[Open RP] A Guardian's Duty

[Necronas]

Necronas was barely able to conceal a laugh when he received the fruit from Reens. Fruit? She was an odd one. Quite cocky too, from her arrogant words. Quite ironic too, though, speaking of a soul, and even more so, speaking of its worth. Necronas smirked and laughed. She was simply that clueless. No wonder she was an emissary of the church - she was simply too easy to control, too naive. Necronas turned his head towards Qtchi. He remembered when she was the same, and how the world had shattered that childishness the hard way.

Of course, like every other time he thought to himself, he was rudely interrupted, this time by another individual charging into the camp. He was ready to hurl another spell at it when he recognized the horseless runner. You have got to be ****ing kidding me.

Ketotsue. Necronas remembered the last time he had met the deranged maniac. The boy had power, but he had absolutely no control. He was simply far too unstable. He could be considered a friend just about as much as an enemy, because once he released his power, there was no controlling it.

Some said Necronas hated everyone. He didn't deny it, because he had reason to.

He gave a long sigh. Might as well get along with the program. Qtchi seemed to approve of him, and as long as he helped more than he hurt, Necronas wouldn't burn him alive. Necronas quickly assumed leadership. It was not just that he was used to it, it was that people listened to him. He simply had an aura of finesse that demanded obedience. "I'll scout the area. Karne, Ket, firewood and a campfire. And Qtchi, I trust you can organize the food?"

He walked up to Reen's horse. It emanated with power. He could feel it. The horse was a beautiful specimen, it was such a pity that it had fallen into the hands of someone so unschooled in the delicate magics it possessed. Paladins were known to be stubborn and hard-headed. They were trained like that - instilled with a hatred for death magic that was never questioned. "She said to take care of it," Necronas said, smirking, "But she didn't say anything about not riding it." He approached the stallion, stroking its mane respectfully. The beast neighed softly, a sign that it liked it. Slowly, as not to alarm it, Necronas came closer and saddled the beast, waiting for a few seconds. It accepted him. He smiled. "I'll be back."

The warlock rode into the labyrinthine wilderness, a perfect dichotomy of black and white blurred in the chaotic canopy of life.

Unbeknowst to Necronas, the fruit she handed Necronas was poisoned, no, it wasn't lethal unless in large doses, but could knock bull out for about 3 hours. Her horse sent her a telepathic thought: ^Help! Mi'lady, I am being stolen. The stench of my rider sickens me!^
With a sigh, she slung her catch upon her shoulders and morphed into a panther, it raced off towards the location the horse said it was at.
As she was running, a thought crossed her brain. She remembered that faithful day she got her horse:

Her master, Norak the Virtuous was sitting upon his throne, his faithful warhammer beside him. He was watching, watching his top student spar against her trainer. ^The girl fights well, her magic powers were beyond that of an ordinary human.^ He thought.
With a sudden blow to the wrist, she disarmed her foe. He was impressed, no one has ever beat their trainer before. ^This lady deserves a reward.^ He thought.
Norak got up, his hammer slung upon his back. He beckoned the warrior lady towards him. He says: "Reens, you fight well, I have never seen someone as talented as you. you are deserving of a reward."
"I am flattered. I am not worthy of a reward. I only fight for the order and the guild. I do not want a reward." She replies.
"You are my top student, I wish to bestow upon you, a gift that may never be replaced." Here, he motions for one of his acolytes to step forward.
"Please bring me Seafire."
The acolyte rushes off. In a few moments, he returns, leading a majestic white pegusi complete with bridle and saddle. "Reens, this...is Seafire. She is my own horse, it shall never leave your side unless you bid it to. She is yours and forever shall be. The wings will dissappear when you wish them to. I hope you find her useful, she is an immortal." He says.
Reens was awestruck. A horse like this was impossible to come by. She stuttered a mumbled thanks.
When she reached the camp to drop off her kills, she noticed a tall ninja-like figure talking to Qtchi. Ketotsue; a name she had heard long ago. Naive, reckless, hotheaded. the only 3 words Reens could think to describe this lad. She quickly dropped the animal carcasses at Qtchi's feet before racing off to find her own horse.
Reens never liked the church with their bizzarre rules and wierd rituals. She was born only to serve the Brotherhood of Virtue.

Brotherhood of virtue and Norak the Virtuous are not of my own creation. They are from Legend: Legacy of the Dragons.

[ketotsue]

" Ketotsue it has been awhile. I trust you remember Necronas?" He looked around the group looking for the familiar warlock. "Ahh how could I ever forget?" He then eyed the ones he was unfamiliar with he quickly introduced himself to the man and decided to give himself a proper introduction to the women. That was until he saw what she was ^ A paladin... it seems the gods are up to something... not often you would find a paladin, along with a lord of death, and as for me well I wonder if she will notice what seperates me?^. He then decided to treat her to the same quick introduction granting her only his name.

”Gentleman? Would you see to our camp grounds for the night? I think tis warm enough to sleep under the stars, Perhaps we should stop for tonight and be on our way tomorrow morning..." He was on the verge of responding to her when Necronas had taken up a sort of mock leadership role "I'll scout the area. Karne, Ket, firewood and a campfire. And Qtchi, I trust you can organize the food?" He had been unable to hide his laughter ^ He really thinks to highly of himself I am no dog to be ordered around^. He looked over to Qtchi and then the rest of the group had he not been a changed man this would have just took a very excitable turn for the worse but he saw no need in the pointless conflict as he was now.

He took into the woods leaving the man known as 'Karne' somewhere behind him. Soon he had returned to the camp with a decent amount of fire wood hopefully Karne wasn't totaly incompatant and had managed to find enough for the rest of the night. Soon he had a fire going though he had cheated to start the flame nomal methods seemed so... slow with spiritual power waiting at your finger tips.


Soon the fire he created had begun to die down. He sat close to it's warm embrace waiting for the rest of the company to return to camp. His gaze was empty upon the fire in it's many flicking tounges and doomed embers he saw his life flow by. Quick dying images of pain, slaughter and countless conflict. ^ One day I will surely find myself in your company^.

[Qtchi]

And so, Qtchi set about to making the meals… a simple stew from the rabbit carcasses Reens had tossed by her feet. Methodically, she headed to the stream, her hands going through the motions of skinning and preparing the meat. Despite the dire situation that brought this odd group together, the young archer found herself relaxing and letting her mind wander for the first time in years.

If the God’s were watching, bless us with a peaceful night, Qtchi prayed, dumping the contents into a light iron pot and filling it with fresh water from the nearby stream.

Back in the clearing, the others had dispersed, save Ketotsue, whom wisely started a fire.

The girl wordlessly placed the pot over the fire and added a few pieces of wood, leaning back upon her haunches to watch the flames. Her thoughts drifted back towards the task at hand and a worried look filled her eyes. The City of Verdane was leagues away and they were making slow progress on horseback. For a moment, the lass wished they had wings…

”Ah well, frivolous thoughts,” The girl murmured to herself, giving the stew a quick stir. Or was it?

The flames flickered and the girl remained lost in thought…

Across the distance, far, far away… Audelair sat upon his throne, darkness shrouding his entire body.

There was a rustling noise as the man stood and his face was the first thing that emerged from the shadows. The darkness swirled around him; his evil so great, it emanated from his body to fill the air with thick strands of power - much like tentacles. He wore a heavy black cloak, piped with silver, that clung to his slender frame. A face as handsome as a make-believe prince, was dark with anger as he strode forward, ignoring the cowering servants pressed upon the marble grounds.

”Lamia,¹” The man spat, his eyes flashing angrily. With a sharp gesture, the man lifted his hand, palms face-up as a ball of light suddenly appeared. It flickered and glowed like blue ice, filling the dark chambers with its strange radiance. The globe began swirling and slowly, the cloudy substance dissipated to reveal a image -

It was the young archer as she knelt beside the campfire, the swordsman not far from her side.

The sorcerer narrowed his eyes and tightened his lips. Fool, The man thought as his lips curled into a arrogant smirk. It seems the elders have gone senile and sent a mere child to stop me.

The man threw his head back and the air filled with his sinister laugh. His fingers jerked and the scene within the globe changed; the sorcerer’s laughter broke off as he watched. The others will be easy to kill, He thought to himself, barely acknowledging the woman and the boy. Feeling confident, he started to lower his hand, when the globe suddenly flickered and a new image appeared within its watery surface.

”It can’t be-” The man hissed, his face now darkening with anger once more. Even as he spoke, the image wavered for a moment, then reemerged - stronger then ever.

”Necronassss,” Audelair hissed, bringing the globe higher for a closer look.

Indeed, the face that he peered at, was one he had not been expecting. The guild would never associate themselves with the likes of him, Audelair stared at the image with great puzzlement. How can this be?

With a roar, the sorcerer clenched his fist, shattering the orb from his grip. He turned sharply upon his feet, making his dark cloak flare out behind him. There is no time to spare, The man thought to himself, his gloved hand rubbing his chin thoughtfully. I will get rid of these fools tonight, before they even begin their journey.

With a clap of his hands, a servant rushed forward, his frame trembling as he sprawled on the ground, awaiting his master’s orders.

”Send Tagolis and his men² to get rid of these unwanted visitors,” The sorcerer snapped, his lips curling into a haughty smile. ”Let us see how long these fools will live...”

¹ Lamia roughly translated, means Witch.

² Tagolis and his men: Trained assassins of the Verdane City. They rule under King Audelair and work at night. They are human and often travel packs of 5. The City of Verdane is pretty far from where the group of travelers are, so these assassins will travel using magic portals. They are armed with daggers and sharp swords, and rely on their stealth skills to successfully eliminate their opponents. As for any other surprises, I will leave it up to the other writers to add. Cheers!

³ Audelair, Tagolis and the assassins are NPC and therefore, everyone is welcome to use them (God Mod them) within your post. Just don't kill everything at one go... Give the NPC's some credit... they are professionals after all...

Holy water. This mirclious substance. Lethel to Undead especially vampires and werewolves. Heck, Reens held a certain disregard for the church, but their products were always useful in a cinch. especially holy water. She never left home without a belt's full of the tiny vials of liquid exorcisim.
She smelt her horse several feet away. She waited for her bow and arrows to appear at her side. She carefully dipped one of the arrows in holy water. She then took careful aim at the lethe rider astride her splendid mount. She was undetectable unless Necronas had a Mad Eye. Which was virtually unobtainable unless he was associated with Norak himself. She then let go of the string not even a swoosh could be heard as the tiny, invisible, arrow rushed towards the man's neck...
After shooting the arrow, she raised her hand. her pegusus rushed to her side with or without rider. The horse had its wings extended, ready to fly.

[ketotsue]

Q was now busy walking to and fro preparing the food for the company. And still he sat by the fire his mind on thoughts of his prior sins. " Lady time has taken her toll on me " the words left him without thought or his desire for them. Still his tounge carried on " Q does sin weigh equal in all cases... what I mean is if one takes a life does the circumstances even matter? " His mind was restless, the fire playing jokes on his eyes. The shadows around him seemed to have a life of there own at around the camp. The whole scene left him uneasy.

Karne walked out of the forest clutching alot more firewood for the night ahead. Taking his time he saw no need to rush. The night felt heavy on him and they had been joined by alot of strangers. His mentor had always told him to keep his distance and not befriend people he did not know, but he was finding this hard to do with Qtchi. Karne would make sure he was to sleep with his blade in hand tonight, he didnt need magic and sorcery to skin someone alive.

Approaching the campfire, Karne dropped the firewood in a small bundle and went over to sit by the fire, the ends of his fingers were bitterly numb as he stretched his hands out to take full advantage of the fires warm blaze. His eyes narrowed upon the flickering flames as he felt the warm blood slowly rush to the end of his fingers. Karne lost concentration, shaking his head he clapped his hands together. "How long til the food is done Q?" he asked her, he really didnt like waiting around but if others did he would have to wait.

[Necronas]

The winds felt wonderful. The cool breeze whipped at his robes like the soft caressing hands of a mother, and the cloak of darkness fit perfectly on his frame, as if the gods themselves had given the night to him as an act of providence. The steed and rider looked like little more than a black and white blur dancing in the moonlight at a speed which could only be supernatural. The more Necronas felt the creature's movements the more he learned of the beast. The patterns of its heartbeats, the flexing and relaxing of its muscles, the stance of its frame. Everything in the world gave the softest whispers, begging to be unearthed, but there were only few powerful enough to tear the ashen veil from the dancing lights of the stage. Only few who could understand the true nature of things, who could go beyond watching and being watched. If all the world's a stage, where was the director?

Soon the trees began to whisper. Malicious words. Words that were known to few, and spoken by even fewer. These were not the trees' words. These were the shadowy servants of some darker entity. Something, somewhere, was on to him. Necronas grabbed at the ether with words of his own. He latched himself onto the spell, contaminating the bond with his own touch of power. The serpentine spell twisted its way through the link.

Necronas began to lose focus on the real. Or perhaps he was only letting go of what was ultimately imaginary. Another image became more prevalent in his mind as the pegasus continued to gallop at full speed. At first it was nothing but a blur, but an image slowly crystallized. A shadowy figure on an ebony throne. Necronas bid his eyes come closer to the entity. He could see color, a face. Something was strangely familiar about this one. He tried to pull closer, closer, closer still...

"****!" he barked as Necronas phased back into reality, only moments before he was to ram himself and his steed directly into an enormous trunk. As first reflex, Necronas hurled an orb of burning rage at the tree, throwing it into a fiery chaos of charred and splintered wood before it could harm him. The horse began to panic. Such a blatant display of red magic obviously unnerved it. Necronas tried to calm it with words and subtle mind spells, but the creature had already relayed messages to the paladin.

"Damn it, you bloody fool!" he roared. Not only had he been unable to track his stalker, but now he had attracted unwanted attention from the oh-so-tolerant Reens. She would be coming for him, that was for sure. He would be a fool to underestimate her. He was far more powerful and far better trained than the girl, after all, he had had much more time to train himself, but she had lived her whole life with the sole purpose of being a "bringer of justice" or some other nonsense like that. There were some who realized that justice and equality were beyond the sinful natures of mankind, but there were other blind optimists who were too naive to understand.

He had seen silver weapons on her frame, along with wooden stakes, golden bullets, and the undeniable scent of holy water. No doubt she hunted him with such weapons now, and he was completely certain the girl knew full and well how to use them. There was a piece of gray magic Necronas had come upon a while back in a rare grimoire known simply as The Joker. There was little that the book had for it, but one particular spell had piqued the warlock's interest. A soulswap spell. He was unsure of how to reverse the effects, but Necronas had played by ear before. It was a viable option, and he was running dangerously low on time.

Necronas touched the hollow between the horse's eyes with one hand, and touched the same region on his own. The spell seemed oddly unlike the ones he was used to. The words were not hateful. They were definitely powerful, but did not possess the sinister calculations of death magic. The words rhymed, as if they were some piece of poetry.

And, without even realizing it, Necronas no longer had hands. He no longer felt the pull of his mithril chainmail, nor that of his dark, draconic silver robes. His body felt muscular, lithe, and, after centuries of being both blessed and haunted by the infinite power of death magic, strangely quite bland.

The arrow came, and the horse, still shocked to be within a body completely alien to it, fell to the ground. The girl beckoned him over, and he complied. He would act the part for now. It was far from the grand finale, so perhaps it was time for a little drama. He could not help but laugh inside. Luckily, the face of a horse shows no emotion.

Let the games begin.

Her fingers twitched, she knew something was wrong with her horse. She quickly sent a Time Stop at her horse ^To stay on the safe side. And to plot my next course of action.^ she thought. She sat down for a moment to think. She decided to send her horse back to the Stables of the Brotherhood. "They'll figure out what's wrong." She thought.
She then clapped her hands together, a blue glow emanated from her hands as her horse rose up, still trapped within a time stop. The clouds parted, A golden beam of light shot out, enveloping her horse and saw Necronas' limp body float towards the light as well. With a loud "POP!" Her horse and Necronas' body (with the arrow still stuck in it of course). dissappeared. She figured she should bring herself a replacement horse as well. So with a loud "Crack!" a Black Stallion appeared in front of her and reared it's powerful legs. She then rode back to the camp.
Feeling a slight disturbance in the wind, she reared her horse.

Something was wrong.

She decided to hurry back to camp in order to warn her travelling companions.
(OOC: I'll try to post once a month, if not, once bi monthly.)

[Qtchi]

The voice broke her reverie and Qtchi blinked, lifting her chin to stare into Karne’s face.

”Soon,” She said, forcing a smile upon her features. Her eyes took in the bundle of wood he had dropped beside the fire and her expression changed into one of genuine appreciation. The sun was slipping low through the stacked clouds and eventually dipped below the distant tree tops. Darkness settled comfortably over the entire woods and the only sounds the archer heard, was that of the rustling leaves and crickets.

The girl kept the fire going, and the flames casted a warm glow around the three travelers, still sitting beside the fire. Ketotsue remained in his seat, Karne beside the fire and Qtchi stirring beside him. Surprisingly, despite the lack of conversation, the young archer felt herself at ease with her companions.

Safe.

The stew was ready; the thick broth bubbled lightly within the makeshift pot and the air filled with the tantalizing scent of spices and meat. Wordlessly, she gestured for the men to take their meals and wondered where the Necronas had disappeared to. A quick glance around the silent clearing, showed the lass hadn’t returned as well.

Her brow creased and she ate in silence, worry filling her eyes.

Deep within the woods, the air suddenly rippled and a slit appeared within the peaceful forest. Birds filled the air with their alarmed cries and the woodland creatures quickly exited the area. The magic glowed a murky red, the opening pulsed like the heartbeat of a dying man. One by one, Tagolis’ men erupted from the portal and landed silently onto the ground.

They were unlike no other, their skin dark as the night and their clothes wrapped around the hardened muscles of each assassin. They moved in unison, their voices mute and their faces unreadable as they faced the final, and strongest, of them all.

Tagolis.

He entered the forest last, his dark hair veiling his face as his foot landed onto the ground. When the man rose to his full height, the others didn’t move from their stance. With a cold stare, Tagolis stalked past the row of kneeling assassins, the portal disappearing behind his form.

He was taller then the rest of his men, his body harder and his mind - colder. When he turned, the first thing visible upon his dark face, was the horrible scar that ran across his left and and down across his nose, to end right by his chin. At one point, it had almost split his face into two halves - but he had survived and now his puckered skin remained the constant reminder of his near death.

Tagolis didn’t care about his looks and his men all looked at the scar as a symbol of his strength - their leader’s ability to tango with death and win. For Tagolis, it meant failure - one he would never repeat again.

The man drew in a deep breath, sensing the scent of the others, not far from where his men waited. A hard look entered his eyes and the man sneered in the dark, his teeth glinting. Time to kill, He thought to himself, his eyes glowing yellow from the strange magic that possessed his body.

Beside him, the men responded the same way, the night filling with the chilling glow of their eyes. ”Let’s move,” The leader said, his voice a deep growl. In accord, the assassins rose to their feet, then silently headed for the clearing.