BBeast

Sanctuary

That's fine. Make sure you answer my PM while you're at it.

Sanctuary

I am waiting on a bit of information from Godfather via PM before I make my next post.

Dungeon Keepers

At least make a compendium post of Altearx some time, at least for the record of what it was before you conquer it.

Dungeon Keepers

DR_TRAPEZOID said
Speaking of adding huge chunks of lore, is anyone doing/has done anything with the volcanic island to the North-West of the tundra?

That island is currently a blank slate. Write with it as you please (with-in reason, of course).

Cyclone said
...
In any case, being so close to each other, I think it's getting to be about time that Calvartem and Shaige learn of one another's existence. Perhaps some of Shaige's minions chase a warband of Klug deserters out of the forest and into Calvartem's lands?

It is indeed time that something along those lines happened. I'm not sure how responsive Calvartem would be to a bunch of fleeing tribesmen (considering that he generally has a policy of kill first and don't bother asking questions at all when it comes to humans), but Conquest might be a different matter. We'll figure something out some way or another.

KabenSaal said
Would it be possible for Emily to, over time, become a Keeper in the Underworld? And then be the Under-Keeper?

That would be a terribly dreary place to be a Keeper, especially since Emily lacks the magic to leave the Underworld herself.

DR_TRAPEZOID said
As I brainstorm endless possibilities for my next few posts with Viktor, I'm wondering if, since Viktor has had no relations or interactions with the other Keepers, he could be assumed to be years, or possibly centuries before the others? ...

As Lugubrious explained, no. The Keepers all arrived in a single event, set in the recent past (from now. It was the present at the start of this RP).

@Lugubrious, that's how to make an entrance. I guessed Avak might show up.

Dungeon Keepers

KabenSaal said
Can Rogue Beings become Dungeon Keepers?

We've never considered such a thing before. On one hand, Rogue Beings operate quite differently to Keepers, in the fact that Keepers wield the innate power to control a Dungeon and create minions while Rogue Beings have no such power. On the other hand, there's no specific rule against it. It would just be very difficult to bring about the required shift.

Additionally, in my opinion, Emily as a Rogue Being would be stretched to have the power to create a small sun, teleport, summon and command an entire storm, open up a massive pit in the earth and make enough explosive force to blast apart solid stone all in one battle. She's only a Rogue Being. Such feats would be draining even on a Keeper, even if they had the physical strength of a water balloon. By throwing around that much energy, Emily's bound to be feeling very drained.

Dungeon Keepers

This battle is brilliant, by the way.

I would say that summoning a small Sun is unusually powerful for a Rogue Being, but I suppose it doesn't take too much energy to shed ample light on an otherwise dark, light-less village.

Dungeon Keepers

Calvartem seemed satisfied with Conquest's response. "Then we are in accord." He turned to the artefact. "I accept your offer, Ripper." Then he raised his staff and commanded, "Breaker, put this artefact into my Heart." The shadowy orb on his staff dissipated, and a few moments later bodies which had been lying around slid along the ground until they met together and merged. Flesh and sinew twisted and morphed until the hulking form of the Breaker stood in the road. Its gargantuan hand closed around the Catalyst, lifted it from the ground with ease, passed through the hole in the Heart and dropped it to the floor. The palm of Breaker's hand appeared as though it had suffered major burns, but being undead this did not concern it and being so massive the short exposure did nothing more than surface damage. The aura of the Catalyst flared slightly as it was placed in the crypt, where it was able to tap into the Heart's energy.

The job done, Calvartem tapped his staff on the ground and Breaker's frankesteinian form unravelled into a pile of flesh and bone as its spirit returned to the Necromancer's staff. Calvartem mounted Shadowmane once more in preparation to go. Before departing, he ordered his imps, "I need the Heart repaired and reinforced, somewhere proper to store the Ripper's artefact, and defensive ditches around the town." He then nodded to Conquest before galloping off at full speed towards the east. It did not concern him if Conquest could not keep up, for he would need time to gather the undead from the surrounds of the town. If he could keep up with Shadowmane, though, then he'd be able to make a more aggressive start.

---

Zadok had little time to orient himself if he wanted to track the falling red meteors. He made a brief mental note of the general directions of the other meteors and picked one at random, following it to the southern end of the continent. As he approached the landing site he was able to see that it had landed within a large port city. A little closer and he could see that it had landed in the courtyard of a temple of some kind. Some people, probably servants, who had been nearby came to inspect it, but they moved aside when a man garbed in flamboyant robes and trailed by 6 attendants emerged from the temple. With his keen vision, Zadok could see the scene clearly before he was close enough to become conspicuous. The meteorite, which was in this case smaller than a basketball, lay on the ground glowing with its conspicuous red aura. The robed man leaned in to inspect the curious object, then reached down to pick it up but withdrew his hand in pain the moment he touched it. Then Zadok could see a shift in the body language of the audience. Some looked around, trying to see something that wasn't there. Others peered closer to the stone. All of them had a moment of surprise. As Zadok drew closer, he found that the cause of this was a presence speaking aloud telepathically, and he immediately recognised it as the Ripper. Zadok descended faster.

The disjointed voices of the Ripper gradually became clearer to hear in Zadok's head as he neared the Catalyst. ...there are many enemies to your city emerging. Powerful beings leading monstrous armies. Grant me a share of this city's magic, and I shall grant you the power to obliterate anyone who dares to challenge the might of your grand city.

The robed man appeared intrigued by the offer. The high priest seemed ready to reply when Zadok gently touched down behind him and his entourage and interjected, I would not deal with that being.

On hearing the commanding voice from behind him, the high priest, surprised, turned around. He was even more surprised on seeing the dazzling angel standing on the ground where there had before been none. "And who are you?"

I am Zadok, and my purpose is to protect you and the rest of Elysium from the destruction that will be wrought if that being gets its way.

The Ripper hurled curses at the Anti-Keeper, but Zadok ignored them. This being, the Ripper, is the cause of the Source's corruption. The Ripper does not want you safe. It only wants the destruction of this entire world, and is willing to manipulate and deceive to gain the power to achieve such ends.

He lies! He just wants all the power for himself, to leave you vulnerable.

Zadok stretched out a hand to the Catalyst and a beam of pure white light struck the stone. It appeared unaffected. Silence! When you touched this meteorite it dealt harm to you, and harm is all it can give. I, on the other hand, can heal, protect, care. Zadok stepped forwards and, before the high priest could pull back, he touched his hand, covering it in holy light for a moment and the injury sustained from touching the Catalyst was healed. Surprised, the high priest inspected his hand and seemed pleased. Allow me to rid you of this disgusting artefact before it can cause any more harm.

The high priest was still rather lost for words, somewhat overwhelmed by the encounter. Eventually, he regained enough composure to respond. "Yes, it is wrong to make deals with malevolent spirits."

Zadok nodded. I shall do my best to keep this land safe. The Ripper cursed at him further as he approached the Catalyst, but they were too distant for the Ripper to force his way into Zadok's mind so Zadok blocked out the Ripper's voice completely. He sheathed his hand and forearm in a coat of brilliant white light before he picked up the stone. Its aura grew more fierce as it attempted to fight Zadok's interference, but the glove of light shielded him from its effects. In the blink of an eye he took off, bolting upwards over the bay, and in the arc of his flight he threw the Catalyst with all his might. He came to a stop mid-air and watched the diminishing speck of red fly out into the ocean until it splashed down in the distance. He considered that Catalyst, for most purposes at least, disposed of. Now to report to the Carver.

The Ripper has hatched some sort of plan with its corrupted meteorites. From what I've observed, they act as a conduit for the Ripper. He claims to be able to absorb power through them and, in turn, grant power to anyone who allows him to have such power to absorb. A lot of those meteorites fell to Elysium, which likely means just as many opportunities for the Ripper to siphon off extra power. At the same time Zadok also allowed the Carver access to his memories of the encounter with the Destruction Catalyst, in case the Carver could make further interpretations.

Sanctuary

For myself, it is winter in this part of the world, in the middle of school. IC posting may be infrequent on my part because of that for the next few months.

Dungeon Keepers

I am fortunate to have good co-GMs to help run this RP and keep it going when I'm too busy to dedicate much time. Thank you, Cyclone and Lugubrious.

And I thank you, Gecko and KabenSaal, for making an appearance here. We needed a little boost.

This state of me posting infrequently is likely to continue, to varying degrees, for several months, depending on my study load. I will try to keep up as much as possible, and I won't be gone. I just may make IC posts only infrequently.

Sanctuary

Zachary ascended the stairwell of the building, the light from outside sufficient for navigation thanks in part to natural lighting considerations by the designers of this office building. He was nervous as he climbed, though, always worried that he might be encroaching on somebody else's territory and he would not be in any way welcome. Despite the creeping paranoia, Zachary made it to the rooftop of the building without seeing anyone. Once out in the open Zachary found that he had to make the effort to calm himself down and suppress the fight-or-flight sensation. He breathed deeply and took in the panoramic view that his present position offered him to calm himself down. He was not by nature particularly prone to exploring, so he hadn't climbed to the top of tall buildings as nearly often as some other people had in the past year, so this view still held some majesty for him. Despite the desolation, the skyline of Sovereign was still grand, no longer clean and pristine and shiny, but grandeur remained, just as great ruins of ancient civilisations have grandeur. Marring the view was the Wall, encasing him on all sides and preventing the sky, the horizon, the fields beyond, from being seen and serving as a constant reminder of the military grip over the city. The skyways, although normally ignored, formed streaks of light which seemed out of place in the greying husk of the capitol, a taunting reminder of how advanced the city had been just over a year ago.

Now able to focus Zachary proceeded to search the rooftop. He quickly spotted the large metal box with gratings which must have been the office's ventilation and air conditioning system. At a touch he was able to identify after a few seconds that a wind core was still present, still charged, and he could see where it was too. The access panel was locked, but that only slowed him down for the few seconds it took to read the lock in his mind and shift the tumblers aside. Once open, he was able to reach in through the metalwork, prise open the core casing and remove the wind core. It was quite large, but it had to be in order to pump air through an entire multi-storey building.

Closing the panel, Zachary was feeling satisfied with how easily he had made this find when he turned to go and saw a man pointing a shotgun at him standing where he had come from. The man seemed to be in his late forties, with signs of age beginning to show in his copper hair and and fair skin, he had a beard and a balding head. Most importantly, he did not seem particularly welcoming of Zachary's presence. The man's appearance startled Zachary, causing him to step back, and he also put his hands up, still holding the wind core in one of them.

Already Kaa'is was going through a battle plan. He's got a simple fire-core powered shotgun, made mostly of metal. Just a flick and we'll have him disarmed. We can barge our way past with the wind cannon and iron knuckles. Even if he fires, that shot is probably metal so our force plus the kinetic shield should be enough to prevent actual damage. Zachary was about to follow through, readying his power, when he stopped himself. This was not how they normally handled such encounters.

Zachary steadied himself as much as he could and said, "I don't mean any harm." The man did not move, his gaze as steely and aim as steady as before, but at least he hadn't fired, so Zachary continued, gradually growing in confidence as Kaa'is and his body caught up with the idea that he wouldn't be fighting. "I just came here to collect this wind core here, see? If you were using it I can put it back, but it seemed to be abandoned. I didn't know you were here. I don't mean to pose any threat."

Zachary paused to allow the man to respond. To his relief the man lowered the gun slightly and asked, "What do you want that core for?"

"I'm an engineer. I wanted this core to..." he hesitated. It came to mind that perhaps, by some chance, working for Winters and building a sonic weapon could be quite a dangerous answer. Kaa'is quickly jumped in on his train of thought and provided a simple, realistic lie. "...to recharge my wind cannon. I made it myself." He gestured to the wind cannon, the piece of metal piping, sticking out of his backpack.

The man grunted and lowered his gun more. "Since you're done here I'll make sure you get out."

Zachary, further relieved, nodded, put the wind core in his backpack and walked down the stairs with the man following behind him, still armed. The break the silence as they descended the flights of stairs Zachary attempted to strike up some conversation. "My name's Zachary, by the way."

"Thomas," said the man.

"So, is it just you here, or do you have a family or clan as well?"

After a short pause, Thomas replied, "Both. How about you?"

"I've been mostly independent."

"It's going to be dangerous on your own."

"Isn't it always?"

"Especially so soon." Thomas gestured out a nearby window down to the empty street below. "Ever since that announcement the streets have grown emptier, not fuller as such a rouse might do."

Zachary furrowed his brow. "Why do you think that's so?"

"Part of it would be fear. The military now patrol more aggressively, especially up in this District, so small bands are at risk out on the streets. Even if we wanted to fight to break out, we'd be too weak individually."

"So safety in numbers. In order to make a successful break-out, there'd need to be someone to co-ordinate the attack, someone to give the signal for everyone to emerge from hiding and strike. But who?"

"A lot of people and gangs have gone to the Golden Mercenaries, which is the other reason for the empty streets. They're the guys behind the announcement. They're grouping together an army in their not-so-secret base, and they have the timing."

This gave Zachary some food for thought. "I hope they understand what they're up against."

Thomas was grave. "The cost will be dear. But it already has been." They finally reached the ground floor. "Here's the exit. Take care on those streets."

Zachary waved him goodbye. "Thank you, Thomas. Take care as well." Then Zachary left to return to his carriage. He had all three components he needed now, so he just had to get them back to the Winters estate and put them together into a functional device.