A step towards redemption. (Oblivion Alliance)

OOC: This is an Oblivion Alliance only battle. You can only join if you are a member of the Oblivion Alliance. This is about Gorin and some of the alliance members taking over a powerful trade route in order to gain wealth.

The reason it is called "A step towards redemption." is because Gorin's trying to build up an army powerful enough to gain the attention of his former army. His former army is under Jamenda's rule now, since Gorin's still officially dead.

Gorin doesn't know where Jamenda is, so he's trying to catch his nephew's attention by overtaking several towns and trade routes.

BIC: Gorin waited at the assigned area. A large road, the sides of which had a few small establishments, stretched out before him. This road spanned halfway across the foreign continent.

Control of this road would mean much money, as merchants had to pay a fee to whoever owned the road in order to use it. The current owner lived in a castle off to the side of the road.

"What's taking them so long?" thought Gorin. He would have taken the castle himself, but he had heard reports on one of Grasthos' escaped mutants guarding the owner of the road. According to Grasthos' notes, the mutation was one of the first succesful echos.

"How powerful is it?" wondered Gorin. A voice called to him from nearby.

"Hey Gorin, you wanted me to meet you here?"

OOC: If Latio and I, Link recall, three mutants escaped at the end of "A finished rivalry". This is one of those mutants, the creatures that Grasthos experimented on when he tried to perfect the way of turning people into echos.

Isis walked up behind Gorin and said "Hey, Gorin, you wanted me to meet you here?" The echo turned around with a grin on his face. "So, how are you, ma'am?" The goddess looked at the sky, which was begining to get sort of gray. "Bad. I know that the man I'm chasing is getting more powerful by the day. Someday he'll start to fight back. But that's beside the point, how are you?" she said, changing subject in mid-stream. Gorin shrugged. "So, uh... how are we going to get into the castle? Force? Stealth?" Isis said, moving closer. The oblivion master grinned again and replied "Sort of a mixture of both."

Gorin had drawn a small diagram in the dirt, perfectly resembling the surrounding area. He pointed at the left wall. "Ok, I was thinking that you could use Flare on that wall, blowing open a hole and distracting the guards. You and some other guys will go in through there, forcing your way along. At the same time, I and Latio, if he gets here, will scale this wall and sneak in. I wish I could join you, but you're the kind of person that would attract more attention than me."

OoC: Meh, sorta strange. Let the battle begin!

OoC: Mikey, are you ever gonna put rankings up for the OA members? Like, Gorin would be at the top, then that lightning god guy (probably).
Also, the Village of Diamonds is now an official OA reference point.

BiC: A domerii poofed into existence in front of Latio's face as he explored the unmappable Dome, and handed him a letter. "For you, Mr. Scaptur."

“Mr. Scaptur?” Latio chuckled as he took the letter. “No one’s ever called me that before!”He opened it and started to read the braille ‘writing.’

It read “Latio, I wish to meet you at a castle a half a mile south-west from the diamond village. I’ve sent a guide to lead you there, his name’s George.” A black blob seemed to drip through the back of the paper, and through Latio’s hands, onto the floor. The puddle of black morphed into a two-foot imp-like being, who then pulled on the foxfolk’s leg and in a raspy voice told him to reach down. George then clasped Latio’s hand and pulled him towards his destination.

“This is ridiculous…” the warrior muttered. “and it’s putting a load on my back.” he continued.

“We almost at the door, sire.” The demon assured.

“We better be.” They reached the door, and the imp asked if Latio needed help getting to the exact location. He replied with “That won’t be necessary” and went through the door. Apparently, Gorin had sent a private carriage for the foxfolk, which drove him to the exact place Gorin had mentioned. The Echo was drawing a battle plan in the dirt for Isis.

“The bulk of our force will serve as a distraction while Latio and I will sneak in and assassinate the landlord.” Gorin finished his explanation to Isis, which Latio overheard.

“Hello, Gorin, and Isis. Check it out.” The foxfolk said while morphing his face to the mask form.

Isis spoke up. “So you found a mask? Is it helping you at all? Looks heavy, and uncomfortable.”

Latio replied. “It’s attached to my face, the Dome’s doctors and clerics say it’s called ‘biometal.’”

Gorin decided to comment too. “Did they find out what Tohinka put in your eye?”

“They said the mask interfered with their magic and stuff.” The foxfolk morphed his mask to normal and Gorin and Isis saw a cut across his eye. It didn’t look like a giant claw ripped across his face (even though that’s what happened) and it was barely noticeable, half a centimeter thick and half a foot long, slicing vertically. “Who else it coming?”

“I invited everybody who has positive connections to the Alliance.” Gorin said.

OoC: I figured out the difference between the OA and the BAK. The OA was founded in-character, and the BAK was founded out of character.

Also, the spellcheck sucks, don't use it. It thought I spelt 'ever' wrong, saying I typed 've.'

"Well hello." The ninja said emerging from the shadows. He looked at the people around him. Odd bunch. Raid thought to himself. He nodded to the group smiling a bit under his hood that practice battel was somthing else. "I know nobody has seen me befor and I got recruted a while ago but i've been busy." "For those who don't know me i'm Raid Kaklashien, Just Raid is fine though." The ninja completed his sentence. "So where breaking into some kind of castle?" He said looking around with a grin under his hood. Stealth and break ins where what he did best .

OOc: I assume i'm st ill part of this group?

OOC: Yeah, you're still a part of the group. To clear something up though, Raid probably wouldn't recognize Gorin. He died in a battle a little while after Raid was recruited and was reborn in a new body. The new body doesn't look anything like his old body, but we'll just say that Gorin explained it in his message to Raid.

EDIT-Added an IC part to this post. It's time to head out.

ANOTHER EDIT- As for the ranks thing, I'm working on that. It goes military-ish. Most of you guys are majors, as that's the highest ranking military position with more people than any other high rank. Colonel will be next, after a few quests.

Lord COTA's character Mirrorin is a general, since his character is the second strongest in the alliance. Drewey's character's rank is Queen or Emperess or something like that since her character and my character are going to have a relationship.

BIC: "Yeah, we're taking over the main castle. A long river cuts through the road, and the castle has control over the drawbride across the river. No merchant wants to get their merchandise wet by swimming across, so they pay to use the bride." said Gorin.

Isis picked up where Gorin left off. She could easily guess what he was going to say next anyways. "So if we control the bridge, we control the biggest trade route on the continent."

"Bingo." replied Gorin. He stood up and brushed himself off. The Oblivion Master hadn't seen Raid in a year, so it came as a slight surprise that the ninja was finally back.

During Raid's absence the echo had recruited Isis, Latio, and Kain. He'd also defeated his nemesis, Grasthos.

"When are we going?" asked Latio. Gorin turned to face the foxfolk.

"Now."

OOC: I'll let whoever posts next describe the castle. Any other member of the alliance who wants to join can join still.

They had been walking for several hours now, and everyone was hot and sweaty. Isis' wings began to droop, and Latio's tounge hung out. Only Gorin and Raid maintained a stoic demeanor, Gorin leading the way. The night came upon them quickly, and without warning. They all decided to set up camp tonight.

Isis woke up with the sun, and proceeded to poke everyone awake. Gorin lashed out and almost hit the goddess in a half-asleep stupor. The echo's eyes widened and he looked at the ground. "I'm sorry." was the only reply. An akward silence followed. After several minutes, Latio came up and yelled "Come on! We ain't got all day!"

Isis marveled at the works of man. Though the temple were she was assembled was absolute beauty, the goddess always awed when she saw a structure such as this. Tall, pure white walls, at least fifty feet in height towered above the ground. A few towers, around one hundred feet in height addorned a gap of a few hundred feet of wall. But in the center was the marvel of this section of the world, a keep, box-like with tiers that seemed to scratch the sky, raised itself nearly 200 feet in height. Although the winged woman's mouth was open, Gorin was less impressed.

Raid stared at it with a bit of fear. Somthing about this place gave a slight sense a doom. Diffrent then the kind of hanging with an evil demon though. raid also seemed amazed by its structure he shook it off though. Raid reambered his ninja training..."Emotions are but a weakness Raid. Let them go to reach eternal strentgh." Said his Sensei. Raid started to focus though as it seemed the plan was starting.

OoC: Uh, Mikey B? Does Gorin have any soldiers at all? I mean like, regular sword-and-shield fighters with no special powers whatsoever? Just asking.

OOC: He has a few left over from a different battle, their already waiting near the castle. About thirty warriors, ten archers, and five mages.

BIC: "Isis, Raid." said Gorin. The godess and the ninja turned their sights from the massive castle towards the Oblivion Master.

"You two are to attack the castle with a few soldiers. Meanwhile, Latio and I will sneak in through the back. We'll meet outside of the bridge owner's office. Remember, leave the soldiers behind while you sneak to the office. A joint attack is key."

Raid nodded, but Isis seemed confused. "What soldiers?" she asked. Gorin responded by lifting his hand in the air and making several delicate movements with his fingers.

A war cry erupted from a nearby forestry as a small group of soldiers charged towards the castle.

"There you go." said Gorin. He and Latio ran off to sneak in on the other side.

OoC: *cough, cough* Second Strongest? lol, just messing with you Mikey. I meant to join this a while back, but I didn't, so shoot me. I'm posting now, so get ready for a ride kiddies.

BiC: Appearing in front of the Echo and Fox, Mirorin chuckled as they skidded to a halt.

"Apologies Gorin, you know I like rather flashy entrances."

"So you showed up, eh?"

"Wouldn't miss it."

"We had quite a bit of trouble finding you..."

Sighing, Mirorin replied, "I make a habit of being rather elusive, however I'm always keeping an eye on you. You may be more powerful than any of us, but you can't do everything yourself. Where do you need me?"

OoC: All dialogue, since you just assigned everyone and I didn't make it in time.

"Seeing as Isis and Raid already have the help of a small army with them, you can help Latio and I infiltrate the castle from the other side." said Gorin.

OOC: Sorry it's such an unbearably short post, but I only posted for Gorin to assign Mirrorin to something.

OoC: Why's the infiltration team got more characters than the 'distraction' team?

BiC: Latio, Mirrorin, and Gorin sidled along the base of the castle after the Echo had instructed Isis to wait for a signal before blowing up the wall. The signal was a silent stroke of lightning to the west. Isis would then blow up the wall with a flare spell, and they'd rush in, causing as much noise as possible as the trio mentioned earlier would climb over the opposite wall. No one spoke, and Latio stopped the other two whenever they were about to blow their cover. Mirrorin prepared the spell, and...

BAMM! Isis and Raid attacked the castle with the small army. Despite the fact that they had attacked a split second before the flash of lightning, nobody was complaining.

Mirorin was the first one inside, being the fastest. He quickly took out the guards in the hall and snapped his fingers. That was the signal for Gorin and Latio to enter.

The Oblivion Master created some small spikes and littered the floor with them. After doing so, he motioned for the other two to follow him.

Travelling through the castle was rather quick with very little resistance. They finally met Isis and Raid in front of the bridge owner's door.

"What did you three do!" asked Raid. Sounds of fighting echoed in the background. Gorin merely shrugged.

"I expected there to be reserve guards back there. We'd take them out before they came after you guys." he replied.

OOC: I forgot about this battle. Oh well, next person to post gets to describe Horror #1. Horror #2 was featured in a different battle, and I'm saving Horror #3 for a different battle.

Ok, I'll describe it. ^_^
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The weyward group trotted down hall after hall, slowly making their way to the pinnacle. Suddenly, a massive room opened up for them, it's dizzying heights something legendary. In the middle, chained to the ground, was a gigantic POTATOE! It raged across the room, crashing into things, mashing it's insides. "Ah, I see you've joined me. Guards!" the previously unnoticed king said, motioning for several guards to cut the chains. Isis and Gorin went to the front of the party, with Latio and Mirorin close behind. They prepared to fight the giant spud to the death.