Tides of Blood (IC)

In times so old that even the eldest of elves can´t say that they know for sure , two brothers Urza and Mishra fought each other for supremacy over a plane (planet) called Dominaria. Both were artificers and build vast armies of machines to battle each other. The battle ended when Urza unleashed the destructive power of a rare artefact that vaporised the whole battlefield. The explosion was so strong it separated Dominaria from all other plains in the multivers. After this incident Urza became a being of ultimate power – a planeswalker. He started to investigate the other plains in the multivers. He stumbled upon a plain called Phyrexia (a plain full of once-human warriors –now twisted and turned into mechanical monsters) and found out thet he is not alone a planeswalker, because the ruler of Phyrexia was also one. He was called Yawgmoth (known as the "Father of Machines"). Yawgmoth lived on Dominaria 5000 before Urza was born. These two hated each other from the very first moment they met and so gave birth to a first inter-planar war that lasted for millennia. In an event called the” Invasion” Phyrexian forces managed to get on Dominaria through a artificial portal made by Yawgmoth.
In the end Yawgmoth was defeated by the so-called “Nine titans” (nine planeswalkers including Urza) though they all died in the battle in the end Phyrexian forces were pushed out of Dominaria and never returned. (So far)

But now the darkness has come again. Yawgmoth was resurrected and he seeks revenge upon the inhabitants of Dominaria. He has gathered himself a new army and started preparation on the Second Invasion of Dominaria. To make things worse the situation on Dominaria is pretty bad, many races have rebelled against the elven Blesse Nation and the Human Empire and no one on Dominaria knows about Yawgnoths return. And since most of the old planeswalkers are either dead or don´t care about Dominaria, because they need to protect their own planes from destruction, Dominaria now stands alone at the eve of the biggest war in the history of multiverse and it needs heroes more than ever!

((the OOC: http://www.roleplaygateway.com/tides-blood-ooc-sign-ups-t8774.html))


On the far edge of the multivers, lies a plane whose name is the synonym of fear, whose people have spread death to all corners of the multiverse, whose religion shunts all others and claims the machine as the ultimate state of life, this plane is called Phyrexia. It is often called the final Hell for artefacts, or simply The Nine Hells. The land of death, the plane of evil, or the embodiment of fear this is how the races of the multiverse also call this wretched place. But there is one race that wants to prove them all wrong, one race that gave the word blood thirst a brand new meaning, the Phyrexians themselves. In this land of the oil, steel and clockworks, among the machines lives one human, one human that has started more conflicts than any other individual in the multivers, one individual who ordered countless annihilation of numerous planes and one of the two strongest beings of the multivers. This man is called Yawgmoth “The father of machines”. The Phyrexian way of life derives from the instinct for survival. Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest is represented here with Yawgmoth as the directional co-ordinator. While it is without a doubt the most effective as well as efficient way of gaining superiority, it is one tracked and single minded in its approach. Whereas Yawgmoth delved only in the aspect of "war" and its applications to life, he had to forsake the aspects of art, exploration, and thought. The very nature of Phyrexian "life" is a countermeasure to the culture and morality of Dominaria. For the sole means of destroying another, Yawgmoth's "phyresis" is really unsurpassable in its success, yet it is a path to sterility. The ultimate result of a mechanically cruel existence like Phyrexia's is the eliminations of all adversaries, and without enemies the causal drive of the race drops out. The Phyrexians' holy documents are titled the "Phyrexian Scriptures", and speak of a "Grand Evolution". Some quotes follow.

"From void evolved Phyrexia. Yawgmoth, Father of Machines, saw its perfection. Thus the Grand Evolution began."

"Great Yawgmoth moves across the seas of shard and bone and rust. We exalt him in life, in death, and in between."

"Father of Machines! Your filigree gaze carves us, and the scars dance upon our grateful flesh."

"Let weak feed on weak, that we may divine the nature of strength."

"Ash is our air, darkness our flesh."

Yawgmoth was born before countless aeons on a plane called Dominaria but was exiled for his beliefs and methods of enforcing them. By a twist of faith and with a great deal of luck, Yawgmoth was given a chance to become one of the mightiest beings known to the multiverse – a planeswalker. But his mentor saw too late that Yawgmoth is not going to change. Yawgmoth killed her and disappeared from the face of the multivers for thousands of years. When his name was heard again, he was already the ruler of a plane name Phyrexia, there he was considered the supreme god and lord of creation. Yawgmoth conquered hundreds of planes before he decided to take back the one that exiled him. In an event called the invasion he and hordes of his machine troops tried to take over this plane but in the end he failed and was banished to the world of the dead. But now he came back and it was time to take his revenge on the people of Dominaria.

Yawgmoth wasn´t still fully recovered and most of his planeswalkers abilities havn´t returned yet, but he had time, he had all the time in the multiverse.
Yawgmoth was sitting in his metallic throne and called out to someone “Arcanis, come here.” In no time his most powerful soldier responded and appeared kneeling in front of his god “You called me my lord?” he said. “Yes Arcanis, I need to know how are the preparations for the invasion coming” Yawgmoth said in a cold and seemingly careless voice. “We are preceding as planned my lord, the army shall be ready in three days and the portals should be opened in a week.” The knight spoke with his head bowed down. “Excellent” Yawgmoth hissed through his teeth “Arcanis, one last thing, tell Night to contact all our sleeper agents on Dominaria, I want status report” “Yes my lord” Arcanis replied almost immediately.
Yawgmoth stood up and walked to a bowl full of black thick liquid, he made a movement with his hand and the liquid cleared, inside the bowl was now picture, Yawgmoth was looking at the surface of his plane, everywhere he looked there were countless numbers of phyrexian machinery everywhere, all battle ready and waiting only for him to give the order and unleash this destructive force upon the unsuspecting dominarians. A small smile appeared on Yawgmoths face “Excelent” he thought “Soon, very soon Dominaria, you shall be MINE” and he started to laugh with the most insane mix of psycho and demon.

Arcanis returned to his paladins and Night, one of the paladin leaders, asked him “So, how is our leader?” Arcanis looked at Night and said “He is stronger by the minute; very soon he will join our ranks and annihilate those nonbelievers.” At this statement even the third of the paladin leaders spoke “May our god get well soon.” “Indeed” the others replied. The trio of paladins now marched up, back to the surface to prepare their paladins for the upcoming event.
“I almost forgot, Night, you are to contact all our sleepers on Dominaria to give status report to Yawgmoth, understood?!” Arcanis said looking at his subordinate. “Loud and clear sir” Night said. With that said the trio continued their walk.

“The time of war was approaching and there was no way that Dominaria could survive this one.”

---Meanwhile on Dominaria---

The forest didn´t begin at the prairies edge. Rather, it encroached on it. As the luxurious beds of golden grass and tile grew shorter and less dense, the first scrawny, gnarled trunks poked through. Other, stouter trees ventured out behind them in ones and twos as the last diminutive blades of grass gave way to cracked, dry earth and twisted undergrowth. A careless traveller could find himself well within the forest´s domain before realising he had ever left the plains.
As far as Rain knew or cared the forest had no name. From his vantage point on the last high ridge before the forest began its invasion, the predator could see only spares details beyond where the grass truly ended. The twisting and curling of the trees themselves conspired to block his view more than the shadows and perpetual dusk. The dark air above the forest was calm and unmoving, no warmer or colder than the air above the grassland. The forest itself showed none of the natural heat that is typical woodland might display. To Rain´s eyes it was simply a massive, cold blank. There was no sound from within the dark mass. For all intents and purposes, the forest was a dead place.

It was precisely as described. Rain nodded to himself and hopped down off his low ridge, skittering down the slight incline and into the dense field of tile and weed once again. The tile responded immediately, every barbed blade leaning gently toward him was waded past. The long trek from his former “home” had taken Rain through many miles of open wheat country, and he soon grown to despise the stuff. It did not harm him of course. Fleshier races avoided these fields as much as possible. Those who didn´t would emerge covered in scratches and scrapes that glowed bright red and took agonising weeks to heal. Rain was heading towards a near-by village to meet an old friend but crossing the dark forest was never fun so he sharpened his senses and entered the dark growth.

Tavi held his burnt arm to his chest as he raced down the street. Damn that merchant. Yeah the spell worked, but it also burnt the hell out of Tavi. He was able to stop the spellcaster from doing anything, but he was only able to kill one of the guards. This is what happened when you cheated. The spellcaster was the only one that noticed when he "guessed" the outcome of the match. Bastard was waiting for him outside with those giants wanting all of the winnings. Alright, maybe giants was an exagerration.

“Damn this forest!” Rain shouted as he slowly cut his way through the thick vegetation. The marshland enclosing on his position as he slowly advanced through the dark woodlands trying to move as quickly as possible or he might get trapped by the damn weeds. He slashed forward with his sword and as the motion to one side ended with sudden stop he looked to his side to see the sword stuck half way inside a thick tree. “Oh you have got to be kidding me!” he said angrily as he tried to pull the metallic blade out of the hard wood but to no avail. “Why won´t you budge?!” he hissed through his teeth as he put one foot against the tree and pushed. The sword moved a little but to only get stuck even deeper on its way out. “Ok, screw this” he said almost shaking from anger. H let the sword go and summoned some magic into his hand and with a sinister smile he looked at the tree. “Timber!” he shouted as he was about to blast the tree into million pieces.

When the knights finally arrived at the surface of Phyrexia, they all went their own separate way to prepare for the invasion in their own personal manor. Arcanis went to check on his horror troops, Holux went to get some scrolls full of useful spells and Night; well Night had the duty of contacting all the sleeper agents that remained on Dominaria from the times of the first invasion and even the “recent” ones. He walked into his private chambers and sat down on the ground. He closed his eyes and started to concentrate. He needed to be very precise to get into every consciousness of every last sleeper on Dominaria. Night concentrated and when he was sure everyone could hear him he spoke and his voice was heard only by those who he spoke to “Sleeper agents of Dominaria, your god Yawgmoth orders you to wake up and serve the purpose you were created for, now go and gather all information you can get, make your god proud.” Night got responses from each one of them, with a smile he broke his concentration and all he had to do now was to wait for them to pour information into his head so that Yawgmoth can gather them from him afterwards. After that Night left his quarters and went to take a look how were his paladins proceeding in the preparations for the upcoming battles.

A loud screeching earpiercing call was heard throughout the forest. Nen had found the man about to destroy something. Anger flared up inside Keikeiya as she stood up and turned around, making a jump to one of the trees then pulling herself up. As an elve, it was far easier to travel in the trees then on the forest floor where it was so easy to get stuck. Making her way she leapt from tree to tree, almost falling at some points, but then quickly regaining her balance with much ease before continuing on. She came to a stop a few hundred yards away over looking her poor tree which was about to become obliterated, and some man wielding a strange looking spell. She moved closer, and when she was a few yards away gracefully made an entrance swirling down a large overgrown vine type rope, then turned to face the human.

"My oh my, what were you going to do to one of my trees?? Damn humans! No respect for the forest, always trying to break something...." Keikeiya crossed her arms then looked at him, a slight tilt to her head.

“Oh you are so dead tree” Rain thought as his hand darted towards the tree but his concentration got broken by the sudden appearance of the elf. So with the concentration over the spell lost Rain found himself hitting the tree with his fist and it hurt like hell. He instinctively retracted his hand and gave it a good look, luckily nothing was broken. With a painful grin he looked at the newcomer ready to give him a piece of his mind but he found himself a bit speechless as he saw who interrupted. His yaw slightly fell as s his eyebrow darted up as he took a better look of the newcomer. Thinking quickly he managed to get back to why he was looking at her. “What do you mean by your forest? This forest belongs to the human empire, your Blessed nation has no power here” he said as he scanned the elf from head to toe while holding his soaring hand. “Ouch” he sighed as the initial adrenaline outbreak form the rage and the sudden shock faded away. Moving his fingers one by one to see if they still functioned, Rain finally managed to look away and returned to the sword. “And for your information, I´m only trying to get my sword from this tree” he said with a still painful smile

Keikeiya narrowed her eyes at him. "Only trying to get your sword?! You were about to destroy a tree thats hundreds of years older than I am, simply to retrive your damn sword?!" Walking over she uncrossed her arms and waved her hand around the tree, making the bark of the wood simply groan loudly, but then slowy the sword bgan to push outward. It wasnt the tree pulling it out, it was Keikeiya controling some of the earth properties to yank the sword free, but still, it made her feel like for just a second the tree was alive.

s the swrod dropped she caught it in her free hand, only to ahve to grasp it with the other, then handed it back to him. "My Blessed nation has no power here, but they arent my nation at all. I control this part of the woods, even your Human Empire knows that. Didn't catch the memo did you? Probably not." She giggled softly as she folded her arms again. "Any human stupid enough to walk in here and destroy anything, finds themselves ten feet under the nice soft dirt. Same goes with other elves..." She said the last few words with a cold tone, and a hiss of hatred seemed to spill from her lips as she said the word elves, but her voice returned to its soft tone as she giggled again.

"Dont you know the stories? The maiden in the mist who takes care of the forest? Some say shes a ghost, some say shes a spirit, other's say she is a lost soul whos eternal love died in this forest, so she stayed. All of it is bullshit, but either way I could care less what the story is, as long as people stay away from my woods then thats all that matters." She laughed to herself, then looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Rain raised his chin and made a thinking posture. “Hmmm...stories you say. The only thing I heard about this forest is that it is occupied by some nature loving freak that never seems to take a rest. But don´t worry, when I meet him I´ll make sure to say hello for you” he said grinning. In reality he never heard anything about the forest and actually didn´t even know it exists until he was in it. He smiled widely at the elf. “Oh, sorry. I forgot to thank you for retrieving my sword....so thanks.” He was about to leave when he realised that he might use some help. He turned to face the elf once again. “Eh...you wouldn´t know a shortcut through this....magnificent forest” he said as he quickly thought how to call the damn woodland that cost him so much energy. But he wasn´t going to be rude, not at least in the company of the forests protector and especially when the protector was really good looking and that was meant even for elven standards. “Sooo...can you help me out?”

She smiled at him. "Your lucky I like you, otherwise you might have been joining your little human friends." Softly she grabbed his arm and made her way back to the vine, then raised the arm which held him in the air a few inches away from it. With her other hand she made a small wave with her first two fingers, and the vine obidently wrapped itself around the human and elvish arm, then began tugging upward, lifiting them fromt he ground high up to the top of the tree. As the raised up in the air she gave the human a bit of a grin as the hung, then reaching the branches the vine lifted them over to the center, and released the two arms. Looking at him she smiled. "The other side of the forest right? The we climb with the trees, not against them." She queitly moved to the edge of the branch and made a very short jump to the next side, then stopped and waited to see if he would follow.

OOC: Creioko...your post was literally unexpected ...hope I can fix things with my next post ..so don´t move

“Yeah but aren´t we forgetting someone?” Rain said as he noticed the new arrival. It was a girl but her voice probably wasn´t loud enough for neither of them to hear though their constant bickering. He gestured for them to go down to see if the girl didn´t need any help or anything. “She might also need a lift” he said as he pointed at the girl. “Mind seeing what’s up?” he said smiling as he waited for the elf to react.

Ooc: Oooooo I had to read Creiko's post over agian lol, my bad.

Stopping short she raised her eyebrow, then looked down. Maybe the voice she had heard early really was there? Gurmbling she threw her hands up in the air when she saw the figure. "Come on now! Isnt anyone afraid of the forest anymore?!" Walking to the edge of the branch she narrowed her eyes down at the girl. "Oooh, a little elf now is she? Now giving her a ride depends. She is either getting off with you, or shes going back the way she came."

Keikeiya said this then sat down directly above the girl in the tree, and was in plain sight, and then giving an almost pout expression while looking at the girl. Recalling something she had heard earlier but ignored thinking perhaps it was her head playing tricks with her, she shot back loudly for the girl to hear her. "Wait, did you say I corrupt my forest with...hatred? Haha, little one, I dont hate humans or elves, I just wish both races had more respect for the woods. Elves arent the same anymore, most of them make large cities and cut down the trees around them to make homes. No one seems to care for the homelands anymore...Now now then, need a lift too? Here, dont struggle." With another wave of her first two fingers another large vine came down, slithering around the girls left arm, then forcefully pulled her up with them, regardless if she wanted to or not. When the vines finished they sat the girl in the tree exactly opposite of her, dropping her down onto the center of a huge branch.

The stone streets were slick with rain. The blue street lights reflected off them giving the walk way an eerie feeling. Figures in dark clothing, what consisted of the city's night life, walked slowly through the streets stopping to speak to eachother or stepping "inconspicuously" into alleys and side streets. Tavi stepped into the street and looked around for the brute. It seemed that he'd lost him or he'd stopped to help his employer- which seemed more likely. After a brief stop at where he'd met the merchant the other night, he wasn't there, Tavi continued out of the city.

The trek to his patron's house was maybe thirty minutes. Tavi knew the spells that covered the place intimately and was prepared to work his way through them when he noticed they were down. Garion never took down the wards, ever. He'd made it a priority for Tavi to learn how to disarm them when he first arrived, and then over the years to learn how to bypass them altogether. Not daring to cast a spell, in case he might give himself away, Tavi made his way silently into the house.

The smell of decay and hung over the house like a blanket. Tavi entered each of the rooms finding nothing amiss. until he reached the study. It didn't look as if his master had time to put up a fight. Everything was eerily peaceful, well, everything but his master's rotting corpse. Tavi madse his way across the room and began to check for any missing artifacts. Once again, everything seemed to be in place- knocked about as if some one was looking for something- but all of it there. Tavi reached for the hidden panel in the wall; empty.

Damn, thought Tavi to himself, that was the most priceless piece of his master's collection! An actual Phyrexian stone... thing. Tavi wasn't sure what it was called, but he knew it was supposed to power the... creature? This was way over Tavi's head. Gathering some of the objects in his coat Tavi began to walk out. He felt guilty for not staying with his master a little longer, but he could mourn later. These people were evidently out of his league and to tell the truth; the smell made Tavi want to throw up.

As Tavi walked out of the doorway he heard a groan behind him. Turning quickly he saw his master's corpse rising towards him. "Shit!", Tavi exclaimed, amid a few other profanities. He began rushing out of the building, setting fire to everything as he went.

[[OOC: sorry, I did realise that after I posted it, so it's entirely my fault. ]]

Cryst did not attempt to resist the vines, she simply let herself be carried. Her small hands groped along the limb, trying to orientate herself. She nodded to herself, as if reaching a decision. She then turned her permanently closed eyes towards the other elf with a small smile. "You deny the state of your forest? It is not the welcoming place it once was. Surely you can hear it? The Earth weeps. It's true, Elves have forsaken the Earth, but your aggression will not heal it's pain." She again ran her hands over the limb, enjoying it's slow, patient life force.
"As for the ride, She will go with you," she gestured towards herself "but her things are still somewhere in the forest. Therefore, she will not stay long." She smiled her serene little smile at the other elf, and inclined her head politely, her dark hair falling over her face.

"My agression has nothing to do with the forest little one, its just because I like being....hmmm, rude and obnoxious. Yes. This forest is everything to me, and I protect it from any harm, I have not tainted these woods in any way with my attitude towards other people. The earth is not as shallow as that. The earth, yes it speaks to me. This is one of the only sanctioned places left. This forest would be long dead without me. I dont need some newcomer to tell me how to run this home. In fact, this is more a swamp land than anything else. These lands arent meant to be freindly, its meant to be protective, trying to ward off destroyers. If you think otherwise, then your surely mistaken, and I care not of what you think, so I suppose it dosent really matter. Either way this is my home, and you are the guest." She said, scowling at the girl who dared challenge her two hundred year old work on making the forest as secured as possible. The girl was right, the forest was not a welcoming place, but it wasnt meant to be, nor was it really ever.

"Did you say..'her' and 'she'? You speak in third person..how strange. Intresting little one, that you are. Come now, both of you. We move now." She turned away as leapt one of the branches, then another. Nen recognized the leaping elf and flew to her shoulder, taking a seat next to the elve's head enjoying the ride instead of flying. "By the way, Im Keikeiya." She added, stopping for a brief second.

Branches whipped into Tavi's face as he ran through a thicket of trees. He paused momentarily to catch his breath. Leaning down, hands on knees, Tavi tried to slow his breathing. Just as his breathing started to even he heard the running shuffle behind him. He took a heavy gasp and began to run again.

The pain in Tavi's chest was getting worse. He couldn't keep this up. Each breath was a desperate attempt for relief. Tavi turned back and saw that the figure was right on him. Just as he looked back his foot snagged on a root twisting his ankle. What little breath was left in his chest was abruptly pushed out as Tavi fell. He felt the cool water on his face right before he smahed his face into the brook.

Tavi woke up on the other side of the brook. His lip was cut, but had stopped bleeding, and his nose was in such pain that he had trouble thinking. Tavi reached up and delicately touched his nose. "FUCK!", his voice broke as he screamed. After laying on his back for a few more minutes, Tavi pushed himself up and looked around. The sun had come up and a few woodland creatures made their way to and fro in a nearby stand of trees. The unliving horror that had previously been his master was no where in sight. Tavi looked down at the water. His auburn hair was as untidy as ever., and his blue eyes peaked out over his now crooked nose. Ouch! Tavi looked around once more before glancing at the water again. Of course! What an idiot he'd been; running water. In his run last night Tavi had passed countless streams and rivers. Tavi limped his way to the stand of trees. What an idiot.

Hearing voices overhead Tavi ducked behind a large tree. "... she will not stay long." Came a melodic voice. Great, all he needed now was some stuck up elf to come see him like this and gloat. Wait. Elves? Oh no... he'd walked into the Grey Wood.

((Out of curiosity, 7achary, have you posted a charactersheet in the ooc? You kinda need to if you havnt, that way you can take a look at everyone elses profile as well and know what you need to know about them. I think the link is in the very first post at the top of the page))

Hearing the bird make another whistle right next to her head she stopped short. "What? No...your kidding me.." She pushed the bird off of her in complete disbelief as she whipped around to the nearby river and stayed close to the tree as she peered down. Not seeing anyone at first she took a deep breathe and listened to the forest, the way the trees moved genetly, and the groan of the wood. The earth gave her everything she needed to know and she called out. "Dammit! An elve, a human, and now someone else. This is my forest, what are you doing in it? Your here somewhere! Come out come out, dont you want to play with the pretty elf?" She called out giggling, searching for the new person.

The pretty elf? Did this lunatic think he was out on a morning walk? "That's the only kind I play with." Tavi stepped out and let the "pretty elf" get a look at him. "you don't look like much of a ghost, and neither do your friends, I guess the rumors aren't true."

Tavi pushed back his hair and fingered one of the trinkets in his coat. His nose was still making it hard for him to concentrate. Steadying himself with a hand against the tree, the last thought he had was that she really was a pretty elf. And then there was darkness.