A Divided Nation - RPG (Started)

[Umbra]

Suddenly, something pushed Eden over, and he fell to the ground. Above him stood a shadowed being, a man which from the waist and below consisted of dark mist. He wore a long, purple coat, and golden shoulderpads. Eden had heard of this guy; Prometheus, the King of Shadows he called himself. Prometheus hissed at him.

- How dare you mock us! You must be punished!

He pointed to the cavern's exit, about ten meters away.

- In ten minutes, out front!

Then, he turned away and walked back into the crowd.

[Deucalion]

Lucuis Leroy sighed, idly wondering why the putrid crowd of necrotic flesh that surrounded him was so easily lead by a figure who possessed as little charisma as Gil'garan. The vamp was a fool. He was blatantly obvious in his attempts to ingratiate himself with the Great Dezard, via the route of holding constant pep talks with the troops, and obeying his master's slightest command. If anyone actually thought his claims of the great victories and conquest were true, they were foolish indeed. Gil'garan thought himself so ambitious, aiming to be the Great Dezard's must trusted aide.

 

Hah. How low he aimed. Lucius's ambition was a far greater prize, and he was far more worthy of it than any of the fetid Zombies and petty magic Spellcasters who surrounded him. He sneered contemptuously, before gesturing at Noir and Thralk, his resurrected minions, to return to him from their carefully selected stationing around the crowd. It always paid to listen to gossip and rumour, from which the essence of truth could carefully be extracted, and Noir and Thralk were excellent listeners.

 

Thralk was a minor work of Necromancy, nothing to be proud of. He was merely a morbid lesser Zombie, morbid being the technical term for a particularly disease ridden Zombie. Thralk couldn't even talk properly - his voice box was in such poor condition, he could only manage one vowel, a sort of breathy, hoarse "a". One of his more useful features was the minor Unrequited Binding curse - Lucius merely had to feed some of his life energy, and Thralk would rise again, instead of Lucius having to conduct any ceremonies, or Tributes, that were associated with the normal necromantic summonings.

 

Noir, on the other hand, was a masterpiece, the magnum opus of Lucius's disturbed genius. The bodies had been hard enough to find - a dead Dragon Knight and their Dragon was a rare find indeed. Lucius hadn't been content with merely resurrecting them either, he'd worked powerful magics into their being. Any Zombies Noir and his Dragon, Vol, sent back to the grave, were instead sustained by the strong magics housed within Noir, placing them under Lucius's command for short periods of time. He'd even achieved a developed personality within Noir, something very difficult to do when the brain was decaying. Most Undead were either mindless, or just extremely boring to talk to. Thralk belonged to the later category.

 

"Noir." Lucius called softly, still mulling over the prospect of power.

 

"Yes, Master Lucius?" replied Noir, in a voice reminiscent of dust in the wind.

 

"Time for our departure, I think. Let us mount Vol - a striking appearance always creates a good impression." Lucius smiled sinisterly. "There is no need to kill when a few well-timed entrances and impressive exits lead people to think you are capable of anything. Violence can kill an army, but subtlety can rule the world. A fact our friends here," he gestured at the crowd with distaste, "often forget in their haste."

 

"And wat ab' m'?" wheezed Thralk.

 

"Stay at the back and try to look fearsome." Lucius considered his words, then looked at Thralk. "Actually, no. That's not going to work. Just shut up and don't draw attention to yourself."

 

Thralk nodded, his purple flesh oozing somewhat as he did so, before stepping aside to allow Noir and Lucius to ascend onto Vol.

[Guest Supreme Gamesmaster]

Vorthal pondered. For some reason, Gil'Garan had amazing charisma, despite his bland claims of conquest and destruction. He would need to beware what soldiers Gil'Garan attracted, and immediately locate those who he repelled.

 

"He's not really promising anything," Ella remarked. She, too, seemed wary of the 'Lord of Vampires'. "And yet, they're acting as if he were offering the world..."

 

"He is, in a way," Vorthal reminded. "Remember, they think that he means actually sieging Arcania. It's far more complicated than that, of course..."

 

"Another proof of the mindlessness of my kin," Mezuki said sadly. "They believe their wishes are really going to come true without a hitch. It's not like the fairies won't put up a good fight; if it weren't for us, I'd say Dezard would never emerge."

[Guest Ixigo]

' pid='1031747' dateline='1219853986']

City of Aienna - Skies of Arcania

 

During the early hours of the day' date=' messengers have spread across the city. The Count of Aienna, Parshath, has assembled an emergency meeting regarding the threat of Dezard, and the rumour goes that Parshath will send every mage in the city to face the threat. The meeting started just a few minutes ago, and you're just outside the Grand Hall, where the meeting is held.

[/quote']

 

[OOC NOTE: As a rule of thumb, in this RP, I will always try to quote the part(s) of post(s) that I'm replying to, so that things don't get confusing and people don't have to go through who-knows-how-many posts to figure out what I'm talking about. I think it'd be a good idea for everyone to do it]

 

---

 

- A few hours earlier, in the Aienna Library -

 

"Ha!"

 

A triumphant smile crossing her face, Elza danced a small pirouette atop a large staircase positioned in front of a tall bookcase. Her hand, free of the rod she had left atop a chair on the floor, was now holding a massive, thick black book, worn of age. Its title read 'The Supreme Arts of Dark Magic Tome XXIV ~ How to bend a Leprechaun to your will'.

 

"Now that wicked green thingy will never be able to taunt me again... I just cannot believe him, trying to look up my - whoa!"

 

Between the delicate dancing pose and the awkwardly heavy book, the Dark Magician Girl's petite figure had difficulty balancing. She slipped over the top of the wooden staircase and crashed to the ground with a thud, her hat rolling off to her left. The heavy book opened and fell on top of her head, and even worse, a few dozens of other books slipped from the tilted shelves to drop on her. Finally, the staircase she was using fell as well. On top of her.

 

"Owowowow..." Elza muttered, rubbing the side of her book-capped head.

 

"Ahem... is this a bad time?" A voice she recognized as one of the royal messengers' sounded somewhere behind her.

 

What does it look like to you, idiot? She thought, but she swallowed her anger. Drawing on her reserves of magical energy, she freed herself from the pile of books and slammed them into their places - well, into random places, but hopefully noone would notice any time soon - set the staircase aside and brought her staff and hat back to her. Belatedly she remembered to remove the book she was wearing as a hat. Hoping he took her red cheeks for signs of anger, she fixed the courier with a hard stare, daring him to laugh. He didn't, and the news he brought were enough to make her forget both anger and embarassment.

 

---

 

Silence still reigned in the Grand Hall, as the young sorceress was one of the very first to arrive. She stared uneasily at the towering pillars, at the marble corridors and multi-colored glass windows. What would their fate be if the Dezard finally invaded here? No, it must not be allowed to come this far. This war must be stopped before it did too much damage. If it wasn't already too late for that.

 

Unsure of what to do, since the meeting had not apparently begun yet, she leaned against one of the columns and put out one of her pocket magic books, entitled 'The Mysteries of the Mystic Mystical Arts ~ Take care of your hair with magic!'

[Deucalion]

OoC: Surely you can make it clear within dialogue, text, scenery description, etc, who/what you are replying to, instead of having to quote all the time? Quoting takes up unnecessary space, and distracts from the main writing.

[Umbra]

OOC: Deuca, remember that you are in a cavern and will have to get out of it before you can fly anywhere.

 

Graadin Cavern - Dezard's Land

Suddenly, a shadow emerged from the darkness behind Gil'garan. It look similar to the first vampire in a way, but where Gil'garan had charisma and mystique, the second vampire had a cold, distinctive look in his eyes. Apart from that, they could as well be brothers. The second vampire spoke.

 

- My name is Hamarin, and I represent the vampires of Castle Ravenhold to the east. We have come to aid our brethren and the undead in their quest for the skies. Right now, the other vampires are on their way with a magnificent breed of Deathkaiser Dragons, which will eagerly lead you to the cities of Arcania.

The crowd roared again, but Hamarin shushed them.

 

- However, they will not come immediately. I suspect them to be here within two weeks.

 

The crowd started to mutter angrily, and a Mezuki among them raised his voice.

 

- Two weeks? What are we supposed to do then? Unless those goddamn Fairies come down here, we'll be bored to death!

 

The Mezuki giggled a bit to himself, followed by a half-hearted laughter from some people in the crowd. Hamarin shrugged.

 

- That is your problem.

 

He turned on his feet, and stepped back into the shadows.

 

 

OOC: The plot at the Great Hall will continue as soon as some of the other players of that side have posted.

[Deucalion]

OoC: I didn't mention flying, did I? Riding on dragonback is just as impressive as flying.

 

Just as Vol reached the exit of the cavernous lair where the current assembly was taking place, a second speaker reached the forefront of the crowd. A tall, sinister vampire, clad in an elegant black suit. Lucius knew of him from rumour. Hamarin. While Gal'garin was the Dezard's public face, a facade for the Dezard's announcements, Hamarin was the Dezard's shadow. Hamarin favoured deceit, cruelty, and caution, but most of all, anonymity. If you ever saw Hamarin, it was because Hamarin wanted to you to see him.

 

Lucius pulled on Vol's leash, forcing the deceased Dragon to halt, so that he could listen to wait Hamarin wanted to say. His opening speech was similar to Gil'garan's, yet Hamarin caused none of the infectious excitement that Gil'garan had, but merely a hushed silence, perpetuated by muffled whispering. Lucius began to regret withdrawing Thralk and Noir from the crowd so soon. Hamarin soon delivered the point of his speech, in his quiet, menacing voice, and Lucius scowled briefly.

 

Deathkaiser Dragons? That would only complicate things. They were powerful Undead indeed. On the other hand... he eyed Thralk, thinking of the sacrificial requirements of a Deathkaiser Dragon, and then smirked. It always paid to be one steps ahead of the game, but Lucius liked to be two steps ahead, just in case. Only fools make plans, and try to make things happen. The wise simply steer things in the right direction. That, and there was also the fact Lucius was sure Hamarin was lying. If the Dezard had wanted a simple announcement, he would have used Gil'garan. Hamarin was up to something devious, and Lucius intended to find out what.

 

"Hamarin, my Lord, do you require any assistance? As your humble liege, I would be honoured to aid you in your summonings!" Lucius called out smarmily.

[Guest]

Eden waited in the spot for his fight, sitting down and looking around the gloomy place picked for brawl. Near by Mog and Grog started to push each other back and forth, "I'm the smart one" Grog had said as Mog punched him in the jaw, "No you aren't I am" argued back the goblin known as Mog as Grog jumped on him, they soon started to roll around, exchanging punches and kicks. Starting to get a headache from the twins, Eden walked over to the two and held them apart, "Stop, now!".........

[Umbra]

OOC: Peoples, I'm off for the night. Try to slow down for a bit. See you tomorrow.

[Kyub]

Deleng flipped a coin in the air and called it. "Heads." It landed Heads. He smirked. "Deleng, would you stop that!" A voice called over. He turned to the source of the voice. Kard stood their with arms crossed, tapping her foot with her black and red wings beating rapidly. Deleng smirked. and held out the coin. "Fine, you flip it. Heads, you stop complaining. Tails, I stop." Kard growled. They had been made into a team because of her perfect record and his not-so-perfect record. She would not lose to this two-bit gambler. "Fine." She growled. She aggressively flipped the coin. Heads. Deleng took back the coin and smiled at Kard. She glared silently. "Lucky." She said with gritted teeth. He looked away, not wanting to laugh. "I make my own luck." He said jovially, and grinned. Kard sighed reluctantly. "Fine, fine, keep flipping that stupid coin. Can we go now?" Without waiting for an answer, she proceeded into the hall. Deleng frowned. "Well that was rude." He pouted, and followed her in.

 

OOC: Well, completely pointless intro. Usagi not coming in till later.

[Phantom Roxas]

Sora approached the hall with Alexander and Honest following behind him. The three noticed Deleng and Kard, a team Sora wasn't too fond of. Sora considered Deleng's gambling foolish and Kard had some attitude problems. Sora approached them.

"So, Parshath even invited you two? Shocker."

[Kyub]

Deleng laughed. "And your pretty perfect team's gonna get anything accomplished? Yeah right, you'll probably spend hours combing your hair rather than work." Kard, despite herself, snickered. Sora got on her nerves with his two minions, following him like drones. She stood straight, and smirked at Sora. "Are you looking for a fight? Because you're a long way towards getting one."

[Phantom Roxas]

Sora scoffed. "Why should I fight you know? An important announcement, and I think Parshath would notice that we'd be missing. Of course, he probably wouldn't notice you two missing."

Alexander snickered, but Honest elbowed him in the chest.

"Sora, please don't start a fight. We must get to the meeting."

"Ugh, alright Honest." Sora turned to the hall, but looked over his shoulder. "We'll settle things after this is over with."

[Deucalion]

OoC: So, Deleng = Harvey Dent much?

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

"Deathkaisers?" Vorthal was frankly surprised. In addition to being some of the strongest Zombies in existence, they were also some of the smartest and most independent. He hadn't thought Hamarin and Gil'garan would take the risk of their transports rebelling. And yet, the only Zombies less rebellious than a Deathkaiser would probably be... Sitting right next to me, he smirked internally.

 

"I know, it's a huge gamble on their part," Ella agreed. "They need Tuners... that's the hardest part. It takes a huge amount of sacrifices to keep a Deathkaiser in the air for siege time. Even as transports... Where are they gonna get all those Tuners?"

 

"Don't Tuners need non-Tuners to draw energy off of?" Mezuki asked, almost offhand.

 

"That's a good point," the Zombie Master agreed. "The energy requirements for such fickle beings are tremendous. They must have some power over the Deathkaisers if they're really going to take this gamble."

 

"Unless they're just feeling lucky," Vorthal muttered forlornly. Another mystery: How were they planning to keep their siege forces under control? They'd have to figure that out, and fast.

[Deucalion]

OoC: Fun facts about Deathkaiser Dragon.

 

It has the 11th highest attack of any Zombie, the 11th highest level of any Zombie, and the 29th highest defense. Out of the Zombie Synchros, it has the 2nd highest attack, the highest level, and the highest defense.

 

The only Zombies which have higher levels are:

 

Speed King ☆ Skull Flames (10)

Skull Flames (8 )

Vampire Genesis (8 )

Kasha (8 )

Despair from the Dark (8 )

Beserk Dragon (8 )

Guardian Dreadscythe (7)

Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon (7)

Fushioh Richie (7)

Red Ogre (7)

 

Especially as the bolded monsters above are anime only, meaning Deathkaiser is probably closer to 9th strongest Zombie, and there is the fact Deathkaiser is a Synchro. There is also the fact that Speed King ☆ Skull Flames depends on cards that haven't been released yet, making him useless. Vampire Genesis will probably be formed from Gil'garin or Hamarin later on. Beserk Dragon needs a Fiend, Dark Ruler Ha Des, meaning it can't be summoned. That means, of the easily available Zombies, only:

 

Kasha (8 )

Despair from the Dark (8 )

Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon (7)

Fushioh Richie (7)

Red Ogre (7)

 

are stronger than Deathkaiser Dragon. So, whatever the Vampires are up to, it is something BIG.

[Phantom Roxas]

OoC: Berserk Dragon doesn't need DRHD.

[Deucalion]

OoC: Card lore, it does. It uses Deal with a Dark Ruler, which is one of Ha Des's spells. Not in the actual TCG, but in things with a storyline, it probably would need Ha Des.

 

EDIT 2: Why do I get the feeling Dezard is going to Summon Fushioh Richie?

[Umbra]

OOC: I spy, with my little eye, something not beginning with ”relevance”

 

Graadin Cavern

 

Gil'garan stepped forward again.

 

- We thank you for that, Hamarin. Now, until the Deathkaiser Dragons arrive, I have another task for all of you. It appears that a gang of humans - Gil'garan spat at the word - have gathered in the Verdani Forest to the north. They don't pose much of a threat, but they may do so in the future. So, it's better to take action now. Now, go!

 

Outside Graadin Cavern

 

Never thought you would make it, shaman.

 

Eden turns around. Leaned back against the outer wall of the cavern is Prometheus. Eden gasped. The King of Shadows hadn't been there a few seconds ago. From behind the shadowed creature, another shape emerged. No more than a skeleton, wearing a long red robe and a band strapped across his forehead. But Eden could sense something different emanating from him. An aura of power. The skeleton nodded at Prometheus.

 

- Silence, Dark One.

 

He turned to Eden.

 

- Let's not try to kill each other, shall we? The great Dezard will need all of us in the incoming war against the Light.

 

Grand Hall - City of Aienna

 

Deleng felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around. In front of him stood a Herald of Heaven, one of Parshath's own messengers. The Herald nodded at Deleng and Sera.

 

- You're expected in the Grand Hall, masters Balmerg and Sora. Parshath will not start the meeting without all attendants.

[Deucalion]

OoC: It has perfect relevance. It is always best to know exactly wha you are dealing with. Incidentally, doesn't Lucius get an answer, or is he ignored? :P

 

Also, I bet the shadow is Lich Lord, King of the Underworld, and if it is, I also bet we will be seeing Diabolos, King of the Abyss soon.

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

Vorthal rolled his eyes. "He's paranoid about these humans," he muttered to himself. "If I've said it once, I've said it a million times... Well, come on," he gestured to his teammates. "We can discuss on the way." Ella nodded at this and began to follow the chaos mage; Mezuki followed shortly after, though tentative.

[Umbra]

OoC: It has perfect relevance. It is always best to know exactly wha you are dealing with. Incidentally' date=' doesn't Lucius get an answer, or is he ignored? :P

[/quote']

 

You were approaching the exit of the cavern. He didn't hear you.

[Guest]

"Fine let's get this over with" Eden said as he placed the goblins down in front of him and took out his staff, preparing himself for battle.

[Deucalion]

Hamarin didn't appear to have heard Lucius among the crowd. Instead, Gil'garan stood forward once more, and began a new tirade of propoganda, this time against humanity. Lucius couldn't be bothered to listen anymore. Gil'garan forgot that most of them here were descended from humanity in one way or another. Were not most of the Zombies created from human skeletal remains? Had not Gil'garan and Hamarin once been human, before they had been subjected to the vampiric curse? Were not many of the Spellcasters partly human? Lucius had been, before he had begun to learn magic, and it had eaten away it him, consuming him.

 

It happened to all Spellcasters sooner or later, no matter the element in which they dealt with. Dark, Light, Fire, to the Magic, it was all the same. Spellcasters would change over time, eventually becoming beings of magic in time, much like the Fairies or Fiend or Zombies they Summoned. Lucius remembered the words of his tutor and friend, who had taught him them secrets of the arcane spells. He had said that while you use magic, magic is also using you. Never use more magic than you have to, or else, it shall use you to it's own ends.

 

Lucius sighed. Where had it all changed? Why had his tutor abandoned them all? Flavr, the Blast Magician, Breaker, the Magical Warrior, Elza, the Dark Magician Girl, Sanith, the Dark Red Enchanter, Barrin, the Rapid-Fire Magician, and Lucius himself had all been taught by him, and then, he had disappeared, without ever telling any of them why. Lucius had searched for him, for so long, until his powers had been completely spent, and he had travelled through the wilderness and... fallen into bad company. He wondered if any of them would recognise him now? Perhaps it would be better if they did not. He was their enemy now, although they did not realise it. They probably thought him dead.

 

It was a testament to the fact that Lucius had long since thrown away his emotions that he barely flinched at the thought he may have to fight one of them personally. What if it happened? What if, in the midst of the war, he came face to face with one of them? Could he do it? Would he be able to kill Breaker? Barrin? ...Elza? He surpressed his feelings with a small laugh, trying to force himself to imagine him killing them, and enjoying it. Yes. He would enjoy it.

 

Wouldn't he?

 

It was too late to turn back now, anyway. He nudged Vol into continuing out of the cave, Noir and Thralk riding menacingly behind him. Well, Noir menacingly, and Thralk bemusingly. He would fly to Verdani, and he would bring death and destruction with him. His past self would have despised him as he was now, but that didn't matter any more. Nothing mattered any more. Not even his tutor, the Dark Magician, would make him stop now.

 

OoC: Whee! Character development! Incidentally, the cards I mentioned are all the Level 6 or below cards that have their artwork based directly on Dark Magician. Even Lucius has his card artwork, as a Chaos Command Magician, based on Dark Magician. (Magician's Valkyria and Dark Valkyria are based on Dark Magician Girl, not directly on Dark Magician). Hope you don't mind me giving our characters a past, Ixigo. I made it simple though, you think I'm dead and probably haven't thought about me in years. It's just something for you to explore if you so wish.

[Vector Nightmare]

OoC: Whee! Character development! Incidentally' date=' the cards I mentioned are all the Level 6 or below cards that have their artwork based directly on Dark Magician. Even Lucius has his card artwork, as a Chaos Command Magician, based on Dark Magician. (Magician's Valkyria and Dark Valkyria are based on Dark Magician Girl, not directly on Dark Magician). Hope you don't mind me giving our characters a past, Ixigo. I made it simple though, you think I'm dead and probably haven't thought about me in years. It's just something for you to explore if you so wish.

[/quote']

 

[OOC NOTE: Not bad. It should tie in interestingly if our characters meet on opposite edges of the battlefield, although playing a happy-go-lucky DMG is always fun. And well, since I wasn't even mentioned by any of the people in the Grand Hall, I guess I'll be going in without much fanfare]

 

"Checkmate."

 

Zarya Kaeze, known infamously as the Dunames Dark Witch, called her victory as she defeated her opponent, Shaya'iesh, one of the Guardians, in chess. Well, not exactly chess. The pieces were real-sized, roughly carved stone statues. And instead of strategically moving them around, they instead competed in how fast they could destroy them with magical blasts. Come to think of it, it really wasn't like chess at all.

 

"This is no fun." Shaya'iesh pouted sullenly. "You always win in this game. Maybe we should play something else. Maybe baseball?"

 

Before Zarya could begin analyzing that if they were causing that much destruction with a chess imitation - the magically enchanted room in which they stood was in ruins - they would definately be scolded for playing their version of magical baseball, a mental call from her mistress disrupted her attention. She felt Shaya'iesh concentrate attentively, and knew she had been called as well.

 

"Elza-sama! What's wrong?" She asked mentally, a hint of worry in her voice - well, her mental voice. Her mistress was well-known for using magical communication for pranks, sending them sweating in the middle of the night just for the fun of it, but with the rumors circulating lately...

 

"The Grand Hall has been assembled." Elza sounded very serious. "War is breaking out between us and the Dezard. I want you to attend the meeting. Open your minds to me." Zarya felt a tingle, and somehow, from the edge of her vision, she could see through what she knew were her mistress' eyes, peering straight at the massive arch which led into the Grand Hall.

 

---

 

Elza took a deep breath, then stepped through into the meeting. They could only pray for success now.