Bright_Ops

The Key of Twilight (Kingdom Hearts AU)

@Double@Stylobilly@Spectral@Wayward

"If the... quote on quote 'training method' you were employing with Vivi was any indication, he managed to qualify in spite of you, not because of you." Droka stated bluntly as he turned towards Seifer for a moment. Taking a second to check the time of day, Droka took a deep breath before he took a gamble to show just how serious his words were. The way he was standing, the sun was behind him and there was a building between the two of them, but his hand still shook slightly as he reached up and pulled his tainted glasses down to expose his bare eyes to the bully... even if he needed to squint them due to how bright the world around him was.

His heart started to beat quicker, his breathing started to get deeper and faster while his skin felt like bugs were darting across it as panic started to take hold. Anyone seeing him would easily be able to recognize that he was terrified and clearly fighting the urge just to put the glasses back on... and all those present would easily know why; If the glare of the sun bounced off the wrong thing at this moment, Droka's world would be nothing but pain and he would fall to the world screaming in agony. The fact that he took off his glasses was akin to someone lighting a bunsen burner during science class and then starting to lower their bare hand closer and closer to the flame.

And yet... his sickly, almost inhuman looking gaze was locked on Seifer. "'Sink or Swim' teaching methods are stupid. Either you're expecting Vivi to suddenly be a fighter on your level instinctively, or you're going to be spending all your time 'training' him beating him into the ground to boost your own ego. Either train Vivi how to fight properly, or don't do it at all. Understood?"

He wanted to put the glasses back on. He wanted to stop being an idiot and just put the glasses back on before it was too late but... he needed Seifer to acknowledge his point first. This had become a very painful game of chicken; Seifer had nothing to lose because if the worst happened, everyone here would be able to honestly say that Droka took off his own glasses and thus whatever happened was self inflicted... but he would have to watch Droka crying, screaming and squirming on the ground in pain, alongside everyone else at Sandlot...

Droka really hoped that the phantom pain of his eyes burning wasn't an ill omen for things to come. He had just wanted to get some shopping done and go home where it was nice and dark. Why did he have to freaking care about a friend who had left him behind for this jerk and his jerky cheersquad?!

LoZ: Age of Darkness (Closed & Moved to New Int Check)

The marble floor of the castle's royal quarters caused the echo of heavy, metal clad feet to echo through the halls. The odd piece of rug or carpeting served to muffle the echo as Grindan and his silent companion strolled over them, but alongside the desire to give a pleasing appearance, the choice of flooring had been selected with a very clear intention in mind; To make stealth as difficult as possible. Since they had no intention of being stealthy, this was not the obstruction that it might have been under other circumstances.

When he finally turned the corner of a hallway and found himself looking at the royal quarters/bedchamber, the noise had been enough to alert the two solders on guard duty of said part of the castle that someone or something was coming and that they needed to look alert and act like they had been doing their job the whole time. Guard duty was might have been important, but it was also the most boring damn job anyone could be given. Even more so when you were tasked with guarding a room inside of a castle that was well defended and manned by other solders further out. This was not the kind of job that was given to the elite or veteran solders because they could be more useful elsewhere. Thus, the actual duty tended to be given two one of two types of people.

As the two men stood at attention, the one on the left side of the doors started to pale as he looked over the executioner's blood splattered form, betraying his youth and inexperience. The other wasn't phased in the slightest. A rookie and an idiot... not the best combination to have gotten.

"Rebels loyal to the enemy attempted an assault on the war room. The King is fine, but more guards are needed to man the war room. We've been ordered to take your place for the time being." Grindan explained quickly, cutting off such questions as 'Why are you here?' and 'Why are you covered in blood?'. The rookie offered a quick salute towards him as he turned to start walking towards the war room because the first thing that the rookies were taught was that they were at the bottom of the ladder and thus everyone outranked them, but the idiot remained exactly where was he was... which caused the rookie to look back and pause in confusion.

"May I see the order?"

"...Really? You want me to trudge all the way back to the war room and ask the King, who's already busy dealing with a revolt at this moment I must remind you, ask him for a moment of his valuable time to write down an order on a piece of paper, telling you exactly what I just told you ten seconds ago?"

"...It's procedure."

This was why idiots tended to end up on guard duty; Most minds would struggle when it comes to staying aware and alert for long periods of time in an environment where for something interesting or dangerous to happen a lot of things would have to have gone wrong elsewhere, but idiots tended to be so small minded that things boredom and imagination never entered their heads. What made idiots great at being guards was the fact that while they were small minded, the things they could understand they took deathly seriously. For them, there were two lists of people: Those with permission to enter the area they were guarding on one list and those with the authority to give them orders on the other. If your name wasn't on either list, talking to a wall would be more productive.

The Royal Executioner was on neither list.

Grindan turned his head to look at his companion for a moment... before he sighed and turned back to the idiot of a guard standing in his way. Without warning, he lashed out with an armored fist, backhanding the fool in the side of the head with enough force and the element of surprise to knock the man prone in a crash of metal on marble. His axe quickly being found by his hands, the irritation that had been building up blinded him to the sounds of swords being drawn and the horrified rookie finding himself faced with his first and last real fight as the axe was brought down again and again and again. At one point he had to plant a foot on the body... corpse?... in order to give himself enough leverage to yank the axe blade out of the chest plate it had gotten stuck in, but another swing soon followed just to make sure.

His temper satisfied as his weapon and armor was now coated in blood rather then just splattered with droplets, Grindan turned to his undead follower and ordered "Guard the door." before planting his shoulder against the door of the royal quarters and forcing it open to the sound of the screams of panic and fear of the Queen, some of her servants and at least one of her handmaidens.

As the red rage of years of a variety of insults and jokes at his expense started to descend, Grindan shifted his grasp on his axe as he stood forward with the certainty and purpose of death itself.

LoZ: Age of Darkness (Closed & Moved to New Int Check)

The sound of drums that had been silent for years roared loudly enough that even as he stalked to hallways of the palace with his false knight following him, Grindan could hear them. As they passed by a window pointing towards Castle Town, Grindan turned his head and paused long enough to look over the smoke and carnage to see what the drums had already told him; A large cloud of dust was being kicked up outside of the walls. The goron had arrived and they had arrived in numbers.

The former King likely would have been greatly relieved to discover that his information on the current status of the goron had been incorrect, but Grindan couldn't make a judgement call on the state of the goron forces about to join the fight solely from the dust cloud they had kicked up. Ganondorf had informed him that the Goron had been cut off from their food supplies and had been forced into a state of famine. They might have overcome the dangers that had blocked them off from their food in a timely manner and be in the process of recovery, but this also could be the final charge by a doomed people seeking a quick death on the battlefield rather then to slowly waste and rot away to starvation and plague.

Regardless, the goron were not currently his problem. Turning away from the window, he increased his pace to make up for lost time and locate the Queen as soon as possible. A small part of him couldn't help but take a dark sense of amusement from the fact that as he passed by the odd person in the halls, the fact that his armor was splattered with fresh blood while the axe he carried was still dripping with the stuff wasn't a cause of alarm once they recognized who he was. It wasn't like this was the first time he had been seen in such a manner after all. Even if his own dark reputation hadn't proceeded him there were a few additional facts in his favor. There was a battle actively being fought for starters and he was dressed for battle in kind. The fact that he was traveling with an armored knight (all be it a lesser one without heraldry on his shield) who was also splattered in blood suggested that they had seen combat which... to be fair was true.

The lack of foot traffic in this part of the castle did help him avoid having to answer the awkward question of why two warriors who had clearly seen combat already was heading towards the royal living area. Sure there were plenty of lies he could offer that would sound convincing and send them on their way if he didn't just decide to cut them down where they stood, but the interruption would still have been a hassle.

He needed to find the Queen and fast... if for no other reason then so he could hunt down Princess Zelda and find some relief from the his concerns that the Stalfos he had sent to do the task of either bringing her to heel or killing her had not been up to the task. Yes, Impa was a formidable foe and fiercely protective of the young Princess, but they should have had the element of surprise and as he had proven earlier, the traitor's hand struck with the might of a legion.

It was a problem to be concerned with later. Right now he had a Queen to find.

LoZ: Age of Darkness (Closed & Moved to New Int Check)

@Dark Cloud

Plus it gives Sheik something to do.

LoZ: Age of Darkness (Closed & Moved to New Int Check)

@Dark Cloud

I hope this is an acceptable first post on what Grindan was doing during the invasion... at least at first.

LoZ: Age of Darkness (Closed & Moved to New Int Check)

As the army of Ganondorf closed in to secure Castle Town, within the Castle itself a grim but necessary task was being carried out. A squad of Stalfos had been smuggled into the castle days prior, hidden in plain sight within the lower dungeons; Few traveled down to those levels to begin with, but those few who did never once stopped to question why Royal Executioner Grindan had allowed bones to linger in the cells instead of claiming them and smashing them to powder like he did with all his victims.

The invasion of the town had resulted in many solders of the crown either being sent in to try and stem the tide or moving to fortify the defenses of Hyrule Castle itself to better defend and attempt to repel the invaders once they started to push towards the castle itself. As such, what few solders and staff that were in the castle proper didn't really look all that closely as Grindan strode through the halls, armored for battle and armed with a heavy looking battle axe and a sword while leading what appeared to be a squad of fully armored lesser knights. The stiffness of their movements was easy to attribute to their bodies being fully encased in metal and besides, they were under attack! There were more important things to be focusing on at the moment.

As was to be expected, the King was not in his throne room. Instead he had moved himself to the war room instead in order take advantage of the maps and advice of some of his remaining senior military advisers in how best to organize themselves to deal with the coming enemy and the siege that would almost certainly follow if Ganondorf's forces failed to breach the castle. There were guards of course because this was clearly a time of war and leaving the King undefended would have been stupid but since the enemy was quite clearly outside of the castle walls and time and manpower was limited, the guard detail had been limited to the bare minimum skeleton crew.

The arrival of a band of seven armed and armored men caused the King and his advisors to look up from their discussion, a small wave of confusion appearing on the royal's face as he recognized the leader of the small band and started "Grindan? What are you-"

"I heard we were under attack my liege, so I rallied what men I could and prepared for battle. What's the situation and how can we serve?" was the response that escaped from under Grindan's helm. While normally interrupting the King while he was speaking would have easily been a social taboo and the minor look of annoyance that appeared on the face of Duke Rivers had nothing to do with the man's distaste for the Executioner normally, it was a testament to the dire nature of the situation that the King himself didn't seem to mind. The expression on his face was that of a man who had just received a puff of fresh air after wading through knee deep dung all day and was fully expecting it to get deeper before it starts to get better.

Gesturing to permit the executioner to come closer to get a better view of the battle map, Grindan went to stand by the King's side as the troops he had brought with him started to fan out around the room. "Ganondorf has betrayed us. He has rallied an army and even now is assaulting the Castle Town. Worse, the Goron and Zora have recently undergone hardships that we are starting to suspect Ganondorf engineered himself that have resulted in them being ill prepared to come to our aid. For the time being, we're on our own."

A gloomy air filled the war room for a moment, before Grindan broke the silence as he asked "The Queen and Princess are safe? They weren't in the town when the invasion started?"

A rare breath of relief escaped the King as he nodded. "My wife was planning to take Zelda into town this afternoon but... small miracles, news of the attack came before they left. They're currently safe in their quarters for the time being. But onto business." The steel of a battle hardened King returned as he leaned forward to point out a position along one of the Castle's outer walls. "Grindan, I need you to take your men and shore up the defenses he-"

The blow of the heavy axe to the King's back silenced him as the impact knocked the air out of his lungs, replacing his words with the shattering of bones, the wooden thud of the impact against the solid oaken table and his attempts to breath with a ruptured lung that was quickly leaking what little air remained and filling with blood. The stunned silence of the betrayal proved fatal to many of the King's defenders as they suddenly found themselves under attack from the sides and behind, wounds that were either outright fatal or were grave enough that any attempt to defend themselves from the follow up attacks were suddenly doomed to fail.

Leaving his axe buried in the King's back, Grindan instead pulled out his sword and lunged at the Duke, impaling the man's chest while his free hand grabbed his sword arm to prevent him from drawing his own weapon... and giving the executioner enough leverage to lift him off his feet, twist his blade to the side and pull the man one direction while he pushed his blade in the other, causing it to leave his side in a spray of blood and gore before he was tossed to the ground an armored boot met the back of his skull with a sickening crack that left him dead or dying in a pool of his own blood.

As his Stalfos followers started to clean up the only solder to have avoided the opening assault via the use of numbers, Grindan turned his attention back to his former King as the man laid on the table, breathlessly whimpering in pain as he was clearly trying to move but his body, like Ganondorf and Grindan before it, had also betrayed him. The Royal Executioner didn't say a word as he grasped the hilt of his sword with both hands and lifted it up in the air to give his downward strike as much power as possible.

Removing a head with a single strike was difficult, even for someone as well practiced and strong and Grindan was. The blow managed to break through the spine and continued to cleave through flesh, muscle and fat, but after getting about two thirds of the way through the momentum was spent. Releasing his left hand from the hilt, he instead grasped the tip of his blade and used his weight to push down and finish the task, removing the head completely. Leaving the head on top of a blood soaked map for collection later and allowing the headless body to slide onto the floor, the executioner turned to his solders and barked orders as he pointed them out.

"You two, stand guard outside of the door. If a messenger or someone of rank shows up, one of you escort them inside and kill them. You, come with me. You three, head for the Princess' quarters. If you can capture her alive do so, but if you can't kill her. Ignore anyone who doesn't actively try and stop you." As the undead solders moved to carry out their orders, Grindan sheathed his sword and pulled the axe out of the corpse before he walked towards the door with his support in tow.

The royal family needed to die and he intended to oversee the Queen's death personally. Sending troops to go after the Princess without his presence was a gamble, but every minute that passed risked her defenders figuring out that there were enemies within the Castle actively hunting her and any royal that escaped would be a problem down the line. Still, offering the former King's head to his friend would make for a lovely coronation gift... but it would be better to offer the complete set.

Still, he couldn't help but chuckle under his horned helm as he remembered the old saying: The King is Dead. Long live the King!

LoZ: Age of Darkness (Closed & Moved to New Int Check)

@Dark Cloud

This is just my recollection but... I thought the lore for OoT was that if someone unpure of heart tried to make a wish on the Triforce, it would scatter with only the piece most closely connected to the person remaining behind. The impression I got was that the wish wasn't granted and if the person wanted it, they needed to track down the other two pieces first.

LoZ: Age of Darkness (Closed & Moved to New Int Check)

<Snipped quote by YummyYummy>

*Cough Cough* League Of Super Evil *Cough Cough*

@Dark Cloud

That didn't answer our question.

LoZ: Age of Darkness (Closed & Moved to New Int Check)

@CitrusArms

I hope that is not a bad thing. If I'm going too dark with this, please speak up now.

LoZ: Age of Darkness (Closed & Moved to New Int Check)

@YummyYummy

Hilda

Name: Hilda Bransworth
Appearance: Hrrmmg, I need a picture, do I?
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Race: Hylian
Background: Hilda lived a simple farm life, caring for some small amount of chickens and working the land to raise crops. It wasn't a complicated existence, which suited her fine, but she always did love to see the festivals.

It was rather sudden. One day, her farm came under assault, as did so many others. The farmer she worked for had been a loyalist. She doesn't have a mind for politics, but she knew something was wrong. The monsters had come from direction of the castle, after all. Hilda made her escape before she could be forced to work for the dark forces that had captured the farmstead, making her way toward the castle to find answers.

She found destruction. The square was a death trap she almost got caught in. She managed to find herself a sword and get out, and as she did, she saw Hyrule Castle Town was lost. What was she to do..? No work, no farm... Even Lon Lon Ranch had fallen. Kakariko was safe... For now. For how much longer?
Alignment: Light
Likes: Honest Work, reliable tools, simplicity
Dislikes: Politics, running, thieves
Skill: Physical Labor

Seems kinda small, compared to some of our entries... Oh well. Still gotta find my pic.

@CitrusArms

I confess that I'm interested in seeing how our characters interact with each other Yummy. Considering Nadalia and Grindan are both Ganondorf loyalists, it should be interesting.

As for Hilda... If you want to expand your CS for her slightly, she could have born witness to a part of Grindan's 'court' in the Hyrule Castle Town Square... which is more or less a monster run witch trial. Monsters and Ganondorf loyalists gathering captured towns folk who didn't escape in time being forced to either prove their loyalty to the new regime or be forced to confess their crimes of harboring loyalties to the old Hyrule royal family and put to death. If these confessions happen to be forced out via torturous methods, who cares? Anyone who objects is clearly a traitor to the new king and needs to die painfully.