Gryphon

Reaver stood, eyes closed in the training room waiting for the program to start and glorious combat to begin. Allowing himself a moments contemplation he considers the events of the day with a savage smile... the death of one of the junior students - no loss there - one less person to become a rival in time. Reaver reaches out with the force to sence when the first attacker is coming and catches something else... a massive dose of sensuality coming from... Rukmini? Moments later that is forgotten as the first attacker comes out. His practice sabre set to be lethal to humans - no point in training half way after all. Whirling with a savage strike Reaver dismembers the first man and the fight begins in earnest. Spin, strike, duck, thrust... Reaver sences someone about to attack his back and he spins and rips the mans head off with a gesture and the force. A flick of the wrist sends the gory relic to collide with another attacker who is knocked over backwards as he approaches. Reaver grins as the combat intensifies. He reaches out and crushes the head of one of the attackers, before calling it's sabre to his spare hand and attacking those remaining without mercy, cutting them down as the smarter ones realise they are outmatched and try to flee. Moments later it is all over, Reaver stands, barely breathing heavily, a thin layer of sweat over his tatooed, scarred body. Once more he looks at himself, remembering... each one tells a tale of success. This type of combat just is no challenge any more, he'd hoped that taking the tougher prisoners, the murders and convicts - all the scum that the academy could lay it's hands on might make it a bit harder, but no... The force has not seen fit to reveal to any of those in the academy who the enemy is, but maybe just for a change of pace Reaver could use it to kill off a few of his rivals... Maybe with luck one of them will be worth a promotion, certainly it'd offer more combat challenge than this scum. ~~~ OOC: Needed to edit this because apparantly we dont train vs droids... d'oh

Beautiful... reminds me very very distinctly of House Elves in Harry Potter... I try to give my computergnomes downtime every day.

In the corridor outside Rukmini's room Reaver grins to himself amused. More posturing, but.. more... reasoned arguement also. A timely reminder that he can never underestimate any of his fellow senior students. He overhears Klen saying "By the way, Saber." and hurredly he draws the cloaking Force around him and vanishes down the corridor. It is true... Palu does have an extremely well documented past. Needless to say he bears watching, never can tell when someone like that might stick a sabre in your back... however, the chances of him being Jedi are very small. Rukmini now. There's a different story. What better guise for a Jedi in a Sith school than that of being incompetent? And she's not been here long. Perhaps she could be more than she appears? ~~~ OOC: Changing my vote to Rukmini / Sweetcherrie For the reasons stated in character.

Hey Tanny, it seems there's no need to play a bunch of psycho killers like you suggested in your last game. Put a group of Sith students into the same room and see the accusations fly.

Reaver looks around at his fellow students, watching the expressions flicker across their faces - some surprise, some mistrust, others outright hostility... He reaches out with the force and sences some of the other more senior students doing the same, all trying to feel who the traitor might be. Hastily Reaver runs what he knows of the others through his mind and he remembers... Palu... yes, Palu was once training to be jedi before he joined the dark side. Perhaps he didn't join quite as thoroughly as the masters of the academy thought. ~~~ OOC: Vote for Knight / Palu

Just looked at that page Sweetcherrie. It's interesting, but I strongly believe that it's just someone's interpretation rather than anything close to accurate. Basically I have to go with the standard Star Wars line... if it's in the movies, it can be counted as absolutely accurate, anything else is open to interpretation and modification. Or to put it another way - I'm going to hope that we don't errupt into 'forceful discussions' (never arguements) over what can and cant be done using the Force but unless someone outright says that something is wildly inaccurate then it's allowable. Afterall, no-one really knows what the limits of individual abilities within the force are. To give a super brief rundown: Common force powers: The actual degree that abilities can be enhanced is directly dependant on the individuals training and force abilities but they include: fast movement, enhanced jumping, telekinesis, influencing the minds of those around you (These are not the droids you're looking for) and a form of precognative ability - sensing your opponents moves in combat or knowing when the empire has blown up a planet... the usual stuff... Darkside abilities are things like: Choking someone to death with the force, striking enemies with lightening from your hands, generally causing others harm, sometimes to your own benefit - syphoning off their life force to feed yourself etc Light side abilities: Healing, protection from some darkside abilities... essentially at high levels the light and dark side cancel each other out... but most of the powerful stuff will be beyond us as students - including the force lightening for the record - that's a fairly powerful ability. We're more likely to be at the level of using the force to move stuff (read throw it at your opponent in battle) or to increase our physical abilities / stamina / combat reflexes... think Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. ~~~ Edit: Deg can of course override any of what I just put to fit in what he wants for his own game.

This is so much fun... I can almost feel the colossal arrogance that's all through that room. ~~~ One thing, how long is this introductary time going to be before it's defined if we're in day or night phase?

Reaver watches Mira leave before allowing a contempt to flicker briefly across his face... Such posing, hah, such party tricks to impress the first year students, but she knows nothing of the true nature of the Force... Reaver rises from his seat and reaches out to the Force once more, wrapping it's power around himself like a cloak, quietly he leaves the dining area.

Reaver immediately feels a rush of elation at this news and reaches out to touch the force trying to get a premonition of the future to see who is being promoted. The masters of the academy however are still stronger in their mastery of the force, successfully clouding the future from him... could it be? Reaver looks around at his fellow students, once again running through his mind their strengths, weaknesses... always looking for opportunities and guarding against them as rivals, but such is the way of the Sith. Reaver notices some of the other senior students looking at him and each other with speculation on their faces, and he sits back smiling to himself, projecting confidence in posture and the force - let them think that he knows something they don't... that way lies power.

Not that I ever actually doubted your ability to write Tanny... but I just wanted you to know how cool that is. It really does encapsule much of the ideals of the Sith and their ways... "Fear, fear is my ally"

Live a life in dull normalicy. Gaze daily on memoribilia. Grab a chance to relive the glory days. Bring something incredible back to mankind. Or watch the movie. ~~~ BTW: I dont have a clue what Sweetcherrie's book is and I'm torn between wondering if this is to obvious or too obscure.

Thanks Tanny... it seems that I've only got another 17 - 19 hour or so before the game gets underway. I'm sure I can come up with something to do for most of the next day... Gryphon goes back to being 'patient'

Cheers... I'm patiently waiting for 5pm EST... with unfortunately no clue how that relates to time here in NZ. For me 5pm on the 24th is a mere hour and a half away... Can someone please tell me what major citys or areas EST relates to? That way I can possibly figure out how many extra hours I need to wait. For the record I'm on GMT +12

Have you any personal game rules on PM alliances or anything else we should know about in advance?

Gryphon sidles over to Knight and dragonqueen and peers over their shoulders to see if they've finished creating characters for the game yet... before wandering off to see who else is free to play I'd cultivate patience... in character but patience is for those not strong enough to take what they want and take it now like those pathetic jedi. Gryphon reaches out through the force trying to influence more people to join the game and hurry along those who've already signed up.

Gryphon races to his rooms to prepare for his date with Mynx for the Valentines ball. All this running around was getting tiring, what with his trip to get Yan Yan Ganaffi's valentines day gift and portalling back to the Pen all in the same afternoon... He pauses, just inside the door to his chamber and tries to consider what he should wear for the evening and the Valentines ball. Suddenly an idea comes to mind, bursting fully fledged into Gryphons mind. The perfect compliment to Mynx and her humanoid feline form. A few whispered words and a whisper of power directed inward and Gryphon begins to alter shape blurring and shrinking until where once there sat a Gryphon there was now something else... ~~~ Minutes later Gryphon was back out the door and heading to meet Mynx hoping that she'd like his new form for the ball. He knocks nervously on her door and she calls out "Come in, I'm just finishing getting ready." Both Gryphon and Mynx enter the room at the same moment from opposite sides and both of them freeze at the sight of one another. Gryphon: "You look..." Mynx: "Oh, wow..." Gryphon: "Sorry." Mynx: "No, I'm sorry, you first." silence Both stare at each other for a moment each starting to speak as the other one does before getting their timing sorted out. Gryphon says, "You look amazing, I love the colouring..." Mynx is slowly losing her winter colours and going back to her orange and black tiger stripes. The effect is an amazing wave of colour mixed in with the white, like the suns fire licking white clouds at sunset. The effect is set of nicely by Mynx's dress for the evening, having forsaken her death robe for the sake of the ball. She is instead dressed in a flowing dress that sets off her stripes nicely... Mynx in the meantime stands silent drinking in Gryphon's new look... Standing before her is a winged humanoid, his body (where not covered by a robe like garment) covered lightly in feathers that match Gryphon's usual colouring. He has a slight raptorial look about his face and aside from having wings, currently furled tightly behind him to avoid knocking anything over, his body is much of a match for her own, though slightly taller and, of course, not stripy. Gryphon breaks the silence of Mynx's contemplative look, "I hope you like the new look... it's something I've been working on since while gryphon form is good, it can be a bit annoying at times not to have regular hands." To demonstrate the difference Gryphon holds up his hand, now looking decidedly more human though still taloned. "Anyway, we've got a ball to go to and we're... a little late. Shall we go?" ~~~ A few minutes later Gryphon and Mynx, approach the Conservatory in time to see Black shift form and fly off and Pilocanci and Sweetcherrie head back inside. As Gryphon and Mynx enter through the door to the conservatory they are greeted by floating hearts, streamers of crepe paper and roses... and unfortunately also Pilocanci's magic-dampening field. Being essentially a creature of magic Gryphon staggers a bit, stopping to lean briefly on the table that Pilocanci and Sweetcherrie just stood up from. Noticing that something is not quite right Mynx supports Gryphon, asking what's wrong. "It's like this area is magic depleted." he says, "I can survive in it, but it feels almost like there's not enough air and I'm used to having magic around me at all times... it feels... weird." Pilocanci gives Gryphon a look for causing some further disruption of his date with Sweetcherrie but contacts his base of operations and with a few short commands later the magic-dampening field is removed, and things go back to normal. Understanding what was done, that somehow Pilocanci was responsible for fixing the magic Gryphon bows to him and thanks him before moving off with Mynx to leave the dictator to his date. Gryphon and Mynx walk over to Zariah and present themselves to her as hostess and she invites them to enjoy the ball before they head off to mingle with the other guests.

I periodically forget that what's a weekday for me isn't a weekday for far too many others here. Usually times like now when I've been back at work for 7 hours and I'm wanting something to do to distract me from work. Ok, Ok... Gryphon goes back to waiting patiently (ish)

Gryphon waits patiently (ish) for the game to get underway... Come on, come on... I've got Star Wars on the brain and I should be working... ah well... Wanna play!

In an ancient ruin, long since fallen into disrepair and much reclaimed by the forest silence rules. Occationally birdsong rings out through the air, announcing the existance of native birdlife. Sometimes the flicker of brightly coloured wings betrays avian watchers, however for the moment all is still. The silence is shattered suddenly by a loud thud and a stream of quiet curses as Gryphon expresses his dislike of think undergrowth and the way it hides tree roots, branches, large rocks, attack squirells, holes and (on rare occations) acidic slime moulds... all of which seem to go out of their way to trip up or attack (or both) innocent travellers and treasure hunters. The voice doing the cursing then goes on to describe what it feels about ancient forests, especially when the canopy is so thick that a self respecting winged creature is unable to fly directly into his destination. All these observations are punctuated by the sounds of Gryphon tripping over things disguised by the thick undergrowth that had grown up to surround the ancient ruins since they were abandoned by their owners an age ago. Emerging from the forest into the ruins Gryphon is a sorry sight to behold looking the worse for wear and he sighs noting that there are no more plantlife obstructions to slow him down. "Yes! out of that damned forest at last... I wonder how rangers ever manage to get from one place to another? One would think that they'd spend their entire lives trapped by the undergrowth through which they travel!" Casting about and with purpose in his step Gryphon sets off into the ruins, twisting and turning through ruined walkways, ceilings open to the sky. Minutes later he emerges into an open courtyard. Once it must have looked fantastic, but now the sad ruins of tiles and flaking of paint has destroyed the pattern that decorated the floor and walls. Gryphon surveys the ruin with a sad look in his eyes. "No wonder I couldn't 'port in. There's nothing left to give a good enough representation of what once was!" He looks up and his eyes catch a glimpse of sky through the branches of the massive trees that otherwise hide the ruins from the skys above. With a sigh and another shake of his head Gryphon heads off through a small side arch to the courtyard and follows a dusky passage for a minute before emerging into a small room that is mostly intact. In one corner there is evidence that something has made this it's lair, but it's scent has faded telling the winged mage that what ever it is currently is not at home. Turning to the opposite corner of the room Gryphon touches several random points on the wall frowning when nothing happens. Less gently he repeats the action and there is a low griding sound to be heard as a small section of flooring moves slightly downward then sticks in place. Walking over to the depression in the floor Gryphon stomps heavily on it several times, each causing slightly more movement downward until with a click the whole section of flooring slides sideways and out of the way. Reaching into the hole created Gryphon feels around until he locates what he came for. Then placing the object in a pouch around his neck he touches several more points on the wall and the stone floor moves slowly, and with much protest, back to disguise the opening that was there moments before. Gryphon emerges from the room into the courtyard once more and extends his mage sences, pleased to note that the current of air energy that was nearby so many years before had actually strengthened. Ruined the building might be, but the magical health of the area was excellent. Tapping into the power Gryphon makes it his own and draws upon it, weaving a web of light and air energy around a nearby doorway. The stones themselves take on a faint shimmer as they resonate to the power being invested in them until with a flash the web alters in nature and the scene reflected is that of Gryphon's rooms in the Pen Keep. Moving quickly so as not to waste magical energy Gryphon steps across the portal and then dismisses it, letting the energys that remain whisp away back to where they came from. Briefly Gryphon sags, before recovering some of the energy lost from the local power lines, then drawing himself up he sets off to search for his friend Yan Yan Ganaffi. ~~~ Gryphon catches Yan Yan Ganaffi looking a bit worse for wear just after presenting his secret Valentine Wrenwind with her gift. His armour is in good repair but he looks a bit tired and somewhat dead on his feet. "Yan Yan! I'm so glad I caught you... I got you a little something as your secret valentine, I thought you might be able to make use of it when you go scouting or hunting..." Gryphon reaches into his pouch and holds out to Yan Yan a piece of ... nothing! With a puzzled look on his face but willing to humour his friend Yan Yan reaches out and 'pretends' to take the nothing from Gryphon's claws, when to his surprise he feels the shape of a ring in his hand! "It's a chameleon ring." Gryphon explains, "It won't keep you hidden when you're in plain sight though it might make you a little less noticeable, however if you're hiding or otherwise practicing stealth, as I'm sure your rank as Chief Scout occationally make it necessary for you to do so, it'll increase your natural ability to hide so much so that you'll be very difficult to spot." Gryphon grins at Yan Yan, pleased to have presented him with what he believes will be an entirely useful gift. "I have to go now, I'm late for Zariah's ball, but I'll catch you later. I hope you enjoy your gift." With that Gryphon races off to get ready for the Valentines ball being hosted by Zariah.

Take care Rev... better late in writing and well in body than the opposite.

See? See!?! I wasn't evil... you were. I was just a lawyer. Oh.. wait. Thanks everyone for such a great game. So much fun.

Happy birthday V.

I am Reaver Malice, having assumed that name upon obtaining the rank of senior student in the Academy to show my dedication to the cause of the Sith. I am known to have a few scars and tattoos given to myself during the course of my training as part of proving my devotion to the Sith, few of which are visible when wearing the typical robes of a Sith student. If I need to post more backstory let me know.

Mynx isn't quite as much of a Star Wars nut as I am... there's a definite upper limit to the number of times she's willing to watch the movies over and over and over again. However once we get home tonight and she gets access to my computer I dare say she'll probably sign up.

No problem. I'll come up with one tonight after I've finished work. Not that work slows me down but I do have things I need to do this afternoon.