NationStates Jolt Archive

Vreduk squinted as the sun shone into his eyes. After living in The Underground City for over twenty years, a surface-world seemed very alien to him, even though he was born on one himself. He had been human, living in a sunny, grassy land like the one he was now standing in. He remembered little from that time though, as he was only four when he and the others of his village were captured. Taken to The Underground City by a "family" of vampires, the residents of his village became farm animals. The vampires regularly fed from the humans, never taking enough blood to kill the human, so that the same humans could be re-used until they died of natural causes. That was the plan, at least. One day, a young vampire got carried away and drained one of the humans dry - Vreduk's mother. As her lifeless body hit the ground, his father, consumed by rage, threw himself at the vampire. Both Vreduk's parents died that day.

The memories still haunted Vreduk. He sighed heavily. That was the past he told himself. He was a Death Knight now, and he had a mission. He walked over the grassy hill, followed by his two underlings. The men envied him - they were almost twice his age, yet he had been already made a Death Knight, while they were merely necromancers. The necromancers were each guarded by three reanimated skeletons. Vreduk had brought no creatures himself - this was an easy mission, and his underlings needed the experience.

Over the hill, he sighted their destination. It was a small village, much like the one he had been born in. He almost felt sorry for the villagers, but there was little compassion in his heart. In the years he had spent living as on the streets of The Underground City, he learnt to purge himself of compassion. His survival had depended on his ability to prey on those weaker than him. This day was no different. The villagers possessed an item that was of interest to the army he served, and it was his job to obtain it. As he neared the village, he heard a sound. A loud humming came from the sky. As he looked up, he saw something descending.

As the object got closer to the ground, he made a guess at what it was. During his time at the academy of necromancy he had studied a book on other civilisations; knowing one's opponent was a very important skill. The book had mentioned that some civilisations, using technology of great sophistication, constructed ships capable of travelling through the void between worlds. Perhaps this object was one such ship?

The ship slowly landed, roughly in between the village and Vreduk's team. Though Vreduk was fascinated by it, he had glanced away for a second to see that the villagers were just as awed by the sight as he.

The ship's door opened, and out marched a small group of soldiers, followed by one large creature, who Vreduk presumed to be the leader as the others were guarding him. He did not recognise the leader's species, but the soldiers were human. The leader looked towards the village, and then turned toward Vreduk.

"By the will of the Emperor", shouted the leader. "This planet now belongs to the Clonetopian Empire. Drop your weapons and surrender."

Vreduk refused to be intimidated by the stranger's sophisticated technology, and replied, just as loudly, "I am Vreduk Targzdra, Death Knight of The Underground City. Leave this place and your lives shall be spared."

The Clonetopian captain paused for a moment - was this lower being threatening him? He decided that Vreduk's death would make a good example of what Clonetopia was capable of. No doubt this "Underground City" would be one of their colonies within months.

"Kill them", the captain ordered. As the first rounds of energy shot towards his team, Vreduk leapt towards his enemy. His orders were to command the team, but his instincts were those of a lone combatant. His superhuman leapt took him over several metres, and as he flew he unsteathed his knife, and sliced through a soldier's throat before touching the ground. On landing he placed his empty hand on the chest of another soldier. Magic surged through his fingers and the soldier was blasted backwards.

Without a moment's pause, Vreduk jumped up vertically. The soldiers, too slow to react, shot at the place he had been just a split second early - and hit each other. An old trick, but one of the best. Now only one enemy remained, the leader. This creature was at least seven feet tall, possibly eight. Vreduk had killed larger. Once again, Vreduk's knife was thrust forward, aimed instinctively for a gap in the enemy's armour. To Vreduk's surprise the enemy caught his hand.

"Now the battle gets interesting", thought Vreduk, before freeing his hand in one swift movement. The enemy was fast, but not fast enough, as Vreduk proved when he feigned another knife attack, but instead grabbed the enemy's arm and twisted it into an effective wrist lock. The creature may have been unfamiliar, but its joints bent in a familiar way. Vreduk had won the fight, all that was left was to finish it. One quick stab, and the enemy lay dead at his feet.

Vreduk rested for a moment then head back to his team, hoping that the necromancers were still alive and that his first teaching assignment had not been a complete failure.

OOC:

1. Both Clonetopia and The Underground City are my nations.
2. If you wish to join in, you may play either of the necromancers, or a villager. [edit] You could also play a member of the ship's crew who did not leave to take part in the combat.
3. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

ooc: would you have any objection if I had a scout ship land and it's pilot get involved?

ooc: would you have any objection if I had a scout ship land and it's pilot get involved?

OOC: Sorry to disappoint, but I think that would add unnecessary complications to the story. There's already two separate forces (or were, until one was defeated) looking for the same thing. I think it's best for the RP to expand on the situation that already exists (i.e. Vreduk examines the ship, goes to the village, etc.), rather than introducing new elements.

You are, of course, welcome to play the character of one or two villages, or one of Vreduk's necromancers if you choose.

I don't mean to be restrictive, but I think to make a good story, it's best to put some limits on the RP.

OOC: You could also play a character who was part of the ship's crew, but did not leave the ship (e.g. a pilot, or scientist or something).

ooc: will take a necro, could you provide/TG a description of abilities powers and other useful info

ooc: will take a necro, could you provide/TG a description of abilities powers and other useful info

OOC: Sure. I'll post them here, since other people may want to read.

Part of The Underground City's army is made up of the undead (zombies, skeletons, etc.), controlled by necromancers. The highest ranking members of the army are the Death Knights, who are undead themselves, but still have their own minds. Death Knights are adept at both physical combat and necromancy.

Necromancers are mages whose magic is used primarily for animating the dead, who are then slaves to the necromancer's will. A necromancer is likely to have a few other magic skills, such as sensing magical power and using short-range telekinesis, but their main focus is on raising and controlling the dead. Necromancers who do well in the army may be brought back after death as Liches, or in a few cases Death Knights.

The necromancers on Vreduk's mission are in training, so their skills are not yet perfected.

I hope that clears it up a bit.

Darlith, following his mentor/teacher saw the 'ship', and began to send his skeletons to support Vreduk. The initial blast from the people shattered one of his skeletons and seeing that Vreduk butcher the people, Darlith had one of his minions began gathering stuff from the people's corpses and the other to begin gathering the corpses so he could re-animate the bodies.

"Ah, Darlith", said Vreduk, relieved. "You're still alive. I'm obviously not demonstrating very good leadership to abandon you like that, but at least I showed you that it is possible for a single man to defeat many enemies."

Vreduk looked around for his other student.

"You know Darlith, I was a necromancer not long ago", he continued. "I became a Death Knight about a year ago."

Vreduk wasn't sure why he was telling Darlith this, but he believed a teacher ought to give motivational talks, in order that his students would become the best they could be.

Perhaps, if he did a good job of teaching, he would be given a promotion, he thought.

OOC: I'll take a necromancer too.

IC: Thraekor went to help Vreduk but noticed that he needed no help at all. Thraekor instead reanimated a skeleton to help Darlith gather corpses.

Vreduk was having difficulty adjusting to the idea of necromancy as a career. He had only become a necromancer so that he could get revenge on the vampires who had killed his family. He didn't care what happened after that. He expected to be executed - vampires were respected members of society in The Underground City. Instead, his superiors were impressed that such a young Death Knight could kill a whole family of vampires and realised that he could be a valuable asset to the army.

Revenge had been his life. Now his revenge was finished and technically, so was his life. Being a Death Knight seemed a suitable unlife; he did enjoy the violence, and the respect that his position carried. He had begun as nothing - food for the vampires. After his escape, he became a thief out of necessity. He grew into a very competent thief, but nonetheless he was never actually respected, except by his boss - a retired thief who had hired the young Vreduk after catching him attempting to steal from his stall in a marketplace.

Presently, Vreduk was supervising while his two students reanimated the corpses of his fallen foes.

"Leave the non-human", Vreduk instructed, in case the students attempted to raise its corpse. "I wish to inspect it."

"Yes sir." Darlith replied, "What should we do with the weapons and armour of the foreigners?"

"The weapons and armour will be sent back to The Underground City. It is too dangerous for us to try to use the equipment ourselves. Just leave it here, with some minions guarding it until we complete our mission."

Vreduk stood over the alien's corpse. Clearly, it was well armed and armoured, but Vreduk had noticed something else while fighting it. He had sensed a power, one that had not originated from any of the numerous technological enhancements the creature possessed. Vreduk looked down at the creature's head - the power had been focused in the head, he was sure of it. Perhaps some kind of psionic power, he thought.

"We will take this body back for an autopsy after we complete our mission."

Vreduk paused for a moment. "I'm going to look inside the vehicle", he said, before entering through the door the soldiers had used to exit. Inside, he found a row of empty seats against each wall. Heading towards the front of the ship he found a cockpit. Two empty seats faced an array of complicated controls that Vreduk dared not touch.

Heading towards the back, he found a closed door. He reached out his hand but there was no handle. To his surprise, the door slid open by itself, revealing a supply cupboard, and a very frightened human.

"You will be taken to The Underground City", Vreduk told the crew member. "There you will be interrogated. Come with me."

Vreduk led the man out of the ship. "Thraekor, you are to guard this man for the duration of this mission. We need him for interrogation."

Darlith ordered the newly revived corpses to pick up the stuff they had been carring and had one of his skeletons stand guard over the big one.

OOC: I think I'll call it a night and continue this RP another day.

"Yes sir" responded Thraekor. He examined the crew member and decided that as he was very scared and about to faint that one would do. He selected a corpse and then reanimated it. "Guard this man. Do not let him out of your sight." He commanded. The zombie nodded and stood three feet away from the crew member after arming himself with a small knife.