Kyngdom Survival Guide
*TALE: TWO KYNGDOMS
Chatterbox: KYNGDOM™ Power of Hoof
*TALE: TWO KYNGDOMS
*TALE: TWO KYNGDOMS
A Tale of Two Kyngdoms, Part One
By Zephyra
It was the worst of times. That much was obvious. Chaos everywhere. Claaws was dead. Jaaws roamed our land, jaws dripping with Brazen Goo. Catastrophe was always lurking, ready to fight anyone at the slightest provocation. I heard whispers of a “Mutant Army.” And B.I.G. crept ever closer to finding and activating all four of the Powers, which would lead to--what? Utter global destruction? To be honest, I was finding it harder and harder to go to sleep. Dark thoughts swirled through my brain at all hours of the night.
On one particularly hopeless mornings, as I was drooping over a mug of oak root coffee at the Bog & Burrow, I received word from my faithful network of spies that Dr. Cornelia Hornshaw was heading north, toward the Decoy Forest. My go-to tech wiz, Techibeetle, quickly tapped her phone and, after listening to a very disgruntled conversation she was having with one of her chief scientists, we learned that she believed the fourth Power--the Power of Hoof--was located there. In the forest.
Now, this was a little too close for comfort for me, my fellow spies, and the other Guardians. Because we knew that while the fourth Power wasn’t actually in the forest, it was nearby--very nearby, on the hoof of Regina the Silver Reindeer herself. I sent a message to Regina begging her to retreat to her mansion, and then I began planning my trip to the north.
(Another complication: I was supposed to be planning my nephew Little Crow’s Naming Ceremony. It was time. He was of age. But the party would just have to wait--and I felt terrible about it.)
After another mug of oak root coffee, I hit upon a plan that was simple, but so daring that it made me nauseous. I was going to do the unthinkable. I would try to intercept Cornelia before she went into the Decoy Forest, and I would…talk with her.
Yes, talk. A dialogue. I figured that I could use B.I.G.’s technology to make Cornelia understand what I was saying, and then I could explain how dangerous her behavior was. How it would put us all at risk--animals and humans. Naïve? Maybe. But sometimes the best route is the most direct, no? There’s a reason for the phrase “as the crow flies.”
Of course it was a terrible shock when, while flying over the Labyrinth, I heard something rustling about in the suitcase that was strapped to my back--and out popped Little Crow, squawking that he couldn’t let me go alone and he was practically an adult and why did I get to do all the fun stuff? I was furious that he’d snuck along, but it was too late to turn back. Cornelia’s train was literally zooming below us as we flew. Besides, I’ll admit it: sometimes it’s nice to have a sidekick.
When we arrived at Jökull, the mansion of the Silver Reindeer, Regina greeted us joyfully and gave us each a huge, steaming mug of Black Winter Cherry cider. Little Crow was shivering. I was exhausted.
“She’s coming,” said Regina, giving me a meaningful look.
“I loathe Cornelia Hornshaw,” spat Little Crow.
“Little! She’s done some terrible things, but she is a very lost, very confused woman,” I said.
“She thinks we’re stupid. She doesn’t respect the world we’ve built. Why do I have to like her?” said Little Crow.
I was flustered, jet-lagged, but Regina jumped in with grace. “You don’t have to like her, Little Crow,” she said, her mother-of-pearl horseshoes twinkling. “But what Cornelia Hornshaw lacks is empathy. She can’t put herself in our horseshoes, so to speak. So she’ll never truly understand us--or anything about the world, really. Zephyra is saying that if you try to empathize a little with her, no matter how much it angers you, then you will have already won part of the battle.
“And for the other parts--if empathy and reason fail, at least you have an entire network of spies and warriors on your side,” I added.
Little Crow’s eyes were drooping.
“Let’s go to bed,” I said. “Cornelia is probably staying at that human eyesore, the Wayward Villa, tonight, and won’t be striking off toward the Decoy Forest until morning.”
After Little Crow went to sleep, I turned to Regina.
“I’m worried,” I said. “The Decoy Forest never shows travelers the truth. But who knows what she’ll see there? Sometimes half-truths and white lies can lead to the real thing.”
Regina looked down at her fourth horseshoe--the one that was old, rusty, nondescript.
“I am prepared to fight,” she said, simply.
submitted by Zephyra, Decoy Forest
(January 4, 2017 - 1:39 pm)
(January 4, 2017 - 1:39 pm)
Thanks! Um, so if I wanted to come in, what would be the best way to do that?
(February 20, 2019 - 12:15 pm)
Hi! Obviously Sybill explained this perfectly, but I do have one correction to make to what you said. Catastrophe's current goal is to control Kyngdom, not destroy it. He does want to destroy the Powers though.
(February 13, 2019 - 4:43 pm)
Hey guys! Wow, this week has pounded me over my head. I had to get up at 5 this morning for a competition. Anyway, I don't really have anything to add to the story, but here is a rare clip from Granite's perspective!
--
I shifted my head across the floor, letting the rough stonework of my head rub against the floor. My human patted my head from where she sat at the wooden table. She had her rain shield out on the table, taken aparts, thing sticks hanging off of yellow fabric. Her shouldrs hunched over as she examined a glass tube with dust in it. This is what she normally did, but recently, she had been less talkative, even to me. Her eyes look different. I let the heavy stone lids slide over my own eyes and moved my head off the ground to my arms. The door behind me opened. I opened an eye to look who would approach my human. It was the Bird. She was nice, she never hurt my human. She was holding a bowl of food and set it on the table. She said something in the human language. I never knew what she said. I only knew what my human said to me. My human picked up her rain shield to show to the Bird. She moved a joint and let the thin sticks turn. She lifted it up so it rested on her shoulder, the point aimed at the stone wall across the room. The Bird gave a rare smile for my human before her lips turned down again. She said something and my human slowly set down her rain shield, and turned away looking downward. I huffed through my nose to get her attention. She was upset again. I crept forwad slightly so that her hand could rest on my horn comfortably. She daid something to the Bird. holding put a small thing. It rested in her hand, one of her fingers stretching away from a small tab on it. It looked like one of the things that was aimed at her when she went up to the People of this Castle, only smaller. She pointed to a couple of things, said a few words to the Bird before wrapping it in a cloth and tucking it into one of her pouches. She said something, and the Bird nodded. She pointed at the bowl of food she had brought before turning to head back out the door, but didn't leave before patting me on the back. I gave a huff of aknowledgement. The door closed with a click, and my humand and I were alone again.
--
So just in case you didn't understand what happened, Saiorse has a pistol that will become the case for her spirit purifier, and has turned her umbrella into what's essntially a rifle. She's kind of shut herself off from everyone but Granite to work, so Raven has taken to bringing her food and making shure she doesn't starve. I hope it's okay. Hopefully I'll have a less stressful week and be able to work on writing a bit more!
(February 17, 2019 - 12:40 am)
You could make a General or something... Maybe a barracks-keeper? Like, someone who is in charge of what goes in withy the barracks? A scientist would be cool. They could work with Saoirse. Maybe find the the power is fake. The possibilities are endless.
(February 21, 2019 - 1:23 am)
Alright, here goes! This character isn't very well developed yet, so she might be kind of weird. :)
-- Amaya --
I walked slowly up to the ominous building, trying and failing to convince myself that everything was going to be okay. Taking a deep breath, I knocked twice on the large, heavy door. It creaked open slowly in the grasp of a large, rough man.
"Hi, I'm Amaya?"
"What do you want?"
"I'd like a job?"
"Sorry, we don't offer jobs to strangers." He began to shut the door.
"No- no, wait! I have skills! I can help you!"
"What sort of skills?"
"I... I'm a scientist. I build things, I test things, I do whatever. I heard you had some studies going here that might need... people I guess?"
"Give me a moment to confer with, ah, others."
The door slammed shut completely. I stood quivering on the step, trying desperately to keep myself from running away.
20 deep breaths later, the door opened again. I looked up slowly, afraid to hear the verdict.
"Come in. You've been accepted."
--
I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this, but hopefully it'll be somewhere interesting!
(February 22, 2019 - 7:34 pm)
Tsuki--
Grimm was being more vicious and violent than ever. The tall girl--Davina--had come back from the last interrogation severly injured, and Kimi had been crying. Saoirse had been busy at the labs, but Raven got the healing potion from her. I had treated Davina's wounds. Caolan and I had been meeting in secret more often, and I was worried the others were getting suspicious.
I stood in the entrance hall. A soldier was talking to someone outside the doors. He shut the door.
"Tsuki! Go fetch Grimm--he's the head of the base, right? And try to find Ashzan, Caligo, and Deeja."
"Okay!" I replied quickly, then ran off. Soon I was back with everybody the soldier had asked for. It just then occured to me that I was the boss of the soldier and he actually had no riht to ask me to fetch everybody for him. Oh well.
"Generals, and Elites--There's a girl outside of these doors who claims she's a scientist and wants a job here. Should I give it to her?" The soldier asked.
Personally, I'm terrified of scientists, because of what happened to me back at SOCS.
"Let her in. We need more scientists, especially with the Power," Caligo says.
"Agreed," Ashzan says.
"It's fine by me," Deeja says.
"Um... Yeah. let's give her a job." I tell everyone.
"Alright. It's settled. Let the girl in." Grimm nods his head.
The soldier opens the door. "Come in. You've been accepted."
~~
(February 23, 2019 - 8:01 am)
Um, so I looked up Tsuki on the who's here thread in order to describe her here, but this might be wrong, so... yeah. :)
-- Amaya --
I nervously come through the door, seeing a surprisingly large crowd of people - the man who opened the door, some guy who appears to have authority, a group who're probably soldiers, and a person of undetermined status. Staring at my feet, I slowly gain the courage to ask a simple question.
"Um, where do you want me to go?"
That last person motions me to follow her. She walks briskly down the hallway, which surprises me slightly as she doesn't appear to completely be human, with a tail- not exactly a mermaid tail, but maybe more like a lizard? Anyway, not to get distracted from the business at hand, I succinctly introduce myself. She responds with her name - Tsuki.
"So, Amaya, you're going to be working on studying a Power. You know what that is, right?" I nod. "It was recovered by a couple of people we now have in custody. They're being, ah, questioned about it, but we've been thinking it would be good to study it directly in case the questioning doesn't turn up anything of use."
(February 23, 2019 - 2:28 pm)
@Hazel C. and everybody I'm doing a small time skip, about three days. Oh, and Hazel? could you write Caligo in the first person? It would fit better with the other P.O.Vs here. :)
Ashzan~
I hug my arms, slouching in my bed. Something's changed in the past few days. Tsuki and Deeja aren't talking to me. I'm pretty sure the raccoon prisoner is one more interrogation's way from snapping. My only consolation is Caligo. He's warmed a bit... It's weird. I catch myself blushing into my crossed arms. My blush deepens.
"What is this?" I whisper to myself.
~
Ship launched. I was thinking... My charrie doesn't have friends anymore.
(February 27, 2019 - 1:03 am)
I personally don’t think it matters what POV Hazel writes in, even if it isn’t the one everyone else is using. I actually don’t think one ‘fits’ better than another. I’ve been writing Caolán in third person, because I feel like it suits his character better and also because it’s a nice change from the first person, which is what most people, myself included, usually use in RPs. *shrugs*
(February 27, 2019 - 3:20 pm)
~Skylar
Davina looks terribly injured and and Kimi just burts into tears at random moments. Then the General who questioned me comes down the steps.
"Bring her out." He motions to the guard indicating me.
He grabs me by the arm and hands me a bag. I look at them questioningly.
"If you want to be a soldier we'll have you go through a test. Go change." He instructs me.
I tremblingly go change and come back. My uniform is a bit big on me but otherwise it is comfy. I look at the other prisoners. They don't meet my eye.
"If you tell anyone what happened down here..." HE muters to me.
I gulp and nod along.
"Well then soldier MARCH!" He yells and we go outside to a training area. "If you can make it to the other side without being seen you will be accpted. If not well you don't want to know." He sticks a neon sign to my back.
I see several other generals looking at me waiting for me to begin.
I nod and they look at the feild. I crawl along the rocks using my powers to extend the shadows. I'm so close just feet away. inch by inch... almost there....
" STOP!" A voice yells "I've found you."
I look up in horror. A man is looking directly at me.
"Well take her back to the dungeon and question her. She knows something"
Two soldiers grab my arms and drag me back. I thrash and scream the whole way. Finally we are back in the dungeon. I'm thrown into a small cell with my other clothes. I change and rip up the uniform. I can just barely see the Davina and Kimi.
A general comes back and nods to someone. They come in and force me into a chair. They lock me down.
"Tell us what you know." He demands
I grit my teeth and prepare for the worst "no"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(February 27, 2019 - 6:12 pm)
Saoirse
--
I was resting against Granite, lying ontop of his back with a leather bound notebook, brainstorming new concoctions and things to purify that could be useful, when I heard footsteps down the hallway, getting closer and closer. Voices, too. Odd. The only people who ever came down here were the occasional scientist (They generally backed out of the room when they saw the kinds of experiments I was doing), the General (but he didn't talk much to me, so it couldn't be him in the hall), or Raven, but she walked without any noise (I don't get how she does it, she wears boots with one inch heels but I've done tests and she really is incapable of walking with noise), so the only other option was...
The door flung open and Tuski, another soldier, and a girl walked in. I jumped from my postion on Granite's back and glombed onto the new girl. She recoiled and flailed her arms to retain balance, and besides her, Tuski held out her hands to catch her if she fell. "AHHHHH NEW SCIENTIST you and I are going to be the best of friends nobodytalkstomeanymoreIdon'tknowwhyI'masweetheart,-what'syourname,whatwillyoubeworkingon,what'syourfavoritecolor,areyousingle,doyouwanttobefriends-pleasesayyesI'mboreddownherebecauseeveryonewhowalksinsaysI'minsane!"
The girl's eyes were wide open and darted to the sides to look at tuski and the guard for support. "Wh-what?"
(March 7, 2019 - 11:05 am)
Tsuki~~
Though it might be rude, I couldn't help but laugh. "It's okay, Amaya. This is Saoirse. She may be a bit...eccentric, but she's very nice."
Saoirse grinned. "That's right! I'm very nice! Nice to meet you, Amaya!"
Amaya blinked. "Um. Nice to meet you too."
The soldier watched with an annoyed expression. I looked over. Why hadn't he left yet? Wait... I think that technically, I had to give him permission to leave or he wasn't aloud to.
"Um... You can leave now, Captain....um....Ferr." The Captain nodded sharply and walked off, boots clicking loudly.
" So, Saoirse, what have you been doing down here? " I ask.
~~~
(March 7, 2019 - 3:38 pm)
-- Amaya --
Saoirse is a little intimidating, but I think I sense a kindred spirit here. People have called me insane, too, for my obsessive work: I can't stop working on something when I'm probably-maybe-almost done with it!
Perhaps the people here will be nicer than I expected. I mean, I don't know what I expected from Catastrophe's underlings. Evil people, probably. But this Saoirse doesn't seem evil, more like the same kind of scientist I've been working with for years.
"So, Saoirse, what are you working on?" asks Tsuki.
Words burst out of her mouth, but she interrupts herself halfway through, her eyes darting to me and back to Tsuki, presumably questioning how much she's allowed to tell me.
"Oh, she's going to be your new assistant. You can tell her whatever you want."
--
(March 7, 2019 - 10:20 pm)
Ashzan~
With another shout, one of many spears peirces the hole-ridden target. The target breaks, disintegrating into a thousand pieces. I conjure another one, the latest in a line of about twenty-three. Anger blinds me, ruthless and unreasonable anger. Something's wrong. I don't know what. Ever since initiation day, my life has fallen apart. Tsuki looks at me as though I am some monster to be feared, Deeja avoids me like the plague, the raccoon girl has fits of hysteria whenever I'm near, the tall girl shrinks against the farthest point of her cell, and I'm usually out here, on the training grounds, alone, throwing conjured spears at wooden targets. I don't know what happens to me when I'm with Caligo, but it's not like my normal self. I hate it, but I can't force myself to stop it.
"Hey!" I jump and whirl around. Tsuki stands in front of me, about thirty feet away. I step back and create a glass dome around myself. I turn away from my former friend. I hear her footsteps come closer, nervously faltering every four strides. "Ash..."
"Go away." I hang my head. "Please." She presses her hands against the glass.
"I... No. I won't leave you, Ashzan!" Mist begins filling the dome, obscuring Tsuki's sight. My fists tighten.
"You already have, Tsuki. You already have." She can't see the rest of me, but I press one hand against where her right hand is. I hear her start to cry. Tears start to fill my own eyes, but I blink them away. She's already left. She's gone. She won't come back to me. She may be standing right outside the dome, but she's not really there. Not the Tsuki that was my friend. These thoughts help me bring myself together. Her sobs recede with the sound of her footsteps, running. Then, they stop abruptly. There's a slightly electric sound, then a few more footfalls. I think she's facing me now. I close my eyes. Suddenly, a bolt of light energy flashes through my dome, shattering the glass. The mist dissolves in the air, leaving nothing between me and Tsuki. She's holding another energy bolt, and her face is seething with determination and sadness. I begin to form another dome and more mist, but she hurls the bolt before I can fortify the glass. It shatters again.
"Ashzan Moksovinan, I am your friend. I'm sorry I betrayed you," My eyes narrow at her and I scowl, "but I'm here to make it al right again."
~~
I'm totally not listening to some awesome video game soundtrack right now nope definitely not and it totally didn't inspire the drama in this little blurb what were you thinking? *Insane laugh* *Runs away*
(March 9, 2019 - 8:19 pm)
Saoirse
--
I clapped my hands together and beamed. A new assistant! fascinating. I reached down for the notebook I had dropped in my improtu outburst. "I was thinking of new developments and things to work on, but I have to assume that you didn't come here to be my assistant. I must guess that you were really hired to examine and test the Power of the Hoof recently recoverd." I guestured to the left of the room. "The drum is over there, I haven't touched it, seing as I specialize in taking things apart, not keeping them in tact." Amaya nodded and looked like she was going to walk over to the table where the drum was lying before she froze.
"What is thAT?" she exclaimed, jabbing a finger towards the resting form of Granite.
Tuski gave a small chuckle at her reaction, and I beamed. "This beauty? His name is granite and he's the sweetest gargoyle ever!" I paused tapping my chin with a finger. "He is also the only gargoyle I've met so there isn't a ton of evidence to support him being the best but using my encounters with other people and how he takes care of me and how he looks after me, I must conclude that he is one of the best if not the best." Granite obviously knew I was tlaking about him, and his tail thumped on the stone floor.
Amaya gave a small nod and this time continued her way to the table and pulled up a nearby chair to take her first look at the Power. I leaned in to Tuski, whispering in a low voice. "I have what I belive to be a serum extracted from sap from the Decoy Forest that will effectively warp the mind of whomever it is injected with. I don't know to what degree the warping will occur. It could provide hallucinations like the Forest is famous for that only they can see, or it could quite literally tear the mind to shreds. I don't know, I'd need a test subject to find out for sure. I've also run the calculations, but there is a very, and I mean very low possibliity that the serum will give a person the ability to warp the minds of others. But that would requre a lot of conditions and would leave very serious after effects." She nodded. "I was also modifying my umbrella, and I showed what I was planing on doing to raven, but it requires too much fine metal work, something Raven dosn't really have the skills to do. So I;ve focused my attention on a pistol like weapon that I can load with infused bullets." I turned my head to look at Amaya who was carefully tapping the drum.
"Give me a few more weeks, and I'll be ready for a prison break. Then it will be up to you and everyone else to figure out a plan, and where to go if it is successful."
--
And there we go! I have some sketches of Saoirse's weapon, and a few concepts sketches that didn't make the cut to post later. I'm excited to see where this will go!
(March 11, 2019 - 8:25 pm)