The New Years Festival, It begins...

[forgerofsouls]

Continued From viewtopic.php?f=25&t=28800

[Narrator]
Since the start of the two month long festival in Luxnimburg celebrating the beginning of the new year, things have been lively and frantic. The large city was decorated with bright colors and load noises as people celebrated as they do every year everywhere. For the most part, things seamed to be normal. But without any one's knowledge a sinister and evil plot was hatching. This plot did not effect Luxnimburg alone; indeed, it encompassed the entire world in its dark grip.

And so, the shroud of darkness has gently been cast over the world, with no one the wiser. Even our heroes have no idea as to what is going on, or the fate that lays before them. These heroes, are not the normal ones that inhabit the world, like the rulers and generals of the world with lots of power at their command, but a bunch of ill prepared victims to the winds of fate. A priestess of Sarenrae, a Bead prince, the heir of a mega corporation, a poor monk with a curse, an elf with a dark secret, and the son of a famous bard. They have come together, not out of their own choices, but due to the whims of fate. Unknowingly, they will be the ones that decide the fate of the world, will it survive, or will it be destroyed? The curtain now raises, on a curious sight...
[End Narrator Sequence]

[DM Time...Go!]
Our six heros have thus far been enjoying the festival as best as each of you could enjoy it. You have decided to watch the big parade that travels the main streets of Luxnimburg. The floats and people in the parade were brightly colored and flashy, especially thus that involved magic. Many fireworks were going off all around in the air above the city. It has been two weeks since the celebration began. And the streets were the parade took place were packed full with people. Except, oddly enough, for a single street corner, were only seven people stood.

This group happens to contain the six of you. None of you have ever met before today. Though it is obvious that for all the street corners, the one the six of you (with the exception of your guess) happen to be standing at is empty, save the seven of you. The rest of the streets and street corners are packed, and the corner that you are at is in the middle of the parade route, so its not like it is empty because of its location.

The seventh person that is occuping the corner with the six of you is taller than even Colo. Standing at a good 7'6" tall the fello is. And he happens to be wearing a black robe, his hands and feet are hidden in the robe, and the robe is making it hard to make out what might be underneath the man's robes. His face happens to be hidden by a black scarf, his eyes even have a pair of black googles blocking your sight of them. So, beyond the fact that he is dressed all in black, there is no other detail that you can see about him. Other than the fact that he is obviously not armed. Suddenly he speaks loudly enough so that the six of you can hear him "Are you ready?"
[End DM Time]

[Begin Player Time...]
One post per person, and right now, there is no set order, so anyone can go first, and so on and so forth, so everyone gets to post once before it returns to me. After the first round, till something happens that changes the initiative, that will be the posting order.

[colosusjokers]

Colo looks up from cleaning his kazoo. "Ready for what exactly? You're not about to toss the robe and start streaking up and down in front of the parade are you?"

[SmiterOfFoes]

Fearing the worst, Quellurian takes a second to psionically focus himself, and begins to study the crowd of people gathered at the street.

[Seera]

Jolinar watched the parade with some interest from the fairly empty street corner. I wonder why this street corner is so deserted. It's not like it has a bad view or anything. Jolinar thought to herself, but soon shrugged it off. It meant less males closer to her and that kept her happy. She herself didn't really mind males, but her twin hated males and that tended to rub off on Jolinar's mood. Soon she began to look around some more at the other street corners that she could see. She saw happy kids trying to get closer to the parade, but being held back by their parents and she saw some unhappy toddlers, probably scared by the noise of the fireworks. She noticed the movements of the floats due to the slight breeze which was also moving her hair slightly. She was brought back to her street corner by the sound of the tall man in the cloak asking if she was ready. She rolled her eyes the man who wondered if the cloaked male was going to streak. "I'm sure he doesn't want to attract attention to himself," Jolinar stated, "But he does pose a good question, cloaked man. Ready for what?" She turned more to face the cloaked man, with her feet about shoulder width apart and crossed her arms and waited for a reply.

[Luxon Cobrat]

Akana found herself also wandering what was going on. Everything about this meeting was rather strange. It had her on edge, really. However, it was a small comfort that at least she wasn't the only one here that didn't know anything. As for whether she was ready, that depended on what she was supposed to be ready for. The question had already been asked, though, so there was no sense in repeating it.

"I hope you're right about that," she said to the elf. "If he does mean to go streaking, I can honestly say I'm not ready for that."

[Gaius]

Connall would have been content to ignore the goings-on at the corner and simply enjoy the parade. He had heard the giant addressing all of them, of course. The monk simply presumed the cloaked figure was either mistaken, or attempting to find an associate that he had not before met. ... Actually, the second possibility, with the suspicious look, did ring of something criminal. He hoped it wouldn't mean missing much of the parade, but he was curious, and so listened in.

It gave Connall an earful of the bard's comment. He blinked, not quite sure how to respond. '... Oddly specific suggestion...' Fortunately the two ladies seemed happy to answer for him. He nodded in agreement with the human woman. Then he gave a small smile. "Though with this atmosphere, it wouldn't much surprise me." It would hardly be the craziest thing he had seen in Luxnimburg. Connall joined the others in waiting for an answer from the heavily clothed man -- and in hoping he would stay that way.

[The_Vizir]

Max wasn't exactly certain how he'd ended up here, surrounded by these tall-folk, somehow separated from his kin... and how exactly this group itself had become isolated from the greater party around them was also somewhat disconcerting. The small kithkin spread his wings slightly in reflex, partially to ready himself to dart away if the need arose, and partially just to make himself look bigger to the towering baldskins above him so he wouldn't have to. He started to look around for any other sythen whom he could join with... though Luxnimburg was far from their homeland, there were still a fair number of kithkin who maintained their nomadic roots, and as Luxnimburg was a decent sized point, Max was pleased to find he was far from the only of his kind in the city. Indeed, before he had found himself here, with these folk, he had been enjoying the festival with a small group of them. But now...

Max's nervous searching, however, was cut off when the strange, shrouded fellow in their midst asked a question out of the blue. The archivist spun around and looked up at the giant, but was cut off by another fellow (who looked almost as off as the first) replied with an even more ridiculous question. "What did you-" but before he could finish, he was cut off by the females. Deciding he wasn't going to get an answer, he merely shook his head and rubbed his eyes. Humankin, he mentally sighed, crazy red-blooded humankin...

[forgerofsouls]

The person chuckled a little bit at the streaking idea. "If only it was that simple my friends!" Then he pointed at the sky. "Look beyond the fireworks and you will see a glowing sphere that appeared yesterday." Indeed, in precisly the direction that he pointed at beyond all the fireworks and displays was a small yellow glowing sphere. He than lowered his hand back to his side. "That my friends is the key. Have you ever heard the legend "Weapon Set, Death is the Price"? If not, let me give you the quick version. A long time ago, beyond recorded history, aliens invaded our planet. In fact, it wasn't just one group of aliens, but two. The first one came to enslave our world, the other came to defend the world. In the end the second alien race along with the most talented mages back than came together and made a weapon to defend the planet. And with it, the invaders were defeated. But of course, everyone thinks its just a myth because aliens don't exist. And yet, we have other planes of existence, so why not aliens from another world? Oh, I do believe I have yet to introduce myself! I am Black from the Whiteruby Sword Guild. And you are prolly wondering what does the legend and the glowing sphere in the sky have to do with each other? Well, there is more, we discovered this information last month actually, and our sources tell us that others know of this information as well, in fact, before we even did. This includes the Deathsworn Sword Alliance. The information told us that the keys to the place that the weapon is hidden were placed into a special rock and launched into orbit around the suns. It was only supposed to return if it detected the invading aliens again. And our sages have divined into this subject and found that they are indeed returning, and thus the keys will also return. In fact. They are supposed to land at this very spot!" He said at length, pausing only long enough to take a breather before continueing.

"And get this, a single person can only hold one key, and no more. So, thats were you guys come into play. I need your help to carry atleast seven of these keys. There are a total of twelve, but only seven are needed to open the gate to the weapon. Ah, the sphere glows brighter, its coming!" He said, and looking up, it is obvious that the sphere is indeed glowing brighter and perhaps getting closer.

[DM's Notes]
So, the following four know this information (The legend): Akana, Max, Connal, and Jolinar. The other two just never heard the legend before.

A long time ago, the Viscrea came to the planet in their ships that flew without the aid of magic from beyond the stars. They did not come from one of the other planes. They did not come in the name of peace. No they came with their weapons raised and fired nonmagical rays at anything that they deamed unworthy to live. We did not stand a chance. But the gods listened to our pleas and sent the Fexnithians to aid us. They to came in ships that flew without the aid of magic from beyond the stars. Together, the people of our planet and the Fexnithians stood side by side with the Viscrea. But even with the other's help, we were slowly losing the war.

Thankfully, the birghtest sages and mages from the Fexnithians and our people came together and made a weapon so powerful, that the Viscrea that had invaded were competly wiped out. The Fexnithians and our ancestors agreed to leave the weapon on our world, hidden from view. It was sealed away and the keys vanished.

This is what you have heard of the legend.

Also, everyone does know about the Whiteruby Sword Guild and the Deathsworn Sword Alliance. This is because those two groups are very famous.

Both groups have an enourmous amount of people, and are very large. But, both groups, fearing the other, have made it so that all their members, conceal their identities while out working as a member of their group. Thus, not even their faces are seen. Also, all members of both groups use alliases. So obviously, Black is not his real name. The Whiteruby Sword Guild exists as mostly an adventure guild that helps others and protects people when the countries cannot. The Deathsworn Sword Guild, exists to conquer and destroy. There is no standard uniform amongest either guild. But, both sides do have a certain symbol that they must wear openly so as not to confuse others of their group. The WRSG's symbol is a white sword with a ruby set into its blade near the hilt, the blade is pointed down. The DSSA's symbol is a black hilt sword with a red blade with a skull skewered on the blade, the blade is pointed up.

And for those with decent enough perception that take the time to look for it, see a pin in the shape of a white sword blade down with a ruby set in its blade just near his neck.

Also, for those with anything in perception will notice, that anyone that came within 20ft of them seamed to pause for a moment before turning around and walking away.

[colosusjokers]

Colo looks around him at the others on the corner and then proceeds to look up at the object and say "And the probing begins. You guys are on your own." as he slowly backs away.

[SmiterOfFoes]

"You idiot, a key is coming here, not aliens." Quellurian replied to the bard, becoming annoyed. Turning to Black, he asked, "How can we trust you? You wear the mark of the Whiteruby Sword Guild, but that does not mean you are really one of them. How do we know that the "key" isn't a weapon that you plan on using us?"

[Seera]

Jolinar listened to the robed man tell them why they should be at the ready state. She did remember the legend. It was one her parents insisted on telling her and her twin. One of many. She had always figured that there was more to the legend, but her parents never gave her an answer. She figured they didn't know. What amazed Jolinar now, was that it wasn't a legend. It was reality. "He said they are coming here. I believe him in that respect," Jolinar said, "And if we are going to have to work together, resulting to insults might not be that bright." Jolinar wasn't sure Black would let them not help him if he had so clearly made it so only this small group was allowed to be at this very corner. She did wonder if Black was telling the truth, but angering him if he wasn't probably wasn't the brightest idea. Not to mention the white-haired human already asked. "The legend says the keys are just that, keys. They aren't the weapon itself," Jolinar further explained, "It would be stupid to have the weapon just appear somewhere. Just in case it got in the wrong hands." She ignored her twin's insistence that any man holding the weapon would be in the wrong hands. However, it did make her a bit more wary of Black's intentions.

[Luxon Cobrat]

"Well, that just all came right out of the blue," Akana initially commented.

The priestess remembered the legend as the man calling himself Black recounted it. It was a strange one, and one that she had never really put much stock in, as it did sound like a bit of a tall tale. On the other hand, the light in the sky the shrouded man pointed out wasn't something she could just shrug off. And, of course, there were enough strange things in this world and across the planes that dismissing the legend outright would be just as naive as believing it with no proof.

"But I'll play along," she decided. "If that's all true and the Viscrea really are coming back, I for one won't be standing aside for them."

[Gaius]

Connall's thoughts most resembled Akana's: he had heard the legend, and thought little of it. With few exceptions, his masters had taught him to view such legends and tales less as actual accounts than as metaphors and allegories. He'd never quite pegged what the story of the Viscrea and Fexnithians was supposed to mean, though. The Gods' willingness to lend enough strength for mortal effort to conquer any foe? When up against a strange enemy, look an ally with similarities? Even among the more open-ended parables, it had always seemed a bit... specific.

However, the monk concerned himself with another aspect of this situation. "Accepting for a moment they actually return and that you are who you claim, a question. I'd ask why you would tell this to six random people on a corner," his eyes dart to a tipsy man in a jester's motley hat prancing merrily toward them, pausing, and prancing just as merrily away, "but we clearly aren't random. Instead, why would you trust the six of us over anyone else of the Whiteruby Sword Guild?"

[The_Vizir]

Max stared at the human for several long moments, before closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose "Yes, of course. Aliens. Hard to believe..." his voice dripped with sarcasm. Humans... bloody ignorant humans. Of course, Max too had heard of the legend, but really, it was just another myth which he took with a grain of salt. Possibly a story to explain some war or something... well, that would have been his first guess. Ironically, it were those myths which one never took seriously which happened to be true...

The bead nodded slightly at the human monk's observation. Right, good point. Why the heck would a member of such an esteemed guild come to six random people for help... six random people, he noted, who didn't even know each other. "Okay, mate, I've gotta be strait up with you. Which prophet gave you this message, and are you certain they were smoking the right herbs before diving?" This all seemed a little too contrived for his liking...

[forgerofsouls]

Black listened to all the questions and sarcasim in the group, he knew that this would happen. For at one point, it had been him that was on their end of a similar situation. So, instead of answering any of the questions first he raised his right hand so that the back of it, though gloved was the visible surface. Suddenly a glow started to shine through the glove itself till a glowing rune from a language that none of the six standing on the corner knew made itself visible. "This is a Mark of a Key Holder. It shows that wielder has the right to pick up, use, and carry the keys. So, know you are wondering if you have such a mark or not? Resonance!" With him saying Resonance, the rune on his hand pulsed several times and suddenly the same rune appeared on the back of the right hand of all six of the people gathered.

He lowerd his hand down after revealing the marks of the others to them. "As you all can see, you all have the Mark of a Key Holder. But that still doesn't answer the question why you? Don't ask me! I have no clue as to why you guys were chosen by fate to be key holders, much less myself. All I know is that out of the 100 or so key holders out there, most of them are either to old or to young to be able to go on this adventure. And out of the key holders that are elligable for this adventure, most of them have either been killed by the Deathsworn Sword Alliance, or have joined the Deathsworn Sword Alliance. Luckly for you, we at the Whiteruby Sword Guild have discovered you guys before the Deathsworn did. And thus have been protecting you for a while now." He looked up into the sky at the glowing object that caried the keys.

Suddenly, another bright glowing object appeared moving at a high speed towards the key carrier. "Eh? Whats that?" Black asked out loud, though he knew full well that none of the gathered knew what it was. Suddenly the new light met the first light. The glowing object started to pulse, obviously something was happening. Suddenly, twelve smaller glowing objects seperated and shot off in random directions down to the planet, before the main object pulsed once more before disappearing. Black stood there for a few seconds before speaking up. "What in the nine hells just happened?! Crap! I think something attacked the keys! For they were going to land right here! And now they are scattered! Just great! Well, this complicates things. Well, the original plan was just that we were going to take the keys after they landed right here and take them to the weapon and be ready to unlock it for when the enemy shows up. But now I guess we got some traveling to do. Seriously, what else could go wrong!?" No sooner did that last sentance come out of his mouth did a strangely colored bird fly and land right on his left shoulder, a small scroll attached to its leg. Obviously an enchanted bird to be able to bypass the strange field that kept everyone else away from the group.

Muttering something about how one should never say what else could go wrong or anything along those lines he took the message off the leg and opened it up. He studied it for several seconds before rolling it back up. He put it in side the heavy robe he wore before addressing the group. "Well, this is bad, the Deathsworn have made a drastic move that involves waking up the Tarrasque. Stupid fools that they are, this is serious enough that I will have to leave you guys to go get the keys yourselves. Listen carefully, you guys need to get atleast six of them. After the team I am about to help stop the Deathsworn, I will get a seventh key and rejoin you guys. While there are twelve keys, only seven are needed to unlock the weapon. But, regardless, you guys need to get atleast six of them, for if the Deathsworn get their hands on seven of them, well, kiss your butts goodbye! Go to the Boneyard Smithery, heres the address." He said as he handed Akana a piece of paper with the address writen on it. "Tell them Black sent you, and that the Keys have fallen. They will give you gear. Now then, I wish we could continue this discussion, but I need to go. Good luck on your part of the adventure, with the Deathsworn after the keys and you guys, you will be hard pressed. Without furthure delay, good day! And may the Gods be with you." He said before turning around and running through the crowd.

[DM's Notes]
Nothing much to note here, other than the fact that Max (Viz's character) IS an alien.

[colosusjokers]

Colo with a startled look on his face looks up and then around him "wait, when in the nine hells did the gods get involved with this?"" He then looks down at Max and points"alien".

[SmiterOfFoes]

"The gods were always involved." Quellurian stated, staring at the rune on his hand. This whole situation was insane. He was to be returning back to his Uncle to resume his studies, not wandering off to save the world. He chuckled to himself, knowing his uncle would place his studies over the continuation of the world, even though it would be fairly hard to study when your dead. Oh well, thought Quellurian, it would probably be best to ask for forgiveness after all of this is over, instead of going to ask permission. "Lets hurry up and go get these keys. The sooner this is all over, the better." He turned to Akana, "Where is it that we are to go to?"

[Seera]

Jolinar glanced at her hand for a moment when the rune on her hand appeared. So, I'm a key holder apparently, Jolinar thought to herself, before a voice in the back of her head that she knew all too well thought back, Better you than another male. There are already too many males involved in this. Be wary. She shook her head in an attempt to brush the thoughts of her twin out of her head. These guys were strangers, they didn't need to know.

She blinked a few times when the other object attacked the glowing object they had been watching fall. She saw the twelve pieces go flying off in different directions and then heard Black curse and then have to leave after receiving a message. She was relieved a female had been placed in charge. Try as she might, her sister's thoughts were hard to get shake and she really didn't want to listen to her sister complain about yet another male in charge. She mentally cursed at her luck. She wanted some answers on how to get rid of her sister's soul. Her twin couldn't rest while she resided inside of Jolinar. Jolinar only wanted to get rid of the soul so that she could rest in peace. All the burial rituals that had been done to ensure her twin rested in peace were in vain until she could purge the soul from her body.

"Where off to now?" Jolinar asked, "We're too in the open here and the Deathsworn Sword Alliance is bound to send people to this location in case we are here. We need to be gone before they get here. I don't particularly want to fight out in the open where innocents could get injured."

[Luxon Cobrat]

Hadn't Akana just said something about it all coming right out of the blue? Well, she could have said it again, though she preferred not to repeat herself.

She spent a few moments looking at the rune that had appeared on her hand. So she’d been going around with a mark like that without ever even realizing it, had she? That alone was a bit much to take in all at once. As was the fact that people had been trailing her for the past few months without her ever even knowing it.

"It doesn’t sound like we have much choice,” she replied to the questioning from two of the others. “Aside from exercising your free will and going along on your own way, at least. I wouldn’t say that would be safe if we’ve got Deathsworn looking for us, but that’s free will for you. Otherwise, I suppose we’d better start by picking up this equipment."

And with that, she looked over the paper to see where exactly it would send them.

"Boneyard Smithery," she thought aloud as she read the directions. "I believe I can navigate to there."

She wasted no time setting off in whatever direction the paper indicated, though she took care not to outpace anyone else in this group intent on following her. Meanwhile, another thought crossed her mind.

"I suppose a round of introductions might be in order, seeing how we've all become travelling companions now," she suggested, glancing back over her shoulder briefly. "I'd be Akana. Akana Mdjai. There's no good way to shorten that as far as I know."

[Gaius]

Though Black answered some questions and offered explanations, Connall was, for a while, only half-listening. A glowing rune appearing on one's hand can do that. Even for one used to more... dramatic changes. 'That's... new.' It had a sort of warm, tingly feeling, though it might have been all in his head.

He tore himself away from staring at it once Black mentioned they'd been under guard. Aside from the general invasion of privacy that would worry anyone, his thoughts turned to another concern of his being watched: he couldn't remember the last time he'd gone a week without getting doused. 'So, one, maybe two, powerful organizations with an interest in me know about the curse. Great...'

Connall wasn't given much time to dwell on this before Black was surprised. Twice, in fact. The latter in a self-acknowledged cliche. And so the agent of the Whiteruby Sword Guild handed them some directions, and off he went. The Monk wasn't sure about the giant's chances, even knowing the Guild's reputation. It was the Tarrasque, after all.

Connall thought it was important to seek the keys, but he couldn't deny a selfish reluctance. He was in Luxnimburg for the tournament, and it was to begin later that day. Personal glory and the chance to face some formidable adversaries were important to him, though they weren't alone. He was representing his nation, his monastery, and his family, and he couldn't bear to let them all down by not even competing. At least his master would probably be fine; he'd just sit down to concoct some "creative" training for Connall and cheer right up. This in itself was another reason the Monk would prefer not to miss the tournament...

In any case, other reactions from the sixdom were... mixed. Like the bard, who chose that moment to point at the sarcastic Bead and make a declaration. Connall had to raise an eyebrow at this. "Uhh... Probably not the time to point and gawk, I'm thinking," he said, tone suggesting this would be true even without the fate of the world business. The white-haired man spoke of their getting a move on, and the elven woman of how dangerous it might be to tarry, both of one mind with Connall, who nodded his agreement.

The priestess proved the one to take action. After a few sensible words, she started to follow the directions she had been handed. Connall gave another nod and headed after her. "We should be going," he said to the rest. Introductions seemed another good move to him. "Good meeting you all. I'm Connall Eyre." He kept an eye out as they went; in the spirit of the festival, there were no weapons on any of them. Even if some could provide magical aid, the monk knew he would have to step up in an attack.