Forums » General Roleplay » Punks of Steam Harbor (FINISHED!)

"We ain't killin the poor fool, we're putting him to rest," Icias thought for a second, "I heard somewhere that each Necromancers animation circle is specific to the caster, if we get a good look at the carving on O'Shire's corpse before we destroy it we may be able to trace the symbol back to who turned him into this flesh eatting monst..." Before Icias could finish the corpse man through a butcher knife straight at the Bearons head, moving out of the way barely the knife was flung into the crowd where it made contact with one of the Automaton officer's chest causing the Iron-Cast man to struggle for a moment before falling to the ground. "That wasn't polite," Icias called to the zombie man. The Bearon wondered why Jet was avoiding the question about his occupation, perhaps he was a criminal himself? But as another butcher knife flew towards them Icias remembered that this wasn't the time for that kind of thinking, "Watch Out Jetson!"

Jeston did a small combat roll to the left to avoid the butcher knife, it went straight past him and narrowly missed an Automaton's head. 'Boy that was close, also i know it's irrelevant right now but it's Jeston....not Jetson.' he said. The zombie then started running towards Jeston, arms out and drooling saliva, Jeston put his arm out and pressed a button on his gauntlet, a large stream of spider silk came out and stuck the mindless, beastly creature to the wall. The zombie struggled to get out of the web but it was no use, 'Struggle all you want, pal, this is a special type of spider silk i got from a friend, it'll take hours of biting and scratching to get out of that one.' Jeston teased.

Acid began dropping from the zombies mouth melting the silk away, a large burst of the toxic goop sprayed at the two of them! The liquid left scorch marks on their cloths as they shielded their faces, "it's probably not great for your eyes," Icias advised looking back to wear the zombie was. But he was gone, "where did that bugger..." Turning to Jeston the Bear man saw the zombie on top of the dwarf, barely being held back by Jeston's strength. "Sorry buddy, didn't see ya there!" With a swift flick of his boot, the steel toe of his shoe nailed undead O'Shire in the gut kicking him upward! BANG! Shooting the airborn savage proved unhelpful yet slightly humorous. The zombie slammed against the deli counter before rolling over it. "You ok buddy?" Icias reached down to give the dwarf a helping hand but before Jeston could grab a hold a butcher knife grazed Icias's shoulder drawing blood, "damn you James ol' boy!" Bang! Bang! Bang!

'Booyah!Nice shot!' Jeston said as the zombie started going crazy before calming down and falling to the ground lifelessly, 'And thats why you never mess with a short man and an anthropomorphic bear.' he taunted to the zombie's corpse.

A few minutes later, two Automatons carried the corps in a body bag to be disposed off, Jeston told the officers about the Necromancer and that the graveyard be a restricted area in case of more zombie uprisings. There was alot of commotion around, some people thought that Jeston and Icias were heroes for putting their founder to rest again whilst others thought that the Necromancer had brought O'Shire back to life and that they had killed him.

As the two were getting pats on backs, an Automaton walked up to them but it looked more like a messenger rather than a guard, 'Icais Frost-Fur, Jeston Drabcalcite, you are required by the order of James O'Shire Jr, son of the founder of Steam Harbour, James O'Shire, to meet at O'Shire Manor to discuss the issues of recent events, if you do not comply, you will be arrested for murder.' The messenger then walked away. 'Sounds like Jr is angry, should we go.' Jeston asked Icias.

James the Second was one of Mayor O'Shire's two children, James the Second and Kevin. Kevin O'Shire left to travel the world a few years ago but was back in the city, he was the more light hearted one but as Icias and Jeston arrived at the silver and bronze mansion obviously put together by O'Shire himself. It was said to be the only thing the mayor could do to get his mind off his wife passing. Daniella O'Shire passed away giving birth to the twins James the Second and Kevin, but while Kevin put sadness out of his mind and focused on making the best of life, Jr. Tried taking on being his fathers assistant which only made their relationship more and more tense. "Hopefully killing his father will just be a slap on the wrist..." Icias said as the two were escorted into the mansion.

The two of them walked into the mansion escorted by an officer, the mansion looked small on the outside but on the inside it was massive, there were tons of pictures, James holding his son Kevin for the first time, and another holding James II, James and Daniella's wedding, James shaking hands with Harry Banks, the inventor of the Automaton and many more.

The two were escorted into O'Shire's office were James II was on the phone with someone whilst sitting at the office desk, 'Don't worry I'll deal with it....Trust me I got this, I'm an O'Shire' he saw the two standing at the door, 'Look they are here right now....Fine I'll talk to you later.' he hung up the phone and stood up, 'Well, well, well if it isn't the saviours of Steam Harbor' he laughed, and put a hand out, 'James O'Shire the Second' he said with a welcoming smile,'My father was the-''We know who your father is.' interrupted Jeston, 'I don't know if you've noticed but he became a zombie and pretty much went on a killing streak, now please tell us, why are we here.' There was a silence from James, he then put on a serious face and spoke in a low tone, 'Okay, listen up, you morons, every since you killed my dad, people have been concerned about the security of Steam Harbour, they think lowlifes like you are better than me at leadership. People are getting departures away for the city, the factories that make Automatons are low on workers so we less authority will be around, people are convinced that sorcery is possible and are constantly questioning me about what I will do about it, hell, even my idiot brother is being considered for mayor!' he grabbed Icias and Jeston by their collars, 'You two are already causing trouble around this town and I don't need idiots like you trying to be a hero when we already have great enough security around here. Thanks to you, my father's corpse is probably gonna be dropped in a river rather than in a special graveyard next to Mom!' He started grasping tighter at the collars, 'You two mess up my jopb and I'll have you banished from Steam Harbour for eternity! In fact I'll ban your species, HELL I'LL EXECUTE YOU IF I HAVE TO!!' It was clear that James had almost hit insanity, Jeston looked at Icias 'Slap on the wrist, huh?'

Being over ten feet tall the human boy wasn't exactly able to grab the Bearon's collar, instead he had a firm grasp on Icias's vest pocket a pocket Icias held his flask in, focused on the man grabbing at his secret stash of Honey-Shine was the only thing Icias was thinking about during the eldest O'Shire boy's rant. Pulling away after Jeston's comment Icias straightened his shirt, "I got nothin but respect for your father boy, but a Necrotic caster used your fathers body to kill two civilians and injure half a dozen others." The Bearon pulled out his Honey-Shine and took a gulp before offering some to Jeston who had by this time freed himself from the full grown brat's hold as well. "It is my duty as an 'A class' hunter to deal with situations like that on site," the Bearon crossed his arms. "Didn't matter to me who that undead savage was in his past, your father was a good man, but that creature was NOT your papa..."

'Yes he was, looks and everything!' said James, 'In fact, I don't why I'm talking to you two! Guards!' Two Automaton officers came through the door, 'I want these two on the first flight out of Steam Harbour, I don't want to see them here ever again!' The guards nodded and pulled out handcuffs but before they could put them on, Jeston pulled out a flintlock pistol and shot both the automatons in the head, disabling them, he then aimed it at O'Shire who raised his arms, 'Look! We're sorry about your dad but whatever that thing was, I can assure you, that was not him, now we can find and stop the person who did this but we can't if you don't give your assistance, start acting like a man and do what your father would do!' Jeston put his pistol down for the mayor to reply. The mayor sighed, 'I'm sorry...It's just...because I was named after my dad, i was expected to accomplish great things, and when he died....I couldn't handle the pressure...I'll see what i can do to help..'

Bursting into laughter James II pulled out a pistol of his own,'wasn't that cute?' Firing a shot at Jeston's hand he disarmed the dwarf, 'a believable little ploy, but now that my father is gone this city is mine!' Guards of all races filled the room after hearing the gun fire, 'Arrest these the dwarf for destroying two officers of the law, and threatening a public official!!!' The guards apprehended the dwarf and took him away, 'and arrest the Bearon to stand trial to lose his bounty hunting license!!!'

Within the next few hours the two were both locked up in the Sky Harbour city jail. "Good going geezer," Icias sighed looking at his cell mate. "I know you were just doing what was right but still, some people are too high up to screw with like that." Waiting on their fates the two had no idea that Kevin O'Shire himself was on his way over to them, the Bearon and the Dwarf weren't the only ones who didn't care for the new mayor. And while James the Second's standing was to keep people where they belong, Kevin O'Shire had a different plan, allow people to learn! In Kevin's mind, if the two who stopped the first offensive of this Necrotic offensive could find the Necromancer and put a stop to him or her on Kevin's initiative, then the people would have more of a reason to back the younger O'Shire! Unknowing that Icias sat down and spun the key in Axel's back bringing his little bot to life, "how about a fun dance to lighten the mood Axel?" And so the mini-bot danced.

'As you remember, I am 592 years old and being an alcoholic, this is obviously not my first time in jail.' He pushed the mini-bot out of the way and went up to the cell lock, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a paperclip and straightened it out, he put it i the lock and little unlocking sounds were heard. The cell door opened, Jeston put on a smile and turned to Icias, 'After you, also I should mention that once we step out of there, we're pretty much wanted criminals of Steam Harbor just so you know.'

Icias shook his head, "your a cool fella Mister Jeston, but zany job is in affiliation with the government of this city and surrounding cities... One of which is Tall Shore, I can't just break out." Icias sighed, though breaking out looked like fun he had a responsibility to the people of Steam Harbour and his wallet. His stomach growled loudly as steps from down the hall could be heard, "I'd better hurry, it is probably the guards," Icias said picking up Axel and twisting the key in his back once more.

Down the hall walked Kevin O'Shire, two officers of different colors followed him, an automaton and a female half elf. 'Breaking out is one option Jeston Drabcalcite,' Kevin said approaching, 'but why be a wanted man when the man with the keys wants you freed?' Kevin had a mechanical arm, gears and cogs twisted on it as he brushed his long brown hair out of his face. 'Jeston I use my authority as a Steam Harbour dignitary to officially release you, and Sir Icias gets to keep his A class status.' Kevin reached his hand out to them, 'Kevin O'Shire, I want to personally hire you both to catch the Necromancer that used my fathers body like that, and I want you to tell people who supports you on this hunt.' In the mans other hand were two letters, stamped in red with the words Release Forms printed on them! 'Find that Necromancer, your job starts now...'

'Kevin O'Shire! Holy Moradin, where have you been for, i dunno, the past 10 years!' Jeston asked, 'Let's just say I've been pretty busy with some personal business.' he replied with a smile. Jeston put on a confused face, 'Also, and I think this is the most important question, what if we get caught by one of your brother's guards? He'll just throw us back in here.' 'Let me worry about James, you find the Necromancer.'
As the two left the dungeons, Jeston was still confused and worried about what was happening, Kevin had left Steam Harbour 10 years ago and then comes here out of the blue, James II had become paranoid and blamed Icias and Jeston for the death of his father, now that Kevin had returned and is against James's motives, it will probably break Steam Harbour apart since both of the heirs are against each other. Steam Harbour had once been split into two parts before, it was 4 years ago during Election Day, O'Shire was up against Oliver Price who claimed that O'Shire was "Getting too old for his job". Alot of people wanted to stick with O'Shire but others wanted Price has he was younger, richer and had better looks but he lacked leadership skills. The town was in an uproar, and riots began, it was almost about to become a civil war until the debate was over and O'Shire was named mayor again.

Jeston snapped back into reality, 'So what do we do now, how are we gonna track some guy that we don't even know looks like?'

Icias pulled a small thing of chalk out of his bag and drew a very rough version of the animation circle on a brick wall. "This is what I could see of the animation circle on the O'Shire zombie." Icias scratched his head, "my brother was a bit of an Alchemist but nothing like this, nothing necrotic like this..." He looked at the circle he had drawn and sighed, "we need a professional who researches this stuff, and after we figure out the calling card and who this guy is, we're just gonna have to wait until he or she attacks again." Not the best plan but what else could they do, there were plenty of good alchemists around but who could help them find a necrotic terrorist like this.

Over head staring out a window was a man wearing a gas mask shaped like an elephant head, 'you did well Sesco Shadorian, a bit more practice and your zombies will be ready to be mass produced.' The Drow nodded, the same Drow who was in the Black Shamrock with Icias and Jeston yesterday, 'thank you Master Tusk, soon both brothers will be at each other's throats and the city will be ours for the harvesting....'

Jeston shuddered, 'Is it just me...or does it feel like a dark presence is near... ' he shuddered again, 'Anyway, I know a guy who can help us.'

Jeston and Icias went to the other side of town to a building where a secret black market was taking place, there were tons of stalls, people of different species, elves, Bearons, goblins, humans and even Automatons that had been stolen and reprogrammed to serve the people of the black market. The two of them went to the other side of the market to a stall where a dwarf was sitting at a table with an orb and a man on the other side of the table. The man seemed to be yelling at the dwarf, 'That'sit?! 5 kids and a horrible wife who can't satisfy my every need!? This is such a scam!' the man then stormed off as the dwarf muttered some Elvish swear words to himself, he noticed Icias, 'Welcome, my dear friend to Teregud's mysterious-' he then noticed Jeston, 'Jeston! Is that you!?' he ran up to Jeston and gave him a big ol' hug. 'Holy Moradin, 60 years, since i saw you leave on that train to the mountains!' he laughed, 'Yea I've up to some crazy stuff lately.' Jeston replied, 'So what can I help you with, my good friend?' 'Well me and my friend here are trying to find the guy behind the O'Shire zombie attack and we need your help about some necrotic markings.' Teregud put on a serious face, 'Sorry, Jeston, you don't do demon-related stuff.' he walked back to his chair, 'Oh come T, you know how much this means to me.' asked Jeston, 'Sorry, can't help ya.' Jeston was about to give up until he came up with an idea, 'Y'know...my friend here is a bounty hunter...so he is technically an officer of the law..' Teregud put on a worried face, 'You wouldn't like it if guards found out about you and your friend's little operation going down here, would you now?' Jeston said with a smug look on his face, Teregud sighed, 'Fine, you always were so persuasive, whaddya need?' Jeston turned to Icias, 'Explain it to him.'

"Yeah this, uh, scaffolding doesn't appear to be up to regulation," It was all too obvious Icias was joking rather then bluffing. "Sir, we have been employeed by Kevin O'Shire to find out who is doing this." Pulling up a notebook Icias showed the man the rough sketch of the symbol. "It is a Necromancer's animation circle, and as we all know every spell circle or wizard's rune has it's own special signature that can trace it back to the caster..."

'The Shadow Sun,' the man said after a moment, 'it is a rune type used by a very wealthy family of people who live in the south side of the city, the Shadorian's study demonic nature and how to cast it. This is their trademark spell circle.'

Icias knew of this family, Kazos Shadorian was a very wealthy Drow, he had five children, the eldest son died young. This inspired Kazos the Alchamist to seek out tampering in Necromancy, the man filed for permits however and was eventually approved to be a Nectrotic Scientist as long as he reported his findings to O'Shire's Alchamist Guild directly. But when the experiments began proving too successful the Alchemist council had the man arrested. His wife and three daughters still live in a big mansion on the south side of Steam Harbour, a home payed for by the Alchemist Guild itself, but Kazos's only living son Sesco went missing on the day his father was arrested. Rumor was he was out to finish his fathers work. "I have two leads based off your analysis... Thank you Mister," tipping his hat to the black market Alchamist he walked outside and leaned on the door.

"We need to go to the south side and talk to Kazos's wife and daughters, we also need to go to the Under." The under was a jail underneath the Steam Harbour dungeons, it was a place for the worst of the worst, and it was where the government kept dangerous people like Kazos who held information that could topple civilizations. "We can split up if you want and meet back at the Black Shamrock when we learn what we can?" Icias has always been curious about the Under, and wasn't really feelin another bunch of rich snobs. "I'll head to the Under and you head to the House of Shadows, sound good?"

'Fine with me, see ya at the Black Shamrock.' Jeston left the black market and sighed. He had heard about the House of Shadows and didn't like the rumours, apparently it was territory in the south of Steam Harbour that was owned by alchemists who wore purple cloaks that covered their whole body, in fact you couldn't see their faces except their bright red eyes, when James the First heard about this, he wasn't concerned, thinking that it was nothing but complete nonsense, Jeston wasn't sure why the Alchemist Guild would let Kazos' family live there.

Jeston headed to the south side of town, he walked past the danger signs and entered a field of purple tents, he saw red eyes in the shadows of the tents and heard whispers, some in English and others in different languages that he wasn't familiar with. One freakishly tall Alchemist in a purple cloak appeared out of white smoke in front of Jeston, He held out a white wrinkly hand with a pinkie cut off and a purple ring around the ring finger, 'Halt!' he said in a low tone, 'No mortal is allowed to come through to the House Of Shadows!' Jeston sighed, 'Okay first of all, you all live in tents so I'm not passing the House of Shadows, I'm passing a bunch of purple tents and second of all, I am here to speak to the kin of Kazos Shadorian.' More whispers erupted when Jjeston said Kazos' name, the man standing in front of Jeston raised his hand to shush the others, 'Very well, newcomer, I shall take you to Kazos' family.' Jeston again put on a confused face as to why the man just let him pass so easily, he felt that something was suspicious...

Icias ventured to Kevin's office and told him of his current quest, "I'm looking for the Under, legendary prison under the Steam Harbour dungeons?" Kevin sighed and explained why his father thought of the Under, Icias was shocked at what he heard but wasn't a hundred percent surprised by the logic behind it. "So your telling me that the Under never existed and those 'taken' there were actually just executed," Icias sighed. So Kazos was killed half a decade ago, executed in his cell. This info would anger anyone who had friends of relatives 'in the Under'. Icias decided to switch his line of questioning, "what do you know of Sesco Shadorian? Son of Kazos Shadorian??"

Kevin tilted his head to the side, 'I can tell you that Kazos's mother just died a few days ago and the funeral is today in the backyard of the House of Shadows, it's being thrown by Kazos's three daughters. 'Kevin looked up at the Bearon. 'Sesco's sisters, but I doubt the son will actually attend.'

Icias hit his forehead with his hand, so if Sesco is in fact the Necromancer, his mother is going to most likely be his next target and Jeston is there all alone." Tipping his hat Icias left, catching a mechanical horse taxi-carriage, he was now on his way to the House of Shadows, "don't get yourself into to much trouble ya ol Geezer," Icias said. It would be about twenty, twenty five minutes until he would arrive. It was about time to crash a funeral!

The man in the cloak led Jeston to a graveyard where three young Drow girls were standing, crying above a grave with the words, 'Aila Firtha' on the front. The cloaked man turned to Jeston and pointed at the girls before leaving without saying a word, Jeston slowly walked towards the girls and tapped the one in the middle's shoulder, she jumped and turned around, 'Ugh, a dwarf!' she said in disgust, Jeston had forgotten about the dwarf and Drow rivalry, 'Look, I may be a dwarf and you three may be Drow but we need to put our differences aside for now, I need to speak to your mother, it's urgent.' 'Even if we wanted to tell you where she is, she doesn't want to speak to anyone, grandmother's death is too hard on her.' Jeston sighed, 'Fine.' he said and turned around to leave only to bump into the tall mysterious man from before, 'Out of my way, boo' demanded Jeston. 'Negative...if you had acknowledged the signs from earlier, you would have known that there is an entrance...' more men in cloaks appeared and Jeston started backing away, noticing that the Drow girls had disappeared, 'but there is no exit...'

Their had been rumors that the House of Shadows was built by Kazos to be able to make intruders see things that weren't there. There are charmed rings that allow you to be immune to these illusions but without a ring also known as the Band of Barrings, you would be a sucker to these illusions. "Just take the back streets!" Icias yelled at the Automaton driver, it had already been over ten minutes and they weren't even half way there yet due to traffic. "I sure hope Jeston is ok," the Bearon flipped through a book he had stolen from the black market merchant. According to this book animation circles don't have to be activated on the spot, undead subjects can sit dormant for a great many number of years before being activated. As long as the circle itself is unaffected by Roy and flesh decay, the spell can be cast anytime to awaken them. Usually a trigger word is written into the animation circle in a necrotic lost language and when that word is uttered by basically anyone in range of the body to hear it, the host body will spring to life... "I could potentially say the word butt and raise an army of the undead," Icias chuckled flipping through the pages some more.

Jeston started feeling oozy as the figures surrounded him, he felt as if he was about to vomit, his vision was blurry. He got down to the ground to steady himself. The voice of the tall Alchemist went from a low tone to a demonic sound, 'Do you feel it, dwarf? Do you feel the darkness of necrotic blood flowing within your veins?' Jeston looked at the Alchemists to see them in a demonic form, with purple eyes instead of red, he then looked at his arms to see his veins bright purple, 'Let the darkness in....harness it's energy and join us and Master Tusk in a new beginning...' Jeston then started having visions, he heard screams, he saw the animation circle from earlier and zombies killing people, men, women and children, he then saw a throne, Kevin and James II's heads were severed and were placed on top of spears on each side of the throne and on the throne was a strange man with a an elephant mask, the animation circle was hanging above the man like a flag, 'NO! MAKE IT STOP!' yelled Jeston as he kept seeing the visions as his eyes turned violet, 'You have been blind for too long, dwarf....Let Master Tusk open your eyes to see the world in his way...the right way...' Jeston screamed as he felt darkness corrupting him.