Welcome to Dark Age Legends, chapter 2 sign ups! Chapter 2 will pick up where chapter 1 left off, but due to the break in the action, this is an excellent point to jump in if you haven?t already. If you haven?t been following the story the entire way through, don?t worry. You are not expected to read the entire RP-- just the summary and guidelines below. However, if you never played in an RP before (particularly this one) you may want to read a random page or two in the middle to get a sense of how everything works (don?t read page 1, since we got off to a rough start, heh?) Chapter 1 players should also read this, as there are a few minor adjustments.
ThemeA fantasy medieval type deal. Magic is encouraged. Technology should be low (but a few weird inventions are okay). Guns are permitted if you really want them, but they shouldn't be too effective.
ArchivesThe automatically updated <a href='
http://darkage.mysticsoftware.net/dal/viewer.php?id=472' target='_blank'>DAL Archives</a> might be easier to read than the topic on this forum, if you want look back at the story (it?s just a script that reads from the forum database and strips off all the signature, avatar clutter, etc.) This is useful if you want to save some pages to your harddrive.
Background Story (Chapter 1 prelude)The nation of Romme is located on a mid-sized island, about a three day walk from the northern to southern most point by foot. The castle and capital city are located at the northern most edge. The island also contains a port town and several smaller villages.
King Romme has received word that a mysterious "Black Army" has landed on the southern shore and is advancing straight for the castle... Quite alarmed, he sent several scouts to find out the meaning of this trespassing. None have returned. What could be the meaning of this? The long war with Tjed ended 10 years ago. Could they want revenge? No, the two kings were on good terms now. Finally, a name was extracted: The Dark Empire. Foreign invaders...
The castle was prepared for war. The town was evacuated to inside the stronger castle walls while the soldiers took up their positions just inside the outer town wall. This is where they'll meet them...
Chapter 1 Summary(Yes, this is way longer than I though, but at least give it a skim.)
Chaos erupts as soon as the Dark Empire arrives on the scene. Draven, a powerful sorcerer of fire and the high general of the dark army, leads his forces in a devastating assault on the defenders of Romme, lead by the aging knight Iduran. But the assault doesn?t go as smoothly as planned. An air mage and officer of the Dark Empire turned traitor, Scorch, lays waste to the soldiers of his former nation along with the heroic yet mysterious Zeros?. Draven himself duels the young assassin martial artist Sigilus and is unable to respond the assaults on his army, sending his officer Kail to do the job, who ultimately dies in the fray. Before ?getting serious? with his adversary, Draven makes Sigilus an offer he can?t refuse and Sigilus switches sides, now attacking the already battle weary Iduran.
Draven now turns his sights on his old ally, Scorch, who has been wounded by the scythe of a wraith that serves Draven. But Scorch manages to catch Draven off guard with a berserk lightning strike, and crawls away to safety. After recovering, Draven goes ballistic, sending a massive orb of flame into the forest Scorch escaped into, causing utter destruction. Thinking his enemy is dead, Draven makes his way to the castle, which has now been secured by his troops. At the same time, Iduran and Sigilus both land critical blows, incapacitating each other.
In the meantime, we learn of Duilin, a soldier forced to join the Dark Empire against his will, and his commanding officer Darion, who (successfully) tries to turn Draven against the soldier. The brash Duilin decides enough is enough and confronts Draven in the castle?s throne room, along with a Romme solder named Patrick, who dies rather quickly. Soon Sigilus, restored to full health by a mysterious medallion he found earlier, and a not-so-dead Scorch enter the fray. Chaos erupts as the two powerful mages, Draven and Scorch, lock horns for the second time, totally destroying the room. Scorch manages to escape with a teleportation spell, and, unbeknownst to Draven, the battle resumes around Iduran who is still lying injured outside. Duilin manages to kill Darion, but Draven spots the fray from afar due to Scorch?s lightning spells and arrives on the scene, blasting Duilin unconscious with a single attack.
Draven immediately recognizes Iduran?s sword-- his true goal in attacking Romme. But before he can obtain it, Scorch teleports Iduran and himself to safety. In the meantime, Duilin regains his senses and sneaks into the castle. Because he is still wearing the armor of the Dark Empire, he manages to trick the occupying soldiers into barring the door, which adds much to Draven?s vexation later.
Scorch?s teleportation spell lands him and Iduran inside the castle with Duilin. Iduran recovers slightly from a healing potion, but his wound continues to trouble him for the rest of the chapter. After fighting off some soldiers, the trio manage to escape from a castle window. The plan is to follow the shoreline along the northern edge of the island to safety, but their escape is soon foiled by Sigilus, who alerts Draven.
Round 4 of Draven vs. Scorch is the wildest, most intense battle in the chapter. Scorch begins by using winds spells to create huge waves by the beachfront which Sigilus disappears into (for good?). While in the water, the trio meets a shape-shifting Gepardi named Cheetah who helps get Iduran, Duilin, and an aquatic dog-like animal named Gedi to safety while Scorch effectively distracts Draven. Draven and Scorch go all out high above the castle, causing much damage to the surrounding towers and the foundation and walls of the castle itself.
In the meantime, Iduran speaks of a cave used as a base by the soldiers of Romme where the new party, consiting of himself, Cheetah, Duilin, and Gedi can regroup and rest. He leads the way there, or tries to at least, as approaching a wrong cave leads to a battle with a giant ice serpent, which is defeated due to the efforts of Duilin and Cheetah. Cheetah claims this beast?s form as his newest transformation.
The battle between Draven and Scorch moves to the interior of the castle as Scorch gets blasted through a stone ceiling. Moving to the demolished throne room where they fought earlier, Draven appears to be gaining the upper hand, blinding Scorch with a fiery attack. But just as Scorch begins to escape via a doorway, the room, along with a good chunk off the castle, collapses upon Draven and buries him in a mountain of rubble. Scorch manages to escape to by the beachfront, but his wounds overcome him and he collapses.
Iduran and company come by another cave, this one haunted by the ghost of the Romme soldier Patrick. After making the confused soul realize his fate, the party makes it to their destination at last. Iduran is lead to a room within the cave where his extensive wounds are to be treated, and the rest of the party helps them selves to new armor and weapons and settle in for the night.
Meanwhile, Draven breaks free of the rubble and, thinking Scorch must be trapped underneath, attacks the remains of the castle with an explosive fire spell, causing even more of the castle to collapse. Satisfied, he returns his military base within the destroyed town and makes plans to find Iduran?s sword.
Scorch is rescued by Nagash, an earth mage allied with Romme, and some archers. His health is restored except for his sight, but the earth mage grants him a new power of sensory vision, in which he can identify sources of energy around him. Scorch and Nagash set out after Draven, but an argument and conflict between the two leaves Scorch crippled once again and gets him captured by a group of Dark soldiers. Draven, who is surprised to see Scorch still alive, has him chained up in a burned out building and placed under heavy guard.
This is where the story continues?
Rules (Important! Extended and clarified from last time.)There are two types of people in the RP: characters and NPCs.
You can have up to
three active characters (who you'll set up here). These are your characters and your characters alone. No one can control them but you.
NPCs are more flexible. Often you?ll see some soldiers, villagers, monsters, or other non important characters. Generally, anyone can create and use these characters. But if someone is using a NPC in a character like fashion, it?s probably best not to control it for them. Generally NPCs die off or leave the story in some way after a few posts, so posting them on the sign-up isn?t necessary.
As far as the story goes, anything can happen as long as it's in good taste and doesn't disrupt the flow of the RP. The only restriction is that you don't control other players' characters. i.e. If you throw a fireball at someone, you let them decide whether they get hit by it or not.
That said, no immortal god-like characters! This is a story, not a game, and there are no winners or losers. Your characters can be strong, but they should have weaknesses as well.
Be descriptive! Especially when you're entering a place of your own design. Try and build off of other posters' descriptions as well. This is important, as it?s easier to tell what?s going on if you know where you?re at.
Try not to post more than once or twice a day... this is mostly so I don't get left behind (heh...).
On the other hand, try and stop in to update at least once a day!
Three day rule: If you are fighting someone and your opponent doesn?t post for three days, assume they were hit by your attack and knocked unconscious (heh?)
PlacesSo we?re on the same page of what?s going on where, and who?s there.
The town surrounding Romme Castle -- has been totally destroyed though the battles, save a few buildings. Now it serves as a military camp where Draven and the remnants of his forces reside. Scorch is imprisoned here.
Romme Castle -- is in bad shape. Half of it is rubble and the other half is crumbling. But weren?t there some villagers locked in its dungeon?
The forests south of Romme -- largely burned by some of Draven?s attacks. Portions are still burning. Dark Soldier search parties are scattered around, looking for Iduran and his sword.
The cave southeast of the castle -- the last stronghold of the nation of Romme. A few of their soldiers have made it here alive. Iduran, Cheetah, Duilin, and Gedi are resting here.
Draven?s Armada -- a group of ships located at the very southern tip of the island where Draven made his landing. Largely unvisited in chapter 1. Should have some Dark Soldiers in them.
Any other place on the island you want to add during the course of the RP is fair game!
CommentsChapter 1 was nicely done. I?d like to congratulate Mark of the Dragon for sticking though a large chunk of the RP, Dude Man for joining early on and staying to the end, and Cesque for seeing it the whole way through!
The only thing I?d like to see different in chapter 2 is a bit less dependence on me. It seemed in chapter 1 a lot of the time everyone was completely focused on following my two characters (Draven and Iduran) and their only actions were reactions to my characters or events that I set up (there are obviously some exceptions). This is perfectly fine in the beginning, but now that the RP is well on its way, I?d like to see some more independence and innovation. To encourage this, Iduran is going to be out of commission in at least the beginning of chapter 2 due to his wounds. He is going to send those that were following him (and hopefully a newcomer or two) off on an important quest in the opposite direction of Draven into the unexplored innards of the island without any descriptive help from me. So get ready!
Characters(Almost? done?)
To start, post your characters in this thread. Continuing chapter 1 players should repost their characters as well. You should include the following information:
Name:Gender:Race: Can be pretty much anything
Age:Job:Weapon(s): plus a description, if necessary
Alliance: Whether he/she is aligned with the Romme Kingdom, the Dark Empire, or something of your own design (or no one at all!)
Description: Physical appearance
Bio: A short background. Perhaps just his/her immediate past, but can be more in depth if you want.
Chapter 1 Bio: If your character was in chapter 1, give a very short description of what he/she did.
Here's mine:
Name: Draven
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Age: 25
Job: High General
Weapon: none
Alliance: Dark Empire
Description: Standing just under six feet tall, Draven has long black hair tied back at the shoulder and a piercing glance. His armor, black with red trim, is light and flexible. His gloves and boots are dark brown. His cape, dark red on the inside and black on the outside, sports a four-winged dragon insignia shaped out of red lines on the back-- the insignia of the Dark Empire.
Bio:The overly pompous Draven lead the menacing army that destroyed Romme. He knows basic spells in other elements and some black magic, but his true passion, his obsession rather, is fire magic. He commands the fire element with devastating ease. He does not use a physical weapon, but sometimes likes to form a blade of fire to use as a sword.
In chapter 1:Draven displays his absolute will to command at several points. He had several battles with the traitor Scorch, who quickly became his rival. In addition to his crimson blade attack, we see a massively destructive gargantuan fireball he conjures when angry, he trademark aura of flame that surrounds him as he gathers more energy, and the ability to levitate himself.
Name: Iduran
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Age: 58
Job: Knight Captain
Weapon: Broadsword, unusually ornate with a beautiful red gem in the handle. It's said to be his family heirloom.
Alliance: Romme
Description:Iduran is a tall man, standing at 6'4". His short, once brown hair is graying with age, although he still has his cold, steely glance. His metalic gray armor is heavy, but he moves in it with ease. His cape is a light blue.
Bio:The aging Iduran is King Romme's most trusted knight. But he is no longer the invincible warrior he once was. Still, his swordsmanship is unmatched throughout the kingdom. He also has great experience on his side, having credit for successfully ending the war with the nearby Kingdom of Tjed 10 years earlier. He has been put in charge of defending the castle against the impending attack of the Dark Empire. In battle, he relies mostly on his sword, although he does know a few basic wind spells.
In chapter 1:We find out that the sword Iduran holds is why Draven attacked. Iduran feels it contains some sort of power, but he does not know how to utilize it. Near the beginning Iduran suffers a wound that plagues him for the rest of the chapter.
Chapter 2 will begin in a week or so!
(Yes, this is the longest post ever, heh?)
