Dark General IC

[gibbousmoons]

The darkness is ever waiting outside.

No matter how far the Light reaches, no matter which champions empower themselves for its defense, the world will always fall to darkness, depravity, evil for the sake of evil. It only takes time.

But sometimes. . .

Sometimes evil doesn't quite work out in the short term.

You stumble together, back to back in a rough circle, your Queen a burning cold presence at your backs, your hands raised high to contribute what you can to the collaborative shield spell. Curses are snarled out, and weapons are readied as the building of the grand hall you'd sought refuge in is evaporated in a spray of white light.

The shield opaques to spare your eyes, and when it resumes transparency you're surrounded.

There were supposed to be nine of them, but you counted more than that.

Magic swords were raised, and spells were muttered under ragged breaths as a group of them dropped your shield, but before you could move, before you could even move an inch, a ring of magic flared around you.

"Death take us all!" Your Queen screamed, and you knew no more.

When you awake, you remember a life as a mundane human. Well, you remember living as a relatively mundane human. No ordinary person has what it takes to be a Dark General.

You stand in a line facing your Queen in the dark cavern that she'd hollowed out beneath the crowded business district of Detroit, the bustling metropolis of steel and innovation. She. . . lounges, or perhaps she sulks royally on a simple throne of wrought iron, and you can see the seams in the floor where she pulled the still-molten metal from the ground with force of will.

Your Queen rules for a reason.

Clad in shadows, obscuring all but her crimson eyes, she stares down at you. "There will be no underestimation this time." She says calmly. "There will be no mistakes. Before I awakened you all I formed a list of targets myself, and I expect them to be either dealt with, or for significant progress to have been made by the next time I call you to me, in one week."

Next Sunday. Today is Sunday too.

"Find and eliminate the planet's Senshi Find the greatest monument this modern man has created to its ego, and crush it." With each demand, the cavern creaks in tandem with the twisted mess of iron that had been her chair's armrest. "Get me energy enough to return us to our full power, and get it from the pious, the righteous. Destabilize the pacts that hold the supernatural powers off of each others' throats.

"Hubnerite, Monzonite, Azurite, Ruby, Aurichalcite. Do not fail me."

The cavern twists and pulls away, and as the feeling of your Queen's presence fades so does her cavern, leaving the five of you in the middle of an urban park's small stand of trees.

You look around at each other.

What do you do?

Just a friendly reminder that attempting to god mode will get some major bad mojo dropped on you. Have fun, and remember that dibs isn't god moding!

 

[Happerry]

Monzonite quietly pushes his glasses back up from where they had slid down on his face. "An interesting list of objectives. As well as interestingly vague. Does anyone have any idea what actually counts as the 'greatest monument this modern man has created to its ego', or should we just blow up Tokyo Tower?"

Pausing for a moment, he continues with "And speaking of that, what are the current local supernatural powers anyway? I can't imagine they've stayed totally the same through our long absence."

 

[Silversun17]

I blink into the branches of the nearest tree that can bear my weight.

"The orders are... not optimal. The senshi are likely not active as of yet would likely be smart enough to keep their activities beneath notice. Also odds are that there is no greatest monument to the population's ego other then civilization itself. But if that is destroyed... what point is there to ruling over a bunch of primitives living in mud huts and picking lice off themselves who also remember that life was better before we came?"

"Recommend establishment of local contacts, cast our net wide enough and we will find the local supernatural elements. I will begin a slow take over of the local criminal element then use those resources to expand into the economic areas. recommend another focus on the local political elements."


ooc: odd sentence structure is on purpose. Hubernite doesn't care enough to bother speaking normally. her mind is on more important things.

 

[Robotninja]

Ruby sighs. "First, we gather info. If we can locate the local leylines, I can start harvesting them for energy. I can also start corrupting the moral pillars of society. We want to avoid the Senshi until we have recovered more of our power. As such, my energy harvesting operations are rather urgent. Any support you can give with regards to finding targets with high virtue for me to seed will be appreciated."
"I advise we wait on the crushing the monument until we have regained a portion of our power. We want the impact to have the proper gradiouse theme, after all."

 

[Silversun17]

Ruby sighs. "First, we gather info. If we can locate the local leylines, I can start harvesting them for energy. I can also start corrupting the moral pillars of society. We want to avoid the Senshi until we have recovered more of our power. As such, my energy harvesting operations are rather urgent. Any support you can give with regards to finding targets with high virtue for me to seed will be appreciated."
"I advise we wait on the crushing the monument until we have regained a portion of our power. We want the impact to have the proper gradiouse theme, after all."

Click to shrink...

"Not a good plan at this time. We have been ordered to harvest energy from the righteous which tend to be the moral pillars of their community. your corrupting them would lower the sources we can harvest from. I recommend you target the local political elements for corruption."

 

[Robotninja]

"Not a good plan at this time. We have been ordered to harvest energy from the righteous which tend to be the moral pillars of their community. your corrupting them would lower the sources we can harvest from. I recommend you target the local political elements for corruption."

Click to shrink...

"Has your time in the grave addled your memories? My corruption is an energy harvest. The purer the soul corrupted, the more energy generated." Ruby states in an annoyed tone of voice.

 

[Silversun17]

"Has your time in the grave addled your memories? My corruption is an energy harvest. The purer the soul corrupted, the more energy generated." Ruby states in an annoyed tone of voice.

Click to shrink...

"and if your the primary harvester while we remain subtle where does that leave the rest of us? you know how the queen is."

 

[kinglugia]

I nodded wordlessly at the Dark Queen's commands, mentally making a list on what to do to aid the Dark Queen's objective.
"I shall acquire materials to bring forth milady's new rule, however, it might take some time for me to do so," I told the others, creating a minion specialized at gathering and commanding insects, and another to act as a womb for storing biomass, as well as something for me to use my Fleshcrafting spell.
"I don't know how you people would like to gather energy, but I believe that given time and resources, I might be able to create an energy battery."

 

[Happerry]

Monzonite frowns. "Personally, I was planning on creating pods which we could trap people in, allowing us to use them as batteries.."

 

[kinglugia]

Monzonite frowns. "Personally, I was planning on creating pods which we could trap people in, allowing us to use them as batteries.."

Click to shrink...

A grin came across my features as I processed Monzonite's suggestion. "And if I modify their bodies to be able to handle the strain of getting energy drained, perhaps having then be able to recover energy faster..."

 

[Robotninja]

"and if your the primary harvester while we remain subtle where does that leave the rest of us? you know how the queen is."

Click to shrink...

Ruby rolls his eyes. "Doing the other things that are important. Like setting factions against each other. You know. Stuff that is helped by being subtle."
With that, he decides to turn his attention to one of his peers who actually knows how to use his mind. "That would be helpful."

Ruby shrugs. "Well, there's no time like the present to get started. There is quite a bit of ambient energy here." With that, his hands erupt into dark black flame as he kneels and presses them onto the ground. An invisible wave of corruptive pressure spreads outwards, subtly distorting the once pristine park. "There. Now this area will tap the energy of this location at command."

 

[Silversun17]

Ruby rolls his eyes. "Doing the other things that are important. Like setting factions against each other. You know. Stuff that is helped by being subtle."

Click to shrink...

"the queen doesn't understand subtle she sees only the instant pay off. You know that."
I turn to the others.
"I have gangs to subvert. send me a summery on what i need to be aware of."

I Blink away from the grove and cast invisibility before I begin hunting for my pray. Let's see if i can hunt down the leaders of the major gangs in the city.

 

[gibbousmoons]

Ruby rolls his eyes. "Doing the other things that are important. Like setting factions against each other. You know. Stuff that is helped by being subtle."
With that, he decides to turn his attention to one of his peers who actually knows how to use his mind. "That would be helpful."

Ruby shrugs. "Well, there's no time like the present to get started. There is quite a bit of ambient energy here." With that, his hands erupt into dark black flame as he kneels and presses them onto the ground. An invisible wave of corruptive pressure spreads outwards, subtly distorting the once pristine park. "There. Now this area will tap the energy of this location at command."

Click to shrink...

Your spell moves more slowly than you remember it, and after a few seconds you feel the boundary refuse to get any larger. It's still large enough to cover the most heavily wooded part of the park, but there's a soupy resistance like a tough bubble that your corruptive wave doesn't want to expand out past. You could push beyond it by tapping the depths of your connection to your Queen, but such a thing would hardly be subtle.

Then again, perhaps attracting a little bit of attention would be a good thing?

"the queen doesn't understand subtle she sees only the instant pay off. You kknow that."
I turn to the others.
"I have gangs to subvert. send me a summery on what i need to be aware of."

I Blink away from the grove and cast invisibility before I begin hunting for my pray. Let's see if i can hunt down the leaders of the major gangs in the city.

Click to shrink...

After a muttered word you reappear in the shadow of an oak tree by the edge of the park, between its trunk and the wrought iron fence. Another quick phrase, and light bends around you. It isn't true unnoticability, but it'll fool even an experienced mage if they aren't looking for it, and there's a minor 'don't bump into me' component that's come in handy before too.

There's a cursory map of the city by the park's exit, and you examine it.

.

You wonder what that blank portion is, but the rest is self-explanatory. You concentrate for a moment, and the gist of the map is routed through your connection to the other Dark Generals. You can't transmit any specific information, but the link you all share through your Queen is enough that now at least they won't get lost, and blame you for not sharing information.

 

[Silversun17]

I consider the map for a moment and start moving to the resdentual area and start looking for the slums. the gangs will be most active there.

 

[Robotninja]

I shake my head. Not yet. I begin to drain energy from the park. Not enough to be too harmful, but enough to give me a fair boost. Then I head for the railway. I can claim that as my territory and set them to drain trace amounts from everyone inside.

 

[Happerry]

Monzonite shrugs as people start leaving. "I'm going to go find a landmark and possess it, to make a monster to draw out the senshi with. We can see what the locals have and do the whole 'smash a big symbol' thing at the same time. Well, more trick them into smashing it, but I hope the Queen will find that amusing."

 

[Nekraa]

"I'll follow you~" Aurichalcite declares cheerfully as she looks up at Monzonite. "It sounds amusing and I want to take a look at the senshi. I can make a few servants too, to hamper their work ♥" She says with an innocent smile.

 

[Happerry]

Monzonite smiles. "If we can capture some of them alive, they'd make ideal batteries, don't you think? Of course, if they're current incarnations are too strong, well, I'm sure we can find other power sources."

 

[kinglugia]

As Monzonite and Aurichalcite were going to leave the area to encounter the Senshi, I called out.
"I would be grateful to the two of you if you manage to procure me some of the Senshi's DNA. Or a description of what they look like," I said. "I wonder if I can make evil clones out of the Senshi's DNA..."

 

[gibbousmoons]

Azurite
I nodded wordlessly at the Dark Queen's commands, mentally making a list on what to do to aid the Dark Queen's objective.

"I shall acquire materials to bring forth milady's new rule, however, it might take some time for me to do so," I told the others, creating a minion specialized at gathering and commanding insects, and another to act as a womb for storing biomass, as well as something for me to use my Fleshcrafting spell.

"I don't know how you people would like to gather energy, but I believe that given time and resources, I might be able to create an energy battery."

Click to shrink...

A tree nearby shivers and shakes as its inner branches weave into a humanoid figure, squat and short with a big round belly made from interwoven tender shoots. When it lands heavily on the ground, grass weaves up through its legs to fill in the gaps in its stomach-cage. "Pool." It says, announcing its name.

A clump of tall grass wove itself into legs and hands shaped around a vaguely bird-like body made from twigs. Its fingers are long and it promptly begins darting around, grabbing insects and bugs and feeding them to Pool. "Pick." It says, and this construct's voice is even reedier than Pool's.

Not the best constructs that you've ever made. You're sure you could do more with some kind of better materials than sticks and grass, though.

Ruby
I shake my head. Not yet. I begin to drain energy from the park. Not enough to be too harmful, but enough to give me a fair boost. Then I head for the railway. I can claim that as my territory and set them to drain trace amounts from everyone inside.

Click to shrink...

As you stride purposefully through the streets, you remember living in a city something like this before. Your memories of your body's past life are. . . faded, but you remember something about fields and magic. Had you lived in this city? You'd researched some kind of magical geography, you know, but-

Ah, you're here.

The railway stretches on and on in both directions, and you recognize this is the least-good part of town, the places that had never recovered from the crash a few decades back. There are ruined warehouses, mainly, and dens of iniquity abound.

Unfortunately, it seems that the rail lines through here don't carry passengers, but rather cargo, judging from the train slowly sliding by on the rails.

Hubnerite
I consider the map for a moment and start moving to the residential area and start looking for the slums. the gangs will be most active there.

Click to shrink...

While there's no place on the mental map you have marked 'slums', you can guess where they'd be. Cheap workers need cheap housing close to their jobs, and you wouldn't mark that on the city park's map. You walk through the city streets, which are almost abandoned, thankfully, as you cut a distinctive figure in your ornate garb. Perhaps you should find something less conspicuous, if you ever wish to go unseen?

You go South-West, skirting the edges of the factories, until you reach a much lower-quality portion of town. The streets are potholed, the buildings are dingy, and there are half a dozen street toughs wearing green barring your way.

"Hey there lady." One says, and smiles greasily. "Whatcha up to round here? Maybe me and my boys can give you a hand."

Monzonite
Monzonite shrugs as people start leaving. "I'm going to go find a landmark and possess it, to make a monster to draw out the senshi with. We can see what the locals have and do the whole 'smash a big symbol' thing at the same time. Well, more trick them into smashing it, but I hope the Queen will find that amusing."

Click to shrink...

Aurichalcite
"I'll follow you~" Aurichalcite declares cheerfully as she looks up at Monzonite. "It sounds amusing and I want to take a look at the senshi. I can make a few servants too, to hamper their work ♥" She says with an innocent smile.

Click to shrink...

The two of you find your monument right there in the Northern section of the park, a giant stone statue of a dragon, teeth bared and claws dug into the concrete.

Monzonite reaches up to touch it, and get a feel for how it would work as a minion, when a young man's voice calls out, "I wouldn't mess with that. It's kinda dangerous."

A young man steps out from behind the statue. He can't be more than sixteen, but he's wearing an expertly tailored white suit. He grins at you happily. "I mean. You can if you want to. But if you do then I'm going to have to leave in a hurry and talking's so much better than fighting. Right?"

 

[kinglugia]

Azurite

I sighed a little as I found my new minions look...weak, to be honest. Even then, I could do things with them.
"Pool, Pick," I called out. "We're going deeper into the forest. But before that..."

"Ruby," I took a glance at the specialist of bounded territories. "If you don't mind, would you like me to enhance the trees in your territory so that you can tap deeper into it?"

As I talked to the bounded field specialist, I took some of the insects within Pool, turning them into a form of energy gathering mosquito that will gather some blood (and energy) from the victim it bites, before regurgitating them inside Pool. Those that weren't mosquitoes were instead remade to gather leftover scraps from tourists and garbage bins to be fed to Pool as well....after turning them into slurry.

Each species will have two males and multiple females, but will not procreate unless I will them to.

"Now, let's see if I have some bees or ants inside here...oh the possibilities~♥"

 

[Silversun17]

The railway stretches on and on in both directions, and you recognize this is the least-good part of town, the places that had never recovered from the crash a few decades back. There are ruined warehouses, mainly, and dens of iniquity abound.

Unfortunately, it seems that the rail lines through here don't carry passengers, but rather cargo, judging from the train slowly sliding by on the rails.
While there's no place on the mental map you have marked 'slums', you can guess where they'd be. Cheap workers need cheap housing close to their jobs, and you wouldn't mark that on the city park's map. You walk through the city streets, which are almost abandoned, thankfully, as you cut a distinctive figure in your ornate garb. Perhaps you should find something less conspicuous, if you ever wish to go unseen?

You go South-West, skirting the edges of the factories, until you reach a much lower-quality portion of town. The streets are potholed, the buildings are dingy, and there are half a dozen street toughs wearing green barring your way.

"Hey there lady." One says, and smiles greasily. "Whatcha up to round here? Maybe me and my boys can give you a hand."

Click to shrink...

Hubnerite
"I am representing a party interested in establishing some... contacts among certain groups in the city. If you direct me to someone i can discuss this with, I would be grateful." I carefully hit the leader of this group with hypnosis.

 

[Nekraa]

Aurichalcite tilts her head in curiosity. "Hm, you want to talk? But who are you boy, to tell us what are dangerous or not?"

 

[gibbousmoons]

Hubnerite
"I am representing a party interested in establishing some... contacts among certain groups in the city. If you direct me to someone i can discuss this with, I would be grateful." I carefully hit the leader of this group with hypnosis.

Click to shrink...

The subtle hypnosis wraps the thug's mind around your finger and gives a gentle tug.

"Sure thing." He leers, and you frown, giving another tug to wipe those thoughts out of his mind.

"Get on then." You command, and the lead thug turns and waves his men back to their positions on the doorstoops, while he leads up back through a back alley to a large, ornate house. He knocks on the door and it opens.

You follow him into the long hallway. There are pictures lining the walls, but all of the people inside them have been cut out. A single clock ticks on each end of the hallway, second hands perfectly synchronized.

Wait.

Your face stares back at you from the semi-reflective glass of the picture. When had you taken off your invisibility spell?

The lights flash green, and the lead thug smiles dopily at you as you grab his shoulder and pull him around. His eyes burn with an uncanny light.

"Hello, it's good to see the old timers up again, even if you are a tad. . . behind."

Azurite

I sighed a little as I found my new minions look...weak, to be honest. Even then, I could do things with them.
"Pool, Pick," I called out. "We're going deeper into the forest. But before that..."

"Ruby," I took a glance at the specialist of bounded territories. "If you don't mind, would you like me to enhance the trees in your territory so that you can tap deeper into it?"

As I talked to the bounded field specialist, I took some of the insects within Pool, turning them into a form of energy gathering mosquito that will gather some blood (and energy) from the victim it bites, before regurgitating them inside Pool. Those that weren't mosquitoes were instead remade to gather leftover scraps from tourists and garbage bins to be fed to Pool as well....after turning them into slurry.

Each species will have two males and multiple females, but will not procreate unless I will them to.

"Now, let's see if I have some bees or ants inside here...oh the possibilities~♥"

Click to shrink...

You would go deeper into the forest, except that after a few seconds walking you realize that you're already as deep as you can get into the little copse!

You lose four points of cool, and you just know that Ruby is smirking at you when you stalk back to the small clearing.

On the plus side Pool has a whole four bees inside it at the moment!

Aurichalcite tilts her head in curiosity. "Hm, you want to talk? But who are you boy, to tell us what are dangerous or not?"

Click to shrink...

waiting for Happerry

 

[Silversun17]

The subtle hypnosis wraps the thug's mind around your finger and gives a gentle tug.

"Sure thing." He leers, and you frown, giving another tug to wipe those thoughts out of his mind.

"Get on then." You command, and the lead thug turns and waves his men back to their positions on the doorstoops, while he leads up back through a back alley to a large, ornate house. He knocks on the door and it opens.

You follow him into the long hallway. There are pictures lining the walls, but all of the people inside them have been cut out. A single clock ticks on each end of the hallway, second hands perfectly synchronized.

Wait.

Your face stares back at you from the semi-reflective glass of the picture. When had you taken off your invisibility spell?

The lights flash green, and the lead thug smiles dopily at you as you grab his shoulder and pull him around. His eyes burn with an uncanny light.

"Hello, it's good to see the old timers up again, even if you are a tad. . . behind."

Click to shrink...

My fingers twich, wanting to rest on the hilt of the sword on my back but i crush that urge down.

"It is difficult to keep up to date when one is busy being dead or in stasis. Hence starting with the dregs of mundane society in gathering power, wealth and information."

My eyes sweep the room, looking for anything else i've missed while i angle my body so i could turn the drawing of my sword into an attack if he turns hostile.

 

[gibbousmoons]

"It is difficult to keep up to date when one is busy being dead or in stasis. Hence starting with the dregs of mundane society in gathering power, wealth and information."

Click to shrink...

Could you post more than a single line?

 

[Silversun17]

Could you post more than a single line?

Click to shrink...

OOC: stuff added.

 

[Happerry]

Monzonite eyes the man consideringly, but without the time to enchant himself up a top grad spear he'd prefer to stay out of any unneeded fights until he can fix that lack. "I must admit, if this place is deadly, said danger seems very well disguised." He admits.

 

[gibbousmoons]

Hubnerite
My fingers twtich, wanting to rest on the hilt of the sword on my back but i crush that urge down.

"It is difficult to keep up to date when one is busy being dead or in stasis. Hence starting with the dregs of mundane society in gathering power, wealth and information."

My eyes sweep the room, looking for anything else i've missed while i angle my body so i could turn the drawing of my sword into an attack if he turns hostile.

Click to shrink...

I do not mean to alarm you, Hubnerite." The voice says. "And I do apologize for simply knowing your name, but it's important to get to know one's guests."

The thug raps on the door at the end of the hallway, and it opens, revealing a brightly lit room, illuminated by a roaring fire.

"Do come in."

Well you've got to come in regardless, so you walk through the door, angling your sword back to let it pass through the frame.

There's a man standing next to the overlarge fireplace, but with the contrast of the light behind him you can't make out any of his features.

The door closes behind you with a soft click, and the fireplace flares up, blinding you temporarily. When you can see again the man is standing next to a liquor cabinet, and when he stands up a bright lamp sits directly behind his head.

"A drink first, or shall I skip to the story?

Monzonite
Monzonite eyes the man consideringly, but without the time to enchant himself up a top grad spear he'd prefer to stay out of any unneeded fights until he can fix that lack. "I must admit, if this place is deadly, said danger seems very well disguised." He admits.

Click to shrink...

He grins dopily at the two of you. "Well I'm happy that you don't want to fight me! Everybody seems to want to get a piece of this lately."

You cannot believe that this-

No.

Underestimating things like that got you killed in the first place.

"You see this thing is a dragon."

Well that's just going a step too far for your suspension of disbelief to handle. "A dragon?"

"Well duh! It was all over the news last Christmas. A big old dragon crawled out of a hole in the ground and tried to kill everyone and it was like The Hobbit. Except you know, it wasn't like The Hobbit at all, because Bilbo didn't turn Smaug into stone with eldritch magics. And he also wasn't a girl."

Aurichalcite
Aurichalcite tilts her head in curiosity. "Hm, you want to talk? But who are you boy, to tell us what are dangerous or not?"

Click to shrink...

You give him a closer look. He. . . doesn't look like that much of a threat, if you're honest with yourself. He's kind of interesting looking, but you'd hesitate to call him cute.

If you had to pick a word to describe him, it would be old.

His eyes don't belong to a fifteen year old child.

"Who am I?" He blinks, astonished. "Wow, um. Would you believe I don't want to give my name out to strangers?" He continues blathering. "I mean we just met and you're kind of cute, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to fold over like some rookie. Gosh. Buuuut is there anything else you need to know, other than to absolutely never break the bronze pedestal thing between the dragon's feet?"

He purses his lips and crosses his arms, and-

Interesting.

It seems the boy's levitating and either doesn't realize it, or doesn't care.

You glance at Monzonite. Perhaps you two could ask him a few questions. He seems talkative.

 

[Silversun17]

I do not mean to alarm you, Hubnerite." The voice says. "And I do apologize for simply knowing your name, but it's important to get to know one's guests."

The thug raps on the door at the end of the hallway, and it opens, revealing a brightly lit room, illuminated by a roaring fire.

"Do come in."

Well you've got to come in regardless, so you walk through the door, angling your sword back to let it pass through the frame.

There's a man standing next to the overlarge fireplace, but with the contrast of the light behind him you can't make out any of his features.

The door closes behind you with a soft click, and the fireplace flares up, blinding you temporarily. When you can see again the man is standing next to a liquor cabinet, and when he stands up a bright lamp sits directly behind his head.

"A drink first, or shall I skip to the story?

Click to shrink...

Great, a flare for the dramatic and a lack of willingness to allow his face to be seen. This guy will be a joy to deal with.
I quash any irritation before it can show on my face and maintain a pleasant expression.
"I prefer to partake after business has been settled. In my line of work dulled senses can result in fatal repercussions. I do appreciate the offer though Mr..."