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Pieces of 8: Bones of the North

Clumsywordsmith said
Still waiting with baited breath for official word on Veti's weight...

You could be waiting for quite some time. It's rather rude to ask a lady's weight.

The Heavens Aflame - A Civil War Amongst the Deities

"My lady, the evacuating parties in the eastern gates are being wiped out. We're also losing formation cohesion for a reason we don't yet know." Another adviser came to report to the Crimson Queen.

The flash of light in the sky a few minutes before had already told her well enough that their plans were beginning to fall apart. Though she stood her ground, the Crimson Queen now trembled in worry. This attack was not meant to go this way. If only he had been here, this attack could have been successful. For now, she had to salvage what she could from this operation. Foremost, she had to save her own skin and get back to Vaslonya. The Bloodchiefs and other leaders of the vampire tribes were a lost cause, they would have to be spent for her personnel to make it out of the ruined city.

"Get me two null-herders. I need them to gather as many as they can in near the northern gate, and send my carriage with them. We'll evacuate to the south." She said, after some deliberation.

"That's a bit hasty, don't you think?" Asked a coarse male voice behind her.

The Crimson Queen whipped around to behold the man who had not been there only a moment before. Hair of gold, eyes of rubies, skin like porcelain, and a wicked scar encircling his thick neck. This could be no man other than Vova Eztli, Hero-King of Vaslonya. His expression was somewhere between bored and mildly amused, though he did give the Crimson Queen a polite smile. Her already milky skin turning nearly translucent from shock, vampiress dropped down onto one knee before the king, leaning on her blade and averting her eyes.

"F-father, I thought that you had forsaken us." She said, trying her hardest to maintain her composure.

"Not at all. I merely had a few other commitments to attend to. They ran longer than I predicted." He lead her back onto her feet by gently caressing her chin before deeply kissing her. As they broke away, a strand of blood-tinged saliva still connected their lips. "It is good to see you again, Mina." He said, his tone soft and warm.

Mina Eztli, Queen Regent of Vaslonya and True-Blooded Queen of Vampyres, again tried her hardest to keep her bearing. She cleared her throat and sheathed her sword, before taking a brief moment to try to explain the current situation to her father. It was under his orders that this attack had commenced, orders that she had been waiting on for her entire life. She was not the oldest child of the Pariah King, not by a long shot, but for some reason he had taken particular interest in her. After having been thought dead for centuries, he made himself again known to the people of Vaslonya and had her instated as Queen to better serve his will. His near-absence had very nearly triggered an existential crisis for her, but now all would surely be well.

"Worry not," he eventually said. "Let them come with their armies. I am ready for them." He raised his head to face the heavens and boom with unworldly volume, "Do you hear me? I am here, avengers of Dead-King Aroesus!"

Vova cracked his neck and knuckles. He was more powerful now than he had been in centuries. This city, its people slain by his brood in his name, now fueled him. Worship was certainly a good means of empowering a god, but it was not the only way, or was it the most efficient. Sacrifice had long been looked down upon by his "civilized" peers, but their snobbery would be their downfall. Every life taken with his name upon their killer's lips gave him strength in such a way that their prayers never could. After all, they each had only one life to give, and it had been gifted to him. What else was there to take?

"This is quite a fine temple," He mused softly, looking back to the gutted building behind him. "I suppose it's mine now, isn't it?"

The icons of Aroesus had all been removed from it, as ordered, and the city had been claimed in the name of the kingdom which he ruled. A city which had just been sacrificed directly to him. Overnight, this place had become the focal point of his power, and the other gods had been too blind to realize it. Soon they would come and realize their grievous error, but by then it would already be too late for them.

"You there," He called to a nearby sorcerer of his daughter's entourage, who hurried to the First Vampire. "Sanctify this temple in my name, and do it quickly." He said, biting his thumb and smearing his blood on his face in a vague pattern like a bat.

As the newly-minted priest rushed off to his task, Vova prepared himself for battle. He wore no armor, his chest adorned only with gaudy, gold jewelry, and some vague cotton garment resembling a kilt covering his lower half. A blade came to be in his hand, quite unlike the one wielded by his daughter, this was a hefty tool meant for chopping and smashing, rather than slicing and stabbing. Its blade was a black void which reflected no light, yet seemed to almost quiver, perhaps in anticipation of coming bloodshed.

Pieces of 8: Bones of the North

Sethan's vision, which had been swimming for a few moments, returned to him slowly. What... had just happened? He retraced his memories to try to piece together what had just gone wrong. Slamming into the wall, smashing through several bookshelves, hurtling through the air, being slammed with unholy force by one of the statues, and, ah, here it was, the statue repairing itself from his Proclamation. Sethan quickly devised a theory of why that particular spell had not worked, and he could only assume that Set's minions had some innate resistance to divine venom due to their creator's natural opposition to Apep. These constructs must have been formed a great deal of time ago, as Sethan did not think that Set had enough power in this age to create such powerful minions.

Idly aware of sounds of battle further into the library, Sethan pulled himself out of the pile of rubble that his landing had formed, rising to his feet like a marionette whose strings had just been lifted. He was a bit unsteady on his feet, but the statue's attack had not done any serious damage. To the dead king, at least, as his suit jacket was actually ruined. Sethan clicked his tongue in annoyance. Today of all days he had to wear his good Versace. Walking at a brisk pace to rejoin his companions, he discarded his shredded jacket and relocated the thankfully unharmed grimoire that he been tucked within to behind his back, in his waistband. There was no reason that he couldn't be battle-worn and still look good, so he also removed his tie, unfastened the top few buttons of his shirt, and rolled up his sleeves to the elbows.

The battle seemed to be well enough at hand, as even Isis was lending a hand, or talon, to the effort. Wait, what had she just said about guardians. Turning around to see the library's defenses emerge, Sethan nearly jumped out of his skin. At the rate that they were emerging, they would be upon him very soon. He was a hardy creature, but being torn limb from limb would still predominantly immobilize him at best. He had to think of something and fast. What kept insects at bay? Pesticides, of course.

Calling once again upon the the most potent of toxins, breathed by the Lord of Serpents and his kin, Sethan Proclaimed. Though now, he did not draw upon the Pillar of Ren, the Name, as he had before. This new Proclamation was instead focused by Sheut, the Shadow. Behind Sethan a great cloak of darkness descended like a robe of impossible length. It thickened and filled a great space behind Sethan as he walked, staying always exactly a pace behind him. It was now clear that he was sowing a miasma of impermeable darkness, which the guardians close behind him were all too eager to surge into. However, this was not merely a poisonous cloud that trailed behind Sethan. Mysterious un-things existed within it, undetectable and unknowable. They struck with otherworldly force upon all that which would do harm upon he whom summoned them. The vicious guardians were torn from this world into the twilight between life and death by these apocryphal shades, granting the God-King a margin of safety from the rapidly-enclosing horde.

However, this did not come without a great deal of effort. Sethan's expression contorted in concentration as he hurried along to the gateway. If he could sweat, it would likely be running down his face in great rivulets. The statues were essentially taken care of, it was only the tide of scarabs that had to be escaped at this point. Sethan was content to bring up the rear, keeping the guardians at bay and buying time, but there was a limit to how long he could keep up this draining Proclamation.

"Hurry now!" He grunted out. "Stay ahead of me and keep moving!"

Pieces of 8: Bones of the North

Been real dang busy lately, but I'll try to post sometime tomorrow.

Pieces of 8: Bones of the North

Clumsywordsmith said
"With its last thought, the Anubi longed for his crumbling body to crush those beneath him, and send their souls for their final judgment."

Ah, I missed that line. But yeah, that may or may not get retconned.

Pieces of 8: Bones of the North

Clumsywordsmith said
Sorry for the delay, peoples. Hopefully I am right in assuming pretty much everyone was sicc'ed on the Anubi that's now a pile of rubble.

One of them was destroyed within the last two (Egypt) posts?

The World: Magic VS Tech... [RP IDEA]

...The World you say?

Pieces of 8: Bones of the North

Igraine said
Tread lightly, DC. You only just posted, and you only just got your character's response (along with everyone else). We don't want to wind up leaving people behind either, with nothing for their characters to respond to as well.And many thing amuse me, not all of them particularly healthy or good. *sweet smile*

Yep yep. If I didn't have any tact in that regard I would have posted already. Just letting Canoli know that he'll probably still get a chance to beat some face in this scene.

Pieces of 8: Bones of the North

Canoli said
As I stated in the OOC* after posting in the IC, it takes time for him to transform, making those mentionings odd to begin with. I can adapt, leave it as is and post accordingly, but any hulking out - as well as reversing - in the future takes time. It's not something done with the bat of an eye (this is a decision I've made merely to limit Dunn's abilities, and make it more "believable"), and it's also against Dunn's nature to blindly charge things he is out of his league - otherwise he wouldn't have become as old as he as.As such, I just want to make it clear that that quick of a transformation is beyond his abilities and that his behaviour is uncharacteristic; he wont behave similarly in the future.* =

Let my next post even the playing field a little before you change stuff around too much.

Pieces of 8: Bones of the North

Igraine said
I remain amused, for all time, at your "take away!"

What exactly are we talking about here? My ego has been aroused, but remains unsure.