Centros: The Metal Army [Archive]

[Mizagium]

Very slowly, Jeff breathed. In. Out. In Out. The sword reverted to it's inert state. "Done." He gathered up Leon and Magnus and set them on Eisfir's wagon, along with Chase and Perish.

"Fire it up, Eisfir. Get us the hell out of here."

[Mizagium]

The Dayman and his servant (just servant, the driver has apparently been dead for quite some time after being neglected for so long) stood there and watched the group head west in their shiny new carriage with a sparkly cod piece hanging off the back end as a set of royal "truck nutts". He was not sad to see the group go, men do not get sad. Especially royal men with purple flowing cloaks. He was actually overjoyed at their departure, they were not manly enough to be within ten feet of his presence. Eventually, he would have had to killed all of them, as soon as his extremely unreliable weapon had given him the right tool to do so of course. He turned and looked at his new manly companion and placed a royal hand on his shoulder.

"Alright friend, shall we..." He paused as he realized his hand was suddenly drenched in oil from the manly officer. The prince whenced and flailed his hand around. "..anyway...shall we go on awesome cod piece adventures?"

[Mizagium]

The Mechanist King absently drew new lines on the map, red for the Northyric magisters, and blue for the Two Queens, marking the extent of his adversaries' influence. His own influence used to be marked in gold and extended to the political boundaries of the surrounding lands. He could still see them beyond the new red and blue lines.

"I should never had trusted that old man," he cursed. Rurik raised his eyebrows expectantly, but said nothing. "Crazy fool showed me how to open portals, pointed me towards the Chrysalis, and said 'There you will find individuals willing to support your cause.' What a fool I was."

He extended a hand and conjured a portal, a temporary one designed for a single person to cover a relatively short distance. He held it for a moment before letting it fade away. "Salma can't be reasoned with."

He opened another one and cleared it, hovering it just above Jeff's group. "The heroes," he scoffed. "And a few of the recruits." He noted Perish and Chase among them. "I suppose I should have expected that."

"Where are they headed, m'lord?"

"West," he said. "Towards him, I would guess."

"Why west, sir? Why him?"

The Mechanist King closed that portal and opened another one, this one zoomed in on Jeff. "Him. The Keeper chose him."

Rurik stepped closer and said rather skeptically, "I distinctly remember this boy as being one of the handful who destroyed the Clanker."

The king nodded. "Yes, but he simply hasn't been shown the proper way. Once he fully understands his powers, he will understand why I must succeed." Two more portals opened at his command, one showing Salma and one showing Evennia (as well as a knight-looking fellow) both presiding over an increasing number of robots corrupted with a strange energy. With a frown, he dismissed them.

"He just needs a boost is all."

-

Jeff saw the portal open before him, but could not act fast enough to do anything about it as it swallowed him and his entire group. Because it was moving over him, he got a rare glimpse into the inside fabric of a portal: a hair-thin black line between two fuzzy edges of reality.

The air changed on the other side. No much, though; it still felt like Centros, but behind him, the ruins of Heroes' Refuge has vanished, replaced by an expanse of plains. Before him the plains became scrub-land and desert at the horizon. He also noticed the subtle change in the sun's position.

"Did...did we just get portaled to the western border?"

"Yes, yes you did," answered an unknown voice. He blinked an a woman appeared, wearing long purple robes and brandishing a scythe.

"I know I'm going to regret this, Jeff sighed, "But who are you?"

"Varesh," she smiled. "I've been sent to bring to see someone."

"Who?"

"The one you came to see."

She turned (twirled was a better word) and walked off toward the desert, leaving them to follow.

[Mizagium]

Chase had been convinced that his life was over when they entered the portal. So he was surprised to say the least, when the strange skew of colors and inter-dimensional...stuff lead them to an arid desert.

Aside from the initial shock of being transported, the first real thing Chase noticed was the heat, shortly followed by the hooded stranger. People in hoods are always important. Or thieves.

Leaping from the wagon, Chase unsheathed his cannon as he took his place beside Jeff, ready to defend his new comrades as the hooded figure, Varesh introduced herself.

"I may not be the sharpest bush in the barn..." he stated " but I've got a bad feeling about this lady, Jeff."

Even so, Jeff instructed them all back onto the wagon, in pursuit of Varesh. They traveled for four days, through blistering hot days, and chillingly cold nights, setting up camp when the need arose. Varesh always vanished during the nights, always reappearing the next morning, always leading onward. Upon the fifth day, they arrived at what looked to be a slightly modern-ish tower. The desert was attempting to reclaim it, a shining example of something once great, turned to ruin.

The look on Varesh's hooded face said what Chase and the others already knew. Wherever they were supposed to be, this was it.

We aren't in Centros anymore...

[Mizagium]

"Holy Mother Maria!" Esfir yelled as she was sucked into the portal. The next thing she knew, she and the other defenders were in a desert. Then came a wave of heat. She immediately hated this place. "Is this the western border?" She saw the robed woman walking away. "Comrade Jeff, who was that? Ach, it's hot! Can we hurry up and move? Anything to get away from this heat. I really hope there's not going to be another battle here..." She sighed.

[Mizagium]

Magnus maintained a bit of his calm when the portal had appeared, throwing the entire group across Centros to the western border. He briefly wondered if the perpetrator was one of the Magisters, or even Septimus, trying to get Magnus out of the way. But he dismissed that notion. They already knew he was leaving, so there would be no point in wasting the mana.

"It would seem that our next course of action has been decided for us." Magnus mused, watching after Varesh. He recognized her. All Magisters had been briefed on the Centros military leaders long before this whole invasion scheme had been established.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I know who sent us here now." Magnus said, more to himself than anyone else. But why would the Mechanist King make such a move?

'I suppose we'll find out.'

][

The land north of Centros had long been a harsh, rugged place. With often freezing temperatures, high mountains and rough landscape, Northyros was considered to be a harsh place to make a living. As such, the people of Northyros, having long grown used to surviving the wilds of their homeland, were a hard, tenacious and altogether ambitious people. The Magisters of Northyros served as both the upper echelon of the northland's military as well as the noble cast of the Northyric society. Despite the stereotype that all Northyric people were Mages, only a small percentage of the people, the elite class, had the power of magic at their disposal.

At the heart of the Magisters power was the Magister Council, a seat of twenty lords of the great Northyros Mage-Born Houses, who presided over Northyros as a whole.

That was how it had been since the first Magisters had united the feuding northern clans in times past.

"It would seem those times are changing again." mused Magister Remanus, as he stood on of the upper balconies of the Blackspire. Winds howled around him, blowing freshly fallen snow across the balcony and blasting Remanus with icy winds. He didn't mind. He had long grown used to the cold of his home, and did not let it interfere with his times of reflection.

The Blackspire was a large tower that stood above the capitol city of Northyros, jutting out of the top of the great mountain that the city was built into. it was where the Magister Council met. Where they governed Northyros. And now, from where they directed war.

'Five years ago I doubt the Magisters would have even considered an invasion of Centros. Too busy fighting among themselves and backstabbing their neighbors to focus on centralizing our forces for such a bold move.' the old magus mused with a tinge of bitterness. The casual treachery that Magisters treated to one another was a well known fact to all. It was only by some miracle that Northyros still stood together at all.

Well, a miracle or him.

Remanus frowned, a gesture that scrunched up his well wrinkled face. Things had been different since he came. Since-

Remanus froze, feeling a presence behind him on the balcony.

"Thinking deep thoughts, Councilor Remanus?" the voice spoke, sending chills down Remanus' spine, though from fright or awe, he couldn't determine. Remanus turned slowly, facing him.

"Just my usual reflection, mi'lord. I tend to find that it relaxes me so." he answered, smiling thinly.

The man before him was tall, taller than any Northman Remanus had ever seen. Garbed in black clothing and a black cloak, Remanus couldn't even see the man's face from under the heavy hood he wore, covering his expression in shadows, save for his mouth, which curved into a pleasant grin. "Don't tell me you're getting old, Remanus. Some of the others might see that as a sign of weakness." his tone was jovial, but Remanus couldn't bring himself to find the humor in it. He gave a couple of weak chuckles anyway.

Remanus wasn't sure what to think about the Archmagus. Five years ago, the Council had been a squabbling group of self-focused mages who barely focused on anythin but their own power. Then he, the mysterious hooded man, had shown up out of nowhere. Barged right into the Council chambers, past all of the guards and spell security. Caused quite an uproar until he began speaking. Remanus remembered it well. They way he'd preached of a stronger Northyros, of a powerful nation under solid rule, a golden age for their people. Like the others, Remanus had been enthralled by it. Still, some had opposed him.

Until he had utterly destroyed them with power that not even the most senior Magister had ever seen. Needless to say, no one opposed the newly appointed Archmagus after that. Most followed him willingly, many even worshipfully. Remanus wasn't sure about any of it. The war that they started, that the Archmagus proposed, was surely reaping them benefits now that their forced had gained a foothold in Centros. Still, something deep within Remanus didn't trust this Archamus.

"Remanus? You've gone awfully quiet." The Archmagus observed. Remanus snapped back to the present, smiling weakly.

"I'm afraid I am a bit tired, mi'lord. If you will excuse me, I'm going back to my villa." he said. The Archamgus nodded.

"Of course. Have a pleasant evening, Magister Remanus. We need all of our leaders strong for the coming war."

As Remanus left, he couldn't help feel that the way the Archmagus spoke, was mocking him.

[Mizagium]

Perish wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting when she signed herself up to this caravan bodyguard idea, what with following some random woman, trek around in some strange horseless wagon, maybe stand in front of some arrow volleys or something?
Portals... portals were something else entirely...
She adequately aware of all the unpleasant banes of her existence and getting portaled off somewhere was just under getting locked in a box and sunk to the bottom of some ocean.
Wandering a desert was only a little more interesting than waiting for locks, chains and bolts to rust. At least she wouldn't have to worry about coral and such growing on her, but finding a patch of quicksand the hard way was probably going to be about as unpleasant.
Sand was... annoying... to say the least.

"A desert... not sure if that's a step up from an acid-melted town..." Perish said with a sigh, "At least skeletons will be easier to find, I could probably conjure another bone serpent in half the time. Though I am curious about how our mortal members will survive if we're here any decent length of time."

[Mizagium]

Thankfully, if didn't appear as if they would get the chance to find out how mortals would fare in the desert. Varesh was leading them, not into the desert, but parallel to it. Towards the tower-looking structure that they had seen upon appearing through the portal.

And somehow he knew this was the right direction.

During their short journey, he said nothing to his companions, his attention fixed entirely on the destination. Warm, sandy air buffeted them as they rode and he had to keep rubbing it out of his eyes. That must be Wessos, he thought to himself.

Finally they arrived at the base of the tower. Varesh, in all her scythe wielding majesty, stopped at the entrance and turned to face them. "Wait here. The Master of the Tower will be with you soon."

Then she disappeared.

"Well...This just got weirder," he quipped.

[Mizagium]

"Well, we've been waiting here for two weeks. I say we just go in, Comrade Jeff." Esfir stated plainly. "Maybe everyone's dead and we can loot this tower."

[Mizagium]

"Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm perfectly content to wait for something to happen." Magnus spoke up. The mage was currently reclined in a rather comfotable looking chair -conjured from somewhere- sipping a drink while Desmond and Leske fanned him with ridiculously large palm leaves in a very servant-like fashion. Their third mook member, Ash, was struggling with the antenna to the tv set that Magnus had set up in front of him.

Magnus slurped on his drink loudly, punctuating his statement.

[Mizagium]

Perish could be incredibly patient at times, considering eternity had the same effect on her as a minute, simply zoning out was almost like time travel for situations when she needed to wait for chains to rust and such.
So needless to say, when she finally snapped to, she didn't actually know how much time had passed except that they hadn't moved anywhere in that undisclosed amount of time.
Though as she was scanning her array of 'allies' she had to do a double-take when she saw that mage all of a sudden stretched out like it was a luxury holiday.
Abandoning the train of thought of wondering where he got the palm leaves and chair, Perish sort of got the feeling there was a challenge in there somewhere, so she decided to try a tactic of her own to burn time.

She stepped off the wagon and interlaced her fingers, inverting the gesture and stretching with a few cracks coming from her fingers, before taking up a sturdy, powerful stance and letting the energy flow.
The same black, inky magical energy started building up around her feet, gathering to her out of thin air and slowly started building symbols and circles along the ground until it was one massive ritual circle that was steaming black energy.
The same faint rumbling in the ground as hundreds of bones deep below the surface burrowed their way to Perish's position, burst out of the ground and started assembling themselves together in some kind of structure that resembled a sedan chair but more was being built onto it.

It was almost a pity the basic creature comforts like relaxation was wasted on Perish, otherwise things could have gotten out of hand real fast.

"I could use a tower, I might go capture it," Perish remarked, climbing into her skeletal sedan chair that was rapidly forming into some kind of hovering bone dais, diamond shaped favouring the front. Meanwhile a few skeletal minions were dragging themselves out of the ground to follow like a vanguard.
And with that, Perish's skeletal vessel started ferrying her off toward the tower.

[Mizagium]

Magnus watched with curiously (and secretly a bit impressed..not that'd he'd admit it) as Perish conjured her sedan chair and began making her way to the tower. He stared for a moment longer before snapping out of it with a quick shake of the head.

"Boys!" he snapped his fingers. "We're going too!" he pointed towards the tower dramatically. There was a long pause as the three just stared at him. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

"uh...sir?" Ash finally asked. Surely he didn't want them to...

"Carry me afer her! There's no way I'm letting that necromancer out do me!"

"B-But,"

"Onward!"

Ash sighed and as the three newest 'students' of Magnus exchanged weary looks, they each grabbed an end of the lounge chair and hoisted it up, following after Perish.

[Mizagium]

But Magnus and Perish never got the chance to invade the tower, as the doors opened suddenly. There was Varesh again, yawning and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Oh." She observered. "Right. You guys are still here." Suspiciously, she looked around the edge of the door, as if expecting something to jump out at her. When nothing did, she shrugged. "Alright. Follow me."

Jeff stared after her, brushing past Magnus and his new minions and catching up with Perish. "Looks like you won't be claiming a new tower today," he deadpanned.

Without waiting for her or the other, hoping they would just catch up, Jeff entered the tower. Varesh beckoned them forward and up a tall winding staircase. He sighed. It figures there would be a long staircase. Varesh didn't seem to notice the strenuous climb, so he refrained from complaining too much. Even so, she too no notice.

Just as he was about to ask "How tall is this fizzing Tower?" again, they reached the top. The stairs simply opened into a wide, circular room with glass windows all the way around, giving a full view of the surrounding lands, Esterosi desert on one side, and Centrosi plains on the other. Standing near enough to the dividing line of the two was what Jeff assumed to be an old man.

He was wrong, though, because as the man turned, he could see he was just bent over, swaddled in thick, white robes. Jeff had seen enough movies to know that this man could probably kill him very easily.

"My apologies for the wait. I was not expecting so many... interesting guests." Obviously he meant Magnus and Perish. "Come, please, make yourselves at home." He motioned to a range of couches and chairs, one of which Jeff happily sank into. Varesh took a place at the man's side.

"No doubt you have questions - "

But Jeff cut him off with a hand. "Let me catch my breath."

[Mizagium]

Esfir watched as Perish and Magnus raced about, raising an eyebrow. She was with an interesting lot indeed. She decided that following Jeff inside the tower was the best idea. Maybe there was air conditioning. She was tired of this heat.

Stairs.

Of course there were stairs.

With a sigh, she made her way up behind Jeff and slowly climbed the stairs. Once at the top and in the room, she made her way over to a couch and stretched out, taking up the entire couch. Man she was tired.

[Mizagium]

Chase had fallen asleep/into a coma for two weeks, apparently. Upon finally waking he was surprised to see that everyone had run off into the castle without him.

Making haste, he entered the castle and ran up the incredibly insane amount of stairs. Upon reaching the top, he collapsed near Jeff's feet.

"Energy cells..." he took a deep breath " I need....Energy cells."

[Mizagium]

Ash, Desmond and Leske (or "the 3 Mooketeers as Magnus was beginning to mentally think of them) wheezed and huffed as they managed to carry Magnus' chair up the long flight of stairs to the top. Upon reaching their goal, the three collapsed, groaning in unison.

"Good job, boys." Magnus said, stepping off the chair and stretching with a loud yawn...not the least bit tired. "I'll be sure to teach you guys some rudimentary magic later."

'If he doesn't forget.' was the thought all three mooks had. Magnus ignored them, glancing around the room.

"My my, this is certainly interesting."

[Mizagium]

Perish had been somewhere between trying to remember the Necroslave Colossus Ritual and throwing amused glances at Magnus and his three minions, as she may be a necromancer who dealt with all the blood and bones and other horrible things, yet Magnus was making his mooks carry him.
She applauded his efficiency in that it didn't require magic to carry his chair, at least.

Though upon arriving at the tower and the doors opening up with that woman from before, Perish felt trying to attack the tower a little awkward now, so maybe she'd set up to attack it later sometime...
So with smug self-satisfaction, Perish lazily hovered up the ludicrous amount of stairs as she watched the others kill themselves with the exertion.

At the top before the seemingly important-looking man in the white robes, Perish simply hovered for a moment with a face of thought, wondering how difficult it would be to throw this man from the tower...
Part of her wondered if she should even bother, as those stairs just seemed so unorthodox -a great deterrent for mortal invaders and pretty much everyone else, but there was no elegance to it.
Maybe Perish really would have to build her own tower of doom... how tiring...

"Do you use those steps to ward off visitors or something?" Perish asked.
Her army of skeletons would take forever to get up those stairs, and if there was anyone guarding the top then it'd take even longer. A tactical nightmare.
"And what's the big idea with bringing us here? I have a lot of plans of my own," Perish queried imperiously.

[Mizagium]

The white-haired man shuffled within his robes. "Truthfully, I only invited Jeffrey Valentine here. As for that portal that actually brought you from the ruins of Heroes' Refuge to the eastern border...well, we'll call him a friend for now. But I won't delay: I know how frustrating it is for one to withhold answers. I have had many names through the ages, but a few you might have heard of: The Keeper of Keys, The Master of Walls, The Barrier Wizard, The Prince of Cages...all very nice, in truth, take your pick."

He moved remarkably fast to where Jeff lounged. "You, my boy, are here for one reason: your powers."

Jeff blinked a few times. "I thought as much. What sort of powers are they?"

"The powers of Order."

He raised an eyebrow. "Order?"

"Indeed. A dark shadow falls over Centros. As does another, darker shadow, but we'll get to him later. The one I am concerned about calls itself Chaos. Already it has turned two of the Mechanist King's generals to his cause."

Varesh stepped forward now. "Salma and Evennia have styled themselves the Two Queens of Centros. With aid from this Chaos, they have turned the Mechanist King's own creations against him, otherwise impossible to do with constructs animated with the Breath of Life."

Jeff nodded. "Heavy stuff. What do you need me for?"

The Keeper turned and shuffled away. "Order is the quality most opposite Chaos, and thus the natural force to counter it. You, Jeff, have inherent Order-based abilities. That sword you can call forth? A rejection barrier folded into a blade. Such power is very rare."

Jeff stood. "So you need me to fight this Chaos dude." He wasn't asking. "That's why you pulled me so far from home."

The Keeper nodded. "I do possess that ability. Portals are easy for any Immortal o conjure. Mortals can as well, but never quite as easily."

"Why can't you do something?"

"I am forbidden to interfere directly."

"So who portaled us here, if not you?"

The Keeper wavered. "The Mechanist King," he conceded.

"And who am I supposed to fight?"

"Salma and Evennia. Two former prisoners of the Chrysalis, a prison. They were sprung to assist the Mechanist King in his conquest, but now have turned against him, seeking their own dominion."

Jeff pondered that. "This Chrysalis doesn't sound like an ordinary prison."

"It's not. It exists beyond normal dimensions, in a space between them. Legend calls it impenetrable, but recent history suggests otherwise..."

"Then you would need portals to get there, right?"

"Yes..." the Keeper answered tentatively.

"So...The Mechanist King used portals to break into this crazy prison and escape with five people, two of whom betrayed him. But instead of fighting the King, we're fighting a rebellion. And it was the King himself who brought us here, to the one man who could help defeat the Two Queens." He held up his hands to stop the protest. "Look, I'm not form here, but I've read enough books and played too many games for this to be anything but a ploy." He pointed an accusing finger at the Keeper, but hsi eyes were on Varesh. "You're trying to get us to fight for the Mechanist King, aren't you?"

The Keeper's silence spoke volumes.

"This land is about to be crushed between the forces of Chaos and the mislead Magisters. Would you subject the people of Centros to more brutal occupation? To more blood spilled in the name of conquest? We could end that cycle here and now. Fight against Chaos; fight for Order."

Jeff huffed. "I don't know. What do you guys think?" He asked of his compatriots.

[Mizagium]

The more the man spoke the more Perish had to think about, and Jeff's little remark about this whole thing being a ploy was only convincing her further.

"Huh... Prince of Cages... and this super prison called the Chrysalis... almost sounds like he wants someone to clean up his mess," Perish remarked with idle suspicion, though not really caring, "Well, no doubt these two super criminals have some juiced up blood and a tower like this, so I might hunt them down anyway. Though I might kill that Mechanist King too while I'm at it, his stupid pet dog could have made my unlife quite unpleasant had it actually managed to eat me."

Perish was quite taken when she started considering the amount of power those kinds of people had locked up in their blood, and no doubt with a good ritual she could break some pesky barriers concerning her own power.
Speaking of barriers...

"Well I'm all for it, as long as I get at least a drop of blood from both of those generals, and you fork over a drop of blood too," Perish said, pointing at the white-robed man, "I could use the power boost when I hit those generals, and I might actually listen to you rather than solely pursue my own goals -I mean, since you can't do anything yourself."

[Mizagium]

"Jeff..." Chase intervened "My creator's heart was in the right place, once. If we don't stop Chaos...then doesn't that make us one of the bad guys too?"

Chase felt a small warm feeling in his chest, something he had never experienced before. He knew what he was speaking was true, that it was right.

"Whatever you choose to do Jeff" he held up his arm cannon, almost flexing it "I'll be right there with you."