Emilia Costro walked out of the prison known to many as an hospital. The light of day was a familiar alien as it tried to burn her eyes after her confinement indoors. The cold air of the world of Orrenia sent chills down her spine as she stepped out onto the street.
She was not the same person who had gone into that hospital, of that she was certain. She had recently acquired the power of Transcendence, a powerful magical energy that now flowed in Costro's veins.
Her newly acquired power was not just a blessing for power, however, for in the society of the Guarded Transcendence is power and power is status. But even still with this new step up on the ladder of life, Emilia didn't count it all a victory. What was status or honor without having earned it? She of course believed she had already earned it perhaps, but it wouldn't be for prowess that she'd be now exalted.
This town, New Rossita, had been her home since her earliest days, supposedly with her new status she'd be leaving this place soon enough. Maybe it was for the best and maybe it wasn't. Only time would tell.
Walking to the edge of the village, Costro watched the land surrounding the town with new eyes. Something about this new power was enlightening, almost like living in a vision. To her left she could see the town's current head military man, Luke Archiste, patrolling the grounds with several other Guarded. Maybe she could join up with the Lieutenant Archiste for a job in the military, might prove useful to have an outfit. She would need to be more presentable than an hospital ward if she wanted to join them, however.
She watched as the outfit made its way along the town's border. The group had just drew within ear shot when one of the outer soldiers loudly exclaimed to his head officer.
"Lieutenant! I see someone approaching the village!"
===
Leemond Riese walked through the cold forests of Orrenia on his way to New Rossita. His back was bent from the weight of his supplies which he carried over his back. It had been a long road to get to this point, he had done much to gain his transcendent power and it was with much deliberation that he had been able to get transport to Orrenia for new deployment, but at last it seemed things would be winding down. Of course when one's in war, one can't expect much in the way of "down time". As he trudged through the cold and frost bitten foliage, he felt the thick fog condense on his clothes, soaking in and trapping the cold rather than the warmth inside.
Leemond crested a hill top just as his he felt he could go no further without a rest. There were very few trees here and the spot provided him with an enviable view of the entire region.
As if a reward for his dutiful trek, he could see the town of New Rossita just within sight. What a beautiful thing it was to see a homely place.
What he saw next, however, instantly dashed any sense of safety he had harbored. Not far away, a party of Legionarries were stealthily on the approach to New Rossita. They must believe themselves to be beyond detection out here in the wilds, Leemond thought, but they were wrong.
His legs forgot their tiredness as he vaulted up, recovered his gear, and ran full measure towards Rossita. He could get there first, he just hoped it would be soon enough.
===
Leemond out of the trees' holds with New Rossita in his view. He ran as fast as he could, waving his arms in circles over his head, hoping to convey the urgency of his errand.
As he neared the settlement, three guards from Archiste's party broke off and hailed Leemond. He told them all he knew, of the possible attack and of his redeployment. He blurted the happenings to the men as fast he could, knowing it was the commander who would need the information in detail.
The guards brought him to Archiste straight away. Leemond saluted to his superior as Archiste demanded with the authority of leadership what it was he had seen. Leemond Riese explained in detail all he could remember of the men he had seen, leaving no doubt that they were Legionarries.
Archiste was silent for a moment as he planned his stratagem. Coming to a decision, he called one of his men to his side.
"Take half of the men and keep your heads down just past the walls. use anything you need for cover, we don't want them to know we're here." The lieutenant said. "Have one of your men get together any civies or militia ," he gestured in the direction of the village, incidentally in Emilia Costro's direction. "And station them in any hidden spot you can find."
Leemond stood quietly to the side as the proceedings moved forward. The lieutenant turned to him as the soldier he had been addressing saluted and left.
"Riese, you're with me." Leemond gave a hearty " yes sir" as Archiste continued. "We're going to set ourselves a trap."
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Edited by ZoniCat: 4/9/2019 9:24:04 PM[spoiler][quote]"Transcendence is power, power is strength, strength is victory, and thus, Victory is you. Do not shy away from your gifts, do not let some prude and fretful cowards diminish your courage. You are Transcendence. You, are victory." - Poem of Veritec, Legendary War General of the Guarded[/quote][/spoiler] [b]The Combat and Gear systems:[/b] So, instead of what many offtopicians have grown accustomed to in stories such as this, this series shall be foregoing the role-play-esque methods employed by most other sign up stories, in favor for a more rigid system of combat. [spoiler]The [b]H.A.S.[/b] (health, attack, strategy) system shall be employed for combat. In this system, whichever combatant has more points in at least 2 of the 3 categories shall be proclaimed the victor. An example; Player: Ringleader77 (325)________________ Enemy: Elite Rampager (350) Health: 150_____________________________Health: 125 Attack: 75______________________________Attack: 150 Strategy: 100___________________________Strategy: 75 - In this environment, Player Character Ringleader77 would defeat the Elite Rampager, as Ringleader has higher stats in Health and Strategy, despite the Elite Rampager having higher stats over all. For in-combat decisions, there will be 3 rounds of combat for most combats, with additional rounds being applied to break ties or if the opponent is particularly durable. Each round, the H.A.S. stats of either yourself or your opponent (or your allies in some cases) can be altered by the players using Actions (Starting with 1 action each round, and going up to 6 at max level, with some gear increasing this number further) with the [b]W.A.T.E[/b] System:[/spoiler] [spoiler]Weapons: Powerful abilities that go on a cooldown after use. -1 to all cooldowns at the end of every combat. Armor: Passive abilities that are active during every combat. Transcendence: Magical abilities that incite disadvantages equal to or greater than the advantages granted. Equipment: Consumable abilities that, once utilized, are gone forever.[/spoiler] [spoiler]Now, some of the abilities listed in the WATE section have specific interactions based on your opponent's combative class, which is chosen from the ADEPT categories: 1. Aggressive 2. Defensive 3. Evasive 4. Precise 5. Tactical Now, apart from having specific interactions with certain WATE abilities/passives, Each Combat Class gains a HAS-stat boost against the 2 combat styles that come before it on the ADEPT tree. For example, Evasive (3) gains a 35% boost to all HAS stats at the start of combat when fighting against Defensive (2) or Aggressive (1) forms. This boost has a default of 35%, but can be reduced down to a minimum boost of 5% based on how Transcendent the character is.[/spoiler] Transcendence: [spoiler][b]Transcendence[/b] is measured in TG's: The more TG's you have, the more disadvantages you have in non-transcendent areas (even outside of combat at times) but it is impossible to accrue Transcendent powers without also gaining TG's. There is a limit on the number of actual TG's any character can have (limited to 30 TG's) but total TG's is also tracked, despite being an almost arbitrary number beyond 30. Natural Born: +15 TG/+3 Transcendent Abilities (Decided upon character creation). Infected: +8 TG/+2 Transcendent Abilities (rarely applied upon surviving an encounter with high-powered transcendent combatants). Spliced: +3 TG/+1 Transcendent Ability (Transcendent Crystals may be spliced into the blood stream, to impart a small but highly concentrated amount of Transcendent power to the host).[/spoiler] (Drawing composed by Lee the Sheriff, much appreciated).