BBeast

Dungeon Keepers (This one's done. Go to The Horde of Evil instead)

The room was two stories tall and 15 meters deep. Sunlight entered the room by a system of frosted glass and skylights, lighting the room without having it on the vulnerable outside walls. The walls of stone and marble were polished, reflecting the already diffuse light around the room and banishing any shadows. Bands of concrete, made from hard-earned cement from the Ashmarch, ran up the walls and along the ceiling, reinforcing the structure, and were covered in carvings of well-managed towns and victorious Cypriot armies. Gemstones such as sapphire, ruby and emerald were inlaid along the length of the room, adding colour to the walls. The path down the center was paved with gorenston, coming from a door of solid oak with a steel frame and leading to a throne on a raised platform. The throne was plated with gold, except where it was cushioned with red silk pillows for comfortable sitting. Behind the throne in the back wall were two ordinary-sized doors, leading to rear rooms. Lined along the hall were stood suits of ornate armour with weapons.

This was the throne room of Reginaldus the Fifth, King of the Cypriots, safely nestled in the heart of the grand palace in Amplus. Inside sat King Reginaldus on his throne, and before him were a number of assorted noblemen bowed on one knee, and a servant with a table on wheels with food and drink stood bowed behind them. Reginaldus the Fifth was a slightly plump man of middle age dressed in a robe of red and gold. A light crown sat upon his head, gold plated with a few small gems, although he owned a much more ornate crown for ceremonies. His white-skinned face bore a well-kept brown beard and his head had short brown hair which was starting to bald. His eyes, however, sparked with wisdom, age and cunning.

The nobles and the servant rose. At a wave of the King's hand, the servant turned to depart, leaving the table behind. Then Reginaldus stood and said to the nobles, "Let us get down to business."

He descended to them and they arranged themselves in a circle around the table. They picked up some meat to eat before Reginaldus spoke. "Mervin," he said to an elderly man with a long white beard, purple robes and a pointy hat, who was the Arch-Chancellor of Magic, "A young apprentice wizard by the name of Felix has caught my attention, of the Drayling district. He is a promising student, but he harbours feelings of ambition. Ensure that he is nurtured and kept on the right path and that his attention is directed properly." Mervin nodded sagely and replied, "Yes, your highness."

Reginaldus turned to a burly man in military attire, with a sword by his side, who was the Commander-In-Chief. "Commander Alfred, the Hoiflimton district, near the Ashmarch, could do with extra presence of patrols. I fear they are feeling uneasy, and could do with reassurance that they are safe." "Of course, your majesty," replied Alfred.

Then he focused on a strictly dressed man with a rather pointed face, who was the Chief Legal Officer. "Theophilus, there is a property dispute in the Glemery district. I believe it would be best if the verdict fell in favour of the Markos family." "Understood, your highness."

Finally Reginaldus turned to another man, short in stature and bespectacled, who was the Chief Manager of Supply. "Franklin, the price of food is climbing in the Jedburgh district, which is starting to become a concern for the residents. Rectify that problem." Franklin nodded, "Will do, my lord."

Reginaldus scanned around the rest of the nobles of his High Court. "Was there anything which any of you had to report or ask?" he asked. Heads were shaken and variations on "No, your majesty" came from the group. "Good. That is all for this week's meeting. You are dismissed." The group turned and exited out the main door. The servant reentered and took the table away. Then, once the room was empty, Reginaldus turned around and returned to his throne.

Sanctuary

Collab with BBeast and Sage

Zachary looked in mild surprise at his hands when Ishigo mentioned the strange cores. He had almost forgotten that he was still holding a trap core. He promptly twisted around and shoved it into the depths of his backpack. "There, nobody should ask about it now." They continued on into the town.

---

The market district of Kell was compact and rather small in its layout. However, it was efficient and it allowed for the perfect amount of traffic to flow through the many shops that lined its circumference. The shape of the district was circular, with a large flea-market set up in the very center. There, street vendors, booths, fruit stands, and other small wares were sold in a very live and comfortable environment, all surounding a large fountain and central park. The border of this flea market was a circular path that stretched for a mile around. Along this path were small buildings resembling townhouses that were narrow, but tall. Inside, specific wares and items could be found, all stored in the floors above the respective store. The stores were connected around the circular border, leaving a space for a road every six or seven buildings. A total of thirty six buildings - and seven roads connecting to the district - created the circular market district.

Ishigo and Zachary had just emerged from the busy road leading to the district from the east side of kell. Ishigo was somewhat surprised by the sheer activity of the district: it was rather sporadic for such a small city. However, he realized that maybe Kell was like many other small Gaian cities; what they lacked in size, they made up for in resource and population.

Zachary looked around, searching for particular shops and orienting himself. "Our first stop is a shuttle shop. There should be one around here somewhere." Ishigo nodded in agreement and then reached for his holopad which was stored in a case that attached to his belt. It had been a long time since he had the leisure of using the device given to him by Hector, and he was surprised it still functioned. "Hmm..." Ishigo looked around as he waited for his holopad to update its software, as it had seen nearly a year of inactivity. Once it completed, he opened a browser and accessed a database of Kell's shops. "There's a registration office nearby; they sell carriages and shuttles, but not directly from their little building. Might as well give it a shot," he said before showing the directory's information on a "Flyby's Transport Co."

Zachary's mouth turned to a slight frown. "What we really need is a mechanic, or a shuttle stop. This place seems active enough to have facilities to cater for passing shuttles." He then shrugged, "But I suppose we could ask them." Ishigo looked back at the page on his holopad and nodded. "If anything, they'll be able to lead us to where we could find such a place."

---

Flyby's Transport. It was a small business that specialized in providing civillians access to their own carriages and shuttles, if they had the finances for such luxuries. The shop was rather plain, besides a handful of models that depicted the type of vehicles that were sold. Behind a small front desk, a lone man rested on a chair, reading some sort of novel. Ishigo opened the door and noticed the man look up as the store let out a soft jingle to alert him of a new customer arriving. "Ah, welcome!" he said as he set down his book, clicked a few keys on a desktop computer, and walked from behind his desk to the center of the shop. "My name is Felix, how can I help you fine gentlemen?" Ishigo took a moment to eye the man. He seemed to be in his fifties or sixties, with a balding head of white hair and a frail, thin body. He looked at the two behind large glasses, but his face lit up in a warm smile that comforted Ishigo; he had bad experiences with schemers in market districts of Sovereign.

Zachary spoke up, his voice confident as he had rehearsed this line in his head and, as was common, Kaa'is was working behind the scenes to make sure he maintained the right tone. "We were looking for somewhere to top up the cores in our shuttle." The man nodded, his brow wrinkling as he thought to himself. "Ah, yes, yes, I see. Well... hm... You aren't looking to upgrade your shuttle to one of our fine selections, then? We have tremendous sales, as it is!" Ishigo shook his head, "We just needed some cores, really. No new shuttle." The man nodded and looked to the side, "Well... Why not try Pitstop? It's right near the main gates, and it has one of the cheapest prices out of any shuttle stop you'll find nearby."

Ishigo hesitated. He couldn't exactly answer that, but he knew that Pitstop, as well as many other shuttlestops, kept records of shuttles that went through them. It was a government policy to regulate shuttle traffic and records in the case of accidents, theft, and what not. As it was, their group was using a makeshift shuttle with a removed military tag. It would not bode well for them at all. Zachary hesitated for a moment too, for he was also aware of this, but his hesitation was to formulate the correct words. "Do they sell spare cores?" The man raised a brow, "You mean like personal fuel packs? I'm not sure... The store was originally run by a military reserve who got called to take care of those monsters that broke out of Sovereign, so the actual shop might not be open, but the station itself is. If not, you could always try a Core vendor."

At mention of the Sovereign breakout, Zachary maintained his poker face, with Kaa'is helpfully keeping any hints of adverse reaction under control. "Thank you for your help, Felix. I'm sure we'll find something. Have a nice day."

Ishigo nodded at the man and turned back to leave the shop. Once the two were outside, he pulled up his holopad once more and began browsing while speaking to Zachary in a low tone. "We're going to have to watch what we say. I should probably look up some news to make sure we seem somewhat knowledgable about things out here. But what do you say? Core vendors?"

"I'd rather try my luck with the station. Vendors don't normally stock enough kinetic cores off the shelf," Zachary replied. "We'll be on foot, so we can always turn around if there's nothing there for us." Ishigo nodded, "You're right." He then searched for the quickest route to the Pitstop station, memorized it, and put his holopad away. The two began walking, and after leaving the busier roads of the central market district, Ishigo spoke once again. "Zachary... how are you holding up?" he asked. He knew that there was a lot to hide during their current venture: emotions, identity, and intentions among other things. Ishigo often found himself underestimating the toll that everything might have taken on his group. There was a moment's pause, as Zachary considered the question. In truth, he was a bit of a wreck. He was haunted by the actions brought about by his unnatural addiction. He was in a world of uncertainty and danger. He was worried about how long until withdrawl would return. He was holding for now, but he knew not how long.

"I'm a little nervous that we're not in the clear yet, but I'm going alright," he replied, Kaa'is concealing the truth that lay beneath his expression.

Ishigo nodded and looked forward. "I understand. Don't worry about what Felix said. These people are going to need time before they can accept the reality that is thrown at them. It may seem unfair, since the brunt of the reality was forced into our souls, quite literally. But in the end, our actions and our will is what makes us just as human as the rest of them." Ishigo looked to Zachary, "You're taking a big risk by allowing all of us to come with you, but at the same time, I promise to have your back. Sometimes even the best of us need some support, right?" Ishigo said with a smile. Zachary returned the smile. "Thanks."

Sanctuary

Zachary obediently brought the shuttle down where Ishigo had indicated, landed it and shut off the engines. He listened in to the plan of action, then he readied himself for departure. He took stock of what he had- One suit of Vanguard armour, with sword and shield; his wind cannon; the plasma rifle; the rugged backpack; his improvised toolkit; two 'iron knuckles' still in his jacket pockets; a water bottle; the engineering reference book (he had considered returning it to Leo the Librarian, but he figured that he was the only one in Sovereign capable of using it and that he would need it later); the kinetic shield projector hidden under his jacket; a few toiletries; whatever scrap and knickknacks were in his two trap cores; and, significantly at this point of time, the briefcase containing the payment from Matthias Winters. After a moment's thought, he heaped the armour and weapons together and then, in a flash of red light and pop of rushing air, he sent the contents of the pile into a trap core.

Zachary then took a moment to observe his own appearance in a small mirror he had grouped with his toiletries. If he was going out into public, he needed to not look like he had spent the past year in a wasteland and had just come out of a fight. But as inspection confirmed, his regular hygiene habits throughout the past year had ensured that he wasn't an utter mess, so he simply took a facecloth, applied some water to it from his bottle, and cleaned his face of the sweat and grime it had gained during their escape, and then brushed down his hair with a hairbrush. Helping with appearances was that his jacket was mostly new.

Finally, he took the briefcase, opened it discretely, counted out two stacks of cash and put them in his pockets, then closed the briefcase and put it safely at the bottom of his backpack. Checking that the rest of his stuff was still inside his bag, he stood up and hoisted the backpack onto his shoulders. From the cockpit, he grabbed a key and handed it to Raeven. "This is the key to the shuttle. You can use it to lock and unlock the doors from the outside." He then nodded to Ishigo. "I'm ready to go now."

As they left the shuttle and started walking towards Kell, Zachary said, "I've run the figures in my head, and I know how many cores we'll need to get to Vantus, as well as how much that will cost. I can buy that many, plus food and whatnot, and then we won't have to stop at any more towns along the way, making us harder to track."

Sanctuary

Once in the hosts the Kages can not interact with each other directly, at least as far as I've seen. For two Kages to know each other, either they would have had to have known each other before the Void Gate opening, or they communicate via their hosts (as normal people do).
EDIT: Sage beat me to it.

Dungeon Keepers (This one's done. Go to The Horde of Evil instead)

I didn't have any personal characters planned. Instead, I'll be focusing on the NPCs (at least, as far as they can be called that), especially Reginaldus, and the world.

Sanctuary

I'm fine with the power. Momentum manipulation sounds likes a reasonable enough explanation. I just had an issue with the proposed electron explanation.

By describing the power as momentum manipulation, you avoid sounding like Blake's power. In reality, momentum and kinetic energy are very difficult to relate, because different frames of reference will produce wildly different values for kinetic energy. Simply reducing mention of kinetic energy and replacing it with momentum where appropriate solves the problem with a minimum of modification.


RE: Ishigo, what you've done there is introduce a strange kind of matter/energy/magic/"celestial element", which interacts with photons. Slowing down photons is a common phenomena. The air itself does it, as does any transparent matter. Of course, to create a shadow, you need to actually stop the photons, either by absorbing them or capturing them. You could trap them, and then turn them into photon molecules. Those are actually a thing. We don't know much about them, and they aren't very big yet, but considering that you are using magic that could form the basis of your physical shadows. But yeah, still pseudoscientific technobabble. Although not quite as ridiculous as the kinetic cores which "captures the unknown energies that are created when an electron simply moves". Electrons don't mystically move on their own. They exist as a probabilistic quantum wave-function over an area of space (typically, an orbital of their resident atom), or they've been pushed by outside means.

Not that I should be expecting scientific realism here. This is fantasy, not hard sci-fi.

Sanctuary

Gee, can't we just say 'super-speed' or something and cut the pseudoscience technobabble? I'd rather 'magic' than some attempt to reduce movement to electrons. "Electron/electromagnetic flow/alteration" would result in electricity manipulation, and maybe the ability to move conductors.

But yeah, that felt nothing like the Void Gate opening. You've got massive earthquakes, floods through the streets, lightning, a huge flash of blinding light, and the Wall coming up. What are people still doing in that cafe after the Kages have been released? But in my opinion the character seems good, but my opinion isn't the one which counts here.

Dungeon Keepers (This one's done. Go to The Horde of Evil instead)

That is some nightmare stuff right there. Good going.

Sanctuary

I'm going to have put Zachary on the safe list, for now anyway. Aside from being my only character and me having no others in the works, I still have more... development to be done.

Dungeon Keepers (This one's done. Go to The Horde of Evil instead)

Duthguy, Sure, that's okay. Let's see how good your balanced resourceful Keeper goes.

Trapezoid, That's good too. I've never, in all my time, seen a Keeper quite like that, and with any luck you'll be able to pull it off.

Lugubrious, I like this one too. I suspect that this is a strength-focused Keeper, yes?

0011001, Sounds like a good start for a quintessential Keeper. A quirky, dangerous personality.