- Joined
- Apr 12, 2006
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- Age
- 36
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- England
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- Quetzalcoatl
- Linkshell
- ChiBiimers
- FFXIV
- Curjos
Before I get into it, I just want to tell you all that this RolePlay is a sequel to "The Origins of Curjos", but I'm experimenting with a slightly differant format.
Hope you enjoy ^^
Chapter 1:- Presidential Abductions
Ru’lude Gardens; the palatial estate of the Grand Duchy of Jeuno stood towering in the night sky, soaring past the clouds gifting the immaculate city streets with watery moonlight. Unlike usual, the streets where deserted, all except for the Ducal Guards patrolling the area. The consulates had been bolted shut, and the access from the Rent-a-room had been closed along with the access to Upper Jeuno. The citizens and adventurers knew that there would be a punishment for entering the Gardens on the night, and that punishment was death. The Ducal Guards had been given official orders from the Grand Duke himself to kill anyone on the spot who dared to enter Ru’lude.
The entrance to Rent-a-room was being guarded by 2 Ducal Guards; High Wind and Perisa-Neburusa. He was tired from his shift which had lasted the past 12 hours. He rubbed his eyes, which where extremely heavy and he groaned as his legs where aching. High Wind glanced down on his Tarutaru colleague and sighed dejectedly.
“Looks like someone needs to take a break” High Wind said, mockingly.
“Shut up!” Squeaked Perisa-Neburusa angrily “I haventaru stopped working all day!”
“Alright, don’t get…”
Before High Wind could finish his sentence, the 2 guards heard a loud crash. They both glanced at each other nervously. High Wind began to run ahead, but Perisa-Neburusa stopped him.
“You know we cantaru leave our post!”
High Wind snarled.
“I’ll wait here, and you go check what that commotion is” High Wind demanded, growling.
“Nu-uh! I’m not going there, you’re a big scary-wary Galka, and they won’t harm you!”
High Wind looked uneasy. He cautiously walked up the stairs opposite the rent-a-room elevator and turned to face towards the Auction House. Perisa-Neburusa stood frozen to the floor. Without warning, a huge purple glyph appeared on the floor behind High Wind. Perisa-Neburusa was too scared to speak; he just stood and watched as Fenrir began manifesting behind the clueless Galka who had slowly begun walking towards the Auction House. A blood-curdling howl then ripped its way throughout Ru’lude gardens, making the marble surfaces seem to shake, and then High Wind turned to return to his post. As he spun around, he yelled as there was a huge ravaged wolf standing before him, baring its huge yellow teeth and its cold, blood red eyes staring back into his own. Before he got a chance to draw his sword, the menacing avatar pounced on him, grabbed his throat with his teeth and ran away.
Perisa-Neburusa was numb with fear. He backed slowly towards the rent-a-room elevator to escape, but before he could get there he heard his linkshell call at him.
“Neburusa, what happened to High Wind?”
The voice was that of a Hume male, and by the sounds of things a very angry one.
“He went to investigate the noise and he was attacked by Fenrir. A Summoner has breached Ru’lude gardens” Perisa-Neburusa whispered back, taking extra care not to make any noise as the creature might here him.
“Don’t just stand there!” The Hume voice called back over the linkshell “Go and find out what happened to him!”
“But Wolfgang!”
“No buts! Go and find out what happened or you will lose your job”.
Perisa-Neburusa whimpered, and drew his degen before running up the stairs. He saw nothing. He looked around, and he saw an eerie purple glow hovering around the Auction House. He ran towards the glow, and stood in the square. There was nothing there, Fenrir had disappeared. He stood silently, and listened carefully. He could hear several people whispering from down the stairs which stood near him. He ran towards them, and when he reached the bottom he got to his knees making him invisible behind the marble banister. He poked his head around the corner and caught sight of the intruders. They looked like adventurers, but some of them were dressed in pieces he had never seen before. One of them, for example, was dressed from head to foot in Blue Jubbahs. He couldn’t make out the face of the character because it was covered by a black mask which was attached to his Turban, but he had the build of a Hume male. He had an amazing Scimitar tucked into his belt; the metal blade was a lilac colour and had been decorated with extravagant patterns. There was a Red Mage and 2 Black Mages with him, but there was also another character dressed in strange red and black armour, but the strangest thing about him was, was the fact that a creature stood next to him dressed in Crimson robes and wore a turban. It obviously wasn’t a person; it was some kind of automated machine. On the floor before them, High Wind lay sleeping bound in rope. Perisa-Neburusa new better than to run out and attack. He sat listening.
“We need to enter now!” A Tarutaru Black Mage whispered nervously
“No! If we do then the target will be alerted and he will be warped” the Mithra Red Mage replied, whispering angrily.
“They’re already aware that we’re here, he’s going to be warped anyways!” The Black Mage muttered.
“Not necessarily” The Hume in the Blue Jubbahs whispered “They will only warp him in a red alert situation. They don’t even know what the fuss is yet so I highly doubt they’re going to cancle the meeting..."
Perisa-Neburusa knew that this was the time to bust them. He got his degen ready, and ran his hands through his hair. But something wasn’t right. His hand was covered in a sticky liquid substance. It felt like… Saliva. He new what was behind him. He spun around and lunged at Fenrir, but he was too late, he had been knocked back into the group of people.
“Zendra, sleep him!” called the Hume in the mysterious clothing.
Perisa-Neburusa collapsed.
“I told you I should have subbed Summoner” The Mithra Red Mage winked.
“Touché” The Hume sighed.
“HYAAAH!”
The party of adventurers turned, and looked. Fenrir dropped to the ground revealing a Hume Ducal Guard standing there, his crystal-white armour now drenched in oozing, purple blood.
“Seph” The Hume whispered “You just got owned”
The Mithra Red Mage didn’t reply, she drew her anelace and lunged at the Ducal Guard. He parried her attack, and kicked her backwards, but it merely hindered her. She cast a spell on the Guard causing black energy to manifest around his head, blinding him. He then began throwing his sword in random directions in a vein attempt to try and hit the Mithra, but even the occasional accurate attack would miss as the Mithra would simply back-flip out of harms way.
“Sephectja, finish him off!” called the Tarutaru Black Mage.
“I’m not going down that easy!” screamed the determined guard as Sephectja began to cast Fire III. He too began casting, and managed to stun her before she could finish casting. He then used a flask of eye drops, before running up to Sephectja and slashing her across the chest. She fell face down.
“Who’s next?” laughed the guard cockily.
The Hume in the Blue Jubbahs drew his Scimitar. The Ducal Guard made the first attack. The Hume Black Mage began casting Stun, and the Guard froze on the spot. Then, the other Tarutaru Black Mage began casting Burst II. The Stun effect wore off the Guard, and he then advanced upon the Black Mage who had stunned him.
“BLABJ!” He screamed “HURRY UP WITH THAT SPELL!”
The Tarutaru retorted “Shut your face for 1 more minute and let me concentrate, these spells aint exactly easy to cast, you know!”
The Hume in the strange armour ran up towards the Guard and swung his sword at him. He then began casting. In an array of blue lights, a staff appeared out of thin air and began beating the Ducal Guard, who then fell.
“What the fuck are you?” He stammered in sheer amazement.
“An Immortal” Replied the Hume coldly, and before the conversation could progress further, Blabj finished casting Burst II, and a huge bolt of lightning crashed towards the ground where the ducal guard lay, killing him.
“We have to move” whispered the Immortal “Any second now hundreds of these guards will be here to investigate”
“Don’t you think it’s about time to get into formation?” replied Sephectja, her voice low
“Yes, I think it is” proclaimed the Immortal.
“Alright Toa! You know what to do!” Replied the Tarutaru in the strange red and black equipment to the automated creature which stood before him. Suddenly, the creature threw its flimsy black arms in there, and everyone disappeared under an invisible effect.
5 minutes later, the entire party had scattered across Ru’lude gardens in pairs. The Black Mage team consisting of Zendra and Blabj, then Sephectja and the Immortal and finally the Rasputen the puppetmaster and his automaton, Toa. The Black Mages arrived at the entrance leading to Upper Jeuno. The two Hume guards stationed there crashed to the ground as Blabj and Zendra magically put them to sleep.
“Time to take out the trash” Blabj grinned. He closed his eyes and began casting, muttering illegible incantations under his breath. After the spell had been cast, they disappeared in a ball of darkness.
“Where did you warp them?” Zendra asked slowly, he new he wasn’t going to like the answer.
Blabj pointed towards the edge of the gardens, and in the sky the balls of darkness appeared, ejecting the two guards into the night sky, who then fell out of sight.
“Blabj three, Zendra zero~” Blabj joked.
Zendra looked at Blabj and sighed. “You know we where meant to keep the death count low, right?”
Meanwhile, the Puppetmaster ran down the stairs leading to the Quadrangle. In front of each Embassy, stood a bored looking ducal guard. The Puppetmaster ordered his Automaton run up to one of the guards and attack, which it did. The guard stood at the San d’Orian embassy fell unconscious as the creature stealthily cast sleep on him, but the other guards saw. One of the guards slowly advanced on the automaton, who stood there. The Windurstian guard soon followed, and stood before the motionless automaton.
“What is it?” asked the Bastokan guard, curiously
“How the hell am I meant to know?” snapped the Windurstian.
The Bastokor flashed the Windurstian a dirty look, before getting to her knees and saying to the automaton “What are you?”
The Automatons head slowly rose from the limp position it had just been in.
“Hello!” It said cheerfully. “I’m Toa, pleased to meet you!” and held out its hand. The Bastoker was stoked, but she took the Automatons hand and shook it.
“Why did you attack our friend?” the Windurstian intervened, un-impressed by what the creature was doing.
“That man, over there” Toa said, his voice alarmed and his flimsy arm now pointing in the direction of the rent-a-room. “He told me to attack the President of Bastok, and I thought that was him”
The 2 guards got up, alarmed and ran over in the direction of the Mog House. They then both looked up the stairs and yelled as a Goblin’s bomb came crashing down onto them, exploding knocking the Bastoker over the edge of the garden and the Windurstian onto the elevator, which Toa (who had followed) activated, and waved good bye to the unconscious Tarutaru as he sunk into the building. The Puppetmaster then called Toa over to pick the lock on the Windurtian Embassy. The Puppetmaster ran inside while the Automaton fixed the lock back into place before disappearing.
Sephectja and the Immortal ran towards the Quadrangle. Sephectja summoned Shiva, and handed her a key. Shiva opened the door to the Bastokan Embassy, and opened it for them.
“I still think you’re gimped” the Immortal muttered, walking through the door.
Sephectja looked at him disgustedly before following on behind him. Shiva locked the door, and glided over towards the San d’Orian embassy and opening it for Blabj and Zendra who had just joined the rest of the party, and they entered leaving Shiva to lock the door for them. Shiva then threw the key in the air, and threw a small icicle at it which caused it to break into several pieces before falling into the fountain.
Zendra pulled out a link pearl, black in colour and whispered
“Black Mage team, in position”
The Black Mages stood there in the gloomy embassy and listened closely. Sephectja’s voice called back, echoing throughout the emptiness
“Capture team, ready”
And finally Toa’s voice called
“Puppetmaster, good to go!”
Zendra nodded towards Blabj, who ran over to a locked door which lead to the office of the San d’Orian Ambassador.
“Oh no” Blabj moaned
“…What?” Zendra asked sternly
“I-I dropped the key”
“Oh for f…”
Before Zendra could finish, Blabj and thrown a jet of fire at the door, and it soon burned to the floor.
“Remind me why I volunteered to group up with you?” Zendra sighed before running through the door.
Once Sephectja and the Immortal had reached the Bastokan Ambasadors office, Sephectja ran to the desk, and pushed it against the wall, exposing a tile on the floor crested with the Bastokan flag. In each corner, 4 rectangular holes had been hammered in. The Immortal walked over to the Ambassadors desk and pulled out 4 keys, each one crested with a nation’s flag; Bastok, Windurst, San d’Oria and Jeuno. The Immortal laughed.
“What’s wrong with you?” Sephectja asked angrily
“They're missed one” The Immortal replied sarcastically, holding out the 4 keys.
“Stop arsing about, we have a job to do” Sephectja snapped, snatching the 4 keys and placing one in each hole. The tile rose into the air, suspended on marble pillars exposing a ladder. Which they both climbed down.
They where now under ground in Ru’Lude gardens sewage system. Sephectja pointed south, and then ran down the blackened tunnel. The Immortal pressed a code on a console which stood next to the ladder, causing flames to ignite on the torches which stood attached to the wall, also causing the hole in which they had entered to close. Sephectja came running back with a lizard following her. The Immortal drew his scimitar and began attacking the creature. Sephectja stood back, casting cure spells on the Immortal while he attacked. Just as the Lizard was about to die, it used an Infrasonics ability. The Immortal stood staring, and suddenly his left eye emitted a red glow. He clutched his face and screamed into his hands, before falling on all fours. Sephectja ran up to the Lizard and cut it down, before running up to the Immortal.
“Another spell” She whispered
“Yeah” the Immortal groaned.
Sephectja helped him to his feet.
“You should have never took his hand”
The Immortal pushed her aside and staggered down the tunnel.
Within the space of a few minutes, each of the partners had made followed the tunnel until reaching a drop which resembled a black hole, absorbing all the light and material from the sewer that dared to cross it. Each of the partners stood staring down, each opposite each other, and unable to re-unite due to the gulf of darkness between them.
“Where the hell does that go?” Blabj screamed over the roaring of the water pouring down from all 3 tunnels.
“Right down to sea level, apparently” Sephectja called back, her voice fighting it’s way through the rioting currents of sewage.
“Ok people” The Immortal shouted, demandingly “It’s time to finish what we started! Can you all grab the ladders to your left, and climb down, please?”
Everyone did as ordered. In turn, each of the party members slowly advanced down the ladders several feet until reaching other tunnels leading back in the directions came.
“The palace is our next destination.” The Immortal yelled “This may be our only chance to get Karst, so no screw ups”
Everyone turned to face Blabj.
“Oi! Why are you all looking at me?!” He yelled back angrily
“Rendezvous back here in 4 hours.” The Immortal ordered, his voice getting coarse.
With this, the duo’s once again head deeper into the catacombs.
Several minutes later, Zendra pushed a loose tile aside in the Ducal Palace, leaving them in the armoury. Usually, this would be full of guards taking there break, but no one was taking one tonight due to the circumstances. As Zendra hoisted himself into the room, he picked up his link pearl.
“The Black Mages have arrived”
Seconds later, Rasputen spoke.
“Team Puppetmaster has arrived.”
Zendra knew it was time to carry out the plan. He called to Blabj
“Ok, this is it… Oh, and don’t forget to rearra—“
“Can you shut up giving me orders please?” Blabj retorted
Zendra didn’t reply, knowing that now wasn’t the time to get into a debate. He slowly opened the door, and glanced across the hall way. He also saw Rasputen poke his head around the corner of the dining room. He retreated behind the door, and Rasputen followed his example.
“Is Toa on lookout?” Zendra whispered into the pearl, knowing that if he was too loud then the guards patrolling the palace would hear him.
“Yeah, he’s targeted our first captive.” Rasputen whispered now.
“We’re ready on your signal” Zendra replied silently.
2 minutes passed, and Rasputen called back.
“Now!”
Zendra pulled open the door and cast Sleep II on the guard, who fell like a plank to the floor. Blabj cast Tractor, and his disappeared, re-appearing in the room and Zendra closed the door again. Another few minutes past, and again Rasputen called into the linkshell signalling the Black Mages of the passing guard. Zendra whipped the door open, slept the guard whilst Blabj cast tractor.
“Ok, that’s them both” Rasputen whispered.
“Right, we’ll get stripping.” Zendra sighed.
Blabj glared at Zendra, worried about exactly what he meant by the term “stripping”.
The door to the armoury opened. 2 Guards emerged. They marched towards the stairs leading up to the ducal chamber, both whispering to each other.
“I swear to you” Muttered the Tarutaru to the Hume “If I get out this alive, I’m gonna kill you”
When they reached the top of the stairs, a Hume asked them to see Identification. Zendra pulled out a Ducal Audience permit, and the guard took it, inspecting it carefully.
“The duke has asked not be disturbed during his meeting with the President of the Republic” he said, sighing. It would have been easier to get rid of them if the permit wasn’t authentic.
“But we HAVE to see him” Zendra argued.
“I’m sorry, but it will have to wait”
“But you don’t understand!” Zendra growled aggressively.
“If you don’t leave I’ll…”
Before he could finish waves of fire had wrapped around the 2 guards, engulfing them into a storm of crimson. The fire soon dispersed, and the 2 guards lay unconscious on the floor.
“We where told no casualties!” Zendra snapped at Blabj.
“If I wanted to kill them, I would have Flared the bastards off the face of Vana’Diel” Blabj said through an evil grin.
There wasn’t any point in arguing, so Zendra pulled open the door.
Meanwhile, Sephecjta and the Immortal continued following the map which was written down in a battered old journal. The Immortal kept looking down at it, and pointing in the right direction. They carried on running until they reached a huge stone slab which blocked the walkway ahead. It was covered by the Duchies flag, and had the flags of the other 3 nations running along the bottom.
“The Gate of the Allied Forces” Sephecjta muttered. “You still haven’t told me how we’re going to pass.”
The Immortal stood silently as he ran his fingers over the glyphs. He moved his hand over the San d’Oria flag, and suddenly his eye flashed red as it had done with the encounter with the Lizard. The glyph shattered. Next was the Windurst flag, and again it shattered, and finally the Bastokan flag. As each of the glyphs shattered, the Duchies flag began to fade, and had completely disappeared by the time they where all gone.
“How did you do that..?” Sephectja asked, breathless in disbelief.
“That’s not important. Let’s go.”
Within the space of a minute, the duo came up to stairwell, which spiralled up to the ceiling where a trap-door lay, closed and covered in cobwebs. The Immortal brushed them aside, and carefully opened the hatch, making sure he as slow and steady as any sudden movements would likely catch the eye of the guards. He could barely see what was going on, but he was sure enough that the 2 guards he could see standing at the door where Blabj and Zendra. He then glanced to the ceiling above his head, and saw a latch open. He looked carefully and noticed Toa, now in dark-leathered armour, and his flimsy arms hanging down, but this time a short crossbow was attached to one. The Immortal motioned to Sephectja with his hand, and Sephectja picked up the linkpearl and whispered
“open-fire”
The bolt in the cross bow whistled through the air, hitting the Grand Duke in the chest. Wolfgang who was stood there, instinctively ran over to his leader to ensure everything was ok instead of drawing his sword and searching for the intruders. He yanked out the crossbow bolt, but within seconds another implanted itself in the back of his neck. He too, fell to the ground, unconscious. Karst ran to the entrance, but Zendra stunned him. He collapsed, squirming on the floor, unable to move his limbs. The Immortal clambered from the hatch and ran over the President, kicking him in the stomach. Karst wailed in agony. Sephectja ran over and restrained the Immortal who was about to take another kick. He tried to fight his way back, but Blabj warped him. Sephectja let the Immortal free, who straightened his Keffiyeh and nodded to the others. Rasputen closed the hatch whilst Zendra and Blabj opened the door, but what was behind the door changed the smoothness of the mission.
From the amount of people there, it must have been the entire company of the Ducal Guards. The party stood horrified, and without thinking Blabj threw gusts of wind at them, sending half of them flying down the stairs.
“THIS WAY!” Screamed Sephectja motioning towards the trap door, then darting down it with everyone following behind, including about 50 guards. They ran down the stairs and back across the path they had taken, and minutes later they where back at the sewage line leading towards the sea. They ran towards the ladder but Ducal Guards already came clambering down. They where trapped and there was no where to run.
“Blabj, Zendra, warp!” The Immortal cried
And without hesitation, they did leaving there comrades. The Immortal and Sephectja, however, and approximately 30 seconds to discover a method of escape.
“I’m going to jump” whispered Sephectja shakily in the Immortals ear.
“Are you insane?!” The Immortal whispered “You’ll die for sure!”
“Trust me” Sephectja said, before stepping back off the edge, all that was left was behind was her Chapeau, which softly glided towards the bottom. The Immortal stood there in shock, staring down.
“There is no way that she could survive a drop that high?” He thought, but he thought wrong. Seconds later, Shiva came shrieking up the tunnel with Sephecjta on her back. She shot straight up the tunnel, and Sephecjta laughed as she grabbed her chapeau, placed it on her head and disappeared into the huge hole in the ceiling that Shiva had just created with slithers of ice.
“No where to run!” A Guard shouted; this one in his underwear...
“Oh no?” Smirked the Immrotal. He pulled a recently equipped club from his belt and said “I still have a charge left on my warp cudgel” before disappearing from the sewer in a burst of purple light.
Hope you enjoy ^^
Chapter 1:- Presidential Abductions
Ru’lude Gardens; the palatial estate of the Grand Duchy of Jeuno stood towering in the night sky, soaring past the clouds gifting the immaculate city streets with watery moonlight. Unlike usual, the streets where deserted, all except for the Ducal Guards patrolling the area. The consulates had been bolted shut, and the access from the Rent-a-room had been closed along with the access to Upper Jeuno. The citizens and adventurers knew that there would be a punishment for entering the Gardens on the night, and that punishment was death. The Ducal Guards had been given official orders from the Grand Duke himself to kill anyone on the spot who dared to enter Ru’lude.
The entrance to Rent-a-room was being guarded by 2 Ducal Guards; High Wind and Perisa-Neburusa. He was tired from his shift which had lasted the past 12 hours. He rubbed his eyes, which where extremely heavy and he groaned as his legs where aching. High Wind glanced down on his Tarutaru colleague and sighed dejectedly.
“Looks like someone needs to take a break” High Wind said, mockingly.
“Shut up!” Squeaked Perisa-Neburusa angrily “I haventaru stopped working all day!”
“Alright, don’t get…”
Before High Wind could finish his sentence, the 2 guards heard a loud crash. They both glanced at each other nervously. High Wind began to run ahead, but Perisa-Neburusa stopped him.
“You know we cantaru leave our post!”
High Wind snarled.
“I’ll wait here, and you go check what that commotion is” High Wind demanded, growling.
“Nu-uh! I’m not going there, you’re a big scary-wary Galka, and they won’t harm you!”
High Wind looked uneasy. He cautiously walked up the stairs opposite the rent-a-room elevator and turned to face towards the Auction House. Perisa-Neburusa stood frozen to the floor. Without warning, a huge purple glyph appeared on the floor behind High Wind. Perisa-Neburusa was too scared to speak; he just stood and watched as Fenrir began manifesting behind the clueless Galka who had slowly begun walking towards the Auction House. A blood-curdling howl then ripped its way throughout Ru’lude gardens, making the marble surfaces seem to shake, and then High Wind turned to return to his post. As he spun around, he yelled as there was a huge ravaged wolf standing before him, baring its huge yellow teeth and its cold, blood red eyes staring back into his own. Before he got a chance to draw his sword, the menacing avatar pounced on him, grabbed his throat with his teeth and ran away.
Perisa-Neburusa was numb with fear. He backed slowly towards the rent-a-room elevator to escape, but before he could get there he heard his linkshell call at him.
“Neburusa, what happened to High Wind?”
The voice was that of a Hume male, and by the sounds of things a very angry one.
“He went to investigate the noise and he was attacked by Fenrir. A Summoner has breached Ru’lude gardens” Perisa-Neburusa whispered back, taking extra care not to make any noise as the creature might here him.
“Don’t just stand there!” The Hume voice called back over the linkshell “Go and find out what happened to him!”
“But Wolfgang!”
“No buts! Go and find out what happened or you will lose your job”.
Perisa-Neburusa whimpered, and drew his degen before running up the stairs. He saw nothing. He looked around, and he saw an eerie purple glow hovering around the Auction House. He ran towards the glow, and stood in the square. There was nothing there, Fenrir had disappeared. He stood silently, and listened carefully. He could hear several people whispering from down the stairs which stood near him. He ran towards them, and when he reached the bottom he got to his knees making him invisible behind the marble banister. He poked his head around the corner and caught sight of the intruders. They looked like adventurers, but some of them were dressed in pieces he had never seen before. One of them, for example, was dressed from head to foot in Blue Jubbahs. He couldn’t make out the face of the character because it was covered by a black mask which was attached to his Turban, but he had the build of a Hume male. He had an amazing Scimitar tucked into his belt; the metal blade was a lilac colour and had been decorated with extravagant patterns. There was a Red Mage and 2 Black Mages with him, but there was also another character dressed in strange red and black armour, but the strangest thing about him was, was the fact that a creature stood next to him dressed in Crimson robes and wore a turban. It obviously wasn’t a person; it was some kind of automated machine. On the floor before them, High Wind lay sleeping bound in rope. Perisa-Neburusa new better than to run out and attack. He sat listening.
“We need to enter now!” A Tarutaru Black Mage whispered nervously
“No! If we do then the target will be alerted and he will be warped” the Mithra Red Mage replied, whispering angrily.
“They’re already aware that we’re here, he’s going to be warped anyways!” The Black Mage muttered.
“Not necessarily” The Hume in the Blue Jubbahs whispered “They will only warp him in a red alert situation. They don’t even know what the fuss is yet so I highly doubt they’re going to cancle the meeting..."
Perisa-Neburusa knew that this was the time to bust them. He got his degen ready, and ran his hands through his hair. But something wasn’t right. His hand was covered in a sticky liquid substance. It felt like… Saliva. He new what was behind him. He spun around and lunged at Fenrir, but he was too late, he had been knocked back into the group of people.
“Zendra, sleep him!” called the Hume in the mysterious clothing.
Perisa-Neburusa collapsed.
“I told you I should have subbed Summoner” The Mithra Red Mage winked.
“Touché” The Hume sighed.
“HYAAAH!”
The party of adventurers turned, and looked. Fenrir dropped to the ground revealing a Hume Ducal Guard standing there, his crystal-white armour now drenched in oozing, purple blood.
“Seph” The Hume whispered “You just got owned”
The Mithra Red Mage didn’t reply, she drew her anelace and lunged at the Ducal Guard. He parried her attack, and kicked her backwards, but it merely hindered her. She cast a spell on the Guard causing black energy to manifest around his head, blinding him. He then began throwing his sword in random directions in a vein attempt to try and hit the Mithra, but even the occasional accurate attack would miss as the Mithra would simply back-flip out of harms way.
“Sephectja, finish him off!” called the Tarutaru Black Mage.
“I’m not going down that easy!” screamed the determined guard as Sephectja began to cast Fire III. He too began casting, and managed to stun her before she could finish casting. He then used a flask of eye drops, before running up to Sephectja and slashing her across the chest. She fell face down.
“Who’s next?” laughed the guard cockily.
The Hume in the Blue Jubbahs drew his Scimitar. The Ducal Guard made the first attack. The Hume Black Mage began casting Stun, and the Guard froze on the spot. Then, the other Tarutaru Black Mage began casting Burst II. The Stun effect wore off the Guard, and he then advanced upon the Black Mage who had stunned him.
“BLABJ!” He screamed “HURRY UP WITH THAT SPELL!”
The Tarutaru retorted “Shut your face for 1 more minute and let me concentrate, these spells aint exactly easy to cast, you know!”
The Hume in the strange armour ran up towards the Guard and swung his sword at him. He then began casting. In an array of blue lights, a staff appeared out of thin air and began beating the Ducal Guard, who then fell.
“What the fuck are you?” He stammered in sheer amazement.
“An Immortal” Replied the Hume coldly, and before the conversation could progress further, Blabj finished casting Burst II, and a huge bolt of lightning crashed towards the ground where the ducal guard lay, killing him.
“We have to move” whispered the Immortal “Any second now hundreds of these guards will be here to investigate”
“Don’t you think it’s about time to get into formation?” replied Sephectja, her voice low
“Yes, I think it is” proclaimed the Immortal.
“Alright Toa! You know what to do!” Replied the Tarutaru in the strange red and black equipment to the automated creature which stood before him. Suddenly, the creature threw its flimsy black arms in there, and everyone disappeared under an invisible effect.
5 minutes later, the entire party had scattered across Ru’lude gardens in pairs. The Black Mage team consisting of Zendra and Blabj, then Sephectja and the Immortal and finally the Rasputen the puppetmaster and his automaton, Toa. The Black Mages arrived at the entrance leading to Upper Jeuno. The two Hume guards stationed there crashed to the ground as Blabj and Zendra magically put them to sleep.
“Time to take out the trash” Blabj grinned. He closed his eyes and began casting, muttering illegible incantations under his breath. After the spell had been cast, they disappeared in a ball of darkness.
“Where did you warp them?” Zendra asked slowly, he new he wasn’t going to like the answer.
Blabj pointed towards the edge of the gardens, and in the sky the balls of darkness appeared, ejecting the two guards into the night sky, who then fell out of sight.
“Blabj three, Zendra zero~” Blabj joked.
Zendra looked at Blabj and sighed. “You know we where meant to keep the death count low, right?”
Meanwhile, the Puppetmaster ran down the stairs leading to the Quadrangle. In front of each Embassy, stood a bored looking ducal guard. The Puppetmaster ordered his Automaton run up to one of the guards and attack, which it did. The guard stood at the San d’Orian embassy fell unconscious as the creature stealthily cast sleep on him, but the other guards saw. One of the guards slowly advanced on the automaton, who stood there. The Windurstian guard soon followed, and stood before the motionless automaton.
“What is it?” asked the Bastokan guard, curiously
“How the hell am I meant to know?” snapped the Windurstian.
The Bastokor flashed the Windurstian a dirty look, before getting to her knees and saying to the automaton “What are you?”
The Automatons head slowly rose from the limp position it had just been in.
“Hello!” It said cheerfully. “I’m Toa, pleased to meet you!” and held out its hand. The Bastoker was stoked, but she took the Automatons hand and shook it.
“Why did you attack our friend?” the Windurstian intervened, un-impressed by what the creature was doing.
“That man, over there” Toa said, his voice alarmed and his flimsy arm now pointing in the direction of the rent-a-room. “He told me to attack the President of Bastok, and I thought that was him”
The 2 guards got up, alarmed and ran over in the direction of the Mog House. They then both looked up the stairs and yelled as a Goblin’s bomb came crashing down onto them, exploding knocking the Bastoker over the edge of the garden and the Windurstian onto the elevator, which Toa (who had followed) activated, and waved good bye to the unconscious Tarutaru as he sunk into the building. The Puppetmaster then called Toa over to pick the lock on the Windurtian Embassy. The Puppetmaster ran inside while the Automaton fixed the lock back into place before disappearing.
Sephectja and the Immortal ran towards the Quadrangle. Sephectja summoned Shiva, and handed her a key. Shiva opened the door to the Bastokan Embassy, and opened it for them.
“I still think you’re gimped” the Immortal muttered, walking through the door.
Sephectja looked at him disgustedly before following on behind him. Shiva locked the door, and glided over towards the San d’Orian embassy and opening it for Blabj and Zendra who had just joined the rest of the party, and they entered leaving Shiva to lock the door for them. Shiva then threw the key in the air, and threw a small icicle at it which caused it to break into several pieces before falling into the fountain.
Zendra pulled out a link pearl, black in colour and whispered
“Black Mage team, in position”
The Black Mages stood there in the gloomy embassy and listened closely. Sephectja’s voice called back, echoing throughout the emptiness
“Capture team, ready”
And finally Toa’s voice called
“Puppetmaster, good to go!”
Zendra nodded towards Blabj, who ran over to a locked door which lead to the office of the San d’Orian Ambassador.
“Oh no” Blabj moaned
“…What?” Zendra asked sternly
“I-I dropped the key”
“Oh for f…”
Before Zendra could finish, Blabj and thrown a jet of fire at the door, and it soon burned to the floor.
“Remind me why I volunteered to group up with you?” Zendra sighed before running through the door.
Once Sephectja and the Immortal had reached the Bastokan Ambasadors office, Sephectja ran to the desk, and pushed it against the wall, exposing a tile on the floor crested with the Bastokan flag. In each corner, 4 rectangular holes had been hammered in. The Immortal walked over to the Ambassadors desk and pulled out 4 keys, each one crested with a nation’s flag; Bastok, Windurst, San d’Oria and Jeuno. The Immortal laughed.
“What’s wrong with you?” Sephectja asked angrily
“They're missed one” The Immortal replied sarcastically, holding out the 4 keys.
“Stop arsing about, we have a job to do” Sephectja snapped, snatching the 4 keys and placing one in each hole. The tile rose into the air, suspended on marble pillars exposing a ladder. Which they both climbed down.
They where now under ground in Ru’Lude gardens sewage system. Sephectja pointed south, and then ran down the blackened tunnel. The Immortal pressed a code on a console which stood next to the ladder, causing flames to ignite on the torches which stood attached to the wall, also causing the hole in which they had entered to close. Sephectja came running back with a lizard following her. The Immortal drew his scimitar and began attacking the creature. Sephectja stood back, casting cure spells on the Immortal while he attacked. Just as the Lizard was about to die, it used an Infrasonics ability. The Immortal stood staring, and suddenly his left eye emitted a red glow. He clutched his face and screamed into his hands, before falling on all fours. Sephectja ran up to the Lizard and cut it down, before running up to the Immortal.
“Another spell” She whispered
“Yeah” the Immortal groaned.
Sephectja helped him to his feet.
“You should have never took his hand”
The Immortal pushed her aside and staggered down the tunnel.
Within the space of a few minutes, each of the partners had made followed the tunnel until reaching a drop which resembled a black hole, absorbing all the light and material from the sewer that dared to cross it. Each of the partners stood staring down, each opposite each other, and unable to re-unite due to the gulf of darkness between them.
“Where the hell does that go?” Blabj screamed over the roaring of the water pouring down from all 3 tunnels.
“Right down to sea level, apparently” Sephectja called back, her voice fighting it’s way through the rioting currents of sewage.
“Ok people” The Immortal shouted, demandingly “It’s time to finish what we started! Can you all grab the ladders to your left, and climb down, please?”
Everyone did as ordered. In turn, each of the party members slowly advanced down the ladders several feet until reaching other tunnels leading back in the directions came.
“The palace is our next destination.” The Immortal yelled “This may be our only chance to get Karst, so no screw ups”
Everyone turned to face Blabj.
“Oi! Why are you all looking at me?!” He yelled back angrily
“Rendezvous back here in 4 hours.” The Immortal ordered, his voice getting coarse.
With this, the duo’s once again head deeper into the catacombs.
Several minutes later, Zendra pushed a loose tile aside in the Ducal Palace, leaving them in the armoury. Usually, this would be full of guards taking there break, but no one was taking one tonight due to the circumstances. As Zendra hoisted himself into the room, he picked up his link pearl.
“The Black Mages have arrived”
Seconds later, Rasputen spoke.
“Team Puppetmaster has arrived.”
Zendra knew it was time to carry out the plan. He called to Blabj
“Ok, this is it… Oh, and don’t forget to rearra—“
“Can you shut up giving me orders please?” Blabj retorted
Zendra didn’t reply, knowing that now wasn’t the time to get into a debate. He slowly opened the door, and glanced across the hall way. He also saw Rasputen poke his head around the corner of the dining room. He retreated behind the door, and Rasputen followed his example.
“Is Toa on lookout?” Zendra whispered into the pearl, knowing that if he was too loud then the guards patrolling the palace would hear him.
“Yeah, he’s targeted our first captive.” Rasputen whispered now.
“We’re ready on your signal” Zendra replied silently.
2 minutes passed, and Rasputen called back.
“Now!”
Zendra pulled open the door and cast Sleep II on the guard, who fell like a plank to the floor. Blabj cast Tractor, and his disappeared, re-appearing in the room and Zendra closed the door again. Another few minutes past, and again Rasputen called into the linkshell signalling the Black Mages of the passing guard. Zendra whipped the door open, slept the guard whilst Blabj cast tractor.
“Ok, that’s them both” Rasputen whispered.
“Right, we’ll get stripping.” Zendra sighed.
Blabj glared at Zendra, worried about exactly what he meant by the term “stripping”.
The door to the armoury opened. 2 Guards emerged. They marched towards the stairs leading up to the ducal chamber, both whispering to each other.
“I swear to you” Muttered the Tarutaru to the Hume “If I get out this alive, I’m gonna kill you”
When they reached the top of the stairs, a Hume asked them to see Identification. Zendra pulled out a Ducal Audience permit, and the guard took it, inspecting it carefully.
“The duke has asked not be disturbed during his meeting with the President of the Republic” he said, sighing. It would have been easier to get rid of them if the permit wasn’t authentic.
“But we HAVE to see him” Zendra argued.
“I’m sorry, but it will have to wait”
“But you don’t understand!” Zendra growled aggressively.
“If you don’t leave I’ll…”
Before he could finish waves of fire had wrapped around the 2 guards, engulfing them into a storm of crimson. The fire soon dispersed, and the 2 guards lay unconscious on the floor.
“We where told no casualties!” Zendra snapped at Blabj.
“If I wanted to kill them, I would have Flared the bastards off the face of Vana’Diel” Blabj said through an evil grin.
There wasn’t any point in arguing, so Zendra pulled open the door.
Meanwhile, Sephecjta and the Immortal continued following the map which was written down in a battered old journal. The Immortal kept looking down at it, and pointing in the right direction. They carried on running until they reached a huge stone slab which blocked the walkway ahead. It was covered by the Duchies flag, and had the flags of the other 3 nations running along the bottom.
“The Gate of the Allied Forces” Sephecjta muttered. “You still haven’t told me how we’re going to pass.”
The Immortal stood silently as he ran his fingers over the glyphs. He moved his hand over the San d’Oria flag, and suddenly his eye flashed red as it had done with the encounter with the Lizard. The glyph shattered. Next was the Windurst flag, and again it shattered, and finally the Bastokan flag. As each of the glyphs shattered, the Duchies flag began to fade, and had completely disappeared by the time they where all gone.
“How did you do that..?” Sephectja asked, breathless in disbelief.
“That’s not important. Let’s go.”
Within the space of a minute, the duo came up to stairwell, which spiralled up to the ceiling where a trap-door lay, closed and covered in cobwebs. The Immortal brushed them aside, and carefully opened the hatch, making sure he as slow and steady as any sudden movements would likely catch the eye of the guards. He could barely see what was going on, but he was sure enough that the 2 guards he could see standing at the door where Blabj and Zendra. He then glanced to the ceiling above his head, and saw a latch open. He looked carefully and noticed Toa, now in dark-leathered armour, and his flimsy arms hanging down, but this time a short crossbow was attached to one. The Immortal motioned to Sephectja with his hand, and Sephectja picked up the linkpearl and whispered
“open-fire”
The bolt in the cross bow whistled through the air, hitting the Grand Duke in the chest. Wolfgang who was stood there, instinctively ran over to his leader to ensure everything was ok instead of drawing his sword and searching for the intruders. He yanked out the crossbow bolt, but within seconds another implanted itself in the back of his neck. He too, fell to the ground, unconscious. Karst ran to the entrance, but Zendra stunned him. He collapsed, squirming on the floor, unable to move his limbs. The Immortal clambered from the hatch and ran over the President, kicking him in the stomach. Karst wailed in agony. Sephectja ran over and restrained the Immortal who was about to take another kick. He tried to fight his way back, but Blabj warped him. Sephectja let the Immortal free, who straightened his Keffiyeh and nodded to the others. Rasputen closed the hatch whilst Zendra and Blabj opened the door, but what was behind the door changed the smoothness of the mission.
From the amount of people there, it must have been the entire company of the Ducal Guards. The party stood horrified, and without thinking Blabj threw gusts of wind at them, sending half of them flying down the stairs.
“THIS WAY!” Screamed Sephectja motioning towards the trap door, then darting down it with everyone following behind, including about 50 guards. They ran down the stairs and back across the path they had taken, and minutes later they where back at the sewage line leading towards the sea. They ran towards the ladder but Ducal Guards already came clambering down. They where trapped and there was no where to run.
“Blabj, Zendra, warp!” The Immortal cried
And without hesitation, they did leaving there comrades. The Immortal and Sephectja, however, and approximately 30 seconds to discover a method of escape.
“I’m going to jump” whispered Sephectja shakily in the Immortals ear.
“Are you insane?!” The Immortal whispered “You’ll die for sure!”
“Trust me” Sephectja said, before stepping back off the edge, all that was left was behind was her Chapeau, which softly glided towards the bottom. The Immortal stood there in shock, staring down.
“There is no way that she could survive a drop that high?” He thought, but he thought wrong. Seconds later, Shiva came shrieking up the tunnel with Sephecjta on her back. She shot straight up the tunnel, and Sephecjta laughed as she grabbed her chapeau, placed it on her head and disappeared into the huge hole in the ceiling that Shiva had just created with slithers of ice.
“No where to run!” A Guard shouted; this one in his underwear...
“Oh no?” Smirked the Immrotal. He pulled a recently equipped club from his belt and said “I still have a charge left on my warp cudgel” before disappearing from the sewer in a burst of purple light.
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