The Time Traveler's Guild

[sailing101]

"Officer Erik? What time did you find this hand? It seems to me that the one whom the hand belonged to died only recently, due to the lack of deterioration and yellowing. Perhaps we could find out exactly when this hand was exposed to air and therefore discover when the person died."

 

"Necromancers of the era used chemical baths to clean and recalcify bones before animation," he replied. "Otherwise, most bones would crumble into dust and be unuseable."

"So then, you all understand the importance of this mission." The officer concluded, "We are dealing with a Necromancer who is somehow allied with the clockworks, and is possibly rasing an army within the city of the dead. The era is that where the world is still recovering from the first Great war. If an army of half clockworks indeed rises, human civilization would crumble."

 

The officer took out a silver key, and used it to unlock the Gate of Time. The doors opened on their own, and he walked through, vanishing into stardust as he did. Liz followed through. Passing through the gate was always slightly unerving, especally when you are folowing someone else through. Closing her eyes, Liz took a deep breath, and stepped foreward.

 

When she opened her eyes, the guild was, from her perspective, inside out. She was standing on a bridge between the gate, and a massive wall that she knew to be the timeline. Further alon the bridge, Officer Erik was walking briskly towards their destination.

 

As they walked, the guild faded into mist behind them, And the briliant colors of the timeline began to dull and seperate into individual stars. Soon, they were no linger on a bridge, but a path of stars. The path led to an ordinary door, like one found backstage at a live theatre. The officer opened the door, and ushered everyone into an ordinary dressing room.

 

"Welcome to the Paris Opera," He said.

 

((Just asking, is there anyone here who still dosn't get who Officer Erik is? If you don't know by now, I feel sorry for you.)))

[PhoenixStarr]

"Never thought I'd ever have to attend the Opera again," Colton murmured under his breath as they entered the dressing room, trying to cast aside the memories that the familiar setting summoned forth. He had never, ever thought in a million years, that something this far from home could hit so close.

 

The shaking of hands... the polite 'how do you do's'... the small talk and the finery and the polite applause even when an aria wavered...being left alone in a crowd of familiar strangers when his parents vanished to talk to somebody prestigious and wealthy and obviously more important than their own child...

 

He tripped, falling into the person behind him. "Watch where you're going," he berated them angrily, covering his own mistake without even turning around to see which lovely group member it was.

 

((I was starting to think he was the Phantom earlier, but I didn't want to say so and look like an idiot if I was wrong.))

Edited February 27, 2013 by PhoenixStarr

[SkullKrusher]

Archer watched the others, nodding to their replies. It seems that even when the actual material the people worked with was almost limitless, it also mattered what was the person's skill in itself. Hey, there could be a necromancer with huge amounts of power but if he has no skills, he'll keep raising frail souls and skeletons. At least clockworks were more durable, but they were easy to knock out by a person with skill. He smiled and looked toward the door, walking it and making sure not to be behind that other guy... Colton. He even tripped... After the quick travel through the fabric of space and time, they were in some dressing room in the opera. "So, sir, where do we start from?" Archer asked, watching the officer. Erik was his name, from what he had heard, but he wasn't willing to use the name before they actually shook hands.

[sailing101]

After making sure everyone had made it through, the Officer closed the door. He waited for a few seconds, listining for any sounds on the other side. When he was sure that nobody awaited them on the other side, he opened the door once more. The path to the guild had been replaced by a hallway lined with similar doors. From one end of the hall came the sounds of an orchestra playing. A woman was singing along, her voice growing higher than seemingly possible.

"Ah, the finalie," Erik commented appreciatively, "but now is not the time to listen. Come quickly, most of the performers will be on stage, but we must still be carefull not to be seen." He lead the group down the hall, away from the music, and down a flight of stairs.

"there is an entrance to the catacombs within the prop house." the officer explained, "That is where we will begin our search."

[PhoenixStarr]

Colton's eyes flicked across the serious faces as they continued down to the prop room. He gauged the volume of the singing, the dampening effect of the curtains from where they were standing and decided to lighten the mood and get some attention while he was at it. His window of being noticeable was slowly shutting, and as soon as they descended into the catacombs, it would be him and that other healer girl standing in the background, watching everyone else have their little moments of glory. She looked like she did not mind not being noticed, but he did.

 

Colton placed a hand over his ear and staggered, bumping Liz's shoulder. Ignoring the glares, he proclaimed dramatically, "I simply cannot go on; my ears are bleeding profusely." He fell to a knee, pulling out a gauze pad from his watch and pressing it to his ear to staunch the imaginary blood flow triggered by the impossibly high notes emanating from the stage.

Edited February 27, 2013 by PhoenixStarr

[IvyMarie]

Following the group, Sienna soon approached the timeline room. She watched the tiny, miniature stars that seemed to glisten before her. Slightly opening her mouth in awe, she marveled at the beauties. There were stars in Wisconsin, definitely, but they weren't anything close to these. These stars seemed to twinkle and luminate the dark room around her, thanks to the modern day era of digital multimedia, that is.

 

Again, trailing behind the pupils and the Officer, she ensued them to the Opera House. Suddenly, she flinched, her mouth thwarting into a grimace. She could hear loud, high pitched singing coming from the stage, much to her distaste. Sienna hated opera singing, but she would have to bear with it. She diverted her gaze to the Officer's words, and slowly started twirling a strand of black hair around her fingertip. Although she wanted to believe this quest would be somewhat of importance, she could hardly even deem it possible. As much as the Officer wanted to exaggerate that this quest would be hard, difficult, and full of strife, she instead thought of it as a tedious task.

 

Her eyes quickly flickered to a young man who seemed to buckle down, holding a hand upon his knee. She watched him closely, narrowing her eyes. Letting out a laugh, she saw through his facade, and swiftly moved through the group, standing before him. On closer view, Sienna recognized him to be Colton, another Healer. "Come on now, this isn't a time for silly games. Besides, you're a healer. You should be used to minor injuries." Sienna rolled her eyes, speaking curtly, evermore still twirling her mousy black hair around her finger.

Edited February 28, 2013 by IvyMarie

[sailing101]

Liz's only response was to say, "You might want to duck now."

Just then, a sandbag swung by right in front of Colton's Face.

"The poultergiests are verry fickle around heckelers," she explained.

 

"Enough dwadling everyone," The officer called out, "We are almost there." He led them through a door into a dimly lit room. The path twisted around large set pieces, potted plants, minature castles, gondolas, foot bridges, and barrels of hand props. "Stick together everyone," he called out, "It's easy to get lost in here."

 

Eventually they reached another door, this one partially hidden behind a wooden panel painted to look like the walls of a castle. "This is the entrance to the catacombs," The officer explained, "from here on out, I want you all to be verry carefull. Remember that we are guests on ancient ground. The spirits of Paris will be watching our every movement."

"Um, about that Officer," Liz inturupted. She had already gone to the door and taken a look inside. "I don't see anyone. The spirits have vanished."

 

Liz had been to the catacombs before, The spirits of those intombed there always wandered the halls, and Liz had the ability to see them. The fact that the hall was empty to even her eyes was a bad sign.

 

The officer was silent for a moment.

"Then time is of the essence," he eventually said. "All right, before we move on, I want those of you who do not have a sword function in your watch to find one. One thing many people don't know about the theature is that the safest blade to use as a prop is, in fact, a real sword with it's edge dulled. It should be easy to find one in any barrel. The absense of the spirits can only mean one thing. An army of the dead is rising as we speak."

[Lore_Master]

An army of undead clockworks? Highly unlikely, since Clockworks were always mechanical, no matter how you dressed them up. Oh well, soon he shall see with his own eyes how this necromancer was doing things. He still needed to figure out if he was gonna berate him or congratulate him on trying to understand more about the clockworks. Walking through the time gate, Marcus's eyes had a strange, orange hue to them. It was always a little hobby of his to see if the bridge had any flaws. And once again, he could see none... the most perfect structure existence has every known.

 

Eventually, the orange hue disappeared when he emerged in a dressing room for the Opera in Paris. Secretly, he was slightly disappointed he couldn't see the Effie tower be built during his time. Oh well, a small price to pay for his duty to the Time Guild. Not paying attention to what his companions were saying or doing, he followed Officer Erik while fiddling around with the strange hand. He knew he could get the thing to work again, he was even willing to use part from the cube to realize that goal. Following the officer into the catacombs of the opera, at this time he placed away the hand and began to listen to Liz and Erik. Eventually, one of the thing she said made him alert, 'An army of the dead is rising as we speak.'

 

"No offense Miss Troy, but I've seen enough 21st century movies to theorize that those words will make it more likely the dead will appear before us at this very moment." He explained, before coughing one into his sleeve. After he was done taking, he pulled out his sword with a flourish, the same orange hue coated his blade.

"That does not mean I should be lax if that happens." He added, before lowering the blade to his side.

[PhoenixStarr]

Colton rose to his feet, adjusting his shirt in disgruntled annoyance. Stupid poltergeist ruining the fun. When he figured that no one was looking at him, he turned and stuck his tongue out in the direction from which the sand bag had flown.

 

He followed Officer Erik's instructions, looking around for a prop sword. Upon finding one leaning in a corner, he picked it up and flourished it. He ran his finger upon the edge. It came away completely unharmed. "Barbaric," he commented "I might as well be using a club with a branch wrenched from the nearest tree."

[PhoenixStarr]

((Guys, has this been abandoned or what?))

[sailing101]

((I'm waiting for everyone else. Either they reply, or their characters will die be removed.))

Edited March 7, 2013 by sailing101

[brisingrrider1]

((I'm alive!))

 

Lana followed behind the others, keeping her thoughts to herself. The opera singing was annoying her, but after listening to the screams of monsters the woman's piercing shriek was nothing. One of the men, Colton she believed, faked his ear bleeding, perhaps to try and lighten morale. However, it did just the opposite when Officer Erik spoke.

 

Fiddling with her watch to find the ever-elusive sword mechanism, Lana payed close attention to where the members of the group were headed. The screaming still filled the halls, irritating her to no end. Finally, the clock decided to work with her and change into a sword. Lana unclipped it from her neck, the clasp working easily to drop the chain. The sword itself, around two and a third feet long, was a dull grey color, it's hilt decorated with simple designs. From a distance, it looked as if the sword's handle was covered in small dragon scales.

 

Lana slipped a dark brown leather glove on in order to have a better grip on the sword. She left it unsheathed as they walked, keeping a close eye for telltale tracks in the faint dust, or flickers in the lighting and shadows.

[SkullKrusher]

(( Sorry Post'll be a tad shorter since at school. ))

 

Archer walked behind the others, his free hand on his watch activator. He was ready to pull out his bow and blast a series of energy arrows straight at the nearest undead or clockwork. They stopped though, and the officer asked that everybody get a sword. He wasn't the most skilled with blades, but when he leveled, he'd probably get himself a sword so it was good as practice. Digging into one of the barrels, he found a sword and traced a finger on it's edge. Dull, as the officer had spoken. Archer swung it around a couple of times to find it's weight and nodded slightly in response.

[sailing101]

Liz walked from barrel to barrel, inspecting various props. She passed over the larger blades, looking for something more practical. Eventually she found one. It was a short blade, at only a foot and a half. It was more of a large knife really, but it was similar to one her father used for hunting, and that was enough for her.

A loud swishing sound caught her attenion. Liz turned to see archer practicing with the sword he had chosen, or more realistically, swinging it around wildly.

She walked up to him, and used her blade to stop his. The resulting clammor echoed within the room.

"You should not swing a blade around wildly," she explained, "you could loose your grip, or injure yourself."

The officer nodded in agreement. "I'd recommend using both hands to wield it. That should give you more controll over the blade."

 

The Officer gathered the group near the door once more.

"Now is the time to move on," He exclaimed, "We stir the tides of yesterday, for tomorow to be a brighter day." With that said, he opened the door, and lead the group into the catacombs.

 

==============================================

 

The tunnel was dark and cramped. The only light came from the glowing of the energy within the guild-made swords. Officer Erik took the lead, clearing out cobwebs and spiders, while Liz fell to the end of the line, keeping watch incase anything tried to follow. Eventually the stone walls of the tunnel gave way to something else.

 

The halls were lined with bones.

 

The floor had been spared, but the walls and cieling were coated with the remains of the souls intered beneath the city.

Liz paused briefly, taking note of the patterns and designs in the arangements. "Some of the workers must have been driven mad," she commented, "Sutch a strange medium for artwork."

"Some belive it was the only way the workers could think to honor the dead," Officer Erik commented, "to create murals from the remains. Nevertheless, their hands shall guide us back from whence we came, so long as we remember the signs."

 

Eventually they came to a small room. There were three entrances, including the one through which they had entered.

Liz's eyes were drawn to the floor. She could barely make out something faint within the stone.

"Please wait up everyone," she asked. "Marcus, could you bring your blade a little closer? I think I see something that wasn't there the last time I came here."

[brisingrrider1]

Shuffling along behind the others, Lana eyed the group. They were a ragtag bunch, but so far seemed to be holding together quite well. She sighed, anxious to be moving faster and to figure out what was happening. Suspense was something that she highly disliked.

 

The designs on the bones drew part of her attention, and she paused for a moment to glance along the ceiling. A few seemed to glow eerily in the light of her blade, and when she moved it, the light flickered and danced along the indentations in the bones. It was a beautiful but savage sight. She started to walk again to follow the group, but kept her distance closer to the edge of the huddle.