All the following sblocks are public unless otherwise indicated. It's just a ton of IC stuff that would take up far too much space if not stored in sblocks.
Before the sphere is sealed:
[sblock]Galeda stood in a forest clearing, going through motions with a blade of energy. As a vulpinal he looked like a blend between a fox and a human. Aside from his conservative clothing, he was covered by an elegant coat of coppery red fur, and possessed a pair of keen amber coloured eyes. He flicked his tail and smirked at having mastered some technique.
Another guardinal, heavily muscled and clad in furs, sat at the edge of the clearing, and failed to notice his friend’s success as he was reading a tome of some sort. He was a blend between a bear and human, an ursinal, and was covered in a thick coat of dark brown fur. He snorted and grumbled about something he read. This was Zennef. Something caught his eye and he reluctantly tore his attention from the ancient tome and diverted to what appeared to be an owl gazing down at him from a nearby tree.
“Galeda! We have a visitor!” he bellowed over to his comrade.
The blade of energy flickered out of existence and Galeda strolled over. Zennef indicated the owl, who hopped out of the tree and changed into a human form.
“So, what news do you bring us?” Zennef asked, “Neelah, right? If I remember correctly you’re one of Talisad’s personal assistants.”
“If Tesnar is back already I’ll be pleasantly surprised,” Galeda added, “But if we’re finally being allowed to do something that’ll be just as good.”
“Erm, no, Tesnar isn’t back yet but you are wanted to do something” Neelah replied, and Galeda smiled, “Talisad wants you two to assemble a team to go to Oerth as soon as possible. It’s very important.”
Galeda rose an eyebrow, it wasn’t what he expected. Zennef’s expression didn’t change much, but he turned to Galeda and they began discussing candidates. While they debated Neelah noticed the aura they gave off, the power they had accumulated over time was almost tangible. It was a little like the feeling of power Talisad gave off.
“Hey Neelah,” Galeda said, getting her attention.
“Hmm?” she replied, her thoughts brought back to the situation.
“We want you in the team, interested?”
“Me?”
“You’re a psion of no small skill, we’d like you to come along,” Galeda explained.
The request was unexpected, but she was quick to accept. It took only a few minutes for Galeda and Zennef to make up their minds on whom else they wanted along.
“I think that covers our bases fairly well,” Zennef said, to which Galeda nodded, “Neelah, if you’d be so kind as to ask the others to meet us here before we go talk to Prince Talisad it would be much appreciated.”
“No problem at all,” she replied, and left.
“Any luck most of them won’t already be out addressing the chaos. You know, this reminds me of that time, with that weird diviner-” Galeda started.
“Yeah, I think that’s what this is about,” Zennef said solemnly, “Great time for Tesnar to have other business to attend to isn’t it?”
Galeda looked grim.
“Some of us won’t be coming back,” he said.
Zennef didn’t reply.[/sblock]
* * * * *
When the sphere was sealed:
[sblock]Hachiman blinked, stupefied, as he felt the sudden absence of the divinities. Friend and foe alike, those not on Oerth, had suddenly seemed to cease existing. He thought he had prepared himself for whatever event was going to happen, but this he did not expect. How bad was the situation outside of Oerth? How bad was the situation on Oerth? Who was being isolated from whom, he asked silently, and why?
The effect was devastating, especially in Zindia, but tragedy was averted through the adaption of carefully laid plans to an unexpected turn of events. Hachiman finally revealed himself to the populations at large, showing them they are not completely alone, which did a lot to prevent unmanageable chaos.
There were many questions in Hachiman’s mind, but one forced its way into the forefront. If the guardinals weren’t here already, how could they get in now?[/sblock]
* * * * *
Back to the present:
[sblock]“My lord,” an elven diplomat bowed and addressed the Emperor, “The elves of the Aliador, and their elven neighbours, have asked to evacuate some of their children here. With the location and true nature of their dwelling revealed they fear a coming conflict, and wish for their young ones to have safety.”
“A logical progression of events from the initial discovery. How many refugees are we going to have to accommodate?” The Emperor replied.
“Numbers are undetermined yet, sir, they are still determining where their children can take refuge,” the elf said.
Emperor Noru turned to an ogre mage sitting nearby.
“Gul’thor, could you government handle the influx?” he asked.
“A simple matter, when compared to other matters at hand,” Gul’Thor replied.
“It can be done then, both Nippon and Zindia are willing to open their borders to the elven refugees. We will guard them as though they were our own children,” he says, but seeing another country doubt their ability to protect their own children, he asks himself whether he is able to protect his own in addition to the elves.
A few rooms away Hachiman sat before another delegation. This time of devils. Hachiman’s eyes bore into them, critical of every sound that left their lips. They felt his scrutiny, but kept their cool, not doing so would cost them greatly.
“The opportunity to advance technology at a rate far beyond natural limits… I expect a price for this, even after we’ve modified it to suit our own tastes, nothing is free,” he said, his voice unnaturally stern.
The devil sitting opposite him was calm, and his response came naturally. He had prepared long for this meeting, predicting who would have been placed opposite him.
“There’s always an exception to the rule, Hachiman. Even if you are correct, how can you refuse? There are others out there who will accept our offer, and with their new found strength, seek to take from others. You will need to defend yourself, and the highest forms of magic are too costly without a strong economy to fuel the research.”
Hachiman’s gaze did not falter, and the devil felt a niggle of doubt as Hachiman appeared to see right through him.
“We shall accept your offering, to a degree,” Hachiman said.[/sblock]
* * * * *
A little later:
[sblock]Hachiman’s friends had finally arrived. A dozen guardinals stood about in their human forms, gathered in the royal gardens. Hachiman stands before them, a vaguely confused look on his face.
“We got in before the sphere sealed, but there were a number of distractions, I’m sorry for our late arrival,” Zennef said.
Behind him, a few of the guardinals looked a little sheepish at the mention of this.
“Where’s Tesnar? And Fior? And…?” Hachiman started, directing his question to Galeda and Zennef, the rest he wasn’t familiar with.
“Matters are grave outside of the sphere as well as within, these are all the guardinals who could be spared,” Galeda explained.
“Do not worry, Hachiman-san, they are reliable,” Zennef said, and started introducing those who came along.[/sblock]
* * * * *
Nippon and Zindia humbly request to sign the Treaty of Miranda and the Treaty of the Araphid Isles.
Edena, any elven refugees are welcomed into Nippon and Zindia, and though they might be somewhat safer there, Emporer Noru is insistant that they are still at some risk. (The presence of the guardinals though isn’t widely known, even amoung the populace of Nippon and Zindia.)
Also, any drow who have fallen ill within the borders of Zindia and Nippon is given as much medical aid as possible. The demigod, Hachiman, attends to those who have fallen ill where possible.
OOC: Rikandur, I think you may be going a tad far to be taking such liberties with Edena’s PL. I could understand Iuz's presence at the little demipower standoff going on, but to simply be in the right place at the right time and so easily liberate about 2 epic PL of artefacts from another player is not only unfair in my opinion, but if the other powers present saw Iuz wearing those (supposedly drow-owned) artefacts and attacking a demipower who was protecting the drow, I believe it would be him to be seen violating the TEC pact.
Serpenteye – PRIVATE
[sblock]Sorry to be dumping more on you on top of the events already happening in the IC thread, but it’s about time I made my first post to the IC thread, including a few actions to take if the Drow Withdrawal happens.
Like mentioned above, non-magical aid, non-divine magics, and Hachiman himself will be trying to aid drow in Nippon and Zindian territory who have fallen ill. Although, the 2 epic PL and 10 of the elite PL assigned to tasks mentioned in my template will divert their attentions to the great city. This task force redirected to the Great City are the guardinals aligned with Hachiman. They secretly go about helping/healing the drow in whatever way they can, but are on call should anything happen back on or under home turf. Will send you an email if Iuz starts demolishing cities underneath Zindian or Nipponese territory.[/sblock]
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
