Tanma

IC: De'kra began to twitch as the ranger spoke, his movements slowly becoming more erratic. As De'kra unleashed a shriek of utter pain, a fiery dot appeared on his face. The dot was identical to hs eyes, in shape, size, and color. Suddenly more "eyes" formed, even as De'kra's body began to tremble with no rhyme or reason. "How you know that words?" he asked even as he collapsed, "Words not said here, words said within-" At that moment De'kra collapsed to the ground, shattering the floor slightly. The lights other than his eyes faded from him, but but his body still laid unmoving. OOC: of course your character probably heard it either when De'kra said it way back before Quest 4 was announced, or by word of mouth since then. He left out a bunch of words, but the blanks are pretty easy to fill in. Otherwise he couldn't have known about the phrase. Here is what he said all those months ago.

For one thing the fact that she was a failed hero strikes a little close to home. Likewise De'kra respects and likes Cronk and Hybros, and doesn't appreciate her treatment of them. Plus he thinks she is insane to trust Zoot, though he thinks that of all clerics no matter who they follow. He knows a thing or two about blind faith, it rarely ends well. Ironically he never thought to doubt the Shadeaux guide, which probably strikes close to home as well. I think another reason is she is a face to the evil that lurks in Uland, and can be considered as something De'kra can vent his rage at. He has only just started to really hate Eubric, but he is finding new causes to despise it every day. So she gives him a target. Not to mention that De'kra has a distaste for Gladiator combat, that is why he didn't sign up for Quest 6. I am not sure how Wren would react to De'kra. He has a lot of pain to make fun of, but that might make him boring. He already is well aware of his flaws and sees none of his strength, so he won't really react to her taunts aside from agreement. You can't really break a bird that is already shattered. She seems to enjoy taunting people who resist and deny her points, but De'kra knows himself. Although there are three lies he tells people, and he kind of dislikes doing so. Then again, if she finds out what he is, he might turn into an obsession. I don't want to spoil too much, but he is not of Olegaia...

True enough, who names their species "Wise Wise Man" anyway? It sounds redundent and kind of compensating, which doesn't really help prove that they are "wise wise." Of course the classification system has made a lot of bad names from Basilosaurus (it means King of the Reptiles, but it was a whale), to our closest kin Pan troglodytes. (who rarely live in caves, most Chimpanzees live in tree nests, and as far as I know they are not the God of the Wild) ...wait a minute, we were talking about Heroica. Must...stay...on...topic... So any current theories about Heroica's official story arc, should it have one? The only official quests to get sequels are Quest 2 and Quest 15, along with Quest 3 and Quest 14, so they might factor in the plot.

IC: De'kra sighed and clicked, "It complex. Many suffer because what I enact in Quest 4. Quest failure not other heroes fault, only I fault. I lead decision to kill elves, I encourage it. I sure Knights and Crownies were innocent, but I neglect to think Elves might also innocent. I doom mission, I was very active in decisions. Ranger not participate too much in quest, he not guilty of decision. It I fault, not Ranger." The shade added softly, "I not sure I sense Ether, I not know what I species able to enact. I not know I race, or I past. I memories mostly limit to year before I join Heroica. I not even know you language when I wake up on shore of Uland. I wake know two dialects of strange tongue, sound like ant chatter and gears grind. No one on island know it."

Just for the record. Chimpanzees don't have tails. Likewise Chimpanzees are not the fondest of poo, they actually are pretty clean. Many tribes use leaves to wipe their butts and "male areas" of waste, along with dabbing their cuts with them. Also, Chimpanzees don't really like Bananas, that stereotype was created because researchers dumped piles of bananas near troops so that the attracted Chimpanzees could be observed. A free meal is a free meal, even if it isn't your preferred food. Chimpanzees actually savor meat above all else. It takes a lot of effort to coordinate and hunt down prey, and so it has greater value. Meat is almost a currency for them, you can win favors and loyalty by giving meat to your supporters and preferred mates. ...yeah I like Chimpanzees. In my opinion they, along with Orangutans, Bonobos (don't get me started), a huge chunk of the species of monkeys in South America, oh so many Dolphins and Whales, and a good number of elephant species should be considered sapient life forms.

IC: De'kra mused at how terrible a city Eubric was. Ancient plagues being released every other month, former "heroes" creating barbaric tournaments and torturing anyone they met, wars being created for political power, egocentric and self absorbed leaders, this city was truly a dystopia. Yet sadly, a part of De'kra's memories gave him the sense that he had seen worse places, places that would eat up even the most idealistic hero... De'kra was shaken out of these thoughts by the shouts of an experienced Mage, one with a ridiculously high level. De'kra cringed as the Mage shouted about how the heroes of Quest 4 caused the war, as it was totally true. But what De'kra didn't understand is why that Ranger was taking the heat, De'kra was the one who doomed the mission. He had led the decision to kill the elves, he had ignited the war. And De'kra had made tons of mistakes on the mission, with very few good decisions. The other members of Quest 4 had at least one saving grace on the mission, but De'kra had done nothing useful at all. He was a failure. The only thing he could take comfort in was that he had Wren as an example of what not to be, just like the better heroes had De'kra as an example of how not to act. He would not turn out like her, no matter what.

Hooray, I am a positive example! Honestly though I am not sure I do a great job hiding De'kra's nature, or at least hiding all of it. Probably all of you have some clue as to what De'kra is, as some of his memories/features are kind of obvious. Luckily your character's don't know the significance of those clues, so his backstory is safe for the moment.

Okay, I have to address this now. When De'kra puts something in quotations, the odds are that he is speaking it. If there are no quotations, he is thinking it. Not saying it out loud at all. And sometimes when houses quotations, check the verbs. Words like wondering, thinking, and ponders may indicate that he is also keeping the thought to himself. However if he refers to a person questioningly, he may be simply asking for their advise. It may be communicated in some details, but usually just follow the quotations. He isn't talking about Rome Ant Icism out loud, for example, because he doesn't know how the infected might react. They might become violent and De'kra's luck in battle rarely holds up. Note this isn't directed at any one person, many people have made this mistake. I do not mean to be hostile in this, but I can only say you read his body language so much.

Oh, sorry if I messed up any major plans. Honestly I was just wondering if a standard Minifigure would be used for the aoi, or one of those Bionicle Minifigures from 2006 to 2007. But regardless, this is an impressive line up. Interesting to see that the aoi have outsiders among their leadership, and I must say I like the little bits of advanced technology concealed on them. It is interesting to note how out of place the Shadeaux from Quest 10 looks compared to the others, I am not sure if you intended it but he looks a lot lighter. Maybe it is just his sister's hat casting a shadow on her face. I must say I am worried about the guild though, I worry that one of them has no purpose there and will get too much air time. But maybe that is my hatred of Jar-Jar talking.

IC: De'kra listened closely to the hall, wondering how he might stop this plague. De'kra experience with disease was very limited, partly because he didn't have the capability to become sick with the plagues of Uland. But even in his memories, the three plagues he remembered were not the same as th plagues here. No, De'kra's experience would be useless in trying to save the world from Rome Ant Icism. But maybe the Library could help.

No, I have never heard of that. We really have no names for ourselves aside from the Terran RPGs, since three of our topics took place on Earth(post apocolyptic), one took place on a world seeded with some Earth life(the evo game and my favorite), and the other two have cameos of Earth life. But yeah we rarely have wars(since I am horrible at it) though three of them do take place in space. We are run on the Sporum, the site for that Spore video game, though honestly we have barely any elements of Spore left. The only Spore features remaining are a caste of farmers with E-DNA, and a Grox from a one shot parallel universe. So are any official images of the aoi aviliable? I know they are blue and I think they are humanoid, but there is a difference between Legolas humanoid and Troll humanoid.

Sounds a bit more organized than the TBRPGs I work in outside of Eurobricks. We are a group of really four members, with a bunch of people who join for a week and then quit. When I first joined the topic starter and the moderator quit, leaving me and the only other member still active to be promoted into moderators. And thus three hundred pages of utter madness went by. But at least we improved, and we managed to get some devoted players and a few equally popular spinoffs. Okay by a few I mean five, with one being a prequel, one being a story within the story of the prequel, one being a sequel to the main story, one being an alternate reality of the prequel, and one being an evolution game that takes place in a different reality from the original, with some crossovers. And our wiki does nothing to make sorting through it easier. Still, at least we are devoted. The Evo game is two years old and still ongoing, while the original ran for three years until 10/15/11, when we closed because new players were too intimidated by its 360 pages worth of posts. I am curious to see where De'kra goes with this quest to save his allies from Rome Ant Icism. I just worry that in order to stay in character, De'kra is going to end up buying tons of Remedies. The most he can buy is two right now, but that will still empty out all but eight gold of his funds. Which will hurt him on his next quest. But who knows, maybe he won't go there yet.

IC: De'kra's body twitches slightly at a new concern. De'kra had been too stressed out by his disappointment in his own mistakes from Quest 4 and from the past, along with his hatred of light, that he had forgotten about the plague sweeping across Heroica Hall. It was one thing when De'kra only considered the numerous masses of the Hall geting infected, but those two mages had brought up a good point; what if Cinna got sick? Or Tomas, or Barbarian of many axes and odd comments? What about Hybros and the heroes of Quest 4 De'kra neglected to name? What if all of them or any of them caught Rome Ant Icism? Now it was getting personal. De'kra would not let those heroes go al crazy-eyed and dull-minded, he would save them! And if this was Wren's doing, she would soon wish she was dead... Externally however he just twitched once before waiting to see if anyone wished to communicate with him.

IC: From his spot in the Hall, De'kra commented, "Cinna loyal. She member of Quest 4 and powers of darkness." The shade went back to his thoughts after this, but listened in case a follow up question was asked.

Really? I...really? Well I suppose De'kra's character development has helped in that regard. True he has made quite a scene, but the blue spirit wasn't an original part of Althior's arsenal. Or Zuko's. However, this Tyrannosaurus Rex of the modern era was with Atramor from the beginning.

True enough, I just was musing that De'kra is not the best rogue. Well you are the poster child for Rogues, you are going to be better than the likes of us common rogues. You were the first person to join the topic, and Atramor's introduction actually used pictures. Not to mention your iconic chicken.

De'kra is a really bad Rogue isn't he? Not only does he constantly fail to open lock doors (and be useful in general), but he has no plans to charge Atramor Gibbins should he borrow De'kra's cloak. Even a barbarian knows to charge interest, but does the rogue? No.

IC: De'kra cringed as the sunlight of day hit him once more. Though the scars of Quest 4 plagued him, that light stung him worse. Unlike the memory that haunted him, De'kra knew that the pain of light was not, nor could ever be his fault. He deserved pain for Quest 4, and he deserved to suffer for that horrible destruction, though the latter he had paid for long ago. But this light was not now, nor ever was his fault. Everytime he felt that light De'kra felt mocked and betrayed, like a commander should his troops abandon him to die. Sure some champions may stick around and try to keep him alive, but the sting of traitors doesn't fade so easily. No, something about the light, particularly starlight, enraged De'kra more than anything. And although the shade kept this in his head, his entire body tightened and periodically tremored as he thought of the light.

IC: De'kra wondered how Xander had realized what he was thinking, before deciding that the shade's body language told him. "I hope you time and Brobric Elves help you in quest," he clicked, before leaving the warrior to his own devices. De'kra still wasn't going to sign up for any quests just yet, the mistakes of Quest 4 were still strong in his mind. Though the memories of the past lessened that pain, they brought with them an even greater agony. But hopefully that would soon pass. As De'kra looked around and spotted the red clothed cleric from before, it's body movements much more confident. "Well come cleric," he clicked, "you quests were successful?"

De'kra paused, before he answered, "Maybe, but he only child. In Quest 10, no one in whole Academy notice that poor- in-money child prodigy missing. Only person who notice was Nuitan Shadeaux, he and a young Crownie went to look for her and met heroes. She was dead when heroes find her, but it was interest, especially that young Shadeaux and Crownie team up. No let that out of Hall, Shadeaux and Crownies probably not please might houses learn that Shadeaux and Crownie youth work together. But odds say no race or group all good or evil, unless race all connect in mind. Like ant colony."

IC: De'kra scratched his head and clicked in reply, "Heroes need to cautious, no easily trust anyone even employer. Might Crownies have unethical plans, Crownies definitely no tell you. Also, Brobric Elves very proud, but not idiots. Elves not all identical, one leader heroes and I see want heroes and I to fight Lion Knights directly and honor, but another leader think heroes and I not turn tide of war, and want heroes and I best sneak into Lion Knight camp to learn more. From what heroes and I learn, Lion Knights come here originally for farmland, but Elves thought Knights were invaders. War all misunderstood, keep in mind both sides might not know truth. But just because elves nor knights start war no mean either group should trust might elves or knights claim to want truce. Overall trust no one, but no expect people to make evil and no evidence. Make people earn you trust or you distrust."

IC: De'kra nods at the sign-up sheet, glad that at least one of the heroes from Quest 4 would be going to clean up the mess that they started. Silently De'kra felt anger towards himself for not volunteering, but at the same time he knew he needed to think over what had happened in Quest 4 before he could trust himself in battle again. But even as he knew the war would go on and he disliked himself for starting it, De'kra took into account that this war was microscopic. Many would die for sure, but this world was quite a bit bigger than Uland. The loss of life wasn't as terrible as it could be. But of course De'kra wouldn't ever dare consider a war unimportant, he knew all to well that unforeseen variables could easily change the fate of a conflict from the violent war to the apocalypse, the Ellf/Lion War just wasn't there yet.

I would guess that there is a Winter Solstice of some sort.

...well I will have to look out for any future quests from swils, he knows what he is doing.

IC: De'kra nodded and clicked, "Okay, I look for him later. Also, might you see knights, direct knights to Quest 17. Also other heroes. Quest 17 might leave soon, but lack of knights have stall Quest. Hopefully once heroes in battle, heroes find way to end fighting without great death. Elves and Knights all pawns of Shadeaux bid for power, all victims of the Shadeaux house." As the shade said this, his mind hit a memory. De'kra visibly tremored as the thought hit him, and the full scale of one of his memories hit him hard. And at once he realized that Eubric, while an insane den of corruption and evil, was insignificant at a global scale. For in that brief moment, he remembered one of the five most horrifying memories he would ever recall.