TOME: Terrain Of Magical Expertise

[Jugger82]

::Logging In...

Terrain
Of
Magical
Expertise

Welcome...


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Appearing within the world, Jugger sees the world of TOME upon his flight toward Mech City. He could see Lavendera was bustling with fighters today. Something he would enjoy greatly. But he had his eyes set on a different prize. In Mech City, he sought out the Quest Giver in hopes of finding a quest suitable to his desires of gaining more EXP. And today there was a doubled EXP quest. Though, it required a minimum of three people. He frowned as he looked to the quest. Three people to each hold three artifacts to summon the Archangel, whom they'd have to defeat. Where would he find allies? One place...Lavendera. Keeping the quest on hand, he darted off to Lavendera in hopes of finding someone suitable to join him in this quest. He usually played alone and conversed with people, but he rarely ever teamed up with anyone unless he needed to.

 

[Your Eternal Reward]

Slam. The mangled carcass of the swordsman hit the ground, body covered in the deep-seated gashes of a row of spikes lashing at him again and again and again, finally slithering around his neck as he threw him down for the killing blow. The chanting of Imphrael's name grew into a fervor of cheers. "And the Iron Angel does it again, folks! Imphrael off to a great start of this best of three, the two-time dueling champion making an absolute mess of Kharos, leader of the Bloodletters." Kharos. The name was well-known across Lavendera. His gang, the Bloodletters, were known to contain more than a couple of hackers, but here, in the tournaments, where every step was closely monitored by scores of fans, anything vaguely resembling hacking would result in a disqualification, which was why Imphrael enjoyed them so much. Here, skill was all that mattered. Here, he kicked Kharos's ass.

"And the second round begins!" The commentator exclaimed, roaring at every move Rael made, every dodge and block and parry as chains whirled like demons, the Iron Angel, as he had grown to be called, moving with dizzying speed as he leapt over his opponent's head, hand crashing together before he even landed as chains flew in from both sides, too close to get out of the way. He could only block one, but he tried anyway. Lose-lose. The smart move would have been to go directly for Rael. But, of course, Kharos was not smart. Slashing through one chain, the other lashed against his back, the end of the chain carrying on with its momentum as it wrapped around the swordsman's throat, garroting him as the broken chain was pulled back into an arm that was now raised in the air as thousands of volts poured from his armor into the chain that held Kharos's writhing body to the ground. The chanting grew louder and louder as fans that had never even seen the Iron Angel before relished at the idea of humiliating the Bloodletter leader. And with one quick, clean pull he ripped Kharos's head off completely, throwing it into the air for all to see before the corpse dissolved into pixels.

Man, I love my job.

 

[Star Pupil]

Spiral had just logged into the Lavendara area of TOME. As usual. Mech city was a bit more casual than the other areas, and so she had no interest in them. Time to farm for some gold. She thought to herself as she began walking to the more secluded parts of the area. She then heard what was music to her ears, the sounds of a few players ridiculing one. People often would only walk around this place in groups to avoid the growing problem of being ganged up on, so the newer players were often targets as they didn't know any better. She sunk into the shadows to get a little closer to the scene.

"Why don't you trade me all your money and we'll let you go kid! It's not like you need it any way you stupid fucking noob." One of the players, who was definitely in the animalistic class as his character was a towering Were Tiger. The other two standing beside him were of the same class, a Panther and a Leapord. For some reason Spiral hated these types of characters the most, as they acted all big and bad just because they happened to be large on the occasion. Their size and strength meant nothing. however. They were also more than likely nothing but a bunch of inexperienced players who's strength was in numbers only.

"No way..I got my money and a few items as a gift when I started playing! I can't just trade it away..." The one they were picking on seemed to be a spell caster type. And he had just gotten some money from a friend? Perfect.

"Don't be stupid. You can't win against us." The Tiger barked as he began to ready his claws. Spiral smirked and then decided it was time to come out. With lightning speed she appeared between the Spellcaster player and the gang of fuzzy bullies.

"Maybe not, but I can. Back off." She drew her Wakizashi sword and then took a defensive position.

"Aye aye. Who's this girly? What an uncool entrance! We'll rip you both to shreds!" The three of them began to charge at her. Spiral's hand moved to her pack and she grabbed a smoke bomb.

"Sorry, but jumping off cliffs to make an entrance is way too cliche. However, if you want to see some acrobatics..." She chuckled and then jump directly into the air, causing them to stop mid charge to look up at her. "I'd be happy to oblige!" She then through the smoke bomb right in the middle of the group and it immediately dispersed, completely covering them with a thick cloud of smog. As the disoriented players tried to move their characters, Spiral easily tracked them down and sliced them all up to pieces.

The only thing the spell caster could see were three big white letters "LOSE! LOSE! LOSE!" before the fog dissipated along with the gang. "Hmm...maybe I should have loaded up a proper grid." Spiral said with a shrug and then turned to the Spellcaster with a smile. He looked t her bright eyed.

"Wow! So cool! That was amazing! What could I ever do to thank you?!" Spiral smiled and then held out her hand.

"Well, I'm a bit short on funds and there was this cool item I wanted to buy. I feel bad for taking it but, you know..." The player eagerly traded her the money for her trouble. Afterwards, she turned away. "Thanks a lot, kid! I'll be taking my leave. She started to walk towards the trees and began to take her leave.

"Wait, I'll add you!"

 

[Your Eternal Reward]

"No chance. Absolutely none."

Imphrael walked through the streets of Mechcity, steely, ice-cold voice responding to the offer with a blatant refusal. "I don't do jobs in Laven. My place is here, in the arenas, where hackers get disqualified and the match is based on the skill of the player, and skill alone."
"So the champion's afraid to lose - is that it?"
"If I lose, I lose to someone who beats me fair and square." Imphrael grunted, turning to face the spellcaster face-to-face. "If I lose, I lose to someone who earns my respect for being a better player. Not some two-bit hacker with his balls up his nose. Because then when I lose I know I have only myself to blame, and I can live with that, because the solution is simple: Get stronger." he said, the Iron Angel's haunting faceplate barely an inch from the hooded spellcaster. "What do you learn when a hacker beats you to the ground?" he growled, obviously irritated. "How do you fix it? If you kill them, they just respawn. If you block them, they find a way around it. The only solution is to ignore them."
"The Iron Angel... what a joke." the spellcaster grunted with wrinkled lips. "You haven't ignored them." he said, head tilting up as the hood revealed a disgusted smirk. "You've run away."

Chains burst forth from Imphrael's arms, swirling angrily like a hurricane, and yet his voice maintained that metallic, eerie coldness. "Grid me."
"So we're going to solve our problems with violence now, are we? Naughty, naughty."
"Grid me."
"No." The smirk widened. Without his consent, there could be no grid. Without his consent, Imphrael was just a load of talk.
"Not here. If you want me, you're going to have to follow me... to Lavendara."

----- x -----​

The violet planescape was just as Rael remembered it - damp, featureless, the seemingly unending chasm of purple going on like a labyrinth, and the spellcaster just out of reach ahead of him, laughing like a maniac as his teleportation power kept him just ahead of Rael, until he finally turned around, the grin wider now, wicked like a demon, and then it dawned on him. A trap.

"Dinner is served!"

Hackers threw themselves from every corner of the map as the grid formed. Bloodletters. Rael roared with a bone-chilling fury as his chains whirred into action, lashing at them as best he could. One down. Two. Lashed, wrapped, and hurled out of the grid. And then the ground moved. Pixels encasing him in a block of the very stone the entire landscape was made of as he roared as loud as he could, chains whirling with a desperate fury, lashing at the hackers as he tried to slow down the process. They weren't going to kill him, just to let him respawn. Imphrael had been enough of a humiliation to the gang's attempts to rig the tournaments that they had something a little bit more... permanent in mind.

 

[Star Pupil]

Damn kid. Why was he following her? How was he able to follow her when she was using the shadows to basically teleport herself? It was at this moment where she wished she had saved enough up for that item, if she had it then she'd be able to get away from his meddling. "I'm so close to logging out." She grumbled.

"Please! Are you shy!? I just want to be you friend! I'm not a kid, I'm 23! Just add me! I'll do whatever you want!"

"Leave me alone, kid! I'm a loner, I don't add people!" Spiral was about to Shadow Dive once more when she heard a strange noise. She watched as the very structure of Lavendara changed right before her eyes. She instantly knew what was going on, as experienced players knew the tell tale signs of hackers. The very thought made her sick to her stomach. Hackers had caused her lots of grief. In fact, If it weren't for them, she would be complete right now. Even knowing that she couldn't win, Spiral made a bee line towards the scene. She wouldn't stand idly by and let them have there fun with whoever they wanted to trap within their net.

However, she was stopped by a grid. A large Warning sign appeared, with a description of "This area is corrupted."

"Damn it!" She shouted. The spell caster that had been in pursuit of her the entire time walked up beside her.

"Did you want to get passed this?" He asked, placing his hand on the grid.

"Yeah right, as if someone like you could..." Spiral was cut off she watched the entire west wall of the grid crumble at this players touch. It shattered and disintegrated before the shards could fall to the ground. She looked at him with her mouth agape and then realized that this guy was not an ordinary player.

"I'll send you an add. I've got to go now." The player then abruptly logged out before Spiral could ask him any questions.

>FireKingLoche has requested to be your friend! Accept?

Spiral hesitated and shook her head. Now wasn't the time for that. She moved through the barrier and then stopped as soon as the remaining hackers were in sight. Immediately she hid from them and drew her weapon in order to start a surprise attack.

 

[Jugger82]

As Jugger proceeded through Lavendera in search of two partners, he would see a battle grid going up in the distance and grinned as he began to dash toward it, wanting to see this fight. All the while he was cautious not to be caught in a trap or a random person wanting to fight. Thankfully he managed to get to the battle grid and jumped to enter it, only to find himself implanting into the grid wall with a cautious sign popping up saying the grid was corrupted. As he slid down to the ground and removed himself from the grid, he rubbed his face before looking over and seeing Spiral and FireKingLoche heading toward the west of the gate. Curious, he began to follow the two of them over, just in time to see FireKingLoche completely remove the entire west side of the grid! His jaw dropped but he shook his head, getting his mind straight. A hacker. But he didn't seem to be attacking anyone, nor did Spiral. Seeing Spiral enter the grid, so too, did Jugger as he ran through the opening, drawing his weapon as he ran in to look for whoever it was who was fighting. If someone was fighting hackers, they may need some help.

 

[Star Pupil]

Spiral didn't notice Jugger, as she was too focused on the hackers before her. Her wakizashi began to glow, the luminosity a deep purple color. Poison began to ooze from the blade, and she quickly summoned a blade of poison and hit one of the hackers directly in the back. Before they could turn around she hid once more, this time making a shadow descent. If she was going to win this she needed to be smart.

Appearing their left, the bandages on her legs quickly expanded and grappled the unharmed Hacker. "Let him go." She growled, placing her blade against his neck. "Or I will show you something fierce."

 

[Your Eternal Reward]

Imphrael growled with a slow, angry grunt. 'Let him go?'. These weren't your average Lavendaria highwaymen, these were hackers. If he held two and she held one there were at least a couple more to continue the rendering. There was only one way to end this.

"You!" Imphrael barked, calling the swordsman who had just entered the arena. He had never seen the man before, but he seemed formidable enough. "I need you to kill me as fast as you can so I can respawn." The request was an odd one no doubt, and the boy would find himself jumping up in ranking tremendously for killing an Arena Champion, but it was the fastest way to get out of the trap he had found himself in. The crystal was running up his waist now, pressing against his arms. "Do it now!" he roared, pulling down his static shield as he began to charge up the storm that would engulf him when he died. "KILL ME!"

 

[Jugger82]

Jugger had heard Imphrael's order and frowned as he saw the crystal begin to start rising up his body. He had ordered it, so the reaper shall do as he was supposed to. Rushing forward, Jugger held his scythe in hand and swung it hard, attacking Imphrael and taking out the last of his hit points. Now all Jugger had to do was worry about the hackers that were still in the grid, whom he began to dodge and evade as they began to attack him for interfering in their plans. "Who the hell are you guys?" He murmured as he seemed to dodge with ease until one had appeared behind him and struck him in the back, causing him to ricochet over to the side. He grinned, as during the ricochet...he laid down an Entanglement trap onto the ground and waited for one of these hackers to get caught in his trap before he'd follow it up with a Reaper's Kiss.

 

[Your Eternal Reward]

Imphrael let the boy end him without any resistance - it was actually kind of hard to keep himself from retaliating because it had become so instinctive to fight back. Many of the hackers realized what he was doing and rushed in to stop him, but of course, the swordsman was faster. The blank face of the mechanical champion did not show the grin that his player bared. "Run." he whispered to the scythe-bearing swordsman. The command was soft and quick, but the look of lightning jumping over the dying champion's body was enough to show him he meant what he said.

Almost without warning, Imphrael roared as he threw his neck back, exploding into a storm of static energy that spread out like a wildfire, obliterating anyone in a ten-foot radius of the mechanical as Imphrael's body began to crack and splinter, swallowing the grid in a wave of light until all that was left was scrap metal and the remains of everyone he had taken with him, slowly dissolving into data.

Within seconds Imphrael opened a private message channel with both of his "saviors" from his respawn location, his headquarters in Mechcity. Normally only guilds had headquarters, so Imphrael bought himself a one-man guild and used the headquarters as his personal mansion and dojo.

"Listen, thanks for the save but you both need to get out of there. If I know Kharos he's got high-level reinforcements on their way right now, and you need to get out before they get there. Meet me in my headquarters in Mechcity - I'm sending the coordinates now. Both of you have inadvertently found yourselves caught in a firefight by helping me today, and I need to know you'll be ready to deal with it. Especially you, swordsman - killing me has artificially increased your ranking, so you're going to be receiving a lot of new attention, and not the good kind. Any questions?"