You feel air rush into your lungs. Breathing, that's something you haven't had to do for a while. It burns like life often does. Black is all you see as you remember that you used to own eyes. You open them and see a room. The walls are covered in trinkets and tapestries, Arcane symbols can be seen on the ceiling if front of you. You try to move, to stretch your aching muscles. You find that you can't, your arms are restrained , your legs as well. You look to your sides and find that there are 4 others in a similar predicament as you. All of them are unconscious, straining against their bonds as if stuck in a bad dream. You crook your head forward and at the end of your toes you see a beautiful woman sitting behind a desk writing. She has blood red hair strewn about her body wildly. Dressed in a barely there white gown she looks up and smiles at you. You catch a glimpse of white feathered wings attached to her back. She keeps smiling, a smile you know well, an evil grin....
Welcome, I'll be right with you all
She goes back to writing.
...whats this?..an angel?..hah!..as if...theres no way i wouldve made it to anywhere with no angels...
AS he sucked in that painfully sweet first breaths a thousand things went through Sicsivicus's mind. None of them particularly good. He knew he was alive again and that was good he supposed. It was what he promised so it came as no big surprise...but what are the terms?.. There were definitely terms or he wouldnt be restrained. He tested his bonds and was overjoyed at the strength of his new body. He wondered idly what else he was capable of.
Hey! Anyone else awake?
LIFE! Finally the curse is broken. You have failed Meraxes, I'm baaaack!
Merran stretches against his bonds testing their strength, cataloging the sensations as they come in. He takes in the luscious Eyrines sitting at the desk. "Take your time darling. I'm ready when you are." he says with a wink. Used to be served by her kind hand and foot. Now one's got me tied up. How ironic. Merran can feel that his power is greatly diminished from what it once was. He has lost hundreds of lifetimes of work, and isn't exactly in the best mood.
Looking over at the orc he says "I'm awake sweetie. What's the matter? Scared of the dark?"
Minds seed install complete 100% activation
Body Arches and breath comes, body slams back into the hard bed.
Then the mind fills with the 1000s of lives lived,
eyes shoot open and coming into being is released.
"I am them, I am other I am the jest of the mind
The killing joke, The Harlequin"
Awaken proprioception faculties to understand from.
Knowledge Planes
"Elf and female from the smell, it has been some time"
"Face uncovered, this will not do"
Mind moves and a cloth on a table moves over and lands on her face covering the lower half so others can not see it.
[occ]5pp spend on power[/occ] PSI focus in now on.
Concentration to show now signs of her doing any thing to make this happen DC15, made.
"Two other voices, and a fallen angel, well well, let the jest begin"
"O yes we are, and we have been looking at this ceiling thinking to ourselves... it could do with a lick of point, and yourselfs, may one ask?
Nonplussed by the sarcastic reply; he figured the others with him would be of similar temperment as himself. He had no idea what the other one was saying though so ignored it for the moment.
Scared of the dark? Hah! Not all. Just testing this voice. The names...what should it be this time?..no attachments to the past...ah, I got it...Sicsivicus.
"A name freely offered deserves a reply. You may call me M for now." Merran replies to the Orc. "And you miss elf, what shall we call you?"
"We only ever have one name we 'The Harlequin', My new Felis silvestris catus friend, and our fellow here Mr Orc, it seems we have all just been given life once more, meat once more. From the looks of the Arcane trappings of the necromatic Laboratory, yes we meet as meat once more. If my nose did not know better I would say we are on a prime as well"
Knowledge Arcane
The Harlequin dos no struggle or fight at the bonds holding it in place, all things come to they that wait. It closes its eyes and a world of possibilities swim by as it go's over the mind it has blended with.
I moments it has all of the elfs life and knows all it knows.
"Some one has taken great care to pick a body that would be of most used for its MEME form, some one has plans. This means they wish this body to be used for some thing other than viviseaction. I do hope they do not try and play with my mind, It would make awful mess of this room"
Breathing his first breath after a unknown time has passed. It seems eather i died or someone found my back up plan sooner then i thought. and wanted to exparement.
taking a look around he sees that there are other body's tied up and the one with wings, as well as the arcane markings
hmm seems that there are others in here as well, and it looks like one of my old experiment tables is what we are all on. interesting to be on the other side of the knife.
No need to rush getting to us we will be lying around for some time. what is wrong with my voice, it should not sound like this
tronath starts to test his body out and finds it longer and stronger then his old form. As well as the fact that he is missing two of his arms.
this is odd it seems i am in some sort of human blooded form, much stronger then my old body, but with a little bit of experimenting i can push its limits to what is possible, oh that will be fun. but first i need my arms back, they might not have come with me to this new form but i will get them back.
M you say? Then M it is and then the Harlequin and another man with a new voice. Is that all of us here then?
The deep timbre of his voice echoes through the chamber.
Call me Tronath, and when do i get my arms back any way
"Look at us all Tarts on the tray, freshly baked, I wonder what the Queen of harts wants to do with us"
To no one the Harlequin says.
"Fiery the Angels fell, as they fell did deep thunder roll'd, Around the shores,
indignant burning with the fires of night,
And fallen Angels cried aloud as they flew thro' the dark night, all is lost, all out of sight.
He cried: Why trembles honesty and like a murderer,
Why seeks he refuge from the frowns of his immortal station!
Must the generous tremble & leave his joy, to the idle: to the pestilence!
That mock him? who commanded this? what God? what Angel!
To keep the gen'rous from experience till the ungenerous
Are unrestraind performers of the energies of nature;
Till pity is become a trade, and generosity a science,
That men get rich by, & the sandy desart is giv'n to the strong
What God is he, writes laws of peace, & clothes him in a tempest
What pitying Angel lusts for tears, and fans himself with sighs."
She looks over at the lady with wings.
"yes, Now what pitying Angel would lust for tears?"
"That's rather deep Harley, did you write it yourself?" Merran asks the poetry spouting elven woman.
"Who can say if we write words or words write us, Monsieur Pussycat M"
She looks at M with her covered face and ship eyes
"Black panther from the jungle deep
will tear you down with lash and leap,
will gnaw your flesh or eat you whole,
spit out the bones, and sear your soul."
She lays back once more.
Laanrah opens her eyes, the last thing she remembers is that battle in the jungle against the enemy tribal confederation. She was winning, her followers have driven off the enemy and the counter-offensive started against their capital where their flying snake-god hid, then suddenly darkness, a feel of moving, transportation, most likely magical, or otherworldly.
She tries to move the least possible as she looks around quietly. She is a prisoner, her body aches in all places. Ah yes, and she is naked, naked just like all the other prisoners restrained around her. She feels that she is weaker than before, for some reason her body feels as if it was twisted, or broken up and puzzled together again. Laanrah notices that her instincts activated her soul cloak (Unaligned ability) long ago, possibly at the time of transportation.
She watches the ...thing before her. It looks like an angel, smells like a demon, reeks of divine power, and has an aura of ...something. Laanrah remains quiet, and consider the chances to transform and fly away, or to defeat the entity bare handed. Her chances weren't good, especially once Laanrah noticed she is unable to turn into a dragon or a bird.
"Arr the last of out troop is awake, shall we ask her name, because we sniff godness"
Laanrah acts as if she didn't hear anything and would still be unconscious. However, the jailor is sure to look at what is going on due to the talking.
Merran responds to Harley's poem with one of his own, "Little elf dressed as a clown, behind her jester's raiment hid. Servants moving not alive, doing as she bid. Laughs and giggles, terror hides. While she crawls in your insides. The terrible, Harley-Quin." As he finishes he gives her a wink.
"Arr the last of out troop is awake, shall we ask her name?"
wile she waits she used the power sustenance, 3pp to replenish her body.
Then she starts memoriesing the contents of the room she can see.
- Autohypnosis
The Harlequin - You remember this plane, you remember seeing it from a distance as you got closer and closer. You remember that many have told you to avoid this place, you came here anyways. It is known by some as Earth, others as "the World of Peace", and still more as dangerous.
Tronath - The design is a biscected triangle with a circle around it. multiple spirals filled with arcane symbols shoot from the outer edge of the circle. You recognize some as conjuration power symbols.
As the Harlequin finishes her poem, and asks of angels you can all see a smile and hear a low chuckle from the woman at the desk. She listens to the two other poems as well as the sound of the final person waking. She stops her quill and closes her book. Her eyes travel between each of you deep green with a hint of sarcasm. When she speaks it is carried by the wind to be whispered softly into your ear.
Welcome to life. I hope you will all be enjoying the body I have provided for you. If you feel it is inadequate feel free to slit your throat and go back to wherever you were previous.
As she says this the bonds all release. If you get up you notice a dagger hidden beneath your legs. It seems completely mundane. She waits for just a moment before speaking again.
I'm sure you are all quite a bit curious as to why I have not clothed you, or where you are, or how I stay so beautiful with old age, or why you have a tail. I am here for you, do not worry I have information, I have friends, we will get you what you need. You are naked to prove a point. All 5 of you are some seriously evil muthas. You must trust each other if you wish to succeed here. As to where here is that is a simple answer.
You have been summoned here to help me with a little task. This world has been out of balance for almost 2 millennium. The powers that be have used coercion, diplomacy, and in the distant past incredible force to shape this world into something awe inspiring. This place is populated by nothing but free, peaceful, GOOD natured individuals. You five here are the only source of proper Evil thinking left. I have brought you here to help turn the tides, to work at the edges of this affliction of Peace until we can strike the heart and bring Evil back to these people lives. It's quite despicable how they live now, no inspiration is left, no strife to spark the greatest of poems, no murder to create fear and the oh so wonderful chemicals experienced while running from the darkness. These things are missing, and I believe you are the perfect people to usher in a new paradigm. Now are there any questions?
"Your Name." Laanrah spoke the first time. With a strong, feminine voice. Not too demanding, just to the point and factual.
If this entity was able to take her here, then it must already know their own names including hers, this puts Laanrah at a disadvantage.
"True name." Not that the emphasis will be of any use, the entity can lie if it wants anyway.
Laanrah took a good look at the thing, it looked living, breathing, somehow mortal, but also with a divine spark that granted it a beauty similar to that of Laanrah's, unlike her the thing may be truly divine, or a child of two immortals even if not a god. The first thing Laanrah compared it to was a succubus, even though that shouldn't be it.
She continued to look at the entity, watching its every move just as a trapped tiger would look at its captor, looking for the best moment to get free or retaliate, or both. Laanrah didn't care that she was naked, her beauty was just another tool for her to be used, feeling shame or other nonsense was far from her.
In the silence after the demand for a name, the Harlequin says with a smile.
"Slit my throat, how messy, but temping, we would not like to be... played with."
My name is Espressora, though I have been known by other names. "The witch", being my favorite.
Just as awaited, the name didn't sound true, "The Witch" felt more true. Laanrah didn't know about his world, nor did she care about it, but it was an opportunity to be free again, and everything else can come after that.
She looked at the thing, for some reason it reminded Laanrah of herself. That was a bad thing, she was in the clutches of a predator, an entity used to being dominant, with a calculating mindset and an unknown true agenda. Something lesser entities tend to worship, crown their ruler, or declare a saint or demon.
The Harlequin looks at the room and then the others,
"The Human Female is pondering, she looks scared poor thing, like a cat in a cage, and talking of cats, what will the black one do with a witch to call him familiar, better play out this act, I know this place now, its the ascent of hers".
"We did not come here before, because Sol prime is a place much warned about, I wonder if you really understand what we being here really means?"
This is said as if to herself/I/them
She carries on
"Would you like to hear a joke?, Throughout the militvers there are stories, in every culture with belief in good and evil. That a good god or gods made evil to test the faithful. That the bad things that happen from the mondain to the spectacular only happen so that the good can shine through the bad. Now your thinking but where is the joke in that?, The joke is..."
"the opposite is also true"
She lays back.
"Is that not the most sublime of jests, Espressora"
She bursts out laughing, well really closer to a cackle, it seems strange coming from this body and not the mouth of a crone. It sounds especially strange carried on the wind with her voice.
Quite enlightening. I do enjoy a good laugh.
Sicsivicus tried to follow the others conversation but this new body was lacking in areas of the intellect. Now free of his bonds he wasted no time getting up off the table and stretching to the limits of his body. Which he noticed with a grin was much more in all physical regards than he was before...this will be fun, oh yes...
He didnt get the jesters joke either but he had never been one big on mirth or double meanings.
He shuddered at the horror of a world populated by only good natured souls...how does that happ... His thought trailed off as he voiced it.
How does a world only have good in it?
A great sculptor has many secrets they do not reveal. Time was something they had in abundance and used it to their advantage to polish this world clean. They being those who follow the one god Peligree. She was not always one but without faith to feed them the others have all died or left to find better sheep.
Do you love your mother Sicsivicus? Do you love anything? These people can use that love against you, no matter if it's love of something twisted, that feeling creates chemicals, creates feelings. Some of those who lead this "church" can emphasize these feelings, some use words to work their craft, some magic, others divine power. Eventually all who stand against them join willingly. They have become comfortable in their victory, however. That is why you are all here.
"There is no world without Evil, that simply can't be, it would destroy itself, itself and Nature. Even all the good people argue about what religion is the "truer" one, what laws are "just" or "tyrannical", and Chaos and Order poison the minds of all those who call themselves Good or Evil."
She tries to get free and check if magic works, meanwhile continues to talk to distract the entity. "A world may find a false balance if it becomes "Good", but in truth if could only decay, it would be as standing in the eye of a storm, a calm lie. Such a lie is easy to be turned around, to make it an advantage."
The brute thought about the angel's words. A world of good under one god was almost unbelievable.. but why else would someone go to all of this trouble to unleash this group against it?.. and he couldnt fathom Norgorber giving up his niche on any world or any god for that matter. But he understood that without followers any god could become powerless. This would be a dangerous game.
So we are to spread strife and take down this one god? Ive always wanted to kill a god.
"How do they play here? Surely there are some naughty boys and girls. Who's to say what's good when there is no evil? I've lived too many lifetimes and seen too many people's dark sides to believe that evil is gone. It sounds like the priests of Peligree are crushing the Will of their followers through enchantments and manipulations. Restraint of the Will is the only evil in my book." Merran says, getting up and stretching his new form, testing its limits. Well, at least it's feline.
You speak truth M. Sounds like the all encompasing Good is the only Evil in the world but no one can tell that is so. We will find ways to remind the peoples of free will.
Almost reflexisively; Sicsivicus stretched when the others did so and could hardly believe his good fortune with the strength of this body. he could hardly wait to get a good grip on someones throat with it.
It's not as simple as just enchantments and manipulations anymore. The world does this to itself now. The order exerts almost no pressure. People are...happy, perhaps content is a better word. I'm happy to hear you share my feelings about the situation. Killing Peligree would be a great deed. I do not request something so grand from you, though I will not be disappointed if it happens of course. We must allow these people to remember what balance truly is. This world is a mockery of it.
I will need weapons, armor and other gear but will stand out carrying such no?
.
As Laanrah notices that she is free to use her most basic abilities and powers she transforms into a white tiger as her most comfortable form seems still to be available, and uses the transformation process to free herself as the earlier restrains don't fit anymore.
She then changes back to her human self just a meter before the shackles on the wall. Still naked and beautiful, but more confident, she smiles back at the creature. "Well then, indeed, we will need some equipment, unless you plan to have us leave like this. Not that I would mind, it may actually be quite entertaining, it was a while since I tore out a throat myself." She stretches a bit and makes a sound as if it were a soft purring.
Taking a better look at the room she walks a bit around, and notices a mirror on the wall. She looks into it and smiles, she looks exactly as before, even if hers just as the other the bodies was meddled with there is no evidence of it. Maybe her form just regenerated itself, that would also be a possibility.
She turns at the others still shackled, then looks back at the creature again from toe to head. "You know, I wouldn't mind seeing you naked either."
There are no laws against carrying weaponry. Some people still hunt. There are no laws at all really. Just common decency. I have some spare weapons and armor lying around. We can enchant them how you desire as well. My two friends are quite skilled.
She continues to walk around, checking out the kitten boy and the orcish boy with a smile on her lips. "Shouldn't you release them? Doesn't seem they can do it on their own ... or mayhaps they prefer this position."
At hearing that they will be provided gear to their desires; Sicsivicus grins toothily.
Yes, yes I have some things in mind that should do nicely...or not so nicely.
He chuckles deep and gratingly.
Are we to be just unleashed or is there a particular task you have in mind?
The half orc stood tall and proud in his nakedness. Not at all worried about modesty or lack of weapons and armor at the moment.
Tronath listens to the others talking, trying to understand all this talk of only one god and good world.
well at least when i get out of here i can easily find more experiment subjects.
What stands out on this world, would our tailed friends stick out how about our half orc, are there beasts that attack anymore. and where are my arms! shaking both his arms at the mention of missing arms.
so much information to absorb.
looking at Laanrah
Oh you are pretty but i bet i could make you look better if i had my tools, well that or kill you but that would be progress, what do say pretty one
People are no longer judged by their appearance. Someone here would be more likely to comment on the practicality of your form than the aesthetics. There are animals that hunt, but they do it to survive. The inhabitants of this world know to stick to the roads where animals dare not feed. It is a form of fear that I find shows promise. They do not know it but they still cling to the truth of all things. As to your arms, I have a wonderful lab that you are welcome to use whenever you are ready. I will be here to answer any questions. If you wish to go anywhere just exit over there and walk the halls of my house with intent. If you wish it so you will find your way. My apprentices are in the lab as well if any of you have need of things.
You never said wether or not you had a specific task for us?
The half orc stood with arms crossed on his massive chest with all of the patience of a rock.
There are places I hold sway. If you'd like to see a map of the known world perhaps you will have a better Idea than what I've been thinking.
A couple of tapestries part and you see the map of the world.
At the mention of a lab Tornath runs out of the room. Then comes back in sheepishly
Where is the lab agine? Or should i wait for the others? oh a map where are we on this map anyway?
Looking very exited at the thought of a new lab to play with, he is practically bouncing up and down.
Oh ya i can help with any potion crafting that might need doing, but i will need someone else to cast the spells, or get a new formula book for me, i take it that there is a spell library as well? Tornath looks hopefully at the woman.
Sic could hardly read the map. These new eyes, while working really well in the darkness of the chamber; were not so good at reading things very small.
He waited for someone else to point something out that he could comment on. It was definitely not the world he had inhabited before though. That much was clear.
What do you mean 'there are places that you hold sway'? You already have agents active in this world? Will there be support for our actions?