smuchmuch
2012-06-08, 07:17 PM
"Why are you doing this ?"
The hunched figures covers his bleeding flanks, in a last gesture she tries to lift her hand in a last futile gesture of defense "Do.. not come closer.. If you.. keep it..you will undo ev..ery..thing"
"Quite the contrary, I assure you" Another figures advance, his glow illuminates the blackness around. "And that is why"
"But w..hat will ..happen to th..em ?"
"Your hubris was great to the end. Have you ever truly looked down to see your legacy. They'll survive. Probably better without you" The cold voice becomes a lot more sympathetic as the gleaming figure pose a hand on his victim "But I swear this, if I can, I will protect and take care of them."
There's a last scream of agony and the fist one dies. The killer seems contemplative as it closes the eyes of it's victim whose body slowly vanish into the endless void.
"And if I cannot. You off all people should know the need of sacrifices"
---------------------
Damascus
400 BC, In the core of mount Olympus
The first sensations that come to you are the heavy clang of the hammers that echoes in vast halls. Only punctuated by the occasional grunt of effort, the screeching of a blade being sharpened against a wheel and the low hissing of bellows. You can feel the steps of large presences toiling away, the pounding of metal against metal. Drafts of hot air tingle your nose with sharp smells of cinders, hints of acid, ozone and the sensation of power flowing through the place. The warmth feels pleasant, comforting.
You sense two presences around you. One is large, heavy, similar to those walking all around you. It smells of sweat and ashes. Occasionally you feel a sweeping polishing feel against your flank. As it does, you feel movement stirring slowly in you. The second presence is smaller, lighter. You feel a slight touch against your side in a gesture of admiration for a well polished statue.
"He does not move yet?"
The answer comes a deep rumble.
"There was a time where he would have been ready a soon as our lord tore him from the rock. Now it seems more complicated. I do not know why, Daedalus, but times are changing, I do not what the future may hold for this place." There's an edge of sadness in the voice as it says this but after a pause it goes again, this time with a bit of amusement as it changes subject. "Now. You wished an audience with our lord but I'm afraid you’ve come at a bad moment. Our lord has decided to take a little time alone with his wife. He's preparing a surprise to regain her favors, I believe. He even gave us some free time later in the afternoon in this honor. As much as he appreciates you, I'm afraid her charms trump yours. But we could try to see if he has some time."
"...Only a foolish mortal would disturb such a tender moment, Gennadios. But maybe you can help me then? I have found this peculiar device and I cannot make sense of it."
"I would be happy to, but it is better not to talk here. I do not bear you any animosity but some of my brothers are not happy with what happened in Samothrace. I hear one of them talking about using your bones as a sharpening tool, you know?" The voices fade slowly as the two move away from you. "This is indeed a strange mechanism. I've never seen the likes of it before, this part here..."
A few hours of slumber come to pass as your eyes finally open. You can barely make the large dark shapes on great pillars bathed in the ambient orange light. The ceiling seems too high for you to see, or maybe it just disappears in the thick residual smog of the place. You lie in an open space. In front of you, diverse objects have been piled up. They appear as a blur to your still weak eyes, but they have some gleaming reflections and a distinctive appeal that you would learn to associate with metals. With effort by turning your head on the left you can see an oddly shaped large block of cast iron.
Even if your body still feels heavy, you can finally move. You also feel a craving in your body, a void in the center for yourself that asks to be filled. Your senses are clearing up. The sounds seem to have greatly diminished, only a swinging chain and occasional grinding from some far off machinery, and the only pounding you feel on the ground is that of your own feet that have suddenly decided to respond. It seems at the moment, only an empty forge is here to welcome you to life.
Blue Dwarf
3 months ago, New Jersey
After what seems hours of driving the rental truck finally slows down and turns to take a small dirt road. Through the windows all you can see are seemingly fields of grass and wheat under the stars. When the van stops, your driver steps out and walk to the back of the vehicle while silently waving you to do the same.
The field you parked isn't cultivated right now, it's just bare earth under your feet. The only sound you can make out, apart from the cooling engine (and the looping Queen CD your driver has felt the need to impose for the whole trip) are a few cicadas. There doesn't seem to be any other human presences at the moment, not a car on the roads, not a habitation in sight.
After a short pause, your accomplice takes a deep breath of the cold night air. The night sky really is magnificent. Far away from the city smog and without a cloud, the stars are fully visible.
"Does you good to get out of Freedom city once in a while." Now that he's confident no one else is here to see him, Vincent Bastion, the Red Dwarf, removes the hat on his head and takes his coat off. With a large gesture he opens the back of the truck, revealing what appears like construction panels piled in the front. He grabs two under his arms, the man may have lost his powers but he's definitively got some force still left, before delimiting with his free arm a large circle in the field about 30 meters wide. "That should do for starters. Help me set them out, kid."
It takes a good twenty minutes for him to make his side of a rough fence; "I rented the place for a whole week, so we should be good." You see him disappear in the back of the truck and get out a pair of movie cameras "But if anyone comes, that's our cover." he walks back into the truck, to get something wrapped under tarp.
"Now why do you think I drove us here?"
The Tallywol
300 standard galactic pulses, Past the Proxima Centauri Interstellar Bypass
The ship has been proceeding at a steady pace lately; you heard you were approaching another system. It is believed to bear life on its fourth planet… or is it the third?
You have been called on deck 2A for a revision of safety protocols while boarding new worlds. It would be an understatement to call it a bore. Until... there's a moment of panic as a sudden tremor shakes the ship. You and Ze'erki, one of the other Ra'shathasans are almost thrown on the floor by the violence of the turbulence while the Cejitan scientist is thrown bouncing against the smooth curved wall of the cabin. Thankfully for him, his species’ natural lightness allows them to support some quite hard impacts. The holographic computer generating the images you were studying shuts off and the lights dim down as you can hear the humming of power shifting though various systems and the survival tools you were supposed to learn to operate scatter on the floor with a metallic noise.
"What is going on?" Ze'erki asks the small creature as he shakes out of his stupor. But the only answer you get from the small bug creature is a rattle of its wings, a reaction you have come to associate as a gesture of confusion and nervousness from that species.
You hear another loud sound thumping for a short while, the activity coming from the bridge. You see many lights dancing from the instruments against the smooth polished surface. This is not unusual for a Cejitan ship but the way they are blinking in quick succession is something new. An announcement from the ship PA system bounces off the walls. It's in Cejitan, a fast succession of rattling and clicking you'd have a hard time making sense of, but you don't need to understand it to watch the commotion it causes among the crew.
There's another tremor, stronger. This time you are thrown on the floor no matter what. You feel an almost painful vibration coming through the ship, and a few of the intricate crystalline systems along the wall seem to shatter with a frizzling sound. The crew is scrambling away, though some try to repair the light damage.
"Are you alright, Ke' ?" Another announcement comes in as Ze'erki, always the tough one is helping you back on your roots. This one has a Ra'shathasani translation as well. You are urged not to panic, to act calmly and follow the emergency procedure and get into to the closest security pod. You are by now familiar enough with the ship to know they are scattered around the ship and unlock in case of emergency. Unfortunately, you don't know their exact location in this part of the ship. The communication adds with a warning to lock on tight.
War
Freedom City, wharf
From your high vantage point on a crane, you see at least three figures moving around the large brick building about a hundred meters. Trouble is, except for a few this warehouse is supposed to be deserted right now. You should know; you own it.
The barrier is asleep and the security guard at the entrance is lying around in his booth; like that, you can't say from here if he's dead, knocked out cold or just asleep. They parked their van right in the middle of the courtyard; obviously they're not here to stay. The large doors of the building with the 'Q Corp' logo on them have been opened so there may be more of them inside doing whatever they were here to do. They don't wear uniforms of any sort, but their clothes have been chosen to cover them quite a bit. They also all wear hoods or caps. Two of them are armed with odd-looking machine guns and stand guard near the door. The third one is carefully patrolling around the building, scanning around for people.
None of them have seen you yet.
Orpheus
Freedom City, Riverside
"Is there anything I can do for you, young man?" the smiling old woman behind the counter asks with a smile.
The interior of this place looks old, which is rather unusual for such a new and dynamic district like Riverside. This is more the kind of the kind of thing you'd expect to find on Lantern Hill, (but you don’t like going there for... reasons.)
There's a slight smell of dust and dry paper in the air. The dusty window seems to even ward off a bit the bright light and the noise of the animated street outside. There are books everywhere, on shelves, on metallic sale stands, even stacked on the floor to the point you have to do some twisting around to access to access the backroom. Some of the titles you’ve never even heard of.
You don't really know why your steps brought you here. Maybe it's because the charms of those little bookstores seem to have increased since increasing disparition. Maybe it calls to something deeper. Maybe you are just falling into old habits.
But you do remember needing something, what was it already?
The Pharaoh
???
The world is gone. There is just a blank void filled with whispers. Your head is empty. You feel light as a feather, as if you were floating in the aether. Time seems to have stopped, as if you were to stay this way forever.
But the sensations pass and you feel yourself called down. If the discomfort in your back is any indication, you are lying half naked on what you must assume to be a hard stone slab covered with cushions. The air is cool and chilly and there is a light smell of incense and flowers. You hear very little sound except for some frog croaking and a splash of water, coming from a river nearby.
You open your eyes on darkness, except for a small glow given by a small bronze brazier nearby. Your vision adapts to the low light, and you realize your bed is surrounded by veils. Standing up and pushing them aside you see you are standing at the center of a massive luxurious chamber, something out of an ancient Egyptian palace. The walls are made of massive stone decorated with colored frescos and light tapestries. Surrounded by the shadows cast by two massive statues and a few ornate coffers, facing you is a large balcony, though you do not see much of the view from your position except a heavy early morning mist. The place is unknown but somehow feels familiar.
On the other end of the room, behind you, you hear a light footstep resonating on the cold tilled floor.
So we're starting with a short prorogue for each of you, just a little something to introduce your character on their own. since we are in self contained intros rather than fully in the main plot just yet you guys have a bit more freedom to improvise with the environment or screw around with the Npcs.
Erdo: Tl,DR: Damascus as just been created in the forges of into,us. He is alive but hungry. Letting you introduce the character a bit from his particular POV before getting into he meat of your prologue.
Rook: Yes, the red dwarf listen to Queens. any problem with that ? Seriously though, since you haven't made his build or given much info on him, I'm making some details as I go; though it'd be more interesting that having the mentor figure be too bland and passive.
Buisness: Surprise ! We're playing this little bit of your backstorry. though it'd be a nice way to start. There's might to be a few changes from waht's on your sheet though.
Volv: Batman cold cut intro time ! The three guys around the warehouse are mooks, you pretty much outclass them in any way, so not much rolls necessary unless you try something particular elaborate. knock yourself out;
Bwuh: .. Hum well, okay i got nothin' in particular so I though a calm mundane opening, for starters. but there's a couple of hooks here so dodn't worry if you want somethign to happen just ask.
Jallorn: Nope, I didn't read your backstorry wrong. Bear with me.
I would like to thanks Ripleycat for her help in editing and correcting this a bit.
Link to the OOC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245773)
The hunched figures covers his bleeding flanks, in a last gesture she tries to lift her hand in a last futile gesture of defense "Do.. not come closer.. If you.. keep it..you will undo ev..ery..thing"
"Quite the contrary, I assure you" Another figures advance, his glow illuminates the blackness around. "And that is why"
"But w..hat will ..happen to th..em ?"
"Your hubris was great to the end. Have you ever truly looked down to see your legacy. They'll survive. Probably better without you" The cold voice becomes a lot more sympathetic as the gleaming figure pose a hand on his victim "But I swear this, if I can, I will protect and take care of them."
There's a last scream of agony and the fist one dies. The killer seems contemplative as it closes the eyes of it's victim whose body slowly vanish into the endless void.
"And if I cannot. You off all people should know the need of sacrifices"
---------------------
Damascus
400 BC, In the core of mount Olympus
The first sensations that come to you are the heavy clang of the hammers that echoes in vast halls. Only punctuated by the occasional grunt of effort, the screeching of a blade being sharpened against a wheel and the low hissing of bellows. You can feel the steps of large presences toiling away, the pounding of metal against metal. Drafts of hot air tingle your nose with sharp smells of cinders, hints of acid, ozone and the sensation of power flowing through the place. The warmth feels pleasant, comforting.
You sense two presences around you. One is large, heavy, similar to those walking all around you. It smells of sweat and ashes. Occasionally you feel a sweeping polishing feel against your flank. As it does, you feel movement stirring slowly in you. The second presence is smaller, lighter. You feel a slight touch against your side in a gesture of admiration for a well polished statue.
"He does not move yet?"
The answer comes a deep rumble.
"There was a time where he would have been ready a soon as our lord tore him from the rock. Now it seems more complicated. I do not know why, Daedalus, but times are changing, I do not what the future may hold for this place." There's an edge of sadness in the voice as it says this but after a pause it goes again, this time with a bit of amusement as it changes subject. "Now. You wished an audience with our lord but I'm afraid you’ve come at a bad moment. Our lord has decided to take a little time alone with his wife. He's preparing a surprise to regain her favors, I believe. He even gave us some free time later in the afternoon in this honor. As much as he appreciates you, I'm afraid her charms trump yours. But we could try to see if he has some time."
"...Only a foolish mortal would disturb such a tender moment, Gennadios. But maybe you can help me then? I have found this peculiar device and I cannot make sense of it."
"I would be happy to, but it is better not to talk here. I do not bear you any animosity but some of my brothers are not happy with what happened in Samothrace. I hear one of them talking about using your bones as a sharpening tool, you know?" The voices fade slowly as the two move away from you. "This is indeed a strange mechanism. I've never seen the likes of it before, this part here..."
A few hours of slumber come to pass as your eyes finally open. You can barely make the large dark shapes on great pillars bathed in the ambient orange light. The ceiling seems too high for you to see, or maybe it just disappears in the thick residual smog of the place. You lie in an open space. In front of you, diverse objects have been piled up. They appear as a blur to your still weak eyes, but they have some gleaming reflections and a distinctive appeal that you would learn to associate with metals. With effort by turning your head on the left you can see an oddly shaped large block of cast iron.
Even if your body still feels heavy, you can finally move. You also feel a craving in your body, a void in the center for yourself that asks to be filled. Your senses are clearing up. The sounds seem to have greatly diminished, only a swinging chain and occasional grinding from some far off machinery, and the only pounding you feel on the ground is that of your own feet that have suddenly decided to respond. It seems at the moment, only an empty forge is here to welcome you to life.
Blue Dwarf
3 months ago, New Jersey
After what seems hours of driving the rental truck finally slows down and turns to take a small dirt road. Through the windows all you can see are seemingly fields of grass and wheat under the stars. When the van stops, your driver steps out and walk to the back of the vehicle while silently waving you to do the same.
The field you parked isn't cultivated right now, it's just bare earth under your feet. The only sound you can make out, apart from the cooling engine (and the looping Queen CD your driver has felt the need to impose for the whole trip) are a few cicadas. There doesn't seem to be any other human presences at the moment, not a car on the roads, not a habitation in sight.
After a short pause, your accomplice takes a deep breath of the cold night air. The night sky really is magnificent. Far away from the city smog and without a cloud, the stars are fully visible.
"Does you good to get out of Freedom city once in a while." Now that he's confident no one else is here to see him, Vincent Bastion, the Red Dwarf, removes the hat on his head and takes his coat off. With a large gesture he opens the back of the truck, revealing what appears like construction panels piled in the front. He grabs two under his arms, the man may have lost his powers but he's definitively got some force still left, before delimiting with his free arm a large circle in the field about 30 meters wide. "That should do for starters. Help me set them out, kid."
It takes a good twenty minutes for him to make his side of a rough fence; "I rented the place for a whole week, so we should be good." You see him disappear in the back of the truck and get out a pair of movie cameras "But if anyone comes, that's our cover." he walks back into the truck, to get something wrapped under tarp.
"Now why do you think I drove us here?"
The Tallywol
300 standard galactic pulses, Past the Proxima Centauri Interstellar Bypass
The ship has been proceeding at a steady pace lately; you heard you were approaching another system. It is believed to bear life on its fourth planet… or is it the third?
You have been called on deck 2A for a revision of safety protocols while boarding new worlds. It would be an understatement to call it a bore. Until... there's a moment of panic as a sudden tremor shakes the ship. You and Ze'erki, one of the other Ra'shathasans are almost thrown on the floor by the violence of the turbulence while the Cejitan scientist is thrown bouncing against the smooth curved wall of the cabin. Thankfully for him, his species’ natural lightness allows them to support some quite hard impacts. The holographic computer generating the images you were studying shuts off and the lights dim down as you can hear the humming of power shifting though various systems and the survival tools you were supposed to learn to operate scatter on the floor with a metallic noise.
"What is going on?" Ze'erki asks the small creature as he shakes out of his stupor. But the only answer you get from the small bug creature is a rattle of its wings, a reaction you have come to associate as a gesture of confusion and nervousness from that species.
You hear another loud sound thumping for a short while, the activity coming from the bridge. You see many lights dancing from the instruments against the smooth polished surface. This is not unusual for a Cejitan ship but the way they are blinking in quick succession is something new. An announcement from the ship PA system bounces off the walls. It's in Cejitan, a fast succession of rattling and clicking you'd have a hard time making sense of, but you don't need to understand it to watch the commotion it causes among the crew.
There's another tremor, stronger. This time you are thrown on the floor no matter what. You feel an almost painful vibration coming through the ship, and a few of the intricate crystalline systems along the wall seem to shatter with a frizzling sound. The crew is scrambling away, though some try to repair the light damage.
"Are you alright, Ke' ?" Another announcement comes in as Ze'erki, always the tough one is helping you back on your roots. This one has a Ra'shathasani translation as well. You are urged not to panic, to act calmly and follow the emergency procedure and get into to the closest security pod. You are by now familiar enough with the ship to know they are scattered around the ship and unlock in case of emergency. Unfortunately, you don't know their exact location in this part of the ship. The communication adds with a warning to lock on tight.
War
Freedom City, wharf
From your high vantage point on a crane, you see at least three figures moving around the large brick building about a hundred meters. Trouble is, except for a few this warehouse is supposed to be deserted right now. You should know; you own it.
The barrier is asleep and the security guard at the entrance is lying around in his booth; like that, you can't say from here if he's dead, knocked out cold or just asleep. They parked their van right in the middle of the courtyard; obviously they're not here to stay. The large doors of the building with the 'Q Corp' logo on them have been opened so there may be more of them inside doing whatever they were here to do. They don't wear uniforms of any sort, but their clothes have been chosen to cover them quite a bit. They also all wear hoods or caps. Two of them are armed with odd-looking machine guns and stand guard near the door. The third one is carefully patrolling around the building, scanning around for people.
None of them have seen you yet.
Orpheus
Freedom City, Riverside
"Is there anything I can do for you, young man?" the smiling old woman behind the counter asks with a smile.
The interior of this place looks old, which is rather unusual for such a new and dynamic district like Riverside. This is more the kind of the kind of thing you'd expect to find on Lantern Hill, (but you don’t like going there for... reasons.)
There's a slight smell of dust and dry paper in the air. The dusty window seems to even ward off a bit the bright light and the noise of the animated street outside. There are books everywhere, on shelves, on metallic sale stands, even stacked on the floor to the point you have to do some twisting around to access to access the backroom. Some of the titles you’ve never even heard of.
You don't really know why your steps brought you here. Maybe it's because the charms of those little bookstores seem to have increased since increasing disparition. Maybe it calls to something deeper. Maybe you are just falling into old habits.
But you do remember needing something, what was it already?
The Pharaoh
???
The world is gone. There is just a blank void filled with whispers. Your head is empty. You feel light as a feather, as if you were floating in the aether. Time seems to have stopped, as if you were to stay this way forever.
But the sensations pass and you feel yourself called down. If the discomfort in your back is any indication, you are lying half naked on what you must assume to be a hard stone slab covered with cushions. The air is cool and chilly and there is a light smell of incense and flowers. You hear very little sound except for some frog croaking and a splash of water, coming from a river nearby.
You open your eyes on darkness, except for a small glow given by a small bronze brazier nearby. Your vision adapts to the low light, and you realize your bed is surrounded by veils. Standing up and pushing them aside you see you are standing at the center of a massive luxurious chamber, something out of an ancient Egyptian palace. The walls are made of massive stone decorated with colored frescos and light tapestries. Surrounded by the shadows cast by two massive statues and a few ornate coffers, facing you is a large balcony, though you do not see much of the view from your position except a heavy early morning mist. The place is unknown but somehow feels familiar.
On the other end of the room, behind you, you hear a light footstep resonating on the cold tilled floor.
So we're starting with a short prorogue for each of you, just a little something to introduce your character on their own. since we are in self contained intros rather than fully in the main plot just yet you guys have a bit more freedom to improvise with the environment or screw around with the Npcs.
Erdo: Tl,DR: Damascus as just been created in the forges of into,us. He is alive but hungry. Letting you introduce the character a bit from his particular POV before getting into he meat of your prologue.
Rook: Yes, the red dwarf listen to Queens. any problem with that ? Seriously though, since you haven't made his build or given much info on him, I'm making some details as I go; though it'd be more interesting that having the mentor figure be too bland and passive.
Buisness: Surprise ! We're playing this little bit of your backstorry. though it'd be a nice way to start. There's might to be a few changes from waht's on your sheet though.
Volv: Batman cold cut intro time ! The three guys around the warehouse are mooks, you pretty much outclass them in any way, so not much rolls necessary unless you try something particular elaborate. knock yourself out;
Bwuh: .. Hum well, okay i got nothin' in particular so I though a calm mundane opening, for starters. but there's a couple of hooks here so dodn't worry if you want somethign to happen just ask.
Jallorn: Nope, I didn't read your backstorry wrong. Bear with me.
I would like to thanks Ripleycat for her help in editing and correcting this a bit.
Link to the OOC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245773)