helltank

Cradle of Divinity (signups always open)

Alison

Alison rushes to the quickly-petrifying man, embraces him in a hard hug. "Libé, hold on to me! I'll get you out of trouble, don't worry. I'm the princess and I can do anything!" A glimmering shard of darkness wedges itself in the pillar of earth between his feet and the dirt, and Predator saws away at it, allowing Alison to push upwards and rip him out of the earth in a spray of soil and pebbles. There were still clods of earth sticking to him, but there was nothing she could do about that.

The... pod thingies. Those looked like they belonged in a hospital.

Butterfly-like wings extend to their full length as the girl soars into the sky, heading straight for the shrine of metal at a startling speed, her arms encircled around a skinny man petrified in earth. She bursts through the doors, shadows coiling around her, and pushes Libé into a healing pod before looking around desperately. Then Alison takes a deep breath and tilts her face upward, as though gazing at the ceiling.

"Um... pretty lady who brought me here... I know you said this is your shrine. Please, please, heal my friend! He's my Knight, so if you want me to be a proper magical princess you HAVE to keep him alive! Thank you so much!"

Cradle of Divinity (signups always open)

Alison

The little girl watched as her friends were deposited, one by one, on the very tip-top of a muddy little hill. She swoops over to them, riding the currents of the win as though she's been born to it, her wings flexing and folding.

"Hooray!" said Alison. "We did it together. Me, you, everyone, we all beat the bad spider. That means we must be a PARTY."

She holds up a finger, like Ms Crocker does when she's explaining something really difficult. Long Division is really difficult. Just the thought of it makes Alison annoyed, so she puts her finger down again. Anyway, she's sure that a real princess wouldn't do that. Otherwise Ms Crocker would be a princess and that would just be...

...wrong.

"Um... never mind. Anyway, since you helped me beat the spider, that means you're my brave and loyal companions and when I become princess of this kingdom I'll have to award you high titles and stuff, like... the chief knight. Who wants to be the chief knight? Libé, do you want to be the chief knight? Or you, Rina. Don't worry, Daddy says girls can be knights too!"

Cradle of Divinity (signups always open)

Dephaistos: the group you will most likely be placed in, my group, has just emerged from their medical pods and ventured out into the grasslands, where they have successfully killed a magical spider.

Cradle of Divinity (signups always open)

Alison

Woohoo! Yes!

The little girl jumps up and down, doing a half-skip half-dance around the remains of the spider, its blood soaking into the grass around her. The delight on her face is palpable as she cheers. "Eat that, Mr. Nasty Spider! Hahaha!" The shadow armor peels away in strips around her, dissolving into inky smoke, and her wings shimmer and disappear, even as she laughs and claps her hands.

Last to go is her Predator, whirling away as she lands on the ground from a pirouette. Alison doesn't seem to notice; she's too busy kicking the dead spider's corpse. Then, looking up, she sees Libé swaying in the mighty gust on top of his tower. "Heyy Libé! What's the view like up there? Can I come up and see?"

Without waiting for an answer, Alison summons her wings again, and soars upwards, flying effortlessly and with a frightening speed up to the top of the little pillar of earth that Libé has constructed. "Ooh. Isn't it a little shaky up here?"

Too bad they can't fly like me... everything's so... just so wonderful up here! The air's so clear, and everything's so pretty. Even if I am scared of heights.

Alison frowns and pushes that thought out of her mind. A real princess was fearless!

Cradle of Divinity (signups always open)

Alison

Hurts. Ow. Owwww.

The little girl stumbles and gasps, her hands on her knees. Her face is screwed up in concentration, trying not to the pain show. After all, princesses never let that happen. Then she saw the rock slam into the spider. Libé curved his pillar sideways to talk to her, even as Aron caught it in a beam of icy energy.

"It may not be a threat to us..."

"Not a threat?" snarled Alison. "Phooey! I'm gonna show this spider who's the real badass here!"

Smoking black energy curled around her, forming into solid, blocky shapes- a helmet with a blank visor, thick spiked armor, heavy boots over her feet. Her fingerless gloves, the left one with a shredded hole in it from Predator's emergence, were torn apart and replaced by black gauntlets that looked like they could punch through a brick wall. Alison grinned behind her helmet. The spider must be absolutely terrified at seeing her full Princess form.

Then she felt something push between her shoulder blades as well. Another Predator? No, they were wings of some sort, papery and whipping and curling around like they were half-liquid. Swirling darkness danced around them in butterfly-like patterns, and Alison could feel the muscles threaded into the wings, control them like she controlled her hands or feet or Predator.

And her Predator burst forth once more, snapping as if enraged at being dispelled earlier. It looped itself around Alison's arm, forming an even thicker layer of protection around it, and sharpening once more into a vicious looking spike protruding from the underside of her palm. "That's what you get for making me use my ultimate form! PRINCESS OF SHADOWS!"

The imposing figure clad in black armor swooped forward at a frightening speed straight towards the spider, and Alison screamed in half-excitement and half-fear as she felt shards of concentrated darkness rocket everywhere from her body; her neck, her head, the arm that Predator wasn't coming out from, even her stomach. As the spider lies stunned, the first shard slams into it. Immediately, she feels a magnetic pull from that shard, as though calling out for its comrades to join it. A casual thought, and every other shard homes in on the spider, turning it into a pincushion even as Alison pierces it with her Predator at full speed.

AHAHAHA! This is what it's like to be magic! I love this place!

Cradle of Divinity (signups always open)

@JohnSolaris we're waiting for your parse on the battle scene with the spider.

The Guardians of Dara: Fantasy City Governing

Edohr Budeus Xohm

Name: Edohr Budeus Xohm

Age: 42

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Physical Description: Edohr is a thin, spindly man, with a forked beard and narrowed eyes. His fingers are long and delicate, and his build is slight. Though small of stature, he nevertheless possesses an air of both confidence and authority as the head of the Thieves' Guild in Dara. On his belt he carries a single dagger with a closed eye etched on the blade and a single silver lockpick, the twin symbols signifying a master thief. Edohr has unusually high cheek bones and a regal expression on his face, a natural quirk that has served him well when he is in the guise of a Daran nobleman.

Skillset:
Thievery and Stealth: As the head of the Thieves' Guild, Edohr naturally possesses a light-fingered touch, an intuitive knowledge of locking mechanisms and an uncanny ability to slip into the shadows.

The Deceiver: Lies roll off Edohr's tongue like rain splashes off a frog. He is able to pretend to be almost any person, whether it be a nobleman or a laborer, a merchant prince or a sellsword, a brothel owner or a drunkard.

The Bureaucrat: Years of handling the ill-gotten gains of the Thieves' Guild and coordinating its many members has taught Edohr much about politics and finance. His many brushes with the law, as well as the front businesses that the Guild operates, have also given him an extensive knowledge of Daran contract and criminal law.

Far Ancestry: The Xohm bloodline has come to Aluth only recently, in the past century or so, and to Dara even more recently. Before ever setting foot on Aluthian soil, the far ancestry of Xohm were thieves and bandits in the faraway continent of Belcarid. The first Xohm to develop the habit of thievery was Arganoor Xorm Deus, the terror of the Desert Cicadia. He led a vicious bandit gang that preyed on the desert tribes. His son, Argath Arganoor Deus, styled himself Argath Xohm, and built the gang to a bloodthirsty crew of raiders that soon grew dissatisfied of the meager pickings from the desert nomads and moved instead towards the coast. From there they grew fat on the riches of the sea, plundering, raping and pillaging freely. Thus was the beginning of the Xohm line, passed from first son to first son, and it is said that every Xohm thereafter was born a thief.

Character History: WIP

Psychological Profile: WIP

Equipment: WIP

Titles: WIP

Relationships: WIP

Cradle of Divinity (signups always open)

Alison

Alison smiled, a big wide grin, as she saw the spider hanging in the air, staring back at her. This was it; the Monster that all princesses had to fight. She giggled, and thrust her hand out to the side. "Come on, bad spider," she sang, feeling the magic broiling through her veins, "meet the wrath of my-"

Um. Ummmm..... should I have named it? Quick, what's a cool name... snakey? Raptor, like in Jurassic Park? No, no, WAIT! What about that show Drew used to watch? Alien versus something. Predator? Yeah, that sounds right!

"PREDATOR!"

It exploded out of her hand, every spike and needle and slashing fang fully extended and facing forward, whipping around to tear through the webs that surrounded her with brutal force. wisps of shadow trailing forth like smoke as it curved and lunged like a ferocious beast.

The Guardians of Dara: Fantasy City Governing

Definitely interested.

I note that the characters are supposed to unlock magic and fight monsters as well as act as Guardians. What is the balance of political intrigue to fighting and action?

Cradle of Divinity (signups always open)

Alison

Rina, Libé and Aron... all such weird names.

That proved it, then. In fantasy books they always had weird names to show that they were magic and not normal old fuddies like her brother Drew or Mr. Clarkson her very tall tutor who always told her that what they did was a secret just between them. Alison glanced up at Aron again, slightly nervous at its flat gaze and unsmiling visage. Wasn't that how the Terminators always looked just before they killed you?

"That is if you two are alright with Aron leading?"

The bulky robot started to march forward to the center, and Alison quickly hurried forward and ahead of him. "Hey, wait up!" She shot a glance at the robot again, then at Rina and Libé.

"I'm the magical princess, so that means I have to prove my bravery by going first," she explained. "If we let Aron go first every time, nobody will believe I'm a real princess, and all the unicorns won't like me, especially since I'm not pure any more." Taking a deep breath to calm herself plus a quick reminder that she was a real princess and nothing could hurt her, Alison pushed the door open.

Outside was the forest as seen through the windows; airy, inviting. Beyond lay flat grasslands, with long billowing blades of grass that swayed back and forth in the wind. They blended together seamlessly, somehow forming a perfectly angled picture that made Alison's breath stop. This was even better than her trip to the Grand Canyon. She let out a pleased sigh.

The roiling sensation was inside her hand again. It felt more like a kitten pushing against her palm than anything. She looked at her hand and giggled. "Should I call you Kitten? No, you're a... snake or octopus or something. Anyway, not a kitten. What should I call you?"