Sin - Dungeoncrasher sounds familiar.. Is that dungeonscape?
Either way, could you give me some stats on it? I don't forsee any problems if it's not Psionic/ToB/TelfamarShadowlord, but I'd like to know what I'm up against... er, i mean what your character can do.
LordRaven - Looks good. I won't go over all the numbers just yet, though.
Hmm, with that I think we have a full house.
Submissions:
*Ethandrew
[sblock=Fallen Paladin]
Human Male Paladin/Blackguard
He comes from a long line of holy knights, his family usually leading the order. So all his life he and his younger brother had been working hard to be the best possible, as the eldest, all assumed the mantle would fall to him once his father died. As the leader of this order, he would possess all the power and wealth a man could dream; a lady in waiting was promised to the leader as well, the couple to be married at the passing of the mantle.
After the death of his father his brother was chosen in lieu of him. Instead of accepting the responsibility of second in command, as was deemed his duty and honored with the gift of one of the order's most prized weapon and armor, he tore off his order's emblem and stormed out of the hall. That evening he requested a private meeting with his brother, who graciously oblidged him, not wanting to insult his elder brother anymore than had already occurred.
At the meeting, he met the new leader of his order, his younger brother, three years his junior, with a beautiful new wife; his wife. Once he entered into the room, his new leader and new sister stood to greet him with a hug, but instead, our once noble knight plunged a dagger into his heart, killing him with a thrust and a slight twist. The woman shrieked with abject terror. Pulling the knife out, without wiping the blade, he grips the woman by her soft hair, jerking her head unnaturally back. Slowly and methodically, with as much malice as his still, cold hands can manage, he digs the double edged knife across her beautiful, slender throat, ending her maniacal sobs and cries.
The door bursts open with half a dozen armed guards, looking on the murderous scene with nauseating surprise. Upon seeing these men surround him with swordpoints aimed at his unarmored flesh, he unceremoniously dumps the womans slender body onto the floor and drops the blade with a clang, raising his hands in surrender.
Within hours, he was condemned, stripped of all titles, land, honors, and awards, as well as his newly forged equipment. Furthermore, startled at the sheer malevolence displayed in his premeditation, he was banished by the head of the priestly order. Not since the time of his greatgrandfather, some 90 years ago, had someone been banished. And it wasn't until the moment of this strange, unused magic being cast, that he shed his first tear.
[/sblock]
*Brother Allard
[sblock=Anzu Ashurbanipal]
Human male Monk 2 / Warlock 4 / Ur-Priest 2 / Eldritch Disciple 4
vile evangelist of a dead god, rightly convicted in a lawful trial of anathema and heresy, and banished to the prison world of ***. I'll flesh out the details early next week.
As the member of a cult, he probably has allies able to get him his gear some way or another[/sblock]
*Rino
[sblock=Grimmor]
Human Male Necormancer 12
Grimor still remembers the day he was captured as of it was yesterday. He just raised his last corps from the asses in which Grimor had turned him a few seconds ago to finish his small army of undead. But then he heard them coming from all directions, he knew his small army of raised souls were no match from these people but still he sent them all to try and fight him a way out of there. But after a few minutes the batlle took a turn for the worst, a few priests joined the group. Gromir quickly ran into a tome with his companion droom (his imp) and give him all his magical items for safekeeping and then asked him to turn into a tiny spider big enough to stay hidden in his non magical clothing and stay there till it was safe to come out again.
[/sblock]
*Autumn
[sblock=Celes]
Centaur Female Knight 6
In a frontier town on the edge of a great forest, the humans began to chop trees and clear land to extend their agricultural potential and feed hungry mouths. A tribe of centaur who had been on the land before their arrival objected, sending an emissary to ask for an end to the activities. The envoy was received with open hostility by the suspicious and bigoted magistrate, and upon making his plea in more impassioned and forceful tones the order was given for his execution. Before long the village was in open war against the centaur tribe. They called for reinforcements from the nearest town, pleading that they were under attack by savage natives of the forest who wouldn't listen to reason.
A force of knights from the town's chapter of the crown's Argent Order arrived as their reinforcement, and the impetuous young commander leading them took the villagers and their magistrate at their word. He launched a full-scale assault on the centaur tribe and with superior numbers, equipment and training his force soon won the day. It was only after the tribe's numbers had already been decimated that one of the centaur, grievously wounded, finally let go of his pride long enough to plead for mercy just before he died - not for himself, but for his tiny daughter.
Such selfless sentiment struck deep, undermining the righteous anger of the commander, and he called a halt to the attack. Sheathing his sword and approaching another of the survivors, he demanded that the centaur explain events as he understood them. He was mortified by what he heard, as he realised the depth of the mistake he had made. He knew there was nothing he could do to make his actions right, with the tribe already shattered, but he resolved to do all he could. Finding that the centaur child had no relations or friends to take care of her among the survivors he started by taking her away with him, determined to give her the best possible life he could.
He went further as well, appealing to the King and seeing that the village magistrate was unseated and harshly punished, and that in future the village would abide by the wishes of their fallen foes and live in harmony with the land.
The centaur girl, meanwhile, he brought up as his own daughter. It was certainly an extraordinary arrangement, but for a relationship that had started so unhappily it brought both of them a great deal of joy. The girl, named Cele, never knew why it was that this man had taken her in and fostered her, but she loved him and was happy under his guardianship and tutelage. He taught her what he knew best - arms, and the code of chivalry. In putting special stress on the latter, perhaps he hoped to make up for his own dereliction of it in regard to her people.
Happily for him, he never had to explain the circumstances of her adoption; he was killed in action when she was still young. She was allowed to stay on in the Order - she had many friends there, as had her late foster-father, and she was after all one of its most promising initiates despite the incongruity of a centaur in a knightly order. It was not easy for her to achieve acceptance, but for her skill and diligence she did at least achieve respect. She was a fierce warrior, loyal to the Order above everything, and she quickly also developed skills that made her especially valuable - her heritage gave her a natural empathy for the wild which she was encouraged to develop, since a knight who could track, navigate and interpret the weather would always be an asset on any protracted mission.
And yet for all that, not all were ready to accept her presence in the Order. Her father had had enemies too, and ultimately it was one of those who was her downfall. He let slip an unpleasant remark insinuating the true reasons for her adoption, and in her passion she had challenged him then and there to a duel.
Duelling was of course strictly forbidden between members of the order - a superior had immediately stepped in to prevent it.
It is not so easy to truly quench a passion though; Cele managed to get a message to her adversary naming a time and place, and he accepted a day later with a proviso changing suggested the location. She agreed, and slipped out from her quarters in the dead of night with her full wargear to make her way to the appointed spot. Her enemy was nowhere to be seen. After a minute's impatient waiting there came a heavy impact on the back of her skull and then a long period of blackness, slipping in and out of consciousness but with the darkness always constant and accompanied by the sensation of movement.
When finally she was set loose, she had been quietly disposed of. To kill her would have been too risky - so she had simply been cast away, swept under the rug of the multiverse.[/sblock]
*Avalon
[sblock=Xing'dao Li]
Illumian Male Monk 2/ Warlock 3/ Ur-Priest 2/ Sacred Fist 5
They brought him to court chained and beaten but he still gave off an aura of dread in those present. The people in the courtroom saw him and names spread in murmured whispers. Monster they called him. Fiend, bastard, and warmonger were also heard. It was indeed true. The destroyer of Qin had been captured.
The whispers soon stopped when the magistrate, Ping Luan, entered the room. "Xing'dao Li, Destroyer of Qin, you are charged with the crimes of heresy, consorting with fiends, conspiring against the Holy Emperor, practice of unholy magicks and the destruction of an entire province. You were once the most promising apprentice of the Iron Tiger, Ling Sai Foon. What drove you to choose this path?"
Rising up to his full height, Xing'dao Li towered above anyone else in the room. The chains attached to the collar of his neck rattled as he stretched them to their limits. In a deep booming voice he says "The old man was a fool. He knew nothing of the way to power. He always spoke of patience being the way to enlightenment and that the gods would grant boons to those who would wait. What did he know? The gods care nothing for us! They only require us for worship. It is from this worship that they gain power. I have found a way to steal their power and make it my own. I have no remorse in my actions. Those peasants were in my way."
The audience began to mutter angrily after this outburst by the monster with signs of a mob beginning to form. The magistrate slams his gavel and they became silent. "Xing'dao Li, you are sentenced to death in the penal dimension of Shang Hyo. May the gods have mercy on your soul."
Hearing his fate, Xing'dao can't help but smile. "I told you, the gods don't care about us mortals. But no matter, I will not die there. Rest assured, I will come back and exact my revenge on you all. HA Ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
His maniacal laughter remained in the room several minutes after he was taken away by the guards.
[/sblock]
*Velmont -
[sblock=Prior Locksteel]
Human male paragon3/Warlock9
Prior Loksteel is looking into the crystal ball. A nice magical item he thought. He was looking at it and was seeing a group of people heading his way. He knew them very well. He had been there ally once. It was during the years of the tyrannie. They had fought side by side to get the Lord down from his throne. But even there, he doubt he had there full trust. They knew his power had somethging wierd and people have been colder to him than to the others.
His power... he remembered when he was just a kid. The Lord had killed his father and mother, because they were in teh resistance. They had been helpless when the guards had come. Prior was hiding in the wall, in an hidden compartement. He didn't saw teh last moment of his parents, but he had heard it well. He had cried the lost of his parents for a week before he swaered the Lord would pay, at any cost... he had been heard.
He received the visit of a quasit. He explained him that the Lord was the son of a devil and he was serving a devil, by sending ressources and slave to him. So teh quasit teach him a dark art. Over time, he mastered it. Events force him to join that group and they become strong allies. Without him, they would have never discovered the true nature of teh Lord, with them, Prior would have never acheived his vengence.
But today, the peace have returned, and where his power were welcome in the adversity, they disturb abd scare in this new and free world. They fear to see the same scenario again. After all, his power had something demonic to it. He couldn't be angry at them, he couldn't fight them either, his vengence was done and he had no more will to fight.
Prior walk up to the large gate. It was one of the item the Lord used to summon devil to his side. It led to other worlds. Travelling, it could be a good thing. He didn't knew how it work, but he has an easy to time to guess it. He touch the portal and the portal start to glow. He felt something wrong with the portal. Was it a good thing to use it? He heard the group banging at the door. They wouldn't give him much time, he had no more choice. He looked behind as the door open. "Farewell, friends. I'm leaving this world for good, now that I have nothing more to do here." Prior jump into the portal before it close, hoping he end in a more welcoming world.
[/sblock]
Sin
[sblock=Valak Killanok]
Goliath Male Fighter/DungeonCrasher/Blackguard
Throughout his life Valak always had a taste for finer things, like gold and jewels. He inherited these traits from the people he grew up around; Humans. Valak was exiled at birth for reasons he did not understand until many years later. Only when he was fully grown did venture out to find answers.
The answers he found were with him all along. Upon meeting a wisened-one of his own race; a fellow exile no-less,and he became aware of his body's skin patterns and their relevance to his future, and his past further more. He began to believe his destiny was great, and this soon turned into an infactuation. He began to stop at nothing to get what he wanted. So obessed with power Valak began corsorting with beings of the lesser planes through underground cults using money from his adventuring exploits.
It was this that both saved him, and condemned him. Upon his death his soul was returned to his broken body by a greater deamon to continue upon his path for power - the demon relishing in the thought of both the damage Vivek was yet to wreak on the material plane, and the destruction of Viveks souls by his own hands - when Vivek gives up his unlife...
For nearly 3 lifetimes Valak had roamed Faerun; Searching for the very thing he now held in his hands. The Book. Ages old, possibly eons, it stood unaffected by the ravages of time. Valak laughed inside, he too had defied nature. Taking the book he turned and left... Now he had all the clues he needed to pinpoint the location of the portal...
The man was naked, tied up in a kneedling position in the centre of the raised black marble dias, a terrified look in his eyes. Surrounding the dias were rank upon rank of darkly clad figures. The sounds of ritual murmuring filling the room. A loud voice cut cleanly above the other, "You have been chosen, fear not the paradise we send yo.." he abruptly trails off as a harrowing scream echos up the cave, accompanied with the clatter of hooves.
Quick to recover from confusion the acolytes took no chances; picking up weapons and forming ranks at the cavern entrance, ready to defend. Suddenly, from within the midst of their ranks, a huge ball of blue-yellow fire erupted, washing over them, igniting hair and clothing alike... Only one figure remained at the carvern entrance. An 8 foot hulk sat atop a fire breathing, jet black steed of pure muscle and malice. Slowly he dismounted, walking over the carnage he had wought to step up onto the dias. He moved toward the naked man. The naked man, seeing this monsters approach could not help but whimper. "I came not for you" Valak stated as he tossed the man from the dias. "I came for this" he said, more to himself as he gazed at the intricate glyths cut into the dias.
There Valak waited. The naked man ran off, but that was of no concern, neither were the burnt corpses that litterd the cold stone floor. He was here. Finally he could escape his fate. His soul belonged to a Demon; a gift apparently. Unlimited life and great power. But on departing his undead form, he would become the demons plaything. Valak had other ideas. Erannathal is Valak's destination - a place between places, a world between worlds, a plane between planes. A place old and forgotten to the men and Elves of the world... But more importantly, forgotten too to Gods & Demons...
[/sblock]
Shayuri
[sblock=Mei'Ying]
Human(?) Female Monk/Sorc/Fatespinner
the fickleness of fortune, the yin and yang of its essence...and yet also that luck, while often a minor influence on one's life, was one of the few forces that operated outside of Fate, and could even thwart Destiny itself. The story has become an object lesson in the value of obedience to divine will, and an object lesson in what becomes of those that defy the laws set down before them.
Zhing-Yun, as goddess of fortune, was well loved by...just about everyone. Shrines to her dotted the countryside of the mortal realms, and prayers for her aid rose like a fine haze wherever people were gathered. She was fond...overfond, perhaps...of taking mortal form and walking through casinos, arenas, racing tracks, and other places where her worship was particularly strong. Zhing-Yun was admonished against entering the mortal realm too often, but did not listen.
It was in a gambler's hall in the great capital of the mortal, yet divinely mandated Holy Emperor himself that she met who was to become her greatest joy, and ultimate downfall. A man dressed in peasant rags, who scraped and scoured his pockets for each coin he played. He called himself only 'the gambler,' or 'the gambling man,' when asked. And while his appearance seemed pathetic and an easy mark...the Gambler never lost a game unless he meant to. Zhing-Yun noticed this right away, as she could see the rise and swell of his fortunes around him like a cloud. Fascinated by this man who seemed to be in control of his own luck, Zhing followed him and eventually he noticed her. The first of many conversations ensued, and a new destiny was forged; one too strong even for both of them to break free again.
It should be noted at this time that love is forbidden between mortals and gods. In the chaos before the Jade Emperor, humanity was subjugated by the halfbreeds of such unions...lustful and vain gods and spirits who would lie with men and women and bear semi-mortal children possessed of strange and unearthly powers. These so-called sorceror kings were known for their cruelty and love of warring against one another. Constantly vying for the power to rise up against Heaven and steal the divinity of their parents, thus becoming truly immortal. This is the true fear of the Celestial Court...for there are laws older and deeper than those of the Emperor. Laws graven on the deep stone at the world's heart. Laws that give children the right to claim what was their parents'...should their parents surrender it, or be no more.
The Gambler and Zhing-Yun fell in love. The goddess bore him a son, and fearful of what she had done, immediately secreted her away in an all female monestary that taught secret arts and was heavily shielded from detection. To those wards Yun added her own power, clouding her from the senses of gods as best she could. But her old enemy, Fate, had felt the tugging on the strings of destiny...too many threads moved. Too many powerful beings fates changed. Her affair with The Gambler was discovered, and in her testimony before the Jade Emperor himself, Zhing-Yun lied and denied that there was a child. In punishment she was stripped of her power and immortality, and made mortal. Yet when her divine essence was surrendered by her, the accounts were found lacking. A tiny, almost unnoticible fragment of her power was not there! It had, in fact, been passed to her daughter. Using the pull of like to like, the gods used Yun's divine essence to seek out that daughter. Mei-Ying.
Mei Ying had long ago left the nunnery, after learning the female monks' ways. She had uncovered strange, supernatural powers in herself and chose to go forth to explore those in preference to continuing her martial arts training. After meeting and besting many challenges, her power was blossoming. It was that same power that drew her mother's essence across the divide between mortal and divine, and led the eyes of the Jade Emperor himself to her.
The danger was great. Only Mei Ying's ignorance stopped her from laying claim to her mother's essence, and becoming divine herself. The claim of blood was higher than the claim of justice. And yet, Mei Ying also had a mortal soul, and he could not simply destroy her. Killing her would not solve the problem, as her soul would simply reincarnate. But not even the gods of the Court can -destroy- a soul...any more than they could destroy the divine essence taken from Zhing-Yun. There was but one option. Banishment to the so-called Hell of Iron Cages.
It wasn't well named. It wasn't TRULY a Hell...a place of punishment and retribution. It was a prison. A place for beings that had no other place. There was no escape from it...not even the Great Wheel of Rebirth reached there. You might reincarnate, but it would still be in the prison plane. No laws applied there. Not even the Deep Laws. Mei Ying would be helpless to claim her birthright even if she somehow found out, and would be so for all time. Balance would be restored, and the Celestial Court would go on as it always had, perfect and unchanging. Until, of course, Yun's brother vanished. To replace him, an Immortal was promoted to God...this time just one god of all luck, good and bad. A small change to be sure...but as Fate could attest, great avalanches sometimes start with the smallest pebbles.
[/sblock]
LordRaven
[sblock=Quill]
Changeling Male Wizard 7 / Recaster 5
For many years Quill worked in the Central processing centre (called The Nexus) of the extra-planar prison. Quill ensured that the wards of The Nexus (which houses the central portal to the prison plane) were maintained, as well as visiting different planes to collect and transfer prisoners from their native realms to their ultimate destination of The Nexus.
It was during such trips that Quill would receive payment from various sources to ensure that chosen prisoners would receive a few essentials to make sure that their stay was as pleasant as possible. This was a common enough practice among the various prison guards of The Nexus, with tacit permission being granted as long as the right people were bribed to look the other way.
All of this changed when the former Director of The Nexus retired and a new self-righteous prig of man called 'Sebastian Walters' took his place. Sebastian was determined to root out the weeds among the prison staff, and it was Quill's misfortune to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Caught red-handed by Sebastian's cronies as the latest batch of prisoners entered the portal (after a very cautionary examination for contraband), Quill was put in the unenviable position of having to either act as the prison guards token scapegoat, or entering the portal himself. Realising that he'd never be allowed to live to expose the full depths of the operation, Quill was glad that his forward planning meant that he'd be leaving nothing of significance behind, and entered the portal bound for the Nexus.
Besides with his inside knowledge of the prison plane it was a distinct possibility that he would manage to eventually escape.
[/sblock]
*=Submitted within the 24 hour 'deadline' I had for 'bonus points*
I've included character names, backgrounds, and Race/Level into sblock's for simplicity's sake(easy for me to read them all at same time this way).
EDIT: I'll go through them for now, though I need some info for Sin's character. (Background, why he's here, how he got gear in.....)
Also, I noticed something strange... Sin and Velmont's characters have the same name....
'kay, I'll look it over.
