Re: The Great Problem - Round 1: Castle Paradox

by TD260 Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:40 pm

Marcus blinked, wincing slightly. His eyes were adjusting desperately as the overwhelming darkness they had grown used to turned into shafts of brilliant light. Taking a look around, he realized he was in what appeared to be a grand ballroom, complete with candlelight sconces and gilt drapery at the corners. There seemed to be no ceiling, as the ballroom was open to the sky above. Shaking his head, desperately trying to sort out his scattered thoughts, Marcus decided he'd take a closer look around after attending to more pressing issues.

"Better make sure nothing's injured..." Marcus muttered to himself, and shrugged out of his cloak and sword. He methodically swung his arms around; first the left, then the right. His armor creaked softly as he brought his limbs through a wide range of motion. He stopped, satisfied, and nodded to himself with a small smile on his face.

"Looks like the arms are still attached. That's a good start."

Repeating the ridiculous ritual, he firmly planted his fists on his hips, and kicked out wildly with both legs. Swinging his feet in an arc, striking a pose, dropping into a lunge, and jumping to his feet, Marcus spent a full minute bouncing about like an overly excited child in a candy store. Only after a seemingly ambiguous standard of motion was achieved did he straighten up, the same small smile on his face.

"Legs are working fine too. Yep, I'm fine!"

He picked up his cape and blade, fixing them firmly about his shoulders with a flourish, and glanced around the room with a much more critical eye The drapery he had noticed earlier was surprisingly clean, given what he had been told when he arrived. Marcus stepped forward a few steps, trying to get closer and figure out why an abandoned castle would have clean hangings, when he heard a crunching noise from beneath his boots. Below his feet was a sea of sparkling glass, strewn about the marble floor. As Marcus looked up, he saw a chandelier hanging dangerously off-center from what looked like nothing at all.

Marcus blinked, rubbed his eyes, and stared hard up at the clear blue sky above him. A bird flew across the horizon. He followed it, until it disappeared behind a massive crack in the dome above. As Marcus noticed the crack he jumped, surprised by its garish appearance against the seemingly perfect vision. Eyes far wider than usual, Marcus reverently walked over to a seat against the wall. Noticing the chair didn’t seem too damaged, he sat down to rest. Fishing around in his vest, he pulled out a small metal pen with a worn nib, and a stained leather book. Marcus flipped through the many pages until he found his place, and began to write.

The hero stepped out of the shadows that had gripped him, sword blazing in the noonday sun like a ~~bar~~ ~~shaft~~ ~~blade~~ radiant beam of light, as he surveyed the field of battle before him. The stars lay strewn about his feet, fallen from a broken, marred heaven.
Enemies and victims alike were all around him. He knew they must work together to vanquish the villains, and triumph in the trial that had been set before them. “None shall stand in the way of Marcus ~~the Magnificent!~~ ~~The Mighty!~~ The Heroic!” he cried with vigor, as he charged into the fr-

Marcus whipped his head around, erupting from the chair. Holding his book in one hand, he reached for his sword, but couldn’t quite grasp it, and it clattered to the ground. He fumbled his book trying to catch his precious weapon and it followed the sword to the floor, leaving him standing awkwardly with both his prized possessions lying before him.

Marcus bit back a curse, collected his belongings, and moved to the entrance of the ballroom. Straining his ears, he could hear it down the corridor - the soft tapping of footsteps, growing ever closer. Brandishing his blade, emboldened at the thought of songs and legends, he called out down the open hallway to his left.

“Who goes there? Are you Friend or Foe?”, cried the young squire.

“Friend, I hope!” a soft voice echoed back, and he lowered his blade slightly, only to bring it back up immediately as a figure came into view.

Marcus stood there, blood pounding in his ears. The figure before him was strange- inhuman. Unnaturally pale skin and even paler white hair stood out in the gloom of the hallway. What little light filtered in from the ballroom caught the rubies below her eye, casting a malevolent, blood-red hue across her face. He next noticed the horns protruding from her head, and her crimson eyes flaring in the darkness like an unnatural predator.

The stories were true. Here he was, in a war-torn world, confronted with a beast from beyond his imagination; a demon of legend.

by quadrangledReality Thu Sep 10, 2015 3:16 pm

Luin sat on the throne in the room, silently, letting the shadows wrap around him with the help of his cuirass. He watched and listened to The Two talk among themselves, as they walked up the staircase. All he could really hear though was was about how everything had some sort of value of potential before the pair climbed out of earshot.

Then, he contemplated what to do. Of course, he didn't want to show himself to them just yet, as he needed information and what better way to get that than to listen to friends talk among themselves without a third party around. At least not a noticed third party around. And so he decided to follow them, but to remain hidden.

He climbed up the staircase and listened to footstep and conversation, flicking his ears a bit. Once satisfied in the direction, he followed quickly, but not so quick as to have his footsteps be heard. When he caught up enough to hear their conversation in detail, he overheard details on how all but the right gauntlet worked.

"Alright, so now they're planning on meeting up with some other people it seems? Should I follow? Yes, I suppose I shall, though, I'll have to find some way to reveal myself without suspicion, don't want 'sneaky creep who eavesdrops on others' to be my first impression" he thought to himself.

by Leviwulf Sat Sep 12, 2015 3:04 pm

Two hours. Eric had been lost in that damn staircase for two hours. At least it felt like two hours. Had it really been two hours? No that couldn't be right he just got to the castle a few minutes ago... right? If Eric had some sort of timekeeping device on him he'd know for sure but he hadn't thought to pack that in his kit, and none of his devices were capable of tracking time, why would he need to when had the sun?

Regardless he had spent a good amount of time on those stairs and still no one had shown up. You'd think with a staircase this big you'd be able to find a way out in no time, but no, every damn door just opened up to more stairs. Sometimes he could see himself through the doors, it's weird watching yourself walk into a doorway from far away. Eric had come across several demiplanes with a similar existence but this one seemed different. None of his dispelling artifacts had any effect, and the magic here felt odd. If his magic was oxygen, this magic was carbon dioxide. He couldn't bend it to his will like he normally would, and the whole place felt like it was draining him.

After some time passed Eric sat down and gave up his eternal trudge through the stairs. No use in wasting his energy climbing when he could be thinking of a way out. If these stairs were created by a wizard for use in his castle, there would have to be a way out, in case he trapped himself in the room. No wizard creates an entirely inescapable spell, that's fools work. There's always a secret to rooms like these, and if anyone would figure it out it'd be Eric. That's when he heard it in the distance.

"To ensure your secrecy, I recommend that you remain quiet while we are in contact with others, Rarie."

Someone else had entered the stairs. He hadn't been paying attention and he had missed his chance to escape. Idiot. He wasn't going to miss his chance, he picked up his bag and pulled his Locator out. Quickly scanning the room he found what he was looking for, a bright blue blur moving its way up the stairs. As he attempted to follow the blur he found the doors on the stairs more cooperative. It seemed that with a goal in mind the stairs took him where he wanted to be. As he scanned more of the room he noticed more blurs. One other seemed to be following the source of the powerful technology, although he was faint, as though he wasn't carrying anything of interest, and another was higher in the room, almost completely dull, but obviously the intended location of this meetup.

Eric wasn't sure what he was going to do once he found the others. It seemed like there was an intended goal to this game but he wasn't interested in playing, but right now he might just have to if he wanted to survive. If he could get his hands on that bright blue blur, he might just have a chance. Something that technologically advanced could give him an upper hand, and if he couldn't... Well he still had a few tricks up his sleeve.

READ THIS:

by TheTJ Wed Sep 16, 2015 1:55 am

Brett waited until the second the Ghost Girl had turned her back to make his move. He made a concentrated effort, focusing his will power on a small spot on his forehead, until a tiny dot of pure darkness appeared there. It quickly began to grow until it completely covered his face, and then spread over the rest of his body. In short order Brett appeared to be nothing more than a free-standing silhouette. He moved quickly into the darkest corner of the small library he was standing in a pressed into the shadow. As he did so he flattened out where he press until he would have been seen as a two-dimensional outline of himself to anyone who would be able to pick him out from the shadow he stood in.

He was about to press through into Shadow-space proper when he threw one last look over his nearly non-existent shoulder at the Ghost Girl. she had stepped out of the library into a circular room with what appeared to be a spiral staircase leading down in its center. She was looking down over the railing surrounding the top of the stairway and her head was moving as though she was watching something climb the stairs. Interesting... Brett thought to himself as he turned himself around. [/i]Let's see where this leads...[/i]

The decision to stay and watch was not a light one. While he stayed on the brink of shadow and shadow-space Brett was relatively vulnerable. He had basically made himself a part of the shadow he stood in, and if someone were to shine a flashlight in that corner, or a flash of lightning were to blast through a window illuminating him, the shadow would be temporarily destroyed. The effect this would have on Brett would be to force him out into 3 dimensional space, strip his shadow form away from himself, and disorient him to a dangerous degree in a delicate situation. It also hurt like hell. The Benefit to staying on this side was that he didn't need to hold his breath as he would in Shadow-space and could see and hear everything clearly. Enough years working with Vinnie had prepared him for taking risks like these, so he calmly settled back to watch.

--------------------

Step watched the Robed figure climbing the stairs toward her until he was nearly at the top. She backed off a step or two as he climbed the top of the stairs and faced her.

OK, what is this guys story? He was some kinda peace guy right? That's what the Executive said. "L-something the peace-something something." Should be a cakewalk.

They stared at each other for a short while until the Robed Man nodded his head deeply enough to almost be mistaken for a short bow. Step took it as a signal to start her barrage

"You're Lazlo right? Dig the robes, very you. Must be a pain when ya gotta go though, huh? Do ya lift them up, or do ya hafta take them off? I guess there could be a zipper or some flap or sumthin' but I don't see any. Oh yeah, yer here ta kill me, right?"

The Robed figure didn't miss a beat however and when Step stopped pressing him with questions he calmly replied. "Greetings Miss 'Step Lively', my name is Lazi. I thank you for the compliment on my robes, and I am not here to fight but rather to suggest we work together."

Just as she thought, another alliance. If this kept up should could ally herself with everyone in the whole thing and let them take care of each other. but that's no reason not to give this guy a hard time.

"I dunno Larry, me and my friend in that room over there-" she gestured behind herself into the apparently empty library. "-have gotten pretty dang close over the past couple of minutes. Tell ya what, you convince him you wanna team up and you got it."

There was a significant pause as the robed figure focused on the room behind her and then back. "Begging your pardon ma'am, but there does not appear to be anybody in that room."

Step almost let the surprise show on her face but caught herself at the last instant. That Brett guy must have something that let him leave another way. Well, maybe this could still be spun.

Step turned around and looked into the room as well. "Whaddya mean, Harvey's standin' right there, clear as day!" She swept an arm towards the room to indicate someone standing there, as if it were plainly obvious. "C'mere Harv, wanna talk to ya."

She waited a second as if someone were walking towards her and threw an arm over the "Shoulder" of someone about 6 feet tall. She then stood on her toes and cupped her other hand over her mouth and gave a stage whisper "So what do you think? This Louis guy, he cool enough to join?"

She then carefully unwrapped her arm from around Harvey's Shoulder, crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and nodded sagely as if listening to good advice. She peeked every now and again over to Lazi who stood there as if this were a completely normal situation.

If that was how it was going to be, Step was going to have to pull out the big guns. She didn't like walking through people too much, mostly because of the ick factor, but that one NEVER failed to get a reaction.

She stopped nodding as if Harvey had finished talking and looked at Lazi. "OK Lonny, Harv says yer a bit stuck up, but otherwise all right. We can team-up." And began to walk forward holding out her hand as if to shake on it. They were a few steps apart so she had to walk a short ways to meet him. When she was close she pretended to trip over her own feet and sent herself falling towards Lazi/ Let's see you shrug THIS off! she thought to herself, preparing to make her hands solid to catch herself on the floor on the other side of the Robed Buzzkill.

Lazi didn't blink. He made a few smooth gestures with his hand and stirred up a small whirlwind directly in front of Step. Had she been a normal girl this would have undoubtedly caught her and lifted her into an upright position as was likely his intent. But she was mostly intangible at the moment except for her feet and the small whirlwind picked her up like a piece of paper and threw her at the wall behind her. She nearly went through it, prepared to call the whole encounter a loss, until she remembered the messed up gravity. If she went through that wall she might end up outside again, or who knows where, and be sent flying all over the place. Better to bite the bullet now and...

Step made most of herself solid, leaving only her head and hat intangible to avoid concussion. She unfortunately kept most of her momentum and slammed into the wall with considerable force. She slid to the floor in a sitting position and after catching her breath managed to say ".....ow."

--------------------

Brett had to fight to keep from laughing during most of their encounter. Now that he wasn't the subject of her attentions he could see the Steps game. If he hadn't been so concerned with making an alliance with as many people as possible from the start he probably would have enjoyed a bit of verbal sparring with the kid. Plus, he now knew that this Lazi guy wasn't looking for a fight either, which was always useful information.

Brett continued to watch the two talking (Or rather, Step talking at Lazi) and tried to glean any info he could. When Lazi used that whirlwind ability Brett winced in sympathy for the kid and made a mental note "Watch out for the robe guys wind powers, they pack a punch".

Since Step had been blown clear of the doorway Brett could no longer see her and his focus was on Lazi. Lazi stood still for a moment then rushed to help Step up, apologizing as he went. When he moved Bretts focus moved past him and into the shadows on the far side of the circular room outside of the library. In those shadows Brett saw, for just a second, the gleaming eyes of a large cat.

His blood ran cold. He thought frantically. The Executive had said something about the cat person. He was a thief? Did he have the same shadow powers? Could he see into shadows? Oh God, could he see into shadows?

Is he watching me right now?

Brett's nerve broke. He took a deep breathe, spun around, pushed into Shadow-space, and RAN.

Read this:

by Zerovirus Thu Sep 17, 2015 5:20 pm

Leviwulf wrote:
READ THIS:

Spoiler:

by Akerlyn Thu Sep 17, 2015 11:08 pm

A truly curious being, he thought. Lazi was not unfamiliar to ghosts, they were always a common problem for small villages. Although many were simply stories that were blown out of proportion, not all stories are false. Though he has never met a ghost that could become physical nor a human having the intangibility of a ghost. "My apologies, Miss Step," Lazi said as he rushed to the poor girl's body he through across the room. He understood why her presence was so different now, but he never would have thought she had such a unique ability. Lazi quickly pulled out a vial from his robes. A green liquid was housed inside, with some specks of pulp from the herbs used to create it.
"Allow me to tend to that injury, this medicine will keep you from bruising and heal any internal damage."

"What is that gross stuff?!" Step yelled as she swatted Lazi's vial from him, "I don't know what your game is Llama, but don't try anything funny." She figured she should try to give up on this guy, he doesn't seem very fun to mess with. Maybe he doesn't realize she could go intangible? She didn't think he was that dumb, but maybe he is? It doesn't matter, she thought, the bottom line was that guy didn't seem to get phased by anything. Which meant he was no fun to mess with, she just needed to get away from this weirdo and find some one more entertaining.
"I do not wish for you to sustain any injuries from my negligence, if you do not want the medicine I understand, however i do ask that you carry it with you should you start feeling any pain." Lazi stated as he pulled another vial out from his robes.
Another one? This guy is made of this crap, I guess. Before Step could refuse she saw someone move out of the corner of her eye. She instantly shot up, with vial in hand, thinking it was Brett trying to run away. Before she could get a word out though she fell back onto the wall as her vision clouded. Maybe I did hit that wall to hard. Her body was still catching up with her, but by the time her vision came back the robed man was standing next to her with his arm out ready to catch her if she fell.
"A physical body does not adjust to sudden changes in momentum well. Even if you can turn into a ghost, you should not stand up too fast after such a blow." Lazi turned his gaze from Step to the man who as joined them on this particular staircase. "Greetings, as you probably know I am Lazi, it is a pleasure to meet you..."

"Eric, and the pleasure is mine." It was one of these two Eric thought, one of these two had a powerful piece of technology. It was pretty simple to guess who had the item he was searching for. Though he didn't know what kind of tech the robed man had, all he had to do was wait and it would be revealed to him. Though he didn't see the robed man as much of a threat, he is clearly hiding something, but instead of having him be a powerful enemy later he could make a powerful ally now. "I can see you two are pretty friendly. Is there a possibility that we could also be allies?"

"I see no reason to decline, Erik. I would be glad to work with you rather then agains-"
Well if they are going to get all chummy with each other, I will take that as my cue to leave Step went completely intangible and decided to head down the staircase and get away from both of them, though the new guy was tempting. However before she could take the step through Lazi's arm, she bumped into it.
A bright light flashed from the contact of Step and Lazi, throwing the intangible Step into the air and knocking Lazi down and an amethyst necklace onto the ground in front of him. Step quickly made her body tangible again to keep from flying into that weird gravity, however she was now between Erik and Lazi.

by Vivienne Vexx Mon Sep 21, 2015 9:47 am

Victoriana set forth into the castle doors as she pondered who, or what she could possibly run into in here. Best case would be another participant that would be willing to team up with her. At least then it would be possible to deal with this situation easier if there was someone around who wouldn't mind killing the others so she can. While she was walking through the many corridors of the castle she came to an open room when she suddenly heard someone calling out to her.

"Friend, I hope!"

A voice inside her head let out a soft chuckle as Victoriana entered the room as she saw a human figure standing even taller than herself and covered in green near the middle of the room. To show that she means no ill intent, she held up her hands away from her weapons. But it produced little results as the green knight kept his sword right where it was.

"I don't want to fight because I can be your friend, just put down the sword and we can work together."

The Green One, still holding his sword still in its place as he retorted quickly.

"A demon is no friend of mine! Your trickery and deceit will not fool me today!"

Victoriana's eyes flickered with a hint of anger as he spoke.

"See? He doesn't even want to be friends so just kill him already!"

"Don't listen to him, Victoriana. you can use him to kill the others instead just like you already planned. It'll be much more helpful in the end."

She gritted her teeth at that last comment but continued on with the conversation.

"Have you ever stopped and think why many of the demons you hear about do what we do?"

She stepped forward as she spoke.

"We do it because that is our nature. never ending voices in our heads telling us to kill, lie, cheat, manipulate and every other kind of action you can picture that would make living a normal life increasingly difficult. We do it because a very big majority of demons either don't want to or can't fight against our own nature. I am not one of those people. I've spent all my life since I was 17 learning to fight against everything that makes a demon a demon and I am not like the others you've seen before."

The two voices in Victoriana's head exploded into laughter at the last part.

"Sure! You've learned to fight us, that's why you were beating the shit out of a guy right before we got teleported away."

"While I admire your dedication to your falsified history, you're nowhere near done listening to us. And you won't be for the rest of your life."

"Shut up!"

She blushed slightly from embarrassment as she realized she just shouted that out loud. Quickly she tried to regained her composure and looked back to the Green Knight.

"...As I said, we have never ending voices in our heads."

"My name is Victoriana, and I would plead to you that you consider my offer of friendship coming from another living being that only wants to do what's right instead of your typical weak willed demon."

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