The War Has Begun

[Shadowstalker]

It would amuse me as well DK.

[Shang Li]

I have a very powerfull message for the churchmen who bring death in "The lord of love"s name. I want their message to take them this message, as it is, unchanged. It is for the "men of god", not the source of their information (although it may do you good ytto ponder my message and the nature of those you serve)


I shall to the last of my breath defend those who truely seek peace from those who wish them harm. If this makes me "nonhuman" then I am glad to me "nonhuman". If my desire for all beings to live in peace makes me a "monster" then I encourage more develop such "monstrosity" as my own. If my willingness to speak out for those who are wrongly persecuted makes me "evil" I am proud to be an "evil" man.

And just a little something for these "men of god" to think about.

Matthew 12:33 "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit."

I can stand before your god and not fear my judgement, for if I am to be damned for my vigil, then it is a damnation well purchased. I am willing to face an eternity in your hell in order to offer peace to those who seek it.

What fruit will you present at your judgement, "holy men"

[Willie Long]

Can a stone hear your condemnation, young master? Can it see your resolve?

[Shang Li]

I hope that even ones like these may still turn themselves toward peace, Long-sama.

I likely waste my time in saying such things, but if you do not speak, you cannot be heard. I will admit, I say them just as much for my own benifit as for that of others...

[Hannah]

Hi Everyone.

It seems like such an odd list. Clarity's on it and she's such a nice person. Only creature one could mistake her for would be an angel.

Hannah

PS: I don't even want to guess why I'm on it but Dad ain't.

[Clarity]

_____Thanks, Hannah. Sometimes I wish I were an angel, too. But I don’t think I am. Bad things still happen when I’m around, and my vision of Ethan didn’t help any, either.
_____P.S. Maybe they’re too scared of Mr. Ron to put him on that kind of list. That’s what I think happened, anyway.

[Hannah]

Hi C,

Of course you're an angel babe, you make everyone feel better jsut by being in the room

Hannah

PS: I hope I can introduce you to some of my school friends, when are you coming to Washington next?

[Diemos]

I need to thank Shadowstalker, his assitance in finding a safehouse has been a boon. We were able to get ahold of one of our compatriots that was on extended duty. They advised us that a kill order has gone out for us as well.

Luckily, Shadow's crew was able to discover a tracking device that was inserted into our RV. It was removed and we are hoping that no one was able to triagulate our position.

We have been attempting to hack into the database back at the HQ, but someething is wrong. The power is down there, and we are getting worried. Some of our trusted freinds, ones that we know would have ignored the kill order have been out of contact. When we tried to reach them we are coming up with nothing.

This is getting worrisome.

[Shadowstalker]

Just got back from the Safehouse I had arranged for Diemos, and his people. We have had to move them again. It seem they were in fact being hunted. I will be posting the details in Warstories.

[Sheyblade]

You gonna post that warstory, Shadow?

[Shadowstalker]

Yes, sorry been a little distracted.

[Eilonwy Solstice]

Is Bearshaman okay? Nobody’s posted about him for a while . . .

[Lord Shakar]

Well two things:

First its good to know that I haven't shown up on their radar as of yet.

Second: Werecreatures can be contained by Arcane means rather effectively.

Though I wasn't aware that lycanthropy was a disease I always thought that was a myth. I have encountered a few of these beings and have never seen evidence to suggest their bite or claws infect someone else.

[Diemos]

I don't think that they listed you, because you scare them. I remember a meeting once, your name came up, and the Deacon of our group paled. He said you were to be left alone, to not be touched, mentioned or contacted. Something about your being able to sense things beyond normal....Not sure what they were talking about.

[Eilonwy Solstice]

It was the strangest thing . . . I had a dream of Bearshaman. And yet it was so real, I think it was more; it reminded me of my own escape from Dr. Osman (my apologies for not putting it up yet, I’ll get on that). In this “dream,” Bearshaman was . . . being held—trapped in shadows. I began actively sensing him then, and the Shadow tried to grab me; however, it couldn’t find a hold on me, and I backed off.

But not before sensing Bearshaman’s . . . “life force.” It was dimming. He wasn’t dying, but rather . . . being corrupted.

[Lord Shakar]

I don't think that they listed you, because you scare them. I remember a meeting once, your name came up, and the Deacon of our group paled. He said you were to be left alone, to not be touched, mentioned or contacted. Something about your being able to sense things beyond normal....Not sure what they were talking about.

Well, That's good to know. And this Deacon of yours is right I do sense things that could be considered beyond normal.

[Diemos]

Sorry haven't posted lately, but my crew and I have been on the run. I need to Shadowstalker for giving us a safe house, although it unfortunately didn't last long, due to a tracking device that they found in our RV. They were able to remove it, but not before we were discovered.

We had been resting up and licking our wounds in the safe house that they had set up for us. The Church has sent its best assassins to eliminate us. They had bypassed the security systems, and were getting their snipers in place, but fortunately for us, some of Shadowstalkers friends were able to sense their presence before they were ready. We were able to foil the ambush and set one up of our own.

Shadowstalker and his friends are not people I would want against me in a fight, they took them down fast and hard. Their teamwork was a sight to behold. We decieded to leave after that, as we didn't want to bring any more trouble to Shadowstalkers door.

So we returned to the last place that the Chruch would look for us. We are sorry that we did. The bunker smelled of death and blood. The bodies have been moved, from the looks of it, something was sent in to eat the remains. There are scraps of clothing around, and occasionally pieces of bodies, but nothing more.

We had gone down to the lower levels of the bunker, when we discovered a Sub-basement that wasn't only any of the plans. Inside the basement, there are 30 tubes. These tubes are about 8 feet around and 10 feet tall. Inside most of the tubes is some form of nutrient bath. There are strange wires, crystals and devices attached to each one. The empty ones look like something burst out of them. There are 6 broken ones, 15 of them have the fluid in them. The last 9, have people inside. There are 10 crystals in a row on each of those tubes, some bright, others a darker color. As we have been observing, the bright crystals are slowly darkening.

Now, I am going to get myself in trouble on this one. One of the people inside the tubes is Bearshaman, he has 4 bright crystals left, as we watched, one of them darkened. Another one of the tubes holds Jose, he has one crystal left bright. This equipment is nothing that we have dealt with before, and we don't want to take the chance to hurt anyone by dragging them out, as we don't know what is going on.

[Lord Shakar]

Most Unusual, I have not encountered anything like that in my Travels.

[Willie Long]

Were is this bunker? Are the broken tubes' crystals bright or dark?

[Diemos]

Its in the warehouse district in New York. As for the broken tubes, the crystals are black. When you shine a light threw the back of them, it glows a black color, and actually feels colder when the light shines through them.

You have an idea of what these are Willie? If so, let us know, Jose's are dimming fast. Bearshaman's are still about the same, but whenever we go near the tube, you could swear you hear an animal growling, but it isn't him, and there isn't anything near by.

[Eilonwy Solstice]

Be careful, Diemos . . . I have a feeling that warehouse isn’t as abandoned as you think.

[Willie Long]

Nope.

From what you've said, though, it sounds as though the glow crystals are a timer measuring how long before the occupant erupts from the tube. If I was there, I'd try and free them before that happened.

[Diemos]

I think Willie is probably right about the count down. Only problem is, we can't seem to find any way to open these tubes. The seem solid, no seals, except where the crystals attach at the front.

We were examining the tubes closer when a 'portal' of some kind opened up. 8 creatures that look like gaunt humans, with elongated faces, fangs and claws came crawling out. They smelled like rotting meat. They actually sniffed the air then ran towards us, snarling and growling like animals. They wounded one of our men, then dragged him back through the portal, before we could kill the other six.

We have done some research, from the looks of them, I think they were dimensional ghouls. Normally the monsters feed on dead bodies, but something got them to attack us. We are tending our wounds now, working with some strong antiviral and antibiotics to fight off infection, at least we hope.

We have decided to try and open Jose's tube first, since his is almost completely black. We are going to try prying off the crystals then using a diamond saw to cut through the tube.

[Shadowstalker]

I would be careful doing that if I were you.
If you are willing there are a few of my team who would like to offer some aid in opening those tubes.

[Willie Long]

Only problem is, we can't seem to find any way to open these tubes. The seem solid, no seals, except where the crystals attach at the front.

Have you tried hitting them really, really hard?

[Diemos]

We appreciate the offer of help Shadowstalker. If you or some of your members want to help, we would not turn it down, but we don't want you to feel obligated as we have already lost one man.

Wie, thank you for the warning. We appreciate the thought, but worry that you may be pushing yourself too much, as the feeling of EVIL here is almost physical, and none of us are what you would consider sensitive at all.

Willie, we have tried to hit the tubes. We actually broke two sledgehammers on one of the tubes. It just snapped the handle and dented the head of the hammer, without even cracking the glass. The strangest part is that it seems to just be glass.

[Diemos]

I have been reluctant to report this part, even on here. We feel as if we are being watched all the time now. Two of my team members, we all go in pairs now for protection, reported that they saw several rats that watched them walking around, then ran back off into the shadows, as if reporting on us.

We have all been having difficulty sleeping as well. The biggest problem is nightmares, and they seem to be the same for everyone. We all feel like someone is sticking needles into us as we sleep, but in the morning, there isn't any marks. We are all getting tired and irratable as well...Maybe we should just give up on this whole idea, plant some C4, and collapse the whole complex.

Sorry...just tired and irriatable.....

[Shadowstalker]

It is understandable. I will be there with a few people before the end of the day.

[Lord Shakar]

Dreams hmmm sounds like I may need to get involved. Though I am no expert on them I have had contact with a few entities that are Dream creatures.

[Diemos]

Two of the guys are missing....I think they are missing. Don't know anymore. Not sleeping well. Not sure who to trust. Think the others are all dangerous, been keeping weapon with me at all time to keep them away. Protect yourself. Who is there? We can't leave. They are all here. Where are you? Who are you? I am armed, I will shoot if you come closer...