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Post by Steinerman on Jun 4, 2010 19:16:40 GMT -5
Coracinduth, hopeful trading capitol of Valtheran. The largest, most advanced port in the entire Northern sea, or so the Valtheran government liked to boast. Hundreds of trading vessels graced its waters every week. The perimeter of the harbor was patrolled hourly by both Valtheran and Auben Navy ships, their metallic hulls gleaming in the sunlight. Or at least, they would have been, except for on this day the sun was hidden behind a mass of clouds as a cold, harsh wind blew across the harbor.
And yet, even for the relatively hostile weather this day, the port was bustling. It was most likely for this reason that a Valtheran destroyer chose to dock at the nearest open civilian dock, rather than wade through the mass of ships to reach the military docking section.
The destroyer wasn't exactly an impressive vessel, barely one hundred feet in length. The command section of the vessel was only slightly raised up off the main deck, which was empty except for a few lonely gun emplacements near the bow.
The only visible crew was a squad of Valtheran Marines at the bow of the ship, lazily casting their eyes around at the civilians on the fast-approaching dock.
As soon as the vessel docked and the lines were cast out to secure it. A trio of casually dressed people (one female, two male) quickly came up from below-decks and quickly exited down the ramp to the dock.
The woman had a tall, lithe frame. With an angular face covered in scars. Her hair (a buzz-cut in style) was pitch black. She moved in short, quick movements, her eyes glancing around warily for signs of danger.
The first man was much shorter than his companions. What little hair he had left atop his large, balding head was a light brown in color.
The second man was a match for the woman in height. Lean and wolfish in appearance, he currently had a furious scowl upon his face and was walking at a brisk pace. As he walked he spoke in short, machine-gun bursts of words.
"How long until we get boots on the ground in Allondell?" He asked sharply.
The woman shook her head in annoyance, "We don't know, general. The Auben's haven't given us much information on the rescue op yet. The agents have been sent, but that's all we know. Frankly, some of the Auben's think our task force is..." She paused, unsure of her next words. Finally she continued, "A bit foolhardy, sir. They think we're playing with fire, infiltrating Stamaria."
The man glowered, frightening away a few close-by pedestrians. "Yes, well. That is their opinion. Not the opinion of the Valtheran military. Aurinar isn't going to leave us alone for long. We have to be ready when he comes for us."
The woman nodded her head in agreement, "Yes, general. We're with you all the way, all of the task force members are. But this caught us at a bad time, our other agents are too far away, or too deep in cover to break it for Nim and Wish."
General Donovan Winter shook his head in furious annoyance, The Aubens were doing their best, he knew. But right now his best agent had somehow been captured, possibly by Stamarians, though it sounded more like Bandits from what little information they had. He'd tried making arrangements with his usual mercenary contacts, but they were currently on a different continent, too far away to help. All he could do right now was sit back and wait for the Auben Agents to find his. And Donovan didn't like doing nothing.
"Where's that blasted jeep that was supposed to meet us here?" He questioned angrily.
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Post by Risk on Jun 4, 2010 19:33:34 GMT -5
Earlier, the previous evening...
Waves crashed over the deck of the ship, water filling every part of the vessel that it could reach and seeping into every crevice that went unattended. Passengers and crew alike struggled to bail water off of the deck, all in vain. Women and children huddled below, crying and screaming at intervals out of sheer terror. The night had been long already, and it had only just begun. The moon was completely hidden by storm clouds, making the night pitch black as rain pelted the men on the ship.
Beneath all of the fuss, in the lowest possible room and hidden in the shadows, a dry, fluffy, vixen fox was curled up, seemingly asleep. Tail over her nose, she was a bit of peace amongst the chaos overhead. The storm didn't stir her, nor did the commotion, but she lay quietly, completely still, the only movement her light breathing. One might have glanced over her and thought she was just an animal gone astray from the forest where last they'd taken harbor, but they would have been wrong.
This fox was different in all too many ways, and she was most certainly not asleep.
That day...
A tall woman stood on the deck, feet spread slightly apart on the soaked wood of the deck to make up for the rolling waves beneath. She stood completely still, hands in the pockets of her long black coat, dry as could be amongst the drenched passengers and crew. Her long red hair fell over her shoulders and eyes softly and she peeked between strands at the horizon where docks were passing them by.
It had been a long night for most of these people, she knew, but for her it had been just another evening, though the gem in her chest had been a little troublesome when it came to getting comfortable. Eventually she had settled in, remorphed, and fallen asleep, not to be awoken throughout the rest of the trip.
So now, under heavy cloud cover and in a mess of cold wind, they docked, and everyone rushed onto what might have been dry land any other day. Lifting the collar on her coat high against the wind at her back, she walked at a brisk pace down the dock to the street. There were three people standing around waiting for something, talking in stiff tones, though she could not make out what they were saying. One of them looked particularly irritated.
They seemed to be waiting for a ride, and while this woman could not offer them but one horse, she did understand their frustration. The angriest of the three seemed to be rather important, but why she was not sure.
She turned her attention to the gem that was now hidden in the bandages that covered just enough of her chest to be decent, and made sure that it would not be going anywhere without her knowledge. Very few men would want to pickpocket her from that particular area. She gave a snort of amusement. Who was she kidding? Of course they would.
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Post by InZanety on Jun 4, 2010 20:08:17 GMT -5
Earlier the previous evening...
Vicereth, a fate-chosen guardian for Xira, was very restless in his sleep... especially for his first normal sleep anyway, if you could call it normal. The gem within the fox, seems to have silenced the Guardian whenever he were to sleep, simply because of his dangerous restlessness.
Within the jewel, if you were to stare into it, you could see a figure chained to a floating stone circle. The circle had glowing glyphs throughout it and traveling up the chains attached to the figure's wrists and neck. Whenever he is to sleep, he would scream, he would cry, he would laugh maniacly and he would use every bit of his strength to destroy everything around him. The nightmares he experiences are indescribable, most of them are his past memories... but once he wakes, he will forget everything about the dream.
The young fox who possessed this jewel may have felt its negative energy and its almost endless agony.
That day...
Vicereth continues to sleep with his horrid nightmares in his head, struggling to get free of the chains and laughing his deranged laugh. As it is morning, the jewel seemed to have lightened up on its silencing mechanizm, and raised the sounds to being almost unable to be heard. Of course, if it was in your pocket you would hear...
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Post by Steinerman on Jun 4, 2010 23:14:22 GMT -5
Donovan and his aides stood, the second man shivering in the cold. And even his most trusted aide, Michelle, taking notice of it through her civilian clothing. But Donovan simply ignored it, willing his body to feel nothing for the moment.
In truth he was overflowing with anger right now, but there was very little difference in his appearance as he was almost always filled with a cold, deceptively calm fury.
He stood like a statue, waiting for their jeep to arrive. That is, until he noticed Lieutenant Michelle glaring in the direction of a particular traveler, recently stepped off a boat. The Lieutenant was his personal body-guard, and had an uncanny knack for spotting trouble early on.
He nodded towards the woman, dressed in barely-decent garb that left most of her midriff bear to the elements. "Something the matter, Lieutenant?" He questioned quietly.
The younger woman shook her head, "Maybe sir. Don't like the look of that one."
Donovan contemplated her warning, she was rarely wrong when it came to trouble. And he'd never doubted her word before. But...it wouldn't do to have a Valtheran General going around arresting tourists either. So for the moment, all he could do was wait for the tardy jeep to arrive. "Watch her, if she's here to cause trouble, put her down."
The Lieutenant nodded her head slightly, calmly checking to make sure her hide-away pistol was still in her pocket. She didn't like the look of the newcomer. The oddly-dressed woman had better behave herself, or things would get messy quite quickly. Michelle smiled icily, a trait picked up from her commander. She was good at getting messy.
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Post by Risk on Jun 5, 2010 14:40:14 GMT -5
Xira pulled her coat together over her torso, hiding both the gem and her body from eyes and icy wind. She muttered under her breath to the gem that was now snugly nestled at the center of her chest, probably more comfortable than she would have liked, "Don't you even begin to set things in your memory, Vicereth. I shall know, and you'll find yourself at the bottom of the ocean." She glared straight ahead, looking rather...insane to anyone who might have been watching. Talking, seemingly to herself, and glaring at no one in particular, it would have been easy to assume that she was the traveling crazy.
She thought for a moment, wondering just exactly where she wanted to go. She needed a meal, and her next ship wouldn't be there for another hour, or more in this weather. Looking up suddenly, a sharp whistle escaped her mouth from between her teeth. Moments later, there were shouts from the nearby stable as a white mare lunged out of her stall and into the streets, saddle and bridle already on, as she had made it clear they were not to be removed when she left the horse there.
The mare approached her quickly and came to a stop directly in front of her. Stroking the white face with her left hand, she offered her a kiss on the forehead and within a blink she was atop her mare. But did she go anywhere? No. Xira simply sat atop her mare, scanning the fairly busy streets, suppressing a laugh at the shocked grooms faces as they glared over at her. She gave them a half apologetic, half taunting wave, and spun her mare around, who promptly flicked her tail and bucked in their direction, her own teasing gesture.
It was good to be starting trouble again.
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Post by Steinerman on Jun 5, 2010 16:28:04 GMT -5
Lieutenant Michelle Anders glared fiercely in the direction of the woman atop the horse, causing such a disturbance in the middle of a crowded street.
And yet, there wasn't much she could do about it. As a member of the Task force, she enjoyed certain privileges, but shooting an annoying person wasn't one of them.
Hearing the roar of a vehicle, she softened a little bit. The Jeep had finally arrived, almost ten minutes late. She shook her head in disgust, the Task Force would never allow such slackness. She'd have to talk to the commander of the Motorpool about leaving a general out in the cold due to sloppy work.
She glanced around for the jeep, and then with a start realized it was coming down the very same street that currently held the woman atop her horse. The rumbling of the jeep engine died and the young, freckled driver hopped out to talk to the woman blocking his way.
Lieutenant Anders rolled her eyes, "Heaven save me from polite gentlemen at a time like this." She muttered as the driver walked up to the horse-rider.
His voice was nervous as he spoke, "Ma'am, could I get you to move your horse, please? I'm rather in a hurry."
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Post by Risk on Jun 12, 2010 11:37:41 GMT -5
Xira looked down at the boy, his nervous voice and face bringing a rare grin to her face, "A hurry, you say?" She leaned down, "Then you may have parked somewhere more convenient." The woman winked at him and clicked her tongue at her horse, moving to the side at the front bumper of the car. She turned her mare to face down the street in the direction of the jeep, and pulled her pistol from her jacket, straightening her arm to aim straight ahead, just over the heads of those three people who were giving her strange looks.
There was no shot in the weapon at that moment, but it was not apparent. Smirking to herself she muttered under her breath to the jewel pressed against her breast, "Perhaps that was not the best place to aim. Ah, but I'm up for some action."
Xira did not drop her arm, but rather looked straight away at the one who she would have called General Winter, face stern and cold as usual, body shrouded by her black clothing.
She did not appear to be making a friendly mistake in the least.
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Post by Steinerman on Jun 12, 2010 12:13:28 GMT -5
"Son of a..." Lieutenant Anders swore as she saw the gun exit its holster. In the military, there were steps of escalation when dealing with a problem. The basic rule was you never pulled a gun first.
Michelle had never been very good at the whole "Escalation" thing. In her line of work, it didn't pay to be nice and use half-measures. So in an instant she had her gun out of her pocket and leveled on the woman, the trigger pulling even as she screamed to the surrounding crowd, "Down, everybody down!"
She pulled the trigger again, correcting for the first hasty miss. The second shot coming barely seconds after the first. This one straight an true flew towards her target's midsection.
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Post by Risk on Jun 12, 2010 12:26:15 GMT -5
Blood spattered from Xira's side as she took the bullet in the ribs, the lead piercing her liver and diaphragm. Her mare screamed and as the woman fell from the saddle, she slapped the horse on the backside and hissed at it to get out. Promptly as the thump of her master sounded, the frightened animal bolted and was soon out of sight.
The landing sent a shock up Xira's spine and she hissed in pain, quickly pulling her whip from her belt and thrashing it strongly out toward the woman who had shot her, "Vicereth, get yourself out here." Her voice sounded louder now as she addressed the woman, "A bit trigger happy shooting someone who's just cleaning their pistol, now aren't you?"
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Post by InZanety on Jun 12, 2010 12:47:42 GMT -5
"Vicereth, get yourself out here."
On command, the gem in Xira's pocket glowed its deep purple glow for all to see. After a split second, everyone was blinded by a purple flash to reveal the Reaper, chained to the pavement where a glowing purple circle of glyphs surrounded him. As the chains disintegrated, he summoned his giant spirit scythe and held it behind himself in a combat position as he spoke.
"You chose the wrong target, mortal. Now I'll skin you alive!"
His long hair was blowing wildly as he powered his energy into his scythe, and darted for the one who wounded Xira. He leaped into the air, and swiped at Michelle with an otherworldly strength.
As he swiped, Michelle might feel herself becoming more and more exhausted. As Vicereth draws closer to his enemies, he saps away any will to fight from them.
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Post by Steinerman on Jun 12, 2010 13:57:54 GMT -5
Michelle dodged to the side, narrowly escaping the magical scythe, pushing the General along with her and shouting for support. A magical assassin? Here for the General? things were indeed bad. She fired a pair of quick shots at the magic wielder, while at the same time shouting for the general to move, he was her sole concern.
Donovan, however, was not a man to run from anything. Especially some fool woman and her magical aide. He unclipped a radio that had been hidden under his civilian shirt and spoke a few quick, terse commands into it. His bodyguard was good, but against magical opponents there was very little she could do. They needed help of a different kind.
Moments later, There was a harsh roar and an explosion rocked the narrow ground between them and the scythe-wielding attacker, raining dust and debris down between the two sides. There was a sound of rifles being loaded and readied. If the strange, pale man were to look behind him, he would see one of the light guns upon the Destroyer's deck armed and pointed at him, with a full squad of Valtheran Marines ready and waiting for the order to fire.
Donovan stood and placed himself between the Lieutenant and her attacker, catching his heavy iron walking stick which had been thrown by the smaller, balding aide standing a few feet away.
Donovan inclined his head to the attacker,"Come, Assassin. If you so wish to die. I will be more than happy to oblige you. Rest assured I can call more than a mere destroyer to my aid in this place. Now...would you like to rethink your current strategy? Or continue straight to oblivion." He nodded towards the woman standing beside her horse, bleeding from the wound to her torso. "She would die as well, if you continue."
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Post by InZanety on Jun 12, 2010 14:48:16 GMT -5
"Assassin? You believe me to be an Assassin?" Vicereth scowled at the man. "I'm here as a Gaurdian to the woman your colleague just wounded. My business is with your colleague... not with you."
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Post by Steinerman on Jun 12, 2010 16:50:55 GMT -5
An icy, deadly smile crept across Donovan's face. His expression hard as stone. "The woman you protect drew a weapon in a Valtheran Port to, presumably to clean it, if I believe her. What worsens it is she happened to point it in the direction of a Valtheran General. That doesn't lend itself to long life expectancy in this port."
He shrugged, eyes locked on the opponent. "My Lieutenant was simply doing her duty as a Valtheran officer and protecting her charge. Try and harm her, and I'll make sure the woman you protect dies quickly."
To back up his threat, a second squad of marines came running from the Destroyer, and another crew had manned a second gun on the Destroyer's deck. Now it was the assailant's move.
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Post by InZanety on Jun 12, 2010 18:37:08 GMT -5
"Then you are correct at this point... Backing down, would be the smart choice." Vicereth walked over to Xira after he spoke. "Xira, this will be painful... but its needed."
Vice held out his hand in Xira's direction and summoned a purple glowing Wraith Sprite. The orb creature floated torwards the wound and sunk into it, spitting out the bullet and quickly healing the opening. Considering these sprites are usually meant to heal Vicereth's wounds, Xira will find herself slightly paralyzed.
"Give it a few hours, then the pain will subside. As for drawing your weapon, I suggest you be more careful where you point it. Now come on..."
Vice kneeled down and picked Xira up off the pavement, and turned towards Donovan.
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Post by Steinerman on Jun 13, 2010 0:06:26 GMT -5
Donovan waved a hand, indicating the marines should lower their weapons. Without even looking, he already knew that Lieutenant Anders had holstered her own weapon and was standing at attention. His icy smile disappeared as he stared at the creature now holding the apparently healed woman.
He nodded towards the woman, "Next time, traveler. Don't clean your gun in a crowded street with Valtheran soldiers around you. We take a very dim view on people pointing guns at Civilians around here. Keep your...Guardian, in line. And enjoy your stay in Coracinduth."
With that, he began a slow, measured walk to the waiting jeep, his heavy walking stick making periodic "Thump" sounds as it made contact with the stone pavement.
Lieutenant Anders gave the Guardian and its charge a final glare, and then moved to keep up with her commander, as did the other Aide. The nearby Marines glanced warily at the Guardian, but made no move to attack. Bringing their rifles to a restful position, they moved slowly away and back up to the destroyer.
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