Jack
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:30:38 GMT -5
(Haveti) "Stop," Haveti said simply to the group moments before they would have strode into the twilight water mark of the next level. The others turned with some interest at Haveti, who had been mostly silent for some time. The regardedly barbarian Haveti set down the Scuralace and unfastened the back plate of his glossy black armor.
The flesh of his back was as heavily scarred as any other part of his body, but the tattoo design here was singular. The swirling black lines across his upper back formed a woman's face, obviously not one of Haveti's species.
"The affront to the Gods," Haveti declared with disgust. "The blasphemer Queen.." He turned his head down, attempting to recall the strange name his father had taught him. "Low-Rah Day-loh-e-Sion."
Valerius nodded. "Laura DeLoessian."
With a grunt Haveti put his sword closely to his back, and then made a diagonal slash directly across the Queen's image. "Was my father's divine mission to slay the Queen."
Jonash turned away from Haveti with a grin. "And you'll be the one to carry it out in his stead?"
The heavily scarred warrior smiled as he had when in battle. "Perhaps." He turned the newly crafted blade over in his hands, slick with his own fresh blood. "Perhaps still my father will slay the Queen."
Valerius turned to Cynric. "We know what she looks like now. From what information I've already gathered, she herself won't be a threat." Cynric smiled, and something shown in his eyes that brought a chill to Haveti. He had just met the boy, but what he thought of him was already radically changing. It was as if the boy was wearing his flesh differently.
Valerius had always seemed like a priest to Haveti, one who stands removed from the battle to declare the ordinance of the Gods to the warriors. The woman he found utterly unattractive, her skin was repulsively smooth and unscarred. The man in armor seemed fairly normal to Haveti, the unusual ones being Thanatos and Telamichious, those who are not as they appear. However both had proven themselves quite capable of killing and he didn't mind at all carring the Scuralace.
Just mind that the body would be dropped in battle. The comrades were worth having around, but they wouldn't hold Haveti back from his killing.
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Jack
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"I'll live forever, or die trying.."
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:30:58 GMT -5
(Telamichious) White. There was something about the color that brings hope, life and happiness into the soul. It is the color of chastity, the color of righteousness, the color of all things pure. It was also the last thing that Telamichious felt in his heart as his dreams provided a window to his past, the one he couldn’t reFighter.
He felt lost, out of place, and he was in his head. His dreams were confusing bits and pieces of memories that seemed to be a story, a novel that he had read when he was young, be he didn’t read and this was more real than any fiction. He felt his subconscious struggling to keep hold on his body as it tried to heal itself from the supernatural wounds created by his light-powered immune system. Telamichious felt himself regaining control of his body slowly, he was able to move extremities, but with a large mental strain. His sensatory parts continued to give him no feed, his eyes wouldn’t open, he couldn’t hear anything other than the sound of nothing, he felt the breath go through him, but there was no smell or taste, and most of his nerves seemed to be shut down. In the back of his mind, Telamichious was beginning to worry that he might be stuck like this until he figured out what was going on with his body. He let his conscience wander, hoping that time was what was needed to restore his body.
NRP: Short post today, midterms make me cranky
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:31:17 GMT -5
(Jonash) As they waited for Thanatos to reunite with the rest of the group, most of the Fighters could not help but notice how quiet everything had gotten. Even the constant sound of men and women screaming from torture, a sound that had always played as white noise since their arrival, had been slightly quieted as if a conductor had silenced it like n band. "Cynric," Jonash whispered, "We are being watched. I hope your friend heals quickly. I have a feeling we are in for a fight." He spoke these words not really to Cynric but to the group as a whole; vocalizing what everyone had already suspected.
Haveti laid his sword down pointing towards the gate. He then spoke in low voice so as not to be heard by their observer, "I hear its heartbeat coming from over there," he explained. "It is not quite a man like you but it is similar."
"Is he a Demon?" Evelyn asked trying not to look in the direction of the bridge.
"He is a little more powerful then our average demon," Cynric added.
"You'd be right," Jonash continued, his voice calm yet stern in an effort to get his point across. "Its... His name is Plutus, the Wolf Demon of Greed. We are trespassing on his territory. Seldom has any living being seen him and lived to tell the tail. I, myself, have only heard stories of him from the souls of the fallen. He is a massive creature of teeth, claws, fur, and flesh. His incredulous appetite for power, land, and precious items, can only matched by his lust for blood. He is a savage beast of a demon with strength I cannot match. Moreover, speed close to my own. Ironically, he dresses himself in fine robes that would be suited for someone of a more regal stature. His fur is white and, despite the blood that he constantly craves, it remains so. His element is both fire and ice, which he spews from his mouth like drool from a rabid dog. This is all that I know of him, but it is not all that he is. I had hoped Thanatos would have returned before the creature desired to make us his pray. I still hope that he does.”
NRP: Short post today. Mainly because I want to give others a chance to show their stuff. Besides, its all I could come up with. I hope DN is ready for one of its first boss fights. Come on guys lets see what we can do!
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:31:34 GMT -5
(EvelynXandii) "Is he a Demon?" Evelyn asked trying not to look in the direction of the bridge.
However, before Cynric could add, "He is a little more powerful then our average demon," Evelyn already knew the answer. Now being connected to hell by her new-found power allowed her a "6th sense" (uber-intuition, spider-sense, map-hack, or whatever you wish to equate this ability to) that allows her to know her surroundings without normal means of observation.
That coupled with the fact that she was the only one of the group to have actually seen Plutus thus far, made her far more prepared than any pretentious speech could...Evelyn stuck around just long enough to hear "We are trespassing on his territory." Like she thought, nothing useful would come out of this being that liked the sound of it's own voice...
Valerius was the first to lose intrest in the speech and then to notice, then Cynric also noticed Eve leaving her already distant place outside of the circle.
Haveti noticed that Valerius was only half listening, and half watching the female demon leave.
Telamichious felt good enough to suit back up, feeling the Wolf-Demon drawing closer, he stood up and noticed Eve leaving the group too.
Thanatos was too far from the group to notice that Eve was leaving though, but he did notice that Plutus was too close, and wisely decided to turn back and gather the group rather than attempt to incapacitate the beast on his own (this was about halfway though the speech). He quickly found out that someone else was traveling away from the group, and rather than head towards the group, he decided that he would meet up with the one that he soon identified as Evelyn.
Everyone but Jonash noticed that Evelyn was leaving. Once everyone else who had noticed that Eve left, they followed suit. Haveti was lustful as ever for a fight, and he was the first to break from the group, followed by Telamichious, though he seemed a bit sore from the healing process. Jonash was still too busy considering the irony in Plutus' wardrobe and fur. That is when all attention was diverted to following the demon-girl.
Nobody stopped to consider why they were following her, or whether this was the best plan of attack, but Eve seemed to be leader for the hour. Jonash became caught up in describing the powers the beast possessed, then once he neared the end of his talking, he too noticed, but only because he was without an audience. His last two sentances became more of an aside directed to himself, as he gathered himself and jogged to catch up to the group.
The rest of the group was freshly aware of the threat, however, Eve had been aware of the situation for quite some time. She knew he was here, and he didn't like trespassers, and that when his hounds failed to kill Cynric and Onizuka, he decided to take care of the problem himself.
She told the group what happened to her, in as few words as she could, and emphasized that things in hell don't seem to notice her much, even things like Plutus. He felt a presance when she appeared in his chamber, but by his other senses couldn't identify her.
She was the key to this battle, and the group silently agreed, though it was also understood that they would not be excluded from the action.
Thanatos joined up in time to understand the plan, despite being out of direct earshot for the first part. Jonash seemed to be upset, but in this place, you must not waste time, and above all, there is no captain of the team. Everyone has their strengths, and everyone must learn to use each other when appropriate. Thanatos would had disclosed the location of Plutus, but he quickly found that Eve had an uncanny "sense" of direction.
The only glitch in the plan was that Eve had to attack first. It wasn't a problem with the others so much (though Haveti wanted the first blow), as it was a problem with Eve. She was weak, and could not yet use her true powers; thus a severe disadvantage. However, she did have some pretty big guns...
Eve abruptly stopped, the rest of the group at the ready. He was close...and everyone knew. Eve darted on her way, running quicker than any human, and still faster than most any demon, thanks to Onizuka's sacrifice. She quickly found Plutus and made no hesitation, drawing her sidearm 'cannons' and firing one into the beast's thigh, and the other into it's shoulder in mid jump.
Plutus didn't notice the attack comming, but the concussion of the handgun alerted him very quickly that he was being foolishly challenged. He couldn't move quick enough to avoid the second blast, but he did catch Eve's ankle on her way over his shoulder, and threw her to the ground behind him. The element of suprize was ruined, but well spent. Only time would tell how truely impaired he was, but for the time being, he was well enough to prepare a counter attack. Eve however knew that he was somewhat weakened, not by intuition, but by the simple fact that a thread of will connected them, whereas it had not before. Plutus was poised to crush his attacker, and Eve was unprepared for being noticed so quickly. Luckily, this situation was anticipated, and the fastest of the group was the first to appear.
He was just milliseconds too late though, as the attack was already uninterruptable. Eve was not lacking in reaction time, but her weaponry was all so tiny compared to the target that nothing could counter the force that was about to be exerted on her body. The fist crashed down, breaking a bit of ground, but narrowly scraping Eve's back, and pinching her mantle in the crater. She would have been faster if she was complete, but at least status-wise She and Plutus were equals. She would have contemplated whether or not Plutus cared, but she was too busy plotting how to kill her opponent.
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:31:59 GMT -5
(Thanatos) Still pinned to the ground, Evelyn barely noticed Jonash as Plutus swatted him aside like a fly with his other hand as he flew in to aid her. She struggled to free herself, even considered removing the mantle, but she could neither do that nor rip through the garment that suddenly seemed inconveniently strong. Plutus' wolf-like muzzle barred his teeth in something resembling a sneer, and then his hand came down to crush her. She pulled as much will from the creature as she could, trying to slow the hand's descent by removing the desire to hurt her, but it came on anyway.
A hand burst through the ground behind her, making what heart she had leap into her throat momentarily as she considered what minions Plutus might be summoning. Had her attention not been directed at Plutus' hand, she probably would have struck out at it immediately. As it was, she thrust her hand out towards it, attempting to draw the will from it as she continued to sap Plutus'.
The hand clasped around hers, and she found herself being pulled downward, a strange tingling sensation overtaking her body. The thread of will between her and Plutus suddenly became very strained, almost to the breaking point, and those abilities and senses granted to her by her Lordship completely failed her. She entered a state where she somehow knew that no magic could be drawn on, either from internal or external power sources, and left her fighting with every shred of herself just to maintain the link to Plutus. Plutus' hand continued its descent, but the hand that had clasped Evelyn's pulled her away just fast enough to avoid it. She didn't think how she was suddenly free from Plutus' grasp, as her thoughts were focused on the hand that pulled her downward rapidly, straight into and then through the ground.
Thanatos shot out of the earth a few feet away, he and Evelyn both solidifying as they emerged from the solid rock. As they returned to physicality, or what solidness the two less-than-living Fighters of the party had, Evelyn felt the link to Plutus snap back into place and again begin feeding her his will as what powers she had rushed back into her. She looked at Thanatos with an expression that seemed to say "Do not do that again.", and he nodded his understanding.
Plutus turned towards the two, lunging in their direction with a guttural roar and a set of outstretched fangs and claws that seemed to say that he meant business. The wound in his thigh slowed him down a bit, giving Evelyn a chance to dodge and roll out to the side and Thanatos to erect a shield that took the brunt of the attack. The creature roared, slashing at the dark hemisphere that enveloped Hemithanes with his magic-infused claws, and in two swipes the shield cracked and shattered into a thousand tiny points of darkness. Thanatos leapt from out of it with his wings spread, the blade in his bandaged hand wrapped in black shadowy fires.
Plutus' giant fist came at Thanatos, striking him before he could hit either of the massive eyes he had been flying towards. He spiraled into the ground and landed forcefully, though he did manage to find his feet before he did so. When he looked up, Plutus was leaping towards him, both hands clasped over his head in a rather disconcerting imitation of a falling hammer.
Jonash was back on his feet, or rather, back in the air. He whistled loudly from directly above the beast, extending a hand as the demon half-turned his head while still airborne. Where Plutus' palm had contacted the body of the Nephilim, a spot of blackness suddenly formed, adding a great deal more weight to the wolf demon than had been there before. He crashed downward, missing his intended target by inches.
As he raised himself, somehow dispelling the singularity that had attached itself to his hand and looking between Evelyn, Thanatos, and Jonash, he growled. "You're going to regret this," he said, spittle flying everywhere, "I will not promise you death." He narrowed his eyes slightly, "But you will never leave here."
The rest of the group dashed in as Plutus delivered his threat. Haveti beamed at the sight of a relatively uninjured and very worthy opponent. Telamichious and Valerius seemed to draw on their respective powers and ready themselves. Cynric sighed, looking at the massive beast, and Thanatos thought he heard him mutter, "Well, at least I know the princess is in another castle."
NRP: My apologies for screwing up the abilities of Evelyn thing. I hope this post is better now post-edit.
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:32:41 GMT -5
(Cynric) Cynric's enhanced perception turned what normally would have been an awkward-looking battle to any other person's vision into an organized, movie-choreagraphed dance of devestation, and he took it in. Haveti swiftly dived towards the beast right side, taking a try at Plutus' leg with his recent present. It bit, but not nearly as deep as one might have hoped, and the wound closed up before actually bleeding.
Meanwhile, Jonash showed the creature what speed meant, even considering how much faster Plutus proved being than anyone could have expected. In a far less distracted effort, the Shiliun gave Plutus a new hatred for Wack-a-Mole, pissing the monster off with annoying flybys and never getting closer than half a foot to any blows the monster directed at him.
Thanatos kept his focus with Jonash's, trying to tire the Hell lord and keep it constantly open to attack. It was a fact that should Thanatos and the half-angel make an all-out offensive, the battle problem wouldn't last as long. However, if they didn't play their cards right and fight cautiously, they might have less Fighters in their crew when all was said and done.
Valerius had little to do in this fight, seeing as Plutus had no apparent form of attack beyond breaking things and swiping at people. Oh, and the biting. However, he did get a nice cheap shot on the thing when it trampled a dead tree out very suddenly, and Valerius reversed its flight. To Plutus, it was a baseball bat in his head. Couldn't have planned it better.
Evelyn knew something about this fight. This was a lord of Hell. This was not the bottom of the barrel, something you wanted to hold back against. Yes, she had a limited amount of ammunition. No, that didn't matter right now. Her assorted sharp things just wouldn't cut it (the writer currently is wincing at that pun), and those big berthas were her only trump card... 'wait a second'.
"Lyn, couldn't Oni--" Cynric's words were cut short, replaced by a vicious grin on his face as fate suddenly had Plutus wishing he could kiss his own ass goodbye. For just a moment, as the demon was distracted by Jonash's and Thanatos' mosquito tactics, everything about his momentum and efforts were frozen by the power of the newest Fighter of the Hell Titans. Evelyn was strained beyond belief, sweating profusely within moments of activating this new power, but there was a satisfaction in her eyes that couldn't be beaten. This chance wouldn't happen again, and she wouldn't try again, but right then, she caught something stronger than her with a power it understood. She had pissed it off worse than anyone else here could. Spite is so horribly wonderful.
"Limit Break!" Cyn tore forward, his body already as big as it could get, the pale purple flesh tones completely blanketing his usual tan skin. Haveti had already spider-monkeyed his way up to a bull-riding position, his legs about the creature's neck, ready to jam that blade of his as deep as it would go, praying to his gods that they force it into that spinal cord of iron. Thanatos and Jonash immediately switched tactics for these short seconds of offense. The Shiliun risked how much time he had, moving back about fifty feet to give him some pickup speed, his weapon pointed forward, the world's most deadly jouster moving in fast. Thanatos... who knew. Whatever was goin' down, it was obviously going to bring the hurt. It apparently just had a minor charge time.
And then Evelyn's power dropped. She had bought it in that regard. Sadly, it gave Plutus more time than he even needed to deal with any attacks from all sides. Jonash barely stopped in time to come inches from having a very stereotypical three claw marks on his chest. Plutus then turned to the next major threat, Thanatos. What a fool, the dark mage thought.
His spell went off. Immediately, the sword in Haveti's hand burst with a light and seering flame that would have cowered the fire elemental Efreet. Haveti took it as a gift from Thanatos, had minor thoughts of comparing this man to his gods, then stabbed downward.
It bit. To the hilt. There was no penetration of any brain-related tissue, as he'd originally hoped, but it did bring the pain, as Thanatos' spell seemed to promise. The beast reared, throwing Haveti far back, but the sword stayed in its new home for the moment. Plutus tore at it with one hand, catching himself with his other as he fell forward in torment.
Perfect target. The ugly thing's big face couldn't have been painted more red and white. Cynric finished his run and threw his weight into his fist. No time to hold back. Knuckle met nose. Face met ghosts. The meta-physical lashing of serated teeth and talons was enough to really kick in a small measure of fear in the back of Plutus' mind. This group of warriors, even amidst Hell itself, could actually be dangerous.
Now, the monster held nothing back, ignoring the biting pain in his neck and landing a nice blow to Cynric's temple. Well, it would have hit his temple had it not been so massive as to hit his entire head and shoulders. The gourein was tough, but damn.
Little to Plutus knowledge, Jonash was a tad miffed about his stifled attempt earlier. He tried again. He was successful, only this time he decided not to possibly lose his weapon in the beast's hide. He tore at the creature, carrying a small oak he managed to grip in the midst of his adrenaline rush. Plutus was going to hate trees by the end of this fight, no doubt. The mangled roots pummeled him fiercely. Swarm tactics were working like a charm here. As the creature fell, Evelyn's guns began going off rapid-fire again, her composure returned. The Hell lord fell like Gulliver among the little people.
Cynric's eyes caught that sword coming out the beast's neck again, and the wound was bleeding a bit, but the weapon seemed to actually be stifling the wound. If removed with enough ferocity, that could be pretty damaging. He turned to Haveti and called out, nearly roaring. "Link! The Master Sword! Take it!"
And time froze as anime tear drops slipped down everyone's head (Plutus included).
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:35:09 GMT -5
(Jonash) "Ugh yeah?" Jonash responded to his new master's... odd? orders. He quickly unfurled his wings and picked up Haveti. He then charged at the beast's face, doing his best not to go too fast and cause his passenger to black out from the G's. He pulled up as he released his payload and Haveti reached for his sword as he flew at the creature.
Haveti passed directly over the creature's head as he reached for the sword. He used his forward momentum to pull the sword forcefully out of the Plutus's back. Tendons snapped as the neck gave up the incredible sword with a gush of blood. Haveti flew off Plutus’s back carrying his sword with him. He rolled many times when he hit the ground but was relatively uninjured.
It was then Cynric's turn. In a display of shear strength, he lunched Eve towards the creature as if she was a barrel thrown towards a plumber. She landed with a thud as she grasped hold of the creature’s fur and climbed up to the wound. She jammed the pistol in the hole and cracked a small smile before she pulled the trigger.
The explosion reverberated through out the entire creature's body before his head came clear off. When the blood and guts had settled and the red colored smoke dissipated, Eve found herself protected by a wall of blackness no doubt due to Thanatos’s intervention.
As some of them attempted to clean the blood from themselves, Haveti noticed that some of the blood was flowing up hill towards the direction the head had landed. "Look! This creature is not finished yet!" he squealed in elation.
The blood began to pool in mass under the severed head. Limbs began to form as muscle and bone took shape. All the while, the creature’s eyes glowed like diamonds on top of black satin cloth.
"You've got to be kidding!" exclaimed Telamichious.
"Some demons can only be killed by removing their eyes.” Thanatos yelled as he braced himself for battle.
“The eyes! Aim for the eyes!" Cynric screamed.
"Makes sense," Jonash started to add, "He is the demon of GREED. . . ."
Evelyn's weapon fired before Jonash could finish his sentence and there was nothing more then a crater from where its face used to be. The remainder of the corpse melted into a black liquid that rushed towards the castle.
As the oozing darkness merged with the castle’s shadow, in the distance, the group heard howling from what must have been a few legions of wolves. They looked down towards the castle and realized the shadow projected from it began to move. They then noticed the blackness was not a shadow but at least three hundred black wolves zeroing in on their location.
“Minions, why do there always have to be minions.” Cynric added with a smile as more tear drops formed above his teammates’ heads as he went off in a rant about various games he had played where minions of about this number appeared. Among this list was Dynasty Warriors (all of them), Every Final Fantasy he could think of, and various others.
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:39:07 GMT -5
(Haveti) Minions. The word wasn't familiar to Haveti, but he liked the sound of it. To him the sound of 'minions' would now always be the baying of several hundred black wolves, howling and snarling with benevolence as their paws scabbered across the rocky terrain.
Not wanting to shame himself anymore by being left out of battle, the Sii-Rul charged head on, holding his sword at a low diagonal, the tip pointed groundward, as he met the ranks of approaching wolves. He timed his leap precisely, soaring just over the heads of the lead wolves, whose leaps were a split second to late to pounce on Haveti. Finding himself suddenly and irreversibly surrounded by a sea of black wolves, the alien took a steady crouch and swung his sword 360 degrees in what seemed like an instant, scoring him several severed wolf paws and at least one full decapitation amidst the ensuing blood spray.
Before he had time to collect himself, he was hurtling through the air, what little vision he had blurring at sudden force of his movement. He landed somewhat painfully behind Valerius, who had plucked him from the less then proverbial wolves den and to safety.
Evelyn was grimly firing shot after shot into the mass of approaching wolves, thinning the first wave and buying Valerius time for his next concussive blast, which rolled the mass of biting and clawing wolves back on themselves.
The skies were thick with aerial attacks, as Thanatos, Jonash, and Telamichious swooped down intermittenly, causing chaos and becoming a general hazard to any wolves who had been foolish enough to leave their dens this morning. The Scuralace would maintain a position in the air for just long enough to spout flame across the minions, while Jonash would make low sweeps, long slashes of a blade that would rend several wolves in half at a time.
Thanatos stayed back, conserving energy for the most part but on occasion assisting Cynric, who was in a close combat frenzy with the wolves, beating and ripping and throwing as fast as they could bear down upon his enormous purple form.
Haveti frowned and got back to his feet, rushing past Valerius and Evelyn to join in the battle again..
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:39:46 GMT -5
(EvelynXandii) Haveti returned to battle just in time to allow Evelyn to reload and put her pistols away. She drew her staff and decided to brush up on her melee combat skills. She started into the group of wolves, bashing the first in the skull with a wide overhead vertical drop. The second canine leaped over his fallen partner, and came within inches of Eve's face. Eve was ready though and uppercut the dog under it's jaw with an open palm. The dog landed on it's back, then struggled to it's feet. It faced her again and lunged. She straffed and caught it in mid-air with her staff, and slammed it to the ground, pinning it with the staff. She broke the staff into swords and run the dog through. The killing seemed to go as routine as leveling up for a small while, until when in a break in the killing, she realized that the group had passed into the next circle of hell.
::Thread continued in Third Level::
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:41:48 GMT -5
(EvelynXandii) ::Continuation from Fourth Level::
Eve noticed that they had entered the new level by the presense of a significant threat in this level; The three-headed arch-demon, Cerberus. She also noticed that there was another human presence here besides their group, and it was not far from an approaching wave of animals. The leader of this circle?? Doubtful, but not yet identified as friend or foe.
Then a strange apiffany : Xandii was here. She appeared to be close to Cerberus. But hadn't she died? How did she manage to get her soul here?? It didn't matter. Now her only goal was to get to the other half of her soul. She kept the staff separated into swords.
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:42:15 GMT -5
(Kirisima) A frantic, deepset fear gripped the man, realizing his unforeseeable mistake. This could be it.
"Okay, K, if you've got a trump card or something, now's the time. Just walking in circles isn't going to mesmerize them forever."
"I'm workin' on it Roo... ah, got it." The Vierge made one last, forceful swipe across the dirt with his foot. This seemed to be a signal to the dogs about him, and it couldn't have been a better moment. The first that tried to make a run ran into what could have been a solid wall. It crumpled and hobbled away. Quite the fantastic symbol he had on the ground, the classic dome rune. "Okay, now we have some time to really come up with something."
"How long with this last?"
"As long as it can. You know how these things work."
"Well, you know how I feel about the situation."
Kirimisa flinched. "You are not committing suicide to get me outta this."
"It's what I'm here for, man. I can hold and distract them. I look like a tasty little morsel to these guys, no?"
"No, you don't."
"The tiger seemed to think so."
K couldn't hide his grin. "That's not funny."
"Yea, it is, kinda."
Three hounds made a rush, shouldering at the invisible barrier. The sound was curious, bones clattering as they made contact. There was no sound from the shield itself, which was a tad disorienting, not hearing the reverberation of a wall or something being struck.
"Hey, maybe they'll kill themselves in their efforts." Roo stifled his laughter as he imagined the thought of dead-eyed canines beating themselves to death on what appeared to be nothing.
"I've got another rune for this situation, though. You don't have to sacrifice ish, okay? You're my serpent, dawg."
Roo ignored the comment. "Okay, let's see what you've got."
"For this to maybe work... try and work those beasts into a frenzy."
Roo flipped in the air with delight. "I already know what to do!"
The whelp howled. It howled and howled and howled, louder and louder, wailing as if in pain. At the end of each call, it started another. The beasts began joining in, frustrated by the field and taking a rest, likely preparing to mass tackle it. Meanwhile, Kirimisa wrote up a very intricate rune into the bottom of his scythe's handle, then snapped it off. "Get ready to run."
"If they get close, I'm your chaff."
"Last resort, the love of all that is humane in my skull." The Vierge smiled at the loyalty of his friend. Annoying or not, there was no one he'd rather have in a foxhole. Er, dragon... hole.
Kirimisa chucked the piece of wood. Before it touched the ground, he was out there, among the hounds, right where the timber landed. His eyes were wild, and his weapons were readied. The creatures rushed, and he commenced rapid evasion, waiting for the moment to strike.
At this time, the real Kirimisa remained in his dome, the rune slightly altered to also make him and his friend invisible. "Ready to run?"
"An illusory familiar of yourself. you've been practicing with this stuff."
"You ain't seen the extent of this stuff." They quickly ran all-out towards... anything, really, that wasn't surrounded by Hellhounds. The dome spell stuck to them for about half a mile as they moved as fast as possible.
"Whoo! We got away!" Roo screached his dragon screech gleefully.
"Hah, even my scent was mimicked in that falsy. The three-headed thing would have been fooled."
"We'll hope as much."
Senses tingled. The air was different. The wind was catching something. "nutse. People here. They don't seem... doggish or dead, but neither did that psycho chick. Things here in general weren't friendly.
"That's Cynric!" Roo spun in even more excitement. "K, K, it's Cynric!"
"You're... not kidding, are you? Where?" The man looked, his eyes darting around. Things could be looking up. Hopefully.
"I'll go call him! Man, he was right. We were gonna meet again, and it was gonna be interesting!"
Kirimisa's mind did a double-take as he saw the vague human shapes in the distance. The scent of a Gourein was unmistakable at this point, and K knew scents. Cynric, his old war buddy. He could still remember the very random appearance of the boy, Cyn being about 15 at the time. The poor kid was babbling frantically about some... star ocean coincidence non-sense. His meaningless dimension hopping basically saved K and a lot of people in his world. The Vierge never did get to properly thank the kid.
Little to the human's knowledge, too distracted by current events, two swirling eyes of light watched with curiosity from the shadows.
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Jack
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"I'll live forever, or die trying.."
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:44:46 GMT -5
(Thanatos) Thanatos wanted to curse profusely, and would have if he wasn't still human enough to need to breathe during the course of the fight and old enough to need to a bit more than his younger companions. He wasn't sure if it had been Plutus' intention to save his soul from becoming a part of his collection, but his little stunt with the wolves was letting him slip away quite easily. Thanatos could still feel the creature within the wolves, controlling them, but it was becoming more and more distant. Plutus was removing himself from the battle entirely, leaving the wolves to fight on their own. Whether his goal was to reform his body somewhere else and counterattack, or simply save himself from the unseen astral hands that grasped at him and sought to bind him to a piece of metal, Thanatos couldn't be sure. The others didn't seem to notice too much that the wolves were weakening and it was becoming easier an easier to slay them, but it was the only thing on the soul-collectors mind.
He had stopped his flight, finding it easier and less tiring to strike at the wolves from the ground. In his hands he held a staff formed from shadow, its end tipped with a foot long blade made from sharpened flames. He hated the filthy creatures more than he hated most human beings, and liked how the spear kept the creatures at a comfortable distance. The wolves were from Hell, but they still knew enough to fear the fire, and the slow death promised them by the ever increasing pile of thrashing, whining lupine bodies one spear length from Thanatos.
Most of the combatants seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves. They were warriors, perhaps ones who had gone too long without a fight, and this skirmish was perhaps just the warm-up they needed for the fights they knew lay ahead. Cynric tore through ranks of wolves with inhuman strength, while Haveti cut down the doglike creatures with an animal's fury. Evelyn's arsenal ripped massive holes through the animal lines, dispite how distracted and disinterested she seemed to be in the whole battle. Telamichious and Jonash swooped down, striking at the wolves like haws preying on defenseless vermin, while lines of animals were stopped dead in their tracks while their kinetic energy was reapplied to the sides of their skulls. Thanatos found such methods Valerius employed to be his favorite. All the animals had to do to save themselves was stop trying to move, but they were too foolish to realize that, and they paid for it in a most pleasing manner.
"Cynric!" a voice shouted nearby, and every head not occupied in the group with keeping itself on the shoulders it belonged to turned. Thanatos allowed the staff to dissipate as his body shifted to its ghostlike state, the wolves leaping through harmlessly and biting at the air. He saw a man running towards them, a scythe in his hands and a lizard perched on his shoulder.
"K?" Cynric squinted at the man as he neared them. His eyes brightened with recognition. "K! How've ya been man?" he absently ripped a wolf's head off as his voice took on a tone of joviality.
"Talk later!" the man called K yelled as he neared the group.
Cynric looked at him questioningly as he leapt through the lines of wolves to land in the middle of the small party, but everyone quickly stopped wondering what was going on when they heard a series of horrific roars from the direction K had come from. There three heads reared themselves into the sky, the massive hell hound frothing at the mouth and bellowing his rage at the sky. Around him, more hell hounds than Thanatos could count came pouring over the ridge and into the small valley the party found themselves in. They readied themselves for the fight, figuring that introductions could wait until later.
"Oh… bloody hell." Thanatos muttered.
"This will be difficult, but I believe we can defeat this hellhound" Janosh decreed from the air above.
"It's not that!" Thanatos said, casting his senses more around than his rapidly darting eyes. Plutus' spirit had vanished from the wolves entirely, but it wasn't gone from the battlefield. It had gone from being dispersed through the minions to collected in a single entity. "There!" Thanatos shouted, pointing at a lone wolf that stood upon a raised portion of ground safely outside of where the fighting was going on.
Whoever could take the time to look did, and some saw only another wolf and went back to their fighting. A few studied it intently, and Thanatos though he heard someone gasp as the wolf's body suddenly reared up and seemed to break itself as it contorted in ways unnatural for such a creature. The animal howled, a howl which deepened and became louder, as well as all too familiar as the animal seemed to enlarge itself, become stronger, and begin to walk upon its hind legs. When those who had turned away looked back, the body had been completely transformed into one more suiting Plutus.
The new scythe-wielding arrival seemed to speak for the whole group when he looked towards the sight and spoke.
"Aww… f**k."
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Jack
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"I'll live forever, or die trying.."
Posts: 449
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:47:20 GMT -5
(Jonash) "And I thought the battle of Atlantis was annoying.” Jonash thought to himself as he picked up the Zanmato he had been wielding and swung it around a few more times causing the full squadron of Hellhounds that surrounded him to fall to the ground in pieces. He had long left the air; like Thanatos, Jonash couldn’t stay up in the sky indefinitely, besides the Hell Hounds could jump nearly as high as he could fly, so the idea of it wasn't too appealing. His armor was coated in their blue blood and he prayed that the stains would come out. He flicked his weapon in a manor that the blood on it flew off towards the approaching dogs. The liquid flew with such intensity that it shot a hole right though one of the creatures.
As the massacre of K-9's continued, Thanatos and Jonash were both absorbing the souls of whoever they killed, as well as most of what the others killed. However, unlike Thanatos, Jonash had nowhere to put them, and so his horns grew. He knew if he didn't release these souls soon, they would consume him and he would frenzy. He also knew, however, that he couldn't risk Thanatos gaining more power.
It was about this time that Cynric asked, "Where is one of those Predator wrist devices when you need them?"
Then an idea came to Jonah. Sheathing his sword, he crouched down, touched the ground beneath him, and then jumped as high as he possibly could. He screamed for the others to get as far away from his position as possible and activated the gravity welt directly beneath him. They did so without question, knowing that in these situations, if someone says to run, it’s generally for a good reason.
They all scattered, running as hard as they could, trying not to be caught in the force pulling them towards Jonash's location. And within seconds, 200 Hellhounds and some 10 wolves were directly beneath him unable to move.
He pulled out a bow and formed several souls into one arrow. He charged the arrows with more souls until it began to glow as it were on fire. Like the eyes that watched the group’s every move, so too was this arrow able to be seen throughout the entire realm of the third level of Hell.
When he was a few inches from the massive ball of animals, he released the arrow. The sprawling mass beneath him exploded sending a title wave of the oddly colored blood in all directions. Out of the mass of bodies Jonash emerged wiping a few bits of organs and flesh of his armor. He had a smile on his face despite the stench because he now had a way to not only get rid of those souls he stored up but also destroy them completely so his fellow soul reaper couldn't gain from his loss.
Jonash looked around and noticed that not only were the Hellhounds going after the group, but they seemed to be fighting the wolves as well. A kind of lull in the battle issued in Jonash's immediate area as Cynric walked up to him along with Haveti and Thanatos.
NRP: And ya'll thought no one would post durin MegaCon. (OH GOD! Help me I am starting to talk like... like... East Tennessians............ I've been here to long.) We'll enjoy MegaCon... jerks....
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Jack
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"I'll live forever, or die trying.."
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:47:48 GMT -5
(EvelynXandii) Eve wasted no time once she pin-pointed the location of Xandii. She furiously and presicely laid waste to the beasts in such a manner that surpassed all previous actions of any member of the group. Then, all at once, she burst from the animals and took to the air. It wasn't flight, but even Jonash was astonished that this demon could summon near-angelic speed.
She landed next to where Xandii was hiding. She was appearantly not aware of who Evelyn was. However, this wasn't an issue with Xandii. Xandii had appearantly learned much about herself through death: Evelyn was thrust into a near-by tree.
Xandii stood over the demon, hands together at the wrists, palms facing her target.
What are you?
My name is Evelyn, but you knew me before now. My offer still stands; I can help you leave. Let me help you Xandii...
How do you know my name? I never told you my name! And why should I trust you?
(Xandii's hands remain in place, poised to crush Evelyn with her power)
We are born of the same soul. I was wronged long ago by our creator. You were wronged only days ago. We both want to know why.
How do you propose to help?
(Hand position yet unchanged)
We will need to combine our minds and powers just as we were once before. You know this is the truth. We are connected already, as you can see by how I know your name, and I bear the scar you were spared.
(Xandii takes notice of the cross that has been scarred in Evelyn)
Please trust me. It is the only way we can right our wrongs.
Just then, Xandii pressed her hands to Evelyn's chest and in a flash of light, they both disappeared. However, they were not merely invisible, they were not even on another plane of existance; for that moment, they did not exist.
The rest of the group had caught up to the spot where the light had originated and they marveled at the cratered ground. All of Evelyn's clothing and weapons were at the bottom of the shallow crater, but she wasn't to be found. Then, high above their heads, a small bead of light shone, steadily gaining in intensity until it was nearly blinding. All the nearby enemies cowered at the light, and the group all had to sheild their eyes before it went out. Before their eyes floated Evelyn's body, seemingly lifeless. Thanatos and Jonash saw first, Xandii's soul was superimposed on the flesh and face of Evelyn. Then everyone else saw the soul nesting itself in the flesh.
It was done. Evelyn Xandii was born. The armor and weapons resisted at first, but they couldn't resist E-X's power, and they shot into the air and fit themselves to Evelyn Xandii. She decended outside the crater and took out her throwing stars. They lifted themselves in a column above her hand and started spinning, growing in intensity until they were creating turbulence in front of her. The column stretched taller and the stars began to orbit her while spinning. The rest of the group backed away a step. Evelyn Xandii Spoke:
Mind if we take these?
The rest of the group didn't have time to respond, as the stars shot forth and ripped through about fifty hounds in the span of five seconds. The fallen hounds' wills shot to her and were absorbed. This transfer of will was invisible, although Haveti noticed that none of the freshly dead twitched after being killed.
Now she was complete, and a force to be reckoned with.
NRP: Sorry this one has to be all about me. I figured it would be nice to have your ruler of the Styx be at full power for the impending doom.
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Jack
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"I'll live forever, or die trying.."
Posts: 449
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Post by Jack on Jul 11, 2005 19:48:20 GMT -5
(Telamichious) Emerald. The sash that bastard brother of his was wearing had a huge emerald on it, symbolizing his deceased linage. Many thoughts had been rushing into Telamichious’ bruised mind while all of the senseless wolf slaying was occurring. His stepbrother and his death were what haunted his mind the in the most grandiose ways. His heartbeat would slow mid-fight, he could feel the warmth in his chest while it would slow, and some strange new vision would appear where his vision should be; some of his stepbrother, others of his father and mother, some of training like his father and brother had, and random images of humans he didn’t recognize or have any other knowledge of. He didn’t have names to any of the faces, however, save one name that continued to bounce around in his head: Villeria.
The fighting that he was supposedly partaking in was going smoothly as expected. There was some very recent additions to their party that he knew very little of, so he kept close to Valerius, Haveti and Thanatos because, for the most part, he trusted his life in their hands, deep down he knew they would watch his back. His new companions were all very awkward to Telamichious; he was confused at Cynric who gave off a small stench of corruption, suspicious of Jonash who seemed to have powers comparable to his, curious of the newest member K who he knew nothing about, and nervous of Evelyn and her increasing abilities. His nervousness of all of his companions, however, as they all seemed to be growing in strength, Thanatos was collecting large amounts of souls, Haveti’s swordplay seemed to be drastically better with his bad-ass sword, the Evelyn character felt stronger and seemed to be absorbing power from the hellhounds, and all the while, deep down, Telamichious felt himself getting weaker. He had to crutch his fighting on his engraved abilities and his fiery spirit, as his Light powers were forsaken, even more greatly after they attacked him on the forest path and crippled his Darklight energies and numbed his Dark powers to nothing. While he was fighting with what powers still worked, things felt different in his body, it was close to when he first awaked from his rebirth when he had to almost relearn how to use his powers, and it required a great amount of focus to keep his full-on abilities working whereas his engraved abilities worked like clockwork, a little rusty at first but got back to normal quickly. The way it was different from his awakening is that he felt that he perceived everything differently, he felt as though he could feel things around him, and he felt extremely light headed.
Telamichious landed next to Thanatos after the short lull in battle after Evelyn underwent some wildly significant power increase and engulfed what demonic presence was left. Telamichious invoked his Earth body powers quickly, knowing that worse was coming with this new sense of conscience that had robbed him of his more powerful combat tricks and offensive abilities, and Thanatos looked over to see his body glow a greenish-brown color that was reflected in his eyes. Thanatos then seemed a great deal puzzled by a new blemish that was on Telamichious’ forehead, as it was emitting that same light that was blaring out of him during his mental collapse. Thanatos noted the shape looked comparable to that of the ancient astrological symbol for Capricorn however, he couldn’t make a guess as if the shape had any bearing on its purpose or use.
“There is a strange marking on between your brows,” Thanatos mentioned to Telamichious as he noticed that Telamichious’ eyes began to glow yellow which would give him abilities to move as fast as light.
Telamichious’ eyes’ yellow hue died down into the green earth-tone and he turned towards Thanatos with a confused look and his hand slowly approaching his forehead to feel for it, “What?! What kind of marking, is it a scar, or is it a brand, or is it something else?” Thanatos couldn’t see much with the flare-like spotlight that was now in the region that was the area above Telamichious’ nose, “You are going to have to turn the Christmas lights down so I can get a better look at it.” Telamichious nodded in compliance, but had no idea how to control it, “I don’t know why it is shinning. Have you seen any change in it as I have been walking or fighting or standing?” Thanatos had noticed a spark when he was changing powers, obviously the channeling of energy though his body was setting off the new blemish that was brightening the area around his head, “When you use your powers, the light emits from it, stop using all your powers and maybe we will be able to get a better look at it.” Telamichious’ eyes quickly turned back to the dark purple of Darklight that was now his non-enhanced eye color and the light quickly faded, equally to the green to purple transition. Thanatos was able to look in on the marking and he saw it was some kind of tattoo, but different as the color of the tattoo wasn’t black or any color, it looked like space, “You won’t believe this.”
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