The Valiant Knight Tales: The return *This is a story with a lot of reading. Leave now if you don't feel like reading *You can note how my writing skill progressed. Act II and III are written much better than I. I will leave it like so to show this. Information 11/27/14 - Finished. 11/23/14 - Second to last chapter added.(Second Page.) 11/20/14 - Two new chapters added.(Second page.) 10/31/14 - Story cancellation. Pg15. 10/30/14 - Newest chapter added. 10/26/14 - Newest chapter added. (On second page.) 10/24/14 - New chapter up/Pictures added throughout story. 9/27/14 - Note: Two chapters added. A lot of reading, lol. DisclaimerThis thread is written about The Valiant Knights, Spragga and many other people around Kaw. Anyone can be placed into the story, but, I reserve the right in how your character develops. The topic is about the story, how it progresses and any suggestions you have. Read from PC for best exp. Note: Keep in mind, not a professional writer. Map of KaW The KaW story The Quelle(KaW) Universe The Valiant Knights Wulf - (As Conrad) Leader of the Valiant Knights and overseer of the Ostreca and Soaca Province SlayerBob - (As Bob) Oversees the Cestan and Adrzington Province PandaGeorge - (As George the Panda) Oversees The Middle Kingdom and Askistan Province Rebel - (As Eleanor) Oversees the Tecia Province UnicornPoopCookie - (As Malato) Oversees the aHistan Province Swabia - (As Swabia) Oversees the Duvania Province Mango - (As Krystyan) Overseer of the Kawlonies Avatar - (As Avatar) Roams over all the lands Alliances and Kingdoms Anary (As WDGAF) = Ran by a council - Ostreca ZAFT (As ZAFT) = Ran by a council - Duvania Zorus (As Apocalypse) = Ran by a council - Tecia Quvania (As Uc) = Ran by a council - aHistan Sunga (As oG) = Ran by a council - Cestan EgaWen (New Age) = Ran by a council - Pera Adrzington (As Yafi) = Ran by a council - Teoasal Vegro (As Foxes) = Ran by a council - Askistan Eldrela (As iG) = Ran by a council - Soaca Zorus The mighty Zorus alliance started with the formation of a defensive alliance between Chaos Reborn and KOTFE. Shortly after that, True Spartans and Wrath of God joined the alliance. At that point, the alliance became know as Zorus, symbolic of the four horsemen. After the first ZAFT war, the alliance's bond with Hit Squad and SE was solidified. They joined Zorus after the wars end. Quvania The kingdom's of aHistian worked together during The Great War as a means of defense for their lands. After the war, the kingdoms chose to sign a formal treaty allying themselves together. They chose the name Quvania because of the river that runs through the province, Quvain. They are bordered between ZAFT to the west and The Middle Kingdoms to the north. Anary The alliance of Anary is the smallest province and has the second largest population in Kaw. This alliance was formed during a massive war with the Sunga. Anary held it’s ground against the Sunga assault and fought the war to a stalemate. The Alliance is named for the part of the desert that is in the province. Being Bordered between Foxes to the West and iG to the North, Anary is always prepared to war at a moments notice. ZAFT The Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty is a very large and wealthy alliance with an average population. This treaty was formed during the 2G and bound the province of Duvania together for three more generations. ZAFT maintains a massive fortified wall along the Eastern and Western borders because of Zorus and Quvania. Sunga The Sunga alliance was formed during a war with the Anaryains. Who started that war? No one knows, but, it gave strength and unity to the land of Cestan. Sunga has some of the wisest and most feared warriors in all of Kaw. Because they are Bordered between ancient enemies to the South and West, Adrzington and Egawen, Sunga relies on readiness and its massive navy. Egawen Not much is known about this nation's past. The only known fact is that the land wasn’t originally theirs. The nation of Egawen is rather large with an average population. Bordered between long time enemies Sunga to the North and a shaky truce with Zorus to the East. The Thorak mountains cut the Egawen nation in the middle. Adrzington The nation of Adrzington is one of the largest provinces and has a bigger than average population. Adrzington borders five nations and has never been invaded before. The ice on the western borders and mountains on the east acts as a defensive emplacement. Vegro The nation of Vegro is an small country with a smaller than average population. Because of the constant wars it has had in the past, most of the population has migrated away. The Vegroians have adapted and built cities and towns out of the ice due to the massive amount of ice in their lands. Eldrelar The nation of Eldrela is a small country with the third largest population. Eldrela has many skilled warriors and leaders. They have some of the largest un-strippable banks. Bordered between old enemies to the west and a future threat to the south, Eldrela must be ready to fight for it’s existence. The Northern part of Eldrela is covered in ice and they have adapted to it like their western enemies. Third Parties LSA = Leader Omega - Roaming pirates The Falcons - Magical Special Forces MISC People requested to leave - Anyone who mentions the people requested off this thread will be added to the list.
Re: Spragga: TVK - The Return Story In a land filled with honorable warriors, tyrannical warlords, greedy mercenaries and unexplainable magic, stood The Order of the Valiant Knights. This is an ancient order of highly trained and respected warriors in all of the eleven known provinces. Each Knight oversees at least one province or a group of islands. If a kingdom faced total destruction from warlords, famine, plagues and other unnatural events, the Valiant Knights would lend a hand. All of the Knights gain wisdom and knowledge over the years. Only one Knight differed from this: Spragga. He was determined to eradicate the Order of the Valiant Knights, which he proudly served for many years, and rule the provinces as he saw fit. Spragga staged a coup d'état and tried to assassinate his fellow Knights. His attempt failed horribly and he was expelled from the order. Before he could be placed on trial, he fled to the Apheruin Regions, where no man dare set foot. Surprisingly, he was able to overcome the nether realm and use it as a base for his operations. Now, he sets out on his renewed plan for world domination. Prelude Many miles from the shores of Kaw lay a newfound island. With the Valiant Knights tied up with rebuilding the provinces after the Great War, they appointed a seasoned warrior, Krystyan Avil, to help keep the island safe for the new colonists who are searching for a new home.
Re: Spragga: TVK - The Return Act I Chapter one: The Lurking Danger (Art by LoveAndrea <3) This story has 3 points of views. One point of view, is the Valiant Knights. Krystyan saw the thick black smoke coming from one of the villages and knew that a raid was in progress. She quickly donned her iron armor, grabbed her sword and shield and mounted her white stallion, Macaroni. Going at full gallop, she raced towards the smoke. As she neared the village, she saw that Fort Arikahs sent a cavalry regiment to defend the village, but, have yet to actually do the defending. Disappointedly, she rode up to them and noticed two soldiers bickering over how they were going to repel the bandits. Mark exclaims loudly while pointing at the bandit ships, "No! We need to attack from their launching point, so, when they try to retreat, we finally can catch them!" Trisky rebutts with, "That would take too long! Our orders are to defend the village! Not catch the bandits!" Krystyan pulled her reigns back, forcing the horse to stop near the regiment, "If you guys stop bickering, we can save the village and capture them. Split the regiment in half and we can accomplish both. I will go with Trisky." Everyone nods and the skirmish begins. Krystyan rides into battle with the regiment and catch the bandits completely by surprise. It only took them ten minutes before the bandit leader ordered a retreat. But, that was futile, as the other regiment had already burned their ships. Defeated, the bandits laid down their arms and all the loot they had taken. Krysytan watched over the capture of these criminals. But, an object she saw a bandit lay on the ground caught her eye. It was a beautiful Jade amulet. Looking around to make sure no one was watching her, she quickly put it in her pocket. Right at dusk, Krystyan rode Macaroni back down the winding dirt road to her small house. She entered her house and quickly changed out of her iron armor. Then, she hung her sword and shield on the weapons rack. Then, she put the amulet she found in her jewelry box. After she made sure everything was safe and secure, she immediately proceeded to get in her queen sized bed. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep. Much later into the night, she had a dream of a group of people inside of a castle, talking about razing Konta from the portal to the KaWlonies. One man, who seemed to be the leader, turned her way and said, "and there's nothing you can do to stop it." Krystyan woke up sweating and panting. Her mind was filled her with fear caused by what she saw. Her heart was filled with sorrow because of the coming danger. Krystyan gave up on trying to sleep that night. She had decided to consult one of the village's wisest elders for advice on what her dream meant in the morning. In the mean time, she would mentally prepare for what's to come. That morning, she rode Macaroni down the dirt road to the village of Aempleforth. Krystyan has stayed near Aempleforth for a few months now and the villagers liked her. As she rode in, the villagers greeted her with smiles and waves. She returned them as she continued onto the yellow-brown Straw-Hut in the center of the village. Krystyan tied Macaroni to the near by pole and walked inside of the hut. Krystyan saw Elder Poldo Salai just finishing up his meditation. Elder Poldo bows and says, “you honor me with your presence.” Krystyan replies gracefully, “the pleasure is mine, Elder. I need your help." Krystyan tells the Elder of the dream she had last night. The Elder replies slowly, "hmm, dream you say? I doubt that was a dream." Krystyan, puzzled, replies, "not a dream? What else could it be?" The Elder replies coolly, "maybe a premonition of what's to come." Krystyan stood there in silence. The Elder continues, "you should go and check It out." Krystyan replies excitedly, "I think I will take your advice, Elder. Thanks for your help." Before Krystyan can leave, the Elder grabs her and says, "be careful though! That dark realm plays with your deepest regrets and most feared dreams." Krystyan thanks him for his wisdom and leaves the hut. She mounts Macaroni and rides down to Fort Arikahs. Krystyan knew all the soldiers that defend this fort and island well. So well, that she didn’t need clearance for the gate to be opened. As she rode into the fort waving at the soldiers, thanking them for the passage. She went straight for the general’s quarters. Krystyan knew the general, Keith, they had first met during the Great War peace talks. They both were sent here to guard this island, but, Keith’s reason to be here is to have a military presence here for Anary, just in-case another war breaks out. Krystyan approaches Keith at his desk. “hello, Keith.” He replies, “hey darling, Haven’t seen your pretty face in a while.” She replies, “sorry, I’ve been doing business, like we are now.” Keith replies, “right, right. What can I do for you?” Krystyan replies, “I’d like to take Falcon Squadron for a little scouting mission.” Keith replies hesitantly, "where to?” Krystyan reassures, “just a stroll around the portal you guys are guarding.” Keith was unsure of her plans, but, didn’t want the Valiant Knights breathing down his neck again. Keith replies, “sure, go ahead. I need them back alive.” Krystyan replies excitedly, “no promises.” As she runs down to where Falcon squad’s barracks are. Wake, the black haired leader of the squadron, sees her coming and order his men, who were laying around, at attention. As Krystyan walks in, she sees the men and what a sight to behold. From top to bottom they wore black tanned, dragon hide helms, chest pieces, leggings and boots for day and night operations. The soldier's weapon of choice varied. Six of the men had medium sized, swords while two had steel maces. The last four were either highly skilled in archery, close quarter combat or infiltration and carried knives along with swords. Falcon Squadron is part of the Valiant Knight defensive network designed to be quick and efficient. They are one of the best squadrons out there and that's what Krystyan needed. Krystyan tells, "I have an important mission only you guys can handle." The Squadron knew those words well, it meant that a tough job was ahead. Wake replies, “what’s the Op?” Krystyan reassures, “oh, an easy mission, just a basic search and identify.” The squadron’s second in command, Balto, asks, "where at?" Krystyan replies, “inside of the nether world.” These are war hardened veterans, but, hearing that they would be going in there hit them like a ton of bricks. Man has only been in there once to banish Apheriun from the mortal realm. Krystyan says, “we leave in the morning. Meet me at the gate.” Silence still fills the room as she leaves out. Balto asks, "is she mad? We won’t survive long in there. What could possibly be wrong for us to go in there?" Martin replies, "well, whatever it is, we better make sure we are prepared." The next morning, Krystyan and the Falcons stand in front of the dark portal to the nether world, home of the damned. Wake instructed, “tie this rope around you so we don’t get separated somehow on entry.” Everyone ties the rope around them and one by one enter the portal. As each person enters the portal, they hear a loud mixture of scream from loved ones that are there. That is the cursed spell Life Rupture. On the other side of the portal... Krystyan and the Falcons arrive on the other end of the portal and are in shock of where they are. Luke begins to look around for something, anything that could let them know where to head. He eventually spots tracks from the armies that invaded the realm so many years ago. They decide to follow the path made for them. As they walk past they can see the sites of historical battles at The City of the Dead and the battle at Apheriun's alter. They reached the end of where the past warriors stood and looked to were they didn't go. They spotted something, a fortress of some sort. They inched slowly up to the front of the dark fortress. Wake gives the hand signals for three men to stand guard, another four to investigate the exterior of the fortress and for the rest to retrace the trail back to the portal while Krystyan, Wake, and Balto infiltrate the fortress. The inside looked like a tornado hit just the inside of the house. The stability columns looked as if it was barely hanging on and the stairs were missing a few steps. Stones were missing out of the walls and the ceiling was ready to cave in. The three immediately hear voices coming from up stairs. Balto whispers, "I'm not going up those stairs, it's a death trap." Wake whispers back angrily, "you'd let a female knight easily beat you at something?" Balto replies coolly, "If it involves dying, yes." Wake shook his head and said, "fine, stay put." Krystyan and Wake creep up the stairs. As they near the top, they see a room with a bright light and hear more voices. They creep to the sides of the doorway and peek in. They see five people going over war plans. Spragga says with his deep, raspy voice, " so, our armies are ready to move on the KaWlonies?" Val replies with a monotone, “yes, we are ready to converge on them. We will plunder, pillage and burn everything in site.” Spragga asks, “and Bella?” Bellemorte replies sarcastically, “as long as Anary lands are not touched, I will be sure to have the major provinces defenses weakened.” Saltyfeet blurts out, "Spragga, my team and I will leave ASAP to reach Sunga territorial waters." Spragga retorts, “Speak when you are spoken to. When do we march?” Val Replies coolly, “in exactly 2 weeks.” Spragga commands, “good, go prepare.” Spragga turns his head and immediately spots Krystyan and Wake at the doorway. He order his skeleton guardians to attack the intruders. Wake starts to fight the soldiers off one by one, But, as they kill them, they get back up and fight. They are in the land of the damned, they can’t die again. Krystyan realizes that they can't kill them and informs Wake. They dash down the stairs to tell Balto, who in return runs out and gathers the others back to warn them of the danger. Once, they all got together, they high tail it back to the portal. Keith meets them at the portal entrance. Keith states, "you guys look like you've seen a ghost." Krystyan replies, "Not now Keith." Krystyan explains the coming danger. Keith reassures, "don't worry, I will hold the line." Krystyan now uses a special spell to summon the Valiant Knights to their headquarters in Konta.
Re: Spragga: TVK - The Return Chapter two: Shaky travels After a day of gathering supplies, Krystyan, with the Falcons as her body guards, set sail from Port Rydha on her ship, The Circassian. The trip would be relatively smooth sailing to the mainland and shouldn’t take longer than a day or two to reach Port DloyF in The Middle Kingdoms. Krystyan stayed in her quarters most of the day, contemplating over the man she saw. What did the Valiant Knights before her do to him? Why is he going for blood? How had he survived so long in the Apheriun region? How did two people sneak past the heavily fortified fort? These questions plague her mind as she relived the moments she learned of his plans. She gives up for the night and goes to bed. Meanwhile that night, the lookout nicknamed Vr spotted a large cloud formation hanging low on the seas and closing in fast to their port side. He disregards it as a strong weather front moving in and continues to search for other dangers. The next morning, Vr heard a cannon fire and again, scanned the seas, and saw nothing but the massive cloud. He pulled out a runes of detection and uttered it’s name. As soon as he spoke those words, he could see three enemy ships inside of the mist trailing them! He immediately rang the bell to alert the crew of the impending danger. As he did this, the mist went away and more canon balls came flying in. Then, he saw the Silent Shark, an LSA ship. Omega yells while throwing the man overboard, "you idiot! I told you not to fire yet! How dare you disobey my command? Omega continues, "that ship is flying Valiant Knight colors! If one is on there, I want them in custody. Aim for their mast! We want them to be sitting ducks!" Krystyan rushes to the deck and sees the flag of Omega’s ship. She knows what his intentions are. Avatar sent her a letter a few months back warning her of his increased activity in this province. She also knows that they are badly outnumbered with only the Falcons and 6 crew members. begrudgingly she orders her ship to run aground on the coast of the Damascus desert, miles away from the ancient seaway every ship needed to pass to reach Port Dyolf. Omega’s ships stop. They want Krystyan and her ship, but, he had information of a large Last Right kingdom’s gold shipment being made elsewhere and gold was more important to him. He sent Jim along with a boarding crew to capture her. The Falcons and the crewmen knew the stories of this desert all too well. It was the land of Arkosa and her Death-stalker. The once great Scorpion army still roams the desert looking for their leader’s killer. The crew refused to join her on the travel through the arid Damascus desert, all but one, Vr. Wake, Balto and Vr decided to go with her while the other Falcons stayed with the rest of the crew until the warships that patrol this area rescue them. They took out a map and plotted a new course as quickly as possible. This new course would take them through the desert and past Arkosa’s old kingdom and straight to the Quvanian fort. To save energy, the group planned to travel at night and rest during the day. A couple of hours after Krystyan set off into the desert. Jim and thirty men got into row boats and headed for the coast to begin their assault. Once there, Jim leaps out of the boat and charges the closet Falcon member, Martin, and a sword battle ensued with Jim on the offensive. Martin attempt to jab Jim's heart, but, Jim blocks it with his sword and spins around and hits his face with his elbow, knocking him on the ground. Jim stands over him, with both swords in his hand. Jim asks in a confident mood, "where is that Valiant Knight headed?" Martin spits on Jim's chest. This infuriated Jim. Jim took both swords and cut an X into his body while Martin howled in pain. Martin cries out, "stop! Please! They went to Tecia!" Jim just smiles at him while piercing his heart. Meanwhile.. Krystyan, Wake, Balto and Vr thought traveling at night and resting during the day would help them. An assumption, they will never make again. It was unbearable cold during the nights and boiling hot during the day. They would be drenched in sweat for eight hours and then be frozen by it at night. But, that was the least of their fears. Scorpions and wildlife attacked them relentlessly. They began to run low on food and they ran out of water. After six long, exhausting days covering 25 Miles of sand, they had finally reached the fort. They only have one sand dune to cross before being in seeing distance of it. Once at the top, a horrible scene is brought to their eyes. Rows and rows of dead soldiers line the outer wall of the fort. You can hear the screams of the men with missing limbs or slowly dying inside of a pit filled with venomous snakes, begging for mercy. As they near the front of the gate, they can see the bodies of the first wave of soldiers, who tried climbing the walls, littered with arrows and some crushed under boulders. As they went inside the fort, a spell, The Scroll of Blindness, disorient them and Zorus scouts ambush and surround them. Krystyan, Wake, Balto and Vr surrender to the scout to gain a somewhat safe passage through the fort. They are taken behind Zorus lines, where they can see the massacre being done on the Quvanian Fort. It’s quickly accessible that the Quvania and Zorus peace conference in Belize had failed and a war has started. But where is Malato and Eleanor? Now, they are brought before Nightmare, a leading Zorus war general, with his weapon drawn. Nightmare asks angrily, "you have been spotted lurking inside of a Zorus war zone, why are you bandits here?" Krystyan replies. "I am a delegate of the Valiant Knights. We have important news on a coming attack and it could possibly destroy us all if you don’t let us go." Nightmare replies sarcastically, "A Valiant Knight delegate? Never heard of it." Vr tries to explain their situation in depth and made the fatal mistake of walking towards Nightmare. Nightmare quickly pierces his heart. Vr’s lifeless body, slowly slides down where he rests in peace. Balto, Angry over Vr's death and in a rage of fury, charges Nightmare and pins him to the ground and a fist fight ensues. As guards rush in, Wake immediately engages the first one to come in, stunning one with a punch to the face. The amount of guards eventually become overwhelming as Wake is knocked out from behind. Balto is pinned by Nightmare, and Krystyan is bound. Balto exclaims, "he was only explaining how you are fighting a pointless war right now!" Nightmare orders, "guards, take these three bandits to the dungeon." And so, Krystyan, Wake, and Balto were taken to a jail cell to rot. The next morning, Krystyan is woken up by the Valiant Knight, Eleanor. Eleanor replies apologetically, "hey Krystyan, sorry for you treatment here. The two sides have agreed to a temporary CF in regards to your information. " Krystyan explains everything she saw in the Apheriun region and how Spragga plans to take over all of Kaw. Now, Krystyan, Eleanor and Rebel set off for the Valiant Knight city while Wake and Balto head to the port Dloyf for some R&R. Back in the Apheriun region.. Spragga sat in his throne room with a book, contemplating his next move. Krystyan had heard of his plans and his guards failed to capture her. Spragga commands, "I, Spragga, Command you! Rozelt, Book of the Damned to summon me six large armies!" As Spragga spoke these words, an army like none before appeared. This army pulls off the souls of the damned living in this realm that didn’t go up to the Developers. Spragga knew this army would be unstoppable because this generation of dark soldiers would be the damned parents and grandparents of the current generation living in kaw. Spragga smiled. He knew his forces could over run Keith’s position in a matter of hours. So, he kept his original invasion time.
Re: Spragga: TVK - The Return Chapter three: Forget the wrongs While Krystyan traveled to Konta.... There were three warriors, ClumsyReaper, Skydream, and Geordie, Hauling through the cold Damascus desert, with the darkened blood of their fallen comrades stained on their tattered and torn armor while their boots are filled with murky mud. Their faces haven't seen a glimmer of hope in what seemed like an age. Finally, a glimpse of a distant light signaling they had finally reached the port of Dloyf. After the demanding days of sailing aboard a pitifully, underwhelming sloop stocked with little more than a few scraps of food and little amounts of medical supplies. With only two uneasy, hardwood beds dripping with the damp water of the chilling sea to give some comfort to the misery of their long voyage. Even though the three warriors had just about lost hope as every inch of their battered bodies showed the scars of the long journey, none of that mattered. They were the lucky ones, they had managed to escape the hell that was unleashed. The start of a new day has dawned upon the land of the KaWlonoist, With a slight breeze and not a cloud in sight. Only the bright, gleeful sun shining down on the lush lands below. The KaWlonoist children running and playing while their parents watched in joy. The huntsmen readied their evergreen bows and the fishermen strolled out with their nets as the people of this peaceful village conducted their business, not knowing the hell that was about to be unleashed. 48 Hours ago... One young warrior, Clumsy, woke up early that morning. He's a spirited warrior that's always ready to help those in need, he maybe Clumsy, but, nothing speaks louder than his stomach, he gasps his necklace baring the small dragon claw from is own pet clumsy dragon as he readies for the day ahead. Growling, his stomach calls out to him for food. So, with his new title, Captain of the Guard, which he earned the previous night for his exceptional performance as he lead the forts warriors in the defense of Port Rhydia, from LSA pirates. As any young warrior, he decided to use his newfound privileges, he tasked himself to be early for the morning feast and obtain some extra portions of his favorite meal, the delicious "Fryer cooks surprise" which got it's name from how you are surprised with new tastes every-time you eat it. As the young knight stepped out of his chamber, a figure hurried past him. It was Sky, a long time friend. They started making small conversation on the daily tasks that was set for them, Sky reminded Clumsy of the troublesome highway men that were on the prowl on the Eastern side of town, then they both stopped talking. Clumsy asked Sky why Krystyan left a fortnight ago and they talked at length. When there was nothing more to say, just as swiftly as they greeted one another, the pair went their separate ways as Clumsy continued on his quest for anything to put his demanding stomach at ease. He hurried towards the dining hall. With a full platter of the Fry Cook Special, he sat without a care in the world, stuffing his face with mutton. As he got ready to take another bite, he heard footsteps, as he turned to look, he was quickly kicked onto the floor. As he tried to get up and run outside, the soldiers pin him to the wall and punch him in the face, knocking him out. Meanwhile.... Skywas late for his guard duty post yet again, he knew that if he was late another time he'd be undertaking the Krah Diin, the Cold Freeze, where you must withstand eight hours within the freezing cold storage room. Even though he had the tendency to be late, Sky is known to be the first to head in battle, some may call it reckless, others call it being a hero, but, one thing they can agree on is that Sky's courage out shines anyone else's. Sky had on his light armor Wyvern leather suit, branded with the fire from the fearsome Wyvern, buckled together with sky-forged steel. While running, he quickly fixed the last parts of his armor and he shot past his good friend, Clumsy, he would have kept going without realizing it if a familiar voice hadn’t called his name. He stop, turning to face the source of the voice to see Clumsy walking towards him. Sky (In thought)"oh, great, I hope there's enough food left for me when I get back." They both had a brief chat, discussing about the daily tasks, then before they parted, Clumsy asked Sky about Krystyan. Afterwards, Sky with unnatural speed, sped to his destination. He made it to his post at the old archery tower, that has defended the city for a life time, with seconds to spare. He donned on his quiver and placed his bow, made from the bark of the soul trees, at his side, ready for another long and boring day of guarding with a dead man in it. Meanwhile... Geordie had just returned from a scouting mission that morning, he went into his barracks and began to write in his journal about his last mission at this post and how he was so sick and tired of being here. Each mission he went on he either scouted out a hunting ground or a good place to fish for the colonists. Geordie wanted more adventure. He enjoyed the pay, he needed the coin to pay for his kids back in Duvania. As he wrote, he heard a whining noise. It started as a baby crying and went higher and higher in pitch. The pain was excruciating and he tried to cover his ears to block the sound, but, it did little to help. He crawled, out of his barracks down the hall and collapsed on the floor with his glasses falling off his face, crying in agony. When he looked up, he saw a dark figure hovering above him, Geordie quickly tried to crawl away, but, the figure kicked him in the face, knocking him out. Meanwhile... Spragga sat in his unedifying iron throne, built with the skulls of the fallen, He boomed out to one of his generals, Cynderstryke. Spragga in a commanding voice, "Cynderstryke, it is time to begin our conquest, to rid the world of those who deify my right, to bring terror and destruction to the free world. Take the army of the damned and over run Keith's position...If you do well my minion there will be a great reward waiting, I'll leave you to decide if he lives or dies, so long as Bellemorte doesn't find out." Spragga gave a grin holding the skull in his claws. "remember, the unholy word to unleash hell." He then crushed the skull to dust, afterwards he barked at Cynderstryke to leave him to slumber in darkness once more. Cynderstryke disliked taking orders, But that would change soon. He smirked at that thought. Cynderstryke replied to Spragga nonchalantly "I'll get it done for the will of the darkness." Cynderstryke marched out of the throne room, grasping his helmet between his arm. Cynderstryke gave a small inspiring speech, to the darkened knights in thick, black armor, stained with the blood of those foolish enough to stand between them. Cynderstryke says, "today my friends, we will bring the destruction to the mortal would once more." The man then turned to the ancient portals, binding the two worlds together and shouted, "Dunloka." An explosion of unnerving portals appeared out of nothing. Cynderstryke ordered his legion of darkness through the portals. He assumed the role of command, rallying the men together, Sky began firing arrow after arrow at the dark soldiers below, but to no avail. Cynderstryke organizes the horde position around the base and orders them to launch a volley of arrows towards the defenders. The two armies exchange raining death on each other. As the first ladder, latches onto the wall, boiling oil is sent down to greet the attacks below, screams of pain, reaching the far corners of the city, from the deformed knights suffering from the unbearable agony. Cynderstryke hurdles his hammer at the source of the boiling oil, causing the simmering oil to burn the unsuspecting defenders alive. While the defenders regroup from the crushing blow another ladder is positioned... Meanwhile... Helping with the burning oil, Sky tried putting the flames out and ordered the wounded to fall back into the keep, he had allowed himself to get distracted, Allowing the cunning Cynderstryke enough time, he grabs at the ladder and ascends the wall followed by the horde below, while the weakened guards above, whom are which distracted, by the raging fire caused by their very own defense. Once Cynderstryke reached the battlements, the horde below stops volleying arrows, in fear of hitting their leader and lean more ladders in breakneck speed to ascend, the now useless wall. Turning back to face the horde head once again Sky was struck with a blade, his Wyvern leather saved him from a mortal wound leaving a minor cut, but the force of the blow sent him off the wall into a heap, landing mountain of feed knocking the fearless knight out of the fight and into a slumber. Blade in hand Cynderstryke quickly dispatches the remaining poor souls left to defend the lost course. One brave knight, foolishly strikes Cynderstryke, slashing at his shoulder guard, but, wasn't powerful enough to pierce the thick armor lining Cynderstryke, like a protective unholy shell, stunned in fear the warrior watches helplessly, as the brute hacks his limbs off, before letting the screaming man die in his own blood for punishment of striking him. As the warrior gave his last breath, CynderStryke cleans his blade dripping with the blood of idiotic defenders who thought they had any hope of surviving, and returns it to his belt. Pulling up his darklin hammer and readies for another wave of defenders, CynderStryke hurdles an old spell, Mind Scream, at the unprepared footmen gathering around the barracks to mount a counterattack. Suddenly, without warning a figure in armor rushes towards Cynderstryke, without a moments thought and lighting reaction a blistering kick, hammers into the chest plate of the young knights chest, cracking several bones, forcing the unwilling knight hurtling towards the ladder leaning against the battlements besides Cynderstrike. Meanwhile... Dazed and confused, Geordie woke up, He was under the collapsed roof of the dining hall. He laid there. Helpless, for a moment he thought he was blinded, he screamed out in agony at the top of his lungs for help. As Geordie blacked out yet again, he caught a glimpse of someone removing the rubble from on-top of him. Meanwhile... Cynderstyke began advancing with a troop of his minions at his side rolling ahead like a unstoppable tide, shouting and screaming was coming from all corners, but he recognize the voice of his old friend, Keith, whom had which left him for dead them many years ago. In the confusion, Keith rallied the remaining unbroken knights, to form a protective barricade, in an attempt to hold the gate. Cynderstryke gripped his hammer in anger and blinded by rage marched towards Keith's position. Keith sarcastically, "Cynder, buddy. I see you made it out alive." "You arrogant fool, you left me for death." Cynderstryke bellowed. "I shall butcher you like the pig you are.” Before Keith could reply, Cynderstryke launches his darklin hammer towards the barricade, with an unstoppable force, it clashed with the sticks and stones that the defenders used to protect themselves with, instantly killing anyone, in the hammer's path of destruction. Blade in hand Keith watched helplessly, as Cynderstryke brush aside the defenders in his path. Keith raised his sky forged sword, as Cynderstryke hacked down on his old friend. The pair begin to duel, Keith started on the defense trying to block every crushing blow from Cynderstryke's blade, as Cynderstryke built up for another attack, Keith dived, avoiding the strike, as Cynderstryke struck the ground shattering the sword. Keith used to opportunity to launch a series of attacks, as his friend used what was left if his broken sword to defend himself "Cynder." Snared Keith, "my friend, you let rage control you, that is why I will always will be the better." Blinded with rage Cynderstryke only gave a roaring battle cry in return. Laying on the feed, that lessened the impact from the fall, Sky laid there, not knowing what was left to fight for his didn't know if the battle was lost. Thick Smoke and fire surround him, He slowly got up, with every part of his body in pain, trying to escape the fire before it consumed him. pacing forward, he picks up a small sword from one of his fallen comrades. "May you have a easy transition my brave friend" Sky thought to himself. He heard a loud cry of an man he knew, Forcing the pain out, Sky rushed to help his fellow brother in arms, clearing the rubble keeping the knight in a unwilling tomb. Meanwhile... Keith launched strike after strike, on Cynderstryke's broken sword. Before Keith could deliver another blow, Cynderstryke backhanded Keith in the jaw, knocking the man to the ground. Trying to gain this vision again Keith stubbed to his feet, Cynderstryke threw down this blade and heaved his hammer back up. Keith had proven to be a worthy opponent, but, Cynderstryke grew tired and decided it was time to put his friend out of his misery. Fighting and chaos surrounded the pair, as the few defenders fought to the last as the horde overran them. Cynderstryke coldly said to his former friend, "this friendship of ours isn't working out, it's time you tasted the might of the darklin." Keith tried to get to his feet as the last of his men fell under blade, Cynderstryke ordered his men to hold the broken man still, as he raises the hammer to send Keith into fate of darkness forcing him to never reach the gates of Developia, the resting place of the brave fallen knights in battle. Cynderstryke says triumphantly, "I will do to you what you did to me." Clumsy stood paralyzed with fear as he watched as the dark soldiers burning, pillaging and slaughtering the colonists. All he could think to do was get out as many men, women and children out before it was too late, but it became clear without any help he wouldn't be able to save anyone. Slashing down, a blade hacks at the door beside Clumsy, Clumsy returned a blow back at the attacking dark knight forcing him to his knees, only attraction more knights to him, Clumsy turned and fled, to escape the horde. Taking a left, Clumsy hid in a small slot and watched the horde race past him, giving a few moments to make sure they had gone, Clumsy paired out and saw another soldier dragging rubble from a collapsed, burning building. His goodwill would not let him leave them behind to swallowed up in darkness, creeping closer the man turned to Clumsy gripping a sword only to find a face of a friend. Sky asks, "Clumsy where's our reinforcements, we could do with help clearing a path." Clumsy replied, "hey should be defending Keith." Sky says, "right.” Sky was thinking planning an escape plan, Sky adds, "help me with this rubble, a man is trapped in here." Clumsy and Sky both lifted the bricks and rubble of the man and pulled him up. "Geordie!" Clumsy shocked at the state Geordie was in. "Come on then Clumsy, the docks should be close and untouched" Sky lifted Geordie, along with the help of Clumsy. The knights looked back at the ruins, of the once great fort they called home. After a bit of searching, they found the only untouched boat at the fort. Geordie laid against the rails, still unable to walk from his accident, took one last look back at the massacre which has happened.. "Who could of allow this horror to happen? What good are the moderators when evil like this is free to destroy?" Geordie muttered before pasting out once more. Burning corpses, collapsed buildings, the capture of innocent women and children. But, what really hit home for the three knights was watching, the flag, that has never fallen, burn before their eyes, they would forever be scarred by this day. It's going to be a long road ahead... Woifie reviewed this chapter.
Re: Spragga: TVK - The Return Chapter four: The Lacerta After a few days of traveling by carriage, Krystyan, Eleanor and Malota finally reached the outskirts of Konta. Krystyan was elated to finally see the safest city in all of Kaw. She was tired of sand and Scorpions and wondered how Avatar actually survived that desert year round without going insane. Krystyan had only been in the great city once during The Great War, but, didn't get to tour it. She won't get to tour it now, as the Valiant Knight are awaiting the trio inside Castle Dunstead. An hour later... They finally arrive at the castle and hurry straight to the meeting hall. After three years, all the Valiant Knights were finally together again. This hadn’t happened since the ending of the Great War and the anointment of Krystyan and George to the status of Valiant Knights. They all sat in the meeting hall, Chattering about different things that have happened to them, until Conrad the Wulf finally decided to start. Conrad bellows, "my fellow Valiant knights, let’s get to work please. Krystyan, why have you summoned all of us together?" Krystyan tells of her adventure inside of the Apheriun region. George replies confidently, "Wow, I thought he would be dead by now. How do we know what kind of threat he poses? He failed to even kill one of us this time." Swabia replies, "I’d like to see what he actually can do before we take a company of men down there to finish him for good this time." Eleanor felt unsure of everything and remained silent. Malato shuffled in her chair and looked around the room, not making eye contact with anyone. SlayerBob replies, "I say we just vote on three Valiant Knights to go with a legion of men and end this, we have more pressing things to handle. Conrad? Conrad replies, "even if we went with your plan SlayerBob, I believe we should all go. But, I am unsure if Krystyan actually saw Spragga and not Apheriun playing mind tricks." The debate on what to do went on late into the night until.. Conrad states, "we should pick this up again in the morning." Everyone respected the leaders words and dispersed to their rooms for the night. The next day... The Valiant Knights pick up from last nights debate. While Sky, George and Clumsy arrive in the city. George and Clumsy were extremely worn out, their injuries are slowly getting more severe and they needed immediate medical attention. Sky, even though extremely tired as well and still being afflicted by the mind scream, was not in dire need of attention. He knew he had to relay what happened to the Valiant Knights. He slowly heads to the Valiant Knight castle. Once he reaches the castle, he goes bustling through the doors only to be pinned down by the guards. He tries to fight them but to no avail. Sky pleads to the guards to at least take him to the Knights and let him explain the situation. The guards reluctantly agree to this and escort sky to the meeting hall, in chains. Once they reach the meeting room, they throw him into the room. All the Valiant Knights turn to look at this bleeding, injured soldier. George, being the closet, helps him up. Krystyan asks, "Sky? Is that you? Why aren’t you back at the kawlonies?" Sky(Out of breath)"..Kawlonies?...What Kawlonies? T-They...Were wiped out...by...An...army..From the nether world.." The room grew silent, everyone, unsure of what to say or think. Sky goes on to tell the story of the massacre dealt at the Kawlonies. The story hits Krystyan like a ton of bricks, as she spent years living and defending the island from invaders. She vowed to destroy the evil that caused this. Malato disregards his statement, "obviously, this soldier is delusional and needs to be taken to the hospital." Sky replies, "no, I’m telling the truth! And it wasn't Apheriun! Conrad replies, "well, it would seem we never solved the problem so many years ago, but, we will now. We need to call a Lacerta." Eleanor asks, "Quvania and Zorus already want to start a war with each other. Sunga and Anary are having a cold war and who knows what ZAFT are planning! How will we get all of them to work together?!" George replies confidently, "We must try or we will be over-run." Conrad informs, "we all will travel to our respective areas and request top ranking leaders and generals to meet here with their armies to plan." And as Conrad the Wulf finished Speaking, everyone prepared for their journeys back home, all except Malato. Malato was the first and last person Spragga tried to kill. Spragga had given her a choice, reveal the location of the unholy book of the damned, Rozelt or be killed. It was not her proudest moment, but, she could not let the other Knights know she is responsible for the devastation Spragga is causing. She had to fix this. But, she didn’t know how yet. She left the city the next day for aHistian. Some time passes... It took a week for everyone to get back to Konta with the leaders and their armies and by that time, Cynderstryke had already overrun most of the Damascus desert. Eleanor had returned with Crystalee and Nikki as leadership representation for Zorus and Clay and Niz as Army leaders. Conrad had returned with Curtish as the leadership representation for Anary while Paige and Demo served as Army leaders. George and Krystyan went to go find Avatar and they both went to Yafi, iG, Foxes, and New age for assistance. They brought (In order as above) AppleSeed and Leopard, Tara and Ballz, Gamehendge and Joe_, Twicc and Shaun. Bob the Slayer had returned with DirtyLarry and ChubbyChaser as leadership representation for oG and 9MC as Army leaders. Swabia had returned with Loada and Zeus as leadership representation for Zaft and 1Sexylady as the Army leader. Malato had returned with Ol_Ron_G as leadership representation for Uc and ZombieTrooper as the Army leader. All the leaders sat inside of the hall and all the army leaders went to the war room. Most of the participants in this Lacerta did not really wanting to be there, but, seeing it as necessary for survival. Conrad starts the leaders meeting. Conrad starts, "hello and thank you all for coming. We all have a common enemy, let us work together to defeat Spragga." Crystalee states, "If we didn’t have these “Lawless zones” We wouldn’t be having a problem right now and if we had our armed forces at the Kawlonies, all those people wouldn’t be dead." Curtish retorts, "oh, yeah, you guys would know about how to defend from a surprise attack wouldn’t you?" That stabbed the Zorus leaders like a knife through butter and ignited the room into an all out argument. Back in the War Room... Niz suggests, "If Cynderstryke has already taken the colonies and Damascus, we must set up a defensive line here and here." ChubbyChaser suggests, "if we catch them off guard, we can push them back to the Kawolonies and end this quick." Clay replies, "how about we combine the two." They continued to perfect the plans and the amount of troops needed and who would lead them. Back in the leaders hall, Conrad had calmed everyone down and the talks resumed. Somewhat peacefully. After a few hours, everything had been decided. Niz and Chubby would take up defensive positions around the middle kingdom, cutting Cynder off. Leopard, Pjenn and Ballz would cut behind Enemy lines and then the two fronts would converge on the center point, trapping the army. Then, it would be target practice. As everyone got up, there was an earthquake... or so everyone thought... All the leaders run outside to see flaming rocks landing inside of the city CynderStryke was already two steps ahead of them The fight has just begun.
Re: Spragga: TVK - The Return Act II Chapter one: A new crew As I, Wake, stand here on the branches of the high tree of Gnidih, I over look the land below me with my squad. The night sky is cloudy, blocking out many of the stars. The trees sway back and forth as the wind blow against them and the nocturnal KaWnimals were busy at work hunting with what little of the moon’s light shined over the land. All was relatively quiet in the West of The Middle Kingdoms, until all of a sudden, a loud voice broke the silence. Turning my head to the source of the noise and I see Balto standing up and pointing out over the distance. He exclaims again, "right there! Right over there! I found the fairy princess and his little army!” Ten, one of my new squad members, walk over to him and angrily whisper, "keep quiet or they will find us as well. Now, show me exactly where.” Balto points near a clearing with dozens of campfires a few of miles out. Ten uses his binoculars to zero in on the location and watches for a moment. A few minutes pass when. I ask him, "which way are they going? Tecia or Adrzington or are they just guarding the border?" Ten answers me with, "give me a second." Everyone stood in silence for a few more moments, then, ten states, "Val is sending two companies to both provinces and will be placing the rest of his army somewhere in the middle.” Balto, confused with Ten’s reasoning, asks, “how do you get that from his position? Val would be a fool to launch two offenses at once.” Ten turns around and glares at Balto. After a few moments, he turns his head to Mastrella, the squad mage, and says, “we need to put up some spells if we don’t want to be spotted.” Mastrella reassures, "don't worry, they won't see us. I casted the spells needed to avoid detection for a week.” I reply graciously, “thanks Mastrella, mind giving us the grand tour?” Mastrella replies confidently, “of course, I always love to show my work.” The squad watches as Mastrella opens the door to the tree and we all walk in. Mastrella continues to talk, “the inside is complete with everything that plays to our strengths. A mage forge for me, a training area for Wake and Ten, a fletching workshop for Sky and a kitchen for Balto.” Balto raises his hands in the air and states, “that’s not funny.” Mastrella giggles and continues, “this tree is unseen by the unknown and completely mobile.” Balto hesitantly asks, “how did you get this tree? How does it even work?!” Mastrella giggles and replies while walking inside, “don’t ask questions you really don’t want the answer to.” Balto gives her a puzzled look, then shrugs. I give him a pat him on the back and head inside. I informed, “alright guys, go ahead and move your gear in. I will call a meeting soon.” Everyone nodded and began to bring in their personal gear when I noticed that Sky was still outside. I go back outside and asks him hesitantly, "hey, Sky, we are setting up shop in the tree. Come bring your stuff in.” I watch as he stands there for a moment, thinking about something, then, he replies coldly, "yeah, yeah. I'm on my way.” ~We both head back inside.~ As the rest of the squadron set up their base for the night, I had to plan out our objective here. I have three new recruits, who I have never seen in battle, Val’s army on the lookout for us and to top it off, I had no clue of what to do. I closed my eyes, trying to think of a plan. ~Half an hour later, I began to assemble the squad for a meeting.~ First, I go look for Balto in the kitchen and when I walk in, I see him taking the biggest bite out of mutton I’ve ever seen. I state, "slow down on the food consumption, Balto. We will be here awhile." Balto replies quickly, "I only had one plate so far!" I sarcastically reply while shaking my head, “I guess we aren't counting the three you had on the way here. And you were so hurt about that kitchen comment.” Balto couldn’t help but laughs I continue, “head over to the meeting room.” Balto nods and heads to the room ~Next, I head to Mastrella’s Mage forge.~ As soon as I near the door way, I hear a loud thud and some yelling. I peek around the door way to see an amulet on the floor. Mastrella mumbles while pacing back and forth, “why in the world WON’T you work.” I slowly creep into the room and hesitantly say, “Hello.” Mastrella looks behind her back and says, “oh hey Wake. What do you need?” I reply, “we are having a meeting.” Mastrella replies, “on my way.” After getting Mastrella, I pass by Ten in the hallway. I tell him, “hey Ten, we are going to have a meeting. Head on over please.” He snorts, “not a meeting kind of person. Just tell me what we are doing when we are doing it.” Me, slightly annoyed, replies, “just be there. Shouldn’t take longer than 30 minutes.” Ten sighs and says, “fine.” I continue down the hall to Sky’s fletcting work shop. I tell him quickly, “Sky, we are having a meeting, lets go!” Sky and I walk down the hall and head straight to the meeting area. As I walk in with Sky, we both see the rest of the squad sitting around around a campfire. Puzzled, I asks, "how is the." Mastrella quickly cuts me off with, "magic." I shrug and sits beside Balto. ~There was silence.~ Me, wanting to break the ice, began, "we've been on the move since we formed together. So, I'd like everyone to get acquainted." ~Silence again.~ I continue, "so, I'll start. I'm Wake. I grew up in a middle class home in Konta. When I turned 18 my parents sent me to study at the college there, but, it didn't feel right to be there. So, I dropped out and I joined the Valiant Knight's army during the great war and here I am now." Balto replies sarcastically, "you've had it easy. My family works for a traveling circus. I ran away a couple of years ago. That's when you found me hunting." Wake replies, "well, you found me first, nearly killed me." Balto laughs and replies, "I thought you were a dear." Wake, Balto and Mastrella laughs. Wake asks, "who's next?" Ten replies, "I'm not here to tell my life story, I'm here to pay off my life debt and kill Val." Mastrella asks, "what did Val do?" Ten sits there for a moment and remembers... Mastrella brings Ten back from his daydream, "Well?" Ten shakes his head and replies, "he flooded my village." Mastrella replies coldly, "oh. Well, my parents were killed by bandits when I was 10. I've been hunting them down ever since." Balto looks over at Mastrella in fear, then asks Sky, "and you?" Sky looks at everyone and replies, "I wanted to follow in my fathers footsteps and be in the army. I was happy, until I saw the brutality of war." ~Silence fills the room again.~ Balto stands up and stretches, "well, I'm heading to bed. What time do we wake up, Wake?" I smiles and replies, "I'll wake everyone up, don't worry." I watched as everyone went to their rooms. I didn’t want to sleep, not yet. I had to figure out what we are doing later. ~Five hours later~ I assembled the squad in the armory and prepared to debrief them. I begin, "alright guys, lets get started. We currently have no intel on Val’s plan here. We need a good sweep off the area. Ten and Balto will go to the Farmer’s Ridge while Sky and I head to Sadal Sudd. Mastrella will stay behind to watch over us and to work on her new weapon for us. Any questions?” Ten inquires, “watch over us? Weapon?” I answers, “I will let Mastrella explain.’ Mastrella begins to talk, “for starters, I have taken the liberty to upgrade your weapons, I think you will like them. For Balto, a Cross bow with specialized arrows. For Ten and Wake, you have swords permanently tipped with burning mark. And lastly, for Sky, a double bladed saber staff to carry along with your bow.” Sky inquires, “that would be a lot to carry around, yes?” Mastrella looks at him and continues while picking up what looks like chalk, “next, I want all of you to take your shirts off and hold your arms.” We all look around at each other with a puzzled look, but, does what she says. Mastrella continues while waving the chalk, “this is magical chalk. Whatever I draw, becomes that object. I will demonstrate.” Mastrella walks over to me and draws a slim lined backpack on his body with the cold chalk. Once she is done drawing, the pack becomes attached to my body. The squad is in awe. Mastrella continues, “this pack contains food and water for a week plus gadgets. I will demonstrate how to use all of your gadgets before you leave." Mastrella then draws everyone else a back pack. ~After 15 minutes.~ Mastrella starts again, “alright, now. The backpack is connected to your body and it does what you tell it to do. Like so.” Mastrella (In-thinking), “smoke bomb appear.” And it appears in her hand. She resumes, “the same can be done for weapons and you can store almost anything up to a certain amount. Also, your backpack contains three suits of armor. I’ll leave that for you to find out.” Balto replies excitedly, “this is bawse.” Ten snorts, “I have done fine without all these trinkets before.” Mastrella replies while holding her right hand out, “right, last thing. CoMiEla” A bright pink light fills the room as she finish saying the spell. Mastrella continues, “now, I am able to tell where you are at for a few hours by that spell. This way, we know what happened to someone." I reply, “thank you Mastrella. Lets move out Falcons.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Battle Log - Initial Strike Code name - Triple (Affiliation - Zorus Alliance - KOFTE-Machine) Place - Konta
Re: Spragga: TVK - The Return Act II Chapter two: Grabbed Balto and Ten have been walking the long paved road to the Ridge for a few hours now. The sun’s intense heat rays shined over them, causing them to sweat profoundly. There were little to no trees around to shield them, just fields and fields of grass. Eventually, the pair comes across a sign telling them that they are a mile from the Farmers Ridge. Balto comes to a complete stop and wipes the sweat off his forehead. Then, he says, “finally, we are nearly there.” Ten stops walking, cuts his eyes over at the sign, then at Balto and says, “lets keep moving.” Ten starts walking down the road at a brisk pace and Balto ran to catch up to him. Balto, being the social creature that he is, tried to start a conversation, “so, this is pretty close to your village. Did you come here often?” Ten doesn’t reply, he just keeps walking. Balto continues, “I mean, this is one of the major farming areas in this province. You HAD to have come here at some point. Right?” Ten finally gives up at ignoring him and replies, “if it will shut you up, yes, we came here all the time. It’s a second home to me.” Balto, happy that he got him to talk, continues, “why is it called Farmers Ridge?” Ten replies irritatedly, “this is basic knowledge. It’s because the entire farm land is surrounded by a gigantic ridge spanning at least twenty miles around.” Balto replies, “that sounds like a sight to see!” Ten just scoffs. ~15 minutes later, they start to walk up the ridge at a 90 degree incline.~ Balto bends over and puts his hands on his knees while panting, “I wouldn’t come up here voluntarily though. I’m going with Wake next time.” Ten shakes his head, “how you got to be second in command, I’ll never know. Hurry up” ~After 10 more minutes of trudging up the ridge at an incline, the two finally reach the top.~ Ten scans the area, looking for farmers. Ten, intrigued, says, "I wonder where the farmers are." Balto answers, "off farming somewhere?" Ten glares at Balto, then goes over to the edge of the ridge and starts climbing down the ladder. He then tells Balto, “just follow me and be quiet.” Balto shrugs and starts climbing down as well. ~Back at Sadal Sudd~ Wake and Sky had finally reached the metal gates of Sadal Sudd. The archers at the top of the walls ready their bows as they Wake and Sky got into ranger. The wall commander yelled, “hold your hands high in the air and walk to the guards at the gate. Keep your hands up or we will shoot.” Wake and Sky both put their hands up and walked over to the guards. Charles exclaims, “halt, who goes there?” Wake explains, “I am Wake, leader of the Valiant knight’s scout group the Falcons. I am here to gather some supplies.” Charles looks over at sky and asks “and him?” Sky replies while pointing at his shoulder, “I’m in the group with him, jackal. Same patch.” Charles smirks and calls over Rikkimaru, the other guard. Charles continues, “alright, we need to test to make sure you bleed.” Wake, taken back, questions angrily, “bleed? I wouldn’t be standing if I couldn’t bleed.” Charles replies coolly, “look, I’m just doing my job. There is an undead army out there, and my family lives in the city I am guarding, if you want to get in hold your hand out and get cut.” Wake and sky both look at each other and extend their hands out. Rikkimaru pulls out his dagger and pricks their pinkies and blood starts to come out. Rikkimaru replies with a chuckles, “darn, I wanted to kill something. Alright, you guys are good, enjoy the city!” Wake and Sky then heads on over to the gate and enters the city. ~Back at the tree~ Mastrella was leaning over her forge with the amulet in her right hand. She was confident this time that the amulet would work. She stands up straight and places the amulet inside of the big slot on the forge. Then, she places two items, the eye of an eagle and a pair of glasses, inside of the first two slots below the first one. Next, she walks over to her potions rack and grabs a blue vile and pours it into the liquid compartment of the forge and said, “enchant.” After she spoke these words, a purple mist appeared around the amulet. Mastrella knew her spell was working, so, while she said enchant, she was already walking to the crystal mirror to check on her squad mates. When she picked the mirror up, all she saw was darkness. She immediately grabs her telescope and sprints out of the room and up the stairs to see what is going on. ~Back at the Farmers Ridge~ Balto and Ten are crouched behind a wagon of explosive jelly barrels. Balto worriedly whispers, “is this even safe?” Ten puts one finger to his lips and pulls out his dagger with the other. He peeks his head slowly around the corner and sees the guard walking towards them. Ten looks back over at Balto and says, “cover me with your crossbow.” Balto nods and pulls back the lever on the bow, setting the arrow in place. Ten waits for the guard to pick up a barrel before moving. While crouched, he slowly walks around the wagon and puts the guard in a choke hold. The guard gets ready to yell when pokes the knife into his side. Ten whispers coolly, “not a word, I am a friend. What's the jelly for?” The guard, sweating bullets, “I don’t know, I’m just doing as I’m told.” Ten punches him over the back of his head and he passes out. Ten slowly slides his body down to the ground and says, “to bad. We need to take this back with us.” Balto replies, “I suppose that means I’m lugging this back huh?” Ten replies as he slowly walks towards the voices coming from the other side of the field, “yes, get moving.” Balto drops his shoulders down and sighs, then, picks up the wagon handle and starts pulling it towards the ladder. While Balto is doing that, Ten is eavesdropping on two soldiers. One soldier pointed at another and said, “you was supposed to bring the fuse! SnG is going to have our butts.” The second soldier, “no! you were supposed to bring it! Not me!” SnG, wearing a lieutenants patch on his right shoulder, came up to them both and shoved them into the dirt. He then yelled, “it’s both of your fault. Now go find me a mage! The two soldiers got up and dusted themselves off and ran down the path. SnG mumbled angrily, “can’t get anything done right around here.” Ten quickly ran up behind him, kicked his left leg in at the bend and put his left arm around his neck while having his dagger at it’s side. Ten asks, “alright, who are you?” Sng scoffs, “you know how many times I’ve been held in a choke hold? Going to have to do better than this.” Ten pokes the knife into his skin and says, “talk.” SnG replies, “I know you see that I’m a lieutenant, meaning, I know information. You wouldn’t kill me.” Ten thought about that for a second, then remembered about his backpack. He thought about the objects in there and pulled out a sleeping gas bomb. Ten says as he release the gas, “sleep tight.” Sng body fell to the ground as ten pushed him off. Then, Ten started to tie his arms and legs up, blindfold and gag him. Ten then picks him up and does a fireman carry to where Balto is struggling with the Wagon. Ten replies in a harsh tone while shaking his head, “you haven’t even made it to the ladder yet? Hold this guy. I’ll do it.” Ten gives Sng to Balto and heads back over to the wagon and walks it over to the ladder. He then looks up and wonders how they will get three barrels of explosive jelly up the ladder. After a few moments, he looks over at Balto and says, “take Sng up the ladder and find a way to stake something in the ground, get your rope around it and throw it down here. Got it?” Balto nods his head and picks Sng up and throws him over his left shoulder. Balto then runs over to the ladder and begins to climb it. While Balto is climbing, Ten takes the barrels off of the wagon and place them side by side. As soon as Balto reaches the top, he throws Sng to the ground and pulls rope from out of his body pack. He then throws it down to Ten who catches it. Ten then ties two of the barrel together and signals Balto to pull it up. Next, he picks up the other barrel and starts to climb the ladder while Balto struggles with pulling the barrel up. As soon as Ten gets to the top, he rolls the barrel over to where Balto is as he gets closer, he sees that Sng is getting ready to kick Balto over. Ten yells, “Balto, behind you!” Balto turns around and looks at Sng. He lets go of the rope in his hands, dropping the explosive barrel, and kneels down to start punching him. Ten runs over to Balto and yells into his ear, “are you stupid! We are trying to save the farm! Not burn it!” Balto replies worriedly, “well we need to run!” Ten sighs and states, “no use, we are still in the blast radius. “ They both looked down as the barrel tumbles down to the ground. ~Back at Sadal Sudd~ Wake and Sky are inside Sadal Sudd playing the part of innocent tourists. They have been walking around, for hours buying objects and supplies. Someone was watching them, or so Sky thought. Wake reassured him that they wouldn’t have any trouble here because this was an independent city. The day went on and they continued to tour the city, checking for strengths and weakness inside of the city until around lunch time. They went to the cities mess hall and sat down and ate. Not long after they did, someone sat down with them. Mysterious man, “hey, you guys are the Falcons aren’t you? Your patches give you away.” Wake looked over at sky and nods then look back at the man. They both had their hands on their waist, ready to pull out their daggers. The man, “no need to be hostile, my name is Noahaa. I’m with the Black Hand syndicate.” Sky laughs then replies, “yes, telling us you are apart of a criminal organization warrants us not to be hostile.” Noahaa shrugs and says, “fair enough, look, I can help you with your mission. Follow me.” Wake looks at him for a moment and then gets up, ready to follow him. Sky gives him a funny look then gets up as well and the three head into the back room of the mess hall. Noahaa closes the door and then leans against the wall and says, “so, you are tasked with stopping Val?” Sky replies in a angry tone. “we aren’t here to be questioned. What can you help us with.” Noahaa smirks and replies, “we have a local cell here and we found out where Val is resting his head. I can give you this information, but, we want something in return.” Wake raises his eyebrows and asks, “what is it?” Noahaa replies, “we want some of your equipment, whatever you have that would be useful to us.” Sky replies, “this is a life or death war and you are bargaining?” Noahaa replies, “how ever you get it is how you get it.” Wake shakes his head and then says, “fine, we agree. Where is he?” Noahaa replies while handing wake a piece of paper, “not telling you here without the equipment meet us here. I got to go now.” And Noahaa leaves Wake and Sky alone. Sky, “are we going tomorrow?” Wake, “we didn’t find any other intel, might as well.” Sky, ‘”let's head home then.” And the two make their way to the tree. ~Back at the tree~ Mastrella uses her telescope to look over the western part of the land. She carefully looked at each and every hill, forest and mountain side. After looking for a good ten minutes on the western side, she turns her telescope to the eastern side and spot someone struggling to hold something up with rope. She figures it’s just a worker hauling the harvest up until she notices the body on the ground beside him. She continues to watch as Balto drops the barrel do to being kicked by SnG. Mastrella mutters under her breath while she pulls her wand out from under her sleeve, “damn it Balto.” She waves it in the air and says, “Teleportay.” After she says the word, there is five loud thuds inside of the tree and a loud boom over the distance. Mastrella looks back over at the Farmers ridge to see majority of the west bank destroyed. Mastrella shakes her head and walks inside of the tree As she walks in, she looks at Balto, Ten and SnG all dog piled on the floor with 2 barrels on top of them. Mastrella giggles while inquiring, “so, which one of you blew up the most important farming areas in all of KaW?” And the trio on the ground just groan. Battle log - Breach Code name - The-Empress (Zaft Warrior) Place - Agrarian wall The first week defending this great city was entertaining. We had plenty to eat, drink and kill. But, after awhile, our minds went from, "It's a war" to "This is a massacre." It didn't matter to that dark army if I just chopped one of their fellow members arms off. What we thought would be some training exercise is correct, except that the roles are reversed. We are the targets.[/center]
Re: The Valiant Knight Tales - The Return Act II Chapter three: Abistant The next morning, a loud thud is heard throughout the tree. Quickly sitting up in bed, Ten looks around the room. Did I just imagine that? He was so use to moving place to place and having to watch his own back all the time that he became a tad paranoid of his whereabouts. No one would be able to find out where we are for another six days because of Mastrella's enchantments. We should be fine. He rubs his eyes while taking in a deep breathe to yawn. I'm surprised Wake didn't come and bring me to another meeting. Ten laid back down with his hands behind his head. I should get some more rest in before he does. Closing his eyes and sighing deeply, he slowly drifts back asleep. But, not for long. The loud thud that woke him up the first time happens again, only much louder than the first time. Hopping out of bed, he casually walks to the doorway and looks left and right. He takes in a deep breath and sighs. I wish I remembered the layout of this thing. A moment passes before he decides to go right and he bolts down the hallway. He comes up on an intersection of the tree. When did all these changes happen?! He turns left on pure gut instinct and starts running again. As he comes barreling down the hallway, he heard the thud again and he knew that this was the correct way. Much to his surprise, the only doorway down this hallway was on his left. What in the world is going on here? Ten figures that this had to be the doorway to the interrogation room. He creeps slowly over to the doorway and puts his back against the wall. Ten's body tenses up as he hears a voice coming from the room. "I am a trained warrior. You have to do better." That sounds like SnG talking. Peeking his head inside of the room, he instantly focuses on the fact that SnG is bound to a chair and is being hoisted in the air upside down. That's when he heard another voice in the room, Mastrella's voice. Ten watches as Mastrella continues to points her wand at SnG and yells, “earlier you said you were hard headed. We will see HOW hard headed you are if you don’t talk.” SnG spits down at the ground, almost hitting her shoe, and says, “you’ve been at this for thirty minutes and nothi--.” He is cut off from talking because Mastrella quickly lowered her wand down to the ground, sending SnG plummeting to the floor. With a quick girlish shriek and another loud thud, SnG hits the floor and lays there for a second and looks up at Mastrella. He tries to mumbles something under his breath, but, Mastrella didn't care for what he had to say at that point. By the time SnG finished what he was saying, she had already kicked him in the face, which caused him to blackout. Ten, loving a good interrogation, immediately burst out into laughter and walks inside the room. He says while smirking, “I love a good interrogation session as much as the next guy, but, we still need him alive for trial, Mastrella.” Mastrella quickly looks behind her, she doesn't like being told what she needs to do, but, figures it's not worth it to lecture him. Mastrella eventually says, “I’m sure we can get another prisoner.” Ten shrugs, “if we want to lose the east bank, yeah, we could.” Mastrella giggles. Ten turns around and starts to walk out the door while saying, “I’ll let you get back to work then.” Just then, Wake peaks his head inside and looks around the room. He started to open his mouth to say something, but, stops and shakes his head. He goes on to say, “briefing in five guys.” Ten nods his head yes at Wake and watches as the team leader leaves. He then turns his attention back to Mastrella, who is leaving out the room. "Wait, I have a question." He blurts out, unexpectedly. Mastrella continues to walk out the room hurriedly while waving at him to join her. Ten does a slight jog to catch up to her brisk walking. "Did you do something, uh, different, to the tree?" Ten asks inquisitively. Mastrella laughs at his question as they turn the corner. She responds, "You must not fully believe in magic abilities?" Ten shrugs and replies, "It's not that I don't believe, it's just that I don't see it as necessary." She tells him, "Well, that's your problem. Don't doubt my abilities and you won't get lost." Ten gives up on talking with her as they both enter the meeting room. He up leans against the door frame, overlooking the other falcons who are gathered around a large oval shaped stump. Watching as Wake turns his head to look behind himself, Ten knew he was going to ask him to come closer to the stump and he wanted to cut that conversation short. Ten snorts, “I don’t want to be anywhere near Balto.” Wake turns over to balto then back at me. “why? What's up?’ he asks out of curiosity.” Ten smirks, just thinking about the amount of trouble Balto will be in almost caused him to burst out into laughter. “hm, you’ll find out soon enough. What are we doing today?" Ten managed to say. Wake returned his gaze back down at the stump in front of him. He reaches his left hand down and taps the stump three times with his index finger, then, knocks on it two more times with his knuckles. After he finished the combination of knocks and taps, a blue mist started to swirl around the top of it. Wake spoke the words, "Thrice Solze" and out of this mist popped an image of three different styled canons. Wake goes on to say, “basically, we will be getting intel and support from the BHS in exchange for this gear.” Mastrella raises her eyebrows and asks, “you mean, my gear?” Wake tries to respond to Mastrella, but, I quickly question him, “so we are dealing with terrorist now?” And when Wake tried to respond to me, balto jumped in. Balto replies, “not sure I like the idea of trading with criminals.” Wake reassures each member, “don’t worry, we can easily get the gear back. They are freedom fights now not terrorists.” Sky nods his head in approval and replies, “its the only way for now.” Balto replies while pointing at the interrogation room, “I suppose you’re right. Who's watching Fido in there while we are gone?” Wake replies, “One of us can stay behind with Mastrella since we will be gon-.” Mastrella gave Wake a glare that mothers gave their children when they are out of line. Ten slowly smirks as he shrugs his shoulders. "So, where do we get the weapons from?" Ten asks, trying to save wake. Wake quickly jumps onto the new topic, "they are already loaded by the door. We can get them on the way out." After that, I heard footsteps from Mastrella side of the table. She is walking around to Wake and stops to pat him on the head before continuing out the room and down the hall to interrogate SnG some more Wake, Balto, Sky and Ten geared up and left the tree thirty minutes later. They had a full day of walking to do to get to Sud Sadal on time. Mastrella continues her intense interrogation of SnG. Mastrella slowly dawned on her leather, heat resistant gloves. She didn't like having to go this far, but, answers were need. She picks up a mini cast iron cauldron with hot coals and carries it over to SnG, who is still knocked out from before. Mastrella slaps him across the face, "wake up, I'm not done with you.' While he is stirring awake, Mastrella puts two steel rods inside of the cauldron. SnG shakes his head and looks around the room. "oh, you're still going after what I know? Ha." He bellows But Mastrella notices how he cut his eye over at the cauldron and she knew that she had him. "We are going to play a little game." Mastrella began as she picked up one of the red hot rods. "It's called, tell me what you know." Sng swallows hard as She brings the rod close to his neck. "alright, alright.' SnG says, giving. "I'll tell you a little story." SnG went on for hours about how they really planned to take Zorus out of the equation quickly. He told of the battle tactics, they planned to use on the Zorus defensive line. Mastrella listened to what he had to say, but, she knew it to be a ploy to get out of being branded. She slowly slid her wand out of her boots and pointed it at him. Mastrella said, "rest." As she casted a spell at him. Not long after she did this, a noise was heard in another room. Wake, Sky, Balto and Ten traveled to Sud Sadal and made it right at dusk. It was perfect timing, as the guards visibility would be obscured. Wake held his fist into the cool air, signaling the squad to hold their position. He then looked back at the three and whispered, "change to cameo armor. It should match the ground." Wake waited for them to change, then, he said, "let me open the grate." Balto eyes bulged when he heard what Wake said. "I thought the meeting place was in the city!?" Wake chuckled and whispered, "terrorist Balto. They can’t work out in the open." Wake went prone and slowly crawled over to the grate. Slowly rising up to a crouch, he unlatches the safety locks, then waves at the other guys to come join him. Wake then places his head down the hole and whistles, like a blue jay, down into the hole. After a few moment, a robin's call returns. "leave the canons here, they will get them" Wake orders as he climbs down the ladder. Sky shrugs, "three valuable canons here where bandits can get them. You're the boss." The four guys head down the ladder where they are greeted by a strange man. "Ah, so it is true. The famous Falcons working with terrorists? You guys going rouge?" The man fired at them. Ten whips out his sword. "and you are?" "I'm your guide to the camp. Your turn." The man replied as he picked up the lit touch off the wall and started walking towards the camp. Wake choose to answer this time. "This is just a necessary evil. You look familiar tho. Wake thought for a moment. "You're father was a member of the Falcons, Right? "Right you are" The man assured him. Balto asked, Well what happened? Why are you working for these guys?." "I am following in his footsteps, working undercover first, then work with a team." The strange man answered. Sky exclaimed, "wait, this is willy?!" Willy replied, "yeah. My mother isn't too happy about this job. She doesn't know the fully story. It's hush hush." Balto, that's awesome. What can you tell us about them? Willy laughed for a minute, then said, "they are self righteous uncompromising stubborn activists." Wake replied, "Understood." Willy stopped as they reached a doorway. "Head on in." The four looked at each other and walked inside the room The inside of the room had at least fifteen people either looking at maps, reading reports or writing something. Willy pointed at two places across the room, "that's where you are staying and that's where the council is." Wake thanked Willy for his help. "Balto, come with me. You two go ahead into the other room." Wake commanded. Ten pulled Wake by his arm and whispered, " you expect us to sleep soundly with these guys around?" Wake thought for a moment. "no, I want you to wait in the room. Sleeping is optional." Ten let go of Wake and stormed into the room with Sky behind him. Wake and balto head in the other room. "Welcome, here, they call me Extreme. That's what I'd like to be called." Extreme said as they walked in. Wake nods his head, "understandable. We brought the canons. Can you keep your end of the deal?" Extreme stood up. "Yes, of course. In fact. We will fight with you." Balto questioned, "fight with us?" "yes, Val will be moving on this city soon. He is going to keep Zorus busy while he conquers this city." Extreme explained. Wake asked, "You have enough men to repel an invasion?" Extreme explained, "We made a deal with the city governor. We will fight with the guards and place traps and enchantments." Wake scratched his head. "Sounds solid. What do you need us to do?" Extreme said."All we needed from you guys is the canons." He continued on. "I have another meeting soon, we can talk more tomorrow." Wake and Balto headed into the other room and debrief the others on the plan. Meanwhile. SnG wakes up from his second nap that day. Where am I know? That's when Val paced passed him. "I thought you were one of my best lieutenants! And you got captured!" Val furiously stated. SnG exclaims, "You only sent me with two men!" Val replied sternly, "And I only sent two men to rescue you." SnG stuttered, "Well." "It's in the past now. What did you tell her?" Val said as he got closer to him. "I only told her about the Zorus plans. She doesn't know we will converge on Sudal soon." SnG nervously told him. "You even gave a piece to the puzzle out? What the hell?" Val barked. SnG reassures, "look she doesn't know about the device we will use to take it." Val put his hands on his temples and sighed. "Go set the device up, we need to get the plan going." SnG, puzzled, said, "You know I can't set it up only mages can." Everything went black and he returned back to reality, back to the tree. Mastrella, still holding the rod touched his neck with it and he screamed out loud. She said, "I hate liars." Back in the sewers of Sud Sadal. The ground shook all around them and things fell over. Sky yelled, what's going on!? as he stumbled over. That's when Willy kicked the door down. "they are here! Time to move!" Battle Log: - Unsafe Codename: Shaun - Egawen Warrior The first two walls were breached about a week ago. Before those days, we let families sit on the walls so they could watch the brave warriors fight. Those same families are now trying to dig tunnels out of these cities. It's sad really. They know what are leaders won't acknowledge. We are defending a lost city. But, I can understand why the Valiant Knights won't leave. Especially Wulf.
Re: The Valiant Knight Tales - The Return Act II Chapter four: Drowning hope The city of veterans, Sud Sadal is about to fall under siege by the damned forces of Spragga and it’s commander, Val. He knew that the only safe way to get into Zorus territory without taking huge losses is take this city as quickly as possible. Although his lieutenants advised against an assault on a city filled with veterans from all over KaW that would probably would be reinforced by Machines, he didn’t care. He knew that his army had only one limitation; Since they are the souls of the damned currently existing in the realm of the living, they require four hours of rest to be able to war effectively. But, his enemies didn’t know that and he planned to exploit it to it’s highest level. The early hours right before the assault. Val sits high above his army in his ivory war tower, contemplating several topics. What happened to SnG? Is my whole operation compromised? Reus, one of Val’s battle mages sitting across the room, nervously cleared his throat and says, “Val, what ever we are doing, we need to do it now." Reus pauses, waiting on Val's response. "They will be able to see us soon." He continued. Val looked over at him and rose his hand up to his beard, slowly stroking it. Those few seconds felt like a lifetime to Reus, he worried if Val planned to kill him for demanding what to do. Val reclines back in his seat and nods. Pointing at the direction of the city, he orders, “March on the city, but, stay a mile from the walls. Fire the siege weaponry when we get in range.” Reus graciously bowed at Val and hurriedly turned around to descend the stairs when Val called his name out, freezing him in his tracks. “I didn’t finish talking. Will you and Feihc be ready when it’s time?” Val demanded. Reus swallowed hard and while his darted around the room. “ Uh. Well. It should be ready.” Val waved his hand down at the stairs, sending him on. For his sake, it better be ready. Back at the tree of GniDiH Mastrella is reclined in her purple dyed leather chair, across from a Burned, battered and bruised, SnG. “look, just tell me what you know. I will make sure your war crimes are overlooked if you do.” She concernedly tells him. SnG looked her in the eyes with a puzzled look, stammering, “y-you, you have the pull to do that?” Mastrella slowly cross her legs. “well, up until you were brought here, no one knew who you are. I'm sure if you keep quiet, I can make sure you aren't remembered.” She tells him. SnG thinks for a moment. He inhales deeply then slowly exhales. “I suppose it beats rotting in prison after this." “Smart man. Now, start from the beginning.” Mastrella demands of him. In the sewers Willy yells as he held onto the stone wall for dear life, "we have to get topside!" The quakes stop for a moment. Willy, with The Falcons behind him, turns around from the temporary quarters and walk out of the room carefully. Sky questions Willy, “can’t we leave out the way we came in?” Willy shakes his head. “This part of the sewage system isn't going to hold for long. And there is already a long line to take the main ladder out of here.” Wake asks, “Isn’t there a safety wheel somewhere down here?!” Ten says, “yeah, I saw it when we came in.” Willy replies, "Correct, that controls how much water flows through, it is designed to flow continuously so it won’t get backed up. Another quake occurs, causing them to stumble over. Willy continues, “but, these quakes will jostle it loose." Ten puts his hand on Wakes shoulder, '”lets go.” Wake and Ten sprint out the room for the wheel while the rest of them head for the ladder. Wading through knee high sewage, It took them Ten minutes to reach the wheel, which is slowly turning loose. Wake and Ten quickly grab on it in an attempt to hold it. Ten gives out a breathy, " this thing weighs a ton." They manage to keep it in place, maintaining the water at thigh level. Wake asks, “how long do you think it will take for them to evacuate the room? " Ten closes his eyes and sighs. "go check." Wake raises his eyebrow, "are you crazy? You aren't strong enough to hold this by yourself." Ten chuckles, "If there is one thing I have learned, you don’t question someone's skill. I know my limit.” Wake tries to counter his logic, "Be-- Ten spoke the words, "burn." This instantly heated the wheel to the point where Wake couldn't hold onto it. “Ouch!” Wake huffs as he shakes his hands, trying to cool them off. “I’m off.” But, before Wake tries to wade through the water, he stops. “Thank you.” Wake says sincerely before wading on. Ten is now deep in thought as he struggles to hold onto the wheel, which is slowly spinning out of control. I never thought I'd use magic to help me. Ah well. The wheel slowly starts to spin out of control more as water starts spilling out at of the reservoir fast speeds. Wake quickly makes it back to the room and climbs the ladder as water starts filling the room. Once he makes it to the top, Willy asks, "Where-" He stops as he sees water over filling onto the streets. Another fire ball lands onto a near by building. Willy states, “lets get off the streets and head for the walls!” On top of the walls The view from the high walls of Sud Sadal is one word, breathtaking. The Falcons have a front row seat on watching chaos take the city before the army outside the walls. The city's civilian population make a desperate attempt to try to escape the ensuing hell, only to be caught in the flooding. The veterans who choose to stay have no where to sleep,, due to the buildings being on fire. All this happening while a massive army is marching on them, launching flame rocks and wall breakers. It broke Wake’s heart knowing he couldn’t do much to help the people inside the walls. The only thing he could do now is wait for the rows of dark soldiers to reach the archers firing range. Sky, knowing of these dark soldiers tactics, suggests that all troops not engage them outside of the walls, only the archers on top of the walls should engage. Wake graciously took Sky’s expert advice and order Balto and Sky, the squad’s best archers, to take up defensive positions. They both run off, looking for the best vantage point. Wake turns to Willy, who is still looking over the city. He smiles, “you know what happened to those cannons?” Back at GniDiH Mastrella. Mastrella is completely taken aback by the information she has just received from SnG. “You mean to tell me, that we saw-" Mastrella began to say, but, SnG cuts her off with, "yes, that’s right." Mastrella puts her head down and chuckles, "That’s hilarious." SnG snorts back, "really smart actually. You would have never figured it out." Mastrella's chuckle turned into a scoff as she slowly reclined back into her chair, looking into his eyes. She turns to look down at the steel rods, still red hot. Pointing her hand at the rods, she says sternly. "I still have the rods heated, if you really want to test my resolve." SnG swallows hard and chuckles nervously. Then, suddenly, it hits him. “W-w-hat time i-i-s it?” He manages to stammer out. Mastrella raises her eyebrow. “It should be around noon.” SnG starts to sweat. “the city should be under siege now.” he whispers under his breath. “what was that?” Mastrella demanded. SnG exclaims, “Sud Sadal! It should be under assault by now!” Mastrella stands up and stretches. "I do need to get my exercise in today." Battle Log: Fallen Pride Saltyfeet was tasked directly by Spragga to decimate the Sunga fleet and decimate, he did. Sunga naval leaders were so sure that they could repel this fleet, that they tried engaging it with every sailor and ship they had available. Needless to say, nothing survived.
Re: The Valiant Knight Tales - The Return Act II Chapter five: Op ner Finally, I might actually have a challenge this time. Mastrella told herself this constantly as she walked inside of her walk-in closet. But, in all reality, she knew the danger of this mission. There are not one, but, two battle mages that could match or have greater skill than she ever could in battle. To make matters worse, the thought of facing the half dead-half living beings frightened her to the core. The few spells she tried to attack them with had no effect, like she didn't even cast anything at them. After walking around aimlessly for a few minutes, she finally finds the boots she will wear into battle. Holding the pair out, she carefully inspects them, in search of any wear and tear done to them. Continuously flipping them back and forth. These should do well. Mastrella slowly slid her feet into both boots. Looking down, she walks back into the interrogation room, modeling the boots for herself. SnG, who has been tied up to a chair for nearly two days now, questions her, "you're going into battle with stylish boots?" Mastrella stops in the middle of the room and glares into his eyes. Annoyed at his question, Mastrella asks, "haven't you learned not to ask questions you know the answer to?" Mastrella didn't wait for his reply. She elected instead to head into the next room and suit up for her upcoming endeavor. Mastrella is able to navigate to any part of the tree, due to her staunch belief in magic, with ease. The next stop on her preparation list, is gearing up with weapons from the wardrobe in her room. It's filled with tons of magical objects ranging from knives to wands to the mystical artifacts that she makes. First things first. She raises her left hand and snaps her fingers. Almost instantly, a dark blue, skin tight body suit wraps around her body. This suit is perfect for missions like this simply because compartments can be placed anywhere and angled anyway. A prominent feature of the suit is it's use of sensory technology. Mastrella picks up a throwing knife and places it in one of the angled slots on her sides. She repeats this three more times, feeling confident that four will suffice. Next, she pulls out a blue dyed wand and a five inch steel dagger, placing them both down her the slots on her right and left leg respectively. She then refills her chalk backpack with the basic essentials. Smoke bombs, sleeping grenades, fire crackers, all the things needed to get out of a hairy situation as fast as possible. Afterwards, she puts on the amulet she's been working on. The last, but, most crucial step in Mastrella preparation, is to pin her hair up. She didn’t want it to get cut by accident again. After Mastrella finishes with her hair, she peeks back into interrogation room one more time to make sure SnG is secured in the room. He did nothing but stare at her with his mouth wide open as she looked around the room. "be a good boy till I get back, ok?" Mastrella instructed him. As she turns around to leave, SnG asks, "you're just leaving me here?!" Mastrella giggles and replies, "stop asking me questions you already know the answer to." Mastrella now heads to the top of the tree, electing to take the stairs. Once at the top, she uses her telescope to overlook the general direction of Sud Sadal. All that can be seen of the city is the thick black smoke flying westward from the city. Her mood dropped slightly. Maybe they aren't doing as well as I thought. Walking won't cut it. Mastrella leaps down from the tree and barrel rolls onto her feet. They just need my special touch; Strolling over to one of the big roots, she knocks on it, revealing a stable along side the tree. She chuckles. Probably should have told them about this feature. She thought as she mounts her horse, Blue Flame. She sets off to do what most people do not have the stomach or the courage to do. Head towards the sound of clashing steel. Hours earlier Ten is swirling around in the water, trying his very best to try and stay afloat so that he could gather air into his lungs, but, due to the excess water and the river's naturally strong currents, he kept getting pulled down the stream and underwater. What is with me and water?! Why does it hate me so?! Ten thought as his life force slowly escaped in the form of air from his lungs. It's useless for me to try and fight it this time. Ten closes his eyes, and is again reminded how he was saved the first time. At least I paid off my debt. He re-opens his eyes, taking in what he thought is to be his last glimpse of light. The water continues to carry his body onward. On top of the crumbling walls of Sud Sadal Sky was sweating bullets. Not just because of the intense heat, but, because he knew what could very well happen here. This is the same scenario as Fort Arikahs. Sky hated that they took the fort so easily for them. Why did they get so complacent? "We won't cede this city to them!" Sky yelled out, rallying the soldiers around him who responded with a, "Hoorah." He grabs another arrow out from his quiver and places it on the arrow rest. Sky pulls the bow string back with three fingers and aims down the wall. Another arrow ready for launch Breathing in, then out, he gets ready to release when he starts to see double images of the current world. His left eye sees everything in complete chaos and disarray while his right eye sees everything peaceful. He shakes his head roughly. No time to live up to your name of daydreaming in the Sky. He launches the arrow, sending it flying down the wall at one of the dark soldiers. On instinct, he reaches to grab another when a sharp, mind splitting pain overcomes his brain, causing him to drop his bow and fall to his knees. Sky puts his hands to his head and starts screaming out loud from the excoriating pain while tears streak his cheeks. Another soldier runs over to assist him, but, he too falls victim to the same sickness. On the road to Sud Sadal Mastrella has been riding the road to Sud Sadal at full gallop for about an hour when she noticed a wooden-spike barricade garrisoned by soldiers not formed from the book of Rozelt. This should be easy. She slowed blue flame down to a trot and waves at the soldiers with a smile. The soldiers were very skeptical to approach her at first, but, After a few moments of watching the soldiers talking amongst each other, they finally decide to send two soldiers on horseback to approach her. “ma'am, this is area is embroiled in warfare right now. We are trying to reclaim the city from the dark forces that plague our land.” One of the soldiers stated heroically. Deep, deep down inside herself, Mastrella sighed. “Oh! Thank you so much! I live here and I just wanted to come cook for the brave soldiers that are fighting for my home!” Mastrella said enthusiastically. The two guard's faces perk up after hearing this. One of the guards leans over to the other solider whispering something to him. The two laugh while nodding. Then, they walk their horses beside Mastrella’s. “I think we can make an exception for that." The soldier grinned. "Follow us, we will, uh, take you to base camp.” And the two soldiers escort her past all of the defensive emplacements. Somewhere along the banks of the AeaJ river. Ten groaned as he slowly came to, “where am I?” Covering his nose, he looks around the room he somehow got in. It smells like a circus in here. Am I in a tent? At that moment, he hears grunting in the adjacent rooms. Sounds like people are training. He slowly rises to his feet and staggers towards the slit in the tent. What he sees in the room amazes him beyond belief. A wondrous display of acrobatic stunts performed by dozens of people while using either archery, CQC and weapons skills. Ten knew that one day, he will return here to learn from them. "I see you're finally awake." A gruff voice behind him inquires. Who are you? Ten asks, reaching for his sword. Ten's eyes widen. I must have lost it while I was in the water. The man puts his hand on Ten's right shoulder. "No need to try and draw your weapon on me. I’m a friend." He says. "Where am I then?" Ten demanded "Well." The man started. "From my guess, you’re a good five miles from your original location." "Thanks for your help. I suppose." Ten shrugged, knocking the man's hand off his shoulder. "It’s no problem it’s what we do here. Have a seat, you’re in no condition to fight." The man insisted. How’d he know--. Oh, the insignia on my shoulder Ten turned around to face the man. "Maybe you’re right. But, I need to head back." Ten insists. The man sighs. "I suppose I can respect that. Everyone knows their limitations." "I do owe you a life debt, though. I will repay it when I return." Ten told the man. The man smiled. 'You two just need to take good care of each other." The man laughed as he walked off. The two of us to take care? What does that mean? On the outskirts of the forward operating base. Are these soldiers as gullible as they let on? Who really takes someone they don't know to cook for them? The guards systematically stop at a large tent, raising suspicion for Mastrella. “Here is where we drop you off. We really hope to taste your cooking soon.” One soldier grins. Mastrella dismounts her horse, wondering what her course of action should be. There is at least a company of soldier here that don't know what's going on. I'll just be quick. “Yeah.” She says as she slides two throwing knives from their sheathes. “Thanks for your help.” Right after the words escaped her lips, she flicks both knives at her escorts skulls, slicing through their skin and jabbing straight into their brain stems, killing them instantly. Mastrella still stands there, in her finishing position, both arms extended out. Clean kill. Mastrella maneuvers her arms back to her sides, with the knives following her movement, going back to their slots respectively. All this, while the soldier's lifeless bodies fall off the horses, blood spews out the back of their necks. Mastrella strokes Blue Flame's head. She whispered to him, "head back." Blue flame neighs as he runs back the way he was escorted in. Mastrella takes one last look at him , as she heads inside the tent entrance. Suddenly, upon entry, she hears panting and foot steps coming at her. Quickly looking across the room, she watches two men charge full speed at her. Mastrella brings here right leg back, in a defensive stance and thrusts her unclenched hands forward sending the knives sailing straight to her attackers' hearts. They fall to their knees, their eyes bulge out as the knives pierce their bronze armor. Mastrella pulls her hands back while clenching her fists, pulling the knives out of their hearts, killing them, and placing them back in their slot. That's when she heard Clapping coming from the corner of the room. "You killed my personal body guards." Reus reveled bluntly. Mastrella reaches down to grab her wand out of the compartment behind her left leg. Reus saw this as a direct challenge to him. "Straight to business, huh?" He cackled. Grabbing his wand, Reus casts three spells in succession at her. Mastrella whips the spells that are coming at her to the ground, negating their ability, with no trouble at all. Mastrella hissed at him, "You're going to have to do better than that." "I'm just getting started." He replies as he whirls his wand in the air, casting another spell at her. Mastrella slides to the left, dodging the spell. Why is he toying with me? On the defensive line on the Zorus border. A machine, going by the initials BG, watched over the mass of troops that are assembled at the border. Why haven’t they attacked yet BG turned her gaze from the ensuing battle her and looks over at Sud Sadal. She turned around, facing her fellow machines, BB, Rogue and Full-Metal. "I think we should investigate what's going on in that city." She tells them. BB replies, "Only way to get in the city now is to scale the walls." Full metal offers a suggestion," we have our cables. They should reach that high." BG replies, "lets go then." The four Zorus warriors set out to see what's going on. On one of the roads to Sud Sadal. Ten is inbound to Sud Sadal. Running as fast as he could, he cut the six hour, five mile walk down by four and half miles. Back to the duel He's stalling for time. I need to ditch him. Mastrella throws a smoke bomb in the air, activating upon release, while casting a stunning spells at Reus. She knew it hit him when she heard him yelp in pain. Sprinting out of the tent, Mastrella looked around for the tower that Val calls RaZaH. She set her eyes on the towering monolith. It was no more than two hundred yard away from her current position. Mastrella continues her sprint onwards to the tower. The soldiers around the encampment chased behind her, ordering her to stop. Back to the machines 3/4 up the wall. Rogue asks, "I don't hear any fighting up on the wall. Maybe they haven't entered the city?" Full metal replies, "we'll learn soon enough." A few minutes later. BG, being the first to climb the wall, gasped loudly. BB yells, "what's wrong?" BG yells back. "Come see for yourself!" Silence fell upon them as they watched the cities defenders become routed. Some Running along the wall surrendering, some jumping all the walls, falling to their deaths. While most, are laying along the walls, screaming in pain. BB says, "I knew we should have sent a regiment here. This is pitiful." BG shakes her head. "lets see what we can do as they start to run the length of the wall to the command building." It wasn't even five minutes into their run, when a large explosion rocked their position, even though they were half a mile from it. Immediately, all the screaming, all the crying, all the pain and suffering, stop. BG commands, "keep moving." Near the tower Mastrella, is now captured, is presented in front of Val. Fehic fires a disabling spell at her suit. Val asks, "This is the wench that brought down my tower? And you couldn't stop it?" Fehic says, "Reus couldn't stop her. She used some kind of MCA. The tower will be out for a few days." "A few days? We have absolutely no time. Zorus will be on our ass now." Val says, irately. Fehic tries to say, "but." Val yells at him, "Just order the retreat. And, when you find Reus, kill him." Fehic's eyes widen then he accepts the task. "Yes, Sir." Fehic fires red smoke in the air, signaling a full retreat to the army. He then picks Mastrella up over his shoulder. Mastrella tries to kick and fight, but, it's useless. She's captured. Fehic tells her. "You're coming with me." He gets ready to lock it the door, when, one arrow shoots right through his left hand, then his lower back and finally, his heart. Slowly, he drops to the ground, bleeding out. Mastrella peeks her head out to see Balto running towards her will enemy soldiers could care less that one of their commanders died. Didn't think he'd be the one to save me. Balto cuts her free if her bonds.. "Welcome to the party. Enemies in full retreat." Mastrella smiles. Zorus, after learning that the army at their borders were an illusion, launched a counter offensive, with the machine squad in charge, on Val's army only to find it vanished in the tree line. Ten made it to the battle late, much to his disappointment. The Falcons and the Machine squad rondevued at Val's old FOB. Rogue claps, "Looks like you guys got into a sticky situation for us. Thanks for the assist." BG says, "if you need anything, let us know." Mastrella starts, "Well, there is one thing." The room turns their attention to her
Re: The Valiant Knight Tales - The Return Act III Chapter one: Forget the wrongs Deep below the crust of the earth, one man hangs four feet from the ground by two steel cables attached to his wrists. He has been living in a blood stained torture cell filled with dead mice, for about two months now. One could easily tell this man was in a immense amount of pain just from the cuts that run the length of his arms. The man's appearance was one of a jailed beggar since he wore a tattered and mud colored robe. His face is smudged by a mixture of dirt and sweat while his eyes had a weary look about them. The man's bones were showing, giving proof that his captors only fed him the bare minimum needed to live. Even through the pain this man endured is unknown, he kept a cheery attitude, which angered his jailers. He had a reason to stay in this state, that's why his tormentors have failed in breaking him. His will is stronger than their resolve. The man sighs deeply. How'd it ever come to this. What have we done to him? A muffled boom is heard in the distance, causing the man to perk up. After moments of anxious waiting, the man dropped his head back down to sleep. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep, when, something happened that doesn't occur often. He heard the distinct sound of boots running across the stone floor. They must be looking for me! "I'm in here?" The man managed to say, coughing while doing so. It was apparent that the men running were looking for him. Their running pace pick up quickly then stopped as they approached his cell. They hadn't stood there for five seconds when the man could hear the lock chambers clicking. Picking the lock? That doesn't make me feel safe. They could have taken it off the guard. The man hung there, waiting anxiously for the men to finish picking the lock that kept him confined for nearly two months. With one last click, the two men pushed the door open slowly, which caused it to creak. What happened next slightly frightened him. Without warning from his rescuers, two daggers come flying, where he thought, was right at him. The man's breathing increased as he shut his eyes, expecting a quick death. "Conrad? Conrad? Are you alright?" The man asks. Conrad slowly opened his eyes, surprised to be alive. He looked over at both of the cables, which were glowing white hot. Conrad assumed that the daggers had a burning spell on them. Conrad turned his weary eyes to the man who threw the daggers. "I'm alive." Conrad says The daggers burn straight through the cables, plummeting Conrad down four feet to the stone ground. He landed on his feet, but, immediately dropped to his knees. Conrad slowly stumbled back up to his feet. "I haven't walked in a month." He states. "We need to get out of here. No time for explanations. Do you need water or food before we head out?" The man asks. Conrad shakes his head. "No, no. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible." Suddenly, a series of loud pops occur in quick succession. The man still standing at the cell door says, "Ten, that means a part of the plan went wrong. We need to move ASAP. Ten nods. "Alright rogue, lead the way." ~Two days earlier~ I need to get out of here. Train and clear my head. I’ve been in this tree too long. These thoughts plagued Ten’s mind as he frantically stuffed the remainder of his clothes into the suitcase on the bed. He just knew his mission here is complete, he helped bring down Val's army. That was enough, right? I redeemed my village? Ten took in a deep breath and slowly let the air escape his lungs. She was coming soon, the only person he hasn't talked with yet. Someone who he knew, would probably talk some much needed sense into him. “knock knock.” Says a familiar voice at Ten’s doorway, causing his body to jerk slightly. The person behind him laughs. "you're really messed up huh?" The feminine voice asks. Clenching his hands, Ten asks, with an annoyed tone in his voice, “What do you want, Mastrella?” Mastrella chuckled at the fact that he didn’t answer her question. "I hear you aren’t coming with us?” She says while walking into the room. Ten unclenched his hands and resumed stuffing the last of his clothes inside of the suitcase. “Yeah. I repaid my debt to Wake. I'm free.” He says. Mastrella shakes her head. "You do know he never cared about that, right?" Mastrella informs him. Ten tries to close his over stuffed suitcase, but, gives up for the moment. Slowly, he turned to face Mastrella. “It’s my tradition, I cared.” He replied. Mastrella shrugs and raises her voice, "What are you going to do now? Wander off on your own? How’d that work out last time?” She asks. The two exchange a deep resenting stare. This contest went on for a few minutes, both not wavering. Ten breaks the silence, blurting out, “Those were just unnatural events occurring! Not my fault!" Mastrella sighed deeply as she reached for something in her back pocket. Briskly, she walks over to him and extends her hand out, which held a pocket mirror. Mastrella orders, “Here, take this" Ten stares at it in amazement. He had never seen a something like this before. Curiously, he asks, "what is it?" "It's a crystal mirror that gives wisdom. My uncle gave it to me years ago. It kept me sane after I found out about my parents." She answered. Ten slowly picked it up from her hand, flipping it over constantly. She continues, "it’s your choice to go or stay. I’ll respect it either way." She walks to the doorway. "We are headed out in an hour. You’re free to join us." Mastrella finished, Ten watches as she leaves the room, then looks back down at the mirror. Suddenly, Words start to rearrange before his eyes. The mirror reads: With everything happening today You don't know whether you're coming or going But you think that you're always on your own. You think I’m a mirror looking at you when I'm only showing you what you think others can't see. The words rearranged again as Ten reaches the last word. I see pain hidden in your pride I see you're not satisfied You want the money and the fame. I suppose you just want to be successful. But, ask yourself this. What is success without a few failures and someone to share it with? Ten slowly slide down on to the floor and buried his face into his hands. While Ten debated his course of action, the rest of the Falcons, with the Machine squad, planned out their next daring operation. Wake cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention. "Alright guys. I've talked with Mastrella and we are about to do something that's never been done before." He states. Everyone in the room exchange confused facial expressions amongst one another. "we are going to break some prisoners out of Flato bastion .' Wake Continued. Balto eyes bulged, "you mean the most secure prison ever? You are truly insane now." He blurted. Rogue says, "I'm with Balto. Our efforts should focus on retaking Konta." "At least get the full details before knocking a plan down." A voice in the doorway stated. The room turned their gaze to see SnG. "Why is this fool free?" Sky asked bluntly. Mastrella walks right behind SnG. "Because he knows I will kill him if he does anything stupid." She says. SnG swallowed hard and smacked his lips. "T-That's a good point." He muttered. Wake motioned for SnG to come closer to the group. "to my understanding, you can give us Intel AND get us inside?" He asked, raising his eyebrow. SnG grins, "Yeah. I doubt Val remembered to cut my link to the soldiers." BG raises up in her seat. "Link?" She asked. "Some of the soldiers are linked to certain commanders, but, all are commanded by their summoner, Spragga." SnG informed the group. Sky says sarcastically, "Well, that makes this a lot easier!" SnG replies darkly. "you're right, let me explain. Flato is a living hell. Full-Metal interrupts, "I take it you were there for awhile, eh?" SnG smiles. "Yeah, for a few years." "The prison is built deep into a sand hill, sorta like the Farmers ridge. On Top of the buildings, lay large search lights that scan the rim of the dunes. If spotted before you get in close, that facility will be locked up tight." SnG finished. Fullmetal interrupts again, "So we go underground?" SnG shakes his head. "That would be a good idea, but, they have high level sensory spells installed. A mage will kill himself trying to protect all of us from it." He states. The Room falls silent. "Now, the prison has three levels. The top, center and the bottom. The top holds all low level criminals. The middle level holds the most dangerous. While the bottom level, holds who you are looking for." SnG continued. BB asks the long awaited question, "Who exactly are we looking for." SnG looks back at Mastrella who is slowly nodding her head in approval. He then turns back to the group. "We are looking for Conrad, Maleto and Kyrstyan." He finished. "You make our chances sound so grim, SnG." Ten says as he walks into the room. Ten cuts his eye over to Mastrella, who smiles at him. Wake asks, "I suppose that means you are coming with us?" Ten replies, "I am, but, not for free. I want on this groups payroll, with benefits." Wake grins. "yeah, I can do that for you, if I survive." Wake states. Ten nods his head. He points at Wake and BB. "Alright, I'll tell you how we will do this and survive. SnG needs to arrest you two and be detained inside of the prison. You will clear out the top level." Ten says. Ten then turns to face Sky and Full-Metal. "Then, two of our best archers will give over-watch while Mastrella digs deep under the jail." Ten continued. "Once she is under, Rogue and I will infiltrate the bottom level. The archers will plant some of the blasting jelly we got at the farmers ridge on the surface walls, bust in, and clear out the mid level." Ten finished. Ten looked over at Balto with deep resentment. "Balto and Mastrella will be on standby." He says with a grin. "I'm one of the best archers here. I need a better job than standby." Balto protested. Ten replied. "You have the best job." But, Ten knew Balto would screw over the plan if he got an important part. "SnG will wait back at the boat for evac while his prisoners clear out the top level" Ten informs. Sky laughs. "That sounds better said than done." He finished. Ten replies with a shrug. "If we are the best, we can do it."
Re: The Valiant Knight Tales - The Return Chapter Two: Over-Hawktch While the Machines were away at their clan’s Council of Lords requesting permission to partake in the prison break, The Falcons prepared for their first official operation as a team. Mastrella was the one working the hardest to ensure the mission’s success. For hours on end, she slaved away in her workshop working on trinkets and mission critical equipment. The fruits of her labor proved bountiful, as she managed to revise The Falcon’s armor with new gear. Mastrella eagerly called on Wake, Balto, Ten and Sky into her workshop for armor refitting. She had them stand side-by-side, at attention. First, she worked on Sky’s suit. Wake, Balto, and Ten had the same question in mind, just, the smarts not to ask it. But, Sky, full with curiosity, had to ask it. “We are going from three suits of armor to one? Explain?” Sky asked worriedly. Mastrella giggled loudly. “I was waiting on that question. It would be so easy to mess with your gear.” Mastrella replies while walking over to Balto, opening his back pack. “These are three suits in one that adapt to your specific skills and environments.” She continued on to Ten’s backpack, making the quick adjustments. After finishing up Ten’s suit, Mastrella walked past the group, heading straight for her closet. Wake, puzzled, asks, “what about my suit?” “Your suit is the first one I made. It’s a prototype and I changed yours last night. While you were asleep.” Mastrella replied coldly, with the intent to scare him. Wake swallowed hard. “That’s fine. As long as I don’t die fast.” He replied, laughing it off. Mastrella opened her closet door and started reaching for objects. “Come here and grab your new toys.” Mastrella said. One by one, each Falcon walked over to Mastrella and received their new tools of war. Tools, that they had no clue how to use. Mastrella closed the closet door and turned around to find her fellow squad-mates awkwardly trying to figure out how to use the new equipment. She placed her palm on her forehead. “Balto, you have a survey telescope. You’ll need it for over-watch. Ten, you have some new daggers. They will burn straight through anything they touch. Sky, you have a new crossbow. Just because. And Wake, I have some breakaway shackles for you.” Mastrella informs them Balto nods his head rapidly. “That makes a lot of sense.” He says. Wake replies somberly, “I get nothing cool?” Mastrella replies, “You have the thing that will keep you ahead of your enemies.” Wake shrugs. “Can you guys leave out? Go look for the Machines while you try out your new gear. I need to talk with Wake privately.” Mastrella asked nicely. Balto, Sky and Ten walk out, leaving Mastrella and Wake alone. Wake shifted his stance. Curiously asks, “What’s up?” Mastrella sighs deeply. “I can only plant my tree once more after we leave here. Where are we going after we end this?” Mastrella asks him. “Can’t you just leave it here until we get back?” Wake asks. Mastrella shakes her head. “No, I wish it was that easy. The third spot I place it is supposed to be my home and I have no clue where we go after.” Mastrella says. Wake replies, “Well, after this all blows over, I’m sure I can help you find a home.” She folded her arms. “You’re not reading my signal. I’m asking you what we are doing after we fix all this? I like knowing.” She states. Wake eyes widened as he smiled slowly. After a few moments, he replied, “I’ll let you pick the spot.” “I want a plot of land on the Kawlonies. Something that overlooks the water.” Mastrella demanded. “I can do that.” Wake returned, still smiling. He raises his shackles up. “I’m going to learn how these work.” He states. The Machines came back bright and early the next morning with the Council of lord’s seal of approval. But, that wasn’t all. They came fully prepared for the mission at hand, fully armored with weapon in hand. For transportation, five horses and a wagon that can hold six people. It was a somber moment for Mastrella. One of the last things her uncle told her, before he went to battle, is that wherever she plants this tree for the third time, will be home to her. It took thirty minutes for The Falcons to get everything important to the mission out of the tree and with a wave of her wand, the massive forty-five foot tree shrunk into a inch long seed. Mastrella briskly walked over to the seed and picked it up. Clenching her hand, she walks over to the wagon and climbs inside. The convoy rides off at full gallop since the main invasion force in this area has retreated. ~On the road to Flota Bastion~ Ten, rogue, Sky and BB rode the four horses while SnG drove the wagon that BG, Balto, Mastrella and FM sat in. Inside the cart, Rogue noticed how nervous Balto was. He reached inside of his pocket and handed him a bag of poppers. Balto smiled and grabbed the bag. “You know the signals?” Rouge asked him. Balto nodded his head. “Yeah, I know them.” He replies. They rode for ten uninterrupted hours. No animals or people insight. This rose suspicion for the group, but, they had to rescue the VKs first. ~Right at the base of the Bastion’s sand dune~ “Time to go to prison guys.” Mastrella says, handing Wake and FM their shackles. Mastrella turns around to Balto and BG. “Go ahead up to the rim and find a good vantage point.” She tells him. Balto takes his new telescope and heads up to the rim with BG. Next, she turns to Sky and BB who just started walking up the dune. Mastrella pulls out the amulet she has been working on for months on in and hesitantly puts it on. Ten puts his hand on her shoulder. “We can get in another way if you want.” Ten tells her Mastrella shrugs his hand off. “Stand back.” Mastrella said as she pulled out her wand. ~Near the rim~ As Balto ran to the rim with BG, he remembered to active his new acquired armor. He closed his eyes, focusing on the thought of the armor appearing around his body. Slowly, he opened his eyes and he couldn’t believe them. Not only was the armor stylish, it started to change into the color of the sand. “Fancy armor there.” Bg says with a smile, trying to pass the time. Oh geesh, I forgot she was here with me. On Over-watch, the most boring job ever. “Yeah, just some new stuff I got yesterday.” Balto replied That’s when Balto remembered his new telescope. He closed his eyes again, envisioning the telescope being in his hands. He opened his eyes and looked down at the telescope. Balto held it out “Lets use this to watch the others.” Balto suggests. BG replies, “we have nothing else to do. Lets do it” Balto sets up the tripod, as firm as he could in sand, and began to watch the operation unfold. First, he figured to watch SnG drive the wagon, with Wake and FM hiding in it, up to the main gate. Which is guarded by two dark soldiers. pulls up to two dark soldiers who let him past. Obviously, they forgot to break his link with them as he rode right past them uninterrupted. After a few more moments, Balto watched as the wagon came barreling back out, again, uninterrupted. Balto then maneuvered the telescope down towards Sky and BB, who began their part of the plan. Almost in sync, Sky and BB take down two of the dark guards in the watch tower with a well placed arrow. Next, the two carry a small barrel of blasting jelly to the wall. They light it and hit the deck, waiting on the boom. It wasn’t the boom they expected, but, the wall has a hole in it. Balto gives the telescope to BG. This is going so well. ~Ten minutes later~ Balto closes his eyes again, imagining a leg of meat. But, it didn't appear, much to his disappointment. When he opened his eyes again, he watched a lone flare shoot straight into the air about two-hundred feet up. The flare was no doubt signaling someone to come reinforce the prison. Balto instinctively grabbed the telescope from BG and places summons it back into his bag. That’s when he heard a noise behind him. looking behind him, he saw four rows of horses, with 6 men each, riding up the rim. Where in the hell could they have come from so fast? Balto full-body tackles BG into the sand. He stay laying on top of her, concealing both of them from the horsemen as they ride past. BG waited for the horses to go off the rim before she pushed Balto off. BG states angrily, “I will gut you if you ever do that again.” Balto laughed as he pulled out the bag of poppers. He grabbed three out and one-by-one threw them into the air. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, they went, sending huge ripples of sound waves through the air. People in Konta probably heard it. “We gotta get to the wagon.” Balto states. ~Near the bottom level~ Mastrella dug deep into the earth, right at the bottom of the prison complex. Giving Ten and Rogue direct insertion near Conrad’s cell. While they did this, Mastrella traveled back to the surface to check out the situation. Sky and BB ran through the burning hole in the wall, bows ready to release an arrow at anyone who tried to stop them. The mid level and an up stairs and a downstairs, each having fifteen cells each. Sky scanned the room quickly, expecting to find at least one unlucky guard. He lowered his bow, confuzed. No welcoming party. That’s great. BB screamed at the top of his lungs, “I will kill you if you don’t make your presence known.” Almost instantly, a voice screamed out, “I’m in the cell at the bottom of the stairs. I’m unarmed.” A huge grin slowly formed on Sky’s face as he ran across the hall. He yelled back, “I hope that you are unarmed. You’re in a cell.” Sky turned around the corner, and ran down the stairs, stopping at the base. Again, he readies his bow and scans the bottom floor. “Stick your hand through the bars.” Sky ordered. Immediately, Sky found his hand and slowly walked over to his cell to find a teen. “What did a kid like you do to get in here?” Sky asked, pulling out his lock picks. The kid looked at Sky with anger. “I’m the son of a noble in The Middle Kingdoms. You’d be smart to treat me with respect.” Sky stopped picking the lock for a moment and looked up at the kid. “Where is your family then?” Sky asked, raising his eyebrow. The kid sighed. “No clue, they separated us and I was brought here. There is only three others here with me.” He finished. Sky continued to pick the lock while processing this information. A moment later, he pulled the door open and the kid came running out. Grabbing him quickly, Sky forced the kid’s hands behind his back and tied them up with rope. “Can’t be too careful. Up the stairs” Sky said, pushing the kid to run. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. BB yells, “We gotta go ASAP. To the wagon.” ~At the top level~ Wake and FM searched high and low for the prisoners. Every cell, bathroom, everything. Nothing. “You sure his information is credible? We searched this entire floor.” FM asked. Wake thought for a moment. “No, I don’t think he is stupid enough to give us bad info. We could have just arrived late.” Wake reasoned. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. FM replies, “lets head back outside. We can gauge the situation from there.” ~Back on the rim~ Balto watched BG carefully as she creped along the rim of the dune. She can handle the soldiers down there. He turned his attention back to the prison, to the horsemen right below him. Quietly, he reached for the bow on his back and draws an arrow. Six men on horseback facing the other way. Easy. Balto set the arrow on the rest and aimed for the man on the far right. Pulling the drawstring back, Balto breathed in and out. Then let it go, firing the arrow directly at him. The arrow soared through the air, striking the man’s skull. The force of the strike killed the man on contact, caused the man to fall off his horse. The other men hadn’t noticed their fellow comrade had died yet. Hurriedly, Balto readied another arrow and slowly pulled back the draw string back. Right before he released, the horsemen in the center of the formation started talking about Krystyan and Maleto. The man next to the guy that was just killed looked over at his lifeless body. He turned his horse around with a vengeance. With no thought in it at all, he charged Balto at full speed. Oh snap. Balto started walking backwards while he quickly fired four more arrows at the men who were still trying to figure out what just happened. He timed his attack carefully, baiting the horsemen to get closer. The man raised his sword high in the air, ready to slice Balto’s head off. Right before he had the chance to sweep the sword down at Balto, he threw a smoke bomb at his face, causing the man to close his eyes and pull the reins on his horses. The horse, already out of its element, fell over, throwing the man off him. Balto walked over to the man and stomped his left foot into his chest. The man grabbed it with both hands, trying to relieve the pressure. “What about those two valiant knights.” Balto demanded. The man laughed. “I’d rather die than tell you.” He muttered back. Balto grinned. “Death is the easy way out..” He said as he pulled out his dagger. Balto cut his face and neck up like a scared cat. The man screamed out in pain, but, held his composure. Ahh a tough guy. Balto held the dagger high in the air and slammed it into his stomach. The man shrieked out in pain. “Alright, alright. I’m not getting paid enough anyway. The other two are with Tnik, our commanding officer.” The man said. Balto replied, “Thank you,” As he pulled out the dagger. Wanting to add salt to the wound, Balto walked over to the horse and mounted him. He did three circles around the bleeding man, then took off down the slope of the rim. Balto felt ecstatic. He just took out six horsemen on his own. This feeling didn’t last long, though, due to the fact that he has a front row seat on watching his squad surrender to the horseback men. Balto slowly took in the situation. SnG, Ten, Wake, FM, BB, BG Mastrella, Conrad and some kid had their hands raised in the air.Looking over, Balto sees Maleto and Krystyan being handled roughly with a blade on their necks. Some men got off their horses, rope in hand, and walked over to the Falcons, ready to arrest them. Balto slowed his horse down to a slow trot. He reached for his bow again, pulling out a smoke bomb and two arrows. With a quick pull back and release, the smoke bomb flew over them, exploding ten seconds later. Right after, he then fires two arrows at Maleto and Krystyan’s handlers. Going at full gallop, Balto silently prayed that what he did was correct and that he didn’t miss his mark. Hearing a horse neigh loudly, he looked over at the spot the wagon was at. Balto slapped the horse, telling it to ride down the sand paved road. Out of smoke, rides Ten, Wake and Balto on horseback, while everyone else hide in the wagon. They are closely pursued by...The Divine regiment
Re: The Valiant Knight Tales - The Return Chapter three: Bloody keys ~Eight men of The Divine Regiment clan pursued The Falcons, and their allies, on horseback, deep into the forests of SaR, which is twenty miles from Konta.~ Ten looked behind himself, watching as the squad's pursuers, with sword in hand, close in inch by inch. Somehow, someway, he had to throw them off of their trail. Turning his head back forward, he fixed his eyes on the stretch of road that seemed to span on for miles. They will just catch us eventually. We have to throw them off here. “Ten, Wake, over here.” Ten heard Balto say. Ten looked over, slightly angry that he was bothering him at a time like this. What Ten saw, surprised him. Balto standing up on his horse, which is going at full speed down a road, with his bow in hand with an arrow on the rest. “You guys turn around and make them stop, while you do that, I can take them out.” Balto continued. “You’re able to make a shot like that? I doubt it.” Ten snorted back. Wake replied, “we really don’t have an option at this point, do we?” Ten sulked for a few moments. “Fine, just don’t shoot me.” Ten said, making his horse do a sharp turn right, heading straight towards their pursuers. Wake followed close beside him, standing up on his horse slightly. Ten caught on to what Wake was going to do, did the same. It didn’t take them long to reach the Divine regiment what with them riding at full gallop towards them. When the two got close enough, they Lunged off their horses and tackled the horsemen on their respective right, knocking themselves and their target, to the stone road. As Balto expected, the other six men turned their horses around to help their fellow men out. By the time they turned around to help them fight Wake and Ten, Balto shot an arrow either through their skull, or through their hearts, killing them instantly. Making short work of their targets, Wake and Ten mounted their horses again. They both caught back up to the wagon a few minutes later. The group went on riding for another hour to make sure they weren’t being tailed by anyone else. ~The sun started to set, the group decided it was best to set up camp in the woods. Maleto decided that she would ensure the safety of the kid that was found at Flato. When he turned in early, Maleto watched over him. SnG stated that he just did the actions, planning them wasn't his thing. That left the task of planning what to do, to Conrad, Krystyan, The Falcons and the Machines.~ Everyone's eyes were fixated on Conrad as he stared into campfire. He sighed, deeply. “Have any of you ever heard the tale of the three scribes?” Conrad asked. Conrad waited on an answer, but, knew not to expect one. “Well, That’s a good thing. Means we can keep a secret. Let me explain.” He continued. Conrad continued, "Their descendants still hold the keys to the door. They meet once a month to release a newspaper called, The forum." BG asked, "well where would they be at now?" "One lives in IzIz while the other two stay in Duvania." Conrad replies. Rogue says, "All we have to do is find them. I'm sure they have a secret way into Konta, if the library is that elaborate." Krystan nodded her head in agreement and said, "Conrad and I will go rally troops from ZAFT and Zorus for an attack. It would be better if you machines would come with us." "And you Falcons can go get Rothal out of IzIz." Conrad finished for Krystyan. ~Everyone was in agreeance with the plan and went to bed.~ Early the next morning, the camp is on full alert, as a lone horsemen is heard coming down the road. The horsemen, not caring if they were dangerous or not, stopped at their campsite and dismounted his horse with a newspaper in his hand. The man confidently strolled up to the group, who were just about packed and ready to go. "I'm making my rounds today. Here is a paper on current events." The man says. Conrad cautiously walks over to him and snatches the paper. His eyes quickly scanned it, looking for the highlights. Conrad turned pale as a ghost when he read that Konta was to be sectionally bombed until all Valiant Knights surrendered to him. He knew that to be false, as Spragga doesn't need all the Valiant Knights. He is just looking for the library, while making us look bad. Conrad looked over at Maleto. "They are going to bomb Konta until we surrender." He tells her. Maleto replies, " well we better hurry to the forum library in Konta" The horsemen grew a puzzled look on his face. "There are two?!" He asked curiously. Conrad briskly walks over to the man and puts his hands on his shoulders. "What do you mean?" He asks. The horsemen replied, "I got these papers from the Scribes in iZiZ, not Konta." Balto states, "So they are already in the library?! Great!" "Not exactly great. The city is on lockdown by human guards. But, anyway, I'm off." The man said, knocking Conrad's hands off himself, walking off. Everyone looked at everyone as the man rode away on his horse. Wake asks, "what's the plan?" "Plan is the same. You guys are going to IzIz still while we get an invasion force." Conrad replied confidently. Ten curiously asks, "how will they know who we are or to let us in?" "Easy, rip a blank page out and hand it here." Maleto said, pulling out her wand. Conrad rip a page out and hands it over to Maleto, who starts writing on it. She then puts it in her pocket Balto asks, "well? That's it?" Maleto tells, "I've already told Mastrella what she needs to do to fix my mistake. Be at the church when you hear the war bell." And so, they split up, The Falcons heading to iZiZ. ~A week later~ The Falcons had successfully infiltrated and impersonated five soldiers. They spent their first few days sabotaging the city's defenses for the coming invasion force. The last few days, they looked for quick ways to get to the church. Early that morning, the war bell rung and the entire city was put on full alert. The Falcons, under the pretense of getting supplies, hurried to the church. When they arrived, two men and a woman greeted them with swords in hand. "You guys the Falcon? Show me the crest." One of the men asked. Wake reached into his pocket and pulled out the falcon crest. They sheathe their weapons. "Sorry for the hostile welcoming. Can never be too sure. I'm Rothal by the way. This is Alyssa and Sasuke." Rothal says, pointing at each one. "Lets skip the pleasantries. We gotta move." Wake states. Rothal shrugged and turned around. "This way." He says. They walk down the aisle to the podium. Rothal casts a spell on it, causing it to move over reveling a cut out hole with a ladder running down it. "The damned can't come in here. Best thing my ancestors ever did for this place." Rothal says. One-By-One, they all climb down the ladder and face the ancient door. The Scribes pull out their blades and cut their own palms. Then, they pull out their key with the uncut and place it in their bloody palms. Lastly, they place the key into the lock and twist, opening the door. "Don't touch anything." Rothal said while casting a healing spell on their hands. Mastrella, not caring what he said, went walking into the library, looking around. "Where would the copy of the book Rozlet be?" She asked. Sauskae asked, "Spragga is using the book Rozelt? That's not good. Would be in the dark arts area of the library, to your right." While everyone else was busy being amazed at the vast amount of intelligence, Mastrella was searching for the dark book Rozelt. She had the knowledge on how to end all of this. All she had to do is have her eyes on that damned book. Mastrella shuffled through many books before she found Rozelt and when she did, she pulled it out and threw it on the ground. Quickly, she pulled out her wand, pointing it at the book. Mastrella yelled out, "PILEUS." A lightning like wave struck the book, which started to cry out. Almost like it felt pain. It reminded her of the pain she felt years ago. That was the book's safety system, reminding you of your own pain. But, that pain only amplified Mastrella's resolve to banish this evil. ~All over Quelle, dark soliders were banished back to the nether realm, where they belong.~
Re: The Valiant Knight Tales Chapter four: Separation Years ago, Spragga traveled all around the nether realm, in search of anything that could give him an edge. He knew where to go and what to do to mess with the mortal world. Hell was his teacher and boy did he learn. During these years, he feared this road to hell, but, now, it strengthens his resolve. Now with his link broken and his damned army banished, Spragga wondered if they knew the full details of his plan. Spragga mocked, what he called, a short lived victory. I hope they don’t think they have won. I still have the upper hand. I still have the book. I control this world's fate. These words swirled around in Spragga’s head as he walked the haunted forest roads of the nether realm with only the book of Rozelt and the moon for guidance. His only concern is to reach the altar, that Aperhiun used to transfer his essence, before he is tracked down. Spragga walked the roads until he stood over the very altar Aperhiun failed to use. With his commanding voice, he started to chant an unholy incantation. From deep below, a long forgotten evil stirred. Dread filled his heart, as the scent of death filled the air. As if beckoned by the incantation, a haunting haze rolls in, enveloping the forest and blocking the moonlight. Spragga looked across from the alter. He watched as the ancient dark tree steadily grew from the ground. He smiled devilishly. The tree, feeding on the evil deep beneath grew three blackened on it's limbs. Spragga closed his eyes and slowly gave in, his body, a mere vessel for the evil channeling from him into the tree. Slowly, a blue-colored lighting like wave circle around his body like a veil. Suddenly, it turns red. Freezing Spragga in place. This process went on 12 more times. Until, Spragga felt a hand on his right shoulder. Next thing he knew, a dagger went straight through his chest. Killing him instantly. His body fell to the ground as Maleto pulled her dagger out. Maleto turned around to face Conrad and Krystyan. "It's done." She says, sighing contently. Conrad smiled, "lets contact a Mod or Dev. This tree needs to go again." Krystyan reached into her pocket and pulled out a coin, throwing it on the ground. A few moments pass. "Try yours, Conrad." Krystyan says. Conrad pulled out his coin and threw it on the ground as well. A few more moments pass. Suddenly, the coins on the ground and the one on Maleto's pocket starts to glow a blinding white light, causing them to shield their eyes and groan in pain. Then, it stops. In place of the coins, stood a man. Conrad went for his sword, but, stopped when the man raised his hand in the air. "My name is Kasey_Cofnarl."
Re: The Valiant Knight Tales - The Return BattleLogs Stories have a tendency to leave crumbs behind. Alone, these crumbs can be very confusing. But, when gathered together, you will find an intricate tale inside the main story. Battlelog: The Forum Long before the first Valiant Knight, existed a writing guild that boasted one hundred penmen in its prime. This guild was ran by a council of it’s three best writers, who were respectfully called Scribes. The guild was very influential in world affairs because they remained, for the most part, unbiased. But, the very thing that made them great, brought them down. World leaders would bribe penmen to sway public opinion in their favor. The Scribes felt only horrified to find that their members would defile all that they worked hard for and determined to not let it happen again. First, they dismissed every single member, guilty or not and took their records. Next, they approached the newly formed OTVK for a library in the new city of Konta. Conrad, seeing the usefulness of this, allowed them to build a library somewhere in the city, but, he had a few stipulations. He requested that no one, not even himself, know the location of this library unless it was desperately needed. Secondly, he required that three magical keys be made to open a specially locked door. The Scribes graciously agreed to these requirements in return for copies of everything that was written in the world. It took five years and the help of a moderator to build the library. Once it was completed, the Scribes parted ways. Their descendants still hold the keys to this day and meet once a month to release a newspaper called, The forum. WordWaster (Rothal) LovelyDenial (Alyssa) Sasukae Battlelog: Snowy incursion Living deep into the snowy wilderness of Soaca and Askistan, two ancient tribes of the Wolf and Fox continue their guerrilla warfare against one another even though the first Great War ended years ago. That all changed when the first wave of the dark horde appeared marching into the provinces. Although at first, the two blamed each other for the crisis, they immediately put their differences to the side when both sides witnessed the dark soldiers merciless slaughter anyone in their path. They enlisted two warriors, Drew and Roni, to find weakness in the hordes. Battlelog: Fragmented kingdoms I was given the opportunity to demolish the lands and people who have forsaken me. If you went through what I did, you’d understand. But, your opinion of me? I could careless. Everything in Cestand and aHistan will be burned to the ground, know that. Troll Battlelog: Bread crumbs Life exchange - How we got here. Fading humanity - A slow walk into hell. Round table discussion - Betrayal Battlelog: VK origins The developers select the first Valiant Knights.
Re: The Valiant Knight Tales - The Return Woah. Seems..... Interesting Nevertheless, lots of effort was put into this so, support!