The young couple huddled together against the cold December wind as they hurried down the street. Despite the man giving the woman his coat, she was still shivering, and he wasn’t doing so hot himself now that he was down to just his sweater. They stared at the ground and stepped quickly, navigating their course by memory and watching the sidewalk pass underneath them through the misty clouds they breathed into the air. As they turned a corner, they were brought up short as they almost collided with a tall figure, which jumped nimbly to the side. “Careful folks,” a cheerful baritone admonished. “You should be watching where you’re going!” The man in the sweater turned to deliver a blistering retort when he realized that the figure in question was dressed in a T-shirt, shorts, and sandals. Speechless, he stood there stunned while the underdressed man patted him on the back and said, “Anyway, have a nice night. Stay warm!” The couple stared at the man’s back as he walked away, seemingly unaffected by the cold. As he disappeared out of view, they shared a look that seemed to say “Only in New York City,” and continued on their way home.
----
The young man in the T-shirt whistled to himself as he strolled down the sidewalk. As he passed an alley, a short pudgy man in a trench coat joined him. The man in the T-shirt smirked at him. “A little overly dramatic, don’t you think? I approve of your costume, though. It’s very classic film noir.”
“Shut up,” snarled Trench Coat. “Stop acting like an idiot. You’re drawing attention to yourself with that ridiculous get-up.” Peering at the other man’s T-shirt, he asked, “Your shirt doesn't even spell ‘Lincoln’ right. What are you doing wearing a shirt from a park anyway?”
The young man snorted, “You wouldn’t understand, old man.”
“Whatever, I don’t wanna hear your bullshit anyway,” Trench Coat grumbled, increasing his pace. “Fucking kids these days…”
The two men entered an abandoned apartment building and ascended the stairs to the third floor. The younger man opened the door and gestured to Trench Coat, who rolled his eyes and stalked into the room. Several Others were seated in shabby chairs around a rather unsteady-looking table. The room was otherwise bare of any furniture or ornaments. Trench Coat took an empty seat, and the young man, not seeing any available chairs, elected to stand, leaning against the wall near the door.
An older-looking man seated at the head of the table stood and cleared his throat. “Well then, let us begin.”
“I will start with the bad news. It appears that the Chalk of Destiny has been recovered by the Inquisition, and is currently residing within their vault. It is certainly good that the Light Ones do not have it in their possession, but the Inquisition has been growing weaker of late, particularly with all the commotion in Russia. We cannot allow the Light Ones to grow powerful enough to force their way into the vault and take the Chalk of Destiny. In addition, it appears that the time of prophecy is drawing near, and the birth of the Messiah, the one born to wield the Chalk of Destiny, is at hand. This must also be prevented at any costs. To this end, I am suggesting that we operate a bit…outside the boundaries of the Treaty. We must not allow the Light Ones to grow stronger, no matter what methods we may be forced to use.”
The man fell silent for a moment, and then spoke again. “Fortunately, there is good news as well. It seems that the book Faran has also been found by the Inquisition. The very weakness of that institution that is so troublesome with respect to the Chalk of Destiny is also our advantage when it comes to taking the Faran. In addition, it seems that we have recently been able to procure a 12-Blood Vial. Our agent is on his way back to us to deliver it into our possession. This will be a tremendous help against the possibility of the Messiah returning.”
“In the meantime, we must do what we can to weaken the forces of the Light Ones. You have carte blanche to take whatever measures you think necessary against them. However, if you are caught, do not expect us to help you…”
The older man met the eyes of everybody in the room, as all present nodded at his last remarks. “Good then, I think we are adjourned. You will all be informed of our next meeting time and place.”
Chairs scraped on the wooden floor as the Others stood to leave. Frowning to himself, the young man in the T-shirt ducked out the door ahead of everybody. As he left the building, he began jogging down the sidewalk, anxious to make his next appointment. These fools were going about it all wrong. Nothing was more important than maintaining the Treaty; a battle between the Dark Ones and the Light Ones would destroy the world. It was vital that he return to his superior and report the members of this group so that they could be properly reprimanded.
The man was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn’t notice the creeping shadow on the balcony ahead. The blur of movement caught him completely by surprise, and before he could react, he was missing his jaw and a good chunk of his neck.
“I am sorry, Dark One,” a calm voice said above him, “but it is necessary. All of you must be removed. The war has begun. The Light will punish the wicked, and peace will be returned to the world. That is the way it should be.” The young man writhed on the ground in his death throes, and his final thought was that the one who had killed him was just as much a fool as those at the meeting he had just left…
----
The Light One removed the white overcoat that was stained with the dead Dark One’s blood and waved a hand over it ceremoniously. The overcoat caught flame instantly, and within a few seconds it had disintegrated into ash that blew away in the wind. The Light One reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. He dialed a number and waited patiently until someone picked up with a quiet “Yes?”
“I found one alone,” the Light One said. “He was easy to dispatch, it didn’t seem like he was paying much attention. In any case, I don’t think…”
----
“…be harming anybody anytime soon. The war against the Dark goes well, my friend.” The voice cut off as the recording ended.
“…and that’s the end of the call.” A Light Other sat in the Infotech room, clicking away at the computer in front of him as a rather large Other stood behind him. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to trace either call, we just sort of picked it up off the ether. Clearly someone’s out there violating the Treaty, though.”
“Clearly,” the man behind him rumbled. “Do what you can to find out who these Others are. It seems we must do some housecleaning. I will try to procure help from some friends of mine.” He laid a hand on the shoulder of the techie. “Spare no effort. The Treaty must be preserved.” The hand left the techie’s shoulder and the man strode out of the room. The Light Other remained silent for a moment, lost in thought, and then the air was filled with the tick-tacking of his keyboard.
=======================================================================
Welcome to Night Watch Phalla, brought to you by visiblehowl and MrBlarney. We will be taking signups until we have [strike]60[/strike] [strike]80[/strike] 70 people. I think. [strike]I have to talk to MrBlarney to confirm this; we may be able to take more than 60, it depends on how he's balanced the game.[/strike] [strike]80[/strike] 70 people might be a little insane, but heck, might as well let as many people play as people who want to play.
Anyway, hopefully the narration has piqued your interest enough to join. We have some fun stuff ready for you, including two separate game threads and multiple factions. Hang on to your hats, folks, it's going to be a bumpy ride!
Please make your sign up post very obvious, such as by bolding and coloring it in some fashion. If you wish to sign up as a reserve, please indicate such in your post.
Players (up to post 206)
1. durax
2. Infidel
3. Inquisitor
4. TheLawinator
5. FreeAgent
6. Greeper
7. Crovaxan
8. Burnage
9. Fembot
10. Casual Eddy
11. Obbi
12. JoschuaESQ
13. iamtheaznman
14. B:L
15. cheez
16. DasUberEdward
17. Bliss101
18. Grundlterror
19. Osvik
20. Toxic Toys
21. Exarch
22. Varcayn
23. Plutonium
24. Romantic Undead
25. Stew_Stick
26. Sepah
27. Gumpy
28. Ultarune
29. spaik
30. Rainfall
31. Senor Fish
32. Oatway
33. FunkyWaltDogg
34. Maximus
35. Mr Embarkation
36. El Skid
37. Frostmist
38. Trust
39. Quoth
40. giltanis
41. Egos
42. TehSpectre
43. Look Out it's Sabs!
44. Shamus
45. chamberlain
46. Zellpher
47. Lignisse
48. Matatat
49. Ultros64
50. projectmayhem
51. delroland
52. abotkin
53. Wildcat
54. Nion
55. EvilBadman
56. Crono729
57. Lady Eri
58. Rygar
59. MechMantis
60. Smasher
61. cj iwakura
62. Fat.Pig
63. Erandus
64. Seriously
65. TrueNeverborn
66. Rend
67. thorgot
68. Zot (Cold Salmon and Hatred)
69. lonelyahava
70. precisionk
Reserves
R1. Last Son
R2. robothero
R3. Ardor
Posts
Thank god VH linked this or I would have probably missed it.
I am still waiting for that game where I win and survive.
It's because I you.
Now we just need to make sure Plutonium joins so we can have the PAX crew all here.
Crovax.436 Steam: Crovaxan
I've got nothing to do with the Inquisition, I swear!
There are no Inquisitor player characters in this game.
In the books, the Inquisition is basically inviolate. Any Other would think twice before attacking an Inquisitor, regardless of whether the Inquisitor is more or less powerful than they are.
So if anything, people would avoid attacking you. :P
Oh, um...I should probably warn you then that this phalla contains spoilers for books 2 and 3.
I am scared, so scared.
Let's form the PAX Alliance this game.
Sure to win, because we have Host favourtism!
I give it 50/50.
Don't worry. None of us are expecting any kind of Spanish Inquisition.
So I guess we're going after the ones who are breaking the treaty? Or maybe we'll all be grouped up into dark and light others? I'm not sure.
!sign up
!Sign me up
So they'll be like 8 sides, the best kind.
LoL: BunyipAristocrat
Wikipedia here I come again, I guess. Phalla is educational! I did become fluent in Xenosaga lore after cheez's Phalla after all.
Haha.
Phalla caused me to read A Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire), watch season 1 of Lost, and play through both Disgaea games. And probably several other things that don't spring immediately to mind.
Sign up anyway.
Heh. Phalla is definitely educational. I've read so many wiki entries because of phallas, I can't even count any more. In fact, I was so confused by what was going on in the Lost Phalla I decided to watch all the seasons of Lost, and I'm glad I did, theres some good stuff in there.
LoL: BunyipAristocrat
Actually, when I think about it, there probably won't be many spoilers. At least not in the narrations.
I'd hate for people to not read the narrations because they're afraid of spoilers.
Moskau!
!I see a sign up in my future!