Terra Zone - Old Country
Modern cities exist besides stately castles in this part of the world, the seat of western civilization. The world's wars were fought here, and civilzation stretches back thousands of years, often with more sinister results than are expected, especially given the true ancientness of some places. Everything here, at least toward the western coast, seems a little more dignified, a reminder of their past years of glory.
Contents:
Ark
Obvious exits:
Forest leads to Germany - Castle Wolfenstein.
South leads to Terra Zone - Darkest Jungles.
East leads to Terra Zone - Far East.
West leads to Terra Zone - Little States (Back East).
On the border boundary between old and new, Lady A is walking. Looking somewhat weary, perhaps from extensive travel on foot.
She seems a bit distant, but, still vigilant, as her footsteps take her up onto the sidewalk of the vaguely European streetside.
Not far away from Lady A, a warp zone appears suddenly, and a young man steps out hesitantly. Looking around, he makes sure that there's no evil Lords of Chaos, no giant snakes, and most of all, no tentacle demons nearby, before he allows the warp to close. "Looks safe, Yomi." he says quietly, seemingly to no-one. And out of the air, a voice responds, "Yeah, that's what you said about the last place. I'll stay in here for now, if you don't mind." "Wuss."
Ark looks around again, taking in the sights. Strange how buildings from different time periods are side-by-side here, although there were a few places liek that on his homeworld.
A small table at a quiet cafe is where Lady A finally decides to slump down and rest her feet. She asks for a water, then, almost habitually, surveys the area around her. Scanning for trouble. Seeing a warp zone open right down the street, she pauses, her eyes narrowing in that direction. She hopes it isn't trouble.
Ark starts walking down the street, not in any particular hurry, and spots the cafe. "Finally, somewhere I can get something proper to eat. You might be the genius, Yomi, but your cooking sucks."
"Thanks a million, Ark." replies Yomi's voice from the Box, sourly.
Ark
The Representative of Light and Dark. The boy who was the catalyst for his home world's entire revival. He wields a staff. He can communicate with nature itself. He has died twice already.
And he dresses in flares.
Standing at about five foot ten, this energetic youth doesn't have the look of a born troublemaker about him anymore, but the reckless gleam in his eyes hasn't changed a bit. If there's danger, you can be guaranteed that Ark's in the middle of it.
Spiky red hair is held off his face by a yellow and red headband, with a blue gem inset above his eyes. He wears a pale-green short-sleeved shirt, and a brown vest over that, with a blue bridge arch and a green downwards-facing arrow dyed into the leather. Each shoulder is protected by a hardened concave leather pad fastened to the vest by heavy stitching, and a cariacture of a face with its tongue stuck out is painted onto each pad. Nothing covers Ark's lower arms, but a braided ribbon is tied around both his wrists.
A heavy yellow belt encircles Ark's waist, two woven ribbons with tasselled ends falling over the front of the belt to dangle loosely. A small white pouch is fastened to the belt just over his right hip, with many of his magirock rings kept in it for easy use. On his left hip a plain, unadorned wooden box is clipped to the belt. It doesn't look very important - probably just holds some junk he's gathered on his travels...
Ark's baggy red flares basically cover his entire lower body, starting under his belt and are only reined in at his ankles. Simplistic designs are stitched into the red material, perhaps meant to represent flames. Finally, Ark's feet are protected by a pair of comfortable travelling moccasins, soft, pale-green material on the inside, and hard creamy-yellow leather on the outside.
The staff that Ark uses as a weapon, a walking stick and somehow as a shield is about four and a half feet long and made of some sort of crystalline blue substance, both ends capped with a metal boss, with more studs of the same blue crystal set into them. It's rarely out of Ark's hands when he isn't asleep or eating, but it seems strange that he would use such a fragile and brittle weapon, doesn't it?
Lock the doors, Ark's here. And trouble can't be far behind.
A picture says a thousand words:
http://home.iprimus.com.au/jbrooker/ark.jpg
http://home.iprimus.com.au/jbrooker/ark2.jpg
Maybe it IS trouble. But maybe it's just Ark carrying it along with him. Lady A takes up her glass of water and downs it, fairly thirsty. Not only does she look distant, she looks tired, but the water seems to be doing her some good.
(...Is that kid talking to himself?)
Ark walks up to the counter under the awning and says to the waitress there, "What's the biggest sandwich you've got, lady?" The woman dutifully points at the rows underneath the glass-plated cover, and Ark's lips move as he reads it and caulculates gross poundage. "Okaayyy, I'll have...that, thanks." he points to one of the largest ones he can see, and an irritable snort is heard from the box on his left hip. Ark ignores it. The waitress asks him for some money, and Ark's airy demeanour suddenly vanishes. Uh-oh.
Lady A rises up from her seat very quickly, all of the sudden. Then, she winces, and frowns. Duty calls, but so does rest... She bites her lip. Shakes her head. Then, she looks over to the counter, again focusing on the boy from the warp zone. At least a problem she can manage to solve. She turns through the crowd, passing quietly and slowly by a few tables, and stepping up to the counter. "New in town, aren't you?" she asks of Ark.
Ark blinks and looks at the woman who's just walked up to him. "Uhh, yeah I am." He smiles and rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. "I'm new everywhere I go, the last few days." he says. (expression = :/)
Lady A reaches into her pockets...which seem, somehow, uncommonly deep. Finally settling on the right one, she pulls out a couple of folded bills. "I'm hungry, too," she says, "and places to walk before I warp home. I'm willing to help." She passes the money across the counter without a word, then points to a somewhat smaller sandwich for herself.
Ark blinks again. "Uhh...thanks!" he says. Wasn't expecting that. "Umm, can I ask you some questions?" he queries Lita, while they wait for the sandwiches to be bagged up.
Lady A looks at Ark, and blinks once...very slowly. They always have questions. "You can."
Ark swallows once. "Okay. Where the heck am I? I've been wandering for thr-" Suddenly the Box on his hip shifts, distracting him. Ark blinks, and realises that Yomi's trying to stop him from saying too much. He's had to do it before, so Ark catches on quickly enough.
Lady A looks down, as Ark starts to fuss with something on his side. "Is that who you were talking to?" she asks, answering a question, with a question.
Ark errs and looks at Lady A guiltily. "Well...yes. Actually, I wasn't talking to the box, but my friend inside it." he tries to explain, probably not realising how ludicrous he sounds. "It's a lot bigger on the inside than the outside, y'see."
Lady A hands Ark his sandwich, then walks over back to the seat she had chosen before. "Like Subcon?" she muses cryptically. "I've spent time in places like that."
Ark takes the prooffered sandwich and in classic anime style, takes a huge bite out of it straight away. "I du'no 'bout anyw'ere named Shub-Con..." *gulp* "But yeah, I think you got it."
The box shifts again, and Ark frowns, before Yomi's voice can be heard. "Oh for crying out loud, why don't you just give her a tour or something?" .oO(Shuddup, Yomi...shuddup, dammit!) Ark thinks to himself, while sweatdropping.
Lady A eats a little more carefully, though the fact that she needs it is evident. She swallows, then asks, "A...tour of the box? Maybe some other time. This is part of the Terra Zone," she then says, offering Ark some type of explanation.
Ark silently offers thanks, relieved that he won't have to introduce Lady A to Yomi. He looks puzzled when she answers his earlier question. "Terra Zone...this place is arranged into zones? How many are there?" If there's thousands more, it might be a long time before Ark gets back to his homeworld. But then, he's supposed to be exploring, which is why he's here in the first place.
Lady A sighs. It is the heavy, weary sigh of someone who's walked a hard road, then been asked to explain something she's probably explained a million times before and will explain again a million times hence. "When you're done with that...best follow me."
Ark blinks and remembers the sandwich in his hand. He takes another huge bite out of it and gestures. "Leaf on, Missus...uh..." Ark pauses. He doesn't know this strange woman's name. "Wha's your name?"
Lady A clears her throat, then stands up. "I'm called Lady A," she says. "And you?" She extends her hand as if to shake...of course, there is a rather large, if blunt-looking weapon, attached to it.
Ark swallows again, and holds out a hand to take Lady A's, trying to avoid getting his forearm caught on the Pong Paddle thingy. "Ark." he says, smiling.
Lady A turns away suddenly, and squints at a cathedral about a block down the street. "It's perfectly safe," she says. "That will do." Then, without much explanation, she starts to stride off in that direction.
Ark follows after Lady A as she abruptly heads off towards the cathedral, still downing the last of his sandwich. Mystified by everything that's happened over the last few days, all he can do is grab hold of what looks like the only lifeline he can see, and hold on as tightly as possible. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Lady A steps up to the front door of the cyclopean building without saying a word. She reaches out her hand, and...PUSHES, on the engraved door. Rather than the interior of the building, however, a shimmering portal appears behind the door as it opens inward. A faint breeze blows out of the multicolored depths of the warp zone, and those passing by on the street stop, turn, and watch. "The Palace will reject you if you do not belong. In which case, I'm sorry." Lady A turns her head back toward Ark. "After you."
Ark watches Lady A do her stuff with slowly widening eyes. That's one of these warp things that he's been wandering through! Her words don't register for a few moments, until Ark's eyes snap back to the Lady, and he says, "Huh? Oh, right..." It's obvious she wants him to step through. This's easy. This is something Ark can understand straight off. Walking up to the warp, he stops, looking at it for a few moments, before Yomi's prompting voice mutters something, and Ark turns bright red, before stepping through, not minding the people who are staring at them. It isn't as if his pants haven't gotten him odd looks before, anyway.
Ark escapes into a warp zone.
Ark has left.
Lady A escapes into a warp zone.
Palace of Power - Warp Zone Room
This room, the center of warp activity in Videoland, is a series of long hallways, warp zones sitting like multicolored pools of light against the walls, each one labeled, destinations certain for those who step into them. From here, you can go almost anywhere in Videoland, your imagination the only real limit to your destination.
Contents:
Ark
Obvious exits:
Warp Five leads to Adventure Zone - Dark Forest.
Warp Four leads to Action Zone - Rolling Plains.
Warp Three leads to Terra Zone - Little States (Back East).
Warp Two leads to Space Zone - Core Worlds.
Warp One leads to Puzzle Zone - Labyrinth.
East leads to Palace of Power - Waiting Room.
Lady A steps out of the warp, following Ark. "Good," she says... "You made it."
Ark stumbles as he steps out of the warp and into the hallway. He needs to practice that. Turning to see Lady A step out behind him, he blinks. "So, uhh...where are we now?"
Lady A explains: "This is the warp hub, in the Palace of Power. All Warp Zones lead here, at some time or another." She then starts to walk toward the room exit.
Ark follows after Lady A, having no other point of reference. "So I can use one of these to get home?" he asks musingly.
Lady A turns around and nods once. "Where are you from?"
Ark stops and answers. "Earth." A thought occurs to him. "Well, /a/ Earth, anyway...these warps suddenly started showing up all over the place, and I was, uhh...sent out to find out what they were." Not the entire truth, but close enough.
Lady A turns away again, saying, "Oh. Well, that will make things more difficult. A lot of people are from Earth. I too, I suppose."
Ark ohs, looking down at the floor. "Well, 'least I got a place to start from. Umm, is there any place I can crash for now around here?"
Lady A says, "Sure. Just follow me....there's a guest room here. If ever you're lost...just remember this place, and think about it. And here you'll be."
Palace of Power - Waiting Room
This room is wide, carpeted in the same red as the Audience Chamber above. Long tables and seats fill this room, the waiting area for new arrivals from the Warp Zones. Missions are sometimes planned here, and the place often serves as a kind of briefing area, a command center for the war for Videoland's freedom. It is usually busy in here, regardless, beings coming and going constantly from the zones below.
Contents:
Princess Zelda
Obvious exits:
West leads to Palace of Power - Warp Zone Room.
Up leads to Palace of Power - Audience Chamber.
Ark arrives from Palace of Power - Warp Zone Room.
Ark has arrived.
Ark looks puzzled at the mysterious comment, but follows after Lady A anyway, seeing as she seems to know a lot about this place.
Princess Zelda
Before you stands the daugher of King Harkinian and ruler of Hyrule, the princess Zelda. Reaching a height of perhaps five and a half feet, her presence makes her seem a bit taller. Large blue eyes, framed by long and thick lashes, shine forth from her porcelain face, sitting on either side of a petite nose with a slight upturn at its end and likewise matched with a pair of rosy lips. Long cascades of well-brushed golden hair are barely restrained by means of a ribbon pulling some of it from her face, revealing delicately pointed ears.
Her slender figure is carried with regally trained grace, but is clothed in garments not of the royal tradition. A purple silk shirt with puffed sleeves covers her upper half, its puffed sleeves reined in just below the shoulder by gold bands for a fitted look to the wrists. Its high neck is trimmed in black embroidery and pinned together by a golden brooch, and its lower edge tucked into a pair of fitted pale, rose-colored breeches. Those breeches are similarly tucked into the modestly heeled thigh-high brown leather boots that cover her feet and the majority of her legs. The vest that she wears is a light blue and by no means a tight fit. Cinched over her waist is a leather belt, its buckle made of gold and bearing the emblem of the Triforce that the princess has sworn to protect. Adorning her head with intricate scrolls of gold and a large ruby is a tiara. From her ears, small golden hoops hang, matched by a small pendant that dangles from her neck.
Princess Zelda is standing on the periphery of the room, hands folded before her as she seems to wait for something. Blue eyes rest on nothing for long, taking everything in and making note of it.
Lady A seems to be leading Ark into the Waiting Room, though she does so quietly, without...pointing out the sights, as it were. The room speaks for itself, doesn't it?
Ark follows quietly, looking over everything carefully, trying to memorise his path. Hey, it's a skill all maze-challenging heroes have, right?
When Zelda finally notices a Game Master passing through, she quickly makes her way towards her. When the Hylian is finally in such range as to not be reduced to yelling, she calls out, "Lady A! Do you have a moment?"
Lady A almost startles a little at this introduction, pointing to herself with her non-Pong-Paddle arm. "I?" She blinks. "I suppose so." She looks to Ark, and shrugs. "Please, explore. Or not. Your wish." It takes her a second to realize she hasn't made introduction... "Ark. Princess Zelda." Then, Lady A has a seat in one of the Waiting Room chairs.
Ark nods to the Princess as he's introduced. "Hi." Turning to Lady A, he answers. "Sure, I'll keep on going then." They prolly wouldn't want him listening in anyway, and he gets restless if he has to stand around talking for too long.
Princess Zelda bows her head towards Ark in recognition of his presence. "A pleasure to meet you," she offers as a short, but still polite, greeting. Her attention is quickly shifted back to Lady A. "Forgive me for distracting you from your guest. I was just..." Cut to the chase, girl. With a small sigh, she starts again. "Station was supposed to be hosting a meeting this evening. And I haven't heard word of what is detaining him. Surely there is something. Have you received word of anything of the sort?"
Lady A looks a little distant for a moment, as if thinking. "I believe...there was an attack on the Mushroom Kingdom," she finally pronounces. "Which reminds me that I need to make a report."
Princess Zelda takes a few steps back, giving the game master the clearance she should need to get back on her feet and on her way. "Ah. Well, I won't detain you, then. Thank you very much." At least she know where the other game master has gotten off to.
[Hero-IC] Jair says, "Hey! Grit! You know those big things on the backs of those cars? That shoot big rockets?"
[Hero-IC] Grit says, "You talking about the Rockets or the Surface to Air missles?"
Lady A didn't mean to seem rude...she's just not much for longwinded explanations, really. "I hope that answers your question..."
[Hero-IC] Jair says, "The ones that shoot stuff in the air."
[Hero-IC] Grit says, "Yeah. What about them?"
[Hero-IC] Jair says, "..I...don't...know. But I need to borrow some soldiers."
[Hero-IC] Grit says, "Borrow? What for?"
[Hero-IC] Jair says, "There are flying heads in Toad Town. Flying heads that turn people to stone."
[Hero-IC] Lady A says, "You mean, it hasn't ended?"
[Hero-IC] Commander, Jim Raynor says, "I'km free now I'm free with things here anyone need some support fire from my boys and I? I also have a squad of medics helping out the wounded as well."
[Hero-IC] Grit says, "Right. I suppose I can bring some troops around..."
[Hero-IC] Jair says, "Not yet, milady. But the villains are in retreat - Toad Town seems to have been saved, except for these flying heads."
"It does. Thank you." A nod to the head is given to Lady A before the princess turns and moves back to her previous location, awaiting the arrival of someone with further news.
[Hero-IC] Jair says, "Get them to Toad Town ASAP and meet me in front of the castle. Any of you in there still up, get to the castle when you can."
Lady A frowns. "I would join them, but it's a long walk yet, and I've done what I can." She sighs, then stands.