Rultaos

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

"Good job down there. If I make it through the next hour or two without being keelhauled for what happened down there, find me for a drink, we'll toast to a job well done." Stryker said with a pat on Benny's shoulder. Benny looked around behind him to face him before replying. "If ya wanna get real crazy, ser, I can add a little bit o' me own mix ta' spice it up. Yer call" He said as he powered down the turret controls to allow Tibulus to use more of the ship's energy in navigation. Stryker left the helm and Benny followed soon after in order to get out of his armor as well.

In his quarters he quickly released the seals on his armor as they hissed out the compressed air. His clothes underneath were soaked but he wasn't too uncomfortable with them. He simply hung them out to dry in his room while he took a quick shower, before returning to put on the used clothing.

Around this point he heard the announcement made by Stryker to have the crew meet up in the War Room. Seeing as he didn't have much else to do, and also curious as to how the battle played out for the ones on the upper floors of the labs he decided to head over there as well, smelling only slightly better than he did earlier. He took some wireless earbuds from his room, synced them up to Skelly, and then tapped on the holographic interface to start playing a rock music cover of some ancient orchestral track loud enough for anyone standing next to him to hear the sounds as he made his way through the vessel to their meeting room.

An Inquisitors Story: The City of Ash and Decay (A High-Casual journey)

Though the fight had started in an intimidating fashion, the Inquisition rallied and quickly coordinated their efforts by assaulting their titanic foe with all manner of attacks and spells. The giant was knocked over by the combined assault from Ardur's fire, Kharne's Acid and the ground destabiliziation from Genthok. Ardur got knocked away however, and two overzealous soldiers ended up getting killed from charging in prematurely. The giant displayed uncanny speed and agility despite falling to the ground and being encased in plate armor as he was.

Gilead charged in and called upon both him and Kharne to support him. "Don't commit to an assault like those two did! We haven't opened a chink in armor yet! Stay at a maneuverable distance! Cyterius called back in response as he and his 3 Falcons spread out and formed a wide circle around the giant, with the intention of each member getting the giant's attention if their foe wandered their way and kite them so as to buy time for the magic users to keep peeling away at its defenses.

Kharne charged past Gilead and proceeded to attack the creature with its own axehead. Gil on the other hand proceeded to pull out one of the strange spears from a body in the field. Somehow, this seemed to have gotten the giant's attention, causing the colossal creature to smash the ground and send a shockwave at the half-elven inquisitor, knocking them off-balance before winding up for a charge at them.

"Move!" Cyterius called from a good way behind Gil as he himself moved out of the way of the potential path of the charge while firing a couple crossbow bolts from his wrists at the helmet's eye-slits. He doubted it would do anything to stop the charge, but they were guaranteed to lose an Inquisitor if they didn't try anything.

Thankfully, someone else moved in to save them from the danger as the giant was hammered with a violent torrent of water. turning to see the source he saw River riding on what appeared to be Genthok's bear, in an attempt to break the charge, as well as converting the ground before the giant and Gil into ice to keep their enemy from charging effectively. "Quick thinking!" He called out to the Lalafell elf before returning his attention to the battle.

Before the giant had much time to react to the concentrated magic assault, it was hit with another attack, this time a blinding light shot out from elsewhere in the field, striking the armored giant with what appeared to be a fork of lightning directly on its legs. "That HAD to have hurt!" Nischa called out in the distance as she kept her stance, ready to dodge out of the way should the giant shift their attention to her.

Then all at once, Gil suddenly began disappearing while the giant's attention was drawn away while an illusory Gil appeared closer to the giant, as if preparing to attack, while the ground suddenly shook and plant vines erupted from the earth as they attempted to advance towards the giant. Had cyterius not been familiar with the feats of magic his fellow inquisitors were capable of, he'd have been terrified of the sight, but as it stood he was only thankful that they could rally such powerful forces against enemies such as the colossus before them

Cyterius had little time to see who was casting which spell, focusing on the giant and how they would react to the barrage. Given how the giant reacted to Gil's actions, Cyterius figured they could use it to their advantage to manipulate their movements."Falcons! Move to the nearest spear and hold your ground. Be ready to pull one out to draw this beast's attention if one of our comrades is in peril!" He ordered as he moved to a nearby impaled body, steadying his breathing in preparation of dodging away from the giant's wrath should he need to take the pressure off the others. Until they could find an opening from which to kill the creature, Cyterius had little he could contribute to the assault.

An Inquisitors Story: The City of Ash and Decay (A High-Casual journey)

"if it were the Blight I may have approved of it; however, we are faced with a new, even more brutal and cunning enemy than our age-old one... the enemy could be watching us right now... until we have further reinforcements we must all stick together, and limit the risks we take, at least until we know more about what happened here," Ardur answered. "Alright, everyone spread back out, and if you see anything that may be important bring it to my attention," He ordered.

"As you command, sir" Cyterius responded with a salute before turning to Nischa. "Summon the rest of the unit, I want us spread out with eyes covering as many angles as we can" He told her. "Fine but if I miss anything good, you owe me" the girl replied. Cyterius rolled his eyes as Nischa left with a chuckle.

---

Over the course of two hours, the Luna Falcons had set up around the treeline in hidden spots, spread among other Inquisition scouts, so that if any of them had spotted anything of note they could immediately tell Cyterius and Ardur, as their perception was a cut above their peers given how early they had begun their training in the art of scouting and tracking. The Elven Inquisitor Lanathil had already taken the initiative of checking the woods for any signs of a force passing through but strangely found none, and Samson and the others corroborated that after Nischa had brought them through. It was odd, and the sense of wrongness about the whole affair was putting Cyterius on edge An attack from the inside. No traces of outside forces supporting them. No trace of anyone leaving either. But no signs nor noises so far to say that whoever attacked is still in the city... What are we facing here? He wondered with concern as he continued observing from his lookout point above one of the trees, wearing his Falcon cloak to hide the shine of his armor in case there were any enemy scouts on the walls, which there did not seem to be.

He flinched slightly when he heard the distant sound of horses approaching from behind them, but relaxed when he remembered that Anora and her reinforcements were supposed to arrive by now. Still he decided it best to err on the side of caution and ensure it truly was their allies arriving, so he quickly climbed down from his perch and went deeper into the trees. Upon seeing that several of approaching humanoid figures had the symbol of the Inquisition, he gestured at them to guide them towards their main position where Ardur was situated so that they could immediately report in to him. Cyterius accompanied them as they reached Ardur and listened in on their conversation, explaining why Anora was not with them as they had expected her to be.After which, he gave everyone present their tasks.

"Spread out the soldiers evenly along the line, we will move forward on the city shortly," Ardur began before gesturing for Cyterius to approach him. "Cyterius, prepare your friends, as the main body of soldiers approaches I want your unit to find a way onto those walls, stay hidden and be ready to strike if need be, go" He commanded.

"It will be done," He responded as he turned away while their leader spoke to the others. He put his hands up to his mouth and let out a high-pitched bird whistle which was his practiced way of telling the Luna Falcons to regroup with him. He stood patiently and awaited their arrival in the main area when suddenly a booming voice echoed in his mind, causing him to grimace as he put a hand up to his head in confusion.

"Finally... Come, now, soldiers of the Inquisition," It demanded in a raspy, eerily ghost-like voice. It suddenly shifted into a whisper however as it continued. "step out from the shadows and into the light... let me see those who offer their prayers to me," it finished as everything became silent once more. "What in the gods' name..." Cyterius muttered, disturbed by what he, and everyone else had seemingly experienced. He knew of the powers of magic and how they could bend reality to a spell-caster's will, but such a feat as speaking into all their minds at once was something he had only heard of in fairytales and legends. The implications were far from comforting.

"Cy! What just happened?! A familiar voice called out as Nischa arrived, with the rest of the Falcons following behind. "I think everyone heard that voice, where did it come from? Samson asked him urgently. Cyterius wasn't sure how to answer.

They heard Ardur's voice ring out from nearby however Inquisition, move out!" He ordered as the thump of dozens of armored feet began shaking the ground. Cyterius turned back to his unit. "I don't know what just happened, but we should be wary of our enemy now more than ever. We have orders: Find a way for our soldiers through the walls and that's all we should be concerned with right now. Falcons, on me!" He commanded with a gesture as they began running to one of their army's flanks to draw as little attention to themselves as they could during the approach.

"Good, good..." the voice whispered again. "MY CHAMPION AWAITS YOUR PRAYERS" the voice bellowed suddenly "MAY YOUR PRAYER BECKON LOUDER THAN HIS" It finished in a booming echo. "Ignore it and focus, everyone!" Samson called out to the other 5 Falcons, as always the glue that kept their group together. "We need to find an entry point as soon as-" He began but was suddenly cut off when loud thumbing began to shake the ground beneath them. "That's... not our army is it? Valena, the Falcons' resident archer said. "No... It's not," Cyterius answered as they scanned around for the source of the tremors. From what they could tell it came from within the walls of the City of Ash. Their group stopped just a little way ahead of a group of Archers on army's right flank, with the gates further to their left. Their hands all gravitated towards their weapons as they awaited what horrors would emerge from within.

Their questions were answered when an ironclad giant emerged from the ruined gates, no chinks or gaps in the armor as far as anyone could see. Covered in the flesh and guts of its victims while holding an impossibly large axe. It let out a deafening battlecry as it began to run at them.

"MOVE! Everyone to the right flank!" Cyterius ordered as they distanced themselves slightly from the main force that the giant was coming to meet head-on, hoping to keep themselves from engaging it until it was the best time to do so. "How do we kill that?!" Darius, their group's assassin and stealthiest member asked in what came across as a harsh whisper. Cyterius had no answer to give, having never seen nor heard of any creature such as this. But knew if they did not think of something fast their whole army was in danger of being completely routed.

From the side, he overheard River's long explanation, and stopped to listen but remaining tense to move on a whim as their foe rapidly closed the distance. Kharne immediately spewed out a jet of acid on the giant the moment River told him to. As far as he was hearing, their only option at the moment was to buy time until they had a solution.

"Valena, Percival, stay with the Archers and fire in unison. Samson, Nischa, Darius, you three are with me. We'll circle the edge of the battlefield and make for the gates of the city. Once that monster reaches our forces, we'll draw its attention and kite them into the ruins. It's strong, but not strong enough to bash through the stone of the walls. We can lead it on a chase through the ruins if necessary" Cyterius ordered as they split off and began running, hoping their allies could make the most of their time. "We're going to play tag with that thing? And you tell me I'M the one who has crazy ideas?!" Nischa retorted but followed anyway along with the rest of the team, trying not to draw attention to themselves until it was their turn to kite the giant

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

Stumbled across this among MiracleofSound's many great songs and couldn't help but be reminded of the Revenant team and their intergalactic escapades

lyrics

Come join the party in the dust and the sand
Chip on your shoulder sweat and dirt on your hands
Machines in slumber start to lumber outside
Head full of numbers see the colours collide

Such safest Sanctuary
Droppin' them dollars on you thank you very
Much by the way no refunds
Back into the boneyard badlands we run

I saw a siren singing
Shifting through the shots-a ringing
Frying burning cuts-a stinging
Bringing you the pain

Come on down and join the party tonight
We ain't the kind to turn away from a fight
Chips on our shoulders, sweat and dirt on our hands
Cause we're breaking down the borders
As we light up the lands...

Old TK's shack is just a derelict shell
Ain't nothing left now but his notes and the smell
He used to watch over the fire and the stone
Fan fiction told me that he died all alone

Splash bang so corrosive
Don't get close if it's explosive
Flash gang caustic crew
Simmer and smoke in electric blue

Hiss goes the radio
Vicious malicious a voice we know
Soon to reap the seeds you sow
Bringing you the pain

Come on down and join the party tonight
We ain't the kind to turn away from a fight
Chips on our shoulders, sweat and dirt on our hands
Cause we're breaking down the borders
As we light up the lands

An Inquisitors Story: The City of Ash and Decay (A High-Casual journey)

I hope you dont mind me following Trainerblue's example and making Ardur's dialogue color yellow @MagratheanWhale xD. If you'd like it different let me know so I can edit my post to reflect it.

An Inquisitors Story: The City of Ash and Decay (A High-Casual journey)

Cyterius dismounted from his horse as did the others when they were told they were nearing their target destination, and approached the edge of the treeline as Ardur ordered them to. Cyterius followed with his other fellow Inquisitors while leaving behind his scouting team composed of his friends in the Luna Falcons. Nischa Ariteni, an energetic girl with Raven-black hair tied into a ponytail, came with him. Like Cyterius she also had tanned skin, but her eyes were piercing blue as opposed to his green, and her demeanor was almost a polar-opposite to his.

She insisted on tagging along for the initial reconnaissance with an almost childlike curiosity, which Cyterius would have scoffed at had he not known her for years, and knew just how accustomed this girl was to danger. "Stay close and don't poke too far out the treeline. We don't know if whatever besieged the place is still there and we shouldn't give up our element of surprise." He said as he gestured for her to follow behind him. Nischa rolled her eyes at that before responding. "I thought you knew me better than that, Cy. My marks never spot me til I want them to," She replied casually as she jogged along behind him...

The Inquisitors spent a good 30 minutes surveying the area, and had gleamed as much information as they could from watching from a distance. The grisly display of bodies on the walls and ground level were the results of a battle, but Cyterius knew it was more than that. The way they were skewered to hold them high, and those bodies that were kept in a praying position as the weapons were driven through them, it wasn't simply the aftermath of an execution. Whoever did this was trying to send a message. And what better way to send a message than dead bodies... He thought, thinking back to the times the Luna Falcons had employed similar tactics during their mission of revenge to scare their marks into going on the defensive.

A shift in the winds brought the smell of death and decay from the city to where the Inquisitors stood. Most would have backed away from the smell or made attempts to cover their noses, but Cyterius and Nischa merely winced as they had become used to the smell of long dead bodies in their escapades through the criminal underworld of Artuvia. Cyterius sniffed the air to make out details in the scent. The smell was rancid, that of decay instead of smoky like burnt meat. That meant a majority of the people were killed by other means, not from the flames that ravaged the place. The fire was either a distraction, or an after-effect of whatever attack took place there. In any case it wasn't a prolonged siege, as fires and structural damage would have killed more people and left a more noticeable burnt smell in the air. Whatever attacked struck quickly and slaughtered the people quickly.

The portcullis' wrecked debris outside implied that the main attack came from within, not from outside, further supporting his theory that it was a quick and brutal surprise attack that the defenders barely had time to react to. The fires then were likely started after the fighting erupted, as people wouldve fled their homes to escape the danger instead of being trapped and burnt to death. However that still left the question of what was so powerful that the portcullis was blown completely outwards. Cyterius considered explosives or magic as potential causes, as a battering ram was unlikely since it would have had to come in from the outside. If explosives were used then there should be noticeable scorches and blast marks around the gate area, if they're absent then the cause was likely magic, though I only know of it through secondhand knowledge from books. In either case, I would need a closer look to confirm or deny it

A loud whistle drew the duo's attention and they turned towards Ardur's position, walking silently to them in response to his signal.

"The Blight did not befoul this city nor did her terrible monsters breach her walls... Something monstrous attacked this city, and I have yet to figure out who it was. We will wait here for two hours before we advance towards the city. Any questions?" Ardur addressed the gathered Inquisitors.

"And what pray tell do you wish to have us do in these hours we waste? And why, if i am to be so bold, two hours? I can spy your curiosity for the portcullis is as much as mine and i would very much like to examine it," The short Lalafellen Elf asked their leader. Cyterius nodded in agreement to the elf as he turned to Ardur. "The sooner we move on the city the better, but we must not go in blindly if we can help it. Something tells me the display of bodies was meant to get some sort of rise out of us..." He said as he glanced towards gory scene on the walls. "If you will let Inquisitor Fontaine conduct his examination, then my team and I would be willing to accompany him. There are a few details I should like to see for myself, given the opportunity. We can remain silent and we will not venture further than you will allow us, Inquisitor Ardur" he added, using Ardur Skor's first name to differentiate him from his sister Anora.

An Inquisitors Story: The City of Ash and Decay (A High-Casual journey)

Sniper support on overwatch

An Inquisitors Story: The City of Ash and Decay (A High-Casual journey)

Accidental double post even though I only clicked once >_<

An Inquisitors Story: The City of Ash and Decay (A High-Casual journey)

@Trainerblue192 I can't speak for the others, but personally I've always enjoyed playing a normal-ish character with not-so-powerful abilities, because I like getting creative with what I have and trying to find ways for them to get on the same level with others who are objectively stronger, despite their lack of powers by using their heads and fighting smartly ^_^

An Inquisitors Story: The City of Ash and Decay (A High-Casual journey)

@Trainerblue192 I'm pretty sure you can use that name as long as you're not making money off of it. Especially considering there's so many fandom or fanfic RP's in this site already. Using an existing lore name shouldn't be too bad. I mean, half of the lore stuff I come up with and give names to has probably already been used in the past, so it's no big deal as long as you're not making money off of someone else's work.