In the Villa of general Buku Eliza Thabyro was asleep in the huge bed in the bedchamber on the 1st floor. Rain fell on the balcony and the moonlight was shimmering through the wet glass of the windows. Buku was fast asleep... obviously the wine of last nights cocktail party had done its effect in full.
"I have news."
Elizabeth opened her eyes in a shock and for a moment her pupils returned to the blood red so visible in the visage of countess Elizabeth Bathory. She rose from the bed and covered her naked body with a light semi-transparent chemise.
"Speak...", She thought loudly.
- The Italian Job: The Godfather Returns #1151
Beginner - Encounter a renewed age for the Mook and the Family when Emile Marcone escapes from the Zig!
- Along Came a... Bug!? #528482
Average - A new race of aliens arrives on Earth. And Vanguard has you investigate them!
- The Court of the Blood Countess: The Rise of the Blood Countess #3805
Advanced - Go back in time and witness the birth of a vampire. Follow her to key moments in her life in order to stop her! A story of intrigue, drama and horror! Blood & Violence... not recommend to solo!
The Primogen's mind whispered. His haunting mental voice seemly coming from everywhere and yet nowhere.
"A change is coming. Whether it is good or bad I cannot see. Where there was once neutrality, there is now strife. The death of one has brought many into conflict. This conflict I can steer, but a course is needed."
----- Union's finest underachiever -----
Farewell CITY of HEROES
The First, the Last, the One.
Union: @ominousvoice2059
Elizabeth contemplated her options for a second... She was able to steer a yet untapped faction of the islands populous. What to do with it...
"Make them fighting for Buku's idealistic cause for now. Make sure that within their ranks slowly their opinion of me rises to a popularity that outranks Buku."
She looked at the sleeping mountain of fat in the bed for a second...
"That way they will choose my side after the oaf is dead. Leaving me with a private army you may lead, train and guide. A human Praetorian Guard unrelated to Buku, Romanov's wh***'s organization or Vanguard. As of now... to them... I should be the greatest person ever to set foot on this jungle infested lump of dirt they call an island."
- The Italian Job: The Godfather Returns #1151
Beginner - Encounter a renewed age for the Mook and the Family when Emile Marcone escapes from the Zig!
- Along Came a... Bug!? #528482
Average - A new race of aliens arrives on Earth. And Vanguard has you investigate them!
- The Court of the Blood Countess: The Rise of the Blood Countess #3805
Advanced - Go back in time and witness the birth of a vampire. Follow her to key moments in her life in order to stop her! A story of intrigue, drama and horror! Blood & Violence... not recommend to solo!
The Primogen did not reply. There was no need to. He chuckled for a moment. The Countess' aristocratic arrogance served her well at this juncture. How fitting she should choose to be the public face of the LoRDs machinations.
He began his whisperings to the villagers. He mimicked each voice so perfectly, he was indistinguishable from their own thoughts. A little word here, a gentle nudge there. They would never know they were being played so effortlessly. They were a proud and stubborn people, yet so easily undermined.
----- Union's finest underachiever -----
Farewell CITY of HEROES
The First, the Last, the One.
Union: @ominousvoice2059
Sokoke Village, Eastern Mountains, The Liberty Islands
As dusk came, two men ran from the village. They ran fast but steady, giving the impression they could travel that way for miles without tiring. They wore loose fitting robes as dark as their skin.
When the night was at its darkest and the sounds of the jungle pierced the air, they returned. They were pulling another figure behind them, a young woman whos simple but modern dress marked her out as not being from the village. They took her to a clearing several hundred metres from the village edge. A skeletal white tree, long dead, was in the centre of the clearing. The men stripped the woman of her clothing, there silence in contrast to her tearful pleading. They bound her to the tree.
The tree seemed to have some spiritual or ritual significance to the village. The elderly shaman woman of the village would visit it most days and pick plants from the surrounding rocks.
The men waited several moments. Looking out as if studying the jungle for something that had not been there before.
Finally, they returned to the village.
@Romanov
Nadja Romanov, Lily Pink, Little Death - The Cadre
Estoque, Bastinado, Spidermonkey, Chic Doyle - The Militia
Miss Teen, Dead Reckoner, Dee Dee Diablo, Kaneko
The darkness was not an obstacle to the eyes of the Primogen. He had seen the two shadowy figures running from the village. This was unusual activity.
The men disappeared into the jungle, they were dragging a woman behind them. They moved quickly and steadily. He could hear her breathy panting as she was being exerted to the limits of her stamina. The view from his cave did not afford him a good vantage of them. The darkness was not an obstacle, but the trees were. This warranted investigation.
He emerged from the cliff face like a spectre, before leaping down several hundred feet to the ground. He could still her laboured breathing. He moved like lightning through the trees, his feet never touching the ground. He didn't have to go far. He found the woman and her dark captors in a clearing not far from the village. They were binding to a hideous white tree. It's dead limbs clawing the air like skeletal hand. The Primogen ensconced himself among the branches of a tree. He sat enshrouded by foliage and darkness. He remained eerily still, like a gargoyle.
The clouds parted and the moonlight illuminated the clearing. He watched as they stripped the woman of her clothing. She was trembling. Partly because of the chilly night air, but mainly in fear. She folded her legs as best she could to hide her modesty. Her tearful eyes glistened in the moonlight. Her whimpers blended seamlessly into the jungles quiet symphony.
The two dark robed men waited for a few moments, scanning the surrounding area for something. They did not see the obfuscated Primogen. Satisfied, they left and returned to the village. The Primogen primed his senses. His nostrils flared, his eyes focused and his ears absorbed every sound.
Something was coming.
----- Union's finest underachiever -----
Farewell CITY of HEROES
The First, the Last, the One.
Union: @ominousvoice2059
Two days passed.
Those coming in and out of the village did not seem to see or hear the woman, or at least showed no sign of it.
On the second night the two men in loose robes cut her free. They gave her water and took her back the way they had brought her.
Three hours passed and they returned, pulling a man behind them who was bound at the wrists. They removed his clothes and tied him to the tree as they had the woman.
The men looked out into the jungle. Silent. A small curved blade appeared in the hand of the taller of the two men. He made two swift cuts across the bound mans chest in the shape of a V. They watched as blood streamed down the mans chest.
One more scan of the jungle and they returned to the village.
@Romanov
Nadja Romanov, Lily Pink, Little Death - The Cadre
Estoque, Bastinado, Spidermonkey, Chic Doyle - The Militia
Miss Teen, Dead Reckoner, Dee Dee Diablo, Kaneko
Two days he had sat perched in that tree. Two days of acute sensory scrutiny of the the woman in the clearing and of the village. However his slightly distant proximity to the village meant his monitoring of their activities was not as eagle-eyed as it was in the cave.
The woman was unconscious. She had been bound for so long without food or water. Her lips were chapped and her breathing dangerously shallow. The Primogen had begun to grow weary of waiting. He contemplated putting the poor woman out of her misery himself. He was just about to leave when he heard the rustling of footsteps in the undergrowth. The two men were returning.
He watched as they untied the woman and took her back to the village. Perhaps they were as bored waiting for something to happen the Primogen thought to himself. Once the men and their captive were well out of sight, he hopped down from the tree and made his way back to his cave, moving through the jungle like a shadow.
He sat down on the cold stone floor and resumed his psychic monitoring. As he focused his mind he pondered the oddness of the villagers at night. They always seemed harder to read after dark. In fact some seem to drop off his radar entirely. This thought concerned him. He continued to peruse the thoughts of the villagers for a couple of hours.
About three hours passed. The Primogen heard noises from the village. He peered out and saw the two men once more, this time they were dragging a man behind them. He was bound and and gagged just as the woman was two nights earlier. Their first victim obviously failed to entice whatever beast they wanted to invoke.
The Primogen became even more curious about this new habit of theirs. He swiftly made his way back to the clearing. He arrived unseen and before the hooded men and their new sacrifice. He perched in the same tree as before, remaining a still as a statue.
The hooded men repeated their actions from two night previous. They stripped and bound the man to that hideous skeletal tree. Then they did something new. One of the men drew a blade and swiftly marked the bound man across the chest. The Primogen's nostrils flared as the scent of blood hit them. The men quickly scanned the surrounding jungle before making their way back to the village.
It seemed they wanted to entice their beast with blood. It certainly enticed the Primogen. He had not fed in a few days and was feeling a little peckish. He began to chuckle. Then he stopped. It was him. They wanted him. His face contorted into a scowl. The mark on the bound mans chest was in the shape of a V. V for vampire.
He raced back to his cave as silently as he left. He was furious. It had been staring him in the face. There was a reason behind the elusive minds of the villagers at night. Someone among them was shielding them and the Primogen had a good idea who. Among those who seemed to shroud themselves was the village shaman. This old woman is an influential voice in the village. A little too influential for the Primogen's liking.
Something disturbed him deeply. In twelve thousand years of living there had only ever been one being capable of detecting the Primogen's presence, and the Primogen knew for certain that that being was not here. But this shaman appeared to to be aware of a vampiric presence. Why else would they go to the trouble of setting up sacrifices? However, it was clear that the shaman knew little else. Those quaint little sacrifices might fly with the local bloodsuckers, but not with the Primogen.
The Primogen scoured the village both psychically and visually. He ignored the rest of the village and concentrated on the shaman alone. He would find her.
----- Union's finest underachiever -----
Farewell CITY of HEROES
The First, the Last, the One.
Union: @ominousvoice2059
The dusty open spaces of the village were abandoned in the darkness. No sounds came from the scattered huts and shacks that seemed to have fallen at random after being cast by a giant hand. A rusting pick up truck and a diesel generator were clues that the village was not completely isolated.
At the far end of the village a warm orange light spilled from a doorway. A long shadow was cast as the crooked frame of the shaman woman stood and surveyed the village. She showed no sign of noticing the Primogen and after a minute or two turned and went back into her home. She pulled a black curtain across the doorway and the village was dark again.
@Romanov
Nadja Romanov, Lily Pink, Little Death - The Cadre
Estoque, Bastinado, Spidermonkey, Chic Doyle - The Militia
Miss Teen, Dead Reckoner, Dee Dee Diablo, Kaneko
The orange glow was unmissable in the darkness, as was the shadow that accompanied it. A hideous grin stretched across the Primogen's pallid face. He outstretched his long bony finger, pointing it toward the shaman womans doorway. He wiggled it, as if to tickle the air. He watched as the shaman womans doorway curtain bellowed in a psychokenetic breeze.
----- Union's finest underachiever -----
Farewell CITY of HEROES
The First, the Last, the One.
Union: @ominousvoice2059
Liberty City
Dusk was falling over the isles of Liberty as the Starlit Spirit entered the capital city. Even to one as dulled to the feelings and emotions of the living as she was, a sense of unease seemed to hang over the metropolis, which the open military presence served only to accent. Patrols of men supported by armoured vehicles were to be seen on most streets, and helicopters and other aircraft frequently passed overhead, maintaining a constant alert. The soldiers' green-and-black uniforms, marked with the emblem of a gold eagle, meant nothing to the spirit; mortal nations and disputes were beyond her purview, now.
Her obviously foreign appearance drew some strange looks, but the soldiers seemed preoccupied with a different threat, and she passed through the city streets unhindered. Tense as the situation was, it seemed little more than a mundane state of near-war; she wondered if perhaps the island spirits had been right, if there was no actual spiritual violation to be found. But here, too, she could sense a nagging presence - something hidden or subdued, just beyond her awareness. Searching every inch of the city would be a slow process, but time was not something the Starlit Spirit was short of.
She began a systematic exploration of Liberty City's streets, watching for signs of the spiritual abnormality she had sensed from the people and places she passed.
Knights Exemplar: Wolfram, Autumnfox, Starlit Spirit.
Militia: The Portent, Wavekite, Mr. Sandman.
The Cadre: WarpLocke, Zajin.
Numerous others.
Sokoke Village, Eastern Mountains, The Liberty Islands
A man approached from Primogens left. He made barely a sound and his mind was as blank as the dark faces of the mountains that rose into the night sky around the village.
He was tall, muscular and wore a loose dark robe that seemed to be favoured by the younger men and women of the village. In his right hand was a lance made from a single piece of wood.
You are not hungry, beast? he said in a melodious tone that almost made him sound as if he were laughing. Our mama always likes to feed her guests. He sucked in air through his teeth. She will talk to you now. You are invited. Or you can leave, eh? Your choice, beast, but this is the last night you will spend near our village.
He pointed the shaman womans home with the lance. Points of darkness throughout the village stirred. There were at least a dozen other robed men and women watching the Primogen.
@Romanov
Nadja Romanov, Lily Pink, Little Death - The Cadre
Estoque, Bastinado, Spidermonkey, Chic Doyle - The Militia
Miss Teen, Dead Reckoner, Dee Dee Diablo, Kaneko
Harbour District, Liberty City, The Liberty Islands
Even the most expensive restaurants in Liberty City were basic by the standards of New York, London and Paragon City. But The Pink Pelican was the best. And it was at the forefront of the exciting fusion cuisine of the islands that was gaining a reputation abroad. Under the current martial law, the restaurant was quiet. Although there was no curfew in place, many of the more well to do citizens preferred to stay within their own walls at night.
A gold early 1980s Mercedes pulled up outside the restaurant. A black man with dead eyes got out of the passenger seat and opened the rear door. A beautiful Indian woman in a red sari elegantly stepped out of the car.
She entered the restaurant and was immediately welcomed by the excited manager who showed her to a table in the far corner of the establishment.
@Romanov
Nadja Romanov, Lily Pink, Little Death - The Cadre
Estoque, Bastinado, Spidermonkey, Chic Doyle - The Militia
Miss Teen, Dead Reckoner, Dee Dee Diablo, Kaneko
The Starlit Spirit watched the restaurant from a safe distance, seeing the Indian woman disappear through its doors. There was most certainly something of note here. The attendant who had opened the car door for the woman should not have been there, for a start. There was no life within the body that her eyes had seen; if she had been observing incorporeally, she would not have known anyone was there.
That was certainly an abberation, but such undead creatures had no mind, no independent will. He would need to be dealt with, but first, the Spirit would investigate his apparent mistress. There was something about her, too, a shadowy veil - something the Spirit could sense the edges of, but not see within.
She walked into the alleyway behind the restaurant, sifting the spirit world for fragments of insight. Finally, a picture formed in her mind, and she became it, her clothes shifting back into pure light before reforming as the uniform of the restaurant's waitresses. She approached one of the building's back doors, shifted between dimensions, and stepped inside.
Knights Exemplar: Wolfram, Autumnfox, Starlit Spirit.
Militia: The Portent, Wavekite, Mr. Sandman.
The Cadre: WarpLocke, Zajin.
Numerous others.
The Eastern Mountains - Liberty Isles
He slowly lowered himself into a sitting position. The small cave was just as he left it. He had been away for several days. In fact the Primogen had left the Liberty Isles altogether and had returned to the Etoile Isles. His departure, absence and return had all gone entirely unnoticed.
He had found himself drawn back to the Rogue Isles. Something compelled him, some primal force had stirred deep within him, something that had to be satisfied. Upon his arrival in the Etoiles, he had soon discovered what it was that urged him. He swiftly satisfied that urge. For the first time in over four thousand years he sired a progeny. Such was a rare thing for the Primogen. He chose his new offspring with utmost care. His blood was supremely potent. His new child would be many times more powerful than other fledglings. He gifted his new child with his protection. She, like him, would remain undetectable. Shortly after, he left the Rogue Isles, fulfilled.
He lay down on the cold damp stone. It was raining outside the cave. The gentle rush of water on rock, punctuated with intermittent drips echoing in the cave was soothing. His mind relaxed and soon the voices of the village below came into focus. He listened. Something had changed. The mood was sombre, mournful. A voice was missing. The village elder whose birthday had recently been celebrated had died. That now lost voice had been an influential one among the villagers. A change was coming, one the LoRDs might not appreciate.
He sent a whisper with his mind to the Countess. "I have news."
----- Union's finest underachiever -----
Farewell CITY of HEROES
The First, the Last, the One.
Union: @ominousvoice2059