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Jail break

Started by majortom, November 05, 2016, 03:01:00 PM

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majortom

Disgusting...that was the only thought that came to his mind as he saw the dead men laying on the sands. Freshly dead, and their horses as well.. Not disgust for the death of course, oh no. Disgust that they had tried to stop his great work. He stepped carefully around the corpses, he looked to the horizon for any more signs that he might be interrupted. That was something he could not have. His masters had been calling to him, instructing him, for far to long now. The device had been reconstructed finally. He lowered the hood from his cloak, his beard was long and grey, and his head was decorated with thin whisps of hair sporadically placed and a bare scalp. His black cloak dragged the ground now as he took a few more steps forward and squatted down. He placed what looked like a simple stone cube on the sand in front of him. His joints creaked as he stood up straight again. A smile came over his face and he took a deep breath before he began.

Kataroe had been making his way to Essyrn, he had hoped that the environment there might be a little more to his liking. He hoped that maybe he could manage to find some work there. He had been directed there during his time on the planes. The sunlight didn't agree with his fair skin, he had to keep himself covered in a black cloak while he was roaming about during daylight hours. He kept a hood over his head to shade his face and his eyes. He had been staying in one of the small settlements he had thankfully stumbled across. He had heard rumors that drew him from his current path though. Rumors of a man traveling by himself through the desert. An old man who stank of dark magic and was found talking to himself, or to some unseen presence. Apparently he had frequently repeated 'my master'. The rumors also stated that he had been assembling some artefact that was going to set something free. Of course said rumors also stated that everyone who encountered the old man died. If there were no survivors then how could the rumors have started though? He had shrugged off the rumors at first.

The man had begun chanting, words spewing out faster and faster. The words began to lose their semblance to human language and began changing into something the man did not appear to have the anatomy for. The sky was turning black, the air was buzzing with energy. Everything was going according to plan. He raised his hands before him, sparks arcing between his fingertips. His voice grew louder and louder and then he stopped. Thunder rolled and lightning danced in the churning clouds above. Then there was a sound that came from in front of the man, but it's source wasn't visible. It sounded like banging, something pounding on a heavy wooden door. We are here...we are close...use it!The old man smiled and crouched down again to the stone block, remaining on his knees this time. He picked it up in is wrinkled hands and turned the top of it slowly. A rune lit up on each side of the cube, all glowing bright blue.

Kataroe had listened to the rumors for a few days, still laughing them off as simple superstition. That was until the night he was getting ready to leave, to make for the next settlement bringing him closer to his goal of making it to the desert city. He saw a figure walking slowly through the sands. He was hunched, a long beard blowing in the wind. Kataroe took a moment and opened up his sight. That's when he decided that maybe their was something to the rumors. His aura was black, a toxic shade of green, and it left a trail much like that of a snail. He shut his sight down just before the man turned toward him. He was indeed old. He was to far away to make out fine details, despite that Kataroe was certain that he smiled at him before continuing on. Kataroe chewed on the inside of his lip for a moment and decided he needed to follow him. Maybe he did have some sort of master's he was serving, maybe he did have some sort of interesting device. It sounded very much like if he had said device that he didn't need to have it and such a device might be something that he could use or sell. He looked up to see where the man was headed but he was gone now. He started stuffing food into his pack and filling his waterskins.


The man made a few more twists and turns of the glowing cube and it sort of opened. The middle seemed to retract in while the corners pushed out. Then a button rose from one of the sides. The man held the cube out and pushed it. A beam of light shot forward 20 or so feet before stopping and spreading out into a line. The smell of ionizing air filled the area quickly, and a high pitched humming sound started to grow louder and louder. The the light and noise suddenly stopped and the cube returned to it's normal state rather abruptly. "No! I assembled it correctly, I know I did!" The man's attention was on the cube but for a moment when suddenly a giant gash opened up before him. Hot dry air blew past his face, there was fire and the sounds of screams spewing forth, and the vile smell of decay and excrement. From this gash a humanoid form stepped forward calmly. His boots were brought to a high polish, his pants were creased, and he wore a simple black coat. He walked forward to the man who was bowing to him now, his face pressed into the sand, groveling. "I'm impressed, you actually managed to pull it off." He pushed a hand through his black hair and took in a big breath. "You could have found a place that felt a little less like home though." He reached down and took the cube from the old man slipping it into his pocket. "Now stand for your reward." The seemingly much younger man motioned for the other to stand.

"M-m-master. I apologize for the inhospitable conditions here." He kept his head bowed as he stood. "No-no reward is necessary, knowing that I served you well is enough." The younger man nodded and frowned a little before his lips snapped into a smile, showing off a set of exceptionally white teeth.

"I see...Well you have my thanks." His hand shot forward, his fingers piercing the old man's belly. He hooked them into the muscle fibers and started to pull. "And my gratitude"

"Gah! You...forsake me?" The man groaned. There was an unpleasant popping sound, coupled with the sound of wet meat hitting the ground as muscle fibers broke and intestines and blood hit the ground. The man shook his bloody hand before wiping it off on the old man's robe as he fell to the ground.

"I am." He said simply and began to walk away. He turned toward the gash and whistled. Fire and shadows spewed forth and scattered for a moment before being replaced again with the hot air and screams. He smiled and then continued to walk away, the tear now slowly beginning to close.

Kataroe had been tracking the trail through the dunes but he never managed to catch up. If he'd had anywhere to go other than that previous settlement he probably would have turned around but until he started running low on supplies he wasn't going to do that. If that old man had managed it he could too. He stopped for a moment, the air was charged. He didn't need to fire up his sight to know that something was going on. He broke from his trot into a run now. He topped a dune in enough time to watch the scar open in the air. That was a familiar sight, a portal had opened up. There was a pause before the hot air and screams reach him. He backed down the dune some and watched. He couldn't make out what happened after the portal had closed, only that several things had escaped. He made his way over the dune in time to see a figure laying on the ground and another one walking away, quickly disappearing into the dunes. He took some time and pulled an orange from his pack that he peeled as he walked down the dune. He finished the orange before he got to the bottom. He stepped around the horsemen and the old man, that's when he was grabbed by the ankle. He quickly jerked his leg away and turned, drawing his sword in one fluid motion.

"He's free...he killed me, I freed them and he killed me." He coughed, blood spilling out over his chin. As his body went limp.  Kataroe sheathed his blade and leaned down, shaking the man by the shoulder. He shook his head. That wasn't any help at all. He fired up his sight again and looked in the direction the other man had began walking. He had certainly left a trail as well, but it vanished before it even got out of sight, fire hanging in the air.

ValamLym

A cold day in hell, that's what it was. Nothing exciting seemed to happen and Nymiria felt an unwelcome calm settle over her body. It was almost alien to her, her job normally never this quiet. She quietly watched as imps were forced to fight one another to the death, it was a bloody sport, but imps were the lowest of the lowest and actually enjoyed killing one another.

She didn't give it much thought, but in the back of her head a certain feeling kept nagging her. Something was amiss, at-least, that's what the feeling made her believe, truly though; she figured it was because she didn't like being this dormant.

The calm was quickly disturbed by heavy metal boots thumping down the metallic stairs behind her and the sudden gasps of surprise that followed. A lord had personally arrived. ''Lord Belial.. I never expected you to show personally.'' Nymiria spoke simply, not even turning to look at the lord simply petting one of her hounds whom had all huddled in a circle around her.

The lord didn't seem particularly offended, or concerned at all as he stepped closer, taking a seat on the opposite side of her on a pile of dead imps. He looked far less human then she did, scales covering every ounce of his body and bright glowing red eyes fixated on her emerald. ''Someone escaped.'' he added pointedly, an annoyed expression on his face. Nymiria finally cocked her head up, looking the demon straight in the eye ''How does that warrant a personal visit?'' she asked curiously. ''He got help from the outside. Meaning something was used that should not be in mortal hands.'' he wanted to continue, but was promptly interrupted by Nymiria ''And you want me to retrieve it.'' he nodded ''Not only that, but the council wants blood. Mortal blood, you're going in without restrictions.'' the last few words made Nymiria smirk from ear to ear and promptly stand up ''Consider it done.'' With a short nod, the Lord got up and promptly left, knowing full well that Nymiria didn't need instructions on how to get there, or where to go. Her hounds would figure all that out.

Mere moments later, in the mortal realm the fabric of reality had begun falling apart once more. Nymiria stepped out, leather boots slipping into the sand. She gazed around while her hounds came through the portal, gathering around her. They quickly found something, although not demonic in origin. A man, alone? Perhaps he held whatever it is that got the Lords so riled up. She noted another figure however, long deceased.

She quickly flapped her wings, landing harshly on the sands near the man, staring at him with her firey green eyes. ''You have something that doesn't belong to you.'' she spoke almost accusingly ''I assume you're also the one who free'd  that other one?'' she highly doubted anyone could pass up on such an artifact, especially humans in their almost suicidal pursuit for power.

''Hand it over.'' she didn't seem immediately concerned with tracking her target as she preferred to go at her objectives one by one. Her hounds would find the other target easily, what with his smell of fire.

majortom

Kataroe was pilfering through the old man's robes. He found a few daggers, one of which had a wave blade, probably ceremonial. He also found a piece of parchment with words scrawled on it along with several small diagrams of some sort of cube. He could only assume the cube was what he had been looking for but it was obviously not here. He was still looking when he felt the energy in the air, a portal was about to open. He slipped the paper into his pocket and made his way to his feet. He watched as a portal opened up farther away. He watched four figures come through the portal, three of them smaller and appearing to be some sort of beasts. He waited, he knew that he was unlikely to be able to outrun them right now and given the terrain he would have to bury himself in the sand to hide.

It didn't take long and she dropped down to the sand before him. Kataroe didn't speak for a moment, he didn't move. "It's nice to see that hell doesn't change much from world to world." He said quietly. He was referring to her appearance. It had been his experience that demons quite often fit their roles as tempters. She was intimidating of course, and it was a little off putting that her skin seemed to be writhing around but given a different circumstance he could see himself doing something stupid. Then again maybe it was just the green eyes that sucked him in. He was also referring to the fact that he was immediately being accused.

Kataroe put his hands up, the sleeves of his robe falling down  his arms, he spread his legs and took a large slow step to the side. "I don't have it, and neither does he." He motioned to the old man's corpse. "Although I'm guessing that he probably had it." He lowered his hand. He let his magic flow through him, resting in his muscles, ready to move quickly if he had to. He was fast normally, he didn't want to take any chances if this demon decided to fly off the handle. "Before he finished dying he said something about setting someone free and being killed by said someone."

Kataroe looked a little puzzled for a moment. "Just out of curiosity, would it make much sense for me to have still been here had I just helped something nasty escape hell? I'm assuming it was something nasty considering the extremely prompt response." He spread his arms out wide. "And wouldn't you be able to see or smell dark magic on me if I were the type to be doing such things?" His arms dropped again.

ValamLym

Nymiria narrowed her eyes as the man spoke, fiery green eyes fixated on his dark brown. She seemed relatively unconvinced by his words at first, pacing around him as she noted the magic seeping into his muscles. She smirked when he seemed finished, a fanged grin forming on her face. ''I do not take any chances.'' she simply stated, looking at the old man's corpse.

She didn't immediately respond to his inquiries, still debating whether she dispose of him or not. After all, she had been taught to teach whomever got in her way a lesson and she had, despite her immense power, no way of knowing whether he was lying or not. ''And you just happened to be here?'' the question finally broke the silence as her gaze shifted back to him, her massive flaming hounds surrounding him now.

''I can easily track the other one. But I do not yet know what I should do with you.'' she turned her attention back to the corpse. ''Perhaps he can tell me...'' she twirled her hand, fell energies forming in it as she pointed at the corpse, dark magic seeping into it and tracking the man's soul, only to drag it back to his body for aslong as Nymiria saw fit, the man would still feel the almost in human pain of his body but not be allowed to die. She seemed to ignore Kataroe for the moment, but her hounds still kept a sharp eye on him.

She stepped over to face the old man, lifting his head as she felt her own powers surge within his body. ''The artifact, where is it?'' she demanded ''Tell me or I will devour your soul and teach you suffering even immortals fear.''

majortom

Kataroe shook his head as he squatted down to the ground and took his pack from his shoulder. "Oh no, I didn't just so happen to be here." He started rummaging through it. "I was following that bastard. For an old man he sure seemed to move fast, never managed to catch up to him." He pulled out four pieces of dried meat, placing one in his mouth and giving a light toss to the remaining pieces in the direction of each of the hell hounds. "I thought that a cloaked man rambling on about releasing his master was just some desert folk being superstitious and paranoid, then I saw him." He tore a piece of the meat off and began chewing. "Aura so tainted I'm surprised he wasn't growing extra limbs, leaving a trail like slime all through the dunes." One last preparation in case she decided to attack, he charged his eyes, and the nerves connecting them to his brain. Extra speed and reflexes worked a whole lot better when you could see everything in slow motion.

He watched as the corpse started to twitch before it drew in a deep breath and breathed out in a scream. "You...you're here. He said that you would come, but you cant stop him!" The man's alternating screams and cackles grated on Kataroe's nerves. "Why do you think he needed my help?" Blood was pouring from his mouth. "Had to open a hole into his cell, one of the old fallen. He has it, he has the artifact." Kataroe continued chewing on the jerky, pulling a a waterskin from his side and took a drink.

"Shouldn't have ran so fast, we all would have been a lot better off." Kataroe mumbled tearing off another piece of jerky. He'd ran across fallen angels before, he could only assume that's what this man was referring to. If that was the case they were nasty business. Nothing he hadn't stared down before, albeit not alone. He looked back to the demon, that would present a problem. She wouldn't want him to have that artifact. He really only needed to use it twice, once to go get some things, and again to get back here, or somewhere else at least. That was a bridge he could cross later. For now though he was finally starting to have fun.

ValamLym

Nymiria simply listened to the old man's story, simply ignoring Kataroe for the moment. Eventually, when he told her the artifact was in the other guy's possession she lifted her boot and plainly crushed the old man's skull into a puddle of brain matter and blood. ''That's enough out of you. Go burn for your sins.'' she simply stated turning her attention back to Kataroe, who was apparently eating at a time like this.

She would never understand mortals and their odd senses of timing. Though, she wasn't going to complain about it, she had much bigger concerns. ''I assume you know nothing of the creature he had free'd?'' she inquired coldly, her snake like tail swishing behind her back idly. She pondered herself why a fallen angel of all things would want to incur the wrath of hell, they of all should know it is inescapable. Or perhaps this one was vain enough to believe that he could in fact escape judgement. At-least he was making her day a bit more interesting through his foolishness.

Once more her attention was fixated on Kataroe. ''I still have trouble believing you just ''happened'' to be here, but the fact that you do not have the artifact makes me spare your life. For now.'' she then turned her attention to her hounds, who immediately understood and began sniffing out the individual, not by scent, but by the magical residue he left behind. A trace that could not be erased.  ''Find him.'' she stated and her hounds dashed off, she herself didn't wait long and began to follow them.

majortom

Kataroe swallowed his mouthful of jerky and uncorked his waterskin again, taking another pull from it before placing it back into his back. "Old fallen? I'm assuming that would be in reference to a fallen angel. I'm familiar with what that is." He wiped his mouth. "But I'm not sure if you noticed but I'm not really from this...hell probably this universe most likely, so if you are wanting specifics I don't have them." He picked up his pack and slung it over his shoulder. "Haven't exactly been around long enough to take in the mythology, between trying to make sure I stay fed and not dying of exposure."

"I told you I didn't just happen to be here. I was tracking that little slug through the desert." He gestured toward toward the body. Now he had to think of how he was going to get that artifact before she did, and better yet, how he was going to find the damn thing. His head perked up when he noticed the hounds moving. Of course he also had another problem. How he was going to keep her and her hounds from killing him. He cringed a little as she started following her devil dogs.

Kataroe took in a breath and started following after her. "So, more than one thing jumped out of that portal just so you know, and they kind of just scattered." She would be able to find the big nasty with the artifact. A whole lot easier than he would be. As far as he could tell the guys trail vanished somewhere in the distance. Not turned or went out of sight, just vanished. Hopefully the hounds didn't just happen to stop there, that would probably make for a bad day for everyone.

ValamLym

''I do not care from where you come, it is not my concern nor my problem.'' she simply stated, a tone of disinterest in her voice.

When the man began following Nymiria she barely even turned to address him, clearly unconcerned with what he decided to do or not. ''My duty is to slay the one and reclaim the artifact. The rest is not my concern.'' she simply stated as her hounds continued to plow a path through the sand, their capabilities of smelling magic and the like allowing them to easily track the fallen angel even if he thought himself hidden.

While her hounds tracked on Nymiria was contemplating the man's motivations. He could pose a problem later, so the thought of eliminating him right here and right now became more and more overwhelming. As such, she finally partially turned her head and gave him one last chance to convince her ''What are you really after?'' she stopped dead in her tracks, turning to face him. ''Playing coy with a demon like myself is very foolish, so spit it out if you value your life.'' her eyes remained as neutral as always, but her words vibrated with that same fatality with which she had spoken to the old man, giving him his ultimatum.


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