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 Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:28 am
How long has it been...?
The war is over. For most, normality has been restored... but not for some. For the brave few who have taken the Overseer into their hearts, a new battle has begun.
Driven from mainland Gaia by aggressors, the Order has entrenched itself on the beaches of the Isle de Gambino. How long we shall stay here and what we do during our stay is down to you.
Our Current Objectives:
* Grow in strength
* Find the Overseer!
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:06 am
Announcements and Developments:
~~~~~~~~~
July 15th:
December 10th - The day after the explosion:
All gas and water supplies to the Temple are turned off. A tank of water is filled to keep everyone going, but Oswald manages to decimate the supply in the evening. Baka...
In the morning, Coline has a nasty run-in with the other combatants at the Training Grounds... she just seems to get on Gloria, the combat Queen Bee's wick, doesn't she?
Many other acolytes spend the day searching for Panda's body - none to be found.
December 11th - Two days after the explosion:
A memorial service is held for Panda. In the end, it is interrupted by the arrival of two mermen, Shinichi and Zain, who profess to be ambassadors of the nearby mer city of Antium. ORLY, BOYS?
Meanwhile, three of the Order's youngsters - Evelyn, Bapp and Xeiashi - have a conversation. Evelyn and Xeiashi seem guilt-ridden about their involvement in Panda's demise, and Bapp suggests going on a quest to seek out the already-questing drow. Power-ranger style.
Lorika and Lacine ponder the fate of the guild's finances if they are to accomodate the mer ambassadors' needs. However, at that moment a wealthy "dancer" turns up on-site. Yokuan professes to be a good friend of the other catpeople, and suggests hosting a Christmas Ball both to raise funds and morale. Huh, well, it's worth a try...
December 13th - Four days after the explosion:
Lorika finally alerts the relevant authorities about Panda's demise. No reply is received this month.
December 14th - Five days after the explosion:
Five long, dirty, smelly days come to a close with the reinstallation of plumbing services to the Order. Hurray!
It is also decided that, after leaving the combatants such a long time without any guidance, Storm will take over as instructor in absence of any other option.
December 15th - Six days after the explosion:
After almost a week of going over plans and waiting for money transactions to go through, the restoration of the back of the Temple begins, along with some new additions funded by the philanthropist Yokuan.
Now maybe we can concentrate on other things...
December 17th - Eight days after the explosion:
An issue which no one had really wanted to deal with - the fate of the dangerous Gwarn comes to trial. Up until now, he has been confined to aiding the felids in their work... and it seems this is how things will continue...?
However, the commitment of Storm to caring for Gwarn and the need to keep this dangerous beast away from combat situations conflict. Therefore, Storm is subsequently discharged from his new duty as combat instructor, and the honour is instead transferred as a stop-gap to Jessie's star student - prior to Coline, anyway - Gloria. (Much to the horror of some, I'm sure.)
December 18th - Nine days after the explosion:
Lacine is finally inaugurated as a priestess - the first since the end of the war. It was unsure as to whether or not her eye colour would change, but to the surprise of all, it has! Congratulations, Lacine! This event is a symbol of hope for the future, and for the return of the Overseer's powers.
December 19th - Ten days after the explosion:
Lacine leads her first Overservice entirely solo. It is hoped that she will take strain off the High Priestess by conducting the majority of services from now on, aside from morning prayers and the Overservice. Leading this important service, however, was the final part of her inauguration.
Afterwards, Steff approaches her with some concerns about the conduct of her fellow combatants and the new instructors since Jessie has been gone...
December 19th - 23rd:
Lorika occupies herself with planning the Christmas Ball alongside Yokuan and Lacine. It promises to be a festival the likes of which the world has never seen, and Lorika even manages to contact the camera crews again about their efforts...
December 24th - The day of the ball:
In the morning, Gaia Action News arrives to cover the restoration efforts of the Order. Before the evening of the fundraiser has arrived, donations and pledges of support have flooded in from all over Gaia, leaving the Order with more money than it knows what to do with! We can be sure to have a fantastic turnout for the Ball! It's open to everyone!
~~~~~~~~~
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Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 5:45 pm
(( Looks like I need to get this thing going, huh? Well, here goes... )) Y'know, I buy all the presents I give out in aquariums..
Lorika raised her head in the silent third floor of the Temple. It was early. It was quite certain that she was the only one awake as of yet - except perhaps the Spellcasting master, who seemed the sort of person inclined to be hopping around at odd hours. She hadn't seen much of the Captain since their arrival on the island, but she had a feeling he may well be getting ready to kick his troops out of bed. It was that early.
In front of her, the Overseer's abandoned throne sat in a kind of regal melancholy. The curtains which formed the walls of their small, holy enclosure suddenly felt quite oppressive. A momentary feeling crossed her - that maybe the curtains would need to be torn down when the Overseer returned. He wouldn't like sitting in a kind of velvet box - not in his human form. Then she shook herself, remembering with a shock that he wouldn't be joining them in their new home. Not for a while, anyway.
Suddenly needing to get away from the reminders of all that they had lost, she stood up, her legs creaking at the sudden exit from prostration. She bowled through the curtains, not wondering where she may go until she was stood in the middle of the room with nowhere to turn to.
No problem. She knew what she'd do - she'd go and watch the sunrise. That was an experience which always pleased her.
...I have the receipts to prove it.
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Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 11:18 pm
Angel's eyes opened wearily. As she awoke she was uncertain of where she was. Her head seemed to sear with pain as it all came flashing back to her in a moment. Uncertainty of where their beloved Overseer was, worry and concern for him and her fellow B.O.O.rethren, filled her mind. She then realized that she was lying on the soft sand of the beach of the Isle de Gambino. She heard the wave crashing softly behind her, and could almost hear the whispers of the water. She recalled the long trip to the Isle. She had fell ill and the others had been concerned.....then what? Nothing. She couldn't remember. As she sat up and scoped her surroundings she saw a beautiful white and teal colored temple. She stood up and after gaining her bearings headed inside to find the others.
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:12 am
Lorika sat in the main hall of the temple, arranging the candles she'd collected while upstairs. Yawning dully, she reflected that perhaps she should've gone to check on the spellcasting professor after that explosion, but figured that if something were wrong Bakar would've come to fetch her. At least, she thought he would've. Maybe he only comes to her when the emergencies are fake.
It was much quieter than usual. Usually with such a short time until service to go there were people milling around in the Temple already, talking quietly and waiting for it to begin. As it was, it was just her. But not for long.
The sound of a door being kicked open ricocheted through the hall. Lorika got to her feet immediately.
"Who invades our sanctuary with such force?" she called out, readily mustering some anger in case she'd soon have to defend herself. It quickly dissipated again, however, when from the shadows of the entrance hall lunged none other than the combat master, Jessie Hawk, whose white hair gleamed ever so slightly in the dim, ethereal light. "Captain?"
"Lorika," he began, in a strangled tone. Meeting his single eye, Lorika was surprised to see a hint of panic and fear within it. What was this about? "She's hurt."
Her eyes were now drawn downwards, to the figure in his arms. Lorika's face hardened. "Bring her over here - on these cushions."
Hastily piling some cushions together as she spoke, she quickly created a makseshift bed which the Captain could lay his charge down upon. Lorika began making a cursory examination, testing for broken bones, sprains and the like. "What did you do to her?" she asked, her calm voice masking something of an accusation.
"I didn't do anything!" he cried, with as much agitation in his voice as Lorika had ever heard. "She just fainted!"
"What was she doing at the time?"
Jessie hesitated, his posture deflating slightly with guilt. "I was teaching her how to disarm."
"I see," Lorika replied, as if no more needed to be said. The Captain watched her work silently, and she asked no more questions of him.
After a few minutes, the High Priestess gave a quiet exclamation. "Oh!" After a few more seconds, she looked up at the Captain cheerfully. "You'll be pleased to know that it seems this isn't your fault at all. The poor girl is exhausted, not injured or ill."
He blinked "Exhausted? ...I suppose she has been working hard. I hadn't really paid too much attention to her training before today, though..."
"That's probably for the best," Lorika replied "You push your troops too hard. You expect too much of them."
"I suppose that's why the vast majority are still in their tents, asleep at this very moment?" He answered drily, a hint of irritation in his voice. She was always getting on to him about caring for the wellbeing of his charges. It was beginning to grate a little. Didn't she realise he wasn't out to kill his students at the first chance he got? "I decided to see who would turn up of their own accord this morning. Only the most dedicated appeared... and she was one of them."
"Hm. You said you hadn't been paying attention to her training. Perhaps, then, it would be best if you paid more attention to it. She's obviously been exerting herself beyond her body's capacity without an expert's knowledge of when to quit."
Jessie looked down at Coline, and appeared to be weighing things up in his mind. "I suppose that sounds like her. Very well. I'll try and be vigilant from now on. Still... it is strange to see such a sudden onset of exhaustion. I can't help but feel there was something strange going on during our sparring. It was... strange," he inflected quietly on the word "She is strange. But strangeness is also what got me where I am today."
"Yes, you and Panda are two of the strangest people I've met," the priestess teased.
"Don't put me in the same group as that lunatic," he answered, his usual quiet tone doing nothing to mask a hint of laughter.
"Well..." Lorika began, looking down at the girl's inert form. "I'm afraid this young lady won't be coming back with you today. In fact, I may see to it that she doesn't come back for several days - perhaps even a week. Physically there's nothing wrong with her, so healing is pointless. All she needs is time. I'll procure a deep sleeping draught from Panda and allow her mind and spirit to heal themselves in their own time."
"Do whatever you must," he said, even more quietly than usual "Just let her get better."
Lorika looked up at him oddly, and the look made him turn away. "I'll be going now, then."
Behind him, he heard her stand up, and could pretty much picture the smile on her face. "Of course. You're a busy man. Oh... do try not to cause any more young women to faint today, alright? It could become a rather nasty habit."
The Captain flashed a scowl at her over his shoulder, and had to contend with her tinkling laughter as he glided like a storm at sea from the hall.
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 6:03 am
Having levitated the girl - who she recognised by her title of Pastor the Tenderly Stroked Trident, which she had won for her efforts during the war - to a spare dormitory in the basement, Lorika made her way to the Spellcasters' halls. She walked through the main hall, with its beautiful stained glass windows that shed golden light into the room, and into the halls of practise rooms, intent on her destination; Panda's study.
The first thing she noted was the strange, lingering smell. It was putrid, like manure combined with something acidic, and made her resolved to breathe through her mouth. Tasting the smell was not much better, but it was better by an inch. Then, rounding the final corner, she saw the scorched door lying in the middle of the hall.
"PANDA!" she cried, lifting up her robes to break into a typical shuffling run any woman who has worn high heels will be familiar with. "Panda, are you alright?"
Though she had no answer, it was immediately apparent that Panda was fine, if a little charred. As she entered his study, she took in his hunched form as he bent, muttering, over some experiment, completely oblivious to the destruction around him.
Her concern for his wellbeing quickly dissipated, as concern for the integrity of the Temple took over.
"Panda."
He didn't answer; continuing to mutter to himself and scribble in a notebook, while tapping a glass decanter filled with some green liquid.
Sighing, Lorika looked around. She decided to forget about him for now, and concentrate on restoring the room to its regular condition.
She began by levitating the door into place - as a priestess, strength wasn't exactly her forte, so she had to depend on this spell quite a bit - before physically holding it still while she Repared the hinges. Lorika then set about casting Reparation on every damaged inch of the room. Splinters jumped back into their rightful places. Cabinet doors reattached themselves. She picked up every scattered bottle by hand, before shoving them unceremoniously back into the potion cabinet. With the room looking less of a bomb site than it had been, she turned back to the Spellcasting master, hands on her hips.
"PANDA."
No reply. She toyed with the idea of Negating the room - that would certainly get his attention - but as she required the sleeping draught to be effective immediately it didn't seem like the best idea. Therefore, she decided to go for a more old-fashioned approach.
Stepping forward, she plucked the decanter of liquid off the desk and un-stoppered it. Panda didn't notice at first, but then as he went to tap it again, finding only thin air, he jumped as if experiencing an electric shock and leapt to his feet.
"I will pour all of this onto the floor unless you tell me what happened this instant."
"L-Lorika!" Panda gasped, whirling around to face her. "It isn't what it looks like!"
"Of course it isn't, since I have just repaired the vast majority of items in the room. What did you do?" Having looked at him properly, she toyed with the idea of adding and why do you have purple eyebrows?, but decided it was better to get to the more pressing point first of all.
Panda recovered himself slightly, and folded his arms defensively. "An experiment of such genius I'm sure it would be of no concern to you."
Lorika rolled her eyes, placing the stopper back in the glass bottle. "A failed experiment by the looks of things."
"Half-failed!" he prickled, reaching out and snatching the decanter from her "The potion I was working on just has some unfortunate side effects."
"...Like blowing apart a study?"
"I never claimed that the mixture was entirely stable!" he answered dismissively. He made to turn away from her, but Lorika stepped forwards, heading him off.
"Well, I suggest -" she began, looking at him in a deadly fashion that implied it was not a suggestion at all "- That you ensure that the mixture is stable before you test it again."
Panda scowled at her for a few moments. However, he then nodded. "Of course, my lady. I wouldn't want to blow apart the Temple after all the hard work we did to restore it, would I?"
Lorika smiled. "Sometimes I think that that is exactly what you intend to do. But anyway, I didn't come here to chastise you, though it may seem I spend my life scolding people. I need a deep sleeping draught for one of the Captain's casualties."
Panda headed over to the newly fixed cabinet. "You're the one who said it - not me."
He flung open the door and began to reach inside, before stopping with horror. "My potions! They've all been muddled out of their careful categorisations!!"
"Your fault - not mine," she stated matter-of-factly "If it helps, I believe that the sleeping draught is a deep blue potion."
After a minute or so of rifling, Panda withdrew a medium-sized bottle of the described liquid, and turned to give it to her. "Ah, yes. How are you sleeping now, anyway?"
It was the priestess' turn to be prickly. "Just fine, thank you."
Panda smiled blithely, apparently ignorant to her discomfort. "How wonderful. Now - if you'll excuse me?"
Lorika pursed her lips for a moment, before nodding and backing off. "No, sir - if you'll excuse ME."
"Good day to you, Priestess."
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:04 am
Y'know, I buy all the presents I give out in aquariums..Having administered the sleeping potion in small trickles to the exhausted girl, Lorika headed back to the gather hall. She was surprised to see the room full of devotees when she arrived, but realised that perhaps she had become somewhat late while piecing Panda's room back together.
"Good morning, everyone."
Murmurs of assent and greeting passed through the room. The room then fell silent, as Lorika moved to the front in order to lead the prayers.
"Blessed be the Lord our Clam
Who sits upon a throne of velvet,
Guiding us to cleanse the evil
Which permeates our world."
The murmured response came from the crowd: "So shall it be decided, so shall it be done."
"Blessed be the Clam on High
Who teaches us to love and cherish
Neighbours, friends and enemies
As if they are ourselves."
"In the Overseer's name, it shall be done."
"Blessed be the Holy Shell
That protects us from the blight of evil,
And keeps us safe and guides us
Towards our benevolent goals."
"So it has been decided - and so it will be done."
...I have the receipts to prove it.
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:05 am
Angel was quite happy in these new surroundings. As she chanted with the others in the morning prayer she felt so at home. She had talked to one or two people since she went into the temple and found out that she had been asleep since they boat landed on the Isle and that she had a tendency to Sleepwalk down to the beach, though no one really knows why. She hoped that this wouldn't be a permanent thing, nice though the beach is. She was so glad to see familiar faces...."Now if only we can keep it together," she thought to herself. Apparently there were rumors flying around about one of the young trainees exhausting herself in her training. Angel had to admit that it seemed like something she could do also, as much as she loved the Overseer and her friends. As morning prayers finished out she stood slowly and stretched a bit.
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:50 am
Chem finally stumbled near the temple. "Dang! I missed morning services!" He saw Angel exiting the temple. "Hi! Are you Angel?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 12:09 pm
chemistry35 Chem finally stumbled near the temple. "Dang! I missed morning services!" He saw Angel exiting the temple. "Hi! Are you Angel?"
"Hello, yes that's my name" she said with a smile. "And you are Chem right? How are you today?" She smiled wistfully awaiting an answer.
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:15 pm
DarkRose072687 chemistry35 Chem finally stumbled near the temple. "Dang! I missed morning services!" He saw Angel exiting the temple. "Hi! Are you Angel?"
"Hello, yes that's my name" she said with a smile. "And you are Chem right? How are you today?" She smiled wistfully awaiting an answer.
"Not bad. I was at the spellcasting hall when the explosion happens. So that was fun. How are you?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:49 pm
chemistry35 "Not bad. I was at the spellcasting hall when the explosion happens. So that was fun. How are you?"
"Wow are you ok? No one was hurt were they? I am fine, just glad to be back to the waking world you know," she looked off into space for a moment....
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Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 4:46 am
DarkRose072687 chemistry35 "Not bad. I was at the spellcasting hall when the explosion happens. So that was fun. How are you?"
"Wow are you ok? No one was hurt were they? I am fine, just glad to be back to the waking world you know," she looked off into space for a moment...."No, no one was hurt. Man...I miss the mainland...Sorry. Gotta go." Chem ran off onto the beach.
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