If I determine the enemy's disposition of forces while I have no perceptible form, I can concentrate my forces while the enemy is fragmented.  The pinnacle of military deployment approach the formless:  if it is formless, then even the deepest spy cannot discern it, nor the wise make plans against it.

                                    -Sun Tzu
                                         "The Art of War"

~~~~~~~Infiltration~~~~~~~

In the city of Sairio, a huge parade was running across the main street.  The men had torches in their hands and hate in their eyes.  The sound of stomping rang through the desert like a church bell being rang during service.  The parade maarched on until they reached the town center, where several cages with men were in.  The mob began to shout.
"Kill the spies!  Kill the filth!" someone yelled the loudest of the group, and everyone cheered with the man.
A man with a black turbin walked up to the cages and looked at the three men in each one.
"So, you think you can come through and steal our information, huh!?  You think you can defeat us?  Here's some info for you;  I spit at you!"  The crowd cheered louder and louder.
"Perhaps you should die first?"  the man in the turbin said to the man in the middle.  "You are, after all, the leader of the group."
"Rot in hell,"  the man said, glaring at the evil noble.
"Arvious, perhaps you should say nicer words.  They might be your last!"  The crowd then went silent, and then some one began to chant,  "Kill!  Kill!  Kill! Kill!"
The entire city was yelling the word, and the noble raised his torch.
"Any last words, Arvious?"  the man yelled mockingly.
"Yeah,"  Arvious said, smiling.  "Duck."
Then, men in leather armour jumped off the buildings onto the stage, one of the men landing on the man with the turbin.  One of the soldiers released the cage Arvious was in.
"You people always have great timing,"  Arvious said to the soldier.
"Why is it that everytime you have a plan, it never goes according to plan?"  the soldier asked.
"Aren't I allowed to have a little fun?"  Arvious asked with a grin.
Arvious and the group of soldiers ran through the alleys, avoiding enemy archers along the way.  The men ran until they got to the city wall, where more men were waiiting with ropes.
"Quick, climb!"
Arvious climbed as fast as he could, sweat running down his forehead, until he reached the top of the wall.  Arvious then jumped right off the wall, right onto the desert sand.
"Gods above, you are a daredevil,"  one of the men said after they all got out of the city.
"How are we going to get back to Port Traven?"  Arvious asked the man in charge of the group.
"By horse,"  the man replied.
The man led Arvious towards a large group of horses, and one of the horses grabbed Arvious's attention.
"Leo!"  Arvious ran up to the horse and jumped on it.  "What are you doing here?"
"Your horse doesn't like being in his stable when you're gone,"  the leader said.  "How long have you had that horse?"
"Ten years.  Now, when are we going?"
"Now."  The leader and the rest of the men jumped onto their horses, and they all rode back to the desert port town of Traven.

~~Two Months Later~~

Arvious was sitting in his manor, eating his normal meal of bread and fruit.  His hood was back, and his feet up on the table.  It was quite a shock for the messenger that such a noble had.. manners like that.
"Message from Lord Jolen!"  The messenger set it on the table, and left the room.  Arvious picked it up and began to read it.

Greetings,

         I hope you are up for another challenge, and this one you cannot fail.  The Devarians have stolen critical imformation from out archives in Welowville.  We need you to take an elite force to the capital of the Devarians and steal the information back.
         You will be provided with two weeks provisions and horses for all of your men.  You will leave once you are ready.

                           Wishing all goes well,
                                   Lord Jolen of Port Traven.

SIGN-UPS.

Even though this is the dark ages of the Roleplaying forums, that does not mean that I will accept sloppy work in this RP.  Every post should have some effort in it, and not crap like this.

*Bob grabs his sword and stabs Joe.*

"How do u like that? ^_^"

If anyone posts like this, I will kill you. -_-

Name:  Bob.  (Your name here.)
Fighting Style:  Melee, Ranged, or Magic.
Weapon:  Sword, Bow, Crossbow, or Staff.
Descriptions:  Write a short story of yourself here.  Keep it short please, but not two lines.  Again, I will kill you. -_-

Also, no instant kill magic.  Or *repeat here.*

[[BEGIN THE SIGN-UPS]]

Name: Adam Blake
Fighting Style: Allrounder
Preferred Weapons: Katana and Spatha

Description : Adam Blake came from a respectable warriorlike noble family. Being from a noble family it was obvious that he'd be raised to be a scholar and a mighty warrior. He rendered his service to the king and in time became one of the mightiest warriors of the land, in secret. For he did not display his skills openly but worked in covert low level operations and won great respect from those who worked with him.

[[Himanil and Demonsul, please choose only ONE fighting style.  I don't want god-like people or awesome war heroes.]]

Adam while in his castle watched as the messenger bowed low and handed the message to his valet from his window, he promptly began arrangements for departing as he recognized the messenger by his robes as one of Lord Jolen of Port Traven a good friend of his who used to send the same messenger every time he needed Adam for an importantly urgent matter. His valet was announced in, Adam took the message and dismissed his valet with a wave of his hand after commanding him to ready his warhorse. He saw that the letter had a yellowish green seal on it, so Adam took it inches near a burning lamp and immediately grew tense on seeing it emit red vapors but at the same time gave a relieved smile as he started to open the message, finally a mission of importance that involves people at the highest of levels, Adam thought, I was starting to get bored. The message read as follows-

Greetings,

I hope you are up for another challenge, and this one you cannot fail. The Devarians have stolen critical imformation from out archives in Welowville. You will be part of a secret and elite team that will be under the command of Arvious VIII, another member will be Edward Deallus one whom you know well, the rest you shall meet later. Passwords- Wello Mellow. Wish you luck, Oh and yes happy hunting.

Wishing all goes well,
Lord Jolen of Port Traven.

Well, well we will have some fun then, thought Adam. Then Adam swiftly got about to get together his things.

[[Alright, just hang around a bit until I get more people here.]]

Name:  ???
Alias: Rell
Fighting Style:  Ranged, uses stealth often, carries a shortsword for close encounters.
Weapon:  Yew bow, steel shortsword
Descriptions:  A strange man. Little is known about him but his alias, Rell.

[[Demonsul, you are an RPer!  You were one of the best before you left, and I know you can make pure attack styles interesting, no matter what RP.]]

This will start tommorow, and it will be going slowly during the weekdays, but I promise to make up for that during the weekends.

~~Arvious VIII~~

arvious stood at the docks at which he had called all of his team to.  he had them all line up in a line so he could brief them quickly.

"alright, men,"  arvious said.  "as you all are aware of, we are going on a dangerous mission in the heart of the devarian empire.  this infiltration will have to be swift and decisive.  we cannot and will not fail this mission.  the information that has been lost is critical to our success in this war, and every second that we waste is a second they gain."

arvious looked each of the men in the eye for a small amount of time.

"i am not as punishable as most leaders are at making mistakes... probably because i have made a great share of my own.  however, if anyone falls under the catagory of insubordination, they will be left behind for disobeying my orders.  we cannot have any obstacles in our journey."

arvious relaxed himself a bit, and pulled out a map.

"now, have a look at our route."

we will be leaving port traven by boat down the river, and to geran fortress, where we will restock our supplies.  then, we will move to the small trade port in the edge of enemy territory, moorvora, where we will smuggle ourselves on a trade ship to get to porlos, and get some enemy intelligence there so we can make sure this mission is a success.  then, we will stowaway on another boat and wait until we reach helden.  then, we will travel by foot to lenea, and restock all our supplies, especially water.  then, and i know you all will groan at me, but we will pass the great dunes, the quickest way to get to sairio, where we will rest one day, and finish our mission on the next day.  then, from our allies in the traven province,  a navy fleet will attack a city close to the city, providing a diversion for us to escape on a provided boat.  with this information, we will now start."

arvious picked up his bag, and walked onto the ship, heading for his cabin to rest for a little.

[[get used to the ship and rest a bit.  we will leave port soon.  when most people have posted, we will leave.]]

It was late evening when Adam got first sight of Port Traven, by the time he reached the gates it was dark. As he drew up his horse to a halt an old guard scuffled out form the gate cursing the biting cold. He raised his lamp up to Adams face and on seeing him bowed respectfully and with an order had the gated opened. Adam after some riding arrived at Lord Jolens mansion where he was given an envelop, he rode a bit more in the direction where he had been told to go, in the light of a bar from where the noises of singing and merrymaking were coming Adam opened the envelop and read it's contents, then he speedily set of. On arriving near the harbour Adam dismounted after handing it to a boy liveried in the dress of Lord Jolen's household. As Adam stood there a menacing voice called out, 'Password' from somewhere in the dark, 'Wello Mellow,' Adam responded. 'Good,' said the voice, there was the snapping sound of 2 fingers and 4 guards of whose presence Adam had been aware came up and escorted him to a ship, nearby a man whom Adam recognized as Arvious was giving the details of their assignment to a group of men. As he finished, Adam saw him go back to the ship, Adam himself was tired so he too went to the ship to get some rest.

[[I am going to get the RP moving right now, but if people remain this inactive, I will start to take people out of the RP.]]

“How far are we from Geran Fortress?”  Arvious inquired the navigator.

“Probably about 15 minutes until we reach the city,” the man replied.

Arvious walked over to the deck, where most of the crew was, after waking up.  Most of the crew looked refreshed and ready for some action.

“We will be docking at Geran Fortress soon, and I want every hand on deck getting ready.  Once we get there, you all can grab something to eat, and I’m going to talk with General Ralph.”

Arvious walked back to the wheel and began to steer the ship down the river.

***

"Men, set your eyes on it!"

Arvious and all the crew were watching the fortress city appearing on the horizon.  The grand city had been through war after war, and had stood strong through the armies of the west.  The sun was sshining at the top of the fortress like a blazing torch.  In fact, it actually did look much like a big fire ball.

"Oh crap,"  Arvious said.  "Take cover!"

A fireball hurtled through the air like a phoenix, and landed in the back of the ship, causing the ship to fall backwards.

"Everyone jump onto the mainland!" Arvious yelled as he jumped from his position over to a nearby palm tree, and clung to it.  Several more troops followed, all landing on the tree.  Laying on the trunk, Arvious watched The Sandstorm wash up onto the riverside until a shaking in the tree caused Arvious to get up.  The leaves continued to shake until a coconut landed on Arvious's head, and cracked in half,covering himself in milk, which would spoil quickly in the desert heat, making Arvious smell terrible.  Arvious blinked twice, and wiped his face.

"Come on, lets get going.  Geran Fortress is in danger,"  Arvious said, still mad about the coconut.

Edward saw the fireball coming and quickly grabbed his pack full of all his items.  He leapt from the ship and grabbed at the branches of a palm tree.  He then lost his grab and grabbed at the trunk of the tree as he fell.  He hit the ground hard but not as hard as he could have hit.  He then moved over to where he saw Arvious at.
"I am still here...let's go."

Leaping out of the ship, Demonsul drew his sword, muttering in his strange foreign language. "Well, how's that for a welcome..." he muttered, reverting back to the common tongue. "I for one would like to know why they're shooting at us. Any explanation, Arvious?"

[[Septim is going to be back monday or tuesday...he is at his dad's]]

As the weary group ran quickly yet efficiently toward Geran Fortress they saw a hooded figure walking towards them.  Responding quickly to this possible threat Rell stepped to the side with his bow, while Adam drew his katana and stepped between the hooded stranger and the slightly bruised Arvious.  The hooded stranger did not change his demeanor at all at seeing these actions yet as he approached the group felt a small chill in the air around him.

"Greetings most noble Arvious." The stranger said, stopping right in front of Adam's naked blade and throwing back his heard to reveal a cold face set around deep, penetrating eyes that seemed to glance throw each man's heart and soul. "I am the demigod Anubis, son of the Egyptian god of death.  When I had heard that you gathered the greatest and most honorable warriors of the realm I sought you out to see if it were true.  Now that I see so with mine own eyes, I humbly ask permission to join your most elite group.  I bring my own provisions and am use to the desert."

Name:  Anubis
Fighting Style:  Special form of melee fighting taught to the sons of powerful gods mixed with severely limited god powers
Weapon:  Staff tipped with a blue crystal jackal head which no doubt contains a blade and perhaps some other surprises
Descriptions:  Son of the Egyptian god of the dead.  A semi-immortal demigod.  While still growing into his god powers, he entered into a fight with his cousin the son of the beautiful and famous Isis who had tried to murder him to absorb his powers.  After the terrific battle with his cousin, during which the guards of immortals were completely destroyed, his cousin's mother had to come in to save him from Anubis' blade.  Even though Anubis had merely been defending his life against the onslaught of his power hungry cousin, he was banished from the world of gods and exiled here to the earth.  Stripped of all of his powers he was destined to roam lower earth desolate and lonely.  A creator of his own destiny; however, and too logical and clearheaded to be blinded by pain and rage, he began to improve his skills and set out on a quest of revenge.

[[OOC: Well...you kinda did join as a demi-god when I think everyone is human...]]

[[lol btw even though I'm a demi-god sort of, i'm still exiled and stripped of power, I have to really solely on my physical capabilities like a normal mortal]]

    Anubis slowly turned his eyes toward Arvious, folded his hands, and patiently waited for him to speak.

[[Maybe Arvious is still somewhat dazed from the coconut?]]

[[Humm.. I guess I did say patiently didn't I? lol]]

'Why can't i have any of the fight' Adam muttered as he closed in ranks. Adam double bent and moved swiftly with his shield covering his left, all the time keeping a sharp eye for any Devarians that got too close. He saw a bunch of them ahead and thought, let the party begin.

[[Septim, you are really late.  Next time you go inactive, tell me.]]

"I always hate being this close to death,"  Arvious muttered.  "Come on!"

Arvious and the group ran in their formation until they reached the fortress.  While moving very swiftly, they sneaked past the wall, towards the fortress.

"Alright, everyone go insaide and sit down a bit,"  Arvious said.  "I'm going to General Ralph."

Arvious ran inside, running through the narrow corridors until he came to a gigantic door.

"Why's it always the room with bigs doors where the people are?"  Arvious muttered, bursting through the doors.&nb*beep*an looking over a map looked up, and smiled.

"Arvious... this is the best of all times you could have came!"

"I'll be leaving soon,"  Arvious said.  "I need an escape route so we can get on with our mission."

"The escape route,"  Ralph said.  "There is a problem.  The Devarians have taken the area where it is.  If you can secure the armoury near the western gate, I can show you a way out of the city."

"...You're joking, right?"

[[Will continue tommorow.]]

[[Okay, umm, continue until you reach the present, I guess.]]

[[yeah, sorry about that.  I hesitated to do it, but wasn't sure how to make an entrance.  I won't be doing it anymore]]

  Anubis bowed his head gratefully.
"Egypt is an the parrallel world from which I was banished."

Running towards the fortress with the others, Anubis nods towards Adam's katana.  "That is a beautiful blade that you have.  Such a sword as that is a worthy weapon for such a famous blade master as yourself.  Is it enchanted?"

Anubis was the first to follow Arvious up the rope, then turned around to help the others up while Arvious surveyed the situation.  And bending over to help one of his new brothers up on the wall, he saw a horde of arrows suddenly fly from one of the captured towers, taking Slade in the throat, chest, eyes, and limbs.  He sighed and shaking his head muttered, "Perhaps I bring them bad luck." Then putting the bloody site behind him, turned around in time to hear Arvious say, "Well, I'm glad we brought you around, Anubis.  Anyway, here's the situation.  The Devarians have got this place surrounded.  Only the fortress and this gate haven't been taken.  We're going to walk along the walls to the fortress.  Charley and Anubis are up front, Adam and Darkin, you're in the center, Septim, you're with me.  We're gonna shoot at any Devarians closeby.  Let's move!"  Nodding towards Charley, Anubis began trotting along the walls towards the fortress.  After only a couple hundred feet; however, a battalion of Devarians rushed up a staircase and charged the group.  As the assailants rushed towards them, Anubis' hand shot forward, and a small but deadly knife flew from his sleeve, catching the first assailant in the throat and he fell back gurgling while a fountain of blood shot out from around the blade.  With no time to observe the effect of his shot; however, he swung his staff up to block the downward rushing blow of the next attacker's sword.  Then, using the strength of the blow to spin his staff around, he brought the other side flying towards his oponent's head.  To save himself the devarian threw up his arm connecting with the staff with a loud crack that broadcasted to everyone in hearing distance that his forarm was now broken.  Just getting warmed up; however, Anubis, moving with the speed of greased lightning spun away from the Devarian's counter strike, barely saved himself from falling off the wall, and at the same time, swung his staff back around.  This blow came to fast for the Devarian to block or dodge, and the jackal head topped staff hit the back of the Devarian's neck, snapping it immeadiately.  It was at that moment Anubis saw a hooded Devarian with a dagger rushing up on Arvious from behind, and without thinking Anubis reflexively threw his hand out forming the symbols that would release a killing wave of god magic straight at the would-be assassin.  Instead of a killing blast of magic; however, Anubis fell to his knees coughing blood and trembling at the terrible after effects of the curse that had stripped him of his powers, while the Devarian next in line after the one whose neck Anubis had snapped prepared to kill the defenseless exile.

Adam looked at Anubis and responded, 'My other blade with rubies Dragfury is the enchanted one.'

Adam saw the Devarians charge towards them, he smiled and waited feeling the figure of Anubis whizz past him at great speed, slightly taken aback Adam saw Anubis and Arvious fight till a Devarian creeped behind Arvious and Anubis fell on the floor spluttering blood. Adam reacted quickly, whipping out both the shortswords from his back, he flung them with terrific force, one hit Arvious's to be assasin and the other went through the throat of Anubis's oppoenet, yelling a spine chilling battle cry Adam charged into the fray beheading 3 and killing another 4 in a matter of seconds before bending over to lift up Anubis. Adam saw the Devarians retreat and quickly began hauling Anubis away.

[[Sorry, don't really want to take part in this anymore. Arvious, you can kill my character as you see it.]]