Fantasy Roleplaying

[StarfallRaptor]

Outside the manor where the party was housed, Akio stood in the moonlight, drawing his swords and beginning a graceful form, seemingly dancing under the moon, swords flashing as he whirled about like a steel storm...

Akito sat on the roof, looking at the sky, focusing on the battle to come.  He let his mind still, focused on one thought.  
"I won't lose.  I can't"
_________________________________________________________________________
Outside the walls, Kyuichi stood alongside Dememoras's forces.
"Now, Touga, let's see who is the stronger..."
He chuckled darkly to himself...

[Noname]

Dememoras had sent a small scouting force near the city of Minbenthac. Each of the beings he had sent were made out of shadow... the same kind as in his own dimension. Numbering only 21, the force had no way of attacking such a large city, although their ethereal forms rendered them hard to hit... and even harder to detect, especially at night.

Each creature was humanoid in shape, with glowing red eyes and a black sword capable of cutting through almost any non-magical armor. These beings were related to the shinobi of the east... a kind of shadow-being... this particular species was known as an Umbral... a kind of being Dememoras knew much about, having spent so much time in the dark dimensions...

[Nick22]

unaware of the threat outside, minna and ilsa had retired to thier rooms, ilsa was examining a couple scrolls which held the ability to detect curses.. she had gradually become convinced that Minna's behavior towards her was due to a curse.. now two questions remained, what type of curse, anmd who put it on her..

[Noname]

There were no orders given to attack, but the Umbrals kept a close watch on the city. Each of them had vision that surpassed the keenest eyes of a bird of prey, and at night, their vision was even better. Lacking the ability to see normal light, the Umbrals saw infrared light; they could use this to detect body heat; even a cold-blooded creature could not blend in fully with the exact temperature of the environment...

This was a recon mission for a larger task before them...

Far away, Arianne rose from her bed. Her husband was asleep next to her. After making sure that she would not be seen, the female panther got up and walked to the window. The palace was high up, and beyond the lights of the city, she could see the dark sands, rocks, and mountains which surrounded the city. Far off in the distance, there was a tiny set of red lights... which were barely visible.

Being a panther, her vision at night was far superior to human eyesight. The two red dots were hard to detect for a Dracon, and almost impossible for a human, but not too hard for her. These were the eyes of an Umbral. Looking in the direction of the glowing red eyes, her own eyes made contact with them.

The night was warm, and the soft wind that blew did not affect her, even in her lace pajamas. Her bare feet were not at all bothered by the slightly cold floor, although the sand that blew onto the balcony of the room on the third story of the palace called for her to wash her feet in the morning. Taking another good look at the red dots, she turned back to her room. Despite her condition, she didn't feel tired. Maybe it was hormones playing around with her... maybe it was something else.

In any case, although she lay down, she couldn't sleep. Getting up again, she walked to the balcony for a second time. The red dots were there again... several of them... each set of two belonging to another Umbral. Walking around, she stepped on a stone.

"Meaow!" She exclaimed as a sudden pain shot into her left foot. A stone! Where had that come from? Slightly larger than a pebble, the stone was smooth and round. Had it dropped in from somewhere? Touching it, Arianne felt some heat on it. Odd. Picking up the stone, she moved into her room, and set the stone on the table next to the bed. Eriol was still asleep.

Trying to rub away the pain from her foot, she soon felt better. Arianne was good at giving a massage, especially to herself... it came with the lack of footwear amongst her people. While she was at it, she rubbed the other foot... might as well, she thought No sooner than she had taken care of her feet, that the rock cracked from the heat. Not wanting to wake Eriol, Arianne approached the cracked rock to see a small slip of paper with... some sort of message on it. It was written in some language that Arianne had not seen before... after a moment of looking at it, the scroll disappeared and the rock it had come in quickly turned to dust and blew away in the warm desert wind.

Arianne then lay down in the bed again, and this time, fell asleep easily. She wouldn't remember any of what had happened in the morning, and Eriol would not know either.

[Noname]

(OOC: This is Chiletrek and myself.)

The next morning... The umbrals had left with the rising of the sun. Back in the room in the palace, Arianne had woken up first. When her mate arose, he saw her soaking her feet in a bucket full of sandy water.

"Good morning, I guess you went for a midnight snack?" - He said as he approached to his wife. In other circumstances it would be a strange event, but he already knows how she can get during a pregnancy.

"Something like that. I must have been sleepwalking... because when I woke up, my feet felt a bit sore and I had sand all over my pads." She replied, lifting her left foot out of the water, and playfully wiggling her toes at Eriol.There was a small mark visible where she stepped on the rock, but it was not serious.

"Maybe all this talking about Dememoras made you walk like that. You sure have more in yourself than anyone can see, maybe that's why I married you." - he said with a smile as he knelt in front of her. - "You have something in your foot, it doesn't look like an injury, but we should take a look at it." - He said as he grabed her foot and made it get into the water once more.

"It's fine, really. It happens all the time." After a few more minutes of soaking her foot, she got up. "We'd better get dressed and eat; we still have to regroup with the rest of the party, and we are still in out night clothes." Arianne told Eriol, taking a towel to dry her feet off in. "Hmm... my feet are a bit swollen... it must be from the pregnancy..."

"Indeed, that's why I like to be a male." - Eriol winked an eye to Arianne. - "I'll go wash myself so we can get something to eat. Don't worry, it will not take me long" - Eriol entered the washroom to clean himself up. After some minutes, he came out and got dressed. Arianne was already waiting for him, sitting in the bed with her tail wagging. Arianne was wearing her dress, although the bottom part was rolled up a bit to make it easier for her to walk. The panthers went downstairs to eat. After that, Eriol went to train, and his wife was not far behind. He was surprised when she wore the same clothes as she had the last time they were training. Her pregnancy was visible, but not too much to impede her.

After reaching the training grounds of the palace, Eriol couldn't avoid but to ask his wife - "So, will you get some training? you should not overdo yourself in your current condition, I don't want you to hurt yourself and our daughter." - Eriol said as he grabbed two training swords and prepared to smack a dracon-shaped wooden dummy.

"Daughter?" she said, laughing. "What makes you think it is a girl?" Arianne spoke while she leaped up to grab two wooden rings which were hanging from the ceiling by a rope. Being more agile than a human, she was able to spin around while still holding onto the rings once before landing on her feet on the mat. Wearing only a loincloth and a top, there was little to impede Arianne's freedom of motion. She was very agile, even in her gravid state.

"Well, we already have a son..." - He said as he gave many direct impacts to the dummy's vital sections -"... so why we can't have a daughter now?" - He said with a sly grin as he turned to give a strong kick to the Dummy's face, making it give off a strange sound.

"Well... that's not up to me" Arianne said, stretching out. Her left leg was stretched around her shoulder... as flexible as a cat! "The seed of the male determines that!"

Eriol looked at her and sighed - "If that is the case, then I am hoping not to dissapoint myself." - He then gave a small laugh and stretched his arms, he then went into a corner of the training area, he then removed his shirt and grabbed the swords again, the right hand normally and the left hand back-handed, and ran to the dummy, delivering over a dozen quick strikes that sure would have dismembered a careless victim. - "Well, that's enough of that, I guess I should now try something else. Maybe some light combat dance?" - he asked Arianne, if she agreed, they would practice something similar to the Cappoeira. A martial art where speed and agility are a must.

"Sure thing." she said, noting that he was only wearing a short pair of pants now that his shirt was off. Had it been mating season... but no. They had their fun this time around. This training actually had a purpose. Still, she might have some fun... "You don't need a shirt for this one, my mate?"

"You should know me better than that Arianne, to know me and what was my past about." - he said as he gave a sideways stand, his left leg in front, his right leg somewhat behind his body, his left arm rised and his right arm near the waist. He smiled at her, waiting for her move.

The panthers got down to the combat dance. Eriol was ahead, though. His wife was not as skilled as he was, although she was a bit more agile. "Oof! How about going easier on a pregnant female?" She wasn't hurt, really. Arianne lay down on her stomach. Eriol had tripped her in the combat dance. He helped her up. "Let's try that again" she replied.

"Ok, you are up." - He said to her as he is now in his normal stand again. This time, she took the advantage by sending a high round kick using her left leg, Eriol dodged it with no problems, but he didn't see Arianne's arms taking his left leg, and by using her momentum (as her own leg went down) she got enough strenght to make him fall down to the floor this time.

"Looks like you went easy on me this time!" she said with a smile. "Shall we try that a third time?"

"Three times the fun, why not?" - He said and stood up, but this time he went in a different stand, facing her directly, with both of his legs flexed and the palms of his hands ready to defend from any attack. - "Don't you think this is just a normal defense stand." - He said with a sly grin. - "Come get me if you can."

"Don't think this is a normal attack, either!" Arianne replied, taking off her top. She still had her loincloth on. It actually felt better for her this way; her breasts had swollen with her pregnancy, and that top was rather tight on her. She flexed her legs and moved to attack.

Arianne went over him and made a quick move of flexing her legs and using the right leg to give a very low kick as her other feet served her as a support. That made Eriol to trip, but he did not fell, he managed to remain standing, so the round was not over yet - "Hey! that was sneaky move... and I liked it." - He said as he gave a devilish look with his eyes.

"You need to keep your eyes on my limbs, not my tits!" Arianne told her husband, who was already becoming densensitized to her toplessness. It wasn't like he didn't know what they looked like. She moved to attack, but he dodged her kick...

She moved to kick again, but Eriol attacked faster than she could react

Arianne tried just a minute ago, but she jumped to avoid it, he didn't even finished the kick as he was able to stand up and give a high kick, not a strong one, since his goal was to make sure she still has her speed. And she still has it, by managing to block the high kick gave by Eriol. - "Not bad my dear." - He said as he is not showing his normal stance again.

Arianne moved to kick again, getting frustrated with her lack of ability to land a solid blow...

Eriol was faster that she could remember, since there was quite the time since the last time they trained together. He then noticed her getting frustrated. - "Come on, don't lose your concentration, if you do then you'll be an easy target."

Not wanting to cheat by using her magic, Arianne tried to gain what she incorrectly thought would be a quick victory by aiming for between her mate's legs... only to be tripped up by Eriol and floored again. "Ow... that'll teach me to get all worked up" Arianne said, lying facedown on the floor.

"Well, then this means that I won the match." - Eriol said as he knelt in front of Arianne and helped her to stand up. - "Maybe we should get a rest now. Specially you, I don't want you to get hurt or too tired."

"Yeah. We have an hour or two before we have to meet. I could use a quick soak in a warm bath. My muscles are sore. And... sorry about that last kick. You've given my two children with that part now." she replied.

Eriol couldn't help it and laughed after hearing that. - "Yes, I guess you are right. So next time you should reserve that kick for other males." - He sure enjoyed the fight and he sure could use a warm bath too. - "let's go then Arianne, we don't want to be late for the gathering."

Arianne got up and collected her clothes, then went to get a quick soak with her husband. Eriol got his shirt and stored the training swords back from where he got them, and then he reached Arianne. now they can have their bath and to get ready for the gathering.

The Dracon palace had a very large tub for this purpose... several, in fact. This one was reserved for the panthers. After setting their clothes aside, they got in and enjoyed it, each panther going to the other side of the tub. Arianne's foot briefly touched her mate's, as a playful gesture. Her looked at him with a loving smile, and laughed as she lifted her feet out of the water and splashed her mate, playfully.

Eriol smiled at her, he is still feeling as happy as the very moment she returned to his life. He grinned and followed her joke, he would not let anything to disturb this moment.

[StarfallRaptor]

Akito stepped back into the palace, holding some small plates of armor he had purchased.  Made of solid steel reinforced with magical energy, they were still light enough to prevent him from losing any of his mobility.  He slipped them on, marveling at the feeling.

Kuja stood in a courtyard, surrounded by a number of training dummies.  He focused, forming several hovering spheres of mana, then struck, dashing between targets, frequently leaping high into the air to cast one of his myriad spells.  In moments, the 15 training dummies were in various states of burning, freezing, or simply being shattered, as he flicked his wrist and bowed theatrically.

Miki sat in the palace library, researching countless books on the many famous swordsmen and spellswords of Dracon history.  He had cleared a large space around him, and as he read about a technique that interested him, he would pick up his epee and attempt the move several times until he had learned it well enough to use it in battle.

Juri was outside, dueling with a palace guard as an attempt to keep her sword skills sharp.  She dodged around his strike, lashing out with a low kick to knock him off balance, then lunged, placing her sword to his throat with a grin.  
"Dead."
She said simply, then sheathed her sword with a droll smirk.

Utena was out in the flower garden, trying to calm herself down.  
"Calm down, Utena.  You can do this.  Don't panic, just remember your training..."
She thought to herself, then drew her naginata, spinning and twirling about with it in a graceful form, the wind from the strikes making the flowers around her dance in a rhythm all their own.  At the end of her kata, she leapt high into the air, spinning over and over, fur gleaming in the sunlight before she landed gracefully where she had begun.

Touga was in the main hall of the palace, talking to several guards, rallying their spirits and preparing them for the worst case of Dememoras attacking the city.  He told them everything he could about the things he had seen, and also told each guard that he would do whatever he could to make sure that the attack he was planning for would not succeed...

[Noname]

The Dark Master had plans to attack, but they weren't necessarily what the city's defenders had expected. The party began to gather in the halls of the palace, as Adykon had told them to. So far, it was just him and Vespion. The others would show up in time.

Meanwhile...

Pomona walked through the streets of Minbenthac. The orange-skinned female Dracon with a pale white belly was the wife of a metalworker, and as such, she was no stranger to going through the market to purchase things for the shop. Her husband had sent her to get some new tools, and normally, this was not so bad. Today, however, the markets were packed the the limit with Dracons who were desperately trying to buy supplies while they lasted.

Word was released about an impending attack by the Dark Master. While no specific threat was known at the moment, the government of Minbenthac wanted to be prepared. This was not necessarily the wisest move.

Rumors leaked out as fast as the official news; Dememoras was coming. Dememoras was not coming. There was an attack coming from Hekaga. The king's forces had beaten Hekaga and Dememoras. The tribal warriors were on the attack again. The king had been attacked, but was alive. He was dead. He was in critical condition. A Dragon sat on his palace. Dememoras was that Dragon. It was all a conspiracy by the rich to profit from the panic buying economic turmoil. There were traitors in the government. They had caught those traitors and would hang them in the market for all to see. This last rumor was especially pervasive, and the stewards of the marketplace hastily built some gallows for the occasion.

It didn't take much to send the city into a panic. This was a source of embarrassment abroad.

[Nick22]

Ilsa in the meantime was studying  a book on curses, fliping through the pages until she came to "forbidden curses'. 'these curses are punishable by death, since they force the victim to commit abominations againsts themselves, others, and the gods" she read.. "hmm.. these curses can drastically change the victims behavior, attitude, and can , in certain instances, be used to contriol the victim.. Ilsa flipped thrpugh the pages before finally stopping on the curse of Lesbos. " The Curse of Lesbos is among the most powerful of the forbidden curses, and among the most difficult to remove. the curse  forces two(or more) females into carnal relations,  the first victim will have the curse placed on her by incantation, and then will pass the curse onto the second victim by kissing her, the closer the kiss to the mouth, the more potent the curse. as the curse progresses, the victims will desire more and more to.."
Ilsa pauised  then flipped though  the symptoms of the curse.. growing more and more horrified as she read. . those symptoms described Minna's recent actions to the letter. " Shes been cursed.. but whoever cursed her is taking a terrible risk' Ilsa thought as she reflected on what she had learned. Female-female relations were strictly forbidden, any females caught in the act, would suffer quick execution and be condemned to Damnatio Memoriae, in other words, their very memories would be wiped away, permanently. their names would be forgotten by all, to even mention them carried a penalty.
 To curse someone with it carried the same punishment, the only hope was to either find the one who had placed the curse and force her to remove it, or create a potion, which  could take weeks, since the potion contained a number of rare ingredients , several of which were found only in far-off locations.
 Judging from what Ilsa had read, Minna was approaching the final stages of the curse, where she would be completely at the mercy of the sorceress who cursed her.

[Noname]

Rhiga was too tired to join the rest of the party. Her pregnancy made her not want to get up, and she was feeling nauseous.

Adykon had heard of the panic buying and the rumors... as well as a run on the bank... luckily, the king had declared a "holiday" for the banks, which prevented them from opening for the duration of that time... which would be as long as the king said it had to be.

"Hey Adykon, I heard that a Dragon sat on the palace!" Rex told the warrior. He and Sasha had come to meet the party.

"Rex, we are in the palace right now. Did you see a dragon on the way over here?" Adykon replied.

"Well... no. I heard it from like fifty people! I assumed they knew what they were talking about! And the King is dead!"

"I hear he's in critical condition!" Sasha added.

"You told me you told me that he had been assassinated by Arianne!" Rex replied

"Well... maybe he got better..." she told Rex, realizing her faulty reasoning.

"Stop listening to rumors! Arianne didn't kill anyone, I'm sure! Did they even know her name?" Vespion replied.

"Well... they told me that a female Gaean killed someone..." Rex said.

"With all due respect, Rex... your grasp of matters like truth and reason are less than what is expected at your age. You don't even know what you're wearing, are you?" Vespion replied.

"What's that got to do with anything? My shirt and long pants look just like any other!"

"Well, Rex... you either have a stain on your shirt, or are in for a big surprise. Take a look down."

"What are you talking abo... AHH!" Rex had learned that in his rush to leave the house in time, he had only thrown on a pair of shorts. No shirt, no weapons, no other possessions... nothing else on at all. Sasha had her loincloth and top, but that was expected of her...

"Enough of this! We need to consider our next course of action..." Adykon told the group.

[Nick22]

Marcus covered Rhiga in a warm blanket, and watched as the blanket heaved up and down with her breathing. rhiga was still very beautiful despite her pregnancy, this was to be Marcus' first child, and his parents would, by tradition meet him and rhiga after the wedding.. marcus' mother especially would be interested in meeting her.. they had never actually met her

[Noname]

Rhiga took Marcus by the hand, and looked him in the eyes. She said nothing, but the look on her face told him how grateful she was that he was supporting her through this time in her life. With that, she fell asleep, covered only by the blankets. She was also grateful for the bucket he had left her in case she felt nauseous again.

Rex, for his part, was feeling quite embarrassed. Selturma had shown up later, having stopped off to buy some fruit, and she was all over the young male. Her admiration for his physique only did so much to compensate for his lack of clothing, though... especially since it was in front of so many others. They only tolerated this in the palace because of the importance of the party to saving the city. At least Rex was quiet. Selturma was bouncing up and down... again.

[Nick22]

ilsa carried the book with her as she went over to minna's room. it was nearly noon, and lunchtime..  but that would have to wait.  minna looked up of her couch as ilsa entered the room. The look  minna gave her was offputting, it was a mixture of attracton and interest, a sign that things were getting worse for her. 'I think I have found a reason fr why you have been acting so strangeMinna' Ilsa said. "Abd?' came the reply. o"i believe that you have been cursed..somone cutrsed you with the curse of lesbos.." Ilsa said handing her the book and having her read the contents. After minna had finished she was quiet. "This is a very difficult curse to lift" Ilsa said. Minna remained zsilent for a few minutes ' i passed the curse onto you then Ilsa.. "
_ What? No, you didn't otherwise we'd be all over each other...' Ilsa protested. "I didn't kiss you on the lips, only a peck on the cheek. ' the curse is passed on by the victim to others by kissing. a kiss on the lips brings the full potency of the curse, the further away from the mouth the less potent.' Minna replied. "this curse has been on me..
_ For awhile.. clearly" Ilsa nodded. "and its getting worse.. "i'm sorry' Minna said, tears springing to her eyes " For everything.." "We need to find out who put this on us.. its clearly a female, since a male wouldn't do this.. and it had to be someone with a serious personal animus against us.. because obviously cursing someone like this is forbidden.. Ilsa paused.  ' we need to find this Dracon and soon.. the looks you were giving me.. indicates it won;t be long before your self control will be gone completely.
-
I know" Minna said. " I shudder tothink what will happen then.."

[Noname]

(OOC: Sorry to use this character, Starfall. I'm only using this Fauxen because of a discussion with Nick22. If you want me to change this post or remove it, I shall.)

Kyuichi was caught up in the crowded marketplace. Being a Fauxen was not always a good thing... he was smaller than the Dracons, but not small enough to squeeze under them, and he was not large enough to push through them. Dressed in his civilian clothes, the Fauxen didn't arouse suspicions, although he occasionally got an odd look from some of the Dracons in the crowd.

Fortunately, his small size enabled him to do what few Dracons could. He was able to climb up on top of a crowded stall's awning and run across the top of it, then jump from one stall to another. Luckily, he was light enough to not break the awnings of the stalls, and his lack of footwear helped him not to break the thin cloth.

Landing on his padded feet, Kyuichi was now on the other side of the crowd. Now to follow Malcia's orders...

[StarfallRaptor]

(OOC: Not a problem.  Right now, he is Malcia's thrall, in a sense, so it would make sense when you know what her plan is.)

Akito walked into the hall, bowing slightly to Adykon.
"Seems the city is in a panic, Adykon.  There must have been thousands of rumors flying."
He said with mild irritation and worry.

[Noname]

"I've heard. Apparently, a Dragon is sitting on the palace.  <_< " Adykon replied to Akito.

"Where are the girls?" Vespion asked. "Rhiga is a no-show, and Minna and Ilsa aren't to be found..."

"You still have me!" Selturma shouted, bouncing up and down, her hands on Rex's shoulders, jumping so that her head was above his at the top of her jump. Rex, for his part, looked annoyed.

"Great... we have ornamentation." Vespion thought of Selturma. Seriously, outside of Minna and Ilsa, there wasn't much power in the females in this adventuring party. And Rex didn't have much to offer either if he didn't have a weapon. At least Selturma was wearing her top this time. She knew that putting on a bit more was customary for the Palace.

[Chiletrek]

Adykon and the others were talking when Eriol and Arianne appeared in the hall. - "Please forgive our delay, I hope we haven't miss much." - Arianne said courteously.

"It is nice to see almost everybody here, I haven't forget about Jake but we came here to help with the plans, if we are not too late." - Eriol said to the people there, as both gaeans came closer to Adykon, Vespion and the others.

[metadude1234]

While Jake was waiting, A servant wearing clothing that looked a little better than a civilian approched him. "the Master will see you now. follow me". Jake followed the servant up some stairs that were covered in red silk with two statues of dragons once he reached the top. The servant led Jake to the right down another corridor to a large room. Lots of guards were guaring the door. "this is where the master is" said the servant. Jake nodded his head, the servant walked over to one of the guards and whispered something into his ear. The guards opened the door and jake could see a vast giant room that was filled with riches. Jake followed the servant inside.

(sorry i havn't posted in a while guys...but i hope this post is okay vincent)

[Noname]

(OOC: It's fine, Jake.)

Vespion saw the panthers and thought to himself... "No... make that three useful females; Arianne has been a great help with her magic."

"Hi, Eriol! Did you have a good morning? Can you believe some of these rumors?" Adykon asked the panther.

After smelling the air, Selturma turned her head to Arianne, her arms still around Rex. "Hi Arianne! Is that... *sniff sniff* the smell of lavender or something?" The young female could smell the soap used by the panthers earlier that morning.

[metadude1234]

Jake looked to the far side of the room where he saw a Dracon sitting on a large throne. This Dracon was presumeably the prince. The servant led jake over to the Dracon, the servant said "wait here human". Jake nodded and the servant walked up to the prince, "this is the human that says that he knows who your enemies are and that he can eliminate them with ease"

[Chiletrek]

Eriol looked at Adykon - "Yes, we've heard them, since some of the people in the palace did look at us in a strange way." - he stopped for a second, as he saw his wife going were Selturma and Rex are, and then he turned his head again - "Arianne was with me all night, and we did spend the whole day in the training areas. I have no idea where the rumors are coming from, including the one with the dragon, I haven't seen any at all."

Arianne went closer to were Selturma and Rex are - "You are right Selturma, we've found lavender soap in our room, and I just could not let pass the chance." - she said with a giggle.