Twelve

[Zappa Tenderlea]

great thanks to you oh wise one...

*leaves the dome, in one of them suity thingies, hops on his lynxs, and starts moving towards the northern pole, stopping but at the last natural shrine before the pole, in hopes of finding more accurate and direct information there, before starting what verry well could be a wild goose chase*

[Planetkiller II]

Air
No archiving drone arrived this time, instead a ream of news items popped up onto the terminal's screen and a printout of the same wriggled its way out of the side of the machine. Nibmacarion tore it off and read.

This is SolarNet local news special report into the aparant dangers of the Martian Mines that Zerka Corp and Gherhadry Corp don't want the public to hear of. Sources deep within these companies have come to SolarNet claiming strange disappearances and underground electrical storms. Rumors tell of unsafe practices and possible experiments by the corponations in the bowels of the petrillium mines. These disturbances seem to be centred around the Goldtown disrict of the northern territory, lowest sublevel. Senior corporate executives refused to comment on these acusations. See our site for the general public's response.

There were more like this, stretching on for pages and pages, but nothing really concrete. Only a vague location and a vague rumor. This seemed more than the usual miner's tales, nothing like this had ever been posted on so reputable a news agency as SolarNet before. Perhaps Goldtown might be the place to start. However, since it was half a world away, Nibmacarion would need some transport...


Chaos
It was not far to the mine's nearest entrance. The northern territories were peppered with shafts, both current and abandoned. Since no one who didn't have to would want to go down there, the corporations didn't bother to shut down old mineshafts, or even leave anyone to watch them. Cid called the miner's cage up with the rusted control panel. It clanked up out of the black depths and slid its doors quietly open to recieve him. The descent was not a pleasant or easy one. The lift bumped and clanged its way down past deserted miner's quarters and processing stations before coming to rest at the bottom, where the petrillium would have originallly have been gathering. The caverous expanse stretched out all around, a massive circular ledge was cut into the rockface above a deep hole which the bottom could not be seen. There were no veins left there now though, it had been stripped out and removed long ago. That was why the place was abandoned. An eerie wind blew through the sparse air in the tunnels, whistlling in a way that would be spooky to most people. To Cid though, the thin air meant nothing. His demonic lungs had endured much worse before. Little Measter whined a little, sensing something. Suddenly, a single lightning bolt lances out of the pit and strikes the roof of the cavern. Rocks fell and the ground quaked for a moment. There shouldn't have been any mining there, and the bolt had not resembled any form of mining laser. There nearest legitimate mining must have been ten kilotmetres further north. Something odd was going on in this pit...


Technology
The Cougar A2 Tex had stolen hummed softly as the rain continued to beat down. It had lessened somewhat now, and the water repelling fields in the windscreen easily kept his visability clear. The traffic wasn't to bad; it seemed people didn't want to be out on a night like this. Probably just as well. There hadn't been any pursuit, but Tex hadn't expected any, since no one had even seen him. The Centre of Technology came closer, the many lights that dotted its surface winking in the night. Breaking in would not be easy, and no one had done so before, but Tex believed in his own abilities. A few minute later he parked a very short walk from the building and thought about what to do. He knew the Centre had heat sensors and cameras in every corridor as well as an eye and thumb print scanner on all entrances. The labs had a secondary set of scanners and were stationed underground, set into solid rock. There had to be more stuff that he had not yet heard of as well, for the secrets of the place were certainly not public knowledge. EarthGov did not like the public to know about any advances in technology that it made until it was absolutely ready, and even then it could be doubtful. Tex looked once more upon the building he was about to break into. It looked very forbidding against the dark sky. He set off, thinking as he went...


Nature
The last shrine had little to add to the first, but it did have a few interesting things to say.

Traveller, Asgadra awaits you. He will not let the key go easily. If you go to the grave of the one known as Aerie, you may find more detailed directions to what you seek. His grave is hidden beneath the Hall of the Old Guard in Tyfaris

I wasn't long before the magically enhanced cat brought Rofellos swiftly to Tyfaris city. It was a massive place, largest city on the moon. The Hall of the Old Guard was at its centre, more like a castle than anything else. It was the centre of the faerie court now, and security was tight. Guards with magical spears and armour stood at attention all about the building, but the great library area was still public. There wasn't a scrap of technology in the place, everything was done by magic here. The shelves were lined with massive tomes on every subject, but the faeries had provided an aid to those wishing to find things. A magical creature, reminiscant of a monkey which hunted down any book that was required via its impectable memory. Rofellos looked about the place, deciding what to do...

[flapjack]

*Nibimacarion thus decided to use the same terminal to locate nearby methods of transportation, preferably public transportation as that was probably the cheap way and Nibimacarion never carried much in the form of money and transportation across the world, be it a reasonably small world like Mars, was beyond what he would be able to do in 12 hours without transportation*

ooc/ stupid 12 hour time limit, if it hadn't been for that time limit i could have just gone out there and fly there, hmm, perhaps there is a way to boost my flying speed to more acceptable levels /ooc

[Planetkiller II]

All done. Postage, people.

[Zappa Tenderlea]

Rofellos, cursing slightly underbreath due to the presence of all those guards, and his inability to let them know the magnitude of importance that goes combined with his current quest ( DJEEZES F*CKING CHRIST! trying not to use the same word twice makes sentences confusilidating...) he asks the monkey to bring his a book about the building of these Halls, preferably one with blueprints, a book about Aerie's final hours, a corronor's report or something would be interesting, and if they have one, a book about The Twelve Keys

[AcidK]

Pah, technology...

*Cid grabbed his staff and walked slowly towards the orogin of the lightning bolt, readying to strike if necessary, or call on Little Measter to do battle if it comes to that. He crept towards the hole and ventured a peer down.*

[Spritely Zombie]

I'd be interested in joining as the Magic hero. Will post character a little later unless there are sudden and serious objections

[Spritely Zombie]

Name: Baldur Skurai Gokan
Race: Human
Main Element: Magic
Minor Elements: None
Weapons:
Exceptional Unarmed Fighter (2pt) - Baldur is an incredible unarmed fighter having incorporated many varying fighting styles into his own brand of brawling.
Powers:
Mana Reserve (1pt) - Internal Reserves of Mana.

Telekinesis (2pt) - Baldur's Magical Training involved a lot of focusing his power to move objects with his mind. He can also use this to create shields of force as well.

Magical Body (1pt) - By channeling magical force into his body Baldur is able to increase his speed and strength, though doing so is taxing on his physical form.

Raw Magic (1pt) - By channeling raw magic Baldur can perform some very impressive and damaging pyrotechnics.

Teleport (1pt) - Baldur can teleport. Long distances are extremely taxing and disorienting, and even very short distances are also fairly draining.

Items:
Gauntlets of Urd & Skuld
Artifact (1pt)
Element: Magic (1pt)
Ability: Restrict Power (2pt) - Essentially more a strangely named power up. Remove the Gauntlets get stronger. Ravage body. - 2 POints cos it's a lot of extra power


Appearance:
Tall and fairly lightly built, Baldur's most distinguising feature is his hair an black, with a strange multihued effect noticable with severe light condition changes, it is also impossibly spikey. He often got into trouble amongst the elves for spiking his hair using magic, but the effect wasn't consciously generated. His eyes share the same multihued effect as his hair seeming to change colour from one angle to the next.

History:
Baldur was born to fairly anassuming parents. He had a pleasant childhood up until his 12th birthday. Upon the moment he turned twelve
his body was suddenly wracked with pain. Human doctors, relying on technological medicine
couldn't identify the cause.

Whether by ill-fate or good, one year after being admitted to the hospital he was noticed by a visiting elven elder. The elf sensed within the young human immense magical power, even by faerie standards. It was evidently far too much for his immature body to contain.

Baldur's parents reluctantly agreed to let the elf take him away in order to be cured, not knowing if they'd ever see their son again.

The elf constructed a pair of enchanted Gauntlets that would help Balder control and focus his power, as well as bleeding of excess harmful energy.

The elf, Lokius, was a strict teacher and Balder studied almost constantly. His breaks from studying eating and sleeping were filled with martial arts. Balder was entranced by the elven martial arts. And while his human body wasn't quite up to the graceful nature of it's form, he successsfuly merged some of it's practises into more mundane human martial arts and became very proficient in the resulting unarmed fighting style.

And yet Lokius was not a young elf, in fact part of the reason he had "adopted" the young human was because he saw him as a means to replenish at least some of his waning power. Eight years passed and finally Lokius passed on.

Baldur finding himself without any reason to remain on the moon, quietly left. The next four years passed relatively uneventfully, Balder distinguished himself as a fighter, a bodyguard, a bounty hunter and a problem solver, anything that he could do that meant he could push the limits of his abilities...

[AcidK]

I think the joining is closed...

[Spritely Zombie]

Well since i got my char checked with Planetkiller. I beg to differ. There's also:

Originally Posted by Planetkiller II

So, without further ado, let's start. Water, Earth and Magic remain open to be joined by anyone who wants to, at any point in the thread.

So Nyah

[AcidK]

was only thinking out loud

[Zappa Tenderlea]

't least you were thinking, which is more than can be said of me.

[AcidK]

thinking = bad

my philosophy: never think, do

reason: whenever I think, I forget

[Bakan]

*Walking around randomly as he read through the files in his mind, Bakan looked up as he finished. The information was random to say the least, ranging from the rocket launch that seemed to have leaped out at him, to the cults and finally the increased number of demonics. That last bit ran a shiver up Bakan's spine, for he was not in the mood to deal with any of them. Knowing his luck through, Bakan would run into them.*

*Hunting down cults was not his thing, however, the rocket launch could be a opprotunity for the lunatics to strike. New technology that would open up the world, it was possible for them to try to do something. Sighing, Bakan shook his head. It was thin, to thin, anorexic thin, yet something about that idea stuck with him. Looking up, Bakan smiles, and slowely starts making his way to the rocket launch site, through the worst parts of the city, keeping his eyes and ears and other senses open for anything of interest.*

[Ur_Quan]

During his walk, Tex encountered a doomsday preacher standing on a wooden box, addressing a small crowd of bums that were only there because there might be free food. A few followers were holding up signs that said "Sinners repent!" and "The end is near!". Tex didn't give it any attention. That guy was here every other Thursday and Tex was quite sure that the guy was going to be very surprised in a little less than 12 hours.

As he walked on, Tex tried to think of a way to get inside the complex. It certainly wasn't the easiest thing to do; security in there was tight, very tight, but he refused to believe that it was impossible. Every system had a weak spot, or even a minor flaw. Tex noticed that the rain was getting heavier again. He'd be soaked if he didn't get inside soon.

Tex knew that the complex was surrounded by an electrical fence and so he briefly thought about just walking in through the main entrance while under cloak, but he quickly dismissed that thought because he knew that the main entrance would be heavily guarded and they'd have all sorts of scanning equipment with which they could detect him.

Just when he wanted to start looking for shelter from the rain, a nearby sewergrating for rainwater caught his eye. The Centre of Technology spanned a big area, they'd surely have a couple of these too and even though they wouldn't give access to the centre's interior, they were bound to be less protected than the main gate and he'd at least be able to get on the other side of the fence witout being seen.

Once he had found a manhole that was close enough to the centre for his liking, he had Pinky open it, climbed down and put the lid back in place to cover his tracks and prevent anyone from accidentally falling in. Now all he had to do, was to find his way down these corridors and eventually go up again.

[Planetkiller II]

Bunch of lazy asses haven't posted yet, so I can't really DM you.

[flapjack]

how about dming the nice people that did post so they don't have to suffer under the lazy asses?

[Ur_Quan]

Originally Posted by Planetkiller II

Bunch of lazy asses haven't posted yet, so I can't really DM you.

Whaddayameansoicantreallydmyou? I am the single most important entity in this universe. I have replied, you may DM me now.

[Zappa Tenderlea]

Originally Posted by Ur_Vain

Whaddayameansoicantreallydmyou? I am the single most brainless entity in this universe. I have replied, you may DM Zappa now.

ty so much.

[Ur_Quan]

Hey!

[Zappa Tenderlea]

*whistles innocently*

[Planetkiller II]

btw guys, you don't just have to play off what I say here, you can make stuff up too. This world is ripe to be populated with stuff, and longer posts make me not want to smite you

Air
There was a magnatube tram leaving in just a few minutes, which was fortunate since the next one was in several more hours; far to much time to waste. Nibmacarion didn't like the thought of spending any time in such a confined space, but there was no option. He left the library and headed for the tram terminal through the dusty streets. There were a few other last minute passengers heading that way, which all broke into a run as a 'last boarding' notice rang out across the immediate area. Nib too hurried along, floating much faster. He arrived seconds before the cylindrical train's doors closed, and the vehicle began to move out of the station, suspended in its glass-like tube by the magnets that gave it its name. It picked up speed and blasted north across the desert expanse. It was only a few minutes before Nib started to feel uncomfortable and he began pacing about the car, looking out of the windows at the landscape flashing by as much as possible. It was a good thing that the trip was so short he thought, when there was an explosion somewhere towards the front of the tram. It was not a fireball of an explosion, merely a dull thud that blew off the roof of one of the cars. People all around began to panic, but Nib floated over to the door between compartments, in time to see several black garbed, fully armed figures drop into the carriage. They must have been waiting, tethered inside the magnatube for a train to pass by. Tram Pirates. Of all the days they had to pick, why did they have to choose today? Soon they'd stop the train and start robbing the place, hauling off any cargo there might be along with valuables from the passengers. Perhaps they'd have more trouble today though...


Nature
The monkey hopped off, grunting and scrambling over the bookshelves. It returned a few minutes later, a couple of tomes in hand. It slammed them onto the desk and waited, clearly hoping for a reward. When it didn't get one, it stalked off sullenly to another part of the library. Rofellos opened the first book, which was entitled 'The Creation of the Halls of Old'.

The death of the ancient hero known as Aerie brought the council to build a building like none had ever seen in his memory. It is believed that he is buried somewhere beneath the place, probably in the catacombs below the cellars. After he died from extreme old age, achieved through his strong magical abilities, his body was placed among the foundations of the Halls in order to bring good luck to future generations, among ruthless traps and security systems that would protect his remains for ever more. These catacombs have never been fully mapped, as the creatures that live in the darkness make that difficult, but the most recent attempt is catalogued in the appendix. Some recent historians have also hypothesised that the catacombs may link into the domain of Asgadra, the mythical faerie king. While this has obviously not been confirmed, it is certainly an interesting possibility, for Asgadra has always been asociated with old, underground magic.


Chaos
The dark pit yawned up at Cid, but no further blasts eminated forth. All remained still and not even a sound arrived. He began to climb down the side of the pit, which wasn't so much difficult as time consuming since there were wide ledges cut into it all the way down. He had been going for a short while when suddenly a groan echoed out from the depths. It was not a good noise. He continued on down. As he decended further, the distance beween the ledges began to increase until it was too far to drop. Now there was evidence of previous mining, old rusted tools lieing about, and tunnels cut into the ledges. Cid walked slowly into one, picking his way through. Little Measter dropped down with a thud and followed. It was near pitch black now, and Cid was only heading deeper. The strange moans were louder and more frequent here, but with the echoing nature of the passageways, it was impossible to tell from which direction it was coming. Suddenly, from around the corner, a small light glowed. A skittering and crackling sound followed it, like many spindly legs clicking together. The huge form of an Mine Arachnoid lurched into view, but it was like nothing Cid had heard about before. They were supposed to be armoured beasts, with massive spinnerets at their rear that spun the petrillium fibres. They were supposed to grow to a few metres in height, and live only in the deepest tunnels where no people were, feeding on the other smaller creatures of the mines. Not this one. It stood almost four metres tall, its many legs scuffling through the dirt floor, feelers searching for prey. The normally chitinous armour glowed and pulsed with an eerie electrical light, sparks burning out from its skin to strike the cave walls. It turned to face Cid, mandibles knashing in anticipation. It had not fed on anything this big in years...


Magic
Character approved. Where you be starting and such?


Lightning
The craft was to be launched in around ten hours, so there was plenty of time to get to the Nevada launch site. Bakan took his time moving through the city, the storm did not bother him. Most other people were running for cover and did not stop to look at the unusual person moving amongst them. He picked up snatches of conversation from street sellers and various people about him while drifting past. There wan't much worth hearing, the usual babble of people's problems and issues. Then, suddenly his excellent hearing picked out a shred of something useful. A human and another figure, cloaked and looking shifty. The figure lowered its hode to reveal the green feral features of an Orkiform. Unusual to see them in a populated area. This was one of the elder types, the ones that had grown old enough to master their base animalistic urges. It wore a chain around its neck that ended in a medallion in the shape of a stylised lightning bolt. The human nodded, and passed a crumpled piece of parchment to the Ork. Bakan heard the words 'the meeting place' and 'tonight, the god-mechanist comes'. Both of the dogey people turned and headed in opposite directions, they would soon disappear into the underground if nothing was done. It could be nothing of course, but something about the things he had heard triggered a few neurons to fire off in Bakan's mind, and he quickly decided what to do...


Technology
The sewers proved easy to get into. It was just as wet inside, merely in a different way. The liquid flowed past Tex's feet instead of dropping on his head. The smell was fairly foul, even modern cleaning systems didn't prevent that. Tex sloshed forward against the current, mentally working out where he was in the concrete sewer pipes relative to the surface above. The traffic's rumbling vibrated about in the sunless tunnels, and he got closer to his destination. A few more twists and turns of the passage and he arrived underneath where he thought he was trying to get to. A few fiddling moments with Pinky unlocked the grating above and he carefully lifted the metal disk and slid it to one side. Tex looked out of the manhole, and saw that he had indeed come up inside the Centre of Technology compound, guards outside oblivious to his presence. He was only a short way from the main buildings, a easy small run only. He climbed out of the sewer and replaced the cover over the hole, then sprinted towards the centre itself, a plan for entry already formulating itself inside his mind.

[flapjack]

*Nibimacarion decided quickly, his right hand dropping to the handle of his sword while with his left he quickly incantated a speed boost spell*

*Nibimacarion then rushed forward, his sword half way out as it started to produce a hurricane inside the tram, the pirates utterly surprised when the wind suddenly picked up inside the tram while Nibimacarion was rushing forward, quickly accelerating towards the nearest pirate. His sword now fully drawn as he reached the first pirate and plunged the sword into deep into the stumach of the surprised man, the second pirate aiming to Nibimacarion as he quickly casted a lightning strike and sent a bolt of electricity into the unfortunate pirate, the pirate's weapon firing as he fell backwards against the back of 1 of the seats.*

*The third pirate responded slightly slower then the second and emptied his weapon towards Nibimacarion and into the first pirate, which was now dead for certain. In the meanwhile Nibimacarion had resorted to his bow and quickly put an arrow onto it before jumping away from the falling first pirate, Nibimacarion's sword still impaled in the man, and releasing the arrow towards the third pirate, a small amount of air mana added to the arrow to ensure a hit while Nibimacarion ducked behind 1 of the seats, the next arrow already in his hand*

[Spritely Zombie]

Earth. Some City, Somewhere relatively seedy. Surprise me

[No Dachi]

I'm so going to post here soon. Possibly today (but probably tomorrow).

[AcidK]

-posting tomorrow, tired atm-

[Hewitt]

Originally Posted by Planetkiller II

Bunch of lazy asses haven't posted yet, so I can't really DM you.

*Counts himself among that number. *

Sorry for neglecting this thread... will post soon...err...ish

[AcidK]

Thiss.... iss not good... or iss it?

*AcidK took a few steps backup and began powering his chaotic wave.*

Measter, charge!

*As Little Measter charged at the creature, AcidK himself fired a sudden bolt of chaotic energies, powering his fists up straight away and began to pound the living out of the creature, literally.*

[Zappa Tenderlea]

Rofellos smiled as he read the passage, wondering if the monkey would still want to help him finding books after he neglected from giving it a tip.. He digged in his pockets, searching for some nuts or fruit while looking trough the next book and browsing it for any important and usefull passages

[Ur_Quan]

OOC- I've already started on a reply, but I'm way too tired to write properly now, so I'll finish it tomorrow afternoon or evening. -OOC

[flapjack]

........ those 12 hours have long passed you know, PK, go and DM will you? Please?

[Ur_Quan]

Tex hid himself in a relatively dark corner and observed the main building's entrance from a distance. He managed to spot a couple of gaurds and patrol units as well as several cameras. It didn't look like that much of a problem to get in, however, his experience told Tex that apart from the obvious security measures, there was bound to be some less obvious stuff too, especially here, in this place.

As he thought of a way to get in undetected, severals options at once came into his mind. He could try getting into one of the lesser buildings and try to access the main building from there, however, the Centre of Technology was huge and there was a fair chance he might get lost. He could also pose as a security guard and try just walking in, but he quickly dismissed that thought, because he'd need to whack one of them over the head to acquire a uniform and the guards here were probably all on a very tight schedule and if one of them failed to report in, the entire facility would be on high alert. The only option that was left, was for Tex to activate his cloak and enter the building, however, he was sure that there would be another set of scanners that might give him away.

Tex tried to think of another way to get in, but then he noticed a small group of people that were heading for the main building, probably some scientists that were about to start on their nightshift. He figured that if he enabled his cloak and walked in with the group while staying to them as close to as possible, the scanners wouldn't be able to tell him apart from the group. Seeing this as his best chance to get in, Tex waited for the right moment, activated his cloak and ran to the group, making as little sound as possible and hoping for the best...

[Planetkiller II]

I really WANT to DM this thread, but with only 4 replies, I'm not going to. Pester IS, ND, Fluffie, Hewitt, Bakan and the like to post if you want things to progress faster.

[flapjack]

I'll impose a post or die penalty on Fluffie, hewitt and bakan. I can't pester IS or ND tough
now you go and DM us nice people that deserve to be DMed and do something bad to them

[Bakan]

-Will post shorty and kill Flapjack-

[flapjack]

ooc/ note, i'm on a different planet, in some short of train/tram thing. You'll find killing me from your current position is impossible. Oh and if you're nice and you post, i'll be nice as well, ok? /ooc

[Hewitt]

ooc: *Will just kill flapjack *

[Hewitt]

Originally Posted by Planetkiller II

Fire
It is raining. Great splashes fall on the coffin of an old mage, adorned with the runes of his craft, glowing gently in the middle of the storm. The preacher is saying something, but Jasmine Hewitt doesn't hear it. Her whole being is numb and sound seems to only be coming in muffled echoes. The rain is coming down harder now, almost a sheet. The dragon part of Jasmine is almost ready to panic. Dragons do not like rain. This is only exaserbated by the funny looks by some of Paul Hewitt's more ignorant relatives. Some may believe the rumors surrounding the old wizard's death, others may simply be afraid of the part-human by their sides on this day of grieving. Their glances make her angry, but it's under control for now. The minister finishes whatever it was he was saying, and the coffin is lowered into the grave. One of the congregation thinks to cast a water repelling shield over the rest; obviously magic runs in the family. This eases the desire to bolt in Jasmine's dragon-scaled veins. She remembered everything. The events before the 12th Hour, and those curious few after. Still, even after what she'd just heard (or was it will hear? It was hard to tell with this timetravel concept), she couldn't bring herself to leave the second she returned. These things took time. Most of the people began to wander off, speaking sadly among themselves, but Jasmine did not. The priest walked past her, holding her shoulder in a moment of comfort, then was gone. She was left, standing in the rain, looking at an old man's grave, wondering where to go from here...

"Well old man it looks like you picked a pretty good time to die..."

*Jasmine Hewitt continued to stand in front of the newly laid gravestone of her late guardian. For the moment she forgot about the impending end of the world, the need for haste, the suspicion hanging over her head and even the god damned annoying rain. For a good several minutes she stood silently as images from her life with the kind-hearted old mage past through her mind - that first burgulary, her first day at school, the many times spent together in the old library pouring over the many ancient texts that adorned it's walls... indeed many thoughts crossed her mind. Tears formed from the corners of her reptilian eyes and were instantly washed away by the rain.*

"You'll never guess what I learned today father."

*Jas stared upwards at the forboding clouds and threw her arms into the air in a mock dramatic fashion.*

"The end of the universe is coming!"

*Jas let her arms fall limp at her sides and allowed a small chuckle at the seeming joke of it all. The end of the universe ffs... Jas had a slightly amused look on her face for a second or two when she looked back down on her father.*

"Heh yeah that's right, 'the end is nigh' and all that bullsh.t. But it gets better. Apparently I'm part of a select group that's supposed to stop it from happening..."

*Jasmine shook her head in disbelief. She wasn't much of the 'save the world' type.*

"But... there's a problem... you see... I... um... I... don't want to."

*Jasmine choked back a sob.*

"Like why the f*ck should I do anything about this sh.t? What the f*ck do I owe to this bloody universe!? I mean f*ck! Just look at me! Look what this plane of f*cking existance has done to me! I'm a f*cking monster! A freak! People in this universe take one look at me and almost sh.t their pants, oh and that is of course only as long as they don't try to kill me first. All I get is scorn and suspicion. Fear and prejuduce now follows me everywhere... I can't even take a casual walk in the park ffs - children see me and run off crying. I can't get close to anyone! You were the last person I could trust! The only one I could feel love. And now your gone... *sniff* You were the last. *sob* You were the last..."

*Jasmine starts sobbing uncontrollably, falling to her hands and knees on her adoptive father's grave.*

"Why should I stop the end? Why would I stop the only event that would unite us again? *sob* Why?"

Why...

*Finally after all this time of locking up her feelings of sorrow, Jasmine breaks down completely.*

[Bakan]

Originally Posted by Planetkiller II

Lightning
The craft was to be launched in around ten hours, so there was plenty of time to get to the Nevada launch site. Bakan took his time moving through the city, the storm did not bother him. Most other people were running for cover and did not stop to look at the unusual person moving amongst them. He picked up snatches of conversation from street sellers and various people about him while drifting past. There wan't much worth hearing, the usual babble of people's problems and issues. Then, suddenly his excellent hearing picked out a shred of something useful. A human and another figure, cloaked and looking shifty. The figure lowered its hode to reveal the green feral features of an Orkiform. Unusual to see them in a populated area. This was one of the elder types, the ones that had grown old enough to master their base animalistic urges. It wore a chain around its neck that ended in a medallion in the shape of a stylised lightning bolt. The human nodded, and passed a crumpled piece of parchment to the Ork. Bakan heard the words 'the meeting place' and 'tonight, the god-mechanist comes'. Both of the dogey people turned and headed in opposite directions, they would soon disappear into the underground if nothing was done. It could be nothing of course, but something about the things he had heard triggered a few neurons to fire off in Bakan's mind, and he quickly decided what to do...

*Watching the two leave, Bakan calmly followed them. His hooded features were all to common in this dark damp place, thus he was still unnoticed as he slwoely followed the two. He did not know where they would go, but there was some time before the lauch of the rocket, and Bakan had faith that he would be able to get there with time to spare if the need existed.*

[Planetkiller II]

Air
The tram pirates were not the most organised of people. They shot reasonably and ducked into cover promptly, but it was clear that there was not enough training behind their actions to defeat proper opponents. Nibmacarion found this out quickly, as his first action took out three. One keeled over with a sword in his chest, one blasted out of the tram to bounce about in its wake, lifeless, and a third impaled with an ethreal arrow. The remaining two in the car fired off a burst of bullets which shredded the seating that Nibmacarion had just ducked behind for cover. He heard the pirates shouting to each other, then moving about. Nib looked carefully over the top of the seat and saw the masked figures retreating into the next car towards the front of the train. The door slides shut, and after a few seconds the tram does too, emergancy brakes screeching. Through the now open roof of the car, Nib saw an aircraft decending towards the imobilised tram. It was an old P-TX 130 transport shuttle of the large cargo bay and low comfort design. This was clearly the pirate's getaway vehicle, and it wouldn't be long before it arrived with reinforements. It did however provide an interesting possibility. The craft could be flown by one person, and would not be limited by the magnatram's point to point ability. Nibmacarion tried the door to the foreward car, but it had been locked. He would have to decide what to do soon, but things were looking up...


Magic
It is raining. Baldur Skurai Gokan strode forward through the driving force of the storm, arms raised to shield his face. Blasted faerie fugitives. Flight made things so much more difficult. That was the one advantage the weather provided, for the sprite was bound to be grounded now. He remembered everything. The events before the 12th Hour, and those curious few after. This matter had to be dealt with quickly, for there was serious work to be done. Baldur reached out his senses, seeing what his eyes could not. Fear. The thief was afraid. Gokan didn't know exactly what the faerie had done, but he hadn't much cared before, and it certainly didn't matter anymore. Paris was usually pretty at this time of night, magical and technological lights combining in a twinkling mass of chained energy. Tonight though, the only thing Gokan could see was the blurred shape of Eiffel Tower illuminated by the giant glow-flys its faerie owners had attached to the superstructure. The location of his quarry was still at the forefront of his mind, just barely ten metres away, hiding behind the wall of a nearby building. Gokan summoned up a pulse of power, and let the repair bills be damned. The spiritechnic blast arced over the street and slammed into the wall, burning a portion away and inflicting lesser damage on the short figure that had been hiding behind it. The criminal was knocked unconcious with a single shot. Gokan walked over to the prone faerie, seeing the shabby clothing and lack of possessions, and feeling sorry for him for a moment. He shoke the feeling off though, realising that there were much more important things afoot.


Chaos
The Arachnoid lumbered forwards a few more steps, pointed legs cutting into the floor in a distinctive pattern. Little Measter launched himself (?) at the beast in an attempt to protect his master, but the giant spider swatted him aside with a club-like mandible. Before this blow could be followed off, Cid released his chaotic energies, which richocheted randomly off the walls straight into the oncomming Arachnoid. But despite the fact that it should have been killed instantly, the beast survived, the lightning becoming more intense. The deafening screech that it gave out betrayed how much it had been injured though, and it lurched against a cave wall to support its huge carapace for a moment. The necromancer did not give it time to recover, laying into it with chaotically energised fists. The Arachnoid reared back, away from the stinging that was hurting it more than it had felt for decades, since it was only a small, normal animal that could be fought and beaten by other members of the mine's feral community. The fear it was suddenly feeling produced a reaction that it was not expecting. The lightning that had followed it about for years now brightened, and loosed off at the attacker. If Arachnoids were able to grin, it would have when it saw Cid get blasted by a shot of yellow-gold fire. Cid remained unharmed due to the chaotic power in his body, but it had hurt like hell, and small streaks of smoke were dissappating from his body. This was definately not a good thing.

Note: You've just met Lightning minion No. 1.


Nature
The other book was an older one, dusty and frayed at the edges. It was simply titled 'Aerie'. Rofellos creaked it open, the pages dry and crumbling in his hands. He flicked carefully through to the back of the book and its final chapters, those about the end of Aerie's life.

...and so did Aerie meet his end on the field of battle, though not fighting for either side. His death brought an end to the war and peace between the humans and faeries. It was an uneasy peace, but one that would at least hold. His body was brought to the northern most point of the Moon and buried there, as he had loved the magical world so much. A pillar was erected there to mark his resting place, engraved with symbols that only one chosen to take his place as a peacemaker of nature would be able to see and understand. Now that the Hall of the Old Guard has been made on top of this point, the pillar has been lost to knowledge, and our only true hope of finding the ancient mage's grave is either to dig up the entire buidling, or to find this mage the legend speaks of. Both provide very slim chances.

Rofellos found an apple in his pocket just as he finished reading, but realised that the monkey had swung off somewhere. Suddenly, there was a grunt from behind him, and the familiar was back, enticed by the smell of fresh fruit. Rofellos admired the senses on the creature and tossed the apple to it. The monkey bit into it happily, and began to climb up a nearby bookcase.


Technology
Tex had been right about the security. They screened everyone that came through the main doors. Fortunately, it was not done intrusively, else he would have had a serious problem. The group of scientists was scanned as a whole, and the guards neglected to notice an extra glowing figure in their midst. They had seen the lab coated people before and they were lax about their checks. Tex knew that if anyone found out he had got through the checkpoint so easily, both guards would be sacked. The thought brought a small smile to his face as the group moved into the smooth well lit corridors of the main building and he silently split off from them. There were various options on where he could go, for the different deparments had different floors. He would have to be careful though, lifts would probably be noticed if they went up their shafts with nobody inside them. The labs beneath the ground would contain the most dangerous stuff he reasoned, as that would protect the outside world from any 'accidents' that might occur. Still, that might not be the place to start, he hadn't yet decided on what he was going to do. It suddenly stuck him that he could have done with deciding what to do before entering. There was nothing to be done now but to push on, it was simply a matter of choosing the direction.


Fire
The tears flowed freely now, blending with that infernal rain as Jasmine wept. Her clothing was utterly soaked, and she was the picture of loss, of a person who had lost everything. Suddenly, there was a hand at her shoulder, calming but impersonal. She turned to see a human of extremely pale skin, dressed in an inmaculate suit that seemed to be impenetrable to the rain.

"Jasmine Hewitt?"

It was a statement rather than a question.

"My name is Warder. I knew your father. He asked me to give you this when he died."

The man held out a key of an intricate design. Jasmine recognised it as the key to her adoptive father's special study. She had never been in there, he had always said that it was full of sensitive books that should not be disturbed. Jasmine had never seen the old mage go in there either, so she had never questioned this, dispite reservations about the truth of this statement.

"I am supposed to go with you, and make sure that you find what he intended you to. You have no obligation to show me, but I would appriciate finding out what he had to say. How do you wish to get back? I have a car waiting, but if you do not wish that I'll be happy to take another means."

Jasmine was numb. She hadn't been able to listen properly to Warder's words though she had go the gist. She found his prescence strangely calming, though his almost bleached white skin and pointedly sharp appearance also disturbed her for a moment. She opened her mouth to reply, not sure if the words would come, or even what she would say...


Lightning
Bakan made the decision to follow the Orkiform, being as its appearance was the most odd thing about the short meeting. The hooded figure hurried away down a side street. Bakan went after, attempting to remain as unobtrusive as possible. He peered around the corner just as the helm of the cloak disappeared into an open manhole. The cover rumbled quietly back into place and the alley was still again. Bakan waited for what he judged to be long enough for the orkiform to not notice being followed, then levered up the grill himself and dropped into the stinking sewer below. Though it had all the look of a normal sewer, with grime lining the walls and acrid water about half a foot deep underfoot, something was not quite right about it. The waste should have been flowing, off to some treatment plan to be turned back into useable materials, but it was perfectly still except for the ripples Bakan made when he sloshed forward. He began to move quickly along the passage, and though his Slyph side was niggling at being in such a small underground space, he kept alert for his quarry. He noticed another odd thing as he went along, this sewer did not seem to have enough branches. Indeed, when he came to a fork, Bakan found that one direction only progressed a short way before coming to a dead end. He doubled back and headed down the other passage, then heard a noise. It became louder as he moved down this tunnel, sounding like many voices shouting together. Suddenly, he came out onto a balcony that overlooked a caverous room that looked like a part of the sewer, but surely couldn't be, for what sewer would need a gigantic with cranes, old rusting computers and giant ventilation fans. A roar of noise went up from a large crowd in the centre of the space, all wearing robes similar to that of the orkiform he had seen. Bakan dropped to the floor so as not to be seen. His target walked up to a small raised platform in front of the crowd, who went silent. The ork raised a fist into the air and yelled.

"We follow the God-Mechanist. He will grant us domain over all!"

The crowd followed suit...


All to be filled in soon as possible. Remember guys, I like long replies, they make me want to write more (and make it quicker and easier to do replies too). As I say, you have a fair degree of freedom in this universe.

[flapjack]

*flapjack slaps the thread with a large rubber hammer*

[Planetkiller II]

All done, postage people.

[Bakan]

*Laying low to the ground, Bakan watched the apparent ceremonry begin. For a few seconds Bakan thought to himself that this may just be a crazy cult, that he was wasting valuable time. Yet his instints had told him to follow the ork, and he trusted his instints. As the Ork continued to chant, with the crowd following, Bakan looked around. This entire area did not seem to be a sewer at all, with the passageway he had walked through only resembling one superficially as if to throw off unsuspecting people.*

*Watching the cult chant, Bakan shook his head. This was crazy, for all he knew these people were crazy, that they would not be related to the crisis at all, but instead innocent people who were to deluded to think about reality for a bit. Granted with all the insanity that occured recently that it was possible for them to actually be involved.......*

*Kicking himself for letting his mind wander, Bakan decided to do the only semi-logical thing, walk right into the cult. After all, the news he had downloaded earlier told of these cults, and that they all seemed to worship the same "god". It might be a waste of time to interogate the cult leader, but for all Bakan knew, it might be critical to survival.*

*Standing up, Bakan gracefully jumps down. Unlike many Slyth's, he was not capable of flying on his own, yet he was with moderate concentration, able to control his rate of fall, much like a orbital skydiver using his thrusters to keep himself slow enough to keep from burning up in atmosphere. Landing gently, Bakan goes ignored from the cultists, still chatting to the leader. Slowely walking through, he starts getting some stares from the various cult members, side-glacnes at first, then suddenly Bakan feels the hood of his cloak torn away, revealing his features. Sensing something, Bakan looks over and sees the cult leader looking straight at him. Raising a hand, the leader makes a slashing gesture at Bakan.*

Cult Leader: "KILL THE HERETIC!!!"

*Sighing, Bakan jumps up and backflips at the cultists around him try to bum rush him. Deciding to hold back on the use of his powers for now, Bakan reaches towards his sides, and from two sleaths along his legs, pulls out two swords. Holding them easily, Bakan watches as the cultists turn, some of them pulling out primative weapons like knive, swords, sticks, a small number more pulling out assorted firearms. With a roar, one particulary large human, well over the average size and weight, rushes forwards with a large sword.*

*Almost out of his control, Bakan's left arm moves, placing the sword in position to block a double-handed sword blow from a large brute of a human. Spinning in place, Bakan feels his right hand move almost on it's own, bringing that sword around and slashing the human along the gut. A thin trickle of blood starts dripping from the wound, yet oddly enough, the blood was black. The human looked in shock, then started sweating and shivering, his skin turning more and more pale as the effects of the Sword of Vengence kicked in. Already turning away, Bakan blocks two rapid blows with his left sword, relaying on it for defence, and kicks out, snapping shut the mouth of a cultist, along with sending some teeth to the ground. Bringing his right handed sword around, and twirling it, Bakan sent a small amount of his power into it, creating a lightning ripple around it, basically a glorified light show that captured the eyes of the crowd around him.*

Bakan: "I have questions for you. Answer them, or I'll make you answer them."

[Ur_Quan]

OOC- I'll try to reply tomorrow and hopefully some other people will do the same thing. -OOC

[flapjack]

ooc/ I'll probably post later today (I admit, i forget about this thread a bit while trying to figure out how to best get on that shuttle) /ooc

[AcidK]

*Cid lumbered back a little, pain itself now hitting his body more than usual. Dispite the fact that Cid should be fearful of this pain, he felt very intrigued by it. To Cid, it was a blessing to feel pain once again, pain being the only thing keeping his mind in shape. He stood up dtraight again, not allowing pain to overtake his current situation, gripping his staff and knocking Little Measter with it.*

Do ssomething, ffool!

*With these words Little Measter sprung back into action and begam casting Chaotic Moon on Cid and the Arachnoid, soothing the pain around Cid a little as well as hitting the Arachnoid with it's chaotic power. Cid himself began to cast Slow and another Chaotic Wave.*

[Ur_Quan]

It wasn't until Tex had to decide on which way to go that he figured that whoever was in charge of this place, wouldn't put up arrowhead signs with "Key Of Technology Go This Way". Then he remembered the scientists. While he was walking in their midst, they were talking about some section in the building that was off limits to virtually everyone but the most senior scientists and rumour had it that they kept something very powerful down there. "'Down there'", Tex repeated in his mind, so whatever this thing was, it was probably located in one of the deeper laboratory sections.

At least this information eliminated all of the upper levels, but there were bound to be a lot of subterranean areas as well and he didn't have time to search them all. He sighed and just as he was about to lose all hope, he remembered something else; back in the main hall, near the reception desk, just before he split off the group and slipped into a deserted corridor, he had seen an announcements board. He didn't expect that this would point him in the right direction, but perhaps it mentioned which areas had increased security and were off limits to unauthorized personnel. Tex decided that it was certainly worth a try, so he went back to the hall, and although he was still being cloaked, he took care to avoid the security cameras whenever possible until he came to the board and started to read.

[Zappa Tenderlea]

ooooh, didn't notice the DM had been editted in yet...

The other book was an older one, dusty and frayed at the edges. It was simply titled 'Aerie'. Rofellos creaked it open, the pages dry and crumbling in his hands. He flicked carefully through to the back of the book and its final chapters, those about the end of Aerie's life.

...and so did Aerie meet his end on the field of battle, though not fighting for either side. His death brought an end to the war and peace between the humans and faeries. It was an uneasy peace, but one that would at least hold. His body was brought to the northern most point of the Moon and buried there, as he had loved the magical world so much. A pillar was erected there to mark his resting place, engraved with symbols that only one chosen to take his place as a peacemaker of nature would be able to see and understand. Now that the Hall of the Old Guard has been made on top of this point, the pillar has been lost to knowledge, and our only true hope of finding the ancient mage's grave is either to dig up the entire buidling, or to find this mage the legend speaks of. Both provide very slim chances.

Rofellos found an apple in his pocket just as he finished reading, but realised that the monkey had swung off somewhere. Suddenly, there was a grunt from behind him, and the familiar was back, enticed by the smell of fresh fruit. Rofellos admired the senses on the creature and tossed the apple to it. The monkey bit into it happily, and began to climb up a nearby bookcase.

sucking up the information, Rofellos went for the last of 3 books, while calculating where he should be going if he was to try and get down to this grave... digging out the entire building was not his intention, and for that mage, he had no idea where to look... He'd just have to do it himself...

[edit:F*CK! editted in really long post, almost at the last line, typo, pushed the returning delete button thingy, and the explorer responded instead of the text!!! not gonna do it again, sry...]

[No Dachi]

No Dachi dismounted and looked around, the plane rider phasing out behind him. The buildings of the SEP Plaza gleamed as civilians and police officers of large number of races milled about, going to their intended locations. No Dachi tried to reason out where the best place to go would be...

[Fluffie]

Fluffie flies above, looking for Dachi.

[ooc] (postage, finally, eh :\) [/ooc]

Circling above the Plaza, he sees the Plane RIder, the samurai's choice of transportation across large distances, fade out again. Smiling, he knows the friend he is looking for must be close by.

And indeed it was so. Beginning his descent, Fluffie calls out the samurai's name as soon as he touches down behind him.