[PRP] The kalona games (Mazoku and "friends")

[Revolutionary Roniel]

((This is a private roleplay between the following soquili and owners!

Xelloss (Roniel Targaryen)
Rezo the Red Priest (Roniel Targaryen)
Megaera (Roniel Targaryen)
Verity (Roniel Targaryen)
Oakley (Nisshou H)
Camilla (Nisshou H)
Zenoskelis (Roniel Targaryen)
Caspian (Roniel Targaryen)
Liliel (Nisshou H)
Zelcion (Nisshou H)
Scarlet Wing (Nisshou H)
Xellra (Roniel Targaryen)
Tythoss (Roniel Targaryen)


!!WARNING!! This RP includes a lot of very unkind soquili and will be of a dark and violent nature. Soquili death may occur. Read at your own risk. ))



The sun broke over the horizon early on that summer morning in the jungle, but Xelloss was already awake when it did. He had been awake all night, making calculations and plans with increasing intensity. Now this was a plot that filled him with fiendish delight. There was a particular spring in his step when he went to find Rezo, knowing that he would be in his usual lair of herbs and artifacts this early.

Things had been different between him and Rezo lately, to say the least. He hadn't had to make any more threats to get the unicorn to cooperate after their initial encounter, but Xelloss could tell that Rezo wasn't entirely defeated yet. He obeyed him and accepted orders well enough, conveying them to the other mazoku when necessary, but Xelloss didn't trust him to stay that way. Eventually he would rebel and the other mazoku would know of Xelloss' private little coup. He knew that he should dread that time, as it could very well end in his death, but he couldn't find it in himself to fear anything that Rezo should do or cause anymore. Rezo was not Ruby Eyes reborn, he was nothing more than a unicorn. Once the other mazoku saw this as well, could they possibly follow such a pathetic creature?

"Hello there!" said Xelloss with feigned lightness as he spotted the red-clad priest. Time to chat.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"Ah, Xelloss," said Rezo with just as much faked pleasantness. "And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company this morning?" He knew what. Xelloss had come to give him yet another order. They had both kept their words. Xelloss had not yet killed Rezo, and Rezo still let Xelloss rule the mazoku from the shadows. It galled at him, of course, to be nothing more than a puppet. He had never imagined himself being reduced to this and he seethed with a little more repressed hatred every day.

Xelloss was right in that Rezo wanted nothing more than to betray him and regain control, only Rezo had little in the way of preparations. Trust. That was the crucial element that the mazoku lacked. Rezo could not unseat Xelloss without implying that there was dissent in the ranks. With so many of their group the offspring or descendants of Xelloss himself, Rezo guessed they might side with their sire rather than with their lord. He had no choice but to let this shadow play carry out and dance on the strings which Xelloss had so expertly tied.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"Oh, I just thought of a favor you could do me," said Xelloss. A favor, normally a small task done to please a friend. What Xelloss was about to command Rezo was not small and they were not friends.

He didn't wait for a response from Rezo before continuing. "You see, I have use for a variety of soquili. Not allies, but prisoners." He continued to use the same light tone he had greeted Rezo with, making an eerie disconnect between his tone and his ominous words. "I want a variety of them and I want them relatively quickly. Not overly harmed when they arrive here."

He'd learned a thing or two from the humans that had captured his offspring and Lorenna's. He'd learned about how to contain a soquili and how to keep them. He'd be putting all of that knowledge to use for his upcoming plan...  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Rezo's eyebrows quirked upwards in curiosity. This wasn't Xelloss' usual sort of intrigue. "And what do you plan on doing with so many captives?" he asked, willing to concede that he was interested. "Are you going to sacrifice them to try to summon a portion of Ruby Eyes more suited to your tastes?" He asked this with an edge. The mazoku, of course, had performed a ritual upon Rezo himself supposedly to resurrect their dark lord within him. Until Xelloss' defiance, they all treated him like it had succeeded.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"Oh no no." Xelloss shook his head with the same cheery smile. "This doesn't have to do with Lord Ruby Eyes." He transitioned from cheery to cheeky with his next words. "As for what I want to do with them... Now that, is a secret." He waggled his tail back and forth like a chastising human finger, a gesture he knew that Rezo loathed.

"I'll worry about what to do with them. You worry about securing the cooperation of lords Hellmaster and Beastmaster." He felt a small thrill as he said the second of those names. Lord Beastmaster Xellas was his personal master... or had been. Now, through Rezo he commanded even her. It was a violation of a lifetime of doctrine to issue her orders, even indirectly... but this he did. His heart beat a little faster, but he did not waver.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Rezo's composure wavered and he let out the smallest of hisses. Xelloss really was brazen. Rezo had thought that his loyalty to Beastmaster was unwavering, and now he dared to order her as well. Even Rezo hesitated to give direct orders to the two lords of the mazoku.

"And you do not think that errands like this are best left to those in our lesser ranks?" he asked.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"Oh, they'll be involved as well," replied Xelloss smoothly. "But I can handle them myself. I'm certain my children and the rest of the servants can capture their share of captives, but I thought that Hellmaster and Beastmaster might be able to secure a few more impressive specimens." His lips curled back a bit as he imagined the quality of captives that Beastmaster would be able to secure.

"Tell them that we need at least one angeni, will you?" Again, there was that slight thrill at the command.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"Very well, it will be done," grated out Rezo.

"Good," replied Xelloss. "Why don't I go talk to my children and the other servants, then? I'll give them their assignments while you work on the other two." Xelloss started to head away, but gave Rezo a wink over his shoulder before he left. "Don't worry. I'll tell them that the orders come from you." With a swish of his tail he was gone, heading off to set his plan into action.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Megaera awoke to confusion. Where was she? She was surrounded by soquili but didn't recognize their scents. Even the atmosphere felt strange, the air heavy, warm, and laden with humidity. For a dazed moment, she couldn't understand what was happening to her. Then, her eyes snapped open and she remembered.

Kalonas. There were the horrible kalonas standing around them in a loose circle. There were a lot of them, many more than the small group that had kidnapped her from the outskirts of Padmapani herd territory and dragged her whimpering away to the jungle. Aside from the kalonas, she was not alone. She found that she was tied to a number of other soquili, perhaps close to ten. They were in various states of alertness, all of them waking up from a drugged stupor and all of them bound. And possibly... all of them prey.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

((This RP occurs chronologically before Verity loses half her wing))

Verity was already awake. She'd been awake for some time, but feigned sleep while she collected her thoughts. Her wings were sore in a dull aching. That was from where the giant black wolfish mare had torn her feathers out. She was currently tied to the other soquili but her wings were left unbound. Why would they not be? They were ragged with gaps from where the feathers had been removed. She didn't stand a chance of getting off the ground in her current state. She tried to fly away several times after her capture, but every time she had failed and the giant black monster had kicked her down with huge hooves until her wings stopped flapping. She was grounded, in pain, and functionally helpless.

They had left her with her armor, but that was small comfort when she was so obviously trapped. From underneath her veiled lids, she tried to count the number of enemies that surrounded them. It looked like their enemies numbered close to ten and the captives about the same. Could there be some way to get out of this, or were they all doomed to be some sacrifice to the kalona god? Grimly, Verity steeled herself against this possible end. Even if bound, she would fight to her last breath.  

[Nisshou H]

Oakley felt sick and dizzy as her eyes opened. It felt like that time she had eaten a bunch of slightly rotted fruit as a child. She moaned slightly and shifted on the ground where she lay. Something moved across her neck, something that wasn't her cape. She looked down and felt a rush of panic as she remembered what had left her feeling this way. She'd been attacked while she was out on her own. Attacked by that damn hunter mare that Oakley had been certain that she would never see again.

Oakley jumped to her feet and felt the cord around her neck tighten so that she gagged. Her eyes darted around wildly there were other soquili here bound like her. She didn't know these though. Had they all been singled out like her? But what for? Had they all crossed that demented mare that had dragged her halfway across the world for some nefarious means? That seemed unlikely. Her golden eyes shifted to look behind the immediate group around her there were others back there, lingering and watching. Oakley knew only one face out of the entire group and it was frightening to realize that her face seemed to be the friendliest.

Oakley turned to look the other way and recognized another mare, an angeni that had helped her the first time. Camilla was her name. She was too far away to whisper to and Oakley didn't dare speak like normal. That only seemed like a quick way to get killed.  

[Nisshou H]

Camilla had been one of the first soquili brought in. She'd thought the blue stallion had been a foal. He'd looked small enough at the time. It hadn't mattered that he was part kalona. He'd said that he needed help and Camilla had been unable to refuse his request. He'd lead her deep into the jungle and helped her into a harness. She hadn't realized that the leather straps were only to secure her wings and keep her from flying off, she'd never seen a real harness before.

Now she paid for her naivete. Her wings felt crushed at her sides, the straps were too tight to escape. She'd managed to stun the stallion with a bit of holy light but it had done little good. She couldn't fly and she didn't know the way out. In the end he'd caught her, fit a constricting rope around her neck and dragged her off to the place where she was now. They fed her strange plants that dulled her senses and made her drowsy and every time she opened her eyes it seemed like there were new soquili. She'd stopped counting them, she'd stopped looking at them. There was nothing any of them could do so she had retreated back into the solace of her own mind where she could be at home with her mother, father, and siblings. She didn't even notice that there was another angeni present, one more magnificent than Camilla that wore beautiful armor, or that the blonde mare Oakley looking at her. Nor did she hear when the mare quietly hissed at her.

"Camilla...are you okay?" It was difficult to listen to her better judgement sometimes.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

The captives were beginning to awaken and Xelloss could sense his children becoming restless around him. The mazoku lords and Rezo were all aware of the purpose of the set-up by now, but he didn't think that all of his descendants had managed to piece it together quite yet. Smiling to himself, he looked at them. Some of them were more experienced than others. Some of them were even skilled. But on a whole... something was lacking. Something that he hoped this little exercise might instill in them.

"The guests are waking up, so it's time for a bit of instruction!" said Xelloss, voice cheery and loud enough to reach the ears of children and captives alike. "You see... your performance lately has been a bit, well... disappointing." This part was directed at his offspring and grandchildren. He shook his head, remembering the debacle that had been their fight with Lorenna's group.

"I asked the gracious Lord Ruby Eyes Rezo to set up this exercise for you." His amethyst eyes glittered in Rezo's direction for just an instant of ironic savoring. "I'm going to stay here with the captives. One by one, I'll let them go... and the rest of you will hunt them down and prove that you're worthy of the positions you hold here."

Did they find it strange that it was him addressing them as such while Beastmaster, Hellmaster, and Rezo stood by? If they did, no one voiced objections just yet. He turned then to the captives, giving them another bright smile. "By the way... struggle all you want, and please do fight. We want you to be good practice for our more youthful mazoku. But... Don't beg. It's embarrassing, and not going to do you any good."  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Zenoskelis swallowed. So it was going to be some massive hunt, then? He had thought that the situation had a rather gladiatorial bend to it. He didn't exactly have a moral objection, but some of the captives brought in by the upper lords looked ominous, to say the least. Two angeni and some pawed monster. He certainly hoped that Xelloss didn't have compunctions about them fighting as a team.

Edgy, he glanced to one side. Behind the others was Sabishii, a lowly servant of the mazoku, but one that held a special significance to Zenos. Knowing that he was a traitor to his mazoku heritage for thinking so, Zenos felt glad that Rezo hadn't thrown Sabishii in to be slaughtered as well...  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Caspian cowered, his eyes full to the brim with tears. He had never been so afraid in his life, never felt so betrayed by circumstance and expectation. He had had nothing but bad luck in the past six months, and this was the crowning glory of it all. The mazoku had chased him away from his jungle river at the start of that luckless time, and now the mazoku brought him back at the end of it. He had been brought in by Xelloss himself... tricked by his sweet words and apologies for past behavior. Xelloss had promised that he would be welcome and safe in the lands now that he had brought his rampant children under control.

As it turned out... it was the exact opposite. He was tied up like a snack for those same "rampant children," and though his scaled skin was growing painfully dry, wet tears dampened his cheeks.