The Shaper knew that The Light in The Darkness was comming. He had prepaired long for this moment and a difficult plan was formed to counter the evil that made even evil itself know fear.
But for now, he bided his time, soon, his hour would come.
In the Meantime, Anastria Mortinar approached the good Factol Terrance, who looked at her bitterly.
"I am dissapointed in you, what do you hope to accomplish with this Factor? Do you think I promoted you that you could abuse your power and win our fame by destroying our reputation?"
Terrance was a patient man, a calm man and a good man. She loathed him, envied him, he was the seat of Athar power after all yet he never seemed once worried or fearful, yet at the same time, never tried to stop her doing what she did.
"I do what I must to make our faction better loved amoung the populace Factol, its what you wanted, is it not?"
"At what price..." He retorted with a snort. "You would have us ally ourselves with powers that need gods lass, cutters, berks, who think that they have some claim and hold over others. Thats not how we run the show here, thats not how we set these sods straight."
"The Signers clamor for reform and so do we Factol, your ways are outdated, you can only pray to what ever you think is going to bring us salvation, while unlike you, I dont sit around waiting for it, I create it, Factol. And I will show you, I will bring us support more than you could ever imagine! You just sit there and pray, doing what you do best, while I actually 'do' something for 'your' faction's benefit."
Storming off the young girl left him to his peace before the Bois Verduis. He sat there in calm thought, wondering how he was going to clean up this mess once word got out.
Anastria was dark haired, and pale skinned. Her eyes were almost void of colour and life, as if she had been tainted by something far less than the Factions normal members. She donned the faction robes, took its attitude, there was no need for gods to win wars, but she adapted a new, creative perspective. No, these pretenders had a use..., they could destroy each other for her, she simply needed to get the right berks to start the fire, she fortunatley had just the tools to achieve it.
These tools took the form of The Prolongers and The Unseelie. The Prolonger Sect saught to achieve what she had, immortal life. Being a Vampire was a real nightmare in this irritating Cage but being an Athar Vampire? Now that was opportunity, to use it as a means to gain publicity over the gods was only an even bigger benefit to her cause. Fortunatley, few knew the depth of her secret, she'd keep it to herself, they'd learn eventually, but for now, she'd benefit from keeping her feeding to a minimum and her caution to a maximum, while being ever advancing.
Unlike her Factol, Anastria saw only one way forwards for The Athar, progress through power. That meant using any lesser groups to gain greater benefits. The Unseelie needed to eliminate their rivals the Seelie, and had presented her with the perfect weapon to use against the gods....
The Well of Meridian.
A sacred relic, a powerful, potent relic, that she could employ. But there was a small matter of eliminating the extremely irritating Vanguard that stood passionatley defending its sanctified map-laylines.
This was where The Prolonger Sect came into play, and the hirlings the Unseelie would employ. Those Prolongers were desperate for a means to achieve immortality, if the Well's legend served to be true, they'd get what they wanted soon enough. Combine that with those foolheardy unsavory types looking for work, and power and she had a group of easily manipulated benefactors who all got what they wanted at the end of the day.
But how would that benefit The Athar?
It was obvious in her mind, she simply needed the Well, the wells power had a key to something else she was planning, her tip off from the mysterious woman was more than enough to give her what she wanted personally.
If what the woman had said was true, then once she secured the well, everything would fall into place.
Now, to get to advertising those posters...
The next day across all of Sigil was a poster printed by The Athar, a portrait of a female hooded woman with sanguine lips, her eyes veiled by the hood, pointing at the crowd with a pale skinned hand.
"The Athar need you!
Make a stand, Sigil, its time to put down those berks who think their precious divines will give them strength. Its time to make them see that their gods have no true meaning, to enlighten the unenlightened with fact, cold and merciless.
The Athar are recruiting, now more than ever, we need fellow minds who are brilliant enough to employ their charismatic skills to bring us strong arms and fellow souls.
Meet interesting people, do charity for them, fight against these religious zealots and put your mark for The Great Unknown.
The Athar want you to make a message, can you be clear enough?
P.S.
Unsavory Help Wanted, contact Factor Anastria."
The woman watched as crowds flocked before The Shattered Temple, now, it was simply a matter of contacting those, unsavory pawns to do her bidding.
She was approached by Chastarte, her Unseelie reprisentative. The Fey had blackened eyes and an elvish look, veins crawled against her skins and despite her tone of eye colour, her skin remained a soft tan and her hair a bright blonde.
"I return with good news, we have begun."
Anastaria smirked coyly. Well, it looked like today was going to be good after all.
Villians Campaign: The Trembling of Thrones
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*DM_Duke
- Posts: 125
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
Chastarte stood before the tree as she lay bare before it, her flesh kissed by the viciously cold wind her eyes shuddered as a dark visage appeared behind her.
"You have done well my servant, are you prepaired to recieve the blessings that I shall bestow upon you?"
Chastarte, shuddered. The Queen of Air and Darkness herself, here? Such a powerful, intimdating presense from something so simple in empty nature. The formless being moved before her bare body and took the shape of an empty fairy with an almost childlike innocence, ruined by the utter darkness of its beauty and the empty black eyes glaring at her with a lack of any emotion or compassion.
"Well? Do you hesitate, or do you submit?"
Chastarte took a long gulp. The ritual would purge her of what little she had left to call redemption or remorse if she had ever felt it at all. But having gained the items needed for the first part of the task, she was ready to do her Queens bidding, to give the Unseelie Court its chance for a victory.
"I am ready to commite, my Queen, I am ready, to make the sacrifice." She said shakily.
The Queen floated down before her, fluttering two dark wings in slow movements as they stopped to glide lifelessly as if gravity itself had stopped. She drew a dark dagger and approached her eyes.
"I will take what I need from you, and you will recieve what you need, from me."
Chastarte wanted to close her eyes, but instead they bulged open with a moment of fear.
A slash ran across as she screamed in agony, both, in one motion, plucked from her. Blinded, eternally, she fell before the ground as her blood drooled from the shattered eyeballs onto the soft grass, she spasmed in pain.
The Queen took the eyes, glaring wide and crushed them in one swift motion, begining a dark ritualistic chant as the heavens above the sacred tree opened. Lightning flickered and flashed and the sky rained with crimson water.
The tears of blood fell and soaked the Seelie tree, corrupting its beauty, perverting it with crooked branches and warped faces screaming in horror and anguish. The woman on the floor rolled and spasmed before she felt her body lifelessly lifted into the air, a red light wrapping around it, she gasped for air.
She felt reborn...
Chastarte crashed down suddenly as the flash blasted outwards, shattering the runestones that guarded this sanctuary, corrupting this landscape and warping it into something far more... appropriate, to The Unseele's desire.
Panting, she clambered up shakily.
The Queen gripped her by the chin, her empty eyes looked at a reflection now, two empty holes unable to show expression, yet it was clear that an uncertainty expressed itself in Chastarte's lips frowning with fear.
The Queen then made little more than a small curve of a smile, before her fellow consorts surrounded her, a bandage was wrapped over her torn eyes and a suit of armour was encaged around her. Suddenly, she could see, once more, her eyes perminently saw only with the bloody vision she had submitted herself to embracing.
"Rise, my champion..." The Queen commanded, and Chastarte obayed, climbing upwards to one knee as her comrades stepped away from her.
"Your task now is to bring our Unseelie court a victory against my weakling of a sister. Failure, will result in death, success, will result, in your legend being made real. Power will be yours, possibly, even godhood."
Chastarte looked stunned a moment, recovering from the loss of her eyes, but then, her elf-shapen ears heard the promises, her look seduced by them, she yielded, as her expression curved into a smile in turn.
The blood dripped down her empty eye sockets and ran across her lips like two tears dripping down her chin, she turned that smile into a grin as the blood coated her teeth.
"Yes my Queen..." She replied with a black smile.... "I will not fail you."
Meanwhile, in the City of Doors... Measure One Kordiva glared at her paper work.
"This... isnt, over..." She had promised those meddling fools who had stolen that Seelie ambassadors pendant. With a sharp swat, she knocked off her paperwork from her desk in her office, it smashed to the ground as she panted, taking several long breathes.
The Elf was scarred, a battle-hardened Measure One who had seen this sort of thing before. Filthy criminals getting away with their crimes unchecked and unpunished. Since the battle for Sigil, The Harmonium had more than trippled efforts to keep recruitment to a maxium and training and dicipline thrice as firm.
She was quite the zealot, she never dismodestly admitted.
Kordiva's blond hair radiated in the candlelight, she brushed a hand through it and stared at a small mirror gazing at the one eye she had left, a long scar running down her face from an old wound gained in one of her more epic battles before. She felt it and reminded herself of that battle, trying to save her fellow Notaries back when she was only a recruit as the Balor slaughtered them in mass, she could only watch helplessly, her heart sinking with a loss of hope.
Her fist clenched angrily, she punched the table.
No, this was a personal battle.
The door knocked, she stirred out of her brood as she blinked swiftly.
"Is everything alright?" A Notary called on the other side "I heard rustling inside Measure One!"
"Go away!" She replied angrily "I am working on a case, your interupting, leave me to my peace!"
The sharpness of her voice scared away who ever had been there. She sighed and rubbed her forehead, sitting by her desk, inspecting papers... she stopped, she paused and left her finger on the picture of a woman wanted for theft.
She moved the other case files aside and took out a picture of the woman that looked 'exactly' like the one she had seen employing the criminals the other day. Her anger boiled as she clenched her fist around the parchment and reached for a dagger in her mage-robes.
"We'll see who has the last laugh in my city of law and order... criminal." She stood up from her chair and raised the dagger high, before driving it right through her desk, pinning it through the skull of the picture's image.
"You have done well my servant, are you prepaired to recieve the blessings that I shall bestow upon you?"
Chastarte, shuddered. The Queen of Air and Darkness herself, here? Such a powerful, intimdating presense from something so simple in empty nature. The formless being moved before her bare body and took the shape of an empty fairy with an almost childlike innocence, ruined by the utter darkness of its beauty and the empty black eyes glaring at her with a lack of any emotion or compassion.
"Well? Do you hesitate, or do you submit?"
Chastarte took a long gulp. The ritual would purge her of what little she had left to call redemption or remorse if she had ever felt it at all. But having gained the items needed for the first part of the task, she was ready to do her Queens bidding, to give the Unseelie Court its chance for a victory.
"I am ready to commite, my Queen, I am ready, to make the sacrifice." She said shakily.
The Queen floated down before her, fluttering two dark wings in slow movements as they stopped to glide lifelessly as if gravity itself had stopped. She drew a dark dagger and approached her eyes.
"I will take what I need from you, and you will recieve what you need, from me."
Chastarte wanted to close her eyes, but instead they bulged open with a moment of fear.
A slash ran across as she screamed in agony, both, in one motion, plucked from her. Blinded, eternally, she fell before the ground as her blood drooled from the shattered eyeballs onto the soft grass, she spasmed in pain.
The Queen took the eyes, glaring wide and crushed them in one swift motion, begining a dark ritualistic chant as the heavens above the sacred tree opened. Lightning flickered and flashed and the sky rained with crimson water.
The tears of blood fell and soaked the Seelie tree, corrupting its beauty, perverting it with crooked branches and warped faces screaming in horror and anguish. The woman on the floor rolled and spasmed before she felt her body lifelessly lifted into the air, a red light wrapping around it, she gasped for air.
She felt reborn...
Chastarte crashed down suddenly as the flash blasted outwards, shattering the runestones that guarded this sanctuary, corrupting this landscape and warping it into something far more... appropriate, to The Unseele's desire.
Panting, she clambered up shakily.
The Queen gripped her by the chin, her empty eyes looked at a reflection now, two empty holes unable to show expression, yet it was clear that an uncertainty expressed itself in Chastarte's lips frowning with fear.
The Queen then made little more than a small curve of a smile, before her fellow consorts surrounded her, a bandage was wrapped over her torn eyes and a suit of armour was encaged around her. Suddenly, she could see, once more, her eyes perminently saw only with the bloody vision she had submitted herself to embracing.
"Rise, my champion..." The Queen commanded, and Chastarte obayed, climbing upwards to one knee as her comrades stepped away from her.
"Your task now is to bring our Unseelie court a victory against my weakling of a sister. Failure, will result in death, success, will result, in your legend being made real. Power will be yours, possibly, even godhood."
Chastarte looked stunned a moment, recovering from the loss of her eyes, but then, her elf-shapen ears heard the promises, her look seduced by them, she yielded, as her expression curved into a smile in turn.
The blood dripped down her empty eye sockets and ran across her lips like two tears dripping down her chin, she turned that smile into a grin as the blood coated her teeth.
"Yes my Queen..." She replied with a black smile.... "I will not fail you."
Meanwhile, in the City of Doors... Measure One Kordiva glared at her paper work.
"This... isnt, over..." She had promised those meddling fools who had stolen that Seelie ambassadors pendant. With a sharp swat, she knocked off her paperwork from her desk in her office, it smashed to the ground as she panted, taking several long breathes.
The Elf was scarred, a battle-hardened Measure One who had seen this sort of thing before. Filthy criminals getting away with their crimes unchecked and unpunished. Since the battle for Sigil, The Harmonium had more than trippled efforts to keep recruitment to a maxium and training and dicipline thrice as firm.
She was quite the zealot, she never dismodestly admitted.
Kordiva's blond hair radiated in the candlelight, she brushed a hand through it and stared at a small mirror gazing at the one eye she had left, a long scar running down her face from an old wound gained in one of her more epic battles before. She felt it and reminded herself of that battle, trying to save her fellow Notaries back when she was only a recruit as the Balor slaughtered them in mass, she could only watch helplessly, her heart sinking with a loss of hope.
Her fist clenched angrily, she punched the table.
No, this was a personal battle.
The door knocked, she stirred out of her brood as she blinked swiftly.
"Is everything alright?" A Notary called on the other side "I heard rustling inside Measure One!"
"Go away!" She replied angrily "I am working on a case, your interupting, leave me to my peace!"
The sharpness of her voice scared away who ever had been there. She sighed and rubbed her forehead, sitting by her desk, inspecting papers... she stopped, she paused and left her finger on the picture of a woman wanted for theft.
She moved the other case files aside and took out a picture of the woman that looked 'exactly' like the one she had seen employing the criminals the other day. Her anger boiled as she clenched her fist around the parchment and reached for a dagger in her mage-robes.
"We'll see who has the last laugh in my city of law and order... criminal." She stood up from her chair and raised the dagger high, before driving it right through her desk, pinning it through the skull of the picture's image.
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*DM_Duke
- Posts: 125
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soGdBxGw ... er&list=UL
Tradgic was the reflection that stared at her as Alice Kordiva looked at that mirror...
Even now she could see his hands resting on her back, holding her close. This mirror, the mirror he gave her as a gift, the one she had once loved...
It haunted her.
There was no comfort from the memories of the past, only pain. Every time she remembered the good times before the darkness, it was only the agony she had held onto, the agony of her failure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i95BZ98 ... er&list=UL
"Notary Kordiva! Hurry up!"
The wide eye'd woman paniced, tears falling from her face. She was trembling, her first battle and she simply wasnt ready to fight. She watched as her comrade was torn apart by a Hezrou viciously to her left, to her right, a swarm of smaller demonic Larvae wrapped around a female Harmonium Notary untill they literally cannibalised her apart, her flesh smeering the floor in gore and blood.
She turned back to find herself face to face with a roaring Balor, the creature raised a giant war axe and swung it straight towards her. She raised her shield as best she could and clenched her eyes to protect herself.
The Shield endured, but the strike shoved the shield down and cut across her eye, she yelled in agony as blood gushed from the shattered eyeball down her face, half blind and with a merciless battle field all around her, she trembled, she was going to die here.
"NOTARY!"
She turned towards the voice as a white light flashed before her eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S-C9uRJxz4
She ran her finger over the scar of battle from that day, the grim reminder that lies and deception, that being unprepaired, would lead to her downfall.
She would not fail again, clenching her fists tightly, she was not the weak woman she was before. War had hardened her skin, her mind, her soul.
With her expertease and questionably harsh but efficent methods, she had managed to advance from being a cowardly weakling into a hard-core veterain. She had become an extremist, going as far as to send lesser men and women to their deaths if they prooved inadiquite to the task.
But to her, this was simply a necessary means to win a war. They were Harmonium after all, unified in one respect: Unity gave them victory. If it meant overwhelming numbers would triumph against a Balor, a troll... or a Lawyer, then she would do what ever it took to secure peace in the city.
She wasnt here to make friends with it, she was here to tame a beast.
And tame it, she would.
Attaching her harsh leather gloves, she reached for her longsword and unbrandished it, glaring at it with a diciplined stare.
"Sigil, will bend knee to the law, or it will be bent into submission." She said as if repeating an order, nodding to herself, she sheathed the blade and exited the door of her office, prepairing for another patrol.
Tradgic was the reflection that stared at her as Alice Kordiva looked at that mirror...
Even now she could see his hands resting on her back, holding her close. This mirror, the mirror he gave her as a gift, the one she had once loved...
It haunted her.
There was no comfort from the memories of the past, only pain. Every time she remembered the good times before the darkness, it was only the agony she had held onto, the agony of her failure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i95BZ98 ... er&list=UL
"Notary Kordiva! Hurry up!"
The wide eye'd woman paniced, tears falling from her face. She was trembling, her first battle and she simply wasnt ready to fight. She watched as her comrade was torn apart by a Hezrou viciously to her left, to her right, a swarm of smaller demonic Larvae wrapped around a female Harmonium Notary untill they literally cannibalised her apart, her flesh smeering the floor in gore and blood.
She turned back to find herself face to face with a roaring Balor, the creature raised a giant war axe and swung it straight towards her. She raised her shield as best she could and clenched her eyes to protect herself.
The Shield endured, but the strike shoved the shield down and cut across her eye, she yelled in agony as blood gushed from the shattered eyeball down her face, half blind and with a merciless battle field all around her, she trembled, she was going to die here.
"NOTARY!"
She turned towards the voice as a white light flashed before her eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S-C9uRJxz4
She ran her finger over the scar of battle from that day, the grim reminder that lies and deception, that being unprepaired, would lead to her downfall.
She would not fail again, clenching her fists tightly, she was not the weak woman she was before. War had hardened her skin, her mind, her soul.
With her expertease and questionably harsh but efficent methods, she had managed to advance from being a cowardly weakling into a hard-core veterain. She had become an extremist, going as far as to send lesser men and women to their deaths if they prooved inadiquite to the task.
But to her, this was simply a necessary means to win a war. They were Harmonium after all, unified in one respect: Unity gave them victory. If it meant overwhelming numbers would triumph against a Balor, a troll... or a Lawyer, then she would do what ever it took to secure peace in the city.
She wasnt here to make friends with it, she was here to tame a beast.
And tame it, she would.
Attaching her harsh leather gloves, she reached for her longsword and unbrandished it, glaring at it with a diciplined stare.
"Sigil, will bend knee to the law, or it will be bent into submission." She said as if repeating an order, nodding to herself, she sheathed the blade and exited the door of her office, prepairing for another patrol.
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*DM_Duke
- Posts: 125
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
Strader heard the news soon enough, immediatley forwarding it to Beringe as the two considered the risk of their action with extreme caution.
It would be a long time before they did anything quite as bold again, though they were quite pleased more than worried to see her serenity the lady of pain had made a presense.
Beringe had Strader check on Factotum Diana, who was for all purposes wired to a device that would allow them to genetically clone her. Strader considered with caution how many more lives the Revolution would take to see a successful and free city...
...Suddenly it weighed upon her that doubt did hit her mind, after all, you had to be practical. The Lady was an obsticle, but with such power, one had to consider challanging her to be a very-end-game goal for the Anarchists, one that would take long years, perhaps, if not definatley, it would certainly not happen in Straders lifetime.
With that in mind... Strader narrowed her eyes. They had played a dangerous game after all, her wine-kissed mood was spoiled by the ladies intervention after sobering up to the uncomfortable reality.
Steps would need to be taken in order to reconsile for the losses, and she knew just who to contact for that:
Phoenix
Elsewhere, in the Far-realm, upon a lone island a black winged man gazed out into the long sea of memory.
He saw every life, every death that had occured in his time, by his hand.
Yet by sheer irony... one had to consider something even he himself wondered...
Who had The Shaper killed.. since that day long ago in his lifetime...
Had he ever taken a life since? Or simply lead others to do it for him.
Weather it was remorse or a longline of self-pity, the lone being knew that he could not return to Sigil now, at best, he would send his Shadowsworn agents as cautioned Liasons to keep in touch with its affairs. But he knew there was one monster who out there, in The Cage, was actually daring enough to challange her serenity...
He wondered on that monster, its nature, its ambition.
He carved a name into the sandy beach he sat upon. Glaring at it with his one exposed eye, the black empty iris was like an etnernal void, and at the heart, a lone red pupil stood, acknowladging the words like a brand.
Perhaps it was a spiritual thing, he wondered, that had lead him to prevent Factotum Diana's canonical demise... at least, the genuine Diana...
All he knew was that as he looked at that name he saw in himself a long-lineage of pain, torment, and misery he had inflicted upon countless others.
The plan has to continue however, this, was the only way forwards. He understood now that the answer was right infront of him.
Project Utopia He had wrote, in the sand.
Factor Mortinar waited in the south eastern part of The Shattered Temple, watching from a distance with shock and surprise as the Dabus made it clear what the punishment would be for failure.
"Having doubts?" A voice said behind her, she turned it was Chastarte the Unseelie... of whom she and few others knew her 'other' alligance.
Anastria clenched her fist and turned back to look upon the lower ward not so far away. She took a shaky breathe, even for her species, she knew better than to immediatley challange the lady, even for an Athar, she knew that wisdom had to be employed in such instances.
"Yes... and no. The Athar have always been bitterly watched by the serenity more so than anyone else, but they will be watched less so now that her eyes are more focused to putting more doubter-individuals in their place." Anastria said with a hypocritic tone.
"Does that not sound a tad, ironic, comming from you?" The Blindfolded Unseelie Feytouched grinned with her fanged teeth, her blindfold glowed with two crimson orbs where her eyes once existed underneeth.
"Your playing a dangerous game even being here, she needs only notice us and we are damned, I want you to stay out of the city from now on, stay in the Feywild or the Beastlands. Do as you were asked before... but I do have a task of you before you go."
"And that is?" Chastarte raised an eyebrow.
"You've come across some colourful characters in your most recent report... some of them are Sigil's local denizens, they are interesting to me, I want you to bring them, here, soon... then you can leave for the beastlands and return to your 'precious' superiour."
The tone of mockery wasnt unknown in her voice and bitterly Chastarte reached for a knife but as she did she felt one in turn pressed against her throat by The Athar's movement three times her own speed.
She gulped against the blade as Anastria smirked and licked her own fangs, the vampiress exposed herself from under her hood and stared at Chastarte warningly.
"I may be an ant compaired to the lady, but a time will come when The Athar do much more than slay gods and you are playing a dangerous game underestimating that."
"If thats the case, why do you work with a goddess to achieve your aims?" Chastarte asked genuinley, she did not move, but she did not flinch to Anastria's dissapointment.
Anastria pulled her blade away as did Chastarte the two sheathing them, but giving each other tense expressions.
"Because your superiours artifical power can be replicated, and after all, the Well of Meridian she wants for herself could be most beneficial in other... more fruitful hands. You and I both know who we fight for, we knew the rules, we are playing with death on every turn, that is why we are Cheaters."
The two brandished Prolonger emblems at each other rapidly as they glimmered in the unusual sky above. It had an evening atmosphere in Sigil as the two sheathed their emblems away rapidly.
"And Terrance? Does he know your alligance, do any of them?" Probed Chastarte to her fellow, Anastria shook her head.
"He can proove nothing he suspects, besides. He is a weak man, a coward, unwilling to fight for himself he will use his colleagues to watch me. Soon enough though, an old fool has to make fatal mistakes. The Bois Verduis and Beastlands may yet be connected in ways he doesnt even realise."
Chastarte nodded and changed the field of play, she knew how to employ cunning too, so she turned from enemy to friend and placed her hand on Anastria's ambitious but cautious shoulder softly, patting it.
"Just make sure you play your game very carefully Anastria Mortinar... ill be sure to forwards those individuals to you soon enough, in the meantime, we had best remain under the shadow of our peers, untill we can safley make our move..."
Anastria considered how Chastarte changed from assassin to snake, she was guarded, they all were, after all, they knew how to cheat death and preserve their own lives, it was only natural someone would try to steal it eventually.
"Dont pretend to coddle me with affection as if you care Chastarte, we both want something out of this, just do your part, and ill do mine."
Realising Anastria wasnt buying it, Chastarte sighed and nodded, before walking down the long stairways of the tower, vanishing into the darkness below.
Anastria turned around and gazed upon the city from the long view ahead. She took a single breathe and sighed, before entering her private chambers.
She made sure the magical wards were as ever, sealed perfectly, making sure Chastarte or anyone else for that matter hadnt infiltrated the building. The locks were in place, the hidden traps were set, the magical barriers were as ever, firmly in place.
She walked inside after speaking the password.
Inside was a simply designed room as she shut the enchanted door behind her. The room was made of stone and built into the tower itself, with a single half-broken library shelf, a single desk and a single wooden chair. There was also a bed, if she wanted it.
Of course her fellow Athar had their suspicions but she had concealed her true nature very well, using various spells over the years to build up an innocent 'human' look into a Factor worthy of her 'Faction' however, she took out her Prolonger badge, the sect she truley belonged to, and approached the desk.
If she was sweating now she was sweating rapidly as she licked her lip carefully and began to unlock a series of trap-triggering locks under the desk, where a hidden compartment lay.
She took out a single doctrine from under the compartment, an Athar Propaganda Magazine and opened it where within, she revealed a hidden book. The Diary she had been using to chart her logs.
She entered todays entry...
...Then she looked at the other item she had hidden in the magazine cover. Indeed, this was no Magazine on the observant look, it was a plan....
On the back of the cover page, there was a single title:
Project Utopia member Anastria Mortinar, Architect Rank.
She grinned at the interior of the cover frame and began reading carefully through the plan, having set up this much in her list of events, the next thing to do was to detail what to consider next, how to achieve it...
...and finally.
How to attain her own, true, divinity.
But a knocking was heard outside the door, she jolted as she heard Terrance voice, she was late for a Faction meeting.
She fumbled and immediatley put the book away hastily, resealing the locks, putting her Prolonger emblem away on her person.
She opened the door.
"Your late for a Factor gathering, we were about to discuss details of this parade you had planned?" Terrance asked the woman whos hood was down with only her pale human lips visible under it.
"Ah... Factor, you caught me a little unaware, I was simply reconsiling on the news of the Anarchists and Harmonium and.... and I realised you were right... ive been too ambitious, I am wrong... I am sorry." She bowed her head modestly.
Terrance gave her a long gaze, then sighed, patting her shoulder as a lecturing old man. "Nay, I am the fool for having trained you too poorly against ambitious plans. Come on, lets put this event into motion and get ready with the other Factors to discuss how were going to arrange matters. Im interested to see your proposals."
Anastria took one last look at her desk as they began to exit the room.
"Oh you wont be dissapointed Factol." She grinned at the room, then, at Terrance.
"Its going to be magnificent..."
It would be a long time before they did anything quite as bold again, though they were quite pleased more than worried to see her serenity the lady of pain had made a presense.
Beringe had Strader check on Factotum Diana, who was for all purposes wired to a device that would allow them to genetically clone her. Strader considered with caution how many more lives the Revolution would take to see a successful and free city...
...Suddenly it weighed upon her that doubt did hit her mind, after all, you had to be practical. The Lady was an obsticle, but with such power, one had to consider challanging her to be a very-end-game goal for the Anarchists, one that would take long years, perhaps, if not definatley, it would certainly not happen in Straders lifetime.
With that in mind... Strader narrowed her eyes. They had played a dangerous game after all, her wine-kissed mood was spoiled by the ladies intervention after sobering up to the uncomfortable reality.
Steps would need to be taken in order to reconsile for the losses, and she knew just who to contact for that:
Phoenix
Elsewhere, in the Far-realm, upon a lone island a black winged man gazed out into the long sea of memory.
He saw every life, every death that had occured in his time, by his hand.
Yet by sheer irony... one had to consider something even he himself wondered...
Who had The Shaper killed.. since that day long ago in his lifetime...
Had he ever taken a life since? Or simply lead others to do it for him.
Weather it was remorse or a longline of self-pity, the lone being knew that he could not return to Sigil now, at best, he would send his Shadowsworn agents as cautioned Liasons to keep in touch with its affairs. But he knew there was one monster who out there, in The Cage, was actually daring enough to challange her serenity...
He wondered on that monster, its nature, its ambition.
He carved a name into the sandy beach he sat upon. Glaring at it with his one exposed eye, the black empty iris was like an etnernal void, and at the heart, a lone red pupil stood, acknowladging the words like a brand.
Perhaps it was a spiritual thing, he wondered, that had lead him to prevent Factotum Diana's canonical demise... at least, the genuine Diana...
All he knew was that as he looked at that name he saw in himself a long-lineage of pain, torment, and misery he had inflicted upon countless others.
The plan has to continue however, this, was the only way forwards. He understood now that the answer was right infront of him.
Project Utopia He had wrote, in the sand.
Factor Mortinar waited in the south eastern part of The Shattered Temple, watching from a distance with shock and surprise as the Dabus made it clear what the punishment would be for failure.
"Having doubts?" A voice said behind her, she turned it was Chastarte the Unseelie... of whom she and few others knew her 'other' alligance.
Anastria clenched her fist and turned back to look upon the lower ward not so far away. She took a shaky breathe, even for her species, she knew better than to immediatley challange the lady, even for an Athar, she knew that wisdom had to be employed in such instances.
"Yes... and no. The Athar have always been bitterly watched by the serenity more so than anyone else, but they will be watched less so now that her eyes are more focused to putting more doubter-individuals in their place." Anastria said with a hypocritic tone.
"Does that not sound a tad, ironic, comming from you?" The Blindfolded Unseelie Feytouched grinned with her fanged teeth, her blindfold glowed with two crimson orbs where her eyes once existed underneeth.
"Your playing a dangerous game even being here, she needs only notice us and we are damned, I want you to stay out of the city from now on, stay in the Feywild or the Beastlands. Do as you were asked before... but I do have a task of you before you go."
"And that is?" Chastarte raised an eyebrow.
"You've come across some colourful characters in your most recent report... some of them are Sigil's local denizens, they are interesting to me, I want you to bring them, here, soon... then you can leave for the beastlands and return to your 'precious' superiour."
The tone of mockery wasnt unknown in her voice and bitterly Chastarte reached for a knife but as she did she felt one in turn pressed against her throat by The Athar's movement three times her own speed.
She gulped against the blade as Anastria smirked and licked her own fangs, the vampiress exposed herself from under her hood and stared at Chastarte warningly.
"I may be an ant compaired to the lady, but a time will come when The Athar do much more than slay gods and you are playing a dangerous game underestimating that."
"If thats the case, why do you work with a goddess to achieve your aims?" Chastarte asked genuinley, she did not move, but she did not flinch to Anastria's dissapointment.
Anastria pulled her blade away as did Chastarte the two sheathing them, but giving each other tense expressions.
"Because your superiours artifical power can be replicated, and after all, the Well of Meridian she wants for herself could be most beneficial in other... more fruitful hands. You and I both know who we fight for, we knew the rules, we are playing with death on every turn, that is why we are Cheaters."
The two brandished Prolonger emblems at each other rapidly as they glimmered in the unusual sky above. It had an evening atmosphere in Sigil as the two sheathed their emblems away rapidly.
"And Terrance? Does he know your alligance, do any of them?" Probed Chastarte to her fellow, Anastria shook her head.
"He can proove nothing he suspects, besides. He is a weak man, a coward, unwilling to fight for himself he will use his colleagues to watch me. Soon enough though, an old fool has to make fatal mistakes. The Bois Verduis and Beastlands may yet be connected in ways he doesnt even realise."
Chastarte nodded and changed the field of play, she knew how to employ cunning too, so she turned from enemy to friend and placed her hand on Anastria's ambitious but cautious shoulder softly, patting it.
"Just make sure you play your game very carefully Anastria Mortinar... ill be sure to forwards those individuals to you soon enough, in the meantime, we had best remain under the shadow of our peers, untill we can safley make our move..."
Anastria considered how Chastarte changed from assassin to snake, she was guarded, they all were, after all, they knew how to cheat death and preserve their own lives, it was only natural someone would try to steal it eventually.
"Dont pretend to coddle me with affection as if you care Chastarte, we both want something out of this, just do your part, and ill do mine."
Realising Anastria wasnt buying it, Chastarte sighed and nodded, before walking down the long stairways of the tower, vanishing into the darkness below.
Anastria turned around and gazed upon the city from the long view ahead. She took a single breathe and sighed, before entering her private chambers.
She made sure the magical wards were as ever, sealed perfectly, making sure Chastarte or anyone else for that matter hadnt infiltrated the building. The locks were in place, the hidden traps were set, the magical barriers were as ever, firmly in place.
She walked inside after speaking the password.
Inside was a simply designed room as she shut the enchanted door behind her. The room was made of stone and built into the tower itself, with a single half-broken library shelf, a single desk and a single wooden chair. There was also a bed, if she wanted it.
Of course her fellow Athar had their suspicions but she had concealed her true nature very well, using various spells over the years to build up an innocent 'human' look into a Factor worthy of her 'Faction' however, she took out her Prolonger badge, the sect she truley belonged to, and approached the desk.
If she was sweating now she was sweating rapidly as she licked her lip carefully and began to unlock a series of trap-triggering locks under the desk, where a hidden compartment lay.
She took out a single doctrine from under the compartment, an Athar Propaganda Magazine and opened it where within, she revealed a hidden book. The Diary she had been using to chart her logs.
She entered todays entry...
...Then she looked at the other item she had hidden in the magazine cover. Indeed, this was no Magazine on the observant look, it was a plan....
On the back of the cover page, there was a single title:
Project Utopia member Anastria Mortinar, Architect Rank.
She grinned at the interior of the cover frame and began reading carefully through the plan, having set up this much in her list of events, the next thing to do was to detail what to consider next, how to achieve it...
...and finally.
How to attain her own, true, divinity.
But a knocking was heard outside the door, she jolted as she heard Terrance voice, she was late for a Faction meeting.
She fumbled and immediatley put the book away hastily, resealing the locks, putting her Prolonger emblem away on her person.
She opened the door.
"Your late for a Factor gathering, we were about to discuss details of this parade you had planned?" Terrance asked the woman whos hood was down with only her pale human lips visible under it.
"Ah... Factor, you caught me a little unaware, I was simply reconsiling on the news of the Anarchists and Harmonium and.... and I realised you were right... ive been too ambitious, I am wrong... I am sorry." She bowed her head modestly.
Terrance gave her a long gaze, then sighed, patting her shoulder as a lecturing old man. "Nay, I am the fool for having trained you too poorly against ambitious plans. Come on, lets put this event into motion and get ready with the other Factors to discuss how were going to arrange matters. Im interested to see your proposals."
Anastria took one last look at her desk as they began to exit the room.
"Oh you wont be dissapointed Factol." She grinned at the room, then, at Terrance.
"Its going to be magnificent..."
-
*DM_Duke
- Posts: 125
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
Cle'O'Ara knew the message she had been given, the Drider scoured the various Seelie Outposts crawling carefully along mountain ledges and skittering across treetops quietly. She had learned over time to use her body mass in perfect caution with itself, traveling like a nimble dart across the enchanted walls.
She was inside, as the Sidhe Soldiers didnt notice, a troop rushed past as she walked along the wall untill she reached an enchanted ward stone. With a knife drawn she carefully whispered a dark enchanting herself and swung at the stone, shattering it as the gate fell apart.
In an instant, a monsterous giant smashed through the wooden frame. The Drider leapt off and clung to anything her feet could hook into. She landed on the frame of a tent and tore along it safley to the ground. There, a stirred guard stared upwards as she placed her hand over the guards mouth, grinned, and slit their throat.
From the distance Chastarte saw the fire rising and she knew the time to attack was now, she sounded the charge as Unseelie troops poured through the outpost easily, the gate broken, they were pray now.
Once she was inside she looked for Cle'o'ara, the drider was busy sporting some humor with a fleeing halfling whom she took sadistic pleasure shooting several arrows into their legs, preventing them running far as they whimpered in agony, begging for death.
Eventually, she shot the creature in the back of the head, putting it out of its misery, then, as Chastarte approached, she knelt her lower body and bowed.
"My Ladyship... we have taken this outpost, there are many more across the Brux Boarder but I believe we are gaining advantage, they are reinforcing the remaining defences, its only a matter of time before we crush them completley and push them back to their homeland."
Chastarte grinned a sharp fanged expression, pleased with the news, she then spoke to her scout in confidence alone as the troops settled to murder the remaining Seelie as offerings or simply eat them alive or dead as sustinance.
"I need you to go back to Sigil and bring Minestra, The Beholderkin and contact the Orc Warchief. I have some prepairations to make for a more spectacular battle."
Cle'o'ara glanced at her lady, the semi-white-grey haired Driderkin looked like any other Drider, though she donned fine leather armours and wasnt far from a longbow on her back. What was more surpising than anything though was her undying loyalty to Chastarte.
"Yes, my lady. Shall I eliminate any Harmonium in the way?" She asked specifically.
"No" replied Chastarte cautiously, she knew better than to play with fire. "Try to avoid leaving a trial but if they make a move, dont hesitate to down them, just be sure to hide the bodies."
"Understood my lady, oh and... The Queen was present recently, she commends the progress of the Campaign."
Chastarte visibly trembled even with the blindfold and her dark apparel she knew one monster far worse than even the lady when it came to outside her city was the queen...
The Queen of Air and Darkness, a being renown as a deity of all Unseelie Fey, Evil Fey, Evil Elves in many cases, Drow. The Queen was no intimidating mistress of power as Shar or Lloth but only a fool would underestimate her potential.
As Fey Goddess of all Unseelie, The Queen had limitless power warded only by other deities of equal magnitude, The Seelie Court who had sent the Sidhe Vanguard to keep their nemesis at bay. Though it was clear to Chastarte, that for an army of Seelie Elite, they were fairing quite poorly, especially to her mercinary allies.
Digesting what Cle'o'ara had just said, she nodded and took a breathe.
"I appriciate you telling me this, I will endevour to make contact with her at once. In the meantime, go to Sigil and fetch the others. Oh, and if they have any elaborate suggestions of how to make this war go in our favour, I think we should keep an open-mind, as long as it helps us."
"Yes Mi'lady, I will be sure to tell you what they propose when I return." The Drider scurried away into the shadows and vanished without a trace, to an untrained warrior they'd likley be very afraid by now, but Chastarte knew that Cle'o'ara was a rare case, she had a very spiritual loyalty to her superiour and for some reason or another beyond explination, she didnt ever seem to break it or challange Chastarte's rule.
It was a pleasant surprise, in the long-term.
Elsewhere, in Sigil on the other hand:
"Thats her..." Said Kordiva with a bitter tone as she wrapped up the mortuary bag for the forenzic Harmonium to investigate. She rubbed her hand against her forehead and face, clenching it softly, taking a deep, angry breathe.
A nearby Notary approached and halted behind her, she narrowed her eye as he spoke.
"M-Measure Kordiva? W-what are your orders now?" The man asked in a nervous tone.
Remembering what her fellow Measure, Chari the Just had said, Kordiva kept herself calm enough to treat her soldiers with respect.
"Report the news to Harmonium HQ, have Mover Shar contacted and Mover Erroc, the fatality is confirmed, we have lost an important Measure Today...
The Notary doing just that, reported the affairs to both Movers, of which the former, Tonat Shar looked concerned as the day passed. He stood before Kordiva who had left a proposal doctrine infront of him.
"I cannot accept this..." He said, with an advising and cautious tone.
To say that Kordiva was displeased with that choice of words was to say that her expression flared with a subtle anger, yet her tone remained surpisingly calm as did her mind.
"Mover Shar, it is clear to me that the Civilians of Sigil are incompitent, dangerous and unpredictable. We cannot continue to ignore them as if they are not a potential threat, we need to act now and systematically remove everything that is impure from the system."
Shar was not a man to argue with cold logic, but even he didnt like the idea of forceful imposement. He knew better than to loose the respect of the public by forcing them to adheer to Order, but he also knew that times were troubled and so he himself became very uncomfortable, forced into an equally unpleasant possition.
"Measure One Kordiva, may not be young, you may have won wars but you are not a Mover yet. I ask you to remember your duty to respect a superiour officer when he gives you orders."
Such words triggered a moment of relapse in Kordiva's memory when the inspriation behind her sharp change from innocent flower-girl to dark-hero had been a matyr of her past.
She remembered the battlefield well, when the Harmonium were outnumbered three to one. Men were dying at her side and she could do nothing to help them, she wanted to, with all her heart, but her Captain held her back. A Measure on the verge of becomming mover.
"I have to go back there! I have to help those soldiers!" Protested a Younger Notary Kordiva, scarred on one eye, her expression helpless as she stared at the advancing Notaries.
"No Notary..." The man said firmly. A Human with dark brunette hair, short, cutback, his eyes were green and his skin was a dark tan. "I cannot let you die for them, you are needed here, now, where you can save lives within an area of reasonable proximity, remember my orders, because a chain of command keeps a war won. If I tell you to leave those men, you leave them behind, do you understand?"
Kordiva stared at her CO defiantly: "But-" She was interupted sharply by his angered expression.
"I said do you understand?! Notary Alice Kordiva! We are at war and you 'WILL' obay my order here! Or You will be left on the firing line for the devils and demons, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"
She broke with his tone and nodded shakily. "Sir yes sir!" She said defeatedly, while staring as the men died in the distance.
She watched helplessly as the last soldier was impaled by a Devil's pike... run down to the ground. Then she saw the artilery shells flying towards her possition.
"Incomming!" Cried her Measure. Kordiva shut her eyes and waited for the shell to crash upon her.
But when she opened them again, she was staring at Tonat who clearly noticed her spacing out.
"Measure, do you understand me?" He asked in a calm, collected tone.
"Yes Mover Shar, I appologise, I will reconsider your orders with extreme caution."
Kordiva left into her office with a bitter attitude. Those men had died because the civilians were trusted, Tonat trusted them, the fool. She knew only a soldier could get a job done right, someone like her.
She saw a portrait of the two together, the Lawyer on onside, herself on the other, held in an almost soon-to-be wed posture, never to be finished as a fable.
She clenched her fist bitterly, and violently knocked it from the desk as the glass shattered and the picture came loose.
She stared at it and retreived it from inside the frame.
There he was, almost taunting her now more than caring, mocking her for 'her' incompitence? She was a genious, she knew she was, and if her fellows had promoted her sooner, they'd realise it aswell.
The woman's childish zeal got the better of her, and in her fit of anger, she tore the picture in half, and ripped away the picture of his face untill it was utterly shreaded, before setting it on fire and leaving it to burn.
Then, she did the same to her own picture, erasing the entire thing from existance as she clenched her fist tighter still untill her fingernails dug into her skin.
She stared at the ruined picture, the shattered frame and fell onto her desk-chair, sighing.
She took a deep breathe and looked away from the mirror he had given her. She felt ashamed of who she had become in many ways, but it was far too late to go back, she was a soldier now, and what was done was done.
She took the mirror and stroked the scar with a sad expression. She knew what this meant, this meant she had lost and with that the pain turned to anger.
She put the mirror down and tucked it away in her desk, deciding not to look back she retrieved a bottle of ale intead.
After considering weather to drink or not to drink, she had made her decision. She took the bottle and uncorked the lid, taking a small sip, she put it down again and recollected the taste of alchahol for the first time in a good long set of years before.
What had once tasted like a sweet wine that reminded her of love and joy now tasted like a bitter taste of hatred and disgust, she felt dirty even touching it, and realising that, she snarled and shoved it off her table much like the portrait, letting it shatter and letting the ale go to waste.
It was going to be a water drink from now on only, and the occasional cup of tea empowered with magical flavouring when she had won a victory. It would also be made extra bitter if she won a defeat, as she specifically ordered from her Notaries.
This time, the tea arrived as did the sweeping crew to clean up the mess and shattered glass. When the tea was left down there was a repulsive smell about it.
She tasted the tea instantly, drinking every last sip down. She gagged, and felt repulsive as she tasted the horrid bitter sewer-water and reminded herself of the enemy she was fighting to destroy.
Her teeth gnashed as she quietly bit her own lip untill blood was drawn. Then, cleaning it away, she took a deep breathe and calmed down. She would not let the public see her like this, not now, not ever.
Her remaining eye flared however with a changed and darker expression. She felt in her heart only a private revenge which in time, she promised herself she would forfill.
Whoever was responsible for Measure one Diana's Death.... she had only one thing in mind for them in turn...
And no Mercykiller was going to take that pleasure from her.
She was inside, as the Sidhe Soldiers didnt notice, a troop rushed past as she walked along the wall untill she reached an enchanted ward stone. With a knife drawn she carefully whispered a dark enchanting herself and swung at the stone, shattering it as the gate fell apart.
In an instant, a monsterous giant smashed through the wooden frame. The Drider leapt off and clung to anything her feet could hook into. She landed on the frame of a tent and tore along it safley to the ground. There, a stirred guard stared upwards as she placed her hand over the guards mouth, grinned, and slit their throat.
From the distance Chastarte saw the fire rising and she knew the time to attack was now, she sounded the charge as Unseelie troops poured through the outpost easily, the gate broken, they were pray now.
Once she was inside she looked for Cle'o'ara, the drider was busy sporting some humor with a fleeing halfling whom she took sadistic pleasure shooting several arrows into their legs, preventing them running far as they whimpered in agony, begging for death.
Eventually, she shot the creature in the back of the head, putting it out of its misery, then, as Chastarte approached, she knelt her lower body and bowed.
"My Ladyship... we have taken this outpost, there are many more across the Brux Boarder but I believe we are gaining advantage, they are reinforcing the remaining defences, its only a matter of time before we crush them completley and push them back to their homeland."
Chastarte grinned a sharp fanged expression, pleased with the news, she then spoke to her scout in confidence alone as the troops settled to murder the remaining Seelie as offerings or simply eat them alive or dead as sustinance.
"I need you to go back to Sigil and bring Minestra, The Beholderkin and contact the Orc Warchief. I have some prepairations to make for a more spectacular battle."
Cle'o'ara glanced at her lady, the semi-white-grey haired Driderkin looked like any other Drider, though she donned fine leather armours and wasnt far from a longbow on her back. What was more surpising than anything though was her undying loyalty to Chastarte.
"Yes, my lady. Shall I eliminate any Harmonium in the way?" She asked specifically.
"No" replied Chastarte cautiously, she knew better than to play with fire. "Try to avoid leaving a trial but if they make a move, dont hesitate to down them, just be sure to hide the bodies."
"Understood my lady, oh and... The Queen was present recently, she commends the progress of the Campaign."
Chastarte visibly trembled even with the blindfold and her dark apparel she knew one monster far worse than even the lady when it came to outside her city was the queen...
The Queen of Air and Darkness, a being renown as a deity of all Unseelie Fey, Evil Fey, Evil Elves in many cases, Drow. The Queen was no intimidating mistress of power as Shar or Lloth but only a fool would underestimate her potential.
As Fey Goddess of all Unseelie, The Queen had limitless power warded only by other deities of equal magnitude, The Seelie Court who had sent the Sidhe Vanguard to keep their nemesis at bay. Though it was clear to Chastarte, that for an army of Seelie Elite, they were fairing quite poorly, especially to her mercinary allies.
Digesting what Cle'o'ara had just said, she nodded and took a breathe.
"I appriciate you telling me this, I will endevour to make contact with her at once. In the meantime, go to Sigil and fetch the others. Oh, and if they have any elaborate suggestions of how to make this war go in our favour, I think we should keep an open-mind, as long as it helps us."
"Yes Mi'lady, I will be sure to tell you what they propose when I return." The Drider scurried away into the shadows and vanished without a trace, to an untrained warrior they'd likley be very afraid by now, but Chastarte knew that Cle'o'ara was a rare case, she had a very spiritual loyalty to her superiour and for some reason or another beyond explination, she didnt ever seem to break it or challange Chastarte's rule.
It was a pleasant surprise, in the long-term.
Elsewhere, in Sigil on the other hand:
"Thats her..." Said Kordiva with a bitter tone as she wrapped up the mortuary bag for the forenzic Harmonium to investigate. She rubbed her hand against her forehead and face, clenching it softly, taking a deep, angry breathe.
A nearby Notary approached and halted behind her, she narrowed her eye as he spoke.
"M-Measure Kordiva? W-what are your orders now?" The man asked in a nervous tone.
Remembering what her fellow Measure, Chari the Just had said, Kordiva kept herself calm enough to treat her soldiers with respect.
"Report the news to Harmonium HQ, have Mover Shar contacted and Mover Erroc, the fatality is confirmed, we have lost an important Measure Today...
The Notary doing just that, reported the affairs to both Movers, of which the former, Tonat Shar looked concerned as the day passed. He stood before Kordiva who had left a proposal doctrine infront of him.
"I cannot accept this..." He said, with an advising and cautious tone.
To say that Kordiva was displeased with that choice of words was to say that her expression flared with a subtle anger, yet her tone remained surpisingly calm as did her mind.
"Mover Shar, it is clear to me that the Civilians of Sigil are incompitent, dangerous and unpredictable. We cannot continue to ignore them as if they are not a potential threat, we need to act now and systematically remove everything that is impure from the system."
Shar was not a man to argue with cold logic, but even he didnt like the idea of forceful imposement. He knew better than to loose the respect of the public by forcing them to adheer to Order, but he also knew that times were troubled and so he himself became very uncomfortable, forced into an equally unpleasant possition.
"Measure One Kordiva, may not be young, you may have won wars but you are not a Mover yet. I ask you to remember your duty to respect a superiour officer when he gives you orders."
Such words triggered a moment of relapse in Kordiva's memory when the inspriation behind her sharp change from innocent flower-girl to dark-hero had been a matyr of her past.
She remembered the battlefield well, when the Harmonium were outnumbered three to one. Men were dying at her side and she could do nothing to help them, she wanted to, with all her heart, but her Captain held her back. A Measure on the verge of becomming mover.
"I have to go back there! I have to help those soldiers!" Protested a Younger Notary Kordiva, scarred on one eye, her expression helpless as she stared at the advancing Notaries.
"No Notary..." The man said firmly. A Human with dark brunette hair, short, cutback, his eyes were green and his skin was a dark tan. "I cannot let you die for them, you are needed here, now, where you can save lives within an area of reasonable proximity, remember my orders, because a chain of command keeps a war won. If I tell you to leave those men, you leave them behind, do you understand?"
Kordiva stared at her CO defiantly: "But-" She was interupted sharply by his angered expression.
"I said do you understand?! Notary Alice Kordiva! We are at war and you 'WILL' obay my order here! Or You will be left on the firing line for the devils and demons, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"
She broke with his tone and nodded shakily. "Sir yes sir!" She said defeatedly, while staring as the men died in the distance.
She watched helplessly as the last soldier was impaled by a Devil's pike... run down to the ground. Then she saw the artilery shells flying towards her possition.
"Incomming!" Cried her Measure. Kordiva shut her eyes and waited for the shell to crash upon her.
But when she opened them again, she was staring at Tonat who clearly noticed her spacing out.
"Measure, do you understand me?" He asked in a calm, collected tone.
"Yes Mover Shar, I appologise, I will reconsider your orders with extreme caution."
Kordiva left into her office with a bitter attitude. Those men had died because the civilians were trusted, Tonat trusted them, the fool. She knew only a soldier could get a job done right, someone like her.
She saw a portrait of the two together, the Lawyer on onside, herself on the other, held in an almost soon-to-be wed posture, never to be finished as a fable.
She clenched her fist bitterly, and violently knocked it from the desk as the glass shattered and the picture came loose.
She stared at it and retreived it from inside the frame.
There he was, almost taunting her now more than caring, mocking her for 'her' incompitence? She was a genious, she knew she was, and if her fellows had promoted her sooner, they'd realise it aswell.
The woman's childish zeal got the better of her, and in her fit of anger, she tore the picture in half, and ripped away the picture of his face untill it was utterly shreaded, before setting it on fire and leaving it to burn.
Then, she did the same to her own picture, erasing the entire thing from existance as she clenched her fist tighter still untill her fingernails dug into her skin.
She stared at the ruined picture, the shattered frame and fell onto her desk-chair, sighing.
She took a deep breathe and looked away from the mirror he had given her. She felt ashamed of who she had become in many ways, but it was far too late to go back, she was a soldier now, and what was done was done.
She took the mirror and stroked the scar with a sad expression. She knew what this meant, this meant she had lost and with that the pain turned to anger.
She put the mirror down and tucked it away in her desk, deciding not to look back she retrieved a bottle of ale intead.
After considering weather to drink or not to drink, she had made her decision. She took the bottle and uncorked the lid, taking a small sip, she put it down again and recollected the taste of alchahol for the first time in a good long set of years before.
What had once tasted like a sweet wine that reminded her of love and joy now tasted like a bitter taste of hatred and disgust, she felt dirty even touching it, and realising that, she snarled and shoved it off her table much like the portrait, letting it shatter and letting the ale go to waste.
It was going to be a water drink from now on only, and the occasional cup of tea empowered with magical flavouring when she had won a victory. It would also be made extra bitter if she won a defeat, as she specifically ordered from her Notaries.
This time, the tea arrived as did the sweeping crew to clean up the mess and shattered glass. When the tea was left down there was a repulsive smell about it.
She tasted the tea instantly, drinking every last sip down. She gagged, and felt repulsive as she tasted the horrid bitter sewer-water and reminded herself of the enemy she was fighting to destroy.
Her teeth gnashed as she quietly bit her own lip untill blood was drawn. Then, cleaning it away, she took a deep breathe and calmed down. She would not let the public see her like this, not now, not ever.
Her remaining eye flared however with a changed and darker expression. She felt in her heart only a private revenge which in time, she promised herself she would forfill.
Whoever was responsible for Measure one Diana's Death.... she had only one thing in mind for them in turn...
And no Mercykiller was going to take that pleasure from her.
-
*DM_Duke
- Posts: 125
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
First Diana, now Tonat, everyone had died around her, it was clear Kordiva felt the walls of her power crushing in on her.
She stood alone in her office, now it "had" been trashed and there was no sign of her trying to fix it, evidence showed she had violently smashed various peices of equipment and table decorations in a violent fit of rage, she breathed rapidly and stared at a half-broken mirror, looking at the dark reflection in her eye.
"Didnt I tell you that you couldnt truley beat what has been cast upon you?"
Her eye widened and in panic she crawled away from the small mirror, slamming the door and locking it tightly as she wrapped her arms around herself.
"This... this cant be right" She replied shakenly. "I escaped The Abyss, you cant be here!"
"I am always here in your shadow Aliceeeeee, I will always be in your shadow." The shadows literally crept in on her as she stared at them hysterically, conjuring an orb of fire to keep them distant.
"STAY AWAY!"
The Shadow turned the flame cold as she reached around frustratedly for her sword, swinging it at the darkness.
"I will bring order to Sigil, I will bring order to my life, you cannot take that from me, you will not, I will not fall again! I wont!"
The shadow dispersed suddenly, the room was lit once more. Her desk was a mess, split in twine from the sharp force of a warhammer. Her mirror had been cracked, her cupboard where all her formal apparel had been was now ripped open by a waraxe.
She clenched her teeth at the mess, it was like the days back in The Argent Palace, the days she had nearly been claimed by a darker power. The bitter memories did nothing to calm her already frustrated expression.
A Harmonium Soldier knocked on the doorway as it remained locked.
"Measure! Is everything alright?!"
Alice noticed how shaggy her hair was when she didnt look after herself, she grit her teeth and frowned, taking her undamaged comb and correcting it neatly.
"...Yes..." With a soft tone of doubt behind her voice. "Everything is fine Notary, what is the problem?"
The Notary called out from behind the door.
"News from the front, Mover Killeen is comming to relieve you of duty, Factol Sarin is delayed."
Kordiva frowned and stared at her broken mirror sadly. She had started this oppressive campaign of Martial Law and already her power was about to reach an end. No... she needed more time, just enough to put into action what had to be done.
...She knew even her own Harmonium members had abbandoned her, only the most fanatic and loyal soldiers stood by her side. She had been quite certain to purge anyone that had been considered corrupt. The irony of how little she realised she had been inavertly corrupted herself, by her own madness more than internal power abuse.
"Be sure to welcome the Mover when he arrives, in the meantime, we have work to do, prepair the rest of the men..."
The tone of the Notary sounded troubled behind that door. "Wh-why ma'am, what are your ord-..."
Kordiva's tone became commanding and firm. "Summon the Inquisition, and send them into the city... I will have the city firmly investigated one last time. If we find the corruption to be too thick, I want every Notary on standby for the genocide that must follow.
She unlocked the door facing the young Notary as the Notaries voice trembled behind the helmet, especially seeing Kordiva's room and the state of her slightly tattered harmonium robe.
"B-but... surley you can... you c-c-c-coul..."
"Could... what?" She sounded impatient.
"You...you could consider... ...consider giving the men a moment of r-re-rest... morale is.... ..is... ...is fragile M-ma'a....ma'am."
Kordiva held her sword calmly and closed her eye, wrapping her gloved knuckles constrainingly around the hilt.
"Morale is weak because you are weak, weakness is an intolerable excuse in the field of war. This is a warzone Notary, you will either shapen your sword untill you are capable of swinging it, or I will have your head for your stupidity and ignorance!"
The Notary trembled and stepped backwards. "I...I..."
"Get out of my sight, before I have you slain where you stand." Kordiva narrowed her eye impatiently, as the Notary ran off trembling.
Her gaze set upon the blade and her reflection in it, she narrowed her eye and clenched her fist, trembling with fury.
"I.... wont.... let this darkness, continue. I will bring the light... and it will blaze across all of Sigil.
I will be the Light in the Darkness."
Her lips curved into a grin as the flame wrapped around the blade.
She stood alone in her office, now it "had" been trashed and there was no sign of her trying to fix it, evidence showed she had violently smashed various peices of equipment and table decorations in a violent fit of rage, she breathed rapidly and stared at a half-broken mirror, looking at the dark reflection in her eye.
"Didnt I tell you that you couldnt truley beat what has been cast upon you?"
Her eye widened and in panic she crawled away from the small mirror, slamming the door and locking it tightly as she wrapped her arms around herself.
"This... this cant be right" She replied shakenly. "I escaped The Abyss, you cant be here!"
"I am always here in your shadow Aliceeeeee, I will always be in your shadow." The shadows literally crept in on her as she stared at them hysterically, conjuring an orb of fire to keep them distant.
"STAY AWAY!"
The Shadow turned the flame cold as she reached around frustratedly for her sword, swinging it at the darkness.
"I will bring order to Sigil, I will bring order to my life, you cannot take that from me, you will not, I will not fall again! I wont!"
The shadow dispersed suddenly, the room was lit once more. Her desk was a mess, split in twine from the sharp force of a warhammer. Her mirror had been cracked, her cupboard where all her formal apparel had been was now ripped open by a waraxe.
She clenched her teeth at the mess, it was like the days back in The Argent Palace, the days she had nearly been claimed by a darker power. The bitter memories did nothing to calm her already frustrated expression.
A Harmonium Soldier knocked on the doorway as it remained locked.
"Measure! Is everything alright?!"
Alice noticed how shaggy her hair was when she didnt look after herself, she grit her teeth and frowned, taking her undamaged comb and correcting it neatly.
"...Yes..." With a soft tone of doubt behind her voice. "Everything is fine Notary, what is the problem?"
The Notary called out from behind the door.
"News from the front, Mover Killeen is comming to relieve you of duty, Factol Sarin is delayed."
Kordiva frowned and stared at her broken mirror sadly. She had started this oppressive campaign of Martial Law and already her power was about to reach an end. No... she needed more time, just enough to put into action what had to be done.
...She knew even her own Harmonium members had abbandoned her, only the most fanatic and loyal soldiers stood by her side. She had been quite certain to purge anyone that had been considered corrupt. The irony of how little she realised she had been inavertly corrupted herself, by her own madness more than internal power abuse.
"Be sure to welcome the Mover when he arrives, in the meantime, we have work to do, prepair the rest of the men..."
The tone of the Notary sounded troubled behind that door. "Wh-why ma'am, what are your ord-..."
Kordiva's tone became commanding and firm. "Summon the Inquisition, and send them into the city... I will have the city firmly investigated one last time. If we find the corruption to be too thick, I want every Notary on standby for the genocide that must follow.
She unlocked the door facing the young Notary as the Notaries voice trembled behind the helmet, especially seeing Kordiva's room and the state of her slightly tattered harmonium robe.
"B-but... surley you can... you c-c-c-coul..."
"Could... what?" She sounded impatient.
"You...you could consider... ...consider giving the men a moment of r-re-rest... morale is.... ..is... ...is fragile M-ma'a....ma'am."
Kordiva held her sword calmly and closed her eye, wrapping her gloved knuckles constrainingly around the hilt.
"Morale is weak because you are weak, weakness is an intolerable excuse in the field of war. This is a warzone Notary, you will either shapen your sword untill you are capable of swinging it, or I will have your head for your stupidity and ignorance!"
The Notary trembled and stepped backwards. "I...I..."
"Get out of my sight, before I have you slain where you stand." Kordiva narrowed her eye impatiently, as the Notary ran off trembling.
Her gaze set upon the blade and her reflection in it, she narrowed her eye and clenched her fist, trembling with fury.
"I.... wont.... let this darkness, continue. I will bring the light... and it will blaze across all of Sigil.
I will be the Light in the Darkness."
Her lips curved into a grin as the flame wrapped around the blade.
-
*DM_Duke
- Posts: 125
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
Several Months Ago:
One of the lone Harmonium teams investigated the floating debris of the ship, investigating through the vast ruins of The Aegis. They passed through the shattered experimental laboratories where they entered the central chamber. The pikemen were halted by the Measure One captain.
They approached into a lone room where a small insignificant portal stone lay. The group approached it cautiously, five men all entering the broken door that held it safe. A shield barrier surrounded the stone as the Measure removed his helmet and stared at the device with a pensive gaze.
"What have we here? Notary Evans, go and inform the-" before he could finish the sentance he heard the sound of a man choking gutterally. A blade through Evans throat the remaining three Harmonium notaries lay dead before the floor as Evans collapsed.
The Measure One raised his pike to the invader. He charged towards the unknown foe as a blade sliced through the pike and his armour. The mans eyes twitched, and narrowed, as he was sliced clean in half diagonally.
The bodyparts dropping to the floor, the robed figure approached the portal guarded stone. A hand reached through and collected the stone.
The Shaper watched the figure responsible at the entrance of the door as the two beings left without another word. The ship drifted into a derelict freefall, The Shaper conjured forth an empowered hellball combined with an implosion spell, as the ship was literally ripped apart.
A portal tore open into the Far Realm, the two beings dissappeared into it.
All this for a stone... he slowly wondered, what relevance it would have in saving his world?
He watched the figure pensivly, for now, they would give Sigil peace...
...for now.
...That was several months ago, now, the stone floated before him with several cracks forming. He took close note of its shape, a spherical item that he had uncovered in the ruins of The Aegis...
The woman, she had stood by his side, a ghost of his former beloved, she had told him that one day, this stone would play a part in saving his world, and the multiverse itself.
But he wondered, how? What significance did such a small, meaningless nitpicking from Argantha's greedy horde have in significance to changing the multiverse? What could possibly make this slowly cracking gem important.
He gazed into the heart of the thing, where he saw a strange flash of light. He blinked and leaned closer, his albino red eye widened as it blinded him...
He rose to his feet once more, various images flooded his mind. What ever he had seen in those images made him understand now, this stone, it was breaking for a reason. It was the last relic of his home, the stone of Utopia, the heart of peace.
And much like the darker side of his past incarnation, its peace was shattering, by the ruinous powers that tore this multiverse apart.
Elsewhere... in the deepest reaches of the Far Realm.
Another Shaper stood bending space and time to his whim. The malcontent figure stood bitterly watching the multiverse as worlds formed together, a dark smile formed on his lips.
Soon, the multiverse would implode on itself, as realities bent together, even the lady of pain was helpless from a force outside her own world. There was no way she could have known what was comming for her, there was no way that they could possibly stop the comming appocolypse now.
The Anarchists were in his palm, pawns to instigate the fires of war between the Factions, a perfect diversion. He had corrupted the others in the past, but each one had slowly slipped out of his grip. However, the vast networks of spies within the ranks of the Anarchists amused him... they did their job well, they had ruined the beauty of the Harmonium's public image, and as the city knew a moment of respite, the cracks in the multiverse that threatened to unmake all things slowly widened.
A shadowed series of tendrils reached out from behind him and drowned out the far realm. All was as it had to be... all was what it needed to be.
"Soon... it will all be over..., soon, the end, will dawn."
Elsewhere, the Grey Witch roamed through the streams of time, traveling to a time where the great battle was occuring. Heroes unprepaired for a great foe they will inevitably loose too, she was fighting in that battlefield, she approached The Shaper, the Future incarnation as he stood holding the gem.
"The last peices are in place, we can begin soon, they are dying out there, but their deaths are not invane, this one last failure, will guarentee the success... we cannot loose, we must not. This cycle will repeat itself again and again untill the stalemate is overpowered, if I can give Sigil this one chance to prepair..." The Shaper said while pausing. The Witch replied:
"You realise that you were luckier than the nine hells to actually reach an agreement with her Serenity, no one in the multiverse can realistically challange her inside her kingdom. What ever gods you worshipped this better work, or we are all damned once more and you know how Her Serenity will react..."
The Shaper looked at her with a forboding and worried accepting nod.
"I know all too well..., it would be nothing short of genocide... our only hope to prevent that is to show her that Sigil can defend itself... can protect... her, from the outside."
"Protect her from yourself, you mean?" The Witch looked at him curiously.
"...No... ...to protect her, and them all, from him..."
He looked at a portrait of the Council of Paradice..., at the head, a robed figure, his hands holding down over the world of Utopia.
The Witch looked at it aswell, raising a brow.
"Who is he?" She gazed at him with a worried face.
The Shaper turned to her seriously, frowning. He remembered the betrayal, it pained him so much to watch those he loved fall apart around him. At his hands, no less.
He did not forget the face under that hood he had burned it into his eyes, glaring with bitter contempt at the image in his mind.
"He is the Lord of Paradice..., he is the Architect of Project Utopia... He is, The Light in The Darkness."
The Witch looked to the portrait once more, the man holding the world was surrounded by a cast of allies, with The Shaper standing opposite to the world in the portrait.
"This is a prophecy..." She realised.
"Yes... a prophecy of the doom of us all. It has already begun..."
Once more, The Younger Shaper clenched his fists as a new tear formed, he raised his palm outwards.
"Now for some entertainment..."
The crack opened, a flash of light burst through it.
One of the lone Harmonium teams investigated the floating debris of the ship, investigating through the vast ruins of The Aegis. They passed through the shattered experimental laboratories where they entered the central chamber. The pikemen were halted by the Measure One captain.
They approached into a lone room where a small insignificant portal stone lay. The group approached it cautiously, five men all entering the broken door that held it safe. A shield barrier surrounded the stone as the Measure removed his helmet and stared at the device with a pensive gaze.
"What have we here? Notary Evans, go and inform the-" before he could finish the sentance he heard the sound of a man choking gutterally. A blade through Evans throat the remaining three Harmonium notaries lay dead before the floor as Evans collapsed.
The Measure One raised his pike to the invader. He charged towards the unknown foe as a blade sliced through the pike and his armour. The mans eyes twitched, and narrowed, as he was sliced clean in half diagonally.
The bodyparts dropping to the floor, the robed figure approached the portal guarded stone. A hand reached through and collected the stone.
The Shaper watched the figure responsible at the entrance of the door as the two beings left without another word. The ship drifted into a derelict freefall, The Shaper conjured forth an empowered hellball combined with an implosion spell, as the ship was literally ripped apart.
A portal tore open into the Far Realm, the two beings dissappeared into it.
All this for a stone... he slowly wondered, what relevance it would have in saving his world?
He watched the figure pensivly, for now, they would give Sigil peace...
...for now.
...That was several months ago, now, the stone floated before him with several cracks forming. He took close note of its shape, a spherical item that he had uncovered in the ruins of The Aegis...
The woman, she had stood by his side, a ghost of his former beloved, she had told him that one day, this stone would play a part in saving his world, and the multiverse itself.
But he wondered, how? What significance did such a small, meaningless nitpicking from Argantha's greedy horde have in significance to changing the multiverse? What could possibly make this slowly cracking gem important.
He gazed into the heart of the thing, where he saw a strange flash of light. He blinked and leaned closer, his albino red eye widened as it blinded him...
He rose to his feet once more, various images flooded his mind. What ever he had seen in those images made him understand now, this stone, it was breaking for a reason. It was the last relic of his home, the stone of Utopia, the heart of peace.
And much like the darker side of his past incarnation, its peace was shattering, by the ruinous powers that tore this multiverse apart.
Elsewhere... in the deepest reaches of the Far Realm.
Another Shaper stood bending space and time to his whim. The malcontent figure stood bitterly watching the multiverse as worlds formed together, a dark smile formed on his lips.
Soon, the multiverse would implode on itself, as realities bent together, even the lady of pain was helpless from a force outside her own world. There was no way she could have known what was comming for her, there was no way that they could possibly stop the comming appocolypse now.
The Anarchists were in his palm, pawns to instigate the fires of war between the Factions, a perfect diversion. He had corrupted the others in the past, but each one had slowly slipped out of his grip. However, the vast networks of spies within the ranks of the Anarchists amused him... they did their job well, they had ruined the beauty of the Harmonium's public image, and as the city knew a moment of respite, the cracks in the multiverse that threatened to unmake all things slowly widened.
A shadowed series of tendrils reached out from behind him and drowned out the far realm. All was as it had to be... all was what it needed to be.
"Soon... it will all be over..., soon, the end, will dawn."
Elsewhere, the Grey Witch roamed through the streams of time, traveling to a time where the great battle was occuring. Heroes unprepaired for a great foe they will inevitably loose too, she was fighting in that battlefield, she approached The Shaper, the Future incarnation as he stood holding the gem.
"The last peices are in place, we can begin soon, they are dying out there, but their deaths are not invane, this one last failure, will guarentee the success... we cannot loose, we must not. This cycle will repeat itself again and again untill the stalemate is overpowered, if I can give Sigil this one chance to prepair..." The Shaper said while pausing. The Witch replied:
"You realise that you were luckier than the nine hells to actually reach an agreement with her Serenity, no one in the multiverse can realistically challange her inside her kingdom. What ever gods you worshipped this better work, or we are all damned once more and you know how Her Serenity will react..."
The Shaper looked at her with a forboding and worried accepting nod.
"I know all too well..., it would be nothing short of genocide... our only hope to prevent that is to show her that Sigil can defend itself... can protect... her, from the outside."
"Protect her from yourself, you mean?" The Witch looked at him curiously.
"...No... ...to protect her, and them all, from him..."
He looked at a portrait of the Council of Paradice..., at the head, a robed figure, his hands holding down over the world of Utopia.
The Witch looked at it aswell, raising a brow.
"Who is he?" She gazed at him with a worried face.
The Shaper turned to her seriously, frowning. He remembered the betrayal, it pained him so much to watch those he loved fall apart around him. At his hands, no less.
He did not forget the face under that hood he had burned it into his eyes, glaring with bitter contempt at the image in his mind.
"He is the Lord of Paradice..., he is the Architect of Project Utopia... He is, The Light in The Darkness."
The Witch looked to the portrait once more, the man holding the world was surrounded by a cast of allies, with The Shaper standing opposite to the world in the portrait.
"This is a prophecy..." She realised.
"Yes... a prophecy of the doom of us all. It has already begun..."
Once more, The Younger Shaper clenched his fists as a new tear formed, he raised his palm outwards.
"Now for some entertainment..."
The crack opened, a flash of light burst through it.
-
*DM_Duke
- Posts: 125
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
"What have you... done?"
How many times had he heard that line before it finally came to an end. The Shaper, no more, vanished from existance forever.
The pillar of his goals and dreams now fell into the hands of the last surviving champion of his beliefs, The Grey Witch, the mysterious heroine who had traveled through time to protect friends and newcommers alike from the future that could be.
She understood now more than ever, her goal was to compleate his work. She had left them the warning, The Heart of Utopia, it must never be left in the hands of those seeking it.
But little did she realise that even the present had ways of cheating The Future, and even The Light in The Darkness, had means to be Vigiliant of such events, such setbacks.
Now the scene turns to Dove, Anarchist insurgent and rebel, freedom fighter and terrorist as she fled from the Harmonium. She had escaped their prison by pure fortune, Shark had decided to be merciful one last time, using influence within the ranks to escort her to a "more secure location." Dove never made it to the location she was due to arrive, an Anarchist ambush had taken care of the guards that held her captive.
Now she ran through the sewage works, somewhat loathing what she had done, why did she get involved in any of this? Why did she do the stupid thing?
Too late to look back...
She had to keep running, running form her history, her family, everything. Starting a new life, she'd done it before, Strader wasnt exactly unfamiliar with playing the game that was having a new face, infact, she was quite used to it. But who would she become this time she wondered?
Musing onwards, she rushed into the tunnel networks and kept going, she had to get out of here no matter what, first, escape, plan later.
"There!" A Harmonium guard cried, Curses! She turned to the nearest tunnel and leapt behind the wall as it became quickly illuminated by passing Harmonium Notaries running in droves. She printed herself firmly against the wall, waiting patiently untill they had gone. Then she moved out once more, sneaking between sewage ways to get back to the nearest hideout.
When she arrived, she turned to shut the door. As she did she noticed it had already been opened...
The room was a mess, everything inside had been stripped inside out, the alchemy equipment had been taken, the maps had been stolen and plans and contact details had been lost.
"Looking for these I suppose?" She swore inwardly as she turned to face the voice, it was a man, a Harmonium man, the infamously clever Killeen Caine, known to be a rather effective inquisitior, he did not dissapoint his reputation today.
Strader frowned, shutting the door with her backside while leaning against it, she folded her arms.
"How did you know?" She was genuine, how "did" he know?
"Intuition, magical insight, oh, friends in low places? I have my ways." Caine walked towards Strader and equally folded his arms, sighing. "How long are we going to pretend neither of us wants to see the other?"
"My home, you can leave if you dont like it." Even now, she could still grin, Caine didnt like it, his face remained serious.
"I know who you are, Strader, and I need you for a job." The words shocked her genuinley, Caine was no Anarchist in disguise, but how he even knew that left her confused and dumbstruck.
She was sceptic, she reached for her hand shiv defencivly but Caine was already a step ahead. A wand drawn, he sent a magic missle to her hand knocking it away, she had no choice... "Im listening..."
The reluctance in her voice annoyed her. Caine now looked amused, he put the wand away and picked up the weapon, testing its metal idly while chattering. "Neither of us are friends of Shark right now and given the circumstances your particular track record isnt looking up. Im proposing a two way coup, firstly you provide for the Harmonium information we need on Sharks cell, then you form a cell of your own to take out insurgents, you gain all the power and Shark takes a serious blow. Besides, we need spies and the best kind are the kind that we can spy on."
She was genuinley amused at Caines proposal, he was a cocky berk, but he had an idea that she could use to her advantage. Sharks means were always questionable to Dove, she had many times wondered if she was as bad as him, or simply pretending to be. Now, she understood where this was going.
"Anarchists working with Harmonium, id never see the day untill now... you are a very unusual man Caine, what do you want out of this? Power? Conquest? You know my ideals hardly stand for that."
Caine shook his head, he replied only one word:
"Peace." It rung in her ears awkwardly. Strangley, everyone wanted peace, even Strader, peace had its promise and for a time it meant even the most unlikley groups could work together... for now.
Perhaps there was a brief, merit, to this agreement.
"Ill think about it and find some way to contact you... but know that after this, you wont see me on a radar again. I wont play risk, I wont be strapped with wires or play within your rules, I do this my way Caine, if I help you at all, its only for as long as your useful, remember that."
Caine smirked, holding his hand out.
"For as long as im useful, then."
Strader took it, begrudgingly shaking it.
Elsewhere however, Doctor Trevant facinated over the Stone of Utopia and looked at it omniously, this thing was too dangerous in the hands of any of the factions, even his own. It made his emotionless spine chill with excitement and that caused him to loathe it even more. Nothing, nothing in the muitiverse had ever given him that buzz, untill today.
They had to find out the origins of this device, what it was capable of, what it could do to endanger Sigil, how it was related to The Prolonger conspiracy, if it was at all. He had to have it all narrowed down and eliminated. This was begining to cause a ghastly headache.
Rubbing his forehead, he took a research book on Progenitor studies, he stopped when he saw a picture on of the pages. He noticed how the stone in the page was bright white with radiant azure blue cracks, looking at the stone infront of him, its contrasting colour made him experience the revalation he needed.
This device could have something to do with The Prolonger Investigation after all. He would inform Helena and the other Dustmen in time, but first, he had to consolodate his possition.
He contacted Factol Skall immediatley.
"Un-der the cir-cum-stance I would not have int-er-fered with your u-s-u-al affairs. How-ever, this item has been braught to my at-ten-sion, I thought you may take an in-ter-est in its uses." Trevant said with his usual bland yet monotonus voice to his commanding master.
Skall took a firm gaze upon the device through a phylactery, using it to project an image of itself.
"Yesss.... I sense great death in this device, something malevolant stirrs in it... there is much.... destruction... do not let anyone touch this thing untill I can investigate it.... personally." Skall replied with a rather empty, yet unnervingly intense voice. Skall never expressed much emotion, but when it did, there was always something more horrifying about it doing so, than when it didnt.
Doctor Trevant nodded, as the image faded away, he sighed, it was going to be a long day.
Elsewhere still, Anastaria had enough waiting. Against Terrance wishes, she had already managed to win the majoritive support of The Athar, they didnt care much for their arrogant leader anyway. Terrance had always been looked upon as a symbolic leader more than a charismatic one. His value was waning fast and younglings like Anastaria had always been more appealing to the masses. She heralded a great speech ready for the eager Athar army she had assembled.
"My brothers and sisters. The one True Divine is angered, The Great Unknown stirrs. The Heavens glow brighter than ever as we see the false gods are tremoring in their boots and hiding in their planes and primes. Those so called powers are afraid of us, now more than ever and they should be!"
The crowd roared with appeal, most Athar were either brainwashed youth or genuinley fanatic to the core, only a few had common sense to see that reckless god-bashing was no way to a long-term victory against the powers. However, those few were drowned by the many who wanted a more, direct approach.
"We have stood back and watched as the Shadowsworn march across Sigil unchallanged. A prime example of the incompitence of powers and their so called supremecy, even the lady herself hasnt shown her face. Though I do not doubt her capacity, I doubt her gumption! The Lady does not show herself because The Shadowsworn made her afraid! That, or she simply does not care! Why?! Because we are there to care for her!
We, are the force of reckoning, we are the divine hand, we can bring the very power of the divines from NOTHING. How can anyone question that? We are gods in our own right and because we are gods, no one is. Evidential proof that powers are a fraud!"
The roar of applaus continued, the Athar banners waved high from The Shattered temple today as she waved a hand to calm the crowd.
"But no crusade can begin without a promise. This will be a costly, but rewarding path to salvation my brothers, my sisters. Some of you may never see your families and friends again, but I promise you, that pain and agony is a lesser evil compaired to the ongoing tyrany of the powers reigning their blasphemous nonsense against us. No more! We will stand for it, no longer! We will have peace! We will have control! We! People of Sigil, are the only true GODS of this Multiverse and I say, GODS BOW, TO NO ONE!"
The scream of applaus reached its cricendo like music to her ears just as in contrast Terrance watched in sullen sorrow. How many of these poor sods were going to suffer from his pupils arrognace? Had he failed so much to notice? What could he do now...
He knew all too well that bad things, were going to happen.
And as the crowd roared in applaus, Anastria grinned in delight.
How many times had he heard that line before it finally came to an end. The Shaper, no more, vanished from existance forever.
The pillar of his goals and dreams now fell into the hands of the last surviving champion of his beliefs, The Grey Witch, the mysterious heroine who had traveled through time to protect friends and newcommers alike from the future that could be.
She understood now more than ever, her goal was to compleate his work. She had left them the warning, The Heart of Utopia, it must never be left in the hands of those seeking it.
But little did she realise that even the present had ways of cheating The Future, and even The Light in The Darkness, had means to be Vigiliant of such events, such setbacks.
Now the scene turns to Dove, Anarchist insurgent and rebel, freedom fighter and terrorist as she fled from the Harmonium. She had escaped their prison by pure fortune, Shark had decided to be merciful one last time, using influence within the ranks to escort her to a "more secure location." Dove never made it to the location she was due to arrive, an Anarchist ambush had taken care of the guards that held her captive.
Now she ran through the sewage works, somewhat loathing what she had done, why did she get involved in any of this? Why did she do the stupid thing?
Too late to look back...
She had to keep running, running form her history, her family, everything. Starting a new life, she'd done it before, Strader wasnt exactly unfamiliar with playing the game that was having a new face, infact, she was quite used to it. But who would she become this time she wondered?
Musing onwards, she rushed into the tunnel networks and kept going, she had to get out of here no matter what, first, escape, plan later.
"There!" A Harmonium guard cried, Curses! She turned to the nearest tunnel and leapt behind the wall as it became quickly illuminated by passing Harmonium Notaries running in droves. She printed herself firmly against the wall, waiting patiently untill they had gone. Then she moved out once more, sneaking between sewage ways to get back to the nearest hideout.
When she arrived, she turned to shut the door. As she did she noticed it had already been opened...
The room was a mess, everything inside had been stripped inside out, the alchemy equipment had been taken, the maps had been stolen and plans and contact details had been lost.
"Looking for these I suppose?" She swore inwardly as she turned to face the voice, it was a man, a Harmonium man, the infamously clever Killeen Caine, known to be a rather effective inquisitior, he did not dissapoint his reputation today.
Strader frowned, shutting the door with her backside while leaning against it, she folded her arms.
"How did you know?" She was genuine, how "did" he know?
"Intuition, magical insight, oh, friends in low places? I have my ways." Caine walked towards Strader and equally folded his arms, sighing. "How long are we going to pretend neither of us wants to see the other?"
"My home, you can leave if you dont like it." Even now, she could still grin, Caine didnt like it, his face remained serious.
"I know who you are, Strader, and I need you for a job." The words shocked her genuinley, Caine was no Anarchist in disguise, but how he even knew that left her confused and dumbstruck.
She was sceptic, she reached for her hand shiv defencivly but Caine was already a step ahead. A wand drawn, he sent a magic missle to her hand knocking it away, she had no choice... "Im listening..."
The reluctance in her voice annoyed her. Caine now looked amused, he put the wand away and picked up the weapon, testing its metal idly while chattering. "Neither of us are friends of Shark right now and given the circumstances your particular track record isnt looking up. Im proposing a two way coup, firstly you provide for the Harmonium information we need on Sharks cell, then you form a cell of your own to take out insurgents, you gain all the power and Shark takes a serious blow. Besides, we need spies and the best kind are the kind that we can spy on."
She was genuinley amused at Caines proposal, he was a cocky berk, but he had an idea that she could use to her advantage. Sharks means were always questionable to Dove, she had many times wondered if she was as bad as him, or simply pretending to be. Now, she understood where this was going.
"Anarchists working with Harmonium, id never see the day untill now... you are a very unusual man Caine, what do you want out of this? Power? Conquest? You know my ideals hardly stand for that."
Caine shook his head, he replied only one word:
"Peace." It rung in her ears awkwardly. Strangley, everyone wanted peace, even Strader, peace had its promise and for a time it meant even the most unlikley groups could work together... for now.
Perhaps there was a brief, merit, to this agreement.
"Ill think about it and find some way to contact you... but know that after this, you wont see me on a radar again. I wont play risk, I wont be strapped with wires or play within your rules, I do this my way Caine, if I help you at all, its only for as long as your useful, remember that."
Caine smirked, holding his hand out.
"For as long as im useful, then."
Strader took it, begrudgingly shaking it.
Elsewhere however, Doctor Trevant facinated over the Stone of Utopia and looked at it omniously, this thing was too dangerous in the hands of any of the factions, even his own. It made his emotionless spine chill with excitement and that caused him to loathe it even more. Nothing, nothing in the muitiverse had ever given him that buzz, untill today.
They had to find out the origins of this device, what it was capable of, what it could do to endanger Sigil, how it was related to The Prolonger conspiracy, if it was at all. He had to have it all narrowed down and eliminated. This was begining to cause a ghastly headache.
Rubbing his forehead, he took a research book on Progenitor studies, he stopped when he saw a picture on of the pages. He noticed how the stone in the page was bright white with radiant azure blue cracks, looking at the stone infront of him, its contrasting colour made him experience the revalation he needed.
This device could have something to do with The Prolonger Investigation after all. He would inform Helena and the other Dustmen in time, but first, he had to consolodate his possition.
He contacted Factol Skall immediatley.
"Un-der the cir-cum-stance I would not have int-er-fered with your u-s-u-al affairs. How-ever, this item has been braught to my at-ten-sion, I thought you may take an in-ter-est in its uses." Trevant said with his usual bland yet monotonus voice to his commanding master.
Skall took a firm gaze upon the device through a phylactery, using it to project an image of itself.
"Yesss.... I sense great death in this device, something malevolant stirrs in it... there is much.... destruction... do not let anyone touch this thing untill I can investigate it.... personally." Skall replied with a rather empty, yet unnervingly intense voice. Skall never expressed much emotion, but when it did, there was always something more horrifying about it doing so, than when it didnt.
Doctor Trevant nodded, as the image faded away, he sighed, it was going to be a long day.
Elsewhere still, Anastaria had enough waiting. Against Terrance wishes, she had already managed to win the majoritive support of The Athar, they didnt care much for their arrogant leader anyway. Terrance had always been looked upon as a symbolic leader more than a charismatic one. His value was waning fast and younglings like Anastaria had always been more appealing to the masses. She heralded a great speech ready for the eager Athar army she had assembled.
"My brothers and sisters. The one True Divine is angered, The Great Unknown stirrs. The Heavens glow brighter than ever as we see the false gods are tremoring in their boots and hiding in their planes and primes. Those so called powers are afraid of us, now more than ever and they should be!"
The crowd roared with appeal, most Athar were either brainwashed youth or genuinley fanatic to the core, only a few had common sense to see that reckless god-bashing was no way to a long-term victory against the powers. However, those few were drowned by the many who wanted a more, direct approach.
"We have stood back and watched as the Shadowsworn march across Sigil unchallanged. A prime example of the incompitence of powers and their so called supremecy, even the lady herself hasnt shown her face. Though I do not doubt her capacity, I doubt her gumption! The Lady does not show herself because The Shadowsworn made her afraid! That, or she simply does not care! Why?! Because we are there to care for her!
We, are the force of reckoning, we are the divine hand, we can bring the very power of the divines from NOTHING. How can anyone question that? We are gods in our own right and because we are gods, no one is. Evidential proof that powers are a fraud!"
The roar of applaus continued, the Athar banners waved high from The Shattered temple today as she waved a hand to calm the crowd.
"But no crusade can begin without a promise. This will be a costly, but rewarding path to salvation my brothers, my sisters. Some of you may never see your families and friends again, but I promise you, that pain and agony is a lesser evil compaired to the ongoing tyrany of the powers reigning their blasphemous nonsense against us. No more! We will stand for it, no longer! We will have peace! We will have control! We! People of Sigil, are the only true GODS of this Multiverse and I say, GODS BOW, TO NO ONE!"
The scream of applaus reached its cricendo like music to her ears just as in contrast Terrance watched in sullen sorrow. How many of these poor sods were going to suffer from his pupils arrognace? Had he failed so much to notice? What could he do now...
He knew all too well that bad things, were going to happen.
And as the crowd roared in applaus, Anastria grinned in delight.
-
*DM_Duke
- Posts: 125
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
Several months ago...
Anastaria cursed, Kain was injured, badly injured... and worse still, that insolent brat had run off with the Archive!
Things, had taken a turn for the worse.
The Athar priests dragged Kain off into a deeper layer of Mechanus, rather than returning directly home. Anastaria knew where to go, she would have to make sure he wouldnt be so 'fragile' next time.
Dragging Kain away, the Athar took him into a chamber of science in Mechanus, a lone dark place in the middle of the plane where the gears turned endlessly, he was strapped firmly to a slab.
"I refuse to let you die..." Anastaria said almost commanding him to live. She nodded to the others, as various Architect servitors arrived surrounding him.
"This will be a costly repair, mistress Anastaria... we do not have the means to replace his heart-"
Anastaria paused and grinned darkly, producing the stolen DNA from the subject known as Zilvai.
"Yes we do."
Over the next several months she would bide her time, the mechanists worked hard to preserve Kain in every way possible. Pumping various chemicals into his system, filling his figure with adrenaline, letting his mad little mind drift into the realm of madness he so eagerly enjoyed.
Anastaria would need something important before operations could begin, finally, that golden peice was finally in place.
Falsara had done her duty, retrieving the peices of the Vorare and Aearthe from Hildmor D'Kridis, excelent, finally, they could 'begin'.
"With respect... mistress..." One scientist hesitated. "We are unsure how stable these mysterious devices are, and we do not know what effects they will have on the subject..."
Anastria narrowed her eyes at the servant. "I do not care," she said in a harsh tone. "As long as he lives... as long as he can continue, there is nothing to fear..."
"But mistress, these tests show this material is highly unstable, it could have extreme consequences on his body-"
"DO WHAT MUST BE DONE, DO NOT QUESTION MY DECISION EVER AGAIN!"
The scientist nodded shakily, and the agonising tests began.
At first, the process would fail time and time again, combining the stones they just did not want to work. It frustrated Anastaria as they worked hard on various tests, using sacrifial rituals, dark pacts, everything!
Yet still... the essenses would not 'bind'.
They tried tearing open fragments of Kain's mortal coil, replacing it with steel and framework, yet still, the binding would not Hold.
Sweat fell from her face, as she carefully began using the sample of essense as a glue, forcefully binding the two materials into a glass steel frame, serving as a heart plug.
Finally, there was a tange of success with extremely unstable results.
Lightning sparked from the various contraptions being used to pump adrenaline into Kain, as the device was forcefully inserted into the gap where is heart had once been.
Lightning sparked violently through the flesh coil of Kain's mortal form, he would feel one of the most agonising experiences in his lifetime rushing through him as the very power of the essenses surged into his mortal coil.
Anastaria watched with sweat from her face, as she hoped to the Architects plan that he wasnt going to simply crumble apart in the process!
"Stability is at 30%, he wont make it!"
Her eyes flared with a red glow. "Keep going... he will live... anger fuels him, he cant die, he wont die... he has revenge, to forfill."
They nodded hesitantly, and the very gears of Mechanus began to halt for a moment, as the power required drained several peices of the planes very power. Modrons began to shutdown and go haywire as the sparks flew through Kain...
A bright black light would erupt from his figure, sending a mighty blast of negative and possitive energy soaring through the roof of the facility, shattering the very planar heavens.
The Sparks hissed... and with an unstable result, Kain was finally reborn.
"Welcome back friend..." She said with the coldest delight. "You've been gone a while."
Anastaria cursed, Kain was injured, badly injured... and worse still, that insolent brat had run off with the Archive!
Things, had taken a turn for the worse.
The Athar priests dragged Kain off into a deeper layer of Mechanus, rather than returning directly home. Anastaria knew where to go, she would have to make sure he wouldnt be so 'fragile' next time.
Dragging Kain away, the Athar took him into a chamber of science in Mechanus, a lone dark place in the middle of the plane where the gears turned endlessly, he was strapped firmly to a slab.
"I refuse to let you die..." Anastaria said almost commanding him to live. She nodded to the others, as various Architect servitors arrived surrounding him.
"This will be a costly repair, mistress Anastaria... we do not have the means to replace his heart-"
Anastaria paused and grinned darkly, producing the stolen DNA from the subject known as Zilvai.
"Yes we do."
Over the next several months she would bide her time, the mechanists worked hard to preserve Kain in every way possible. Pumping various chemicals into his system, filling his figure with adrenaline, letting his mad little mind drift into the realm of madness he so eagerly enjoyed.
Anastaria would need something important before operations could begin, finally, that golden peice was finally in place.
Falsara had done her duty, retrieving the peices of the Vorare and Aearthe from Hildmor D'Kridis, excelent, finally, they could 'begin'.
"With respect... mistress..." One scientist hesitated. "We are unsure how stable these mysterious devices are, and we do not know what effects they will have on the subject..."
Anastria narrowed her eyes at the servant. "I do not care," she said in a harsh tone. "As long as he lives... as long as he can continue, there is nothing to fear..."
"But mistress, these tests show this material is highly unstable, it could have extreme consequences on his body-"
"DO WHAT MUST BE DONE, DO NOT QUESTION MY DECISION EVER AGAIN!"
The scientist nodded shakily, and the agonising tests began.
At first, the process would fail time and time again, combining the stones they just did not want to work. It frustrated Anastaria as they worked hard on various tests, using sacrifial rituals, dark pacts, everything!
Yet still... the essenses would not 'bind'.
They tried tearing open fragments of Kain's mortal coil, replacing it with steel and framework, yet still, the binding would not Hold.
Sweat fell from her face, as she carefully began using the sample of essense as a glue, forcefully binding the two materials into a glass steel frame, serving as a heart plug.
Finally, there was a tange of success with extremely unstable results.
Lightning sparked from the various contraptions being used to pump adrenaline into Kain, as the device was forcefully inserted into the gap where is heart had once been.
Lightning sparked violently through the flesh coil of Kain's mortal form, he would feel one of the most agonising experiences in his lifetime rushing through him as the very power of the essenses surged into his mortal coil.
Anastaria watched with sweat from her face, as she hoped to the Architects plan that he wasnt going to simply crumble apart in the process!
"Stability is at 30%, he wont make it!"
Her eyes flared with a red glow. "Keep going... he will live... anger fuels him, he cant die, he wont die... he has revenge, to forfill."
They nodded hesitantly, and the very gears of Mechanus began to halt for a moment, as the power required drained several peices of the planes very power. Modrons began to shutdown and go haywire as the sparks flew through Kain...
A bright black light would erupt from his figure, sending a mighty blast of negative and possitive energy soaring through the roof of the facility, shattering the very planar heavens.
The Sparks hissed... and with an unstable result, Kain was finally reborn.
"Welcome back friend..." She said with the coldest delight. "You've been gone a while."