Volki: Erudite Chronicles

[Volki]

On 1/27/2017 at 10:13 PM, Volki said:

 WEEK 1 UPDATE

 

LANGUAGE: Kaaros needs to learn the Lore of the Land and the new way of speech since he has been dormant 

•                   Russian: CHECK 5pts
•                   Shadowrun CHECK

  VULNERABILITIES There is currently a metal plate covering his most vulnerable spot. He needs to work to fortify his frame further.

• Learn and cook 3 new recipes this month : 0/3
• 2 family walks a week : Went on about 5 family walks this week! CHECK
• 2 date nights this month: Went out on a date last night to celebrate my wife's raise and also as a Valentine's dinner because she is working tonight 1\2

STRENGTH: Kaaros needs to develop strength in order to fight and carry his steel framed body

• Bulgarian 3x a week 12pts CHECK

CYBER: Kaaros needs to learn how to navigate the cyber world that he now finds himself in.

• Study Linux+\or Security+ 20mins 4X a week : CHECK

 

So overall I am doing really well and enjoying a mini break from Social media and doing a good job with not worrying too much about posting and following here on NF. So 1 week down

 

[Volki]

Wednesday's workout

SQ
85x8
135x5
175x4
205x4x5

BP
55x8
95x5
115x4
135x4
165x4x5

DL
255x10

Pullups
5x3

 

[Volki]

Todays workout

SQ
85x8
135x5
175x4
235x3x4

BP
55x8
95x5
115x4
155x3x4

OHP
95x10

Pullups
5x3

 

[Laghail]

5 hours ago, Volki said:

SQ
85x8
135x5
175x4
235x3x4

Whoa, wasn't 235 your 1rm a second ago? How'd depth at that weight?

[Volki]

4 minutes ago, Laghail said:

Whoa, wasn't 235 your 1rm a second ago? How'd depth at that weight?

Hey thanks for the reminder! Yeah 225 was my first 1rm in October. Its cool to looke back and see I went from 225 to 345 in just a few months. Depth was good and form felt solid

[Jord]

If I wasn't here before, I am here now. 

[Laghail]

On ‎02‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 11:05 AM, Volki said:

I went from 225 to 345 in just a few months. Depth was good and form felt solid

Quaddamn son

[Laghail]

Also, this made me think of you -

[Volki]

On 2/20/2017 at 9:46 AM, Taddea Zhaan said:

If I wasn't here before, I am here now. 

Thank you

On 2/21/2017 at 10:11 AM, Laghail said:

Also, this made me think of you -

Lol thats a 'murican ass bear!

 

Soooo been kinda ghosty here lately but I have been for the most part a good boy and followed most of my goals so far. I have slacked a lil with my 

Russian and I missed(delayed) my workout on wednesday. I have been kicking ass with improving my family man stuff so im not too worried about it.

I have just been doing alot of day dreaming about doing a thru hike one of these years. I really like the idea of being out on my own or with a few close people and making that 2K mi + journey. I have been hiking(walking trails with the kids) I would say I have been averaging at least 3-5 mi every day for the last 2 weeks. As the months get warmer(already warm in TX) I think my fitness goals will shift with the seasons to a more mixed lifting routine. I love powerlifting so I will work to combine it with some more calisthenics and accessories. Anyway I need to hop on the brainstorming for the next chapter of the story but still leave room for any issues that will arise from the goals. 

 

[Jord]

7 minutes ago, Volki said:

 

 

 

I've just started hiking recently! Every summer I say that I am going to become a hiker and I'm finally committed. But it's just to get in some periodic exercise and I love it and the outdoors. So I'm going to be a "weekend warrior" hiker and probably won't hike much during the week. Maybe once it is light out at night I'll add 1 weekday to my one 1 weekend hike. 

You should totally lay out a plan to do the 2k hike! Break it into big goals and then smaller goals. That's totes an achievable epic quest. 

[Volki]

6 minutes ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

I've just started hiking recently! Every summer I say that I am going to become a hiker and I'm finally committed. But it's just to get in some periodic exercise and I love it and the outdoors. So I'm going to be a "weekend warrior" hiker and probably won't hike much during the week. Maybe once it is light out at night I'll add 1 weekday to my one 1 weekend hike. 

You should totally lay out a plan to do the 2k hike! Break it into big goals and then smaller goals. That's totes an achievable epic quest. 

Yes! I love being outside hiking and walking. The apartments I live in are across the street from a park with about 5 mi of trails through the trees and has a stream through the whole park so it is very cool. Also at the end of the trails is a playground for the kids so its easy to convince them to walk with me if they know itll end in them playing at the playground. Nothing wrong with being a weekend warrior :D. Yeah I was even considering getting a pedometer and seeing if I can walk the trail in miles over the year. Idk still in progress but I feel so much better being outside and away from everything even if it is for a short time. Also I started watching a movie called Tracks which is about a girl who walked over 2k mi with just a few camels across desert in Australia by herself. Pretty interesting

 

Also this morning's workout:

 

SQ
85x8
135x5
175x4
205x4x5

BP
55x8
95x5
115x4
135x4
165x4x5

DL
255x10

Pullups
5x3

 

 

Oh I also started taking Protein shakes and I feel alot better! I think my little mix of b12 and 5HTP vitamins with the morning protein shake 

is doing wonders for my mental focus and general energy and mood.

In case anyone is wondering this is the one I am using:

 

 

[Volki]

Complete!! 

This was my first time ever competing and it was pretty cool 

Couldn't get video due to a packed gym but I broke my squat and DL 1RMs so I am very happy.

 

Weight: 92.5

Age: 27

 

Sq
315x1 142.9
335x1 152
355x1 161**New 1RM**

BP
185x1 84
205x1 93
225x1 102.1

DL
315x1 142.9
365x1 165.6
385x1 174.6 **New 1RM**

 

Total: 437.7 (965#)

 

Wilks: 275.66

[Broba Fett]

Way to go on the new PRs man!

 

Don't know why I didn't check in here sooner but I'm here for the ride. 

[RedStone]

Beast!!!!!

 

Sent from FrogStar World B

 

 

[Jord]

Congrats on your PRs!!!!

[Volki]

Well I have been doing okay on most of my goals but my language skills have been so much fail sauce!

 

On a better note I decided to digitally walk the Appalachian Trail!!!! 

 

The trail is 2200 mi long, so my plan is to rack up the miles required by the end of the year. What I am doing to help is I downloaded an app on my phone called WalkLogger and it counts my steps through the day and logs the total at the end of the day. So I am going to count steps, go hiking, run and walk my way to 2200 mi by the end of the year. So I need to maintain a 7mi a day average to include my steps. yesterday was day 1 and I 8.31 miles already knocked out

 

I also just finished my rough draft of the next chapter with my shitty language fail in mind. So there will be consequences! Honestly though if it weren't for the consequences I don't think my story would have taken such a fun turn and I look forward to continuing to play with myself 

 

Workouts have been good but logging of said workouts have been crap. I will update them next time I go.

 

[Volki]

On 2/23/2017 at 7:35 PM, Broba Fett said:

Way to go on the new PRs man!

 

Don't know why I didn't check in here sooner but I'm here for the ride. 

 

On 2/23/2017 at 8:04 PM, RedStone said:

Beast!!!!!

 

Sent from FrogStar World B

 

 

 

On 2/24/2017 at 6:35 AM, Taddea Zhaan said:

Congrats on your PRs!!!!

 

 

Also forgot to say thank you to you lovely people

[maegs]

Whoo PR!  I've been doing the virtual Walk to Mordor thing, it's nice having some sort of goal besides just 'walk more'

[Volki]

17 hours ago, maegs said:

Whoo PR!  I've been doing the virtual Walk to Mordor thing, it's nice having some sort of goal besides just 'walk more'

Thats awesome, when did you start? Also I might need to edit the time frame I put on this because 7mi EVERY day for the rest of year is setting me up for failure

so I am going to shoot for 7 but do a min of 4mi a day average. Also I made a spreadsheet to track my mi

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y6tGQi2qC3cSC8eHFKpHV_UrVhQgFunwCpWRf6OTV08/edit?usp=sharing

[Laghail]

[maegs]

4 hours ago, Volki said:

Thats awesome, when did you start? Also I might need to edit the time frame I put on this because 7mi EVERY day for the rest of year is setting me up for failure

so I am going to shoot for 7 but do a min of 4mi a day average. Also I made a spreadsheet to track my mi

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y6tGQi2qC3cSC8eHFKpHV_UrVhQgFunwCpWRf6OTV08/edit?usp=sharing

I started at the beginning(?) of last year. Goal last year was Rauros (~1300 miles), goal for this year is Rivendell (~1700 miles)

[Volki]

54 minutes ago, maegs said:

I started at the beginning(?) of last year. Goal last year was Rauros (~1300 miles), goal for this year is Rivendell (~1700 miles)

Sweet! yeah I think I need to chill out and do a nice steady pace to last the 2200 mi

[Volki]

 OKAY!

I am going to go ahead and call this one early

For the most part it has been good and I definitely need this NF quiet time.

 

LANGUAGE:  FAIL

I totally flaked on my Russian skills and lost steam toward the end of week 2 so a big 'ol failure means that Kaaros will have some language issues of his own in the next portion of the story. But I did a very good job with the righting portion of this goal so not a total wash.

 

THE COST: If I fail to reach the 20pts then Kaaros will have something damaging happen to either his ability or his ability to understand any language. 

 

  VULNERABILITIES   PASS

• Learn and cook 3 new recipes this month : 12pts
• 2 family walks a week : 8pts
• 2 date nights this month: 20 pts

I did a really good job with rocking the family life, it was by no means perfect but I definitely enjoyed the extra time.

 

STRENGTH: PASS

I did a good job with knocking out my workouts, I could have done better with the tracking like I have been all these months but it got done either way.

 

CYBER: PASS

Just barely passed this one, I have been letting my interests flow in other fields of study like medicine so I am looking forward to seeing where that takes me. On the plus side I got a bump in pay with the company merge going on here so more money is always welcome!!

 

Also I did pretty good with keeping up with the PBP and I look forward to seeing how the story goes

 

 

P.S I finished my rough draft of the next portion of story, so once I try to weed through the spelling mistakes I will post it up!

Also I have been considering a switch in training that will incorporate more walking and hiking instead of focusing on heavy lifting like the last few months have been. So the gainz will still hang on but my gym time won't be as frequent. Thanks again to everyone who followed along even though I have been pretty ghosty lately.

 

 

[Volki]

 

CHAPTER 2

 

Zeko crept slowly towards the heavy wooden door as the bangs grew louder and more frequent. "Wh-who is it?" she said with a slight tremble in her voice." A panicked young man's voice screamed through the cracks of the door. "Zeko! Its me Terhan, open the slaggin door!" She shot me a worried look before opening the door to two teenage boys who spilled onto the dusty floor. She quickly slammed and locked the door behind them. What are you to doing all the way out here and what happened to Jarrel?" She bent down down to examine the gash in the back of the presumed Jarrel's skull.

   "It was Isidore's Cerulean guard they..." Terhan's eyes fell on me as I took a slight step back. I really have been brought low I thought., being worried about the flailings of a pubescent boy was a new blow to my already fragile ego. "What the slag is that thing, is it one of Isidore's droids?" Zeko grabbed his shoulders before he could get too close.

"No Terhan Kaaros is no concern of yours, please tell me what is going on down in the village." He took a stuttering breathe trying to fight back the tears welling up in his eyes. "Today is the energy cull and they increased the quota at the last minute. You know how slow information from the city is in getting here. We were too short Zeko, they killed Chief Banos and the other villagers!"

   "The Cerulean guard used their leach blades and started stabbing and absorbing the kJs out of everyone. They are going from house to house taking every life they come across and burning everything! I managed to drag Jarrel into one of the caves until they passed. You were the only one I could think of that could help him." Zeko looked down at the bleeding Jarrel and listened quietly to his breathing and began cleaning and bandaging his wounds.  She looked up at Terhan quickly "How long until they reach here?" He only shook his head " I'm not sure but it can't be long, what do we do?"

   She looked down sadly at Jarrel's round blood stained face that was beginning to look whiter by the minute. "Terhan, I am sorry to say this but your brother doesn't have long either. He has lost too much blood and he doesn't have enough kJs to power his organs. See for yourself here on his KJ monitor." She rotated his arm to expose a small black screen the size of a pack of cards that seemed to be implanted inside the dying boy's forearm. The black screen just flashed a red warning "kJ depletion critical, power failure in 10 minutes 53 seconds"

      Terhan put his hand on his brothers chest and bent forward to kiss his forehead. "Goodbye brother, I swear I will drag as many of those bastards to hell as I can before we meet again." Zeko looked up at me "Alright Kaaros, looks like its time to put that frame to the test. We have to get out of here before we end up on the end of a leach blade." She ran over and grabbed  a backpack from under her bed and made her way to the door as she motioned for Terhan and I to follow.

   The door opened with a slow creak as she peered out into the forest and the path that led to the inflamed village. We all stepped tentatively out of the doorway and onto the grassy clearing around the small home that had been built into the trunk of an ancient tree. The sky was beginning to fill with a cloud of smoke and the air was permeated with burning embers and the screams of the villagers. Zeko took point position in our juxtaposed group. Each step we took brought about a clearer picture of the horrors that had overcome the peaceful village.

   The gravel crunched under my clunky legs as we inched our way through the winding trails of the forest. Zeko explained to me how she was an outcast of the village. The villagers only came to her when they had a medical emergency or needed an herbal remedy for child bearing or some other issues best left for hushed conversations. At large the villagers regarded her as a superstitious girl who still clung to the ways of the old world. Why she endured that social punishment I will never know.

   The sound of a razor sharp blade as it cuts through the air is unmistakable. The obsidian sword found its home in the back of my head before burrowing deep into the steel casing. The force of the blow sends me face first into the muddy gravel of the path. My legs follow the arc, only stopping once my neck breaks the momentum with a sickly crunch. The wound in the back of my head sizzled and arced with the residual energy of the blade. With my face half buried in mud and gravel I saw the Cerulean Guard draw his blade back and turn his attention to the terrified Zeko.

   The guard's blue armor gleamed in the afternoon light that poured through the canopy of trees. His armor had a black cape fastened neatly at the shoulders with a gold clasp. His helmet was narrow and the many vertical slots that lined the front served as a way to see without giving away the focus of his gaze. The long black tufts of hair that accented the top of the helmet gave him an almost regal look.  Each gauntlet was accented with spiked knuckles that were currently grasping the black blade with a thin blue hilt. He moved closer to Zeko and began to raise the blade.

   My body was frozen and all I could do was convulse in the mud and watch in horror as the guard swung the blade toward Zeko’s head. She ducked and rolled out of the way just as the blade made an audible swish behind her. Terhan ran screaming toward the guard with a small dagger in his hand. "You bastard! This is for Jarrel!" He jumped on the guards back and drove the dagger into the slit between the guard's helmet and shoulder. He must have found his neck because his face was sprayed with a sickly dark purple liquid that had such a stench that even my mechanical stomach felt queasy.

   The guard let out a roar and I could only presume curses in the demon tongue. The guard reached up and snatched Terhan by the hair and slammed him into the path. His black boots were brought down hard into the boy's face. The guard stomped hard against the boys face over and over again turning his face into a bloody mess. Each stomp was accompanied with a sickly squish of breaking cartilage and ruptures veins. Zeko scrambled over to me and tried to pull me upright again.

She began saying something to me in a language I didn't understand. "Kaaros si us plau, aixeca't! Hem d'anar abans que els altres guàrdies vénen!" I could see the terror in her eyes and the pleading way she pulled at me I knew that she needed me to snap out of it. My body shook violently as I stood up but miraculously held itself together well enough move around.

      The guard heard our shuffling and turned his attention away from the bleeding boy under his boot and started toward us. His blade was pulsating from a dark black to a deep blue, almost anticipating the blood and energy coursing through us. I moved in front of the her to shield her from the dangerous blade. Terhan was laying on the path motionless surround by the gravel that eagerly soaked up the blood streaming from his face.

   The guard roared as it lunged toward me. I managed to swing a wild fist hard against his helmet. The blow only managed to knock him off balance but he did not go down. His blade was quick as it flew through the air in a fury of strikes. I managed to dodge most and made it out of the onslaught with only a few more shallow gashes against my frail armor. Suddenly a calm came over Zeko as she began chanting something with one raised palm. He words grew stronger and more forceful, Her face began to change and almost glow with a blue hue, a crescent moon began to glow on her forehead a deep energetic shade of purple. "Dukh, Lluna, Tierra, Mozhet diosa tech'través de mi. She began to shout the last part as energy began to crackle around her open palm. She must have begun chanting in another language because I began to understand the chant. "Spirit, Moon, Earth, May the Goddess to flow through me."
  
   The guard's breastplate was getting increasingly more purple as the demon's blood continued to ooze out of his neck. His attention was now on the chanting Zeko and he was closing in with his blade. As the guard swung the sword and immense bolt energy flew from Zekos hand and smashing into the stomach of the guard. He immediately burst into a convulsing mess as his entire body writhed with the electric shock of the bolt.
  
   The moment was was enough for me to run up and grab the blade and rip it from his hands before he could recover. Zeko collapsed onto the trail after the lighting began to subside. The sword was heavy but felt perfectly balanced in my hand. I drove the blade down hard into his chest with the audible pop of breaking bones and flesh. The sword ate through the armor as if he were only clothed in rags and drank in his purple blood greedily. He gasped and wheezed as the sword thrummed and consumed every remaining kJ in his body. I could feel the energy transferring through the hilt into my body.

   The energy jolted through me and made every sinew come alive.  The world itself grew brighter and my very mind became sharp and focused. Every scent and sound was amplified. The guard slumped down and only managed to gurgle a few final words before dieing. I pulled the blade from his chest without much resistance. I glanced over to Terhan and he still had not moved and was now a sickly pale mess. His wrist flashed a few more red warnings in a strange language and then faded to black.

   I ran over to the unconscious Zeko, she was alive but she would not wake up despite my best efforts. I inspected the area for someplace to hide until Zeko regained consciousness. I saw a small cave opening just off the path that was shrouded in overgrowth and rotting trees. This must be where Terhan and Jarrel hid the first time.
  
I brought the unconscious Zeko into the mouth of the cave and laid her down on a bed of old pine needles and leaves. I run back to the path and drag the dead guard back to the cave and then Terhan's body. I did my best to cover the blood up on the path before heading back to the cave to inspect the guard's pockets and stripping his armor for usable gear.

   The guards boots and gauntlets fit over my frame perfectly. The right gauntlet contained a kJ scanner that lit up when I slipped it on. Once it calibrated itself it displayed a green message that i still could not make out. I slipped the rest of the gear off of the putrid body. The only salvageable pieces were the pants boots, gauntlets and the helmet. The breast plate was caked in drying blood and had a huge gash in the middle so it would be useless to try and salvage it.

The helmet fit nicely over my head and offered a reasonable amount of field of vision while still serving to protect my freshly gouged head. The inside of the helmet still smelled like the rotting flesh of the demon. It was the smell of a fish market on the hottest of summer days. With myself cleaned up and the sword secured at my side I made my way back toward the mouth of the cave.

      I could hear the sound heavy boots and trotting horses as they made their way down the forest path. There were five of them in full Cerulean armor. Three of them followed closely on foot while two rode ahead on horseback. Even their horses wore the Cerulean armor and were gilded with the symbol of an eye with a strange rune over the iris. I held my breathe in anticipation as they passed the scene of the fight. Luckily they did not seem to notice and continued past and toward Zeko’s house.

   It wouldn't take them long to reach her home and then how long until they realize one of their own was missing? Zeko had to wake up, and quick if we stood a chance of making it out of this alive. I paced the room trying to think of a way to wake her up. Shaking her or talking to her did nothing and time was running short. Crouched over her body my eyes fell on the sword at my side. I turned her wrist over to check her power level. The warning was yellow this time but I still could not make out the language that it was in. If the sword could give the wielder energy then maybe it could shocker her awake.

   I positioned the blade in her palm and made sure her fingers wrapped around. I picked the edge of the blade up and already I could feel it start to steal my power. I placed the point of the blade against my chest against the steel cover that guarded the Kaori stone. I leaned against the blade as it drove itself slowly into my chest. As soon as the blade came into contact with the stone there was an enormous jolt of energy that traveled down the blade and sent Zeko and myself flying backward from each other. After the initial shock I scrambled to my feet and rushed over the Zeko. She jolted awake and began coughing and fighting for air.

   She turned her head and in the dimly lit cave she saw a tall figure in Cerulean armor bearing down on her with a leach blade laying at his feet. She rushed to grab the blade but he kicked it away in a hurry. She tried to scream but his gloved hand grabbed her mouth stifling any noise. At that moment I realized I had still been wearing the helmet and was no doubt sending her into a terror filled panic. I threw the helmet off with my free hand and grabbed her close. I could sense her calming down as the realization that we were not dead sank in.

  I whispered to her that it was okay, the guard was dead but all she heard was. " Zeko yego bienchas. Okhrannik muerto." Her eyes grew wide as she looked at me in confusion. "Kaaros, who taught you this language?" I didn't understand what she was talking about. "O que govorísh? Estoy govorísh zhe mismo vy tú." She shook her head, "No Kaaros you and I are speaking in the ancient language of the Erudites. The ones who built the temples and relics spoke Erudea." She got back on her feet and examined the back of my head.

   The blow to the head must have damaged your language processors. Her head snapped back around "Where is Terhan?" I motioned toward the heap that I had the guard and him laying in. She walked up to the boy and kneeled down next to him. "Gràcies Terhan, el seu sacrifici no serà en vena. Descansi un jove i ara hi participaré a la vall prou aviat." Once she said her goodbyes we made out way to the mouth of the cave.
  
"I know someone who can help us Kaaros, but we need to travel to Vemil City and meet up with the Crescent Order there. They are a druid order that learned how link with the KJs of the earth. They are hiding within the walls of Vermil City now after Isidore slaughtered half of the order in her pursuit of their magic. Unfortunately she obtained enough to be able to link herself through the power lines where she leaches off of the land. The Order will help us remain hidden until we can find out where the next artifact was hidden. I nodded my head in approval, her plan offers alot of room for error in an unknown city where we will be at the mercy of Isidore's spies and the kindness of old men.

   We made our way through the dense forest making sure to offer a wde bredth between us and the carnage in the village. Steering clear of the path until we were on the outskirts of the village we crept and crouch through the dense brush while getting slashes by thistles. The scent of burning wood filled the air as heavy clouds of smoke still bellowed into the sky above the canopy of trees. The ashes of Zeko's former life still littered the sky as we finally cleared reached a clearing.

In the haste and madness of the situation we had only managed to bring a backpack with some meager supplies and a small tarp that could be used for a tent. All I had were the stolen gear from the guard and a new hole in my head. The city was still a few days worth of walking and we were already exhausted from the day's struggles. We found a nice spot just off the beaten path to rest for a bit before picking back up and moving on. Zeko avoided the question I had about her powers and only offered the vague answer of "It will become clearer once we reach the city."

The days were long and the endless walking became monotonous as the conversation grew more scarce and the scenery was only broken up by the occasional wild animal that was brave enough to watch the odd pair of beings hiking through their territory. We decided to get rid of the guard helmet before reaching the city, best not draw questions as to where we acquired a Cerulean Guard's uniform. Along the way we met a travelling merchant who thanks to the last of Zeko's kJs we had food and some cloaks to wear in order to better conceal our province of origin.

Finally after almost a weeks worth of walking we had reached the road that led to the enormous stone walls of Vermil City. The wall stretched on for countless miles in either direction and rose high above the treeline. The city was a seemingly impenetrable fortress with bladed guards standing watch. We approached the gate cautiously and were greeted by a guard. "Què dimonis vosaltres dos volen?" He seemed angry and almost shouted the words at us as he eyeballed the girl and the hooded robot standing before him.

Zeko replied in that strange language "Si us plau, senyor, sóc ser un aprenent de l'ordre Crecente i aquest és el meu servent aracnic." She gestured toward me with the last word. The guard stared at her for a while trying to decide if she was telling the truth. He spoke once more in a questioning tone "No suposi que té alguna prova?" She looked over at me then she rolled up her left sleeve revealing a patchwork of strange runes. The most prominent was the patchwork of designs leading to a set of runes and the words Dukh, Lluna, Tierra that formed a triangle around a single symbol. The symbol resembled a runic tree.

The guard seemed satisfied with the symbols and he called back to another guard who then ran and opened the doors for us. For a moment the guard seemed frightened of the symbols on her arm but her kept his composure in tact. That momentary glimpse of fear left me with so many questions though. Just who was Zeko really, and what happened on the trails that she wouldn't talk about? We made it through the checkpoint without any further issues and the door was slammed shut behind us.

Once inside the city the noise and smells assaulted our senses and threatened to drown us in the million scented perfume that was Vermil city. Everywhere we looked was something or someone screaming for attention. Huge billboards flashed with faces of so many strangers, each one begging you to indulge yourself. We made our way down a dirt road that was littered with various pieces of plastic and electronics from so many products of days past. Each person we passed seemed to barely even notice we were there. Thousands of faces were glued to tiny holoscreens that linked into their kJ screens in their arms. Every game, video and ad consumed them as I watched their kJs slowly tick away as they paid for their entertainment.
 

Zeko grabbed my arm and whispered to stay close as we weaved through the labyrinth littered with the bodies of people watching or performing unspeakable horrors and delights to and for each other. There were woman floating in cages above the crowd and each beckoned for someone join them. Once a purchase was made the man climbed up the stained silk rope to live out his desires in front of everyone, if they weren't too busy watching one of the other thousands of distractions. The entire atmosphere was chaotic, beautiful and disgusting and I couldn't stop drinking it in.

Finally we made our way down a surprisingly empty alleyway. We came upon a thick wooden door with a crescent moon symbol burnt into the top. Zeko reached up and banged firmly against the door. "Quina és la clau?" came from the other side of the door. It sound was the sound of vocal chords made of sandpaper, it was rough and stern and I eagerly hoped Zeko knew what he wanted. "Dukh, Lluna y Tierra font ens farà lliures." There was shuffle behind the door and a few latches were unlocked. The man creaked the door open and peaked out, his wrinkled face lit up as he ushered us to come in.

"Zeko després de tots aquests anys és que realment vostè?" He said with a wide smile. Zeko smiled and said in the familiar Erudea "Can we speak in the old tongue so my friend here can follow along Mathius?" The wrinkles on his old face wiggles when he smiled as he said "Of course dear, but I am a little out of practice. So what brings you to this shit hole of a city after all these years?" Zeko lowered her head and began to explain everything that had happened, including how she brought me to life once more.

"These are dark time indeed young one, tell me how can I help?" He rested his hands on hers and furrowed his eyebrows in a worried expression. She looked up and said "I need the Grimoire of Arimathea. Before you go on with a speech telling me its too dangerous, I already know what is at stake Mathius. We have no choice and we wouldn't be here if there were any other way. He stared in silence for a long while until he finally stood up and walked over to the dusty bookshelf and halfheartedly thumbed the pages a few books. I would gladly hand it over to you, that is if I still had it.

"Brother Balon or General Balon as he is known now betrayed the order. He took the Grimoire for himself and made quite the name for himself exploiting the powerful rune spells within to muscle his way into the various stim smuggling rings. All is not lost though, once I learned of his plot against the order I had enough time to split the book in two and send off the second half to an ally in the water tribe."

"You see child, you need both halves in order to summon Navi the great navigator spirit. She alone knows of the true paths along the earth that lead to the rest of the relics hidden from Isidore's reach. You still wish to seek out the Grimoire knowing all of this?" He gave her another worried look.

"I know what what must be done, and if we fail I know that will mean the end of this realm. Tell me grandpa, do you still have my old Hermetic Tomes? I think we are going to need them now more than ever."

[Volki]

I started Juggernaut again today and holy hell it was tough! I thought it would help that I have already gone through Jug once before but nope! Very close to throwing up but I finished the workout.

 

Todays workout

SQ
195x10
195x10
195x10
195x10
195x10

BP
105x10
105x10
105x10
105x10
105x10

DL
155x10
155x10
155x10
155x10
155x10