LORD OF THE RINGS: CHAPTER ONE [QUEST//CLOSED]

[Rwaht]

Rivendell

[QUEST PRE-AMBLE: for all intents and purposes, we're in Middle Earth. Rwaht is the equivalent of Gandalf. Pick who your characters basically equate to (for example, Nightmare's Gimli, I think? Yeah, Gimli) and sort of play to that role. Don't worry about specifics or anything or we'll get headboggled with canonjuggling.

By the way, we're going to be using LS-style, and we'll be trying to speed through non-combat sequences because there are a lot of combat sequences in LOTR. No more than two posts per member in between fighting, basically, before I'll sort of fastforward through the cresting-over-hills-montage segments of the story and slam you guys into a fight or puzzle.

There are certain loss conditions in this Quest, and eventually more character slots will open up/close as the quest goes on; Boromir, for example, dies (duh), and characters like Eomer will play a part later in the game, because frankly I love Rohan to an absurd degree. In certain fights in the Quest the Hobbits (who are NPCs) will be targettable by enemies, and it'll be your job to make sure they don't die. All of the Hobbits are essential (given that each one of them more or less contributes to the success of the quest in some way), though a loss of Merry or Pippin mightn't be too bad. If Frodo or Sam bite it, though, the quest is over. We're going to more or less ignore Night's "One Ring" item in terms of the canon. For all intents and purposes Frodo is holding Sauron's One Ring.

Anyhow: SCENE. Elrond has called together envoys from different races and cultures to discuss what's to be done about the Ring that Frodo and the Hobbits brought to Rivendell. Rwaht is, again, the Gandalf figure here. You guys can go ahead and do your introductory posts, having your characters meet in Rivendell. Once you've all posted once, you'll be summoned to the Council of Elrond.]

[Nightmare Darklight]

(OOC: Boromir. You're all welcome.)

"Holy mother of God..."

Nightmare completely gaped at... just about everything. Hyrule did not have anything on this place, not the castle or the fishing pond or Lake Hylia. He had really come here, you know, for something. He was pretty sure that he had been called to this place, but he was glad he came! This place was gorgeous, with its lush green grass and its flowing waterfalls, and the general feeling of serenity that came along with it. Nightmare took a deep breath, just loving the magic that nature happened to be working today, which just made his trip all the easier.

As he entered the large gates, he took in the sight of the city itself. Immediately noticing all the elves at work. Why they were all working, he wasn't sure. Maybe they were just doing their jobs, he really didn't care about that now. As he was in Rivendell now, all he cared about was enjoying the peacefulness of the place, and getting this summons thing done. Though he had to wonder, what could have been so urgent that the summons could have been from so damn far away? It intrigued him, to say the least.

Finding a place to wait, Nightmare seated himself on one of the chairs, watching the elves work to the bone, letting himself relax to the soft sound of the waterfalls.

[Morrigan]

(OOC: Gimli, 'nuff said)

Hong didn't have quite the...same reaction to Rivendell that many would have. To her, it was the same as any other city or what-not. It was a place for people to work and live, and it served it's purpose. The fact that such a famous, and apparently important, location had no signs of wear from combat meant they did a good job defending it. She figured a place like this was probably victim to attacks from raiders for...probably a number of reasons. A place couldn't have a reputation for being peaceful without having good defenses.

There were a lot of elves here, but may be it was just popular among their group. Hong wasn't too concerned with the why, since all she knew was that for whatever reason, she had been called here. It was a really long trip, and she didn't intend to waste her time simply admiring the area without finding out what was so important as to signal her from Hyrule all the way out here. As she explored further inside, she found what may have been some kind of waiting room. At the very least, it had multiple chairs, and in one was another human. He looked like he was waiting for something, so may be he was called too like she was. She'd probably find out soon though, if there was actually a purpose to this trip.

Double checking the peaches were still on her hat, she adjusted it a bit as she walked over to a seat, just a couple spots away from where the first one was sitting. She had one leg crossed over the other and her arms folded across her chest, enjoying the chance to sit down for once. She didn't look annoyed really, but was more anxious and curious. This place is pretty different from Hyrule, that's for sure, she thought to herself as she looked back over the architecture while she waited.

[Merik Dragmire]

(OOC: Well I was going to take Boromir seeing as he tried to take the Ring to help Gondor and that's totally something Merik would do for the Gerudo... so I guess I'll take Aragorn seeing as we're both kings and kick some ass.)

Merik hadn't received the summons as the others had, specifically as he hadn't been summoned. One of the ships the Defiant had recently looted had been sailing to these lands, hired to carry a warrior to a meeting of some importance. The prospect of new lands full of treasure, and to a lesser extent the fact that there was a threat large enough that people were being summoned from all over the world to fight it, had excited the Pirate King and he had immediately set sail for the new continent.

After a long and perilous voyage the pirates finally arrived and laid anchor along the coast. With orders to resupply the ship and search for any treasure nearby the Gerudo had summoned Desertfury and set a course for Rivendell to investigate the threat. He was taken with the beauty and simplicity of the land, reminding him of the tales he had heard of Hyrule during his great-grandfather's time, and wondered if such a place could harbor a land so full of death to be comparable to his desert homeland.

After a week's travels he finally arrived at Rivendell, described to him by an old innkeeper as the legendary city of the Elves. As he left his horse and made his way through the city, he couldn't help but pay attention to everything he saw: guard posts, vendors, defensible positions, noble looking houses. After wandering for a time he finally found himself in what he assumed was the right place as two others were already present, one he immediately recognized from one of his trips into Westport. Without a word he sat in an available chair and waited to see what was to come.

[Midna]

(OOC: Sexy femme blue-tinted Legolas!)

This place was too bright for Midna's taste~ At first, the Twilight Princess was taken back by the amount of light that permeated this realm. She reacted accordingly attempting to cover her twilit form in the shadow veil however she stopped herself. She came to terms that as soon as she appeared from her realm, and onto Middle Earth, an anomaly had taken place. Or at least, in other words, something strange was going on. Her skin did not burn underneath the rays of light.

The Twili, under normal circumstances, were sensitive to mass amount of light, and would die from being heavily exposed to it. Midna concluded that perhaps there was magic in the works here that prevented her from getting one shot from the light's harmful rays.

Quickly pulling the hood of her cloak over her sensitive twilit eyes, Midna decided that it was time to find some answers, and do a little bit of exploring~ It would take some time to getting used to the sun's light, but for the most part, she'd make do. Long as she wasn't frying then there was nothing to worry about. She was quite surprise nobody was giving her odd looks as she ventured through Rivendell. Sure~ It was perfectly normal to have a dark cloaked blue skinned woman, with crimson eyes, and sunset orange hair to casually stroll right on in elven territory. Whatever! So long as it made her job easy than she didn't complain.

On behalf of traveling away from home (and dimension), she found herself strolling right into a room, and would you look at that~ People were already here. Judging from their attires, she could only suspect that they too were foreigners from different lands. Perhaps they were summoned here just like she was, answering the call, a gathering of sorts from not only different lands... but from other dimensions as well.

"Let's not all jump up at once now," she chortled, baring a fanged grin. In one swift elegant motion, the twilight sovereign prompted herself in one of the chairs, disregarding if any of the denizens who were there first acknowledged her presence or not. Her cloak fluttered softly within the breeze as she enjoyed the calm collective cooling sound of the waterfalls.

[Ryst Seraphine]

(As you may have failed to notice, since you’re all douchebags [except Sey Sey, who is adorable] there are too many slots to have four hobbits and five others in the Fellowship. So congratulations, your Fellowship is 10 and you all fail [once again, except Sey Sey])

As one from a different land other than Hyrule, from the sky, Ryst didn’t compare Rivendell to the likes of Castle Town or whatever else the land of Hyrule had to offer. That being said, Ryst was still taken aback by the greatness of the elven sanctuary. Namely because the place was magical. Literally. And figuratively. The City didn’t have anything quite comparable, not on the same level. Being high above Hyrule did give you the majesty offered by amazing view and beauty, so Rivendell was on an entirely different scale than the City, but it was a scale Ryst was not used to and so he was quite baffled.

However he was the Oocca Lord, renowned for his distant coolness when doing business to deal with court. This was essentially a courtly scenario, and Ryst found himself in his element. Calm, emotionless mask of a face looked around with that distant look in his eyes as the spectacle was suppressed. He was there for . . . something. No need to give reasons. Not for the sake of this, since it probably isn’t even canon. Hence **** it.

There were others there now. Or they had always been there. Ryst walked in, wings folded behind him because he’s an Oocca and that’s something. And there were no winged members of the Fellowship. Hey, why don’t we fly into Mordor?

Without saying anything Ryst found himself a place to stand/sit and wait until the business commenced.

[Rwaht]

(My post has been deleted twice now. I want to murder someone.

Also for the sake of preserving our weird demi-canon here we're going to assume Rwaht's been in the LOTRverse for ages now, to acquire the knowledge requisite to fulfil the Gandalf role)

With all the envoys--and one extra, but who's counting? It's not like there's some sort of symbolism around the number nine or anythiDAMMIT--gathered and ready, they were called to an ostensibly secret meeting, in one of Rivendell's numerous beautiful balconies, seated with several chairs, all surrounding a pure white, circular pedestal in the center. I'm sure you all saw the film.

Curiously, there were also a number of halfmen gathered around, known to those who bothered to know of them as Hobbits. Rwaht stood nearby them, arms crossed, staring at the white pedestal with a look of some concern. As they were all gathered, finally Elrond, a tall elf of fair Agent Smithian complexion and black hair, stepped forward.

"People of Middle-Earth," he began, more than a little erroneously, "I have called you here today to discuss what must be done with the One Ring. Frodo, present it," he commanded, and a small Hobbit who looked like he'd probably be extremely good at pained facial expressions tentatively stepped forward and laid the ring, attached to a beautiful silver chain, on the pedestal. The Ring lay there curiously, with a sort of simple beauty that transcended description. It was alluring, magnetic, and seemed to whisper its own voice in that space between words. The glimmer on its surface seemed to have a light of its own, as though it only followed the light of the sun out of begrudging respect.

The Ring also, even though it had to be impossible, seemed to be staring at Nightmare's own ring with a bizarre sort of stone cold malevolence.

"This is the One Ring, forged in the fires of Mount Doom by Sauron," Elrond said, the statement landing in the air with a deafening thud.

[Nightmare Darklight]

As they were all called to the council, each took their place in the chairs as an elf made himself known to them all. Nightmare took note of the very many other people here. There were men and elves of course, but two he didn't recognize. Short people, though he had to admit, they kind of reminded him of the Kokiri. He didn't have any idea what they really were, but they felt familiar. He just assumed the that small, bearded people were the more elderly of the other short people. Elrond erroneously called them all people of Middle-Earth, which Nightmare immediately jumped on, though he didn't make it known to the public. I mean, if you were being considered a citizen of Middle-Earth, then why fight it? Probably got you into some places and you didn't even need papers. This was one of those few times that instead of tackling and causing trouble, he would shut up and let the guy finish. In a strange new world, the last thing you wanted to do was go around pissing off anyone and everyone in a matter of minutes.

Though when the one known as Frodo presented the ring, laying it on a chain, Nightmare's eyes immediately perked up. Elrond explained to them what it was, saying that it was the ring forged by Sauron, in the fires of what sounded like a volcano, or a bad name for a band. As he examined it, he couldn't help but call this Sauron a copycatting woman who charges money for special services inside his mind. After all, he had his ring first! Nightmare himself would remain silent. He had nothing to say just yet. His ring however, was another matter...

Frankly, it could tell it was being stared at coldly. And somehow, defying all logic, it stared right back at it. Rather than a stare of malevolence or evil, its stare conveyed one simple message to the ring on the pedestal.

"You mad bro? You jelly?"

[Merik Dragmire]

People of Middle-Earth...? Well this is off to a great start, damn Elf doesn't even know where we're from... Merik thought as Elrond started talking.

A few seconds later one of the little men came and presented the Ring that was apparently part of the reason for the gathering. The Gerudo had to admit it had a certain allure about it that called to his King of Thieves persona but aside from being a shiny little trinket he was very surprised that people had been summoned from Hyrule over this. Then came mention of a place called "Mt. Doom" and someone named "Sauron" and it all became a lot clearer.

So this Sauron person is the real threat and what these people have managed to do is really anger him by stealing his Ring...I guess it's like his crown or something...and now he's going to destroy the world unless he gets it back. So I guess we're supposed to either hide it even further away or take it back to him...? Goddess I hope the crew finds some good treasure because I've got a feeling this is going to be a real wasted trip...

[Morrigan]

Once they were called into the chamber, Hong got up from her seat and followed the others. She had taken note of the others in the group that had arrived; a bird, some...blue elf lady, and that one guy from the docks a while back. The other human who was already there when she arrived didn't seem of much concern, and frankly, none of the others caught her as 'useful' to start, but who knows? Depending on what they were called out to the middle of nowhere for, some of their...talents, whatever those were, could be useful.

Hong took a seat once more when they were in the chamber, dully staring at the center pedestal. There were midgets here.....why were midgets here? They didn't look useful at all, and one in particular looked like a pansy at best. She didn't think on it long since it was stupid and a seemingly-important elf showed up to finally tell them what this was about. The explanation began and then, the pansy midget moved to put this 'One Ring' on the pedestal. Hong gave the ring a single look before deciding something to herself.

This ring seems like some powerful artifact or something.....why not use it to kill the guy that wants it back? Seriously. Why sit here deciding what to do with it when we could just make use of it and kill the guy? We'd be done so much faster.

[/color][/i][/blockquote][/size]

[Midna]

For the most part, Midna's eyes have remained closed to soothe the sting of the light, and bright architecture this dimension adorned, but her ears were always listening. Upon hearing the footsteps clopping upon the pavement, her scarlet eyes flickered up slightly, bracing for the harsh light, and adjusting to it's glare to view the new arrivals. Looks like one hell of a party we've got here. Amusement danced within her eyes at Elrond when he addressed everyone as 'people of Middle-Earth'. Now some answers were finally becoming clear, where her location is precisely, and why she has been called from the realm of Twilight.

One Ring? She watched as one of the adorable little hobbits, who looked like he was going through a slow, and painful affliction slowly place a simple golden ring upon the pedestal for all to grab a glimpse of it. The poor dear looked like he'd kick the bucket in a few days or so~ Her own scarlet eyes fell upon the ring, curious to say the least, wondering what significance such a simple little artifact could have on calling such an important meeting. Judging from the elf's description, it's supposedly a powerful little accessory forged on some corny excuse of a mountain, by some evil overlord, probably bent on taking over the world, and ruling it with a tyrannical fist. Most exciting~

"Don't tell me the entirety of this meeting was a show 'n' tell presentation of a mere little trinket, is it?" she asked sarcastically. She paid no heed to the stares that might've ensued of her brash question. If it were such a case then she would've already left this party already, but no. There was much more to this ring than it's appearance disclosed. She only waited with mild manners, but that mocking grin upon her lips did not fade away. Mincing words was but one of the many things that would grate on Midna's patience. Still, she waited for them folk to continue with their explanation, but no matter how long or how short you explain it, it really did come down to the one question everybody was just dying to know~

What do to with the One Ring?

[Ryst Seraphine]

They gathered up and entered into another chamber. Secret meeting and all . . . that first chamber seemed pretty empty and free of eavesdroppers. But screw it, let’s go outside and sit on a balcony in the open air in a giant stone structure, however beautiful, that might just carry voices easily. Ahem. Anyway, they were called in by a hylian elf who looked like he’d probably have some interesting fights with a plank of wood, and told to sit around. Ryst was still unsure about all of this, so he took his seat and waited for an explanation.

Now for the breakdown of thoughts about the speech. People of Middle Earth was a funny one, as many people may or may not have caught up on. Well this place does have a sky, so why not? Next. Midget with a ring. The One Ring. So there were not Two Rings. Got it. That may or may not play an important part in the furthering plot of this little adventure they were on. And finally some place called Mount Doom. Ominous. Who named the places here? Then again, the capital of Hyrule was Castle Town.

Okay, so that was the end of the speech? Ryst looked around at the others, as everyone seemed deep in thought and inquiry about the realm they were arbitrarily in. One of them spoke up. The attractive blue lady. Roger. She had spunk. Roger. Everyone else, thus far, were emotionless bricks. Roger. ”Well I’m guessing that thing is bad,” Ryst piped up, nodding at this One Ring and all its oneness. ”So . . . what now?”

[Rwaht]

[Okay, bit of preamble.

Sorry for taking so long. Work was brutal and when my father's in the house he gets the mentality that one shouldn't be on the computer for more than a half hour at once.

Also, this is a prompt to SHORTEN YOUR POSTS. This is going to be a long quest. We don't need 300-400 word pump-outs every time someone posts. 100 words is fine. 100 words is encouraged. We don't need to hear everyone's grim filler reflections. As a general rule, keep your posts light. Trim the fat. It'll actually probably be a good exercise in writing, anyhow. Shorter is very often better.

Also because I'm a bastard every post that contains a large amount of content I deem "filler" will increase the odds that "fate" (I) will be a **** to you in combat. If your character has nothing to do but stand around and mutter something, just write that. We'll all be better off for it.]

Rwaht had stood off to one side while Elrond presented the ring, but now he stepped forward, with much of the furrowed brow and such. He did not, of course, have a beard, but if you want to imagine one there it'll probably help with the effect, and give you a couple laughs to boot.

"This is no mere trinket," Rwaht said, his voice reverberating with an unusual Ian McKellenian tremor, "It is the One Ring, that which Sauron bound his life and his power to. Without it, he is doomed, but with it ... we cannot hope to prevail. Our only hope to defeat the Enemy is to throw the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor, and destroy it. Nothing else will destroy the Ring, and nothing else will defeat Sauron."

As Rwaht spoke, the Ring seemed to glimmer on the pedestal. All those who looked at it would take something different from its glamour, be it a seductive glance, or a malevolent glare. Of course, the Ring didn't give a shit about most anyone there, except that other Ring. It stared back as if to say,

Psh. Whatever. You're not a real Ring of Power. You can't even turn people invisible. I turn people invisible.

"It must be taken," Rwaht said, "But its bearer must be aware of the allure of the Ring. It ensnares those who hold it. They must fight the desire to yield to its will. They must have the strength of will necessary to take the Ring and destroy it, forever. Not even Isildur could do this." He paused, and waited for the others there to speak.