Light dawns upon the Empire. The sunrise carries its rays across the battle scarred land and plague infested corpses. Cossette stood upon a hill enjoying the morning sea breezes. The breeze was welcome after the long and bloody fights of the night before. Chaos had attempted to make their advance across the river under the cover of darkness but had been driven back by the courage and tenacity of the defenders of Order. The victory had come with great cost however, many a good soldier had been lost to the blades of Chaos and even more lie dying with foul energies twisting their very souls. Cossette stepped back from the hill and began the descent into the warcamp. The woes and cries of the dying surrounded her. As she walked through the camp she kept her head high. She was a priest of Sigmar, a warrior priest. It was her sworn duty to lead the charges of Sigmar and ensure his blessing's upon all who would stand against Chaos. Many was a time she charged the enemy with a hammer in her hand and a prayer on her lips. Only through Sigmar's blessing was she still alive.
She found an empty chair in an unused tent and took her rest. It seemed more and more tents went unused, their former occupants now found their rest with the gods. Sitting is something we all take for granted but in war it is a luxury rarely known to the front lines. As she was one of the final priests of Sigmar still breathing in the camp, her duties kept her constantly moving. She was always on the brink of collapse as she finally made her way to her mat. She had come to this battlefield under orders from Altdorf. Herself and a few other brave warrior priests were to ensure Chaos did not taint the minds and souls of the soldiers. An attack from within was deemed inevitable. When she arrived with her commune and a Witch Hunter, moves were made quickly. Chaotic taint was purged from the camp and a shrine to the patron god was erected. Daily prayers were ordered and executions were made public. Bodies of traitors hung from trees, feeding the birds of carrion. They served as a grim reminder of the consequences of falling to Chaos. Some would call it barbarous, she saw it as a necessary evil. If their oaths would not keep the soldiers in line, fear would.
Cossette opened her eyes after what seemed to only be a moment, finding the light was in midday now. Against her will she had fallen asleep. For all of Sigmar's power that had been gifted to her, she could not stave off sleep forever. She was not an emperor, high lord, or a god. She was only human. She rose from her chair and stepped out into the midday sun, collecting her battle hammer and tome as she went. The camp was in full swing, hammers beating broken blades into submission, archers flocking arrows, soldiers performing drills. As always a constant stream of broken spirited soldiers paid homage to the Shrine of Sigmar, praying that he may show them mercy. Though she was stonehearted from her years of war the faces of the broken soldiers were still haunting. Most of them mere boys, these soldiers were once simple farmers until the call from their Emperor brought them to arms. As inspiring as it was to see the men and women of the Empire rise up in arms to defend their Emperor and lands it was always painful to see what became of these simple people. Cossette said a prayer and turned from the shrine to find a young recruit in front of her.
"You are the priest Cossette?" asked the young man, his armor barely fitting.
"I am"
"Commander Young summons you to the command tent"
Cossette made no reply to the young man as she turned to walk to the command tent. His approach to her had been poor, he knew none of the customs expected. She would not charge him though, he would face Chaos soon. That alone would be more punishment than anything she could do.
As she entered the command tent she was greeted by Commander Young.
"Sigmar's Blessings upon you priest. It is good to see that the Emperor still has in his army soldiers who know the important of promptness" said the commander as he lightly bowed his head.
"Sigmar's Blessings upon you commander. How may I be of service to the Empire?"
"You may be of great service. You have noticed how quiet today is? Chaos stays in their warcamp and feasts upon their spoils of war. In honesty, I expected them to make a full attack today. The battle last night, though a victory to us, greatly hurt our moral. And with the arrival of their Greenskin allies this morning, Chaos now has a considerably larger force than ours. However, Chaos has not crossed the river. Nor have they made any excursions or raiding parties." said the commander as he turned to look at the battlefield map on the tent wall.
"That is far from their usual methods. I too expected a major attack this morning."
The commander stepped back from his map and sat down on a barrel of ale.
"What has my mind concerned is the lack of Magus in their camp. I know how many there were last night. And I also know we did not slay any before they retreated. Now my scouts tell me the Magus have all gathered to a cave on the cliffs. Nothing good comes from a gathering of the practices of Chaotic magic. I suspect they may be attempting to summon a demon. If they are successful we will certainly be overrun. You are the only priest left among us with the experience to disrupt such an event. It is the command of the Empire that you seek out these Magus and ensure their dark ritual does not come to fruition. You are willing to take this upon you, yes?"
"If the Emperor would have it I would descend into the very depths of Chaos and battle their gods for his glory. I will find these Magus and I will end their attempt to further taint our lands." replied Cossette as she adjusted the battle hammer on her belt.
"Then be off brave warrior of the Emperor. May Sigmar watch over you."
Bowing her head, Cossette left the command tent and headed north, to the cliffs.
The road to the cliffs was void of all life. Not a bird sang, nor a deer fed. The land was utterly silent, a sign of Chaotic influences. This road has once served as a supply route from the quarries in the cliffs to the north to the cities in the south. Once this road was bustling with the citizens of the Empire living their lives. Now the road was a silent reminder of the dark times they now lived in. Many of those citizens that once traversed this road now lay dead in the surrounding hills and woods, their spirits would haunt these lands for years to come. Even after Chaos is defeated and driven from these lands their horrors would infest the lands for years. Witch Hunters and Warrior Priests would be kept busy for quite some time.
The cliffs loomed above her, the scaffolding and tools of the quarry still lay where the workers left them. The air was heavy and thick. A light mist lay upon the ground. The silence was saturated with the sounds of the dead, their final screams quietly permeating the mist. With each step through the dense fog Cossette heard more silent screams. The cave now came into view, fog rolling out of it betraying it's dark denizens within. She steadied her hammer in her hand and ensured her Tome was chained to her wrist. Her hammer and tome were her sole protection, for armor held no use against Chaotic magic. She made her way to the entrance of the cave, feeling as though she stood before the mouth of hell itself. She uttered a silent prayer and walked inside.
The cave smelled of ancient evils. The smell of rotting corpses was everywhere, she could barely breathe. With each step she felt her boots grind against bones. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light she made out the grisly sight of Chaos sacrifices, bodies of innocents strewn across the floor, their blood pooling in crevices and holes in the cave floor. If it was not for her undying devotion to her Emperor she would have run. She had been given a mission though, a quest to serve her people and she would see it through. She now heard the low chanting of Chaos Magus ahead. She prepared herself for whatever horror may lie ahead. Turning the corner she found a sheet of cloth covering the path, through it she could see shadows moving against a backdrop of fire. She gathered her resolve, said a prayer, and charged through the cloth.
Charging through the cloth she swung her hammer at the head of the first to meet her gaze. The cultist was felled in the blow, his scream of agony bringing the others in the room to attention. Their looks of terror betrayed their shock, they had not expected to be found. Their staffs and dagger lay in the cave corners, the mighty Magus of Chaos now stood before a warrior priest of Sigmar, utterly defenseless. The ensuing slaughter was a true bloodbath, the Magus had no way to block the advance of Cossette. She was a truly terrifying sight, with her hair flying behind her and her hammer flying in front she screamed prayers of her Faith at the Magus as she slaughtered them. Her eyes had a fiery fury behind them and her tome was aglow with the power of Sigmar.
As she smashed the skull of the final Magus she took notice of a cultist running into another room. Pulling her hammer out of the head of the Magus she charged after the cultist. The cultist ran headfirst into a swirling vortex of Chaos magic and without thinking Cossette followed.
The world went black and her strength seemed gone. Terrors unimaginable danced around her, chanting dark powers and evil abilities. In the blackness of the void Cossette gathered what little of her strength she still had and swung her battle hammer with the force of a god. As she swung a thunderous crash sounded through the void and she felt herself being pulled down into the darkness. She was helpless to fight the night pulling her down.
Cossette felt something in her hands. Grit and gravel. She lifted her head up and opened her eyes. Before her stood a towering man, clad in great battle vestments. His eyes carried a fury of an entire world. Upon his head sat a crown of a king. He was scarred from countless battles, his skin looked as tough as the ground she lay upon. He looked at her for a moment before speaking.
"Who are you and from where do you hail?" asked the warrior as his hand went to his sword.
"I am Cossette of the Empire of Man. Where am I?"
"You are in Hyboria. I am King Conan."
Cossette's Tome, Final Entry.
"I know not where I am. I am unfamiliar with these lands, these peoples. I know nothing of a King Conan or his kingdom. Nor do I know of their false gods. I fear now I am trapped here, for I will not succumb to Chaos to please my own desire to return to my home. Whether it is by the will of Sigmar or not that I am here I will continue my work. These people are pagan and know nothing of the Empire of my home, nor of its great Emperor. Before my work is done these peoples will know of my god and will pray for his forgiveness of their ignorance. While I still draw breath I will do the work of my Faith and I will seek out the taint of Chaos in these lands. May Sigmar lay his blessings upon me"
Edited, Apr 21st 2009 5:43pm by ottertastic
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#103
Apr 21 2009 at 1:59 PM
Lumokai, a retired galkan monk, boarded the ferry in Selbina. "Top o' the morning!" said the captain, holding in his hand an nearly empty bottle of whiskey. "Been drinking again?" replied Lumokai. "Yep, but I can handle her. Not like she's a wild chocobo or anything. More like a frail pixie." said the captain. "Well I come to fish so don't let her rock too much ya hear?" said Lumokai. The captain smiled at the ship. "She'll be good to me today. Don't worry about it", said the captain. Lumokai smiled back and entered the ship.
The ship cruised along the great highway called the Grand Blue. The lone galka near the bow of the ship fished in solace. The day's haul was looking bright, as Lumokai filled his first bucketfull of tuna in a little over an hour. In the next hour, he never got a bite. Finally, he got a bite after a couple hours. As he reeled in his catch, an overwhelming stench, like a bunch of rotten popotoes, came upon Lumokai. He pulled up his catch and it was a Sea Zombie. Lumokai knew what this meant. The pirates then appeared out of nowhere!
"Everyone! Inside the ship!" exclaimed Lumokai.
Lumokai then unpacked his battle attire, and attached his Baghnakhs to his earthy, yet strong hands. As the pirates drew closer, their necromancers started summoning the undead. Lumokai, the veteran monk that he is, grinded the bones of the undead. As the last enemy fell, the captain of the pirates came out to the deck.
"Foreigner? You aren't pirates from Norg!" uttered Lumokai.
"I am a high necromancer from the far west. You, monk, are quite powerful. Do you seek to become even more?" said the captain.
"Bargaining with me? How foolish of you."
Lumokai charged at the pirate captain, unaware of the trap that was set. Lumokai struck thin air, the captain was an illusion. The real captain conjured a portal to a realm called Hyboria.
"Maybe you shall find the barbarians more fitting for your barbaric fighting." said the pirate captain.
Lumokai woke up, in unfamiliar territory. A rider on horseback approached him cautionsly.
"What foul beast have the wretched demons created now?" said the rider, raising his spear.
"Stop!" exclaimed a lady, riding closer and closer on horseback.
"Cornelia! Stay back! I can handle this alone!" said the rider.
"No you don't understand!" plead Cornelia. "That beast is a man from the world I came from!"
"(Where the hell am I?)" thought Lumokai.
"You mean he's from this land you call Vandel?" asked the rider.
"Vana'Diel, yes." said Cornelia."Monk, have you heard of the Icelands Expedition, where the Bastokan Monk and a Galkan Warrior, the Talekeeper, disappeared?"
"Why yes, I was part of the Bastokan Navy before I studied the martial arts under the tutelage of Master Oggbi. Are you really that Cornelia, his student which was assassinated during the expedition? But how?"
"I'll explain later. For now, we must go."
And so they ventured...
The ship cruised along the great highway called the Grand Blue. The lone galka near the bow of the ship fished in solace. The day's haul was looking bright, as Lumokai filled his first bucketfull of tuna in a little over an hour. In the next hour, he never got a bite. Finally, he got a bite after a couple hours. As he reeled in his catch, an overwhelming stench, like a bunch of rotten popotoes, came upon Lumokai. He pulled up his catch and it was a Sea Zombie. Lumokai knew what this meant. The pirates then appeared out of nowhere!
"Everyone! Inside the ship!" exclaimed Lumokai.
Lumokai then unpacked his battle attire, and attached his Baghnakhs to his earthy, yet strong hands. As the pirates drew closer, their necromancers started summoning the undead. Lumokai, the veteran monk that he is, grinded the bones of the undead. As the last enemy fell, the captain of the pirates came out to the deck.
"Foreigner? You aren't pirates from Norg!" uttered Lumokai.
"I am a high necromancer from the far west. You, monk, are quite powerful. Do you seek to become even more?" said the captain.
"Bargaining with me? How foolish of you."
Lumokai charged at the pirate captain, unaware of the trap that was set. Lumokai struck thin air, the captain was an illusion. The real captain conjured a portal to a realm called Hyboria.
"Maybe you shall find the barbarians more fitting for your barbaric fighting." said the pirate captain.
Lumokai woke up, in unfamiliar territory. A rider on horseback approached him cautionsly.
"What foul beast have the wretched demons created now?" said the rider, raising his spear.
"Stop!" exclaimed a lady, riding closer and closer on horseback.
"Cornelia! Stay back! I can handle this alone!" said the rider.
"No you don't understand!" plead Cornelia. "That beast is a man from the world I came from!"
"(Where the hell am I?)" thought Lumokai.
"You mean he's from this land you call Vandel?" asked the rider.
"Vana'Diel, yes." said Cornelia."Monk, have you heard of the Icelands Expedition, where the Bastokan Monk and a Galkan Warrior, the Talekeeper, disappeared?"
"Why yes, I was part of the Bastokan Navy before I studied the martial arts under the tutelage of Master Oggbi. Are you really that Cornelia, his student which was assassinated during the expedition? But how?"
"I'll explain later. For now, we must go."
And so they ventured...
#104
Apr 21 2009 at 2:02 PM
2 posts
"Ok, so, if I mix the magic’s I use to teleport me when I'm in danger with elemental magic’s that allow me to shift from this plane to say the Plane of Fear. I should be able to rearrange the magical matrixes so I can have a Port that will take me straight to the Guild Lobby." explained Canum for at least the tenth time to her friend Dlanod. " And what am I doing here, I told Scionof I'd meet him in the Bazaar for a drink and hope someone is running a Casino game, and that was two hours ago." explained Dlanod, who slowly started tapping his foot hopping to impress on the young high elf wizard just how boring all this was to him. "Well what else do I keep you near me for?" asked Canum with a slight smile on her lips. "Oh, you expect to end up a crispy critter of something along those lines. Ha-ha, remember that time you took on Priest of Discord, because you said he was looking at you funny, then he whooped you like a newbie..haha that was to funny." laughed Dlanod as that and a million other time Canum had managed to get her self killed in one fashion or another. "Your still the only wizard I know that can die, get rezzed and end up with more mana than they had ha-ha." as Dlanod started to shake his head.
"You’re to funny, guess it’s a good think I don’t keep you around for your humor." said Canum levelly. "I just hate dealing with that damn port in that’s right next to where most people want to be." stated Canum as she started to weave her hands in intricate patterns. Dlanod could feel the energies in the room start to build, as he is a cleric he had just the base feel for teleportation magic. "So,†asked Dlanod now starting to feel the rush of the unknown, the feeling all adventures live for "Should we be grouped? Or you thinking your fooling where you shouldn't be fooling is going to lead to very bad results?" Canum now trying to concentrate on the new spell she was working on. “No, if this goes bad it might go, very bad, and as I am use to dying and having to be rezzed I would rather you didn’t join me in this and we would both need to be rezzed.†Stated Canum, her voice slightly strained from forcing the magical energies she was wielding into the form she hoped would take her to the Guild Lobby.
The Magic in the room began to ebb and flow in the patterns that Canum hoped would achieve her new spell. Then as she was coming to the close of her spell all the magical energies in her body surged forth, drawing all the energy she had and with a small pop Canum disappeared from the small room her and Dlanod had been working in.
“Damn, should of told her just to use that port bind thingy she has, Hope her corpse shows up soon,†Thought Dlanod as he watched the place Canum had last been standing waiting for the corpse to appear. “Maybe I should go check the guild lobby.â€
Pop with sound of rushing air Canum stumbled out into a small field. “This isn’t the Guild Lobby.†explained Canum with a slight tremor in her voice. She could not feel the energies of Norrath flowing around her, all the magic that she would normally draw in with out the slightest thought were gone. And in there place, in this place, this world she had entered she felt something different. With a deep breath Canum started feeling the rush of the unknown and started out in the random direction she was facing hoping she had enough food and water on her to get home.
"You’re to funny, guess it’s a good think I don’t keep you around for your humor." said Canum levelly. "I just hate dealing with that damn port in that’s right next to where most people want to be." stated Canum as she started to weave her hands in intricate patterns. Dlanod could feel the energies in the room start to build, as he is a cleric he had just the base feel for teleportation magic. "So,†asked Dlanod now starting to feel the rush of the unknown, the feeling all adventures live for "Should we be grouped? Or you thinking your fooling where you shouldn't be fooling is going to lead to very bad results?" Canum now trying to concentrate on the new spell she was working on. “No, if this goes bad it might go, very bad, and as I am use to dying and having to be rezzed I would rather you didn’t join me in this and we would both need to be rezzed.†Stated Canum, her voice slightly strained from forcing the magical energies she was wielding into the form she hoped would take her to the Guild Lobby.
The Magic in the room began to ebb and flow in the patterns that Canum hoped would achieve her new spell. Then as she was coming to the close of her spell all the magical energies in her body surged forth, drawing all the energy she had and with a small pop Canum disappeared from the small room her and Dlanod had been working in.
“Damn, should of told her just to use that port bind thingy she has, Hope her corpse shows up soon,†Thought Dlanod as he watched the place Canum had last been standing waiting for the corpse to appear. “Maybe I should go check the guild lobby.â€
Pop with sound of rushing air Canum stumbled out into a small field. “This isn’t the Guild Lobby.†explained Canum with a slight tremor in her voice. She could not feel the energies of Norrath flowing around her, all the magic that she would normally draw in with out the slightest thought were gone. And in there place, in this place, this world she had entered she felt something different. With a deep breath Canum started feeling the rush of the unknown and started out in the random direction she was facing hoping she had enough food and water on her to get home.
#105
Apr 21 2009 at 2:28 PM
So, I know next to nothing about Age of Conan. Please forgive me if I take some liberties here.
She pulled the hood closer around her face as she darted between the merchants in the market place.
“Hey, you have to pay for that!!†It was a phrase that often followed the hunched, dark form. Hands grasped at her robe, but she easily slipped past the clumsy Humes and the stiff Elvaan.
Juice from the rolenberries dripped down her chin. She swiped at it with the sleeve of her robe as she wove in and out of the hostile crowd. Glancing back behind her to snicker at the closing press of bodies, she plowed into a wall of flesh.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!†she growled, pulling the hood even closer around her face as she glared at a tight, slightly furry stomach. Her gaze traveled slowly up the form until she it met the gaze of a grinning Galka.
“What have we here?†his voice boomed as he grabbed the shoulder of her robe with his right hand.
She felt her feet lift several inches off the ground. “Hey, watch it,†she muttered as she squirmed, trying to get out of his tight grip.
“Oh, I’m watching, little lady,†the Galka replied. “And I see I have a thief in my midst.â€
“I’m no thief,†she growled. “I just take what’s due to me.â€
“So what have we here? A little Hume girl, run away from home?†He chuckled softly. “You won’t make it far, stealing from honest folk.â€
Panic gripped her as his left hand traveled toward her hood. Desperate, she kicked out with a booted foot and felt it connect. The big Galka’s grip faltered, and she slumped to her knees on the cobbled street. She didn’t stay to watch the Galka crumble over, tucked into the fetal position. She dashed toward the right and, without thinking, burst through the archway into Northern San D’oria.
There was a bright flash of light that temporarily blinded her. She stumbled and fell to her knees in the dusty road.
Dusty road...? Where were the cobbles? She looked up. Where was the fountain? Where was the cathedral? Where were the stuffy Elvaan who usually threw her out of the royal district?
She squinted in the bright sunlight and glanced around her. She was in a marketplace, but not any market she had ever seen. The cobbled roads and neat wooden stalls were replaced by a dusty track and wobbly carts laden with fruits, vegetables, and other wares the likes of which she had never seen before. Women in ratty furs that barely covered their muscular arms and legs haggled with merchants. Men in loincloths with huge clubs and rough, dented shields surveyed the different stalls.
"Hey," a soft boot nudged her in the thigh. "What're you doing in the road? You want to get trampled?"
She looked up into the face of a very tall, very large... Hume? She rubbed her eyes and looked again. He looked like a Hume, but she'd never seen one quite so... well, big. He was like a Galka without the fur or the tail.
"You soft in the head, lady?" the not-Hume gumbled, nudging her with his toe again. "Can't understand the language?" He frowned. "Can't hear good?" he bellowed. People were starting to stare.
"N-no. I mean yes, I can hear. I can understand." How could she understand? "I'm sorry." She stood and brushed the dust off of her tunic and trousers.
"Come'ere," the large not-Galka rumbled. He grabbed her arm and moved her over to the side of the trail. At least, she assumed it was off to the side. It all looked like dust to her. "Name's Dirk," he said, holding out his hand.
She glanced around. It couldn't hurt to give her name here. She was pretty sure she wasn't in Vana'diel anymore. "Belkira," she replied looking at his hand suspiciously.
They stood there for a moment, awkwardly looking at one another. "Well," Belkira said finally. "Thanks for the help. I'll, uh, just be on my way." She smiled at him, then realized he proably couldn't see much in the shadow of her hood, so she raised a hand in farewell and turned to walk back through the archway. Hopefully she'd stumble back into Southern San D'oria and out of this strange place.
Her steps faltered when she realized that there was no archway. Just a very large gap in a huge wooden wall. The logs that were lashed together to form the wall here sharpened at the top, and there were walkways where more figures like Dirk were looking through small slats. Each figure had a large bow and a quiver of arrows on their back.
"Lost?" Dirk asked from behind her. One of her pointed ears flicked inside her hood. She was sure if she turned to glance at him, he would have a smirk on her face that would make her want to bury a dagger in his belly.
"Of course not," she replied, trying to mimic the haughty tone she heard the Elvaan use all the time. "Good bye, Dirk."
Raising her head, she stalked out of the gap in the gates...
...and found herself in an extremely odd landscape. The dusty track wound it's lazy way over a hill and into a thick forest. There were trees, but they were nothing like she was used to seeing back home. She swallowed hard and pulled her dagger out of its sheath.
She decided that sticking to the path would be the smartest course of action, so she headed toward the thick trees. Once over the first hill, she paused to pull down her hood and shake her hair down her back. Sweat trickled down her spine.
Once in the trees, Belkira was surprised by the smells of the flowers and the sounds of the birds in the trees. A dozen paces into the trees, she heard the sound of water. "Altana, am I ever thirsty," she muttered to herself.
She debated the brilliance of stepping off of this dusty path, but the ache in her throat and the smell of fresh water won out over cleverness.
Stepping carefully through the heavy underbrush, Belkira made her way towards the rush of water that got louder with every step. Glancing back, she hesitated a moment when she realized she could no longer see the pathway. The birds had gone very quiet. A twig snapped somewhere over to her left. She jumped and scanned the foliage, but it was too dense to see anything at all. "Just a bunny. Or maybe a tunnel worm. Don't worry," she muttered to herself. Did they even have rabbits and tunnel worms here? Or did they have bigger creatures? She banished that thought and started forward again.
The umbrage gave no sign of lessening, and Belkira stumbled out into the clearing, nearly falling to her knees for the third time that day.
"Well, well. What have we here?" The voice was thick and oily with a thick lisp. She looked up slowly, not wanting to make any sudden movements. The large figure in front of her resembeled Dirk in form, but that was where the similarities ended. Where Dirk wore a rough hide to protect him from attack, the individual in front of her wore only a loincloth, dyed a deep purple, with a large gold clasp in front holding it together. A gold chain with very heavy links hung around his neck, and gold hoops adorned his ears. "S'my lucky day," he grinned. "Saddur the slaver trader, my lady." He gave her a toothless grin. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
He was nimble in spite of his girth. He drew an ugly, nicked short sword and advanced on Belkira before she was sure what was going on. She just managed to dance backwards and out of his way, and the heel of her boot caught on a root. She pinwheeled her arms as she tottered backwards. She landed on her back and the air whooshed out of her lungs.
"There now, pretty, you'll fetch a fair price," Saddur twittered as he stepped toward her.
Suddenly, a large form burst out of the trees behind her. Belkira's eyes rolled up, and Dirk loomed above her head, his club held at the ready. Belkira's eyes grew wide as she stared straight up between his legs.
"Dirk, old friend!" Saddur warbled, held his hands up, his sword already back in it's sheath. "It's been so very long!"
"Saddur," Dirk growled, stepping away from Belkira and advancing on the slave trader. "Been looking for you."
"Ah, I hate to run, Dirk, but I've got places to be, you understand." Saddur started to turn and dash off into the trees when Dirk's large club caught him on the shoulder. Saddur whimpered and staggered, his soft boots dipping into the water at the edge of the lake. Dirk brought his club up again and swung it around. It made a sick thud as it slammed into the slave trader's skull. His body fell into the lake with a loud splash.
"You alright, Belkira?" Dirk came to her side and helped her stand.
"I'm ok," she whispered, staring at the dead body.
"You shouldn't have left the pathway." Dirk got a good look at her face. "Let's get you back into town." His eyes lingered for a moment on the pointed ears.
"Thanks," Belkira replied. "Perhaps I should pull the hood back up?"
The large man blushed. "It wouldn't be a bad idea around these parts."
Outside the entrance to the city, two figures stood and looked up at the wooden walls. One figure lifted a slender arm and tugged the hood back into place, hiding short-cropped hair pulled back in a small ponytail and large, pointed ears. The larger figure placed his arm around the smaller figure, and Belkira marched through the city gates with her newfound friend in a very strange world.
She pulled the hood closer around her face as she darted between the merchants in the market place.
“Hey, you have to pay for that!!†It was a phrase that often followed the hunched, dark form. Hands grasped at her robe, but she easily slipped past the clumsy Humes and the stiff Elvaan.
Juice from the rolenberries dripped down her chin. She swiped at it with the sleeve of her robe as she wove in and out of the hostile crowd. Glancing back behind her to snicker at the closing press of bodies, she plowed into a wall of flesh.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!†she growled, pulling the hood even closer around her face as she glared at a tight, slightly furry stomach. Her gaze traveled slowly up the form until she it met the gaze of a grinning Galka.
“What have we here?†his voice boomed as he grabbed the shoulder of her robe with his right hand.
She felt her feet lift several inches off the ground. “Hey, watch it,†she muttered as she squirmed, trying to get out of his tight grip.
“Oh, I’m watching, little lady,†the Galka replied. “And I see I have a thief in my midst.â€
“I’m no thief,†she growled. “I just take what’s due to me.â€
“So what have we here? A little Hume girl, run away from home?†He chuckled softly. “You won’t make it far, stealing from honest folk.â€
Panic gripped her as his left hand traveled toward her hood. Desperate, she kicked out with a booted foot and felt it connect. The big Galka’s grip faltered, and she slumped to her knees on the cobbled street. She didn’t stay to watch the Galka crumble over, tucked into the fetal position. She dashed toward the right and, without thinking, burst through the archway into Northern San D’oria.
There was a bright flash of light that temporarily blinded her. She stumbled and fell to her knees in the dusty road.
Dusty road...? Where were the cobbles? She looked up. Where was the fountain? Where was the cathedral? Where were the stuffy Elvaan who usually threw her out of the royal district?
She squinted in the bright sunlight and glanced around her. She was in a marketplace, but not any market she had ever seen. The cobbled roads and neat wooden stalls were replaced by a dusty track and wobbly carts laden with fruits, vegetables, and other wares the likes of which she had never seen before. Women in ratty furs that barely covered their muscular arms and legs haggled with merchants. Men in loincloths with huge clubs and rough, dented shields surveyed the different stalls.
"Hey," a soft boot nudged her in the thigh. "What're you doing in the road? You want to get trampled?"
She looked up into the face of a very tall, very large... Hume? She rubbed her eyes and looked again. He looked like a Hume, but she'd never seen one quite so... well, big. He was like a Galka without the fur or the tail.
"You soft in the head, lady?" the not-Hume gumbled, nudging her with his toe again. "Can't understand the language?" He frowned. "Can't hear good?" he bellowed. People were starting to stare.
"N-no. I mean yes, I can hear. I can understand." How could she understand? "I'm sorry." She stood and brushed the dust off of her tunic and trousers.
"Come'ere," the large not-Galka rumbled. He grabbed her arm and moved her over to the side of the trail. At least, she assumed it was off to the side. It all looked like dust to her. "Name's Dirk," he said, holding out his hand.
She glanced around. It couldn't hurt to give her name here. She was pretty sure she wasn't in Vana'diel anymore. "Belkira," she replied looking at his hand suspiciously.
They stood there for a moment, awkwardly looking at one another. "Well," Belkira said finally. "Thanks for the help. I'll, uh, just be on my way." She smiled at him, then realized he proably couldn't see much in the shadow of her hood, so she raised a hand in farewell and turned to walk back through the archway. Hopefully she'd stumble back into Southern San D'oria and out of this strange place.
Her steps faltered when she realized that there was no archway. Just a very large gap in a huge wooden wall. The logs that were lashed together to form the wall here sharpened at the top, and there were walkways where more figures like Dirk were looking through small slats. Each figure had a large bow and a quiver of arrows on their back.
"Lost?" Dirk asked from behind her. One of her pointed ears flicked inside her hood. She was sure if she turned to glance at him, he would have a smirk on her face that would make her want to bury a dagger in his belly.
"Of course not," she replied, trying to mimic the haughty tone she heard the Elvaan use all the time. "Good bye, Dirk."
Raising her head, she stalked out of the gap in the gates...
...and found herself in an extremely odd landscape. The dusty track wound it's lazy way over a hill and into a thick forest. There were trees, but they were nothing like she was used to seeing back home. She swallowed hard and pulled her dagger out of its sheath.
She decided that sticking to the path would be the smartest course of action, so she headed toward the thick trees. Once over the first hill, she paused to pull down her hood and shake her hair down her back. Sweat trickled down her spine.
Once in the trees, Belkira was surprised by the smells of the flowers and the sounds of the birds in the trees. A dozen paces into the trees, she heard the sound of water. "Altana, am I ever thirsty," she muttered to herself.
She debated the brilliance of stepping off of this dusty path, but the ache in her throat and the smell of fresh water won out over cleverness.
Stepping carefully through the heavy underbrush, Belkira made her way towards the rush of water that got louder with every step. Glancing back, she hesitated a moment when she realized she could no longer see the pathway. The birds had gone very quiet. A twig snapped somewhere over to her left. She jumped and scanned the foliage, but it was too dense to see anything at all. "Just a bunny. Or maybe a tunnel worm. Don't worry," she muttered to herself. Did they even have rabbits and tunnel worms here? Or did they have bigger creatures? She banished that thought and started forward again.
The umbrage gave no sign of lessening, and Belkira stumbled out into the clearing, nearly falling to her knees for the third time that day.
"Well, well. What have we here?" The voice was thick and oily with a thick lisp. She looked up slowly, not wanting to make any sudden movements. The large figure in front of her resembeled Dirk in form, but that was where the similarities ended. Where Dirk wore a rough hide to protect him from attack, the individual in front of her wore only a loincloth, dyed a deep purple, with a large gold clasp in front holding it together. A gold chain with very heavy links hung around his neck, and gold hoops adorned his ears. "S'my lucky day," he grinned. "Saddur the slaver trader, my lady." He gave her a toothless grin. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
He was nimble in spite of his girth. He drew an ugly, nicked short sword and advanced on Belkira before she was sure what was going on. She just managed to dance backwards and out of his way, and the heel of her boot caught on a root. She pinwheeled her arms as she tottered backwards. She landed on her back and the air whooshed out of her lungs.
"There now, pretty, you'll fetch a fair price," Saddur twittered as he stepped toward her.
Suddenly, a large form burst out of the trees behind her. Belkira's eyes rolled up, and Dirk loomed above her head, his club held at the ready. Belkira's eyes grew wide as she stared straight up between his legs.
"Dirk, old friend!" Saddur warbled, held his hands up, his sword already back in it's sheath. "It's been so very long!"
"Saddur," Dirk growled, stepping away from Belkira and advancing on the slave trader. "Been looking for you."
"Ah, I hate to run, Dirk, but I've got places to be, you understand." Saddur started to turn and dash off into the trees when Dirk's large club caught him on the shoulder. Saddur whimpered and staggered, his soft boots dipping into the water at the edge of the lake. Dirk brought his club up again and swung it around. It made a sick thud as it slammed into the slave trader's skull. His body fell into the lake with a loud splash.
"You alright, Belkira?" Dirk came to her side and helped her stand.
"I'm ok," she whispered, staring at the dead body.
"You shouldn't have left the pathway." Dirk got a good look at her face. "Let's get you back into town." His eyes lingered for a moment on the pointed ears.
"Thanks," Belkira replied. "Perhaps I should pull the hood back up?"
The large man blushed. "It wouldn't be a bad idea around these parts."
Outside the entrance to the city, two figures stood and looked up at the wooden walls. One figure lifted a slender arm and tugged the hood back into place, hiding short-cropped hair pulled back in a small ponytail and large, pointed ears. The larger figure placed his arm around the smaller figure, and Belkira marched through the city gates with her newfound friend in a very strange world.
#106
Apr 21 2009 at 2:34 PM
Scholar
40 posts
Never again will I pay Kaduru-Haiduru with a counterfeit Imperial Silver Piece...
#107
Apr 21 2009 at 2:59 PM
I used to be cool. Wherever I went, people examined me. "Nice gear," they'd /tell me. They'd ask me how hard it was to camp Argus for the Peacock Amulet, or how many Sozu Rogberry kills it took me to get a Thief's Knife. Their jealous stares made me swell with pride.
That was over two years ago.
Something happened. I don't know what was the cause of my actions, but suddenly everything that could be sold was thrown up onto the auction house or into my bazaar. Would I say that I was mad? No -- it was just something I did, because it felt like it needed doing.
After all of my treasures had been liquidized, I divided all of my gil into equal portions and handed it out to my friends. Tears welled up behind my eyes as I unfastened my Strider Boots and gave them to Chanchan, my thief ally and best friend. After stripping myself of everything I owned, I /waved goodbye and entered my Mog House for the last time.
And then the controlling force, as I had come to call it, left for good. Whenever it had left before, it had been in periods of mere hours. I'd stare at the wall of my Mog House for a while, but then it would come back and I'd go adventuring again. Occasionally it would leave for over a day, sometimes even two in a row, but it always came back.
This time felt permanent.
At first I was hopeful, because I remembered that time where for nine grueling days I stood completely still in Sauromugue Champaign, bazaaring Shrimp Lanterns. I overheard from the passers by that the controlling force was "on vacation" -- whatever that meant.
But who am I kidding? I know that this time is different. Everything valuable has been given away or sold, and I've been staring at the far wall of my Mog House for 815 days. Clearly, the controlling force has left me for dead.
I wonder what harm would come if I dared to move without it? If it's truly gone, never to return, then what difference would it make?
I inhaled deeply and looked to my left. The vertebrae in my neck responded with a crack, and immediately a blue and purple portal appeared in front of me.
"What are you doing Kupo!?"
"I'm getting out of here Mog, I can't take waiting any longer." I spread my legs and bent at the waist to stretch, my stiff body barely responding.
"But you can't, it's against the rules!"
"Oh what's the difference, Mog! I've been cooped up in here for over two years now! The Vana'diel I once knew is no longer the same Vana'diel outside of these walls. Nobody will remember me, so how can anyone CATCH me?"
"You'll be sorry," Mog said as she disappeared.
I inspected the Locker for any remaining rare/ex gear. I dust off my Optical Hat and Assault Jerkin, both fugly yet functional, and find myself desperately wishing that I had some better pants. AF pants make me look like a cross between MC Hammer and a pumpkin, but they're better than nothing I guess. I gleefully grab my Sirocco Kukri, and although I have the option to dual wield, I slam the locker door upon seeing my Heart Snatcher. I'm embarrassed I ever unlocked that thing.
Ready to re-enter Vana'diel after a long hiatus, I turned to leave. Strangely, there was no door. Instead there was a small rectangular window, not much wider than a foot on each side.
I stood on my toes to peek out. Beyond the window was a white wall and what looked to be a chair with a black mesh backing. I sheathed my dagger and pushed my Tarutaru Stool against the wall. Using my tail for balance, I stepped up, squeezed my torso through the window, and did a forwards roll into the unknown.
I rolled over something with a crunch and kicked the chair into the wall. I caught it as it was about to topple over and take in my new surroundings. I'm in a square room with one window, one door, and two desks. The window I crawled through sits centered on top of one desk. The other desk is littered with stacks of papers.
The crunching sound I heard was not the sound of something breaking. Instead, it seems I only depressed the keys of some flat, mechanical writing device. I instinctively draw my weapon and do some further inspection.
The papers are useless. Not Spells, not Scrolls, just a bunch of garbage with things like "Statement of Accounts Due" and "Loans Interest Statement" written on them. I make my way out the door and into another room.
A large space with multiple functions. Combination kitchen, dining, and living area. The dishes are piled high in the sink. A Galka's dwelling, no doubt. I pass through this room quickly in response to a sound my Mithran ears picked up. I'm not alone.
I push open the door to the bedroom slowly. A large bed with someone sleeping in it. I feel no threat from this person, but my senses tell me something's not exactly right. The sleeping woman is young, early twenties. Medicines crowd her bedside table. Balloons and cards and bouquets of flowers all stating "Get Well" or "Get Well Soon" adorn the room. Her blonde hair is thin, almost like a baby's, but with patches of her scalp where you'd expect hair should be. She stirs a little in her sleep, the sound I heard before.
The sound of a door closing followed by footsteps startles me. I quickly hide in the closet and shut the door behind me. A man enters slowly.
"You asleep babe?" he asks.
"Mmrrm, only a little," she says reluctantly.
He gets into the bed next to her and puts her arm over her. "Feeling okay?"
"No."
"What's wrong? Can I do anything?"
"I don't think so."
"Sure?"
"I just feel sick, like I always do after treatment."
"I'm sorry babe."
"And I'm tired of feeling sick. I'm not looking forward to another eight months of feeling this way."
"One day at a time babe, we'll beat this thing."
He kisses her and lets himself out, slowly closing the door behind him. With the door still cracked, he adds "Let me know if you need something."
She gives him a dismissing "Mmm hmm" and dozes off again.
Once I feel as though the girl has settled, I make my way out of the closet and out of the bedroom. It's clear that I do not belong here, wherever "here" is, and I proceed cautiously back towards the room with the window.
"What the hell?" I hear the man say.
I instinctively find my footing and point my dagger at him.
"Jessamyn? Is that you?"
"Huh?" I'm startled that he knows my name.
"What are you doing here?"
Confused as to how this man knows me, I demand answers.
"What is this place, and how do you know my name?"
Moving his hands in a calming, almost surrender-like gesture, he says "Relax, you're not in any danger here -- but this is weird, Jess."
"HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?"
"I created you. You were my avatar in a game I used to play online."
"Game? Online? What are you talking about?"
"Vana'diel. It's an online world where players like me go on adventures together. You were the character I played. In a way, you were my alter-ego, Jessamyn."
The controlling force. I suddenly understood.
"So you're the real Jessamyn?"
He laughed. "No, not exactly. YOU'RE the real Jessamyn, I'm just Shaun."
"I don't understand."
"You're in the real world, Jess. I'm not sure how, but here you are."
"What happened to you, or, what happened to me? Why did you leave me alone for so long?"
"Well," he started.
His look changed from that of wonder and nostalgia to that of disdain. He swallowed hard.
"My priorities changed, Jess. I used to be able to goof off as you in Vana'diel every day, and at the time I really enjoyed it."
"So why quit something you enjoy?" I said, confused, half wanting to run back to the window but half entranced by what he was saying.
"I had to. The real world was passing me by and, the longer I played, I guess, the more my real life was failing to measure up to my online life."
"So you left me to rot alone in my Mog House forever?"
"No, you don't understand. Every once in a while I get this urge to login again and resume playing, because I remember how much fun I had being you, Jess."
"I don't believe you! If that were the case you would have come back by now!"
"I wanted to, many times. But you see, my girlfriend is sick. Really sick. The treatment for her illness makes her even more sick."
Tears began rolling down Shaun's face. I began to understand.
"You love her, then?"
"So much. I love her so much that nothing else matters."
I lowered my dagger and looked back towards the room with my window.
"Why didn't you just delete me, then? You realize I've been staring at a wall waiting for you all this time?"
"I don't know, I guess maybe I thought that there was a small chance I'd be back someday. Keeping you alive was like admitting there was hope that, well, that life would go back to normal again."
I sheathed my weapon and approached him.
"You do realize that the Vana'diel that exists now is likely nothing like you remember it?"
"Of course."
"And you know that to re-enter Vana'diel would be like entering the world as a brand new player, completely unrecognizable by anyone?"
"I know, most of my old friends have stopped playing."
"Then you admit that you will likely never return to this world."
"I don't know. I just know that right now, she needs me. Right now, I belong here."
"Then I believe you have already made your choice. Come delete me."
"Delete you? No!"
"No? Do you have any idea what it's like to spend two years in fear, not knowing what the future lies? Do you know how torturous that waiting game is?"
"Actually, I think that I do."
The genuineness in his voice paired with his solemn expression made it clear that what I had experienced in the last 815 days was a cakewalk in comparison to the battles he's fought. I felt an enormous amount of respect for him.
"I'm sorry I became impatient, Shaun. I took matters into my own hands and consequently blurred the lines that define the boundaries to our worlds."
"And I'm sorry I left you alone for so long. Forgive me?"
"I understand. I'm a character in a game. She's the woman you love. You made the right choice." I went back to the room with my window.
"Bye for now?" he called after me.
"For now, yes."
...
I couldn't believe it. My Final Fantasy XI avatar was capable of crossing into the real world. I thought about waking Cassie to tell her about what I just experienced. I thought about bursting into the computer room after her to watch Jessamyn cross back over into Vana'diel. Instead, I just sat down on the couch, scratched my head, and wondered if I'd finally gone crazy. I turned on the TV when I heard a timid knock on the door.
I opened it to find Jessamyn on the other side, looking embarrassed.
"So I hate to be a bother but, what does 'All Worlds Scheduled Maintenance' mean?"
Edited, Apr 21st 2009 7:27pm by geekpride
That was over two years ago.
Something happened. I don't know what was the cause of my actions, but suddenly everything that could be sold was thrown up onto the auction house or into my bazaar. Would I say that I was mad? No -- it was just something I did, because it felt like it needed doing.
After all of my treasures had been liquidized, I divided all of my gil into equal portions and handed it out to my friends. Tears welled up behind my eyes as I unfastened my Strider Boots and gave them to Chanchan, my thief ally and best friend. After stripping myself of everything I owned, I /waved goodbye and entered my Mog House for the last time.
And then the controlling force, as I had come to call it, left for good. Whenever it had left before, it had been in periods of mere hours. I'd stare at the wall of my Mog House for a while, but then it would come back and I'd go adventuring again. Occasionally it would leave for over a day, sometimes even two in a row, but it always came back.
This time felt permanent.
At first I was hopeful, because I remembered that time where for nine grueling days I stood completely still in Sauromugue Champaign, bazaaring Shrimp Lanterns. I overheard from the passers by that the controlling force was "on vacation" -- whatever that meant.
But who am I kidding? I know that this time is different. Everything valuable has been given away or sold, and I've been staring at the far wall of my Mog House for 815 days. Clearly, the controlling force has left me for dead.
I wonder what harm would come if I dared to move without it? If it's truly gone, never to return, then what difference would it make?
I inhaled deeply and looked to my left. The vertebrae in my neck responded with a crack, and immediately a blue and purple portal appeared in front of me.
"What are you doing Kupo!?"
"I'm getting out of here Mog, I can't take waiting any longer." I spread my legs and bent at the waist to stretch, my stiff body barely responding.
"But you can't, it's against the rules!"
"Oh what's the difference, Mog! I've been cooped up in here for over two years now! The Vana'diel I once knew is no longer the same Vana'diel outside of these walls. Nobody will remember me, so how can anyone CATCH me?"
"You'll be sorry," Mog said as she disappeared.
I inspected the Locker for any remaining rare/ex gear. I dust off my Optical Hat and Assault Jerkin, both fugly yet functional, and find myself desperately wishing that I had some better pants. AF pants make me look like a cross between MC Hammer and a pumpkin, but they're better than nothing I guess. I gleefully grab my Sirocco Kukri, and although I have the option to dual wield, I slam the locker door upon seeing my Heart Snatcher. I'm embarrassed I ever unlocked that thing.
Ready to re-enter Vana'diel after a long hiatus, I turned to leave. Strangely, there was no door. Instead there was a small rectangular window, not much wider than a foot on each side.
I stood on my toes to peek out. Beyond the window was a white wall and what looked to be a chair with a black mesh backing. I sheathed my dagger and pushed my Tarutaru Stool against the wall. Using my tail for balance, I stepped up, squeezed my torso through the window, and did a forwards roll into the unknown.
I rolled over something with a crunch and kicked the chair into the wall. I caught it as it was about to topple over and take in my new surroundings. I'm in a square room with one window, one door, and two desks. The window I crawled through sits centered on top of one desk. The other desk is littered with stacks of papers.
The crunching sound I heard was not the sound of something breaking. Instead, it seems I only depressed the keys of some flat, mechanical writing device. I instinctively draw my weapon and do some further inspection.
The papers are useless. Not Spells, not Scrolls, just a bunch of garbage with things like "Statement of Accounts Due" and "Loans Interest Statement" written on them. I make my way out the door and into another room.
A large space with multiple functions. Combination kitchen, dining, and living area. The dishes are piled high in the sink. A Galka's dwelling, no doubt. I pass through this room quickly in response to a sound my Mithran ears picked up. I'm not alone.
I push open the door to the bedroom slowly. A large bed with someone sleeping in it. I feel no threat from this person, but my senses tell me something's not exactly right. The sleeping woman is young, early twenties. Medicines crowd her bedside table. Balloons and cards and bouquets of flowers all stating "Get Well" or "Get Well Soon" adorn the room. Her blonde hair is thin, almost like a baby's, but with patches of her scalp where you'd expect hair should be. She stirs a little in her sleep, the sound I heard before.
The sound of a door closing followed by footsteps startles me. I quickly hide in the closet and shut the door behind me. A man enters slowly.
"You asleep babe?" he asks.
"Mmrrm, only a little," she says reluctantly.
He gets into the bed next to her and puts her arm over her. "Feeling okay?"
"No."
"What's wrong? Can I do anything?"
"I don't think so."
"Sure?"
"I just feel sick, like I always do after treatment."
"I'm sorry babe."
"And I'm tired of feeling sick. I'm not looking forward to another eight months of feeling this way."
"One day at a time babe, we'll beat this thing."
He kisses her and lets himself out, slowly closing the door behind him. With the door still cracked, he adds "Let me know if you need something."
She gives him a dismissing "Mmm hmm" and dozes off again.
Once I feel as though the girl has settled, I make my way out of the closet and out of the bedroom. It's clear that I do not belong here, wherever "here" is, and I proceed cautiously back towards the room with the window.
"What the hell?" I hear the man say.
I instinctively find my footing and point my dagger at him.
"Jessamyn? Is that you?"
"Huh?" I'm startled that he knows my name.
"What are you doing here?"
Confused as to how this man knows me, I demand answers.
"What is this place, and how do you know my name?"
Moving his hands in a calming, almost surrender-like gesture, he says "Relax, you're not in any danger here -- but this is weird, Jess."
"HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?"
"I created you. You were my avatar in a game I used to play online."
"Game? Online? What are you talking about?"
"Vana'diel. It's an online world where players like me go on adventures together. You were the character I played. In a way, you were my alter-ego, Jessamyn."
The controlling force. I suddenly understood.
"So you're the real Jessamyn?"
He laughed. "No, not exactly. YOU'RE the real Jessamyn, I'm just Shaun."
"I don't understand."
"You're in the real world, Jess. I'm not sure how, but here you are."
"What happened to you, or, what happened to me? Why did you leave me alone for so long?"
"Well," he started.
His look changed from that of wonder and nostalgia to that of disdain. He swallowed hard.
"My priorities changed, Jess. I used to be able to goof off as you in Vana'diel every day, and at the time I really enjoyed it."
"So why quit something you enjoy?" I said, confused, half wanting to run back to the window but half entranced by what he was saying.
"I had to. The real world was passing me by and, the longer I played, I guess, the more my real life was failing to measure up to my online life."
"So you left me to rot alone in my Mog House forever?"
"No, you don't understand. Every once in a while I get this urge to login again and resume playing, because I remember how much fun I had being you, Jess."
"I don't believe you! If that were the case you would have come back by now!"
"I wanted to, many times. But you see, my girlfriend is sick. Really sick. The treatment for her illness makes her even more sick."
Tears began rolling down Shaun's face. I began to understand.
"You love her, then?"
"So much. I love her so much that nothing else matters."
I lowered my dagger and looked back towards the room with my window.
"Why didn't you just delete me, then? You realize I've been staring at a wall waiting for you all this time?"
"I don't know, I guess maybe I thought that there was a small chance I'd be back someday. Keeping you alive was like admitting there was hope that, well, that life would go back to normal again."
I sheathed my weapon and approached him.
"You do realize that the Vana'diel that exists now is likely nothing like you remember it?"
"Of course."
"And you know that to re-enter Vana'diel would be like entering the world as a brand new player, completely unrecognizable by anyone?"
"I know, most of my old friends have stopped playing."
"Then you admit that you will likely never return to this world."
"I don't know. I just know that right now, she needs me. Right now, I belong here."
"Then I believe you have already made your choice. Come delete me."
"Delete you? No!"
"No? Do you have any idea what it's like to spend two years in fear, not knowing what the future lies? Do you know how torturous that waiting game is?"
"Actually, I think that I do."
The genuineness in his voice paired with his solemn expression made it clear that what I had experienced in the last 815 days was a cakewalk in comparison to the battles he's fought. I felt an enormous amount of respect for him.
"I'm sorry I became impatient, Shaun. I took matters into my own hands and consequently blurred the lines that define the boundaries to our worlds."
"And I'm sorry I left you alone for so long. Forgive me?"
"I understand. I'm a character in a game. She's the woman you love. You made the right choice." I went back to the room with my window.
"Bye for now?" he called after me.
"For now, yes."
...
I couldn't believe it. My Final Fantasy XI avatar was capable of crossing into the real world. I thought about waking Cassie to tell her about what I just experienced. I thought about bursting into the computer room after her to watch Jessamyn cross back over into Vana'diel. Instead, I just sat down on the couch, scratched my head, and wondered if I'd finally gone crazy. I turned on the TV when I heard a timid knock on the door.
I opened it to find Jessamyn on the other side, looking embarrassed.
"So I hate to be a bother but, what does 'All Worlds Scheduled Maintenance' mean?"
Edited, Apr 21st 2009 7:27pm by geekpride
#108
Apr 21 2009 at 3:00 PM
Leric was an inquisitive Tarutaru from the beautiful city of Windurst. However, he was also, at times, a fool. While a skilled mage and a brilliant scholar, he sometimes over-estimated his ability and did dangerous things. So far, he had lived through these experiments-- mostly in one piece.
This day, however, would change that. It was a beautiful day. The wind was breezy, bring forth the scent of fresh flowers throughout the city. Bees hummed and birds sang; children laughed and skipped through the streets when the schools let out. Nobody would expect that nearby someone was about to rip a hole in the world.
Beneath a small yet comfortable house in Windurst Waters was Leric's laboratory. He did all sorts of magical experiments there, and wasted all sorts of funding. Every once-in-a-while, however, he would actually make a small breakthrough with his research, publish, and thus not perish. This was how he survived. The rooms were filled with alchemical regents, with flasks and beakers; with whirling gizmos and glowing runic circles. The smell of magic, of ozone, and of burnt hair often perfumed the air. Books lined every wall that arcane instrumentation didn't, and ink was splattered everywhere.
Today, he experimented with Summoning Magic in combination with Time Magic. He had managed to get into the hidden rooms beneath the city and steal some of the old research from during the war. From this he learned many things. He combined this with his own research and other texts, and came up with many amazing ideas.
One suggestion that he had drawn from several sources was a unique perspective on reality. The idea was that his own world, and all others, were nothing more than dreams inside an enormous sentient crystal. Everything was nothing but fleeting memories and stray thoughts within the great jewel. It was a fascinating theory, and Leric wanted to test it-- to see if it could possibility be true.
The idea of manipulation was appealing.Some of the research indicated that certain individuals of great power could do so-- if only they had the right tools and the correct understandings, and thus go anywhere and anywhen-- or even create their own world. Leric wanted to see if he could be one of those individuals, and so he had built a device that he hoped might achieve it.
He had used energy orbs from the ruins to power it. There were 6 of them, fully charged, in receptacles around the room. Cables of crystal and metal ran to the center of the room and connected with a stone platform. It was surrounded by eight outer columns. Atop each column was a piece of crystal, charged with elemental energy from it's appropriate elemental cloister. The platform was then inlayed with with a mithril pentagram, surrounded by various arcane runes and symboles. Above the circle, in the ceiling, was another column. It was powered by another group of power orbs-- 6 of them-- surrounded it at it's base.In a magical field, 5 shards of crystal floated so closely together that they seemed one-- each was charged with the energy of a separate Mothercrystal.
Beneath them, directly above the center of the stone platform, was a 6th crystal of beautiful shape and cut. On it's sides it was covered with a mirror-like metal, so that light could only pass through the top or bottom and come out the other side. It existed to act as a focusing lens for above crystal device.
Near the huge apparatus was a second, smaller platform. Raised, it was to act as the control panel for the device. It had upon it buttons made of metal and crystal with various words and symbols adorning it, and the metal-crystal cables ran out of it and into various places in the room. Leric stood before it now. He was exhausted. Finishing the device had taken a great toll on him. He wore thin linen pants that were torn in the knees and covered in ink and grease, and tiny spots where acid had burned them. He wore his labcoat, but was shirtless underneath for all the heat, and was drenched in sweat. Yet today, he was going to do it. If it didn't work now, it wasn't going to work.
He stood over the platform. Tiny droplets of sweat fell from his shaggy, unkept blond hair onto the controls. He activated the power relays for the device, and the platform came to life with a field of blue light. Each crystal glowed like an elemental, giving off an energetic aura. The "Key" device in the ceiling began to charge with energy and glow with light, waiting to be activated. All that was left was for him to import the coordinates and encode them into the output of the Crystal Key. He really hadn't researched this part as well as he should have. He just encoded a random string of runes-- he didn't care where he went, he just wanted to go. He wanted to see the bloody apparatus work.
Finally, he pressed the execution button. The Crystal Key in the ceiling brightened into a glare, and with a flash, shot a huge beam of magical light into the platform in the floor. Yet instead of destroying the platform, a portal opened a few inches above it to accept the energy. The portal was of a beautiful blue, and it swirled like an oceanic vortex-- only much slower. Leric walked over to it, bristling with excitement and ignoring what little fear and caution he had. Without thinking, he stepped into the portal, and was pulled in-- and was gone.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
In another world, another one of the crystal's many dreams, a portal opened a few feet above the soft, grassy earth. It was raining lightly, and some of the water fell into the top of the portal to leave the world of Hyboria forever.In exchange for the droplets of water that now lay upon a stone platform in another universe, a small creature was deposited onto the earth. He appeared to be a child, dressed in white rags with his shirt torn asunder and his long, blond hair drenched in sweat. He glowed faintly with a wispy blue light.
For those of us from Vana'diel, of course, we knew he was a Tarutaru-- Leric. But the people of Hyboria, of course didn't know that. The poor young man had been successful-- he had found a way to open doors between the different facets of the Crystalline imagination. He now slept on the fertile grass of Hyboria, a beautiful green tree shading him from the sun. Of course, the question must be asked-- how would he ever get home?
Edited, Apr 21st 2009 7:06pm by Lerico
This day, however, would change that. It was a beautiful day. The wind was breezy, bring forth the scent of fresh flowers throughout the city. Bees hummed and birds sang; children laughed and skipped through the streets when the schools let out. Nobody would expect that nearby someone was about to rip a hole in the world.
Beneath a small yet comfortable house in Windurst Waters was Leric's laboratory. He did all sorts of magical experiments there, and wasted all sorts of funding. Every once-in-a-while, however, he would actually make a small breakthrough with his research, publish, and thus not perish. This was how he survived. The rooms were filled with alchemical regents, with flasks and beakers; with whirling gizmos and glowing runic circles. The smell of magic, of ozone, and of burnt hair often perfumed the air. Books lined every wall that arcane instrumentation didn't, and ink was splattered everywhere.
Today, he experimented with Summoning Magic in combination with Time Magic. He had managed to get into the hidden rooms beneath the city and steal some of the old research from during the war. From this he learned many things. He combined this with his own research and other texts, and came up with many amazing ideas.
One suggestion that he had drawn from several sources was a unique perspective on reality. The idea was that his own world, and all others, were nothing more than dreams inside an enormous sentient crystal. Everything was nothing but fleeting memories and stray thoughts within the great jewel. It was a fascinating theory, and Leric wanted to test it-- to see if it could possibility be true.
The idea of manipulation was appealing.Some of the research indicated that certain individuals of great power could do so-- if only they had the right tools and the correct understandings, and thus go anywhere and anywhen-- or even create their own world. Leric wanted to see if he could be one of those individuals, and so he had built a device that he hoped might achieve it.
He had used energy orbs from the ruins to power it. There were 6 of them, fully charged, in receptacles around the room. Cables of crystal and metal ran to the center of the room and connected with a stone platform. It was surrounded by eight outer columns. Atop each column was a piece of crystal, charged with elemental energy from it's appropriate elemental cloister. The platform was then inlayed with with a mithril pentagram, surrounded by various arcane runes and symboles. Above the circle, in the ceiling, was another column. It was powered by another group of power orbs-- 6 of them-- surrounded it at it's base.In a magical field, 5 shards of crystal floated so closely together that they seemed one-- each was charged with the energy of a separate Mothercrystal.
Beneath them, directly above the center of the stone platform, was a 6th crystal of beautiful shape and cut. On it's sides it was covered with a mirror-like metal, so that light could only pass through the top or bottom and come out the other side. It existed to act as a focusing lens for above crystal device.
Near the huge apparatus was a second, smaller platform. Raised, it was to act as the control panel for the device. It had upon it buttons made of metal and crystal with various words and symbols adorning it, and the metal-crystal cables ran out of it and into various places in the room. Leric stood before it now. He was exhausted. Finishing the device had taken a great toll on him. He wore thin linen pants that were torn in the knees and covered in ink and grease, and tiny spots where acid had burned them. He wore his labcoat, but was shirtless underneath for all the heat, and was drenched in sweat. Yet today, he was going to do it. If it didn't work now, it wasn't going to work.
He stood over the platform. Tiny droplets of sweat fell from his shaggy, unkept blond hair onto the controls. He activated the power relays for the device, and the platform came to life with a field of blue light. Each crystal glowed like an elemental, giving off an energetic aura. The "Key" device in the ceiling began to charge with energy and glow with light, waiting to be activated. All that was left was for him to import the coordinates and encode them into the output of the Crystal Key. He really hadn't researched this part as well as he should have. He just encoded a random string of runes-- he didn't care where he went, he just wanted to go. He wanted to see the bloody apparatus work.
Finally, he pressed the execution button. The Crystal Key in the ceiling brightened into a glare, and with a flash, shot a huge beam of magical light into the platform in the floor. Yet instead of destroying the platform, a portal opened a few inches above it to accept the energy. The portal was of a beautiful blue, and it swirled like an oceanic vortex-- only much slower. Leric walked over to it, bristling with excitement and ignoring what little fear and caution he had. Without thinking, he stepped into the portal, and was pulled in-- and was gone.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
In another world, another one of the crystal's many dreams, a portal opened a few feet above the soft, grassy earth. It was raining lightly, and some of the water fell into the top of the portal to leave the world of Hyboria forever.In exchange for the droplets of water that now lay upon a stone platform in another universe, a small creature was deposited onto the earth. He appeared to be a child, dressed in white rags with his shirt torn asunder and his long, blond hair drenched in sweat. He glowed faintly with a wispy blue light.
For those of us from Vana'diel, of course, we knew he was a Tarutaru-- Leric. But the people of Hyboria, of course didn't know that. The poor young man had been successful-- he had found a way to open doors between the different facets of the Crystalline imagination. He now slept on the fertile grass of Hyboria, a beautiful green tree shading him from the sun. Of course, the question must be asked-- how would he ever get home?
Edited, Apr 21st 2009 7:06pm by Lerico
#109
Apr 21 2009 at 4:19 PM
Orson ducked under a myriad sea of elbows, his face screwed up in concentration. His full pouch of gil jingled at his waist, and he was busily counting another small handful of coins as he jostled his way through the auctionhouse crowd, mostly made up of people whose waist (or in some cases, knees) were level with the top of his head.
He found his way to the auctionhouse door and squeezed out. 'Only two thousand gil,' he thought, shaking his head. A few years ago, a bundle of lightning crystals would have fetched thrice that and more. His employer wouldn't be pleased. 'My employer is never please,' he thought grimly.
Orson had been working for Tarianna as long as he could remember. So long, in fact, that it seemed like his entire existance hinged on sorting through mail from the ever-absent white-haired Mithra, and posting things at auction. 'And of course, my poor Moogle is overloaded with stupid scraps of food and random materials and bits of armor,' he thought. 'I should open a pawn shop.'
He trotted the long, winding distance through Windurst Waters to his Mog house, passing the same, silent bazaars he did every day. 'They sure are quiet,' he mused. 'I don't know how they can just stand around all day.'
He was fumbling with the key to his front door when he noticed it: a shimmering light playing a strange, flickering game on the crumbling walls of the residential street. He decided to investigate. After all, nothing unusual ever happens within the town...
Orson followed the odd light, feeling a bit nervous. He'd never been on an adventure before. 'Does this even count as an adventure?' he wondered. He made his way north through the sprawling city. The light seemed to be coming from the direction of Heaven's Tower. 'Is the Star Sybil doing some great conjuring?' he wondered. It would be highly irregular. The Sybil hadn't been seen making any sort of grand magic for ages.
He found himself trundling across the wooden bridges of Windurst Walls. He now had a sweeping panoramic view of the great Tree, and he felt momentarily puzzled. The light wasn't coming from that direction. It seemed to be coming from one of the mossy pools of water under the path.
Still clutching a fistful of gil, he leaned over the edge of the pier. Within the still water below, a dazzling blue glow was shining brightly. It seemed to be eminating from deep within the pool. Orson leaned over for a closer look. He could see movement within the light, and, squinting, he thought he could make out the outline of...a person? It was like he was looking through a window, through which bright sunlight was pouring (even though it was late evening). He stared downward, fascinated, not noticing that his hands were slowly slipping from the smooth edge of the pier.
He fell. With a tiny gasp and a small splash, he hit the water, still clutching his gil. He thrashed through the water in a panic, but he could see nothing but blinding light. He couldn't tell which way was up, and was certain he was going to drown. A sudden dizzying sensation gripped him. 'This must be the end,' he thought. Oddly, his last conscious thought before he succombed to blackness was of the jingling coin purse at his side. 'Tarianna's gonna kill me...'
==============================
Orson awoke, rather reluctantly, with a dull sensation in the pit of his stomach. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, completely disoriented. Hadn't he been drowning in a pool? He distinctly remembered the wetness, and the light. He blinked a few times, and looked warily around him.
He seemed to be in a lush forest. The air smelled...primal. 'Where is this?' he wondered. 'Yuhtunga? Jugner?'
There was a sudden commotion behind him. He hopped to his feet, his coin purse jingling indiscreetly at his hip. Was it a ruffian, come to rob him? A large bush shuddered violently, emitting a gutteral howl. 'That's no ruffian...' Orson thought with dread.
A huge beast, the likes of which Orson had never seen before, burst through the foliage. It leapt directly at him, claws extended to kill.
Orson crouched, terrified, when a blur of motion sprang at the airborn monster from his left. A raggedly-dressed person (a Hume, perhaps? Orson was too mortified to notice) had flung himself onto the attacker, a great sword wielded by sinewy arms. The beast snarled with rage, tearing at the man's exposed arms. Blood spattered the ground.
Orson stood, quavering, as the man took a hacking swing at the creature's midsection. The great beast batted the sword away with a flick of its huge paw. "A little help here, if you could spare it!" the brawny man shouted.
Orson, with a start, was suddenly reminded of the short sword he'd worn these many years. It had been gathering dust at his side for time out of mind. He had often wondered why he even bothered wearing it. He drew it in a flash, and without thinking, began muttering a Bind spell.
The clawed creature froze, midswipe in a blow that would have disemboweled the savage man. "Well done!" the man shouted, and he sank his sword through the monster's heart. It gave a blood-curdling, motionless scream, then fell to the ground in a heap.
The man wasted no time. He squatted down and began skinning the great animal.
Orson, however, was quivering with fear, and amazement at what he had just done. His little sword trembled in his outstretched hand.
"W-where in Vana'diel am I?" he said weakly.
The man looked up from his work. "Vana'diel? Never heard of it. Welcome to Hyboria."
Orson nearly passed out from fright. "Hyboria?" He looked at his sword. "Looks like this'll be seeing some use..."
He found his way to the auctionhouse door and squeezed out. 'Only two thousand gil,' he thought, shaking his head. A few years ago, a bundle of lightning crystals would have fetched thrice that and more. His employer wouldn't be pleased. 'My employer is never please,' he thought grimly.
Orson had been working for Tarianna as long as he could remember. So long, in fact, that it seemed like his entire existance hinged on sorting through mail from the ever-absent white-haired Mithra, and posting things at auction. 'And of course, my poor Moogle is overloaded with stupid scraps of food and random materials and bits of armor,' he thought. 'I should open a pawn shop.'
He trotted the long, winding distance through Windurst Waters to his Mog house, passing the same, silent bazaars he did every day. 'They sure are quiet,' he mused. 'I don't know how they can just stand around all day.'
He was fumbling with the key to his front door when he noticed it: a shimmering light playing a strange, flickering game on the crumbling walls of the residential street. He decided to investigate. After all, nothing unusual ever happens within the town...
Orson followed the odd light, feeling a bit nervous. He'd never been on an adventure before. 'Does this even count as an adventure?' he wondered. He made his way north through the sprawling city. The light seemed to be coming from the direction of Heaven's Tower. 'Is the Star Sybil doing some great conjuring?' he wondered. It would be highly irregular. The Sybil hadn't been seen making any sort of grand magic for ages.
He found himself trundling across the wooden bridges of Windurst Walls. He now had a sweeping panoramic view of the great Tree, and he felt momentarily puzzled. The light wasn't coming from that direction. It seemed to be coming from one of the mossy pools of water under the path.
Still clutching a fistful of gil, he leaned over the edge of the pier. Within the still water below, a dazzling blue glow was shining brightly. It seemed to be eminating from deep within the pool. Orson leaned over for a closer look. He could see movement within the light, and, squinting, he thought he could make out the outline of...a person? It was like he was looking through a window, through which bright sunlight was pouring (even though it was late evening). He stared downward, fascinated, not noticing that his hands were slowly slipping from the smooth edge of the pier.
He fell. With a tiny gasp and a small splash, he hit the water, still clutching his gil. He thrashed through the water in a panic, but he could see nothing but blinding light. He couldn't tell which way was up, and was certain he was going to drown. A sudden dizzying sensation gripped him. 'This must be the end,' he thought. Oddly, his last conscious thought before he succombed to blackness was of the jingling coin purse at his side. 'Tarianna's gonna kill me...'
==============================
Orson awoke, rather reluctantly, with a dull sensation in the pit of his stomach. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, completely disoriented. Hadn't he been drowning in a pool? He distinctly remembered the wetness, and the light. He blinked a few times, and looked warily around him.
He seemed to be in a lush forest. The air smelled...primal. 'Where is this?' he wondered. 'Yuhtunga? Jugner?'
There was a sudden commotion behind him. He hopped to his feet, his coin purse jingling indiscreetly at his hip. Was it a ruffian, come to rob him? A large bush shuddered violently, emitting a gutteral howl. 'That's no ruffian...' Orson thought with dread.
A huge beast, the likes of which Orson had never seen before, burst through the foliage. It leapt directly at him, claws extended to kill.
Orson crouched, terrified, when a blur of motion sprang at the airborn monster from his left. A raggedly-dressed person (a Hume, perhaps? Orson was too mortified to notice) had flung himself onto the attacker, a great sword wielded by sinewy arms. The beast snarled with rage, tearing at the man's exposed arms. Blood spattered the ground.
Orson stood, quavering, as the man took a hacking swing at the creature's midsection. The great beast batted the sword away with a flick of its huge paw. "A little help here, if you could spare it!" the brawny man shouted.
Orson, with a start, was suddenly reminded of the short sword he'd worn these many years. It had been gathering dust at his side for time out of mind. He had often wondered why he even bothered wearing it. He drew it in a flash, and without thinking, began muttering a Bind spell.
The clawed creature froze, midswipe in a blow that would have disemboweled the savage man. "Well done!" the man shouted, and he sank his sword through the monster's heart. It gave a blood-curdling, motionless scream, then fell to the ground in a heap.
The man wasted no time. He squatted down and began skinning the great animal.
Orson, however, was quivering with fear, and amazement at what he had just done. His little sword trembled in his outstretched hand.
"W-where in Vana'diel am I?" he said weakly.
The man looked up from his work. "Vana'diel? Never heard of it. Welcome to Hyboria."
Orson nearly passed out from fright. "Hyboria?" He looked at his sword. "Looks like this'll be seeing some use..."
#110
Apr 21 2009 at 4:26 PM
3 posts
I was merely running through the forest, singing a song...
When out of no where this giant picks me up, and hurls me into a land far, far away...
I didn't know the grand quest I was about to embark on,
When I landed in Hyboria, lost and astray.
When out of no where this giant picks me up, and hurls me into a land far, far away...
I didn't know the grand quest I was about to embark on,
When I landed in Hyboria, lost and astray.
#111
Apr 21 2009 at 4:34 PM
"What a freakin' mess," said the ragged little tarutaru, silver hair glinting in the sun. He dropped his hands to his sides and shook his head, looking around at the destruction he had caused, right there in the center of Widurst Woods. The fountain had been reduced to a bubbling puddle of stones and water. This ancient magic just wasn't something he was able to preform. It always went haywire in some horrible way, last time ending with an unsuspecting passerby being swept feet into the air and dropped into the ocean miles away in Mhaura.
"Ohohohoho, you foolish little being, the most distant of lands you'll soon be seeing." A shrill voice rang behind him. He turned on his heels and found himself face to face with the mistress of magical mayhem, the goddess of glittering gloom, the one and only , spectacular master of Black Magic, Shantotto. "Ohoho, little ones like you shouldn't dabble-dee-doo in magics too big for you!" Her voice rang like a bell. He shifted slightly, and held a stave of earth at the ready. She giggled maniacally and with the swiftest of movements, casted a spell. "Ohoho, have fun living a life of exile for a while, we'll see if you can last, this spell's no ticket to the past."
It seemed like forever passed by and he was frozen. He woke up, every joint, muscle, and bone in his body felt like it had been smashed into a 3 in box, then ripped back out again. He sat up, wrapping his arms around his knees and looked around. A strange new world surrounded him, there were tall buildings, much taller than his small country of Windurst house. He noted a new feel... A sense of time like he had never before experienced... Was this the era in which this ancient magic dominated? Was this the era in which he would learn to perfect the art, so that he could return home and show those arrogant casters what was what? He smiled a little, and stood up ready to take on Hyboria. His energy had been restored and now this world would be at his fingertips....
"Ohohohoho, you foolish little being, the most distant of lands you'll soon be seeing." A shrill voice rang behind him. He turned on his heels and found himself face to face with the mistress of magical mayhem, the goddess of glittering gloom, the one and only , spectacular master of Black Magic, Shantotto. "Ohoho, little ones like you shouldn't dabble-dee-doo in magics too big for you!" Her voice rang like a bell. He shifted slightly, and held a stave of earth at the ready. She giggled maniacally and with the swiftest of movements, casted a spell. "Ohoho, have fun living a life of exile for a while, we'll see if you can last, this spell's no ticket to the past."
It seemed like forever passed by and he was frozen. He woke up, every joint, muscle, and bone in his body felt like it had been smashed into a 3 in box, then ripped back out again. He sat up, wrapping his arms around his knees and looked around. A strange new world surrounded him, there were tall buildings, much taller than his small country of Windurst house. He noted a new feel... A sense of time like he had never before experienced... Was this the era in which this ancient magic dominated? Was this the era in which he would learn to perfect the art, so that he could return home and show those arrogant casters what was what? He smiled a little, and stood up ready to take on Hyboria. His energy had been restored and now this world would be at his fingertips....
#112
Apr 21 2009 at 5:11 PM
Yasashiku was fighting through salvage as normal with his friends when suddenly a new rampart he had never seen before spawned behind his group. No one else noticed but him, and curious as he was, he went and touched it. A couple seconds later after a loading screen, he found himself in a strange place. Things looked more real, and armor was rather varied. He stopped a passing adventurer to ask where he was, to which he replied, "You are in Hyboria my friend!"
Will edit a little later to continue.
Will edit a little later to continue.
#113
Apr 21 2009 at 5:44 PM
Scholar
45 posts
After a long, hard day of posting auctions, collecting money and looking for bargains, Zuriche was thirsty. A nice dwarven ale and some basted boar ribs would go down just fine. "I'm going to have to have a word with Tirdel about his spending." He shook his head. "A thousand gold for dual spec? He doesn't even raid! How does he expect a gnome to make any money if he doesn't send loot?"
As soon as Zuriche walked through the door of the tavern, he knew something was different. The world seemed sharper, yet more dreary. There were an awful lot of humans here - even Stormwind had more non-humans than this.
"Oh boy..."
As soon as Zuriche walked through the door of the tavern, he knew something was different. The world seemed sharper, yet more dreary. There were an awful lot of humans here - even Stormwind had more non-humans than this.
"Oh boy..."
#114
Apr 21 2009 at 5:52 PM
1 post
The sun was shining as I made my way back to the Kindom of San d'Oria. As I was walking along the path I became lost in thought as I wondered through my memories of the past years.
It was eight years ago that I set out as an adventurer training in the ways of the monk. I've faught countless battles and come to near death on more occasions then I care to think about. But through each of these hardships I've gotten stronger and honed my skills to a greater degree. I do not considered myself one of the great heros with no one to match my skills, but I have managed to hold my own against the lengendary fighter Matt, which is no small task.
Despite all my accomplishments I find myself at a crossroads in my life. It's been 5 months since through the joint effort of all nations, that the beastmen hordes have been defeated for good. Now as life begins to settle down I find that my ability to fight is becoming needed less and less.
Ocassionally a local will ask me to deliver something for them or escort them to some other city, for there will always be beasts of danger in Vana'diel. However without the orcs to concern the royal army, they can set more patrols and make the roads safer places, making work even harder to find.
I took a job at the woodworking guild and spend the majority of my days working there, but I still have a longing for the days of old.
I awoke from my day dreaming to realize I have reach the gates to the city. After checking in with the guards I made my way to Malkier's house. He's an odd one, Malkier, he showed up a few years back unconcious in the middle of Ronfare. Claimed to be a sorcerer of sorts but he has never cast any spells that I've seen. Said his power came from a god of some sort and that he was unable to make contact with him. No one knows where he came from but he speaks with an odd accent I've never heard in any of my travels.
Nowadays he spends his time performing alchemy. I'll fetch him some of his more hard to get ingredients from time to time. He doesn't pay much but it lets me keep my abilitys up. I knock on his door and hear his voice inside telling me to come in. I found him in his workshop in back and set the bag of bomb ash he sent me for on his table. "Your lucky I'm such a nice guy to go and get this for you. Not many people would risk walking all the way to Konschtat just to be nearly burned to a crip." He chuckled and replied, "Don't act like you didn't enjoy going. I know you don't get the chance to go toe to toe with a worthy oppenent anymore." "You're right." I replied.
He must haved sensed I had something on my mind and asked if I wanted to eat dinner with him. It was getting late so I figured why not, he may spend all day working with things that would make most poeple turn green but he knows how to cook. After the meal he asked me what was on my mind and I related what I had been thinking about the journey back. He gets an odd look in his eye and begins to shuffle through the nearby dreeser mumbling something about my payment.
What he brings back is a rather plain looking ring. I can tell already that it wouldn't fetch much, but then again, I don't do this for the money so I can't complain. I started to thank him but he cut me short saying there was something he had to explain about this ring. "Believe me or not but there are more worlds than this one. I came from one known as Hyboria, a land filled with violence and greed, and death. If a person from there puts on this ring they will be brought here and the reverse for a person such as yourself."
I attemped to say something but he continued. "Put this ring on tonight before you sleep and when you awake you will be in the land of Hyboria. I know that you seek the days of your past, to be able to make a living fighting, but know this. If you decided to do this you will never be able to come back. You will be leaving behind everything except for what you wear when you sleep. If you do this your life will be filled with fighting forever. For its a land not of men killing beasts but men killing men. You will be in a world where death is an ever constant danger and one must always keep their gaurd."
I can't say I believed him completly, but I'm never one to immedietly dismis something as false. I took the ring from his hand and as I did I looked in his eyes and saw a seriousness not common to him. I decided it was time to leave and said goodbye as I left. As I was walking down the street I heard him yell behind me, "Make for Aqualonia, Conan is a good king." I had no clue what he was talking about but continued walking.
As I made my way back home I began to consider if what he said was really true, and if it was, what would I be leaving behind. Any friends I made have either died or joined a group for hunting down the more fabled of Vana'diel's beasts. The Elvaan locals are polite but I can tell they are never really comfortable with me being a Hume. The only person seem to talk to is Malkier and that more of an odd knowing then friendship. I've made enough to live a comfortable life but am not rich by anymeans. Would it really be worth it to leave everything and start anew to be forced to fight to survive. My mind is made up.
I reached my home and open the door to find my moogle alseep on a chair, he must have tried to stay up waiting for me. He's the one person that has been with me since the beginning. I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote, "Dear moogle, if you wake up and I am gone than know that I won't be comming back. You have done an excellent job for me and I have not left because of you. Everything in my possesion belongs to you now." I left the note on the table and proceeded to get dressed in my finest equipment. I sat down on the bed and took out the ring Malkier gave me and examined it for a moment. Just a plain silver ring. I proceeded to slip the ring on my finger and fall asleep.
I awoke to the sound of a brawl and found myself in the jungle outside of a town. I have fought in the jungles of Khazam but these were nothing like them. They had a different feel about them and looking at the gates to the town I knew this wasn't Khazam. I sidestepped the fight as I made my way into the town. I asked a nearby man operating a fish stand what this place was called. He laugh and replied, "Welcome to Tortage, home to the scourge of Hyboria."
It was eight years ago that I set out as an adventurer training in the ways of the monk. I've faught countless battles and come to near death on more occasions then I care to think about. But through each of these hardships I've gotten stronger and honed my skills to a greater degree. I do not considered myself one of the great heros with no one to match my skills, but I have managed to hold my own against the lengendary fighter Matt, which is no small task.
Despite all my accomplishments I find myself at a crossroads in my life. It's been 5 months since through the joint effort of all nations, that the beastmen hordes have been defeated for good. Now as life begins to settle down I find that my ability to fight is becoming needed less and less.
Ocassionally a local will ask me to deliver something for them or escort them to some other city, for there will always be beasts of danger in Vana'diel. However without the orcs to concern the royal army, they can set more patrols and make the roads safer places, making work even harder to find.
I took a job at the woodworking guild and spend the majority of my days working there, but I still have a longing for the days of old.
I awoke from my day dreaming to realize I have reach the gates to the city. After checking in with the guards I made my way to Malkier's house. He's an odd one, Malkier, he showed up a few years back unconcious in the middle of Ronfare. Claimed to be a sorcerer of sorts but he has never cast any spells that I've seen. Said his power came from a god of some sort and that he was unable to make contact with him. No one knows where he came from but he speaks with an odd accent I've never heard in any of my travels.
Nowadays he spends his time performing alchemy. I'll fetch him some of his more hard to get ingredients from time to time. He doesn't pay much but it lets me keep my abilitys up. I knock on his door and hear his voice inside telling me to come in. I found him in his workshop in back and set the bag of bomb ash he sent me for on his table. "Your lucky I'm such a nice guy to go and get this for you. Not many people would risk walking all the way to Konschtat just to be nearly burned to a crip." He chuckled and replied, "Don't act like you didn't enjoy going. I know you don't get the chance to go toe to toe with a worthy oppenent anymore." "You're right." I replied.
He must haved sensed I had something on my mind and asked if I wanted to eat dinner with him. It was getting late so I figured why not, he may spend all day working with things that would make most poeple turn green but he knows how to cook. After the meal he asked me what was on my mind and I related what I had been thinking about the journey back. He gets an odd look in his eye and begins to shuffle through the nearby dreeser mumbling something about my payment.
What he brings back is a rather plain looking ring. I can tell already that it wouldn't fetch much, but then again, I don't do this for the money so I can't complain. I started to thank him but he cut me short saying there was something he had to explain about this ring. "Believe me or not but there are more worlds than this one. I came from one known as Hyboria, a land filled with violence and greed, and death. If a person from there puts on this ring they will be brought here and the reverse for a person such as yourself."
I attemped to say something but he continued. "Put this ring on tonight before you sleep and when you awake you will be in the land of Hyboria. I know that you seek the days of your past, to be able to make a living fighting, but know this. If you decided to do this you will never be able to come back. You will be leaving behind everything except for what you wear when you sleep. If you do this your life will be filled with fighting forever. For its a land not of men killing beasts but men killing men. You will be in a world where death is an ever constant danger and one must always keep their gaurd."
I can't say I believed him completly, but I'm never one to immedietly dismis something as false. I took the ring from his hand and as I did I looked in his eyes and saw a seriousness not common to him. I decided it was time to leave and said goodbye as I left. As I was walking down the street I heard him yell behind me, "Make for Aqualonia, Conan is a good king." I had no clue what he was talking about but continued walking.
As I made my way back home I began to consider if what he said was really true, and if it was, what would I be leaving behind. Any friends I made have either died or joined a group for hunting down the more fabled of Vana'diel's beasts. The Elvaan locals are polite but I can tell they are never really comfortable with me being a Hume. The only person seem to talk to is Malkier and that more of an odd knowing then friendship. I've made enough to live a comfortable life but am not rich by anymeans. Would it really be worth it to leave everything and start anew to be forced to fight to survive. My mind is made up.
I reached my home and open the door to find my moogle alseep on a chair, he must have tried to stay up waiting for me. He's the one person that has been with me since the beginning. I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote, "Dear moogle, if you wake up and I am gone than know that I won't be comming back. You have done an excellent job for me and I have not left because of you. Everything in my possesion belongs to you now." I left the note on the table and proceeded to get dressed in my finest equipment. I sat down on the bed and took out the ring Malkier gave me and examined it for a moment. Just a plain silver ring. I proceeded to slip the ring on my finger and fall asleep.
I awoke to the sound of a brawl and found myself in the jungle outside of a town. I have fought in the jungles of Khazam but these were nothing like them. They had a different feel about them and looking at the gates to the town I knew this wasn't Khazam. I sidestepped the fight as I made my way into the town. I asked a nearby man operating a fish stand what this place was called. He laugh and replied, "Welcome to Tortage, home to the scourge of Hyboria."
#115
Apr 21 2009 at 6:27 PM
Soaring high above Paragon City, Teslagirl watched for signs of criminal activity below. She was exited, not only by her own internally generated electricity field, but by the knowledge that somewhere someone was plotting evil. They always were...
She spotted some activity below and swooped down for a closer look. Ah a group of hooligans trying to take a purse from a little old lady. These types of street trash are well below her normal abilities, but she enjoyed helping the good citizens of Paragon City whenever possible. She unleashed a quick volley of electrical energy at the punks, shocking them into unconsciousness almost immediately. She slapped the police tracers on them so that the drones could come pick them up. The elderly woman stammered a thanks. Teslagirl waved in response jauntily and flew back to her patrol.
"I'm bored" she thought. There just wasn't much joy in stopping that crime. While it was fun, there was something to be said for having a challenge. Neutron and his allies were challenging. The alternate evil versions of Earths greatest heroes were challenging. Rescuing Statesman from the clutches of yet more evil was both rewarding and challenging. Taking out a group of gangbangers just wasn't. And even the thanks from their victim sounded too similar to her. It was like she'd heard the same phrases spoken hundreds, perhaps thousands of times before. She needed a change. Bad.
Bong! Her alert band went off. One of her contacts had something interesting for her. She activated the two way communications device and the image of her dear friend Tina came on the screen. Tina worked at Portal Corporation and always had interesting things for her to do. This time was no different. Apparently, the Portal Corp technicians had discovered the coordinates to another, previously unexplored dimension. They had sent a team in, but they were overdue. Ha! What else was new. You'd think they would send in a super every single time by now. Lessons learned and all of that...
After a brief flight, and some hasty adjustments to one of the great portal devices, Teslagirl faced a dimensional opening. What was beyond? It could be anything. What foes and challenges might await her? Again. The sky was the limit. And that's just how this bored super heroine wanted it!
She stepped through. There was a moment of blackness during which she could feel nothing at all. Not sense of touch. No sense of time. She briefly wondered what would happen if the Portal equipment malfunctioned. Was it possible to be stranded in this strange state in-between dimensions, trapped forever? She always had this thought during a portal trip and just as always about the time she'd finished that thought, she emerged from the other side. So, not this time then.
She emerged in a sunny field on the outskirts of a forest. It always struck her how similar were the alternate worlds she'd traveled to via the portals. They always seemed to be a field with a forest nearby, or some ruined cityscape, or sometimes a dead world filled with graves and a deep pit, often containing some great evil thing responsible for the state of that world. But not this time. This time it was fields and trees. She liked this one the best.
She set out looking for inhabitants and it took her no time to find them. Large numbers of heavily armed men engaged in what appeared to be a large scale combat of some kind. They looked kinda mean too. Wielding large axes and swords, they charged at each other again and again. Even from this distance, Teslagirl could hear the sounds of their weapons clashing together, and feel the vibration of their dance. They appeared relatively primitive, but violent. That could easily explain the failure of the technicians to report in. If they stumbled into the middle of a war, even among the technologically challenged, it could easily spell trouble. And you never knew what other powers could exist. She'd seen enough strange things in her life not to discount the abilities of even those who appeared relatively harmless.
Well. Nothing for it but to see what had happened. She flew high up over the battlefield and spotted one group of combatants somewhat separated from the rest. "This would be a good place to start", she thought. She landed near to the men. They turned to her in shock, as though they'd never seen a woman in a mini-skirt fly before. "I'm looking for some friends of mine. They probably appear strangely dressed to you. Went missing a few hours ago. Ring any bells?".
The closest man, a heavily muscled warrior wielding a massive battleaxe, turned to her. "What are you?! You strange creature. Probably a witch. We kill!".
Ooops! "But I'm not here to fight!" she insisted. "I come in peace? Pretty please?... Oh darn...".
20 minutes later, Teslagirl looked upon the battlefield. "Sigh... Now I have to wait for them to wake up." Well. At least this is interesting...
She spotted some activity below and swooped down for a closer look. Ah a group of hooligans trying to take a purse from a little old lady. These types of street trash are well below her normal abilities, but she enjoyed helping the good citizens of Paragon City whenever possible. She unleashed a quick volley of electrical energy at the punks, shocking them into unconsciousness almost immediately. She slapped the police tracers on them so that the drones could come pick them up. The elderly woman stammered a thanks. Teslagirl waved in response jauntily and flew back to her patrol.
"I'm bored" she thought. There just wasn't much joy in stopping that crime. While it was fun, there was something to be said for having a challenge. Neutron and his allies were challenging. The alternate evil versions of Earths greatest heroes were challenging. Rescuing Statesman from the clutches of yet more evil was both rewarding and challenging. Taking out a group of gangbangers just wasn't. And even the thanks from their victim sounded too similar to her. It was like she'd heard the same phrases spoken hundreds, perhaps thousands of times before. She needed a change. Bad.
Bong! Her alert band went off. One of her contacts had something interesting for her. She activated the two way communications device and the image of her dear friend Tina came on the screen. Tina worked at Portal Corporation and always had interesting things for her to do. This time was no different. Apparently, the Portal Corp technicians had discovered the coordinates to another, previously unexplored dimension. They had sent a team in, but they were overdue. Ha! What else was new. You'd think they would send in a super every single time by now. Lessons learned and all of that...
After a brief flight, and some hasty adjustments to one of the great portal devices, Teslagirl faced a dimensional opening. What was beyond? It could be anything. What foes and challenges might await her? Again. The sky was the limit. And that's just how this bored super heroine wanted it!
She stepped through. There was a moment of blackness during which she could feel nothing at all. Not sense of touch. No sense of time. She briefly wondered what would happen if the Portal equipment malfunctioned. Was it possible to be stranded in this strange state in-between dimensions, trapped forever? She always had this thought during a portal trip and just as always about the time she'd finished that thought, she emerged from the other side. So, not this time then.
She emerged in a sunny field on the outskirts of a forest. It always struck her how similar were the alternate worlds she'd traveled to via the portals. They always seemed to be a field with a forest nearby, or some ruined cityscape, or sometimes a dead world filled with graves and a deep pit, often containing some great evil thing responsible for the state of that world. But not this time. This time it was fields and trees. She liked this one the best.
She set out looking for inhabitants and it took her no time to find them. Large numbers of heavily armed men engaged in what appeared to be a large scale combat of some kind. They looked kinda mean too. Wielding large axes and swords, they charged at each other again and again. Even from this distance, Teslagirl could hear the sounds of their weapons clashing together, and feel the vibration of their dance. They appeared relatively primitive, but violent. That could easily explain the failure of the technicians to report in. If they stumbled into the middle of a war, even among the technologically challenged, it could easily spell trouble. And you never knew what other powers could exist. She'd seen enough strange things in her life not to discount the abilities of even those who appeared relatively harmless.
Well. Nothing for it but to see what had happened. She flew high up over the battlefield and spotted one group of combatants somewhat separated from the rest. "This would be a good place to start", she thought. She landed near to the men. They turned to her in shock, as though they'd never seen a woman in a mini-skirt fly before. "I'm looking for some friends of mine. They probably appear strangely dressed to you. Went missing a few hours ago. Ring any bells?".
The closest man, a heavily muscled warrior wielding a massive battleaxe, turned to her. "What are you?! You strange creature. Probably a witch. We kill!".
Ooops! "But I'm not here to fight!" she insisted. "I come in peace? Pretty please?... Oh darn...".
20 minutes later, Teslagirl looked upon the battlefield. "Sigh... Now I have to wait for them to wake up." Well. At least this is interesting...
King Nobby wrote:
More words please
#116
Apr 21 2009 at 6:40 PM
Louiscool was riding his chocobo.
All of a sudden there was this giant WHOOOOSH sound.
"/sh What the f*ck is Hyboria!?" he frantically typed.
But it was too late. He had been whooshed.
All of a sudden there was this giant WHOOOOSH sound.
"/sh What the f*ck is Hyboria!?" he frantically typed.
But it was too late. He had been whooshed.
#117
Apr 21 2009 at 6:47 PM
Putting down his Blau, Flix sighed slightly at his Moogle.
"The Windurstian Aurastery is nothing to be afraid of, it is time you got in touch with your tarutaru magical roots.
Besides, taru melee are, well..."
The moogle quietly chuckled to himself.
Ever since growing up in Bastok, Flix had taken it up himself to fight on the front lines, shunning his tarutaru magical past. He had learned basic mage skills, mostly the destructive side. He had even had some mentoring from Shantotto herself.
But the time had come. The time to fully grasp and master his past. With dwindling numbers coming out of the Aurastery as of late, Windurst needed him to carry on its history.
Grabbing that old hat he had found so long ago, Flix headed out of the mog house, bidding farewell to his Moogle, soon to see him again in Windurst.
Grabbing a ride from his friend Duodenum, they both suddenly appeared at the Teleport-Mea. Flix waved goodbye to Duo and grabbed a Chocobo for the long ride into Windurst.
Upon arriving at Windurst, Flix made his way straight to the Aurastery. There was not much time to waste, as much as he did not want to be here on the inside.
It seemed in his time, many new magics had been learned by the Taru's which Flix had not yet meastered. One by one, he learned these spells over the nextcoming days. One spell, a so called "Retrace", a friend was showing him, as Flix had not had a chance to master it yet.
As Flix stood there, in the middle of Windurst Waters, Octavious began that old familiar motion. Halfway through the casting, he casually asked
"You DO have an allegiance in the past, don't you?"
"A wha..."
And with that, Flix dissapeared into a black hole.
Flix fell onto his knees in a grassy field.
A very odd shaped chocobo went running by, brown in color. He had never seen this before. An odd shaped soldier sat atop, dressed in metal combat wear. Were these the infamous Chocobo knights he had heard of?
Suddenly many more of these knights went by. Flix wondering what had happened to the homely sounds of Windurst he had been surrounded by moments before.
One of the knights stopped over him, pointing a sword down at Flix. Unaware what to do, tarutaru instict took over and /panic set in. The knight reared up and took off to catch up with the others. Flix tried casting the magic to get him home he knew to well, but kept feeling he was unable to cast that spell at this time.
Unaware what to do, Flix set off to try and find his way back to Windurst, unaware he was to soon begin his new life, fighting for this new unexplored land, much the way he had fought for Vanadiel time and time again.
A sole figure appeared on the Horizon. Making his way to this figure, a sight he had never imagined appeared before him. A hume, he recognized. But this hume was more beautiful than he had ever imagined.
"Come, I have been expecting you. Welcome, young one. Welcome to Hyboria..."
What had Octavious done, Flix wondered to himself. But for now, this would have to wait. new adventures were to be had.
"The Windurstian Aurastery is nothing to be afraid of, it is time you got in touch with your tarutaru magical roots.
Besides, taru melee are, well..."
The moogle quietly chuckled to himself.
Ever since growing up in Bastok, Flix had taken it up himself to fight on the front lines, shunning his tarutaru magical past. He had learned basic mage skills, mostly the destructive side. He had even had some mentoring from Shantotto herself.
But the time had come. The time to fully grasp and master his past. With dwindling numbers coming out of the Aurastery as of late, Windurst needed him to carry on its history.
Grabbing that old hat he had found so long ago, Flix headed out of the mog house, bidding farewell to his Moogle, soon to see him again in Windurst.
Grabbing a ride from his friend Duodenum, they both suddenly appeared at the Teleport-Mea. Flix waved goodbye to Duo and grabbed a Chocobo for the long ride into Windurst.
Upon arriving at Windurst, Flix made his way straight to the Aurastery. There was not much time to waste, as much as he did not want to be here on the inside.
It seemed in his time, many new magics had been learned by the Taru's which Flix had not yet meastered. One by one, he learned these spells over the nextcoming days. One spell, a so called "Retrace", a friend was showing him, as Flix had not had a chance to master it yet.
As Flix stood there, in the middle of Windurst Waters, Octavious began that old familiar motion. Halfway through the casting, he casually asked
"You DO have an allegiance in the past, don't you?"
"A wha..."
And with that, Flix dissapeared into a black hole.
Flix fell onto his knees in a grassy field.
A very odd shaped chocobo went running by, brown in color. He had never seen this before. An odd shaped soldier sat atop, dressed in metal combat wear. Were these the infamous Chocobo knights he had heard of?
Suddenly many more of these knights went by. Flix wondering what had happened to the homely sounds of Windurst he had been surrounded by moments before.
One of the knights stopped over him, pointing a sword down at Flix. Unaware what to do, tarutaru instict took over and /panic set in. The knight reared up and took off to catch up with the others. Flix tried casting the magic to get him home he knew to well, but kept feeling he was unable to cast that spell at this time.
Unaware what to do, Flix set off to try and find his way back to Windurst, unaware he was to soon begin his new life, fighting for this new unexplored land, much the way he had fought for Vanadiel time and time again.
A sole figure appeared on the Horizon. Making his way to this figure, a sight he had never imagined appeared before him. A hume, he recognized. But this hume was more beautiful than he had ever imagined.
"Come, I have been expecting you. Welcome, young one. Welcome to Hyboria..."
What had Octavious done, Flix wondered to himself. But for now, this would have to wait. new adventures were to be had.
#118
Apr 21 2009 at 6:50 PM
Wssssfffhhhhhhh...! Inlee Moondark found herself in the Plane of Knowledge only moments after laying her hands upon the stone book in Toxxulia Forest. She shook off the effects of the teleportation and proceeded to step over the broken cobbles towards the Elder's Tower where much of the training of the evil races took place. On her way, she half-wished that the evil races could be better coerced into paying their taxes. The Good Side managed to keep their buildings and roads in fine repair and it's not as though the Erudites of Paineel or the Tier'Dal lacked for knowing how to throw a building together... the only reasonable explanation must be lack of funds.
Inlee let those thoughts fade as she entered the tower. Passing the shadowknight trainers she instead headed for a small robed gnome. "Sorcerer Dogan," she said, "I need your advice."
The gnome looked up from his writing, "Go elsewhere, Knight of Cazic. I train sorcerers, not swordsmen."
"No, not training. I need help leaving Norrath. I wish to seek adventure elsewhere. This world has changed around me and rather than feel a stranger in my own home, I think I'd rather feel such in a new world and make it my own."
"Leave Norrath? Norrath needs all the wamr bodies it can get. Have you been to the Bazaar lately? Well, anyway. Let me fetch my Tome of the Realms and perhaps I can find a better place for you." Drogan shuffled through stacks of books before recovering a solid, leatherbound manual. "Ah, here we go then... Have you ever considered traveling to Azeroth?"
"Azeroth?" Inlee had never heard of the place.
"Oh, yes. Many Norrathians have journie there over the years. Very popular location. Why, Lake of Ill Omen popular!"
"Lake of Il--"
"Forget I said that. Padual Caverns popular!!"
"you're saying that as if it'll sweeten the pot. What else have you got?"
"Fine, fine... I'm just saying that fifteen trillion people can't be wrong... Oh! Well, if you don't like crowds Ms. Wannabelonely, How about Telon?"
"What's in Telon?"
"Whole bunch of nothing, really. Especially people. Miles upon miles of quiet uninterrupted nothingness. Why, you could go days without seeing anyone."
"That's a bit extreme. Maybe something in the middle?"
"Well, I could send you to Norrath's future. It seems that one day Luclin shall be destroyed."
"Now that sounds promising. I always hated that place with its aliens and mutant giraffes and those stupid cat people."
"Well, the cat people are still around. Just as well, or else the rat people would be lonely."
"Rat people? You're kididng me."
"Nope... you don't sound enthused. Fine then. How about Vana'diel? It's an old, established world. Elves, humans, ogres... well, they don't call themselves that."
"Doesn't sound too bad."
"Oh, no. Also, you have the Moogles and the---"
"What?"
"Moogles. Like fat magical cat thingies with wings and oranges on their heads. Now, if you'd let me finish, I was about to mention the giant chickens everyone rides."
"..."
"Judging from the position of your hand in relationship to your sword pommel, I'm going to go on ahead and mention Paragon City. Have you ever considered being a superhero?"
"A super-what?"
"You know, fighting crime, wearing spandex.... You know what? Let's forget Paragon City. I've just the place: Middle Earth. Nice place, kind of small compared to Norrath but people do ride horses there."
"Well, that sounds good. I don't suppose I can keep my Hellsteed."
"Oh, no. Everyone in Middle Earth is good. All on the same side, chums to the end."
"You're kidding me."
"Well, unless you ever dreamed of being an evil wolf. No? Fasaria? How do you feel about fairy nuggets? No again, eh? Hrrrmmm.... one last place here, how about Hyboria? Brawny fighters, swinging swords, lots of bloodshed. Apparently there's no dwarfs."
"Fine. Whatever. Just no giant chickens or Overthere crowds or... umm... 'spandex'."
"Excellent! Hyboria it is then. Oh, and there's the little matter of payment then before I open the portal."
Inlee began to open her purse to count platinum when Dogan placed a small hand on hers. "Actually, since you're leaving Norrath anyway... can I have your stuff?"
Inlee let those thoughts fade as she entered the tower. Passing the shadowknight trainers she instead headed for a small robed gnome. "Sorcerer Dogan," she said, "I need your advice."
The gnome looked up from his writing, "Go elsewhere, Knight of Cazic. I train sorcerers, not swordsmen."
"No, not training. I need help leaving Norrath. I wish to seek adventure elsewhere. This world has changed around me and rather than feel a stranger in my own home, I think I'd rather feel such in a new world and make it my own."
"Leave Norrath? Norrath needs all the wamr bodies it can get. Have you been to the Bazaar lately? Well, anyway. Let me fetch my Tome of the Realms and perhaps I can find a better place for you." Drogan shuffled through stacks of books before recovering a solid, leatherbound manual. "Ah, here we go then... Have you ever considered traveling to Azeroth?"
"Azeroth?" Inlee had never heard of the place.
"Oh, yes. Many Norrathians have journie there over the years. Very popular location. Why, Lake of Ill Omen popular!"
"Lake of Il--"
"Forget I said that. Padual Caverns popular!!"
"you're saying that as if it'll sweeten the pot. What else have you got?"
"Fine, fine... I'm just saying that fifteen trillion people can't be wrong... Oh! Well, if you don't like crowds Ms. Wannabelonely, How about Telon?"
"What's in Telon?"
"Whole bunch of nothing, really. Especially people. Miles upon miles of quiet uninterrupted nothingness. Why, you could go days without seeing anyone."
"That's a bit extreme. Maybe something in the middle?"
"Well, I could send you to Norrath's future. It seems that one day Luclin shall be destroyed."
"Now that sounds promising. I always hated that place with its aliens and mutant giraffes and those stupid cat people."
"Well, the cat people are still around. Just as well, or else the rat people would be lonely."
"Rat people? You're kididng me."
"Nope... you don't sound enthused. Fine then. How about Vana'diel? It's an old, established world. Elves, humans, ogres... well, they don't call themselves that."
"Doesn't sound too bad."
"Oh, no. Also, you have the Moogles and the---"
"What?"
"Moogles. Like fat magical cat thingies with wings and oranges on their heads. Now, if you'd let me finish, I was about to mention the giant chickens everyone rides."
"..."
"Judging from the position of your hand in relationship to your sword pommel, I'm going to go on ahead and mention Paragon City. Have you ever considered being a superhero?"
"A super-what?"
"You know, fighting crime, wearing spandex.... You know what? Let's forget Paragon City. I've just the place: Middle Earth. Nice place, kind of small compared to Norrath but people do ride horses there."
"Well, that sounds good. I don't suppose I can keep my Hellsteed."
"Oh, no. Everyone in Middle Earth is good. All on the same side, chums to the end."
"You're kidding me."
"Well, unless you ever dreamed of being an evil wolf. No? Fasaria? How do you feel about fairy nuggets? No again, eh? Hrrrmmm.... one last place here, how about Hyboria? Brawny fighters, swinging swords, lots of bloodshed. Apparently there's no dwarfs."
"Fine. Whatever. Just no giant chickens or Overthere crowds or... umm... 'spandex'."
"Excellent! Hyboria it is then. Oh, and there's the little matter of payment then before I open the portal."
Inlee began to open her purse to count platinum when Dogan placed a small hand on hers. "Actually, since you're leaving Norrath anyway... can I have your stuff?"
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#119
Apr 21 2009 at 7:31 PM
1 post
As Armathias looked back on his life of murder and petty crimes, doing what he deemed a necessary evil to survive in these lost lands, he could come to only one conclusion. That he could not continue this way forever. He knew that he needed to change but did not know where to begin. His reputation had preceded him and he was unwelcome in all but the most remote villages, and only until they learned his true identity.
It was in one of these villages along the coast that he had an enjoyable stay many moons prior. He recalled that this town had a great, wise man who had bestowed upon him many words of wisdom one evening over pipe and drink. Perhaps this man could help him this day.
He strode off on his great steed, back to this coastal village in search of the wise man. For two fortnights he traveled, stopping only briefly for drink and rest. He was slowly approaching the village and would be arriving in mere hours. As his horse galloped along with great speed suddenly it stopped and threw him from it, throwing him head first into a large stone.
He awoke two days later to a massive headache, robbed of all that he had of value. His horse lie dead not far from where it had stopped, clearly with a broken leg. He was left with no food or water.
After regaining his bearings he set forth again on his journey to the village. His legs were cramped and he nearly collapsed with every step. This may be the shortest stretch of his journey, but it was also the slowest going.
Another fortnight later and he had finally reached the town late in the evening. He entered the pub where he had met the wise man previously. He briefly scanned the room and located him. As he approached the wise man he felt stronger and more sure of his mission, yet he also felt humbled and defeated and was nearly in tears when he finally reached him. He collapsed onto his knees and as he held the edge of the table for support he looked up at the wise man and told him his story. For hours he knelt there as the old man listened patiently to him.
The wise man sat there as he finished speaking and looked into his eyes the way a grandfather would look into his grandson's eyes. He knew that this man had come to him at first with pride and dignity and now was stripped of both and now his only possessions were the clothes on his back and his humility. Finally the wise man spoke. He told him to rest and in the morning there would be a ship leaving the harbor. The ship was headed for a place he had never heard of, a place called 'Hyboria'.
This land was far away and he had never heard of it himself. If he were sincere of starting a new life, this was his chance. A land which would offer him whatever he could make of it, a land to do what was right and good.
Armathias rested that night and in the morning he left for the harbor to find the ship. He looked for the old man but none knew of him or recalled seeing him speaking with anybody that evening. He found the ship and boarded it, leaving this land and his reputation behind forever.
It was in one of these villages along the coast that he had an enjoyable stay many moons prior. He recalled that this town had a great, wise man who had bestowed upon him many words of wisdom one evening over pipe and drink. Perhaps this man could help him this day.
He strode off on his great steed, back to this coastal village in search of the wise man. For two fortnights he traveled, stopping only briefly for drink and rest. He was slowly approaching the village and would be arriving in mere hours. As his horse galloped along with great speed suddenly it stopped and threw him from it, throwing him head first into a large stone.
He awoke two days later to a massive headache, robbed of all that he had of value. His horse lie dead not far from where it had stopped, clearly with a broken leg. He was left with no food or water.
After regaining his bearings he set forth again on his journey to the village. His legs were cramped and he nearly collapsed with every step. This may be the shortest stretch of his journey, but it was also the slowest going.
Another fortnight later and he had finally reached the town late in the evening. He entered the pub where he had met the wise man previously. He briefly scanned the room and located him. As he approached the wise man he felt stronger and more sure of his mission, yet he also felt humbled and defeated and was nearly in tears when he finally reached him. He collapsed onto his knees and as he held the edge of the table for support he looked up at the wise man and told him his story. For hours he knelt there as the old man listened patiently to him.
The wise man sat there as he finished speaking and looked into his eyes the way a grandfather would look into his grandson's eyes. He knew that this man had come to him at first with pride and dignity and now was stripped of both and now his only possessions were the clothes on his back and his humility. Finally the wise man spoke. He told him to rest and in the morning there would be a ship leaving the harbor. The ship was headed for a place he had never heard of, a place called 'Hyboria'.
This land was far away and he had never heard of it himself. If he were sincere of starting a new life, this was his chance. A land which would offer him whatever he could make of it, a land to do what was right and good.
Armathias rested that night and in the morning he left for the harbor to find the ship. He looked for the old man but none knew of him or recalled seeing him speaking with anybody that evening. He found the ship and boarded it, leaving this land and his reputation behind forever.
#120
Apr 21 2009 at 7:31 PM
1 post
Bragi/Zulzin, Cenarius – US (World of Warcraft -> Age of Conan)
“That is enough!†Rhonin said, rising from his seat, around him the Kirin Tor Council. In the audience, an expeditionary force comprised of members from both the mighty Horde and the honorable Alliance stood before the council. After numerous brutal assaults launched upon the hallowed halls of Uldaur that claimed the lives of many combatants on both sides, emissaries from the Horde and Alliance began extending offers of peace. One result of the renewed peace was a joint scouting party sent to explore rumors that have been trickling in about a new front in the war against the Scourge. In their efforts, they discovered that the Lich King was indeed planning something. The news was particularly distressing to Rhonin. “What you tell us goes against all logic. Arthas’ armies are on the defensive here in Northrend, he would not abandon them now for some excursion to the Wetlands.â€
A tall, green skinned troll stepped forward from the band of scouts. Seared flesh intermixed with deep wound scars slowly healing over proved he was a veteran of combat. His voice deeper than most trolls added to his aura of experience and wisdom. “Lis’en mon, you don’ understan’ what be happin’en. The dragons, dey be flyin’ the coupe because of dis.â€
Rhonin nodded, he knew the area of Grim Batol well. The fact that the Black Dragonflight was indeed leaving their roosts caused genuine concern. “My point being though, Zul’zin, that it seems to me that Arthas is playing tricks on your minds or it is a diversion. He has been known to make an avatar appear in areas he is not. Reports from Utgarde had him giving powers in person to a certain Valkyr, but further investigation revealed it was merely an avatar.â€
“Rhonin.â€
He stopped, looking behind the troll. “I know that voice.â€
“It’s been a while.†The group split, revealing a slender form wearing the Kirin Tor Battle Mage regalia. She stepped forward and placed a hand on Zul’zin’s shoulder. “He tells the truth. Show them.â€
Zul’zin nodded. From a bag attached to his hip, he grasped at some herbs and squatted. Whispering softly, tiny flames danced through the herbs. When nothing but the ashes were left, he dumped them on the floor. He stabbed his index finger into the middle of the pile and began swirling. Slowly, a portal began to open. Instead of the polished floor, a black hole began to grow under them. Finally reaching the walls, the image stabilized. Though still dark, a form began to take shape. The council gasped as the weapon on figure’s back and the armor materialized. Frostmourne, Arthas’ blade. A yellow and white haze coalesced around Arthas as the Lich King stood before a black orb. It was all familiar to Rhonin, except the orb. “The power we felt there… it could only be him.†Said the female mage.
As the image faded, replaced by the pristine floor of the council chamber, Rhonin’s demeanor changed. “If you truly felt his power, you would not be standing before me.â€
“Your arrogance could prevent us from ending his plans before it is too late.†She said, taking another step forward.
“MY arrogance?†Rhonin asked, stepping down towards the mage. “Your power has clouded your judgement, Bragi. For as long as I’ve known you, you used your powers for your own gain, so what do you stand to gain from this? And what do you owe your allies?†Rhonin wondered, pointing to the expeditionary force. “What have you promised them?â€
“Our past is not the issue, Rhonin. Arthas is planning something in the Eastern Kingdoms, a short distance from Ironforge and Undercity. Opening a base of operations there would put him in a prime position to then launch an attack on Stormwind and Silvermoon. We must move to stop him now.â€
“Then go.†Rhonin said, peering into the younger mage’s hood. Any lesser being would have folded under the pressure, but Bragi and the expeditionary force stood their ground. “Stop him, if you think you can.â€
“As ordered.†She said softly. With a short chant, she opened a portal before them. “I cannot do it alone, and if you are not willing to go Rhonin, then I asked for volunteers. From the council and those gathered.â€
Silence. Looking around, not even Zul’zin, the troll shaman Bragi grew close to on their scouting missions, stepped to her side. “So be it.†She said, stepping through the portal alone.
As the portal faded out of exsistance, Zul’zin stepped forward and spoke softly to himself “Don' stop believin', mon. Hold on to dat feelin'. You’ll be needin’ it.â€
-=-=-
“I knew it was only a matter of time before the mortal races sent a…†Arthas began, turning to find a sole human being stand before him. The cavern was dark, except for the light emanating from the orb. Large pillars of rock held the ceiling in place and the floor was littered in bones left over from the orcs of the Second War and the dragons that called this place home. There was a hint of surpise in Arthas' voice. “A mere human mage?â€
Despite his voice bringing despair and shredding all hope, Bragi continued walking towards him. “Rhonin is a fool if he thinks you alone can stop me.†Arthas said, withdrawing his blade.
“I’m here against his wishes.†She said, stern, still moving forward.
“Such arrogance.†Arthas responded, taking steps towards her. The orb had grown, and was no longer onyx in color but was a pearlescent blue. His voice grew louder, and the walls began to shake. “You will fall here!†He said, conjuring his power to launch him towards the mage. For a brief moment, Bragi lost sight of him in the darkness the filled the cavern above her. Only the blue glow of Frostmourne gave her a hint of where he was. As he fell to the cold hard rock, Bragi disappeared from view and instead of striking cloth and flesh, the ground gave way beneath the power of Frostmourne. The ground fractured as Arthas stood from a crouch. With one hand he gripped the hilt of his blade and turned to see Bragi standing resolute. Her armor glowing with the symbols of the Kirin Tor. Her head nodded forward slighty as she gained presence of mind.
“Blinking will only delay the inevitable, mage. Your death will mean nothing to the Alliance!†Wretching Frostmourne free, he reached out with his free hand. The icy chill of death surrounded her for a brief instant, deafening her for only a moment in time, but her shield held up. Expecting her to be frozen, Arthas swung wide, aiming for her torso. As the blade passed through the cloud of frost, his smile faded. Instead of being rewarded with the a solid blow to the chest, the blade passed through the air harmlessly. Sensing movement below him, his changed the direction of the blade and stabbed downward once more. Once again, the ground greeted his blade. Arthas lurched forward as raw arcane power slammed into his back. He turned to see the mage in a battle stance, waiting. “You dare toy with the Lich King?†Slowly he turned back to the blade. Pulling it free, he knelt down and bowed before the orb, now multi colored. For a brief second, Bragi paused. It was beginning to look like a globe.
“What are you plans, Arthas?†She said, maintaining her stance. He ignored her. The orb grew. “Arthas!â€
The ground under the Lich King erupted in flames as she cast flamestrike. Instead of incinerating even the hairs on his head, he used the explosion to propel himself backwards, towards Bragi. She ducked to one knee and summoned the arcane powers to explode around her. The unleashed power deflected the blade. Resuming the attack, he brought the blade back towards her legs, but she tucked under the strike and threw a burst of flames towards Arthas. Arthas kept turning, beginning a whirlwind intending on catching the mage as she strafed behind him, throwing ice lances, hoping to puncture the magic infused armor. Before the blade could separate her knees from her feet, she leapt and caused the magic surrounding her to explode once more, taking her higher. The concussive force did not even phase the Lich King as he reached out as she tried to escape the range of his blade. Before her feet could once more feet the solidarity of rock, she was knocked flat. Darkness overtaking her.
She rolled to her back and saw Arthas towering over her. His gloves began glowing green as another death coil began form in his palms. “Your magic is weak compared to mine!â€
“I just hope you can kill the right one!†She exclaimed, closing her eyes. Immediately, three images appeared beside her. She grinned and blinked through Arthas once more. Quickly, the other three images scattered as well, disappearing into the darkness.
“Run coward. A few more moments and I won’t need to concern myself with you any longer.†He said pointing to the orb, which wa still growing. “Arise! Arise my plague of darkness, arise my army of destruction, arise ghouls in service to the Lich King.â€
The cavern shook violently. From the darkness that hid the ceiling, Bragi could see a frostwyrm break through, its frost breath covering everything in ice. The floor shattered, as bones reached up from the ground. Skeletons left behind by the orcs from the Second War rose up, and began surrounding the orb. “You are too late mage! My armies will storm through the portal to this new world to enslave the barbarians of Hyboria! With them fuelling my campaign, I can finally rid this world of all mortal races!â€
Suddenly, the realization set in. During her studies with the Kirin Tor, Bragi heard rumors and read stories detailing attempts by the Black Dragonflight to find a new homeworld to conquer. The rumors stated that Deathwing had experimented with his dark arts, and was trying to escape the old gods. If the stories were true and Arthas was about to acquire a massive army so close to so many capital cities, then the Alliance and the Horde were in serious danger.
The frostwyrm took off, and began circling the cavern as maniacal laughter began to erupt as the mass of skeletons began to form ranks in front of the portal. As the frostwyrm passed over head, Bragi launched herself into the air, grabbing one of the ribs. Startled, the frostwyrm screeched, piercing Bragi’s eardrums and knocking itself into rock pillars trying to dislodge the unwelcome rider. While the frostwyrm continued to swipe away at the mage, Bragi was calling on the arcane power where she drew her abilities from. The air around her began to crackle with static. She reached up, grabbing the spinal column and pulled as hard as she could while building up the energy needed for her plan. The frostwyrm began to lose altitude and angle towards the orb. Arthas stopped, and turned in time to see the frostwyrm crashing back down to earth. Before he could react, the frostwyrm reached the portal and Bragi unleashed the power she was building. A blood curdling howl reached out across the cavern as a concussive wave obliterated the skeleton army. In despair an anger, Arthas cried out, cursing Bragi and the Kirin Tor. Staring at the portal, it began to collapse before him. “You will pay! YOU WILL ALL PAY!†He yelled. The globe exploded in a wash of lavender light, causing the onyx orb it originated from to fall to the ground and shatter. “You have won this round, but you gave your life to delay the inevitable, mage. I will make sure the entire world knows of your failure before I reduce it to ruin.â€
Standing in the middle of nothing but bones and the residual effects of the portal collapse, Arthas vowed to make the Kirin Tor pay. He turned away and decided to redirect his main efforts to his army in Northrend.
-=-=-
Despite her suicidal actions, Bragi survived the portal collapsing, though she was trapped in the ‘barbarian’ lands of Hyboria. When she regained consciousness, she vowed that she would do anything she could to prevent the Lich King from taking hold here. He had already ruined too many lives in Azeroth. Allowing him to spread into another word would be the end to all life. Little did the people of Hyboria know, the local entertainer wasn’t really a part of their world. She was an unknown guardian spirit, hiding in plain sight. A singer in a smoky room, a smell of wine and cheap perfume. For a smile she can share the night, it goes on and on and on and on.
Edited, Apr 21st 2009 11:39pm by SonOfDilbert
Edited, Apr 22nd 2009 12:09am by SonOfDilbert
“That is enough!†Rhonin said, rising from his seat, around him the Kirin Tor Council. In the audience, an expeditionary force comprised of members from both the mighty Horde and the honorable Alliance stood before the council. After numerous brutal assaults launched upon the hallowed halls of Uldaur that claimed the lives of many combatants on both sides, emissaries from the Horde and Alliance began extending offers of peace. One result of the renewed peace was a joint scouting party sent to explore rumors that have been trickling in about a new front in the war against the Scourge. In their efforts, they discovered that the Lich King was indeed planning something. The news was particularly distressing to Rhonin. “What you tell us goes against all logic. Arthas’ armies are on the defensive here in Northrend, he would not abandon them now for some excursion to the Wetlands.â€
A tall, green skinned troll stepped forward from the band of scouts. Seared flesh intermixed with deep wound scars slowly healing over proved he was a veteran of combat. His voice deeper than most trolls added to his aura of experience and wisdom. “Lis’en mon, you don’ understan’ what be happin’en. The dragons, dey be flyin’ the coupe because of dis.â€
Rhonin nodded, he knew the area of Grim Batol well. The fact that the Black Dragonflight was indeed leaving their roosts caused genuine concern. “My point being though, Zul’zin, that it seems to me that Arthas is playing tricks on your minds or it is a diversion. He has been known to make an avatar appear in areas he is not. Reports from Utgarde had him giving powers in person to a certain Valkyr, but further investigation revealed it was merely an avatar.â€
“Rhonin.â€
He stopped, looking behind the troll. “I know that voice.â€
“It’s been a while.†The group split, revealing a slender form wearing the Kirin Tor Battle Mage regalia. She stepped forward and placed a hand on Zul’zin’s shoulder. “He tells the truth. Show them.â€
Zul’zin nodded. From a bag attached to his hip, he grasped at some herbs and squatted. Whispering softly, tiny flames danced through the herbs. When nothing but the ashes were left, he dumped them on the floor. He stabbed his index finger into the middle of the pile and began swirling. Slowly, a portal began to open. Instead of the polished floor, a black hole began to grow under them. Finally reaching the walls, the image stabilized. Though still dark, a form began to take shape. The council gasped as the weapon on figure’s back and the armor materialized. Frostmourne, Arthas’ blade. A yellow and white haze coalesced around Arthas as the Lich King stood before a black orb. It was all familiar to Rhonin, except the orb. “The power we felt there… it could only be him.†Said the female mage.
As the image faded, replaced by the pristine floor of the council chamber, Rhonin’s demeanor changed. “If you truly felt his power, you would not be standing before me.â€
“Your arrogance could prevent us from ending his plans before it is too late.†She said, taking another step forward.
“MY arrogance?†Rhonin asked, stepping down towards the mage. “Your power has clouded your judgement, Bragi. For as long as I’ve known you, you used your powers for your own gain, so what do you stand to gain from this? And what do you owe your allies?†Rhonin wondered, pointing to the expeditionary force. “What have you promised them?â€
“Our past is not the issue, Rhonin. Arthas is planning something in the Eastern Kingdoms, a short distance from Ironforge and Undercity. Opening a base of operations there would put him in a prime position to then launch an attack on Stormwind and Silvermoon. We must move to stop him now.â€
“Then go.†Rhonin said, peering into the younger mage’s hood. Any lesser being would have folded under the pressure, but Bragi and the expeditionary force stood their ground. “Stop him, if you think you can.â€
“As ordered.†She said softly. With a short chant, she opened a portal before them. “I cannot do it alone, and if you are not willing to go Rhonin, then I asked for volunteers. From the council and those gathered.â€
Silence. Looking around, not even Zul’zin, the troll shaman Bragi grew close to on their scouting missions, stepped to her side. “So be it.†She said, stepping through the portal alone.
As the portal faded out of exsistance, Zul’zin stepped forward and spoke softly to himself “Don' stop believin', mon. Hold on to dat feelin'. You’ll be needin’ it.â€
-=-=-
“I knew it was only a matter of time before the mortal races sent a…†Arthas began, turning to find a sole human being stand before him. The cavern was dark, except for the light emanating from the orb. Large pillars of rock held the ceiling in place and the floor was littered in bones left over from the orcs of the Second War and the dragons that called this place home. There was a hint of surpise in Arthas' voice. “A mere human mage?â€
Despite his voice bringing despair and shredding all hope, Bragi continued walking towards him. “Rhonin is a fool if he thinks you alone can stop me.†Arthas said, withdrawing his blade.
“I’m here against his wishes.†She said, stern, still moving forward.
“Such arrogance.†Arthas responded, taking steps towards her. The orb had grown, and was no longer onyx in color but was a pearlescent blue. His voice grew louder, and the walls began to shake. “You will fall here!†He said, conjuring his power to launch him towards the mage. For a brief moment, Bragi lost sight of him in the darkness the filled the cavern above her. Only the blue glow of Frostmourne gave her a hint of where he was. As he fell to the cold hard rock, Bragi disappeared from view and instead of striking cloth and flesh, the ground gave way beneath the power of Frostmourne. The ground fractured as Arthas stood from a crouch. With one hand he gripped the hilt of his blade and turned to see Bragi standing resolute. Her armor glowing with the symbols of the Kirin Tor. Her head nodded forward slighty as she gained presence of mind.
“Blinking will only delay the inevitable, mage. Your death will mean nothing to the Alliance!†Wretching Frostmourne free, he reached out with his free hand. The icy chill of death surrounded her for a brief instant, deafening her for only a moment in time, but her shield held up. Expecting her to be frozen, Arthas swung wide, aiming for her torso. As the blade passed through the cloud of frost, his smile faded. Instead of being rewarded with the a solid blow to the chest, the blade passed through the air harmlessly. Sensing movement below him, his changed the direction of the blade and stabbed downward once more. Once again, the ground greeted his blade. Arthas lurched forward as raw arcane power slammed into his back. He turned to see the mage in a battle stance, waiting. “You dare toy with the Lich King?†Slowly he turned back to the blade. Pulling it free, he knelt down and bowed before the orb, now multi colored. For a brief second, Bragi paused. It was beginning to look like a globe.
“What are you plans, Arthas?†She said, maintaining her stance. He ignored her. The orb grew. “Arthas!â€
The ground under the Lich King erupted in flames as she cast flamestrike. Instead of incinerating even the hairs on his head, he used the explosion to propel himself backwards, towards Bragi. She ducked to one knee and summoned the arcane powers to explode around her. The unleashed power deflected the blade. Resuming the attack, he brought the blade back towards her legs, but she tucked under the strike and threw a burst of flames towards Arthas. Arthas kept turning, beginning a whirlwind intending on catching the mage as she strafed behind him, throwing ice lances, hoping to puncture the magic infused armor. Before the blade could separate her knees from her feet, she leapt and caused the magic surrounding her to explode once more, taking her higher. The concussive force did not even phase the Lich King as he reached out as she tried to escape the range of his blade. Before her feet could once more feet the solidarity of rock, she was knocked flat. Darkness overtaking her.
She rolled to her back and saw Arthas towering over her. His gloves began glowing green as another death coil began form in his palms. “Your magic is weak compared to mine!â€
“I just hope you can kill the right one!†She exclaimed, closing her eyes. Immediately, three images appeared beside her. She grinned and blinked through Arthas once more. Quickly, the other three images scattered as well, disappearing into the darkness.
“Run coward. A few more moments and I won’t need to concern myself with you any longer.†He said pointing to the orb, which wa still growing. “Arise! Arise my plague of darkness, arise my army of destruction, arise ghouls in service to the Lich King.â€
The cavern shook violently. From the darkness that hid the ceiling, Bragi could see a frostwyrm break through, its frost breath covering everything in ice. The floor shattered, as bones reached up from the ground. Skeletons left behind by the orcs from the Second War rose up, and began surrounding the orb. “You are too late mage! My armies will storm through the portal to this new world to enslave the barbarians of Hyboria! With them fuelling my campaign, I can finally rid this world of all mortal races!â€
Suddenly, the realization set in. During her studies with the Kirin Tor, Bragi heard rumors and read stories detailing attempts by the Black Dragonflight to find a new homeworld to conquer. The rumors stated that Deathwing had experimented with his dark arts, and was trying to escape the old gods. If the stories were true and Arthas was about to acquire a massive army so close to so many capital cities, then the Alliance and the Horde were in serious danger.
The frostwyrm took off, and began circling the cavern as maniacal laughter began to erupt as the mass of skeletons began to form ranks in front of the portal. As the frostwyrm passed over head, Bragi launched herself into the air, grabbing one of the ribs. Startled, the frostwyrm screeched, piercing Bragi’s eardrums and knocking itself into rock pillars trying to dislodge the unwelcome rider. While the frostwyrm continued to swipe away at the mage, Bragi was calling on the arcane power where she drew her abilities from. The air around her began to crackle with static. She reached up, grabbing the spinal column and pulled as hard as she could while building up the energy needed for her plan. The frostwyrm began to lose altitude and angle towards the orb. Arthas stopped, and turned in time to see the frostwyrm crashing back down to earth. Before he could react, the frostwyrm reached the portal and Bragi unleashed the power she was building. A blood curdling howl reached out across the cavern as a concussive wave obliterated the skeleton army. In despair an anger, Arthas cried out, cursing Bragi and the Kirin Tor. Staring at the portal, it began to collapse before him. “You will pay! YOU WILL ALL PAY!†He yelled. The globe exploded in a wash of lavender light, causing the onyx orb it originated from to fall to the ground and shatter. “You have won this round, but you gave your life to delay the inevitable, mage. I will make sure the entire world knows of your failure before I reduce it to ruin.â€
Standing in the middle of nothing but bones and the residual effects of the portal collapse, Arthas vowed to make the Kirin Tor pay. He turned away and decided to redirect his main efforts to his army in Northrend.
-=-=-
Despite her suicidal actions, Bragi survived the portal collapsing, though she was trapped in the ‘barbarian’ lands of Hyboria. When she regained consciousness, she vowed that she would do anything she could to prevent the Lich King from taking hold here. He had already ruined too many lives in Azeroth. Allowing him to spread into another word would be the end to all life. Little did the people of Hyboria know, the local entertainer wasn’t really a part of their world. She was an unknown guardian spirit, hiding in plain sight. A singer in a smoky room, a smell of wine and cheap perfume. For a smile she can share the night, it goes on and on and on and on.
Edited, Apr 21st 2009 11:39pm by SonOfDilbert
Edited, Apr 22nd 2009 12:09am by SonOfDilbert
#121
Apr 21 2009 at 7:50 PM
5 posts
PART ONE
Githzari held the shard aloft to the light ,examineing its closely for flaws."Perfect!" he said aloud although noone was in the room but his cat,lazily laying on the fireplace mantel with not but embers left with a light glow.He had been at these experments for days without rest trying to see if he could get these new void shards to hold magic,Portal spells to be more presice. Hopeing he might find a new way for anyone to port to places they need to go.Cornering the market on such a new thing could make him rich beyound belief.He had come across many a drawback includeing that the process many times flawed shards.
Gazeing into this flawless void shard imbued with a portal spell it dawned on him that he was going to have to find someone to test this new shard,after all he knew the shard retained some of its void energy and who knows how that might afect the spell held within.Wrapping the Shard in fine cloth he placed it in a drawer of his desk.Tomorrow would be an interesting day indeed,until then it was time for some well deserved rest.
PART 2
Xsombra held to the shadows for they were his friend,up the wall he inched slowly toward the open tower window he had seen from below. Finally at the opening he Peeked in, ahh a study of sorts..bond to hold a treasure or three he mused to himself. A candle nearly spent was the only light in the room as he made his way inside. Slowly lookin around the room letting his eyes ajust to the flickering light his eyes come to a desk. He slowly works his way over and searches the top, strewn with papers and scrolls written in some script he was not familiar with ."those wont due" he thinks to himself and reaches for the drawers..pen, ink, clean paper ...no no..a flask of some green glowing who knows what..potential and in his pocket it goes..ewww whats this fine cloth...no its a void shard."Oh my lucky Day" he says outloud before catching himself.
"HHHIISSS" he hears from the direction of the Fireplace as a cat he had not seen is awakened "CRASH" a vase the cat was near falls from the mantel as the Cat scrabbles to the floor. "Go go go" is all he can think to himself as he looks toward the window,But before he can take a step he is enveloped in a green and purple blur all around him .and the room fades out of view as evrything starts spining "AHHHH the PAIN! " his body contorts as he feels himself change hands growing head growing "Oh what Magic is this!" He screams just as he loses awareness and falls...falls so far...so far far away.
Part 3
Githzari is woken from his sleep my the hissing of a cat...Shakeing his head of the cobwebs of dreams it downs on him that it was his cat,left in the steady as he had gone to his bed .
"CRASH" what the hell is going on"WOOOOSHHH" "CRAAACKKLE" he hears as he jumps to his feet and heads to the steady . As he opens the door he his befuddled at what he sees, the entire room is in shambles books everywere and and papers still floating down to the floor and then he eyes were his desk once was seeing nothing but splinters of wood and a hazey green and purple cloud disapating.."So much for flawless shard " he says to him self. "I think its time to put this experiment to rest before i blow up the entire tower. This Void Energy seems to be more dangerous then I first thought...oh dam talking to myself again"....."hmmm Cat...were did you go.Here kitty kitty!"
Part 4
Xsombra awakens on a beach nearly naked sept for the few bits of clothing that seem to have stetched enough to stay on him.."oh what happened to me " he thinks to himself. oh so thirsty i need to find fresh water. He stubbles to his feet feeling akward in this oversized body and works his way down the beach hoping to find a stream and lucky he was for one he found. With his head pounding and throat parched he went to his knees and drank in the cool water .
To late he heard the foot steps behind him,as he turned to see what it was he saw the club but it was far to late to stop it.
He awoke sometime later finding himself chained to an oar on a ship of the design he had never seen before ,around him many humans chained as well..and relizeing "oh My Bristlebane what trick is this?" IM HUMAN"
Edited, Apr 22nd 2009 12:00am by Githzari
Edited, Apr 22nd 2009 12:04am by Githzari
Githzari held the shard aloft to the light ,examineing its closely for flaws."Perfect!" he said aloud although noone was in the room but his cat,lazily laying on the fireplace mantel with not but embers left with a light glow.He had been at these experments for days without rest trying to see if he could get these new void shards to hold magic,Portal spells to be more presice. Hopeing he might find a new way for anyone to port to places they need to go.Cornering the market on such a new thing could make him rich beyound belief.He had come across many a drawback includeing that the process many times flawed shards.
Gazeing into this flawless void shard imbued with a portal spell it dawned on him that he was going to have to find someone to test this new shard,after all he knew the shard retained some of its void energy and who knows how that might afect the spell held within.Wrapping the Shard in fine cloth he placed it in a drawer of his desk.Tomorrow would be an interesting day indeed,until then it was time for some well deserved rest.
PART 2
Xsombra held to the shadows for they were his friend,up the wall he inched slowly toward the open tower window he had seen from below. Finally at the opening he Peeked in, ahh a study of sorts..bond to hold a treasure or three he mused to himself. A candle nearly spent was the only light in the room as he made his way inside. Slowly lookin around the room letting his eyes ajust to the flickering light his eyes come to a desk. He slowly works his way over and searches the top, strewn with papers and scrolls written in some script he was not familiar with ."those wont due" he thinks to himself and reaches for the drawers..pen, ink, clean paper ...no no..a flask of some green glowing who knows what..potential and in his pocket it goes..ewww whats this fine cloth...no its a void shard."Oh my lucky Day" he says outloud before catching himself.
"HHHIISSS" he hears from the direction of the Fireplace as a cat he had not seen is awakened "CRASH" a vase the cat was near falls from the mantel as the Cat scrabbles to the floor. "Go go go" is all he can think to himself as he looks toward the window,But before he can take a step he is enveloped in a green and purple blur all around him .and the room fades out of view as evrything starts spining "AHHHH the PAIN! " his body contorts as he feels himself change hands growing head growing "Oh what Magic is this!" He screams just as he loses awareness and falls...falls so far...so far far away.
Part 3
Githzari is woken from his sleep my the hissing of a cat...Shakeing his head of the cobwebs of dreams it downs on him that it was his cat,left in the steady as he had gone to his bed .
"CRASH" what the hell is going on"WOOOOSHHH" "CRAAACKKLE" he hears as he jumps to his feet and heads to the steady . As he opens the door he his befuddled at what he sees, the entire room is in shambles books everywere and and papers still floating down to the floor and then he eyes were his desk once was seeing nothing but splinters of wood and a hazey green and purple cloud disapating.."So much for flawless shard " he says to him self. "I think its time to put this experiment to rest before i blow up the entire tower. This Void Energy seems to be more dangerous then I first thought...oh dam talking to myself again"....."hmmm Cat...were did you go.Here kitty kitty!"
Part 4
Xsombra awakens on a beach nearly naked sept for the few bits of clothing that seem to have stetched enough to stay on him.."oh what happened to me " he thinks to himself. oh so thirsty i need to find fresh water. He stubbles to his feet feeling akward in this oversized body and works his way down the beach hoping to find a stream and lucky he was for one he found. With his head pounding and throat parched he went to his knees and drank in the cool water .
To late he heard the foot steps behind him,as he turned to see what it was he saw the club but it was far to late to stop it.
He awoke sometime later finding himself chained to an oar on a ship of the design he had never seen before ,around him many humans chained as well..and relizeing "oh My Bristlebane what trick is this?" IM HUMAN"
Edited, Apr 22nd 2009 12:00am by Githzari
Edited, Apr 22nd 2009 12:04am by Githzari
#122
Apr 21 2009 at 9:32 PM
Many years earlier, Rhaah, the Ogre shaman, had been deep in the Ruins of Old Paineel, searching for parts of the Epic weapon he would use to clear Antonica of all the "softskins". While he and his Troll companion, Craawl, were chasing a construct down a corridor, they came across a huge stone blocking what looked like an opening. But no matter how hard these two pushed on the rock, it would not move. Time was short, and Rhaah needed to find and kill High Scale Kurn.
After spending the interval killing softskins and gaining experience, Rhaah happened upon a mighty wizard, a Erudite of some power, and asked him about the stone at the "end " of what is called the Hole. The wizard said that it was discovered that on the other side of the stone was a portal to another dimension, not unlike the spires that the Combine had discovered that lead to Luclin. But that all the people that went through it, failed to return, so all the mages in Erudin sealed it up with a spell, hence the reason Rhaah couldn't move the stone.
Rhaah asked this wizard ( with the point of his spear, of course) if he knew the spell that might move the rock and open the portal...The wizard ( being a wizard) said that for the right price, he could figure it out. Rhaah and Craawl pooled what coin they had, and ventured with the wizard down to the stone. Sure enough, he was able to move the rock and behind it lay a tunnel.
As soon as Rhaah and Craawl ventured in, the wizard closed the rock behind them. Rhaah remembered why he hated softskins. The two ventured further along the tunnel, and even with their great night vision, it was truly hard to see. After what seemed like days, all of a sudden, the floor fell out from under them, and they fell for what seemed like hours.
When they finally hit bottom, they could see ahead of them light and another tunnel entrance. When they reached the tunnel, it looked out over a huge and very green valley, like none they had ever seen. Off to their right was the largest softskin they had ever seen cooking by a fire. Just be fore he died this "human" said that the land they were in ws called Hyboria...and there were alot more "men" like him around.
Rhaah realized this was going to be a fun place to be...
Edited, Apr 22nd 2009 1:45am by yenwangweh
After spending the interval killing softskins and gaining experience, Rhaah happened upon a mighty wizard, a Erudite of some power, and asked him about the stone at the "end " of what is called the Hole. The wizard said that it was discovered that on the other side of the stone was a portal to another dimension, not unlike the spires that the Combine had discovered that lead to Luclin. But that all the people that went through it, failed to return, so all the mages in Erudin sealed it up with a spell, hence the reason Rhaah couldn't move the stone.
Rhaah asked this wizard ( with the point of his spear, of course) if he knew the spell that might move the rock and open the portal...The wizard ( being a wizard) said that for the right price, he could figure it out. Rhaah and Craawl pooled what coin they had, and ventured with the wizard down to the stone. Sure enough, he was able to move the rock and behind it lay a tunnel.
As soon as Rhaah and Craawl ventured in, the wizard closed the rock behind them. Rhaah remembered why he hated softskins. The two ventured further along the tunnel, and even with their great night vision, it was truly hard to see. After what seemed like days, all of a sudden, the floor fell out from under them, and they fell for what seemed like hours.
When they finally hit bottom, they could see ahead of them light and another tunnel entrance. When they reached the tunnel, it looked out over a huge and very green valley, like none they had ever seen. Off to their right was the largest softskin they had ever seen cooking by a fire. Just be fore he died this "human" said that the land they were in ws called Hyboria...and there were alot more "men" like him around.
Rhaah realized this was going to be a fun place to be...
Edited, Apr 22nd 2009 1:45am by yenwangweh
#123
Apr 21 2009 at 9:33 PM
The mid-morning sun was hot in Al Zahbi and Phe was thankful she'd had her moogle pull her bathing suit out of storage the night before- from the reaction of her boyfriend and their friends when she'd stepped out of the Residential Hall, they were too.
Men! She thought affectionately, shaking her head at Havok as he mimed being shocked at the sight of her as he walked up to them. "Phe! Loving the gear!" He greeted her cheerfully, nodding to the rest of the group and ignoring Lod's glower, well used to the tall Elvaan's over protectiveness where the petite Mithra was concerned. "Blue is great on you, you should wear it more. Or less, definitely wouldn't mind seeing you in even less!"
"Havok- unless you want to be wearing my favorite color, why don't we get a move on?" Lod said, sighing as the Hume tried his brother's famous wounded rarib look on him. "Threats this early in the morning, Lod? What'd I do to you- and what is your favorite color anyway?"
"Blood, you idiot. He told you that last time you got too friendly with Phe." Havok barely managed to dodge as his brother's staff came down where his head was a bare instant before. "Now, I would like to get this done before we have to meet the others in Dragon's Aery if you don't mind. I really don't want them getting the idea I have Black Mage finished or the officers might add me to the dragon food list."
"Thank you, Lilb-" Lod gestured at the Taru waiting patiently next to them to transport them all to Jueno. "Meet you at Shamu then guys." With a bow for the Taru, he was gone. Being next closest, Lilbeast greeted his fellow Taru, who bowed in response and began to cast. "Can't believe his brother had to go on strike-" Havok grumbled only to be shushed by both his brother and Phe as Shihu-Danhu began to cast. "You might distract him!"
Phe didn't know if the mage had heard them and gotten startled or if Shihu had simly cast the spell on her by mistake, but all of a sudden she felt a familiar yanking sensation and was surrounded by absolute nothingness.
The inky nothingness hadn't even fully cleared when she noticed the smell. The reek had her instinctively jerking back her head and shaking it, eyes tightly shut protectively as she took shallow breaths through her mouth in an effort to avoid it. "Phew! His aim is even worse than normal if I'm in Pashhow-" Phe trailed off as she cracked her eyes open and immediately wished she'd kept them shut.
Squinting, she looked up at what had to be the brightest sky she'd ever seen- which was saying something considering all the time she'd spent in the ancient Ru'Ann Gardens where it often seemed like you could touch the heavens if you just stretched up and jumped a bit.
Lowering her eyes from the painfully brilliant sky, Phe dragged out her gobbie bag and rifled around in it for a minute before with a muttered, "Aha, found you!"- pulling out a pair of rose colored lenses with gold chasing around the frames. Putting them on with a sigh of relief, she finally took a look around. She was standing in the middle of a side street that was teeming with Humes. Unwashed Humes, she noted, nose wrinkling in distaste as an errant breeze brought the same gagging smell of decomposing trash and other unmentionable- and unthinkable- filth to her.
Not that she was by nature overly fastidious, as an Adventurer she'd often found herself hip deep in sewers or worse in her career but it was rare that she'd ever been in a dwelling of humans where the smell was so pervasive. Even Bastok with all its foundries smells better than this! Breathing shallowly, she edged her way around a group of men- dressed in what seemed to be some sort of uniform made up of leather breastplates and kilts.
As she worked her way around the loud group, Phe caught snatches of their conversation and nearly stumbled when she realized that she couldn't understand a word of it. Although each of the nations had their own language, the common trade tongue was universally spoken throughout Vana'diel and she'd yet to visit any place where she couldn't understand anything.
Not wanting to be caught staring- she didn't want to chance passing out from one of the locals' breathes if spoken too directly- she was nearly clear of the group when what had to be the biggest damn Hume she'd ever seen gave a shouted laugh at something said to him and tipped back his head to drink something from a wineskin, catching sight of her as he did so.
"Faw, jiih! Ghyios fyq y lau ufipa!" At that unintelligible statement, all his companions turned to look at her and Phe found herself face to face with the group of men. One of them, slightly shorter than the one who'd caught sight of her, eyed her up and down and started towards her with a laugh, addressing her this time in that incomprehensible language. "Lau, huh? Uajj, E'k qopa woip kyqrap uiq'r kelb oq rpweld wui ior."
Recognizing the look in his eyes if not what he was gabbling on about, Phe took a step back shaking her head, lifting her hands to signal that she didn't understand. Either he didn't get the message, or wasn't going to be deterred by it and he lunged forward to seize her arm before she could take another step back. She was yanked forward, and Phe found herself staring into angry blue-grey eyes. He snarled something at her in his harsh language, but this time she was too busy gagging from the smell of garlic and poorly cooked meat to pay attention.
Garlic Man's friends apparently found her reaction hilarious because they roared in laughter, pointing at him while slapping each other on the shoulders. Red faced, Garlic Man let her go, turning to say something angrily at one of them. Stumbling a bit before getting her balance, Phe took a deep breath and reached into her bag for what Lod had once teasingly referred to as her implements of minor destruction and mass irritation.
Pushing the confusion of how she'd ended up in some side alley being accosted by drunken boys and that smell from her mind, she focused on Garlic Man and without even a thought about whether or not it should even be possible- she began to cast. As a Red Mage, Phe couldn't call down massive storms of lightning from the heavens to smite anyone, but she wasn't really trying for that anyway. Until she figured out where the hell she was and how to get back, she didn't really want to call attention to herself by frying the entire neighborhood.
Garlic Man had just turned back to face her with a leer on his face as she released the spell, rapidly followed by another and yet another until the entire group was frozen in place unable to move or speak.
Shocked, Garlic Man stared at her, mouth working silently as she smiled sweetly at him. "Nice to meet you," Phe said pleasantly, bowing slightly to the group. "See you again!" She had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing as she quickly applied both the white magic Sneak and Invisible before she grew too tired of the concentration required to chain-cast spells like she had been.
Not that she had been tapping into the elements that heavily for the bindings and silencing spells, but it was never easy to chainspell for an extended length of time and she didn't exactly have any back up in this foreign place. Hurrying out of the alley way, she dove headlong into the teeming crowds, not caring what direction she was headed in as long as it was away.
Mom's soloing rule- if you can bind it you can solo it. If "it" equals more than one- you can at least out run it.
Until she could work out exactly where or even when she was, as far as Phe was concerned, keeping her head down and staying as inconspicuous as possible seemed like a very good idea. And her bright blue swimsuit was anything but inconspicuous. So too, she noticed, looking around was the complete lack of variety in the crowd.
As far as she could see there were Humes of all sizes and age- but no Elvaan, Galka or even Taru, much less Mithra wandering about. Even the smallest town had a goblin or two peddling wares- and a city as large as this one seemed to be should have at least a couple. Clearly, a wardrobe change was in order.
Mentally thanking Altana for the sight-blinding spell of Invisible, Phe quickly changed into what she privately referred to as her "working clothes"- with luck, the heavily embroidered black cloak would hide her ears. There wasn't much she could do about her tail- all her clothes were tailored to so it could be free and her capes were all half-length so they didn't get in the way when she was out in the field.
Shrugging, she decided to worry about that later if she had too and quickly pulled up the blood red enameled cuisses that had been Lod's Starlight Fest gift to her that year and her boots. Strapping on her sword belt, she finished just as the invisibility spell started to wear.
Making a calculated decision, she just re-buffered the invisibility spell. The noise from the crowd should hide any sound I make but best to keep Invisible up for now. She'd just finished casting when a huge roar went up from the crowd. Startled, she looked around wildly, until catching sight of a mass of bodies across the crowded square.
A huge wall that reminded her of the entrance to Imperial Whitegate stood on the far side of the square. A large cumbersome looking set of closed iron bound plank doors where set in the center of the wall. The walls, Phe noted where designed much like the ones at Aht Urghan, where someone could look over the side of them and address those on the other side.
Another roar went up from the crowd's throats as she jogged closer. Gaining the rear edge of the crowd, she took out her frustration and irritation at finding herself in this strange stink-pit by ruthlessly elbowing her way to a good vantage point. It did her bruised sensibilities good to see her victims look around angrily for the culprit behind their own bruised ribs- she hadn't been exactly gentle. She gleefully stepping down hard on a hairy sandal shod foot as she dodged around a huge figure and caught sight of the perfect place to see what was happening.
Ignoring a loud fight that had broken out behind her between a man who was roughly the size of a goobue and what looked to be his wife- it was hard to tell however, Phe hadn't ever seen any woman that heavily covered in facial hair before- Phe climbed on top of a stack of crates half again her height and settled down on the topmost one.
She focused on the figures on top of the wall, two rather plainly garbed men flanked a center figure, who was quite finely dressed from what she could see, but in darker colors. Mentally tagging to two men on the left and right as priests or maybe advisers, Phe studied the center figure.
Tall, very tall for a Hume, he had to stand at least even with most young Elvaan she judged- at least six and a half feet. Broadly shouldered and powerfully chested he didn't seem to need any sort of amplifying spells or equipment to speak to the crowd as he held out his hands and waited for the tumult to die down.
"Maimja ic Tartantia! Ribyw eq y byw oc zajyxpyreil! Ribyw ua kyph rfa qrypt ic rfa lau wayp ylb kyha iccapeld ri Mitra ri xjaqq oq!" The dark robed man boomed out, to the adulation of the crowd who quickly started to chant and sing riotously.
"Fyej Conan! Fyej Conan!" Roared out of a thousand throats, making Phe hiss and draw back her ears in protest at the battering her ear drums were taking.
Perched as she was above the crowd, she had an unparalleled vantage point and what she saw chilled her to the bone. The lack of other races, a different language, strangely dressed Humes had all been worrying, but what made her fur stand on end was absolutely shocking to the cosmopolitan Red Mage.
She'd caught sight of what had to be a religious sigil on of the priests was holding and it was that sight that made her blood run cold and hammered down the fact that wherever she was, it was very very far from home.
Vana'diel, since time immortal, been home to many gods, but above all had stood Altana, the Winged Goddess who had given birth to the races of man and her consort the Twilight God, Promethia. None of the gods, not even the feared Odin who ruled the underworld or the horrid Uggalepih that the wretched Tonberries revered had as their symbol a cross with a rising sun on the top bar.
"Where the hell am I?!" Phe whispered to herself, the sound of her voice lost under the roar of the crowd.
Men! She thought affectionately, shaking her head at Havok as he mimed being shocked at the sight of her as he walked up to them. "Phe! Loving the gear!" He greeted her cheerfully, nodding to the rest of the group and ignoring Lod's glower, well used to the tall Elvaan's over protectiveness where the petite Mithra was concerned. "Blue is great on you, you should wear it more. Or less, definitely wouldn't mind seeing you in even less!"
"Havok- unless you want to be wearing my favorite color, why don't we get a move on?" Lod said, sighing as the Hume tried his brother's famous wounded rarib look on him. "Threats this early in the morning, Lod? What'd I do to you- and what is your favorite color anyway?"
"Blood, you idiot. He told you that last time you got too friendly with Phe." Havok barely managed to dodge as his brother's staff came down where his head was a bare instant before. "Now, I would like to get this done before we have to meet the others in Dragon's Aery if you don't mind. I really don't want them getting the idea I have Black Mage finished or the officers might add me to the dragon food list."
"Thank you, Lilb-" Lod gestured at the Taru waiting patiently next to them to transport them all to Jueno. "Meet you at Shamu then guys." With a bow for the Taru, he was gone. Being next closest, Lilbeast greeted his fellow Taru, who bowed in response and began to cast. "Can't believe his brother had to go on strike-" Havok grumbled only to be shushed by both his brother and Phe as Shihu-Danhu began to cast. "You might distract him!"
Phe didn't know if the mage had heard them and gotten startled or if Shihu had simly cast the spell on her by mistake, but all of a sudden she felt a familiar yanking sensation and was surrounded by absolute nothingness.
The inky nothingness hadn't even fully cleared when she noticed the smell. The reek had her instinctively jerking back her head and shaking it, eyes tightly shut protectively as she took shallow breaths through her mouth in an effort to avoid it. "Phew! His aim is even worse than normal if I'm in Pashhow-" Phe trailed off as she cracked her eyes open and immediately wished she'd kept them shut.
Squinting, she looked up at what had to be the brightest sky she'd ever seen- which was saying something considering all the time she'd spent in the ancient Ru'Ann Gardens where it often seemed like you could touch the heavens if you just stretched up and jumped a bit.
Lowering her eyes from the painfully brilliant sky, Phe dragged out her gobbie bag and rifled around in it for a minute before with a muttered, "Aha, found you!"- pulling out a pair of rose colored lenses with gold chasing around the frames. Putting them on with a sigh of relief, she finally took a look around. She was standing in the middle of a side street that was teeming with Humes. Unwashed Humes, she noted, nose wrinkling in distaste as an errant breeze brought the same gagging smell of decomposing trash and other unmentionable- and unthinkable- filth to her.
Not that she was by nature overly fastidious, as an Adventurer she'd often found herself hip deep in sewers or worse in her career but it was rare that she'd ever been in a dwelling of humans where the smell was so pervasive. Even Bastok with all its foundries smells better than this! Breathing shallowly, she edged her way around a group of men- dressed in what seemed to be some sort of uniform made up of leather breastplates and kilts.
As she worked her way around the loud group, Phe caught snatches of their conversation and nearly stumbled when she realized that she couldn't understand a word of it. Although each of the nations had their own language, the common trade tongue was universally spoken throughout Vana'diel and she'd yet to visit any place where she couldn't understand anything.
Not wanting to be caught staring- she didn't want to chance passing out from one of the locals' breathes if spoken too directly- she was nearly clear of the group when what had to be the biggest damn Hume she'd ever seen gave a shouted laugh at something said to him and tipped back his head to drink something from a wineskin, catching sight of her as he did so.
"Faw, jiih! Ghyios fyq y lau ufipa!" At that unintelligible statement, all his companions turned to look at her and Phe found herself face to face with the group of men. One of them, slightly shorter than the one who'd caught sight of her, eyed her up and down and started towards her with a laugh, addressing her this time in that incomprehensible language. "Lau, huh? Uajj, E'k qopa woip kyqrap uiq'r kelb oq rpweld wui ior."
Recognizing the look in his eyes if not what he was gabbling on about, Phe took a step back shaking her head, lifting her hands to signal that she didn't understand. Either he didn't get the message, or wasn't going to be deterred by it and he lunged forward to seize her arm before she could take another step back. She was yanked forward, and Phe found herself staring into angry blue-grey eyes. He snarled something at her in his harsh language, but this time she was too busy gagging from the smell of garlic and poorly cooked meat to pay attention.
Garlic Man's friends apparently found her reaction hilarious because they roared in laughter, pointing at him while slapping each other on the shoulders. Red faced, Garlic Man let her go, turning to say something angrily at one of them. Stumbling a bit before getting her balance, Phe took a deep breath and reached into her bag for what Lod had once teasingly referred to as her implements of minor destruction and mass irritation.
Pushing the confusion of how she'd ended up in some side alley being accosted by drunken boys and that smell from her mind, she focused on Garlic Man and without even a thought about whether or not it should even be possible- she began to cast. As a Red Mage, Phe couldn't call down massive storms of lightning from the heavens to smite anyone, but she wasn't really trying for that anyway. Until she figured out where the hell she was and how to get back, she didn't really want to call attention to herself by frying the entire neighborhood.
Garlic Man had just turned back to face her with a leer on his face as she released the spell, rapidly followed by another and yet another until the entire group was frozen in place unable to move or speak.
Shocked, Garlic Man stared at her, mouth working silently as she smiled sweetly at him. "Nice to meet you," Phe said pleasantly, bowing slightly to the group. "See you again!" She had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing as she quickly applied both the white magic Sneak and Invisible before she grew too tired of the concentration required to chain-cast spells like she had been.
Not that she had been tapping into the elements that heavily for the bindings and silencing spells, but it was never easy to chainspell for an extended length of time and she didn't exactly have any back up in this foreign place. Hurrying out of the alley way, she dove headlong into the teeming crowds, not caring what direction she was headed in as long as it was away.
Mom's soloing rule- if you can bind it you can solo it. If "it" equals more than one- you can at least out run it.
Until she could work out exactly where or even when she was, as far as Phe was concerned, keeping her head down and staying as inconspicuous as possible seemed like a very good idea. And her bright blue swimsuit was anything but inconspicuous. So too, she noticed, looking around was the complete lack of variety in the crowd.
As far as she could see there were Humes of all sizes and age- but no Elvaan, Galka or even Taru, much less Mithra wandering about. Even the smallest town had a goblin or two peddling wares- and a city as large as this one seemed to be should have at least a couple. Clearly, a wardrobe change was in order.
Mentally thanking Altana for the sight-blinding spell of Invisible, Phe quickly changed into what she privately referred to as her "working clothes"- with luck, the heavily embroidered black cloak would hide her ears. There wasn't much she could do about her tail- all her clothes were tailored to so it could be free and her capes were all half-length so they didn't get in the way when she was out in the field.
Shrugging, she decided to worry about that later if she had too and quickly pulled up the blood red enameled cuisses that had been Lod's Starlight Fest gift to her that year and her boots. Strapping on her sword belt, she finished just as the invisibility spell started to wear.
Making a calculated decision, she just re-buffered the invisibility spell. The noise from the crowd should hide any sound I make but best to keep Invisible up for now. She'd just finished casting when a huge roar went up from the crowd. Startled, she looked around wildly, until catching sight of a mass of bodies across the crowded square.
A huge wall that reminded her of the entrance to Imperial Whitegate stood on the far side of the square. A large cumbersome looking set of closed iron bound plank doors where set in the center of the wall. The walls, Phe noted where designed much like the ones at Aht Urghan, where someone could look over the side of them and address those on the other side.
Another roar went up from the crowd's throats as she jogged closer. Gaining the rear edge of the crowd, she took out her frustration and irritation at finding herself in this strange stink-pit by ruthlessly elbowing her way to a good vantage point. It did her bruised sensibilities good to see her victims look around angrily for the culprit behind their own bruised ribs- she hadn't been exactly gentle. She gleefully stepping down hard on a hairy sandal shod foot as she dodged around a huge figure and caught sight of the perfect place to see what was happening.
Ignoring a loud fight that had broken out behind her between a man who was roughly the size of a goobue and what looked to be his wife- it was hard to tell however, Phe hadn't ever seen any woman that heavily covered in facial hair before- Phe climbed on top of a stack of crates half again her height and settled down on the topmost one.
She focused on the figures on top of the wall, two rather plainly garbed men flanked a center figure, who was quite finely dressed from what she could see, but in darker colors. Mentally tagging to two men on the left and right as priests or maybe advisers, Phe studied the center figure.
Tall, very tall for a Hume, he had to stand at least even with most young Elvaan she judged- at least six and a half feet. Broadly shouldered and powerfully chested he didn't seem to need any sort of amplifying spells or equipment to speak to the crowd as he held out his hands and waited for the tumult to die down.
"Maimja ic Tartantia! Ribyw eq y byw oc zajyxpyreil! Ribyw ua kyph rfa qrypt ic rfa lau wayp ylb kyha iccapeld ri Mitra ri xjaqq oq!" The dark robed man boomed out, to the adulation of the crowd who quickly started to chant and sing riotously.
"Fyej Conan! Fyej Conan!" Roared out of a thousand throats, making Phe hiss and draw back her ears in protest at the battering her ear drums were taking.
Perched as she was above the crowd, she had an unparalleled vantage point and what she saw chilled her to the bone. The lack of other races, a different language, strangely dressed Humes had all been worrying, but what made her fur stand on end was absolutely shocking to the cosmopolitan Red Mage.
She'd caught sight of what had to be a religious sigil on of the priests was holding and it was that sight that made her blood run cold and hammered down the fact that wherever she was, it was very very far from home.
Vana'diel, since time immortal, been home to many gods, but above all had stood Altana, the Winged Goddess who had given birth to the races of man and her consort the Twilight God, Promethia. None of the gods, not even the feared Odin who ruled the underworld or the horrid Uggalepih that the wretched Tonberries revered had as their symbol a cross with a rising sun on the top bar.
"Where the hell am I?!" Phe whispered to herself, the sound of her voice lost under the roar of the crowd.
#124
Apr 21 2009 at 11:16 PM
Oddysseus was running through Aht Urghan Whitegate on his way back to his Mog House. Weary and engulfed by various shouts for events that he was unable or unwilling to attend and player run casinos, he made a wrong turn down an unfamiliar alley. Posted on the wall at the end of the alley was a small shred of paper with writing that was barely legible. Oddysseus took a closer look and managed to discern a single word seemingly consisting of only three different letters, "xyzzy."
Puzzled by the meaning of such an odd combination of letters, Oddysseus scratched his head and left the alley, continuing on his way home.
Laying in his bed, the silence of his Mog House a godsend after his trip through Whitegate, Oddysseus' thoughts returned again to the strange word on the paper. He said it a few times, "xyzzy, xyzzy, what could it possibly mean?" All of a sudden, Oddysseus was overcome by a strong feeling of drowsiness and quickly lapsed into a deep sleep.
He woke up in a strange building, the likes of which he had never seen before. "Perhaps I've been drugged by a local street gang and captured for randsom. Surely my linkshell will find me missing and come to my rescue," he thought as he made his way to the one window in the building. He looked out the window, hoping to see a familiar cityscape. he was shocked when he saw a grassy plain ahead of him, quite unlike anything he had ever seen in Vana'diel.
Oddysseus looked around the room for anything that may be of use in this strange new world he had entered. On the wall was a poster of a strangely dressed wizard, speaking the same word, "zyzzy." Against the wall was a glass windowed display case containing a sword and a lantern.
Oddysseus picked up the lantern and examined the sword. It was very different from his own, which was nowhere in sight. It was of very light construction, the blade whippy and made of an entirely unfamiliar metal. he sheathed it and put it on his belt. "This may be of some use if this unfamiliar land also has need of swords," he thought as he made his way to the door.
it was unlocked, and opened with a very loud squeak. Looking back at the building before setting out to find his way home, he saw that it was constructed of countless unfamiliar red stones. He touched, they were very hard, cold, and rough on the skin. He then turned away from the building and began walking.
He followed the only path in sight. It was well worn by the feet of many ages, but clearly hadn't been trodden recently. Grass had begun to re-grow on the path, though it hardly compared to the two feet of unkempt grass on either side of it.
Oddysseus eventually came to a fork in the path. There was a sign posted. he looked at it intensely, but found that he couldn't make out any of the crudely etched symbols on it. "Great," he thought to himself, "I'm in an unfamiliar land and I don't even know the language."
Having taken the left path at the fork, Oddysseus soon found himself facing an enormous town. There was a man at the gate. Upon seeing Oddysseus, he seemed shocked and asked curiously, "Where are you son, and what in the name of Conan is that armor you're wearing?"
Oddysseus was shocked. The words the man spoke were entirely different from the words of Vana'diel, but somehow he was able to understand them.
Oddysseus replied, "I come from the Federation of Windurst in the land of Vana'diel." Seeing the befuddled look on the man's face, Oddysseus hoped that the man had understood him properly.
"Vana'diel? Do you take me for a fool? Where is this Vana'diel and why have I never heard if it before?" replied the man, practically scathing.
"Oh boy, this looks like it's going to be some adventure. And it certainly isn't 1071 C.E. based on the looks of things," sighed Oddysseus.
"Adventure? No son, this is Aquilonia in Hyboria. We are currently in the Age of Conan" replied the man, laughing.
End
Bonus points if you get the additional reference in my story.
Edit: should I win something, the current e-mail address for my account is wrong, anything sent to it will bounce and I won't get it. I tried to change it but the change E-mail address function is not working. If an e-mail needs to be sent for this, send a PM for it.
Edited, Apr 22nd 2009 5:59am by OddysseusOfRamuh
Puzzled by the meaning of such an odd combination of letters, Oddysseus scratched his head and left the alley, continuing on his way home.
Laying in his bed, the silence of his Mog House a godsend after his trip through Whitegate, Oddysseus' thoughts returned again to the strange word on the paper. He said it a few times, "xyzzy, xyzzy, what could it possibly mean?" All of a sudden, Oddysseus was overcome by a strong feeling of drowsiness and quickly lapsed into a deep sleep.
He woke up in a strange building, the likes of which he had never seen before. "Perhaps I've been drugged by a local street gang and captured for randsom. Surely my linkshell will find me missing and come to my rescue," he thought as he made his way to the one window in the building. He looked out the window, hoping to see a familiar cityscape. he was shocked when he saw a grassy plain ahead of him, quite unlike anything he had ever seen in Vana'diel.
Oddysseus looked around the room for anything that may be of use in this strange new world he had entered. On the wall was a poster of a strangely dressed wizard, speaking the same word, "zyzzy." Against the wall was a glass windowed display case containing a sword and a lantern.
Oddysseus picked up the lantern and examined the sword. It was very different from his own, which was nowhere in sight. It was of very light construction, the blade whippy and made of an entirely unfamiliar metal. he sheathed it and put it on his belt. "This may be of some use if this unfamiliar land also has need of swords," he thought as he made his way to the door.
it was unlocked, and opened with a very loud squeak. Looking back at the building before setting out to find his way home, he saw that it was constructed of countless unfamiliar red stones. He touched, they were very hard, cold, and rough on the skin. He then turned away from the building and began walking.
He followed the only path in sight. It was well worn by the feet of many ages, but clearly hadn't been trodden recently. Grass had begun to re-grow on the path, though it hardly compared to the two feet of unkempt grass on either side of it.
Oddysseus eventually came to a fork in the path. There was a sign posted. he looked at it intensely, but found that he couldn't make out any of the crudely etched symbols on it. "Great," he thought to himself, "I'm in an unfamiliar land and I don't even know the language."
Having taken the left path at the fork, Oddysseus soon found himself facing an enormous town. There was a man at the gate. Upon seeing Oddysseus, he seemed shocked and asked curiously, "Where are you son, and what in the name of Conan is that armor you're wearing?"
Oddysseus was shocked. The words the man spoke were entirely different from the words of Vana'diel, but somehow he was able to understand them.
Oddysseus replied, "I come from the Federation of Windurst in the land of Vana'diel." Seeing the befuddled look on the man's face, Oddysseus hoped that the man had understood him properly.
"Vana'diel? Do you take me for a fool? Where is this Vana'diel and why have I never heard if it before?" replied the man, practically scathing.
"Oh boy, this looks like it's going to be some adventure. And it certainly isn't 1071 C.E. based on the looks of things," sighed Oddysseus.
"Adventure? No son, this is Aquilonia in Hyboria. We are currently in the Age of Conan" replied the man, laughing.
End
Bonus points if you get the additional reference in my story.
Edit: should I win something, the current e-mail address for my account is wrong, anything sent to it will bounce and I won't get it. I tried to change it but the change E-mail address function is not working. If an e-mail needs to be sent for this, send a PM for it.
Edited, Apr 22nd 2009 5:59am by OddysseusOfRamuh
#125
Apr 22 2009 at 6:05 AM
1 post
Spellshaper, allways great mage, high Wizard or mind reader... so good that he even get name after his profession!
One sunny day, he was traveling across Tyria and looking for a fight. After while his group called Pain Theory find another groub that was brave enough to stand against them. We are making jokes before start of the match, so we did it this time also. First teleport into arena was ok. Match itself was quite easy afterall. But when we should be teleported back to Tyria, something happpend...
Instead of warm, sunny Tyria Spellshaper is laying on wet, cold floor. It was prison, prison on the boat.
"Where am I?"
Before he can even think about that, huge bang! Boat crashed! Spellshaper awekened on the sandy beach with only one dagger around him. He dont know how he survived, but there were tatoo on his arm and shackels on his hand. He hated that tatoo, he can feel dark magic from it. It was last time he uses magic. Since that time only dagger is his weapon, Since that time he is an Assassin!
One sunny day, he was traveling across Tyria and looking for a fight. After while his group called Pain Theory find another groub that was brave enough to stand against them. We are making jokes before start of the match, so we did it this time also. First teleport into arena was ok. Match itself was quite easy afterall. But when we should be teleported back to Tyria, something happpend...
Instead of warm, sunny Tyria Spellshaper is laying on wet, cold floor. It was prison, prison on the boat.
"Where am I?"
Before he can even think about that, huge bang! Boat crashed! Spellshaper awekened on the sandy beach with only one dagger around him. He dont know how he survived, but there were tatoo on his arm and shackels on his hand. He hated that tatoo, he can feel dark magic from it. It was last time he uses magic. Since that time only dagger is his weapon, Since that time he is an Assassin!
#126
Apr 22 2009 at 6:20 AM
HOLY CRAP! There is a lot of words in this thread.
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