NationStates Jolt Archive

The location was a rather dirty and damp basement somewhere below the streets of Exetergrecia. It was a far cry from what the former crown prince was used to. Kurt Wagner II was sat in one corner of the basement, it was only temporary since they did feel the need to move around abit to avoid dection from Lord Azazel's forces. Kurt wondered if it would be better for them to leave the capital alltogether, but it would be much harder or them to broadcast 'Eyes Only' to those living in the capital and to the foreign embassies. Somewhere in the basement was a dripping pipe, the young teen could hear it softly in the background. It was soon accompanied by the sound of footsteps and Kurt looked up to see who it was.

"Remy," he said, recognising the black eyes with red pupils of the former Lord.

"Oui, good t'see you," he greeted. "Remy been talkin' t'Glenn, he an' Quatre have found us a new place t'go."

"Where is it?" Kurt asked.

"It be in Caer Chan Caddug," Remy told him.

Kurt shook his head. "Is that Safe?"

"It be safer then here mon ami."

Deep beneath the streets of Exetergrecia was another, much older city moulded into the bedrock. Centuries ago it was the capital of the old kingdom, the Kingdom of Tregou’al. The kingdom prided itself on its advanced technology and that was it's undoing. During a test of an experimental drive for its youthful space program, something happened and a large yellow dome was seen to cover the city from hundreds of miles away. No one knew what actually happened as the city looked to have been vapourised completely. With it, the seat of power was gone and civil war ravaged the lands. Millions of lives were lost in the wars that lasted six decades, but from the ashes of the old kingdom, Draconis Nightcrawlis was born.

The old city shared a similar name to that of the new city. What happened that fateful day had long since faded into history and the people of the new kingdom believed that the old capital had been completely obliterated that day. Some people however, knew differently, they knew that the ground had swallowed up the entire city and its ruins moulded into the bedrock. Over time some parts of the old city became home to the hideous underworld of Draconis Nightcrawlis, vampires came to hide from the sun while others came to hide from things unknown. No one in the current government knew that it existed, but for those who believed the rumours it was known as Caer chan Caddug, or City of Darkness.

And so it was that the former crown prince, Kurt Wagner II found himself climbing through the filthy sewers of Exetergrecia. It was far from what he wanted, but he of course had no choice. With his grandfathers forces after him, he had to hide and according to the others Caer Chan Caddug would be the best place to do just that. Kurt didn't know why because he felt the underground city would be just the perfect place for a person like Lord Azazel.

Further on down the sewer, Kurt and remy came upon a large crack in the wall, just wide enough for a person to slide through sideways. Remy went through first, though he was lean and athletic it was still a tight fit. However for Kurt who was leaner and more agile, it was an easy fit. The former crown prince found himself in a dark cave that led downwards, fortunately unlike the entrance the cave had plenty of room. Remy flicked on a torch and the pair began their decent into Caer Chan Caddug.

It wasn't a hard walk, nor a long one. In the outskirts of the fallen city, most of the bedrock had fused with the buildings that had once been home to a large residential population. Kurt walked behind remy with unease, he'd heard rumours of vampires making their lairs down there. Up ahead was a door set in bedrock, two guards were stood outside and he recognised them from the palace. At least there was some familiarity around.

"Good to see you again your highness," one of the guards greeted.

"Just call me Kurt from now on," the former crown prince said glumly.

"As you wish," the guard replied, moving over to open the door and let them through.

#tagged

"So this is it huh?" Kurt asked, his eyes darted from side to side as he looked around his new surroundings.

The door had led them into a dimly lit corridor, it had the look of being carved out of the bedrock as the walls, floor and ceiling were very rough. Kurt couldn't see any other doors other then the one they had just come in from.

"Non mon ami, dis jus' be de corridor," Remy told him as they continued walking.

Eventually they came to the end of the corridor and Kurt saw that there was another door, it had been hidden by the dim light and the fact that the corridor was very long. Remy placed his hand on a small square and the door opened. Entering, Kurt found himself in a rather large lab. He was surprised that there was so much electricity available in Caer Chan Caddug. There were some unfamiliar faces, new recuits he had yet to meet, but walking toward him was a familiar face.

"Kurt buddy, glad to see you,"

"Hey Forge, this place looks great," he remarked.

"Thanks man, it was expensive but we have the Gods on our side," Forge explained. "Almost done with your place, we're still fixing up 'Eyes Only' for you."

As Kurt lay on his bad, the computer in the corner of his room beeped. It had awoken him from his slumber and the young teen yawned as he stood up. The room was dark since he didn't have the light on and in Caer Chan Caddug there was no natural light at all, there was however the soft glow from the screen which he had left on. As he crossed the room, he could see that someone was on screen waiting for him. Pressing an area on screen, he sat down.

"Didn't wake you did I?" the person, a woman, asked.

"Damn right you did," Kurt yawned.

"Sorry," she apoligised.

"Ok Fred, what have to awoken me from the best sleep I've had in f*cking ages for?" he then asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Er, we've found something on the symbols plastered all over the ruined cathedral near the centre of Caer Chan Caddug," she explained. "Wes thinks that they were placed there to keep someone or something out, we're still working on a translation but we think it might be city wide and still in effect."

Kurt nodded, he was thinking that maybe they could use the symbols as a way to keep Azazel out of the rest of his nation. If that was possible then they could keep him in one place which would make it easier to finally kill him. Ultimately it would also help to serve as a way to keep the civillian casulties to a minimum. "How long til you can translate it?"

"Umm, weeks," Fred told him.

"Ah shit," the teen swore, it would have been better if they were nearly done, but then again things weren't that easy. "Just have as many people on it."

"We're on it 24/7," she told him. "I better get back to it, Wes looks annoyed."

The screen went blank and Kurt tapped on the screen and stood him. It felt a bit of good news bad news, but at least they were getting somewhere. According to the fates he would eventually kill his grandfather and take back the kingdom that was rightfully his. It was already known in Draconis Nightcrawlis that both his parents and his sister were dead, Lord Azazel had also claimed that he had killed Kurt as well so it gave him hope that he was lying about the deaths of his family as well.

In a separate part of Caer Chan Caddug, set deep in what appeared to be a church from a long gone religion was a meeting place. The rows of seats were still in place and kept in relatively good condition. It was away from the main HQ as the former General Flack felt it would be safer that way, though it meant moving through the city. Kurt feared that would leave them as easy targets since they had no transportation down there. He may be the leader, but he had been out voted on it.

Kurt’s pale yellow eyes crossed the ruined church, there were only a few people there. General Flack, or Flackie as he now went by, was sat on the front row of seats reading something. In one corner, Forge was trying to get a computer to work, since they did have electricity in the church it wasn’t through lack of power that he was having problems. At the back, Remy and his wife Marie were talking to some other people who he didn’t remember the names of. Marie was actually his aunt, the only relative he had left, discounting of course his grandfather.

The church was to be their meeting place where they would start planning on how they would fight to free Draconis Nightcrawlis from Azazel’s control. Kurt didn’t know how long it would take for them to do that, but he did know he was destined to kill his grandfather. He knew the sooner it was over, the better he would feel but he knew that fate, destiny dictated how long that would be. Looking up again he saw that Fred had joined Forge at the computer, it looked as though they had at last got it to work. That was something positive for the future

This was to be the first meeting. They were safe in the knowledge that no one outside of the meeting would know what was being talked about. Like any other meeting there were still some who had yet to show up. As they waited for the stragglers, Kurt was crouched on the back of one of the seats silently watching the others. Of his family, only one aunt and three uncles were present as all the rest were unaccounted for. It wasn't good, Kurt suspected that Azazel had all the rest of his relatives imprisoned somewhere, or worse that he'd had them killed. The thought of his mother, father and sister had all been killed sickened him, he vowed swift revenge on Azazel if that were the case. Actually there would be swift revenge on Azazel anyway for taking his kingdom away from him and trying to kill Quatre and himself.

Speaking of his friend, Quatre soon appeared and was walking towards him. A large bearded man, dressed like a viking was walking beside him.

"Quatre, Thor," he said, jumping down from the seat before walking over to them.

"Kurt," his friend replied as they embraced each other in a hug. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Kurt replied before looking toward Thor. "How can you be here?"

Thor put Mjollinir down with a heavy thud, "Because I cannot stand by and watch, the fates my have forbidden devine intervention in this but they cannot stop me from coming to this meeting," he explained.

For the first time in months, Kurt managed a smile. He was glad there was at least one God who was standing by him.

"We need to change our name," Kurt mentioned to start off the meeting. "The Underground resistance is just not doing it for me, it's striking fear into the hearts of no one."

"Do we want to scare people?" Fred asked, placing the clipboard she had on her lap.

Kurt glared at her. "We want to scare Azazel shitless," he said.

"Something with Thor in would do the job," Thor suggested. "Thors army, or swordmasters of Thor."

"The fates would see that as you helping us," Quatre pointed out.

"Crap," the God remarked.

"I think we should take a name from history," Wes suggested.

"Have you got a name in mind?" Kurt asked.

"I have one, The Norse Marauders," he said.

"I like it," Thor said, giving the thumbs up.

"I'd go with that, where did you come up with it?" the former crown prince asked.

"An old painting of vikings I have in my office," Was explained.

Kurt nodded, "It's a good name," he said once more.

tagged

Kurt was crouched paitently on the back of an old settee as he watched Wes look over some books. Still they were working at translating the symbols that were all over the ruined cathedral. Wes was sure that they were close to cracking the mystery. Since it was only the pair of them in the room there was total silence, except for the sound of Wes flicking through the books and of Kurt tapping his tail against the back of the settee.

"I've got it!" Wes shouted.

Without a moments thought, Kurt lept from the settee and went to see what he had found. "What is it?" he asked.

"I found a name," he said.

"Who?"

"Azazel,"

Kurt was stunned, why would a centuries old ruined cathedral have references to his grandfather. "So is it to keep him in or out?" he the asked.

Wes scratched the back of his neck as he flicked over a page in his notes. "It was a trap," he explained. "It was meant to keep him trapped inside the cathedral for all of eternity."

"And we all know what happened after that," the teen remarked, he had coiled his tail around his right leg in order to stop it moving nervously around. "So can we use it to trap him again?"

The older man shook his head. "Afraid not, the original spell book was lost centuries ago," he explained.

"Ah shit," Kurt swore, thumping the wall in frustration. He should have known that would be too simple.

(OOC: Just out of curiosity... When are you going to start allowing others to post?)

OOC: Havn't decided yet, still building it up at the moment.

OOC: Mentioned ball can be found here (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=153926)

IC:

"Kurt wake up," came a stern voice.

"Mmph," the former crown prince grumbled. he rolled over on his bed and looked up.

Wes was stood at the foot of his bed, as usual he had a book in hand. "Time to go to the ball," he said.

Kurt nodded and slowly got up.

Quatre kicked a chair clean across the room in frustration. Kurt should have been able to deal with Azazel easily but instead the former prince had failed and was now awaiting trail, probably to be executed. He had no doubt that Azazel would probably have him executed before the trail anyway, by his own hand no doubt.

"This should not be happening!" Quatre yelled.

"Quatre, calm down," Wes told him, crossing the dark room that many years ago had been a classroom. "It is not in Kurts best interests that you lose it now. He needs us to stay togather if he is to stand any chance of escape."

The blond teenager walked over to the shattered remains of a window. Outside the only view was that of the bedroom that Caer Chan Caddug had been fused with. "We should have helped him, we could have helped him," he coldly said before turning around to face the man. He raised an accusing finger at him. "You, you said that he could handle him, it's your fault."

Wes looked to the ground. "Yes I may have said that," he acknowledged. "This however was no ones fault, none of us could have forseen this Quatre, none of us could have known we were doing this too early."

Quatre turned his back on him. "And now Kurt pays with his life just like those that died at the palace," he growled.

"The fates say that Kurt will eventually win this battle," Wes told him. "The fates are never wrong, we will get Kurt free. It might just take some time."

"We don't have time,"

"Hows he taking it?" Fred asked.

The room was lit by nothing more then candles. Like most of Caer Chan Caddug, there was no electricity. Fred didn't mind as it was quiet, in the current situation she found the quietness relaxing.

"He is not taking it well," Wes told her closing the door behind him. "I fear for Quatre's sanity if we do not get Kurt out soon."

She watched as Wes went and sat on the bed. "How are we going to do that?" she asked.

"With alot of help," he told her rubbing his eyes. "We are going to have to find the right kind of people to break him out." Wes gave a chuckle. "After tonight debacle we certainly couldn't do it alone, we lost some good people trying and now we're a much smaller group."

That link about the ball didn't work. Interesting story though :)

That link about the ball didn't work. Interesting story though :)

Thats because the forums moved.

You are no good to Kurt if you get yourself locked up, or worse killed

Quatre ignored the little voice in his head, he just couldn't sit idly by while Kurt awaited probable execution. He didn't want that to happen and he couldn't wait for the other to launch a rescue bid.

You'll only get yourself into trouble

Again he ignored it as he left the cold dark rooom that had been his home ever since they had made Caer Chan Caddug their base. He hated it there, it was a far cry from the luxury he'd had at the Winner family mansion.

Turn around and go back, you'll never go back to your family anyway

The voice continued to haunt him. It was somewhat troubling since the teenager wasn't sure if it was just his conscience speaking or whether it was someone else talking to him telepathically. Either way he chose to ignore it.

"Where are you going Quatre?" came a voice from behind him.

Quatre stopped walking, he didn't turn around. "It is none of your business," he said. It was just typical that someone would come to stop him.

"Kurt is my Nephew, ah want to rescue him as much as you do but to go against that prison in our groups current state is just suicide," came the reply.

Quatre closed his eyes and wishe Marie away. She didn't leave.

"If you are going on this suicide mission then ah am coing with you," she told him.

"Fine," he sighed.

The streets of Exetergrecia was busy as they always were, no one took any notice of Quatre and Marie stood across the street from Exetergrecia Gaol. The massive prison overlooked the immediate area, its outer walls dark and forbidding.

"No way we can just walk in there," Marie said.

Quatre scowled, he wished right there and then that Kurt could just teleport out. However if it had been as simple as that the former prince would have done that long ago, there were holding him there somehow, nulifying his ability to teleport.

Marie put a gloved hand on his shoulder, "Come on Quatre, let's go," she said. "Nothing we can do here until we get help."

Quatre reluctantly left.

Fred stared silently at the computer screen in front of her. The only light in the room came from the screen itself and a few candles that were scattered around, all the electricity was going into powering the computer. She had spent the better part of a day without taking so much as a nap, hacking into the computers at Exetergrecia Gaol tracking where they were keeping the former prince.

She rubbed her eyes as she clicked through security cameras. Soon she had come across one showing someone in a large liquid filled tube, wires coming out from the persons body were obviously there to keep them alive in stasis. Only the most dangerous criminals and those who had destructive powers were kept that way. It was Kurt, but Fred felt that she was close to finding him. Another click revealed a security camera showing a prisoner in exactly the same position. Unlike the other prisoner, Fred could see a tail with a spade on the end floating freely behind the prisoner.

"I've found him!" she yelled, clapping her hands in delight.

But the delight didn't last. She didn't like the way Kurt was being treated. Obviously it was because of his ability to teleport that they were keeping him in stasis. What was worse was the fact that Azazel was there.

"First things first we are going to have to leave Draconis Nightcrawlis," Wes warned. "At least for the time being anyway."

"Oui, dey gonna be looking for us once we break Kurt out," Remy agreed.

Wes nodded and walked to the front of the ruined cathedral. "Of course no place would be safe for us on the planet," he said and tapped something into the computer. In the centre of the cathedral a map of a solar system appeared. Pointing to one planet, Wes said, "That is the colony Tortuga DN, Azazel has no idea it even exists. I have found that he believes the jumpgate that Five Civilized Nations built in our system is of no use to him."

"So no Draconis Nightcrawlis ships use it?" Quatre asked.

Wes shook his head. "They do, just not military or any of Azazels ships," he said. "Tortuga DN is the ideal place for us to hide out after we free Kurt and hopefully Flackie. However we will need a ship."

"I can possibly get one from my father as long as no one suspects that he is still in contact with me," Quatre mentioned. "I'm still the black sheep of the family."

"If you do go and speak with him, take Remy with you," Wes suggested.

Quatre nodded.