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 Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:12 am
The land the adventurers had come to was a land of rolling green hills but is scarred by the rapid industrialisation of the northern lands of the Dark Empire. Its innate beauty had been scarred by the visual harvesting of the land for resources. From opencast mining to forests grown for a quick supply of wood. The land was the factory of the Empire the heartland of its industrial might.
The Earldom of Northumbria could be divided into three parts. The first which the adventurers had come into was the Bishopric of Durham. Nominally independent from the Earl of Northumbria the Bishop of Durham rules as a prince in his own lands. Raising his own taxes and deciding his own laws. The Bishopric was granted by the Court of London to the Bishop to defend the Empire from the danger posed by the shadow Anachronism. Whose ruins scar the land near the small pit town of Sacriston, not far from the Cathedral city of Durham. Its most populous city is Gateshead which is connected to Durham by the road on which the adventurers now stand. The same road goes east to Sunderland and south to the market town of Darlington. Close to the adventurers is the small town of Chester-le-Street a market town and religious centre.
The second part of the Earldom is the county of Northumberland the earls private garden it has a small population most of which live in the great Airship yard of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne the largest industrial centre in Northumbria. Its small market towns of Hexham, Blyth and Alnwick are quiet places maintained by the Earl for his own enjoyment almost untouched now by the industrialisation which scars the rest of his lands. The third part of his lands is contested by the Earl of Mercia and lies to the south of Durham. It is North Yorkshire and is a land of moors and farms. Its principle city is York and it has two mercantile ports of Scarbourgh and Whitby.
While the adventurers stand close to the crossroads of Durham from which they can travel by train to any of the Earldoms and Duchies of the Dark Empire or follow the roads of the Earldom of Northumbria. They also stand at a crossroad in their quest. Having originally embarked on it to recover the lost parts of the Trans-dimensional gateway the scale of their quest had grown greatly. From the capture of the gateways original creator by the Earl of Northumbria who has moved him to the Skandinavian lands of North America, as part of his plan to usurp the Dark Empires throne. To the Dark Empires own quest to conquer the multiverse by creating their own trans-dimensional gateway.
Its up to the adventurers which quest they pursue and if they pursue it together separated as they are by less than 5 metres of woodland. Should they try to get the lost parts they will have to chose between travelling to London to try and steal the part from the Emperor himself or compete with Lady Amelia to claim the item now held by an American businessman in the Spanish colony of California. The adventurers could also try to rescue the gateways creator lord Ashen from the King of Skandinavia whose madness is apparent to all and is been used by the Earl of Northumbria. Or the adventurers could try and stop the Dark Empires own experiments in building a trans-dimensional gate through which they intend to conquer the multi-verse. This gate is currently held in the Palace of London and is heavily guarded as it is the heart of the Empires own dark plans.
Why the Empire is obsessed with capturing any travellers through the gateway is not known nor is it known why their attempts to capture these adventurers have been half-hearted at best. Is someone aiding the adventurers or is the politics of the London court saving them as the various groups vie for power over the interests of the Empire. With the departure of the last agent of the London court and the arrival of the new agent could these half-hearted attempts soon become a lot more serious as the Emperor himself has shown an interest in the recent developments around the shadow Anachronism.
(Hope that helps everyone. As far as I am concerned you are all pretty much next to each other so if you want to meet up do so smile . Also if anyone is lost I have based it all on the basic layout of Britain so an atlas will help if anyone is lost for basic layout of towns, forests etc)
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Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 5:03 pm
"You know..." Aster muttered to himself. "I was probably safer living with Anya." The woman in question was a figure from his past. A girl with whom he had once been romantically involved. She had been a poisoner, and highly emotional, so it was fortunate that they had parted on good terms. She had known him before he became a respectable inventor, when he had still had reasons why his lab would be torched and he would live in the woods for a time. Though now recognized as an expert on steam and clockwork devices, it had not always been so. He had started his scientific career studying the outlawed study of internal combustion. Already, his skill in evading pursuit, though unpracticed, had come in handy in reaching his companions unruffled. Now however, was not the time for sneaking.
While the lady dealt with the soldiers, Aster busied himself searching the wreckage for things he could use. Many years ago he'd invented a flying machine...a personal jetpack, powered by petroleum. Actually, he had never made it work, and his first meeting with the poisoner Anya had been when he crashed it near her. That was irrelevant now. Looking over what was left intact on the walker, he thought he might be able to adapt some of the principles, and construct a sort of mobile floating chair...perhaps armed with a few defensive measures.
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Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:41 am
Tinker had been considering the options surrounding his ever-changing mission. What had started off as a simple plan had somehow complicated itself tenfold upon crossing the threshold into Lord Ashen's lab. Now he found himself faced with the seemingly impossible task, never the less Tinker's drive for power and wealth was a powerful boon, especially considering that he actually had the spine for the task.
Tinker concluded that the best course of action would be to travel to the nearest town marked on the weathered old signpost a couple feet away from him.
"Chester-le-Street" he read with a bit of struggle, as the etched letters had began to fade.
He was about to start heading in the direction the sign had pointed him in, when the sound of talking and movement caught up to him. The noises where coming from further down the trail, where he could see that another smoke trail (separate from the one he had left from the wreckage of the airship) streaked the blue sky.
"Curious..." Tinker lifted his cane up and held it in both hands as he quitely crept towards the sounds ahead of him.
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Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 12:18 am
Erimentha was getting a little frustrated now, she had no idea what was going on, she assumed they were now wanted because they were from an entirerly different world and the lord of this place probably wanted something but shouldn't they had tried a little harder rather than send out an obviously ill equiped walker to capture them. And to top it off Aj had run off and hadn't come back probably to far away now to hear any of her calls.
"Great." She muttered and twirled the deathray in her hand. "It's not damaged that bad, it's only a small puncture to the main piston on the leg, all you have to do it patch it up and we can walk it right out of here leaving you to walk back, after I question you on why you were ordered to apprehend us and if it has anything to do with a transdimension gate?" She paced a little bit thinking to herself about what they would do next when she heard something moving towards then, leaves on clothing twigs underfoot, that sort of thing.
"Declare youself." She called out and stopped spinning the death ray.
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Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 8:14 am
Hearing the lady's words through the open hatch, Aster sighed. His plans for salvage would have to wait. Instead, he began looking for anything unnecessary he could remove to patch the damaged leg. It was his sincere hope that the hole truly was the only damage. The metal behemoth had not sounded like it fell lightly, and he could well imagine components twisting under its own weight. Since the nearest source of anything that could be used for repairs was a good deal either up or down the path, depending on whether one sought to salvage from the gutted airship or attempt to negotiate with the townsfolk (and he had no illusions as to what said peasants' attitude would be), that would be most undesirable.
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Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:00 am
Gunshots began to hit the walkers body as the imperial soldiers were finally dispatched from Durham towards the sight of the earlier engagement. The unit had approached by the countrysides hedges which followed the road until it was confident that it was close enough to engage the offworlders without been killed by the mysterious death ray.
The sergeant had been given orders to kill the enemy by the newly arrived agent. Having seen the fallen walker the sergeant had become somewhat less confident about his chances of success but the die was cast.
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Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 5:09 am
Erimentha attencion immediatly changed from whoever was in the bush to the soldiers. "Oh s**t not again." She rolled her eyes and holstered the deathray, she hadn't quite fixed it to work in close range it was better to be used at a nice distance and to puncture hydrogen balloons.
She pulled out her cane instead pushed in a small piece of wood on the side, it emitted a small click and she pulled. Out came a shimmering steel blade and it gleamed in the sun, it was obviously well looked after and polished.
"Try me." She growled and fell naturally into a sword fighting stance, on the balls of her feet, she knew they were going to shoot at her.
Encourged by the fact she had put away the gun they came even closer aiming their weapons at the heads and hearts of the adventurers, some even grinned.
"A little help please." She called out to Aster and then returned her gaze to the men closest to her. "Well you're boring, pirates have more enthusiasm than you." She took a step closer and jabbed her sword quickly, little rips appeared in the closests soldiers uniform, he took an immediate step backwards in shock and then frowned as his grip tightened on the gun.
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Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 6:58 am
The Sergeant placed his pistol away and drew out his sword. It was a broadsword not built for elegance but one simple purpose. The lady had challenged him and he would prove her confidence in her weapon mistaken. He made a clumsy blow which was easily parried carrying his weight forward so that he staggered but recovered quickly before an advantage could be achieved. As he straightened up he resolved to parry the next blow to break her defence.
The rest of the soldiers did not bear their sergeants arrogance and were content to shoot the offworlders. Pressing forward they split into two groups one began to fire shoots at Aster who was still working amongst the wreakage amongst cover. The other group were struggling to pin the fast moving fox long enough to shoot her. Several of the soldiers targeting Aster cautiously indicated the railgun under-mounted on the device. They had assumed it destroyed but since it wasn't they began to search for a grenade to destroy it.
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Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 10:47 am
From within the bowels of the machine ((I did mention I had gone inside yes, you can back-read for yourself...I've yet to come out)) Aster was more annoyed than worried. Hearing the shot's striking against the walker, he made a rough estimate of where the gunfire was coming from. Working quickly, he made a few makeshift adjustments to the machinery. Taking out some leather straps, he tied himself down and applied the final touches, opening a valve with a rough kick to let the flow of steam begin once again. With a shuddering heave, the walker thrashed it's working legs, and sent itself rolling in the approximate direction of the soldiers. For his part, Aster clung to his anchor point for dear life, praying that he didn't get jostled free to be killed in the exposed machinery.
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Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 11:51 am
The soldiers fell back and out of the way of the walker. Yelling warnings at each other they readied their grenades reasoning that it was the only weapons they had which could damage the walker now. One of the soldiers attempted to move so that he could get the grenade into the vehicles exhaust pipe from behind while another soldier hurried over to where the walkers crew were to find out if it had any weaknesses which could aid them in this fight.
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 12:03 am
Erimentha blocked stricking his sword down with the flat of her blade and then met his next strike with hers stepping in close bring their swords hilt to handle a slick c***k of metal on metal.
"Come one soldier boy, you think I don't know how to use this thing if had to defend my ship from dozens of pirate at any one time. I've got scars to prove it." She glared at him over the scar that ran across her face and then pushed down with her sword and twisted free, she dropped down to a semi crouch and aimed a horizontal slash at his midsection.
The noise of the bullets and the walker moving seemed far off to her, now her attencion was focused, at least Aster was keeping them busy with his antics.
((So I've been called illiterate and hard to understand by another guild, and as such been banned from it, me being paranoid as is (cause I kinda flamed them, they were rude to begin with) I've decided to switch to one of my older mules, though it would be refreshing as well. She is called illusionwings and will be joining the guild shortly. I will use her as soon as she's joined. Giving you guys a heads up ok. Also let me know if I do get confusing ok.))
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:14 pm
Two points hit Erimentha followed by strong electrical current knocking her to the floor. A figure no one had noticed amongst the commotion leaned over her prone body holding a tazer. It was a man in his late twenties with greying hair. He had a pleasant open face which was smiling at her, though his eyes were covered by smoked glasses. He wore a smart black military uniform with silver edgings and medals. "Hello there, now hope you don't mind if I borrow this." he said picking the death ray off her body. Stepping back he aimed it at the Walker but it did nothing when he compressed the trigger, looking back at Erimentha he complemented her saying "Very clever a biometric trigger I suppose."He turned to one of the soldiers "Hold this for a minute for me." he said throwing it to him. Stepping away from her he indicated for two of the soldiers to restrain her. He now turned his attention to the sergeant who he casually shot with a pistol he pulled from his holder at his waist . Seeing the look of disgust on Erimenthas face he said "It was a mercy killing. The man was obviously suffering under the weight of his own stupidity. After all he had an entire unit and he could not stop three people, oh yes on about that."
He called over the three crewmen "Tell me did you hear what the man in your walker was called?" he asked pleasantly.
"The lady called him Aster sir." The spotter said saluting.
"Thank you, you served the Empire well by listening." he said before shooting all three in the head "Unfortunately you also lost a walker to offworlders." He sighed as he watched the soldiers trying to fight the walker. "What are you doing why don't you just force your way into it and shoot him. He obviously has poor control of it and can not yet have acquainted himself to its control system after all it needs a crew of three to pilot it effectively." Raising his voice he called out to Aster inside of the machine "Mr Aster, we have your friend. Now we don't want anything to happen to her now do we. Why don't you come out and talk to me like a reasonable person before we have to come in and get you."
Having addressed the Aster and detained Erimentha he now turned his attention to the missing member of the group. Not seeing her nearby he walked back to Erimentha and knelt beside her again "Now I forgot to ask the walkers crew if they had heard the name of the little girl you brought with you. Now you are not able to tell me at the moment but I wonder will your screams bring her back here. You see your friends are making this difficult for me." He stepped back and called out "Mr Aster I am becoming tired and little girl if you don't show yourself soon this nice ladies death will be on your hands." He listened for a second and then sighing turned to one of the soldiers restraining Erimentha and from his jacket he picked out a jagged knife "Give them a couple of minutes to think it over first. If that doesn't work I might have to get the Bishops hunting dogs and flush the forest."
(Hope you like you first real bad guy twisted )
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:04 pm
Aster barely heard the words over the din of the machinery. After the initial lurch, the walker had become stable, and he thought it would be safe to try to exit it with caution, even though it was no longer possible to stop the reaction he had begun. His sabotage would send the walker into an increasingly unstable state until it either ran out of steam, or exploded. He began to scamper out of the vehicle.
Suspecting he would be killed either way, he decided to take one last risk. As carefully as he could, he braced himself in the rear of the cockpit. "Let's throw the dice one last time, shall we..." He muttered grimly. Working painfully slowly, he opened the cover on his artificial heart, and slipped a small screwdriver inside. Muttering a prayer to St. Christopher, the patron saint of all travelers, he made a slight adjustment to the device that moved his blood. Then, quickly closing the chamber again, he leaped from the machine and darted away from its thrashing. He managed about a foot and a half, then searing pain shot through the right side of his body. His hand shot to his chest as he dropped to his knees and keeled over...his last thought before blacking out was to hope that his heart re-started as planned.
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:48 pm
Erimentha's muscles seized up as the electric shock hit her her grip tightened on the handle of her blade until the convulsions had stopped but now she couldn't move, she cursed quite colourfully inside her head and watched as the man who shot her now stood over her. "You're a dead man but you just don't know it yet." She watched him pick up her death ray and then fail to fire it. She then made a mental note to add a biometric trigger. The safety switch was on (you couldn't have a death ray go off in your pocket it was highly embarressing with a possible chance of loseing a limb) and it had run out of power, she forgot to charge it after her last fight.
She was hoistered up and held as the man shot soldier after soldier her mouth twitched into a frown, at least it was quick, was an after thought to her and she shivered to think of what they did here if you stole something.
Slowly but surely she could feel the tingling return to her extremities, soon she could move and yell and curse as much as she wanted until she was hit with that taser again.
She glared at the man who now held the knife to her belly, sweat trickled slowly down her forehead, she was taking in all the details of this man so she could find him and ******** him up.
The walked was now going crazy, what had Aster done? then she saw his body crumple several metres away from where he'd jumped from the walker, something was wrong. "His heart. The eccentric basard." Erimentha was biting her lip but when but Aster didn't move and she just screamed "NOO!! Get up Aster come on!!" She also hoped this was enough warning to Aj and who ever was in the bushes to get even further away from them.
She attencion and ice cold glare swivelled to the man. "And you, you will give me your name." It came out in a hiss and she leant forward pulling slightly against the men holding her.
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:56 pm
The walker continued its erratic path leaving Asters body behind (I hope I have got that right as I thought it was moving erratically). A fact that did not go unnoticed by the imperial agents now alert soldiers. "Sir, the gentlemen from the walker he appears to have died during his escape. He has no pulse." one of the soldiers yelled over after checking for a pulse at Asters wrist and neck. "Very well leave him, he is no use to us dead." the agent replied "Well make yourselves useful and stop that thing before it reaches Durham." he said indicating the walker almost dismissively but as he watched its movements he noticed something strange about them
"The fool he has set it to self-destruct. He doesn't realise what sort of generator that has. You two keep her here... alive." he said as he hurried towards the walker "Get that on the ground its going to go critical and I have an overide code." He yelled at the soldiers who were trying to stop the walker
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