ObsidianKnight

((OOC: Heh... Peregrine decided that he couldn't leave me alone. I have... returned...) Armiena suddenly jolted awake. Apparently she had been staring into her glass of the local brew for hours now. "Oh dear," she brushed a loose strand of dark hair out of her face "I seem to have fallen asleep. That's the last time I drink this vintage." She casually slided her goblet of the local wine across the bar. "Since I seem to have... fallen asleep, would anyone mind informing me what has transpired during my lengthy nap?"

Armiena looks up from her glass of wine towards the party leaving the tavern, and looks at the staff in an appraising manner just before it is wrapped up. "I'm surprised. Not much happens here--excepting, of course, the mysterious murders, that assassin, and ummm...." she leaves her sentence trailing off, realizing how stupid she just sounded. She decides to relieve her embarassment by downing the rest of her glass in one gulp.

Armiena turns towards the sound of a rifle shot, and wonders what that noise could possibly be... Then she sees the body lying on the ground, a pool of blood oozing from his chest and head. "My, my," she says. "People are dying from strange weapons again! I don't even see a projectile here." She begins inspecting the dead man's head, and sees that the 7.62mm bullet passed through his head. The round lays on the ground a couple of feet away. "Hey, this looks like that other arrow.... thing that I found a while ago. Maybe I should start collecting!" She cleans the 7.62mm bullet off with her robe, and places it in a pocket, along with the bullet with Tabanne's first kill.

Vatican City, approximately 2 days ago Armiena received word of Captain Laurela's expedition. All life on Mars had been totally obliterated, as though nothing was there. Sensors had detected usage of a strange new weapon, unlike the EMP cannon and anti-snow warheads. This weapon had likely destroyed Mars. The sensors also detected hyperspace entries, which ended at a distant point in space. A recon ship passing through the region had detected hyperspace anomalies, but not for long enough to be identified and investigated. She sends orders to Laurela to follow the hyperspace course, and drop out a safe distance from its end, and monitor any activity in the area. Two hours later, Laurela's fleet disappears into hyperspace, unaware of the party she's about to crash.

Armiena blushes uncontrollably. "I LOVE emeralds!" She turns around to let Shadzon fasten the pendant around her neck. "Finally, an actual gentleman in this bar."

Somewhere in space, inside the Maw... Brevet Captain Laurela was far from happy. She had spent most of her life in the group of asteroid bases that Armiena had set up in the Maw. Of course, happiness wasn't the goal of a clone. She rounded the track, sweat pouring off of her body, to see a superior waiting for her, arms folded. She stops, and salutes "Sir?" The officer says nothing, but returns her salute, and hands her a datadisk. "Orders." He says in a gravelly voice. He left quickly, not even saluting. Laurela showers off, and plugs the datadisk into a terminal. That "evening" she blasts off for space with a large fleet, searchign for disturbances that may be related to Peregrine's return. Just for fun, she blasts an meteor to atoms with a snow-powered energy weapon on the way out. She sets course for Mars, where a number of anti-snow explosions have been detected. OOC: the Maw is just the ring of black holes that my base is in.

Armiena turns away, disgusted. "Men.... you just have no idea how to behave around a lady?" She shuts her eyes, trying to hold back her nausea.

Violence erupts in Italy (on new Earth) against all non-believers (that is, those that don't belong to Armiena's perverted version of the Catholic church). Dozens of Protestants and Muslims are brutally beaten. The leaders of the Anglican church, several other major Protestant churches, and Sunni and Shi'ite Islam mysteriously disappear over the course of a few days. In their place are installed a few of Armiena's closest followers, carefully versed in the gospel of their respective faiths. A large number of predominant secularist politicians are invited on a luxurious cruise trip in the Caribbean. They have the time of their lives, smoking fine Cubans, getting tipsy on specialty drinks, until they take some time to shake off their hangovers and seasickness in a South American port. A Colombian rebel sneaks aboard their cruise ship, and plants a tiny bit of anti-snow in the engine room. A few hours after it leaves port, it blows up spectacularly, killing several and sinking the ship. The nearby shark population has a feeding frenzy of biblical proportions.

Armiena's comlink starts buzzing in her office in her hotel room in Turkey. As she is currently touring Turkey, promoting religious cooperation, she doesn't find it until a few hours later. By which time, a message is left for her. "Sir, one of our scout ships has detected anti-snow explosions. We've done some digging, and the bombers that delivered the charges are based off of one of Peregrine's designs. The connection is weak, but they use the same chassis." Armiena collapses in her chambers, believing that Peregrine has returned. She worries that she may have upsetted a god by believing that he was dead, and using the same technologies to ascend to godhood.

Armiena senses Xeniorn trying to summon Peregrine. You idiot, you don't just try to summon a god She decides to teach this fool an unforgettable lesson. She signals her engineers in her fleet, and orders them to redirect a couple of small meteors towards Xeniorn's tower. 2 days later, a pair of meteorites streak through New Earth's sky, giving sightseers a real show. One falls harmlessly into the ocean, but the other , reduced to the size of a softball by Earth's atmosphere, slams into the tower's foundation. As a result, the tower topples over and rolls whimsically off a cliff.

Armiena finally awakens from deep meditation. "Peregrine." Armiena, in her infancy as a goddess, detected a presence in the Immortal Realms. Peregrine, once totally obliterated, had now returned. She rises quickly, and reaches Chavez. "Peregrine is back." She pauses to observe the tall, burly man's shocked reaction. "I don't know how, but he's back. Send word to the fleet. Order them to mobilize and search for anything unusual." That evening, Armiena appears in public. She tells her followers to remain as faithful as ever, for the Judgement Day will come soon.

"Yeah. There was a big fight between these 'Habassans' and the Imperial Legion. I always get depressed at the sight of slaughter." Armiena stares into the bottle of cure poison. "I'm never going to drink Sujamma again."

"Hmmm?" Armiena shakes herself awake. "Ugh... I've got a bad hangover. I'm never going to drink sujamma again..." Armiena walks to the bar, and orders a hangover cure. The bartender presents her a massive bottle of a thick Cure Poison potion.

Armiena, stuck in her room, chugs a bottle of Cure Poison potion. Within 15 minutes, she comes back to her senses, dazed but alert. She opens her door with a spell, and demands her keys from the bouncer. He reluctantly hands them over, and she sits by the fire, trying to shake off a hangover.

Armiena is making a speech about the lack of progress of her investigations of the terrorist attacks on Parliament. A massive explosion shakes the ground, and Chavez and Sam Fischer (ooc: can I use that name without breaking a copyright?Sam Fischer is Splinter Cell's hero.) tackle her to the ground. A tanker full of homemade explosives has detonated in Rome's port. It has decimated an entire block of warehouses, and docks. The explosion set other tankers ablaze, and firemen have little choice but to let some of the tankers burn. Billions of dollars of oil and other goods have been destroyed. Armiena struggles to sleep that night, and has a strange dream. A man named "Mojlnir" celebrates his attacks. She puts in a call to France, and asks the Prime Minister for their records concerning a man nicknamed Mojlnir. There are none.

Hlaalu. How is the "aa" pronounced? Is is AY, or AH, or what? Daedra. Is is DAY-dra, or DIE-dra? Oh, yeah, and each and every of those ludicrously named Daedric shrines. And don't get me started on those crazy Dunmer names.

"Your Holiness, an interesting situation is developing in the States." Chavez hands her a dossier, explaining Aleksei's requested (and granted) meeting with the president. What does Parke want with a Sovjet-commander? Armiena scans down the dossier's text, reading the spy's monotonous report. Too much has been happening in Europe. Slaiv took control of Germany in a landslide election, and my rise to power. No doubt Aleksei is giving him his opinion on recent events "Order our spy to follow him. Tell him to take no further actions, be discreet, and make regular reports." She continues on, reading about a pending terrorist attack on the US. "Chavez! Wait!" She orders him to send additional spies to the US, and orders them to pose as protesters until she activates them.

Corprus Stalkers. The first time I saw one, it scared the restore health potion out of me. Ok, I'm like lvl 5, and I decide to go see the Ghostgate. So I gear up, buy a few potions, and start wandering through Molag Amur. An ash storm hits. I get ambushed by like 3 cliff racers (man, that was a tough fight!). I decide to go hide in a cave and rest. Fight music starts immediately, and I hear a slow, zombie like walk, and a humanoid shape coming at me. I get very, very nervous. I light a torch. HOLY SH**!!!! It's a FREAKING ZOMBIE!!! I practically jump out of my seat, and slice it up good. I try to rest again, but there's more enemies around. So I wander around, and nearly get killed by a couple of ash ghouls. I just barely make it back to Balmora. Oh yeah, werewolves freaked me out. Especially when they ambush you in the quest. And the first time a dremora teleported right next to me.... oh man.. And the tomb where you get a message that "you feel very cold..." I was like lvl 2 when I was in that tomb, and I got really freaked out, and quickly slaughtered by the skeletons. I'll be sure to dload Giants, so I can relive your terror.

OOC: Wait a sec.... I thought Parke was one of Peregrine's guys. Man, that screws everything up for me... Plotting to consolidate her rule over Italy, Armiena orders assassinations on most of those who opposed the laws that gave her her newly won Theocracy. She appears at all of their funerals, saying that they were "useful men and will forever be missed." But, Armiena uses them as martyrs. She releases a statement to the public.... Hmmmmmm... which country should I attack? England? Spain? Saudi Arabia? Japan? So hard to decide.... An hour later, she receives an unexpected phone call from the Prime Minister of France. He offers any aid necessary to make sure justice is done.

A small meteor (or so the newspapers said) mysteriously flattens the Italian Parliament during one of their sessions. All of the members were killed instantly, so a massive reelection campaign began. Most of her clones are elected to office, and quickly passed her bills, giving her total control over Italy. Armiena appeared in public and solemnly accepted this power, and vowed to put it aside after the duration of the emergency.

Armiena sighs at the sight of this slaughter. Fools. All Men seem to do is fight amongst themselves.... "I need a stiff drink." She orders a pint of potent sujamma. Within minutes, she is drunk, muttering nonsense to anyone who is unfortunate to be next to her. A barfly tries to leave her depressing company. "HEY!! zdon't 'eave whils ah'm talkin tuh ya." She attempts to draw her sword, but knocks over her mug. She staggers on the counter for a second, and punches the poor man in the face. He goes down onto a table, scattering drink everywhere. "SHBAR FIGHT!!! WHO'SH NEXD!" The bouncer grabs her and hauls her up bodily to her room, ignoring Armiena's wild beating on his arms.

Armiena does some research on the history of the Pope's power. In the Medieval Ages, the Pope of the Roman Catholic church was arguably the most powerful man in the world. He controlled the salvation of his followers. With a mere word, he could cut them off from the church's services. And from heaven. He had the power to send thousands of knights and peasants to die in the Holy Land. Only until the Protestant Reformation was his reign challenged. Even then, Europe was in his holy grasp. However, the concept of the separation of church and state limited his power, until he was merely a figurehead. Unless, of course, she could pass through new laws that would give her the Pope's old power. "Sam?" The tall, muscular man enters the room. "Send a message to our base. We need some clones here. Tell them to send the finest speakers, the most influential politicians." The next day, another disc-like transport lands in Nevada. The clones reach Armiena's hotel in Cuba before the United States' military even detects their arrival. Armiena gives them their forged papers, identifying them as prestigious members of Italy's legislation, and their mission, to push through legislation that would give her control of Italy.

Armiena slides away from her desk, having finished her addition to the Book of Peregrine. "I'm not sure if this really does Peregrine justice. It's somewhat.... different from his writings," she says to Chavez. Chavez looks over her shoulder. "Hmmm.. It is somewhat different. Well, different writers." "Transmit it to our base for publication." Armiena cuts off her conversation with Chavez as she sees an aide approaching. "Your Holiness, your plane is ready for your trip to Cuba." Excellent. Outwards, I'm making sermons to the Cubans. But at night, I'm out in the nightclubs, smoking cuban cigars.... T'is good to be Pope.

Morgoth's head sails through the air. With a shriek of disgust, Armiena ducks it, and the head lands in the fire. With all of the Imperials staring at her, as if they expected her to catch it, she goes up to her room and retrieves an ornate violin. She sits in front of the fire, and plays a song appropriate for the moment--one about the horrors of war and the mourning of the dead. Surprisingly, it puts the Imperials at ease, and most of them look as though they want to leave the tavern and its respectable barfight alone.

Well, he doesn't seem to be on his guard. Perhaps he's not really after me. Armiena recasts her invisibility spell, and tries to sneak into her room. A stray dispell spell from the angry crowd hits her, and deactivates it. Curses!! Am I still invisible!? She looks into the mirror Nope....