her wings a little. 'I'm thousands of years old, and I've seen many good fighters fall because they didn't think of backup.' She waved a hand, producing a few red sparks. 'I myself have a Onyx Dragon in the school grounds, and Zaha, who is good with knives.

[KitClairvoyance]

"Do you have a better idea, Shade?"

Kit took a step back and leaned against the wall, he was finding it hard to remain standing. His left arm remained numb, he hoped that the damage wasn't permanent, a one-armed knight wasn't of much use. Neither Marbas nor his opponent showed any indication of movement, each assessing the other's possible strengths and weaknesses.

The air in the corridor seemed to thicken, suffocating Kit in a swamp of tension and uncertainty.

Then, the sound of flesh tearing ripped through the corridor. Demon blood sprayed everywhere, covering the walls with a layer of stinking black. The enemy's spear had pierced right through Marbas's hide, sinking deep into his body. Marbas hardly flinched as the blade went into him; instead a malicious smile began to form.

"Perhaps, you should try harder next time." He snarled. A paw stepped forward as the enemy forced her spear out, causing more blood to spray. Almost immediately, the wound began to heal.

Kit watched as his enemy remained emotionless, her eyes showing no weakness. Never to love, never to hate. Never to smile, never to cry. Never to anger, never to care. It wasn't her fighting skills that made her so dangerous, it was the total perfection, both of body and mind that she had achieved. For two years he had sought to become what she was, he had chased after her.. yet she remained so far away. The ability to stare death down, to cut off everything that might become a weakness, was something he still couldn't touch.

Even now as she was faced with a President of Hell, she maintained her cold, calculative stance. Kit wasn't sure if she could feel emotion at all.

Marbas struck, his powerful paws coming down hard upon her. She parried the blow, but wasn't strong enough to deflect it. A solid thud came as his paws struck her, throwing her backwards. As she got up again, Kit could see streams of blood ooze from the joints of her armour, yet she showed no sign of feeling pain.

Perhaps she really was Kristen, nobody else could have the strength to face death like that. For a moment, Kit wanted to scream out, to stop Marbas. For a moment, Kit wanted to put himself between Marbas and her. He suddenly regretted summoning Marbas, he didn't want to lose Kristen again.

Again Marbas struck, harder than before. Her spear clattered to the floor as she was pinned against the wall by a massive paw, her armour shattered. Kit could see tiny shards of metal embedded in her flesh, blood pouring out. His breath became cold, he started to shiver in the fear that he had killed her. After so many years of searching for her, he had killed her.

Then, as Kit looked at her one last time, he saw a flash of fear in those teal eyes.

A strange mix of relief, disappointment and bewilderment flooded him. It couldn't be Kristen, she would never have shown any emotion until death. She wasn't capable of showing any emotion. His legs finally lost their strength as he crumpled to the floor.

As he looked on, his enemy that had so masterfully impersonated Kristen began to fade away, retreating back into the shadows of the corridor. Marbas snarled and turned to face Kit.

"You have much to pay and answer for human. Know that I will not kill you here, but I will slowly take your life from you, a drop at a time." Marbas snarled before dissipating slowly.

Kit sighed and stared at the ceiling. Already consciousness began to slip away from him. As he lowered his head, he caught a glimpse of a small army of skeletons emerge from the far end of the corridor.

"More visitors to the castle." Kit struggled to draw a card, but he never managed to see what card he got as fatigue finally took its toll on him.


Maya grew restless as Tamia went to call the other knights. As soon as it seemed that they were ready, she called out to Tamia's cat, "If we're done here, let's start moving."

She turned and moved down the corridors, urged on by the growing feeling that things were about to get worse. She left a faint trail of magic, just in case she was moving a little too fast, never looking back to check if the others were following. She couldn't afford to wait any longer as she made her way to the place where Kit was.

As she rounded the last corner, she choked in shock as she saw Kit unconscious against the wall, the 15th major arcana card by his side. The Devil.