Twilit Tears

[[ In case nobody noticed my lack of presence the past couple of weeks on Mabi: school, work, various other stuff. Haven't had much time for Mabi or to continue this. So hiatus again. Sorry. x.x; ]]

EDIT:

[[Come to think of it, I do need some time to plan ahead. A few things here kinda threw me off, so I'll be doing that over my Mabi break. Plan to pick up full time again after exam week, which is...ohhhh...about maybe 30 days from now? See you then. ]]

The explosion could be seen all the way to Gairech from the tower that had been erected over Barri Dungeon. A massive discharge seemed to have blown half of its highest floor clean off. Within, Fenrir was fanning the air to clear dust and residual mana that lingered from the blast, sighing once he managed to catch a glimpse of the shattered weapon upon the altar in front of him. Beneath a think coating of adamantium, the remaining light the destroyed blade held ebbed out until the metal was left a charred black; and the hilt was all but ash. "Well, there goes Plan A." the fomor grumbled.

"It figures." came a voice from the stairwell. By some miracle, the door and a small portion of the wall framing it had remained in tact, leaving Kurohi to smirk as she peered into the room from the other side before casually entering. "I leave you alone for a few years and return to see you destroying Bangor yourself."

Fenrir took one glance at her and then returned his gaze to the mess on the altar. "You're back early."

"Things went better than planned." The succubus moved to stand beside him, arms crossed while she surveyed the wreckage. "I'm assuming the attempt to sever Erinn's connection to the soul stream failed?"

"Didn't come anywhere close. Suppose we can still do things the old fashioned way." The fomor chuckled. The old, annoying fashioned way. That hope of removing Milletians from Erinn was crushed, but that didn't mean it would make things impossible. Fenrir would just be left to wonder how many times he could kill a man and vice versa. "The infiltration was successful then?"

"Very." Kurohi said. "Taillteann simply took the young ones to be reinforcements from Emain Macha - forging signatures to paperwork and handling messages was easy enough for me. Spies have been spread evenly among the soldiers, we've been able to get a great deal of information about numbers and armaments there, and nobody's suspected a thing all this time. The kids sent seem to have a nice talent for acting."
Fenrir smiled faintly. He had been a little worried about how the adolescants would interact with others after all that happened. Returning to the world they were taken from at a young age would've probably been difficult for them to cope with; but they did a lot better than he expected. From how Kurohi explained it, not even one of them had wavered and nobody recognized their faces as one of the Kidnapped. Then again, it was only a hundred of them out of seven - the ones he trusted most in their abilities at the moment. Who knew if it'd be the same case if he let them all go at once. "Go on." Fenrir said as he turned to head back downstairs. He would have someone else clean the mess later.

Kurohi followed, taking one last, amused glance at the standing door before she went on in her report. "More good news then - after we settled, we were able to pass fomor soldiers into Stonehenge to blend with ranks there as well. Some of the agents managed to slip away with a few defectors. I came back early to tell you the first would be arriving here by the end of this year. They'll be under the guise of prisoners with Nathaniel escorting them. There's a moon gate between Stonehenge and Tailltean and the soldiers tend to stick more to the walls, so there should be little trouble with the transfer. Nathaniel simply has to play the role of captor after the mission."

Good litte Nathaniel. None of the other Dark Knights had shown more promise than that boy. "The rumors about alchemy?"

"Definitely true. The defensive force managed to get ahold of it. Fighting them as we are is going to prove very difficult and moreso if knowledge spreads to the other cities, which is why I took the liberty of a few refresher courses myself. I can teach some of the smarter solders the basics and our friends from the Shadow Realm can handle the rest when they arrive."

"Very good. I've all but forgotten how to use it so I'll be wanting in on that as well. Anything else?"

"Nothing. Our forces have been managing things flawlessly so far and we won't have to worry about attacks from Taillteann anytime soon since they're tied up defending against other fomor attacks. The only problem I do foresee is our assistance not arriving in timely fashion; but we are ahead of schedule..."

"In that case we'll be able to mobilize soon. Make sure to keep regular communications with the forces there."

"And you?"

"Some things I'll need to be looking into on the outside. You know the drill."

Kurohi glared. Impersonating him while he in hiding was one of the more annoying jobs she had. It became the worst when he took a queen.

Kurohi received the owl not too long after passing through Tailteann a second time. She had simply told the Children she had to spy on Emain Macha for a little while, which she did, though it did give her enough time to put her plan into action. She received word from Bangor a little faster than she was expecting though. It was written in very sloppy shorthand - probably by a goblin. They were resilient and very obedient, but when it came to penmanship there was no saving them.

The note mentioned the kidnapping of the newly recruited Child; but she knew otherwise. It brought a grin to her face as well, but that quickly faded when she remembered who else would be getting this report. "Now for the fun part..." she mumbled while making her way to the human's barracks to speak with Nathaniel. Need to make this quick and return before the soldiers wonder about their precious emperor...

News spread quickly from Tailteann about the incident - Fenrir was captured, publicly tortured (honestly, what would you call it? XD) and executed. While the remains of the body were taken away, they was found buried in Tailteann's cemetery and burned for good measure after worry of some kind of curse was voiced. A few watchmen noted an odd flame passing by overhead and vanishing to the south. No other reports from other cities were given about it though.

Rather than a surrender, Requiem's forces immediately went up in arms; but appear to be remaining on the defensive around Bangor...

Wolfe paced back and forth in the antechamber, while white lounged against a nearby pillar

"so he's really dead?" wolfe asked his Shadow

"I can say that the badly mutilated body was showing no signs of life when i got a glimpse of it" White replied "pity I wasn't there when it happened. what depths might his eyes have revealed at that moment?"

"lets not dwell on your search for knowledge in the eyes of dead people. Would it be too much to hope they kept the body intact?"

"Sadly, they had it dug up and burned. something about people worrying about a curse."

"So, that's the end of it then?"

"well, a guards rather deep in his cups did mumble something about a flame passing overhead as the corpse burned. whether its true or just drunken ramblings would be hard to confirm."

Wolfe ran his hands through his hair. "well, what can we do to confirm it?"

"At present? nothing. Bangor is impossible to sneak into, so we rely entirely on what we over hear from the guards. and they've been very close-lipped of late."

Wolfe chuckled in spite of himself "well, then we shall have to simply continue doing as we have been, and hope we haven't doomed ourselves by doing so"

The chamber deep within Barri was closed off and heavily locked, the ritual within not to be disturbed. A small team of mages stood about the stone that was transferred from Dunbarton, the thing now engulfed in a dark flame. The fire did not burn, but rather revealed a purple glow with small pieces of quartz buried within - pieces of a fourth twilight shard and where the others siphoned gathered energies to. Runic symbols surrounded the stone, marks for fear, hatred, and agony plainly drawn in blood among the other characters.

The mages stood in a circle about the space in silence, waiting for the appropriate time to begin. It was not until the sun had just started to sink over the horizon, which was announced by a bell rung to keep time in the underground, that the group raised their hands toward the stone and began their chant. As it progressed, the other shards over Erinn resonated with the same glow as the one within Barri. Hobgoblins in Courcle gave praise to the one they held. Animals in Zardine were keeping distance from Raspa Volcano. The oceans about Rano churned violently from time to time as something large in the deep grew more aggitated. Elsewhere, someone's pocket had been giving off a faint glow in the same manner - hardly noticeable, though a few people showed signs of frustration about him.

The effects lasted half a day before the glows all faded. Deep within Barri, then mages had finished their chants and lowered their hands, staring at the new form among them. A young man was kneeled on the alter, or rather what humans called a fomor or monster like them. A whipcord tail snaked across the floor and blood red wings unfurled as he stood. Horns of the incubi adorned his head, nearly covered in long strands of... The mages glanced at each other in confusion. The resurrection was perfect! He didn't even look like Gatemo anymore, but just like the War Demon of old surely did. That little miscalculation...it certainly wasn't from them!

Fenrir looked about the room curiously, sensing the confusing behind the mages' masks. It wasn't until his bangs fell before his eyes that he noticed it. The resurrection was definitely a success and the twilight shards worked as he planned. Killing himself was merely the final test before knowing he could go on with the final stages of his work, but this... "...everybody dies." he snarled, holding the pink strands between his fingers. He didn't know what this was, but somebody did SOMETHING and he wasn't going to tolerate it...

[[Yes, prank worked, Kerrins. In strange ways. Of course you know he's dyeing that later... XD]]

((Yeah, I'm going to take credit for this by writ of the fact that Shade would've probably thought of it even though I didn't. And given the style, it will likely be permanant, so make sure to have a steady stock of dye. There is a note on your bed where he takes credit, and admits to the spying back in Dunbarton, all with a cheerful tone. Incidentally, has anyone here read the webcomic titled "Wiglaf and Mordred"?
http://liliy.net/wam/2005/10/04/whos-the-other-guy/ - first page

Also, try not to do anything too evil until after I have dismissed my current characters(This Sunday/Saturday, just reminding), so I can continue with the line of "My guys are leaving rather than interfering because they decided the whole business is just politics"))

[[ Until death or after? And I won't make any promises. PX ]]

((If you intend to rebirth in the same method, until they notice the one line that has been changed in your chant. How long is the incantation? Via other methods, your call.))

The Dunewyrm had been sitting back for a while now, preparing for things to come. Word spread fast when you had bandits all over the two continents, and the bandits' training seemed to have paid off. At least, for now. Word had also spread, quietly of course, of the mysterious Dunewyrm in charge of the Corenite bandits. Location was never discussed, but the attempted protection of Bangor hinted at the group's nature.

Word was spreading. Fenrir had been killed, or so the rumors and news stated. If he was niave, he'd believe it and say his work in this regards was done. But part of him was still bitter from the events of his old world, and that part of him would not allow him to accept what seemed to have been an easy defeat at the Magnekineticist's hands. Hell, they were powerful, but a fluke like this means there may be a bigger fish to fry than Fenrir, or something else entirely was going on.

At this point, it didn't matter. Entine was going to handle things on the continent of Udalh; the Dunewyrm had business to attend to for the people of Iria.

There had been rumors spreading across the continent of aggressive tendencies rising in the creatures around the areas of Cor, Zardine, and Rano recently. Citizens were beginning to get worried that those who went deep into each land were coming back, showing off multitudes of heavy wounds. Some didn't come back at all. The citizens were getting concerned, and it was about time that the Dunewyrm investigated this matter personally.

He sat at his desk, meticulously writing out notes to several people that he felt would be interested in the situation: The man known as Silvreno was rumored to have been instrumental in an attack against the violent hobgoblins in Cor, and his archaeological knowledge had been alluded to in the Dunewyrm's discussion with the Banker in Cor. As well, an old acquaintance named J. Tipton apparently had some information about what was going on in the region, so it seemed prudent to at least talk to this individual.

The letters were fairly concise, compared to his normal writing. Of course, he didn't want people to figure out who he was just yet. Only his friends in the bandits were made aware, and he was pretty sure that there would be no slippage of his real name. The letters went something like this:

To whom it may concern,

I hear you have interest in what is apparently happening in Cor.
I am forming a party of specialists in response to the recent rise in aggression of the monster.
I want to know what is causing this.
If you are interested in assisting me in relieving the worries of the villagers of Cor,
you would earn my respect.

Failure is not an option.
I ask you out of necessity.
You each have knowledge that could assist in finding what is out there.

I hope you accept my invitation.
Please send a response with the owls you see before you.
Should you accept, I will send for you when I feel it is time.

Yours truly,
The Dunewyrm

He let his owls go. The messages would arrive sooner or later.

He would have his replies, and then the expedition may begin.

A message is returned: "Define Specialist"

The handwriting should not be recognized by any current members

(( Um... Did you intercept one of the two owls the man sent out?
Otherwise, as stated, I sent two out... ))

[[ Also, figure I should put up a new time frame for when these RPs'll take place. Schedule changes of the quarter and what not.

"Office Hours" are:

Weekdays: 7/10 PM - 2 AM EST
Saturday: 4 PM - 2 AM
Sunday: "X" AM - Midnight

Most people seem to be on in the evenings and this'll maybe help those in other timezones too. So if anybody's wanting to get involved or stay up to date, chat with me and we can set sessions up instead of just having this progress at breakneck snail speed. Back to being organized! ]]

((Sorry, my mistake.
Disregard that post, and can we just assume that 2 of my characters were until now insignificant members of the bandit camp?))

((Well, time for my part))

Many of the guards seemed to be glad that Fenrir was dead, and many believed the battles to be over and that peace would return. Only the truly disciplined guards knew that now that Fenrir was dead, they had to be even more ready for a possible attack. At least... that's what Crusade thought. As she walked up to Bangor, she stopped, and stared at the town, feeling a strange sensation coming from it. She had felt this way before... when she was captured... It can't be... must be my imagination... But something told her it wasn't. Sweating, she turned around, whistled for her horse, and rode to Emain. She had to warn them........

Warn them that Fenrir had returned.

((I am thinking of possibly bringing Vayne or Fye into this. But...I have a LOT of reading up to do, apparently. ^^)

[[All are welcome. And since responses to Dell's letter responses were done ICly (kinda x3) and there were issues in Cor last night, I just felt the need to post this...]]

Silvreno felt no need to give a response besides his presence, as he did with a majority of clients who enjoyed going under aliases or other varying levels of anonymity. It usually meant they wanted their business to be in secret and he had no problem with it. The problem was the "meeting ground" for this one was way out of the way. He regretted having to leave Lai again; but taking her and little Rei to Cor with him this time was out of the question if what he read was correct. Upon arriving near the village, it was worse than he imagined. A battle had taken place, and recently, though it looked like it did not reach the civilians. Only hobgoblin corpses were found though - laying bloody and crushed in several small craters. It was hard to say what caused it, but judging by bits of debris the incubus found, stones of some sort were being thrown about.

Upon arriving in the village, 'Reno asked around until his client showed, if ever. There had indeed been a group of hobgoblins harrassing the outskirts of Cor, though nobody knew how they found the village so easily. Surprisingly, there were no casualties - two civilians and an adventurer had been severely wounded, but survived. One of the victims was unusually shaken though, whimpering and mumbling prayers about what he witnessed. When finally calmed down enough to ask, he ended up talking about the mess 'Reno found on the way in - he was there when the hobgoblin forces had been routed. While it was hard to make out exactly what he was babbling about, the words "flying rocks" were constantly repeated, and something about them chasing the force away. Chances were they would be back eventually though, and with more numbers.

A golem? It was the only reasonable explaination he could come up with, but why would a golem be way out there? The only ones he knew of in Iria were the sulfurs in Zardine. It was all the information he could gather on the event though. Nobody else saw a thing and had been hiding in their homes when learning of the danger so close to the village. The warriors were naturally on the defensive, but they knew better than to head out at the time to search. Sorry, Lai, this looks like it's going to be more trouble than I thought... Hopefully he could make it home in time for his daughter's birthday.

Fye had heard about the Twilight shards. He didn't really care too much about them, other than the fact that they had to be valuable. He absoluely adored treasures. Or rather, the profit from it. He couldn't help bu wonder if there were more such treasures out there. He was also...disturbed, that the place of his brother's resdience was being occupied by psycho children. However, he was sure his brother could take care of himelf. Meaning: I don't care, I want the treasure! He strode off towards the barren city of Dunbarton.

He was stopped on the road by a man wearing a raven blue cloak. It was in Dugald aisle. The man stepped in the way and gave a slow bow, "You are...Fye, I presume?"

Fye folded his arms, his ears--white in contrast to Vayne's black--twitched slightly, "Who are you to ask?" his eyes narrowed, demanding an answer. He was not a mean fellow, but not one for idle chat, and could be very short wth people.

The man stood in silence for a moment, then responded, "Just call me a client. I have a job for you. You are after...Twilight shards, yes?"

Fye raised an eyebrow. He was surprised, no, shocked that the man knew. He hadn't confided to anyone about it. "How do you know?"

"I know you better than you think, Fye. Now, you want them, right? Wel, I have a job for you that ver well may lead you to them. I want you to investigate the following: Tailteann, Cor, and Bangor. I need you to find out about the going ons. Strange things have continued to go on, even after the central problem was resolved."

Fye shook his head, "Yeah, I'm searching, but what makes you think I'd help you too?" He couldn't help but laugh. The man was in such ragged clothes. No way he could afford him. "I'm not cheap."

The man smiled, revealing yellow teeth, "Your brother's safety isn't enough payment? I assure you, I can make terrible things happen to Vayne."

Fye was about to ask what he meant, but the man was gone, as if he had never been there. As much as he didn't want to, he had no choice but to proceed wth the investigation. At least for now. He sighed, turned off to the side into Dugald forest, and towards Taillteann.

(( Gate, what was decided about the above? And this next bit is for J and Reno... Please pardon the use of an NPC, but he's one of my favorites so I decided to make him an associate. Hope no one minds too terribly. ))

As you ask around the town for an individual, possibly by the name of the Dunewyrm since that is the only name you have been given, you are slowly directed to the banker Voight. If you ask him about the individual of the Dunewyrm, Voight gives a bit of an acknowledging hiss.

"Ah, that one, eh?" He smirks a bit and digs through a bit of paperwork in the back of his hut and, finding something of interest, comes back holding out a note to each of ya. "The big man told me to give ya this." He waves you off.

The note reads as follows:

Glad you accepted my offer.
I'll see you soon.
Go to the large tree on the outskirts of Cor.
You'll find robes and masks.
I'll meet you there.

The Dunewyrm.

(( And that, my friends, will sign off the beginning of the Shards bits. Gate, J, when are we all convenient? ))

(( Post Cor mission ))

The Dunewyrm and his motley crew of bandits re-enter their base within the confines of the Longa desert, slightly injured and broken from the battle in the Hobgoblin village of Cor but celebrating their victory. He would allow the initiates their joyous celebration for now, for they would soon need to go back out onto the battlefield if these stacking rumors and letters were correct. The letters between the Lycan warlord and Fenrir were a bit disconcerting, stating that forces already in place in Iria were planning to take out the major cities of the country; this warband had been intended to destroy Cor and Filia (if they could get to the city past the bandits' several traps, they could have it), then join up with 'later forces' to destroy the city of Rano.

The Dunewyrm assumed these forces were gathering in two places; since the force in Cor had been routed and utterly defeated, it only left the aggravated creature reports in Zardine and off the coast of Rano. The reports are similar, so it seemed safe to assume that crystals like the one the Dunewyrm, Silvreno, and J had found and destroyed were in each of these locations. Mobilizing a force for Zardine would be easy; mobilizing a force for an underwater mission, however, would be quite difficult indeed.

He sent messages to all that have been involved in the fight against Fenrir. They were very basic.

To you,

There is a danger in Zardine beyond comprehension.
Necromancy for the looks of it...
Related to Fenrir. Needs to be destroyed.
Send replies. The more, the better.

The Dunewyrm of the Corenites

He also sent a note to the fairy of Ceo Island and to the Sahagin of the world.

To you and your people,

I believe you are aware of Fenrir.
He is amassing something off the coast of Rano.
We believe it to be under the water.
If you could assist in our search for a large crystal,
we would be extremely greatful.

The Dunewyrm of the Corenites

He would wait, quite patiently for the replies. It was not as if people did -not- want this war to be over. This may be a necessary factor to weakening the dictator's power. The Dunewyrm had found an important part of Fenrir's plan, and he attempted to annihilate any forces that threatened the cities that he and the bandits knew as home.

[[Blegh, first post was a lot better, but it was wiped clean. Hopefully this still makes sense. x.x; ]]

Fenrir felt it - a chill that started in his chest and worked its way through the length of his spine, wings, and tail. Within the resurrection chamber, the rune for "Hatred" cracked to where it became impossible to read. One of the twilight shards had been destroyed and with it, one of his more favored generals. Lycanthropes with such a strong sense of loyalty were hard to come by, not to mention very formidable; and the shards themselves were hardly in any place that was easy to reach. His presence in Iria would be diminishing considerably with this. It would be a problem in the future, for certain. Another problem was the fact that a shard was destroyed. While he could still resurrect with the others in place and so long as the one within Barri remained in tact, the strain would make things a little more...complicated.

Yet Fenrir couldn't help but grin as he had a passing soldier gather all his captains together for a briefing. He could practically taste it now - all those souls eager to fight back, probably even harder than ever once an opening had been made. He was praying for it honestly. The destruction would be beautiful - imagine what he could feast on then and how soon his final goal could be completed once he got a major thorn in his side out of the way! Fenrir laughed as he made his way through the corridor. Soon he'd have the answer he'd endlessly sought after for so long.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

In Tailteann, soldiers were preparing for a journey to Emain Macha. A messenger had arrived with orders from Wolfe himself about an attack being prepared against the kingdom. Unfortunately, due to the events within the Shadow Realm, forces were stretched too thin. All the defense could muster was a group of two hundred - half of which who were the reinforcements said to have been sent from Emain. The soldiers had said they wished to defend their home, so who was to argue? The army set out immediately.

( a major thorn? I'm honored. also, it looks like i need to get on more, before people start turning Wolfe into an NPC))

[[Was not my intention. Was supposed to be a hint, not taking over your character as an NPC. =x]]

((didn't say you were.))

[[And I'm just saying. ;D ]]

The declaration was given in the form of a battered and broken man returning to Emain Macha after his imprisonment within Barri. Requiem was on the warpath again, and its sights were set on the castle. The small skirmish involving a group attempting to infiltrate only drove them into a frenzy; and when the battle ended, the army was swarming with noise and activity as it began to mobilize. Leaving a still-strong defense behind, group of two thousand began their march through Gairech...

As for those lost, when the sun began to set, their blackened souls were drawn from the bodies and into Barri in the form of several dark flames. The corpses were carried off afterwards for who knew what purpose.

Requiem casualties from attack - 53 goblins.

[[Forces will be marching toward Emain over the weekend. ETA is 6 EST on Sunday evening.]]

---

Fenrir watched from the tower erected over the dungeon while the soldiers filed through the northern gate. As they left, somebody was passing through the skies overhead - toward him. The archers along the cliffs gave a call to hold fire when the figure's crimson wings were clearly visible; and within moments, the succubus who owned them was landing on the sill of Fenrir's window, climbing through as he stepped back. "You're late." he grumbled. "Where have you been?"

"Doing the job the cowards you keep giving 'chances' can't do." Kurohi snapped. She wasn't about to discuss exactly what business she had; but she was doing her job regardless and had plenty to report toward it. She hated how he kept having incompetent people scouting about too. While it did successfully get the enemy to lower their guard in some areas, it gave her and her more experienced scouts too much work. "I've checked - the children are in place and waiting for the attack. The path through Dunbarton's region still isn't safe, but I think sending the mages along might--"

"Already decided. We're moving through Sen Mag. If the noise we had to endure while you were flitting about wasn't enough incentive," Fenrir gestured out the window to the valley below where the town was. Half of it was smoldering ruin again. "Osna Sail isn't going to be the easier path to take. We'll need to spread out."

"You realize Emain's south entrance is merely a bridge..."

Judging by his grin, he knew and had something in mind already. Sighing, Kurohi shrugged it off. "Anyways, your emotional little demonspawn is still AWOL. I haven't been able to spot him since he and your agent in Emain crossed paths. Speaking of which, how did you manage that?"

"Mutual interests, surprisingly." Stretching his wings, Fenrir turned to leave. "That aside, the children are waiting to see you and there's somebody else you may like to meet." And with that, he began leading the reluctant succubus back down toward the dungeon. She didn't like this. It felt a little too soon for him to be making this kind of move, yet he seemed more than ready for it. What did she miss out on?