Rultaos

Persona: The Darkness comes

"This is certainly taking a while..." Naganori thought. He was starting to regret having not stayed at home a bit longer to get something to chew on. In the midst of these thoughts however, he noticed the same pale girl he had passed before approach him with a cheerful expression on her face. "Um excuse me? I was wondering if you might have any idea how long it is until they get started?" She asked him. She just stared at him for a while, waiting for an answer. "I'm... Afraid that I don't know either. This is my first time at this school so I don't really understand how everything works around here." He replied. He scratched the back of his head, feeling a little surprised from the sudden approach. He didn't even know who this person was. However, maybe talking to the girl for a bit would help pass the time until the gym opened up. "I don't think we've met each other yet. I'm Naganori Tadayoshi. And you are...?" He said in response. Making friends wasn't exactly his priority, but he thought that there wouldn't really be a point in pushing people away if they greeted you.

Persona: The Darkness comes

Im currently busy right now with real life stuff. But I'll get to work on a reply soon Kumori

When the Walls Beckon - (IC/OOC)

Thanks =). Though I have to ask... is this battle taking place during the day? Or at night? Because it wasn't really made that clear for me, which was why I tried to avoid any descriptions that specified day or night. If it was mentioned before, then I'm sorry for overlooking and I'd appreciate if someone could show me how it was mentioned.

When the Walls Beckon - (IC/OOC)

Made my first IC post. Hope it's by the standards set in this RP =)

When the Walls Beckon - (IC/OOC)

Thalius looked around him. Standing atop the battlements of Castle First Reach, he was with what remained of Veradan's military strength. It was nothing to boast about: men and women who were displaced from their units and hastily merged together with what was left. He could see members of the 33rd Siege Dogs (the only unit who made it out with only half of them dead after a failed attempt to attack an undead garrison), The 21st Highlanders (An archery unit lucky enough to mostly survive Veradan's fall), and even the 29th Frontiersmen (The recruits who had been tasked with refugee evacuation). The rest of the men gathered there were of other units, too many to identify. Thalius felt a short pang of sadness when he again remembered that none of the 12th Valkyries would be standing alongside him this time, but he shook it off and steeled himself for the upcoming battle. The strange skull that broke the gate took them all by surprise. Thalius had not seen such a monstrosity when Veradan's gates were breached. Though he had recovered himself from the momentary shock, something told him that this battle might be worse and more brutal than any fight he had seen with these creatures yet. The first things to attack them however, were something he was more familiar with. "Line Breakers first... Typical strategy. Soften us up and divide our ranks to make us easy targets for the rest of their force" Thalius thought as he studied their enemy. Their massive size and weaponry were meant to intimidate and destroy. If it was the first time he had seen them, Thalius might have been scared. However, he had seen these brutes twice before, and he knew what they were capable of. He also knew they were very slow and dim-witted; anyone fast enough could bring one down so long as they had support distracting the Line Breaker. He and the other Rangers had prepared their longbows and were waiting for the order to fire. Eventually, the Guardian from Feer la Den, Fenris Laski had given the order and they prepared to launch their arrows. "Notch!” With discipline honed from years of training, the Veradan Rangers all pulled back their bows in complete sync with one another, ready to fire on demand. “Loose!” And with that, the arrows from their section all shot off at the same time, covering the enemy with projectiles, and bringing down a few of them. But it did not stop their advance. "All we can do is weaken them and hope that the men on the ground can do the rest" Thalius thought as he remembered their role for this battle. The Line Breakers continued closing the distance to their footmen. “Free fire!” Laski ordered. With that, the Rangers started aiming their shots at the weak points instead of just creating a large volley of arrows. Thalius pulled back on the string of his bow and chose a target among all the Line Breakers. He decided to go for one that was approaching Fenris. "Corporal Garret, assist me with this target!" Thalius commanded the Ranger to his left, gesturing at the Line Breaker heading towards The Guardian. "I'll stun him. And you put one straight through his head." He said, as he quickly launched a shot at the Line Breaker's neck, causing the foe to stagger, and Garret immediately launched his arrow straight through the eye, causing the creature to roar its signature scream. "Bullseye!" Garret shouted. "No time to celebrate, they're beginning their charge!" Another Ranger said. The Line Breakers had already closed the distance between their lines, and fights were erupting everywhere. "They're too close to our men! Shots at them are too risky. Prioritize the ones behind their front lines, reduce their numbers and weaken them for the defenders." Thalius commanded. The other Rangers acknowledged it and focused their efforts on the Line Breakers just behind the front to give the troops on the ground an easier time. Their arrows kept flying from their battlements as the brawl on the ground continued. However, there were just so many of them, and they could not launch arrows fast enough to reduce them by any significant number, leaving a majority of them to be taken care of by the rest of the army. By the end of it, their forces had taken heavy casualties despite the momentary victory. The cheers began erupting from the crowd. "That's the first wave done..." A Ranger squad leader by the name of Brachen said. "If we keep up at this kill-casualty ratio, then it wont take long for this garrison to fall. This assault is far from over." Thalius remarked. The cheering was cut short when the horn began blowing and a new enemy began marching upon them. They were different, and Thalius didn't think he had seen these kind of undead spearmen before. "Thalius... Did I ever tell you I hate it when you're right?" Brachen said as he prepared his bow once more. Thalius did not respond, but began readying another arrow. These enemies were different, they were unarmored unlike the Line Breakers, they carried shields and spears, and they marched in a neatly organized formation. "I've never seen them display this kind of coordination before... This could be troublesome..." Thalius thought as he began considering how to deal with them. Fenris Laski raised his sword into the air from below them and gave them the command. “Archers, fire at will!” The Rangers did as they were told and launched their projectiles at the new enemy, trying to aim for the neck, legs, arms, and lower jaw, as they were the unarmored areas that weren't immediately covered by the shields. Upon launching however, they saw that their enemy began bunching up together and created an impenetrable wall of shields that caught their arrows. Only very few of them managed to sneak through the tiny gaps in the shield wall, and they did not even do anything visibly significant to the enemy advance. "What the blazes is this?!" Brachen exclaimed a he loaded another arrow and fired at them, trying to go for a gap, but it was quickly covered up, causing the shot to deflect off harmlessly. Thalius fired his own shot, trying to hit one of the spearmen in the middle, but again, the arrow was caught. "They react smartly and swiftly. This is behavior unlike any I've seen before..." Thalius remarked while the other archers kept trying to hit them. He was starting to think this was a waste of arrows when Laski told them to stop. “Cease fire, cease fire!” They stopped their volley and began considering their options. "What are we supposed to do against that? None of our arrows get through!" Garret exclaimed. Suddenly however, the shield wall fell down and the spearmen held their weapons ready as they began pacing quickly to their lines. "These bastards are using actual tactics... And with reflexes faster than any normal army." Brachen observed. Don't take their bait, wait for your chance to strike! Archers, mages, pick your shots!” Fenris ordered before charging into the fray. "What do we do?" Asked Wellington, an archer from the 29th Frontiersmen. "We do what we were told, pick our shots!" Brachen replied as he aimed for one of the creatures, and launched an arrow at them, which the target deflected. Thalius had thought about them for a while, and decided to treat the enemy as like living soldiers. "They'll react if they see our shots coming, but not if they're distracted. They can only react to so much at the same time. Wait until they engage our men, and take them out one by one. Don't fire as volleys, but choose individual targets to avoid any friendly-fire. Prioritize enemies that are closest to our soldiers and commanding officers, and communicate your targets with each other." He told them. The Rangers nodded and began firing at individual enemies. Thalius himself chose targets and attempted picking them off. Their reactions were fast, but not fast enough it seemed. Because while they could block them if they saw the arrow, they could be too preoccupied with a footsoldier to notice one being lodged into their body. With that said, they still had reflexes that were inhuman, as a simple glance around or a twist of their head seemed to be enough to tell them all they needed to know about their environment and what dangers were heading their way. Thalius and the other Rangers needed precise timing to fire their shots without it being spotted by the spearmen, and waiting for that opportunity made it so that they weren't as fast as firing as before, and the casualty count was starting to rise. "We're not killing them fast enough!" Leonhard, another squad leader, said in anger. "We do what we can. If this is all we're capable of accomplishing then it's still better than nothing." Thalius responded. "Hey uhh... Does anyone else feel like the weather's acting strange?" A Ranger from the 29th asked, looking up to the unnatural swirling clouds in the sky. "Stop staring at clouds and shoot at the enemy!" Brachen shouted angrily at the recruit. Meanwhile, a pale and oddly pretty woman suddenly arrived at their battlements. Someone would have asked what she was doing there, but they were all too busy trying to land their shots. Suddenly the woman threw her knife down the wall, stabbing one of the spearmen who had trapped one of their soldiers. A few Rangers looked down to see what happened and saw the spearman suddenly begin clawing itself until it had died by its own hands. "By the Gods.... I'm glad you're on our side." Leonhard said to the woman, who seemed to be some kind of Mage. "Leonhard, focus! You're missing opportunities to shoot" Thalius reminded him. "Right! Apologies." He said as he took aim once more. Thalius could see how this fight was going, and it was not good. These Spearmen had tactics that reduced the effectiveness of archers, and also had a significant advantage in close combat from their heightened reflexes. Added to the fact that they were outnumbered by a large degree, and Thalius knew that they needed a more organized plan for their entire defense force to tackle them. He wasn't sure exactly what they could do to counter this new enemy, but they needed to do it fast.

The Witch Hunt

Got my post up. Decided to take some creative liberty as to how Varkasan "knew" about Alicia's depression in a way that wouldn't be too obvious to the majority of the recruits. If you don't like it Laue, then just let me know and tell me how you'd prefer it to be so I can edit it as soon as possible. Also, please mind any typos and tell me if there are any, because I wrote that whole post (along with this one) while riding inside a moving bus, so it's not easy to type and re-read everything >_<

The Witch Hunt

With their bellies full and their bodies recovering from their recent strains, the recruits were then given their next assignment. It was simple enough: collect a few rare crystals only found in a certain place. The catch? It was within the area of a Scar. Varkasan remembered being told about Scars during their training. They were dangerous areas where magical energies ran high and out of control. No Mage was in control of that magic, it was simply there. With that said, he remembered their instructor telling them time and again it was a bad idea to use Luminosity within a Scar if ever the magical properties were freely-flowing in the air, which was exactly the case where they were going. Captain Aela told them that this particular Scar was harmless, but that they should not wander deep within the mist. They would remain only at the edges of it in order to collect the crystals that they needed. Varkasan was a little anxious, and wanted to ask what effects that this Scar would have on them, but he decided that if the captain was not telling them, there was probably a good reason that she wanted them to find out for themselves. Varkasan quickly got his answer however, for as soon as he stepped within the mist and inhaled, he felt immediately light and at ease. His anxiety inexplicably disappearing. "This feels... good... I feel like a fool for ever being worried about this. It's all so... relaxing..." He thought, not realizing that even his thoughts were slowing down. "What was I here for again...? Oh right... The crystals... I still have a job to do..." He thought to himself. as he slowly bent down and began collecting the minerals and putting them inside the pouch. Varkasan was able to focus enough to gather the crystals, but he could barely perceive anything else. The time it was taking them and the location of his fellow recruits were all hazy. He heard a distant voice say something. It was familiar, he decided to attribute the voice to Captain Aela. "Not bad, huh? There are higher quality crystals deeper in the mist, but you wouldn't be able to handle it yet. Nor do we need them. Good thing none of you have depression or anything like that, people like that are affected by this mist much more severely." Said the voice. Somehow, Varkasan recalled some kind of memory from their training days. It was foggy, but it was there. ---------------------- He was out one night half an hour before their curfew. He was going to get some water from their Mess Hall for him and his roomates when he heard some kind of sobbing come from somewhere. Varkasan cautiously looked around to investigate. After a bit, he realized the sobbing was coming from within the Mess Hall kitchen. He crept towards the door, and slowly turned it open. He saw a figure, huddled in one of the corners, face buried in their hands, with tears flowing down through the palms. The figure looked feminine, and had long white hair. At first glance, he thought he saw a ghost, but upon closer inspection he noticed the recruit uniform that it was wearing. "Alicia...?" He realized. He did not recall anything bad happening to her on that day, nor did she receive any seemingly troubling letters (he should know, because he was on mail distribution duty that day). So he wondered why she was crying alone. He wanted to approach her and ask her what was wrong, but at the same time, he knew that Alicia seemed to make a point of being a cut above the other recruits in nearly everything that she did, and she might just be devastated if she knew that someone had witnessed her being weak. If anything, it might've made her depression worse (at least that's what he thought she was suffering). So he slowly closed the door and left, deciding to keep quiet about the whole incident, and only tell it if anything bad started happening to her. The next day, she showed up in the morning as usual, and acting as if nothing happened, so he decided not to bring it up anymore after that. ---------------------- With the memory returning to Varkasan upon hearing the words of their captain, he blurted out without even thinking. "Depressed? You mean like Alicia?" He said as he began looking around for her. He still felt relaxed and calm, but there was this minor and suppressed feeling of urgency. Though he was too far into the mist's influence to pay it much heed. "Oh, she's there." He said, seeing her walking deeper into the mist. He saw the vague outline of Captain Aela rush toward her and pull at her. Varkasan felt like he should be doing something, but his relaxed head was too calm to think too much about it, and he returned to gathering the crystals until his pouch was full. Eventually, Captain Aela led them out the fog, and slowly their thoughts returned back to them. Varkasan realized just ho careless he had been and immediately spun around, looking for his friends and squadmates, not fully remembering if any of them besides Alicia had walked off, but thankfully they were all there. The others were in quite shock though, both from their experiences within the mist, and from realizing how Alicia had reacted to it. Varkasan wasn't all that surprised by that reaction, she was after all the top of their class; the cream of the crop as some instructors had said. So no one really expected her to have been carrying such a burden. It was now that Varkasan realized that the reason he had seen her cry was because she had so much to live up to, and who's to say that she even wanted to? Regardless, she was here now, and that was a fact that she (and every other recruit) needed to accept. Varkasan was thinking about talking to her and perhaps comfort her, but decided to give her space for now; she would speak to them about it whenever she was ready. He passed by an uncomfortable looking Freiya as he went to meet up with Zalfn, Richten, and Aradus (again, he decided to leave the other recruits be for now). He was actually surprised that Aradus did not begin walking off like Alicia, but he had always known his friend to be the strongest among their group in both body and mind. "I'm glad we all got out of that without much incident" Varkaan told them. "No kidding. If Aradus here started wandering off, he'd have dragged anyone who tried to pull him back, with him!" Zalfn said with a chuckle while Aradus simply shook his head from within his helmet. Varkasan was glad to see that his friends were starting to feel better after yesterday's events. Perhaps there was a good thing to be gotten from that trek in the mist. Nonethless, Varkasan felt the need to steel their minds even further. If that was what uncontrolled and sporadic magic could do to them, then mind-charming magic used by a Mage would be much more potent. And as a Luminous Knight, that was a clear cause for concern.

Persona: The Darkness comes

He has the GM ribbon... IT MEANS ALL MUST OBEY HIS WHIMS!

When the Walls Beckon - (IC/OOC)

Posted my character and will get to work on an IC soon. I even included a theme song for my character just for fun-zies xD

When the Walls Beckon - (IC/OOC)

Name: Thalius Hanadar Age: 39 Gender: Male Race: Firen Appearance:

In Veradan Light Ranger Armor

He looks a little older than he actually is, with a hard face having a few wrinkles and scratches, and light skin. He has black, short, crew-cut hair. He has a short, rough beard forming around the outline of his mouth and chin. He has a medium body build, not scrawny, but not muscular or large either. He stands at 6'1 Personality: Thalius can quickly come off as an emotionless and detached person. He chooses not to spend time with others much, not even his fellow Veradan military survivors. He does not speak casually very often. However, he can prepare a battleplan on the fly and give orders with clarity and confidence. He has a sound and calm mind, capable of maintaining his composure even in the most stressful of situations. However, he treats his fellow soldiers (more specifically, those assigned underneath him) more like tools and assets than actual people (Though he appears to treat himself that way as well). He seems to show indifference as to whether they will survive a fight or not. Though this does not mean he’ll just send them or himself to their deaths, as he will do what he can to keep them all alive. But it seems to be motivated more by “maintaining their long-term usefulness” rather than a genuine care for their life. Character type and traits: Battlement Ranger – A calm and collected strategist. He is determined and never believes that the war is impossible. He comes off as cold and uncaring; not getting much trust or confidence easily from allies (and them not usually receiving his in return). His lack of empathy can make him disregard their emotional states at times. History: Thalius’ past is not something he openly discusses with anyone, unless they have earned their trust. What is known about him is that he had lived in the human city of Veradan, and that both his parents were soldiers. Following their footsteps, he enlisted as soon as he was capable, and of age. At first, his parents did not wish for him to take on the same dangerous lifestyle they had chosen to live, and tried to stop him for his own safety. But after an incident regarding a thief breaking into their home, they realized he was capable of protecting himself, and so they relented. Thalius was a member of the 20th Frontiersmen Platoon when he first started his military career; a unit comprised of entirely new recruits, called upon only against small-fry like bandits, or when the more experienced units need immediate assistance. After showing exceptional skill in ranged combat and tactics, he was transferred to the 12th Valkyrie Regiment (A long-range, support unit) after some years of service. Things were going well for them, but everything fell apart when the dead army began marching. Being a large city and center of trade, it was a prime target for cutting off supplies and assistance to the other remaining strongholds. The 12th Valkyrie Regiment remained at the city walls with the other ranged units, while the footmen held their position at ground level. They were ready to fight to their last, but the sight of the enemy made them realize it might have been pointless... An entire horde of unimaginable size marched upon them, with their soldiers and weapons looking like something torn out of a nightmare. Thalius tried to think of something they could have done to counter this threat, but even with a swift meeting of squad leaders and tacticians they all knew it was hopeless. No maneuever or plan would turn the battle in their favor. Their enemy fought using one thing: pure overwhelming force; a force that could not be stopped no matter what they did. The defenders fought valiantly, but there was no stopping the flood of monsters, the gates were breached, and defeat was imminent. Ragtag remains of the different platoons and units that made up the once proud and professional military force of Veradan reached the Sky Bridge, and volunteered themselves to assist in its defense. They doubted they would have a better chance considering how disorganized and unprepared the volunteer defenders were, but many of them wanted payback for the slaughter of their companions. And if it meant giving the monsters a harder time, they were willing to stand against the onslaught. Equipment:

• Wooden longbow for long-ranged and accurate firing
• Veradan Light Ranger armor
• Leather backpack for supplies and other items, with arrow quiver attached to the side
• Small, retractable Telescope
• Compact Crossbow for mid-range combat
• Crossbow Bolts and container
• Steel Shortsword for close-range engagements

Other:

• He keeps a small, steel lockbox in his personal quarters, and in his bag when travelling.
• Just for fun... Here's his Theme Song: You Know My Name - Chris Cornell