Prepare for the #LodanRespawn2024 Existing characters may choose to be displace from/have memories of different timelines, thereby allowing returning members the option to retcon their whole character. These changes are the result of the "Unnatural Fog" plot device that is running between now and the Respawn. The plot is simple: no matter where your character is, that place is shrouded in a thick fog that suspends time, but not thoughts or memories, so even if they're repeating the same day over and over again, they continue to remember, so each time feels like a new day. For those retconning OCs; this is where new versions of themselves have the opportunity to replace the old versions. Official lore and tree updates will be announced asap
"Well," he began, not sure he liked having the spotlight placed back on him, but he would oblige. "I'm not exactly sure to tell you the truth. I mean, this was never something I planned on. My parents dropped me into military school as a way to keep me out of trouble. Believe it, or not, I was a rather rebelous child." He paused to hack away at some thick undergrowth with the rusty sword. Placing it back into his belt again, he continued, "It took me a long time to accept my place, and I guess after the war I was the only one left with the qualifications." He didn't look at all happy about it, and he didn't dare go into detail about the time in betweeen. No one outside of Alistair knew about his dead family, and he would keep it that way. A first date was no place to bring out all your dirty laundry.
"So, with all that education and finery shoved in your face, why did you run away?" They had at least another mile to go if he guessed correctly, and if they were even going in the right direction. Might as well give her the ball again.
Post by Caitlin Cockfoster on Jul 9, 2014 2:32:45 GMT
Caitlin let go of his arm as he hacked away with the sword, and was happy to have her two hands to herself again. She listened to his story, noting the tone of distaste in his voice. He didn't revel in the glory of his post it seemed. Something had soured him, but she didn't fault him for not telling her. Then he asked her about her own insubordination and she paused to rethink her inner leniency on him keeping his secrets to himself. His question was the obvious question though, wasn't it? Given the way they'd met, or met the second time at least?
"I was engaged." she said, surprising herself with the truth. Sure she was a pirate before that, but she was moonlighting as a pirate while still playing the dutiful daughter - up until the engagement. That was the kink in her lifestyle she ran away from.. "To sir Cohen, I only just found out at the Baron's ball, when he announced it to everyone and had me meet the man for the first time, in a masquerade mask!" Her voice rose a little in indignation but she forced herself to calm down. She didn't like holding a grudge against the dead. She cleared her throat and looked down at her boots. "I shouldn't have run, it wasn't fair to my betrothed, and it was the last thing I did before he died. Terrible thing to leave on a mans conscious when he dies... but once I did run, I just didn't think I could, or should come back."
She sat her glass down next to the decanter and leaned back. This was nice... like falling into a vat of marshmallow fluff. Calm, muffled, the rest of the world blocked out by the closed door to his cabin, and here they were safe inside. Safe from reality, safe from their own complicated lives. Safe from duty. Safe from context. Just. Safe. --Caitlin
He didn't really know how to respond to that. So, she'd been engaged, and he died. He wondered if she'd cared about him at all before he'd met his untimely end. Still, it meant they both knew loss. His family, her mother, who knew what else she'd had to endure in her past. Lodan had never been the easiest of places to live, even for those of high social standing.
His mind reeled, trying to think of something to say in response, but luckly he was spared from having something stuipid roll of his tongue by the noise up ahead. He could hear voices in the distances and the ground here looked heavily trod upon. He kneeled down, examining the strange tracks. There were footprints there, but there was something else as well. Two evenly spaced tracks that could have been left by a ground car, but they were too thick for that. Each depression was about two feet across and had enough force to compress the grass and rock underneat it. He'd never seen anything like it.
"Well, something is definitely going on down here," he said, looking over to Cait. It also looked like their date was about to get interupted yet again. Now all he needed was for this mystery machine to involve William and the circle would be complete.
Post by Caitlin Cockfoster on Jul 9, 2014 4:57:48 GMT
Look, and you shall find. No matter what you think is or isn't out there, if you look for it, you will find something. And Skye found something alright. "what is it?" She asked, baffled by the tracks in the ground. She inspected the marks too, but came up with a blank. Her hands went for her sword, and she had to blink back a moments confusion when she remembered yet again that she was unarmed. Well hell... Her gaze snapped up to the Commanders. "Are you sure we should be doing this? Looking for trouble right now?" She was whispering, her voice dropping so that no one would hear if they were nearby.
yay a mystery!
She sat her glass down next to the decanter and leaned back. This was nice... like falling into a vat of marshmallow fluff. Calm, muffled, the rest of the world blocked out by the closed door to his cabin, and here they were safe inside. Safe from reality, safe from their own complicated lives. Safe from duty. Safe from context. Just. Safe. --Caitlin
"I wish I knew," Skye said in response to her question before standing back to his full height. The tracks were heading strait for the city. Sure it was possible that this was just some inventor, out here playing with a new toy, but what if it wasn't. Cait's question only added to his own doubts. Should they be out here looking for trouble right now? He had a rusty sword and his wits, and what if something happened to Cait while he was investigating? If they broke off now, they could circle wide and come back into town from a different direction. He could get geared up and come back out...but what if it was too late? He made decisions like this on a daily basis, but they were decisions his men had signed up for. This was different.
"Listen, I know you didn't sign up for this. Hopefully it's something harmless, but if it turns out to be a threat to Lodan, I have to try and stop it. It's your choice whether you're up for that. I promise I won't hold it against you if you decide to head back to the glider and wait for a pickup." he waited for an answer to the question wondering what must be going through her mind as well.
Post by Caitlin Cockfoster on Jul 10, 2014 5:07:19 GMT
She listened to his proposition and bit her bottom lip. Caitlin looked down at the rusty sword on his hip and suddenly imagined Skye trying to fight his way out of danger with that old thing. No. She couldn't leave the commander out here alone. He didn't have any of his men, he didn't have a plan, he was just stumbling across an opportunity and taking it no matter the risks. She didn't want to wait by the glider for a man who was never coming back.... She couldn't face herself if she turned her back now and left him to a very possible death.
"No thank you, I'd rather stay with you than be by myself out there," She tipped her head back toward the way they came and gave a fake shiver even though it was warm enough to start sweating out here. She grabbed the commanders hand and gave a brief squeeze before tugging off her bright green blouse, wearing only a nude colored camisole underneath and her tan hide riding breeches. She looked around for something to cover her golden hair, but she found nothing. Well hell, she was even less prepared than the commander, but she did have something he didn't... and she prayed she wouldn't have to use it in front of him.
She sat her glass down next to the decanter and leaned back. This was nice... like falling into a vat of marshmallow fluff. Calm, muffled, the rest of the world blocked out by the closed door to his cabin, and here they were safe inside. Safe from reality, safe from their own complicated lives. Safe from duty. Safe from context. Just. Safe. --Caitlin
He noded and squeezed her hand back before looking in the direction the tracks were heading. "Ok, plan is to sneak up as close as we can get, do a bit of recon and figure out what exactly this thing is and what these people out here are trying to do. If possible I'll wait until one of them wonders off to make water or the like and take them out. Hopefully we can get some real weapons out of that." He grinned just thinking about it. Now here was some real adventure.
He turned back just as she was stripping off her top and cocked his head slightly, then realized he was stareing. Not that anyone could complain, she was very...well proportioned. He turned his head away quickly and reached into his jacket, pulling out a small rectangular device with a button on the side. He pushed the button and set it on the ground, then turned to Cait. "Alright, follow me," the grin was still there as he headed back into the tree line next to the path this machine had carved through the undergrowth.
He moved slowly, carefully with each step not to make an excess of noise. It wasn't as important now, but when they got closer, the crack of a broken branch would give them away as easily as a shout. At that speed it took them another half an hour to get close to the men and the device. Skye motioned for them to crouch down as he took stock. The thing was huge, at least twice the size of a steam buggy. It was rolling forward on treads of metal like a conveyer belt. It was quite boxy, and on the front was a large arm with a spinning saw blade that was clearing the brush and trees before it while mounted on the top of the device was three cylindrical tubes.
Four men were escorting the device with one person driving the machine from a platform on the back next to a pipe that was spewing black smoke out. What were they burning to power the thing? The men were all armed with rifles and swords and dressed in brown military fatigues. Perhaps they bore some markings, but Skye couldn't tell from their vantage point. Worse, they were all speaking to each other in a language Skye could not understand. "Yeah, I would categorize this as bad."
Post by Caitlin Cockfoster on Jul 10, 2014 23:55:11 GMT
Caitlin's feet hurt. These shoes were made for riding, not for trekking. She missed her boots. She looked down at her feet when they crouched in the foliage, reached for the buckles on the top and unsnapped them. They loosened a tad and gave her the slightest bit of relief. What she saw terrified her. What the hell was that thing? Technology frightened her on a fundamental level as it was, but how could there be someone steamrolling through the borderlands without the head of the EIRALs knowing about it? It certainly wasn't their nemesis the M.I. Anders would have nothing to do with - that - thing.
When he spoke she simply nodded in reply. It was an understatement in her opinion but if he was going to be brave about it, the least she could do was try to be too. "I can hear them but I can't tell what they're saying. It doesn't sound like English," She whispered to him, never taking her eyes off of the dangerous strangers riding in front.
She sat her glass down next to the decanter and leaned back. This was nice... like falling into a vat of marshmallow fluff. Calm, muffled, the rest of the world blocked out by the closed door to his cabin, and here they were safe inside. Safe from reality, safe from their own complicated lives. Safe from duty. Safe from context. Just. Safe. --Caitlin
He sighed and sat down on the grass, there was nothing to do but watch them for now and hope some of his people got the message and came running. "I bet you're wishing you'd stuck with fencing training instead." he offered a smile and shook his head as he watched her undo her riding shoes. "I'm sorry to drag you into this. Obviously I'm going to have to assign air patrols to cover further outside of the city in the future. Not that that's going to do anything for our current predicament."
He watched as the men moved forward, letting them get a bit more of a head start. The machine came up against a tree and the blade slashed out cutting through the trunk until the tree topled over. It then cut the tree up into pieces which the men fed back into the machine. It was ingenious, but who built it, and how had they gotten it this close to the city under the radar. Obviously it hadn't driven over the mountains, so was it an airship, under cover of darkness. His men couldn't be everywhere, and he was loath to send out foot patrols into the forest with the beasts roaming about. He'd lost two soldiers already to shadow beasts.
Post by Caitlin Cockfoster on Jul 11, 2014 5:01:44 GMT
She didn't have to think hard about that one. She looked down at herself, bare shoulders and arms, exposed neck and cleavage, but no. blood. That was the important thing. "I'm not regretting our detour, I just hope the next few minutes doesn't change my mind..." Her hair fell over her shoulder in soft golden waves and she frowned at the bright color. She didn't have a hair tie to bread it either. She would just have to deal with it getting in the way and snagging on branches and things.
"maybe we'll get lucky, maybe the shadow beasts will take them out," she thought hopefully. She really did not like vicious technology like what they were driving.
She sat her glass down next to the decanter and leaned back. This was nice... like falling into a vat of marshmallow fluff. Calm, muffled, the rest of the world blocked out by the closed door to his cabin, and here they were safe inside. Safe from reality, safe from their own complicated lives. Safe from duty. Safe from context. Just. Safe. --Caitlin
He nodded. He wasn't reckless, and he certainly wasn't stupid. Those men were soldiers, but not from any military he was familiar with, unless that was the point. No sense dressing your sabotuers in your own uniforms if you don't want them to get caught. These men were also likely armed with more than just swords, and rushing an enemy who held firearms was suicide. He'd just keep pacing them until one of them made a mistake and he could use it agains them. If they made a mistake. If his suspicions were true, they wouldn't be slack enough to wonder off into the woods to releive themselves.
He was also getting a sneaking suspicion as to their purpose here and about the tubes on top of the disturbing machine. "Stay close, help should be coming soon, but we need to keep an eye on this thing." He just hoped help got there before he had to do something stupidly heroic.
Vladov Russ answered the call to arms issued by the homing beacon's activation. He heard the news almost the same moment Lieutenant Izaiah Lutz did. The lieutenant was a sleek and trim man made almost entirely of whipcord muscle. His ash blond hair had the slightest streak of grey through it, betraying his youthful features. As soon as he heard the beacon, he went to rouse the rest of his squad. The man entered the main barracks with Russ on his heels and let out a bellow that belied his small frame. "ALRIGHT YOU LAZY LOUTS! Up and at em! We've got a beacon going off in the forest, so it's time for a field trip! Come on ladies, I don't want to wait all day! We've got to be first on the scene! Lutz's Longshots aren't gonna be said to be slacking if I can help it! So let's sweeten the deal, eh? If we're not there first to answer the call, it's double duty for everyone for two weeks!" The men didn't even need the encouragement. Off duty, Lutz might have been the kind of guy you'd have a beer with. On duty, you didn't question him. You obeyed.
It took no more than ten minutes for all of his men to be assembled with full gear in their combat fatigues. The squad was out of HQ at a brisk jog and headed towards the forest. Ensign Andrew Arling, who was the squad's radio man and a dang good fiddler, took the lead as he guided the unit after the dove. They drew near the edge of the city in short order and Matthew Darling took the lead. The squad fanned out and disappeared into the treeline in short order. Darling guided the company through the forest without a word and lead them through the detours required to avoid the most dangerous of the shadow beasts in the immediate path. It would be a while before the squad arrived. Lieutenant Lutz spoke quietly over the radio so each of his men would hear. "Good job, girls. Since we got to the woods first, we don't have to worry about Johnson's motor company sending some men out to check it out ahead of us. The crazy bastard wouldn't risk sending vehicles into the woods without backup." The rest of the squad chuckled at the comment and pressed on.
Vladov Russ kept a steady pace with the men, though he was further back since he was the only man with a Bulruchian Longrifle in the squad.
Post by Caitlin Cockfoster on Jul 12, 2014 22:01:42 GMT
Caitlin nodded and did as she was told. This was out of her realm, this was clearly military related somehow and so she was relieved not to be the one calling the shots. Normally that might have bothered her, but she had confidence in the man beside her and so didn't feel the need to control the situation or make the hard decisions. Her eyes caught movement in the trees elsewhere and she squinted in that direction. Could it possibly be a shadowbeast? So early in the day, with the sun still shining? If it was then she had a thing or two to tell Danny about his nightly escapades and how it might be safer if the lad worked during the day.
She sat her glass down next to the decanter and leaned back. This was nice... like falling into a vat of marshmallow fluff. Calm, muffled, the rest of the world blocked out by the closed door to his cabin, and here they were safe inside. Safe from reality, safe from their own complicated lives. Safe from duty. Safe from context. Just. Safe. --Caitlin
They had been shadowing the slugish machine for nearly fifteen minutes now. It was cutting a swath through the forest, but it was extremely slow going. How these people figured they would get close to the city without being detected was anyone's guess. For what seemed like the hundredth time, Skye checked the position of the sun once more in relation to where it had been. How long had it been since he'd activated the beacon, and was anyone on their way? Luckily the machine was moving so slowly it would take them a day to get anywhere near the city, but what exactly were they planing to do? They couldn't just drive the thing into town.
That's when he felt a muzzle press into his back. This just wasn't his day.
"Look what I found," the man said in an accent so thick that Skye could hardly understand him. He gestured them both outo of the tree line, while the other men escorting the vehicle all turned to look. No one moved to shoot them, so that was something. Instead, a grizzled man in his late fourties walked up to them and smiled with crooked teeth.
"Welcome Commander. Looks like we've got a rather important hostage here." he gave Cait a look as well, but if he knew who she was, he didn't appear to recognize her.
Post by Caitlin Cockfoster on Jul 22, 2014 4:27:01 GMT
Something likewise burrowed into the soft fabric of Caitlin's chemise and pressed hard against her spine. She stiffened instinctively, doubly fearful of the gun and the technology, though pointlessly since it broke the second it touched her. Somehow she doubted its owner knew that though, and she wasn't interested in staking her life on that assessment. Caitlin rose slowly and held her hands up in the universal sign of non-threatening.
The accent was new to her, something she couldn't place, but they knew who her date was, clearly. Did they know her on sight? If they did, they made no mention of it. More than likely they had no idea who the baron was let alone his daughter. She hoped that would be to her advantage and not to her disadvantage (like if they thought she was disposable). "We were just leaving," she said, knowing the excuse was poor and wouldn't really get them out of the mud, though she had to at least try. For traditions sake.
She sat her glass down next to the decanter and leaned back. This was nice... like falling into a vat of marshmallow fluff. Calm, muffled, the rest of the world blocked out by the closed door to his cabin, and here they were safe inside. Safe from reality, safe from their own complicated lives. Safe from duty. Safe from context. Just. Safe. --Caitlin
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