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Post by Sir Edmund Locksley on Nov 9, 2004 22:53:44 GMT
[ModNote: Continued from Going To Base.] *Sir Edmund dismisses his undercover agent with a wave of the hand, it has reported all it knows, and has been promised official status in the watch, but now it knows to leave. Sir Edmund is not pleased by the news.* Thinks: Zeriphel! That accursed... THING has returned to haunt me. Creature of chaos and disorder, a further pollution to my flesh... *Sir Edmund's eyes seem to darken in the half-light, he strikes the table, and his fury subsides. Outside, the noise has been heard, and Hobb enters* Hobb: Sir, are you allright? *When Locksley straightens he is his usual cold self* Locksley: Perfectly, thank you Hobb. You are still here? Hobb: A.I. Dreevis is working late sir, on the new uniform orders. And we haven't got a duty officer organised yet... Locksley: Good. You and Dreevis shall stay here until I return from this investigation. *Without another word, Locksley sweeps his immaculately neat coat around his shoulders and sweeps off into the rapidly falling twilight, not speaking to a puzzled Dreevis, who is manning the front desk.* |
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Post by Sir Edmund Locksley on Nov 9, 2004 23:03:58 GMT
[ModNote: Continued from The Flames of Fear.] *In the rooftops above the streets, the shadow waits. It is very patient. It knows how easy it would be to pick off the last few peasents, scurrying home after a long day, but it is after bigger fish* Shadow: So, they would set the Inquisition on me now.... Good. I haven't had any fun in a while... *Eventually he sees Sir Edmund, striding down the street in a perfectly straight line, scattering the common folk left and right. Despite his even pace, there is something about his stance that suggests tension, unease.* Shadow: Dear, dear, Sir Edmund, so open... you really weren't a very cautious man, were you? *It all happens in a second, in one moment there is a knife in his hand, then a whistling sound in the air. Then, just as Sir Edmund turns into a darker street. He feels something strike him in the back, he barely has time to turn, for a moment confused, when the second pierces his windpipe. He falls to the ground, his black cloak covering him like a shroud.* *The shadow admires his victim for a moment* Shadow: Now, for the others... *And the shadow is gone* |
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Post by Hordriss de Confuseur on Nov 9, 2004 23:26:52 GMT
*The sky is now a deep purple, the last moment before the day dies utterly. All that can be heard in the guardhouse is the scratching of Dreevis' quill on the report book, and the nervous pacing of Hobb.*
Dreevis: Hobb! Either sit down or stand guard. I can't concentrate.
Hobb: Sorry ma'am, I just... *he wants to say that something feels wrong, but it's difficult, he has no proof, there is just a dreadful sense of foreboding*
Dreevis: What? A guard, afraid of the dark!
Hobb: I just, feel that there's something.... happening...
Dreevis: Do a patrol if you feel like it Hobb...
Hobb: I think... yes I will.... *Maybe this would clear his nerves*
*Silence again, Hobb's footsteps retreat into the distance. All that can be heard is the scratching of the quill. Dreevis completes her reports.*
*She waits*
*And waits*
Dreevis: Where is Hobb? Surely it can't take so long to patrol.
*Suddenly, for no reason, she too feels afraid, perhaps it is the final setting of the Sun, leaving the only light the candle on her desk. She should get the oil-lamp from outside, but she doesn't want to open the doors*
Dreevis: Pah! If Sir Edmund returns now I'll never hear the end of it...
*With rather more bravado than she feels, she opens the door. It is dark outside. The oil lamp must have gone out. She'll have to refill it. She goes to fetch her candle, and a breeze from the door blows it out. Cursing, she fumbles for her tinder box, and gropes for the large oil lamp. She finds it, it seems heavy. She carries it inside*
*Pushed inside the lamp is Hobb's head*
*In one movement, she drops it with a gasp and it rolls into the corner, panicking, she locks and triple bolts the door, leaning her back against it, her heart pounding, her breathing coming in fits. She knows that the guardhouse is secure, the windows are barred, she can see that. She is safe.*
*She can see it*
*Who.... who lit the candle again?*
*The first knife strikes her shoulder, blood streams down her inquisitor's robes. She can't see where they are coming from. She dives, another hits the door behind her. Then she sees it, in the corner, a shadow darker and more horrible than the others, a shadow holding another knife.*
*The doors are locked, she locked them, there is no escape*
*With a strength she didn't know she possesed she throws herself on the window shutters, tearing them off the window. But this is a glass window. She raises the shutter to break the glass, ignoring the almost paralyzing pain in her shoulder. Behind her her attacker is approaching, she turns...*
*Her attacker has no reflection in the glass*
*The pause of astonishment is all that the shadow needs. Another knife enters her back. Her lungs fill with blood which seeps from her mouth. She turns to face the awful presence, a final desperate plan forming in her half addled mind.*
Dreevis: Who, who are you?
*She croaks, ready to scrawl something on the wall in the mixed blood of her and Hobb. The shadow breathes in... as if about to tell her.*
*Then reaches forward and snaps her neck*
*Dreevis' corpse collapses to the floor, a look of enquiry will always be etched on her features. She never knew, even until the end. The shadow is about to go... when it stops, bends down, and into her lifeless ear, whispers the answer.*
'Visage'
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Visage
New Settler
Who am I?
Posts: 60
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Post by Visage on Nov 9, 2004 23:32:40 GMT
*Visage straightens up, pleased by the irony*
Almost a shame not to play with them longer, but local law enforcement is such a bother, it does give the populace a sense of hope, and I work much better in an atmosphere of terror. Which reminds me.
*He walks over to the desk, and snufs out the candle*
Can't forget the symbolism....
*Visage unbolts the door, leaving it on the latch for the scene to be found in the morning. Then, gracefully, he slips out into the night, his shadowy form blending with all the other shadows, until it can no longer be distinguished.*
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Post by Sir Edmund Locksley on Nov 9, 2004 23:59:24 GMT
*For a while, Sir Edmund's body lies still in the alley. Then, slowly, it pulls itself to its feet. With the greatest of delicacy, Sir Edmund pulls the blade from his windpipe. Behind it, the wound closes as the blade is withdrawn, leaving not a mark on Sir Edmund's pale skin. He reaches behind and pulls the second dagger from his back. This time a couple of drops of blood fall from the wound before it heals. Black blood...*
Sir Edmund: *Quietly* Well, my would-be assasin, you'll have to be better than that to catch me out. Why it barely hurt at all....
*He drops the daggers into a deep pocket, taking care to wrap them in a handkerchief to prevent smudging of fingerprints. He was, of course, wearing gloves.*
*He smiles. In the dark night, his eyes are even darker, they glisten almost violet. Then the smile fades.*
The guardhouse...
*Making his way quickly through the streets, he returns to the guardhouse, his strides growing ever faster. By the time he arrives, he is too late.*
*He finds Hobb's body first, pinned to the wall by more daggers. Then he enters the guardhouse and sees the carnage within.*
*He is very quiet, he takes in the scene. Then, with infinite patience, he takes Hobb's body down from the wall. Then he carries Dreevis and Hobb down to the cellars beneath the guardhouse, silent all the while. The only time he speaks is to take a scroll from the secret compartment in his draw and cast a spell called PRESERVE on the corpses. He covers the bodies. He refills the oil lamp, he cleans away the blood until daybreak.*
*Only then, only as a new day dawns does he look to the sun, and speak.*
By the certainty of the Sun rising, by the order of the skies, by the code and rule of law, I WILL find you, assasin. Not to avenge their deaths, not for my attempted murder... do not give yourself airs. You are a criminal, and you will fall before the law.
*He looks out over the sleepy town*
It is time for the Inquisition to really show its force.
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Post by ringmasterrob on Nov 12, 2004 21:13:00 GMT
[ModNote: Continued from The Meeting at the Knightmare Boarding School.] *During the dawn of the next day RMR and Phinehas approach the Guardhouse, the latter remains hidden & they exchange quick words before RMR nods and approaches the guardhouse. He notices something wrong, the windows are shatter, the door dented and many flowers have been placed outside the guardhouse. He enters quietly and sees the female inquisitor is missing, as is Hobb. It doesn't take long before a guard quietly informs him of the events. RMR replies with shocked voice.* "Murdered the both? In this guardhouse? A very dark time, Hobb was a good and loyal guard with honest methods for certain, had the inquisition not been needed he may have even been made captain of the guard. I cannot say I knew the D.I but any law enforcement who are lost in the cause of duty should be duly mourned." *RMR thinks the news over, within a week of the inquistion beginning the shadow has not ceased its attack, normally it always seemed to happen at a point when RMR was feeling ill or blacked out and he had begun to worry, but this had happened when he was off at the boarding school with the alliance, the alliance that was formed to PREVENT attacks. Yet there is the most senior pre-inqusition guard murdered, the deputy inquisitor killed too and even rumours Edmund was attacked. RMR decides that Edmund will not wish to see or hear from him at the moment, while RMR doesn't like him then he knows it is only fair to respect him for the time being and leaves. * |
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Post by Sir Edmund Locksley on Nov 13, 2004 1:33:12 GMT
*As RMR leaves he notices some changes in the guardhouse. The guards are being issued with new dark blue-black uniforms which whilst streamlined look rather too efficient. Training has been stepped up, and small packs of cavernwights are being exercised in the newly fenced-off back yard. Rob can hear Sir Edmund nearby, drilling the men, but as yet he has not noticed the Ringmaster or his well-hidden friend.*
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Post by ringmasterrob on Nov 13, 2004 11:03:48 GMT
*RMR goes and tells Phinehas of the happenings in the guardhouse.*
"Where should we go now? A vigil on the guardhouse with Locksley so angry and such tight patrols will only attract suspicion and we can't return to the school so early. Perhaps one of the opposition realms, such a creature may have joined Lord_Fear."
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Post by Phinehas on Nov 13, 2004 11:14:47 GMT
*Phinehas frowns at the news of what happened. Not that he cared, but something that could get away with an attack on the guardhouse had to be... dangerous, to say the least. He tells RMR to wait a second and steps into the guardhouse unnoticed, quickly scans the premises, and steps back out.*
Well, it appears to like throwing knives, and it's magical, in one sense or another.
*He then smiles.*
Well, I've heard that a Lord Fear is a head hauncho around here, let's go see if he knows anything. I've been curious to see if he lives up to his nickname.
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Post by ringmasterrob on Nov 13, 2004 18:08:19 GMT
*RMR simply nods and heads towards the ruins of Goth.* {Continued in 'Goth'} |
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Post by Sir Edmund Locksley on Nov 15, 2004 23:13:46 GMT
*Patrols of new watchmen are being sent out all over the village. Petty skullduggery, normally ignored, is now being ruthlessly seen too, the stocks have never been so full.* *Sir Edmund does a perimeter sweep of the watchhouse with one of the trained cavernwights... the creature stops and sniffs the air, then begins to pull on the leash...* What is it? *Sir Edmund too sniffs gently, before he hadn't noticed, but to Sir Edmund's highly attuned senses there was a distinct smell of...* Well, the elf has returned. Recently. And now his former victim, Dreevis, lies dead and cold. He's been clever, our assasin... no fingerprints on the knives... and I thought perhaps no scent... You must accept, Mr Elf, it is not surprising that you are on my list of suspects. *At this point an aide comes to tell him of RMR's visit* And the Ringmaster... why are you always following around the killer? *Sir Edmund gets the Assasin to extract RMR's scent from the imprisoned Walter's collar which RMR held... sure enough the smells meet with the elf* Well, well.... the plot thickens... I think it is time to bring you in Ringmaster, and your shadowy accomplice... *Sir Edmund orders patrols to be on the lookout for Rob whilst he sets another cavernwight and assasin crew after their scents* And if your elven friend is so very good at hiding... well I may have a little surprise... [ModNote: Locksley is next seen in Wanted.] |
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Hakonatu
New Settler
A link to the past, or a threat to the future?
Posts: 54
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Post by Hakonatu on Nov 18, 2004 7:21:14 GMT
*While the events of 'Wanted' are taking place, the guardhouse is short staffed, the acrid green smog which had floated towards it had seemingly disappeared, instead a stagnent looking green puddle was trickling towards the back of the guardhouse, once there the smog rises again, and through the ventilation. It comes out in the cell Walter is kept, still looking dishevelled, he is sleeping. The smog forms once more into the terrifying vision of Hakonatu, Walter suddenly wakes with a start to see his nightmare is quite real. "You have failed, You were told if you failed you would die, you will die" Walter: "Please Mr.Hakonatu, I have been your servant for long. This was a setback, yes that's it, a setback! There was a rotter of a mage interfering and hiring Leytan was a mistake Sir, just give me a cha...." *Hakonatu's huge gauntlet has grip around Walter's neck, the second huge gauntlet pushes his head back, his neck snaps and he is dead. Hakonatu hurls his body to the floor and rises again as smog, heading back to its new base of operations in the Knightmare Castle...* [OOC: continued in the next part of "Hostile takeover" in knightmare castle] |
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