[Other FULL] For All Have Sinned

[Retro Bug]

For All Have Sinned

GMed by Retro Big
OOC THREAD | RATED M | SIGN UPS ARE CLOSED

"Science and technology revolutionize our lives, but memory, tradition, and myth frame our response." - Arthur M. Schlesinger​

Are you paying attention? I need you to pay attention...

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For some reason, maybe it's late a night, bored at work, procrastinating from doing your homework or there's just time to waste. Whatever it is, you find an ad, perhaps one of those pesky pop-up ads or you found it through Craigslist, the point is you found it. It reads:​

I don't have time for flashy gimmicks to grab your attention or a backstory filled with grand details, if you make it to me I'll give you all the information you want to know. But, we're not there yet. I want to get directly to the point and that is that I need you.

Vile creatures wait out there in the abyss, waiting to be reborn - some already have been. They've killed mothers and children, customs and religions, they've killed members of my family and members of yours. They masquerade themselves as pillars of light, as beings that lack burden except that of which they put on the world. You may never have heard of them, but you have felt the effects of them.

The earthquake that ripped apart Nepal was them, Columbine was them, Chernobyl was them, the decline and ultimate collapse of the ancient Mayan civilization was them. I am not talking about beings that are puppeteers to humans, who sit on iron thrones in the heavens and tinker with the Earth as it spins round. These beasts are here, on our Earth and want nothing more than to steal the Earth from us, their mere presence is enough to summon chaos.

I've hunted them all my life and there were once many of us to combat the few of them. They rise and fall to our enhanced weaponry, but we also rise and fall to their brute strength and corruption. Our numbers have since dwindle down, but, unfortunately, theirs never do. That's why I need you. I can train you, I can morph you into something useful. This isn't the movies, and you aren't a superhero, you're a person with an important task and that task will eventually get you killed. The world is at risk, the very fabric that holds everything together will tear apart if nothing is done.

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You scan the rest of the page and notice three things: two downloadable documents, an address, but off the top of your head you don't actually know where that is but it's in your city, and the mention of a package that you are meant to pick-up and bring to the address. Okay then...

Are you confused? I'm confused...​

Let us go over the basics... It's the year 2016, you live in some country on Earth and you live some kind of life, you can get into those specifics later on. You were on the internet and found the ad above, but for some reason you actually believe it. Maybe due to the lack of specifics and/or that it's not trying to sell you this glamorized promise of being a superhero. Some person wants to change your life, train you to fight creatures you have never heard about and possibly die trying to do it.

Wait, you never checked out those documents...

Attached:Document1

Spoiler:

FIGHTING 101 (more like... 100.5)

Gooooood morning, this is your host (Boss said "Don't put your real name in there", but if you're clever let's just say I left you some hints) and I was asked to give you a quick overview of fighting.

Let me try to explain our combat positions in terms you'd understand... you have your direct killers, your capturers, your defensive support, your offensive ranged killers, your healers, and saving the best for last... your trackers.

Frontliners (Your direct killers): They do the main killing, maiming, all that up close and personal with the Ahlinstrons (aka Ahlin(s) aka the beasts that were mentioned aka people are really superstitious about mentioning their collective name out loud aka don't get me started about their individual names). Frontliners fight the hard fight and are the only ones trained enough to deliver the "final" blow but if they're not careful end up getting a final blow. They're the people who are always cleaning their weapons or obsessed with the newest upgrade. Frontliners use weapons that are up-close and personal, like bladed weapons, gauntlets, whips.

Ensnares (Your capturers): Not all Ahlinstrons can be killed or it can be too dangerous to fight them all the way to their death. Ensnares make that call; after all they have the most to lose if it is indeed a capturing mission. Ensnares are also really good at laying traps and restricting the Ahlin to one area. In order for an ensnares to properly do their job everyone else has to do theirs and make sure the Ahlin is weakened. Since the Ensnares has to capture the Ahlin with their own life force that is why it makes their position one of the most life-threatening. Using this technique requires a great deal of inner peace and balance, so only the most focused are allowed to become Ensnares. Ensnares usually team up with Bracers who can guard them while they are set down traps/trying to capture the Ahlin.

Bracers (Your defensive support)/Pillars(Your offensive ranged killers): I'm putting these two together because they are basically the people that save your butt. They usually both offer up distractions in case an Ahlin comes too close for comfort. Bracers aids, well, defensively. They're very good at taking hits and making barriers so that other people can take hits. Pillars are good at attacks from a distance and being able to support or boost attacks of other people. Not an easy job. Pillars uses weapons such as bow and arrows, throwing knives/daggers, (poison) darts, and guns. Bracers will sometimes use shields or other defensive weapons but mainly resort to elemental runic magic.

Patchers (Your healers): Lovely people, usually... These are the people that'll make sure you can live another day so be grateful but if you're not remember they're some of the most powerful people. Typically because they live longer and also their magic seems to come from a different place and/or manifests itself in a manner that's... different than the rest of us.

And, lastly, the greatest people you will ever meet, Seekers (your trackers): Basically, everyone would be screwed without us. Ahlins don't like to be found (surprise, surprise...) and the only way you can find an Ahlin is with a tracker. I'm not allowed to say how that's possible (it's a Tracker's secret...) but we get the job done. Not only do we find them when they are on the loose, we usually know when in the future and approximately where they will appear as well.

Attached:Document2

Spoiler:

MAGIC 100

First: Yes, magic is real, yes, you have magic, and yes, it's a ton of fun to use. Unfortunately, I'm forbidden to type the specifics of how to activate your magic and how magic works, but I can at least give you a basic overview.

Magic is innate. So, you have magic, your mom has magic, hell, even your dog has magic. However, that doesn't mean they can all blast fireballs whenever they want but wouldn't that be wickedly awesome? In order for magic to be used there has to be enough of it in a person to even be able to be activated. That is why it is practically useless in a majority of the population, they simply don't have enough magic for it to actually do anything. Kinda sucks, right?

Anyway, let's get down to business (to defeat the Huns...)

Since you've read about fighting (it was called DOCUMENT 1 for a reason...) I'll tell you how magic works with that. Your magic is molded to your combat style, so if you're assigned to be a Frontliner you mold your magic to Frontliner magic, got it? The thing is, once you mold your magic you can't ever change it... for the most part...

Runic Magic: All magic falls under runic magic, runes are a series of symbols that produce through the channeling of magic the meaning of said inscribed symbol. Sadly, without runic equipment no one can use magic. If you don't have a fireball rune attached to something (equipment), you won't be conjuring any fireballs. Magic is channeled through our runic tools to release the desired effect, without them... good luck. Runes can be attached to almost anything jewelry, clothes, armor, weapons, as long as it's touching the user so their magic can be channeled through it. The only thing that is forbidden to have runes on it is one's skin. Runes rely on magic for activation, so firstly if you don't have enough magic to activate them they won't work. If you can't sustain a constant flow of magic for the duration of the fight or activate too many of them that can end in inactivation, disaster, and death. Runes can be combined to make stronger runes, but only those that have the strength to activate them can use them. Runic magic is divided into two sections: elemental (fire, water, earth, air, lightning, frost) or status (heal, poison, frenzy, calm, boost). People only excel in two/three elements and two status.

Frontliner Magic: Frontliners use their runes solely for their weaponry and armor. Since they are skilled in close combat with weapons they use runic magic to add effects such as a sword that when unsheathed will light on fire or an armor set that will become laced with poison upon activation.

Ensnare Magic: Ensnares use runic magic, but they place their runes on traps and tools that they make. Regular traps won't do much for an Ahlin, but a runic trap would be able to wound it. Their true specialty lies in their life force. In order for a Ensnare to truly entrap an Ahlin they must restrict it with their own life force. Every Ensnare carries a set of chains with runes on them that allow them to use their life force to pull the Ahlin within their own body. If they cannot contain the Ahlin an Ensnare will have their lives taken, by their hand or another's, or risk losing their minds to corruption and setting the Ahlin free once more.

Bracer Magic: Bracer's are very good at use magic for defensive purposes. Typically it comes in the form of some sort of elemental shield or barrier.

Pillar Magic: Pillars are either elemental runic users or mid- or long-ranged runic enhanced weaponry users. Pillars will either use their elemental runes to attack (these are the people who use fireballs and lightning attacks) or distract the Ahlin from afar or use their enhanced weaponry to do the same. They can also use their magic to boost other people's magic, making a trap stronger, or a shield last longer or be thicker.

Patcher Magic: Patchers rarely use any other magic but healing runic magic. The more powerful the rune the more grievous an injury they can heal. Patchers can use their magic for runes that allow for them to take the damage of others, but this can be very dangerous. While, Patchers can also heal wounds they can also transfer them as well or at least part of them depending on the wound and their own power. There's also a nifty trick most Patchers use, which is to be to store pain inflicted to them and unleash it back at their opponent.

Seeker Magic: Not much is known about Seeker magic, their secrets are kept under wraps pretty tightly. They use their magic to track down the Ahlin. They can sense when an Ahlin is in proximity and when it is about to be reborn.

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Time to start this adventure​

Once upon a time... Wait, the story hasn't begun yet.


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[Retro Bug]

! ! ! !​

Arc: Of Monsters And Men

Chapter One: Walk a little, talk a little...

Chapter Description: It's Thursday March 3rd, 2016.

Right, so you've gotten yourself in this situation so let's get along with it. You remember that package... You know the from the ad, the one that could've been a huge virus but you decided to do it anyway, yeah, that ad. Now, it's time for you to pick up the package up from address. No, not the address of the meeting place. How? Well, you got an e-mail, didn't you? An e-mail that gave you the location of the package? Let me help you out, you did. When the ad also asked you to send an interest e-mail you did and they responded with the address of the package. You go to this address and maybe the package was left under a bench in a park or left in a graveyard. Perhaps, they were even sensible enough and left it at the post office for you to pick it up. I don't know, you tell me.

Once you retrieved the package you can't help but look inside. What's inside? Jewelry. Don't ask me what it looks like, you should know you're looking at it. A ring, necklace, bracelet, whatever, not important. The important thing is the stone(s) that is set in it. I have to say I don't know what the stone(s) is either, but you should, again, you're looking at it. What matters is once you put on the jewelry or simply touch it the stone(s) glow, like an intense glow that seems to consume the color of the actual stone(s). Eventually, unveiled is a piece of paper under the jewelry with another address on it that says:

"Come here instead: (insert address here and time)" That's it. Written in your native language, of course.

You actually recognize this address unlike the original one supplied by the ad. Thank god. You go to the address, whatever it might be, a night club, a hotel, a library, etc. You enter, maybe search around... Maybe you notice the stones that match (in color, however they are the size of an apple) the stone(s) in your jewelry right away or it takes you more time, After all, they never told you what you were looking for or how to find it. There's one helpful thing, when in proximity of these stones they light up and so do the stones on your jewelry like they're reacting to each other (because they are...). You find these two stones that are approximately a doorway apart (in width) on a wall. Upon walking closer to the wall you realize you can see right through it. The image is in the shape of a door and is a little wavy almost as if it wasn't stable to stay open for long... The room you're looking into looks like a rather large training room. There are red mats on the floor, weapons of all sorts line the concrete walls, there also appears to be punching bags and a boxing ring... The only thing that's lacking is people. People and windows.

Yeah... About that instability of this weird wall portal, it's actually true. It's slowly fading in and out along with becoming noticeably smaller, who made this thing?

It's time to make a decision...

PCs Effected: All

Notable NPCs: None

Goals:
Things that should be achieved in the your post(s), but don't have to be the only things in your post(s).

1. Pick up package, open the package, and find the jewelry and address.
2. Go to said address at said time (the time is 15:00 GMT +00:00, convert that to the location of your character. Here's a website to help.).
3. Find the matching stones.
4. Go through the portal

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[Arylett Charnoa]

Audrey Chatelain

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So it came to this.

A young dark-haired woman stood at the door of her bedroom, her mind locked in an intense struggle. Was it really such a good idea to go? This seemed fishy. And she... she didn't leave the house all too frequently on her own. The anxiety clenched up within her. Beat beat beat beat. That feeling of her heart slamming itself against her chest just to inspire her to conduct a basic activity was all too familiar.

"There's nothing left for me here..."

She uttered to herself quietly, as she coaxed a sudden impulsiveness out of herself and opened the door.

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...That wasn't so bad.

It never was once she actually did it, the woman noted for the umpteenth time as she arrived back into her room from the post office, hiding the package within her crimson vest. The worst part was the lie she had to tell her parents, but luckily as per usual, they didn't question very much. Feeling the excitement welling up within her, she eagerly put the package down on her bed and then went to town on it. Bits of paper and cardboard went flying everywhere, until she unveiled a small delicate-looking box. Carefully, she slid the lid of the box off, and unveiled something amazing.

Her eyes slid up and down the necklace lustfully, the beautiful rubylike stone glimmering in the light of her lamp. A large grin from cheek to cheek spread across her face, as she wrapped the necklace around her neck enthusiastically. It glimmered even more brilliantly, and appeared to be so bright that she could've sworn it was glowing. Was this... the magic she had read of?

In her excitement, however, the young woman had completely disregarded a piece of paper that had tumbled down to the floor. She picked it up, read its contents, and steeled herself again for yet another excursion into the outer world.

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...But did it have to be so damn early?

Groggy bags hung themselves slightly beneath her tired eyes. 7 in the morning was not a time she usually left the house. In fact, it was more the time that she went to sleep. The things she did... for something that might be a scam, something that she knew was a bad idea... the doubtful woman sighed to herself as she made her way through the rows of books. The library had just opened, and there was nary a soul.

Why was she here though? Was somebody expecting her? Because she didn't see any people here. Both to her consternation. Was she supposed to find a book? Why did they have to be so ridiculously vague? Perhaps for secrecy, so that undesirables wouldn't find out. But still... they could've seemed less shady.

Sigh. Why was she doing this?

For around half an hour, the black-haired lady awaited for something to happen. Nothing did. She paced through the rows of books aimlessly, vaguely picking up titles at random, and hoping that a librarian wouldn't come and ask her for help. Her mind was in a tired haze, doubting more and more the veracity of these claims.

And then, from underneath her neck, that familiar crimson light began to glimmer. It awoke her from her dazed state, as she stopped in her tracks. The glow faded... then she walked backwards back to a particularly large book she had passed. It intensified.

She removed this book off the shelf, revealing behind it another large and glowing red gemstone embedded in the wall. The girl reached out to remove it, and it emitted a beam of scarlet light straight across the wall's surface, directing itself towards another book. Removing this book, she was now blinded by a pale light that enveloped the entire bookshelf. Nobody saw that, right? Fervent glances revealed that the library was just as quiet and empty as she had initially perceived.

This girl stepped forward and examined the area where the book had been. Another gemstone... another...

...W-whoa!

Leaning herself much too forward, she fell into the bookshelf that had been propped against the wall. Except, she didn't seem to hit anything solid. Her body just kept falling until she found herself making firm contact with the ground.

"O...ow..." Slowly, she recovered herself to her feet, and observed the strange new area around her. How the hell did she get here? This wasn't the library! But it was just as empty as it had been. Was this the place she was supposed to be? Was this... where she would train? Once again, her heart surged into action, and the adrenaline rushed as she felt wide awake. What would happen now...?

 

[Dusty]

Jie Linghu
Victoria's Peak Garden
10:00 PM Local Time, 14:00 GMT​

Jie groaned, her calves aching. She had been walked for what felt like hours now, and probably had been too. Her flashlight had died a couple miles back, and she was hesitant to use her phone as a flashlight, not wanting the battery to die on her. Stupid ad, she thought, why in the name of all the gods would somebody have me hiking up Victoria's Peak in the middle of the night? Then again, why was she doing it? She almost hadn't when she had received her package. She was creeped out enough when she had received an email saying that she would get a package delivered to her. Not to her home address though, to her university. Into her private locker. That nobody but her knew the combination to.

She almost hadn't believed it at the time. But sure enough a few days after the email had come through, there it was, a small package sitting neatly on top of her stacked books and other junk that had collected in her locker. She had looked around the room to see if anybody else was with her, watching her, but she had been alone. Taking a deep breath she opened the package, carefully slitting the tape with a pocket knife she always carried with her. And there inside the package, carefully protected by shreds of paper and a few wadded up tissues sat two bracelets. Each was about an inch in width, appeared to be silver or some kind of lookalike in material, and each had a stone fitted neatly on the top of the bracelet. One stone had a white almost milky appearance to it, with slightly off color veins running through it. The other was a pure black, completely free of any blemishes. A friend of her in the geology apartment had told her they were each onyx, one white and one black.

It seemed like a sick joke almost, each color represented death in a slightly different way in China, and Jie almost teared up and threw them away when she first saw them. She hesitated when she saw the note that had been lying underneath the bracelets though, which simply read, "Victoria's Peak Garden, 11:00 PM".

And so here she was, trudging up the side of a mountain in the middle of the night, wondering where she was going, what she was supposed to do, or even what she was supposed to look for. She tripped over a crack in the paved path and cursed, finding her balance again before she fell. Who the hell was setting up a meeting at eleven at night on top of a mountain! She didn't even care anymore, she just wanted to give whoever was setting her up here a piece of her mind.

Another hour later she was atop the mountain, at least as high as she was going to get, hiding behind a low retaining wall. A flashlight beam flashed overhead, searching along the wall and treeline, and her heart skipped a beat every time it neared her hiding place. The mountain was not a dangerous place, but she remembered a few months back the historic governor's mansion had been vandalized and something had been stolen. They must have hired a couple security guards in order to make sure that didn't happen again, and one of them happened to hear Jie yelp when her head hit a low hanging tree branch again. After a few more passes of the flashlight, the man sighed, saying something about stupid animals, then trudged back to his station, heels crushing gravel underfoot. Jie waited a few more minutes, letting her heart calm down to where it wasn't threatening to beat out of her chest, then peeked over the wall, seeing mostly darkness. Clouds obscured the moon, but she could see the vague shapes of trees, bushes, a couple pagodas. She checked her phone briefly, doing her best to hid the light from the screen. Ten fifteen. She had time to figure out what she was supposed to be doing, but she still had no idea what that even was.

Nearly an hour of searching later, she was nearly ready to give up. With a sigh Jie sat down against the side of a tree somewhat off the main path. She closed her eyes and just tried her best to relax. The clouds had broken up a bit, and the moon appeared through a gap in the clouds, illuminating the park around her. From across the clearing, an owl hooted and took flight from a shrine. Insects buzzed and chirped, bats flapped overhead, the wind whistled through the trees. Despite everything going on in her life, she took the opportunity to simply let go of everything, let herself become one with the forest around her. She didn't believe in any sort of gods, nor spirits, nor any sort of spiritual world, but at that moment in time the beauty she saw before her almost convinced her that there was something there...almost.

She pulled her hands out of the pocket of the hoodie she was wearing and gave a startled cry, then quickly covered her mouth hoping the guard from before wasn't in hearing range. She was pretty far away by now, but you never know… After no other human sound came, she lowered her hand and stared at her wrists, where the two bracelets she wore shone dimly in the light of the moon. Or more accurately, the onyx gemstones themselves. The white stone gave off a pale glow like the moon, the black one had it's own unique dark glow to it. She looked around, curious what it could mean when she saw a similar glow a couple dozen feet away.

The entrance to the shrine which the owl had taken off from glowed faintly as well, and as she approached it the glow from the shrine as well as from her bracelets became stronger and stronger. When she came within a few steps of the shrine she saw that the glow had come from stones set within the eyes of two of the lion-esque gargoyles that stood on either side of the door to the shrine.The left one had the same white onyx gems as her left bracelet for eyes, and the other had black ones similarly. She carefully touched one experimentally, but nothing happened. Then a slight shimmer caught her eye, and she saw the open doorway seem to shift and bend the surface of reality itself, almost like a ripple on the surface of the pool.

Startled she took a quick step backward, accidentally knocking over an incense pot. Carefully replacing the incense sticks and tipping the pot upright again, she turned her attention back to the portal or whatever it was. She held a hand just before the twist in reality, then touched it, poking her hand through it up to her wrist. It was strange, she could still see her hand, like if she had stuck her hand through the surface of a pool of water, but she felt nothing and the disturbances increased and seemed to flow away from her hand. Steeling herself she closed her eyes, then took two steps forward until she was through the portal. When she opened them, she was in what looked like a gym, various equipment strewn about the place. She turned around quickly enough just in time to see the portal wink out of existence behind her. Wherever she was, she was stuck here for now.​

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[jombii]

Location:

Spoiler:

St. Petersburg Slums​

Jaromir knew that each step he took is taking him deeper into danger territory. The slums he was on was unfamiliar to him but he knew the amount of reported crimes originating from those parts. It rained recently, as there were a lot of puddles all around. This rainwater mixed with sludge and other composites gave the area a very putrid odor. Jaromir casually tried to walk around the puddles in order to keep his outfit clean.

He was not scared, however. He knew that, when worse comes to worst, he could fight vrukopashnuyu.* However, as much as he would like to do that, he wanted the trip to be as quiet as possible. He learned his lesson already. If the media or his father knew that he was snooping around parts like this, it would be a miracle if he could still go out the house alone. Plus, what would he tell them? An internet advertisement told him to go get a package in a slum? The world would laugh and the company would fall. His father would kill him for being such a fool.

And yet, Jaromir is desperate for any action.

"Derr`mo!"** Jaromir exclaimed as he unknowingly stepped on a puddle. The water splashed all around him, soiling his pant cuffs and leather shoes. "Where the hell is that package now?" Jaromir looked around, all the while crunching his nose. He could feel the smell climbing up his pants now. The e-mail said a package but it didn't specify what it looked like. Is it in a box? Or a parcel? Jaromir has no idea.

The locals were giving Jaromir cold stares and the young man wanted nothing but to beat the people up for staring at him. But that would not do him any good. "Package and I'm going." There was nothing more up the street except a few trash cans and a small box on top of it. Jaromir noticed something strange about the box. It was immaculately clean despite all the grime around it. Jaromir jogged towards it and grabbed it.

Inside the box was a ring. There was a single diamond on top of it, like the ones rich snoots use to propose for a wedding. Jaromir was confused as he had no girlfriend he can use this to and certainly isn't needing the money if he sold it. He lifted the ring out the box and it started glowing. It was then when Jaromir noticed the letter underneath it.

It told him to come to a separate location, at 6:00 P.M. Jaromir looked at his clock and saw that it was three in the afternoon. The location was something he knew perfectly. There was plenty of time.

*hand-to-hand
**a Russian coarse word

For All Have Sinned​

 

[Quest]

Walk a Little, Talk a Little...

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Roxana "Roxxy" Herrera
Crywolf - Rising, Rising
March 3rd, 2016 15:30 Local Time || Barcelona, Spain

Roxana stood near the large fountain, admiring it's design as she watched the water flow in the way specific to it. Many probably could've mistaken the girl for a tourist, or even your average park goer. With a white, lacy blouse, skinny jeans, dark shades, and her typical jean jacket, she looked as if she was just enjoying the cool, early Spring day. In reality, she was merely putting things off. Don't get her wrong, she would love to come here on a normal day. However, it wasn't a normal day.

Roxana wasn't known as one to procrastinate, so that was weird in itself. Unfortunately, she couldn't help but force herself to seemingly wait until the last minute to pick up the package. It was odd enough that an advertisement had tried to offer a chance to save the world, let alone that an email later told her to pick up a package from under a tree nearby the Fuente Mágica de Montjuic. Of all the places the people behind the email could put this package, they chose to put it a popular tourist attraction in broad daylight. Above all of that, she was sure picking up some random package would only look sketchy as hell. Anybody could see her grab it and assume she was picking up product from a drug deal. She wasn't even positive the package would still be there considering the fact that she waited all day to pick it up.

Of course, she was proven wrong. She noticed it almost immediately, albeit it's small size. It just sat there, under the exact tree she was told to look under. It looked as if it had been unmoved since it was placed there, but could that really be the case? There were certainly hundreds of people nearby just at that moment, let alone considering the countless numbers of people that had already made their way through the area that day. Roxana bit her lip slightly as she though over the situation, a nervous tic that she had developed over the years. Should I honestly pick it up, the young woman asked herself.

She was often strong-willed and outspoken, but she knew that she had to be careful with this. It was a damn pop-up ad that led her here for Christ's sake. She couldn't just jump out and go ahead with everything that was put in front of her. She needed to play the situation in a smart manner. She considered leaving it for awhile, but it didn't take long for her to notice that nobody else was really paying it any mind. She sighed before walking off the sidewalk and onto the grassier area that the package sat upon. She decided to pick it up after a moment's hesitation.

It was small and light, just as it had appeared to be. She shook the box, trying to gauge what was in it before actually opening it. God, she probably looked like a child on Christmas morning, though a bit more worried than excited and definitely more fashionable in her outfit. It was definitely how she felt so it didn't take her too long to start opening it.

She had honestly expected more from the package. Yeah, the package was small, but surely there would be more considering the urgency of the email. Instead, there was a single necklace, albeit one with a rather large black jewel with red splotches over it. It was beautiful, and the design of the necklace didn't even clash with her outfit. Her first instinct was to try it on, though she waited after she noticed it glow on picking it up. It was bright, but it ended quickly. The light, however, brought her attention to the last thing in the box. It was a simple note directing her to be at the Barcelona Cathedral by four o'clock... Roxana peered at the time on her clock and sweared audibly. Of course she would have to pay the consequences for her procrastination.

But was it really smart to go there, particularly when you consider the origin of the note? She shook her head for a moment, gnawing on her lip just a bit more. It was too late for her to really consider what she was doing. She had been following this trail left by the email thus far, what could it hurt to keep doing so. She had done this for a reason and that reason was still apparent. She threw the necklace on around her neck and stashed the note inside her pocket. She began walking in the general direction of the Cathedral, throwing the box away as she passed a trash can.

Her best bet was to catch a taxi. It would definitely be faster, considering the way there was at least a thirty minute jog. There was no guarantee she'd make it there, especially after considering the flats and jeans that she wore. Running was not at the top of her list.

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It didn't take her to long to hail the taxi and make her way up the Gran Via. She found herself on the front steps of the Cathedral, a nearby sign declaring the full name of it. As the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia and the seat of the archbishop of Spain, it was a fairly busy area within the city. It was an old building, but luckily, it was still in use. It was popular, but not exactly a museum or tourist attraction. That was a good thing for her, considering it made looking for the meeting location a bit easier.

She took a deep breath and walked into the large, gothic-styled building. It was beautiful and she had been there several times before for several reasons, but that didn't make this any better. It was still odd and the feeling that something was off never quite left her. She knew this place, but she wasn't so sure anymore. Did the church have ties to those behind the email? She wasn't entirely sure and until she met the advertisers, she wouldn't be able to find out. Nonetheless, she pressed onward and traveled through the corridors of the cathedral.

She soon found herself in a small room just off of the secondary chapel of the Cathedral. It wasn't anything too different from the norm aside from a pair of stones located on the eastern wall. They were of the same color as the one around her neck and just like the necklace, they glowed bright as she neared them. It was almost as if they resonated with the stone around her neck. Roxana wasn't really sure what was going on. She wanted to think of a reason that this was happening, some scientific explanation that would solve just what was getting to her. She couldn't and this was proven as she looked closer to the wall. It was shimmering and after a moment, she realized she could actually see through it.

Roxana could see many things on the other side and she soon realized it appeared to be a gym of some sort. If she wasn't lost before, this probably sealed the deal. Not only was there glowing stones, mysterious ads, and unstable-looking doors, but now there was a gym inside the Barcelona Cathedral? She bit her lip once more as she tried to figure out what she should do. She tried to examine the situation a bit more, but soon found herself being drawn to the other side. That area was honestly the best place to investigate. With a deep breath, she put a hand through the portal and pulled it back out. It looked fine, so that meant this door was safe, right? The answer was probably no, but she soon found herself stepping through anyways.
​

​

​

 

[gimmepie]

Jackson Vale

Like this but less Asian

Pillar: Fire | Wind | Frenzy | Boost

Saint Petersburg, Russia
17:20PM

Jackson slouched along down the side of the road, paying little attention to anyone and trying not to draw any attention to himself either. He was walking through a far from reputable part of Saint Petersburg and whilst the sun was still plenty visible it was starting to get darker. Jackson didn't value his life much sure, but he was miserable enough as it was without having to add broken bones to his list of problems.

It was a chilly evening, despite it being early springtime. By Russian standards it wasn't really that bad, Jackson supposed, and in a weird way he liked the unpleasant harshness of Russian weather – it tended to suit his mood and nobody was likely to want to stop and chat out in the middle of a Russian winter… hell half the time it was too cold to stop and chat out in the middle of a Russian summer.

As he walked towards his destination, he took out the now crumpled sheet of paper he'd printed with the address on it amongst other things. He'd been doing so every couple of minutes since he had set out. Honestly, Jackson didn't really believe what he'd read… but for some reason he also felt a strange compulsion to do as the message had instructed. He knew the address that had been given to him, it was an old run-down gym that he'd briefly held a membership at before he'd realised he didn't care enough about staying fit and healthy to keep spending his limited funds on it. It was for this reason that Jackson continued to pull the paper from his pocket; he'd view it, decide it was bullshit, jam it unceremoniously into his pocket and then continue on towards the location it had specified. Truth be told, a part of Jackson – a part he refused to acknowledge existed – wanted the bizarre message to be true.

Ten minutes, and two more thorough reads of the printed page, later Jackson arrived at the old gym. The building was made of dirty concrete, located on a street composed primarily of warehouses for storing overpriced goods, lunchbars that would probably kill you and a seemingly endless number of equally crappy concrete buildings. Jackson entered the gym, an irritating electronic tone sounding as he walked through the dorrway, going unheeded by the three men using rusty old workout equipment and the ironically fat and equally old man at the counter alike.

Jackson didn't bother waking the owner up, nor did he stop to talk to the regulars. He had absolutely no desire to interact with either of them, besides it would require some amount of effort to explain why he was there to check a locker he had no claim to for something that may or may not be there. He walked on past the counter and rickety machines, moving into a hallway concealed by the back wall of the main room. From there he pushed open the nearest door and stepped into a blue-tiled room full of ancient-looking lockers and smelling of all kinds of unpleasant things. As repulsed as he expected he'd be (very), Jackson begun walking up and down the rows of decrepit lockers, noting the numbers on them and checking them against the crumpled paper he'd once again pulled from his pocket.

It took Jackson only a few minutes to find the one he'd been looking for. Feeling foolish, and wishing his heart would stop beating at a furious rate, he tried to open the locker – to his surprise finding it was not locked. He pulled it open, surprising himself with his haste and then froze, his thundering heart now jammed somewhere in his throat. He hated the childish excitement he couldn't halt as he took in the small package sitting within.
"There's no freaking way…" he muttered to himself in English, his tendency to speak in English when alone sticking with him.

He reached into the locker and picked up the package, finding it to be quite light. Ripping the package open, he found himself looking at two stones – one red and one green - and yet another letter. Jackson read over the letter thoroughly and sighed. It seemed he would need to hurry, the place he was going was practically on the other side of the city and it wouldn't keep the doors open forever. He resolved to murder whoever was responsible if his hunch about someone messing with him was true.​

 

[SV]

Gabriel Barnes, Monrovia, Liberia - Who prowl about the world

A blinking light was lit above the head of Gabriel Barnes, the only operating light in the evidence room of the Monrovian Police Station. Gabriel sat cross-legged in this room, glancing at an outdated computer screen, making like he was working on some cold case. In reality, he was only trying to distract himself from he had picked up in the post office a few hours earlier.

The police detective quickly glanced to the package that sat at the far end of the room. He had opened it up and examined the contents earlier. Inside was a ring. A ring with a small, colorful stone in the middle. It was beautiful to look at, a blend of red and yellow coloring that mixed well together. Accompanying the ring was a small note. There, an address was written. Gabriel had long looked up where the address led on his computer. It led to an abandoned graveyard. Barnes knew about this because way back in the beginning of his days, because he had heard a rumor people were hanging around there.

Those people ended up being kids, abandoned kids with nowhere else to turn to. They were nicknamed tomb dwellers by people around the area. And no one lifted a finger to help them. Their parents, if they had any, abandoned them. Society had abandoned them. Everyone had. And this was just a taste of the level of corruption that he had to endure daily. The other detectives and cops around him were more concerned with filling their pockets than upholding the law. Because they seemed to understand the truth: what law did they have to uphold?

Barnes sighed deeply and closed his eyes. No matter how much he tried to focus on work, the package lay in the back of his mind. He knew he had to check this out, no matter how ridiculous it looked. Perhaps it was just a foolish thought. It most likely was, but what if? What if it weren't? Gabriel opened his eyes and shot out of his chair. He grabbed the package again and headed for the door.

---

The graveyard was just as he remembered it. Barbed wire had kept out most locals from going in, not that many besides the grave dwellers did. Vegetation and weeds had grown through many of the unkept tombs. He noticed a few had been dug up. Barnes remembered hearing stories from the children that they typically dug them out and placed their beds in there themselves. They had to wait for the bodies to decompose though. A body too fresh would be difficult to bury out. Seeing those holes as he passed by them gave Barnes a sick feeling. He walked passed them as he began pacing the tombs of the death.

What the hell was he doing here? What was he even looking for? This was completely ridiculous. He should have stayed in the precinct. He could have at least tried to do some actual police work instead of pretending at something that couldn't possibly exist. Gabriel sighed deeply, looking among the graves, before he turned away to leave. Behind him, a figure was seen in the darkness. It was... a kid. A child, maybe 11 or 12 years. Old. He was skinny, too skinny, as if he hadn't eaten in a long while. His clothing was ripped, with a rag tied around his head. Barnes took a step forward toward the kid.

"It's OK, what ar-" As Barnes began to talk, the boy turned around and ran. "Wait!" Gabriel called after him in his accented voice. He ran after him, navigating through the thick weeds and the graves. "Come back here, boy!" Barnes shouted, as he tried to keep up with the boy. He was surprisingly agile, able to maneuver around the place as he knew it. The bushes and leaves thickened around, causing Barnes to lose sight of the boy. He cursed as he emerged from the leaves, but the boy was gone. He was deep within the cemetery now, as he clutched the package in his hand and tried to catch his breath. He cursed loudly.

Seeing this entire trip as pointless, Gabriel began to turn and leave, but a large tombstone suddenly caught his sight. It was relatively well-preserved. Much more so than many of the others. There was something else about it that he felt... drawn to. It was ominous, mystifying. He approached it. It appeared to be an angel, holding a large tile in front of it with a scripture written on. His arms were extended behind the tablet, with two large, intricate stones in either hand and on opposite sides of the large table. Barnes walked toward the statue, and wiped away the dust to reveal the quote.

"Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against
the wickedness and snares
of the devil.
May God rebuke him,
we humbly pray;
and do Thou,
O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Power of God -
cast into hell, satan and
all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls."​

Gabriel examined the large tablet and the statue some more. Suddenly, something bizarre happened. The two stones in the hands of the angel statue suddenly began to light up. The tablet began to shimmer and... dissolve, as if it were becoming glass. Gabriel began back away, somewhat frighteningly from the statue. However, he did not run away. Not yet. He couldn't believe his eyes, and despite every inch of himself telling him this was a bad idea, he still felt drawn. The tablet seemed completely transparent now, and on the other side, he saw a room. Was this a portal? Was this what the letter and the ad meant? Gabriel removed the ring and note from the package, seeing it light up in the same way the stones had. He slowly clutched the ring in his hand and examined the portal again...

All at once, the notion that this was all ludicrous was melting away. Everything heard, everything he understood, it suddenly felt like it was a lie. Part of him prayed that all of this was some cheap parlor trick that someone was playing on him, and he would touch the tablet now and see a projector set up somewhere. Another part of him, the true part of him, the young, brash police officer part of him, hoped that this was only the beginning.

Gabriel carefully approached the portal, and walked through.

 

[Ozymandias]

Allie Hughes // University of Nebraska - Memorial Field

5:30 A.M.

Allie braced herself for the morning chill as she shuffled out the dorm building door.

Despite the fact she got up this early every single day, the cool air of the early morning always seemed to surprise her. Usually she'd be on her way to the range to get some archery practice in before classes, however today's destination diverged from the one she traveled to each day. Today she was headed to the most famous spot on the University of Nebraska's campus, Memorial Stadium.

It had been almost twelve hours since Allie had acquired the mysterious package underneath the stairs in the science building. She was rather intrigued with the fact that the sender had placed the package in such an obscure place. It all seemed rather exciting as if from some sort of mystery novel. The young woman herself wasn't so sure as to why she had responded to such a strange e-mail, but she thought perhaps that was exactly the reason, it seemed as if something straight out of the mystery novels she'd read as a child.

Allie had hurried back to her dorm room and cautiously opened up the package. As fascinated as she was with whatever was inside the box what's in the booox? she remembered to keep her wits about her. It had only been a couple weeks ago when she heard there was a scare about terrorist organizations leaving behind bombs in public masked as packages. All it took was for one unsuspecting passerby to touch the box and KABOOM there goes whoever was nearby.

Nonetheless, Allie quickly opened the box and inside she found herself a beautiful necklace with a deep-blue sapphire stone in the center. The young woman had never been one for jewelry, but even so she greatly admired how alluring the necklace looked. It was almost as if it were glowing... Wait it really was glowing.

Hm, maybe there's a motion sensored light inside this thing. The radiating gem in the necklace had caught Allie a little off guard, but she quickly rationalized the phenomenon. Soon thereafter she noticed one more object inside of the small package, a small note that read: Memorial Field, Huskers Pizza - 6:00 A.M.

Because her curiosity wouldn't let her stay away, Allie found herself climbing over the gates guarding the University's stadium. There was one "Huskers Pizza" stand in the entire stadium that she knew of and that was close to the eastern entrance, about a hundred yards from where she was scurrying up the fence.

As she approached the little pizza stand she noticed that the sapphire stone in her necklace was starting to glow once more. Along with it, two blue stones on the stadium's walls, approximately a doorway apart began to light up. Upon walking closer to the wall she realized that she could see right through it.

No freaking way Allie gasped to herself as she recognized that what stood before her was some sort of portal. The room through the doorway looked like a rather large training room. There were red mats on the floor, weapons of all sorts line the concrete walls, and there also appeared to be punching bags and a boxing ring.

Allie's palms started to sweat either out of nervousness or excitement.

"Well... Here goes nothing." she whispered to herself, walking forward into the portal.

 

[jombii]

Location:

Spoiler:

St. Isaac Cathedral​

The place was called St. Isaac Cathedral. It was well-known throughout the world as the largest Russian Orthodox cathedral and the fourth largest cathedral in the world. Jaromir has been inside the cathedral a few times, as his mother was religious. However, the trait did not rub off on him as he was more inclined in the sciences than in religion and superstitions. The cathedral was fairly open to the public. Jaromir quietly slipped in.

There were lots of painting inside the cathedral. Various artists, mostly European, contributed to the design and architecture of the building. No wall was left untouched. Finding whatever Jaromir needs to find in the labyrinth of paintings will probably take some time. He looked at his watch and saw that it was thirty minutes until six. There was plenty of time for him to look around, see if he can notice anything. He was wearing the diamond ring on his finger, hoping it would give him some sign of some sort but the ring remained as normal as ever.

He quietly paced the walls of the cathedral, like a tourist. He hesitated to run his hands across the paintings and the statues however, doubting that whoever sent him here would do such an intricate and obvious thing as a lever. He was hoping for another package or something that will continue his wild goose chase across Mother Russia.

As Jaromir continued to pace the walls, he could feel eyes on him. While most of the people are on the pews and praying, there were very few tourists roaming around the walls and the paintings. Most of them were admiring the front pieces. Jaromir was the only one near the walls. He approached a wall containing a picture of a saint holding a staff. There was a stone on the staff similar in color to his ring.

As if by magic, the ring glowed. Jaromir looked shock and tried to hide the unearthly light emitting from his ring. It was a good thing that the light from the staff was a little bit more dull. Another one was emitting the same light, in the palm of a baby Jesus Christ. Jaromir approached the two paintings and, fuzzily, he saw a room beyond the wall. There was no one inside, as far as Jaromir could see. There were some weird training bags and mats however. He looked at his watch and saw that it was two minutes until six.

There was actually no decision to be made as Jaromir stepped through the portal.

For All Have Sinned​

 

[Kikpanther]

Erin Marcello

Erin let out a huge yawn while he painted his wooden sculpture. Well, it was actually just a rocking horse, but he considered it a sculpture just like the other masterpieces he'd made over the years. He sat at his workbench inside of the woodworking shop he came to every morning. Erin's apprenticeship required him to work on a variety of projects, whether it be toys or furniture or buildings outside of the city. Each one he considered a sculpture and a masterpiece--even if he had to admit the things he made in the past weren't all that great. Still, as much as he loved working with wood he questioned his life choices every morning he had to get up for this sh*t.

He had to come up here at eight in the morning. Eight. It was unreasonable to ask a human being to get up before eleven and even then it was a struggle sometimes. Look, he was a one o'clock guy. It took a very special kind of alarm to get him energized in the morning. It was a shame Emily also needed her sleep. He was deader than dead when it came to the morning. It was only twenty 'til ten and he already needed a second cup of coffee. Hell, he needed a second cup shortly after the first, but he suffered through fatigue to get some work done. And you know what? He felt pretty damn accomplished. He was almost done painting the ass of this majestic creature and it wouldn't take too long to get to the hooves. He could take a break to grab some coffee and scoot back over to the shop in no time. He needed a moment to really devote his mind to this whole watch thing anyways.

The thought of the new accessory brought Erin's mind back to the emails he'd received before today. Those emails were the weirdest things to escape his spam folder. He'd never thought someone would try to scam him with a story about the world ending via monster attack. How did this whole plan end? Monster insurance? His beast taming prince relative in a far off country? Maybe they'll just charge him for that whole magic schtick. Somehow, some way, these people were gonna try and get his money. He had a good laugh about it and was eager to find out where the hell this was going. Eager enough to actually reply to it. The whole thing was pretty funny until the second email came. The one about the package. His best lady didn't find that one funny. Erin tried to convince her of the great opportunity that had been presented to them. What kind of person went this far for a scam? It had to be good! But Emily just couldn't see the fun in following mysterious messages from anonymous senders. Erin had to delete the email just to satisfy her. That was the end of it after that…

… Well, it would have been if Gmail didn't have this little useful section called "Trash" that did the exact opposite of what a delete button should do. You know he'd always thought that folder was stupid, but obviously, Google had predicted an entertainment goldmine like this coming along one day. All he had to do was reopen the email (in secret), take down the package's location (in secret), and permanently delete the email (also in secret). Thanks to his and Emily's differing schedules, it wasn't hard for him to find a time to pick up the package. Inside the small box he found a watch with a black band and golden-colored metal. The hands and numbers of the watch's face looked like alabaster and glowed when he set his eyes on it. Erin remembered nearly dropping the watch when it flashed him. When he could see clearly again, there was a message he hadn't noticed before. It had an address and a time. The address was for the library not too far away from where he worked. And the time? 10 AM.

Ugh. Why? Why did everything have to be so damn early in the morning? Didn't they understand this eleven o'clock rule? Erin stood drinking his coffee in one hand and holding his boss's order in his other hand. Across the street was the library, a destination he had been mulling over since he found the message. It was starting to cross his mind that Emily may have had a point. This could have been dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. This whole money thing could quickly turn into some weird cult thing. Now why in the world they would come after him he had no idea. Then again, they always looked for the young and beautiful for these sacrifice things and he was pretty damn sexy. Erin pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. Five minutes to ten. Sh*t, Sh*t… Okay, f*ck it whatever, we're doing this right now.

Erin crossed the street and entered the building. Okay, we get in, we get out. That's it. Done. Probably no more emails and sneaking behind Emily's back. Too bad he didn't have a clue where to go. The library was huge and he had only really been in the building a couple of times, none of those times being of his own free will. He had to think fast. He didn't have a lot of time to fool around. Now, if he were a cult and he was trying to be sneaky where would he go?

…

… Nonfiction? Nonfiction. And not just any nonfiction. That nonfiction filled with the dummies guides and those books about grad school. A place people go when they're truly desperate and Erin was desperate. Soon enough he came to a wall that seemed to have the cult signs he was looking for. Two stones sat a door width apart and between them, the doorway. It opened up into a separate room that looked like a gym more than it did a library. The image on the other side looked faint and it looked like it was getting fainter. If he didn't act now, he wasn't going to get in. If this wasn't the embodiment of the point of no return then nothing was. He could walk through this portal and never come back or he could walk through and come out like nothing had happened before. The was dangerous, but look at that thing! This would never happen again. He and Emily had gone through weird sh*t before… Ah, f*ck. This right here was going to be the reason why she broke up with him. Without thinking more on it, Erin went through the portal.​

 

[gimmepie]

Jackson Vale

Like this but less Asian

Pillar: Fire | Wind | Frenzy | Boost

Saint Petersburg, Russia
18:00PM

Jackson climbed out of the taxicab, paying the driver the exorbitant price he required. Ordinarily, Jackson – being light on for cash – would have taken a bus to his destination but it was getting late now and he didn't have time to wait around and do change overs.

He looked at the enormous building before himself and sighed deeply. Jackson was not one to like churches. He wasn't particularly religious, not due to lack of belief as such, but out of a belief that any god that did exist was too cruel to deserve the excessive amounts of time and money that went into building houses of worship, not to mention the time spent kneeling in the church every week. Any god that allowed Jackson to have fallen so low, who allowed people to be treated so unjustly, did not deserve his worship as far as he was concerned.

Entering the enormous church, the largest Russian Orthodox Church in the world, Jackson looked around. There were a few tourists still hanging about, they looked around in awe of the building's majesty. Jackson couldn't tell if they were there for the art and architecture or the religious aspect, he didn't particularly care either. The fine art that hung on every wall, leaving scarcely an inch bare filled him only with disgust. He wanted to find whatever was here waiting for him and be done with it. After all, he was still determined to believe someone was messing with him.

Despite this though, he started to walk around the church. He wondered exactly what it was he was looking for – and why he was searching at all. Did he really expect to find another package hidden beneath a pew? Did he expect some secret doorway to open and beckon him in? He was sure the only thing he was likely to find was the mocking laughter of whoever had sent him on his wild goose chase, and yet still he looked. Often he would glimpse at the other churchgoers, wondering if they were watching him; wondering if one of them was the person responsible for his mad dash across the city to the church.

Jackson was shaken from his thoughts when he reached up to brush his hair from his face, only for him to notice the lone diamond on the bracelet that had been in the package was shimmering lightly – although there was nothing around to cast light onto it.
"It must be a trick of the light or something." He muttered to himself "There's just no way this is real." He continued walking, only to freeze suddenly. As he had moved forward, the light coming from the bracelet had intensified. Now certain that his eyes were not playing tricks on him, Jackson begun searching more intently - watching as the gemstone became progressively brighter.

Eventually, he came face to face with a pair of paintings. The first portrayed a solemn-looking saint wielding an elegant staff, on the tip of which a crystal sat – a real crystal identical to the one hanging from his wrist, not one of paint. In the second painting sat the infant Jesus Christ, holding a tiny crystal of his own between his minuscule hands: both diamonds begun to shine.

Jackson watched on with shock and amazement as the wall between the two painting faded slightly, becoming partially transparent as though a cloth was draped in front of a doorway. Beyond this doorway was a large room, filled with training mats and walls lined with weapons from eras both of the past and present. In the centre of the room another young man stood. Jackson didn't give it another moment's thought, somehow it was all real. He stepped through the space between the paintings and into the room.
"What the hell is going on here?"​

 

[Retro Bug]

Eileithyia

A few weeks… earlier...

Eileithyia's fingers danced across the keys of her computer while her eyes flickered across the screen watching each letter come up. This was her daily ritual, well, at least that's what her father would say. Obsessed with technology like the Morins with the Ahlins. What was the point of being an ancient society in the 21st century if you weren't going to use what it had to offer. The elders were old not only in age but their traditions as well, it wasn't 100 B.C anymore and there wasn't any point in acting like it. She found herself channeling her father… They masquerade themselves as pillars of light, as beings that lack burden except that of which they put on the world.... That was totally something her father would say.

If they were ever going to recover their losses from facing Sidon then Eileithyia would have to be the one to set it right. What she was doing wasn't technically allowed and could lead to excommunication. However, there wasn't any doubt in her mind that the pros outweighed the cons in this case. She hoped her father would see it that way, but if he didn't… Well, there wasn't time to think about that. A yawn escaped Eileithyia's mouth before she could stifle it. Her arms stretched out wide a dead giveaway that she was truly tired from today's mission, if you wanted to call it that. The wooden chair dug into her back as she slumped back and she couldn't help but think if they were entering the 21st century in terms of technology it wouldn't hurt to do it in terms of furniture as well.

I've hunted them all my life and there were once many of us to combat the few of them.... Eileithyia's fingers rested after typing the sentence her neutral expression twisted into a smirk. She could almost hear the words pouring out of her father's mouth as she typed them into the document. This was golden there wasn't any way it could fail. There were tons of people that wanted to throw away their lives in order to fight mythical creatures that have no actual record of even existing while possibly losing their lives in the process, right? She was basically starting the story of a YA novel. After finishing the ad, Eileithyia wondered her eyes over it a couple times due to the fact they kept shutting midway through each time. If there was any spelling errors then she would chalk it up to a language barrier or something equally facetious.

She clicked on the 'Submit' button.

Twenty… thirty minutes earlier…

Her black boots pounded the pavement as Eileithyia huffed in and out while glancing down at her watch every few seconds. If she made it in time that would be a miracle, you'd think that when planning something of this caliber organization would have remained a priority… The choice between arriving early and taking a nap was a no brainer, naps were always better. While Eileithyia had been to Barcelona before she wasn't exactly prepared for the weather wearing a black crop-top, a jean skirt, and her boots. There really wasn't much time to stop and change considering it was 3:40 and the person was meant to arrive at 4:00. Eileithyia ran through several corridors and found herself in a room and shrugged because this was a good as it was going to get. Her hands rifled around in the leather satchel that hung from her neck and when they came out they held two stones, the runes flashed signaling their activation. Once Eileithyia had managed to place them on the wall she activated the second pair of runes that were etched into the stones.

Nothing happened… Which was good. Had the portal opened without the appearance of the "key" that meant Eileithyia had messed up. A sigh of relief was had before Eileithyia realized she didn't exactly want to be seen by whoever was coming to start their adventure. On the way out of the corridor she passed a girl in a fashionable jean jacket, a lacy white skirt, and skinny jeans, which made Eileithyia do a double take. She shook her head, there wasn't any time to admire the fashion choices and beauty of strangers. Eileithyia ducked behind the nearest thing that would shield her and since they were at a Cathedral it was a pillar. Her hands clasped at the necklace that hung from her neck, it was gold with a stone that was a mixture of ruby and emerald. A gift from her father for becoming an official Tracker. Light erupted from the stone and consumed not only the stone but covered Eileithyia's body with the same blinding light. It all took place in a matter of seconds. After a few hard blinks her eyesight returned and Eileithyia found herself back at the training grounds - the place that connected all the portals.

Now

One by one each of them appeared in the training gym, some with ease others... not so much. Eileithyia wasn't sure how she should be positioned, serious? Face them with a smile? Hands behind her back? What was the proper formality for 'Hi, you answered my ad now get ready to risk your life defeating an evil force, thank you.' Was there one? Eileithyia's frown reversed itself when she noticed that the fashionable girl from Barcelona - the one with the lovely lace dress that was to die for appeared.

"Welcome, I'm Eileithyia, yes, the Minoan made Greek Goddess…" Eileithyia started to pace back in forth in a line not being one to stand still. Her hands behind her back like she was a military drill sergeant or at least a cheap imitation of one. There was a slight pause due to the fact Eileithyia had no clue what or how to explain what was happening. Again, not the best at organization. "The stone that you retrieved already has a monolanguage rune carved into it, so all our words are automatically converted into the language most fluent to the individual."

"This," she opened her arms and gestured to the room they were in, "is a training room. An old training room. No one would use this there isn't even windows in here." The walls were made from concrete and the paint that once covered the wall only existed in a few red dots on the wall. The only set of doors were directly behind Eileithyia and they looked so worn and rusted that pushing them open might result in them collapsing and getting tetanus.

"We… we don't technically have a name. Y'know, the whole 'if we don't have a name then we can't truly exist' mentality," Eileithyia spoke in a mocking tone and made sure to add air quotes are the appropriate spot. "It's not for us to leave a mark on history, which so far we've done a pretty good job on, I reckon. I suppose if you needed a name you could call us Kalen, which is the clan our ancestors hail from. Our purpose has always been to stop the Ahlinstrons." Eileithyia paused and her face was overcame with a panicked expression before she looked over her left shoulder then her right. "Technically, we're not allowed to say that this being the whole 'names gives them power' thing, which is especially truly if you use an Ahlinstrons origin name. Don't ever do that, though I'd suppose you guys would actually have to learn them first... "

Having resumed her pacing Eileithyia thought about what to say next, "Ahlinstrons have existed since the beginning, or so I've been told, and corrupted everything in their path. Corruption is their specialty, they add strife to the world. Anyway, the Kalens, a clan of warrior or self-made warriors due to the Ahlinstrons domination of power and greed, have fought and killed Ahlinstrons throughout history. So, now you're probably wondering, 'if these things are so big and dangerous, how come I've never heard of them?' Well, folks that's the beauty of magic and a skill of the Ahlinstrons."

"You could call them self-conscious seeing as they don't like to showcase their defeats to the world and they also don't like to be in the spotlight. Memories are moldable things and an Ahlinstrons can warp them upon defeat, it's more of an automatic thing. Death, memory reformation, death, memory reformation. It's an endless cycle. Yeah, the thing is… Ahlinstrons die, but they never officially die. We've search for millenniums to find out the answer to true death, but there doesn't seem to be an answer. They die and they respawn. It's a thankless job, y'know.

"Enough of the boring history, right?" Eileithyia chuckled, inside she was a bundle of nerves. She definitely did not explain that properly, where was her father when she needed him? However, if he was her she'd be in more trouble than she knew what to do with.

"Anyway, onto you!" A chipper voice was just the thing to lighten the mood so Eileithyia put on her best one. "Right, so I've already explained magic to you, hopefully you read that document I sent…. you downloaded. The reasons there's so... few of you is because, like I said before, not everyone possesses enough magic. You however do, so congratulations. That's the first step. Next is actually learning how to do runic magic. Actually, the first step was activating your magic, which you did when you touched that stone otherwise you wouldn't be here.

"Now, back to runic magic. Sadly, runic magic doesn't work to give you super strength or courage or bravery in battle or expertise in combat, it just doesn't. While those runes exist it's more so for the placebo effect. I'm telling you this now because we use that strategy on children who won't actually be fighting and by the time they reach fighting age they know the truth. It's sort of like Santa Claus or the fact that racism is over, a myth. So if you run into battle thinking you got Superman's strength and you don't, you will die.

"The good news is that activating your magic will allow for you to be faster and stronger. It doesn't happen automatically but happens in increments over time. That along with the fact, if you don't train you won't see any results.

"Each of us plays a role, I'm slightly jealous because I never got to pick my position, as it's dictated which family heir is gifted which position based on these conditions." Eileithyia said quite bitterly. "Luckily, you don't have to worry about that. Each role dictates your actions on the battlefield and results in, hopefully, the death of an Ahlinstrons. These roles are taken very seriously and once your magic is tailored to a specific role it cannot be converted.

"No, you won't be going on any missions, any killing missions now. You have to learn how your role then work as a team before you can do much of anything.

"Hm, any questions before we move onto roles and the selection of them?" Eileithyia asked, wondering what were the chances that they all managed to follow along and had absolutely zero questions or concerns. 32%... 69%... 100%...
​

 

[Retro Bug]

! ! ! !​

Arc: Of Monsters And Men

Chapter One: Walk a little, talk a little...

Chapter Description:

At least you made the right decision walking through a strange portal with no clue what's on the other side. I hope you stuck the landing or perhaps you didn't, whatever the case you notice the rest of the people that made it through the portal or Eileithyia standing in front of you. A little too eagerly, Eileithyia starts talking and let's hope you're paying attention because between mumbles and a fast pace there's a lot to pay attention to. Ahlinstrons? Kalen? Runic Magic? This all sounds like serious business, can someone tell me where the fun is? Somehow, there's a feeling that this girl, whoever she may be, is not the leader of this so-called "nameless" society.

Is it just me or does it seem like information was missing from that speech, perhaps purposely? Perhaps, so you could ask questions about it? Nah, maybe not. Though... This is the time to ask questions so if you have them let's hear 'em? Statements. Statements are also accepted. Or saying nothing, nothing works.

PCs Effected: All

Notable (N)PCs: You're in luck! There's one and only one.

Eileithyia - A tall, Greek woman with an olive complexion. She seems to be wearing the hastily put together outfit of a black crop-top, a jean skirt, and black boots that reach up to her knees. Her deep brown hair is free... and wild like someone who straightens their curly hair but the second a drop of water gets touches it frizzes.

Goals:
Things that should be achieved in the your post(s), but don't have to be the only things in your post(s).

1. Arrive through the portal
2. Check out your surroundings/portalmates/Eileithyia or not
3. Listen to Eileithyia
4. Decide and make your questions/statements/silence known.

​

 

[Arylett Charnoa]

Audrey Chatelain

---

​

She tried to listen, but a lot of what that woman said went over her head.

The thing was, it was quite distracting to have this lady and a bunch of other people come out of nowhere. Quite a variety of people of all sorts of nationalities. Her adrenaline spiked to its peak at this unprecented situation, causing her to let out a startled shriek and nearly fall over prior to the woman's speech. She caught herself at the last moment, blushing curiously this was the first impression she was making, and waved sheepishly at the others.

"Uh... hrm. Don't mind me! I'm not here to attract attention or anything," She addressed the group as a whole. "It's just you all came out of nowhere... and... yes, well, I suppose that's it," She adjusted her glasses nervously in attempts to get this type of attention off of her, and then thought about it throughout this "Eileithyia's" speech. What a horrid first impression to make.

"Well, uh. That's... a lot to take in. I was kind of taken aback and I didn't really get all of that. But from what I'm understanding, these Aw-lis-tons are immensely shady things that cause all the bad things in the world to happen and never die, right?" Not the most eloquent way of saying things, but hey, the simpler, the more it made sense to her. "Oh and when do we start this whole training thing? Right after we chose our roles? Right now?"

 

[jombii]

Location:
Weird Training Room​

The feeling of stepping into the portal was weird enough. Finding other people inside, looking as curious as him, was even weirder. And the weirdest part was when a strange-looking girl started talking to them, ala X-men's Professor Charles Xavier. This is started to look like a movie cliche. If Jaromir hadn't experienced the weirdness of walking through the portal, he knew he could be out of it and just throw this thing out like a scam. He knew it was not and he sensed that it was bad enough. Someone shrieked near Jaromir, a girl with glasses. I guess Russians have more composure than most. There was another Russian in the room, but Jaromir is not familiar with the guy.

The woman, whose name was almost unpronounceable to Jaromir, started rambling on about Kalens and Ahlinstrons. Jaromir decided to call her Greek, a much easier name to pronounce than whats-her-name. She then continued to explain the magic stuff Jaromir read in the document he downloaded a few days back. He was then confused. Placebo effect?

"Hm, any questions before we move onto roles and the selection of them?" Greek asked. Jaromir of course had one. But shrieking girl had another thing in mind.

"Oh and when do we start this whole training thing? Right after we chose our roles? Right now?" Jaromir didn't really care about the training. He's been fighting all his life. What's an Ahlistron to him?

"I also have a question. You mentioned that the runes are somehow like a placebo. So runes don't really work? How can then we utilize the magic without them, 'cause I remember reading that I can't shoot fireballs without the runes for fireballs," Jaromir clarified. He waited for an answer.

For All Have Sinned​

 

[Ozymandias]

Allie Hughes // ???

Well... this certainly was turning out to be quite the interesting day.

It had seemed like just moments ago that Allie had been crawling out of bed, and now here she was, hearing spiels about magic, ancient civilizations, and eternal evil beings. This was quite a bit to take in, and in such little time, but then again what should have the young woman expected? She had just walked through a f*cking portal.

The decision was a no brainer to her. While her life had already been rather exciting and differed from the norm, Allie had always wanted to be a part of something greater, something extraordinary, and a portal to god knows where was definitely a good start, so of course she was gonna take the chance. When she made her way through the doorway she had found herself in the training room that she had seen through the wall, however now there were people populating the space she had seen.

There was a scruffy looking guy with short blonde hair... Easter European maybe? There was a Russian strongman back at the circus who shared quite a few characteristics. Beside him stood a quite tall man with much longer, unruly hair. The best word to describe him probably would be depressing. He also looked like he originated from Eastern Europe.

To the right, there was a rather average looking man with tanned skin and curly hair, a Spanish looking girl who Allie found to be very stylish and pretty, a Chinese woman, a black gentleman, and a bookwormish girl.

And then there was the Eileithyia woman.

Allie ate up everything she had said. The Ahlinstrons, the Kalen, the Magic, it all seemed so amazing to her. This was amazing, this was something unlike anything she could've drempt up of. Of course there was some skepticism in the back of her mind, but that could wait for later, right now she was going to be taking this all in.

"Hm, any questions before we move onto roles and the selection of them?" The Greek woman asked the group at the end of her speech.

Just as Allison was about to look around at her fellow peers she heard a shriek. She scanned the room to find its source and sure enough it came from the bookworm-looking girl she had seen earlier.

Aw poor thing Allie thought to herself. She considered going over there to comfort her, but the young woman seemed to find her composure soon enough. After doing so, the girl asked a question, wondering when the group would start their training. The scruffy Russian with shorter hair also asked a question about how the whole magic thing worked.

Allie didn't really have a question herslef, but to try and lift the mood and the spirits of the girl who had made the outburst, she spoke up. "I second her question!" She exclaimed with a warm smile, pointing at the young woman with glasses. "When are we getting started?"

 

[SV]

Gabriel Barnes - ???

From the moment Gabriel stepped through the portal, he seemed to go numb. This wasn't necessarily out of fear, but more or less out of intense shock, as if he had expected this all to be a dream, and the portal at the graveyard he was at would have triggered him awake. But this scene continued as if it were real, and this was perhaps too much for the Liberian to handle, odd as it sounds. He had bear witness to death, famine, disease, corruption, and various other problems within his country, but they were all something that he could at least tangibly explain. This? This wasn't part of that.

This was something entirely different.

Gabriel felt at this moment his world was about to become exponentially larger. He looked back for a moment from where he stepped through, wondering if he could still go back, and put all of this behind him. He didn't think himself mentally prepared for all of this just yet. It all just seemed to overwhelm him.

But then he remembered the children. The children of the graveyard. And the one who had led him here, and the piles of cases and crimes that had led him to even attempt something like this. No, he was here for a reason. He was here because the world had made it thus. The world had devolved and descended into darkness so much that a rational way of saving it didn't seem plausible to Gabriel anymore. Maybe now was the time to go irrational.

Most of the conversation flew over his head. In fact, he didn't quite understand most of what the olive-skinned 'goddess' was referring to. He was far too dumbfounded to understand in the beginning. A few of the others asked questions, he assumed they were in similar positions as him. Were they all some type of law enforcement too? They certainly didn't look like it. As they asked questions, however, only one came to Gabriel's mind, the only one he thought would matter.

"Would it... make a difference?" The detective asked. "What we do? Will we be able to change anything?"

 

[Dusty]

Jie Linghu
Location: ???​

This is insane. Am I sure I'm not dreaming? Did I have too much to drink last night? These thoughts and more ran through Jie's head as she tried to wrap her mind around everything. Despite the email, despite the explanation that the girl Eileithyia gave, it all just seemed too bizarre to be real. Yet here she was, standing in some gym who knows where talking to a girl with a strange name about secret organizations and apparently monsters. The strangest thing was how calm she was. She should have been freaking out or something, but she found herself nodding along. Secret organizations that fight monsters? Sure, why not. Magic through runes? Fine. She didn't care about what made sense and what didn't anymore, the whole world was flipped on it's head, and she was just rolling with the punches.

She did find it curious however that Eileithyia, despite being part of this "Kalen" group, didn't seem like she was the person who was supposed to introduce them to this whole world. Her speaking was unofficial, like a student teacher was giving a class rather than the professor, and something gave Jie the impression that somehow this was not entirely normal. Add to that the ramshackle gym they were going to train in, which didn't look like it had been used in quite a while. Either they had fallen on hard times, or Eileithyia was acting apart from the rest of her group. She decided to ask the girl about it eventually, but maybe not in front of the rest of the group. That might be something that is a more personal matter.

Thinking of the rest of the group she took the opportunity to look around at the other people gathered around her. There was a tall man with dark black hair, longer than her own even reaching down to his waist, with a cold determined look on his face. Another was a man with short cropped blonde hair in what looked like business attire, although it looked quite natural on him. He looked slightly Russian in nationality. Standing nearby was another man who looked Russian, although this one a giant compared to herself, his long and somewhat unkempt blonde hair obscuring his face partially. He was probably the most intimidating of the group she thought. The rest of the group was fairly normal in appearance compared to the giant. An African man, an American, several others. It was a mixed group from around the world, of many nationalities. She was glad that the rune that Eileithyia had given them all was some sort of active translator. Her English was pretty good, but she didn't know how she would have fared with so many other people, languages, and accents.

After her introduction speech, or whatever she wanted to call it, the woman asked for questions, and immediately several others piped up. Jie chose to remain silent for now. The words of her grandmother echoed back to her, "You have two eyes, two ears, and one mouth. So you should spend four times as much of your time watching and listening than talking!" She let the others talk, a shy woman in a red vest asking about when training started, a notion echoed by a young enthusiastic American with short blonde hair. The tall blonde Russian asked a more practical question, wondering about how this magic exactly worked, including the placebo the woman mentioned. She was sure that answers for that would come with time, although magic was always even more complicated than it seemed. At least, that's what she got from books and movies that had magic.

Finally an important question surfaced from the African man in a dark colored suit. His voice sounded tired as he said, "Would it... make a difference? What we do? Will we be able to change anything?"

It was a fair point. Jie decided to add her voice to his. "He's right. If these things just always come back, what's the point? We can defend humanity or something for a while, but it's a war of attrition, and eventually we will lose. Unless you think otherwise." She shook her head, "Don't get me wrong, I'll fight with you. I have nothing to go back to. It'd just be nice to have some kind of hope that we can actually beat these things. Permanently."​

​

​

​

 

[Swolligator]

Greer Savante - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Greer was surprised that the person on the other side of the email addressed replied so rapidly to their interest email. It was like as if the response was sent even before Greer had sent their reply. Curious, they opened up the new email to find only a single line of numbers and letters: an address. At first glance, Greer wasn't sure if the location even existed in Vancouver, but after a quick Google search showed them that the location was a park only a few minutes' walk away from their apartment. Grabbing keys off the bench, hoodie from the couch and beanie from the floor, Greer slipped into their Chuck Taylors sitting by the door and disappeared out the front door.

The park was easy to find, a small, slightly wooded area of grass squished onto a section between four houses. A path through the park led to a small, rusty playground and on through to a street running parallel to the one Greer was on. Looking back at the email on their phone, Greer suddenly realised that while the email had told them where to go, it didn't give up any more information about where the package actually was or how big it was. It was an Easter egg hunt for something Greer wasn't even sure existed in the first place. After what felt like hours of searching, Greer soon found the package taped underneath one of the low-bearing platforms of the playground. It had only been pure chance that Greer had even thought to look there. Turning the package over in their hands, Greer soon found their named on one side, but nothing else to say who had left it here. Opening up the flat box, Greer only found two items: a ring set with obsidian and a letter curled up and stuck through the ring. Sliding the ring onto their right hand, Greer had only the briefest moment of wonder how the person who had left it knew that it would fit before the ring glowed with an intense glow. It was like looking at a dark ceiling light, Greer didn't want to look away but at the expense of potentially burning out their retinas, they had to look away until the ring stopped glowing.

The letter through the ring held little more information than the email Greer had received earlier. It listed the address of a hotel downtown, one Greer had stayed at after fights with their parents following their coming out to them. Looking at their watch, Greer freaked out as the note also asked them to be at a specific room at the hotel by four in the afternoon. It meant they had less than an hour to get from the suburbs into downtown Vancouver. Getting to their feet, Greer started sprinting through the park. In the back of their mind there was a little nagging voice that reminded Greer that they didn't know what exactly it was they were running in to. But a feeling stirred in their gut that the direction they were heading was a place where they were meant to be.

After several busses, a couple of mad dashes and a very impatient taxi driver, Greer now stood outside the glass doors to one of the many hotels that rose up into that ephemeral sky. Beyond these two doors lay the unknown, something Greer should have been afraid of but all they could think of was that this would all turn out positive for the greater good. Pushing open the doors, Greer did their best to blend in with the multitude of tourist all milling about the foyer. As they made their way slowly through the masses, they couldn't help but catch a glance at the clock on the wall. It was already five to four and Greer had several flights of stairs to dash up. Taking in a deep breath, Greer started moving faster through the crowd, using as much strength as they could muster to push aside the fat, American tourists.

As soon as they had reached the doors to the stairwell however, Greer heard a shout from nearby. Darting through the door, Greer hit the stairs running, taking two at a time where possible. Before they were even two floors up shouts erupted from below and two pairs of shoes could be heard running after them. Pushing on further, Greer did their best not to look back. Focusing on the task at hand they only needed to make it up to the sixth floor and the person behind the door would hide them from the pursuing guards.

Shoulder charging the hallway door, Greer breathed a small sigh of relief as they passed the large, white number Six painted on the wall. Sprinting down the hallway Greer could feel the pins on their binding loosening up allowing the binds to slip slightly. This was no time to stop and fix it up, safety was just around the corner…

Nope. Where room 625 was meant to follow on from 624 was a solid, striped wall adorned with two fancy wall lamps. Cursing under their breath, Greer slammed their fists against the wall multiple times while yelling out a string of expletives. This had all been a hoax, and Greer who had hoped for a life of more meaning now found themselves potentially facing jail time. This was a complete and utter disaster. Greer turned around to face the music, hearing the loud panting of the guards who had just reached the corner. Their only escape route was now blocked so Greer vented their anger, sending their fists flying backwards to land another dent in the wall. Only, their hand seemed to phase straight through the wall.

Turning on their heels, the wall where Greer had been banging against only moments before had faded away to reveal a strange looking training room beyond. "Thank you, universe", Greer whispered a small prayer before stepping through the portal. With a smirk on their face, Greer waved goodbye to the bewildered guards who were now dashing towards her as the hotel-training room portal seemed to grow ever less transparent. Breathing a proper sigh of relief, Greer noticed that a crowd of people had coalesced near the centre of the training room. In front of them all was a very attractive Mediterranean girl talking about demons and Ahlinstrons, the very same things the email had been talking about. Quietly, so as not to interrupt, Greer crept up to the back of the group. Hiding behind a large, African man, Greer made out like they had been there the whole time and joined in on listening to the girl speak.

Once Eileithyia had finished speaking, Greer took the moment to look around and see if anyone was just as lost as they were. Greer smiled when the first girl to speak up asked about when they were to start training. They were just as eager to get the ball rolling.

"Yeah, so when do we start training?" Greer called out to the Grecian Goddess (pun fully intended) deepening their voice as much as possible. Coincidently another girl before them had spoken up and agreed with the first girl. Hopefully with the three of them asking the same question, Eileithyia would respond more quickly.

Greer's attention was drawn away when another boy, accent thick like he was from Eastern Europe asked about the runes and their perceived placebo effect. Greer figured something must have been lost in translation. The way they understood it was that all of them there could innately perform feats of magic (which remained to be seen), and that ruins acted as a conduit for their magical powers. Seemed pretty straight forward to them. Turning their attention back towards Eileithyia, Greer waited patiently for the woman to respond to the bombardment of questions. Only just catching the tail end of the question-statement that the small Asian girl had fired Eileithyia's way. By the looks of their rag tag group, this was going to get interesting.​