Helgidom. Sanctuary. Over the centuries it has gone by many names before its current one. It use to the home of royalty, and then became the hauntin ground of the soul of a warlock who attempted to deal in dark magics no mortal should touch. He tore open a portal to Hell and allowed demons to spill out into the mortal plane to subjugate his foes. But he grew complacent and ignorant of the warning signs before one of the demons he summoned turned his own minions against him. Later, Damian, who had grown tired of empty promises, turned the castle into his own cut of the world. His own Sanctuary for himself and all who would follow him.
Anyone who is willing to be subjugated by the Tether will find shelter, food, and a place to be safe. Any who would be deemed as foe and would threaten the inhabitants will find many a demon already residing within the castle, as well as horrible nightmares not meant for mortal eyes.
Note: There are demons from each sect of the codex here, along with one of the bosses from each (Such as Snow Wolves). Any demon Tethered by Damian has free reign of the castle so long as their actions do not usurp Damian's rule of the castle. The castle is also populated by Blood Guards and Helions, demons that are the same as those summoned through the Black Gate ability used by Dreadnaughts.
Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 7:17 pm
TABTAB Damian grunted as he looked upon his target. The locals called it the Haunted, a castle with a history as long as the world was old, but in every story it always ended with the residents dying or becoming corrupted by the evil that took hold of the place. The Dreadnaught had been promised a hefty sum to rid the castle of the spirit that haunted the castle once and for all. Damian himself was going through a somewhat personal crisis himself: at his wits end with stupidity and empty promises of greater kin than that of mortals. So with greater understanding of his new powers and equipment he ventured to the haunted site ready to take on what may lay before him. Warlocks were known to dabble in the dark arts of demonic summoning, so he figured that those that protected the castle would be demonic in nature.
The cold air was a farcry from the humid heat he had endured before now, a welcomed change as he saw his breath leave his mouth and wisp through the air. His target in sight from his vantage point upon a cliff a half mile from the Haunted, he surveyed what he could see. Sure enough, he could see the body of a pack of demon wolfs gallop along the outer walls of the castle. A deter for any unwanted visitors. On the walls of the castle, both within and along the outside, were guarded by stone gargoyles. Some may have been just sculpted figures, but he would have betted his reward that some were demons that were just waiting to have invaders to guard against.
As he neared, he readied himself and slid his body to the side as one of the three demons wolves lunged at him in an attempt at a sneak attack. The second one attempted the same, but was met with a blow to the skull by the Dreadnaught's fist. The wolf's head smashed into the ground, cratering the ground and its body went limp. The third snapped at his head, and he responded by allowing his body to fall backwards, then push off the ground and shove his heel into the neck of the wolf, killing it. The third one was gone, probably run off to regroup. Damian wasted no time deciding whether to pursue as the entry to the Haunted was within walking distance. He knew what the wolves were. His true target was testing him, prodding him. Seeking to know how powerful the invader was. His strengths and weaknesses.
Once inside the first tier, as he suspected two gargoyles came to life. The first he avoided the spear attack. He slipped through the gargoyle's defenses, grabbed its wing, and kicked it into the other one tearing off the wing and using the first as a projectile aimed at the second in the process. The second one, disoriented by this type of attack, did not see the Dreadnaught's fist as he punched a hole through the stomach of the remaining gargoyle with both hands, which then tore the stone body into two identical sections. His host wanted to see a show of power? Fine, he would get one. Damian had trained himself to be as strong as a mortal could be. Throwing cars was child's play, did the warlock believe lesser demons would be enough to even slow Damian down?
And this is how trek continued. Every tier he climbed, his opponents became stronger and stronger. First, it was the demon snow wolf pack, cousin to the demon wolves and more of a threat due to their now magic nature. They were quick, but once Damian was able to get his hands on one it was easy to rip limb from body. It was also at this time that swarm tactics were proven ill advised. The more opponents Damian had, the faster he became as he fed off the pain inflicted by his aura. When three became eight, his speed increased significantly, providing him with the speedy movements needed to evade and obliterate without too much effort. If he could punch a hole in pure steel with ease, flesh and bone did not stand a chance. And that was the most stupid thing about this whole venture: his opponent thought he could just overpower the Dreadnaught with physical force. He had grown overconfident in his years of constant success against those that sought to thwart his reign.
By the time Damian had reached the royal chambers, he had just finished defeating what was the guardian of the inner sanctum: a giant lava-rock spider demon. Again, his host believed just throwing physical might at the Dreadnaught would subdue him. And even better yet was the thought that the use of fire based attacks would be any more effective. True, it had been the toughest fight since he had gotten there which actually required him to expend energy to shield himself once or twice, but otherwise the shell of the creature was easy enough to pierce with a well placed domination beam and applied physical strength. The insides of the demon tasted oddly enough like chicken. So he was within the royal chambers, expecting to be assaulted by a new unworthy threat before facing the warlock in question and being done with this nuisance. However, he was finally surprised by the fact that while he was able to spot what seemed to be a gody cultist, the warlock was accompanied by something... New. Something he had never seen before. Female figure, copper scales, tail attached to the back of her head. He for the first time in this entire trip smirked. Maybe he would get a challenge after all.
The cultist went into a rant about how Damian was unworthy. That he was just some hellspawn that had no right to meddle in the affairs of one who sought and would achieve godhood. That even the great Xambu knew his power of demonic magics was unmatched. Yada yada yada. The same old s**t. For her credit, this Xamdu seemed to be an actual treat. Her body radiated an aura of power. Once the warlock realized he had been droned out, he roared in anger and in a fit of rage tore open a fiery portal from which a four-armed charred minotaur sprinted out of and right at Damian. The Dreadnaught met the minotaur in a deadlock of hand-clasped strength, which seemed to surprise the demon. Puny mortal was not so puny it seemed as Damian only slid back maybe two feet before coming to a halt completely without any appearance of buckling. In this moment, Xambu appeared at Damian's side with amazing speed seeking to end him in a combined assault, but she was caught off guard by Damian's own ally: Astrid. All the while, the dragon turned demon shadowed the Dreadnaught, not allowed to interfere in any way as this would be Damian's proof to himself that he could handle what it took to create a movement towards Paradise. However, the stipulation had been if Damian was outnumbered within the final conflict of this mission. Then Astrid could act, and so she did. Her speed matched Xambu's as she entered her human form as to not damage the castle in te way a dragon crashing through the walls would, grabbed Xambu by the head-tail, and flung her away.
The minotaur roared as his body was engulfed in angry flames. It expected its newfound strength to overwhelm the puny mortal and burn him to a crip, but yet again it was denied. Damian was grinning as flicks of black energy containing red hues danced from his eyes, as it did from Astrid's. His body seemed to be repairing itself as quickly as the flames charred his flesh. More importantly, the puny mortal seemed to grow even more powerful when his eyes suddenly became bloodshot, the veins through his body glowing a dim blood red. Damian allowed the weight of the minotaur to fall forward as he fell backwards, twisted, and slammed the demon to the ground. He then head butted the demon, which for anyone else would have been suicidal. But the impact dazed the minotaur who let go of Damian. The Dreadnaught began to pummel the piss out of the demon, the flames still raging, his body still regenerating and being burned away at equal rate.
Due to Damian's influence, Xambu was also overhelmed, though maybe not to the same degree. Her godly speed was being outmatched by Astrid, who now even surpassed Xambu's damage potential. In the end, it was a closer fight, but Astrid had come out on top and was now looming over her defeated prey. When Damian finally stopped his assault on the minotaur, he stood and walked through the flames towards the Warlock who was now empty of power de to summoning everything he had before. The blood magic flowing through Damian's body repaired the damage he had taken within seconds and by the time he reacted the warlock looked unharmed. Not letting the warlock plead for his life, Damian shoved his hand into the warlock's chest, ripped out his heart, and crushed it. The warlock had been no spirit, just an over ambitious man who learned how to buy more time.
With the warlock dead, Damian turned to exit but something made him stop. This place... It whispered fantasies. It whispered promises. Damian grunted and continued to leave but stopped again as he reached the entry to the royal chambers. He knew what he could do now. This was not about the call of a higher power. This was about him and what he wanted. As he thought this the marks on his wrists and neck, the tattoos running down his arms arms, it all glowed oh so very faintly. He faced forward, now looking at everything he had just conquered, everything he had just beaten into submittion. He knew the civilians who gave him this quest would squander such a place.
But he would not.
Something in his dark soul resonated with the very being of the Haunted... No... Helgidom now. A pulse of energy cascaded through the entirety of the castle, concentrated enough to physically effect the tapestries as it passed through. It touched the body of every beaten victim and every being yet seen. Astrid could apparently feel its effect as well, and from what Damian could gather she enjoyed the effect of it. Slowly, the bodies of the broken and defeated repaired themself, all drawn to Damian's location by a magnitive force of demonic influence. He gave them a choice: submit to the Tether and find sanctuary, or be defeated again and this time for good. The wolves, the rock spiders, the little beetles with excellent tracking abilities, Xambu, the minotaur, the gargoyles that were still in one piece, the nitemares from the castle's stables, almost every demon that one could imagine had gathered before Damian, and then all moved into submissive stances. Nodding, Damian extended both arms wide as hundreds of chains exited his form and pierced the bodies of every demon present excluding Astrid. His blood entered their bodies. The contracts formed. From now until their existence ended, they were bound to the Tether. Demonic gates opened behind the Dreadnaught. Helions and Blood Guards came through and immediately looked to their master for instruction.
Xambu curled around her new Master, lips against lips. She was pushed away, playfully due to a suddenly jealous Astrid to received her head being rubbed by Damian. If he was to be the new King of this castle, there was no disputing Astrid would be Princess. Maybe he would find a decent Queen that would be able to keep up. Regardless, he moved to become learned about his new home.
And of course the town that had given Damian his quest was outraged. First, only that town sent adventurers to kill him. They did not even make it to the front gate. More towns joined in their desire to destroy Helgidom. When the count reached five, Damian struck back. He sent out a detachment of his forces to raze the instigating town to the ground. Any who took up arms against his army were shown no mercy. Any who could not fight were ignored. It was a show of power, a testament that if one sought to shove, they had better be ready for the consequences.
A message was sent to the world itself: those that sought freedom from constant persecution and unfulfilled promises that submitted to the Tether could find sanctuary here. Any threat to his home would be eliminated, whether external or internal. He kept what he earned through the crucible of combat.
"text"
Energy 2,050/2,050 Pain Points 400/ 400 Eye for an Eye Charge 0% Stats Strength: 14 | Speed: 4 | DR: +2 | Damage Boost: 0 EquipmentAscalon and Svalinn
Passives
• Gene Mod: Speed <-> Strength Allows a person with the mod to convert their speed to strength or strength to speed twice a fight. • Gene Mod: Regeneration (Has Both Health Regeneration and Energy Regeneration Mod INDIVIDUALLY) Allows for faster healing or energy recovery. One or the other not both. This could possibly be used in place of a cleric for add on's from mechanists or as passive skills to regain health or energy while inactive. Regeneration is simple, similar to the Nephilim's, in terms of healing. Does not work for people with Regenerative Capabilities. Energy Regeneration is a bit different. Depending on your rank, you gain a flat amount. Novice = 25, Adept = 50, Expert = 75, Master = 100, Sage = 125 • Gene Mod: Energy Boost Increases base energy by 250 per rank. If you received this at Master Rank, it still counts from Trainee Rank.
• Buffs from dreadnoughts to ally have a special property when coming into combat with holy attacks. The Dreadnought's skills gain a +1 when coming in contact with Holy skills, but only their direct skills.
• Attacks count as Unholy
• Devour The ability to steal the life force of another to replenish your PP meter seems almost unholy. However, the transfer is anything but. Life is pure and raw, and the Reaver understands that. As such, the life transferring ability becomes a part of of every strike made by the Reaver. Direct contact is not necessary, as the Reaver has developed not only the ability to sense pain coming from others, but the ability to absorb the pain from several yards away. The range is limited to the area that the user is in. Not limited to opponents.
Based on the skill that is used, the user regenerates a certain amount of pain points. E Ranked: 5 Points D Ranked: 15 Points C Ranked: 35 Points B Ranked: 60 Points A Ranked: 85 Points S Ranked: 100 Points SS Ranked: 200 Points
• Pain The Reaver projects a constant aura (radius of 10 meters) that seeps into anyone the user wishes and causes them rather mild pain. For every person infected, the user gain back D Ranked Power Points, thanks to Devour. This attack is fully capable of being boosted, though once boosted, the cost in power points will equal one rank below what you are receiving. If it is boosted to B Rank, it costs C Rank to use.
• Your Pain is My Drug As long as the user is inflicting pain on another, the user gains a +1/+1 to stats. The user feeds off of this pain, and the effect is most definitely stackable for every enemy.
