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Allan Denton

"This sucks."

0 · 1,643 views · located in The Garden

a character in “The Garden: Rise of The Nameless”, as played by Zalgo

Description

|| Allan Denton ||




"I swear my life just wont stop getting worse."



Image
|| Theme Songs ||
Normal||Rjd2 - Ghostwriter||
Fighting||Apocalyptica - Path||



|| Age ||
18
|| Gender ||
Male
|| Sexuality ||
Straight
|| Role ||
Security Guard



|| Hair Color ||
Black
|| Eye Color ||
Deep Dark Brown
|| Skin Tone ||
Light
|| Height ||
6'2"
|| Weight ||
182 Pounds
|| Appearance ||
This guy is sort of a tall lanky fellow. He stands with a forward slouch and generally dresses down, his aim more for comfort than style. As a matter of fact he tries not to stand out by generally wearing plainer colors such as black, grey and white. Overall people who know him would describe him as a rather miserable looking guy. He rarely smiles and he keeps his eyes mostly down to the floor more often than not. His most identifying feature is his set of black fingerless gloves with blue straps.




|| Personality ||

It wouldn't be wrong to call him apathetic. It also wouldn't be wrong to call him pathetic, though maybe less so depending on circumstance.

The most notable attribute of his is that he is dispassionate. This is very often mistaken as laziness as he rarely likes to put any effort into day to day things. He isn't truly lazy as when he believes in something or wants to truly accomplish something he'll work tirelessly at it. His only goal is to defeat the forces which threaten his home world, he is quite reluctant to assist any further than that.

A contributing reason to his lack of passion is that he is shy. He doesn't like talking with people in general. Large crowds bother him and the more frequently people talk with him in a day the worse he feels. He is anti-social without a doubt. He can overcome this shyness to function within a group and get what needs doing done but he will avoid socialization if at all possible.

Due to his frustration with interacting with others he is just a very unhappy individual. He doesn't smile often and gets annoyed quite easily. He does have a temper but perhaps a quality of his is his ability to think through stress. No matter how agitated, how angry or how much in pain he is in his brain will always be thinking. He tends to think a lot, spending most of his days in his head just thinking about things. It is one of the few things he enjoys doing.

Though he may be a generally unpleasant character towards people he has a kind side to himself as well. He believes life is hard enough already without people going around making peoples lives harder. If someone is in trouble he'll help out, even if he isn't happy about it. He likes to help people out in general too but he often doesn't because he dislikes the attention helping brings more.

A notable trait of his is that he rarely ever lies. He believes that honesty is a quality best not squandered. Well, that and he is a terrible liar. He's never lied once in his life and gotten away with it. He can keep a secret well enough but if he's forced to deceive someone he almost always fails somehow, sundering his faith in his ability to lie. Being that he doesn't believe he can tell a convincing lie he's opted to be honest and turn a personal failing into a quality.

A real quality that's buried deep down in him is a sense of humility. He doesn't see himself as higher or stronger or even better than everyone else. To his eye he's just a guy with a neat trick in a world of people with various stuff, many of which is probably better than what he's got. It can be argued whether his shyness drives his humility or if his humility spurs his shyness but not even he can really answer as to which aspect came before the other. He'd probably say shyness since admitting to being humble would just seem arrogant to him.

In addition to all that he's got a rather strong sense of personal honor, not one born from society or expectations but rather by his hardships. He outright refuses to do things he considers wrong even though this can often times be used against him.

In the end he doesn't want any part in this war of the multiverse. He fights only out of the obligation he feels to protect his home world from the destructive forces that threaten all worlds, he takes little to no joy out of any part he has in this conflict.

|| Likes ||

- The night
- The cold
- Rain
- Working with his hands
- Solitude
- Birds
- Spicy Foods

|| Dislikes ||

- Sunlight
- Conflict
- Heat
- Demons
- Righteousness
- Arrogance
- Fish
- Angels
- People who fight at a range

|| Personal Weakness ||

Firstly he is bound by a strict code of honor which he follows regardless of circumstance. For example, he will never hit a lady no matter how dangerous she might be.

Secondly he doesn't work well with others. If others can work around his brusque, unrelentingly negative and just downright miserable demeanor then he might possibly be able to be worked with.

Thirdly he does not get along well with angels or demons given his history with the two factions.



|| Abilities/Magic/Tech ||

Allan's main power is that he possesses an internal reservoir of divine energy which functions to empower him, giving him enhanced physical abilities and the power to heal himself amongst other such abilities that lay within him. This power's main restriction is it's "Inner Focus", a facet of the powers nature which amplifies it's power whilst inside him but weakens by at least half it's potency if not more when externalized. Besides enhancing himself he can imbue others with his energy but the strength of the effect would only ever be half as much as his own. The further away from him the target of the effect goes the lesser it's power becomes. This energy slowly but constantly replenishes itself. It takes a couple hours for his reservoir to completely replenish from zero to full.

Divine Might:
His main ability, he channels his power into his fists giving them a divine glow. This grants him superhuman strength and one other particular effect. This effect is that his fists cause anything with demonic taint far greater damage than anything else he hits because of the energy present. In addition, he can channel this ability into any weapon he holds, enhancing the qualities of the weapon based on how he wants to use it. By channeling this power into a weapon however it weakens the strength of the enhancement as well as the extra damage towards demonic forces by half. Unless he's using unusually exceptional weapons he can do more damage with his fists than he can when using any form of weapon. He can extend this power to someone else's weapon but the strength of the effect begins at half it's original value and only goes down the further away from him the weapon is.

Divine Protection:
This ability grant's him enhanced toughness, making him harder to wound. All his flesh in this state is as tough as hardened leather and his bones become as strong as iron. Most weapons find difficulty even drawing blood from him while this ability is active. This ability is on passively since it consumes very little energy when it's not being stressed by being damaged. Like his Divine Might, he can extend this ability to another person giving them about half the durability that it would give himself while still exacting the same amount of energy from his reserve. Just like his Divine Might this ability also wanes in potency as the target moves away from him.

Healing
Perhaps his most important ability. This ability draws on his internal reserve to mend flesh and purify ailments. The greater the wound or ailment the greater the energy cost as well as a the time it takes to fully heal. Scratches and bruises as well as basic illnesses take seconds to heal and do not require too much energy. Deep cuts and serious illnesses require larger amounts of internal energy and take minutes to fully heal. Lost limbs, fatal wounds and mystical afflictions require exorbitant amounts of his internal reserves, his complete undivided attention and it takes hours to be fully healed. The best part of this power is that it can be transferred into other people by touch. The cost of the healing is doubled as well as the time it takes to fully heal but the result is ultimately the same. Unlike the other abilities he absolutely has to be touching the target he wishes to heal in order to heal them. He CANNOT resurrect the dead using this ability.

It is possible that he has more abilities but he has yet to be made aware of them.
|| Weakness ||

- He has a low capability of dealing damage from afar leaving him often out-ranged by ranged fighters and casters who can keep their distance.

- If pressed without any chance to recuperate his internal reservoir can be exhausted leaving him quite vulnerable.

|| Biography ||

From the beginning Allan's life was a hard one. He was raised an only son with only a mother to take care of him. From an early age his mother had to dedicate more time to the flower shop she ran in order to keep the family afloat. He only really ever saw his mother early in the morning before he went to school and even then she was much too busy to properly take care of him. He did everything himself since he was forced to take care of himself since his mother was simply too busy to help.

Life at school was no easier. Being as shy as he was he never really made any friends and many of the other students took great delight out of tormenting him as well as anyone else who was unlucky enough to not fit in. He learned very little in the classrooms but out in the playground he learned to be hard, to be tough and to survive. Needless to say the days of his life when he was supposed to be enjoying life and having fun were spent in misery, fear and social isolation. Still, despite all the terrible things the people around did to him he vowed never to become like his tormentors.

Many years of this life he spent like this, resolute on trying not to become the scum of the earth which he had to endure the company of in the hallways and streets. It was at this point he started to realize he had strange powers he wasn't aware of. He went to the places he usually went when he wanted to be alone, places no one else typically went to such as abandoned junk piles, abandoned buildings and the sort. Outside the prying eyes of his peers he practiced, examining these strange new abilities he could now wield. In these places he practiced, testing the boundaries of his strength and improving them. Even with these new gifts he still continued on with life, keeping the power he wielded as a secret only he knew, or so he believed.


Eventually he was starting to come around to an age where he needed to worry about his future. After some web researching he figured his best course of action would be to take the security guard license test online and become a certified security guard. The test was insultingly simple and with a bit of searching he found himself a security company willing to hire him. When he arrived to the job orientation class he found that the teacher there also ran a Muay Thai class over at his studio.

Allan was quite interested in studying this since learning more about how to control his body in combat might help him understand his abilities better, plus the fitness involved was also useful. He trained and practiced but he made sure never to use his powers in the studio or anywhere else where he could be seen in order to keep it a secret. He would just go back to his own hideouts and practice what he learned with his powers on his own.

About a year or two later and he's kept a steady pace in his life. He was no master at Thai Boxing and he still trained there but he'd grown to be quite competent at it. His job had him working as security for the local mall on the night shift. Within recent history he had managed to save up enough money to rent himself a place of his own: A single room apartment with a bathroom. He had himself a futon to sleep on and a laptop with a charger. That's about it.

And then the robbery happened.

A group of three demon blooded gangsters broke into a curio shop in the mall he worked at to steal a rare stone which was kept hidden away in storage. He tried to stop them but their powers were just as potent if not more so than his own. It was all he could do to escape the confrontation alive as the demon bloods were more interested in retrieving the stone than they were in killing him. Quite a pivotal night it was for him as he quickly discovered that not only was he not the only one with supernatural powers but there was something going down in New York that he, whether he liked it or not, was now apart of.

Not too long the police brought him in where he was filled in on what was going on by the government who were following the recent supernatural activity going down in town. For countless years the angels and demons have been having a secret war on Earth using angel bloods or Nephilim as they are known and demon bloods or Hellions as they are known as like free agents to do fight their battles where they cannot go. The barriers that barred the afterlife from the mortal realm kept such spirits at bay so it was necessary for them to use humans infused with the blood of their kind to fight on their behalf.

At that point it all came together for Denton. The reason why his mother was alone in raising him was because his father was an angel. His father was the reason why he had these strange super powers he never fully understood as well as the reason why he was now stuck in the great battle between heaven and hell. Allan never really liked his father to begin with and all this new information only served to further sour his feelings towards his father further.


It was quite inevitable that the angels soon came and requested that he start fighting on their behalf. Their goal was to retrieve all the pieces of an ancient gateway that could be used to open doorways to other dimensions. The stone that was stolen by the Hellions was actually a piece of the gate they wanted to construct. It was easy to see why the portal was an asset eagerly sought after by both sides. Whichever side controlled the portal could open a door to either heaven or hell and either unleash hordes of demons or hosts of angels upon the world, deciding the future of earth entirely.

Allan wanted neither. To him the angels were no better than the demons as their plan was to come to Earth and purify the unclean from the face of the planet, remaking the Earth into their own little Eden. Their idea of unclean people were Allan's idea of just average people living their lives from day to day. The idea of working under his father didn't help Allan's choice either. In the end Allan told the angels that contacted him to go collectively soak their heads in a pool of mud, a request which was received as warmly as expected.

Thus Allan was forced to ally himself with the human government who wanted as well as he did to keep the outsiders from taking over Earth. He fought hard against the demon blooded and his fellow Nephilim but despite all the battles he managed to win the stones eventually all came together in the hands of the Hellions. A major battle was fought as both the Nephilim and the military came down hard on the sight where the portal was being assembled, Allan being on the front lines of the fight. At the apex of the conflict the gate had been conflict and was on the verge of opening before Allan struck a decisive blow upon the gateway, shattering it and creating a maelstrom where he and many other Hellions stood. Just like that Allan and many others had simply vanished.

Where Allan went is where this tale ends and another begins.




"I don't want money, fame or power. I just want outsiders to stop trying to ruin my home."

So begins...

Allan Denton's Story

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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#, as written by duramon
River turned to Rosa, rubbing his jaw. It seemed he got to talk a lot today, all business and no pleasure, what a terrible time for an Incubus. He glanced at Kira, still being carried by Volga and grinned Atleast one of us is making up for it. He mused inwardly.

"Buckle up kids, River's gunna give you a lesson on Garden lore." He started.

"Cycles are what we call the combination of the break periods and game periods in The Garden. Each Cycle usually lasts a thousand and a bit years, at the end of the thousand years the Lords begin to awaken along with any Vassals they kept and start to amass resources and regain their power. Usually through absorbing souls, although others have unique methods, the man in the top hat who forced his way out of Luka is one of them, he feeds on fear, anxiety, hopelessness. During the breaks we rebuild, rearm, train, try to find where the Lords went to sleep and total the body count." He paused and scratched at his cat-like ears, tail freed from its position as a belt and swatting back and forth in agitation.

"Over the cycles they've been getting shorter, we're down to about a hundred years now, and as you experienced, a lord or two have woken up even earlier. Based on the warning signs, duration, and results of high-level divination spells, this is the last cycle, ever. We find a way to waste them here, or we lose, on top of that we have to defend the four cities so we've got something to come back to. I joined last cycle along with KH4 and a few others, out of the crew we've got on deck, this is about a fifth of The Nameless. Everyone else died, in fact, almost everyone except me and K died. At the game start of every cycle, agents of The Garden itself can be hired for exorbinant prices to summon newbies from other worlds, and to revive some of the dead, its a random lottery who comes back, if you don't make it into the next cycle after you die, you're gone for good." He explained, taking a deep breath to continue the final stretch, man explaining so often turned into rants, he had to wonder how these rants would look on paper. One giant wall of blabbering text, going on and on.

"If we're lucky, revival restrictions will unlock once The Garden's clear, if we're unlucky....well don't die. Nobody knows what happens when The Garden is clear of Lords, we were all summoned or born here to clear them out. We didn't even figure out the timer was shortening until dozens of cycles in, so who knows what'll happen to this prison once it's empty of prisoners. Most of us are accustomed to living here, being ejected back to my homeworld by force doesn't sound fun, I'm dead there." He mused, tail flicking faster in agitation.

"Final warning for Cycles 101, most Lords don't make it through more than a few cycles, new lords are made from corrupt individuals or warped from a corpse of a dead one, so stay pure and don't leave anything behind. Those who do make it through cycles get names and start developing from mindless monsters into creatures of personality, they're the most dangerous, there are one or two of them who can even resist The Garden's will and never sleep. We don't know how they get so strong or what makes them different, but if a Lord introduces itself, run. Even if I tag-teamed with Blitz we'd struggle to take a Named One. Take notes kiddies, Apocalys zones hold the highest chance of holding a Lord, this is important, they're made from a Lord scarring the earth with a game, or from when it takes a nap." He finally finished, taking an exaggeratingly large breath in and breathing it out, holding his arms at his side and puffing jokingly.

"Class dismissed, good question Rosa, I'm more likely to give you a straight answer than anyone else. Mainly because I've still got all my memories, huzzah for not dying right?...or not again, like that other time...and the other one. Don't do death kids, it's not so great for your heart." He joked, grinning and scratching at his ears again "But I hope to god that answers that, I'm not sure what I could have missed." He mused thoughtfully, ruffling through his hair as he always did when he was thinking.


Meanwhile in the temple of doom...better known as Kira.


Kira held her hand up in the shape of a mouth and moved it everytime River spoke, rolling her eyes sarcastically and mimicking his awkward scratchings everytime he paused. She was so caught up in her playful jab that she'd entirely forgotten she'd been so huffy previously, realization hit her when the grandiose class was over and she turned to Volga, awkwardly pecking her on the cheek (Unsure of showing affection still and still not 100% okay with touching) and grinning "I'm fine, just not super excited for mandatory field trips, I'm sure it'll be fun." She reassured her companion, filtering through her assortment of junk and tossing stuff aside she didn't think was useful. Realization hit her again and she whispered into Volga's ear "Sorry about the magnet." She apologized plainly, afraid she'd wound the warriors pride if she mentioned it further than that.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Allan Denton
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#, as written by Zalgo
Allan

As soon as he caught the water skin he was caught in a moral dilemma.

While he had asked for a water bottle having taken someone else's was a favor to him, one he would have to repay. The thought of being in debt, even in the slightest, to any one of these bizarre freaks was an unpleasant thought to say the least. His mind raced as he tried to conceive of an excuse to refuse the favor or somehow avoid it without coming off as a complete jerk.

After some deliberation he figured of a way to sorta-semi mediate the situation he had landed himself in. Popping open the cap to the water skin he drank his share before closing it up and tossing it back to the barbarian chick. "Thanks." He said, hoping the water that was left was adequate enough to get her through whatever trouble they were going to be strolling knee deep in soon.


Though soon might of been an optimistic thought as River rolled into his spiel, Answering Rosa's question in more words rather than less.

Allan stood and took in all the information he was dished, his armed crossed in front as he watched River speak. He was largely unphased by the majority of what he had to say as it was pretty close the same as the demons & angels business he had gotten himself tangled in back home. His expression pretty much remained a bored frown throughout most of it, however not all. While some of the others seemed downtrodden by the info one particular piece of it put a smirk on Al's face.

So this is the final cycle... Good.


He was pleased to hear there was a deadline to all this. The entire time before he was deeply concerned that he had just been dragged into some strange skirmish he was doomed to fight in for eternity. He wasn't the most impatient man but when he does a job he likes to get the job done completely so he can put it out of his mind after. Never did the idea of constantly looking to the horizon, waiting for some new world threatening danger to rear it's ugly head, appeal to him. With this however there was promise of an end, of some measure of certainty. True, the difficulty that was involved was likely going to be steep however that mattered little to him. There were few risks that would dissuade him from stopping whatever the heck these things were from coming to his world.

Of course his smirk vanished almost instantly as River started to joke around. Not being an overly humorous sort himself didn't help ease the painfully unfunny quips as they went down. As it stood while the knowledge regarding the state of the cycle was welcome he was starting to wonder if the guy was ever going to get on with this day long escapade or if he was just pulling their strings.

"So, are we going or what?"

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Wayland "Brimstone" Smith
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Wayland's fire boiled to the surface again, and Rosa flinched, like he struck her. Then she retreated to the back of the group and curled her hands in fists again, while the fire cooled. The smell never faded but the furnace did rise and fall with the man's moods. Another part of this challenge was dealing with him. He was on the required list, but she chose to come anyway. The werecat took a deep breath of cooler, fresher air, reminding herself that this was NOT a forest fire, and focused on River's spiel.

Over the top is actually a better definition for these Nameless. She just wanted to know what the word meant to him, to make sure they were both speaking the same language. Many times since her arrival she's heard the term cycle, but her definition of the word didn't fit the context of River's statement before her question. She never asked for the full history of the Guild and Games, as she expected to learn the history on the way.

She shuddered again, clutching her field journal like a life raft. Soul-sucking monsters and dead coming back to life? Prisoners? Her eyes turned back over her shoulder to the quiet camp. Were they the prisoners or the evil monsters? Evil. Evil monsters. That's what she's here for. Kill the evil monsters! Not yet, fierce daughter. You will have your battle, but not yet. Listen and learn. Rosa tipped her head quizzically. She know she heard a voice, a soft female voice, but none of her female companions spoke.

The grumpy human broke her concentration with his latest demand they get moving. She growled under her breath, but faced forward again. Him, she wouldn't let under her skin. "My mother often joked that no answer would ever satisfy my endless questions, so I could probably think of more to ask." She gave a half-grin, "For now, I will give you respite, though don't expect it to keep the whole trip," she teased and bounded ahead of him, where she dipped into a dramatic bow. "After you, Monsieur Guide." She returned to her full height and added, "You're the only one who knows the way."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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#, as written by duramon
River looked surprised when Rosa bounded ahead of him, realization hit him and he awkwardly scratched at the back of his head. "More questions? And here I thought going on a desparing rant would save me." He let out an exaggerated sigh and smiled, saddling up and hopping in front of Rosa. "Almost forgot I was in charge there, you'll have to forgive me, it's been about a hundred years since I was in a guild, I'm a bit rusty." He excused, stepping past Rosa and bringing up a leg to kick forward at the air, the boot colliding with suddenly apparent wood and knocking open a double-door. Revealed ahead was an emerald forest with tall glowing trees that swayed in the wind, dropping green sprites of leaves on the pathway which wove its way through the magical grove. The grass was lush and springy, and the sounds of nature burst forth from the cluster of grand oaken majesty.

River took the first steps in and picked a falling leaf out of the air, sticking it into his mouth to chew. "Well then, let's get a move on, the first zone's a fair bit ahead after all." He mumbled, hand covering his mouth politely. "Eat whatever you feel like here, after this it'll be whatever you've got stowed." He stated, leading the way off the beaten path at a steady pace, deeper into the Emerald Forest. He figured after the demoralizing reality of the cycles, a nice change of scenery was in order to show the beauty of The Garden.

After all, the upcoming Zone wasn't going to be pretty if they weren't careful.

One of them might die.


Sometime later


The walk would be lengthy, and River would accomodate for stops when people needed it, aware not everyone had high stamina or natural abilities to compensate. Likely to people such as Alan's annoyance, River insisted on brief tours through fantastical regions of the forest as "Shortcuts", often plotting for breaks to arrive there when a member tired out. Falls where the water flowed the purest blue, caves brimming with rivers of crystals of fantastical hues not possible on any other world and other locations. Oddly enough, River was in awe of every single location he toured. Kira sometime along the way had extracted herself from Volga and began walking, not wanting to burden or cling too much to her Viking companion. Both Kira and River tried to socialize as much as possible along the way.

The group were finally on the edge of the Apocalypse Zone, and River stood on the precipice of what looked like a clearing surrounded by black obelisks encircled with runes. The guide however pushed his hand towards the clearing, and an illusory wall made itself known as his fist dissapeared . "Holographic projection." He stated plainly, bringing his hand back and dusting what looked like black goo off his fingers with a disgusted look.

"Not that I have to remind any of you but the fun stops here. If you mess up in here you, or your friends, will get hurt. Bad. " He reminded seriously, he pushed a hand to his chest and a small bubble floated outwards, his fingers glowed a gentle violet for a moment and he painted the bubble into a violet pyramid and stuck it through the barrier. Pulling it back after a moment and returning it to a pink bubble to sink back into his flesh. "On the plus side, there's no lord currently in the Zone." He stated with a relieved sigh.

He slipped himself halfway through the projection and pointed through, tossing a small gold crystal, rectangular in shape, to whomever was closest. "I'll be going ahead, no matter what happens to me, or any of you, do NOT try to leave back this way, go straight ahead and follow the rules. The warning'll make sense once you're in, give me 60 seconds, then follow. That'll point you towards me. " He ordered, passing all the way through with a soft "Ding" reminiscent of a retro videogame load screen.

60 seconds later, those who entered would find a barren landscape. Black ash made up the ground and choked the skies above, the air was polluted and coarse but still easily breatheable. Around the entrance point was a dead tree, broken half-way up the trunk and pinning what looked like a wolf which wheezed uneasily. The creature was stained black and its fur looked like ink, its ribs were easily showing under its malnourished frame, beside it was another of its kind, dead. There looked to be a path of clean brown dirt leading straight ahead towards the paltry remains of a city, architecture gothic in style and made of lavish marble materials, stained browns and inky blacks by the polluted atmosphere to barely show the majesty that once was. The city was crumbling under the wheel of time.

The dead city was a maze of peaks and flat-top roofs inter-mixed in highs and lows, a cathedral sat imposingly at its heart in a square, and the city marked a wall-less and grandiose circle with its clear dirt floors. As the group would enter, the Lazul cards all had on their person (Vinn had been entirely persistent they had it at all times.), made a loud beep. Those who looked would see the cards face change, the words "Game Start" appearing before a larger screen projected from its face.


"Team Game: Claim Staker"
Team: [REDACTED] vs Team: Legion

*Announcement*
Sufficient players have entered the zone, Team Game: Claim Staker has begun. Those you have travelled with have been registered as your team, all exits closed until game completion.

-Rules-
The city will serve as the stage for this Team Game. The rules will be explained below.
1: All buildings begin as neutral ground.
2: A team can claim a building by tagging a central core with a card.
3: The goal is to own the most buildings by timer finish.
4: The Cathedral is worth 5 points.
5: Upon timer completion, teams have 2 minutes to evacuate to the exit points, located opposite to entry.



The cards would change face from the "Game Start" to function as an information faucet, written plainly across it in bitty font was.

Buildings: 35
Claimed: 0
Cathedral: Neutral
Time: 60 minutes




The game was sudden, unprompted, and worst of all there was a trail of crimson blood in the ash heading towards the city that abruptly stopped.

River was nowhere to be found.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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Wayland snorts, smoke shooting from his nostrils when River says he'd almost forgotten he was in charge, a hint of amusement sliding into place in his mind as he flashes the incubus a wry knowing grin, before shaking his head to shoo away the alien feelings. Cursing under his breath he clenches his fist hard enough to cause his fingers to spark against his palm, making a noise not unlike nails on a chalk board. Grunting in irritation, and not ready to try and be soothed by his internal rythm he leans over as they're walking and takes a large bite out of a tree trunk, gnashing the bark in his maw as it turns to ash, he finally begins to calm down, the air around him noticeably cooling as he manages to rein in his emotions. He had no need to eat or drink, not in the same way a normal person does at least, but it did always help to calm him down.

It turned out to be quite the walk, long, monotonous and interspersed with random stops for those needing to rest, he wasn't one of them, spending the times they stopped standing vigil over the group of people he barely knew. For now, the thought ghosting through his mind, yes, for now. Having shaken off the distraction Wayland walked along, taking in the sights in a peripheral sense, as he watched for threats that might not be percieved by any of the group distracted by the landscape. Case and point, their leader, seemingly awed by every new scene, that was just like River.

Sharp pain shooting through his mind, Wayland forces himself to not think about the incubus, turning himself back towards his self appointed guard duty, though, this place is certainly beautiful.

Some time later they came to a clearing, Wayland walking ahead slightly to stand near one of the obelisks, examining the runic script, it wasn't anything he was familiar with but something about it, shaking the thought away he turns just in time to see River tossing some sort of golden crystal to the person closest to him and then dissapearing.

Turning to look at the others in their party he grunts, panning his vision across the group, taking them in and grinning slightly as he trots up to the barrier, laughing softly in the smokey way that he does, he steps through without a word, intent on being the first through in case they were attacked first thing on the other side, his confidence in his ability to take and survive a hit was strong, he wasn't sure about the others yet though.

"Well," he starts as he sees the new environment, letting the word hang in the air for a moment as he takes in the rotted state of the world around them, and turns back to the others as they come through, deadpanning, "This is nice," his card beeps just as he's looking down at it, his hand having moved subconciously to pull it from his pocket even before he realized he's need it, this felt familiar for some reason, even as the fore of his mind was twisting into combat mode, eyes narrowing dangerously.

Without thinking he starts spitting out orders as he slides his card back into his pocket, mind flashing through plans and memories of similar battlegrounds at the speed of thought, "I'll take point," He'd already established that he could soak up the most damage, "Melee fighters on the sides, intercept anything coming our way and put it down," He figured this would be Volga, and Allan, but wasn't entirely sure of their capabilities despite the month of working together, but he trusted them enough to watch their 3'o clock, and 9'o clock respectively, leaving it up to them to choose whichever they'd guard, or if they'd even take to his order at all, "Mages and ranged fighters hold the center, you see an enemy at a distance and you think you can hit it, take it out," This would be Charmeine and Ivan if they agreed, "Kira watch our six, be ready to raise walls just in case, Rosa, see if you can't track our would be enemies, and we'll move forward and take them down as a team, securing buildings as we go."

"This good with everyone?" He asked as he moved.

Wayland was unusually tense, this place set his teeth on edge and made him want to do nothing more than to set it ablaze. His orders given, without a second thought he proceeds forward, if the others had better plans he hoped they'd let him know, otherwise he'd proceed as he'd set out to, his military background made him snap to giving orders in a situation like this, especially when there was no other apparent chain of command. He of course meant no offence, whether the others saw it that way or not was up to them. First target the nearest building to them.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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#, as written by Zalgo
Allan

For the most part the trip was something he couldn't say he hated but wouldn't do all over again either.

The scenery was eclectic, a wide mixture of natural scenery distorted through a fantastical lens. His ordinary world never prepared him for any of this but by this point he had started becoming desensitized towards seeing things which defied all sense of reality as he was accustomed, his standards for what he actually expects finding new bottom limits to drop to.

In all truth he did not really mind the supposed shortcuts though he had some suspicion that River was lying about the purpose of the detours. While he walked he simply kept to himself, watching the scenery around him as he considered things of a more philosophical matter. Even when the whole group was brought to a halt for someone he didn't really care he had kept a slight distance between him and everyone else, remaining close enough to follow but detached so he could be more alone as he took in the environment. All in all the walking alone was no issue and the view was admittedly nice, he wouldn't admit to any higher praise than that though. What detracted from it all was the company.

The sound of their chatter was a bother. It kept him from enjoying himself, the noise acting as an intrusive element in his thoughts. Anytime anyone addressed him he was stern and laconic, answering just enough to get the point across without spurring further conversation. Dealing with the people's company was a chore and he only really accepted it in begrudging silence as he'd rather not raise a fuss over something he can't change.


Soon enough their journey came to a halt before what appeared to be a massive wall of obelisks. Al was ready for pretty much any sight no matter how dark or grave so he wasn't quite as interested in the massive structures the others seemed transfixed by. River channeled some lights while drawing on the apparently holographic obelisks, scanning for something from what he could gather.

River confirmed there were no lords present behind the wall, good news from what he'd heard. As he stepped through he tossed a rectangular golden crystal of some sort to someone. After sixty seconds like told he stepped through the wall into the zone beyond.



A barren wasteland, black ash painted the ground and choked the air. It was breathable but by no means clean, sort of like New York city. He noted there was an animal trapped under a bit of old wood but before he could really remark on it something that demanded more attention came up. Specifically his card beeped in his pocket. When he pulled it out it projected a screen from it's face out in front of him as a flat holographic screen.

Rules. Of course things weren't going to be as simple as going from point A to point B, nothing ever was. Still, what was weirdest for him was the fact that he was given a clear outline of what to do. In his line of work what needed to be done was rarely ever clear. It was only towards the later part of his time before the Garden that he even had so much as an objective outside of 'hit all the things'. This game was going to take more than that if he wanted to succeed.

It was going to require thought and lots of it. The tin man had already started barking orders, trying to get their group organized and lead them. For the most part his advice was sound, optimizing safety for the squishies was fair enough. Without saying so much as a word of acknowledgement he went over to his presumed place in this arrangement, standing to the left of the party and leaving the right open for whoever wanted to take the spot.


"This good with everyone?" Wayland asked them. Al was deep in thought, reading over the rules in his head and considering the implications. While Wayland had given them all positions what he had failed to come up with or at least share was a plan. While sticking together was the safer option the goal of the game wasn't to visit as many buildings as possible, it was to hold the most buildings by the end of the timer. The rules didn't specify if buildings could be changed into a point for the enemy team after already being captured by their team so he assumed from the semantics of the third rule that they could. With that in mind if they traveled in a tightly knit group there was little to stop the opposing team from following them, taking back the buildings they captured and effectively undoing any effort they'd make towards winning this thing. They needed a way to keep the buildings they were going to take.

Doing the math in his head he calculated that with thirty one buildings, the cathedral counting for five points, they would need to capture and keep eighteen buildings or thirteen buildings and the cathedral in order to win. There were only seven of them. In order for them to hold eighteen buildings four of them would each need to look after three buildings while the remaining three would each have to look after two. This would spread them out over a dangerously vast distance between each other and they still had no idea what their enemies were capable of.

If they took the cathedral at the very least they could capture the surrounding buildings with five people watching over two buildings, one person guarding three and one person left to defend the cathedral. They would still be spread out but at the very least they could hear each other and be able to respond if any one of them got jumped.


There was almost no math that would net them any modicum of safety save for the shelter of the buildings themselves. If they were going to survive this game taking the cathedral would be necessary if only to help scout out the enemy team. They needed to know where their enemies lurked and the cathedral was the best place to find them. Al had some suspicion that if they didn't race straight for the cathedral they were likely to see their enemies there anyways.

"There's just seven of us. We can't keep these buildings and win." He finally broke his silence, addressing Wayland.
"We need to head to the cathedral. If our enemy is anywhere they're likely on their way there. We can figure the rest out when we get there."

His tone was cold but not harsh. His intent wasn't to oppose Wayland's leadership but to relay tactical information, no more, no less. He was fine following orders but he also had no intention of losing this. None of the enemies daunted him more than the possibility of the repercussions for failing this game. As Vinn had previously stated the games usually carried with it a reward. The award wasn't announced when they entered, leaving Al's mind to wander about the possibilities. It could be an item, a boon to the winning team or worse, a toll on the losing team. In this zone he was fairly sure if they were going to be paying anything the only currency it was likely to accept would be their lives.

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Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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Eyes narrowing in thought at Allan's words Wayland's mind kicks into gear and his right hand comes up in the air open to draw the groups attention, before being whipped out to his side in a fist signifying a halt. His left hand fishes the card from his pocket, he's not entirely sure why, but words again come unbidden to his lips as he hold the card flat in his palm.

"Clarify rule 3, own as in holding the core, or own as being the first to tag?" waiting a pair of ticks Wayland is perfectly still as his card shifts to read

*Hold the core* Nodding sharply once he pockets the card and lets his right arm drop to his side.

"Allan, good catch." Kicking himself on the inside for the mistake he begins moving forward at a good clip, not recklessly fast, but noticeably quicker than before, expecting, hoping, that everyone would fall in behind him. Mind processing the newly recognized parameter and how it affected any plans they made he issues revised orders.

"We'll need to be moving double time people, mages watch the rooftops, you confirm a target, blast it. Rosa, you pick up on anything let us know, the same goes to all of you. Kira, see if you can't bring one of these building down behind us,"

If they could bring buildings down it meant less places they can take and less places they had to try and defend, it could also allow them to force the enemy along a particular path, funneling them into kill zones. Alert to movement or a sense of metal, Wayland moves forward, they had to win, he didn't know how, but he knew they had to win.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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#, as written by duramon
Kira was in awe of the nature around her, back on her world there was nothing like this. Nothing so fantastic, or rather, not anymore. The elf-kin was just as excitable if not more so than River. Especially in the crystal cave. The elfette took her time dancing in fluid ballroom motions amongst the crystals, chips and gems of red floating around her and flowing with her movements to be buried in the ground once more, only to be replace with blue, and then yellow, and colour after colour flowed with her movements in stages of a rainbow until they began to combine into new shades and formations. The elf was dancing for no-one but herself and stood apart from the group, twirling and letting herself get absorbed in the crystals glow.

After that the rest of the trip was spent in absolute glee, grinning idiotically and periodically glancing into a rainbow crystal that the geomancer had sensed and ran off deep into the crystalline forest to retrieve. The stone was a small pure crystal cluster that contained spirits of each shade, occasionally shifting into a new pattern as she stared at it with glee.

When River threw the crystal her way the girl nabbed it with an absent-minded catch, sinking the crystal into her cluster and watching the colour add to the beautiful formation before growing out of the tri-pointed sphere (That is to say, a sphere with three pyramid protrusions at the top) and floating above the central point in the shape of an arrow, pointing directly at River as it teetered on the point. She clapped happily and let the crystal float at her shoulder, having refined the shape to her tastes. The geomancer it seemed had one weakness which brought out the little girl in her, gems.

After 60 seconds Kira became the third to enter, grimacing and sneezing when the ash hit her sensitive nose. She looked at the two wolves, one dead and the other pinned under a tree and barely paid attention to Wayland's orders or River's dissapearance. Instead she headed directly for the wheezing wolf and lent down, gently patting it on the nose before placing her hand on the ground, a sword of heavily condensed ash forming as she raised it. Without a word the girl gave it one more pat and then drove the sword through it's skull. Ending the beasts suffering as quickly as possible, the girl turned back in time to hear her role.

Kira cracked her knuckles together and swung the sword onto her shoulder, nodding at Wayland, but taking position up front where Rosa was intended to be. She looked back at Wayland and grunted "I've been working on my physique, I'll scout with Rosa. Her nose is sharper than mine but my ears'll beat hers. We'll head out and tag a few buildings on Cathedral road and I'll see if I can tear one down. No offense but if we roll with you guys it'll take us twice as long to get there and we can scout a safe quick route by putting a symbol on the walls for you guys to follow. I'll send a signal if we make contact." She requested, crossing her arms across her chest and letting a fanged grin warp her features. "Besides, I need to hit something." She finished.


Ahead, Rosa and any others of sharper vision would notice an incoming object or person, a blurred black and red form moving at a speed that matched Rosa's own, disguised amongst the dark backdrop and ash-covered ground.

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Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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The walk towards their destination was rather lengthy, however to Ivan it mattered little having been able to compensate his shortcomings in stamina by almost sub-consciously converting any lactic acid build up in the muscles back into sugars. Consuming some plant matter as they walked, or rather draining any leaves and branches he laid his hands on of all nutrients before throwing the withered almost to the point of being turned to fertile dirt to the ground, as he was unsure what was safe to consume and what not. The scenery showing him a place so vivid and alive, almost like what he'd imagine the mother grove would have looked like, absolutely awe invoking and terrifyingly stunning in beauty, perhaps even too serene to be part of the same world as the wastes he'd seen before.

When they reached the clearing and River stuck his hand into the illusion he wasn't quite as surprised as some others, after all it was no more astonishing than some of the feats he'd seen before both in and outside of the garden. The mention that there currently was no lord in that place did not assure him of the safety of the place, especially when considering the key word 'currently' it implied that one could enter at any moment if it so desired.

Ivan was fourth to enter the barrier, finding the barren landscape and in the distance that lavish looking marble city. When Wayland made his opinion of the current environment public Ivan reacted with a voice partly snarky, partly melancholic: "I know, reminds me of home." He then took a moment to read what had appeared on the lazul card. Then looking back at the city, more specifically the road to it, noticing the trail of blood and not a trace of River to be seen. Certainly this didn't bode well for them. Wayland seemed to snap into a more focused self taking up a commanding position within the group. Honestly someone needed to do it and as far as he could tell there was none more suited than Wayland for the task. He took his position at the core of the group eyes peering into the horizon and over the rooftops, taking extra care to take notice of every shift in energy in their surroundings.

After Alllan made his quick and very aware remark about the exact nature of the goal. Ivan began to think about the limits within the game rules himself. Quickly realizing there'd be one way to make this challenge much easier, however it might lay beyond the boundries of the rules. "Wayland, do you think you could ask that card if it's allowed to destroy the cores? I'd love to try asking myself, but you seem to know how to and we need a concrete answer. It shouldn't be too hard to raze most of the city within an hour if we can get into that bell tower."

Moments after he'd asked that that question Ivan noticed a small fluctuation in the amount of light coming from the cathedral. Whatever it was it was he could barely notice it, let alone see it. Guessing from the way the area of reflection was increasing it was either moving towards them, or growing. Movement seemed more likely for now, and more pressing of a matter. "We have company, incoming from the cathedral. I can't quite see it, but there certainly is something there." He said as he prepared himself to retaliate against whatever was coming towards them. Not retaliating quite yet as it might be River.

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Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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Volga took River's advice to heart and spent her time in the forest gathering various roots, fruits, and nuts. Being sure to snack and rest and resupply as they moved, Volga spent her time at the river swigging from and refilling her water-skin. Her breaks were mostly occupied with snacking, resting, and offering Kira parts of her supply. Once at the obelisks, Volga took a moment to dawn her male and helm.

Volga was the sixth to enter the ashen hell-scape of their first game. She observed Kira's charity to the dying wolf before going to it and paid it a few words in her tongue "Þetta er góð dauða. Vertu frjÑls lítil" before observing the party's debate over tactics. Being a captain among her old ranks she looked over the layout of the area as they mulled over methodology "......hmmmm...I'll take the rear of the group lest someone come up behind us and harm one of our casters. I'm confident Allen can hold our flanks".

Without speaking further on the issue, she took her place in their formation and raised Boddel to her shoulder before calling out to Kira. "Scout and fight well, Lover! I don't intend to end this day sleeping alone in defeat!" She shouted in what might have been considered encouragement where she was from.

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Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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#, as written by duramon
As the blur got closer it became more and more obvious that it was River. The Crimson-haired Incubus was at a dead sprint towards the group, although it didn't look like he was being pursued. The ash around him wasn't disturbed in the slightest by his steps, as he stepped close to Rosa as she intercepted, for a mere moment he flickered. As if he'd ceased to exist for a fraction of a second.

The air beside Wayland shimmered like the space above a heat-vent, a roil of wavering air. The air's shape moved and broke at the exact same moment a cacophony of signals hit those who'd set up sensors. A single shimmering steel gauntlet lacking an arm reached towards the forge's shoulder, the tip of a blade pointed down from above his spine breaking through the shimmering air in a plunge, outlined in blue before returning into nothingness further up the blade.

To Ivan the blade marked the presence of a strong magical energy. To Wayland came the roar of the blades history, a living scream like the battlecry of a dragon. To Kira a new type of metal twisted its way into her senses. Rosa would smell gunpowder on the wind, and see the first bullet as it pierced the ash beside her in a scattering of dirt. The scent floating from the city and preceeded by a faint bang.

The timer on the cards continued to slowly tick down.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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#, as written by Zalgo
Allan

The firefight had begun.

All at once he started the very first step to most things, taking in everything that was happening. First and most obvious from where he was was the invisible swordsman that was trying to stab Wayland in his metal back. He briefly considered going at the guy trying to shank the man when something less obvious but all the more notable for Allan rang out in his ears. The echo of a gunshot.

It's not like he'd miss that. Even a silenced gun would carry a fair distance in as dead a town as this. If there was a sniper out there trying to take their heads off they weren't going to do anything in the sights of whatever scope they were currently trained in. Al figured Wayland being made of metal and all could handle his own reasonably enough. Folks like Ivan and Volga didn't seem to be quite bullet-proof.


Thinking fast he looked over to the wall of the building next to them. If they were going to fight invisible opponents the best place to do that right at that moment would be under cover. Sparing no time Alan stepped forward, arm reeled back. Moving with his whole upper body he swung a mighty hook punch into the face of the wall. The sound of stone shattering filled the street as his fist crashed through the wall of stone, the skin around his whole hand flush with a bright sky blue glow which diffused into his plain colors past the wrist. Large chunks of the wall crumbled inwards, dust kicked up into the air from the force of the hit.

The hole which was already substantial widened further with a casual kick, clearing the opening of jutting wall segments so it was large enough to allow people through. He turned, stepping out of the way of the opening and gesturing to the others to enter. With his other hand he cleared the dust that clung to his face so it didn't get in his eyes.

"Quick, get in."

He was never much for explanations. He figured if someone was going to try and pick them off with a rifle then the safest way forward was through the buildings. He was not afraid to make a way if there wasn't one before.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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Charmeine

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The walk was extremely troublesome for the whitette. It wasn't because she wasn't physically capable of walking a few good miles, it was because she packed so much. Things that she didn't need, not only for this trip, but just in general. Mostly feminine things. Everyone knew that sooner or later, she was going to run into a situation where she'd have to drop everything she had and lose it all. Even she knew better, but still took them with her.

Even though she was having a hard time, the forest was something that calmed her. Finally, something familiar to her. She extended her hand to touch one of the various trees. It let out a hum under her fingertips, as if it greeted her as well. As mentioned before, due to both her status and species, she had a natural connection with plants. They were both on equal grounds when it came to nourishing life. They can nurture living matter to the highest high, or take them to the lowest low. All at their own mercy. Though, many can argue that the plants are much more generous than the Seraph. Given this power, she could bring the dead back to life if she wished. However, humans and animals were a different matter than plants. It wasn't something she could just do with the wave of her hand. It had consequences. Hence, she never messed with death when it came to animals.

Due to her carrying such a heavy load, she was the one who called most, if not ALL, of the breaks. She spent most of the time pampering herself in a hand mirror, whether that be combing her hair or powdering her face. Which, she honestly didn't need. Her skin was pale enough as it was. But, being the way she was, this comforted her. It made her feel as if she were still sane, that life wasn't all that different after all. That, and she wanted to keep her status obvious.

It wasn't until they reached the Crystal Cave that she really started to act different. Not only was the beauty stunning, but a particular elf started to dance. Ballroom dance. Suddenly, Charmeine couldn't take her eyes off of Kira. She had mixed feelings about this. Someone so sloppy, so dirty, so vulgar knows how to ballroom dance?! Her eyes narrowed, and she found herself crossing her arms. The princess was insulted. She was the graceful one here, not Kira! She could do what she was doing, and then some!

When the group had reached the holographic wall, Charmeine was the last to enter. After seeing River's hand when he slipped it into the battlefield, she was not looking forward to this. She took in a deep breath, and stepped through. Instantly, she regretted it. A wave of ash met her, and all of a sudden, she was a greyette. Her eyes widened, and she held her hands up into her field of sight. It. Was. DIRTY. She let out a frustrated shout, but caught herself before that turned into a scream. Charmeine rejoined the crowd. "It... it had to be a Ashy Wonderland. No, it couldn't be lava, or underwater, NO, it had to be ash! That bastard did this on purpose, this was to get back at ME!! How DARE he insult...." The princess continued to complain to herself, feeling a nervous twitch in the back of her head. She ran both hands through her hair, to which they came to rest on her shoulders. Everything was okay, this wasn't forever. This game wasn't forever. All she had to do was step carefully, and all would be well. Then she could give that Incubus a piece of her mind, and maybe a kick to the groin. It'd be worth the blite if she could pull that off.

Another thing she didn't really appreciate was Wayland's orders. Who elected him as king?! It wasn't until she had the chance to calm down to really think about it that she followed. With Wayland's assigned positions and Allan's directory, it all seemed to piece together. Besides, even if she wanted to argue, she was too focused on other things. Something prickled up her arm, and she wasn't sure what. Normally it meant that death was near. It wasn't a future-vision case, she couldn't do that. It meant that it was already happening. She checked herself for blite, then scanned the scene carefully. Her heart sank. It was a wolf.

Charmeine turned to stare at the boney animal, everything else seemingly going blank. If there was ANYTHING she cared about, it was quick deaths. Seeing a small animal, dirtied from the air and struggling to live pulled on her heart strings. She brushed off her shoulder, and almost broke from the crowd to go put it out of its misery. However, the elf had beat her to it. The princess cringed at the blood curdling sound of bone, but the prickling left her body almost immediately. Charmeine let out a relieved breath, and her eyes locked onto Kira. She was growing a interest in this creature. She played with the ribbon on her neck as she watched the elf return to her post, pursing her lips as her gaze trailed back down to her feet.
----
And so, Charmeine took her place, her weapons held firmly in her hands. She found herself glancing over to Kira on a regular basis. She wanted to say something, anything. Nothing came to mind. Charmeine flipped her hair back, and scanned the perimeter. It wasn't until Rosa alerted the team that she actually started to pay attention to her surroundings. There was another feeling. But instead of a prickle, it was something building up in her chest, and buzzing in her ear. There was a Holy object. It was near... near Wayland. She didn't know what it was, but she knew for a fact it didn't belong to anyone in the group. The Seraph spun around, and opened her mouth to warn him, but it had already plunged. The whitette stumbled back a few steps, and her weapons glowed with energy. She tried to pin-point the invisible enemy and aim a little to its left, but then a gunshot made her lose her focus. She sent off a useless arrow, and whirled back around to Ivan. Was this some sort of ambush?

Suddenly, lost in all the commotion, she found it hard to focus. So many feelings, so many different energies, it made her head hurt. It wasn't until she heard a loud bang echo in the air that she snapped out of her frustrated state. She turned around to see that Allan had caved in a wall of a nearby building. At his demand to get in, she didn't hesitate. She made sure she was the first one in, only having a vague idea on what his tactic was. Charmeine relied on instinct at this point, not common sense.

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Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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Volga was no fool to the gaze of women and kept notice of the whitette's various glances at Kira. She gritted her teeth at each instance, holding her tongue as to not draw focus from the task at hand. The swordswoman had a mixed feeling at being on the opposite end of an oddly familiar scenario. Worse than that, one that she was having difficulty placing yet again. This passed as the familiar frustration with her memory replaced it, if only for a short time. After reaching her destination, she dropped the issue with herself for the sake of the far more pressing matters at hand.

Volga unshouldered Bodell at the sight of the disembodied hand's blade's unsuccessful lunge at Wayland's back and took a preparatory stance. She was confused at the sharp popping sound and Allan's extreme reaction to it. She scanned back and forth for the source of the noise but couldn't quite place an exact direction through the echoes of the town and its buildings. Then only turning her attention back to Allen at the sound of him smashing the wall of the building in. Her confusion grew until his earnest spouting of "Quick, get in." snapped her into focus. She knew better than to scoff at a comrades cautions in both wisdom and experience. In a flurry of movement and exertion she reshouldered Bodell and darted towards him, palming Kira and clutching her to her torso before sliding into the building skidding on the soles of her boots as she did so.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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The flicker of the projection of River might not have been noticeable to some of the others, but Ivan could sense it and knew something was very wrong the moment he took notice. Not soon after his suspicions were confirmed as an till then invisible entity tried to strike down on Wayland with it's sword. Already set to retaliate at anything he threw a bolt of lightning at the blade, in the fraction of a second where the lightning connected him and the blade he could sense a strong magic within it. If he could get some sort of continued contact with it he might be able to drain it of it's energy, however trying to grab a blade sounded more like a good way to get an arm chopped off than a tactically sound thing to do.

The faint sound of an explosion, sharper than that of a musket but as the same time more silent followed soon after. Sound waves bouncing around between the ruins made it impossible to get any indication of the direction the shot came from let alone get an idea of the distance. Had it been an archer or a musket Ivan wouldn't have felt alarmed, the shooter would have been close enough to be seen and the projectile slow enough to intercept. But this, this was too fast from somewhere where he couldn't see. It seemed Allan shared his worry about their firearms wielding opponent as he broke through a building and ushered everyone to get inside. It seemed by far the safest of choices so Ivan hurried into the building.

Once inside he quickly went through their options in dealing with this hidden foe and the less hidden one. They were likely not the only opponents, and they had been found out first, a massive disadvantage. No matter how he tried to reason about things he always settled on hiding as the best option, and went on to set things in motion for this. He threw a small crystal fragment to the six others, sticking them to the clothes for those too busy to catch the fragments. Then without as much as a warning clouds of a very thick and dark fog fumed from the lantern. A feeling of hopelessness, despair and cold was emitted by the edge of this fog cloud as it expanded to fill the building and creep out into the streets like a viscous fluid swallowing all in it's path, devouring light and heat in it's path to feed it's growth. The inside of the cloud held much of the same dark, gloomy and cold atmosphere, at least for those who hadn't been marked by a crystal fragment. Those who had such a fragment would see and feel much the same as Ivan, barely aware of the existence of the fog that surrounded them. Then his voice resonated through the crystals silent as a whisper yet clear. "Within this fog the enemy will not be able to see further than the length of their noses, and should be exposed to the cold of the fog. As long as we stay inside the fog we should have a distinct advantage over our opponents."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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Not looking, not even thinking Wayland moves, fire and steel roaring in his ears as his mind lights up with the presence of a blade where there wasn't one before. His eye flick up to the blade as he spins away and he can feel an armored hand reaching for his shoulder as he goes to pull away from it, talons form from his fingers as the distal phalanx of his fingers lengthen into blade like talons, promising ripping agony. They burst through the skin at the tip of his fingers as they grow sending droplets of his blood to the ground, where they hiss and spit against the dirt, quickly cooling into small metal beads. All of these actions taking place in the same moment, it's almost more than he can process all at once, and then his mind hardens as he hears the gunshots and he's moving on instinct.

Clawed hand making a warding gesture as he moves to distance himself from the enemy, his talons raking across the enemies blade as he wards it off, sending a shower of sparks to the ground, Wayland turns in time to catch the flash of lightning as it arcs to the enemies blade, and from that to his own body made of several highly conductive metals, choking for a moment as his senses light up with rarely felt pain, Wayland roars and drags himself away until the pain stops, abandoning his plan of a counter attack. He can't see the others but he can sense where they are through their equipment.

He can feel something latch onto his clothes as he pulls himself through the opening he assumes one of the others made. Wayland grunts, leaning against the wall next to the opening his clothes smoking, the sound not unlike nails on a chalkboard, as he shakes himself, eyes glowing in the dim building like twin coals he looks over the group and attempts to takes stock of their situation.

β€œThat'll buy us some time, good work Ivan.” For an instant Wayland's accent changes, and his pupils change to slits, only for an instant before returning to normal, but to those observant enough to catch it, it would be obvious.

Shoving off the wall, stumbling at first before his steps become more sure Wayland strides across the room towards the stair, nodding at Allan as he moves past him, glad that he's kept his head when the shit hit the fan. Stopping at the stairs he looks back at the group,

β€œlet's get a little higher and go building to building, sound good?” Hammer pounding in his head Wayland growls more to himself than for any other reason, as he turns back to the stairs and heads up while contemplating their options. Moving from building to building would be safest, if they could destroy cores as they went it would be good too, still they wouldn't want to get trapped in one so they'd have to be extra careful, ought to be better than trying the streets again though, since there seemed to be a sniper out there. It was a shame he couldn't get a look at one of the bullets, but them's the brakes.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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#, as written by duramon
Kira felt the new strain of metal twist into her senses. It was like a new scent in the air, and another new scent burned its way into her senses from the bullet that scorched the ash near Rosa. She was torn between the two mentally and magnetized the remains of the bullet to her arm, in her distraction she couldn't correct the speed and it slammed in more forcefully than she had intended and burnt her skin harshly as she turned to handle the more pressing matter of Wayland's assaulter.

Prepared for a drawn out battle her hands glowed a shimmering blue for half a second, and then she was scooped up by the companionative viking.

"Shit" She swore aloud, clenching her fists tight and feeling the energy shake and rock through her. It was like a thousand tiny snakes slithering through her veins and making channels through the muscles in her hands. The elfette grimaced and as soon as everyone was safely within the house she pushed herself roughly off of Volga and rolled towards the gaping hole as she hit the ground, pointing both her hands forward as she stood. She had to discharge somewhere, anywhere, before the energy built up even worse.

She could feel the first "Snake" bite into her arm past her manacles and took a deep breath, focusing on the energy with a pained expression and forcing it back down her appendages to the tips of her fingers which glowed the same azure blue.

With one last push of her focus the energy discharged to form a punishing wall of electric bars. The whole in the wall sealed like a jail cell, a pillar for each of her fingers. With the effort she collapsed to one knee and could smell the burns her finger-tips had sustained while concentrating the mass. Still not strong enough she thought to herself, pouting that the secret fruits of her training had been so spectacularly awful in their big reveal. She looked to Volga and coughed out three words

"I'm totally fine."

For now she took a moment to just focus on breathing, wiping the sweat from her forehead as she took a seat and looked amongst the group.

"We...really need...to work on our teamwork...huh?" She stated openly, huffing between words. The pain wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't gone well beyond overcharging herself, but to discharge so close to Volga. That would be something Kira could not have risked.

While Rosa and Wayland talked of their plans, Kira slowly stood and then wrapped her burnt arm around Volga's shoulder to lean upon her. She would recover quickly, she had been a beast of burden all her life after all. A high recovery rate was part of the package.

Lazily she flicked the carcass of the bullet to Wayland at the stairs, metal-man wasn't a hard target for magnet-gal. "High powered Sniper Rifle...no idea...what metal that is but..it's sturdier than anything I've seen,..shooter could have fired it from anywhere up to half of the city away and it'd still be good....The fact that its wrecked doesn't fill me with confidence." She analyzed, flexing her fingers absent-mindedly to try and shake off the tingling that remained. The bullet was an off white colour and matched that of a .50 caliber payload, it was shredded, and still hot.

She decided to leave the business of their battle-plan to the others for once, chances of things entering her comfort zone of ideas were low, and Wayland had established his leadership. They needed a plan, now, and contested strategies was a bad way to go. Personally the girl was itching to find out what kind of enemies would have metal and abilities like this, and she wanted to put them through their paces.

She had another trick up her sleeve, and she revealed it to the group as the Lazul card formed in her finger tips out of a variety of metallic shards that had flecked her skin.

"I sent an order to Vinn during the training for this, so we might as well make use of it, what we do here is up to someone else...You guys better worship me for choosing intel and finesse over kicking ass this last month." She joked cheerfully, coughing every now and again, although she was able to form full sentences without needing to take a break to breathe.



Name: "[REDACTED]"

1.7





Name: "White"

1.2



Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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#, as written by Zalgo
Allan

They were all inside, well, enough of them to count. He might of missed one or two. It was rather hectic with all the magic being thrown around. A crystal was stuck to him, phantasmal mists were conjured and Kira blocked the entry way with something. All in all it seemed like rather fruitless gestures given they were on a timer. He had no intention on staying in this building long.

Wayland's plan seemed to be going from rooftop to rooftop while Rosa seemed more content with trying to capture and hold these buildings with just seven people. Both plans would leave them open for continued assault inevitably. Allan had a plan of his own however he was not content with just becoming another voice in this stew of people trying to seize the reins. He figured he'd have better luck actually getting something done while they squabble.


Blowing off the little bits of rock that still clung to his glove he started walking towards a doorway that led deeper into the building. Before leaving the room he turned, scanning over the group until he found Ivan.

Why Ivan exactly? Simply enough he seemed to be the more knowledgeable one among them. He was more likely to figure out whatever these things were and how to break them or use them to their advantage. Al believed his group needed every advantage it could get if any one of them expected to survive this.

"Let's go see if these cores can be broken." He gestured to Ivan to follow him. His expression hadn't changed since this game started, his face a stern frown with a look of concentration in his eyes. When he was done talking he simply turned and continued on towards the core, prepared to put a couple theories to the test.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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After Kira barred off the entrance to the building Volga went to aid her in her fatigue and was going to voice her concerns before being cut off by her statement of "I'm totally fine.". She held her tongue and settled for having her little partner hang on her arm. While she was concerned with this, the rest of the party seemed to be held up on strategizing or in Allan's case moving forward.

Volga, knowing better than to sit around and chat flagrantly lifted Kira bridal style and passed Allan on the way to the door as he addressed Ivan. Giving them a moment to exchange, she turned to address the rest of the group and spouted one of her father's old quips "Banter on the battlefield begets a brother's beheading!". She then passed the threshold into the next room to start scrounging about for the core.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kira Character Portrait: Volga Argonar Character Portrait: Rosa Gerzon Character Portrait: Charmeine Lucifen d'Autriche Character Portrait: Allan Denton Character Portrait: Ivan Witherbane
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Charmeine

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It didn't take long for Charmeine to catch her breath after entering the building. The others were not far behind her. The Seraph decided to retreat to the far side of the wall. There was always the chance that the creature was large enough to throw its weight onto the building. That was a risk she was not going to take. The Seraph flipped her hair out of her eyesight and tried to determine what this place was used for. (Or, should I say, used to be used for.) However, before she could even get a good look at the place, Ivan started to take action. He tossed shards around to the group, including herself. The whitette flickered her eyes in confusion. What was this? It seemed familiar, but with the dark atmosphere, she couldn't exactly narrow it down. Charmeine held it closer to her eyes, but then it started to cloud. She extended her arm out and turned her cheek, as if she could somehow avoid the dirty fog. She would rather be torn into tiny pieces by that beast than to go through another ounce of dirt, mud, ash, and humidity. However, in the back of her head, she knew she'd eventually have to face the truth. This was what war was like, what combat was like. She'd have to get used to it.

After Ivan's brief explanation, everyone gathered to praise his idea. Charmeine included. The Seraph approached the taller male and cleared her throat. "Yes, very -dirty- good work, Ivan." She 'complimented'. The whitette brushed off her waist and held her nose high. Even in conditions like this, it wasn't an excuse to not boast about her status. Though, that would prove to be difficult when her armor was caked with muck and her bangs bouncing about in her field of vision. It appears she had lost her hair tie in combat.

Charmeine crossed her arms and looked over her shoulder towards the entrance. Kira and Volga were doing... well, something. The whitette frowned. She was staring at that damn elf again. However, this time it wasn't for no particular reason. It appeared she was barricading the gap with bars, though her stature looked stress. She had seen this before. Either Kira had never pulled off this move before, or she wasn't physically capable to handle it. God forbid if it was both.

Her eyes briefly fell back onto the group. Technically, Charmeine was the healer now with Anima's absence. She was a healing species after all. Even so, that would prove to be difficult. She wasn't half as skilled as the slime in that matter. Now, barricades or offence? No problem. Actual healing? No. Anima had the gift to take both the wound and scar away from a bullet hole. The only 'gift' Charmeine had compared to that was placing a bandage over it.

Soon, Volga would be carrying the obviously-not-okay elf out of the room. Charmeine caught up with the viking after her statement to the group and placed a hand on her shoulder. However, she had to drag her weight a little, seeing how Volga wasn't planning to stop in her fit of rage. "Let me see her." She said firmly. "Granted, we can't take her out of the game until it's finished, but- ugh, excuse me..." She had enough of her pesky hair. The whitette gripped her bangs in a balled fist and held it above her eyes. It was rather silly looking to be honest and Charmeine knew that. In result, it proved to be difficult to make eye contact with Volga and not seem bashful. "... We can't take her out of the game, but it doesn't hurt to determine the seriousness of her condition. I'll be more than happy to provide temporary treatment if I'm willing to help."