The Puppeteer's Gambit

'Get out, get out, get out, get out, GET OUT!' A shock of protests raged from thirteen at one who had forced his way into their number. Elementals all, the space they floated in seemed to be a vast emptiness. The one turned skeletal sockets on the rest, meeting the hostility with naught a tremble. The aspect of death now stood among the aspects of life, and how they screamed. Only one met his joining with nary a whisper, but soon even he would bend to Death's will. Smiling, the intruder answered. 'No.'

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Solinus City, that proud coastal jewel, had scarce a warning before disaster struck. The skies darkened, a great weight descending as a growling black storm seemed to simply appear. But then, hurricanes swept in all the time. Storms were no uncommon thing here of all places, and the populace acted with commendable caution. But not a single one could have expected this.

Enormous energies swirled though clouds as the rain began. The ocean boiled and heaved as though it were a boiling cauldron, waves crashing against sand, stone, wood, and steel in geysers of murky water. Sailors shouted over the howling winds as they lashed their craft tight, remarking on the suddenness of the gale, and citizens fled indoors like mice. All seemed well, until the thunderclap.

A brilliance that eclipsed daylight flooded the city for a brief moment as hundreds of bolts of lightning descended like a god's fury into Solinus. Where they struck they exploded, buildings and pavement erupting into scattered debris before the shocking report ripped through the streets. Thousands upon thousands of windows shattered at the mighty roar of thunder, and it was then that fear began to creep through the people of the city. They began to prepare for the worst, but by then...

It was far too late.

An eerie silence descended on the city, a deeper darkness creeping upon Solinus as a monstrous tsunami rose a mile offshore, rearing ever higher. At its peak, only the skyscrapers stood taller, and then only by half. With a low, rumbling groan, the wave struck shore. Everything in its path for the first half mile was simply decimated, hundreds of tons of water brutal leveling even the strongest of structures. A magnificent beachside hotel utterly erupted into the city from the strike. Lightning began to flash once more, hitting water as often as a building. Men, woman, and children barely had time to close their eyes before their lives were swept away in the thousands. At its climax, the fell wave had enveloped almost the entire area like a giant monster, maw greedily swallowing the multitude of souls it reaped.

And then it began to roll slowly back out to see, clouds shredding apart as if consuming themselves. Minute by minute, Solinus City's watery grave receded, uncovering the desolation of mass destruction. The coast was plainly bared, littered with deposited debris. Hundreds upon hundred of corpses were strewn about as if dropped by a careless child, buildings and streets wearing the look of a warzone. Yet where was the enemy? Where was the fell intent behind the cataclysm?

It shimmered in the afternoon sun where the beach ended. It's fluffy white decorations hung in the blue sky overhead. Its verdant green coated waved in the gentle breeze. Terra itself had reaped a terrible price, for the one who's very essence was chained to its heart had gone insane. Plures, the demon of the elements, was protector no longer. He had just become this world's greatest threat.

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'And so it begins...brothers.' Cold, clicking laughter echoed in the void as thirteen screamed as one in anguish. Chains rattled about them, but were they held in hand by the bone spectre among them? The clatter of metal on bone, and then a fourteenth screamed as well. Chains bound both ways, it is said, but within the voice of one, it was not anguish. It was ecstasy.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/Y3kImiXfyns/viewtopic.php

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