Welcome to Rin'ov Dulezz! The Story Rin'ov Dulezz is a world where the character's worst fears and griefs come alive to torment him. The world consists of an underground labyrinth of caves and tunnels, the only illumination coming from the phosphorescent fungus that grows along the stone walls. At the center of the labyrinth is a magic Node. Power can be drawn from the Node to enhance the abilities of the user. This may seem useless to players with a fighter style but there is more to this Node. The Node also contains a weapon in it's center, it contains the spirit of the Spellsword Arriana. Due Arriana's tampering with the ancient magic within the node, the only way to get through the labyrinth and to the Node is through it's corridors. But travelers take warning, the labyrinth is also riddled with traps and spells to hinder and torture the seeker of the Node. Each passage presents a new test and trial for the traveler, each one gradually getting worse until he must face Arriana herself and claim the Node and the weapon to which she bound herself. The Beginning The goal of this game is to make it to the center of the labyrinth and claim the Node and Arriana's Blade of Dero'lyle. Each player will begin at the entrance of the Labyrinth. The area outside the labyrinth entrance is forest. It doesn't matter why the player decides to go inside only that it does. Once inside the trials that the player faces will be up to the player. Eventually I will decide who will be worthy to face Arriana and claim her power. If that comes to pass the story will begin anew, but this time the player will face not only Arriana but the holder of her sword. Characters Each player will be able to chose from one of these races: Elves; graceful, long-lived denizens of the forests. Elves tend to be funloving and are lovers of light. They are repelled instantly by anything dark. Prefer marksman weapons and blades. Can use Life magic Dwarves; short, stout, stone workers. They like finding new caves and mines in order to find gold and other minerals. Most often bearded and prefer axes or blut wepons. Minotaurs; Tall, with a bulls head and legs, Cloven hooves serve as feet. Covered in bull-like hair except on the chest and sides of back. They tend to be war-loving and look for any reason to fight. Prefer Axes and blunt weapons. Humans; shorter-lived then other races Humans are probally the most adaptable. They are quick-thinkers and very versatile. Can use BLunt, Blade, and Marksman weapons. Drow; Blue-skinned cousins to the elves. Tend to lean towards dark practices. Skilled in Dark magic and are very manipulative. Prefer useing blades and marksman weapons. Fae; Winged, graceful, and shy. can only use magic and can very rarely cause harm to another. Most are only about a foot and half tall. also known as Faires. Each player will then post a character template in the Discussion Thread for Rin'ov Dulezz with the following Name: Age: Gender: Appearance: Personality: History: Powers/Equipment: Motive of Why She/He is Facing the Labyrinth: Each player will have ONE character. Any further characters must first be previewed by me. Rules 1. NO god-modding! This is a friendly game and any attempt at seeming all-powerful is unfair to the other players. Keep it simple 2. Players may not take control of another player's character without the consent of the the other player. Team plays should be planned by PMing and then posting. 3. Mind this is a story line. Posts must be first drafted off-line, perfected, and then posted. Each post must be at least 100 words in length. 4. Only I the GM can award Arriana's Sword and the Node 5. The GM is the Law, what I say goes. Even if it involves breaking my own rules. 6. Characters cannot kill each other! This reverts back to #2. This also includes causing direct damage to other characters without consent of the player. 7. Continue the story. Do not recap other players posts and do not re-write posts from your characters point of view. Keep it in the present. 8. Character Templates should be approved by the GM. They must be posted in the discussion thread following the template explained above. 9. Each post should have the character's name for the title. 10. Words said by other character's should be bolded. 11. No one-line posts! Lets try and keep it 100+ words k 12. Read all the most recent posts. Keep up on the action, it could be easy to get lost. 13. FLAMING, INSULTING, OR ANY OTHER TYPE OF HARSHNESS THAT IS DELIBERATELY USED TO HURT SOMEONE ELSE’S FEELINGS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED AT ALL, NOR ACCEPTED ANYWHERE ELSE AROUND THE FORUM. 14. No out of character content. Keep that in the discussion forum. 15. "I turned around and he was gone." It occasionally happens that players go absent. If you find yourself stuck waiting on a absent player you may ask permission of the GM to invoke the "I turned around and he was gone," rule. To do this, you write in that the absent player's character simply disappeared when your character wasn't looking. Disappeared characters can always be brought back into the game by making an excuse for disappearing if the absent player returns. 16. Feel free to make suggestions or negotiate with the GM. 17. Have fun and good luck!
Arriana Arriana sat with her back to the cave wall. She glared at her sword which leaned on the Node. The Node pulsed in purplish light, not caring at all about the lives it has ruined. Arriana sighed and placed her head between her knees, she fiddled with the edge of her robes trying to remember her past life. It had been so long that she couldn't even recal her family name, she was only Arriana now. Bound to her sword forever, cursed to live in a spirit form. She looked to the pile of bones in another corner of the cave, purple robes almost completey rotted away, armor just a pile of rust. As she looked at her old self she fell again into depression and looked away. Soon, she thought desperately,Soon, someone will come. And they will help me. They will take up my Blade and I can LIVE Again! The Node continued it's pulsing and the sword gleamed devilishly in it's light. Arriana spat at it, then got up to wander the Labyrinth again.
Esva Trizk Esva stood at the entrance to the Labyrinth, letting out a deep sigh. It hadn't been hard to get here. All the fools in her colony had fallen ever so easily for her tricks. She hadn't even had to fight in the competition to get to the finals, and then the fool in the finals had been so tired, it had been like fighting a mouse in a cage. Esva shook her head, touching the hilt of her sword before finally entering the Labyrinth. When she walked through the entrance, the wall behind her closed up. It was official: she was in, and she wasn't going to come back out without a new sword and the Node, or she wasn't going to come out at all. "Don't come back without the Node," the elders of her colony had said. She didn't plan on it. In fact, when she got back, she was going to use the Node to wipe out the elders and then take over the colony for herself. For a Drow, even she had to admit she was bad. But she didn't care: worrying about yourself was the only way to get the things you wanted. Esva walked down the first passage, seeing that it would be a long walk until she found a turn. The whole passage seemed to go on forever. She continued walking for what seemed like an hour, and it didn't look like she was getting anywhere. Thinking carefully, and knowing what mental damage a Labyrinth could do to a person, she took out her knife and scratched a mark into the wall. Then she began walking again. After walking for nearly ten minutes, she looked along the wall for the mark, and became very frustrated. The mark was still next to her, right where she had moved away from it. She lifted her hand and fired a black energy ball at the wall, destroying the mark. "You cannot hide the Node forever magic walls. I will get through."
Champion Urvolt “At long last,” exclaimed Urvolt, stopping to view the large cave entrance in front of him. “I can taste the prize already.” He would have mistook the entrance as any old cavern if it wasn’t for the multiple metal chains, and bright warning signs in multiple languages, written in blood, that were scattered around the opening. A voice piped up from behind him. “I once again urge you to reconsider, Champion Urvolt.” Urvolt turned around in annoyance, to face the voice. Warlord Reem stood with his arms crossed and his face twisted in exasperation. He had accompanied Urvolt through the entire trip, despite his protests, attempting to persuade him against entering the labyrinth. “Marauder Kraus, Champion Bolvek, and Warlord Trova have all tried to claim this so-called ‘Node’ from this blasted cave, and all have failed!” continued the Warlord, “None of them came back out alive!” “They were fools, and weaklings!” Urvolt snapped back. He was tired of hearing the same old stories over and over again. The same stupid excuses. “Kraus was a whelp! Fresh from his mother’s womb, of course he failed. And Trova was an idiot. She left her weapon and armour behind.” “And Bolvek?” Urvolt paused for a moment, and turned to face the gaping hole that was the labyrinth’s entrance. “Bolvek?” he said, laughing to himself. The famous former herd champion, who came two generations before Urvolt himself. There were stories of bravery and honour that were told to children about him. “Bolvek was a swine. If he was alive in my time, I would have crushed him under my hooves.” Warlord Reem snarled at that, and Urvolt knew that his words would find their way back to the herd. Not that it would matter when he returned with the Node. With that, he started forwards again, drawing his battle maul, ready for the challenge ahead. Reem attempted one last feeble warning. “There is a line between courage and stupidity, do not cross it!” Urvolt turned around and snarled. “And do you think it is courage, or stupidity that drives you to cross me?” He waited for a moment to see if Reem would dare reply. He didn’t. “Run home, whelp,” he mocked, before turning and walking into the labyrinth’s depths.
Marde floated at the entrance to the labyrinth smiling "And so it begins" the forest was deadly quiet as if all the animals had run from the dark presence that had invaded its mist. 3 of his thralls crouched around him, humans brought to the lowest possible. "we shall come with you master and protect you" Marde scowled "you think i need you, go back to the Fort and carry on work" The thrall shivered and spoke again "But master we must come with you" Marde gestured with his hand casually and the thralls shadow rose up off the ground and wrapped itself around the human, where it touched the thralls skin burst forth with blood. The thralls screams echoed through the woods. In seconds it was done and the shadow dissipated. the two other thralls were crouched shivering in terror not daring to move. Marde turned to them "No other questions? no? Then get back to the fort." the two thralls sighed in relief and almost sprinted away. Marde turned back to the labyrinth and flew quietly into the darkness, as he passed the shadows seemed to get deeper and darker.
Arriana Arriana felt the air in the Labyrinth shift. She turned her face in the direction that the Labyrinth entrance would be, through miles of stone. After wandering the Labyrinth for as long as she has she knew every nook, every turn, and every stone inside. The air that was normally stale and unmoving betrayed the presence of something that had entered the Labyrinth, disturbing the air. Hope began to kindle in her heart but she quickly banished it from her mind. She has had people come before and they have all failed. She has watched creatures that were strong and creatures not worth mentioning fail her trials. None has even made it a third of the way to her Blade and the Node. As she was dead, however, she could afford to see just who has braved the darkness of the Labyrinth. Arriana gathered herself and filtered her spirit through the darkness. Gathering her ethereal self she followed the air currents till they became almost impossible to distinguish one from another. She almost ran through the Drow female before she stopped herself. Arriana grimaced, already the Drow was having trouble just navigating the Labyrinth. Not far behind the the Drow was a massive Minotaur, he didn't care where he was going only that he got where he wanted. And then Arriana came upon the broken Fae, strange how all three of these people should come at once. Arriana thought for a moment. Usually there had been only one at a time inside her labyrinth, she wondered if her defenses could stand up to three different points of intrusion that these people made. That kindled hope sprung up again and this time she did not smother it. Perhaps, just perhaps, at least one of these people would make it through. Elated by this thought Arriana wisped back to her little grotto, she allowed herself to form back into her transparent form and stood before the Node. She traced a single finger across it's veins, relishing in the possibility of what she could do when she had the body to do it with. Her sword glinted at her in the purplish light and she gazed upon her reflection on it's surface. As her soul holder, it was the only thing that could truly show her reflection clearly. In it, she appeared as much as she did in her prime all those years ago. A beautiful and hard Drow looked back at her, eyes glinting with the power lust that she still felt after her body's demise. At that sour note Arriana glanced again at the pile of bones in the corner. She scowled, she hated her body for failing her. She was supposed to be immortal, body and soul, but somehow her body had skipped out on the deal. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and went back to brooding over future plans. She wondered, would she like being a Drow female again? Or would she rather be a strong minotaur? Fae were small but they had their advantages. She smiled and gazed longingly at the Node. Soon, very soon.
Esva Trizk Esva was trying to be patient, but the passage was starting to get the better of her. It was long, too long. She'd been walking for almost three hours now, and still the passageway seemed to stretch on forever. There was decent lighting in this passage, but she was always looking ahead, and saw nothing but more passageway. Taking deeper breaths, Esva tried to be patient, but it wasn't working. "AH!" She turned and punched the wall, so angry that she'd done the trials to get here, and now she was stuck in a neverending passage. She'd thought perhaps there were some secret doors, and she'd been searching both walls for them, but to no avail. Regaining her composure, she turned back to the passageway. She lifted a hand, palm up, and began collecting energy from the shadows around her. A dark ball formed in her hand. It began crackling as it absorbed more of the shadows around her. She so enjoyed the power of shadows, because it was endless. "If I can't see the end, maybe I can hear it." She pulled her hand back, and then threw the ball ahead of her, and watched it fly through the passage. If there was a wall, even an hour away, the ball would at least hit it and make some sort of noise. She watched the ball fly further and further, as it became a tinier speck. Then, it was out of sight. "You can't be serious..." Esva sighed. Was she this weak, that she was giving in to a passage with no end? When thinking it that way, she couldn't be blamed for the weakness. It was getting her no closer to her goal, and any other Drow in her colony would think the same. Esva stopped breathing, upon hearing some sort of noise. It wasn't the ball striking anything... no, it was something though. From... behind her. She whipped around, surprised, and dove out of the way of the object that flew at her. She drew her sword, but saw no enemy behind her. Perhaps they were invisible. She prepared to dodge another missile, but saw nothing. "Show yourself coward!" Esva waited and waited, but still nothing came. She was about to sheath her sword when she heard the noise again. She readied herself, hoping to at least see the attacker. Then, her eyes widened as she saw what she had avoided the first time. Her energy ball flew past her, coming from where she had already walked. Then, it continued flying again, in the direction she had launched it. Esva dropped her sword, stunned. "NOOOO!" She dropped to her knees, pounding the ground with her fists. "No no no no no no no no!" How could this be? She was going to die in a neverending passageway. What was worse, if the ball was in a cycle, that meant the entrance had closed. She had no way out, and no way in. "NOOOOOO!"
Skip Lone Skip Lone, wanted by realms, thief of treasures, and self-proclaimed gentleman of the ladies drew back the reigns of his steed. The majestic black steed halted and reared back on its hind legs. "Wow ho!" Skip exlaimed before hopping off the back. The horse was a beast by any breeder's standards but then again it was a general's horse. Skip slapped it on the rear and sent it galloping off back into the forest. It'll remember its way back. Skip turned his attention to the front of the cave, and like any good gentleman thief who wished to keep their handsome head on their shoulders, he inspected his surroundings. "Nice touch with the blood." He noted to himself. So far there appeared to be no overt signs of booby traps. If the scrolls were write about anything then Skip would have to keep his eyes peeled and his mind outside of the box if he was going to survive this. The Den of Illusion, The Dungeon of Despair, The Maze of Madness, The Cradle of Darkness were all among the nicer references to Rin'ov Dulezz that Skip came across in many different scrolls. Though, he was partial to Hell's Hammock himself. It was strangly relaxing. Different names aside, all the scrolls did mention that the labyrinth will find ways to drive you insane sooner or later. Many a brave warrior, wizard, hunter, etc. have all tried, and all have fallen prey to madness in the end. The fact that no one has come out on top was all that Skip needed to read though. The challenge of suceeding were legends have failed was definitely more appealing that ripping off Royalty and rich merchants of their most prized, and most guarded possessions. Skip absently twirled a knife in hand while his eyes roamed over the scene. Satisfied that the entrance at least was safe, if not a little grotesque, he continued into the cave entrance. Once inside he adopted his more clandestine form of walking and blended into shadow and silence.
Champion Urvolt “Blasted cave!” Urvolt shouted out in frustration. It seemed like he was getting absolutely nowhere. There were tens of different pathways, all leading off into a different direction, and every single one Urvolt had tried led to a dead end. It was incredibly dark as well, even for Urvolt who was used to fighting battles at night. Sometimes there were patches of luminous fungi which brightened the path temporarily, but it wasn’t a very reliable source. Urvolt turned and headed down the path furthest to the right, fuming as he went. “Why would anyone make a bunch of holes that lead nowhere?” he grumbled to himself. The path sloped gently downwards and twisted around at times. Soon Urvolt lost his sense of direction completely. After a good half-hour of steady walking, the cavern straightened out again, revealing a long hallway-like path which was illuminated by patches of fungi. And at the end of the path, a dead end. Losing his temper completely, Urvolt roared in frustration, slamming his battle-maul into the ground. Then, without thinking, he lowered his head and charged at full speed towards the wall at the end of the tunnel. The charge covered the distance in a matter of seconds, and the momentum was terrifying – enough to crush another living creature to pulp. Then, his horns made contact with the wall – and went right through, his body following after. Surprised by this, Urvolt raised his head slightly. This proved to be a mistake, as his charge forced him to run directly into another wall almost right in front of the fake wall, and this one was real. The wall proved to be brittle, and exploded in a cloud of dust, leaving a large hole. When he finally managed to reorient himself, he realised that he had stepped into another hallway which ran perpendicular with the path he was in before. And at one end of the path, stood a Drow woman with long black hair, clothed in a robe, staring at him with her mouth ajar. “Demon!” roared Urvolt, raising his battle-maul. “Prepare to meet your end!”
Esva Trizk "Demon! Prepare to meet your end! Esva didn't know where the beast had come from, but it had a large maul in its hand and was clearly ready to come after her. She hadn't dealt with this kind of monster before, but how hard could it be with her shadow magic? She'd be able to finish him off and then, of course, move back to trying to figure out a way out of the never ending hallway. Esva lifted her hand, and it became surrounded by a black shadow. Then, two long black tendrils extended from her hand and flowed towards the Minotaur. Each one wrapped around a horn on the Minotaur's head. She smiled as the tendrils wrapped around several times, enveloping the horns completely. "Got the bull by the horns," she said, pulling on the tendrils.
Arriana Arriana scowled at the images on the Node. Already those creatures were venturing deeper into her Labyrinth without any conflict! They are not yet ready! With one furious swipe of her arm she cleared the images from the Node and started pacing her inner sanctum. Evidently her protections could not keep up with the multiple intruders within the labyrinth, and after years of being undisturbed the protections were probably worn down as well. They needed to be recharged, rebuffed, and they needed more power, more traps. Arriana's sword gleamed from it's perch against the Node and seemed to be mocking her in her dilemma. Out of wrath she let fly a blast of pure power to the sword, and another and another as each ball was consumed by the blade. Exhausted, Arriana slumped to the floor, the sword unchanged at her wasted efforts. Arriana warily got up to her knees and crawled back to the Node. She pressed her face up against it and felt it's power course back through her and give her strength. Thus refreshed, Arriana went back to the problem of the Labyrinth. She stood up and looked around her sanctum, laying her eyes upon her skeleton that rested upon the floor. Arriana smiled as an idea came into her head. "Powers of Darkness and Light that strive, Come together and make Dead Alive!" The skeleton shivered and quaked underneath the piercing gaze of Arriana's power. Soon it rose on it's feet and begun walking, a terrifying mix of life and death. "Go now, seek out the intruders. Teach them the lessons they need to learn." The skeleton made it's slow creaking way into the Labyrinth, the rotted robes dropping bits of dust and fabric on the floor as it moved. Arriana drew more power from the Node then laid her hands upon one of the walls. Her hands glowed purple as she poured power into the walls of the labyrinth itself while she incanted a spell, "Power mine, Power that Dwells. Block intruders, do not do them well. Use the gifts that you now posses, Use them against our needed Guests!" The walls glowed and iridescent purple for a slight moment and then gradually faded away to their normal hues. Arriana drew more power from the Node and spoke another spell, "Spirits dead and gone away, Come back to me today. Though in years I've done you wrong, Take your wrath on those who come along. Teach the danger that you have faced, Strip their souls as yours are encased!" A shadowy form rose from the ground of her sanctum, the only person able to make it as far, and whisked into the labyrinth. All around the Labyrinth, Arriana knew, similar spirits would rise from the place that they fell and go out to seek further intruders. Some spirits would gain bodily forms, others would remain as Ether, but all would be able to do what she has told them. The spirits of Minotaurs, Elves, Dwarves, Drow, Humans, and even Fae littered the Labyrinth and would now take their wrath upon any they encounter. Arriana threw her head back and laughed.Soon, Very soon indeed.
Marde floated down the corridors of the labyrinth idily stroking the walls as he went, where his hand passed the labyrinth walls they glowed a sickly red black as Mardes corruption spread into the stone. Within seconds the labyrinth healed itself but the walls seemed to try to pull away from Mardes touch as he passed. a quiet rumble sounded somewhere off in the distance, Marde turned and extended his senses towards the sound, he used the shadows to look down the corridors and came to the source of the commotion. A minotaur and a drow interesting, suddenly Mardes vision wavered as the drow pulled shadow magic he quickly withdrew his control from around her so she didnt sense him. "So there are others within the maze, How fun. and the drow has shadow magic we shall see if she truly understands what hides in the shadows. And a minotaur unclean mite infested beasts, their only use it to be served in a stew and not a very good one at that. The sword is MINE!!" Mardes last word vibrated with power and all light within the labyrinth dimmed for a second and the shadows seemed to grow hostile extending questing tendrils, as quickly as it came the shadows returned to normal. Marde scowled and turned away from the two beings and continued through the labyrinth. As he got deeper he felt the burning in his stomach that told him strong magic was being cast, the temperature in the labyrinth dropped a couple of degrees and the walls glowed a nasty shade of purple. he felt the spirits stirring and the labyrinth waking from its deep sleep. 'This wont be as easy as i thought then' he reached into his pouch and pulled out three black seeds that writhed nastily. He held them close to his mouth and whispered to the seeds then threw them into a corner where the shadows were deepest. The darkness began to broil and turned blacker then deepest night. a long thin arm reached out of the pitch black and grabbed onto the labyrinth with its claws scratching deep welts in the wall. As the creature emerged it showed its full form, a 7ft tall slender humanoid comprised entirely of deepest night its arms reached down to mid thigh and each hand had three fingers each ending in a wicked claw, its head seemed too large for its body and seemed to be topped with a crown though it was hard to tell if it was wearing a crown or it was the shape of its head. the creature knelt in front of Marde and lowered its head. Marde reached out a hand and stroked the creatures head, 'come on my beauty we have work to do'
