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[SL the Pyro]

Dreadlord Z was... he was not sure if should be pleased or angry. It was difficult to tell for one who could not feel emotion.

He had reason to be pleased. His army had been growing exponentially with each passing week, and their training was going wonderfully; already his soldiers had twice the strength of the average Alliance or Dorm soldier. And the production of new modes of transportation and weaponry were coming along swimmingly; it was estimated to only be a matter of days before they could be tested.

He had reason to be angry. After looking at the ancient scrolls for the locations of the Keys, he found the information to have been tampered with; with modifications nearly as old as the scrolls themselves, most of the words had been erased or altered to provide false information. This meant that it was likely that the remaining six keys were were not on the Verden continent, and this theory was further supported by the discovery of two new continents. Their locations were now unknown. Soldiers and Sins alike had inspected the initial area where the Keys were thought to be during the times of war -- Z himself had managed to sneak into the Labyrinth -- and it was true, the Keys were not there.

"What is it that we must do?"

Z turned around to face the Sin of Light, the youngest of the group; a girl wearing a stainless, white cloak with white hair and innocent blue eyes. Her voice was just as innocent, with a hint of shyness. He responded, "With the location of the Keys now a mystery and the Alliance and Dorms now in peace time, there is nothing we can do but wait and hope that our original plan will succeed."

She tilted her head. "Our plans have not changed?"

"No." Z replyed. "The only reason we were able to acquire two of the Keys undetected before was because the Alliance and Dorms were too preoccupied with each other. This must happen again if we are to proceed." He walked over to the center of the large room, lightning shining through the windows with a resounding crash like it always did. In the middle of the room was a large, purple ball on an altar; it was much like a crystal ball used by fortune tellers. Z waved his hand in front of it, and it shined, producing the image of a woman... Princess Hina. "And she is the key..."

"Why not leave her in the custody of the Fortress? They will use her to begin the conflict anew..."

Z sighed. "I am aware of that, but they are taking far too long to do so. I grow impatient." He waved his hand in front of the purple ball again, and this time it displayed the face of Shadow. "And this simple-minded fool will be the one to cause it all... with his foolish attempts at heroics, he will lead himself and his nation to ruin. Until then... we must bide our time."

--------------------

The two weeks after the quest to recapture the Sultan for the Fortress had been... well, dull. His first attempt to infiltrate the pirate haven having been a failure, Shadow was forced to keep hidden at Port Almirante and wait for another ship that he could sneak onto.

During his time there, he had managed to relieve another pirate of his garb so he would have a much better disguise; he was much more convincing now, his purple hair and black tunic completely hidden this time. With his new look, he had been asking for information about when the next ship to the Fortress was going to arrive; he was told that during the two-week timespan, a cargo ship would come for supplies to take to the Fortress -- as well as any pirates who wanted to return home. That was just what Shadow was hoping for, he only needed to wait now.

During this time, Shadow had made sure to practice with his weaponry and stealth skills as much as possible; to an actual pirate it may seem like a haven, but to an intruder the Fortress was Hell on Earth. If he was discovered, he would no doubt need every ounce of his skill to get out alive. During practice with his spring-loaded chain, he had an epiphany when he noticed the blade mark it had left in a tree... he wondered what this technology would be worth if made into an actual weapon. Ever curious, he took apart the tool and inspected how it worked intently and carefully. On that day, he visited the local pirate blacksmith and showed to him his idea. Fascinated and inspired, the two worked feverishly on it for the next few days; the weapon that came out was a a straight longsword with the capability to launch the blade at a high speed using the Hookshot technology. Just like a sword with all of the Hookshot's perks.

After giving the new weapon a testrun, however, its weakness was blatantly obvious: the user was nigh defenseless after launching the weapon. For this reason, Shadow had requested a second blade. After having the blades coloured black for the finishing touch, Shadow was happy. The blacksmith had been kind enough to give him the first blade for free as thanks, but the second costed a steep 300 gold pieces. It was a good thing he found the storage room on the Sultan and pilfered some gold for himself before he was kicked off.

Now with the two-week wait over and three swords and the Aegis shield strapped to his back, Shadow was on the cargo ferry headed for the Fortress. Other than for his impressive-looking weaponry, Shadow attracted no attention, and that was exactly how it was supposed to be.

He was on his way to Hell on Earth. That was the easy part; the hard part was coming out alive.

Edited by Shadow_Link, 23 August 2008 - 11:01 AM.

[Steel Samurai]

Steel took a deep breath of the salty air, cleansing his lungs of the grime and soot from the bowels of the Fortress from whence he had just come. Not long now, and he would need to depart for the mainland, to determine how this situation with Grande would end, but for the moment he was free. He looked out to see. A cargo ship approached. Right on time. Steel stood on top of the tallest tower of the Fortress, and watched, and waited.

[JRPomazon]

The fortress was one of the more despicable places Jordan had the "pleasure" of wandering into. Every street was littered with pirates with hangovers and tired wenches. To sum it in a sentence, it was not very fresh but always ripe. After the Sultan issue, Jordan decided to come back here. After all, he was technically a member of the Forsaken Fortress, a pirate under the command of Admiral Juno. Pirate? It just didn't feel right saying that. He was more of a reserve soldier than a pirate. And as far as Juno was concerned, Jordan couldn't give a single damn about that man's orders. As the streets of pale blue stone seemed to go on forever, Jordan touched the bag at his side, to make sure the contents (a very fun book of dirty secrets) was still inside. Sure enough, it was there.

Shadow mentioned something to him when they were waiting out for the Sultan, something involving Princess Hina of Van'Duras. There was also some news about her being in the sights of people who wanted to take her like for some political nonsense, the details were not necessary at this point in time. As he walked the streets, Jordan contemplated what his next move was. He would either help Shadow or go serve the Fortress and try to stop Shadow. Or maybe there wasn't a choice to make. Jordan took out on of his glaives and slammed it into the ground. A moment later, a large gust of wind carried him into the sky. Using the glaive, he created more gusts of wind to send him to where Steel would be, the tallest tower in the Forsaken Fortress. Sure enough, he was there. Jordan stopped conducting the wind and landed near Steel.

"How are you?" he asked as he watched the ships arrive at the port.

[Steel Samurai]

"Well enough, I suppose. Have you seen to the others? With luck we will be able to depart by next Tuesday, assuming all the loose ends are tied up here first."

The cargo ship was checked at the entrance to the fortress and, after passing inspection, sailed into the small artificial cove and docked at F pier.

"Shipment of quality weapons forged from the strange metal we found on the other continent in that ship."

[JRPomazon]

Jordan took his glaive and inspected it. It had taken a lot of damage over the years and using it for wind manipulation didn't help either. There were some fine cracks in the blade, perhaps the time had come to bury his old weapons. Jordan placed his glaive back in it's sling.

"Quality metal, eh?" He asked as he looked at the ship.

"You're the first person I've actually had the chance to talk to since coming back here. Everyone else seems to be preoccupied with something or other. I'm sure they'll come out of the woodwork eventually."

He looked at Steel, who was still very much preoccupied with this ship coming in.

"It's not the quality metal that has you watching that ship like a hawk, is it?" He asked.

[Tseb]

Tseb had been invited back to the Fortress as a guest.

The past week he had spent wandering the sprawling port, he had been payed a small sum as compensation for his work recapturing the Sultan. It was gone now, spent on baubles, rings, and other magical apparatus, two of which had proven to be real honest useful items while the rest would end up being destroyed by an enchantment. His next move had been to find lodging, since he had forgotten that he would require money for this too he had hired himself out once more as a human "refrigerator" that name seemed to be the most appropriate for what he did, or at least that's what he called it, rather that is what a drunk claiming to live backwards had once called it.

This day found him wandering the streets once more. The night before had been, especially for a port town, slow and he had been given the morning off. He had no real place to go in mind while he wandered, it just felt nice to be out of the enclosed, ripe smelling bar.

A figure flew up out of a street to his right, it startled him slightly, people don't usually fall up. No one else seemed to care though, apparently people flying around the fortress was not unusual. As Tseb watched the figure fly up he caught a glint of familiar green from the mans armor, Jordan, he thought to himself. well might as well find out when they leave and if they would mind me tagging along. With that he also took to the skies, his lose clothes providing enough surface area to make a fairly controlled ascent to the tower Jordan had landed on.

"Well I've found both the men I wanted to see" he said, addressing both Jordan and Steel, as he landed on the tower. "When do you leave again and may I join you?"

[JRPomazon]

Tseb landing on the tower caught Jordan off guard. He didn't think the magician could fly as well. Very impressive.

"Right out of the woodwork. . . " Jordan thought.

"Not sure about the departure date myself but I was thinking sometime soon." He replied.

"We just have a few things to take care of before leaving."

[nameless]

The cargo ship was being unloaded at the docks, it metal, and other commodities had been deposited in their respectful places and the crew was moving away.

"Hehe I'm getting good at this stowaway thing." Nanashi thought as she opened the barrel she had been hiding in and climbed out.

She looked around at the port which she had infiltrated. "Slimy, very slimy. Anywho I want food. I wonder if they will let me get into the pubs here."

She wandered around for a bit looking at the pubs some were far to crowded, some smelled of things she didn't care to name, finally she found a less crowded less slimy, smelly, disgusting, pig styish place. It was the maiden in splendor.

"Looks good." she thought as she entered.

Inside was an assortment motly characters some looked as if they had suddenly come out of the woodwork to feast on the plate of what looked like meat but didn't smell right.

Nanashi walked up to the bar and took a stool. "I'd like yer finest ale and some bread n' cheese." She said in what she hoped was a good pirate voice. The bar man was not amused. "Either grow up quick or get out, iss aint no place for a kid like you." She looked defiantly at him or rather as defiantly as she could.

"I'll have you know sir that I am a respected pirate I go by the name o' Nanashi the shin splitter. I may be small but that gives me better targets." She gave a grin "I've even had the pleasure of sailin with the esteemed cap'n steel. Now give me mah food." The bar man walked into the back disappeared for a moment and then came back with some old bread and slightly moldy cheese. "No ale fer you, I'll let ya stay but thas all." She thought she saw a small smile on his face, but that could have been her imagination. "I wonder where steel and the rest of the old crew are" he pondered this as she ate.

[SL the Pyro]

While it gave Shadow time to practice his pirate accent, it was still a time-consuming and frustrating ordeal. Before any of the cargo ship's crew were allowed to disband and go about their business, they had to unload supplies from it. Normally this wouldn't so hard, but the ship had been carrying so many supplies, he was surprised it didn't sink on the way to the Fortress. It had taken a good half an hour before everything was said and done. Shadow had adopted a new name, "Jagger," for his current disguise -- which actually worked quite well, not one pirate recognized him, not even the mercenary band that Steel had hired to help take back the Sultan. And after having some time to practice his pirate accent -- in quiet locations, though he preferred to keep silent; none of the commanding officers on the cargo ship seemed to mind -- he grew much more confident that he could maintain it. He had the acting down to a science, he just needed to avoid people that might recognize his face. Steel was by far the one he had to avoid at any and all costs; in the heart of his home where he had entire factions of pirates at his command, any confrontation would put Shadow and his mission in grave danger.

So, now that he had ran the risks through his mind, he needed a plan. From what Shadow knew now, he had two options; to explore the Fortress and find any places that could serve as good hideouts or escape routes, or to find some of those rumored Alliance contacts that hid here. The problem with the second option was that he had no idea who or what to look for; he could wind up exposing himself as well as them. If he found them during his personal tour of the fortress, then great, but he was prepared -- and highly expecting -- to have to do this on his own.

As he left the docks and entered the civilized areas of the Forsaken Fortress, Shadow breathed a sigh of relief; no one paid much attention to him. As far as they knew, he was one of them. Perfect. His thoughts turned to his objective; rescuing Princess Hina. First and foremost, he'd have to know where she was being held. While not impossible, he doubted she'd be kept in a dungeon cell; he gave Steel and the pirate Admiral more credit than that. She'd be kept in a place where she could be watched closely and without escape, but with all the comforts of home... then it hit him. The Fortress had a wide array of towers. With only one real escape route, the tower's entrance and exit, the princess would had no sensible means of escape. However, which tower would she be in? The Fortress obviously had more than one...

Shadow put a mental agenda together. One: memorize the Fortress as best as he could, and find any advantageous areas for escape, hiding or -- if need be -- battle. Two: locate the the tower that the princess is being held in. Three: concoct a plan of escape. And last but not least, four: put the plan into action. A little half-baked in his opinion, but he'd put more effort into it when he found out what he was up against and what he might be able to use to his advantage.

With that, Shadow set off into the town... the mission had begun.

[Steel Samurai]

"It's not the quality of the metal that has you watching the ship like a hawk, is it?"

Steel snorted.

"Very observant of you Jordan. But we shall see what we shall see."

Tseb flew up. Steel was silent as he talked with Jordan.

"I'm going down to see to the weapons. Both of you meet me in the Great Hall in half an hour or so."

He turned and started down the steep flight of stone stairs.

* * * *

The weapons had been delivered to the armory, where an apprentice blacksmith was carefully putting them away.

"Where's Ken? He should be here to look at these?"

"Not sure sir."

Hmm. Steel ripped open one of the wooden crates with a crowbar. He picked up a gleaming black cutlass, and gave it a few swings. Slightly too heavy towards the hilt, but not bad. A large box stood over to the side.

"What's that one?"

"Not sure sir, haven't opened it yet."

Hmm. Steel opened that one too. There was a note to him inside, from one of the Fortress smiths in Almirante. "Designed this weapon with a young pirate, name of Jagged, or so he said. Thought you might want to have a look, so I made up a couple dozen."

The weapon was a strange device. Steel picked one up and aimed it at a wooden cross beam in the ceiling. The blade shot forward and embedded itself in the wood. Would've probably been fairly painful had that been a real person. Steel opened the shooting mechanism and examined it. He was not entirely sure how a spring small enough to fit in that could propel the chain alone, much less a sword attached to it, but no matter. They would be useful for boarding ships. He would have to have Ken or one of the other blacksmiths replicate the mechanism in a larger form with a barbed head instead of the sword. Well. Enough time spent here. Steel headed for the Great Hall.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan nodded as Steel headed down. He looked at the scenic view one more time and sighed to himself.

"Well, I suppose we should head off eh Tseb?" Jordan asked the magician.

He followed the same set of stairs and began his descent towards the ground and the Great Hall Steel spoke of. There were still areas of the Fortress that he wasn't too familiar with, this hall being one of the mentioned places. It might take a little time to find his way. Once the stairs ended, he found himself on a nameless street. He picked a direction and decided to stick with it. After a while, he came across an old man sitting on a barrel.

"Excuse me, you know where the Great Hall is?" Jordan asked.

The old man pointed in the direction Jordan was heading.

"Thank you." Jordan said as he continued on his way.

"A word to the wise:" The old man spoke up.

"Disrespect in the Great Hall is met with pain."

Jordan nodded and continued on his way.

****

After plenty of walking, Jordan found himself at the Great Hall. It seemed he was early, seeing as Steel and Tseb were not to be found.

"I'm the early one?" He asked himself as he leaned against the wall.

[SL the Pyro]

It had only been thirty minutes, and Shadow was already growing frustrated. The rural area of the Forsaken Fortress was HUGE. While it would be an advantage to memorize the pathways of this place, he wasn't a pirate; he wouldn't be able to stay here long enough to memorize it all. He needed a map. But he also needed to know where they sold maps... and to find THAT place, he'd need a ma-- he stopped himself right there, groaning in frustration. What he REALLY needed was a tour guide, one that wouldn't bother him too much. The problem was that pirates had a knack for bothering him, especially out of disguise... he'd need to find one that wouldn't bombard him with questions or be pushy... then it hit him; most people were quite suggestable when they were drunk, and pirates were no exception.

And it just so happened that he'd been passing by a bar... the sign above its door read, "The Crab's Leg." Judging from the amount of pirates going in and not coming out, it was a popular place. There was bound to be some drunken fool who would solve his problem in there. Bracing himself for the foul odors that would no doubt assault his senses when he entered, he pushed the swinging doors open and stepped inside. And was pleasantly surprised; his nose was greeted with the smell of delicious food rather than that of pungant and alcohol. This place must be pretty high-end... perfect. Getting some straight information certainly beat having to drag around a drunk, and he could grab a bite to eat while he was at it; he was sure he had gained enough money from that mercenary gig.

Taking an empty seat at the serving counter, he was quickly greeted by the bartender, a refined-looking man he had to admit. "What'll ya have?" he asked. If only his voice was as refined, he still sounded like a typical pirate.

"What's the special fer the day?" Shadow replied with his acquired pirate accent.

"Swordfish, fresh caught this morn'." the bartender replied. "Not cheap, though."

"I think I can buy it." Shadow said, pulling out his money satchel and showing it to the man. "Take some fer the tip, too."

Thankfully, his trusts that the man wouldn't try to fleece him were well-founded, he only took what was necessary, plus a little extra for the tip. He'd taken 3/4 of the contents of the satchel; not like Shadow was going to be eating here every day anyway, so he didn't have to worry about funds. The man quickly returned with a swordfish fillet and some mashed potatoes; Shadow's face lit up, it looked absolutely delectable. "And ta drink?"

"Only water, thank ye." Shadow replied. He had already began digging into the meal before the water arrived... he had to admit, the higher-class pirates sure knew how to live the high-life.

"OI, I SAID STOP IT!" The lower-class, on the other hand...

Shadow turned around to see the source of the yelling, in time to see a table and its contents flip over and crash onto the floor. Two pirates appeared to be trying to hold another down; his anger and red face -- and the seeming lack of anything worth throwing a fit over, since there were no gambling items or woman in the bar at the moment -- meant that he'd definately gotten drunk.And what a violent drunk he was, thrashing like his life depended on it. Shadow had no use for a violent drunk, so he just went back to his meal.

That is, until the drunk had quickly broken the hold of the two pirates who had tried to restrain them, then gave them a powerful bakchand to knock them away. Right into the counter and causing Shadow's meal to spill to the floor as well. Now he was not happy. He got out of his seat and saw the man walking towards the felled pirates on either side of him. He stuck his hand forward, palm pushing the man away by his chest. "Back off, they're already down." Shadow said in an attempt to calm him.

It didn't work. "OUTTA MY WAY!" he roared, reeling his fist back for a roundhouse punch. Shame that he was too sluggish to match Shadow's reflexes; quickly, Shadow caught the arm, went behind the man and pinned his arm behind his back at a painful angle, then sending him down to the ground head-first. Shadow noticed that he was breathing, but not moving or groaning... but snoring. He'd been knocked out. Wow, he must've really been drunk.

Once the situation had sunk in, he helped the two fallen pirates up and asked, "Are you two alright?"

"Yes, fine..." one of them said.

The bartender just shook his head. "I'm sorry 'bout that, I don't know why he keeps comin' back here..."

"And ye don't try to stop 'im?" Shadow questioned.

"He's allowed. He's supposed to be an officer here." the other fallen pirate said. That explained it. "Good with his arms, but not with his head... thank you..."

"Jagger. Th' names Jagger." Shadow replied.

"Aye, thank you Jagger."

Shadow looked down at the fallen pirate. "I'll take 'im outside." he said, picking up the drunk... and avoiding the bile he'd unconsciously spit onto the floor. Really, he'd used this as an excuse to relieve the man of identification in the form of a badge... if he was an officer, he'd be privy to higher-security areas of the Fortress. That's where Shadow was eventually going to have to be.

--------------------

After that business was over with, the bartender decided to give him and the victims a meal for half-price. Now with a full stomach and directions to the map maker -- courtesy of the officers he'd saved -- he wasted little time getting there and buying one. It was very detailed as far as the rural areas went, but not so much for the interiors and military establishments. But this was definately a start.

He now saw how many towers that the fortress had; a total of five, one at each corner and a larger one at the back where the Grand Hall led to. Shadow doubted that the princess would be in the southern-most towers, as they appeared smaller and thus probably weren't going to have that much security. So that left the three northern-most towers.

So now that he had a map and an idea of where to go, Shadow set off for the closest tower, the NorthWestern one. Who knows, maybe he'd get lucky.

[Tseb]

Tseb had left the tower shortly after Jordan but had found the fortress to have the strangest design of any stronghold he had been in. It seemed to sprawl ever onward, apparently designed to make enemies get lost rather than supply escape routes or bottlenecks. He eventually found a battered sign which read, FIRE EVACUATION PLAN, He wasn't sure why it proclaimed this in large capital letters or why it was mounted in a room made of stone. The sign did provide directions to the hall he was looking for, but only after much looking and confusion over which black splotch was actually his location. After another fifteen minutes of walking and two wrong turns later he found the hall, and Jordan.

"Steel hasn't arrived yet?" He asked Jordan not sure if Steel had left instructions or just not made it down from his ship watching.

[nameless]

"AHHHH, that was a decent meal didn't get any ale though...maybe next time." Nanashi strolled down the avenue looking for more to do.

She was fascinated by the sheer size of this place and by it dirtiness. As she walked on her eyes found the biggest building. It looked like a fortress.....maybe this is why they call this place the fortress.....She didn't care she just wanted to get into it.
"Heh that looks like fun." She headed for the massive construction.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan looked over to find Tseb, who had just found his way to the hall.

"No sign of Steel. We were supposed to meet him here. Must be busy with something, he is a high ranking official after all."

Jordan took the time to look around his surroundings. They didn't call this place the great hall for nothing. It was almost like a large cathedral with the sprucing of a pirate ship. An interesting combination, to say the least.

"Tch, where the hell is that guy?" He muttered to himself as he crossed his arms.

[nameless]

Nanashi was lost big time, she had no idea where she was, she knew she was in the biggest of all the structures but she had no idea where to go, after some wandering she came upon the largest hall yet, it was huge, and in the middle where to people she thought she wouldn't see again. "Oh ohhhh its the flying green guy from the ship and the other one with all the "cool" spells, sweet i bet they know where cap'n steel is, or maybe they are waiting for more orders, which means more adventures. I love advetures." She ran over to the two men standing there.

"Hey do you remember me? I was on the sultan with you two, well you Mr green weren't on the ship you were like above it floating or something, but anyway is cap'n steel around??? are we going on another adventure???"
She smiled hopefully and look back and forth between the two standing there.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan heard an unfamiliar voice and looked down to find Nanashi. Jordan thought hard for a moment before the girl's identity came back to him.

"Oh, I remember you. It's Jordan, not Mr. Green by the way." He said with a smirk.

"We are still waiting for Steel to show himself, he has some things he needs to take care of."

Jordan looked around the hall and no sign of Steel could be found. And Shadow was also missing as well, if he was indeed in the Fortress at this time. He mentioned getting in, perhaps he was already among the pirates. If that were the case, a commotion would come eventually.

"Wonder what's taking him so long?" Jordan said to himself.

[Steel Samurai]

Steel stepped out from the shadows of the hall. He had been there for some time observing the proceedings.

"You really need to improve your skills of an observer, Jordan. Have you finished gawking?"

[JRPomazon]

Jordan looked over to Steel, his eyebrows furrowed by the smug comment and a smirk on his face.

"Let's leave the cutesy comments to the kid here." He replied as he motioned to Nanashi.

"So 'Commander', why don't you let us all in on the game plan?" Jordan asked.

Edited by JRPomazon, 18 September 2008 - 12:07 AM.

[nameless]

The green man looked down at her "Oh, I remember you. It's Jordan, not Mr. Green by the way." He said with a smirk.

"We are still waiting for Steel to show himself, he has some things he needs to take care of."

"OOOHHH I see. Well I guess I can sit here and wait with you." She stopped talking and stood with her hands behind her back.

"You really need to improve your skills of an observer, Jordan. Have you finished gawking?" Steel said as he stepped form the shadows.

"Let's leave the cutesy comments to the kid here." Jordan replied as he motioned to Nanashi.

"So 'Commander', why don't you let us all in on the game plan?" Jordan asked.

"Steel!!!" Nanashi exclaimed "You're here! so what are we doing?"

[SL the Pyro]

Shadow continued to march down the alleyways and streets of the Fortress, and to him they all looked the same. The only thing keeping him on track was the map he'd bought, though he had to double-check it more than once to make sure he was going the right way. Like he was doing right now.

"For Diel's sake, how much further do I have to go!?" he screamed in his head, growing frustrated with this whole ordeal. He'd been walking for at least fifteen minutes, and yet the NorthWest tower didn't seem to be getting any closer to his eyes. He scanned the area around him and then looked at the map... and found something interesting. If the map was correct, an armory was nearby. This gave Shadow an idea. "If there's an emergency, the guy running this armory will probably give out weapons to officers to hunt the instigator down with." With that in mind, he decided to take a slight detour so he could see what kind of weapons were in the armory. It would help greatly if he knew what he was up against.

--------------------

Ambling into the armory, he was impressed. There was a whole myriad of weapons on display in both walls and in barrels; swords, cutlasses, spears, maces... and each one looked well-made from where he was standing. Walking around the store, he decided to do a little bit of window-shopping like two other pirates in the store were doing. He was about to pick up a sword from the wall when he heard a voice from the back of the room say, "Hey, look with yer eyes, not yer hands." Shadow stopped reaching for the weapon and scoffed quietly so no one would hear him; probably the shop owner. Okay, so he'd use his eyes then. They skimmed the surface of the weapon; it appeared to be a combination of a broadsword and a cutlass, probably for the huge, muscle-bound pirates of the Fortress. Shadow knew from the sheer size that he wouldn't be able to weild it right, his hands and overly-heavy weapons just didn't mix for some reason.

As he looked around, Shadow wasn't really impressed; sure the weapons were well-made, but he'd seen many a pirate use weapons like these when he was given missions to raid the poor suckers. And he practically ate said poor suckers for breakfast when he had to fight them. He was about to leave when a couple of crates caught his eye; he hadn't yet looked inside them. Bending down and peering inside, his eyes went wide. The first crate was filled with swords with black cutlasses. This immediately caught his attention, making him draw his usual black sword. His was a little more worn, but looking closely, he could see that the blades were made of the same black metal. Or at least something that served as a good imitation. "Now where the hell did they find that metal? I've had this sword for four years, and even I couldn't find any!"

He turned his attention to the other crate, and his jaw nearly dropped. He saw swords. His swords, the ones he'd made with that blacksmith at Almirante. Six of them.

How did they get these swords here already!? Damn, that old blacksmith works fast!" This wasn't good; with these new weapons in the right hands -- or wrong hands in Shadow's point of view -- any enemies they were used on would be in deep trouble. The Alliance especially. And he'd be held accountable for it since it was his idea.

He cursed inwardly; he'd just given the Fortress an edge without even trying. Thinking quietly, he had two options; the first was to get the plans for these weapons to those who the Fortress had a bone to pick with, except the Alliance's intentions were questionable at this point. He could get them to the Woods though...

A light bulb went off in Shadow's head at the mental mention of "Woods." "Of course... the Lost Woods. With them fresh off of a Dorm War victory and not being a part of the Alliance, it's the last place they'd think to look for the Princess..." he theorized. And since he was an elite of the Woods, it wouldn't take much to sway the Woodies into giving her a good home until she could be returned to Alliance soil safely. Perfect, he had a drop-off point.

Now, back to the matter at hand; he could get these weapons to the Woods, but not the Alliance... and the Alliance's well-being was what was in jeopardy right now. If he couldn't give them the weapon plans, the he'd have to resort to plan B; destroying every copy of the weapon as well as anyone with knowledge of how to make them. This meant a round trip to Almirante, which thankfully wasn't too much of a detour since it was near Woods terrotory.

"Hey, ye just gonna look or are ye gonna buy somethin'?"

The shop owner again, this time standing directly behind Shadow. He got back up to his feet and said, "Sorry, I must've spaced out. Just admiring the handiwork."

The shop owner seemed to understand, nodding. "Yeh, they're really somethin'."

Shadow turned for the door and exited the shop, thinking, "I'll have to make sure that they're nothing."

Alright, so now he had half of his plan; destroy the armory and all copies of the weapon, rescue the princess, trash the smithy in Almirante and drop the princess off in Woods territory. Now if he could just piece together how he was going to get to the princess and get a means of transportation, he'd be rolling.

[JRPomazon]

OoC: Steel can't post for various reasons, so I will control his character a little. Hope no one minds.

Jordan and the others had been waiting patiently for Steel. When he asks you to come to a location for briefing, you better believe it was important. Sadly, the talking never got started. A thunderous boom echoed throughout the Grand Hall, perhaps even around the entire Forsaken Fortress. Steel, who had appeared so suddenly left without a word and ran off as fast as he could. Something was terribly wrong. Jordan and the others went after Steel, or at least the same direction. Passing through the long hallway that lead to the entrance of the Great Hall and reaching the outdoors, Jordan, Nanashi and Tseb discovered smoke rising from some of the lower buildings.

"What happened?" Jordan said.

He looked up and discovered that one of the taller towers was also in smoke. Jordan felt something in his hand, a piece of parchment that he did not notice before. He opened the folded piece and found written text:

"We'll talk later"

Steel had his own problems right now to deal with, whatever was planned before would have to wait for later.

"Are we under attack?" Jordan asked.

[SL the Pyro]

Shadow barely even had any time to turn around before the backlash of an explosion blew him forward and into an open-air shop stand. Groaning and angry that his pretty-much normal way was ruined, he threw the shop rubble off of him with a primal yell. "What the bloody hell!?"

Looking ahead of him, he saw the armory up in flames. The first thing that went through Shadow's mind was that someone beat him to the punch. The second was that there were probably people trapped inside, if they were even alive. He needed to get them out, if not for simply wanting to help, then to clear his name; demolition was one of his specialties, but this flaming armory wasn't his doing.

But first he had to take care of the flaming door... it was time to put his new weapons to use. Drawing his Hookshot Swords, he fired them both at the door rubble, planting the blades in the wood. He then dug his feet into the remains of the open-air shop -- so he wouldn't go flying -- and pulled as hard as he could with the retracting chains. The door came off in a small shower of fire, which quickly dissipated when hitting the stone ground. He sheathed the swords and then dashed into the armory.

The store had changed drastically, about half of it covered in flaming wreckage. Shadow immediately began to navigate through it; the debris didn't make it hard to see, but the smoke did. He had to keep low to the ground to see more clearly, not to mention breathe. It wasn't long before he saw the first victim, one of the people who was browsing the store. Immediately he checked for a pulse; he was alive, and barely conscious. Shadow hefted him up onto his back and dragged him out of the store as best as he could, then laid him on the ground gently where capable pirates rushed to tend to his wounds. Shadow then rushed back in, there was one other shopper and the armory owner if he remembered correctly.

Unfortunately, the owner was not as lucky as the shopper he'd just rescued. As Shadow reached the back of the store, he saw that a flaming portion of the roof had collapsed right on top of him, burying all but his face and neck. Shadow winced, no doubt that was painful. He checked for a pulse... nothing. He was already dead. Shadow scoured the entire store for the last pirate... but sispiciously, he was nowhere to be seen, not even under any wreckage. Well, since there were no more lives to save, Shadow decided to check on why he wanted to destroy the armory in the first place -- the copied Hookshot Swords. He made his way over to the crates. The black cutlasses were fine, thanks to their dense metal, but the Hookshot Swords were destroyed, their pieces and shooting mechanisms either shattered to bits or burnt beyond use. Wow, these things were more fragile than he thought... he'd have to keep that in mind so his own swords wouldn't wind up the same way. Well, at least one good thing came out of this unexpected attack.

The last thing Shadow did before leaving the armory was drag out the owner's body, which he had less-than-gently pulled out of the wreckage. His body was so messed up that you'd think he was the star of a horror movie, and the pirates waiting outside of the building didn't like the sight of him. Shadow laid his body down beside the other pirate laying on the ground. Just in time it seemed, as the building completely collapsed a few moments later.

He wiped his forehead, getting rid of sweat that he hadn't realized was there. Looking at his clothes, they were a little singed by the flames, but otherwise fine. "THE TOWER!" one of the pirates yelled, causing everyone to look in that direction. Shadow's eyes widened; the NorthWest tower was on fire as well. Immediately he realized that the princess was in danger. He ran in the tower's direction as fast as his feet would carry him.

[nameless]

"Are we under attack?" Jordan asked.

"Hmm I think this is more sabotage than attack, but I could be wrong. We should probably get over there and find out whats going on." Nanashi said.

She looked around quickly. "Hey there's a fire down there too." She pointed down at one of the shops.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan looked at Nanashi and Tseb. He looked at the smoking tower shortly after.

"I've got to take care of the potential danger at the tower over there. You and Tseb handle the shop. I'm counting on you two."

Without another word, Jordan ran off towards the tower. He jumped into the air and with one of his glaives slashed the air below him in order to create a propelling gust. He would be able to arrive at the tower shortly this way. He kept on slashing, creating a path of wind for him to travel on. It wasn't before very long when he arrived at the base of the tower. It was strange, the massive towers looked so close to each other from a distance, but seemed to be spaced out from each other. Before Jordan could marvel the architecture, he figured it would be better to contain the dangerous elements of this situation. He took his other glaive and swung both his weapons vertically, calling a strong gust to quell any fires that may be on the outside of the building. After the winds died down, he proceeded inside.

Among the small pieces of debris, there was a man on his back inside, a red substance that appeared to be his blood covering his upper body. He groaned in agony as he flailed on the ground. Jordan ran over to the fallen pirate.

"What happened here?" Jordan asked.

"Explosion . . . no time to act . . . he was after something . . ." the man said.

"But. . . there is nothing but . . . supplies in this tower . . . supplies and . . . weapons . . ."

"I understand, take it easy. I'll get you some. . . "

The man made a loud groan. His chest stopped moving after that. It was clear that nothing more could be done for him. Jordan left the man and proceeded up the spiral staircase that led to the upper floors of the tower. There was a chance that "he" was still in the tower.

[Tseb]

Tseb was taken aback, the explosion shouldn't have happened, this was The Fortress.

Jordan turned before leaving.

"I've got to take care of the potential danger at the tower over there. You and Tseb handle the shop. I'm counting on you two."

Tseb hurried off in the direction of the shop, if he remembered correctly from the map he had seen it was an armory. He arrived at the armory in time to see a figure dragging someone out of the inferno.

"What happened here!" he called the man looked somehow familiar but Tseb couldn't place him.

Then it hit him, the inferno it wasn't natural, he stood at watched it. Really watched it looking at it as magic, on a different spectrum from the rest of the world. The fire was focused around several small boxes, they radiated strangely. Then he saw the man, he too radiated he must have been a practitioner. The fire raged on. the building had collapsed but the fire hung in the air burning as if the buildings frame were still there.

"Did you use magic in there?" he asked seriously.

[nameless]

"Hey wait." Tseb and Jordan had run off in different directions. "Crap I guess I'll go with Jordan." Nanashi had missed the "you go with Tseb" and followed Jordan. "I wonder who is behind this.

She made it to the tower that was aflame and saw Jordan standing over a pirate. "Hey what happened?" She said as she ran to Jordan and the pirates aid.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan kept up the pace, smoke foated above his head as he proceeded up the stairs.

"This is taking far too long." He thought.

He reached his destination, the floor with the massive hole and spots of fire scattered around. A man looked on from the "makeshift window" memorized by the sight below. He was an awkward person, dressed in a sleeveless grab that looked like it were of leather straps poorly sown together and a shaved head with several spots of hair that were left untouched.

"Hey, you see what's going on down there?" He asked Jordan.

"Yeah, I'm well aware of what's going on." Jordan replied as he drew his glaive.

"Funny, it seems you want to fight me. That's funny. REAL funny."

"Care to explain your position here?" Jordan asked.

"Me and my brother. . . we came here to shake and startle. Shake and startle. But he's a big softy. Biiiiiiiggg Softy. Tries to go and shave the people he 'posed ta kill. KILL. KILL. KILL. I bet he attacked that shop that didn't let him look at all the fancy weapons. BET HE KILLED EVERYONE THERE TOO. BET HE FELT BAD AFTER AND TRIED TO SAVE THE PEOPLE."

The man was insane, or something like it. It's clear that he was the assailant. He looked on at the mess he had made, umoved and fasinated like a child with a toy.

"Care to give your name?" Jordan asked once again.

The man stood up and stared down Jordan.

"Oh . . . HOW RUDE OF ME. You can call me . . . call me. . . call. . . ME . . ."

He trailed off, his sense of calmness fading along with his words.

"ARRGGGH! I HATE MY NAME! HATE! HATE! HATE! HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME THINK ABOUT THAT! I'M GONNA KILL YOU TOO!"

[SL the Pyro]

Shadow had ran about halfway to the burning tower before he stopped dead in his tracks. He felt something was... he could only describe it as horribly wrong. An aura of the purest evil radiated from the smoking NorthWest tower... it was so strong that he could nearly taste it. He could hardly, though barely, sense Jordan's own presence through the energy.

Shadow was now running at top speed, using his magical boots, towards the tower. Whatever was in there, it was bad.

Suddenly, a large, meaty arm lashed out at him from one of the adjacent alleyways. He reacted quickly, putting the brakes on and flipping backwards out of the way as the hand crashed into the ground, leaving a favorable crack in the stone foundation. Immediately he sensed a similar evil from the man that the arm belonged to, someone that could only be described as a musclehead. It freaked Shadow out how he didn't notice it before... was he able to conceal such a terrible aura so well? He was wearing a typical pirate garb, but was standing very tall and Shadow could plainly see the muscle that this man had on whatever parts of skin were visible through his clothing. "Why..." he breathed out, standing back up straight from his previous attack; Shadow had just noticed that he was panting, and that his clothing was stained with soot in numerous places. "Why did you save them... they were supposed to die..."

Well, there was no question about who this man was. "The pyromaniac, I take it?" Shadow said, trying to keep calm, but in reality the evil aura that this man radiated made even him feel unnerved. "What the hell are you? I've never felt such a rotten aura, even from the worst of demons..."

"They were... supposed to DIE..." The man was either ignoring Shadow or caught up in his personal brand of misery. The fact that he was now holding his head as if he were in some kind of pain indicated that latter. "I hate killing, I hate it... but big brother says I'm supposed to kill, I know I have to..." He suddenly looked at Shadow with eyes filled with hate. "WHY!? WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO GET ME IN TROUBLE!?"

Without warning, the man's fist became sheathed in flame. He reached his palms back and thrusted them forward at a surprising speed for someone his size, launching two large fireballs at Shadow. He jumped high into the air, somewhat shocked; he expected this meaty pirate to have a pack of matches at least, but definately not magic power! Just what kind of being was this? The fireballs impacted on a building down the street, setting it aflame; that was going to get the people's attention... wonderful. Now he had no time to study this terrible power to better prepare for it, he had to destroy the man now. Shadow landed on his feet, drawing his two Hookshot Swords and preparing for battle.

Well, there was one bright side to this; he'd get to test out his new weapons.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan took a step back, this man was beyond insane. However, he still had to fight him. He was pretty scrawny, barely any muscles on his body. How did he do this much damage?

"YOU! I'm GONNA TAKE YOUR LIFE!" The nameless man shouted.

"AND AFTER THAT . . I'm gonna kill that other idiot. THINKS HE'S ON OUR SIDE, BUT HE'S ONLY A MATCHSTICK MAN. Had him get brother to the places that needed to burn and he'll make sure the fires keep burning till there is nothing left. JUST AS GUILTY."

So there were 3 of them total: this man, his brother who stated the fires and another who is feeding the flames to keep them burning. Good, now Jordan knew how many people he was dealing with. After taking this man out, he would have to take the man keeping the fires alive. Jordan charged the mysterious man, his glaive ready to impale the murderous villain. The man realized what Jordan was trying to do, and his eyes became wide. Jordan felt something pierce his leg. The shot of pain made Jordan look down, which led to him discovering a hand stabbing his lower leg from the ground.

"What! How did that hand get there?" Jordan cried. The man laughed, showing his arm which had no hand connected to it.

"LIKE IT? It's my special gift, SLAYER."

Jordan felt a stab to his other leg, another hand appearing from the ground with a dagger. He could move his hands beyond what his arms could do. The hands sank into the ground and returned to the man's original body. This guy was unique in more ways than one. Jordan got to his knees, his lower shins were bleeding too much.

"What the hell. . . " Jordan thought to himself, holding his weapon with dear life.

"YOU CAN'T MOVE, GONNA RIP YOUR THROAT OUT WITH MY HANDS, GONNA RIP IT RIGHT OUT!" The man shouted.

Jordan swung his glaive in a sweeping motion at the ground in front of him, creating a gust of wind that blew the man off his feet and out the large hole in the tower. He screamed as he fell several stories to the bottom. Jordan removed his boots as quickly as he could, in order to treat his wounds. The cut wasn't as deep as he feared, but this injury would limit his movements.

"Damn it, now what?" He said to himself.

He looked over to a piece of wood that was still on fire from the explosion. He took his glaive and stuck his blade into the burning wood. He dragged it over and grabbed a burnt out part. Before he gave himself time to think, he applied the burning wood to the bleeding wound on his leg. In order to stop the bleeding, he would have to burn his wounds closed. It was painful, it felt like forever, it was the only way to get back up. Outside, a man with his hand holding him up from the inside of the building was climbing back up.

Edited by JRPomazon, 28 September 2008 - 10:07 PM.