Shrine to the Dark (Destroyed)

[Lord Iames Osari]

Hidden in the basement of a nondescript house in the Slums, a shrine to Iames the Dark has been set up. There is a bloodstained altar, black candles, the whole shebang.
[hr]
A septet of cloaked, hooded figures is gathered around the altar, chanting. Chained to the altar is a thinly clad young man, his eyes wide with fear.

The chant rises toward its climax. At the moment the climax is reached,the chant cuts off, and in their shadowed faces, their eyes glow yellow, and the young man on the altar begins to thrash and writhe in pain, straining aginst the chains that bind him.

Eventually, he goes still, and the seven cultists say in unison, "For the glory of the Dark." Then, one of the seven steps forward, undoes the chains, and casts a spell.

The young man's eyes open, and he blinks, confused. He looks around at the seven, and another of them steps forward and offers the young man a black, hooded cloak. The young man takes it and gets of the altar. He dons the cloak, and the seven have become eight.

[Maerok]

A strange form appears at the basement stairs, looking down on the eight below.

[Lord Iames Osari]

The eight look up at the strange form.

[Maerok]

The creature approaches and reveals itself to be a sort of mummified creature though it is wrapped in long bands of thinaun rather than gauze. A red haze flickers in its dead eyes, which sweep over the eight with a gaze. "Greetings. I am a newcomer to this Town. And to fortify my position, I hope to make... friends... with those already in power. Do not mistake me for this creature," its arms sweep down to gesture upon itself, "it is meerly a proxy, if you will."

[Lord Iames Osari]

"We are not in power here, creature, but we hope to gain power."

[Maerok]

"Ah, I see. Well, it was not so much to contact you rather than your god. Seeing as devout followers such as yourselves would probably have been graced by his presence by now..."

[Lord Iames Osari]

"The Dark has been subsumed by his other selves. It is our hope that through worship, the Dark may rise to prominence. If you aid us to success, you will have the chance to meet our god."

[Maerok]

"Alright then. A nation of the undead will need an ally of the dark... Now how exactly do we go about awaking the dark side of a god? I usually do not concern myself with such beings but I guess it has been a necessary action."

[Lord Iames Osari]

"We gather sacrifices from the Town. After they have been sacrificed, the Dark returns them to life, devoted to his cause. Acts of violence, chaos, and cruelty will also help to rouse him, though we do not know how much."

[Maerok]

"I think I have something in mind." A dry smile crosses the preserved lips of the mummy-creature. "Might I commit such atrocities outside of the town, not too far away?"

[Lord Iames Osari]

"That sounds most appropriate."

[Maerok]

"Good. How would a thousand deaths sound to the good Lord Iames the Dark?"

[Lord Iames Osari]

The apparent leader bares his teeth in an evil smile. "Quite satisfactory."

[Kyrian]

((Not to interrupt...but how does this new guy know Iames' name? The eight have only been saying "The Dark"....))

[Maerok]

"Well then. I have work to do. I shall leave you gentlemen to your duties and return when my aforementioned acts have been completed." He raises a hand to the leader, seeking a handshake to seal the deal.

[Lord Iames Osari]

The leader takes the figure's hand and shakes it.

[Maerok]

"So long." And with that, the thrall leaves the shrine and disappears into the city.

[Maerok]

((Not to interrupt...but how does this new guy know Iames' name? The eight have only been saying "The Dark"....))

OOC: He's been around town for a while. And Know(religion) would be a class skill for all his classes. :smallbiggrin: And urm... *stab*

[Lord Iames Osari]

Two hooded figures appear in the shrine, along with the unconscious Gwen. They quickly strip her down to her underclothing and chain her to the altar. The other 6 appear one at a time, lighting the candles. When Gwen is securely chained and the candles all lit, they begin to chant.

[wxdruid]

Gwen stirs and tries to bring one hand up to her head, suddenly she realizes she's chained down and she looks around in confusion.

[Lord Iames Osari]

She is surrounded by cloaked, hooded, chanting figures, backlit by candlelight.

[Silas]

Silas appears, halfway through the stairs. He grumbles loudly at this predictament.

[Lord Iames Osari]

One of the chanting figures turns, motioning the others to continue.

"Who dares trespass in our shrine to the Dark?"

Behind him, the chant loses none of it's hypnotic quality for his absence.

[wxdruid]

Gwen falls under the spell of the chant and ceases to struggle.

[Silas]

Silas looks up at the man, and his whole body, or at least what is seen above the stairs melts. The pool of liquid metal moves around for a moment before it reforms into Silas. He aims his hands, now two gun barrels at the man.

"You might want to let her go."

[Lord Iames Osari]

"I think not." The man launches a powerful telepathic attack at Silas.

[Silas]

Silas stumbles back and to his knees. He fires both weapons, aimed at the man. One shoots a ball of fire, and the other, a ball of light.

"Iames...Kyrian....someone!"

[Lord Iames Osari]

The balls of fire and light dissipate as they strike an invisible forcefield protecting the man. He laughs. "Yes, come, Iames. Come to us!"

Iames appears, his eyes yellow. Ah, Officer Silas. Welcome.

[Silas]

"Oh great, you again..."

[Kyrian]

Kyrian appears.

Back off Iames.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Ah, Kyrian as well. How lovely. Emnos, you may return to your ritual.

"Yes, My Lord." Emnos rejoins the chanting circle; the chant is climbing, approaching a climactic point.

[Silas]

Silas leaps over the railing and rushes the ritual. He aims, not for the chanters, but at the candles themselves. His hands form into two hammers which he swings at two different candles.

[Kyrian]

Kyrian draws a gunblade and fires at each cultist.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Silas succeeds in knocking over the candles; the cultists seem undisturbed by this.

Iames raises a hand and telekinetically pulls the bullets Kyrian fired into his hand. He drops them to the floor with a clatter.

The chant reaches its climax and cuts off. In the stillness, the cultists' eyes glow yellow as they inflict psychic torture on Gwen.

[Silas]

Silas swings at the cultists.

[Kyrian]

Kyrian dives over the railing and swings the massive blade at the head cultist, as he draws his other gunblade and fires some at the other 7.

[wxdruid]

Gwen writhes in pain and finally dies.

[Lord Iames Osari]

A shimmering field of ectoplasm springs into being around the circle of cultists, protecting them. Iames suddenly appears in front of Kyrian, blocking his sowrd with an upraised arm. The blade has made a deep cut, and blood flows down Iames's arm, but a block it is. Did you think I would let you interfere? Did you really think I wasn't a match for you? Iames's yellow eyes gleam, and a blast of negative energy springs from his other hand toward Kyrian's chest.

One of the cultists steps forward, undoes the chains, and casts true resurrection on Gwen, the requisite diamond glittering in her hand. Another cultists picks up a black cloak from the floor and gets ready to offer it to Gwen when she rises.

[Kyrian]

As the new God of War, taking ALL of Ares power? Yea, I don't.

Kyrian grits his teeth against the blast and swings his sword at Iames, powering it with it's fire, ice, and electricity.

[wxdruid]

Gwen blinks and opens her eyes, she looks around.

[AmberVael]

((Wait wait wait, you're claiming that Ares is a really powerful god? Wtf? Did I miss something? Did you only use his name?))

[Lord Iames Osari]

Iames the Dark laughs. I am Lord of Passion. War is but one part of the wide range of mortal affairs... but Passion touches on them ALL. Disengaging his arm from the blade, Iames ducks under the swing and aims a powerful punch at Kyrian, attempting to stun him.

[Silas]

Silas growls and attacks Iames.

[Kyrian]

Kyrian sides steps and swings again.

[Maerok]

The thinaun mummy reappears again, red flickering in its eyes, at the doorway and looks to the battle below. "I knew I couldn't trust the living to defend a deal with the dead. If you eight, or nine it seems, get torn asunder, who's going to introduce me to the Dark?" It storms down the stairway as close as it can get to the altars and the cultists. Its thinaun bandages arc out into killing spikes and its hands launch black skulls outwards.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Gwen sees the cultists standing around her. One of them is offering her a black cloak.

Iames sends a blast of negative energy at Silas, and another at Kyrian, dodging their attacks.

The cultists not tending to Gwen turn and step through the ectoplasmic wall. One sends a gout of fire from his hands at Silas; Enmos targets the officer with another telepathic assault, and yet another one doffs her cloak, revealing a shapely, scantily clad woman. She disappears and reappears behind Kyrian, sliding her arms around him, pressing herself against his back. She starts nibbling on his ear.

((Now, to exploit Kyrian's well-known weakness... women.))

[Maerok]

Watching the cultist cast fire at Silas, the mummy charges the officer, thinaun spikes drawn about its rib cage like a fanged mouth.

[Silas]

Silas happens to be protected from both Iames and Maerok, because according to how his player's read Iames' posts, he's on the inside of the ectoplasmic wall. (He's standing by the altar) He swings at the nearest cultist.

[wxdruid]

Gwen gets up and takes the offered black cloak, she puts it on. She watches what's happening and asks a fellow cultist, What's happening?

[Kyrian]

Hmm...hi, how are you? Allow me to call you...DEAD.

Kyrian swings back at the woman, with both gunblades. He then spins around, placing her in between himself and Iames' attack. He growls to see Gwen being so ok with everything, and makes a mental not which he hopes won't have to happen, though his player already knows it will.

[Maerok]

Maerok's mummy thrall tries to force itself through the ectoplasmic wall, being undead itself. Both arms are hold overhead, holding a band of its metal wrapping like a garrote intended for Silas.

[Lord Iames Osari]

A woman's voice answers, We're being attacked by enemies of our Lord. We must drive them from the shrine. She begins to sing; hers is clearly one of the voices that gave the chanting its mesmerizing quality, for just her voice along produces a similar effect.

The woman releases Kyrian and jumps back, her peal-like laughter echoing in the room and adding to the effect of the other woman's singing.

Iames grins. Farewell, Kyrian. Look after Lillah carefully. In a flash of utter darkness, Iames, Gwen, and all the cultists disappear. Oh, and the mummy too.

Unfortunately, Iames the Dark was clearly a load-bearing boss, because once he has departed, the whole building begins to shake and collapse onto Silas and Kyrian.

[Kyrian]

Kyrian growls and grabs Silas' arm. They vanish.

[Maerok]

The mummy is crushed under the weight of a building. A flicker of red leaves its eyes as the ceiling rushes down to greet it.

[Lord Iames Osari]

((points out that the mummy is included))

[Maerok]

(Mummy is happy -> Time-Edit!)

[Deus Mortus]

A well dressed nobleman starts to scour the ruins of the building.

[Maerok]

(see Slums, I've been doing stuff to the shrine from the streets)

[Deus Mortus]

((I will))

The noble men nods his head and then proceeds to the slums.