Guild Wars III Roleplay (Rated T)

[Jina]

[glow=Purple,2,300]The Weewoo[/glow]
"Off you go, too. And take her along. I don't have any use for either of you. I think the mist should break your fall, since I pegged you as allies for the time being, but the next time you see us, don't count on her remembering you. And, hm, thanks for the help, I guess."

...Right. Okay then. I'm still not exactly sure what just happ- no, scratch that, I'm not sure what's been happening for the past day or two, but anyway. I'll work it out later.

The beautiful woman whose name Owen still didn't know seemed to be unconcious, so Owen picked her up, slung her over his shoulder, and jumped overboard. Luckily, the mist did as Hunty had said, and they were lowered to the ground gently. Even more luckily, the ooze was gone from where they landed, so they didn't start turning to stone.

Okay, what now?

...I've got to figure what's been going on.

...No. First, I'll go back to Brassport, and take whoever this is with me.

And with that, he set off.

((Yaay for having a terrible last post. <3))

[Celestial]

((Beyond the Fourth Wall))

Where am I? More to the point, how did I get here?

"Helllo, Celestial! You're beyond the Fourth Wall and as for how you got here, you died because you were too lazy to keep posting," a woman with short light-blonde hair, a white suit and sunglasses called out. She waked across empty space to where Celestial was.

"The Fourth Wall? Too lazy? What are you talking about? Who are you?" the Dragon Mage shouted at the strange woman.

"Oh sorry, I forgot that you're in character for this. Basically, you died from the Underdeep posessing you to break into Mage Manor. And you're also de facto leader as nobody else wanted to step up to the role, _{although you're not very good}. Just filling you in here," The Author said, putting her hands on her hips.

"How can I be a leader if I'm dead?" Celestial asked, lifting one eyebrow. This was really, really odd. "Also, why aren't my souls seperate? I'm supposed to be dragon and human but here I am with wings and eyes and everything."

The Author sighed.

"I don't know how to explain this without blowing your mind or getting you out of character. As much as I wish to compare this all to wibbly wobbly timey wimey...stuff, you still won't understand so I'll just say that even though you're dead you can still make decisions which affect the world of the living," she replied, hoping that the Dragon Mage would understand something.

She didn't but she just decided to roll with it.

"So if I'm the leader, wouldn't being dead cause problems?" Celestial asked. The Author nodded.

"Yes, although you can just go back and stop being dead. You're not really dead, you've just gone beyond the Fourth Wall and your character stopped functioning but you can come back into the story. Just in time for the finale. Also will prevent any silly explanations for your next planned RP," was all that the program said.

"So how do I do that?"

"Just think about getting back and you'll end up exactly where you were. And don't worry, everyone's ok with you being the leader so no worries about that,"

"Even though I was posessed by the Underdeep and caused so much damage?"

"Yes. And don't ask me why. I know why but I won't be able to explain in terms you can understand. Not that you're stupid, you're just not medium aware," the Author replied, trying not to sound condescending.

"And what about you?" Celestial asked, looking at this odd woman in white who for some reason had green numbers occasionally flicker on her body.

"Ah, I'll be fine. It's nice here,"

"Ok. See you, I guess," the Dragon Mage said and faded out into the world of the roleplay living.

((Mage Manor))

Celestial's eyes flickered open. There was no Underdeep in her mind, as far as she could feel. No slimy feeling on her skin and no internal pain. It was all ok.

She got up, noticing that she was exactly where she had been left: in front of Mage Manor. The ooze was mostly gone though, thankfully. Waht little was left was retreating quickly, either underground or vanishing into thin air. She wasn't in the mood to find out.The Dragon Mage smiled and stretched her wings, preparing to go back in and hoping that no awkward questions would be asked.

What a strange woman that Author was. But Celestial had bigger problems. She needed allies and fast.

Wonder if Steampunk would be willing...

((Beyond the Fourth Wall Again))

Aw, darn it! I forgot to mention that Steampunk hadn't forgiven her either. This is going to cause problems.

</foreshadowing>

((Yay for wrapping up loose ends. Sort of. xD))

[Gelquie]

((Amongst the ruins of half a tower.))

Everything seemed to have moved slowly in the short period of time where Gelquie felt the exhilarating rush of glee from making her enemies feel what they inflicted. She didn't care how much she had to relive the pain and the past and how much she had to feel at the same time; all of that had flown to the back of her mind. All that mattered was that she was giving this man the world of hurt that he well deserved.

Well of course, she was, until she found herself kicked hard in the stomach, which both knocked the wind out of her and knocked her back very far away. She landed on a slab of rock a few feet away from Draco and winced from the large bruise she had just received. She lay there for a moment, facing Draco and panting for the breath she had just lost. All she could do was listen, listen to the points he was rattling off. Sure, possessed by evil. How did she know he wasn't still possessed?

But then he apologized. Gelquie stared dumbstruck at the ninja as she reached her good hand up to catch the med-kit. She put her hand down but said nothing; she only continued to stare until the ninja ran off. That confirmed it... he was sincere. And she had... oh gods, she had done that.

Gelquie rifled through the medical kit as she repeated in her head that he had deserved this; this was all worth it, even if he wasn't possessed, she at least wouldn't have to worry about retribution later. She found some medical cloth. It wasn't a lot, but she took it out, grabbed and sheathed her dagger, and began wrapping it around her wrist. It was her whole arm at fault, but this would at least help her wrist from getting worse until she could get some real medical help.

Meanwhile, Gelquie thought of what the Underdeep said. It promised her so much; an escape, a chance to start over... a chance to forget.
...Forget. Even the precious memories. But... if they were all tied to pain...
No. She doesn't need the help of some big monstrous beast for that, particularly not one that would destroy everything else to achieve it all. And she could choose what to forget; screw package deals. She didn't need to throw sheer idiocy into this. This power was her own to choose. Her. Own. She would do it all herself.

Gelquie felt sick. She figured that it must be the pain and fatigue she felt. She was wrong.
She finished wrapping her cloth and managed find something she figured were pain pills. She was about to take one when she heard something else. She looked up to see...

"Oh crud..."

Gelquie quickly picked herself up and ran as fast as she could away from the ruins, and the place where the other half of the citadel would fall. And there were people still inside... But there was nothing she could do. She darted away and jumped behind something else that was crushed; she didn't pay attention to the fact that she had just jumped over the remains of the Phantom Merc II, which was now unusable and completely unrecognizable from the crash. She peeked up from behind this thing and stared at the falling citadel, not having high hopes for the people inside, nor did she have high hopes that someone with the power would be be willing or convinced to stop it. It seemed it would crash at any minute...

[Draco]

<<In The Manor>>

Gil stares at the spot that Gelquie fell through. A solid ground. He hit the floor a few times with his fist before standing up and looking to the others. Two ninjas and a mage.

He walked over to Toshiro and Lupehunter. Poking Toshiro a little, the ninja slowly opens his eyes.

"Having a name hurts..."

"I bet it does. Come on people, we need to get out of here before the building decides to fall."

At that point the building shakes violently as it flies around the sky trying to destroy a flying pirate ship... Soon it stops. And the group lay around the room from the tumbling.

"Ok... This time... We need to get out of here before it falls."

He braces himself for a fall, but nothing happens. Instead there is a loud booming voice, a explosion, a meep, and more talk.

"Ok."

The building begins to fall.

"Here we go!"

------

<<In The Sky>>

The Nameless Ship was finally flying over Tabloid Town, and was flying directly towards the floating manor... Half a manor. Leena sits up right and stares at everything around town.

"I'm going to bet he's in that floating building. Fly over to it."

She sits back again and sighs. A lot has happened this day. Her city was in a new world. She 'borrowed' a top secret airship, on orders of her boss. She somehow became captain of the ship, even if it was just temporary. And now she was flying over a city that was slowly becoming alive due to the Underdeep's influence disappearing.

The ship soon floated next to the floating manor.

"Ma'am! The building is falling.

"What?"

She turns her attention to the building, which was beginning to sink towards the ground slowly, and then drop completely.

"Quickly, shoot the anchors at the building!"

"But wouldn't that drag us down with them?"

"Yes, but if we can hold it long enough so it doesn't crash into the ground at full force, we can prevent some casualties. If it looks like we are going to crash, unhook the anchors."

"Ma'am."

The anchors fire out from multiple spots on the ship, and sink themselves into building half. The ship is instantly pulled down and the two objects fall to the ground.

----

<<In The Manor>>

Gil braces himself as the group fall. Something comes to his mind, a old poem or song, he couldn't remember.

"It all returns to nothing,
it all comes tumbling down,
tumbling down,
tumbling down

How did it go? Ah, whatever..."

----

It doesn't take long, and soon the building is near the ground. The anchors let loose, letting the building drop to the ground. Parts of it break apart and crumble.

The room that the guild members were in, was still intact, even if it was now on it's side.

Gil helps Toshiro out of the window/door. He is only a few feet away when something catches his eyes. He lets go of Toshiro and runs. Toshiro falls to the ground.

"Wha?!"

Gil runs right over to his Phantom Merc II.

"What happened to you!"

He cries as he inspects the wreckage. Only a few things salvageable, and some unconscious knights... He drags them out and leaves them in the rubble, and returns to inspecting.

"Master Maxwell!"

Leena comes running over, the Nameless Ship hovering a few feet off the ground to the side.

"Leena... Get a few men together and salvage parts off the vehicle. I'm going to get Toshiro and rest in the ship. Afterwards, fly back to Mage Manor."

"Mage Manor sir?"

"That purple building we were at before. There should be a mercenary there that I made a deal with. I need to make sure I repay it. Also, if anyone wants a ride there, let them on."

"Sir. You can rest in the captain's quarters."

He wipes a few tears from his face and goes over to Toshiro, who sat himself up. Together they enter the ship through a small lift.

When inside he leaves Toshiro with a few doctors, and goes into the room that Leena told him to go. He notices a bag on the bed and opens it.

"What's this?"

He pulls out a broken gun of sorts.

-----

Draco hears a scream, one that he knew belong to a very angry lizard. He turns his head in the direction of the scream, and sees a trail of silhouettes pass by him.

"Strife."

He gives chase on them, thundering stomping somewhere behind him could be heard.

[The Horsemen]

Four horses stood side by side on top of one of the tallest buildings in Tabloid Town. Four manes and tails waved in the wind. Four not quite human figures sat proud and straight in the saddles, overlooking the huge city that was slowly regaining its life, shaking off the choking clutches of the Underdeep.

Or rather, three figures were sitting proud and straight in the saddles, while the fourth was hunched over, scribbling furiously on a piece of paper held against his leg that was bent over the saddle. Every now and then he cursed under his breath.

"So, it's like... over now?" Famine asked.

FOR NOW, Death said.

"...agh, crap..."

"I've seen better wars," War grumbled. "But," he added graciously, "it was a decent apocalypse."

"It's nice that this world survived," Famine said earnestly. "This may be against like, the rules and such... but I do like this place."

IT'S THE PEOPLE, Death said, with just a hint of pride in his voice. THEY'RE THE KIND THAT ALWAYS PULLS THROUGH.

"Yeah, shame on them for not letting us do our work," War said smugly. The blue-green, ooze-free planet glimmered in the afternoon sun behind their backs.

"...aw man, straight through the paper..."

"It's not quite over yet," Famine said, eyeing Strife. He was nearly eight miles away, but that doesn't bother a Horseman.

“It is for us,” War said. “The war is over.” His huge blood-red horse flattened its ears and began to prance restlessly. The Horsemen turned their heads to listen to a distant, very distant roar of a machine that was decidedly one-of-a-kind in this world.

BRROOO-ooooooOOOmmmrrrRRR-bop-bop-bop-bop. TMC’s chromed monstrosity spluttered to an abrupt halt next to the four horses. There was a moment of vaguely awkward silence broken only by a quiet “oh buggerit…”, then Pestilence straightened his back with the expression of someone who’s just completed a time-consuming and complicated task.

“Right,” he said cheerfully, “just on time. Here, kid, I’ll need your autograph on this.”

The other three Horsemen, thankful for getting to avoid dragging a conversation with the newcomer, eyed the paper in his hand curiously. TMC took the paper with a confused scowl. It had only a few sentences on top but the signature covered nearly the entire bottom half of the page. The Horsemen aren’t particularly big on ancient eldritch languages, but they do use it whenever they need to make something look unarguably official. This paper threw a proverbial glove at the entire bureaucratic division of the higher-ups.

TMC stared at the few sentences. “You’re… handing your job over to me?”

The three Horsemen stared.

“I’ve a wife and kid and a thriving business,” Pestilence said. “Never intended to come back permanently. I don’t like you, mind. But you’ve done this before and in this line of work, experience counts for quite a bit. So I’m accrediting you as the newest Fourth Horseman. You’ll probably go a long way if you stop acting like a complete donkey every now and then.”

TMC smiled mirthlessly. He seemed to be rather far from his usual scathing attitude. “Yeah. Uh… thanks. I only came to say that the planet’s been cleared up now. The Underdeep is still a bit unstable, though.”

“I noticed,” Famine nodded. “It’s just, like, the final aftershocks. It’s all settling now.”

YOU SHOULD STILL TAKE A LOOK AT IT, Death said. Famine nodded again thoughtfully and the horses, sensing that a change in location was coming up, became restless.

“Will do,” she said. “Except I got this tiny little errand I need to run first. Care to come along? We can like, get coffee afterwards.” The girl beamed at her colleagues. “I mean, we totally worked as a team here, right? It’d be a shame to just split up here like that.”

Pestilence shrugged and smiled. War’s near-permanent scowl softened a little. Death’s grin seemed earnest for a moment.

“Been a while since I saw the big city life,” said Pestilence. “Show the way, then.”

“You coming?” Famine asked, turning in the saddle. TMC, who’d already started the engine, stared at her for a moment, realized that she was talking to him, snorted with laughter and all of a sudden looked like his old self again.

“Nah, I have stuff to do,” he grinned, tucking Pestilence’s paper in his back pocket. “Toodles, horsemongers. Give the old man a decent retirement party.”

Shortly afterwards, the spluttering roar of the bike’s tuned engine disappeared between the dimensions and the frantic hoofclatter faded into the everyday commotion of a big city that was slowly getting back on its old tracks.

***

“Like, ohmahgawsh, what’s your diet?”

Death sighed.

[Deleted]

EPILOGUE

"D-Man" Drakhé


Several days after the Underdeep's attack on the NTWF, there was a fight in Mage Manor. This fight had threatened to become an all-out brawl, but other mages had intervened in time to stop that from happening. Regardless, the two involved had to go to the infirmary, and remained there for several days.

One of the two was a fire mage. The worst of his injuries was a broken arm, which he nursed throughout – and after – the time he spent healing. However, he would argue that what was actually his worst injury was who he had been fighting: Drakhé, who had been badly burnt and was covered in some magical version of ice packs.


D-Man was lying on a bed, staring up at the ceiling. A lot was going through his mind.

The staff of The River Tigris were alright, as was the place itself. However, when he had approached them, something strange had happened. Instead of reacting to him the way they usually did, they had started acting hostile—“Get away from us, mage freak!”—and forced him to run. Records in Mage Manor had stated that he was a member of the guild, so he had no other choice but to return there.

His name, apparently, was Drakhé. They said he was a shapeshifter, a shadow mage, and a ghost. He had been bullied by most of the other mages, particularly feared necromancers, and yet developed a crush on one. And then he had disappeared during the second Guilds' War, and had not been seen for a year.

All of this was hard to believe. The River Tigris was the only home he'd known since waking up in their cellar two weeks ago. Everything from before was a blank slate. The people there had cared for him, almost as if he were family... and then this happened.

And then it had turned out that the leader of the Mages Guild was the same being he saw just outside the manor when it turned to stone. Cop-Out had explained to him that she had been possessed by the Underdeep... but she had already been somewhat villainous to begin with.

And the necromancer he had supposedly fallen for? She was crazy and had been possessed by the Underdeep as well.

That fire mage trying to pick on him was the last straw, and he had snapped.

--

Nasuella "Nasue" Lagan


Since Tabloid Town had lost Tabloid Town Hospital, Nasue couldn't have gone there to do something about her injury. The crew of the White Weewoo somehow managed to slip out of the city without her, and she had no clue where they were going. For some reason, this upset her.

However, she couldn't do anything about that; all she could do was to go back to where she lived via Magecraft Airlines™. One payment and flying trip later, she returned to the abandoned building where she took shelter... in a city called Le Singe. (In retrospect, that was alarmingly appropriate in a narrative manner.)


Later, an indeterminate amount of time* after the Underdeep's attempted takeover, a blue-furred coati (who had been to this city's hospital) had an unexpected encounter. Walking down one of the city's streets while munching away on crickets, she happened to chance by the docks. And while looking at the ships, she found herself looking at a sight that made her do a quadruple-take.

You're joking. You're [EDIT] joking.

It was none other than the White Weewoo and its crew.

Dropping the bag of dead bugs, Nasue – who had gotten a change of outfit, and was now more pirately dressed – ran towards the dock.

_{* Nasue fails at determining the amount of time it would take for a big ship to go from point A to point B.}

--

Kovaran Mokra


Strife escaped. Kovaran had been gaining speed and would have caught up with his quarry, but it was not to happen. It turned out that Draco had also been in pursuit, and along the way, collapsed and lost consciousness. And after a difficult choice, he reluctantly let Strife go in favour of bringing Draco back to the Dojo.

He returned to discover that his fears had come true: the Ninja Superior was dead. Once the funeral ceremony had passed, the guild's elite began to try and determine what had to be done in the absence of a proper leader. Apparently one had volunteered to take the Superior's place, but where was he?

The big lizard had other matters on his mind - and other people on his mind, as well.

It soon became clear that his behaviour was slightly different to usual. At times he was distracted during training or sparring, and at times he stared off into space with an odd look on his face. And then, one morning, there was a change in one of the training rooms. Once there had been a picture of a pirate on the wall, used for target practice with thrown weapons. That picture disappeared.

Within hours of the disappearance, a shocking truth emerged. He had fallen for one of the pirates.

At least one NNPC had a heart attack when they found out.

--

Beyond the Fourth Wall


“Are you sure it's appropriate to have a scene here?”

Oh, don't worry. We only need it for gratuitous foreshadowing. After all, there's a lot of loose threads left hanging... and some plots have only just begun.

Right, Cop-Out?

[Draco]

EPILOGUE

Gil Maxwell and Friends

After making plans with several members of the Mercenary Guild about their new base, he returned to Brassport. There he put the finishing touches on the blueprints, and went about working on a new personal airship to travel from Brassport and the future Merc. Guild location.

He made sure to apologize to a number of people for having Leena take the Nameless Ship... He was banned from the Aerodome for a month, missing a new invention festival.

He currently has the mysterious, broken, gun left by Strife in a safe.

Leena Likemen gladly gave up her seat as captain of the Nameless Ship and returned to her winged pedal bike. She continues to sigh as she sits at the front desk of Gil Maxwell's shop.

Toshiro Okita did not return to the Ninja Dojo. Instead he has taken up residence in Gil's shop as a assistant, being trained in the different mechanics that Gil works with regularly. He has also been working on a few self projects with Gil's and Leena's help.

--

Draco Ocard

Chasing after Strife proved to be futile. It didn't take long before the effects of both being pushed against his bodies limits from the Underdeep and Gelquie's attack took their toll on him. He fell over blacking out.

When he woke up he was back in his room at the Ninja Dojo. Three days had passed since he collapsed. Shortly after waking up he found out that the Ninja Superior had passed on, and a ceremony had all ready taken place. Word spread of him working with the Underdeep. Some of the guild members refused to have anything to do with him. He even got a scolding from Kovaran, leaving him deaf in one ear for several days.

After paying his respects to the Ninja Superior he locked himself in a small building to think. It would take him several weeks before he came out again.

[Gelquie]

Gelquie:

Gelquie lay on her bed alone, staring directly at the ceiling at the small, mostly bare room of Mage Manor. It had been a few hours since she had left the battle against the Underdeep personification; though a part of her wanted to stay and see what was going on with everything as well as maybe curry favor with a mage, the smarter part of her told her that evacuating was better. She had stayed behind the broken Phantom Merc listening to them talk until they had mention of a ride. There was only a moment of hesitation before she approached the ship and asked for a ride; she was heading to Mage Manor as well, after all.

She was sure that she really didn't do anything that would put the Mages in her favor, and she was also sure that getting into the Mages Guild would be that much harder. She wondered how strict they were about accepting new applicants. And if she were rejected, she didn't know what she would do... or where to go.
So when she finally found the mage she was referred to, she immediately jumped into a one-sided speech on how she wanted to join the guild, how her illusion magic (and only her illusion magic, she made clear) fully qualified her, how she could be of use, as well as other things. She even tossed in the fact that she defeated a possessed Underdeeped ninja, though she didn't go into detail. She was throwing every reason in the book, speaking really quickly and stuttering quite a bit, no matter how hard she tried to get rid of her nerves.

But a moment later, she was a member of the Mages Guild.

It was only afterwards that Gelquie thought of this and blinked in wonderment, wondering if she really had to give her little speech at all or if she could have put it as simply as: "Hey, can I join the Guild?" But it didn't matter; she didn't say anything they didn't need to know. And some of the lesser mages did help to make her arm feel better; if it wasn't fully healed, it'd be healed up in no time.

But then there was the ninja... She had told the other mages only enough so that it would be common knowledge that Draco was no longer be possessed. She assured them that his incessant actions against the world has been resolved. ...But she still wasn't sure about that ninja... Which bothered her greatly.
Among other things... There were too many painful reminders today... literally, it seemed.

Gelquie shook her head and concentrated. Then some things began to spread across the room. Like... flowers? And grass. The bed she was laying on began to look like a little hill, and what looked like a small creek formed off towards the side of the room. She had created the image of a little peaceful meadow. She probably could've thought of something more extravagant, but she was too tired for too much work, and these illusions were worth the trouble.

What seemed to be a smile formed on her face as she stared up at the bright blue sky above, scanning it and pushing to the back of her mind the fact that it was her creation and that it wasn't a real sky. All of this happened until she fell asleep and it all disappeared, and the last thing she thought was that her idea might work, especially for the long road ahead of her.
She just wished she could stop the nightmares.