Depth's Journal: Entry 1

Dark Waters: Barakus's Origin

Ravinica City

In the city plane of Ravinica, resides the ten guilds that govern over the plane. Each guild's conflicting ideals teeters them on the edge of another guild war. The only thing that keeps the balance is the newly reformed Guildpact made by Orzhov's Teysa Karlov.

Dimir

On the streets of Ravinca, an old man walks down an alleyway, when he encounters a tiefling by the name of Barakus. Barakus convinces the old man to come and join him at a new religious service at one of the Dimir guildhalls. After and hour of walking they arrive in a dark corner of the city with a building with the Dimir sigil on it. As they enter the grand hall of the Dimir guild. The room is covered in darkness where the old man couldn't see anywhere three inches away from him. As he is about to question why they are there, the cold touch of death passes through him and he drops limp to the floor.

Boros

 As the old man lays on the floor, Barakus cracks a wide grin across his face. He then moves on to search the body. Pulling a bag of gold. a guildpact rulebook, and a picture of a young woman. As he finishes, a man appears from the shadows caped in black. "Well done, another job perfectly executed. We have another assignment for you." The mysterious man walks over to the dead body and with the wave of his cape the body disappears.

"We need you to take out
Tajic of the Boros Legion. Although he is nearly indestructible, he lets his guard down when it comes to his culinary expenses. Everyone has a vice, it is your job to exploit it  You shouldn't have a problem getting into their fortress since you are well acquainted with them in the past. I will now take my leave." The man the disappears into the shadows without the slightest hint of moving his feet.

Barakus then leaves the guildhall towards the Tin Street Market. As he arrives at the market, he see the market as lively as ever. He heads over to one of the meat stands located at the end of the market. A very large greasy man stands behind the counter with his back turned and realizes Barakus is at his stand. "How may I help you today?" The man grins at Barakus. Barakus responds, "I am looking for the best meat you have and I heard you carry the best." The man's eyes light up at the request and says, "Well I have just what you are looking for!" The man leaves and heads back into shop and returns with a large platter with an enormous slab of meat on it and places it upon the counter. "This right here is a cut from the rare eight-tusked elephants near the Selesnya guildhall, it has the most satisfying and juiciest flavor in all of Ravnica."

"How much will it be?" Barakus says examining the cut. "It is about 800 gold pieces, but I'm sorry it is a bit out of your price range," the butcher chuckles. Barakus replies, "I will pay 6 gold pieces for it." The butcher just bursts out laugh, "What! Are you mad? Do you think I am foolish enough to accept your price?" Barakus responds unfazed, "I don't think your foolish, I think of you more of a gambling man." The butcher stops laughing but still had his grin on his face. "You have a keen eye there stranger, I guess you might have some terms for me then."

Barakus pulls out a coin and says, "We are going to play a game of fates, for the gods will judge who will determine the victor. You will call heads or tails in the air if you guess correctly two times, I will pay full price of for this prime cut and have me as your assistant to pay for the meat but if I guess correctly twice you accept the 6 gold pieces for the meat and we will never discuss this again." "I accept, but you will be working for me for a long time boy," the butcher laughs excessively.

Barakus flips the coin in the air with a large ringing tone emitting from the ring. "Tails!" The butcher cries out in excitement. As the coin descends, Barakus catches the coin in midair. He reveals his hand at it is heads. "Dammit." the butcher grumbles  in angry. Barakus flips the coin once again. "Heads!" The coin reveals heads. The butcher breathes a sigh of relief.  Barakus flips the coin one last time. The butcher yells with a sense of desperation in his voice. "Heads! By the gods, please be heads!" Barakus, once again snatches the coin out of the air. He opens his hand and it is tails.

The butcher roars in anger and declares, "You cheated! I know it! Give me that coin! If I find one speck of magic on this coin I am going to chop your hands and tongue off!" He grabs the coin from Barakus and begins to examine it. After a long deliberation he concedes and salts and wraps up the meat for Barakus. As Barakus walks out of the Tin Street, he grins and holds the coin in the palm of his right hand. Then instantaneously there is identical coin of the one in his right hand that appears in his left. Then the new coin fades away.

Boros Fortress

After a couple of hours, Barakus arrives at the Boros Guildhall. The massive fortress that towers over many of the neighboring buildings that houses the legions of elite Boros soldiers. Barakus continues to walk towards the gates of fortress. A boros guard yells down from the top of the ramparts, "Who goes there? State your business here." "Barakus is here to seek an audience with Tajic," Barakus replied. "Proceed, he is in the east tower, top floor." Then a magic veil lifts from the opening in the ramparts. Barakus continues forward to the eastern tower of the fortress. Before he enters the tower he calls over one of the soldier at guard at the entrance. "Come over here I need you to do something to do for me." Barakus shows the guard the meat that he is carrying. "I need you to run this by the cooks and have them deliver it to General Tajic's quarters." Barakus also pulls out a small shaker. "Also tell them to put this on both servings, it is a special salt seasoning that I came up with and I want the general to try it with me." The soldier nods and runs inside with the meat. He enters the tower climbing the massive marble staircases passing by squads of soldiers patrolling the tower.

 After an hour of climbing stairs, Barakus finally reaches the top floor of the tower. He looks over the room and sees Tajic at his desk reading a lot of paperwork. "Have you finally come to take up my offer for lunch, Barakus?" Tajic said without looking away from his work. "I have brought some succulent  elephant meat I bought at the butcher's today and I remember you have a large appreciation for quality," Barakus says while crossing over to him. "I also had it prepared before I arrived at your chambers." "The gesture is appreciated, please sit," Tajic gestures towards the in across from him. As Barakus sits down in his seat, a chef comes forth with elephant steaks with black salt sprinkled across it and places them upon Tajic's desk. "It is as you said, it looks and smells quite delectable," Tajic says with a chuckle. Tajic picks up his knife and fork and begins to cut into the meat and Barakus follows suit with him. Tajic and Barakus then begin to eat the food little by little. After a few bits, Tajic begins to cough and having a hard to time catching his breath. Then Tajic begins to sweat and ceases to breath entirely. Tajic grappling his throat and begins to cry out for help. Barakus continues to eat his food fully aware of Tajic's demeanor. Tajic begins to grow pale and then collapses to the floor. Barakus stands up and begins to leave.

 As Barakus begins to leave, he hears, "What a pitiful excuse of an assassination." Barakus turns around and sees Tajic completely unaffected by the poison he administered to the meal. "You think
using Ignition salts could kill me. You should know better than that Barakus." He then snaps his fingers and eight wojek halberdiers enter the room. Instantaneously, Barakus casts a spell that bind the half the guards in black threads. This was not enough room to give him passage to the exit, so he made his own. He casts dimensional doorway on the wall and runs towards the door. However, just about the time he reaches the edge of the door, Tajic grabs him and puts a sword to his neck. " Did you really think you could escape after what you have done. Hold him still." Tajec hands Barakus to two soldiers and the force him to his knees. "Although you would get a trial, you have angered me so that your execution will be done immediately by my hands." Tajec pulls out his sword and lifts his sword up into the air ready to strike. Then he swings his sword down upon the tiefling's head.

Dark Waters: Slade's Origin

Jund

Alara, a land that was once know for its unity and harmony among all its creatures. Then one day the entire was ripped asunder and shattered into five separate smaller planes forming the Shards of Alara. However, recently the shards have be reunited after a millennium of separation. As the boundaries between the shards dissolve, cultures clash and wars ensue.

Jund: Savage Lands

The current forces of Jund tribes are currently positioned in the Savage Lands on the border of Grixis territory. As the undead threat grew stronger, the Jund prepare to lay waste the lands of the undead, Slade, a blue dragonborn warrior has been given a summons by the Jund leader Kresh, the Bloodbraided. As he enters Kresh's tent he witnesses a fight break out near the tent. He walks over to find out what is happening and he is told that two fellow warriors are fighting over the spoils of a kill made previously in the day. As the fight takes more than an hour, the dragonborn departs to go meet Kresh. Slade enters the tent and Kresh is seating upon a throne of the bones of his enemies. Kresh assigns Slade to Sek'kar, the Death Keeper's group of warriors to initiate Sek'kuar's plan of attack on the undead forces.

 As Slade exits the tent, he looks over to where he was watching the fight that it had resolved with the loser with his head on a spike. Slade continues on to Sek'kuar's camp, as he approached the commanding tent, he notices that the entire area surrounding the tent is occupied by thousands of goblins with explosives attached to them. He continues into the tent, upon entering the tent he sees the old orc at a table surrounded by more goblins but in mages' garments.

Sek'kuar notices Slade and says in a raspy voice, "Finally!! I get an actually warrior. Come in, Come in and I'll explain the plan to cripple those Grixis bastards! " He continues to explain the plan to Slade. He explains that he is going to send to all the goblins that are outside of the tent into the enemy territory at specific points in the enemy territory. He plans on targeting one of Grixis's cultivating fields, where the turn captured slaves into the undead and he plans on blowing it sky high. Also once he uses the goblins that were blown up he will resurrect them and all the individuals that died in the explosions to overwhelm the enemy forces with his own brand of undead.

He also explains where Slade is added into the mix. His job is to move the goblins into place and to start the chain reaction of explosions because he can't trust the goblins to do the job right. He then commands Slade to move the forces out now to get them there by day's end. Slade then exits the tent and tries to get the army of goblins attention. At first first this doesn't work, until he slaughters one of the in front of them. Now they pay attention to him in fear that it will happen to them next and Slade moves the forces out.

Grixis Deadlands

 Slade's army arrives in the Grixis Deadlands and Slade orders them to spread through out the cultivating fields close to each other. As the soon as the last goblin was in place, Slade unleashed a ferocious lightning breath attack upon the closest goblin in sight, lighting the entire land ablaze. Sek'kuar soon arrives congratulating Slade on properly executing the plan and then begins to raise an army of dead goblins along with the many other undead. The attack continues on after that and in the midst of battle Sek'kuar screams out in terror, "Everyone retreat, he's here!!!"

Nico Bolas

Appearing from the black overcast above Grixis, Nico Bolas, appeared on the battlefield. Slade unfazed by Nico Bolas's presence, he challenges Nico Bolas by throwing burning goblin corpses at him. Unfortunately it had no effect against the mighty dragon planeswalker. Nico Bolas responds with, " Poor unfortunate youngling thinking he can challenge me, I shall dispose of you quickly." A overwhelming sized gylph appears below Slade he tries to leave the circle but is bound in place by the undead. By the time he frees himself, a godlike red beam descends from the sky spouting a column of fire in its wake leaving no survivors.

Dark Waters: Evalia's Origin

Mirrodin, Razor Fields

In the artificial plane of Mirrodin the Phyrexians have completely taken control of Mirrodin transforming it into New Phyrexia. However there are still a small pockets of resistance in Mirrodin hoping to take back their world.

The Tangle

Deep in the Tangle, Melira, Sylvok Outcast and some of the Incorruptibles make camp in the treetops of the Tangle. The resistance makes plans to ambush a patrol of corrupted elves to increase their forces.

Meanwhile Evalia secludes herself from the rest of the group to avoid the glares of her brethren.  Being one of the first of her kind to be cured of the blight, Evalia is highly mistrusted fearing that she will revert back to her Phyrexian ways. Evalia makes camp below the resistance's encampment. As she walks outside of her hut, she hears a strange sound near the ravine close to the encampment. She decides to investigate the noise carefully treading the ground to not give away the her allies' position.

As Evalia approaches the ravine, the sound begins to grow louder and louder with every step. She peers over edge of the cliff and sees a large shadows blocking the light emitting from the core of the world. She quickly conceals herself among the foliage of the trees watching for whatever comes out of the abyss.

As she suspected she witnesses Phyrexian Walkers, Phyrexian Defilers, and Phyrexian Crusaders arise from the chasm depths. She remands hidden until she managed to sneak herself on a Phyrexian walker. As she rides the creature into the Tangle she realizes that the are heading for Melira's encampment.

Looking for a chance to escape she accidentally reveals her position. and a massive group of Phyrexians begin to close in on her. Evalia manages to escape their clutches but still is chased by the massive horde. No matter how much she tries to shake them, they continue to follow her. Knowing she can no longer get rid of them and what they did to her the last time Evalia runs back towards the cliff. As she arrives at the cliff she is trapped at the edge of the cliff by a wall of Phyrexians. Rather than being captured and knowing she is no match this force she jumps off the cliffs edge. As she descends from the edge of the cliff she descends into chasm's bright white light.

Dark Waters: Players

MTG Campaign

Player to Character

Valerie as Evalia the Drow Elf Ranger from Mirrodin.

Kaleb as Slade the Dragonborn Warrior from Alara.

Garth as Barakus the Tiefling Warlock from Ravinca.

Robert as Depth the Shade Blackguard from Innistrad.

Infinity Quest Questionaire

Infiniy Quest Questionaire

1.        It's the dawn of the first day of school! In the excitement, you realize that you have not finished all of your summer homework yet. School starts in two hours. What do you do?

a.       Two hours should be more than enough time if I don't get distracted

b.      WH-WHAT?!? W-WELL, I SHOULD JUST DO IT AS FAST AS I CAN REGARDLESS OF QUALITY!

c.       Well, let's get started! This homework isn't going to finish itself!

d.      I'll see if I can finish, and if not, then whatever.

e.       Meh... I can just talk somebody into sending me the homework right now.

f.       Hmmm... Well, if I spend 2 minutes on every question, I should be fine. But is that even possible..?

2.       You and you're friends have just finished a shopping spree at the mall. You all begin to walk out of the mall. There is a homeless person waiting outside and asking for money. What do you do?

a.       Here. *gives homeless person 10 dollars, and friends go ahead and copy*

b.      *doesn't notice*

c.       Take this. *gives homeless person 10 dollars* Go spend this on some food and clothing, because it'll be cold tonight.

d.      *wlks by and drops some money near the homeless person by "accident"*

e.       *steps forward slowly and hands over a $5 bill*

f.       Here you go! * gives homeless person $20 and smiles* Good luck!

3.      You are eating dinner with your entire family (cousins included) at your local Chinese restaurant when suddenly, your older brother takes your egg rolls. You love egg rolls. What is your response?

a.       Sneakily take some of his food as an act of revenge. That'll show him who the real boss is!

b.      Slam on the table and make a scene! He shouldn't have done that in the first place!

c.       Devise a strategy to get the egg rolls back! Keep giving him hot sauce so that he drinks more water, and in turn, has to go use the restroom. As soon as he's gone, the egg rolls will be all mine!

d.      Start arguing with him. I'm the younger child, so I deserve more food to grow big and strong!

e.       Simply take back what was mine. If he wants to go for it again, I'll make sure that he won't get them without a fight!

f.       I'll just ask for them back. Hardly anyone refuses my requests.

4.       You are taking a test in class and from behind you, you hear a "Pssst!" You turn around and see your friend smiling at you like an idiot. He places a note by your arm that says "What is #4?" How do you respond to this?

a.       Look around to see if anyone is looking, and once the coast is clear, send the note with the answer back to my friend.

b.      Use my secret pen device to send a note back to him. This way, there's no chance that we'll get in trouble.

c.       I'll give him the answer, but only if he can help me on numbers 5 and 7.

d.      *doesn't notice the note*

e.       ...Why does everyone come to me for help?

f.       Give him the answer. He's a friend in need!

5.      The season finale of your favorite TV show is on tonight. You were waiting for this for a month! However, an hour before the show starts, your friend calls and says that he wants to watch the finale with you. He's busy this week, though, and suggests that you watch it with him next week for your first time. What do you do?

a.       WHAT!!?! AS IF!! I AM NOT GONNA WAIT DAY, LET ALONE ANOTHER WEEK! SORRY, FRIEND! *turns on the tv and grabs a bowl of popcorn*

b.      I'll watch it with him when he's not busy. That's what friends would do.

c.       I'll watch it right now and lie to him as to not hurt his feelings. I am NOT going to wait a whole 'nother week for this.

d.      I've been watching an episode a week and that pattern is not going to end now.

e.       I already told my friend plenty of times taht I would be watching it alone, so... too bad for him.

f.       Darn... I really was looking forward to this, but I guess I can wait another week...

6.      There is an abandoned building south of town in a giant, lonesome plot of land. One night, your buddies call you up and ask you if you want to go and explore it. You agree because you have nothing else to do. However, when you get inside the building, the group leader suggests that everyone split up and explore the building separately as to cover more ground. How do you respond?

a.       Split up? But then my friends might get hurt! Does the leader want to start an argument with me right now? Because he sure as heck is asking for it!

b.      Screw this, I am NOT cut out for something like this! I'm leaving!

c.       Good idea. I was probably going to wander off on my own regardless.

d.      I'll agree with the leader for now, but as soon as he leaves, I'll tag alongside another friend of mine. I'm not one to wander around here alone.

e.       Covering more ground is the point of this trip, so I don't mind. Plus, ghosts don't exist!

f.       Sure, splitting up isn't a bad idea. We just all have to be extra cautious, which isn't a problem for me. And this place can't be haunted, nothing that illogical exists.

7.        You are walking around in a shopping area with your little sister (who is about 2 years old) when you see a tall, broad man in a black coat running with a big, black bag. Moments later, you hear a lady screaming "Thief!" from behind you. What do you do?

a.       Darn... I would really like to help the lady but the risk isn't worth it. He might be carrying a weapon, after all.

b.      I'll let the police handle this, I can't leave my sister alone. *calls 911*

c.       *talks to people around me* Hey! What're you all standing around for?! Chase him!

d.      Chase him down! He's a criminal, after all! *leaves sister behind with a trustworthy-looking mother*

e.       What!?!! I won't stand for this! I'm going after him! *makes sister stay put*

f.       Guide the thief to a dead end in an effort to trick him. I won't straight up chase him, that's too dangerous. *brings sister with me*

8.      You fall asleep at a friend's sleepover party. When you wake up and go to the restroom, you see drawings all over your face from the mirror. What do you do?

a.       That little... I'll get him back for this!

b.      Hmph, it's just Sharpie ink. It should come off in a day or two, whatever.

c.       HOW COULD HE!!?!? THIS STUFF PROBABLY WON'T COME OFF FOR A WEEK AHHHHH!!!! I'LL SMACK HIM!

d.      Why am I even here...? *sighs*

e.       I read online that rubbing alcohol will help me get this stuff off, so I'll go get some right now.

f.       *smirks* I'll get him tonight when HE'S the one sleeping...

9.      You're in bed in the middle of the night, about to fall asleep because the day was extremely tiring for you. Right before you close your eyes, you see a bright green flash from outside your window. It is raining and really cold outside. What do you do?

a.       What if somebody has gotten hurt? I best go check it out just in case.

b.      I'm not going out right now. If I was out there and something happened here, who would be here to help?

c.       I'm checking it out, but I'm bringing a weapon with me. You can never be too careful.

d.      Hmm... I'll go check it out. Sounds like fun!

e.       Ugh, what was that?! Can't I just sleep in peace?

f.       I'm going to check it out; it's intriguing to me. I just hope that no one else has the same idea...

10.   You're traveling by subway stations to go to Hollywood with your friends. However, as soon as your train arrives, you see a tall man wearing black fall down the stairs to your right. Your train won't stay here for much longer, and you are in a hurry. What do you do?

a.       I'll help him out. It's alright if I'm late to Hollywood. Another 10 minutes or so is nothing really.

b.      Stay away from him. It might be a trap. Plus, he looks shady.

c.       *gets all my friends to help him out with me*

d.      Go up to him and help him up, of course!

e.       Help him out. He might be an interesting person...

f.       I waited long enough for the train! I am not going to wait another 15 minutes just because of an old man!

11.     You're sitting in class thinking about fun stuff when you see that your friend is about to get sent out of class because he did not do his homework. What do you do?

a.       *hands him my homework*

b.      *to myself* Ugh why does he put himself in these kinds of positions..?

c.       *to my friend* "Next time, be more responsible!"

d.      *to my friend* "I'll give you my homework for 10 bucks."

e.       *to myself* ...He had it coming.

f.       *slams on desk and gets angry at him for not being a good student*

Script

Thee seer of music,

Listener of play

Master of the obvious

And obscure

 

Begging the attention

Of people not there

However not to people

Of this reality 

And then

Their true selves revealed

Not of truth

But lies conjured by man