Metropolis - The Weight of the World (and Found Wanting)

[Phoenix]

Jazick keeps a tight grip on the rope as Jen reaches for the scepter, his eyes keen for any change in the spirit's activity.

Jazick watched as Jen carefully lifted the delicate sceptre from the brace that held it. Instantly she became possibly the wealthiest person in the city, there was nothing that could compare to the riches that the sceptre represented.

The spirits began to howl and twist suddenly, a gale-force wind seemed to erupt from the shaft as dozens more spirits spilled into the chamber, screaming and wailing. Jen struggled to simply stay on the platform as the wind threatened to toss her into the air.

The screams of the dead filled the chamber, and though all of the noise both Jen and Jazick could hear them scream the same thing.

"Choose me!"​

 

[Phoenix]

Phoenix:
[sblock]
Alexi walked back from the pit to the three shining beacons of light.

"So I was the only among us to be honest and truthful upon our meeting. And for that I had weapons drawn against me. Had you three no faith in Metropolis? Had you not trusted in her to find champions?" Alexi shakes his head.

"In any case we are here. We may drop all pretenses, all pretexts and face this as brothers." says Alexi as he hold the tip of his sword out before him. "The time has come for all of us to face an evil that is terrible. To become the saviours of this city. We four have been brought here by divine guidance, and so we walk and are guided by it's grace and blessings. Let us press forward, newly uncloaked to each other, and show our glory upon this ancient fell evil so that it may tremble before it's doom come at last."
[/sblock]

The three knights looked ashamed momentarily before meeting Alexi's gaze resolutely. Each stepped forward with determination and courage. Dragon pulled back his visor to speak.

"Alexi, you are truely a better man than us. If we are to fall here this day to a nameless evil, then it will be because of our own weaknesses, not your leadership. We accept the fate that the city has given us."

 

[Fenris]

The three knights looked ashamed momentarily before meeting Alexi's gaze resolutely. Each stepped forward with determination and courage. Dragon pulled back his visor to speak.

"Alexi, you are truely a better man than us. If we are to fall here this day to a nameless evil, then it will be because of our own weaknesses, not your leadership. We accept the fate that the city has given us."

"Then my brothers, let us face that which we are destined to face, forthright and openly, without hesitation or reservation. Who among us does not have weaknesses, for are we not flesh? Yet it is through our flesh that Metropolis shall be healed. But only because we are pure of heart, so long as our hearts our pure evil cannot assail them. Remember always that it was She who chose us, and I for one trust in her judgement to have united me with my brothers. Now let us face our nameless foe without fear, but with a keen eye. Dragon, Boar what advice do you have? It is my guess that we will need to find the source of this evil, and only then will we know how to combat it, if even we can"

 

[Scotley]

Jazick

Jazick plants his feet firmly and grips the rope as best he can. "Jen," he shouts, "what do they want? Can you calm them with the Scepter?"

 

[Tonks]

[sblock=Phoenix]"Where are we..."

The question escaped before Azot realized it and he turned to look back at the pulsating heart in the room before the halfling could answer him. He watched the sickly mass of muscle flex in and out with a macabre fascination and realized he had seen a similar sight as this when Sebek had appeared to him.

'Could it have only been two days ago? It seems like months now...'

Forcing his eyes away from the heart, Azot faced the halfling shaman again and noticed he had not moved an inch from where he sat.

"I am Azot, scion of Sebek, and again I ask you, where are we?"[/sblock]

 

[Phoenix]

[sblock=Phoenix]"Where are we..."

The question escaped before Azot realized it and he turned to look back at the pulsating heart in the room before the halfling could answer him. He watched the sickly mass of muscle flex in and out with a macabre fascination and realized he had seen a similar sight as this when Sebek had appeared to him.

'Could it have only been two days ago? It seems like months now...'

Forcing his eyes away from the heart, Azot faced the halfling shaman again and noticed he had not moved an inch from where he sat.

"I am Azot, scion of Sebek, and again I ask you, where are we?"[/sblock]

[sblock=Azot]Taran smiles a little, a mischevous glint in his eye. For a moment he seemed to waver a little, as if he were little more than a reflection in water, existing, but only to mirror another. "This is it Azot, this is the Heart of Metropolis. She's real, she's alive, and this is where the lifeblood of everything pumps from."[/sblock]

 

[Tonks]

[sblock=Azot]Taran smiles a little, a mischevous glint in his eye. For a moment he seemed to waver a little, as if he were little more than a reflection in water, existing, but only to mirror another. "This is it Azot, this is the Heart of Metropolis. She's real, she's alive, and this is where the lifeblood of everything pumps from."[/sblock]

[sblock=Phoenix]Azot felt his head swim as he realized deep in his soul that the halfling was telling the truth, an impossible truth to be sure, but the truth all the same. Here was the birthplace of Sebek and all of the gods of Metropolis, the birthplace of the first street and building, the beginning of all things and now the beginning of the end of all things...

"How..how can she die? I know the wildlings are savage bastards, but they are little worse than the skin peddlers and black lotus dealers who infest her. Where are the bright knights they sing of in the cities, those who pray to the gods of light? How can it be that the wardens of the Under world, have to save those in the Upper? How is it that you came to be here?"

The flood of questions came unbidden, but here in the heart of the city for the first time in his life Azot felt humbled and small. When he had seen Sebek, he had felt honored to be chosen as a hunter and a bringer of justice, but here...here he felt like a tadling swimming in the sewer. Small and lost... [/sblock]

 

[Bront]

"No, all of you stay where you are. Now is not the time," Jen says. She tries to will things to die down through the sceptre."

 

[Phoenix]

"No, all of you stay where you are. Now is not the time," Jen says. She tries to will things to die down through the sceptre."

The spirits wailed and moaned with more intensity, and as Jen stood in the centre of the storm she could see down into the depths of the well. If there was a bottom, it was lost in the blue haze that seemed to clamber up the well towards her. There we hundreds, if not thousands, of spirits that seemed to be drawn to her. It seemed not only the living coveted the sceptre…

She tried to force her will upon the spirits as well as the sceptre, but she knew barely what I was for, what it could do. No magic seemed to spring forth, no powers leaped to her aid, no light of hope appeared.

 

[Phoenix]

[sblock=Phoenix]Azot felt his head swim as he realized deep in his soul that the halfling was telling the truth, an impossible truth to be sure, but the truth all the same. Here was the birthplace of Sebek and all of the gods of Metropolis, the birthplace of the first street and building, the beginning of all things and now the beginning of the end of all things...

"How..how can she die? I know the wildlings are savage bastards, but they are little worse than the skin peddlers and black lotus dealers who infest her. Where are the bright knights they sing of in the cities, those who pray to the gods of light? How can it be that the wardens of the Under world, have to save those in the Upper? How is it that you came to be here?"

The flood of questions came unbidden, but here in the heart of the city for the first time in his life Azot felt humbled and small. When he had seen Sebek, he had felt honored to be chosen as a hunter and a bringer of justice, but here...here he felt like a tadling swimming in the sewer. Small and lost... [/sblock]

[sblock=Azot]“There are knights, heroes, champions. Just not like people remember in the old days. I was one, well I guess I still am, so was Twitchy. There were many of us, we helped the city survive a while ago, though most of us are dead now, or mostly dead.

“Seemed that the city was dying, not through anyone’s direct fault, she was just polluted and old, there was no life in her left to give. Children were stillborn, the dead would not die, the city was choking on its own filth. She tried to save herself by reaching out for help, but the first man she trusted, Zimmerman, abused her and used her power for his own to attempt to escape the city. He did a great deal of harm, tore a hole in the fabric of reality, opened the city to the darkness beyond its walls.

“We stopped him, killed him, more than killed him I think…but the damage was done. I’ve been trying to fix it, heal it, but once the Void has a foothold in the city it uses it to tear the hole wider. It’s grasping through the city walls, feeding off the city, and often this form of power draws creatures of evil to assist it make the wound grow, allowing it to eventually suck everything into the all-consuming Void.”[/sblock]