The Harlequin

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]Vukodlak Lacroix tensed in anticipation. From the rocky ledge upon which he stood, he could see the arrogant Kagim walking down the winding path. In this narrow series of gorges, the magi would never know the blade that killed him. Lacroix jumps up, shadowing the mage from the ledge. As the Kagim stops, peering intently at some feature of rock, Lacroix contemplates why he is doing this. His family was killed by magi, he was left mentally scarred. But did this justify the slaughter of uninvolved mages? Yes. Lacroix leapt of the ledge, his scimitars appearing in his hands as he somersaulted, crossing his arms in an X as he landed. The Kagim staggered, the slices down his back bleeding profusely. Before he could move, Lacroix dispatched him with a quick thrust. Smiling grimly, he starts off along the trail, reflecting on his success. He'd never really been a proper Silencer, they'd just picked him up and he'd went along with it, although he made it clear he followed his own path. He always worked alone, never obeying any orders they gave him, never acting in concert with other Silencers. Damn bureaucrats. Lacroix detested others company, preferring solitude. Human contact, or human approval, meant nothing to him. So it didn't really matter if they thought they controlled his actions or not. Lacroix was, now and forever, an independant, despite his superficial affiliation with the Silencers. Looking up at the darkening sky, Lacroix whispers his vow to any mageborn with a taste for power, and the lack of wisdom to show his face.[/I] Lacroix: Welcome to the desolation.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]Davien sighs, and shakes once. Fearing a relapse, Alasruin rises out of her seat slightly in alarm, but is waved off.[/I] Davien: I'm alright. Everything then. Where to start. God, it's been a while since I told anyone all this. Alastuin: How long? Davien: About... actually, I've never related my past before. I've never known anyone to care. Alastuin: Are you sure you're alright with telling it? Davien: Positive. [I]Davine closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, before speaking.[/I] Davien: Hearken ye all, to tales of The Burning Pits, tales of Ye Powers Of Darknesse, and beyond. Alastuin: That isn't going to last is it? Davien: You mean the accent? No that will stop now. Anyway. I was created at the whim of one of the demon lords in the Seventh Circle. He wanted a servant, someone which to place in the arena, a gladiator. Disdaining the hulking brutes most nobles employed, he created me, a creature of speed and agility. He refined me as much as possible, making me as good as he wanted. He made me not only fast, but intelligent. He believed that cunning, speed and skill were more important that brute strength. He was right. I qiuckly dominated the competitions, winning him the dark gambles they played for. Eventually, he tired of me, wishing to create something even stronger. In a blind rage, I attacked him. It proved my undoing. He made me powerful, I destroyed him. His servants, lesser demons such as myself, poured in. However, instead of rejoicing in their liberation, they captured me, and put me to trial. They subjected me to every torment you could imagine, and hundreds I pray you never do. I will not darken the skies with the stories of them here. Let it suffice that physically and emotionally, I was left mortally scarred. I grew to hate the light. It meant they were coming. They were coming. Their cruel eyes, their supernatural tortures. Yet they could not break me. No matter what they tried, no matter the creatures of darkness that they left me to, I survived. They bound me hand and foot, and tossed me into pits filled with creatures unimaginable, yet I survived. I don't know how or why. Eventually, I could take no more. They could not kill me, but they drove me insane. I spent centuries chained to a wall, ravening, as they continued their defiling arts upon me. I retreated from my physical body. I came only to reside in my twisted soul. My body ceased to function. Perhaps I was dead, I don't know. They thought I was. They dumped me in this realm, to be disposed of. I awoke some days later, being prodded by the blade of some warrior. He sliced me open, leaving me in agony for days more until I healed. The first few years were the worst. Before I learned how to disguise myself. I could not come within a mile of anyone without being attacked. Even vampyres shunned me, fearing me. I found no succor in isolation. Wild things, all animals avoided me, leaving a barren, dead aura around me. Again, I retreated into my mind, leaving my physical self to exposure. I didn't die though. I came back, after months of contemplation. I had realised how to hide myself as a human. I did so. I have nothing now. No purpose, aside from passing interests. [I]Davien sighs again and collapses in his chair, as if telling the story drained him.[/I] Alastuin: That any such suffering should happen to any being is beyond forgiveness. Davien: I didn't tell you half of it. That as merely the basic overview. But make no mistake, everything that happened to me, I fully deserved. Alastuin: How can you say that! Davien: When I fought in Hell's arena, for the entertainment of others, I slaughtered countless innocents abducted from the mortal realm. I had so much blood on my hands that my inflictions were to me more a penance than a torture. So, tell me. Who are you?[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]After a short minute, Alastuin halted as she came into a clearing. There was a relatively large compound erected. Steel wire and fortified walls harshly set against the vegetation. There is a shout from the walls. Thinking someone had spotted her, Alastuin ducked behind a tree. After another yell, this one more like a scream, and a strange hissing noise, she looks back around. After flying off, Vukodlak surveyed the area around him. In the middle of the forest, he spotted a building. Curious, he swooped lower, only to be greeted with bullets. A Hunter outpost. Diving out of the way, Vukodlak sprays acid down as he lands, leaving several men in horrible agony. Approaching the barracks, he kicks down the door, his scimitars arcing out. Walking in, he quickly kills the first few, leaning back and raking one of them with his talons. The man's head stays in his foot, to a wet crushing sound when Vukodlak stands up properly. At the other end of the building, five more soldiers shake off their surprise and fumble for weapons. Before they can even pick them up, Vukodlak has reached them. Catching a blow from the butt of a rifle on his scimitar, he twists the blade around the gun, thrusting forward when the blade reaches an apex. The man falls, a deadly gash through his throat. Vukodlak ripostes before he had even hit the floor, decapitating one, and hitting a third in the chest with his tail, stunning him. The last one has managed to get his rifle loaded, and fires a shot into Vukodlak's shoulder. Roaring in pain, the mymridion whips his head around, catching the man's head in his maw, then ripping his head off, swallowing it whole. The stunned Hunter looks at him in terror. Sheathing one of his scimitars, Vukodlak pins the hunter to the floor with a claw, before spitting acid into his eyes.[/I] Vukodlak: Against such arrogance, I have a right to act. Woman: What makes you think you need the right? My name is Alastuin. My thanks for taking care of these. [I]Vukodlak spins around, startled. The woman he met earlier has entered, with him even noticing.[/I] Vukodlak: I am Vukodlak. Or at least, that's the name I use. I don't actually know. I'm taking it that you also are something other than mortal. Alastuin: Succubus. [I]Alastuin smiles, in what to anyone else would be an intimidating fashion, showing teeth filed to point. Vukodlak remains unimpressed, opening his mouth to reveal two inch long fangs.[/I] Vukodlak: Unless the succubi have been branching out lately, you should have no interest in me. Alastuin: Well, not any interest in that way. You're not my type. But considering all this *she waves her arm at the carnage, ignoring the groans of the dying man*, I have a feeling we have some common interests. Vukodlak: I'm only destroying these *he spits the word* hives because they aggravate me. Nothing more. Alastuin: Then you have no real purpose in such carnage? You don't seem to shrink from it. Vukodlak: I don't. But I have more important things to do. Alastuin: Such as? Vukodlak: Find out who I am. Now, shall we go. [I]They walk out, falling into deep conversations about their past. After a brief history is given, each decides that they may indeed have common interests. Vukodlak is especially interested, this is one of the few beings he has ever met in his long, long years he actually likes.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]Harlequin: Just you and I again, my love. Spyder: I know. Where do you think they took Athen? Harlequin: I'm more interested in who they were, and why they were interested in us. Spyder: Weren't they Lightbearers? Harlequin: No, they appeared to be ordinary men. If not, they certainly weren't Lightbearers. Spyder: Just what we need, another enemy. Harlequin: Enemies are good. They give people reason to carry nasty looking things that do nasty things to people. Spyder: And that's all you really care about. Harlequin: You know that isn't true. And you like it yourself. Spyder: Never said I didn't. What say we go then. Harlequin: What say. [I]They set off into the darkness, following the tracks of the vehicles that took Athen.[/I][/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]Davien awakens to a hard, cold dawn, another reminder of the harsh furnace this world really was. Sighing, he walks over and throws the bolt back, listening a long moment before moving outside. Walking silently through the garden, he hears voices from above him, on one of the terraces. Listening, he realises that it they come from Kain and Anathema, and that the subject is him. Feeling guilty, not at eavesdropping but at causing concern to his companions, he vaults up to them.[/I] Davien: My apologies for causing concern to any of you. I am fine, my feelings are nothing I have not dealt with or buried before. Anathema: Are you alright now? Davien: Yes. Anathema: Do you even know how bad you were last night? Davien: I'm not certain, but I have a fairly good idea. I tend not to remember such experiences afterwards. Anathema: Is it safe to talk about what brought it on? What it was about? Davien: Sometimes. It mainly depends on how many people are around. I can deal with people one on one, but numbers trigger an adverse reaction when I'm talking about my past. [I]Davien's face takes on a look of ancient, distant pain, and he takes a long breath before continuing.[/I] Davien: But I'll answer anything anyone wants to know at some point.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]Actually, in relative terms, most civilisations such as the Mayans, Aztecs, Hitties etc had better rulers than today. They knew what they were doing. Either they went to war, or they worship their gods. And both of those things they did perfectly. It's only by complicating what a leader needs to do that you get bad, or slightly bad, or downright useless leaders. Not that that is really relevant, but still.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]Bernoulli's Principle is the principle that states that moving air creates an area of relative low pressure. This has been proven too many times to count, yet nobody has been able to explain why. (Or at least, not when I last did Physics. If someone can correct me here, I'd be grateful.)[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]After a few minutes walking, Vukodlak wondered just how far from habitation he was, and just what continent he was on. Absorbed in thought, he almost doesn't notice when he is hailed by a young woman on foot. He wasn't sure, but he had a feeling that that was an anomaly in this day in age, or at least in this isolation.[/I] Vukodlak: Forgive mine ignorance... [I]He breaks off at the confused look on her face.[/I] Woman: Why are you talking like that? [I]Vukodlak suddenly remembers that Hight Style went out of fashion a few hundred years ago.[/I] Vukodlak: It's hard to explain. What I was going to say is, "What did you say?" Woman: Never mind. What are you doing out here? Vukodlak: The same could be said of you. Woman: I'm coming from a city, you are heading towards one. And there's nothing out there for a long way. Vukodlak: Try flying some time, you'd enjoy it. Now, if you'll excuse me... [I]Tiring of the encounter, and of other being's company, Vukodlak stops channeling light around him, an act that seems to make him flash back into his real form. The woman is taken aback, but before she can react, Vukodlak wings his way off into the skies, quickly becoming nothing more than a speck on the horizon.[/I][/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]Egad, this is almost getting cloying. Why me? Really, why me? Oh well. I must say though, I do appreciate everyone's comments and beliefs, they just seem weird when applied to me. Unnatural somehow... I'd put things on the same basis as Ravenstorture, although I do not believe in the/an afterlife. Certainly not the Christian Heaven or Hell. I believe that spirit is transient bundles of energy, which may or may not travel to another plane of existence on death. The body is a shell, when we die we merely lose the means for our minds/spirits (I really don't believe there is a distinction between the two) to communicate. So yes, I would follow Raven into the afterlife.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]And I thought Mongolian Beaver Whackers was bad... You're drinking coffee, and you're wondering why you aren't sleeping?[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]Name: Lacroix Vukodlak Race: Drow Character Class: Assasin Allignment: Chaotic Evil Deity: Nerull Height: 6 ft Weight: 75 kgs Eyes: Blue Hair: Black Abiltities: Strength: 13 Dexterity: 16 Charisma: 7 Wisdom: 11 Intelligence: 15 Constitution: 12 Weapons: Twin scimitars Armour: Leather with leather disks riveted to it. Feats- Medium Sword Profiency, Amour Focus (Medium)[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]I'm touched Jesus Chicken. Really, I am. Don't worry, I'm feeling no signs of incipient mortality, and Raven isn't either. You could call this obsession, but that's just a convenient label. What Raven and I have is the complete understanding of one spirit. (Sorry if I go a little weird here) We are not only emotionally commited to each other, we are commited to each other with everything that we are. We are the perfect match for each other. And god knows neither Raven or I were particularly stable before we admitted out feelings to each other. We're still not, it's just not self-destructive anymore. It's actually more fun when it's slightly unstable.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]Matter is too open a term Cloricus. It doesn't really define anything, except "Stuff that exists", which is as open as it gets. The smallest particle that has been proven to exist is a sub-sub atomic particle, either quark or quork, depends on who you ask. Light photons are typically simpler than your average atoms. Normal atoms are the typical full form of existence. Sub atomics don't really exist on their own properly, it requires a full atom for stability. Photons are less complex than atoms, and are thus a simpler form of matter. If gravity came from common sense, why didn't the Ancients realise it? Oh, of course they knew they were more or less stuck to the ground, but they didn't know why. You never really know something unless you know why. It's just a theory ithout backing. (I'd like to exclude Bernouli's Principle, or whatever his name is, from that idea. His theory just can't be proven for some reason.)[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]Egad, I thought I was the only person who had ever even heard of Goodkind... For me, it depends on whether it is raining. If it is, I go for a walk. If for some reason it isn't, then I just listen to weird music for a while.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]Love is good. I can live with love. Ravenstorture and I are in love, and have been almost since meeting each other. It just took us a while to admit it. I don't really think age is a consideration, if you have the right person. I was thirteen when we first admitted our feelings to each other, and it's only getting stronger. What do you think of that eh James... You always know if you find the right one. Not some meaningless attraction that you can't seem to shake, or having fantasies about people when you should be thinking clearly, I mean a deep-seated sense of rightness. You feel it to your core. You just know. EVerything fits into place like a puzzle that has suddenly revealed its solution. An abiding sense of peace, happiness, belonging. It's as if you've known this person all your life, been arcing towards them on a slow trajectory, waiting for the right moment before your life is suddenly twisted in a new direction where all else is secondary. Love is amazing, something everyone should experience, something everyone instinctively recognises. It strikes a familar chord in our souls.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]Zaltazar: You people do that if you want. I'll do it my way. [I]Zaltazar walks over to the nearest window and climbs out, scaling the wall. A few minutes later, after much yelled swearing, they see him apparently walking down empty air, as if there were an invisible staircase. When he reaches the ground, he lights a small fire, pulls out a wineskin, and takes a long drink. Sitting back, he smiles slightly, willing to wait for the others.[/I][/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]After debating it with himself for a minute, Davien sighs and walks down the rough stairwell. The atmosphere quickly beomes oppressive. The cave seems to press in with a will of its own, and the constant drip of water from some unknown source seems almost to be waiting, a herald of whatever evil is to come. Faced with such signs, Davien continues on, his curiousity getting the better of him. As he circles down, the spiral becoming almost imperctibly tighter, he notices a slight blue glow from the bottom. Intrigued, he quickens his pace, occasionly even jumping from tier to tier to quicken his pace. Reaching the bottom, he gasps in surprise. At the bottom lies a crystal, glowing softly blue in the darkness. Davien recognises it as a mind crystal. The greatest of treasures, these could almost be called entities in their own right. They possess great wisdom, speaking directly into whoever holds them's mind. Each teaches a different ability. Davien jumps the rest of the way down, and approaches the mind crystal. Handling it carefully, he stares into it. A voice resounds in his mind. Starting from a gutteral low chant, it quickly degenerates into a beastly scream, shocking Davien. He stumbles back, dropping the crystal, which shatters. Davien runs back up the stairs, before collapsing on the cave floor, convulsing.[/I] Alastuin: What's wrong. Kral Thraxx: He found a mind crystal. Alastuin: But they were all destroyed aeons ago. Kral Thraxx: So it was thought. If you'll give me a minute, I'll determine what happened to him. [I]Kral Thraxx's body turns to its Dracocytherian state. His eyes cloud, as if he were focusing inward. After a long minute, he shudders and returns to his normal form. Davien also seems to recover, although he still shakes feverishly.[/I] Kral Thraxx: Our race has an innate knowledge of Ye Powers Of Darkness. Over the centuries we ruled the earth, we encountered nearly every dark force of being in existence, and conquered many of them. Yet whatever was down there, inside the crystal, was alien even to me. Davien: Our knowledge of the darkness was my undoing. It implanted in me much, much more than any mortal should have to bear. Kral Thraxx: Then why do I not feel it? Davien: I don't know.Yet now I could be considered the most evil being in existence, for what I know. Alastuin: Has it changed you? And what exactly do you know? Davien: I'm still who I was. As for what I know... The desires that drive the chaos that seeks to destroy all, the nature of evil itself, the nature of death. The nature of life force conversely. And how to manipulate it, though at the cost of my soul. Alastuin: Should you ever use the knowledge, what would happen? Davien: A disaster. I would be a being of overflowing life, that would leech the energy out of all around me. Anywhere I went, all living things would become lifeless husks. We would be left with a dead world, and a wasted, mad soul to inhabit it. Alastuin: And the good news? Davien: None. Although I can channel other's lifeforce, without harm. Alastuin: Which does? Davien: Healing, and death. The two sides of the same thing. But it will hurt. It will be agony. Alastuin: Then don't do it. Davien: In certain situations, I may have no other choice. [I]They sit in silence a while, pondering Davien's altered state. He still appears shaken.[/I] Davien: And should I ever die, burn my body immediately. Destroy it completely. Otherwise I will become a wraith beyond what has ever been seen. [I]As if suddenly exhausted, Davien falls asleep, shivering and tossing with nightmares caused by the force of all malevolence in existence.[/I] Kral Thraxx: This may very well madden him. His grip on sanity is tenuous at the best of times anyway. Alastuin: Why? Kral Thraxx: A shattered past, a shattered mind. Alastuin: I hope Kredion finds us soon.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]Davien sighs, and pushes Evelyn back up the steps. Walking up until in line with the mid height of the pillars, he beckons for Evelyn to continue the ascent. Pulling out a canister, he binds it to one of the pillars with some cloth. Leaving it a few seconds, until Evelyn is out of the way, he lights the cloth and runs, dragging Evelyn up the stairs, throwing her behind a boulder before ducking away himself.[/I] Evelyn: What's this abo.... [I]Evelyn is cut off by a huge explosion, one that throws rock for several metres around them.[/I] Evelyn: What the hell were you doing! You could have gotten us killed. Davien: It was always possible. Evelyn: What the hell was in that flask? Davien: Distillation of naptha. The air in that place was pretty heavy, there was a large amount of flammable gas there. And it lit up good. Shall we go? Evelyn: Where are the others? Davien: How should I know? Lets go. [I]They turn and walk off, leaving the others to follow, if they are still alive.[/I][/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]As he started to reach human habitation, Vukodlak banked right, avoiding the unavoidable attention that usually springs up when a shadow without features flies across the sky. Settling down in some abandoned, twisted countryside, Vukodlak rechanneled the light through him, around him, so as to appear as a human being, a neccessary disguise to get information. He set off into the trees, determined to find out where he was, and then were the headquarters of this organisation was.[/I][/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]A few people seem to have pointed out that everybody makes mistakes in public speaking. I would like to point out in turn that we laugh at all of them as well. This isn't a unique thread. And as for running the government... If someone here wants to get my educated, trained and elected, I'm up for it.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]Vukodlak looks into Ryan's eyes for along moment, gauging the possible understand this man might have.[/I] Vukodlak: You think you would understand? Good, because I'm not going to repeat myself. I have a twisted sense of honour, coupling with a rather insane curiousity. Life means nothing to me, it is a burden, yet suicide goes against my nature. So I throw myself into dangerous situations hoping to find something that can kill me. After 5 years, I'm still here. The other thing is that mutation of any type interests me. I've done a bit of work as a scholar, and what I set out to do was compile a bestiary. I'm interested in the existence of monsters and the like. Now, if you have some other problem, like your desire to incapacitate me, then take it elsewhere, because I don't want to hear it, and I don't particularly want to have you eaten alive by rats right now. This mission is not the same to me as it is to you. I find it a research mission, you find it a Rescue mission. You're rules and regulations mean nothing to me. I haven't followed a rule if it inconvenienced me in my life. However, considering the knowledge I've accumulated about mutation on monsters and possible adverse reaction to chemicals, elements etc, I may very well be indispensable to this thing. So don't annoy me, after all, I'm an assasin. [I]After this rant, Vukodlak returns to where they were standing, saying nothing, gazing off into the distance.[/I][/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]I've never bothered, after a bad experience. I got three of them, the two in Junon and one from Speed Square, and from then on Cait Sith only ever did his Toy Soldiers limit break. Most annoyed. Has that ever happened to anyone else, or is it just my game out to get me?[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]Wonderfully emotive, and even better, it has a melancholy aura.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson]If it were that simple, civilisation as we know would fall down around our ears.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=crimson][I]Vukodlak returned to Speed Square, looking impatiently around for whoever actually knew that he existed. Looking around, he catches the eye of a women with the insignia of Squad Leader. Returning his gaze, she beckons him over.[/I] Pheobe: I'm Pheobe, your Squad Leader. Vukodlak: And? Pheobe: You are going on the CC mission right? Vukodlak: Yes. What of it. Pheobe: Then you should show more respect for your Squad Leader. [I]Vukodlak takes a deep breath, before turning and starting to walk off. When restrained however, he spins, drawing one of scimitars from about half way up the blade, his gauntlets protecting him from slicing his hand open should a thrust prove neccessary. The grip hides the blade from view.[/I] Pheobe: I wouldn't recommend that. Vukodlak: God damn bureaucrats. You're all the same. Pheobe: Too bad. If you want to go, you'd better fix your attitude. Vukodlak: I don't have an attitude, people are just annoying. [I]At this, the other man sniggers.[/I] Vukodlak: Ryan, I believe? Good. Now, do you have a problem you'd like to share? Ryan: You really think you're good don't you? [I]Vukodlak's eyes narrow dangerously, and the reflections in them start to shimmer, drawing attention away from his sword hand. Which has the point of the scimitar at Ryan's throat in a blink. After a long moment, Vukodlak returns the sword to its scabbard, before again leaving, this time unimpeded. A he walks off, he calls back over his shoulder without turning around, or even slowing his brisk place.[/I] Vukodlak: If you actally had anything important to say, say it fast.[/font][/color]