"When she was just a girl, she expected the world," a dark haired man sang softly while he watched a blue haired woman move around the bar with a broom. "But it flew away from her reach."

He kicked his feet up on the round wooden table in front of him and folded his hands behind his head. He leaned back on the chair
and got comfortable. His black combat boots were caked with sand and only served to make the table dirty. The tan skinned woman snapped her head around to look at him, her eyes narrowed down into slits. Her gaze softened and she walked over to him with a smile.

"You know, you shouldn't dirty the tables while I'm cleaning Xander." She punctuated this with cocking her hip to the side and resting her hand on her curve. She leaned on the broom with her other arm.

He smiled at her but didn't move his feet. "So she ran away in her sleep and dreamed of Para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise-"

She grabbed the back of his chair and pushed him off balance. His arms shot out from behind his head as he attempted to grasp at the wall. His legs went up as he tumbled backwards and he landed with his backside in the air.

"--Every time she closed her eyes." He finished as he straightened himself out and fixed the chair. "We have someone coming by at half past noon, Pahlay."

"Yea, I know. That's why I'm trying to clean, no thanks to you, ya fuckin' dweeb." She chided.

He gave a scoff at her jokingly patronizing tone. Something about her just made him enjoy bothering her to no end. Maybe it was just his way of flirting, hell, that was more than likely the reason. He loved to watch how she moved, how the light played off her bright feathers and how the sash in front of her legs swished. Palekeiko, he mused to himself, what a perfect name for a bird of paradise.

She turned and continued to sweet. "Oh, my sister will be stopping by as well. She's planning to stay with us for a while, I told her it was okay- certainly you have no issue with that, right?" She couldn't help but smirk as she pictured his face going totally white.

"So when's that new person swinging on over? Wouldn't be right now, would it Xander?" She asked as she noticed a figure approaching over the dunes of the beach.

To: Jak Mar <darklighthero@omniverse.com>
From: Dante <tonyredgrave@dmc.com>
Subject: Hello?


Where are you? You kinda left the group suddenly after we made it out of nebula space. Something happened?

I made no attempt to hide my contempt, only begrudgingly depressing the brake and bringing the car to a stop. Sighing disdainfully, I popped the door open and made a prompt exit. I wasn’t keen on taking orders from a woman--especially one with a gun trained on me, however outdated it was--but it wasn’t like there was anything else of interest in Blank White Land anyway.

“It’s...a portal,” Cyril said, striding excitedly toward the archway, his soggy shoes squishing as he walked. The stonework had the look of an ancient castle, just barely wide enough for two people to cross the threshold comfortably. The two dozen or so hewn stones that composed it were grimy and well-worn to relative smoothness.

“As in.. ‘synonym for door’,” I inquired, approaching the gateway, “or...?”

“As in ‘actual magical transportation method’”, he snarked in return, placing a pale hand on the stone. As he did so, the arch’s silvery contents quivered and rippled as if he had disturbed a perpendicular door-shaped pond. “Or is that not obvious?”

“And how do you know that?” I snapped, stepping forward to examine it more closely. “When did you become an expert in fictitious interdimensional travel?” I paused for a moment, a smirk crossing my face. “Wait, don’t answer that. Judging by the LARPing comment and your general...just, demeanor, I imagine you’re more than qualified.”

“Thank-”

“Youbigfatnerd.”

“Oh shut up, Archer.”

“Listen, boys,” Emily interjected, suddenly appeared between Cyril and I. Whether or not she had Wagner-ed her way over or was just naturally quiet was anyone’s guess. “This is clearly the entrance to somewhere. One of you should step through and find out where.”

Silence.

Cyril shook his head. “Well, I’m definitely no-” His complaints promptly ceased as I clapped a hand on his back and forced him through the portal.

Within seconds he re-appeared from beneath the silver ‘surface’ of the portal, stumbling forward with equal parts annoyance, wonder, and disbelief painted on his mug. “It is a portal," he affirmed, eyes refocusing behind his thick glasses. "To someplace...gloomy.”

Without waiting for another word to pass between us, I pushed past the Victorian and the comptroller, traipsing over and beyond the transcendental threshold. My eyes shut instinctively as a feeling of cold coupled with weightlessness crashed over me, only to quickly fall away as readily as it had come. In an instant the nearly blinding white backdrop had been replaced by a somewhat dreary image of countryside, a light spring rain dampening the already muddy path leading away from the portal. I sighed as water droplets spattered against my suit coat, soaking into the expensive wool. A moment later I was joined by Cyril and Emily, the former attempting to conceal a smile.

“I was going to warn you,” the bespectacled man vowed, pulling off his own already-soaked jacket and lifting it over our female companion’s quickly-dampening head. She held up a hand to deny the offer, eliciting a shrug from its owner. “Suit yourself.”

“Were you though?” I inquired, glaring as cool water droplets dribbled down my face.

A pause.

“No.”

“Well thanks for nothing, petty.” With a long sigh I closed my eyes and began to focus, holding out my hands as I got to work summoning. Apparently, I had to do everything

“Making yourself an umbrella?” Figgis chided, crossing his arms over his chest. “We’re already wet, let’s just hurry up and follow this path.” He glanced ahead at a signpost pointing away from the portal. “That sign says a place called ‘Darkshire’ is pretty close.”

“I was ACTUALLY going to summon Genie again,” I retorted, “because I’ll be damned if I walk in this mess if I don’t absolutely have to, which I don’t.”

“And you think your spy car is going to do well on this narrow path through hilly, overgrown terrain?” Cyril challenged, gesturing toward the rough hills visible down the barely-present path.

I sighed, opening my eyes and cancelling the summon. “Do you have any better ideas, idiot?”

“Are you two coming?” Emily called, interrupting our quarrel. I turned to retort, my mouth falling slightly open at the sight of her at the reins of a horse-drawn carriage not ten feet away. Evidently she had somehow managed to conjure up a handsome carriage and twin Clydesdales while we were bickering.

“Uh...yeah, that’ll...work,” I stammered, trudging eagerly through the muck and popping open the lacquered ebony door. “When in Rome, I guess. Or...wherever this is.”

Pinay knelt beneath the hide awning of a lean-to, ensconced beneath the shade of a hoary old oak near the edge of her people's latest encampment. Sweat glistened in her emerald dreadlocks, shining upon the beads and bangles woven within. It trickled down the golden expanse of her forehead, furrowed in concentration as she moved her delicate hands carefully along the length of a damaged blade. The short, curved sword, its edge notched and blunted by vicious abuse, lay upon a flat slab of polished granite. 

She was stuck doing the mending again. 

Pinay didn't mind the work, exactly. There were no longer any Primes among the Oskinder wood-elves, so damaged weapons and equipment had to be repaired either by hand or by spell; the maid was talented with both. Her people rarely forged weapons using heat, preferring to shape metal with magic, coaxing it to find its function in the same way that a sculptor might find the shape within a stone. She'd been studying the process for nearly a century before her tribe was summoned to the Omniverse, and for all that it was taxing, Pinay also found it calming. There was, however, a fine line between 'calm' and 'bored', and there were other things she'd rather be doing; She was a watcher before she was a mender, and after seven hours spent re-weaving frayed plant fibers into wearable garments and reshaping sundered blades, the elf was getting restless.

The metal flowed beneath her fingers, softening and congealing, smoothing over cracks and fissures on the surface, soothing the symptoms of brutal stress that lay deeper within the blade. On the next pass, it began to form an edge.

Pinay sat back and sighed, breathing the cool scents of soil and stone and wiping her brow. The next part of the process was the hardest, and could be done almost as well using a whetstone - and in either case, she simply didn't have the mental energy for it right now. She stood up, brushing the dirt from the knotted grasses of her sleeveless smock, and retrieved the charms and bracelets that made up her Legend from the low table in the back of the hut. The accustomed weight of them was a small comfort that she missed while working, and it felt good to have them back.


Behind her, a familiar voice chimed in, friendly and half-teasing.

"I feel like there's something clever I should say about dull blades and you doing the mending again, but it's just not coming to me." 

Pinay turned, her mouth half-open for a retort, expecting that the next several minutes would be filled by flirting with Jushap, who was kinder than he seemed, and pretty enough to make up for his other shortcomings. 

Instead, she witnessed the end of the world.   

There was Jushap, standing tall and proud of himself, silver-haired, muscular, and dressed for a patrol with his spear resting jauntily against one shoulder - and backlit by an eruption of bright orange-white flames. A wall of sound washed over them both, riveting their attention as the burning cyclone expanded, grew, and solidified into the largest living creature either of them had ever seen. 

Three golden heads, wedge-shaped like those of snakes, each with a fan of ivory horns behind its jawline gazed joy and madness from atop long, sinuous necks. Bone spurs ran down the length of its multiple spines to a massive, muscular, armless torso graced by a pair of glorious, leathery golden wings. Powerful thighs flexed as it shifted its weight atop a set of catlike hind-legs, and two long tails thrashed.The entire beast was covered in scales of gold and bronze, shimmering, even in the overcast gloom. 

It was taller than the trees, much taller. For a moment, it filled Pinay's entire world.

She grabbed Jushap's hand and ran, nearly pulling the larger elf off his feet as she dragged him behind her. The mender didn't know where she was going, and in the back of her mind part of her knew she was panicking, that she should be ashamed for not doing something productive - anything - to help,  but every instinct she had was screaming: 'Escape! ' As she plunged into the forest, one among a veritable tide fleeing the three-headed beast, she heard a mighty crack:  the sound of enormous wingbeats, followed closely by explosions, screaming, and a warbling cackle, like the titanic laughter of a cruel child.

A sudden gust of gale-force wind knocked the fleeing elves off their feet, bringing with it an oppressive miasma of ozone and rot. It sent the pair sprawling hard atop a knot of tree-roots. The last thing Pinay saw before the heat and force of a golden gout of cosmic lightning hammered the awareness from her body was Jushap, pushing himself dazedly to his knees with the palms of his hands. He was illuminated so brilliantly by the monster's fire that she could clearly make out the shape of his skeleton; It shone black behind the halo of his burning skin. 

When she finally woke up, it took her almost an hour to stop screaming.

So I've recently discovered an interesting game called Magicka. The magic system in it is... well... it's nothing short of epic. There are eight "elements" which the user can wield. These are: Fire, Water, Ice, Lightning, Arcane, Life, Shield, Earth.

The big question is how would I incorperate this, or... should I even try? There are a lot of things that WON'T work from the game, namely the Shield. I've only played a little (for the moment) but Shield + Any element equals an immunity form that element - which is a biiiiiiig nono in Omniverse.

Not to mention it would be a major pain in the butt to pay for every little variation. I'm not a mathmatician (maybe a little) but even with the "X and Y never mix) there are still over a hundred unique variations of spells, assuming adding three x's only modify power, and not effect.

Another problem is continuity. Aang is a "bender" so channeling these elements in such a different way to preform the same thing is odd. He could already do most of the stuff in the game without breaking it down to eight elements. Only exception is Arcane.

I'm asking because I'm looking to have Aang complete the Dalaran faction quest and obtain a Mage instructor to teach him perhaps some form of magic. If you don't think this would fit in, then I'm open to alternatives. It's not that I don't like the idea of how MAgicka works (it's epic) I just don't think it would help Aang too much if he could do it far more fluidly.

Big topic, I'd love ideas wherever you can offer them. If you think there is a better faction for Aang (that I've obviously missed) then point me in the right direction. He may not even need to join Dalaran! But I like the idea of him becoming something of a well known steeple of "good" in some way.

Welcome to the Omniverse Book Club! Here, we put up a new completed topic every fortnight to read and review. By participating you'll earn a bonus 250 OM (subject to change) and you'll be able to suggest a topic of your own for the next fortnight. Aside from the helpful feedback, subjects of the book club will receive a Great or Exemplary bonus for their storyline if they qualify. :omni:

NOTE: This is going up early because I am going out to dinner and will not be home when it is supposed to go up. Can another mod please lock and un-stick the previous thread for me?

When Isaac recovered from his shock-induced unconsciousness, he was sinking.

The blue tri-lights on his helmet switched on, lighting up the world. He jerked his head around, the red liquid surrounding him, resisting him with every twist and turn of the body. He glanced down to the torso of his RIG, a green hologram projecting out of it. A number was on it: 120.1 seconds.

His eyes widened in realization. He immediately sucked in a breath of air.

He floated around the blood-covered ocean, flinging his arms in every direction to slow his steady descent into the abyss below him. Darkness consumed him, snuffing out the blue light of his helmet. He tried to swim only for the blood ocean to force him down. He spun around and around, his stomach churning, and by the time he stopped he couldn’t tell what was up and down and left and right and forwards and backwards anymore. The number on the hologram ticked, with each second shaved off producing an ear-splitting bell inside his suit. 100. 90. 80. 70. 60.

He could feel his heartbeat in his head, pounding, throbbing. The force of the ocean tugged him downwards still into the nothingness all around him. It was like floating in space, only in space one could reverse their path with enough force in the opposite direction. But here, the void was its own being with it's own minds and ideas, and all of them were desperate to drown him within its waters.

50. 40. 30.

The inside of his suit felt warm. His heart beat faster as he gasped and sucked in as much breath as he could. But he kept swimming. Even as the current of the abyss, of the void, of the blood space pushed him lower and lower to drown him, he kept on swimming.

20. 10.

His heart was about to burst out of his chest. His arms froze in place, pained, unable to resist the currents of the blood ocean. With one last breath, he closed his eyes, waiting for the sweet release of death to take him away.

He felt the water shoot upwards. He opened his eyes.

All around him, the blood water evaporated, shooting upwards into the sky. The darkness went away, replaced by a bright, white light. He could see the glow of his tri-lights as they reflected off of the droplets and the mist they created. He just whirled his head around, his breath slowly returning to him, as he stayed there, suspended in the upstream.

Once the last of the blood ocean went away, he plummeted back down again. It was only then did he manage to find enough breath to scream.

He landed with a thud. Pain surged through his body as he groaned and swung himself onto his back. He stared up into the sky, air decompressing out of his suit and allowing the atmosphere around him to slip inside. He felt weak and tired, the suit around him weighing him down and keeping him locked to the ground. He laid there for a long time, trying to regain his breath.

He looked around. The blood-ocean void had been replaced by a desert of white. The sky, the ground, everything was white. There wasn’t anything else there. Just a desolate wasteland of nothing.

He had considered the Necromorph outbreak back on the Ishimura to be the most horrific, strangest thing he had ever seen. But this? This took the cake.

He eventually found the strength to push himself back onto his feet. He lifted his hand to cradle his head, only to pause.

Even after the Ishimura, he couldn’t help but shiver whenever he saw blood. He looked down. He was absolutely covered in the stuff, to the point where the original grey color of his suit had disappeared entirely. He glanced back. Footsteps trailed him from the pool that he had left behind when he had landed.

His mind went back to the void. To the feeling of his lungs collapsing as his oxygen slowly dissipated. To the creaking of his suit as it collapsed inward, threatening to bury him in the RIG that had kept him alive through everything that came before it. To the uncontrollable currents, pushing him around and sending him down, down, down, into an inescapable darkness of which that would consume him.

He could see static.

His breathing ragged and quick, he ran. He ran as fast as he possibly could. It didn’t matter where he was going, but he had to get as far away from the blood as possible. Sweat poured down his face, his legs pumped with adrenaline as he fled into the bright lights of white all around him.

As mentioned in the rules and mildly alluded to, a big part of the game is collecting pick ups that drop onto the island.  Not only will they provide you boosts or enhance your quality of life, some of them may save your butt.  Furthermore, the more pick ups you claim as your own, the better your reward will be at the end.

There are 3 types of pick ups:  Artefact pieces, Consumables, and Main Quest Items.

The last one is how you win the game.  The second one should also be fairly obviously if you've read the manual for the website.  For the first thing there, just be aware that these are Artefacts that a) you must collect all the pieces of in order to use and b) cannot leave the island.  If you survive to the end with an island artefact, you'll find that it is strangely useless once you leave the Island.  If plausible, you can always use your own OM to purchase the Move or Power or Power Up associated with said artefact.

There are 3 prizes that will be given away at the end.  Those are legit Artefacts.  It'll be like DA15, where the Grand Champion gets first pick, followed by second and third place.  I don't plan to reveal what the reward artefacts are until the end.

That said, below are the names of the Island Artefacts (I'll leave you to speculate their use) and the list of Consumbles and their uses.  This list is not exhaustive and may change up until the start of the event.

----

Island Artefacts and Pickups (These may not be taken from the island – ie, they only function in the Dante Verse)
 
Two to four picks ups will drop every 12 IC hours
 
Mouse Earrings (1 set – 4 parts) 
 
Gilded Hairpiece (x2 – 2 parts each)
 
Machete (2 parts)
 
Hockey Mask (2 parts)
 
Helmet of Pestilence (2 parts) 
 
“To the Victor” (3 parts)
 
Bronze Egg (1 part)
 
Carm Cuffs (3 parts)
 
Arm Cannon (3 parts)

Red’s Memento (4 parts)

Ultima Weeb-on? ...Weapon! (3 parts)

Wade's Jockstrap (2 parts)

---Consumable Items---
 
The Zamber Virus (Consumable) – Become a Zamber.

Gin's Obsession (Consumable) - Escape from a Challenge.
 
Dynamite (Consumable) – Automatically deals 2 damage to opponent(s)
 
Pepsi (Consumable) x3 – Restores 2 SP
 
The Sanderson Special (Consumable) x3 – Beverage.  Restores 4 damage
 
Mercy Circle (Consumable) – Ejects you from the island.  Triggers automatically if someone tries to banish you.
 
Namek-weiser (Consumable) – Beverage.  Halves the damage you would receive in a fight, win or lose. Must be drank during first fight post.
 
Crazy Girl's Tears (Consumable) – Smells strangely of the ocean. Empowers your next Super Attack or Super Defense (ie, Tier 1s become Tier 2s)
 
There are five “Main Quest items” that must be collected to claim the title of Grand Champion.  One of these will drop onto the island ever 24 IC hours (4 OOC days)

Quote:Continued from Tale of a Pup: In the Dog House

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