Maglar

Crystallis

Urgrapth's Home

Sarah

Kensu came trotting in, huffing a little from the exertion. He looked at her and then looked at the surroundings. Pip came over and began licking his hand, earning himself a scratch. "Oh, Master Thunderfist," she says with a bow. "I've found the sword - and more importantly, I found where the villagers disappeared to. I hope they're all alright... And Pip was a great help, I couldn't have done it without him..."

"I see," said Kensu, taken aback. The cave was filled with shiny, metal like threads. When he had come here previously it was empty, open. He felt amazed that it had all changed so quickly since he opened that damn door. The young Oracle was covered in black gore, but she didn't look severely injured. "You could certainly use a dip in the ocean." He said smiling.

"..master... Kensu..." came a weak voice. Kensu looked down and it was the little girl who used to pick flowers and sell them in the village. He ran over to her and kneeled to cradle her head. "..the lady saved us.. she was amazing.. she's one of the special people isn't she master?.." the little girl said softly.

"Yes dear girl," Kensu replied, his heart filled with pride, "yes she is a special one." He smiled reassuringly. He placed her down and let her fall back asleep. Kensu stood up and looked around. He felt a wave of guilt wash over him as he saw all the people strung up, but many of them seemed to be stirring and Sarah had already cut a few down who seemed to be able to stand. "Let's get everyone back to the village, then, well, then we'll talk." He turned to Sarah, "Thank you for what you have done this day, I know the ordeal has been more than extreme, and doubly so for one who just awoke. You are a special person Sarah, more than I think you know. Let us work quickly, there is much to discuss."

Kensu pulled out his own knife and together they began to free as many villagers as possible. When the people seemed to be moving along well enough Kensu fought through the spider webs back into the little room near the back of the cavern, the room he opened that let the spider queen out. "To think all this came from one small decision," he said looking around. There on the floor were a set of steel containers, unopened and marked with a blue tag. They looked, important somehow, so Kensu grabbed them. They were heavy, but they had a strap made for carrying them and so with Kensu's strong arms it was not that difficult.

Together the villagers, the old Master, and our hero made their way to the homes near the beach for a moment of respite, rest, and food.

Gods Among Us

Robert "Bob" Malek

Bob's Shop

*CHINK* *CHINK* *CHINK*

The soft rhythm of the hammer beating against metal was soothing. He was making.... something, he couldn't remember. He just remembered the tongs in his hand, the heat from the furnace, and the steady rhythm of the swing.

*CHINK* *CHINK* *CHINK*

Working the metal let him forget all of his thoughts, all of his feelings, it was like he was being reborn. But what was he making? His hands seemed to understand the shape, but his mind was blank, like a forgotten dream. The even rhythm of the hammer and the heat of the metal became the only things that existed in the world, and that was fine.

He stopped.

It looked like he was hammering out the rough form of an inch long curved claw. He walked over to the grinder, it needed to be shaped and cleaned up. At the grinder bench he was surprised to see seven other claws, perfectly polished; and there, next to the claws, there were the gauntlets for which they were made. He was fashioning a weapon, why? He didn't let his thoughts interrupt his work and he began to work the thick claw on the grinder. The metal was hard, and getting a good grind was going to take some time.

THUMP-THUMP! There was a heavy bang on the door.

"Come in!" Bob yelled and turned to the door opposite his bench. A child walked in, a boy, maybe ten years old. Bob smiled, "Hello there little one," he said in a gruff voice, "that's an awful big knock you got there. What can I do for you?"

The boy walked towards where Bob was standing, his shoulders and legs seemed to twitch and his jaw was slack. Bob noticed that his eyes were solid black with a small green dot for a pupil. "WhY DId you leT us Die, PaPa!" came a growling voice unnatural to the body from which is came, "whY, WHy!? DoN't you loVe us PaPA?"

"You need to stop there, friend." Bob said, hardness creeping into his voice, "I don't know you."

The boy creature vaulted across the room and with a shriek leapt onto Bob! He grappled the creature whose face had now extended and grown sharp teeth and a probing tongue, green spittle spattered over Bob's face as he grunted in effort. The two spun in circles around the room, crashing into tools and half finished projects hanging along the walls. The boy bit and snapped at Bob's face, "WHY DON'T YOU LOVE US PAPA!?!?!? WHY DID YOU LET THEM ALL DIE??" The voice screeched from the boy creature's face even as its maw tried to bite off Bob's face.

With a grunt of effort Bob lifted the boy-creature into the air, the monster growled and barked and tried to bite into Bob's face, its limbs punching and kicking the older man with no effect. "I. Don't. Know. You. Child!" Bob yelled, and he pitched the monster head first into the hot furnace he used to temper his steel. The monster screamed and flailed as its head melted but soon its kicking stopped and it lay still, the fire popping as its head burned.

Bob walked over to the front door and bolted it shut, upset about the idea of killing a child and disturbed about the fact that he just got attacked by a monster. He went back to his workbench and using the little tools he had he put the elements of the gauntlet together and slipped the completed one onto his right hand, it felt good, natural. He took the glove off and began to work the final claw for the other. He didn't remember when he started this project, but he figured he knew what he needed them for. Curse those beasts for taking the face of a child, curse them!

Crystallis

QUOTE

Ruby wanders around her room, and sits down with her food to eat on her bed. She happily tucks in, until she hears someone. Her head raises, and she turns her head to the noise. She swallows. "Hello? Who's there?" That's not Daddy......who is that? Did Daddy get me a Mommy?

@Shadow Dragon

Jabberwocky's Hideout

Annabelle watched the blind girl walk with her food into one of the back rooms. She walked confidently, like someone who knew all the steps and had traveled them many, many times. Annabelle crept up to the mecha with the map and began to touch the keys. Something beeped, "Oops!" she said.

"Hello? Who's there?" came a voice from the room.

Oh, shoot, she thought, but she smiled like she enjoyed being caught. She pushed more buttons on the mecha device and tried to read the display, the map over her head began to turn, it had pin points showing the location of the hideout, some major cities, and the big castle the wizards think is so impressive. It also had little blips with the names Bandersnatch and Draygon. That's kinda useful, she thought. Absently, Annabelle started whistling.

SYNOPSIS

Annabelle doesn't care that Ruby knows she's there, she's looking at your stuff and playing with your toys.

Crystallis

QUOTE

Sarah

Sarah continues cutting away at the spiderling horde attacking her, managing to cut another in half when she saw something dance in her peripheral vision. She's half-tempted to ignore it as yet another hallucination, but something makes her turn around and notice in horror as the spiderling queen is coming down hard - and aiming for Pip, who is too busy snarling and snapping at a couple spiderlings to notice. For a second, it seems as though everything was floating in water, a moment suspended in time. It takes every inch of will and strength for Sarah to force her whole body to move, trying to cover Pip before he gets fatally skewered.

"NO!"

By some miracle, she manages to block the tip of the spiky foreleg with the flat of her sword, placing herself between an angry spiderling queen and a surprised Pip who yelps and jumps back. However, by doing so, she left her back exposed, and one spiderling stabs her in the calf with a claw. Giving a pained grunt, Sarah tries to push back, but is slowly driven to her knees by the force of the queen's push, spiderleg scratching against unbreakable ancient steel.

Pip, mortified that his carelessness caused New Master to get hurt, turns around in a snarl and goes after the spiderling that just hurt New Master's leg. He bites but misses, the spiderlings falling back to avoid his wrath. This time, Pip doesn't pursue, trying to cover Sarah's back while she struggles with the queen.

For a moment, Sarah feels as though she'll be smacked down the ground, unable to keep up the effort against the queen's pressing leg. However, she takes a deep breath, and takes a gamble by changing the sword grip, causing the leg to slip off to the side, allowing Sarah to force the queen off balance with a twist of the sword. With the sword free, Sarah takes her moment to strike. She charges the sword with the biogenic power of lightning, lighting the cave around her with a brilliant azure flash, and swung as hard as she can at the queen in an upwards stroke.

@shadowsaint007

Urgrapth's Lair

Sarah

Urgrapth was moving with animal passion and instinct alone. She had no thought of strategy or cleverness, she moved only to strike, for that is all she knew. When Sarah tipped her blade, shifted her weight, and swung the lightning charged sword Urgrapth's only thought was to move into it. The blade bit deep into the thick, black flesh and for a moment she felt the pain and heat from the bite. The heat grew in intensity until KRAKABOOM!! the sword ignited its lightning power and exploded inside of Urgrapth's abdomen. Black gore was splashed all over Pip, all over Sarah, and all over the walls. The humanoid top half of the spider queen flailed its arms and its mouth opened to scream but there was no air.

The spiderlings, frightened by the lightning bolt and the death of their mother, lost their will to fight and fled into the various holes in the cavern. For a moment, Sarah and Pip were alone in the dark room, covered in black, sticky viscera and breathing hard. A blue light blinked on a panel upon the wall. Pip trotted up to it and was able to reach it by standing on its hind legs; he pressed the button and the cover blocking the top of the mountain and the entrance to the cave opened.

SYNOPSIS

You defeated the Spider Queen! Pip has pushed the button to open the caves, and your next work is to free villagers. Kensu will be joining you soon and can help. Good job and grab a shower, let me know when you're all cleaned up.

Crystallis

QUOTE

“Huh,” Steph noted, as the last of the strange beasts simply turned and left, following what looked like a bear. “Well, okay then,” she added, while giving voice to a relived sigh.

She was a little shocked by how easily she had managed to dispatch the creatures, as well as how natural and effortless it had felt. It was almost like she was some character in a video game, and for a moment she thought that perhaps she was dreaming, or stuck in some kind of VR world, but no. Now that she had a moment to catch her breath and refocus, she quickly became convinced that the world around her was all too real…

It was about then that she heard a voice coming from the building behind her. Turning around, she was greeted with the sight of a small, elderly man. He had a long grey beard and a pair of orange goggles over his eyes.

“Oh, uh, hi,” Steph said somewhat shakily. “I-It’s okay,” she added, trying her best to sound reassuring. “I’m not gonna hurt you. My name’s Stephanie. I’m kinda… new around here…”

---

A few minutes later, and Steph found herself in a cozy home. It belonged to Minoc, as the elderly man was called. He offered her some food and a drink, which Steph graciously accepted. She listened in silence as he went on to somewhat awkwardly explain her current situation. The fact that Minoc’s grandfather had watched over her pod confirmed that she had been asleep for a very long time indeed… Minoc then went on to ask if she was familiar with the creature she had killed. She shook her head. After telling her that the harpy was named Jub Jub, Minoc explained that he was a member of a society of wizards, alchemists, and archeologists who discovered the various cryostasis pods scattered across the world. It sounded as though the world had experienced a drastic technological decline, as if what her own eyes told her wasn’t proof enough, and she couldn’t help but allow a sullen sigh to escape her lips. Minoc then asked about her own pod, which was now nowhere to be found.

“Oh, yeah…” Steph replied hesitantly. “I needed a weapon to fight those things, so I had my nanites reassemble it,” she explained, holding out her sword. “Just basic nanotech, really.”

Minoc was quite impressed. As an archeologist, he had spent many long years unearthing the technology of the past, but he had never encountered anything like what Steph possessed. He had, however, found information on biogenic technology, which caused Steph to noticeably perk up. Her uncle had been a pioneer in that field, and while Steph was far from an expert herself, she was well aware of the amazing possibilities such technology presented. She was glad that at least this remnant of her world’s knowledge had survived to be of use to this vastly more primitive age. Minoc was getting more excited too, as apparently, some of his fellow wizards/researchers/or whatever had unlocked some of the technology’s incredible potential. His comment about “the enemy”, however, made Steph a bit uneasy.

“Enemy?” Steph asked.

Minoc then proceeded to tell her of Lord Draygon, a being who was apparently some kind of monstrous dark lord, like the kind found in old stories. It sounded a bit ridiculous to Steph, but if the harpy she had killed was anything to go by, the situation was no laughing matter. Draygon had many powerful creatures in his service, Minoc went on to explain, but the forces opposing him had access to the works of the “ancients”, and that included her…

If they could trust her.

The village she had just saved was a pretty pacifistic place, Minoc informed her, and he was wary of her incredible potential for violence.

“Hey, I completely agree!” Steph protested. “I’m a scientist, not a fighter. I-It’s just… I saw those things attacking your village, so I wanted to try and help in whatever way I could. I-In fact,” she added after a moment’s thought. “Didn’t you kill one of those creatures yourself?”

Conceding her point, Minoc said that he wanted to trust her, but that the decision was not his to make. For that, she would need to travel to someplace called the “Castle of Solace”. Minoc then asked if she could turn her sword into a backpack.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Steph replied, before instructing her nanites to reassemble her sword into the item in question.

Minoc handed her a tightly woven bundle of cloth, which she placed in the backpack, before sealing it up. The wizard instructed her to present the bundle to someone named Tornell once she had arrived at the castle. Apparently, he was the leader of Minoc’s order of wizards/scientists/archeologists/or whatever, being the “wisest and strongest” of them all.

As for how she’d get there, Minoc actually had a pleasant surprise in store. Somehow, he had access to a functioning segment of the global subsurface transit network, which led directly to the castle. This meant that no matter where in the world the castle was located, they would be able to reach it in a relatively short time, and in relative safety as well. But that wasn’t the only surprise. Insisting that she shouldn’t make the trip alone, Minoc told Steph that his young apprentice, Peter, would be accompanying her.

“Oh, wow… The Oracle…” Peter said in hushed awe upon entering the room. “I-It’s very nice to meet you!” he added with a great deal more enthusiasm. “And it will be my great honor to accompany you on your journey!”

“L-Likewise,” Steph replied with a smile, a little taken aback by the young apprentice’s reverence.

Before they departed, Minoc inquired if Steph had any questions.

Well, yes. She had a LOT of questions… Still, she figured that most of them would hopefully be answered upon meeting Tornell. Therefore, she decided to stick to the ones weighing most heavily upon her mind.

“Uh, you wouldn’t happen to know how long I’ve been asleep, would you?” Steph asked. “Or what happened to my parents? They were in the same complex as me. That’s to say, the same place you found my pod,” she clarified.

@Ponn

Tinkertown

Stephanie

Minoc set his tea down and settled into his chair, he took a moment to not speak. There was much to consider, and this young lady would probably not like the answers he gave her. It was an indisputable fact that she had the physical capability to kill everyone in this village and one could stop her, but when does she let herself become violent? She says that she wanted to protect us from the lizard-bears, and it is true that she did, that is good. Would she feel tempted to become violent if she became angry? or upset? Would she blame the people of the village for the truth if Minoc answered her question? This is what Draygon's lieutenants would do; they enjoyed violence and murder as a means of solving all their problems. Maybe he had been dealing with monsters for so long he forgot what good people looked like.

The old archeologist pulled his goggles up to pinch the bridge of his nose, he felt a headache coming on, perhaps from too much tea. He was going to have to decide to trust this young girl not to be a vicious psychopath. Well, he figured, if we cannot trust the Oracles to be better than the monsters we already fight, then spending lifetimes protecting them has been a monumental waste of time.

"Hundreds of years ago there was a great cataclysm," he began, "we don't know much and very little documentation has survived. Your pod was one of the first we ever found, and that was over 150 years ago. It was in a cave located near the base of the mountain and it was surrounded by mecha. Many of the devices turned on and started blinking when the rock they were exposed to sunlight, but most of them were broken. One of the devices that worked contained a journal by someone named Julie Anderson. It was her journal that gave us the secrets upon which our order was established.

Sadly much of the journal was fragmented, but the parts we were able to recover told us about something called the Harbinger, a great weapon in the sky; and how, before everything was destroyed, the ancients created perfect beings to save the world. They hid them in pods and we came to call them Oracles, because they speak to us about the mysteries of the dead. You are one of these, as far as any of us know, but additional details about who you are or the world you came from are lost. It was my dad who moved your pod up into the mountain village because it began to took too long to travel all the way to the bottom to run your diagnostic ritual."

Minoc leaned forward in his chair with his elbows resting on his knees and his palms up. "I'm sorry that I don't have much more to tell you young Stephanie," he said imploringly, "the functional mecha from the original find has been sent to different locations throughout the world, and the data unit containing the journal was sent to Solace for safe keeping." He waited palms up to see how she would respond.

SYNOPSIS

Some more exposition, this time not so happy. Minoc thinks you might be upset. The journal is from your mom, but he doesn't know that, and that lab you were originally put asleep in is now the bottom of the mountain. You get to choose your next path, I'll meet you there.

New Here!

@Belle Gold Welcome new friend

Hellooooo!

Hello There

Hey, all

Hey and welcome :)

Crystallis

QUOTE

<Snipped quote by Maglar>

He spreads his wings, taking off, and flying out of the castle. He soars through the air, heading for Tinkertown. I wonder what he would do if he found out I was raising a Podling to overthrow him? He flies over the town, and roars out a challenge, the air vibrating from the force.

He circles above the town, his massive shadow sweeping over everything, sending the villagers into a panic.

@Shadow Dragon

Jabberwocky's Hideout

Annabelle had been watching Jabberwocky's house for days. When Draygon's raven showed she felt like she was finally about to get her chance to find whatever secret the bastard was keeping. She had been Draygon's top lieutenant before Jabber came along, and she'd been furious ever since he took her position. She hated it that he somehow sniffed out the Crystallis sword and brought it to their master, and now they were being sent to harass those old wizards which was both annoying and dangerous, well, dangerous for some. Jabber didn't seem too hasty about finding the so called "Pod-creatures" either, and that made Annabelle suspicious. She crouched in the brush where she had been hiding and watched Jabberwocky form into the black dragon of his monstrous state and fly to the south. Annabelle smiled, he would not be coming back soon. She casually sauntered up to the house and knocked on the front door. "Housekeeping!" she called. When no one answered she pushed the door with her incredible strength and as its supports gave way the door fell flat with a dusty thud. She was humming to her self and smiling as she skipped into the old house and looked around. "Jabber Jabber," she ruminated, "ya sure don't have any taste for decoratin' do ya'? You need is a woman!" She ran a finger along a dusty shelf and made Yuck! face as she wiped it on her pants, "...or a butler." She pranced around the rooms, looking at papers and through drawers, trying to find anything incriminating or even interesting; she found nuthin! Jabber was a stubby old boring nobody who didn't even have dirty pictures lying around, some kind of villain, huh? She got to the library on the base floor. On one side it had a fire place with a rug and two chairs, across the room on the other side was a wall of books behind a large, oaken table with candelabras on either side. Annabelle slowly traipsed around the table and looked at the books, her nimble fingers gliding over the dusty bindings. She walked over to the fireplace and inspected the chairs, the embers, the floe to see if there was something hidden there, there was nothing. She walked back to the table and scrunched her face in frustration. "God, you're such an Asshole!!" She said and she stomped her boot on the wooden plank floor. The sound echoed. Her eyes went wide and the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile, "OoooOOOohhh! What have we here?" she said. She bent down and proceeded to punch her way through the floor boards, wood chips flew from her fists and got stuck in her hair; her face had taken a maniacal twist. "Well well Jabber, maybe you're more interesting than I thought." Under the floor between the oak table and the wall of books was a ladder going down into a tunnel that Annabelle was sure would lead somewhere interesting. She jumped down the shaft and let herself drop all the way to the very bottom, maybe 50 meters (150 feet) from the surface, give or take. She looked around and saw that the tunnel pointed east, towards the water. She figured she might be deep enough to be underneath the water, but there was only one way to find out; she began jogging down the tunnel. She came upon the end of the tunnel as it opened into a large cavern. At the far side of the cavern there was some sort of antique mecha panel that had blinking lights and whirling colors, and above all that was a large map on some sort of display that looked like it might've been the entire world. This was good, but not enough to get Jabber in trouble. Annabelle dropped from the edge of the tunnel and moved quietly to the shadows. Then she saw the girl. The young girl was about 20 meters (60 feet) ahead of her. She was walking around the corner near the blinking machine carrying something that might have been food. She sat down at the blinky mecha thing and began to eat, it was food. Annabelle smiled and watched for a moment, surveying the situation. The young girl's face was wrapped in some sort of bandage, Annabelle suspected that she was blind. And to top that all off, she was pretty sure that this girl, was a Podling.

SYNOPSIS

Annabelle is one of Draygon's lieutenants who is jealous of Jabber's rise. She stalked Jab's place and found Ruby. Shadow Dragon- as you prepare a post keep in mind the distances between our players and the power level of Annabelle. Ruby is a badass, but don't play her like she's the baddest mother-effer in the galaxy, if she wins this confrontation, let's make it a solid win.

Crystallis

QUOTE

Sarah

<Snipped quote by Maglar>
What Sarah sees before her is nothing short of a monster out of a nightmare. A large, human-sized spiderling with eyes sparkling malevolently in the shadows and mist, a girl's upper body grafted to a large spider's abdomen, the girl would be considered pretty were it not for monstrous features betraying her nature. To Sarah's horror, the spiderling queen seems to be eating a villager, a young girl struggling weakly to escape her grasp, gasping for breath as her struggles weakened.

Upon seeing Sarah, the spiderling queen hisses and jumps backwards, letting Sarah rush forwards and check on the girl. The villager girl is still alive, Sarah notes with a sigh of relief, but she seems badly drained and weakened.

Pip notes it's one of the washing-girls from the village, and whines sadly as he tries to wake her up by nudging her hand and licking her face. The big spiderling had hurt her, and he could smell its scent on her, especially around the bite-marks on her neck.

However, Sarah realizes she has no time to tend to the girl; many spiderlings were coming her way, and she doubts they'll wait politely to put the girl safely away to fight properly. She instead stands over the girl's body, sword in hand, Pip growling besides her. If she's going to fight, might as well make a stand. This time, she's ready.

Pip opens up by blasting one of the spiderlings to a cinder with a bolt of thunder, the spiderlings bunching up meaning he manages to injure a couple others. Sarah grips her sword, and starts swinging at the incoming horde. The sword is a much better weapon than a stolen claw, far better than her bare fists, as it feels natural in her hands. She swings and cleaves a spiderling in twain, catching another with the backswing and severing one of its claws. This time, she has a longer reach and better weaponry, allowing her a desperately needed advantage. Furthermore, thanks to the sword's purging of the worst of the miasma's effects, she's far more lucid and in control in this fight. She glares at the spiderlings, as though daring them to take another step.

@shadowsaint007

Urgrapth's Home

The layout of Urgrapth's Home was as follows: There is a single cave entrance that leads onto a flat, circular platform. Beyond that platform is a valley of broken stone and metal, difficult to cross except by the thin wires of Urgrapth's web. A few of the villagers were webbed up close to the platform for easy access, but the majority of them were stuck higher up, closer to the ceiling and high walls. Towards the back of the domed cavern, away from the opening of the cave, is a nestled corner of metal, protected by a thickly layered steel door, where Urgrapth has her special place. This is the room with the door that Kensu opened that awoke the Spider creature, and this is where Urgrapth now hid, scrunched into a corner away from the stranger who had invaded her home and killed her babies.

From the vantage point of her room she could see her spiderlings cascade down the wall nearest the intruder like a wave of clicking teeth. She had never stepped back and watched her brood like this, separate and removed from being their mom. A small, quiet part of her mind thought they looked horrific, monstrous, evil. They had too many eyes and sharp appendages and even sharper fangs, and their hunger could never be satisfied. For a moment, Urgrapth didn't feel like Urgrapth, she felt conflicted in seeing both monsters and babies in the same form.

From the safety of her vantage place, she sank further and further into her consciousness. She carefully watched the young girl with the pink hair, She's about my age, she thought in a voice that didn't seem like her own. I wonder if she wants to be friends? Mama says I need more friends. Gerty took a step forward, but there was something wrong with her legs. She looked down, her legs were like hairy spikes! What happened!? What was going on!? She backed up into the corner and looked at her hands, they were wrong too, everything was wrong! She panicked, her eight legs stomping anxiously as her head swiveled in every direction, trying to understand what was going on. Her mind wasn't working, she couldn't remember! She felt her soul being twisted and torn, where was her she? Where was her mom? Something terrible had happened, and there was nothing left! There was no hope!

Lightning crackled and the cave was light up for an instant, the smell of charred insect filtered through the cavern.

The noise pulled the Spider Queen form her blood-shot mania and she hyper-focused on the pink hair of the intruder. Something snapped in her spider brain and the last of the rational mind of Gerty gave way and died, leaving only instinct. Urgrapth saw the intruder, and her panic became fury; she rushed out of her hole to attack! Speeding along her webs, she attacked on the side opposite of the wall where her babies were descending. Pink Hair cleaved one of the little ones in half and cut off another's arm in the back swing. The dog was unguarded. Urgrapth leaped and stabbed her spike down upon the small animal...

SYNOPSIS

Gerty is dead, long live Urgrapth: Queen of the Spiders!! She's about to kill Pip! You better do something quick!