Author Topic: Scarlet Scripture (IC)  (Read 10917 times)

Offline oslecamo

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Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« on: December 08, 2014, 02:57:59 PM »
The glooms of the Gray Waste are just that: dull gray lands. The earth is gray, the sky is gray, and the petitioners are gray. Color is foreign here, as if vision itself is subverted. When visitors step into the plane, everything goes from color to white, black, or gray. There is no sun, no moon, and no stars above—just a bleak gray radiance emanating from the sky.



It is where evil springs eternal.
It is a plane of endless apathy and despair.
It was the greatest battlefield of the Blood War.

Now it lays mostly deserted. The Empire of Thoon seems to have little interest in this place, word being that all the apathy and despair make the brains of those who dwell here taste horrible for most mind flayers. Instead their slave and mechanized armies have focused on attacking the other main lower planes like the Abyss, the Nine Hells, Carceri and Gehenna, Pandemonium, and demons, devils and yugoloths have deployed their own armies accordingly to counter them. All of the other top layers of those planes have been conquered by Thoon at least once, then taken back by the infernal forces, and often lost again. It may seem like a bloody stalemate at first glance, but even the most bersek Balor can see the writing in the wall: the infernal forces can't afford the rate of losses they're suffering, as outsiders slain their home planes are gone forever, while Thoon is breeding mutants ever faster in their vats and their quintessence factories are outpacing the infernal forges.

You were summoned inside Khin-Oin the Wasting Tower in Oinos, the first layer of Hades. A twenty-mile-high tower, Khin-Oin looks like nothing so much as a freestanding spinal column. Some say that's exactly what it is: the backbone of a deity slain by yugoloths. Khin-Oin plunges as deep into Oinos's gray soil as it ascends into the air, so the tower's sublevels tunnel twenty miles deep. The Wasting Tower is ruled by an ultraloth prince named Mydianchlarus, an huge infernal completely clad in baroque charred armor covered in unholy glowing runes, no body feature visible under the many metal plates covering its body. Some stories hint that the entire yugoloth race was birthed here, arising in a pit at the absolute bottom of Khin-Oin.  Not always yugoloths have  held the tower, because of the constant array of fiendish armies outside, but the times devils or demons conquered it combined is still less than a tenth of the yugoloth takeovers. The rooms and the floors of the tower seem to have no end. Spawning vats, magical laboratories, and meditation chambers can be found here, as can orreries, suites of rooms for infernals, and floors that are themselves battlegrounds and drill fields. Mydianchlarus rules from the tower's zenith, and the token of his rulership is the Siege Malicious.

Asmodeus, Orcus, Demogorgon, Pazuzu, Graz'zt, the Dukes of Hell, the other princes of the Abyss, among others, they are all here with you in Mydianchlarus throne room. Or at least their avatars are. The real ones are most probably in their own personal fortresses, still not trusting each other enough to meet directly even with the threat of Thoon looming above all of you. Except for Mydianchlarus, who is here in person since it's his octagonal throne room, devoid of any decorations or furniture besides the major artifact he sits upon. A gargantuan, immovable throne carved from the stone of the Wasting Tower itself. The throne is inlaid with tarnished silver, base copper, and brass. A circular crown of rubies adorns the top of the high seat And all around you the petitioners of Hades, mostly grayish ghosts, spirits so depleted by the Waste that they lack solidity. They rarely speak, instead crowding around visitors like moths around a candle, seeking the warmth of emotion and hope that you still possess. The petitioners who get too close to one of the infernal avatars spontaneously burst into multi-coloured flames before disintegrating. None of them say anything, just staring at you and each other with clear contained anger, scheming, greed, hate and killing intent. The tension is high on the room.


We all know why we're here, so let us skip the pleasantries and get down to business.-says Mydianchlarus in a deep, strong and professional voice, his helmet face turning towards you, breaking the silence-
There's a job that needs to be done, and you're here because you're our best candidates for it.

The  yugoloth then pulls a bunch of scrolls that seem made of human, elvish, orcish and mind flayer skins, and he skims over them for a moment.

Your curriculum diabolae are quite something. I don't know if it's impressive or pathetic that you managed to keep such a low reputation until now. It is however a key asset for this mission. Thoon's slaves won't see you coming. Only thing left to decide is which of the prime targets we identified to hit first. Or you split up and hit different targets simultaneously. Normally we would order you where to go and you would shut up and obey, but Demogorgon can't even agree with himself where to deploy you, Asmodeus proposition was so complicated that it made my eyes bleed and everybody else had a different plan. In the end what we managed to agree was that you would pick whatever you like more. That way if you fail miserably, we can put the blame on you. I suppose you already reached a consensus while you were waiting in the lower levels? If not, now would be an excellent time to do so.

Oh, and anything you would like to say before we open the gate towards your destination? You don't have any any crippling secret weak point or personal vendettas your patrons forgot to mention? Nothing that could compromise this mission and could be prevented with a few words?

Offline Frogman55

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2014, 09:53:11 AM »
A roiling mass of shadows lies against a ceiling. The darkness seems to exude light, somehow, leaving images and shapes visible from moment to moment within the smoky spirit. Teeth, eyes, swords, and barren trees all shine through before melting into swirling smoke. With a shudder at Mydianchlarus' words, the shadows coalesce into a more visible form, then suddenly flare into a clean, white light. Words emanate from the air, in an urbane and quiet voice, "Weakness? We are all weakness, we are weakness made strength, the vile turned to purity. But we all know nothing, if we know that. And I know all, and you know me. Or apparently you don't. So that is that."

Strong eyes see that while this form of light seems blinding, it casts no shadows, and the same disturbing shapes seem to flicker within its form. Now the voice changes, losing its inflection, "I don't know where we go, and neither do you. Nor do the tearing thinkers. So there. And I've been told that the thinker's young taste delicious. Do you know what they look like inside?"
« Last Edit: December 10, 2014, 10:48:55 AM by Frogman55 »

Offline Raineh Daze

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2014, 11:41:38 AM »
Celestite hated this place. Not because of the packed ranks of petitioners making endless nuisances of themselves, nor because of the over-representation of incredibly powerful fiends who could probably succeed in fighting back the squid if they'd stop sitting on their thrones--not that such a thing would be possible to co-ordinate, but simply finishing the Blood War as a three-way battle between all the big players and the Mindflayers would likely solve the problem.

No, she hated it because everything was grey. For someone whose skin was normally decorated with patterns in fluctuating rainbows, and whose spellbook had its own eerie glow, this sort of place was unbearable. She lost all sort of dramatic potential; only the act of floating above the ground without any apparent method prevented her from being confused with your run of the mill tiefling wizard or librarian.

"Going after their young is the most important course of action, both slowing the replenishment of their leadership and thus making the ratio of slaves to masters slip further and further towards rebellion. Of course, it would be better to simply stop them from gaining hosts, and let the resultant monstrosities turn against their forebears in time than outright kill the tadpoles."
« Last Edit: December 10, 2014, 11:59:57 AM by Raineh Daze »

Offline ketaro

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2014, 12:55:40 PM »
Perhaps more normal looking than most, what looked like a mere human with striking blue hair and dressed mostly in white, gold-trimmed formal attire was standing around this room, the only thing curious about him being a fancy looking golden metal plate covering his left eye much like an eyepatch; he seemed to be actively concentrating on suppressing a twitch more than anything else in here. But then somebody mentioned delicious and kill the tadpoles. That set him off excitedly.

"AAAAAH YES, that's the feast I was hearing about!" he started up rather loudly. "An all you can eat seafood buffet, ripe for the picking! Boil them all alive in the very seas they spawn endlessly into! What better way to start a meal than with the appetizer?"
« Last Edit: December 10, 2014, 11:41:34 PM by ketaro »

Offline Nanshork

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2014, 04:04:02 PM »
Betral is one of those gathered for this mission that actually looks like he belongs here.  His body seems to be composed of pure energy, letting off a soft green glow.  His gear looks very haphazardly thrown together with touches of both fiendish and thoon technology visible.

At the end of Mydianchlarus' speech Betral frowns slightly and an impressive looking crossbow appears in his hands and then just as quickly disappears.

"I was created for this mission as you know, yugoloths helped make me.  If I have any secret weaknesses they are secret even from me.  I don't care where we start the killing, only that we do."

Offline SorO_Lost

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2014, 11:35:38 PM »
A gray man in gray garb without care to present him self with boasters of fear or intimidation simply states, "We are immortal, they are not. Let us remind them of that by killing their tomarrows."

Offline VennDygrem

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #6 on: December 11, 2014, 11:30:41 PM »
From somewhere in the room, there issued a small voice, though bold and crisp in its own right. Its pitch was a bit high, though it was gravelly and tended to drag slowly on certain syllables, creating an oddly lilting cadence.

"This one is ever at your service, masters. It sees the value in cutting out their breeding grounds... Even if they recover, doing so will set them back enough to reveal the weakness in their machine."

Where once there was an empty space, immediately there now stands a small, awfully pathetic-looking creature. About the size of a gnome, the creature hunches over, cradling long, claw-tipped fingers  that appear as though they were permanently stained crimson in blood. Its skin looks as though is were scorched black in some great fire, not a hair sticking out of its body. Two feathered wings are folded in against its back, the color of smoke mingled with blood.

The creature bows without taking its eyes off of Mydianchlarus.

Pathetic, the creature thought to itself. These fools are all completely mad! I'm the only one here who isn't completely full of himself! These idiots will get themselves killed and I'll have to spend more time learning a new set of team weaknesses and less time destroying enemies. If somehow they don't die horribly, however, then perhaps they can be of some use to me...

Offline ksbsnowowl

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #7 on: December 12, 2014, 11:53:18 AM »
With the grey hues washed over everything, the winged form crouching near the front looks exactly like a gargoyle carved of stone.  As he stands to answer, a medallion of five grey serpent heads jingles and swings out from where it had been tucked away beneath the mantle over his shoulders.

"They slew my chromatic lady," Raive'lac says as he tucks the dead god's holy symbol back under the elaborate neck of his cloak; "I have studied the mind-eaters, and found weaknesses.  Tiamat will be avenged."  Whichever location the others wish to strike... any must be easier to endure than this horridly dull place, he thinks to himself.  He did not like being in the stronghold of the Yugoloths.

Offline oslecamo

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #8 on: December 20, 2014, 08:08:40 AM »
I was expecting you to fight between each other to prove your point...-complains Demogorgon's right head.

Ha, you lot owe me 666 elven souls each now! Pay up!
-laghs Asmodeus.

Nonsense, they didn't reach a consensus yet either!-yells back Orcus, rising his mace!

Still there seems to be a majority of their preferences to head up to Celestia first. Let's open the portal, we're just wasting time here...
-interrupts Demogorgon's left head.

Grudgingly, the infernal lords stop their bickering and start chanting in an unholy tone, sychronizing their voices, and a glowing red rift starts forming in the middle of the room, managing to overcome even this plane's grayness, opening up like a wound in reality, Inside it you can only see a twisting vortex or eldritch energies. 

Once you're through, we'll close the portal right away and you'll be on your own. And remember, if you die, we'll find you wherever you end in the lower planes. So if you're about to be captured, suicide would be your best course of action. Don't try to say my name three times or anything like that. I'm not falling for that one again.-warns Pazuzu.

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« Last Edit: December 20, 2014, 08:10:51 AM by oslecamo »

Offline Frogman55

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #9 on: December 20, 2014, 09:34:00 AM »
Noxa remained silent as the filthily polished celestials pushed their way forward. His fractured mind spread out as the voice spoke in his head, following the voice back to its source. With a muttering, his flickering shadow bursts into light - making him look like an ethereal version of one of these Thoon-minions.

"You dare! You stop us! I am here on Thoon's business, guiding emissaries throughout his realms. Respect his greater might and power! Go back to your business, move on!"



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« Last Edit: December 20, 2014, 09:35:54 AM by Frogman55 »

Offline Raineh Daze

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #10 on: December 20, 2014, 09:54:46 AM »
The first one through was the magician, eager to be rid of the intolerable greyness. The lower planes might have been where she belonged, but as a place to hang out in, they were terrible. The fighting made a nice distraction, but somewhere along the line, 'pure evil' had become 'as ugly as possible'. It made her wish that she had enough gardening talent to spruce one of the places up a little bit.

And of course, once they arrived in heaven, it was full of tadpoles and a patrol that spotted them immediately--well, her at least. Looked like the welcoming committee had arrived just in time for the iridescent spellcaster to let off a little steam.

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Now, how many of them could she get at once? Well, there was a good chance of the answer being 'all of them'. The magician's promptly becoming a sphere of light that apparently wanted to do as much damage to the welcoming party as possible, since there was no way she was going to try and play at being some dumb little prisoner.

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Offline VennDygrem

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #11 on: December 20, 2014, 12:16:16 PM »
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Offline Nanshork

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #12 on: December 20, 2014, 01:56:13 PM »
Betral moves through the portal as inconspicuously as possible, and once he sees Celestite go crazy Betral slowly flies (hopefully) out of the killing zone.

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Offline SorO_Lost

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #13 on: December 20, 2014, 05:35:51 PM »
Neb is one of the last few people to step through the portal letting the others serve as violent distractions.

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Offline ketaro

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #14 on: December 21, 2014, 05:32:46 AM »
Morys makes a strange face of disgust when one of the folk he'd been thrown in with tried to impersonate an enemy, however that quickly broke into a wide, fanged grin as the more colorful character just fired so many colors and explosions at the unfortunately inquisitive celestials.

"Yes, YES, THAT IS MORE LIKE IT COLORFUL LITTLE BLASTER GIRL! This is no diplomatic nor undercover sneak mission, make their corpses rain from the heavens! Thoon will not help them here! Thoon will--" he cuts off, interrupted by a violent looking spasm, and his artificial eye opens, emitting a bright blue light. "Thoon will not save them! Th--THOON DEMANDS THEIR SACRIFICE! I WILL PURGE YOU, FOR THOON!"

Roaring at the contingent, Morys' jaws widen and elongate into a more draconic-esque aspect and his veins light up through his skin like magma as a wave of pure destruction blasts out at the flying ship.

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Offline VennDygrem

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #15 on: December 21, 2014, 12:10:28 PM »
Damaros merely observes as he lurks behind wisps of thin air- unseen, unknowable.

He has to judge his momentary allies' abilities based on this opening salvo. One seemed capable of using its cunning and deceit to fool its way past their foes, a useful, if boring talent. The others are capable of unleashing massive destruction in quick succession. Much more interesting, indeed, although more likely to draw undue attention. Sloppy, but effective.

I will simply wait as these fools either get obliterated by the enemy for their loud display, or mop up after them once more pawns are on the playing field. There may be no need to reveal myself at all. Let these idiots draw all the attention they desire! It is I who will have to save them should any higher opposition arrive that they cannot handle...

Still, a part of Damaros wants to join in the chaos and unleash his bound fury. It gnaws at him, provokes him. He suppresses the urge, however, until he can see how the enemy would retaliate. When they did, if they even get the chance, he would be there to soak up their blows, and repeat the damage unto them in a display of terrible wrath.

Offline oslecamo

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #16 on: December 30, 2014, 03:59:30 PM »
Noxa hears inside his head a scream of pure agony from the voice that had just talked to him, and then the voice is no more. And his disguise seems to be fooling the patrol pretty well.

Alas before he can speak more than a couple words Celestine surrouns herself with arcane energy and is flying at lighting speed over the angels trying to surround you, before finishing by crashing violently against the thoon ship! Most ones she passes through are vaporized in explosions of light, but seven of them manage to survive with just smoking burns over their bodies and their dark blue uniforms partially burned, while the ship gets an hole melted into it and shakes a bit but keeps flying. The celestial faces retain their previous dull expressions, seemingly not caring about their own wounds.

Then Morys advances and unleashes his breath of destruction upon the ship along three of the surviving celestials. Part of the front of the vessel disintegrates, but most of it weathers through the attack, as well as one of the celestials. The other two are reduced to green ash in the air.

The strange weapons of the surviving patrol celestials, that you can now see are long black steel staffs with strange handles, start glowing red, and from the ship's underside an hole opens between a flesh and metal junction, and inside a blue orb starts forming! No more words voice inside your head, but it's pretty clear you have a fraction of second to react before you're attacked back, Noxo's reamining words falling on deaf ears.

Neb, Damaros and Betral seem to manage to remain undetected.

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« Last Edit: December 30, 2014, 04:06:03 PM by oslecamo »

Offline Raineh Daze

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #17 on: December 30, 2014, 06:42:46 PM »
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Grinning from up above, Celestite decided to take aim on the remaining fools, pointing a finger dramatically down and recasting her spell... with a minor difference: she wasn't going to go anywhere, but the effect certainly lost none of its power. Especially nothing from the crazy sorceress' glee at the celestials' suffering. Oh, they were dead. So very, gleefully dead.

"Turn to ash."

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Offline Frogman55

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #18 on: January 02, 2015, 10:27:11 AM »
The angelic being faded into nothingness, as though it had been nothing but illusion, before rising softly away from the explosions going on ahead...

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Offline SorO_Lost

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Re: Scarlet Scripture (IC)
« Reply #19 on: January 10, 2015, 01:00:05 PM »
After watching the fireworks show Neb shoots a message to one of the hidden flayers by telepathy, "She ...Has issues. Best strike her quick before you are seen."

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