Lumiere

Unheroic: The Fish and The Falls [Closed]

@ilovepapa @Rune_Alchemist

The stranger lifted their head quickly in response to Auriel's voice, snapping in their direction. Behind the hollows of the horned mask of a bird held a series of pale pink rings that focused together into something resembling a two-tiered iris. Enthuse replaced their shaking which paused before returning in more of an enthusiastic shudder while they maneuvered themselves roughly sixty-degrees clockwise and angled themselves up into their arm which gave a wet 'click' of a relocating shoulder.

"Thanks..." Auriel's voice chirped back from the figure, the pupils sharpening to cat-like slits as they watched her. There was an inflection that came with it, a relief and faint echo of a light voice skipping back across the ambiance the stone provided. "Suspect...questions" They continued to reflect, the echoes becoming arguably clearer with the spoken words; a shapeless language that refracted into whispers of lengthy syllables past the words Auriel had spoken.

This was about the time Lia had made herself known, the sounds of composing herself having been largely ignored by the figure until she'd exited their cell. The stranger lifted their free hand to their face, angled with a tilted wrist for their index finger to pause in front of the beak of the mask, palm facing the construct. However, as they spoke, The Stranger perked up, dropping their hand a few inch as their eyes then focused on Lia.
"Rescuing!...friend" they once again replied, a bent mimicry of Lia's words and then the mid-sentence phrasing Auriel had only recently used to address them.

Distantly, faint words echoed back with soft consents flowing into soft vowels.
From the locked position of their hand, The Stranger was still forced to kneel in a stationary position if they wished to rest with comfort. Eagerly, they looked about to the other cells they'd freshly unlocked. They needed more words or syllables, but, more than that, they needed more voices. He certainly earned them.

Unheroic: The Fish and The Falls [Closed]

Chapter 1: The Fish and The Falls

Soft clicks of padded steel boots falling in quick succession echoed down the dark undercrofts; the prison of heroes, not so inaccurately named after its architecture. Arching walls lined with skulls of all sizes and shapes, riveted into place with long square nails and cross-stabilized with polished metals flowing with inscriptions of all forms on language and runic script...weapons potentially once of legend, drained of their favor, spirits and magic until being reduced to little more than fancy building components. On a glance, the structure could have passed for carved cobblestone for how the petrified, solid remains were polished flat. Maybe it was just an artistic choice? The line between the two seemed blurred, appearing as either out of the corner of the eye before abruptly changing, almost flowing fluidly from the magic the dungeon subsisted on.

The Stranger rounded the corner, deliberate in their steps as they paced down the hall. The mouths of the carvings of skulls creaked and groaned open, foundation crackling and lightly drifting as they appeared almost to turn and follow them, a glow from hollow eye sockets illuminating the hall faintly as they passed. After escaping a few meters past the skulls, they shuddered back into place, returning to rest and even reversing the flow of dust and debris which had once broken loose, returning to darkness. Fur bristled across the mask as The Stranger scanned along the cells, lifting their right hand high into the air and sharply ringing an impact with their index and middle finger. They slowed their pace and clinked their fingers twice more in a similar manner as they stopped between four cells, standing in the middle of the hall.

Grayscaling overtook the darkness, dully elucidating the features of the architecture to reveal nothing more than plane cobblestone set into black mortar. Their left hand extended towards the bars of one of the doors, requiring a fair amount of strain as their right hand appeared to be locked in place. So short in stature, they could just barely reach the door by standing on the tips of the toes of their metal-plated boots. A single success! Looking up, skulls briefly flickered into existence mere inches from The Stranger's gloved hand, mouths open and keen to bite. Their visage shimmered in and out of existence depending on the angle they were viewed. Spindly-thin necks as if held on the body of a snake carried the ghostly skulls in their pursuit.
The Stranger repeated the touch for each of the doors around them after a brief moment of returning the glowing gaze of the spirits, locked in the effects of what was presumably a spell of some foreign machination. With a small chime of their other hand in the same manner of before, the pale violet light in the eyes of the skulls, which had supposedly been frozen, shifted to the new sound in spite of how The Stranger continued to watch them.

What happened next would have appeared as a reverberating clink of metal, a swirl of glowing amber snakes and then a guttural crunch before a streak of seemingly the same light the snake-like spirits were made from 'unzipped' the local swarm. Three quick chimes! The world fades back to grayscale as The Stranger reappears at the same pace, their cloak having earned a few holes from bites into fabric. In a kneeling position, they crawl enough to tap on another series of cell doors, their locks spinning open, doors coming loose.

Perhaps they heard it before you, but they were already diving back the way they came, giving their first hand another series of chimes as the piercing screech meets your ears. In their progression down the hall, the effect of the first spell's area wore off on one of the heads which had coiled around to let out an alarm before being abruptly silenced by another wave of grayscaling as quickly as it began. Meanwhile, The Stranger groaned and squirmed, a foot twitching and kicking at the dust that lined the floor, their arm held aloft as they otherwise laid suspended a handful of inches above the cobblestone. After a brief moment, they relax. Panting and shivering, they ease themselves to their knees to collect themselves while the heroes hopefully did the same with their newfound freedom.

The doors loose, your senses slowly returning save for a hollow dullness as if something was horribly amiss. A lack of lay-lines, of radiance, of self...this is not a region where power is allowed. A privilege your bodies had long since been denied, and the aid of the small masked figure was hardly enough to give it all back in such an expected instant. If you hoped to find some form of death, you may be disappointed. No gates to white or scorching inferno, just a silence as still as a grave. However, given the sound which had just been issued forth from the nightmarish entity now locked in its own helpless purgatory...silence might not be such a terrible alternative. For the moment, at least, a still semblance of peace has taken this dark dungeon.

Unheroic: The Fish and The Falls [Closed]

@King Cosmos
Unfortunate plans made by an unfortunate man. ;/
Accepted!

Unheroic: The Fish and The Falls [Closed]

@ShwiggityShwah

Very...interesting. Heh, 'Doctor Birdman' :P
Accepted!

Unheroic: The Fish and The Falls [Closed]

@Eisenhorn
Accepted~

@King Cosmos@ShwiggityShwah
Looking good so far. Can't wait to see the finished versions. :o

@Chiro
Heh. Apocalypse-cults will claim to be and worship anything. Shame how humans have such propensities to turn on themselves in moments of crisis. xD
Accepted!

@Juro
Don't worry about it too much.

Unheroic: The Fish and The Falls [Closed]

The Stranger

Standing 4'4 in knee-high boots fitted with steel toes and a 2-inch heel. Long black gloves with metal fingertips.
Cloaked save for their mask and a dull gray-ish tan scarf that looks battered and well worn.

They mean well...or why would they be freeing you?

The Stranger wields presumably magical means to pacify guardian entities who serve as wardens of this dungeon.

Has referred to themselves as "Ahnciel"

Unheroic: The Fish and The Falls [Closed]

@Saltwater Thief
Howdily hoedily! Still interested in the thread? Its looking like we may have room for another.

@A Lowly Wretch
Looks excellent. Its certainly an interesting story behind them. All things considered, an undead isn't too strange. :P
Accepted!

@Rune_Alchemist
What an...unfortunate creature. Certainly among the rest for a reason, but Kazzok isn't giving it just yet. ;3
Accepted!

@Vega7

Appearance: He's a tall man with pale skin and spiky black hair. His eyes are

@Vega7

Well that's...good...? <_>

@ilovepapa
All of the years so many could live within! Lucky lucky lucky~♪ ^w^
Accepted!

@Veradana
I suppose Kazzok may have taken the flute as well, though River may get it back sooner than they'd imagine.
Accepted! (Theres even another winged person! So much in common! :o )

Unheroic

roleplayerguild.com/topics/175226-unh…

The ooc has been launched.

Unheroic: The Fish and The Falls [Closed]

You know this story, told to you as a child before bed like countless thousands of others only to repeat them to your own. The names, places, feats and foes may change but it is a compelling story of how good triumphs over evil; how love prevails; friendship and peace manifesting into some ambiguous 'light' designed to strike down the 'dark'.

You knew this story, it compelled bravery against adversaries and trials of spirit through your growth into something...more. A hero? Perhaps that was how you were remembered, though power is not always so pure. Regardless, kingdoms and their throes of innocents depended on you, trusted in your experience and motivation to do what platoons of the king's finest could not.

Holy purpose? Power? Other personal reasons? Maybe it was as simple as money that drove you to sign your arms away with the intent to strike down the darkening horizons that came to your land. It may have even been so simple as being in the wrong place at the wrong time before "King Kazzok" jarred you as a trophy of his campaign.

Your efforts were in vain, your gods failed you, and all of the words in all of the books in your world could not spell away the darkness that devoured your friends. Why you were spared is between you and King Kazzok, and some countless time has passed that you've been suspended in a sort of limbo-y stasis which may have only been minutes or years.

Its the same for every world. Dark clouds rumble, accumulating in the distance in a swirl of towering nimbus before the spike falls. An arrow being shot from the sky, the ground quakes and day becomes night as The Coffin's Nail strikes into the earth. Dust and debris fog the land and sounds can be heard from the storm of ungodly machinations and abominations alike. By the time the mess settles, all that's left is the smoke on the horizon of besieged settlements and crumbled castles as a black tower remains, silhouetted in the mire of the clouds above.

To your knowledge, this is where the story ends.

You were the heroes sent to defeat the evil.
You were what light the kingdoms of the land set their petty squabbles aside to collect.
Through some slip or misinterpretation, all hope was lost, the countryside and perhaps even the world looking on as the coming night sought to blot out the sun forever...another stepping stone for Kazzok and his conquest.

_________________________________________________________

Well, this is where the story would have ended until lucidity returned to you in an instant, vision painting a blurry picture of bars to a cell. With a few blinks you realize you are in fact not dead as the small cloaked figure ensures you while they feverishly unlock the door before moving off to the next cell.

Dungeon...as you would expect it. Cobblestone everything, though appearing freshly polished by hand. Torches line the wall, producing light in spite of their lack of motion as if caught mid-flicker in their prime.
And now you and what sounds you can make out from neighboring cells and the distant echoes of the heavy, familiar footfalls from Kazzok's minions.

At least you have your freedom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OOC Information~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi! U:

This is my first attempt at actually making a thread, myself, and with it is probably going to come with a ton of redundancies and missed explanations.
First and foremost, please ask questions. I love answering them and it gives me an idea of what can be done for the sake of the thread's health and overall feel.

Second, this is a Post-Apocalyptic Multiverse Fantasy with room for steampunk elements.

Post Apocalypse - Ya goof'd. Or someone goofed that caused your previous crew to not do so hot in the 'stopping the big baddy' department. You're welcome to team up with other peoples to be from the same dimension and write all kinds of flowery prose about the world you came from. It might even be relevant, later down the line.

Multiverse - Yes? Yes! It is! Kinda... Kazzok and his aspirations seek to consume the multiverse, and in this, all manner of heroes are capable of having opposed his will at some point. All races are a go (with explanation if they're non-conventional fantasy variants, though demons and angels get a special place in Kazzok's warm and welcoming heart, and, being entities of energy, serve a purpose that knocks them down a mortal peg. This isn't to even begin to mention the separation from their planar anchors.

Fantasy - Magic, elves, dwarves, entities of the fay, nature spirits, undeath and all of that goodness. Matters are often settled by the sword and magic is a part of every-day life. Individuals from other dimensions may not see this the same way and conflict may arise, but such is the situation when unlikely allies are forced to join.
(I underline 'forced' because there may only be room for 4-8 people with situational room for more to join mid-way)

Steampunk - See that whole Multiverse thing above? Technology can come from other realms, and Kazzok would certainly be interested in the knowledge and magics of other civilizations.

~RULES~

Stuff and Rules
- The thread does have a definite series of events leading up to an end.
- Its 18+ for certain hints to explicit content and gore. On that note, gore it up! Paint the walls with it!
- I will expect posts to be 2-3 paragraphs in length, minimum.
- I'm intending on functioning with loose rotations. Being that there is a given group in mind, I will ask that interested individuals be willing to be invested enough to post.
= Please state if you will be out of rotation for an extended period of time and I will make efforts to temporarily remove your character until you are able to rejoin.
= I do not want to have to skip characters multiple times. I am willing to work with people about integration and side-plots, but no-showing is going to get your character removed in a less glorious way.
- All common forum rules apply, of course.
- 'Smooshing' belongs in PM, if it comes up.
- Power-Playing shouldn't be a thing since you lost in the first place to get here and are building yourself back up. You're most certainly not perfect.
- God-Modding shouldn't be a thing since I am more than willing to chat with people about what they want to do in combat against opponents. For the sake of narrative, we can collab brief bouts between a few mobs at a time to lump them into a single post with efficiency in mind.
= HOWEVER altercations between PCs should be choreographed between players and not intended to be a means to settling OOC matters. If a person is intending on leaving and is unwilling to pilot their character, I am willing to do this for them, though there NEEDS to be context IC before people go about attacking each other, or I will ask you to leave.
- A wild discord server appeared! (Maybe not quite yet...)
- You are welcome to propose your own CS and template therein via PM. I'll do my damndest to provide constructive feedback since I'm not sure about what to do for a skelle at the moment.
- While I have 'Large group' clicked, there may, in all likelihood, be events and situations where the numbers of the cast are...reduced. I didn't want to spook people with the 'small group' tag and situations may certainly allow for more people to join in the middle of the thread.

~Character Sheet~

Character Sheet

Former Title: (Optional)
Nickname/Alias: (Its not likely anyone will know you're lying)
Name:
Age:
Pronouns: (Such confusion)
Race: (Elementals even including Demons/Angels will have their powers significantly impacted)
Personality: (Not super essential. I'm sure it'll come out in the wash)
Appearance: (Pic or description)
Abilities/Powers: (Their effects are profoundly suppressed at the start, but you're welcome to write out the big nasties about them)
Equipment: (At the start of the thread, you have been relieved of all equipment. Sorry :C ) (This spot would be for armaments and armor)
Inventory: (See above) (This spot is for non-combat related items you're carrying (Not wearing. See appearance))
Origin: (The world you came from before...well...tell us about where you're from! ^^; )
Backstory: (What lead up to current events?)
Other: (Miss anything? Phobias, likes, quirks that don't somehow fit into personality, maybe a theme song?)

Unheroic

@Rune_Alchemist

Two skeletons and a construct. <_>
I can make a special exception.
I'll be interesting to progress the story with such a cast, but I'm sure it'll be funny. :P

After you, I'm locking it down, though! U:<